It is a cool format, I played a couple of games last weekend, BA vs KDK, it was really good fun.

EDC

Anpu-adom wrote:*doing my best Phil Hartman* I have 2 sisters with Multi-meltas. I'm frightened and confused by this strange world or Imperial weaponry. Can you please explain to me and the jury why you only want Multi-meltas in a Retributor squad? Particularly in Kill-team, where each sister acts like an individual unit?

Right, it's a bit different in Kill Team then as every individual acts as its own unit. Generally speaking in 40K, the Sisters are a close-medium range firefight army (8" to 24") who benefit from being mobile and being able to fire everything when they move. A multi-melta in a unit of, say, 10 Sisters, all by itself, pins the unit into place for a turn while it shoots, and, if the unit is moving, cannot shoot. So a unit of 6 Retributors (say) in a twin-linked Multi-Melta Immolator will give you a small unit that has a 24" range anti-tank punch. It is mobile while mounted up, but is better place to pick a bit of cover and deny access to armoured vehicles while the more mobile melta-toting Sisters units and Exorcists go tank-hunting.

Anpu-adom wrote:Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer aside... why? I know that Meltas and heavy flamers are the Sisters models that everyone wants right now, but I don't understand the reasons.

Meltas are mobile and versatile. They are a S8 AP1 shot that synergises well with rapid-firing boltguns at 12" or less against heavy infantry and vehicles at a pinch (or, in Dominion squads, a dedicated anti-tank weapon).

Heavy flamers are powerful (S5) and mobile. They deal d3 auto-hits when charged, and are capable of removing lots and lots of enemy figures at one fell swoop. They work well in a unit of sisters with a flamer and combi-flamer.

That's why, basically!

Thanks for working through my humor, Gen.Steiner. I really don't have much understanding of the finer points of Imperial weaponry. I have very few options on my necrons and who cares what an ork is carrying... they don't get to use them anyway.

In my research, I'm seeing a fair number of articles from around 2011 and 2014 about Immolator/Repressor Spam armies. For Sisters. You've given me some good pointers should this little force ever grow into a full army.

On the flamer business, it's not that the Heavy Flamer completely replaces the Flamer, but it's best used in concert with the S4. I think I got it.

Flamers are for killing hordes. Melta for killing Vehicles (occasional lucky shots on 2+ saves), bolters are alright at almost everything else.

I'm thinking that running sisters with something that is in your opponents face on turn #1 or 2 would be good. What do people think of the Skyhammer Annihilation Force with Sisters? I'm thinking a mix of grav cannons and heavy bolters. A couple of Immolators full of basic sisters to camp objectives and a few exorcists near the rear.

Flamers are also good as defensive weapons - people think twice about charging you when overwatch will deal 3d3 flamer and heavy flamer hits!

Looking forwards to seeing your Sisters Kill-Team develop.

Progress to report!
Filled off mold lines tonight. It looks like 5 of my 11 sisters have never been painted before. I'm focusing on my Dominion based Kill-team. Spare models may be practice, but I'm toying with the idea of dropping the Immolator to a Rhino so that I can fit in 1 or 2 more bodies.
It looks like the Sister Superior had been converted to hold a book. The pinning is loose, so I'll have to decide how/if to fix that. The only other problem is that the Purity Seals fall the wrong way... grrr. They are literally on upside down and a molded part of the book. I think that it's something that only I will notice, so I'm not going to mess with it. Other than that, she has a chainsword.
Drilled barrels on my 4 bolter sisters. Each of them is a different sculpt, so I feel lucky there. I'm only using three in my planned list.
I have two different Stormbolter sculpts (one helmeted, one not)... I'm not using either in my list.
I have three flamers. Two are helmeted and one has a breathing mask. I'll use one of each for the kill-team so that I can distinguish them.
The two Multi-melta are in a bath of simple green. I've already cleaned most of the paint off with an old toothbrush, just need to get into the grooves with one of my picks. Reattached some backpacks.

You should definitely cut the seals off the book. Upside-down purity seals? Bleah...

Not that I am giving you more work to do.

No.

Not at all.

I flipped the hand over... now it looks like she is swinging the book around a bit, but things aren't defying gravity.
Put a few purity seals stolen from some of my son's Blood Angels sprues so that each sister is unique. I'm hoping to stop in the game store today. I don't have any white spray... don't want to buy a can, and the cold snap has made it impossible to prime outside anyway. I'm going to try priming with an airbrush. Wish me luck.

Good luck, sure it will be fine.

If all else fails you can always undercoat the old fashioned way, with a brush!

Took a while, but I got into the gamestore tonight and got 13 sisters primed. Way slicker than a rattle can and I love how you can touch them almost right away. Cleaning wasn't too bad either.
Side note... I need to stay off eBay. I saw some little groups of sisters going for less than $3 a model and bid them up a bit. Ended up with 8 more bolter sisters and 4 more flamers. That puts me one melta, 5 superiors, and a HQ from the infantry portion of an Immolator spam army. Just in time for the announcement of plastic sisters. Of course.
I think that I'll hold off on that part of my army until the new stuff comes... I'll want combiweapons for the superiors, and I'd rather not need to convert.
Allies for the sisters are going to be interesting... Right now I'm thinking Death Company... White vs Black will make an interesting reflection. Silver and gold on both. I'm thinking red fabric on the sisters now.

When we gonna see some lovely painted pics?

EDC

I'd accuse you of being a letch, EDC!
Lot of winterizing that I need to do on my property just right now. The weather has started dipping below freezing at nights here. That is biting into my hobby time. Need to keep the wife and animals happy.
I'll try to get some paint on these girls this weekend. This army is a lot of firsts for me. My first serious attempt at and Imperium army, first attempt at power armor and first attempt at normal human flesh. (Dead/dying guardsmen don't count). Nervous to start, though the ease of the airbrush helped last night.
I also picked up all of the needed paints last night. I am going to go with red cloaks. Since I don't like the repentia, Death Company will fill that need well. With their detachment rule of the extra movement on first turn, it allows the sisters to move up to midfield where their guns are most effective.

