Santa Cruz Warhammer

Come on, gives us some more Lord of the Rings!

2012-01-29T04:14:00.000-08:00

Last week I wrote down some thoughts about the new Vampire Counts models and their cost compared to other things in life. I sang the praises of the Perry twins who did an outstanding job on designing these HexWraiths/Black Knights.

The Perry brothers have been around with GW since the beginning and have sculpted some absolute classics during their 30 year tenure. This one might be the most famous one:

In my opinion this model has never been surpassed in the category Mounted Knights. The subtle movement in the horse and the position of the rider are so believable, it's just wonderful to look at. But the Perry twins have also been instrumental in designing large swats of great Lord of the Rings models. Yep, those models from that game that we all hated, taking up space in our beloved White Dwarf etc etc. For years now I check out all the new releases and so many of them were done by the two brothers, who also have a very succesful Historial Wargaming Modeling Business.

My point is this: my feeling is that because the Perrys have been so involved in LOTR models, that range has become really beautiful, realistic looking and very dynamic. A lot of models have this great movement to them. I just reread an interview with David Rodriguez, the famous Spanish model painter who has won 12 Golden Demons and 2 Slayers. He says he loves painting LOTR models because they look so historical and realistic..
Anyway, here are some examples of great models in the LOTR range:

All of these models have outstanding body position and dynamic flow. The horse riders are great and the Troll Chieftain in a real classic, actually a Perry Brothers model.

Now, LOTR started out as a skirmish game, which gives the models a bit more breathing room; they can stick out over their base, since they don't have models right next to them. In the War of the Ring they solved it by creating larger movement trays with more space in between; why not? Fantasy is really stuck in the movement tray line up and that really hinders the development of some cool rank and file models.

When it comes to the centerpieces of the armies, GW is really pulling out all the stops lately in the Fantasy Range, but now I hope that they will start to create some more dynamics in the plain ranks. We all know the Chaos Warriors and High Elves really suffer from units that almost look the same, model to model. It would be nice if they would look to LOTR and copy some of that realism over into the design of new models....Empire would be a great way to start changing course.

just my humble opinion..

Mike

Barter Bucket: 1/28/12

2012-01-28T05:44:00.000-08:00

The year, 2012. From out of space, come runaway bits, hurtling between the Earth and the moon, unleashing unlimited modeling opportunities. Two thousand years later, Earth is reborn. Strange new models rise from old bits bins. Models of savagery, super-science, and sorcery. You can burst your bonds to model for justice. With your companions, McCutty the knife and Princess Super Glue, you can pit your talent, your creativity, and your fabulous Sunsword, err, imagination, against evil!
_________________________________________________
mddunsmore at gmail.com is in the market for:

LoTR Mines of Moria starter set. These are parts that might be left from building the other models in these Vampire Count Kits
Scythe weapons from Hexwraiths
Flying Banshees from Mortis Engine

They have to trade:

LoTR Mines of Moria starter set
Servo Skulls of any variety
Vampire Count bits: Flying Banshees from Mortis Engine, Scythe weapons from Hexwraiths

maleagant at juno.com is looking for:

WHFB Dogs of War Ricco's Republican Guard Pikemen, x6
WHFB OOP plastic Empire Handgunners, x7

av8hotrod at yahoo.com is after:

WHFB Drongs Slayer Pirates, not command
WHFB plastic Marauder Horseman heads and torsos
and is still looking for the OOP Land Raider box, yes just the cardboard box.

_________________________________________________
The Bucket is a place to trade the stuff (models, parts, bits, and the like) you have laying around and are not using to get the stuff you do need. No more buying whole sets for just one model, no more buying overpriced single bits. Whether you're outfitting an entire army, or just need a single combi-weapon for a character model, this is the place to be.

Send us your email request by Thursday for it to post that week, the Barter Buckets posts every Saturday. Emails go to miksminis at gmail dot com. Please keep them simple and concise with enough details for us to knwo what you're looking for. Please limit your requests to a maximum of three items for needs and three items for what you have to trade. This keeps the Bucket itself compact and efficient, and helps your chances of getting exactly what you need. When you do track down the item(s) you're looking for, or have a successful trade, leave a comment below that week's bucket to let us know!

The Bucket itself runs on the cooperative spirit of our gaming community as a whole; gamers helping other gamers. Remember, change comes from within...your bits box!

SCWH Honor Roll #48

2012-01-27T07:37:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at TLA, MWC and HoP!

The Butcher's Bill - Tau Broadside Conversions
Die Vincis - Vampirella Complete (translated to English)
Recalcitrant Daze - Defensive Walls
Apocalypse 40k - Scratchbuilt Eldar Nightwing
Jinn's Minis - Gundam Themed Diorama
The Art Of War - Imperial Defense Battery Complete
Spiky Rat Pack - Space Pirato Cpt. Gaga Complete
Mordian 7th - Heresy Era 1k Sons Whirlwind Complete
Winterdyne Commission Modeling - Death Company and Lamartes PIP
Ten Inch Template - Necron Kitbashes
Midwest Monster Lab - Hades Vampire Lord WIP
Fuzzbucket's Mini Mayhem - Pre-Heresy Terminator Medic

Lantz: I don't even know where to begin here; clearly it's been a busy week. My favorites this week are JM's Gundam...I'm not sure. It's amazing regardless. I have a weak spot for Gundam-related stuff. TAOW's Defense Battery now has a fresh coat of paint and looks snazzy. Anyone who has eyes and is alive needs to check out TIT's Necron Kitbashes; amazing. Finally, M7 has a pre-heresy Whirlwind that is simply amazing. Check 'em all out.

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

Mike: I really like this Necron Lord from German blogger Aleatorblog. Check it out, it's good stuff!

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!

Hordes of Vormond: a (slow) work in progress

2012-01-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

I like giving my armies a name and a little backstory. It's not like I am obsessively living in a fantasy world, it's actually helps me with the modeling part of it. I stay more motivated when I give myself some visual and contextual guidance. I started it with my Guard Army, The Bishkek 2nd, and then started a Vampire Counts Army, about a year ago. It took me a long time to come up with a name and chose Hordes of Vormond. Vormond really came from Roermond, a city in the south of Holland where I went to high school. I like getting in a name that somehow relates to my own life.

Anyway, here's a rolling update on the Hordes of Vormond. At this point it's about 1500 points points and with the new releases I couldn't help but add some stuff to it. Pretty soon this army will be at tournament strength. I want to give you a quick portrait of the new additions, some of it still on (long term) progress:

Bat Swarm. I got these guys in a barter bucket deal and they were completely destroyed. I created a little Graveyeard scene and added the bats to it. This was a quickie, but it sure beats bats on wire sticks

Krell and Kemmler. I painted both of these up last week. I got Kemmler 4 months ago on Ebay. I had never seen this model before and noticed it in the 1996 Warhammer Battle Book. After I got him, he was stripped but his staff was beyond repair. I forgot about him until I read the last White Dwarf...there he was! I painted him up in a similar scheme but I found him pretty impossible to do well. Game wise he is an animal.

Krell is a great model, thank you Juan Diaz

Bloodknight in progress. He has been that way for a while. I am a little initimidated by these guys. Notice the headswap. Visually there will be no Vampire in my army and rules wise, only the bloodknights will have the Vampire Rule. I like the idea of humans wanting to ally themselves with the Vampires. The humans in Vormond are like that. I am pleased with this little paint test and will paint the rest like that.

This hexwraith I just finished, using the LOTR paintscheme for Undead. It's quick and easy and looks great AND since they are ethereal, they should be a duo tone, I think. The sculpts by the Perry Brothers are really, really good.

And a testmodel for the Direwolves, I have had this one for a few months

So that's it, the Hordes are growing, slowly but surely..its great fun to have some armies in progress to fall back on when you want to do something different. I can recommend it, start hording!

Mike

The Defenders of Makkum have a General!

2012-01-24T07:06:00.000-08:00

I finished the general of the Defenders of Makkum. He is painted in an a-typical style for me and I try to copy Dave Taylors clean way of painting. My usual approach is much more gritty but now I want to challenge myself and try to come up with some clean work.

I want my Knights to look like the Warriors of Ulric with the more Northmen like look that I imagine for the army. Not too much ribbons and hankerchiefs, instead that real warrior look.

I went for a Black and Yellow scheme for the barding and a red and blue for the rider. I enjoyed painting the horse a lot. Going down the legs, I spent a lot of time on the fur right above the hooves.

On my last post on the Swordsmen, some readers wanted to see the movement tray terrain placed in the back of the unit instead of the front. I shot a picture of that set up.

At this point I have finished 25 swordsmen, one wizard and the general. I have to leave the Defenders of Makkum for a while and focus on some different projects. I am working on some updates on the Hordes of Vormond, my Vampire Counts army, and I have to paint a Leman Russ for my friend Daniel in Singapore. Oh yeah, my Ogres are also asking for some attention. Lots of stuff coming up!

Mike

My Favorite Model #2: Donoghs Afghan diorama

2012-01-22T03:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a new installment of My Favorite Model, a series that asks all of you to think about your favorite model. it might be your first mini ever or the one you won that great game with....as long as you feel it's your favorite one.

Here's our reader Donogh, who models realistic 20mm War in Aghanistan models. Take it away Donogh:

"A year or so ago I raised the issue on my blog of using casualty figures in games, irrespective or scale or period - and there was a lot of support for their use. In modern games especially, though also in some sci-fi games like Stargrunt or Tomorrow's War, treatment and escorting of casualties is an important aspect. Sometimes the rescue of a wounded soldier represents the main objective of a scenario (and I am a scenario-driven wargamer to the bone!). Keeping track of who's been wounded or killed can be important if your favourite system doesn't just remove figures entirely.

I was inspired to do something with this image:

My friend made me a downed helicopter scene....

....and I use this particular figure (or pair of figures really) as the centre-point for a few scenarios; there's something quite emotive about them. A soldier supporting a wounded comrade - probably sacrificing combat effectiveness to care for his buddy.

I'm not going to suggest that every wargame needs a heavy dose of stark realism, but I hope there's room for this sort of mini-vignette in a one-off game.

My blog is Land War in Asia. Please come visit!

The wounded model with comrade is from Britannia Miniatures 20mm Afghanistan range of Americans."

Thanks Donogh, interesting stuff. Readers, make sure to check out his blog-it's a great read!

Mike

Barter Bucket: 1/21/12

2012-01-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

LoTR Mines of Moria starter set. These are parts that might be left from building the other models in these Vampire Count Kits
Scythe weapons from Hexwraiths
Flying Banshees from Mortis Engine

They have to trade:

Dwarfs from Battle for Skull Pass
Space Marines from Battle for Macragge
Lots of stuff including Chaos, Imperial Guard, Space Marines, terrain, and more. Just ask.

maleagant at juno.com is looking for:

WHFB Dogs of War Ricco's Republican Guard Pikemen, x6
WHFB OOP plastic Empire Handgunners, x7

av8hotrod at yahoo.com is after:

WHFB Drongs Slayer Pirates, not command
WHFB plastic Marauder Horseman heads and torsos
and is still looking for the OOP Land Raider box, yes just the cardboard box.

