The Defenders of Makkum: a beginning

For years I have been contemplating how to build an Empire Army. I love the fluff, the models, the rules and the imagery, but I could not find a way to visualize MY contribution to the many wonderfully modeled Empire armies.
Last years Empire army of Dave Taylor was wonderful. It has some built in terrain, a clean cobblestone look and fresh and happy colors; much different then my usual style of dreary and somber. Here's a shot of a unit of Dave's Army

image: davetaylorminiatures.blogspot.com


Check out the army on his blog, its really inspiring. And although I really loved the army, it didn't really help me along in creating my own vision and many projects kept distracting me.
Then I was able to make a trade on the Barterbucket and send my Blood Angels to a good home. In return I received a box with Empire stuff, mostly plain warriors, but also a few knights, some wizards and lots of OOP stuff, plastic and metal. It was a wonderful treat to dig in and I surely feel blessed using the Barter Bucket; it really works.

After a few days I bought the Empire Heraldry book and started thinking about colorschemes... what I want....what do I want?

This is what I want to do

1. I want to build a Middenheim Army, because I like the red/white/blue, also the colours of my native country, The Netherlands.
I like Middenheim because it allows me to add Knights of Ulric, basically sort of Space Wolves of the Fantasy world. I also feel there are options to convert and model wolflike symbols, stealing perhaps from Space Wolf kits.

2. I want the army to have NO dandies. I do not appreciate the fancy look of many models. To me all the fighters should be gruff, ill kempt and violent. Here's a good example of a knight I built last year. I used a Bret horse and legs and a Vampire Counts Blood Knight Torso.

 This guy looks bad ass. Good and bad Knights shouldn't really look that differently-it's the Game of Thrones look into WHFB.

3. I am going to make them defend the Northern City of Makkum, a imaginary city close with the border of Nordland. The real city of Makkum lies in Friesland, a northern province in Holland where my name stems from and where my Grandfathers family is from (it was really IJlst, but that would not work phonetically). It allows me to paint the Friesian flag on many shields, which is a cool one. Here's is that shield, blue, white with red hearts (left one on the horse):


4. All the movement trays will have city terrain on them in a creative way. I bought cobblestone bases from Dragon Forge and plan a few purchases like the new graveyard from GW. I like the idea of fighters defending house to house. The challenge of modeling terrain into the ranks is interesting. All the stonework will be red, like it is in most of the north of Holland.
Because all the city stuff will be in there, I want to make part of the army stand and wait, not moving. The more static units will look like they are looking at the enemy but they are still too far to engage.

5. I want to build an army that has all the stuff I think is cool, I will not worry too much about winning with them.

Many questions remain
-are there decals for Fantasy
-there are some great flag companies out there for historical, whish there were flags and banners for Empire.
-how to magnetize the resin bases.
-advice on how to incorporate city terrain into the movement trays, preferable towering over the models
-I need to collect plenty of models. Anyone interested in trade can drop me a line: mike dot tess at charter dot net. I have a fully painted 40K 1500 pt Ork Army that I would be willing to offer up.

Anyway, this is only the (hopeful) start of something fun. We'll see how it goes. I am building a squad of 20 swordsmen, static and waiting and hope to share those soon.

For fun, I am going to glue all the plastic parts together with the NON toxic plastic cement from Testors. The normal stuff is just plain bad for your health. The non toxic doesn't work as quick, but that might slow me down a bit to think about stuff.

Mike

Chaos Hell Cannon and the eclectic crew: finished

I finished the Chaos Hell cannon crews for both Cannons. In the picture above you can see the final models, color coded in green and red. The cannons have those base colors and I thought it would be cool to code the models as well. Let's run through the last models of this set.

the Red Sorcerer

This is the Games Day 2010 model. I like him in red a lot. I worked hard on the hand with eye, but only after I snipped off his fingers on accident, removing flash...

