Looks like I'll be going... just drugged to the 9's. :-) So I might not be quite as chipper as normal but I will be there. Thanks for all the good wishes everyone. Now it's off to finish the MoTF...
"Bob & Bing on the road to Adepticon." (if you don't get the reference ask your parents)
Taking pictures already. MoTF is not done by any stretch, but is at least fully painted. Plasma cutter turned out cool though. Painted till the last possible second, then spent 5 min packing and off we went (to the drug store to get my prescriptions). My body is now a raging chemical stew.
Thanks for all the good wishes, I'm sure we'll have a blast! More later - Gits
Were all here, army is staged in Solar's room. Just about to head off to the mess hall. Armies look spectacular together! Ice and I took lots of pics.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Update: 10 PM (beddie-bye time for gitsie)
Quote of the day: some geek talking into his phone... "There are no girls here, I thought there would be more girls."
Ice Angel is every bit as cool in person as he is on line.
Solar_lion flirts with every cute girl he sees, and they flirt back! (bastard)
The photographs don't even begin to reveal the brilliance of Roleplayer's painting skills. I held one of his golden sanguine guard figures in my hand and was spellbound by it's complexity and subtlety.
Second quote of the day: ice Angel. "Gits, for someone who writes all the time you sure don't talk much."
So far all the cute girls are cleverly placed in the sales booths. Had a good night's sleep & am feeling much better. Good thing, it's going to be a long day.
Phone batteries low, last post 'till home. Most enjoyable war gaming experience of my life. 2 for 4 on day. Solar's Lamenters stole the show. Last game the sides switched partners and we went after each other. Wayyyyyyy too much fun, that.
Gitsplitta wrote:I thought you guys would get a laugh out of this and it does show why it takes so bloody long to do these paint jobs. This is a pic of just the first and second parts of the masking process for painting the dark parts of the zenithal lighting and main gradient on the fins. Left pod is the first stage, right is about 1/2 way through the second stage (of masking, not painting).
This helps alot... I just read your thread from start to finish today.
Your painting has developed immensely during this life of this force, and for this I can only congratulate you.
I am about to paint up a SW force, in order to practice and improve my painting.
After seeing these pics, I think I will invest in a decent airbrush and compressor in order to speed up my process and hopefully develop some neat techniques.
Hopefully, when you have time, perhaps you can share some different techniques on your layering and blending with the airbrush on the larger pieces, I.E. Drop Pods and tanks.
AvatarForm wrote:This helps alot... I just read your thread from start to finish today.
Your painting has developed immensely during this life of this force, and for this I can only congratulate you.
I am about to paint up a SW force, in order to practice and improve my painting.
After seeing these pics, I think I will invest in a decent airbrush and compressor in order to speed up my process and hopefully develop some neat techniques.
Hopefully, when you have time, perhaps you can share some different techniques on your layering and blending with the airbrush on the larger pieces, I.E. Drop Pods and tanks.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you! And my hat's off to you for working through the entire blog. It's a beast... but some good stuff sorted throughout I think. My biggest tip for doing something like a pod is to airbrush it before you assemble it. It would be SO much easier that way.
DarthLakey wrote:good for you, GS. Sorry to hear you're sick. You should probably pray to/curse Nurgle.
I just hope no0one gets hit with your stream of corruption!!!
Well, the apothecary has come to my aid and papa nurgle is slowly returning to the warp. I was very cautions about washing my hands, using sanitizer and not shaking hands or touching other people's stuff. So hopefully the plague did not spread.
perplexiti wrote:Shame you were crook mate, but at least you guys had a great time!
We did. It was wonderful!
I will be doing a massive photo dump from the weekend, with explanations where necessary (though most will stand on their own). I will eventually be putting together battle reports.
Funny observation of the event: So, the other 3 guys a giving me crap on Saturday morning about my being "famous" because I have this blog and the fact that they're all going to get sick of telling people "no, I'm not Gitsplitta" as legions of people come up to wonder at the marvels of my army. What they failed to understand is exactly how tiny a little corner of 40k cyberspace this blog occupies... OR that fact that the most striking army of the 4 was not even mine, but Solar_lions Lamenters with it's "flying taxicabs", hand-painted checkerboards and Chapterhouse jump packs. Only ONE person that morning (we were set up for the painting judging) actually recognized my army and associated it with "Gitsplitta", and THEY thought Solar_lion was me!! They spent 5 minutes talking with Solar about the army and the blog calling him Gits the whole time. LMAO!!
What did the Roman slave whisper into the ear of the conquering hero? "All glory is fleeting" I think? Damn straight. LOL
As I was carrying my army back up to the room that night, I did run into a couple of nice gents at the elevator who had followed the blog and we had a nice chat. I invited them to break through the lurker barrier and post... hope they do. Anyway, they saved my ego for the day.
Thanks for that Heff... I was pretty sure I mucked up the quote but the sentiment is the same. "Don't get too big for your britches." as my father would say. Nothing like a weekend at Adepticon to remind you how far you have yet to go in the hobby. By the same token... nothing like it for inspiring you to continue onward & improve your skills for next year.
So, I thought I'd start by posting the final picture of my Master of the Forge. Now this is still WIP... especially since he took a tumble and will need some minor repair, but this is how he appeared at the event. I usually don't allow voting on WIP projects but since it might be some time before a get around to really finishing him properly I thought I'd let it go in case someone wanted to voice an opinion.
Again, I don't suggest he'd done... he's just "fully painted" and we'll leave it at that. I was painting until solar forced me to stop so we could leave for the event. He needed about 3 days worth of work and he got 4 hours (I was still pretty darn sick on Friday)... but I don't think he's an embarrassment... just not very detailed. People did really seem to like the pose though... actually they liked all the old RT models that had been so carefully vivisected and reposed (thanks WhaleMusic!).
Looking like a good start gits, I am thinking he needs some more work doing to him overall and the plasma gun is still a bit 'meh'. I am not trying to be negative here, just pointing out spots of improvement!
moonshine wrote:Wow looking good I like the whole dr octapus look you got going there, where did you get that awesome head from though ?
forgeworld's character conversion kit, the same set in which you get the plasma pistol that he's cut up to use as the barrel, the bionic arms and the bolt pistol. It's a pretty good kit.
OK, here is our team pic when we were set out for the painting judging. I present... The Wardens of the Maelstrom. It's a very large pic so you can zoom in a bit and see the different elements.
The biggest thing that stands out to me on the MotF is the skull in the laurel, the white side eye socket looks like it got filled in with some white, the look much better with black sockets (IMO).
Glad the RT boy's were well recieved! You did a great job wit the paint and basing, really bringing them to life.
Hopefully next year I'll be able to join in on the fun. Should be able to as I will be done with school.
Awesome Gits, i'll be there next year. About to start my thread for next years army. Wanna have as much time as possible for planning. I'm stoked, glad you had a good time
whalemusic360 wrote:The biggest thing that stands out to me on the MotF is the skull in the laurel, the white side eye socket looks like it got filled in with some white, the look much better with black sockets (IMO).
Keep in mind that near the end I was just trying to get everything covered in a logical fashion. There is not a lot of subtlety or detail to him yet... including the skulls (which ARE just half black and half white).
Glad the RT boy's were well recieved! You did a great job wit the paint and basing, really bringing them to life.