SCWH Honor Roll #47

2012-01-20T07:17:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at TLA, MWC and HoP! We've got a lot of completed work this week and I must say it's top-notch work!

The Butcher's Bill - Khorne Ogres Complete
Die Vincis - M.E.R.C.S. Project PIP
Mordian 7th - Eye Of Magnus Complete
Ricalopia - "Grimm" Cryx Reaper Complete
Recalcitrant Daze - Looted Wagon WIP
40k Hobby Blog - Chaos Bloodletters Complete
Eye Of Error - Razorwings Complete
Excommunicate Traitors - Wolf Guard Terminators Complete
DuEnDe Miniatures - Laser Grenadiers Complete
El Arte De Warhammer 40,000 - Imperial Defense Battery Tutorial
Apocalypse 40k - Eldar Pegasus Super-Heavy Scratchbuilt Flyer WIP
Mister Justin - Happy Monk PIP
Master Owen War Hammer - Khorne Irongut Test Model Complete

Lantz: The holiday projects are clearly coming to a close. TBB has some amazing work showing the conversion and painting process all in one post! EoE has a couple of beautifully painted Razorwings. But not everything is coming to a close this week; EADW40k has an amazing tutorial on his Imperial Defense Battery that's worth a look!

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

Mike: After finishing the Tamurkhan Forgeworld Book, I am eying the new Chaos Dwarfs eagerly. Here a good news post from the Emperors Codex

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!

Custom Bases for my Necron Triarch Stalkers

2012-01-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

Some of you might remember this photo from when I first posted my Triarch Stalker conversion showing that the model is roughly the same size as a Dreadnought walker. For ease of play and for consistency I wanted to base the Stalker on a 60mm base, but unfortunately the legs stick out slightly to far for it to fit. This left me with 4 options, to play without a base (like a Defiler), to custom order a 65mm base, use the large oval base, or to bulk out a 60mm base so that the model can fit on it. I chose the last option, and I will show you how I "stretched" a 60mm base to fit the model.

I started by gluing bark chips to 60mm bases so that they slightly overhang the base in places were the legs of the model need to attach. You can find bark chips at any store that sells landscaping supplies, and the bark's texture will make convincing large rocks. Then I filled in between the bark chips with wood filler to make a continuous surface that had the "rocks" erupting from it. I used wood filler because it was what I had at my work station, but you could use any kind of self hardening spackle. When the wood filler was set I glued my basing mix of sand and gravel (the grey and white stuff in the photo) over most of the filler to create a textured surface.

Here is the bottom of one of the bases so you can see how the bark chips stick out past the footprint of the base. This is how I create the room I need for the model to attach. You might also notice that this is not a GW base. A couple years back I ordered about 50 60mm wood cut bases and I have still not used them all.

Here are the bases painted to match my Necron army. This is not the most flattering paint job for these bases, but my army's bases have a barren black ash waste look that these needed to match.

My two Triarch Stalkers standing on their new bases, which now accommodate their long legs. Now all I have to do it paint the models and pin them to the bases. The same technique I used to make the bases can be used on larger surfaces to make difficult terrain or great looking hills too.

Michael

random shot of inspiration

2012-01-18T07:17:00.000-08:00

I shot this image this morning, while taking out the garbage:

It's like painting not metallic metal!

Mike

Pricing, modeling, drinking, smoking

2012-01-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

With the release of the new Vampire Counts book on Saturday, John and I drove to the local store and picked up some stuff. I spend 100 dollars on:
1. Army book
2. Magic Cards
3. Black Knights/Hex Wraiths
4. Krell, lord of the Undead
5. Necrarch (free)

John was lamenting about how army books were 22 dollars and even hardback codexes were cheaper when they came out; indeed we found the Orcs and Goblins Army hardback in the same store 5 dollars cheaper....that was 37 and we were shocked then.

But now I will tell you what I really think.
First of all I will start by saying that Santa Cruz Warhammer started out as a blog that gave modelers cheap alternatives (like kitbashes or other model companies) to the expensive models of GW. But over time we have changed into a more balanced approach. Where we could model something better using different stuff, we would but we also would give praise to GW for bringing out a splendid model. Now, after 5 years of blogging, we have reached a point where GW is bringing out some of the best models since I started this hobby. And so onto my thoughts about Pricing, Modeling, Drinking and Smoking.

Modeling and playing Warhammer is incredibly cheap, compared to everything else that is out there.
I will put the stuff above into context.
1. The army book...

...looks extraordinary. The binding is supreme, the finish great, the artwork and pages very, very nice and the color rendition is just amazing. Remember when your 22 dollar codex fell apart? Remember how artwork was all in BW? The two products are just not comparable. The new color codexes are books you keep rereading, looking at and use for inspiration. I also feel spending 40 dollars on supporting a company that tries to be so creative and pays their workers to create the stunning artwork...remember those paintings are not done on the computer, it starts out with a white piece of paper.
And...the book will get you through the next 3-5 years of play.
Other 40 dollar expenses:
-video game: 20-40 hours of playtime
-going out to dinner with the family to a cheap place: 1 hour of joy
-seeing a 3D movie with your two kids: 2 hours
-getting coffee every morning at Starbucks for 2 weeks
and so on

2. Magic Cards are useless, but they were there and I figure I support my local store. I cannot make an argument for those; they are handy during the game but really not needed.

3. Black Knights/Hex Wraiths...

...are wonderful models. I was excited to see that the Perry brothers did some sculpting again for Fantasy and no one does horses plus riders better. Also, by adding two options, you end up with some excellent conversion bitz. This set is really meant for the advanced modelers. It requires a subtle paintjob and will give me hours and hours of painting joy. Also, having all the conversion bitz sparks my inspiration to add them to other Skellie units. After all is said and done, I get to play with them for years to come. And all that for less then 30 dollars.

4. Krell. ..

...Finally Juan Diaz, the master Space Marine sculptor, got to do a Fantasy Space marine. Krell looks like he stepped out of 40K and is one bad-ass character. The fluff is great and he will make an excellent Counts leader. 20 dollars for a resin model is OK with me. My fine cast had absolutely no flaws and this model will become one of my centerpieces. Weeks of painting, years of playing and a model that will give me lots of memories in years to come.

5. Necrarch...

...The oldschool Necrarch that I found in the sale bin I got for free. It was missing tons of stuff, like both hands, the staff and horse but did have some interesting modeling options...I love the OOP stuff...and it was free which was nice.

Quality of models OK, now I haven't even talked about the Conven Throne...

No one can complain about a model costing 60 dollars when it looks like that. This thing is just amazing looking and will be a joy paint for countless, relaxing hours. I didn't get it, don't have room frankly, but GW is really giving us great quality for a firm price. If you look around the internet at all the different model companies, very, very few put out such a consistently high quality product. I am not talking about the actual sprues, I am talking about the intellectual quality of output. The creative process to get to certain models and the technical ability to get the stuff into a mold are higher at GW then anywhere else. Of course there are other model companies that produce amazing things, but none has it all so well together in a creative way. I also truly admire GW for sticking with the artists that render this amazing artwork-they could easily just show the models like most companies do.

All in all: everyone should make up their own mind about how to spend their money. But one thing I ask of you: be honest with yourselves. Don't jump on the bandwagon of complaints before you have done some self reflecting. Lots of people spend lots on beer, smokes, videogames (at 60 dollars a pop), getting a haircut, having their car washed etc etc. If you feel ordering 3 dollar coffees every day is more important, don't blame model makers for their prices. It's just a different set of priorities...i make my own coffee every morning. And then I do a little painting to start the day. And for all that, I get to keep the models I have painted and enjoy looking at them for many, many years. They kind of become friends of a certain time period. My buddy Christian always says selling an army is like selling one of your kids.

I am certainly not an apologist for GW. I just try to see things for how they are in comparison to other things....in my life. You should do the same.

Mike

Barter Bucket: 1/14/12

2012-01-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

WHFB Dogs of War Ricco's Republican Guard Pikemen, x6
WHFB OOP plastic Empire Handgunners, x7

av8hotrod at yahoo.com is after:

1. WHFB Drongs Slayer Pirates, not command
2. WHFB plastic Marauder Horseman heads and torsos
3. and is still looking for the OOP Land Raider box, yes just the cardboard box.
_________________________________________________
The Bucket is a place to trade the stuff (models, parts, bits, and the like) you have laying around and are not using to get the stuff you do need. No more buying whole sets for just one model, no more buying overpriced single bits. Whether you're outfitting an entire army, or just need a single combi-weapon for a character model, this is the place to be.

Send us your email request by Thursday for it to post that week, the Barter Buckets posts every Saturday. Emails go to miksminis at gmail dot com. Please keep them simple and concise with enough details for us to knwo what you're looking for. Please limit your requests to a maximum of three items for needs and three items for what you have to trade. This keeps the Bucket itself compact and efficient, and helps your chances of getting exactly what you need. When you do track down the item(s) you're looking for, or have a successful trade, leave a comment below that week's bucket to let us know!

The Bucket itself runs on the cooperative spirit of our gaming community as a whole; gamers helping other gamers. Remember, change comes from within...your bits box!

SCWH Honor Roll #46

2012-01-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at TLA, MWC and HoP! The after-holiday hobby bonanza is still going and this week once again had a ridiculous amount of talent all around!

A Guardsman's Guide To Glory - Hab Block Complete
Rust And The City - Renegade Sergeant Complete
Duende Miniature - Medium Panzer Walker N2 Complete
ADHD Gaming - Necron Praetorian Shields Complete
Legion 9 Studios - Obliterator Complete
Midwest Monster Lab - Horrors Of Tzeentch Complete
40k Hobby Blog - Khorne Berserkers Complete
Spiky Rat Pack - Rat With The Gun Complete
Sons Of Thunder - WMH Miniatures
The Vanus Temple - Heirotitan WIP
Die Vincis - Storm Strider and Terrain WIP (translated to English)
Stratford Gaming Union - Archon PIP
Sepulchre Of Heroes - Terrain WIP
Apocalypse 40k - Ork Looted Shadowsword

Lantz: You can really tell when people got their gifts. Roughly two weeks after the holidays are over and over half of my links are completed work! If you've been through the Honor Roll before you've surely seen AGGtG's Hab Block as it slowly was worked on. Well, now it's complete and damn, it looks good. Along with that, you've probably seen RATC's Renegade Sergeant WIP, which is now complete as well! Outside of completed work, I'm anxious to see where DV's Storm Strider will end up with a paint job; it's an exciting looking project. Finally, take a good hard peek at A40k's Ork Shadowsword. It's some top-notch work.

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

Mike: Our favorite Polish blog: Ana, Painting Mum, put on a excellent tutorial on creating your own base, Golden Demon style. Check it out!

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!

The Defenders of Makkum: swordsmen part 4: unit is finished with terrain

2012-01-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

I finally finished up the first unit of my Empire Army The Defenders of Makkum. As told before, I want to incorporate terrain heavily into the units as if all of them are waiting for the enemy to lay siege to their town.

