@Para: Thanks man! Hopefully it'll get some attention in the comp!
@Red Thirst: Thanks! The torso details are my favourite. Really made an effort to get that writing right!
@Lancs: Hmm... Weapon wise, I love the Kheres Assault Cannon. So much dakka! I guess close combat could work well(?) I'm not too sure on Contemptor loadouts...
I decided to put a little bit of work into my B@C marines. Got this guy to a 'mid-way' point. Just trying to figure out where to take him now.
I'm trying to find a way to make him a bit more interesting. I'm going to take a shot at free-handing the EC icon onto the shoulderpad. And maybe try some light weathering.
What do you want to see on him?
@Lancs: I agree. They need something 'extra' about them. Legion iconography is a definate! For now, I just want to get a couple up to this point before I start doing anything fancy.
@Nev: Lol! What if he's a loyalist..? I'm thinking of doing light scratches (nothing as heavy as my Fists)... Still undecided on where I'm taking him from this point.
@Theo: Thanks!
@Nerdie: Thanks a lot! The Contemptor is going to be taking his first trip out today. Dakka Dakka Dakka!!!
@Para: Thanks mate!
@EDC: Thanks!
@San: Stripes, you say..? Hmm... Maybe? I might be straying into other legion's schemes, but maybe I'll do some stripe work to the bolter to make it look less bland.
Hope everyone's weekend was good. It was a Bank Holiday in the UK yesterday, so a nice 3 day weekend for all!
I've got some painting to show for it.
That leaves me with the Apothecary and Company Champion left.
I also made a good push through my Maelstrom's Edge stuff:
I'm happy with how the troopers are coming out, and fairly happy with the brown / grey balance on the robots. But I need a spot colour for them. I'm content with the quick and dirty look for now, but I should really figure out a third colour to use as a spot colour. It doesn't really help that the robots dont really have any obvious parts that could be a third colour. Also I'm trying to stay away from red as a third colour as I've worked that into my Karists.
Input appreciated
In other news, I've sold off the B@C bits that I didn't need and the Tyranid start collecting box I painted. I got more than what I paid for the Tyranids, so I think I'm going to put that money straight back into another boxset to paint for fun. Going back and forth between Orks and Nurgle Daemons - We'll see what happens when I'm in the store looking at it.
Zambro wow, man your models are looking fabulous man. I LOVE that purple marine at the top. Simple clean and very striking. I'd like to see Many many of those on the tabletop. It's a great purple too. I also am really digging the desert scheme robots...are they from mechwarrior?? Your battle damage effect is really adding to it as well....It looks fantastic dude! Cheers!
As far as a spot color...I'm not so sure one is necessary?? If you don't mind, I procreated one of your models for an idea...lime green? Almost any spot color would work but I always try to think outside of the box when messing around with a third color. Also I wouldn't mind seeing a kinda diagonal darker brown camo like effect that could add some vibe, but it's totally not necessary. The models look fantastic,!!
@BB: Thanks for taking the time to spruce up that Warmech! I really like the camo stripes, but I'm not sold on the green. I like the glow effect, but not the colour. I think I'll give it a go with blue! The models are from the Maelstrom's Edge game, fyi.
@Para: Cheers mate. I'm liking the blue glow idea, and white serial numbers stencilled onto the side has a very Epirian feel to it. Thanks for the input!
I went with the Nurgle start collecting box. I've now got plenty of Daemons to be putting together...
@Lancs: Special Ammo bolter drill is the best!!
@Nev: I'll make sure I do Although they haven't got any paint on them yet - I'm still building them.
I've managed to finish off the command squad!
And some closeups of the company champion & Apothecary:
I'm fairly happy with how they came out, despite a little bit of a rush towards the end.
And that brings me to the point of having a completly painted IF army. I can go away for the summer with the satisfaction of having 4253 points of painted IF (I did a quick recount of everything I have, 4253 is my new total!!). That concludes my IF until I get back. For the next couple of weeks, I'm going to focus on my Maelstrom's Edge stuff, and the rest of my B@C Emperor's Children.
Speaking of which, I finished the first 3 and the Captain:
There is still some details I would like to add. Things like weathering and some freehand. But I want to get them all to this point before I get caught up in the details.
If you are done with your ‘Fists for now, you must do a group shot!
The apothecary needs some blood. There is no way he’s gotten that weathered without having to recover the Chapter’s Due, or perform a field amputation (With the axe, ouch!) Other then that, very well done on the guys.
Have you thought about doing a little border, or corner detail on the EC captain’s cape? The white is very smooth and striking, but a little plain considering the chapter.
@Nev: I was thinking of doing an Imperial Eagle on the cape, and some corner trim, but I'm not sure my skill level is up there to do it. Still toying with some ideas...
@Thraxas: I airbrush metalics onto the models. Gunmetal, then chrome to the top parts. Then I airbrush Druchii Violet to tint purple. I'm not sure how it would come out by brush, but it should be possible to do. 9 Days!
So I did it, I took those army pics:
Turns out it hard to get the lighting right for a picture with 100+ models...
Nice looking army there! How does it compare in size to your scars? We have a case here where the “secondary” force has overtaken the main? I know you poached a few things from the scars, so am not sure how big they are these days.
Having had the last 4 months away from the hobby, I'm finally back. And raring to go! My time working in the US was amazing, I have really great memories. Not to mention my time travelling too, which was next level fun.
For some reason (I can't quite pin it to one, or even a handful, of reasons), I've become quite enthralled by fantasy and The Ninth Age. If you've been living under a rock, read up on The Ninth Age here. And as such, I've made a bunch of purchases for my Dread Elves army. More on that in a second...
You've probably noticed a change in the name of the thread. I want to move away from just painting 40k. I want to branch out and paint more models - not just 40k. I have my IFs, which will still see some love (I'll get a company of them if it kills me!). But I also want to paint my Dread Elves, Finish the MEdge boxset & Nurgle get started set. Not to mention I have 30k EC Marines laying around to finish too. Essentially, I want to change my IF blog to an 'everything' blog. Which starts here.
I've been back just over a week, and naturally, I've got as many games in as possible to catch up for lost time. My 4 games of T9A have been great. Crushing defeats across the board, but so much fun! The game as a whole is great, and I love playing it - hopefully I can get more in on Tuesday when I'm next at the LGS. I've played 2 40k games, and both were 'meh'. I played Deathwatch, and was like 'wtf' multiple times. His Captain dude can teleport a rhino full of guys to him when he steps out of a DP in my face? Ok. Every guy has special ammo? *sigh*. The game ended a draw, and felt like a chore for the both of us (me more than him, I think). Second game was against an Eldar list with artillery (to give you a sign of the teir of list). It was uninteresting and my friend had a terrible game that he didn't enjoy. It was a shoot out that I won, and the mysterious objectives were a lot kinder to me than him. So not too great of an impression back to 40k.
But on the hobby side of things, I've got my painting stuff all set up. I've been working on spearmen and EC marines, and will have a picture for you tomorrow / tuesday.
As a visual representation of the slight change of direction of the blog, I've reorganised my display cabinet to show off all my different models:
I'm looking forward to painting a variety of models over the next couple of months!
Great to have you back Zambro! Good to hear you have had a great time while on your (work related of course ) travels. America's quite a way away and sounds like it was 100% worth it!
Haven't tried 9th Age. Doesn't get much of a following in my area unfortunately. How strong is it in your area?
Excellent to hear that you will be expanding your blog to cover a variety of armies and projects. That is a lot of minis to paint. That said if you want any more Dark Elves, give me a shout.
@WarbossDakka: 9th has a solid following in my area. There is about 10 players in my friendship group, and I'm pretty sure that the Team Wales ETC guys are local to the store. Although I haven't seen/met them, I think they play on a different day... @Thraxas: Can you shoot me a PM with the Dark Elves you have? Thanks!
I've been working on a couple of things the past day or two. Firstly, the EC marines:
Just pushing through these guys slowly. Got the base layers down on each guy, just need to finish it up. Probably about 1-2 hours work to get those 3 done. I noticed that I lost a lot of brush control over the summer. Hopefully I can get back to the level I was at pretty quickly. It's like riding a bike, right?
I also decided to get my Spear elves done. They were sitting at a 3 quarters done point before I left. Now I'm playing regularly with them, I want at least my core unit finished.
I've got the rank and file done, and the common parts of the command group done too. Just need to get the command parts that are specific to those models (banner, faces, drum etc.) done then that's the squad. I also want to rebase them (and have bought new bases for them). The bases they came with are 24mm wide (not 25...). A tiny difference, but when ranked up like that there is a noticable gap in the movement tray. I want them to sit flush in the tray. Bases should arrive tomorrow/day after. Also need magnets to magnetise them.
And finally, I assembled a sorcerer for Para's comp entry.
I plan to prime her tomorrow with some Plaguebearers.
I've got games lined up at the LGS tonight. Another game of T9A - I'm psyched for it. And a doubles 40k game (although as yet I dont have a partner...). I'm taking my Scars to put some in the display cabinet at the club, so I'll be making a 1k list with that stuff and can just team up my Scars / IF for the 'doubles' game.
I have to say, one thing I don’t miss about WHFB is painting up huge blocks of troops. I have enough trouble these days keeping interest through a 10 man tac squad. And they paint up easy. At least those spearment have full face helmets. Doing that many eyes would drive me to madness.
The sorceress should be a fun change from blocks of troops. Although I do admit to preferring the old classic sorceress on foot mini. I think I painted up 2-3 of her.
While I do agree with Nev, I have to say, when you have fully painted blocks of troops they look very impressive, although you have to have the right lighting for them.
Nice paint scheme for the Dark Elves. Looking very nice.
I put together 2 1k lists for the doubles game, and took pictures of the armies. My opponents didn't sow :( So I didn't actually get a game with them. But I did play Ninth Age, and I didn't lose! I didn't win, either, but I was happy 10:10 draw. Even if I was coached on some big plays...
The pics of the 40k armies:
A chunk of my White Scars now live in our display cabinet at the LGS:
There is a 40k tournament this weekend that my group are running. WS are in the cabinet just so we don't have an empty cabinet when a whole bunch of strangers show up.
I'm not playing in the tournament at the moment. I took one for the team, and said I'll be the spare man. Essentially, I dont buy a ticket but I'll show up ready to play. If there are odd numbers then I'll buy into the tournament and if not then I get the joy of helping organise / facilitate. Honestly, I dont particularly want to play. But I'm happy to support the club.
Now I just need to do the shields then they are done.
I'm going to rebase them, too, for two reasons. 1) for some reason I thought basing with 1 sized grit was a good idea - It looks terrible, I'm going to put mixed size grit on it. and 2) the bases they have now are just slightly too small.
Probably wont have much progress over the weekend. I'll try and snap pics of the tournament...
@AngelofVengance: I'll be sure to check out that tip when I move onto the nurgle stuff!
@Thraxas: Athonian Camoshade added to the to-buy list
So I got all of my Ninth Age stuff out for a big army picture:
It totals over 4000 points including the unbuilt characters I have (I should get around to a big building session...). And while there is paint on a few things, only 1 is finished:
Comp entry pictures:
The spearmen and 1 bolt thrower is almost finished. I need to rebase the spearmen, and varnish / flock the bolt thrower.
I stood in at the tournament over the weekend. Some guy quit half way through the last game on the saturday. He was there to win, and the game didn't go his way so he left. I stepped in on the sunday to play his final 2 games so someone didn't have nothing to do for a round. It was terrible. Tabled each time. I played against Tau and Necrons, neither list was crazy, but I got stomped either way. Lowest point was rolling 8 hits with my TFC on the Tau warlord+suits. I needed 2s to wound, and I rolled 6 1s. 6!
I realised the thing that I dont like about 40k at the tournament, the dice rolling seems to be a formality. So he can roll a bunch of things to hit, then reroll all the misses for X, Y and Z rules reasons. Roll to wound, rerolling for this special formation rule. Takes a rerollable 2+ jink save, failed both times? Ok, take a FNP save. I just feel like the chance of actually doing something is so low. (And yes, I took those examples from a bunch of different games / armies).
But on the plus side I got some really nice pictures of my Fists taken, and a free lunch! Will share those pictures as soon as I can find them
I like the shading and definition on the sorceress. Good depth and highlighting. But the color reminds me of a bad spray tan. Not sure if it’s just the light, but she looks orange. For elves that are classically very pale, this is a bit of a jarring disconnect. If she was in an army with similar skin tones, I suspect that the issue would fade, but standing alone, she is a bit off.
I think there is a huge disconnect between friendly 40k and tournament 40k. Same rules, different games. Tournament seems to be “Find an exploit/broken things/shenanigan, flog it for all it’s worth” So things like 2++ re-rollables, unkillable deathstars, 50% more army free, etc. Friendly games, where fluffly TAC lists collide, provide a lot more fun for both players. Rather then a glorified game of rock/paper/scissors were we check if we brought a hard counter for our opponent’s trick.
Hope everyone's weekend was a good one. I manager to sneak in a game of The Ninth Age, against Dwarves. They're tough, I'll give them that! Another loss for the DElves.
I've been painting my Dread Reapers (Bolt Throwers) with the mindset that painted models perform better. So far they lack luster...
The first one is finished:
Just need to put a single magnet under the base of the Dread Reaper then it's 100%.
And the other 2;
The ones on the right will get a repaint. I've had those custom bases for ages, glad they are finally being used for something!
I'm working on my first unit of 5 knights. Hopefully they'll get finished up soon.
Looking good. I like the black and silver look on them.
I have less then fond memories about facing repeater bolt throwers from back when I played WHFB. Nasty little pieces of work. Luckily they usually only got one round of fire off before my carrion descended from the sky and ate their crew.
Nev: Yeah, they are normally top priority for enemy fast cavalry. Although, I dont see why. My bolt throwers constantly fluff out on me. Needing 3s to hit, turning to 4s over 24" away and 5s if there is any sort of cover... Then S6 makes it 4s or 5s to wound, if I'm going for the bigger nasty things.
So last night was my first Ninth Age win! 8 games in, and I finally win. I was playing a tournament dwarves army, and my opponent was tired and had/was getting over a cold, so plays on his part could have been a lot better. But I'll take a win where I can get it!! I feel that I made all the right plays, except one where I should have blocked a unit of dwarves but instead I went for a 10" charge. I lost 2-3 raptors as a result of that dwarf unit. Not game changing in itself, but they could have held out longer over the game with more bodies and been more of a threat. Super happy with the result, anyway!
And on the topic of knights dying, I finished a unit of knights:
And I put together the unbuilt characters I had.
I'm working on 2 more bolt throwers at the moment, and rebasing the spearmen.
@WarbossDakka: They're called Dread Knights now, and as Nev said, they're mean. With plenty of attacks base, and often getting hatred from my Dread Prince, they normally have just as many kills at the guys the bear into combat.
@Nev: The standard bearer is from Mierce Miniatures. First thing I ever bought from them. And it's a beautiful model, imo. It says 20mm square base on their site in the description, so I assumed the scale was fine. I like it enough not to be worried about it, honestly, and for £12-15, it's not too big a deal to me.
I've finished off the last 2 bolt throwers and another sorcerer.
I just need to finish rebasing my spearmen then they are all done too.
I got 2 wins this past weekend playing against High(born) Elves. Pushing me up to 3 wins total I have another game or two planned for tonight. Helping a friend test a tournament list, he has a full cavalry empire list. I'm hopeful...
Love the hair and cloak on the sorceress. Not the the rest of her is bad, but those are he stand out points IMHO.
Is she a secondary character, or a bigwig? I see a few spots that could take an accent color if you wanted her to stand out a bit more. Gem in the center of the headpiece, the wavy bit on the sword, maybe a little BftBG on the chalice. Right now she seems closer to a rank and file unit then a powerful spellcaster. I’d worry about forgetting her is she was hidden in a block of troops.
Nevelon wrote: Cold ones got a lot meaner since last I checked. Nice looking knights.
Yes, though the Cold Ones the DE ride are far better models than the ones Seraphon have IMO.
Are they still on derpy the dinosaur? The really old metal ones I used to face off against back in 5th weren’t that bad. At some point they were replaced with bizarre looking, very stupid, hunchbacked ones. I thought that was about the time they actually came out with the lizardman ones. The modern Seraphon ones do look like they still have the “Stupid” rule.
The modern DE ones actually look like something that you definitely don’t want charging you. And just a lethal (or more so) then the guys riding them.
Finally finished rebasing 30 spearmen (definately going to get it right first time with my next load of rank and file!).
Just finishing up a chariot, then I'm onto the next batch.
I'm splitting my army down into batches of units to paint at the same time. Everything I've done so far was the first batch. The next batch is going to be 28 crossbow men, 5 more knights, another chariot and 2 knight heroes.
I've got a couple of games lined up tonight, playing against WoC for the first time. And taking another crack at Empire.
Nice looking block of spearmen. Sometimes I forget how many damn troops fantasy takes. That’s a block of 30 guys. I field reasonably sized 40k lists with a lower model count then that. And that’s just one unit.
Good luck in your game. And remember, pillage before you burn!
Nevelon wrote: Nice looking block of spearmen. Sometimes I forget how many damn troops fantasy takes. That’s a block of 30 guys. I field reasonably sized 40k lists with a lower model count then that. And that’s just one unit.
Good luck in your game. And remember, pillage before you burn!
True that. Points in Fantasy were waaaay different to 40k points. I couldn't paint that many guys very quickly either
Very nice blob of guys there Zambro! How big is the army looking?
@Thraxas: ...Ninth Age... Skipping over AoS. All about the ranks of bodies and epic battles! @Angelofvengeance: The old school ones are extra derpy! @Nev: I know... So many bodies! I've been doing single models and small units in an effort to put off the next block... @WarbossDakka: Army is shaping up to be pretty big! 4500 points, of which 1800 are characters. Plenty of choice with my lord / hero load outs, and a moderate amount of choice for the rest of the army. I'm currently trying to get a unit to represent each unit in the book. Got about 4-5 more units to go before I can play everything.
I finished another unit of 5 Knights:
They hit the table with the other 5 as a big unit of 10 and slaughter everything unlucky enough to be caught in a charge. With high WS and S on the charge, against RnF and some elite units, my 10 attacks are hitting on 2s, wounding on 2s rerolling 1s and taking 3 off their armour save - and then 10 raptor attacks! With damage output like that, you can imagine how much fire they draw...
Also prepping to jump into my next block of infantry... Reaper Auxiliaries (or Crossbowmen):
Rebased, remagnetised and primed. I also put the silver down with the airbrush as a good % will be silver, just to save time. It should be quick in theory; paint the cloth purple, wash completly. Touch up the silver and purple and that should be 3/4 of the model done. However, the sheer number of bodies is going to slow it down!
Haven't played any games in just over a week... Hoping to get a few in on Sunday.
Doh, the ranks of infantry should have been a dead giveaway. The Knights look great, as you say with 10 of them they should be devastating on the charge. Are you finding them a nice break from 40k?
Thraxas Of Turai wrote: Doh, the ranks of infantry should have been a dead giveaway. The Knights look great, as you say with 10 of them they should be devastating on the charge. Are you finding them a nice break from 40k?
Is there anything in AoS that says you can’t rank up?
Also this is totally a 40k army. Exodite Eldar. Some nice counts-as shining spears, guardians, weapon platforms, etc.
I took a break from painting those Crossbowmen to finish off my Maelstrom's Edge set. I've had about 8-10 models to finish for the Medge set for a long time. It was well past time I finished them. (Huge photo dump )
It got a bit rushed toward the end. A test: I won't point out which ones, but if you notice I have to go back and put some time into them Now for the hard part, tearing people away from playing 40k at the LGS to play this...
In other news... A month or two ago, FFG announced that they are cutting their partnership with 40k. Which means ffg games in the 40k universe will be discontinued as off feb 2017. This isn't particularly good news, as I did (probably still do) enjoy the conquest card game. I dont see anyone playing Conquest anymore, which sucks, so I decided to sell my Conquest stuff. I'm going to take a chunk of the money I got from all my conquest stuff and buy the Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower game. So that's going to be my next project. Painting all my RnF dark elves makes me want to have a nice painting project that I can stop & go on - and Silver Tower will be that.
Love the black/white/purple guys. Shame about conquest, it seemed a fun game. Silver tower looks to be a great painting project; lots of varied things to to in there.
I like the whites paired with purples. Makes it seem very high tech!
Like you said, FFG is splitting with GW. Does that mean the Deathwatch RPG campaign stuff is getting cancelled too? I still haven't bought those. It looked really fun IMO.
Definitely one of the best Merge sets that I have seen painted up. I really like the yellowy/orange scheme on the Contractors. The off white dudes are cool too, must have been a right pain to paint.
@WarbossDakka: Yeah, everything FFG does in the 40k/fantasy universe is going OOP in Feb. Grab it while you can.
Thanks for the comments on the MEdge stuff.
Another shelf in my cabinet that is fully painted. Although, I doubt I'm going to find someone to play it with. I will keep trying, however!
Finished off the Xbowmen for Ninth Age!
Not the most flattering angle, but the best of a terrible batch of pictures. Will most likely retake a few next time I'm set up for pictures.
I'm excited.
To build. To paint. To play.
I've already started to put the heroes together. Man, they are incredible models. I laughed out loud when building the dwarf - he has a multipart beard!
I'm not sure what's next with my Fantasy stuff. I'm on a build/base/prime spree at the moment. Fixing up the bits and pieces that have broken and magnetising the stuff that isn't yet.
