More of a War Jogger. Didn’t have enough top mount catapults for him to have 2, so he gets starcannons instead. I should have 5 of each gun total for top mounts, and the other WW and a WL got two each. So I can field the pair of walkers all with catapults, just not at the same time as the charging WL with a pair.
Man I really do like the Eldar War Walkers. I feel they've aged reasonably well. Though the forge world variant does look realllllly tempting. The wasp I think it's called?
youwashock wrote:Perhaps the most dynamic Walker I have seen. I like it.
Inevitable_Faith wrote:Man I really do like the Eldar War Walkers. I feel they've aged reasonably well. Though the forge world variant does look realllllly tempting. The wasp I think it's called?
For being ancient the old Eldar kits hold up well. The WW didn’t have the same issues as the falcon with the soft detail. Tons of posability with both the WW and WL. Easy to get a lot of character out of them.
FW makes a lot of neat looking Eldar stuff. But I’d worry about it on two fronts. One is the cost, which is high, and the other is spindly resin bits. A lot of the delicate Eldar aesthetic seems like it would be prone to bending and warping. Still a few things on my wish list over there though. Never going to happen, but a guy can dream.
ListenToMeWarriors wrote:Aye, cracking sense of movement you have achieved with the War Walker. Wonder if anyone dared try to get movement like that with the old metal kit?
If they did, they are a better modeler than I. It should be doable, but would require a lot of pinning, bending, and a careful awareness of center of gravity and counterbalancing.
Tyranid Horde wrote:Great looking dynamism on that walker, I always found with mine the "wings" on the weapons always broke off so it's refreshing to see them on again!
I almost didn’t glue them on. But I did for the first one, so I added them here. They are insanely small little contact points for something stuck out just waiting to catch on a sleeve.
I need to figure out what to build next. Eldar or Deathwatch most likely. Piles are looking pretty even. At this point I’m working on keeping a good mix of stuff on the ready pile so I can keep at the competitions.
Put you hands in the air like you just don’t care; Dance! Dance!
Almost done with those two arcoflagelents. They’ve been a back burner project for a while now. Just need a little BftBG on the purity seal wax, maybe pick out some of the silver a bit more, and black the bases.
Started to put some layers on primarnus. Once the dancers get off the posts, his guard will join him in the paint queue.
Finished up the Arco-flagelents. Not that much change from the last pic, little extra silver, glossy seals, and simple black bases. But this year I can actually check of a little progress on one of my long neglected goals.
Have The Boy this weekend, got a game in. He’s going to start using more of his stuff, painted or otherwise. I know the desire to get my minis on the table is a great motivator to getting paint on them, hopefully that will work for his as well.
I’m taking out Bobby G with a cadre of primaris, and some tacs and SG in pods. A little light on AV, just the hellblasters, Melta tacs, and melee. Jump captain and LT to support the pods, apoth to fill points
He’s going with a mix. Sniper scouts, 2x intercessors, reivers, a squad of proxy infiltrators to test, VV, SG, pair of captains, pred and SR.
Mission is relic, I win the roll to choose deployment, and also the roll to go first.
I forgot to take the start pic, but here is turn 1 after my movement:
He had deployed a solid backfield firebase, with the infiltrators starting on the relic. Starting on the relic was a risky move. He had less drops then I did, so if he had gone first, he could have started legging back to his DZ turn 1. And gotten it up the hill so his firepower could be brought to bear on the football. But I go first, and evaporate his squad before they can skedaddle.
At this point he knows he needs to get some boots over to the relic. His vets swap places, The VV can move fine on their own, but the SG need to re-deploy. Luckily the SR is there and willing. Hi snipers plink few wounds off of Guiliman, pred shoots and intercessor, SR mostly misses, kills a HB. He moves up some of his backfield.
I drop the melta tacs behind the SR, with the jump characters to support. HBs move up to grab the relic, intercessors move to positions to cover them. My shooting clears the snipers out of the ruins, and mangles the SR. The jump captain finishes it off with his hammer. His SG take position on the hill after brushing the wreckage of their ride off their armor.
He reivers show up off to the side and plink a pair of wounds off of G-man with their pistols. Making up for that luck, his sternguard, with the strategem active for +1 to wound, only manage to take one wound off my captain. Dice: our fickle little friends. His VV blender my HBs, he shoots up my intercessor squad on the side. Things look possible at this point.
(Missed a picture here)
My SG land off to the side, while my remaining two intercessors from that squad take position in the ruins his scouts started in. They shoot up his stuff on the hill. Guiliman moves up the hill and shows the VV how close comabt is really done. He’s more then just a pretty aura. My tacs pull back to cover, and the HQs redeploy to be closer to the relic. My apothecary grabs the prize.
He shoots up and then charges my SG. He continues to move up troops, shoots a wound off the apoth, moves his SG up and shoots my central intercessors.
(I need to get better about pics. But the game normally speeds up around this point, and I’d rather be playing)
My JP characters go up and murder one of his intercessor squads, I shoot up his SG, the Apoth hoofs it back to safety. CC mess with my SG and his reivers. My remaining sarge piles in, rather then be exposed to fire from the pred.
He’s got a lot of bad options at this point, but rather then just giving up, we talk about objectives and paths to victory. He’s got intercessors on the hill, but they are out of position. It’s pretty obvious that I’m going to charge him next turn. If he charges me, he gets to swing first and gets farther up the table. He manages to put down my LT. My captain chokes and doesn’t murder the lot of them with his hammer. That went well for The Boy. He starts to move the pred up for a better angle; probably should have done this a turn or two ago. His SG shoot up my intercessors. Killing my infantry to try to deny me boots that can win.
While the game seems pretty much in the bag, we play turn 5 to see what happens. My captain finishes off his squad, and the tattered remnants of my flank finish off the reivers. I shoot some more SG off the hill.
His captain decides to take a swing at the big guy. It’s a hail-mary play. If the dice gods are with him, he can put him down, and then consolidate onto the relic/apoth. They are not. He gets one solid hit drawing some primarch blood, then gets bisected by the Emperor’s sword.
Victory Ultramarines.
Fresh paint is the the second intercessor squad at full strength. They did well, anchoring the flank and thinning his reinforcements as they moved up the hill. The sarge helped cut the sterngurd free, although that was mostly a side-show to the main event in the middle. Although that’s the way it should be, when your flanks are properly secured.
Hobby progress:
Before I picked up The Boy for the weekend I clipped a Mk. III marine to be the prototype for my SB/chiansword DW. The plan is to make 5 of them, using the BaC capheracti SBs. Which nicely match the Mk. III aesthetic. We’ll see how well the gun fits. Right now slug-boy is still sleping in my hobby room.
I'm a major supporter of father/son (or father/daughter) gaming. Well done Nev. Keep focusing on the joy of the game and the hobby. It'll be time well spent!
Speaking of which, The Boy sent me a pic of his latest work:
Not bad! I’m leaning on him to get squads finished. He likes these guys, so that’s what he’s focused on. While some older players disparage the “tacticool” look of some of the modern primaris, he love it.
Getting some paint down myself. Still in the sloppy basecoat stage:
Going to need to do something to differentiate all the golds. Some might step down to a more brassy tone.
Built the DW Hard to see from this angle, but the arm angle is rough, bad contact on the shoulders. SB is a bit long, the forward grip is a bit far forward. Also wide enough to need to be held far out. With the shoulderpads at arm’s length it’s fine, but close up at the right angle you can see the issues. Some of the other arms might fit better, or I might do a cut in the upper arm on the next few to swing it out a bit more. Aesthetically I like the look though. Can’t really tell the SB was for a terminator.
In other news, I ordered a 3D printer. Fun experiments to follow. At the very least it can mostly pay for itself by printing ruins and pipelines to fill up a table. Best case, custom shoulder pads and weapon options. regardless, it’s a new aspect of the hobby to help distract me and keep me out of trouble.
It'll be interesting to see how your Mk. III Deathwatch turn out; I don't think I've seen anything like that before. Nice to see the Boy getting some paint down; he's definitely got the basics figured out, so now he'll just need to eventually learn some of the cool tricks to make models pop. Looking forward to seeing more from him in the future.
I passed your kind words on to The Boy. Thanks for them.
And so it begins...
Printing a few mods for it right now (display case, feed knob, tool tray, cable clips) which should help me learn the ropes. Learning a bit in tinkercad, downloaded a slicer program, and poked around thingiverse.
This should be fun. I’m a total noob at this, so thoughts, insights, ideas, etc are greatly appreciated.
I've never done any 3D printing myself but it's something I'm very interested in learning as well. Printers are getting more affordable and I keep finding times I'd love to use one in many of my different hobbies. I'm very excited to see how this goes for you Nev and hopefully learn a bit too.
Inevitable_Faith wrote: I've never done any 3D printing myself but it's something I'm very interested in learning as well. Printers are getting more affordable and I keep finding times I'd love to use one in many of my different hobbies. I'm very excited to see how this goes for you Nev and hopefully learn a bit too.
Just to share some info, here is the respons from an e-mail I sent to my friend Alex, who set the bug on me about 3D printing:
What was the model of 3D printer you were talking about last week that you said was a good deal for a great printer?
The printer I was talking about was the Creality Ender 3, currently $229 on Amazon. You can find it a bit cheaper elsewhere ($209 on creality3donline.com and $199 on banggood.com) but that doesn't help you much if you have Amazon cards.
The Creality Ender 3 Pro, at $259, has some of the popular upgrades already built into it. Most people think that the Pro isn't worth the extra $100 of MSRP, but that was at a time when the base was $179 and the pro was $279. With the base at $229 and the pro at $259, it seems a no-brainer to me.
In regards to filament, there are lots of different types. You'll want to start with PLA, it's the easiest to get going and doesn't (usually) stink when printing. The downsides are that it's not quite as strong as ABS or PETG and susceptible to warping at high temps so it's not generally good for outdoor use. (Or leaving in your car on a hot summer day.) Expect to pay $16 to $22 for a kilo spool. When buying filament, make sure you note the diameter, as there are two popular sizes. For the Ender, you'll want 1.75mm. Also note the spool size, as some deals look really good and then you notice that it's for half a kilo. Black is probably the most generally useful color. The printer might come with a small sample spool, but don't bet on it. I've not encountered any specific brands that I would warn you away from, but I mostly use Hatchbox, 3DSolutech, and Ziro.
If you think you'll be designing things to print (as opposed to just printing what other people have designed) then you'll also want to get a set of digital calipers that have a sub-mm scale. The cheap-ass $5 Chinese ones are just fine. When designing parts that need to fit exactly, a ruler doesn't measure up. (HEYOOOOO!)
Also, what was the name of the free software? If my computer lacks the umph to run it, this whole thing is a non-starter.
If you're just printing things, the only software you need is a slicer. The slicer takes the 3D model file (typically a *.STL file) and "slices" it into flat layers, generating the commands that the printer uses to move the head, extrude, etc. These commands are called GCODE and are basically just ASCII text. I.e., the file that the printer consumes to actually make the print is just a plain old text file. You'll use the slicer software to generate this GCODE file on your computer, save it to an SD card, transfer the card to the printer, and then use the printer's console to select the file and start the print. The printer does not need to be connected to the pc for any of this. This allows you to put the printer somewhere like the garage or basement in case it's noisy and/or smelly. The most popular slicer is probably Cura. I use MatterControl, but only because I can't get Cura to work with my printer. Both are free and neither require significant horsepower.
If you're designing (or editing) models, then you'll also need CAD software. Windows 10 comes pre-installed with a really simple CAD program called 3D Builder which is OK for really simple stuff but I would just skip it. I mainly use tinkercad.com, which is free and browser-based. Nothing to install and no significant horsepower required. Basic workflow will be: design your model in your CAD program, export to STL, run the slicer program, import the STL, convert to GCODE, save to SD card, run the card to the printer, print. It can be a pain when you need to make lots of little changes, but there are upgrades you can make to be able to print over wifi. (My printer connects directly via USB -- good when you have to make lots of changes, but I have to leave the computer running for the duration of the print.)
I also use OpenSCAD often, which is also free. It uses a bit of an odd design process, in that, instead of manually drawing your model, you write a program which describes it mathematically. It's really good for things that are repetitive and composed of basic geometric shapes, and it's simple to learn if you know any programming. (I used it to design my Cosmic Encounter board. E.g., a hexagon is three rectangles, each rotated 60 degrees, etc.)
More advanced designers will tend to use use 3DFusion, which is not free unless you're an educator.
If you want to get really fancy and start mesh sculpting, Blender (also free) is probably the most popular software for that, but it has a huge learning curve.
Also, to do:
* Make sure you have the means to save to an SD card from your computer. I think the Ender uses a micro SD card. If your pc doesn't have a card slot, you'll want to pick up a USB adapter.
* Make yourself an account on thingiverse.com. You don't need an account to download the models there but you'll need one to upload your own models, make comments, etc.
* Visit reddit.com/r/3Dprinting regularly.
Feel free to chat me up or call me whenever, I'll help you assemble if you like too.
-- Alex
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Still working out kinks. Need to set things so the base layer is smoother. Told the slicer to add a skirt, to help with adhesion, but ended up with spaghetti. Still, not as much cleanup needed as finecast! Some texture on the smooth surfaces. Quick and dirty paintjob over raw plastic. I suspect with pimer and more care, it might be quite serviceable.
That actually doesn't look too bad. I think 3D printing is really awesome technology, but I don't really have a place for one of those nor do I have a particularly pressing need to get one. I look forward to seeing what else you are able to make with yours.
That's amazing Nev! Definitely an fun addition to your hobby toolkit. Thank you very much for the info-dump, it was very informative. I went to college for 3D modelling so a printer seems like a fun way to try and bring some stuff to life. looking forward to see what else you make with this.
ZergSmasher wrote:That actually doesn't look too bad. I think 3D printing is really awesome technology, but I don't really have a place for one of those nor do I have a particularly pressing need to get one. I look forward to seeing what else you are able to make with yours.
One of the perks of the one I have is that while you can hook it up direct, it also works on SD cards. So as long as you have a couple square feet somewhere you can set one up. Unlike a lot of electronics, it doesn’t need to be teathered to your computer.
Inevitable_Faith wrote:That's amazing Nev! Definitely an fun addition to your hobby toolkit. Thank you very much for the info-dump, it was very informative. I went to college for 3D modelling so a printer seems like a fun way to try and bring some stuff to life. looking forward to see what else you make with this.
If you have the skills, make it happen! Might be a way for you to make a little hobby money on the side. Design bits to have people print.
Right now I’m just looking at stuff already out there to print. Got my eye on some ruins and tanks/pipes/barrels I want to give a shot. I want to try to design my own whirlwind turret. It’s just boxes, cones, and a few vents and grubbins. Seems to be within my skill set. Also I want to try my hand at designing a VP/CP tracker. I like the twin spinner format that GW has bundled with some of their collector’s editions.
Anyway, a tiny bit of progress:
He needs a base on his white, and some wires. But that’s it for the basecoats. No progress on his buddies.
Spent the morning printing and trimming cards:
2 decks for maelstrom. One with the SM cards, one with the SM and Eldar ones. Plus the basic cards for both. This should give The Boy and I some more options for missions.
Love the idea of making up some terrain using a printer, could scale things properly for GW models and make the shapes you need for easily identifiable LoS blocking and whatnot. Also would be easier to design in a 3D builder program such as Maya.
I have a dual disk cp/vp tracker I picked up at a convention, those things are gold, love them. I'd love to have some single disk trackers that go up to 10 or 12 to use as wound trackers for vehicles and monsters. Dice on the base can be too prone to toppling and losing what you were tracking, I'm amazed GW hasn't made wound tracking disks yet to be honest, it'd be almost like printing money for them since every single army in both game systems can use multiples.
I love the printed cards, so useful and a speeds many things up. I've recently printed and cut out some cards for AoS that a fellow Dakkite here has made. Would love it if he made some 40K cards too.
One of these days I need to sit down with MSE and make templates for full stat cards. I had a thought to design and print a card sleeve-esque status tracker for vehicles, Spinner dial for wounds, with a sliding stat bar to show how it degrades. Mabey some toggles to show charged/advanced/moved/shot. Pie in the sky idea, but I’ve got the tools and skills to make it happen. Just need the drive to do it. But then you could print out the cards for the tanks you want to use, slot them up and are good to go.
So, had some more fun with the printer. Got it leveled better, so less problems with the first layer turning into a scrambled mess. Printed out some barrels and a sci-fi shipping container.
Some visible scan lines. Little curious how they would look after primer/paint. Barrels are not the scale I like, and show how hard it is to see RL scale detail on 28mm scale items. The ridges could be higher so you can actually make them out. Right now they are kinda hiding in the layer lines.
Painting side, got some washes down on the big guy, started on his buddies and accessories.
My first instinct on the scan lines issue was that you should just file them down smooth, but then I saw all the fiddly detail on that shipping container and realized that just wouldn't be possible. It doesn't look all that bad though, and maybe once you prime it the lines won't be so obvious. The barrels are a bit on the small side, but not horrible. Space Marines should look massive next to everyday human objects, after all!
Calgar's coming along nicely too; I look forward to seeing the finished product.
Thanks for sharing your adventures into 3D printing Nev and your set up info, like many others its something I'm interested in but haven't quite taken the plunge yet and found your post every useful
ZergSmasher wrote:My first instinct on the scan lines issue was that you should just file them down smooth, but then I saw all the fiddly detail on that shipping container and realized that just wouldn't be possible. It doesn't look all that bad though, and maybe once you prime it the lines won't be so obvious. The barrels are a bit on the small side, but not horrible. Space Marines should look massive next to everyday human objects, after all!
Calgar's coming along nicely too; I look forward to seeing the finished product.
I did print up some more shoulder pads on the highest setting, and the lines were a lot better. I did accidentally mirror them, so will need to re-do them. And then prime/paint them. Or just give them to The Boy and let him do the final steps. Cleanup for things with recesses is going to be ugly. I vaguely recall hearing about tricks with acetone vapor I should probably look into.
Midget Gems wrote:Thanks for sharing your adventures into 3D printing Nev and your set up info, like many others its something I'm interested in but haven't quite taken the plunge yet and found your post every useful
Good Luck with Calgar.
Current printing projects is a whirlwind turret I found. We’ll see what it looks like in a couple of hours. It’s boxy nature should make cleanup a bit easier.
Paint:
The more I work on the HG, the more I hate them. They just feel like crappy pushfits. I know they are a step up from that, but for marines of their stature, they should have been in more bits for better detail. They just feel phoned in, as something extra to fluff out Calgar’s box. Doesn’t help that I feel I should have left them in more parts to paint, but there wasn’t really a good option due to haw the capes were cut on the sprues.
Anyway, painting progress is painting progress. More layers down, closer to being done.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Wasn’t happy with the resolution on the missiles. Reprinting those bits with the quality cranked.
Also, finished the first draft on a wound spinner. Will slice and print next.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I snagged someone’s gears from tinkercad, and set about modding them up. Besides the gears themselves, this is my first original 3d plot.
Printing now.
Tolerances should be very tight, as I didn’t leave any gaps. Might have to loosen it up so it spins better. But I also don’t want it to shift on it’s own, which is part of the reason I went with gears. Right now it’s designed for monochrome printing, with the numbers needing to be filled in via crayons. If I felt like it, it would be an easy fix to put a colored backer on the number dial, or even slice it into different colored wedges, for degrading profiles. I was also thinking about embossing the stats for a rhino on the back, but decided to keep in universal for now.
Brian is a different thread Just us Matt’s here, with the occasional Jake.
First prototype. As suspected, I need to build tolerances into the plan. 2mm peg in a 2mm slot is not going to work. Took a bit of filing and carving to get that together, but it works. V.2 is printing now. I also cut the knob down a bit, seemed higher then it needed to be. Numbers are just waxed in crayon right now. It’s low-tech, but it works.
