Behold! Gorken Morkann in the...flesh?

     I have wanted to convert up a huge stompy, anime-inspired ork walker for months now. Here is is the head to the might Gorken Morkann. This is the head, which will sit atop a deff dread. The deff dread may or may not have killa kan bodies for legs Voltron-style.

     The Gorken Morkann is based off the robot from the anime, Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann. To sum up the show, it is like Evangelion, if the main character punched his enemies really hard instead of crying about his dead mother. I recommend it, plus it is on Instant Streaming in Netflix and Youtube. Any who, here is the original robot.

     Expect more updates as the project progresses.    

Space Shark Terminators - Knock...Knock...Land Shark

     Space Sharks were the first Space Marines that got me into 40k back in 2008. I love terminator armor, deep striking, and dreadnoughts, so they are a perfect match to my tastes. Forgeworld's release of Tyberos the Red Wake forced me pony up to make a Deathwing army.

      I picture them as an isolated fleet-based army out on the edge of the known galaxy tearing up heretics and Xenos with chainsaws. My Iron Chef ingredients are Polynesian themes since they admired sharks and chainblades ala Tyberos. I decided that every squad must have a chainfist for my shark fluff. I imagine them tearing through the bulkheads of space hulks to assault in a surprise attack.

     I converted this model up on a whim a few nights ago to pass some time. Oh, look I have some dreadnought leg armor those look sort of like some Pre-Heresy-esque shoulder pads. Hello, Mr. Big Choppa meet my friend the thunder hammer. Challenge: How many skulls can I fit on this guy before he starts worshiping Khorne? I plan on running this guy as a psuedo-bodyguard to Tyberos(Belial) in the Command Squad or as Belial if I want to run TH/SS, which I don't see ever happening. Maybe at 1000 and below, I would run TH/SS Belial due to a dangerously low model count. Belial's best stat is his initiative in my playtesting.

     My Space Sharks just looked like grey Deathwing, so I decided to add more shark-y bits. Thus, the Ogre gut plate as a "Jaw-Shield" and the...Maw-hammer? Tsunami-Hammer? I don't know a name yet. Space Sharks are out in deep space, so this thunder hammer is meant to look ragtag. It is a Power weapon arm with a big choppa staff topped with a Dwarf Command sprue bit. A dragon? I shaved off the back fins of the "dragon", so that the singular fin would look like a shark's dorsal fin.

     I am a bit bored with my paint scheme. The FW scheme is all grey and black. I tried to splash some red in to jazz it up, but it is still boring to look at. Maybe basing and finishing touches will improve it? Add ridiculous amounts of blood effects on all weaponry?

Khorne Marauders - Khorne on the Cob

     No WoC army is complete without a huge horde of raging, nipple-bearing lumberjacks. I converted the Great Weapons by clipping the tops off of the flails. I did not want a huge orgy of flesh in my monster WoC, so I painted them ghostly to fit my fluff. Also, my favorite part of the Lord of the Rings is the Army of the Dead. :)

     The heads are from the Marauders box, Space Wolves, and Warrior of Chaos heads with the horns clipped/shaved off.

     Also, 50 models in a horde is BORING. Thus, I decided to use some unit fillers. I took 2 Calvary bases and stuck them together to represent 4 models each. The fillers are Spawn with Standard Bearer decorations used like heads. The arms are from 40k Ork Boyz with Chaos Knight weapons.

    "BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!"

     My "Ghostly" effect was achieved by priming them White then VERY watered down Goblin Green > Blue Wash > Green Wash. It is interesting to see what painting with washes can achieve and makes me think about the option of priming white in the future.

"DERP!"

Dragon Ogres WoC

I love the monsters of the WoC book and I think that they add variety to the endless plate armored legions. Dragon Ogres are surprisingly great! They are fast, have 4 wounds, and can get up to Strength 7! They make great flank chargers as my Warriors waddle up the middle.

I converted these out of Gors and DE Cold Ones. I wanted my Dragon Ogres to look more like miniature Shaggoths than Ogres.

I still need to either convert a 6 one or make a little unit filler. I can't figure out how I want to run them either 3 or 2x2 (No rank bonus though) or 3x3 (expensive!).

I had to green stuff some fur where the two models connected.

First Name Mister, Last Name Siege

     I have a Mr. T car air-freshener that I have owned since I was 16. It smelled like cheap men's cologne, in case you were wondering. Anywho, Mr. T has been a long time hero in my life since watching the A-Team as a kiddo and his short-lived Scooby Doo-esque cartoon. Heck, PeeWee Herman ate his cereal for breakfast!

     Also, I am in the Ron Swanson mindset that all men must sport facial hair. So, Siege's standard babyface was offending my mustachioed Nemo figures.

     Notice in the first pick that I planted a little "Mr. T" easter egg in his base ring. I like to mark my warcaster with these "runes." It makes them stick out of the battlegroup.

     

There's a troll in the dungeon....Oh, my Throgg!

     My Chaos trolls kitbashed from Ogre bulls and 40k Nob heads. I wanted to have fat little, pukey hulks running amok in my army. Again, I avoid GW's metals and river trolls aren't Chaos enough for me. No sir, I don't like it.

These pictures came out a little wonky in the color department, so...my bad?

