Genevieve's Wish Campaign Modelling Log

[Aurelius 12]

Right then, first things first SpanielBear ought to stop reading right now. Just hit back, or close the window all together, I don't really mind, but the important thing is that you stop reading this instant. Please.







Has he gone?

Good.

Now the reason for this apparent anti-canine/ursine sentiment is because all the following pieces will be appearing in the campaign I'll be running for him the next time we get around to playing, and I wouldn't want to give anything away now would I?

So if you're still reading this SB I suggest you stop now.









Thank you.

Right then so without further ado, here's my Genevieve's Wish blog. In this log I'll be posting up the development of the various characters involved in what looks to be a very long and complex Inquisitor campaign or three. Hopefully, over the course of the blog, you'll see the following:

6 Palatial Guardsmen
6 Oudisaurs
The labyrinthine Tuonela Abyss.
6 Tau Insurgents
1 Tau Stealth drone/suit
1 Tau Fire warrior
3-6 Necron entities
1 Cake
Assorted Vehicles

So a varied list to say the least.

The plot is long, over complicated and not relevant to a painting and modelling thread, so let us move on to something more physical. We're going to start with a few of the vehicles.

Many of you know I have a thing for vehicles in Inquisitor (As the co-author of the advanced vehicle rules it sort of makes sense) and you may already have seen the quad bikes I made for the IGT. Well I decided to add to my vehicular collection with the following; the Hephaestus class Reconnaissance Tractor (Desertised)











The Tractor is made from the 1:35 Trumpeter JGSDF APC that I mentioned in the quad bike thread, only with several somewhat major alterations. The track sections use standard IG tank tracks, wheels from a 1:48 LAV and various assorted bitz. There's also quite a lot of ex-land raider in there too, as well as various imperial gubbinz and cities of death terrain. The top hatch (and so far only way in and out of the machine) can take the usual Imperial turrets such as a lascannon, missiles etc. But this is supposed to be the long range civilian version, and will probably end up being painted in Polar Exploration/children's toys colours. The model is still WIP and awaiting several finishing touches such as handles, wing mirrors etc.

Now the Tractor doesn't go it alone- the bar on the back is supposed to be a connector which joins the tractor to the Pontius semi-autonomous Long-Range Trailer.







The trailer is made from a 1:35 armoured train carriage, as well as various 40k bits. There's going to be an access panel over the engine section, and a lower half to the door, as well as a housing for it so it looks less tacked on. The trailer is still v wip and needs a lot of cleaning up. Also it looks lopsided in the pictures, whereas in reality this isn't the case. (Also on this note, it looks like only the very tip of the tractor's tracks touch the floor, this is not so pronounced on the tabletop, plus my table is very heavy on the sand/rocky outcrops so it will look normal anyway!)

Apologies for the picture quality. I took these just an hour ago with my rather stubborn camera, hopefully I'll get some better pics up tomorrow.

I'll end with a picture of the whole thing connected up:



Any comments, ideas and constructive criticisms are more than welcome. If I update tomorrow you'll get the first glimpse of the oudisaurs (aka space velociraptors which happen to be psychic blanks) as well as some other treats.

So yeah, there we go...

[Heroka Vendile]

Well the tractor is total awesomesauce 

The trailer however looks like it'd be extremely tippy with such a narrow wheelbase...

[Aurelius 12]

Well the tractor is total awesomesauce 

Thanks!

The trailer however looks like it'd be extremely tippy with such a narrow wheelbase...

You're right it is rather narrow, and may just end up crashing horribly as part of a mission. I'd planned on painting the grills on the downward facing side panels as thruster exhausts, perhaps jets that kick in to stabilise the trailer as it goes over rough terrain. 

[Dolnikan]

It looks very good. Will you make other things for it to draw?

[blacknight]

I must say that is a very impressive looking vehicle you have their.

It factors in the 40k ridiculously huge vehicles for no real reason factor nicely.

I must admit when I first saw the trailer I did think about the Jawa sand crawler from Star Wars a bit though.

Really looking forward to seeing how this progresses and the rules you come up for it.  The campaign sounds like it should be very interesting.

Regards

Blacknight/Marc

[Alyster Wick]

It all looks absolutely badass.  That is all, carry on.

[Aurelius 12]

It all looks absolutely badass.  That is all, carry on.

Thank you, I shall.

To answer the questions, I shall probably make more trailers etc. in the future, but it's not my plan for the immediate future. That said, I do have most of a 1:35 HEMTT to play arround with...

With it being sunny I took a few more pictures of the tractor.







Including one showing the wonderful modularity of the 'standard 40mm weapon mount' used by the imperium!




Now I've also been working on several other elements to the campaign. For example, here we have a tank crewman who'll probably be the vehicle's driver.





He's made from a 1:35 scale Tanker by MIG Productions, so he's a little short.



But that's fine, since the world I'm basing this campaign on uses child-soldiers (well teenagers), and he has enough of a 'mature' body shape and stance to pass for an adolescent I think.