Couldn't have done it without you. We kind of snuck in sideways to a Black Library competition for teams based on Black Library books. We didn't *really* qualify but the guys at Black Library were very generous and the whole crew, authors and all came over to see our display and commented on how much they liked what we did with our old figures. I think I got more comments on the poses of the old beakies than anything else. I just think most folks don't imagine that you can do that much with those old models... Just takes some creativity and a few tools. Wait until I get done painting up the sergeants you made for me to go with them!
Hopefully next year I'll be able to join in on the fun. Should be able to as I will be done with school.
Love to have you there man.... you'd just love it!
TheChronoTrigger wrote:Awesome Gits, i'll be there next year. About to start my thread for next years army. Wanna have as much time as possible for planning. I'm stoked, glad you had a good time
Smart. I started what... 4 months early and it wasn't enough. You'll love your experience there. Just don't get yourself into the mind set that you have to win to have a good time. Play your brains out, try to win.... but have a fantastic time no matter what!
Side note: You know you've been playing 40k too long when you write the word "nurgling" in a PM, the spell checker flags it.... and you re-type it 3 times before you realize that "nurgling" isn't really a word. *sigh*
Can't wait to hear the battle reports, have no doubt they will be epic
Love the Lamenters Solar_Lion, especially all the air-fan styled jump packs. But yeah, Gits is the master of the Mantis Warriors, he will always be my muse
(Off topic, I hope to be in the queue for a Marine Swap with you when you have fully recovered and get a little time. I have a homebrew chapter that you may have seen in that thread and that is planned for the future as a small force of marines that will be aiding my Mantis Warriors or Black Templar army, I even bought some Deathwatch pads just so I could add one to your second ten man squad )
Solar_lion wrote:Git don't forget some battle reports if you can remember all the details.. I'm not sure I do.
At least memorable moments.
SL
I'll get there, no worries. I'm a single dad this week (wife is traveling for work) so it might take me a few days, but I've already begun to sort thought my photos of the battles to see what I have to work with.
Yggdrasil wrote:I'm glad you had a great time, and feeling better... The MoTF looks good overall, but... I'm really puzzled by the plasma cutter. It looks too... Old school for me? Good job though, plus you managed to paint everything in time, so congratulations! I also second Solar's "demand" : we want some BatReps!
Actually "old school" is exactly what I was shooting for. This whole army is based on the way things were 20 years ago when I started playing 40k, that's why there are all those beakies and and Mk IV Forge World dreads and such. For the cutter, I found the oldest plasma pistol I could find and tried to modify it to make it look a little different... more like a tool then a weapon. The cutter came out exactly as I envisioned it, so from my perpestctive it was a success. However... from the feedback most folks don't like it, so while I did achieve MY vision of the wargear, I clearly didn't capture the popular imagination with my interpretation.
endtransmission wrote:Glad the weekend went well and the photos look great. The bionic head on the MotF looks like it'll take a lot of care to paint well with all the little wires and studs.
So what's the plan for next year's army?
Yes, it will get a lot of very careful attention and detail. Now that there's no time pressure... I can give it the loving attention it deserves.
We kicked ideas for next year around a little bit, but haven't come to any conclusions yet. Oh well.... one conclusion... no Tau. In general I won't discuss ideas until our team has had a chance to sort things out amongst ourselves.
AvatarForm wrote:WOW... very inspiring...
Thanks AF!
In more general terms... if you're wondering what's next for this blog:
I'm going to scale my painting way back. I spent Monday in a cuddle pile on the couch with my two boys watching Harry Potter movies... something I haven't done in months. There will be much more of that in my future... as well as many relaxing hours fishing on my boat, fixing up the house, cleaning the garage, etc. There's something to be said for a bit of domestic bliss in the midst of saving the universe from the ravages of chaos.
That being said, I will of course be moving projects forward. I want to finish painting the two sergeants that WhaleMusic made for my tactical squads, and complete work on the MoTF... though he may take a back seat for a while so I can come back to him later when I'm fresh and ready to really focus on a project.
Major thrust of the next couple of months however, with be 4 very important marine swaps that I've been setting aside for many months. Vent, Yggs, graven & BLACKHAND all have very special projects due them and I really want to give them my best effort. Solar_lion had a very special project coming as well but that will take several months on it's own so I'm not putting any date on it. I want to do something special for WM too, but both of us have kind of let our trade slide in liu of other projects so we'll see if we're inspired later in the year.
Aside from the swaps, my other main thrust for this period will be to work on the Vanguard for my MW Penitent (post-crusade) army. I've let all this fantastic sculpting work by BLACKHAND languish for far too long and it's time I gave it the attention it deserves.
I hope you find these projects interesting, and will forgive the slower pace. Without my family I'm nothing... time to put my priorities back into their proper alignment.
With warmth & gratitude,
Gits
I have your guy started, and is one of the 3 swaps I currently have, one of which will get knocked out tomorrow. Just leaves your Plasma Cannon and a Deffwing Dread for Da Dark Angelz.
I think if you let the MW chill for awhile after finishing current projects, and focus or your orks, and the kids armies, you may find some energy to come back to them even stronger!
That's a good point. There's a reason neither of their blogs has been updated recently... I haven't really had any time to help them work on their stuff. That will be remedied in the upcoming months as well.
Congrats Gits and thanks for taking us all along on your amazing journey, from page 1 right up to the present (and hopefully beyond).
It is a pleasure to see how this blog has pulled so many people together, sharing ideas and becoming the catalyst for many other projects and mantis armies. It's also great to see how your skills have developed over the course of this blog.
You deserve a bit of a break and some family time.
Is the plasma gun-thingy a conversion beamer?
They look great all together. Sounds good, never been to one of these big tourneys, maybe I should one day (although it was only last summer that I was, by the tournament rules, allowed to)....
Imperial Monkey wrote:Is the plasma gun-thingy a conversion beamer? They look great all together. Sounds good, never been to one of these big tourneys, maybe I should one day (although it was only last summer that I was, by the tournament rules, allowed to)....
It's supposed to be a "plasma cutter", which in the game functions as a twin-linked plasma pistol for shooting only (i.e. you don't get to use it in hand-to-hand). So my idea was a double chambered plasma pistol that would clearly be too bulky to be used close-in but could be cleanly aimed at range. As I mentioned earlier... the final result is exactly what I envisioned... it's just not what most other folks envision. And that's cool... I don't mind people disagreeing with my decisions, that's what makes they hobby so interesting. We all can have a different take on the same types of things.
I can't speak for any other big event as I'd never been to one either... but Adepticon is the bomb. I will be back with bells on next year. My hat's off to the organizers... it must have taken a tremendous amount of work to pull it off. Thanks guys!
You know the Techmarine on 110 of the Spacemarine codex (The one with the Bionic arm) he has been removed from the GW website, (Found out yesterday) he was going to be my Master of the Forge.
@dantay: Thanks Danny, it's really been a journey for me... and it wouldn't have been anywhere near as fun OR as good without the help of all my friends on Dakka. I'm going to take a step back, as save my time for those special projects that really get me excited... then take all the time I need for them. *sigh* What a luxury that will be!
Sounds like you guys had an amazing time, ive only looked through a few of the pics so far but the WotM look epic!
cant wait for the bat reps and more pics, but definitely dont blame you for taking some family time.
