Latest work from the Bullpen

2nd AoBR set is assembled except for the Dreadie.

For the Commander...
Lopped off the banner
Added the Skull and Iron Halo from the Terminator sgt.
added a Power Fist where the power sword was supposed to go.


For the Terminator Sgt.
lopped off the Skull and Iron halo.
added the large banner from the commander.
gave two of the reglar termies Cyclone launchers.


For the Tactical Sgt.
Lopped off the Chainsword and added a Power Fist to the Sgt.
Lopped off the head and added one of the old Beak helmets.


For the Heavy Weapon trooper...
Lopped off the missle launcher
added one of the very old Eldar Plasma Cannons (which looks quite a bit like the new marine plasma cannons.)
Added some bits to the backpack to cover up the missiles.

Greenhouse Guardians Space Marine Chapter

Founding of the Greenhouse Guardians Chapter of Space Marines.

Jed was a simple man from the hills. He had worked his whole life with the soil of Terra. He knew the secrets of growing the various forms of plant life indigenous to Terra. For generations his family was responsible for the care of the Emperor’s courtyard in the gargantuan Imperial Palace. The courtyard was an impressive display of the fauna of Terra, with at least one specimen of every form of plant-life that still existed in the immense courtyard.

Jed was the head grounds keeper in charge of the over one hundred keepers of the courtyard. Each species of plant had specific rules for their care. These rules which were kept in massive Tomes called The Rules of Fauna. The tomes and passed down from generation to generation and stored a small vault in the keepers housing hidden under the center of the courtyard.

When Horus Heresy came to Terra, the keepers continued to do their work. Throughout the shelling of the Imperial Palace, Jed kept his crew busy for the work in the courtyard was never done.

Kharn the Betrayer, paced impatiently on the teleport pad, waiting for the shields protecting the Imperial Palace to fall. He and his squad would be among the first in the palace and he knew would be the first to find combat. When the shields protecting the Palace fell, an instant later Kharn and his group of Berserkers were teleported to Terra.

Seeing only green plants and trees, Kharn screamed out in rage fearing he and his squad had been teleported to the wrong location and would miss the taking of the Palace entirely.

Jed heard the scream, and sensed many new beings in his courtyard. The throaty buzz of numerous chainswords revving up to speed, confirmed his senses. The Berserkers quickly began slashing through fauna and grounds keeper alike. Jed’s quick thinking at this time secured his legacy. Jed ordered all the keepers to leave the courtyard and flee to the Marine barracks in the palace gates. Doing this had three fold impact. First the blood thirsty Berserkers were lead away from the Rules of Fauna. Second, Jed knew if the loyalist marines found the berserkers in the courtyard a firefight would ensue and destroy much of the precious fauna. Finally, by leading the Berserkers to the barracks by the gate they were being led away from the throne room and the Emperor. Jed stayed behind and using the courtyard he had lived in for all his life to mask his presence used hit and run tactics to lure the few remaining Berserkers away from the hidden entrance to the keepers housing and more importantly from the Rules of Fauna.

The keepers were slaughtered to the man in the flight to the barracks. The last falling just as the first Loyalist Marines began shooting at the Berserkers. Jed was slain as well, shot in the back as he was sprinting out the main archway of the courtyard.

The deeds of Jed and the Keepers of the Rules of Fauna were overlooked during the aftermath of Horus Hersey. The death of Horus, the Emperor becoming entombed in the Golden Throne, the loyalist Space Marines counter offensive against the forces of Chaos had the historian attention and Jed’s tale was quickly forgotten.

It was a minor clerk in the Administratum that rediscovered what happened at the courtyard. The tale reached the High Lords of Terra and after much debate, a special founding of a single chapter of space marines was ordered to represent the deeds of Jed and the keepers of the courtyard that day. Geneseed was taken from just the Librarians every chapter of Loyal Space Marines, to honor the sacrifice made to keep the Rules of Fauna safe. Historians discovered that in ancient times those that did the same work as the keepers had temples called Greenhouses where they practiced their arts. With that discovery the space marine chapter of the Greenhouse Guardians were formed, with the motto “The Keepers of the Rules”.

