All about the Base - Remix

 

Following on from my recent experiments with modelling and casting resin bases, I had decided I wanted to try an alternative casting material and aware that I had used polyester resin previously (only because that's what I had lying about) which is not the first choice I procured some fastcast polyurythane resin along with resin dye to see how that turned out.

First attempt using the previously made base moulds was partially successful as I mixed too much resin, basically more than I could pour before it began to set. Living up to it's name as 'Fast Cast'. What I managed to pour worked out fine and trying again with half the amount of resin produced a variety of bases fairly easily and a lot quicker and less smelly than the polyester, all of which was nice.

The castings are a lot sharper, as the filler I had used in the polyester casting did blur things a bit though I did like the 'feel' of the castings produced. Polyurythane is obviously the way to go and I picked up some alternative 'white fastcast' at the same time to see how that works out as this has a slightly longer pot life.

I also knocked up a quick mould to cast up some small scatter terrain bits to individualise the various castings which I had deliberately kept fairly blank, especially so I could tart up bases as required with these decorations. This mould worked out fine and I can now produce rubble, scatter and battlefield detritus to my hearts content. A few choice bits are already added to the Kroot Killteam bases which are currently in progress and will post up soon.

All about the Base

 

First figs receiving newly cast bases

Having been getting into Killteam recently and investing in the 'Into the Dark' set when released last year I had started building up the teams included in the box with the Kroot band being the first to be assembled.

I had also invested in the 'Imperrium' magazine during Covid as a occupational therapy activity and had started assembling some of the new marine figures and a few others and intended to use the terrain bits included with the magazine for use with Killteam scenario's.

On assembling the first figs and basing them I had decided I wanted to get some modern or techy basing for the figures to difference them from other 40K ranges I already have. Having some of the GSW rollers from a small previous project ,I had tried to put on some rolled results on to the standard plastic bases for a couple of the SM figs but this prooved to give a very thick look to the base which I really didn't like.

Having never really liked the plastic bevelled edge bases from Citadel since first slotta base release back in the day and preferring a fairly thin square edge to my basing I decided I would sculpt up and cast some basing for the Killteam and SM figures and would add in some alternative basing for some of the other bits picked up recently like for my Sisters of Battle and fantasy skirmish bits too.

I had tried some bought resin bases previously from a couple of manufacturers and though the sculpting is OK and often very nice for the chosen products I have found the quality control over the castings is usually fairly poor with a general extreme variance particularly on the thickness of the castings and sanding the the extreme ones to a cosistent level a big pain and extremely laborious.

Selection of scuplted blanks

First up was to produce some blanks and I duly purchased some MDF circular 2mm bases to give a regular size and applied various textured clay pieces to the bases with a bit of chopping and changing and mixing the various textures to give a bit of variety and embelishment for some of the plainer basing.

A fair bit of finishing and minor sculpting and ensuring all the blanks were of suitable sizing and edges square etc. followed.

First moulds and casting results

Next up once I was happy with sufficient variety of bases of varying sizes (28mm, 32mm and 40mm) I made up some moulds with some silcone I had left over, enough for 3 sizable moulds.

The only resin I had to cat up first time was some clear water polyester resin, which although stinks to high heaven does give a fairly sharp cast result but is quite plasticy and hard so I added in a small amount of marble filler which makes the resin a bit friendlier and a much nicer feel. Also makes the casting a bit easier to work with though does blur the casting results slightly.

First bases cast, cleaned, and undercoated

The whole process though fairly labour intensive, especially at the beginning in the blank preparation, is simple enough and fairly enjoyable. I picked at the production in small bursts so as not to sicken myself with extended work.

I also limited myself to the number of casting blanks scuplted so I could produce enough bases for the figures I had already assembled and was wanting to get painted and into some gaming, though this has still been a few months in production over all.

Ready to get painting

Quite happy with the results of the project thus far and had to stop myself in sculpting up more and different bases, but have a few plans for some more and hopefully better basing.

The character and larger models I have planned will be individually scuplted as not wanting to make up castings for ones I would only use once or twice, but I intend to incorporate bits of the castings I have done so as to unify the band or army feel for all the figures.

Will post up the finished articles in due coarse.

Kill Team - Tau Hunter Cadre Photo-Shoot

Bit of a photo op this time around as I have been playing about with the old camera to see if I could improve on my miniature photography skills a bit.

Mixed results and going to play about a lot more, mainly learning on how my camera works, but having fun in the learning.

My chosen topic this time around was with my Tau Hunter Cadre for Kill Team as these were readeily to hand as I've been mainly playing 2nd Ed Kill Team at the club recently, so they presented a ready subject to snap at.

Quite pleased with the photo results but more to play about with both in subject and technique and decide what I'm most happy with.

Think the photo results had a better turn out that the Hunter Cadre have had on the table top, but that's another story.

As my results on the table top with the current team set-up have been mixed at best, I'm going to change one of the fire teams for the Stealth Suits and see how that fares, and I will do a 'photo-shoot' of the team once the suits are painted up, hopefully over Christmas.

