High Praise From The Internets!

Firstly, that fantastic modeler and painter, TJ, over at Dark Future Games has a bunch of nice things to say in a recent post about my Tentacle Makers!  He also posted a grip of his photos and some from the GSI Gallery.  There's even some good things said in the comments section!

Secondly, the (in)famous and highly skilled Goatboy showed off what can be done with Tentacle Maker tools in a recent post on Bell of Lost Souls.  Some amazing work, there!  Even more good things said in the comments here, too!

Thanks, guys!

This Weeks WIPs – Relic Predator Conversions

by Novus

A few months back I added a couple of Relic Predators (a great Imperial Armor unit) to my army and they have turned out to be a boost in firepower for my Chaos Space Marine force.  I took the Rhinos that have done nothing but give my opponent First Blood and converted them up to what you see here.

A Worthy Holiday Cause

This is Jackie Nesbit, he was a member of the 17th Airborne 466th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, he was killed in combat during Operation Varsity on March 24 1945.

Help John at Santa Cruz Warhammer return Mr. Nesbit's Purple Heart to his family by making a modest donation to the buyback fund.  For more background on Mr. Nesbit's family and this amazing effort and to make your donation please click here.

Help this soldier's family regain the medal

he earned with his service.

Update: The goal was reached last Friday!  Well done, fellow wargamers!

Have Some Random Modeling Tips You May!

by Novus

I'm no hobby Yoda, but there're a few things I've learned over the years that many new hobbyists probably don't think about.

New Works Added to the GSI Gallery!!!

Above you see three of the new additions to the GSI Gallery.  Please check out the GSI Gallery by clicking the giant green Gallery button in the upper right!  There is a lot of stunning work in there by many hobbyists from around the world!

There are also some additions to the Tutorials page.

Share and Enjoy!

Bad Drawing Bat Rep 1 – Daemons vs Chaos Marines/IG

by Novus

I did bring my camera this time.  I did take some pictures.  But, I forgot to take pictures after turn 2.  So, welcome to “Bad Drawing Bat Rep 1 – Daemons vs Chaos Marines/IG!”  Enjoy!

Reminder: Bitz Swap Event This Saturday at Frontline!

Consider yourself invited to attend the third Green Stuff Industries & Frontline Gaming Bitz Swap event.

Frontline Gaming

700 Alhambra Ave Ste 704

Martinez, CA 94553

on

Saturday, November 16th, 5-7pm

Remember, Frontline offers daily discounts of up to 20% on most game systems!

This Weeks WIPs – Spawnhood!

by Novus

I bought this dude about a year ago just in case my Chaos Lord has a bad time with the Chaos Boon Table.  He was a slightly damaged closeout from FRPgames.com that cost me like $5.00.  I thought it would make a great addition to my army so I spent a few hours the night I got him doing a fancy base with giant worms and a half-buried backpack and a knife stuck into the ground… really elaborate stuff.  I finished the base and suddenly didn’t like the model and then utterly failed to muster the gumption to paint him.  Something wasn’t right.  I lost interest.

Third Bitz Swap Event!

 

Consider yourself invited to attend the third Green Stuff Industries & Frontline Gaming Bitz Swap event.

Frontline Gaming

700 Alhambra Ave Ste 704

Martinez, CA 94553

on

Saturday, November 16th, 5-7pm

Remember, Frontline offers daily discounts of up to 20% on most game systems!

Magnetizing Icarus/Quad Guns

by Novus

I'm counting some Icarus Lascannons as Sabre Lascannon Platforms for my IG allies, which is a great augmentation for a CSM army.  But, seeing as I keep picking them up by the cannon, I tend to leave the other half of the model on the table.  So I took a few minutes and figured out an easy way to magnetize the things.

Flying Blind (My Stab at Finally Understanding Flyer Movement in 6th)

by Novus

I’ve been super confused about how flyer movement works.  What counts as '”combat speed?”  What effect does the speed have on the weapons that can be fired?  When is Skyfire not allowed?  Why isn't all this info easier to find out?

Another Successful Bitz Swap Night!

