A firm foundation

As noted in my last article I offered to build and paint Dave Forster's Konquest base in a similar way to my own and I thought I'd write an article on how I build mine and paint stages should any reader be interested!

Slate glued down

Materials:

Simple really, ordinary garden slate which is generally a blue/purpleish colour.  Very cheap and abundant; I smash the larger bits up with a hammer to get more manageable pieces.  For the earth I use medium grade model railway ballast; something I've recently started using, but find that it 'clumps' nicely and has a nice texture for drybrushing.

Assembly:

Ballast & PVA mix

Once the slate has been bashed up into manageable chunks I tend to dry-fit pieces with the legs looking for an interesting fit, for example the Conquest has a bent right foot which will fit with some angled slate, whereas the flat left foot would need to be modelled on some flat slate otherwise the model would end up off balance and look wrong.  In Dave's base the right foot would be mounted on some angled slate, which was actually quite thick, so therefore the left foot would need to be raised with the thickness of the earth, around 5mm.

Ballast mix applied to base

Once the foot positions were figured out I glued the slate in position with thick superglue, thick adds a greater contact and acts as a filler too.  The next step is worth taking time over to save problems later.  I use a pencil to mark the final foot positions and make ready to site the pins, with the Colossals this is quite important as they have pre-determined LOS markings on the base itself.

Close up once dried (note pins for feet)

To get accurate pin positions I first drilled the Colossal's feet in places suitable for the pins, i.e. where sufficient depth could be achieved as well as hidden when complete.  The next step was to cut pins that are deliberately too short, just enough to poke out of the holes; these were left in the feet and the model sited on to the pencil positions drawn earlier.  Next the feet were pushed firmly allowing the too short pin to make an indent on the plastic or slate where the other hole needed to be drilled.  This should make an almost exact fit for the pin to line up...

Drilling through slate is possible and certainly worth it, it just takes time and patience!  Once the holes were drilled I inserted much longer pins than the previous ones and bent the ends into an L shape in order to secure them on the base, for the feet to slip into later.  After a quick dry-fit the pins should be correctly aligned, possibly a slight tweak with some pliers to bend them, but hopefully a good fit has been achieved.

Once the slate has been glued into position with superglue the next step is to fill the gaps with earth, basically mix the ballast with PVA glue and some water into a very thick paste.  I used a sculpting tool to lay the mixture down and sculpt it into an undulating earth that would look good when painted.  One final thing was that I fitted the legs into position as the earth mixture was drying in order to make the left foot fit snugly; the earth was pushed slightly to leave a footprint and the legs then removed and cleaned up after any excess got stuck.  All done and just ready to dry now!

Painting:

The paint scheme for the base is quite simple, basically drybrushing the following colours in order:

1.Chaos Black primer undercoat

2.  Scorched Brown drybrush

3. Bestiel Brown drybrush

4.  Snakebite Leather drybrush

5. Menoth White Base drybrush (initially don't clean the brush, but  leave some of the previous colour (Snakebite Leather) to get a halfway tone.  Then do a pure Menoth White Base drybrush

6. Skull White drybrush (very light)

7. The slate rocks were basecoated in Bastion Grey

8. Slate washed with Badab Black

9. Slate re-highlighted with a drybrushing of Trollblood Highlight and very light Skull White

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 In this example there is no static grass or tufts, which I think is the finishing touch that makes all the difference and lifts the whole thing.  This is because Dave will be adding his own to match existing miniatures in his army, but below is the Konquest on his base, hope you like it Dave :-)

 

My latest Konquest...

My latest super secret project can now be revealed...

After stating I'd concentrate on painting a full Menoth faction I quickly bailed on this in favour of some Khador – what! I hear you say!!! I ended up purchasing a Conquest down at Maelstrom when I visited the Eye of the Storm for the Open War 18 tournament three weeks ago – it just called out to me :-)

Conquest - Source PP official website

Khador Red

It had been a while since I'd painted Khador red, but knew I'd followed the guide in the Khador faction book, with a couple of exceptions. The book suggests quite harsh layers, which are then smoothed by many thin coats of red ink – this would give the red armour a very strong colour as well as unify the harsh layering. I opted to do a smoother layering technique and not apply the ink, this makes my colour scheme a little more pastel, but I was happy with the result.

The basic technique (I use) is to apply about six coats of Khador Red base over a black undercoat, this is necessary to make a good strong base colour, the trick is not to be tempted to put the paint on too thickly, but rather apply several layers. Using a white undercoat may make this step faster, though the undercoat will seriously affect the overall finish and I prefer black.

