Monday 28 October 2013

Raiders of the Lost Skip!

Something different, a bit of history for you, this time!

There's been some discussion recently on the rather awesome http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.co.uk blog about the rather sad fate of a whole lot of unique artwork and goodies that were trashed in the the move of the design studio from Enfield Chambers to Castle Boulevard in about 1991. Specifically, in the comments, here.

I was in the (un)fortunate position of being a Mail Order Troll back in the day. We basically got all the menial jobs that the artistic talent didn't want to do, and the casters were too ham-fisted to do. During the move, a bunch of us got tasked into box-moving, van-driving and assorted manual labour, shuttling boxes of stuff between buildings. At the end of the move, there was an empty, sad looking former design studio, and a rather large and full skip sat outside it. With us trolls being a rather feral lot, we obtained permission from management to go and rifle through said skip, with a view to nabbing off with some goodies. Remember, this is years before eBay, we just wanted unreleased stuff and figures for gaming, rather than going through it with an eye for profit.

Tragically, as it had rained, most, if not all of the artwork in there, from *all* of the major GW artists at the time, not just Gary's work, was ruined, but in amongst the banana peels, broken furniture and lots of empty beer cans (I kid you not!) were a few gems. One of them was this:


Which, the *very* astute of you might notice, is some of the scenery from the now legendary Realms of Chaos 'Slaves To Darkness' Book.

In fact, if you look closely, you can spot it on the far left of this pic, from the StD book:


Originally, my manager at the time said he believed it was made by John Blanche, but after some research, it's looking more like it was made by Jamie Sims. Either way, it's a great little piece.

The box actually contained all of the scenery featured in the book, just tossed away, unwanted. I managed to rescue it, pretty much undamaged, and used it in many a battle, until I left the hobby.

In a complete fit of idiocy sold my entire collection in the late 90's, when I was rather short of money and needed to buy a house. These last two bits were in a box that got missed, and are now on display at home.

Of course, if I'd waited for the age of eBay, I could have probably purchased a much larger house, as my collection contained vast amounts of rare and unreleased lead. I've since spent the last decade or so glued to eBay, paying stupid amounts of money for things I used to own.

Ah well!

Thursday 17 October 2013

I dunno, you wait 30,000 years for a bus...

... and  then four of 'em turn up at once!



Need to work out exactly what I'm going to do with these, as they're just the bare shells, without any of the hatches etc. I've got a few bits in the spares box of old and new Rhinos, and might pick up some Forge World Death Guard Rhino Door sets, and make a few mix 'n' match RT/modern conversions.

Other recent reinforcements to the Death Guard are a squad of the original RT Marine Scouts, another tactical squad's worth of metal beakie marines, and an original Dreadnaught. Pics up soon, or at least then I've got some paint on 'em.

Now, back to the painting desk!

Friday 13 September 2013

So, what have I been up to recently?

Marines, mainly....



Been a bit quiet on the Port Imperiale front, recently, mainly because as well as spending a lot of free time renovating an old house, I've also been challenged to put together a Horus Heresy Army for a bit of a 30k narrative campaign by the http://talesfromthemaelstrom.blogspot.co.uk/ boys.

I've decided to go for traitor Death Guard, as most of my other Chaos stuff is Nurgle based, so I can fit this lot into any future 40k Plague Marine armies I might eventually get finished.

Figure-wise, I've gone for a mix of original RT marines, and newer Forgeworld stuff, where possible, with some conversions based on newer GW models.

I'm really liking the new Horus Heresy range that FW are putting out, there are some nice takes on the old RT ranges, but the cost is rather prohibitive, especially when I'm spending all my spare cash on plasterers and building materials...

Anyway, what have I done so far? Most of these are WIPs, and in various states of finish, but I thought I'd put up a progress report, just to prove I've been up to something...

More after the cut...

Friday 5 July 2013

This place won't build itself, you know...


Finally made a start on some buildings over the weekend. My ideas for the look of the place are a combination of Mos Eisley, mixed with some of the photos I've seen of the big ship dismantling yards in India/Bangladesh. Buildings built out of, and even repaired with bits of vehicle and spaceship, all filthy, old and decrepit.

Plenty of pics to follow...

Wednesday 22 May 2013

A long time WIP: Ogryn mercs.


So, I actually started work on these back when the WFB Ogre plastics were fairly newly released, but now I've got some of my long-lost  paintin' and modellin' mojo back, I might actually get around to painting the buggers.

My take on Ogryns

In my version of the RT universe, Ogryns are a little more intelligent than they are in the 40k canon, meaning that they're able to use half-decent tech, rather than just being the dumb lumps of close combat cannon-fodder than they usually end up as in standard IG armies. These guys have decided to jump ship from the Imperial Guard, and have formed their own muscle for hire mercenary unit, based out of Port Imperiale. Usually working for Pirate bands, their massive amount of firepower makes them very dangerous, if a little chaotic thanks to their low overall skills. (Hey, I said they were a little more intelligent, not unstoppable killing machines!) They're entirely capable of taking out enemy armour, thanks to a plethora of salvaged vehicle mounted weapons.

More info and pics...

Monday 13 May 2013

Something not Port Imperiale related... The Griffin House - WIP.



Fenris recently released a wonderful Lovecraft-inspired New England Colonial style house, called 'The Griffin House' as part of a new range of scenery, called Arkham Avenue.

I missed out on the pre-release deal over xmas, as I was skint, but saw Steders on the FU:UK board was flogging one at the same price, so I had to have it.

Rather than let it sit in a cupboard, as is what usually happens to my scenery projects, I was determined to get it built, and this is where it gets complicated. As it was presumably a pre-release one, it didn't have any instructions with it, and Fenris haven't put full construction details up yet, so I was flying solo, as it were. This is a sort of stream of consciousness, as much as it's a build explanation, but hopefully it might help a few people making it.

So, here goes...

Welcome to Port Imperiale


You'll never leave...