Project St. Luke - A Dark Age painting project

So as a wrap up of my Project St. Luke, I figured I'd actually sit down and write a blog post.  This project was thrust upon me by my good friend Kevin Clark who requested...NAY DEMANDED!!! that I assemble and paint his St. Luke army for Dark Age.

Now for those of you not familiar with Dark Age, it's a skirmish sized miniature game by Dark Age Games that has been around for a little over 10 years.  The game was created based off of artwork by Gerald Brom or just Brom as he's known in the artworld.  It's dark, gritty and brutal.  The games tagline is 'Everything Dies' - which is an indication of gameplay itself.  This however is not a post about the game, how it plays or how awesome the background and story line is, it's about a force that I painted up for my buddy Kevin.

So lets start with the centerpiece of the force, the projects namesake - St. Luke.

St. Luke can be armed in two different ways and actually has two different profiles based off of what weapon he's using.  Kevin opted for his combat shotgun/grenade launcher which is what you see here.  His other option is a Breaching Spear.  St. Luke is an extremely large and well sculpted model residing on a 40mm base he towers over his subordinates.

Now each Saint in the Forsaken army of Dark Age has a few 'elite units' that only they can take.  For St. Luke it's the Arsenals, the Stingers and the Sisters of Wrath/Marionette.  We'll start with Marionette.

She's the character version of a Sister of Wrath.  She's armed with a stun baton and is the Matriarch of the Sisters of Wrath.

Since we've got St. Luke with the combat shotgun we have a unit of Arsenals to join him.  The Arsenals and the Stingers match his look at his weapon load out, Arsenals have the combat shotgun where Stingers have the breaching spear.

So dropping into the generic Forsaken available to any Saint or base list, we'll start with the Mechanic.

As his title implies, he tends to fix things, or at least he does his best to keep thing from 'splodin. Plus he packs around one helluva gun.

Now it can be said, when one goes into battle one is going to get banged up a little, so in just such a case we can't leave without our Medic.

Another gal encased in a leather suit, she does her best to keep the troops from the cold icy grip of death.

Now Kevin decided to build heavy on the ranged aspect of the Forsaken, but he did include one of my favorite units, the Strikes.

These frontline badasses carry long sharp sticks also know as swords and spiked gauntlets for punching holes in things...like their opponents.

Kevin also likes to set things on fire...he's got a 'burning passion' or something...I don't know, but because of that, he's got a nice large group of Firestorms to field now also.

And to finish off this motley crew of ass whopping, we've got your favorite bounty hunter and mine...LUCKY!!!  

She was fun to paint, I even dropped some extra work on her nylons.  :D

Some group shots to finish this post up.

Now...time to get to work on Project St. Johann!!!

GenCon INBOUND!!!

8 days and counting!!!!

Now taking requests for GenCon!!!! - Throw down a comment and let me know what you'd like to see!  Interviews!? Demos!? Who and what?  Obviously there will be a con floor coverage and some general all around crazy fun!!

Are you going?  How bout a guest spot/intro on ToA?  I'll be at the CMON booth helping out with the various games and fun to be had there for a good portion of the time so should be easy to find!!!  Come and meet me!

WOOOO SOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!  It's gonna ROXORS!!! and I'm talking CAVERNS!!!  :P

GenCon info can be found HERE

Heavy Gear Blitz!!!

News for the month!  Direct from DP9, there are a lot of exciting things going on for July, check out the details!!!

Heavy Gear Summer Blitz Event

 

We have teamed with Drive Tru RPG to distribute Heavy Gear Blitz Locked and Loaded (includes the Field Manual) and the Field Manual ebooks for free.  This is available now.

 

You can find the Locked and Loaded and Field Manual combo HERE

 

You can find the Field Manual alone HERE

 

Other deals are:

 

Heavy Gear ebook bundle:  Includes Loacked and Loaded, the Field Manual, Black Talon: Return to Cat's Eye, Shattered Peace, Terra Nova Gambit, Operation: Drop Bears Dive! and Perfect Storm: The NuCoal Field Guide for only $72.00, a saving of 10%.

