New Year's Eve...

Well, it is that time of year...the deep breath before the new one!

It has been a very interesting year in the Inso household with detachments to Iraq, Promotion, change of address, change of job and all of the emotional baggage that goes along with such upheaval.

Next year is likely to be very similar with more detachments and a further move on the cards for this coming year.

It is lucky then, that Inso has had his hobby to take his mind off things when they were getting a bit heavy in the real world.

One thing that has been a bit sparse this year is the build up of the Grymn war-machine. This has been partly due to unfinished armies weighing heavy on the mind, partly due to being away from home so often and partly because the amount of new Grymn that have been released was a little disappointing. Hopefully, Inso will rally a bit this coming year and we'll get a few more diminutive warriors gracing this Blog.

Without further ado, I'll start the ball rolling with the first infantry picture of the Urban Grymn army that is the latest project. These are a fire-team for the first assault section of the assault platoon:



As Inso says..."four down; twenty to go".

Hopefully this is the start of a QUICKLY growing force for the year ahead!

From Inso and I, we wish you all a good evening of remembering the past, and drinking to the future. Have a Happy New year and we'll see you all on the flip side!

Catch you later!

Someone's been painting his Nakka!

Inso sent this over today. It is a pic of an Ogre that he bought from Heresy miniatures and is called Nakka:



Of course, it wouldn't have benn right for him to leave it as it was (a fantasy Ogre) so he made a few alterations:


It will be perfect as a leader for the other 4 Trenchcoat Gangers that he has bought from Heresy. He has deliberately left the base plain so that he can decide what to do with it when he has painted the whole gang.

Catch you later!

Christmas Eve.

All the presents are wrapped in the Inso household and the cook book is on the table ready for tomorrow's goose to get cooked (Inso always cooks Christmas dinner when he's not out and about doing the Queen's bidding). Everything is winding down and getting ready for the big day. I was, therefore, quite surprised to get a pic sent through:



This one is Lt.Hardiman; leader of the 'Clanker' squadron. He is the first of ten mechanical walkers; affectionately known as Clankers by the Grymn. He is armed with a flame-thrower and power-fist and has improved sensor equipment and a command communications system.

I have it on good authority that there is another Clanker on the table ready to be painted. It is currently undercoated but it is doubtful that much else will happen to it until Boxing Day. Inso has also seen sense and has removed the bulk of the Assault Platoon from the table so that he can focus on the first fire-team without being distracted by the rest.

In other news, Inso recently received a parcel from Heresy miniatures. It contained an Ogre (called Nakka) and four Trenchcoat Gangers. Nakka is sitting on the table in the process of getting a trenchcoat sculpted on; he's already been given a large pistol to replace his axe but he will also need some cool glasses to be added so that he matches the rest of the gangers...seeing as he is going to be their leader!

Well...that's it for now.

To everyone who reads this Blog, I hope you have a merry Christmas/happy holiday season and enjoy the New Year celebrations.

Catch you later!

Monday already?

It would appear that the first platoon of Assault troops are now all undercoated and ready for proper painting:



Next up, Inso has been experimenting with the lead battlesuit. It isn't complete but shows the basic camo pattern. It seems that squares and rectangles are go...even though he has already stated that he hates painting them:



That's it for now. Catch you later.

Saturday...Platoon...SHUN!

I guess you just have to take what you can get...and this pic says it all:



There has been no painting going on in the Inso household (apart from the merest glimpse of camouflage in the top right corner of the pic) so it would seem that he has used his time to assemble the Assault platoon in it's entirety.

From the top down, we have four assault fire teams, one support section and a command section.

Inso has fleshed out the minis that he is converting and has done a weapon swap on the lieutenant, a head swap on the radio operator and a little bit of arm re-posing on a few others. There is still the base filling to go and of course, the green stuff to add to the conversions.

On a different theme...BATTLE-SUITS!

Inso is toying with a few rules and has come up with a bit of a conundrum. Should his battle suits be treated as heavy armour OR a vehicle? In other words, should it have a beefed up infantry profile or should it have a vehicle/walker profile? Any ideas? The Battle-suits have been shown before but here they are again:



Inso has 10 of the Battle-suits with a variety of heavy weapons and will probably end up fielding them as a single unit.

Catch you later!

Thursday...with an update.

Inso has been a bit poorly so he hasn't been doing any painting for fear of messing things up. Fortunately, he hasn't been idle and has assembled a squadron of three Pilum drop-ships for his Grymn assault platoon:



The lead Pilum has an additional harness added to the area behind the cockpit to represent additional command/control/communications equipment. All of the drop-ships have to be cleaned and have a few minor modifications before painting starts.

As well as the drop-ships, there has been some progress on the flier. The box with all the Tau vehicles in contained plenty of other bits and pieces and the Ion cannon was just what Inso was looking for to add as an engine.


At the moment, things still look a bit cobbled together but I have been assured that it is early days and things will be sorted out as the conversion progresses. There are plans to add a downward pointing tail-fin and some missiles, along with some sort of nose weapon (HMG?). Don't be alarmed at the angles and sharp edges of the flier at the moment...things will change :).

