A new spawning

Hello fellow lizard lovers! I generally play 40k, but just recently started to get into fantasy after a long long time (I think the last ed I played was 5th) and always liked the lizardmen. I play nids in 40k, they've got the same sort of dinosaur vibe too. Sort of... anyway, I was given the battalion as a gift, and it sort of sat around for a while, until finally I decided enough was enough, and put them all together (agonizing whether to give the saurus spears or hand weapons too, not much of a clue since I have yet to play a game - spears won out though). I painted the battalion over about a week and a half, pretty speedy but I did cut some corners. I just wanted them table ready. I know you guys want to see pics, the lighting outside is bad so I'll take some shots when it gets a bit better.

But you can't have a log with no pics at all right? RIGHT! My friend had a Slann that he had nurgled up a bit and put on a palaquin to use as a nurgle herald, and after I sculpted him a replacement I got my grubby mitts on the ol' froggie. Problem was he had no fancy seat to sit on. So I set about making one! I originally was going for an Octagonal sort of one like the official model, but after thinking and tinkering a bit, I ended up going circular. I flipped a 40mm base over, cut a plasticard circle out and glued it on top and it had begun! I then made an arching backrest out of plasticard. After that was glued, I covered it in greenstuff. And went to work chiseling the stone with my modelling knife. After going at it yesterday and this morning, it's mostly done. I rolled out some GS horns yesterday, and greenstuffed them on today too. I has more work to be done, sharpening of edges and some more plastic bits, probably some skulls, but its getting there! The GS on his seat isn't perfect, but after its painted like stone I reckon it'll do the trick. Anyway enough talk, here's some pics!





I also never painted the skinks from the battalion. I had assembled them with basic jav/shield, but after reading a fair few tactics thread I wasn't sure how much I'd use them. So I ripped off the javs and shields (a pain in the butt) and gave them blowguns, and shaved off the crests. A little GS later, curly tails and goggle eyes, and I have 9 chameleons. I'll sculpt some coverings on their neck and back after everything is dry. Excuse the crappy pic, I'll put up a better once they're done.



The other 3 skinks I'll convert into handlers for a salamander. I don't much like the sally model, and had the idea to use slightly modded flesh hounds instead. They have crests, and only a couple of things need to be removed like the funky tail tips. I have a couple bid on ebay, so fingers crossed I can get a few of them on the cheap.

I have another battalion on the way, and I plan to get that great new plastic Saurus hero model. Hopefully I can play a small game with what I have painted so far just to get used to the rules. I'll keep you guys posted how it goes, I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions to ask you all once I get going. A longish first post, thanks for reading!

 

A quick question... do I need to be approved before I can have pics in my thread? I tried to /img them but it says pics can only be "up to 1 pixels wide".

EDIT - Got it thanks Arli

 

that is pretty cool stuff!. very simple and crisp conversions, but i think the slann will look very unique when done. looking forward to follow your progress

 

Thanks Tsunami! As promised, once the sun came out I took some pics of my painted stuff. First up the Cold One Riders.







Next up the first spawning of mighty Saurus Spearmen!





The Temple Guard to protect my wip Slann.





And finally their champion, because I like him, and at the moment he leads these cold bloods!



Hope you like them! I'll be working on my Slann and Chameleons next. Once I get some static grass I would like to add some to the bases too.

 

Woah, an amazingly painted army,
I can't wait to see some paint on that
Slann, the glyph are already incredible.

 

You could've fooled me. They look great!

 

Hey, welcome to the Liazard Club! Everything looks great and I'm stoked that there is another person on there converting stuff with Greenstuff! Looking forward to seeing your army progress!

 

good stuff. Our cold one riders are basically the same color scheme coincidentally.

 

lovely colors! i like the colors on the cold ones very much too. it's unique and nicely done. overall you have a fantastic looking army, but there is one slight thing i would add. you have spent a good amount of time on the bases, and they look very nice, but i would add some static grass to make them really come alive. it doesnt have to be very much, just a splash here and there.

great job, and i am looking forward to seeing more out of you in the future

 

Thanks a lot everyone for the kind comments!

n810 - I'm looking forward to painting the Slann too, it was fun adding the little details.

Old Mosey - The main part that I put attention to is the bones and skulls. But the flesh, scales and gold are really just two or three colours, I could go back and do an extra highlight on those parts to really make them pop, but for now I am happy to paint the main force up to this standard. I can always retouch them later if I get the inspiration.

Thinker - I really like your sculpts, very well done and inspired me to post here actually, so thanks!

Brokbrok - Great minds think alike! I like the cold one's scheme, its also the main colours on my renegade imperial guard army.

