Project - ON HOLD

I'm sorry to say that my epic aliens project is being shelved for now, this is partly due to a lack of finance (I simply cant afford GW prices for the bits I need) and partly due to the new 6th edition rules regarding allies. I'm pretty excited about being able to run allies with my Grey Knights, and I think I'm going to paint up my existing Guard to fit in with this rather than converting them - I might make a unit or two of marines in the future, but this will have to wait untill I either get tonnes of money or I can find incredibly cheap alternatives.
sorry to those of you who were looking forward to seeing this project come together, but I'll be updating my blog with other more exciting things soon!

Exosuit Cargo Loader - WIP

here are the first pics of my custom built cargo loader - i've tried to stick as close as possible to the origianl Aliens build, but without sculpting my own models I think this is as close as i'll get and be happy with:

Cargo Loader

As you can see I've not quite finished it as I'm missing the parts to complete the left arm (2 Chimera Dozerblade attachments) but hopefully I'll pick these up soon and complete it in full

Colonial Marines Conversions 1 - Private Drake - COMPLETE

The first conversion i'm working on will be my "counts as" Gunnery Sergeant Harker - Private Drake. In Aliens, Drake is armed with the M56 Smart Gun - probably the most iconic weapon from the film, and certainly a fan favourite

M56 Smart Gun 

Private Drake in action

As you can see in the above picture, Drake isn't wearing the full Colonial Marine Body Armour, so using pure Cadian parts will not be an option. I've already gathered a few bits from my bits box and this is what i'll be using on this conversion:

I'm using some legs from the Catachan Jungle Fighters box, and a Cadian Shock Trooper Torso. The right arm is a Catachan Lasgun arm, which i will be filing down to remove the rifle butt, and repositioning on the torso using Greenstuff so that it "holds" the Smartgun better. The left arm is from the Catachan Command Squad Srpue, and the Smartgun itself is a pintle mounted Heavy Stubber from the Chimera box. I'm using the end of the Grey Knights Warding stave as the back handle of the gun, and what I think is a vehicle accessory from the Rhino Sprue to add a targeter and spotlight. The head is again from the Catachan Command Sprue. The tip of the lasgun will be cut off and used as a helmet cam, and I might use the magazine and grip from the boltgun to add extra detail to the smartgun if needed.

I've completed making this model now and it's been a really fun process - I think i need to be a bit more delicate with my Greenstuf work in the future, but luckilly I found some spare IG shoulder pads to cover up most of the mess! Here are the pictures of the completed model - they're a little fuzzy as I took them late last night, but they'll do to show the general outline of the model - i'll upload better pics once the squad is complete

Private Drake

My Next Project

As I said in my last post i've had an idea for my next army list, and also my next project now the Monkeys are done and dusted. It began when thinking about what to take to Blog Wars 4 - I wanted to take a cool theme army made up of different films - i.e an Ecto-1 Chimera, a colonial marines squad from Aliens, and A-team squad etc etc. However I couldnt think of enough to fill out the list. I did think of loads I could do with a specific theme force though - namely the Aliens Colonial Marines. Aliens is one of my favourite films of all time and I'm a big fan of the franchise in general. I've wanted to make an Aliens themed force for a while now, so I think this will be my next big project. I'm going to use Imperial Guard as the basis for the army, as they are by far the most obvious choice with the Cadians/Catachans providing an excellent base for converting marines. I've written the following list as the basis for the project:

HQ

Company Command Squad
Company Commander + Boltgun, Power Weapon - Warrant Officer Ripley
Veteran, Heavy Flamer - Captain Dallas
Veteran, Vox Caster - Executive Officer Kane
Veteran, Medi Pack - Engineer ParkerVeteran, Plasma Gun - Engineer Brett
Officer of the Fleet - Carter Burke 
Bodyguard - Jones
Bodyguard - Spike

Valkyrie Assault Carrier - Sulaco Dropship

This squad is based on the crew of the Nostromo from Alien - Ripley obviously has to be the commander of this army and I think the original cast are the best choice for her squad. I've also included two bodyguards in the shape of Jones the cat (Alien/Aliens) and Spike the dog (Alien 3) and i'm planning to get cool models to represent them. I've added Burke to this squad as an Officer of the Fleet as I feel Burke needs a place in the army and this is the only way he'd fit - the role represents his links to Weyland Yutani and the rest of the USM fleet. The Dropship will be a customised/converted Valkyrie and I've gven it to this squad as the mobility will help them take control of the battlefield.
I've already found some pretty cool models to represent Ripley/Burke from GrippingBeast

Also I think the Signee  from Hasslefree would make an awesome Ripley

 Techpriest Engineers

Techpriest Engineer - Bishop
Techpriest Engineer - Ash

It seemed a natural choice to make the two "Artificial Persons" from Alien & Aliens Techpriests. Also The Servo-Arm represents the strenght of the synthetics and fits in quite well thematically. I can't quite decide wether i'm going to model Bishop and Ash undamaged, or wether I'll go for the decapitated / cut in half look.

