I just found out there's a secret kabal of 30k guys in Madison, and the shots below are of some of their figures. I'm just going to have to put a small army together... just for chance to play with them and their awesome miniatures!
Just had a wonderful dinner with the gang, RiTides, Yakface, et al. Heading off to play "boss monster". More later!
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Hate to do this as an append to an old post but it's bed time and I need to get this done.
Had a really fun 1000 point game with Solar Lion today why Ramos Asura and Thing 2.0 duked it out.
We went over to the open gaming area and were amazed to find two absolutely stunning 4x4 tables that no one was playing on. With signs asking them to be played on and very nice people inviting us to do so. Turns out they're made by a company called "Cracked Earth" and they are in the pre-kickstarter phase of development and were trying to get their name out and get some feedback. The tables were FANTASTIC, even though both were set up more for fantasy than 40k. Here's a link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CrackedEarthStudios
Here are the tables...
I just couldn't pass up the chance to take some vanity shots of my army on this fantastic terrain.
A Mantis Warrior tactical squad scouts ahead to the river to make sure they coast is clear.
While they work, a Sicaran Venator takes up position on top of a ridge to give them covering fire if necessary.
The Dust Prophet with his centurion escort move to the base of a cliff at the edge of the river valley to ensure maximum fields of fire.
Finally the Chapter's forces are fully deployed and ready for the upcoming battle with their former allies... the Lamenters.
I took enought pictures for a full battle report. Will get to that later on.
They do look fantastic on the field of battle. The purple on the Sicaran just bursts forth in the most wonderful way. (Good choice of purple areas as well on the Sicaran. You nailed it!).
Some shots from Thing 1's game with Ramos. Actually he's "Thing 2.0" on dakka. Bloody kid...
Their game on the pretty board.
A Marines Errant tac squad takes up position on the ridge, next to a watch-tower.
Marines Errant razorback provides covering fire for their infantry.
The big pile-in at the center of the table. They ended up in a draw, but by the looks of it... both had a great time!
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Really neat wood cut industrial tank racks By Iron Heart Artisans. Picked up 2 myself.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Vendor hall before opening.
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Thing 1 and I doing a demo for the game "Antares" by Warlord Games. Nice little skirmish gaming system. Uses non-40k things like accumulation of pinning results, unit activation and random unit activation sequence... pretty cool.
Thanks so much for posting YB, I'd begun to think that no one was reading any more.
Your presence is sorely missed my friend. Beautiful hotel and a MUCH more spacious and enjoyable venue. (not that the old place was bad, they just out-grew it) It's bit odd not being signed up for anything. But with all the friends I have here that I almost never get to see, I'm really glad I have all this free time.
Spoiler:
I'll be happy to continue posting "live" photos and updates, but it would help me out if you (the readers) would post something after you see me post. This will prevent me from doing an endless append like yesterday, The blog doesn't refresh in the posts list and its just a bit frustrating from my end.
I've been taking detailed picutres of each of my pick-up battles so I'm hoping to do a whole series of battle reports when I get back home. So far I've fought Lamenters, Marines Errant and Sisters of Battle.... with likely games vs. GK and Necrons to come. More if I can arrange it. Thing 1 has been having a fantastic time! He bought a "Mercs" set, (two factions and the rule book), so we'll be working on that when we get back. It's cool because it's really going to be his game and not just something that I've foisted on him.
Well, that's all fr now. Time to head down to the merchant hall and see how RiTides and Solar_lion are holding out at the ModCube booth.
Nice updates, glad you are having fun. You should see if the guys who made those tables need action shots for their advertising. Your army looks awesome on it, and it would help spread the word of the Mantis!
They're really nice folks. We end up stopping and talking in the hallway whenever we meet & they ask if I'm going to be up there playing again. They took some photos while we were playing so maybe they'll put them up on their Face Book page. In any case I was able to use their board to get some really great vanity shots of my armies... so it's all good.
I'll be working a RiTides booth for most of the afternoon, Maybe get a chance to play with Thing 1 in a Star Wars 'Armada" demo before I get tied down. I'll keep posting if I find something interesting. Team tournaments is going on so I should be able to get some fantastic display/army shots over lunch.
Some shots from the three pick-up battles I've done so far.
So... a very old, very good friend of mine is here. I haven't seen him in 14 years. How does he renew our friendship?? By having his sneaky, shiftless Seraphim ambush my librarian and his squad!! Bugger me...
Solar_lion's Lamenter tacticals move forward as they scout a ridge for Mantis Warrior rebels.
Ramos Asura's Marines Errant chapter master bites off a little more than he can chew... Well, OK... I charged him but who's counting?
Looking forward to see what you and Thing 1 do with the Mercs minis. I've read quite a lot about it and seen some demo vids on YouTube, it looks quite nice kinda like Infinity.
First the Western stuff. There wasn't anyone at the Wreck Age booth when we went by (I was going to have my son do a demo & then take some shots). But right next to RiTides booth was a great little display by a company called "Knuckleduster". I hope this will satisfy your need for both cowboys & babes!
Keep it coming please. Never have been one for the conventions here in Oz, tend to be smaller affairs that don't attract enough to keep you interested for more than a couple of hours. Envious of this sort of event.
Automatically Appended Next Post: "Home again, home again, diggidy dig!"
Safe and sound. I have hundreds of photos so comb through for you. Unfortunately I never saw any of the displays or the CMON cases, but I did wander through the team tournament and friendly a few times and took photos of what I could.
Only downer for the weekend was that my favorite libby from the old days took a walk. Before you get bent out of shape, I forgot him on the table... someone found him and put him on the highest terrain piece so he could be seen and re-claimed... and some time 12-16 hours later he was gone. I'm mad at myself for being so stupid... but I'm not about to say anything bad about the person who finally picked him up. The libby's pic is below. If you happen to see it, please tell the person that I'd like it back and point them in this direction. (I did check with lost-and-found more than once & they didn't have it.) This did give me a good excuse to go over to Forge World and pick up that amazing Red Scorpion libby w/ honor guard & I even found (with the help of one of the Adepticon judges) one of the other libbys that is of the same vintage as mine, if not exactly the same model. So Azhara Redth will have 2 new incarnations. The old-school libby for me Badab Era army, and Severin Loth's figure for my MW Penitent version.
Spoiler:
I was also *very* please at the number of people who were kind enough to come up and compliment me on my marine army... but the number of people who actually recognized them as Mantis Warriors (even through they clearly didn't know me from beans nor had ever seen my work before). Very satisfying!
Automatically Appended Next Post: "Home again, home again, diggidy dig!"
Safe and sound. I have hundreds of photos so comb through for you. Unfortunately I never saw any of the displays or the CMON cases, but I did wander through the team tournament and friendly a few times and took photos of what I could.
Only downer for the weekend was that my favorite libby from the old days took a walk. Before you get bent out of shape, I forgot him on the table... someone found him and put him on the highest terrain piece so he could be seen and re-claimed... and some time 12-16 hours later he was gone. I'm mad at myself for being so stupid... but I'm not about to say anything bad about the person who finally picked him up. The libby's pic is below. If you happen to see it, please tell the person that I'd like it back and point them in this direction. (I did check with lost-and-found more than once & they didn't have it.) This did give me a good excuse to go over to Forge World and pick up that amazing Red Scorpion libby w/ honor guard & I even found (with the help of one of the Adepticon judges) one of the other libbys that is of the same vintage as mine, if not exactly the same model. So Azhara Redth will have 2 new incarnations. The old-school libby for me Badab Era army, and Severin Loth's figure for my MW Penitent version.
Spoiler:
I was also *very* please at the number of people who were kind enough to come up and compliment me on my marine army... but the number of people who actually recognized them as Mantis Warriors (even through they clearly didn't know me from beans nor had ever seen my work before). Very satisfying!
Safe and sound. I have hundreds of photos so comb through for you. Unfortunately I never saw any of the displays or the CMON cases, but I did wander through the team tournament and friendly a few times and took photos of what I could.
Only downer for the weekend was that my favorite libby from the old days took a walk. Before you get bent out of shape, I forgot him on the table... someone found him and put him on the highest terrain piece so he could be seen and re-claimed... and some time 12-16 hours later he was gone. I'm mad at myself for being so stupid... but I'm not about to say anything bad about the person who finally picked him up. Spoils of war and all that. The libby's pic is below. If you happen to see it, please tell the person that I'd like it back and point them in this direction. (I did check with lost-and-found more than once & they didn't have it.) This did give me a good excuse to go over to Forge World and pick up that amazing Red Scorpion libby w/ honor guard & I even found (with the help of one of the Adepticon judges) one of the other libbys that is of the same vintage as mine, if not exactly the same model. So Azhara Redth will have 2 new incarnations. The old-school libby for me Badab Era army, and Severin Loth's figure for my MW Penitent version.
Spoiler:
I was also *very* pleased at the number of people who actually recognized my marines as Mantis Warriors (even through they clearly didn't know me from beans nor had ever seen my work before). Very satisfying!
Like I said... no stigma on the new possessor of the model. I was careless, but I would like to get it back if possible.
So... this morning I have variety of shots for you which I'll give you in two or three groupings. First off... as I'd mentioned before we helped RiTides out with his ModCube kickstarter table. I've got a couple of really nice shots of his cubes in action on models belonging to whalemusic360 and painted by our own Ramos Asura (Rolling All Ones painting). The combinations of the cubes with these simply stunning models just needs to be shown off a bit.
Beautiful Red Scorpion razorback moves across the city grid.