My internet is down tonight and I'm posting from my phone. Otherwise, I'd have pictures!
Progress! White Scar all over the ladies. From there, some base coats on faces and cloaks.
At the store today, I ordered Vargard Oberyon, Immotehk The Stormlord, and a Space Marine Chaplain. They should be here next week. The plan is to pump the necron characters out so that I can run my flayed ones decurion without any counts-as. Hoping to run a tourney or something at the store in a few months. The chaplain is for the DeathCompany of course.

Filth! Xeno heresy!

...

Show us the pics of the Sisters!

WHITE ARMOR IS GOING TO KILL ME!!!
But I hope to post some test models tonight. I'm trying to figure out a combination of washes and 'Ardcoat that will give me the shading where I want without spreading out and making the armor look like junk. Any advice would be good.

Let me tell you about my internet service...
There is a radio tower that is 12 miles away from my house. Mounted on that tower is a series of directional antennas (dishes), one of which is pointed at my house. On my house, there is a similar directional antenna pointed at the tower. These antennas talk to each other through microwaves, but require line of sight. If a leaf or bird flies along that line of sight, I drop bits of data. Due to some problem on the tower end, I've been getting Service for about 3 minutes of every hour for the last three weeks. It has been exhausting. I've already doubled my amount of data on my (and my wife's) cell phone to compensate... but this just sucks.

Here's a WIP.


I'm NOT happy with these, and I'll probably reprime them.
I'm happy with the cloak. Using Nun Oil to produce shadows works well, and the single highlight is fine. I may make it a bit wider so that I can go back and add a second highlight.
The faces are ok. I'm not going the way of plucking an eyelash to paint in the eyes, but not bad for my first faces ever. Base, wash, highlights... it works, Thanks Duncan Rhodes!
Both the cloaks and faces are from the sisters video on Warhammer TV.
The armor is what is killing me. I seem to be not able to pin-wash to save my life. I want nice, pristine armor for my Sisters.
Back to warhammer TV... he's got a video painting White Scars/Apothecaries... He basically paints a light gray... pin-washes, and then highlights with white. I'm thinking something similar, but with a coat of 'Ardcoat between the base and the wash. That may help me keep the Agrax Earthshade in the areas I want and give me an easy reset if it doesn't come out the way I want. Does this sound like a good way to go?

I see how these Imperial Armies go now... You get 600 points of this, and think "Gee... could really use something like that" and suddenly you have 1200 points of that. With Genestealer cult, I'm really thinking that Coteaz wrecks their day. Coteaz with a pair of Jokaero Weaponsmiths and some heavy weapon acolytes would be a nice 12 inch bubble of "Don't Come HERE!!!", and give the sisters some nice, long range shooting too. AKKK!!!! Get the sisters done... kill team, focus on kill team... KILL TEAM!!!!

Pictures at last! Ok quite like the scheme. Nice feel to it. As to you whites, shadow them in with washes, really light washes. Blue for cool white, brown for warm, purple for deep, and yellow /green for sick. I am not very good at it so feel free to laugh at me.

Cam... thanks for the response. I'm trying to use the flat Nuln Oil... and it isn't working. That's probably the problem then. I'll try Agrax Earthshade on another test model when I get home. I'm also thinking that the hair needs to be black to provide some balance. Otherwise it is too much white up top and not enough down on the bottom.

Ooo painted battle sisters! Nice scheme, white is a tough colour to paint, you've achieved a good look for the power armour.

Skin tones and reds are also looking good.

EDC

Thanks Evildrcheese. This is an order of operation problem now. I have all the techniques that I want, it's just a matter of placing them in the right order to achieve the look that I want.

PS... I'm not hating the ones that I've done as much now that I'm separated from the work a little. Still, I'll probably redo them.

More progress the last two nights.




Got a layer of Ulthuan Grey on everyone's armor, followed by mepheston red for the cloaks. Got the majority of the silver and gold on tonight as well. Shading and highlighting the cloak will come next. A few more touch-ups (over brush, faces, seals, etc) and then I'll give the armor a good 'Ardcoat. I've dug through my paints, and I don't have agrax earthshade for the pin-wash for the armor. I'll need to pick that up next week when I go to the store for hobby night.
Any recommendations for brushable matte varnish? 'Ardcoat is going to be nice on the armor (7 layers going to be enough?) but I'll still need something on the cloaks, faces, seals, etc.

There are a couple of things that I'm really looking forward to with plastic sisters on the way.

The details are bound to be easier to paint than these.

Plastic won't chip as bad. When my 4-year old looks at them (and boy does she ever... they are girls, too!) they instantly chip. GRRR.

I'm at the point where it seems to make the most sense to finish off each girl separately.
Worked on the chain sword Superior last night. Need to add the wash and highlights to her cloak before covering everything with 'Ardcoat. Seems like every time I turn around though, paint has flaked off (or likely knocked off... these models are POPULAR with my little girls... they are being played with while my back is turned). I'm hoping that the 'Ardcoat will seal them well enough that they can actually be handled by the 4-year-old. How many coats?
I won't get any work done tonight, or for the next three nights. Mower needs to be taken into the shop (I live in the stix... that's a 2 and 1/2 hour round trip). Clean up and hosting a party this weekend. Busy days... busy days.

Well... To be honest. Any varnish/coating ain't gonna help against chipping if it really gets manhandled. It stops some damage/chipping, but not all.

Have you tried shading the white with a Lahmian Medium thinned Nuln oil? It'll flow better into the recesses. Won't dry as fast and doesn't stain as bad to. So easier to fix.

The orks down here have been done that way. I only used Pallid Wych Flesh undertone instead of Ulthuan Grey and highlighted with White Scar.

Hope it'll help out or give you an idea.

The Grumpy Eldar... that is a helpful tip. I haven't started the shading on the white at all. I'm planning on tackling that after I have a layer of Ardcoat on everything (which should also help the wash flow).
Is your mix 1:1 Nuln Oil and Lahmian Medium?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Damn it... need to stay off ebay.
Bought some meltaguns and Sister Superiors. Brings me up to 30 models. Total, I've spent $180... that averages to $6 a model. Not bad, if I say so myself.
I just need to get them painted...

Yeah it's mostly 1:1. It varies a little at places though. I thinned it a bit more for some areas. You might not need it thinned more than 1:1 since Sister PA doesn't have a dented armor compared to those orks.

I'd do a coating lastly to be honest. Since it's a high gloss. Then finish the model with an 'Ardcoat layer and a satin or matte varnish spray.

