Rollover, I'm crowded...
Great work, everyone! You all constantly astound me.

What excellent entries. Good Show!

Whats next Gits?

 Camkierhi wrote:
Whats next Gits?

Good question. At the moment my painting needs are really scattered across the plethora of armies I'm currenting working on... which makes painting both interesting and kind of frustrating at the same time. What I'll be painting will kind of be driven by the needs of the various campaigns I'll be involved with over the summer.

1. First priority is to paint up a blood thirster for my continuing campaign with Yorkright. This started with just my Mantis Warriors vs. his Blood Angels, but the story arc is morphing to include AdMech, Chaos and God only knows what else. It will however move back to include both of our marine chapters again... probably fighting WITH each other against a common foe which I'm anticipating with great relish. If you want to watch my progress on the blood thirster, you can check out my Halloween-themed Chaos army blog (see link in my sig). After that, the next project for that army is an awesome giant bat the Cam (you) made for me to serve as a Heldrake. It will help to close a glaring weakness in the CSM sub-group of my army.

2. It is my intention to finish my EC enough to play in the 30k tournaments next Adepticon. At the moment I have two airbrushed dreadnoughts waiting for brush painting. Getting those done will be my first priority, followed by a unit of terminators which will at least allow me to field a legal army (they'd be my second troop choice).

3. I'll be involved in a campaign this summer at my FLGS playing my orks, and will want to do a couple of new pieces over the summer for said campaign. Now... orks are really bad at the moment... so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on them... but I've got a FW Mecha/Mega dread and a couple gork/mork-anauts that I'll think I'd like to get done... just because. Additionally, I might try to squeeze in another Cam special... a really cool ork themed landing platform!

4. Now that the scout army is done, I don't really have anything that NEEDS to be done for my Mantis Warriors... however, I've got a predator and a land raider that are airbrushed and just waiting for detailing. I'll do the pred first as I amazingly don't have a predator in my army. The land raider will be next. After that, I'll probably put together the three RT era land speeders which I'll be running as attack bikes... that's a project I've been wanting to do for a long while & now that the scouts are done... they've got a FA slot just waiting for them!

5. Nerdfest09 is painting up the bulk of my Skitarii/Cult Mechanicus forces, which leaves me (at minimum) a squad of troops and a squad of rust stalkers to complete. These will probably be a pretty high priority in the short term as I'll be desperate to field the army once I get the models back from Nerdy.

So there you go.... a little bit of everything. Not sure how much I'll actually get done... but these are my goals for the summer. Sorry there isn't more MW stuff but when you've got 5 different "active" armies to work on it really spreads things out. OH, and I promised my son I'd work on some more Hordes figures, but I'll just hose those down with the airbrush so they shouldn't take too long.

Thanks for asking Cam. I really am looking forward to finally getting some paint on those fantastic models you've made me!

That's a heck of a list bud, looking forward to so much of it. No matter what you do I can't wait.

Also looking forward to the Batreps for all that goodness.

Thanks for the thoughts, I am just kidding making any comment on unpainted mini's, you know I do not worry at that really. Just glad you are getting into the swing of it. You sound quite motivated, and that I am happy about more than anything.

Can't believe you do not have a Predator, what the heck!

Gentle readers and tireless contributors... the time has arrived for the winners of the Mantis Maker Challenge to be announced!

Before I get to things... I just want to say "thanks" again to the nine intrepid and very talented individuals who entered into this year's competition. It was a joy to see the results and your talents, skill and hard work gracing the pages of my oft-neglected (by me) blog. I also want to thank all of the readers that supported the artists throughout the length of the contest and voted for the People's Champion. You guys are all my heroes... keeping me going and motivated for all these years.

OK, enough with the small talk. Let's get to it, shall we?


People's Champion:



Judge's Champion:



Keeper of the Way (best theme):



Champion of the Mantis Warriors (best overall):



Special Mention:



I guess that's it until next year. Thanks everyone for going along for the ride & would like to say a special thanks to the judges who helped me this year. I wouldn't have wanted to do this one alone. One of the judges has kindly offered to give critiques on specific pieces, as am I (though I didn't vote in any other contest aside from best theme). Just contact me if you're interested and I'll hook you up with him.

I'll be sending each individual their scores by PM.

Ta for now!

Gitsplitta - Pimping Mantis Warriors on the web since 2010.

Perfect results.

Well done and Congratulations all. Fantastic competition and well played to all.

Congratulations especially to Nerdy, well won, and against some amazing work. You are now among "THEM!" those who us mere mortals aspire to follow.

And agreed, Bebops is just one of the most amazing marines I have ever seen. Sublime.

Roll on next year when I can expect to be thoroughly thrashed again.

Congratulations Nerdfest, a lovely piece of work. Great job to all the rest who had submitted. Cant wait till the next go round.

Huge congratulations to Nerdy, and many thanks to all the judges, I eagerly await the feedback on my entry as while I'm proud of it, and particularly pleased that I managed to hold my own against the likes of Insaniak, Minus and Bebob, but I do think there was room to improve it, if I can come away from this with a few pointers going forward then that's the icing on the Mantisy cake!

Roll on next year indeed... Gits, if you could send Nerdy another massive AdMech commission around the time of the next challenge so the rest of us have a chance, it'd be much appreciated! A Warlord Titan ought to just about occupy him for the month!

Love the results, although I just missed voting due to traveling! Looks like the top spot was kind of walked away with by Nerdy (sweet job!) but man, bebop's "special mention" really is mesmerizing

Such a close grouping of many entries after the first, which is awesome to see! Congrats to all who participated, very nice work Dakka

Well done to all participants. Really great seeing all your entries (and extending Gits' blog about 5ish pages ). Everyone's entries were great and were all really close!

Thanks Gits again for compiling all the entries and involving the community in a unique challenge. Cheers!

Congrats to all and huge thanks to the judges and of course Gitsplitta in particular. Having just come from judging the last League contest it's an onerous and surprisingly stressful task. Slightly agog to have won a category! And to be in such illustrious company of masterful painters. Nerdy, a most deserving grand prize winner on all counts. Mantis rising!

Congrats to everyone! Thank you so much Git for making this contest possible!

Congrats everyone! Especially to Nerdy. And to you as will Gits - well run, and judging must've been one helluva task

Indeed, congrats to Nerdy, and well done to all!

Congrats to all! Those were some awesome models and nice judging Git.

What the!? really? that's AWESOME! I seriously didn't expect to win anything this time I had m money on Para and Bebop for sure! Bebop just blows anything I do outta the water and Para had a really evocative entry painted gritty and real, every other entry was great too and I think each and every deserve a prize with the ideas and thought they put in, I'm really honored to win this comp as it means a lot to me having followed Gits for many years and I really enjoy thinking of how to interpret his themes into something a little different or cool each year I enter So I'm pretty keen for next year now, and I'll be trying my hand at a more Bebop style entry as his style just inspires me!

Congrats everyone for really great entries and another fun comp!

Excellent entries. What a tough competition with so much painting talent.

Go ON Damo with your bad self!!!! Congrats! Personally, i couldnt be happier with the results! While my entry was heavy on the technique, it lacked the heart and soul that the other entries had! The little vignets (sp?) especially were really capturing the spirit of the comp and had so much character, each with its own style respresenting the individual taste of the artist. truly awesome work, inspiration and creativity was put into this. Congrats to you ALL <3. Gits, id be blushing, clearly this community loves you!! Personally, I had visions of grandeur that immeadiately that were never fully realized because i began leaving town and just couldnt find a zone. my only regret truly is that i didnt properly base my entry, but will do so, for my own display case. I appreciate the kind comments and a forum to share my works because, sadly, in the real world, not as many "normal folk" appreciate what we do here. Cheers and love everyone!!!

BB

Bebop's base is great !



Congrats to everyone. I'd be happy to have a feedback on my entry if the judges have time for this. If not, no problem. Gits told me he liked it and I had fun converting and painting this, that's what matters.
I should do more contests, that's fun. ^^

Some very pretty toy soldiers in this comp, well done everyone

Great work everyone, congratulations to the winners.

I particularly liked the Dreadnought, Minus. That model has never looked so good.

I thought I'd share a very funny gaming moment with you guys.

On Wed I took my MW scout army to the local gaming night and fought a friend with his loaded GK. Two units of termies, 3 dread knights, a libby and 4 squads of infantry. I deployed my sniper scouts and TFCs with everything else in reserve. By his half (top) of turn 2... I only had 1 TFC left alive on the board. Everything else had been wiped out... primarily from the flamers from the dread knights. Thank God on my half (bottom) of turn 2, all of my reserves came in at once.

Now look at this picture.



What turn would you say this is? Perhaps my half of T2?




P.S. OH, and I caught a 17" walleye tonight... fresh fish for dinner... yay!!


