I would use your option two. and add more combi-flamers
another idea is to add in a very anti-hoard unit, some sort of high I combat focused squad, or a character who can torment hoard armies. Not sure exactly what a cheap way to do this would be haha, vanguard is pricey, jump-pack less assault marines take up a fast attack choice.
But somewhere you could find a nasty fast unit that could help you with the hoard problem.
Hey Art,
I was going to tell ya before everyone else beat me to it that I've done the Drop Pod Sternguard split myself, helped agaisnt Han's Demons as could split the 2+ poison rounds coming out of the drop on turn 1. Also specificly when I was running Vulkan and could split the meltas up at 2 different targets coming out of the drop pod. Playing blood angels more now, I don't use em as much but they are useful.
Gitsplitta wrote:I've searched the "you make da call" forum and didn't find anything so I asked... we'll see what people come up with. The reason I'm skeptical MSP is that I often play guys who are really, really good (not just locally) and I've never seen anyone do it. You'd have thought *someone* would have done it once in a game somewhere along the line if it were legal... there are just too many advantages to the tactic no to. But, we'll see.
Gits, Pickle has been running drop pods for years. Ask him. Like MSP, I always thought that you were allowed to combat squad from a drop pod, as the units are not deployed unit they arrive from reserve. I could have swore that I've seen Pickle do that with stern guard.
I'm convinced!!! And already plotting to modify my army accordingly as can be seen by Alf's input.
Keep in mind that my builds are all fueled by what I have built & painted at the time... so they may not be optimal, just the best I can do at the moment. I think we're on to something here though... be nice to have my fluffy Mantis Warriors be a little more competitive... just a little.
And Goterdamrung... WELCOME to the blog man! Set a spell... kick your shoes off. :-) Nice to have a couple of FLGS cronies like Gdr & WyFox chime in... obviously there are just things I haven't seen in spite of all the local play I get in. (well OK, it's not THAT much...) In the mean time, I have to finish painting the figures I already have built... then I can move on to the next stage of the expansion. Hmmm... I might get this done in time for next year's Adepticon. That would be a good place to test it's metal. In the mean time, I could easily add extra bits for 'Aard Boyz... not to make a serious run mind you, just to play at the practice sessions at our FLGS to give the big boys something to whoop up on. But it will help me get comfortable with the core of the army which will help me later on.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK, I think I've got the list nailed down. Lots of painting to do between here and there, but I like it. Vanguard will then be a natural fit at the next point bump.
Well, I'm not the kind of guy to just run one army configuration, I like mixing it up. But it would be nice to have one more-or-less competitive build. I'll most certainly have a MoTF/dread list eventually, so no worries.
Total: 1850 pts, 15-16 kill points depending on the combat squad decision
I realized that the second pod was unnecessary, which is what freed up the points for me to finish the list off properly. I think this is a really solid list and very much in line with my original ideas about the Mantis Warriors. Sad to see the Iron Clad go... but I'll save him for another build. At 2000 pts, I'll add the terminator libby back in & keep the normal libby, giving me good psychic support across the board. The heavy flamer is there in the sternguard mainly because I have the extra 5 points (and I have the bit). It's probably better to take a combi-flamer for the special bolter rounds... but what the heck.
Thanks to the stupid cat I got up in the wee hours this morning & took the opportunity to do some painting. First project is to finish those scouts up properly. Shoulder pads are now yellow. They'll get one lighter shade & a wash, then squad markings of some sort. Once the bases are done I'll post a pic. Hopefully not too long from now.
I would like to play against that list Git, that looks like it would be alot of fun, depending on how much terrain we could build up on one of Han's tables. How many points is that Stern squad? I know how much my 10 man POD squad costs and you got me beat by about 6 more combi and special weapons. Understand the cat awake early, the dog woke me up at 4 and wouldn't go back to bed.
@Alf: The Libby will run with the sternguard. He's there to make sure all those combi-weapons strike home (null zone) and to move them to their following assignment once the initial task is complete (gate). The sternguard are far too expensive (and useful) to leave them stuck on some flank out of weapons range after the drop.
@Goterdamrung: Consider it a date! Actually I'd love to get some practice with it while I'm building it. Once I get my current projects finished (scouts, libby, bikes), I'll get the rest built and we can experiment. Nothing like lots of practice to give you those insights into a list to play it better and make those little adjustments that can make all the difference in the world on the gaming table.
Of course gits, the one time I ran sternguard, I didn't get that option though lol... I didn't use nullzone (first time using a libby too lol) and the entire squad had 2 full necron warrior squads turn on them, fire, killed the majority of the squad, 2 more from another squad killed 3 more (yay rapid fire >_< I was left with the libby and Senior Sternguard Specialist BA (not blood angels) who were then assault by a wraith, the wraith killed the libby and then spent 2 more rounds of combat with SSSBA and then died... BA now has a kill count ranking up on his shoulder pad (after I added detail to denote his awesome kill)... He then died 1 round later to lots of necron fire
edit: post 650 (about the points I can get out of a tau battleforce)
I've found that getting the sternguard into position to do their thing can be tricky without the pod. Have tried them several times that way and they're just too easy to avoid or kill. The libby will help with this by repositioning them if necessary. Their ammo variety is wonderful, but most of it works best in rapid fire range, that takes mobility... especially if you want them to arrive alive.
What's a "Sternguard Specialist BA"?
I've toyed with the idea of kill markings on my marines or weapons. Not for every kill but for the really spectacular stuff. Be a nice, fluffy bit anyway.
I was trying to keep cursing out of your thread, He hasn't been back from Ultramar to return to the front lines (since I haven't used his squad since playing that game).
Funny thing for me are the things that have done the best game after game are my two razorbacks... they've scored some big kills since Adepticon. I've been trying to come up with some tiny little pictographs to represent major categories of significant opponents since the vehicle body makes a nice palliate for such things. Marines would get shoulder pad or weapon marks, but only for particularly important or spectacular kills.
Heck, my scout bike squad earned a vindi last weekend... that's pretty good work! :-)
You could use the Tranquillity black Camo markings for kill counters, they would fit along the rim of a Shoulderpad quite well i would think.
Just a thought anyway.
i like this kill marker thing. i think i need to give my comissar a mark(he took out Abaddon's last two wounds last game i played). but i do think you guys are correct in that it must be for special kills. and yeah, i imagine that a seal for every major kill on a soldier with a special weapon would cover him up, that would be hilarious though.
Don't have it with me, but I'm pretty sure that's the case. Can anyone help? It might have been faq'd... or I may be totally out to lunch, that's happened before. If it is the case, I'll drop a sternguard & forget the combat squadding idea.
I decree I'm 2 pages ahead of the curve (which doesn't mean anything but inflate my own ego.
You also have to be careful too because some armies (Dark Angels) also don't get the Drop Pod Assault rule (where has wolves, marines, and blood angels do)
Not trying to sound like a braggart, just noticing how much I missed by heading over to the YMTC forums and reading about KFF saves.
thats freakin sweet, luckily i only work in the summer, so in the school year i will have 24/7 codex access! not sure how much playin i will get in, will have to take a cab to get to FLGS, plus i have class...
Yeah dajobe... I have that list out to a friend who is a top level competitive player... but barring any major reservations from him, I think I'll go with it. It looks like a really fun, flexible, versatile list. I will build others of course... actually I can see another list that MoTF driven and a third that features my vanguard and some assault troops. But right now I'm the closest to having this one completed, so I'll push forward with it.... probably just in time for 6th edition to arrive and completely wreck the way it works.
I'll believe all these 6th edition rumors once i see em in print and they tell me i'm doing everything else wrong. I'll let all the rumors fly and watch people panic, either way i get to make jet noises as I fly my Storm Ravens around the board and watch them blow up by turn 2 dropping my death company on the wrong side of the board as always...
I understand that is has not done much, offensively, but have you added in the value of it being a fire magnet? In other words, how much firepower has it drawn away from the rest of the army? If this is a consistently high value, it should be taken into consideration.
Good point Brian. I have. Its been replaced by two AV 13 vindicators with S 10 pie plates which I believe will actually draw and soak up more fire. Better yet, they draw attention away from the assault elements rather than toward them.
i wasnt saying that there is anything wrong with the list. I like MOTF on the other list. Vanguard on the third? They are defintely very good, but i never use assault troops any more because mine never make armour saves...ever...and are just a waste of points when i play them, but if you make your saves, i could see how they would work as well.
