Dipping when you can’t “dip” – Ork Trukk

So Dipping is called that because you’re supposed to “dip” the mini in the woodstain.  However, this is just the easiest way to get the stain on the mini.  You can brush it on in cases where the mini is too large.  This is the first Trukk I painted.

You can see the pre-stain, post-stain, and finished product.  The yellows had to be reinforced, as the stain darkens them too much.  I also added some splattered bugs!

Gehn the Traitor, disciple of Matthius.

Modeling and Painting

Before Big Game 5, Matt Turner came down to help us build terrain.  While he was there, we discussed his Chaos Lord, Matthius, Prophet of the Four.  Matt said that he wanted Matthius to have a bodyguard of traitors from various armies.  I wasn’t sure about other people’s armies, but I instantly came up with an addendum to the main fluff story that involved this man:

I used the new Devastator Sergeant head, with the flat top filed away.  I used the Mark 9 sergeant armor torso, the old pewter bolter-melta, and a Chaos power fist, shoulder pad, and backpack.  The body was damaged as if it had suffered an explosion on Gehn’s left side, which is the arm that was replaced.  He was painted with the Azure Flames scheme, with a scheme similar to some of Matt’s chaos squads on the replaced arm.  Gehn was given as a gift to Matt before Big Game 5.

Background

The name of Gehn is cursed by the Azure Flames more than any other.  While the twists of Chaos have poisoned, mutated, or brainwashed battle brothers before, these individuals were exterminated.  Unlike others, Gehn chose to betray the Chapter.  The path between his recruitment and that fateful choice is twisted and convoluted.  This account merely scratches the surface of the events that led Gehn to choose madness over loyalty.

Gehn’s recruitment into the Chapter, like most battle brothers, came when his world was in need.  Riven was raided by Dark Eldar pirates for slaves year after year.  Losses were deemed minimal by Imperial tacticians, due to the fact that Riven had always made its imperial tithe.  Calls for aid went unanswered or were spectacularly late.  In c783m41, the Dark Eldar met their match.  The Battle Barge His Anvil leading approximately half the Azure Flames fleet met these raiders head on.  In a pincer action, the Dark Eldar ships were corralled by escorts as capital ships closed in.  Sadly, the captives aboard the ships perished in the attack, but the Dark Eldar raiding force was dealt a severe blow.  As is customary, the Azure Flames requested that all boys of age be allowed to prove themselves worthy of joining the Chapter.  Gehn was tested and proven well above his peers in the rigorous mental and physical challenges that all aspirants to the Azure Flames are put through, and the promising youth was quickly inducted into the Chapter.

Gehn’s career as a scout was not without glory, but was lackluster compared to some of his contemporaries.  He was eventually chosen and passed the final trial to become a Space Marine, and served in the reserves for 60 years before joining the 4th Company.  It is at this point that Gehn’s career became more illustrious.  He participated in the raid on Arkh, and played a vital role in capturing the hidden ruling council.  After several decades of service, he was eventually promoted to sergeant.  During his tenure he killed a Carnifex in close combat and was at the forefront of the push to take the Traitor’s Gate on Yttran.  Gehn’s ambition made him to continue to strive to become a captain, but though his service was admirable, no position of Captain was ever available.

Then Antonius was recruited into the Scouts.  Gehn took notice when Antonius was advanced to Space Marine faster than any other Scout on record.  He then became enraged when the youth was promoted to Sergeant of the 5th Squad, 4th Company after the infiltration action on Iperin during the Chasma Spica conflict.  During Antonius’ induction ritual, Gehn refrained from joining in the toast.  Antonius thought nothing of it, but Captain Ganendra did.  He notified Atrus, and Atrus consulted his visions of the future.  To his horror, the visions spoke that Gehn would betray the Chapter.  Atrus sought to send the 4th Company into battle on Julius, and had Ganendra use the 6th squad as bait for the enemy.  Gehn and his squad were hit by the blast of a battle cannon.  Gehn was knocked unconscious and captured by Chaos forces led by Matthius, Prophet of the Four.