Hope everyone is having a nice Easter morning, eating chocolate and looking for eggs. Unless you live on LV-426. If so, stay away from the eggs.
Inevitable_Faith wrote: That counter looks great man! How big is it? Should post a pic of it next to a marine for scale if you don't mind.
From the point to the back is a little under 2 inches. I’ll get a scale pick next to V.3. Snapped the knob off V.2 fiddeling with it, went back and made it a little more robust, printing the new version.
crate is pretty good,wonder what it would look like on a proper DLP. I got another GW addict into 3D printing and he thanked me for telling him which one to buy by giving me several 28mm figures.
They needed more UV time for proper cure ( I left them outside) but they are, perfect. No lines. 3 flaws in total detail level is = to GWs best. Mind you DLP is not for production, too expensive per miniature I make molds for him if he wants more than one.
Sorry for the quiet, been a long week. Not been doing a lot with the printer. v.3 I had increased the tolerances -Too- much, so the knob was not tight enough to turn. I think the answer for v.4 is to go with a semicircular/square/plus shaped peg. I also want to add pegs for assembly, but that might require scaling things up a tad, as there is not a lot of room inside. I do like that they are just about 40mm though.
Paint:
Blue wash down on Calgar. He needs touch ups and edging. Backpack needs some more detail work, probably some blending on the cloak, and then the blue finished. HG are probably at the second blue coat stage. Probably some detail I missed; my heart is really not in them. Will be nice to see them finished though. I suspect once they are done and based, I’ll enjoy them a lot more at table top distances. It’s just the way I had to build/paint them irritates me.
Scale pic as promised. Here is the evolution. Not that there is much visible difference.
v.1 - The holes/pegs were the same size, needed to be filed out to fit. Once done, it worked. v.2 - Shortened the know, widened holes up. Snapped of peg on assembly. v.3 - Widened pegs/holes. Knob not tight enough, just spins v.4 - Removed guide peg for small gear (seemed to get in the way more than help), re-worked knob peg to square top, added peg to point for assembly. Works.
Things to improve, which might require a near total re-build. --Top cover is thin, easy to bend a little when removing from print bed. --I’d like to get this to be a total push-fit assembly. I’d either need to add bump outs on the rear side for more pegs, or change the way it goes together. Maybe widen the walls and have the top sit on ledges, not just on top of the whole thing. --Two/three color plastic for numbers so I don’t need to wax them. This could either be done by inserts on the disk, or have the numbers go through the disk and put a colored backer behind it. I like the colors on the disk approach, as that can be used to break out wound degradation levels. --Tighten up the tolerances. Right now there is a little wiggle in the gear. Not a big issue, but smoother operation would be nice.
Other projects: Build a 16 wound counter for LRs Work out a 2 disk system for ones/tens digit counters Build a command console for CP/VP. Build more robust vehicle tracking console, with card insert for degrading stats, other features.
And some painting progress: HG on the left still needs his second blue, then wash. Other guys just need edges and touchups. Bare head needs more work, helmet needs the little skull I missed and edges. Plus bases for the lot of them. Getting there.
Next month is “To the Death” I think I might stretch and do both the WL and DW dread. Or some undead, depending if we get a good prime day before the month starts. But probably the dreadnoughts.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Ahh, ultazoom, how you love to show my faults...
Anyway, helm or no helm? Thoughts a/o opinions?
Finished the guys up, on to basing and deciding what head to use.
You could perhaps install small magnets to be able to swap between the helmet and bare head. Might be too much work for too little reward though. Looking forward to final pics!
ZergSmasher wrote: You could perhaps install small magnets to be able to swap between the helmet and bare head. Might be too much work for too little reward though. Looking forward to final pics!
The thought did cross my mind. Including the bit where it would be a lot of work for little reward (and I’d probably mangle the heads getting the magnets in)
Bit of a push to get these guys done. The VHG really sapped my will. So hard to get a brush to places. There is a reason I paint in parts, but these guys wouldn’t allow it. Anyway, done now. Looking forward to having them hit the table. Calgar was more fun, also looking forward to fielding him.
I really enjoy how Calgar turned out. The honor guard as well. I think it's kind of cool how they tried to mirror his original pose in the primaris remake.
RandyMcStab wrote:That scale creep made me laugh. Nice. The 3D printer looks pretty nuts, be interesting to see what comes out of it.
Captain Brown wrote:Scale creep is making all my Rogue Trader forces look small on the table top.
youwashock wrote:Inuk Chuk!
MC looks the business. Shame about the HG. They are so dull it is almost worth scrapping them for kit-bashed replacements.
brushcommando wrote:I really enjoy how Calgar turned out. The honor guard as well. I think it's kind of cool how they tried to mirror his original pose in the primaris remake.
Tyranid Horde wrote:Good job on Marny and his honour guard. I wonder if sub-assemblies would have helped you out as their capes look like a bloody nightmare.
(took me a second to get the Inuk Chuk! joke, then I laughed for a bit, thanks)
I know he’s primarisized, so there is justification for the scale creep, but couldn’t resist the compare pic. It’s pretty funny. I still enjoy the old small guys, scale creep be damned. Although the old Calgar will probably never hit the tabe again. Too niche as a special character that there is not a good way to field as a generic, and the new rules/points are just better. And frankly the new model is better then the old, although I do have a soft spot for the old guy. Fun Fact: That Calgar model was the first Ultramarine specific model that I got, representing the split from BA to going blue full time. He was given to me by my FLGS at the tail end of 2nd edition as a thank you for helping to demo 40k, as they were trying to get people into it from fantasy. Technically correct fun fact: He’s actually a replacement, the one I got was miscast, and needed to be replaced. I’ve still got the old one with the gap in his ammo feed somewhere. I could carve bits off and use him for a project, body is still good.
I don’t think there is anything preventing you from fielding multiple VHG squads, so it might be worth making two more. They are just blinged up power sword/storm shield primaris. Now that I’m getting some distance away from the PITA of painting them, they are starting to grow on me a bit. Still their mirror poses is a little lame, and I think I could probably do a decent job making replacements if I put my mind to it. Not in a big rush to do so though. Did what I could with the models. Despite the irritation painting them, building them first was still probably the right call. If not there would be all sorts of ugly joins on the capes.
Going to try to paint two dreads this month, the DW one and the WL. Put the first black down on the wraithlord. No pics, as I have The Boy this weekend, and he’s still sleeping in my workroom. Put together an army list for a game today, getting close to being able to field a full primaris list. Going to take all the ones I’ve painted blue out for a spin, and a few other extras take it up to 1,500. Batrep to follow.
Primaris powers activate! Replusor loaded with hellblasters, Calgar, VHG, and a Lt. Other guys to sit back and have fun sniping, or march up and wreck things for the ironclad.
Mixed medley of stuff. More of it painted than last time, including the phobos captain and assassin.
Maelstrom, draw up to 3 cards, keep them secret, -1 to hit over 18”. We set up objectives, I choose deployment/sides, and win the roll to go first.
I forgot to get a deployment picture. Here is the middle of turn 1.
He had aggressively deployed his infiltrators/phobos captain into the central ruins. I bum rush him with my line in response. The repulsor drifts up, and lights into the pred, dropping it down to 2 wounds. My intercessors charge his guys on the objective in the building, and don’t manage to kill them all, but hold. Ironclad tears his captain in half. I score first blood, and 1 VP for making a charge. I’ve got the defend obj 1 (the one I just rushed him on) and pitch my last card (to grab the objective his scouts are holding)
His response is a little lackluster. His hellblasters blow 6 wounds off my repulsor, he kills one of my intercessors, plinks a few wounds off the ironclad, but that’s about it. Doesn’t score any objectives. His VVs deploy and make a beeline for my scouts.
Repulsor dumps its cargo in the middle of the board. I drop the SR and pred with shooting and soften up the hellblasters and his intercessors. CC sees Calgar finish off the hellblasters, my intercessors clear their objective, and the ironclad stuck in against his intercessor/captain. I score points for killing multiple units and one objective.
We call it at this point. He’s not scored any points, I’ve got a bunch, and he’s close to being tabled. None of the objective in his hand look viable to grab. We do toss some dice around for a what-if? scenario for his eversor charging my intercessors, as he may have been able to clear me out of there to score that objective. Turns out the dice wouldn’t work out, but that guy is a mean little blender. But to many wounds for him to crew through in an intercessor squad in one round, even double fighting.
Fresh paint: Calgar has a nice aura, which helped buff everyone around him, and got to punch out some hellblasters. Good first outing. VHG stood around and looked pretty. Failed their charge to help back up MC. His Phobos captain was agressively deployed forward, ate a meta shot to soften him up and then was cut in half by a dreadnought chainfist. Not a good day. His Eversor did OK in the post game trial, but would not have done enough to score his objective. For 85 points, he’s a bag of mean though,
Edit: Went and saw the Avenger’s movie and than played a game of kill team. Deathwatch reivers vs. intercessors. Victory me. No pics, sorry.
We have fought from one end of the galaxy to the other. In cities, ruins, grasslands, deserts, ash wastes and countless other environments. For 8 ages we have brought the Emperor’s wrath to His foes, wherever they lurked.
But now we are home, to the rugged icy polar fortress of Macragge.
So this showed up in the mail today. Nice turnaround, as I just ordered it Saturday and didn’t pay for shipping. Strategem 6x4 Winter War mat, with bag. $69. Cut well, no noticable flaws, crisp picture.
I also ordered a new foam cutter. Going to make some icy hills, granite outcroppings, maybe some crystal forests. There will probably be a transition time where green hills are going to still be in use, but eventually I plan on phasing them out. Eventually I might grab a grass mat for the Eldar to call home, but one thing at a time...
Captain Brown wrote:Classic Rogue Trader RTB01 Space Marines.
Cheers,
CB
Looking forward to actually getting a game on it. Will have to wait for the next weekend with The Boy.
When it came down to who got to set foot on the new mat first, it’s was a no-brainer. Those RTB01s have been faithfully serving throughout every edition. Theirs was the honor.
Put the first black coat down on the dread, gold on the WL. Slowly and randomly adding basecoats to them. Life has been kicking me pretty hard lately, not a lot of motivation to paint. Just need to make it though work tomorrow. Getting together for boardgames after that. Then a quiet weekend. Right now the printer is layering down another shipping container. Set it on Ultra-high res. So it’s total print time is like a day and a half. Want to see the difference between that and the basic.
New foam cutter came in the mail yesterday. Hills eventually. When the weather is nice enough to get some ventilation.
Some pics just to prove I’m still alive. Going try to get more done today. Should have time, all my tentative plans fell through, and my regularly scheduled stuff was canceled. Good to have something to distract me. Holidays are rough.
Have a nice Mother’s Day everyone. Call your Mother’s, do something special, pamper your wife. Moms are important, treat them that way. If today isn’t celebrated where you are, do it anyway. Mothers deserve a lot more then just one day a year for the crap they deal with.
Done greylining the WL. Still need to do a little bit of touch up, and finish the base and the head. Big remaining question is what color to paint the plume on the head.
Dread is making progress. More detailing, and grey. Plus base, leg guards, and to finish the arms.
Hey Nev, nice work on the Wraithlord. From looking at your other Eldar, if it's going to have a maroon/red head then I think either a light grey or white plume would suit it very nicely.
I really like that winter wasteland mat you got. Icy battlefields always look good.
Put a layer of white (well, very pale grey) down on the plume. Probably go with that. My Jain Zar is rocking a metallic purple 80’s ‘do, wasn’t sure if I wanted to duplicate that. I’ve also done banshees with blue air, but those are for my chaos “when witch-elves go bad” units. No progress pics, as The Boy is still sleeping in the workroom.
Game yesterday. Maelstrom again, the basic scenario. Forgot to take army pics, he just modified his last one, by dropping a captain, upgunning the SR and adding some HG. I go with Eldar. Scytheguard/spiritseer in a WS, DA in a falcon, CHE, hawks, jetseer, Jain Zar, rangers, guardian bomb, windriders.
He goes first, moves up, pops the falcon, kills a bike, maybe a ranger. Doesn’t score any objectives. He had cards for two of them in no mans’s land, but didn’t get to one of them in time (he should have advanced his intercessers) and the one in the middle was defend, so hold for 2 rounds. His Vindicare rolls a one to hit, spends a CP for a re-roll, gets another 1. My farseer saw the bullet coming.
I rush forward, cause some carnage. Drop the SR, follow up with killing the VVs inside, Jain runs over, blenders the intercessors (after they were softened up with some shooting). I score objective 1.
His HG go over and kill my DA. The eversor pops out behind my rangers, shoots them a bit, kills enough to put him outside of charge range. My WS takes some fire, looses a few wounds. His Vind takes another shot at my farseer, hits this time, but rolls a 1 to wound. Re-roll? One again. It’s almost like I could see the future and choose the path to victory. His other snipers and phobos captain to slap 3 wounds on the spiritseer. Someone should have thought harder about which seer path is more survivable.
I don’t think he scored any objectives. He tried to get the kill characters one, but just couldn’t cash it out.
My scytheguard kill his HG. CH mostly misses vs his pred. Ranger runs for his life, Jain storms the hill. Guadian bomb drops behid his captain and lights him up. Even without buffs that’s a ton of shots. Hard part was setting things up in the >9”, <12”, closest target with the captain zone. Hawks drop grenades on the scouts on the way down, then shoot the hellblasters. Carnage abounds. I charge his infiltrators just to pin them, and Jain carves half the wounds off the assassin. I think I score all my objectives (warlord kill, kill units, clear the center of the board)
The vindicare tosses his rifle aside, pulls out his pistol, and slaps two wounds onto the blender in his face. Funny how he learns to shoot when he’s not messing with seers. His pred almost kills my WS, but besides that not a lot of effective fire left in his army. The fight on the webway will be the focus of the game. It might be a slap fest on his side in CC, but he’s chucking enough dice around I fail some saves, but she’s got plenty of wounds.
My turn I draw the “Hold all objectives” card and make a play for it. Bikes zoom, elves scurry, we dance to the places foretold in the skein of fate. The only tricky place with be the hill. My CH pops the pred, and it blows up! MWs all around. It’s enough to kill a scout, finish off his assassin, and put another wound on The Banshee (but not kill her). I finish off his phobos captain (might have done that the turn before, I forget) and then it’s just the scout sarge being cut apart. We kinda glossed over the rest of the table/shooting, as he was loosing focus and I was way ahead on points.
Victory for the pointy eared gits!
I don’t think I had any fresh paint. Closest was actually fielding a guardian bomb. Kinda nice. Scytheguard were nice, but the short range and slow move made it difficult for them to get stuff done. Not impossible, but harder. I think they might make a lot of use out of the 6” advance strat.
His assasins were a little lackluster, I know he wants them to be awesome, but they are still single models and quirky dice can screw them. Ones for the sniper, and shooting himself out of charge range with the blender. He was a little torqued that he couldn’t declare a charge farther then 12” when he got to roll 3d6. His infiltrators were more significant this game. The 12” bubble keeps swooping hawks from dropping grenades on you, and guardian bombs at bay. But he didn’t have enough troops to screen everywhere, so I still got to mangle him.
This is the second time I stuffed him with that list playing maelstrom. It’s not like it’s a horrible list, just doesn’t seem to do well. Cards and dice didn’t help. He is getting better about remembering to use his chapter tactics, but only really uses command points for re-rolls. Still makes a fw mistakes, but hopefully he can learn from them. Sometimes options you don’t use often are what you need to do. Like which is more important? Some long range pot shots with the intercessors, or advancing to seize and objective? Marines don’t often advance, but there is a time and a place for it.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Edit:
Yesterday I made a list of all my models I still needed shots of. This morning I snapped off all the ones for my Eldar and uploaded them. Results are over in my Showcase thread
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Some WIP. Lady is basically done. She just needs some transfers and a little greenery on her base.
DW is getting there. ML arm is done, body is pretty much done. Base needs a wash or two, and some snow scattered about. TLLC arm still needs a bit of work.
I also need to decide what to put in the leg insets. Maybe a chapter symbol, maybe a campaign marking. Not sure what colors to use, or what chapter he belongs to. Might just leave him blackshield.
Ouch, sounds like the Boy might need to throw some dice into Dice Jail after that one. Sounds like the poor kid just couldn't catch a break. Funny you should mention advancing Marines, as I've got a friend who is always recommending that I do that on the first turn. It sacrifices firepower, but it gets the unit into position to do damage on the following turn(s).
He’s using my dice, he can take what he gets. I’ve given him some dice of his own, and he’s looking into picking up a brick of 12mms. He might not know the correct rites and rituals to appease the fickle gods of fate, but due to the restrictions of my divorce, I can’t force him to adopt a religion. He needs to come into the faith naturally. But as long as he’s using my dice, he does not get to punish them.
One thing that separates gamers is system mastery. This carries over across games and platforms. You can know the basics, and the moves that are generally the go-to ones. Gunline in cover, full attack with the fighter, headshot with the big gun. But these are not the only options available, and often in the edge cases, there are better choices. Recognizing those times what what to do is something a newer player will not be able to do. The person with the more in-depth knowledge of the game is going to pull ahead there. And that takes effort and time to get. Being older and wiser does have some perks! He is getting better. Almost always remembers his CT, getting more numbers down pat. This last game he started the Vind on the table, rather then DS’ing him. There might be a time and a place for that, but generally it’s not worth loosing the round of fire.
Anyway, Paint!
Almost done. Need to grey edge the LC arm and the leg guards (which need to be glued as well). Little more work on the base (black rim on the DW, tufts/grass/snow to taste. Decals. I should probably start working something else across the base if I want to keep my one a week goal. I might be delaying a bit to see what next month’s votes are. At some point I also want to go back and decal up some old marines, and put some black stripes on some eldar.
Edit:
Blind luck is the best luck! I picked the colors for the dreads shin guards mostly at random. I mean, I had thoughts, but they were “I want each one different, and to be bright spot colors on an otherwise dark model”. Turns out, that makes him an Eagle Warrior. Which happens to have a decal on one of the older sheets. So he’ll get that on one leg, and campaign badge on the other, and a aquila on his shoulder. Not sure if the WL is going to get a Saim-hann snake to match her partner, but is going to get a banshee rune somewhere.
Also, been blogging for 6 years. Woot persistence!
Here is the lovely lady with her peers:
and a solo shot
I really do enjoy dreadnoughts.
Need to figure out what to paint next. Hopefully the rain will let up so I can prime some more. Might hit the store this weekend regardless for supplies. running low on primer.
All your wraithlords are really bringing life back into the models. It’s one thing I never got from the Eldar line, they have such technology with wraithbone and soul stones, but the models were just so stiff, you’ve cured that .
Thanks guys. I agree on the old eldar looking really stiff. I think that’s partially because most of their sculpts date from when things were metal. Being flat was part of the medium. Quite happy how everyone turned out.
Some new progress. I was debating what to paint next, and wanted to wait to see what was going to be next month’s comp. Then it struck me that the whole competition thing should be encouraging me to paint, not restricting me. So I picked something I wanted to do, and started putting down some basecoats.
Powerfist intercessor sarge. And some eldar guns, just to kill some time and give me options. Heading out to the store to get some more primer, maybe some foam. Might engage in some retail therapy online later this weekend, we’ll see how depressed I get.
Hope everyone enjoys their weekend, long or otherwise.
Second blue down, next up is the glaze. Then details, edges, base and decals.
Finished the Eldar guns. Not much too them, leadbelcher, nulan oil, stormhost silver edges and raised bits. Did put some blue on the plasma.
Putting together another SB/CCW deathwatch.
Didn’t end up picking up primer. Lowes doesn’t carry the type I’ve been using, and I don’t want to experiment. I’ll hit Home Depot after work some time this week. Or on my lunch break, it’s just across the parking lot. Lowes had insulation foam in 2’ x 2’ squares, or 2’ x 8’ strips (plus some other sizes) Not the pink/blue stuff, but a green store brand. Probably just the same stuff. Will see what the other options are out there when looking for primer. No rush.
