Freeblades WIP report

 Been very busy doing real life stuff, but that hasn’t stopped me from sneaking in some hobby time. I only have two Terminators of my Space Hulk commission left to do but I needed a break. So I started to work on my Dino riding Freeblades warband.

The first picture I am showing you is the concept art.

The following picture is a photo from the website of what my actual model is supposed to look like. This is the leader of my band of savage heroes and he is called a Keshark.

Now the shield that you can’t see on this figure (that is not painted by me) is a round shield with a square shield laid over top of it. So it’s lined up like a baseball diamond, and while it looks cool, if you look at the round shield in the concept art, this I like way better. 

Now the beasts that they ride are called Velozar’s and they (of course) remind me of velociraptors from Jurassic Park. On another note these figures have caused me to watch Jurassic Park and it’s follow ons more than a few times.

Okay the Velozar has the leap ability which in the game of Freeblades cancels some ones counter charge. This made me think of how I wanted to pose the figure. To me it needed to be dynamic.

Now while the figures from DGS Games for Freeblades are nice, they are very static. The way the are made makes the ability to pose them very difficult, and the fact they don’t have a variety of model poses makes it harder to make yours unique. Now I belong to their Facebook group and they have some good painters that show their projects and I am pretty awed by it. But one can only paint a figure so many different ways, and bottom line is it’s still the same pose.

Kevin was having none of that. Kevin is unique. Kevin must be different🤔

Since there is only one rider, and one that is not very posable, I still needed to keep to the spirit of it being a Freeblades model. So what could I change? 

It hit me like a freight train! 3D printing was my answer! Someone out there had to make something close to 32mm and with the popularity of velociraptors my hope rose as I started searching Etsy.

I will post more in the coming days on this project.

Cheers

Kevin

The evil that lurks in the dark, finished

 Yep, I finally summoned up enough mojo to place my personal projects aside and finished those Genestealers. In the end it wasn't so hard, just my heart is not into the subject matter as it once was. Oh I will play for sure, but just lack the conviction to paint and play. I have been in and out of 40K stuff so much I can't keep count. The only game I am currently involved in with Games Workshop is Adeptus Titanicus. Well at least until they put out another cool model.... no stop it... I will resist!

Anyways here are a few shots of what I did as living proof. I placed figures that would be more like the center pieces first, followed by the grunts.

[The Beast in Charge of all the rest]

[and the rest of the pack]

This leaves me with these last two figures to complete and I will be done, done. I am so looking forward to it. 

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

Freeblades game report

 Got a chance to play a game face to face yesterday. 57 degrees and sunny skies, perfect weather for an outdoor adventure.

My buddy came over and we played a skirmish fantasy game called Freeblades. Urdagger (a Conan like barbarian force) vs my partly painted Eclipse (a Amazon like force). 

My friend has only played a couple of games, and I one demo game at Adepticon way back (in the old days when we had a thing called conventions) in 2019. It was mostly a learning game, just feeling out the rules, and more an excuse to get together for human companionship.

It was worth it. I have posted a few pictures below of our experience. The 6 sided die shows the turn number we were on.

[Below first face to face game of the year 2021]

While the game was slow only because we were learning, we could see the merits of the game and that it will play faster after we get comfortable with the rules. Definitely looking forward to more play.

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

Freeblades: Nightwhisper

 DGS Games on International Women's day had a sale for all there Lady figures. How could I resist these nicely sculpted 32mm miniatures for a Fantasy skirmish game. 

After painting Genestealers for a commission I am almost done with, I needed to reboot for a minute. So today I spent the day painting one of my favorite Freeblade ladies in the Nightwhisper. Such a cool name, and the rule of cool is what I follow to paint.

Here's a quick blurb on her from the site:

"A Nightwhisper is one of the most dangerous weapons in the arsenal of the Eclipse. These highly skilled archers know every street, alley and rooftop in the teeming cities of their birth. Impossibly elusive, they might be responsible for the deaths of more Traazorite notables than any other member of the rebellion. Imperial Ravagers do not try and take them captive, they have a standing kill on sight order."

The Eclipse is the name of the rebellion where the women are basically putting their collective feet down and demanding their due rights.

I figured out the colors I wanted, and didn't just copy the art work like I usually do, and I found this tough. At first I thought I was going to have to strip it or throw it away and start all over again, but I changed a few colors and now I am most partial to it.

So without further ado, here it is and I hope you like it.

As always thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kevin

More Adeptus Titanicus

 Well I've started in earnest on the Genestealers, but last week before I went full bore into them I completed two more Titans for my Legio.

They are two Warhound Titans for my Legio Mortis. Of course I've chosen the Heresy side (and depending on your view point) they are the good guys or bad guys.  They are model kits that you have to assemble and magnets have been added to the waist so it can swivel, and I drilled out the weapons to make them posable but more importantly be changed out so you have maximum re-playability.  

[below is Scar of Honor]

[and this bad puppy is named Tenebris Fedelis]

[and lastly them together with their interchangeable weapons]

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

Rangers of Shadow Deep, my Ranger

 Well I haven't been blogging lately, no excuse, just saying. I've been working hard on trying to kick some Genestealers out the door for a Space Hulk commission. I hate them so bad I took a break a couple of weeks ago and painted up my Ranger for Rangers of Shadow Deep. 

The Ranger is suppose to represent me on the table top and of course I had to pick a cool mini that looks exactly like I do..... at least in my dreams;) Anyways here he is along with one of his companions that will go on adventures with him, his loyal Dire Wolf. I'll have to come up with stats for him, but it's a pretty cool mini.

The miniatures are from Dark Swords Game of Thrones line. 

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

Director Orson Krennic

 God do I hate doing faces. I am not happy with how the face came out on this one, but being a 3D print I wasn't about to attempt stripping it and starting over again. Holding it at arms length it looks good and gives me the impression I want to present on the gaming table. Now I only have to paint up six Death Troopers for him. 

What a great opening scene in the movie Rouge One, right off the bat I liked this guy. His ambitions are high but unfortunately for him he has the Tom Brady of the Universe to compete against (Darth Vader). 

I love the the sculpt of this figure. Too bad I am not a higher level painter to bring out what's in my head to my hand, as this figure deserves it.

Above the scene that set the tone for the entire movie for me.

Below my best at the moment. To infinity and beyond for my next attempt at doing faces.

As always thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Kevin