Troops

Veteran Squad

Gunnery Sergeant Harker - Private Drake
Veteran, Heavy Flamer, Voxcaster - Sergeant AponeVeteran, Flamer - Corporal Dietrich

Veteran, Flamer - Private Wierzbowski
Veteran, Autocannon - PFC Vasquez
Veteran, Autocannon - Private Crowe
Veteran, Shotgun - Corporal Hicks

Veteran, Lasgun - PFC Hudson
Veteran, Lasgun - Private Frost
Veteran, Lasgun -  Lieutenant Gorman

Chimera - APC

Obviously this squad is based on the kick ass United States Colonial Marines from Aliens. I've tried to arm them as close to the film as possible, and will be converting/painting the models up to be as close as possible to the actual characters. I'm using Gunnery Sergeant Harker, as I feel his relentless Heavy Bolter is a perfect match to Drake's Smartgun - for similar reasons i've paired Vasquez up with Crowe to form a heavy weapons team so I can give a Smargun to her. I'll be adding quite a lot of details to this squad, such as helmet cameras, and ammo bag for Frost and motion scanners for Hudson and Hicks, and am looking forward to spending time finding the right parts for the conversions. The only issue I might have is finding the right models to represent Dietrich and Vasquez as femal marines are quite hard to come by. I'm also looking forward to customising a chimera to make it look like the iconic APC. Instead of Lasguns, I'll be getting the Pulse Rifles from Hassleferee to make the marines look just like the film

Veteran Squad

Sergeant Bastonne - Johner

Veteran, Heavy Flamer - Elgyn

Veteran, Grenade Launcher - Hillard

Veteran, Plasma gun  - Distephano

Veteran, Shotgun - Vriess

Veteran, Lasgun - Christie

Veteran, Lasgun - Call

Veteran, Lasgun - Purvis

Veteran, Lasgun - General Perez

Veteran, Lasgun - Dr. Wrenn

Valkyrie Assault Carrier - The Betty

This squad represents the characters from Alien Ressurection. Again I'll be modelling these as close to the film as possible, including trying to find a Rasta model to represent Christie - possibly Gideon from Foundry Miniatures "Doc Fridays Yardies"

I'm also going to try and build a wheelchair for Vriess, usign the chair from the Sentinel kit and some wheels from...somewhere lol and again custom convert a Valkyrie to represent the Betty - maybe using some Tau Devilfish parts as those modles look a bit more futuristic. Bastonne as Johner felt like a good choice to represent the no-nonsense tough guy from the film.

Penal Legion

Penal Custodian - Andrews
Penal Legionnaire - Clemens

Penal Legionnaire - Aaron

Penal Legionnaire - Dillon

Penal Legionnaire - Golic

Penal Legionnaire - Boggs

Penal Legionnaire - Rains

Penal Legionnaire - David

Penal Legionnaire - Murphy

Penal Legionnaire - Morse

Obviously this squad is perfect to represent the inmates from the Fiorina 'Fury' 161, foundry facility from Alien 3. There are some awesome penal legion conversion parts from VictoriaLamb which i'm hoping to use to help me customise these models.

Conscripts

20x Conscripts - Colonists of  LV-426

Although not really named in the film, the colonists of LV-426 seem like a really fun conversion/modelling project and I like the idea of finding all sorts of sci-fi civillian miniatures. Obvioulsy this unit will include Newt, Timmy and their parents, some miners and staff of the colony and maybe a converted "mary" (the woman who the marines find cocooned in the processing station) again GrippingBeast and Hasslefree have some cool miniatures I'd like to use for this unit:

Newt (Billie Hasslefree):

The Jorden family (Civilians Gripping Beast):

Elites

Stormtrooper Squad

Stormtrooper Sergeant + Hotshot Lasgun - Weyland Yutani Commando
Stormtrooper + Plasma gun - Weyland Yutani Commando
Stormtrooper + Plasmagun - Weyland Yutani Commando
6x Stormtroopers _ Hotshot Lasguns - Weyland Yutani Commando

