Ice Ice Baby

With the Hyperion finally painted, it seems like a good time to get to some of those smaller models in my collection that have been overlooked. One of these is the Nyss minion sorceress, Lanyssa Ryssyl.

Of course, the utility she brings to the table obviously had no bearing on this decision….

Despite being an elf, I wanted her to look a little different to my other Iosans. To begin with, I decided to make her even more ethereal, so I used a very muted palette of neutral colours, and as a winter themed model, I made her cloak of feathers, white.

With her paint scheme chosen, I wanted to try something different with her base also. To tie in with the rest of my army, I used the same water effects and paving, but in her case, it seemed very reasonable that the water beneath her feet should be frozen.

To get this effect, I created the base as per normal, and then in the ‘wet’ area, I used water effects with a tiny bit of turquoise ink mixed in. Once dry, I painted over the water effects with a lay of crackle paint.

This stuff is normally used for scrapbooks and it shrinks as it dries to create a crackled surface. I know there are a few different makes on the market, but I used Ranger Crackle Accents.

Once that was completely dry, a few glazes of thinned white paint was applied. This flowed into the cracks to highlight those, and made the surface slightly opaque just like real ice.

To finish off, a few patches of fine snow/pvc mix was added and voila, a frozen water feature!

Pixies, and Giant Killer Robots

Despite the fact I’ve actually been doing hobby stuff, it appears I’ve been too busy to update this blog over the last two weeks. This is obviously a bit  rubbish, so what have I been up to?

Well firstly, I still haven’t read the eldar codex I bought on its release day. What I have done is embroidered an Iyanden craftworld logo for a friend as he has cracked out his eldar for the first time in many years. As a bonus, he also the new Iyanden mini-codex to look forward too which is both annoying, because it is only available directly from GW and at the moment it is only available on the iPad; and very cool at the same time.

While I’m not entirely convinced on charging an additional £30 for a digital mini-codex that also requires the eldar codex, I suspect the hardback version will be very nice.

On the Warmachine side, there has been much more activity.

The Venti Macchiato

It has taken quite a long time, but the Hyperion for my ‘Starbucks’ Retribution is finally painted. This means for our ‘paint ten points per month challenge’ at SPIF, I win in May.

It also means I can finally field Rahn’s ‘Fires from High’ theme list because as I’ve discovered, the Adeptus has some issues playing armies with magical defence and stuff that prevents knockdown. In particular, the game against Baldur the Stonesoul last week was, err, challenging. More guns should help, as will the other four Stormfall Archers.

If all else fails, I’m liking the P+S 20 fists. A myrmidon with some real hitting power; that will make a change.

Storage Issues

My Retribution of Scyrah army has come a long way in the last two years. For an army that was only ever going to be played at 15 points, it has grown a bit bigger than that…

Up until recently, almost everything fitted in one Games Workshop hard figure case, contained in two foam trays. This kept everything nice and safe, especially on a long trip back to England last year in the back of the car. Then I added the Invictors, and Battle Mages, and a second unit of Stormfall Archers, and some other models; so I needed to use a small Feldherr case as well.

This was fine, because I always carried around a small messenger bag for all the other bits and pieces required for Warmachine such as my dice, templates, the Steamroller pack, and very occasionally a tournament tray. Carrying a figure case and shoulder bag was not a big deal.

However, adding the Hyperion, and then with everything else I haven’t even built yet, I am going to have a storage issue for this army.

Rise of Hyperion

One of the nice things with bigger projects is seeing it all come together. So far only the legs, head and fists are finished; but as main pieces have connecting pins, it was easy enough to dry fit them together for this photo.

I’m hoping to start of his torso, including the sunburst cannon (or sparkle cannon), this week. This is pretty much the biggest, most complex part of this model to paint. However with the size of this model, it should be straightforward enough.

I already have some plans for the main gun that should make it ‘pop’ against my normal colour scheme.

Whilst I’ve been working on Hyperion, my rather fantastic wife has started to stitch together a new dice bag for my Retribution.

Pictures will have to follow later, but I have to say, I’m rather chuffed with the logo…

Tactless Tape

The past week has been annoying. For varying reasons, I haven’t managed to get any actual gaming in for a couple of weeks. This means Rahn and my Battle Mages still haven’t hit the table.

On the flip side, I have been able to make progress on the Hyperion project.

As an idea candidate for the airbrush, getting this model base coated has actually been surprisingly quick, just a single evening’s work for each of the main colours. Highlighting with the airbrush was a little more challenging because I’m working with edge highlighting rather than zenith highlighting, but at least it is started.

Rahn!

OK, its taken a while but my fourth Retribution warcaster is painted and ready to hit the table!

Although he has lost a bit of his power in the post Colossal meta, Adeptus Rahn is still one of the Scyrah’s premiere casters, and he has telekinesis which is one of my favourite spells in the game, and to be honest, its one of the reasons I miss playing Major Haley.

Rahn’s movement shenanigans do not stop telekinesis. Oh no. His big pointy stick gets beat back, which is appropriate as he is chief Battle Mage. And it even has a critical slam, which is the kind of thing I’m likely to forget when it might be useful.

Field Guide: Carpet Bombing

The title says it all really. I like my Stormfall Archers and they always seem to perform very well for me. These guys were the first unit I painted for my angry elves and what is good with four, is better with eight; so I’m painting up another four.

As a general  rule, Warmachine doesn’t lend itself to having multiple units of the same type in one army. This is a little different to Warhammer 40000 and is one of the things I like about the system.

In this case it is probably appropriate to consider two Stormfall Archer units as a single large unit, that just happens to have two activations. Normally my Stormfalls are my answer to high defence/low armour infantry. But with eight of them they become a very creditable threat against complete units.

Bigger Shoulder Pads are Better

Welcome to part two of my Hyperion diary. Last time I talked about its rules and my first impressions. This time, it’s time to assemble the beastie.

It has to be said, this isn’t the biggest or most complex kit I’ve assembled. I have built a lot of Games Workshop and quite few Forgeworld vehicles. As a rule, injection moulded plastic kits tend to have a lot more parts, and resin tend to need lots more work.

The Great White Hype

Hyperion. The great white hype and Retribution of Scyrah’s colossal myrmidon from the Colossals book; and mine is currently in the assembly process.

After cleaning up the various bits of metal, resin, and plastic; I counted a grand total of 37 pieces; which for a Privateer Press kit is fairly substantial.

Unfortunately including resin pieces, there are gaps and bubbles to fill, but its no worst that the finecast Cortez I had from Games Workshop last year. An evening with a lump of greenstuff and I think I have fixed all of those problems, plus I had plenty of green stuff left to make a few more lily leaves for the base.

Anyway, I have to say I’m impressed with this kit, its one big warjack.