The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm

Uriah Jacobus PIP #1

2011-12-01T04:00:00.000-05:00

Both Uriah Jacobus and St. Celestine will be a part of my 1,850 point list. So, it seemed fitting that the old man get the red carpet treatment very early on into the army build. Uriah will be my ongoing side project as I work on finishing the Sisters infantry and vehicles.

Any time I start a fig that has exposed flesh, I tend to start with those areas first. Since I start with a black primer, I almost always have to go back in and give flesh areas a basecoat of a lighter color. For Uriah, I actually used a craft paint color called Fleshtone Base from Delta Ceramcoat. Moreso than on other surface of a model, it is extremely important to work with very thin coats of paint when painting a face. There is a lot of detail that can be lost on such a small area. After the basecoat, I went with two, milk-thin coats of Dwarf Flesh followed by a watery glaze of Red Ink and Chestnut Ink mixed at about 50/50.

The next Uriah PIP post will hopefully see me finish the flesh areas, and I'll unveil my WIP for his base. You didn't think he'd be caught dead on that plain-jane, untextured base, did you?

Gallery: Inquisitorial Henchmen Warband

2011-11-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

I like to call this collection "the Freakshow." These miniatures are nice diversions from painting, and they tend to paint up relatively fast due to the small size of the models. However, you still have to give some thought to how they'll fit in with the unit as a whole, so color choice is still very important. The trick is to make them fit in without the appearance of uniformity; easier said than done, IMO.

Inquisitor Schloss

As converted, this miniature is illegal under the new Grey Knights codex, but I'll be damned if I'm going to rip him apart! Basic black armor gives him his sinister appearance, while the woodgrain on the storm bolter casing and hand-painted shoulder pad add a little interest to a pretty stock model.

Brother Filas, Banisher

I will often run this guy as a priest with eviscerator in various other Imperial lists. Another quick and fun paintjob, with the hazard stripes harkening back to 2nd Edition Frateris Militia models.

Auto-savant Maviel, Mystic

Unfortunately, there are no analogs to the old Daemonhunters Sage, so this guy is now a Mystic. Items of note are a black and white check-pattern at the bottom hem of his robe, as well as his blue-tinged skin to give him that nearly-undead, "I've-been-in-the-service-of-the-Imperium-since-the-Emperor-was-a-teenager" look.

Kalb Von Vinz, Mystic

I think this was the most recent addition to my retinue-cum-warband. I used Space Wolves Grey as a highlight color to give his flesh a parchment-like quality, and I gave him some liver spots. Might be hard to see in these pics, though.

Plasma Cannon Servitor

Every retinue needs a lobotomized man-servant to lug around the baggage, right?

Lustchiild and A'agan, Daemonhosts

These guys were much cooler in the previous edition. Though the fact that you couldn't use them with Grey Knights made them only appear in my Imperial Guard lists as allies. I had fun playing with the skintones on these guys.

Servo Skulls

I guess servo skulls aren't technically henchmen anymore, huh? Very easy to paint up, but I tried to inject a little interest by painting the lenses on each one in different colors. The lenses were also given a coat of gloss to give them that extra bit of depth.

Gallery: SoB Squad Dawning

2011-11-27T12:40:00.000-05:00

In a veritable whirlwind of painting over the last couple weeks, I've gotten a full squad of Sisters painted and ready for battle. As I've mentioned, the techniques and execution are pretty basic which allows me to paint much faster than my normal methods. I'm using an old can of Citadel Colour Bleached Bone spray to give them their basecoat, then they get a heavy Gryphonne Sepia wash. Add thin highlights of Bleached Bone and Skull White, then all of the metallics get a basecoat of Chaos Black, followed by Beaten Copper. The robes are VGC Royal Purple with a highlight of Royal Purple/Space Wolves Grey. I pick a haircolor, apply Dwarf Flesh for the face, and then scope lenses and eyes are done in Dark Angels Green with Snot Green/Skull White highlights.

The bases are Vallejo Pumice Paste with some coarse ballast added. After they're dry, they get a basecoat of Dark Flesh and a heavy wash with a rust-colored weathering powder in a denatured alcohol solution. When the alcohol is dry, I carry some of the pigment up onto the feet and bottoms of the robes, and then I paint the base rim Chaos Black. Hit with Krylon Matte Sealer and we're good to go!

My second SoB squad is fully assembled, basecoated, and based, so they should go just as fast as this squad.

Painting Points: +4

Ecclesiarchy Rising!

2011-11-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

After giving it a significant amount of thought, I've decided to stick with the Sisters of Battle as my ongoing project. I've been making solid progress in a short amount of time, and I plan on having a completed squad up on the website over the long holiday weekend. After the first squad is finished, I'll be posting WIP and PIP pics of one of the army's special characters as I really delve headlong into the army.

So, exciting times for me! I'll still be throwing in the oddball, unrelated project from time to time, but my intention is for the blog to heavily focus on the Sisters of Battle until such time that they're fully completed. At least, that's the plan...

All Systems Nominal

2011-11-19T23:05:00.000-05:00

Another three Sisters fully painted for the first squad. This time we have the Sister Superior, meltagunner, and heavy flamer ready to take the field. I'm really happy with the compromise I've made to get these models finished. It's always been difficult to find that balance between what I find as acceptable tabletop minis and getting things done in a relatively quick manner. Overall, I think this army is going to look really good, and it will actually get finished in a reasonable amount of time.

I'm still struggling with my ultimate decision as to how I proceed with my hobby time in the coming months. It hinges on two main factors:

1. Do I keep my momentum and focus on getting a Sisters of Battle army to the tabletop, or...

Finishing an SoB army will give me a new army, the first I've finished in many years. However, it's a much larger task: about 60 unpainted infantry and 8 unpainted vehicles. It will also involve some additional purchases, which I'm not too keen on right now.

2. Do I buckle down and finish my Grey Knights army which has been in a constant state of construction for eight years.

Finishing the Grey Knights will make me feel pretty good after all these years. However, while there's not many things left to finish, my GK army is painted to a very high standard and each mini will take 2-3 times longer than a comparable SoB unit. Also, there's no new ground to cover here: I'll be using the same color choices and techniques I've been using for over half a decade.

If you have any strong opinions, please leave a comment and help me decide!

Order of the Sacred Word

2011-11-16T20:19:00.001-05:00

They go by many names: Adepta Sororitas, Daughters of the Emperor, Sisters of Battle, Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus, or simply Nuns with Guns. These are my first three completed models of my Sisters force. I've kept the technique for them fairly simple, and I didn't dally on the details.

I also got in my first game with the "new" Sisters "codex." My opponent played a Tzeentch-heavy daemon force with two big groups of Horrors, a small unit of Flamers, and backed-up by beefy units of Bloodletters, Daemonettes, and Plaquebearers. His heavy hitters were a daemon prince with wings and a Changer of Ways. The Changer of Ways became the nuisance unit, wiping my pengines off the table in turn two (but not before the pengines heavy flamers took out his poorly placed Flamers unit). In turn 3 I was finally able to bring it down with massed Exorcist, multi-melta, and bolter fire, but the greater daemon soaked up 3 turns of most of my army's shooting before being sent back to the warp.

The pivotal turn was turn 4. Early in the game, he had bunched up most of his ground forces into a large blob in the center of the table, but I had finally managed to lure him into some tight quarters with vehicle placement and some careful baiting. I had stayed buttoned-up in my transports for most of the game, but now I jumped out and delivered a healthy dose of flamer templates from my Dominions and Sisters units. By the end of turn 4, I had completely wiped-out his Daemonettes and a unit of Horrors, and I had engaged his Plaguebearers in assault with my Battle Conclave lead by Uriah Jacobus. The next turn saw me mopping up and consolidating onto objectives. The game ended on turn 5 with a narrow 1 objective lead held by the Sisters.

My army performed as I expected. I was careful to avoid any assualts, and I knew that when I finally did jump out of my metal boxes, the firefights had to be violent and short. Even a few surviving deamons could tie me up in costly assualts the following turn.

Painting Points: +3

Fed Up!

2011-11-13T23:14:00.003-05:00

So, I've been at this hobby for almost 12 years. Not a long time by any stretch of the imagination but long enough. Over that time, I've completed three armies and seriously worked on two others. Those three armies I completed were all done within the first three years of my starting the wargaming hobby. So, effectively, I haven't completed anything new within the last eight years or so. This is no longer acceptable.

Over the next week, I will be setting a new course for myself and my hobby. Luckily, this decision won't involve any major purchases, as I've been sitting on the raw material for at least seven armies for years: Grey Knights, Space Marines, Sisters of Battle, Orks, Kroot(!), Dwarfs, and Protectorate of Menoth. No matter what choice I make, I'm going to open up the new project with a character model that I hope will be a great focal point for the army and fodder for a ton of blog posts. Stay tuned...

Dueling Pianos

2011-10-29T13:58:00.004-04:00

Well, technically, Dueling Pipe Organs of Doom! If you've never had the pleasure of putting together heavy, metal-plastic hybrid kits, you're really missing out... on a lot of laborious, dirty, time-consuming work. I've probably put in about 6-7 hours of work on just the right Exorcist, removing all of the excess flash and pour channels, in addition to just getting everything to fit properly and have enough surface area for the CA glue to adhere properly. Having said that, I really like the look of the Exorcist kit, and I think the finished product is worth the effort.

I've jumped back into hobby this October after taking a few months off, and although the new "Sisters Codex" is a bit of a downer, I've decided to take the list out for a spin the next time I make it to the FLGS. Lots of work still to do before next Friday's game!

The list I'm taking is Dominion/Immolator heavy, with Uriah Jacobus leading a Battle Conclave of DCA's and Crusaders. Sprinkle in a couple mounted Battle Sisters squads, a couple Exorcists, and a full squad of Penitent Engines (another bunch of heavy, metal miniatures), and that's pretty much my 1,750 point army. BTW, don't post a bunch of messages about how pengines suck, I'm fully aware of their drawbacks but I love the models :P

FOR SALE: Black Templars Rhino

2011-07-22T19:00:00.000-04:00

I'm looking to sell a fully-painted Black Templars Rhino that I've had for a few years. If you're familiar with my blog, my care and attention to detail are pretty apparent, so you will be getting a very nicely painted, above tabletop standard model.

What You Get

A carefully assembled model, no blobs of glue.
Clean, smooth basecoat, no loss of detail.
Two levels of line highlighting, no careless drybrushing.
Minor freehand and hand-painted litanies.
Carefully applied, chapter-specific decals.
Matte sealed for years of gaming durability.
A safely packaged and timely shipped transaction.

I'm looking for US$50, plain and simple. I pay for packing and postage, so there's no additional charges or fees. I DO NOT have a PayPal account, and I prefer to keep it that way, so you can send a Personal Check (I do not ship until it clears my bank) or you can simply enclose a Money Order or cash and it ships immediately. Sorry, I will not ship outside of the Continental United States or International.

New and unassembled, this model retails for US$33, so a small $17 premium for a fully-assembled and beautifully-painted model shipped to your door hassle-free is a pretty good deal, IMO.

If interested, send me an e-mail at armymaniii -at- aol dot com.

