Death Guard and Projects

So among getting a second session of D&D ready for this coming Satuday I've recently completely a Death Guard commission. There will be more to come as I'm doing the army in sections, but the first was a set of 3 Deathshroud and 5 Terminators

Theres some incredible details on these guys, the one terminator whose flesh is bulging out of his armour was incredibly satisfying to paint as was the fleshy tentacles on many of the models. Before is a video too!

I have also recently finished Trajann Valoris of the Adeptus Custodes. 

 

This chap is currently up for sale on Ebay! 

One other project I'm currently trying to work on is a kustom Morkanaut using mainly, an Imperial Knight. 

Trying to find the time to add more in between other tasks but when hes done I'll do some photos and videos of him before he gets some paint slapped on!

Torkin' Bowt Da Orks

So with the Ork release finally coming myself and Bam spend a good few minutes talking about orks in general. From the leaks to release, how we view the orks and some of the social sides of gaming. 

I'll be doing a video looking more at the ork rules soon too, and have a game sunday to see how they play. Hoping to get a nice mix of units on the board with an emphasis on boyz! Rules wise I'll probably do a top 5 format of rules I like the most, and maybe some that I'm just 'meh' about. 

Are you a greenskin? What do you think so far on the ork release, in terms of miniatures and rules?

Death By Video

Welcome all! I've been a little quiet again, but its because I've been working on a few things..... 

Death By Die is going video! I'll still be posting here, espcially with the new Ork releases coming but expect videos once a week  maybe more when I get into the swing of it! All subscriptions are massively appreciated, if you have ideas for videos or questions for a Q&A then fire away!

Saturday Salvo! New Releases and Orktober

Its Saturday, its Salvo time! I'm still awaiting news on the Orktober releases, but we do have some nice looking preorders up today.

The Warhound Titans are available next week, meaning preorders are up now. They look great and I may pick some up in the future to paint.

For Warhammer Underworlds there are two new warbands, as well as the warbands from the Shadespire set. The Eyes of the Nine are a Tzeentch based warband, and look like they're quite a versatile warband. The Tzaangor holding the sword looks great a female acolyte model is welcome!

The other new Warband up for release are the fantastically named Zarbags Gits. This motley crew of grots have 9 models in, the most of any Warhammer Underworld warband to date! Plus squigs. More squigs! 

Remember the Outpost have a whopping 20% discount on all GW products, so to grab these and any other Warhammer Underworlds warbands for just £14 each head over there on the link above to pre order! Until Sunday night, the 7th of October, they are also offering free entry into a competition to win a £25 voucher for each of the new WU warbands purchased and the Warhound Titans which are £32 to preorder. 

Another intriguing preorder is OP-Drop October 2018 which is a random bundle of goodies, this month containing products from Privateer Press, Warlord Games, Steamforged Games, plus painting and hobby equipment like the Kolinsky Brushes with more to be announced. In total the worth of this box is £70+ but are available to preorder for an insane £29.99. 

Now then, ORKTOBER! 

Currently I'm a wee disappointed that we haven't had the preorders come up for this beauty yet.

At the same time however, I am so excited to get this, I really need to get started on the orks I have as none of them are painted yet and theres 100+ boyz and various other bits to get sorted! We have 3 buggies announced and one more being teased.

Theres the Warboss on a trike model coming too, although I'm unsure if I like it. Theres a lot of conversion  potential thought so I'll probably pick it up but to use for kitbashing!

Rumours are currently suggesting preorders may be up next Saturday, so expect a Salvo and a half if thats the case! I'd like to create something large and kustomised for the army, so have been toying with the idea of a gorkanaut (or morkanaut)  but using the Arkanaut Ironclad as a base, perhaps attaching two chunky legs to the hull and creating a gun deck of sorts. I need to have a play around with the ideas so we'll see, but I dislike the Morkanaut model, just doesn't work for me. The stompa I'm not a fan of either so depending on where the ideas go, it could be a stompa! 