The second Bitz Swap event at Frontline was a great success!  Not as many folks turned up but we did have two celebrities: Liz (winner of BAO 2013) and her man Cyrus of Great Escape Games in Sacramento.  They brought an @ss-load of fresh bitz for trade!

Bitz Swap Event This Saturday!

Chester A Arthur, the 21st President of the United States, wants you to swap bitz! Really, he does!  So, kindly drop by Frontline Gaming this Saturday for the second Green Stuff Industries & Frontline Gaming Bitz Swap event.

Frontline Gaming

700 Alhambra Ave Ste 704

Martinez, CA 94553

on

Saturday, October 19th, 5-7pm

Remember, Frontline offers daily discounts of up to 20% on most game systems!

My Top 9 Kits for Chaos Kit Bash Parts

by Novus

As you have probably gathered by what I post, I do a lot of model conversion and kit bashing.  Over the 3 years of my tabletop war gaming career there have been a few model kits that really stood out, far above the rest, for conversion usefulness.  These are my top 9 kits for Chaos Converting...

Next Bitz Event: 19th, October!

Bill Murray wants you to swap bitz!  Really, he does!  You are therefore cordially invited to attend the second Green Stuff Industries & Frontline Gaming Bitz Swap event.

Frontline Gaming

700 Alhambra Ave Ste 704

Martinez, CA 94553

on

Saturday, October 19th, 5-7pm

Remember, Frontline offers daily discounts of up to 20% on most game systems!

How To Remove/Upgrade Magnets

by Novus

As you may know, Pascal gave me a squad of Chaos Terminators at the Bitz Swap Event last weekend.  Though well built and nicely primed, they suffered from droopy arm syndrome (below).  It looked like there were 1/16'” magnets in there and I wanted to upgrade to 1/8” so they could actually aim at things like those pesky ‘Nids and arrogant Eldar and commie Tau and goody-goody Loyalists and, well… any of those that opose the ultimate powers of Chaos!  Muwahahaha!

Bitz Event Is A (Late) Success!

by Novus

The Frontline Gaming and Green Stuff Industries Bitz Swap Event was a tardy success!

Beware the HELBUG!

by Novus

The Helbug is completed!  Well, mostly complete.  In taking these photos there're a few things I think I now need to fix.  But, they are small things and for all intents and purposes, this bugger is done!

Bitz Swap at Frontline Gaming!

 

 

You have spare bitz?  I have spare bitz.  We all have spare bitz that we're probably never going to use but would otherwise be a slice of fried gold to other folks.  So, Green Stuff Industries and Frontline Gaming are getting together to sponsor their first ever Bitz Swap event!

This Weeks WIPs

by Novus

I've started to paint the Helbug, finally, which has me greatly appreciating my airbrush.

Frontline Gaming Battle Report

This is the first video battle report I've been a part of!  It's a game I had versus my buddy Pascal over at Frontline Gaming a little while ago.

1750pts CSM/D vs CSM/IG.  BAO scenario #5, I think.  Thanks, Pascal!

Paint By Numbers Part 7 - Dry Brushing

by Novus

With Paint By Numbers part seven I'm going to take over from Gabriel and go into how I dry brush my Plague Marines and other troops.

New GSI Page! Tutorials!

There's a lot of good info here at GSI that I felt was sorta a PITA to get at.  Thus, I collected what I thought were the best posts and created a Tutorials page.

Take a look at all the great tutorials from GSI supporters by either clicking the link above or the green button in the upper right.

Sculpting Elephant Skin

by Novus

In trying to sculpt a long trunk-like structure for my Helbug, I hit on the very simple technique below.  Mostly, I wanted what looked like a leathery trunk dangling down from my Helbug (you know, to slurp up all that Vector Stricken and Bale Flamer'ed loyalist paste).

Rick James Daemon Prince!

by Novus

I was over at Frontline Gaming the other night getting a game in with my buddy Pascal when Reece and the boys were looking over the Tentacle Maker work I've done on my army.  And, in the category of "Ideas I Wish I Had," Reece asked if I could put Tentacle Maker dreadlocks on a Daemon Prince he just threw together.