Arli - thanks mate!

Tsunami - I actually said down at the very bottom of the last post I wanted to add static grass, as I fully agree with you that the bases are bare at the moment. I've never used the stuff, and wonder what some good choices are for it? Any particular brand/flavour work well?

I added more details to the Slann's throne, some vines and other plastic gubbinz. At this point I reckon it's done, I just need to cobble together a 50mm base for him. Luckily I won the ebay auction for 5 flesh hounds, which will be converted to salamanders. They come on cavalry bases, so I'll just join 2 together to make a 50mm. But now I need 40mm's for the Sallys! Ah well. Anyway, here's pics.



I also finished up the sculpting on my Chameleons, I gave each one some kind of venomous reptile tied to their back, a few snakes, a few lizards, two with frogs and one with a turtle cuz I felt like it. I had fun sculpting the little fellas, and with some super bright colours think they'll work out well. No pics at the moment sorry, I'm about to take them outside to prime. I'll paint them up next I reckon.

 

It has been quite a while since I last posted! I have been quite busy with various projects, a lot of commission Tyranids and Space Wolves mainly, but the spawning pools have not been completely inactive. I recieved a 2nd battalion box a few months back, and have also been picking up a few things here and there on good ol' ebay. I also just recieved a Stegadon for my birthday last wek, which was a great surprise! I built the beast and howdah, though I am really not sure what to build it as, an ancient or an engine, and giant bow or blowpipes. Any suggestions?

On the gaming front I managed to play my first few games of Fantasy. Thusfar I have played 4 games so far, and I gotta say, I do love the system. I played it way back in the day (like 15 yrs ago) and have only really played 40k for ages now, so it is a refreshing change. My first game was just a couple of turns to demo the rules, but my skink priest did managed to blow himeself up miscasting. The second game was 1000pts against dwarves, and my 30 strong saurus spears fairly smashed through those stunties. Ah the carnage! I was loving it. My priest managed to miscast again, and get swallowed into the warp. BURP! My 3rd game was another 1k pts, this time against VC. It was my first run in with something large and nasty. Namely, the Terrorgeist. And it sure did my saurus dirty! The first screech made 9 of them keel over, little lizard hearts stopping in fear. I did pincushion his general with some chameleons though! I lost that one, but it wasn't totally one sided at least. Oh and true to form, my poor priest miscast again, and forgot who he was and all things to do with magic. The last game to date was against VC again, this time 1500pts. It was the closest game yet, coming down to his vampire lord against my slann, scarvet and Temple Guard champion. My priest miscast AGAIN but this time didnt die, but his chain lightning blew up a pesky mortis engine which proceeded to explode and decimate the VC army that had my Temple Guard and Saurus surrounded in a brutal melee in the center. It was the first time I had taken a Slann too, and he underperformed due to some unlucky cast rolls, but I must say, the one magic phase where he excelled turned the game around, shield of thorns really did a number on those undeads! Oh yeah I did win that one too, with my Slann and his Champion still remaning. I guess he's next in line for hero status.

Long story short, I am really into fantasy.

With all the things I have collected over the past couple of months, I can field an easy 3k points I reckon, and so my next game will be sure to be a big one. I'm looking forward to it. In preperation, I have been working on several things the past few days. First up are some Salamanders. After looking on ebay, I had a thought to use some old flesh hound models I managed to snag on the cheap. Pretty crappy paint, but I'll just go right over it. I cut off the collars, and shaved the little khorne symbols off of some scales, repositioned the heads and frills and added a back fin with plasticard. I used liquid greenstuff to bind it all together and also to smooth some of the fur detail out. Its a little rough right now, but I really like using the liquid GS. Really easy to use to do underlying gap filling and such, even large gaps can be filled with a couple of passes. I'll sculpt some scales over the top and detail the back fin with regular greenstuff next. Heres a few pics of the 4 I have worked on.





Of course they needed some handlers. The 12 skinks in my first battalion box were converted into chameleon skinks, but the 2nd battalion gives me 12 handlers. Perfect for the 4 Sallies. At first I was just going to use the javelin arms, but it kinda bugged me so I decided to convert them to look the part. Some slightly fiddly pinning and wristcutting and such, and a few paperclips gave me these 6 fellas. Much better!



I also built 3 6x5 movement trays from sprue and plasticard for the 2 30 man saurus blocks and the 30 strong Slann bunker I have planned. Just waiting for the bitz to come to build the rest of them, and also to convert some Scarvets. I'll keep you all posted! Anyway thanks for looking.

