A Two Titan Tale

Do you like towering engines of destruction?  Do you like incredible feats of resin building, modeling, and painting?  Are you amazed and in awe when you see a "miniature" that towers above the battlefield in the 20" plus range?  Then look no more:

Two Titans

Happy to say that not only do I just know this guy, he's a buddy of mine.  Definitely check out his blog, follow it while you're at it.  Even if you're not a huge 40K fan, my buddy Jon has got some great posts about the building aspect of our hobby, and he's no slouch with the brush.

Defining Game #8: WH40K Rogue Trader

8. Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader, 1988

In terms of miniature gaming, this is the big one, that one defining moment that really kicked it all off to the present. I bought the softcover rules that were shrinkwrapped with the classic box of thirty "beaky" space marines at a Waldenbooks. Yeah, I was shocked when I discovered I not only had to paint the figures, but assemble them as well. Of course putting together thirty beakies made something click deep inside, with superglue stuck to my hands, space troopers with big guns half-assembled on the table I knew something was right with the world. White Dwarf magazine wasn't far behind, and before I knew it I was officially a miniatures gamer. Definitely a defining gaming moment.

Freed from Painting Purgatory

The doldrums of painting have come to an end here at Mik's Minis. The above trio of figs have suffered and languished in a seeming perpetual state of incompleteness for far too long. With a new HUD now active I had to clear off the incomplete stuff.

On the left is a Zombpoc survivor that I first started back in October. He was close to finished, but still needed lots of attention in some key areas. In the middle is a Deathwatch trooper painted as a prize giveaway over at the Minions podcast. This one is a good example of a fig lying at the bottom of a bits box with seemingly no future. Finally on the right is a classic Eldar Harlequin that has finally been finished for Tristan over at GW Pertinent. He's got a neat project creating a Harlequin-based Spire Brat gang for Necromunda built entirely of reader-donated models. I went with a darker, Death Jester style that will hopefully contrast nicely with the rest of the gang.


One weakness that cropped up after not painting for so long was crispness and neatness. I went back and tweaked this fig a little more after I took these photos because there was a lot I missed with my first once-over, especially with the backpack. I like this model because he's a Librarian with a large Force Sword and a big, honking Power Fist. Plus, in the world of 40k, characters that don't wear helmets with their power armor amuse me.


Another weakness were eyes, which were never my strongest anyway. I tried here a couple of times before I just said, "That's good enough." I was hesitant to paint the ejection port on the shotgun, since the sculptor obviously couldn't be bothered with it. Ithaca does make such a bottom ejecting shotgun mind you, but it's not the most common so I painted a black rectangle on it after all. I like the way I did his civvies as well.


Finally are some close-ups of Tristan's soon-to-be Spire Brat ganger. It's a neat idea for a gang and honestly one I might have to steal if we ever get back into Necromunda. For the record, the white striping on the leg absolutely killed me, haha. Way back when I had duplicates of this model and for some reason I cut the mohawk off of this one to make it more skeletal. I just hope it holds its own among such excellent company.

So there you have it, these three were in various states of completion and I really did need to finish them off before moving on. Mind you, there was a lot of stuff not even started yet, but that just got shelved, boxed, and squirreled away for another (much later) day. I learned my painting skills were rustier than I could've imagined, so it seems some catching up is in order.

Edit: I know, originally queued for this afternoon, I had to bump it up some to accommodate another post elsewhere. Wheels within wheels!

Three Rivers Con

Earlier this month there was a local, one-day gaming convention called Three Rivers Con. It seemed like a pretty cool event, and in an effort to get outside my box, I went. I was surprised, I didn't know what to expect really, but all in all it was a good day. I met some good folks, played some good games...what more could you ask for?


First off, I wasn't just a con-gamer, I was a con-game runner! That's right, the practice session of Gutshot last time was just a warm-up for this. Needless to say, I think it was a success, I've got another post dedicated just for this game, so I'll be moving on.


