Site News: The weeks ahead

This is the last week I will be out of town, and I get to return to the comfort of my own home and miniature desk. There are number of projects that require attention but undoubtedly the most popular is the Minotaurs Space Marines, complete with Contemptor pattern Dreadnought(s), I am expecting to blitz the painting for a solid week, with loads of updates, and more importantly photos of the army as it grows. While the focus is on the modelling aspect, I will be actively looking to game as it will give me more incentive to sort the gaming table out (finally!).

Its not all 40K though as there are still numerous Khador figures to be sorted out for late summer gaming. I recently ordered Black Ivan and will be using him in my Harkevich lists very soon, which may even result in a tactica article. With new Khador reinforcements and Hordes: Domination (Maelok!!!), round the corner, it's looking like a Red Gator autumn!

So, looking forward to getting back and throwing paint about and of course sorting out emails from readers (I haven't forgotten, promise!). Here's to a safe journey back and a weekend of model making craziness.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion.

Arrivals: Khador Gun Carriage, Knight Models and more!

Despite the rainy weekend morning, my Saturday has shaped up quite nicely. While out of town a  whole load of orders arrived awaiting my perusal and all of them make me as giddy as a kid in a toy shop. The packages contained a very random assortment of supplies of latest releases and very cool figures I have been looking at for some time, I am expecting more arrivals for next week but the above is the core of the arrivals I have been waiting for.

Last month I moved to Vallejo Model Colour  paints and have been hooked ever since, preferring the larger range of colours and consistency to Vallejo Game Colour. I took the opportunity to extend my flesh tone range as those portions of the miniature I tend to favour when painting. I picked up the 8 pack set which gives me a staggering 8 additional flesh tones I can now use as base colours or shade washes for my figures, I look forward to seeing what effects I can conjure up.

I also grabbed a P3 craft knife, it is smaller than the GW knife and sits comfortably in the hand when compared to the overly large handle of the GW knife, It is always nice to have multiple of things and when this comes to craft knives, this saying runs especially true.

And now the figure I have long been waiting for, the Khador Gun Carriage! And what a beast of a kit it is, comprising to two very solid pieces of resin and metal parts. I am really looking forward to putting this kit together and I fully intend on writing a more detailed project log of this miniature in the future. I will be taking some time to look at this miniature from a gaming perspective also and will be updating the long neglected Khador tactica section. The arrival of the Gun Carriage signals the beginning of Warmachine: "Wrath" and I am keen to get some games in during summer with this expansion.

Fight the enemies of the Mother land, Reinforce with a Khador Gun Carriage today!

The next two items are results of my push towards painting over gaming, as a direct result of Salute I have been buying more figures, I like the look of as opposed to figures for lists. Some of these figures appeal to me from the purely aesthetic while others are a throw back to old past-times such as watching anime and reading comic books, the current industry is in a great place right now, with more companies producing boutique style miniatures over the traditional buy a army approach.

Knight Models have been putting out two excellent ranges since last year (I believe), they specialise in 54mm but do have 30mm figures also. They cover two ranges: Star Wars and the Marvel Universe. Good thing for me (but not the bank account), I am a fan of both and have been eyeing up both ranges since the start of the year. I opted to go for the Marvel universe first, but once I finish my current contract  I will be investing in both franchises before the year is out.

Dr Doom is one of my favourite comic book villains and I have to say the figure is breath taking. Composing of resin and metal parts, Dr Doom sits on his throne undoubtedly scheming world domination. This figure is 54mm and is apparently a limited (mine is 194), what I really like is the collectible nature of the tins which are gloss black and embossed with the Marvel Universe logo. There is a very definite sense of geek appeal with this product, appealing to both comic book fans and miniature painters alike.   I really can't wait to put this one together and get painting.

The final figure is a excellent resin minotaur from Figone miniatures. I first saw this large figure on Cool Mini Or Not and have been hunting it down for some time. I had tried the main web site, but I got no response from the sellers and had to fight to get my money back. luckily I was able to source this model and add it to the painting queue. This is a very large resin miniature, standing around 4 - 5 inches tall and the resin looks to be of a very nice quality (no visible mould lines etc). I am very happy to now have this figure in the collection and just hope I can do a paint job worthy of such a awesome miniature. It really is amazing what you can find out there outside the norm of Warhammer, all you need to do is have a look...or read my Blog!