Slow painting progress here. Not a lot of motivation in the air. Might try to hit the hardware store in search for paint this afternoon, weather might be nice enough to prime. Although scattered showers are in the forecast.
Need to find the time to edge this guy. But it requires a calm and steady hand I’m a little shy on at the moment. Clipped his squad and started cleaning them. Cobbled together a AGL from a spare missile. Might slap a few purity seals on it to help it stand out.
Next month looks to be “Mad Science” might do a techmarine a/o a bonesinger. Unsure. I could dig in the random piles and see if there is something more thematic.
youwashock wrote: A Bonesinger sounds cool. Hope you shake off the no-motivation blues!
Thanks. Knowing that there are people out there reading helps. I’m OK with letting myself down, but much better about not letting other people down. Or at least I try. Still fail a lot.
I need to revisit the techmarine I built and slap a magnet in his arm. I was never 100% happy with how his scratch-built axe ended up looking. Magnets is an easy fix for that. They have more options available these days anyway. But a good axe is very iconic for them. Bonesinger should be fun, but I want to do more than one guy for the comp.
Supply drop incoming. Picked up a box of grey knight terminators. At least two of them are going to be built with power swords and stormbolters, and painted black to join the Deathwatch. Cheep bullet sponges to tank for vet squads with their 2+ save. One is probably going to be built as a TDA librarian for my Ultras. While my old metal SB/axe one has served me well, might be nice to have one younger then 2nd ed on the shelf. Not sure what I’ll do with the other two bodies. Maybe more HQs for DW/Ultras, or just more troopers to spot into DW vet squads.
Finished cleaning mold lines off the AGL gunner, slapped a few purity seals on him to help him stand out, glueing in progress, just need the head and gun support arm fixed and he’s off to the to-prime shelf.
Part of my wants to order a 10 man intercessor box. With the vigilus formations, there is a solid reason to field 10 man blocks of them. But once I finish building these guys, I’ll be at 3x5 man squads. I also want to kitbash some captains and supressors. But I figure that there are very good odds that at some point there is going to be a box that includes them, either a start collecting primaris, or the next wake the dead, tooth and claw, etc. So I’m not in any hurry to slap down MSRP (less online discount) for a box. But I could easily see adding 15-20 more intercessor bodies to the shelf. The patient hunter gets the prey...
I totally feel you on the no motivation thing. It's been taking me a month to paint some models that should take me a week, tops. I could at least partly blame Warframe, SMITE, Stardew Valley, and other electronic crack, but that's an excuse and we all know it.
That being said, your Dreadnought and Wraithlord both turned out really good. And it's good to see you painting something that isn't a competition entry. I need to get back to doing more of that stuff!
I’m kinda afraid to compare my minis painted for competition vs. the rest. I suspect the vast bulk of what I do these days is in the comp. Nothing wrong with that, but it does skew what’s on the bench.
Just did the edges and a few of the details on the sarge. One more pass and he’s probably ready for decals and baseing.
Which is good, as I need the space for these guys:
Although before the techmarine gets paint I want to sink a magnet into his (metal) shoulder.
Also, supply drop to add to the pile of shame.
One librarian, and at least two DW terminators. Not sure where they are going to fit in the build queue, but the pile of shame grows.
youwashock wrote: I look forward to seeing how the Grey Knights turn out in their new roles.
It’s a little odd, because I don’t have any normal terminators to steal parts from. I’ve got the spare bits from the horus heresy boxes, so capheracti and tarteros. But all my “regular” terminators are old metals. So if I just want to grab some normal shoulder pads, I’m out of luck.
I used the GK strike box to make regular power armored librarians, so one made from this box should fit in well. Deathwatch are not adverse to a little inquisition iconography, so building a few troopers should be fine. The question is if I want to use the two handed halberds as power axes, or just cheep out and give them swords/stormbolters. The axe is probably worth the point, but I try to keep counts-as to a minimum. I’ll probably give the librarian the staff for thematic reasons, even though a sword/axe is generally the superior choice.
Looking at the kit, plenty of fun options.
In other news did the touch-ups on the sarge, ready to be based. And magnetized the techmarine. Been a while since I sunk a drill bit into metal. Glad that’s a thing of the past. It wasn’t so bad, but plastic is nice for a lot of reasons.
Rattling around waiting for The Boy to wake up, I actually did go back and compare what I painted for the competition and what was just random. Not as bad as I’d thought.
Non-comp:
1x Eldar grav platform w/ShurCan
8x Eldar Guardians
5x Eldar Scytheguard
1x JP Lt.
1x Repulsor
1x intercessor
1x scout
5x Deathwatch Intercessors
Significantly lower percentage. Also, my overall volume for the year is behind schedule for my 1-a-week goal. Need to get cracking on that. I’ve got a lot of fun stuff on the to-prime shelf, so once I get a new rattlecan, I think some motivation might return. I’d like to get some of the whistles and bells into the deathwatch squads to make them more viable as an army. The drive to get stuff painted to field is one of my primary tools. But when armies are pretty fleshed out, that falls away.
Been working on cleaning these guys up in scraps of time. Ready for the prime shelf. Sarge is still waiting for decals and flock. He might wait until it’s more then just him, or I want to get him to the table, whichever comes first.
Put a layer of red down on the bonesinger. Part of me wanted to wait for the new contrast paints and use both him and the tech as testbeds for the new paints, but I can’t let half the month slip by. Going to paint them the old fashioned way.
Realized as I was going through the pile of shame with The Boy over the weekend that the agressors use terminator pads, so I can loot those sprues for spare parts as needed. Will help de-GK the terminators a bit.
Leaving work is always a mess. There is a 4 way stop that feeds into a traffic light that backs up when everyone flees at the end of the day. Today was no different. So I’m sitting at the stop sign waiting to turn left, sitting still like everyone else while we wait for the light to turn. But if I go straight, that takes me to the Home Despot side of the parking lot. It’s a beautiful day out. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, but I can’t smell any propellant. I’ve been holding off priming more stuff because I know my rattlecan is on its last breath. I turn off my blinker, and go straight. A few minutes later, I’m walking out with a new can, and the traffic has cleared. Flash forward, and I was right about my can. It -almost- made it. I use the new can to finish up.
Not everything on the shelf that needed it, but a lot of stuff to help give me more things to paint and recapture some motivation.
The question is what to work on first. I’m leaning towards the WS. It’s something that my Eldar could actually use quite a bit. Plus it doesn’t take space on a painting handle and traditionally eldar vehicles paint up pretty quick.
Some progress and thoughts:
Getting some basecoats down on the old metals. Plugging away.
Clipping parts for a UM lib and 2xDW TDA. The chest bit that has the more robust psychic hood also has more inquasition iconography then I’d like for an ultra. Might just go with a basic chest, I don’t think I’ve got the knife skills to transplan the flairs. I think I am going to trim the hoods off the other two though. No need to keep them and it should be pretty simple.
Giving it more thought, I think they are all going to get axes. Well, halbards, but an easy counts-as. For one point more then a sword, they are significantly better. Even for the guys who are dedicated bullet sponges. The Lib might get magnets. Hard to build him without a staff. Wizards, even space-magic psychic ones, should always have a staff.
Totally agree. The Librarian should have a staff. As far as modding the chest goes, a little GS can fix the odd errant blade stroke if you decide to risk it.
So some slow progress. I need to get back into the habit of forcing myself to the bench a little a day, just to keep things moving. I think I’m like every-other day at this point. And sometimes that’s just a single layer down.
He’s a little droopy here, as the poster tack holding together was done last night, and I just snapped that pic. I tried the two handed halbards, but after trying to position them for what seemed like forever, I decided that the swords looked pretty cool as well. Cut the hood off that guy. I think it looks OK, but does go against the common TDA aesthetic. I think he’s going to get a tilting shield once the arm gets glued on to help toughen up his looks a but.
Some progress this morning. The Boy needs to finish up some back homework before the year ends, so we are alternating doing stuff together and him banging that out.
Bad focus, but shows the staff:
Painting:
Building:
Alt build with axe/sword. Magnetized at the wrist. Ultra icon might be a little over the top, but hey, it’s 40k, that’s normal. Head just stuck in there with poster tac, not sure I’ll end up using it. But probably will. Also debating sticking a back banner thing up top.
One of the things we did together was head to the FLGS to grab some paint. I picked up a red and brown contrast paint. He got a base blue and a green contrast. Will be interesting to see how they work.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
The two guys with Zandri Dust base (wraithbone for the singer, flesh for the tech). Over that a glaze of Darkoath Flesh contrast. (scroll up for before picture)
Drybrush with Bleached Bone.
Overall pretty happy. Good flow, nice tint, like the shade. Drybrush really brings it home. Quick, easy good.
Blood Angel Red is still wet here. Mostly over a Khrone Red base, although the sash is an older Blood Red. Not expecting much over dark bases
Singer is basically done, just need to finish the base. I like what the contrast did to the robes. Subtle, but nice. Next time I do a cape I’ll put some highlights under it so the glaze smooths and deepens them. Tech is plugging along. A few more details, then the second blue, wash, etc. Plus his backpack and arm.
Father’s Day weekend was nice. I had The Boy for most of it (let him go early to spend time with his grandfather) but he had a lot of back homework to do before the year end, so not enough time for a game. He got me a Primaris Librarian, so I’ll put him together at some point.
Singer is done, Techmarine just got his blue ink, so is at the touch-up and then base/decal stage. His other arm and backpack are progressing.
Working on an intercessor on the spare handle now that the eldar is off. Bit behind for the year, need to catch up.
Seer is great.
Don’t worry about getting behind if the contrast helps speed things up. Learning new paints and the skills with those will help more in the end than arbitrary numbers. Just don’t procrastinate .
Don’t worry about getting behind if the contrast helps speed things up. Learning new paints and the skills with those will help more in the end than arbitrary numbers. Just don’t procrastinate .
Captain Brown wrote:Nevelon,
You are so far ahead of me with your entry and we only have about a week left to finish.
CB
I’m trying to be better about just spending time at the bench. One layer a day, every day, gets results. Keep chipping away at the pile of shame. I’m not planning on using the contrast paints to speed paint (although I might revisit that if I get a fire lit for my forces of Death). Right now I’m just using them to add more detail, with less work. For example...
Snrub wrote:The bonesinger came out really well, Nev. Those robes are quite smashing!
Those robes are just the new contrast paint at work. Base red + Contrast red + minimal highlights on the edges. Saved me about 3 different layers (and thier dry times) so yes there were some time savings, but not a huge amount in the grand scheme of things. But it does help get a more blended, transitioned look for a lot less work. I’m not sure how much better the browns were then if I had just gave them a chestnut wash. Probably a bit better. But that’s an old ink. I keep on meaning to pick up an agrax earthshade (or whatever the brown shade is these days) which probably gives similar results. Still, the glaze+shade all in one layer is something I enjoy. We’ll find out how it works on purity seals soon.
Progress:
Tech is done with his edges. Just needs the base done. Arm and pack continue to progress. Servo arm is done, backpack is inked (needs edges, which might wait until it’s mounted) and a layer of white is down on the wires as I tend to paint them in colors that cover for crap.
Intercessors are plugging along. Second guy is playing catch up to the first. I’ve painted enough of these guys they don’t take much thought or effort. Just need to crank them out.
I took some pics, and will upload them after work, but done with decals and bases on the tech and the PF sarge. So I might just skip the bench WIP that I just snapped and break out the lightbox for finals.
Washed one of the intercessors on the bench, he needs highlights, The other one needs his clean up blue pass, then he’s ready for washing.
Both DWTDA guys are built and on the to-prime list, pics to follow. Need to figure out what to build next. Might build the wraithblades or dire avengers.
So last month I did a pair of dreads, this month their mechanics.
I sing the songs of creation.
I recite the litanies of Mars
I speak with the spirts of my ancestors, who provide the will bringing life to my creations.
I commune with the machine spirits.
I patch them back up when those boneheads get themselves damaged
I know! Can’t they walk in a straight line without breaking themselves?
<brofist>
So had a bit of fun on this one. Pair of metal models, one legitimately vintage (was painted as a BA for many years) and one MTO fairly recently. A little reminder about the pros and cons of the material. Not really happy with the marine's axe, scratchbuilding is not my fotre. First time out with the contrast paints. Not over white, but the singer is blood angels red over blood red and khorne red. Minimal highlighting. Next time I’ll do a a layer of hilights under the glaze, and a lighter one on top. Quick and easy, and I like the results. Wraithbone and the tech’s face was darkoath flesh over zendi dust (however it’s spelled, beige) Little drybrush on top. Also quick test was the contrast was used to shade the rune hanging off the bottom of his robe, while the rest of the golds got the old chestnut ink. Subtle difference.
The mechanic buddy pics are great. They turned out well, especially the Singer. The powerfist Intercessor also came out looking really cool. The face seems very well-painted and expressive. Looking forward to the DW Terminators.
Techmarine came out very well. It's nice to see a departure from the standard red armour. That particular techmarine sculpt is also my favourite of all the ones they've done. Oh and nice power axe conversion!
Those are a really interesting comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of Contrast. The skin and robes came out top tier, but the armour platings seem a little flat in comparison. For me, it helps me figure out where to use Contrast and where to use traditional washes and highlighting (especially considering I still struggle with skin tones...)
Glad to see you're taking contrast for a spin... nice results on those two! I actually have that Techmarine somewhere-- double points for digging up classic minis!
I try to keep a 1-a-week goal. So 52 models a year. I can normally do better than that, hitting 60-70. At 21 right now, so a bit behind. I do have a pair of intercessors on the bench that are close to done, so that helps.
My full list:
Here are my New Year’s resolutions:
1 Finish painting the odds and ends from my friend's SOB army that I worked on. Just a handfull of arcoflagelents, spare immolater weapons, some IGHQs.
2 Paint more than I buy. 21/8
3 Paint At least 12 spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options. 2/12
4 Try to get more games in. Optimally 24, with at least some being AoS.
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).
6 Get my Deathwatch army to a larger level, 2 more full squads minimum, aiming to field an allied battalion (2HQ, 3Troops) and 1,000 points. 2 units, 239 points added, technically can field a battalion
7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique.
8 Buy, build, and/or paint at least one piece of terrain.
While volume is down, I am hitting a number of my other points. Actual progress on point 1, which has been a solid “nope” for years now. Kept the purchases down, so the pile of shame is shrinking. Not as many games as I’d like, need to work on that more.
So overall, doing well on my goals, but need to work on getting more things across the bench. I know I’m going to loose 2 weeks out of August for vacation, and the end of December is also going to be shot, so I already am short on weeks. It’s been a stressful year for a number of reasons, but things should be better moving forward. The Boy missed a lot of school for minor reasons that were allowed to spiral out of control, so I had to spend a lot of time going to Dr.s apointments and arguing with The Ex to make sure things were done, but not excessively. Fun times. But I also just picked up the Civ VI expansions via Steam’s summer sale, so that’s another thing that just gut-shot my free time.
Anyway, progress.
Need to get back to these guys. One just needs edges, the other his second blue, then wash, etc... Then their gun arms. After that, their squad mates. I’m leaning on The Boy to paint full squads (and finish up all his partial work) so he can get models to table. I should do the same.
Monthly comp: Wild World
Need to get these guys cleaned and primed. I think I might buy one or two of the brown contrast paints to experiment on them. They seem like they would do well with them. As these guys are just going to be entered, spend the rest of 2019 on the YTD shelf, and then go hide somewhere dark, I’m not going to spend a huge amount of time on them. Mostly just an excuse to try some new techniques.
Hope everyone is having a good 4th. Less melancholy this year than last personally. Time heals all wounds they say. Still, enjoy the time with friends and family, and put some grill marks on some meat and have a beer. Or just go to work and have a nice Thursday, for those of you who don’t believe in Freedom.
The posing on that wraithlord was great and I liked the primaris Calgar too. Never seen these old dryads before, so should be interesting to see how they turn out.
My default these days is just to sit around in a melancholy funk unless I have a goal, plan, or something concrete that needs to be done. Motivation, in life and at the hobby bench is a rare commodity, and needs to be worked on. Tracking YTD and setting goals, as well as posting in this blog (and on dakka in general) helps me stay social and moving forward, and not just go full hermit. It’s not as bad as I make it out to be, just been a rough week; holidays alone suck (even if this year was better than last).
And I didn’t get as much painting in on the 4th as I’d hoped. But that’s mostly Civ VI talking.
I did get some work done yesterday and this morning though. Second intercessor is washed. Now both of them need the edges. Put the second blue down on the arms, so the wash for them next. Broke out a pair of brightlances to work on the spare bits backlog, put their first coat down.
Dropped and bobbled my pot of blue, so spent some time getting that out of the carpet. Been a while since I had a spill that bad.
Cleaned up the dryads a bit. Long time since I had to de-flash a model. Not that I work much with metal these days, and the few I have were pretty clean (or previous strip and repaints)
Hope everyone has a nice weekend.
Edit:
Blue wash down on the bolter arms, black on the BLs. Edges next once those dry. I should probably buld something while the paint drys.
Edit 2:
Marines are donw with paint (for the most part) all edged and happy. Need to glue the bolter arms on and a little touchups. Then base/decals, but that might wait until the last two guys are ready. Brightlances done. Will grab pis later.
Promised pic. Put the other two intercessors on the stands, got their first blue down.
Not sure if it’s going to be a nice enough day to prime, some rain washed through here yesterday, and it’s sunny. Often that’s too humid for the rattle can. I should check, but that would require effort. Lazy Sunday goin’ laze...
Edit: Stupid responsible motivation and lovely weather. First blast of primer down, and I’m kicking myself for not having my morning coffee and scones out on the deck. I tend to forget it’s there, and mostly just use it to prime.
Edit2:
Prime for the Prime god! Minis for the bench of paint!
Edit: Stupid responsible motivation and lovely weather. First blast of primer down, and I’m kicking myself for not having my morning coffee and scones out on the deck. I tend to forget it’s there, and mostly just use it to prime.
Funny, but that seems to be the main use of our backyard deck. It is the place of spraying primer...I just have to make certain all the windows are closed so the smell does not get in the house.
Edit: Stupid responsible motivation and lovely weather. First blast of primer down, and I’m kicking myself for not having my morning coffee and scones out on the deck. I tend to forget it’s there, and mostly just use it to prime.
Funny, but that seems to be the main use of our backyard deck. It is the place of spraying primer...I just have to make certain all the windows are closed so the smell does not get in the house.
Cheers,
CB
I do worry about fumigating the people on the other balconies, but I just pick a time when they are not out. My other option is to drag everything down 3 flights of stairs and do it out on the lawn/parking lot.
So last weekend I hit the FLGS to try to get a pot of the new Snakebite Leather contrast paint to do the dryads with. They were sold out. As I had my heart set on using that color, I did what any senseble person would do. I used my original pot. It always covered for crap, so was basically a contrast paint anyway.
But it’s all about contrast paints these days, so I hit her with the flesh wash.
Not bad, not bad at all. I want to take a paler color to the smooth spots without bark/teeth/claws. Not sure what to do with the little round growth looking things. I should probably break out an old army book for some reference pics.
Steadfast and reliable are what Ultramarines are all about. Life might throw us in the blender, but we soldier on. That or I’m just stubborn. But seriously, This blog and posting here on Dakka is my primary social interaction. I’m naturally a hermit. Keeping at it keeps me focused, gives me a “safe” outlet to talk/vent, and connects me with other like minded people. Plus helps keep my hobby on track. Without it, I’d just slouch into the recliner and binge watch netflix. Which I probably do too much of as it is. I also tend to wallow in melancholy, so it’s good to have a positive, productive hobby to keep me focused and moving forward. We march for Macragge!
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Anyway, hobby progress.
