Warhammer 40k Stormtrooper Conversions

OK, so as anyone can tell you (especially Robert from the Drunken Samurai Paiting Blog and Tim from Cursed Treasures) I am not much of a modeler, nor have I done a lot of conversions. I have a rather large Warhammer 40k Daemonhunter Army that I've been wanting to add some Stormtroopers too for quite some time, but I don't like the standard GW ones. I saw some various posts up on the 'net somewhere that inspired me to do the following conversions. I used plastic Cadians to which I added WHFB Knights of the White Wolf capes along with heads from the West Wind Secrets of the 3rd Reich range; the heads are French Adrian helmets with gasmasks and they look ok on the models. I also converted a couple of flamers into meltaguns as you can see below. I'm hoping these guys look better once they are painted...now I just have to decide on a paint scheme!

Fences Finished

The Old Glory 28mm Russian Farmsteads I painted up for Gathering in the Desert came with some fences that I didn't finish in time. These are rather tall fences and will be of use for various era's. I'm thinking of coming up with a "firing step" to add along the inner side of the fence so 28mm figures can see over the top to shoot. As you can see by the test paint of the Warhammer Fantasy Tomb King archer below, the fences are a bit tall. And yes, Tomb Kings are my next major project.

More 2010 Gathering in the Desert pictures

Here are a few other pictures from this years Gathering In The Desert. There were some really nicely painted armies there.

GITD Pictures

Well, it's actually been a couple of months since the 2010 Gathering in the Desert for Lord of the Rings SBG and I'm finally getting around to posting a couple of photos I took. I took some notes, but can't find them so instead I'll just make a couple of observations that have stuck with me:

• Tim and his wife Shannon did a great job in putting the event on. They were organized and everything went off without a hitch.
• The players were top-notch; at least all of my opponents were. There were no "push-overs", that's for sure.
• The tables looked great...thanks to everyone who contributed to the tables.
• Armies and army composition are tough. Defense 6 and a tough character or two rule the day in the game now it appears. My forces for the past 2 years (Rohan and Uruk Raiders) have suffered greatly IMO at the hands of the dreaded "creap" as subsequent armies or armies with actual supplements have gotten better. Nothing like having a lower Defense, lower or the same Fight, Lower or the same Strength than your opponent AND being outnumbered!
• Also, I know composition is tough, but some allied contingents always make me scratch my head...and I'll leave it at that.
• Playing to the scenario is discouraging when your opponent would rather just focus on breaking your army and then can mop up and get extra points.
• I'm not sure which army or if I'll play next year. I have always used a different/new army at GITD and I have unpainted Easterlings, Dwarves and Orcs that I could get ready for next year, but I need to take a step back and see if I want to play.

Well enough of that...here are some pictures.

GITD 2010 - Rohan Settlement Debut

OK, so here is a possible lay out for my "Rohan" settlement for the GITD. It would look better on a mottled green and brown table, but all I had was green to chose from. The road, rivers and bridge are from JR Miniatures. The buildings are Old Glory. The Fences are from Pegasus (but have been repainted). I've had the hills for years; they were made by a local gamer (thanks Neil). And I did the tree pieces. They are Xmas tree armatures I got from Michaels...I brushed the snow off with an old toothbrush, sprayed them with Krylon camo brown, mounted them on some pieces of wood (also got from Michaels), stuccoed the bases and put some rocks down and then used Woodland Scenics foliage that comes in a small sheet that you unfold and cut and stretch. I think they look OK from a distance...less so from close up, but not bad. I didn't have time to replace or modify the roofs for the buildings in a true "Rohan" style....sorry...maybe next year.

GITD 2010 - The Return of Osgiliath!

Well, I had set a date of February 1st to be done with my army and terrain projects for this year GITD...it turns out I needed a few extra weeks, but I got it done! Here are some pics of a possible layout for "the dreaded Osgiliath" table this year. I eliminated one of the larger buildings from last year and replaced it with the "weathertop" Hirst Arts kit I won last year. I also eliminated a few of the smaller building pieces and added more rubble. It still will be a challenging table for all hopefully. One note...the large 3 storybuilding doesn't have the floor pieces in it for these pictures...it will for the tournament though. See you all there!

GITD 2010 Terrain Progress Report 2: Rohan

Well, here are some pieces that will likely be on the Rohan table I'm doing for GITD 2010. The great thing about these pieces is they can work for a wide variety of settings...I'm sure some will end up on the table when doing 28mm ACW as well as 28mm WWII Eastern Front! So, here's what I have so far:

Fences by Pegasus Hobbies, but I repainted them to fit in with the rest of the terrain. The bridge is from JR Miniatures. The sheds (there are actually 2) are from Old Glory and they have lift off roofs. The watering troughs are also Old Glory. I'm not sure where the well is from; it is resin and I've had it for a long time and I finally had a reason to paint it up.

Here are 2 Old Glory houses. These come from their Russian building range. As you can see the roofs lift off. The doors are metal and the buildings are resin. I tried to get the doors so they could open, but they it was impossible for me to do so...the combination of the size & weight of the door, the place to drill for rare earth magnets or pins, and the relatively thin resin at the bottom of the door defeated my feable modeling skills. So the doors are glued in...deal with it!

Here's a closer picture of one of the houses.

And a closer picture of the second house.

And here's a barn from Old Glory. It is similar to the house, but with a staw roof. I have 2 of these as well because they came in a set along with the shed and some large log walls that I will be painting up after the tournament. This is a little shiney because I had just gotten done putting a coat of spray polyeurothane on it. It will be dulcoted once it dries for a nice flat look.

The last pieces of terrain I have to finish off for the Rohan table are some woods...I'll put some pictures up once I finish them off.