+ inload: Bristol Silence, the genestealer threat, and The Alien Wars +

+ Chrono-shunt active: Deadline deployed +

+ As the pict-capture below shows, it's not all games and theory for me – though if you fancy trying out some Gargant rules for the new Adeptus Titanicus, I'd very much appreciate your input [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – I'm also (slowly) getting on with my infiltrated PDF force for the Bristol Silence campaign. +

+ The only model that's recently reached a finished (bar the base) state is the officer above, thought the long and tedious batch-painting on the remaining infantry is starting to bear fruit. They've all reached what I consider the base-coat stage. The officer above was a test of how far I can realistically take such base-coated figures in a short period of time, and I'm pleased to say that he took only around twenty minutes to take to this state. That's given me a realistic target to aim for for the remainder; and I think I can probably tackle half a squad or so in an evening going forward. +

+ The second part of the force I'll be taking to Bristol is the genestealers, of course; but it wouldn't be me if they weren't converted or altered in some way – particularly since the Steel Legion models I'm using for the infiltrated PDF are for the most part unaltered. + 

+ Just as the Steel Legion will see double-duty in my Alien Wars project [REF: tab-bar at the top of the page – +noosphericinloadlink embedded+]as the ldebaran 4th/5th; so too will some of the genestealers appear in another project. +

+ As a little work-in-progress preview, here's the King of Beasts:

+++

+ LOOPACTIVE: Procrastination subroutine  +

+ As is traditional, in trying to finish the Steel Legion, I had the sudden urge to clear up other bits and bobs. The Blood Angels 3rd gained a lieutenant:

+ Fairly simple stuff, using the new Blood Angels lieutenant as the base, but with a few bits and bobs to make him fit in with the rest of the army. I wasn't a huge fan of the original's pose – the head in particular looks really awkward; and so I've opted for a more open feel, as though urging on his comrades. Creating M35 marines (for The Alien Wars project) is interesting – not quite so uniform as HH marines, nor so opulent as M41. +

+ ...And having popped open the Dark Imperium box to get sprues to build the Blood Angels lieutenant, the inevitable happened, and I got sidetracked building Death Guard. +

+ Such cool models! I've done some minor conversion work (altering poses I found awkward, and making the heads a bit more uniform) but the underlying models are so gorgeous (in a horrid gribbly way) that they just work. +

+ The design has some great callbacks to Jes' classic Plague Marine sculpt. I've no great plans for anything big with these, but they were a genuine delight to put together. If they're fun to paint, I might expand them a little. +

 + Like much of GW's recent Chaos releases, the dolorous chap carrying the great bell has an wonderfully over-the-top and silly name – my main objection to the Death Guard release was the stupid naming – but the figure itself is fantastic. The conversion work here was mainly trimming off the really over-the-top elements to reveal the underlying silhouette. A headswap to more closely match the iconic Death Guard helm gives him a bit of individuality, and I twisted the arm to give a swaggering motion. +