VOIDBREAKER.7

Welcome back, in this addition I’m going over another mini trade I did with Matt from @totally_not_panicking (Instagram). Matt, aside from being a fucking prolific mini creator and painter, has organized the ever popular annual Smash Bash competition. This is one of my absolute favorite community mini making competitions that just seems to get bigger and bigger every year. You should really check it out. Even if you’re not into creating weird kitbashes or minis as art its an eyefull of absolutely fabulous minis by some amazing creators. I’ll link it at the end of this article so you can check out the previous entries and pick of something from the shop.

At the end of last June I allowed a personal depressive episode to distract me from from my diabetes care. This landed my type 1 diabetic ass in the hospital for a little bit as well as worrying the hell out of my family. It was a huge wake up call that I feel like was a long time coming. I’ve now gotten a secure hold of my treatment and am back on a better, more serious approach to my health issues. Not really something I talk about a lot, but after missing a few weeks of work I had to let disappointed clients know through my social media channels. Matt saw this and sent me a super cool mini as kind of a “get well soon” gift. That hit me right in the cold dead heart. This thing reeked of Matt’s creepy imaginative style and I loved it.

This thing is an absolute stunner, so weird and awesome. Every element is highlighted in its own glory. I love the strange under glowing red on the skin tones. really just the best stuff!

After I was back on my feet (Or my ass. I don’t usually make minis standing up!) I jumped back in to make some things. Just having fun, I grabbed a few bits I had been setting aside for a while and started chopping. I had been holding onto the Griffin type creature from one of the earlier Warhammer Underworlds Stormcast Warbands, and half of a character from the Morgwaeth’s Blade coven.

This one was pretty “stream of consciousness” in its creation. I just started fitting ideas together where they seemed to fit. It was pure fun and went together fairly quick.

As far as the painting went, I only hade a few focuses. Limited palette, Appaloosa pattern, and poison arrows. Other than the skin I stuck with turquoises and grey, I also has a lot of fun using some fluorescent greens on the quivered arrows. Check it out and let me know what you think. There are also a few videos on my Instagram as well at the moment. Im also in the middle of filming and editing a grip of video content to start wrapping my fingers around the throat of YouTube soon so be on the look out for that! In the mean time, check out Matt’s page at www.smashbash.org Thanks for checking this out and have fun!

Totally_Not_Panicking

VOIDBREAKER 06

Hello again, welcome back. In this entry I’d like to talk about a mini I made for a friend. Last March just before the SAMMHAS2 event at Adepticon a fellow mini creator (and amazing one) contacted me about sending a model to fit within the setting of jetpack wastelands. Victor (@t8cv8r) created a jaw dropping miniature that fit in just perfectly. He had bashed together a brutal sky chopper and spearman that just screamed cliff combat. Check it out below, it’s Bad Fucking Ass!!!

Victor’s paint style is incredibly grimdark. Up-close all of the detailing is just so deliberate. I love the rusty red painted metals on the vehicle. It works as a great added detail that harmonizes well with the rest of the model’s color scheme.

Lately @t8cv8r has been creating some rad Ash Wastes models for Necromunda so I thought I would create something with the same basing scheme for fun. Every Necromunda player can always use another weird Bounty Hunter so I was prepared.

I knew that I wanted to use one of the hooded character models from the Gaunt’s Ghost’s kit I had picked up on its release. Some of the poses in the box were just perfect for a shady Bounty Hunter type character. I was immediately attracted to the Mkoll model, posed in the winding branch of some alien world tree. This model had a hooded head option that was just perfect. I trimmed off the tree bits with some sharp clippers to more of a “tactical rock” position. Hate the phrase, love the usage. I would use the left hands pose and connect it to the base with some different gages of plastic card and wire. I was aiming for a ruined sort of fence post or long exposed inner structure bit of a ruined facade. The shaved down foot rest was blocked into the base using a plumber’s putty.

I replaced the right arm with a Tau Pulse Carbine. I thought it would be a cool idea to have this bounty hunter dabble in the technologies of some Xenos origin.  With this idea, I started to imagine what would be done to a strange weapon like a pulse carbine in the hands of some sort of underhive scummer or shady arms dealer. That would start to inform the contents of its remaining kit.

After a bit of correspondence with Victor, I decided to turn the Las Rifle supplied with the Mkoll model into a sort of collapsing crossbow. I trimmed down the rifle to match some photo references and added a stock made from some bent jewelry wire. I made a quiver and some bolts that might go with the crossbow out of some wire and card stock. Filling in any gaps with green stuff. I bashed my head trying to identify what kind of Drukhari melee weapon I’ve added here and still have no real answer. I know it comes in the Wrack kit and it looks like some sort of power weapon.

I used card stock here to add to the wire details on the post protruding from the base as well as some 28mm scale barbed wire I think from Army Painter. All the scrappy details on the packed weapons were also made from bent cardstock and CA glue.