P.P.S. Did some tweaking last night after having multiple games now with this build under my belt. I've got a version now that is a bit less "scouty" but should be better. I scrapped the 10th company formation but bought back the bikes. Also dumped the tech marine which was really an extra-points add-on anyway. Added a unit of drop podding grav cents and a bare bones libby to give them prescience. While not as fluffy and much lower on troops (which weren't objective secured anyway), it'll give me a potent threat which should improve my tactical flexibility. Going to miss all those sniper units with MLs, but they're just too easy to take out... even with the 2+ cover save from shrouded.

A win is a win.... must have been your keen mind for strategy as well to come back for such a pounding.

Perhaps, though my opponent Adric was very generous, allowing me to have "air superiority" even though we weren't really playing with the new flyer rules (which improved my reserve rolls to a 2+ and reduced his to a 4+) and allowing a unit that I'd forgotten to bring in on turn 2 to come in on turn three but act as if it had been on the board for a turn (i.e. charge). I just love playing a good natured opponent with a beautifully painted army. Makes the game so much more fun.

I think the smartest thing I did was to completely abandon my original position with my fast moving reserves. I brought everything in on the lower right of the board (as you look at the picture above) and took out a dread knight that was rampaging through my troops, then ran like mad up that side of the board, away from the immediate threats. The longer range of my weapons allowed me to continue to noodle away at his units in relative safety while I tried to catch up on some maelstrom points.

The flyer formation is just really bloody good... and even though they didn't last long, the two TFCs did a good job of chewing on his marine squads to the point where two of them ceased to be combat effective, which was very helpful in the end game.

I also have come to really appreciate the land speeder formation from the KauYon(sp?) book. It's pretty darn handy. LS Storms can move 12" and then the scouts can still disembark & charge (and might be ObSec... can't remember), and the Storms get +1 to their jinks if they are within 6" of one of the LS from the formation. It's cheap, fast and flexible with some real hitting power. If only the LS were classified as "escort craft" so you could be guaranteed they'd come in from reserve at the same time as the Storms... then it would be perfect!

Funny and good read. Let's play table swap!

It's always nice to catch fresh dinner!

Sounds like a cracking time was had. It's when I read things like this that I think actually 40k's not a bad game...

Have to admit I envy your gaming. Long time ago I used to have friends that made it an enjoyable game. Yes there were heated discussion and dark looks across the table but it was good.

Great to see you having fun.

Can we get a picture of the fish?

I echo Cam's envy of your games. I too had a solid group of friends that were in it for the story and the fun to be had, but time and life has reduced my games and finding a gaming group with similar attitudes to mine is hard.

So let me live vicariously through you and your Mantis Warrior exploits. Looks like great fun and fully painted armies on good terrain makes for some awesome photo opportunities.

Dammit, Archer, youse got the blog stuck again!

Only Yorkright would want a fish pic

Yeah, opponents like that make the game. They're few and far between, but when you get to play one, it's a game to remember.

Looks like you're still having a blast Gits!

I am, sorry for so little of substance guys. Feels like I've abandoned my flagship blog. Just doing a lot of experimenting with other armies & trying to get at least some of the other armies I've collected built and painted.

I have been having fun though. Took Thing 2 to his first tournament last weekend. He had fun and I thought did very well. Certainly conducted himself well even though he only won one of three games. It even inspired him to build and paint one of his figures (Haruspex?) with no encouragement or help from me. Did a darn good job too. Had a chance to go up and play with SL & Yellowbeard about once every two weeks. They live far enough away that we usually don't get to hang out.

 tony_nids_10 wrote:
Looks like you're still having a blast Gits!

What the hell, you are alive?!?!

Yeah, though having major internet issues. New provider and even through the new system is supposed to be faster and gives me a LOT more data to play with... I can't do anything on dakka. Every time I click a new page, I get kicked off dakka & have to sign in again... I can then go to one new page... & the next click signs me off dakka. No idea what's going on but I'm basically shut of from any dakka interaction (even reading) from home.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Yeah, though having major internet issues. New provider and even through the new system is supposed to be faster and gives me a LOT more data to play with... I can't do anything on dakka. Every time I click a new page, I get kicked off dakka & have to sign in again... I can then go to one new page... & the next click signs me off dakka. No idea what's going on but I'm basically shut of from any dakka interaction (even reading) from home.

It the worst when that happens, cos it could be literally anything that is causing it. Here's to a fast recovery. I need my Mantis Warriors/Gitsplitta goodness!

Have you tried turning it off and on again...

Actually, try clearing your browser's cache; anything to give it a poke to think about it from fresh. Might be the kick it needs.

Yeah, we've shut the whole system down and sequentially re-started it. Didn't think about the cache though... I'll do that.

Yeah, the thought came to me as I recently had an issue with logging in to another website, and they suggested clearing the cache. And that fixed it.

Reset all the internet settings!

Kill it with fire!

Reminds me of when I worked at the help desk for a college. One of the guy’s default answer for any problem was to replace the hard drive. Well, duh, after you do that and reinstall everything, most problems will go away. He was part of the hardware team, so all the time intensive work was done by the software guys (aka me).

Hope you get things sorted out.

--Nev

 whalemusic360 wrote:

 tony_nids_10 wrote:
Looks like you're still having a blast Gits!

What the hell, you are alive?!?!

I am indeed. Took a loooooong time to catch up with this thread. A labor of love haha.

Funny enough I have one computer that does that also. Real pain.

Good to see you live and kicking. Once again looking forward to seeing more Git crazy stuff over the winter months.

Sorry to hear about computer issues.

Army is looking good though!

Well, I cleared the cache (and everything in that section of the properties) with no result. I still get an error message any time I try to go to a specific page (though oddly, I can go to the "my subscribed threads" page with no problem). This could be a watershed for me if I'm permanently locked out of dakka from home.

Well the best way to solve a problem is to try and find out what the problem actually is.

Try these, if you haven't already:
It's only at home, so it's not directly your login; as that works at work.

In no particular order;
Try another browser. This will show if it's something in that specific browser or something in your internet settings.

Does your Son's login have the same issues on the same computer?

Does a different computer/phone at home have the same issues?

Have you (or your ever-helpful operating system) updated something recently; e.g. antivirus software?

Maybe poke Legoburner and see if it's a known issue or, being an IT type, he may have better ideas on fixing it.

Ah yes, the scientific method. I've already tried some of those steps, but not all. Will give them a go. I'm sure there's an answer.... it's just very off-putting as I'm FINALLY starting to get back into the mood to get some work done.

The good Doctor gave some sound troubleshooting. You could also open a new thread in Nuts and Bolts. If other users have had issues you may get a fix there as well.

Sometimes your intranet setting or security setting may cause issues. Have you recently installed new software, check for Malware.

Just some thoughts..

Well, Thing 1 got on and had no problems... so it appears to be an issue with my account from my computer only. Though I'm going to run him through a more thorough test of his own account later tonight.

Hit up Lego, he can check for any errors server side.

Too bad I join the party so late. Beautiful.

Well, a more exhaustive set of tests suggest it's an issue with my new provider... joy.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Well, a more exhaustive set of tests suggest it's an issue with my new provider... joy.

Oh no. This is where the real fun begins. Hope they sort it out fast mate.

Well, here's what I know...
- the problem started immediately after getting a new provider (Huges Net... satellite internet provider)
- since the switch, my router is indicating that there is an issue with the signal... HOWEVER I have yet to find ANY other internet application that has a problem with my computer... so far, it's just DakkaDakka. It also doesn't appear that any of the other devices in the house are having problems.
- the issue is clearly linked to my computer only, but login doesn't matter (i.e. my son has the same problems I do)
- browser doesn't matter, tried using Explorer rather than Chrome... same problem... even worse because in Explorer the graphics don't show up... so the page is all white with lines of text and occasional links, etc. Still, posting gets me booted.
- problem is inconsistent... in some cases I can't even view a blog page without generating an error, at other times I can view blog pages but any attempt to post gets me booted
- clearing the cache, etc. had no effect
- the entire system, from router to computer has been shut off and re-started sequentially with no effect
- to my knowledge... no other significant changes or updates have occurred within my computer

If it's just your pc, you could try to make a new user profile and just copy everything over. Or wipe it and start fresh. Or burn it to death and get a new pc.

I'm afraid torching it is out of the question. It actually has a couple of vital roles that can't be replaced (& that have nothing to do with wargaming). It's also a fairly new a very beefy machine. Not a candidate for replacement..

That's beyond me then. Doesn't take much in the computer world

Hope you get it sorted soon.

And internet issues are one of the hardest ones to track down, as there are a lot of places things can go wrong. Best of luck tracking down the problem.

If it’s a reasonably new machine, one of my bits of stock advice is not really relevant: Add more memory. You’d be surprised how often just tossing a few sticks of RAM into the box makes everything better.

I appreciate that guys.

@Nev: Yeah, this box is loaded. I don't think that's the issue.