No pics, as slug boy is still sleeping in my spare room, but some progress from the week. Edit:
Intercessors have all their bases down, drybrushed, and the black/brown washes done. Next step is the clean up blue pass, then the main blue wash.
I drybrushed a little bleached bone on the dryad. Flipping through the old WE army book, those nodules are done in green. I think I’ll hit them with a goblin green. Also, I think I might try for a glowing emerald for the eyes. Probably paint them white/yellow, and then hit the socket with a green ink. Maybe borrow The Boy’s Ork flesh green contrast paint and just drop a bit in there. I think the way it flows might do well for a faux-OSL eye.
Last night The Boy and I sat down to work on a list for him with his own models, with a heavy focus on what he has painted already, and partially done squads. The idea is to get him a roadmap to a fully painted 1,500 point list by the end of the year. Right now he’s got a huge pile of painted HQs, and just a few scraps of squads. Which isn’t completely fair to him. Just yesterday he finished the last guy for a 5 man sniper scout squad, and he has a complete 5 man intercessor squad. He also has a rhino he did, and a 10 man sternguard squad I painted for him. I think the number of guys he needs to paint/finish painting for the list as 20. Which is doable, even at the 1-a-week rate that I believe anyone can manage. But if he really pushes, he might be able to do it before the end of summer. And once you have a solid core of an army you can play, it becomes a lot easier to add/swap units around to grow. Which hopefully, will form a self-sustaining reaction to fuel his hobby progress.
Glad to hear the (virtual) contact helps. I have found most serious modellers are exceptionally nice people (barring me obviously), so you are in good company.
Seeing those Dryads takes me back, the rules for them when they were introduced were hilarious.
With the different aspects they could choose, it looked like they were very flexible. Never got them to the table myself, but I think I only actually fielded my Wood Elves once, in a little 500 point team thing, or something like that. Memory hazy. But the original idea was everything either on the wing, or made of trees. So these gals were going to form the core of the ground presence.
After putting the green and some more focused BB on the lighter parts, I hit her with the flesh wash again. Nice results. I’ll try to get pics later, but again, Slug in the spare room. I think I’d do the squad using the contrast paint basically like a dip. Base snakebite leather, pick out the green nodules, hit the light wood with bleached bone, slather with contrast paint. Highlight pass to pick out a few points, eyes. Base and done.
Game yesterday.
Relic. Ultras vs. Salamanders.
In another thread where we were discussing what aspects of the hobby we partake, I had to punch the box for “collector”. I don’t think of myself as buying minis just to have them, but I have. There is no reason I needed to have 2x10 man squads of assault marines, barring the ability to say I have a full battle company on the shelf. How often are you going to put them all on the table? Yesterday. That’s when. And while I was at it, I knocked the dust off the back half of the VVs. I can’t believe it’s not Blood Angels. I think 7th had a formation that was basically 30 jump pack troops dropping out of a thunderhawk onto the table. Pretty much this.
His list was a much more mixed medley. It started out as the list we built for him to get painted, but he wanted to try out a few things so it ended up completely transformed. Inceptors were packing plasma.
Deployment:
I roll to go first, he seizes.
He pushes forward a bit, rolls OK (but forgets a LOT of his captain aura/Salamander CT; something he will do ALL GAME). I make most of my saves, and all he kills is one scout. He tried to orbital bombard by chaplain who was hiding in a building out of LOS, but missed the roll. Interesting gamble. With so much of my army off the table, loosing turn 1 was a risk. He charges his scouts into my snipers, some slapping occurs.
I swing the SR over and drop a bunch of wounds on the repulsor. Not enough to lower it to the middle bracket. My chaplain jumps up to the hill, and my CC scouts pile and and polish off his squad.
End of turn 1
He unloads his transports. The sternguard and a captain storm the hill, and his primaris fall back to secure positions. He drops my Raven, and shoots up my scouts pretty bad (I think he kills them all). Eliminators try to snipe out the chaplain, but his rosarious protects him. He charges the melta tac squad that fell out of the stormraven with his repulsor, which was not a horrible idea as having to fall back to shoot will make them less effective. Unfortunately, he’s within 3” of my TH captain, so he heroicly intervenes. I think he also charged in with the intercessors, but I may have charged him on my turn, I forget. I used the fight twice strat and mangled the tank. His captain and my chaplain dance a bit on the hill. I know I come out on alive, but wounded. Might have lasted an extra fight phase.
My turn the sky opens up and it starts raining marines. Some light shooting, and a lot of failed charges. However, the VVs make contact with the sternguard, and give them a nice murdering. My captain finishes off the repulsor, and consolidates into the intercessors.
End of turn 2
Turn 3 he drops in Inceptors down on the hill with the eliminators. They and the Hellblasters pour a huge amount of fire onto my jump captain, who tanks most of it with the Shield Eternal. But does loose 3 wounds. He needed to die before he blenders them all. The dread plows into the VVs and crumps a few. Would have been more if he had remembered his re-rolls; but I still had some SSs left at that point. His razor is closest to my chaplain, so vaporizes him.
My captain multicharges the eliminators and inceptors. Assault marines move up, shoot and then charge the hellblasters and razor respectively. The captain puts the hammer into the plasma hoppers, and squishes them nicely. A lot of slapping ensues in the other fights, but I pull a few hellblasters down with the sarge’s power sword and weight of dice. Dread eats a few more VVs.
End of turn 3:
At this point we need to break for dinner, and decide to just call the game. I’m chewing up his units, and he’s not going to be able to grab the objective before I abscond with it.
Victory Ultramarines!
I blame a lot of my win on two factors. One was I was playing a bit of a skew list. The only vehicle I had was the SR, and he had a reasonable amount of AV firepower mostly wasted. In my defense, I had wrote this list weeks ago, and the list I thought he was going to play today was much more focused on taking out troops. Plus, there is only so guilty I’m going to feel about playing a list with 20 assault marines in it. The other major factor was him totally spacing on his re-rolls all game long, even when I reminded him once or twice.
Not fresh paint, but he was experimenting with plasma inceptors. Those things put out a stupid amount of firepower, but are crazy fragile for their points. In a normal marine list they could work as a suicide unit, but I think imbedding them in kill teams would be nice for deathwatch.
That's funny my 2nd Assault has finally neared the top of my to do list and part of me is thinking 'is this really the best use of my time..' Still the completist in me requires the battle company to be finished.
I was also thinking about plasma Inceptors but the cost increase is crazy (+70pts, admittedly on a squad of 5) for an already pricey unit, and they've come down a lot. Primaris stuff was costed so highly in the OG Codex and with 2-3 straight price decreases they are still not cheap.
RandyMcStab wrote: That's funny my 2nd Assault has finally neared the top of my to do list and part of me is thinking 'is this really the best use of my time..' Still the completist in me requires the battle company to be finished.
I was also thinking about plasma Inceptors but the cost increase is crazy (+70pts, admittedly on a squad of 5) for an already pricey unit, and they've come down a lot. Primaris stuff was costed so highly in the OG Codex and with 2-3 straight price decreases they are still not cheap.
Nothing quite a nice as a full battle company on the shelf! Even if most of it doesn’t see play often.
Inceptors are comparable to hellblasters. 6 T5 wounds rather then 10 T4, (so probably less tough against most fire) but 6d3 shots vs 5/10 rapid fire. HBs have range, Inceptors have speed. Inceptros don’t need an expensive transport to survive to optimal range.
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Painting progress:
Did a second test. The first had the flesh wash before and after the details, the second only after. I think I like the tone of the first better. Might put a second coat on the other guy to have him match, see what that does to the details.
This should be my 15,000 post on Dakka. I may have a problem.
Edit: Well, it was nice being a Chaplain with hate to spare, but at least now I get a nice pair of gloves to keep my fingers warm. And crush the foes of mankind...
They both look good, I think as you get more done the variances will make the whole look even better. You might even want to try and do areas on some where they get the two coats and some areas with only the one coat. Maybe the legs and chest in the two coats and the arms and face with only one. The lighter colors making those areas look more flexible.
Looking good. The eyes are a nice bit of color. Lovely old school models. Have a unit painted up, myself. One of the few things I kept from my short-lived Wood Elf army back in WHFB.
I like what they are doing with the modern tree spirit stuff, but the mix of elf and forest units was what drew me to WE back in the day. I think they are separate in AoS, but will admit to not paying particularly close attention. Right now AoS is mostly just a painting project for me. The “local” scene is only at the FLGS an hour away, and they tend to be competitive, which makes it hard for new players to join in. I’m sure they would accommodate by bringing soft lists if I asked, but I’d hate to do that.
Done. I broke out some moss to add some brambles to the bases. Next step is formal shots. (They needed to be ranked up in a movement tray. Anyone else have a pile of those old green ones collecting dust?)
Over in the What's your backlog thread I decided to do a light inventory over coffee.
Nevelon wrote: When the hateful Day-Star is a burnt out cinder, my pile of shame will endure. The grey legions are without count, and are only the third wave, reinforcing the old guard of “safe” alloys and a core of lead from dark ages past. For the mortal mind to ponder the piles of the unbuilt and unfinished is to court madness; the scope of such is beyond human ken.
My primed pile of active projects is about 90ish assorted models. I should do a formal inventory. My active to-build list will probably add another 30-40 models to that. This assume I buy nothing more, or dig deep into the pile for projects to do for painting competitions.
So I thought I’d inventory my primed pile while drinking my morning coffee. Once I wake up enough, I’ll try to chip away at it.
Ultramarines: 33 12 RTB01 bolter marines 3 RT assault marines on foot 2 RT veterans 1 RT captain 5 30k destroyers 1 terminator librarian 1 primaris standard bearer 2 blind-box heroes 1 ML/SB tank hatch crewman 2 scouts 1 stalker/hunter/command tank 1 stormhawk 1 TML/HB land speeder
Misc.: 8 1 nighthaunt axe guy 3 nighthaunt scythe guys 1 nighthaunt bell guy 1 sister of sigmar novice 2 D&D young wizards
Hm 66. Lower then I thought. Of course, I’ve got 10 things active out on my painting area, and that doesn’t count the spare bits and options kicking around. The guns to swap my LRR to a LRC alone should count as a mini or two. Plus some assorted scatter terrain bits.
The short to-build list, from stuff I own
Ultramarines: 1 primaris librarian ?? finish stripping the RTB01 stuff.
Eldar: 5 dire avengers 5 wraithblades w/axes 1 farseer on foot
Terrain: 3d printed crates, ruins, pipes, etc. foam hills
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Now at the rate I paint, that’s more then a year’s worth of stuff primed. So no risk of running out before the end of next winter. I do need to start thinking about squirreling stuff away though. The time in the pipe for a project to be purchased, built, and then primed can be quite lengthy. So if it’s something I want to do before next spring, I need to give it some thought. I’d like to be able to put more boots on the table for Deathwatch. Right now I’ve got my poorly equipped old squad, and 2x5 man intercessor teams. The back 5 for the primaris are primed and ready for paint, but I’d like to get a 10 man vet squad with proper gear. Right now I’ve got 2 SB/CCW guys and 4 heavies. I should probably build the SS guys next, that would make for a pretty nasty squad. I’d also like to get the wraithblades with axes built. I want some chop on the table, right now my only options for CC are HQs.
Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend, --Nev
Edit: Clipped the wraithblades. I’ll get started cleaning them soonish. Also finally got around to putting the second blue down on an intercessor. I’d do more, but my back’s had a rough week, so not spending a lot of time at the bench.
There is unrest in the Forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the Maples want more sunlight
And the Oaks ignore their pleas.
The trouble with the Maples
(And they’re quite convinced they’re right)
They say the Oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the Oaks can’t help their feelings
If they like the way they’re made
And they wonder why the Maples
Can’t be happy in their shade?
There is trouble in the Forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the Maples scream ‘Oppression!’
And the Oaks, just shake their heads
So the Maples formed a Union
And demanded equal rights
‘The Oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light’
Now there’s no more Oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet,
Axe,
And saw…
(Rush, The Trees)
Final pics:
I dug deep into the pile of shame for these guys. Originally my “good” WHFB army was going to be wood elves. Idea was everything either on the wing, or made out of wood. Never really came together. But I had a chunk of old dryads kicking around collecting dust So I thought I’d break them out this month. I wanted to try out the new snakebite leather contrast paint, but my FLGS was sold out, so I used my old snakebite leather paint and Darkoath flesh to get a similar effect. These guys came together real quick once I finished out what I wanted to do. Liking the new contrast paints, even if I’m basically using it as a dip/glaze for these guys. Obviously not going to win any awards, but I think a nice solid table top for a reasonably light amount of effort.
This should be the last of the Wood Elves. There is one Dryad missing a base, and I think the rider for the forest dragon. Neither of which is likely to ever see the light day. Unless there is something else forgotten lurking in the pile of shame, but I honestly don’t think there is Only hope there is if I decide I want a new bike autarch for the eldar, I might check the dragon rider and see if he’s got any parts worth working with.
In other news I’ve got all the blues down on the intercessors, so need to start on the blue washes. I also need to clean and get ready for my folks visiting this weekend/next week, so not sure how much painting is going to get done.
Just a quick minimal content post to prove I’m still alive and blogging. I put the first blue coat down on the hunter before I stepped away from my bench. Going to have to keep on the ball to finish it once I get back, which will be Sunday.
Dryads are polling well. Nostalgia and tight theme adherence seem to be a path to victory. Might end up being my highest voted thing this year. We’ll see.
OK, back at the bench Everyday a new layer. No pause, no skipping. Need to keep this moving, despite the lull in motivation and short time. Need to pick out more details (grey skulls, aquila, optics) then the second blue and wash. Plus the turret and all the bits and bobs.
And eventually wash those two intercessors.
Ordered the new codex and UM supplement. Ultras here now, still waiting for the codex. Will need to read and digest them, plus putter around in some lists once battlescribe updates. My initial take from the leaks is that I need to put together some alt-gunned intercessors. Probably 5 stalkers, 5 auto.The unbuilt Primaris librarian The Boy got for me will be magnetized with a staff for a Tiggy counts-as. And I think I need to build a new chapter champion. Maybe a TDA ancient. Now that the vanguard marines are in multipart kits, I need about 10 of the basic guys and 2 squads of eliminators. Might grab a box of reivers to kitbash a captain and LT, need to buy the lib. As I’m not in any rush, I might wait to see if bundles come out at the end of the year. But as my list of things I covet starts reaching into the 30-40 model range, I’d like to find some savings.
ZergSmasher wrote: Are you using Contrast paint on that vehicle? I'm not sure that's going to work well without an inordinate number of coats.
Nope, just my normal sloppy base blue, slightly more tidy blue, (more layers if needed) blue ink (highlight) procedure I use for all my Ultras. The first coat is pretty thin.
Just finished the second blue coat with the big brush, still need to use a smaller brush to get into some of the little bits. Also started some accessories. Progress!
3D printing a champion shoulderpad. Hopefully it’s usable. Going to make a new company champion. Like the blender-like nature of him, going to use a lot of the UM specific parts off the upgrade sprue. I might also look to put together another HG with an axe, just so I have a pair of “official” ones. Not sure how index options interact with supplements. Stupid no-model, no rules. Grumble grumble...
Edit:
Blue wash down on the hull. Shoulderpad came out pretty good. Interspersing paint and breaks.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Washed the intercessors. Need cleanup and edges. Puttering along. Going out for dinner with friends, so that’s probably a wrap for today. Hopefully some solid progress tomorrow. I’d like to get all these guys to the "almost done" stage by the end of the weekend.
Cool, I was always tempted to use the front plate on a Pred (instead I built that plasticard thing). I thought it would show the AV13 better. Now they are only Rhinos plus 1W it's probably not worth it ;p
I'm always surprised to see these things at T8 too, the new strat is ace (though probably slightly better with the AC one), have you used the Hunter before?
RandyMcStab wrote: Cool, I was always tempted to use the front plate on a Pred (instead I built that plasticard thing). I thought it would show the AV13 better. Now they are only Rhinos plus 1W it's probably not worth it ;p
I'm always surprised to see these things at T8 too, the new strat is ace (though probably slightly better with the AC one), have you used the Hunter before?
The different Toughness and Wounds for 8th makes me shake my head a bit. The Pred is one of our oldest MBTs, but because it dates from an early era of model design, gets to hang out with the rhino/razor for durability. Meanwhile the AA tanks, which should be more akin to the lightly armored tanks, is tougher. Makes no sense. Oh well. Is what it is. I think if you wanted to make tougher looking tank, stealing bits from the Hunter and the Vindi , and then slapping a pred turret up top would look the part. Still be T7 though.
I’ve not played with it yet. Haven’t felt strongly enough to proxy, and still stick to my play it painted philosophy. For 75 points it seems a very good deal. That’s less then a 5 man tac squad with a LC. And it’s a lot better in most roles. Sure, it might degrade, but put 5 wounds onto the footsloggers, and they are done. The strat looks interesting, definitely better for the stalker. Gives me another reason to paint up the HK/SB driver, as it looks to affect all the guns. One of these days I’ll try out a brigade, so a cheap HS pick will be useful to have.
And not to totally go all meta, but The Boy really loves flying a Stormraven. Tossing some AA up in it’s face might make him diversify his army selections. Of course, when he has free range of the shelf when I’m playing my Eldar, it might do unseemly things to my Crimson Hunter. Of course, the Stalker would be worse for me there, as it will also erase large chunks of my army.
Overall I decided to go with the hunter first, over the stalker for a few reasons. One is looks. I like the big launcher (that’s what she said!). The other is that it’s more of a TAC tank. The hunter can shoot at ground targets without penalties, a flexible edge over the stalker. I like solid hits. I know the math says that weight of mid-range fire is statistically better. But our fickle little 6 sided friends don’t really belive in mathhammer. When a clutch roll needs to be made, they can screw you. When it’s all on one big die, a CP can help save you. Relying on the laws of averages is like going on a date with destiny, and she just ordered the lobster.
In painting progress I just put the blue wash down on the remaining parts. Next up is edges for them, and assembly, touch ups, and decals.
Almost done. Glue is drying, then I need to go back and touch up a few things, maybe stick a decal or two on.
Read the release from NOVA. Plastic Howling Banshees. They will be mine. Hopefully some other cool shiny things. Need to pick up the painting pace if I want to add to the pile of shame. The only reason I’m ahead on my paint more then I buy goal is the lack of new stuff, not any real productivity on my part...
Hunter looks pretty good so far. Once you pick up the small details I'm sure it'll look great! I've debated picking one up for my Dark Angels, but as yet we haven't gotten the points drops that vanilla Marines got, plus I'm probably going to save my hobby money for plastic Sisters when they drop...
That's looking really great... nice color saturation, even finish, and precise details. Can't wait to see the finished pics... awesome addition to the Painting Challenge.
Hunter done. Turned out OK, but I hate painting tanks. I knew it was going to be a slog, and rushed, as I did in half the month. But persistence pays off. A little time at the bench every day, just to put down one layer, and eventually you will finish any project.
Which brings us to the halfway point of the competition yesr:
Pretty happy here. Nice mix of stuff, both scale and armies. I think the dryads placed the best tied for 5th, or close to it. I’d have to double check the votes at the wire. Tight to the theme and nostalgia FTW!. I’d like to get both my Eldar and Deathwatch solo entries, but we are almost out of months. Next month I’m going to mix them in another duel, October is undead, November is undecided, then the December wildcard. Which is going to be a short month for me again, as I’m visiting my folks for the holidays. I’d like to get the back half of a fortis kill team done. At least 5 reivers/inceptors/agressors. In an ideal world, I’d finish 10 of them, so both KTs are finished. The war walkers would make for a good entry, but I could probably use the WS that’s sitting around more on the table. We’ll see what the vote is for Nov, I can try to do one army for that and the other for the free pic in Dec.
