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Warhammer 40K: Space Wolves Vindicator Conversions

April 28, 2013 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Presenting my Warhammer 40K “count as” Space Wolves vindicator conversions.

What do you get when you cross 3 Space Marine vindicator kits, spare Cadians, a lot of green stuff, and an overactive imagination? Something like this!
Each vindicator kit comes with a cannon shell. I took one, built up a plume of green stuff, and attached it to the cannon. That gave one of the vindicators a nice, “I’m firing!!!” action pose. On another shell, I used a Chaos spawn tentacle and had it grab hold from the back of the vindicator. I also added various blue glowy things oozing their way out of the vehicle, reinforcing the sense that not all was as it seems with these machines. And just because that wasn’t ridiculous enough, I added some poor victims being pulled in and eaten.
As usual, I had a big glob of green stuff left over. So I put it to good use. The grotesque “ball” is not attached to the vehicle. It’s one of my objective markers for this army, which normally gets some interesting comments from fellow players.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Space Wolves Dreadnought Conversion

April 27, 2013 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Presenting my Warhammer 40K “count as” Space Wolves dreadnought conversion.

This dreadnought conversion was actually a little trickier than it looks. The model is mostly stock, except the feet were adjusted slightly to allow it to stop on a poor Cadian. Getting the angle right proved difficult, given the lack of mobility in the stock model. Green stuff and Chaos Spawn parts went into the blue glowy growths. The Cadian on fire was easy enough to make with a big blob of green stuff and some simple sculpting to make it look … at least a little bit … like a burning fire.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Space Wolves Army

April 27, 2013 by holojacob 2 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K “count as” Space Wolves terminator army.

I’ve loved terminators for about as long as I’ve loved Warhammer 40K, and I always had this itch to do an all-terminator army. When the 5th Edition Space Wolves codex came out in 2009, I picked it up and was immediately drawn to the customization options with Wolf Guard. Since taking Logan Grimnar made Wolf Guard count as troops, I knew what I had to do next … start buying terminator kits!
The army consists of 2 Space Marine terminator kits, 2 Chaos Space Marine terminator kits, the Space Hulk terminators, and a Chaos terminator lord all put into a blender with Chaos spawn parts. It was a blast to put together!
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Tervigon Conversion

April 26, 2013 by holojacob 6 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Tervigon conversion, with vomited termagants.

tyranid tervigon conversion 1 — Blaargh!

tyranid tervigon conversion 5 — Another poor space marine bleeding out.

tyranid tervigon conversion 4 — More termagants!

I used the trygon kit to build this tervigon. For the “birthing” part of its rules, I decided to show it in a rather unconventional way. My tervigon vomits termagants! I used the Mawloc jaw as a base along with green stuff and half a termagant. I also expanded the throat with green stuff, giving the model a bulge the rest of the termagant could exist in. A glowing, gooey pile with new termagants reinforces this odd premise.
And, of course, I had to throw in a dying space marine. Just because.
The local ultramarines player really didn’t care for my tyranid models … not sure why …
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Mawloc Conversion

April 25, 2013 by holojacob 3 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Mawloc conversion.

tyranid mawloc conversion 1 — Mawloc smash!

tyranid mawloc conversion 2 — Terror from beneath!

tyranid mawloc conversion 3 — The mawloc enjoys long walks through subterranean passages and playing with its food.

The mawloc is based on the trygon kit, but I heavily modified the head. I used the mawloc mouths and tongues from three trygon kits along with green stuff to form the head. The space marine was easily add by cutting the ends of the tongues, gluing the space marine body in place, and gluing the tips to the space marine.
I wanted the mawloc to look like it had just crashed out of the ground, and so the other space marines are positioned as if they were just flung from the mawloc with impressive force, one of them in two directions at once. After completing conversions to the body, I had green stuff left over.
I couldn’t let it go to waste, so I added a big ribbon of blood between the severed halves of a space marine … because, you know, the model wasn’t far enough over-the-top yet.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Hive Tyrant Conversions

April 24, 2013 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Hive Tyrant conversions.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 1 — “Ready or not, here we come!”

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 2 — Making soldiers out of leftovers. It’s the Tyranid way!