Have you removed the cookies for dakka?

No, but I did call the company and they could tell that the dish was misaligned. They're coming tomorrow to fix it. We'll see if that sorts it out.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
No, but I did call the company and they could tell that the dish was misaligned. They're coming tomorrow to fix it. We'll see if that sorts it out.

That is why I put up with a cable internet provider, less issues except when they cut things off for maintenance! they are so bad at telling me when that will happen.

Unfortunately, where I live there is no cable.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Unfortunately, where I live there is no cable.

Oh darn! sorry to hear that. Cable also allows me to game very well like the tank games.

Hope you sort out your internet issue. I would have asked if you tried turning it off and back on again but someone beat me to it.

I wanted to show you a mini I did, a traitor Mantis Warrior, and maybe get your opinion on it (as you are the foremost expert on them )

I like it, but I'm totally not an expert.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I like it, but I'm totally not an expert.

Hey GT, as I'm limited to my phone I'll save intelligent comment for Tuesday, when I get access to a computer that works again. Cool though, I like it.

I have a little bit of Mantis Warrior related news for anyone that's left. I got my "Black Site X" terrain shipment yesterday from a kickstarter I supported. Basically it's laser-cut terrain based on the marine bases from the original Dawn of War computer games. I ordered quite a bit and should have a decent table when I'm done building and painting it. Might recruit Thing 1 to do the building... he's pretty good at that stuff.

Cheers!
Gits

Looking forwards to pics Gits

Looking forward to that too. That terrain is very interesting to me.
Oh, and I'm sure that there are plenty who still have you bookmarked. No worries on that part!

Huh, Gits is still alive after all.

Yes, not quite dead yet...

Cracking news!

Wow! This is some GW-plot-progression level stuff! I openly welcome your return and look forward to the pics!

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Wow! This is some GW-plot-progression level stuff! I openly welcome your return and look forward to the pics!

It makes very little sense, and requires you to forget a lot of what has happened previously?

Intrigued to see this terrain.

EDC

Can't wait! Welcome back.

 Dysartes wrote:

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Wow! This is some GW-plot-progression level stuff! I openly welcome your return and look forward to the pics!

It makes very little sense, and requires you to forget a lot of what has happened previously?

No, it's very infrequent, but when it happens the community flips.

Looking forward to your return Gits.

Gits! I backed the same campaign on kickstarter! Love their stuff. I have most of it built. Still debating on the best way to go about painting them.

I picked up the HQ, 2 Bunkers, 5 pill boxs, 12 tank traps, Landing pad, foundry and 4 aerials. Just built and brown the stuff looks fantastic!

Here you go... This is just part of it.

Yeah just curious as I have some MDF drop-pods, I gave them a thinned down pvc coat wash to protect them from effects of paint primer, then once that and the primer was applied it was paint time.

Do you coat the MDF before primer? or can primer just become the protective first coat on MDF pieces?

I don't know, was going to look on line for some hints.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I don't know, was going to look on line for some hints.

Well, then I handed you one already, LOL!

Indeed!

That's going to be awesome!

While I like the landing pad, and the smaller pieces to the right of the picture, I can't say I'm that keen on the big building so far.

Is that a table full of bones i'm seeing them on Gits?

Yeah, haven't put the Halloween decs away yet.

And here I thought that was the remains of your last assembler...

 Dysartes wrote:
While I like the landing pad, and the smaller pieces to the right of the picture, I can't say I'm that keen on the big building so far.

But great Sight blocking .. a must in the todays world of Super heavy's and GMC's

Thing 1 and I played our first game on the table made with that terrain plus a few other pieces last weekend. Really fun. He picked a Doom Eagles marine army and I matched it as closely as I could (he's got a lot more... well... nearly everything than I do... especially vehicles). Loved playing on the table and the large LOS blocking terrain in the center of the board really made it interesting. I had some photos but somehow they got deleted.

The game was brutal and really came down to who was rolling hot dice in any one turn. I started strong but then he came back as was in a position to take over the game, but luck was with me and the game ended on T5. Can't wait to show off what he's completed since the last pic!

And no, I'm not slave-driving him. Paying him enough to have a good chunk of money for Christmas presents. Hope to have pics for you tonight.

Pics are always good!

Gitz, let us know how you go about priming them.

Will do MA. I'm going to wait until everything is built and then do them all at once. So it's either brilliant or I go down in flames...

 Solar_lion wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:
While I like the landing pad, and the smaller pieces to the right of the picture, I can't say I'm that keen on the big building so far.

But great Sight blocking .. a must in the todays world of Super heavy's and GMC's

Spot the guy who hasn't played 40k for two editions - but I have just picked up Death Masque to get the rulebook for use in HH...

New terrain! Brought to you by... Thing 1 !!

That's some sexy terrain, right there...

That's some beautiful work right there! What did he make 'em out of?

Well, he didn't actually make them, he just built them. HOWEVER... that was a two week ordeal as many of the pieces had poor or no instructions. It was his way of earning some extra Christmas money... with the added benefit that we get to use it in our games from now on.

There are 3 or 4 different company's worth of stuff. Most (the buildings recognizable from the original Dawn of War game) were from a kick-starter... all the other pieces I just picked up here and there & the awesome elevated walkway was a gift from Solar_lion.


For those who don't keep up with my other blogs, I am painting regularly again after a very long hiatus. Unfortunately my MW aren't in the queue as I've decided I really need to either get some of the other armies painted that I own or get rid of them. I'm just about done with the last piece of my 40k AdMech army. After that I'll be working a bit on my Halloween demon army and then on to my 30k EC and Dark Mechanicus. Luckily all of those lists are very "finite"... unlike the Mantis Warriors or my orks which just go on and on.

Very nice .. like the buildings. I'll need to get some more at adepticon this year. Looking forward to seeing how you paint them up.

I must be nice having a plan, I just paint what I do!
But it is good to see you painting again, don't stop Gitz!

Thanks Justaerin, I think I'll be good for a while now. Just have to stay disciplined.

Tell Thing 1 he did a bang up job on that terrain, fantastic!

If you REALLY want to put him to work, though, get him one of these for Christmas
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1378063512/tabletop-hex-terrain-toolkit?ref=profile_backed

(That said, it seems more suited to a different type of game than 40K... but still really cool, and amazingly labor intensive lol)

Ahhh... no. My figures would never stand up on that stuff. And my son would put a pillow over my face some night when I was sleeping.

I literally lol'ed thanks for that, Gits!

That kickstarter made my eyes glaze over... I must be getting cataracts or something.
Tell Thing 1 that I said he did a great job. Now he needs something like a case and a half of spray cans. Be sure to protect those brain cells!

Terrain is super cool, can't wait to see it all set up and ready to go.

Terrain is great! love the way it looks together, painted will be amazing!

Interesting terrain, looking forward to seeing it painted.

EDC

Me too!

Trying to come up with a plan well in advance of actually painting it all as I'd like to do the whole thing in one go. At the moment I'm thinking the first two layers (colored primer and basic highlights) will be done with spray cans, then airbrush in the top highlights and dark recesses. Then add very limited bits of yellow and any final details.

Things like the stairs and tank pens will be painted more generically, without specific reference to the MW scheme of the rest.

I also picked up a few odd bits of industrial piping from my FLGS. You can see the existing set of pipes I've got right in front of the big gantryway in the foreground. I've had very bad luck dealing with the company that makes it, so I'm always looking for other sources and snagging a few pieces locally was a real find.


As far as seeing what all this stuff looks on the table... here's a shot from a game Thing 1 and I are currently having. Even unpainted it's fantastic!

Wow, nice! That must be a fun table to game on for sure.

That table is fantastic. I would be tempted to leave them unpainted personally. They look pretty good as is. Maybe just make up some stencils and spray the odd imperial eagle here and there.

Neat table. Looks like it'll be really fun to play on.

EDC

A table of terrain that matches an army is the highest level of hobby achievement, so good luck!

Thanks guys.

@Polonius: Yeah, I feel that way too. Have a full set of ork and now SM terrain... so my two main armies are covered.

Having become a bit of an mdf junkie, loving where this is going!

Can't wait to see that same table, but with all that MDF painted.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Well, he didn't actually make them, he just built them. HOWEVER... that was a two week ordeal as many of the pieces had poor or no instructions. It was his way of earning some extra Christmas money... with the added benefit that we get to use it in our games from now on.

There are 3 or 4 different company's worth of stuff. Most (the buildings recognizable from the original Dawn of War game) were from a kick-starter... all the other pieces I just picked up here and there & the awesome elevated walkway was a gift from Solar_lion.


For those who don't keep up with my other blogs, I am painting regularly again after a very long hiatus. Unfortunately my MW aren't in the queue as I've decided I really need to either get some of the other armies painted that I own or get rid of them. I'm just about done with the last piece of my 40k AdMech army. After that I'll be working a bit on my Halloween demon army and then on to my 30k EC and Dark Mechanicus. Luckily all of those lists are very "finite"... unlike the Mantis Warriors or my orks which just go on and on.

