Converted Battle Boar Painted

Here is my converted Battle Boar all painted up!

I managed to paint him entirely within one day from priming to done, which is something I don't normally do as I typically batch paint a lot of models at once.

The conversion from Gun boar to Battle boar was easier than I thought it might have been. Though I had originally intended to make the model magnetised giving me the option of a Gun or Battle boar, once I started the conversion I found that it would have reduced the quality of how the model would end up. So I decided to just make a Battle boar as it was the one I am more likely to want to use in game.

I posted while this model was wip as I wanted your feedback about the armour plating I wanted to add to this arm. Most people voted for this choice so its the one I went with and I have to say I like how it looks!

I really like how the chemical tanks and venting cloud look, I asked my painting buddies which colour I should use for the chemicals, green was the most popular choice for it.

I like how the thin piping that's going into his shoulder looks like its injecting chemicals into him.

I changed the rope that was meant to be the pull cord to fire the cannon when the model was a gun boar so that it looks like piping to feed more chemicals into the boar by adding some bendy piping at the bottom of the rope and using green stuff to make it look connected.

I painted the extra shells held on its belt to make it look like they are additional supplies of chemical, I didn't want to try to remove them and deal with extra sculpting to cover up their removal.

Here he is with Rorsh and Brine, I have no plans to get a Farrow Warlock so this Battle Boar belongs to Rorsh! I will be using it in a list with Rask, and I'm sure they will make an appearance in the IKRPG too at some point!

What do you think of my converted Battle Boar? I'm really pleased with how he turned out, I like having converted unique looking models in my armies.

Custom Tournament Tray

I made my tournament tray a while ago but never got round to posting it, a few people have asked how I made it when I have posted my pictures of my tray at the start of tournament so I figured I would go over how I made it.

This is just me "test fitting" all the parts

It all started with the trays which I bought at my local £ shop, they were discounted "mothers day breakfast trays" being sold off after mothers day. Being cheaply made I doubted their sturdiness but decided to chance it given how cheap they were. I picked up a length of 1.25" x 1.25" wood and cut it to length to be used as the upright supports. I measured it out to make sure I would be able to fit large models on the lower layer. (I used my Stormstrider as it is the tallest model I wanted to be able to fit)

The joints of the tray looked to be just glued so I added right angle bracing to add strength to it. I drilled through the wood first (very slowly to avoid damaging the tray)

For the top layer I bolted the bracing pieces in place.

As you can see here I drew on in pencil where the supports would be located. This helped me drill in the right place when I attached the supports.

I drilled up from underneath the bottom layer through the tray and into the supports. I then secured the supports with screws

I then attached bracing right angles to the bottom layer attaching them by drilling through the tray and into the side of each support.

Finally I attached the top tray by drilling down through the tray and into the tops of each support, again fixing it into place with screws.

Here is the tray fully assembled.

Plenty of room to fit both my Stormstriders on the bottom layer.

I then turned my thoughts towards how I would decorate it, I had wanted to use some of my MK2 stat cards for a while and this seemed the ideal project for them. I just had to pick which ones I wanted to use.

I had a spare sheet of Plastic canvas or Granny grating as it is also known, so I decided to add it on to one end of the tray. I tried out attaching my PP pins to see how it would look.

The PP pins are really hard to get over here in the UK sadly... I got these ones at Smogcon 2 years ago. 

For painting I just went with a simple black undercoat and then took a grey spray paint and made it look weathered. 

I like how the pins look on my tray it gives me a good place to keep them all together. I would like to get more one day, but I'm not paying international shipping and import taxes for them...

When it came time to pick which cards I wanted to use it was a little bit tough! So many good memories using loads of models in mk2. In the end I went with most of the models I liked to use in my old Caine2 list for the top tray, and all the Trencher cards on the bottom tray.

trenchers are the models that got me into Cygnar so it seemed only fitting they got a place on the tray.

I glued them down using PVA glue (white glue) putting a sheet of cling film (Saran wrap for my American readers) over them all then weighing them all down with a pile of books so that they didn't curl up.

Once they dried I applied another layer of glue over the cards to protect them from being easily scuffed or scratched.

I love my tournament tray, it quite often gets a question or a compliment at a tournament or online when I post a picture during an event.

I saw a picture PP's Dallas shared the other day in which he had free hand painted some menoth iconography onto someones tray. This has inspired me to try the same so I might be cracking out the paints at some point in the future to give it a go on my tray!

What do you think of my tray? Would you have picked different cards to decorate it with?

Bull Snapper Painted

Just a quick post today, I finished up my Bull Snapper for my Minions army.

He was a pretty straight forward model to paint, I didn't want him to look too flashy but did want him to fit in with the rest of the gator based models so he gets the same colour scheme they will have.

So what do you think of my Bull Snapper?

Do you use them in lists often?

Void Leech's Painted

Void Leech's finished! When I started these I was unsure if I should paint them in the ghostly style I previously painted undead models like Alexia's risen. Having just painted Maelok who is undead in a more detailed style I decided that I would paint undead which aren't just grunts in a big unit like Alexia or the Shamblers in a more detailed style. Shamblers I am happy to paint in a ghostly style though...

I picked my colour scheme for my Bog Trogs from No Quarter Prime 3, its such a great resource I was really struggling to figure out how I wanted to paint them at first.

Ah rope... so much rope on Minions models! Its a bit much but it does look good once finished.

What do you think of my Void Leech's? I think they are a great addition to Minions and I see myself using them a lot.

Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew & Swamp Gobber Chef Painted

Gobbers are always great fun to paint, they have loads of character in such tiny models.

The gobber chef is carrying a ton of stuff tied to his pot!

I love the crab or lobster bits hanging out of his pot, such high quality victuals to feed to the Warbeasts!  

I tried to make his apron and hat look really dirty, I doubt that they have been wash since he "acquired" them from whichever poor soul owned them before him...

I wanted my Bellow crew to look as innocuous as possible, they really wouldn't want to draw any attention to themselves. I got the humble bundle of Iron kingdoms books and some of them are a collection of short stories. One of these features a tribe of swamp gobbers and their dealings with Gatormen, it was fun to read a little about how they would interact with the Gators it adds a nice little level of understanding of these little guys lives.

What do you think of my Gobbers? I love painting the little guys, I have a few more of them to paint at some point so look out for them in the future!

Maelok the Dreadbound Painted

This model marks a first for me! This is the first Warlock I have ever painted! He is also ridiculously detailed, I kept thinking he was done and then I would find another detail that needed sorting,,,

The ripped up skin all down his body was interesting to paint, I don't often paint battle damage.

I decided to paint the candles in three different colours, I was originally planning to paint them all the same but changed my mind part way through as I bought a Blind Walker and started painting it as well realising that it wouldn't look very good if I painted it with only one candle colour and I wanted them to be tied together visually with the same colour candles. 

He has a bunch of junk tied to his waist...
Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures...

The ripped open ribcage part was esecially fun to paint, I got to combine the way I paint bone with the torn skin areas and then the scales beyond that. A bit tricky but I'm pleased with how it turned out.

What do you think of my version of Maelok? I am looking forward to trying him out in game, plus he will make a great antagonist for the IKRPG...