Trevy's Painting Table

That's right folks, it's here!

In fact, it was released yesterday, but it took until today for it to arrive to me.  I have my work for the day complete, and I've just sat down to install it!

...

There goes my life!

See you in Koprulu!

After several months of long delay due to shipping mishaps and packaging malfunctions, I acquired myself a box of Wargames Factory's long-awaited Sci-Fi Shock Troopers.  Despite my displeasure at the long wait that I was forced to endure in order to finally get my hands on these models, I have to admit that they are very much worth the wait!

The first thing that I noticed when I taking my new minis out of the box was the relative simplicity of the set.  It consists of six sprues, each identical to the next with all of the body, head and weapons options included.  Each sprue has three bodies on it, making for a total of eighteen troopers for the excellent price of $19.95, which makes them an incredible deal compared to the exorbitant rates that Games-Workshop charges our poor bank accounts.

The problem with the simplicity of the set and the sprues as it does not offer a great deal of flexibility in terms of posing or weapon options.  If you want an entire troop armed with rifles, you are going to be stuck with only three poses as all of the poses of the weapon arms are identical to the next.  One of the more interesting details is that while the pose of the weapon arms is the same, the actualy weapons are not.  The kit comes standard with eighteen rifles, eighteen shotguns, twelve special weapons and twelve pistols, and not all of the rifles (probably the most-used item) are identical.  There are three variants, one of each on each sprue.  There is a shorter, lighter rifle, a longer and more dangerous looking one, and then a stocky carbine.  If a player were to use these models for an Imperial Guard or similar type of army, they would have to go searching for identical weapon options for their troops if they didn't want to include the variant rifle designes, and I think taking that into account might have been a better idea on WF's part.  Fortunately for my purposes, I one have five models armed with rifles, so I am alright.

The other thing that stood out to me immediately as soon as I picted up the kit was the amazing detail of the models.  The main complaint I have heard about Wargames Factory is that their models are generally pretty detailless, but the opposite applies here.  The detail on these models approaches GW's standards, especially on the helmet and around the weapons.  Unfortunately I can still see some evidence of a little under-sculpting on some areas, especially around a lot of the hands.  There is a particular bit on the sprue of a pointing hand, and the clenched fingers of the hand look unfortunately similar to a child's first attempt at tying their own shoe.  Another small detail problem that I encountered was the length of the neck - it was so long that it brought the trooper's head unnaturally high off of his body and over the signficant collars that the troopers wear.  I found that I had to snip off the end of the model's neck in order to make them look a little less like a space giraffe.

Despite this, the models are relatively simple to built, and give you enough options to build them into any Sci-Fi universe, with extra heads and weapon options to help them fit in.  In addition, they're easy to convert to any troopers that you may wish to use them as.  My buddies at The War Store have alreeady started offering Imperial Guard conversion kits with these models and GW's Cadian weapon and arm options, and I have to say that they scale up nicely.  I was originally hesitant about the scale, but these models sure look the part compared to any Space Marine.

So somebody get themselves some of these models so I can get to painting them!

I just finished some Termagaunts for the same guy that I did some Gargoyles for a while ago.  It's a small project, just 20 Level 2 models, but it paves the way for some of the larger commissions that I have in.

Speaking of which - Mr. OL, if you are reading this than you know who you are; sorry about taking so long about your guys, but I'm getting really stuck in tomorrow!

Yesterday, as I said earlier, I ran a monster of an Apocalypse game.

After staying up late to assemble scenery and repair models that I had left unitl late, I got up bright and early and toted it all down to my local community center that was graciously allowing me to use some room in thier basement for the game.  So I filled the space up with 64 square feet of tables and terrain, and almost that space's worth of modela and we let fly!

The event drew 10 players, who together contributed 26,000 points onto the table!  It was huge!

Some highlights of the game included five Carnifexes rushing into the Imperial lines, unleashing great goutes of bio-plasma as they did so....

...7,000 points of Imperial armor rumbling down the board to claim the opposing objectives...