I started painting this character with a Zenithal prime with Stynelrez Black and Grey Primers with a bit of White focused about its head and sholders. I then used various inks mixed with matte medium and a small amount of flow-aid. I used a mix of black and burnt umber inks as a base for any of the metallic elements. I then blocked out the body of the Tau pulse weapon with Rakarth Flesh and Aged White(VMA). I also blocked in the skull on the base with Zandri Dust and Aged White. A few layered washes were added to any of the most rusty metal parts of the scene, allowing each to dry before applying the next. These three tones were Secret Weapon Rust Shadow, Beasty Brown(VGC) and Scarlet(VMC). A pretty earthy and simple color pallet, I wanted the details on the Tau weapon to stick out a bit more than the character using it.

I’ve always been inspired by 2000a.d. Artist Chris Foss’s paintings. Some of his spaceship paintings in particular. The idea of making a reclaimed alien weapon fashioned in a wild color was the whole inspiration for the model so why not go trippy and electric on the color scheme? Here’s the basics on the rifle painting process.

After the gun was all blocked in I got to the metals in a normal fashion. Mostly using Vallejo True Metals. Somewhere in there i got around to the mold lines I missed until i really looked at some photos. I hate ‘em.

I weathered most of the model using AK Streaking Grime through an airbrush and buffing away the unwanted bits using a Q-Tip and some mineral spirits. The basing elements of rusty scrap and wasted dust were accented using powdered pigments and denatured alcohol.

This model was an absolute pleasure to build and paint and I hope it found a happy home in Victor’s collection.

I think I’ll have a shorter article about another trade model up next, Another blind step into more of the fantasy side. Also trying to work a place here to put up some models to buy, as well as a way to navigate through some of my older articles. Thanks for checking this one out!

SAMMAHS2 board update

Hey there! Seasonal depression in full effect over here at the moment but slowly making big progress on the board for Adepticon. The two largest pieces are completed and textured. Unbelievably ready to start paint on these mother fu*kers!! Fumbling with wrapping lighting details before paint starts almost drove me insane but, I think they will all shine through. I even tried out an idea of making clear resin lamps to put a bulb behind that seems like it will work as well. Always learning. Enjoy the sizzle reel of my frustrations and some of the finished pieces before paint. This post is really just to see if the vids will work. Cheers!!

Video easily available on the Instagram page highlights as well. Thanks for checking it out!

VOIDBREAKER 04

Hello there traveler, welcome back to the ramble! Elbow deep into January, we’ve all been for a wild ride. I’ve had a chance to work on a few projects here and there but my main focus of attention has moved to completing the SAMMHAS2 board for the upcoming Adepticon. I’m going to use this to plant the seed for the setting, or at least flesh it out a little more. I’m pretty much copy-pasting my words from any groups I’ve shared these ideas to, so forgive the errors, I’ll find them eventually.

First things first, I’ll need to drop the main info on the setting, so this is current SAMMHAS2 cannon!

SAMMAHS2, was once known as Sammahs, an eta class World located near the great tear.. A world blown into huge land fragments after the cicatrix maledictum but held together by a mysterious magnetic anomaly within its center…

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At least 100 years after the tear, A high technology feudalistic society survived from the remnants of the once imperial world. Built from the floating pieces of SAMMAHS with the help of a neighboring forge moon .(Grenaki cults of the KHRIST Mechanicus { (Heretically Suspect, ties to the YOD deathcults etc. more of my made-up bullshit) }) Due to their technological mastery/curiosities, much of the world is held together by harnessing the magnetic anomalies with an adjoining grid attempting to attach the larger floating land masses in some sort of coherence, maintaining the planet’s structure while the world can be studied, mined, exploited.

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Many of the citizens power structures organized into houses (much like necromunda gangs) collecting their own heraldry, specialties, creeds, and historical significance. These specifics tend to lean towards airborne/combat …etc.(haven’t gotten that far yet, flying or floating seemed like the first thing to do, but I can see the potential for many more)

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In the rebirthing times of Sammahs, the ruling houses of the world clutched into themselves forming more cults of martial prowess and flight capability than a rigid governmental structure for sometime. Their imperial normalcies slowly reintroducing themselves through some era of savage feud and sky bound folly.

This knightly structure remains, with each house guarded by at least one warden presiding over the capability of its holdings. These range in many realms of import. Far superior weapons systems, innovative flight navigation doctrines, proficient armor patterns vastly improving air boarding actions, etc. Each house holding an un-filled edge against its aggressors.

Moderately prosperous houses, such as Bruell, hold 10 Wardens of varied specialization. This a contrast to the SAMMAHS2 house warden average of 6, still a small command to the dominant house Kaelmn ’s 21 sons. 

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Like flamboyant Arbites They like to fight and hate each other to rediculous 40K levels and are equally corrupted and unaware of the rampant crime situations infecting the entire world.