I'll probably paint some light cavalry, and bide my time before my next block of troops.
Made a start!
I'm pretty happy with the skintone. Going to go back to the fur, I dislike it. Really light brown fur, or black fur? I think at the moment, it's too close in colour to the flesh and leather boots and it just gets lost in those colours.
I had some 9th age supply drops today / yesterday. I'm able to bash out a bunch of magnetised movement trays - will probably do that today.
Nice start on the chief there. Love the face and the scar.
I agree that the fur is a little to close to the skin/boots tone. If you are going with black hair, I’d got a a light beige on the fur. You could probably get by with just drybrushing it over what you have now to lighten them up considerably. My main concern at that point would be if you go too far, you might stray into the bleached bone shade that presumably the skulls (all over him) are going to be painted. Another option would be to take it red. A vermin fur/roan shade of reddish brown.
Ok, so I dont really know why I haven't updated this recently. A combination of reasons most likely.
But nevertheless, here is one big update to catch you up on the past month of my hobbying.
As promised, the better pics for the Crossbow men.
There are another 8 dudes off to the side, but they're basically the same as this.
I'm not sure what supply drop I made reference to in the last post. But I've got a bunch of new stuff since then.
First things first, the Tower Guard. Probably the best unit in the Dread Elves army book. Then blend other infantry with no problems what so ever.
Next up is some Fast Cavalry. I've had these guys for months now. I decided to paint them as they are almost always used in the games I play. The Dark Raiders distract and get in the way, while the Dark Acolytes (Warlocks) usually fill the role of wizard for my army.
And finally, the last of my new paint. The Kraken!
I really, really enjoyed painting this bad boy. I sat down to built it one quiet saturday afternoon, and I had to force myself to stop painting it that night. I worked on it all day! I made the finishing touches the morning after, and I love it!
That's it for the new paint. But I do have another chunk of WiPs.
That's a Hydra, more fast cav and harpies.
The Harpies are particularly frustrating to do. They are from Avatars of War. Fantastic quality, and the plastic is amazing to work with. But the joins (between the wings and body particularly) are very small. Took a while for them to stick, and they look very fragile. I forsee some wings breaking off soon. But worse than that, they don't have flying bases(!). Their sprues have the vine pattern along it (imagine a tree trunk with vines growing around it), and that is what the AoW pictures have as their flying stands. That in itself isn't terrible, but there is no place to connect the stands to the model! I've had to drill holes in the model and top of the sprue to fit a metal rod between the two to hold them together.
No idea how it will look at the end. Hopefully not too bad.
That's about it for The Ninth Age progress. The Silver Tower is still on my table. Making very slow progress on it. The Gaunt Summoner has 1 layer of blue down. And the Chieftain is almost done.
There are a handful more details that I want to pick out on him before I call it. My boardgaming group have decided to put Silver Tower on the table when we're done with Arcadia Quest. I hoping to have at least the hero characters finished by then.
That's about it, the past month. The rest of this afternoon, I'll probably prime the Hydra. I know that beauty is going to be the next thing I paint. Maybe I'll get some Silver Tower done, too.
Thanks for checking in!
Z
Love it! The guys look great ranked up, the fast cav exudes speed, and the paint work on the kraken is amazing.
The one thing I need to be critical about is the join lines on the monster. It really catches the eye where the body halves meet and the heads join. Not sure how easy those would be to GS/file, but I feel sometime might want to be done if you do another, or a similar model.
The harpies look fun. Why are those posts there? Not from a practical POV, but you have sticks coming out of the ground on a regular basis, which is a little odd thematically. It looks like an old fence line, or grove of trees that have been cut down. If this was 40k, I’d say put scraps of barbed wire on them. That way it would look like part of an old fortification that engineers had cleared to allow troops to pass. I’d just like to see them be a little something more then just a way to elevate the birds. Tie into the base better.
Thanks guys!
On a whim, I decided to scroll down on the home page, and found a pic of my IF Land Speeders there. Woo! The pic has a painting and coolness rating of 8 and 8.5 respectively.
@Nev. You are right about the join lines. But honestly I dont think I'm going to fix it for the next one (already primed, so its a step back). It's noticable from a front on look, but at anything more than 1 foot away it gets lost in the folds of the skin. I appreciate the criticism, though.
Pic below is of the harpies from AoW. No flying stem, per se.
I think I'll put some slate down to bulk out the base a bit more, hopefully make it look less 'stick out of the ground'.
You're definitely right about the bases, it seems they used sticks/trunks instead of stands for the sake of using them. Maybe a bit of a mound around them will make them seem less bland.
Hey guys, Hope everyone is doing ok!
It's the big day tomorrow, and I've just sat down to have some hobby time. I've still got to wrap presents, but I'll do that later with a beer near by. For now, my sights are set on these 10 fellas.
For the most part, it's a paint-wash-highligh job. Which I'm ok with, seeing as there are another 20 to go for the unit. As long as it goes on clean, they'll look good on the TT. Just have to get the hair, face and gold parts then they're good.
I'm also eyeballing the Silver Tower Chieftain. He's been WiP for too long now. Time to get him finished and have done with it.
Over the next few weeks, I want to spend a lot of time hobbying. I'm aiming to get those Corsairs all done by the New Year - mainly for a bump in number of models painted this year. Also to get them out of the freaking way! (They were part of my original Dark Elves purchase, almost a year ago...). Followed by some Silver Tower Characters.
Plus, some games would be awesome too. There is a 'fun', 'casual' 1 day 40k event with my club next week too with a trophy for the winner. It appears that everyone has agreed on fluffy lists (woop woop!) with a mandatory written fluff piece briefly explaining the army / theme. I'm really tempted to dust off the IF and go. The only problem is the £5 entry cost (covers trophy and goes to the club). While in itself it's a fairly insignificant amount, I didn't enjoy 40k last time I played, and I dont want to go and not enjoy it and spend money on it (even if it is only a fiver). We'll see what happens. Maybe thinking up a story and writing it will inspire me to go.
Happy Christmas, everyone.
I hope you have a good few days!
Much love, Z
Aye, I've got similar last minute plans for wrapping presents. In other news, those cloaks look fantastic, especially for such a quick and dirty process.
As for that tournamemt, it should be alright as long as the lists stay "fluffy". There's bound to be one guy bringing a wraith host claiming it is fluffy, but as a majority people can stay sensible. Of course don't force yourself to do it, after all it's a hobby not a chore.
Hello everyone!
Hope you had an enjoyable past few days.
I have gotten a lot done. Finished up 20 corsairs. Here they are:
I'm feeling a little burnt out on these fellas, honestly. I played a few games yesterday with the list that I want to take to the event in February. I really liked the list, and as these guys aren't in it, they take a lower priority to what I want to take that isn't finished (5 Harpies, 5 Fast Cav, Lord & BSB - and maybe 2 more chariots).
Also, first Hero for Silver Tower finished!
Happy he is done. He was sitting on the WiP shelf for too long.
I just finished priming the last 16 minis for the Silver Tower set. So everything is primed and ready to go. Just have to throw some hours into painting it.
I now have Descent: Journeys in the Dark and some expansions for it. Its one of my favourite games to play! I'm going to start painting some of the Lieutenant figures for it, and as soon as I pin down my friends for a campaign, I'll be painting their Hero figures too!
I have 1 (possibly 2) games of T9A lined up for tomorrow evening. Against Orcs and Goblins and possibly a rematch against Beast Herds. Fingers crossed I do alright. I'm still in the stage of "new game system, new army, getting spanked (almost) every game".
Hobby wise, it's been an interesting year for me. I stopped playing 40k, gone back to Fantasy (T9A) and I tried (and failed) to get MEdge on the rotation at my LGS. Not to mention the board games I've been playing on the side, too!
I went back through the list of everything I've finished painting this year, and took some pictures.
The 40k stuff:
Fantasy:
MEdge:
Misc. (3 Descent lieutenants on the left, 8 minis for Spectre Ops on the right)
I finished these 3 Descent minis this past weekend.
And a brief list of the stuff that I dont have anymore for one reason or another:
Tyranid Get Started boxset
Bunker & Comms link
EC marines & praetor
238 minis of various sizes (ranging from GEQ to vindicators to bunkers).
I'm quite happy with that number, actually. Especially when I had a 4 month break while I was away over the summer.
I've spent a total of £1386 on hobby related stuff in 2016. That's about £200 less than I spent in 2015. Which is good. I averaged £115 monthly on hobby purchases (my self imposed, absolute max is £150/month). So I'm happy on that front. Unsupprisingly, Fantasy was the biggest spend, at 38%. Followed by hobby related stuff (paint, brushes etc.) then 40k. At 28% and 22% respectively. Conquest and other board games came in at less than 10% each.
I also kept a reasonably good track of the games I've played. In 40k, I finished this year with a 11:14:1 win:loss:draw. And in The Ninth Age, I have 13:18:3 win:loss:draw. I'm happy with those numbers.
But enough about last year, here are my goals for this year to come. I've been thinking them over for the past week or so. I'm fairly happy with them being achieveable.
1. Finish painting Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower.
2. Paint the Heroes, Lieutenants and Master Monsters for Descent: Journeys in the Dark.
3. Before making any purchases, paint an equivalent number of models already owned.
4. Have a hobby budget of £100 a month.
5. Participate in 4 Ninth Age events.
6. Finish my Imperial Fists battle company.
7. Update my blog atleast once a week.
Rationale:
Spoiler:
1. It's not a primary game for me. And I know if it isn't something I focus on, it'll slip into a corner somewhere and I'll forget about it. It took me a month to get around to finishing the Darkoath Chieftain, that sort of speed isn't sustainable for a 52 mini set. And with 52 miniatures in the set, if I average 1 a week, it's done by next year.
2. I want to play Descent as much as possible. It's one of my favourite games. But it has way too many miniatures to paint, so I settled on the important ones to try and finish.
3. This one keeps me honest, making sure I finish more than I buy. I'll be keeping track of numbers of models I finish, and deducting from that when I get more.
4. I wasn't far off this one this year, anyway. I think it's a responsible move to reign in spending a little bit. But I'm making a little caveat: If I sell hobby related stuff, I can recycle that money into the hobby guilt free.
5. I love T9A at the moment, and I'm preparing to do a Team Tournament the first weekend of Feb. I'd love to do more, and a goal of 1 event per quarter is more than achieveable.
6. I thought long and hard about this one... I've always wanted a battle company, and I'm half way there right now. I'm going to stick with it, and make it a goal to put more Imperial Fists across my paint desk this year. And when I'm ready to come back to 40k, I can take my 5th Company Marines to WAR!
7. I got a little be lax with this one this year. Time to get back on track with that.
There are my goals sorted. And recently painted minis shown. That's it for me tonight.
Will update again later in the week.
Good work! 238 minis is a massive amount of effort.
Sounds like you have a plan for the upcoming year. Have you crunched the numbers to see how many minis you have to do? How many more marines for the company, how many are left in silver tower/descent? How much more do you have for your fantasy army? Just want to make sure your numbers are in the ballpark for what you did this year. You don’t want to pledge to paint 400 minis, when you didn’t get close to that this year.
Might also be a good idea to budget out the fists if there is a lot of stuff you need to buy for them. Should also earmark some funds for rules/codexes.
Happy New Year. Should be fun to see what works its way across your desk this year.
Nevelon wrote: Sounds like you have a plan for the upcoming year. Have you crunched the numbers to see how many minis you have to do? How many more marines for the company, how many are left in silver tower/descent? How much more do you have for your fantasy army? Just want to make sure your numbers are in the ballpark for what you did this year. You don’t want to pledge to paint 400 minis, when you didn’t get close to that this year.
Might also be a good idea to budget out the fists if there is a lot of stuff you need to buy for them. Should also earmark some funds for rules/codexes.
Didn't consider actually working out the numbers... 51 left in the WQ:ST. 55 IFs (30 tactical marines, 15 assault marines and 10 devastators). 28 Descent minis. It's doable, based on numbers from last year. Not sure where I stand if I factor in my Dark Elf army. Still doable, I hope.
Good point on factoring in cost, too Nev. I ventured onto the GW website today for the first time in a while. Spotted the Skyhammer Tactical Squad. Pretty good saving on the DP (or Rhinos, if you go for the BA/DA deal - you get an upgrade sprue for that chapter too). If this set is still around when I'm looking to add to the Marines, I'll get it. Estimated cost to finish the battle company: £190rrp. Call it £150 if I go to discount stores. Not too bad, if that is all I'm looking to do over a year.
Progress time:
I threw together a new BSB on foot today too.
The one I had from Mierce Miniatures, while amazing in itself, has some problems. Notably, it's disproportionate to GW Dark Elves. And the banner arm is ridiculously fragile, to the point where I stopped using the mini so I didn't need to constantly repair it. It's obvious which mini it is in this picture:
So I went through my Hydra, Dark Riders and Warlocks sprues and came up with this:
Angle and lighting are not very flattering, but it's pretty cool, imo. The body standing on the rock is the Hydra's handlers, warlock's weapon and dark riders banner. Should fit in with the army much better, along with being a lot more sturdy!
The Cardiff Team Tournament is in a month (first weekend of February), and I need to sort out my army for it. So for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be working on my Fantasy things to get it done. I'm super excited! Our club has 3 teams of 4 going. It'll be a really good couple of days!
Here is the army that I'm taking:
It's noticable what needs to be done. The harpies need to get finished and put on their bases. The Fast Cav. needs to get finished and I need a movement tray for them. Movement trays for the skirmishers. Paint the BSB and General. And get a 7 by 3 movement tray for the Tower Guard block.
Not a massive amount, but enough to need to sit down and sort it sooner rather than later.
I've started putting washes down on the horses. Should be able to paint the rest of it after another 2-3 washes.
Oh, and I retook some a picture of the BSB.
A much better angle.
The list submission is on the 15th. I'm 99% sure this is the list I'm going with. I've had maybe 4(?) test games so far, with another couple lined up on Sunday. And a practise 'mini-event' sometime before Feb where us and another team are coming together to practise the team pairings and play.
Something about fantasy armies all ranked up on display just looks better then 40k. Probably because they are supposed to look good like that. 40k just ends up being an pic of the units you plan on putting down; fantasy is an army shot. You could see the whole thing rolling across the field as-is.
I might have said it before, but I’m amazed how far the Dark Elf range has come over the years. My best friend played them back in 5th edition, so I saw a lot of them across the table. These new sculpts are very nice, and you are doing them justice.
I've not had much motivation to paint this past few days. I'm hanging in there though, and getting a layer in here and there. I dont know where this slump has come from, but it'll pass, I'm sure.
So first up, the Fast Cav.
The horses are done. Just need to work on the riders. Half way there...
I also started layering the General:
Chainmail is done, and layered the hair. The skin tone is patchy, and despite the armour looking silver, it's just primer and wash. Long way off, but I'll started thinking about her. I'm leaning towards a dark blue armour. The details are hard to see, such a small model, hence why I gave it a wash. Long way off, though.
Also made a start on another Silver Tower hero.
Very pleasant to paint. I dont know how I'm going to highlight the gold. Brighter gold? Silver? I dont have any shield pictures, or pictures of the right shoulder pad (I quite like how I have highlighted the blue).
I made my first hobby purchases of the year yesterday. Some new lightbulbs so I can set up the extra lamps with the light box, and some movement trays for my Fantasy. That's everything that I needed to get, so the rest of the budget can go on new models. I dont have anything in mind, which is good, because I have to paint some stuff before I buy.
As for the horse flesh, prime grey then wash Reikland Fleshshade/Agrax Earthshade/Nuln Oil. That horse pictures alone is flesh shade. The Agrax comes out a much darker brown, and the nuln oil is obviously black.
It takes about 7-8 layers of wash right out the pot to look like that. Make sure it's completly dry in between. Less layers for the darker washes.
Tonight is the list submission dates for the T9A tournament. I'll make some last minute tweaks based on games I played today. Nothing major, but it does mean I'll be painting my Hydra model sometime over the next few weeks!
I've got some fast cav that are freshly finished:
And my harpies are 95% finished. Need to make a few touch ups tonight. No more than an hour of work, I estimate.
Who doesn't love audacious and ridiculous hair colours?
Also finished the movement trays I bought last week. My units look much better on them!
Thanks all for the comments. I will be prioritising the Harpies and 2 heroes I need to do for the tourney. But once they're out of the way, I want to paint 2 Silver Tower minis. Finish up the Sigmar dude and probably do the Gaunt Summoner.
Hopefully I'll be on them by mid-week.
Until then,
Z
I've not been overly productive this week. Moderately productive, maybe(?). But I have some finished models to show!
Here is my Army's General, in all her fabulous glory.
*edit* Added original pictures. Loads of detail is lost in that combined pic^
Spoiler:
And my BSB.
The General got more attention than the BSB. I dont think the BSB got the best painting I can do, personally. I find myself painting my DE to a TT quality, which is making me want a 'painting' army...
And I finished the last little bit of the harpies.
I bought some new (old?) minis from Ebay this past week, too. Irony is I changed my army list at the last minute and dont actually need them... oops... Not too big a deal, I was going to buy them at some point anyway for when I want to run them. It just means I wont be painting them any time soon.
The old DE Shades. The rest of the bits are off camera. They're perfectly clean - I dont think they have ever seen paint.
Made a start on my Hydra, too. I wasn't sure that the 2 shades of green would work together, but they turned out really well especially after the wash.
I need to drybrush it and wash it again (forgot the drybrush the first time around :( ) Hopefully the second wash wont change it too much. I forgot how much fun the big guys were!
Ok, enough Ninth Age...
Super cool model, if a little spindly. I'm looking forward to playing with the blends on various parts of the model!
And here are the final 3 Lieutenants for the Descent base game.
I had the airbrush out and thought I'd get them primed and ready. From left to right, Baron Zachareth, Belthir and Lady Eliza Farrow.
I dont find myself having much progress worth showing after a few days. I think I'm going to switch to weekly updates. It feels like they have more content. Plus it means I dont have to set aside time to set up the light box, edit pictures and ramble about painting every few days.
I'm going to be buying new paint brushes this week. Mine are starting to get a bit tatty. -Oh wow! I decided to go back through my book keeping to find out when I last bough paint brushes... Jan 2016. 1 whole year ago. Sh*t. I guess that's a statement on how worthwhile brush soap is. Get some.
And I'm going to buy some 40k stuff. It's between the tactical squad/drop pod boxset and 5 assault marines. Undecided at the moment. I should probably start chipping away at that battle company target...
And on a personal note, I signed up for a 10k run the first weekend of March. I dont consider myself a runner (at all). But I have 5 weeks to train... Lets see if I can do it! Target is to do it in less than an hour.
Lots of rambling and lots of pictures... But that is all for me.
Z
Nice selection of stuff. I like your general. Her armor looks like a total mish-mash of inpractibility, but overall looks cool. The extreme close ups do look a little chalky, but the arms length looks great.
The two greens on the hydra are perfect. Looks like a real live lizard monster thing.
Lots of interesting stuff getting ready for pain, quite the assortment.
Not much on the painting front for me this past week. I finished the Hydra, Knight-Questor and did a few layers on The Guant Summoner. Probably the absolute minimum... But we're all entitled to slacking off every now and then
Here is the Hydra:
I'm super-duper happy about how the purple blended into the green. Stole the idea off the box art - so no points for originality. There are a lot of red parts, which in hindsight I should probably have done differently. Tail, back fin and head crests should stay red, horns and spikes should be a different colour - bone maybe? Happy with how he is, in any case.
And here are the finished Silver Tower pics:
Decided to retake the Darkoath Chieftain's pictures. 2/52 finished. Getting closer... And a WiP on the Summoner. Finished the cloak / blue parts and the feathers. Really happy with how they came out! Need to touch up the yellow around the top, but otherwise I really like the blending! Again, another copy-the-box job. Any advise for being more 'creative' / seeing off-the-wall colour combos (I would have never thought to shade green with purple or blend yellow with blue...)?
And finally, what you've all probably clicked into here for, my return to painting 40k: I got a little excited unboxing it...
Unfortunately I'm not going to get much painting time this week. And when the weekend rolls around, it'll be The Ninth Age Team Tournament. So this is pretty much it for me for the month of Jan. Thinking back to my year long hobby goals, pretty much on track with all of them. Too early to start ticking them off. But I am going in the right direction. Oh, and I'm changing "Before making any purchases, paint an equivalent number of models already owned." to "Paint more than I buy". Same idea, but I can buy the models without needing to meet a painting requirement. Minor things...
Shouldn’t the hydra have a hull mounted heavy bolter? I guess he could be holding one. Nice to see him reared up, ready to snap flyers out of the sky. I agree that bone might have been a better choice, but the red does work. Fine looking monster!
Nice work on the Silver Tower stuff. Cloaked guy is off to a great start.
Good to see some marines. The new assault marines are a fun kit. Good to see some new brushes! We will often plod along with older worn out ones, we forget how nice it is to have clean, fresh tools. It can make such a difference when the brush is working for you, rather then against you. Makes the painting side of the hobby a lot more fun.
Hey guys, a little bit late on this update... It's been a crazy busy friday-monday.
The Cardiff team tournament was a blast! I went LWWLL. Was aiming for two wins, so go me! Our team came second last (oops...) but who cares. We had a blast, and it was the first event for 3/4 of our team. Fun time, all around.