...and an Imperial orbital barrage destroying two whole broods of Gaunts in one fell swoop!

For more pictures and a commentary on the game, check out its album on my Photobucket profile.

I also have a YouTube report of the game up, but my blog software is messing with my as a prank (I'm sure), so I'll have to link it to you:

Trevy's Apocalypse Bash Battle Report

I finished another project today, which is fortunate, considering that I need to get some terrain ready for a mega battle that I'm running this weekend.

Anyway, this project comprised of a mass of little green goblins and one massive, fat ogre.  Sounds like a Shek movie, doesn't it?

I bought some models a while ago to play in a Necromunda campaign that my local game club is starting, but they were delayed several months in shipping.  They were those Greatcoat Shock Troopers that Wargames Factory released, so after two months of waiting for them they've finally arrived!  That's alright though, because it gave me a chance to write out my starting gang and play some test games with it.  That gang looks like this...

The House is Van Saar, so I'm looking for a more ranged combat approach to the game.

Gang Leader w/ Lasgun, Chainsword - 170 credits

Heavy w/ Heavy Stubber, Laspistol - 195 credits

Heavy w/ Heavy Stubber, Laspistol - 195 credits

Ganger w/ Lasgun - 75 credits

Ganger w/ Lasgun - 75 credits

Ganger w/ Lasgun - 75 credits

Ganger w/ Lasgun - 75 credits

Ganger w/ Plasma Gun, Laspistol - 135 credits

I only have eight models on the field, so unfortunately I'm pretty susceptible to bottle tests.  If the enemy puts down two of my guys I'll have to start taking them.  Fortunately, though, I have enough firepower to put down enemies way before they get close to me.  I generally find it helpful to split the gang into two 'groups', each one with a heavy in.  That allows me to deal with threats from multiple angles, and possibly have one group covering the other if I need to move loot counters or other objectives.

I ended up winning that tournament that I was away attending all weekend - well, I didn't win but I tied for first with another player, so it was decided that we were going to split the prize money anyway.  By also winning $50 riding on an introductory mega-battle, I was able to go home with a new Carnosaur for my much-deserving Lizardmen as well as a copse of GW trees for my in-progress gaming board.

I got a message this morning from the proud owner of the Thunderwolf Cavalry that I completed a couple of days ago, and he was very happy with his models!

"Im extremely happy with Trevy's painting service, not only did they save me heaps of time having to convert / model / magnetize / paint my Thunder wolves, but they also did a very good job at it while still keeping the service at a very reasonable price . Future projects are already planned by me to continue to use thier service, as its really a getaway heaven for lazy hobbist yet serious gamers like me (i still want cool looking and painted models even though I'm lazy :D)."

Warhammer 8th edition is apon us, and as such there are parties going on all over the world!  I'll be in my local game-store playing some 8th edition and, when I'm not doing that I'll be finishing off some Lizardmen minis for those games.  As such, I probably won't be checking my mail very often or actually painting miniatures, so head's up!

Geronimo!!!

I've got another cool project to share with everyone today!

This time it's a squad of five Thunderwolf Cavalry from the Space Wolves army in Warhammer 40,000.  Because Games-Workshop is stupid and doesn't want to release actual models for the powerful Thunderwolf Cavalry, a number of other manufacturers such as Mr. Dandy have stepped in to make some excellent alternatives, one of which I reviewed not too long ago.

Well the reason for this review is this project, so here we are!

The other reason that this project is so dang exciting is the fact that it is my first introduction into the wonderful world of magnets!  All of the options for these models are indeed magnetized making for a total of 25 additional options!

I do now include the option for magnetization of models, so check out the price guide for more information on that.

Anyways, onto pics!

Now, the narrative behind these particular models is that they are members of the Space Wolve's legendary 13th Company.  This company was sent into the Eye of Terror to hunt down agents of the Thousand Sons, and that is what they are doing here!  The models are rampaging over the hellish surface of a daemon world complete with rivers of blood and erie transparent crystals, killing daemons and chaos Space Marine alike.

All the models are Level 5 with scenic bases