The Kegox Dragon: Part one.

This is the first part of a 'Work in Progress' blog update. I don't usually do these sort of blog updates, but I have'nt been able to finsh this project in the time I thought and it's a slightly bigger 'one off' project to undertake.

Leafing through the old Citadel Compendiums and Journals years ago there were always several miniatures I always wanted, but for some reason at the time, or since, I never did quite hold of. One of those was the Kegox Dragon. Now I'm not a fan of two-headed monsters, but I always liked Kegox for some reason. I always imagined his two heads chatting or arguing with each other as they both seemed to have different personalities. One angry and roaring, the other more considered and thoughtful. However, I never owned a Kegox until a few months ago when I chanced across an e-bay auction, watched it, and then was sent one of those 'sellers offers'. So I bought him for £110.

When he arrived he was in a dire need of a paint-strip and re-assembly , both of which he received, but then sat on a shelf for a few months awaiting attention. In this time I had considered what to do with him. He needed a big base, so I selected a Citadel 170x105mm Oval Base, but just placing him on a flat base seemed a bit dull. The old 1980's White Dwarf Magazines and the Fantasy Miniatures books had many examples of Kegox on fancy rocky bases, and so that was the way in which I went.

The idea I settled on was based on a little bit of whimsy. I live in East Sussex, the City of Brighton and Hove, on the edge of the South Downs, and I have always pictured some of the many fantasy creatures and monsters stalking through the peaceful Sussex countryside. So with that in mind I decided to place Kegox on a chalk downland base, with the idea of him desending down from the Downs to a roadway to cause havoc to the good people of Sussex. It would certianly make for an interesting local traffic report! And anyway, it can be explained away by some sort of magical rift between worlds or realities, a suprisingly frequent occurrance in this part of the work!

Enjoy :)

 The Kegox Box.

 Advertisment in the Third Citadel Compendium (1985).

Building the foundations of the Downs, as it happens with flint from the South Downs. 

 Adding more stones and lots of Milliput. I also sculpted a stone verge for the road edge. 

 Placing Kegox to get the correct pose.
I wanted him to be leaning out across the road roaring at the traffic.
Stupidly I never took any photographs of assembling Kegox

Adding more filling with Milliput.

 WIP painting.
I decided on a mixed colour scheme of a mainly green body, red underside, and blue legs. I will blend these together, and add some yellow blending.
I painted the chalk rocks from a base coat of grey up to white, with a brow-green wash, adding the brown colours for the soil. For the grass I have so far used a basic coating of flock, but more tufts and flowers will be added.

The WIP from the right hand side.
I had fun painting the road and double yellow lines. I may add a scratch built mangled 'Welcome to Brighton and Hove' road sign as well.

Next update should be the completed Kegox.

Dwarf Catapult (well, sort of!).

So what do you do if you require a Dwarf Catapult, and yet you don't have one, nor the inclination to swap a kidney for a another Gob-lobber on e-bay?

Well you scratch build one!

But scratch building can be challenging, with all those beams and pulleys and ropes and thingy ma doodles. Not to mention counter-weights and the flingy arm thingy. All very tricky for a Goblin like me you see.

So I hit upon the idea of a group of Dwarfs arriving at that this there same problem. Why not have a small diorama of Dwarfs at the planning/pre-construction stage of building the Catapult, but use it as a stand-in 'working diorama'?  And so that is what I have done.

For the Catapult itself, all in pieces, I piled a number of matchsticks on top on one another, to give the impression of a pile of lumber. I added two spare wheels of from an old Empire/Dwarf Cannon to stop it looking like a pre-lit bonfire.

I then chose the miniatures to represent a typical crew of three Dwarfs for the '3-man Catapult. For the Dwarf reading the assembly instructions I chose the D4 range Dwarf Bidur, who was probably originally meant to be a map reader. His less than helpful helper is a crewman from the Imperial Dwarf Bolt Thrower crew, although I converted him to hold a matchstick plank by re-postioning his left hand 180 degrees.
For the final crewman I chose a the limited release 'Jolly Jape' Dwarf. He looked suitably confused and so suited the situation, and I was never going to use him for anything else. To add to his help (or woes!?), I added a spare Snotling Sawmaster from the Limited addition LE25 Dwarf with Inferiority Complex set.
All this maddness was placed on an old Citadel Monster base, and ta-da, a Dwarf Trebuchet, of sorts, but full of 'Oldhammer character'.

Enjoy:)

The 3-man Dwarf Catapult.

From the side.
The pile of clothes and armour are part of the'Jolly Jape' set, and I thought it gave the impression of the Dwarf' rolling up his sleeves' and 'getting down to work'.

Confused with the task in hand.

"Where does this bit go?"