More on this anon.

Killteam Trial - Tau vs Genestealers

Last week I managed to arrange a trial game of Killteam with Kev at t'Club. A matched play between my Tau and Kev's Genestealer Cult.

Just a quick set down with a smattering of terrain and had at it to run through the rules and get a flavour of the game.

The scenario was a simple enough affair with each of the teams looking to get off the opposite side of the board with as many of the troops as you could muster before breakpoint. Most off wins.

The two teams were pretty much opposites with the Tau shooty and the Genestealers choppy, so I had to shoot as many as possible before coming to blows, so Kev advanced as quickly as possible keeping to cover and I stayed put and shot lots hoping to break him before he got any of his team off the board.

Needless to say, this was only partially successful as the board was pretty small so the Genestealers managed to get into combat though not until round 4, but only after losing half their number to the Tau shooting. But once reached, my Tau went down pretty quickly in combat.

The game did go the full distance in rounds with Kev managing to get two off the board at the end and gained the victory.

The game was pretty simple to run through though we did get a couple of things wrong but enjoyable game all told and will be looking to get another couple of games under the belt to see if I can improve and get a handle on the nuances of the rules. Maybe organise a mini campaign to get a bit of flavour too.

Sisters of Battle - Penitent Engine

A random piece just completed. I was trying to get my painting mojo up and running again and decided to make a fresh start and looked for a piece that was different from where I got mired in the 'Slough of Despondency' last year with what was on my painting table.

I plumped for a Penitent Engine from my Sisters of Battle mini mountain as totally different from previous painting forays and I'm pleased to say I got quite into painting up the piece.

I was going to get into more detail, for instance adding scribbles to the seals, but decided against it just now and move onto something fresh again so the Engine is finished 'for now'.

Pleased with the result overall and I'm now looking to tackle some more of the Sisters of Battle bits and bobs I've got on the side lines ready to paint.

Sisters do it Digitally

I note from the GW and Black Library Websites that they are soon to release (19th Oct) the new Codex: Adepta Sororitas (Sisters of Battle to you and me) for 40K.

The decidedly 'Marvelesque' Cover
(Can u call it a cover if it's digital?)

Being a collector of this army for sometime (I've even had a couple of games with the army over the years too), I had a look at this as it peeked my interest, not only as I have a passing interest in using the army again but also cause the released 5th Ed lists serialized in White Dwarf a couple of years ago were fairly poor, so I thought this might be an improvement.

I quickly noted that this was an ebook only release. So digital but no dead tree versions, hmmm.

A Nun with a Gun

I don't have a big problem with this as I've recently embraced the ebook revolution, but what is of interest was that this is synonymous of a bigger move, away from hard copy to a digital only theme that seems to be building generally in publishing and more particularly in gaming. Perhaps it is because of the general low volume of gaming publishing that is pushing this move, or is it that us as customers are more agreeable to the digital medium.

I can see that the army is probably low sales comparatively, but at least the lower overhead option of supporting the still available (but alas un-added to) range of figures.

The pretty chunky price tag for a digital version of £19.99, for a 120 pages ish did seem a bit steep though.

I did note that GW's (Black Library) catalogue of digital and digital only products is pretty extensive, surprisingly so. Even if some of the titles are a bit esoteric to say the least, but I'm not one to gain say that.

I'll no doubt pick it up sometime probably at the same time I get around to getting the new Eldar Codex along with the Iyanden Sourcebook. Ouch, no change from £60 for some intangibles.

Sisters of Battle vs Chaos - Not a Battle Report

This weeks club game was an arranged game with Dave B and he wanted to have a game of 40K as he'd picked up the new Chaos Army Book and the 8th Edition Rules recently and wanted to give them a try, and as I was keen to see if there were much changes to the rules and I hadn't dusted off my Witch Hunters in years (nee Sisters of Battle) I glady accepted.

It has been a while since either of us had played 40K, and what with trying to use 8th ed army lists that we didn't know and trying to go through the rules to pick up 'changes' (and of course a great deal of time chatting to folk about totally unrelated matters) it took us a while to get the game going.

Once we did 'get going' it surprisingly quickly came back and in rule terms the game is still pretty easy to get to grips with. The difficulty arises where you need to get to know your army and it's abilities.

All told we failed dismally to actual play a wargame and only achieved completing the first turn, hence not bothering to take any photo's since that would probably be cheating. But we still managed to have an enjoyable evening and still managed to throw bucketfuls of dice too.

Having had a short refresher, it did remind me that I thought the 7th Ed Sisters of Battle army list, released in White Dwarf didn't really inspire and that the previous Witch Hunters incarnation was much more interesting.

If nothing else the game has inspired me to add the Penitent Engines onto my painting table queue as they are interesting models.

I'm also quite looking forward to seeing the new 40K Eldar and associated Codex which I believe is coming out next month. It's another of those armies I've collected for years just because I like the models.