So quite a hefty amount of loot for this wet weekend morning, but this is only half of what I am expecting though, with items coming from Soda Pop miniatures and more goodness from Taban and Smog. Everything so far has been of  excellent quality which leaves me spoilt for choice for what to paint, but no time! With Kingdom Death figures still sitting on my paint station, it may be some time till the above order even gets cleaned, let alone painted, but at least they are in my possession.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: A quiet month coming

A little note to say things are going to be quieter than normal on this blog for a while, with posting limited to weekends. I normally aim to throw out a post a day with updates and purchase reviews but  due an out of town job I have for the next two months I just won't be able to make that quota. This will mean my posts will be less to do with news and pre-releases, but for truly stand-out items I will dedicate posts. The new posting format will mean news on Friday/Saturdays and Sundays.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Salute 2011 #2

Click for Part 1

I took the chance this year to explore more figures ranges and while I was tempted to dabble in some historical figures (I really had my eye on Napoleonic s), my wallet was constantly opened for the many Sci-fi and fantasy products on offer (and normally overshadowed) at this years.

First on my list was Taban Miniatures a French company who produce the wonderful post apocalyptic Eden skirmish game, there were some very unusual and unique cyber punk styled gangs such as the Bakama and Jokers. But what really pulled grabbed my attention were the ISC who are basically wandering Samurai robots, almost immediately images of Samurai Jack popped into my head. I already had a Grey Daimyo and so I eagerly took the chance to bulk out my collection.

To make matter worse however (for my wallet) Smart Max miniatures were right next door to Taban, these guys are responsible for the Victorian steam punk Fantasy that is Smog and Mauser Earth. They specialise in highly intricate 54mm resin figures that ooze character and detail and are part of a game system, but unfortunately the rule set had not been translated for Salute. I really wanted to jump in and buy a whole load, but common sense (and the missus) prevailed so I ended up buying one of their pre-releases: Lady Usher.

Finally, not a purchase but a rare sighting, the Heresy mega dragon does actually exist! And what a massive bulk of resin it is. I can see now why it has taken so long, the details are immense and those who have put advance orders in for this beast will not be disappointed.

I also paid a visit to the Freebooter stand (Werner Klocke) and picked up a few pieces, but sadly I forgot to take pictures of the crew who were fully decked out in Pirate regalia. Really friendly bunch, with some awesome figures, admittedly I am a little biased as I am a fan of Werner Klocke's sculpts and the free chocolate gold coins kept drawing me back again and again. I ended up buying some of his fairy sculpts and a succubus to add to my miscellaneous collection. Last but not least, I discovered the joy of JoeK Miniatures, I picked up their Limited Edition Elf Lord which is a stunning piece and a couple of resin display bases to play around with.

In a way it was a good thing that the 'major' brands had nothing to offer as it allowed me to indulge in figures I would not normally look at. It is always nice to go to event and grab something fresh, whether it is a game or miniature set, sometimes the best buys are the ones that are not required for your army list.

In my 3rd and final instalment of my Salute Report, I will unveil the my favourite purchase of the event and also share with readers details of what and where I got with Salute 2011's Painting Competition.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Salute 2011 #1

Due to the amount of fun and pictures from Salute 2011, I have had to break down this report into three parts, I am aiming to get all three reports finished and up by the end of this week. 

This year's Salute looked like a busy affair right from the start and it seemed that a lot more people had opted for Advance tickets this year. I think a lot of this was down to the very generous Salute goody bag which not only had a American Civil War miniature sculpted by the Perry's but also KR Multicase's very generous give away (for the first 5000); the K-Lite. I have to admit the bag itself became very useful during the day for carrying my loot and saved on plastic carrier bags. The Imperial Legion was also well represented with around half a dozen Storm Troopers being led by Darth Vader patrolling the queues, I have to say that the presence of these guys made the queue waiting time a lot more fun.

While some companies did have limited and advance releases on the day, it seem a lot more subdued than the previous year, it was a shame to see that Privateer Press (represented by Cerebus) did not have any of the end of month releases or Khador War-engine with them despite the release date being a mere one week away, I suspect there is more to the story than I realise but compared to the Salutes of past (2003 I picked up a pair of Kodiak's before release) Privateer seemed to be holding back, the other major surprise was the lack of a Games Workshop stand. Forge World and Black Library were present but it seemed that GW pulled out of the event this year based on the number of discount sellers present. With two of the industry's big dogs having nothing to offer this year, this presented a fantastic opportunity for me to look at what the independent companies could bring to the table. 

