Sword<Pen<Brush - Fishermen Guild Ball Custom Goal

So I've decided to add Guild Ball to my list of current games, mainly to give me a break from all the Warmachine and Hordes I've been playing recently. I decided to take up the Fishermen since their ascetic appalled to me the most. I decided to start my Guild Ball journey with a custom built goal. 

Since my job is so dull I spent a few days sketching out ideas for it. I was originally planning a kind of 'desert island' with a palm tree and maybe a bucket for the ball to go into. I had some ideas about it but it didn't feel right. It felt more 'pirate-y' than 'fishery'. So I scrapped it and started again with a new idea. The new plan was to make a kind of 'crows' nest. I made some plans I was happy with and found the right parts for the job in my bitz box. 

Next I threw them together. The stick formed the mast, with the wheel as the base. The standard bearer shafts were cropped down to make the supports for the chaos space marine shoulder spikes that formed a banister for the crows nest. The fourth shaft then added to an old banner to make a nice flag which I topped with a spare bird. I then used the heads of a couple of nails and some old chain to add a square of plastic to form the target for the goal. This ended up looking like this: 

I then got my hands on one of Solid Ground Studios' decking bases and some little extras to finish it off. Then I painted it all up in my Fishermen colours:

I'm actually pretty pleased with how it came out. It looks kinda like what I wanted but nothing's ever perfect. Just got to get the rest of the team sorted now!

I did get the ball done though!

Keep an eye out on the Facebook page for the latest photos as they come if you're interest!

-M

Sword<Pen<Brush - Magnetising Legion Models

Hey guys welcome to an edition of a slightly neglected segment - Sword<Pen<Brush. This time I want to talk about magnetising heavy model kits (For my American audience 'magnetize'. But seriously thanks for reading you guys). I know a lot of people who've magnetised models back when I played warhammer but I never really saw the point. More importantly, though, it seemed really scary. When I moved into Warmachine the idea was even more popular but I decided again I would just buy several kits and it'd be fine. 

When I hit Legion, though, I decided that, because it was a faction that loved multiples it would be way too expensive to buy that many heavy beast kits, never mind the trouble of storing them. So I decided to take the plunge and magnetise the models. I am a total conversion and alteration novice, so I was really nervous about ruining the model and having wasted my money, but thought it would be worth the risk. 

I looked online into available magnets. Rare Earth magnets are the best, apparently, and I found that the right size for attaching plastic limbs to a heavy model was 3mm by 1.5mm disks (Hey Americans, yeah, metric. Ugh right? Stupid Europeans). I looked online and found a few sellers that were offering frankly quite expensive prices. A couple of the guys from my LGS, however, recommended an eBay seller called Spider Magnets who were offering high quality rare earth magnets for a fraction of the prices of their competitors. I got myself 100 neodymium disk magnets for just under £4. 

I started the process normally by taking all of the parts of the kit and cutting off the mould lines and excess plastic. Following that I assembled the seperate aspects of the heavy. In this instance this meant attaching the three parts of the torso together with the legs, as well as assembling each of the arms. Once all the parts were completely dry I started to drill into the 'neck' using a hand drill with a 1.5mm drill bit. It was surprisingly easy to line up to drill in the right place, and because of the small size of the magnets the holes didn't have to be too deep. 

I then moved on the heads, drilling a neat hole in each, roughly where it would meet the neck magnet. Putting the magnet in dry before applying glue is a must to make sure the size is right. Another important trick I learnt was a way to make sure that each of the magnets' polarisations match the corresponding magnet in the body. To achieve this I stuck the magnet into the joint first. Once this had dried I connected the limb's magnet to the joint and then painted a thin black line on the outer facing surface of the limb magnet. This let me know that that face was the one that had to go facing inward in the limb, to make sure the limbs would connect together and then simply glued the magnets into each limb. I was nervous at first, since there was no way to check the magnet connects until the glue dried and made it permenant. But the trick with the black line worked nicely and they all went together just right.

This meant that I now had a whole bunch of interchangable limbs for my three heavy boxes, giving me a huge amount of variability in my beasties for Legion for a third of the cost! I painted each of the limbs and the body, being careful to put a number on the base of the model and a corresponding number on the inside of the joint for each limb/head so I knew which ones went with each other and avoid confusion!

All from the same kit!

For anyone else, like me, who's worried about magnetising or how effective it'll be I can assure you it was super easy and, if I say so myself, I think the results look great too. I've actually decided to magnetise a whole bunch of models, and next on the list will be the Seraph/Neraph kit! I'd strongly recommend anyone who's considered magnetising as an option to give it a try. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

As always like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for more updates and photos of my painting work!

-M

Sword<Pen<Brush - Joining the Legion

Having finished (ish) my Menoth I've started a new project. I put aside my army of crazed, fanatical, God-bothering zealots and have started up a new army of crazed, fanatical Dragon-bothering zealots. Big difference is these zealots also come with their own giant, gribbly, land-shark dragon-monsters. Ooooh pretty. 