Automatically Appended Next Post: i think my poor assault troops are cursed, only use em in apocalypse when i use all my guys...
Gitsplitta wrote:Yeah dajobe... I have that list out to a friend who is a top level competitive player...
Having a pro look over your list helps...but more practical is game time. Luckily you are blessed with some of the williest players imaginable just a 30 minute drive away. I would ask Kohl, Pickle, Tyler, and Jarred to bring thier strongest (take all comers) tournie list and proceed to beat you over the head with it using NOVA style mission rules. You can just ask Norbu to bring his standard fair .... If your list can survive those guys, then you should have a solid time at Adepticon.
Well, I'll freely admit that currently Vanguard are a terrible use of points. But they're so fluffy for my army that they have a rock solid place in my lists. I'll just deal with the consequences.
i dont know if waste of points is the right word...but as i said, cant make an armour save to save my life, which is why i have been workin on my IG army lately, rolling 5 1+2's out of 7 dice is annoying...
Automatically Appended Next Post: where my neighbor will literally make his armour saves 7/8 times for his chaos marines, its ridiculous
Automatically Appended Next Post: he shouts "blood for the blood god" before each roll...and it somehow works...
Well, I talked to the pro from Dover over lunch. He, like many of you, prefers the Iron Clad in the list. I'm still not sold. Too many games (about 15 now) where it hasn't done anything but absorbed fire, and usually after turn 1, it's low priority fire because it's immobilized and they're trying to knock it out for the KP with things that have nothing else to shoot at. That's a lot of points to spend for 1 melta shot and 1 or 2 HK shots.
My next campaign game is a 2000 point affair with a nightmare scenario & mish/mosh of special rules. I get to play chaos marines AGAIN (that's 3 out of my 4 last games) including Abbadon. Of course at that point value I'm just fielding whatever I have painted, not necessarily what is good... but our team is dead last so there's no pressure to do anything except have fun.
Your team is dead last...but EACH game this round has the potential of scoring 23 BONUS campaign points in addition to the 3 points for winning the match!
To emphasize my point...team creepy is in the lead with 43 total points.
You guys have the potential of scoring 104 points in the final round... and even more importanatly, I need you Fairies to keep Chaos in check...since they are a close second and could actually score a whoping 130 points this round
So I don't want to hear any defeatism out of you Gits
I don't know if I'm defeatest... but my track record as of late has been very bad. My game high points in the last SIX games that I've played is a grand total of two victory points. TWO!!!
Slapping together 2k worth of whatever I happen to have painted is NOT a particularly good way to try and claim glorious tabletop victories.
Brief morning update: Got the highlight shade on the scout pads, just wash & markings to go. Took my lady for a night on the town yesterday so only little bits of time for painting. Such is life!
Can't blame you. Night on the town generally outweighs painting and womenfolk are clearly top priority as they commonly threaten to squish minis if we neglect them
Well, the weather out here is about to get really hot and humid, so last night was the last really nice evening weather-wise for the foreseeable future. So we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Dells (a Wisconsin vacation spot near-by) & got a table overlooking the river, played some mini golf on one of the extravagant courses there-a-bouts, and finally went for a long walk down "the strip" which is kind of a permanent carny. All-in-all a very fun evening.
In looking at the next game, I've toyed with the idea of raiding my son's Doom Eagle army in order to get access to some of the things he has that I don't (Land Raiders, Vindicator, Rhinos, assault squad, etc.). I still may, but it would require a major re-tooling strategy wise. On the flip side it's only an extra 150 points more than the last game. I could probably just add the IA-10 Mantis Warrior libby to my existing list and be good to go. Problem is I don't have a good answer for Abbadon or bunches of terminators in my current list. I've also toyed with adding Kantor back in. The last scenarios have a bunch of objectives and making the sternguard scoring would be a big help.
In the mean time though, I'll just keep painting away. With the weather as it is, I suspect the next couple of evenings will afford me at least some time to paint.
@Goterdamrung: Hmmm.... you might be on to something there...
The sternguard can put a bunch of 2+ poison rounds in and hope you make him roll around 12 to 14 saves. But without some serious punch like TH/SS termies or a large group of power weapon attacks, Abbadon and his termi retinue could suck to play with.
Fighting the rollover - but yes, masses of 2+ wounding hits is the way forward for just about anything with a Toughness value.
Considering that squad can happily pour 20 such shots out - 2/3rds hit on average - and he'll fail 1/6 saves. This everything counts in large amounts approach is how Orks and Nids function
Throw LOADS of AP 2 shots at Abbadon and his termi squad... he doesn't get the fanciful storm shield, so if you throw lots of AP 2 (or even rending shots) at him, force him to roll those 5+ rather than the 2+
On that note: I would take 2 vindicators, 2 24 inch shots using the large blast template thats strength 10, AP 2... So you're wounding on 2s, and he HAS to take the 5+ invuln save, and even if he throws a wound on Abaddon, it won't double him out (due to his Mark of Chaos Ascendant) but he still has to take a 4+ invuln save.
Alfndrate wrote:Throw LOADS of AP 2 shots at Abbadon and his termi squad... he doesn't get the fanciful storm shield, so if you throw lots of AP 2 (or even rending shots) at him, force him to roll those 5+ rather than the 2+
my friend forgot his rulebook and just bought abaddon, and gave him 3+ invulnerables!!! luckily i was just spamming him with lasgun shots so it didnt matter, except the time i shot my LC's at him...
Force Weapons have to inflict a wound first, so once Abaddon has taken a wound from the force weapon (relying on a 4+ invuln) you then can make your psychic check and poof no more abaddon because he wasn't killed, he was removed.
he was just wrong... and he cannot be instakilled because of eternal warrior, but its alot more likely to fail a 4+ save than a 2+, which is force weapons are good
ooooh, srry, didnt see your post alfrndate, i will have to remember that one...
srry. still off topic, can abaddon and a terminator squad teleport to a berserker squad? my friend never lets me see his chaos book and always "forgets it" and says abaddon can teleport to zerks...i can put this in rules if you guys dont want to/cant answer.
If they are teleporting into battle, personal icons work like teleport homers in the marine dex... if its within 6 inches, 0 scatter... But thats ONLY when arriving by deep strike... he can't teleport during the game.
Alfndrate wrote:Force Weapons have to inflict a wound first, so once Abaddon has taken a wound from the force weapon (relying on a 4+ invuln) you then can make your psychic check and poof no more abaddon because he wasn't killed, he was removed.
Oh okay, that makes sense lol
That was the old FW from the 3rd ed. DH codex. FW in 5th edition cause Instant Death, which EW counters.
that was a good show, and thanks for the rule thing, he went to one side with em and shot some dudes up, then teleported with the zerks over to the other side right into my lines...but at least i still won!
yes... one wound at a time, luckily hes 275 pts, so each wound is worth 55 pts, thats alot, which is why i dont mind my friend taking him, i dont like EVER having that many point in one model, which is why i dont use nightbringer for my crons, but yes 1 wound at time
Its a good thing I don't use libararians then :( sorry now I feel like an idiot (and I can't blame knowing old 3ed rules... cause I've only been playing for like half a year)
Gitsplitta wrote:
Hey wyfox... what ever happened to the Anamaicacs anyway? I can still hear their rather "unbalanced" theme song running around in my head...
Unfortunately one of the best cartoon shows ever has been off the air for years . Though you can rent it from Netflix and it seams like several website have episodes that you can watch online for free.
Might be a good time to break out the red knights and use them as IC hunters, all those force weapons, plus the halberds get +2 to initiative I think, or falchions for extra hitty killy death.
All those storm bolters will put out a respectable level of firepower too.
Is he using black legion, or is abaddon "counting as" a badab war character?
Btw Alf, anybody who uses the big H as their avatar, I do not want to tangle with... do you use 1-liners like Horatio in real life?
Gitsplitta wrote:
Hey wyfox... what ever happened to the Anamaicacs anyway? I can still hear their rather "unbalanced" theme song running around in my head...
Unfortunately one of the best cartoon shows ever has been off the air for years . Though you can rent it from Netflix and it seams like several website have episodes that you can watch online for free.
