Prey for a swift end! The Nurgle conversion for Maulerfiend

Insects have always been a prevalent theme in the world of Nurgle.  Normally flies are the name of the game, but I've never felt like it was mutually exclusive.  For many years I've been experimenting with the form of the Preying Mantis, using it for models such as Daemon Princes or the like.  Often when a good conversion takes root in your mind, your aren't so much designing it as discovering it, letting your imagination run wild as your fingers meander through your bits box in search of the perfect piece to fit the bill or plug the gap.  




It's worth noting that other than the head of this beastie, this model is 100% GW bits.  Although there are a few insectoid heads in the GW range, nothing was quite large enough.  Once primed, this head will gel nicely with the rest of the figure. 

 In retrospect, I probably would have dropped the 2nd set of arms (the crushing claws).  Feel a little busy now.  But at the time, I was just in love with the crushing claws and caught up in the moment I pinned them on without a thought. 

I was channeling the old Mantisaur figure from the MOTU range while building this abomination.  I think overall I got the right feel, though perhaps a few antennae would help fill this figure out just a bit.  Not that it needs it . . . it barely fits on the required 90x120 base intended for the maulerfiend as is! 

Love it or hate it, you've got to admit it make  an impression.  Imagine the limbs, dripping with gore and bile putrescence eeking out of every postule when fully painted. 

My name is Caleb and I am the owner of White Metal Games, a miniature painting and assembly service in Raleigh, NC.  Be sure to check out our site and stroll through our gallery, which were currently in the process of building.

Also be sure to email us with any questions, comments, or if you'd like a quote for services!  We're always happy to shoot the breeze with a fellow hobbyist! 

And until then PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!

Caleb, WMG

Death from Above! Chaos Daemon Prince of Tzeentch mini-diorama

Greetings fellow wargamers!  This daemon prince was the result of a lazy Saturday morning when my creative juices were flowing and I needed an outlet for them through plastic.    Over time the studio bits box has gotten pretty extensive, and I like to keep track of what I have available to work with.  I happened upon a pair of lower legs from a Fell Beast that I had used a few years ago and just had this idea to have them wrapped around the flying assault marine in mid descent.  But then I had to ask myself who these legs belonged . . .

Scale wise I knew I was looking at a daemon prince, which I LOVE to build.  So I started looking around for other suitable bits to play with.  These wings are from the Chimera kit, which is a treasure trove of bits for the price.  The torso is the standard DP kit, with the exception of a hive tyrant tail that I had lying around.  The head is from the spawn range.

I used pins to attach the marine to the avians feets and in turn the marine to the terrain via a similar rod.  The effect is meant to confer that the two are in the middle of an aerial battle, with the assault marine on the losing end.

Of course, extensive weights were used to balance the model via the base, but the model is remarkably centrally weighted.  It helps to have a good core to work around, so I tried to keep things as close to the center of the base, weight wise, as I could. 

Be sure to check out more of our selected models at White Metal Games. And until then PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS! 

jdj

40k Khorne Lord on Juggernaut, Get Medieval on your enemies a*&!

Greetings fellow wargamers! 

Presented to you here is a Khorne Lord on Juggernaut.  This was a fun if straightforward conversion.  I realized the other day there hasn't been an official Chaos Lord on Juggernaut for 40k since the old days of 4th edition.  As such I felt it was time for an update. 

I used the regular Warhammer Chaos Lord on Juggernaut from the fantasy range for the base figure.  Most folks use the Blood Crusher kit, but I liked the lord from this kit so much I really wanted to try to utilize as much of the kit as possible.  I kept the original models lower body because I liked the look of the leggings.  For the upper body I used a dremmel to burr out the original torso and insert a Khornish marine torso into the now vacant chest cavity. 

The right arm was swapped with a bolt pistol arm.  A backpack bit was added and fur was sculpted up to hide the gap.  For the helmet, we used an old Kharne helmet we had lying around and swapped the very well know mask with this elongated skull bit.  I think it gives him a really medieval feel, which works really well for the Blood God. 

White Metal Games is a full service miniature assembly and painting service.  Contact us to inquire about a commission.  And until then . . .
PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS! 

