2020 in review, and looking forward

No more shall the shame of missing a pledge be felt, from now on we will all travel in tubes!

….Wait…that’s a different thing!

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Everyone (to 2020):

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2020 was set up to be a year of events; Company of Legends, Scarring of Alspa, Damochan, Heresy.Scot, Melos….We had plans to each complete a titan legio, a militia list, and add to our 30k frontline lists. We even had the supposed opportunity with lockdowns being forced to stay at home. So what happened…

…COVID (Der H: “If you didn’t know the answer, turn on the TV…”)….COVID happened. Der H is a doctor and so the year has been busy. But even with days off and annual leave, progress wasn’t as amazing as we all thought it would be. Several podcasts, (looking at you Age of Darkness!), have hit the nail on the head in their recent ‘casts: a lot of people feel ashamed of their lack of ‘progress’, especially when the time was seemingly available.

At work there is a lot of talk about fatigue, and what that means. The daily “Do I have a temperature?”, “Have I got my mask?”, “Can I go to that shop?” etc takes a toll. I write this between two 13-hour shifts in a large ICU. Constant FFP3, ceaseless admissions, more deaths and life-changing ICU admissions than usual takes a toll - the Hobby we do in our free time shouldn’t be what shames us. The Age of Darkness Podcast do a Two week hobby challenge - its great, but results in many fellow hobbyists landing in the box of shame. They have recently (here I think) ended the box of shame, and will be taking a new approach without shame, but celebrating progress….and that’s what we’re going to do!

2021: Celebrate achievement, don’t shame failure

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So, for 2021, we are going to focus on celebrating what we get done each month. Not focusing on our failures. Thers is a joy of ‘butterflying’ between projects; there’s always so much on the go!

Keep an eye out for our respective January in review posts, as well as the February “whats on our workbench” post in the next few days!

Its a Glorious day....

Some time ago, Der H started work on a Gloriana class for BFG. The project went on a bit, was very large and (Brother Handro: “…as is tradition…”) didn’t get finished….

…until today.

This is my take WIP on the Gloriana class from 30k lore. I’ve made two hull versions, two engine versions, and a range of prows - some specific to certain legions, others are generic.

Weapon systems are all currently imperial; Batteries, cannons, launch bays and lances.

I do have a WIP of a hull with launch bays along its dorsal ridge.

I chose the armaments based on the rules available on Facebook by J Mckenzie - a really nice ruleset for the Gloriana class.

This is very much a beta for these models - lots of conversion so lots of opportunity for mesh errors - please comment and leave feedback!

Hull VS and Prow VS are for the Vengeful spirit and fit better together! Engines should work for both - please let me know if there are alignment issues!

Thanks to MK Hand and Italian moose for parts as always, and please do give feedback - it will help make this into a fully fledged model.

Thingiverse files

Cults3D files

What would people like to see:

• Chaos weapon systems?

• Mechanicum prows/parts?

• Cargo parts - mass conveyor style?

• Custom prows?

Digital Kitbashing, AKA Procrastination with 3D Builder

A big part of Hobby Butterflies 3D (Brother Handro “Buy now to avoid disappointment”) is digital kitbashing. Ive used this term before, but today I’ll show my latest examples, what it is useful for, and things it isn’t useful for…I’ll even go through the process…

For this round I will use a recent request from Alpharius Omegon (on instagram) he has recently printed a 300% version of the Karnath Class Grand Cruiser (Brother Handro “wait…3up BFG is a thing?!”). He writes:

The three in question have no models on cults 3D or Thingiverse at present, so why not! The process starts with finding similar design features on other files available - in this case, there are a range of excellent STL files from Kybynn, Mkhand and Italian Moose - FYI the latter are generally the best source of STL files for BFG, as their stuff is well designed, and prints beautifully.

The files I used were the Idolator Raider, Infidel Raider, Chaos destroyer and the Chaos raiding ships; the latter provided the majority of parts!

The end result is quite effective. Clearly the angle of the prow isn’t perfect, but my skills don’t lie in creating curved shapes. These files are up for download on either Cults 3D or Thingiverse, and the individual links can be found below:

How to do it!

Of course…I forgot to use any of them for a worked example…so I figured I’d make something completely new - a chaos transport ship!