"Well where does one start with this?"
Although not clear from the photograph, I tried to suggest that the plans held by Bidur were from IKEA.

No idea again what the next update will be on.  I have a mind to paint some Goblins, and also some Squats.

Misumena vatia Tyranids

A bit of a random update on some random painting...

I was gardening the other day, not my natural forte I might add, when I saw a lovely and odd looking spidery thing on a white lily bush. Now my first thought was 'that looks like a tiny Tyranid!', how cute.
As it turns out, it was a something named a Crab Spider, common in Southern England, with the Latin name Misumena vatia. I did take a photograph on it, but I seem to have accidently deleted it when I whilst I was having computer trouble. However, there is a picture of the Spider at the bottom of this blog update, not of course at the top, just in case people are adverse to Spiders. I'm not a great fan of them, I was bitten by a False Widow a couple of years ago, and was very ill. The False Widows pop up in the garden now and again, so I kill them on sight!

All this spidery nonsense got me thinking about Rogue Trder era Tyranids. I had painted mine a long, long time ago in the classic blue/purple Genestealer colours (with green Zoats), but had paint stripped them ready for a repaint which never came. So as an aside I tried out a paint scheme based on the spider on a few test models.

The painting was simple. Black undercoat, based coat of Vallejo Stone Grey, highlight of white, a very very very thin wash of Vallejo Lemon Yellow, and then a final white light highlight. The Genestealer Magus received a very very very thin wash of Citadel Xereus Purple twice. The Zoat and Hunter-Slayer guns/equipment are a thined Vallejo German Field Grey. I gloss varnished the Screamer-Killers/Carnifexes to give a shiny carapace look, matt varnish to the other to avoid that same look.

They were fun to paint, and I am happy with how they look. They are test models, and I don't intend painting the army anytime soon. I have another project I wish to do.

Enjoy :)

 Genestealer Hyrid Magus.
I love this miniature, great detail, and full of menace.

Rear view.

Screamer-Killers/Carnifexes!
I mounted these on 50mm round bases to look a lot better. I find it's always odd to consider that many of the larger old Rogue Trader miniatures were confined to 40mm square bases at the time.
It was these miniatures which sprang to mind when I was looking at the spider.

I was never a great fan of these miniatures, nor the paint scheme they were released in. However with a little re-posing of the body and arms, and a different paint scheme I think they look a lot more terrifying.

The other one.

Rear view.
Probably the best view from which to shoot at it!

 Zoat.
I like the old Zoats, and I have about a dozen 40k ones. I think they look a lot better on the Citadel Oval 60x35mm bases.

 Hunter-Slayer.

 Misumena vatia, the Crab Spider.

The next update will be on the little Dwarf diarama which I am finishing this evening. The after that I am going to tackle a 40k Squat project.

DG1 Oriental Dragon

Another Dragon. Another old Citadel/Ral Partha Dragon. Another Blue Dragon in fact. Indeed another great old Tom Meier sculpt from the 1980's.

This is the DG1 Oriental Dragon from Citadel, originally released in 1984 as a C-Series C14 Dragon. It was also released by Ral Partha as the 01-129 Celestial Dragon, and is still available from Ral Partha in the USA, but sadly not from Ral Partha Europe (this is one of the old 1980's ones though). I have painted it to be a Bound Host Dragon for my 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle Cathay army. Cathay is loosley based on a fantasy China, but was never really expanded on in the 1st to 3rd Editions of Warhammer, and received scant regard afterwards. My plan for the army is to use a mix of the various old C01 Fighters and the various Oriental Heroes/Samurai ranges as a basis, with this Dragon present as well.

Painting the Dragon was easy. Like the Ice Dragon I detailed in my last blog update, I started off with the blue base coat on a black undercoat. For a base coat I used Citadels Caledor Blue, then highlighted a mix of that with a quarter white, then another 50-50. I then gave it a wash of Citadels Technical Nighthaunt Gloom to give a slighty more ethereal and cloud feel. Once dry, a highlight of Citadel Alaitoc blue, then progressive mixes of two-thirds, 50/50/ one-third of Alaitoc blue and white, until I was at the stage to give pure white highlighting to the Dragon's beard, teeth, horns, and 'flowing bits'. The I gave the Dragon red eyes.

The Dragon was fun and quick to paint. I love the face, real personality. I chose the colour blue to give an overall feel of a cloud Dragon, and also in keeping with 1980's Games Workshop in-jokes, as a reference to the  'Blue Dragon' range of Chinese food stuffs.

Enjoy :)

Left hand side.

Right hand side.

Look at that face. :)

'Tail-end'!

I am currently working on a Dwarven diorama. I have also been painting a third Dragon, and am mostly part through a couple of random miniatures. Still, I am sorting out all my 'Oldhammer' era fantasy miniatures into 3,000 point armies, and there are quite a few. This why I have ended up painting random oddments and Dragons from my collection at the moment rather than full armies, but once sorted, I will be tackling the amries.