Stormraven Base Completed

2011-07-16T22:09:00.000-04:00

A small part of the model, but an important part nevertheless. The bases on my Grey Knight army are mainly a Shadow Gray drybrush, but I didn't want such a large base to be monochromatic, so the green-colored ruins break it up a bit with the rust-colored decking adding some contrast. I've also added some FW brass etch barbed wire for just a little added interest.

50 Followers?!

2011-07-14T14:15:00.002-04:00

Don't you people have something better to do with your time?! Thanks to everyone who has taken a few minutes to stop by the blog and read my scribbles. I encourage all of you to leave comments and let me know what you like or don't like about the place. Hell, if there are things about this blog that I don't like, I know there has to be stuff that drive some of you absolutely nuts!

Stormraven Gunship PIP #1

2011-07-11T20:18:00.000-04:00

There has been a vertitable storm of activity on the hobby front as of late. I've gotten two games in over the last month, and I've been painting almost every day for the past two months. Almost like the good 'ol days again!

In this post, I was trying to figure out where I'd be spending my future hobby time, and it looks like the Stormraven beat out Coteaz and the Changeling. After my first Grey Knights game, I sorta saw the ineffectiveness of my henchman groups, so that put Coteaz (who had been the front-runner) in the back seat. Even though there is a metric shit-ton of line highlighting on the Stormraven, I think that it will still be acceptable tabletop quality in pretty short order. Then I can sort out the highlighting and details as I get a chance to see how it performs in game.

The focal point of this model will be the wings, with the right one having a large, hand-painted Inquisition symbol and the left one having a stenciled aircraft number. Astute readers will notice that this particular scheme will match the design of my Inquisitorial Storm Trooper shoulder pads. Yeah, this stuff is all carefully thought out. Crazy, I Know! I'm also planning a unit symbol on one of the side doors and somewhere on the tail. Should be pretty stunning when it's all painted up.

In a future post, I'll write some fluff and maybe a short-story describing some of the more intricate details of my Grey Knight's army organization. HINT: It differs slightly from GW's version... ;)

First Game, Grey Knights: Matt Ward Edition

2011-07-09T08:40:00.004-04:00

So, played my first game with the new Grey Knights codex last night. It was a friendly, non-objective based, kill-em-all game. The guy I played against hadn't played a 40k game in years, but that wasn't any real handicap since I only play 2-3 times a year and have a mind like a sieve when it comes to remembering rules.

Some lessons learned:

1. Paladins are good (duh, right?), but they absolutely need an Apothecary and Brotherhood Banner. I got charged by a huge 15-man mob of Death Company lead by Lemartes, and a few more power weapon attacks and some FNP saves would have easily turned the tide.

2. Old-school S6 power weapons > New-hawtness S4 force weapons. I kept looking through the codex hoping I missed something, to no avail. I know we have Hammerhand, but that requires a Ld check, and the more I roll my dice, the more I hate my dice...

3. At 275 points, Draigo ain't cheap. But for 175 points, the Grand Master wasn't a cost-effective replacement. The lack of Eternal Warrior just means this guy is begging to get power-fisted or hammered to death.

4. Strike Squads do not disappoint. With halberds and psybolt ammo, they're not Bargain Basement material, but they're awesome all-arounders. I ran three 8-man squads at around 230 points a pop, but they're worth every point, IMO.

Overall, I think the army worked pretty well. I had some moments where my dice failed me, but if all pistons are firing, they're a pretty tough nut to crack. Looking forward to more games :)

Gallery: Heroes of Armageddon Storm Troopers

2011-07-07T18:50:00.001-04:00

Dave Taylor was kind enough to take some pics of my completed Storm Troopers for the Heroes of Armageddon project. He also provided some paint support in wrapping up a few minor details that I forgot to finish, namely the meltagunner faces and the sergeant's auspex. Enough of my gabbing...

If you haven't done so already, please visit the Heroes of Armageddon site and give what you can. I know times are tough right now, but a small $5 donation can get you the opportunity to win one of four gorgeous armies, as well as weekly drawings for all sorts of cool swag.

Painting Points: +12

Now What?

2011-07-05T22:02:00.001-04:00

So, the Heroes of Armageddon Storm Troopers are on their way to Team Leader Dave's house. Unfortunately, in my mad rush to get them completed and on their way before the long holiday weekend, I did not have time to snap some pics of the completed figs. Bit of a bummer, but I hope to see some pictures of them popping up on some of the HoA contributor websites in the near future. I'm very happy how they turned out, and I recently discovered when viewing this post and this pic there's an intriguing coincidence that took place between my squad and Justin's weather-beaten Chimera. You'll have to wait to find out what the mystery is!

So, I have three main options when determining where to devote my hobby time over the coming months. I'll be playing around with the henchmen options in the new Grey Knight codex, so it was imperative that I took Inquisitor Coteaz to maximize my options and turn those Elites slots into scoring units. I'm going to be doing a much different take on the Studio paint scheme, ditching the gold armor for something more akin to a deep, ruby-red color. Gonna use a color from Tamiya called Clear Red. It's considered the go-to color when making convincing blood splatters on weapons or bases.

The next option is to get cracking on my assembled and primed Stormraven. I blogged about my basing work a few months back, and quite a bit of it is completed. Again, for my own fluff reasons, I will not be painting the Stormraven in the traditional silver color to match the rest of my finished Grey Knights. Instead, the Stormraven will be black and red, matching my Inquisitorial Rhinos. I won't get into my decision too much right now, but suffice it to say, I think it a ridiculous idea to have a Grey Knight piloting an aircraft or tank when he should be out smiting the denizens of the warp on the battlefield.

Lastly, I have a Changeling model that's sort of a special project. I do not own a Chaos army, nor is it likely I ever will. But, I have a very cool scheme in mind for this fella, and I'd like to see if it's within my personal ability to complete. If you'd forgive the Tzeentchian pun, I'm gonna spread my wings a bit and see if I can pull off what's in my head.

Heroes of Armageddon - Storm Troopers PIP #2

2011-06-28T21:59:00.000-04:00

Looking a bit more like proper tabletop miniatures! Most of the main colors are blocked in and the bases just need the edges finished. Most of what's left is edge highlighting and some of the little details like the grenades and various doo-dads. I was curious so I had to look it up in the IG codex, but the seargeant's weapon loadout as the miniature is sculpted is still valid after a decade. Pretty cool!

The next post about this unit will be a "Gallery" title rather than a "PIP." Truth be told, it's been years since I've batch-painted a squad this large, so I'm pretty happy that I still have the attention span to stay on task and get work knocked out.

Heroes of Armageddon - Storm Troopers PIP #1

2011-06-18T09:00:00.001-04:00

Squad of 12 Stormies, with the option for meltas or GLs.
They may not look like much, but I've already logged about 7-8 hours of time on these guys. Metal models on resin bases take just a bit longer to prep than what I'm used to, although it's only my OCD-like tendency to eliminate all mold lines that forced me to take a file to these. Dave had already done a pretty good job on them, to be honest.

In the HoA Steel Legion list, these guys will be Commissar Yarrick's personal bodyguard, and I consider it an honor that they be displayed and played in close proximity to Chris Borer's interpretation of the grizzled commissar.

Because these guys have to fit into the army's color scheme, I don't have a lot of room for improv in the painting department. Add to this the fact that these models are loaded with detail; I swear, the sculptor must have used about every bit from the Space Marine sprue he could lay his hands on! However, I do have a couple ideas for how to make these guys stand out a bit from the norm, but those details will come much later on in the process.

Plastic Cadians these are not! Lots of creases, folds, and details.
Oh, I did take a teensy liberty so far: I added a third highlight with a little more Bleached Bone than was authorized (sorry, Dave!). My reasoning being that these guys are the IG's best, constantly deployed on the toughest missions. Their fatigues are going to be faded and will appear lighter than their fellow line grunts. Hey, if you're breaking the rules for the sake of art, no one can fault you!

Gallery: Ork Nobz in Mega-Armor

2011-06-09T20:15:00.005-04:00

Since I had the camera and lighting setup out last weekend for this post, I decided to snap some quick picks of my Nobz mob. I've had these minis for eight or nine years now, but they're still some of my favorites. Enjoy!

My brother is graduating from War College this weekend, so I'm out of town. But, starting next week, my blog posts will be focusing on a little project from something called the Heroes of Armageddon. Maybe you've heard of it :P

Gallery: Forgeworld Baneblade Malleus Imperator

2011-06-05T22:25:00.001-04:00

With a service record that dates back over 2,000 years, the Baneblade Malleus Imperator has served with distinction as the command tank of the 2nd Armored Detachment (Superheavy) attached to the 12th Methuselan Armored Cavalry Regiment. It has taken part in 273 separate engagements, and it has been recovered and rebuilt 9 times after suffering catastrophic battlefield damages over 2 millenia of warfare. Current commander of the vehicle is General Markus Franconin.

Distinctions of Note

Vehicles this long in service to the Emperor typically only retain their most recent campaign badges.

Prothian Raptor with Blood Drop Distinction: The Fall of Prothos was conducted as a primarly airmobile assualt on the Chaos held planet. Vast plains of jagged, vitrified rock made large mobile formations impossible to muster. One of the few armored battles took place at the Mossk Adamantium Mining Concern on the outskirts of Edderhive. Malleus Imperator was crippled in the initial airdrop of Imperial Guard and Blood Angel forces to retake the vital installation. However, the crew maintained a constant rate of fire even after becoming immobilized and, along with two Tactical Squads of Blood Angels, provided a small foothold within the Traitor lines from which more reinforcements could be safely dropped. After Mossk was taken, the Baneblade was left as a defensive strong point with dug-in Hydra batteries and Tarantula sentry guns to provide for the defense of the installation.

Unfortunately, Prothos would be deemed too far corrupted to be saved. After 19 months of bloody, street-to-street fighting in the hives, The Exterminatus order would be signed by Lord Inquisitor Formoria. However, great pains were made to save Malleus Imperator. Ad Mech recovery teams were able to load the wounded beast into a massive lander while Blood Angel Thunderhawks provided air cover in honor of the vehicle that had saved so many Space Marine lives in the initial assault. Within hours of the recovery, Prothos would be bombarded from orbit by starships of the Imperial Navy with cyclonic torpedoes.

Thundersteed With Honors, Far Gates Campaign: Thundersteeds were massive, short-horned warhorses found on the planet of Vendi III. Now extinct, their likeness was used as the Far Gates Campaign badge. The field of yellow indicates that this vehicle served with distinction in the engagement.

The Far Gates Campaign is the most celebrated engagement of the 12th Methuselan Armored Cavalry Regiment. Not long after the terrible events surrounding the Third War for Armageddon and the Founding of the 12th, the agri-world of Vendi III came under attack from unknown assailants. When Arbites began investigating a series of civilain disappearances from far-flung hamlets, reports from on-duty patrols became overdue. This in turn lead to Planetary PDF forces becoming alerted. Within days, running battles with fast-moving, illusory armored vehicles left small groups of PDF forces annihilated. The planetary governor quickly sent for aid via astropathic communication. The 12th ACR, en route to a crusade mustering ground, was the closest IG unit able to render aid.

