Saturday and it smells like...victory!

Well, it seems that Inso has been a busy boy already today. There are a lot of pictures to show off:

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This is the Grymn Attack Copter that Inso was Kindly sent by Sally and Kev from Hasslefree Miniatures. He has added some undercarriage, a chin weapon and a pair of speakers. This is a sort of homage towards one of his favourite films 'Apocalypse Now'. In the film, a squadron of helicopters fly towards a small settlement, start up the 'The Ride of the Valkyries' on the stereo and start blasting...it is very inspiring.

There is a quote in the film where Lt Killgore is stood on a beach talking to the troops when the forest line is hit with napalm and erupts in flames. He turns to his troops and says...

..."I love the smell of napalm in the morning...it smells like...victory"...

Catch you later!

Thursday

I've been talking to a rather tired Inso today. Work has been very busy and although he is very happy about it and enjoying the change, he is feeling the effort...poor little chap!

That said, he has still had a bit of time in the evenings to potter about with his hobby.

...So...what has been occurring? ...Well, on Monday he went to the Post Office and collected an unexpected parcel. Inside was a resin, master cast model of a Grymn Grav Copter kindly sent as a gift by Sally at http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk . Unfortunately, he hasn't taken any pix of it but there is one just like it here (at my mate Brandlin's Blog):

http://brandlin.blogspot.com/2009/05/ooooh-present.html

This weekend, Inso is planning to build some undercarriage, weaponry and a pair of speakers to customise it as the lead copter in a future squadron.

In the mean time, he has been putting together his next squad of Genetic Infantry. So far, he has cleaned, based and undercoated 5 of the Vasa marines and they are much the same as the last two squads. He hasn't got too far; he has just base coated and washed the skin, ready for the highlights...but it is a start.

Finally, the planning stage for the Grymn light infantry platoons is over. After much sorting and head scratching, each of the platoons will be arranged like this:

Command:
1 Lieutenant with SMG
1 Veteran with SMG
1 Trooper with SMG
1 Trooper with radio set and SMG

Support
1 leader with SMG
1 Trooper with SMG
2 Troopers with railgun

First section (2 four-man fireteams)
2 leaders with SMG
4 troopers with SMG
1 trooper with plasma rifle
1 trooper with grenade launcher

Second section (2 four-man fireteams)
2 leaders with SMG
4 troopers with SMG
1 trooper with plasma rifle
1 trooper with grenade launcher

As a result of the changes (Inso has replaced 7 flamers with the grenade launchers and plasma rifles), he has placed an order for a few Grymn to fill in the gaps. All that he is waiting for is this Grymn Spotter to be released, to act as the second platoon's lieutenant:

http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/wip/241.jpg

Well, that's the week so far. Whether there will be much of an update at the weekend, I can't say...hopefully, we'll see some results of his copter customisation.

Catch you later!

Sunday upheaval.

Today has been a fairly busy one for Inso; what with shopping and recycling but he has still managed to finish painting his second squad of Genetic Infantry. He sent over this pic and says that all that needs to do is finish off the bases:

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In other news, Inso has been appraising his troops for his Grymn Urban Army. He has already assembled an assault platoon and has painted about half of it (as has been seen on this blog) but he has one or two more troops to go:

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In the box above, we have 2 light infantry platoons (24 troops in each), a heavy infantry unit (16 troops), a support platoon (16 troops) and a Kindred sniper unit (12 troops).

So...why has he been looking through his army box? Well...he now has £150-00 to spend at Hasslefree Miniatures, thanks to a great deal over at their site. That has meant that he has been thinking about what is needed to finish off the troops for his Urban army.

Obviously, he'll need a command platoon but he has some other issues about his army.

First of all, the light infantry squads only have flamers for support so he wants to swap them with some grenade launchers and plasma rifles.

Secondly, he needs to add a couple of standard troops to finish off one or two of the fire teams (as they are a couple short).

Finally, he needs to make a decision about what sort of heavy support he'll be taking. Will he go for more support platoons or tanks or even fliers?

With so much money to spend, it may take a while to come to a proper decision BUT with a few new releases, I expect that time will suddenly be less of an issue!

If the worse comes to the worse, there are a few Hasslefree adventurers that would make great Genetic Infantry, so I don't think actually spending the money will be a problem.

It is bingo night again so the hobby will take a break for the evening. I doubt very much if there will be any updates until next Sunday as Inso has a busy week at work so I hope to see you then.

Catch you later!

Thursday...

It has been an interesting week this week.