The Red Dwarf

This is a very old Grenadier model. I added the chaos star. Never throw away old models, you never know when you need them

The Green Sorceress

The vampire countes with added star. This one looks like s@#%t but only after I tried the lighting effect. Before I added the blue, she looked great, but I messed it up...and i don't want to revisit her.

The green Dwarf

An old pegleg metal dwarf. A great model and I am very pleased with the pale paintjob. I did add a little red to the nose.

And here is your green team:

And here's the red team

They will certainly cause mayhem on the battlefield.

Here's is a link to the making of these models with all the Hell cannon posts in one go.

Mike

Blood Ravens Charity Project going right now!

We got approached by Drew from the Blood Ravens Charity Project to see if we could help spread the world about this worthy cause. The Blood Ravens Charity collects space marine models, paints them up like Blood Ravens, and  will raffle off the entire army for a good cause. Proceeds go to the organisation Childs Play, which provides toys, games and books to children's hospitals world wide.

For info on the project, click here: bloodravensbuild.blogspot.com
For their Facebook page: click here
For more info on childsplay, click here

if you want to help out in any way, email Drew at aridmonk at gmail dot com

Otherwise DONATE if you want to win this huge army! You will donate directly to Childs Play, so follow the instructions on their site. On December 22nd, Childs Play will email a list with donaters to Drew and his crew and they will pick a winner. This could be a nice, extra xmas present!


Here are some of the models that came in, for more updates go to their blog or fb page.


Of course I don't have to tell you all that in this collapsing world economy, help for the helpless is urgently needed. As always, children pay a huge bill for the folly of adults.

And yes, I donated!

Let's help!

Mike

Barter Bucket: 11/26/11

Another world, another time. In the age of wonder.
A thousand years ago this land was green, until the Bucket cracked. A single piece was lost, a shard of the Bucket. Then strife began, and people began charging for bits and single models. Here in the castle of the Bucket, Santa Cruz Warhammer took control. Now the bits flow freely once more. Now the Bucket hangs above a shaft of air and fire. Once more gamers gather at the Bucket. Once more they replenish their bits bins. The Bucket...
__________________________________________
mike dot tess at charter dot net (SCWH's own Mike) is looking for EMPIRE. Have plenty of state troops and archers but lacking in everything else. Do have the codex! ALSO, anyone out there want to trade their guard army, painted or unpainted, built or unbuilt, it's all good. Lastly: mike loves old Games Workshop codexes and rulebooks. Got plenty to trade, just ask, email him at mike dot tess at charter dot net

mhcallahan at hotmail dot com is looking for:

1. Baal Predators / Furioso Dreadnoughts
2. Blood Angel infantry (new or old, any models including characters in good shape)

and is willing to trade:

1. x10 Forgeworld Raven Guard upgrade kits (heads, backpacks, shoulderguards, chests)
2. Vampire Counts, assorted (20 new skeletons, 20 ghouls, 5 converted black knights, characters)

mjsconnection at gmail.com is looking to become one with the Hive Mind and needs:

1. Plastic Tyranid Ravener tail/lower-torso (above ground version)
2. Trygon tail end (barb with sacs)
3. Wings suggestions for Tyranid Warrior (Parasite conversion)

for trade they have:

1. Some Space Marine models and bits
2. Various Tyranid models and bits

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

1. Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

1. 40k Imperial Guard bits
2. WHFB Empire bits

srbuman at gmail dot com needs some Ork super-heavy help:

1. Needs: Any Ork or Imperial Guard vehicle bits
2. Has: A good chance he has the bits you need, just ask
3. He is working on these vehicles
   

eriochrome at hotmail dot com, hook him up if you can with the following Blood Bowl Stuff:

1. 2nd Ed Human: Blitzer 1, Thrower 1, Kicker 1, Kicker 2
2. 2nd Ed Dark Elf Kicker 2, Catcher 3
3. 2nd Ed Orc: Blocker 1, Thrower 1

av8hotrod at yahoo dot com (SCWH's own John) wants:

1. OOP Land Raider box, the first one, just the box
2. Long Drongs Slayer Pirates, need 6 more troops.
3. Fantasy Chaos Marauders
4. Fantasy Chaos Marauder Horsemen bits- heads, and torsos

The Bucket has one purpose, gamers helping other gamers. It's a place to trade the stuff you have laying around, the stuff you're not using and get the stuff you do need. No more buying whole sets for just one model, no more buying overpriced single bits. This concept is kept alive by the cooperative spirit of all of us.