The new 40k Boxed set has come out, with a bunch of well made plastic minis. Josh, one of the owners of the Greenhouse has asked me to paint up the space marines from his demo box to display in the store window. I could have done one of the well known chapters of space marines, but when I was looking over the minis, I noticed how much the upward pointing arrow on the shoulderpads of the Marines looked like a monopoly house. I had to make a background story and create a space marine chapter for the store (There is over 100 chapters with only about 30 having been officially named) Here are some images of the finished minis...

The Captain


The Terminators


The Dreadnaught


The Marine squad


Good pic of the "Greenhouse" shoulderpad


The whole group...

Mike Richter...Hall of Fame!

In the 90's I was a Hockey NUT. I spent one year up at Orono and after watching numerous games in person, I was hooked. I didn't really have any loyalty to the Boston Bruins, and when the NY Rangers kept drafting UMaine Players, I became a fan. Part of the reason my online nickname is Rangerrob is my being a NY Rangers Fan.

Today the US Hockey Hall of Fame announced the 2008 members. Brett Hull, was pretty freakin good. Brian Leetch was another key member of the NY Rangers when they were a powerhouse. But the name that stands out for me is Mike Richter, Goaltender for the NY Rangers. He is the reason the Rangers won the cup in '94. There was one play in the finals, Pavel Bure's penalty shot that you could just tell...if he scored, the Canucks would take the series, if he didn't the Rangers would win. Needless to say Richter stopped the shot, and the only time I felt like that since then was when Roberts stole second.




Richter is the reason the US won the Hockey world Cup in '96. He was the starting Goalie for the US in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake when they brought home the silver...and no one was beating Canada that year.

Anyway here are a couple more Mike Richter clips...enjoy.





Congrat Mike!

Latest Work in the Bullpen

So I have been busy on half a dozen projects...No really, here they are.

Repainting all my Warlocks and my Farseer. They were all painted in different colored robes when I got them. I'm trying to give the army a uniform look.


The Farseer of mine never hit the table in 4th edition because of the instant death from failing a Psychic power roll, so I always took Eldrad whose toughness 4 let him take only 1 wound. 5th Edition lets the farseer get a save and take only 1 wound, so I get to use my generic Farseer again.

Troops are a must have in 5th edition 40k, I have a ton of guardians, but not too many Dire Avengers. I stripped some of my very old Guardians that had the "Dire Avenger" spartan helmets, and I'm painting them up as Dire Avengers. One of them is actually a Dire Avengers Exarch, but they all could pass for an Exarch. So If I ever have enough basic Avengers figs, I could field 6 squads...


Also stripped and repositioned my second Wraithlord. Bent the arms out to give him a more agressive pose, and used some greenstuff to give him his second weapon that they could carry with the latest Eldar Codex.


Also made up some Battletech scale buildings, using scrap plastic I had on my workbench. Some are from Flames of War blisters. The "Power Generator" / Tower is the heating element from a dead hair dryer.


Finally, three projects on my other workbench... Just finished up my "Plexiglass" river. Those are the blue pieces on the table. I will be making a "How To..." entry on www.greenhousegamesonline.com that explains how to make this simple and effective river terrain. Next is the Powerstation, the grey terrain piece with the smoke stacks, used a CD bundle case, fan from the hair dryer mentioned above, container that holds staples for a copy machine, and the plastic that held the cookies from a girlscout cookie box. The box of wood pieces is my starting some Trenches from a article over at Bell of Lost Souls: http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/2007/07/terrain-workshop-trenches-and.html

Finally, one of the Eldar Dire Avengers that I am painting up does not have a helmet. When I went to get get some flesh paint, way too much came out. So I grabbed five of the Ogryns from my Imperial Guard army. Also seen here are some Epic Eldar Knights and an Old 40K Eldar Ghost Warrior I plan on using as WraithGuard.


More to come...