Space Pirate Astartes - Red Corsairs

"Burn. Burn the ship. Burn the pathetic weaklings with it, alive."

So this is it, my next "grande" project - a true scale Adeptus Astartes. Actually I'm talking about making a bunch of them, three renegade Red Corsair Astartes to be exact. With power hooks, eye-patches and fiery red armours... Yarrr!

The idea of making a true scale Space Marine has been lurking in my mind ever since I finished the first Horus Heresy book. It was Migsula's fantastic Alpha Legionnaire that gave me the spark to start this project. I'm quite sure that my Astartes will have a lot in common with them, what comes to the shape, size and the overall feeling of them (or at least that's where I am aiming to), after all, they have inspired me a lot ever since I first ran into them.

So once again I grabbed a pencil and started sketching...

Champion of the Fleet (black ink pencil)

My main goal was to try to render the hulking embodiment of an Astartes the way I see it. The armour is very bulky, worn and scattered with trophies and ancient liturgies. The head is like a small pin, a pinnacle that over-emphasizes the magnificent frame of the Astartes. The massive fur coat rims the figure, making the warrior look like a barbarian of the far future, something that I've always thought that the Astartes fundamentally were.

With this visual reference I've started gathering the bits that I would be needing to get as close to this vision as possible. I hope that I'll soon have something relevant to show to you, as I'm more than eager to put the pieces together!

New Year, Old Tricks

So the year changed.

The past month was pretty quiet in the rat nest, humble apologies for that. But we have not been totally jobless! The Punk Moth project has been taking some small steps forward, even though the Caterpillar stage was yet again restarted. After moving to the new flat I realized that the diorama style gaming board wouldn't have a change to fit in my new space. I had to make a hard decision and toss the almost finished plates away, get back to the drawing board and rethink the whole process from the roots.

Well, I can only hope that third time's the charm. After some pondering we decided to make the scenery to stand on their own shaped bases made out of Forex Classic foam PVC sheets. This way every piece can be made look like an individual building (or a ruined part of one) and together they can be used to form a larger structure. We won't either be tied to use the terrain for just this one scenario but can actually re-use them in our future plans too.

For the board I was thinking of Zuzzy's elastic Terra-Flex Gaming Mat. I ordered couple of speciments from them (cheap as they were) to check out the surface detail and the overall quality of the mat. If any of you have any experience of Zuzzy's Terra-Flex mats, please feel free to share your thoughts with the rest of us!

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So that is what I've been able to pull together for the Punk Moth project's Caterpillar stage so far. I still need to add some serious amount of junk and other bits to make the ruins look more lively, like if something had really hit them while bombing the planet.

Mikko will be taking a journey to the Caribbean Seas in the end of the month, so I guess it is up to me to keep this blog alive for the next couple of weeks to follow. Speaking of the Caribbean, I have a little announcement to make that has something to do with my next project - but that can wait 'til the next post...

Stay tuned!

- Kari

Illuminated Polar Night

This time of the year Finland is swallowed by the polar night. Days are short and nights are long, cold and dark. Perfect time to stay inside and do some hobbystuff... or make a Lumberjack's Candle or two!

It is a tradition of sort for my family. Almost every Christmas or New Year's Eve me and my dad venture in the woods and drag couple of these four to five feet long pine tree logs back home, where they are then sawn and lighten up to illuminate our dark nights.

So simple yet so beautiful...

Ambient Imperium III

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Kollberg by Synapscape
Faceeater by Proem

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Sergi The Slasher

Brother Sergi is the sole survivor of the infamous XVI Penal Battalion. The battalion's last stand was witnessed on the Butcher's Creek, where the convicted troops bought just enough time for the Imperial Navy to make their withdrawal off the Death World known as the Fang, just moments before the whole planet was consumed by the swarming horde of unknown Xenos breed.

After weeks of ineffectual heavy orbital bombarding of the colonized planet in hope of exterminating the unknown alien race, the Imperial Navy made their choice of saving the remnants of the badly beaten colony and evacuating all the personnel off the planet. The XVI Penal Battalion, made-up from the dregs of the Imperial Guard serving the colonization, was sent to shield the Imperial Navy's withdrawal from the harsh planet, while the vile horde of dreadful aliens were over-running the Imperial colony.

It goes without saying that the swarming horde butchered the weakly equipped battalion, who lacked both discipline and courage. While all of his comrades were torn to bloody pieces, Sergi, after being seriously wounded, cunningly played dead in the bottom of pile of his brothers' corpses, hoping that the Xenos wouldn't smell him.

After the slightly succesful withdrawal, the Imperial Navy did their final call and decided to vaporize the thin atmosphere of the small Death World, making sure that the Xenos - and the humans left behind - were to be destroyed.

How Sergi survived the complete destruction of the planet, the records don't tell...

+ Brother Sergi of the XVI Penal Battalion +

"Laurel and Hardy"

Sergi is a cunning personality, whose two-faced nature makes him a very untrusty henchman. But stealthy throatcutter as Sergi is, Inquisitor Cassar has seen much potential in this murderous character, keeping him in a leash of dept.

