Shortly before my re-acquaintance with Orks, I put in an order for some 3d print models. Part of that was due to me having some time off and needing a project, but also some frustration with how my Guard had played recently. As it would happen, these models would turn up later than I wanted, and by the time they did, I was feeling better about Guard, 40k, and life in general. Which was nice. They say a change is as good as a rest, but apparently not good as doing both. And the blog was well-stocked with buffer material too. So I'm rolling both into one article, as they come from pretty much the same headspace and were painted at the same time.
So, Enginseers and Bullgryns? Very much at the opposite ends of the brains/brawn spectrum, but with some key similarities. Bullgryns are the melee version of Ogryns, known for being damage sponges. They aren't bad at bludgeoning, but the absorb hits like Terminator armour, with invulnerable saves, damage reduction, and feel no pain. Techpriest Enginseers are basically magic repairmen seconded from the Adeptus Mechanicus. They have the sort of equipment and rules you'd expect, and an ability to tap a Rogal Dorn and grant it an invulnerable save. The similarities of these two units are A) they are popular in the tournament scene, as B) they represent an almost unreal amount of no-sell brickwall to a foe. As I, C) don't play in tournaments or especially like the guard armies they feature, I'd resisted fielding either. Then I went, "Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.". I've done largely everything else with Guard as it was.
The actual models I have here are pretty good, inexpensive, nice resin prints with fairly modest prepwork needed, although I wouldn’t spot some imperfections until the photography stage. What would happen though is that the Bullgryns ended up being far more of a project than the Enginseer was. After some initial uncertainty, I decided to try the same police theme as my Scions, modifying the iconography and painting them to look more like a British Bobby. The base models here were <deep breath> “Valour Korps - Adrian - Abhuman Squad” by The Makers Cult. Which were generally quite nice models if one suffering from a slightly miscast foot. As the name implies, these featured winged V symbols I wasn't fond of, and I eventually filed them off and covered the scars with green stuff. This prompted various attempts to chip and rough up the armour parts. Printing artifacts weren't really an issue, but smooth flat panels aren't ideal for my painting style. Especially one where the units purpose is to take hits. I tried two tone blue scheme to mixed success. Scaling up my human infantry techniques to suit a model four times the size made things a bit weird. Easier in some respects, but I clearly need to work on my flesh tones. I did the armour plates like a tank, and that worked well. As so often happens, I didn’t like these until the end of the painting process, but they look fairly good as an end product.
With the Enginseer I have much less to say. This was a “Franz The Motormeister” by Mariesminis, and was the nicer of the two prints on first impression, but that preference changed with painting. The details on this one are a bit soft, and it feels maybe a bit fragile. I found picking out the details a bit tricky, and the end result is like an ambulatory red robe with a servoarm. Which is fine for gaming purposes, but not something I'm totally happy with. I don’t paint red that often, I need more practice.
Generally these turned out alright. Not great in the case of the techpriest, but even then, OK as learning experiences go.
No comments:
Post a Comment