Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Just checking in, everything is looking great Nev!

The Orks and Eldar are looking great. And it makes me happy that you have the Ultra HQ's with every option.

I'm starting to miss the hobby having been in the mountains for over 2 months now...

Enjoy your time in Kentucky!

Dire Averngers would be a nice change of pace I think.

Damn Nev you're hitting these out the park. Loving those jetbikes.

EDC

Zambro wrote:Just checking in, everything is looking great Nev!

The Orks and Eldar are looking great. And it makes me happy that you have the Ultra HQ's with every option.

I'm starting to miss the hobby having been in the mountains for over 2 months now...

Enjoy your time in Kentucky!

Gitsplitta wrote:Dire Averngers would be a nice change of pace I think.

evildrcheese wrote:Damn Nev you're hitting these out the park. Loving those jetbikes.

EDC

Thanks guys.
Good to hear you haven’t been eaten by a bear Z. Or a horde of zombie campers. You’ll be back to the hobby before you know it!
While I was leaning towards the Dire Avengers, it looks like August’s challenge is going to be “Death from the Skies” so I suspect the next Eldar to cross the bench is going to be a swooping hawk. Might try to bang out enough for a full squad, or just the exarch.

And some more marines. It is starting to feel a little xenos heavy around here.

I tried to take some pics of the zoat, but none got the focus right. I had to take the lightbox down to clean up the basements a bit (needed some electrical work done while I was out of town) so I’ll put that back together and get some better progress pics. And probably some final ork pics. Then the greenskin will get to be boxed up and shipped off to join the growing waggghh. Then I just need to polish off the zoat and the decks will be cleared for the next projects.

Vacation went very well. Didn’t die in the Kentucky heat, drank a lot of top-shelf bourbon (and rye whiskey) and in general had a good time. Got to check off a lot of summer activities we don’t normally get to do when we visit for Thanksgiving/Christmas. Falls of the Ohio, Zoo, Baseball game (The Boy’s first live game). The only hobby related progress from last week was at a restaurant supply store I went to with my mom. Picked up a new tray to shuffle minis around on. You’ll see it in future photos.

Edit:
Set up the photobooth again, got some pics. Should be the final on the ork and some in-focus WIPs on the zoat

Decided I’ve been spending a little too much time on the 30k stuff, and didn’t want to dedicate the block of time to bang out the other tac squad. So I started putting the base coats down on a pair of c-melta sternguard.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Needed to base the Zoat, so grabbed the bikes to do at the same time.


Also, my new tray.

Love basing... one of my favorite gaming tasks!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Love basing... one of my favorite gaming tasks!

Not sure if serious...

OK, I could understand having fun with things like your pumpkin patch halloween army, or doing mini dioramas, but I still think it’s a chore.

But one getting closer to being finished. The only thing I need to snow base that is left is my terminators. Then I need to figure out what I’m going to do for my grasslands bases for the scouts/eldar. The one I did for my wraithlord feels a bit flat. Might work better with some tufts. I’ll probably use more per base, rather then the one tuft and/or rock per base I’ve been doing for the snow. Might add some moss scraps as well.

In painting news, Zoat is done. Or as done as he is going to get.


Got a few more layers on the sternguard, but didn’t grab a pic when I was down this morning. Did get a proof pic for next month’s competition:


The two painted ones are there as guides. Not sure what I want to do with the one that I did some helmet reduction on back in the day. Leave him as is? Try to reconstruct? Total head swap with a bare head or extra guardian helm? Do nothing and just paint as-is is the lazy (and thus most likely) path. The goal for August is to get all 4 of them done.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

--Nev

No, I do love basing. It's a final chance to put a perfect finishing touch on a model.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
No, I do love basing. It's a final chance to put a perfect finishing touch on a model.

I wish I had your love for it. I recognize that it can be a key part of the model, and one of the key things that separates basic table-top work from amazing pieces of wargaming art. I just don’t have it in me to care that much. Just stuck in my mediocre-quality rut.

Got a good bit of painting in yesterday:


Sternguard are just about ready for the cleanup pass for the blue then the final blue wash. Hawks are working their way through their basecoats. I think they just need their red ribbons, dark blue armor plates, gold masks, and lenses done. Might actually use the soulstone paints to paint some of theirs as well. Then the wings, which I need to figure out how I’m going to do. The old ones were done with boltgun metal for the structure, and alternating silver/gold feathers. Not sure if I’m going to continue with that.