Caleb, WMG

jdj

Rules you may have forgotten . . . precision strikes and shots!

I don't know for the life of me why I don't remember that my characters have precision shot and precision strike.  

I think it might be that when 6th edition came out, one of the major 'trends' in the rules was to use majority characteristics when dealing with units.  IE, if a unit is shot you use majority toughness. 

However, characters are a notable exception to this rule.  When character roll a 6 on any to hit roll, whether it be in close combat or shooting, they get to allocate the hit to a target of their choosing in the target unit.

That mean you can take out plasma gunners, sergeants with power weapons, librarians with force weapons,  and the like. 

Why can't I just remember it!  Thus far my experience in 6th is that S7 and S8 weapons are king.  Plasma especially, but melta as well.  Why wouldn't I want to take every chance possible to take these targets out?

It's worth noting that snap shots and weapons that scatter can never be precise shots. Thank goodness

In melee, precision strikes can only be assigned to engaged models, ie, if a model is not in base contact or 2" from the combat, they are safe.  This might be another good reason to decline a challenge after all, just not to get too close to the action.  

Does anyone else have trouble remembering to use precise shot and strike, and if so, how do you force yourself to remember?  Different colored dice for your characters? 

Interestingly enough, I haven't had a single opponent since 6th edition came out look at me and say "Oh, the captain rolls a 6!  I'll allocate that wound to your lord." 

Give that captain a melta gun and watch the instant deaths tally up! 


My name is Caleb and I run White Metal Games, a miniature painting and conversion service.

Be sure to check us out, and until then PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!  

Star Wars Dreadnoughts

Greetings fellow wargamers!

Once in a while it's nice to break stride to embark on a project just for fun.  After all the dice rolling and rules lawyering and back and forth, it's good to remind ourselves at the end of the day that we are playing with little plastic toys and we're all just big kids at heart, trying to get a few more minutes out of our childhoods. 

On that note I present some Star Wars dreadnoughts!  I have a friend in Virginia, was best man at his wedding, who LOVES Star Wars.  And by loves I mean would go down on George Lucas loves Star Wars.  A few years ago I got the idea, as a gag gift, to build him a few Star Wars dreadnoughts.  He's a Chaos player after all, and I thought he'd appreciate the humor behind my gift.  At the time I was experimenting with the Venerable Dreadnought kit for a few projects and had quite a few extras lying around my bits box.  Many of the pieces featured on these dreadnoughts are from a variety of kits, including tau bits, imperial bits, spares from various kits like valkyries . .  so many pieces, even I don't know where they all came from anymore! 

Since these were a gag gift anyway, I didn't spend a gregarious amount of time painting them up to a stellar degree.  I mostly just wanted to get a basic feeling across for the figures, which I think more or less I accomplished.  As far as Vader goes, I wanted to add a little OSL, but my airbrush was out of order at the time I painted up the project, so I had to stick with some very basic red drybrush work to get the effect of the red glow of parts of his armor.

When I started experimenting with the heads of the figures, I thought "Yes, I could buy some 20mm star wars mini's and put smaller heads in place of the venerable dreadnought heads" but it didn't get the feel for what I wanted to accomplish.  I wanted these to be more like bobblehead figures.  Big and silly and draw a lot of attention on a book shelf.  So I went the other direction, rounded up some action figures sized star wars toys, and cut them to pieces.  Mostly the only parts I needed were the heads.  I kept the rest of the parts handy for whatever future screwball project I think up next. 

My favorite figures to paint by far must have been Boba Fett.  I didn't realize how much I liked the paint scheme of green on red metallic until I painted it up first hand.  I actually think it would work really well as the color scheme of an entire warband, like Tau or Necrons or CSM or the like. 

Love them or hate them, they were certainly fun to build an another interesting project for the old gallery, which I expand upon daily. 

My name is Caleb and I am the owner of White Metal Games, a conversion and painting service based out of Raleigh, NC.  We hope you'll consider using our services for your wargaming needs, but until you do . . . PUT YOUR MINIS WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS! 

jdj