I've started posting my hobby stuff on Instagram in late May 2022. Might still update some bigger pics here in blogspot at some point. But other than that it's full on Insta throttle for now. There's already a few new projects: Machine Cult Defilers army for the Onepagerules Grimadark Future setting, as well as a huge Tzeentch army for Warhammer AoS / 40k.
Take care, and hopefully meet you at Instagram!
- Mutant Modifier -
For the last week or so I've been planning on yet another army project - Age of Sigmar Slaves to Darkness with lots of chariots and characters to be precise. I almost started working on those, but in the end managed to keep building this Dark Mechanicum force. It can get tiresome to do an army project like this with lots of kitbashes and scratch builds involved. It's a continuous effort to come up with new ways to combine things and create something a bit different. Brains and hands do need other kinds of activities every once in a while, to keep them brisk and motivated.
I was having my doubts about continuing with this project when building the Kastelan Robots. What kept me going in the end was that I counted up the points cost of the army assembled so far. Think it was 1155 points back then. I decided that I would add another 345 points worth of models to that, so I would have a nice 1500 points force ready for table. The easiest way to achieve this seemed to be adding a few characters (that I needed and wanted to include anyways) and another unit of Skitarii Rangers that was already partly assembled by someone else (I had bought them from a Facebook marketplace a good while ago). And now I have a patrol detachment primed (with Wolf Grey by Army Painter) and textured (with Agrellan Earth & Astrogranite Debris technicals by Citadel). OH YEAH, HOW NICE!!!
The Kastelan Robots were kitbashed with WizKids Iron Golems. I really like those miniatures, and the one here that has just the actual Kastelan fist, gun and backpack attached to the Iron Golem is my favorite one of the bunch. One got a grill from an earphone as a face.
What else? I cut the Tech Priest Dominnus in half and inverted it's lower body. Another Tech Priest got parts from Kataprhon kit. The two "Tech Priests" of a lesser rank I left unconverted, as the metal models are just super cool already (one is an Auto Quill Servitor and another a Dialogus). Two metal Cawdor gangers (also super duper cool) from the original Necromunda range also got to join the hooded ranks of the Rangers. To the big Dunecrawler contraption I added more strings, cables and rivets everywhere.
Now I'm just waiting for the crackle paint to dry and get painting!
Here's the full gang of Cultists ready to rumble. Got the Leader with vertical eyelids, a Plasma Gun and an Axe. The four Gangers are armed with a variety of basic weapons. Careless hivers might think that one of them carries a sleeping bag, but on closer inspection it'll turn out to be just an enormous scroll of forbidden curses. There's two Heavies with a Flamer and a Heavy Bolter. Three Juves are equipped for close combat. Every gang should have a Juve with two knives, and I finally made a proper conversion to underline that. One of the Juves has a flail for an arm, and the last poor kid's got a hook and a Chainsword type of attachment instead of hands. Dangerous in melee, difficult in toilet. Each member of the gang also has a holstered pistol. As the load-out is quite heavy, I'll have to start the gang without one of the Heavies, or just leave all the pistols out until the gang gets enough credits for them. Can't wait to get gaming. But when?
Okay, here's something just slightly different for a change. I've been trying to organize a game with a friend for quite a while now. I had my own ambitions in trying out the new edition of Warhammer 40k, since that's what I've been recently building armies for (did some Orks last summer, Nurgle CSM through the fall, and these Chaotic Overlords for the last two months). But my friend suggested Necromunda. It's been my favourite game for the last 25 years, so why the hell no?!
So just to tie things together a bit, I decided to build up another Necromunda gang that could also double up as a unit of Chaos Cultists for my big 40k Overlords. After a quick rummage through my endless bits boxes, I came across four metal Servitor miniatures I recently bought from somebody at the local miniature trading group at Facebook. These would form the basis of the gang. Add in some Genestealer & Chaos Cultists, Skitarii and Space Marine bits and whatnot. Didn't remember that converting metal miniatures was so tedious...
As I envision these dudes to be kind of reanimated golems, I felt something else than just ordinary human heads would be in order. Maybe more animal heads or skulls, much like my proxy CSM troopers or Centauroid Bikers have?
Then a tiny piece of lore formed up in my head. The big Overlords would always decapitate their victims (and slaves), then mix up and swap body parts and heads in between different species. The most succesful and strongest ones would live up to become these CSM troopers and Centauroids for example. But the weak and miserable ordinary humans wouldn't usually be able to cope with such a massive operations. They would need other things to stay up. So the Overlords would insert these big magical orbs of unholy powers for their heads and bind them to their evil will. Enter evil laughter.
For the Necromunda purposes, I armed the gang quite well. The leader has plasma gun and an axe (I'll hopefully find a power axe for him some day...). The two heavies got a flamer and a heavy bolter. Four gangers all have a basic weapons. I gave them a varied mix to personalize individual gangers and help differentiating between them in the gaming situation. So there's a boltgun, a shotgun, an autogun and some weird Skitarii gun that I think can be played as a lasgun, a hunting rifle or even a needle sniper rifle if I ever happpen to find one. The trio of juves got the usual close combat weapons, with the all time personal favourite load out of two knives. Everybody in the gang also has a holster, so can be armed up with any kind of pistol. Enter even more evil laughter. I might still sculpt in some eyelids and/or hoods around their magical orb heads.
While waiting for gallons of slime to dry on the Rhinos, I finished this unit of Cultists today. Damn sure they'll see some Necromunda action some day as well.
And here's a few WIP shots.
And here's a bunch of recently finished stuff. Tried to add some iconography to a few bare shoulder pads, but couldn't come up with a choice of colours I liked, so left them bare for now. Different coloured slimes will help distinguish units. Next up Beasts of Nurgle, Spawn and other horrible monstrosities. Gotta get gluing & sculpting!
