Astra Militarum Updates #3

Remember from this post: http://the-last-season.blogspot.sg/2014/05/astra-militarum-updates-2.html that I have said that I would probably regret not getting the 2/2 web exclusive miniature? (Or was it the next post) Sidetrack a bit, check out that post to view what I got with the 1/2 web exclusive miniature.

Back to topic, I finally got my hands on this 2/2 web exclusive miniature. As a collector, I could not hold myself back from buying this miniature. The parcel juts arrived yesterday and I was pretty happy. Though tired, I still managed to open and have a look at it. Adrenaline from excitement gave me fresh strength.

Why would I just specially ship this exclusive miniature when I can still order other things. Hence, the first thing that came to my mind was this Commissar (Yes, it is another Commissar). For loyal follwers who have read my previous posts, I have been getting quite some Commissars. But this was one of my favourite. Unlike all those Commissars fighting in the thick of the battle, this one reads from a book, giving the men fresh strength to smash the foes of the Emperor. The raised powerfist looks like is is about to crush the enemy's head but yet never faltering in reading on, boosting moral.

Last thing that came with the parcel is Captain Darnath Lysander. I am currently also working on my Imperial Fists 3rd Company. So this is a great boost to my armour. Plus I had my eye on this model for quite some time but never got down to buy it as it was now in finecast. Knowing my chances for buying a metal one is slim and probably way over budget, I decided to just settle in for the finecast one. The first thing that came to my mind when I say it was "Look at those details". Which is a fact. There are so many small details that I am really glad I got it.

In other news, I finally put myself down to work on this chaos cultist from the 5 men box set. I painted him as I needed a techpriest for my armour unit and he is the most suitable choice. I wonder why I always never bought the actual model from the Games Workshop site, but that is probably because I always missed him when looking through what I want. Time to mark the techpriest on the to buy list!

(Front)

(Rear)

In some more exciting news, I made a Leman Russ Vanquisher out of unwanted sprues.

Why you ask? Well, two reasons. First being that I have too many unwanted sprues lying around that I really want to get rid off. Though they make good bases for the miniatures, but do I really need that mush sprues?

Secondly, My army lacks a vanquisher and with the new release Astra Militarum with the tank commander as a HQ, I find a vanquisher a suitable fir for him. Hence I got down to build it.

The turret is rotatable but only till about 150 degrees facing the front, since the sprues are all uneven and it is really a miracle it can turn. 

I had a heavy bolter mounted front sponson made from unwanted sprues too. No side sponsons as I don't want too much points on one Russ, but with the improvement of the points cost for every Russ, sponsons may be one of the things I want to add in my army when I have point to spare. I don't want to have too many big points vehicle lumbering around and drawing attention too much.

I left the sides and part of the rear empty so that when there is a need for me to add more things or to support the structure (which is unlikely), I would be able to do so with ease. Better than me cutting the entire thing apart just to add more sprues to it.

That's all for today's post. Do let me know your views on this Leman Russ that I did. Leave any suggestion if you have. Also let me know what kind of things you hope to see in this blog more often (Videos is something to look forward to at maybe around June).

Winters

A buy from the past!

Got all this from an awesome guy named Steven. He got all these out of production stuff that I actually wanted to collect and paint them up. Sadly I missed some pretty awesome stuff like the all metal landspeeders and the chaplain on bike. But I managed to get my hand on some items:

This is an overview of what I got from him. The ultramaines and death company(red one) box set is from 1993 and the honour guards and the other death company box from 1998. Look at those dates!

Within the ultramarine squad is 10 metal bodies of the marines and metal space marines. Though the arms are missing, I should be able to get my hands on some of them soon. Not a bad buy, since I love metal models and this is a pretty awesome collectible item that is already OOP for a long time.

The blood angels honour guard is actually just plastic assault marines. But what is so special about them is that it contains metal parts for you to build an assault marine that is an apothecary, a veteran sergeant with power sword, a techmarine (Yes, it includes and axe with the mechanicum sign too), a standard bearer and also a plasma gun guy.

These death company guys are the awesome ones. They are mostly metal with cool poses, plus two chaplains. The best part is one of the chaplain is Lemartes, an awesome guy. The poses of some of these guys are very nice and have the combat feel in it.

Last but not least is the Mephiston and Iron Priest (It is the Iron Priest as it is what is said at it's base tab. Plus the date printed behind was 'C GW1992') A great buy along with two awesome bits. Mephiston actually comes with the sword but I somehow missed it from this picture.

All in all, for the cost of $140, I think this is an awesome buy. I don't know why Games Workshop stop production of these awesome kits now. They should bring them back. I had some friends giving up this hobby because the models and rules are now worse than what they used to be. But I guess I have no say in this except to give my humble opinion: Bring back those kits that are really cool from the past.

That's all for today. Hopefully I can finish building them up and start painting them. But I guess the majority of this project will most likely be done during the term break, since my examination is already nearing and I have to start my revision.

See you all in the next post! 

Winters

Adeptus Custodes Scratchbuild Update #2

So with the increase in work to do everyday, exams to study for. I decided that this project would currently be put on hold until my term break, which is only about another month or so. But that does not stop me for updating the most recent portion that I have stopped at.

My work so far has led me to the lower part of the body with it's torso. This leaves me to only details left at the belt, waist, front and back armour plate, helmet and arms with their shoulder pads. The build so far seems pretty ok until I did a size comparison to my marine and this happens:

I must say the torso was also kind of badly done, but I should be able to fix it up. Back to size comparison, the body without the head is already as tall as a space marine on it's base. It's legs are also quite open, which means that my Custodes was built way too big to fit into the marines. This being said, I shall now proclaim it true scale Custodes. Not exactly but it makes me feel better. 

