Hobby Quickie - Ford Capri & Armed Bastards...

It's not an Audi Quatro, it's something a little better...

No time for a long blog entry this weekend, so I just took a moment to grab one of the cars and a couple of the minis that I've been painting over the dead period between Xmas and New Year to throw together a photo opportunity.

Most people seem to fall for the allure of the Audi Quatro from this period, but as I came to cars from the perspective of American muscle, rather than 80's police dramas in the UK, I'm  more into this kind of thing - plus, my old man drove one of these back in the day.

Trash Terrain: Spaceport Landing Pad

Agents of a Rogue Trader rendevous with a pilot returning from an advance scouting mission atop a remote landing pad...

 A couple of months ago, my neighbour (who keeps on seeing my various projects being put out to dry in our shared back yard) asked me if I could use a circular metal tray that had been inside of his cooker and was now destined for the bin. I immediately thought of the landing pads that I had seen on sale from various companies and for various different prices, and wondered if it could be the basis of something similar.

Far Corfe: Marines Penitent

A squad of Marines Penitent shows no qualms when it comes to using extreme force to suppress civil unrest and gang violence in Far Corfe...

Everyone in the hobby that's flirted with GW has gone through their Space Marine phase, and some people never come out of it. But I thought I'd well and truly gotten over mine a couple of years back when I started to be more interested in smaller and more grimy areas of the Grimdark. But the exception seems to be old-school Marines, as there's just something so wonky and charming about them when compared t something like a modern Primaris. So when the chance to get my hands on an entirely new sculpt came along, I was champing at the bit to put my name down. 

Far Corfe: Underhive Nomads

The Nomads stalk through the alleyways and backstreets of the Underhive...

 

I've been picking up the random minis from GW's past on eBay that nobody else seems to want for a while now, and one of these was a ganger from House Cawdor that had been hacked about to an almost ridiculous degree by its previous owner.

I think the thing had lost both it's hands and perhaps even its legs too, but I was determined to make something out of it, and so I raided the bits box for replacement parts and ended up liking the results so much that I was soon back on eBay looking for more minis from the same range.

The Ungrateful Dead

An unsuspecting group of urban explorers are stalked by the Ungrateful Dead...

I'm a terrible one for buying stuff off of eBay or a magazine for the sake of a sprue that's stuck to the front cover, all because I think that the bits "might come in useful" one day. And having been doing this for around thirty years now, my collection is getting to be quite large and diverse, as you can well imagine.

Needless to say, when the Age of Sigmar: Mortal Realms piecework appeared on the shelves of newsagents everywhere, I was more than eager to get my hands on a copy. The 40K one had been an insane steal for the price of the first issue, with miniatures, paints and a brush for a fraction of the cost of the same stuff from a GW store.

Trash Terrain: Sanitation Truck

An armed sanitation patrol meets with stiff resistance from local residents not keen on the idea of being forcibly cleansed.

One of my favourite elements of this hobby is the chance to root around in charity shops and other second-hand sources for something that could be converted into a vehicle or piece of terrain for the gaming table. Recently I came across a rather chunky fire truck in just such a place and snapped it up for around a quid (and stumbled across a sealed box of Dark Eldar Wyches for the same price, which was a nice bonus).

Far Corfe: EXTERMINATE!!! - Charity Shop Daleks

Gangers of the Widdershin's Corpse Junkies crew are given the unique opportunity to view each others skeletons moments before death...

I get a lot more pleasure from rummaging around in charity shops for things to add to my gaming collection than I think I ever possibly could if I had vast amounts of cash and spent some of it on buying the latest thing that GW have crapped out. I suppose it's a combination of loving seeing something brought back from the brink and knowing that if it doesn't quite come off, I haven't wasted good money on a white elephant.

Recently I was sheltering from the rain in just such a place on a freezing day, and happened upon a small pack of what looked like plastic Daleks, just about the right size to work with 28mm scale minis. They were only priced at a quid, so they seemed just too good of a find to ignore.

Trash Terrain: The Mining Contraption

Flanked by his hastily hired bodyguards, Merrick Mass-Driver negotiates the sale of the mining contraption to a less than convinced local Forgemaster.

I kept on seeing one post after another online where someone had chanced upon something in a charity shop or pound store, then retreated with said discovery to their hobby lair and proceeded to transform it into something that was frankly amazing; and so I decided to keep my eyes open for a chance to do the same.

Far Corfe: Spellcrow Privvy

Lenny the Looter legs it with the last toilet roll, moments before the gangers charging for the use of the convenience realise the enormity of his crime...

Spellcrow are one of those pretty new companies that have sprung up on the continent recently and are already producing a range of minis with a character all of their own, both in terms of sci-fi and fantasy, well worth a look.

Recently they ran a Facebook competition to win one of a limited number of resin privys, asking those entering to post something amusing in relation to outhouses in order to win, and as always, I rose to the occasion, calling on a lifetime's experience of toilet humor.