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I’m thinking a Children of Men, repurposed war zone vibe, Like people peddling for their lives tied to the side of a cliff.…in the middle of an esoteric war blah blah blah

.Really just trying to make it something people could insert something into narratively with models, narrative, ideas, etc. Pretty wide-open for just about anything one would want to write into it. Doesn’t have to be 100 years after the tear just enough time for Imperial society and shenanigans to start to show its face again.  Weird JETPACK cults, floating boats ,Rocketeer human(not space marine) space ninjas on 40K. Ive got a few nasty Endsmouth type denizens in mind as well as more of the blatant crime elements. Big sandbox within our big sandbox, go nuts, sky is the limit there.(haha)

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Here go a few mood boards I slapped together for the groups, hope it helps to translate…

The Floating Worlds, Man Made UFO’s, and Civil Unrest

The always present Giger inspirations, High Horrors in Daylight, Mountain Battle, JetPack Cults, Sky Burials, Alien Brutalism , and of coarse the Baroque.

And now for a bit of a photo walk-through on the SAMMAHS2 board so far. Still have to add filler to floating rock formations, then I can start all the micro detailing. The clear acrylic square for the base is ordered, I can’t wait to see these things floating.(or looking like they are)

Any good ideas on the best system to adapt for an Inq28 scenario? I have a few ideas on different narrative objective points, but how can they work into a proper skirmish system? So far people are liking planet28, Kill Team, Necromunda, and Warcry. I’m only familiar with Necromunda and Kill Team, but they all sound fun. What could work best?

Commentary in the appropriate photo descriptions

Market Gantry to the left here, ending with a magnetic coupling. Another floating lonesome coupling to the right.I’d like to add a sort of screen readout or control display to the lone magnetic coupling to set off a randomized failure or explosion. The coupling being attached to a bridge and representing a large play area could be catastrophic within narrative play and my require some looking into.

The board pieces will be on a 2’ x 2’ clear acrylic square I hope helps represent the atmosphere of cliff faces of an unknown height and to facilitate the (limited) use of small fliers.

(Mid level shot across the board)I’m seeing the cliff to the left as some disease ridden Endsmouth type market place. Really, everything here just covered in slimy filth and civil unrest.

(Full shot from opposite side) a few of the floating boulders (to the left here)are on acrylic flight stands and could support models. I like the idea of these rocks moving on some scatter roll every turn or something equally as annoying.

The circular sections (shown here from above) are to represent the ends of a magnet grid structure created after the fragmentation of SAMMAHS. These were implemented to hold together main hive and strategic areas of the planet forms in a floating coherency. Without these structures the landforms of SAMMAHS2 would clack into each other like the balls on a bumped billiard table ( or whatever)

At the top of the “garage” type cliff face there is a small craft launch pad that rotates at the lower circle pictured here. The mid level flooring integrates with the tower structures at the outer face of the cliff as it rotates. I’d like to add another flooring level at the back here to add more access to the ladders and levels of the launch pad.

Launch/landing deck at another rotation. I picture this possibly being activated at another, or multiple other locations on the board🤷🏻‍♂️

Small details taking shape. The interior to a broken open building facade. Or my attempt at it so far.

This garage section and the gantries below have some objective possibilities. Overly creative magos’ hidey-hole? Control panel? Randolph Carter’s Library? Don’t know yet, do you? This photo is a bit shit for it. But there is a land speeder in the garage and I’ve built x-ray type lights for the inner walls. Need some stuff to hide within the lower cubbies.

(Opposite end across the couplings)

This guy. I don’t know, the Little Rock pedestal reminded me of the cliff face from Midsommar. Thought it would be great for some type of Sky Burial type situation. Not sure. All these floating boulders will get chains and ladder bits and bobs Mabey even som hand railing or broken sculpture etc. I just love the idea of some floating preacher out there screaming the plague song to the void.

So that’s were I’m at so far. I’m pretty stoked to get on the little details. Hit me up on Instagram @witchhammerstudio and let me know what you think, help me out, or if you want to get involved. If you’re going to be in Schaumburg, IL for Adepticon 2022 try to check out the Inq28 action while your drowning in all the other awesome! More goodies soon everyone, Happy New Year!!!

VOIDBREAKER 3

Hey there drifter, welcome back. We’ve been discussing weapons options on The Harlequin Troupe we’re building for Kill Team. I thought since we were still mulling it over I’d finish something quick to stretch the painting muscles.It always bums me the fuck out when I have to speculate on what the best option to build gaming miniatures with. I might just be worried about looking like an dumb asshole. (I get there somehow every time, haha) I’m always so much more into making a model and painting it and it kills to be stuck with a cool model that eats it pretty hard because I didn’t know the best option. We’re doing research, and I’m sure some test games will at least inform a good start. I did say I wanted to try using some magnets on this project. I may indeed have to make at least a few.

The past few weeks I hopped over to the painting table. About a week of it was Thanksgiving holiday, and with a bit of luck, I could chip another few pieces off the backlog,

In 2019 there were many plans abandoned. A big one for me was the Relicta Stellas event scheduled for that years Adepticon, a miniature wargaming event near Chicago. This event was to be held throughout the weekend of the convention in a collection of one-on-one, inq28, skirmish games. These were loosely based on the campaign systems of Necromunda (2017)

I previously posted about the partially completed sahhmas2 floating cities board, and some of the story related to Warden Houses of SAMMAHS2. I created a few models to represent a city sanctioned escort party for a mysterious Magos character and its even stranger creation. This group was to, at some point, be forced through the floating city board scenarios. Adding to the event narrative (somewhat) and providing a fun multi leveled board for multiple warbands to play on! Then the world took and dump and here we are almost two years later.