When voting for next month, I picked “Up, Up, and Away” to use as an excuse to paint the stormhawk languishing in the primed pile. But I need to get my volume up; I’m behind for the year. Two goals are at risk. One if the 1-a-week goal, and the other is the paint more than I buy goal. Which I’m knocking out of the park right now, but that is probably going to change. Plastic aspect warriors, multipart Vanguard marine kits. I suspect I might pick up a number of things this holiday season. Depending on contents, there is a real change I grab the marine megaforce. I want all the new stuff, and with the rules changes, a lot of the old stuff as well. So even if there is a stinker or two in the box, it’s probably still a good deal. And if we get more then one aspect in plastic and they release a swordwind box, I’m sunk for that as well. So I need to paint like a mad fool to get ahead of the curve.
Next month going to try to bang out all 5 of these guys. Continuing my “Duel” theme, a squad of windriders attempt to intercept a pair of deathwatch inceptors screaming down from orbit.
Edit: Just put the edges on those last two intercessors. Just need to glue their arms on, and then base and decal the squad.
Edit2: Since the Intercessors just moved off the painting handles, and next month’s entry will not need them, I just put the first black coat down on a pair of Deathwatch reivers.
Edit3: Decals done, rocks and tufts glued on the intercessors. Need to be flocked then they are done.
Edit4: Have I mentioned lately how irritating it is cleaning mold lines off Eldar? 2/5 wraithblades cleaned. Going to wait until they are all clean before final assembly in case I want to swap legs/arms around for posing.
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And done. That should be a wrap for all the intercessors I own. 15 from DI boxes, 10 from the full kit. 3x5 squads for the Ultras, 2 sarges with power swords, one with a fist. 3 AGLs. Deathwatch is 2x5, power swords on both, one stock rifles, one assaults.
With the new rule I want 15-30 more. Sad, I know. I’d like at least a 5 man stick with the snipers, for backfield camping. At least a 5 man squad with assaults, possibly a full 10. 3 shots a pop seems pretty sweet. I’d also like to get the bodies to boost at least one squad up to 10 men, for use with the strats.
And maybe some for KT specialist.
In other news, 3/5 wraithblades cleaned and sub-assembled. Layer of brown down on the reiver pouches. Fun thing I noticed, on the inner thighs of the intercessors there are little loop looking things. On reivers, these are where the straps for the pouches get threaded through. Nice nod to the modular nature of the Mk X suits.
Fun thing I noticed while reading the codex: Scout bikes are no longer limited to 3 AGLs. While I think bolters are a better option, haveing the capacity to fit them out entirely with assault weapons has a certain charm. 16” Move +6” assault + AGLs and shotguns = fun. And because you advanced, you can get a 3++ vs. shooting with 2CP.
Also, the stormtalon/hawk are going to love Scions of Guiliman and moving and shooting heavies. No PotMS and the need to move. Makes them a lot more attractive.
Even in death, we serve!
Wait, is that our line?
I don’t know, I’m so confused.
Has anyone seen the spiritseer?
...
Axeguard built. I’ve felt the need for some chop in my Eldar lists, but unfortunatly only had Jain Zar, as there are limits to my collection of old metals, I refuse to use resin, and only so many plastic options. So now that these guys are built, we get pics of plastic banshees. Oh well. Room for both in a list. These guys are more of an anvil unit, hopefully the gals will be a blender. But no idea how long until they release, might be months. And we are in the home stretch for priming season, so good that I got these guys built.
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Courage and Honour!
Took a little trimming to get the torso halves together. But he needed the cape. Then finding a pair of legs that would fit between the pturges and the cape. (Mk. IV for the BaC box). After that, just tweaking arms and angles until I was happy. Left the torso unglued from the legs to help paint the cape.
Looking at the rules, he a right blender. Should be fun on the table.
Chapter Champion? Looks great. Yes he has quite good rules now. I much prefer your version as I never liked the OG one. The Chapter Ancient is also pretty good as he gets the same range as the Relic banner (9") something else for you to convert.
The entries are impressive too (that's what she said). I'm always impressed by your consistent output, I tend to have splurges followed by long periods of inaction. Still I've got a bunch of stuff done recently and don't have too much to do before I start my own Primaris stuff. I definitely want to do some more Inters and Inecptors.
Ever since 8th dropped with the more restictive gear options, my old HG squad banner guys has been on the short list of mod I need to do. He’s got a bolter right now, which should be a simple swap for power sword. Just need to break a knife out and paint a spare bit. Not that I field a lot of ancients, chapter, company, or otherwise. But it’s good to have options.
My old chapter champ was packing a TH, which is not an option these days, hence the new guy.
This year has not been a good one for motivation and productivity. I’ve been keeping at it, but some days I just want to sit and vegetate. Not a good thing. I might not be going out and being as social as I should, but at least I’m not compltely passive. Year is 2/3rds over, and I’m not sure I’m going to make my goals. There are some cool looking minis on the horizon though, so those might spark some interest.
Anyway, back to the paintbench with me. No other plans for this long weekend, might as well try to be productive.
It’s a rainy day out, I’ve got the day off, drinking my coffee and waiting for the wash to dry on the deathwatch on the bench. So time for some random woolgathering.
Over in the “Players with large (4,000+) armies thread, Elbows broke down his army by categories, and I thought it would be interesting to see how mine set. As I’ve got it plugged into battlescribe, it was just a mater of pulling my roster up and grabbing the numbers. After I went through and corrected all the errors I get when the codex updates. I should probably doublecheck everything, sometimes units get cut and replaced completely, so I need to re-add them. But here is where we stand.
Ultramarines. 13,104 points
HQ -- 3,196 points, 24% (31 models)
Troops -- 1,979 points, 15% (130 models)
Elites -- 3,019 points, 23% (70 models)
Fast Attack -- 1,068 points, 8% (40 models)
Heavy Support -- 2,186 points, 16% 50 models)
Flyer -- 502 points, 4% (2 models)
Dedicated Transport -- 815 points, 6% (8 models)
Lord of War -- 350 points, 3% (1 model)
And a quick count puts me at 363 models, including tanks and the like. Recounting to get the category numbers comes up less, but I suspect that’s the mess of the swap shelf at work. One of these days I should pull everything off the shelf and get a full army pic and a detailed tally, and glamor shots of the units that still need it. Might be a good project for a weekend when I have The Boy.
Now that number could be a lot higher. This is at shelf deployment, and there are a number of wargear options that could be added. Slots are also a little skewed, as my swap shelf consists of a lot of loose heavy/special weapons and old sergeants that were formed up into Dev squads and command squads just to tally them up.
I shouldn’t be surprised that troops made up only 15% of my points, while being over a third of the model count. Also the fact that the HQs eat up a quarter of my points for being less than a tenth of the model count is not shocking. Little surprised by the elite model count. I know I have 3x10 stern/van vets squads, and 3x5 terminators. I forget I also have 2x5 30k era terminators, and all the dreads, apothecaries and non-HQ characters add up very fast.
Anyway, that took longer than I expected. Of course, I was distracted and wandered around while typing it up. Hope everyone enjoys their day.
--Nev
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Second black down on the inceptors. Need grey edges, gloss coats for lenses/wax seals, assembly, decals and bases. Honestly just a few days if I put my mind to it. And a chunk of that is glue drying.
The reivers are ready for their second blacks, and then all of that. Plus their guns/gun arms.
Not bad progress for the weekend. I should get started on the bikes, but want to finish these guys first.
Wow, that is a lot of points of Ultramarines...that does not include the ones that you painted for your son that he is using as Salamanders does it?
Cheers,
CB
They Boy has his own minis, which he paints at his own pace. When he’s over here playing games, he will normally borrow from my collection of Ultras to fill out (or just make) his army. So I don’t paint Ultras for him to use, but he gets to use mine. I have painted a few Salamanders for him (gravis captain, sternguard) which are not counted in my tally. That list is only my painted Ultras. Primed/built/on sprue not included. Also not Deathwatch, Blood Angels, or any other non-Ultra forces. Filthy Xenos are right out. Ballpark guess for total painted 40k minis on the shelves would probably be around 18K, more if I knock the dust off some really old stuff and try to figure out rules for them.
When you have 13k+ on the shelf it’s actually pretty easy to put two 2,000 point lists on the table. It might be an interesting thought experiment to see how many lists I could break it down into. Could I do a battle royal with 6x2k armies? Would I run out of certain elements, making some lists just dysfunctional lumps of points slapped together? I suspect 6 would be pushing it; could probably do 4.
In painting news, put the greylines down on one of the inceptors. Did the eyes/wax seals yesterday. Getting there.
My collections getting so big, sometimes I forget what I have. Good to do a survey from time to time.
Finished all the highlights on the inceptors, and glued one pack on. Once they paint is a little more dry on the other, his will get glued on as well. After that, decals and bases. Plus any touch-ups I notice.
And then, bikes.
I’ll try to grab a pic when they are a little more together.
I forgot to paint the top of the base white. Having them separate from the mini through me off rhythm. Not a huge deal, the flock paste covers it pretty well anyway. Which is the last step for these guys. Glue is drying on the rocks and tufts now. For whatever reason decals were a bear on these guys. Ruined the one on the Fulminator, had to start over.
Put down the first red on the bike canopies. Also, the second black coat on one of the reivers.
Edit: And flocked. Plus a few more red coats down. Probably enough; I can never get it as smooth as I’d like. Need to give them plenty of time to dry/cure, then I’ll break out the tap and give them their stripes. Plus start the rest of the bikes.
Inceptors look pretty nice! Wish I could see the shoulder pads better to tell which Chapters they originally came from. I guess we'll get more pics whenever you post your final challenge entry pics though, right?
The forced perspective is due to their angle. If I actually want to get them in frame I need to take a pic low and to the front, so no long shots. This does fun things with the depth of focus. This long shot should give you an idea how far forward they lean. Hate those new flight stands.
Chapters are transfers from the old vehicle sheet. As it turns out, the winged lightning bolt is from a primaris chapter, the Fulminators. So I painted the shoulder pad to match his chapter colors from the new codex. The rest of his armor would be a nice blue. The other guy I need to make a chapter name for. I didn’t recognize it, and couldn’t find out who it belonged to on a quick search. So I just picked some colors I didn’t have a lot of in my KTs for variety and just ran with it. A lot of the non-scuplted chapters are going to be like that. Find a random transfer, see if I can find chapter colors to match. If none are found, just pick some to complement the squad. Going to be a lot of that with the reivers and aggressors.
Bikes are getting there. Started the stripes, drybrushed the silvers. Still a lot of work on the bikes and riders to go.
I’ve got a lot of random transfers for Deathwatch, I should select some for the reivers. Speaking of which, I got the second guy’s black down, so next step is the edgeing. And more work on the guns, got the drybrush down on those. Plugging away.
I’ve got one more still on sprue. No idea what I’ll do with it.
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Didn’t grab pics yesterday, dut got a game of KT in with The Boy. He wanted to try out Elites, and eliminators. His team was 3 of them and 4 intercessors (125 point lists). I ran 3xVVs and 3 sniper, 1 ML scouts. Mission was for the attacker (Me) to discover which of the 3 objectives was the real one, and then blow it up by rolling a 6 while holding it (one roll per guy on it).
He has initiative all game.
First round I advance my jump troops under the lip of the hill, out of LoS. First shot of the game drops my ML gunner cold. I guess those eliminators know their jobs (or his dice were hot, and mine were not, a trend that will follow the game) My snipers might plink a wound off, not sure.
Second round, I pop up ontop of the hill, with one charging two on the left, while 2 take the center. My sarge carves his sniper in half with a relic blade, and I stab the wounds off two other guys. My scouts get shot up a bit. Turns out the middle objective is the one I need, I don’t roll a 6.
Third round my sarge eats a bolt pistol to the face, my flanker falls back to the center to help with the objective, and I continue to roll like crap. I think at this point I’ve lost 3/7 guys, so no break test yet. 2 guys on the objective, no 6’s.
Turn 4 One of my vets goes down to rifle buts and harsh language. I put a couple of flesh wounds on his primaris. I loose another sniper to shooting. I fail my break test, sniper gets shaken. Still no 6.
We go to turn 5.
Whole lot of nothing from everyone. Maybe another flesh wound gets handed out. I think my surviving vet has two at this point. Both my guys fail their nerve tests, game ends.
Victory Salamanders!
I knew when I was taking them that 6 points for a jump pack was crazy. They give you fly and 12” of movement. But in KT, you charge instead of moving, not in addition to it. So not as good as you’d think. Ignoring vertical was also a nice perk, and it did let me shoot my grav pistol after falling back without penalty. But I basically blew 1/6 of my points for looks. He had twice the wounds I did on the table. I forgot how sturdy that extra wound makes primaris. When the game ended, most of his guys had their spare wound carved or plinked off. Some of that is my fault for spreading out the pain, but when some were for CC and others shooting, it was hard to concentrate to polish off guys. Eliminators make good long range support. Shocking. And I don’t think he was using them as well as he could have. He was shooting the big bullets at camo cloaked scouts. If he was using the +to hit ones, he might have swept my lines clear turn 2.
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Hopefully going to get a game of 40k in today. Depends how long it takes him to do his homework.
Proof I’m still painting. Been a slow week. I took pics for a battle report on Sunday with the new codex, I’ll try to write that up. Month is ticking along, I need to catch up.
Good work on the bikes, I have a bunch of those that need to get painted at some point. How did the masking work? I tried it before and ended up with a ridge at the edge of the masking.
Gitsplitta wrote:Nice progress Nev, keep up the good work!
Thanks. Slow work, but progress.
Tyranid Horde wrote:Good work on the bikes, I have a bunch of those that need to get painted at some point. How did the masking work? I tried it before and ended up with a ridge at the edge of the masking.
There is a little bit of a ridge, yes. The paint is naturally going to want to pool against the tape. If I used an airbrush, or was able to get my paint to some magical consistancy, I might be ableto avoid it. If it gets real bad I could try to buff it down a little. The smooth natures of the biles would make it pretty easy. But at the end of the day, there are so many more things about my table-top standard that daraw the eye as an issue. The lines get a “Wow, nice and crisp” rather then “Slight ridge there you missed” It’s all relative quality. If I painted to a higher standard, I’d take action or use other techniques.
I’ve got one more still on sprue. No idea what I’ll do with it.
Post on the Swap Shop, if you had been there eleven months ago I would have bought it to bring my 5 up to 6.
The stripes on the bikes all look very good.
Cheers,
CB
Selling models is a odd point for me. I’ve got a lot of stuff, some of it old/rare, that I don’t ever see myself using. But I don’t know it’s value, I don’t use e-bay, and frankly, I don’t want to put the effort into learning the ins and outs of shipping costs, pay pal, scammers, etc. I have things I’d like to have sold, but don’t want to sell them. I’d also like to skip the middle man. There are people who will buy stuff cheap, and flip it for profit. They use their knowledge of the market to make a little profit, I understand. But my one time floating the idea of selling stuff was met with an insulting lowball offer that frankly soured me to the concept. I do occasionally poke my nose into the swap shot and look at the “Wants” for anything esoteric that I might have, and see if it’s someone I know who’s asking. I’d put effort into helping a friend with a project, but not a stranger looking to flip a buck.
For any friends who do reguarly follow my blog, if you hear me mention having something random in my Pile of Shame/shelf that I say is collecting dust that you could use, let me know. Some of it I do have an attachment to or plans for, but some I would part with to a good home. Worst case I say “no”, without hard feelings.
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No more painting progress since last time. Might not have a chance to sit down again until the weekend. I think my goal will be to get all the WIPs done. Lot of guys in the final-ish steps. Also in the news, I got my eyes checked Tuesday and will be getting new glasses in a week or so. Hopefully that will help my painting. No bifocals yet.
Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day (Arrrr...) so don’t forget to have some rum and a festive meal in the Pastafarian tradition. The rum and having the make meatballs to go with the spaghetti is the reason I’m probably not getting any painting done tonight.
So a week late, but here is the battle report from when The Boy was over.
My list:
I probably should have included my other techmarine as well, just to have them all out for a field trip. But a chunk of tanks and dreads, lead by Guiliman, around a core of intercessors with a splash of bikes.
His list:
Paired chunks of heavy armor, supported by some phobos, 1st company vets, and some intercessors. The gravis captain is being used as a counts-as for Vulcan He’stan.
Missions is the one where characters can score more points if they hold objectives. I get first turn.
He’s got a combination of 2 big targets and a lot of forward deployed infiltrators. I put a savage mangling on both his tanks, but don’t kill either one of them. My bikes charge his eliminators, and some pretty crappy dice rolls keep me from bum rushing his other flank with my blenders.
His eliminators and infiltrators fall back and all his troops disembark from the tanks. He pours some fire into my bikes, but they weather it pretty well. The Vindi gets blown off the table, and Chonos gets shot up a little. A few more wounds get handed out. He gets first blood.
Things get real ugly, real fast for him. My shooting polishes off the repulsor (which shoots Guiliman with the vengeance strat, but his HG eats the 3 wounds) I clear up some of his troopers, harass the eliminators on the hill, and then multicharge the LRR, Vulcan, his captain, and the sternguard with my ironclad and Guiliman. I butcher both his characters and he gets a couple lucky wounds in on the primarch. I might have also killed a few sternguard, but that might have been the next turn. I know I ignored the LRR.
His turn the VVs drop down and his intercessors move up the middle. He fails to charge the VV in, but his intercessors charge mine. Close combat sees my ironclad crush his LRR, which uses the vengeance strat again, this time to automatically blow up. Mortal wounds all over the place. Intercessors dance a little around the central objective.
My turn is basically clean up. I consolidate towards the center, shoot his VVs off the table, and end the game piling into his intercessors to cleanse them in CC from the middle objective.
Victory Ultramarines!
OK, first game with the new codex. Firepower got ramped up a bit. The extra AP is going to make mirror matches vs. other marines brutal. Although Salamanders make that very all or nothing. Turn one shooting bolt rifles in the Dev doctrine was the normal -1, which Salamanders ignore. Turn two in Tac, he goes from a full armor save to -2 needing 5+s to save. Quite the swing. The TFC was also a lot nastier the first turn when it had the doctrine backing it up. Don’t forget to use the AGLs on the intercessors first turn, grenades are covered by the Dev. Once in Tac, it might just be better to use the rifles. The extra attack the first round of combat made the marines feel a lot more viable and fluffy when piling into a close combat. Nice little boost.
Need to remember the new strats. The vengeance of the machine spirit was a nice dash of spite.
Fresh paint:
Hunter did OK for itself. Hitting is not a problem, but getting those wounds in can be rough. Really wanted a Lt. hanging back with him and the TFC. But for fresh paint, it did well.
First time all 3 intercessors squads hit the table together. 3 squads, 3 objectives, and the game ended with my boots on all of them. The brand new squad with the PF sarge advanced 6” first turn and capped theirs early. Didn’t do much else, but as their primary job is to secure the field, they did it well.
Techmarine took the Seal of Oath relic and targeted the LRR. Helped a bit put wounds on it, but was mostly redundant with Guiliman on the field. Patched up the ironclad a bit.
Victix guard have been out before, but did their job as a wound battery for Guiliman very well. Frustratingly well.
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Put some paint down on the bikes. Need to do some silver wires and then touch ups. Soulstone on the eyes/gems. Not much more.
Started building the primaris librarian. I think I’m not going to try to make a weapon swap for a staff. The way the gauntlets hold the sword would make for some dicy knife work. If I didn’t care about keeping the sword, it would not be too hard, but to preserve it and set it up for magnets I think is not worth the risk. Eventually I’ll pick up Tigs. Or more likely, The Boy might get him for me as a gift. I think I’m going to leave the hoses off the hood. Don’t think they add much but clutter. There are indents for them in the robe, but I think the backpack will hide most of those. If not, I could try a little GS and smooth them over. Going to glue the front/back together so I can smooth the seems of the cape/robe, but think I’ll leave him off the base so I can get a brush in underneath to paint the insides.
Enjoy your weekends all!