Below is a picture of the finished unit.

The terrain comes from the Garden of Morr set. These two pieces are the sides of the gate. The pieces are magnetized and can easily be removed. For display it looks better to have them be in front, but during games I would put them in the middle. I can opt to count them as fighting pieces or not. Here's the unit without the terrain:

The Frysian flag (blue with hearts) is prominent in the unit, the banner depicts the emblem of Makkum, a real town in Friesland. In the fluff, Makkum is part of the Empire and is being besieged by Chaos Hordes, coming from the North. You can see I painted 4 or 5 different dress codes, depicting different Lords giving soldiers to the defense of this town.

Below I added the wizard, which I thought looked cool, a bit higher and menacing

Here are the two terrain pieces, magnetizable, just like the whole unit.

Oh, and here is a WIP of the General's horse.

Hope this inspires! If you want to review all these swordsmen posts, do a search up top for 'defenders of makkum'

Mike

We have a WINNER plus a SCWH sale at Victoria Miniatures

2012-01-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

We have a winner of the awesome Victoria Miniatures Penal Squad conversion kit! Before I announce the winner (which was very professionally drawn by my youngest daughter), a quick look at the prize:

and now on the winner, from England:

Courtney at Cadian 127th (who also has a blog since 2008, check it out HERE)

congrats, email me your address asap: mike dot tess at charter dot net

For all of you who have not won, Victoria has a special deal for Santa Cruz Warhammer readers. Through the twelfth (this coming Thursday) if you buy the Penal Squad kit and mention Santa Cruz Warhammer in your paypal notes, you will get an extra sprue of heads (pictured above) PLUS a set of brand new laser rifles, shown below on a variety of models. These rifles look excellent and were just released and you will get it for free!

Remember, Victoria Miniatures is a generous, small company that helped us with the Heroes of Armageddon last summer, so let's support companies that have their heart in the right place! And check out Victoria's Golden Demon winners on her website Victoria Lamb

Cheers
Mike

Santa Cruz Warhammer Giveaway! Victoria Miniatures!

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

As usual, after a review of a company in our Ads for Charity Program, this time Victoria Miniatures, we are able to give away a set of cool models. Victoria sent us an extra Penal Guard Conversion Kit, models she created and is selling on her website. We did a review of it last week. This is what YOU could make with it:

....and today we are giving away the Penal Squad kit, in our usual SCWH style.

Here's what you get in the set:

Leave a comment if you want to win! Remember, your constructive and critical comments are helpful to Victoria so let's have at it. We will draw a winner MONDAY NIGHT.

For all of you who don't want to wait, Victoria has a SPECIAL SANTA CRUZ WARHAMMER offer. In your PayPal payment, put 'Santa Cruz Warhammer' in the special instructions and you will get an extra set of bald heads and some of the new laser rifle arms, pictured below on various models:

This extra set would allow you to personalize one 10 man squad of cadian bodies!

And remember, if you shop online, try to find companies that have their heart in the right place!

Mike

Barter Bucket: 1/7/12

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

WHFB Dogs of War Ricco's Republican Guard Pikemen, x6
WHFB OOP plastic Empire Handgunners, x7

av8hotrod at yahoo.com is after:

1. WHFB the current High Elf army book
2. WHFB plastic Marauder Horseman heads and torsos
3. and is still looking for the OOP Land Raider box, yes just the cardboard box.
_________________________________________________
The Bucket is a place to trade the stuff (models, parts, bits, and the like) you have laying around and are not using to get the stuff you do need. No more buying whole sets for just one model, no more buying overpriced single bits. Whether you're outfitting an entire army, or just need a single combi-weapon for a character model, this is the place to be.

Send us your email request by Thursday for it to post that week, the Barter Buckets posts every Saturday. Emails go to miksminis at gmail dot com. Please keep them simple and concise with enough details for us to knwo what you're looking for. Please limit your requests to a maximum of three items for needs and three items for what you have to trade. This keeps the Bucket itself compact and efficient, and helps your chances of getting exactly what you need.

The Bucket itself runs on the cooperative spirit of our gaming community as a whole; gamers helping other gamers. Remember, change comes from within...your bits box!

SCWH Honor Roll #45

2012-01-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at TLA, MWC and HoP! With everyone back from the holidays and working on what Santa brought them I find myself with a stupid amount of great content this week. So let's get to it!

Master Of The Forge - Gabriel Angelos Conversion

Eye Of Error - DEldar Mandrake Proxies
Dark Future Games - 13th Company Grey Hunters Complete and Chaos Sorcerer Conversion
40k Hobby Blog - Necron Army
A Guardsman's Guide To Glory - Hab Block WIP
Le Manufactorum - Nurgle Conversions (translated to English)
Mordian 7th - Falchion Conversion
Path Of The Exodite - Warp Hunter Finished
The Madhouse Workshop - Slaanesh Marine Conversion
Smells Like Wargaming - GK and SoB Units
Legion 9 Studios - Ork Units Finished
Gone to Ground - Rust Effect Tutorial
Recalcitrant Daze - Ork Dread Mob
Musings Of A Metal Mind - Tyracrons and Necrons Units

Lantz: Christ...where do I begin? There's so much to talk about this week; clearly. Well, MotF, M7 and AGGtG all have continued forward from previous projects and are cranking out top-notch work. I can't wait to see all of these projects in their finished forms. DFG's CVinton and Old School Terminator have some work this week that's well worth a look. PotE, while lacking any text at all in the post has a Warp Hunter that ironically leaves me speechless. Finally, GtG has an in-depth rust tutorial that's very intriguing.

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

Mike: I just received my copy of Cool Mini or Not Annual 2010. It's a joy to look at and very inspiring. Every year I find modeling techniques that I can use for myself in my way. Worth the money!

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!

Ads for Charity Review: Victoria Miniatures Penal Guard Conversion Kit

2012-01-04T07:34:00.000-08:00

We have had a few ads up for a couple of months, highlighting companies that have been generous to Charity projects that Santa Cruz Warhammer has spearheaded. John and I are both grateful to Victoria Lamb who donated generously to Heroes of Armageddon. Victoria sent us another TWO sets of her new Penal Squad set. John did a review

Mike

I am a big fan of Victoria Lamb's work and I have really been enjoying the bits and models she has been coming out with at Victoria Miniatures.

This is the second series of bits I have used to represent Imperial Guard troops. Some of you may have seen the Savlar Chem Dogs I built using Victoria Miniatures bits for the Heroes of Armageddon Project.

This time I am using this set to make some Penal Legion troopers.

The set comes with nine metal torsos with collars and ten heads to including the custodian with cigar and cap.

I used Catachan legs and Cadian arms which I removed the shoulder pads from. I wanted the Penal troops to look like they were wearing prisoner jumpsuits. The Custodian is unmodified Cadian legs and arms.

Here is a pic before painting them, you can see the liquid greenstuff I used to blend the shoulder seams.

I wanted the arms to show as much of the penal legion collars and torso so I used clippers and file to remove the shoulder pads from the plastic arms. You can see the after at the top.

I really like the inmate number tags on the torsos, but I am not that great with tiny freehand numbering, so I decided to use some little number decals to make the inmate numbers.

these numbers were easy to steal right of of any GW decal sheet, I just mixed up some of the transfer sheet part numbers, cutting them off and leaving a tab to handle with tweezers to make it easy to locate them.

Here is the squad of ten models. When I painted my Ardwick 23rd penal troops I went with orange jumpsuits, so this time I painted them grey and washed them a bit heavy to look a bit dirty.

This was a fun set to build up a great unit that can be made to fit in with and Imperial Guard army. Since you choose the custodian's uniform, you should be able to fit this unit in whatever style you use for your guard.

Just like Victoria's other kits, these metal bits are very well cast and were very nice to work with, the size and scale work very well with Games Workshop bits and help you make some great looking models that fit in well with GW artwork and fluff without you having to make everything on your own.

Please have a look at the Victoria Miniatures web store to see all the fine products that she offers. If you find something you like, please let her know that we sent you.

John

On sunday we will give away one set of these awesome new bitz! Stay tuned!

And remember, support the companies that have their heart in the right place!

You should get this

2012-01-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

I am almost done reading the travails of Tamurkhan, the nurgle commander who decides to fight his way through pretty much the entire Warhammer world, so he can have a shot at the Empire. I'll tell you, it is thoroughly enjoyable, (although better suited to readers over 12) and a perfect lunch-at-work-read.

I am always inspired by imagery conjured up by warhammer/40k writers and this one totally got me going. Boy, I would love to build a Night Goblin Army now, the way they (almost) kicked ass.....thoughts are slowly building here. I don't want to spoil too much, but those Gobbos are awesome. There are many more races featured and we learn some new stuff about all of them, although the main part is about power struggles and religious fractions with Chaos.

I know it's expensive, but it is certainly worth it. The artwork is astounding, there are NO models in it (great) and the main story is almost 100 pages long. The 2nd 100 pages deals with armylists and other stats.

Anyway, just giving my two cents here, before you buy more spacemarine tanks that you kind of don't need..get this one. You will be stoked!

Mike

My Favorite Model #1: Dave's Praetorian Commander

2012-01-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Last week I posted a request for readers to send me their favorite model with a few lines about why they liked it so much. David Clark, who runs the blog Commissar Dave Praetoriansi IVCoy, sent me an email with his favorite model. Check it out, here's Dave:

"The model I have chosen is my very Commander for my Army. I have

chosen him as it was just a complete joy to work on and I also thought

it would fairly well at Golden Daemons, well needless to say it did

not do very well and was not even looked at."

"I picked the Death Corps of Krieg Commander as I loved the way it is

posed, the detail and just the pure beauty in the model that screamed

Praetorian to me. I originally thought it would be quite hard work to

swap the head for a Praetorian Pith Helmet head but it was not, just a

simple case of cutting the original head off and drilling out for

fitting of a new neck and head. The head I chose is from a company

called Empress Miniatures who do a Zulu War range. I picked a head

that had an old age look, somebody who has seen alot and been through

alot in his time."

"I then spend many week's doing him in the same

Praetorian colours so he would blend in well with the rest of my army,

and spending more time on highlighting and blending to give it a

smother finish. I did a display base for it that is removable so that

I can use my model in normal games, and I thought that I would go with

a Rorke's Drift look with ammo boxes, the Zulu shield and white wash

stones."

"So there you go my favorite model and a short piece on why and how I painted it."

I personally think this model came out splendidly and I was very stoked to throw it on the blog. Make sure you all visit Dave's blog.....

and send me YOUR favorite model, send it to mike dot tess at charter dot net. I will post it and it will give our readers a chance to get to know your blog and models. Let's make it fun!