I had great fun putting these guys together this afternoon. They're big and bulky and so familiar, it really was a joy. I didn't magnetise the backpacks. I didn't really feel like going through the hassle, tbh. Not sure when I'll prime them. Weekend, maybe?
I have done a little bit of progress with the Dark Elves, too.
Just a quick one from me today. Hoping to get a handful more executioners done by the weekend along with more progress on The Gaunt Summoner.
Executioners are looking sharp and regimented. Good work on them all around. The metallics are varied enough not to be bland and overwhelming, and the cloaks are ace.
It does feel good to get back to marines. I remember when I was cleaning mold lines off of Dire Avengers, and being miserable. Switched back to marines (and I think they might have been assault marines as well) and was pleasantly surprised how effortless and easy it was to get them together in cool poses. From box to table, they are just easy!
It’s been a bit since I fielded my assault marines on foot. Might have been in the last codex when it was a free swap packs for pod. It’s still nice to have the option. I think it would be more necessary if you were going full company gladius with the free transports. But jump packs remain my preferred way to get them to the table.
Might want to weight the sarge’s base. Look like he might have some center of gravity issues.
Got a small update for toy today. Progress on my first assault marine and more gaunt summoned progress.
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.
Just phone camera pictures with poor workbench lighting. Cba hauling everything out for a picture setup.
It's also my first time updating this blog using solely my phone. I suppose uploading and typing are easier on the pc, but the convenience of this is shocking. Why didn't I do it before?
I've made a little commitment to do nothing serious on the DE army for the next two weeks and focus on the IFs and ST.
Not including the summoner, I'm 5 minis behind on the average of 1 mini per week for ST. Need to catch up.
Well, since you've been doing a few characters and big blocks of guys (serious burnout potential), I think being under 1 mini a week is fine. Your technique for painting yellow is really something else, very refreshing to look at. Well done!
Thanks for your comments on me painting yellow. It's all airbrushed, I'm not confident enough to try it with a paint brush.
Before I gave you those WiP pictures, I finished the Executioners and Corsairs. I was just waiting for a good time to set up the light box. Here are the final pics.
Happy to have gotten those out of the way.
I'm slowly working through the SMs.
He is ready for decals. But I'm going to get another one to this stage and do decals for 2 of them at the same time.
Oh, and an almost finished picture of the Gaunt Summoner. Just need to finish off the dagger and book (ideally tonight...)
I signed up last minute to a Ninth Age Tournament next weekend. I'm excited about it. But I need to get a few things done for it first.
That is a brick and a half of Executioners. I didn't think they'd be that many! They are all done to a fantastic quality as well, particularly the banner.
Knew this one was gonna be one of your best. The Gaunt Summoner has been shaded perfectly, I have to say. All the eyes are on point as well. Top class work right there Zambro, keep it up!
Let me present to you, The Gaunt Summoner himself.
Easily my favourite thing I've painted since my Kraken.
I'm really pleased with it. The blending particularly. The feathers are my favourite part of the model. Followed closely by the pink smoke.
Enjoy.
Thanks all for the kind words. Normally this feeling fades after a day or so, but I still look at the Gaunt Summoner with a massive amount of satisfaction and pride lol.
So on with the Assault Marines.
I got a second one done with the main details + wash.
I put down decals, which was a PITA. The squad numbers on their jump packs are 3 different decals. A 'V', an 'I' and an 'II'. I understand why they didn't do decals for each number. But it was a pain to get them all lined up together. Lining up 1 would knock the others out of position, and so on... Got there in the end though.
Initial battle damage sponged on. Needs detailing now.
And I'm going to share this picture:
They've been in this state on my WiP shelf since mid-Jan. So I'm publicly shaming myself to get my arse in gear to finish them.
My Fantasy stuff is still going strong. Got some new additions (2x Raptor Chariots + 2x Witch Elves). The chariots will fly across the paint desk. Seeing as I need them for a tournament in 3 weeks time.
And on the topic of Ninth Age tournaments... I took 4th place in 'Pork Chop-up 3' this past weekend. I went 3 wins, 2 losses. I had a really great time. So much so that I've signed up to another 3 tournaments over the next 3 months...
I only remembered to take pictures during 2 games...
It bothers me a bit that the Raptors are inconsistant with the last ones I did... I'll get used to it.
I need these 2 chariots done by the weekend for a tournament. So they're at the top of the priority list.
I'm also building myself a gaming PC. I'm going from a 5 year old Laptop to a shiney, new gaming PC. It's going to be a pricey endeavor. But I'm looking forward to getting back into video games. I haven't played games extensively since I played World of Warcraft 5-6 years ago... Not sure how much painting time I'll get in, though...
The brighter lizards are fine. I do like the darker guy a bit more though. Maybe they use a slightly different breed for pulling chariots, bread more for strength and endurance then the agility of the ones bread for steeds?
Or the Charioteers just take them through the car wash when they take their ride in to get cleaned and detailed. Pay a few coins extra for the deluxe wax and polish.
Cheers! I like the brighter ones too. It's what the older ones should have been.
I broke one of the raptors at the ankle today... It's a PITA, but should be fixable.
And for those interested, I'm keeping a log of my games in a written battle report thread here. I know it's The Ninth Age, and you probably dont play. But if you enjoyed old WHFB, then maybe take a peak. Pretty much exactly the same, in terms of play. Just slightly different unit names.
Their reins are terrible. So flimsy. They just break when you're trying to clean them, and bend to the pressure of running a paint brush over them. Really terrible. You can see where they've broken. I lose the end piece for one of the reins, so it just kind of floats there.
And I went to a Tournament this weekend past. I went 2 wins (1 against the 'best' netlist out there - lol), and 3 losses. All in all, good times. Oh, and a best painted nomination. I took a picture of my army on display.
Next up, I'm going to finish everything on my WiP shelf over the next few days. 3 Marines, 3 descent minis, 2 random DnD minis (for friends). Should have more for you in the middle of the week.
So I have a few days to myself at the start of this week. It was nice to have some time off after the tournament, but I got myself in gear and started painting. I've cleared everything that has built up on my WiP shelf over the past few weeks. And I've even prepped a few more units, and I have them sitting on the WiP shelf ready to go. And on the topic of the tournament I went to, I found out last night that my army list is 300 points short. I miscalculated and have been playing my list handicapped since the start of February - That's 2 tournaments, my LGS's league and casual play. I feel like an absolute idiot.
Here is my true demi-company. 50 marines. 30 Tacticals. 10 Assault and 10 Devs.
Not ideal picture taking conditions, but you get the gist.
Looking at 50 marines like that is incredibly satisfying. Roll on 50 more!!
And some closups of the finished assault squad:
Overall, quite happy with how they turned out.
On my WiP shelf, I have 4 DE units to complete. Once they're done, that'll be all the DE units done (just characters left). I'm thinking, as soon as the shelf is finished, I'll pick up a box of tactical marines. That's maybe a week or two off. We'll see how long this stuff takes to get done, and how I feel then.
Next up, those pesky Descent characters that have been sitting around for ages.
Quick and servicable. Plus, most people I play board games with aren't painters. So they have no 'standards', per se.
And my current WiPs, all of which are Ninth Age.
Plus a unit of Warlocks I forgot to take a picture of. Like I said, prepped and ready. Primed and some base layers down. Hoping to power through these in 2-3 weeks.
So that's where I'm at for now. Hope everyone's doing well. More soon,
Z
Grats on the true demi-co. I know it shouldn’t, but it irks me when people call a full company, or even a demi company “done” when they only have minimum 5 man squads. Demi co is 50 guys, plus at least one HQ. Full company is 100+. Sure, you might never use them all, but if you want to claim a full company, I want to see the back half of those squads.
The assaults came out quite nice. Keep it up!
Good looking start on the dark elves. Should be fun to watch them come together. And IIRC you were doing pretty respectable with your lists, even with the point handicap. Once you get up to speed, you should be unstoppable.
So something's happened the past few days... No easy way to say it, so I'll just come out with it: I sold my White Scars army.
I boxed it up tonight, and doing so spent some time going back through this blog and thinking about the WS. I started them in Q3 2013. I went to my first tournament in Feb 2014 with them. And 'finished' painting the WS just over a year after I started. My WS were my gaming army - even when I was painted Eldar/IG/other stuff - up until the end of 2014, when my Fists started to make an appearance. And sadly, that's pretty much where the ode of the White Scars ends. It's been a dark, lonely existance in foam storage since. They've had the occassional day out, but nothing regular. Some of them even got pinched for my IF's - quick splash of yellow and they're recycled.
I totalled up what I had left of the Scars, and it came to over £500. I set the Ebay auction at £250, with a buy it now of £350. Aiming for somewhere in the 50-70% rrp mark. Someone bought it out for £350... I'm a little shocked that it's gone for that much, tbh. 70% of RRP after 4 years... That's a great return, if I'm honest. I definately got my enjoyment out of the Scars. And happy to get a good chunk of the money back for other hobby stuff. (I promise to ear-mark some of it for 40k - a Chaplain, perhapse?).
With the rumors of new 40k etc, I've decided to off-load my excess hobby stuff while I can. Not to mention that I dont play anymore. Seems like a good time to let it go. No one will want this edition's rule books / cards etc when 8th drops.
Not sure where I'm going to put the money once I've sold everything. Some 40k, I suppose. Probably fantasy. Will have to wait and see.
Seems fair, always a shame to see people part with models (especially such nicely done ones) but in the grand scheme of things, probably the best thing to do if you weren't using them and can spend the profits on stuff more useful/interesting to you.
If you're not keen on keeping up with 40k proper, have you seen the new Shadow War game being released soon? Basically a redone Necromunda with a 40k skin, might be a good way to keep going with 40k minis without committing to any more armies, and it'd let you experiment with all sorts of stuff as a box of models basically equals a whole team. So far as I know the rules themselves are limited to the upcoming box set, but most of the faction rules are going to be free PDFs (with Skitarii and GS Cults in next month's White Dwarf), so if you can nab the rulebook on ebay then you're set.
I feel I’ve already said something last time you sold off a well painted army. Not a huge fan of the practice. You are correct that it’s probably the time to do it now though.
...Completly forgot about the Avatar picture...
I was going through my Marines looking for a suitable model. There were a few contenders, but only one correct answer, imo.
On the painting front, finished a few models for The Ninth Age:
Been a busy week for me, hobby wise.
I decided to have a good build session today, to replenish my WiP shelf. Here are some of my current WiPs:
along with a half finished witch elf unit:
I sold off my shoddy, broken, poorly painted Altar, and used those funds to buy a new one. It's GW only, and I though I might as well buy a Chaplain too. It was the last of the HQs I need for the Battle Company, so progress on that front.
I magnetised the top of the Altar (it's massive otherwise), and I made the Medusa into a separent model. Still got some witch elves to build, but they can wait. I've had enough of cleaning mold lines for today.
Those 2 characters I've had for ages. I just got them based, and magnets installed on the bottom. They're ready for a grey prime before painting.
I also threw the 2 Skaven characters from Silver Tower onto my WiP shelf. So more WQ:ST to come.
I also completed 2 units this week:
My WiP shelf went from dangerously low to "f*ck, I've got loads to do".
Enjoy your weekend,
Z
No pictures for you this week, unfortunately. My progress has been mininal... I've primed the Chaplain, Medusa and Pegasus Lord. And got 1-2 layers down on the Medusa's lower half. That's it. (I impulse bought a Dark Elf Dragon, too...).
My excuse: A bought a new laptop.
My old laptop was 5.5 years old, and had been displaying a "battery will fail eminently" message for about 2 years. Not to mention a ridiculous start up time and general bloat of files/software/sh*t.
My new laptop is a thing of beauty. Pricing in at £800 (got it on sale, £900 normally). It boasts an I7 processor, an NVIDIA Geforce GTX 960m and 8gb of RAM. Oh, and the keys are backlit, which for some odd reason is incredibly satisfying. And for those who might not be computer literate, it's safe to say I'm getting back into gaming.
Anyway, the only game I own at the moment is Total War: Warhammer. And damn, I love it. I've played a solid 24 hours - most of which I've been uniting the realms of Bretonnia under King Leoncoeur and cav. charging Beastmen raiders.
I'm not sure how painting is going to be affected with this new toy. Hopefully when the "ooh shiney" wears off, I'll feel inclined to paint.
Hope everyone's Easter and double bank holiday weekend was great.
Hey guys, sorry about the shoddy updates recently... I've had a list of things to do growing for a few weeks now, and typically I leave it to the last day of my week off to do them all. Back to my regular weekly update.
Starting with my Dragon.
I feel all my time playing and painting Fantasy and the End Times has built up to this moment. A mother f**king dragon. Easily my favourite model in my Fantasy collection. I feel a dragon is to fantasy what a dreadnought is to 40k - the epitome of the genre. And I'm enjoying painting it, to boot. I've left off the rider, and some armour panels so I can paint the dragon first. So far, so good, imo. I felt like the teeth were too bright. They kept attracting my eye when I looked at the model. But since then I've started adding in bone and it's less of a problem. If they're still too "bright" when I've done the rider and armour (ie completly finished), I'll start playing with ways to dull them down. Not too worried about it now as there are still opportunities to add colour to the other pieces to lessen this effect. As you can probably tell, I can't paint horns that well. I'm trying for that lined look GW tends to do really well. I'm struggling my way through it. Good thing is; the amount of times I'll have to do it on this model will make me an expert by the end! In the last picture, there is a bit of wing that has been washed red-purple. I was toying with the idea of doing it on the wing's membrane. Still very much on the fence about it. Thought as I'm typing this, maybe just on the underside? Would love to hear thoughts on the wings / ways to make them more interesting... Dragons get a "bad" rap in terms of usefulness. There are definitely better ways to spend the points. But who cares, I'm taking this bad boy to a 45 man tournament the first weekend of May. Unfortunately I'm not the only person with a Dragon... (a HE player is bringing one too).
I have some other models to finish ahead of the Tournament in May:
Not as cool as a Dragon...
...Onto 40k... Wow, what can I say. Next edition confirmed - and honestly... I'm excited. I don't know if the next edition will be a success. But right now, I'm hyped to play it. The releases are being handled really well. And they're exciting - 2 wound terminators? Hell yeah! It'll definitely get me to dust off my IFs and play some games. And might just even tempt me to spend more time buying/painting Space Marines... Between layers on my Dragon, I've made some progress on my Chaplain.
Looks very messy at the moment. Hopefully an edge highlight and base layers on the other parts will clean it up and define it more.
And because I made a point of putting some models for The Silver Tower on my WiP shelf, here are the Skaven assassins
Very early days with these. Hopefully I can sneak a layer in here and there while doing other stuff.
Like I said, tournament in 2 weekends time. 12 models to finish for it. Should be no problems. I will definitely have more regular updates for you. Z
Nice progress. I can see how you are on the fence with the wash on the dragon’s wing. I like how it differentiates the membrane from the meat of the arm, but am not sold on the color of the shade. I’d leave it off personally.
I like his pearly whites. When a dragon smiles like that, you should be focusing on his teeth. I think when he picks up a passenger, the model overall should balance out.
Lovely work on the Dragon so far, probably my favourite WHFB dragon model (except maybe the Zombie Dragon, got to get my hands on one of them one day...). I think the red wash would work better on the underside, simply as it then gives the impression light is filtering through the wing membrane, as if it's almost translucent. On the upper side it's perhaps not as appropriate, but it does add a nice splash of colour.
I went to a Ninth Age tournament this weekend past, and as the title suggests, I won best painted!!! I was so stoked to win it, especially considering the competition. I've been nominated at quite a few events I've been to, and now I've finally got the win. At St Paddyhammer in March, I was nominated. But a beautiful snowy HE army won. The same army was here this weekend, and I fully expected him to win it again. But when he came second, I got looks from my club mates like "it's all you, matey". I won a swanky trophy and a €40 voucher for Kromlech. Oh, and before the tournament started I won a spot prize for "spicey-est list" - for taking a dragon, pegasus lord and all the monesters I could. I got some nice Objective tokens from Bristol Independent Gaming (the venue).
There was a professional photographer there too. I'm just waiting for the pictures to go up on facebook/twitter/Ninth Age forums. As soon as they're up, I'll share them here.
I've been a bit sh*t at doing updates the past month or so. I've been busy/tired/lazy/misc excuse. So I'm just going to dump photos for everything I've painted recently. It's all Ninth Age stuff, as most of it was used in the tournament. Pictures are a bit off, as my camera is broken. Something broke inside, and I'm unable to put the memory card back into it. Bummer, it'll probably cost a pretty penny to fix. So you're stuck with phone pics for the foreseeable future.
And as things heat up for 40k, I'm getting more and more ready to drop money on some Marines. The new edition has me excited! ...Now where did I put that chaplain..?
Congratulations, glad to hear you won, with the agreement of your peers no less. Aren't you lucky though that a photographer was there to take your pictures (something every modeller aspires to have). Well done Zambro.
Just a quick one from me today. My LGS has a few events on and is absolutely rammed. They have over 70 tables, and each one is being used... I've never seen it that full before... Which means my Sunday gaming plans have been dashed - No games for me this week :( But I do get the day to paint instead.
I'm going to try and finish off this mini:
And I'm going to get a few layers down on the Silver Tower Skaven.
And I'm starting to put together things for my second Ninth Age army... Pirate Ogres!
I'm going to base / theme them on raiding an Empire port town. Here are the first 3 bases I've made up for them. Thoughts?
I have to go back and tidy up the rims.
Happy with him, overall.
I'm not really putting out any 40k these days. Eagerly awaiting the next edition. Rough plan in my mind is; 40k 8th comes first/second week of June, I play loads of games throughout June, if it's everything I hope and dream then commence operation "Imperial Fist Reinforcements!" in July. Kind of stuck on what to buy next, as things are a bit up in the air.
Also pushed ahead with the Silver Tower minis.
Really crappy pictures. Don't know why - I took those pictures the same time as the Chaplain, and he looks fine. Basically, skin is done and base layer down for the robes.
Plan for the week ahead:
Ogres! I've just been doing really pointless, petty tasks with them this week gone. Nothing that is ground breaking, just dabbling on a few things. I want to kick them into full gear and start getting things primed and built.
It's been about 10 months since my last 40k game (wow, all the way back in september).
It was hard to leave, at first. But the state of 7th ed was atrocious. But anyway, I'm so hyped for 8th. And I've made the commitment:
I've gone whole hog with Dark Imperium. I'm very likely to sell off the chaos stuff. Still undecided on the Primaris Marines... I'm warming up to them. So we'll see what I want to do with them based on the rules and story. Maybe even paint them a different chapter? Who knows at this point...
And because the preorders coincided with payday:
I have some work to do before I play my first game. Transports look to be significant again, and seeing as my only transports are Pods, I thought some Rhino/Razors would be a smart move. And another 10 marines. Nothing fancy for these, as there is always a sense of uncertainty in terms of wargear when there is a new edition. They're just going to be 10 bolter boys to fill out the back of my 2 Dev squads.
Looking forward to you ramping up the Fists again.
Given the Primaris Marines have been mentioned as shoring up battered Chapters, how about finding an IF successor that's taken a beating in the fluff and painting them up in those colours? Crimson Fists are the obvious choice, but I imagine there's plenty of others that'd fit the bill.
I’m still digesting the leaks for the new stuff. Not sure how the primaris marines are going to fit into my army. They do look cool though, so I’ll enjoy painting them.
I think the classic 10 man tac squad with a special and a heavy should do pretty good in 8th. Although 5 in a razor seems a good call at fist glance as well.
With split fire native, the extra bolter boys from the back of the dev squad might actually do something.
I have never really been much of a player but the re-set with 8th edition certainly makes me want to take up the game. I think the Primaris Marines will look great in your Imperial Fist (or as Para suggests a successor chapter) scheme.
Your Dark Elves look great as well, such a cool army as individual units and models but even better together as a whole.
Well atoned, glad to see you're looking forward to 8th. I reckon the Primaris will look quite impressive in yellow, can't wait to see what you'll do with them.
I like the idea of a successor chapter. Hadn't thought of that. Currently I've got 3 ideas floating around my mind; the successor chapter idea, a new chapter (Howling Griffons), or IF, but shiney, and new. Not all beat up. It'll be the visual representation of having fresh & clean reinforcements hitting the battlefield. I really like AEIOUMaddenMade Fists (his showcase thread here), which is where the idea came from. But I still have a few weeks to decide what I do with them.
I have all my Marines built up, and primed. I was hoping to get an airbrush session in today before work and get the yellow down. Missed my opportunity, so hopefully I can do it tomorrow.
I don't know honestly. I like your Imperial Fists too much to see a successor Chapter, but maybe for a new edition, a new army? Howling Griffons is a nice colour scheme, but you won't be changing your colours much since it's just more red, and checkers I bet are... great fun. Clean Imperial Fists sound fun though, especially if you're inspired by someone else's army.
So I got that big airbrush session in, and everything is done and ready for brush work.
It's always a long session when you have so much to do. And I find I start to get sloppy towards the end. I was frustrated with myself when I couldn't spray the wash on the chassis evenly. But then I realised that if it's uneven, it'll look good once it's beaten up and weathered. It'll have some nice varying tones of yellow underneath the weathering. I couldn't remember if I did the wash with a brush or via airbrush on the last vehicles. I didn't really want to wash it by hand, cause of brush strokes and the large surface area. The Marines will get a wash by hand, though.
And I managed to power ahead and finish the bases.
Pictures are a bit bad, but will be enough to tide you over until the next few.