The Idolator serves as a very nice base for the model. The split tool is nearly always the first step!

The Split tool starts with a 0 degree angle in each dimension, meaning it cuts horizontally. A quick 90 degree turn will let us cut out the middle section…in default “keep top” or “keep bottom” mode we’d lose half the model. Instead, we move to keep both…

Positioning is key, usually this can be by eye, but we can adjust it by mm (and fractions of!) if needed, as we shall see later.

Often after cutting a part will become invalid - 3D builder is pretty good at repairs!

One more snip and we have removed the gun decks!

One of my favourite files is a Transport builder - it isn’t really a builder, but it is a repository of parts for escort-sized transport ships. I love it because I can build any transport combination i want pretty quickly, export and print to my desires! It also includes my re-imagining of the old OOP Forgeworld Imperial Transports (Der H: “See…I do make some of my own stuff!”)

Whilst lining up I spot a fault with my cutting…no matter. Using the split tool again, we can drag it to the rear most part of that single part (The prow in this case!). This gives us how many mm from the middle of that part…

Here the subtle adjustment from 9.14mm from centre to 9.1mm is enough to cut the residual piece off.

The first draft

Here we have the first draft. Its a good opportunity to take a look at the model and see what looks good, and what doesn’t!

For me, the cargo portion is too tall, and the towers too tall and too even. Many Chaos ships have alternating high/low antennae…two easy fixes. First the underside, and the return of the split tool!

The lower part can now be re-scaled - without maintaining aspect ratio - to squash it down (up?)

Next is the antennae. They now look even taller! This uses the split tool, then the ungroup tool. The upper portion that is split counts as one part. Ungrouping allows manipulation of just the 2nd and 4th spire.

At this point a group and merge of the parts that make up the cargo section is vital - this section is now 6 parts, with internal surfaces!

The Second Draft

I still wasn’t happy - the even number of spires meant it didn’t sit right to my eye! No matter! I quick duplication and cut (I know, I just merged the central section!) allowed the addition of an additional short tower section to the front.

A quick movement, ensuring the front snaps to alignment, allows an overlap of the parts to give a nice clean finish…

The finished article

After I’m happy, we select all, hit merge and save the STL for uploading/testing. This ship was knocked together pretty quickly, so isn’t built from anything…just my imagination! It is available here, and might get some friends if I feel so inclined!

Next up I want to make some terrain, perhaps minefields, stations, gun batteries, and perhaps a set of system ships! Watch this space!

HB-3D: Escort madness!

Der H: “An hour to kill on a Saturday….guess Ill make some escorts!”

There was a comment on one of the BFG facebook groups recently about the lack of Chaos transports…This can not continue!

honestly, anything that's cool/modular but not a ship itself - or even the smaller system ships/ships we rarely see. Lots and lots of escorts and Cruisers have already been built/rebuilt. What we need are chaotic system ships, chaotic fireships, Eldar mines, Eldar transports, etc. Less of the "Standards".

My Transport Builder has been online for a little while now, and it gives a range of parts for various ships, but I hadn’t realised the Q-Ships, Armed Freighters, escort carriers and similar did not yet have dedicated models. Eldar transport have two beautiful option here and here.

On Monday ill be posting a blog post to describe the process of 3D Kitbashing, but for now take a look at the range of new creations for BFG on Cults3d or Thingiverse.

Of particular note are the Chaos transports: there are two versions of each of standard and fuel Transport and Heavy transport, Troop & Heavy Troop and armed freighter.

In addition there is a Q-Ship, a Fireship, an escort carrier and an armed freighter!

I plan on working on some mines, some Chaos Fireships, a Chaos escort carrier - different from the Insanity Class - and perhaps some small system ships….but lets see what happens…

…oh….and this is a thing….

Handro's Orky Gubbinz

Wherein Handro realises he’s simply got too much Orky stuff…

Hey guys, remember me?

Alright, so with the Gorkamorka push on the front foot, I thought it only natural to massively overreach myself by attempting to kickstart my mechanised Ork army (Der H ‘I thought we weren’t allowed to talk about them?’). an abandoned, over-ambitious project (never!) from the mists of, ooh, say 2017, probably.

‘We’’s ready, where’s da rest ov da boyz?’

