I simply don't need to hear about your loose balls.

wyomingfox wrote:

Briancj wrote:Do you have just a flying base, or did they give you their nice ball and socket attachment as well?

Ball and Sockett...Ptewe! Gits can tell you all about my love for GW's ball and socket which tends to break over time or get real loose. My Tau Hammer Heads looked like they were driven by drunk postal workers during our last sparing match.

Considering the player I find this wholly appropriate!

Hey, nice work on the landspeeder. Good choice of colours, works well together. As for flying stands, my guess would be something with a magnet, a decently sized round one. Easy to detach and transport.

Tonight's progress...

Got the airbrushing of the hulls done and the hulls glued in place. I'm coming to the realization that I won't get these finished by tourney time on Saturday (at least I don't think so), however, once I get the front bumper and side rails on, these may well pass for painted. My big challenge is hoping the multi-melta bits I had to order separately because these damn figures don't come with them arrive in time. You want to know why I'm a big fan of 3rd party manufacturers??? This is why. Shameless money grab by not selling complete kits, so you have to buy it separately or from another kit. They've been doing this kind of thing for decades. Ba$*@#&$!

im loving the airbrush work on those LS, do you plan on putting any camo on them or just some yellow accents

Aye, looks good. I do feel that the bare parts on the side of the nose need a little extra. Maybe even just some warning decals or markings.

The camo thing just ran though my head this morning... it would be appropriate... hmmm... have to think about that. They are by no means done. But at least they're presentable. I'll make another major push tonight to add the missing bits & perhaps get the gunner and driver assembled and primed for each.

I'm not sure how "decorated" they'll be give their role, but I will add chapter badges (assuming I can find my sheet of them), paint some of the outside details and add muted yellow accents here and there. I think it'll look a lot different once the front bumper and side steps & grabs are added.

Nice airbrush work gits, very effective!

HAZZER

Tonight's progress...

Bumper, steps and grab-irons painted and on & a bit of yellow for contrast, oh... and the eagle on the front. In two nights I have to finish 4 guys and whatever other details I can... a tall order.

Lovely airbrush work Gits!

Thanks M, it's a new approach for me but it was quick and seemed to work out well. I get some detailing done on them and maybe some weathering & the airbrushing won't have to carry so much of the weight on it's own.

Good luck man, I'll be rooting for you!

I have to finish a tournament army by the third Sunday of the month. I know how you feel. Shouldn't be too hard. Either 'Crons or 'Nids.... Most for the most part unpainted/unprimed. Lol. And I tried dipping today. Looks very nice, especially on Necrons.

in two weeks time i have a tournament but i can't paint my army on time....

I don't generally... like the pressure that painting for a tournament provides as I nearly always end up having to take short-cuts in my painting in order to meet the deadline & I'm too lazy to go back after the event and finish them properly. Case-in-point... the MoTF I did for Adepticon last year is *still* not finished. I looks finished at tabletop distance but is actually still far from done. It's why I'll start painting for Adepticon 5 months early... so I can finish my work without compromise.

It is, however... a very effective motivator. No way these two Storms would have gotten done to any extent in 5 days if it wasn't for the deadline. It's going to be quite a juggling act over the next two nights. I want to try and get some bits of color here and there on the hulls to give them some counterpoints to the green without making it look forced. I'll have the Mantis Warrior badge... probably on the back body panel, that will help. But at the least the lenses need to be done and I need to do something with the bar-arrangement on the roof. OH, and somehow I've got to sneak some paint in that grill on the back housing. I'll probably add a vehicle number to each as well & touch up the airbrushing on the fins... perhaps adding a bit of black around the vents on the sides (at the rear).

looks nice so far, do you plan on weathering or damaging the green plate as it still looks like its seperate from the insides, if you know what i mean

@Rogue: Yes, but not right away. The rest of my MW army is show-room new, so weathering only these vehicles would look odd. I will practice my weathering techniques over the next months on some ork projects I have in mind & when I'm comfortable I'll revisit my MW vehicles and systematically go through each of them to add wear and tare.

Update:

I did get some work done last night. The vehicles are basically done with the exception of some detail painting & insignia. It was a very late night. Because the ba$%@#*$ at GW dont include the MM option in the LS Storm kit, I had to borrow a couple from wyoming fox (thanks bud) by meeting at a new FLGS fairly close to my home fairly late at night... of course I had to meet the owner, other 40kers (many new & getting introduced to the game) & chat with wyfox until 10:30 pm. Half hour later I'm home and obsessed with inconsequential matters... then I finally get down to painting. Don't get to sleep until 2:30... wake up for work 3 hours later... uugh... bad idea. Had a nice time hanging out at the new store (little independent place but lots of room and tables). It won't take the place of my main FLGS as I have a lot of friends there including the owners, but the new one is half the distance from my home and they're trying to get a new community of 40k players going, so I'll give them what help I can. They're putting together a progressive/increasing campaign where you start small and slowly increase the battle size to help bring the newer players along so I'll try to be a part of that. Ran one of those myself once and it was a lot of fun.

My army for the two-day tournament this weekend is in flux. I've decided that without staying up too late tonight I probably won't get more than the drivers painted for the Storms... not ideal but they'll have a driver and the right gun so they'll "make sense" and be wysiwyg. Njal has really busted his hump to build me a really cool librarian in trade for one of my sternguard but we aren't sure if it'll get here in time (has to arrive today, which it may or may not). So... their may be some quick re-jiggering of the list at the last minute, but it should be the same basic army you guys have been used to seeing... For me, the exciting parts are finally being able to field a full vanguard squad, and being able to field 2 real LS Storms rather than proxying my old (not well painted) regular Land Speeders.

I'm hoping to come up against some really tough armies at the event that I haven't ran into yet to see if I can find ways to be successful, namely GKs or Dark Eldar. I've only faced Dark Eldar once and that was in a 2 on 2 mixed battle. I've never faced GKs but I know their special abilities are really going to mess with my standard approach to my battles... so I'm going to have to come up with something new. While this isn't an Adepticon-style tournament, I'm kind of using it as a way to poke holes in my army's general design and strategy in hopes of giving me some clues as to what issues I'll need to address vs. the better competitive lists I may run into.


Anyway... I'll post pics tonight of the "finished" (not really) project. It was just too late last night to muck around with taking pictures.

Sweet airbrushing and general brush work on the speeder, keep up the good work!

Had to pop in and see what all the fuss was about ;P

Really impressed with the sternguards Gits! Some really nice conversions and basework.

Landspeeder Storms looks fantastic too. Nicely done on the interior, I'm going to have to make sure I hit those as well as you have once I get around to painting mine. You dry fit your scout models yet? When I tried mine, I found the rear most scout, on the gunner side, hanging off the side wouldn't fit if the handle on the side panel of the body was attached. Had to chop mine off after I glued it. Was wondering if you had the same problem?

Thanks gents!

Actually Egg, I discovered that I cant put the driver in with both arms attached... his left arm needs to remain detached (or be forcibly detached as was my case) in order to get him in his seat... then it can be glued on again after painting.

For the tournament tomorrow, I think I'm only going to get the drivers done... maybe the gunners if I'm very lucky. However, in the long term I think having all the minis mounted in the back would get confusing as you'd have to either glue them in, in which case you couldn't tell if the machine was full or empty, or be constantly pulling them in or out which is just asking for trouble. My "plan" is to paint one scout for each side who will probably reside within the cabin. These two can be easily added or removed in order to indicate the occupancy of the LS Storm. The others I'll keep for conversions... which is what I live for now-a-days anyway.

tournie sounds sweet, snap a few pics if you can

Well, 6:30 AM and I'm on the way to the con in Rockford. Two straight nights of 3 hrs sleep or less. More later.

Go giddim!

. Just passed Indian casino S on Madison. 7 AM and it's packed! Don't these people have homes??

Looking good Gits, and good luck with the tourney!

Have good fun, you deserved it!

Good luck buddy.

no...
the casino's own them now

Game 1 v Kahn white scars. Monstrously fun, tough battle. Great opponent. Came down to the last turn but I ended up with full battle points! Update after next round.

great to hear Gits keep it up

Glad to hear the games are going well so far, good luck bud!

Wow - live feed from the front lines!

Hello and welcome to the mantis news network. Now we go live to Gitsplitta to give us his summary of the days events and to keep us posted throughout the day. over to you, Gitsplitta....

yaay mantis-es...MANTI

Ok... sorry I couldn't continue the updates but things got very busy. Relaxing now in my hotel room with a full tummy & football on the tube.

Game two saw the full horror that is the space wolves. I swear to God it looked like my opponent had an extra 500 points. He had more and better of everything. There was no aspect of the game where I had an advantage. He also had magic dice. I was extremely lucky to get away with a minor loss.

Third game was v Blood Angels in the hands of a very good player. At this point, 4 hours of sleep in 72 hours finally started to catch up with me. I was fatigued and made consistent mistakes turn after turn. Unlike the SW game, I feel it was winnable, I just misplayed it from beginning to end. My opponent CJ was great though and spent a good amount of time giving me some very good suggestions for alternate approaches to the battle afterwards.


Picked up the new necron dex and the scorpion looking thing for Thing 1. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Only one negative on the day. SW player had T-wolf Cav on regular horses and cavalry (bike) bases. This allowed them to weave their way through a very congested table in a way no other t-Cav unit on normal 60 mm bases could have. I understand that there is no official model for them but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Nice guy, no other complaints... Just one of those things.

Got lots of compliments on the army... Lots of folks herehave been following it on line. Makes all the work worth it.

Two more games tomorrow.

Gits

sounds like fun, and nothing is better than a good complement

I'm sorry to hear about that SW player modelling for advantage. My heart goes out to you, Gitsplitta.

And what Scoprion-thingy are you talking about? I have yet to get my codex in (never order from dicebucket.com if you want your order on time, I'm gonna write them a letter write now), but I don't recall seeing one on the preorder page on GW.

All my Necrons are dusted off and ready to go. Can't wait until my first tournament on the third Sunday of this month.

It's one of the new kits that can be built in a couple of ways. Either as a commander transport or a heavy. It's a skimmer I think, and vaguely scorpion looking..

the comand barge and anialator barge if i am correct.
bah i hate modeling for advantage... Okay my own kommando's are just pits on a base but at least i try to look like they are under water so i could tie my hydro plane to the rest of the army.

LOL fatty! I don't thing it would have made any difference in the final score, but it just left me feeling I'll-used.

My first game against the White scars was an absolute scream. Very competitive, very fun. Came down to my having a good shooting phase on the last turn. Left me screaming "Kahn!! and shaking my fist in the air more than once.

True to form, my first casualty of the tournament was a combi-plasma guy blowing himself up.



Automatically Appended Next Post:


Morning update:

Well, after 5 hours of sleep, a shower and a change of clothes I feel much better. Scenarios for today are pretty straightforward.

Have functional camera today so maybe some pics later.

Ah, the barge. I got excited and thought you absconded a Wave 2 model somehow.

Great stuff Gits, good to hear you're having a fun time.

Shame about the Space Wolf guy, but at least it sounds like he was still ok. Not all of us Space Wolves model for advantage....honest!

I hope the games went well today

Gitsplitta wrote:. Just passed Indian casino S on Madison. 7 AM and it's packed! Don't these people have homes??

Nope they gambled them away the night before.

prototype_X wrote:Hello and welcome to the mantis news network. Now we go live to Gitsplitta to give us his summary of the days events and to keep us posted throughout the day. over to you, Gitsplitta....

"Thank you prototype, and now for the news followed by sports and weather together on the five's."


Hi all. Back home safe and sound.