Automatically Appended Next Post: Finished the librarian. Left off the hoses, the seals on the backpack, and the eagle on the helm. He’s a walking tent covered with stuff anyway, didn’t need all the extra clutter.
Great game. I've been watching BatReps all over the place to see how the new SM handle. I'm looking forward to trying them out.
I also think most of the Libby models are too covered in crap, I was thinking the new Tiggy might be quite nice if you chopped off a bit of the extraneous skullz, I'd swap his hands over too (staff in other hand). Might be nice.
RandyMcStab wrote: Great game. I've been watching BatReps all over the place to see how the new SM handle. I'm looking forward to trying them out.
I also think most of the Libby models are too covered in crap, I was thinking the new Tiggy might be quite nice if you chopped off a bit of the extraneous skullz, I'd swap his hands over too (staff in other hand). Might be nice.
I wasn’t using all the new tricks, as I thought it wouldn’t be fair when I had my supplement and he didn’t. But UM Tac doctrine++ is going to open up a lot of fun options. The ability to maintain fire on the move is going to breath a lot of life into an army that felt like it was being shoehorned into gunlines and buff bubbles. And a lot of units that were “meh” before seem to have some new life being breathed into them.
I was looking at Tigs on GW’s site and agree that some of that bling needs to go. The skull perched in the psychic hood would be the first on my list. A head swap I think would also go a long way. The librarian helmet I just used on the normal primaris Lib would work, or the bearded head from the UM sprue. Lots of nice gravitas from that one. Swapping the hands around sound like a lot of work. It would transform his pose from a “I’m holding my staff up to ward against something” to “Eat hot death-bolts” by making his casting hand the active one.
He’s on my things to buy list, so I might get a shot at seeing what I can do someday. Although that list, like my pile of shame, is long and unlikely to see the end of in a reasonable amount of time.
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Speaking of ends, it is in sight for these guys:
Noticed a few spots that need a touchup, but I suspect I can get their formal pics done this afternoon. This will bring my total number of windriders up to 12 basic bikes (6 old, 6 new) 2 seers (one of each) and an autarch (old) round out my bike force. One more seer on bike is primed and awaiting paint, and one old biker still on sprue. Eldar is looking pretty thin in the to-do pile. Getting some primer on the waithblades will help that out a little. And I should put together at least one of the farseers on foot. Not that they are likely to hit the table anytime soon. Can’t cast while in the transports, and don’t want to get those robes muddy.
Did a little more work on the revers' guns, still plugging away at them. Going to try for a push today. We’ll see how much gets done.
Yes I really like the Tack++ ability to help movement. Really makes it feel like UM are the most flexible and dynamic of the chapters (so far). I think anything that un-incentivizes blobbing up in a gunball is good and much more fun. The incoming Iron Hands dread/tank blob/castle of doom is really boring to me. I'd much rather have a firebase but mobile rhinos and tanks/aircraft flanking about too. More interesting for both parties I feel.
Filthy 'Skinnies' are coming on. Soon to fall under the flames and melta of the newly invigorated Salamanders I feel!
RandyMcStab wrote: Yes I really like the Tack++ ability to help movement. Really makes it feel like UM are the most flexible and dynamic of the chapters (so far). I think anything that un-incentivizes blobbing up in a gunball is good and much more fun. The incoming Iron Hands dread/tank blob/castle of doom is really boring to me. I'd much rather have a firebase but mobile rhinos and tanks/aircraft flanking about too. More interesting for both parties I feel.
Filthy 'Skinnies' are coming on. Soon to fall under the flames and melta of the newly invigorated Salamanders I feel!
Yah, I’m not looking forward to what the new SM book is going to do to my Eldar. It’s not like I’m playing some bleeding-edge competitive list full of the min/max units. And the squishy elf-gits tend to evaporate fast enough when exposed to the battlefield. I’ll probably have to tighten mys lists up a little and start using more of the tricks and shenanigans available to me. Just like a filthy Xenos.
Might encourage me to paint up that second WS and get those wraithblades across the bench.
Selling models is a odd point for me. I’ve got a lot of stuff, some of it old/rare, that I don’t ever see myself using. But I don’t know it’s value, I don’t use e-bay, and frankly, I don’t want to put the effort into learning the ins and outs of shipping costs, pay pal, scammers, etc. I have things I’d like to have sold, but don’t want to sell them. I’d also like to skip the middle man. There are people who will buy stuff cheap, and flip it for profit. They use their knowledge of the market to make a little profit, I understand. But my one time floating the idea of selling stuff was met with an insulting lowball offer that frankly soured me to the concept. I do occasionally poke my nose into the swap shot and look at the “Wants” for anything esoteric that I might have, and see if it’s someone I know who’s asking. I’d put effort into helping a friend with a project, but not a stranger looking to flip a buck.
For any friends who do reguarly follow my blog, if you hear me mention having something random in my Pile of Shame/shelf that I say is collecting dust that you could use, let me know. Some of it I do have an attachment to or plans for, but some I would part with to a good home. Worst case I say “no”, without hard feelings.
I stopped selling on eBay after a fellow in Germany brought a case against me for not receiving the painted Steel Legion (opened 5 days after I shipped) and after he requested surface shipping (declining tracking) which is 6 - 8 weeks to Europe. eBay Germany took his side even though I provided the shipping receipts, stamped customs forms, and photo of the parcel prior to shipping. Now they did only credit him for one of the five squads he purchased, but it was still $125 USD. Then eBay US did a double refund to the user.
So I started a Sale Thread on the Swap Shop and I do not really care if someone is buying the model to resell or whatever...I just want to reduce the number of boxes so that Mrs. Captain Brown does not throw things out. Also the enjoyment or use someone else may find in the model means it gets a second life. Yes, I do get some really low offers PM'd sometimes, and I just say no, or perhaps make a counter offer.
You also have the advantage of your son to pass models on to...Ms. Captain Brown has zero interest in toy soldiers.
BTW, nice duel for this month's painting challenge.
I think selling stuff is one of those back burner projects that never happens. It’s on the to-do list, just real low. I’m not short on hobby funds or space; I’m just stingy on how I spend them.
Almost ready to join the inceptors are their crazy reiver friends:
Just decals and bases left. Plus any touch-ups I notice. Like that wire on the one guy’s head I might try to dust a little silver on.
Next question is what to start next. October is going to be a host of spooks, so I’ll need the painting handles. Not sure if I feel up to a vehicle though, or want to rush things though in one week. Might just do a little building for a week, or some spare weapon options. Indecisive for now.
Calling them done. Not that you can see from this angle, but the decals gave me a lot of trouble. I think they are on good, but a lot more film then I’ve been getting lately, even with the microsol/set.
youwashock wrote: They look pretty cool. Not a snow joke. What does this bring the Deathwatch up to?
Let’s see...
The Year to date shelf has
5 intercessors w/ assault bolters
2 reivers w/ carbines
2 inceptors w/ bolters
Ven dread w/ TLLC/ML
The normal shelf has
5 intercessors w/ bolt rifles
watch captain Artemis
Librarian on foot w/sword
10 man vet squad, 2 with HFlamers, 2 w/ combi plasma
The primed pile has
3 more reivers
3 agressors
2 SB/sword terminators
3 frag cannon vets
1 infunus HB vet
2 SB/chainsword vets
Yorkright wrote: These are really well done Nevelon. I really like how you did the faces and their chapter shoulder pads.
The faces are just the magic of contrast paint (Darkoath flesh) over a base flesh tone (Tallaren Flesh?) I’m quite happy with the shoulder pads. While the decals were a pain, I think that might be some the the best edge work I’ve done.
--
So September is almost over. Time for the Q3 report! 1 Finish painting the odds and ends from my friend's SOB army that I worked on. Just a handfull of arcoflagelents, spare immolater weapons, some IGHQs. Hey, actual progress on this one for the first time in a long time. 2 arcoflagelents done 2 Paint more than I buy. 41/8 Solid win here. I could probably pick up a holiday megaforce and still be ahead.. 3 Paint At least 12 spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options. 4/12 Slacking off here. I should start up a few more as side projects while I’m working on other things 4 Try to get more games in. Optimally 24, with at least some being AoS. Big Fail. All my games are floorhammer vs. The Boy. I should get out more 5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week). Doing good here on the updates. I’m at 41 minis for the year, so just on track for the 1-a-week goal. Which is a little depressing, as I’ve been painting closer to 1.5 a week for the last few years. 6 Get my Deathwatch army to a larger level, 2 more full squads minimum, aiming to field an allied battalion (2HQ, 3Troops) and 1,000 points. 2 units, 369 points added, technically can field a battalion. Just started an aggressor yesterday 7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique. Doing good here. Banged out the squad of dryads, and those old LotD count-as that were just hanging around. 8 Buy, build, and/or paint at least one piece of terrain. Calling this a win. Picked up the new 4x6 mat, printed out some things, got a new foam cutter. Need to make more progress, but the battlefield is slowly coming together.
Overall not bad.
I need to paint a minimum of 11 models by the end of the year to make my 52 goal. Next month will see 5 spooks cross the bench for the painting challenge. I’ve got 6 more deathwatch I want to get done as a priority. 3 more reivers, and the 3 aggressors. This will let me fill out the back halves of the intercessor squads. That’s the numbers I need, and should polish off my “grow the DW” goal. If I can get some of them done as part of November’s challenge, that would be great. December is open, but I don’t know if I want to wait until the last second. What I might do is just do 3 of them for Dec. I’ve got a lot going on, but that should be doable.
I need to paint more bits. Eldar ones go quick, but I’m starting to have all the ones I need done. I should paint the spare bolter mounts for my scout bikes. Right now 2/3rds of them have AGLs, but I think the rules favor the bolters more these days. I’m trying to think of other things I’ve needed but didn’t have on hand. Nothing stands out. Just need to work through the pile. If I have time, I could do some of the larger projects like the parts for the LRC.
I’ve got my eye on a few new purchases, but am biding my time. A box of new Banshees is a given. Probably not going to wait on those once they release. New marines will wait until I see what bundles are going to drop over the holidays, although a spare set of eliminators might sneak in before that. I know I want 2 squads, one rifles, the other fusiels. So even if they are part of a larger box, a spare squad would not go to waste. And if I grab them sooner, rather than later, they might be primed before winter hits.
I’ve still got plenty of stuff I can build, although the pile of shame is slowly shrinking. And enough stuff stockpiled to last through the winter. Although more is always better there.
Fifty wrote: That is a good quarter. Well done. I am in the same boat about your big fail though. Never time for playing enough games :(
Yup. For a social hobby, I’m pretty antisocial. Or just tired after long days at work and just want to hide.
So this is happening:
In addition, the aggressor is plugging along. Pretty much done with basecoats. Started two shuurican cannons and an assault cannon for spare bits. Blacks and drybrush done on them.
But most of my time this weekend is helping The Boy with his math homework. Good times.
Those Reivers are really well done, Nev! And good job on your YTD goals too. I think you're doing better on yours than I am on mine. I'm having motivation troubles mostly, but then again I think all of us go through some of that, amirite?
As for getting more games in, is there a game shop near where you live where you could play? If not, maybe there are players in your area that could gather somewhere else for a weekly game night or something. Lately me and a few buddies have been getting in a game every week at one of my FLGS's, so maybe something like that could let you actually play with your toy soldiers. Maybe you could even bring your son with you so he can play against something that isn't Marines or Aeldari.
There is a place, I just need to get off my antisocial posterior and head out. The problem is that I’m basically an introverted hermit, so it’s very draining for me to be around strangers. Just getting out the door takes a lot of energy, and I don’t have a lot of that to spare these days.
Some progress:
Started with some of the washes and drybrushes. Still a chunk of work left to go.
And these will be ghosting across the bench next month:
I get you on the anti-social. For years now, whenever I go into a shop I feel the drain. I have a small group I have been playing games with regularly for years, and am thankful for it. Heavens help me if I had to go out and find new players.
Aggressor should be ready for his main black coat, still need to get a chapter for him. Put the first black down on the spook. Need to remember how I did them.
Glad to see the paint is still going on (unlike me), I was planning with my DW for them all to be Ultras or their successors as they are the best.
I find that mentioning the paint recipes in my blog is useful as a record for problems like remembering how I did stuff. I like the, what I assume to be a, 'counts as ' Legion of the Damned' (or as my son calls them, 'Halloween Marines').
RandyMcStab wrote: Glad to see the paint is still going on (unlike me), I was planning with my DW for them all to be Ultras or their successors as they are the best.
I find that mentioning the paint recipes in my blog is useful as a record for problems like remembering how I did stuff. I like the, what I assume to be a, 'counts as ' Legion of the Damned' (or as my son calls them, 'Halloween Marines').
I will frequently sift through my blog to figure out what I did. It’s a very useful tool to have. Unfortunately, as I approach the triple digit page count, finding details can prove to be problematic. For things done for the painting comp, I at least have a date range I can zoom in on. I really should have a little notebook. Not just for paint schemes, but things like to-do lists and wish lists. Or some sort of project management app.
I should also probably get some more painting done, but may have had a little to much to drink last night, so am not really up for much.
Some spook progress. I think next is the white drybrush, and another black wash to dull that on parts. Aggressor got his res and silvers touched up, just need the grey on the black. And the shoulder/base/etc.
I wasnt to sure how that black was going to look on the aggressor the first time I saw it but it is really looking good. That haunt is looking spooky, just in time for Halloween.
So are you doing one ghost as a test model for the rest of them?
CB
Not so much a "test model" as a “remember how I did things”. Which works out to about the same thing. I moved the two “foot" guys from last year over to the bench to act as guides.
Spoiler:
There is also the fact that I only have two painting handles, so the thought was to do this one and finish the aggressor, and then to the others in two pairs. Of course, the month is ticking away, so I need to either man up and finish grey edgeing the aggressor, or set him aside and tuck in to the ghosties. The base and shoulder pad I still need to do for him can be done without him taking up space.
Calling them done. Not that you can see from this angle, but the decals gave me a lot of trouble. I think they are on good, but a lot more film then I’ve been getting lately, even with the microsol/set.
I really like these. They turned out great. I really like the face and hair, especially. It looks like you even took the time to make the hair a slightly different color on each guy, unless it’s just the photo. And the base provides nice contrast. Great work!
I do try to vary hair color. I’ve got a host of browns and beiges that I rotate through, and usually add a wash at some level of dilute to vary it a little more. I try not to have an army of clones for the guys without helmets!
So I’ve been quiet, but not entirely idle. Just mostly.
Spook #1 is done with the painting part, shown in back with his guides to see how well he fits in. Pretty well. Next two plugging along. Aggressor just needs his chapter markings and to be based. Spook also needs his base flowered and flocked, but that will wait for the squad to be done.
Nevelon wrote: Thanks guys. Hopefully some more progress this weekend, but I have The Boy, so it might just be a little bit when he sits down to do his homework.
So are you doing one ghost as a test model for the rest of them?
CB
Not so much a "test model" as a “remember how I did things”. Which works out to about the same thing.
I had the same problem with my updating of my metal Eldar and unfortunately the reason why so many ended up in the Simple Green bath because I could not match the older paint schemes.
Now I like to list some of the paints used in several of my logs. Because even when I say I am finished some models pull you back in.
Nevelon wrote: Thanks guys. Hopefully some more progress this weekend, but I have The Boy, so it might just be a little bit when he sits down to do his homework.
So are you doing one ghost as a test model for the rest of them?
CB
Not so much a "test model" as a “remember how I did things”. Which works out to about the same thing.
I had the same problem with my updating of my metal Eldar and unfortunately the reason why so many ended up in the Simple Green bath because I could not match the older paint schemes.
Now I like to list some of the paints used in several of my logs. Because even when I say I am finished some models pull you back in.
Cheers,
CB
For some of my older stuff, the paints are no longer in production, so 100% matching is something I’m not overly worried about. For my Eldar where a few decades passed between the squads being finished I just did a quick and rough touch-up on the old guys. Once I start stripping, it will never stop. I’d rather shrug and move forward into the pile of shame then revisit older stuff.
youwashock wrote:Looking good. As long as you keep moving forward, all is well. Rainbow Warriors for the Aggressor's Chapter?
Don’t let it be said I don’t take requests. I probably could have tried to curve the back a little more, and make the lightning bolt a little sharper. But my freehand has always been a little sketchy.
It would be churlish of me to contantly be asking for ideas, advice, and feedback just to ignore. I’d game for any reasonable suggestions.
Progress from the weekend:
Spooks 2 and 3 are basically done. Still need the black rims on their bases, and flock, rocks, tufts, etc. Slight snafu with them. On the first one I didn’t clean up the black on his cowl before doing the red trim in contrast paint. So it was a quite dark. I did clean up the second two, so it was significantly brighter, even after a black shade with nulan oil. So I hit them with an old school black ink. Practical example of the difference between shades and inks.
Also did some work on 2 eldar heavy weapons from the bits pile. Need silver highlights then they are done.
Those two spooks got their black rims done for their bases, and are just awaiting flock. Which is going to be at the end when I finish the last two. Who are progressing through the basecoats. First black is done, and I just put the off white down everwehre that’s going to get glazed.
Mr. Axe is a massive PITA. It doesn’t matter how steady your hand is when the mini bobs around like a hula dancer on the dash in a monster truck rally. Glad my scheme for these guys is more spontaneous and organic than precise. Drybrush stage is probably going to be frustrating as heck.
How much magnetizing do I really want to do? I remembered to take some tools and my WIP centurions out of my spare room, so I could work on them while Slug Boy slept the weekend away. Right now I’m just clipping and cleaning mold lines, doing subassemblies. I’ll want to actually be at my workbench to magnetize everything. But what do I glue?
Primary build is going to be siege drills and flamers, hurricanes on the torso. Secondary build is grav cannons, also with hurricanes.
So the arms are going to be rigged to swap the main guns. That’s not a big deal. Do I bother to set things up to swap the flamers for melta? Right now, melta is hot garbage, being vastly overpriced for what it does. But that’s just a line change in CA20 in a few months and it could be the new hotness. Melta is effective, just horribly inefficient. All it needs is to be pointed appropriately. But even if melta does get fixed, would I want it on assault cents? If something is in melta range, it’s probably about to get a face full of siege drills. Better to keep the flamers to clear screens away from the target?
Both my builds are calling for the bolters. Swapping the torso mounts is going to be fiddly work, as the bits are pretty small. How often would I want the missiles or the assault launchers? The missiles seem a little expensive for what you get, and bump the points up pretty high for the unit. I’m not a big fan of the roll a die, hope you get lucky, do an extra wound things. The launchers are at least on a 4+. Their main advantage is shaveing 30 points off the squad. But the hurricanes put out a lot of dakka for the points, and always get to rapid fire. These I think are just getting glued. Although I’ll probably regret it in some future edition/codex change.
Which guns to use for the Dev load is not a big deal. Once the arms are set fot swapping stuff out, it’s just a mater of building the other options. I figure the HBs are the other likely choice, but frankly, I want to be in 24” for the hurricanes, so might as well go grav. LCs are just too expensive for a semi-fragile chassis. We start looking at Land Raider prices for something not remotely close to as tough.
Hope everyone’s weekends are off to a good start. --Nev
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Fun fact: Drilling out that many hurricane bolters is not, in fact, fun. Not a huge fan of the heads in the kit, so am going to sift through my piles and see if anything grabs me. Torsos are just sitting the the legs for now, figured it would be easier to magnetize the arms that way. So heads, magnets, and glueing the torso/lets/bases together and they will be done. I left off the shin/crotch guards, and all the cables. They just bulked them up and made them more unwieldy then they needed to be. These guys look like they might actually be able to walk and fight.
Edit: Mk. III heads won the search. The brutal ruggedness of that mark meshed well with the ponderous aesthetic of the the Cents. Almost went with a spare aggressor helmet for the sarge, but decided to keep them uniform.
One of the cents is done and magnetized. Realized that the guns are arm specific. Might put a dab of paint on each magnet once they are done to help keep things straight. Will be a little irritating to track them. Oh well, not a huge deal.