A light but heavily armed elder skimmer has to jink to save it's skin from a powerful las cannon shot.
Next up... something naval (and I don't mean oranges!!)
I wish I had gotten to play in that naval scenario, those ships were absolutely incredible!
Thanks so much to Gitsplitta and his son for helping out at my booth, they were incredible . We are also now all addicted to Boss Monster from our late night games with Ramos, Solar Lion, Janthkin, yakface, and a few others
Did you end up losing any game of any type at the Con, Gits? You were on quite a streak for a while there!
"... sneaky, shiftless Seraphim ambush my librarian and his squad!! Bugger me..."
If you were truly repentant, then you had nothing to worry about. Seraphim Sister Etre-bon was just dropping by to check on your loyalty to the Emperor. You never know what corruption sets in during a crusade...
Just wanted to get some more shots up from Adepticon. These were taken with my phone as opposed to my fancy camera, so they aren't the most illuminating of shots but I thought you would enjoy them none-the-less. Today we're going to focus on Eldar... so I gathered up the best of what I had and put it together into one upload. I hope you enjoy. There was some really creative stuff this year.
This was one of the displays that made it to the final showcase. I call them "disco eldar" because of the music and pulsing light cube visible in the first shot.
Next up was another final display I call the "tendril eldar" (also because of the display).
Next up... another finalist display I call the "spirit eldar" because of the attempt at showing the energy flowing through the models as green flame.
Last but not least... some models I call "USA Eldar". The theme was really apparent on the skimmers & tanks.
My pleasure. I thought they were pretty cool so I wanted to share (even though it has nothing to do with Mantis Warriors).
I will be doing some MW stuff in the near future. I've got enough good photos for at least two good battle reports against very nicely painted armies on great terrain. Next project is kind of up in the air. I could tweak then re-base my other 5 terminators, I could finish painting my other 3 centurions and get the banners painted and put back in place, I could also do the detail work on the Sicaran Venator, which if my mental plans are seen through to fruition... should be quite extensive.
I'm open to suggestion.
OH... and I need to build and paint a new Azhara Redth or two... nearly forgot about that.
Target wrote:Hey its my fire raptor! Poor base...Brad ripped every crystal i had on it off by the end of game 1.
Hey!!! Glad the owner of that fine vehicle commented. It's a beautiful paint job on that flyer Target, happy to be able to get it up on this blog to give some other folks a good look at it!
TP^DC Deputy Manager wrote:Thanks for posting the Adepticon photos.
Whatever happened to your painting competition - being browsing your threads, looked like fun
Actually, if you look at the bottom of my sig you'll find a link to the final results.
I've been holding off posting because I wanted to have something substantive to show. I just finished up touching-up and re-basing the second of my old, metal terminator tactical squads (and a terminator chappy). Keep in mind these are tweaks of 15+ year old paint jobs... so they aren't very good. They look OK on the table though. Because they're so much smaller than the newer models, I mounted each one on top of a sheet cork "rock". You can see in comparison to the modern terminator built and painted so brilliantly by nerdfest09 on the right that given this basing... they're nearly exactly the right height for modern standards (within 1mm).
I have enough minis for one squad of OOP assault marines. Their status of painting is all over the board though, so I think I'll strip them down and repaint the whole lot in one go. Once that's done, I think I'll call the terminators for my Badab-era Mantis Warriors complete.
Nicely done Gits! they are just short little nuggets of men is all! years of active service and the weight of rotecting the imperium have compressed them slightly! :-)
I had a chance to play several small pick-up games at Adepticon this year and managed to take enough photos to cobble together a few battle reports. As with all my reports, I don't guarantee that I get things absolutely correct... I try my best but I rely a lot on the photos to help me sort out what happened, so take it with a grain of salt.
We were lucky enough to get a chance to play several games on these AMAZING 4x4 tables that were built and painted by Cracked Earth Studios, who were promoting their terrain prior to doing a kickstarter some time in the future. They had two amazing tables set up in the open play area. They were really nice folks so it's a real pleasure to give them a little free pub here. I'll be looking forward to their kickstarter.
Now, on to the game. 1000 points, common sense Maelstrom mission (that means you throw out anything that's impossible to achieve & can discard one card every turn.
My Mantis Warriors: HQ: Chief Librarian Azhara Redth
TP: 5 man tac squad in las/plas razorback
TP: 5 man tac squad in las/plas razorback
HV: 2 grav cents, sgt w/ TLLC & ML HV: sicaran venator
Solar_lion's Lamenters: HQ: Librarian
HQ: Tech Marine
EL: dread in pod
EL: dread in pod
TP: 10 man tac w/ las cannon in las/plas razorback
TP: 10 man tac w/ las cannon in las/plas razorback
TP: 10 man tac w/ las cannon in TL assault cannon razorback
I think....
Deployment:
Standard deployment with the objectives scattered throughout. There's a HUGE cliff on SL's side with an outcrop that has a central tower. He deploys across the board, claiming the two objectives in his deployment zone (neither is visible below, but they're behind the near and far buildings on his side. I deployed on the right, concentrating my most valuable units behind the farm house, being mindful of the dropping pods and the amazing amount of fire power SL has at his disposal. Of course I do have to worry about objectives, so one razorback finds a home behind the forge on my right flank.
The Lamenter left flank centers around a smelter with cover on top of the building and an objective behind.
Lamenter infantry help to secure their right flank.
The strength of my deployment behind a farm house on my left flank.
Turn 1:
The Lamenters move forward cautiously and open up with their las cannons. Every single shot hits and pens, leaving me with one less razorback and hull points shy on the sicaran. The only reason it's not worse is my deployment allows me some cover saves. One of the two drop pods comes down and the dreadnought disembarks, putting a hull point on my surviving razorback.
During my turn, my big guns swivel to meet the new threat in my deployment zone.
While my shooting fails to destroy the dread, it does give it a 1-hull point scare. Better than nothing I guess.
The Lamenters move forward as they, like me need to claim both of the center objectives. Their troops unload in preparation for scaling down the steep cliff to the objective marker.
The second pod comes down in front of my left flank. Luckily for me it whiffs it multi-melta shot at the venator. Return fire then turns it into a smoking ruin. My razorback seeks the shelter of the river bed... close enough to score that objective but protected enough to get a cover save. I manage to NOT immobilize myself.
The Lamenters start pushing hard as they're drawing objectives in the center or on my right rear. Shooting knocks another hull point off of the MW razorback on my right flank that's controlling an objective.
A very scary (empty) Lamenter razorback moves forward to claim the mid-table objective.
Meanwhile the razorback beats feet to the cliff in the center of the table, hoping to get out of LOS of the Lamenter's heavy weapons. I also need to score the objective in the center of the table.
During the next turn, the Lamenters score a couple of more objectives, the tacs climb down the hill and thumb their noses at me. More shooting occurs. The Lamenters inflict some casualties on a small tac squad that's been sitting on an objective in my deployment zone. Since I don't have that objective any more, they will fall back behind the house and out of sight. My razorback disgorges it's contents to deal with the Lamenter razorback in the middle of the table and then races back to the river valley in order to score the objective in the far right again (I drew it 3 times). A lucky shot from something immobilizes the TL assault cannon razorback while shots from the centurion sgt finishes off the first dread to come down (right flank).
Tac squad from the wrecked razorback moves into cover (an thinks about assaulting the drop pod).
At this point, the casualties I've been causing are starting to pile up while the Lamenters ability to hurt my armor is weakened. Truth be told I was rolling pretty darn well at this point and SL was having poor dice. The Lamenters shooting in the next turn is largely ineffectual. Unfortunately for SL, mine is good. The venator and centurions have a banner turn and with the help of a tac squad's crak grenade take out two razorbacks and a drop pod. I score my center objective and my attention turns to the right middle where his tactical squad and HQ's are idolated.
The Lamenters have just enough firepower left to take down the Sicaran venator. They reinforce the objectives they hold and the group of marines at the base off the cliff prepare for the oncoming MW assault. I take the remnants of my two tac squads and go afer the infantry on the objective at the base of the cliff (which I need) with support from the grav cents. The centurion sgt pens and blows up the last remaining drop pod.
In spite of all the carnage... it's still a pretty close game cards-wise. We don't count our cards before the end so we play the game as straight as possible. Turn 6 sees a rolling melee between SL's squad an HQ & my two tac squads. Luckily for me, the combat went my way and most of one tac squad survived to score the final objective.
Once all the cards and points had been counted... a minor victory for the Mantis Warriors was recorded on the chapter records.
@Gir: Yes, I liked the Venator. It's not so overpowered or unkillable that I feel like it's cheating, and so far my opponent's haven't complained to me about it. It does throw out some really killer firepower though, especially with a libby giving it the old one-two divination woodgie. Still... 4 shots.. rolling to hit, pen & on the damage table (if you get that far) leaves plenty of room for rather mundane shooting results.
@Archer: Indeed. They weren't sure. Still at the very early stages of test marketing. This summer or early spring maybe.
I actually began the process of painting the fine detail on the venator. Going to take some time but I'm happy with what I've done so far. Pics when there's something worth showing.
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Well, for what it's worth, here's the beginning of the detail on the venator. Two banners on the back track wells which say "legio renatus" (legion reborn) and an infantry back-banner that I really liked. I've got a spot for this on the back of the tank but it'll take a little fiddling to get it mounted correctly.
Long way to go yet. Have a few more fiddly bits to add, then the hand-painting, then the chipping and weathering.