So, in summary (and without being too redundant):

My list:

HQ: libby - gate, null zone
Elite: 10 sternuard - mostly combimeltas, 2 combi-plas, hvy flamer, melta, srg w/ PF (pod w/ ML)
Elite: Iron Clad - hvy flmr, melta, HK, seismic hammer (pod w/ ML)
Elite: Dread - CCW & TL lascannons, hvy flamr (pod)
Troop: 5 marines in las/plas razor
Troop: 5 marines in las/plas razor
Troop: 5 scouts - srg w/ combi-melta & MB (in LS Storm)
Troop: 5 scouts - srg w/ combi-melta & MB (in LS Storm)
FA: 5 scout bikes - 3 AGL, srg w/ PW, MB & locator beacon
FA: LS Storm - MM
FA: LS Storm - MM
Hvy: 5 devs - 4 MLs

10 points possible per game: primary objective = 4 pts, secondary objective = 3 pts, tertiary objective = 2 pts, tabling = +1 pt


Game 1: Kahn White Scars. P=control objectives in your own deployment zone, S=have HQ or others special units within 12" of opponent's board edge, T=kill points?
Already talked about. Great fun, very close, last turn things went my way. "Kaaaahhhn!!" Alpha strike & "Gate" worked perfectly.
Result: Win 9-0

Game 2: Wolves. P/S/T - have all been mind-wiped by Imperial operatives. Objectives, table quarters, victory points I think.
Already talked about. Still in shock over what SW get for the points, but I kept at it. Was helped by the fact that my opponent has so much stuff that we only got two turns done.
Result: Loss 0-3

Game 3: Blood Angels. P/S/T - also mind wiped, victory points, can't remember what else
Already talked about. Great opponent but I was tired and flustered due to lack of sleep. I get very self-conscious about how slowly I play and my poor command of the rules when I play a really good, competitive player. As a result all I do is worry about playing fast and worry about misinterpreting the rules, thus I don't think things through & I make a lot of stupid decisions. I think I could have been in this game had I kept my wits... but I didn't. Didn't quit though... kept swinging until the very end. Tried to alpha strike a vindi... killed it but it put all my best units in easy assault range for the units in reserve arriving the next turn... dumb.
Result: Loss 0-9

Game 4: Nurgle Demons (mostly). P = 5 squads "marked for death" (opponent pics, you only get pts for killing these squads), S = objectives, T = victory pts
Another very fun battle. My opponent picked my two scout squads, two dread pods and the dev squad. I castled up around a tall ruin containing my devs. Put the scouts in reserve & outflanking. I chose a couple of his demon dudes, his Beasts of Slanesh and two plague demon groups. I knew that the Secondary Objective was probably out of reach so I concentrated on primary and hoped for tertiary. Demons rained down. Psycher never failed his "null zone", sternguard and their special ammo where awesome. Scout bikes and shooting took out his beasts of slanesh early... killed one greater demon/demon price or scary demon chariot thing per turn. Nearly lost my devs but one survived. Scouts & pods evaded damage. Libby and Sternguard were tops. (have some pics of this one... just a couple, that I can show) Great opponent, great game.
Resut: Win 6-3

Game 5: Podding Dakka Nidzillas. P = kill opponent's troop choices (not including transports) up to 4, S = Claim terrain pieces (like objectives), T = have more points in center of table
Decided that I was unlikely to get either S or T (or P for that matter), however I was not about to give him a target to pod on so I put everything in reserve (as did he). I did drop my two dreads into the center of the table (in cover) in turn 1 to serve as A) bait and )B lay claim to the center... at least take a shot at it. As things came in piecemeal across the board for both of us, as fate would have it all of his deep striking/ outflanking troop units came in along the left board edge and I saw a glimmer of hope that I could make a credible shot at the primary objective. When all we said and done... he had 4 termigants left... that's when they said dice down. In our rush to get my half of the last turn done (I had 3 minutes, I skipped everything except the assaults on the last of his units, the termigants (plus his Trygon was also in the assulault so I had to wait for it to go first) with only a couple seconds left before the "dice down" call... I ignored my sergeant's last PF attacks (had to, no time) and my opponent made and passed his squad's morale roll. (which in the rush I forgot to remind him should have been made at -7) So I was 4 bloody termigants away from achieving the primary objective!! (he didn't get my squads). BLAST!! Great game, great opponent and a guy who graduated from the same high school I did (though much later), was on the same football team & who's sister was apparently in my class (though I can't remember her). So we had the "Tinley Park High School 40k Championship!"
Result: Loss 0-5


So, believe it or not, my modest 15 points was enough to land me 17th in a 28-32 person list (not sure). Considering that I've never placed higher than next-to-last in any non-team tournament I've ever played in... I'm pretty happy with the results. I learned a lot, and am slowly getting better.

There were two appearance competitions, one judged and one popular acclaim. I didn't win either but I voted for one of the armies that did and would have voted for the other if I'd had a second vote. I did get lots and lots and lots of compliments and people taking pictures and mentioning that they'd been following my progress on line, etc. There were enough pics taken of the army on display so that one may show up somewhere... when it does, if I can find it, I'll re-post it here. So, no prize but a LOT of warm fuzzies and I'm feeling quite happy about the whole affair.

Pricipal lesson learned for me was that when I am relaxed and sharp... I'm getting better at making decent decisions about deciding which objectives in the multi-layered scenario I can take a shot at. I'm also slowly learning how to appropriately come up with alternate strategies when I can't alpha strike... sometimes. Still need to work on both of these aspects. Also even frustrated and losing... I kept banging away... not that I'd ever quit but I didn't let myself get disheartened in spite of how things looked. I kept trying to find *some* way to get points.


If there's anyone within striking distance of Rockford, IL that was considering coming to Rock Fest but didn't. You need to come. All the armies looked fantastic... there was a healthy mix of non-competitive gamers and top-notch talent. This year's TO was fantastic. The boards were interesting with good terrain coverage. Scenarios were interesting without being unintelligible. And if you're into other types of gaming... there was TONS of it to be had!

... and then there's the "Machine Shed" restaurant...
Oh.... my..... goodness....

Taking a few days off modeling and painting... well, save for Thing 1 is already behind me trying to put the new Necron thing together... guess I'll probably help him with that. *sigh*

Gits



OH, sports and weather. "The Green Back Packers eked out a victory in San Diego today, preserving their undefeated record and enjoying the warm autumn days in California."

Thats awesome Git! I'm glad you had a blast. I can't wait to see the pictures.

I hope they turn out, Thing 2's camera is not very fancy.

HAH warm autumn weather...raining/hailing nonstop past few days and before that mother natures been havin hot n cold flashes for a few weeks...but congrats on the victories and yea wolves are still rediculous but they have inspired me to make a unit of firedrake cavelry for my salamanders so they cant be all that bad lol

Loos like you had a blast. Always good

Awaiting piccies, as always!

For those of you who don't know... IceAngel has been writing up some fantastic fiction for his Ice Angle space marines chapter. They are currently on a campaign including several of the marines that Ice has gotten as part of the GMS. Ice has been going to writing workshops and his style, which has always been good... is really getting professional in it's quality. As part of this process, he's decided to focus his narrative (or at least this part of it) from the perspective of one of his characters... luckily for me, he chose the Mantis Warrior I made for him, Brother Inushi.

There have been several recent installments of Inushi's journey with the Ice Angels and the other "guest" marines. I include links to them below. They're actually all on the same page of his fiction blog, so you can just go to the first one & scroll down through the comments to the following installments. The numbers are mine, just an attempt to make it easier for you to keep track of which ones you've read already.

1. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/480/264756.page#3125538

2. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/480/264756.page#3350065

3. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/480/264756.page#3418375

4. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/480/264756.page#3475190

5. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/480/264756.page#3541886

If you have any interest at all in 40k fiction, I strongly encourage you to check out Ice's entire thread... but if you're just curious to see his latest work from the perspective of a young Mantis Warrior sergeant... this series will do nicely.

I would ask his permission to re-publish them here, but I'd rather direct you to his blog so you can see them in the context of his other work (and there is more on Inushi earlier in his writings).

Well done on the tourney - sounds like you had a great time!

Yeah, it's on my list of things to do for next year.

well thats great to hear i like tournaments myself so i always want to attend but somehow i almost never go.... must change that.

on more sports and weather did you catch the buccaneer vs saints match? brilliant first touchdown Brees threw the ball spot on.

Fraid not fatty, I was either still at the event, driving back home or passed out on the couch. Long weekend.

No more playing, back to painting!

Thank you WM...


OK, so I have a few pics for you. Apparently my youngest son's camera is no longer capable of focusing... but these will give you a vague idea. This is my day 2 game vs. the Demons.


Deployment: Forting up. The pods came down empty, the one on the right contesting the objective (little green guy) is NOT one of his marked for death pods. Dev's are up in the tower, sternguard in front with libby in their line at center-table. Razors and dreads anchor both flanks (I-Clad is actually behind tower at this point).



Standoff: My dread faces off against a Greater Demon of Nurgle on the other side of a low hill.



Scout bike sergeant attempts to finish off the last Beast of Slanesh while a winged demon prince approaches from behind. (all the big demons were heavily converted, great army!)



Heroic 5 man tactical squad charges and hold a demon prince for 2 full turns, preventing him from catching and killing my last devastator and winning me the primary objective!



End game. You can see one of my LS Storms hiding behind the blue thing.



Hope you like them... blurry as they are!

There was a phase of my life where everything I saw looked as blurry as those pics, for a second I thought my surgeries had suddenly failed me

Im wondering what is the blue thing in the Greater Deamons hand? looks like a packman ghost. Those deamons look great did you win?

He's holding up a little blue nurgling looking thing.

Yes, I won. 6-3.


Here were the standings as posted on our local board...

1 Tim Gorham (Grey Knights) 5-0-0 -- Well Played, Sir!
2 Steven Welch (Imperial Guard) 4-1-0 (36 MPs) -- 2nd Place
3 Jordan Nach (Imperial Guard) 4-1-0 (29 MPs) -- 3rd Place
4 Tony Malave (Space Wolves) 4-1-0 (27 MPs)
5 Vladimir Valchev (Space Wolves) 4-1-0 (18 MPs)
6 Les Westmoreland (Dark Eldar) 3-2-0 (23 MPs: 3 Primary)
7 Chad Lindsay (Grey Knights) 3-2-0 (23 MPs: 2 Primary)
8 John Pickle (Space Marines) 3-2-0 (22 MPs: 3 Primary)
9 Noah Schmelzer (Space Wolves) 3-2-0 (22 MPs: 2 Primary) -- Man for All Seasons
10 Steve Maples (Tyranids) 3-2-0 (21 MPs)
11 Chad Clay (Dark Angels) 3-2-0 (19 MPs)
12 Lucas Como (Sisters of Battle) 3-2-0 (18 MPs)
13 John Beardsley (Space Wolves) 3-2-0 (14 MPs)
14 Jarred Saxman (Imperial Guard) 2-2-1 (20 MPs)
15 Steven Ingham (Dark Eldar) 2-2-1 (7 MPs)
16 C J Thode (Blood Angels) 2-3-0 (18 MPs)
17 Art Wagner (Space Marines) 2-3-0 (15 MPs)
18 (tie) Adam Lee (Eldar) 2-3-0 (12 MPs)
18 (tie) Troy Weis (Space Marines) 2-3-0 (12 MPs) -- Perfect Gentleman
20 Matthew Bartley (Imperial Guard) 2-3-0 (11 MPs)
21 Clayton McCarty (Dark Eldar) 2-3-0 (7 MPs) -- Distinguished Gentleman
22 Jerald Springer (Grey Knights) 1-2-2
23 Aaron Loomis (Blood Angels) 1-3-1
24 Matt Raatz (Chaos Daemons) 1-4-0 (11 MPs)
25 Levi Ott (Blood Angels) 1-4-0 (5 MPs) -- Stiff Upper Lip
26 Stephen Carlson (Space Marines) 0-4-1 -- Players' Favorite Army
27 Ben King* (Space Marines) 0-3-0 (4 MPs)
28 Rob Whited* (Space Marines) 0-3-0 (0 MPs)

The three guys who beat me are all above me at positions 10, 13 & 16. I'm 17. The guys I beat are at 24 & 28. Top 10 finishing armies are a very not surprising bunch... especially near the top of the list.

Interesting to see DA in the 11 spot, and SoB in the 12. Any chance you remember what they were running?

2-3-0 isnt too bad, at least you didnt go 0-3-0!