The Dawn of War stuff looks like it's from Death Ray Designs. They used to be Brush 4 Hire and they sell the stuff through their website as well.

I'd definitely recommend checking them out. They do good work for all their stuff. I have a bunch of their base inserts that I use for Warzone: Resurrection figs and WISH I'd used for Warmachine.

Can't wait to see all that terrain fully painted! It already looks great!

Terrain looks fantastic, and looking around this stuff is so cheap, makes you wonder if it is worth the time to build stuff yourself. Thing 1 did a brilliant job by the look of things, awesome table.

You guys have seen the work done by Thing 1 on getting my space marine table terrain built. What I've been going for is the ability to set up a few, very distinct tables based on the armies and boards/mats that I own.

I have a standard GW grass mat, a city board, a barren wastes mat and finally a winter mat. The SM terrain looks great on the grass, my ork set looks great on the barren wastes mat, but what about the winter mat?

Well, been working on that too. I've decided to go with lots of trees (which are easy to find and cheap thanks to all the "Christmas Village" stuff out there. Will also probably take the ruins that Thing 1 put together for me and winter them up a bit with snow and such. I wanted some bigger trees and stumbled on these winter birch trees. Not very expensive, very large and they look fantastic once you fiddle all the wire branches out. The branchlets are supposed to be wavy, which can easily be accomplished by pinching the wire between your fingers... I just haven't gotten that far yet. Thought I'd show off one. I have a dozen of these... probably too many... but heck, they're cool.



I've got some large evergreens coming too. Getting this terrain set done might end up high on the priority list just because it'll be a great looking set and something I can do fairly quickly.

Of course, the biologist is going to have accurate trees on his terrain. :-P
That birch looks amazingly like the one I have in my backyard right now. Are you going to do a tutorial?

That's the beauty of it Anpu, I didn't build it... I bought it. All I had to do was tease out all the branches as they were shipped in a "compressed" state. I'm thinking of getting some smaller ones from the same company so I have some variety on the table.

Awww... you make me sad.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
That's the beauty of it Anpu, I didn't build it... I bought it. All I had to do was tease out all the branches as they were shipped in a "compressed" state. I'm thinking of getting some smaller ones from the same company so I have some variety on the table.

Would you mind sharing the link to the company from which you bought the trees?

Birch-pinching, is that a thing now?

@Meph: You go a little loopy when the temperature drops into the single digits... besides, after a few beers, all the trees look the same.

@bogalubov: I'd be happy to. Might take me until tomorrow since I can't post to Dakka from home, but I'll get you the info. I'm really pleased with the quality.

That's a pretty tree! Where do you get most of your scenery? I kinda need some.

You going to weather/stain any of the branches? They seem a bit stark white. Maybe a wash. I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage: "Life’s a birch, then you dye.”

Holy Crap Gits! That's a LOT of painting to do there. That MDF really soaks up the primer too!

Most of the trees I've just pulled off ebay. Search for trees of whatever height you want & either "model railroading" or "Christmas village", that should get you all the hits you need.

And yeah... lots of painting. Going to be experimenting with primers to see what works best. Something cheap.... hardware store primer vs. a "gaming primer".

Having used mdf for furniture manufacture best primer is mix some pva with water based paint. You will struggle to spray it on mind you. Alternative is cheap car primer, first coat will disappear.others may have better ideas. You could try a coat of varnish first. Or pure pva. With this amount of scenery you are looking bulk.

I too was going to recommend mixing some PVA in hardware store paint.

Advice on painting mdf, as I've been doing a lot of buildings lately: car primer. Cheap, quick, very effective and doesn't need pre-sealed with PVA. It's now my go to.

Car primer? Where do you find that? Will it say something like "auto primer" on the can, or is it a brush-on?

In tree news... got another batch of trees, these are large pine trees. Kind of crude at first look but I think I can make them look decent and at least the larger trees are more "tree sized" when compared to the models than the little trees you typically see.

I decided to try putting kinks in the fine birch branches while I was relaxing watching football last night. It's actually very therapeutic and man does it make those birch trees look realistic. I would NOT recommend it as a "sit down and get work done" activity.... it's just too fiddly for that. But... as a relaxing thing to do while watching the tube... it's excellent.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rust-Oleum-Sandable-Primer-Gray/17203470 is the droid you are looking for. They sell it in big, paint on buckets too. Use a crappy brush, cuz this is going to ruin it.

Outstanding! I'll go out and get some. Thanks my friend.

No problem. Try not to get the "Filler" primer. You will have more detail loss/softening with it. Sandable primer does it as well, but less so.

Understood. Right primer, light touch. Got it.

Yup, that's the stuff. Sorry, foreigner, yes Auto Primer

Well, traveled out to my local big box store and picked up a couple of cans of grey primer of varying shades. Didn't look exactly like the can WM posted but I was careful it had the same properties (it was labeled as Automobile Primer btw).

So now all the ruins that will be going with the winter themed table have a two-tone grey paint job. I'll probably add a bit of additional color variation with an airbrush, but I don't want to make them too "interesting" as they're supposed to represent a long-abandoned settlement where only a few meager, broken down remnants of structures remain. I also want my winter table to look stark and bleak... so relatively dull ruins fit that pretty well.

Both primers worked great and gave good coverage. I didn't need two full coats for the base primer... just one plus a few spot applications after that to cover some thin areas. Thanks guys, you were a big help.

Once the airbrushing is done (hopefully tonight) I'll post some pics so you can see my progress. Will also post some pics of the "bent" birch trees. Wow, what a difference that made! I'm going to have to come up with some kind of large-platform basing for the birches as they're very top-heavy and unstable (like a real tree). I'm thinking old CDs will do nicely.

Looking forward to seeing the results.

Real pleased to hear it worked bud. You can achieve surprisingly decent results with just the spray primers, no need to go all fancyshamncyairbrushyzenithally on us

Here's where I am at the moment... unfortunately we have so much stuff left on my home table from our last game that I haven't been able to put my winter mat out to see how everything looks. Having a massive allergic reaction to something so my eyes are completely shot. Can't even keep them open until I drug myself to oblivion. Maybe I'll get the big of extra work done on the buildings tonight... Went to bed last night at about 6:30 because I couldn't stand the itching.

Those are looking nice on the table!

Would you mind passing along a link from where you originally bought the birch trees?

Wow, bending the branches up makes them look tons better! nice job.

Hopefully the allergies get better. My folks ended up getting a fake tree this year, for the first time, because they figured out that a real tree was killing my mom’s allergies. Bah humbug.

If meds don’t work, you can just adjust the booze/eggnog ratio until everything feels fine. Or if you are not a ‘nog kinda guy, rum/mulled cider can also be taken medicinally.

I bought them on e-bay. I think the guy still has some available (by his description these are old and maybe out-of-production). Just double-checked... he had a second set for sale but they aren't listed anymore so he must have sold them. They're from a company called "Forever Gifts" who make Christmas Villiage stuff. I think these were old (the packages had yellowed a bit). Both e-bay and google searches for something similar didn't yield any results. I just got damn lucky that I stumbled upon them when I did.

One of the rather odd issues with getting old is that you start to become allergic to things you never were allergic to when you were younger. Guess it's better than the alternative...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's the WIP of my winter table. The big trees in the log bases will be removed from said bases and winterized.

nice gorgeous table love the buildings where did they come from

Some Kickstart error, can't remember.

Very appropriate for this time of year, it's looking great! Something a bit different stimulates the brain, which is always a good thing.

I wonder if you can get mini Christmas decorations for the trees...

The winter themed table looks really......cool

Nice winter table! It is nice to have multiple seasons for battles

Winter (table) is coming (along nicely).



EDC

GiraffeX wrote:The winter themed table looks really......cool

Aaarg, got in before me.

Good job, Gits'.

Looks like Wisconsin, but with less snow!

Thanks gang. Thing 1 finished up all the trees for me so there's a lot more greenery available now. Unfortunately I'm having (we think) a massive allergic response to something as yet undetermined and it's got my eyes all screwed up, so I haven't been able to work on anything. Doctor has me all 'roided up... hopefully, that will help me get back to being productive.

This year has been bad for allergies. Hope your feeling better brother.

Hope the allergy issue gets sorted quick, best wishes.

That's the second winter themed board I have seen that looks stunning recently. Buildings look great, nice cold derelict look.

Thanks guys. The high dose of steroids really screws me up... but if it works to get my system settled down, I'll tolerate it.

@Cam: Yeah, that's what I was going for. I have plans to do a bit more airbrushing on them in order to represent the fact that most of the structured burned at some point... maybe add a few cracks to the facade... but I want to keep them bleak in order to emphasize the cold and desolate nature of the table.