Gehn was interrogated and tortured by Matthius’ subordinates until Matthius himself gave a cryptic order to bring no more harm to the prisoner.  Matthius personally interrogated Gehn for several days.  Hints and whispers that only Matthius hear from the Gods of Chaos guided him.  Then came the secret – Matthius learned that Antonius was the gene-son of Atrus.  Matthius used this information to batter holes in Gehn’s tired, damaged faith. As Matthius slowly revealed the truth, Gehn’s hatred for Antonius eclipsed that which he felt for the Dark Gods and their minions.  Here was a boy promoted through deliberate favoritism while Gehn was passed up time and time again.  That was not just.  Gehn wanted more, and Matthius promised it.  Gehn fell to Chaos with one word: “Yes.”

Gehn’s knowledge of Azure Flames security protocol proved devastating.  While his codes were invalidated, he knew how certain individuals would act.  Matthius’ forces penned in the beleaguered 4th Company with the help of mentally-enslaved Orks.  Gehn saw fit to taunt his former allies through transmissions while the forces of Chaos closed in around them.  His name was spoken as a curse by the entire Chapter as his betrayal was revealed.

The victory of the imperial forces at Daskros changed little about Gehn’s ambitions.  Though he fought for his life against the newly freed Orks, he escaped from the Chasma Spica alongside his new master Matthius.  He now fights for power and glory, to exult the Gods who recognize his greatness.  Above all, he waits for the chance to exact his revenge on the upstart boy that had everything handed to him.  Thus through jealousy did Gehn fall.

Just as Tzeentch told Matthius he would.

Poindexta Smartyskull: The Ork with two Brains.

Conversion and Painting

A rather simple conversion, but a good one.  I took Ghazgkull, sawed off the bottom of the cow-skull banner, and replaced the pole with a brass rod.  I cut a brain shape and a lightbulb shaped skull out of plasticard.  I then cut a smaller circle, to be the banner’s monocle.

For Smartyskull’s head, I had a square piece of plastic left over from a Trukk conversion.  I coated this with putty, and put it on his left side of his head (seen on the right in the photo).  I then filled out the other half of the head with a blob of putty that is much more rounded.  I added some small sausages of putty to the front of the head, and flattened them slightly to make the veins.

The monocle is a simple Ork shoota crosshairs bit, with the insides and outsides smoothed.  The chain is a thin strand of putty.

Smartyskull was painted using the same dipping technique seen in my dipping post.

Backstory

Dexa was just a regular boy until he unwittingly took a bolter round to the head for his Warboss. The Boss ordered the Dok and the Mek to rebuild Dexa’s head. Dok Gillgivva wanted to use a nice shiny Ork brain, put together piecemeal from those previous owners who hadn’t quite made it on the operatin’ table, and also to install some shiny new gills. Manik Upzindownz da Mad Mek wanted to try out a new cybork brain he had made from several good bitz, including the machine-spirit thingie from a Beekie Land Raider and his best pocketwatch. As Orks often do, they came to blows until the Boss broke them up and told them to work together or else he’d smash both of them good.

So they used both brains. They had to weld a lot of armour, and use a discarded skull here and there for spare bits of bone, but at the end, Dexa had a shiny new lightbulb shaped head. Dexa got a lot smarter after that, and intuitivley knew High Gothic, as well as gained an aptitude for strategy and logic. He was smarter than lots of sumboys!

After this the Nob of Dexa’s slugga boyz met with an “accident” when his power klaw “malfunctioned,” and Dexa took all of his stuff. Dexa grew in size, as Orks who challenge thier superiors do, until the boss noticed that Dexa was a threat to his power. Luckily for Dexa, he saw the boss sneaking up on him, sidestepped the Boss’ choppa, and shot the boss in the throat, then the head twice. The Boss’ most loyal Nob stepped up to give Dexa what for, and Dexa shot him point blank.