Mike

Random shot of inspiration for the new year

2012-01-01T01:05:00.000-08:00

I took this shot of my two girls on Friday over at the Sharkstooth Cove, just south of Davenport, CA. I like the texture of the rock. It would make a nice terrain piece to ride under with a bunch of knights

Mike

Barter Bucket: 12/21/11

2011-12-31T06:48:00.000-08:00

Necromunda backpacks, any and all

for trade they have:

Imperial Guard bits
Money, cold hard cash

srbuman at gmail dot com is on the hunt for the following:

1. 40K Ork Nob Bodies (metal or plastic, any)
2. 40K Ork Ork nob weapons (metal or plastic, any)
3. 40K Ork Mega Nobz, minimum x2

and for trade has these:

1. Onebox of 40k 2nd edition rules and tokens (contact for a complete listing)
2. Lots and lots of bits (just ask)

imamsawez at gmail dot com is looking for the following:

1. Chaos Space marines. Contact me with what you have, but what I most want are unpainted/unassembled bodies
2. Nurgle/Death Guard. Again, contact, unpainted/unassembled
3. 15mm Sci Fi. Let me know what you have

In return, they have to trade:

1. Dark Eldar scourges, no wings, and Kaballite warriors. I also have Scourge bits - legs and torso
2. Metal chaos raptors - both new and OOP
3. Space Wolf and Necron bits - tons of these

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 #44

2011-12-30T08:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at MWC, TLA and HoP!

The Emporer's Codex - Ironclad Dreadnought Conversion
Recalcitrant Daze - Gun Emplacement Mk II Conversion
Mordian 7th - 1k Sons Sabre Completed and Falchion WIP
Musings of a Metal Mind - Ghost Ark Completed (With Bonus Rant!)
Maximum Heresy - Tyranid Cheap Zoanthrope Tutorial
Spiky Bits - Necron Wraith Conversion
Truddenia - Javelin Jetbike Completed
ADHD Gaming - Necron Catacomb Command Barge Test Model Completed
PsychosisPC's The Madhouse Workshop - Chaos Space Marine Conversion

Lantz: Hot damn there was so much great work done this week! This surprised me with the holidays cluttering up everyone's schedules, but as always the community came through and with flying colors. Speaking of flying and colors, check out ADHDG's CCB's paint job; I can't wait to see more of this army. Along the lines of Necrons, one of my favorite bloggers from MofMM has posted his beautifully painted Ghost Ark along with an entertaining rant about its construction. To all who read this, you don't know pain until you've put together a Ghost Ark. I feel your pain, Mark. Finally, another one of my favorite bloggers/scratch-build artists over at M7th is bringing us more scratch-built vehicles this week with the Sabre and a WIP for a Falchion.

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

Mike: I TOTALLY love how Fritz 40K is painting up old game sets like skull pass and having fun with it. He is also gong to do some LOTR. I think it's great and I am certainly following his progress

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!

The Defenders of Makkum: swordsmen part 3: standard PLUS wizard

2011-12-29T07:44:00.000-08:00

I am now 5 models away from finishing the first unit of 25 swordsmen. I finally touched up the standard bearer and finalized the wizard

I spent a lot of time on the wizard and feel happy about this model. It's a wonderful sculpt (wonder who sculpted it?) and there are excellent model lines to work with. I received this wizard in a trade and painted him up as was built. He is standing on a pedastal of red brick, made from the chimney of the Fantasy Manor

Above you can see I added some ornate stuff on the inside and a fiery comet on his inside shawl.

The inside of the book with the winds of magic:

...and I worked a bit on his bookmark.

At this angle you can also see the other ornate embroidery on the inside of his cloak

My wife got me the Garden of Mor for Xmas, so I will be looting that set to create scenery inside the movement tray. I have already tried out a few thing, but I think that set will make it look awesome!

Stay tuned

Mike

ps: I dropped the wizard on my Cool Mini or Not page, please vote if you feel like it!

My Favorite Model

2011-12-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

In the new year I would love some more interaction with all of you 890 followers....so I would love to invite you to send me an email with a picture and a little story about your favorite model...it can be your favorite sculpt, your best paint job, the model that won you the tournament, your rogue trader metal or whatever. I would love to make it a yearlong series that would run every other week or so. I think it will make for interesting reading material for all of us.

Of course I will also add your blog or website, where our readers can find more of your thoughts or work.

It's fun to think about models and why you like them; John and I did a Top Ten of All Time, check that out if you need some inspiration.

Send your emails with pix to mike dot tess at charter dot net. I would love to hear from you!

Happy New Year!

Mike

Barter Bucket: 12/24/11

2011-12-24T06:45:00.000-08:00

40K Ork Nob Bodies (metal or plastic, any)
40K Ork Ork nob weapons (metal or plastic, any)
40K Ork Mega Nobz, minimum x2

and for trade has these:

Onebox of 40k 2nd edition rules and tokens (contact for a complete listing)
Lots and lots of bits (just ask)

imamsawez at gmail dot com is looking for the following:

Chaos Space marines. Contact me with what you have, but what I most want are unpainted/unassembled bodies
Nurgle/Death Guard. Again, contact, unpainted/unassembled
15mm Sci Fi. Let me know what you have

In return, they have to trade:

Dark Eldar scourges, no wings, and Kaballite warriors. I also have Scourge bits - legs and torso
Metal chaos raptors - both new and OOP
Space Wolf and Necron bits - tons of these

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 #43

2011-12-23T07:29:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at MWC, TLA and HoP! I think Matt's going to be joining us again real soon, so let's break down the top picks for this week.

Volomir's Blog - Artscale Imperial Fist PIP
Fuzzbucket's Mini Mayhem - Scourge Completed
Oinks Overambitious Terrain Project(s) - Air Traffic Control Tower
Master Of The Forge - Artscale Gabriel Angelos WIP
Ricalopia - Liches Finished
Wrythhold - Uriah and Confessor Completed
White Metal Games - So...Many...Conversions...
Warhammer With Zail - Triarch Stalker Completed
Dark Future Games - Da Kabal Of Da Big Teef Trukk Conversion
Scratchbuilt 40k - Librarian Dreadnought Finished
Eye Of Error - Asdrubael Vect and Court Completed

Lantz: The Honor Roll isn't just about finished conversions or painting projects. If anything I'm more interested in in-progress shots or even the pieces laid out before me to see where my imagination will take it and later seeing what actually came of said project. Such an example is OOTP's Air Traffic Control Tower; I suggest you keep an eye on this one it looks like it should be good. Something else I really love is blogs working together, such as VB's Artscale Imperial Fist painting in-progress shots as the model for this was made by Master of the Forge. And speaking of MOTF, he's got another artscale project going for a client that's well worth a look.

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

Mike: Unfortunately I have to link Blue Bra Girl. THIS IS NOT FOR KIDS! I don't have tv at home and i happened across the really saddening footage by accident, but it changed my week. I couldn't focus in the evening on the hobby, finding warhammer modeling too trivial when compared to what's happening in places like Egypt. I am truly sick of so much that I read or hear, at home and overseas, and i feel so happy and blessed with my little family, trying to close all this craziness out. If the world could just do without lying aggressors and sadistic violence against women/minorities.....
Anyway, I started painting again last night.

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!

WIP update

2011-12-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

some morning painting and now off to work

Mike

The Defenders of Makkum: swordsmen part 2: updates

2011-12-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

After a couple of weeks, I have made quite a bit of progress on the swordsmen of the Defenders of Makkum. I received the bases from Dragon Forge and was able to paint up about 12 models and have two models in progress, the standard bearer and the wizard. Let's go to the pictures:

Here are the first models, based on their red brick bases. The movement tray is just a working tray, I am going to build something different. Also no terrain yet in between the ranks, haven't gotten any yet.
For the Dutch readers, they recognize the Frysian flag with red hearts, very cool flag. I painted it reversed, I like the flow better this way.

All the models are heavily kitbashed and meant to depict veteran type warriors, grouped together from different districts around Makkum and called up to the city to defend it. A lot of men have grey hair to make them look a bit older. Different shields mean different homesteads or allegiances.

This is the emblem of the current city of Makkum in Friesland, Netherlands and I thought it would be fun to paint that on the standard.

I still have to work on it a bit, but it looks good enough for now

Suddenly, on a sleepless night I got inspired to paint a wizard. I have worked mostly on his cape and book. The inside pages are done. It was really fun to do and my new, special for painting-reading glasses are really helping!

More next week!

Mike

Barter Bucket: 12/17/11

2011-12-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

1. Chaos Space marines. Contact me with what you have, but what I most want are unpainted/unassembled bodies

2. Nurgle/Death Guard. Again, contact, unpainted/unassembled

3. 15mm Sci Fi. Let me know what you have

In return, they have to trade:

1. Dark Eldar scourges, no wings, and Kaballite warriors. I also have Scourge bits - legs and torso

2. Metal chaos raptors - both new and OOP

3. Space Wolf and Necron bits - tons of these

SCWH Honor Roll #42

2011-12-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at MWC, TLA and HoP! This week is chalked full of goodies! So let's get to it!

Meridian Prime - Honour Guard Complete
Dark Future Games - 13th Company Thunder Wolf Finished
Die Vincis - Basing WIP (translated to English)
Rabbit Hole Games - Remeil WIP and PIP
Home Of Cadaver - Death Guard Sternguard Veterans
Recalcitrant Daze - Looted Wagon #5
Winterdyne - Dreadfleet Set PIP
WAAAGH! Aki - Da MegaNob Kitbash
Death Or Glory! - DEldar Grotesque Conversions

Lantz: Okay, this was a good week if you like conversions and kitbashing. MP has some Honour Guard that look like they're purchased straight from GW in some find conversion work. RHG has both some WIP and PIP shots of his Remeil...every time I look at that model I get a tad drooly... DV has some great basing going on for some projects he's working on as well; well worth a look.

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

Mike: check out Pepa Saavedra. This post is wonderful and check out all the busts on the right. Awesome!

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!

Childs Play Charity Build

2011-12-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

The Blood Ravens Charity Drive has now gotten underway in a serious manner. On the website is a realtime donation counter. Check it out here, also we have a link on the right, donate some money and maybe win a great looking army! 't is the season!

Mike

SCWH sale at Secret Weapon extended through today!

2011-12-14T08:57:00.000-08:00

(ED: the 15 % off sale at Secret Weapon has been extended through today, get on it!)

thanks for all the great comments over the last couple of days! it seems there are a lot of people that are excited about the Archeo-Tech Obelisk. But we only can give one away....

And using Random.org the winner is:

Damn the Valley

He will get one brandspankin' new and shiny Tech Obilisk in the mail....when he drops me his address (send it to santacruzwarhammer at gmail dot com

24 hour SCWH sale at Secret Weapon

In tribute to the review and giveaway on Santa Cruz Warhammer, Mr Justin put the Archeo-Tech Obelisk and ALL his other products on sale for 24 hours with 15 percent off, starting right now! The coupon code is SCWH. So head over here and get an Obelisk or anything else. With 15 percent off, the price for the Obelisk drops down to $12.75. That is a wonderful price for a big piece of resin. And they can be very easily used in Warhammer Fantasy as well.

Please realize: Secret Weapon has been and will be generous towards charity. These are the kind of companies that we should support. Show some support and use that SCWH coupon; 24 hours only!

Mike

Santa Cruz Warhammer Giveaway: Necron Obilisk!

