New distractions - Ad Mech Ogryn Destroyer Servitors

So my Ad Mech Servitor distraction has continued - I picked up a Mantic sprue and have done some cutting and gluing. 

They need some green stuff to fill some holes and some sort of power pack (and cables), but I think they look ok. The armour strapped on works ok - so I have the “melee” human sized servitors to go - canon fodder and the elf/skitari Hoplites … I am sure I should be painting celts …

Oh well - off to UK GamesExpo at the weekend, no doubt that will bring more distractions …

Morts 

Been to Zakynthos

Last week me and my good wife had a week in Zakynthos which was very nice. We stayed a basic hotel in Agassi. 

Below the bridge by the sea (built 1805), sunset look towards Zakynthos town and Kelifonika, a turtle spotted on the turtle spotting trip and sea door in the limestone cliffs.

The little chapel near our hotel (and the expensive seafood restaurant), the Tower Domenegini - possibly a Venetian guard tower and where a Greek nationalist set out for the Peloponnese to lunch the independent struggle in the 1820s. The lower pictures show a couple of churches in Zakynthos town. 

We did a mighty long walk from our resort through Zakynthos town up the Bochali hill to see the Venetian/British fort which had been built on the site of the original acropolis - but it was closed! Great views made the walk worth it. On the way back through the harbour I spotted a ship in ancient style - but it was just a mock up for tourists to travel on like the “pirate” ships you see everywhere. 

The next day we fell out of bed early to see the sunrise - worth it. Then we had a boat trip around the island, which was nice and took in shipwreck bay and many many stunning caves and cliffs … perhaps the trip was too long. Also as you can’t go on the beach at shipwreck bay - it’s just a photo opportunity, I’m not sure it was the best use of our time and money. 

Anyway we had a good time in Zakynthos - we do like the Greek islands, perhaps next time we could try the mainland (there is a trip to Olympia when the main tourist season kicks off). 

We traveled a little differently this time, no all inclusive or half-board, out to tavernas which was a good way to get out and about - I think we might try an apartment or airb&b next time … we’ll not next time as we have some other things already in the pipeline. 

Morts

A trip to the local show.

This weekend was the big walk on the moor - because I had to collect Thing 2 from Heathrow after 3 months of travelling to Thailand, Australia and Indonesia (well Bali), I didn’t go down to the event, s I as free to visit the local Wargames show. 

DK and popped down for a few hours and have a look around. There were some nice games on show. 

TL - a Lion Rampant game. We had a good chat with the chap running the game, explaining his campaign system. TR - a large Trafalgar game, looked impressive. BL - a large game of racing Cornish gigs. BR - a Battletech game of an assault on a city. 

TL - a western desert Flames of War game. The models and set up were nice, but the wall to wall tanks just don’t look right to me. TR - a large scale gladiator game. BL - a Rebels & Redcoats engagement. BR -  Aliens! A very nice set up. 

A large 20mm Fantasy Samurai mash up - I forgot to check what rules system they were using. 

Here is my booty from the trip - 5 chaos space marines, that I don’t need - but thought they might be fun to paint up. I also pick up a copy of Warlords of Erehwon (off DK) and nearly picked up a Walking Dead starter set for £10 … but waited too long. 

A good trip out, chewing the cud with DK. 

Morts

Work on the distraction …

So as I said in an earlier post I was thinking of kit bashing some servitors - I had initially planned to make Gun Servitors, but when the Wargames Atlantic Cannon Fodder arrived I realised that they were too small. I think I would need an ogre sized body to put the big guns from the  Kataphrons too look right, so these are combat servitors.

They are armed with 3 guns and 2 flamers - I have 5 more bodies I can use - I think I will try to make them melee types. But I need to watch the parts I use, as I might try to kit bash a Marshal and a Techarchaeologist out of a couple of skitari bodies (the official models are around £20 a pop or £12-15 on eBay). Back to the servitors - I think I need to add some wire “pipework” before any paint work happens, I will also try to finish the other servitors too.