I had these four roughly started with base tones. (skin, armor,metals etc) Kept it super simple in the grey and blue realm. I used Tire Black from Secret Weapon and USAF Light Grey from Vallejo AIR as the main palette here. The unifying color of the accented armor is an Ulthuan Grey base coat washed heavy with Vallejo Game Turquoise, and then dry brushed again with Ulthuan Grey and some sort of white I honestly cant even remember. Trim on that was Scale 75 Black Gold and Vallejo Liquid Gold.

All the silver metals were done starting with a mix of black and umber ink and Vallejo metal color Gunmetal Grey working up to Dark Aluminum and then to Pale Burnt Metal in the brightest areas. This job was an “easy win” as I was just going a few extras layers on each detail and adding the final weathering elements. My notes prior to the sit were literally “Metals & Armor: 2 passes, Skin, Weathering, Rims”

I washed the exposed skin sections of the Voidsmen models in the appropriate areas with Red Wash from Army Painter and some Brown Inks. And then glazed highlights in with Harvester and Moonray Flesh from Scale75 Fantacy. There is a small Insigna freehand on the Princeps’ sholder armor and a few wires on the Servo-Crow, as well as a shock of red-brown hair on the female voids man to get sorted before weathering. After all the details were laid in bright, I sprayed the models lightly with a gloss varnish from the airbrush.

I sprayed the lower half of the model, legs and base with a mix of AK Interactive Streaking Grime and Dark Streaking Grime and then buffing it off of the raised areas with some make-up sponges. After these enamel layers were dry I dusted the model with a satin varnish. At this point I started adding powdered pigments to the base with alcohol and a dropper. I started darker here and added multiple diluted passes of different light grey and brown pigments as I cleaned up the rest of the models details. This was all done with Inks and flow-aid mostly, nothing really beats a hard “black-line” for a last touch of contrast.

After closing in the contrast of the details around the business ends of the model I started applying the pigment and alcohol mixtures to the legs and feet of the models as well as any other appropriately dirtied parties of the characters. Lastly I hit the models with a few rounds of Testor’s Dullcoat. When that’s dry I can tell where I’m at on the amount of pigments I’ve applied as well as evened up the surface tones of the model. Then I hit all the visors with a gloss varnish and the rims of the bases with a glossy black.

I finished one more model I’ll share later, It just seems so unrelated to these models, I think I should post it separately. Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far. I promised attention deficit disorder, I hope I’ve delivered. Until next time Champion!

Clonelord.

"If a man dedicates his life to good deeds and the welfare of others, he will die unthanked and unremembered. If he exercises his genius bringing misery and death to billions, his name will echo down through the millennia for a hundred lifetimes. Infamy is always more preferable to ignominy."

Quite some time ago I finished my take on the new Fabius Bile model from Citadel Miniatures. I’m just now getting around to posting up the photos I took after the finish line. Hope you enjoy them. Upon close inspection, I’ve realized the left arm had been turned slightly at the sholder breaking the connection on the pipes coming from his chest piece. That means I’ll need to repair it and post some better photos, possibly on the Organthus backdrop I’ll post more about soon.

This model was great fun and I wanted to keep the conversion subtle. They were still the regular shit show, pain-in-the-ass conversions I create for myself. I replaced his face with the unhelmed head from the Custodes Jetbike kit. I thought Torment would be more than just an old man’s cane, so I had to mess with it. I think the hand on it was created using one of the newer Primaris Reiver kit hands, plastic tubing, and a skull from the Citadel skull kit. The bottom portion is just the rest of the piece from the kit.

The original Fabius Bile model struck me so hard running across it in a White Dwarf magazine in a weird bookstore when I was a kid. Just a gross, over-the-top, mad scientist story in a Space Marine package. What’s not to love? When GW dropped the new model within their new more realistic approach to proportions, I was all in. (Definitely still lifted the boots a little bit.) Plus he came with a little gimp model I know I’ll have some use for later!

Manflayer

Decided I wanted to insert myself into my rendition of the Clonefather. This was the first professional tattoo I purchased when I was 18 , It’s on my right rib side, In between the cracks of a significant collection. I realize this is significantly out of scale for a flap of skin sewn into Fabius’ coat of colors, but I can only attempt to paint so tiny. I’ve been a professional tattooer going on 20 years now, the skin man and I have some shit in common. Fun shit!!

I also really enjoyed Josh Reynolds’ Fabius Bile books. Some of the weird mutants and characters in these offerings are literally screaming to be made. I may or may not have started one of them in yet another fit of attention deficit disorder. I highly recommend them!

Thanks for checking it out, I’ll have more soon!