@dantay: The point of the campaign is to play my Mantis Warriors... not a different army. I couldn't come up with 2k in Red Knights anyway... still missing a number of components. Issue is I just can't grab "loads of AP 2" weapons out of thin air. I either have them, or I don't. In one week's time I have very little opportunity to make adjustments to what I've already built and painted.
I can make minor changes... with a terminator/LR opponent for example, I may drop the dev squad for something with a bit more teeth... IF I can find something with a bit more teeth. Have to think on it a bit.
i like the mantis warrrior design, its pretty sweet, i actually havent played that many opponents that use LR's. Even though i have 1(2 actually because i bought his off him for cheap), i never really use it, i wouldnt ever structure my army around trying to fight a AV14, they arent that common(LR, monolith, Leman Russ Front Armor in which case just get to its side or get something in CC with it that can tear up that AV10 back armor). This may just be my experience though, have you guys encountered many?
I'm not saying tailor your list, but I don't know much that can handle strength 8 ap 2 weapons
As for structuring my army to fight AV 14, I structure my army to fight Dark Eldar and Grey Knights... because if I have a Space Marin list (I run ultramarines) that can handle those 2 armies, I can handle most others... the 14 helps against str 8 auto cannons, and the massive fire power from Crusaders shreds Dark Eldar vehicles (Also A dreadnought > Lelith)
Gitsplitta wrote:@dantay: The point of the campaign is to play my Mantis Warriors... not a different army. I couldn't come up with 2k in Red Knights anyway... still missing a number of components. Issue is I just can't grab "loads of AP 2" weapons out of thin air. I either have them, or I don't. In one week's time I have very little opportunity to make adjustments to what I've already built and painted.
Sternguard. You've already loaded them with Combi AP1 and AP2 and they also have the ability to wound on 2+s. I don't have the SM codex on me but what phase is Gate used in? If it's shooting....then here's a devil of a plan.
Pod next to Abbadon. Open fire with the combi-weapons. Gate away. Next turn...gate back in next to his mangled squad. Rapid fire with the 2+ rounds.
whalemusic360 wrote:I play Deathwing with 3 Landraiders in an 1850 list, and do come across those that just cant do anything sometimes, especially if you stay moving.
but thats Deathwing, thats what they do, deathstar their termies and just pwn, i'd be hard pressed to take that down just because theres only so many HW's that I can give donate to fire on the land raiders and stop them before they bring the pain. Might get 1-2 destroyed/immobilized if lucky, but gonna have to deal with em eventually, when i use land raiders i use them as moving cover, works pretty well
I did not suggest re-building the list around fighting AV-14, just modify to to shift away from softer targets to harder ones (primarily AP 2). I have limited ability to change my list. I have access to a few dreads of varying configurations, some regular terminators (which suck for the points, especially against better equipped chaos terminators), a couple of tactical squads in rhinos. I could raid my son's Doom Eagles for his land raiders, predator, vindi or assault squad. So while there are some extra pieces there, I'm not sure any of it adds up to a cohesive force.
If I were running Abbadon, I would not start him on the table. I'd teleport him in along with a bunch of combi-weapon armed termies to nuke pretty much whatever I wanted, followed by an assault the next turn. If my opponent is foolish enough to start him on the table, I'll take advantage of it, but I expect he'll force me to play my hand first via drop pod assault, then deep strike in on top of me (probably on my sternguard).
at 1850 only my blood angels army can deal with that... at 1750 (the highest I've played my ultramarines at) I have 2 multi-meltas (one on a dread and one on a tac) 2 missile launchers, and 2 melta, and 1 assault cannon... I would have a hard
using the 2 drop pods that I know you have, you could choose to keep the sternguard in regular reserve (meaning that at least abaddon is coming in the same turn as them... or before them if you take second turn).
Also I don't suggest building your list to av 14... I'm saying its what I do because those are the two extremes I face, so having av 14 is a benefit for me.
dajobe wrote:I wouldnt ever structure my army around trying to fight a AV14, they arent that common(LR, monolith, Leman Russ Front Armor in which case just get to its side or get something in CC with it that can tear up that AV10 back armor). This may just be my experience though, have you guys encountered many?
I have faced a LR (or its ilk) in 3 of the past 5 campaign games. Gits seams to have enough melta in his list to deal with one...and on top of that, he has 2 strength 10 ordinance pie plates.
I wasnt suggesting rebuilding the army, to use gk only, but just to augment the pretty solid army list you already have. I am sorry if I gave the idea that your army list was cack and you needed a wholesale change.
I would not advocate anything that would mess with the theme of your army and ruin it.
I like the look of your army, and you have a good build, but just thought a rogue gk element might be handy for abaddon or any daemonic gribbliness they might encounter.
Your sternguard should do a good job on them and if he is held back in reserve atleast the vindis could set up kill zones for where he night show up
Abaddon: IM GOING TO KILL YOU ALL
Guardsman 1: Holy S***, look at that claw!
Guardsman 2: Holy Emperor, help us!
Abaddon: HERE COMES MY TALONS!(accidently stabs self in stomach)
Guardsman1: what a loser
Guardsman 2: ive known whiteshields tougher than him...
Say you want to practice for Adepticon already and run 1000 mantis and 1000 of something else lol. Everyone at TLS store seems to start adepticon right after the prior one ends anyway Git
I know you aren't going to radically change your army or anything but I am currently running Lysander with a 10 man termie squad... re-rolls on their stormbolters (17 wounds out of 20 in one round ) plus with a stormshield, 4 wounds and eternal warrior he is no slouch in combat either... gotta love a str 10 hammer as well.....
I've had other people mention that Lysander is good. How do you deploy them? Do you have them deep strike in? I have thought about that but it doesn't leave me many points for well... anything else. I could take Lysander, my terminator libby, 10 terminators and like... a few scouts. That's about 2k eh?? ;-) Run all the terminators in one big blob and have the libby just gate them all over the battlefield. Or would Lysander be left behind by the gate? (which would be amusing)
Gitsplitta wrote:I've had other people mention that Lysander is good. How do you deploy them? Do you have them deep strike in? I have thought about that but it doesn't leave me many points for well... anything else. I could take Lysander, my terminator libby, 10 terminators and like... a few scouts. That's about 2k eh?? ;-) Run all the terminators in one big blob and have the libby just gate them all over the battlefield. Or would Lysander be left behind by the gate? (which would be amusing)
As long as Lysander is attached to the same unit as the Libby, he will gate with the rest of them. With the current mishap chart, however, I personally haven't been the bigest fan of the deepstrike...unless you have protection, like a DP. Even then, shooty terminators are not what they use to be ever since they nerfed donkey cannons (assault cannons)...especially with the growing ammount of FNP in 40K and abundant cover saves. Instead, Haminators have taken the spotlight and are usually driven into assualt range with a LR Crusader or LR Redeemer. Kinda the opposite of 4th edition when you think about it .
Well, a homing beacon on my scout bikes should do the trick, if I recall the rules correctly it applies to all deep striking troops. That is IF they're still alive at that point.
I agree about the relative uselessness of standard termies. I have two cyclone ML's for mine and a couple of chain fists... that's the best I can muster. It's a totally cracked idea... but would probably be really fun to run for a turn or two until they all get picked off by special weapons fire.
I walk them on and put them in 3+ cover ( thanks to Lysander and his bolster defences rule) 10 stormbolters, 2 CMLs and Lysander. It works best in matches with objectives when they can cover a couple of them.
Usual caveat, I am not the best general out there
And I am not sure about how much they cost as I am work but I have the termies, lysander, 4 10 man marine squads in rhinos with meltas and multimeltas or laascannons and two riflemen dreads all for a measly 1850 points!
Well, I've re-written my list over a dozen times now and just haven't been happy with any of the variations. What I've got painted works pretty well together, but it doesn't work well out of that specific configuration. I guess I'll just keep working on the paint jobs of the last groups of figs & throw a list together at the last minute. I may try to mock up a Lysander... really he's just a TH/SS termie... but I'm not too sure at this point.
I want to apologize to everyone for pages and pages of text with no substantial painting updates. Been other priorities as of late. I will have a solid 5 hours of painting tonight (thinking of having a Godzilla marathon on the TV in my studio) so I expect to finish up the scouts, including basing... and make major progress on either the jet bikes or the librarian.
So, please don't bail on me... this will be a P&M blog once again before long (hopefully I'll have some pics tonight).