Shading

The shading is a combination of pure Sanguine Base for the darkest areas and mixing Sanguine Base with medium/clean water to make a wash. The wash basically tints the Khador Red base and makes a nice transition with the pure Sanguine Base shading. I 'feathered' the wash a little and used some pure Khador Red later to make the transition smoother.

Highlighting

The highlighting was achieved with mixing successive amounts of Khador Red Highlight with the Base colour and applying it in thin layers. Finally a thinned (with medium/water) pure Khador Red Highlight was used on the upper most highlights.

Metals

The metals were done to previously discussed techniques and colour selection, basically from Tin Bitz to Chainmail for the silvers with Badab Black as a wash. I did the gold with the P3 colours, but used Griphonne Sepia to shade it rather than the chestnut ink technique discussed previously. I did this because I wanted the Menoth gold to stand apart from the Khador gold. Also the Khador Red is very 'warm' as a colour and the gold didn't really need the warmth that the chestnut ink would provide.

Work in progress

The photos below show some work in progress, the base was done first, then the legs, then the upper torso and finally the arms. From the WIP shots you can see that I pinned the legs and base, this was done to stop the huge machine breaking at a joint which probably has too little contact adhesive, basically the slate base won't tessellate exactly to the foot, nor will the gravel on the other. The pins make this important joint strong.

The ball and socket joint for the upper and lower torsos also has a large pin, again there is considerable weakness and potential for stress at this point and I felt a pin was needed. Lastly there are double pins which run laterally through the upper torso to support the shoulders and arms. As the upper torso is hollow I use pins which were about 3” long and traversed the whole upper torso – again I felt this was a weak joint that needed increased strength.

Legs (front) and base

Legs (rear) and base

Legs/base (close-up)

Upper torso attached

Basing

I spent quite a bit of time on the base and felt that this came out well, the mighty Konquest is smashing through a line of razorwire as if it weren't even there!! I tried to get the pose quite dynamic as his left foot crushes the wire, dragging it taught at the steel post. I realised that early on the Conquest didn't stand very well and his right foot was 'awkward', so I had to sever the join and repose with a pin, but still the pose was awkward. I therefore turned this to an advantage and sought a piece of slate to fit the right foot and make it level again. I mixed up a lot of undulating earth to give a sense of unevenness of the battlefield, the huge 5” base lends itself to this nicely. Regards to basing, I'll do a separate article on this as I'm going to do one for Dave. I'll try and take photos at every stage so that it is clear.

Base (ready for a Konquest)!

 To Chip or not to Chip?

I decided not to go for the chipped armour effect that the PP studio Colossals have, for a couple of reasons; firstly my other Khador 'jacks don't have this and Conquest would look a bit out of place perhaps and secondly I spent ages painting the highlights and shades, just to obliterate it somewhat! I've done chipped paintwork before on my 40K Orks vehicles, but these lent themselves to it a bit easier, being a bit more 'comical'.

Below are a series of pics of the finished Khadoran monster :-)

Next his buddy Judicator!  Can't wait until he arrives :-)

Frontlines2

Since my last blog entry I managed to sneak in another tournament! After having to cancel the BCB event at Leeds I managed to secure a place at the Frontlines2 tournament which was held in Sheffield last weekend. It was a last minute decision so I had little time to muse over lists as the day I bought my ticket was the date of the list submission!

I'd mused for some time over pairing my Kreoss1 list with Feora2 and had tried the opportunity at 35 points a few weeks ago at the Open War 18 event and, albeit a small field for testing I was happy with the dual lists, so Frontlines2 was an ideal opportunity to try the idea at 50 points.

I will provide a brief synopsis of my games below as well as a summing up of the event:

Drake MacBain (off Battlecollege website)

Game 1:

Chris Murdoch (Mercenaries, Drake MacBain)

Chris was a stand in as my pre-arranged opponent failed to turn up, so I was actually given a bye for the first round; however in true heroic style I opted to play a game against Chris and take the result as it would be, win or loss...

The game was really tough and Chris was a good opponent with a strong army, though he didn't have all the figures he wanted to use – so it could have been much stronger!! The first game was a reinforcements scenario and I took my Kreoss1 list as the dual Repenters would be useful against lots of Merc infantry as well as Kreoss' feat.

