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Forge of Ice Entelodont "Skull Pig"

Sculpted by Matt Gubser.

"What big teeth you have..."

"Gznort!"

Alex Bates at Forge of Ice is brilliant at coming up with bizarre minis that I don't know I need until I see them. This entelodont, sometimes falsely called a "hell-pig" or "terminator-pig", is just such a miniature. Alex had asked me to design a few bases for him so I used my laser cutter to create a tile pattern and then sculpted vines to show an ancient civilization being overtaken by jungle.

As part of my compensation for the bases Alex sent me two of the entelodonts so I quickly assembled and painted one. Assembly is a breeze, pin the head on and add a bit of green stuff to soften the join. Then just drybrushing and washing to capture the fur texture. I based the color scheme on this excellent rendering by Masato Hattori.

The base was painted and then had static grass and jute twine added.

Overall this is a solid mini that reads perfectly as the overpowered beast it's meant to represent. Matt truly captured the musculature and forward motion of such a beast. It was a blast to paint.

Vintage Battletech Demolisher Tank

Almost a proto-OGRE.

With two Robotech Tactics Tomahawks.

Needed a bit of hobby meditation last weekend so I built and painted this vintage Battletech Demolisher. It came with a sprue of bits like the pintle mounted guns and the strange "horns". It also included cast metal rods to use for smaller gun barrels but I just used brass wire.

The camo scheme just came together as I was painting, I didn't start out with a plan other than I wanted something dark red. Originally this was going to be for a Horizon Wars Martian army but I had some small House Kurita decals so it went right back to the Battletech universe.

Thse are still available from Iron Wind Metals but are a bit pricey at almost $30us. I'm glad I found mine in my lead horde.

Chainsaw Warrior Art and Comic Script.

A couple of nifty bits from Pete Knifton. First off his interpretation of the Chainsaw Warrior, or CW as he's sometimes known, as well as a script, by Ian Rimmer, for a seven page comic based on CW's fight to destroy Darkness. Pete was kind enough to let me have a go at coloring his art and I had a blast doing it.

Pete also let me know that CW always wore a Hawaiian print shirt under his armor and was quite the slob, often getting called out by his commander for the accumulation of pizza boxes in his apartment. Sounds like me in my teens.

Thanks to Pete for the scans and for sharing this bit of Chainsaw Warrior history!

Art by Pete Knifton. Colors by Brian S. Roe.

(Everything is Copyright Games Workshop, Forever and Ever, Amen.)

New Dennett Demogorgon Sculpture!

John Dennett, the sculptor of the Demogorgon miniature used in Stranger Things, will soon be launching a Kickstarter to fund a "perfect" version of his Demogorgon design. John has begun working on the piece and to tide us over, he's posted pictures of the armature including an amazing scale shot featuring the original Grenadier Demogorgon. Cool ain't it!

Check out the Demogorgon Facebook page for information about the upcoming Kickstarter!

Big-un ain't he?!

A newer, dynamic pose and massive scale to capture John's original vision.

Pete Knifton, An Appreciation.

Of all of the many talented artists that have worked for Games Workshop/Citadel Miniatures, Pete Knifton is one of my all time favorites. During his time at GW, he was simply the most prolific artist in the pages of White Dwarf. His drawings were full of character and action, his style could shift from tight comic book inking to looser brush-work, and he maintained a sense of playfulness that was infectious and fun.

I've always responded to Pete's sense of action and movement, something based in his obvious love of comic art, and his ability to capture the "feel" of a piece in his illustrations.

In the same way that H's blueprint artwork made the technology of 40K more real for me, Pete's art gave it life and told exciting, fun stories without any words. He was the soul of early 40K to me and one of the strongest reasons why I still love this era of Games Workshop. 

The following collection of images represents a pairing down of all of the artwork PEte created for White Dwarf. The man was a machine.

Thanks for the wonder Mr. Knifton!

From White Dwarf #113 The Pacification of Flotis III.

From White Dwarf #102 "Illuminations" 

From White Dwarf #102 "Illuminations" 

From White Dwarf #102 "Illuminations" 

From White Dwarf #101 

From White Dwarf #101

From White Dwarf #105

From White Dwarf #106

From White Dwarf #114

From White Dwarf #114

From White Dwarf #114

From White Dwarf #114

Distortion Cannon from White Dwarf #100

Dreadnought from White Dwarf #100

Harlequin Jet-bike from White Dwarf #107

Ogryn from White Dwarf #110

Robots from White Dwarf #104

From White Dwarf #104. Pete has said that The Desert Lions Chapter mentioned in this article are colored "desert color with sky blue highlights". R.A.W. is Robot Attack Warrior and Zarbi are ant-like creatures from early Dr. Who episodes.

From White Dwarf #98

From White Dwarf #98

From White Dwarf #111

From White Dwarf #109. "REVENEBO" is Imperial Gothic for "I'll Be Back."

From White Dwarf #109

From White Dwarf #110

Bullock Jet-Bike Re-sculpt by Mr. Papafakis.

Inspired by the original Pete Knifton artwork, The One from the brilliant blog Mr. Papafakis has re-sculpted the classic MK-14 Bullock jet-bike to more closely match Pete's version.

This hog has all the candy and looks far more bad-ass than the original models.

Head over to The One's blog and check it out! He's been playing with creating a portly ork with Oyumaru that has to be seen to be believed.