2011-12-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

Mr Justin from Secret Weapon Miniatures has a great reputation for giving to charity. He has given many, many products to the two great charity drives of the last two year, the Storm Wardens and the Heroes of Armageddon. We chose him to be the first company to be highlighted in our Ads for Charity Program and he sent us two Necron Obilisks, models he created and is selling on his website. We did a review on it last week and today we are giving one away, in our usual SCWH style.

Here's the great looking model:

Drop a comment if you want to win!

And remember, if you shop online, try to find companies that have their heart in the right place!

Mike

Barter Bucket: 12/10/11

2011-12-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

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:

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

and is willing to trade:

x10 Forgeworld Raven Guard upgrade kits (heads, backpacks, shoulderguards, chests)
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:

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

for trade they have:

Some Space Marine models and bits
Various Tyranid models and bits

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

40k Imperial Guard bits
WHFB Empire bits

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

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

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

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

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

OOP Land Raider box, the first one, just the box
Long Drongs Slayer Pirates, need 6 more troops.
Fantasy Chaos Marauders
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 #41

2011-12-09T06:40:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at MWC, TLA and HoP! We're still awaiting Matt's return to the internet, so until then I've still got the driver's seat... Buckle in!

Floor Gaming - Painted Terrain
Recalcitrant Daze - Looted Wagon Kit Bash
Spikey Bits - Tomb Blade Conversion
Alskayer Et Lyc@rnia: Le Manufactorum - Ork Infantry Conversions (translated to English)
The Hobby Ambit - Flying Ork Trukk Completed
From The Warp - Destroyed Vehicle Craters
Digital Wastrel - Wyches Painted
The Quiet Limit Of The World - Branchwraith Painted
Smells Like Wargaming - Salamanders HQs Finished
The Painting Shop - Ogre Maneater Pirate Painted
March Of The Plastic Soliders - Sorylian Battleship Completed
Lil Loser - Eldar Army
Warpstone Flux - Shadow Sword Painting

Lantz: A lot of good stuff this week! Necrons aside, of course, my favorites have to be DW's painted Wyches; those things are superb! I'm also a fan of all the Ork work being done this week. Did you see that flying Trukk over at THA? Go click it again! Finally, I really like the clean look of the Sorylian Battleship by MotPS. I used to play Ultramarines, so maybe it's striking a chord there.

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

Mike: I mentioned this model ages ago and finally Cianty has been able to paint it up...and yes, that modeling cabinet looks wonderful!

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!

Necron Triarch Stalker Conversion

2011-12-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

With the release of the new Necron codex my old Necron army needs to be updated, and I'm sure I am not the only one. Many of the new units in the codex are great, but not all of them have models yet. Some people complain about not having an official model to play with, but I personally like the challenge that presents to converters.

One of the units that jumped out to me is the Triarch Stalker. "Like an enormous mechanical spider, a Triarch Stalker looms over the battlefield with its multiple slicing limbs and devastating weaponry controlled by a high-ranking Triarch Praetorian." That sounds great, and the rules are equally cool. It is a Walker with a "heat ray" that shoots either as a heavy 2 multi-melta or a heavy flamer. As a bonus it has the "Targeting Relay" special rule which means any unit that shoots at a unit that was hit by the Stalker counts all of its shots as twin-linked. In my mind that all read as , must have!

The first thing I did when starting this conversion was to examine the artwork in the codex carefully. I actually printed off a copy of the artwork and made notes on it of what were important elements to include. What I saw was...
-6 main legs
-an exposed driver
-a curved portion on the back that matches the other Necron vehicles
-a protective front piece with a Necron symbol
-a large unique gun
-2 smaller mandible like limbs

When I thought of a 6 legged Walker I immediately thought of one kit. The Robogear Spider. That model is the base for this conversion. Here is a list of parts I used...
-Robogear Spider body and legs
-Catacomb Command Barge Tail
-Catacomb Command Barge Railing
-Ghost Ark Pilot and Chair
-Ghost Ark Control Console
-Tomb Spyder Particle Caster
-Talos Vestigial Arms
-Dragon Forge Power Cable
-Green Stuff

This is a really simple conversion. I built the legs and body of the Robogear Spider as normal. Then I took the curved tail piece from the Command Barge, Cut off the bottom portion under the ball, and glued it to the back of the Spider, you can see where to cut the piece in the photo below. There will be a small hole in the ball but it will not be very noticeable when finished. I filled this gap with a little square of cereal box card. Then I built the pilot and chair from the Ghost Ark. Leave the pilot's arms off til the end so that he can fit the controls correctly. Cut down the wires coming out of the back of the pilot so it fits neatly against the spine from the Command Barge. Then glue the chair to the middle of the Spider as close to the Tail section as possible. Next I assembled the railing from the Command Barge. Simply glue the railing to the front of the spider over the pilots legs. Be sure to use plastic glue when assembling this conversion because it hardens slower than super glue which will give you time to fit all of the pieces properly. That finishes the main body of the Stalker.

Now onto the details. Assemble the control console from the Ghost ark and cut the stand flush so that you can glue it to the back of the railing. At this point you can add the pilot's arms so that they are resting on the controls. Next you need to find a cool gun that you can fit under the model. I used a metal particle caster from the Tomb Spyder that has been in my bits box for years. There is a circular whole in the bottom of the Spider torso that I plugged it into. I finished the gun by adding a Dragon Forge power cable running from the rear of the gun into the rear of the spider torso. Then I added two small arms from the Dark Eldar Talos kit to the front to look like mandibles. The last detail was to add a Necron symbol that I press molded in green stuff that I cast of of the Ghost Ark.

That is it. I think this conversion is very close to the artwork. The final model is slightly bigger than a Dreadnought but not by much. I was hoping that it would fit onto a 60mm base, but unfortunately the legs stick out to far. I will have to find a slightly larger base or use it without one. I used parts from both the Ghost Ark and the Command Barge kits, but you could make this work with only Command Barge pieces. Just substitute the pilot and the control console for ones from the Barge kit. The pilot won't be as bulky but it will still work.

A few years back Mike used some Robogear models for Ork vehicle conversions. This was before I met Mike, and is actually what inspired me to pick up some Robogear models myself. The Robogear models are still easily available on Ebay and very affordable. I hope some of you will be inspired to make conversions of your own.

Michael

Review: Secret Weapon Miniatures Tech Obelisk

2011-12-06T07:26:00.000-08:00

Here is our first Ads for Charity Product Review. Secret Weapon Miniatures have always been a great supporter of our charity projects. Last summer they donated hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of bases to the Heroes of Armageddon Project. Heart is in the right place, I should say. So we want to kick of this program with a review of a fairly new product in the SW line: the Necron Tech Obelisk. Justin from Secret Weapon sent us TWO, one is reviewed below, one will be GIVEN AWAY to one of you. I asked Michael to review this new model.
And remember: support those companies who are willing to support our communities!

Mike

As part of Santa Cruz Warhammer's Ads for Charity project I was asked by Mike to paint and review Secret Weapon Miniatures new Tech Obelisk.

This is a really interesting resin piece. It is hollow but still a solid cast. I have spent some time trying to guess how they managed to cast it like that. This is a really ingenious solution to use less resin and thus keep the cost down. That is necessary because this is a fairly large piece. Although it is hollow it is still very durable. The bottom is about 60mm square and the obelisk stands about 5.25 inches tall (or about 4.5 times taller than a standard marine). In the photo below I have included a Necron Warrior and Destroyer for size comparison.

A nice feature is that each side of the Obelisk has a different design. That is a nice touch that adds interest to the model. The surface of the model is not smooth as I would have guessed, but rather slightly porous. The cast I received was also of very high quality. There was one mold line and a few tiny air bubbles but nothing that was not easily cleaned up with a file and some liquid green stuff. To be honest the air bubbles were so small that I would not have bothered filling them before liquid green stuff was released, but since it was as easy as drawing a paint brush across the bubbles, I did.

For my paint scheme I went with a classic Necron look. This is because I am currently updating my old Necron army for the new codex, and they are on my mind. Although this model was clearly designed with Necrons in mind it does not have to be used this way. It could easily be painted like stone and used in an Egyptian setting, painted to be marble and used as a memorial obelisk, or whatever your imagination might create.

The design on this side is different from the the photo above

As I mentioned above the model has a slightly porous surface, so it takes paint very well. I primed this one one white and built up the green using Goblin Green to Scorpion Green to Scorpion Green/Skull White mix highlighting towards the top of the model and towards the intersection of lines. Then I painted the panels Chaos Black and finally added an edge highlight of Goblin Green to the black areas. I wanted the obelisk to have a polished and shiny look so I finished it with gloss varnish.

I am quite happy with this model, and it is easy to make it look good on the table top. The obelisk can work well either as terrain or an objective marker. The Tech Obelisk retails for $15 and can be ordered directly from Secret Weapon Miniatures. Santa Cruz Warhammer is always trying to find innovative ways for hobbyists to support great charities, so be sure to check out all of our Ads for Charity sponsors so we can keep sending support to charities that need it.

Michael

PS: if you live in the Bay Area, you can meet Mr. Justin from Secret Weapon in San Jose on Saturday. He will be giving a workshop at GameKastle. Come check him out!

The Defenders of Makkum: swordsmen part 1

2011-12-04T08:23:00.000-08:00

I kitbashed together 20 swordsmen as my first unit for the Defenders of Makkum (one is missing in the pictures). My basic idea was to create a group of veteran fighters, having the enemy in their sights but not close enough to engage. Therefore a lot of models are standing and waiting...

some are getting anxious and the leader rank (with standard bearer) is shouting encouragement.

The empire swordsmen are very dynamic and wouldn't work well for my purposes, so I used Bret bodies, which are more upright. Then I used a ton of different heads, incl some from Guard and SpaceMarines and worked on all the arms and shields. When using a Bret shield, I added an Empire Icon to make it look more the part.

I painted up a couple of models but haven't found my mojo yet. Priming in white is hard.
I haven't received the Dragon Forge bases yet, so I will paint them all on these GW bases and transfer them over. Finally I will start incorporating terrain into the ranks.

Stay tuned!

Mike

Barter Bucket: 12/3/11

2011-12-03T05:18:00.000-08:00

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

and is willing to trade:

x10 Forgeworld Raven Guard upgrade kits (heads, backpacks, shoulderguards, chests)
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:

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

for trade they have:

Some Space Marine models and bits
Various Tyranid models and bits

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

40k Imperial Guard bits
WHFB Empire bits

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCWH Honor Roll #40

2011-12-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the SCWH Honor Roll now brought to you with love and care direct from Lantz from over at MWC and TLA! Matt's been busy with real life shenaniganz lately, so I'll be your lovely host until his return. In addition I'm going to be changing the Honor Roll ever so slightly. Every week I try to stick to a theme and while that's spiffy keen, I don't get to post some amazing paint-work because it's conversion week and vice versus. So, from here on I'm just linking some good ol' quality work, no matter the genre which probably means a tad more content each week. Enjoy!