Yeah... it'll be the last bit I do. Thanks for the tips, they are exactly what I was looking for.

Got a quick kill team match against my brother over the holiday.
My list was the Sisters.
Vet Dominion Superior w/ Chainsword and Boltgun
Melta - Extra Range
3 Flamers - Preferred Enemy on one and Feel No Pain on the other
4 Dominions
Sisters Rhino w/ Storm Bolter, Blade, and Laud Hailer

His list was
4 Vespid (1 leader with 2 wounds)
Something like 15 Kroot (with Sniper Rounds) and 4 Kroot Hounds.
The hounds he kitted out with specialties to take on armor... since he didn't have anything to take out the rhino.

We rolled Supply Drop. And I gave him top of the turn.
Deployment... he spreads out. The Vespid are in serious cover in the middle of his deployment area. The Kroot hounds are on my left flank and most of the Kroot are on the right. I take a central position. We have night fighting.
Turn #1, He comes forward, but can't get any shots off. 2 objectives disappear. I realize that he can't really handle the rhino, so my sisters pile back in, and I wait until he finds the right objective, and I'll tank shock him off of it. Two more objectives disappear since they aren't the right one.
Turn #2. He realizes that his sniper kroot can't damage the rhino, so he runs them forward. He moves his kroot up, trying to screen me from the last two objectives. The Vespid move forward. His kroot hounds ID the correct objective, and the race is on.
My turn, I rush 6 and shoot a melta and a bolter out the top hatch and score first blood.
Turn #3. The kroot hounds get off a charge on the rhino. With the flamers, I burn the living daylights out of a single kroot hound with 6+ hits. GRRR. He manages to put 2 pens and 1 glance through on the Rhino in spite of the 6+ invulnerable save.
Sisters pile out of the wrecked rhino and burn the rest of the hounds down... do some more damage on kroot and a vespid that are closing in. The rest run for the objective.
Turn #4
He is able to move his vespid into the high building in the middle of my deployment zone, and only 10 inches from the objective. His shooting this turn is deadly and drops three sisters, including 2 of the flamer sisters (preferred enemy)
On my turn, I clear the objective from the 2 kroot that were contending it, and am able to consolidate my warlord into cover. The Emperer Protects my remaining flamer sister, and she wrecks Holy havoc on some of the kroot coming in to her.
Turn 5 He tries to assassinate my Sister Superior with a Vespid. It doesn't go well for his Vespid... who gets run through with the Chainsword. He shoots the remaining Kroot (8 or more) into my flamer Sister... who makes all of her 3+ or Feel No Pain saves. The Emperor Protects! He charges her and she also survives the onslaught.
My meltagunner makes her Act of Faith (and so do the remaining bolter sisters) to ignore cover on the Vespid leader. They are able to do enough wounds to kill him. The Flamer Sister dies in the combat this turn.
The game ends on a random roll.
My sisters are on the objective, and I've slain their Leader. I also got first blood. So I win.

It was a lot of fun. In the future, my Vet Sister will have a bolt pistol. The rhino protected my sisters well enough, but I'm sad that I didn't get to use the Laud Hailer or Dozerblade at all. Totally forgot about the Stormbolter on the top... could have taken out a Vespid with that.

That sounds like a great time. Nice batrep. Must say your girls sound tough. Especially burner girl.

Yeah... The Emperor Protects! My Brother was so frustrated!

Well crap. At this point, I'm not hoping for plastic Sisters anytime in my life. Not thrilled by some of the changes in the Imperial Agents Codex, but I think that MSU Immolator Spam is definitely the way forward.
Merry Christmas to me. I've ordered the IA book, and the new Canoness. I've also ordered 4 more Melta Gun girls and 2 of the priests from the "Made to Order" line while I still can. (I am the problem... I know) Don't really care when I get them... I won't be painting them anytime soon anyway.

Here's my planned list as a CAD
Canoness
3x 2 DCA in a Melta Immolator
2x MSU Battle Sister Squad, Double Flamers in Rhinos
3x Dominion Squads with 4 Meltas
2 Exorcists

That gives me 1300 points without any upgrades.

I may still pair this with the Lost Brotherhood, but that detachment is 830 as I want to run it... which cuts into the core of sisters more than I really want to. I could drop one of the Dominion Squads and one of the DCA squads for an extra 255 points, but that means serious cuts to the Death Company.
I may see what an Inquisitor brings... Or the Grey Knight formation that can deepstrike in on turn 1.

Home with sick kids, and so I got a chance to inventory my sisters.

Canoness Veridyan
BSS Squad #1
2 Sisters, 1 Superior with Bolter, 2 Flamers
BSS Squad #2
2 Sisters, 1 Superior with Bolter, 2 Flamers
BSS Squad #3
2 Sisters, 1 Superior with Bolter, 2 Flamers

Dominion Squad #1
4 Melta Sisters, 1 Superior with bolter
Dominion Squad #2
4 Melta Sisters, 1 Superior with bolter

Which is an untidy 505 points.

Left-overs:
2 Priests
Modeled with Chainsword and book
Superior (Modeled with Powersword and pistol
2 Multi-melta
2 Storm bolter
2 Sisters who need backpacks (ps. I happen to have extra of the heavy weapon backpacks, if you know of anyone needing to trade).

Needs:
Celestine, because... yeah. Not sure if I'll pick up the old metal one and run her with some of the metal Seraphim Superiors or do the new plastics off ebay. Adds 200 points
Rides: 3 Rhinos and 2 Immolators. That'll add roughly 265 points for those with dozerblades. Immolators may get Laud Hailers, or I might just spring for the veteran upgrade for the dominion squads
Exorcists: Why, or why GW didn't you let us take them in squadrons like the Space Marines? I want 2 at least. Adds 250 points.

Additional thoughts:
Adding 1 more troop would allow the Castellans detachment from Fall of Cadia, but it would give me spots for another HQ. Coteaze is looking really nice.
A AM Infantry Platoons with 6 Flamers would come in at 160 points and would be good bubble wrap for the Exorcists. Each would mean painting 25 models, and I don't even know if there are enough flamers in a box. (Could be a hot dogs/hot dog buns issue that I just don't want to go down). They would also give Veridyan and Coteaz a place to stand. People won't deepstrike near me, just so that the game won't last an extra half-hour due to "I was Expecting You" shooting. If I go that route we'd be at 1640 for the army. Add in Creed with more flamers for an additional 160? Maybe? Am I crazy for even thinking about adding 480 points of Foot Guard to a list with Sisters?

