We're Back for Round 3!

(original post at http://www.savevsblog.com/2011/were-back-for-round-3/)

Moving is done. Kinda. I mean, the basement is a shambles, but I have cleared and moved enough that I can work on minis again, and play games again!

Here's where I picked up!

This is Tharsis the Grim (Tharsis being a big plateau on Mars). Tharsis is the Captain of the Second Company of my homebrew Space Marine Chapter, the Basilicans. I would describe Tharsis as dour and thorough. Tharsis likes firepower. Wait till you see his signature land raider.

Anyway, Tharsis is a resin sculpt from Scibor's Monstrous. Expensive? Yes. But I fell in love with this mini when I saw it, and I cannot be denied little space men whom I love. Tharsis came with a sword and shield, but if you look at your Space Marine Captain entry - you have the codex handy, right? - you'll see that doesn't work with Terminator armor. But of course, you knew that. So, using a hammer from MaxMini (all the best bits come from Europe), I gave him the old Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield look. Here's Tharsis first assembled:



Ah, Tharsis the Grim has the iconography of the Grim Reaper. Clever. So this is a great miniature, Scibor is a great sculptor, he runs a great web site full of great things, and this is all great. Two problems - first, possibly because I cleaned too aggressively, the left hand isn't flush against the wrist. There's a huge gap. Second, the hammer, which I drilled out and pinned, of course, doesn't line up too well with the pole that the hand is holding. Actually, I pin everything, including the hand to wrist and arm to shoulder in this miniature.


Green stuff to the rescue!




Months of not working on minis has left me rusty, and it's a shame to practice on such a pretty figure, but I know I can always chop or file out the green stuff and redo it later. So, away I went.
I filled the gaps, tried to make the hose that runs along the shield arm continue into the shield itself, and decorated the hammer as if it'd been wrapped in leather. A nice double purity seal finishes off the hammer, giving it that "covered with things" look that makes a Space Marine appear very important. I think I may endeavor to cover all my Space Marines in things, such that they all look very holy and baroque. In the end, Tharsis came out looking like this:

I love him even more. The pics are all a bit crappy, but they're really not bad for iPhone 4 photos. I will find my good camera's connection wire and take better pictures in the future.

Pro-tip: Be super careful with resin! It will snap like nobody's business. Obviously, it depends on who made the resin figure, but better safe than sorry - just give yourself a lot of room, use hobby knives on the sprues (clippers will create stress and break bits) and be ever-so-delicate with stripping off flash and seams.

I am super-pleased with this miniature. I am very likely to buy more stuff from Scibor, but this might be the last full figure I buy because of the price. I got other bits with this figure, and they are all beautiful. Still, it's all a bit pricey and thus reserved for the super-important Space Marines.

Coming Soon... more work on my daemon prince, more work on my scorpion Defiler, converting a whole Adeptus Mechanicus army, ideas from my new Dark Sun campaign, a review of the Arkham Horror app for the iPhone and other shenanigans!