Friday 25 September 2009

Cheapo Wargaming


EBay is an excellent source of extra vehicles, something in demand these days for competition players, or so I understand. They are rarely pristine but a new paint job and a bit o' weathering can hide a million sins - as anyone who has bought a second hand car is all too aware.

However, there comes the time when you buy a real dog. Something that has been so wrecked by glue that it is unsalvagable.

I bought such a Leman Russ that had been the proud possession of a small boy. He thought he had done a good job but the sponsons were upside down and the sides were so smeared in glue that the model looked as if it had been plasma bombed.

I could have sent it back and broken the small boy's illusion of competence but I am not that heartless a bastard.

What I had was a cheap bit of terrain. I pulled the tank to pieces and rebuilt it - then I wrecked it. Have a look at brewed up real tanks for inspiration.

This tank has been struck in the engine compartment by a pentrator round of some sort, burnt out, left on the battlefield, hit by some sort of fire-barrage and abandoned to fall to pieces with rust and corrosion.

16 comments:

  1. I recently set myself a challenge of building up a CSM army using all second-hand stuff from ebay. well...that particular challenge quickly ground to a halt. Minis either came looking like they had been painted with tar (listed as 'painted but resprayed') or were minis from the 1990s with bits missing, wrong limbs etc.
    Im more wary of ebay now, but i agree there are some great bargains to be had - you just have to rummage *a lot* to find them

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  2. Great idea for finding cheap vehicles. You've done you usual fantastic job of weathering. I think a touch of smoke and fire damage would make this guy stand out. A silver area around the engine deck where fire burned off the paint and allowed the rust to set in? A blackened streak above the entry point where the smoke came pouring out? Keep up the good work.

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  3. Hi John
    to quote Terry Pratchett not so much "slightly foxed" as "well badgered" looks like it might have been "somewhat rhinoed" to boot!

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  4. I saw a great article ages ago in WD about using battered vehicles as terrain pieces. They mounted them on bases and then added shanty buildings on to them. They used the premise of scavengers using the vehicles as defensive structures.

    Might be worth ago mate.

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  5. Dear Cyborg
    dead shooty those orky cannonballs.
    John

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  6. Dear Pangloss
    Oh yes. Stand by to do some stripping if you want something special. But for muties, nurgles etc, or just filling the ranks, ebay is great.
    John

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  7. Dear Rabid
    I got some soot weathering powders today from Forgeworld.......
    John

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  8. Dear Col,
    Missed that article. Sounds a good idea. Do you remember the faily that lived in an upturned boat hull in Great Expectations?
    John

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  9. Now that'd be an interesting conversion mate.

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  10. Actually, didn't someone do a Ship-Inn in the middle of a city for WFB?
    John

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  11. Yeah, they had in in WD a while back, it's also in the warhammer online game. It's a nice model, very warhammerish (now that's a new word)

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  12. I picked up some pastels to shave down and use as weathering powders. I'm curious how the FW products work out.

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  13. Dear Col

    Ah, that's where I saw it.

    John

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  14. Dear Rabid
    Likewse, let us know how the pastels work,
    John

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  15. When I pick up 2nd hand tanks off of ebay, they invariably require quite a bit of work. (thoiught there are exceptions) I call my hobby table the 'Chop Shop' as a result. Probably the worst was a Chimera with a fuzzy pic that was listed as 'OOP, pro painted, great collector model' (referncing the old style accessory sprue) I'm sure a kid built it, paint was dreadful (currently just reprimed) but upon inspecting it, it simply fell apart in my hands! How it survived the postal service is beyond me. When the parts were clipped from the sprues, he never trimmed them. I just started laughing, no idea how he had gotten it to go/stay together.

    Corey

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