So we're back!

Did a stock take today to see what I've got, and this was what it looked like:

The stuff in blue is from a second hand haul I grabbed when I picked up my Swarm-Master, and will need to be stripped before painting.

To save your eyes, included are:

10 Colonial Marines
14 Marines
3 Marine Casualties
21 SWAT
10 EBS Cyclos
14 Cyclos
6 Predator Marines
8 Talos
1 Helcat
1 Storm Strider
1 Tiger APC

4 War-Masters
31 Warriors
14 Hybrids
27 Helions
2 Heavy Spore Launchers

Phew!

Think I may start with the Cyclos as they're already based and primed - path of least resistance and all that. Then, who knows!

Immediate Plan of Action

I'm going to be doing a stock-take of all my Kryomek bits and pieces over the weekend so I know exactly where I am. They're currently secreted about the house in various wardrobes and cupboards, not to mention the stash in the garage. I'll then be able to formulate a plan of attack.

I think first up will be to finally knock off the Cyclo Cention I've had on the go for what seems like forever. There're only a few figures left to paint, and then I'll be able to take a step back and call something "done". After that, it'll be whatever takes my fancy.

To keep you interested, I've got a couple of pics of the swarm as it currently stands. I took these for a comp on Frothers, but I'll repost them here for completeness.

Laters

Reboot in 3-2-1...

I've been away for far too long, but now I'm back. If there's anyone left out there, standby....

More Progress

The latest addition to the swarm is complete - more Helions:

I'd forgotten how simple these are to paint - almost relaxing you could say - which is a good job because I've got another sixty odd that'll need painting at some point.


Next up for paint will be the last Cyclos needed to complete the cention. Thanks to some very prompt service from Scotia, I have these all based and primed and ready to go. Once they're done, I've got a couple of options of what to move onto - either a strider for my SWAT or some Predator marines.

I've treated myself to a fancy new airbrush to deal with all the armour I'm planning on adding to the SWAT platoon, so I'm keen to break that out and have a bash at the strider.


Hopefully back soon with a completed cention!

Companies in excellent service shock

I like good service. I tip well when I go out to eat, and it's something I always try to provide with my own business. So it's only fair that I draw your attention to My recent experience with Scotia-Grendel and EM4. I placed an order on Friday morning, and blow me if it didn't pitch up on Saturday. Colour me impressed. So what did I get? Well, there were a bunch of bases that I needed, along with the last convicts for the cyclo cention.

I also picked up the heavy weapons troopers for my SWAT, along with a Goliath Heavy walker.

The walker is a really nice cast - not too too much flash to deal with - and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into it. But it's going to be the cycles first. Once they're done I'll be wanting to get some shots done of the whole army. I'm not really sure of the best way of going about it, so if anyone has any advice I'd be very grateful. Laters

I told you I was back

What's this? Two updates in two weeks? Surely not. I'll be turning into a regular blogger at this rate.

So on picking up the brushes again, I went right back to my comfort zone and painted up another unit of cyclos. And do you know what? I really enjoyed it.

 

Nothing earth-shattering, but it does bring me another step closer to finishing off the cention. Just 14 figures left and it's done, so I'll be placing the order for those later today. While I'm waiting, these will be next.

There'll be more interesting stuff in due course, but for now I'm happy enough to just be enjoying painting again.

More soon. I promise!

News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated...

3. 2. 1. Back in the room.

If I have anyone left following this little blog of mine, I apologise for a year without updates. To cut a long story short, I lost a very close family member last year, which completely destroyed any motivation I had to paint toy soldiers. In the time since then I've tried to sum up some enthusiasm by dabbling with some space-ship gaming and painting a few other ranges, but could never get that bothered about the whole thing.

But slowly, over the last couple of weeks, I've started reading various forums and blogs, and can feel the mojo returning. I've even gone so far as to do a little stock take as to where I am with all things Kryomek which I'll share in my next post.

So if you're still there, thanks for your patience, and I hope to have plenty to show you very soon.

Talos Variants

Apologies for the lack of posts, but I'm back!

Had these sitting on the desk semi-finished for ages, and finally got them done.

Top to bottom we've got the Mad Dog, Howler, and Pointman heads. To be honest, the sculpts aren't in the same league as the originals, but they had to be done for completeness. I'm also not sure of the wisdom of equiping a unit for close combat against a race that specialises in tearing things apart at close quarters, but there you go.

More as and when.

Small SWAT update

Hi All. My painting mojo seems to have returned and I've banged out another few marines:

These new additions bring the platoon up to 22.


Heavy weapons next, then some armour!

More SWAT

Hi all, and first off apologies for the lack of updates this year. I had a brush with real life at the end of January which has affected my painting time lately, but now I'm back with a few pics to show.

The SWAT platoon has had its numbers bolstered a little:

Next up for these guys are a few more marines, then heavy weapons and vehicles.

I've also just received some Predator marines, which will either be added to this force, or see service with the CBU Cention.

More soon - hopefully!

