Recently, while reading through a lot of how to and DIY threads I got inspired to make my own carrying case. Looking around the house I found a thick plastic tool case I had stuffed away in the closet.

Perfect!

I considered doing the copper coupling method to add slots to the foam, but a majority of my army won't fit in them properly. Instead I took a piece of perforated foam left over from an old case and tore out the sections I needed. Fortunately I was able to get most of my figures in a sheet without much wasted space.

The case is from a Dewalt Tool set that was on display in a hardware store. A lot of those places save them and eventually throw them out, so if you can get your hands on them they work great for storage containers!


Argh... Chaos stuff is too pointy to fit in anything properly, lol. I think this will work out in the end, though.

Next Iadded more to the bottom layer then start on the top half. For that I used a piece of foam board and glued it to the foam with spray adhesive.

The uncut piece of foam board.


Here I used pieces that were about the same height and cut them to fit


Since this layer is thinner I may use it for more troops and oddities.


The foam on the bottom of the lid comes out and holds the rules books, dice, etc.

That's it so far. This weekend I'll get to gluing the foam together and making adjustments. After that I'll give it a coat of paint and maybe the Imperial Aquilla or Chaos Symbol.

Like the Blood Thirster, the first squad of Blood letters is near completion. Once I decided on how to paint them it went fast. The only thing that I was concerned about was if the Krylon primer would hold up and it did. Monday I'll be picking up another can and prime the rest of the army.

My apologies for the lack of posts lately. The Company I work for has been put through the ringer with all the Medicare changes lately which in turn has everyone in our office working longer and more complicated days.

Fortunately for me, though, I have a mini-vacation coming up. I had to work two on call shifts in a row (about 12 days on with 7 of those being 24 hour on call). The schedule change allows me to have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve off (woot). Overall it's a good thing :)


I know that you would rather see some 40k stuff. Good, because I'd rather talk about 40k stuff.


Here's an update to the Blood Thirster. He's much closer to completion, just needs touch ups in some areas and more detailing (you can never have too much detail).

The base has been darkened and washed with red and brown tones. The "white hot" lava was a fun test, but it didn't really match the style of a Khorne Daemon and as Crunch pointed out looks a lot like popcorn. I'm much happier with the result now. It looks like a mix of lava and blood.

I also tried out a technique on the Axe blade to give it a better 3d effect. I'll have some close up pictures up this week.

I was looking through a few DIY posts and saw an interesting way to make carrying cases. Here's the first result using a copper coupling and a grinder.

Tools Used

• Copper Fitting: 1" for 25mm base and 1 1/2 for 40mm
• Dremel or another grinder/sharpening tool.
  
• Dense foam: Tall enough to cover your model
  

Step 1: Using a sharpening/grinding tool (Dremel) grind down the inside edge of a copper coupling. Since it is pretty soft, copper will only take a few minutes to get a good edge.


Step 2: Smooth the rough edges down.


Step 3) Pick the spot you want to puncture. Be sure to leave enough room between models and the edge of the foam.


Step 4) Gently twist and push down the coupling. You should feel it tear slowly at first then give easily to the pressure. Make sure to keep the coupling level with the foam (not angled)


Step 5) Force a dwarf to go down there!


Find anything?


-___-


WARNING: bad pun..


Overview: I'd say it's worth trying if you have the tools lying around. There's probably other uses for this like digging tunnels in terrain or making craters.

PROS:

• Cheap and Easy (depending on if you have access to items)
  
• Little to no clean up
• Versatile. Allows you to place and add models as you see fit.
  

CONS:

• Requires a little effort at first getting the right angle on the coupling
• Some models won't fit well due to lots of out stretching limbs, parts, spikes etc.
• May cause you to make bad jokes
  

We asked some of the Bit Heads what they think about their favorite armies. Here's what they have to say


S2ua7

What is your favorite thing about your army? Looks? Play style?

The favorite thing about my army is the numbers game. What I mean by that is the extreme amount of firepower that they have. I've always been fascinated with something called the law of large numbers which states:

“If the probability of a given outcome to an event is P and the event is repeated N times, then the larger N becomes, so the likelihood increases that the closer, in proportion, will be the occurrence of the given outcome to N*P.”

With commands such as First Rank Fire! Second Rank Fire!, a squad of 50 guardsmen throws out 140 shots from their Lasguns (laspistols for the sergeant) assuming they are all in 12" range. This means that even though Lasguns are relatively week, assuming that they can wound, chances are even the toughest infantry model is going to go down.

Why did you decide to play them?

