Mr. Peanut and other Rogue Trader Oddities

A couple weeks ago I ran a poll on the blog to see what type of Dreadnought readers wanted to see in my Howling Griffons army. Well, the overwhelming winner, with 73% of the votes cast, was the original Rogue Trader "Mr. Peanut" style walker.

This suits me, so off I went to eBay to find some suitable models... and ended up with three. I only got two left arms in the deal though, but that's OK since I was planning on updating the weapons loadouts anyway. I'd gotten some rare earth magnets at Lee Valley Tools suitable for the purpose, so on those went...so when I run I'll have a choice of two lascannons, a missile launcher, a multi-melta, or another CCW.

Just waiting for some 60mm bases from Hoard o' Bits for these. They *barely* fit on 40mm bases but I'd like to try the aesthetics of the larger ones and if LCF ("looks cool factor") is maximized, that's what I'll use.

Next up is another vehicle for the Griffons. Since I got the Razorback turret for one of the Rhinos I figured I'd be unlikely to use the Predator turret, especially if there were no opportunity to mount sponsons. Then I happened across a set of Rhino track pieces on the sprue, with no chassis... so I figured that even with my minimal scratch-building skills I could cut up some plasticard to make the chassis. The bitz box supplied the requisite parts to finish the model - front doors, sponsons, hedge cutter, etc.
 

 

 Some dollar store chain wrapped around the spiky hedge cutter, and it will be ready for primer.

I wasn't happy with the way I'd based the Landspeeder and it repaid my lack of faith by falling apart and smashing the model to pieces. So after I stuck it back together I raided the spares bin again with a view to basing the model the original way - on a clear hex-base. Much more stable and aesthetically acceptable, not to mention historically accurate ;-)

Cheers,

Dallas

Ace of (re)Base - Star Wars Fleet Scale Fighters

Further to a recent thread on TMP, I've been considering rebasing my Star Wars "fleet scale" fighters. With the arrival of a shed-load of bases, the stage was set for a wholesale re-do...

Luke Skywalker's X-Wing leads the rebel squadrons: X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings and B-Wings.

I decided to base the "heroic" ships (Luke's X-Wing, Vader's TIE Advanced, and the Millennium Falcon) as singles, and the rest of the fighters in pairs. I did give this a bit of thought, since it represented a change from the previous basing style of three per base. I decided to go with two per base for a couple of reasons: it better represents a leader and wingman if we play a smaller scale game with each model representing one ship; and it gives me 50% more bases of fighters if we play a higher level game. The bases are simple 25mm rounds and can easily represent a squadron in a fleet-scale game.

Vader's TIE fighter leads the Imperial armada: TIEs, TIE Interceptors, and TIE Bombers.

"What a piece of junk!"

 

Old style vs. new style. I think that the new way is much cleaner looking. I simply clipped off a few millimeters randomly from the bottom of each pin and glued it into a hole drilled into the new plastic base. The final thing I may do, if the spirit moves me, is to get some magnetic sheet to stick on the bottom of the bases, for a bit of heft as well as ease of storage.

Praying For Bases

"We're ready to leave the depot - honest!"

Well, here's hoping the mystical power of the blogosphere can influence the karma of the postal delivery system.  I have finished another batch of 28mm Austrian line infantry - my first unit from Victrix - and all they need now are some bases.  If they can get here today (or tomorrow), these troops can join my doomed Austrian column for the game this weekend in Regina.

Running out of bases happens to me a lot.  Normal hobbyists can just cut new bases for themselves.  Incompetent ones like me, who barely manage to build a simple model, should not try this, unless the rules in question allow for the "crescent-shaped-'L'" formation instead of lines and columns.  I generally rely on Likto Aerosystems for my basing needs.  Their products are outstanding, but the delivery times have stretched to epic lengths.  I now refer to a project stalled for lack of basing materials as being at the "Litko State".

This time, for a change, I'm waiting on the good folks at Wargames Accessories.  I hope the scary variables, including the USPS, the spectacular cretins at Canada Customs, and the mindless incompetence of Canada Post, have not found some way to deep-six the delivery....it's a wonder that any packages make it anywhere at times...