The Eldar are coming....

Okay its the eve of my last exam for a bit, but excitement over the forthcoming Eldar release has got me checking for updates despite the need to revise....

Anyway i had been keeping an eye on the rumour sites so knew they had been on the radar for a while as such started the revamp of me old Eldar. Going to be splitting this project into three.

Part one will be revamp of old Eldar army of 2nd edition minis. Adding some dire avengers, finishing some seers, guardians, the warwalker squadron and another wraithlord that came with an ebay win. These will represent the normal citzenry of Ulthwe resplendent in their yellow helms.
Part Two will be adding to my current Eldar force based on the Black guardians of Ulthwe, currently consisting of mainly plastics and 4th addition updates. The new stuff i think will go here, with new wraithguard being the main additions from this release, but probably the knight eventually. And if fighters grow on me too much maybe a couple fo those.. but first have walkers, a wraithlord, avengers, dragons and support platforms to contend with.
Part three will be sorting out my FW contingent of Eldar. Lynx is looking beauitful but couldn't decide on whether to paint it Ulthwe, then i got the warphunter and now some shadow spectres.... which got me thinking....why don't i do it as an offshoot of Mymeara, the lost host of Irilyth, phoenix lord of the shadow spectres... it will be a small but fast attacking force that strikes like the spectre of the phoenix lord.... mwahahahah


Anyway as a teaser and to illustrate that it has begun....

Salute... the aftermath

Been a while. but that shouldn't be so surprising with my track record...

i must say kudos to those that manage to blog regularly, really takes effort and dedication to come up with quality content. Obviously I really struggle. How was it that i once thought i could be a writer? Nevertheless struggle on i will and by the wonders of modern technology i have part written this on my relatively new smart phone. As the kids say, "totes amazeballs" (Not mine by the way as they don't exist yet). So bear with me as thought i should write about my experience at this year's Salute, the first such experience i have had at this annual event.

Mr McVey!

Now had been hearing about Salute for a few years whilst browsing the tinternet's hobby related forums and blogosphere. However, it never really occurred to me to go as didn't think it was relevant being mainly GW focussed. But this year something twigged (probably to do with my continued exploration into the world of alternative mini companies) and decided i'd give it a go and get my ticket early. Glad i did! Was definitely an eye opener and also brought back much nostalgia as several hobby shaping faces from my youth cropped up throughout the day, namely Mike McVey, master painter of the time (at his stand), Paul Sawyer aka "fat bloke" of White Dwarf Editor (at the warlord games stand) and the Perry twins, renowned sculptors manning their stand. Seeing them brought a child like smile to my older wizened face.
Scale wise i thought it was going to be smaller than a GW gamesday, how wrong i was. It was roughly the same scale to the last gamesday i went to. While the GW event is exciting in its own sense as its what i grew up with, i'd say there is a lot more to see at Salute just due to the wide variety of companies showcasing their wares and catering for all sorts of hobby related needs. Ranging from terrain, to bases, all the mini genres you could want, storage and even furniture!

Fellblade up close and personal

But back to the day, walking through the entrance i was greeted by some cheery fellows who funnelled me through the pre-booked tickets aisle while handing me a goody bag! Awesome start. You don't get that at a gamesday! Don't think they've ever had a goody bag. Anyway no real time to look at what i got in the bag as i came to grips with the scene in front of me... stand upon stand of companies, gaming tables, people from re-enactment societies showing punters how to slash with a sword. To say i was slightly overawed is putting it politely...I simply did not know where to begin. Coupled this with the fact i had arranged to meet one of the ammobunker guys and give him some bits for a conversion he was after, had me wondering around a bit aimlessly. With the foresight of a gold fish, I had not asked for any contact details or arranged a meet point. So there i was looking for a guy i had never met in the aforementioned forum's t-shirt amongst a sea of lots of other guys with various t-shirts emblazoned with various other logos. In the end decided to do a quick circuit of the outer stands and work my way inwards, noting stands of interest, However not before taking off me coat as was mightly warm! But gradually made my way round, passing the well known stands of Forgeworld, Hasslefree minis, warlord, KR, trolltrader. Eventually ended up back at my start point. By this time it looked as if the FW queue had died down a bit so went to collect my order as well as pick up the event only minis. Spent my time in the queue gawped a bit at the display cabinet while waiting trying not to be tempted by anything shiny. (Was a toughie.... caved in later on in the day but not for the new shineys at least)

Did you say assault cannons? well they aren't, coulda fooled me though

 To be continued.... (basically because this has been in drafts for 2+ weeks now. :P)

Quick post as still here, just about...

So haven't posted for a couple of months, what more can i say? real life? that one is usually the culprit, but then so is my inherent laziness to post. But its been generally good, past an exam and hobby wise been pretty productive. Finished up the six month project and that has given me enthusiasm to continue with other projects. But enough chit chat, nothing interesting to say anyway to the pictures with couple of action shots of the boys in red

The last entry for 6 Month project

Fighting the next project... Eldar

Tycho and sternguard

Blog envy and ebayicytis

Erm, so blogging.... seems like such a good idea, but when it comes to actually committing time to it, always seems to come last. Alas, that is life. One thing that does not help is the plethora of other wonderous blogs out there that time spent on line is usually blog watching others as demonstrated by my extensive blog list on the right. Guess its just a side effect of the hobby...i collect and hoard...even blogs it seems.. but yes when it comes to my own the thing is i don't feel i have anything new to add, everything is already out there, usually vastly better executed. And the pain of it is seems to fuel my ebay addiction...you see things, think "ooh, i could try that" search on ebay find something completely different, or a bargain,  click "buy it now" and end up with a whole pile of stuff you'll never get around to... and then curse that you don't have more spare time, but when you do you're too tired or real life commitments get in the way...but it doesn't matter cos there are always tempting things on ebay  ending up buying for the sake of the rush and retail therapy.....arghhhh... anyway gone off on a tangent...