What developed in the coming weeks was the discovery of ancient webway portals that had been unearthed by Eldar exploratory teams that had made covert planetfall. Although the teams were only protected by a token force of defenders, even a few of the ancient Eldar war machines were able to easily defeat the unskilled and poorly equipped PDF forces that outnumbered them sometimes 20:1 in the early engagements. With the arrival of the 12th Methuselan ACR, the balance of power quickly changed. Spearheaded by Malleus Imperator, armored colums of Chimeras quickly surrounded the smaller Eldar forces. Frigates of the Imperial Navy found and chased off a small Eldar craft operating on the dark side of one of Vendi III's moons. Cut off from evac or support, the Eldar forces were doomed. Malleus Imperator accounted for no less than 3 confirmed armor kills, though suffering severe damage in return. Records show that the 12th ACR suffered 31 armored vehicles lost, 17 damaged, and 426 casualties. Eldar losses were placed at 5 armored vehicles and 98 casualties, most of those unarmed members of the Eldar exploratory team.

This without a doubt is my most extensive paintjob to date. I probably spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 hours of work from unassembled kit to what you see here. I'm very pleased with how it turned out and proud to add it to my collection.

Painting Points: +20

Baneblade - Home Stretch

2011-05-30T20:20:00.000-04:00

I spent about 5 hours this long holiday weekend putting some of the final touches on the Baneblade Malleus Imperator. Maybe another couple hours of details, and then I can move onto sealing the whole thing, applying decals, and then putting the final couple coats of matte sealer. Decals are always a lot of fun for me, but it's unfortunate so many people skip this step due to their own reticence.

The biggest "trick" when it comes to applying decals is getting a clean coat of GLOSS varnish. Decals do not like textured or rough surfaces, and this is where most people make their mistake. Even if you think the surface looks completely smooth, it's not until you've laid down that gloss coat. A rough surface leads to the telltale decal sheen, as well as increases the likelihood of air bubbles.

After the gloss coat, apply your decals using Micro Set and/or Micro Sol decal setting solution depending upon the surface. Micro Set enchances the decal's rather weak adhesive making it much more likely to stick and stay put after application. Micro Sol is a mild acidic solution (has a strong vinegar smell, too!) that softens the decal and helps it conform to uneven surfaces like rivets or round shoulder pads. Microscale Industries manufactures both of these products. Check your local hobby store or Google it.

Finally, after giving the decals a couple hours to set, I finish it off with another gloss coat and a final couple coats of matte sealer. The added benefit of the extra gloss coat is that it will create a very durable surface, protecting your mini from all the rigors of the gaming table.

Three Month Moratorium

2011-05-28T18:43:00.003-04:00

I've decided to take a three month break from purchasing miniatures. With recent events surrounding GW's bizarre decisions, I'm going to let things sort themselves out and see where it all shakes out after a few months. Truth be told, a three month break from purchases isn't really much of a big deal for me: I don't buy much more than a blister or boxed set every 2-3 months anyway!

I'm going to continue painting and gaming, though. Like any real hobbyist, I've got more than enough unpainted stuff to keep me busy for a long time, and it will be nice to pare down the collection and maybe focus on some projects I've been meaning to finish for years (like the Baneblade).

Baneblade - PIP

2011-05-17T19:57:00.000-04:00

I've put some hours into this beast over the last week. From the last post, I've put another layer or two over the camo stripes to clean up the wash. This took a great deal of time since Bleached Bone barely covers better than Skull White. I also had to be careful to not drop color into areas that I wanted to stay darker from the wash. Lots of little nooks and crannies on this model, so patience was the key.

This evening, I finally put the finishing touches on the camo stripes. The Bleached Bone stripes got a light drybrush of Skull White and the Burnt Sienna stripes got a light drybrush of Bleached Bone to bring out the details. As you can see from the detail pic, these stripes are NOT airbrushed. The border between the colors was given a heavy drybrush/stippling of a mix of the two camo colors. The intent was to give it the appearance of having been airbrushed without all the actual efficiency and speed of a real airbrush! Hey, it's my hobby, so leave me be.

Lots more work to be done, so stay tuned.

Head Down, Brush Loaded

2011-05-14T19:02:00.000-04:00

You may remember this fellow from this post almost two years ago.

Just a quick pic of what I'm working on at the moment. My FLGS just recently had a large mega-battle, and it made me pine for my unfinished super-heavy! It's been a bit of a timesink, and I could probably put my efforts to better use elsewhere. Which brings me to my next point...

...I'm always jealous of people who seem to be really productive when it comes to minis. I'm even more envious of those who are both productive and put out a great product to boot (RE: Stahly's Paint Station)! I realize that everyone has differing levels of free time and hobby commitment, but it still makes me think I'm doing something just a bit wrong. Are there shortcuts I could be taking? Do I really need to paint that little crevice that no one will see? Maybe I should buy an airbrush? I guess we're all a bit "hobby OCD" in our own special ways.

Stormraven Basing

2011-04-21T18:44:00.003-04:00

I've been working on getting my base finished for my Inquisitorial Stormraven. Such a large base sorta demands a bit more than your standard sand and flock, so I've created a small, urban ruins vignette. Sounds classy when I put it that way!

I've approached this in steps, adding new layers as I've gotten ideas. I wanted to make sure that the ruins were not parallel with the model, so I've offset them about 30 degrees. The sidewalk was scratchbuilt from plasticard: the sidewalk seams and texturing will become more apparent when the base gets paint. The blue rocks are aquaruim gravel, and I've used some medium ballast as an intermediate step between the larger gravel and the as-yet-to-be-applied final texture. The white stuff on top of the pillar and the little glob in the open section of the base is lightweight spackle/filler.

Once the filler dries completely, I'll give the base a built-up layer of fine texture. As a final touch and once all of the painting is complete, I'll top off the ruin with some Forgeworld brass etch barbed-wire as well as some brass casings cut from small diameter brass pipe. That's a lot of work for a simple base, but I hope it will be well worth the effort in the end!

Grey Knights Codex: Thoughts

2011-04-08T23:46:00.009-04:00

I figured now would be a good time to jump back into the hobby with the arrival of a new Inquisition codex. Codex: Grey Knights is a mixed bag of hope for a long-overdue update to my beloved forces of the Inquisition and trepidation at the heavy-handed style of Matt Ward. There are plenty of things to like and dislike about this latest addition to 40K 5th Edition.

I have to get this out of the way first: the fluff is awful. It is so over-the-top in its hyperbole, that it's really hard to even get through the first dozen and a half pages of the book. I get it: the Grey Knights are the best of the best of the best of the best... infinity. But to design special characters that are immortal (Thawn), get followed around by ghost termies (Mordrak), and are holier-than-thou Purifiers that wield daemon blades (Crowe), just smacks of the ridiculous--in the case of the former two characters--and the profane. I mean, really? A Grey Knight that wields a daemon weapon? Luckily, fluff is pretty easy to ingore for both me and Games Workshop.

Overall, though, I truly give the book pretty high marks. I had to give up my precious allies, but in return, I got a much wider selection of units and upgrades to choose from in the parent list. Most importantly, nothing was "squatted" between editions. Certainly, some selections got radically altered (the conversion of Inquisitorial Storm Troopers to a line in the henchman section), but with a little massaging, I can still use the models I lovingly painted up years ago. I apreciate that.

The army list is pretty solid, albeit a bit top heavy with special characters that I'll never personally use. Some new units and a plethora of unit upgrades for each entry (S5 storm bolters?! yes, please.) make for quite a bit of customisation from game to game. I could really do without the ridiculous Dreadknight, but it's nice to see the Stormraven and Land Raider Redeemer in their full, silver-armored glory. Speaking of the Dreadknight: what a missed opportunity for GW to do a Knight Titan kit. In fact, if I ever field a Dreadknight, it will be using a counts-as Knight Paladin in its stead. Now to find someone producing a resin kit...

Sphyrna-pattern Inquisitorial Chimera WIP Part 1

2010-09-11T23:53:00.000-04:00

These are some conversion-in-progress shots of my Inquisitorial Chimera. I decided upon a hammerhead-style turret, but I struggled quite a while with the execution. My options were to chop-up the existing turret, scratchbuild a completely new turret, or find something in my bitz collection that would require just a little work to fit my vision. I went with option 3.

I'm not particularly fond of converting for two main reasons: 1) I was never a particular whiz at building things (Legos were always assembled by the instructions straight from the box), and 2) I really hate cutting up perfectly good bitz. So, it really pained me to hack up a Forgeworld kit. But, I think with just a little plasticard work, it will be exactly what I was looking for.

Something is also pulling on me to build-out some auxiliary fuel tanks. They would basically square-off the hull, and they would be built over the exposed tracks in the rear, flush with the top hull. I dunno, though. Might be a bit past my scratch-building ability. Plus, I really want to start painting this thing. Converting just takes too much time!

Blogs Are Meant to Be Neglected!

2010-09-03T19:17:00.000-04:00

Really, we can all say it: you people who update your blogs regularly are a bit freakish, yeah? I mean, some of you even blog multiple times in one week. That's treading deep into Bizarro World, if you ask me.

Of course, blogging once every five months or so is out of bounds, too! So, I picked up a paintbrush for the first time in a long time, and decided I should plop down in front of the keyboard and bang out another blog post to go along with my newfound motivation for the hobby. Oh, pics ftw...

The plan for the long holiday weekend is to finish the Mystic and get a big chunk of work done on the Tzeentch herald.

Wishlisting: Inquisition Codex Part 2

2010-04-06T17:18:00.000-04:00

In Part 2 of wishlisting a new Inquisitorial codex, I'd like to take a look at some of the possible list entries in a new codex. I've tried to keep the list fairly tight, including things that already have plastic kits in other armies but would still fit perfectly with the Inquisition.

It would be really easy to go overboard with list selections, since Inquisitors and their attendants are some of the most varied personalities in 40K. Units/henchmen like alpha-level psykers, rogue traders, Kroot mercenaries, or Ad-Mech Explorators could easily be plopped into this book without batting an eyelash. However, it might be best to simply leave these choices as opportunities to convert (or use the concept of "counts-as"), rather than take that road from a designer's perspective. Or possibly use that as an avenue to explore in the pages of White Dwarf as a Chapter Approved article (gasp!). I know, perish the thought, eh?

HQ
Ordos Inquisitor Lord (pick your flavor)
GK Brother-Captain (I'd like to see a slight stat bump)
GK Grand Master
Palatine
Canoness
Deathwatch Captain
Deathwatch Librarian
Two named Special Characters from each Ordos (we already have Torquemada, Stern, Karamazov, and Celestine)

Elites
Inquisitor (less options to customize than HQ)
GK Terminators
Deathwatch Terminators
Celestians
Arco-flags/Daemonhosts (this can be a plastic boxed set with the option for one or the other; daemonhosts need a rules overhaul)

Troops
Inquisitorial Storm Troopers/Adeptus Arbites
Grey Knights in Power Armor
Battle Sisters Squad
Deathwatch Kill Team
Sisters Repentia/Frateris Militia/Zealots (eviscerators, exterminators, and priest upgrades!)

Fast Attack
Valkyrie Assault Carriers
Grey Knights in Power Armor (in addition to Deep Strike by teleport, access to Drop Pods, as well)
Seraphim Squad
Deathwatch Veterans (essentially Deathwatch Vanguard Vets)

Heavy Support
Land Raiders (all three variants)
GK Dreads/Venerable Dreads
Retributors
Immolator Squads (1-3 vehicles per slot)
Exorcists
Penintent Engines

So, what say the gentle reader? Can you think of anything else that might be included in an Inquisition army list? The third and final part of this series of posts will deal with psychic powers and unit special rules I'd like to see in a new Inquisition codex. I'd also like to discuss the future of allies, one of the strongest concepts (IMO) in the old codex.