The MotF came out really well too, the plasma cutter came out really well, nice work! (especially when you were struck down with plague) looking forward to seeing the future of the MW's, and to see BLACKHAND's awesome sculpts with the VV
Miss Dee wrote:You know the Techmarine on 110 of the Spacemarine codex (The one with the Bionic arm) he has been removed from the GW website, (Found out yesterday) he was going to be my Master of the Forge.
I always try to make sure my fioncee gets time from me, and with kids that is even more important. A break from the hobby never hurts, especially after an intense period of work. Take a load off, and come back refreshed, we're not going anywhere
I just did a major photo dump over on our Team thread.... if you want to see some of the other armies that really caught my attention, go check it out!
The only thing I'm really disappointed in is our painting score. I guess I'd have to see the scoring sheet but I really thought we'd do a little better than that. However, since I was the guy manning the display when the judges came by, I guess I have no one to blame but myself.
I think 16 was the maximum sportsmanship score possible so a 15 is good... hard to stay positive when you're getting your butts handed to you repeatedly so the team did well there.
Yeah, gotta say I'd have thought the Wardens rated higher than that for painting. At least all you guys seemed to have a good time, guess I'll go and peek at some of your pics
Spirit had to do with wearing the same shirts, banners, all that kind of stuff. We wanted to do all that but just weren't organized (and my being really ill for the last two weeks kind of sunk us as I wasn't able to do the things for the team that I was supposed to do).
Gitsplitta wrote:Spirit had to do with wearing the same shirts, banners, all that kind of stuff. We wanted to do all that but just weren't organized (and my being really ill for the last two weeks kind of sunk us as I wasn't able to do the things for the team that I was supposed to do).
yeah that makes much more sense definitely a shame Nurgle's Rot took you, but you guys had a blast and thats what matters right?
With this being a Sapce Marine blog I'd thought you'd get a laugh at this...
In the "Times Eureka" section today, there was a big thing about modernised warfare. It also included a conceptual design by military research specialists at America's Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Centre for the US army by the year 2030.
"Rifle Known as the weapon subsystem, it will fire once targets are acquired through normal line of sight or through sensors mounted either on the weapon or on the soldier's headgear. It will be voice actuated or electronically triggered, launching explosive projectiles...."
Now where have I heard of explosive projectiles before...?
It continued...
"Armour A multifuctional network of protection resistant to blast, flame and bullets, including in-built medical treatment systems to sense wounds, hlat bleeding and infuse drugs. Will include multi-enviroment microclimate conditioning"
So, US soldiers will be equipped, in about 20 years, with power armour and bolters!
Just think of that, a marine (the US kind...) with a 3+ save and a strength 4 weapon...nasty
monkeytroll wrote:Yeah, gotta say I'd have thought the Wardens rated higher than that for painting. At least all you guys seemed to have a good time, guess I'll go and peek at some of your pics
If I had to guess, I say the armies with the most dramatic paint jobs did better than just the well painted armies. All subjective.
Still Our theme was solid and our armies all were painted very well, so no complaints. More to think about going into next year.
SL
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Gitsplitta wrote:Spirit had to do with wearing the same shirts, banners, all that kind of stuff. We wanted to do all that but just weren't organized (and my being really ill for the last two weeks kind of sunk us as I wasn't able to do the things for the team that I was supposed to do).
No blame here. All of us learned a lot about the level of compitition for all areas at AC.. It was a good showing and we will go into next year improved.
For the uninitiated... Team Captain just means I paid for the team event. You too can be a team captain if you have the $$! ;-)
In all honesty I really liked our team. We had a good theme, we went out of our way to present RT era armies that "felt" right for the period. Everyone did a good job painting, Ice & Steve did a great job on the display boards... and considering we hadn't met before we got along great! Hard to argue with all that good juju. Sure, we weren't as militarily successful as we'd have liked, but then again we were playing fluffy armies in a very competitive tournament, so playing our opponents tough is a victory in my book.
And besides... I know we all had fun. That's the most important thing after all.
Gitsplitta wrote: but then again we were playing fluffy armies in a very competitive tournament,
I know what you mean, playing fluffy does not = win. There are so many great stories, armies and fluff out there, but if you want to remain true to them, most of the time you sacrifice the things the make that codex competitive. I have a very hard time being fluffy and being effective. It's like you have to create your own codex.
As my stats show below out of 5 games I only won one of them
@Styro: yeah, we knew that going in... but we it was our fluffyness that kept us motivated to do all the painting and building and such. So in the end I guess you make your choices and live with them, eh?
I just updated the Wardens Adepticon report blog with my battle report of our first game... if anyone's interested please go check it out & comment if you'd like. Hope to have my report for game 2 up tomorrow.
Question: Would you guys rather that I eventually re-post my MW battle reports here on this thread? Or is it fine to leave them where they are on the team thread and just link to them from here? I'm fine either way, I'm very proud of our team's effort, just wondering what the readers would prefer...
Gitsplitta wrote:For the uninitiated... Team Captain just means I paid for the team event. You too can be a team captain if you have the $$! ;-)
Modest arn't you!.. no... really you did all the talking to the judges, made sure we were going in the right place, ect. and keeping us from going off theme.
In all honesty I really liked our team. We had a good theme, we went out of our way to present RT era armies that "felt" right for the period. Everyone did a good job painting, Ice & Steve did a great job on the display boards... and considering we hadn't met before we got along great! Hard to argue with all that good juju. Sure, we weren't as militarily successful as we'd have liked, but then again we were playing fluffy armies in a very competitive tournament, so playing our opponents tough is a victory in my book.
JuJu good!
And besides... I know we all had fun. That's the most important thing after all.
And I got to paint something Yellow.. How cool is that!
I guess my biggest confusion, aside from painting, is "Theme". Uhm. 44/60? Is there an example of someone who scored close to 60/60? I thought your armies were majestically themed, and everything was tied together very well.
Gitsplitta wrote:Yellow gets a bad rep... it's easier to paint than most people think. I think EVERYONE should paint yellow!
(insert ghost of Jim Baccus here)
"Barkeeper, Lamenters for everyone!"
On this side note.. I saw 3 other lamenters players at AC.. How cool. The real threshhold will be when there is another MW player. So far git is one of a kind! ( in many ways)
Not to give the Adepticon guys a bad rep... I think there were ways we could have earned theme points that we didn't do. Write-ups for our armies explaining what they were and why they would be fighting together... maybe explaining the loyalist marine bits on the bases, coming up with a creative way to present the army lists etc. That was the stuff I was supposed to do for the team but never got done because I got sick. So that one didn't bother me because I knew there was stuff we could have done but didn't do.
Briancj wrote:I guess my biggest confusion, aside from painting, is "Theme". Uhm. 44/60? Is there an example of someone who scored close to 60/60? I thought your armies were majestically themed, and everything was tied together very well.
--B.
PS: Enjoy your well-deserved rest!
I'm quessing all single themed armies, such as all SW, Orks or all nurgle themed armies. Still I love the variety of our theme. We could have done more documentation for the judges might have helped. All stuff we'll look at next year. Having Ice use a character from the IC books was an added bonus ( check out the model on the WotM blog )
On a side note we talked a little about having a pick up battle next year with SM armies of the Badab war. Picking your army picks your side. Something to think about.
Well its no surprise there are that many views. I've benn following it for along time and check it at least once a day. Its been awesome watching the Mantis Warriors come to life. But I do have to say I miss your orks. Cant wait for you to start them again. Big fan of your work Gitz.