I've made some progress on non-40k things, too. Dark Elf Oracles are getting some attention. And I finished these from WQ:ST. I need to start getting back onto those minis, if I want to achieve my goal of painting them by the end of the year.
Pictures didn't come out well, at all. I'm probably going to retake them before I post them in my Silver Tower showcase thread.
I feel you on using washes on vehicles, the results can be so variable and patchy. You are making some quick progress though, am eager to see your Parade Ground Marines.
Automatically Appended Next Post: I feel you on using washes on vehicles, the results can be so variable and patchy. You are making some quick progress though, am eager to see your Parade Ground Marines.
I got my copy of 8th at the midnight launch last week... Then I spent all weekend playing The Ninth Age at a tournament... But I got my first game in today, and I won (despite not having read the rules)!
I ran a Battalion detachment; Lib, Lysander, 2 Tacts w/ 2 Rhinos, Scouts, Tactical Termies, LS, Bikes, 2 Dev units and a TFC. Lysander with 6 wounds was a tank! And the Dev squads were awesome. But the TFC was lack luster compared to before and the Termies didn't do much either.
Those pictures were taken at the end of turn 1, before the Space Wolves pounced. It was bloody, but the Fists pulled through. We called it after his turn 5, as he had 2 characters (1 on half wounds) and 3 Thunderwolves left on the table. I had 2 dev units, Land Speeders, Librarian, rhinos and bikes left. He was up by 1 on objectives but we both agreed that in my final 2 turns I have the numbers / mobility to cap more than him and win.
It was both of our first games of 8th, and my opponent read the rules and helped me through. Thoughts on the new rules:
Moral is brutal, and so are heavy bolters. I was hosing off units with them, my favourite unit by far. I killed 4 out of 5 Fenrisian wolves turn 1, and moral phase caused the last one to run away (which is what was in the void in the second picture). They went on to gun down thunderwolf Cav and enemy Long Fangs. Nasty.
Vehicles in combat are hysterical. I charged a Rhino at a TWC for lols. Only to have it slug out 4-5 rounds of combat and essentially tie it up right before it got to my Devastator back field. He could have fallen back, but infront of 4 Las-Devs? Bad idea...
Vehicles are awesome. I love the wounds/toughness aspect now. Although d6 damage from big weapons will make the point about wounds moot, as I scored 10 wounds on his Dread and killed it in one volley of Lascannon fire.
Overall, I'm happy for 8th ed, and to have had my first game of 40k in 9-10 months. But nothing has really caught my attention and made me want to play again. We'll see what happens in my next game...
And my WiP:
Starting to fill in details. Slow going.
And the retaken pictures of the Brimstone horrors, as promised.
Snapped this pic before I started to beat them up and base coat things. They have been weathered, and had some layers put down. Hoping for more tomorrow, with potentially finishing them late this week.
Some bright spark in GW decided to only put 13 black Devastator Chevrons on the full space marine transfer sheet (ya know, the one that is oop now >.< ). So I had to paint the shoulder pads of 6 guys black and red (3 of each) so I could use white ones. Had I realised I could have spaced out the coloured pad and maybe even put special pads on so they didn't need transfers. It was mildly annoying realising, but utterly frustrating finding out it is no longer produced. Almost as frustrating as not being able to buy any more Imperial Fist emblem transfers. C'mon, GW.
Game 2 of 8th today. It was a 2v2, 50 power points each. Amazing game. I played against 3 top lads, who made the game an absolute blast. So props to them. I took random stuff for fun; Captain, Libby, 2 5man tacts, 5 scouts, Vindicare Assassin, Vindicator and Ven Dread. We played for 3 hours and only got to the end of turn 3. I was partnered with Eldar, against Ad Mech and Marines. Ad Mech is nasty! My assassin was amazing, though. 2+ to hit, 2+ to wound infantry and -3 armour, ignores Invuln and d3 wounds. And he can target characters. Holy crap. Loved it. Reroll to hits of 1 with the captain was great, assault cannon on Ven dread loved it. My Captain, 5 marines, 5 scouts and the Captain took the left side of the table themselves.
Honestly can't wait for my next game. I'm loving 40katm.
I was reading some of the rules, and I was a little annoyed that the LotD can't take a plasma cannon. Ruins my plasma squad, now :(
That fills out the back end of my Devastator squads, and brings my Marine Count to 60/100. Closing in on that battle company...
And the current state of my 2 Rhinos
Decals on and weathered. I want to get these done quickly, so I can move onto the Primaris Marines. I've been looking at pictures of Primaris Marines all week. I'm eager to get to them! But I want to clear my table first...
I can never get over how effectively you paint, and weather, your yellow for your Imperial Fists. Excellent stuff, am really interested to see your scheme upscaled on a Primaris Marine.
I assume given the wealth of Marine bits you have that you will be swapping some heads and maybe carving off the shoulder pads?
I feel your pain on the Primaris. I'm trying my hardest to finish all my Deathwatch and a boring old Tactical Squad before I start on those sculpts - the Standard bearer is calling to me...
The other day I noticed that none of my pictures would link to PB. Then I read about them not allowing you to link pictures through their site, unless you pay for their services. I read through my blog and it crushed me that none of my pictures will link. And to move close to 1000 pictures and re-link them is just such a big task I can't even bring myself to start. It really zapped my hobby juices... Thoughts?
And here is the picture I was going to upload a few days ago before I noticed.
Haven't made any progress since this.
...I'm thinking about starting Operation Salvation tonight. I forsee it taking a while...
I skimmed the thread in N&R, and it looks like there might be a way to download everything in one go. That way you won’t loose anything.
Rebuilding and relinking would be a bear though. It might be worth updating finished pics to a showcase gallery though, even if you don’t bother with the WIPs.
Yeah, Photobucket has been a right pain recently, glad I chose not to use it in the end.
Anyway, nice weathering on your tanks, though if I had to say 1 thing it would be the weathering on the top of the vehicle seems to be just as heavy as the front, which doesn't really make sense. I'm just being picky, but it might be something to consider in the future. Very well done Zambro!
@WarbossDakka: I agree that having a lot of weathering on top isn't logical. But it would look weird to me having a clean top and a beat up front...
The main reason it's taken me so long to finish these two is because I've been painting away at my Dark Elves, and I finished the army. Everything is painted and based. Woo! I have enough models to represent everything unit in the book at least once. And honestly, I think I can run almost every combination that I'll ever want. I don't think I'll have time to take everything out for pictures until next weekend. With my Dark Elves tucked away nicely, and the IF backlog cleaned up, my desk is clear! Roll on the next two projects; Primaris Marines and Pirate Ogres.
I need to sit down at some point over the next few days and order stuff online. I want the FW IF Transfer sheet, some basing materials, a bag of skulls, foam and some minis.
I'm heading out soon to play a game of The Ninth Age, so I wont be making a start with either project until tomorrow.
Man, it feels good to square away one project, and draw a clear line in the sand on my Marines, ready for some Primaris. Hope everyone's weekend was this good! Z
(Operation Salvation Progress: 11 pages worth of pictures uploaded to Dakka gallery, and relinked. Time taken; 3.5 hours)
Oof with the time spent on the picture recovery. Sometimes it’s fun to stroll down memory lane and check out your progress over the years.
Did you just say you finished an army, without posting a picture of them all ranked up in their evil glory? I’ll just assume the pic was eaten by photobucket and will be showing up shortly.
There are plenty of excuses for the top of a rhino to get weathered. Airburst shrapnel, rooftop snipers, or the scouts getting drunk and taking it for a joyride and rolling it over. And the bottom half/front does look like it’s more beat up, so looks right.
You're a trooper for actually recovering all the pages of your blog, what an inconvenience. I know what you mean about the weathered top - you can still weather the top, it would have at least some weathering on, but still has less than the front. The Razorbacks in the picture look perfect in that regard, so well done for that!
Congrats on finishing that Dark Elf army, a feat not many can say they've accomplished, even less so to your standard. Can't wait to see pictures.
I spent a couple of days working out how best to paint these guys. Then I just dove in! Pics at the end of the building session, not great lighting (it was getting late).
The bases took longer than the actual marines, I think. I've always had trouble conceptualising bases and putting them together nicely. Going to try and get my basing on point with the Primaris Marines.
Second picture shows the extra purity seals I added. With the stock kit, everyone has the same. And the models are bulked out with kit to the point where I couldn't really add much more. So I added the minimal to make them 'mine'.
I loved putting these guys together. Very easy and straight forward, for great looking results. I wasn't a fan of the up scaling when they were released, but they handle nicely and I have to deal with less fidly parts.
Maybe they'll be primed by the weekend. (Maybe).
Thanks for the kind words, guys. I'm not done with the pic relinking. I'm up to page 7 of the blog (30 more to do). I started using Dakka to host my finished pictures (for the votes), so it shouldn't be as much. But still a ways off.
I took this picture Saturday morning. Then forgot to upload it :(
Painting has started on the Primaris and the second squad are in the works.
I've settled on a paint scheme, too. Not too much difference, but I will have to throw one Primaris under the bus to test it. Essentially, it's the same as before, but with no brown chipping or dirty feet/legs. And edge highlighting (something I neglect to do with my other fists, for some reason).
The result should be (in my mind, at least), the same shade of yellow, but with more shape definition, and crisper highlights. I'm more than happy to just make it up as I'm going along, too. So who knows where they'll end up. I'm waiting on FW transfers, so progress will be a little limited for now.
I have 2 weeks off work, on account of it being my Birthday at the end of the month and because I can. My hobby goals (among other non-40k goals), are to finish 5 Incessors and a character. Should be doable.
@Helstrom Shame is an understatement... But relinking slowly.
I have an update for you!
And not a shoddy single picture "pseudo update" I seem to have been doing recently. Relinking my old pictures made me realise that I used to take loads of pictures of different angles, all the models etc etc. I feel like a single picture is a cop-out of an update. So here is a "real" update. Something you can ogle at.
Primaris Marines are coming along nicely. Got 4 of the 5 incessors with their base layers down. I was waiting for the FW IF transfer sheet to arrive before I go any further with them. It showed up today. Just the sergeant left to do. Ideas for something special?
Similar colour as before. All base layers in. Lots more black in the scheme, though. Couple of reasons, variety in scheme and all the transfers are white! Seriously, when GW did away with the multi-chapter transfer sheet I burst a blood vessel in my eye... White squad markings are ok, if you're a blue ultra. On a yellow fist? Probably not. So black right shoulder pads will be a thing, as white transfers over them will look better. I think the fluff for it will be a sign of respect for the IF's fallen. Would give me a solid reason to paint a black armoured Primaris Ancient, at some point.
I want to paint the Sergeant tomorrow, but I have a new toy [see below] so it may not happen...
Oh, and here is a small test for how the final paint job will look. On his right thigh (tiny area, I know..) I tested edge highlighting. Not sure if I like it, but it is only on a tiny area. So it may or may not scale well with the entire marine.
Not sure if I like the colour of yellow that came out when I mixed white with the airbrush yellow. I'll have to peruse the yellow paints on Saturday when I go and get my Codex. See if there is a paint pot with the right shade of yellow.
In other news, I finished my Dark Elf army. Full pictures can be seen here. Teaser below:
Spoiler:
And the new toy I mentioned. For my next Fantasy army, Ogres. But not just Ogres. Pirate Ogres. I feel FW's Merwyrm is a suitable model for a monster, seeing as it's trampling a pirate ship on the bottom of the ocean.
I've been working on the Primaris where I can. They're really growing on me. So much so that I'm thinking of dropping some $$ on more next week...
But my progress, first. FW transfers are on. So nice to have fresh transfers. I've been using old, dry ones from ebay because GW stopped doing IF transfers. It was a pleasure to use fresh ones, they didn't keep breaking on me. Here they are, with the Sergeant that I also got up to the transfers stage.
And a comparison of the FW transfers and GW transfers.
The difference is minimal (it's still an IF logo). But the style is still noticeably different. It would bother me if I'm mixing those types of transfers on regular marines. The inconsistency is a bit more acceptable if all the FW transfers are on the primaris marines and the GW ones on older marines - at least both groups would have the same.
And I pushed ahead quite far with one Marine. I was checking the edge highlighting will match up with my mental image. It does, pretty much. But I'd love to hear your thoughts. I don't want them to be the bright, GW style IF. I just want them cleaner, but still a dark yellow.
Sergeant on the left is pre-highlights and the marine on the right is an "old-style IF", for comparison.
I like it (I'm biased). I haven't done edge highlights on Marines in ages. I need more practise to get that brush control back, but in the mean time I'll accept having to go back and do touch ups.
Like I said, I'm thinking of dropping some money on more Primaris Marines to last me through August. I got a rough idea of how much I want to spend (about £150ish). Codex is a guarantee, I'm thinking of 2 Repulsors - my boys'll need a ride - which leaves enough for a box of something. Reivers don't do it for me. Aggressors seem lack luster in their rules. And I talked myself out of buying a £22.50 single miniature. I stay away from reading the 40k rumor engine, are there any more boxes coming out soon I should consider waiting for?
Those new bigly marines are looking sweet. I like what you've done with the clean yellow. Really does make them look like the fancy fresh new guys, like interns fresh out of college
As for characters, I personally love the new chaplain models but I don't think they fit the IFs that much so you could go captain? Either that or they did just announce multi part plastic kits for the hellblasters which includes heavy plasma incinerators which is very IF
Of the past 3 weeks, I have spent very little time on 40k. A handful of painting sessions, and some quick priming has lead me to completing 2 Intercessors and primed the Ancient.
Here are the fruits of that labour.
I'm liking how they're coming out. I'm a bit ashamed of my edge highlighting. It's terrible in those close ups. I need to spend more time with the brush and get the skill back to where it should be.
Looking at them, I can see a few spots were rushed. I should have blended the white into the green on the Sergeant's arm scanner, and I also have to touch up his left shoulderpad..
Not so sure how quickly I can push through the rest. If it's not quick, hopefully it's at least consistant.
It's been a while since updating here. Not much has changed, I'm still chugging along painting. It's predominantly been Dark Elves, recently. I've put the brakes on the Imperial Fists (although I keep telling myself I will finish a battle company!).
I impulse bough the Daemons of Tzeentch get started set early December. They're little more than a distraction, at the moment. I paint predominantly dark colours (dark yellow for the fists, purple for the Dark Elves), I wanted something more vibrant. I'm hoping that these can be just a little change for me. Something I can dip in and out of with no hassles. Here is what I've got so far.
And the painted ones
I'm aiming for a 2 hour paint job per model between the first picture and finished pictures. That way it's not more than a single painting session when I'm fed up of my main projects.
I've got the rest of the boxset to build up, along with a handful of new models from Christmas to build up. I'm aiming for some quality building sessions in Jan to get everything up and running.
For now, take it easy. Happy new year! I'm sure I'll have more for you next year Z
Just painting fun at the moment. I have my eye on a long term Tzeentch AoS army with an above standard paint job (best painted here we come!). But that's not really a serious commitment or anything set in stone. Just a fun day dream. And maybe if I get a few more bits and pieces I can have that AoS intro game I've been dodging for a while now...
I got a few more bits and pieces put together.
Still need to make the bases for the flamers. It takes a while to put the bases together, I'm just being lazy and putting it off. Any suggestions with the ball and socket base on the Screamers? They're terrible. I'd love to hear how to make it a better stand, while still being able to take apart to transport/store and functional on the TT. I thought about just gluing it, but not too helpful...
And I got paint down on another Horror:
Not my best work. I've been ill, and super busy so this horror got done over about 4-5 paint sessions. So it was very stop-start and inconsistent. Will get the next one done in a single session, so it should be a lot nicer!
Hopefully I can show you more next weekend! Take it easy, all.
Z
Got the finishing touches on the 3rd Daemon. Here he(/she/it?) is, finished:
And the 3 so far. Taking a long time to come together, but I'm happy with the standard. And I'm in no rush.
It was a super busy week for me. Hence the minimal progress - so much so I came close to not updating the blog (but that's a slippery slop to a hobby black hole). I have the next week off, and my aim is to paint 2 more Tzeentch daemons, and finish building the get started box. Need to solve the Screamer's stand issue, create the flamer's bsaes and I itill got the Chariot and Herald to build. So plenty to get on with.
I also did some priming and movement tray building for my Fantasy army. I don't mention it much, doesn't usually get much attention (but I'm struggling for content, so here it is)
The main body is done. The flames will be green, and those feathers will be blended out into yellow. Still a ways to go.
I also finished building the start collecting set (it's taken me long enough!!)
That herald on the chariot was incredible to build. I've really forgotten how enjoyable it is to put together complex GW kits. I'm really looking forward to painting it!
All that's left is to make the bases for the flamers, chariot and exalted flamer. I keep putting it off, because I know exactly how time consuming it will be. I'm going to bite the bullet this week - promise!
Hold on a sec, I thought you said these were an AoS project? You aren’t making deals with the ruinous powers in 40k now are you? That never goes well. Especially Tzeench. He will use you and then cast you aside once you have done your part in his schemes.
Don’t you have some Imperial Fists that need paint a/o time on the table? And more importantly, have you seen Dorn?
Come back the the Emperor’s Light!
(But keep painting the demons for fantasy, you are doing a great job on them)
AoS, 40k... who knows at this point... Rolling dice is the aim. Maybe I can save myself the hassle of painting and just play Yahtzee?
T9A is fun, and there is a following in my area. And a good following in the UK in general (really good events). But I'm finding it increasingly difficult to get regular games in recently. My 2 games on a sunday, and the occassional week game has turned into a game every other sunday the past few months. I'm looking for more reasons to play games. And a Daemon army can do 2 game systems!
All my fists are painted up. I sold off the Primaris stuff I had to fund other things. I feel 0 desires to put Marines on the table. I think they're over represented. Massively. I stumbled into the general discussion/army lists area of this forum for 40k and it got me curious about Daemons in 40k. I read the term "soup" thrown around a lot. From what I gather it refers to a collection of (forgotten all the jargon already :( ) armies/formations/detachments?
Anyway, onto pictures:
I know I'm drip feeding you guys Horrors. Sorry. I have the Screamers primed now, so they can start getting layers I think.
Oh, and I painted an old Bretonnian Knight. The T9A tournament I'm going to has a painting competition attached to it. There'll be best painted as normal, then there are other categories (Regiment/Single Model/Duel/Open/Large Model). No requirements for those models to be part of the army. So I'm taking it as an opportunity to paint something interesting and different. Should have another 5 more of these bad boys following shortly.
It's been a quiet month and a half. I've had some RL commitments that have left me with little mojo to paint. That changed about a week / two weeks ago. And since then, I've been trying to make up for lost time. And the first thing in my sights is Start Collecting: Tzeentch Daemons - which I bought in November, and it shames me to say that it's still WiP...
Here are the final group shots of the Horrors from the set. I had 4 to finish off, and a cranked them out last week finishing them off this past weekend.
I'm really quite happy with how the came out. They're really bright. Which is a massive change to my painting style (and general 40k styles). I'm stoked about it, and want more to field a full force in this style.
Not to mention, the blending on each model. Really happy with it overall. It's not great on some models. But I know if I was painting regularly without breaks between models, the blending would be more consistent.
Next up are the screamers. Already made a start on them. We'll see how much progress we've made by the weekend, and grab a snap then.
And in other news... I played a game of 40k last night. First 40k game in ages! It was 1000 points, 3-way. I got crushed, with Orks fairing better and GKs coming out on top. Was a really fun game. So much so that I might even get a second 40k game in at some point (hopefully a more traditional 1 on 1).
That's it for now - sorry again for lack of updates...
Z
Good to see you alive, well, and painting.
Demons are looking great. Due to their brightness, it might be good to take a pic on a darker background.
3-way games are always twitchy, and not just 40k. They just lend themselves to unfair play. So the fact that you had fun in one is promising. Come back to the grimdark side!
I wanted to finish this Screamer today, before I updated this thread. But some poor Friday night decisions have pretty much written off today.
I'm happy with these as the base colours. Time to build on it. The blending takes the most time, so it should be straight forward to finish this one off. Then it's a matter of replicating the work on the 2 others.
I think, my aim for this week, is to finish all 3 screamers, and make a start on building the Bretonnian models I've been amassing the past month or two.
I also got a second game of 40k in!
My IF army, vs Guilliman and a selection of his finest Ultras. I lost in the last turn. But put up one hell of a fight the first 3 turns.
There was a point where I was up 9-0 on points. But I eventually ran out of steam, and the Ultras made a great comeback. It finished 15-14 to Ultras, and I had a single scout hiding in ruins left.
I was shocked by how good my Sternguard vets were, with some of the strategems and synergies. I shot off a whole unit of VVs with one round of shooting. And I was kicking myself at the end of the game about how I handled the 3 Redemptor dreads I was fighting. He had a techmarine and was able to heal them up slowly. 4 Lascannons took 1 to 3 wounds left in turn 1, so I was able to kill everything comfortably. But I spread the wounds around too much, and he healed them back. I did enough wounds to kill 2 of the redemptors, but because I spread the shots around I didn't kill any of them. And they were the units that hosed me down at the end of the game...
It was really fun, all the same. Great opponent made it a pleasure to play against.
Just a midweek update for you all. First screamer done! I'm happy with it, overall. Although I shouldn't have done anything to the spikes on the tail. Chalk that one up to a learning curve. Won't happen with the next 2.