Looks nice. Have you thought about magnetizing the banner, so you could remove it for transit? It looks like a thing that would enjoy getting snapped off easily.
Love the BatRep. A really fun way of showing a nice close game. As @Snrub says, great to see some fantastc models going toe to toe ANNND on a really cool board.
Just had a fun little exchange with a friend who I'll be fighting tomorrow night at our local league night... I thought I'd share it.
The Challenge from Steve Yorkrite:
"Inquisitor Jaxeena has been secretly studying the Mantis Warriors for signs of heresy. Having been turned down for samples of recent geneseed she has enlisted the aid of Captain Alphaeus. Under the guise that the Mantis Warriors have worked along side a renegade planetary governor, Alphaeus has agreed to help..."
My response:
Azhara Redth, Chief Librarian of the Mantis Warriors stood quietly on a low rise, watching the annual marksmanship challenge unfold on the plain below. Large gatherings like this were rare as the Chapter was still severely depleted after the completion of their crusade against the "Red Corsairs". However the divine mercy of The Emperor had shown down upon them and they had been reinstated, resupplied and given a new home-world from which to recruit future generations. Of course there were those faithless who did not trust in the Emperor's wisdom. Petty power-brokers & bureaucrats jealous of the resources given to the reborn chapter. It was the character flaws of wretches like these that led to the Badab Rebellion over a century ago.
As he stood in careful contemplation, he heard quick, resolute footsteps approach from behind.
"Master Redth, an ultimatum has arrived from the Inquisition. Inquisitor Jaxeena summons you into her presence to answer to accusations of Heresy and fomenting rebellion against the Emperor."
"Let me see the missive." Replied Redth. He took the ornate parchment, noted the broken seal, and for long moments stared intently at the page, occasionally making deft rolling motions with his hands to advance the viewable region of the document.
"She's backed by Alphaeus of the Blood Angels." mumbled Redth. "That is... unexpected."
"What are you going to do Sir?" asked his attache'.
Redth did not answer immediately, but stood silent and motionless... gazing across the plain at the assembled might of the Chapter. Far below, a distant loudspeaker blared out "Pull!". A targeting sphere launched from somewhere below and streaked skywards, its scatter-field blurring it's image and making it appear to shift position slightly in space as it arced across the sky. A peal of barely audible pops rippled across the valley and the bright tags of sniper practice rounds appeared along the sphere's surface. Brighter flashes of light played across the sphere a moment later, followed by the distant crack of bolt gun fire. The sphere, now nearing the apex of it's arc... began to slow, to vibrate violently and to finally collapse in on itself. The sphere plunged straight down into the earth at terrific speed, shattering rock and spewing earth in all directions from the force of the impact. As the dust settled, a low whine could be heard, building and building as if the turbines of a huge dam had just sprung to life. A series of blinding flashes came from his left, without his helmet he had to shield his eyes, but his ears were left unprotected. A cacophony of sound swept over them and echoed across the plain like the coming of the end of the universe. "Venator" he whispered, as if afraid to speak it aloud, lest he draw its ire. The ancient engine of war had disintegrated the sphere and everything else within a 10m radius.
"What will I do?" asked Redth, turning to his attache'. "I'll pray for them of course."
This is gonna be better than 50 Shades! ..... mind you Elektra is better than 50 Shades........Oh hang on no, no it's most certainly not better than anything my mistake!
But this WILL b good :-) I love me some narrative! gets the fire burning....
The only thing I don't like about the league night games is that because I live so far away, I have to go their straight from work... meaning I have to get everything ready the night before or the morning of... which often leads to me forgetting things. Case in point... no camera tonight. I do have my phone though, and while it's vastly inferior to my proper camera... it will at least be able to record the event.
Even with the twin piles of cheese that are the centurions... I'm very concerned about tonight. The BA have an inquisitor, Dante and an entire codex. I've got two pages out of IA-10, 20 scouts and a middlin' HQ. I guess we'll see how it all plays out tonight.
Steve has also been playing a looong time. Exchanged some PMs with him and found out his army isn't quite as powerful as I'd thought (no Dante, no death star), so I've got a plea out on the local board to see if someone can't bring in a squad of termies to replace one of the cent squads. That should help a bit while still be in keeping with my overall theme.
Gitsplitta wrote: I actually began the process of painting the fine detail on the venator. Going to take some time but I'm happy with what I've done so far. Pics when there's something worth showing.
...
Well, for what it's worth, here's the beginning of the detail on the venator. Two banners on the back track wells which say "legio renatus" (legion reborn) and an infantry back-banner that I really liked. I've got a spot for this on the back of the tank but it'll take a little fiddling to get it mounted correctly.
Long way to go yet. Have a few more fiddly bits to add, then the hand-painting, then the chipping and weathering.
Love the detailing, that really ties the purple into the model visually for me, as an area where they add heraldry / etc. Excellent
I am going to take a punt that after some initial maneuvers and a few casualties on each side they all realize that the Inquisitor has been playing the Blood Angels for fools and the game becomes a "hunt the horrible little Inquisitor" event with honors going to the Blood Angels.
Archer wrote: I am going to take a punt that after some initial maneuvers and a few casualties on each side they all realize that the Inquisitor has been playing the Blood Angels for fools and the game becomes a "hunt the horrible little Inquisitor" event with honors going to the Blood Angels.
We call that ' Kill the priest first' - The last valley ( 1971 )
Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted that battle report or the results yet, just don't want to spoil it. It was an excellent battle with very few figures surviving on either side by the end (which is the way it should be in my opinion). I'm quite pleased with the venator... not just that it's firepower allows it to *possibly* take down a main-line battle tank in one salvo... but its squishy enough that if my opponent really wants to concentrate resources on it, they can also take it down (so it balances well). Probably a bit pricey for what it does, but it looks so cool that I'm OK with that. The centurions are just... stupid good.
I have started to go through my photographs and Steve has posted his so I have access to them as well. Have a lot to do today as it's my wife's birthday... but I'll find some time to get things rolling.
Technically... my ork warbosses name is "Oozegob Gitsplitta" or even more formally... "Oozegob the gitsplitta", so most appropriately it would be Mrs. Oozegob... but I'm not sure how happy she'd be about that.
Good read gits. Yea those cents suck I been on the recieving end of them with my mech ig and that sucks sooo much. Glad you guys had a great game. Looking forward to the next installment
Your purple models seem to be performing quite well on the tabletop and, of course, the borrowed models did nothing but die. There is a lesson to be learned here.
Thanks gents. Not sure what I'm going to work on next. I'll be fiddling with the venator for quite some time yet... but I should put something else on the block. Have to give that some thought. A proper Redth would probably be the top priority.
Shame that you lost your old Redth. Although I think you did well to replace him with Severin Loth from FW. That really is a fantastic looking model and I'm eager to see him painted up by your humble self.
You know gits, I saw you lost your libby. Do you want the Star Marine to be a Librarian? I have a few too many, I can arrange to make one for you.(Along with a bolter marine and something I can't reveal.)
Let me know. Also, is it true I forgot to mention happy bday to mrs splitta? Oops.
You could always work on a League contest? Maybe enter Para's vet comp. Try a test figure of another chapter? If all else fails, make some terrain to display your chapter on?
(I was going to suggest a drop pod but, that's just mean.) ;p
Stormwall wrote: You know gits, I saw you lost your libby. Do you want the Star Marine to be a Librarian? I have a few too many, I can arrange to make one for you.(Along with a bolter marine and something I can't reveal.)
You did?? Where did he end up? Or do you mean you saw the same libby figure (but not MY libby)? I actually have a really nice librarian that I've already gotten as a result of the GMS. If you could make an assault libby (with jump pack), that would be something new though.
You could always work on a League contest? Maybe enter Para's vet comp. Try a test figure of another chapter? If all else fails, make some terrain to display your chapter on?
Do you have a link for that comp? Usually I have so much to paint that I don't have time for comps, but if it coincides with work I need to do anyway... they're fun to participate in. I'm going to put together a 30k legion, so I'll have lots of test figures from a different chapter when I get to that.
Do you have a link for that comp? Usually I have so much to paint that I don't have time for comps, but if it coincides with work I need to do anyway... they're fun to participate in. I'm going to put together a 30k legion, so I'll have lots of test figures from a different chapter when I get to that.
You could always work on a League contest? Maybe enter Para's vet comp. Try a test figure of another chapter? If all else fails, make some terrain to display your chapter on?
Do you have a link for that comp? Usually I have so much to paint that I don't have time for comps, but if it coincides with work I need to do anyway... they're fun to participate in. I'm going to put together a 30k legion, so I'll have lots of test figures from a different chapter when I get to that.
Well, I've got a bunch of 30k Forge World figures that I originally got for my MW army, but 30k is really gaining interest around here so I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring. My gut feeling is to do a traitor marine chapter as I've never done anything chaossy (though I know they aren't very chaossy at this point in time). I've got two of the black books and the two red rule books, so I have to decide what legion I'm going to do then get to it.
I'd really like to see you do Ultramarines. I think a Gits sponsored smurf army would be a sight to see!
Although, if you'd rather keep things in the family you could do pre-heresy White Scars force. Since they are the Mantis Warriors primogenitors.
Neither of those are traitor legions, true. So if you do want a traitor army I'll cast my vote in for you doing either World Eaters or pre-name change Luna Wolves.