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In Sergi's case I decided to approach the design process more directly than usual, jumping over my traditional sketching and drawing phase, letting the kit-bashing spree go mildly wild. I took my bits box and started fitting the pieces together, having no certain aim in my mind. After a while, bits found each other and the "Spaceman Joe", what Sergi was first called as, was materialized.

Task Force Pherion revisited

Task Force Pherion is now at full strength.

Inquisitor Pherion

Nicodemvs

The Red Priest

0tt0

Arsonya

Twinz

Cherubz

Borvs

Let the hunt begin!

The Golden Age Of 40k

It was Neil101's comment "The golden age of 40k " in okkiW's previous entry that made me ponder the current status of our beloved hobby. We truely are living glamorous times at the moment, that's for sure. I'm not just talking about the level of painting and the quality of GW's current line of minis, which both are at their best I think. That's just the frontline.

There has been a lot happening on the (less) quiet homefront, the 40k blogsphere, things that have made the past couple of years - especially the couple of last months - gleam like no other. The bloggers around the world are writing about the way they practice their hobbies and displaying their masterpieces for the rest of us to study, like always, but the soup is thickening.

Not only that, but we are networking, uniting, and pushing the creativity even further with the collaborations and joint-operations such as Yggrasilium Pilgrimage and the INQvitational. These kind of happenings are just what the scene needs to grow deeper and juicier! These are the spinners that only the most visionary masters are able to put in the motion.

I guess that the INQ28 and =I=Munda movements have had a lot to do with the success of the current era too. The INQ28 movement in particularly has taken some serious wind under its sails, thanks to the active and passionate community that has been producing some grandeur visual and verbal arts around it.

Here's but a few of the blogs that I think have had a lot to do with the current status of the scene. The  blogs are more or less attached to the gray spectre of the Warhammer 40.000 and Inquisition, telling their own tales of the hobby, polishing the era with their wonderful deeds and creations...

INQ28 by Molotov

The first spark and the spirit keeper. Molotov is the ambassador of the INQ28, that goes without saying. The blog is the first thing that made me interested of INQ28 scene and the Inquisitor game and gave me the first spark for Spiky Rat Pack's Punk Moth operation.

Opus Maius by Neil101

The master of Mechanicum. Neil's incredible talent of building scenery and making it feel like alive is fantastic. The way the gothic walls, rusty pipes and war torn ground turn in to the worlds of death and despair is palpable in Neil's projects.

MiniaTextures by JRN

The slayer of daemons. The flawless execution, that is the signature of Mr. Nielsen's style. JRN's linear perfection has been guiding me in many of my projects, giving me the spirit to push my limits even further. It sure is great to follow the ponderings of person with such merits.

Eternal Hunt by KrautScientist

KrautScientist's twisted experiments and wonderful kit-bashing has had a huge impact on my visions. His intuitive working method is pleasure to follow, every bit of background he writes with the passion most of us can only dream of.

Legion of Plastic by Migsula

Father of the fire, source of the endless inspiration. Migsula keeps on surprising me whenever he unfolds another spread open and reveals his next grande project. I've once had a chance to study Mig's minis at close range and was in an instant blown away by their imaginative narrativity and fine implementation. It is my obsession to study Mig's minis and learn the way he's doing his magic.

The Tears of Isstvan by Fulgrim

Seer of the horrific beauty, painter of curious visions. Fulgrim is frighteningly close to the truth of what the dark and cold 40k universe feels like. Whenever I feel like I've lost the touch of creativity, dwelved too far away from the spirit and need to have something to help me get dragged back to the sorrowly world of 40k, I schlep to Isstvan and get my dose of inspiration from the wise words of Fulgrim.

Last but not least is PDH who writes P&M blogs at the DakkaDakka community.

There are those who kit-bash and then there's PDH. Peter has found the very essence of the kit-bashing, creating amazing shapes of personalities, character after character, finely finishing every one of them with great amount of detail. There's no gang even close to those that PDH has put together, such is the marvel in them.

The artists of these fine sites have given us plenty of accomplishments to wonder and admire, yet we too seldom write or talk about their achievements. This is me raising my hat to you sirs, saying thank you for being around and sharing your wonderful thoughts with the rest of the community. Without you guys Spiky Rat Pack's grand operation Punk Moth wouldn't exist. It would be just another small dying sun in some dark corner of mind, withering away from the lack of attention.

Rats live on no evil star.

Then there are the Demigods. They are wandering in the mids of us ordinary mortals, raising our spirits to the levels that we could only dream of. A bit corny way to put it, but that's the way I'm able turn my thoughts in the words.

Art by John Blanche (a page from Emperor's Will by Black Library).

John Blanche himself has been pushing our spirits to the outer limits with his presence. We are lucky to have such an inspiring star as guidance, showing us the path to the glorious depths of the dark future. His fierce art and enthusiasm towards the hobby is a constant source of inspiration for us. I guess we can never thank him enough for the work he is doing, can we?

But I'm a dog, what does that make of me?

Summa summarum, I have a feeling that we truely are living the golden age of 40k, right here, right now. It's like a handful of hobbyists have found the furthest and darkest corner of the galaxy, the one that pulses the real essence of the grim and dark Universe of Warhammer 40.000. We are shaping it to something wondrous. It's a bit lone in there, but I'm glad that we've got the Internet, the place where we can share our thoughts and get connected with the like-minded people.

God damn mad dog.