Happy New Year From the DFG Crew!

Old School here to wish you a Happy New Year! This has been a big year for us and we just wanted to thank all of you who tune in often or not so often. We hope the best to you in your future endeavors. We have had a lot of great experiences hobby-wise, painting, hanging out with fellow bloggers and fans and dabbling in systems beyond 40k, but the best is yet to come, hence the horrible cell-phone image above, marking this as the Year of Chaos for myself!

Over the past year we have partied with multiple readers and fellow bloggers at Adepticon and on the road. We look forward to another great year there ... and possibly another alcohol related contest! Hopefully, the good Chaplain of Team Snake Eyes will be nice enough to buy me a Sunday coffee again, lol!

We also saw the Michigan blogosphere grow with several associates and friends starting up blogs (Terrors from Beyond and Fresh Coast 40k to start)! Additionally, gamers we have met in the past started up blogs as well (looking at you toolin').

We have had the honor of hosting great tournaments like End of Days ect and a great summer tourney in conjuction with the folks from MI40k, CVinton and I's mancrushes (if we weren't so secretly in love with each other ... according to my wife).

Finally, we added some great bloggers to the team like Rhellion, Seerk, Wolfson and Vogrin.

We would like to thank everyone who has had some part in the Chaos that is the hobby and gaming life of DFG, locally and on the blog. We feel like we have finally become happy with what kind of blog we are and look forward to hitting you with plenty more great models, tutorials and more over the next year.

By the way, we intend to keep the DFG Painting Challenge alive into the next year. For what was accomplished in 2011, just check out the tab above or this link. It's never too late to join!

Thanks again and we wish you a safe, rowdy, solemn, sexy (or whatever other kind of night you plan to have) New Year and we will see you in the future! If there is anything you would like to see, take part in or see us work on let us know (don't worry, the eight inch tall Angron is coming!)

Also, be on the look out for great looking, cheap bases from CVinton, like his maggot bases, currently going for FIFTY CENTS a pop!

DFG Custom Bases!

After much pushing from OST, I made up some 25mm of the maggot bases seen on his nurglings.  I made a mold, started casting them and now want to offer them for sale to the community as a pilot to what might be a range of custom, 40k specific bases.

13th Company Wolfguard, special weapons and wolf standard.

13th Company Update

I finished up some special weapons and wolfguard in my spare time over the holidays and thought our readers would enjoy some pictures of the progress.  I'm pretty stoked because my hobby ADHD usually has kicked in by now and I've moved on to another army, but these wolves still have my heart.

New Vampire Counts! Model Pics and Conversion Thoughts!

The Awesomeness of the Warhammer Fantasy range of models continues as the Vampire Counts get the all-star treatment in the latest White Dwarf. Their update includes a large "Chariot of Doom" style kit with the Coven Throne/ Mortis Engine, a couple other multi-kits and some heroes. Enough talk, though, let's look at the photos and consider conversion possibilities as well.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Team DFG!

Courtesy of the Dead Tau Project

Old School here with this wonderful pic, wishing you a Merry Christmas wherever you are from all of us at the Dark Future Games Team. Whether you are religious or not, celebrate Xmas or belong to another creed, we wish you the best this day. Hopefully, you are among friends and loved ones and healthy as well!

Before I let you off the Holiday hook, please take the time to think about those men and women who sit in austere conditions in fighting holes around the globe, sacrificing their time with loved ones for their countries. May they find some small measure of peace and holiday spirit this day. If somehow you are reading this from a combat zone, Semper Fidelis, brothers and sisters, you are not forgotten.

Enjoy this day and stand by for some evil modelling and painting from the DFG team this coming year! Now on Angron and Magnus and Fulgrim and Kurze, Come Lorgar, come Perurbo, come Mortarion, Alpharius and Horus too! Merry Heresy to all and to all a good plight!

Organizing the Bits Box: Saving Time, Space and Frustration!

Old School here to talk about getting organized. It has occurred to me several times over the last year, that my bits collection (it can't be called a box when it takes up a wall in your garage ... and most of your desk ... and a closet) is a mess. While it may seem like cool bragging rights to some that I could pull a Death Wing/ Raven Wing army out of my bits boxes, I also have found and lost countless items in there as well (where the hell are the 3 Multi-Meltas I thought I had). So after not being able to find several items while I was attempting a cool conversion last night, I decided to break the cycle!

Maggot Strewn Nurglings in a Day - Pics and Tutorial!