This week, I've also started going back through this blog and relinking pictures. The whole photobucket thing really p*ssed me off when it happened. I started uploading my pictures to Dakka and relinking them. But it takes so long. Once I finish relinking everything, I want to rewrite my intro page and get back into blogging properly.
Should have the other 2 screamers done by week's end. And maybe a sprinkling of OOP Brets...
Z
Screamer #2 is finished. I wanted to paint the third yesterday, but I went to a food festival instead. I have no regrets. Everything was delicious!
I did a blend on the top fin. I think I'll go back to the first one and do one there too. Looks a lot better, imo.
I also started to work on my Bretonnian models. They need a bit of TLC before they're ready for paint. So I'm just putting them together atm, and magnetising them to their bases.
I have 2 lots of 6 done and ready for paint, and 12 that need some attention.
They're quite beat up, as you can see. But I have all of the parts on sprues. Just a matter of putting them back together.
I've been sleuthing the forums for a few months now after a long forum break. And I'm using the monthly comp as a kick in the backside to get painting, which I guess is the slippery slope to me reviving this blog (Thanks to Nevelon for planting the seed). I hope I can maintain some of this momentum to blog my hobby.
It's hard to believe that I started this blog in 2013. Over 10 years ago. Craziness. The last update was in April 2018. And a significant amount has happened since. I've got a 'big boy' job, I'm a homeowner, recently engaged. Gone are the days of painting minis while skipping university lectures - If you could have told me those were the best days, I'd not have believed you. Life was a lot simpler then. But my hobbying has been a continuing theme since - I can quite literally say I've been doing it for 20 years. Craziness (again). Predominantly playing Fantasy Battles: The Ninth Age, but also dabbling with other painting projects here and there. I have a huge Dread Elves (Dark Elf in WHFB money) collection, a growing Saurian Ancient (Lizardman in WHFB) army. I'm playing on Team Wales at the ETC and nationally ranked. (I'm looking forward to going to Spain in 2025 for the ETC!). I've taken to Kill Team the past year or so as a very casual & fun pick up game (I will finish painting a Kill Team, I promise). And I'm continually on and off TOW nostalgia bandwagon, although a more accurate TOW comment would be to say I'm adding to the pile of shame with no plans to paint it. But today, I've finished work for Christmas / New Year and with a sweet 19 days off work I think I have some goals I can make and achieve. And I want to blog them along the way.
I think these are my goals:
1) Build my pile of shame. It's actually not as shameful as I think. It consists of; Striking Scorpions box, Dragon Ogres, 10 Saurus Warriors, Saurus Character, 2 Weapon Beasts, the howda from a Stegadon, and the Kill Team Hivestorm box (ok, this is actually quite big). Oh, plus whatever I get from Christmas, not that I'm expecting to get much.
2) Finish painting my Corsair Kill Team (that I started in 2022...).
3) Paint the Kill Team gaming accessories so I can play with a fully painting set.
3) Work out what I need to paint for a painting competition at the end of Feb 25. There is a Ninth Age tournament at the end of Feb, that has a really good painting comp that runs along side it. I'm unlikely to win the best army, but I hope that I can flood some other categories and come home with something.
Its a lot. But I have 19 days, remember?
No blog update is an update without a few pictures.
Quite a big Fantasy focus there - it'll pivot to 40k / KT in due course. One of the drawbacks of not maintaining a blog is that you don't have a readily available stockpile of pictures. That is just a flavour of what I have been working on in the past year or so. I'm proud of the Stegadon, the first really big miniature I've painting in a very long time. His brother is half finished and would need some love... That AoS mini won me a painting contest in a local club - not the overall winner, but one of the sub categories. It was actually really fun to paint, even when AoS isn't my thing.
I promise to have some pics of my half-finished KT in my next update.
Grats on all the life events! The window where I had a big-boy job and was still living like a starving college student was probably the time of peak growth of my hobby. Then the house and wife happened, and things got dialed back. On the bright side, being a homeowner means you can set up your own hobby space! (as long as it’s OK with the better half) The halcyon days of youth are great, but being older, wiser, and more settled down has some perks.
Superb work on all the minis, you haven’t lost your touch. The technique on the stormcast is amazing! Look like he just stepped straight out of a 4-color comicbook. I’ve only seen similar work done once or twice before, and it makes a huge impression.
Looking forward to seeing what new things are coming across your bench. Or the backlog from the missing years if you go back and document it.
Welcome back, Zambro! I really love the comic book style paintjob on the stormcast! I am so jealous of your 19 day vacation. If I had 19 days off in a row, I'd be in hobby heaven! Have fun!
Lathe Biosas wrote:I love your Comic Book AoS guy. I think a 300 style Custode Army is on order....
Now, if only knew someone with really good painting skills...
Thanks mate. Not sure I'll be doing this style in any great numbers... The black lining was intense.
I've seen a few of your posts about AdMech. Got any pictures?
Nevelon wrote:Welcome back to the blogospere!
...
On the bright side, being a homeowner means you can set up your own hobby space!
...
Or the backlog from the missing years if you go back and document it.
It feels oddly good to be posting minis back to a blog. Especially having the best part of 10 years of hobby in one place.
Homeownership has it's perks. My gaming room is still under negotiation (apparently we need a spare room and an office...). But having my own real space has literally taken the constraints of limited space away. In the past 6 years, I've had 6 addresses as a result of work (moving 7 or 8 times, between those places too). Having to box up and move it all routinely is a natural limiter to how much you can buy. All bets are off now. One thing I have never experimented with before is terrain (the terrain was part of the reasoning to buy Hivestorm). I will have a gaming table, and the terrain to play on.
I might dip back into what I've worked on over the past few years. It is almost all Fantasy related. But I do have some Aeldari I've not spoken about.
youwashock wrote:Welcome back! Huge fan of the Stormcast!
Thanks!
I snooped your blog too - Love the Shadow Spectre Wraithknights & Elric model.
muette wrote:Loving the comic style on the Stormcast and the color scheme on the stegadon. Great job, good to have you back!
Ty! I have a second Steg in progress too. It'll be similar in style, but blue for the body and yellow for the scales. The first one took a significant amount of time to finish. It is kind of scaring me to start the next one... I love all of your fantasy stuff in your blog. Do not stop, I demand more.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Welcome back, Zambro! I really love the comic book style paintjob on the stormcast! I am so jealous of your 19 day vacation. If I had 19 days off in a row, I'd be in hobby heaven! Have fun!
Almost 3 weeks off is a gift. Especially at this time of year. No complaints from me!
I snooped your terrain blog too. Really awesome stuff going on in there. Far more imagination that I have. Any hints / tips for painting terrain that you would share? I've got the Hivestorm pieces that I will look at soon.
I got a few things done in the past few days. Striking Scorpions and Tempestus Aquilons built. I magnetised all options for the Exarch, and the Servo Sentry. First time in a long while I've magnetised weapon options on infantry, fiddly and enjoyable. I've gone from having 1 Kill Team to three, and if history is anything to go by, these should get some paint at the turn of 2030.
This guy was on my painting desk to repair a leg I broke when testing the scheme. Super bright Saim Hann seems to be where I'm going. Happy enough to see where that takes me, and willing to learn as I go. I've realised over the past few years that because hobby time has been hard to come by, I've obsessed with getting things right first time (the comic style AoS took a very long time to psych myself up to do...). To the point of killing the enjoyment sometimes. I've lost the art of just seeing how it goes. Going back through this blog has been good to remind myself all the weird stuff I've done over the years.
And finally, the next few days should see these two Kroxigors finished. Contrast paints are a game changer. I want to try experimenting a bit more with them (beyond putting them straight over a drybrush). These will eventually become a part of my Army for the painting contest in Feb. They will join a unit of Skinks as their muscle.
Zambro wrote:
I think these are my goals:
1) Build my pile of shame. It's actually not as shameful as I think. It consists of; Striking Scorpions box, Dragon Ogres, 10 Saurus Warriors, Saurus Character, 2 Weapon Beasts, the howda from a Stegadon, and the Kill Team Hivestorm box (ok, this is actually quite big). Oh, plus whatever I get from Christmas, not that I'm expecting to get much.
2) Finish painting my Corsair Kill Team (that I started in 2022...).
3) Paint the Kill Team gaming accessories so I can play with a fully painting set.
4) Work out what I need to paint for a painting competition at the end of Feb 25. There is a Ninth Age tournament at the end of Feb, that has a really good painting comp that runs along side it. I'm unlikely to win the best army, but I hope that I can flood some other categories and come home with something.
A few days and I've chipped away at goal #1, and refocusing now to #4. I will lose a bit of time this weekend to The Lord of the Rings, though. I decided to do the extended trilogy this weekend. The Fellowship of the Ring today was an absolute delight to rewatch. Naturally including coffee, Breakfast, Second Breakfast, and elevensies. I'm not sure when I last watched the extended versions. It has to be 10 years or close to it. Some of the scenes were completely new to me. Very much looking forward to The Two Towers tomorrow!
Joining the chorus: that cell shaded Stormcast is just amazingly good! Been thinking about painting something in a similar style, so that's very inspiring.
Great work all around!
Any hints / tips for painting terrain that you would share? I've got the Hivestorm pieces that I will look at soon.
Yes. Big brushes and broad strokes. Craft paints are inexpensive and last longer, cover more of your models, and come in bigger bottles for mass painting large projects.
For me, before I assemble any premade plastic terrain, I sand them with a rough textured sandpaper to eliminate their shine and create a rough, uniform texture. This also helps provide more detail for drybrushing and washes to adhere to. For things like...wait, I was going to say underhive models, but I think I do this for everything... I chip and gouge the surface of the plastic to create an uneven and battlefield-damaged look. Adding superglue along the bottom edge and sprinkling in some baking powder creates a good "corrosion" effect. This technique will obliterate whatever details it is layered on top of, so be judicious with it and ignore this step if you don't like it.
When you paint it, first find photographic references for what you envision it to look like. Things like abandoned factories, war torn cities, earthquake damage assessment photos, fire damage, etc. Keep those handy when painting.
Layers are your friends. Don't try to get all the details on in one go. Start with a dark color. For concrete or cement, I might use a midnight blue. For steel I might use dark brown. Don't be afraid to mix colors. Drybrushing is your friend. If you paint a detail and you don't like how brightly it came out, layer on a coat of wash - even just thinning a black paint with a lot of water will work. I find washing orange, brown, and black over brightly colored objects works very well to bring it back down to reasonable tint. Stippling verdigris colors - like off-white for lime stone, jade green for copper, brick red or dark orange for steel and iron, and black for bronze, gold, and silver - is a great way to add highlights to otherwise featureless panels.
I stare at buildings in my area. Especially ones that have been there awhile. I look for where the stains are on the exterior. Where does it stain white? Or black? Or rusty? I look at close ups of peeling paint (there's whole pages and blogs dedicated to these photos).
For Necromunda, I also recommend looking at graffiti in your area or in pictures online. Most graffiti is terrible and not artistic in the slightest. It isn't meant to be. It's just some kid trying to leave their mark on the indifferent landscape. At some point in time, other kids come along and tag up over them. Or municipal agencies do a half-assed job of painting over it with miss-matching colors. And new kids show up to paint over that. Graffiti in difficult to reach places fades over time, becomes obscured and damaged. Isolated places are more likely to get the artistic grafitti. Well-traveled areas get the crappy graffiti. If one kid has something against another, they do the disrespectful thing known as "lining" another's tag. They literally spraypaint a strike through line across someone else's graffiti. You can tell the story of a territorial dispute from a wall covered over and over again with layers of lined out tags and artwork.
Fire damage tends to streak upwards and out of holes like windows and doorways. The black soot blots out underlying colors, but you should still paint those underlying colors.
Time and water (mostly water) eventually destroys everything - details, structures, and color. But water flows downwards, in the opposite direction to the damage and color left by fire.
Metal brightens, even old metal, when it is forcibly bent or twisted, but only at the points where it fails. It also becomes stronger at the point it fails and bends, but it also becomes somehow more brittle at that point, too. When metal fails it sheers, almost like paper, but in near-straight lines. Photos of building collapses, car wrecks, stress testing videos, and crane collapses will help you here.
Pick a palette - whatever your base color will be - and stay consistent. If you want to add variety I recommend using sponges or stipling to add the illusion of chipping paint. Start dark and stipple/splotch inconsistent highlights lighter and lighter. I recommend a base dark, a midtone, and a muted highlight. And again, wash to bring your colors down. One thin coat of very watered down paint. If things get too dark, wait for the wash to dry completely (an hour or more) and then lightly drybrush the highlight color of your base layer (not your wall paint color). Drybrushing a light version of your base color over washed details helps to unify your whole piece.
If you have any questions or want more details on anything I've touched on here, please do not hesitate to ask. You can even DM me if you feel more comfortable with that.
Joining the chorus: that cell shaded Stormcast is just amazingly good! Been thinking about painting something in a similar style, so that's very inspiring.
Great work all around!
Good luck working on your pile of opportunity!
Thank you!
The pile of opportunity is a very optimistic way to see it. It feels more like a burden than an opportunity. But never the less, I'm chipping away at it slowly (and trying not to add to it too quickly).
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:
Any hints / tips for painting terrain that you would share? I've got the Hivestorm pieces that I will look at soon.
...
I hope this helps. Have fun.
That is some of the best P&M advice I've gotten in a long while. TY Warboss. I am actually quite exciting to move some Hivestorm terrain across my paint station now.
youwashock wrote:Some sage advice there, Warboss.
More Eldar are always a welcome sight, Zambro. I look forward to more red jetbikes. Thanks for the comment, as well.
I've made some small progress on the Eldar, but nothing worthy of a picture and update. In the next post, I promise!
As the year comes to a close, lets start with closing off a commitment I started at the beginning of December. My monthly painting comp entry:
I had some sage advice in the comp thread about adding depth to the skin tone. I think it's worked out well. I enjoyed doing the plumage in his skull-hat. It's very colourful, and pops on the table. After spending 6-7 years exclusively painting Dark Elves (purple and silver), I'm making a conscious choice to get more colour on the go with my Saurian Ancients (Lizardmen) army. Next month's comp theme is Frugal, and I won't be frugal with the paint - it'll be very colourful! Nevelon has very helpfully shared the next 3 months' themes, and I know what I am doing for each; Frugal, January - a Skink Veteran, a bargain basement character for the Army. Surprise, February - No one expects Striking Scorpions to emerge from the shadows. Space Marine, March - It has been a very long time since I last painting a space marine, I will peruse the catalogue and pick something cool.
I've been on some sorting and organising recently too. Hobby admin is a thing. I have been buying White Dwarf mags for a while, I enjoy all the pictures and some of the Bat Reps and the occasional fluff story. But they are really starting to stack up now, so while I was out I got a box and boxed them up. Likewise, while out I found some "sponge brushes". It reminded me of Warboss' excellent advice above on terrain and I picked them up with a large brush. Not a bad haul for a few pound. And should make the Hivestorm terrain a bit more manageable.
And speaking of Hivestorm:
Very enjoyable to put together. First lot of terrain I've done. I was a bit intimidated with it as I was putting it together, but the advice above is great and makes me look forward to chipping away at it. No plans to look at it in the next month or two, unfortunately.
On a completely unrelated note, is anyone able to identify these 40k rules? I found them, and I think they are going to land on EBay. I assume they are not current?
On the eve of a new year, I'm thinking about goals for next year. I'm trying to come up with something wide enough to be achievable, but still measurable and specific. I'm trying to make it non-specific to any one game system, to give me options. Here is where I am currently, with big props to Nevelon who has pretty much nailed his goals (specific and measurable goals that I have taken inspiration from):
1) Play at least 2 in-person games a month.
I have definitely suffered with not playing enough games in 2023 & 2024. I go through peaks and troughs. I want to try and be more consistent. Plus, playing in person builds friendships, and while online / virtual hobby activity is enjoyable it isn't a complete replacement for f2f social interaction. I will become more of a regular at my local gaming group.
2) Paint more than I buy.
That pile of opportunity isn't going to paint itself. My rough 'finger in the wind' feel of 2024 says that I achieved this in 2024 - although my Hivestorm boxset splurge could be a gamechanger if I worked it out properly. Now that I am settled with a house (and storage), I wonder if I'm going to be more inclined to buy minis knowing I don't need to cart it around when I move next..?
3) Attend The Ninth Age's ETC with Team Wales and play a fully painted army.
I attended ETC in Poland this year with Team Wales, and the last minute painting, list changes, work commitments, life, etc. means that I took models that were minimum standard of painting. I was embarrassed about it, frankly. It will not happen again this year. The event is on the 1 August, so I have 7 months to get myself in gear to arrive with a good looking army.
4) Update my blog at least once a week.
I've enjoyed my return to the Forum. It's a good way to share my hobbying, beyond the local groups that I am a part of. I want to maintain this record going forward and weekly updates should be achievable.
5) Paint 10 models for each of the following game systems; The Ninth Age, The Old World, Kill Team, 40k.
This currently reflects my pile of opportunity - I have models for all of those systems in that pile. Goal 2 keeps the pile of shame in check, but this one actively has me chipping my way through it. I am only playing 2 of those systems, so without the motivation / accountability to get on with the others, I can see myself neglecting them.
6) Attend a tournament for The Ninth Age, and place in the top half of players.
I am a regular tournament goer for T9A. But since I made the swap from Dread Elves to Saurian Ancients (2 years ago), I haven't been scoring so well. Their play style is so different, the learning curve has been significant. Of the 6 events I went to in 2024, I placed in the bottom half of all of them. It's time to get my head in the game properly.
7) Visit Warhammer World in Nottingham.
I currently live closer to WHW that I ever have before (2 hours away). It's been on my 'nice to-do' list for a very long time, but always blocked by a 4+ hour drive. Now it is easily achievable. I will do this in 2025.
I will in all likelihood take another week or two to refine / add to the above.
I wish everyone a happy and prosperous 2025. I hope the night is enjoyable wherever you are - Happy New Year.
Solid set of goals. Looks doable, but will take some work. Which is where they should be.
And we're into 10th ed... Gotcha. We'll see if anyone wants it from Ebay.
youwashock wrote:Challenge entry looks great. I really like the contrast between the skin/scales and the headdress. Good luck with your goals in the New Year!
Thank you! It really pops on the table top.
When I restarted this blog, I gave myself some goals.
Zambro wrote:
I think these are my goals:
1) Build my pile of shame. It's actually not as shameful as I think. It consists of; Striking Scorpions box, Dragon Ogres, 10 Saurus Warriors, Saurus Character, 2 Weapon Beasts, the howda from a Stegadon, and the Kill Team Hivestorm box (ok, this is actually quite big). Oh, plus whatever I get from Christmas, not that I'm expecting to get much.
2) Finish painting my Corsair Kill Team (that I started in 2022...).
3) Paint the Kill Team gaming accessories so I can play with a fully painting set.
3) Work out what I need to paint for a painting competition at the end of Feb 25. There is a Ninth Age tournament at the end of Feb, that has a really good painting comp that runs along side it. I'm unlikely to win the best army, but I hope that I can flood some other categories and come home with something.
I have complete goal 1.
I don't think I've ever put together so much in such a short space of time. It really did take some time to do it all. But it feels great to not have any unbuild/NOS miniatures*, I have at least got some time/enjoyment out of everything I have. And that's what it's all about right?
Magnetising the Dragon Ogres was great fun. I bought a WOC Army back in the day from a guy in Sweden, if I remember rightly (Dakka Member). It was beautifully built and magnetised. The trip down memory lane was fun. They are intentionally unbased. I want to mull over some TOW basing options before I crack on with them. Likewise, I'm uncommitted on the other lizards, they're just a little too big for 40mm bases. I think I might have to get rid of them and get them re-print them scaled down.
My kill team options are quite big now. A few teams, and terrain. I had initially dismissed the Stingwings, but having put them together I have to say, I think I like the models! My mind ran away with me thinking about speed-painting with contrasts, they look like they'd take it very well. I'll bank that idea for a rainy day.
*for now. I got an email from GW for £10 off. I dismissed it initially as spam, as in my experience GW never do discounts / money off. But when I double checked it, it all looked legit. I added something to the basket on the GW site, and the discount worked. Apparently it was 1 year ago today I did my first order with GW direct (that doesn't feel right, but it's what the email said - maybe first order on the new site?) so they gave me a voucher to entice me back. I got it this morning, valid for today only... So I have a Space Marine coming, which is good pre-planning for Mar's painting contest. It was the only thing I 'need'. I've also been told I have a TOW Chaos Lord mini coming, a Christmas present that didn't arrive in time. I'll be sure to build both asap to keep myself free of unbuild minis.
With goal 1 complete, and 4 days left, I think I was quite ambitious with myself. Never the less, straight into goal 2.
Of the 10 Corsair minis, I have finished 2:
I didn't realise that the Felarch's sword broke in the foam until I pulled him out for this picture. He will get a spot of glue in due course. He was the first one I painted. I didn't really like the scheme, so tried something different on the second. I like it a lot more, and will do the whole unit in this style. I have another 2 very close to finish, and the rest with the armour done.
I'll put in some time and effort to paint these guys over the weekend. I'm looking to get a game of Kill Team in next week. And running fully painted team is my motivation. I hope I can make it happen. If I can put some paint onto the KT essentials too, I will. But I think I might be pushing it to get that much done.
I like the color scheme you've chosen for your Corsairs. I bought a bunch to use in a 40k campaign I wrote/am writing and still haven't even cracked open the box.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:I like the color scheme you've chosen for your Corsairs. I bought a bunch to use in a 40k campaign I wrote/am writing and still haven't even cracked open the box.