There's an area club that I didn't know we had that centers around boardgames. Lots and lots of boardgames. They were the core of the con it seemed, and the table you see here had a nice flyer saying if you were interested in learning a game, just ask.


I was interested, especially in the new Dungeons and Dragons games. Around the corner is the new Legend of Drizzt version, and being a fan of the fiction I figured I'd pick it up. Of course a test drive was in order so I was able to snag a game of the Wrath of Ashardalon. How was it? Good stuff, it was definitely fun enough to start saving my shekles for October.


There was also a Zombpocalypse presentation, which was entertaining. Now I realize the Zombpocalypse is just around the corner and definitely no joke, but this tongue-in-cheek "how to" was still pretty fun.

The presentation also included a "survival grab bag" demonstration


I haven't played Battletech since the late eighties, but there's was a lot of it going down here. In fact, it seemed that was all that was being played for a good eight hours straight.


There was a paint-and-take demonstration as well (which I'm told is so hot right now). This proved to be a very popular spot and it stayed full most of the time. I was blown away by the sheer amount of quality paints, brushes, and the rest available to use. Also, for those new at it, there was plenty of help and assistance from some very knowledgeable "staffers".


Hetero-gaming lifemate Andy and I had the first ever "45 Minute Iron-Painter" paint off. The minis take 'em table had an absolute hoard of great figs, not leftover junk, but good stuff. There was a matched pair of survivor figs that formed the basis of the challenge, of course it was a good natured challenge and when awesome survivor figs like this free on the line, everyone comes out a winner. So which one do you prefer? The right or the left one?


There was a table full of silent auction goods, most of it roleplaying books and a good deal of boardgames. Being a huge boardgaming crowd I was surprised to see a complete Battle for Macragge box there. I was even more surprised to see no bids on it. I'm happy to say I picked this one up for a mere ten bucks, all I really wanted was the crashed spaceship to use as terrain, the ten marines, twenty-odd 'nids, and what-not was all a bonus.


This is Trio de Rio, I just made that up. I've also just declared him the official mascot of Three Rivers Con. There was a talented, young crochet chica there making these little critters. In a few hours she was able to crank this little feller out. I gave her my info and offer for a potential commission for a Cthulhu crocheted critters. Holidays are right around the corner and those would make for some awesome, mythos-themed gifts.

Three Rivers Con? Good stuff. Fun? Yup. Repeat? Probably!

Space Marine Review

A couple of days ago I reviewed the new Space Marine videogame over at Santa Cruz Warhammer. You can check out the full review here. Instead of just having a repeat post here, I'll just touch on some pros and cons here and if you're still interested head over to the Santa Cruz site for the whole enchilada.

Pros:

• easy button layout and simple controls
• tons of customization options
• quick and dirty multiplayer
• excellent job of capturing the 40K universe

Cons:

• a little repetitive after a while
• somewhat unengaged storyline
• lack of maps in multiplayer

Space Marine Demo

Screenshots taken directly from my television screen...

I can't speak of the other platforms, but for XBox360'ers out there the demo version of the upcoming Space Marine is out. You can play to save-points, maybe missions but they seemed a little short. One mission is played as the Tactical Marine, the other as an Assault Marine. The quick and dirty breakdown is this; if you paint 40k and you play video games, you'll end up getting this game at one point or another.

Solid shooters are plentiful, let me repeat, PLENTIFUL on the 360 platform. In this respect Space Marine isn't going to give you anything special in that department, you've got better options out there. If you're not a tabletop 40k gamer, this title will still give you a cool storyline that is thought-out and very sci-fi in nature. The setting is rich and detailed with plenty of the grit and grime you would expect.


Where Space Marine shines is where you would expect it to...as a 40k action game. There's something very cool about playing a Space Marine and seeing them do all the things Space Marines do, but animated; running, chopping foes up with chainswords, speaking with serious accents, and the like.

