Death, taxes and some cheap bits:

Another year, another post.

I don't really have that much to write about, keeping most of my work logs to forum communities like Yakromunda, and Reaper, I recon I don't need to spam about it in my blog as well..

Yet, the other day I discovered a site that I felt needed mention:

There's no secret that Norway is highly taxed country. It's not really as expensive as it is made out to be, since people can always afford what they need, and still have something to spare on fun and games. However, sources for miniatures are sorely lacking, and getting what you need can be a pain due to customs. The maximum order without a customs fee is 350NOK, 28.40£ or 45.19$. It was actually raised this year, from 200NOK, or a mere 25$/16,20£.

Orders above this amount will have a customs fee (only certain goods), a tax fee, a handling fee and a fee to the postal service. So when I used to order something in a foreign currency, and the result happened to be 202NOK, I had to pay 465NOK for the shipment.. Over double the price. That is without taxes, just handling and postal fees. To make it even more confusing, they say that postage costs should be a part of the total cost of the shipment, so in theory, you could only place very small orders.

Since they raised it, the packages can be a little bigger, yet still, since postage play a role, it hampers hobbyists like myself quite a lot. We have the choice of ordering large shipments, pay 25% extra in tax and up to 452NOK in handling fees. Alternately, we can order several small packages and pay a lot of postage fees. Unless it's really big orders, I have found several small packages to be the best solution.

It's in these times, it's good to have sites like: http://www.bitsandkits.co.uk/

I recently placed an order, and was amazed at how much you actually get for your money. I was in dire need of extra weapon bits for a new Necromunda gang, and the nice people over at YakTribe guided me there.

The order below cost me a total of 28.29£, including international shipping. Ton of bits, and even some scenery. Staying safely below the threshold of the tax-hammers. Will update with a pic when it arrives.

1 x CITIES OF DEATH MANUFACTORUM WALL SECTION E 0.00% £0.67
6 x CADIAN LASGUN SINGLE 0.00% £1.02
1 x SPACE MARINE CENTURIANS MELTA GUN X2 0.00% £1.34
5 x SPACE MARINE TACTICAL SQUAD CHAIN SWORD 0.00% £0.85
2 x SPACE WOLVES: WOLF GUARD TERMINATOR HEAVY FLAMER 0.00% £2.00
1 x CHAOS MARINE HEAVY BOLTER KIT 0.00% £1.34
5 x SKITARII RANGER/VANGUARD PHOSPHUR BLAST PISTOL 0.00% £1.70
1 x KHORNE BESZERKER PLASMA PISTOL 0.00% £0.17
1 x CHAOS MARINE PLASMA PISTOL A 0.00% £0.13
3 x THUNDER WOLF RIDER PLASMA PISTOL 0.00% £0.39
5 x SPACE MARINE CENTURIANS FLAMERS X2 0.00% £1.70
1 x TEMPESTUS SCIONS FLAMER KIT 0.00% £1.01
2 x SCOUT BIKE SHOTGUN IN HOLSTER 0.00% £0.68
2 x CHAOS MARINE CHAIN SWORD B 0.00% £0.26
1 x TEMPESTUS SCIONS HOTSHOT LASGUN KIT B (GRENADE LAUNCHER) 0.00% £1.01
2 x SKITARII RANGER/VANGUARD GALVANIC RIFLE SINGLE 0.00% £1.34
1 x CITIES OF DEATH BASILICA WALL SECTION C 0.00% £0.67
2 x CITIES OF DEATH BASILICA BUTTRESS 0.00% £0.68
1 x BAG O' BITZ 0.00% £6.70
3 x CHAOS WARRIOR SWORD C 0.00% £0.30
5 x SPACE MARINE DEVASTATOR BOLT PISTOL 0.00% £0.35
1 x SKITARII RANGER/VANGUARD CARBINE & RIFLE SHOULDER 0.00% £0.34
1 x DARK ELDAR HELION HEAD A 0.00% £0.34

Escher gang is now just about done.

Here are some of the choices that made it through:

Speaking of Necromunda..

It will be nice to get to play this game again. I basically start from scratch now, although I do have an old Scavvie gang, I want to replace those miniatures gradually. Will need a table, tons of scenery, and I'll start with Escher and Enforcer gangs. The first half of the enforcers were posted in the previous update. The other half still need to be ordered.

Anyway, here are the few minis that have been done:

My Escher leader to be:

 Scavvie replacements:

 The old fella got a little mutation, too. 

But no marines vs aliens game can be complete without some Lean, Mean, Killing Machines, who keeps screaming GAME OVER MAN!

As I mentioned in the previous post, they will also stand in for Enforcers in Necromunda. Hence all the Dredd quotes and shoulder pads. I went for a SWAT like paint scheme, which being pretty dark should fit well with the 'alien' theme.

Here they are:

Next project up is Tyranid Attack. The old miniatures where almost completely smashed and destroyed after being in a (probably rat infested) barn for the last 15+ years.

Still, it's a decent, fun game, and I will do my best to get it up and going again.

All I need are a few Tyranids, and a couple of packs of Space Marines.

I decided to make my own twist though. And make the Tyranids and marines alien inspired.

On top of that, the SM Scouts will stand in for Enforcers in Necromunda, so they will see a lot of use in the coming months.

Due to some pieces missing, I'll have to make some new tokens with my printer, as well.


Here are some of the progress on the Tyranids:

This was the prototype, the first one made from original genestealer bits:

 I then decided to buy some bits from Epoch Studioz, which yielded a great result. This is pre-gloss, as pictures of glossy miniatures are hard to get 'right'. Below that, you can see the finished gloss version:

One thing which is not possible to purchase anymore are the hybrid genestealers. I had to find replacements for those, and ended up with these, from Reaper minis:

The game eventually got ready enough to be playable, and I am looking forward to the first session with the new miniatures:

Here are some of the new miniatures (and old that I want to keep) to be used in Hero Quest:

Original Gargoyle:

This is the new gargoyle, it's a rubber version from Reaper, which is not very good. The wings are almost falling off, because they get squeezed in the miniature case. This is because they are so "flappy" and move very easily. :/ Not going to buy more of this particular range, I believe.

Original Fimir, that I gave some new weapons: 

These goblins are from LOTR:

And these (extremely detailed) Fimir, are from Forgeworld: