"Space Dwarfs, Halfling snipers and other things" Topic

Here's how the sculpt has progressed :) :

Just hair, beard and hat to go now :) :

Finished except for the basing tab :) :

I have started another one… for the same competition…

This one will be a standard trooper with a rifle of some description.

A bit more progress:

Another distraction :) … This is the first of many and is a conversion of an "Avatars of War – Dwarf Seeker":

He is still WIP because I am waiting for my Anvil Industry order to arrive so that I can finish it :) . I plan to convert the whole box so there will be 20 of these (when I eventually finish them) :0 …

They should fit in well (size wise) with the rest of my army:

The second one… now with added back-pack :) :

Back to a previous unit and I have finished the shotgun veterans:

I have now started on the Primaris Psyker (Jedi Beastman) for the third infantry platoon:

The Beastman Jedi is getting there now… Just the head and arms to go :) :

I've also dug out the command squad and platoon commander, ready for them to get their arms as well :) .

In yet another dramatic turn of events, I decided to do a little bit of reorganising and have trimmed down a Battalion in to a Vanguard Detachment.

That meant that instead of needing to convert 10 terminators, 5 scouts and 6 scout bikers, all I needed to do was convert 1 terminator Sgt (for 2 squads of 5 terminators, instead of 2 squads of 10) and 1 scout biker sgt (for 2 squads of 3 rather than 6). It also meant that I could shed the scout squad because the choice wasn't mandatory any more :) …

… With that in mind, I have already converted the Terminator Sgt and now have 2 squads of 5 Terminators. In the image below, each squad is accompanied by a terminator captain:

The terminators will be Squats in Exo Armour :) .

As an aside, I have now started to convert the scout biker sgt and he should be ready by the weekend :) (Squat Hearthguard Bikers).

The Vanguard Detachment is now complete :) . I have finished converting the Sgt Scout Biker (Hearthguard Biker) so I now have two little bike squads:

The Vanguard Detachment consists of:

Terminator Captain (Exo Armoured Squat Lord)
Terminator Captain (Exo Armoured Squat Lord)
Terminator Squad (5) (5 Squats in Exo Armour)
Terminator Squad (5) (5 Squats in Exo Armour)
Scout Squad (5) (5 Squat Hearthguards)
Scout Squad (5) (5 Squat Hearthguards)
Scout Biker Squad (3) (3 Squat Hearthguard Bikers)
Scout Biker Squad (3) (3 Squat Hearthguard Bikers)
Centurion Squad (3) (3 Squats in Repurposed Mining Suit)
Centurion Squad (3) (3 Squats in Repurposed Mining Suit)
Dreadnought (1) (Squat Dreadnought)
Dreadnought (1) (Squat Dreadnought)

Now all I need to do is paint everything :) .

I still have all of the miniatures to convert for the original Battalion but I can do that 'as and when' now… this exercise ticks two boxes: 1. I have a finished detachment and 2. I am free to continue with the last of the infantry platoons.

The end is in sight…

Some Ogryn:

I have finished the second of my competition sculpts :) :

Just needs a basing tab now…

I reckon I might sculpt a few more… Hmmm…

Both competition sculpts together :) :

I've started a third but it won't be done in time to enter the competition…

A finished Hydra (except for decals) :) :

That means the whole company is done (except for decals)…

1x Tank commander: Vanquisher-Russ.
3x Plasma-Russ
3x Battlecannon-Russ
3x Punisher-Russ
1x Hydra
1x Engineseer (+4x Servitors) in Chimera

In another change of direction, I decided that I needed a proxy Primarch… so I started with this:

Added a bit of putty:

And ended up with this:

I've been working on some proxy Taurox lately. They are based on Meng "World War Toon", Tiger 1, tanks. I decided to take the fixed weapon option (The basic Taurox can have fixed weapons or weapons in a turret) to make them both different and not need a turret.

I knocked together a test vehicle, thought it looked all right so I repeated the idea. Only one has wheels/tracks fitted at the moment (the test vehicle) because they'll have to be off for painting. Anyway… four WIP, Proxy Taurox:

I still have some filling to do and a few small details to add but they are practically there :) .

Some proxy Taurox… before paint:

After a quick basecoat:

Lots of painting to go :) .

I suddenly decided that I needed to have a Stormlord in my Squat army but I didn't think that the existing Stormlord looked like it could house 40 troops so I thought… "I know, I'll build a Leviathan that counts as a Stormlord".

To cut a long story short, here's where I am at the moment. Most of the structure is finished but I need to add the drivetrain, track guards, side sponsons, weapons and details:

So much more to do… but it's getting there :) .

In order to carry on with the build, it was necessary to attach the wheels and tracks so that I could work out dimensions:

Now that they are fitted, I can start thinking about the track guards and side sponsons. With the side sponsons in mind, I decided it would be easier to just order the Baneblade sponsons because it would give me all the weapons and a means of fitting them (even if I converted things a bit) so I have ordered one of these and am waiting for its arrival:

link

In the meantime, I can start filling and sanding if I need to :) .

The start of the sponsons:

Side skirts and trimmed turrets:

Work on the Stormlord has paused for the time being because I am thinking about how to deal with a few design points… and I have also been sculpting again… so it may be a little while before things kick off again.