Ice Dragon.

It might be St.George's day, but it's a coincidence that I have painted a Dragon, although there is no Knight to go with it!

The Dragon itself is an old Citadel one. It is the DG4 Black Dragon, sculpted by Tom Meier and released in 1984, also released as a Brass Dragon by Ral Partha. I decided not to follow either it's name nor the Rolling Stones and paint it black, instead opting for an Ice Dragon approach. This is because I intend to use the Dragon as as part of a bound host in my 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Norse Dwarf army (probably as a bound Winged Dragon 2). Also I think that in painting it black, it would lose some of the textured detail of the scales.

The Dragon was really fun to paint and was quite simple. Black undercoat, light blue base coat, mix of light blue and white, and then progressively highlighting to white. It's gaping maw was a mix of purple, a darker blue, and pink in varying ways to avoid that bright pink look of some painted mouths. I mounted the Dragon on a Citadel 90mm x 52mm oval base, which I think quite suits the model, the model itself being 70mm long and 70mm tall.

Enjoy :)

The left side.

Right side.

The gaping maw!!!

Next update will be another Dragon!

Middle-aged 'Snow White'.

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted"-May West.

So Imagine that the Fairytale ending did'nt quite go according to plan. The Prince turned out to be dull or something, or perhaps they just got bored when the magic wore off? So, in middle-age, a little plumper, a little grey-er, and a little wiser,  'Snow White' decided to return to the mountains and catch up with some old contacts in the Dwarf community.

In truth, I had a spare 'FS44-2 Seductive Wench' from Citadels early 1980's Fantasy Series-Fantasy Specials range. So, I painted her up as an older version of Snow White. I plan to use her as the Contingent Commander for a Dwarf Ally or Mercenary Contingent for one of my 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Armies.

Enjoy :)

 Front view.
I gave her a slightly more flushed look to her face, and slightly greying hair.

Rear view, with dagger, or fruit knife, for cutting rosy red apples!

Next update will probably be a Dragon as I have been meaning to paint one for a while.

Hot and cold climate C28 Giants.

For a while I have been sorting out my various miniatures into their respective armies. It has been a long process, and far from finished, but it has brought to light several miniatures which had sliped my mind, and also presented me with ideas for where to place and how to paint certain miniatures. Two of those are a pair of C28 Giants.

Now the early pre-slotta C-series C28 Giants range, from where these two Giants came, were a multi part range, with each Giant consisting of one body, one head, and one weapon. These were often supplied randomly, which could result in a wide range of Giants. A year or two (maybe three) ago I decided I wanted to collect a few parts to create two specific Giants for two particular armies: one for a Norse Army; and one for my Southlands Army. This I managed to do, and then I bagged them both up for later painting. 

Couple of weeks ago, as I was sorting my way through boxes of miniatures I found them again, and decided to paint them. I have lots of ideas for miniatures, regiments, armies, etc, and I thought it would be good to create a couple of them.

The first of the Giants is for my Norse Army. I have based him on the idea of Frost Giants, and painted him with a frosty blue skin tone and white beard. In his right hand he is holding a ball, which originally in 1st Edition Warhammer was meant to be a lead ball, something which Giants could throw according to the rules. I thought, being a Frost Giant, I would paint it as a snowball, as in 3rd Edition Warhammer they can still throw things! I gave him a snowy base too, as will the rest of the Norse army.

The second Giant is for my Southlands army. Both he, and the army, are based on the background story from 'The Bowmen of Oreon' RR7 Regiment of Renown. In the story it states that Oreon joined the Sea-Elf Lord Staleor in his Southlands campaign, where they encountered a Giant whom they killed in a maybe less than honourable manner. Anyway, I thought I would try to give the Giant a more 'Fantasy African' feel, so I painted his skin tone darker, and gave him a scrubland looking base to give that warmer climate feel to the miniature.

The background to Oreon's Regiment can be found here: http://www.solegends.com/citrr/1rr07oreons/index.htm
Incidentally, I also have a pre-slotta C08 Elf army, including the pre-slotta Oroen's Bowmen, to oppose the Southlands army.

Enjoy :)

The two Giants.
Both are mounted on 50mm square bases.

Norse Frost Giant.
I painted the eyes to give the impression he is taking aim.

Rear view.

Side view.
I gave him a hammer as it seemed a Norse thing to equip him with.

The Southlands Giant.

Rear View.

The early C28 Giants range.

I am still sorting through miniatures, and painted random things, so not sure what will be next. As I am a key worker I have been somewhat busy over the last couple of weeks and so have'nt painted much.

Take care. :)