Make sure your email gets to me by Thursday for it to post that week, emails go to miksminis at gmail dot com. Please keep them simple and concise with details, and limit your requests for needs and haves to three items each. This will turn a shotgun effect of a huge list crossing your fingers hoping for a bite to a more streamlined surgical bits hunt. It will also keep the Bucket itself compact and efficient.

Remember, change comes from within...your bits box!

SCWH Honor Roll #39 - WIP/Conversions

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Matt and Lantz, two dashing fellows from over at MWC and TLA! It's a new week and a clearly busy one at that. Despite the holidays coming up and bloggers being busy with those matters, we're still finding the time to work on the hobby. And for that, we here at SCW salute you!

Team Snake Eyes - Iron Hands Dread and Razorback
White Metal Games - Necron Conversions
Warhammer 40k and Board Games στην Κορινθία - Flayed Ones
The WarBlog - Khador Butcher
Macharian Thunder Guard, 1st Reg of Foot - Praetorian Rough Riders
Rust and the City - Imperial Renegade Sergeant
Watching Paint Dry - The Sanguinar
Joesavestheday - The Nightbringer
Of Wolf and Raven - Chronus
Smells Like Wargaming - Alpha Legion Vindicator and Dreadfleet
Niños de Hierro - Skaven Warlock Engineer (translated to English)
Mordian 7th - 5th Platoon Rough Riders


Lantz: There was a lot of great WIP and Conversion work done this week. Of course I'm particularly fond of the fact that there is so much Necron work being done lately. It fills my heart with warm and fuzzy things. Green warm and fuzzy things... I'm also impressed by TSE's Iron Hands Dread; it's very impressive work. The WIP paint job going on at WPD with their Sanguinar will keep my eye closely drawn to their blog in the coming days until I can see more. Finally, JSTD's Nightbringer is coming along splendidly! C'tan and neon color combinations totally mix in my book.

Mike's addition for this week's Honor roll is:

Mike:  I love the WIP of Spikey Rat Pack. Check it out, it's inventive! And Lantz already mentioned Rust and the City in his list. Make sure to click on the label renegades in the bottom of the listed post and check out all the renegade work. It's really great


As always: if you care about your fellow bloggers and their work, please link the Honor Roll on your blog. Grab the jpg from this post and use this link underneath:
http://santacruzwarhammer.blogspot.com/search/label/honor%20roll

Much appreciation!

I am thankful

I am thankful for...

 for you all reading it

...my wife and kids, who completely accept me as the obsessed modeler that I am. My wife has said many times that she thinks the hobby is great for me

...having John, Michael, Glenn, Lantz and Matt, Mik, Josh and Christian to share the hobby with and help me make Santa Cruz Warhammer what it is today, a vibrant and happy place.

...having figured out what I want to get out of the hobby. Not everyone I know has figured that out yet and it can take a while

...still having a long life ahead of me in which to work on the big modeling projects

...the barter bucket. Give Thanks to MIK for the most generous and kindspirited place on the web. THANKS to all you barter bucketeers for making it happen every week.

...the Heroes of Armageddon, which made this year very special for me. Thanks to Dave, Thomas, Chris and all the other team members who supported us with models and countless hours of work to raise 31.000 dollars for Doctors without Borders

...for the amazing GW artwork, like picture above. The drawings and painting never fail to inspire me

...and so much more

...and for having this blog

Mike

Daemonic Incursion - Magnetizing a Soul Grinder

Hey Gang, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me, but I wanted to bring you all a little update on the Daemons.

