Space Marine Demo

I came across the Space Marine Demo in the Playstation Store 2 days ago and downloaded it.  I was impressed.  If you are looking for it on your system, check out the info page here.  I have to say I was impressed.  I do not normally enjoy this style of game but there was something incredibly satisfying about smashing Orks and Gretchin while blasting about with a jump pack.  Others will write better reviews but I recommend checking out the free demos.  And I am asking Santa for a jump pack.

I Hate Epic Caine

Epic Caine and Epic Stryker might be great if you like to super-pose your miniatures.  I prefer for the pieces to fit.  Do you see that right leg?  Even in the stock photo, it is a little askew and the foot does not lay flush with the base.  Below is what the mini looks like with the arms glued on.  When trying to position that leg, Caine ends up with a club foot, bow legged, knock-kneed, or a combination there of.  Grrr...

I finally just super glued it and hoped for the best.  I am fairly certain I should have pinned it but I just did not want to screw around with it anymore.  Caine is the one on the lower right.  Next to him is a one armed Epic Stryker.  He is almost as bad.  There are also 2 last rangers, Classic Haley, and a DnD fig getting their bases.  The only one finding this process relaxing is the bear in the hot tub.

The Next Battle Engine

While letting the glue dry, I noticed a close resemblance to Cygnar's Storm Strider...

Cygnar's next battle engine!  What do you think?

Here is the Firefly with fully magnetized arms.

Setting Goals

I have been trying to get back into the mini's and blogging.  I am doing pretty good so far.  In the past week, I have worked on a few projects.

• Cygnar Firefly glued and magnetized.
• Cygnar Rangers glued and primed.
• Cygnar Trenchers glued and primed.
• Circle of Orborus Druids glued and primed.
• Gnome character for DnD pinned and glued.
• Tiefling character for DnD glued and primed
• Cygnar caster Classic Haley glued.
• Continuing to glue the stupid eStriker and eCain Cygnar casters.

Before September 1st, I want to finish:

• Prime the Cygnar Firefly and Haley.
• Paint the DnD Tiefling

Specifically, the DnD Tiefling is going to be used in our game on Thursday night and I want to have it done for the next battle.  So September 1st is my goal.  Let's see how it goes...

Note to Self

Next time, wear gloves when you spray paint your mini's.  Not sure what the boss is going to think...

New Hobby Area

I like pictures of hobby areas.  So here is a picture of mine.  It is still a work in progress up at least I can dig my mini's out again.

Click on the pic to go even further down the rabbit hole...

A quick tour will reveal spray paint and Simple Green sitting on a box of Lizardmen still not unpacked.  A Space marine Dreadnought guards the bits box.  More Space Marines hang on the wall while several Orks are trying to take over the unpainted ranks of Cygnar.  Many of my gaming books are within easy reach with the Order of the Stick looking on.  Fun Times!

Cygnar Firefly

Click on the pics for larger versions.

Back Story:  We have moved into our new house and I have finally unpacked enough boxes that I don't feel guilty when I walk by my hobby room.  To celebrate, I went to the local craft store, picked up a few new paints, a nice pack of brushes on for half off, and headed home.

I spent the first couple of hours digging out mini's and organizing my area.  It is still small but I think it will work.  I dug out all my Cygnar mini's that still need paint and lined them up.  Then I got intimidated and nearly packed them all back up.  I decided that what I really wanted to paint was a warjack and then I realized that I have them all painted!  So I went to the game store and purchased a Firefly.

Firefly:  This is the first Privateer Press plastic model I have gotten and I have to say I like it.  I was surprised by the number of pieces, especially in the right arm with the spear.  If you want to pose this guy, the right arm will be heaven.  I checked online and found Guts N Gears video of how to put it together (here).  I like these guys podcasts and the video was incredibly helpful.  They mention the amount of flash on their model and mine was similar.  The mold lines were very clean but the place where each piece was connected to the pour had to be cleaned and it was little tricky around some studs and other details.

I really liked how 95% of the pieces fit together.  The legs and back furnace didn't even have to be glued, though I did.  The arms each fit together really well and could have been glued without any pinning.  If you have built the metal warjacks before, you can understand my joy.  Of course, I couldn't just glue it.  I wanted to be able to swap arms.  Sometimes, you just need an extra Lancer, or you can pull an arm off when it experiences combat damage.  And I wanted to play with my magnets!


I started by tracing one of the magnets with a mechanical pencil.  I then used my Dremel tools to hollow it out.  It took a while to get used to how the tip of the Dremel removed material but it really was the best tool for the job.  Once I got the circle the right size, I was able to remove more material deeper without changing the size of the circle.  I was aiming to get the magnet flush with the plastic.

I am very glad I started with drilling out the body.  It is much easier than the arms.  The arm sockets happen to be about a hair bigger than the 0.250" diameter (6.4mm) and 0.063" thick (1.6mm) rare earth magnets that I have on hand.  I basically removed everything out to the studs and as deep as I could without busting through.  I could literally see daylight through the bottom of the piece when I was done drilling!

Note for others:  You can do it the same way I did.  It obviously works.  But, you could save yourself some grief and either get smaller magnets or or just cut off the arm piece with the studs and glue straight on the hydraulics.  A smaller magnet would work because the pieces are plastic and they are holding virtually no weight.  Cutting off the studded collar would work, though you lose detail and there is less material to glue to.

The rest is still a work in progress.  More pics will be coming soon.