With only a few minor modifications, I used a carnifex kit to make this hive tyrant. The most significant change is to the area where the legs and torso meet, where enough material had to be shaved off in order to get the tyrant to stand up straighter. He’s a general! No slouching!
The tyrant guard were easy enough to throw together with tyranid warrior parts and spare carapaces from the carnifex kits. The lash whips are based on ammunition feeds for the larger bioweapons with green stuff and extra spikes on the ends.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 5 — Winged hive tyrant swoops in!

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 6 — Maybe I took that whole swooping thing a little too far on this one …

This winged hive tyrant is based on a trygon kit. I took one section of the tail out and joined the gap with green stuff to help differentiate it from the trygon in my army. I also left off the side pincers on the head. The wings are from the chaos demon prince kit.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 7 — Terminators and dreadnoughts are essential parts of a balanced diet, and help young tyrants develop nice, slimy coats.

Even though the model is plastic, it’s positioning is so extreme that the base required a lot of weighting. Those are old school metal terminators.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 4 — Winged hive tyrant #2!

The second winged hive tyrant has a less extreme pose. Again, I used a trygon kit, shortened the tail, and used demon prince wings. I closed the jaw and added green stuff to fill the gaps, to help give it a different look from the first winged hive tyrant.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Broodlord Conversion

April 23, 2013 by holojacob 2 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Broodlord conversion, with freshly sliced space marine.

tyranid broodlord conversion 2 — Here he comes!

tyranid broodlord conversion 6 — The space marine is just starting to slide apart …

This conversion used genestealer and tyranid warrior parts. Only the head and the feet are from the genestealer kit. One genestealer foot came with an extension for slotting into the base. I took that extension and merged it with the rubble to support the broodlord. The other foot and one knee provide additional support against the rubble. Even with the low weight of the plastic parts, the base had to be weighted. I used leftover metal bits underneath the base.
The marine was assembled whole, then sawed apart. I used green stuff to give him an acidic, melting look. I tried to make it look like the broodlord had zipped by, leaving the space marine to slowly slide apart in a cool, anime style.
As with all of my tyranids, the broodlord has no eyes since I am a big fan of the movies Alien and Aliens. In this case, the eyes were covered with a very small amount of green stuff.
The broodlord was my second tyranid model, and it remains one of my favorites. I love that only a little bit of his tail is actually over the base!
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Zoanthrope Conversion

April 22, 2013 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Zoanthrope, with psychically exploding space marine.

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 1 — BOOM!

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 2 — BOOSH!

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 5 — POP! Like a big, juicy zit.

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 4 — “I’m a floating brain for a reason, you know …”

The exploding space marine was made using standard space marine bits, metal wire, and green stuff. I used the wire to create a sub-structure and then built the green stuff on top of it in layers until I reached sufficient levels of ridiculousness. I then added the space marine parts to the exploding “frame.”
Due to the low weight of the exploding space marine and the high weight of the metal Zoanthrope, it’s easy to get a very dynamic pose. I used a piece of gothic terrain to extend the space marine far beyond the base, which makes it even more ridiculous.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

The Dragons of Jupiter: Cover Work-in-Progress

April 20, 2013 by holojacob 2 Comments

Kaneda’s dropfighter ground to a halt just outside the city. Explosive bolts blew the rear hatch open. The locks holding his armor released.
“Move out!” Kaneda shouted.
Crusaders stormed out of the dropfighter. Kaneda raised his Gatling gun and followed. He stepped off the metal ramp and onto the moon’s surface. Ice crunched under his boots. Leftover gel from the bombing run still burned in patches on the gray, drab buildings. Crusaders splashed through shallow pools that quickly refroze.
“Spread out! Secure those buildings!”
Jupiter’s storm-wracked face rose in front of him. Kaneda paused and looked at the planet. It filled the horizon from end to end. Ten years had passed since he’d seen the mighty gas giant with his own eyes. And now he was home again, on Europa, with ice under his boots. He even recognized some of the buildings. The nostalgia of the moment hit him harder than he thought possible, and he hesitated.
The second thing that hit him was a needle grenade exploding in his face.