Keep the reports on the group page would be cool, however your updates to the link also make it highly useful.
Congrats on the 200+K views, I do check in around 2 or 3 times per day, just to see how the progress is going or to read your interesting dialogues...... I always liked how you would get quite in depth with some of your answers to questions.
I am immensely enjoying seeing and reading about your teams adepticon exploits. In a few years time it may be Gits and Things at the tourney
Well, thanks everyone for your support over the past year. I have enjoyed it thoroughly.
Guess I'm still kind of fried on painting. Each day I think... "yeah, I'm ready to get back into the saddle tonight". Then I get home, make dinner, help the boys with their homework, get them off to bed, clean up a bit.... and the last thing I want to do is go back into the studio to paint. Guess I need to vegetate a little more before I'm ready to start working on projects again.
OH and don't worry... the orks are due for some TLC. Did I mention that I own an Ork Mega Dread from Forge World?? *grin*
Thats understandable, I get the same way which is why I am considering farming out portions of my army to others for painting, then I can focus on the bits I want to spend time on and do the finer details on those I send out.
Lost count of the amount of times I have gone home thinking 'tonight is the night '
Then after doing the family stuff finding the enthusiasm has evaporated.
Take your time and recharge the batteries a bit more. Its better to come back refreshed and enjoying what you are doing than trying to "force" it. You'll just get frustrated and it will be a longer more painful process.
Would love to see that Mega dread though. Did you get it at Adepticon?
Just gotta love a grim dark church auction! Well, I'm sure I'm going to have a lot to e-bay eventually... but at the moment since the armies are still coming together... I'm holding on to everything. I have pretty much stopped buying things though. I figure I have a couple of years easy worth of painting before we start running out of things to do.
Did get to work on both my boy's armies over the weekend, which was a nice change from my marines.
Well, Thing 1 (the 10-year-old) is pretty decent at painting. He's experimented a little bit with modeling but mostly he's painting the models as-is (as opposed to creating his own unique figures out of bits like I do). Thing 2 (the 7-year-old) is learning how to paint, but he's still in the learning stage, so we do it together. We've worked out a scheme for his nids that allows him to do major parts of the painting on his own, then I come in later to tidy things up and do the detail painting.
I suppose it might be better for his development if I just let him paint the whole figure... but the figures are so expensive I just can't do that. So I involve him as much as possible but in the end I make sure the figure is nicely painted. Besides... 5 years from now I still want him to be proud of these figures, rather than cringing whenever they're on the table.
They both enjoy playing the game, though neither one of them handles losing all that well (the younger takes it better than the elder). I'm trying to work on helping them through that, but it's so different my from my attitude (I don't really care win or lose, I just look to how well I played for my measure of success) that I'm afraid I haven't been too much help to them.
Once I get done with Thing 2's Trygon, I think I'll go back to a Mantis Warrior project. Whalemusic made me a couple of very nice sergeants for my razorbacks which have the aribrushing done but still need the details painted. I'll finish those guys up, then start on one of the GMS projects I owe. Then it's back to the boy's armies. That way I keep myself on a nice rotation, everyone's armies keep moving forward, and I get to work on something different every week. THAT sounds good to me!
That sounds good to me too, having several projects on the go at once an let you have some variation, which will keep you fresh, and I am sure the orks will welcome your return too.
For me its the modelling I enjoy, there are very few stock models in my army as I like to have something a bit different, even if its only something small.
I have a bundle of enthusiasm for the first paint-job, but I am so slow at painting...... I finally got all my models undercoated this weekend, 15 bloodclaws 18 bikes, 2 thunderwolves, a couple of terminators 3 characters and 2 drop pods... woo. Next up is getting enough fenris grey and badab black to lay down the base colour then the 1st wash...... I am gonna love working from home this week
Its good that thing 1 and 2 are getting into the painting side of things as they will respect their models more for the hard work put in, plus the pride of seeing it done. They'll also learn patience too.
As long as thing 2 actually feels like he is contributing to the finished product then it is fine as long as he is happy.
For future projects you could always let him fully paint 1 or 2 as test colour schemes to see how he goes then go back over them with him to aid his learning of painting techniques.
I am also very much learning how to game, as there is no gaming club within 20 miles of me :( And I do enjoy it too. I struggle when I do badly or feel my opponent is being beardy, its something I need to learn how to deal with ( and I am 33). As long as you dont do a victory dance around the table, singing we are the champions (or anything that cheesy, such as we will rock you or another one bites the dust). Then I am sure yo are setting a good example for them. I think Jervis Johnson said "you learn more in defeat than in winning".
Maybe getting them to help write batreps would give you a good chance to chat about the game and look at strategies, so they can try something new next time. Or to motivate them... by showing the tactics which worked.
The batrep idea is an excellent one... I'll keep that in mind. It's never fun to lose, but I don't get worked up over it. And I don't write the codexes either, so if my opponent is playing one of the "Tomes of Cheese" there's nothing I can do about that. I do get worked up if I play stupidly though... I've found that rating my unit's performance (which I just started doing) can be very enlightening... if sometimes very frustrating. It really does show how circumstantial most units utility is though. You'll see when I finally finish my last two batreps from Adepticon... but I didn't have any units that were consistently good or bad every game. Each had it's highs and lows, determined by my use of them, the opponent, the scenario, and the luck of the dice.
Automatically Appended Next Post: So, some of you might be wondering how I got so many GMS marines (think I'm up to 12 or 13 now). Well two things... first, get behind on your trades (I don't recommend that). Second though is I trade all kinds of things for GMS marines. Old figures, bits, you name it. Which brings me to my current picture. DarthLakey is in need of some Mantis Warrior pads for a squad he's making, so I'm trading him for a Inquisitional marine for my army. Built this guy out of so many bits just like usual. Did some fooling around with a heat gun on the arms to get the pose I wanted & dressed him up with grenades and a purity seal, not to mention the fancy bolter. He's also got a banded tech shoulder pad from Chapterhouse. I've had several of these for a while now and have just been dying to try them out on something. This seemed like the perfect figure for the job. So, I'll be passing this on the Darth to paint in whatever colors he'd like. Hope he enjoys the painting as much as I'll enjoy adding it to my second inquisitional squad!
Gitsplitta wrote:I've found that rating my unit's performance (which I just started doing) can be very enlightening... if sometimes very frustrating. It really does show how circumstantial most units utility is though.
I find this good too - especially when you take the same units over and over again... (which you do when you have few usable options...) It means when someone tells me to swap something out because it had a poor performance *this* game - I can go back and see where it was instrumental previously... I find my opponent's target priority can have an overwhelming effect on their grade
Automatically Appended Next Post: Oh - and nice looking mini - for a Marine
That is one good looking marine. I've been meaning to get some of those banded shoulder pads from Chapterhouse. That pic is the final push I needed to actually order the pads instead of just thinking about them. Excellent work as usual, a functional update from you and a little inspiration for me. Thanks Gitsplitta.
Yes, it is a nice marine.... I am starting to build quite a wish list of bits now FW Chapterhouse oh my I will end up with a SW chapter at this rate
How does the GMS work, you build a marine and someone paints it for you and returns it, and vice versa? Or they send you a completed marine and you do the same?
I actually enjoy doing a debrief after a game, I usually play games against emissary1701, who is teaching me to play and his son Aaron.