Sucks about your sons camera. I would have loved to see those demons.

I was a bit surprised to see IG getting second and third. It seems all you ever hear now days is SW and GK.

hey IG can do some damage in the right hands!! although i was suprised as well

From what I'd heard all the IG armies were nearly identical... couple of vendettas, hydras, misc tanks & infantry.

I recall seeing the DA armies... one was all terminators... I did NOT want to fight that one. Not sure if that was the one in that slot though.

I don't remember the SOB army unfortunately. Well, vaguely... some chick's with tanks... does that help?

vendettas are where its at! i use 2 of em although i have never tried the hydra

I often run my DA as a Deathwing army (16 terminators, 2 land raiders in 1850 points) for tournys. Generally come in middle of the field too It's just a matter of some armies being able to deal with that, and some not being able to.

Love the Tourney pic's, even if they are somewhat blurry

Nice to see "a" bug player present .

So looking at the top 3rd, we have 3 SW, 2 IG, 2 GK and in the who invited them catagory we have DE and SM.

Out of these armies, Pickles (SM) was the only guy from Madison I personally knew. Were the rest from the greater Chicago/Milwaukee area?

Yeah, Pickle, Jerrod, CJ, myself and Levi made up the Madison Contingent. There was a bunch from Minneapolis too.

The bug player was a frend of the TO's playing his army for the day. I'm pretty sure he's not a "competitive" gamer but the funny thing is he finished in the top 10. The TO was very disappointed that there were almost no non-Imperials. I'm part of the problem myself... but I've invested so much time and effort into my marines that I'm not about to set them down just because GW keeps cranking out over-powered marine codexes. Maybe the necrons will change this a little... TLS sold every necron dex that they brought with them.

It's a problem in many if not all GW gaming groups and communities, the Human aspect of the game sells really well ontop of heaps of choices and
powerful dex's most of the imperial armies are fairly simple to build a list for and don't have too many over complicated rules making them great for
newcomers as well and being a cash cow for GW.

Yes, it be a shame. I remember back when I still played Tyranids (ie. the models I sent you for Thing 2) and there was a large Planetstrike game which was supposed to be Tyranids versus Everyone Else, and it ended up as Space Marines Vs. Everyone Else (I was allies with a Guard player... )

It's for that reason that my latest army is one that people can really relate to. Chaos Daemons!

Very true Santobell. I'd "GM'd" a game between my two sons (Nids vs. Marines) and even though we'd been painting and playing Nids recreationally for a while now, I spent the entire game with my nose in the tyranid codex trying to sort out all of the convoluted rules (and probably not succeeding).

I love my orks, but they aren't what I'm concentrating on at the moment. They are a pretty decently written dex though. Several good/interesting builds, couple of tricks... but generally pretty straight-forward.

Ah, yes convoluted rules... it may take me a while to actually get used to Chaos Daemons. I realised I wasn't doing well when I forgot about the deployment rules regarding Daemons... let's just say things did not get better from there...

And yes, Orks are rather straight forwards, and I'm starting to wish I had pursued them than go for 'Nids then Marines.

Actually the current 'nid rules are even less convoluted than their 4th edition codex....which was slightly less so than the 3rd edition codex!

Well, at least they're going in the right direction. I've become a fan of spamming in Nids... just because it helps me keep track of the rules!

3rd edition was horrendous. You had species and mutants and.....gaaaaaah.

4th edition got rid of that but still had the bizarre weapon profiles being linked to model profiles being linked to upgrades like glands....

And then 5th edition made everything into USRs but still had oddities in the way some things interacted.

Great to see pics. Your bat-reps almost encourage me to go to tourneys.

Almost Ain't coming to Chicago any time soon (even with that MW pad that came in the mail ).

Having gamed competitively for years, I understand the appeal, just not the moody nerd rage mentality that inevitably accompanies it. But, you do seem to have a very positive experience thereof.

Well, for me the competitive gaming thing is relatively new. I've played 40k for what... 18 or more years without ever playing in any kind of tournament... just playing games with my friends. Never had any desire to play competitively.

But... times change. I don't have a dozen friends close by to play with as I used to, so I very occasionally get to play a casual game with a friend... but more often than not it takes and "event" to get people together... all events being tournaments (for all practical purposes). Most of the guys can gather at the FLGS for casual games after school or work, but I live an hour away and my evenings are not my own. So my only real chances to play are either at home with my kids or to come in for a weekend event.

I don't have any allusions about entering these tournaments to win anything. I'm just not that good a gamer, but I do like the interaction and the challenge.

DarkStarSabre wrote:3rd edition was horrendous. You had species and mutants and.....gaaaaaah.

4th edition got rid of that but still had the bizarre weapon profiles being linked to model profiles being linked to upgrades like glands....

And then 5th edition made everything into USRs but still had oddities in the way some things interacted.

Well, yes and no IMO:

3rd was the most complex in regards to equiping units with individualistic options, followed by 4th, and greatly simplified in 5th. In this way, there was more diversity in wargear selection in earlier editions.

However, from a standpoint of unit interactions and game play mechanics, 3rd and 4th were very simplistic. In 3rd edition, units were very independant thanks to most units having leadership 10 (Biovores, Gaygoyles, Lictors, ect) or fearless and those units that lacked Leadership 10 could purchase the "Hive Mind Node" mutant upgrade which allowed for an effective unit sergeant with leadership 10. So synapse was not a critical component of 3rd edition. There also wasn't alot of inter-unit synergy. Tyrants didn't provide buffs to reserves or allow rerolls to outflanking units. You didn't have Tervigon's that provided bubble benefits to gaunts or Tyranid Warriors that granted Carnifex's cover saves.

4th edition also lacked significant unit synergy beyond a few noteable exceptions. Again, most units still had leadership 10 or fearless...with the noteable exceptions being guants, hormies, and biovores...all of which were significantly absent from alot of lists in 4th edition due to the extreme effeciency of Genestealers, Sniperfex, Snipertyrants, Dakkafexes, and the token squad of re-regenerating guants (I personally prefered DS warriors - but that wasn't a common selection). So again, psynapse wasn't a critical factor. Similarily, there was limmited inter-unit synergy beyond multiple psychic screams (from spamming HT and Zoes) meshing with pinning tests from barb strangler spam, lictors granting a "reliable" bonuses to reserve rolls, or the HT catalyst power.

So in this way, both 3rd and 4th edition units operated independant of each other...kinda like how SW armies operate now. Game play wise, pretty simplistic.

Now compare that to 5th edition. On one hand, you have much simpler wargear selections and the inabillity to indiviually equip different member in a unit. On the otherhand, you have a much broader selection of special abilities and psychic powers some based around USRs, many not. Add on top of that the ability for units to synergize with (and I would even go so far to say rely on) other units so that the sum is greater than the individual components...something very much lacking in 3rd or 4th edition. To start off, very few units in the codex (even MC) have high leaderships and now even fearless units can be negatively affected by lack of synapse. You have Hive Tyrants that buff reserve and outflanking forces as well as buffing assaulting units with PE and/or Paroxyism. You have Tervigons that create guants, buff guants, and buff otherwise vunerable units with FNP. You have Tyranid Primes that buff warriors units and, even more critically, grant carnies cover saves. You have Parosites that along with a large gargoyle unit makes a reliable and dangerous meat shield, mess with your enemies outflanking reserves, and creates ripper swarms.

From a games mechanic and synergistic level, I would have to say that the 5th edition codex is the most complicated nid codex to date and probably one of the most complicated codices in 5th edition.

All right... back OT!

My buddy Vlad (Skarvald the Troll Faced) who runs Wolves for the Wolf God was at Rock Con as well and did really well with his wolves. He was kind enough to post some nice pics on his blog of my army along with some very nice comments. You'll have to go there if you want to read them (that's it... move along, check out the shiny new blog).

But, I'll re-post the pics here...

First up, the army on display for the painting judging. At 1850, this is pretty much the army I envisioned 2 years ago when I began this process.



Second pic from a quarter view.



And proof that Gathering Storm's trade marine has indeed fought with his bretheren before being reassigned! (served as the sergeant for my devastators)



Hope you like them!

what a nice army man, and good choice not going over the top, or bright on the board as it makes your models stand out nicely

@ Git - I swear I posted last night and I check this blog in the mroning and it's nearly on a new page ........ again!
It's going to come alive and get us all shortly.

I would love a few more trip ups for Orks to bring a bit more humor back into them maybe some more colourful outcomes for misfiring weapons, but I have to say I think they get
Orks right in most of the green dex's. (love to see the Shock attack gun missfire and teleport the user mini into combat with the nearest enemy unit, lone guy Vs marine squad or bug swarm).

Yeah nid rules can be confuddling I tend to keep it as simple as possible I shy away from wargear/Biomorphs etc and opt for more bugs everytime which makes the game just as long
when you have to move so many mini's and roll soooo many dice.

Your army looks awesome Git! I'm glad to see the board is getting some more use as well. I still think you need to add in some tall grass of yours onto the board. It would be an easy addition that I think will really add a nice touch to the overall feel of your display. It would explain the yellow guys a bit more too.

@Rogue: Yes, they're quite the spectacle! Thanks for the compliments though!

@Santobell: Funny, it's been pretty quiet for the past few days but all of a sudden things got interesting... it's all those bug guys posting on the Nid dex. I miss the silly ork stuff too. Especially the exploding wierd boyz...

I guess it's a P&M blog with no P&M... but I'm kinda burnt out... fiddling with some GMS marines and such that just arrived so I'll show those off presently... but other than that, taking a break to re-charge my batteries.

@Ice: Yep, I wasn't sure I could get the whole army on there but I *just* did. I want to give it a bit of a make-over... nice black frame (will also prevent the models from falling off) and yes, some tall grass for my sternguard. I may eventually make one that's lighter and larger... but for now I like yours just fine!

strange to see there was no ork player at the tournament. Git i am glad to hear that the army you now have is what you wanted 2 years ago. i can still remember some 130 odd plages ago you almost completly rewritten your list

Hey there, Gitsplitta! Glad you found the post. I was just about to send you the link, hehe. Seeing your army in person was just a delight of itself. One day we should totally duke it out.

Btw, just posted my first battle report from the Tournament. You should totally check it out!
EDIT: I also just noticed that your second game you played against Space Wolves? When you mentioned the Cavalry Thunderwolves using cavalry bases it hit me - was the person you played against John Beardsley? Because I played against him round 5 and won! Ate his Thunderwolves on turn 1 with my Thunderwolves. You have been avenged, my friend!

@fatty: Thanks, yeah it's good to have finally reached some kind of milestone... rather than just endless painting. Still have to finish up the LS Storms but I'm almost there.

@Skarvald: Hey, thanks for posting those photos! Really appreciate it. I'm sure we'll get to play eventually. Yep, that was the guy. Not a bad sort but the tiny based super unit left me feeling "blech". Glad you avenged us!




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Got a couple of really stunning GMS marines as of late, so I thought I'd show them off.

First, a librarian from Njal the Weatherman. Njal really pushed himself on this model, creatively, build-wise and with his painting. Will be proud to field him with my Mantis Warriors. I love the servo skulls flying around. I'll be adding the text on the scrolls and such myself.



Secondly, a Red Scorpion Sergeant made by endtransmission. Stunning figure and his effects with this guys hair I'm going to so steal.... (unfortunately you can't really see it in the pic).



I'm really lucky to have these two fine pieces of work, and look forward to fielding them quite soon!

Your army looks amazing altogether! I love the GMS models as well.

Wow! You do seem to have a fantastic stock of GMS models. That Librarian is stunning, and I really like the Power Weapon effect Njal the Weatherman painted onto it. In fact, his technique in general is really cool. And endtransmission has really outdone himself with that Red Scorpion. Nice dynamic posing with a great paint job to boot!

P.S. Gits, I believed you when you PM'd me. But proof is always nice.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of him in action. He's behind the wall in the first pic of the demon battle. BUT.... you can take him and make your own legend around his military exploits!