This is stopping from the celts - of which I have some in progress … too much too do … and the weather is getting better and the garden project has started …

Morts

Game of Thrones - a revisit to the Westeros board game.

Good Friday saw the collective heading over to Steedo’s for another crack at the Iron Throne - and copious beige snacks to fur up the arteries. I had brought some timers over to at least keep people thinking about getting a move on … after the last game.

The factions were;

Steedo - Lannister 

Sylon - Stark

DK - Greyjoy

Snake-eyes - Tyrell

BND - Martell

Morts - Baratheon 

Starting positions, below. BND and I set up a non-aggression pack of sorts … we would move East, he would take on the Tyrells and I would support … the Lannisters and the Greyjoys did the same building up their forces. The Tyrells felt threatened and launched the first attack on  the Martells and lost. And the Starks wandered around the north collecting stuff, but we’re just left alone .

Below about an hour or so into the game - I had managed to take the lead … just one castle or stronghold for the win, but I don’t have the armies available. Steedo and DK have build large forces, but not used them. Although Steedo’s Lannisters were given a bloody nose by my Baratheons … take take Tywin. In the south after swatting away the Tyrells on land the Martells were under pressure at sea … I had supported the Martells the best I could, raiding and winning a battle against the Tyrells. DK’s Greyjoys were building forces, but not being very aggressive. Meanwhile the Starks had moved on the Eyrie. And were worrying close to my strongholds. 

The final moments below - the Lannisters had moved against the Greyjoys and had left themselves open to counter attacks by myself, so close. Unfortunately the Greyjoys managed to capture a couple of Lannister strongholds including Casterly Rock. Steedo was not Tywin … meanwhile Sylon’s Starks …

Attacked a Greyjoy stronghold and was able to make a move on either Kings Landing or another of the Baratheon strongholds - I was able to reinforce Kings Landing, but the other stronghold fell to the rampaging Northerners and the Game of Thrones was over with a win to Sylon’s Starks. 

A good game by Sylon (I think the total game time was around 4 hours - which is about right). We didn’t quite get the wildings rules quite right and the muster cards didn’t come out as we would have liked - I certainly felt very stretched and thin over the game. 

The key to winning is being able to take two two strongholds in one turn.

A pleasant diversion - a thanks to Steedo for hosting. 

Morts. 

Oathmark Eldar - comparisons

The Oathmark Eldar here compared with their official GW offerings. 

The top shows then with a couple of Corsairs - the figure on the far right is a Guardian with a Corsairs head - I think they match pretty well.

The bottom shows the Oathmark guardians with a Farseer and a couple of Dire Avengers. Again these work too - possibly the colours help with that. I do need to get another pack of tufts.

As I commented on a couple of posts ago I was planning to to some kit bashes with some Ad Mech Hoplites … and then I saw these on the GW website. 

So I have purchased some Wargames Atlantic Canon Fodder sprues, so I can kit bash with the spares from the Destroyers/Breachers and Skitari kits. The fliperty gibert nature of gamers … so I will update as I make the servitors. 

In the mean t8me I will continue with the celts and elf dragon conversions. 

Morts

Celts - one unit complete

I have finished a unit of celts - these are plastic by Warlord Games, with a few Victrix heads. 

These have been mainly done with various speed, contrast paints. I think they have turned out fairly well.

The whole unit - in their angry glory. 

More close ups of the figures - I prefer the Vallejo flesh to the Army painter. I might do some mixing for the next unit. I might try to make the contrast stronger on the face and hands. These didn’t actually take too long to complete - 4 evenings (excluding the varnish and basing) to paint, which I did in 2 batches of 6. I do need to be neater, there were a few bits I missed. The shields take the most time so I’m trying to keep them simple. 

Hopefully I will get another 6 done over the next week or so.

Morts