I've also made a man with a flame cannon.







The flame cannon is a lot less wonky than it looks in the picture, honest!

Next up we have the oudisaurs. These are stock Velociraptors by Tamiya, and I'm really looking forward to painting them. (Blacks, blues, deep greys and purples, a blend of slick nothingness being the idea.)







Lastly, we have the stealth suit/drone. SpanielBear's inquisitor is becoming increasingly interested in Tau technology, so I thought I'd indulge him. I wanted to make a stealth suit esque enemy, but rather than scratch build a full scale suit, I decided that the Tau insurgency (which actually includes half the planet's ruling cabinet!) elected to use drone technology- nothing to interrogate, and easier to smuggle onto the surface.

This then lead me to the idea that the Tau engineers are testing a new drone type, which makes use of existing bipedal suits rather than the standard floating discs.

At least this is how I'm justifying using a combination of stealth and crisis suit parts!

That said, this isn't just any old crisis suit. I'm doing some fairly in-depth conversion work.

Firstly, here is the torso:





As you can see, I've created an articulated waist, as well as changing the positioning and look of the two main jump jets. I've also added a third smaller jet at the centre-point. This is just the bottom of a regular jump jet with SM backpack vents for additional directional thrusters.

The legs have also received some treatment:



I'm probably going to add some armour plating to the lower legs, and as you can see in this picture, the feet have been augmented with more thrusters and a stabilising fin.



I've still yet to add the head, which will be made from a stealth-suit. I'm also going to bulk out the neck area with a second suit. The arms will be extended and will each carry a burst-cannon.

Size wise, here's the drone in comparison to Scarn.





As always, C&C is much appreciated!

[Shannow]

These all look absolutely brilliant dude! Do you have a link to that particular MIG tanker, I think I'll be getting me some of those

I like the legs on the Tau stealth thing as they are, Always think stealth should be less bulky and quicker!

Flamer dude also looks great, I really need to mass buy some pots of 40k gubbins....

Keep it up

[Dolnikan]

I really like the guy with the flame cannon, he looks suitably insane. The stealth suit also has the proper look, a stealthy one.

[MarcoSkoll]

Liking the driver's autogun (at least, I'm assuming it's an autogun. It is a lot like some of the pictures GW have done).

But I can't help but think the dinosaurs and flamer guy were basecoated a bit prematurely, as he's got a very obvious gap at his left shoulder and the 'saurs have visible joins that could've done with some putty work to hide them.

[precinctomega]

I love the driver, but I hate his base.  Why have you not re-based him on a proper 40mm base?  Same goes for the Deinonychi (too big to be velociraptors!).

R.

[Aurelius 12]

Thanks for the replies.

With regards to the basecoating, I often like to do a very fine basecoat before I add putty, just because I find it much easier to spot the areas which need it most once there's some paint on them. The Flamer guy had some putty on his left arm/shoulder area but it came off annoyingly.

Base wise, the dinosaurs are standing on their rocks because it gives me something to hold onto while painting them, and allows me to make their bases seperately. The driver's base is from the GW basing kit, but it is a touch too large for the 40mm base he's standing on. I might trim down the edges but I'm a tad concerned that would look messier than it does now.

I bought the Tanker from netmerchants, who I use a lot, but he's on sale in a fair few places:
http://www.netmerchants.co.uk/product.php/16152/34/futuristic_russian_tanker


In other news, just after my previous post, several of my parcels arrived and I was able to finish the pre-putty stage of the stealth drone.







I'm planning on filling the gap between the engine nacelles slightly, cleaning up the gaps in the thrusters and generally filling in any cracks and gaps that are massively visible.

Also, here's some scale shots, because that's not a 40mm base he's standing on!





I'd originally intended to have the head built into the chest plate ala these amazing crisis suits but with the lengthened arms and legs he just looked silly! In the end I plumped for a design more similar to the XV22 Shais'O Kais suit from Dawn of War, only with a bigger, taller stealth-suit head, and different legs too.

Oh yes, and my parcels from Russia arrived too. So I'm now in possession of...

Palatial Guardsmen (who will have lasguns)


Tau Insurgents (who will have a mix of Tau and human weapons)


and Necrons (One or two in a state of disrepair. No Warriors per se, but still bloody scary!)


Pics will progress as the work does. Thanks for the comments, do keep 'em coming...

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

The tau suit looks sleek.

[Aurelius 12]

The tau suit looks sleek.

Thanks, at first I thought the head made it a little tall, but I'm very happy with how it's turning out.

[Molotov]

The tractor is amazing, and one of the best models I've seen for a long time. I want one!

That said, I'm not sold on the drone - to me, it looks too much like a Stealth Suit. As a result, even though it's 54mm, I still think it's a stealth suit. If you could try to make it look different, perhaps it would be easier to accept. (Not a particularly helpful response, I know - sorry!)