You're Not the Boss of Me!

2010-04-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

Lately, my minis have been kicking my ass. I've been sorting out ways to stay motivated and on task. I've tried painting in small doses, setting specific goals, and limiting myself to only one model at a time. Lastly, I've also been wanting to try something new. In the end, nothing has seemed to work.

So, I've decided that trying to place limits and goals on myself might not be the right direction. Instead, let there be chaos. And by that, I don't mean demons and old, bitter space marines. I've simply decided that I'm going to load up my painting table with all kinds of unfinished stuff and paint whatever I reach for first. It might be inefficient, and it might not get me a new, fully painted army, but it just might be what I need to be doing for myself right now.

Checking the pics, it looks as if there's quite a bit of Deamonhunters love on the workbench, even though I had said I was finished with them March 15th: ISTs, Grey Knights in power armor, a lone GK Termie, and even a Lord Inquisitor in terminator armor. There's also some Sisters of Battle, a Damned Legionnaire (beautiful sculpts, IMO), a Mystic, and even an Ork Boy!

Where Have You Been All My Life?

2010-03-23T19:24:00.006-04:00

I ask this of Warlock Purple. I know, I know, it's wierd, since I've been doing this wargaming thing for 10 years now, but my palette has always been very limited. So, the other day I'm in my FLGS, and I see this color on the rack. I've always known it existed, but I buy it on a whim. Wow, I really like this color.

Now, to find something suitable to try it out on, since there is no way in hell this guy will fit in my Inquisitor's retinue in that color! You can't upstage the boss, y'know (especially when the boss can sign an Exterminatus order on an entire planet).

Wishlisting: Inquisition Codex Part 1

2010-03-12T00:15:00.005-05:00

So, the rumors have been floating around tha intrawebs that a new Inquisition codex may see the light of day in 2011. This has me both optimistic and scared shitless. Optimistic that my army will have new life breathed into it with new plastics and updated rules. Scared because GW has a habit of going a bit overboard with new rules and new units when maybe some minor alterations and tweaks would have been better.

Please note that it's also my belief (and the belief of many others) that we will see a unified Inquisition codex and not separate Witch Hunters and Daemonhunters codices. I'm prety much okay with that, since there is quite a bit of overlap between the two books.

That being said, here's the direction I would like to see things head:

1) More HQ choices and the HQ you choose unlocks the units available to you! Want Grey Knights? Then you need to take a Grey Knights Brother-Captain or Grand Master. Want Sisters of Battle? Then you need to take a Palatine or Canoness. You get the picture. Some overlap and mixing or matching would be appropriate with some limitations.

2) Inquisitors from all three Ordos. I think this is a no-brainer. Access to a core set of henchmen and psychic powers, with each Ordos bringing a little flavor in a couple exclusive henchman types, specialized wargear lists, and psychic abilities.

3) Bring on the Deathwatch. Hell yeah! Two new HQ types in a Deathwatch Captain or Deathwatch Librarian and the ability to take full Deathwatch squads. I would give these guys access to Rhinos, Razorbacks, Drop Pods and Land Raiders, but I'd stay away from things like Bike Squads, Dreadnoughts, Scouts and some of the more specialized Marine kit. Remember, these are Tactical Marines recruited from hundreds of SM chapters, so keep it tight and specific.

4) Real psychic powers and real psychic defense. The Grey Knights in particular are all adept psykers. Maybe not on the same level as SM Librarians, but a squad should have the ability to use the Justicar as a focus for abilities. Maybe give them some short ranged melta or lance type powers to make up for the lack of AT punch. Possibly tie the squad size to the ability to make psychic checks or nullify enemy psychic powers. This would make them strong in the early game, but weaker as they took casualties.

This is by no means a complete and exhaustive list of what I'd like to see changed, but a good start. Next time I'll go into what kind of changes I'd like to see to a combined Inquisition army list.

Gallery: Inquisitorial Rhino #2

2010-03-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

Finished! This is the second vehicle in my Inquisitor's motor pool, and it was a long time coming. You would think doing a second vehicle almost identical to the first would take no time at all, but there were almost 10 months separating the completion dates of these two models. Certainly, there were month-long stretches where I never picked up a paintbrush, and it wasn't the only project I've been working on, but it's still pretty sad! Also, I've never bothered to keep track, but there's probably upwards of 20-30 hours work into this thing. Damn, am I slow! Still, I'm pretty proud to have them both finished.

The next two projects will be rounding out my second IST squad with two more bodies, and then finishing the conversion work on the veteran sergeant for that squad. With any luck, I'll have that knocked out by next weekend.

I now have a strange urge to paint-up an Inquisitorial Chimera. Must... resist...

Painting Points: +10

PIP: IST Rhino Part 3

2010-03-01T09:59:00.004-05:00

Still moving along on the IST Rhino. I thought I'd share my recipe for bone. Grim dark is all about skulls, so if you can't paint a nice shade of bone, you're lost around here.

1. Basecoat Snakebite Leather.
2. 75/25 mix of Snakebite and Bleached Bone.
2. 25/75 mix of Snakebite and Bleached Bone.
4. Several thin layers of Bleached Bone on the higher points.
5. Pure Skull White used sparingly only on the highest points. Do not overdo this step!

This recipe is extremely simple, really only requires two colors, involves no washes, and you can adjust the mix by the size of the area you're painting. For the pic above, I actually used a couple in-between mixes since the skull was a bit larger and could use a more subtle gradient.

PIP: IST Rhino Part 2

2010-02-23T19:55:00.002-05:00

Just a bit further along since my last update. All of the Inquisition symbols are now complete, and I added some decals to the front. There really isn't a whole lot of details left to do, and then it will be a buttload of highlighting to the finish line. My next post will be finishing up all of the skulls, and I'll reveal my recipe for doing bone.

I'm also trying to stay a bit more focused. I had really lost a lot of painting motivation, and as a change of pace, I've removed all projects expect this one from the workbench. My hope is that it will force me to stay on task, complete long-standing projects, and then quickly move on to something else. So far, it seems to be working (fingers crossed)!

My Favorite Mini

2010-02-20T12:55:00.001-05:00

I painted this a looooong time ago. At this point, it's probably been nine years ago. Still one of my favorites! In the old days of 3rd Edition, he was my 1st Company Captain and lead my DIY Deathwing list.

Upcoming Escalation League

2010-02-13T22:58:00.007-05:00

I've been given a little advance copy that an escalation league is in the works at my FLGS. So, having mentioned previously that my next army after my Daemonhunters would be Orks, I decided to throw together a 750 point list:

Bloo Toof's Boyz
HQ
Big Mek, power klaw, kustom force field, 'eavy armor (115 points)

TROOPS
20 boyz, 2 rokkits, Nob w/ power klaw and bosspole (180 points)
20 boyz, 2 big shootas, Nob w/ bosspole (145 points)
18 grots, Runtherd (64 points)
Deff Dread, big shoota, kustom mega-blasta, grot riggers and armor plates (110 points)

HEAVY SUPPORT
3 Killa Kans w/ grotzookas (135 points)
Total: 749 points

Okay, before I get bombarded with tactical advice, let me just say this: I don't care. Seriously. I didn't post this up for critique, it just gives you an idea of what you may be seeing on the blog in the near future. I chose this list mainly because it sticks to my Dread Bash theme, and it includes a lot of units that I already have on hand.

What's wrong with Forgeworld?

2010-02-03T18:51:00.005-05:00

I was over at the The Tau of War, ogling the FW Crisis suits, when a discussion in Old Shatter Hands' comments got my attention. What's the deal with the negative view towards Forgeworld models? More specifically, why do people disallow their use due to Forgeworld's rules?

I've been a long-time supporter of Forgeworld. Their stuff is beautiful, if a bit pricey. However, I've always been under the impression that their rules are just as official in print form as any codex published by their parent, Games Workshop. Forgeworld isn't aftermarket, third-party acessories for your game, they ARE the game. Sure, super-heavies, titans, and flyers are gamebreakers, and they really only have their place at Gladiator tourneys and Apocalypse mega-battles. But really, what's wrong with a Leman Russ Annihilator or a Eldar Firestorm?

People have compained that Forgeworld rules are expensive and aren't owned by everyone. So? I don't own half of the codices GW puts out, does that mean I can refuse to play someone because I don't know the rules? Forgeworld rules are accessible to anyone who has a computer and some disposable income.

The next compaint is that FW rules give people with more money an advantage. Really? Have you ever read any of Forgeworld's rulebooks. Most units are horribly over-priced for what they do. A good example was the Hydra Flak Tank. Before Apocalypse and the newest IG codex came along and introduced a new ruleset, the 40K version of the Hydra was priced at 200 points for a Chimera with two, twin-linked long-barrelled autocannons. 200 points for a freaking Chimera that didn't have a transport capacity and only had four, S7 twin-linked shots! Another great example was the Land Speeder Tempest. 130 points for little more than a Land Speeder with an assault cannon (this was well before Heavy4, Rending was the standard) and a twin-linked missile launcher. This was when you could get TWO codex Land Speeder Tornados for 150 points. Twice the dakka, twice the number of models, and only 20 points more than the uber-killy Forgeworld model. Honestly, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to underachieving, Forgeworld rulesets.

Given the above, why in the world would anyone want to use some of these things in an actual game? Because some of us enjoy the hobby and love putting something on the table that's different and sparks the imagination. No one buys an Atlas recovery vehicle in the hopes of crushing their opponent. They do it because they had an idea for a scenario or it fit the fluff of their army.

Can Forgeworld rules be abused? Probably. There might be some rules that weren't as well thought-out as they could have been and allow some modicum of an advantage. But this can be said of every GW codex ever put out in the last 10 years. There are units and combos that exist that can (and will) be used and abused. But don't damn an entire range of really cool models because of your own perception that those of us who want to use them are either elitist or trying to get one over on our opponent.

Counts-As Ogryn

2010-02-01T19:13:00.004-05:00

While hard at work today, I was pondering where I could expand my Imperial Guard army. Much of my army was made in 3rd Edition from the Steel Legion list in the Codex: Armageddon, and I'm happy to say that the vast majority of it has remained viable through the last two editions of the Guard codex. So, with longevity of my list in mind, I wanted to add something new, without the fear of codex creep "squatting" my newest creation.

There are some cool new choices in the Guard 'dex: Psyker Battle Squads; special characters like Marbo and Pask; and the Deathstrike Missile Launcher. But, one thing strikes me about those choices: they lack an official model. And one thing I've learned through the editions: if it aint' got a model, don't count on it being around for long! So, I decided to limit my choices to stuff that's stood the test of time.

One choice I've always loved, but hated the models for was ogryn. Although the sculpts have improved, ab-humans just don't fit my theme. So, what if one of the few indigenous critters left on my Regiment's homeworld were giant, intelligent, carnivorous lizards!

This will be the project I sandwich in between my new Ork army and the end of my Daemonhunters army. There will also be a converted Chimera involved. I'm thinking replacing the top hatch and back ramp with some sort of wire mesh and painting hazard stripes and warning signs all over the vehicle.

