Sniper vet

A small side project, one Yukoni sniper veteran. I built him initially as a one-off for a competition, but I think he just became the prototype for what my vets are going to look like...

Behold, a legal army!

The last three members of the D Company Command Squad, the piper and two bodyguards, which means...



HQ and two Troops! Huzzah! Legal army! Fiiiiinally.

Goodbye, my lady.

This weekend I lost my best friend of six years, Emma, so it seems oddly appropriate that I post this now, since she was Dog Company's namesake and mascot.



There's the first half of the Company Command Squad, with, from left to right, the Company Sergeant-Major, the company 2IC (whose name escapes me at the moment), the Company Standard (bearing Emma's likeness and some very bad Latin saying "Bark and Bite"), and a Guardsman. Still to come are the company piper and the two Highlander bodyguards, but and this is the part I could use some suggestions on, I don't know what tartan to paint them in. For the Platoon Command Squads I used the base colour of the platoon, but I'm not sure what to use for the Company Command Squad...

One year later, finally did something

Well, it's been almost exactly a year since my last update, and I finally got around to doing more work on the Yukoni, after a round of intensive spring cleaning made my workspace usable again and got the juices flowing. Not to mention the shaming/nagging from Muskie...

First up, I finished Green Platoon's heavy weps squad, which means I have completed my Troops choices, at least for 1250 points. Two full, massive platoons! Huzzah!







Finally, one of my main stumbling blocks was the Colossi. I couldn't figure out how to do the actually mechanism, so I decided just to "cheat" and build an enclosed cab. It's still pretty rough, but it's my first scratch tank conversion of this scale...




Next, I'm going to paint the Company Command. ONWARDS!

Schtuff...

Blah blah blah overtime blah blah blah Mass Effect 2 blah blah blah excuses...


Pictures!

A WIP Colossus:

Yeah, I know I went a bit overboard with the barrel size, but at least I managed not to but chainsaws on it somewhere... That is just a mockup, and I'm a little unsure of how to proceed. Any suggestions, anyone? Are the Basilisk...gear...things...sufficient or do the mechanisms need more work?


Green/Heavy Weapons:



I forgot to get pictures of these guys before basecoating them, but I think the relevant details still show through.


And the Company Command squad.

Piper, Guardsmen and Standard Bearer:


Company Sergeant Major and Captain:


Bodyguards:





Also, in non-Yukoni news, I've been working on a kilted Marine for a competition over on the Bolter and Chainsword.

Not dead but napping.

Just a quick update tonight, as I spent most of the day either sleeping or watching Life on Mars (the UK version, naturally) with the wife. Finally got to the end of Series 1...

Anyways, here's a mock-up of what Green Platoon's Gun No.2 is going to look like. I say No.2 because No.1 Gun has the squad NCO and I haven't figured out what that one's going to look like yet.

The loader is not dead, he's napping. He'll have his hands under his head and his helmet tipped over his face, while the gunner is, uh, displaying his opinion of such behaviour through the language of gestures.

Green/Command, let me show you it.

Whee, Green/Command is done. I'm quite pleased with how the tartan on the pipes turned out, but of course the flash washed it out and made it look all pastel-y. Sigh.



Now I'm moving on Green Platoon's Heavy Weapons squad. I decided a short time ago that between the artillery and bajillions of lasguns, I have plenty of anti-infantry firepower, but nothing to hurt high-toughness baddies or transports at range and thus needed to switch the heavy weapons squads to have Autocannons instead of Heavy Bolters. Not wanting to rip apart the existing squad or make new ones, I've tried to come up with a conversion to the heavy bolter body that still looks like an autocannon. I think it works, but I'd love some opinions. It means I'll lose the awesome Vickers MG look, but I'll just have to live with that.

Alles klar, redux

Two updates in one night. I'm on a roll. Well, it's more of a scone, maybe a bun.

First few coats on the three remaining members of Green/Command.



It figures that the pics of what I was pretty pleased about came out not so good. I finished Green Platoon's Commissar, and did some more work on Red Platoon's. To whit, I tried highlighting them both with Fortress Grey followed by a slathering of Badab Black. I think it turned out quite well, even if the pictures didn't.

Green Platoon Commissar with and without flash.


The backside of 'em both.

A'sealing we shall go

Finished the two Sergeants and the two members of Green/Command.



I may have mentioned it earlier, but the pick thing the guy on the right is holding is, I have decided, a 41st millennium version of the hakapik, a tool used in seal hunting. Just an extra tidbit of Canadian in the army...

In addition to the rest of Green Platoon, I've started working on a model for the Boot Camp's "Fix Bayonets!" competition, but I can't show pictures yet. Not that it'll be hard to guess which model is mine...

Green/Command progress

Ahoy, bit of an update this afternoon. First few coats of paint on the two missing Infantry Sergeants and two members of Green/Command.

The last Infantry Squad

At least, the last one until it's not.

Green/D is done! All that's left now is Green/Command, which is next on the desk, then heavy weapons squad. Huzzah!

The pipes are a'callin'

Whee, got lots done tonight.

First up, Green/D is built, minus their backpacks which will be done curing tomorrow.


And the piper is built, too! That means that Green/Command is also ready for painting. I can't decide whether to paint them or Green/D first...



