Anyone would think this Craftworld was Iyanden...

Well, it certainly has been a while between drinks. To say the f*&ing least. Life, as it turns out, has a way of directing us regardless of our best intentions. Seriously, as the title states... its like a ghost army has been resurrected.

So, this post will go over what has been, where things are at and where they're going over the next four to five years. Yep, still got that long to go... in the immortal words of Idris Elba - Reset the clock.

The "Past"

What the hell happened, Dave? Seriously... What.. The.. F*&k... happened?!

Well, it goes a little something like this;

1. Kids - Had one to add to my "eBay Child". To say they're a handful is an understatement. Any parent knows this though. With them, come expenses... lots of expenses. Add in special needs... its a party.

2. Health dramas - We all have them, this is normal. Ours just came all at once. I won't lie, there was a moment where I probed for interest in selling the Warhost. Thankfully, it did not come to that, but it got very close.

3. House stuff - COVID-19 brought with it some pretty interesting changes, which we have all been affected by. Not least of this is working arrangements. To do this, some office/livability factors were required. It paid off, as I'm lucky enough to work for an organisation who have allowed me to work from home full time due to the life events that have transpired since 2017.

All of the above has added up to the Warhost coming a distant 20 something on the list of priorities.

 ... Yet, here we are, a couple of years on, still going ;) 

NB: I might have also invested in the Battletech Clan Invasion Kickstarter... my second love.

The "Present"

Fast forward to the present! Just what has been sent out? What came back? What's left to go?

1. HQ Models - All HQ models are with, or on their way back from either Vincent or Linford. And they look the ducks nuts.

As with myself, both Vincent and Linford have their lives and dramas to deal with as well, so the last are trickling in (Jetbikes an exception...) - More to come, stuffing about with a light box to get some "blog worthy" photos up.

2. Rogue Trader Models - As previously displayed on the blog, two solid boxes filled with metal were sent off to Arawn.. somewhere around 500+ including a few aspects from the Artel W range long over due for paint work. These have no deadline set, when they're done, they're done. This was batch 1 of 3.

*Note: This was just a small portion... almost 20kg of metal was sent off... I genuinely felt bad.

The "Future"

So what is left to go out?

1. Lots and lots of Wraith units. To the tune of about 150 or so... probably more.

2. A batshit insane amount of Jetbikes, both old and new, plus a few dozen Corsair units (60 or so). From memory, the Jetbikes alone in total came to over 500 in number, ranging from old GW sculpts, to Ghost Miniatures, etc.

3. Artel W Aspect and Ranger sculpts. Again, these match previous unit numbers, so generally that's 30 of each Aspect and 50 of the Ranger variety.

4. Armorcast... lots and lots of Armorcast. Wave Serpents, Tempests, Phantom Titan with all the mods, Revenants, prototype Bright Stallions... name it, minus one or two... its probably in there.

5. Forgeworld Super Heavy Tanks, both the MK1 and MK2 plus Lynx varieties. If memory serves correctly, there are around 30+ Warmachines all said and done across both ranges.

6. Miscellaneous add ins as they're released to market... this shitstorm never seems to end.

... UPDATED: Jetbike Warlock sneak peak...

Early this morning I had an email from Luke over at The Sound of Machines telling me the Jetbikes have been done - along with an MMS sneak peak, top shot of the finished Warlock. Luke has mentioned there will be more piccies to come in the afternoon, so stay tuned for the rest of them.

Very much liking the work on the canopy!

I'm also told the Shining Spears are completed as well, so those bad boys will be posted up here as well; in total there are 27 Shining Spears, 10 Warlocks and 4 Spirit Seers - Bwahahaha indeed.

Can't wait to mount these lads on the stands that turned up from Back to Base-ix . I will note, the nature of laser cutting had the stands smelling like the amazon had been burned to the ground, probably a good idea to throw them into some warm soapy water to help kill the smell and remove the laminate from both sides of the acrylic - if anyone is looking to buy some!

Update: Here is a quick pic of the Jetbike Warlock and Spirit Seer, some very small alterations happening in the next week or so (Shining Spears and a little bronze for the Jetbike Turbines), updates as they become available :)

... Quick update & promos...

Well this week certainly has been eventful!