Yes, he shall be dragooned into my increasingly-more-casual-gaming Black Templars army (possibly as a Castellan, as I need a third HQ choice to go along with my Marshal and EC). He also fits well with the theme of the BT army where the general rule is appearance over effectiveness.

Gathering Storm wrote:He also fits well with the theme of the BT army where the general rule is appearance over effectiveness.

THAT's my boys!!! I should have given him a combi-plasma... that way he could look good *and* blow himself up all at the same time!

(Did I mention that the very first casualty I suffered in the very first game of last weekend's tournament was one of my Sternguard killing himself with his own combi-plasma??)

Gitsplitta wrote:(Did I mention that the very first casualty I suffered in the very first game of last weekend's tournament was one of my Sternguard killing himself with his own combi-plasma??)

That's why I run 2 plasma guns in my army and why I put/modeled erm... a few *cough*8*cough* Plasma Weapons in my brother's competitive CSM army. 5 Chosen with 5 Plasma Guns!!!

And yes, a Combi Plasma would have been fun.

I can still add it. Most of my guys have the combi-weapon add-on like a pod that can be clipped on the side of the gun (of course they're glued on for real). I can take a pic of one of my combi-plasma guys and you can let me know if you want the add-on or not.

There's idea, post a pic and I'll see whether or not it would be suitable.

He's looking great with a finished base. I'm just glad he survived the trans-warp conduit that's called international mail!

those are some hot models, nice scorpion Endtransmission!

I like the Red Scorpion Sergeant made by endtransmission. The FW powerfist clutching the rock is clutch...did he manipulate the fingers a bit? I also like his scroll work.

Just thought I'd check in. Took several days off to hang out with my family and re-charge my batteries.

Painting between now and Christmas will be very hectic. Money's a bit tight so I told both boys that as part of their Christmas present they could pick an element or two of each of their armies and I'd paint them up for them. Thing 1 asked me to finish painting his last 4 Necron warriors (which will bring him up to 40 total) and his two monoliths. I'll also see if I can get his last wraith done for good measure. Thing 2 has asked for his Tervigon and a bunch of Termigants to go with it. Also some Raveners. That's a *lot* of painting in only 6 weeks.

My mantis warrior painting during this period will be limited to finishing my LS storms properly and continuing to make progress on the GMS marines.

Keep an eye on the appropriate blogs for updates.

Gits

Good luck painting for the things Gits! that's gonna test you I think! :-)

Time to speed paint me thinks!

Luckily the necron warriors and monoliths are at least started. I don't like where the monoliths are at the moment however so I've been rolling ideas around in my head for several days now & I think I have a plan. The nids will be a bit tougher as even though I have a good conversion kit for the Tervigon, there are some aspects I don't like that will require significant modification. That, and painting a lot of termagants will probably drive me insane. I might need to go buy some extra gants as well... have to see how many are in the stockpile.

On the side I did start another ork tank... might dabble with that from time to time just to give my brains a break... that and my GMS marine projects will probably keep me sane oe'r the Holidays.

I am kind of looking forward to the monoliths... I have some interesting (if not novel) ideas and they'll be a real challenge.

Gitsplitta wrote:That, and painting a lot of termagants will probably drive me insane. I might need to go buy some extra gants as well... have to see how many are in the stockpile.

Well, nine days after sending away my package to you I found a box of about 14 termaguants and 13 hormaguants. If you don't mind paying shipping I could send you them (in fact I should be able to acquire more of each before christmas).

Let me pay you for them GS, I owe you enough favors for one lifetime.

PM me.

Well, I actually got most of those guants for free!

And I'll PM you.

Thanks, he'll be excited... he was contemplating spending his own money on gants... now I can have him save it for HIS Christmas buying! Hmmm... I want a new car, and a new air compressor, and ...

7001th Post is MINE!!

Dude I love your work. I don't know much at all about the Mantis Warrior, but I will keep up to date with this Blog cause it is ROCKING!

LOL! Thanks Nightfall! Glad you like it! Don't be a stranger... more to come.

Gitsplitta wrote:Hmmm... I want a new car, and a new air compressor, and ...

Hmmm... I'm not sure if I could ship a car over?

*chuckle* Naah, I was talking about my kid saving HIS money for buying other people stuff for Christmas!

Sorry to highjack a thread, but I'm looking for a couple of dozer blades for SM rhinos. does anyone know if there is a kit that has the real dozer blade you used for your Razorbacks?

or a site to buy some.

SL

That weren't no kit. Those be the dozer blades for the 2nd and 3rd edition SM Preditor tanks. They might also have come on some of the IG tanks as well back in the day.

I think they originally came in a "rhino upgrade sprue".

Yeah, back when you could direct order bits and sprues from GW.

I am pretty sure they didn't come in the rhino boxes sets themselves...at least not the ones I bought for my SW back in the days. I did get those frames in my two preditor box sets though.

Too bad I sold my annilator to a friend...as it eventually became orcified...though not on purpose

The old timers are right - it's the 2nd edition vehicle upgrade sprue that had those. They were mostly with IG vehicles (almost all IG vehicles came with it!) and with 'later' SM vehicles (So, Razorbacks, Whirlwinds and Predators).

Hey SL, let me look through my collection and see if I have more blades than rhinos... if I do, you can have them.

I'm hoping to get back to the brush tonight. Have been exhausted for some reason at night when I get home, so even though I want to paint... I just don't have the energy. Going to try to finish up a couple of projects quick to boost my morale, then I'll be ready to attack some of the larger projects. Have been glad for the time off though... after painting night after night it gets to me after a while and my interest starts to fade. Nice to take a week off and let my mind clear so I can approach some new projects with a fresh mind.

Excellent progress I've been following this thread for a while. How do you like the LS Storms? I've considered getting a few but I'm not fond of scouts so I haven't.

They're very effective. You can deploy and scout move them into position anywhere within 12" of the enemy, they move a further 12", the scouts deploy. Speeder multi-meltas, scouts w/ combi-melta shoot, then can assault on turn 1 w/ melta bomb. Excellent unit if your going to try and alpha stike.

Conversely, they can cruise around as a very fast moving scoring unit with some teeth to it... or they can outflank forcing your opponent to bunch up their armor in the center or risk losing it on the turn they arrive. It's why I like them in combination with the scout bikes... both units are very flexible and can fulfill similar roles, so support each other and multiple missions well.

Page 180 (in a darts announcer voice) Slowly but surly getting there. Dam my work getting in the way of reading such an epic blog lol.

Well M0rdian, you picked a good time to catch up. I'll be doing a lot of painting but not too much on my marines until after Christmas... so it probably won't grow a heck of a lot.

wyomingfox wrote:I like the Red Scorpion Sergeant made by endtransmission. The FW powerfist clutching the rock is clutch...did he manipulate the fingers a bit? I also like his scroll work.

A couple of the fingers were repositioned, yes. I lost one for a while... so if you try it, be careful to keep track of the fingers

Gitsplitta wrote: That, and painting a lot of termagants will probably drive me insane. I might need to go buy some extra gants as well... have to see how many are in the stockpile.

As a man with 120+ gaunts (Of which 44 are painted at the moment) I KNOW YOUR PAIN. Gaunts will make you crazy, yes, precious. They may make you less than sane, precious. All the same, all the same. Precious. So many fidgetty details. Precious.

@DSS: Well, I went to collect up the various gaunts so I can start working on them and lo and behold I can only find 3 of them. Now I know we had over to 20, a box full (one of the older, larger boxes) and a bag full that I traded for, plus a few odds and ends. Now I can only find the odds & ends. Damn. I really didn't want to have to buy a bunch of gaunts. Will have to tear my hobby spaces apart to see if I can find them.


I apologize for not having anything substantial to post recently. Have been under-the-weather for several days now. Still going to work but I don't have much energy afterwards. I have made a little progress on the LS Storms. Added the chapter badges to each on just below the rear spoiler on either side. I keep thinking that they'd benefit from some racing stripes... hell, they're already British "racing green"... perhaps some off-center stripes and a white circle with the number "4" would look good on them. Seriously though, I am thinking of some striped or banding on the fins to set them off a bit, but that's an airbrush project and will require some proper thought and set-up.

Probably the biggest issue around the house is that I've signed us all up for a painting competition at our FLGS on Dec. 3rd. The competition employs what I call "State Fair Judging" as I don't think there will be any specific winners, but points will be awarded over 5 judging criteria with different colored ribbons being awarded based on your cumulative score. That makes it pretty kid-safe, though the more competitive among the adult entrants may miss the opportunity to "crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women". Thing 1 has embraced the challenge and is doing probably the best paint job of his life with essentially no involvement from me what-so-ever. Every once in a while he'll bring it to me for approval or he may ask a question about a wash or something... but basically I'm letting him decide what hes going to do with the figure without my interference.

The judging criteria are as follows...

Basic Paint Application – Maximum score of 10
Use of enhanced techniques: -- Maximum score of 10 (Layering, dry-brushing, inking/washing, shadowing, patterns)
Scratch-building/Conversions – Maximum score of 10
Basing – Maximum score of 10
Overall artistic effect – Maximum score of 10
Maximum Score: 50

Ribbons will be earned as follows:
40-50 Points = Blue Ribbon
30-39 Points = Red Ribbon
10-29 Points = White Ribbon
0-9 Points = Certificate

So... with Thing 1, I think he'll be very strong in the first two categories, but by choosing to paint a "set" figure (he's doing the marine scout w/ heavy bolter), he'll get nil in the third category. I'm trying to think of some minor changes he can make to at least get a couple of points... perhaps adding the ork ejecting shells to the heavy bolter, drilling out the barrel, perhaps adding some gear to the scouts kit... not sure. At this point, major changes to the figure are out though, so we're limited to what we can add in near the end of the process. We'll do something nice for the base, probably my "fall" basing which the rest of his army has, but with some extras added in. So I'm assuming hell get a decent score there. Also assuming the overall effect will be good. Given this, we're probably looking at a red ribbon unless I can pull enough conversion ideas out of my shorts to get him some decent points in that category. He is, however... taking it very seriously and I'm very impressed at how good his figure is turning out. Boy can really paint when he feels like doing it.


I'll be entering the following as I feel they fit the criteria very well (you can enter as many items as you want).

Gitsplitta self-portrait:


Sternguard (minus the chapter master of course):


Scout Bikes:


I chose these because a) it gives me a chance to show them off to folks at our local FLGS as completed units. Most of my friends have seen pieces of these units over the last couple of years as they've slowly developed, but few have seen the whole units laid out as complete squads. b) they're all heavily converted with a variety of advanced painting techniques in evidence, so they should score well in the first three categories. My big problem is my basing. Now, I like my basing, and if you look through my tutorial it's actually fairly complex involving 3 sizes of grit, a wash or two (more on the bike bases), and 3 different types of foliage, some large rocks, etc. However... they're essentially all the same, so I'm concerned that the judges will become bored seeing the same thing repeated over and over again and I'll lose points accordingly. Granted, the bases are made specifically to go with my home gaming table, which is why they're all similar... but I am thinking of doing some interesting things with the display around the base to make them more interesting from the judges perspective.


The real issue is finding something for my little one to do. He isn't anywhere near as advanced as his older brother so I'll have to guide him through the process step-by-step. That isn't so much of a problem... he's done enough I think I can walk him through the process. Trick is trying to figure out what he should be painting. We started with something simple and small like a hormigant... but then I thought there might not be enough there to do anything special with and of course with Nids there isn't much conversion to be had (at his level as an 8-year-old)... so he'll have the same problem as his older brother by completely missing out on one category of scoring. Then I thought about a fex that we got used that needs repainting. All the arms and the head are magnetized, so it'll be easy for him to take apart and paint neatly. But it's so big I'm worried he won't be able to get it done in time. So I'm left scratching my head a bit... he *really* wants to do something... but I don't want to set him up to fail by not getting it done, or to get slaughtered in the judging. I'd like it to be a fun, positive experience for him. He could do something else of course... I have a million ork bits around and I think I could lead him through that as well. At least there he'd be able to get conversion/kit bashing points.

Thoughts??