Aslo, For all of you gearing up to head to GenCon, I’m jealous and have fun!

Sternguard WIPs are now finished.


Still have a few more in the primed pile, but those two can hit the finished shelf. While I was basing them, I just kept going, and ended up with this:


Which should be the last of the snow basing I need to do until I finish painting more Ultras. Still need to do the scouts, so I can’t say I’m done basing my army yet. But that’s a pretty big milestone.

I’ll be mostly AFK for the next week. Heading to the beach to play in the surf and sand with The Boy and my folks. I know, I just got back from vacation. Soon my days of freedom will be over though. Actively looking for a job again, so infinite free time will be a thing of the past. But more money soon hopefully.

As a fun note, my Zoat made it to the Dakka gallery front page. Fist time I’ve ever seen my work up there. Pretty stoked!

Guessing this is going to auto-append, but here we go.

Got a little more work done this morning on the swooping hawks. Should be mostly done with the base coats, just a few things left I need to decide on. What color for the exarch’s helmet feathers, and what to do with the cables. Normally, I use the same blue I’m using for their armor for all my thick, ribbed, cables. As some of these are plugged straight into the armor on the hawks, I need to do something else. Might go with a mid shade of blue, probably Macragge. I’ll also need to decide if I’m going to wash them like their older brethren. Also started to put a black basecoat on the wings. Will do a silver drybrush, then probably pick out some of the feathers in gold.



Fun Fact: That is the 1,000th picture I’ve uploaded to Dakka.

Did some more work on the hawks this morning, figured I’d post an update while some layers dry.

Going back and touching up the old guys while I work. They might not match perfectly, but will be a little closer to the squad.

Vacation went very well. Lot of stuff I need to do now that I’m back home. Changes are in the air, and not good ones. I should be able to continue painting and posting, but there might be some interruptions. We’ll see how things fall out.

--Nev


Automatically Appended Next Post:


Almost done with the Hawks. Just need to put their packs on and figure out how to base them. The original though for my Eldar army was maiden world grass scheme. Need to see how the tufts I picked up work with my old flock. Tested out on an old scout.

Nice progress Nev, stick to it!

OK, finished them up! Final pic:



Sometimes I forget how irritating some of the old metal models are. Undercuts filled in, etc. Plus as these guys demonstrate: balance issues. Perched like ballerinas on their toes, with big ol’ sets of wings on their backs. Basing was a fun exercise in finding the biggest rocks in my collection that would fit. I still want to cut some pennies in half to glue under the slotta base.

I did some touch-up work on the two existing guys who I had painted decades ago. Here is the full squad of 6:


My YTD painting total is 45 model equivalents, and circa 1,550 points. (not counting a marauder and the zoat) Plugging right away for my annual goals.

Just want to leave a note to myself here on basing techniques, as I use a different system for the grass bases then I do for snow.

Snow bases:
Paint rim black, top white.
Glue tutfs/rocks to base.
Mix PVA and water at about a 1:1 ratio.
Add flock to form a paste, not too thin, so it can fill gaps and retain some shape.
Apply paste to base (with offset spatula/knife). Add a little dab to tops of rocks, or other places snow might collect.
While still wet, swish base though dish of loose flock to coat.
Shake excess flock off, wipe rim clear.

Grass bases:
Prep base (cover slotta gaps with green stuff)
Paint rim black, top Goblin Green.
Glue rocks to base (not tufts).
Mix PVA and water at roughly a 1:1 ratio.
Paint top of base with glue mixture
Stick on tufts.
Swish through flock
Shake, wipe any excess of rim.
Plant wildflowers

Putting the tufts on after the glue helps keep them clean. I don’t mind a little snow getting stuck on the arctic grass, as that is more appropriate, but I don’t want to see the meadow grass with stuff stuck on it. Some might still happen, but putting them on after the glue minimizes it. What does get caught will eventually come off, as it’s not glued.

edit: forgot the prep base step for the grass. Just did that for my scouts
Edit2: Added the flowers step. This needs to be done last. They seem to love the flock, and doing them before the swish step ended up with them being buried in the stuff.

Recipes are always a good idea! Those bases on the Hawks look really great.

 Sgt. Oddball wrote:
Recipes are always a good idea! Those bases on the Hawks look really great.