Gits, we're here for the long haul I mean we're giving you this advice because we want to see more painted minis and say..."Hey, he got that idea from me"
Gitsplitta wrote:I want to apologize to everyone for pages and pages of text with no substantial painting updates. Been other priorities as of late.
Gits. Mate. This is a community. The fact it's a community and not a herd of art critics who demand painting at a rate of knots is what got me to start here and to stay here. And really, it's become a blog about multiple aspects and these all influence the others! After all, what you choose to field in your army determines what you paint, right? No need to apologise. It's informative and helps get things moving really.
Thanks mates, I appreciate your patience. I try and run a level ship... and I don't think I'm anyone's fanboi. Too old & too cynical for that.
Frustrating when I make such slow progress like this as I have so many projects I *really* want to do and I just never seem to make much headway. I've got two really special squads sitting around *waiting* for me to get to them... God only knows when that will be. At least I'm finally getting the scouts bikes done, that's been on the docket a long time.
And... this'll get caught in page roll-over so no one will see it anyway. *sigh*
dajobe wrote:i didnt say you were, i was sayin most threads were just fanboi vs the world.
I didn't think you were dajobe... I was speaking metaphorically.
on a side note: i really like the alpha legion helmet in your orks mouth, those guys are spreading like wildfire
Another DCM plot to subjugate the masses. It's my way of resisting the pull of Alpharius mob.
DarkStarSabre wrote:The page rollover must be fought.
Power to the people! *terrorist fist bump*
Solar_lion wrote:Not totally true. I'm slower than you and would benefit from having a theme early. I remember we discussed this in the car ride home.
If were going to do Marines ( or any new army ) I'll need to sharpen my list so I can direct my energy to the things I will need!
SL
Well, yeah, but you and I are in the minority. I'm just trying to cover my bases by getting a more complete Mantis Warrior army painted and sending off some of my orks to Iffy for painting. Neither might be used at Adepticon (though I'm pretty sure I'm going to enter my MW's into the 1850 championship), but at least I'm ahead of the game a bit.
Alfndrate wrote:I wanna team up with gits... but I'd have the worst painted army in the bunch.
We've actually discussed the fact that the "Wardens of the Maelstrom" might morph into a broader group. Kind of an amalgamation of friends who wear the "Warden" colors and fight along a unified general theme but are not limited to a single entry of four players in the team tournament. Jury is still out on that... but it has been kicked around.
Hey Git, keep an ear open for me. If anyone around us needs another member for Adepticon next year, our team has kind of gone all different ways so i'm free, even if it means painting and making a whole new army versus playing my Bloodhounds
Gits, this is just me musing and has no bearing on your army, other than its about the Mantis Warriors.
According to some fluff that I read, Mantis Warriors fall into a battle haze, I wonder how a MW army using the BA codex might work, using the Red Thirst and Black Rage as this idea of the battle haze.. (would be cool to see on the table)
@Goterdamrung: I'll let you know if we come to any decision on it... no problem. We're a friendly bunch. No brilliant strategists among us but we have fun!
@Alf: Yeah, we went round-and-round on that point months ago. That bit you're referring to is, I believe... originally from a short story by C.S. Goto. Need I say more?? Besides, IA-10 lists the Mantis Warriors as a White Scars successor chapter (not that I necessarily care what IA says... but I like what they did with my MWs), so using a BA dex would be too much like dex shopping for my tastes.
Finally got around to properly finishing off the scouts. They now have properly gold shoulder pads, the other sergeant has his melta bomb and they have squad markings on one shoulder. I decided not to change their bases to match the rest as the current bases set them apart from the main nicely, adding to the illusion that they're "out scouting" somewhere away from the main force.
This is a great thread I've looked at it plenty of times, not sure if i've commented before (probably have). But your painting is great,and your obviously very dedicated.
I'm hoping to start adding too my own P&M thread i started ages ago tomorrow, and hopefully keep going like you have.
Oh, and i really like those Scouts. They are models that i often find i don't really like unless converted up well, but they are simple yet really nice.
Hey rodgers37, welcome (back) to the blog! I agree with you on the scouts. I didn't build these, bought them used & just did a bit of re-painting to get them to look right... but the builder did an excellent job in my opinion. Frankly I think they're more convincing scouts than the official ones are as they really look like they're heading out on an expedition.
Good luck with your blog! It's a lot of work but very rewarding.
Scouts look better and better, Gits! I like the added squad symbol. I whole heartedly approve of simple scout markings and nothing too fancy for them. Ramos, those backpacks are added on. SM scouts don't usually have backpacks, but you're right, they do suit them quite well.
Have a great 4th of July Gits and all those reading that celebrate!
Thank you all and Happy 4th to all my fellow Americans out there! We're spending today at the ball park followed by fireworks and a movie (all at the ball part because there will be so many people gathered around that they won't let us leave until after midnight!)
@Goterdamrung: Thanks... that's actually why I was fishing for a bump.
Well, here's the pic that Goter was talking about... finally finished vent's Vanguard (Brother Hiroto). Hope you like it!
And to top if off, WarOne wrote this cool story about him!
"The Mantis"
They were Necrons, and they were harvesting.
Hiroto clenched his fists, keeping them from stabbing down into his holsters to bring forth his twin swords. Once released, none of the Necron below would survive their fury. But he held his hiding place, carefully concealed by the darkness and the absolute stillness he executed with great restraint.
From his position high in the bell tower, he observed the hundreds of mindless automatons herding the entire village to their doom. The villagers came out of each house under guard, and carried not one scrap of possessions with them save for children who could not walk on their own. Under the grim guard, none of the people even cried out in fear or wept in sorrow. All their faces were blank, as if their souls no longer inhabited their mortal coil. They casually shuffled into green vortexes of power that Hiroto assumed acted like portals.
This struck Hiroto with great concern, as he had seen before in reports and some firsthand experience the depravations of the Necron host once they started culling. Many would die until their resistance was broken. Their flaying weapons tearing the skin and then flesh from desiccated bones was an unearthly sight that cowed even the mightiest human warrior. The survivors were then taken away, kicking and screaming into eerie green portals that bled with arcane power and high technology.
The entire populace of this condemned community didn’t even blink. They simply wanted into the light that appeared in the darkness of the night, and were swallowed whole without complaint. With his enhanced vision, the space marine vanguard made out the individual Necron warriors as they simply ambled along, ensuring the humans trudged along unerringly into the portals. Their green glowing eyes numbered in the hundreds. With this complacent populace, Hiroto didn’t even think the Necrons would need more than a single sentinel to oversee the harvest.
But it was that laxity in the Necron guards that allowed Hiroto to stay hidden. None of the Necrons even bothered to break in or enter into any of the homes or shops of the people here. They simply came out of the green portals that winked into existence from nowhere, and the victims obliged them by coming out almost as soon as the metallic invaders appeared. All the Necrons had to do was simply stand there and wait for the cattle to go to the slaughter willingly.
But Hiroto was not too sure the human populace was so readily compliant. There had to be some reason the Necrons were able to execute this whole operation with some sort of trick. Perhaps hypnoindoctrination or a drugged water supply was to blame. Given the advanced technological state of the enemy, it could be a neural control device that projects a blanketing signal that dazes or confuses the human mind, forcing them to be docile.
But it wouldn’t account for Hiroto being unaffected. He would at least know there was something attempting to brainwash him. So what could it be he mused.
His answer came almost instantly. One of the humans Hiroto was casually watching suddenly jerked. His head erupted with visible electrical surges as they came out his mouth, nostrils, and ears. He brought his arms to his head, and attempted a stammering scream. He stumbled out of the shuffling line of other humans and dropped to his knees, clutching his enervated skull. Two of the closer Necron guards swiveled their eyes toward the collapsed human. They began to lurch from their stationary positions and advance on the disturbance.
The Mantis Warrior could not allow this chance to escape him. Hiroto leaped from the belltower, unfurling his jetpack’s wings as he glided down, swooping from his high perch to intercept the Necrons. They were barely twenty feet away from their victim, and Hiroto easily 200 or more. But they did not know that death was stalking them.
With one of his swords unsheathed, Hiroto activated it, causing the weapon to scintillate with murderous energy. The glow and hum of his sword alerted the other Necron sentries to his presence as he landed, his feet touching down less than ten paces from the two Necron warriors about to lay their hands on the curled up human.