So what are you guys looking forward to? What would you love to see in the Ork Codex that isn't announced yet? I want kustom wagons! 

D&D and Exciting News!

First of all, lets get the news out there now. You may have already seen me mention The Outpost as one of the best online stores around. 20% discount on GW prices and many other ranges, releases always arrived on time, and I've had some excellent customer service. Well Death By Die is now an official affiliate of the store! By clicking the link above to make orders, it gives me some extra juice to get more new releases, produce articles on them and in the long term, allow me to produce more content for you hungry hobbiests.

 This will also lead on to me hopefully within the next couple of months producing video content on youtube and linking on here, and possibly even doing some giveaways! And we all like free things don't we? Well I bloody do especially if it means I can spread the love and pass them over to the readers of my humble blog. This link now has a permenant home underneath my blog header so sign upto the Outpost and get shopping. 

Otherwise on Saturday (hence no Saturday Salvo) I ran my first session of D&D! Which also means I can soon start to going into what I've been doing in terms of narrative, miniatures painting and dungeon crafting for it! Set in a homebrow city called Cannahein, a party is needed to do the deeds that the City Guard cannot, such as deep investigation, averting great evil and generally being heroes!

So far we have Malekai, a human Paladin who is older and more experienced than the other party members. Mane, a Wood Elf Druid from the nearby Ardeep Forest looking to enhance his skills and learn from a respected kinsman that now advises the people of Cannahein, and a gifted Fighter called Throngir who grew up in Cannahein working in his fathers forge. The young dwarf has bested most of the City Guard already and together, the party were introduced and quickly put into action. Being sent on the northern path to meet a now late Dwarf Caravan, the party crest a hill after hearing a loud explosion to see goblins attacking the caravan, running off with some spoils and a hostage. They rout the remaning goblins and get the Dwarves safely back to the city. 

The party were then tasked going back to track the goblins, finding them eventually and discovering the goblins had a troll ally! After some trickery the party manage to get the troll and goblins to fight amongst themselves before the troll and a couple other goblins see what has happened and a fight ensues. Malekai goes down but Throngir, Mane and the rescued Borrick are able to down the Troll quickly and pick Malekai up. 

I've also got two other players lined up to play, so should make a good full party with some variety of playstyle and characters to roleplay, so looking forward to it!

In other news the 40k Escalation League continues and I've managed to pick up 2 very close wins against Genestealer Cult and Space Wolves, next step is 1250 points. I was hoping Orktober would be in full swing but alas, not even the new issue of White Dwarf (which arrived today) mentions of any new releases. I IZ ANGREE AN' WANNA KRUMP FINGS! 

I know Orktober will probably commence at the end of the month so may have to wait until the 1500 points tier to get the new Codex Orks smacking heads!

So thats it for now, look out for more posts soon and don't forget to visit the Outpost through the link at the top for some great wargaming deals!

Saturday Salvo!

Well, somewhere in the world its saturday.... Todays post has been later than planned, but theres good reason for that. 

First of all, this came in the post!

 Thats right, I got me a Rogue Trader! Had some extra bits too, two brushes and some files, all from the lovely bunch at The Outpost. They're a great site with a 20% discount on GW products and a good range of other games too, always on time with preorders which is fantastic! Current plan is to paint the Nurgle side up to sell with the codex and bits specific for them. The RT element however I'm tempted to keep and convert. An Escher head on the RT's body would surely look rather splendid methinks! I can then either use the rules for Rogue Trader in 40k or as a command squad in my Astra Miliatarum army which is Necromunda gang based... we shall see, as theres Orks on the way! 

Most of my day was spent working on these...

 

The Nurgle Rotters are probably about 60% done, I've got some minor highlighting on the skin to do, then work on the metal by adding a shade and verdigris then the leather details. Then basing and transfers then hopefully, all set for sale! The Bloater models are especially incredible, I'm so enjoying painting these and would happily paint some more up in different colours 

When did you grow up? If, like me it was in the eighties, you might be a fan of the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. Perhaps you loved Thnndercats too? The reboot from a few years ago I very much enjoyed too. Why am I mentioning this? Well, if you take D&D and the new Thundercats, mash em together... you'd get this.

Just being released on Netflix with very little notice, I saw it mentioned and looked into it and watched the entire series today. Surprisingly I really enjoyed it too. Its the perfect type of cartoon that'll ring a little nostalgia in the adults with some good stories, but have a little kid friendly humour too making it perfect family viewing, especially when painting! 

Speaking of D&D, I got this!

While the campaign I'll be running soon is homebrewed, it is set near the Star Mounts of Faerun, set in the Forgotten Realms. The Sword Coast is nearby and the book covers a ot of the areas I'm likely to lead the party so its a great source for ideas. 

I also purchased 200 of these little tiles.

At 30mm square, I'll be mounting different numbers of them onto card and spraying grey to use as dungeon tiles for D&D. Keeping it simple for now, but when we get into it and they get used I can add more details and even look into getting some doors and props to put on there to help with the feel. 

The coming week I'll be finishing the Nurgle Rotters off then working on some Custodes bikes to finish off a commission, then get the Nurgle element of RT painted up. Then I'll see what happens as I want a couple of weeks in Orktober to build and paint some new and old ork releases! I've got a decent sized force already but I'm sure the new buggies will find a way into my collection as well as some other bits that may be released. 

Thats all for Sun.... I mean Saturday Salvo, shall post in the week with some updates!

The Farstriders: x2 Showcase

Greetings to another Death By Die showcase! This time, its two Shadespire warbands... don't worry you're not seeing double, this is two alternate schemes I did on the Farstriders. 

Even though gold is the predominant colour on both, the secondary colours give off two very different vibes.

See how the blue gives a cooler look, as if they may have been fighting near watery or icy areas. The red however is much warmer, and I think this makes them look more aggressive.

Deciding what secondary colour to use for a warband or army can theme your army despite what the main colour is. Even if the main colour on these were silver, the seondary colours would still give the cool or warmer feel to the miniatures. These Shadespire kits are fantastic by the way, easy to build (akin to the easy to build series GW has been successfully putting out recently) and I'd never in a thousand years thought I'd enjoy painting gold.

But here I am, enjoying painting gold! 

Which of the above schemes do you prefer? How has a secondary colour choice changed how your army feels? Do you regret picking certain colours? Leave a comment and pictures!

Saturday Salvo!

Welcome to another edition of Saturday Salvo, the post where I, the larger of the Kevs, talks about whats exciting me on this most Rogue of Saturdays!

Delivery today, these beauties! 

Looking forward to getting these built, unsure which to start first but probably the Reaver Titan. Heres a close up of the Nurgle Rotters sprue... not the summer belly you want, but possibly the summer belly you got!

Heres the sprue in its entirety. The Pestigor look better now I've seen up close, berfore from photos it looked like some hippo hybrid which I wasn't sure about. Those Bloaters are just amazing though! You can be any size and still get into sport.

Heres the Reaver sprues, three of them too! I'm a little daunted by this I'll be honest, but a little excited too. No idea what weapons I'll be arming it with but I'm going for rule of cool. The best looking ones! I may be tempted to get a Warlord at some point too, but I would like to get some for myself. 

Last week I posted about the Chaos Chosen and Imperial Knights, well both went up and sold in short order, which has been a lovely boost to my confidence. A mate of mine also asked if I could sell a miniature of his and some other batches in the future so I've neatened up his Captain Lysander and listed on ebay. Hopefully I can raise him some money!

This isn't how I'd do the yellow but with it already being applied I wasn't going to go over it, so used white as a highlight and glazed over. Its not too bad but I'd have preferred Averland Sunset first and built up from there. I am happy with the scribbles though! 