VOIDBREAKER 02

Hello again drifter. Been toiling away feverishly at the bench lately working on these Kill Teams. Holidays directly around the corner, the time has been scarce. Waiting patiently for our physical copy of the new Kill Team rule book, Fury and I are ready to get in some game reps. Here the busy bug was shared so we’ve hardly had the time for play. I’ve had a portion of a few evenings to get out the build ideas I end up daydreaming about. Since the last VOIDBREAKER I switched over to the Tyranid kill team. The bits started rolling in and the little monsters were calling my name. Mabey it’s just the Nid-vember vibe, call me compelled.

Like i said in the last article, I was inspired by @craftsmanjono and his additions of the human sized skull bits to Tyranid Warrior heads. I didn’t find it too difficult to remove the non skull shaped portion in the front of the Warrior head and top jaw section with a slice of a razor saw. Clipping the back of the skull bit to fit the gap where needed I glue the skull in nestled above the attached jaw bit. A pretty simple fill job with green stuff and Magic Sculpt. I tried to modulate the upper cheek bone areas of the skull to run seamlessly into Warrior head and fill in the eye cavities so that I could smooth them into the head for a more Xenomorph look.

Pretty much the same method on the Genestealers. A lot more space to fill on these, but it’s a drastic change to the original, Not the biggest fan of the Genestealer model to say the least. Actually completely stoked to start painting these!

I knew I was going to want to change the pose and general anatomy of my Warriors, so I decided to lengthen the legs and stretch the torso a bit. The legs were going to need a bit of work at the hips as well unless I wanted them in the same boring assed pose.

A few of the provided warrior legs needed a bit of help. I thought these things were apex predators, they could at least bend a knee. I sliced out a notch at the back of the middle portion of the leg to remove enough material so it looked like the leg was drawn in a bit. Then I added a bit of plastic card to mock the muscle structure. I put all these pieces together with plastic cements. When these placeholders are dry I can sculpt over them to make it look like a real leg. Or a real leg on a fantasy creature. I do this a lot because I suck at sculpting (or it frustrates me) Same general idea on the back plates. Cut it out of plastic, then sculpt over it!

I snipped the legs off at the hooves and stretched their connections by pinning the hooves back in with a bit of thicker gage copper wire. The added wire sections were all cut to the same length to add about 3mm. I also ran a length of this copper wire through the pelvis bit of the warriors lower torso. That way I could attach the upper legs to the pins and pose them at my will. I drill out the pelvis a bit with a larger drill bit so that there was enough play in the socket for the added legs to move freely enough to pose and not require too much filler. I also added a pin to attach the upper torso. I made this pin a bit longer to force the torso up a bit, making the creature slightly taller.

I filled most of these connections with the green stuff and Magic Sculpt mixture and started in on the additional armor plates these beasts were going to need to cover the gaps in their backs. I cut their basic shapes out of some medium thickness plastic card and glued them into place with plastic cement. When these structures were dry I sculpted over them with the green stuff mixture. I’m starting to realize this is my standard mode of operations when it comes to scratch building any elements in a miniature. I ended up using this method to create the spore chimney details on the Warrior’s backs. I don’t know all the details on what this element is in the lore but the look cool and gross and these monsters were getting some. I wanted a shape that I could make copies of so I could make three sets. I used a craft paper punch to cut a shape from some medium plastic card. This shit was tough. In hindsight, I could have used a thinner plastic sheet to make this part easier, After squeezing out enough shapes, I cut each teardrop diamond shape off the center. I divide those pieces into stacks of 3 and weld them together with thin plastic cement. Next I split a piece in half for each stalk and add them to the vertical edges of the stalks with more plastic glue. When that was dry and firm (at least an hour) I sand any sharp corners down and drill two holes into the structure with my Dremel tool. I soften any plastic fuzzies with some thin plastic cement. Then I fill any of the gaps with that sculpting medium (green stuff/magic sculpt) It’s pretty easy to see what additional sculpting is needed after all the gaps all smoothed out.

FAILURES

ARE NO DOUBT INEVITABLE

I started this kill team group with an idea to make some spore stalk type bits to press-mold. I wanted to be able to duplicate a cool bit on all these pieces. Sadly after making a few shitty molds and breaking the sculpted masters (pictured here) I realized I wouldn’t be able to pull it off cleanly enough for the dreamed effect. The experience sculpting some of these pieces definitely helped when solving the Xenomorph like stalk issues I’d have later. I combined the techniques of blocking in shapes with wire and plastic card and sculpting over that, it was just way easier this time. Lesson learned.

