Saturday 15 September 2018

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!

Monday 10 September 2018

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 8 September 2018

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!

Sunday 2 September 2018

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 1 September 2018

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?