Lobotomized Man-Servant w/ BFG

2010-01-30T12:40:00.007-05:00

I wanted a quick and simple project to finish over the weekend. I've had this servitor with plasma cannon kicking around my fig case half-finished for quite some time, and sticking to the principle of keep it simple, I thought he'd make an easy project over a few evenings.

Not much to say here: some metallics with washes, pallid skin, and a little bit of line highlighting and he's complete. I have no idea if I'll ever use him in an army list, but he's available to die in the name of the God-Emperor if needed.

Painting Points: +1

3 More ISTs

2010-01-27T20:15:00.000-05:00

Another three Storm Trooper squaddies to add to the second squad. Two more members and a veteran sergeant are all that remain unfinished, and then I'll have two complete squads. I'll have a couple more PIP pics of their Rhino next update. First painting points of the new year! Huzzah!

Painting Points: +3

How Fast Do You Paint?

2010-01-19T21:20:00.002-05:00

I've added a poll to the right, please take a moment to vote. It never ceases to amaze me that some of you manage to blog post 3-4 times a week, and generally post newly painted minis. Me? I'm probably relatively slow. A single fig is going to take me in the neighborhood of 2+ hours to finish, and vehicles or monstrous creatures considerably longer.

So, not including prep, assembly, drying time, or breaks from the painting table, what do you reckon is the total time you spend on a single, rank-and-file fig for the tabletop?

PIP: IST Rhino Part 1

2010-01-17T19:41:00.005-05:00

Gonna post a few more in-progress pics than usual for this vehicle. That way, if anyone has any questions or comments as I go along, they can fire away while I'm still working.

It's (obviously) basecoated Chaos Black, and I've done some of the armor panels and hatches in a Red Gore with a highlight/drybrush of Blood Red. Typically, when I line highlight something this large, I'll do it in phases as I go along. Although it's hard to see in the pics, I've started this process on the left rear, highlighting the Chaos Black with a Delta CeramCoat color called Charcoal. Line highlighting is tedious and requires a steady hand. I dislike it very much, and I try to only do it in 15-20 minute increments.

All of the gold bits are also already finished. I've been using this particular gold recipe for years now, and I think it's looks good:

1. Shining Gold over black undercoat. Two coats, otherwise the gold can look a bit green.
2. Chestnut Ink wash. Not available anymore, but I have a good stash that should last me a while! Maybe you could probably substitute Gryphonne Sepia at this stage?
3. Highlight with Shining Gold, leaving the wash in any recesses.
2. 75/25 mix of Shining Gold/Mithril Silver for extreme edge highlight.

The next stage will be painting the large Inquisition I's on the front, side and top panels.

WIP: IST Vet Sarge

2010-01-16T11:27:00.006-05:00

Here he is in all his poster-tacked glory! This will be the veteran sergeant for the plasma squad of my Inquisitorial Storm Troopers. My fluff also makes him the commander of the Inquisitor's house guard. Basically, he's a grizzled dude who has been in the service of the Inquisition for decades, so I needed a suitable mini for the job. I dremeled off the orginal head and replaced it with "scarface" from the IG Command Squad sprue. I also got rid of his original armaments and replaced them with a combi-plasma and the ever-popular Pointy Finger of Doom.

I'm also working on some squadmates for the vet sarge and his pimped-out whip; another GK termie (damn, do I love the GKTs!); a couple of magnetized weapons options for the termies in case I want to break up the large squad into two smaller ones; and a converted Forgeworld Grey Knights dread. The dread will be featured in another post, as there's quite a bit of work I plan to put into him.

Lastly, bask in the glory of a basecoated bastion: lots of drybrushing and stippling still to ensue.

WoW is the Debil!

2010-01-12T22:01:00.002-05:00

Roughly coinciding with my absence around October of last year, I re-subbed to World of Warcraft. Needless to say, three months go by and nary a post in ye olde blog. Hopefully, I didn't bum anyone out with my lack of updates!

However, now that the holidays have passed and my interest in WoW is waning, I've picked up the paintbrush again and plan to post some pics of stuff I'm working on. I got an Ork Battlewagon from my Mom for Christmas (who doesn't love their Mother?!), and I purchased an Imperial Strongpoint from my FLGS last week. Although GW doesn't get much love from me nowadays, I have to say that I really like their plastic terrain kits. The first bastion is on the painting table, and the second one is in the proces of being built.

Lastly, I had said that October 31st would be the deadline to get my Grey Knights army finished, but given my lack of painting or playing the past few months, I'm going to give myself a bit of an extension: the new deadline will be March 15th. After that, I'll start in earnest on the Orks.

Next post will have some WIP and PIP pics of what's on the workbench. Until then...

Keeping My Head Down

2009-10-06T20:27:00.004-04:00

I am actually working! No updates recently, because I've been working on 10 figs at once(!), so progress on each is pretty slow. However, painting points out the wazoo when I finally get them all completed!

The pic is of my slightly converted Grand Master. Based upon the Stern model, I dremeled out his head and replaced it with a Catachan head. I sculpted a goatee, coif, and rough hood. The hood will need a bit more work to get it into it's finished state.

My original conversion for this guy had him holding his Nemesis Force Hammer with both hands, with his left hand being a chainfist. Yeah, it was a bit OTT, but it gave me the choice between six, S6 attacks at I5 or six, S8 attacks at I1 with 2d6 pen against vehicles. However, now that powerfists/chainfists don't grant extra attacks, it was a needless expense. So, I've gone with a more conventional psycannon.

A lot of work still to do on this guy. I'll post progress pics as I get more finished.

They Call Me the Working Man

2009-09-25T19:37:00.005-04:00

I guess that's what I am. Been surfing some of the FTW blogs, and posting pics of your workstation seems to be popping up here and there. Far be it from me to pass up an easy blog post like that!

My hobby area takes up about half of my basement, and it's composed of three areas: a painting table, gaming table, and work bench. I separated my painting area from the area where I do model prep for the simple fact of cleanliness. It's too easy to get your painting area dirty when filing and sanding miniatures, and all that crap has a way of making it onto painted miniatures. I'm also a bit of a light hog: I can't paint or prep in bad lighting, so I always have both a flourescent shoplight and one or two incandescent desk lamps overhead.

My gaming table I've had for years. I think I built it in 2001 from a donated sheet of plywood, and it has served its purpose beautifully. Lately, even though I play very little at home, I've seriously been thinking about building another, more portable table. Terrain building has always been a fun part of the hobby for me, and an Orky shantytown would be an awesome addition to my forest and rock terrain!

This is my workbench where I do all my prep work. Of course, it also gets used for more manly purposes like sharpening tools, cleaning firearms, and assorted testosterone-laden tasks.

Involuntarily Switching Demographics

2009-09-17T20:16:00.004-04:00

That's the phrase I've decided to call my 35th birthday. Which is today. Yay me. Anyhoo, not much to say other than I got a glimpse at the new Forgeworld Ork hawtness. Un-f***ing-believeable.

Nothing to See Here.

2009-09-14T12:30:00.000-04:00

Please move along. Going to indulge myself a bit and simply chat about what's been going on the past couple weeks. If my thoughts don't interest you (and why should they?), then this would be the time to click the Back button.

So, painting has been very light the past several weeks. I've not gotten anything completed towards my goal of finishing my Daemonhunters by October 31st. However, there are projects in motion--I've got a termie, GK in power armor, and three ISTs in various stages on the painting table--so I'm not really broken up about the lack of progress. In all honesty, I'm pretty chuffed about the units I have finished, and I see no real reason why that they won't be further motivation to add to the ranks of completed figs. However, I can attest that I am getting quite bored of painting red, black, and silver!

On the gaming side of things, I've actually played four games in the last four weeks: two 40K games, a 40K mega-battle, and a game of Warmachine. Though the mega-battle was a bit dubious, the other three games have been a lot of fun. All three were against great opponents and they were all nail-biters: really good stuff. The latest two games were in my own basement last night, and I love being able to use my gaming table and terrain. Over the years, terrain and table building have always taken the lowest priority for my hobby time, but I've never NOT enjoyed finishing a great piece of terrain to add to my collection. My table sees action 2-3 times a year if I'm lucky, but it's a point of pride for me to be able to have the space and a nice board with homemade terrain to play upon with my friends.

Of purchases, there have been a few as of late. I bought the Cities of Death: Manufactorum boxed set to complete a Cityfight terrain project. I'm loathe to count it against my Painting Points total, for the sheer fact that the box didn't sit around, and has, in fact, already been mostly consumed by the project it was intended for. Imgaine that: buying a hobby product and immediately getting it built and ready for paint! Regarding the other two purchases, one was an impulse buy (a box of Space Marine Scouts, $19.99), and the other was bought as both a painting project and to test the waters for a new army.

I had mentioned playing a Warmachine game in the list of recent battles. I'm not really a hardcore Privateer Press guy. I bought a second-hand Protectorate of Menoth boxed set not long after Warmachine Prime had hit the shelves. I quickly expanded it to 500 points, and here it has sat, pretty much unpainted and unprimed. It's good for getting a few games in every so often, but I'm sort of embarassed to put it on the table in its current condition. However, I have little motivation to paint it, and I haven't even settled on a decent paint scheme for it, even if I had the inclination. Enter my latest purchase: Durgen Madhammer.

Durgen is of the Mercenaries faction, and it has long been a desire of mine to start a Rhulic-themed Mercs army. At one time, this was pretty much impossible, since there were actually very few Rhulic units. However, now there are quite enough warjacks, 'casters, solos and units to build a respectable force of just dwarfs. Poncy humans need not apply. So, Durgen is to be my test piece for my potential new Warmachine faction. Pics of this stunty may soon follow.

The other thing that my opponent and I discussed at length was my next 40K army. I discussed my options briefly in a previous post. However, after bouncing the pros and cons of each force off my friend, he thought it might be best if I broke away from the Imperials for a bit, and started a xenos force; more specifically, the Orks. However, I'm still not sold on this decision, though.

Orks will present some unique problems for me. Firstly, it has been a long time since I've started a new army from scratch. With the Daemonhunters, I always had the luxury of adding the units I finished as allies to my IG force, allowing me to play as I went. No such luck with Orks. Also, I will need a way to paint a lot of boyz in a relatively short span of time. I have done some experiments with the new GW washes and some very rough highlighting, and the results look promising. The force I'm planning isn't particularly high in model-count, but I can't afford to spend too much time on individual figs. I intend to go with a Mek/Kan/Dread heavy force with a strong core of boyz on foot. It won't be a traditional horde army and neither will it be a mech army. How effective will it be? Who cares!

So, there might be some changes coming to the blog as I ramp up two new armies: one for Warmachine and one for 40K. After my October 31st deadline, I'l porbably coast though the holidays and start the building and painting in earnest after the new year.

All Quiet on the Blogfront

2009-09-06T19:55:00.004-04:00

Been a quiet hobby week this week. Hell, it's been pretty quiet for the last two weeks. That dastardly Real Life has been rearing it's ugly head, and my hobby time has suffered as a result. No biggie, really. Just not much to show you all.

I did get a game in on Friday of last week. It was a pickup game against an opponent I've never played before. He had a fully-painted Space Marines force that was well painted, and he turned out to be a decent sort of chap. We chatted throughout the game, and there weren't any rules questions or disputes to speak of. Just the way I like it!

