Zoggin-eck's 40k and general sci-fi models

[zoggin-eck]

Hi everyone. Lately I've been painting up my new models, and photographing my old ones, so hopefully a photo log will encourage me to do a better job of both!

As I've said in my Fantasy thread, any questions, comment and suggestions are most welcome. Bear in mind I consider all my models to be "tabletop standard" but I do (and will) make an effort to learn new techniques and tricks.

I hope you like!

[zoggin-eck]

Epic 40k and Genestealer Cults are sadly neglected, in my eyes, so how about I start with them?

This lot were painted years ago, but I still like them. I have more hybrids around so will hopefully spend a little more time on them, but I do like the colour scheme.

[zoggin-eck]

OK, so I'm starting an Imperial Guard army using Void 1.1 Viridian Marines as stormtroopers, Warzone plastics as guardsmen with the odd GW tank (since I already own a half assembled chimera). This will be an infantry horde army, 110 models so far! I still like GW's plastics, but I've bought an army brand new for the price of, say, two boxed sets.

I got both from ebay sellers, though you can get them directly.

http://www.scotiagrendel.com (for Void)
http://www.princeaugust.ie/target_games/ (for Warzone)

Here's the start of my new Viridian Interdict Marines (no, stormtroopers!). I got 30 of them, so that's all my elite choices taken care of!



I've never owned any I-Kore models before, despite always wanting to add some of their Void range to 40k armies back when they came out. I may still, since much of it (all?) is still available from Scotia Grendel. These guys were bought from an ebay seller, since it wasn't instantly obvious if they ship to Australia. The Urban War models from Urbanmammoth are of course more modern looking, but I have an odd feeling of nostalgia towards these plastics and their metals, despite not having any years ago! Better late than never.





These are their weapons, which I'll "count as" hot shot lasguns. They look different enough from the normal weapons of my army.





Test fitting them. I'm not the biggest fan of the helmets, but the unarmoured heads are quite small (OK, perhaps just right, but I'm so used to giant citadel miniatures heads ) and I want to go with a sinister all-helmeted look for the army. No skin showing on these guys!

For those who don't know, all the Void rules are free online at scotia grendel's site. They really are quite "40k lite, but with d10's" to me, which I don't think is such a bad thing. Just not different enough for me to warrant getting into. Warzone Mutant Chronicles, I'm not so sure about as far as the rules go, but I do have them and they are still available.

[zoggin-eck]

Yay, here the test models are assembled.

I've gone without the shoulder pads, as they make them look a little too much like fake Space Marines. Instead, extra pouches leftover from marine sprues ahoy! The shoulder pads will surely be useful in later projects. The large pouch backpacks make it more obvious this isn't powered armour. These larger pouches could realistically hold spare ammo clips, something I wanted to include with these models, and something missing from the models if assembled using only the provided parts.









I want these guys to be as WYSIWYG as possible. Each model will have grenades visible. Each will either be holding a pistol or have a holstered pistol, and I may have to add a knife to their webbing for the close combat weapon (I guess it could be hidden in the pouches, though).

[zoggin-eck]

And finally for the night, a quick colour test for the stormtroopers.



Painting for the whole army will need to be quick, so the plan is:

1. Black undercoat. 2. Two-tone urban camouflage. 3. Metal (silver) scratches in shield and weapons. 4. Three-tone light brown for the pouches etc. 5. Pick out eye/lenses in red-orange-white 6. Base (Not sure what method, probably urban rubble & mud). If I feel up to it, I might add some mud to their boots and legs.

These will be different to my recent fantasy models, where I use a lot of washes and glazes. These I want to be quick and fun to paint, and I miss doing models in nothing but layering. They may well come out a little cartoony, but I like that. These guys will be done up as urban camo, the basic troops in brown camo, making them look like they're from different reg.

[sprugly]

Your painted stuff looks great. I like the stealer cult stuff, I agree gw really need to do something with them cuz they could be a really characterful force.

I also see a nicely painted marine looming over the epic stuff that looks cool.

Looking forward to seeing how those stormtroopers look painted.

Sprugly

[zoggin-eck]

Thanks for that mate. I have half a day free tomorrow so I should get some more done then!

[zoggin-eck]

OK, got a test model done.

Originally, I went for a direct copy of what I drew in the last post. It looked awful (as well as being boring to paint)! Well, that's what test models are for. So, I went for a fairly simple blue camo look. I ended up using washes of the pouches and grenades, since I do love using washes The pouches this time around are darker, as the light brown stood out too much.









The blue may need a wash, it's a bit "heavily painted" looking, but in real life it isn't nearly as blue or shiny as the photos. The silver looks a bit rough, so next model I'll try painting a darker colour (boltgun metal perhaps?) before the chainmail.