That's right I've been seduced by Everblight over to the Legion. Switching out to Hordes to try the other side and getting to play with some models I love and with characters I enjoy. Yay! I started myself off with the Battlebox and a Forsaken, but have since had a big ol' box of models delivered to my door including some legionaries, some Nephalim, and a bunch of solos, along with the Spawning Vessel (recycling is good) and some casters (eVayl, eAbsylonia, Saeryn and Rhyas). 

I have a long standing tradition of painting my armies using alternative paint schemes. I like to take the normal or studio approach to an army and put my own spin on it, usually just shifting the colour scheme slightly (see my cream Menoth) to add a little individuality to my painting. On top of this I like to pick out a palette of colours for the army and stick to those paints on every model in the army to tie them together. If you look through the army books for most miniature games the paints for different models will shift slightly as different times and different painters or techniques show through, but I like to paint my generals with the same colours as my fodder to keep them unified. This was a bit of a problem with Legion for two reasons: 1. There is a big difference between different studio approaches meaning there is no real set way to paint the army (which seems to be a trend in Hordes where the factions are inherently less cohesive). 2. I don't really like the studio paint scheme anyway. Too pale. 3. Also I have a bunch of Citidel paints that I have no intention of swapping out and most of the paint guides are for P3. (I know I said two reasons. Sue me.) 

The other thing I wanted to do was nice bases. For anyone who's seen my Menoth army the models are decent but the bases suck. I'd decided to try out the latest Citidel 'cracked earth' magical paint and to be honest it was a huge flop. It hardly did what I wanted (cool dry cracked desert?) and just ended up looking like I'd slapped some light brown on and said 'good enough'. I was both thoroughly disappointed and also commited to using the stuff on the rest of my models. Not this time. Not for my Legion. Did I mention my friend recently started making gorgeous resin bases? Well he has! Check them out: http://solidgroundstudios.co.uk. I decided to do his Rocky Bases as thematic snowy bases and bought a whole bunch. 

I started on the four Shredders from the Battlebox first, as they were the easiest and most 'expendable' if I didn't like my paint job. Truth be told by the time I finished they were a lot bluer than I had intended but the more I looked at it the happier I was with them. The way I did it was by starting with a base of Fenris Grey, painting up to Ice Blue by way of Shadow Grey, before adding a highlight of Space Wolves Grey (yeah some of these paints are ooold). I was also especially happy with how the models came out on the jaws which were a simple Elf Flesh layer with a red wash which I think contrasted well with the teeth, which again, were very simple with Ushabti Bone leading up to pure white:-

With them completed I turned my attentions to the lovely Forsaken. I initially didn't like this sculpt when I saw it but this is definitely a model that I didn't like on paper but really liked once I had the bare metal in my hands (see prime Feora as another example).  I decided to leave the darker undercoat showing on the membrane of the wings but otherwise it was the same technique;

Next I threw out the big guy - the Carnivean. Sticking to my main approach I kept the paints the same. The chitin armour is much more prominent on this model, and took some more effort to achieve a good effect. I wanted a dark brown for the scales to contrast with the vivid blue of the flesh and so I started with a cover of Rhinox Hide for the base and then gave each scale and plate a highlight on pretty much every edge I could find with Mournfang Brown before touching up the most raised areas with a touch of Khemri Brown:- 

Finally for the battlebox I painted Lylyth, one of my favourite narrative Warlocks. Unlike the bulk of the army Lylyth has equipment and such to paint. For the metal I based the whole area using Chainmail, then washed it heavily with Asurman Blue to almost completely stain the recesses before painting the raised areas with Chainmail again to get a dark/light contrast I was pleased with. The cloak was a base of black painted up to Necron Abyss with a highlight of Regal Blue to finish. The leather straps were painted in the same brown as the beasts' scales while her hair was the same paints as their teeth, and the same blue tinted skin across the army:

I left it at that for a while due to a (temporary) lack of models combined with moving home. I've resolved both issues now, and have started to make some more headway with my Legion by churning out another couple of Nephalim using the above techniques, first a Bolt Thrower and most recently a Soldier:

I'm really enjoying the change of pace and I'm looking forward to getting them on the table once I've built my forces up a bit more next year, but for now they're a fun hobby side project to keep me occupied while I keep playing my Menoth (to whom I fully intend to keep adding). 

Thanks for reading I hope you can take something from my humble paints (though if you only take one thing away it should definitely be that http://solidgroundstudios.co.uk has awesome bases you can buy!). If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to let me know!