Get that deal HERE

 

If art is more your style, then we have just the thing for you. The Heavy Gear Art Bundle includes the 3 volumes of the Art of Heavy Gear full-color eBook format containing over 1450 pieces of artwork at the incredible price of $40.

 

1450 pieces of Heavy Metal ass kicking can be found HERE

 

Please finish off by mentionning that they can also get Gear Up for free while on Drive Thru RPG.

 

 

Release Schedule for new Products, Task Force Deals and Armor Deals.

 

Thursday 28 June 2012: Northern Task Force deal

 

Friday 29 June 2012: Southern Task Force deal

 

Monday 2 July 2012: Peace River Task Force deal

 

Tuesday 3 July 2012: NuCoal Task Force Deal

 

Wednesday 4 July 2012: Fire and Smoke Counters, Sold in 2 packs.  Very appropos on this day, I know....

 

Thursday 5 July 2012: Northern Armor deal

 

Friday 6 July 2012: Southern Armor deal

 

Monday 9 July 2012: Peace River Armor deal

 

Tuesday 10 July 2012: NuCoal Armor deal

 

 

Also of note, the Badlands Terrain box set will be coming out soon.  This will retail for $99.95 and will be available to all retailers as well.  More details to come.

So jump in and get rolling with these fantastic opportunities!!!

Secret Weapon Miniatures July releases

Secret Weapon Miniatures drops a big update for July on us today.  The first thing that struck me was the new Terrain pieces as I'm always looking for new pieces that I can drop onto my gaming table I was super excited to see the Scrap Yard Barricades!

I have complete faith in Mr. Justin and crew as I've got a number of their current line and the quality is just outstanding on what I have.  I can honestly say it's always money well spent.  If you missed my overview of the Damaged Jersey Barriers you can check them out in Episode 9 of the video blog.

A new weathering pigment set has been added to the mix as well - the Dry Earth set.

Demonstration photos by Mathieu Fontaine

The colors included in the set are Clay Brown, Ash Grey, Slate Grey and Red Brick, perfect for urban cityscapes, ash wastes, deserts and other areas of high rock or concrete concentrations (anyone up for some street hockey???).  Each bottle contains approximately 20ml of pigment and can also be bought separately.  Be on the lookout for an upcoming review of the Secret Weapon weathering pigments in upcoming Throne of Angels video blogs!

They've added a pair of new sets to their popular 'Instant Theme Kit' line and let me tell you, they make it real easy to get a consistent look going across all your bases....belong to us.

Instant Theme Kit: Fall Forest

Instant Theme Kit: Summer Forest

A new set of bases from their resin base line sees a release as well.  The Asian Garden bases are truly unique to the marketplace - I see these things going really well with the Nasier from Wrath of Kings!

50mm 'Asian Garden' 01

You can get these incredible bases singly for the larger bases, in sets on the 25's, 30's and 40's on in a bulk All your bases belong to us bundle.

As always I'm excited to see what's next from Mr. Justin and crew, they NEVER disappoint!  Take a look at all of the JULY RELEASES!!!

Let me know what you guys think and keep an eye out for my first 'Head to Head Death Match' with bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures!!!

Til next time, keep your paints thinned and your brushes clean!

A1

Clash for the Cure

So I've talked about this before and I WILL talk about it again.  My buddy Rich is running a great event - now even though it's not centered around anything I play, it still hold true meaning to me having lost my Father In Law (notice the caps there) to an 8 year BATTLE ROYAL with the big C - Dave beat it not once, not twice but three times but ultimately it was a very rare and odd strain and the Good Lord above called Dave home to his flock.

Well here's your chance as a gamer to step up and take action!