I was worried it might be a bit of a blowout, since I took some casualties early in the game, and one of my Inquisitorial Storm Trooper squads decided that caution was the better part of valor and ran off the table in turn 2. Cowardly humans! Yet another reason why plans should never hinge on T3, Ld8 models :)

In the end, it turned out a very tight game. It literally came down to the last turn and a couple inches separating a hard-fought draw from a minor victory for my opponent. The stars of the game for me had to be the Grey Knight Terminators. Teleporting behind one of his Rhinos camping an objective, the psycannon in the squad popped the transport and entangled his 10-man squad. Next turn, I got a devastating round of shooting from both an incinerator-equipped Grey Knights squad and the termies, followed by a charge from the GK termie squad.

End result was a massacre with no casualties suffered in return. Gotta love S6 power weapons! Even though I struggled to make 3+ saves, the fearlessness and shoot-and-move firepower of the Grey Knights kept me in the game.

Apoc Letdown

2009-08-29T22:19:00.003-04:00

I packed 3,000 points of IG and 1,500 points of Daemonhunters and schlepped them to my FLGS today in the hopes of getting in my first game of Apocalypse. I love big battles, and I was looking forward to being able to use nifty strategems and seeing thousands of points duking it out. Unfortunately, 'twas not to be.

Only four other people showed up, and two of those persons were pre-teens with barely 1k between the two of them. One of them had approximately 200 points of IG and Space Marines (three Space Marines, to be exact) and the other had a mixed bag of Firewarriors, Kroot, some Pathfinders and a single Devilfish.

So, the GM/ref quickly paired us up into two teams, then promptly left us to fend for ourselves. It was also decided that this would not be an Apocalypes game but simply a big conventional battle. Ugh.

In all honesty, it wasn't terrible, it just wasn't what I had built up in my own mind. I wanted something a bit more organized, and I wanted to see some really nicely painted miniatures. There were also some late game shenanigans from the opposing players that forced me to ask for their army lists. Needless to say, there were some discrepancies between what was on the field and what they had actually paid points for. We made it through 4 turns before we ended the game relatively amicably. My two young teammates were well-behaved, had a good time playing toy soldiers, and we did okay given the horrid scenario we ended up playing through.

Truth be told, the most enjoyable part of the evening were the two hours I spent chatting up a couple guys I've known for years who happened to be hanging out and painting. A saying about making lemonade comes to mind...

EDIT: Some fun with numbers. After looking over my army list, it occurred to me that I had nearly $2000 worth of miniatures sitting on the table in this game, and 95% of it was fully painted. Unreal.

Malleus Imperator

2009-08-27T23:02:00.003-04:00

She's still a WIP, but I thought I'd post what I'm working on at the moment. I'm planning on going to an Apocalypse game this weekend, and I figured it would be a great time to finish this beast. I've had my Baneblade for about 8 years now, and it's been partially painted all this time. I think it's seen use in two regular games of 40K, and both times it's done horribly. Even with all those guns, the BS3 just sucks. Still, it's a great model, and it's cool to have an original, resin Baneblade with all of those newer, fake plastic ones on the tabletop these days :P

Critters, Episode 3

2009-08-23T22:13:00.004-04:00

While doing some yardwork today, I happened upon this fella:

The Praying Mantis is probably one of the largest insects we have in this area. This guy was about 3-4 inches long. Not the largest I've ever seen, but the largest I've seen in quite some time. Although not endangered, they are a protected species where I live making it against the law to kill them. Completely harmless to humans, they are voracious insectivores, and just like bats or ladybugs, anyone with a garden would do well to have as many as possible in the vicinity.

Covering Yer Bases, Part 1

2009-08-19T22:15:00.003-04:00

Is there any end to the colorful and witty titles you can give to an article about basing? Frankly, I don't think there is.

Tutorials will be few and far between on this blog. I've been painting minis now for over 9 years, but I still don't think I know that many great tips or tricks that haven't been done and overdone by those longer in the tooth than I. That being said, I hadn't really seen any articles concerning "slate" basing, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I use the term "slate," since this ain't slate. We'll be using pine bark chips of the sort you find as mulch in people's landscaping. You want the big chunks, not the shredded stuff and certainly not the stuff that's been dyed some unnatural shade. I recommend stealing some chips in the dead of night from your neighbors. Really. Dress up in all black, put on some black face paint, and stuff your pockets with ill-gotten gains.

This stuff, when cut down and painted, looks amazingly like slate. In fact, I think it looks better than slate for the simple reason that the real stuff is out of scale to the rest of the mini. What I mean is that slate in it's natural state is never one big chunk, but rather many thick sheets. The pine bark does a great job at mimicing this look, and it's far easier to work with in getting the exact shape we want.

Step 1. Gather ye tools! Nothing special needed here. Junky paintbrush, a beat up hobby knife with a dull blade, a dollop of PVA, 40mm base, and some pine bark.

Step 2. Size up your bark. I like to let a little hang over the edge, but not a lot. Use your dull hobby knife by slipping the blade in between a couple layers and give a gentle pry.

Cake! No tools needed to get it the shape and size you want after this step. Use use your fingers to break little chunks off here and there.

Keep those little bits! Yo can use them to add all sorts of extra shapes and textures to your bases.

Step 3. Slop on some PVA, place your "slate" where you want it, then sprinkle your preferred basing material to cover the base. If you're using sand you bought in a GW store, shame on you! The "brand" I use came from a beach and it was free. Crazy.

I also added a little dollop of PVA and sprinkled some sand on top of the bark chip.

Now the boring part. Waiting for the PVA to dry. I don't know the cure time on this stuff, but I tend to let it sit for 24 hours before moving to the next step. However, it is quite easy to speed this process up with a hair dryer or a bright, sunny spot outside on your porch or in your garden.

Part 2 will be all about the painting process. ZOMG, COMING SOON!!1!!!!eleven!!

The $30,000 Challenge

2009-08-17T00:10:00.003-04:00

I was just sitting here thinking: what if someone dropped thirty large in your lap tax-free, guilt-free? The catch being that they didn't want you to buy anything practical, and you weren't allowed to pay a single cent of the money towards debts or bills. What would you buy?

Pretty obvious if you ask me...

Omega Man says: "Bring on the Zombie Apocalypse, you damn, dirty apes!"

Gallery: Grey Knights Terminators

2009-08-14T19:51:00.004-04:00

As is so often the case, I jumped the gun before this guy was finished, and the black on both the storm shield and the thunder hammer need a couple highlights, but otherwise, es finito.

Both the thunder hammer and storm shield were layered with a mix of Hawk Turquoise and Space Wolves Grey. Between each layer was a glaze of Turquoise Glaze (an old Citadel Colour pop-top I've had for a while), with a total of maybe 6-7 layers; not real hard, just time-consuming.

The full squad:

Eventually, I plan to have an 8-man squad. Two of the termies do not have their force weapon blades finished yet. I like the orange color, but I don't like my technique. I might try and do what I did with the thunder hammer, it's just that I hate revisiting old models!

Painting Points: +1

Gallery: Deff Dread

2009-08-09T21:35:00.006-04:00

Something a bit different from the usual around here. This is a Deff Dread I painted up around 2002. Back then, they were just called Ork Dreadnoughts. Crazy, I know...

Equipped with a kustom mega-blasta, big shoota, and armor plates, he didn't really have a specific role except maybe general mayhem. Kustom mega-blastas are risky kit but 100% orky.

He's actually not quite finished. As you can see, his weapons have very little detail work, and the skull trophies on his bosspole are unpainted. And, it can certainly use a bit more paint here and there to add a bit more interest.

I've got about four new draft posts waiting until after my GK Termie with thunder hammer is finished. Maybe a couple more days, and then I'll have a deluge of new stuff on the blog. Thanks for stopping by!

The End Times

2009-08-01T18:32:00.003-04:00

I've decided to set a date for the completion of my Daemonhunters army. I've been working on these guys for nearly six years (on and off again), and I fear that I'll never truly feel that they're finished unless I simply set an arbitrary date. The hope is that setting a completion date will also light more of a fire under my ass!

That being said, October 31st, 2009, will be the big date. Truly, the list of what still needs finished is rather short, and some of you may get a chuckle that it will take me 3 months to finish what I have left.

6 Inquisitorial Storm Troopers

4 Grey Knights in power armor

3 Grey Knights Terminators

Inquisitorial Rhino

Grey Knights Dreadnought

2 Grey Knights Land Raiders

Grey Knights Grand Master

So, 13 infantry-type models, 3 vehicles (two of them being behemoths), a dread, and a converted character. That may not seem like a lot, but it is to me! The good thing is that the vast majority of this list is already assembled, based and partially painted. Only one Land Raider and the converted character are in an unfinished state of assembly.

As always, as I complete stuff, I'll post pics; three months and counting, wish me luck!

"Screenshot or it didn't happen!"

2009-07-27T22:45:00.000-04:00

Nope, you're not seeing double. That's two plasma gunners for my second Inquisitorial Storm Trooper squad. Meltas are far more useful, TBH, but I wanted a little variety at the expense of game effectiveness. Five more troopers, a converted veteran sergeant with bolter-melta, and a Rhino still to go before that squad's complete.

And the justicar for my second Grey Knights squad. As you can see, I've diverged a bit from the Studio scheme by painting the left arm in Adeptus Mechanicus red. The fluff is that a small detachment of Grey Knights once performed a great service for the Cult of the Machine God. As such, they are referred to as the Mars Honor Guard and adorn parts of their armor with the heraldry of the AM. What did they do? Just asking that question is heresy, my friend.

EDIT: This guy is almost complete. A few details, and I have to touch-up his sword after dropping him :(

And, another Cityfight terrain piece:

Just some greenstuff sandbags and some miscellaneous battlefield detritus and it will be ready for paint.

The next post featuring painted miniatures will be a Gallery of my Grey Knight Terminators Squad after I finish the thunder-hammer WIP.

Painting Points: +3

Critters, Episode 2

2009-07-24T15:43:00.003-04:00

I do a lot of walking outside for my job. Quite a bit of that walking is done in high brush or deep in the woods. Occasionally, I'll carry a camera with me, since I do see loads of wildlife and interesting critters while I'm out and about. Butterflies have a special meaning to my wife, so I snapped this pic while praying that it would sit still long enough for me to get a good image. I set it as my wife's desktop, and it looks pretty neat!

Lookin' at the Workbench

2009-07-19T12:11:00.009-04:00

So, here's what I've got cooking.

1) 2 ISTs with plasma guns for the second squad.
2) Grey Knight Justicar for the second squad. Almost completed.
3) This guy.
4) Mystic.
5) This guy.
6) OMG, supersecretprojectlolz!!1!!ONE!1
7) Penitent Engines.
8) IST Rhino for second squad.

The ISTs will go quickly, as will the Justicar, and I hope to have them done by next weekend. The termie is next in line after the ISTs and justicar. I'm stuck on the robe color for the mystic and whether or not I should freehand something on his back. The super secret project...+++FEED INTERCEPTED+++...+++DELETED BY ORDER OF THE ORDO HERETICUS+++...+++MIND-SCRUBBING INITIATED+++...+++THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: BLESSED IS THE MIND TOO SMALL FOR DOUBT+++...