Thanks. It’s good to note how I do things. Not just to help others, but so I can duplicate my own work later.

While I was in the basing mood, I did all my scouts.


Quick little collage, with all the ones done being painted (I have a few primed still). Done in the same style as the Hawks. I realized as I was chatting with The Boy that not a lot of my Eldar need to be based. The whole grav/jetbike thing. Still, those who walk will get the treatment.

These scouts are also the last of my Ultramarines that need to be based. Well, almost. Both my flyers are not done. For them it’s a question of transportation. The way they fit into my KR case does not leave a whole lot of room for stuff sticking up on the base itself. I might be able to get some low slung rocks on, or just flock them. But with all the space, they seem like they deserve more. But at this time, I’m calling my Ultras completely based. As long as I keep basing as I paint, maintaining this status should be easy. Next step is to finish the backlog of the Eldar.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
I just put down the base blue on 4 of the next BaC tac squad. We’ll see how long it takes to bang this squad out.

Thinking about my YTD progress made me notice that we are halfway through Para’s monthly competition, as it starts in March. So here’s a composite of my entries for the last 6 months.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
And just to show I’m still painting:



Working on the second BaC squad. Done with the first blue, black, gold and glistening green pass. Still need to basecaot the leather for the pouches, and the silver krack grenades. Then it’s drybrush/wash time. But plugging right along.

Chugging away. These guys just need a cleanup pass. Mostly on the gold, but anywhere else I slopped a bit much.


(pic was a little dark, so the washing out is post-production adjustment)

Next step after the touch-ups is the bolters and backpacks.

Have a great weekend all.

Great job on your projects Nev. I especially love seeing some of the old-school Eldar models getting some love, you do them great justice.

There is still a little bit more old school eldar in store, but shockingly, most of what’s left is new-ish.

Fire Dragons are finecast, current models.
Dire Avengers are plastic and new
Half the bikes are new.

So the old stuff in the primed pile is:
3 old bikes
Melta gunner.

Now I’ve still got some old RT-era stuff in the odds and ends box, and some guardians that need to be assembled, but not a lot of rush there. I’ve got two squads of guardians, and don’t see the need to get more on the table. I think they might end up painted like DA, just to bulk out those guys.

But back to marines:

The last wash is drying on the backpacks for the first 4 guys of the squad. The marines themselves are over on the workbench, just had their bolters glued on. So they just need their backpacks glued on and to be based. I’m not sure if I’ll wait for the whole squad to be done before basing or just do them as they come. Although they do need decals as well, I normally do those in bulk at the squad level. Considering how irritating the last batch was, I might pick up some micro sol/set. I hear good things about it.

Next 3 bolter boys are started, got the base blue down, and the black and silver basecoats.

My painting pace is picking up. I need to add more stuff to the primed pile if I’m going to make it through the winter. I should get back to stripping the old RTB01 guys. It’s just rough on my hands, both chemically and physically. Some gloves would help with the dishpan hands, but the aches are still an issue from the scrubbing. Thinking about picking up some new things. I have a small amount of guilt-free money, but only a bit, and I need to be choosy about where to spend it. I was holding on, hoping that the rumored sequel to BaC would come out and be worth picking up, but those Deathwatch are smexy as heck. I’ve got a partial squad I wanted to round out for a while now, but lacked the shoulderpads.

A few problems with getting the Deathwatch though:
I’m not shelling out for another codex. At the rate that GW churns rules, there is a limit to how much I’m investing in keeping up to date. Main rules and 2 codexes (SM, Eldar) is already pushing it considering how many games I’m getting in these days.
If I do pick up some DW, (probably to field as sternguard) how do I want to do that? Kill team Cassius? One of the vehicle/character kits that comes with the DW upgrade sprue? The actual DW vet kit with all the cool new toys, sculpted pads, etc? Seeing if I can find someone willing to split the new Death Masque box (unlikely)

And if I want to blow the budget on non-DW, what to get? Long list of things on my to-buy list.

Here are the 3 bolter boys right before the blue wash stage. Coming along nicely. At this rate, I might have the whole squad done by the end of the month.