Aaron gets easily upset when his character dies or he takes a round of heavy punishment. I find doing a debrief after the game or even turn end if he is really upset, is good because I can point out where he was putting the squeeze on me, or I can explain why I had to hammer a unit into the ground, atleast that way I hope I am motivating him by showing his tactics were sound or how threatening his unit was, not that I was being mean.
From ther we can discuss alternative tactics or ideas for damage limitation for future games.
For the GMS you build and paint a marine and send it to someone and in return they build and paint a marine for you.
Or if you're Arakasi... you make and paint Orks that think they are Marines
The aim of it isn't to get rid of old models, it's to do something new and push your skills to get the best you possibly can.
Arakasi wrote:I find this good too - especially when you take the same units over and over again... (which you do when you have few usable options...) It means when someone tells me to swap something out because it had a poor performance *this* game - I can go back and see where it was instrumental previously... I find my opponent's target priority can have an overwhelming effect on their grade
It was YOU that I got the idea from Arakasi... so THANK YOU!! Think I'm about ready to do my third Adepticon battle report and you'll see that a couple of units that didn't really do much in the first two games shine in the third & then in the 4th yet another unit gets it's moment in the sun.
ephrael wrote:That is one good looking marine. I've been meaning to get some of those banded shoulder pads from Chapterhouse. That pic is the final push I needed to actually order the pads instead of just thinking about them. Excellent work as usual, a functional update from you and a little inspiration for me. Thanks Gitsplitta.
My pleasure ephrael!
dantay_xv wrote:How does the GMS work, you build a marine and someone paints it for you and returns it, and vice versa? Or they send you a completed marine and you do the same?
There are no hard and fast rules. Arakasi and I (for example) built and painted each other's models from scratch (I built and painted his & he did the same for me). In this case, since I have plenty of marine parts including in Inquisition specific ones, I'm happy to build the figure myself & let DL paint it as his part of the trade. Some people trade already painted figures but the fun of it for me is building and painting something special for the person you're trading with. Lets you experiment with all kinds of techniques that you might not want to have to do for an entire army but are great to do on a single figure. All of my best builds are my GMS swaps with the possible exception of the MoTF.
Speaking of which... I think I'm finally out of all of my Deathwatch pads and bolters and such. Time for a new order!
I actually enjoy doing a debrief after a game, I usually play games against emissary1701, who is teaching me to play and his son Aaron.
Aaron gets easily upset when his character dies or he takes a round of heavy punishment. I find doing a debrief after the game or even turn end if he is really upset, is good because I can point out where he was putting the squeeze on me, or I can explain why I had to hammer a unit into the ground, atleast that way I hope I am motivating him by showing his tactics were sound or how threatening his unit was, not that I was being mean. From ther we can discuss alternative tactics or ideas for damage limitation for future games.
That's a great idea dantay. It can be difficult to separate the emotion from the mechanics of a game, especially for a young person... so giving it a more clinical treatment can allow them to see it more objectively and not take the defeat like a personal attack. Last thing you want to do with a young person is permanently shake their confidence.
I'm really looking forward to working on WM's sergeant now. Have a clear idea how I'm going to do the power sword which will be a bit unorthodox because of the design of this particular weapon... but hopefully it will be cool none-the-less. Give me a day or two to finish up Thing 2's Trygon and I'll start the process.
Yikes, that one is kinda rough Gits... Why not go zenithal with your airbrush, and use your airbrush on the sword too? Lbursleys vids and my tutorial article could give you a good place to start. It would certainly fit in with your vehicles!
shrike wrote:the sword is cool, but the cuts on the face are unrealistic and it looks like he ignore the "caution, wet paint" sign and got it on his face.
The model looks great, nice work WM!
and you're right Gits, theres just sometihng about the face... but the rest of the paint job/pose makes it for me
MajorTom11 wrote:Yikes, that one is kinda rough Gits... Why not go zenithal with your airbrush, and use your airbrush on the sword too? Lbursleys vids and my tutorial article could give you a good place to start. It would certainly fit in with your vehicles!
Hey Tom, could you post the link to your tutorial article please?
Thanks!
Head will be rolling shortly, now to find & paint up something suitable.
Bookmarked... or subscribed... or whatever the heck it is.
I wont use the air brush on this particular sword because if it's "power rod" design. However I've got a second sergeant to do and his sword would be an excellent one to try your technique out on.
I also won't have to replace his head.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I found the perfect head. You may now all bask in my greatness!
I think that head was actually miscast a bit. Love the rest of the MaxMini stuff, including that leg there. But this early head works just fine and suits well with all the campaign studs.
That is a neat head though I'm abotu to get some Maximini bits so it's nice to see somethign finished of thiers to get a grasp on quality level.
The swordy is pretty cool too Gits
Cool head! I think part of your problem is that the OSL on the head was too overpowering. For realistic OSL, and I've had lengthy conversations with my Dad about this, it needs to be very gentle. Unless they were in a really dark room (near pitch black) then the sword wouldn't glow that much, in direct sunlight then it would be a very indistinct glow. Light wave, technically photons...but anyway, interference and stuff. It is also a lot easier to do on plasma guns...
This is a picture from the Star Wars Clone Wars series of an old-style lightsaber...it would probably make quite a good power sword....
@Santobell: LOL! I deserved that. That's actually a Chapterhouse head. Been looiking for a good excuse to use one of their pre-heresy era heads and this seemed the perfect opportunity.
@Imp Monkey: I agree. When I think about OSL I feel obliged to make the glow go everywhere, but you're right... I think it would be a more subtle effect most of the time.
Well, he needs some detailing and a shoulder pad, but he'll be finished today. Then it's on to the next project!
Automatically Appended Next Post:
I promised weety I'd put this up on the "big blog"...
And now here's something you'll really like! (from Rocky & Bullwinkle)
I have a wonderful Bad Moon mug made by weetyskemian44!! She'll do custom work at a very reasonable price!
I do plan on having him make me a mug using the Mantis Warrior symbol. Love this mug. Very different from my other one which I also love.
Finished the sergeant. I love the way he turned out. I just want to say that it's such a pleasure to paint a model that a friend has made for you. You can see the care and creativity that went into it's construction and that translates into helping you to stay focused and on-task when you paint. It's just a very fulfulling experience!
I think everyone should try it... right now. Drop what you're doing and go out and find some long neglected beakie and just build the hell out of it! Do something really special with the pose or the basing... really make it special. Then send it to me so I can paint it up beautifully and be fulfilled! Don't worry about getting anything back, the satisfaction of a job well done and the pleasure you get from watching me paint it and add it to my force will more than compensate you! Go on.... hurry... quick before you lose your Muse! (or come to your senses)
Brother Sergeant Paulus:
And in what passes for a Space Marine "Glamor Shot"...
So just because I'm up to neck again in necrons, nids and orks... doesn't mean I won't continue to give my Mantis Warriors the love they deserve!
Thanks for the plug gits - but yeah its "she'll do custom work at reasonable prices" its not important but it does make me cringe a little when I read it
Moltar wrote:Yeah, now he's looking like a legit MW. He also looks taller than the average SM. Is he?
Amazingly enough... he is taller (see pic). How on earth could you tall that looking at a stand-alone photo??
weetyskemian44 wrote:Thanks for the plug gits - but yeah its "she'll do custom work at reasonable prices" its not important but it does make me cringe a little when I read it.