Dozens of the mechanical constructs raised their weapons, gauss flayers glowing with arcane energy that could kill with ease. Hiroto pounded his legs hard, raising his sword as the two Necrons grabbed the human and began pulling him up into their cold embrace.
Hiroto sliced with his sword, lopping off both of the Necron heads as he shouldered between the pair of headless bodies, and scooped up the shivering body of the man. Green bolts of energy pierced the air.
All of them missed or struck the bodies of their vanquished brethren, burning into mechanical bodies or smacking into the morass of humans surrounding Hiroto and the man tucked under one arm.
Hiroto wasted no time. He activated his jet pack, and leaped into the air, ascending skyward as fast as the rocket would take him.
More of the green bolts of arcane fury lit up the sky, but the Necrons were firing blindly into the night, unable to catch the Mantis Warrior as he quickly escaped the maximum range of their weapons.
Have a good time at Warner Park Git, I would say you would have plenty of time to paint while there waiting to leave but the random moments of light in the darkness probably wouldn't provide enough light, but could give a really strange highlight effect
Thanks lads! He was a fun conversion... and a direct prototype for my own vanguard so I'm pretty stoked about the way he turned out. Hope vent likes him.
I'll take a pic of the mon tomorrow... we got back a bit early from our night out... but I'm still pretty tired. Lots of food, beer and fireworks... then an hour's drive home = sleepy gits. Our team won the game in the 11th inning! Very exciting!
I took a couple pics of the day, will get them up on photobucket and link them from here. Best fourth I've had in a long, long time.
Vitruvian XVII wrote:Im confused... Why are you celebrating the 4th on the 2nd/3rd!??
Ahh, but Vitruvian, the times of those distant and mysterious lands are not in accordance with our own! Hope your 4th was a blast Gits! Same to all you Colonialists!
DE's right.... the formal cerebration (i.e. official firework displays) are sometimes off (early) by a day or two depending on scheduling, other things going on (like the baseball game) or which things land on a weekend and which don't. This makes it nice as you can usually attend 2 or 3 Independence Day bashes if you want. We're going to go hang with my brother-in-law tonight as HIS town is having their celebration tonight! I think the weekend aspect is a big part of it, because even though many people have the 4th off... we all have to be to work the next morning which cuts down on the reveling.
We're completely hooked on Madison's fireworks display at the ball field though. Crowd or not we'll be there with the kids next year. Short of the Chicago display on the lake, it's the best I'd ever seen.
Wonderful model gits. Glad that all the hard work and second guessing (thinking of the wings here) have led to such a beautiful model in term of looks and your unique fluff.
Glad you enjoyed your family day out. Off to my own "4th" celebration now as we have befriended some Americans who live near by.. I'm going to try corn bread for the first time! Exiting times
I *love* good corn bread! (I'm not even a southerner...) It can be a bit dry (depending on the style of the corn bread and quality of the cook), so it benefits from some butter. It goes well with sweet flavors, so it's a perfect compliment to BBQ.
I might feel a little awkward if I was celebrating the 4th in Britain if take you are there by your flag." Hi, we didn't like you that much 235 years ago, have a sparkler!"
Well, as a nation we have a tendency to forgive and forget anything as long as it leads to a good night out!
Also, I reckon anyone who wishes to celebrate anything to do with their heritage is entitled to, hell I celebrate St. Patrick's Day and I'm not even a little bit Irish - excuse for a party!
Excellent Point, party on. And as a famous cartoon father said here in America I don't remember how many years ago with the biggest firework he could find, "There's no better way to celebrate the birth of your country than blowing up a small part of it."
DE's right on both counts. I think Britain is our closest ally and has been for quite some time... and there's no residual animosity that I've every seen expressed over the Revolutionary War. It's the same here... St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo have similar status here in the states (though St. Patrick's day is far more established) as they're good excuses to get together with friends and celebrate... which... is the whole purpose of a holiday anyway. People don't get the day off for either of course... but there are a lot of celebrations going on all over the place none-the-less. Usually in cultural enclaves like restaurants.
Thanks my friend, I do look forward to seeing that day come as well. Made good
progress on the terminator librarian today. Can't post from my phone but he's in my gallery if you're interested.
Where would you find a 235th birthday card big enough for an entire country? and more importantly how much would international postage be on something like that. either way happy 4th of july
Gitsplitta wrote:DE's right on both counts. I think Britain is our closest ally and has been for quite some time... and there's no residual animosity that I've every seen expressed over the Revolutionary War. It's the same here... St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo have similar status here in the states (though St. Patrick's day is far more established) as they're good excuses to get together with friends and celebrate... which... is the whole purpose of a holiday anyway. People don't get the day off for either of course... but there are a lot of celebrations going on all over the place none-the-less. Usually in cultural enclaves like restaurants.
Yeah this is true, theres no animosity involved (did make watching 'The Patriot' last week a bit......odd loyalty-wise, but its a good film none-the-less )
And for the record: the corn bread was very different from what I was expecting. Quite dumpling like but sweeter. I was too enthusiastic with liquid celebration too put it mildy so my memory of the event may have been lost in he celebrations.... Good times all round though!
I wanted to thank everyone for their warm greetings and wanted to say "thank you" with a little Independence day gift of my own to you all. Pulled together a few choice shots from the weekend and a (non-patriotic) music selection for you.
First... the music. "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest. I was 10 years old when this song hit the charts and I've loved it every since. Enjoy!
So, our weekend started on Saturday afternoon for a trip to Warner Park to see the league leading Madison Mallards!
11 inning game with the Mallards pulling out a victory at the end... GO MALLARDS! (this is 1-A baseball... college kids basically, but a heck-of-a-lot of fun!) After the game we hang out in the park... eat, drink, check out all the new construction (1.6 million dollar upgrade) and they open up the outfield so we can all lay on the grass to watch the fireworks. We get a fighter jet flyover that is so close it rattles your bones in your body! Then roughly an hour of non-stop fireworks timed to go with a rolling sound track. Stuff from movies, rock tunes, classical... and a little patriotic stuff at the very end for the grand finale. During all this time we could still buy food and drink from vendors wandering through the crowd (just like during the ball game).
The next day we take off for my wife's brothers for a party at his place. Beautiful place. We reveled for several hours, then made our way to his pontoon boat on one of the large lakes in the area to go watch the fireworks display. As we approached the part of the lake where the fireworks are, we joined a flotilla of hundreds and hundreds of boats... I'd never seen anything like it!
And of course we reveled some more. As night drew near the site of all those boats with their running lights was pretty amazing. I should mention that these were the boats *behind* us... the previous picture were the boats in front of us which just got more and more crowded as the evening wore on.
The a little "Venetian Boat Parade" went by with a bunch of boats in various sizes and shapes decorated with lights, streamers and festooned with Old Glory.
So, we reveled some more... and the fireworks began again! Watching fireworks while your on the water is quite an experience as you generally get two-for-one!
After which we retired to my brother-in-law's house for more reveling... (and eventually sleeping).
THEN this morning after breakfast we pack up everyone into the cars and head over to a nearby tiny little town that hosts a HUGE parade. Dozens of fire trucks, classic cars, politicians, a band and God only knows what else. Unfortunately I didn't have the presence of mind to photograph anything (perhaps it was the reveling that started soon after breakfast), but afterwards we went down the street to their Independence Day festival. Where we.... (take a guess???) ... that's right! we reveled some more! Here's a shot of the band at the end of one of the three beer halls.
And finally.... one happy Gitsplitta enjoying a Wisconsin delicacy.
Happy 4th of July everyone! I'm so happy to have had the chance to get to know you all and am honored to share this little corner of my life with you!
Gits
OH, and to make this post somewhat relevant to dakka... here's the progress on my terminator librarian.
After a hard fought battle against the trials and tribulations of decisions with the vanguard! you have finally got to the peak of awesomeness! such a good looking model Gits, the wings/jump pack really look fantastic and i love how you've done them it suits the model and is nicely outside the square! the conversion is neat and clean (unlike some of mine!) and the pose is predatory...well,....he IS a Mantis!
all in all, i'm very impressed with him! can't wait to see the Libby though that shield is shaping up to be more awesomeness!