All flocked, just need the pics. Which I’ll do tomorrow. Did the aggressor while I was at it.
I’m burning out on magnets a bit. You never get the model together as well as glue (at least I can’t) and setting up for options you never use seems a waste, of time, effort, and money. I can always get off my WYSWYG high horse and do a counts-as if I need to. It’s not like I play in tournaments.
youwashock wrote: Happiness is a crowded progress shelf. What kind of cookies?
Basic sugar cookies with a dash of cinnamon and allspice. With my skull and crossbones cookie cutter. Which is a massive PITA to use. But looks cool and is thematic for the holiday.
Edit for recipie.
Cinnamon Bears
Spoiler:
1/2 lb. butter
1 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 c. flour
Roll dough 1/8 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Decorate with colored sugars and candies or frost with royal icing with the help of small children. Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes. Watch and remove from oven when light brown. Cooking time can vary greatly with the thickness of the dough.
VARIATIONS:
To make cinnamon bears, add cinnamon and allspice to the dough. Cut with bear cookie cutter. Decorate with a chocolate chip for the nose and two silver candies for eyes.
Started work on the chapter champion for the month’s comp. Time allowing, I’ll add more guys to my entry, but we’ll see. Also a pic of the one finished cent. Need to buckle down and do the other two, although with the weather, the to-prime shelf might be locked for the year. Who knows though, we’ve had some mild November days in years past.
I like your changes to the Cents, I often find the best conversions is just leaving stuff off. I do think they look a little bare on the thigh area now, maybe a few purity seals/reliquaries hanging from the belt area sort of thing might break up that bare space? Just thought.
My nighthaunts tend to do well in the polls, we’ll see how they do this time. I should really clean up and build the rest of that box. I’ve got a year.
I kept on thinking about what I could remove to decrease the bulk and clutter on the cents, I didn’t think much about how it was distributed. Once they are assembled I’ll give them a pass to fill any spots that need it. Worst case, I could add a transfer there to fill up space.
Not much painting since last time. I did finish up the 2 eldar spare weapons that were in progress. Moved 2 regular backpacks to the spare bits in progress stage. Just in case I want to field assault marines on foot. It could happen. They will take me to my 12 spare bits done for the year, which will be nice to check off.
Feeling old today. Another successful orbit around the unshielded fusion-death orb. Four and a half decades. I might not be older than dirt, but I remember when it was still under warranty. Oh well. Getting old sucks, but it beats the alternative.
Thanks guys. Birthdays have been rough for a while now. Doubly so since my divorce. Took myself out to dinner alone on the actual day, but got together with some friends to celebrate on Friday. The Boy got me an amazon gift card which I turned into a phobos librarian which should be winging it’s way though the mail. So expect to see him getting built at some point soon. Probably not painted until spring, as the weatherman says we’re getting half a foot of snow early this week.
Almost done with the Cents. Put the magnets in and final glueing this morning since the Slug is still sleeping.
Once I can get to my bits box, I do think I’ll add something to the upper legs so they don’t look quite as bare.
Done with the basecoats for the champ. Next is the drybrushes, washes, and all the detail passes. So still a ways to go. Moved one of the reivers down to the empty painting handle and started him. I’d like to get the remaining primaris deathwatch done by the end of the year. Which will be here before we know it. Especially as I’ll be down in Kentucky visiting my folks for the holidays.
One of the reasons The Boy got me a gift card is that he didn’t know what I actually wanted. It’s been a while since I actually thought about that myself. So here is me gathering my thoughts on potential projects.
SC: Vanguard marines. I couldn’t justify getting the Shadowspear box, but I’m all over the marine half. It lacks the single sprue HQs, but I just ordered the librarian, so that’s just missing the captain. Who I wouldn’t mind having, but am in no rush to get. Like I need more captains... I’ll probably buy this for myself once it hits Amazon sellers.
Agressors. The new rules make them a LOT more attractive for my Ultras. Could use a box.
Intercessors. I could use a box or two of these guys. I was really hoping that there would be a megaforce this year that included them. I’d like 5-10 with assault bolters, 5 basic bolt rife guys to fill out the back of one of my existing squads. and a 5 man stick of snipers. And maybe a spare guy to make a sarge with a thunder hammer.
Eliminators. I’ll be getting the 3 guys from the SC box, but want the kit to make the lasfusils, and sarge options.
Impulsor. Part of my wants to wait to see if they release another option of this kit (like the repulser exterminator) but I could use this. I’m a big fan of mechanized lists, and for that you need transports.
$40 is crazy for the new Tig’s, but if one showed up at my door I’d not turn him away. Same could be said for most of the primaris characters.
There are some old things I could use. Another 3 scout bikes, maybe a box or two of terminators so I’m not just using my tiny old metal ones. Low priority.
Banshees. Once I can get them by themselves, I’m getting at least 5. Not sure how they will be packaged; I’d not turn down 10.
A box of Skyweavers to make a pair of Autarchs. One the actual commander, one a banner bearer.
Parts to make some shining spears. So a box of bikes, and probably some fantasy elf calvary.
The new Kill Team starter box. The terrain fits my theme for a table, I could use the phobos bodies once some other projects start (taking spare guns from eliminators to make another 3, turn two into a captain/LT.) and I like to have a physical copy of the rules. The Tau could be a fun side project to build as a KT. Or just a slippery slope into another army.
Bad blogger here, late update for the week. Have The Boy again this weekend (the Ex will have him for the next two) and while he sleeps this one away, I’ll recap the last one.
We got a game in. It was a little brutally one sided. 1,500 points, I forgot to grab army pics. Not going to do a full write up.
Deployment shot.
One of the new missions (four pillars) he goes fist, but the only guns with a range better then 24” are the LCs on the repulser, which he flubs the dice on. He knocks a few wounds off me, but nothing serious. His eliminators do mean things to my rangers. The rest of the game is basically me hammering the tar out of him while he takes it. He had all his eggs in one basket, so after I blew up the repulsor I was able to charge my falcon into his hellblasters, pretty much locking down that flank. The other side was the WL and scytheguard doing the ugly things they do. We called it after the end of round two.
Fresh paint:
The bonesinger got to patch up the WL. Probably not worth his points, but fun to do.
New bikes did bike things. Zoomed over to help shoot up a flank to help secure an objective.
The Wraithlady with the big sword did her job well. Moved up, did some shooting, cut things in half. His general lack of anti-tank and target saturation helped a lot here.
I was using the new build-a-craftworld rules. The master crafter (salamander) and >12” in cover ones. Which I forgot to use a lot. I kinda miss the re-roll 1s on all shuicain one, as I wasn’t fielding an autarch. But the one per unit re-rolls really suits my mechanized list better. Or will when I use it. The cover thing helped a little, but I was closing in fast anyway. Helped against the 1st turn alpha strike and meant I dint’s have to hug terrain on deployment as much. So probably worth it for that.
So the phobos librarian showed up, looking forward to building him. I also forgot to mention a few weeks ago I picked up a 2’x2’ square of insulation foam to carve into terrain. Not sure I want to start that without good ventilation, and it’s ugly out these days, so that might sit until spring.
Slug is still sleeping, so no progress pics, but washes are progressing on the champ. I didn’t get a lot of bench time in this week.
Build projects are going to finish the cents with a little extra bling, the new librarian, and a 5 man Dire Avenger squad The Boy got me a while ago. Really feeling the lack of troop pics in my Eldar these days. 5 rangers, 6 DA, and then just guardians. With only one WS painted, I’ve been webway bombing them, as the scytheguard poached their ride. 5 more DA would let me put a stick in either falcon, plus the rangers, and let me keep a mech list. Or I could paint the other WS I have. Which I really should do.
Edit:
Finished building the librarian. Such a cool looking mini. Thinking ahead, I’m torn on how I want to paint him. Arctic camo over blue armor would look really nice on him, But my scouts, and presumably vanguard marines, are/will be done in a woodlands scheme to infiltrate the Eldar. Now I could take advantage of the Vanguard to start doing snow bases and winter camo on marines, but that would leave my scouts as odd men out. Oh well. Plenty of time to mull it over.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Gun arms on the troops just loose for now to help painting. Everything else glued.
Bit blurry, but should give you an idea of what’s actually going on at the paint bench
This morning builds were a farseer on foot and the DI Gravis captain. Both just built stock. The primed pile is growing!
I do have a second farseer to build. He’s probably getting chopped up a bit. I want to try to make him into another spiritseer. Making a good looking staff is going to be the trouble there.
I put the second blue down on the champ earlier this week. Need to give him his blue wash and then do his cape, and take him off the paint stick and do the back of the tabard and the inside of the cape.
Took inventory of the primed pile for another thread. I doubt I’ll get a chance to prime more this year, so I’m going to have to stretch this out until spring.
I’m only going to list the things in the primed and ready pile. The built and ready to prime pile is smaller (5 dire avengers, phobos lib, farseer, 3 centurions, gravis captain) but as I rattlecan prime outdoors, they are probably going to wait until spring. The pile of shame is too much to contemplate without descending into madness, especially if I crack open the oubliettes.
But when i think of things on my “to paint” list, this is what I have in mind. Stuff ready for the brush.
Ultramarines:
12 RTB01 Bolter boys.
6 RT-era metals (vets, assault marines, captain)
5 30k destroyers
Primaris ancient
TDA librarian
Primaris librarian
2 blind box marines (bolter, ML)
2 scouts
Stormhawk
Land Speeder
Lots of spare guns and options, the big ones are the LRC and TLLCLR bits
Deathwatch:
2 agressors
2 reivers
2 SB/sword terminators
4 PA heavies (3 frag cannons, one infernus)
2 PASB/chainsword
Eldar:
2 war walkers
5 wraithblades
Jetseer
Wave Serpent
Misc:
2 fantasy wizards who I should really just chuck in with my assorted dead projects
1 sister of sigmar I started the face on as a demo for a friend, keep on meaning to finish.
Plenty of cool stuff in the hopper. If I thought my soul could take the strain, I'd do a proper assessment of prepped and in-progress projects. Like you, my pile of shame is just a shadowy presence that threatens to topple and bury me from just outside my peripheral vision.
youwashock wrote: Plenty of cool stuff in the hopper. If I thought my soul could take the strain, I'd do a proper assessment of prepped and in-progress projects. Like you, my pile of shame is just a shadowy presence that threatens to topple and bury me from just outside my peripheral vision.
It was eye opening when I was packing up and moving out of my house exactly how many boxes of hobby stuff I had, and how many trips it took to get all my painted stuff moved safely.
Put the blue wash on the champ this morning. Slow progress.
Getting there. Goal for today is to edge the legs, pop the torso off the paint stick to do the interiors, and assemble. Will edge the torso and do most up the cleanup after he’s together. Month will be over before we know it. And we are descending to the slippery slope of the holidays. when the madness takes hold and we wake up tired and a little hungover and realized it’s mid-January.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Goals for the day met. Still a bit of work, but in the home stretch.
Not that a lot shows between this and the last pic, but there have been a number of cleanup passes and more work done. I think all that remains is to edge the blues and base. Might put a light silver highlight on a few of the golds.
If I don’t post before Thursday, enjoy your Thanksgivings everyone.
Pretty happy the way he turned out. Now to figure out what to paint for December, and get moving if I actually want to make my 1-a-week goal for the year.
youwashock wrote: Good job! I really like this one. It's one of those models that I may want to try to get a version of in my own collection.
I think he’s my third chapter champion.
First one was a power sword/bolter guy. Built out of sternguard parts mostly, but with the cape from the multi-part commander kit. I think he dates from late5th, early 6th. (I’m being lazy, I could look it up, he was covered in this blog)
Spoiler:
Second one wanted the thunderhammer option. Mostly deathwatch parts. Interestingly, also a November entry in the comp back in ‘16
Spoiler:
There used to be no real reason to equip the dagger on the champ. But with the UM supplement, we don’t have an option not to take it. And being a WYSWYG kind of guy, I needed a new champ. Because his rules are pretty nice, and he’s a little blender of CC death for not a whole lot of points. He uses a lot of the UM upgrade frame (torso front, both swords, one shoulder) some Mk IV parts (helm, legs) some random arms that were the right angle, spare backpack, random purity seals, and a custom printed champion shoulderpad.
I guess I could also spend a CP and promote my company champion to make a 4th champ.
Spoiler:
Part of me would like the old metal UM HG models, but I’m not going to get finecast unless I can help it. And I’ve got plenty of HG at this point.
Fifty wrote: Going back a page, I really like those Nighthaunt models.
I wish they could see the table, but last I checked the closer FLGS didn’t have an AoS playerbase, and driving an hour to the other store is not really in the cards. I do enjoy painting the guys, and like how they turn out. I should have another couple years worth of them to paint at the rate I’m kicking them out.
OK, goal for the Dec comp and the end of year is to bang these guys out. Short month, as I’ll be in Kentucky from the 20-30th. But if I can finish these guys, that will be my 52 for the year (53 actually) and a solid win for the finish 2 squads of Deathwatch. I finished the edges of the WIP reiver, so he just needs his bolter arm, polish pass, and baseing done. Put the two reivers for the month on the stands and put their fist blacks down. Going to see how far I can get on them today.
In other news there is a possible chance I might end up painting a SoB box. My buddy, for whom I painted up his army in the past, grabbed one, and I offered to help paint his new stuff. Don’t have a “yes” yet, so we’ll see what happens. But there is a chance that the Sisters of the Sacred Rose might pay a visit to this blog. I’ll have to be sure to keep the xenos and heretics hidden well if that happens. What I should do is try to get him to drag out all the stuff I painted for him in the past so I can get some pics. But my oft-negected 1st yearly goal might get a shot in the arm.
Welcome to December. Time to toss the hats on the avatars. I think I’m going to pass on doing another advent this year. It was fun last year, but it takes some time and prepwork, and I waited too long. If I do it next year, I’ll have a lot of new stuff to incorperate.
The out of focus guy in the foreground is basically done barring details and basing. Which I’ll do when the rest of the lot is ready. The guys in the back should be just about ready for their second black coat. Also dome details, like eyes. Did the silver edgeing while I had the pot out.
Champ turned out great. Also, it'll be cool if you get to tackle the models in the Sisters army set. I myself will probably be doing them and other SoB stuff starting next year (may not get another priming opportunity before then).
Something about the reivers lends itself to cleaner highlights. Not sure what it is. The guy with the eye/com thing is the nominal sarge if they ever get fielded as a stand alone unit, rather then just filler in kill team squads. Hopefully he turns out OK.
I have less then two weeks to get everything done. The month is going to zip on by. I do have this and next Friday off, so that should help. Of course, I do have some errands to do and cookies to make as well as get paint down.
I’d like to get the reivers done today. End of the weekend at the latest. That way I can get started on the agressors. Of course I could just paint them off the handles like a savage. Really makes me want to grab that 5 pack they are selling, give 2-3 to The Boy, so I have 4-5.
So legends dropped.
These guys got the nod. Bike HQs are not a shock. Wargear on the HG as well. My LotD counts-as are not even legal with the legends rules. I geared them up per the 6th? ed codex. On the bright side, they are magnetized. Little torqued they didn’t adjust old Calgar’s points before locking him in forever. I know this was a phoned-in things so they can drop the indexes, but the artificer armor Calgar costs more then the Primaris one, despite being inferior in pretty much every way. He can ride in rhinos/drop pods. Woot! The bonesinger was expected.
Funny enough, when pulling stuff from the shelf to grab this pic, I just swept the TH chapter champ along with the other HG. But he’s not in there. So I put him back. At the moment, I think he’s still a legal index option. But once that gets dropped, he’s in limbo.
Reivers are waiting for their arms (which just got the first black layer with the aggressors). But all the edges are done, and they’ve passed their detail scrub. I’ll give them another once over for problems once I glue the arms on.
Quick update before work. Put the wash on the silvers and the colors for the reivers. Powder blue Space Wolf Grey and orange Blood Angels Red. I forgot how crappy the orange covers. Getting there.
Some progress for the day. Reivers need their edges for the black/silver on the gun arms and a touch up pass. One aggressor got his second black, other still waiting. Then they will both need full edging and details. Plus shoulders and bases for all.
On track. I want to finish them this weekend. Next Wed is my deadline.
Edit: Always fun when you notice details you totally missed. The guy on the left? Skull and laurels on the shinguard. Each a two (or more) stage process of base and wash, and another touch up pass. Oh well. All the blacks are down. And the reivers are ready to be based/decaled.
All edges done. Need chapter shoulders and bases. Time to sift through my decal collection and sourcebooks.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Repent! For the end of days are upon us! Plastic Sisters. The apocalypse is neigh!
So these gals are going to be a major project for 2020. I figure I’ll get most/all of the building done over the winter months, and try to get them all painted for the summer. 25 models, which is roughly half my output for the year. I’d like to finish them all. But if I get an additional drop once the full kits release, some may get pushed back. They are just visitors, so will be painted and returned to their owner. White armor, black robes, silver bolters. Red and gold as accent colors. Full of faith and wrath. Good times!
Feel you a little bit on the Legends stuff. I lost an Interrogator-Chaplain and Librarian on Bike from my Dark Angels myself. I already sold all the Chaos models that became legends, but I do have an unpainted vanilla SM Libby on a bike that got the Legends treatment too. I have a sinking feeling that eventually that will be the fate of all of the non-Primaris Space Marines.
Your Deathwatch stuff is coming along nicely, and I look forward to seeing you tackle the Sisters!
Deathwatch are coming along nicely Nev, loving those aggressor models, they're so meaty they look downright menacing.
So jealous Nev that you got your sisters box! I just got my email today saying that they'll be sending mine out "soon". That sisters box will be one of my 2020 projects as well. Looking forward to get crackin' on it alongside you in 2020
And done. I’ll do the formal pics tonight. Almost done with the two spare backpacks that I’m working on as well. Might finish those, or they might wait until I’m back from vacation. We’ll see how busy my night is. I’ll be away from my bench from the 20-30th so there is a little time left in the year when I return, but probably no new paint. Just my annual woolgathering and retrospectives. Although I have a lot of building to do, so that might start when I get back. I’ll still have internet and will be posting, just no progress.
I wonder how many people have painting a new SoB army as a 2020 goal? It will be fun ti watch the faithful rise. I know I need to pick up the white contrast paint, not sure if I’ll get the black as well, or just use my old techniques. One nice thing about the scale creep and totally new material/line is that I don’t feel compelled to match exactly my old work. Order will be the same, scheme will be the same, but how I paint them is going to be completely different. Should be a lot of fun.
Edit: Just put the final blue wash on the backpacks before work. That’s 12/12 for the spare bits.
youwashock wrote: Congrats on hitting your bitz goal. DW look good. The red and gold shoulder pad looks especially good.
Based gold, brown contrast over all, red contrast paint, highlight back with the gold, silver on extremes. Pad was the sculpted one for the sarge.
These guys make 53 for the year if my count is right. So made my goal, but a lot lower then years past. Overall pretty good on my goals, but that tally will come later.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Edit: and 100 pages. I should do something, but probably won’t have time.
Great work on the shoulder pads, almost as iconic as the black with silver arm, but hard to pull off with constantly changing themes. Have a good Vacation .
Quick proof of life post and a happy holidays to all. Still AFK, so no pics. The Boy is getting me the primaris chaplain, but it was backordered. My folks gave me some cash, which will probably also find its way to my workbench. The named captain and salamander upgrade sprues will find their way into my son’s workflow, will be interesting to see what he does with them.
Next time I have the lightbox out I should get close shots of all the chapter pads in the deathwatch. It is quite the assortment.
Here is 2019 before moving from the YTD shelf into general population. Little light this year. 53 models total. So while I made my 1-a-week goal, I did it with a lot less slack then previous years. Good mix of stuff. Less Eldar and Ultras, more Deathwatch. But they are the “new” army and one of my focuses for the year. Plenty of random stuff around as well.