In the first mission you and your battle-brothers find some fallen soldiers, Cadian soldiers! Painted up, err, digitized up to look just like...Cadians, cool! A servo-skull is scanning them and then comes up to the marines, verifies them, and displays a holo-message from an Inquisitor who is holed up and needs assistance. After that you forget the decent but not amazing gameplay, or the not-so-crisp graphics, you are in the 40k universe, bolter blazing.

Outbound Minis

Here's a couple of 40k models that got the shortcut to the front of my queue. Ironically, neither of them will be residing on my shelves, these are export only.

One is an older, third edition Space Marine Librarian updated with some newer gear. He's going to be a Deathwatch Librarian painted up for one of the winners of the Minions of the Monster Master contest that just wrapped up. That's right, just one of many winners!

The second is an old, lead Eldar Harlequin for Tristan of GW Pertinent. He's collecting Eldar Harlequins painted by other people, if you have one laying around paint it up and send it to him. If not, he's got extra Harlequins he will send you to paint up. For this one I'm going with a Death Jester paint scheme.

Assemble the Deathwatch!

After wrapping up the Techmarine the other day I figured it might be a while before I paint any other troopers so I figured a muster shot was in order. I do have three other figures (two regular and one Terminator) to paint up, but they're not even in the HUD so they'll linger a while in the bits bins. Here's the breakdown...

Tactical, Apothecary, and Librarian Ultramarines

Tactical and Techmarine Black Templars

Tactical, Apothecary, and Assault Sons of Minos

Blood Angel and Salamander Tactical Marines

Devastator, Assault, and Tactical Dark Angels

The others I mentioned will get painted up eventually and added here, making for fifteen total Deathwatch troopers and a single Terminator Captain. They are; a White Scars tactical Marine, a Fists (Imperial or Crimson) Assault Marine, and the aforementioned captain whose parent chapter I don't know yet.

Mk6 Deathwatch Techmarine

On the eve of the last Deathwatch RPG game I finished up this figure for one of the players at the table. When rolling up his armor and armor histories he got both the Mark 6 Corvus armor as well as the "xenos foe" history. I don't remember the details exactly but basically his armor has the claw of some alien embedded in it. This old school Techmarine model is perfect for that since it has a Genestealer claw adorning the right shoulder.


Over at Constantly Ricking Obscurity there is an amazingly awesome tutorial on how to make your own servo-arms. It came about a month after I kit-bashed the one you see here, but it's good to know for future reference.


Of all the Deathwatch I figure the Techmarines are the most particular about their equipment, so I kept the backpack/servo-arm and the helmet traditional red. I also painted everything with a lot of wear-and-tear, scratches, dings, and dents. The right pauldron is covered by the Genestealer claw, so you can't see parent chapter livery (this Techmarine is a Black Templar) and the left pauldron looks to be a mass of nuts, bolts, and wires. Not exactly the Deathwatch symbol and crest, but I didn't want to hack up a classic model.

L to R: Librarian, Techmarine, Tactical, Devastator, and Apothecary

Here's the whole five-man team of RPG player character models. There is still one model missing, and that would be Andy's Space Shark assault marine (can't find any pics of it but here's some of his Deathwatch). Our RPG group is a little different from the tabletop group in that most of the RPG guys don't currently paint figures, that's why I painted all of these up for them to use in our Deathwatch sessions.

Last Chance Deathwatch Contest Reminder

Since I'm a co-author on another blog, the Minions of the Monster Master, I try not to double up subject matter with my posts here. However there is a Deathwatch contest going on over there currently that is over tomorrow night so I thought I'd mention it to get the word out.

Also, since I'll probably end up being the one to do the painting for the prize, it's fitting to mention here as well since you'll probably see it eventually come across the feed at Mik's Minis in one fashion or another.

"So what's the prize Mik?" It's a Deathwatch Space Marine, painted up with whatever chapter livery you want and whichever of the three specialties you choose; Librarian, Devastator, or Assault marine.

The fine print is all over at the Minions blog. In truth, not a lot of people have entered so it could come down to a coin toss in the end for you!

Check it out before it's too late!