I used some 16gage copper wire to form the lower stalks on the Warriors backs. These are complete nods to some early H.R. Ginger artwork of the Xenomorph. These designs seem to all include 3 sets of stalks on the back of the creature but I was going to limit mine a bit. It’s a “different” intellectual property after all. After trimming and bending the wire to the desired position I add a few layers of thick super glue to each end. Each dried layer of super glue ends up forming a rough bulb shape that I’ll reinforce later with some green stuff

I used the same method on the rear stalks for the Genestealer backs. The front stalks were a bit different. After pinning the copper wires I added a length of guitar string to the backs with some super glue. I also prepared a few slices of plastic rod by marking the tube and carefully cutting it with a razor saw. After each piece was trimmed, I gently pressed them into a rough ellipse. I placed each piece of tube around the top of the front stalks and attached them with some medium super glue on the inner ring. When these were dry I sanded the sharper edges with some sanding sticks and filled the gaps with my green stuff mixture. I tried to make the added ring here look like one piece with the main stalk showing the texture of the guitar string on the back shaft of whatever alien butthole-weiner grows out of this Genestealers back. These might be a bitch to paint.

Bases on these bugs are real actively simple, loads of cork to simulate broken concrete with paper clip re-bar and some trimmed coffee sticks to represent shattered tile flooring. The silent internal narrative happening here is a ruined medical research facility that might have a little connection to these fuckin’ ninja grass-hoppers. I’ll put some details on their construction up later if there is any interest. Let me know.

Still a few small things to do here before paint but I told myself I’d have something post-able in two weeks. So here they are. Drop me a line and let me know what you think. Next its back on the Harlequin Troupe. Ive got a good system down for putting each of those characters together, so they should go pretty quick once i get stuck in on them. Next time I’ll share all the build details with the players and go over the plans for each of the paint schemes (I swear, there are a few) You can catch me over on Instagram @witchhammerstudio for quick pictures. I’ll be uploading two more backlog posts so check back here for those. Mabey the next VOIDBREAKER should be about how I go back in and scrape mold lines after the miniature is completely built. Take care champions and ill see you on the other side.

VOIDBREAKER 01

So, lately I’ve been motivated to document my projects a bit more, or at least show the regular progress going on in the background of a few moody photos on Instagram. When I step back and look at my hobby time existentially I can see a flourishing attention deficit disorder and an almost obsessive compulsive compulsion to over accent small details. That seems to be pretty common in the miniature hobby from where I sit. I want to hold myself a bit more accountable about documenting my progress on the many projects I jump back and forth from. You may have read a few articles I’ve written for The Grimdark Compendium where I document my wandering through projects like my Khrist Tech-cult and YOD assassins. Throughout the process of creating these articles I’m manically jumping from project to project (or motivated to) and I find this makes me feel very unproductive. My answer to this problem is an article to be regularly posted here. (every 2 weeks if not more) I’ve titled this VOIDBREAKER in regard to the silent voice of a World Wide Web blog in our year of 2021. If you check it out or any of this even reaches you, feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think. You can find me on Instagram @witchhammerstudio and my email is at the top still!

This month I’ve been bitten by the KILL TEAM bug. After jumping boots first into the last iteration of KILL TEAM, I was a bit apprehensive to learn a whole new system when the newest release dropped. I was really going to miss creating small groups of minis to explore painting a specific faction. I held out, the salt was strong. Strong until I started playing a few test games of Necromunda with my partner. She loved it, and owned. Some time went on, we’d play here and there and I’d continue to get random ideas for 40k cannon factions I’d never have the time to start. The salt was washing off.

Traversing the Warp

I try to keep these projects wrapped and ready to travel because I’ll work on this shit off and on if I have down time between clients at the shop. Throw it in a tool box and go! This is the travel kit for the harlequin fire team.

I’ve fantasized about reimagining the basic Harlequin or at least take that aesthetic for a spin for a while now. What better time? They even seemed to have a lower model count fire team in the new rules. (From a glance.) On colors I spell my inspiration with a huge screaming letters C and and F. Chris Foss. Fucking stoked! Currently waiting on a few Harlequin Troupe bits to go with the bashing i have planned for a few Blood Bowl Elf bodies. I have a relatively simple plan to magnetize their weapons options to give her all the options, and help with some creative weapon posing. Starting with 6 models, I want to include at least 3 new mask options with some sliced heads. Other than the magnetized weapons, I’m going to use some brass to elevate these characters a bit in floating fabrics. I think this will help make their poses a little bit more elegant. Their pieces sorted, should be in my hands soon.

“So I started blasting”

Before I posted, the Harlequin bits showed and I started cutting. The EBay sprue lot, while being twice as many sprues, included no pistols. I’ll never need another Harlequin mask, but I was going to have to get creative. I settled on the hands and rifle bodies of the dark Eldar weapons. I still had these sprues from 3rd edition 40k box I got in high school. While they are huge, the sentiment and their ambiguous Eldar design won out. With a little more attention I think they’ll work great for multiple proxies but still easily pass for shuriken pistols.

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In the mean time I had been traveling down another very dark Xenos road. One day, not too long ago, I stumbled across @craftsmanjono on Instagram. Among many other amazing creations, he had created some stunning Tyranid conversions. Adding, notably, human skull bits to the front of Genestealer and Warrior heads. His posing and little Xenomorph-like details really brought me around to the Tyranid ashthetic. I would feel like a bit of a creep posting someone else’s work here so go check it out, His work is incredible. This really had me scheming. From what I’ve read I was probably going to need a few Warriors for a small model count Kill Team. These six-armed creeps are just like death metal Xenomorphs. It doesn’t take much to get me going. There were also a few things I wanted to do with the models and the Giger Xenomorph (or and Giger creation) has always haunted my work in the best way.