But never the less i guess this is my little corner and maybe i'll try and devote more time to it and share some thoughts about life in general. However at the moment just seems like an endless cycle of exams and limbo. Speaking of which, exams were a bust. Doing 3 at the same time yielded crappy results. Although not massively off.....flippin' 2-3% off a pass is mightly annoying. But better luck next time and all that fershizz. Just need to buckle down more. But new cycle begins. Thank you the Mayans

Anyhoo time since my last post has not been wasted hobby wise, a variety of models have been worked on finishing up odds and ends.

Firstly, Commissar tank, This has been reworked with new turret and commander added. had this for a while. So thought i'd get it done. Although turret still not finished.

Also finished this Infinity fig, Have named her "Lauren" said in a french accent as this particular set "the Metros" i think are based on the french armed forces.

And to round off, work on the blood angel vehicles. Not much to say, other thank detailing to be completed. Have been working on infantry as well but no pics

As a final note, will get to the Eldar in a later chronicle but here is a unit of wraithguard, picked up a few more recently on ebay and decided to repaint the whole squad together so these have been stripped ready for a new paint job. So this photo is just for posterity.


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Festive fun

So the season to be jolly is fast approaching. and hobby time has returned with a vengeance post exams. Main work has revolved around the blood angels however quick update.... i caved 

Yup went and got a lynx....and it is a beauty, since this pic has been washed and ready for building. but haven't decided on the scheme. My other Eldar are ulthwe but think black would be a bit boring...still to decide.

But back to the angels. getting a lot done. Tycho, attack bikes and beginning to start some tanks so its all good. With Tycho have done both versions. For the Death co version again black was a bit boring so tried an intepretation of dead mans hand and went with OSL. Regular version tried to mimi the NMM seen in white dwarf. can't quite pull it off as the colours seem off and has ended up a bit lumpy but looks ok  i guess

 in other news also picked up a drop pod which will be used for the stern guard in the works, initial base coat done

Finally almost completed Chronus

All in all lots done!

Chronicles of Xepher - Post 2

So, not done one of these recently so while i'm on a break after an afternoon of fun filled revision....(funny how these posts always seem to coincide with revision time...procrastination? me?...never! ) On an aside note, flippin' heck! did not realise this blog has been going for over a year now...time flies when you're not really posting that often...
But thanks again to all those that have visited, almost 1000, but most are probably just me.... :D

Anyway been so long not sure where i got to with this series...ah yes, airfix models....all great entry level stuff, but soon it wasn't enough and during the final years of primary school i finally became introduced to the world of Games workshop (TM) when a friend at the time brought in his Space crusade set for a day where we seemed to just have fun..think it was towards the end of term. At that point i thought, "that's pretty cool" (probably in more adolescent terms though as was young and innocent at the time) but it wasn't until he started bringing in white dwarf and citadel top trump cards that i really started getting hooked..the intricate paint jobs on the details, some of the battle reports, descriptions and fluff, reading about assault cannons. For a young kid who had previously been been into the 1:72 scale stuff and collecting stickers (the craze back in the day)...this was the new fad that i could really get into. Except it wasn't a fad... 20 years later, i'm still here collecting a true "exarch of the hobby" to put it in nerdy terms....

1st Captain Tycho

So, what were my first miniatures? Well they had to be Space Marines, the poster boys and all. And one Christmas probably back in '92/93..at least i think it was Christmas i got my first miniatures. It was tough deciding what to ask for, but went with the Tactical squad boxed set the one with the Ultramarine paint scheme and the Blood angel captain that was to be known as the first Tycho.

I didn't care back then they didn't sit together in the same chapter. They were cool minis!! However, despite now being the proud owner of a squad of marines and a captain, therein lay the first problem, they came supplied unassembled and unpainted...what to do? I didn't want to ruin them with my undeveloped artistic skills. No better to get them done properly by an older sibling who did art at secondary school! So with a sweet puppy dog face (i was a lot cuter back then) i managed to enlist the services of my eldest sister to paint them for me. (This was to be the arrangement for the early years of my hobby career) However at this point in time i was a happy bunny.

Squad Typhon - Banner was a later replacement as the original fell off

Now these may not be the best painted minis but considering they were only painted using a mixture of 4 citadel paints (Skull white, bad moon yellow, ultramarines blue and blood red) and humbrol enamels they're not bad. However, this limited palate was a template that i would carry through as i grew into my hobby. They served me well and brought much pleasure just admiring them as have never got into the whole gaming aspect of the hobby. (Though in recent years am starting to get more enthused)


But as with any collecting, soon more reinforcements are needed. Still not really influenced by army choice these ended up being painted to whatever the artwork at the time depicted them as. This led to an allegiance of sorts towards the Blood angels, encouraged  by White dwarf battle report at the time which heavily influenced what to put on the birthday/Christmas/reward lists. So Devastators soon followed along with this Rogue trade era librarian (unknown at the time, chose it cos it looked cool)

laying the foundation for what seems to be a long haul relationship

Month one completed!

Just a quick post to report i made it for month 1, have noticed a few minor defects but they were finish so huzzah, think this whole complete an army in 6 months might just work. Although probably not for next month with exams drawing ever closer...