AJ's Gaming World - Lasgun Tutorial
Dark Future Games - Space Wolves WIP
Storm of Blades - Warp Spiders Completed
Adeptus Malaysia - Avenging Sons Veteran
Rust And The City - Death Guard Conversion
ADHD Gaming - Blight Drone Completed
Brian Carlson Miniatures - DEldar Baron WIP
Eye of Error - Scrap 'crons
Enter The Nurgling - Harold of Nurgle WIP
40k Hobby Blog - Minty Necron Overlord WIP
WAAAGH! Aki - Nob Bikers Completed
Recalcitrant Daze - Nurgle Hell Blade WIP

Lantz: Even with the holidays, gamers are still finding the time to work on their projects. And it's a good thing, too. Otherwise I'd write poetry here and no one wants to see that as it's mostly about cake and Anna Kendrick... This week is chalked full of...well, a little bit of everything! AGW's lasgun tutorial is an attention to detail everyone can appreciate. Subtle changes to an army as a whole are what make or break outside interest; this one is a well crafted conversion. I've been watching AM's Avenging Sons Veteran progress work for a while now, it's nice to see something completed and completed beautifully. Finally, SoB's Warp Spiders' paint job is superb. I've got a weak spot for that unit from back when I played Eldar and that paint job suits the unit well.

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

Mike: I love this newly found blog, the Brush Brothers. Make sure to check out the current post, but this one with Lilith is awesome!

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!

The Defenders of Makkum: a beginning

2011-11-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-28T07:33:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-27T07:57:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-26T05:56:00.001-08:00

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

and is willing to trade:

x10 Forgeworld Raven Guard upgrade kits (heads, backpacks, shoulderguards, chests)
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:

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

for trade they have:

Some Space Marine models and bits
Various Tyranid models and bits

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

40k Imperial Guard bits
WHFB Empire bits

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCWH Honor Roll #39 - WIP/Conversions

2011-11-24T16:54:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-24T07:58:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-23T08:01:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-21T06:40:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-19T05:57:00.000-08:00

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:

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

and is willing to trade:

x10 Forgeworld Raven Guard upgrade kits (heads, backpacks, shoulderguards, chests)
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:

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

for trade they have:

Some Space Marine models and bits
Various Tyranid models and bits

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

40k Imperial Guard bits
WHFB Empire bits

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCWH Honor Roll #38 - Terrain

2011-11-18T07:09:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-17T06:49:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

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!

2011-11-14T06:46:00.000-08:00

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

The Perfect 40k Starter Set

2011-11-13T07:32:00.000-08:00

A thought has been playing around in the back of my head for awhile. Assault on Blackreach and Island of Blood are great sets full of lots of models for a comparatively low cost, but if you never played a miniatures game before, are these really starter sets? I came to the conclusion: no. While these sets provide you with the rules and lots of models they are overwhelming, inadequate, and expensive for a new player/hobbyist.

In 2003 GW released a very good 40k starter set called, Space Marine Assault. It came with 5 Space Marines, 8 Genestealers, an introductory rulebook (not the complete rules only the rules for playing with Tac Marines and Genestealers), a die, 7 small paint pots, and a paint brush. It retailed for $25. This set was very good, but I would not call it perfect. Using this box as a start I set out to make the perfect 40k starter set. I had two primary goals with this project, first to include everything that a new player would need, and second to keep the cost as low as possible while using primarily GW products (except for when their equivalent is very overpriced).

Here is everything that I am including:

Components from Space Marine Assault. Cost $2 plus $4.50 shipping from ebay.

5 Marines, 4 with bolters and 1 with a missile launcher.
8 Genestealers.
I think it is important to provide 2 forces that are relatively balanced against each other without being identical.

The Space Marine Assault rulebook.
This rulebook is surprising still good even with the current edition. Instead of giving you charts it says things like, "a Marine needs to roll a 3 or better to hit with it's bolter." The book also explains how to set up a table with ordinary household objects.

7 paints: skull white, chaos black, blood red, sunburst yellow, bleached bone, ultramarine blue, and boltgun metal.

A die.

The rest of the components do not come from the Space Marine Assault box.

Citadel Basecoat Brush. Retail cost 5.75.
The old GW brushes were awful and that is why I am not going to include the one from Space Marine Assault. If you give someone paints they should at least have a brush that can achieve decent results. A few years back GW remade their brush line, and now all of the standard brushes are Kolinsky Sable instead of synthetic. While they are not the best brushes on the market they are actually useful now.

A basic Hobby Knife. The one I got is Revell, retail cost $3.50.
GW does sell a Hobby Knife but it retails for $15 dollars. It is a great knife handle and the one that I use, but it is extravagant for a starter set. This is obviously for cutting models form their sprues and cleaning mold lines.

Citadel Plastic Glue. retail cost $6.60.
Why do starter sets never include glue? It makes no sense to me.

A 3 foot tape measure. Retail cost $0.99.
This is one of the tiny tape measures that comes on a key chain and is often sold at the cashier's impulse item rack at hardware stores. You could easily replace this with a GW red measuring stick, but it would have cost me more to buy one form ebay. A GW tape measure costs $8 and is bigger than needed for this amount of models.

Warhammer 40K Battlefield Accessories. Retail cost $11.50.
This is included to construct barricades and simple terrain features. I think it is important to have a cool looking battlefield to fight over. This obviously will not fill a whole table, but it is a nice start and surprisingly well priced.

Instructions for making terrain out of the box this set would be packaged in. Cost free.
Below are a few sample ideas from the old How To Make Wargames Terrain book that GW released in 1996. It is a great book that tells you how to make terrain from scratch because GW had not yet started making plastic terrain kits then. If you want to learn more about this book Mike did a walkthrough on building one of the projects. I think this is a really great inclusion because it adds another project for the new hobbyist without adding any additional materials or cost.

My total cost for all of this was $35. I think that is a great price point for a potential new player. Even if I had paid retail for Space Marine Assault this would have been only $55, half the cost of Assault on Blackreach. Of course if GW made a set like this they could sell it for even cheaper as they would not be paying retail costs. If someone is interested in a new game are they more likely to try it for $35 or $100? In my set I was able to include models, terrain, tools to assemble everything, paint, tools for playing the game, a rulebook, and a bonus project. In short, everything that a completely new player or hobbyist would need.

As any GW collector knows there is obviously always more that you can get, but I tried to keep this to the essentials. If you have never seen Space Marine Assault you can still find them on ebay for cheap. Let me know in the comments if I left anything important out, or if you have a way to improve my starter set.

Michael

Barter Bucket: 11/12/11

2011-11-12T07:06:00.000-08:00

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. He would also love the Empire Heraldry Book with all the uniforms. ALSO, anyone out there want to trade their guard army, painted or unpainted, built or unbuilt, it's all good. Got plenty to trade, just ask, email him at mike dot tess at charter dot net

mhcallahan at hotmail dot com is looking for:

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

and is willing to trade:

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

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

40k Imperial Guard bits
WHFB Empire bits

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCWH Honor Roll #37 - Necrons!

2011-11-11T07:34:00.000-08:00

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! The big news this week is Necrons and since Lantz is involved, the Honor Roll is jumping on the bandwagon!

Hobby
Hephesto's Forge - Necron Test Model Standing Tall
40k Hobby Blog - Mint Green Necrons
Smells Like Wargaming - Discussion On Models and BatRep
The Vanus Temple - Painting Tutorial
From The Warp - Necron Painting How-To
Fritz 40k - New Models
Dark Future Games - Marco Shulze's Swamp 'crons

Rules
3++ Is The New Black - In-Depth Review
Craftworld Lansing - Quick Overview
Hero's Gaming Blog - Fun Ideas/Tricks
11th Company - Episode 93: Podcast With "Brief" Codex Overview
Mi40k - Thoughts On Strategy
Me! (Lantz) - Codex Review

Lantz: It's no deep hidden secret that my favorite official army is the Necrons. Many a dream of mine is filled with zombie-robot goodness. I've been playing Necrons for almost 3 years, and by playing I mean losing or tying. However, last week saw the return of competitiveness for the Gauss-toting bots and I'm super excited! And I'm clearly not the only one. Aside from all of the well written reviews on the new rules, we have people breaking out the old paint brush and glue for the boys in green. 4HB's mint Necron has me excited to see some vehicles painted up. FTW's glowing effects make me want to start my Necrons over, curse you Ron! And HF's modified Warriors are something else I wish I had toyed with. You people and your creativity bringing me down!

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

Mike: I have been obsessing this week about the Sons of Sek and how to model them. I am rereading Traitor General and starting browsing. I stumbled upon Running from the Law, who did a full Sons of Sek Traitor Army for the GT in 2008. Check it out, it's great.

Is it just me?

2011-11-09T07:06:00.000-08:00

OK, no pictures for once.
I need to write off some thoughts about the hobby. I will start with this question: "Is it just me?"
On a regular basis I get comments from friends about my short attention span in modeling armies. Over the last month I acquired through trade a unbuilt Chaos Warriors army, a large lot of Empire, another bag full of Ogres, resin models, blisters etc etc. My cabinet is really crammed to the max. And all of this stuff I want really badly.

I have fantasies about the Empire Army I will build or how to paint all the Chaos soldiers. I am excited about the Ogres and bought some beautiful models from Avatars of War. Wonderful stuff. I am slowly fantasizing about my Renegade Guard army and what to do with it. I even started reading Gaunts Ghosts 7-8-9 again to remember Sons of Sek and the Blood Pact. And that while I am painting the SpaceWolf drop pod, modeling and thinking about the crew for my scratchbuilt Chaos Hell Cannon, having to finish up the Vampire Counts and the Bishkek 2nd.............and pondering once in a while it would be cool to model some vikings, civil war soldiers or roman centurions.

I find great comfort in having all these thoughts and projects materialize at the same time. It gives me piece of mind that whenever I get bored with one model, I can jump to something else. I do force myself to create a story for each army that I start, so when I make a jump, I feel I jump right into another storyline. It's wonderful and certainly refreshing. Here's this year's work as you have seen it on the blog:
January: Space Wolves
Feb-Sept: Vampire Counts
Summer: Heroes of Armageddon Orks
May: Bishkek 2nd Storm Troopers
Sept-Oct: Ogres
Oct: Chaos Warriors
November: Space Wolves

And now I am pondering options in Renegade Guard. I have scoured Dave Taylor's Blood Pact again and checked out the various Sons of Sek projects, all very interesting. I have toyed with some bitz and colour schemes....and there it start all over again.

The armies that I have finished (or almost), hardly hold any interest any more. I have a 1500 fully painted Ork Army that's boxed up and I am tempted to also box up the Bishkek 2nd. The project is done and it's time to move on. Some days I decide to sell those two and from the money start again with something else. I would let the Orks go but I couldn't let the Guard go...but still, they are in the way now.

All in all I feel good about having figured out what makes me tick, modeling wise. And that's great comfort. I have my entire life to model all the stuff I still want to do, even if no one else gets it. And that makes it so I don't have to rush for anything. One model at a time, always having fun, never trying to make it boring...