Dipping

I've been reading plenty of things around the web lately about "dipping" miniatures in order to get a speedy paint-job, so I thought I'd post about that this week as this is the method I use to paint my Kryomek figures.

Dipping involves using a coloured stain all over the figure in order to give highlighting and shading without actually having to do any. There are plenty wood varnishes available fairly cheaply to do this, but I went with the Army painter range, because I've basically got better things to do with my time than compare different makes and colours of varnish. (Yes, I know I could save a few pennies and it's basically rebadged Ronseal, but it works for me and the tin looks nice)

First thing to do is block in the base colours. One thing to remember is to go for a shade lighter than you want for the finished figure as the dip will darken it considerably.

Next up, splash on the dip. Some people actually dip the whole mini in the can (hence the name) but I find using a bruch gives much more control, and much less waste. You'll need an old brush for this as the stain will kill brushes. It's also messy and a bit smelly. Leave it for a few minutes, then go back and soak up any excess where the stain is pooling.

At this stage, you may be tempted to cry, or at least curse me for having talked you into covering your cherished miniatures in sticky brown gloop, but fear not - give them 24 hours to set and hit them with a matt varnish.

Last thing to do is add details and a bit of flock and you're done. Obviously, you can take it further by adding in extra highlights, but I call them finished.

If you want to go super-speedy, you can start off with a coloured primer. I use bone on my bugs, again from Army Painter.

These guys aren't going to win any awards, but they look fine in table-vision and the method allows you to plow through a large number of figures fairly quickly.

Hope this has been of use.

Better Helcat Pics

Just a quickie today - I was able to get some better shots of the Helcats over the weekend.

Top to bottom - Cerberus, Fury, Loki.

New Year Round-up

Wow - 2011 already? I hope everyone had a great festive period. I thought I'd mark the beginning of the year by taking stock of where my various projects are, and where I hope to get them in the coming months, as well as a few resolutions (which may or may not be kept!)

The Cyclo Cention is inching towards completion. I only have 19 convicts left to paint and then it can be put to bed. This is definitely at the top of the list in terms of painting.

The first platoon for the CBUs is also coming along nicely. I've recently added a squad of Helcats as a bodyguard for the command squad.

Still to add to round out the platoon is another 4 TALOS units, the command squad, and a walker.

The SWAT platoon is also moving forward slowly. I've just received the first of 2 Colossus walkers which will accompany the marines. (It's actually a Tiger for Void but what the hey!)

That's his head. Still to add here are around a dozen marines, another Colossus, an APC, a few AFVs and a couple of Striders - plenty of armour in this force!

And finally the bugs. I'll be doing these as and when I feel the need. Thanks to Ebay I've got a fairly large box of gribblies to keep me going, and I've got enough painted for some decent games - a couple of Warmasters, 15 assorted Warriors and 30 Helions. Which brings us onto the resolutions:

• First up I've got to get a gaming surface done. Always one for a quick fix this is going to involve a nice piece of plywood I've "found" along with a can of textured spray paint. Quick and dirty! A bit of scenery wouldn't go amiss either, and to this end I've got some craters, trees, foamboard that need sorting out and painting. I've also been hoarding those containers that stacks of CDs come in which I think will make great colonist's housing. We shall see!
• That will allow me to ACTUALLY PLAY SOME GAMES! which let's face it is the point of the whole exercise. I'll be starting small, but I'm hoping to have some battle reports going up this year.
• Fluff - I'd like to expand on some of the material in the core books, notably some key locations and battles, along with coming up with some kind of map of humanic space-time and a planetary setting for an ongoing narrative campaign I'd like to run. Don't hold your breath!
• I also want to expand the game in a couple of different directions - I've wanted to do some Starship gaming for a while, probably using GZG's "Full Thrust" rules and I think there's plenty of scope for this in the background. I'll also be looking to use bastardised Space Hulk rules to game boarding actions. Again, there're plenty of accounts of this kind of combat in the rulebooks.
• Last but not least, I really want to get in the habit of posting more often. I follow a number of blogs, and the writers of some of them seem to do nothing but post up great pictures of fantastic miniatures and great games (stand up Inso & Gyro) - I don't know how they do it, but I'd like to try!

So that little lot should keep me busy! Let's see how we get on.

Long Overdue Update

What's this, a new post? Yes indeed, and it's a biggie. Rest assured, although I've not been posting lately, I have been busy with the paint brushes, and all the forces I've currently got in progress have received some re-enforcements. So without further ado, onto the pictures!

First up, some better photos of the Talos units I've already done, and another 4 units for the platoon:

The Cyclos have received a few additions, and the cention is slowly creeping towards completion:

I've also started to put together a platoon of SWAT:

And finally, the Swarm Master is finished for the bugs, along with another Warmaster and a few warriors:

As always, comments are more than welcome. More soon (hopefully!)

More Gallery Shots

More pictures of the Kryomek range. The aim is to eventually get done everthing ever released for the game, but that may take some time! Again, thanks must go to Jon at Scotia-Grendel for his retouching.

I hope you approve.