I decided to play them because I like the idea of playing normal humans. At first I was going to play Witch Hunters with my focus being more on the Sisters of Battle, and less on the Inquisitors, but then I noticed how little I actually get from the IG book and thought that I would do it in reverse by owning an IG army and supplement them with the Sisters of battle.

If you could change something about them what would it be? Is there a certain rule that you think needs to be retooled or removed for them?

I honestly don't think i would change anything with the IG. They seem pretty powerful and contain many options to succeed even though I haven't won very many games (I think this is due to armies being created without research, trial and error is so much fun). If you increased any aspect of a figure or lowered point costs I think we would begin to see some overpoweredness.

The only exception is the Ogryn squad. At 130 points and 40 points per additional figure, they seem a little over priced for what they can do. The Ripper gun is pretty cool, but come on, at a range of 12", your only getting one shot with them before being assaulted by the enemy at a BS of 3 (The description of the ripper gun states that "...it is all but impossible for the Ogryns to miss.") which means that 50 percent of the 9 shots (no additional Ogryn) should miss. I would rather take my chances with an additional infantry platoon over the Ogryn.

____________________________

Hoot

What is your favorite thing about your army? Looks? Play style?

I play many different armies, so I will break it all down

Imperial Guard - looks, I love the simplistic man vs immeasurable odds nothing special just normal guys with the M-16 of the galaxy, some flak armor, and mass attrition. Just started getting this army together haven't really played them yet and to be honest from what I have seen I would not change much.

Chaos Marines - Again the looks of the models are awesome. I like the way there is multiple troop choices in the army so you have these different squads that all have some type of special ability whether its extra toughness or magic powers.

The MAJOR thing I would change about them is the fact that there equipment being the same as space marines, why do the land raiders cost more while also transporting less amount of men. DROP PODS only in apocalypse LAME.

Points are pretty hefty also, really with all the space marine updates Space Wolves for example their troops are still 15 pts each and they get some pretty cool bonuses compared to 1k sons who are 23 pts a piece with a 4+ inv save and the negative of slow and purposeful, I think the spread is a little lopsided.

Tyranid - Again I like the models for this army, but I think more than that I just really started playing them since I got such a great deal on an army. I am into my 2200 point army with a nice case for no more than $220 dollars.

I like painting them and the fact that they are just a swarm of devouring destruction that are never ending. After reading some books about Tyranid invasions what really made me love this army was putting myself in the shoes of some poor imperial citizen on the verge of an invasion the unrelenting helplessness I would feel knowing what I know about this army.

What I don't like is simple, no ranged weapons that can destroy tanks.

Tau - By this time your probably wondering WTF this guy plays way to many armies, but my obsession stemmed from wanting to know everything about my opponents army and the fact I got a good friend in the industry and he constantly is making me ridiculous deals on new armies. Back to the Tau, while the models are cool I think my subconscious love for Robotech caused my interest in the models.

I love the range, shooting, technology, gearing up units with all sorts of cool equipment, CRISIS SUITS ROCK. What I would change, not much, I really think that kroot are really weak for being the Tau's front line hand to hand fighters.

Finally,
Eldar - wow let me start by just saying I love the way the models look even though most the models are old styles the bright paint schemes that pop is what really caused me to hone my painting skills and I am proud to say that it was my eldar that won me my first recognized painting award. The thing that I look forward to and love when playing Eldar is the look on my opponents face when I start telling them all the crap my units can do.

I love saying things like now my guys are moving, fleeting, and charging you with 30 power weapon attacks and that's right after my farseer is dooming the unit I am charging

Here's the Blood Crusher with the same base technique and washing.

Here he is with the krylon satin burgundy base coat and a quick wash of Devlin Mud.

Here's an update to the Blood Thirster. The base coat has been cleaned up a little and added in the metallic paints to the armor and weapons. All that's left is some more bleach bone and he'll be ready for washing.

EDIT: Fixed the pic :)

Be'Lakor, the Dark Master (aka my Daemon Prince) assembled and ready for a base coat. I'm going to do the Krylon Burgandy again since it worked pretty good on the other models.

The other night I was trying to repair what I thought to be a bent talon on his wing when SNAP! Off went the bastard thing and nearly impaled my friends cat in the process. Luckily I was able to repair the damages. As for the cat, well he can always get another cat.

I present you with the new and improved Blood Thirster, now with less broken parts!

He's decided to cooperate by not doing any more face-plants on the floor (for now). I shall reward him with more paint! Here's the base coat of Mechrite Red on the skin and some bleached bone started on teeth and claws.