Helbug WIP Part 2

by Novus

I'm almost to the point of undercoating the thing.  Since my last post I've...

Helbug (Drake) Conversion WIP

by Novus

Short post tonight just to prove that I'm still here.

The Heldrake is great on the table (best flyer in the game, IMHO) but I'm less than enthused about how it looks.  It doesn't really fit well in a Nurgle army without some great effort.  So, if I'm going to put a bunch of effort into a conversion, I think it should be into something unique.

Possessed Vindicator Is Finally Done!

by Novus

OK, it's taken me forever but I finally finished my Possessed Vindicator!  Here is what it looked like before paint:

Magnetizing Vendetta Lascannons/Rocket Pods

by Novus

The Mordian 7th (who does some terrific work, BTW) seeing what I did with the swept wing Valkyrie/Vendetta idea, wanted a look at the way I did my Vendetta Lascannons.  Always eager to please, here you go...

Shipping Delay

I'm scheduled to get the latest batch of Tentacle Makers in this week.  So, those of you who have ordered recently that have not received a USPS/Paypal shipping notification, your shipment should go out this weekend or Monday.

I'm horribly sorry for the delay but I'm at the mercy of my machine shop.  I get cut-rate prices but he fits my product in between his normal orders so I get my stuff as his schedule allows.

Painting Vindicator Turbo Fans - The Easy Way

by Novus

My Possessed Vindicator is slowly crawling toward completion.  I've been maniacally vasillating between great bursts of creativity and long, slow waves of apprehension based on my fear of screwing this one up.  Last night was a creative night that yielded an interesting painting aid.

Band of (Evil) Brothers

by Novus

My allied contingent of Imperial Guard Traitors, the Band of (Evil) Brothers, is finally done!  I am currently adding a Vendetta but these are the allies I normally use.  I've had pretty good success with the addition of these forces.  My army is by no means optimized, but I do OK.

Swept Wing Vendetta Conversion

by Novus

I like the look of the Valkyrie and the Vendetta.  Mostly.  To be honest, I really don't like the wings.  They are just too chunky for something that is supposed to fly.  So, I had an idea.

First Try at Object Sourced Lighting

by Novus

Seeing as I've gotten a new IG Valkyrie, I thought I'd try some different painting techniques.  This is my first try at Object Sourced Lighting (OSL).  I'd seen this same technique for a Valkyries cockpit done on another blog months ago.  I thought it was cool so I gave it a shot.

Cowboy Studio Product Studio - Product Review

by Novus

My latest hobby acquisition is something I've desperately wanted for a few months now.  But, there were other things I thought I should get first, I felt (like a new compressor).  Last weekend I finally had the funds available and decided to buy myself a macro (aka "product") studio for taking better pictures of my models.  Proper lighting has been the major issue for me for a loooong time when taking macro shots.

CSM/IG vs Dark Eldar at 1750

by Novus

Sunday I dropped by Frontline Gaming to see if I could get a game in and oddly, the place was empty but for Frankie.  So, in hopes of getting a game with anyone but Frankie (he's really good and I'm kinda bad) I hung out and got some painting done.

Would YOU Play In This Tournament?

by Novus

I had an odd idea for a tournament format last week and it’s been poking me in the back of the head ever since.  Typically, 40k game tournaments are a set number of rounds between a set number of players.  What if rounds didn't matter and there were any number of players?

Nurgle Soup Fail

 

by Novus

So, in my ongoing effort to complete, once and for all, the models in my army, I've finally gotten around to attempting the Nurgle Soup in my Warlords counts-as Palanquin/Bike (above).  I've been putting it off, mostly out of fear of messing it up.

This Weeks Scramble

 

by Novus

Wellllll... I had a battle report planned for this week but for some reason 93.7% of the pictures came out poorly.  I'm not sure what the problem was.  I really hope I don't need a new camera.  Either way, I try to post something every week so this lack of a bat rep left me flat footed and scrambling for content... so I suppose I'll just trot out my WIPs!