Nerdfest09
Automatically Appended Next Post: On a side note, are we allowed to pop up a couple of non gaming pics if they're in our blog and not in the gallery? I got my tatt finished wouldn't mind showing some! :-)
@Alf: Thanks. My idea was that a storm shield, in order to do what it does, would need to be a "power shield", and this particular shield model has plenty of space for the effect... but I'm not sure it works. The Force axe is orange so I used the same palate with the shield, but it looks odd with the gold and the blue in the background. I'll finish the libby proper, then reassess the shield color.
@Blackhand: Thank you sir... we did! Quite the weekend, I need to go back to work so I can rest!
@nerdfest: I appreciate that nf. Some of these figures pose challenges at various stages and I don't always find the best solutions... but I think this one worked out well.
Yes, you just can't take up gallery space with them. So these pics are on another site. Unfortunately when you link them like this, you have no control of size, which is why they're all so big (life sized gits eating corn is not what I'd intended)... but it is possible. Now, if you consistently posted pics and content that were not related to the purpose of dakka, I imagine the mods might have something to say about it. But suspect the occasional bit is OK. I figure 1 post in nearly 250 pages of content will probably slide. ;-)
Happy 4th buddy! We all went out to a diner and ate ridiculous amounts of neat whilst waving tiny flags in y'all's honour (or should that be honor?... No. )
I must confess...I like that Libby's shield. A lot. I like the glow but you have a point Gits. The reds seem odd and a bit stark. Admittedly it's because there's a lot of blues and there will be green tones...
Have you thought of a purple tone? That could give the energy effect without it being lost in the sea of blue, or too stark a contrast.
Idk, I think the red looks nice, I'm thinking its because of the light hitting the gold, its making everything on that level brighter, and since the libby and his blue are behind said shield, they're not getting the same level of light.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I'm really getting bugged by catching the auto append :(
@Alf: Well, I'll let the shield stand for now. It'll eventually get some OSL around the skull. It might not be so bad once the libby himself isn't just solid blue.
@prototype: You expected a young punk perhaps?
Not sure how much time I'll have to work on figures (if any), very tough week coming up getting ready for a camping outing next weekend. Might sneak a little bit of work in before I leave for work in the mornings.
prototype_X wrote:no, not a young punk just an ork. on second thoughts where are your campaign honours???????????
That's funny proto... I didn't even think of that, it's so obvious... (duh) My t-shirt is covering the campaign studs riveted into my left shoulder. I don't like to freak the mundanes with them, they don't understand. Being an Imperial operative and under-cover agent of the Mantis Warriors isn't easy you know...
Revenent Reiko wrote:Haha! I meant the beard if nothing else (and the rather large grin )
I just read your weekend update. Didn't really have to much to comment on, even though it looks like you had a great time and the libby is looking sweet. But, then I saw your updated avatar pick and actually laughed out loud. So I thought I had to say something. Keep on truckin' Gits. If you can't paint this week, we'll catch you next week.
Gitsplitta wrote:@Alf: Well, I'll let the shield stand for now. It'll eventually get some OSL around the skull. It might not be so bad once the libby himself isn't just solid blue.
I'm loving the shield, it looks awesome, and I'm positive it will look even more awesome when the libby is not a wall of blue, I've got faith
Also, nice beard, it makes me wish mine actually matched my hair color (Black hair, red beard... no dye)
both the vanguard vet and the libby look freakin sweet, but the vanguard guy was one of the coolest 40k things ive seen.
for my 4th of july, I bought some pvc pipe (1/2 inch), made closed off one end, bought about 1000 bottle rockets and shot them at some foam board in my backyard with my brother and friend, was pretty sweet( they would stick in side the board and explode and leave battle craters!). also, cornbread is amazing!
LOL dajobe! Now THAT's the kind of stuff my buddies and I would do when we were young!
@Moltar: Thanks... yeah it was in response to some DCM foolishness of last week. I keep forgetting to save a normal avatar pic so I'm stuck with it for a bit.
@Alf: I had a beard for so long now no one can remember what I looked like without one. Not sure if my wife even remembers me without it. It never grows in thick enough to really get bushy, so I have to keep it trimmed pretty close to look good. Getting enough grey in it now though that it's starting to betray my age.
i know, right! dangerous activities, me and my brother and friend kept joking that we hoped to not roll a 1 and risk it "getting hot"(exploding in our faces...), luckily we all decided that the bottle rockets were only S3 and would not cause an instant death on our T2.
i would say i play too much 40k...but thats impossible!
Safety tip of the day. Buy a coil of waterproof wick (which burns slow and steady) and run about 12" of it into the tube. Light the wick and it'll give you plenty of time to get to a safe distance before it starts igniting the bottle rocket wicks.
that does sound like a good, idea, but we made hand held guns(i put a piece of cardboard on the end that acted as a spark blocker because i burned the gak out of my hand..). mine had 2 handles and was held like a tommy gun, probably not the safest to hold the thing shooting fireworks though, but was awesome!
it was a little sketchy, one time my friend gave me a "smokebomb" to shoot out of mine and then told me he had no idea what it was once it was ignited, i then threw the entire gun about 50 feet away and the entire thing exploded in spectacular fashion...i didnt trust him after that. i do recomend the pvc pipe gun thing, was pretty sweet, and felt like a badass. My mom and dad even fired my gun a few times each, lol, gotta love missouri!
Yeah! we just throw tea in to harbors, set off explosives while we still hold on to them... We should be grateful you guys didn't just tell us to leave and never come back
Alfndrate wrote:Yeah! we just throw tea in to harbors, set off explosives while we still hold on to them... We should be grateful you guys didn't just tell us to leave and never come back
space marines could learn a thing or two from this, pretty hardcore. and yes would have been a very different country if that had happened
I need to finish the libby and the jet bikes. After that... not sure. Probably begin the vanguard squad in earnest. ... and the next trade marine... that too.
That libby will look awesome in person I have a feeling, maybe so good in fact i won't mind too much when it hoods my psychic powers...well, maybe not that much
Alright, 2 things: 1) I haven't seen this thread this quiet ever... almost 2 full days (48 hours) without an update (from anyone, not just Gits)...
2)
Gits, I'm looking to paint yellow on my assault marines, and I just would like to know how you used to do it before the airbrush? I'm sure there are tutorials, but you often have the techniques us mortals can handle
Alfndrate wrote:Alright, 2 things: 1) I haven't seen this thread this quiet ever... almost 2 full days (48 hours) without an update (from anyone, not just Gits)...
Sorry Alf (& dajobe), have been spending some quality time with my wife. Don't expect any substantial updates until next week as we have plans for a long weekend. I love painting... no, I *need* to paint to help me find my center in the evenings... but I do have other responsibilities & my dear wife has been such a patient "painting widow" that she deserves a little TLC. Besides, occasional breaks are necessary to keep my creativity up so I don't "settle" on lower quality when painting just to be done. That's the same kind of thing you saw when I set vent's vanguard aside for a week while I contemplated the helmet... some times it's the time away that provides the juice for creativity.
2) Gits, I'm looking to paint yellow on my assault marines, and I just would like to know how you used to do it before the airbrush? I'm sure there are tutorials, but you often have the techniques us mortals can handle
The method I used to use, and frankly I still think it gives a better result... is wet blending. Base coat of yellow, wash of sepia (be sure you don't let it pool or you'll have a hell of a time painting over the brown spots), then multiple layers of really thinned out yellow (2-3 per shade) of progressively lighter shades. This process gives a really dynamic and rich looking result. On you tube, look up "Girl Painting". Some of her marine projects show good detail on this technique. They aren't tutorials, but for some reason seeing her actually do it on a model just made things click in my head and I was able to do it from that point on.
Somewhere in the earlier pages of this blog (probably the first 40 or so) I detail this with pics when painting my sternguard... you're welcome to look for it. If you find it though, let me know where so I can link it from the OP.
I took a 1:1 mix of 2 of Reaper's old Yellow color triad (didn't use the orange, I dislike that shade of orange), put a thinned coat down, followed by a second, got discouraged, threw a layer of sepia over it, and then followed it up with another layer of the yellow... 3 of 4 of the models look good (this paint is old :( ) and one of them just looks terrible, because i tried orange in the mix, and it just looks terrible and too thick :(
No problem... I start with a golden yellow base, sepia wash, then my first over-tone is the same golden yellow, then a 50/50 blend of golden and straight yellow, then straight yellow, then 50/50 straight yellow and a lemon yellow called "bad moon yellow" (which isn't made by GW any more but Vallejo has a similar color), finally a very small bit of straight lemon yellow. Each progressive shading gets smaller and smaller and gets more and more limited to upper, "sun lit" surfaces.