Ended up pinning the upper torso to the leg assembly as well as the legs through the pelvis with brass rod. For the legs it helped for the re-pose. On the torso it allowed me to extend and reposition the waist a bit. I also added another row of scale plates to their backs with plastic card and sculpted on top of those forms with a mix of green stuff and apoxie-sculpt. I also extended the hooves a bit to lengthen the stance and allow them to connect the base in a believable way. Just copper wire here then the sculpting mixture to fill the connections.

This far into these, I’m enjoying working with the natural shapes. They are, no doubt going to require me to get a bit better at sculpting. Couldn’t hurt. Ive got some super fun ideas on color schemes I’ll share later. Ive got some step-by-step shots of this process I’ll put up here separately soon. These three stooges are going to be mainly Weapons Beasts, loaded down with Boneswords/Lashwhipswips and a leader sporting a Deathspitter. And well hell, I’m gonna need some Genestealers…

Splicing the skulls into the Warrior heads wasn’t too crazy with a razor saw. After filling the gaps and eye cavities with a green stuff and apoxie-sculpt mixture I sanded off the eyebrows and smoothed the pieces transitions with some fine sanding sticks. Can’t be completely ripping off @craftsmanjono ‘s work and I feel like the absence of eyes is a Tyranid (and Xenomorph) characteristic I don’t want to shy away from. (Even though skulls are fucking cool)

Starting a bit reductivly on the warrior bases. I’ll break off pieces of the cork facings to trim them more into the base. I’m doing this to make some more believable broken reinforced concrete-like structure. I can add the wire I want to work as rebar into the cork and then remove cork in reasonable realistic ways. Going for a ruined scientific research facility look on these. Layers of broken building materials and some visible tile flooring for a subtle color accent.

Still waiting on a few bits here but I hear they are on their way! I’m super stoked. We should be able to play with these lists as soon as they are built. I’ll have more for you soon, as well as some ordered details on reposing and enlarging the Warriors. If you made it this far thanks for reading the first VOIDBREAKER. I hope all your hobby dreams come true as long as they are dark and dirty.

SAMMAHS2 Board Continues

Hello Voidwalker! I got the photo area set up so I could get shots of the work gearing up on the Relicta Stellas boards. As promised here are the main pieces from the SAMMAHS2 port board.

This is the first of two main structures on the board that are meant to represent a few of many floating cliff faces in the port area of the SAMMAHS2 floating cities. These two cliff structures will be connected by multiple gantries at different levels of each of the pieces. The main plastic toy structure at the center of the piece is, what I believe to be a Pirates of The Somethin’ toy that I’ve dismantled quite a bit and halved to create these structures. The rest of the rockface , floor, and ballasts are made from recycled cardboard and hot glue. The top mechanical looking section is made from a larger scale G.I. Joe ship gun set attached to the screw cap fitting of a large plastic supplement container. This screw top is attached at the rockface so that that section may be removed for transport/storage. This can also double as different play surface by taking the gun rig assembly off and plugging its hole. Ill get into photos on that as I finish building out that section. The moving parts of this toy still work and will be fashioned as more storage for other vehicles. This is to represent a sort of garage/port for smaller civilian aircraft, hence the landspeeder. The lights here are created from a Turing of battery powered LED’s hot glued into the structure from inside the cardboard structure. Trying to turn this into a more brutalist concrete structure by repeating rectangular shapes on the ship facade and eventually filling them with spackle.

The second structure/cliff, shown here, Is made from the their half of the pirate ship toy, and more cardboard in the same way as the previous. Most of the action on the 2’ x2’ board will take place presumably between these two cliff faces and the gantries connecting them. I plan to have the gantries connect to a smokestack type cylinder that will be built around an essential oil vaporizer for a cool steamy smoke effect. Hopefully this will help the entire board to be more playable with multiple ways to reach each area. I hope to share more with you soon on this board. With the talk of an Adepticon 2021 and possibly another chance at making Relicta Stellas happen, I would love to complete the two boards I had planned to reveal there. Next I plan to photograph the pieces for the board I’ve tentatively titled “The Breath of the Organthus”, the name of a large YOD vessel thought to have been lost within the Cicatrix Maledictum. Big creepy daemon infested ship… a real gross party for sure.

Hope this finds you all well out there floating in the void. If you feel like checking out some articles I’ve written that might be getting a little more exposure, check out www.grimdarkcompendium.com where the newest play-by-play on my YOD assassins should be up pretty soon. It’s the second out of three parts if I don’t fuck it up and get canceled. I go into the deets of how I built a small arms specialist Vindicare and some of the disorienting bases representing the Organthus. The third installment will be the painting process where all the magic seems to be happening at the moment at least. I’ll leave you with a WIP shot from where I’m sitting with them. Have a pleasant darkness, my old buddies!!

