Space Sharks, Space Sharks, What You Gonna' Do?

This was one of the first new Space Sharks I’d done in a while – a new Space Shark Librarian with jump pack, so he could accompany an Honour Guard (Yes, these boys are now using Codex: Blood Angels). Pat was to be using the Space Sharks at the Doubles Tournament and one of the powers he was keen to use was Blood Lance. Obviously, using Space Sharks, this quickly became known as the Shark Lance, leading to it being modelled as Shark like Psychic phenomenon being emitted from the Librarian’s hand. I sculpted it from green stuff around a piece of wire I’d drilled into the model’s hand and arm (10 points if you can tell what I used as reference when sculpting the shark!).

Among the Winners, There is No Room for the Weak

As promised, here are more of the new models – this is another of the new ones from the Imperial Fists, a Space Marine Lieutenant riding a Carnosaur. He got a fair bit of attention during the Doubles Tournament, mainly to the tune of “What is THAT?”

The inspiration comes from one of my favourite things about 40K, the anachronisms in it. I really like the idea of a genetically engineered super soldier wearing high tech powered armour riding into battle on an extinct reptile. I modelled him as a big game hunter with a sniper rifle and imagine him prowling the jungle or the plains looking to bag his next trophy. He probably has a lot of alien heads on the wall of his fortress monastery.

I count him as an Ironclad Dreadnought (yes, it requires a little imagination), with Seismic Claw with built in Heavy Flamer (Seismic Jaw that breathes fire!), Dreadnought Close Combat Weapon (mighty claws), Storm Bolter (rifle held by the rider) and smoke launchers (issuing from his flaming nostrils). It kind of works and was a lot of fun to use, especially in one game where he got to eat 30 Orks, a Weirdboy (bad case of indigestion) and a clanking Ork Death Robot. Unfortunately countless acts of dinosaur cruelty occurred, whereby heartless enemies seemed to delight in shooting his legs off. This left him unable to acquire his own dinner, leaving him very hungry and distressed.

This… er, Year… I’ve Painted… Space Marines

(Please note that this blog post first appeared on the Target-Gaming blog, but due to issues with RSS feeds, I'm now going to be publishing simultaneously on this one. Warning to the non-gamers - it's going to be toy soldier heavy!)

Well, it’s been far too long since I updated this blog, so here’s the fist of a few updates on the latest miniatures to come off the work bench.

• The Imperial Fists were completed in time for the Warhammer 40,000 Doubles Tournament and the first of these is shown below, the all new Captain Taelos.

• The Space Sharks received a minor update to act as the other half of the force, under the command of Pat Dunford. These wound up using Codex: Blood Angels...

• Having enjoyed myself so much at the Doubles Tournament and seeing how fun (and good!) mechanised Blood Angels armies are, I decided to do an entirely new army for my next tournament, the Bristol Vanguard Vanquish. Which was six weeks later. Yes, a 1500 point army, more or less from scratch in 6 weeks. What the hell was I thinking? I’m still not entirely sure, but I’ll tell you about it all in a future post.

• Also, Target-Gaming was at the Bristol Vanguard Vanquish with a stall, selling amongst other things, the new Grey Knights!

Anyway, in all his glory, here’s Captain Taelos!

Many years ago, just after I first started painting things yellow, the first Codex: Tau was released. It caused a real stir, a new race and army done entirely from scratch and very different from anything in 40K at the time. What caught my eye, though, was piece of background text at the back describing a negotiation between the Tau Water Caste and an administratum official, accompanied by his ‘military advisor’ – one Captain Taelos of the Imperial Fists. It was a great bit of background text, and the accompanying art was exactly how I imagined a Space Marine Captain to be – haughty and towering.

I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss, so immediately produced a model of Captain Taelos to lead my own Imperial Fists, as seen below.

I was very pleased with him at the time, but he looks a little dated now, especially when placed alongside my current Imperial Fists. The Double tournament was a perfect excuse to produce a new model, reposed and much mightier, complete with mighty Relic Blade!

Following the Herd

Just like everyone else it seems, I have an entirely new, exciting blog. I'm planning on updating this new one rather more often that this one - but be warned, it will be extremely toy soldier heavy...

The address is http://blog.target-gaming.com/

And if you want the RSS feed to run, put this link into blogger: http://blog.target-gaming.com/?feed=rss2

Warhammers

Woop woop! I've just received a copy of the new Warhammer rulebook. It's pretty cool!

Top 10 Bandwagon

Who doesn't like a good bandwagon? I know every time I see one, I want to jump on.

First up, Ford Escort Mk3 XR3i Cabriolet. Unfortunately, this example is missing the blue side stripes and 'Xr3i' decals that would be necessary for it to be in the garage. Well, I was born in Chelmsford.

Next up, somewhat more sensibly is an e46 BMW M3. Without the flappy paddle gearshift, please.

I need at least one track car, and this is it - the Porshce GT3RS.

There are a few bits of Detroit iron in this list - the first is, of course, the'73 'Cuda Hemi. It has a stroked 500 cubic inch engine, a six-barrelled carburettor and the awesome shaker scoop. Sure, it'll come off at the first corner, but it's cool. It also makes a good head for your giant robot. One of the most powerful muscle cars ever built at the time, it suffered largely from being released right before the Arab oil embargo. Oops.

The next bit of Detroit iron is, as Ben promised, a Sherman tank. They're reliable, cheap to run (for a tank) and it's easy to get spare parts. The one below (which I'd choose) is the M51 Isherman and has been modified by the IDF to mount an extra long 120mm gun, better suspension and air conditioning. Spec is everything when ordering your ideal vehicle.

It doesn't properly exist, but it should - the 2010 Corvette Stingray concept.

Next up, everyone else seems to have taken a 4x4, so here's my choice. Back in the late 70's Lamborghini's engineers were running out of sports car orders, so naturally, they decided to enter the US Army's future utility vehicle competition. After being thrown out for allegations of corruption, they later released it as a luxury SUV - with the Countach's V12 engine thrown in. Sylvester Stallone had one, giving rise to the nickname 'Rambo Lambo'. Hey, if things had gone a bit differently, the US Army could be driving Lamborghinis around Afghanistan and Iraq instead of Hummvees.

On the subject of Lamborghinis, my next choice is that 80's poster favourite, the Lamborghini Countach. It's so space age! I'll have mine in cherry red, please.

Marianne should like this one - the Cord 812 Supercharged. Way ahead of its time, it even has pop-up headlights. Perfect for the 30s supervillain in you - and check out those pipes on the flanks!

It's a bit modern and a bit clichéd, but every garage should have a Ferrari in it. I think I'd prefer a GT over a sports car, so the 599HGTE goes in.

Yes, even I like some Japanese cars. The Datsun 240Z's my favourite. Couldn't find a picture of one I wanted, but either silver with black bonnet, or Tokyo prefecture police colours for mine, please.

Finally, I had to have one British car in here - it was either this or the Aston Martin DBS. British racing green, and keep the sports tyres.

Extra points to those that can spot the geek references and the deliberate mistake.

No, YOU shut up Ben.

Well, that's my summer 2010 sorted then