Damn... almost 2 months. Sorry, folks.

Work has gotten me down a bit. I'm working on that, and have applied for a new position. Hope to hear back on an interview in the next week. This would be a huge step up in the world.

On the game front...
Last week made it to the game store on Friday! I proxied my Necrons as Flesh-Eater Courts ghouls for AoS. Had a good time in a learning game. Pretty sure that there is a lot of Ghouls in my future.
I have enough terrain for a table! Played Orks vs. Blood Angels vs my son two weeks ago. It was his first game, and we had a blast. His captain in relic armor cut swaths through my orks, but they eventually pulled him down. His Death Company dread obliterated my warboss in close combat before falling to some deff koptas.
We've also gotten a few games of X-Wing in. Great fun there, and my love for that game has been rekindled since the FAQ.
On the 'other gaming' front, I've started a role playing game with the older 3. I even got the girls their own dice! (Pink and purple of course). It's a heavily modified version of the Revised D20 Starwars that WotC put out after Attack of the Clones. They are loving it... playing Jedi younglings in a scenario pulled from Clone Wars. Momma approves... first scenario dealt with someone trying to kidnap them... great life lessons there.
Also got to go to a little X-Wing tourney. Only 8 man, 3 rounds. I didn't end up last, inspite of bringing a wave 4 list. Apparently, power creep is a real thing.
In purchases, nothing has happened on Sisters, Orks, or Necrons. I have bid on several things for those armies on eBay, but let them go. I pretty much have a full Death Company army via one ebay auction. A bit of restoration and they'll be fit for the tabletop.
I've also bought a crusade case from GW. Overall pretty happy with how it works. Plan on using it for the Sisters and the Death Company/Blood Angels. Will probably get another one here soon for the necrons and Flesh-eaters. Orks... well... they'll fill one on their own.
Still need a better solution for X-Wing. More and more of the ships are getting damaged in the current case. I'm looking at a magnetized system... perhaps the new Battle Foam one.
Community at the store is growing in spite of me.

Sounds like you've seamlessly blended your passion for gaming and your family. Nothing better than that in my opinion. Keep up the good work Anpu... you're an inspiration to all of us!

Getting there... getting there. We are looking at rebuilding which would give use a dedicated hobby and gaming space.
With the changes I hope 8th brings, I can see a lot more games of 40k in there.

Good to see you about again, Great that you have the family involved. My biggest and yet undiscovered dream is playing and modelling with the family. modern instant life interferes too much, Xbox is a tough opponent.

Almost every day, they beg to play. The key is that it is something they have to earn (your room is clean now, right?) and keeping the sessions short. About 20 minutes is the best we've done, and to be honest, is just about as long I can plan for! But seriously, 20 minutes is really good for a 9, 6, and 4 year old!

So... I've written. It's about gaming, blood bowl specifically.
It's been edited, and now it is published.

http://reiklandsportsnetwork.com/positional-perspective-the-amazon-linewoman

Happy Birthday from my wife.

Now all my excuses are gone...
Except that I need a hose adapter.

OOOOO pretty.

Grats on the publishing, nice piece.

Thanks, Cam.

Got all the pieces and got some airbrushing done. I've been practicing with food color through my spare (want to keep that one hygenic in case the wife wants to use it for cakes, etc.) I've gotten decent at putting the dots at the intersections. Lines are still giving me trouble, as are fades. I'll keep working on those.
Put paint to model though! I picked up the terrain from the 40k 4th edition starter box... the one with nids in it. I've got myself a crashed Aquila lander, and I've had fun getting it to a tabletop standard.
I'm using citadel paints, since that is what I have. I'm diluting them with tap water until I can sneak back to the lab to get myself some distilled.
Here's my issue right now... hoping someone can help.
When I spray, I start the air and pull back to get some paint. I creep back, and suddenly go from no paint to runs everywhere. It is really the difference of a hair where I can spray. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?

Paint consistency. Sounds like you are a bit thick still. Thin it down until it is like milk. You will have to do multiple coats, but it is worth it.
I use tap water mixed with rubbing alcohol and a drop of dish soap. In a 70:30:1mix. Works wonders for me .

Hope this helps.

My water is so hard. I got some distilled water and a little spray bottle to help clean things up. How necessary is a brush to clean inside the barrel?
I've been running at 15 psi, and things are coming out wet. I'll up the pressure a touch and experiment with skim milk.

You want 20-25 psi with most brushes. It is absolutely necessary to take the brush apart and clean the whole thing each time you use it... and often in the middle of using it. Again, depends on the brush & paint.

I've been hobbying.
What? I know.
Tore apart a battlewagon that I'm not going to need... I'm planning on converting it into a Morkanaut.
Re-did a bunch of my status Mod-Cubes to get ready for 8th. I'm excited that I should have my copy of the rules in time for my trip (guess what I'll be bringing along as reading material?)
So, yeah... hobby ADHD. But Hobby none-the-less.
Oh, and packing... because... well, we are not only getting ready for a family vacation, but we are also tearing down this house and building a new one. In the mean time, I need to pack and store everything.

The airbrush will make a world of difference once you get going. Looking forward to seeing some use.

EDC

I'm still having paint consistency problems. :-(
But yes, I have high hopes for the zenithal priming.

It will click, you need to keep trying, and listen to some of the experts, Gits etc. Also try reaching out to some of the gods, Major Tom or Ramos, amongst others, they are really nice guys.

I am far from an expert, or even an amateur, especially with the airbrush, I am very basic, but for me I kept trying and one day it just clicked, I still mess up once in a while, but 80-90% of the time it works and is well worth the fuss.

Nothing much for hobby in the last couple of weeks.
Vacation was great, and other than being on the road much of Father's Day and a few other long days besides, we all had a great time. We visited Yellowstone and the Black Hill of South Dakota. Kids were great; #1 was a great help and #4 traveled really well.
House is a go... we need to have everything packed and moved by the end of the month. The plan is to donate the house to the local Fire Department for a training burn. The new house should be on the property at the end of August, and we should be able to move back in at the end of September. The house is being constructed assembly-line style about 30 miles away and will be moved here.
The downside is that I've packed just about all of my gaming and painting stuff. Should be able to work on my airbrushing at our temporary living space. Hopefully, that plan won't fall through.
Wish us luck!