I made sure to repeatedly ask the wife, if this was the right vomit color when painting this while watching TV with her. She approved.

 Throgg had to be there and I was inspired by King Hippo from Punch-Out! when I created him, so he has a cape. He also has a staff with what is meant to be warpstone to represent his regenerative abilities.

      This guy is surprisingly my favorite of the unit. He just looks so serious standing there with his brew. He embodies "Come at me, bro." I used Chaos Marauder shields to cover the gut plate holes. The foam is green stuff and the beer glass is from the Ogre bull sprue.

     This 2-headed fellow was inspired by the picture of Chaos trolls from the WoC army book. The troll's skin is goblin green basecoat, Scorpion green "highlights" if you could call them that, then Thraka Green wash. I like the cartoony effect and I may use it for my 40k orks. I am not sure, yet.

The Warhost of Vigo the Unholy: My Warriors of Chaos Part 3 - Hellcannons?

     The Hellcannon model is awesome, but I loathe GW's metals. This hatred is a fallacy because I am endeared with Privateer Press' metals. One of my new found loves is pinning warbeasts and warjacks ever since I ponied up for the citadel pin vise.
     Anyway, I decided that I didn't want to buy the Hellcannon model, so I looked for alternatives. I saw a post of another player using Todd Macfarlane's Warriors of Astrology Gemini to represent his hellcannon. The post was found here The Inspiration Here is my take on it.

  

    These "model" is awesome for 2 reasons for me. 1) I wanted my arm to have a Monster Mash theme, so this baddie fits right in. Plus, I can see this lug raging off and eating its crew way easier than the official model. 2) You get 2 of these guys in one model because the above picture is half of it. Here's his baby brudda.

     I used cork to make it seem that Vigo, my general, was summoning these daemonic machines from Hell or its hellish Fantasy equivalent. The bases are from movement trays. The crew are Ungor painted Hellboy red (Scab red). I painted their bodies Mithril Silver to make them look like living metal. The armor is Enchanted Blue, which is a theme color of my army. Another great thing about his model is that it is WYSIWYG since the cannon has Chaos Armor.

     I feared that people may scoff at me using a toy to play Warhammer with, but everyone so far loves them and I receive many compliments for them.

The Warhost of Vigo the Unholy: My Warriors of Chaos Part 2 - Sorcerer Lord

     Here is the main man, Vigo the Unholy. Try to guess one of my favorite movies?

      His fluff is that he flies around on his Tzeentch with his monstrous bunch to seek out enemy wizards. Once defeated, Vigo grinds up and snorts the ashes of the wizards skull to gain their knowledge. For this reason, I always run him with the Third Eye of Tzeentch, so my wizard can cast any spell of an enemy wizard in LOS.
     The green arm is from an ork and represents the corruption from his demon pact. The head, book, and staff are from the Chaos Terminator Lord kit. The cape and skull shoulder pad are from the Marauder kit.

     The disc is a pocket watch fob that I covered in green stuff. You can see a small blemish in the center right of the disc. That is a magnet that I embedded in the green stuff. There is another magnet in Vigo's boot. I have another base that I can use to run him on foot if I wish, which I have yet to do. Running him with the enchanted shield (2+ to shrug off the first hit) and Talisman of Protection (3+ Ward with Tzeentch) is survivable enough. The only thing that has been able to reliably tag him are Doom Divers.

The Warhost of Vigo the Unholy: My Warriors of Chaos Part 1

     To add content, I will do posts displaying units of my Warriors of Chaos army. These models were done for a summer league at my local game store. Many of conversions were inspired by others.

     Here is my unnamed BSB. Guess what mark he is? The Tzeentch symbol is my first attempt at free-handing a logo. The banner comes from the Gor box with extra skulls that I have collected from my bits box. I guess this guy really likes skulls, huh? You gotta keep the Khorne marked units in line.
     He also has the Bronze Armor of Zorak. Thus, the armor color. His painting was simple in that I just base coated in simple colors and then slapped on the ol' liquid talent a.k.a Delvan Mud.

First Painted vs. Last Painted: When Worlds Collide....

     I started up Warhammer 40k, when my wife bought me the Battle for Macragge starter set back when I graduated from college in 2008. My brother and I painted up the figures over a summer. I took the Tyranids and he took the Space Marines. The termagants were the first minatures that I ever painted. My Tyranids are Hive Fleet Occulus, obvious from the goggley eyes. My fluff was that nid spores are causing your dudes to trip all the balls.

     Tyberos the Red Wake was painted a few months back. I tried to drybrushing for the first time and I used several washes. Tyberos is the first mini that I feel proud of. I work fulltime and I am also pursuing a doctorate on the side. Thus, I do not have oodles of time. I decided that I should strive for a solid tabletop standard (more than 3 colors and washes). I try to keep a time spent on painting: time on the table ration in mind, now. The key is to keep painting from stressing me out.

RUN YOU FOOLS!

Also, using your bathroom as a light box is a great poorhammer trick.

      I tried to make a lightning effect on the claws. The base is made out of plasticard bits that I picked up at a hobby store. The grating in the foreground of the base is made from screen-door screening, which I will do a tutorial on. Tyberos is for my Deathwing count-as Space Sharks army. The grey is a tad plain for me, so I may need to slap some blood on them for the Shark Week effect. Any tips on blood?