The Wutang Clan

As my life slows down some from the chaotic Fall of getting back into teaching, coaching football, and playing a pretty sweet Rugby team, I find myself having some time to get back into an aspect of the hobby that I have grown to really love, painting and modelling. Of course, this painting and modeling time is despite the best efforts of FIFA 10 and Modern Warfare 2 to keep me from the hobby.

If I was a dedicated and smart hobbiest I would spend a couple months fleshing out my Dark Elves, and getting a few of those units done that I want to play with, as well as getting my magantized bases done. However, I find my motivation crushed by the fact that my painting has really improved since I started them, and to go back now is just frustrating. Plus, I am super excited about my new project, so I just want to start it in hopes I might use it this summer at the Battle on Beale. That being said, I am sure I will do a few things here and their with the DE's to mix it up, and I will post those, and I hope to keep getting a game in every blue moon or so with them, and I'll post the reports, but for now, this blog will be mostly dedicated to my new fantasy project...

The Wutang Clan - an Ogre Kingdom's Army

To date, I have a few bulls painted up, and a start on some Iron Guts. I will post pics of those soon. For now, I will post some pics of my current project, coverting a Tyrant and Maneater. My theme for these guys, as you might guess from the name, is to play on their semi-Eastern ties in the Warhammer world and go with a martial arts theme. I also did sort of a skull-esque face paint for some 40k orks years ago, and really liked it, so I'm carrying that over as well. My goal for the theme is convert the weapons to look more eastern in origin where I can, and to have bases that will also carry this over, as my army will have no large center piece model - rhinox riders are illegal where i play, I hate giants of all kinds, and not keen on the scraplauncha model. Obviously, my characters and units will also have a Wutang theme to them. Hopefully, it will all pull together and not look like crap. On to my first WIP shots.

The base for my tryant will be the paymaster maneater. What I don't like about the model is that it seems a bit smaller to most tyrant models. However, the more I thought about that, the more I liked it as many kung fu movies have a smallish, unimposing master who in reality, is an ass-beater. Also, I love his flowing coat and stance. I am going to canabilize some models to kitbash him together. I hated his left arm, and so on the right you can see I cut it off and attatched a sword. This sword is a bit small and unimpressive, so I've since cut the sword off and made it into a boa staff, more befitting a kung fu master i think. Think Hells Wind Staff!!! Those pics to come. My additional plans for this guy is to use the hunter's head for his head and either do a custom gut plate (greenstuff) or use the tyrant gut plate with horns.

Next up is a maneater converted from a tyrant!

I really liked the girth and stance of the tryant box, but I didn't like his weapons. The one handed sword was great, but the hammer didn't do it for me. I hated the two handed weapon even more. This project is not just about making an army, but really pushing myself painting and modeling wise (which still isn't that great) so I came up with a decent idea. My plan is cut up the two handed weapon, leaving just fits, and model this guy up to look like he's in a threating Kung Fu stance. I will then put a weapon on his back to show what he should be carrying, since he is a maneater after all. I cut up the two handed weapon (top left) and have begun filling and cutting away the excess. I think my life would be better if I knew how to use the Dremmel Driver left at my house... haha. Anyway, I will try to get this banged out and more pics up by the weekend, but you can see the right hand (upper right pic) is starting to look ok.

that's all for now. Comments, critiques, and suggestions always welcome!