This unit is based on the Weyland Yutani Commandos from the end of Alien 3

I think the GW Karskin models will do a pretty good job to represent these soldiers, so i'll be happy to use the models "out of the box" either them or the Forge World Cadian Hostile Envirionment troops

Karskin Squad:

Cadian Troops:

Fast Attack

Armoured Sentinel Squadron

3x Armoured Sentinels, Searchlight, Lascannon - Exosuit Cargo Loaders

You couldn't have an Aliens themed army without a couple of Cargo Loaders! I'm going to have to scrath build these as nothing available even closely resembles this awesome machine. I've had a go at building one already, as close to this as possible, and I'm pretty happy with the results - my custom cargo loader is currently a WIP but i'll upload pics as soon as I can so you can see what I've done. I'm using the majority of parts from the Sentinel kit, but also bits from the Dreadknight kit, plastic tubing and some Chimera Dozerblades.

Heavy Support

Deathstrike Missile Launcher

"I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure" - Ellen Ripley, Aliens

In honour of this classic quote, I've added in the Imperial Guard equivalent of a Nuke from orbit - the Deathstrike Missile Launcher. This bad boy fits in perfectly thematically and I love the look of the Games Workshop model. Also I think the rules are pretty sweet and am looking forward to putting my opponent on the clock :P

 So thats the list, and my project outline - hopefully I'll have this all ready by Blog Wars 4, but if not I think it'll still be a really fun project to complete and i'll be very happy to try it out when it is eventually finished.
Please feel free to comment, as any improvements or changes or conversion ideas would be welcome!





Blog Wars 3 - The Results

Blog Wars 3 is over and now the dust has settled it's time for me to write up how it went and how the monkeys fared against the tinmen and gribblies of the tournament.
Well I'm sorry to say the monkeys were pretty underwhelming overall leaving me with a 1-2 record, with the win being a very narrow victory. I still had a fantastic time, and although I lost the second game horrendously and only narrowly took the first I think they were two of the most fun games of 40k i've ever played. Also the tournament was very useful due to the fact i learnt about a few rules I'd either overlooked or misinterpreted i.e Chimeras have 5 fire points not 6, Psycannons are Rending even when fired as Assault Weapons and a unit of Jokaeros only rolls once on the customisation table, not once for each Jokaero.
As is usually the case I was far too wrapped up in playing the games to properly remember how each of them played out but i'll try and give a rough account of how things happened

"The Apes of Wrath"

Game 1 
Luke aka Lighningslayer from Buckaroo Mathhammer
Star Wars Imperial Guard + Yarrick
Pitched Battle - Kill Points

So the first game was a pretty cool draw - two themed armies facing off against each other - monkeys vs the Rebel Alliance. Luke's army was really cool with each model in his units having different themed names from Battlestar Galactica, Transformers, Star Trek etc - my favourite unit being a squad of Penal Legion named "Wesley Crusher and the Crushettes" lol the X-wings were fantastic conversions and I loved his themed special Character Commisar Yarrick as Luke Skywalker (they've both lost a hand!)
The Guard were all employed in reserve, ready to outflank and attack after a couple of turns so I had the table to myself at the start. I shot everything at the one Chimera starting on the table and managed to wreck it first turn, and spread my forces out ready to intercept the guard when they arrived. When the Guard did turn up pretty much everything arrived in the same turn and shot my army to pieces - i lost both Chimeras and a squad of monkeys to outflanking guard and the X-Wing Vendettas tore me to pieces. After the hammer blow of the surprise attack I used my Dreds and Purifiers to start taking the fight back to the guard and began devastating several units - unfortunately I was really struggling to finish squads off, leaving 2 or three guardsmen each time, who then proceeded to rally thanks to the "Get back in the fight" orders. The game was very tight and in the balance, with a lot of my army left on the right flank and the Guard camped on the left we pretty much destroyed what was around us and then tried to claim any easy Kill points left. Coteaz did manage to put a Hammer through Yarrick's skull, only for the blighter to get back up again and cut the intrepid inquisitor in half!! by the end of turn 5 the score was definitely in favour of the Guard, but as the game managed to go on for a couple of extra turns I had enough time to finish of the remains of a few units and claim enough kill points for the win. The final score was 11 - 9 in my favour with 1057vp to me and 991vp to my opponent - very close but a win nevertheless!