I find myself at kind of a quiet point with my P&M. The campaign at my FLGS just ended last night so my big ork push is over (not that I won't paint more, but the need to paint them is relaxed). I'm farming out some of my MW models so they'll be progress on that front. I've made the decision to get into both 30k and the new Ad Mech. Luckily the 30k shouldn't take a whole lot of investment on my part as I have a very healthy start... but the AdMech will cost me.
I think I'll take a little bit of time to finish off my GK army, but a healthy price tag on it and see if anyone on e-bay will bite. Then I can use the proceeds to off-set the AdMech purchases. Luckily I don't have a lot to do. One dread knight, one rhino and 4 troopers I think. Shouldn't take too long. I'll probably collect the AdMech army before painting it... so after I finish the GK, I'll be fresh for some more Mantis Warrior painting action. I think that's what I'm going to do anyway... all subject to change at the last minute for no apparent reason of course.
Stormwall wrote: You know gits, I saw you lost your libby. Do you want the Star Marine to be a Librarian? I have a few too many, I can arrange to make one for you.(Along with a bolter marine and something I can't reveal.)
You did?? Where did he end up? Or do you mean you saw the same libby figure (but not MY libby)? I actually have a really nice librarian that I've already gotten as a result of the GMS. If you could make an assault libby (with jump pack), that would be something new though.
You could always work on a League contest? Maybe enter Para's vet comp. Try a test figure of another chapter? If all else fails, make some terrain to display your chapter on?
Do you have a link for that comp? Usually I have so much to paint that I don't have time for comps, but if it coincides with work I need to do anyway... they're fun to participate in. I'm going to put together a 30k legion, so I'll have lots of test figures from a different chapter when I get to that.
Woah there! Horrible expression for me to use, didn't mean to pull at the heart strings. Now I feel bad.
I meant by that is I saw your post in which you mentioned you lost him, which was very depressing. I was just offering if you wanted I could try and make you a temporary stand in for your Libby is all.
Hm... an assault libby eh? I'll see what I can do.
Hi gang, sorry for the long silence. Been a very interesting time gaming-wise around the Gits residence as I've been making both strategic and tactical decisions about my gaming future.
As you know, I've been struggling with the sheer mass of figures that I have unpainted and have decided that they need to be dealt with, one way or the other. To make matters worse... I've decided to get into 30k as well as building an AdMech army... so, more figures... and significantly more financial investment. After quite a bit of consideration... here's my plan.
1. In order to pay for the AdMech, I've exchanged a significant amount of existing game resources for other systems (War Machine, MTG) with a local store for store credit. I now have enough credit to make a significant dent in an AdMech force without spending any cash. This army will be finite... as opposed to my MW & orks which just go on forever.
2.I've decided the make up of my AdMech will be infantry backed up by knight titans. I think this will look cool, is quite fluffy and might actually play pretty well. I've engaged "Rollin' All Ones" Ramos Asura to paint my knights in an AdMech scheme. The upshot of this is that the AdMech army could see the table in amazingly short order (with Ramos doing the titans and me doing the infantry).
3. I have a lot of 30k figures already that I'd intended for my MWs which will be re-dedicated to my Emperor's Children, again... helping me financially. Unfortunately many of the figures I own aren't really appropriate for a fluffy (fast-attack based) EC army... so there will be unavoidable expenditures here eventually. Still, I think I'm ahead of the game in the long run. Ramos will also be painting my one EC flyer. This will also be a very finite list that won't expand ad-infinitum.
4. I am going to finish and sell Blackhand's GK army which I think will be given new value with the advent of the chaos codices. This should happen within a few weeks. Funds will be used either to help pay Ramos or pay for EC purchases.
5. Last but not least, Ramos is painting up my three MW flyers (modern scheme), greatly increasing the tactical options & viability of my army while freeing me up for other MW projects.
6.Any models of value that are not directly related to the plan will be traded or sold to help offset the cost of the new armies.
The point of all of this, is that models that sit around in boxes or bins for years without every seeing the light of day are just wasted bits of plastic. I've forced myself to prioritize what's important and what I really want to play & will let go of the rest. While it pains me to not be painting my own models (which has always been a point of pride for me), I just need help to meet my overall goals and folks like Ramos, nerdfest and others are/will be instrumental in my success. Besides, I couldn't wish for better caretakers of the projects I've started than my friends.
So there you have it. The master plan which is already in progress. As you can see my attention will be pulled in numerous directions hobby-wise... but there will be continued progress here, not only with the joyous arrival of the MW flyers but with some immediate projects on my part... namely finishing the venator, finishing the second squad of centurions and getting Azhara Redth built and painted.
In the mean time, you guys deserve something cool after wading through this wall of text. After many months of waiting, I finally got Dust his GMS Mantis Warrior. He handled the delay with grace and even posted this on the GMS web site. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Dust wrote: The immaterium is a strange and tenebrous thing, a void beyond the bounds of space as man was meant to know. It can be traversed but never held for it moves perpetually in every direction. Its tides flow out to every shoal and to every knowable and unknowable coast before doubling back on themselves to compound and refract their forces back upon themselves. A continuous, ever-changing sea.
Brother Iwazaru, a veteran of the final days of the Badab War, had taken to the void. His assignment, as per the terms of his chapter's surrender, had seconded to a Battle Group Heroic. At the time the battle group was far away from Badab in the Malkira system working to deal with an issue involving an awakened warp gate. Iwazaru embarked upon a single-man craft and was born out into the warp.
Weeks passed then months. Eventually Iwazaru's cryogenic system ran dry and he was rousted from his frigid, chemical slumber. He had drifted off course, tossed carelessly upon unknowable tides as his ship had been sent tumbling for too long across the ether. Time itself is such an inconsistent thing within the warp. Years had passed in the real world while he had only felt weeks, weeks alone and hopeless. Iwazaru turned inward and sought peace through prayer and meditation. Eventually, through faith or through chance, Iwazaru found himself at the coordinates that had been dictated to him so long ago.
He arrived in Malkira only to find that his hosts had already departed. With a bit of cunning though he brokered travel after them. A Rogue Trader got him out of Malkira and a Q-Ship took him half way. The last stretch came from a Mechanicum Explorator vessel. At long last Brother Iwazaru was where he belonged. Task Force Heroic; The Cadian 55th, Sons of Antaeus, Iron Angels, Sons of Medusa, Ghost Bears, and even a cadre of Lamenters… also veterans of Badab… had been deployed to the Xukarath system to fend off a splinter of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Iwazaru found himself in the thick of an ugly, savage conflict that had expanded beyond the claws and fangs of the Leviathan to include myriad other Xenos and Heretical forces. Iwazaru had been given purpose once more… back into the fray, back into the thick of battle.
Took a while for this particular Adeptus to find his way from Gitsplitta's bench to my mustering grounds. A lengthy stretch, certainly, but he has arrived when the enemies have become plentiful. A surplus of foes from every creed and composition await him. Let us hope he has the fortitude to stand alongside the other Battle Brothers.
Very awesome mini, and good rationalisation (also, I will remember to send you those termies!) - it's just one of those things that in this hobby, one has to do.
It was only after taking the picture that I realized I had set him up on my copy of Roche Limit… which is about getting lost in space, physically and mentally.
How quickly unpainted models can stack up. I did a stock take on unpainted models for my SM and I still have 3 tactical squad, 10 devistators, 10 assault marines and a few more tanks/fliers to built paint. on top of the all the other stuff I've ordered and shelved. I should really do the same thing as you this year.
Yeah... my Kanban is seriously frightening... at this point, I have more projects unfinished than I have finished!
I resolve to make this my year of finishing things, not buying stuff models, and figuring out storage... and then a guy at the shop is selling off some Orks at a good price and WHAMMM! Three more units to do.
The last two nights Thing 1 and I have been playing a game, his Necrons vs. my MW's... 1850 pts. He was doing really well in the first two turns until his dice just turned on him and stabbed him in the back. Tactically, he played every bit as soundly as I would have... he just has the worst dice luck day-in and day-out that I've ever seen. It's a real shame too because it's definitely ruining his enjoyment of & enthusiasm for the game. I can't blame him. Losing because of dice rolls just sucks.
Have a very interesting fight tonight between my MW and Eiluj the Farseer's brand new Demonkin (Khorn) army. I tried a completely different build than normal. A bit "that guy" but then he asked me to build a really nasty list to give him a good test. A lot will depend on whether I chose wisely or foolishly in my build based on anticipating what he might take (and I already know I got some right, and some wrong). In any case is should be a glorious contest that ends in lots of blood for the blood god. So I both win and lose... not matter the result!
Eiluj will be taping the game and putting it up on YouTube so I'll post a link when it's up.
Had a very fun and challenging game last night vs. a friend's new Demonkin army. The game ended in turn 5 (thankfully) with me running like hell away from Eluij's forces... luckily for me, enough survived for me to steal the victory by 3 KP. Wow... what a massacre. All me in the first two turns and all him in the last 3!
One of the many projects I need to work in is a display board, and I think I've come up with something that will work for both my marines and my orks. The plan is to build a 2' by 2' display board using some battlefield tiles I picked up from Alfindrate to form the front portion of the diamond. The back quarter will be raised up by a relatively short (3-4") wall of Imperial design, and lead to either a concrete or steel floor platform. The wall will continue along the edges of the lower level to frame the display space. I might even paint up my Imperial statue and place it at the very back as kind of a further framing piece. I'd also like to build a smallish platform off of the front of the raised area to serve as a show-point for characters and the like.
Sounds complicated... but when you really think about it... not so much. 2x2 base, 3x 1x1 tiles for the lower section, foam for the raised area, cork for the concrete. Imperial looking walls can be purchased from a number of vendors.