Sounds like a cool concept. Couldn't he model the hormagaunt leaping in mid-air? This would imply minor conversion work (bottom of the feet, flying stand), only involving a drill and some gs - modelling knives and 8-year olds don' t mix IMO

Do you/he have any nos Warriors? If so, I'd work with him on a Shrike conversion.


If you want, I have some FW Wings for the conversion, I can get one out to you asap.

That's an interesting idea... and one I was kind of toying with myself... but drilling and GSing are two things he hasn't done at all yet. I do have a little hand drill that he could use safely enough... but I'm not sure this is the project to start on that with a the relatively short turn-around time.

I could use another tankbusta with a tankhammer. Making the tankhammer might be a simple enough conversion that could yield some interesting results. And he could raid my bitz box to his heart's content.


Ninja'd!


@WM: We have nos warriors, and nos gargoyles for wings, though I'd eventually have to come up with another source for wings to replace the onces we use. What's a "Shrike"?


P.S. Did you guys notice there wasn't a "page rollover" issue this time? Even though the blog is huge?

Shrike is the flying warrior variant (jump warriors). The FW wings are very nice, if a bit fragile.
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Tyranids/TYRANID-WARRIOR-WINGS-CONVERSION-KIT.html
If that is a route you'd want to go, you could start the modeling and I can get you a set in the mail today. You could even get it painted up sans wings, and get them on afterwords.


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There was a rollover, I got caught by it.

I appreciate the offer WM, but since we don't have any plans for a unit of flying warriors (at least not until the warriors get better rules) I think we may hold off on them. Though I suppose if they were a lot better, we could take his regular warrior figures and stick wings onto the rest of them too.

Gitsplitta wrote:That's an interesting idea... and one I was kind of toying with myself... but drilling and GSing are two things he hasn't done at all yet. I do have a little hand drill that he could use safely enough... but I'm not sure this is the project to start on that with a the relatively short turn-around time.

I could use another tankbusta with a tankhammer. Making the tankhammer might be a simple enough conversion that could yield some interesting results. And he could raid my bitz box to his heart's content.


Ninja'd!


@WM: We have nos warriors, and nos gargoyles for wings, though I'd eventually have to come up with another source for wings to replace the onces we use. What's a "Shrike"?


P.S. Did you guys notice there wasn't a "page rollover" issue this time? Even though the blog is huge?

Tankhammer is definitely easy enough if you have a spare rokkit. You know your son the best, so you can judge his abilities better than we can. Will they take his age into account when judging?

Well, he's in an 11 and under bracket... so yes, but it still means he's competing with guys like his older brother who is light-years ahead of him (3 years makes a huge difference at those ages).

With the scout avec un heavy bolter why not have him standing on a dead ork, some slight repositioning to get some conversion points and a great base to boot. then adda bandolier with some HB shells on/ cases/anything else a scout may want... Some ideas there, I'd be interested to see what they come up with...

Good suggestions IM... I like the bandoleer idea a lot. Hmmm.

I think it might be an idea for him to paint something he feels comfortable with is it Nids and Doom Eagles?

If he has a model he really wants to use that's not painted I'd concentrate on that, then even if he doesn't get a ribbon he will still have a really cool mini for his army that he can be proud of.

The little one has really only worked with Nids and orks, the Doom Eagles are the older one's marine chapter.

That's sound advice GiraffeX... and I have been leaning in that direction myself. It was actually HIS idea to maybe do an ork as my ork army was actually started as "our" ork army... and eventually if I develop my grot army well enough, I may split it off and give him the rest of the orks but keep the grots for myself.

An Ork would be fun to model as well as paint and there's no end to the conversions you can do with them, sounds like a winner.

Gitsplitta wrote:P.S. Did you guys notice there wasn't a "page rollover" issue this time? Even though the blog is huge?

Actually, there was

Odd, I didn't notice it at all and I was posting every two or three responses... must be seeing the world through Gitsplitta colored glasses!

I had one more thought for Thing 2 that really was an offshoot of WM's suggestion. He does have a box of gargoyles which we eventually intend to make. I think a bit of modification would be done to one of those models and I have a really neat idea for the base. They're more spectacular than a gaunt but no where near as involved as a fex. I'm trying not to insert too much of myself into the project, but at least the kids aren't competing against one another directly, so if I contribute an idea or two it won't be unfair to the other kids who don't benefit from parental involvement.

nice choices for you entries gits, and for your youngest, hmm now if it was my neice or nephew who are 7 and 5, i would take something they love, my nephew is in LOVE with spiderman and iron man, and help him build a nice looking model for one of them, probibly ironman, then he usually can do the rest by himself, its just keeping him on track since he's little and gets destraced alot. hope this might help ya

Proposed a number of options to Thing 2 this evening... and the winner is....

... the Tankbusta with Tank Hammer!... (ta-daaaa!)

Now I'll need to start pulling together various bits so he can sort through them at his leisure.

I think I need to buy another bitz box for my ork stuff. My marine bits are nicely sorted by the ork stuff is roughly sorted in baggies and that's about it.

Thanks one and all for your suggestions, they were very helpful!

thats what dakkas here for!

Yey i made it to page 200. Your army is looking great. I definatly prefer the new green, the yellow tones make it a much richer colour.

I will probably start catching up with my firsts posts soon, and then i will be up to date with your Blog, and i can start rading other ones again lol.

Out of interest, what age did Thing 1 & 2 start in the hobby? Also did you nudge them towards it or did they gravitate towards it yourself? Just thinking ahead as I have a son myself, he's a bit young at the moment (15 months) but I am tempting my nieces, towards it slowly as they love my little plastic men, and I got them to design a colour scheme for a marine as an objective marker at the weekend. (see my Blog - Link in my Signature)

Any way time to keep reading

Cool beans M0rdian. There's a lot of great stuff out there on Dakka... I'm sure you'll find many more blogs that are worth your time. Really appreciate that you've stuck with mine for so long.

They both started about 3 years ago. Granted at age 5, Thing 2 was just playing with my helping him along with the rules as he coudn't read. But they've both been interested and playing since then.

Here is the original story as it appears on page one of Thing 1's blog (well it's my blog, but it's about Thing 1 and his armies).

Gitsplitta wrote:I've been playing 40k since the Rogue Trader days back when I was in college. I had two armies back then, Mantis Warrior space marines (beakies), and pirate eldar (which eventually became craftworld eldar). Two principles have always guided me in 40k; have a good time win or lose, and have the best looking army on the field. I almost always succeed in both. NOT that I'm a great painter... I'm a good painter... but I always field fully painted armies where every figure is painted to a good standard... so the effect of the whole is greater than my skill with any one figure. About 6 years ago I stopped playing, not for any specific reason... new state, new house, new job, new kid... life just got busy. About a year ago, my two sons (6 and 9) came home from school with a "library book"... an old... OLD copy of White Dwarf (how this got into the school library I'll NEVER know), and were all excited because their friends were playing this cool game with space marines, etc. In the midst of excited begging and pleading about letting them start to collect figures and play, I walked them downstairs into the basement and pulled out some old boxes containing several thousand points of fully painted Marines and Eldar, vehicles and all.

The rest, as they say... is history.

Gits

That story brings a tear to me eye, it does.

I have just been informed that its Thanksgiving tomorrow. So Happy Thanksgiving Gits all you American Dakkites Try not to eat too much

It was a happy day.

Thanks M0rdian! Same from me, hope everyone who has the opportunity to celebrate Thanksgiving has a good one. Should be a great day of football tomorrow too! For once in 20 years... the fact that Detroit is playing on Thanksgiving is going to be a good thing!

Happy thanksgiving! and i know what you mean gits, its going to be nice for the Lions to win one, we here are Eagles fans since we moved from philly but my grandfather has always been a packers fan, and when they lose it is great fun to tease him!

I think a lot will depend on which Packers defense shows up. If the Packers D plays like it did last week, the Lions should take it.

as long as Jordy Nelson gets me a few fantasy points AND the packers lose, it will be a nice day! I went down to Detroit a few years back and caught a few things, the Henery Ford Museum (AWSOME) glass side Redwings (awsome) and the thanksgiving game, unfortinatly the packers won....

Now this is a blog.

Happy Thanksgiving to all chez gits! Also, can't wait to see what your grots come up with after all this.

Happy Thanksgiving, Gits. Hopefully you don't get your fingers too slick with turkey grease and ruin those beautiful models!

@Norn King: Thanks for stopping by! There's a summary post at the very beginning, it's got links to all the P&M summaries and battle reports I've done since the beginning.

@graven: I have some *seriously cool* grot plans. Have some fantastic models waiting in the wings. Just need the time to do them up.

@Orminah: Thank you! Had a great Thanksgiving. Don't get down to see my parent's much so it was nice to be with the family for the holiday. Ugly football game between the Packers & Lions. Never seen a dirtier teem than the Lions. Too bad, they've got a lot of talent & don't need to play that way to win (and actually it's killing their chances with all the personal fowls and ejections). Back in the saddle though and expect to spend most of the next 3 days modeling and painting.

Yeah, I'm happy that the Cowboys won for once. Lol! Seems like they can never pull out a win. Good thing they did on Turkeyday.

COWBOYS!!

I think the page wrapped over again. >.<

Page roll over again!

Interesting conversion concepts for thing 2 Gits!

Well, here are the family projects as they stand...

Thing 1's scout: (still WIP)


Keep in mind I haven't touched this figure aside from drilling out the barrel on the gun. He's still working on it but it's coming along nicely.

Thing 2's tankbusta: (ready for painting)


My involvement is limited to again, drilling the holes and providing technical advice. Even walked him through the GS work.

My work on GS's Mantis Warrrior Chaplain for our trade: The pad on the ground will eventually go on his shouder. Need to find an appropriate pad for the other arm. I wanted to use a skull pad but apparently their aren't any made (which I just cant believe... seems so obvious).

Wow, those models look great.

Thing 1 has executed the painting of his scout very well, and the face is nicely done. The metallics looks good! Did he dyrbrush then wash it?

Very characterful little build there for Thing 2! And that Tankhammer is neat! I hope he enjoys painting it up!

Nice to see the beginnings of the Chappy! He shall be a fine addition to my Black Templars! Flying all over the place! Good lookin' power-axe as well!

I didn't see him do it, but yes, that's his usual method.

Glad you like the Chappy, he's just early WIP of course. Will be more to him once he's ready for painting. But it's a good start. That's a FW Red Scorpion axe if I recall correctly. Been saving it for a good project, and your's was it!

Models are going along quite nicely, Thing 1 can paint eyes better than me! I have to stick with Macropens for my eyes because my hands are too unsteady

Think 1's Marine is looking really really good. Not many people take the time to do stubble, so that's a big plus in his favour

Yo Gits, found you a pad for the chaplain! I used them albeit squashed onto my chaplain waaaaay early in my blog, it's pa size and looks awesome on.
http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=58

I can drag out a partly painted pic if you need a clearer look, just shoot me a pm if you need dude! :-)

Nerdfest09

Hey Gits, Chapterhouse has some skull pads. You should check 'em out.

W00t Finally up to date

Thing 's scout looks great, I love the stubble.

.. now i am stuck for something to write lol, ...

Well i will wait untill i have somthing pertinent to say rather than repeating too much. ..

But just for your ego Gits. Its All Awesome!!

Nice scout and da ork gits.

HAZZER

I'm exhausted keeping up with this blog!

Sorry for being so unresponsive all, been busy with mundane matters... which will pretty much define my next several weeks.

nerdfest09 wrote:Yo Gits, found you a pad for the chaplain! I used them albeit squashed onto my chaplain waaaaay early in my blog, it's pa size and looks awesome on.
http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=58

I can drag out a partly painted pic if you need a clearer look, just shoot me a pm if you need dude! :-)

Nerdfest09

That's pretty much perfect Nerdfest, thank you!

Orminah wrote:Hey Gits, Chapterhouse has some skull pads. You should check 'em out.

Thanks Orminah, I like the studded skull pad, will probably order a couple of each (meaning the CH and MM pads) so I have some variety. Never know when someone might ask for another chaplain!