From Riches press release:

Rich Courtney here in an attempt to spread the word. Clash for a Cure 2012 is in full swing and we are looking at making this Clash an even better one than 2011! Clash for a Cure 2011 was an event I thought up a few years ago and just took a while for it to actually take place. We set it at 42 players (thinking that was probably beyond our reach!) and let it go…well the event sold out almost 3 weeks prior to the actual event (5 weeks after registration started)! And after the chaos of organizing an event I took a couple of months off from even thinking about it and even contemplated letting it go slowly into the night. I have received a lot of email asking when the next one would be, so I guess it was time to get busy.
Clash for a Cure 2012 is a Warmachine/Hordes and Malifaux Tournament benefiting the ACS. Clash this year is set for 72 players. On Saturday there will be 2 “heats” of 36 players battling it out. The top 10 from each heat will advance to the finals on Sunday. So what if you don’t make it to the finals? Well on Sunday there will also be a MM/T&C and a Highlander event. This year, by popular demand, we have also included “The Cog”. The Cog is a painting competition with four categories which we will be judged Saturday night.
Prize support for last year…was pretty cool. I am working at it this year to make it even better! We had goody bags for everyone, and the way it is shaping up this year…I think it will work out again! Got some corporate sponsorship as well, so prizes for the winners of the tourneys and The Cog look to be really cool.
One of the biggest draws we had last year was the charity raffle. Painters from all over the US contributed their time to make it a truly memorable event. Some forum favorites like Ghool, p0pgoestheworld, althai, kommander_redfinger, Commander Y, Dead Dogg, and odinsgrandson to name a few. This year, I have most of them back plus some new ones. Schnauzerface, Pszito, Aterdaeus, Col. Festus, Cloudfang, Mnkylord, Arithron1, plus some others that aren’t regular forum posters. Slawol from Chest of Colors, Tommy from Golem Painting, and this really talented artist, I think her name is Flup…errr Flug.., oh yeah Fluffy!
So, what does this hold for all of you forumites out there that live in New York, Seattle, or parts unknown? I need your support! “Liking” my Facebook page helps show our current and potential sponsors that we have a following. Which in turn lets us turn this into a truly amazing showing for the American Cancer Society. I had to change the name from last year due to some legal reasons, so I had to restart my FB page from scratch. I was up to about 160 people last year, now I am down in the 80s. Once we hit 100 likes, I will post an IK trivia question, and the first correct answer will receive a prize. Starting out small with models, but as the “like” count rises, so do the prizes! And even if you can’t be here, during the weekend of the tournament, we have something special planned out for those that can’t attend, so hop over to Our Facebook Page and give us a “like”!
Thanks for reading!
Rich

GO SUPPORT RICH!!!

Sedition Wars Kickstarter!!!!

Studio McVey drops into the Kickstarter realm with a BANG!!!!  5 days in and they're just under 100k - what an awesome start!!!

Here's the info vid to check out:

I love Mike and have been lucky enough to get to spend time with him on a number of different occasions.  I've even had the pleasure and challenge of co-painting a miniature with him once upon a time and can say without a doubt that he is one amazing person and pours his love into his work.

I'd talk about the game but you can get an in-depth idea of what it is and what's coming by watching the video above and checking out the link to the Kickstarter NOW!!!

I'll be jumping into a Biohazard myself...what about you???

Spellcrow releases some sweet foresty goodness!

I've been watching this little company named Spellcrow for a little while now, and I must say that they continue to surprise me with release after release.  The last couple of figures I present here for your viewing pleasure!

Up first the newest release - the Dwarf Druid - now I do believe these guys are from Poland, so if you can't understand the words around this awesome figure...well don't worry, cause I can't either!  :P

Being a lover of all things fantasy dwarf, this guy is a unique take as well, I don't think I've ever seen a Dwarven Druid before. He's got a big azz rock, and a stick, and a pissed off look on his face.  What more could you want???

Well how bout the uber giant azz rock that goes right along with him???

This is the Menhir - I'm sure it means GIANT AZZ ROCK OF WORSHIP in druidic...but I could be wrong.

You can find both of these beautiful pieces and much more kule shiz at the online store.

Go take a look!