So with the Chaos team and Knights selling I was able to preorder myself this. 

Yep, Rogue Trader expansion for Killteam and 40k Some of the models are just amazing and the rest are pretty damn cool too. I'll be painting both factions to sell seperately but may sell together if someone enquires so we shall see. The board I'll keep as my local club are looking to get into Killteam so can be used there as an alternative. 

Otherwise I'll be attempted to sleep, build a Reaver and Nurgle Rotters team, get them painted in the next week so I can start on Rogue Trader and some Custodes bikes too. Plus maybe attempted to get some orks painted at last!

Chaos Chosen Showcase

Welcome to a showcase on Death By Die, this time of a Chaos Chosen team for Blood Bowl that I've recently finished!

As you can see, it includes 8 beastmen, 4 chaos warriors, 3 balls, turn marker token and coin, as well as the fantastic Minotaur from Forge World. I'm selling these on ebay and a quick search should bring them up if you're interested.

I've never painted an awful lot of fur and its still something I need to work on, but I think I'm getting there and am happy with how its come out on the Minotaur and Beastmen. 

Look how big this bruiser is, I've got another one sitting about so unsure as to what to do with him.... I am coming up to a significant number of page view soon so perhaps I could use him in a giveaway? 

As you can see, the Chaos Warriors have all had flames painted on their shoulder pads like the Beastmen. It was fiddly but its another thing I think has come out pretty well.

Blood for the Blood God! I love this paint so much, and had to find use for it somewhere and it suits being on the coin beautifully. 

The Beastmen have some fantastic poses, the GW sculpts for all the Blood Bowl teams have been amazing so far and I'm looking forward to cracking open the Nurgle Rotters team when I get them Saturday. 

So what do you think? I've still got a long way to go before I'm a fantastic painter but with more and more practice I'm getting there and I can see little improvements on a weekly basis. What are you guys working on and how do you improve your skills as a painter? 

For any info contact me on Facebook on my Death By Die  page or hook me up on Instagram

Saturday Salvo!

Welcome again to Saturday Salvo, where I share thoughts about what I'm upto and excited about in the world of tabletop gaming! 

Preorders came up today for the Nurgle Rotters and Reaver Titan, both of which I've snagged to paint up. 

The Rotters team looks amazing, although I don't like the Pestigors, they look like weird hippo-beastmen hybrids and its a little odd! The Bloaters are amazingly round however, and the rotters look great. Shall probably paint these up as shown in the box with green and orange so should be interesting to see how they look.

I've stil got some work to do on the Questoris Knights I've got but they'll be done in the week, so as mentioned I've preoroderd a Reaver to paint up also. I've yet to think about a Warlord yet so building myself up slowly before I go balls deep! This is another lovely looking mini, the detail GW have captured at this scale is incredible and I'm hoping I can do it justice. This will also be going up for sale when completed!

White Dwarf shall be arriving soon and the Warhammer Community  kindly gave us a peek at a model from the upcoming Rogue Trader expansion for KillTeam. There is so much character in this model I can't wait to see the rest and what the people over at the Inquisitorum page on Facebook, well worth a look if you like stunningly modelled and converted minis set in the 40k galaxy.         

On the cover the new LOTR game is showcased, the boxed set looks really good too and the sculpts are far better than the older ones of over a decade ago. I may be tempted to get a few just to paint up for myself! 

Otherwise I've pretty much completed the Chaos Chosen team for Blood Bowl which I'll be getting photos of soon and showing them off here, as well as writing and painting models for a D&D campaign I'm starting hopefully a week tomorrow! I've got a lot of things typed up on the pc so need to start organising it so I can find info when needed and make sure it all makes sense. I've set it in Faerun, but created a new city called Cannahein where the start of the campaign at least will take place. Should be exciting and when the players have seen miniatures I'll show them on here!

What are you all excited about and working on currently?