As I mentioned in my post about Deathjack, I got a sweet deal on Terminus in the used models selection of MetaGames Unlimited in Springfield, MO. After sitting on the shelf for 8 months, I called in a favor from AK and got him stripped down and ready for reassembly and painting. Holy crap, Terminus has lots of parts!
While I did not go into this particular model with more than a desire to make Terminus stand “Captain Morgan” style on a treasure chest, after I inspected the model and how he went together I came up with the following list of changes:
So I set off to work. First, I took a jeweler’s saw to his waist cloak. 3 blades later, I was left with a right leg and a need to calm down. It wasn’t easy and I will have to cover up some of the damage with the new waist cloak I will have to create later. I bent the right leg to “Captain Morgan” standards with no real problem.
Next I cut the left leg in half and pinned it back together straight. This too was done for the “Captain Morgan” pose. After I had that assembled. I drilled pin holes in both legs and completely through the waist to attach the legs but I didn’t glue them down. I needed to be able to work with them to position them for the treasure chest and hopefully, make him stand a bit more upright than the stock pose. Like the Deathjack his stock pose is a pointed a bit oddly for an abomination and needs to be adjusted to properly convey the abject horrifying terror he should bring forth from his living enemies.
Try as I might, I simply could not get the treasure chest to work out. Sad as that is, I had to move on from the disappointment. Terminus is perched ever so angrily on two pillars of rocks. With some Flotsam and Jetsam, the base will look amazing. His stance is swept forward some what and his sword points forward as he seems to be picking out his next victim. On the side of his Withering Claw, it will get removed so I can replace it with a hook. The images below show the various conversion portions. Even the hook. I am very happy with it.
Tags: assembly, conversion, Cryx, Fight Club, greenstuff, IABN, MKII, OotB, Order of the Brush, Terminus, Warmachine
My friends at the Iron Agenda invited me on the show to discuss the new Mercenary book. I had a blast and hope to go back again soon. To listen to the episode, head over to their page at http://ironagenda.com.
Thanks for having me on the show, guys.
Episode is embedded below
Episode 094 – FoW: Mercs / Yippie-Kai-Yay
Tags: army, IABN, Iron Agenda, Mercenaries, MKII, No Quarter, pirates, Podcast, Warmachine
I have busted my ass to get this model done in a short amount of time. I need him done for a 50 Point Fight Club game.
Tags: Cryx, Fight Club, fully painted, IABN, MKII, Painting, Warmachine
Man, I have had a difficult time with Cryx. They are subtle but vicious. I just haven’t found my groove yet. So, I have decided that I should probably take a new approach at it. Coming from Khador and the Pirate subgroup of Mercs, I am used to a very melee approach in the game. This doesn’t necessarily work with most Cryx stuff as I have seen it. Both of the Skarres can be mean in Melee with auto knockdown using her Great Rack and the auto hitting and boosting/cutting for 4 damage dice on each of the following attacks. I think original Skarre might do this better because of sacrificial lamb, but both can employ this tactic to win. Still, all around there are squishy, easily destroyed models on my side of the board. SO, I am going to try a very hard hitting approach at the Nightmare Empire. Terminus…He fits my need for a melee approach and can support more focus efficient jacks like Seethers and Deathjack.
First a little history.
Terminus was purchased 8 months ago at MetaGames Unlimited in Springfield, MO. They sponsor Warmachine Weekend each October. Should you find yourself looking for something to do in the fall, Warmachine Weekend offers up some of the best gaming to be had. Aside from that weekend, they offer a great selection of used models for all manner of games. I stopped by when I passed through town on my way to northern Arkansas and picked up the Lich Lord at a great price. Currently, he is being stripped of the white primer that covered him and the mess of epoxy that covered up all of his details. More on him later.
Deathjack is an impressive and initially intimidating model to look at right out of the package. He has roughly 36 pieces and for a casual gamer, I suspect he is a nightmare to assemble (Not to be confused with Nightmare who was quite easy to assemble).