All in all, still a quick model to paint. A few extra steps will be added for the next lot of models, so we'll see how they look. A bit more effort on the bases, too (rusted scrap metal to match my terrain). Hope you like!

[zoggin-eck]

I gave the same model a quick black wash around the leg and arm joins, as well as a few other places. I think this looks better, so I'll stick with it (and it'll be easier to do earlier on, rather than after the camo).

[sprugly]

Definitely looks better after the wash. Your painting is good, that eye lense looks great!
Sprugly

[zoggin-eck]

Definitely looks better after the wash. Your painting is good, that eye lense looks great!
Sprugly

Thanks again!

Yeah, I'm happy with the wash. Here's the start of tonight's effort:

[zoggin-eck]

I got home today, very happy to find a box full of Warzone plastic models!







Overall pretty good models for the price, about an eighth the price of Cadians. Not the best plastic, and quite some mould lines (which don't seem to bother me as much as some people ) but pretty simple to assemble. I removed the bayonette from the guy on the left, as it made him a little too over equipped, or at least too large, in my eyes. I want this lot to look like total cannon fodder, while the stormtroopers are the better equipped elite.

The idea at the moment is to paint the two factions as different regiments, which gives me an excuse to try another two paint schemes. Originally I thought the two "looks" of the models were similar enough to mix and paint all the same, but assembled they look different enough (well, they were meant to be opposing forces in the boxed game set!). An added bonus, I guess, is that I'll be less bored painting so many infantry.

Not sure what I'll use for the overall command squad, though. Perhaps the ones like the model on the left, suitably equipped and painted. Perhaps I'll track down some metal Warzone unit and character models, just to make the squad stand out.

[zoggin-eck]

While I'm thinking of alternate camouflage schemes, I cam across some old guard models I painted some six or seven years ago as a kind of snow scheme. This one was my favourite one.





Not sure if I can use it on my new models, but, food for thought and all that sort of thing.

[zoggin-eck]

And a grot, who's been on my "to paint" list ever since the model came out

Oddly, I only gave it a quick paint, testing yet another way to paint green skin. Not sure I'm as happy with it as my usual way. Hmm.....

[zoggin-eck]

Hey, something a bit different today. I've painted up a Boba Fett and Han toy as a gift for my sister.







Good fun, even if the plastic/rubber was a little too soft to work with, and difficult to undercoat.

[DarkSoldier]

VOID... That takes me back. I used a VASA Commander X as a Star Wars RPG character many moons ago. Speaking of Star Wars, that Boba Fett model makes go go "Aww, so cute!"

I love that ushanka-sporting soldier. Shouldn't he be wearing gloves if he's decked out for cold weather?

[zoggin-eck]

VOID... That takes me back. I used a VASA Commander X as a Star Wars RPG character many moons ago. Speaking of Star Wars, that Boba Fett model makes go go "Aww, so cute!"

I love that ushanka-sporting soldier. Shouldn't he be wearing gloves if he's decked out for cold weather?

Thanks for the kind words!

Void stuff is awesome, lots of chunk, solid models in the range, and the plastics are great.

"Aww, so cute!" is pretty much what Boba's new owner said, too!

Yeah, he took off his gloves apparently. I've done the same with snow themed dark elves in the past, too....

[zoggin-eck]

Small update time!

At the end of last year I bought a whole lot of dice and other stuff from EM4, and couldn't resist getting some of the "Phagon" Beastmen form the old Spacelords range. I've seen them mentioned a few times as beastmen for abhuman Imperial Guard armies, and had never seen them in person. They are a bit small and skinny, more like a downtrodden class rather than the hulking brutes you'd find in Warhammer, for instance, but great models.





I plan on using them as mutants in the Judge Dredd miniatures game.

[zoggin-eck]

Today a robot dog made from the one on the Mantic dwarf ironclad sprue! I plan on making a few of these, since it was quite fun and a change of pace.







I left his teeth and eyes metal to make it a little more obvious that it's a robot. Others will have plates in their head, maybe metal legs and so on.

[zoggin-eck]

I bought a model of the turret from the Portal video/computer games for my girlfriend (who is a big fan) late last year. Ever since, I've been eyeing it off with the plan of using it as a combat droid in Judge Dredd games!

Rather than run the risk, I bought a couple more for myself. This first one I've painted, has the weapons unseen, whereas the others we have are ready to fire (for those unfamiliar, the guns pop out from under the side "doors"). To make the model a little more obvious, I've added a multi-laser where the eye lens would usually be (which also hides the annoying mould line that ruins the effect). For this reason, in the game I will use it as a mercenary combat droid (always armed with laser weapon) while the other, when used in a robat gang, can be equipped however I like (whatever gun suits the twin weapons it usually has).

Anyway, enough carry-on!





I decided to make one of the doors look like it had been replaced. Since I have a couple of the same model, in the context of our games, I imagine that these are mass produced like cars and parts can be swapped around as needed.