That was wierd. What exactly was I typing? Um, I used the penitent engines in a game last week, and they sucked as usual, but who cares, right? They're cool! Lastly, The first IST Rhino was a marathon for me, but it turned out so well, I couldn't resist starting the second.

So, that's it. Hopefully I can have some completed pics up by the end of this coming week. I'm going to go lay down now. My head hurts for some reason.

The Future is 'Ard Boyz?

2009-07-17T22:54:00.004-04:00

I'll admit it: I'm a little girl. I'm not a competetive person. I don't have the killer instinct. I'm not particularly aggressive, and I lose just about as much as I win. Now that that's out of the way...

I played my first tourney back in 2001. It was a local Rogue Trader Tournament which back then, meant Games Workshop supplied all sorts of swag for the tournament: a t-shirt or two for the Tournament Organizers, a packet of special scenarios, record-keeping paperwork, and some decent-looking awards for the winners. Not only was there a unique, resin pile of skulls trophy for the overall winner, but there were awards for more esoteric things like (gasp!) sportsmanship and (double gasp!) painting. In fact, the overall winner was not necessarily the guy who stomped all of his opponents into the ground. It was the guy who certainly did well in battle points, but he was also the guy that others enjoyed playing against and painted his army to an acceptable tournament standard.

Eight years later, along comes 'Ard Boyz. A poorly oprganized, local level series of tourneys that rewards nothing but mathhammer and good dice rolling. How far we have fallen.

I'll be completely up-front: neither have I played in an 'Ard Boyz tournament, nor have I spoken at length with people who have. I've based much of my opinion upon first- and second-hand accounts drawn from the that reliable source called the Intraweb and hobby forums. Nevertheless, some things have become very clear about the current system of GW-supported tournaments in the United States: it's not about the hobby, it's about sales.

Let's take first the points value of these tourneys. 2,500 points? Really? I like bigger games, the more points, the better in my opinion. However, two hours to complete a 5,000 point game is not only ridiculous, it's unnecessarily excessive. What can you do at 2,500 points, that you can't do at 2,000 points or 1,750 points. Hmm, that's easy, you can sell more models. The fact is that more points equals more money for GW. There are no tactics nor rules that lend themselves to the greater points value. In fact, the more points in a tourney, the greater likelihood that army list mistakes will slip past the judges, or the tactic of "slow-playing" becomes more problematic.

Painted models not required? Yeah, that sounds like a weekend full of awesome. There was a time when the hobby meant you painted and converted the models you had. There was a time that unpainted models barred you from competing in tourneys. I liked those times. It meant that people who believed as I do, generally tended to be the people that I ended up gaming with at the weekend tourney. I'd complement them on their painted minis, pick up a few of their conversions, and chat the other player up on how he did this or that. It was an icebreaker. It was a way to appreciate the hard work that people put into their armies, and maybe you'd learn a trick or two from your opponents.

Would you believe I actually saw pics from an 'Ard Boyz tournament where not only were the player's models not painted or primed, but some of his models were only partially assembled or held together with scotch tape? Are you serious?

Additionally, there was no minimum level of tournament signups required. Meaning, if three people showed up the day of the tourney to their local FLGS, and only three people showed up, all three took 1st through 3rd places and advanced to the semi-finals. Don't laugh. From what I've read, it happened quite a bit across the country.

There is a place for this type of gaming. Adeptican's Gladiator tournament is a sterling example: no whining, no holds barred, bring the hardest list imaginable with super-heavies, flyers and titans allowed. I get it. But for the the RTT and GT systems to be replaced by this horrorshow of a tournament system examplifies all that's wrong with the current management of GW. Veterans don't matter, the hobby doesn't matter, the bottom line is the only thing that counts. BAI MOAR MINEEEZ!!!!!11!!1ONE!! seems to be the banner that's being hoisted here.

So be it. As an Aerosmith diddy once went, "Something's right with the world today, and everyone knows it's wrong." I hope the person that ends up winning the whole thing turns out to be a 12-year old kid with a Heroclix-proxied, unpainted army that ends up in the next issue of the new, $9 White Dwarf.

Jonesing for a "New" Army

2009-07-15T20:47:00.005-04:00

Notice the "New" in quotation marks, since I couldn't possibly afford new miniatures right now and cerainly not a whole new army. However, what I do have are four distinct armies that I've collected over the years in my bitz box. These are all current ranges, so I woulnd't be putting anything together that could be considered "old school," though if I wait a few years longer, that might change.

I currently have:

1. Space Marines - Enough for half a company or so: 3-4 tac squads, an assault squad, a couple Rhino/Razorbacks, a couple Land Raiders, and a Dreadnought. I also have a plastic Command Squad and plenty of metal and plastic Characters for all the HQ choices I'd ever need. Not too shabby.

2. Deathwing - 4 boxes of plastic Terminators. Along with the Land Raiders, Dread, and a few heroes in Terminator armor, I'm set for a 2,000 point force.

3. Orks - Somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70 boyz, Ghazghkull, 5 mega-armored Nobz, a couple Dreads, a couple Kans mobs, and a convered Battlewagon. It would be a themed Big Mek/Stompas list with lots of boyz on foot and as many dreads/kans as I could mash into one list.

4. Sisters of Battle - Tons of stuff. five, 10-woman squads, Rhinos/Immies for each of the squads, Seraphim, Retributors, 2 Exorcists, a large squad of Repentia, as well as generic Witch Hunters kit like arco-flags, penitent engines, assassins, Inquisitors and their attendants, etc.

The problem? Mainly unfinished business. I really love my Daemonhunters army, even though I've been working on it for nearly six years. I find it very difficult to move on unless it's finished to my standards. But burnout is becoming a big issue, and the fact that Grey Knights are badly hobbled by codex creep. A 3rd Edition codex deep into 5th Edition makes for some amount of frustration, both in interpreting rules as well as flagging competetiveness of the list.

I think what I might do is set an arbitrary completion date for my DH army, and what is finished by then is where I stop.

Gallery: IST Veteran Sergeant

2009-07-12T19:45:00.008-04:00

You may remember this mini from this post.

Master Sergeant Colabio St. Vincennes

Reported as a witch and mistakenly taken aboard a Black Ship as a youth, Colabio would normally have been doomed to a life as servitor or worse. However, the strong and fit adolescent was saved from his fate by Lord Inquisitor Formoria. Bequeathed to Inquisitor Schloss, a recently elevated acoltye of Fomoria, the boy was sent to the Schola Progenium on Adelaide IV.

Tall and possessing lightning reflexes, Colabio has served as one of the elite members of Schloss' Household Guard for 26 years. He has survived dozens of campaigns including the Cleansing of Grayhive on Mydas-3 and the infamous planetary assault of Prothos, which ended in the Exterminatus of the planet's population after nearly six months of bloody, street to street fighting of Chaos and traitor PDF forces.

Colabio was promoted to Master Sergeant* after his exploits on Prothos, where he and his squad engaged an Aspiring Champion of the Blood God, Khorne. The fiend had single-handedly slaughtered a platoon of Imperial Guardsmen, and Colabio's squad had been tasked with hunting him down and killing him if possible. Although losing half of his squad in the engagement, Colabio dealt the deathblow to the power-armored behemoth with a well-placed krak grenade that decapitated the beast.

*The title Master Sergeant is an honorific within the Household Guard. Although the person holding the title is invariably a leader of some sort, the title does not denote any specific ranking within the unit's hierarchy. Instead, it is awarded to those who have performed deeds of uncommon valor in service to the Imperium. These skilled warriors are often trained in the more specialized tools of the Daemonhunter's craft, to include thunder hammers, combi-bolters, and specialized teleport homing beacons. It is worth noting that this form of commendation is awarded posthumously in fully 95% of all cases.

Painting Points: +5

Conversion: Grey Knight Terminator with TH/SS

2009-07-09T21:27:00.007-04:00

I've had this conversion so long, it's all metal: it was done before the newer plastic assault termies hit the shelves. The hardest thing about this conversion was getting the pose right. I wanted the shield out in front, as if he was preparing to block an attack. The GKT arms are all pretty much parallel to the torso, so to move the arm in front of the body, I had to build up the join at the shoulder with greenstuff.

Since I had to cant the arm at almost a 45 degree angle to the body, it wouldn't work to just make a non-armored joint that extended out more than a centimeter. So I had to make it look as though the pauldron was sliding forward along the shoulder, exposing the armored portion underneath. This gives the illusion that the elbow is moving left to right, rather than the shoulder, making the pose look more natural.

Lastly, the storm shield was cut down to resemble an Inquisitorial symbol and I added a plasma cannon bit to cover up the ugly scar that remained after I cut the storm bolter off the left arm. Overall, I think it worked pretty well.

The hammer bit was just a metal thunder hammer that was grafted onto the GK sword arm. Some filing was done to remove the dumb lightning bolts on the side, and the power cabling was made by wrapping a piece of wire with smaller, 28 gauge wire. I added an =][= bit to the hammer face, since I just had this funny vision of some greater demon having an impression of that symbol lumped into his forehead after the assault phase. Your order must be up, coz you just got served!

And, yes, the painting is WIP. He's on the workbench right now, so I'll post a pic after he's finished.

Servo Skull Madness

2009-07-08T22:51:00.006-04:00

This might be cheating, but technically, I did finish the servo skull in the middle this evening, so technically, that nets me a painting point for a completed fig! w00t!

Painting Points: +1

20 Minutes O' Hobby

2009-07-07T21:38:00.003-04:00

So, been a bit busy as of late and a bit unmotivated to do hobby stuff. However, I've been getting my hobby fix by checking out the FtW Bloggers and posting the odd bit of wisdom on the Dakka Dakka forums. I've lurked and dropped the odd post on that site for years, and I do enjoy reading what other hobbyists have to say. At various times, Dakka has had to deal with it's share of e-thuggery and general ass-hattery, but the forums as of late have been a real resource for me. My username is the_Armyman, so if you see me online, say "Hi!"

To recapture a bit of hobby momentum for myself, I've developed the idea of spending at least 20 minutes of every evening doing something hobby related. No matter how busy you are, you can usually find 20 minutes, right? Well, use it to your advantage! Pick a detail like a shoulderpad or purity seal, and finish it off in one sitting. Take a toothbrush to those minis you've had sitting in Simple Green and get them ready for a fresh coat of primer. Bust out the PVA glue and base a squad of guys to get them that much closer to being completed. The idea is to do something. Don't just sit there and regret what you don't have time for!

Sunday night, I did some prepwork on a Rhino I had just stripped the paint from. Last night, I did some detail work on a servo-skull familiar. And tonight, I'll probably finish the servo-skull and do a bit of filing on the metal bitz for my third penitent engine. Squeeze in enough of these 20 minute sessions, and you might be surprised at what you can accomplish.

Cityfight Terrain Piece

2009-06-30T21:34:00.007-04:00

Well, I finally joined the year 2006 by completing my first Cities of Death terain piece. It's a pretty bog standard assembly. It's mounted on a 1/4 inch harboard base with a beveled edge. I added some ruin piles made out of odd bits of styrofoam coated in spackle, and the sidewalk is simply made out of roughed-up pieces of sheet styrene. Some sand, paint, and a few heavy drybrushes later, Robert's yer Mum's brother!