Are you going to get an allergy test to see what you might be allergic too? That's were they turn your back into a checkerboard administering various allergens via shots to your skin and analyzing the reactions.

Also, its not uncommon to develop an allergy to something your were previously accustomed to as you age. Perhaps you have recently become allergic to a certain food or perhaps your cats? My family has a very, very long history with allergies and having the tests done was always a good start,

Indeed, get the tests done. I didn't develope allergies until I was 18, then they disappeared a few years ago, but have returned again.

Maybe you are allergic to the snow table?

I bet it's dust mites. They're also my nemesis. Wasn't able to breathe through my nose at all for more than three days after helping to clean out my uncle's apartment...

But great job on that table, man. It's quite rare to see a winter table, and I must say, it looks awesome!

Well, my coreas are white for the first time in over a week (as opposed to pink), so the meds seem to be working... but the high steroid dose just beats me up. I start to taper off of it tomorrow, so I'm hoping the side effects start to taper off as well.

Sorry for not having anything substantial to post. With Christmas prep and the eye thing, there's just no time.

Here's wishing you and yours a merry Christmas. Best to your lady and boys!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Gits and thread, may your hobby hauls be massive.

Merry Christmas to all the Gits family including this most wonderful blog.

Merry Christmas to you and your things!

Hope you had a Merry Christmas Gits and are feeling better,

Hope it was a great Christmas Gits (and everyone!)

I hope you had a happy holidays, and many models in your stocking!

Thanks gang. Did indeed have a Merry Christmas. Got several gaming related gifts... the new FW flyer for 30k AdMech, the limited release Primus Medicae for 30k and finally some new (and badly needed) brushes!

Feeling better for sure. I'm clearly still suffering some kind of effects but the worst (by far) is over. So I'm good.


I also worked on my tree clusters... getting those birches onto CD bases & then dressing the bases up with other trees and such. So far they're coming out beautifully. I'll get you guys a pic tonight.

Glad to hear you had a good Christmas, Gits.

Good to know you'll keep on geeking out!

Good to hear it hasn't kept you down Gits!

Made some progress on the tree groupings last night. After putting 1-2 birch trees per CD (they need the stability) I filled in the space around them with a variety of small evergreens. As I'm trying to use my small evergreens carefully so I have some for each birch (I have 7 left), I used some cedar bark painted up as rocks to fill in the remaining gaps. Now all I need do is add some snow flocking and they should be done.

Trees will be good tabletop additions

I think so, especially for the arboreal themed winter table. Lots of trees, a few old... abandoned ruins. Just the kind of place you might find long forgotten texts, relics or a chaos idol.

I'm really happy with the way they're turning out, especially since they're being done on-the-cheap. I should be able to finish at least a couple tonight and will post pics for you so you can see how they look.


I also started working on the really big evergreens embedded in the wood bases. I've split a couple out of the wood blocks, then mounted them in a blob of green stuff on CDs (one per CD). They pretty much take up the whole CD on their own... though I may add a few rocks to each just for amusement's sake. This gets kind of expensive though because the GS is pretty expensive (because I have to use so much per tree). I may kick things around and see if I can come up with a better solution.

Get some Milliput (or equivalent) next time you're out, perhaps?

That's a good thought. I wonder if it's any cheaper (per volume) than GS?

For bulk work you might want to try air hardening clay.

So... each year I do a summary of what I've done the year before. It's always a good pick-me-up.

.... yeah... not so much this year. BUT.... truth in advertising demands I post my 2016 production... most of which was done in January of last year.


Chaos space marine assault squad (gargoyles for my Halloween army).


GUO (Cthulhu for my Halloween army).


Herald of Khorne (Creature from the Black Lagoon for my Halloween army).


Carnosaur for my buddys' son. Got to admit I'm proud of this one.


A little EC army that isn't even legal...


A little Hordes army.


Finally some incremental progress on my VSG.



On the bright side... Ramos and Damo painted my entire AdMech force. Hip-hip-hooray for making enough money to commission excellent painters to work on my stuff! (thanks guys... I've really been loving playing with the figures you did for me)



Hoping for better in 2017.

Maybe not volume, but all really amazing quality. I still love the EC theme you used. Another center piece army for the 'splitter'.

The Carnosaur is another great piece of work.

Looking forward to the Bloodthurster golden demon entry!

Quality might be down, but you are still rocking the quality!

While I think technically the giant lizard is the best of the lot, I really love how those gargoyles came out. They are a unique little unit. Love the glow on the grey.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
That's a good thought. I wonder if it's any cheaper (per volume) than GS?

I would think so, given that standard Milliput is marketed more as a two-part putty for general use, rather than specifically for sculpting purposes.

Though I guess the answer also depends on how you buy your GS - by the roll, or in GW-size bites...

Air-hardening clay was going to be my second suggestion, but I'm not aware of the price of it.

+++++

What you've painted in 2016 looks good, Gits. Other than MOAR TERRAIN, what would you say are your painting priorities for the new year?

Thanks for the comments guys. Unfortunately most of the painting came early in the year so my later productivity just wasn't there. Having put some thought in as to why... I've come up with my most reasonable idea.

We underwent a major change in our electronic services this year, both in internet provider and TV provider. The result is that I lost my connection to Dakka from home, and I lost my TV in my studio. Both had become standard aspects of my painting routine. I'd usually put the TV on in the background for white noise... or for binge-watching series I'd recorded while I painted. I can still play movies on my computer, but it's not the same for some reason. Of course I relied on Dakka throughout the painting process for feedback, ideas, critique and support. That's gone now too. This double-whammy to my years-in-the-development painting routine has really sucked the enthusiasm for painting out of me. Add the fact that I cant attend the local gaming night and I'm left just dangling when it comes to hobbying.


On to my current project... winter terrain. Got the snow added so here are the two prototypes of the trees that I'm working on. Sorry for the poor quality of the pics. My wife absconded with the table I set up my photo booth on for the holidays.

First, the birch cluster. Since the birch trees have such wide canopies they definitely need to be attached to a wide, CD base, however on their own they look kind of sad. So I'm adding other, smaller trees to the bases and some rocks. Lastly a bit of snow to even things out.




The second version are these large evergreen trees. They originally came attached to wood blocks (actually cross-sections of a branch... you can see them in the table-wide shots up above). I split them out of the wood and green stuffed them to a CD. Added the snow and maybe a rock or two for interest. Here's how the prototype turned out (I did forget to paint the green stuff white on this one).



When done... I'll have 10 or more of the birch groups... and at least that many of the large conifers.




@Dysartes: Thanks for the ideas, I'll look into them as see what I can come up with locally.


As far as what the priorities are for 2017.

- finish the winter terrain
- finish the blood thirster (don't know why I'm dragging my feet so much on this model)
- get enough EC done to field a legal army
- build and paint my 30k dark mechanicus
- paint my "Cam special" display board
- finish MW land raider #2
- finish MW predator

Ebbs and Flows are bound to happen, especially with changes. Hopefully we can revitalize you in Chicago.

Really liking those Gargoyles.

Nice winter terrain. One of my earliest terrain project ideas that never happened was to make everything on the random winter terrain list from the old 3rd ed rulebook.

If you are looking for other things to spice up the base, you could build a little snowman. Or a little snowfortress of redemption. Little easter-egg humor bits hiding among the trees.

Some really great stuff you put out last year! Love the EC and while I'm not a fan of lizardmen usually, that Carnosaur? is gorgeously painted. Hope you can get yourself into a new routine that works for you. I look forward to seeing more of your 30k stuff.

I did more than I thought I'd done in all honesty.... I count something like 38 figures painted (at least one isn't pictured above). While that's far from the 100+ I usually do, it is at least a bit of progress.

Two terrain projects in one year?! That's ambition good sir, I look forward to it! Even more so the EC, you've got a beautiful scheme for them and an HQ would be great for them, decorated in ornate armor and dazzling medallions.

Well, I have both Eidolon and Fulgrim... so major HQ's should be in the offing. Also picked up the primus medicae special figure that was offered at GW stores.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Well, I have both Eidolon and Fulgrim... so major HQ's should be in the offing. Also picked up the primus medicae special figure that was offered at GW stores.

Having been away over Christmas, I'm going to pop in tomorrow and see if my local still has him - how does it look in the resin, now you've got it?

Not bad Dysartes. I'm not sure about the sculpt in general... the smock makes him look like an overstuffed turkey. But I think with a different paint job (than the one GW gave him), he might be OK. In any case I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snag a FW figure at a store. Novelty item don't cha know.

Very festive ; I'm definitely keen to see some other snow-covered terrain in there also...

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Not bad Dysartes. I'm not sure about the sculpt in general... the smock makes him look like an overstuffed turkey. But I think with a different paint job (than the one GW gave him), he might be OK. In any case I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snag a FW figure at a store. Novelty item don't cha know.

Indeed - though unfortunately my local GW had sold out by the time I got to them.