-M

Sword<Pen<Brush - On 'Finishing'

Almost exactly a year ago I started into Warmachine. I've been a hobbyist for my entire adult life but had mainly stuck to GW related products like Warhammer (Tomb Kings, Skaven, Beastmen) 40k (Chaos Space Marines, Orks, Tau) and even Bloodbowl briefly (Dwarves). But for the last year it's been Menoth. And now I'm done. I wrote myself a veritable shopping list of goodies and I've bought, assembled and painted all of them (including a few I hadn't intended to!). In fact I've got almost the full range. Today I finished my final model. 

But that's exactly what I wanted to talk about. 'Finishing' isn't something hobbists do well. We're a 'one more model' hobby. And that's one of the best and worst things about the life. I am finished and I can say that with pride. I've done what I set out to and more. And I've got all the models to prove it. But there's always something else. Sure I'm moving on to Legion in a couple of weeks and I'm excited for that. But I don't think I'll ever really be 'done'. Even if it's not moving on to another project there's always that one more model. And isn't that awesome? Sure you can never truly say you've finished an army but on the other hand you also never have to stop doing something you love. That's a great thing and it's why this hobby can be so absorbing. Why you can lose yourself in it so much. 

But for now I can move on to another project satisfied that my Menoth is 'finished'. 

For now....

-M

Sword<Pen<Brush - Converting Mercenaries

One of my greatest loves in life is Narrative. I love a good story, if it's novels, TV, movies, comic books or even miniature gaming I'm addicted. Every time I pick up a model and grab my paints and brushes I'm thinking of the story of each of the little people I'm trying to bring to life. This seems like a bit of a tangent to the main body of the article but I'm getting there, bear with me. Anyway story is always what draws me to a character, world, unit or model. When I got started in Warmachine I was drawn to the knights and fanaticism of the Protectorate of Menoth. All well and good but the one thing I couldn't gel was mercenaries. I love the characterfulness of the mercenaries but I couldn't marry the mercenary mind set with the inflexible faith of the Menites. I gave up on including them, I'd make do I thought. 

I was persuaded, though, that it was necessary to include a couple in my armies but how to overcome the narrative issue? Conversion. By which I mean altering the models cosmetically and not trying to change the religious convictions of a sculpted piece of metal. Just slapping on different few parts and doing my own paints wasn't enough though. There needed to be story and character for each of the three I'd chosen. So here are the stories and model details for my three Menoth-ised Mercs:  

First Merc

The first merc I chose was Eiryss, Angel of Retribution or eEiryss. The official version looks like this:

I decided to turn her into a more Daughter of the Flame style character, swapping the sword for a double edged blade and giving her a Errant's crossbow instead of her own. Finally I slapped on an armour plate with a Menofix on the shoulder: 

Then I painted her in Menoth-y colours to compete the look:

And then I wrote up her story:

Selene 

Born in a North-western Llaelese Menite farming community, Selene lived a tranquil, pastoral life. Her father was the leader of the community and a fierce patriot, who imparted his love of the country into his children. 'Llael is the Garden of Menoth' was his favoured saying and in the beautiful and plentiful pastures it was hard to deny. Until the invasion. For the first few months Selene and her community were on the shifting frontline of the incoming red forces. The lines shifted back and forth as the Khadorans claimed the land and the Cygnarans pushed them back. Both forces consumed the land in their toils and left the land bleak and desolate. Most of the people of the township quickly learned to defend themselves but Selene's family never got the chance as they died in the early fighting leaving the young girl to fend for herself. 

The warjacks, cavalry and soldiers turned Menoth's Garden into a charnel house of churned ash and bloody soil. The people of the community were bitter and saw both sides as foreign invaders, despoiling their land, Llael was being torn irrevocably in two and there seemed to be no hope. Some in the community found solace in the Resistance but to Selene the message of the invasion was clear. Llael had lost the protection of Menoth and the impiety of the ruling elite had lead directly to the downfall of the nation. When the Protectorate forces moved into the country she took this as a sign of the only path to restore her country and, slitting the throat of each Khadoran living in her family home, she fled South. 

Selene joined the Daughters of the Flame and proved a capable assassin for the northern crusades in the early stages of the Protectorate's advance. Selene despises the ambition of Feora and sees in her the hubris of the Llaelese nobility. Preferring to fight alone she strikes where her god commands her and has shown an almost uncanny aptitude for disabling warcasters and warjacks who she sees as the epitome of heathen industrial evil. 

Merc Two 

Next up was the rogue alchemist Gorman DiWolf:

All I did for him was a simple head swap from a zealot which really contributed to making him match the rest of the army:

Then added a lick of paint:

And his narrative:

Tahïr the Red

The Idrian who would become known as Tahïr the Red was raised in one of the nomadic tribes that refused to convert to Menoth. Like many of the tribesmen living on the outskirts of the protectorate skirmishes with the faithful were common. It was during one of these conflicts that Tahïr narrowly avoided a direct hit from a zealot's bomb. While the the throw itself missed the explosion caught the nomad, engulfing him in flame. Instead of pain as the fire washed over him Tahïr saw only the perfection of flame and realised the glory of Menoth was contained in that fire. Diving out of the inferno horribly scarred, Tahïr leapt on the zealot who had opened his eyes and bludgeoned him to death with his own weapon. Taking up the zealot's bag of explosives he set about killing every member of his former family, gleefully screaming prayers to Menoth. 