Old School here to show off my Nurglings with full Maggot bases, a sacred seven Nurglings per base and a tutorial on how I painted 21 Nurgling bases in just over six hours! First things first, this project would have never happened without CVinton. We we trading bitz and talking shop one night when the conversation turned to Chaos, sacred numbers and the abundant supply of Nurglings I had just sitting in my bitz box.

Before leaving for the night, CVinton rounded up a number of Nurglings and vanished. Soon my kidnapped babies were the subject of text message slide shows, their bases covered in maggots. Yesterday, I dropped in on CVinton, who like a plaguebearing Santa Claus, gifted me with 21 bases of Nurglings, each with seven per base! I was so stoked, I vowed to paint them that night. Let's look at how I managed to get them done so fast!

Back in Black: The first Death Wing Squad makes its painted debut!

Old School here with some photos of the Death Wing's first re-painted squad in their original black color scheme. Let's take a look:

Old School's First Crack at the Tentacle Maker!

Old School here to let you know that I had my first crack at the Tentacle Maker from Green Stuff Industries tonight and so far, I like what I see. Make no mistake, this isn't my review as I need to sink my teeth into this tool a little more before I really feel like I have the chops to make a proper review. What I can say is that so far, I see lots of potential here (for those of you who might recognize the bits in the background, you may have an idea of where I am going with this.

Da Kabal Of Da Big Teef: My New Ork Project

Well I posted this latest project on Craftworld Lansing about a week ago, so I thought I would share it with the DFG readership. I am an Eldar fanatic. I have grown lax in my hobby as of late sadly. You can only build and paint so much Eldar before it becomes boring.

So I started an Ork Army. I call it “Da Kabal Of Da Big Teef”. Orks can loot anything so why not a bunch of Dark Eldar vehicles. BigMek Uzgrub “Urkon” Bigtoof was so impressed by how killy the pointy eared gits invading his base camp were he set a cunnin trap to catch them and liberate their dead killy weapons and vehicles.

So here is my first conversion for the army. This truk Was made using an old Dark Eldar Raider as a base. I had an unassembled truk kit around and some bits and gubbins from a battle wagon I recently acquired. I am a car guy so I had to make the drive Train logical, I know weird on an orky creation.

Although its a Truk its about the length of a battle wagon although not as wide. I am still deciding on a color scheme. Since the army is made of up Death Skull and Snakebite elements its probably going to be blue and red. Cuz da red uns go fasta!  I have some gap filling to do and then some painting.  I plan on putting some boyz on the side hanging off like the warriors on the new Raiders.

I will post More as I complete models. The next truk is going to be “flying” . It will involve def koptas and is inspired by the Osprey tilt rotor aircraft.

Until next time.................

Blood Runs, Anger Rises, Death Wakes, War Calls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It Came From the Forums Follow Up: Klausmasterflex Paints the Iron Hands!

It Came From the Forums has been going for more than a year and it has been (and will continue to be) an honor to run this series and to help recognize artists from the forums out here in the blogosphere. One thing I have never done, is go back and feature a former It Came From the Forums artist, but tonight, I intend to try it out by featuring what I would have to say is one of the best Space Marine armies floating around the web.

The army in question is Klausmasterflex's Iron Hands:

Back in Black; My ruined Death Wing are Reborn!

To move forward, sometimes we have to go back. With my recent Death Wing painting disaster, I had to abandon my plans for a clean white Death Wing army. I worked with the ideas of brass and patina, but it just seemed like a cheap answer and betrayed all of the conversion work I put in with green stuff emblems and chapter symbols.

My frustration mounted during the recent tourney when people told me it looked like a nice "counts as" army. I love counts as, but that is not what my Death Wing is about, so I set out with my airbrush to make things right ...

1500pt Gimdark Toys for Tots Benefit 40k Tourney Report

Old School here laying down my report from the Toys for Tots Grimdark Xmas Tourney I attended this last weekend at Get Your Game On. As you can see in the photo above, the real treat to this tourney was that a ton of toys and cash was raised to benefit children without toys (including a Mt. Dew bottle it seems, lol). Anyway, here is how I did with the Death Wing.

Team Death Star

Hello my long lost companions! As I am sure plenty of you know, I have had to take a long break from both 40k and posting due to my travel schedule for work. However starting next week.... I do not travel for OVER a month, nearly two, and maybe even longer!