But it's true! You aren't "cheap"... cheap is crap usually. You do beautiful custom work and the price you ask is very reasonable and appropriate. I fly the weety banner proudly! And then I have a sip of coffee and I'm all happy and warm inside...
I'm assuming it was as much the "he" part as the cheap.
The height is actually a trick with the bionic leg bit. He is technically full height from the slab up, but the add on leg made him appear taller. The sword is one of the "rippers" from maxmini, and is pined into his hand, so should be secure. Also, ARGH I MISSED A MOLD LINE!
Actually you and I both missed a mold line... it happens.
whalemusic's Sergeant #2 will be the next MW on the docket. Back to making slow progress, but it's a bit more enjoyable when I'm not trying to ram them through as fast as I can.
"Your puny bullets mean nothing to me miscreant! Now... out of my way!"
Look at the difference in the location of the hip socket and you'll know why there is a size difference. Still a darn good looking figure though, thanks WM!
weetyskemian44 wrote:Thanks for the plug gits - but yeah its "she'll do custom work at reasonable prices" its not important but it does make me cringe a little when I read it.
You know... the "she'll" in your post didn't even register with me until Solar_lion pointed it out. Man I'm loosin' it.
Anyway, my apologies and fixed on both blogs. Though I'm STILL carrying the weety banner, no matter what gender you happen to be you're a fantastic potter!
I really enjoy the model but that mold line really detracts from its overall awesomeness, my eye is drawn to that terrible plastic scar at every glance, I mean its like my eye is being prodded by a ford fiesta every time I look at it. Who built that thing any ways?
whalemusic360 wrote:I'm assuming it was as much the "he" part as the cheap.
The height is actually a trick with the bionic leg bit. He is technically full height from the slab up, but the add on leg made him appear taller. The sword is one of the "rippers" from maxmini, and is pined into his hand, so should be secure. Also, ARGH I MISSED A MOLD LINE!
lol, I honestly didn't even notice it until whale music pointed it out and being that he always gives me crap about it I figured it only fair. I think he looks cool, I like the chapterhouse helmet I actually used that same one on some of my Astral Claws.
Which mold line are you referring to? I mean where is it?
The lines on the left half of the chest plate aren't mold lines... not in the traditional sense... they're grooves in the plastic. I thought they were kind of cool because they were obviously some kind of anomaly and they sweep rather gracefully across the chest plate, which is why I left them on. I'm sure I could find a way to cover them up, but like I said... I thought they were neat.
It's all coming along really well Gits!
I could do you an odd marine if you wanted? It'd probably be a modern type, think I've got some beakies knocking around
Disjointed Entity wrote:It's all coming along really well Gits!
I could do you an odd marine if you wanted? It'd probably be a modern type, think I've got some beakies knocking around
I was just teasing DE, I didn't really expect anyone to just start building me marines. That being said, if you're bored some day and want to cobble together a beakie for the fun of it, I'd be honored to receive it. Neither of my two squads has been filled out beyond razorback size... so they both could still use bolter marines, a special weapon or a heavy weapon. A modern marine I'd put with my deathwatch squad.
But again... I was just popping off. If you're like me, you have plenty of your own things to do. But thank you!
@prototype_x: I agree. I'd never seen anything like it. To me, it looked like it had a power rod of some sort embedded in the blade, so that's how I tried to paint it. Not sure how well it came out, but that's what I was shooting for.
Well, on to current projects. So as most of you have heard me whine about, I'm way behind on my trades and now that I no longer have the time pressure of Adepticon hanging over me, I'm going to take some time and get caught up! First two up are whalemusic360 and vent. WM and I are trading plasma cannon marines & he wants a "modern" Mantis Warrior (here-to-for known as Mantis Warrior Penitent or MWP). Vent has given me complete freedom to do what I want, so it'll be some kind of objective marker featuring a Mantis Warrior of some sort. I have one vague idea, but really haven't nailed anything down yet. So, while these are for the GMS, I will be detailing the process here since they are Mantis Warrior build projects.
So, the trick with WM's project, which is a bit easier as it is more limited in scope... is to come up with a pose that is off-standard. Something besides a guy with a plasma cannon standing there blasting away, like every other P-cannon figure out there. I'm limited by the bulk and position of the gun of course... but I think I have something in mind that is at least a little more interesting than normal. The build should go together pretty quickly once I get going, so I anticipate having something to show you later today (in between dishes, doing the laundry and general picking up around the house). Ah, domestic bliss. When it comes to painting... I think I'll sneak in some work on the other sergeant WM made for me while I paint his plasma cannoneer, just to keep that project moving forward.
Tell you what Gits, I'll make you a Beaky with bolter and I'll send over one of my own Marines with paint (I'll leave the base blank and unattached) They are based around the Storm Barons around about the time they became traitors, so he might be a tiny bit Chaosy, but not OTT
Apologies for the Double post, neither of them decided to show!
Looking forward to it! Your PC dude will be kinda standard, but is one of the robbed DA bodies and heads, so different to most non DA folk. I'm going to try some free hand on the arm where the Deathwatch pad would go.
It's a daunting task to build a figure for one of the best builders you know, but here is my best attempt and something unique and interesting. Had to do major surgery on the cables to get the pose to work out right, then resupply with my own.
There could be some bristles left from the brush I use to sweep away the filings... I can see there are bristles down by his foot (right below where you mention).
It may just be the photo, but his head looks like it's riding a little too high up at the moment as I can see a lot of neck. Trimming down the neck bobble might help that one... or ignoring me. Either works
There's also a mold line on the outside of his right leg that needs dealing with too. Other than that... great work as always!
And all three together:
Mottos:
Pod I: MELIUS TARDE QUAM NONQUAM (Better late than never) - sternguard and MoTF Pod II: AUT VINCERE AUT MORI (Either conquer or die) - Iron Clad Dreadnought
Pod III: IN HOC SIGNO VINCES (In this sign you will be victorious) - Rifleman Dreadnought
Two Tactical Squads for Razorbacks, most built by whalemusic360:
MoTF, still pretty WIP but this is how much was done for Adepticon:
Our Adepticon Team:
Shots from Adepticon:
Sergeant to go along with Tac Squads, built by whalemusic360:
Sgt. Paulus again with props!
Automatically Appended Next Post: @endtrans... I trimmed it a bit already, though I just might not be used to how helmets sit in the more modern armor, been working with the Mark 6 stuff for so long. I'll give it another look.
@Ice: I keep forgetting about the spikey bitz... Will take care of that.
You know logg_frogg, I've tried army pictures several times now and they all look terrible, that's why there's none in the summary even though there were several over this last period. I'll try again when I get the second sergeant done, but I don't hold out much hope that it'll look any better than the rest.
@RR: Not yet, it's one of the "tidying up" things I need to do with the Adepticon force.
dantay_xv wrote:Looking great as always, the plasma cannon guy looks great, nice to see Blackhands bits in use. The new cable looks good too.
Thank you sir! Yeah, still haven't had a chance to really use all his fine work on a vanguard... but the time will come, sooner rather than later!
whalemusic360 wrote:I like it! Lots of copy paste in there Is the hole in the front fin thing going to get something in it?