I have about 2500pts worth of Daemons (for both 40k and WHFB) and just recently purchased what I consider to be my "last" Daemon model.  I'm sure I will add lots of new toys to the collection in the future, but at this point in time I am going to consider this army complete (although I still need paint my last few additions).

Anyways, the last model that I wanted to round out my collection for 40K Daemons was a Soul Grinder.  The model and unit is one of the few models in the range that is for 40k only, and does not have a WHFB counterpart.

These are essentially giant daemon dreadnoughts that are a fusion of daemonic essence and chaotic mechanisms.  They dedicate all of the souls they extinguish to the infernal forges of their daemon masters.

In game terms, the reason I wanted one was to help me deal with massive amounts of troops on the board.  With an upgraded weapon option, this guy spits a template, has a high rate of fire assault weapon, and can drop a 5" template that will decimate even the heartiest of Space Marines!

Okay, onto the good stuff:

This is a LARGE model.  The only real reason to magnetize this guy is for ease of transport. 

There is a pretty natural division of these two halves.  They were built entirely separately from one another and fit together perfectly!
  

The deadly half

The scary half 

I drilled the holes for the magnet in the spine, and the one in the front.  For the magnet inside the body, I had to build  a small platform out of plasticard in order to attach a magnet there.

The corresponding magnets on the leg section.  I use a drill bit that matches the diameter of the magnets I use, which ensure a snug fit.  I often color the connecting side of a magnet when placing them to ensure correct polarities, hence the brown sharpie on the middle magnet.

I wanted to be sure to have a vertical magnet as well as a horizontal magnet to ensure that the two halves of this model would not come undone accidently.

3 magnets may have been overkill...  Better safe than sorry though I suppose.

Well, that's it for this time.  All of my Daemons are now built, and I only have a few left to paint!  The force is really coming together.

Until Next Time,
Happy Modeling.

-Josh

Santa Cruz Warhammer Giveaway: We have a winner!

Thank you to everyone who responded. You all helped in sending some hobby love to a good home. There were too many great people that responded, which made it impossible for me to choose a winner. That means it fell to random.org to make the decision. So without further delay the winner is...

Alexander Man

And this is his Prize: the Santa Cruz Warhammer Beginner

He plans on giving the starter set to his 6 year old son. He wrote, "The rules are way to difficult for him, but he's already quite good with the brush. I've been planning to make some super simple rules, so he can try playing too."

That sounds like a worthy owner. Alexander, just don't let your son play with the included hobby knife. Thanks again to everyone for responding and making this project a success. Alexander, please email us at Santa Cruz Warhammer so we can get your address.

Cheers everyone!

Michael

Terrain Build: Ruins pt.1

An important part of playing wargames is having terrain to set the scene.  My gaming table has been a bit sparse for a while, so I thought I would take a break from painting for a bit and make some exciting new terrain!  No battlefield is complete without a few ruined buildings, and ruins fit my board's theme rather nicely.

I started off by making a couple of "blueprints" in Adobe Illustrator.

an example of a "blueprint" I made.  These were designed to be built using 1/4" foamcore.

I printed out all of my blueprints, and then spray mounted them to my foamcore using a photo mount spray.  These can usually be found in any arts and craft or office supply store.

Taking a sharp Xacto knife, I cut out the windows, doors, and floors.  I used a pencil to sketch out how I wanted the building to be broken, then used PVA glue to assemble the walls and floors of each ruin.

These are far from complete, but they are really starting to come together.

Following my blueprint, I was able to make two ruins out of each plan due to large corners of the buildings being cut off.

I wanted to play with different amounts of levels, internal walls, etc.

These can be used to make one large building, or they can be spread out across the battlefield.

All in all, this was a fun distraction for me to work on.  They add a decent amount of character to the board, which lends to more cinematic moments occurring during gameplay.

These still have a bit of work to go on them before they are finished.  Next up, I will add some texture and details using cardstock and adhesives.  Once that is complete, I will basecoat the ruins, add the fine details and then finally paint them.