Best wishes and good luck. Really hope everything goes well.

Good luck with the move. Hope you manage to sneak in some hobby time.

EDC

Got pictures of our house (it is being constructed off-site). Floor and walls are up. Roof should be on by the end of the week.
Short-term leases for a family of 6 are hard to find...so, we will be staying in 2 rooms at my in-laws. All of the leads we had to homes for rent fell through. As a result, my hobby stuff has gotten completely packed up. My armies are packed (but not too far from the door) in the storage unit. Half of the furniture is packed in there too.
I'm feeling... overwhelmed, stressed, and kinda freaked out.

Keep breathing, it will be fine. It will be over before you know it and you will look back and wonder at what the fuss was about. It is never convenient but it is bearable. Above all "Just keep swimming!"

A long-dead lead became alive. We've found a HOUSE to live in!
Blessings happen and prayers are answered.
Not sure if any hobby or games will happen, but Thing #1 is feeling the itch to pay X-Wing. I think I can make that happen.
On the other side, we won't have internet or cable television... maybe that will bode well for hobby and gaming. Who knows?

The new house has been set on the foundation. We can even go inside (had pizza for supper on the dining room floor). Hopefully, we will be able to move in before the end of the month, even though I know that it will be until the middle of October before construction is fully complete.
Still need to pour the basement and garage floor, build the garage, insulate and frame out the basement walls, connect the electrical panel to service, connect the water, install a septic system, ... well, it is quite a list with more besides! I can see why it will take another 6-8 weeks but we are impatient to live.

I'm thinking of having separate tables for building, brush, and airbrush painting. I'll be building these tables, but I wanna pick your brains on how big of a space each needs.

Close to the ultimate set up....

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/13440/399826.page

Dave's set up you have probably seen.

It's funny the more space you have the more stuff you get behind you. I would say, if you are a organised person go with the 3 spaces, but if you are a mad scientist like me, one well laid out area will cut it. Either way I would say minimum work area is an A3 cutting mat, with 300mm (12") on around on 3 sides for WIP and stuff. Access from that to storage where materials and paints etc are stored.

Yeah, Cam. That is pretty much the ultimate, but I'm thinking roughly a 3rd that size. A3 + 12inches on each side would be just about what I was thinking.
I'm thinking that I'll have 3 separate tables with locking casters. I'll probably start with the airbrushing one, so that I have a good home for the hood I bought, a shelf on the bottom for the compressor, etc. Since I'll be in the basement, I'm not yet sure how the venting will work. There are a couple of windows, but those are right where the kids will be playing. Maybe I'll try feeding into the dryer vent system? See if there is enough airflow for that or if I get lint blowback.

Nothing worse than blowback! Well I would say providing you are filtering the outlet, it should not be too big a deal, but maybe concerned with the smell of fumes coming out elsewhere in the house. How big a deal would it be to put a dedicated hole through the wall for the vent, or you could take it out the window and run a external hose away from the area, or maybe a stack running up the way, similar to a soil stack on your waste water.

I am looking at installing this in a brand new basement. It's currently unfinished, so I don't know where my hobby stuff will end up long-term. I definitely don't have the capital built up with the wife for drilling a hole through the wall specifically for my toys!
Honestly, I'm dreaming at this point. My major projects in the future will be building a deck and doing landscaping.

We have a septic system and running water! Garage Floor is being poured Monday or Tuesday at the latest. The furnace is in and the ductwork is being worked on. We have appointments for the Internet to be set up (well, for me to pick up the gear so that I can install it myself and save 1/2 the install cost).
I'm so rural... (How rural are you?)
I'm so rural that my internet is sent by microwave signal. Now, I can get it off a water tower only 1 mile from my house instead of the one that is 14 miles from my house. The wind was enough to shake the antenna out of alignment. I'm hoping that it will be enough of an improvement that we can ditch out satellite TV service. And maybe enough of an improvement that I don't have to go in to work to update Dakka.

So...

There is the Stompa I bought a few years back... I'm about 90% sure that I going to spray right over what he has there.
This is more of what I'm looking at doing for my Ork's... Silver body, space marine colored patchwork of panels (like it is made out of scavaged Space Marine/Guard armor) heavy weathering, like the pieces were pounded into shape.
What do you think? No checks, not really even any dags... just a patchwork of panels and pieces.

We've moved in, and all of my gaming stuff is under the same roof! Mostly in the garage, and mostly scattered throughout the piles of boxes, totes, and bags. But it is all here!
Looks like I will need to do some electrical as well as a lot of cleaning before I'll get to the painting.
Long and short, we are in the new house, and still have a crapload to do... both with construction and sorting. I haven't been this tired/happy in a long long time.
Peace all!

Great to hear your in OK. Good luck with getting straight. Take your time, get it right. That way you wont be down the line thinking "wish I had.." We can be patient and wait for you. Look at Dave, he was gone forever, but he is back rocking our worlds, but in a much better place. Good luck.

Thanks, Cam.
My stuff has all moved to the basement. I haven't set up any painting areas yet... my plan is still to play with the airbrush for a while. Ork walkers are still up first. Wife has turned over a hutch that she doesn't particularly like, and I get to use it to display my stuff. When I'm able to park in the garage again (lots of kids, long time in the old house, so we have a lot of boxes still to unpack), I'll be able to decorate the hutch. In will go some of my X-Wing Miniatures, and my Necrons will form ranks inside. I'll have to post a picture.

Settled into the new house enough that I've gotten a game in against #1.
I've made him a 61 PL Blood Angels army out of the Index.
Dante
Captian in Terminator Armor with Power Maul and Storm Bolter
10 man Tac Squad
10 man Tac Squad
5 man Sniper Scout squad
5 man Death Company
5 man Death Company

I took 56 points of Necrons
Overlord with Warscythe
Cryptek with Staff of Light
20 Man Warrior Squad
20 Man Warrior Squad
5 man Gauss Immortals
10 man Flayed Ones
5 Man Flayed Ones

I'd show you pictures, but there is only a single light bulb above our gaming table... and my eyes are going buggy just reading from the book. I know the pictures won't turn out.