Highlights were my Reckoners beating on the two enemy heavy 'jacks with either shooting or melee; they're just such powerful pieces and a snip for just 8 points. Kayazy and Nyss fought valiantly against my Errants and TFG, but were unable to draw a bead on my warcaster or secure control points. Eventually Chris went for an assassination on Kreoss, but the dice were just not with him and to be fair would have been quite a tall order even with good dice. This left MacBain exposed and he was beaten to death by a Reckoner's consecrator to the back of the head which ended the match with a win.

Calaban (off Battlecollege website)

Game 2:

Liam Jordan (Minions, Calaban)

I'd never played Liam before, though he is one of the Epic Flail posse; nor had I played against Callaban as a Warlock. Liam is a skilled player and I knew it would have been a tough game. I went for Kreoss again as Liam's other Warlock was Barnabas and I would have protection from his feat with my Covenant (no KD).

The game was a radial scenario and Liam went first. He advanced very far on his first turn, augmented by his tier list bonus, so I wasn't able to pressure scenario conditions from the off. We also had an awkward wood in the dead centre which formed a lot of tactical play later on in the game.

Highlights of the match were really centred around a grind-fest where the Menoth came out better, Liam had struggled with the piece trades and slowly my forces were becoming more numerous on the attrition front. Both 'casters were very safe, so assassination was unlikely. Liam on several; occasions attempted to sneak a scenario point, but just fell short on sufficient distance to make it. I was unable to do this myself as Liam's forces were further upfield from the off and the wood made it very difficult to press forwards through, hence I played for the attrition. Liam made a few attempts to sneak a model into my control zone, so that if dice-down was called he'd win on tertiary conditions, but again insufficient distance or the game continuing denied him a victory that way. I had nothing with sufficient speed to make the distance to attempt similar as my infantry was all but destroyed by this point and the 'jacks were shooting the daylights out of the enemy heavies.

Eventually dice-down was called and neither of us had any models in the control zones so it went down to army points destroyed, which I was quite far ahead on and won that way. I felt a bit bad as Liam seemed quite frustrated, not being able to score his control points, or failing some important dice rolls to throw one of his models into my zone, though ultimately the dice-down was called in my turn and whatever came close was dispatched quickly. Liam later came to me and told me that we'd played the scenario wrong and flags were to be used for tertiary conditions, not zones. To be fair however I did question that very fact mid-game and he told me it was definitely zones not flags, so we each played that. If memory served I had both a Reckoner and Rhoven & Co on a flag versus his Iron Back Spitter at the end of the game meaning I would have won anyway! Liam later came second in the event so I doubt he was that fussed at loosing to me.

Vayl2 (off Battlecollege website)

Game 3:

Tom Fretwell (Legion, Vayl2)

Tom is a really great guy and we've played once or twice now and I knew it would be a tough match up. The scenario was another reinforcements one and I'd used Kreoss twice now, so if I used him a third time I'd be locked into Feora for the last two games and given his Legion lists both had Ravagores I knew Feora was the correct choice (as she is immune to the fire based ranged assassination threat).

The game was really good and highlights included me playing like a chimp and forgetting to activate things in the right order, mainly the Choir to sing either protective hymns, or the Battle hymns, so I might as well have not played with them that game! To be fair, despite my forgetting things, I played the attrition game well and cleared out a significant portion of Tom's army without loosing too much of my own. He'd kept Vayl safe, as had I with Feora, so assassination was unlikely for either of us, though I was worried about Tom sending off a cheeky arc node pot-spawned lesser warbeast and feat-spell assassinating Feora, her basic armour and the +4DEF wall she was hiding behind would make this fairly tough I was hoping...

Tom went up a control point early on as I didn't keep my eye on the ball and he was able to cheekily Repulse the Avatar out of the zone (darn I forgot Angels can do that)! The next turn was a really strong showing from my Menoth clearing out the right hand zone and scoring a point myself, even threatening Vayl's position and the Legion backfield plus support as the Errants pressed forwards. I spent quite a bit of time throwing Zealot bombs and their blast damage was enough to wipe out the Legion Hex Hunters. So a great showing up until my time expired and I realised I hadn't had enough time to contest the zone Tom had just scored in... I still had numerous activations left including three heavies which could have gotten into the zones and hopefully avoided being repulsed out or destroyed. This effectively ended the game as Tom scored at the same time I did and all he had to do was move one model into the zone I was controlling of on my right and win... D'oh! A real clanger that mistake; just a bit more concentration on the time would have been all I needed to keep my third game winning chances alive! Still Tom and I had a good laugh about it and I wasn't that bothered to be honest as I'd won two games already and achieved what I wanted by this point and I'd only have had to face either Jamie P or Brett W on table one/two in the next round and got a kicking – LOL!!!