I just haven't met anyone who said: "yeah, i have that as well!"

Mike

Painting Real Rust, the fun and easy way

2011-11-07T06:40:00.000-08:00

About 6 months ago I read a post from William Osborne on Bell of Lost Souls on using an inexpensive product to create real rust effects. That product is Sophisticated Finishes Rust Antiquing Set. To make a long story short, I picked up a set at a craft store and have been experimenting with it on various projects. The set is really quite simple. It is two bottles. The first bottle is a paint with lots of iron particles in it called the "metallic surfacer". You paint this on first, and apply it just like any other water based paint. The second bottle is the "antiquing solution". It is a watery liquid that is a mix of a few chemicals but I think it is mostly Ammonium Chloride. You wash this on over the first layer, and then wait. In about an hour you will start to see rust appear, but the rust will continue to develop for about 8 hours. I want to emphasize that this creates real rust, not just rust colors. Now that we got the description out of the way, let's jump into some applications.

My first project was a resin wreck marker. For this I just painted the whole thing with the rust effect. I think the rust turned out really well, especially considering I only spent 5 minutes painting it (not counting drying time). With that success I wanted to see if I could apply it a little more carefully.

My second wreck is also pretty simple. First I just basecoated the whole vehicle mechrite red. Then I painted the metallic surfacer on the tracks, rivets, cracks, and lightly stippled it over the hull plates. Then I applied the antiquing solution, and when it dried I had a pretty good looking wreck that still still has paint on the hull.

I declared the wrecks a complete success and decided to take this experience and move on to more complicated projects.

Did you recognize the picture at the top of the post? It is the very cool GW Blastscape. I painted the whole vehicle with the rust effect as I figured it looked like it had been sitting there for a long time. I also painted the warning sign on the tree with rust. I painted and flocked the rest of the model as normal. Below are some detail shots of the tank and a close-up of the warning sign so you can really see the rust detail.

My most recent project used the rust finish in a very detailed manner. I painted the new plastic Nurgle Lord. As a side note I think this is one of GW's best models to be released in recent history. In the photo below you can see the model completed except for the rust on the left and the finished rust on the right. I applied rust to the axe, face mask, icons hanging from his waist, and corrosion on his armor. After I applied the rust I also added an edge highlight of Boltgun Metal, and finished the basing. As you can see it worked pretty well on the axe but is not very pronounced on the small details. However, I am quite happy. The lighting and colors are better in the first photo, but you can still see the rust effect.

I am really pleased with how well this works, and I have learned a few things to improve my results. This stuff works better on larger areas. This is because you really want to soak the surfacer in the antiquing solution. On smaller areas you can not use as much solution because it will run all over the place. Although the solution doesn't have color on it's own it will pick up a little of the iron pigments and you will end up with bits of rust anywhere the fluid runs to. Also if the rust isn't as bright as you want on the first coat you can apply subsequent washes of the antiquing solution to further rust an area. Even keeping those tips in mind, this kit is really easy to use.

I hope you stayed with me and, made it to the end of this long article. I now keep this rust set on my painting table and use it for a lot of applications. It is fun to watch the rust slowly develop. If you want another method for painting rust be sure to check out John's old article. What do you want to cover in rust?

Michael

Wolfwing Drop Pod Part 2: weathering the inside

2011-11-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick visual update on the Wolfwing Drop Pod. First I want to show you my primer box where I primed the the pod. I liked the pattern, very much like a flower.

I finished the warning stripes on the exit ramps and this also gives you a glimpse of paradise: a early morning cup of coffee, some breakfast and a model to work on...life is good.

I wanted to paint the inside compartment in a manner similar to the ForgeWorld Modeling Book, a book that EVERYONE should have. In the book they paint the tank compartments light, white of grey and then weather it. I have always loved that look and decided on white. In order to protect the ramps I papered off the sides and kept the center visible

and here it is primed white.

After the brown and sepia washes and some paint here and there, the inside is getting there.

Mike

Barter Bucket: 11/5/11

2011-11-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

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...
(Ed: Mik is out for this week, so this is a slightly altered copy of last weeks Bucket. Your submissions from this week to Mik will come in next weeks again! SC Mike)
__________________________________________
mike dot tess at charter dot net (SCWH's own Mike) is looking for EMPIRE but only characters and OOP metal models. He would also love the Empire Heraldry Book with all the uniforms. Just ask, got a LOT email him at mike dot tess at charter dot net

mhcallahan at hotmail dot com is looking for:

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

and is willing to trade:

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

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

40k Imperial Guard bits
WHFB Empire bits

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

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

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

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

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

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

SCWH Honor Roll #36 - Stuff and Things

2011-11-04T06:33:00.000-07:00

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! Enjoy!

WAAAGH! Aki - Angry Marines
A Guardsman's Guide To Glory - Aqueduct WIP
Dylan Gould's Model Works - Ork Dreads and Kans
Home Of Cadaver - Imperial Fists Vulcan
Forlorn Hope - Finished Stormravens And An Interesting Project To Come
Scratchbuilt 40k - Scratchbuilt Predator
The Lair Of Breviks - Witch King
From The Fang - Arjac Rockfist
Rust And The City - Imperial Renegades
The Madhouse Workshop's - WHF Movement Tray Tutorial

Lantz: Crap on a cracker there was a ton of great work posted this week! First, my favorite; WA's Angry Marines. I haven't gotten to read the rules for them yet, but the conversions are all kinds of hilarious and well done. I'm also in love with S4's Scratchbuilt Predator; I can't imagine the time and effort put into that project. Finally, TLoB's Witch King. If you haven't clicked on that link, do it now. That paint job is the definition of sexy.

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

Mike: I was checking Table Top Fix and saw the post about Tsuba Miniatures, which depict 28mm Japanese soldiers during the Japanese-Russian War in 1904. The blog is informative, well written and very interesting...and the models look wonderful. It has been a sole project of Markus from Germany who has been working together with sculptors and casters to create a wonderful line of models. Tempting...

Wolfwing update! painting a Drop Pod and carving Pumpkins!

2011-11-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

During the Halloween Weekend I suddenly heard the Wolves calling me from the cupboard. These 5 lonely Space Wolf Terminators were done in January of this year, almost one year ago.

After that my mind wandered over to the Vampire Counts and Ogres...and suddenly I am ready to do more wolves. I started painting the Drop Pod over the weekend and wanted to give you a tutorial on how I will do the exit ramps of the pod. Here it goes:

First I painted the stripes on the ramp in black and ochre foundation paint. To come up with a similar scheme for all of them, I counted out lines and put red dots on there to make sure my pattern would be perfect all the way to the bottom.

here i prepared the next one

I also added some warning stipes on the corners of the droppod platform

Oh, and then it was time for pumpkin carving...

back to the drop pod: added the boltgun metal and the sunburst yellow on the stripes to give them more punch.

lighting the pumpkins for a try out

I washed the ramp with Badab Black and the yellow stripes with Gyro Sepia

Then with a little green scrubbing sponge, I sponged on charadon granite, moderately on the flat parts but kind of hard on the edges

And there is the end result, next to the beginning!

I will take a few posts and talk you through how I paint the drop pod for my Wolfwing. Stay Tuned!

Mike

Follow up on stamping bases

2011-11-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Remember this post by Michael from a few weeks ago? He was testing a press mold for bases and wrote about his results, which he was pleased with. It got me thinking if I could scour my bitz box and pressmold some bases with bitz i had forgotten about long ago. Some worked, one didn't. Here they are:

The bottom one was pressed with the old Robogear Bio Toxin plant, using one of the big chem tank bitz. Came out nice.

The wheel base was made riding a wheel over it

The last one looked like....well nothing. I didn't know what I was doing and started to act like a toddler, just pushing things into the greenstuff.

Here they are painted

I think the bottom one could go for a tau or eldar type base. The wheel one would do great with desert themed guard armies and the metal one would be ...something you toss.

I still had LOADS of fun doing this, please do it as well. It's now called press mould therapy. Works well after a stressful day.

Mike

Adeptus Mechanicus Fandex, a review

2011-10-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

The newest version of Lantz's Adeptus Mechanicus Fandex was recently released. Check it out here. Yes that is the same Lantz that does a great job co-authoring Santa Cruz Warhammer's weekly Honor Roll. I have been building an Ad Mech army myself, and I want to share with you my initial reactions to this new Fandex from the perspective of a fellow Martian. All the models pictured in this post are from my collection.

Praetorians or Skitarii

The first thing I want to say about the fandex is that it is huge! This is clearly a labor of love. It covers just about every aspect of Mars you can think of, Cult Mechanicus, Dark Mechanicus, splinter cults, Techmarines, Iron Hands, and more. Official information on the Adeptus Mechanicus is scattered and incomplete, but Lantz does an excellent job bringing it altogether in a cohesive way.

Mechanicum Scribes

The fandex is organized exactly like a GW codex. It goes through all the sections including an introduction to the force, back story and fluff, the different units, a gallery, wargear, the army list, and a summary at the end. It is one of the most complete fan made works I have ever seen.

Menials or Forsaken

The army list is very big and all encompassing. I can easily take my collection and translate it to work with these rules. Even though I did not build my army to use with this fandex all of my models can find a slot. I think that is one of the real strengths of this list; any Ad Mech collector can use these rules. The fluff section is not to be missed either. Lantz has written and collected numerous original stories all focusing on the exploits of the factions from the Red Planet. In fact there are eight pages of stories. Information on the Mechanicum's forces can be hard to come by and it is nice to have a lot of information collected in one place. Many writers and fans over the years have created new units, titles, and names to describe the Ad Mech forces. Because of this not everyone interprets Ad Mech terms and fluff the same way. Lantz's fluff is comprehensive and cohesive, but I recognize that some people may interpret parts of the information differently.

Praetorian or Servitor (I call him, "I am Bender please insert girder.")

I have not played with these rules yet, so I do not want to comment on how they play or their game balance. However, I will say that they are thorough, and after a read through completely playable. If I had to find a (luxury) problem with the fandex, it is that it is too complete. There is a plethora of information in the dex; I almost feel like it is three rule books in one, an Ad Mech army, a Dark Mechanicus army, and a Techmarine fraternity army. All of the units and factions are thoroughly explained, so it is not a problem, it's just a lot of information to process. It has a full 99 pages of content.

Servitor with Communications Array/Teleport Homer

I just want to reiterate how obvious it is that an incredible amount of time and energy has gone into this fandex. It is a polished publication that is practically overflowing with information. If you are an Adeptus Mechanicus collector like me, or you just want to know more about one of mankind's most powerful factions, then you should definitely read this fandex. You can download it at www.admechfandex.com. It is free, so what are you waiting for! And as you can see with my models, building Mechanicum models is wonderfully freeing and gives you loads of opportunity to be creative!

Michael

SCWH Honor Roll #35 - Community Haunted

2011-10-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

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 is filled with the gross, rusted, creepy, haunted, postulating and horrifying from around the 40k Community this week. And just in time for Halloween!