It's more important to do it this way when you have a "stand-alone as yellow" surface. With my Tranquility pattern, the como effectively confuses the yellow enough that there's almost no visual difference between one that I painted "the hard way" and one that I airbrushed... especially on smaller figures like marines. The only time the technique difference is really evident is on larger figures like my dreadnoughts... which if you put them side-by-side the differences are more evident. Even then, if I diluted the standard GW paints and sprayed those... I bit you'd still have a tough time knowing the difference behind all that camo and battle damage. I do handle the shading differently with the two techniques though... so there still would be some differences evident.
Here's a pic to illustrate. Wet blending on left, airbrushing on right.
If that can reassure you, the first one looks definitely better... Though I'd be at a loss if someone asked me why!!!!
As for the next projects, I'd say you should concentrate on the trades lol...
Also am jealous of that delicious-looking corn you had, I really love that but can only eat some far too scarcely...
Automatically Appended Next Post: If that can reassure you, the first one looks definitely better... Though I'd be at a loss if someone asked me why!!!!
As for the next projects, I'd say you should concentrate on the trades lol...
Also am jealous of that delicious-looking corn you had, I really love that but can only eat some far too scarcely...
For your entertainment and boggle... same comparison with two marines... but I ain't sayin' which is which (no fair cheating!!!) Pick the one you like best and I'll spill the beans later.
I am always fascinated with the camo on your vets. I hope you get one on FW's Contemptor dreads and paint it in that style. I think that it would look amazing.
The one of the right looks the hand-painted one. The airbrushed stuff has always had a bit more 'white' in their tones and the wet-blend has always been a bit more golden.
Compare the 2nd and 3rd rows - you can see the white/golden contrast.
In this case, the marine on the left is airbrushed and the one on the right is hand painted. DSS nailed it... so far, my airbrushed stuff blends into white rather than the lemon yellow. This means the hand painted stuff is a bit more vibrant because it never pales out. I could (and am seriously considering) finally figuring out how to dilute normal paints so that my airbrushed models use the same color gradient as the hand painted ones, which should make them nearly indistinguishable. I've just been lazy and used the pre-mixed airbrush colors rather than thinning my own.
Good job guys! Very perceptive.
I actually have this same issue with my greens. Most of the modern stuff is done the same way and is a little paler, the hand painted one maintain deeper, richer tones. Will get an example up to illustrate in a sec.
Gitsplitta wrote:
I actually have this same issue with my greens. Most of the modern stuff is done the same way and is a little paler, the hand painted one maintain deeper, richer tones. Will get an example up to illustrate in a sec.
I've noticed this, but thought it might just be the camera playing hookie with the colours
Gitsplitta wrote: DSS nailed it... so far, my airbrushed stuff blends into white rather than the lemon yellow.
Sometimes I scare myself.
I identify bits despite having never owned the kit they come from.
And identified the difference in those.
For the White Dwarf birthday stuff a few years back I got banned from taking part in a quiz five questions in after getting them all right. What took the cake was that I answered that question three words in due to random knowledge.
Mind you, walking away with £240 of prizes off five questions totally made up for it.
both of the models make me look at my painting skills...and jump off a bridge...both look AWESOME, and i could just stare at the melta gunner(i think thats what that is, cant really tell) all day...the bayonet just looks mean! (commences staring at melta gunner)
OK guys... first, thanks for the compliments. Not really trying to get more pats on the back by putting up old stuff, but I know my own work best so it helps illustrate the point.
Here's the best I can do on the greens. No guessing games on this one so I can illustrate my point.
- The top pic is using my "standard" airbrushing that goes from a dark green to light green using white as the lightener. They look good, but definitely have a "pale" cast to them.
- The middle pic is wet blended from dark green up through scorpion green, which gives the highlights a slightly yellowish tone and is richer throughout.
- The bottom pic is Brother Inushi that I did for Ice, it is also airbrushed but in this case I tinted the lighter colors with a bit of yellow. It's still paler than the hand painted marine, but does have a much different feel to it.
A lot of my recent painting has been under heavy time pressure, so I've opted for the fasted method, which is using the airbrush and pre-mixed colors... but the cost of this is a much "flatter" palate of colors. I hope to be able to work out a system where I can get the richer mix while using the airbrush to apply it. Perhaps an experiment or two on some of my GMS marines is in order.
As always, thanks for looking. Sorry there's nothing new to show, but event today on my day off I'm working like a maniac around the house, have to sit in on a conference call in a couple of minutes and just found out I've been scheduled on a last minute trip for work next week. I'll get to see Thing 1 for a grand total of 3 days in 5 weeks.... fun times.
I'd not say it's more 'flat'...just more pastel in tone. The wet blends seem a lot more earthy. There's pros and cons to both methods but it's a matter of choice. The pastel tones are quite distinct and very reminiscent of the old, old 'Eavy Metal schemes from the early 80s.
I've got an old book from then and so much was pastel toned at that time.
Ouch! Bad times on the work trip Gits, hope Thing 1 wont miss you too much
Love Inushi, still think he looks amazing, is that a WIP pic of him btw? That method is my favourite, you get the lighter shading of the airbrushing with the depth of colour from the yellow, it works really well.
dajobe wrote:No, i see it, and I bet that GW makes many of the skins white because they are catering to their audience, I am positive that there are people of every race, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation and whatever you can think of that play this game, but I would be willing to bet that the majority of GW's customers are white young/middle aged males. GW wants to appeal to as much of its customer base as possible, and most white, young/middle aged males want to see white, strong and powerful looking soldiers in their army. Not trying to be racist if this post was taken that way, just stating my opinion on why i think GW has the color schemes it does.
In my experience, white young/middle aged males prefer to see soldiers that are Asian, female, absurdly large-breasted, and preferably carrying a weapon larger than they are.
Yeah, the sudden travel commitments for next week were a very unpleasant surprise. Pisses me off because I had everything planned out with more people and back-ups so that if someone dropped out, we'd still be covered. My boss made be go down to a skeleton crew, and when one of those cancelled it left me holding the bag. Stupid woman. (no offense to you non-stupid women out there) I hate working for incompetent people.
Well Gits, guess what...there's another old school 40K player in Reedsburg. His Dakka Handle is toblave. It looks like me and him are going to get together in person Monday night and chat some
Awesome! Make sure you point him at the blog and my handle... be good to have a cadre of players in the northern reaches that can get together and play from time to time.
Pyriel- wrote:Excuse my slowed question Git but what is/was the tranquility campaign (yellow mantis colour scheme)?
It was during the badab War, here is some stuff I found on it with a quick google search. Lex doesn't have much on the Tranquility Campaign
Warhammer 40k Wiki wrote:: However, as the war continued, the Mantis Warriors' strength was severely depleted fighting the Loyalists during the Tranquility Campaign to defend the Tranquility System and the desert world of Tranquility II in the Endymion Cluster and when the Loyalists unleashed a retaliatory firebombing upon the world of Sacristan. In the wake of the Badab War, the Mantis Warriors were sentenced to undertake a 100-year-long Penitent Crusade against the Emperor's foes during which they could not recruit Neophytes to make good their losses.
poor mantis warriors, i think they have a really cool fluff background. first with the badab war, and then their crusade which was cut short with them helping to fight the nids. I like it that they were "pardoned"
Something mentioned in the original fluff/artwork in WD but never explained. They just called it "tranquility campaign camo" I think IA-10 talks about Tranquility as the original MW home world, but you or I could make up something just as valid.
For my fluff, whatever happened on Tranquility was a seminal moment in Mantis Warrior history. Something that defined the chapter from a military perspective (prior to the Badab Rebellion anyway), so any survivors... the tranquility veterans, are effectively famous even amongst the ranks of the Astartes because of the sacrifice and heroism of those who participated in that particular campaign. In simple terms, they are revered and respected by other marines (of any chapter) because of what they went through & what they accomplished.
But, as I said before... you're thoughts are as valid as mine. The original story didn't provide any detail, just a piece of artwork. In general, I thought the IA-books handled them well, so if you're looking for cannon... the IA version is as good as any.
dajobe wrote:i looked at the photo...it was AWESOME, love the tomb kings, but i clicked on thephotos and didnt see any votes(is that what the weeping is for?)