Fun 40-ish aside:
I always thought that if I went down the path of heresy in 40k, it would be the call of blood and bronze that drew me. Ironic, since my WHFB was mostly slanesh with a bit of nurgle. But last night was a beautiful summer evening, and I needed to grill something. Wanting to do something a little special, I made bacon cheddar stuffed hamburgers. As I had cooked up a whole pound of bacon bits, there were a lot extra. When I was getting ready to take them off the grill, I thought it might be fun to melt some cheese on top, and add more bacon. When I asked The Wife and Boy is they wanted double bacon cheeseburgers, they asked what I meant by that. Without missing a beat, I responded “Bacon within, Bacon without!” in my best Iron Warrior voice.

They didn’t get the reference, but did enjoy the burgers.

Edit:
Wash done, just need their final cleanup. Basecoats going down on packs and bolters.

Marines are looking top-notch Nev.

That's an amazing burger story Nev, clearly you have more Heretic in you than you thought

Nice work on the Hawks Nev.

Always nice to see more Calth stuff coming through as well

EDC

Marching for Macragge across the paintbench, 3 more basically done.

Slightly dark workbench pics. The last wash on the combat knives is still drying, then they get assembled.

Hmm, now that I think of it, I should probably take notice of the fact that all the shots from my workbench are not in good light. I should probably get a decent lamp for working there. If there is not enough light to take pictures, how can there be enough to work?

Base blue down on the last 3 guys.

As I’ve been burning through these guys, I’ve had some thoughts on the sustainability of my pace. So I grabbed a snapshot of my primed box:


At my 1-a-week pace, that’s a bit over a year worth of stuff.

6 jetbikes
5 1/2 Dire Avengers
6 Fire Dragons

Stalker/Hunter/Command tank
TML/HB speeder
3 counts-as LotD
5 scouts
5 sternguard
2 Devs (MM, GC)
4 RTB01s (2xML, 2xbolter)
RT captain
Librarian
Apothecary
Master of Signals guy
Tech on bike

Homogaunt

(random bits)

I think the only thing in the to-prime pile is some spare arms with weapon options. Although if I call some of the lead I stripped "clean enough", it could get a fresh coat of primer and a new lease on life. But it will soon be fall here, with the damp and crummy priming weather. So if I want time to buy/build/prime before winter hits, I need to start my crazy squirrel action now. Especially if I can maintain the pace I’ve been working at the last few weeks.

Love the old-school Hormagaunt sitting in the box there. I used to have two of them I used as chaos spawn back before I knew what size chaos spawn bases were supposed to be lol.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Love the old-school Hormagaunt sitting in the box there. I used to have two of them I used as chaos spawn back before I knew what size chaos spawn bases were supposed to be lol.

I picked a plastic box of genestealers back in the day for exactly the same reason. Ugly, too many limbs, claws everywhere. Made for a good spawn!

Today was a mixed day. Depressing meeting in the morning, but got to hang out with friends and do some retail therapy in the afternoon. Was finally able to get together with one friend who I’ve not seen since she got back from GenCon, and got some gifts. The Deathwatch I picked up, she gave me the die and beer:


Beer is chilling now, I think I’ll break open it and the box later tonight. I was debating getting another DW thing, just for the accessory sprue, but couldn’t make up my mind, so just punted. Picking up the DW razor kit would not be a bad idea, as I can always use more rhino hulls. But frankly, I’m in no rush to build and paint another. I have more HQs then I need, so those were out. The VV kit was tempting, and might be what I end up with eventually. But I really wanted the new toys to play with, so the basic box is what I walked away with. Still frugal enough with the budget not to blow it all at once; need to save some space for if/when the next HH box comes out.

On the painting side, most of the basecoats are down on the last 3 guys of the BaC squad. I think just the brown remains. I’ll try to grab a pic later tonight, should be some more progress.

Sorry to hear about the gakky meeting but good to hear about everything else. Those DW marines are gunna be awesome and can't wait to see what ya do with em.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
Sorry to hear about the gakky meeting but good to hear about everything else. Those DW marines are gunna be awesome and can't wait to see what ya do with em.

Thanks.

I can’t wait until I figure out what I want to do with them.

