Test Color Scheme for Lamprey/Screamer

Welcome back one and all.  Things are moving a little slow here on the hobby front, but I was able to do a test color scheme for one of the lamprey/screamers I made last week.

I went with a basic blue color scheme with the tentacles highlighting to a bright yellow.  I also used the color scheme from a dark lamprey I saw online to color the mouth area.

I'm hoping to do 3 or 4 different schemes to find the coloring which I like best.  I'm also considering alternating some of the tentacle colors to give them some extra eye catching color.  Nothing is set in stone and I'm always up for suggestions.

Tentacle Maker from Scratch, Back from Vacation

Hello everyone, welcome back to SB40k.  Life has been awful busy lately with school starting up again, so updates are going to happen a little sparser than they did in the past, perhaps every 2 weeks.  The price we pay for having a live outside of our hobby!

On to better things!  A few weeks ago I discovered I really wanted a Tentacle Maker from Greenstuff Industries.  Unfortunately, I don't really have the money for one, so I had to make due with trying to make my own, of a fashion.  This is what I did.

First, I looked around the home for the jagged edge I would need to form the tentacle bits.  After a bit I noticed the perfect shape in some of my left over paint bottles.

To create the maker, I glued the ridged edges end to end until I had a decent length to work with.  I elevated the second half and created a section to raise from the first half.  After all is said and done, the two sections look like this:

It doesn't look like much, but after some work I was able to create the beginning to my future Screamers.

When it is done, it will have a tentacle mouth, much like a lamprey.

And that's it!  I know it doesn't look like much yet, but once it is finished and duplicated the model will have a more interesting and believable (hehe, daemons believable) design to it than the weird manta-ray eyeball things GW puts out.

So, hopefully the next time I post I'll have images of a fully painted Lamprey (aka Screamer) of Tzeentch! :)

20 Questions

This is apparently a thing, so I thought I'd participate.

Favourite Wargaming Period and Why?

This is a tough question.  I got my start in fantasy, so I definitely have a soft spot in my heart for that, but I'm sticking with the grim-dark future right now.  I love the modeling possibilities and how amazing the story has been so far.

Next Period, If Money Was No Object?
Fantasy, for sure.  I am a big Lizardmen fan, and when I made the choice between Fantasy and 40k, it was tough to give up the little scaley guys.

Top 5 Films?
The Crow

Grosse Point Blank

Ghostbusters

Die Hard

Dark City

Favourite 5 TV Series?
Better Off Ted

Battlestar Galactica
Magnum P.I.

Firefly

Simpsons (seasons 4-9 are best)

Favourite Book and Author?

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  The man is genius.

Greatest General - and You Can't Count Yourself?
Either my buddy Mic or Marv.  They're both whip-smart and know how to take advantage of tricks people don't expect.

Favourite Wargame Rules?
The rule of cool.  I know it isn't really a rule, but darn it if it looks cool and isn't game breaking, it's cool to me.

Favourite Sport and Team?

Not big on sports, but being a Wisconsinite probably the Green Bay Packers.

If You Had A One Use Time Machine, When and Where Would You Go?
Probably back to 1992 and smack younger self around a little, tell me that everything will be ok.

Last Meal On Death Row?
Prime rib sandwich with au jus sauce, garlic smashed baby reds, and green beans.

Fantasy Relationship and Why?
Hm, probably Rachel Leigh Cook.  Nobody looked better smashing up a kitchen to promote the anti-drug message.  She's still adorable!

If Your Life Was A MovIe, Who'd Play You?
Oh, I don't know.  Jeremy Renner I suppose.  Be his most boring role ever!

Favourite Comic Book Superhero?
Never been huge on super heroes either, really.  My favorite comic book is the Sandman.

Favourite Military Quote?
FUBAR.

Historical Destination To Visit?
World's Fair, Chicago, 1893.  How cool would that be?

Biggest Wargame Regret?
Buying Inquisitor models.  It just didn't go anywhere and I never got a chance to play it.

Favourite Fantasy Job?
Owning a game/hobby store.

Favourite Song, Top 5
Jets to Brazil, Sweet Avenue

Bad Religion, Anesthesia

The Beta Band, Liquid Bird

God Lives Underwater, All Wrong

Nine Inch Nails, The Perfect Drug

Favorite Wargame Moment?

Deep striking all 4 of the super expensive gigantic Daemons without a mishap during an Apocalypse game.  They totally wrecked face.

The miserable git question: What upsets you?

Rude people.  Bad drivers.  People who feel the need to cheat in games.

What's up with Army Builder 40k files?

Something people may have missed in all the excitement of the new Chaos Space Marine and Dark Angel picture leaks is the notice from Homer at AB40k maintainers, those magnificent folks who provide and update the Warhammer 40k data files for Army Builder.

Late last night a comment which was part of their global announcements was updated instructing people to download the newest 40k update through Army Builder's update system.  We were told the files would only be available for a short amount of time and wouldn't be available through email or other means after they had been taken down.

As of now, that post has been removed and replaced with the general announcement. no longer commenting on the possible doom and gloom of not having updates in the future.  The latest glimmer of information can be found in this thread on the AB40k Maintainer forum.  This is basically 'we don't know, wait and see' style of reply.

I love using Army Builder.  It helps me decide what I will need to purchase and what I plan to build for later use.  I like not having to create my own Excel spreadsheets to make an army list, or flip through my book constantly and use pen and paper to make my lists.  In 6th edition, you could have to flip through 3 separate books just to make an army list, being the main army, allies, and fortifications.

If AB40 Maintainers will no longer be able to update these files, I'm not sure what I'll do.  I'll probably try to fumble through the files myself and hope I can figure out the program to make my own files.  Unfortunately, I may not have the time to do so.  If nothing else it reminds us how fantastic the crew over at AB40k Maintainers are for sacrificing their time to keep these files up to date.

What about you?  Do you use Army Builder for Warhammer 40k?  What will you do if they are no longer allowed to update their files?

Blight Drone Sculpted and Painted

Welcome back one and all.  Over the last week or so I've spent most of my spare time putting together the blight drone and painting it up in time for tonight's post.  There are a couple things which I could still do yet, but for the most part this what it looks like.

Initially I was unsure what coloring I would use for the skin areas.  I finally decided upon the green with brown highlights because I needed the coloring to tie together with the rest of the Nurgle themed army.

I used two different rust effects on this model.  The armor plating looked quite a bit like beaten copper so I decided copper with green antiquing solution would work best.

For the engines I wanted to add some variety to the model, so I used iron and applied the rust antiquing solution.  Something that's always bothered me about vehicles in 40k were they were always supposedly made of the same materials.

In the end I think the model is fairly believable (for a bloated machine daemon from the warp).  The model was a blast to make and put together.  Painting it was a breeze and should be very easy to do again.  Only the engines are somewhat time consuming to make, but not so much to make the model frustrating to create.

Overall, this is a model I am fairly proud of since I was able to create it from start to finish.  This model was completely made by me, which makes it the very first I've done which doesn't have any parts from other sculptors.  I hope you all like it!