Mann's Model Moments: October 2015

Monday, 26 October 2015

The Hub Systems Episode 5 - Planetfall

A little later than intended due to some technical issues and the fact we're in the middle of packing, here's Episode 5 where Dan Bird of Slayer games joins us for a discussion of Spartan Games Planetfall.

Thursday, 22 October 2015

Veydreth Unboxing

Well this is long overdue, but with work, moving, putting together the Podcast and general gaming, I have neglected these somewhat. I'll try to address this over the next couple of weeks.

So the first of these will be the Veydreth, and we'll start with the Patrol fleet

No surprises here - the usual sleeved box with full colour photography plus schematics and fluff

Inside we get the usual Spartan bubble bags protecting the resin, counters, bases and TACs

The most obvious ship in the box is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Predator battleship - mostly because the thing is mammoth! It's a huge slab of resin that could almost be used as a physical weapon to beat someone with! That doesn't stop it from carrying the usual level of detail that Spartan consistently put into their models.

The model does require some minimal assembly as the engines are separate pieces, plus it requires the flight stand peg adaptor fitting into the base.

The other capital ships in the Patrol fleet box are a bit of a break from the norm, but similar to the Ba'kash box, in that they are the Destroyers. These are probably the biggest departure from their first metal iterations, and have a much larger, beefed up but also slightly generic look to them - they could easily be Terran ships. Now, fluff-wise, the Veydreth have been getting tech from Hawker Industries for a while, but I'd still have preferred to see something a little different here.

Last in the box are the Corvettes, which are both really nice stat-wise, and really nice models - being sufficiently unique and interesting to really set them apart. The downside is that they sort of highlight the blandness of the Destroyers somewhat.

Next up is the Cruiser box

As always, we have the overhead view, fluff and contents on the reverse of the glossy sleeve

Whilst not as full as the Patrol Fleet box, the one thing that stands out when you open the box here are the number of components you are getting!

The cruisers each have 9 parts - a central hull, flight peg adaptor, nose, three engine and three "spikes". Four of these pieces per cruiser have alternatives - the three engine and nose pieces. This allows you to build both regular and assault versions of the ships.

Here's the common hull section, showing the detail and triangular cross-section geometry.

The last of the Veydreth boxes today are the Gunships

Each ship has almost as many components as the cruisers - eight in all this time, but there are no options and the hull section is dominant - the add-ons being very much just that.

The hull is a great casting, complex and detailed but still holding a general design feel very similar to that of the original hybrid resin and metal castings (which looked like one of these after a starvation diet!)

While I said there was no option in the gunships, as the engine drop-ons are hexagonal in outline you can actually put these on in different orientations, which gives a nod back to the V1 designs where the engines could be put in different positions as though they were vectoring in flight.

Overall the Veydreth releases are really good - in particular the Battleship and Cruisers stand out, and the little Corvettes are gorgeous. They are a brutal force to face, and they look appropriately imposing when on the table.

Monday, 19 October 2015

The Hub Systems Episode 4 - Strange Aeons & Cthulhu Wars

Well it's quite a picture-heavy post today, first up are some of the minis we've painted for Strange Aeons v2. First up is a Werewolf I put up on Facebook a week or so back;

I also starter this skeleton dude who I've played as an Ancient Warrior...basework done, all the shading and detail to go!

Next is Oscars newest Threshold agent...he's not done a bad job at all!

Plus his rather flamboyant character....

For me next is the Shapeless Thing...though this was actually the last thing I painted...first up meeting Oscar's new Agent!

And then I've a large worm where I wanted to illustrate how easy it is to create a decent looking mini for SAv2. Here's a reaper worm that cost less than £2, primed in auto primer;

Next a basecoat - normally I'd spray this but as the weather has been crappy and it doesn't really make a difference, I brushed this one;

Then it's a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone;

And then drybrushing;

A drybrush around the mouth with pink, then red for the inside and detail painting the teeth...took about 20 minutes excluding the drying time for the Strong Tone.

The we come to the nerdfest that is Cthulhu Wars...

Note the HUGE box...6.3kg (14lbs)! You can see my Threshold character dwarfed by it...

You get lots inside, but I'll lay examples out here in the order we did the unboxing in;