M0rdain wrote:W00t Finally up to date

Thing 's scout looks great, I love the stubble.

.. now i am stuck for something to write lol, ...

Well i will wait untill i have somthing pertinent to say rather than repeating too much. ..

But just for your ego Gits. Its All Awesome!!

Hey M0rdian! Congratulations, and thanks for sticking with it! Thanks for the good words... they definitely were an ego boost! Hopefully there will be more things on this blog in the future to get you just as excited!

HAZZER wrote:Nice scout and da ork gits.

HAZZER

Thanks HAZ. The kids have both been working really hard, I'm very proud of them.

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:I'm exhausted keeping up with this blog!

I appreciate the effort Reaper Man.... it can be quite demanding I know. Thanks for staying with me.


Not too much progress to report. I have a clever idea for the display base for two of my entries, no clue on the third. Luckily the two can all go together pretty quickly. Thing Two has decided that he's going to paint a couple of figures for me for Christmas and Thing 1 has been helping him do it. THAT's pretty cool. I hope to have some time with the little one tonight to work on his tankbusta. Thing 1's been steadily working on his scout. Am really getting worried about getting the figs done for the kids but there's no working on anything until after the competition on Saturday. Just have to do my best I guess. Going "under the knife" on Wed for some minor outpatient surgery. Not a big deal from a medical perspective but it should make me a much happier guy be removing a source of a lot of pain over the last decade. (No, I'm not having my head amputated.... smart *ss...) Best of all, I found the SD card that has the kid's last battle pictures on it, so I'll be posting a Nid vs. Doom Eagle battle report some time fairly soon. It was a really interesting battle and the first the boys have done against each other for a long time.

With luck, an update tonight!
Gits

Will there be a battle report and pics of the surgery?

I hope it goes well. Out patient or not, surgery is no fun.

No pics, just me passed out from the good drugs they give me. Then my wife taking me home with a disgusted look on her face because I won't be able to do much for heavy work around the house for a bit. Does make you a bit nervous when they ask you your religion in the pre-op interview though...

Good Luck with the Op Bud, did they look confused when you listed your religion as "Dakkanite" ?

How are the "little Gitasplitta's" getting on? Still working on the Doom Eagles?

EDIT - It is a poor reflection on my dirty little mind, when you said "I'll be Happier when this Op is done", "Wife is disgusted" and talking about "Pre-Op". I was a bit surprised, but then mentally added 2 & 2 and made 22 rather than 4, so I got complete wrong end of the stick....wait that sounds wrong too. Quiet time..

Gitsplitta wrote:Does make you a bit nervous when they ask you your religion in the pre-op interview though...

Did you answer Gork and Mork?

Thanks guys, I'll be fine... and happier on the other end.

@mwnciboo: Check out this post... http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/7050/289929.page#3620973

The eldest painted that scout completely on his own (and he's still working on it). The youngest built that ork on HIS own and painting should ensue tonight! So... they're doing well! (and your post made me laugh...)

God luck with the surgery and thing 2s painting. Which reminds me i need to read Thing 1&2's blogs

Good luck with the op!

Good luck, both medically and in painting terms!!

Is it wrong that i keep reading "op" as original poster???

Good luck with the op, Thing 1 and thing 2's minis are rather nice .

Vitruvian XVII wrote:Is it wrong that i keep reading "op" as original poster???

Me too, even though I'm the one that used the abbreviation first. Old habits die hard eh?

Thanks for your good wishes all, no biggie. Just some badly ingrown toenails. Really looking forward to a pain-free existence on the other side of this... well, at least not the fault of my toes. Your mind manages to turn off the constant dull pain for the most part, but the acute pain (like when someone... a child perhaps... accidentally steps on your foot) is mind-blowing.

So, I have a morning of frantic physical activity tomorrow while I run around with the ATV and chain saw pulling in a bunch of downed trees from the woods to be turned into firewood. I imagine it'll be a couple of weeks before I can do that kind of activity again (though I'll be back on my feet within a day) & we'll have snow by then. Scrounging in the woods for firewood becomes much more difficult then.

Good luck on the OP, i feel your pain, I have had toenail problems ever since i pwned my toe on a rock in boy scouts...
thought the ork with the staff was cool though, look forward to seeing its completion. Also noticed i hadnt posted here in...forever lol...

Thanks dajobe, it's been a while hasn't it? Glad you stopped by. Been pretty quiet here production wise so there hasn't been much to comment on I guess. I still haven't finished those LS Storms... but needs must as the devil drives... have other priorities at the moment.

Back home. All good.

Good to hear!

How did the surgery go? I have ingrown toenails myself, so I know how you must feel.

I died a bit but I completed the great Dakka Pilgrimage.... Reading all 236 pages (atleast I got to do something at work today)

It all looks amazing mate and I love the green


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I completed the great Dakka pilgrimage.... Read all 236 pages at work. Great job mate love the greens

Good to hear you're back in the saddle bro. I shall resist the urge to call your Mr Hoppy. Kids' stuff is looking cracking. And hey, thing 2 as festive paint squig? Awesome.

@Johnny-Crass: The Dakka equivalent of a pilgrimage to the holy land?? Hmmm... I'd better come up with some wisdom bloody quick.

@graven: Since it was both big toes, I don't so much hop as wobble. Be home all day though and will spend some time painting something.... so one way or another there will be a substantive update.

Thing 2 has asked to not participate in the painting competition... he said there was too much pressure. I wasn't pushing him too hard but I did keep reminding him that if he was going to get it done he'd have to keep making progress. In any case, he'll still do the tankbusta as part of my Christmas present... so it's all win as far as I'm concerned. Plenty of time for competitions later.

Have you been furnished with bionic toenails as a replacement?

Gitsplitta wrote:

Back home. All good.

How did the adamantium bonding fare?

What?

We all know you asked for retractable toe blades!

Yes.... so when my opponent is beating me I can *really* kick him under the table....

"Heh, heh... not so easy to play with an adamantium toenail in your shin is it you cheeky git?!"

Hope your better gits so you can start painting again! LOL!

HAZZER

Here's my Tranquility unit on it's display base for the contest tomorrow. Have had the base for a long time, just needed the proper motivation to finish it. Color is screwed up... since I got my new light box I just can't get my camera to read colors right.



Because of the nature of the judging (popular acclaim), I wrote up a judges guide as people might not realize what they're looking at... especially if they're pressed for time (which is always the case). Here is the text:

40k, Mantis Warrior Tranquility Sniper Squad (Sternguard): Based off of original artwork in an early white dwarf. Unique in it’s depiction of a full marine as a “sniper”, which is a role currently reserved for scouts only.

Basic Paint Application: Paint was applied by brush or airbrush.
Enhanced Techniques: Basic yellow gradient was achieved either by applying multiple very thin coats from dark to light by brush, or several shades from dark to light by airbrush. Both drybrush and edge highlights were utilized. Shading was achieved though use of washes and “lining” with a small brush or illustration pen. Camo pattern was freehanded by brush. “Black Gem” techniques were used to create the lenses and eyes.
Scratchbuilding/Conversions: Every figure is heavily converted. Each of these models was made from an original plastic “beakie” or metal equivalent produced by GW approximately 20 years ago. Due to the severe limitations on the possible poses of these minis, most figures were cut apart at the joints (elbows, knees, hips, etc.) and repositioned into an appropriate stance, then repaired with Green Stuff. Many bear scratch-built purity seals and all bear scratch-built insignia on their shoulder pads. The guns are the original beakie bolters that have been modified in order to give the appearance of a sniper rifle. Some of the barrels are scratch built out of brass wire and tubing. In some cases, kneeling legs from a modern 40k figure with appropriately designed armor were used in place of modifying the original legs. Bits of chainsword blades and dark eldar blades were added to the armor and bolters to enhance the insectoid feel of the models.
Basing: The Basing is made to match the surface of my gaming table. It involves 3 sizes of grit, a wash, a “water” wash to produce highlights, 3 different types of flocking (two grass, one shrub of various colors) and large rocks which are made using a variety of techniques (actual stones, cork sheet, etc.). These bases are unique in my army as they have tall grass added to them in order to increase the “snipers in the tall grass” feel of the unit.

I Can see you!!!

Gitsplitta wrote:Here's my Tranquility unit on it's display base for the contest tomorrow. Have had the base for a long time, just needed the proper motivation to finish it.

I know the feeling, I promise one day I will finish Il Duce's terrain... Promise

Btw that display base looks great, I always loved your flock

GL

No worries Styro... good things are worth waiting for!

Looks good, best of luck

I'm shooting for a blue ribbon! (somehow I feel like I'm entering an apple pie at the state fair)

Love the display base Git. It could use more tall grass, then again I'm going to tell you that same thing regardless of how many bundles of grass you put on there.

Actually my wife (who is a brutal judge of anything I do) told me that the first time 'round so I added a bunch of bundles. I could add two dozen more bundles and it'd still look sparse. At some point you just have to say enough is enough... people will hopefully get the idea.

Just think - if you add enough tall grass, you wouldn't need the models It would have been a lot faster too.

Wouldn't help your epic battles though...

Tried that already...


I think it's easier to paint the figure!

Looking real good, hope you do well!

Those are some great lookin Sternguard you got there, hidin in that gass!

I like the amount of grass - enough to suggest, not overwhelm. My only niggle is that it seems very regularly distributed, though that might just be the angle of the shot.

Good luck gits and how do you make to turf?

HAZZER

Thanks guys!

inmygravenimage wrote:I like the amount of grass - enough to suggest, not overwhelm. My only niggle is that it seems very regularly distributed, though that might just be the angle of the shot.

You may be right graven... not that way on purpose but I did look for "empty spots" on the base which may have resulted in a too regular distribution of grass tufts. My problem is that the grass doesn't just sit there on it's own, you need to support it with something, either up against a large rock or with a pocket of small grass flocking to give it a solid point of attachment. The more you do this, the more the base fills up with flock & you lose the character of the gravel underneath.

So... I'm kind of in a Catch 22 situation. Adding more grass or more irregular grass would improve the overall grass effect, but it will start eroding the overall effect of the rest of the base. I was going to drop it, along with one of my other entries... off at the shop this afternoon. Perhaps I'll see if I can engineer a few more tufts at home tonight and add them to it tomorrow morning before the competition begins.

I'm curious how people feel about the "Judges Guide". The real sheet includes some close-ups and WIP shots that support the text. Keep in mind I'm not really competing against the other entrants... just against the scoring criteria. I've tried to keep it short and sweet while directly addressing the judging points, especially for things that might not be obvious to the nekked eye or younger viewers.


I think I have a rather clever presentation for my second entry (my cybergitz figure). Not a display "base" really, but an entirely topical display. If it works I'll take a pic & show it on my Bad Moon blog.

Have you tried drilling small holes where you want the grass, gluing in a short, small piece of wire or rod, paint it "yellow" and stick the clump of grass on this? (so the wire/rod is hidden in the middle?) - might lessen the large rock/pockets of grass issue you are having in the future

Good idea Arakasi. Would have to alter the order of things as I make my bases... but it would solve several issues. I'll consider it.

Your Sternguard are looking awesome on that display base, Gits. Best of luck in the comp, bud. I see Old Grey Beard in the back is less concerned about stealth than his brethren. Still look great and without any knowledge of what mini's you'll be competing against, I still think you have a good chance of winning with that squad.

I'm not sure to be honest. Turns out that the judging criteria only apply to the kids competition. So the rest is just wide open by popular acclaim. The store usually gets some ringers in from out of town and the local painting talent is really good. So I'm really just in to debut the finished squads & fig. Will enjoy showing them off though... Always fun to get positive feedback.

...auto spell corrector strikes again...I hope

Fixed.

Hey... gay feedback, straight feedback, it's all good man. As long as my ego is maintained we're copacetic.

I thhink the guide is very handy and smart of you git. the rest i am sure no one will be as close to fluff as you so that's a win no matter what

Gitsplitta wrote:copacetic.

You just made me look that word up... and for that you git this

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2101/whats-the-origin-of-copacetic

Cool! Love etiology.