Giving credit where it is due, I took several ideas from YoungWolf7‘s inspiring work for several thing here. While he ended out selling his Deathjack before completing it, he was well on his way to lighting it from within in a monstrous green glow. Initially, I was going to light my Deathjack up. I wanted his chest, smokestacks, and ribs to all glow with the blue glow that is a signature of my Cryx. Alas, my inexperience and lack of gumption to gain the necessary knowledge conspired to defeat the idea.
Regardless, I pressed forward last week with his assembly and conversion. As with YoungWolf7‘s example, I found the bear claws of the Deathjack disappointing to say the least. Following his example, I replaced the fingers with the end of the Bloat Thrall’s legs to give him a much more nasty look than he could have had with his stock hands. His hands could now give Freddy Kruger nightmares of his own.
Next, I wanted Deathjack to stand more upright but still have plenty of action to the model. I ended out posing him like he was charging from water onto the land. I positioned his arms back and turned his claws similar to the pose of the Dire Troll Mauler. To help with this, I trimmed the post going into the his head to help him look straight ahead instead of down.
Here is a pic of Deathjack with his new claws and pose:
Deathjack Pose and Claws
Part 2 is coming soon.
Tags: army, assembly, Cryx, Epic Skarre, Fight Club, greenstuff, IABN, MKII, pirates, warcasters, Warmachine, Warmachine Weekend
Some of you might find it blasphemous that I don’t use P3 paints. It’s true. I find that I don’t want to mix paint. In the economy of time that I get to paint, It is far preferable for me to be able to grab one of Reaper’s Master Series’ Triads and instantly have a base, shadow, and highlight in just 3 bottles. Add a touch of flow improver and get to painting. The paints also dry fairly quick so I can, on a REALLY good night hammer out a mini a night or even 2 simple ones.
I broke out a new triad, Dark Elf flesh. The triad is a gray color with a hint of purple to it. While I admit it was not as dark or as red as I originally intended, I like the color. I picked it up for the Black Ogrun Boarding Party. I have a full unit and want them to match their description from the original Monsternomicon. On page 12 of that book, they are described as:
“A distant cousin of the regular Ogrun.
Black Ogrun resemble their cousins in things such as general build and size but they are more sinister and evil. Their skins are darker, of an almost soot color with red glowing eyes that can fix even the bravest of men in place.
They are vicious and cruel slavers but excellent smiths who produce weapons of great quality. Rumors circulate that these weapons are made through dark and vile practices and as a result are cursed.”
They sound intimidating. They are also one of the few units with health boxes in Cryx. I believe they are the only 8 health Cryx unit. With their abilities and my theme, it is an easy conclusion to add them to the mix.
But I digress…
Flesh in any species, real or imagined, is not the same tint in everyone. Some have darker pigmentation, some have lighter. Keeping this in mind, I varied the skin tone of my Black Ogrun. I have 3 that are just the basic Dark Elf Skin Triad. It is a great color. I used it on my two Skarres and plan to use it predominately through the Satyxis Raiders I will be painting up soon enough. This will help the models blend more with the rest of the army.
Next, I added a bit of red ink to the base color and purple ink to the shadow to have an Ogrun that was more red. Honestly, it ended out brighter than I wanted so he was the only one with the redish tint to his skin.
Last, I have one that I used grey on. I used the shadow of a stone grey color I have as the base/midtone and shadowed it with black and highlighted it with midtone of the stone grey triad. He ended out looking pretty good too, but without that hint of red, he look a bit too unliving…in a bad way for Cryx. More stone than undead.
After the flesh was done, I moved on to pants. Each model has a different color for their pants. There is bright green, off white with dark blue (nearly black) stripes, red leather, and blue. The leader has the stormy seas color that is on Skarre’s overcoat.
Last night, I finished the leather vest on the leader model and the belts and straps on all 5 models. I have weapons, armor plates, and small accent parts left such as the bottle and fish bones on the belts. I expect I should finish them this evening.
Images will be posted soon.
Tags: black ogrun, Cryx, Dark Elf Skin, Fight Club, IABN, MKII, Monsternomicon, pirates, Reaper Master Series, Vallejo Model Color, Warmachine