I have a few more base tones to get in here before I start in with the oil and enamel products. Let me know what you think?

Slugwizard: part three

Hello! I had a little bit of time recently To fill some gaps and start sculpting some of the structures on the “Slugwizard” Daemon Prince. The big chunk of plastic on the base is from the big base chunk on that Bonreapers HQ model. The name escapes me at the moment but it’s one of those sick diorama type HQ things GW has been doing the past few years, that are basically 5 minis on one base. I love them. Usually worth the ticket for the bits alone. (i.e.Katakros, Triumph of St. Cathrine, etc.) Anyway, the big rocky forms on this are great , but they are covered in a very noticeable pattern. I filled these parts with a green putty from a company called Squadron Products. I think its more of a scale modeling product. Kinda like liquid green stuff but a little more of a dry chunky consistency. Mine might be a little old. I put this stuff on with a sculpting knife trying to press it into the details I’m trying to fill. I also used this in the same way to smooth the plastic chunks texture into the extruded foam Ive mocked the connections into the base and back of the model with. Its really easy to get a varied chunky texture with this stuff so I ended up using it to fill in some details of gore details on The YOD assassin models I’ve been making. It will press in and grab on to any little crevice you put it to, almost like a chunky spackle. It cures pretty quickly and can be pushed until then to get some good chunk a roughed ripped texture. It also dries rock hard. I hadn’t sanded it yet in these photos but it reacts to sanding perfectly.. (and did just that) This long explanation comes from me ultimately not knowing what its made of.

Ive also started to build the details in the head, added tentacle orbs , and filled the power vents into the body. Also, not really pictured here are some large guitar string details I’ve glued and sculpted into the back/spine area of the Wizard’s main body. Ill get to that more next when I’ll sculpt in the skirt muscles of the body and some of the mantle texture. I also need to get his scepter built, what’s a fucking wizard without a scepter? Think I’m going to use the Empire magician’s staff as a base, but I haven’t really pulled any triggers there yet.

Sadly I hadn’t checked the deadline for the SlugwizardSpring contest and realized upon checking, that I had started way too late to have hopes of entering entering. By now I’ve had so many ideas for this piece, that I don’t want to rush and leave anything out. This monster should go quite well with a few other Daemon Princes I’ve been playing around with for the past few years, so I’m going to keep at it!

The idea on the Slug Prince is to add a bunch more mushroomy details growing on his right scepter clutching arm and down the back of his right side. The fungus detailed on the blightlord torso have always been the inspiration here. The casting hand on the left I would like to treat as if its sewing spores of its fungus. I think I can do that with some silica beads and smaller glass beads scattered along the ground details on the base and attaching a few to the left hand. I plan to add some gross battlefield casualties to the base where ill add the bead details as well as mushrooms growing from them. I want this to look like the spores are taking immediate effect on/in reaction to the gore. I guess I just love creating more problems to solve.

Slugwizard:part two

Last night after work I jumped back in on our slug boy. Adding some of the basic ridges to the slug body, building a head structure and starting the base.

Using copper wire as structure for all the classic tentacles of a slug face.

Layering a lot of plumber’s putty to sell the basic muscle structures. Mocked up the basics on the base with some terrain bits, some natural root material, and some extruded foam. I’ll go in and smooth out all these details later with a slower setting sculpting medium. I needed to do this so the slimy shape of the slug body can really hug the terrain correctly.

Working with plumber’s putty can be kind of tricky but it works well with my impatience. This stuff hardens quickly (rock hard in about 15 minutes) so I have to work super fast a simple. The head above, for example, is about 5 different cured passes of putty. This is great for building up underlying structures quickly but not so much on details. That type of stuff I’m saving for later!

After establishing the load bearing structures of the base, I can more properly define slug body. I try to mark the points on the model where the figure should be facing as well as were it will make contact. I also drill out a point for the main pin of the figure and try to make that as sturdy as possible because I’m gonna be back and forth fitting and refining. Plus a wobbly main connection is a PAIN IN THE ASS!! I coated the extruded foam and root material in s Matte acrylic medium and some random ink. The medium will act as a lite barrier between any glues or chemicals that might get on the foam and melt it as i continue to build. The ink is so i know what parts I’ve put the medium on.

I added 3 different ridges to the structure of the slug body and blended them in roughly with a lubricated tool. Got them both in there with one pass of putty each. A miracle. The end of the tail took an additional pass and anxiety as I tried to make sure it maintained a living fluidity and attached to the rotten tree correctly. Luckily I’ll be able to refine this later.

I also drilled out some points for pins in the mantel area of the creatures back for some additional vent details from what was once power armor. I've always loved the idea of an ascendant chaos marine and how it’s now corrupted form could assimilate and graft parts of its armor permanently into its biological form. More on that later haha.

I’m going to add some more mechanical details to the main body of the character next. Then its on to sculpting the more detailed bits with a proper putty. More soon, as well as logs of other projects my ADD brain flutters to and from. Cheers!