And finally, the two Sergeants for Green/A and Green/B are also ready for paint. When I had to move all my lovely shotgun Sergeants into a Vet squad (obligatory fist shake, as that's my only issue with C:IG, and it's a feeble one at that) I was short two Sergeants, so these two got made.



In other news...um...oh, yeah. There's been some response to my post about the Special Characters, mostly about Pask. I've been recommended Bob Elliot of the 19th Field Regiment, but I know very little about him and haven't been able to dig up much yet, as well as Major David Vivian Currie, who was awarded the VC for his actions during the Battle of Falaise. I've also decided after all to swap Jack Churchill and Brian McMourne (really? Nobody gets that? Where are all the REH fans?) around, mostly because I had an awesome idea for the McMourne/Marbo model, and so that I could make a squad of Commandos around Churchill, with the West Wind Para heads.

Other than that, a little bird told me that my future may hold something...wolfy...

Flashlights 'r' Us

I think my ability to come up with words for these posts is inversely proportional to the variety of what I'm posting pictures of. First six of Green/D, minus their backpacks and some GS work for the Sergeant's breastplate.

So close now...

Green/C is done. I can almost taste how close I am to being done my infantry. One more infantry squad, one more Heavy Bolter squad and two Command Squads... It's good to be making solid progress on these guys again!

Running out of post title ideas...

Didn't get any work done yesterday, as we had the office Christmas party. I realized about halfway through the night that I was drinking with the guy who made Hot Coffee, as well as one of the guys who invented GTA. I love my job.

Anyways, here's tonight's efforts, finished the fatigues and pouches, etc on the second half of Green/C.


I also did some work on Green Platoon's piper a day or two ago, but forgot to post the pic. I'm not as happy with how these ones are turning out for some reason, even if I am building them better...




I was also doing some thinking about counts-as Yukoni versions of all the Special Characters. Straken is in my 2000 points list as Major Michael Brown, as is Marbo who I'm thinking of basing on "Mad Jack" Churchill. I'm thinking his background might be a high-born Praetorian adventurer who couldn't take the starchy discipline of the Praetorian regiments, got adopted by a Yukoni Highlander regiment and eventually became one of the founders of the Yukoni special recon division, or something to that effect.

Creed and Kell were easy: Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, a personal hero of mine, and John MacDonnel.

Pask I have no idea about. I guess I need to do some research into accomplished Canadian tank commanders...

Bastonne will, I think, become Captain Brian McMourn (virtual cookie if you can guess the origin of that one), last scion of a Riatan (I've decided that the Yukoni Highlanders' world is called Van Riatan's World, and is home to Byzantine politicking between all the various houses over trade, etc) who is seeking to regain his family's honour on the battlefield.

Harker, Yarrick and Chenkov don't really interest me in terms of their rules, so I may not bother with them. Al'Rahem looks like he could be fun, and I've been considering inventing a Riatan/Highlander character for him, as there aren't any historical Canadian figures that spring to mind. Mogul Kamir I'm on the fence about, as his rules don't really seem, to me, to fit with the Canadian cavalry in WWI.

More grist for the mill

First half of Green/C painted. Yay!


Just because I felt like, here's an army shot. I can't believe it's taken me over a year to get this far...






And, finally, I decided to have another go at sculpting faces. Here's the result. I'm pretty proud of it, but I'll let you judge for yourselves.

Inching closer

Three weeks of 80-90~ work hours slowed me down a bit, but I've got Green/C built, and a bit of progress on the platoon command squad as well as planning out the platoon HB squad.

Here's the built squad, all reposed to be running.





And here's Commissar Hakes-Exeter, who definitely subscribes to the 40k school of thought on weapon sizes...

Everything is better with space pirates!

Okay, I'm exhausted and have to go back to work in a few hours (that's what I get for staying up building minis), so I'm just going to let the pics speak for themselves, mostly.

Here's Green Platoon's Command Squad. The officer and basecoated trooper (armed with a hakapik and skinning knife) are not new, but the rest are.


New Platoon Sergeant Major:


Very WIP piper:


Their Commissar, the legendarily unkillable Bryn "the Blessed" Hakes-Exeter, sole survivor of numerous charges and artillery strikes and who once destroyed an enemy Titan by shouting at it (according to regimental legend). Internet Points to whoever can guess what two people he's based on.


According to the army list, he's got a power weapon, but I can't bring myself to carve off his power fist. Ideas, anyone? Right now I'm contemplating either having him holding a big power mace or turning the fist into a power claw.


And now, a little side project where I give into one of my life-long obsessions (not, not kilts): pirates! In this case, space pirates, as so unsubtly foreshadowed by the entry title. The 40k universe is perfect for piracy, and it's much mentioned in the fluff. However, the prime examples, Dark Eldar and the Red Corsairs, just aren't pirate-y enough for me. The Dark Eldar are space elves, and I have an unreasoning prejudice against elves of all types, and the Red Corsairs, especially in their new look, strike me as just another renegade Marine warband. I've wanted to do 40k pirates for a long time (I even wrote some background), but I could never figure out how, mainly because I was thinking about Pirate Marines, which probably would've either had the same problem as the Red Corsairs or descended into cartoonish-ness quite quickly. However, I think I found a way. You be the judge.