Looking at an option via the Swap Shop, though waiting to hear on price (and shipping costs) first.

Trees are looking great based like that.

That is the thing with hobbies, they ebb and flow, other things impact time and motivation. Make the most of it when it's there.
I think quite a few people have had a slow/hard year; DDakka has seemed a little quiet compared to what I remember of previous years... maybe that just because I've had a bit of a slow year...

Good review though.

Had a second Christmas themed game (thanks to The Dark Artisan and his mates for a wonderful idea). Thing 2 this time. At one point he was winning 0 to -1. His nids ended up thumping me good even though when the game ended he only had a single beastie with 3 wounds left and I still had most of my army. We both loved it! The randomness of the game and the effects when you open presents just takes any hope of competitiveness right out of you and forces you just to play and laugh!

Sounds like a good time. The objectives were presents?

@SL: Yep, very fun.


I did get a little something done last night (finally). Got the flocking put on the first set of trees... Sorry that the color's a little off... my wife still has my photo booth table. I have this many again in the birches... and a ton of the large evergreens.



Boy that's strange... why is the URL showing up?

Christmas is tough around the 'splitta household, you have to defeat your dad in a game to claim your presents.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Boy that's strange... why is the URL showing up?

The final square bracket is on the next line. Vis...



Trees are looking nice btw

Thanks my friend... fixed on my post as well.

Thanks. I tried to fill out the bases with smaller trees and rocks so there is some semblance of LOS blocking. Of course the big evergreens do that quite nicely all by themselves. I should have put a figure next to them for size comparison... but they're all roughly a foot high.

Trees are looking fantastic, nice to see true scale trees for a change. Table full of this will be stunning.

Trees came out great!

The trees look really nice Git's, thats one thing I dont have for my scenery collection.

Definitely some well done scenery there Gits, I need to start making my own board and scenery soon...

Have a tournament tomorrow with Thing 2 and gave him my usual display board to use... so I had to come up with something else. Luckily a while ago Cam made me this beautiful display board/self storage box... I just need to paint it. So I started the process tonight. Just airbrushing for now. Might get some of the metals done yet tonight but I need to whip up an Astropath before tomorrow... so details on the display board may have to wait.

Thanks Cam... it's wonderful. Not that I've started I'm really cranked up about getting it done!

Looking good, your welcome young man.

Just wait until I get it done Cam... this is only the basic airbrushing!

Looks pretty great as it is already if I'm honest Gits. Great work!

Damn that's pretty cool! display/terrain ftw!

Actually it works nicely as a movement tray (for carrying your models from one table to the next in a tournament) too. Short models go in the box, taller models on top.

Very nice Display. Great Start.

Ended up 10th out of 21. Truth is I had a horrible game (#1) where I was two figures away from being tabled, another horrible game (#2) where I got really lucky because we both forgot the missions and time (thus tied in points).. in one more turn I would have had only 1 small unit left, and another horrible game (#3) where I unceremoniously tabled my opponent... which is just horrible. Thing 2 did really well though (came in 9th) and his army got best painted.

This photo sums up my day...

Game 1, opponent goes first. His grav take my knight down to 2 HP, the only thing I can do (because I AM going to get graved to death in the next turn) is to make a long charge into his knight, but I'm charging through cover so I go last. He D's me to death before I can swing. That happened in 2 out of 3 games. I really have come to see the knight as a tax for the war convo. Makes up for all the free gear you get by having to buy a near-useless 400 point model.




The venue, the people, the missions... all good. Just had one of those days.

Knight fight..

Honestly you only lost cause his Knight was fighting behind a wall..

No, I lost because I was an idiot. I might have won it at deployment if I didn't have my head up my you-know-what.

 Solar_lion wrote:
Knight fight..

Honestly you only lost cause his Knight was fighting behind a wall..

Meant as Humor.. Referencing his base

Ah, sorry... that went over my head.

 Solar_lion wrote:

 Solar_lion wrote:
Knight fight..

Honestly you only lost cause his Knight was fighting behind a wall..

Meant as Humor.. Referencing his base

 Gitsplitta wrote:

Game 1, opponent goes first. His grav take my knight down to 2 HP, the only thing I can do (because I AM going to get graved to death in the next turn) is to make a long charge into his knight, but I'm charging through cover so I go last. He D's me to death before I can swing. That happened in 2 out of 3 games. I really have come to see the knight as a tax for the war convo. Makes up for all the free gear you get by having to buy a near-useless 400 point model.

I don't know how interchangeable the weapons are on your knight but I think most "competitive" builds use the knights as a shooty base. So double gatling cannon for example. You already have good assault units with the robots, rust stalkers and infiltrators that you can buff with the canticles. You don't really need the knight for punching. However, the shooty versions allow you to protect the backfield and put out good amount of fire. He can still be useful in combat just with the stomps.

I suppose that's more like making him a regular titan (who should never fight in HtH anyway as their WS is garbage).

It wouldn't have made any difference though, as he would have been either dead by grav fire or dead by getting charged by two wraith knights by T2. Interesting suggestion though... I'll kick it around.

Unfortunate you had that experience with it. Some models just are destined to be unlucky

He's right though. Deployment is the first step to winning. Alot depends on how your tactics align to your strategy. This is why stealing the initiative is usually a painful experience in the game. Your strategy is altered at the beginning.

Still fought to the end. Good Show!

Looking forward to the next battle update!

It's been a very long time but a had a few Mantis Warriors out last night! Had a friendly game and decided I wanted to fool around with a bunch of little detachment add-ons for my AdMech, one of which was an SM Allied detachment.

Here's the HQ (tech marine) and a pretty bare-bones 5-man squad in a pod. Only upgrades are 1 melta gun and the srg has a melta bomb. I thought the tech marine was a fluffy add considering this was allied to the mechanicus.



Here's the rest of the allied force... a TFC (also with a tech marine at the helm... so fluffy). The little blue guy is an astropath from the Imperial Allies book. It's an old 25mm D&D figure but I really like the contrast in size between him (a normal... perhaps even physically withered human) and the super-human marines and/or cyborgs of the mechanicus.




That little squad of marines did really well for itself. The TFC started badly, but in the last turn had a really critical success taking out some Necron warriors that just had to die.

Sounds like a fun time Gits, and a fluffy army to boot! I personally don't use TFC in my builds, I prefer whirlwinds and vindicators.

Really digging the fluffly list!

Nice to see the boys come out to play.
Astropath works.

Sounded like a fun match! Friendly games are the best. Painting is of course of top quality as well.

Public Service Announcement
Hello friends!

This missive is to let you know that for the time being, my 5 P&M blogs (Mantis Warriors, Bad Moon Orks, AdMech, Halloween themed Chaos and 30k EC) will have all their updates appearing on a single blog (my “Rebuilding the Mantis Warriors” blog… which will get a new name). Why? With my interests so scattered across multiple armies and terrain & the fact that I’m just not painting at the hundreds of figures a year rate that I used to… I’m not making enough quality posts to keep 5 different blogs going. I’ve got a few die-hard friends and supporters that still post… but not enough to build or maintain the community that has always been the strongpoint of my threads in the past.

If my circumstances change and I start painting enough to warrant re-opening one of the specialist threads, I’ll do so... they aren’t closed, just inactive. In the meantime, as of today (Feb 11th, 2017) I’ll be making all of my P&M posts (for all armies) on what has always been my “home” on DakkaDakka, right here on my Mantis Warrior thread. I hope you’ll stay tuned for the latest updates for all of my projects!
The new name of this blog is: Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory... kind of a vague "unified string theory"reference. So stay tuned... it's all happening right here from now on!

Thanks!
Gits

Now I don't feel guilty for thinking of restarting or consolidating my plog myself.

Good idea, I will be following this plog one as usual.

Now I feel guilty for lurking on this plog and the others for so long instead of posting.

Always here boss, every day. Look forward to seeing this blog grow even bigger.

Good plan boss. Unified plogs are just easier to manage! Exciting times ahead!

Same great content, just less paperwork at your end. Looking forward to see how the factions get on sharing the same space.

Just so it's at the top of a page:

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Public Service Announcement
Hello friends!

This missive is to let you know that for the time being, my 5 P&M blogs (Mantis Warriors, Bad Moon Orks, AdMech, Halloween themed Chaos and 30k EC) will have all their updates appearing on a single blog (my “Rebuilding the Mantis Warriors” blog… which will get a new name). Why? With my interests so scattered across multiple armies and terrain & the fact that I’m just not painting at the hundreds of figures a year rate that I used to… I’m not making enough quality posts to keep 5 different blogs going. I’ve got a few die-hard friends and supporters that still post… but not enough to build or maintain the community that has always been the strongpoint of my threads in the past.