I'm still undecided as to whether or not I want to add a larger base under each section of ruins.  I have a feeling that I will, so I can add more rubble, as well as help clearly define the boundaries of the terrain pieces.

Hope this inspires a few of you,

Stay tuned for more progress!

-Josh

Barter Bucket: 11/19/11

Another world, another time. In the age of wonder.
A thousand years ago this land was green, until the Bucket cracked. A single piece was lost, a shard of the Bucket. Then strife began, and people began charging for bits and single models. Here in the castle of the Bucket, Santa Cruz Warhammer took control. Now the bits flow freely once more. Now the Bucket hangs above a shaft of air and fire. Once more gamers gather at the Bucket. Once more they replenish their bits bins. The Bucket...
__________________________________________
mike dot tess at charter dot net (SCWH's own Mike) is looking for EMPIRE but only characters and OOP metal models. ALSO, anyone out there want to trade their guard army, painted or unpainted, built or unbuilt, it's all good. Lastly: mike loves old Games Workshop codexes and rulebooks. Got plenty to trade, just ask, email him at mike dot tess at charter dot net

mhcallahan at hotmail dot com is looking for:

1. Baal Predators / Furioso Dreadnoughts
2. Blood Angel infantry (new or old, any models including characters in good shape)

and is willing to trade:

1. x10 Forgeworld Raven Guard upgrade kits (heads, backpacks, shoulderguards, chests)
2. Vampire Counts, assorted (20 new skeletons, 20 ghouls, 5 converted black knights, characters)

mjsconnection at gmail.com is looking to become one with the Hive Mind and needs:

1. Plastic Tyranid Ravener tail/lower-torso (above ground version)
2. Trygon tail end (barb with sacs)
3. Wings suggestions for Tyranid Warrior (Parasite conversion)

for trade they have:

1. Some Space Marine models and bits
2. Various Tyranid models and bits

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

1. Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

1. 40k Imperial Guard bits
2. WHFB Empire bits

srbuman at gmail dot com needs some Ork super-heavy help:

1. Needs: Any Ork or Imperial Guard vehicle bits
2. Has: A good chance he has the bits you need, just ask
3. He is working on these vehicles
   

eriochrome at hotmail dot com, hook him up if you can with the following Blood Bowl Stuff:

1. 2nd Ed Human: Blitzer 1, Thrower 1, Kicker 1, Kicker 2
2. 2nd Ed Dark Elf Kicker 2, Catcher 3
3. 2nd Ed Orc: Blocker 1, Thrower 1

av8hotrod at yahoo dot com (SCWH's own John) wants:

1. OOP Land Raider box, the first one, just the box
2. Long Drongs Slayer Pirates, need 6 more troops.
3. Fantasy Chaos Marauders
4. Fantasy Chaos Marauder Horsemen bits- heads, and torsos

The Bucket has one purpose, gamers helping other gamers. It's a place to trade the stuff you have laying around, the stuff you're not using and get the stuff you do need. No more buying whole sets for just one model, no more buying overpriced single bits. This concept is kept alive by the cooperative spirit of all of us.

Make sure your email gets to me by Thursday for it to post that week, emails go to miksminis at gmail dot com. Please keep them simple and concise with details, and limit your requests for needs and haves to three items each. This will turn a shotgun effect of a huge list crossing your fingers hoping for a bite to a more streamlined surgical bits hunt. It will also keep the Bucket itself compact and efficient.

Remember, change comes from within...your bits box!

SCWH Honor Roll #38 - Terrain

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Matt and Lantz, two dashing fellows from over at MWC and TLA! This week we've got a load of terrain entries for you to check out! Enjoy!

