Chaos Marines Size/Dimensions Comparison

Following a request from Gafapasta Antisocial the other day, here's a size/dimension comparison shot of one of my Avatars of War Plague Marines alongside a standard chaos marine and one of the Chosen from the DV box.

Alternative Nurglings Using Scibor Goblins, And Other Unclean Thoughts

First of all I should say that I picked up these Scibor goblins from the sinking ship Maelstrom Games, so they were a fraction of their normal price. Secondly, the idea for using them as alternative nurglings came to me as part of a more general money-saving-through-making-the-most-of-what-I-already-have scheme. So the idea is simply to base these up three to a 40mm round base and, hey presto, there you have it. I actually really like these as nurgling stand-ins. They have a little more substance to them than the GW offerings, which are OK, but I've never been particularly keen on them as grinning tiny impish things. These retain some of the impishness and fragility and also benefit from fitting into the look of my 40k Nurgle force more generally.

I also have these five old style plaguebearers, to which I'll add ten more from the new plastics.

And here's an old style Great Unclean One - stripped and pinned (my goodness, did that take a while!). Rumours abound that all the greater daemons will be replaced with new and suitably scaled-up plastic kits sometime around February, so I'm going to use this guy as a Herald of Nurgle, with him counting as riding a palanquin.

Bonegrinder - Giant - Ghorgon = Size Comparison

Everyone likes a useful size comparison shot, so here's one featuring the beastmen Ghorgon, the Warhammer Giant, and the Bonegrinder Giant from Warhammer Forge. I didn't buy the Bonegrinder myself; my brother recently bought it from eBay. I think it's a rip-off, not an original. But that doesn't matter, because the model is rather neat and pretty flawless. Really, it's too big for normal gaming. But it was half normal price and it's destined for a place in an ogres army, where it's additional size will be more suitable. On another note... I really must finish my two big-bad-guys off!

Plague Marine Conversions, Part The Second

For stage two of these guys I decided that third party backpacks just weren't going to cut it, so I delved into by double-Dark Vengeance box and fished out the backpacks from the chosen (which I'll replace with standard chaos ones from GW via mail order). Here are a couple in shiny-white primer, and a few more wearing a base-shade of Daler Rowney Antelope Brown ink, which has proved to be an amazing base-shader (with a littler medium and a drop of water added.

The first test model alongside my version of Typhus from Scibor

The base-shaded 'command group'

Some in white primer toting various weapons 

A bit of base shading done on the Scibor snail

Probably the best example of my base shading approach on a mildly kitbashed Helbrute

Help For Parents Explaining The Zombie Apocalypse To Their Kids

Absolutely love this! (From Bloody-Disgusting's facebook page).

Warhammer Forge Mourngul

It's the end of the working week so that means it's time to spin the Forge World wheel and see where she stops... And it's a very pleasant surprise this week in the shape of the Mourngul. As with all their stuff I have no use for this at all, but it would look so very good in an undead army that I'll make some space for it once other projects are nearer completion. I love the sculpting on this model; such a neat solution to getting a highly dynamic, almost flying monster, without the need for a flying stand. Now that my week is full of 'real job' rather than the academic bumbling that was previously my forte I do appreciate being pleasantly teased with new toys that tempt me to part with my hard-earned!

The Hobbit: New Photos Of Goblins And Trolls

Some new monsterous-gorgeousness from The Hobbit. I really love the way they've rendered these goblins and the troll; they look so earthy and of-the-ground, which is exactly the kind of mythos I like surrounding kobold-type creatures. These pics come from Geek Tyrant. 

Choose Your Own Adventure At The Cabin In The Woods

Just saw this on Bloody Disgusting's Facebook feed. Really cool retro-interpretation, don't you think? (If you've not see the movie yet.... watch it! It's rather entertaining :-) 

A Manhattan Gotham Mash-Up

A bit of a double-cult crossover geeky fun here, as the very talented artist Cynthia Sousa Rodgers - who goes by the deviant art handle of 'theamat' - blends the coolness of Manhattan and Gotham. I really love geek chic stuff like this. Here's the link.

There's Still Life At Maelstrom Games It Seems

Both myself and my brother have outstanding orders and we've both received emails today of some sort from Maelstrom Games, despite the continued absence of their website. Mine was for an order I've already physically received (I have a couple of others outstanding). My brother, though, had an email saying items in an order had been split and would be dispatched separately. Not sure what all this means or whether anything will actually turn up... But, it is news that there's life of some kind at Maelstrom Games and I'm sure others will be glad of some kind of news. Further up-dates to follow ...

Plague Marine Conversions, Part The First

Yes, yes, I've been distracted again, but these Avatars Of War Corruptors of Apocalypse are just too tempting to play with! Here they are in the first stages of conversion into Plague Marines. This was always my plan and I'm pleased with how it's gone so far. The 40k weapons have been straightforward swaps for the great weapons these guys are supplied with, and fortunately it's been easy to clip these down to make a range of nasty looking plague knives. The next stage, which will occupy me during the coming evenings, will be the addition of some extremely festering backpacks. The standard marine issues - imperial and chaotic - are just not right for this job, so I'm planning something that's a cross between exhaust vents and fungi (like those on the Nurgle Daemon Prince...).

Avatars Of War Corruptors Of Apocalypse - Out Of The Box

Ah, new month, new toys. Today I'm doing one of my quick out-of-the-box reviews of the Avatars Of War Corrupters of Apocalypse. As always this is simply a series of photos of the basic parts that come with a set of miniatures - the kind of thing I would find useful if I was thinking of buying something, particularly if I was thinking of easy conversions. And that happens to be exactly what I'll be doing with this lot over the next week or so, as I turn them into my version of Plague Marines. Overall I'd say this was a pretty good quality set. It's the first time I've seen 'warcast' up close and it seems to be reasonable: not the best resin, certainly not the worst. There are a few slightly dodgy areas of casting, although nothing like finecast miscasts. The detail is generally crisp and pleasing and these are suitably characterful models. For a Warriors Of Chaos WFB army these would be absolutely brilliant. I, of course, will be slightly converting them 'John Blanche' style into the 40k universe.