He returned with the Protectorate soldiers in chains but soon convinced them of his conversion and was put to work with the Vassals. His grasp of mechanika was limited and his contributions rudimentary. But the Scrutators observing him soon realised he was a virtuoso with Menoth's Fury and any and all applications of the combustible. To Tahïr flame, especially used to slay the unfaithful, was the ultimate dedication to the Creator and his almost instinctive ingenuity with explosives lead to many subtle refinements of numerous weapons. 

Eventually Tahïr was given greater freedom to test his ideas and new creations and realised it was his destiny to create the ultimate explosive to be used against the enemies of the creator, and that this would be the ultimate dedication to Menoth. Impressed by his abilities and curious as to what he could potentially achieve Ark Razek sent Tahïr to join the Northern Crusade. In mere months he had earned a bloody reputation as the spectre Tahïr the Red and he continues his quest to find the perfect supplication to Menoth, a flame to match the one that brought him to the faith that will burn not just the flesh of the faithless but also consume their doubts and send their spirits to Urcean cleansed. 

The Third Sell-Sword

Finally the Mentite must Rhupert Carvolo:

 

This was a slightly different one. I added an exemplar shoulder pad and shield to meet his Menofix quota. Then I made a shoddy attempt at a Vassal like mask for him:

And painted (apologies for the picture quality):

And his tale:

Jean Llewelyn 

Born into a rich Llaelese merchant family Jean never really committed to anything in life. As a teenager he used his family's wealth and connections to come and go as he pleased, drinking with Kossites in Khador one month, and playing with a band in an Ordic bar the next. A callous drifter, Jean was quick to look after himself. As he matured he still maintained his reluctance towards responsibility and in an act of defiance against his Conservative father married a low born Cygnaran and started a family in Caspia. Playing music had always appealed to the youth more than the laborious work of maintaining the increasingly tense trade relations his father handled. Instead Jean played in taverns and faires around the city to keep his wife and daughters happy and fed. 

Jean might have continued his life as a carefree vagabond indefinitely had it not been for the outbreak of war in the Iron Kingdoms. Always a proud and moral man Anton Llewelyn, Jean's father had taken a vocal stand against the invading Khadorans and had been publicly executed as an example to dissenters. This stuck Jean profoundly and drove home his irresponsibly. He decided this was a second chance. Briefly. Within a few months he was back playing songs and drinking and revelling more than ever before, berely leaving enough coins to feed his family after he payed gambling debts and bar tabs. 

It was then the second great tragedy of Jean's life struck as war between Sul and Caspia broke out in full. Living within sight of Sul, Jean watched in horror as the Cygnarans began their assault and brought war to his doorstep. It seemed justified when the Sulese retaliated and he said so in his cups one night, leading to a brutal bar fight that left him unconscious in an alleyway. When he awoke the city was in flames around him. He rushed to return to his home, but when he arrived his home and his family had been burned to ash. 

It was at that moment that a trio of the men from the bar the night before stumbled across the broken man. Enraged by the destruction around them and desperate to lash out they identified in Jean a Sulese sympathiser and attacked. Jean did not resist the attack and would surely have died of not for the intervention of a Paladin of the Order of the Wall. The armoured protector cut down the men in a moment and stood in judgement of the Llaelese musician. 'This is what your faithlessness and lack of duty or honor have wrought.' He said as he left and the words were truer than he could know and cut Jean deeply. 

That was the moment of Jean's epiphany. He knew now that all the woes of his life were due to his own lack of direction and heart. Duty and Faith were more important that satisfying ones own base urges. Suffering had shown him the true path and Jean found, in the smouldering wreckage of his old home he found the metal front piece to his stove. In mimicry of the faithful Menites, held the metal in the flames of his former life until it was red hot and pressed it to his own face, fusing it to his flesh.

Since then Jean has returned to the one thing he knows, his music. But instead if playing for coin and drink he now plays arias and dirges of loss, patriotism and duty that stir the hearts of the soldiers of he faith, driving them to improve themselves. Jean cares less than nothing for his own well being and marches into the most hopeless situations without a moments hesitation, knowing duty is everything and seeking only to impart that to the men and women he serves with, that they can live the lesson he learnt from so much suffering. 

Conclusion

I've really enjoyed altering these models and coming up with a story that matches them. I also think the models worked out ok and now I have three unique models that have a small element of a life created purely by me. And that is the beauty of the hobby.

-M