Corbania Prime - Tent Tutorial
Attic Wars - Vacuum Molded Terrain Pieces
Mid-West Monster Lab - Display Board Tutorial
Oinks Overambitious Terrain Project(s) - Stone Texture Spray Review
The Lazarus Effect - Foam Terrain WIP
ADHD Gaming - Ruined Tower WIP
Recalcitrant Daze - Earthshaker Gun Emplacement
Die Vincis - Crusaders of Sarcend (translated to English)


Lantz: A lot of great articles this week involving terrain. Whether it be for a display board, gaming table or a model base, all of the above rock. I found OOTP's review particularly helpful, and plan to make use of this review in the near future for my own projects. CP's Tent is downright amazing, and a tutorial on how to make it to boot! Great posts all around.

Mike's addition for this week's Honor roll is:

Mike:  I usually try to find something great and obscure in a dark corner of the blogosphere, but this week my most favorite post was by Dave Taylor. He showed us with a few illustrations, some pictures and some thoughts the core of why I do this hobby, and many people beside me. Inspiration hits and there is no stopping.....check it out here and tell me you are NOT inspired.....

As always: if you care about your fellow bloggers and their work, please link the Honor Roll on your blog. Grab the jpg from this post and use this link underneath:
http://santacruzwarhammer.blogspot.com/search/label/honor%20roll

Much appreciation!

Chaos Hell Cannon and the eclectic crew

Remember this thing? I posted about it a little while ago, here and here. It's my scratchbuilt Hell Cannon for my budding Chaos Warriors Army. I steered away from an engine and wanted more of a Warp Creature. For the crew I also DIDN'T want the Chaos Dwarf engineers. Since my cannon is a warp demon, a sorcerer seemed more apropriate. I haven't chosen the two sorcerors yet, but I did make progress on the rest of the crew.

I divided each crew up in one wizard, one model holding a scroll with the spell to make this thing fire, and one sturdy dwarf for protection. Remember, in the games it's all counts as and I will just use the Chaos Dwarf stats.

Here is the little demon holding up the Dark Book of Chaos Spells. It's from the Daemon Hunter range.

 Here's the spell carrying model for the other Hell Cannon. He is an Empire Scribe, but I green stuff long hair and a little beard on him, it's amazing how it changes the look of the model. I also painted some chaos designs on the side of his robe.

 and here are their two dwarf friends, unpainted as of yet.

Hope this inspires you all to do something different

Mike

Santa Cruz Warhammer Giveaway: Our 40k Starter Set!

On Monday I posted my version of a perfect 40k starter set. I based it off of the old Space Marine Assault box with a few additions of my own. This gave me a great opportunity to think about what the absolute necessities for our hobby are. Now that I have put together this set it needs to go to a good home. I want this set to be used to bring a new player into the Warhammer hobby. This is where I need your help, and how you can win my 40k starter set.

Write a comment to this post telling us who you want to introduce this hobby to. It can be a friend, relative, child, spouse, or anyone. We will give the set to the best home, based on your comments. In a week I will select the winner and hopefully introduce a new person to our plastic addiction.


For a full list of everything included read my original post (I might even throw in some extra goodies).

If I don't choose you, or you don't have someone to give this to right now you can still find copies of Space Marine Assault on Ebay if you are interested in checking it out. Here is a link to an Ebay store that carries it (I am not recommending this particular seller please feel free to search for another retailer). Now think about who you want to turn into a wargamer, and help me send some hobby to a good home.


Michael

Wolfwing Drop Pod Part 3: this thing is done!

I was finally able to finish the Wolfwing Drop pod for my Space Wolf army. Remember, the idea behind my Wolfwing is a 1500 point list, based on 17 models, a Landraider and a drop pod.
The latter one is now finished, here are the pics:
I wanted to make the pod look very weathered and beat up. I did do some highlighting but not in the White Dwarf style. Instead I created streakage over and over again in shades of brown, grey and black to make it seem like this thing went through some atmosphere

Here's it is opened up, weathered and used and certainly BEFORE the servitors cleaned it.

View from above

 

 And here a shot of the inside from a slighter higher perspective. You can see the radar a bit better.

 Hope you like it and found the journey inspiring:
part 1
part 2

Mike