Painting Points: +5

Critters, Episode 1

2009-06-27T22:46:00.005-04:00

I admit it: when it comes to critters and wildlife, I'm still a little kid. I like looking under rocks in creeks for salamanders and crawfish; I like catching bugs and getting a good look at them; and I'll slam on my brakes to prevent running over a chipmunk. So, every once in a while, I'm lucky enough for something to wander in or near my home that I can take a pic of.

I found this near my basement workshop, hanging out on a laundry basket last fall. It's a wolf spider. They're midly venomous but generally nonagressive. Cool, huh?

Gallery: Inquisitorial Rhino

2009-06-22T18:42:00.007-04:00

Success! My first painted vehicle in some time, and if I do say so myself, it looks pretty good. This will be the transport for my IST Squad for my expanding Daemonhunters army. I'll add more views in a bit, just wanted to get this baby online.

EDIT: More pics.

Painting Points: +10

Heretical Death Machines of... Death?

2009-06-21T01:19:00.004-04:00

I've been sort of "Stream of Conscious" hobbying lately, working on whatever grips me first. It keeps things fresh, but makes it impossible to get anything done! I haven't completed a new army in about 3 years now, really just adding to my two existing ones. Sad, I know.

These are my three penitent engines for my Inquisitorial forces. As you can see, they're in varying stages of completion. The middle pengine was my first build, pretty much stock as the kit came. The second build is nearing the primer stage, just needing some basing material added. This guy involved a bit more thought and work. His right toes were cut and molded to the piece of terrain he's standing on, and his hips were splayed a bit to allow the right leg to kick out away from the body. He also had his left arm cut and repositioned at the elbow, flipping the CCW so that the flamer bit was topside rather than underneath. Even though these are supposed to be crazed death machines, I wanted this model to have a kind of "Bring It" pose.

The third model is the least done (duh) but most ambitious. My intial plan was to have him skulking behind the ruined wall, laying in wait for his prey. However, again, this doesn't really fit the in-game persona of these models, so instead, I opted for a running pose. The weight of the model is on the right foot, which is centered on the base. If you look closely, I've actually shattered the tile floor, and the foot is actually sunken into the splintered tile. The left toe will be the only other part of the model touching the base, and the body will be canted to the right, the right arm extended over the top of the ruined wall in a firing position. Green stuff flames? Maybe!

The base alone on the third model has taken me about 4-5 hours to part-out, assemble, and paint to this basic stage. A bit OTT for an 85-point model that will probably never see most games past turn 3!

In the Pipe

2009-06-16T21:55:00.003-04:00

Current WIPs:

IST Rhino #1: needs minor detailing, decals, and seal coat; 95% complete.
IST veteran sergeant: blocking in fatigues and armor; 30% complete.
"Gunslinger" Inquisitor: blocking in clothing; 15% complete.
Penitent Engine Squadron (3): #1 -- blocking in armor plates; 50% complete. #2 -- finished assembly only. #3 -- constructing diorama base, unprepped and unassembled.
IST plasmagunners (2): blocking in fatigues and armor; 15% complete.

WIP, but on the back burner:

IST Rhino #2: assembled and primed only.
Grey Knights Land Raider: assembled and basecoated only.
Inquisitorial henchmen (2): #1 -- detailing and seal coat; 90% complete. #2 -- assembled, primed, and based only.
Sisters of Battle (5): blocking in armor and robes; 20% complete.

Sorta the way I work is that I have about 6-10 projects in my mind at any given time. I'm more likely to focus on things that are nearing completion, but if something catches my attention, I'm just as likely to work on that than something that just needs some finishing touches to be completed. For example, tonight I spent half an hour puting some color on a henchman, rather than doing some more detail work on the IST Rhino to get it nearer to being finished :)

IST Squad Complete

2009-06-15T22:57:00.006-04:00

I set up my homemade lightbox real quick to take some pics of my completed Inquisitorial Storm Trooper squad. This is the first of two, 9-man squads both with veteran sergeants. The pic is still a bit dark, as I didn't bother to adjust my ISO settings.

The scheme is pretty basic: black armor, red fatigues, and gold accents. All of the shoulder pads have decals designating squad number and letting everyone know who exactly they work for. All in all, I think they look pretty sinister, which is perfect for the foot soldiers of the Inquisition.

I'm simultaneously working on both this squad's veteran sergeant as well as their Rhino. The Rhino is about three days from completion, so I hope to have it posted by the end of the week.

Painting Points: +2

The Painting Points Bandwagon

2009-06-06T22:09:00.008-04:00

Everyone needs motivation, right? While checking out a lot of 40K blogs as of late, I noticed quite a few people using the Painting Points system developed by this gent. The idea being that each model you paint nets you a certain number of points. You can use these points simply as a personal motivator, or you can gather up some mates and use it as an objective scoring method to determine a winner of a club/forum/FLGS paintathon. Others have used it as a measure of how much money they can spend on future purchases, while eliminating the backlog of unpainted stuff we all seem to acquire.

I've decided to use Painting Points in the latter incarnation. These days, we're all trying to stick to budgets and watch our wallets, so rewarding myself by producing seems like a pretty good idea. Here's the formula:

Infantry = 1 point
Cavalry or bikes = 2 points
Monster, Dreadnought, or Character = 5 points
Vehicle = 10 points
Terrain = 10 points
Superheavy vehicle = 20 points

I did make two slight alterations to the list: I made allowances for character models and terrain. I spend quite a bit of effort on characters, so it seemed fitting to me that they would earn me more points than a run-of-the-mill infantry model. Also, I have quite a few really nice terrain projects that I have half finished, and really, you can't have too much terrain! I'll create a running total on the sidebar, as well as posting points to blog entries as I complete models. Wish me luck!

13th Methuselan Armored Cavalry Regiment

2009-06-04T23:05:00.007-04:00

While waiting on pics for the next article, I thought it might be of interest to post up my new 1,750 point list for my Imperial Guard. Since Codex: Armageddon, I've played a Steel Legion list with lots of mounted infantry squads. With the new IG codex, the list has only gotten better. Although I lost the ability to take cheaper Armored Fist squads, the reduction in price of the Chimera, as well as easing the restrictions on the old Mechanized doctrine has meant a greater amount of flexibilty and even more firepower than previous lists. Without further ado:

HQ
Company Command Squad, lascannon, 2 plasma guns, Chimera

Cheap and basic. I've never been a fan of wargear in IG lists, though I might toy with some of the Advisor builds. I also really like the fact that the entire unit has BS4, so I put some of my heavier firepower into this squad.

Troops (x2)
Platoon Command Squad, Lt. /w bolt pistol, missile launcher, 2 grenade launchers, Chimera.
Infantry Squad, heavy bolter, grenade launcher, Chimera.
Infantry Squad, autocannon, plasma gun, Chimera.

Again, basic with little or no upgrades.

Fast Attack
Armored Sentinel Squadron, 3 Sentinels, lascannons, hunter-killer missiles.

I've had this unit for a long time, but I rarely used them in older lists mainly because they were expensive and didn't survive for very long with AV10, open-topped stats. Now with AV12, they'll stay in my backfield and shoot at armor and tough, multi-wound units. As a last resort, I can tarpit anything less than S5 in a counter-assault role.

Valkyrie Assault Carrier, lascannon

Another armor hunter. I bought a Valk from Forge World many moons ago, so it's nice to actually get this thing on the tabletop!

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Squadron, Leman Russ Battle Tank /w lascannon, Leman Russ Exterminator /w heavy bolter sponsons and pintle-mounted heavy stubber, Leman Russ Demolisher /w heavy flamer.

A tank for every occasion: a standard Russ for basic, no-frills carnage; an Exterminator for loads of medium-Strength dakka; and the fearsome Demolisher for area denial.

So, that's 55 infantry models, but most impressively, 13 units with an AV. Although I'm light on low-AP firepower, the sheer volume of S5, S6 and S7 shots should force more than enough armor saves to cause significant wounds.

No Pics :(

2009-05-28T19:32:00.003-04:00

My wife took the digital camera on vacation with her parents, and it sorta left me without a way to post some of my progress shots. The good news is that when I get ahold of the camera again, I'll post a few galleries of both in-progresss stuff, as well as a slew of completed models. The bad news is that this won't happen for a couple weeks.

Happy Memorial Day!!

2009-05-22T23:45:00.003-04:00

Technically, I'm a couple days early, but the long, three-day weekend is here and I'm pretty hopeful to get some hobby work done. I've set a loose goal of getting my 8-man squad of ISTs completed, which includes their Rhino transport. This squad has been a long time in the making, and as soon as I complete it, I'll get some pics up of the entire unit. It really is too bad that ISTs don't fit well in any of my lists!

There are three other projects that have been under my skin lately. The first was the Inquisitor that I posted earlier in the week, but the other two are a bit more involved: a Grey Knights Land Raider and a full squadron of Penitent Engines. The pengines, once assembled, will be relatively easy to paint and get on the tabletop. I've proxied them in a couple games using Killa Kans, and they did spectacularly poorly both times, but the idea of lunatic, heretic-driven death machines is just too cool of a concept to worry about such trivial matters as battlefield effectiveness.

The GK Land Raider is one of those projects that will end up being an army centerpiece, and as such, I'm so not looking forward to working on it. Painting disasters have been rare for me, and usually once i get into a project, it turns out more or less as I had intended. However, I always struggle to get to that point where there's more work behind me than there is in front of me. To complicate matters, there is also a fair bit of detail work that needs to go into this model, so getting to my sweet spot as it were, will take quite a bit of effort.

Anyway, enough pointless rambling about things that have yet to come to pass. Everyone have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day holiday, and take a few moments out of your weekend to remember those who gave all in service to our country.

Let's See Some WIPs!

2009-05-19T13:32:00.009-04:00

I've been working on stuff for my never-ending Inquisitorial army:

I was a little torn on the African skin tone. It's something I wanted to practice with, and I think it turned out pretty well, but the rest of the model is so dark, a caucasian skin tone would have popped a bit more. At least the features on the face lent themselves well to the choice. Most of GW's face sculpts are decidedly Anglican in their dimensions.

I loved this sculpt the minute I saw it years ago, and I was lucky enough to get one at a local Battle Tour. It's been assembled, based, and primed for years now. Sorta makes me feel guilty... But, I dragged him out of mothballs and started doing more work on him.

Mmmmm... blogs.

2009-05-18T21:18:00.000-04:00

How narcissitic! What kind of shallow, "look-at-me" douchebag would actually deign to think anything he says is truly worthy of another's hard-earned time in this world? Truly, the arrogance is astounding.

Truthfully, that's how I feel about most blogs and, consequently, those that blog. You have to admit, that a great deal of the people that spend their time blogging their inner thoughts are either A) catering to a very small pool of friends and family that give more than a piss in the wind about them or B) think that a very small pool of friends and family give more than a piss in the wind about them. Harsh, I know...

So, what made me have a change of heart about the blogosphere? Nothing really, I suppose. By participating, I fully assert that I am no better than the unwashed masses who drone on about their cats, their relationships, their feelings, blah, blah, blah. I guess I just sort of wanted a way to chat to myself a bit. If someone should happen upon this modest little space, then so be it. If they take something away that's worth the couple minutes of their time, all the better.

I still think it's all a bit silly and self-centered, but what isn't these days?