Xerxis (off Battlecollege website)

Game 4:

Gav Roath (Skorne, Xerxis)

I'd played Gav earlier in the year at the Doubles tournament in January and he'd used a similar Xerxis list then and having played a bit of Skorne myself I was fairly competent on what the list did.

We were drawn on the table I'd played Liam on earlier on game two and the table was still going to be awkward with the big wood in the centre. We were playing 'Close Quarters' scenario and Gav opted to go first hurling his army far forwards and either past or into the wood making scenario options very hard for me. I'd chosen Feora again for this match up as either warcaster would have been OK, but I'd have a choice for the final game this way and the Feora list can deal with Skorne heavies.

To be honest I was quite comfortable with the game as I had the tools to deal with Gav's heavy infantry, I knew the Catephract would be in shield wall and have Defender's Ward on them, which I could counter with Eiryss2 and the two chain weapon wielding 'jacks. I could also trade heavies considering I had four to Gav's two. I knew I needed to be careful of Molik Karn, as a few side steps and Feora would be dead, therefore I played her quite cagey.

Highlights of the match up saw the Templar get the alpha strike on an unsuspecting Titan Gladiator, its increased speed with Escort and the bond meant it could hit like a sledge hammer from afar and the great elephant fell beneath its mace. I did loose the Templar in retaliation when Gav charged it with his Gatorman Posse under a few buffs were P&S18 and 4D6 damage under Xerxis feat, mean!

Following the Templar/Gladiator exchange I was able to whittle down the Gatormen and Gav's Nihilators in my own retaliation, using the cheeky 'set my own invulnerable Zealots on fire (mini-feat) and then move it onto the enemy infantry' with Feora's feat trick.

Gav then destroyed my Reckoner with his Catephract, which were then taken out, in-turn, by my Vanquisher and Avatar, the former was then lost to Xerxis himself. Gorman was meanwhile black oiling Molik whilst the remaining Zealots bombed him, nibbling out a few wounds here and there.

By the late-game the piece trading basically left Gav with Xerxis, a few support pieces and Molik, though Molik was too far out to be of much threat and was being jammed up with Zealots and suffering 'blind' from Gorman's black oil. I had Feora and the Avatar as well as my support pieces left. I was actually better off attrition-wise, though there was still a lot to play for. Gav tried to destroy the Avatar with Xerxis, but was unable to do so as it just 'enlivened' away into the warm embrace of a pair of Mechanics! The next round the Avatar rolled a full four focus, took the Hymn of Battle and ripped Xerxis a new one!

Haley2 (off Battlecollege website)

Game 5:

Lewis Johnson (Cygnar, Haley2)

Lewis and I were drawn on table two, so the winner would undoubtedly get a podium finish and we both had a choice of warcaster remaining. I took Feora as I suspected Lewis would use Haley2 with the Stormwall, which was indeed the case.

The game was very tough and there were a few tentative moments over a couple of LOS and terrain issues, but these were quite amicably resolved. The game was 'Destruction', an interactive objectives scenario, though it didn't bear too much on the actual game.

Highlights of the match were seeing Lewis having the upper hand most of the game, he played really well and was able to answer all of the problems I gave him, his list was strong and his play very good. Lewis did make one almighty mistake and forget to feat with Haley2 which he tried to flutter his eyelids at me to let him off, but I was a big meanie and said no, which to be fair was the right call; I'd already given him a few minor take-backs and all onlookers felt that it was fair, so to did Lewis!!

I made my assassination attempt on Haley2 with two Reckoner shots, then attempted to flame her with Feora, but was just a couple of millimetres short on the range. I feated to set her on fire and hoped I could nibble the last few damage boxes in Lewis' maintenance phase. I got Haley down to just two remaining wounds, which was a shame as the Reckoner's boosted damage roll was very low and just a tad more would have sealed the game for me. Feora was assassinated the following turn despite leaving her well defended. In all fairness Lewis deserved to win as he'd played better than I, so I've no bones about the result!

Final standings:

After a very tiring day I was really chuffed to finish 3-2 and having been in for a shout at 2^nd or 3^rd place should my dice have been slightly better. The field of players was so strong I anticipated loosing all my games and would have been happy with just one win before the first game, so winning more than I lost was fantastic for me. I also scooped 3^rd in the 'best army' competition and was chuffed to achieve that considering the quality of the armies on parade, so all in all a great day.

I actually came 5^th in the end, though the organisers and Rankings HQ had me listed as 13^th, due to an error in data entry, but this was soon rectified!