Four Days to Go, Four Armies on the Line

We all share many of the same blogging circles. Chances are you've already seen the massive Heroes of Armageddon project that's been undertaken this year in the same vein as the Storm Wardens project last year.

Well if you don't know, it's four times the undertaking this time around and the armies are each and every one drop dead gorgeous, making anyone proud to own one of them. Well you can own one of them, and you can help a great cause while you're at it, Doctors Without Borders.

Each of the army pics below is a link to that army's specific page on the official Heroes of Armageddon blog. Click the photo to get individual shots and closeups of these great models completed by some of the more talented names floating around these parts.

Ghazgkhull Thraka's Goff Horde

Gutsmek's Speed Freaks

Lord Dante's Blood Angels

Commissar Yarrick's Steel Legion


This is the artwork y'all should be familiar with already, my treat for you is the rough draft at the top of the page. Monster Master artist Chris "Biscuit" Miller whipped this up as he did for the Storm Wardens project and multiple others. He's available for commissions, his prices are reasonable and I've never seen him turn something down.

He's not going anywhere anytime soon, however these armies are...and very soon. As the title says, you've got about four days, that's it. Get over to the main page and get in on all the action while you still can. This is one you do not want to miss.

40k Kill Team

Released just yesterday is this pretty cool 40k based game called Kill Team. I downloaded the demo and played through one level of it and I can safely say it's worth the mere ten bucks to download the whole thing. I'm on the Xbox, but it's also available for you PS3 owners out there.


It's not going to give you a deep immersion into a world full of 40k goodness, but it is going to give you a fun romp mowing down hordes of Orks with a heavy bolter arcade style. The action is frenetic as you run around dispatching enemies with gun and sword alike, collecting power ups and health tokens old-school Gauntlet style.


I was pretty impressed at the game beginning where you can pick between Sternguard, Librarian, Vanguard, Techmarine, and more for character options (each one offering their own attacks and such). Also they gave you about half a dozen chapter choices to boot, I recall: Ultramarines, Blood Ravens, Blood Angels, White Scars, and Salamanders. They lose points in my book for not having Dark Angels in there, but so be it.


The coolest part of this 'mini' game is that it is a prequel to the full, robust, power-armored title Space Marine coming out...soon (but when?!?!?!). Kill Team takes place before the Ork Kroozer hits the Forge World spilling out its marauding greenskins on the surface. All of the adventure takes place inside the Ork's ship while it is hurtling that way.

It's a fun game, and if you enjoy the 40k franchise and universe, it will be nice to step into the boots of a real Space Marine doing what they do best. Even if you know nothing of 40k, it's a fun sci-fi shoot 'em up. The game itself is more of an action platformer, its controls will take some getting used to, but from what I played it was certainly enjoyable. Also, if you're into such things, achievements you unlock in Kill Team can carry over in Space Marine when it comes out, the power sword, for example, is one such item.

Deathwatch Techmarine WIP

Necessity being the mother of invention I had to whip up a servo-arm for my old-school techmarine. Also, my own Barter Bucket failed me and the part I thought would've been here by now never made it. As I type this up our Deathwatch game is tomorrow night, and this is the last trooper of the bunch I need to crank out.


After reading a post of Mike's a while back at Constantly Risking Obscurity, I saw there were a couple of kit-bashed servo-armed figs. I had asked and it seemed like old Mage Knight bits were used in part to make the packs.


I have a shoebox full of Mage Knight figs, but only a few of the figures that make up the 'steam punk' faction. I did have an robot-mecha thing with some cool arms that might work, but first I had to hack away the giant buzz saw blade.


As you can see I also clipped and used a LEGO piece for the pincer hand itself. In the end I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, the arm looks nimble and robust at the same time, and I absolutely love the way the ball-joint seems to mesh so naturally into the back pack. Speaking of the backpack, it was just a plain pack and I added an extra "techmarine-esque" doo-hickey on the back of it. Next up is to paint him, in one night apparently. He's technically from the Black Templars chapter, but there's really no place convenient I can show that. All right, it's time to get cracking, err, in about ten hours.