The first port of call was McVey Studios, who were situated right by the painting competition area (more of that later). Ok truth be told, I am a big Mike McVey fan; having religiously followed his 'Eavy Metal guides and attempted to emulate his paint style as a child; and although I have had conversations with him before at previous Salutes and the many early Gamesdays, I realised that I had never had a photo with the painting master himself. 

Luckily for me, Mike is a really nice guy who loves to talk about mini's and didn't mind having a photo with some goofy looking guy with glasses aka me, now on to the miniatures. It seems that Mike's sci-fi brand "Sedition Wars" will grow into a skirmish war game (in the similar vein as Necromunda I hope) and he told me that beta rules would be available from the Sedition Wars site in the future, however despite the heavy focus on Sedition Wars I do not think this will result in the alienation of his limited resin range as the Blight Witch release proves. I ended up grabbing some Firebrand metal figures and of added two more resin figures to the collection.

Check out Studio McVey and Sedition Wars HERE

Last year I had a really bad time at the Forge World stand, I found myself in the position of being ignored by all three staff members, despite being at the front of the group and it was some 15 minutes  before a fellow gamer asked them if they were alienating me on purpose. Deciding not to risk that happening again this year I got a friend to grab me some the Forge World event figures. Later in the day however I popped over to the cabinets to get a good look at the Chaos Dwarfs, and I have to admit they are pretty nice up close.

The warriors look very similar to the old Chaos Dwarfs, literally Dwarfs in chaos armour and frankly I don't mind this, even if the rumours are true and these are in fact 'slave warriors' the mix of both the plate and big hat styles will make for a very nice and long awaited return of the evil stunties.

I am really looking forward to buying a Chaos Dwarf army in the future, I just hope the quality of casting is at least workable and consistent when casting up regiments of figures as opposed to individual miniatures.

A surprising lack of top company presence, but a successful show for the independent companies, Hasslefree, Heresy Miniatures and Crocodile games were also at the events, however I did not see Raging Heroes who make very nice Fantasy miniatures including their rendition of the Lamassu. 

Well that's it for part 1, In part 2 of my Salute report, I will cover the other stand out companies of the day and show the plethora of awesome figures that were brought to the show.

Click For Part 2

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: And were back!!

Salute 2011 has been and gone, year and what fun it was! I am in the process of re-settling into the office after a fun weekend away full of painted toy soldiers and games. This year was also the first time I entered the painting competition and I have to say I had a lot of fun.

There was (see photo above) some shopping on my behalf, but in my opinion a lot less major releases or advance releases across the board, however this did give me a great opportunity to explore miniature ranges outside the of the major brands (which I will go through in my proper Salute report).

I am hoping to post up the first of a two part special on Salute 2011 in the next couple of days before the Easter weekend hits, until then please be content with the photo above of some Storm Trooper abuse.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Salute 2011

Good morning! I am making preparations (a big flask of coffee) for my journey to Salute 2011, the biggest wargaming event in the UK. There will be lots of shopping (yay!),  the painting competition and of course awesome gaming tables, for those who want to know more or have made the last minute decision to go (like I did last year!) details can be found Here.

I will be writing a review later this weekend covering the event, with photos of new and unusual figures and of some shots of the this years painting entrants. For those of you who are going, have a awesome day!

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: Slight mess up

Hi everyone, there have been some gremlins (OK my stubby accident prone fingers) on the site. As far as I am aware everything should be working as normal, although at one point no links to the blog were working and the blog itself vanished... If anyone notices any missing pages/posts/pictures/dead links etc please let me know.

Many thanks,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: Apologies!

So a slow start to April, my apologies for that! A nasty bout of flu struck the house hold last week, rendering me a mewling bunged up mess (queue small violin). Things are getting back to normal now with the focus being Salute 2011 (tickets arrived over the weekend) with only a couple more weeks to go. 

So again apologies for the radio silence, this week is business as usual!