What makes it really useful through, is that I think I can make (or commission), plasticard walls to lay over the built in Imperial ones & make either a separate ork floor for the top or perhaps even just a big ork plasticard symbol to plop down on the concrete. Replace the statue with a waaaagh tower and viola', you have an ork display board!
I know this image plays tricks on your eyes... but just convince yourself that the "battleground tiles" section is the lower part of the display & the "concrete or steel plate" area is the raised section.
"Steel plate” and “okifying” brought up a thought. If you use actual metal for the walls, you could do up a bunch of ork glyphs and rusty patches magnetized to slap up on the walls. Poof! Instant looted base! Alternatively you have bits made to swap out for battle-damage plates.
Nice idea. The floor of the raised section could be reversible; one side concrete for imperial, other side steel for the Orks. Saves on having to store two pieces.
Maybe even have a storage area under that for keeping the spare walls and statues in...
"Steel plate” and “okifying” brought up a thought. If you use actual metal for the walls, you could do up a bunch of ork glyphs and rusty patches magnetized to slap up on the walls. Poof! Instant looted base! Alternatively you have bits made to swap out for battle-damage plates.
A very interesting idea... I could just use a sheet magnet to cut the designs out of. Tough part would be figuring out how to make metal sheets interesting from the Imperial perspective. Hmmm.... will have to think on that.
Dr H wrote:Nice idea. The floor of the raised section could be reversible; one side concrete for imperial, other side steel for the Orks. Saves on having to store two pieces.
Maybe even have a storage area under that for keeping the spare walls and statues in...
Archer wrote: Depending on your budget you could get a sheet of aluminium cut and engraved to have a design on each side.
Magnets wouldn't stick to sheet aluminum itself... you'd need to glue either magnets or a ferrousmagnetic metal to the underside.
I would find an army surplus Ammo can. Placed on its side, you'd have a nice secure storage for dice and templates and such. Then I'd cover the exposed sides with some of the structurally textured polystyrene sheets from the railroad shops to give it the bunker look.
I was not intending the aluminium sheet to be a medium to attach magnets too. Merely a light and potentially highly detailed double sided "lid" to cover whatever box was underneath.
The idea here is to keep things simple and inexpensive... if at all possible. The points gained by having a decent display board would be very nice in a painting comp, but I don't think they few extra points I'd get for an insanely complicated display board would be worth the effort.
However, the discussion has given me some interesting ideas to consider.
Gitsplitta wrote: I've decided the make up of my AdMech will be infantry backed up by knight titans. I think this will look cool, is quite fluffy and might actually play pretty well.
Built another odd little army for tomorrow's game night. I'm experimenting with some all-infantry builds. Will take some pics. Also bringing the boys so hopefully they can get in some fun games. Update late tomorrow.
Got pounded tonight by an SM army with 3... yes 3... units of podding grav cents. To be honest, the game was over after his (first) half of turn 1. However... my one moment of glory came thusly.
Last Mantis Warriors on the table are two scout bikes. They're trying to reach an objective to score a maelstrom point. They swing around a run and fire at the 5-man Blood Angel squad holding it. Shooting kills the lead BA w/ heavy flamer. They charge. Overwatch does nothing. Hammer of wrath kills one more BA. (two down) In assault, they kill one more BA. BA fail morale but don't get away. Eventually a single scout biker is taking on the last Blood Angel in one-on-one assault.
He wins! Then proceeds (heedless of the dread on his flank) to secure the objective.
Last but not least, he swings around a ruin again out of line-of-sight of anything... guaranteeing that the Mantis Warriors are not tabled. Good show young'un!
Well, that's the ironic part... I felt bad because I'd brought 2 small units of dev cents myself. Had no chance though. His podded in and with their opening volley killed 5 of 6 cents, my warlord and 4 of 5 assault marines. Basically everything I had on the table except for 5 scouts. Game essentially ended right there, the rest was just for giggles.
Need help from you GK players out there. According to the codex, GK librarians can take wargear from the "special issue war gear" list, which includes a storm shield (pg. 90/91). However, the storm shield is not listed in the "Grey Knights Wargear List" table that gives point costs for such things (pg 59), along with a number of other missing things from the "special issue war gear list".
OK, so I've finally got to working in earnest on a project I've been toying with for a while, namely... making a couple of very focused allied groups to go along with my Mantis Warriors. These are based around some really nice models that are already painted & are definitely not fluffy. The Mantis Warrior list they go with is not "friendly" either. These will be tournament lists.
First up is a Grey Knight detachment called a "Grey Knight Strike Force". HQ & 1 troop are mandatory, the rest is voluntary. If it's the primary detachment, it gets to re-roll on the warlord power table. It also gets to try and deep strike on turn 1 & may run and shoot (in any order) on the turn they deep strike). My list consists of a Lvl 3 psycher, a squad of terminators and one dreadknight. I'm using the "Red Knight" terminators that I got from Blackhand. All I need is a dreadknight and a GK librarian. So, here they are...
Next allied group will be Space Wolves, but I'll talk more about that when I come to it.
The benefit to all you Mantis Warrior fans out there is to make the MW part of my list I have more building and painting to do. I'll need to finish the second centurion squad, build and paint another scout biker and crank out another libby (not Azhara Redth, just a normal psycher).
He's a good looking' chap that Libby, and fantastically dynamic pose there on the ndk. Love that his pilot has sword and flamed too
Automatically Appended Next Post: Lost in Rollover He's a good looking' chap that Libby, and fantastically dynamicpose there on the ndk. Love that his pilot has sword and flamed too R
Airbrushing is done on both models. Decided to start with the libby... here's the first WIP shot. I'm sure GK libby's aren't supposed to be blue... but then again Grey Knights aren't supposed to be red either... so I'm just continuing BLACKHAND'S traditions of saying "up yours" to the man. Besides, there are few things I like painting more than blue librarians. Wouldn't want to do a blue chapter, but an occasional libby just floats my boat.
Light's a little strange on the photo. Sorry about that. He's not quite this washed out looking. Still lots to do though so don't draw any final conclusions yet.
@graven: Thanks mate. Don't know if you noticed but I did extend the crest of the helmet over his head to make it look a bit more like a psychic hood.
@wm: Well, these are the bits I had on hand. I'd like to make a second libby with the warding staff as I do think that's the better option. I don't want to replace this weapon as I wouldn't get the airbrushing blends right the second time around. So I'd need a body, staff and right arm at the least. Think I can cobble together a left arm.
Actually WM, that's all I need GK wise. Now that my allied force is set I'll be selling the rest. That is unless you have a spare dreadknight lying around...
@Yggs: At the moment the pods have to either come from BA or SW as these are the only space marine chapters that can take pods as FA choices, however this is likely to change when the new SM dex comes out later this year.
@SL: Thanks. I can't take total credit for that, I bought the model sans-hands so it was already posed. I just came up with the idea of matching the hands on the DK with the hands on the pilot and duplicating the weaponry on the pilot as well. I am really pleased with my sword build though.
I'm so frustrated. I "finished" the librarian last night and was going to post a pic, but when I put the pic up on the screen I noticed a TON of mistakes on the paint job. So many that I decided not to post the pic at all. I swear I can't see the mistakes, even with magnification when I'm painting... but when I get the pic on the computer they just scream at me (and these aren't subtle things... so I'm not making mountains out of mole hills). I'll try and address them tonight, but it's not going to be easy as I have to "repair" airbrushed surfaces which is never easy.
On another frustrating note... I played Thing 1's Necrons last night with a 1000 pt., very unfriendly (if elite and small) army of Mantis Warriors and GK. He tied me using only half his army. I just could not kill him. Entire volleys of shooting or assault would result in 1 or 2 Necron casualties, sometimes none. Dear God that's a frustrating army to play! Top it off with the fact that no matter how many dice I rolled I hardly ever got my psychics off... I mean I'm happy that he played and did well, but my frustrations have nothing to do with my son doing well and everything to do with the fact that I just can't seem to get past the "we'll be back" rolls. (b*tch, moan, grumble)
Gitsplitta wrote: @Yggs: At the moment the pods have to either come from BA or SW as these are the only space marine chapters that can take pods as FA choices, however this is likely to change when the new SM dex comes out later this year.
Erh yeah, I had feared it might be *THAT* solution...
Blue Cent : "Hey Angel, do you mind if me & my boys borrow your nicely, lovingly painted, red Pod? The Captain doesn't want us to use ours, they're for Power Armour only !!!"
BA : " Sure M. Cent, we had little use for them anyway, and I'm oh-so-jealous about your Cent suit ! Since I mentioned my doubts about our chapter not interested in buying a few Cent suits for ourselves, I was censured and sent for a 1-week penance... So my Pod is all yours !"
Well, I think it's just a matter of when the codecii come out. The SW and BA were the first SM dexes of this series... so they're the first to get the option. Be patient. "All good things to those who wait."
@Yggs: Yes, I agree. Last week my opponent podded 9 grav cents in on turn 1 and wiped out nearly all of my army on the first half of the first turn of the game. But, as long as it's legal... people are going to do it. Might as well be prepared.
nerdfest09 wrote:OH MY LORD THAT LIBBY IS TERRRRRRRIBLE!!!!! Nah,.......it's good :-) don't know what you were worried about!
I told you I FIXED IT... pay attention, there will be a quiz on this later.
@Anpu: LOL!
