Ten Days of Raven Guard: 8

I might well be a leap day today in the real world, but we have the 8th member of the new Raven Guard squad up today for viewing.

The base here has been formed from shaping (snapping roughly) cork and gluing it to the base. I find superglue to be very adequate for this purpose and indeed necessary for the plastic of the feet to attach to it. PVA just never seems as good to me. The marine himself is standard fare mark 4, including accessories, with a resin shoulder pad from Forge World.  Nearly done now with this squad!

Ten Days of Raven Guard: 7

Popping out of a bolt hole, the seventh member of the Raven Guard squad is a standard fare Mark 4 space marine armoured legionary.

The item sticking out to the left hand side of the model is the combat blade, which is glued in place at the bottom of the spine. The bolt gun is modelling in an upward facing direction (not seen: the barrel is also drilled), whilst the marine looks to his right hand side slightly. This creates an illusion of movement in the miniature overall, as if the legionary is advancing forward quickly and scanning his horizons.

Ten Days of Raven Guard: 6

Another day, another Raven Guard legionary in place!

This particular one is not too special in any particular way. Apart from a drilled bolt gun barrel, there is no work on this one as it features standard parts from the relevant space marine ranges. The only thing that I want to try to remember is that when I am painting these helmet-less marines is to do the albino skin well. Very white skin is not something I've often painted before, so I'm looking forward to that challenge. Tips are, as usual, very welcome!

Ten Days of Raven Guard: 5

A bit more dynamism for this particular specimen. I originally intended this marine to be a vigilator, but I may change my mind to a simple squad sergeant. Not quite sure just yet.

The marine is armed with a bolt pistol and a (rather large by the photo, but actually standard sized) chain sword in his left hand. The conversion work done here was to ensure that the marine could stand on the half tyre beneath his left foot that was cut from the motorcycle sprue. Overall, this is a marine who apparently means business and has just jumped out from behind some cover to unleash a volley - very fitting for the sneaky side of the Raven Guard legion.

Ten Days of Raven Guard: 4

This brother legionary is a "beaky" Corvus armour Raven Guard. In the background to the Heresy, the Raven Guard are noted as being one of the main legions that were granted the privilege of testing out the new mark of power armour just prior to the Heresy breaking out. Of course, other legions (looking at you, Alpha Legion) got their hands on the new mark, and it was tested to a very minor extent in the other legions, but the Raven Guard had extensive field supplies of this mark unlike most of the rest.

This particular marine features a blend of a few different marks, but I like the chaos space marine bolt gun that he's holding a lot. As an Isstvan survivor, it would be natural for this marine to pick up any weapon that he came across and put it to good use. I imagine this one might have been stolen from some Word Bearer legion corpse, but of course, that is entirely subjective.

Ten Days of Raven Guard: 3

Day 3; Raven Guard Legionary Number 3!
This one has a targetter array in the eye, a resin Raven Guard shoulder pad, various grenades and pouches at the hips, and a combat blade at the base of the spine. Nothing too special here, but time and care, plus a drilled out bolt gun makes for a composed miniature fitting for my Shattered Legion force.

Ten Days of Raven Guard: 2

Day 2 of my new Raven Guard squad. This particular marine is clad is Mk 4 armour all over. I've drilled out the barrel of the bolt gun and added a resin Raven Guard shoulder pad. Accessories are included on the hips, and there is a combat blade on the base of his spine.

The base features cork which will be painted up accordingly later. Although there's nothing particularly special about this one, I do like the pose -- fluid like a Raven Guard should be.

More Raven Guard in the Works (Day 1 of Ten Days of Raven Guard)

The Shattered Legion grows! Albeit one miniature at a time. This is Day 1 of my Ten Days of Raven Guard.

This particular example sports a combination of parts from at least three different space marine boxed sets -- the modern 40k box, the 30k mk4 boxed set, as well as the kneeling devastator set. The shoulder pad is resin from Forge World. This marine adds to the growing complement of Raven Guard for the shattered legion force that I'm growing right now. I'll post more on this particular squad soon enough!

Games Workshop Edinburgh (Warhammer)

Today, a small review of the Warhammer store in Edinburgh, Scotland (UK). I was visited the city for business, and it was the first time I have been there in over a decade or more. For a city as old as Edinburgh, the layout doesn't change that much at all: I well-remember the steep climb of the steps opposite the railway station up to the main shopping level in the city for instance - that, I don't think, will ever change. 

The Warhammer store in the city is physically located High Street, which is south of the main railway station (Edinburgh Waverley) and along the well-trodden route between Edinburgh Castle, and Holyrood. As such, it is a premium city centre location with high footfall in a busy part of the city centre with excellent pedestrian access and immediate convenience to railways and bus lines that run through the place. 

The store itself is of small to moderate size. It is by no means the smallest that I've ever witnessed, but certainly not the size of a bunker. More like fractionally above the small size. Sadly, the store was closed when I visited since it was early morning and my work in the city didn't begin until the store opened (drat!). However, I was able to see inside very readily from the window and the interior had some nice gaming tables on display. 

The picture below shows one of the dioramas in the window of the store, with apologies for some of the reflection. 

I liked this one of the Blood Angels battling away the Nurglesque army facing off against them. Good use of some of the relatively newer miniature ranges and boxed sets to be honest!

In summary, one of the best locations for a Games Workshop / Warhammer store in a city that I've been to lately, but just sorry that I couldn't visit the store when it was open to experience the (what I have come to expect would be) warm hospitality.

Iron Handed

Okay, its been a while. All I can say is that things have been manic professionally for a bit - but thanks to those of you who have messaged me, etc. 

Today a little bit of a reveal of some of the things we have been working on. This one is manifestly an Iron Hands space marine, featuring bits from the space marine classic range, combined with forge world resin parts to create a half-way house space marine. 

The only real bit of work I've added to this parts blend is to ensure that the bolt gun barrel has been drilled out a bit. Add in the cork base and a side arm holster, and we have a completed Iron Hands miniature that is screaming 30k! By now I'm sure its also obvious that my 2020 army is a bit of a Shattered Legions affair. More on the thoughts behind that at a later date though. I need to get cracking on more of them.