There are a lot of bits in that box - plenty of options for your builds and a worthy contribution to the bitz box too.
Nevelon wrote:Corsairs are looking good. Best of luck getting them all done in time for the game
Thanks Nev.
Unfortunately the game didn't pay off. Which is just as well, as returning to work took me from 0 to 100mph (or 160kmph for you Europeans) immediately. The first week back was, well, a blur. I didn't get to finish painting the corsairs, nor did I get a TT game. Making time for hobbies is hard. Important, but hard. I think my goal to update my blog at least once a week is going to be harder than I expected - unless my update is "no update", which is RAW but not RAI... You can judge me if I do it. I have, however, managed to squeeze a bit of hobby time this weekend, and the weekend after my last update / before work. Not we're not at a "no update" yet...
First things first, the state of my Kill Team: We're getting much closer. No where near as much primer on show as the previous pictures. I think I could probably run them to a game without feeling too bad about part painted minis now. Mostly it's the sashes and belt kit that needs a spot of paint, with a few other notable pieces that need touching on.
My GW order arrived this week, too. I put it together immediately to maintain my 'no unbuilt minis' brag for longer than a week. There was something very enjoyable, comforting, and oddly familiar about putting together a space marine. It even made me drill the barrel. Nostalgia hits pretty hard at times. I'm looking forward to getting some paint on it. For those that haven't looked back through my blog, over the years I've had a Salamanders Army, 2 White Scar armies, an Imperial Fists army, and a Blood Ravens and Space Wolves Detachment (wouldn't call the collections big enough to be considered an 'Army'). I'm not going to re-tread old territory with the paint job, I'm feeling something different. Something that I haven't done before. I have until March's painting comp to decide.
What else have I been working on? I've had some models for The Ninth Age coming across the desk too. My Jan painting comp entry has gotten some colour. Just enough to get him started. I'm slightly intimidated by the lizard - I should have found a reference picture before deciding to slap a lot of yellow on him. Oops, onwards with it anyway. How bad can it turn out? I've also been working on some Raptors. They are the GW skink raptor riders (without the skinks clearly). In T9A, I am able to take a unit of Raptors in a Saurian Ancients Army. They are an excellent pick: dirt cheap point wise (amounting to making them a chaff piece), but they are spitters. Think Jurassic Park. They can use it as shooting or in combat, and it's armour piercing 3! Super acidic spit. Not to mention they put out a reasonable amount of attacks too. Since I bought the unit, I haven't left home without it. I put an Agrax wash on them to take their super bright airbrushed colours down a notch. I think I've taken it too far, and will need to layer back up. With hindsight, I should have done it a sepia or flesh shade wash. Live and learn.
I'm struggling to keep focus on one project currently. I'm dipping in and out of painting things (and building a random SM). Consequently, I'm having a little bit of progress on lots of models, instead of lots of progress on a few models. In typing this blog update, I'm realising that I need to do something about it. I have a painting Comp in February that I'm very keen to compete in - half painted models won't do. I think I need to set myself some targets to focus my mind and keep me honest. Firstly, what am I taking to the tournament? That needs to be painted for best army. What doesn't make it into the Army, but is a well painted model that fits the other painting categories? Is finishing off my KT a priority, or do I just suck it up and go play with half painted miniatures? What do I actually WANT to paint? Lots of questions to occupy the mind while doing chores or working. (How do people without hobbies get through the boring bits of life? )
I have a bonus picture for you: A random Warlock, from my back-catalogue. Painted somewhere around Winter 2022/2023. I was getting fed up of painting fantasy, and impulse bought the double Warlock boxset. This guy came along quite quickly. His friend is half painted though... It was the catalyst to buying the Eldar combat patrol, which in turn got me the Corsair team and into Kill Team (IIRC). I was 99% sure I finished it. But I'm looking at that helmet plume and wondering why I settled for that - it definitely doesn't look finished.
I hope you are all having a great weekend. The UK's below freezing temperature is about to end, which is good for the mood. I'm looking forward to getting back out for some runs.
Those Corsairs are a freakin' awesome kit. I, too, picked one up at some point just to have because Eldar are #1 love. So many cool options. Yours are looking quite good, as does the Warlock. Can't wait to see the Space Marine at the end of March!
Lizards look fine. I guess what are you after? Bright exotic looks? Or more drab? Plenty of examples of both in the wild.
Seer looks great. Grey plume is a little odd. If you are going to have a big waving crest on your helmet, they do tent to be bright.
Sometime you do need to post a weekly no-progress progress report. Life is a mess, things get in the way. But it’s good to keep at it. It’s a motivational tool. If the worry about putting up a blank blog gets to to clean a single mold line, or put a layer on one mini, that’s progress. Chipping at at the pile of shame one step at a time.
I need to get a move on for a Tournament at the end of February. I have a bit to do. I think it is all achievable to arrive with a fully painted army. At current, I need to:
Base 14 minis
Paint and base 12 minis
Paint and base 2 monstrous cavalry (1 is 90% finished).
Optional:
paint & base 10 infantry (I'm likely to take alternative fully painted models as stand-ins, to ease pressure on painting)
And the hardest challenge of them all: Do not rewrite my army list!
There are 5 judge votes, and 1 player voted painting categories. Best army is player voted. The following are judge voted:
Best Small Single Miniature (20/25mm square base)
Best Large Single Miniature (40mm+ square)
Best Unit (5 models or more)
Judges Open
Best Dressed.
The only one that is stumping me is best dressed... Lizards aren't particularly well known for wearing clothes.
I've finished (less base) my monthly comp entry. He is going to the tournament, with his friends seen below. They are 11 of the models that need basing - some tufts, leaves and plants would fit them in with the rest of the Army. These are also the first 5 completed models of 2025.
Pictures aren't great, as my painting station light has burnt the wall socket... Waiting on a replacement, while avoiding an electrical fire.
I had 4 skinks to go, too. All from Lost Kingdom Miniatures. These are amazing and dynamic models. I'm glad I've finally got through them, as they've been making it into all my lists in the past few months.
Group shot:
In The Ninth Age, they're Chameleon Skinks. Adept at ambushing into the battle, and blowing away (pun intended) big nasties.
I also got another model this weekend. As part of the family secret santa, I put this Chaos Lord on my list. It turned out that my father in law had me. He is genuinely great, but firmly doesn't understand the hobby. Long story short, he had to collect it after Christmas from store. According to the MiL, he was exceptionally nervous and awkward in store (a hilarious change to the confident guy he normally is) - the picture she grabbed is very amusing! Anyway, I've decided that I'm going to paint it up, put it in a Wicked Brick Display Box as a 'mini scene' and re-gift it back to him for his birthday in June.
It's not the first time I've painted him. GW have played a blinder with the re-releases hitting on the ol' nostalgia. I just spent 15 mins trying to find a picture of the one I painted in 2014(ish) for my WoC army at the time. I can't find any pictures - I'm certain I had the model... Maybe I never actually painted it..? Anyway, he'll get some paint in due course.
Thanks Nev - you're right, the headdress Saurus will clearly be the best dressed!
Only a small update this week. 1 in person game, and 1 painting session...
Managed the belt kit on most of these. I'm close enough with them to just sit down and get them done. They've been WIP for way too long.
A quick snap at the start of the game, and of the most disappointing moment of the game.
I've played a few games online this month, but nothing beats the real deal. I'm part of a UK wide online Ninth Age league, and playing in a European Team Tournament online, so I've got a steady number of games being played on Warhall. This is the first TT game of the year, and I lost by a small margin.
My Saurus flanked his Knight bus. It's amazing positioning, and the best way to kill them. However, I almost lost the combat (only won by a difference of 1) through the worst display of dice rolling I have ever given (didn't kill a single knight!). I died to the counter charges and lost the objective as a result.
This week is full of promise. A planned online game for the League in the week. Some free evenings for painting. And a weekend where my partner is away for a long weekend. A completely free weekend. So full of promise... What should I fill that time with? New month, new painting comp to get started... Build the coolest 3d printed dinosaur I bought for my Saurian Army... We'll see what happens then.
Well, that's another week done. And the first month of the year.
Jan was an ok(ish) month for the hobby. Only 1 TT game played unfortunately. And not as much hobby time as I would like. Typical life stuff taking priority. I managed to sneak this over the table last night.
He has been a work in progress for a few months. Partly me being a bit intimidated by it. Partly me being a bit lazy. In The Ninth Age, you're able to take units of 2-4 of these. I've got another on the go, and I am looking to push myself to finish it by the tournament at the end of the month. He was satisfying to paint. It has been a long time since I did something so big, and I think the colours work really well.
I need to fire up the Airbrush this weekend and get my Striking Scorpions primed. They are my entry for the 'Surprise' themed monthly painting comp. I'm in the process of buying some new paint. My current paint collection is massive; the organised and well maintained part of me wants to streamline it from the 5 paint ranges I have to just 1 paint range, but the rest of me says to just keep them all even if I don't use them. And rather ironically, in deciding how to streamline my paint range I've talked myself into buying more I'm looking at the Scale75 Scalecolour paints. They are very Matt in finish. I have a few already, and I quite like the look of the finish. I've talked myself into buying some greens to use on the Scorpions. They can be my test models for the range.
That's me for now. An early weekend post, as I have to go to work today (boo!). But hopefully some hobby time later this afternoon.
You can field units of that thing? By itself it’s an absolute Unit! Love the way it turned out.
I mostly just use one paint range these days. But if different companies offer paints with different properties and colors, no reason not to avail yourself of the options. I think it would be worth a little clutter at the paint bench for the options at hand.
Tommygun1918 wrote:That's just a beautiful paint job on that giant lizard. That's not something I get to say often.
Thanks!
It took a while to paint, and I'm procrastinating in starting the second one...
Nevelon wrote:You can field units of that thing? By itself it’s an absolute Unit! Love the way it turned out.
I mostly just use one paint range these days. But if different companies offer paints with different properties and colors, no reason not to avail yourself of the options. I think it would be worth a little clutter at the paint bench for the options at hand.
In a recent game, a unit of 3 of them ate the equivalent of a Bretonnian hero on a Hippogriff. Great stuff! I picked up a multiset of 6 Scalecolour greens. I think I'm leaning towards refreshing my paints, and thought the upcoming Striking Scorpions could be the best opportunity to test something out. I wonder if second hand paints sell on Ebay? I have far too many, and a lot are very niche colours (I have 7 purple colours, from blue-purple to red-purple) for past projects that I have not used since. Nice to have, and free to store, but realistically I'm highly unlikely to use them. I definitely do not have space to have them all out when I'm painting for the most optimal and perfect paint choice. There must be a critical mass of amount of paint colour options for painting minis. I wonder what it is? (I'm almost certainly well past it).
Progress wise this week - I got a game!
My Corsair Voidscarred infiltrated Volkus' inner defences, their mission to steal the targeting array technology. A plucky Inquisitor foresaw the infiltration and rallied his forces to fight me off. It wasn't enough - the Inquisitor himself was gunned down by a Shuriken Cannon. The Corsair raiders took casualties, but ultimately escaped with their objectives in hand. A 16-11 win to me.
It's been months since I have played KT (my first game of the new edition). I really enjoy the game. It can be fast paced and absolutely brutal (I was surprised a plasma gun annihilated one of my Ops in one round - but in hindsight a plasma gun should probably do that!). Made all the better that I played at a friend's house, after he moved in just around the corner. I can't remember the last time I walked to a friends house to play a game.
As for paint, some scorpions below. Plus, some progress on my Fantasy miniatures. Progress is slow going with the fantasy, so I'll save the update pictures for another time. I'll keep this update to 40k. The required proof pic for the monthly comp:
And the start:
So far, I've got a base down with Black Forest Green, and a wash of thinned Akhelian Green contrast. I hope a blue wash adds some depth to the green's shadows. I think I will keep the green fairly subdued, and not go much brighter than this. But we'll see how it comes out.
Zambro, I gotta say I love this blog! Your Eldar are looking great already and I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I also went back through the older stuff and I especially enjoyed your White Scars and Imperial Fists projects from years ago. You're a painting machine!!
youwashock wrote:Hurray for the victory. I'm liking that green, already. Thr dino from the last page is cool, too.
I'm quite surprised by the victory. It's great how swingy the Kill Team games can be. Small decisions matter, and there is always the potential of a comeback just around the corner.
FeistyRips wrote:Zambro, I gotta say I love this blog! Your Eldar are looking great already and I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out. I also went back through the older stuff and I especially enjoyed your White Scars and Imperial Fists projects from years ago. You're a painting machine!!
Thanks a lot!
The Scars and Fists were great projects. I'm genuinely sad I have sold them and moved on. They were a product of the time - I was a University student with low number of lessons per week and no job. No wonder I was a painting machine! I aspire to 3-4 painting sessions a week these days. Sometimes I am way off that.
Warboss_Waaazag wrote:Good progress on your striking scorpions, Zambro. And lucky you, getting to actually play a game. I'm super jealous.
Thank you! Some more progress today, but unfortunately no KT games on my horizon.
So I got an afternoon session in today with the paintbrush. I managed to work out my green. I like it. And it's easy enough to replicate across 10 guys.
Base of Black Forest Green, wash with thinned Akhelion Green contrast. Quick layer of BFG back over the flat areas. 50:50 BFG with Irati green. Then highlight Irati green.
Once I block in the other colours, I suspect it'll start to look the part.
Nice and rich with plenty of contrast. Very nice. I am constantly telling myself that it is ok to live vicariously through you guys painting the new Eldar minis. They're great, but the last thing I should do is buy more figures. Especially Eldar. Keep up the good work!
Nevelon wrote:Going two-tone on the gun? Not seen anyone do that before with Eldar. Marines yes, with colored caseings.
Coming along looking great!
Olthannon wrote:Agreed with Nev, don't think I've seen that but it looks really nice. Darker colour of the Scorpions armour looks awesome too.
Huh. Maybe it's all those Marines I've painted over the years - it just felt natural.
I'm really drawing out the painting process for the Scorpions at the moment...
This is the first one finished. Going to be a sprint to finish the rest next week (I might even need to run into the extra day should Nev be gracious enough to run it a day longer... hint hint! )
The close up pictures have not been kind to it. My edge highlighting is rough. I should work on that. My Eldar are going to be Saim Hann themed, and I'd like to have some running painting themes through all the models (including the Aspect Warriors). The gems on all the Eldar will be green. Not great for the Scorpions that are already green, but I'll just have to deal with it. The red cloth straps will be a running theme through the aspects to tie them into the rest of the Eldar. It looks good for the Scorpions, but when it comes around to some Spiders, it might not look the best there. But a coherent theme is a coherent theme.
My weekend post is landing quite early this week. I'm going to a gaming tournament this weekend. I'm playing The Ninth Age, and it's going to be amazing. The Art of War is the best event in the tournament calendar. Accompanied with the War of Art, which is a paint competition running along side. I hope I can come home with something. My next update will have plenty of Fantasy to show off.
I also impulse bought something... I won't get to unbox it before I have to leave, but I look forward to sharing it with you all.
If you need an extra day, just ask in the comp thread. It’s a short month, and extra day or two would be fine.
I’m also a firm believer in uniform bits across the army for Eldar. Ribbons are red, soulstones are green (although not all gems are soulsontes, so get to mix it up). Helps keep what could be a random bag of skittles looking like they belong together. Even if it’s a little off for some aspects.
Looks very cool all finished up. That yellow really sets off the green, and the bone pistol goes well with both. Going to be a scorpion-y February in the comp.
How is everyone doing? It feels like it's been a while since I posted anything. I've been saving myself for a big update - time for the mega massive March update!
Starting with the Striking Scorpions. Sneaking them over the finish line in the Monthly Comp's extra time.
I enjoyed painting these, even if they did take a while to get through. I'm learning a few lessons from the first 40k models I've finished in a long time (the Corsairs are essentially abandoned). I'm poor at edge highlighting. I need to get better at that. And faces... I've been painting scales and lizards for too long! And if I'm honest, I think the yellow is a tad too bright. I should have dialled it down after the test model got finished. I'm my own worst critic - they look fine on the table for play. I hope these guys can see play in due course. Having perused the Blades of Khaine KT rules, I think I can technically run all Scorpions as a team. But I think including some Dire Avengers or Banshees would be a good excuse for some retail therapy.
With the Feb contest all closed down, it's time for March... Space Marine! The only question is, what Chapter? I have dabbled with many over the years. I went back through my gallery to find what I've painted in the past. A total of 7 chapters over the years.
Spoiler:
Imperial Fists, of course. White Scars (two armies, at different times, actually) And the OG White Scars Space Wolves Blood Ravens Salamanders Sons of Medusa (I found the blog post about them, but I've deleted the pictures apparently!) Emperor's Children (They're chaos, but it still counts!)
While we're talking about which Chapter to paint. I did something. I scratched an itch, flexed some retail therapy, and bought a whole new set of paint. I have all of the colours from the Scale75 Scalecolour range, and a few from the Metal and Alchemy range (the rest to be purchased when they come into stock). I really like the paint - I used them to finish the Scorpions. And there is something that feels right about having a single range of paint as the core, to be supplemented with GW washes and the odd contrast. My paint stock is vast, hundreds of colours from multiple ranges. It was frustrating to have so much. There was no way I could have it all out / set up at any one time. My portable paint station lets me have about 80-90 paints on the go. Trying to decide which shades of blue out of the 12 or so blues / purples to have out seemed pointless - I think there is a critical mass when it comes to paint. Having 5 blues, sensible. More, they get increasingly more pointless as the shades are so minimally different it's arbitrary. I will do a full inventory in the coming weeks and put them up on eBay. No idea if there is a market for used paint, but in 99% of the bottles, the paint is still good so maybe someone will get the benefit of them.
Paint shenanigans aside, I spent last weekend at The Art of War 7. A Ninth Age tournament in Bristol. I have 5 great games, 3 of which were against fellow Team Wales players - funny how pairings work out some times! I once drove 4 hours with a bunch of locals and played them all in the same event... Game 1 against a High elves. A small loss for me, 12-8. Game 2 against Beasts. A medium loss for me, 15-5 Game 3 against Beasts again. Small win for me this time! 12-8. Game 4 against Warriors. I got hammered! 19-1. Game 5 against Ogres. Much better, I won 20-0. (But he was a brand new player, so I am that person that spanks new players, apparently)
The event has always been themed around a mischievous goblin. This time, he was on a gambling spree. Each round you were able to take an IRL gamble (high or lower, spin the wheel, etc), for in game benefits (rerolls, new spells, etc). The last round, you gambled on how many points you were going to get at the end of the game - get equal or more points at the end of the game, and you win what you gambled as bonus points. But dont, and you lose the number of points you gamble. So play it safe, and gamble low, or embrace the recklessness and go big. It was a fun gamble, and impacted the overall final positions quite significantly. I gambled 12 points, and won them, thrusting me to 14/40 on the final standings. It was great fun!
And all events mean a painting competition too... The War of Art 7 occurred simultaenously. Naturally, I entered all the categories. Here are a selection of the best pictures I took, with my army up first.
Spoiler:
I believe the Orc / Gnasher won the player's choice best army vote. The remaining categories were judge voted. The categories were best small, best large, best unit, best dressed and judges open. So many entries, loads unpictured. Such an incredible display of patience, art, and passion. It was really great to look at it all.
As the event wrapped up, it just left the awards.
Spoiler:
I won 3 things! Best painted large, for the model in the picture. I won the dry brushes - which I was super excited for! They are really nice brushes, I have since found out they are £55! Best in race. Everything else pictured was the prize for best race - there was this much swag for 16 BIR awards. The prize support was incredible! The event organisers said it amounted to over £3,000. (The prizes in the raffle itself was amazing!). Best sport. I was jointly voted best sport, but lost out to the tie breaker.
That's me all wrapped up for this week. We'll see what I crosses my desk in the next week.
On the paints, it might be worth it to stash them and evaluate them on a project by project basis. For example, you might have a dozen blues, but keep 2-3 in your ready box as everyday paints. But if you start a project where you need more, like Ultramarines or Dire Avengers, you can hit the deep storage and get a base/shade/highlight for that particular scheme.
Of course, I’m a pack rat from a long line of pack rats, so take that with a grain of salt...
Do you have plans for more marines to follow, or just the captain as a painting project? If you do have an army in mind, what does it look like, what chapter would suit it’s play style? Gravis armor I think would be a good fit for Imperial Fists.
@Youwashock - thanks man!
@Nev - No immediate plans for a SM army, but who knows what will happen down the line..? I'm not going to retread old ground with IF again. I'm feeling something new. I've narrowed it down to 2 chapters... But I'll leave you in suspense until my first WIP picture.
I've been away with work for a week, and won't be home until early next week. But I did snap a very quick wip picture of what I was working on before I went. I teased him a while ago as the best mini I've seen in years. Behold:
Metzli, the ruthless. By Lost Kingdom Miniatures.
He will be a Skink on a Pouakai Sky Tyrant for the ninth age. His ability to ambush anywhere on the board (deep strike) is excellent. A big beastie like this will surely sow discord amongst RnF units in the back field!
I'm really looking forward to painting it. I want to predominantly use the airbrush for him. Recently my airbrush has been a glorified rattle can, just priming miniatures. I'm hoping to flex a bit, and try something new with this big boy!