Archer wrote:Out of curiosity, what piece of terrain are those terminators standing atop of? Any chance of a wide shot? Looks pretty cool.
I can't remember the name of the company but they produce a bunch of very nice, pre-painted terrain that I think is more aligned with fantasy, but works just as well with 40k. Ruined buildings, ork huts, forests, hills and lakes. Reasonably priced for what you get too. If I can remember I'll post it. Perhaps someone out there can help?
Archer wrote:On topic, the paint job looks great. I like the use of colours instead of metallic. Makes them unusual and unique in the good way.
My first attempt at a hand painted blend. Pretty crude job but effective. I gave it a black wash to help smooth out the blending but lost some of the contrast in the process... ah well. First try and all.
Solar_lion wrote:Good ready to go unit. I might have powered the hammer a wee bit.. Maybe not blue but green might be nice since your lenses and Seal are green.
I thought about that, but I figured the electric blue of the librarian was probably color enough. I like the powered-down look of the hammer in contrast to the screaming blue of the armor.
I wanted this to look good, but I'm not trying to make it a show-piece. I'm just trying to get through these two allied forces so I can get them off the books (and so I can use them in tournament play). Just barely started working on the dreadknight last night (though the airbrushing is already done). When I get the main metal coat down I'll post a pic (might take me a couple of night's work). I do note that there are some parts of the hammer that I'd intended to paint that I forgot about.... I just might be able to do something there.... I'll look at it again this evening.
Making some progress finally on the dreadknight. Keep in mind I've named the GK faction "The Brotherhood of the Black Hand" after their originator BLACKHAND.
I really like how you have mirrored the pilot to be armed the same way as the Dreadknight. I think it adds a really awesome level of detail and interest to the model.
Looking tasty so far, perhaps an differently angled view would show the sword we are all thinking is pointing at us? Love that the baby in the baby carrier is carrying the same kit.
I think I saw a colour scheme that matched that in a WD or something around the time the codex: daemon hunters was released, always struck me as pretty striking.
It's finished now save for the sword (which will be airbrushed blue) and the base. I think the DK needs more bits added to it. Just too much red for my liking. I'll have to take a look at it when the swords finished and see what occurs to me. I think I have an idea forming to add a little more black to break things up, as well as more green purity seals to add some spots of color. Expect an update tonight (if someone would be so kind as to post in-between now and then). As excited as I am to get this finished as it will complete my GK allied army, I find it difficult to take any short-cuts or not complete the figure with the level of detail it calls for. Unfortunately this kind of drags out the painting process... but since it seems that getting some allies for my Mantis Warriors is going to be necessary in order to play them in tournaments, I'd rather do a good job since these will probably see the table quite frequently.
Yes, I am counting on the base to add some color. When I started redoing these figures... I stuck with my base method EXCEPT that I went with a much brighter green grass than my typical faded fall blends. That should help considerably (as it has helped with the other Brotherhood of the Black Hand figures. (see below)
The "Brotherhood of the Black Hand" is finally complete. I'll add a banner with BLACKHAND's avatar to the sergeant (the avatar of BLACKHAND in this army). It's really sweet to have this done.
Thanks everyone for your forbearance while I've been working on this list. It's been important to me to see this through.
That are very striking as a group (plus awesome as individuals). They should stand a stark contrast to the colors of your Mantis Warriors as well which will look great on the tabletop.
Gitsplitta wrote: @Yggs: Yes, I agree. Last week my opponent podded 9 grav cents in on turn 1 and wiped out nearly all of my army on the first half of the first turn of the game. But, as long as it's legal... people are going to do it. Might as well be prepared.
Finished the librarian...
Here's the "legal" detachment.
Next up, finish the dreadknight.
for some reason I get the feeling they're in the middle of a dance routine and now I can't get 'I will survive'out of my head......
Thanks guys. Very pleased with how they came out and they'll hit the table TONIGHT at the club gaming night. I brought my camera so depending on whether my opponent has a painted army or not... I may take some pics.
Well, in order to complete the "master plan"... I have some options as to what to do next. I have some space wolves I want to add as another allied detachment/formation, I also need to finish the second centurion squad, a scout bike sergeant, and a librarian.
I'll let you guys make the call. What do you want to see next? (pick just one please)
I reckon some wolves would be a fun step away from the green and red of recent times. However if you have things to finish I would say do the cents, nice big centre piece squad to get done then the others feel less intimidating. But then nothing intimidates you Gits!
Project Update:
Mantis Warriors have aerial reinforcements!!
Talon I:
Talon II:
Raven with extension kit:
All weapon options are magnetized and completely interchangeable. Interiors are all painted and the turrets and Talon engines can rotate.
The only thing left to do on these is the Raven Pilot (whose legs are hopefully en route from the UK). That and the Raven turret guns still need magnets- I just happened to run out!! Hopefully the game store has some in stock.
Tonight is 5e night, then after that its on to a couple of mini projects (gotta get the prizes for my giveaway rolling!) before finally returning to the Knights. Gits got a set of the Dreamforge Leviathan arms for potentially a working conversion. We'll see how those go! Then the Lancer's shield needs a few more power gubbins and greeblies and Ill be able to mark him for primer. Then its just 2 of the regular Knight kits for him.
Gits those are some wonderful looking Airships. Ramos did an excellent job. I have one question though, why the Red on the tip of the plasma cannons and lascannons?
deadmeat85 wrote: Gits those are some wonderful looking Airships. Ramos did an excellent job. I have one question though, why the Red on the tip of the plasma cannons and lascannons?
Well, it seems I made a bit of a switcheroo with the two MW color schemes. You see, the MW Badab-era scheme had red tips on all of the special weapons, meltas, plasmas, etc... I assumed it was the same way for the MW Penitent scheme (with the purple), but after looking closer to the Venator pics, it looks like they are PURPLE... oops...
Sooooo I guess cause it breaks up the color scheme a bit? Plus all the missiles are red....
deadmeat85 wrote: Gits those are some wonderful looking Airships. Ramos did an excellent job. I have one question though, why the Red on the tip of the plasma cannons and lascannons?
Well, it seems I made a bit of a switcheroo with the two MW color schemes. You see, the MW Badab-era scheme had red tips on all of the special weapons, meltas, plasmas, etc... I assumed it was the same way for the MW Penitent scheme (with the purple), but after looking closer to the Venator pics, it looks like they are PURPLE... oops...
Sooooo I guess cause it breaks up the color scheme a bit? Plus all the missiles are red....
^ ^;
Oh..... I better be quiet so that Gits doens't see that then.
deadmeat85 wrote: Oh..... I better be quiet so that Gits doens't see that then.
Too late. Already asked him to correct that (though I think we're going with the black from the back-side of the guns) I'm fine with the red on the tips of the las-cannons though... all my old las cannons were red tipped. Just something about the splash of red in the middle of the Storm Raven that doesn't look right to me.
OK gang, this is very frustrating. I've got a bunch of pictures from last nights games (the boys and I all played at the local 40k night) but can't get them from the camera into the computer. Maybe I can move them tonight, we'll see. The short version is we all got tabled. However... I think everyone had a good time in spite of that because of really great opponents. I might have actually had a chance to do well in my game except my opponent's TWC could not fail a saving throw. I think statistically I should have killed the unit at least once, maybe twice... never killed them. They killed nearly my entire army (and that's not an exaggeration). I'll post pics when I can, perhaps even a battle report.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Some shots of last night's battles:
The "Deadknight" makes his debut.
Things look grim for the Blackhand terminators.
Yeah, this is kind of how things went all night. Red and green kibbles for the nice doggies.
Thing 1's Overlord duked it out with a Haradan...
... and beat it into submission, claiming a new chariot to ride forth into battle!
We all had fun though, thanks to just fantastic and fun opponents!
Captain Ramos Asura sends a Storm Raven carrying reinforcements for the Mantis Warriors to the front lines under the watchful eyes of two Storm Talon escorts.
SO happy with these. Thank you Ramos for an utterly fantastic paint & building job!
@graven: Very happy to have them... now I just have to dig around and see if I have enough of their mates to do a full unit. I *might* have given all my old metal assault terminators to Thing 1 for his Doom Eagles.
@Yorkright: You my good sir, will get a chance to see them in action first-hand!
Solar_lion asked (on the wrong blog) what kind of marine army I was currently running with all the new additions to the fold. I know a lot of you who watch this blog aren't particularly interested in table-top goings on... but for those of you who are, this is my current army list.
Brotherhood of the Black Hand (GK) detachment HQ: L3 Librarian - hammer
TP: 5 Terminators - mix of assault weapons, psycannon
HV: Dreadknight - incinerator, personal teleporter, great sword
The scouts are effectively gretchin in this list... limited to objective grabbing or bubble-wrapping more valuable squads.
In the meta of my local gaming group... not really. However tonight it did cost me the game (lost 10-8 to Necrons). However... there were some extenuating circumstances (namely my opponent mistakenly increased the toughness of some of his units, making them even more resilient than normal... which is saying something for Necrons!) He also did a better job playing to the objectives of the game than I did. I was very happy with how the army played however... I just need more practice getting everything to work together properly. The homing beacons worked very well, as the the ausepxii carried by the librarians. The new flyers accounted for themselves well. Once again the dreadknight died in the first turn after not accomplishing much. He did however, tank a TON of fire... which serves it's own purposes. So the "Warrior Priests" list is a keeper I think. Maybe some very minor tweaking... but by-and-large its good to go. The grav cents were stupid good. In only one shooting phase did I not wound with 8 OR MORE shots (out of 10). Of course as Necrons he shrugged most of them off... but still... they did wear him down over time.