Yes, have tried twice to put some optics there but it just does not work. Thought a bayonet would be funny there but can't get that to look right either. So right now it's just a way of lightening the front end of the stock to make it easier to hold. I'f you've got any ideas, I'm all ears. I did add two purity seals and checked the head but it' stuck fast... so it'll have to remain as is.
shrike wrote:The maxmini head idea is really cool, if they touch it up a bit I might have to get some...
You mean the original bionic head? Yeah, neat concept... just not very good execution. I went and found another one that I hadn't painted... it's about half their model and half my lousy execution on the paint job. In better hands it would be fine.
And the neat thing is between my last post and this one, I completely tore down the entertainment center in my studio. Pulled one component to replace another in our living room, tossed a bunch of extra wires and unnecessary bits, put both back together and everything is working fine. Not a bad nights work!
Base is done... I didn't quite have the same grey that WM uses on his bases, so I made my best mix... but the base can easily be re-ringed in the proper color.
And I have a green marine. (actually he's not quite this yellow)... issue with my camera.
That's BLACKHAND's handi-work. The skull on the gun is actually from one of the skull and chain chaos vehicle drapes. It's about the nicest skull out there and I think compliments the gun nicely. It will probably have something intimidating written on it when done. Next, the not-so-glamorous job of lining the whole fig... that could take a day or two.
And I got a little bag of very cool bits that I have great plans for, but the first experiment will be on vent's GMS mini. That'll be fun... can't wait!
You're right about the skull complimenting the gun. I'm sincerely looking forward to how you paint plasma as well. Good luck and keep up the great work.
I've been following this thread for a while and am very impressed. Great use of those old school minis! You make me want to dig through my old collection and start repainting some of those ancient figs
Thanks More Dakka! The way you paint your orks... I'd LOVE to see you attack some of those old figures! "Mr. Smiley" there is completely off-the-hook!
(and if you don't want to take them on, you can sell them to me... I'm always looking to augment my beakie collection. Shhhhhhh! Don't let anyone else know or they might start buying up all the beakies and I'll never get any again!)
I'm afraid I've had to put your mini on hold Gits, I've lost most of my paints & brushes!
I think I may have left them in Warhammer World. Oh well, to the GW website I go!
OH, my mistake... I thought you were referring to his avatar pic. Sorry DE, I join the chorus of "I can't see you pic". You might try re-loading it, or check to see that when you cut-and-pasted the location you didn't accidentally lop off a few characters.
Here's the only pic in DE's gallery, I suspect this is it. I like it! I need more blue in my squad...
What's odd is that in my profile the avatar pic doesn't show, like it's a broken link... but it's obviously still working. Thanks guys, I just didn't understand WM's first message.
You were "Leech Essence" tired? (that's what the glossary says "le" stands for) Too much partying with SUVs & automatic weapons for you!
I did make a little progress on WM's marine. Wife has been gone all week so it's all I can do to keep up with the kids and house. I gave him a complete wash in dilute (50/50) Thraka Green, the quickly went back over all the high areas and "painted" them with water to pull the wash off, then made sure no drips developed in the low areas. This did a nice job of adjusting the tone to a shade I really like, it deepens the shadows of course... but it also helped define the gradients too. One lining of selected cracks & crevices with full strength Thraka Green should complete this aspect of the painting process. Then it's on to painting the details! (the fun part)
The airbrush and washes do not play well together. I've tried it... bad scene. Really, the process above from start to finish probably takes less than 5 minutes to complete, so the airbrush would actually make it slower, not faster... as I'd still have to stop spraying and go back in with the clean water on the high areas, get rid of drips, etc.
Airbrush is great for some things... others are best done the old fashioned way.
What's odd is that in my profile the avatar pic doesn't show, like it's a broken link... but it's obviously still working. Thanks guys, I just didn't understand WM's first message.
Your unfixed again. Tellin ya, its trying to make it code.
Ok, here are some (i hope) long-awaited WIP pics of MY Mantis Warriors
ok, first here is my WIP jump pack command squad. The Banner Bearer has a Roman Eagle, which I am particularly proud of as its seems awesome, yet practical. The eagle is from pegasus miniature gothic chapel.
Next is my partly finished assault squad, The armour is mostly painted, and they should be completed by monday.
Then comes a close up of one of the assault squad members.
And here is the chaplain who will lead my force.
And this is a close up of his freehanded mantis symbol, its my first ever freehand, and I think it turned out quite well. I apologise for the blurry pic.
Sorry Gits, I apologise for the wall of pics/threadjack. C&C is very welcome and appreciated. DISCUSS MY MODELS FOR THE EMPRAH!!!!
It's OK DE, I guess I have the main Mantis Warrior thread going, so everyone who makes one get's at least one post.
I'm sure that as the project continues, he'll start his own P&M blog so that he can get specific feedback on his models as opposed that being all jumbled up with mine. When you finish though, you're welcome to post a pic here of the final result. And be sure to post a link to your thread here so people can go check it out.
I like your builds, very dynamic. Love your take on the Mantis Warrior badge. The armor could use some highlighting and a wash of some sort, but I assume that's what you had planned all along & just hadn't gotten to it yet.
I have 2 solutions....
1. not post any updates for a while- this will, unfortunately, make people less interested as you haven't updated for a while. This happened to someone elses bolog and most people got angry at him tough, but I'm sure this wont happen to you.
2. create a *NEW* Mantis warrior blog and not tell anyone so they have to find it themselves.
No whalemusic. Gits got it though. PLASMA! Great stuff Gits, that purple is awesome too. That picture will help me a lot coincidentally in where to apply thraka green too. So an unexpected thanks is in order: Thanks!
Hmmmmm...... WM...... I wouldn't use that for recreational uses. Might leave a splinter or 2. But hey who I'm I to judge. And Gitz I have to say in the past 6 months I've been following your tread your painting has really gotten better. Way to step it up.
Thanks everyone! Still have some cleaning up to do where I got a little overzealous with the lining. Funny thing is you can't really see the gradient at all, but if you look at the figure from the top and then from underneath, the shades of green are really different, but the gradient just kind of disappears from the sides. That may be the lesson here. I picked up a new airbrush technique at a class at Adepticon, and while it does work great, it tends to mute the gradients (while making them seamless). So I may need to make my lights and darks more extreme in order to get a noticeable color change.
Vitruvian XVII wrote:Lovely so far! Whats with the brown on the feet though? Not too sure about that...
What? You never heard of Mantis clodhoppers?? Actually I usually do the soles grey, but since the entire base is grey I decided to try something different. Once I finish painting him and get him off the pin, I'll set him on the base and then make a decision about the color of the soles.
Well, I *know* the gradient is there... it's just not very obvious. New technique works really slick though, I must admit. Easy too.
If I'm brave enough... I plan on doing OSL MajorTom11 style... if I'm brave enough. Probably a bit more subdued than his Grey Knights (which are fab) but using the same techniques.
Gits,
That Plasma dude looks like the business. It's no mystery as to why your greens look so good. I think you should go for the OSL on him. Although it can be intimidating, it isn't really that hard to pull off (that's what she said) and I think you have the brush skills and patience to achieve a solid OSL technique.
Wanted to show off a bit of BLACKHAND's work. His Sabre Legion was the first thing that really made me realize his sculpting genius. By comparison, I was as involved in his blog every bit as much as some of you are involved in mine.
This little diorama, his part of our trade... depicts me as the Sabre Legion soldier, leading to young scouts (my boys) in a training run. The amazing thing is that we were just beginning to get to know each other at the point when he conceived and built this models, yet it is so perceptive in bringing my relationship with my boys into focus.