Funny thing is I had to look the word up after I used it, just to make sure it meant what I thought it meant.

Did I ever mention I scored in the 95th percentile on my GRE vocab exam?

Really liking the Tranquillity unit and display base Gits they look excellent on it. I think the amount of long grass is just right, it gives it the right feel while not being over the top.

Gitsplitta wrote:Cool! Love etiology.

Funny thing is I had to look the word up after I used it, just to make sure it meant what I thought it meant.

Did I ever mention I scored in the 95th percentile on my GRE vocab exam?

Nope, did I ever mention I scored in the 99th percentile on my GMAT Exam .

Anyways, do you have a Doc or a Masters?

I love that base, did you buy the base part, or did you build it

wyomingfox wrote:Nope, did I ever mention I scored in the 99th percentile on my GMAT Exam . Anyways, do you have a Doc or a Masters?

Touche'.

Hey, if you're going to be a nerd, might as well be a smart one!

@Rogue: Bought that from my FLGS, some company makes them out of wood with the recesses for the bases and everything. I could look up the company name tomorrow for you if you'd like.

if you have the time that would be awsome

Nice work Gits'. Good luck in the comp!

Hi all!

Comp's over. Thing 1 did well with his heavy bolter scout, got some excellent suggestions from the judge and scored as well as he could have given the judging criteria and the fact that he didn't do any conversions. I got to meet and talk with a golden demon winner and a winner of national modeling/painting awards for historical miniature painting. So I had a good day too.

Since we've gotten back, I've thrown myself into a painting frenzy for what I'm doing for the boys for Christmas. Wish I could share it with you as some things are working out better than I'd hoped, but a number of Thing 1's friends are very internet savvy and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Gits

good luck Git. be glad you don't life in holland there we have sinterklaas or saint Nickolaas or how coca cola calls hem saint nick? and we cellebrate his holiday tommorow

How went your painting competion Git?

Didn't win, that's all I know. There weren't any "ringers" in the category this year... just a dozen entries. Single mini (sorceress I think) won. The disappointing thing wasn't that I didn't win, but the reason I entered in the first place was to show off the finished minis/units to the local 40k group which is quite large and has seen me go though the building process over the last two years... but almost none of them showed up. Just one or two. But the time I got with the experts was well worth the trip.

You should have got something, man. Best unit ever, I say.

I appreciate that Orminah, thank you!

Never mind about the poor turn out, I think I speak for many Dakkanoughts (?) when I say your minis are excellent! Who needs a competition when you know we already love them?!

with 238 pages of blog and 353000 views you need more people to see your mini's?

Thanks for the smile monkeyh.

Just the local folks fatty. Seeing things on line and holding them in your hand are two different experiences entirely. I got to see Roleplayer's Blood Angles last year in-person and even though I was an avid follower of his blog there was no comparison to actually holding them in my hand, turning them around, looking at them from all angles and seeing them in real color.

just in case you forgot, where did you get that diarama base thingy? if you dont know than thats ok

I did forget Rogue, sorry mate. I'll try to remember to look it up next week when I'm in the shop again.

thanks gits!

Decided I want to share my progress (it's makin' me nutz) but can just post for obvious reasons. I should finish up the first "segment" of the painting some time this morning and will take a pic, if you're interested drop me an e-mail at my dakka address & I'll send you a quick pic (not too big). Friends of the Things please do not ask, don't want to spoil the surprise.

Emailed

Oh, this is gonna be good. EMAIIILLL!!!!!


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Wait.... What's your address?

@Orminah: it's in my signature (look down)

Hi gits! Saw this and thought of you!

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/CONTEMPTOR-PATTERN-AUTOCANNON.html

Yeah.... that is a *sweet* interpretation of an autocannon. Going to have to get that model some day to add to my dread collection.

Um.... Who reloads it?

Miss Dee wrote:Um.... Who reloads it?

We're talking about a game set 40,000 years in the future, who needs realism

Everything is looking good Gits. What's next?

Hey vent! Good to see you again!

Well, now until Christmas I'll be completely tied up painting things for the young'uns that will be part of their Christmas gifts. So it's all Nids and Necrons for the next few weeks. Things are going well so far but I'm doing the low-hanging fruit first. We'll see how things go as I get to the harder stuff.

After Christmas I'll be getting back into the Mantis Warrior mood. Have a couple of swap marines to do, two 5-man squads of assault marines and a chaplain. OH, and some day I'll need to actually finish my land speeders... they're really not done, just presentable on the table.

Jeez, Gits. You are one busy man.

Tell me about it. Painting looses a lot of it's allure when you're compelled to go from project to project.



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OH, and a suprise pic! (surprise to me too)

Graven did a Weeping Angel for me. So I based him up to match his comrades and he's ready to go. Had an issue with the grit so a bit more of his feet are hidden than I wanted, but looking at the bright side, I now know of a simple way to get small scale water effects! LOL


For those of you newer to the blog... my GMS marines will make up the tactical squads for my later-period (post crusade) Mantis Warriors Penitent army.

Woot woot update! looking great gits!

HAZZER

Thanks mate! With luck, I'll have another "surprise update" this evening... (well, early tomorrow morning by your time). It's frustrating not to be making any progress on my own figs but my boys will have major upgrades to their armies as a result of all the painting I'm working on now. That'll make them feel better about what they have and give them more and better options to play. So it's a good trade on my part. Gotta be the dad you know...

Gitsplitta wrote:Thanks mate! With luck, I'll have another "surprise update" this evening... (well, early tomorrow morning by your time). It's frustrating not to be making any progress on my own figs but my boys will have major upgrades to their armies as a result of all the painting I'm working on now. That'll make them feel better about what they have and give them more and better options to play. So it's a good trade on my part. Gotta be the dad you know...

LOL! Loving your stuff just loving it! Hey how about you check out my blog too? (Link is in signutre). Will check for that up date soon!

HAZZER

Ooo he looks cool, just;

Don't Blink!

^ Got it in one! A silly, fun idea. Glad he gets your approval!

Holy smokes HAZ... you have been a very busy boy! Give me bit to catch up and I'll comment...

Nice one M0rdian... zing that one in there! It is a very cool concept... kinda been "needing" one ever since graven came up with them.

I think the weeping angels are cool but my wife hates them lol. what's next a Space marine in a Gas mask asking if your his Mummy?

I could do that.

Actually I think next year I'm going to sponsor a Halloween themed P&M competition. Gotta be a new piece, have to show your work... probably Sept. 1 - Oct 30th (because I'm going to be too busy celebrating Halloween to screw around on the web on the 31st...).

hey Gits what is the whole deal with the GMS? Ive tried looking at the thread but it is waay to long, but i do want to spread my marines when i start em

Weeping Angels. Lolololololololololol. Someone needs to do a Dalek army, just saying.

OMG that marine is legendary. You could use whatever you have done there as the most amazing ice effect

Rogue Wolves wrote:hey Gits what is the whole deal with the GMS? Ive tried looking at the thread but it is waay to long, but i do want to spread my marines when i start em

Should be reasonably well explained in the OP. Basically you post your willingness to swap, show some examples of your work and see if anyone bites. The idea is to paint up something special for each other... not just dump extra junk. However I have offered one or two already painted marines over the life of the swap... but i try to make them nice ones (my last was one of my sternguard that was an early experiment & just didn't fit the theme of the squad anymore). Generally though, the idea is to push yourself with each model and try to expand your skills. The benefit is that you don't have to make it so that it matches the rest of your army as you're going to give it away, so you can really experiment with techniques and styles. What you do with the marines you receive is up to you. I plan on fielding mine in a couple of tactical squads (fits with my fluff) and a couple of characters/HQ's for my army. Some people just collect them though. I also look at them as study pieces so I can have other's work in-hand and learn from it in a way you never can from a photo.

Orminah wrote:Weeping Angels. Lolololololololololol. Someone needs to do a Dalek army, just saying.

I agree entirely. Daleks & cybermen as Necrons??

Tyranic Marta wrote:OMG that marine is legendary. You could use whatever you have done there as the most amazing ice effect

inmygravenimage is the man... I think he's done a tut for them on his blog somewhere in the last 10 pages.

that sounds cool, as i want to get marines to do super conversions but have no need for them..

If I had the modelling skills required, I would do a Dalek detachment for my Necrons. Maybe as the Immortals?

There are plenty of Dr. Who models out there in the world... just a matter of finding one near the right scale.


Now for the second surprise pic!

I have long been an admirer of Pyriel's work (both sculpting and painting) and had the opportunity to have a model painted by a protege' of his (littleloudthing) under his watchful eye. The result is hands-down the most beautiful marine I have in my collection. Not only is it a great addition to my army but it will be a wonderful study piece as well. They even worked in a bit of my tranquility camo design. Warms the cockles of my heart...

Big pic... feel free to zoom in and make sure you tell Pyriel how cool the work is (protege is not on dakka regularly). They've got one more figure of mine (Vulcan) which I'm sure will be spectacular when it's finished.

I did not paint this, a student of Pyriel's painted it for me.


It's funny that the pressure was really on when it came to the basing as Pyriel commented that he was interested to see how I'd base it. Since the figure is standing on a rock pile my hands were tied to a great degree, however rather than just putting him on an even bigger pile of rocks (and making him an easier target on the tabletop), I decided to go with a splayed out rock formation with some foliage tossed in to cover the gaps. Perhaps an old impact crater from a long-ago war that some traveler had built a cairn inside of as a marker.

Very impressive. I take it you don't worry about the style not matching (or the paint job outclassing ) the rest of your Marines?

In this case... no. Substance over style. Besides, he's an HQ... they're special.

Very nice.. good to have more HQ options. still wish they would beef the Chaplain up to make them more useful

SL

You can definately see the "School of Pyriel" at work. My favorite part has to be the Bolt Pistol's casing.

Gitsplitta, first time I've posted on your log! I've never really felt the need to comment before (others always say it better).

I think it's 'warms the cockles of your heart' - cackles implies you have some form of farm poultry where your heart should be.

That Chaplain is very impressive. I don't see how it's style doesn't match what you currently have - the nod to Tranquility camo and the basing tie him in nicely. Chaplains always stand out, it's what they're there for.

Incidentally... This Chaplain should be wearing a dunce hat. The Mantis Warriors are traitors, so any Chaplain of the Chapter obviously wasn't doing his job properly as a zealot worhsipping the Emperor Unless of course you intend this chap to go with your pending assault marines, who I believe are on the Penitent Crusade? I could see one of the survivors MAYBE being promoted to Chaplain in that case.

Yowch! That's amazing. Seeing that makes hang up my drybrush... No, but in seriousness, I know what you mean about having an inspiring reference piece.

Solar_lion wrote:Very nice.. good to have more HQ options. still wish they would beef the Chaplain up to make them more useful

SL

Agreed, maybe in 6th. Still a cool figure though & once I get an assault squad for him to run with I'll use him anyway.

wyomingfox wrote:You can definately see the "School of Pyriel" at work. My favorite part has to be the Bolt Pistol's casing.

I think the NMM catches my eye the most... at least as a "student of the art" it really piques my interest.

Jihad_Ragsta wrote:
Gitsplitta, first time I've posted on your log! I've never really felt the need to comment before (others always say it better).

Cool Ragsta! Glad you've joined the fray!

I think it's 'warms the cockles of your heart' - cackles implies you have some form of farm poultry where your heart should be.

You are absolutely right... it's fixed now. Thanks for pointing out my mistake!

That Chaplain is very impressive. I don't see how it's style doesn't match what you currently have - the nod to Tranquility camo and the basing tie him in nicely. Chaplains always stand out, it's what they're there for.

Agreed. Basing him in a similar fashion I think will tie him in nicely with the army... and as you said...he *should* stand out.

Incidentally... This Chaplain should be wearing a dunce hat. The Mantis Warriors are traitors, so any Chaplain of the Chapter obviously wasn't doing his job properly as a zealot worhsipping the Emperor Unless of course you intend this chap to go with your pending assault marines, who I believe are on the Penitent Crusade? I could see one of the survivors MAYBE being promoted to Chaplain in that case.