Inso has been working very hard fixing aircraft and doing all his other jobs at work and has been doing a little bit of over time. That said, he has still managed to work on a second squad of Genetic Infantry and has taken them from bare metal to almost painted. They seem to be calling him to extra endeavor...well, let's face it...something had to!

On the delivery front, Inso has received his mint Tiger APC and is very happy with it. He has also had a small packet of specially ordered Lego components. They are mostly wheels but there are a few other bits and pieces as well. He has basically said that they will be for a few small vehicles to act as scouts for his desert Grymn. He has enough components for 8 vehicles and if they work out alright then he is keen to get more Lego to make a platoon of them. I guess that they will be trikes of some sort because he has 24 wheels...but whether they will be side cars, choppers or all in line I've no idea. They may just be bikes with a spare wheel!

As you can gather, he isn't sending pix of the bits and pieces so I guess he wants to keep us a little in suspense.

I think that there will be pix of finished Genetic Infantry by Sunday evening though.

Catch you later!

Monday Rogues.

I received this pic of the first squad of Genetic Infantry today:

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As you will quickly notice, they all have blue skin. That is because they are very loosely based on the genetic infantry from Rogue Trooper (shown in 2000AD comics). You will also notice that the bases haven't been textured yet...that, apparently, is next on Inso's 'to-do' list. I think that they will fit in very well with the existing GI project minis:

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What will be next? Well I honestly couldn't say. I saw Inso looking at a box of Perry Miniatures plastic American Civil War minis a little while ago today...so your guess is as good as mine!

I would probably expect him to start the next squad of GIs, get bored half way through and then finish off his 3 half painted starship crew...or maybe crack on with his little Grymn vehicle project when the wheels and stuff turn up from Lego.

Catch you later!

Is it Sunday Already?!

I'd really love to be able to show you lots of pix tonight...but none have appeared so I can't. Inso has had a family day and has been busy shopping and watching DVDs.

Fortunately, before all the normal stuff went on, Inso got up bright and early, left his family to their sleep and did a spot of painting. He reckons that tomorrow he'll have the first of his Genetic Infantry squads painted (but not based)...all he needs to do is highlight 5 pairs of trousers and finish off their weapons and he's done.

Hopefully, we'll see some pix tomorrow.

On to other things...Codex Imperial Guard.

Inso has had a bit of a read and has decided that although the doctrine system from the old codex has gone, there are plenty of positives to be found.

First up, you can now field armoured cavalry as the infantry platoon squads can all now have Chimeras.

There are a few new squads: penal legionaries and psyker squads.

There are veteran options to allow you to give your veterans (now a troop choice) Grenadiers or other disciplines (they allow them to take special equipment or skills).

Tanks, Valkyries and Sentinels are now all taken in squadrons of 1 to 3 (so you can have 3 for one Heavy Support/Fast attack choice).

Lots of other good things are in there as well...so all in all, the Codex is a change for the better (except for the lack of the Carapace armour doctrine :( ... As far as Inso is concerned, he'll just pay a few extra points and give all his Grymn carapace armour anyway! He doesn't game so he doesn't really care that much about the letter of the laws...although the framework helps him to set limits on his armies).

So...tomorrow...finished squad of Genetic Infantry.

After that...who knows?!

Catch you later!

Saturday News.

Hello again. It is Saturday and I have received a pic from Inso that shows off his latest Void arrival from E-Bay. This is as a direct response to a comment made...so if there is additional stuff that you are interested in seeing, let us know and we'll see what we can do. Anyway, here's the pic:

Click the Pic for a better view and a few labels!

As yet, there is no sign of the Tiger APC but it has only been a few days so there is no need to worry too much about it at the moment. Back to the pic and this little lot cost Inso the princely sum of £7-70...including postage! I asked Inso why he had bid on them and he replied..."why not?" whilst looking at me with a rather bemused glance. He did say that it was worth a punt as he could always use extra troops for his genetic infantry project and this pack had the marines with the extra bonus of a couple of rather nice bikes as well...not bad at all for the price!

On to different news, Inso went to a Games Workshop store today and came out with the new Codex Imperial Guard and a pack of 5 Ratling snipers. He has browsed the rules but doesn't have much to say about them at the moment apart from..."there goes my Grymn carapace armour". He really liked the new Ratling snipers though...even if the first thing he said about them was..."I'll need to put boots on two of them". He really isn't keen on bare feet in the 40th millenium!

Well, it is a beautiful day and Inso is planning on a bit of lawn cutting so I can't say whether anything will be forthcoming from a hobby perspective today. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!

Catch you later!