Total: 53 models, 1,732 points. (Last year was 58 models at 2,637)
Now, these are the points I counted as I painted them. Not included are any adjustments from codex drops or CA19. I did just update my lists in Battlescribe, and have the Deathwatch in at 985 points, the Ultras at 13,310, and the Eldar up to 3,264.
Looking back, my point check from 2018 was: 13,147 roughly in Ultras, 617 in Deathwatch, 3,179 in Eldar
Keep painting forward, but they keep dropping points. Still ahead of where I was last year.
Onto the goals: Here are my New Year’s resolutions: 1 Finish painting the odds and ends from my friend's SOB army that I worked on. Just a handfull of arcoflagelents, spare immolater weapons, some IGHQs. Partial I painted 2 arcoflagelents. So som actual progress this year. Much better then the hard fail it’s been from pretty much every other year.
2 Paint more than I buy. 53/8 Done! Solid win here. Even if you count gifts, I’m way ahead on cutting into the pile of shame.
3 Paint At least 12 spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options. 12/12 Done! Mostly Eldar heavy weapon swaps, but an assault cannon, som back packs, and Calgar’s bare head as well.
4 Try to get more games in. Optimally 24, with at least some being AoS. Fail. 9 games, all floorhammer 40k vs. The Boy. I need to hit the FLGS and get active in the comunity
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week). Done! The 1-a-week was a close thing this year, but I made it across the line. Hit 100 pages of blog, so being very productive here.
6 Get my Deathwatch army to a larger level, 2 more full squads minimum, aiming to field an allied battalion (2HQ, 3Troops) and 1,000 points. Done! OK, it’s only 985 points, but I probably painted 1,000 before the points drops in CA19. And I might be able to add some hidden wargear and options to push it up over the 1k mark. 2 full Fortis KTs, one old vet squad, 2 HQs and the dread.
7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique. Done! Still the unbroken entry streak for the competition. Knocked the dust off the dryads to get them painted, so got the beck of the bench represented. Going to call out the new contrast paints as my technique for the year, even though it’s basically just a fancy glaze. 3D printing stuff might also count here
8 Buy, build, and/or paint at least one piece of terrain. Done! The “or” lets me call this a win. Besides a new battlemat I also printed out some containers (which need clean up and paint still, but have been on the table). I also got a new set of foam cutting tools and a 2’x2’ sheet of insulation to carve up. But that will be next year.
So overall we’re calling this one at 6/1/1. The first one is being generous with the partial, otherwise I’d be 5/2 like I was last year. Same goals are problematic as well. Although last year I almost made my play games goal, while hard failed the SoB goal; reversed this year.
Some revisions for 2020: 1 Paint 25 SoB 2 Paint more then I buy. 3 Paint At least 12 spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options. 4 Try to get more games in. At least 12, with some being non Floorhammer. 5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week). 6 Paint at least one unit for all my army factions. (Ultra, Eldar, Deathwatch, Death) 7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique. 8 Buy, build, and/or paint at least one piece of terrain.
With my friend getting back into 40k, goal 1 is getting revised. My goal is to start and finish painting the new SoB box over the course of the year. The reason I set my goal to 25 models, rather then the box is in case I get more supply drops that are higher priorities. E.g. if he picks up the multipart canoness or full pen-engine kits, the monopose ones from the box might get back burnered.
3 is getting lowered. I don’t want to revert to a pure “get more games in than last year” as that’s a pretty low bar. But I need to get more in, and some outside the house.
With the Eldar mostly mature and the Deathwatch at a solid level, I’m not going to single either one out as the army focus for the year. That’s the SoB in 2020. However, I want to make sure I get a little done on all of them. Deathwatch will probably be 5+ vets with gear (and probably the terminators and VV if I get around to making them) Eldar have the wraithblades and war walkers, Ultras have a number of things, and Death will get some spooks in Oct.
The rest remain unchanged.
I’ll post a state of the prime pile, and things to look forward to in the new year later. This is already getting to be a wall of text. I did pull the trigger on the SC:vanguard marines box this morning. Not going to count it as part of the “paint more then I buy” total, as my folks gave me some cash to buy myself a gift. And even if I felt compelled, I ordered it in 2019, and I have plenty of room in my goal this year. I also got a large painting handle, to help with WWs, dreads, and other big things.
Hope everyone had a great holiday, and keep safe out there on New Year’s.
--Nev
Edit: Just wanted to copy the totals from the front page before I reset it. Painted list is up above. Money spent on the hobby: $285
Spoiler:
Calgar $54 (Gift card) Frozen tufts $8 (gift card) Foam cutter $30 (gift card) 6x4 winter mar $70 (gift card) GKTDA $42 (gift card) Rattlecan of primer $5 (hey look, something not from Amazon!) 2x contrast paints $16 Codex, UM supplement. $60 (Amazon)
Games played: 7/0/2 (Green are vs. The Boy. Wanted to track them)
Spoiler:
Feb 9th, 1,500 points Ultramarine vs. Salamander, Loss April 6th, 1,500 points Ultramarine vs. Salamander, Win May 4th, 1,500 points Ultramarine vs. Salamander, Win May 5th, 100 points Killteam Deathwatch vs. Deathwatch, Win May 18th, 1,500 points Eldar vs. Salamander, Win July 13th, 1,500 points Ultramarine vs. Salamander, Win September 14th, 125 points Kill Team (elites) Ultramarine vs. Salamander, Loss September 15th, 1,500 points Ultramarine vs. Salamander, Win November 9th, 1,500 points Eldar vs. Salamander, Win
Thanks guys. Hopefully 2020 is going to be a lot like the years before. Slow steady progress. Keep things moving across the bench, make sure there is a supply of things in the to-build/built/primed piles.
So let’s make some tentative plans for 2020
To buy, incoming supplies. Here is a quote from a few pages page where I was musing on it.
Spoiler:
SC: Vanguard marines. I couldn’t justify getting the Shadowspear box, but I’m all over the marine half. It lacks the single sprue HQs, but I just ordered the librarian, so that’s just missing the captain. Who I wouldn’t mind having, but am in no rush to get. Like I need more captains... I’ll probably buy this for myself once it hits Amazon sellers.
Agressors. The new rules make them a LOT more attractive for my Ultras. Could use a box.
Intercessors. I could use a box or two of these guys. I was really hoping that there would be a megaforce this year that included them. I’d like 5-10 with assault bolters, 5 basic bolt rife guys to fill out the back of one of my existing squads. and a 5 man stick of snipers. And maybe a spare guy to make a sarge with a thunder hammer.
Eliminators. I’ll be getting the 3 guys from the SC box, but want the kit to make the lasfusils, and sarge options.
Impulsor. Part of my wants to wait to see if they release another option of this kit (like the repulser exterminator) but I could use this. I’m a big fan of mechanized lists, and for that you need transports.
$40 is crazy for the new Tig’s, but if one showed up at my door I’d not turn him away. Same could be said for most of the primaris characters.
There are some old things I could use. Another 3 scout bikes, maybe a box or two of terminators so I’m not just using my tiny old metal ones. Low priority.
Banshees. Once I can get them by themselves, I’m getting at least 5. Not sure how they will be packaged; I’d not turn down 10.
A box of Skyweavers to make a pair of Autarchs. One the actual commander, one a banner bearer.
Parts to make some shining spears. So a box of bikes, and probably some fantasy elf calvary.
The new Kill Team starter box. The terrain fits my theme for a table, I could use the phobos bodies once some other projects start (taking spare guns from eliminators to make another 3, turn two into a captain/LT.) and I like to have a physical copy of the rules. The Tau could be a fun side project to build as a KT. Or just a slippery slope into another army.
Now, the SC: Vanguard box is on it’s way. I suspect that it might be the only marine purchase this year, barring some new shiny. I’ve got a pretty full plate this year. Banshees will be mine once they drop as a lone box (or non-sucky bundle) I need to put my money where my mouth is on plastic aspects. Fuzzy potato-cam rumor pictures show things that might be new primaris land speeders and bikes. Not opposed to getting them, but in no rush. This should be a good year for my paint more than I buy goal.
To build:
The SoB box. This is top priority. I need to have at least some of them ready when it gets nice enough to prime out.
Primaris chaplain, TDA ancient, 2 scouts for Ultras
DW vets, including some VV, and upgeared ones; watchmaster for DW I still have 5 hellblasters and an inceptor left on the DI sprues I should really build.
any/all new purchases.
Some undead for October. I’ve got 2 units left of nighthaunt, some skeletons, and hexwraiths.
To Prime:
Right now farseer, 5xDA, 3 cents, phobos lib, gravis capt.
This pile tends to be short lived with a good turnover. Except for winter. Once the weather clears this gets sprayed once it hits a dozen models or so.
To Paint:
Slightly out of date pic from upthread, with edited list:
Spoiler:
Ultramarines:
12 RTB01 Bolter boys.
6 RT-era metals (vets, assault marines, captain)
5 30k destroyers
Primaris ancient
TDA librarian
Primaris librarian
2 blind box marines (bolter, ML)
2 scouts
Stormhawk
Land Speeder
Lots of spare guns and options, the big ones are the LRC and TLLCLR bits
Deathwatch:
2 SB/sword terminators
4 PA heavies (3 frag cannons, one infernus)
2 PASB/chainsword
Eldar:
2 war walkers
5 wraithblades
Jetseer
Wave Serpent
Misc:
2 fantasy wizards who I should really just chuck in with my assorted dead projects
1 sister of sigmar I started the face on as a demo for a friend, keep on meaning to finish.
One of my goals is to paint something from each army.
I moved the DWTDA down to the in progress portion of the bench. They will be my entry for the month. Sometime this year I’d like to get the 4 heavies done as well. Those are the priority DW Eldar need that WS. Their vehicles usually paint quick, so that’s a good thing. Depending on comp subjects, the axes or WW might get done at some point; I’d like to get one of them out of the primed pile. Banshees in 2020 depend a lot on when I can get them; might not end up getting paint this year.
Ultras are low priority this year. I suspect who gets paint will depend a lot on comp subjects. I would like to clean up some of the random stuff (like scouts) but also get guys like the primaris ancient done, as he’s a unit I don’t have. (not that he’s all that more then the other bannermen I have) Most Ultra progress will probably be the vanguard late in the year, as they will be fighting the SoB for bench time.
First quarter will probably be painting DW and Eldar, with a lot of building.
2nd-3rd will be a lot of SoB, with splashes of other things to help keep me sane and fill comp entries.
The end of the year depends a lot on how productive I’ve been on the SoB. At my peak back in the day, I was getting 4 girls across the bench every week. To a lower standard than I do now, but I had my rhythm. If I can finish my vow early, I can work more at chipping away my own backlog.
If I had to guess, my year brakedown should be something like this:
25 SoB (The Box)
8 Eldar (WS, 2 WW, axes or banshees)
7 Deathwatch (2 TDA, 4 heavies, one random guy to fill out 5 for a comp entry)
13 Ultras (2x3 man squads (cents, eliminaors, or supressors) 5 man squad of something, some HQs)
5 Nighthaunts (whatever I build for October)
Happy New Year to everyone, looking forward to a productive and fun 2020!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Spent some time clearing the decks and refreshing the workbench for the new year. It will be a cluttered mess again before we know it!
Hey, sorry for not chiming in sooner. You did some cool stuff this year, and a good variety too, which is always fun. Here's hoping you make all your hobby goals in 2020!
Everyone should have a facehugger. They are great fun, and make for all sorts of photo ops.
Slow progress this week. Put together two more sisters (basic bolter girls) and am slogging through the basecoats on the terminators. No pics.
Not a lot of enegry, feeling pretty down. Year is not off to the best start. Sigh. It was nice to spend time surrounded by my family for a while over the holidays, but it also sort of highlights how I’ve got nobody around the rest of the time. It’s not as bad as that, but getting my heart to listen to my head is not an easy task. Anyway, I try not to vent too much. Hopefully The Boy will have a fully painted list of his own stuff for the weekend. We’ll see what he is able to muster.
Happy new year, and kudos on a great final tally! The Sisters are coming together nicely... any surprises as you clipped sprues, chose heads, etc?
You're definitely not alone in that vibe you're feeling... the post holiday blues are the real deal. My family is reeling from the shock of reentry into two jobs, two daycares, two commutes, double dropoff, double pickup, etc... no damn time to paint, and I've got the same beautiful box of Sisters on my bench! Hang in there...
MacPhail wrote: Happy new year, and kudos on a great final tally! The Sisters are coming together nicely... any surprises as you clipped sprues, chose heads, etc?
You're definitely not alone in that vibe you're feeling... the post holiday blues are the real deal. My family is reeling from the shock of reentry into two jobs, two daycares, two commutes, double dropoff, double pickup, etc... no damn time to paint, and I've got the same beautiful box of Sisters on my bench! Hang in there...
Thanks.
The one thing I noticed was the quality. With the DI easy to build marines there were a lot of places where the nature of plastic (no undercuts) meant I had to carve out shoulderpad’s rims, carve a little away from an armor plate, etc. So far (about a quarter way thorugh the box) the only time I felt I needed to do that was on the kneepad of the flamer sister. I’m fully building them, which might make some paint a little tricky, but I can manage.
youwashock wrote: Cheer up, man. You don't have nobody. You have us!
I know, and I do appreciate you guys out there in the dakka-sphere. Means a lot. I do try to keep this blog more on the hobby side then a personal vent space though. With various degrees of success.
So supply drop on the doorstep when I got home tonight. SC: Vanguard marines, and the XL painting handle. So they are going to get built along with the sisters. Spent some time weighing the pros and cons of paintjobs for them with The Boy.
Arctic:
+ Mesh better with the main force
+ Primaris would be a good time to break from the woodland camo (keep the reg scouts green)
+ Would look very sharp.
- Not sure how much phobos armor is going to join the Ultras. Worth a new scheme for 15-20 guys?
Woodland:
+ Keeps the 10th company cohesive
+ Something in an alternate color to break up the paint queue.
+ Would also look sharp.
- less cohesive as a total army
Now I don’t need to make a decision until spring time and the rattle can can come out and play. Thoughts?
Some more building done over the week. Well, mostly last weekend to be honest. Just a few layers down over the week.
So looking at the chaplain, I was thinking what would be needed to get him into phobos armor? Would it be worth a leg swap, as they are mostly concealed by the robe? Arms don’t vary much between reg/phobos. What’s left is the shoulderpads. One of his (the pistol) is fixed. But that’s not a hard swap, or I could just use a heavy bolt pistol from the reiver kit. The other shoulder I have spare pads from as I used DW ones for the kit I built, I can see how they fit when he gets built. While there are not currently any special rules for a phobos chaplain, he’s still a guy on foot with a 3+, so mechanically not different from the stock one. Although a grav chute or grapple gun would be sweet. The skull topper on the crozius is a seperate bit, so I might look into alternatives there. Make it a little more “holy wrath of the Emperor” and a little less "pimp-stick". Paint wise, he’d join the Vanguard.
The chaplain conversion sounds like a worthwhile endeavor. I think it would be worth it to switch out the legs. It would be a smaller detail after the coat is on, but it would still help sell the idea.
youwashock wrote: The chaplain conversion sounds like a worthwhile endeavor. I think it would be worth it to switch out the legs. It would be a smaller detail after the coat is on, but it would still help sell the idea.
The one problem with that is my lack of spare phobos legs.
That said, I do have enough projects that might need them to pick up a box. On my long-term list of things to get is a box of eliminaotrs, so I can have the las fusils as an option. As (IIRC from the sprue pics) they give you enough arms for both, 3 spare reiver bodies would make for an extra squad. I could also kit-bash a phobos captain to round out the set of HQs. Or another Lt. if someone gets me the actual captain model. So a box of 5 would not go unused; I’d just need to pick one up. And the eliminators.
I’ve got my eye on the KT box. I like actual books, can always use more terrain, and a KT of Tau might be a fun slippery slope to avoid. So I could utilize the reivers from there. I was hoping they would come out with a compiled rulebook with all the crap from the elites/commander/arena etc. All the expansions don’t add enough meat to the game IMHO to justify picking up separately, but I’d gladly pay a slight upcharge on the main book to have everything in one place. But as it looks like something like that is not forthcoming, just grabbing the box might be worth it.
The problem with these is not the money. While the hobby budget is not infinite, there is not a lot on the radar that I covet, so allocating it to these projects is possible. The problem is time. I’ve got a pretty busy build schedule, and the paint queue for the year is mostly full. Would I just be adding to the Pile of Shame?
Anyways, thoughts to ponder. No rush on this project.
Edit: Put some silver highlights on the terminators. Little grey drybrush on the lettering. Discovered I completely missed a purity seal on one guy’s leg. Grumble, grumble...
youwashock wrote: Those Grey Knights make for some awesome Death Watch. Have you decided on Chapters yet? I forget.
Most of the iconography works for DW as well as GKs. If you look close at some of the text engravings, there are demon references, but that’s a small detail. The only hard part was getting rid of the psychic hoods.
No idea on chapters. Basic pads, so they are going to be transfers or freehand.
Another slow week. Got out and played some assorted games Monday (Root, Reef, Smash up) and then ate something that seriously disagreed with me (maybe food poisoning) that killed my Tuesday. First time in the ~3 years at this job I didn’t work my full scheduled shift. Better now that it’s out of my system and I’ve had some time to recover, but this week has not been a productive one. Should have had The Boy this weekend, but he’s come down with the flu, and is holding the couch down at his house to rest.
So hopefully I can get some work done. Month is almost over, and I’ve been slacking.
Put a blue down on one of the pads for the terminators. Not sure what chapter or trim, but needed to start somewhere. Did the purity seals. Just the grey lines left, which need to wait for the pot of coffee to wind down a bit. Clipped another marine, need to clean mold lines. No vote up yet for next month, but I should start more stuff across the paint bench. Only 2 partly finished models, starting the year down.
Hope everyone’s weekend is off to a good start.
--Nev
Finished the two terminators. Just need to do the decals and bases.
Doing some building. Finished one copy of all the interceptors. Thinking of waiting on the 3 duplicated guys. If I’m going to get a box of these guys, it might be worth waiting for some spare parts for arm/head swaps. While the basic guys are generic enough to blend in to the squads, the slung bolter, pistol out guy is very distinct for a trooper. One in a squad is fine for variety, but two screams “I’m a monopose clone” Also built the Lt. There is a time and a place for tacticool operator heads, and there is a time for screaming bald guys. Knife out? Let’s see your war-face!
I should move some new guys down to the painting handles. Not sure who though. At this point I might just want to wait for the new month, and spend the time building and maybe paint some spare bits. Like the LRC parts. Or paint some random guys like the blind-box marines kicking around. Or start the wraithguard. So many options, not a lot of inspiration.
So next weekend is the grand opening on the first official Warhammer store within 200 miles. It’s within walking distance of my former apartment, so like 35-40 min down the northway. I’m planning on heading down and grabbing some stuff. The temptation to drop a large chunk of change for the free swag is strong. Sure, it’s full retail price, but the freebies make up for the lack of discount. We all know I’m short on captains for my collection, so getting the powerfist/plasma pistol primaris is tempting. I also want the terminator, so I can do a side by side with my old guard RT one. Toss in a box or two of things from my wishlist and we’re up there. Is there a full list of what you get at what price point? And do you get all the pervious tiers? Right now they’ve posted a few things on facebook, but nothing comprehensive. This will be the first time I’ve darkened the doorway of a GW store, much less an event, so no clue how it actually works.
Just us Matt’s here, with the occasional Jake.
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I still enjoy the old small guys, scale creep be damned. Although the old Calgar will probably never hit the tabe again. Too niche as a special character that there is not a good way to field as a generic, and the new rules/points are just better. And frankly the new model is better then the old, although I do have a soft spot for the old guy. Fun Fact: That Calgar model was the first Ultramarine specific model that I got, representing the split from 
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