“Anybody else wanna ‘ave a go?” Dexa inquired. No one stepped forward. Dexa became the new boss and insisted on being called Poindexta. Due to his large cranium and his flair for strategy which led them to several successful raids, he earned the nickname Poindexta Smartyskull. He rules his tribe with a combination of low kunnin and head krumpin. He has most of the major tents or structures bugged, and bribes gretchin to be his (unreliable) eyes and ears. Lone dissenters are shot in the back or cut in half with a power klaw, and groups are incinerated by a loyal Burna boy. Poindexta Smartyskull leads his Blood Axe warband through the stars, trying to reconcile the conflict between the Ork part of his brain that loves a good fight, and the man-made computer that makes him insightful, witty, and urbane. He loves to take human prisoners because he needs someone to talk to, though his nobs often ruin the conversations by butting in.

Modular Space Marine Vehicles

In preparation for the Big Game 5, I decided to update all of my old Rhino Chassis vehicles.  I called it the “New Rhino Chassis Project.”  Going the extra mile, I wanted to save some money and make modular vehicles that could be ANY variant of the Predator tank, or a Whirlwind.  Here’s what I did.

Two Rhino Chassis were given large Rare Earth magnets on the inside of their doors, and a Predator/Whirlwind top hatch.  I then made Predator Side Sponsons and regular doors that were magnetized.  Note that the magnet on the regular doors has since been replaced with a much smaller magnet, as it was near impossible to remove the door.

Next, the sponsons and Predator sponson guns were modified using Legos.  This lets them fit together snugly without interfering with the other magnet.  The Whirlwind Turrets were also modified with Legos so the regular and Castellan missiles could be switched out.

The Predator turrets were modified with magnets in a “clamshell” configuration to switch out the guns easily.  The ammo boxes on the back have magnets as well, letting them fit on snugly without attaching permanently.

As a result these two tanks can be ANY variant.  Las OR Autocannon Pred with HB or Las sponsons OR no sponsons.  It could also be a Whirlwind with either of the two missiles.

Adventures in Dipping

So, for those who read my background, you know I got into Orks a while ago, and I got a lot of Orks at once.  I was looking for a way to paint them and make them look good, easily.  I found the answer in a process called Dipping.  For those that don’t know, Dipping is a painting process that takes the hard work out of shading.  Dipping has three steps:

1. Basecoat the model with no depth or highlights.  This is a simple paint job, do not paint details like eyes.  Use colors brighter than what you would ideally want on the finished model.

2. Dip the entire model in Wood Varnish (or brush it on for larger models).  Shake or brush off excess.  Be sure to hold the model upside down for a few minutes so that the varnish seeps into the cracks.  Let the varnish dry.

3. Now that the varnish is dry, the paint color should have darkened and automatically gained depth, as the varnish dried thinly on raised areas and pooled in deeper areas.  Finish by painting small details and using clear matte varnish spray.  You can also choose to reinforce bright colors such as reds and yellows.

That’s it.  The simple paint jobs make painting fast, and the dipping is easy.  It just takes time for the varnish to dry, and warm dry weather to varnish outside in.   After much experimentation, I used Minwax Bombay Mahogany varnish.

Here are the before, after, and final varnished pics for a twelve boy squad of Orks.

Zeraf Antonius, Captain of the 4th Company

Aesthetically based on my cousin Anthony, Zeraf Antonius is currently the Captain of the 4th Company of the Azure Flames, Master of the Marches.  Antonius is the youngest Marine promoted to captain, at a mere 23 years old since his actual birth, and 6 years since the implantation of the Black Carapace.

Antonius grew up on an agri-world.  It was invaded by Orks, and rescued by the Azure Flames.  Antonius was one of several youths to volunteer for service with the Chapter.  He underwent the various implantation procedures to become a Scout.  Unbeknownst to him, the gene-seed of the Chapter Master, Atrus, was extracted when he was interred in the sarcophagus of a Dreadnought.  Only one of his two gene-seeds survived.  Atrus instructed that his gene-seed be used to make Antonius a Space Marine.