So far this is the progress that I have made. Though it was hard work, I believe it will be well worth it in the end. This update would mark the pause of this project until maybe a month later.

In the mean time, I would get back to painting during the spare time that I could squeeze out of my already tight schedule.

See you all in the next post!

Winters

Star Wars May the 4th be with you loot!

So today was the May the 4th be with you Star Wars day. I heard that there was a Star Wars event just at one of the local bookstore. So I decided to go down to take a look.

What disappointed me was the event was already over by the time I got there. It was said to me that it was yesterday and today was at a different location, somewhere far from me.

But this does not stop me from buying awesome Star Wars items. Plus, being a free comic book day, I got 20% off for everything that I bought in the store. So here is what I got:

Commander Cody collectible. I seen this for a long time but I have never thought I have owned one at all, since I am always running on a very low budget. 

 

This does not limit me to only Star Wars. I got these three books. Two of which being the Dungeons and Dragons books that I have missed, the other being part of the x-wing book that I haven't gotten. I am currently still looking for some of these books in the series but I still got it. Would not want to miss it.

What! How can you not buy a Star Wars Comic every time you see one? That's right. I got one right here that I found was pretty awesome! 

Lego was the first thing that I got for Star Wars, also it is what got me into Star Wars. So this is the new thing that got me pretty excited about. Since it too consist an exclusive miniature. I am quite a guy who likes to collect stuff!

Ending it off with a card game, I didn't see this snywhere else, so I thought I should get it, since this was also the last piece available in the store.

To side track a little, the warhammer 40k order that I received, if you remember, came with a black classified envelope. I opened it and guess what, it is a code for me to order another limited edition figure that cost 18 pounds. I really wanted it but it is just a normal marine captain and it looks almost the same as the first one, except with a shorter sword and a different weapon loadout. For that price, it put me to think twice about getting it. Since I have already crossed my budget, I guess I should just give it a pass. But I have a feeling that I would remember it someday again with a tinge of regret in it.

To end it off, prepare to receive and update on my Custodes soon. The work starts to look worse as I go on. But I guess I should still be able to save it. But it is way off scale. You would get what I mean when I post up my update on it.

See you all later!

Winters 

Loads more goodiness!

So I took the time today afternoon to head down to my local gamestore to collect back my Valhallan Ice Warrior that I have submitted for the painting competition. But after seeing some cool stuff there, I could not help but started picking up things to buy.

I bought the packet of round bases, since I am working on scratch building and I have a shortage of bases. Guess what! What I also bought was the Commissar book which I could not hold back to buy. Also got myself the Gehenna's Gold paint to slowly stock up the colour for my Custodes that I am working on if you have looked at the previous few posts. This puts my paint count for the armour to become 2 of 6.

I also met up if a guy to buy some second hand stuff from him: I bought 11 plague marines with a mix of metal, plastic and forgeworld resin pieces. One of which have both his arms gone but I believe it can be glued back, one is also a Plasma Gun. Love what he did with the marine backpacks, replacing it with skulls.

Look at those details!

I also got a Grey Knight Terminator from him which was pretty cool. I was actually thinking of converting a Kaldar Draigo but decided this guy is just too nice to be converted, so I shall just leave him as it is.

Last but not least my Valhallan Ice Warrior. I was super proud of him. Though I did not win any prize with him, I still felt that he have already did his best.

To mark off the end of this post, a look on a pre-glueing step where I fit the model together to see how it would look like first so I will not make any mistakes while glueing him together.

Winters

Astra Militarum Updates #2

After a long day of school an dhaving dinner at around 8 pm, I was pretty tired. I was planning to turn in tonight early but guess what I saw when I got home!?

The package that I have ordered approximately almost two weeks ago have arrived! Yay!

Now this have got me pretty high now and I don't think I would be able to sleep from the adrenaline rush I got when I saw this package left at my doorstep.

First off, I bought myself the new plastic ogryns, which I am pretty excited about opening very very soon. Also I got the book about Yarrick. The new one which features him young. I sort of start liking commissars and their story after the Ciaphas Cain novels.

Speaking of Commissars, I have also bought myself this awesome guy to add into my collection!

I also got myself this Audio Drama about Ciaphas Cain too! So much Commissar goodness! Love it!

Last but not least, also one of the reason I ordered online was for this web exclusive miniature space marine captain. It comes with a classified envelope that I have yet to open as I was afraid of damaging. The first thing that really caught my attention for this miniature was the details on it. The more I see it, the more I like it. Hopefully I get to paint it soon!

So that's all for today, get ready for some unboxing goodness that will come to you soon at this blog!

Winters

Adeptus Custodes Scratchbuild Update #1

As I continue to work on my Adeptus Custodes, I begin to have more spare greenstuff appearing from the unused pile as I tend to let it harden a little here and there before I move on. 

Hence I decided to use the spare green stuff into something unique and like to keep it as a memory of the process of making the Adeptus Custodes. That is I made a letter 'C' at every small piece of greenstuff I have unused and would most likely be wasted and thrown away.

This by far is the amount that I have gotten, placed on an ice cream cover, which comes in usefull sometimes when I am trying to do drybrushing: 

Not a lot was wasted but there is still a significant amount of it there.

I am not going to show the Adeptus Custodes now as I am letting it cure even as I type this sentence. Chances are this is going to be a pretty small update. I am expecting to finish it up to the knee by today hopefully. As studies have taken up much of my time, progress is already considered very fast. Updates would come for the Adeptus Custodes once I finished it's legs and it looks presentable.

So do look out for any updates on this, but chances are the updates on this may slow down till the next one being some time later. I am also already thinking of making my own pre-heresy Captain Loken from the Horus Heresy book novel. He was one of my favourite character, thus I am also now planning to have him but not so soon, not until I finished my Adeptus Custodes.

See you all soon!

Winters