Til next time...keep your brushes clean and your paints thinned!

A1

Secret Weapon Base Trade-In!

WHAT???  ARE THESE GUYS NUTZ???!!

Check this out - taken from the SecretWeapon site:

TRADE-IN

After hearing countless people say, "I wish I'd seen this before I bought that," when we roll out new releases we decided it was time to unveil the Secret Weapon Trade-In Program. 

This program will allow you to exchange your current resin bases for the latest and greatest from Secret Weapon Miniatures! 

But wait, there's more! 

When you receive the coupon code for your trade-in you can use it to purchase ANY Secret Weapon product. So if you don't need more bases you can pick up some of our incredible washes or pigments! 

But wait, there's more! 

Non-Secret Weapon products are eligible for trade-in! No, really, you can send us resin bases from one of our competitors and get a credit to use on your next Secret Weapon purchase. 

Here's how it works: 

Product: Direct ordered SWM product
Voucher Value: 80%
Minimum Order: Retail value
Example: $10 trade-in = $8 credit with a $10 minimum order 

Product: Non-Direct ordered SWM product (from a retailer, etc.)
Voucher Value: 70%
Minimum Order: 1.5x retail value
Example: $10 trade-in = $7 credit with a $15 minimum order 

Product: New In Box Non-SWM product (bases from another company)
Voucher Value: 50%
Minimum Order: 2x retail value
Example: $10 trade-in = $5 credit with a $20 minimum order 

Only resin bases are eligible for trade-in credit at this time. 

Once your trade-in is received you will be issued a coupon code with a cash value equal to the trade in value and minimum purchase. This code cannot be combined with other coupons but can be applied to any product in our catalog. 

Direct ordered SWM products will be verified against your order number. If you do not have your order number we can generally find it in our system using your registered email address. You will only receive direct ordered credit if the order can be verified. 

To start your trade-in use our contact form and give us the following information:

Product manufacturer
Type and quantity of bases
Condition of bases - new in box, etc.

We will reply letting you know if your product is eligible and give you an address for the trade-in material. We recommend using a shipping method with delivery confirmation as only products verified as received will be credited. 

Trade-in your unwanted bases today and upgrade your army!

Complete details can be found HERE

The C.O.R.E. - first upgrades spotted!

Upgrades???  What's this you ask?  Well if you know Dark Age, then you know there's not a force out there currently that has any sort of upgrades...sure you've got the Brood with biogens and Skarrd with their whole psycho-mind bending thing...but no true upgrades...well the C.O.R.E. is going to change that!!!  From the facebook page we get our first glimpses:

The first two CORE Upgrade Components!
Although standard issue on the mkII Pathfinder chassis, Component Flamethrowers and Component Rockdrills are savage weapons that several other models may deign to utilise as well...

FLAMETHROWERS AND ROCKDRILLS OH MY!!!

A new look! and HOLY ZOMBICIDES!

Well as Episode 10 is looming (it might be a day or so late as I'm anxiously awaiting my final package)! I thought now is a good time to update the look of the ole blog.  With the new Dynamic blogger templates, I really like the look of the magazine template so have converted things over to it.  Also my old background image was not my work and I did not know the artist, so as my view/readership grows, I think it's best to avoid any possible copyright infringement since I cannot give said artist proper credit as I do not know who the artist of the great piece is.  As always I love feedback on what you all think about...well everything, as it only gets better with suggestions and comments, but more specifically on the new layout this time.

For those of you who have been following the Zombicide Kickstarter, you will already know that it funded at 3800%!!!! HOLY COW!!! I'm going to recap the Abomination pledge for you all who did not follow or pledge on the Kickstarter as I think this is REDICULOUS!!!

Update: This is what you get at an Abomination ($100) level pledge!

