Meanwhile . . .

I have previously complained about Excelsior's efforts in regards to Warzone and Chronopia. It seems I have yet something else to gripe about. Taking my 4 freshly based and resculpted Karnophages outside to prime on a gloriously sunny day, a misstep on my part saw one of the figures tumble off the box I was carrying them on and plummet 4 feet to the ground. Maintaining my senses enough not to lunge for the figure and send the rest of his brethren to a similar fate, I watched the figure fall, confident that the relatively soft, yielding lawn would cushion the fall.

But, it was not to be. To my dismay, the impact was accompanied by a snap and the base spinning away from the figure. Chastising myself for not doing a better job of attaching the figure to the base (which would normally be the cause of such a fracture), I was suprised to find that the figure had instead cracked right at the ankle. Whatever pig iron alloy Excelsior was using to cast their figures, it was less durable then the epoxy used to glue his now bodiless foot to the base.

The amputee was thus treated to more time under the sculpting tool as I reposed him to place both feet on the ground and resculpted the mangled ankle joint. Perhaps foolishly, I failed to go back and take preventive measures to keep the same fate from befalling the other figure with a raised foot. Though I don't make a habit of dropping figures, I'll nonetheless have to take care.

Since this extra work means that I've only just put the first coat of paint on the figures (intending to, but forgetting, to take pictures of the figures with their resculpted joints), I decided to take advantage of my new lighting setup to snap some pictures of another relatively recent paintjob of mine. A Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers chapter of chaos space marines, the figures is made of the Grey Knight character model body, the head of a fantasy sorceror, a plastic power fist and the mace wielding hand of a fantasy chaos knight. As an homage to my old Dark Angels army, a battered and dirty Dark Angels shoulder pad can be seen lodged in the dirt.

Though memory fails me somewhat, I believe this figure was painted between my second and third years of law school - or, almost two years ago. Like my Grey Knight, he was painted just for the heck of it, though I did enter him into a painting competition at one of the local GW stores. He didn't win, but I'm still generally pleased with how he came out. The red and gold areas are a bit flat looking and could have done with some more severe highlighting. The gem on his left shoulder I am extremely pleased with however. I think I managed to pull off the reflective effect pretty well. All in all, I think he makes for a great adversary for my previously posted Grey Knight.