New Product - Objective Markers!

So after a few folks at the Bay Area Open asked me if I had objective markers to go along with my Omni-Templates, I thought I should produce some to fill the need.  You can purchase them from the GSI Product Page (or click the big green button in the upper right).  It's $8.00 plus shipping.

I created a set of five markers, laser cut and engraved on 1/8" faux aluminum on a black substrate, with the following five universal hazard symbols:

• Skull and Crossbones, 40mm
• Poison Gas, 40mm
• Radiation, 25mm
• Chemical Weapons, 25mm
• Biological, 25mm

As you can see from the photos, the results turned out pretty good!  The set is specifically designed to fit the Bay Area Open requirements of two 40mm and three 25mm round objectives.

And, the set will fit nicely in the box alongside a Tentacle Maker Tool Box order.

 

I do have some other designs waiting in the wings, but they are in reserve until I see how these beauties do.  If you have any ideas for iconography (that is not GW owned, of course), I'm open for ideas.


 

(Almost) Completed Army!

by Novus

I've been diligently working on my Possessed Vindicator (dozer blade is pictured above) over the last couple of weeks and, having finally purchased Halo 4, completed that last weekend, as well.  I love the Halo universe, those games never disappoint, and #4 provided a much needed break from my Vindi work.  But, while playing #4 I realized that I was only one primed model, some touch-up work for other models, and some basing work for still different models away from a completely painted Chaos Space Marine/Imperial Guard army.

Gore, Fire, and Dragons

 

by Marlon of Evil Fluffy Creatures (Portuguese)

 

In these last few months since my previous guest post, I've been experimenting with a lot of forms, shapes, and ideas to make more eye-catching figures for our tabletops. I just produced three new ones by toying around with the concepts of gore and hellfire - pretty chaotic stuff - and I hope you like what I've done!

Wait... What?!!! 100K Unique Views? HOW?

Well, at some point over the weekend this modest blog surpassed 100,000 views.  That's in just over about 16 months.  Which to me is sorta crazy.

100,000!!!!

Latest Review: The Screaming Heretic

In other news, Joe and the folks over at The Screaming Heretic did a fine review of the Tentacle Maker.  They really liked it and I'll be joining them on their podcast in the very near future as a follow up to the review.  Here are links to the page and podcast in question.

The part of the review that struck me, that I hadn't really thought about before, was that they really liked how easy it is for a novice Greenstuffer to get great results quickly.  It's really great to hear when you are successful in reaching your design goal!

Product News

I'm expecting a new prototype of Tentacle Maker this week.  If all goes to plan, it should be a pretty damned cool looking pattern... provided the thing works out.

I'm also creating more template-like game aids in the coming weeks, as well.

Stay tuned!

New Art In The Gallery

Be sure to look at the other great new work hanging in the gallery, too!  Just click on this link or the green Gallery button in the upper right of this page!

Guest Contributors Wanted!

GSI is still accepting guest posts submissions!  Just let me know what you want to post about and we'll hammer out the "when" of it all.  Send your ideas to...

tentaclemaker(at)gmail(dot)com

and...

Thanks to all of you out there who check in on GSI every once in awhile!

WIP Chaos Vindicator Conversion - Sculpting Finished

by Novus

Well, now that the BAO is behind me I was finally able to catch up on some of the stuff I put aside in preparing for it.  Specifically for this post, finishing the modifications to my Possessed Vindicator.  The time off helped.  Seeing all those amazing models at the event got me thinking, which generated some interesting ideas and realizations.

BAO 2013 - Perfection To the End

by Novus

I’m wiped out. The Bay Area Open this last weekend was amazing! 144 singles players for 40k, about 50 WHFB, 22+ teams in the team event, a giant narrative event, a bushel of astounding models and armies, and some really cool vendors!  The guys at Frontline did a stupendous job!

BAO This Weekend!

This weekend I'm headed to the Bay Area Open!  Last year this event was a bunch of fun: I played the Team Event, I met lots of folks, I sold some stuff... a triple win for me!