Luke & Adam over at The Sound of Machines, have been busily working away at getting my Jetbikes (Warlocks, Shining Spears) sorted out, along with a handful of Spirit Seers - Expect piccies in the next few days or so. Luke has also generously offered to do up a wargaming table for regular play that I intend to store at work (for Pizza/Beer nights). One of the lads (Rob H) from back in my home state has also offered to part with three tables worth of terrain for these games - which should see us have buckets of variety! You might say the standard gaming stuff is now sorted out :)

*Plug - If you would like to meet the boys in person or discuss commissions, they will be out at the Grand Opening for Game Traders this weekend at Penrith (see image below);

Meanwhile, in the Northern Hemisphere, Navin over at PaintedFigs.com has had his colleague Anuruddha working on a Dire Avenger sample. Anuruddha is the lad that did the Warp Spider and Fire Dragon samples that I pretty much approved on sight, so i'm looking forward to seeing what he has put together. Also, the Jes Goodwin Jetbike sculpts turned up, so in the next couple of months we may see the sample images of those as well, I have it on good authority that the resin used was the best Navin has ever seen with hardly any cleanup required at all - stay tuned!

Oh and the Warp Spiders and Fire Dragons are on their way home as well - I seriously need to start thinking about foam trays to store these guys in pronto.

Also up North, on a different continent, my good mate Fireman Dave (Yes ladies, he's a Fireman, hold onto your panties though, he's taken) is in packing mode to ship the recent Eldar goodies (and Limited Edition books) Down Under. Big props to you lad :)

Closer to home, Vincent (aka Duskfrost) has just advised me the Scibor scenic bases have turned up, so expect an Avatar and Wraithseer mounted on those bad boys around the end of the year.

I have to throw in a plug for Back to Base-ix having their 50% off sale this week only on acrylic flying stands. They include the magnets as well if anyone is interested in popping over. I splashed out given it was an all in one solution with a choice of plastic colours (I still went clear). The Universe must have been listening as I was browsing their products on Saturday, only to find out this gem following day or so. Life savers indeed. The promo code is facebook001 used at checkout.

At this point it also looks like the Brass Scorpion is in the lead for the Phantom Titan scenic base project, so get your votes in before the timer clocks out :)

The previous poll results have also indicated you want pretty pictures, and pretty pictures you shall have - just need a few days until Adam's Jetbikes are sorted out and the goodies from Sri Lanka arrive... squee indeed.

Tidbits and very rare items

Along the way to creating a pretty hefty display army, i've stumbled across some pretty rare goodies that i've been very fortunate to acquire (aside from the Armorcast vehicles).

First up, the customised dice and pouch (the pouch you can see in the mass boxes image further down the page);

More recently, I was lucky enough to acquire all four of the Juan Diaz test sculpts (all originals). Each of these had 12 copies made, so I was very lucky to obtain all four from the Godfather of rare miniatures in New Zealand. The one in the top left is the special character Iyanna, Spirit Seer of Iyanden, from the 3rd Edition Eldar Codex - they never released a production model of her.

And now for some very special Jetbikes, made by a friend overseas. Let's just say they make the 1994 Games Workshop sculpts pale by comparison. These turned up yesterday in the mail I might add!

Jetbike Farseers

Jetbike Warlocks

Jetbike Autarch (with all the extra trimmings)

And some fancy new Shining Spears

Proof of life (heh)

... A paint scheme is chosen... (Part 2)

Whilst many busy Sri Lankan studio workers tend to the bulk of my Warhost, I have three other commissioned artists working locally here in Australia (Sydney, Adelaide and my hometown of Rockhampton).

Let me begin with the good lads over at The Sound of Machines (Luke & Adam). I've entrusted these boys with my second tier HQ and some of the more intricate troops of the Craftworld - You can see why with the photos below! Whilst i've not really had any interactions with Adam (the painter of the below), Luke I have had a fair amount to do with, always finding him to be accommodating.

Later in the year, these boys may just find themselves assembling the first of many Warmachines - Budget pending of course.

Oh and here's a plug to their Facebook page :D

https://www.facebook.com/thesoundofmachinescommissionpainting

This pair have been chipping away at three different units as of recent;

47x Warlocks
12x Jetbike Warlocks
12x Shadow Spectres
30x Harlequins

So without further ado;

Warlocks... so many Warlocks...

And just to get an idea of what they all look like together...

I wonder what kind of Focused Witchfire template you'd need for all that psychic happiness?

Now onto the Harlequins

 

And some WIP Shadow Spectres, painted pics to come tomorrow!