I went with the boys in blue. I am quite surprised that I have come this far in the hobby without ever painting Ultramarines. It was a close call between these and Blood Angels, but the poster boys were calling. Base coated, and washed in the picture. They will be parade fresh, and edge highlighted. I'll take the lessons from the Scorpions and spend some time refining my edge highlighting skills here. I'm contemplating NNM too (got to make it special somehow!). But I will make that call once I have the blue down.
Nevelon wrote: Always the correct choice. What color trim?
A picture speaks a thousand words:
I decided against the NMM. I'm using the model as an exercise in edge highlighting. I will save the NMM exercise for another day. I can see it becoming a bigger piece of work if I add extra bits to it.
There are a few spots that need touching up, then I can make a start on edge highlighting. Mid way through the month, and all is in hand.
I also rather impulsively got out some Aeldari I have. I set myself a challenge, paint these 3 minis in 2 hours. They started as base coated red, so already had a bit of time put into them. They are only jetbikes, nothing too special. In trying to do them in 2 hours, I would have to accept certain standards. There is no way I can do excellent layering and shading in 2 hours, for example. Here is the finished products.
It actually took closer to 3 hours. At the 2 hour point, I was really happy with how they had progressed. Accepting whatever I could achieve in 2 hours was quite liberating. It's gotten me into a rabbit hole of the "Pareto principle" (80% of the result comes from 20% of the work) - ie, what are the really easy things to do that make the mini 'pop'. Decals firmly sit in this category. Painting fantasy for years has meant that I haven't used them in a very long time. I should have taken a before and after picture, it adds so much to the miniature. The subtle one on their head is a really great detail, and the huge Saim Hann serpent makes the bike pop! (with the added bonus of coving up my dodgy attempts at doing chevrons!). The gems and edge highlights also fit into this category. The gems are easy to do and break up a sea of red, while the edge highlights give the pop from the distance.
My White Dwarf subscription arrived yesterday, and on initial flick through there is a 16 page "Designer Notes" article on Aeldari. Taking us through the years, showing off some great models, etc. It's perfectly timed and peaking my interest in painting them. There might be more on the way!
In the spirit of painting things quickly, I did some quick and dirty barricades for Kill Team.
Big bird also got some airbrushing love.
I have quite a few Fantasy models on my desk. I have a tournament in a month's time, I need to get it all up to 3 colour minimum before going back to get the details. I think Big Bird will sit in this state for a while before I circle back.
Gold trim of the 2nd? Acceptable. At least you’ve accessorized in the colors of a real company...
Eldar alway surprise me how fast they paint up. At one point I also did a speed paint on some bikes. Not 2 hours mind you, but for one of the comps the theme was something speed related and I wanted to take that both literally and subject mater and banged out a squad of bikes in a little time as I could. You are right about the decals, they really help finish minis and give them that completed feel.
Are you freehanding the chevrons? I had horrible luck when doing that. Tape is the way to go. Ideally mask areas off and airbrush. Or just work with the fuzzy stick if that’s what you have (like me)
74 in a couple of weeks? I hope that’s a total and you already have a chunk of them painted. Even with a super simple paint job that would take me months at best. An I’ve painted less models then that some years!
Thankfully, not 74 to paint! I once batch painted 60ish skinks and vowed to never again do anything like that.
Between already painted models, and unit fillers, I have the vast majority sorted. Those 3 complete the unpainted minis I have. However, I have a bunch of ebay rescues that I will need to clean up to make the 74...
Not a particularly productive week. I have managed to 'finish' the Space Marine for this month's comp. I won't get a chance to do any more, so took some 'finished' pictures at this stage. Probably 85% done. I will no doubt finish him off, but not in time for the comp closing. This will have to do...
As an exercise in edge highlighting, I've (re-)learnt a fair bit. The important of fine brush control being the main one. And the necessity for strong contrasting pops of colour. The edge highlighting needs to be vastly brighter than the main colour to have the desired effect. I'm not entirely sure I've had the effect here...
I put some stuff through the airbrush too.
Inspired by my 3-hour windriders, I'm stacking up some Aeldari to get across the desk. I have a few weeks off coming up, so I'm just getting myself sorted for some hobby time. Oh, and 2 literal scrap heaps for next month's painting comp. That'll be me starting to chip away at the Hivestorm terrain.
Unfortunately, I will not be updating the blog next weekend. I'm overseas for work this week, and straight back home to a weekend of hosting friends. My first week of not updating the blog this year... I think you'll survive. After all, I went 7ish years without updating it
Well, a week off turned into two weeks off. But I'm back with a pot of morning coffee and my weekly update. We've got a lot of ground to cover...
Firstly some unfinished business. My Space Marine for Mar's comp wasn't quite finished. I took some selective pictures previously to enter it into the Comp, but here is the finished work.
Some extra details have been picked out, and I finished the base properly. I'm glad I did it, there is something nice and familiar about power armour. But I'm not in a rush to get more Marines across my painting desk.
On the theme of the Comp, I've done this month's entry too.
Super easy by comparison to the Marine. Quick and dirty, and I think they are the first piece of terrain I've painted (potentially ever, but definitely in the last 3-4 years). I'm surprised how quickly they came together. They don't look particularly grand, but it's effective enough to be scatter terrain around a Kill Zone. I should look at some other Kill Zone bits in due course too.
I was having a bit of a play around with bases recently too. I wanted a theme that would work primarily with the Aeldari, and that could also be appropriate for the Warriors of Chaos army that I want to start (pipedream, currently). I'm a bit tired of the generic granite / rubble base that I default to for 40k, so had a play around with some other themes.
I landed with the one on the left. And bonus points, as it fits with all of the foliage that I have already. I have adopted it for my Eldar, which means I have one or two things I need to go back and rebase (5 Scorpions and a Warlock or two).
I have pushed ahead with some Eldar since my last update. The Guardians that got a lick of primer have been finished. I actually quite enjoyed painting them. They weren't particularly onerous, and I kept it to 'quick' painting techniques. I recognise that they are just basic troops, so tried to channel the 'speed paint' that I had with the Windriders a few weeks ago into the guardians. There are more of them, so it naturally took longer, but I felt that the progress was quick enough to see and not lose interest. There is nothing worse than being on the 3rd of 5 layers when batch painting a unit (and trust me when I say that, I did 30 Dark Elves to a high standard years ago and it's scarred me). These guardians are quick enough, easy enough to replicate, and I am VERY happy with the result.
They are Zenithal primed, and get their base red airbrushed on (this is where the picture in the last update is). Nuln oil, same red again on the flat surfaces to even out the shade, orange dry brush on their chest / shoulder area, then the same orange edge highlighted prominent points. I found that drybrush step is amazing at taking the pressure off the edge highlight stage. It softens the edge highlight, and brightens up the area of the model that you naturally look at. I'm really happy with the bases too. I think they compliment the red well and are low maintenance enough to be mass produced if required. I only regret that I didn't do the weapons platform at the same time. I will have to circle back to it at some point and finish it off.
I also took the opportunity to fix up my Kill Team models.
These are two very annoying breaks, as a result of storing them in foam. Nevertheless, a bit of drilling and pinning, and we're back in action.
I am looking to get back into the habit of playing KT regularly. I think Tuesday will be my effort to get a local game of KT on the go.
And now for what has been occupying most of my time recently, my Fantasy. First up, a Saurus character I needed for an event.
Quick and easy, nothing to really write home about.
Some Ripperdactyl Riders too - a little bit more involved than the character.
These guys are excellent in The Ninth Age (called Rhamphodon Riders in the game). I have only recently started playing with them, and really enjoy it! They're torpedos, to be fired and forgot about. They usually kill something, or at least maim a unit before dying to make the enemy easier to deal with in later turns.
I have just about settled on my Army List for the ETC this year. This is it, but with some caveats.
I have played it a few times, and really enjoy the list. The two units of birds on the left and right need to be filled out to 6 each. The Skink riding a carnosaur needs to be a saurus riding a carnosaur. There is a carnosaur without a rider. The slan needs a few paint touch ups.
While the army list is done, and I can visualise it on the table. There is still some work to do.
I played a different list in a Ninth Age tournament last weekend. Here are some pictures from games and best painted.
I ended up going 3 losses and 1 win (my round 1 opponent didn't show, so I got a bye). A bit disappointing, but the social was great fun (as always). We all went for a curry after, and it was such a good time. The game brought me in, but the people have kept me.
On Thursday this week, I did something that I have never done before. I went to Warhammer World in Nottingham. and OMG. What a time. It has never been convenient to get to where I have previously lived, often being 3-4+ hours away. Currently, I live 2 hours away and with a week off work, I decided to make the trip solo. The best thing I have done over all of my 2 weeks off. I made a conscious effort to not spend my entire time taking pictures, and to actually look at the models direct (not through the camera on my phone) - but I still ended up with 300+ photos. I tried to get them down to 10 to share here, but I'm at 11...
I arrived at 10am (opening time), and queued out of the door (school holidays, and loads of people just showing up to play - imagine that being your LGS?!). I went to Bugman's for a coffee (I'd have had a beer, but I don't drink these days). Then; exhibition time. 4 rooms of miniatures and dioramas. I spent 3 hours in there. 3 hours. And I felt like I rushed it in some places. The very first thing in room 1 was the RTB001 Marines (pictures above). It started with a 'history' of GW, some early miniatures. Excellent displays of old armies. Some old metal minis in blister packs from 80s/90s. etc. Then it turned into Fantasy / AoS / TOW displays and miniatures. I was surprised by the LOTRs dioramas (I don't really think about MESBG when I think about GW). The one pictures above is great, and I didn't even notice Frodo in it until I uploaded the picture! There was an excellent diorama of Gandalf riding his cart through the Shire too. The 40k/30k room was immense too. The scenes were utterly epic, with so much hidden detail when you look closer. Then of course there was the biggest diorama... 22 feet long by 12 wide. And 20 foot high. Unbelievable. The information plaque said there was in excess of 5,500 miniatures used, with terrain from 1,200 boxsets. Unfortunately, I could not find the assassin... (for those that don't know, an assassin model is placed on the display in a new place daily and the first to find it wins an assassin model). None of my pictures made it to the final 11, as the mood lighting (rotating variance of red/purple/blue/white light) made all of my pictures horrible. But it was quite the sight. The final few display cabinets had dioramas of all of GW's smaller games (KT, Necro, etc.). But the final final display cabinet was the coolest - guest miniatures on display. I didn't recognise the names, but presumably they were GW legends or significant names in the hobby. One was a Skaven army, the undercity of Talabacland, but the Skaven had learnt the Empire's ways. They were all converted to be dressed like the Empire, and it was actually used as an Empire Army! The Exhibition is well worth the trip, and I loved every minute of it. I think there will likely be diminishing returns should I go again any time soon. But I have done my Hobby pilgrimage, and don't need to visit again any time soon.
The store itself was impressive, having every model available for purchase. I was absolutely ready to drop some money, but nothing screamed at me. The Warhammer World Exclusives were tempting, but it would have just been a purchase for the sake of a purchase. Knowing what is there will prepare me if I go again - I'll have a plan for what I want!
I've had a bit of time to think and reflect on what I want from the Hobby during my time off. I very much enjoy painting and gaming, but it is definitely the people that keep me. My friends from T9A are amazing, and they have kept me playing for a very long time. But I think my T9A chapter is closing, the game is getting smaller and the UK scene is struggling. I am planning for this year's ETC to be the last hurrah. The Team Wales guys are dabbling in other games too, and I will break away as well. 40k, Kill Team, and TOW are where I want to be. This is exceptionally reinforced by my trip to WHW. T9A has been excellent (and is excellent), but there is a wider community that I feel I am on the fringes of. There are a few local clubs around me, and so much potential there that I want to get involved in. This realisation has shaped my short and medium term hobby direction. I have almost got my Army ready for the ETC, and that remains my priority. One last hurrah. But on the side lines I will continue to sneak the odd Eldar model across my desk, and dabble with KT games. I play T9A twice a month reliably, which means I can likely play KT on the 'off weeks'. I have everything I need to play KT ready to go, so I just need to show up. I will eventually pivot to 40k too. I want to buy the new Aeldari Combat Patrol - I've never painted Warp Spiders, and the Dire Avengers combined with Striking Scorpions will make the Blades of Khaine Kill Team. And I do still love the Fantasy aesthetic, I will raise a Warriors of Chaos army in time for some Old World battles. But I think this is an after summer ambition. It is always a little bittersweet to recognise the end of something (and in this case a something that has been a big part of the past 7-8 years). But nevertheless, new projects, new games and new people are always a good thing - and I'll still see all T9A guys anyway, as they're playing these games too!
My coffee ran out a long time ago and I've said plenty. Have a nice Easter weekend, enjoy the Bank Holiday for those in the UK - I hope it's sunny where you are!
Eldar are looking good, especially if that’s a “speed” job. Dinos are fun looking as always.
Jealous of your trip to WW. Looks like a lot of fun. I’d love to make a pilgrimage there some day, but realistically it will never happen.
Has T9A been going that long? I guess if we are on AoS 4th edition, that sounds right. With TOW being a thing now I’m guessing a lot of people who lost WHFB and didn’t switch to AoS are returning to the GW fold. Always sad when a chapter closes, but things move on. Keep painting, keep gaming, and keep having fun!
Trip photos look amazing. Loving the Warhammer Fantasy / Oldworld content too. I need to actually play a game (never played, even though I'm painting an army for the game).
Thanks Nev. The Eldar are quite an enjoyable side project. I'm looking forward to making them more of a priority. You're right about TOW and the GW hype. Having a big company behind something is working wonders. TOW is great for the overall fantasy genre, I'm still not a fan of the AOS fantasy style.
Never say never to the Pilgrimage...
@Blockade. Thanks! There is something about RnF games that I love. It feels more tactical, and strategy based, as a result of the movement constraints and lack of shooting. You can't hide in cover and blast stuff like in the 41st millennium - you need to risk getting up close and decisively engaged! You'll be running enemies down with your knights in no time!
Despite similar core mechanics, WHFB and 40k played completely differently. I used to say fantasy was won in the movement and psychology phases, while 40k was in the combat and shooting. AoS feels like a fantasy re-skin of 40k, and not a RnF game. Still fun, but scratches a different itch.
I have nothing against AoS, it just doesn't float my boat. I've never tried it either, so maybe I'm just prejudging it.
I took my Corsairs out this week for a game of Kill Team. I was gored by the Goremongers kill team (in the hands of a very good player). It was super fun, but man I have forgotten a lot of rules! Getting KT back on my rotation should help with the rules recall.
This week has been primarily building and priming. I bought 9 Ripperdactyls, which will feature in my ETC list. 1 unit of 6, and the remaining 3 to bulk out a unit I already have. I made a start on the unit of 6.
Absolute nightmare to try and rank up. I got half way then decided to make a unit filler too, to ease the pressure of ranking them all up.
And with a lick of paint.
They should be fairly quick to bring up to standard. Wash and re-layer the skin, should be about 60% of the model. I'm toying with some ideas for the wing membranes (a mottled pattern where it meets the wing), but undecided on that as yet. But once that is done, it is just a few details to finish it. I am hoping I can have them ready for the weekend, where I am off to another Ninth Age tournament.
Glad you enjoyed your visit to WW. I was in Nottingham for a week last summer and managed to take some time off for a visit. Wow, just wow. The place is amazing and some of the battle scenes were immense, really opens your eyes as to what can be done with enough time and effort, and it was nice recognising some from White Dwarf (Emperor and Horus, Cadian parade ground).
Love the colours on the Scorpions they look epic. Can’t believe your 3hr paint scheme on the jet bikes - not jealous in the slightest!! And glad to see you made the right chapter choice on the marine, he looks good.
A Sunday morning coffee and blog update time. There is something soothing about a fresh coffee and dedicated time to thing some hobby things through. I've missed it the past 2 months...
@Nev - Absolutely. I've numbered the bases and put corresponding numbers under the wings of them. They could very quickly become a nightmare to put together. @CB - Thanks! The unit fillers help where there are problem spots (looking at you, middle back rank. With the rider on, it's impossible). @Steve - Thanks for the words of encouragement. I've gone some more Scorpions below, but a slightly different approach to painting them as I changed my paint set between batches of Scorpions. WHW is amazing. I'm strongly considering attending a Kill Team event there at some point this year.
I went through a funny place with motivation back in April. I was painting the Lizardmen to get them ready for ETC, but it wasn't what I wanted to paint. Painting for an event instead of painting for enjoyment has different connotations. At the same time, I was quite enjoying playing Kill Team and wanted to paint for that. I ended up getting my head down and painting Lizards to get through them - In hindsight it was neutral on the enjoyment (it wasn't boring, but it also wasn't particularly fun). And with that plateau of enjoyment, updating the blog got side lined. But I'm back with it today, and have been enjoying my hobbying recently. The good news; my ETC army is fully painted, which I will show off a bit below. The better news; I came by a significant haul of Eldar, and have been pushing my small army forward since completing the Fantasy stuff.
First up, the Lizardmen (Saurian Ancients in The Ninth Age). This is 4000 points, for ETC: The list itself is super fun to play - it's about as aggressive as it can get. The 3 monsters, and 2 big units of birds are Fearless (meaning they can't flee, nowhere to go but forward!), and all 5 of the units hit like trucks of varying sized (The lord on an 'Alpha Carnosaur' hits like an 18wheeler going 100mhp, the birds are next and hit very hard, and the 2 'baby carnosaurs' have quite the sting too). I run forward and fight, and hope I'm standing at the end. The Slan offers some extremely aggressive magic - devastating missiles and powerful buffs if required (1+ armour save on a Carnosaur, anyone?). I think I'm about a 2:1 win:loss ratio with this list. It's super fun smashing across the board. I'm just waiting on a foam delivery, then I can pack them up to go to Spain and run at Europeans
In other news, my 40k has been plodding along well. I've almost finished the next 5 Scorpions, but the pictures I have are a bit older and missing a bit of detail. I suspect you'll get the finished pictures in the next update. I really like the basing I'm doing for these models, I think the contrast with the Green is particularly good. This batch of Scorpions also got started after I changed my paint set over. For years, I have been using a big mis-match of Vallejo Model / Game / Air / Citadel, with about 130+ individual paint pots. Some of my paints were the original bottles I got 12 years ago when I first bought the Vallejo Game Colour set (I'm pretty sure you can go back to the first few pages of this blog and find a picture of that set!). But anyway, I made the decision to buy a new set of paints - I now use Scale75's 'Scale Colour' exclusively (although I still use GW washes). Their set is 61 paints strong, they all fit neatly in my painting travel case, and the finish is 'ultra matt' which I quite like the look of. These Scorpions will look slightly different to the other 5 I have done, but I'm not as worried about uniformity as I used to be - changing styles of painting as an army progresses is part of the charm of a personal army, it shows experimentation, maybe a bit of development, and is what makes the army 'mine'.
On the 40k front, I got exceptionally lucky where the universe did that rare thing where everything aligns for the perfect situation. On a TOW stream that I follow, someone was looking to trade their (full) Eldar army for a WHFB army. My Dark Elf army has sat in a box for 3 years at this point, without play. The Ninth Age is getting smaller and smaller (and I will step away from it after summer), and unfortunately DE are not supported in TOW - My DE army is redundant. I had thought about selling them previously, but never did as the demand for circa £1600 worth of DE is just not there, especially if I was trying to get rid of them in 1 go. I had pretty much resigned myself to keeping them and never using them. Until I offered them up in this trade. The person I traded with fell in love with them. This is what I got in that trade: The full list:
Spoiler:
Avatar NIB Visarch Yvraine NOS Farseer Skyrunner NIB Old metal Eldrad current Eldrad 2 Farseers (metal) Old metal PLs: Fuegan, Jain Zar, Karandras Autarch Wayleaper NIB Autarch built Old metal harlequin Rangers NIB 40 old guardians (lpastic and metal) 4 metal warlocks 10 dire avengers (5 NIB, 5 old style) 4 windriders of varying states of repair 5 plastic wraith blades 5 metal wraith guard 10 swooping hawks (metal) 13 metal fire dragons 10 metal howling banshees 10 warp spiders finecast 5 finecast Dark Reapers 7 metal striking scorpions 3 painted wave serpents 1 falcon painted 3 war walkers wraithlord FW Skathach Wraith Knight 4 vypers 5 support weapons 3 fire prisms - 2 NOS, 1 part built and the books pictured.
I couldn't possibly work through all of this in any reasonably quick time frame. But I'm happier knowing that I have a few boxes of Eldar that I can sell relatively easily (compared to DE for a game that doesn't support DE). And knowing that I have 'traded up' is icing on the cake (I calculate the value of the Eldar to be about 20-25% more than the value of the DE). I am very content to have a load of old OOP Eldar, as far as collectibles go they are great pieces (I got a good nostalgia hit with the Metal Fuegan - which was the model I was most proud of painting when I was 13ish). In my DE army, I had 10 old metal OOP Mengyll Manflayers. I was pretty content to keep them, as OOP collectables. However, the person I traded with desperately wanted them - he has all the regimentals of renown, except the Manflayers (what are the odds?!). Anyway, after some negotiating and acceptance from me to let them go, I got this in return for the unit: They should come in handy when I look at my Fantasy Warriors of Chaos army. Oh, and as it happened, a few weeks after we agreed this, I was working in his neck of the woods and we could meet to trade in person without incurring shipping costs or undue travel costs. It was the perfect situation. From an agreeable trade both ways, to both of us being exceptionally happy with the trade, to the circumstances of it happening, the fact that he needed the Manflayers to round out his collection, to the fact that I was working near him to make the trade... The universe aligned.