Captain Kai Obimaru strode to his Communications Officer’s console on the bridge of the Mantis Warrior flagship, The Green Menace. “Yes Lieutenant?”
“Sir, she’s hacked us.”
“What in blazes are you talking about Lieutenant, who’s hacked what?” asked Obimaru, with a hint of irritation in his voice.
"Inquisitor Jaxeena… she’s hacked our blog Sir."
“She did WHAT!!?” blurted out Obimaru.
“She’s posted a challenge on our blog…”
For just a moment, the captain looked completely dumbfounded. “Our blog… Rebuilding the Mantis Warriors?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Our blog… the internet juggernaut that will soon be tipping the scales at over 500 pages and 1 million views?”
“Yes Sir.”
Obimaru’s face began to redden… he sputtered a bit as if an outburst was immanent but he was too angry to put the words together properly.
“Look Sir, she even posted a picture!”
Captain Obimaru leaned forward to study the small screen intently. With a few deft keystrokes, the lieutenant enlarged the image to focus on Jaxeena herself.
Spoiler:
“Great hair though…” the lieutenant whispered under his breath.
“Yes” replied the captain. “If all she wants is a “genetic sample”, I’d be happy to give her one of mine.”
Both men look side-ways at one another… then burst out laughing. Tension broken, the Captain stood and straightened his kimono.
“Ah… well…. (sighed the captain, still smirking to himself)… she needs to die. Prepare a strike team, put Tokegawa in charge. Oh, and Lieutenant…”
“Yes Sir?”
“Have a copy of that close-up of our adversary sent to my personal coms…. for detailed tactical analysis of course. Send a copy to yourself as well, in case we need a back-up.”
“Yes Sir!” replied the lieutenant enthusiastically.
"Who's in charge of our internet security protocols Lieutenant?"
"That would be Sergeant Honsu Captain."
"Very good, have him "promoted" to Scout Bike Sergeant immediately please."
Thanks guys. Painting will commence tomorrow morning. I'm going to start work on finishing off the second centurion squad. I'm fielding it so often that there's really no excuse not to finish it off.
Have a little surprise for you this evening. I picked up a couple of old assassins off ebay a while ago. Was feeling uninspired this morning so I knocked this little girl out. (I said OUT... not UP! Get your mind out of the gutter!) Really happy with how she turned out, especially the hair. She's more of a roan redhead than the screaming fake redhead that's usually depicted. I also muted all the colors involved... after all she's supposed to be stealthy! I went a little overboard on the base on purpose to give the impression that she's leaping out of the bushes. Hope you like her!
Hey gang. I know it's not Mantis Warriors but I just finished up my first AdMech unit... a group of Skitarii Infiltrators. I'm really happy with them... see the spoiler below.
Spoiler:
Next project will be a Mantis Warrior one. Going to finish off the second squad of Dev Cents.
Yes, I AM actually working on some Mantis Warriors... second Dev Cent squad. I'm using my fancy new glow technique on the grav weapons and it's working quite well. Hope to have these done by the end of next week (have several days coming up over the holiday where I won't be able to paint).
interesting conversion for your centurions...samurai sword?...
and i only now realize they have that special pointy finger/ gloves look for their hands... didn´t see that when they came out...
and i think the glow method of yours opens up a whole new way of making light effects...hmmm would it work on OSL maybe too?
and yyou left away a lot of the extra armour for your centurions too i ssee... looks way better that way!
interesting conversion for your centurions...samurai sword?...
Yes, my post-crusade MW are Japanese themed. New home world with a new racial mix.
and i only now realize they have that special pointy finger/ gloves look for their hands... didn´t see that when they came out...
Those are actually the standard hands that the kit comes with.
and i think the glow method of yours opens up a whole new way of making light effects...hmmm would it work on OSL maybe too?
and yyou left away a lot of the extra armour for your centurions too i ssee... looks way better that way!
Yeah, I've thought about that too. I think a light airbrushing of a blue closer to that of the glaze around the edges, then paint white, then glaze would work well. OH, and I'm going to add an alternate highlighting step to the tut so you might want to double-check it.
Inquisitor Jaxeena has not forgotten her quest to prove the Mantis Warriors have fallen into heresy. Again her allies the Blood Angels make ready to attack. A missive to Librarian Redth has demanded all current gene seed stock be turned over to her, plus a live subject.
Narcenium recovery gear has been given to all sergeants and commanders. Captain Alphaeus has not recovered from his wounds, as such he has put Brother Dareth and Chaplain Amost in charge. The Captain has also sent a message to Baal asking Commander Dante for guidance via Astropath, some of Jaxeena's claims are not ringing true to Alphaeus. So far there has been no messages returned...
The Mantis Warriors deny your illegal demands for gene seed and "subject". We do not know what deceitful machinations you have arranged to convince our Blood Angel brothers to take arms against us, but once they realize how they have been manipulated by a rogue Inquisitor... you will have nowhere safe in this universe to hide from their retribution. Abandon this insane quest. We will not capitulate. We will defy you to the last.
As you can see by the thinly veiled threats, Steve and I are preparing for the second game in our mini campaign. The campaign is narrative driven, with me doing the writing but both Steve and I providing input to the story. It's also a fluffy, non-competitive campaign. Not that you won't see good armies or lists, but you won't see the spamming of top units or the addition of allies unless it's tied into the narrative. We're having so much fun that some folks have approached us about joining it, so I'm working on manipulating the story to allow at least two other factions to join in at a later date. Most of the battles won't be standard... they'll be specific to the current state of the story and advancing the plot.
I thought I'd take a rather insomniatic night to lay things out for you so those of you who are watching can enjoy the campaign along with those of us who play in it.
The story so far...
An inquisitor named Jaxeena believes that the re-constituted Mantis Warrior chapter is using unauthorized technology (specifically centurion suits) and is slipping back into it's rebellious ways. She had demanded samples of the chapter's gene seed in order to test them for purity. It's clear that she's already made up her mind as to the Chapter's guilt, and is just looking for confirmation of any sort. The Mantis Warriors of course, have refused her request... deeming it neither justified nor reasonable and a major insult to the Adeptis Astartes. Jaxeena has approached a Blood Angel company in the vicinity and convinced them to aid her in her quest.
Chapter 1: Jaxeena and her BA Allies try to take a gene seed sample by force. In her arrogance, she aims to simply drive the "traitors" from the field a rip the samples she needs from the bodies of the fallen. While the Blood Angels do win the day, it is a very narrow victory (1 VP in game terms) and the Mantis Warrior defensive line remained reasonably in-tact, in spite of a considerable drop pod alpha-strike by the Blood Angels. Thus she was unable to get her prize. For their part, the Mantis Warriors are basically butt-hurt about the continued harassment by the Inquisition, but as there are clearly no inquisitional forces involved in the battle yet, they suspect that this is simply the agenda of a single Inquisitor as opposed to an Inquisitional mandate (as they've had to deal with the Inquisition on a regular basis every since the reinstatement of the chapter). They focus much of their efforts on trying to kill Jaxeena, but fail to do so.
Prelude to Chapter 2: The Mantis Warriors hope that their stalwart defense of their position, combined with the BA casualties at "The Battle of Littleton" would be enough to dissuade Jaxeena from her course, but as you can see from the challenge above... unfortunately it is not to be. They are trying to walk a fine line... defeat Jaxeena and her BA allies without actually making themselves a target of the greater Inquisition, nor starting an all-out inter-chapter war. On the BA side... some are starting to question the validity of Jaxeena's claim based on their observations of MW conduct, equipment and tactics exhibited in the first confrontation. As a result, the BA decide to rely heavily on their Death Company for the next confrontation. The Blood Angel's astropaths have tried to reach out to their upper command echelon to get advice on how to handle the situation, but for some reason their attempts at communication have not been successful, perhaps being interfered with by the Mantis Warriors or some other power.
Chapter 2: Inquisitor Jaxeena has discovered the existence of a lightly defended strong point well away from the current concentration of MW forces. The bastion is an access point to the entire Mantis Warrior data network & if captured, will give her access to the Mantis Warrior's own records regarding their genetic stock. Failing that, she and the BA commanders have been issued with special gear from the vaults of the Inquisition\s own apothecarion that will allow them to collect gene seed from fallen Mantis Warriors on the battlefield.
By the time the Mantis Warriors realize what the Inquisitor's next target is, all they can do is throw together whatever mobile units they can scavenge and send them to reinforce the bastion (which is currently being manned by a single tech marine on a maintenance tour of duty).
I'll have a picture of my forces and a description of the objectives tomorrow.
When Steve and I plan our battles, we're very open about it. We share lists, discuss if we're going to involve flyers or pods, etc. In other words try to make the lists competitive vs. one another from the get go so we both can achieve maximum funnage out of the game. We also try and come up with custom scenarios that move the story line along (no matter who wins or loses).
The Battle for Typhon Tower
Short edge deployment. BA have no limits on deployment (save normal ones). The Mantis Warriors start with a single TFC on the Bastion and an extra layer of fortification (both the bastion and an AEGIS wall}. Half of their army (measured in units) rolls on from reserve in turn 1, the rest comes on in normal reserve. This is to represent the haphazard scramble the MW have had to arrange to get units from wherever they can to defend the bastion. There are no classic objectives in this mission (not even tertiary). MW casualties will stay on the table for one full turn to facilitate the objectives below.
