Building a *Better* Feral Battlewagon

Hello all, apologies on the lack of updates, a quick one today, will upload photos of the tournament soon, I promise... haha

So the amassing Ork Horde continues, have had my thinking cap on, and have some great ideas for some conversions, one of which I could not resist so out went the dosh and in came:

And...

I mean what screams feral more than a bunch of greenskins riding a giant spider into battle, this conversion, safe to say has got me very much worried, as there is a lot of money already invested into this, but the good news is there is so much planking in the Goblin Town that I will have lots of basing materials for other conversions (which are on hold at the moment until I ruin the Arachnarok Spider) 

so here are the obligatory WIP shots...

All he wants to do is give you a hug!

Not sure how on earth I am going to do this, feel like I should put him on a base, as it gives me lots of opportunity to do a nice converted base, this thing scuttling over a tank is what I am leaning towards but... the base he is supplied with is square and so much larger than the oval flying base, which is the biggest equivalent in 40K... Oh decisions, decisions.

looking at him from the side on, I am tempted to reposition the legs to see if I can get him raised up higher, as if he is attacking the enemy/prey... but again this requires lots of work and cutting into a very expensive kit...

This is not how it currently stands...

This is just with the planking positioned roughly where I am thinking, nothing in this photo has been glued to the spidey squig...

Tournaments...

Hello everyone,

just a quick post today, to explain the lack of updates this month...

Myself and another gamer, Mikey, have been organising a tournament that is taking place next Sunday, it's the first of its kind for our club, as before we have only done in house events but this one has been opened up to the wider world. By the looks of it, we're going to have a pretty good turn out too, but there is room for more, so if you live in the UK, In the South East, why not throw your hat into the ring... details are below:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q71w24dkql81pbw/Tournament%20pack13may%20.doc

Probably just wishful thinking but hey-ho. However, due to the fact I am running this tournament, all hobby time has been put into organising the venue, advertising, scenery making, negotiating etc etc, which has left VERY little time for anything else...

But I did manage to find time to buy more models to not paint up ;)

Snakebites: Rank and File

Hello all,

Just a short post today, just to touch base and to show some WIP pictures of the first Mobs for the Snakebites, that have started to receive some paint. These are just models from the basic units, while I get used to painting Snakebites.

Really enjoying painting up the Grots, can't imagine the fun they must have had when they were sculpting them. The models are just full of character and really quirky. Now onto the proper Ladz. 

The first of the Ork Boyz, I wont lie, painting up about 100 of them is very much a daunting task, these photos also lead me on to a little question. Lots of these Ork Boyz have armour plates strapped to their backs and shoulders, the rest of the model I am quite confident with, however I am unsure as to how I should paint the armour plates, if anyone has any suggestions they would be much appreciated.

Every Mob needs a leader and who better to lead this Mob than the biggest hardest Ork around with the most brutal weapon he can find?

Lastly, a couple of pictures to show off the Ork Slavers for the Grot Mob and the Big Gunz Battery

Something a little different...

Hello all, don't fret I am still here, just haven't been doing much painting (of miniatures anyway) recently, however, that is not to say that I haven't been spending my time on our wonderful hobby...

As Monday was a bank holiday, me and two other members of my gaming club, met up to do some good old fashioned board making, off we popped to a local builders merchant and came back with my car loaded with sixteen 2' by 2' tiles of mdf, not bad for 30 quid...

We sat around and discussed what kind of boards we could make for a while, we eventually settled on two 6' by 4' boards one to be a Martian Desert, the other, a World War-esque No Man's Land, the latter, to eventually be extended to a massive 12' by 6' complete with trench system and so on...

anyway, here's how we got on:

A nice sunny day, perfect for board making...

As you can see the No-Man's Land board is coming on nicely, needs a few touch ups, but it basically there, I even started building some scenery for it...

Don't worry, there will be more scenery than this on the board

The theme for the No-Man's Land board, will be heavy devastation, blown up vehicles, forests that have been obliterated by shell fire and even the odd ruined building...

Now for the Martian Desert, here are some WIP shots, of both the board and the scenery, the theme for this will be Rocky Outcrops, Sand Dunes, a Mechanicum Research Facility etc, etc.:

And here was how the board was looking this morning: 

Certainly coming on...

This was until the weather decided to be a wanker... 

Not looking so smart now...

And so here is the board, as it stands, I'm praying that my hard work making the Martian board has not been wasted...

Sat in the Airing Cupboard...

Bloody Weather...

Valas Morovai

'All this power and pain at our fingertips. Weapons that can level cities. A warship capable of breaking entire fleet blockades. But this means nothing in the Long War. We can leave scars on steel, but so can any ragged pirate vessel with a battery of macro-cannons. We are the Eighth Legion. We wound flesh, steel and souls alike. We scar memories. We scar minds. Our actions must mean something, or we deserve to be forgotten, left to rot amongst ancient mythology.'

    - Talos Valcorian 'Soul Hunter'
         (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion) 

So this is it, the final post for First Claw, the final post of this week, which obviously details First Claw as a whole...

Firstly I would like to thank everybody who has looked at my posts, provided comments and criticism, it really does help to spur me on to carry on posting photos and modelling, and to improve my painting techniques...

 The question is, where do we go from here... 

I have already ordered some replacement parts for Variel, as I said, I wasn't really happy the out-come of him, so in time the Flayer will be re-appearing. Mercutian has been entered into my local GW's painting competition this month, not that I expect him to win as some of the entries were brilliant. 

Cyrion will also as some point be getting a remodelling too, but that's on hold for the moment. Lastly in regards to First Claw, I have ordered parts for my Duel entry, which doesn't need to be completed until September. However it will feature a particularly memorable battle between First Claw, and a particularly up-start champion of the Imperium. Any guesses?

Okay I'll give you a hint:

Anyway... Until next time...

Ciao!

Soul Hunter

'We have a world to bring to it's knees' 
     - Talos Valcorian 'Soul Hunter'
         (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion) 

So here he is, the man of the hour Talos Valcorian, Soul Hunter, The Prophet and Leader of the 10^th Company. The star of the show, Aaron Dembski-Bowden's conversion of the character from a humble Chaos Marine to a ruthless but disillusioned Chaos Lord is, simply a work of art. The description of Talos in Soul Hunter still sends a shiver down my spine.

Onto the photos...

Here you can see him complete with Aurum, Malcharion's Bolter, plenty of trophies, (he carries with him a total of 8 skulls/helms... as he is a Lord of the VIII Legion) the broken Aquila on his chest, the Skull Plate helm and his name Rune... It is safe to say a lot of work went into Talos...

'You should have never settled on this world.Our shame is our secret to keep. Tsagualsa will be clawed clean of life once more. Hide in your cities, mortals. Lock your doors, reach for your weapons and wait until you hear us howl. Tonight, we have come for you'

Apothecary Variel

'When you die, brother, you will leave a powerful legacy for the future.'
    - Variel
          (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion) 

So here we come to the latest addition to First Claw, Variel the Flayer, formally of the Red Corsairs and introduced in Blood Reaver. Unfortunately in the Chaos Codex their is no way to include a Apothecary and as such his rules are just that of a standard chosen, however, it was only right he was included in First Claw...

A fairly uneventful model to talk about, but, it's only right that he gets shown off with the rest of First Claw... I'm going to attempt a freehand of the Red Corsairs symbol on his shoulder pad, but haven't yet plucked up the balls to do it...

So with five out of six of First Claw now revealed, that only leaves one more...

Make sure you come back to see the Soul Hunter revealed tomorrow :D