I've jumped straight into the Dire Avengers:
They were a bit of a faff to magnetise - so small and spindly. In drilling out the Exarch's torso, it split apart... Then I drilled all the way through an had to put loads of magnets inside to fill out it. All done now, though. However, the only critique I'd give myself is that some of the arms don't necessarily look natural when magnetised on, they just sit at slightly odd angles. I'm not too fussed, and it's way too late now anyway. Hopefully I can get through these reasonably quickly and move onto some Banshees. Then I'll have the Blades of Khaine Kill Team up and running, and will take them out for some fun!
A really big update from me today (and my coffee is long finished). I hope I can fall back into the rhythm of a weekly update, but naturally that will be smaller progress pictures. Enjoy your Sunday!
Quite the impressive haul. You going to strip and repaint? Paint over? or just keep the already finished stuff? Rebase? Update your finished stuff to match the new guys?
One of these days I need to thin out some old armies. But it would take the universe aligning. Not just for the emotional acceptance of parting, but the mechanics of the thing. Luckily no crush for space or money is forcing me. But the built-free influx of new shiny models would be nice. I really need to get back to painting my Eldar.
I can’t say I never magnetized eldar infantry. I’ve done a few. Heads for warlocks/farseers, and a few arms for my autarch. So small and fiddly. Doable, but a massive PITA.
All finished up, the remaining 5 Striking Scorpions.
I'm not entirely sure how long they took, but easily over a few months. But now they're done, you can't take them away from me! I'm really looking forward to getting them on the table for some Kill Team. The Blades of Khaine Kill Team can take up to 8 Operatives, in any combination of Scorps / Avengers / Banshees. I can take a mono-Scorp team at this point. That team setup isn't ground breaking, but it will get me playing. I have some Avengers on the go currently, so maybe I'll have a bit more to mix and match soon.
Nev raises a great question about what to do with that big haul. What I traded for it just lived in the garage for a year (and the loft for 2 years before that!). So I am ok with trading into some Eldar that also just sit around in the loft / garage - there hasn't been a decrease in my ability to hobby as a result of the trade. In fact, if anything, having a bunch of NOS stuff is actively giving me something. I am working on the DAs that I got currently. And I think my plan going forward is to slowly look at and address the NOS stuff (Hello: Avatar of Khaine).
My rationale for making the trade came down to resale value. I judged the interest in buying £1600 of Dark Elf models (inc. non-GW models) to be extremely low. DE are not supported in TOW, and most models are relegated to OOP-history. It was an impulse to offer the DE in the trade, based on the premise that selling Eldar would be significantly easier than selling DE. I have already reassessed this, and decided not to sell any of it. For now it stays, and I work my way through the NOS stuff.
I suppose it is also time to revisit my Dakka profile picture. The IF are long gone (I miss that army!). Maybe something more contemporary. Not Lizardmen, that doesn't feel right. Probably Eldar. I have a few HQ models kicking around, I'll have to line them up so we can decide who will be my 'face' on Dakka for the next 5-10 years.
Scorps look great painted up. As an old fart still dearly attached to old metal Eldar, I am really pleasantly surprised overall with the way they've refreshed the range while keeping true to a lot of the original design points.
Unbelievable how all the stars aligned for that trade! Would definitely have bought a lotto ticket on the way home.
Whatever happens from here it sounds like an absolute win - you've got some new kits to work with, and whatever you decide you don't need can be resold for some extra hobby funds.
Picking a profile pic can be fun. I sometimes think I should change mine more often, but never get around to it. I think I’m on my 4th, barring holiday temp pics.
@Tzurk - Thanks! It's slow going at the moment, but I'm hoping to work my way through the NOS stuff first. There is quite a bit of old metal Eldar in the haul. I prefer the newer stuff myself... The new Warp Spiders and Dragons look sweet (and modern).
@Nev - Only 4 profile pics for you?! You're getting your milage out of each one... I've had a few, I think. I think next up will be an Eldar HQ. I have a Farseer base coated, that is a contender. But also a few Exarchs (Scorpions / DA) that could work. Just a bit undecided at the moment.
Here's where I'm at with the DA.
Nothing special. Base layers done, and starting to build in colour. I didn't think about the whites before I blasted the model with blue. I'm not looking forward to building up to white on the blue overspray on the Helmets... I'm working away all week, so will not get any progress on these guys for a while.
I got my foam tray order from Feldherr recently too. It included a new carry case. Once I pick and pluck the foam, my Lizards will have a comfortable transport plan to ETC in Spain. It made me realise that the carry case I currently have is over 10 years old (and still going strong)! I think I will look at getting a smaller bag for Kill Team stuff after ETC. Carrying that big 5x tray bag is overkill for a game that uses 8 models. But that's a purchase for another day.
Some modest weekend progress on the Dire Avengers. Most of the main colours are blocked in. Highlights, touch ups and metallics left. Hoping to finish it up over the week.
I recently finished reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear (I would recommend the book, it's very easy to read). It's got me thinking about my habits, (all my habits but) especially my hobby related habits. The author talks about 'motion' and 'action' habits - motion being the planning/organising/thinking about an activity that moves it in the right direction and action being conducting the actual activity. Both feel productive, but only one produces results. On reflection, I do a lot of 'motion' with hobby stuff. It feels productive, and there is an element of enjoyment that comes with it. But when I look at 5 Dire Avengers that aren't finished but are 3 weeks old I think I have the motion:action ratio wrong. I'm going to make a conscious effort to paint every day this week - regardless of how short the session might be. A little more action might get my models across the table quicker (and ultimately a Blades of Khaine team into a Kill Zone for some games).
I’ve always been a proponent of “sit down every day, put down a layer”. I don’t alway do it, but it’s my goal. And my planning/thinking/retrospective/woolgathering to actually hobby work ratio is a hot garbage. But some of that I can blame on my back limiting how long I can sit and paint. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it.
Naturally, all weapon options are done for maximum flexibility with the Exarch.
I didn't quite manage the 'sit down and paint' every day this week. But 5 days of 7 is pretty good going! I am aiming to maintain that momentum for as long as I can.
This week is a good one for hobby. I fly to Spain on Wednesday for the ETC, and will spend Thursday to Sunday gaming. The organisation for Team Wales has been unfortunate. Our Captain had to drop out, and then someone else had to drop yesterday (4 days notice!). We're all set, but it was far from ideal. No update from me next weekend, but I should have plenty of pictures from ETC on my next update!
The European Team Championship has come and gone, again. The premier event in The Ninth Age calendar. And once again, I play representing Team Wales. This time, the event is in Talavera de la Raina, Spain.
An amazing part of Spain (proper bull fighting country), we were firmly rural and away from touristy areas. Which meant that the locals spoke almost no English - which was manageable thanks to our Spanish Team mate that emigrated to Wales over a decade ago. We stayed in a small town about 15 mins from the city of Talavera, which took rural to a whole 'nother level (but at least the AirBnB had a pool!). For such a small town, the 3 restaurants we ate at were incredible. The food was so fresh, delicious, and that BBQ they fired up for us was next level. Our team ethos of hanging out with friends (opposed to getting mortal drunk, or playing to win) was firmly bolstered by the food situation.
A total of 24 Teams attended. And as usual, it was great.
6 games, over 3 days, plus a pre-standing practice round against Team Ireland the day before.
Over the event, I took a modest 66 points out of a maximum 120. With each games scored 0-20 (10 being a draw, 11+ being a win and 9- being a loss), it means I averaged 11 points across all games. In reality, I had 3 small losses (6-7 points), 2 small wins (12-13 points) and 1 big win (20!). It meant that I finished in overall 80th place, of 192 players. I'm quite happy with that, considering that I took 42 points last year - a clear improvement! And of the 16 Army Books taken, there was a massive shock upset that my Army took the top performing army spot! It had always been considered the worst performing army book. Just goes to show what player skill can do!
This was my army. 2 custom foam cases from Feldherr, and taking them carry on resulted in 0 breakages. Which in and of itself it a massive win!
It's playstyle is very much run forward and cause carnage. With the birds and monsters having the 'frenzy' rule meaning they always have to overrun or pursue broken enemy units, the army is inherently predictable making it 'less good'. While it's 'less good', it is a hell of a lot of fun to play! It caused some conversation among players about taking this sort of list to ETC.
If I had to reduce the gaming to my single favourite moment, I would pick round 2 against USA's Dwarf player. I charged 12 'angry birds' into his big unit of Hammerers. The birds have a rule called Fury - any roll of 6 to hit generates an additional hit. 10 of the birds could attack, for a total of 30 attacks. With their innate rerolls to hit and Fury, I finished with 42 hits! I utterly mulched the Hammerers, and it was ridiculous!
There were plenty of shenanigans off the table too. Between the players on Team Wales and Team England, we have a solid group of people. Some of which I have known for close to 10 years. It genuinely is amazing to hang out with friends doing something we all mutually enjoy.
On my return, I immediately bought the remaining parts of the Blades of Khaine team. These will be my focus, with the aim to get back to KT in September. But for now, another holiday (with the Fiancée, this time). The next update will be after I'm back.
ETC looked fairly epic, congrats on the performance, and the year on year improvement!
The scorpions and avengers look smart.
Seems like you got a great haul on the swop, with some old classics in there as well - my only hesitation would be the swooping hawks as I found them very easy to break.
Looks amazing, I love your lengthy post this last time. I too need to thin out an old army or two (Horus Heresy Thousand Sons Here). I've already managed to let go of two other 40k space marine armies so I supposed a 3rd one shouldn't be a big deal. Looks like that eldar haul is pretty impressive and you've done alot of work to bring the others up to snuff. Keep cracking on!
Olthannon wrote:That event sounds an absolute blast, handy to have a Spanish speaker! Nice work on the Dire Avengers and Scorpions.
Thanks mate! Stay tuned for the Banshees!
Nevelon wrote:Sounds like a great time! Grats on the performance. Looking forwad to the banshees, got any special plans for them?
Thanks! Nothing special planned for the Banshees. Quick and easy to get them on the table for my self imposed deadline of September to be playing Blades of Khaine (painted).
JordySteve wrote:ETC looked fairly epic, congrats on the performance, and the year on year improvement!
The scorpions and avengers look smart.
Seems like you got a great haul on the swop, with some old classics in there as well - my only hesitation would be the swooping hawks as I found them very easy to break.
I'm really happy with the improvement and overall result! I've got some kudos on the Ninth Age forum for doing so well with my list - mildly amusing, and we all like flattery after all.
Yeah, those Hawks look so fragile. No rush to touch them.
blockade23 wrote:Looks amazing, I love your lengthy post this last time. I too need to thin out an old army or two (Horus Heresy Thousand Sons Here). I've already managed to let go of two other 40k space marine armies so I supposed a 3rd one shouldn't be a big deal. Looks like that eldar haul is pretty impressive and you've done alot of work to bring the others up to snuff. Keep cracking on!
Yeah, it's quite hard to let go of something you've literally invested time and effort into. Especially if it's a big project! HH is all the rage where I am, and quite popular from what I understand. I don't think you'll have a hard time finding a home for them.
Holiday to Greece complete. I've never been much of a beach holiday fan, even if my partner swears by it. Time always feels wasted when you're sitting around on the beach - there is so much out there to go and see! But never the less, the food was great and there are far worse places to be. I managed to read the third and 3/4s of the fourth book in the Dune series. I would thoroughly recommend - the best Sci-Fi I have ever read. The most recent film adaption of it was ok, but the books... Phoar! So much there to enjoy. The first one does very well as a stand alone novel, if you're not a big reader. I persevered with the series and have no regrets.
I did get some progress through on the HBs around the holiday:
The build experience was a bit of a pain, to be honest.
The exarch was the first in the instructions to build. I decided to skip it, and do it last as I wasn't in the mood for drilling magnets. I followed the rest of the instructions consecutively in the booklet. And when it came to circling back to the Exarch, I found that I had unknowingly used the main body on a regular dude. Quite annoying if I'm honest. My exarch model is just the last lady to be built, with the weapon options magnetised (and as a result, some of the weapon option arms don't look quite right on the body - the dynamic posing is off).
I also cut a foot off the first model I build. The tactical rock that they stand on what the first piece I needed to cut off the sprue. I found it, picked it up, and snipped. What I thought was a bit of the sprue holding the rock in place was actually the foot (obvious if I was holding the sprue the other way around!). And as the foot connected to the leg at the ankle, it was such a painful place to miss-snip. I've had to pin it, and if you look closely it looks awful.
And while I had my snippers out, I went into a bit of a build frenzy. I got into almost all of the NOS stuff I got in the trade.
No plans to touch them soon*. Just building them up to move them into some foam storage, instead of the boxes taking up space under the bed.
*Although, that Avatar was an absolute joy to put together. What a cool model! He has been on my mind a few times, and might see a lick of paint before the end of the year...
I noticed the made to order Eldar models too. I think I'm going to pick them up. I quite like the idea of having the old school phoenix lords (I already have a few).
I'm hoping to complete the HBs by the end of the month - look out for them next weekend!
Until then, have a good (Bank Holiday) weekend (for you UK folk)!
You really need to be careful and pay attention building kits these days, especially Eldar. They way things match up and fit is a lot more set then it used to be.
I had to re attach the foot on a DA. So easy to clip the wrong thing.
One of these days I need that avatar. It does look like an amazing kit.
I'm quite happy with the bone colour. It was very easy to achieve, and very quick. Which in turn makes it replicable. The red hair is quite a stark contrast right now. I like it, but I imagine with the other details blocked in it would be a little less stark.
I have a Kill Team game arranged for Tuesday, against the Kommandos. I'll have to do a bit of homework, it's been a while since I played.
I also very impulsively bought the made to order Eldar. I'm about to be the proud owner of all the Phoenix Lords (I already have some), the old Avatar, and the Seer Council. I'm not sure what I want to do with them. I have plenty of time to decide though, GW's estimated delivery is 183days. I can only assume they are hand chiselling them out of square blocks of metal.
The hair should be a contrast to the armor. Looking good!
It will be interesting to see how many people grab the MTO Eldar. The sculpts are ageless and excellent. Still fit into the modern aesthetic. Which may be an issue. The new plastic versions are just so cool looking! The only thing you can’t just plunk down on the battlefield is the avatar, and that’s due to scale creep.
The 2 times I bought a MTO mini it showed up in a few weeks. I think they give that crazy time as a CYA. If they get too many orders, they might needs to find multiple slots in the prediction queue, which is already packed.
I got my KT game in. Managed to run through those Sneaky Ork Kommandos, for a convincing win.
I really enjoyed being back at the KT table. Really fun game, with a simple-but-complex team (Blades of Khaine). Simple, as there are only 3 archetypes to remember. Complex, as each archetype has so much going on! I only played with the DA and HB but had 29 cards (faction/game/equipment/etc) on the go! I'll get more fluid with them as I play more - the Corsair team is firmly retired to the foam storage.
Kill Team: Tomb World is imminently releasing. I'm hugely on the fence about buying it. Do I need anything? No. Do I want it? kinda. Probably not enough of a reason to buy it. I'll have to keep an eye on the self control - I feel this could be my next impulse buy.
@Nev: Get yourself the Kill Team (official) app, its free. It has the 'lite' rules and all the team's rules on it. That should get you started - you can borrow your opponents Approved Ops cards and tokens for a few games to see if you want to buy into it.
I have the cards for my Team, tokens, and the Approved Ops cards. I get through my games with just those - but I do have some books for reference.
So, I finished my Howling Banshees.
All in all, a bit of a pain. The foot that I snipped in two off the sprue wasn't good. The mix up with the bodies for the Exarch. One of the Banshees also kept breaking off at the ankle joint that I had to pin yesterday... Great models, but not the best experience to complete. Never the less, all done and able to bring swift death to a Kill Zone near you.
I was anticipating doing another 5. Teams of 8 Banshees are pretty good. But there is a new Kill Team expansion imminently, and we go back to boarding action style fighting. Part of Banshees excellent was ignoring terrain and dancing over it all. Less utility when you're in the close confines of a Tomb World. I think sleuthy Scorpions will be better in that environment, but we'll see as time goes on.
I also thought to take a picture of all my painted Aeldari.
It was only after I took the picture that I realised that I had a lot of almost finished Aeldari. The bikes need basing (although I can get away with black for now), the first 5 Scorpions I did were before I decided to go with a different basing scheme, so I need to fix that, and the guardians still have the HW platform in progress.
Not to mention the stuff I didn't include like that random Warlock I shared a while ago that didn't quite look finished (and is on the wrong basing style). Or my Corsairs that I'd sooner forget about (I started painting them at the start of 2022, and can't bring myself to finish).
I'm not sure what I'll put on my desk as my next project. I will probably circle back to some of those almost finished bits. The Avatar is still on my mind, too...
Closing off the Banshees (and finishing painting everything for Kill Team) has freed up my desk to paint at leisure. I've decided to address the fact that I have a lot of 'almost finished' Aeldari, starting with the bits in the picture above.
I've brought the first 5 Scorpions in line with the rest of the Army by updating the basing. I also realised that they didn't have their aspect rune on their heads, so I put the transfers on too.
I did the Jetbikes bases, adding grit and starting the painting process (actually quite an easy job). They currently need some tufts to finish them off. But while I was basing them and had the airbrush out, I moved these across my table too.
There he is! The Avatar! One step closer to being finished - he is there ready to be painted. I think he's in my close future, but I'm not quite ready for him yet.
I think I ruined my Guardian Weapon platform.
I can't work out what has happened here. I suspect the interaction between the matt varnish and the micro-sol has something to answer for. I'm going to have to paint over it to fix it before I can call this one done.
I got my Weekly Kill Team game in on Wednesday this week. I was playing Deathwatch on Tomb World (the new stuff!). The Deathwatch are classic space marines - they get all the rules. It seemed like an overwhelming game at the start. My first aggressive activation in Turn 1 (DA shooting his Marksman) ended with MY DA on 1w remaining and him unscathed. Yeah, I know, silly counteract rules. Anyway, it was quite a cagey game for most of it, with me trying to cause chip damage while losing Operatives. Anyway, the last few plays of the game were epic. His Demolisher (TH guy) and Breacher (really tough, 18w guy) were camping a doorway, killing my elves as I, one at a time, tried to overwhelm them and take the doorway. Step up; Striking Scorpion Exarch with a Scorpion Claw and Chainsword. He makes the double charge. I fight his TH guy, taking some damage in return, but he was sufficiently weakened for me to kill it before I got killed. Win. I then fight again, hoping to chip some wounds off his toughest model. Spike! My dice went off! I one shot the Breacher! Death to the Imperium! The Exarch's ability to prevent the enemy from parrying unless they roll a 6 is crazy strong, something I have a new respect for. But doing 18w outright, and a double kill at that, is new levels of awesomeness. The doorway was mine. Until the Watch Sergeant steps up, carrying the objective. He levels his Plasma Pistol, and evaporates my Exarch. But through the pink mist steps a Dire Avenger, in the last activation of the game. Spraying the Sergeant with shuriken, injuring him. The DA then rolls a Krak Grenade at his feet - boom! The Sergeant is no more, and the Tomb is secured.
This incredibly enjoyable series of actions, and specifically the DA's actions, won me the game 7-5. It scored me 1 more kill point than my opponent, and denied him winning the objective forcing it to a tie.
Now my question: What is a suitable battle honour for my DA?
For Space Marines it would be easy - purity seal here, skull transfer there. I'm finding it a bit harder to decide for Aeldar. Maybe a while ring around the barrel of his gun? A rune painted on his helmet? A funky red pattern on his helmet? What do you think?
I have committed to buying the Tomb World release, reserving the last box in my club. It's a huge box, with loads of content. I'm happy enough to get it, but I will not make the same mistake as I did with Hivestorm - I will paint this set, I promise. My pile of shame is significant at the moment. And to prevent it getting any bigger, I have a self imposed rule; I will not buy any new miniatures until the below list has been painted:
Some quick wins in there, and some meatier projects too. Knowing my work schedule, I wouldn't be surprised if this brings me until November/December time. I'll keep myself focussed in the pre-Christmas run. But that's making me wonder, what's my Christmas project..?
Some really fantastic updates here Zambro! The bone colour on your Banshees is great.
Tough call on your Dire Avenger, maybe some sparkly bits and new gems on the armour? A feather hanging from the gun? Or a space marine helmet on the base to show off his triumph?
Still mulling over the DA's battle honours. I'll commit at some point.
Mid week update - I got my box.
I primarily want the terrain and book. I'm not really interested in expanding the teams available to me outside of the Aeldari teams. So I made the decision to sell the rest of the content. I paid £124 for it (with store discount). I've ebayed the Deathwatch and bits for £70. The Necron bits have a bid at £35, and could potentially go higher. Assuming they go at £35, means that I am £19 out of pocket for the book and the terrain - I'm very happy with that. The Hivestorm boxset from last year was a huge expense, and it kind of annoys me that is sits unused. Doing it this way was very sensible, I think.
There is SO MUCH terrain. I've done 2 clipping and cleaning sessions of about 40 mins each, and I estimate 1 more to get it done. It largely doesn't need gluing, which is good. Hoping to get primer down on the weekend.
I got a game at my club last night, too. Playing Nightlords. I snuck win, but they're nasty!
Although they haven't got any paint on them yet - I'm still building them.
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