Antonius’ career as a scout was full of valorous deeds.  He was one of two survivors of his Scout squad against an attack by Eldar.  He led a scout squad to victory on Morvan Prime, and discovered documents that prevented Tenkath Hive from being infiltrated by Chaos agents.  The people of Tenkath dubbed him “The Hero of Tenkath Hive.”

Antonius participated in the rite of Ascension at age 17 and was implanted with the Black Carapace.  He served in the 9th and 8th reserves, before being transferred to the 6th Tactical reserves.  He participated in the planetary assault on Arkh, and several other major battles.

Antonius was transferred into the 4th company by the direct order of Atrus during the Chasma Spica conflict.  He was part of the tactical squad that infiltrated Iperin, and took over as their sergeant when Sergeant Joseph was killed in action.  He led the 5th squad and enraged the jealousy of the Traitor Gehn, then sergeant of the 6th squad.

Antonius was part of the interdiction force on Julius when Gehn was captured and turned to the service of the dark gods.  When Captain Ganendra was killed during a bombing run in the final battle for Julius, Antonius took command of the Flames’ detachment and led them during the final victory that drove both greenskin and Chaos forces from the planet. Though reluctant to take up the axe of his former commander, Antonius was unanimously awarded command of the Fourth Company by those who remained after the war. With Atrus having met his end during the terrible battle over the city of Daskros, Antonius’ genetic heritage was finally revealed to him.

Antonius continues to lead the 4th company to victory, either from the bridge of the Strike Cruiser Honor, or on the battlefield.  He struggles with the knowledge of his origin, and the destiny that the apothecaries speak of.  They say that one day he will lead the Azure Flames, but until the “Old Man” Chapter Master Perseus dies, Antonius will remain in the office, and will continue to faithfully serve.

Antonius is a stand-in for Cato Sicarius in 40K, and commands the Strike Cruiser Honor in Battlefleet Gothic.

How I got into gaming: The Azure Flames

Everyone who is a gamer gets into it somehow.  I got into it when my friend Joe invited me to a meeting of Studio 40K, the wargaming club of MSU (now defunct, different rant later).  This was in the winter of 2000/2001, early in the 3rd edition of 40K.  I picked Space Marines, specifically the Salamanders.  They had cheap Terminators and never gave up.  However, I didn’t like green marines, so I made my own successor chapter: the Azure Flames.

My first purchase was a Devastator squad.  The old pewter devastator box which had all the heavy weapons except the Multi Melta.  Actually a really bad box set, as a dev squad with those weapons was expensive and almost useless.  I learned and collected quickly though.  That following summer I followed this pattern: buy unit, paint unit, buy another unit.  I eventually had one of everything the Space Marines could take.  And I kept going.

Then, during the very last auction that Games Workshop held in its stores, I won a Blood Angels combination, consisting of Dante and some honor guard, some Death Company, and a few other things including a Baal Pred.  I made them into a Flesh Tearers army that was actually pretty impressive.  Sadly, after the advent of 4th ed, Blood Angels were vastly underpowered and I never played them.  I sold the lot bit by bit at a con.  People went nuts for the paint jobs and the custom vehicles.  My greatest pleasure was selling the remainder and the custom case to a kid who never had an army.  Made me feel good.

At this time, 4th edition was in it’s crappy heyday.  Vehicles were rolling tombs and gunline tactics were boring as hell.  That’s when my good friend Lexington got me into Warmachine.  I chose to play Cygnar, the jewel of the Iron Kingdoms.  I expanded into mercenaries, as long as they worked with Cygnar.  Warmachine and I have had an on-again off-again relationship, as Privateer Press tends to make wonderful systems and then break them with ridiculous new combos.  2nd ed is a million times better than 1st though.