13th Company Rhino and Razorback

Continuing work on the 13th, I rushed out a rhino and razorback trying to at the very least field fully painted vehicles.  Didn't meet the goal, but I got close.  The other two just need the weathering and I would have made it.

13th company Thunder Wolves WIP 5 (With one finished one)

OST got me a no reason semi-present in the form of yet another demon prince so I'm making number 5 for the thunderwolf pack.  I'd ultimately like to just replace the first one.  His pose is so static compared to the rest of the pack that he no longer fits.  The aging alpha male, replaced by this bad SoB.  Poor guy...Oh, also, jump for a finished model.  

Retake on the Death Wing WIP - Constructive Criticism Required!

Alright, so after the disaster, I realized that without weeks-worth of stripping every last speck of paint of my minis, I would never be able to get the smooth finish I wanted for the Death Wing. So my next move was to try something different. I thought of an army of the dead (kind of like Legion of the Damned, but less fire and brimstone. So I went with a two tone bronze-brass idea, using a 50/50 snakebite leather/ Tin Bitz as a base and Dwarven Brass as the zenithal highlight. I then washed everything Delvan Mud and started playing with the Patina, which is a recipe borrowed from Les Bursley.

The concept of tarnished looking Termies seemed cool and Ghostly Death Wing seemed like an interesting take, but as I move through this WIP model, I am not sure. I really think it could conceptually look cool, but I am at a point where I need somebody else to let me know what they think, so here I am. Click the photos as they are raw images from my camera and should get fairly large.

My Biggest Hobby Fail! I Killed the Death Wing with a Brush!

Tonight, I experienced the worst kind of hobby failure a man in this hobby can put himself through. That's right, strap on your party hat because it's time for my little pity party of shame. Anyway, this all starts over the weekend. I found a color of Vallejo Air called Sand that was very comparable to Dheneb Stone, which is the base color for my Death Wing. I have also recently learned that I can wash a model after basing it and keep the base color in tact by varnishing the base and then washing - followed by rubbing alcohol to remove the excess .... but just when you thought that would be the ticket to fail town, it wasn't ...

A fantastic Necron Triarch Stalker Conversion! Tutorial linked!

Old School here with a great find from the internet; a Necron Triarch Stalker conversion made from actual Necron Kits! This tournament legal conversion not only looks good, fits the pic from the codex, but it also is pretty simple for your average hobbyist.

The Heresy Relived: SeerK Brings You Classic Battles Of The Heresy

I found 2 campaign packs when I was looking for old 40K source material on the web. It was a campaign weekend done at Warhammer world and Bugmans pub in the U.K. By the gaming group the Tempus Fugitives. It was called the Age of the Emperor and it detailed the major battles of the Horus Heresy. These packs include the stats for many of the personalities in the Horus Heresy novels as well as the Custodus, Sisters of Silence and the Cults of Davine. They also include Stat blocks and rules for the Primarchs. They have another Campaign weekend planned in March in England for those of you across the pond. Check out The Tempus Fugitives website for details.

So OST, Vogrin, CVinton and I will be doing some of these battles at the FLGS over the next few weeks and bring you the blow by blow highlights. Vogrin and local Daemon player Papa Nurgle squared off for our first classic battle. Sanguinius the Primarch of the Blood Angels versus the Ka'Bandha the lord of the Blood Thirsters.

Now to give a little bit of information on the Combatants.

13th company Thunder Wolves WIP 4

I've finished all the GS work and can now start in on the paint (and finish the paint on the first one).  Not much to say, so enjoy the final scuplt WIP.

Resurrecting the Eaters of Worlds! Where I Stand and a Preview

Old School here with a change of Course on my Hobby-Fu. I will still be rocking out Ogres at the cyclic rate and slowly crafting the Death Wing, but with recent (salt-needed) rumors on Chaos Legions and with great new Monsters coming out from Fantasy (so much potential for conversion), I feel the need to pull the Chaos out and make it ready for war. I used to joke around saying that I would get around to painting my Chaos Marines one of these years ... while the collection built up and multiple legions massed on my shelves and bits boxes. No longer!

Now is the time to start building and thankfully, I waited just long enough to get pretty good at painting! Above is a WIP of a Berzerker I began painting last night. Cameras hate the color red, so the smooth transition from blood red to the red gore to the scab red within the armor is almost unrecognisable, but believe me, it is there. There is much painting left for this model, but the World Eaters shall be the first of my Legions to be brought to the front lines and given full army wide paint and this will be the basic pallete behind the paintjob! What have I got to work with so far? What is the plan?