 

Alas Arli, I dont think I have any pre greenstuff shots of the palanquin. I can tell you that the bottom is a 40mm round base with a 25mm round stuck underneath it. The throne back is plasticard cut to a curved shape, and thats about it.

So I spent most of today on the lizzies, I got my bitz order in the mail so I built 20 more saurus warriors. I found out something cool, since I bought 2 battalions and made 20 saurus into spearmen and 20 into hand weapons, I had a bunch of remaining bitz. In fact, if you use temple guard shield arms for the champs, and scavenge musician arms to use as extra shield arms (cut off the drumstick and you are good to go) and take a few of the spare cold one cavalry shields, you have just enough extra bitz to make 20 more saurus, you just need bodies. So I bitz ordered them, nice cheap way to bulk out the 2 units I have to 30 strong.

I was wondering how to build up my stegadon, I havnt really had a chance to think about its use in game, and didn't really know what would be best. So, with a little bit of thought, I broke out my magnets and set to work. It took a few hours, but I succeeded in magnetizing the beast so it can be used with any load out. Skink Cheif on a throne, Priest on an engine, giant bow or giant blowpipes. I will glue 4 of the crew down, and the 5th crew I magnetized as well, in case I want to run a regular steg with no character. I have some pics of the back howdah section.





I didn't take any pics of the rest, but I will soon no worries. Definitely before I slap some paint on it. It was a challenge to do, but I am quite happy with having all the options available.

I also found an old pic of the first lot of chameleions I converted, and thought I'd share it. I need to make 7 more, to run 2 units of 8. I already built them movement trays too.



Tomorrow I will finish up the last of the saurus, and make a few temple guard, and try my hand at converting a few scar veterans. A couple with great weapons and one with a burning blade/maiming shield I reckon. More pics to come!

 

I love that slann. Im now inspired to redue my tetto'eko vines. I understand now how bad mine are. Haha

 

Nicely magnetized man.

 

Thanks Danbot! I think the vines add a great detail to the throne, and keep it closer to the official model.

N810 - It was a pain but definately worth it!

This morning I got up, and got right to work. I put together the last of the Saurus Spearmen (yawn) and then sat down to the temple guard bodies I bitz ordered. I made 4 regular TG out of them, 2 of the halberds I had to convert as I ran out of those, but luckily the banner pole arm is the same as the halberd arm, so I just cut a hand weapon off at the hand from the regular saurus bitz, added a spike cut from a spare temple guard head, and BAM! I couple of nice halberds.

That nicely bulked my Slann/TG unit to 29. I planned to put a Scar Vet in with them too though, so it was time to make one! I like to run him Burning Blade/Maiming Shield, so thought it would be cool to model up a shield that would suit. 2 half round spiky bits, some glue, and then some gems cut from the temple guard helm adornments made a cool liooking, and most importantly, quite large shield. Seems like you could maim someone with it!

The sword was made from the TG champion arm, I added a bunch of doodads to make it a pretty classy weapon suitable for a hero. I'm not sure if I should greenstuff some flames on it though, part of me wants to but then I might not always run him burning blade eh?

I also modded the head from the TG champ head, cut off the spiked horn and stuck it to his chin, and added a fancy crest. Some cutting of the shoulders and legs to repose a little, and a back banner, and I reckon hes pretty much done. I'm really happy with him, taking a rank and file model and making it into a hero is always fun. Now to make 2 great weapon Scarvets!

Anyway, enough explaining, a picture is worth a thousand words eh? The regular TG shows just how large you can make a body look by adding some slate to the base.



Now back to the modelling!

 

That's an amazing Scar-Vet, great pose and so simple!

 

Thanks a lot Clockwork!

I kept on with building 2 more Scarvets, this time with Great Weapons. It was a lot of fun figuring out ways to make them different. I'm really happy with them, so many different bits and bobs were used, but all of them come from the lizzie battalion box (with the exception of the headdress on the Scarvets with massive halberd, which is a bit from the Stegadon kit). The minor reposing of legs and cutting of arms gives the normal static poses some life. Many weapons died in the crafting of the 2 great weapons! 3 axe hand weapons for the giant club, and 2 champion halberds for the giant blade. All 3 vets need some minor gap filling with liquid greenstuff, but they honestly are pretty solid without, no sculpting necessary!

Enough talk, heres pics. First up, better pics of the Swordsman Scar Vet.



Then the Scarvet with club. It's clobberin' time!



And finally the massive blade Vet.



The group, I plan to paint them all the same as albinos, they shall be known as the Triad.





I also converted another standard Templeguard, but thats not very exciting so I didn't take a pic. Next up will be the 7 Chameleons I need to do, as well as 2 more Salamander Handlers and a Skink Priest on foot.