Mission Objectives - Blood Angels: (there are many of which that overlap, each delivering a varying degree of victory to the BA side) - capture the communications array at the top of Typhon Tower by game's end (total victory) - drive the MW off & have the tower surrounded by game's end. (draw) - Each of the BA/Inquisition characters has been issued special war gear which will allow them to extract a genetic sample from fallen marines on the battlefield. They must reach the marine within 1 turn or dying in order to collect the sample. The sample may be passed from the collector to another marine, but each time it does so it degrades by 1/3. At the end of the game, if there are no complete samples and the tower has not been taken, each third collected will be rolled for (D3) and if a complete DNA set results, Jaxeena has her sample (victory)
Mission Objectives - Mantis Warriors: - do not allow Jaxeena to obtain a complete gene sample from fallen MW (partial victory) - capture Jaxeena by defeating her in melee (total victory) - hold the tower (partial victory)
I haven't worked out how the BA can actually break into the tower. Assault marines could jump on top of course or troops could unload out of the Storm Raven. I'm thinking that an unmolested unit needs to spend an entire turn at the door in order to crack the security and gain entrance. Pics of my army will follow later today.
You could use the normal building rules. Assume it’s a bastion, with a door. You can embark into it, and then disembark onto the roof the following turn. If it’s empty, this is easy. If the MW actually manage to get a unit to it to occupy it, it gets a lot harder. Which sounds about right.
Gitsplitta wrote: Sounds good Nev. Though... you'd think a fortification under siege would have it's door LOCKED wouldn't you?
Krack grenades: The ultimate lockpick! OK, that might be a bit of a stretch. Chainfists or meltabombs might actually take that prize. Still easier to blow the door then fumble around with your tiny little keys or punch numbers on the keypad while wearing a thick armored gauntlet.
Gitsplitta wrote: Sounds good Nev. Though... you'd think a fortification under siege would have it's door LOCKED wouldn't you?
Krack grenades: The ultimate lockpick! OK, that might be a bit of a stretch. Chainfists or meltabombs might actually take that prize. Still easier to blow the door then fumble around with your tiny little keys or punch numbers on the keypad while wearing a thick armored gauntlet.
Which gets back to my original idea of needing a squad/character to be unmolested for one turn at the door in order to defeat the security (either by hacking the lock, cutting or blowing it up).
My army for the day. Gave me an excuse to do a crash job on the bastion. Built it last night and airbrushed it this morning. I'm hoping to get just a bit of detail done on it by game time. I'm also pleased to say that I didn't paint EITHER of my HQ's for this game. Just goes to show how darn lucky I am to have the talented friends that I do.
That's a nice looking force, and I agree, those HQs are both awesome and fit the force really well! Is that a chapterhouse jump pack on the left model? (If so, they don't come with the flaps anymore, just as an FYI... they're a bugger to get and keep on anyway, but look really nice on that model!)
Yep and yep. I have a stash of flaps for my packs. Haven't had too much of an issue with mine staying on, but I can see how that would be a likely problem.
Dude, 480 pages! I just discovered this thread, I've been following your AdMech and Orks. I am in awe. I will never be able to rad through all the 480 pages, but I'll try.
@SL: There's already a couple of nice pics of the BA army SL... one page back... you just have to actually read the blog.
@Mattew: Thanks! Things have slowed down here a lot over the last year or so. While I've been painting a fair amount, it's been spread over several armies so the old MW's don't quite the exclusive attention they used to get. Still... lots of new additions this year including 6 cents, 10 terminators, 3 flyers, access to 4 Knights and a bastion. Don't bother reading every page... go to the OP and just go to the P&M summaries listed there. Also have many of my battle reports there too. Then if you actually want to try and make some sense out of all of this... you can try reading the blog!
To everyone else...
I have been making slow progress on both the cents and the bastion. Emphasis has been on the bastion since it's needed for the big game on Wed night. Both are coming along well. Sorry progress has been so slow but Thing 1 introduced me to "Destiny" on our Xbox-1 and it's been sucking up an amazing amount of my free time. *sigh* I'll make sure to post a pic of both projects by tomorrow night at the latest.
My Sisters believe that your Mantis warriors are heretics. They will come to the aid of the Inquisitor. Plus, she really goes better with my army than Steve's anyway..
One of the things that really sucked up my time was when the ten year old community I was apart of (how old it was, not how old the players are in it, ) shut down last year. This year, I co-ventured one of the many communities I've owned and it was a blast.
Destiny, while it failed to deliver in a lot of respects due to Activision gutting it and making you pay for content that was already on the disc in the form of DLCs (basically just paying for an unlock code to that area,) is still a great game and a good jump towards MMOs on console, stretching a 60-70$ game to a few hundred by the time you are done with its life span.
I'd say it is a good stepping stone to MMO mechanics as well if you're just getting into them.
Enjoy the spare time, I mean, you're only 480 pages into your plog.
I'm not sure whic avatar you are referring to? My Eldar avatar? Or are you referring to my Dakka Avatar? She is holding a bolter in the air, much cooler than John travolta ever was, plus she's not a scientologist.
Thanks guys. The golds are only partially done (which is why they look so red and out-of-place compared to the rest). Once I get all of the steel reinforcements done and some more tarnished bronze bits on the bottom half of the tower, I think it'll all pull together nicely. Right now it's a bit too uniform with odd looking splashes of color here and there, that'll get fixed after tonight.
I love the old copper/bronze work with the vertigitas effect. It’s a bit at odds with the relatively clean bunker itself. For the metalwork to get that aged and tarnished, I’d expect the concrete to be a lot more weathered.
Loving what you have so far. Try not to get purged too hard in your game.
Nevelon wrote:I love the old copper/bronze work with the vertigitas effect. It’s a bit at odds with the relatively clean bunker itself. For the metalwork to get that aged and tarnished, I’d expect the concrete to be a lot more weathered.
Loving what you have so far. Try not to get purged too hard in your game.
Good observation Nev. Any ideas how one goes about weathering concrete?
Solar_lion wrote:Very cool. Like the metals. should give you some protection as long as you can prevent them from landing troops on top.
With all the jump troops and Storm Raven Steve's got... not bloody likely. But... we'll see what I can do.
Nevelon wrote:I love the old copper/bronze work with the vertigitas effect. It’s a bit at odds with the relatively clean bunker itself. For the metalwork to get that aged and tarnished, I’d expect the concrete to be a lot more weathered.
Loving what you have so far. Try not to get purged too hard in your game.
Good observation Nev. Any ideas how one goes about weathering concrete?
My first suggestion would be to find someone better then me to ask for advice.
If you drive around, there are plenty of real-world examples to draw inspiration from. Old buildings, bridge overpasses, etc. My knee jerk suggestion would be to use washes to stain the walls, with an eye for how real weather would hit it. But I’m not really a terrain guy, and barely do any weathering in the first place.
More later (full battle report, which may take a day or two to put together). I can't tell you how much fun 40k is when you and your opponent take the time to balance your lists against each other and come up with a fun & unique scenario that feeds a greater story line.
Oh, and just for the record... both BA and MWs just suck at assault. We were flailing away at each other like a couple of elderly bag ladies high on cough medicine...
Thanks for an epic battle! The scenario you thought up Gits was a blast and had me sweating bullets right till the end. Can't wait for the next one. The bastion looked great in person, as do all of your armies.
So utterly jealous. Only have one mate that would be interested in this sort of battle and he is only just getting into the hobby. Can't wait for him to get his first few squads together. Then I am ripping your ideas off....
Hey gang, want to apologize for not posting updates. Having major computer issues at home and am finding it difficult to get pictures up on the web at the moment. Have been playing a lot and having a lot of fun with my Mantis Warriors though. Did decently in a local tourney last Saturday with a MW list backed up by a small GK contingent. Took 4th out of 10 and won best painted (which I was proud of as there were several really nice armies on display). Basically the top three separated themselves... the next 6 were all within a few points of one another, I just happened to be on top of the mob. Won game 1 convincingly vs. Yorkright's Blood Angels. He brought a fluffy list and mine was somewhat competitve... I was also helped by a favorable deployment & mission. Fought Eluij the Farseer in game two. Fought to a minor loss but against Eldar with a bunch of D I'll take that as a pretty good result. Got crushed by Tau in game three. Just nothing I could do really.
Tonight we played a pseudo-Apoc game at the club... they called it "Cloverfield" night. What amazing fun! My Shadowsword and Venator took 14 hull points off an Eldar phantom titan before being blown off the table in turn two (we only got through 2 turns anyway). Still, really fun... looking forward to the next one.
Get to play tomorrow night with Yellowbeard and Solar_lion. Have a nify little MW list that should be fun to play (if not really competitive).
I have made some progress on both the centurions and the bastion since you've last seen them. Hope to finish at least one of them up this weekend.
Take care all, hope things are going well for you & thanks for reading!
Sounds like amazing fun. I have never actually played in an apocalypse game. Need to put it on my to do list. Looking forward to updates when the technical gremlins are expelled.
Thanks Archer, it's really nice to have the support.
Those folks who've followed this blog for a while know that I have a tendency to disappear of the summer to re-charge my creative juices and spend time with the family. I'm going to try not to do that this year (save for the spending time with the family bit) but I am fighting a tendency to be unproductive. I still go to the painting desk regularly but discover that I get bored quickly so I'm not making a lot of progress. Still, there are a lot of things I *want* to get done so I'll try and tough it out this summer.
to the Gits loyal fanbase of course
for some reason I always saw him as more covered in dirt, twigs and mud 
)