The table has one of the institutional sized cans in the middle of the table and my two shipping containers extending from each side. (Oh, we are playing the game on a 4x3 foot table... because that is what we have) A bunch of scatter terrain around that doesn't really block line of sight but makes for interesting movement choices (crashed Aquila). (Something I'll need to improve on).
We deployed in table quarters, reserving what we could... me, I reserved the Flayed Ones. He reserved Dante and the 2 squads of Death Company.
I push my unsupported warriors forward enough to take out his scouts that he deployed very far forward. One of this tac squads runs up, and has a 2 turn shootout with my other squad of warriors, cryptek, Overlord, and Immortals. It ends up badly for the Blood Angel, who died. Rend -2 is SAVAGE against marines.
I bring my larger unit of Flayed ones on to his flank, and make my charge into the remaining tac squad. Due to terrain, only 2 of his models die the first turn and he is able to bring more up and start to pick away at the Flayed Ones.
He is able to bring Dante and the two units of Death Company into my backfield. He only makes one charge, and that unit starts to take apart my unsupported warriors. His other unit of Death Company take heavy loses to the Rend -2 Shooting of my Immortals.
He moves Dante and the last Death Company member over to join in the slaughter of my unsupported warriors. I bring my smaller unit of Flayed Ones down near his Terminator Captain, hoping to take him out, but I fail the charge. Pressure from the main part of my army forces him to bug out with Dante and the remaining Death Company rather than finish them off.
That is how things stand here at the start of Turn 6. This will be out last turn.
At this point, he's killed 1 unit of Flayed Ones, and his Terminator Lord is close to wiping off the other (with some tac marine support)
I've killed a Scout Squad, a Tac. Squad, and a Squad of Death Company. Neither of us have Warlord, or line breaker. I have first blood, so I'll most likely win.

Yet, I've won anyway. We've had a chance to play! It will take us 3 nights to finish (after the little ones are in bed), and the pace has been pretty fast. I think that we will keep the same lists for a while... at least until his Thunderhawk is ready (He's begging for it... I'll have to give it to him soon, won't I?)

Oh, I've shipped off my AoS Death miniatures to my younger brother to paint. He's in the hobby, and has finished repainting his Dark Angels... he needed a project.
I've pre-ordered Chapter Approved, and I'm pretty excited about that. I'll probably need to order the Blood Angels book, when that comes out.

Battle for Blands: Base Alpha

A small patrol of Blood Angels encounters and incursion by a force of Necrons while scouting near the Base Alpha. The scouts and tactical squads moved into assault but were outnumbered by the Necron warriors and Immortals. Captain Seuss called in for reinforcements from the Death Company, which wrecked havoc on the basic Necrons. However, the upgraded and more elite units overpowered them. Captian Seuss smote many of the rot covered Flayed Ones with his Thunder hammer. In spite of all, the Blood Angels are forced to retreat.

Necrons: 6 points
Blood Angels:1 points

We are basically going to keep the same armies so that we build familiarity with them. I'm going to beef up his units with some special weapons though, and I'll let his Sniper Scouts infiltrate. That may be enough to balance things out a bit.
He loves his named characters... Dante is a beast in CC... nothing I have compares. I may need to add more characters as we go.

Glad you had a chance to play Anpu, kinda makes all the work building and painting worthwhile.

I’m not even sure that I’ve painted a model myself this year. So a bit of a fail on that side.
With my brother laid up, I’ve had him paint a few things for me. I can claim his projects as my progress, right?
Hobby goal for 2018, 200 power level. That should take care of my sisters and my mech Orks. I have plenty of Orks to make, convert, and paint.
I also need to build a hobby space, so that will be on my goal as well.
Finally, my brother and I are planning a 2019 trip to Adepticon.
Merry Christmas all, and I pray that you have a happy new year.

Merry Christmas Anpu!

Merry Christmas, Gits.

So a few things I've discovered.
#1. The cheap Master airbrush that came with my compressor will spray just about anything...
#2. The Badger Patriot that I have is very picky in comparison.
#3. The badger needle will bend if you look at it funny.

So, I need to buy a replacement needle. I'm hoping to get ahead of the game, and I've picked up a second replacement needle.
I'm also getting Flow Improver, and not just thinner for use with the airbrushes. We'll see.

On an actual hobby note, I've been working with #1 to fill out his Tactical Squads for his Blood Angels. He only had a flamer and a missile launcher for one squad. After this, he'll have three full 10-man squads. 2 are flamer/missile launcher. Not sure what the last squad should be. I'm leaning melta/Plasma, but would like input. (once again, I'm not used to the marine equipment).

#1 is a bit squeemish with the knife, so I'm doing to moldline trimming, but he likes the sprue cutter. We've also made a nice Seargant for one squad, and will make another for the other squad. Loving the spare Deathcompany bits as well as the Blood Angels accessory sprue.

Got some hobby on! Got this metal C’tan from eBay. No mold lines were removed, and one of the fabric pieces was lost. Fixed that up with some free stuff and then primed black. Some Vallejo silver. I expect to have it finished this week.
Been wanting a Deceiver since the index dropped, but had no confidence in the fine cast version.

Picked up two copies of the Necron half of Forgebane. Already have one of the Crypteks assembled and painted to a table top level.
Ordered a copy of the codex and cards... also for Celestine coming. Should be here this week.
I’m excited for the Necron codex. Working on a list that combines Imotekh, Flayed ones and a bunch of Tesla.

I've been doing hobby!?!?

Assembled and primed the Immortals from both boxes. They are all Tesla.
Assembled a whole bunch of Pegasus Hobbies Hexagon Terrain. I've had the kit for about 3 years now. We'll see what I'll add to them, but I'm hoping to pick up another box or 2.
Finished off the Deceiver and the first Cryptek. Taking pictures is pretty sketchy in the basement. I'll have to see.

So far, I'm firmly in the 'I can prime with the airbrush... and base coat if it is all one color. I'm just not confident that I can put colors where I want them yet.

Very interested in your terrain project Anpu.