Really remarkable... Thanks my friend! I hope you'll enjoy what I'm planning on making for you as much as I enjoy having this.
Proud to add them to the ranks of my Mantis Warrior auxiliaries.
Thanks Gits, I'm glad you and the boys like the models (glad they survived the trip!)
You say I have some skill at sculpting but it pales in comparison to your ability to write such an entertaining blog, one that seems to have been read by nearly every Dakkite!
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with bro, but take your time and enjoy building some post-crusade Mantis Warriors first!
Great to see the classics revisited. Unfortunately, when RTB01 box found its way to the stores, we still had Red Army in Poland... which is a shame, since I'd love to get my hands on the old Space Marines, being a giant fan of anything sculpted by Jes Goodwin. Other than that, well, to quote the Queen of Hearts, "Off with his head!"
you know, when I first saw that diorama. i thought it was your kids poking you with spears and taking you captive.
the other interpretation is good too though.
also you should know i'm still in your chimney. could you pass me some snacks?
@Marcin: Hey Marcin, welcome aboard! I do love the old minis. The plastics need a lot of extensive conversion if you want to get beyond the few poses that were possible with them, but they do make fantastic figures when fiddled with.
@EpicMoose: LOL! I think we have some pretzels lying around in a pantry... will that do?
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This may be the extent of today's progress as I have things I'd like to get done around the house. Got a lot done this morning. It's so funny that I'm having so much fun just kind of doing what I feel like rather than my normal, very disciplined, systematic approach to painting. I just pick it up and paint what I feel like, how I feel like painting it... very liberating. Of course it won't begin to look done until I attack the plasma cannon, which is the 900 pound gorilla in the room... but... I'll get to that eventually.
Looking good Gits, absolutely loving the purple on WM's plasm cannoneer! and the new airbrushing technique seems to be working wonderfully and BLACKHAND again astounds me with his sculpting, and the idea behind the diorama is epic
Also, it seems I missed something regarding your rank, with things like "Yggsie" and "White noise" appearing sometimes, but I don't get it at all...
Maybe I should send a PM for full explanation?
It has to do with you and WM no longer actually reading my posts anymore. So I write something and then you two respond with questions that were answered in the post... if you actually read it... which you don't anymore...
I try (really) to read everything, but sometimes a few words must evade my mind...
And I admit, I have less time to spend on Dakka lately, so I tend to overfly (can we say that? as in 'reading roughly 1/3 of the words to get the meaning') some of the posts... I hope you're not *that* disappointed, you have plenty of other fans around
Well, Tyranid players might grow irritated by the fact our illustrious host is subverting their "bug eyed monster" theme, but on the other hand, the results are pretty good, so they should not complain too much.
Gender ambiguity is assumed on the net. Of course on a forum like this, the safe assumption is that most folks are male, but certainly not all. Otherwise you end up making embarrassing mistakes like I did with weety.
Loving this Gits, can't wait to see how much OSL you're going to give the guy.
Also, the Purple is nice - was it an intentional blend into the corners?
Remember when I said I was done painting? I lied... just couldn't put it down yet. This view got most of the work, though all sides got additional detailing.
I like it... maybe I'll keep it. Sorry WM, better luck next time! (just kidding!)
OK, so you want to secret to my "Penitent Purple"? No problem. Three simple steps to purple perfection. It took a while to figure this out & I experimented with a lot of different combinations and techniques... but I'm pretty happy with this.
1. You must call it "Penitent Purple" to acknowledge that it's the purple for the "Mantis Warriors Penitent". If you don't to this, rather than perfect purple you'll get poopy purple, which I'm sure none of us want. 2. Paint area with GW's Warlock Purple, no idea what they call it now-a-days. It's a reddish purple color. 3. Wash with dilute Asurmen Blue wash (say roughly 60/40 wash to water... though I freely admit I never measure. The dilute wash stains the whole surface slightly, then gathers in the cracks to deepen the shadows to a nice rich color.
This works great in small, busy areas. I don't know how it would work in larger areas, I'm guessing not as well... but you never know until you try!
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Commander Cain wrote:Incredible work both Blackhand and Gits! Keep up the great work!
btw Gits, I have not forgotten our gms trade, I am just a little busy with other things!
No problem my friend, I'm up to my neck in stuff as you can see. Mainly trying to get caught up on all my trades... so take your time!
My wife just looked over my shouldre and said "That looks mantis-y" (referring to the shoulder pad in particular apparently - which she just informed me she thought it was a small shield )
I'm not sure about the positioning of the servo skull. I want it on there, but I think it's crowding the marine where it is. Will have to give it some thought.
Gits, that rules. I didnt know you were gonna paint that plasma cannon purple. It looks awesome, man!! And I really like the addition of the servo skull. I still think you should go for the OSL. Just try it on a test model first. Something tells me you may have an extra nid or doom eagle lying around.
Today is when the cyber-wabbit lays the golden egg, yes?
Plasma-guy looks fantastic Gits, but I agree the servo skull makes it a bit busy around that shoulder, maybe off to his right, coming off the rocky base?
The servo skull would look better on the other shoulder.... Maybe coming off the cable for the gun. I think the muzzle looks a little odd in gold, I know it is a good compliment to the purple but it would look better just as a bare metal...
Other wise he looks fabulous, and I love the look you've got with the eyes, and the purple.
Happy Easter!
and im with Imperial Monkey and monkeytroll for the servo skull, i like the gold muzzle though, shows it to be old and venerated (and hopefully if they treat it nice it wont blow up )
i really want to see OSL too.....pleeeeeeeaaaaaase?
I moved it about 4 different places. All the other times the wire just kind of dominated the scene. This was the best placement for the skull where the wire itself didn't interfere with the figure.
I love the cannoneer , there's something about the eyes , i can't place it , i'd have gone for a red gore-mechrite red-blood red fade , but thats personal taste.
First, Happy Easter, and second, the bug eyed monster really looks better and better. The soot is great, even though I'm a bit skeptical whether it would be there, since the weapon emits superheated plasma, but that's just my torturous high school past saying... physics was a pain, nuclear physics doubly so. Also, the coils would need more definition in my opinion, unless of course my eyes play tricks on me.
@Yggs: Since the little guy is just on a pin, he can easily be re-positioned by WM wherever he wants, so I'm not sweatin' it.
@Unlucky: The eye's are kind of my standard for the chapter... not sayin' they're perfect by any means... Blood red shaded to black with blazing orange then blazing orange and white as under highlights & skull white as upper highlight. Two coats of "Ard Coat over eyes is critical from proper look.
@Martin: You are probably right on both counts. I have never been any good at plasma guns, that's why I give them away! :-) We'll see what the airbrush does. I have a pretty good example that vent made me that I might try to emulate.
Off to the brother-in-laws for a special Easter dinner... roast lamb. (yummy but very creepy from a Judeo-Christian perspective... *shudder*)
After a long weekend of being off the grid visiting family (oh how I missed you grid) I have to say he looks great Gits. Lots of unique little touches make him a venerable looking fellow.
good luck guys ill will be rooting for you all
contradiction
for armour saves to 
looking forward to seeing the future of the 
Right, right. Reading is for books. The internet is for pictures (or if you go by the meme, its for that other p word). 
