Colonel Shofer deserves the kudos for pulling me out of my blogging funk. It was a random comment he made on my last post that got me realising its been 2 months between drinks. That's a bit sad, and enough of a kicker for me to dust of the camera, charge some batteries, take some poor quality photos of some minis and get back on the blogging horse - so cheers Colonel.
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| Early WIP Warhound Titan Tech Priest |
Painting wise I've been dragging my heels, puttering along on a couple of different things but not really getting far on anything. My mojo for the hobby is still simmering at low heat, although I have had a couple of games with my non gamer buddy Jay, and I have been thinking up more ideas than are healthy for my wallet as i read different blogs, novels and old codices.
I have however been hotly anticipating the new Space Marine game for the Xbox and I haven't been let down after picking it up yesterday and having a couple of hours to play it tonight after work - its a stomping good game - Thunder Hammer and Melta Gun all the way baby!!!!
It is everything I have imagined a 40K console game should be - the game designers deserve serious kudos for remaining true (within 90% - they deserve some creative license) to the fluff and the universe that has been crafted over the last 25 odd years. Walking through Manufactorum, and Inquisition Laboratories, with cries of WAAAAGH!!! presaging the arrival of the next round of foes, the meaty thunk of the Boltgun, mass reactive rounds exploding heads. Totally impressed with it.
So whats this post about then - a game review - nope. Its about my miniatures of course. With all the excitement that's been building about the game, I went on a bit of an eBay Space Marine binge over the last month or so and picked up a load of bits and pieces, single minis, half army cast offs, random sets etc - me being a stingy bugger, the majority of it was dirt cheap so that was excuse enough to buy it.
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| Old is new again - some OOP character models with a mix of bitz added on |
I've always thought I was close to having everything I could have wanted in my Marine army, and then I started to trawl through eBay one afternoon on the bus trip home and started seeing some cool OOP Marine minis. In the space of two weeks I must have purchased over a dozen different pieces which are slowly winging there way to me from around the globe - I've half joked to the missus that its my aim to get a postage stamp/customs form from every country in the world - and this past fortnight I've put a fair dent in the list - plus we've gotten to know the local area parcel delivery girl well - even the dog's stopped barking at her car.
The picture above is some OOP Chaplain, Librarian and Techmarine models, which after a rummage through my bitz box, I was able to finish off ready to join the ranks of the Silent Guard (my home brew Marine Chapter).
And that's the meat of my post right there - my bitz box. I've had it since I started in the hobby 15 odd years ago. It used to be a tin I would put my spare bitz into because that's what the guys that worked at my local GW told me to do - but I never really thought about what I would do with all those pieces I collected - there never seemed to be much point to them. Now I have nearly a dozen labelled tubs courtesy of the missus full of assorted bits from a range of different kits.
These past few weeks have really proven the bitz boxes worth. For example the Chaplain in the picture above has extra pieces from three other kits on him - the Plasma Pistol and arm are from the Chaos Marine Squad (more on them in a future post) box set. I used that as the pistol is a bit more archaic and characterful, while the arm is enclosed in a glove matching the one on the right hand holding the Crozius. The shoulder pad is from the Space Marine Command Squad Champion, the back pack decoration is from the Dark Angel Veteran upgrade sprue, and he has a little decoration hanging of his belt on the back from the Empire Flagellant kit.
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| A bitz box amalgam Veteran |
The guy above is perhaps my favourite build out of my recent lot. Rummaging through my box I found I had enough parts from prior builds and as a result of the eBay binge to be able to cobble together a couple of extra Tactical Marines (giving me 6 fully equipped squads now), as well as some Veterans to pad out a Vanguard Squad (sans jump packs). This guy has parts from the Tactical Squad box, Iron Hands bitz pack, the old Space Wolves upgrade frame, a Forge World Mark IV chest plate, Chaos Marine head, and the old metal Devastator Sergeant pointing arm, with the hand replaced with a Plasma Pistol.
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| A bitz box Terminator |
The same goes for this Terminator. I had previously built a squad of Assault Terminators in a 2/3 Thunder Hammer/Lightning Claw combo. After looking at them multiple times I realised I wish I had built a third Thunder Hammer. The kit comes with plenty of extra bits, and after diving into my bitz box and coming out with some Chaos Terminator, Death Wing and Black Reach pieces, I was able to cobble together the Terminator above with only minimal cutting, repositioning and shaving of parts.
I had previously undervalued my bitz box, but this past month has really shown me how invaluable it is to keep all this spare bits and pieces you get on your sprue. You never know when you might need a certain piece, or want to add that little extra to one of your minis - or even share your bits with your mates to help them with a build. I know I've given parts to mates, and had parts given to me, over the years to save having to buy whole kits just for one bit.
And that's enough rambling tonight. I encourage anyone reading to go look at your own bitz box and see what treasures it holds - you never know what inspiration might strike and where that might take you.
Hopefully I'll get back to some sort of regular posting schedule in the next week or so - ideally I would like to post twice a week but if other things take over so be it - with luck though the Internet shouldn't need to wait anther two months to be graced with my presence.
Happy hobby all.
Cheers,
Pom
Those are some seriously great conversions!
ReplyDeleteI'm intimidated by my bitz box. Too many bits makes finding any particular one very challenging. I guess I need to get it organized!
I'm thinking of picking up a copy of Space Marine. I've little spare time now that I've decided to go back to school but the game looks so good! If I grab it on Xbox I'll let you know. The odds of a game together from our disparate time zones is unlikely, but probably not impossible.
Hey Pom, good to see you back.
ReplyDeleteWorking hard I hope?!
Its great going through the old bitz box aint it? You seem to have a much better quality bitz box than me judging by the standards of those conversions! I especially like the guy with bionic legs.
I suppose I better follow your example and dust off my own camera.
Any way, good to see you back
Smurf
That is delightful to hear, my friend.
ReplyDeleteI guess I have learned a few things in this regard ...
(1) If it is a chore and you really can avoid it, stop doing it,
(2) A change is as good as a rest,
(3) The joy is in the journey, there is no destination.
My OCD reference may be semi-tongue-in-cheek, but variety is what keeps me sane and on-track in life.
Most of the time :)
Welcome back.
CS
Hi Guys - Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
ReplyDelete@Geek - mine was a bit like that, and then the missus talked me into sorting them out and separating bitz by race and function - she pulled out the dyno labeller and sorted me out with containers. I still can't remember everything I keep, but I know theres a fair chance of something useful being in there if I look hard enough.
@Smurf - working hard - ha. Real life work is interesting at the moment and looks like change is coming within the department I am currently in so will see where that leads me. As to hobby - I have plenty on the go with my Marines, Titan, Guard, Fantasy armies languising in the dark, as well as odds and sods like some Chaos Marines I picked up cheap of the back of rumours of a Legion based codex - Chaos gives you wider scope to use all those odd bits and kits that are out these days and the core minis are simply fantastic as they are. My goal is to o back to have one mini painted at a time which at one point I could manage a Marine a night once I got into the flow of things - that should let me make a dent in the collection as well as see progress on a growing basis - but theres no pressure these days - hobby is no longer my sole focus - some of what the Colonel said in his comment struck me hard over the last months or so - the hobby had become a chore rather than a joy - I'm slowly moving back to enjoying it for what it is - a casual past time.
@ Col. - Point 3 all the way mate. Lifes like that sometimes - some times you need to remove yourself from a situation, step back and just enjoy where you are.
Thanks again guys.