Thanks for chiming in, Gits.
Here's the set I have.
Actually, I think I have this one and the middle sized one too.
http://pegasushobbies.net/catalog/Peg.-Gaming-Accessories/c2/p100/%234902-Hexagon-Large-Set/product_info.html

I'll see if I can post pictures of what I've been working on tonight.

Very cool Anpu. I'm sure you're going to do a great job with it!

WIP of my Cryptek from Forgebane


WIP of my Deceiver C'Tan... Just need to add some flock to the base


Here is the first piece of the Hexagon Terrain. Tall enough to give a Rhino Cover


2nd Piece


Some Scatter Pieces. They are fun to stack.


Add some details to my LOS Blocker in the middle.


Plan to Zenithal Prime them all once Mother Nature gets back on her meds.
I have a fair number of pieces left over, but not enough to build the same types of pieces. I want another of each of the first two pieces.
That, or sexy Frontline Gaming Robot City Terrain... but that is down the road a bit.

Personal stuff under the spoiler.

Love the community and the support you all give. Thank you!

Good luck Anpu, you never know when something is going to turn out to be an unexpected blessing.

Models look great. That hexagon set is impressive!

Thanks,
The heads on stuff is pretty flexible. I enjoy playing with it... almost like Lego.

Stupid phone... the Hexagon stuff. Nothing about headache relief.

Last night, #1 had his buddies over for a sleep over. We did a demo game of 40k for them. Only 12 PL, but they had a good time. Their birthdays are pretty close together, so we gave them the First Strike box to share. Once they know how to play, I’ll need another table to play on.... #1 and #2 both were bouncing they were so excited to play.
I got my copy of the Necron codex... there are so many different builds floating around in my head, and most of them aren’t half bad! It’ll be interesting if someone can make the phase/advancing codes work... Tesla immortals seem to be the way to go, but subtracting 1 from all your hit roles means that Tesla never goes off without help (my will be done). Anyway... later.

Ah yes, the pitter patter of little marching feet. Think your kids will enjoy it a lot if they have some peers to play with. Beating up on dad gets old after a while.

Good luck with the job search , my wife has been teaching 17 years and loves it, but is always looking out for other options.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Ah yes, the pitter patter of little marching feet. Think your kids will enjoy it a lot if they have some peers to play with. Beating up on dad gets old after a while.

That's been the goal for a while! I've taught a basic painting class so far. Fixed tons of models (snap fit no longer snap when you accidentally cut the peg off ).

Have used the hexagon stuff before and enjoyed it. Many possibilities.
Great to have the kids involved. I have lost mine to the internet again.
Best of luck with everything IRL. Things work out, it may be a bit bumpy for a minute, but life always works out in the end.

Thanks for the support, guys. That is why I follow so many hobby blogs here on dakka.
Sunday afternoon I broke out my sisters for my girls. Both #2 and #3 got to beat up on a couple of squads of Ork boys. 3 squads of 2 flamers and a storm Bolter got the work done!
I’m pretty happy with coverage of the terrain I have now. Going to get some hardboard bases because the kids love picking things up and looking inside, and I want to firm things up a bit. Do want some more of the hexagon terrain sets, but that will wait a bit.

Private stuff under the spoiler.

Fantastic, congratulations. Wishing you all the best in the new job.

Wife is thrilled. I’ll be working from home, and she is already planning the LEGO decorations for my office! I’ll see if I can sneak a few 40k items in there.

Kept working on my Necron additions during the snow storm.


Working on something else too. I’ve had Dr. Manhattan for a long time, and the plan has always been to convert him into a transcendent C’tan, but he was always too tall. I’ve found a djinn inspired solution.

Been working on this guy for a while...

Fixed him being too tall by chopping off the legs, and then totally was inspired by djinn.
Tried my hand at zenithal priming for this one. Only downside is that I forgot to get the black underneath on of his arms and in the grooves of the dust cloud. Well, it’ll give me a chance to redo and improve my technique. I think that I’ll need to strain the GW paint, the surface feels a bit grainy and the airbrush was acting like it wanted to clog.

Nice touch on the priming. The muscles where his left arm meets the shoulder look a bit odd in their configuration... any thoughts?

It might just be the angle of the photo. I’ll look again tonight, and make any adjustment to the action figure. Nice catch.
Any thoughts on color? My deceiver is bright silver with red. I’m getting a Nightbringer from my brother and I’m unsure how it is painted.
I was thinking brass with green chains, but that seems a bit weird. Maybe keep it gray overall? Just not sure at this point.

I really like the grey to be honest...

I do like the gray too. It is amost like the necrons can animate the very stones with their C'Tan. I'd certainly get out of the way of a giant stone torso moving my way.

The mucles of the figure are built a little weird, and that is why the hand straight up looks off. By lowering the arm a bit, the muscles look a lot more natural.
It will be based with my normal Blackfire earth technical paint. I'll also bring that paint up into the whirlwind and leave big clumps of the paint behind him on the base. Very much emphasize the wind errosion effect.
This is going to be pretty cool.

Second attempt priming...

Here you can see the joints... superglue didn’t prevent the joints from bending, and neither did the green stuff. I’m going to leave them as is for now. I’m sure that I will revisit this model again.


I’m happier with the zenithal priming. I’m looking into some object source lighting from his hands, but I’m struggling with what color. I have a few reds and some blues that I could use too. Thoughts? Skin suggestions as well. The basing will be black fire earth technical.

I am really liking this, great idea and looking brilliant, only thing bothering me are the joints, may I recommend the trick with superglue and bi-carb, acts as a good gap filler, and once you let it set up you can sand it.

Thanks Cam. I'll give that a try.

Personal stuff under the spoiler. Thanks.

Good luck man, here's to the future!

Sounds like you've got something to look forward to on Monday. That's not a bad thing.

Wow... been a while.
Hobbies side of things, I’ve gotten a few of the 5 man guard boxes. They should make good allies for Sisters, when they come out.
I have to decide if I’ll rebase my old Necron Immortals on 32’s or base the new ones on 25’s. Only down to the orange on the Tesla weapons, the white on the helm, and some other highlights.
My brother sold off his Necrons. (One of the many victims of a purge at his place), but he sent me a Nightbringer. Super cool. I did some touch ups to make it fit into my army.
Got some base colors on some lootas and grots that will be part of my kill team.
Speaking of... thrilled for Kill Team! A basement group that I’ve joined is starting up a League. Perfect.
Built a work bench. Building a chicken coop (why does it have two doors? If it had four it would be a sedan.) I’m recovering from a table saw injury... I have all my fingers, but nearly lost an eye... super lucky there.
Love my new job! Feels great to be appreciated for my skills, and I love learning new things. I’ve brought over 100 kids from almost zero programming and robotics knowledge to competitive status. I have three more weeks of camp before I jump into helping teams organize full time. Then it will be coach training... volunteer training, and then organizing for the tourneys! I’m in my element.
Thanks for reading this wall of text... I promise to have pictures next time.