If my circumstances change and I start painting enough to warrant re-opening one of the specialist threads, I’ll do so... they aren’t closed, just inactive. In the meantime, as of today (Feb 11th, 2017) I’ll be making all of my P&M posts (for all armies) on what has always been my “home” on DakkaDakka, right here on my Mantis Warrior thread. I hope you’ll stay tuned for the latest updates for all of my projects!
The new name of this blog is: Gitsplitta's Unified Painting Theory... kind of a vague "unified string theory"reference. So stay tuned... it's all happening right here from now on!

Thanks!
Gits

Makes sense.
Still following along.

But how will you keep all you armies from fighting? Wait, never mind. Just let them and post the batreps!

 Nevelon wrote:
But how will you keep all you armies from fighting? Wait, never mind. Just let them and post the batreps!

529 pages. I've got some catching up to do

I see what you're doing here Gits... this is all just a ploy to make the biggest and best blog on Dakka bigger and betterer!

In all seriousness, though, looking forward to more good stuff from any of these armies!

Thanks everyone. I didn't come to this decision easily or alone. Got some great advice from RiTides which helped a lot. I view this as 100% a good thing. I just spread myself too thin. Besides, this way my "hobby family' is all together in one place! (Where I can keep an eye on you)

New miniature and battle report coming very soon. Hopefully tonight!

I'm still following along! plenty of good content being posted by you, having it under one thread just means its easier to consume

Hey man, this makes catching up on your projects sooo much easier! Less than half the blogs, all the Gits!

I am definitely up for this. Hype incoming!

Sounds great to me, looking forward to tracking all your escapades much easier here

Seems fitting then to begin the new uniblog with a battle report featuring elements of more than one of my armies.


Got together last week for a game with my friend Kyle whose practicing for the 40k Friendly at Adepticon... so 1500 points. Kyle's running Ultras with a bodyguard, couple of command tanks, TFC & Calgar. I've got a mixed bag of Cult Mech & Skitarii with some MW (including a TFC) and a couple of astropaths for psychic support.

I can't remember the name of the book mission, but we have 5 objectives, pretty evenly spread out across the table. In the photo below, that's one in the big brown rocks at center table, one in each of the big brown ruins in the corners and one at the corner of the near grey wall by the trees. The last is on the far side of the table towards the middle. We're playing end-to-end obviously. Ultras go first.




Kyle's very pretty command tanks. I need to build a set of these.


My dune crawlers with a screen of vanguard deploy cautiously behind cover but very near one of the objectives.


A small group of Ultras hold the one objective that you couldn't see in the first pic... the one on his side center near this small group of rocks.


In looking at the pictures I have... I don't think it would make for a good turn-based report... so instead I'm going to present each portion of the table as a separate sub-battle... I think it'll make more sense that way.



Battle for the Center:
The Ultramarines have two drop pods at their disposal, one with a grav-loaded tac squad and the other with Mr. Calgar and some random Tac's. Pod #1 lands right next to the ruin containing my Kataphron Breachers with their heavy arc weaponry (haywire) who are in easy reach of his land raider. They shoot the crap out of my breachers and my infiltrators. This pic is after I retaliated... killing off the combat squad with most of the grav.


Unfortunately a second round of shooting from a variety of sources, including the TFC & a subsequent assault took out my breachers, leaving the surviving combat squad in charge of the ruin. My infiltrators are pinned at this point so other than plinking away with their uzzis... there isn't much they can do.


Luckily, as the TFC's attention is directed elsewhere... they become unpinned and plan on shooting/charging the marines. Unfortunately, their shooting is a little too good and cut down two of the marines, putting themselves out of LOS & unable to charge.


I don't have a photo of this, but the two infiltrators are eventually gunned down, leaving the marines as kings of the ruin. Center table goes to the Ultras.



Ultramarine's Ruin, (their) Right Flank: (far left if you look at the first photo)
At the beginning of the game the Ultras had moved their command vehicles forward, disgorging a rather large unit of bodyguard as they went. The Mantis Warriors countered by podding in just behind the vehicles. Their fist target was the command rhino which was just about to unleash an orbital bombardment on the relatively defenseless AdMech. Mission accomplished.


The Mantis Warriors then proceed a long... slooooow... slog up the ruin to try to take out the TFC which is just slaughtering the AdMech forces due to its S6 rounds. It's also sitting on an objective.


Finally the tech marine and one tac marine make it into combat. You'd think this would be a mutual wipe-out right? Each tech marine hit is an auto-kill (from both directions). MW have the advantage of an extra attack for charging.


...aaaaand no. Mantis Warriors wiped out. Ultras win this area of the battlefield.




AdMech Left Flank (near left as you look at the first pic):
The AdMech had done a really good job thinning out Calgar's bodyguard, killing all but three by the time they finally assaulted the Dune Crawlers. Unfortunately since this was the el-cheapo version of the skitarii, the Dune Crawlers had no upgrades... so 1 attack, S6, no AP.


Apparently, three bodyguard is all you need to get the job done.


At the time of the game's end... the objective here (you can just see it in the back left) is unowned as the battle is still raging. So... this part of the table is a draw.



AdMech Right Flank (lower right as you look at the first pic):
A pod arrives bearing Calgar and a combat squad of marines with a multi-melta. Before he can act, the Ultra's chapter master is welcomed with grav cannon fire from the Kataphron Destroyers... leaving him (unfortunately) on one wound.


Combined TFC and MM fire from the tac squad immobilizes one dragoon and stuns the other, rendering them both useless.


I include this shot because it shows the difference between the astropath that I re-did and the one I haven't... big difference. It also shows the size difference between they and the combat units, which I really like.


At this point the Dominus gets off his butt (literally... I had to lie him down to fit him in the ruin) and with a couple of happy gun shots wipes the tac squad. Why isn't he challenging Calgar? Because Calgar has multiple S10 AP2 attacks in assault at initiative 4... meaning he would kill the Dominus without a thought.


Calgar charges the grav destroyers and survives overwatch. The astropath bravely accepts Calgar's challenge... but then again the astropath is blind... so he had no idea what was coming. The squad gets wiped of course.


"Futility" seemed to rule the Admech's last turn or so. The dominus tried to repair the immobilized dragoon on a 2+ and failed... this dragoon charged the pod, autohitting with a total of around 7x S8, AP- hits... and only did 1 HP.


However... I manage to maintain control of the objective here... so victory in this part of the table goes to the AdMech.



Results:
When it was all said and done, I had one objective, linebreaker and first blood. My opponent had 2 objectives and linebreaker. I'm guessing the objectives had to be 2 or 3 points apiece... meaning the Ultras won... either 5-4 or 7-5. Fun game though.

Take home lesson... if you want to kill admech... just bring TFC's and Calgar... you'll slaughter them.




I'm trying to set up a game for tonight. I've taken what I've learned from all these experimental games and tried to re-vamp my basic AdMech list to make it better. Unfortunately there are so many mandatory units in the war convo that finding room to add things to it is pretty tough. I'm convinced that both the marine pod and the astropaths are viable adds... more than viable.. really good adds because they bring things to the AdMech that they're completely missing otherwise... but I have to give up pretty important units to get them, even at higher point levels. I'll keep fiddling... perhaps a solution will present itself.

Hope you enjoyed the report and welcome to the uniblog!

That is a lovely looking battle, and well written! But the main thing I took away is that your Dune Crawlers are not attached to the bases and can be removed as wrecks, that is really cool!

Thanks RiTides. Actually I watch a lot of AdMech battle reports on YouTube and it's amazing how many people don't use the bases at all, which makes the Dune Crawlers far more powerful and useful. I made them separate so I could place the models in terrain (like buildings and such)... but am always very clear about the fact that the bases are still in-play when it comes to charges, unit coherency, measuring range, etc.

Are the base sizes ridiculous? Sure. But that's what they come with so by the rules, you have to use them (or account for them at least).

I didn't even think of that, but you're right, keeping them removable lets you actually put them in terrain without moving everything around. I like it... best of both worlds.

Great batrep again, in the end it looks beautiful, and fun. Don't care about points etc, you both had a good time and learned lessons.

Spent last night trying to figure out if I can turn my EC ZM force into the beginning of an actual 30k force. I'm trying to get it up 2k or so with a minimum of painting... just so I can play with da boyz at Adepticon in a month. So... priorities are high point value models for minimal effort. Note this will probably be a bad, not very EC looking army (except for paint).... but it'll at least get me on the table. Note I have all these models... no time to order anything.

HQ: preator w/ pride of the legion ROW, phoenix spear, artificer armor, etc.
EL: Contemptor (MM & Kheres Assault Cannon)
EL: Legion Rapier Battery (3) - I can do las, heavy bolter or bombard
TP: Legion Veteran Tac squad (5) - vexilla, srg w/ phoenix spear, artificer armor, etc.
TP: Legion Veteran Tac squad (5) - vexilla, srg w/ phoenix spear, artificer armor, etc.
TP: Legion Tactical Support squad (5) - meltas, srg w/ aa
FA: Legion Outrider squad (3) - plasma pistol, srg w/ phoenix spear, aa, MB
HV: Deredeo Dreadnought (auto cannons, ML & dual flamers)
HV: Leviathan Siege Dread (grav-flux bombard, volkite caliver, phosphex discharger)
HV: Secaran Venator - I'd use my Mantis Warrior one as it does have a significant amount of purple in the paint job.