In the meantime… my Squat greens have now been cast up:

I have some copies and am converting a few to also get cast up… it seems that there may eventually be a tiny selection of them :) .

A Squat Commissar today :) :

Since the image was taken, a basing tab has been added, ready for him to be sent off for casting :) .

Oh, very nice, though for some reason puts me in mind of a senior WWII Russian officer, with a hint of 19thC British sergeant major, rather than a commissar.

I am not involved with the Kickstarter side of things… but some of my sculpts have taken the big step into Kickstarter stardom… so if you are interested in owning a few of my sculpts, head along and have a look :) :

link

There will be more added to the range and variations on existing bodies… so this is just a taster :) .

I'm in – for two sets of your minis.

Hope you release more.

Cool. Thanks :) .

I am hoping that Macrocosm will take on a few extras… I'm planning a comms, medic and specialist (with three weapon options)… so (hopefully) they'll see production and be available in the normal Marcrocosm shop :) .

Seriously, every time you have added to this post for the past year, I have thought "Damn! I wish those space-dwarves were commercially available."

Cheers :)

In similar news, the Kickstarter has funded (£4085!) and will get into full swing now :) :

link

… and if you are interested in finding out how it all came about, I've made a blog post about it :) :

link

It's been a long time since I worked on any of the standard infantry, for my army so it is nice to be able to show off the command squad for the third infantry platoon:

I have now started working on all of the heavy weapon teams for the platoon… five in all (two for the infantry squads and 3 for the heavy weapon squad).

I thought I'd get some images of the army, as it stands at the moment. There is still a bit to go but this is where it's at :) :

Infantry Company:

Veteran Company:

Armoured Company:

High Eschelon Leadership Company:

I still need to sort out the third infantry platoon and the transport for the Infantry Company and Veterans… but I'm almost there :) … well, apart from paint ;) .

I've started conversion work on the heavy weapon troopers for the third platoon (ten Squats; five gunners and five loaders) but have also been a bit distracted by these guys:

These casts were sent to me by Macrocosm. They are from the ones I sculpted for the kickstarter and I have actually put a bit of paint on them (primed and I have started the black on the Commissar)… I couldn't help myself :) .

Painted Commissar:

Some WIP troops:

Some new head sculpts:

The top two will be available for purchase (at some point) but the bottom three are one-offs for my army :) .

There will be more to show off soon.

I love the Dwarf Tiger II also !!!

My kickstarter stunties arrived today – look great!

Cheers :)

@ Legion 4 – The Meng Toon Tanks are great for conversions and fit perfectly with the Squats… they look particularly solid.

@ joedog – I'm glad you like them. I look forward to seeing them painted :) .

Now that I've finished the head-swaps for my troopers, I have had the chance to get a bit of priming done so I can add a few new recruits to the army :) :

amazing!

Aside from the fact that you seem to be doing this for 40K, I can't see anything but PERFECT! in all of it.
:)

@ Stalkey and Co: They are just miniatures that could be used for any game… a laser gun is a laser gun… and there are MANY games that use them :) .

The next five WIPs:

I'll be focusing on getting the arms finished, then weapons, then heads and then final details.

Another Sergeant for the army :) (finished except for the basing tab):

Next up, will be an advancing lasgunner :) .

Another day, another finished Squat; this time it's an advancing las-gunner :) :

Focusing on one at a time, rather than batch sculpting, has made a big difference to output :) .

Just the basing tab to go on this one; a Comms-trooper :) :

Next up will be a pair of Special Weapon troopers :) .

The latest additions; two Special Weapon troopers:

They still need basing tabs and the separate weapons making (4 of them: Melta, Flamer, Plasma and Grenade Launcher) but the Squat part is finished :) .

The first of the special weapons is done… just three more to go now…

Chem-Burnner – A flamer weapon that uses chemical reaction of mixed elements, rather than needing a pilot light to ignite fuel. Two chemicals are loaded into separate tanks and pumped forward into a combining nozzle which ejects the mixture before it reacts and bursts into streams of liquid flame. The weapon tends to be quite long in order to reduce the risk of burning the operator. The weapon counts as a standard flamer in all respects.

Finally… all the special weapons are finished :) ! 4 special weapons and 2 trooper bodies:

Flamer:

Plasma:

Melta:

Grenade Launcher:

Now I'll get these sent off with the other five and wait to see how the casts turn out :) . I will also take a short sculpting break, before the next Dwarf Sculpts :) .

These:

Have now turned into these:

That means that I will have plenty of casts to convert in order to add a lot more variety to the range, once I have finished the five sculpts I am currently working on :) .

The project continues… :) .

It's been a while but seeing as this isn't just me advertising miniatures and is all about me building an army, I have started to put a bit of paint down on some of the casts. This is mostly because I am not into sculpting at the moment but also because the whole point of this project is to build my army… so I have started to paint a few miniatures :) :

In a bid to add a bit of variety amongst the same miniatures, the ones at the back have tanned skin, the ones in the middle will have black skin and the ones at the front will have white skin :) . I am not painting these in squads… just as batches of miniatures that will be arranged into squads later so all of the squads will get a good mix of miniatures, skin colours and the odd conversion here and there… but obviously, that's a bit of a way off yet.

Still… the journey continues :) … more to come.