Glad to hear that things are looking up for you. Sounds like you've been busy.

Does using my airbrush to blow out my computer case count as hobby progress?
Still very busy. My 20 hour a week job is more like 30 right now (I was promised an 'average' of 20 per week... I'll take it).
I've bought the rulebook for Kill Team. I'm super excited to get quick games in with #1. His buddies basically have kill team squads, so this will work out perfectly.
I've ordered the Mechanicus Kill Zone. That way I won't have to tape up my big mat in order to play on.
Cleaned out my computer case (see above), trying to recover an old harddrive from a NAS that no longer works with windows 10 (grrr), and add a CD Burner so I can catch up on promised work....
Oh, and watering a freshly seeded lawn (it's about 1 1/2 acre... so it's a pain).

Yeah... that's what's keeping me busy. But I promised pictures.well, here is one.

I have a tourney at the end of the month.
I'm basically taking what I have painted, though I'll need to repair a bunch of models.

Here's a link to the list.
https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/763212.page#10136625

I HOBBIED LAST NIGHT!!!!
Ok... got that out of my system.
I bought the Killzone: Sector Mechanicus box from a friend.
DAMN... some of that plastic is thick and heavy! It's particularly noticeable on the walkways... no bending there. Even if you had a metal dreadnought or Tyranid monster... you'll be good.
I've wanted this because Killteam (even without specialists, etc) is the right length of game to play with my kids. The board makes an excellent table, I don't need to clear my hobby table to play.
Assembled the two pipe sets with Think #1 (he's learning clipping and gluing... terrain is perfect to learn on). We'll see about tackling another one of the sets tonight.
I've decided that a C'tan based list might be fun.

C't-storm:

Glad you're getting some hobby time in Anpu. Any time with the kids is good time.

Get to a tourney on Saturday. Practice Game Friday Night.
Got in a practice game on Friday Night against my brother's Sisters + Knights. He came down to play in the tourney as well.
He runs 3 15-Girl bolter squads, a Flamer Dominion Squad, a Melta Dominion Squad, Celestine with Gemini, 2 Immolators ,three Exorcitst and 2 of the double Autocannon Armiger Helverins.
I made a lot of the classic mistakes, charged wraiths into the Flamer dominions (ended up wiping out the group, but took heavy loses). Wraiths and destroyers melted to the Helverins (I really hate those guys). Lost my C'tan to Exorcist Shooting

First round on Saturday... guess who I got to play?
I won a narrow victory. End of game objectives, and we made to the end of round five. We both played FAST considering that the round was only 2 hours long. One of his Helverins was taken out by my Doomsday Arks (Hammer and Anvil deployment... range 72 helps.) And I had managed to wipe out half of his army. Celestine died once to the Tranny C'tan and Destroyer Shooting. Game ended and he needed to get a Resurrected Celestine back on the midfield objective and kill all my scarabs on the other midfield objective to win. He wasn't able to do either, so I won. 1-0
Learned to fear massed bolter shooting on my c'tan... particularly with any kind of rerolls.

Second round, I was paired down to play a Tau player. He had a msu-gunline. Play of the game for me was sending my Deciever high into a building on his flank and nearly wipe-out his marker drones with C'Tan Powers. Basically, we had a really fun 2-turn game. Would have been much more interesting if we didn't spend most of the first hour in his shooting phase. I won on objectives. 2-0

Third round, I was paired with a Deathguard/Khorn CSM player. He was 0-2. If you are wondering why I was paired with a 0-2 player after going 2-0... I'm with you. Unfortunately, I didn't realize it until about half-way through the game. I've got an email into the organizer (he's not from my normal playgroup... so I don't know him well). He was really fun to play, even though it wasn't a very tactical game. Neither of us killed much of anything. He lost his Demon Prince when my Nightbringer blew up.

My little brother won best painted for his Sisters... very cool. My 3rd round opponent won one of two best sportsman awards. I got 4th place out of 14 in spite of the weirdness in matching.

Sounds like a fun time Anpu. That's the most important part.

Indeed.
Forgot that a Nightbringer has a shooting attack. Could really use the scythe ability from AoS (score extra hits if the unit is above 10 models, etc). 4 strength 7 attacks just doesn’t cause the dread it should.
Deceiver was fun, but it didn’t feel epic in combat.
Tranny C’tan was fun with the multiple personalities. Didn’t really get to use them as the didn’t effect any of the games.
Doomsday arks definitely helped, but they didn’t feel reliable. I never seemed to have more than on hit go through.

Primed and base coated the Wraiths today between loads of laundry.
Hopefully, I'll be able to get the first three of them finished tomorrow.

Playing proper games! that's cool.

FOUR!
Weird isn’t it?

Now I’m torn between working on my Orks or Sisters.

 Anpu-adom wrote:
FOUR!
Weird isn’t it?

Now I’m torn between working on my Orks or Sisters.

Make sister orks. Problem solved

Eww. Just eww.

Just do some Burna Girls and you are golden. Stick some boobs on and add some long hair, maybe some platform boots. Easy really.

Eww... super ewww.

Got the new codex. Wow, does it look fun!
Working on a trukk and battlewagon focused list first. I’ll need another box of meganobz soon as I want another Big Mek.

Been painting my battlewagons and trukks. I need more Mephistophon Red. We’ll see how my Evil Sunz Scarlet holds out.

Here’s my first list. 75 PL
Evil Sunz Battalion
Warboss
Warboss

10 boys in a trukk
10 boyz in a trukk
10 boyz in a trukk

5 burnaz
5 burnaz
4 meganobz

Evil Sunz Spearhead
Big mek in Mega Armor and a KFF

Battlewagon
Battlewagon
2 deff dreads