The plan is hopefully just plug away with larger units in the background whilst ostensibly ploughing on with Gorkamorka stuff, i.e. if I need to paint 7 boyz up for my mob, 3-4 more for a full unit is a no-brainer. If I want a new trukk/buggy (Der H ‘truggy?’) or a bike for a gang member, I might paint up (read, ‘start’) all my vehicles at once, or a unit of 3 bikes…

Killa Kanz!

Hmm, you know what? I feel a list (of shame) coming on…

Fings what are unda way:

Bosswagon

Buggy

Battlewagon

Truggy

3 bikes

Garok’s Gangerz (Morka gang ~4 models)

3 Killa Kanz

Looted Tank

15 Stormboyz + Zagstruk

5 Burnas, 5 Lootas

Deff Dred

3 Meganobz

Deffkilla Warbike

Boomdakka Snazzwagon

Big Mek w/ Shokk Attack Gun

Fings what av paint on ‘em:

Shoota Boyz squad

Warboss, squig + 10 Nobz

Runtherd + 10 Gretchin (although I still can’t find them!)

Painboy

Wazbom Blastajet (undercoated, still counts!)

Fings what ain’t even built yet:

Snikrot + Kommandos

3 more bikes

~10 Boyz

12 Snap-fit Boyz, for conversion

Flash Gitz

Fings what are ready ta fight!

Nob + 10 Slugga Boyz

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So yeah, hopefully that last section might grow. A bit. Possibly.

Patreon Review: Grimdark Terrain

Its no secret that Der H loves a good Patreon (Brother Handro: “Dont get him started on Kickstarter!”) and we thought we’d share his most recent indulgence…

Der H recently found his way back into Titanicus (Der H: “I wonder why…”) and as such began trawling for information. Der H also enjoys podcasts, and the Eye of Horus: Engine Kill is no different. Episode 13 dropped on Monday, and included a nice chat with a German chap called Rudolf! AKA Bronco Fish AKA GrimDark Terrain

First off; check our the Instagram pages via the links above - some gorgeous work by Rudolf, and the EoH guys for that matter!

Secondly; check out the awesomeness of the Patreon…

The content so far is amazing! Der H signed up and has just printed the wagons (Der H: “5 so far!”) and has trains, pylons and more on the way.

For our needs, Brother Handro put it best…

…and the Siege of Grandia, with agri-fields, torn up by trenches, craters, broken pylons and the ruined Grandia Grain Train line will make an excellent board for our Legios to battle over.

Please check out GrimDark Terrain:

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Warmaster Titan updates!

Another day and another update for the new Chonky Boi!

For those who haven’t seen it, Warhammer community have posted a preview of the new Warmaster cards - very decent of them!

I for one am very excited (Brother Handro: “Paint your Titans…”) but this release has, once again, proven divisive! For me, it is yet another reminder (Der H: “Don’t say it again…”) that I have Fureans to finish, but it’s also got me motivated to engage more in Adeptus Titanicus in general.

Yesterday, whilst walking to work, I listened to a wee podcast called The Eye of Horus Podcast and specifically Engine Kill, their AT cast!

I must say that the podcast, and my immediate Instagram game, led me to find some super sweet 3D files from Patreon…..something we will cover in more detail later this week…

Zagskar’s Raderz

So it’s finally time to meet Der H’s Gorkamorka Gorka gang!

I think of myself as Brutal but Kunnin….so Gorkas were the way to go. Simple schemes, hitting things, little tactical insight….(Brother Handro: “That’ll explain the Emperors Children then…🤦🏻‍♂️“)

I decided to go with Citadel Contrast paints for the base of the green skin, but will be going for a muted scheme, but black and white dags. The colourful accents will be the hats (signifying fully fledged Boyz and over) and the Zag or Skar motif that will run through the gang.

Vehicles are currently one Trakk and 2 bikes - each bike is modified to have a space for a passenger, and each is 3D printed as with and without riders. This way if (Der H: “when”) then get knocked off, the bike and be riderless!

The trakk itself, named Fyuree (…after Fury), is 3D kitbashed with a scratch build rear deck.

I’m hoping to add more vehicles, depending on success, after future games…inspiration taken from this work…not mine unfortunately!

I also have ‘some’ tokens to paint up….so best get to it…

Finally, here is a gallery of my progress so far…