• Base game - 71 miniatures etc
• 3 Promo Survivors and their Zombie counterparts: 6 miniatures
• 4 additional Fatties - 4 miniatures
• 6 additional Runners - 6 miniatures
• 20 additional Walkers - 20 miniatures
• 1 additional Abomination - 1 miniature
• 1 Eagle / Zombie Eagle - 2 miniatures
• 1 Cardboard Tube Samurai / Zombie CTS - 2 miniatures
• 1 Troy / Zombie Troy - 2 miniatures
• 6 custom black dice
• 6 glow in the dark dice
• 1 T-shirt
• 1 signed lithograph

Total 114 miniatures!  Scroll down for details! (note different shipping times for parts of this pledge).

Now if you just look at an estimated retail value of this thing would be I'm totally floored here.  The base game which comes with 71 figs - if you look at similar sets, like Decent, Talisman or Tannhauser, you get similar options, more figs than the later two by a lot, but less than Decent, but with roughly the same count/style of board and tile sections and accessories.  So anywhere from $60-$100, but I believe the retail on the game when it hits shelves is going to be in the $90-$100 range, so just to be safe, lets go with $100 (makes the math easy too).  You also get 43 additional figs - well even at $1 a fig, that's $43 bux, but where you going to get 43 figs for $43 bux? (I won't even get into the fact that to get the Cardboard Tube Samurai you have to go to PAX, not to mention that Eagle is CHUCKFREEKINGNORRIS!!!)  Maybe Mantic Games...but other than that, nowhere that I know of...so let's round to $50. Now if you've ever had a dice set made say from Chessex then you know the dice sets are $12-$15 a piece...again for simple math we'll go $15ea to make it $30.  A t-shirt is $20, and a signed litho - well depends on the artist, but at cons I'd say roughly $50.  Now I'm trying to be conservative here so I'm sure we could bump some of these numbers up and still be ok. To recap:

Game - $100
Extra figs - $50
Custom Dice - $30
T-shirt - $20
Litho - $50

That's a whoppin $250 on the conservative side...daaaaang!!!

For those of you that missed it, I'm sure there'll be another type of pre-order promo, I seriously doubt one that's insane like this one, but one none the less.  Also...keep your eyes peeled for 

A THRONE OF ANGELS ZOMBICIDE CONTEST!!!!

....coming soon!

Dark Age - Saint Mary

One of the Saints of the Forsaken, the ever-stylish Mr. Black tells us a little bit about what makes her tick and goes over her ability to lead, inspire and dominate on the battlefield.

Saint Mary Portrait of a Hero

Secret Weapon previews May releases

The machines over at Secret Weapon are dropping like a bazillion new product in May including the new bad azz Corpse Field line of bases!

I'd suggest watching the video and then dropping over and picking some of these things up next month!

I'm excited to get my hands on some of these!  Keep watch on the ToA Video Blog for upcoming reviews!

Episode 9

Last of the single digit Episodes is now up for your viewing pleasure 

This time we take a look at some more Dark Age models, specifically the Numbskull, talk about an enormous model! We also take a look at the last of the new starter boxes, the Brood. We continue with the Black Sun Coverage from Anima Tactics with the Type-012: Hunter. We also start in on a new focus with battlefield accessories in some 40mm objective markers from Forgecraft Games -http://www.forgecraftgames.com - as well as the damaged jersey barriers from Secret Weapon -http://www.secretweaponminiatures.com/

Be sure to subscribe before Episode 10 as I'll be giving a away a number of Wrath of Kings pre-release models! If you don't have a youtube account or don't want one you can also subscribe to the blog,  if you don’t subscribe you can’t win.

As always, comments, requests, suggestions are appreciated!

A1

Wrath of Kings - New figs and Concept Art!

WOOOOO!!!  Adepticon bring more Wrath of Kings!!!  We've got some shots of the figs that were debuted at GAMA as well as some new shots.

I've got the go ahead to throw up concept art for these figs, so I'll just get to it!!!  (I'm not putting it all up, that just wouldn't be fun)!

So in this shot we've got models from three factions from left to right, a Goritsi, a Hadross and the rest are from Nasir.  

This is a Pelegarth Bloodmask.

This is Rathor, one of my personal favorites!!!