Excerpt from The Dragons of Jupiter, by Jacob Holo

Robert Chew, a.k.a. CrazyAsian1, has begun detailing the final version of the cover.
What can I say? Already, it looks phenomenal!
The cover is set up to wrap around the book, with the left half on the back cover. The front prominently features crusaders, elite heavy infantry that are the antagonists of the novel. I love the added heft Robert gave their designs. A lone dragon, one of the protagonists, hides on the back cover, ready to ambush in ninja-like fashion.
I’m excited to see how he details in the dragon. Not much longer now!
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Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Army

April 20, 2013 by holojacob 11 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid army.

tyranid hordes 1 — Even more of the Horde.

tyranids broodlord conversion — Broodlord conversion, leaping forward.

tyranid zoanthrope 2 — Zoanthrope awesomeness blew this space marine’s mind.

tyranid zoanthrope 1 — Zoanthrope posse.

tyranid winged hive tyrant conversion — Winged hive tyrant conversion. Kind of a crazy pose.

tyranid warrior — Tyranid warrior with his new friend.

tyranid trygon — Stock trygon model. Nothing fancy.

tyranid tervigon conversion — Tervigon conversion, vomiting some more termagants.

tyranid mawloc conversion — Mawloc conversion playing with its food.

tyranid lictor — Lictor sneaking up on one unlucky space marine.

While I’m not the best painter or converter or player … I do have a lot of fun with the hobby. And for me, that’s the whole point.
I currently favor Warmachine over Warhammer 40K for my gaming needs, but there’s no denying that Games Workshop produces fantastic models. The heavy use of plastic in their product lines allows for all sorts of conversion flexibility, which I absolutely love.
I hope you enjoyed this brief look at my Tyranids army.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Engineer Likes WordPress

April 20, 2013 by holojacob 4 Comments

Starting near the end of February, 2013, I began an experiment. I stopped playing video games for a whole month and started a blog. Because, you know, why not? Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed blogging quite a bit.
You see, I love statistics. I love numbers. I love analyzing data. It’s part of being an engineer. And what is one of the perks of having a blog? Tons and tons of data, that’s what!
It was fascinating. Which articles were popular? Which were not? Which spiked in views and then died off? Which provided a steady stream of views? How did people find the site? What country were they from? How often did people view more than one article? Which search engine did they use? What keywords did they type?
And on, and on, and on.
Oh, this stuff just tickles my brain. I love it.
But there was one piece that didn’t seem to fit. Often, my articles would have more LIKES than VIEWS shortly after their release. Now that seemed odd to me. What did that mean? Was there a delay in recording the VIEWS?
This was an easy enough theory to test. I used a second computer and was pleased to see the new VIEWS registered almost immediately. The only delay I saw was in reporting unique VISITORS, not VIEWS.
Okay, that cleared up that. VIEWS update quickly. So how did I get more LIKES than VIEWS?
And then I witnessed it happening.
A fellow blogger LIKED one of my stories … and then another … and another. The blogger LIKED about five of my articles in the span of a minute … in the reverse order I wrote them. And the VIEW count did not rise. I actually had my dashboard open at the time, since I was prepping my next article.
Huh. I wondered what’s going on there. I checked the person’s blog. Maybe we had something in common.
Now, I suppose the person could have had a huge interest in Warmachine Cryx warcaster strategy articles, but it seemed unlikely from a young lady with a poetry blog. I know there are plenty female wargamers out there. I married one, but I’m also smart enough to know that isn’t the norm.
So what was the point in LIKING the article if she never actually read it? It’s not as if I had interest in following a poetry blog … oh, shoot. There it is! I visited her blog because she LIKED my article! That was the only reason I visited her blog! And that was why she LIKED my article, to generate traffic!
After catching it once, I found this was a fairly common activity.
Well, that kind of makes the LIKE button meaningless, doesn’t it? If the LIKE button is being used as a blog advertisement, then it becomes more of a nuisance than anything else. Call me old fashioned, but I actually read the articles I LIKE. And if I don’t like them, I don’t LIKE them.
But it’s still cool. I am definitely having a good time. After all, isn’t that the point of a hobby?

Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Epic Skarre

April 5, 2013 by holojacob 2 Comments

Warcasters are the stars of Warmachine, and Cryx has no shortage of powerful and fun-to-play warcasters. Today, I’m taking a look at Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast.
IN SHORT: Feel like outshooting Cygnar for a change? Try Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast! No, serious. She can actually do that. But if you don’t feel like shooting, she can do the melee thing too.
STRENGTHS: Skarre has BLACK SPOT! Seriously, the awesomeness of this spell cannot be understated. This spell, by itself, is enough reason to take Skarre. First, Black Spot acts as a 2 DEF debuff for either a unit or model (HINT: pick a unit). Not bad, right? Oh, it gets better! If a Cryx model kills an enemy suffering from Black Spot, the Cryx model gets a free attack. ANY free attack at its disposal at ANY target. The only limitation is these extra attacks cannot generate more attacks, because that would just be silly!
Skarre retains Backlash for whittling down enemy warcasters by beating on their warjacks. Always nice for softening up the target before the main assassination push.
Skarre is also very Focus efficient. Her ability, Seas of Fate, allows models in her battlegroup (her included!) to boost after rolling. This is immensely helpful for getting the most out of allocated Focus! Also, thanks to Blood Trade, she can take a point of damage instead of spending Focus to upkeep her spells.
When it comes to warjack support, Skarre has some great tools. Perdition is an attack spell with a powerful trigger ability. If Skarre damages the target, a model in her battlegroup may move towards the nearest enemy. She can even cast this multiple times! A model can only be moved once per turn due to Perdition, though.
Death Ward is a nice +2 ARM buff that can apply to a unit or single model. On a warjack, this lets Skarre pick the damage column, allowing her toughened warjack to keep its critical systems running even after heavy damage.
And then there’s Admonition. Put this on a warjack or Skarre. If an enemy gets within 6”, this model gets a free 3” move. Just got charged by an enemy heavy? Not anymore! As an added bonus, the model is immune to free strikes during this move.
Finally, there’s Skarre’s feat, Fate Weaver. By suffering up to 5 points of damage, Skarre can select up to 5 models, friends or enemies. Friendly models cannot be targeted by enemy attacks. Enemy models cannot attack. Yikes! Those enemy models can’t even make free strikes, so her army can walk right by!
WEAKNESSES: Without an ARM debuff and with an army often geared towards shooting, Skarre can suffer against enemy heavy armor. Taking models with their own ARM debuffs can help offset this, though.
Skarre is also just as squishy as before. DEF 16, ARM 15, and 16 damage is okay, but Skarre still has that nasty habit of self-inflicted wounds.
SYNERGIES: Any model can benefit from Black Spot, but models with shooting attacks more than others. They are much more likely to have a valid target after taking out a Black Spotted enemy. The more shots the better. Warjacks like the Leviathan and especially the Kraken can really punish the enemy with extra shooting.
Also consider Pistol Wraiths and Revenant Crews with Captain Rengrave. Not only can they take advantage of Black Spot, but they also make good targets for Fate Weaver. Try using Fate Weaver on the Pistol Wraiths after they go corporeal, or on the Revenant Crew leader to make the unit extra annoying to get rid of.
With Black Spot, Perdition, and Backlash, Skarre really wants an Arc Node or two. Why not take ones with shooting attacks while you’re at it?
Also, given Skarre’s self-destructive nature, take a Necrosurgeon. With Blood Trade, she can often upkeep multiple spells for “free” if a Necrosurgeon is handy to patch her up.
Finally, Skarre doesn’t have an ARM debuff. It may be a good idea to some Bane Thralls or Gorma Di Wulfe handy to deal with enemy heavy armor.
JUST FOR FUN: So, how ridiculous is the Kraken with Black Spot? This ridiculous!
First, load the Kraken with Focus. Have Skarre hit an enemy infantry unit with Black Spot. Now start shooting, and use that Focus to boost rolls where needed. Results will vary depending on how many Flayer shots the Kraken gets.
The best results possible? 4 Flayer shots at POW 12 and a massive 6 Hell Blaster shots (4” AOE up to POW 17 with POW 10 blast damage)! Just call this combo, the Table Sweeper!
SUMMARY: Skarre brings some love to the shooting side of the Cryx army. Even better, her diverse abilities and battlegroup efficiency means she can support a wide variety of builds.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.