Space Hulk!

So my buddy Steve ponied up the money for Space Hulk. For those who aren't in the know Space Hulk is a board game from Games Workshop released in 1989. It introduced Genestealers (later made part of the Tyranids) and pitted them against Space Marines doing a quick recon on the titular Space Hulk before it drifted back into the Warp. Kind of putting Alien into Warhammer 40K.

(1st edition Space Hulk box art)

Da Boyz vs. Da Humies

So the 400 point challenge that has been mentioned numerous times out here is facing an end at some point soon. We had left it somewhat open ended, but the time is coming soon (so I really need to get my Stormboyz done so I can get the Nobz done so I can do my Warboss, man I'm behind).


That said, the beginning of the end started when my buddy Steve sent out this picture of his Space marines.

So, obviously I had to respond with Da Boyz
Obviously Steve is farther ahead. But they're just marines. They look good, but they just miss that snarling bloodthirsty look Da Boyz have. Or at least that's what I try to tell myself everytime I look at his picture. Man, they just look so good, better than mine, in my opinion. My only consolation will be when I crush his poor misguided Throne worshippers.

So I finished up Da Boyz Last Week

You might have noticed that my posting schedule has been erratic. I'm not gonna lie. I've been putting in a lot of hours at work, and when I'm home I'm either painting, sleeping, playing an occasional video game, or trying to catch up with the family. It's not any better this week, as I currently am taking a short lunch at 11:30 after having come into work at 4:00 am (yes I was up at the ungodly time of 2:30 this morning -insert pathetic violin music as I beg for sympathy-). Eventually things will settle down....I hope. But until then, at least I have a job.

So I wanted to give an update. I haven't taken any pictures recently, but I have finished up Da Boyz, or at least my share of them. Out of the box for Da Boyz, I have made 8 Boyz and 1 Big Shootah. For those good with math that's 9 of the 10 bases included. The last base is actually reserved for my 6 year old's Ork Boy that she's about half way through. She hasn't painted in a while, and she loses interest after a bit, but I'm trying to engender a love of 40K and all things nerdy with her.

Over the weekend I didn't get as much painting time as I had hoped, but I did get started on my box of Stormboyz. These guys are going to be fun. First of all, I was expecting them to be more like Zagstruk. Zagstruk was fun, but where he had a lot of detail, he didn't have any real customization. I probably shouldn't have expected much customization, but remember I am a neophyte, and Zagstruk was my first metal piece. I was used to having all sorts of oddz 'n bitz to use on Da Boyz, and Zagstruk didn't have that. I realize now it wasn't a Stormboyz thing but a metal showpiece/boss thing. So the Stormboyz have all sorts of different customization that can be done. Like the seemingly infinite possibilities for the different rockets. I spent my time this weekend trying different rocket combinations to settle on the 5 I will be using. I could still change...except for the one with the gretchin/grot (I'm assuming gretchin, but my newbie ways say maybe it's a grot) piloting it. I love that rocket. I also love the gretchin that you can have holding onto a rocket with a stikbomb in his hand. That is just vintage Orky goodness. Violent, yet funny.

So I'm going to paint the rockets, then paint the figures to put them together. I hope I can get the 5 Stormboyz done faster than the Ork Boyz since I'm WAY behind on the 400 point challenge.

I'm also going to get some pictures taken this week. I promise.

Adventures in Pinning

Tragedy struck the other day when Boss Zagstruk's arms popped off. First one arm, and then as I was trying to re-glue it the other one. Being a heavier metal model I had thought about pinning his arms, but decided that since there were rectangular guides pinning wasn't necessary. Sadly I was wrong.

The guides for Zagstruk's arms are just that, they are guides. The recesses on the arms and the protruding guides are both very shallow, so they direct how to have the arm on the body, but they don't really hold it in place. The leg is different, there is a very pronounced rectangular post you have to fit the leg piece onto (I actually had to file the post and the hole in the leg to get the leg to fit properly).

So I decided to pin the arms. Man I was really nervous. I spent so much time on Zagstruk I didn't want to ruin him, but I didn't want parts of him just coming off either.

First lesson in pinning: Pay attention to the instructions. I didn't buy a pinning kit, I just used the how to guide from a recent White Dwarf. If I hadn't paid attention I would have likely had holes that didn't line up that would have led to some very uneven looking arms that weren't quite flush with the body. The instruction have you drilling a hole, putting in the pin, then dipping a little glue on the end of the pin so that when you put the pieces together you have a clear spot where to drill. Solid advice.

Second lesson in pinning: It doesn't take much to pin. The piece from White Dwarf suggested using a paper clip to create the pin as it is the right size for the hole and you can clip it down to the length you need. This is ideal for me since a)I'm cheap and b)I have no problem with white collar crime. So I took some paperclips from work to have a supply for pinning. However, it doesn't take much paper clip to create a viable and working pin. So my handful of paperclips will last me forever. After realizing that I had way too much for pinning I clipped the piece down. And then clipped it down again. And then one more time. You need something to hold it in place, but you don't need it to be too big (mostly because you have to drill forever to get a hole deep enough for a large pin).

Third lesson in pinning: Glue. You need to glue the post into the first piece too. My first attempt at pinning Zagstruk I thought I had the post in snug, so I put a bit of glue on the end to line it up, but I didn't actually glue in the post. So after mounting the arm onto the body, the arm fell off the body having transferred the post from one piece to the other.

Fourth lesson in pinning: Putting the pin in the first piece. The book said to put the pin in the deepest piece to drill first, this wasn't the easiest way (for me anyway) to pin. The deepest piece to drill into would be the body on Zagstruk. But for the second arm I put the pin in the arm first. I actually found it easier to work with the pin in the arm. Maybe it's splitting hairs, maybe it's just psychological. All I know is I felt more comfortable having the pin in the arm first.

To be honest, pinning was a lot easier and less nerve-wracking than I thought it would be, once I got started and worked out the kinks. I will be continuing to pin my heavier metal models from now on as I feel much more comfortable that the added weight of the metal won't break the glue bond with that pin there.

Anybody else have any suggestions or ideas for pinning?