Not traitors... rebels. Traitors implies a link to chaos which they do not have. The Badab War was in essence and political/economic rebellion against the established bureaucracy of the Imperium, not the Emperor. Chaplains are the religious leaders of the chapter, as long as the marines' faith was pure and strong... I see no reason why the chaplain would have failed in his duty nor all existing chaplains have been purged from the chapter. My intent however, is to run him with the post-crusade Mantis Warriors Penitent as he's wearing a later armor style.

inmygravenimage wrote:Yowch! That's amazing. Seeing that makes hang up my drybrush... No, but in seriousness, I know what you mean about having an inspiring reference piece.

Invaluable.

Beautiful, Gits. I wish I could paint like that. :(

Me too!

Hahaha. Don't be modest, that's some wonderful painting you do there.

Orminah... the chaplain was done by a student of Pyriel-'s. I can't paint to anywhere near that level yet. All I did was the basing, which is pretty mundane.

Not true.. your Dread and sternguard are pretty amazing, unique and very inspiring

What Solar said. Lol.

Nice chaplin man! ;ove the paint job! Btw thx for checking out my blog!

HAZZER

A very striking model, love how the paintjob accentuates the dynamic pose of the model. Pyriel's student did a nice job!

I refer gits to his excellent tranquility vets. Those guys are beautiful.
Nope mate you can paint pretty fething well. Chin up mate!!

I appreciate all the support guys, thank you very much. I'm really very comfortable with my painting level. I'm not satisfied with it as there is still so much to learn... but I don't walk around the house mumbling "I suck..." and scuffing the carpet with my toes.

By the same token, I believe in heralding exceptional work when I see it. I don't get jealous of other's work... I just marvel at it... and when I'm lucky enough to be able to obtain a piece or two... I jump at it because there's no substitute for having it in your hand to study from. I've gotten some amazing pieces through the GMS that I refer to all the time. This chaplain will join them as not only functional parts of my army, but functional parts of my education.


Well, I spent my day off painting... got almost nowhere... air compressor pump died which puts me in a world of hurt. Had to blow a couple of bills that I didn't have on a new one and hope they ship it quickly. While I can work on Thing 2's presents without the airbrush, I'm dead meat for most of Thing 1's projects. Luckily it's only the 9th... and there is still one thing I can do for Thing 1 without it. Need to get to a certain stage of painting my current two projects for Thing 2 tonight so it can dry overnight... then we'll see how things look.

Gitsplitta wrote:but I don't walk around the house mumbling "I suck..." and scuffing the carpet with my toes.

Well at least since the recent surgery

Well, I spent my day off painting... got almost nowhere... air compressor pump died which puts me in a world of hurt. Had to blow a couple of bills that I didn't have on a new one and hope they ship it quickly. While I can work on Thing 2's presents without the airbrush

Now if only you had a friend who lived not to far away, whom you could stop by and visit. A friend who had an airgun, a compressor, and a painting station fully set up... that he wasn't using this Saturday.




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A friend who also has...Girl Scout Cookies

Gitsplitta wrote:Orminah... the chaplain was done by a student of Pyriel-'s. I can't paint to anywhere near that level yet. All I did was the basing, which is pretty mundane.

I just realised there is a chain of learning. For you admire Pyriel, and wish to emulate him, and aspire to paint like littleloudthing, in the same way that I am trying to paint at a similar level to you.

wyomingfox wrote:Now if only you had a friend who lived not to far away, whom you could stop by and visit. A friend who had an airgun, a compressor, and a painting station fully set up... that he wasn't using this Saturday.

Unfortunately I'll be camping with the Boy Scouts all day Saturday and into Sunday. So today's my only shot. I appreciate the offer though. Thank you!

Gathering Storm wrote:I just realised there is a chain of learning. For you admire Pyriel, and wish to emulate him, and aspire to paint like littleloudthing, in the same way that I am trying to paint at a similar level to you.

The wonders of dakka unfold before our eyes!

Learning never stops. I've even gotten to see Pyriel- himself experimenting with new painting techniques and concepts... so it's an endless process. You set a goal, you achieve it, you set a new goal, etc. When I stop learning is when I get bored and go do something else with my free time...

Camping? For your sake I hope your in Cabins with great big fire places...and shelves stocked with Hot Coco and Cider.

Have you ever considered Librarian Ahazra Redth from one of the badab imperial armor books?

@wyfox: Yeah, we'll be in a cabin. It's basically a planning meeting for next year... why in God's name we have to camp out for it is beyond me. Pretty much torpedo's my weekend though.


@Necronboy: Yes, I've toyed with the idea & considered how I would work him in with an army. No one around here plays with IA rules though, especially in tournaments... so it hasn't been a high priority. More like a long-term project.


Good news for the evening is it looks like if I put in a couple more hours I'll get everything I need to get done tonight finished. Models won't be done but they'll be as far as I can get them & put them on track for being completed some time on Sunday. I'll take that as a victory...

This whole thread is amazing. great job here, very well done!

Ah Gits sounds like you've been busy as usual, inspiring people and trying to take up all the internet space with your blog? you're going well!... :-)

that chappie by littleloudthing is excellent! you can really see Pyriel's influence and style, if i hadn't known better i'd have sworn it was from the man himself!

I loved the little things Pyriel does to push the boundaries of painting (and thread decency!) like his crushed velvet robe and beaten zinc power sword! simple ideas that work so well! he really should be an artist that everyone should check out especially if you've never heard of him! he will inspire nearly as much as Gits stuff does!

I really need to get off my ass myself and send you those marines i have for you and maybe give you a model for your collection so you can see how badly i really paint :-)

Nerdfest09

That Chaplin is just sexy!

@Ogryn: Thank you, please feel free to add to the discussion any time!

@nerdy: Yes, well... I'm sure there was a guiding hand throughout... but I know he's been work with littleloudthing for a while now so most of the hard work was hers. She's darn good... no mistake. Don't worry about the rest nerdy, whenever you get around to it.

@Johnny-Crass: I do agree... great figure with an even better paint job.

i love the yellow bits on the chaplain

Gitsplitta wrote: No one around here plays with IA rules though, especially in tournaments...

i was on a team tournament last week and there was a tam called "team forge world". they had presented there lists to the organization and there team was allowed. it was DCOK and iron warriors with forge world lists and full armies (600 points)

Closest I get is Adepticon where one team member is allowed one unit. That's one unit out of 4 people once per year (from the subset of tournaments I can attend). So I don't do FW stuff unless it proxies into a normal 40k unit (like using the FW Grot Tanks as Rokkit Buggies for example).

Just start throwing 1 FW thing in there with games against people that wouldn't think it's cheating (S_L or WFox maybe?). Other people will see it getting just as killed as the other crap, and learn to accept it. Done it at 2 stores by me that way. The only thing I've run into that's a bit hard for a introduction model is the LR Achilles.

Orminah wrote:If I had the modelling skills required, I would do a Dalek detachment for my Necrons. Maybe as the Immortals?

I picked up six 28mm scale Daleks in an EBay job lot recently. I have stripped them of paint and am planning to paint them up to match my Astral Claws. Just got to wait for an opportunity to do some undercoating. Recently I am either always working or the weather is too bad.

^Mmm, qft. Awful weather for priming just now over here. It's raining sideways!

WM360's point about introducing one unit at a time has merit I think. Never underestimate that folk like to play against something they've not seen before, and have to adapt accordingly. After all, it's fun AND a great way to test the solidity of all-comers lists.

Lovely Chaplin by littleloudthing you have there Gits, bet you cant wait to use him in a game.

I really like the Gold NMM, something I don't feel comfortable trying myself yet.

Ok all caught up. That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, seems I've been off-line at a quiet time in most peoples blogs, which is very considerate of everyone, thank you all very much

Loved the little sternguard display you put together.

Some lovely GMS marines you got there, and that chappy by littleloudthing is gorgeous.

And well done for the bits I've forgotten, bound to be some I've eaten since starting this catch-up

@WM/graven: I'm sure I can find friends to play with that will let me experiment. Just hasn't been a high priority painting-wise. Be fun though, I have read his rules and have been mentally toying with ideas for an army that would take advantage of them. Unfortunately it's pretty far from what I have painted up already.

@GiraffeX: I'm in the same boat, so to have a fine example of it in my own collection is very exciting and helpful.

@monkeytroll: Thank you sir! Been painting like crazy but it's all Christmas stuff for the kids, so not much marine action lately.



Update: Well, let's see... Am just about to put the finishing touches on the two big figures I'm painting for Thing 2. Of course I've done a bunch of painting for him but still none of the things he's specifically asked for (there are reasons). I'm going to shift over to Thing 1's projects now & hope the new air compressor shows up by mid week. Be nice to have a change of pace. I'm really pleased with what I've done for the first part of the project though, I think it'll make a big difference & the little one will really like it. Once I've gotten Thing 1's projects done, I'll come back and attack some of the pieces Thing 2 specifically asked for. I am going to need more dullcoat and primer though.

Mundanely we've been blessed with very mild weather and no snow yet. This is lucky as we've gone through an inordinate amount of wood earlier this year (fires in our fireplace) and I was over a chord-and-a-half short of where I wanted to be going in to winter. So the eldest and I spent the last two days in the woods with the ATV & chainsaw dragging out and cutting up/splitting large logs from trees that were already down and dry. (We had a tornado go through out place a few years back and it knocked down a lot of trees.) Not only did we bring up enough wood to fill all the cradles, but we had a great time as well (we both like playing lumberjack). Still have some splitting and stacking to do, but I think we're fine now as we've got enough decent weather coming up to get things finished.

Incidentally... This Chaplain should be wearing a dunce hat. The Mantis Warriors are traitors, so any Chaplain of the Chapter obviously wasn't doing his job properly as a zealot worhsipping the Emperor Unless of course you intend this chap to go with your pending assault marines, who I believe are on the Penitent Crusade? I could see one of the survivors MAYBE being promoted to Chaplain in that case.

On the contrary, it all starts with the chaplains...take a look at the word bearers and realize where Gits mantis warriors are heading *mwahaha*

I loved the little things Pyriel does to push the boundaries of painting (and thread decency!)

Hell, maybe some persons would even get to like me a bit if I just figured out a way not to piss people of on an industrial scale every time I turn up a thread *sigh*

Gitsplitta:
Like the way your base turned out and hope you get a lot of fun gaming over christmas.

I need to slowly start painting your vulkan mini now.

He's a lumberjack, and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.

I cut down trees. I eat my lunch.
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shoppin'
And have buttered scones for tea

Buttered Scones for Tea...here in the Wild Mid-West we have deep fried donuts with coffee.

@Pyriel-: Glad you approve of the base... it's a tough thing to make something that's play-legal that is worthy of such a miniature.

@M0rdian: He's been learning that song because I was singing it to myself for most of the last two days... His mom isn't happy about it either.

@Wyfox: Is there another kind of doughnut? I thought they were all deep fried? (or were you just being explicit for the non-US folks?)


I've a question... anyone heard from Yggsdrasil lately??

I believe he got back from Afghanistan (to France) safely but I haven't heard anything from him in quite a while. Not answering PMs or anything. Anyone got any info?


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Well, finally started Thing 1's projects... so far, so good.

Have likewise not heard from Yggs. He might be enjoying a little woman time, though.

Hope so, I'm sure he's earned it.

Mmm that Chaplain is really nice work. How useful do you find having a guide model like that?

I think it's very helpful to have an actual model. Something you can study at leisure, turn, see from different angles. There are some things that only really set in with me if I can see them in RL and see how the surfaces and colors play off each other.



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Update: work on Thing 1's monolith is going really well. Got an idea for a paint job from the new dex and it's working out better than I'd hoped. Might finish as early as tomorrow. New compressor came in today too and appears to be working great.

So far, so good.

Been awhile since I've checked in on this thread and I got to say you're painting is definitely improving. The Chaplin looks ace. Keep it up Gits!

That's not mine Egg! That's a protege of Pyriel's.

;-)

OK, fixed the original photograph, that should stop further misunderstandings.