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: Next week's plans

The last two weeks have been hectic as I had two projects come up back to back. I should have been at the studio today but our I decided to pull an all nighter yesterday so I could come home (back tomorrow though!). As a result, commissions and personal figure projects haven on a slow burn this week. Right now next week is looking clear and I am using the time to prepare my Blindwater and Khador armies.

The reason I am preparing both armies is that I have the intention of returning to my old gaming club The South London Warlords next week. Now that I am settled in terms of my new neighbourhood and career, it is time to start throwing (more) dice. The last few months have been limited to about one game of anything a month so to get a game a week will be great! It's going to be a great opportunity to see old friends, make new friends and maybe discover some new games.

The two armies I will be running will be: my Bloody Barnarbas list from Here, and a new(ish) Butcher of Khardov list. I am still debating as to which version of Butcher I want to run, but for definite I will be using Destroyers and Man O War (I have a strange combo in mind). I will be sharing details of the lists as early next week, as the idea of using Destroyers in Warmachine MKII may seem a little weird to readers out there. 

Rest assured I have a plan! 

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: Warmachine Army for 2011

Things around here have been a little Warhammer and kingdom Death centric recently. Partly this was due to Hordes burn out last winter, but with Wrath on the way (and the beautiful War engines), it is time to start thinking about what I am going to use and more importantly what I will be painting for 2011.

I had a lot of success with the Blindwater list in both play style and painting up until January, where I messed up the paint job on my Ironback Spitter. This week I intend to get it stripped and start from scratch, however the Khador presence remains strong with the new incentive of the War engines.

I have loads of unopened blisters and boxes built for both factions stockpiled from last year and ideally I do want to trim one of those piles down, it's gators vs cossacks with reasons for both equally matched. What I can say though, is the run up to summer gaming is looking suitably Warmachordes.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: Free Warlord Sprues

Wayland Games are offering free sprues from Warlord Games, who specialise in historical miniatures. All you need to do to redeem your free sprue, is fill out the following web form:

Free Warlord Sprue

And thats it, enjoy your free miniature!

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: Calendar and stuff

Family stuff today, so I don't think I will get any table and brush time tonight. However I would like to introduce the new calendar feature; found below the site banner. Mainly a tool to keep me motivated, the Schedule page will give readers a brief break down of my projects. While this will not affect my daily blog posts, it will give readers an idea when final product posts days are, or (in future) when I am fully booked for commissions. It will also let readers know which events I will be attending this year and any painting competitions (on-line or otherwise) I may be involved in.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Site News: New Gorm photos!

Right, I was really  unhappy with the state of affairs of my miniature photos. SO after a really tall cup of coffee (its 2:44am here) and a crash course in how to use my digital camera and GIMP, I have re-taken the Gorm photos. I think these are a lot better than the ones I posted last week, you can definitely see the different colours I have put into the figure.

Check out new Pictures HERE

A few important things I have learnt from this re-shoot (Thanks for the guidance Mr Poots!):

1. Always keep your Raws! (original pictures), you never know when they might be needed!
2. GIMP is your friend! (Editing software)
3. The iPhone is not a suitable camera replacement!
4. Photobucket is not a suitable substitute for decent editing software!

I will be remembering these points for all of my up coming photo shoots, so more eye candy and less eye bleeding from 14th legion.

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Make sure you check out the great range of Kingdom Death figures. I promise you, you will not be disappointed! CLICK

Wayland Games: Discount Voucher

Wayland Games are offering are offering 5% off every purchase over £30.00. This voucher does not apply to Flames of War and a few other products which already offer free shipping.

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This offer lasts until the 22nd of February, so to take advantage of this great offer and reinforce today: Wayland Games - Discount Wargames

Thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion

Warmachine Galleries Updated

I am happy to say that the gallery pages are now working properly. This blog is my first using the Blogger system and I have to admit I had been finding the transition difficult, however after much self learning on the trusty Macbook and with applications like GIMP, I have finally managed to edit older images and link my photos to thumbnails in a manner I am happy with. Gallery 2 consists of older works and should link directly to photos, while Gallery one will link to relevant blog posts. I intend to use the blog post approach for future photos shoots as it is the fastest way to present new work, but it is nice to know how to link photos to thumbnails and consolidate multiple photos into one file.

A replacement bulb also arrived today for lamp number two, which means I again have enough light to take decent photos again.

Please check out the updated galleries:

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Happy viewing and thanks for reading,

DiStudios

The 14th Legion