Then, the newest Ork codex came out.  Orks were fun.  I toyed around with ideas and made my own “counts as” characters corresponding to all the characters in the new Codex.  I knew I had to play.  So I bought a huge amount of Orks, and made the warband of Poindexta Smartyskull, the Ork with two brains!  I did weird and ridiculous conversions and tried a new painting method: dipping.  It worked great.

Then (once again thanks to Lexington) I found the sweet, sweet crack rock of Specialist Games.  This was back in 2007, when ChaosOrc had stock.  I actually purchased enough Epic scale Space Marines to make an ENTIRE CHAPTER!  I also camped ebay for deals on some of the newer vehicles.  I played a game of Epic against Lexington’s Eldar.  Then he sold them.  Then I played one game against his new Chaos.  Then he sold them.  *sigh*  He was going through rough times.

At the same time as my Epic indulgence, I found deals on Space Marine craft for Battlefleet Gothic.  I became obsessed with rules, and made my own rules guides for Epic and Gothic.  I took the rules and condensed them down into 10 pt single spaced outlines that essentially explain all possible things.  I worked in a print shop and was able to make them into a laminated spiral bound flip chart for easy access.

Recently I’ve become a little obsessed with Specialist Games.  I had a Necromunda Orlock gang I bought at a con for a campaign that never materialized, but I bought a Delaque gang, and had my friend Jen custom make me a Necromunda board that looks fantastic.  I also painted my Battlefleet Gothic Space Marines, and bought and (almost completely) painted an Imperial Navy and a Chaos fleet.  I also recently purchased some plastic Lizardmen and Tyranid bitz to make a Lizardmen Blood Bowl team.

As you can see, I’ve got a lot on my plate.  I’ll post pictures of what I’ve done and thoughts on what I’m going to do.

…but it was A beginning.

Welcome to the Four Strands, a site dedicated to model wargaming!

What does the Four Strands mean?  The hobby of model wargaming has four aspects, like four strands that make up a rope.  These aspects are: Modeling, Painting, Gaming and Storytelling.

Modeling

Modeling is the first strand.  Without models, you can’t really do much else!  Modeling covers all aspects of collecting models and conversions.  From choosing an army to customizing it the way you want to, the first strand is all about how your models look when assembled.  Even those who only put together models as intended are consciously choosing to do so.

Painting

Painting is the second strand.  After all, most models look OK before painting, but tend to look much better when painted well.  This covers everything from proper undercoating to advanced techniques such as dynamic lighting. While some people feel that painting is optional, I find it very necessary.  After all, a victory won with models that don’t look good never feels like the victory won with a fully painted and based army.

Gaming

The third strand is the goddamn point of model wargaming.  While some people enjoy sculpting or painting, only model wargamers actually use those miniatures to play games.  From small casual games to huge campaigns, games are for having fun!  Some take this aspect very seriously, like tournament gamers.  Others are content to play with their friends.  Either way you go, the point is the same: to play games with other people.

Storytelling

Really?  Storytelling?  Am I reaching just to get a fourth strand to make this rope metaphor stick?  Not at all.  This is the end result of your hobby.  After all, whether you won by smashing every model the opposing player owns, or lost by the narrowest margin, every model wargamer has stories to tell.  This aspect covers both the stories about games you have played, and stories you write.  Making up your own Space Marine Chapter, or putting on a story campaign of the war for the Thornwood makes for an immersive experience.  Even if you only play the Ultramarines in tournaments, you have stories to tell.  You could have won a huge victory, or lost because some jerk with hairy shoulders cheated.  Stories are how the hobby perpetuates itself and how we remember our experience.  Stories tie everything else together.

This blog is intended for me to explore this hobby, and chronicle my efforts.  I will post things that i do including conversions, paint jobs, fluff, battle reports, and thoughts on gaming itself.  I hope that you enjoy the things that I do to spend my free time!

-Bozeman

P.S. Yes I ripped off Lexington for the title of this post, but screw him.  I have exactly one post on this blog and I have half as many posts as he does on his blog up for almost a year.