This is an Ashmen Swordsman...can you say AWESOME BASE TROOP!!!???

This pic is full of House Teknes.

This is Valkrav Galvanic Defender.

  

This is Zaalak - she's AWESOME - another one of my fav's.

Here's another shot of her a bit closer.

These guys are Union Workers, I've seen lots of awesome feedback for these duuds!!! That makes me happy!

Here we have some shots of some new models, from left to right, a pair of Goritsi and a pair of Nasir.

This is a Skorza Alpha

This is Ucuzo!

This is The Bloodchild - he's a bad azz!

And another one of my favorites - The Longhorn!!!

And finally a pair of Shael Han!

This is Maki!

Alrighty people one thing I want to make clear - the names may change as the game is still in development and nothing is final yet.  I hope you guys are excited to get your hands on this stuff as I am to get them there!!!

Stay tuned to the Throne of Angels Video Blog as I'll be giving some models out soon!!!

Enjoy and til next time,

Keep your paints thinned and your brushes clean!

A1

New from Zenit Miniatures

Some more sweet released from Zenit Mini's for the game Nemesis.

This month we see reinforcements for Rocavivas and a sweet model for Kingdom players.

Aroumi looks all business to me...poleaxe with a gigantic blade and a kittay kittay on her shoulder, she might just be the cats meow.

Aie-Mekkela looks to be packing a mace, and I'm really curious as to whether or not she comes with that sick base, we'll have to see.  I'm not terribly sure I like her face, but until I get one in hand for closer inspection, I'll blame it on bad camera angles.

And rounding out the Rocavivas this month are the Silimanitas or Silimanites, these chix have bigger arms than I do...and that's sayin something, but when you're packing a blade that big, I think it's a bit on the necessary side.

And for the Kingdome of God players we see the Lider Guardia Real or the Royal Guard Leader - this duud is one badazz mofo and has a double bladed cut your face of stick to prove it.

Overall I totally dig this months releases, man I gotta find someone around here to play this game with.  :D

They've also updated their webstore, check it HERE  I had to re-register as it looks like they went with a completely new set up.  I like the new layout and it's much easier to navigate.  GO BUY SOME KILLA STUFFS and then tell me about it!!!

New kits from Scibor Miniatures

By now I'd expect that most gamers know about this little gem of a sculpting studio, so I won't get into details on who they are and what they do, but if you don't know them you can check the website out at www.sciborminiatures.com/en

Over the last couple of months, they have delivered quite a few new items, including a new basing kit and some terrain pieces.  I plan on picking some of these up and giving a full review on the video blog, but lets look at some pictures for now.

Up first we'll take a look at the newly announced Wolf Basing Kit:

These are obviously geared towards Celtic or barbarian style armies with a wolf motif...for some reason power armored monstrosities come to mind, but I could even see a number of these being tied into the Wolfen of Yilla or the Devourers from the Confrontation line, and those of you who are as eager for the return of Confrontation with the new announced Phoenix Edition as I am, well, here's a great option for you to give your basing some added flavor!  They also tie in with the pair of existing kits they have available, the Lion:

and the dwarf:

Now a few of these may not be appropriate for games with a True Line of Sight rule as they will elevate your models off of the standard base height of 3-4mm considerably, so you may just use them for some awesome display style bases or heck I may even put them on some 60 or 100mm flat bases and use them for terrain features!  

You can find these kits in the Conversion Parts section of the Scibor site HERE

Now something else they have just posted up I am really excited to get my hands on!!!

They've got a new line of Battlefield Terrain and have started with these three fantastic looking pieces:

The Angels Temple Ruins 2

The Angels Temple Ruins 3

The Egyptian Ruins

You can find more angles and other shots of these terrain pieces HERE

I will be featuring all of these great looking pieces in an upcoming episode of the Throne of Angels video blog, so keep an  eye out for an up close and person look!!!  I'm excited to get my hands on these things!

Til next time, keep your paints thinned and your brushes clean!

A1