Catch you later!

Slooow Sunday...

Inso has a case of man-flu so has not been able to concentrate as much as he would have liked this week.

That said, he had to drag himself into town in order to get a few Christmas presents and on his return had a box of 3 Tau vehicles. He bought them to act as drop-ships for his jet-pack assault troops. He was hoping that they would be big enough to house 16 troops but when he assembled one he realised that it was a bit smaller than he had hoped so is using them to carry 8 troops in each. Fortunately, there were 3 in the box so he has enough for the platoon (one for each assault squad and one for the command and support sections to share).

Here is a pic of the first 'Pilum' drop ship with the troops it is destined to carry:



In the above pic, you can also see that Inso has progressed the troops a little. This is mostly a case of him buying all sorts of grey paint on his travels. The 4 troops nearest the front have had their armour plates re-touched a level further than the 4 troops at the rear. From what he has said, Inso is so happy with the dark grey that he may not even paint camouflage on the armour! I'll believe that when I see it.

The whole build up of this army is going to be slightly different to his previous ones. What Inso is planning to do, is to finish each unit completely before moving on. That means that for each squad that is painted, he will build and paint their transport before he moves on to the next squad. That way, he won't end up with another army of troops with no vehicles. He is also talking about furnishing a travel case to house the army as he builds it...are there plans to start gaming???

I had a quick look at his painting table today and there is a small conversion on the go. It looks a bit like a Grymn body with all it's limbs and head removed and the start of some sculpted legs. If I am right, it may shed a little light on the 'Iron-Grymn' comment that Inso made...you never know!

Well, that is it for today. Inso will be off Bingo calling again tonight (even though he is poorly...bless him) so there won't be any more news from him today.

Catch you later!

...?

I tried to get some sense from Inso today and all he'd say is...

'I am Iron-Grymn'.

I sometimes think he's gone mad, you know! Hopefully, he'll tell me what the heck he is talking about at some point.

On a different note, the assault troops now have grey fatigues and are awaiting a paint purchase to gain any progress.

The Troll...hasn't changed and neither has the flier.

Christmas is such a busy time of year.

Catch you later!

Sunday.

Out of the blue, I received this pic:



These are the first two fire-teams for a new army. From what Inso has said, this army is going to be an urban assault army. They will be arranged differently to his Codex Imperial Guard Grymn forces and will be loosely based on British Army organisation.

The first unit (that the two fire-teams are part of) will be a Jump Assault Platoon and will be made up as follows:

Command Section (Lieutenant, Sgt, Communications Trooper and Gunner).
Support Section (Cpl, Gunner and 2xGunners with HMG)
Assault Section (2xFire-team of Cpl, 2xGunners and Gunner with Flamethrower).
Assault Section (2xFire-team of Cpl, 2xGunners and Gunner with Flamethrower).

Generally, the gunners will have twin assault pistols and all the troops in the platoon will have jump-packs (as shown).

There are plans to have Light and Heavy infantry platoons as well as walker squadrons, APCs and armour support.

Most of the miniatures are already bought but there are still a few bits and pieces to go.

Inso has more or less decided on the colour scheme but needs to get some different paint colours before he gets much painting done. I guess there will be a lot of miniature preparation/conversion in the mean time.


In other news, the flier has stopped for the time being but the Troll is progressing nicely. Unfortunately there are no further pix for the Troll as yet...but I'm sure there will be some soon.

It's Bingo night again tonight so Inso will be off calling the numbers a bit later. That will mean not a lot more progress tonight.

Catch you later!

Saturday...TROLL!!!

Inso sent the latest progress on the Troll in Powered Armour:



From what he mentioned, he is looking to build up the back a bit more, add the arms and then start on the armour. There is also a bit more work to be done on the top lip and teeth.

Inso seems to be focusing on the Troll at the moment so I doubt that there will be much progress on the flier.

Catch you later!

Something a little different...

Inso has sent a couple of pix over today. First up is a work-in-progress shot of a support flier:



The flier is based on a Japanese Xabungle model kit of a 'Hobuggy' (a sort of hover bike). It is quite large; being a 1/48scale kit but it will make for good support to the ground troops (either as a transport or a rocket/gun carrier).

Next up is something that has been prompted by 'Balgin Stondraeg' from the Forum of Doom. He has been talking about Trolls in Powered Armour and Inso thought it may make an interesting miniature...so he's started sculpting one. As you can see, it is in a very early stage at the moment:



It isn't going to be huge...but who knows how big a Troll should be anyway?!

Catch you later!

Tuesday?

I just received this: (click to see a bigger version):



It would appear that the Stormtrooper unit is finished (except for varnish). That means that all of the little bits, pieces and additions to the Green Grymn army are now complete...apart from 2 APCs.

Inso has said that APCs are not high on his list of priorities at the moment so I dread to think what is next. He did say that once all the troops are varnished, there will be an army picture...but he didn't say when that was likely to be.

Maybe there will soon be pix of the support flier?

Maybe there will soon be pix of the support walker?

Grav bike maybe? Who knows?

Catch you later.