I cut some parts last night, and tried out a few things. First thought was the stalker bolter. OK, going to make a Raptor, they like being sneaky, got the pad, lets do this! While I like the torsos with the knife and pouches sculpted on, I wanted to try to give this guy a backup weapon in the form of a shotgun. I have some spare holstered ones from the scout bikers. Also a nice belt accessory with some grenades and a coil of rope. Finding the right spot for the shotgun is tricky. Lower back not the best, behind the pack is clipping with the large shoulder pad from the DW kit. Might give up on the shotgun. And by the time I was done swapping stuff around, the only DW parts I was using was the stalker, chapter pad, and legs. This guy might wait until I pick up just the DW accessory sprue for the slightly lower profile pads, see if I can get the behind the pack thing to work.

But I find myself asking “What do I want from this kit” The easy answer is “To finish out my one DW squad”. OK, good start to an answer. But as what? Originally, when building them, I wanted to be able to use them as both a tac squad and a sternguard squad. Now I have to ask “Do I want to field them as a independent DW squad, using the official rules (which I don’t intend to own) or just my counts-as” When pictures were being leaked, I grabbed enough of them to have all the rules I need. For casual games, that’s enough to get them to the table as DW. Equipment loads are going to be significantly different.

What I have for DW:
Librarian (Mantis Warrior, on foot, with force sword)
1 combi-plasma (Dark Angel)
1 incinerator (could be either a flamer or HF, Salamander)
4 bolters (Space Wolf, Crimson Fist, White Scar, Raven Guard)

(I need a better pic of those guys, probably when I finish the last 4)

If I want to do them up as a DW kill team, using those rules, more heavy weapons seems to be the way to go. At least the frag cannon. And probably the inferno HB-thing, because of awesome. While looking fluffy and cool, I don’t see the points being spent on the CC upgrades as being worth it. Might be worth tossing in a SS, just to get in the way of plasma. Tempting to kit out a blackshield, but he’s going to be such a massive wad of points. Xenophase blade on the sarge also sounds like fun, but it too many points on a 1W guy. Honestly, DW rules might not be the best for someone as stingy as me.

I think the shotguns might be fun if doing one of the mixed unit formations. 5 vets with shotguns (or other assault weapons) and then some VV for the chopping. From a practical POV, I think mixing them and bolters is a bad idea. Tactically, they want to do subtly different things, and counting how many of each are still alive, checking ranges, rolling dice, etc is going to bog down play, just for the sake of having a fluffy mixed unit. Of course, RAW it looks like a marine can have both, due to equipment swapping, but not sure about RAI on that. And when putting models together that you want to be able to use in the future, sticking with RAI, rather then RAW will keep you from having to chop arms off later.

I’ve got some spare AM toros and JPs (3 IIRC) so could put together some DW VVs. Just to use all those sparkly CC bits. I also have one bike remaining.

So the pure DW build
2 heavies (frag and HBF)
2 bolters
(extra guy, probably turn into VV)
Edit: Now that I think about it, I also have the heavies from the GK box. One of those looked frag-cannon-ish

Now, if I want to use them as sternguard:
I’ve only got room in the squad for one more heavy. As I am fond of the HF, getting a second one seems to be the plan. Now I could just use the cigarette cannon as a counts-as. Or the HB/HF thing. As it happens, I traded for another sternguard HF a while ago, so have an actual WYSWYG HF. As strange as it seems coming from me, I think I’m at the “Screw WYSWYG” phase here. It’s not particuarly hard to keep track of what’s what, so lets build for looks.

Frag cannon (counts-as HF)
Stalker bolter (counts-as normal bolter)
Combi-plas (already have one in the squad, having one or two more to actually get the job done would be useful)
Shotgun (counts-as bolter)

This leaves me with a 10 man squad, 2xHF, 2xc-plas. Not a bad squad.

The other pressing issue is what chapters get represented. I’d like to have one member descended from each loyalist legion.

Dark Angels X
Blood Angels
Space Wolves X
Salamanders X
White Scars X (Lib)
Imperial Fists X
Ultramarines
Iron Hands
Raven Guard X

“X”s are existing minis, plus the librarian.

I think I’m going to build as this:
Iron Hand with the frag cannon.
Blood Angel with a shotgun
Raptor with a stalker bolter (Ravenguard)
Howling Griffon w/c-plasma (Ultramarine, and HG becasue I want to push/hate myself)

OK, this has been a rambling walk through my thought process. Things might still change, but I should stop writing now.

Edit: One more thing. The caped back, an old company champion front, and a heavy thunderhammer are probably going to form the core of a new chapter champion. I think I might also take a mace/stormshield and turn them into a field police marine.