Spellscape - Tomb Kings Skeleton Archer Tutorial
A Guardsman's Guide To Glory - Sewage Processors Completed
WH 40k Modeling Blog By Agis - Chaos Titan Showcase
Geek In The Basement - Painted Car Wars Cars
Dark Future Games - Creepy Terrain Gallery
Wargaming Tradecraft - Madrak WIP
Bear's 40k Blog - Finished Land Raider
Feralique - Zombie Pirate Bloated Corpse

Lantz: Still holding in your lunch? Good good. I don't know if it had to do with the fact that Halloween is just around the corner, but this week I saw a lot of creepy and worn-looking projects going on. I'm particularly fond of AGGTG's Sewage Processors, as we've featured their WIP shots on the Honor Roll before; it's nice to see a project's close. And I wouldn't be Lantz if I didn't mention the Necron Terrain from DFG. /drool

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

Mike: I love this version of the new Brian Nelson sculpt of the Nurgle Lord, painted by razzaminipainting AKA Darren Latham, the head of 'Eavy Metal at GW who according to the comments doesn't work there anymore (?)

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!

Santa Cruz Warhammer and Table Top Fix are joining forces on charity

2011-10-27T07:19:00.000-07:00

Table Top Fix, the news blog that features on the Elite Alliance at BOLS, and Santa Cruz Warhammer have decided to partner together in the Ad for Charity Project. Falk, who is from New Zealand, runs TTFix with a partner in France and together they have excellent contacts in the world of models and modeling.

I asked Falk to help us with our plan and he was very excited. For companies that are interested, we will offer the following:

50 dollar donation to the charity of your choice = ads pace at Santa Cruz Warhammer for one month
100 dollar donation to the charity of your choice = ad space at SCWH and Table Top Fix for one month

With both packages we request two kits of the model being promoted: one will be reviewed by John or myself, the other will be given away.

Santa Cruz Warhammer and Table Top Fix together generate about 55.000 visits a month so exposure is guaranteed.

Neither SCWH or TTFix will receive ANY money. We will also keep a clear line on which companies can be promoted: they have to have relevance to our greater modeling world.

Dear readers, all this means not much right now, since we are busy contacting companies to measure interest. But we will keep at because we believe charity is needed now more then ever.

My 2nd scratchbuilt Hell Cannon!

2011-10-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

After building my first Chaos Hell Cannon (click here for that post), I set to work on the second one. I created a similar body, but wanted to improve the look of the burning heat of the model. Therefore I added metal plating on the second one, which is all bursting away because of temperature and temperament.

Here's the scratchbuild:

And here is the painted version:

I feel I was more succesful in painting the heat. here's a top view:

A gaping maw:

and the back:

Here are the two together, one green and one red and one of the crewmembers. I am preparing a different kind of crew, but more about that later.

Hope this inspires!

Mike

Multi-Purpose Display Board and Army Carrying Tray

2011-10-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

In the past when I went to play a game of Warhammer I brought with me a simple office letter tray for collecting my dead models and moving my army around the room. This has proven to be both a great time saver, and a good way to make sure I did not lose anything. The only problem was I did not like to carry around a tray plus a display board. It was simply too much stuff, so the display board was left at home. Unfortunately at a recent tournament this was detrimental as I received a perfect army painting score except for the two points I lost for not having a display board. I have now solved this problem.

Introducing my quick and easy multi-purpose display board and carrying tray. I picked up a cheap plastic tray at a discount store for only a couple bucks. The one I bought was clear plastic so I spray painted it black. I then cut up a cheap moss flocked mat to fit on the outside bottom and the inside of the tray, and glued it down. I decided to put flocking on the outside and the inside, so I have options for how I display my armies. The moss mat was the cheap kind craft stores sell around the holidays for putting under Christmas displays. You could also flock the bottom as normal with your favorite basing material just be sure to seal it really well so it does not rub off. The tray I bought also conveniently had a raised lip around the edge on the bottom so I cut the mat to fit inside the lip so the tray still sits flat. Now I have a tray for carrying my army around in, and when I flip it over a base to display my army on. This whole project was really quick and took me no more than an hour to put together.

I liked this project because it reminded me that not everything has to be complicated to be effective.

Michael

Daemonic Incursion: Building a Herald of Tzeentch

2011-10-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hello again, as promised I documented the process of me building my second Herald of Tzeentch mounted on a chariot. As you will see, it is a fairly simple process and the results are a cool looking model that can be potentially devastating on the table.

List of Supplies:

2 flying stand bases
3 flying stand stems
2 Screamers of Tzeentch
1 Herald model of your choice
2 old chaos space marine dozer blades
12" of jewelry chain
6 small metal rings
1 chariot base
basing material: sand, pebbles, etc (not pictured)
Heavy Gel Medium (not pictured)

The list of supplies may sound intimidating, but the model itself is quite easy. I found most of these items on ebay so the price of this model was pretty reasonable.

The chain and small metal rings can be found at a craft store for about $5 total. This gives you several feet of chain, and about 50 of these little rings!

Step 1: Glue the two flying stands together, flat side to flat side.

I added some greenstuff to plug one side of the hole. This will act as a pupil for the disc. The hole can also be filled in with gel medium in a later step.

Step 2: Cut off the points from the Dozer Blades

Be sure to clean up the mold lines. These are from an older model, so a little more cleanup is required.

Step 3: Attach the dozer blades to the disc

Some of the blades are longer than others, I chose to put the longest ones in the front and back.

Step 3.1-4: Attach the rest of the blades.

I found that it helps to place the blades directly across from one another to help balance the disc. I hairdryer is also handy during this stage to help speed up the process.

Make a cross shape with your first 4 blades to help with the overall spacing.

Then add diagonal blades onto the cross.

The disc with all blades attached! By following the above steps, all blades should be spaced fairly evenly around the disc!

Step 4: Drill 2 holes in the disc on either side of the forward facing blade

Step 5: Drill a hole in each side of the wings for both Screamers

Place the holes towards the back of the wings, and fairly centered.

Step 6: Layout the disc and two Screamers onto your base to determine positioning

Play around with spacing, and if you have different heights of flying stand stems, take that into account as well.

Step 7: Drill holes for flying stand stems in the positions you chose.

DO NOT GLUE THE PEGS IN PLACE.

Place the screamers and Disc in place, just to check out the height and positioning DO NOT GLUE.

Step 8: Base Stand, and apply gel medium to the Disc.

I applied a liberal amount of the gel using a stippling technique, this should make a pretty interesting pattern on the disc which will look great once I paint it.

For the base, I used some bassalt, but I will probably end up replacing this with a resin base down the road.

Step 9: While the Gel Medium and the basing materials dry, build your Herald.

Again, I decided to use the Tzeentch Sorcerer from the Storms of Magic release. To make it different from my previous Herald, I removed the sword in the right hand, and replaced it with the staff that is normally in the left had.

I then cut off the second left arm altogether (he comes with two), and then swapped the clenched first that was holding the staff for the open hand from the removed limb.

Step 10: While the Gel Medium and basing materials continue to dry, use pliers to open the metal rings.

before

and after

Step 11: Cut your chain into 3" pieces, and using the rings, attach the chain to your Screamers.

Use pliers to clamp the rings closed again, once the chain has been looped onto the rings.

Step 12: Once your Gel Medium has dried, attach the chains with loops to your Disc.

Be sure to do this step with everything on their flying stems (but not glued). This will allow you to give your chains the desired amount of tension. Once you have the chains shortened to the correct tension, again, use pliers to clamp the rings shut that are now attached to the disc.

Step 13: Attach your Herald to the Disc.

The stand will lean forward until it is glued into place, so be sure to pull the stand back to its proper position when shortening your chains.

Finished: Your Herald of Tzeentch on Disc is built!

Last weeks Herald side by side with this weeks.

Next Step: Paint it up!

TO PAINT: Remove the Screamers and Disc from the base, then remove the flying stems from the base. Prime the base and the Screamers with attached Disc. Do not prime the clear flying stems. Paint away!

Well, that's it for this week. Hopefully that was clear enough for everyone to follow. Please let me know in the comments below if you need any clarification.

Now to get these suckers painted up...

Until next time,

Happy Modeling!

-Josh

SCWH Ads for Charity

2011-10-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

John and I have always been adamant about advertising on Santa Cruz Warhammer. When we started in 2007 we pledged never to put ads on....well, we broke that promise today. For the first time we have started a sponsorship program. BUT we will not make a dime on it. All proceeds of the program (minus paypal costs) will go to Charity. We have called it Ads for Charity

This is how it works:

A company or individual pays 50 dollars for an ad per month. All money goes to a charity of their choosing OR we provide a choice: Doctors without Borders, Save the Children, Fallen Heroes Fund or The American Cancer Society. We can help you find a good cause that has an A rating in distributing your money directly to the cause you support. We will not take in any money; we want the donations to go directly to the cause and we will get a receipt with the donation and the tagline Ads for Charity.

In addition the sponsor will give two models to us, one of which will be given away to YOU, our readers. The other model will be reviewed and modeled and we will check out the company in depth but in an honest and realistic manner.

For all that the sponsor will get an ad space for a month on the right top of our blog and tons of traffic to your website. We run Google Analytics to prove our visiting volume. AND: all our readers know that you care about doing something good in the world around you. We will have a MAXIMUM of 4 sponsors per month.

That's it. Check out the spot on the right where the ads will go. We added one company already.

John and I will only accept sponsors from appropriate companies, so you won't see any Amazon or computer game ads. We have dealt with a lot of wonderful and creative artists that want to promote their talents and we hope this will help them get more business.

To give you insight into our donated amount, we will create a charity meter which will be proudly displayed on our blog.

For John and myself, this blog is a place of happiness and doing good, not making money for ourselves. We want to show the blogging and modeling worlds how much good can be done using common sense and some goodwill. That's the reason we also organized the StormWardens and Heroes of Armageddon Charity Drives. In this economy the charities are in dire need of support and every bit helps!

If you know anyone who might be interested, drop us a line at scwarhammer at gmail dot com.

Let us know what you think.

Mike

Barter Bucket: 10/22/11

2011-10-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

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 (no OOP models) or Imperial Guard, mostly tanks for now. The state of the tanks is irrelevant! For trade? Just ask, got a LOT email him at mike dot tess at charter dot net

jason dot butch1 at gmail dot com needs:

Space Marine MkVI ("beaky") helmets, any

and has to trade:

40k Imperial Guard bits
WHFB Empire bits

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

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

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

Epic Squats
Epic Eldar Cobra Super Heavy Tank
Blood Bowl: 2nd Edition Chaos/Mutant Players

Here are two posts on his blog for trade goods:

natsirtdm at gmail dot com is a rock solid player yo, he's looking for:

AoBR Dreadnought
Eldar Harlequins (metal, any)

for trade he has:

IG sentinel on sprue (minus missile launcher/heavy flamer)
BA death company bits
Pewter Baal Pred assault cannon turret upgrade

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

Long Drongs Slayer Pirates, need 6 more troops.
OOP Land Raider box, the first one, just the box
Fantasy Chaos Marauders

__________________________________________
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!