 Check out the X-Wings

Han Solo Frozen in Carbonite

Game 2
Matt - friend of Fromthefang
Grey Knights + Coteaz
Spear Head - Table Quarters

The second game saw me playing Matt and his Greyknights - Matt came 3rd at Blog Wars 2 so I knew this was going to be a very tough game. His list consisted of 2 Dreadknights, 3 Dreds, 2 Purifier Squads in Rhinos and 4 acolyte squads in Razorbacks Matt won the role to go first and as the set up was Spear Head, chose to push his forces to the centre of the table ready to maximise his shooting and assault range the first turn. I set up castled in the corner, knowing as soon as he got close to me I was toast - and with the deployment I was pretty much doomed to fail from the start. First turn, Matt shunted his DK's up close and personal and he pretty much incinerated my command squad - meaning most of my lascannons taken out of the game already!! He also popped a razorback and a Dread and pushed towards my lines. I responded by shaking and stunning a couple of his dreads (nicely ignored the next turn thanks to fortitude!!) and failed to do much else - the monkeys BS of 3 and the fact my penetrating damage rolls were never more than 2/3 was really starting to hurt. I did take out one of his DK's with combined shooting from my purifiers and engaged the other in combat. in Matt's 2nd turn he popped another of my Dreds, my other Razorback and lost his other DK in combat to my Purifier squad. Again I responded (with what little I had left) popping a Dred and Immobilizing one of the Rhinos. Turn 3 Matt engaged Coteaz and the last remaining purifier in combat with his squad of 9 Purifiers, and shot what was left of my army off the table - leaving me with one lonely looking monkey squad hiding in the corner. I thought Coteaz was doomed, but thanks to a combination of Sanctuary, Cleansing flame and some VERY impressive dice rolling I managed to kill 5 Purifiers and win the combat!!!! needless to say by turn 4 normal order was resumed, Coteaz was destroyed and the table was empty of monkeys - totally wiped out by the start of my turn 4 - an absolute annihilation!! despite the result Matt was a fantastic opponent and very helpful, discussing potential tactics and ways to help improve my game. The final result was 0-4, with 942vp to me and 1750 to Matt

Game 3
Jamie aka Jimbo from Index Astartes
Iron Hands + Chaplain Cassius
Dawn of War - Objectives

In my final game I played Jamie and his beautifully painted Iron Hand Space Marines - so good in fact he was the winner of the best painted army award (he got my vote!) his army was pretty well put together too, with a couple of tactical marine squads a bike squadron landraider, Whirlwind and Predator. Initially I felt I'd have a fairly competitive game, I got the first turn and so I had the first chance to fire after the Dawn of War cleared. Also against this Mech list it was really my monkeys time to shine! However things didn't go very well right from the start - my dice rolling was atrocious and despite pretty much consistently penetrating the Landraider/Predator I never managed to do any damage until I finally wrecked the Raider at the end of the 4th turn. One of My dreds got stuck in combat with a Biker for 3 turns and the rest of my army failed to do much - the only good thing that came my way was Jamie's complete lack of ability in rolling to hit with his scatter dice - i think he landed 1 of 10/12 attempts all game! Overall this game was a bit of a grind but my opponent was a lovely bloke so it wasn't half as bad as it could have been. I ended up losing the game I think 4-1 which I think fairly represented how bad my game went.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed the tournament, and once again Alex did a fantastic job of organising a fun and competitive event. Despite coming a lowly 22/26 (worse than last year!!) I was happy as I'd never intended to take a competitive list. I really enjoyed building/paining and converting my monkeys an I think gaming, in this case, was just a nice added bonus. I was slightly disappointed about not winning the best themed army prize - as I put a lot of effort into Chimpeaz and his companions - in fact I think my force was probably better than any other in tying the Special Character to the army in a very fluffy way. That being said however, the winner - Ian aka Ginge from Need More Tanks did have a phenomenal Star Wars themed army with some amazing conversions and details added - it was great fun looking through the ranks of his guard spotting characters from the films, including severl Ewoks, Admiral Akbar and the special Character Bobba Fett! Also the scratch built AT-AT and Han Solo frozen in carbonate as objective markers really made the army a worthy winner - well done!

 The Imperial Force

C3PO and R2D2

 I'm really excited about Blog Wars 4, and have already written my army list (6th edition dependent) I'm planning to take another themed force but more on that to come later!