The weeping is because of how stellar it looks, tears of joy my friend... tears of joy.
Coming to you live from Marathon County WI where the people are large and toothless... (but very nice).
Cool & cloudy today... thank God. No 40k players in this lot, farmers and loggers mostly. So far, so good. Next test for the Mantis Warriors will be Sunday at high noon. On the menue... chaos undivided.
When i look at the veterans, i am inspired to create more and more each day. Also makes me want to base my troopers in an epic way. But your work is amazing and i am still reading this blog from weeks ago. Continuing to follow this is pretty cool. Nice work!
I was being tongue in cheek. I lost...ran up against mechanized DE with 3 venoms, 3 raiders, fighter and 2 ravagers. He had 2 campaign special units with an ID ranged attack in boats that wiped my tervigons. That and him siezing on me insured a quick beating. Nids going up against full mechanical is tricky. Going up against full mechanical that drops your ranged attacks 6 inches and gets an invulnerable save against CC and has ID ranged attacks is ugly.
How true that is, would much rather play chaos and their non-existent psychic defense than face the DE gunline of 12-15 darklances a turn while I try to cross the board.
I've gotten lucky that the few times I've played Dark Eldar I managed to get a cross table alpha strike my land raider and a few rhinos
Gits, I wanna pick your brain on that force weapon on your libby. I've scratch built one, and being blue and all, a blue power weapon is going to blend in too much.
5669 replies and we still can't bug legoburner about the rollover issue
Dark Eldar are nasty... but I've learned a few things for fighting them.
Massive volleys of fire will kill their ships (bolters can do this ), Lack of haywire grenades on some Named ICs means you can throw a dreadnought at them to tie them up for the entire game, and in the end, they are only S3 T3 models (for the most part)
dajobe wrote:thats because it hasnt reached...OVER 9000!
We must continue to post!
Also, I find that the best way to combat DE is to quite simply play their strengths against them. I play 2 1500 point guard armies, one Mech and one with no tanks at all! When facing DE I tend to opt for the Infantry one and combine all of my Platoon into a big 50 man unit, those AP1 shots just get wasted then! giving me free reign to fire at least 5 MLs a turn.
Hey guys... finally back. While it's nice to be able to post from my i-phone it means my posts are pretty short and without depth. Thanks everyone for being patient and I do appreciate the conversations continuing without me (and no, I'm not being sarcastic... I mean it). Thanks for keeping the blog interesting when I don't have much to contribute. Been fun reading the discussion. Haven't had a chance to play Dark Eldar since ... 3rd edition maybe. They were a real PITA then and I assume they're the same now.
@Alf: Go right ahead man. The reason my weapon and shield are orange are for the reasons you state. My power weapons are typically blue, but I wanted to make the force weapons stand out in some way from the blue of the librarian armor. I plan on doing some kind of orange glow around his helmet too (somehow... not the whole helmet... just bits of it to give the impression of psychic force). I also want to play some lightning across the shield and axe... we'll see how that goes.
Feel free to PM me if you prefer a private discussion.
Lego is well apprised of the page rollover issue, I'm sure if he could do something about it he would. I think it's built into the basic software that dakka runs on. Until that changes, I think we're stuck with it (any mods, admin or dakka old-timers are welcome to jump in here if they want... though I'm not sure if many watch this thread).
I hope to have some opportunity to pile into my painting again, I'm ready to really make some progress on the librarian, but first things first... I've been missing my kids and want to spend some quality time with them. Keep an eye open, might have something substantial to show in an evening or two.
A public discussion is fine, I'm just curious how you did it, and then I'll have to figure out how to do it with a brush, because you do yours with an airbrush right?
Nope, all done with a brush. I did it using a wet palate. So multiple layers of very thin paint working from light to dark, with some more opaque layers at the extremes. Zoom in on those pics and you'll clearly see the delineation between layers.
... actually, zooming in it looks like I might have worked from dark to light (which was dumb).
@Asylum: Oh yes, there will be a squad of vanguard... just has to wait it's turn. Once I actually finish the libby and scout bikes, I think the van is next on the list.
The Libby and the scout bikes will keep me more than interested until the vanguard come around though, so im not too worried.
More than anything I just want to see what you come up with from a posing standpoint, you definitely favour very dynamic posing with your models and 5 or so Vanguard present an opportunity to something really cool.
so like a crazy person i read this thing from page one, git i been following your work for a better part of a month so i know the ups and downs and all the cool stuff in between. (i think i should have asylum's avatar after the read ) any way great work like always cant wait to see more. and happy belated fourth (yea yea i know im really late better late than never). well onwards and upwards!
Had a great game tonight! 2000 pt with my Mantis Warriors vs. chaos marines. The game was a complete draw but as I practice with my current configuration I'm convinced that I'm really on to something. I was is really good position really wipe out an entire flank of my opponent's army in turn one, unfortunately really bad dice rolling thwarted that effort, however I did cripple the flank and the mobility and fire power of my current list was a real problem for my opponent to deal with. With minor tweaks I'm going to continue playing iterations of my current list & see if I can't make it reasonably competitive. Having access to a Lucius pattern drop pod really helps... unfortunately it's unlikely that I'll be able to use one again as our FLGS does not allow IA rules in it's serious tourneys. I'm fine with that, but having an Iron Clad that can assault on turn 1 is really sweet.
Could you post the list? I know this is your Painting and Modeling Blog, but we've seen in the past that the models you have painted influence your lists.
I can get the above list for around 1850, which is standard points out here for a decent sized game.
How it works... 4 scoring units, all in transports. Scouts in LS Storms can infiltrate and scout as can the scout bikes. Rifleman and Razorbacks act as a mobile fire base that can claim objectives, with the MLdev's in support. The dev's are on no one's priority list and they never fail to do something really good before my opponent decides that they need to be taken care of.
If I have first turn... the bikes and LS Storms infiltrate and scout move to within 12" of whatever I want to hit, usually an isolated flank if I can. Turn 1 the pods with the Iron Clad and sternguard + HQ come down without deviation near the homing beacon on the scout bike sergeant, then the bikes and LS Storms move up to support, unleashing an amazing amount of fire power pretty much anywhere on the talble I want (thanks to the infiltrate and scouting moves). Because of the depth of incoming fire (LS Storms, units in LS storm, dread, bikes & long range supporting fire)... I have a decent chance of popping transports and then killing what's inside. The scouts can also assault out of the LS storms vs. stationary vehicles if needed. At these ranges, all of the meltas are rolling double-pen dice.
The next "trick" is that after one of these alpha-strikes, my sternguard are kind of stuck in place and out of the rest of the battle, however with the attached psycher, they can gate 24" back into the battle... *and* they also can use the homing beacon on the scout bike sergeant to home in on. So I can use my scout bikes to pin-point their movement... and since they're a shooting unit they aren't harmed by blipping around the board. This afternoon I actually blipped them out of their initial assault to keep them away from Abbadon and his Land Raider... then blipped them back to the center of the board again to make a final run at the central objective. With 4 mobile (if fragile) scoring units and so many high priority targets to deal with... the army can be a real handfull.
If I get second turn... I outflank the bikes and LS Storms, which can cause problems late in the game, deploy the rest on the table in a gun line, with the exception of the Iron Clad which might come down in it's own pod depending on the situation.
I'm still learning how to use it... but all the parts seem fully capable of working as I imagined. I was in a postion to win the game in turn 6... I just forgot one of the mission objectives which I probably could have easily accomplished had I thought of it. It's not a top-tier killer of a list... but it's interesting to fight, fast, flexible and can really give my opponent's some issues that are difficult to deal with. The scout bikes with the homing beacon are the key... without them it's just another collection of marines.
Gits, everything is looking great (still...)
God damn it! All I need is 171 more pages and I'll have a longer blog!
Just wondering, I went to go on dakka about 1 day ago and it said "we are upgrading/performing matinence"
Did anyone else get something similar?
If so I HOPE it was an upgrade that fixes page roll-over!
I remember going temporarily insane when I read it, and it was only 70 some pages long... Gits, you need a warning on the first post with links to the latest content.... Oh wait, you have that already .
I've got you covered Gits
. If your list can survive those guys, then you should have a solid time at Adepticon.
. Though you can rent it from Netflix and it seams like several website have episodes that you can watch online for free.