There are a few options. I think I can put the preator on a bike which would make him much more likely to survive to combat than foot-slogging it with a small infantry squad, in which case I'd beef up the outriders so they'd be a better escort. I do have a special character EC Contemptor and a regular Secaran... both of which could be added to the do pile as they should go together quickly. I do have both Fulgrim and Eidolon. I don't want to rush through Fulgrim though and without any transports or big, scary escort units, neither would be put to very good use.

So, expect 3-4 dreads of varying sizes, couple of rapiers and 3 bikes for sure... with the possibility of a tank thrown in just because I have the airbrush out. Expect this to happen soon.

I also have a painted up Fulgrim I can bring if you do want to use him without rushing the paint.

That would be awesome WM, thanks. So with Fulgrin I'm in the vicinity of 2500 points.

There isn't too many models there, so I think you should be fine being able to paint them all in a month. Got some gaming potential as well, due to a lot of tough targets to chew through. I think you'll be fine

Oh yeah... duh. Mixed blog now. Here's where I am with my EC...









The airbrushing on this guys is actually done, just don't have a picture of it.

Not to shabby for a hastily put together army.
Excellent start on the Dread.

Nice job on the Emperor's Children Gits, I always had a soft (hard? Giggedy...) spot for that Legion.

Looking good, and the games are interesting (and nice) to see.

I had a question though, related to this point:

 Gitsplitta wrote:
...At this point the Dominus gets off his butt (literally... I had to lie him down to fit him in the ruin) and with a couple of happy gun shots wipes the tac squad. ...

Is this how most people play large models and terrain; if it doesn't fit standing, lay it down?
I (without having played the game, and always with an eye on realism in my models) would have thought; if it can't fit, it can't go in.

I can understand it for "heroic" models with a raised sword, but larger models?
My memory goes back to Space Crusade and the dreadnought not being allowed to stop in doorways as it has to duck to go through and can't fire in that position.

I've just come to a similar question with a piece of terrain I'm building (over in my "money making" thread), and thought I'd ask here as well because you have a larger following than I do.

Fulgrim was one of my favorite models to paint for Whaley! enjoy him! :-)

Unless your on the other side..

amazing purples.. what's not to like!

Nice stuff Gits, I remember how well the purples came out last time... Looking forward to seeing more!

I have an extra Kheres assault cannon if you'd like the extra dakka Gits

Hey gang!

I've been delaying posting until I had something concrete to show you... like... a picture of a mini. Unfortunately the fates have conspired against me and even though I did finish the re-paint of my second astropath last night and took a photo of it with my phone this morning... the photo has disappeared and all I have to offer is text. My apologies.

@SL: You'll remember I painted all these last year for Adepticon. I'm just re-posting them for the benefit of those who might not have followed that thread. If you were referring to the army build.... well, I've been collecting 30k miniatures for a while now, just haven't gotten around to painting many of them.

@Elnibbus: *sigh*

@Dr H: I think it's more a matter of your local meta & customs than anything GW's written. Our local meta is "never let terrain interfere with what you'd like to do with your models... no matter how ridiculous that is." You'd have to build a wall 4' high across the table in order to have something considered "impassible", and even then I guarantee that at least 3 guys would stand on a chair and try to place their land raider on top of it. This was a much less severe accommodation though and one suggested by my opponent. Since there is no consistent official status for how high a level is, they tend to be kind of arbitrary by nature... and of course a living creature could do things like stoop or hunch down where a static model can not.

@nerdy: I shall!

@WarbossDakka: Thanks. Will have to pour through my old EC blog and see if I can rediscover how I did it. In theory I know.... just don't remember the exact formula for the base color.

@Master Azalle: Very kind of you sir. PM me please.

Yes .. referring to the army build. My hair is going not my memory.. no wait it's both....

Interesting, thanks. If I have a local meta, I've not met it yet.

How are people when the base size limits the space rather than the height of the model?
e.g. a large-based model wants to get into a ruin to gain cover, but due to furniture or another model it's base can't fit if it's placed flat, but you could overlap it's base with the obstacle to allow it to fit, even if in reality it shouldn't be able to.

That's a lot more circumstantial. Technically, if the terrain isn't impassible to whatever model is trying to traverse it, then it can legally move across it (whether the base fits or not) with a difficult terrain test. This is *really* common.

For practical considerations, expecting all bases to be laid flat when legally placed is just undoable... and not mandated by the rules, though I do remember somewhere in the past hearing "if it doesn't fit, it can't move there"... however, that's not a common practice, at least round here... and really unnecessarily anal in my opinion.

To give an example, my Admech Dune Crawlers and not attached to their bases, so that I can set them in a building or ruin for example... however... I'm careful to remember that those huge bases are actually still there when it comes to difficult terrain tests, measuring movement or shots and how close other models can get to them. I see most YouTubers playing their Dune Crawlers without their (huge, blast-templates sized) bases and this is just flat out wrong. It makes these vehicles far more powerful than they should be because their footprint is so much smaller without them.

Cool. Good to know. Ta.

Finally some updates.

First up... the second astropath touched up a bit.


Next... Cam's display board WIP #2.

Astropath is certainly channeling a holy roller vibe! Love the gradients on the grey on the board.

Whoa!! On the display board, has this been teased before? That is pretty incredible! Will you use it for a particular army, or all your imperial / combined arms ones? Really nice!!

Nice job on the astropath and the board is coming along nicely.

Thanks guys!

@RiTides: Yeah, I've put it up before on my AdMech blog... though at that time it had only been airbrushed. Still a long way to go. Cam cleverly made it with both Imperial and AdMech symbols, so it can be used for both. Also he made a second configuration of plates that are ork based so once those are painted it can be used for those as well.


Today I'm working on my EC assembly, starting with the Leviathan & will be continuing to work on the display board.


OH... and then there's this. Nerdfest09 is working on my Reaver. Go ahead... zoom in on those plates. See the wonder that is nerdfest...

Ah, I missed that before! This is why I'm glad you have a "unified" thread now

Can't wait to see that Reaver with your Admech!

Agreed. That reaver is bound to be impressive.

How would you eve- you know what, it's probably too complicated for us mere mortals to understand. Props to Nerd though

Those plates are simply stunning! Bless Nerdfest for his fine skills! The display board's lookin' nice as well, an excellent addition to any imperial force!

But seriously, can you provide a tutorial on those plate Nerdfest!

Amazing work.. Mine looks kinda plain now. Should be an eye catcher for sure!

Spent most of my day-off working on the leviathan. I'm quite proud of it actually. The torso is pinned so it moves (360 degrees) freely. The arms and waist-guns are magnetized. No idea what any of these arms do, but at least I have some options. Think I'll take the rest of my evening and work on continuing to paint the display board.




Automatically Appended Next Post:


Also got a bit more work done on the display base.

Love the Levi!

And the display base is really coming along!

You'll get a care pack in a few days, dropped it off today

Nice looking Leviathan. Though I have to admit, I thought for a second you were talking about the IG command vehicle (still on my to-do list, so anxious for inspiration). Nevertheless, a promising start!

Cool model that Leviathan is. It'll be good with that glorious purple on it

Leviathan looks nice and imposing

Good build on the big stompy.

Nice concrete tone on the display.

I'd like to state for the record that I both love and hate this model with equal vigor. It is beautiful... but the side sponsons are a PITA to put together in a way that allows them to rotate and allows you to change out the guns. But... it's done. Still needs bit of touch-up priming... but it's done.

On to the painting!

Just a few words, Nerd, holy schnide that's some great work. Display board, awesome! Leviathan, beastly, will look great with the EC. Sicaran, glad I had someone build mine but it is a workhorse on the battlefield.

Here is where my EC sit. I'm giving myself one more day to build, then I have to start painting. This works out to 2000 points. If I add my knight lancer I can bring it up to 2500. It wont be a good army, but it's legal and should be done in time.



So tomorrow I need to build 3 gunners for the rapiers & a custom commander on a bike. OH, and a vexilla.

I like it!! Probably best to run the dreads configured for shooting, right, as otherwise they're trying to hoof it to get close?

Very Nice. Looking forward to seeing these on the table.

Lookin' good so far! Do you just get all of your FW models via FW, or a 3rd party? I want some, but international shipping is hell on my wallet.

EC are looking great gits. Liking the stand for them.

EDC

Looking sweet man. Should be a contender for Best Painted at least

Sweet looking army. You have a few now, got to love purple though.

Those EC are looking awesome. Can't wait to see that Sicaran finished.