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Great work here mate. The Deathwatch are great, and that completed Bloodthirster is bloody amazing. On a related note, you should throw in some of these as stretch goals in the painting challenge thread. I know I couldn't keep focus on just Undead and Gondor for a whole year and absolutely had to branch out. You're more than welcome to do the same.

Nice job with the Biker Sorcerer so far . Lovely "gift" the Dark Gods have given him on his head there
Tau are looking pretty spiffy too

 ZergSmasher wrote:
@shasolenzabi: Actually the fluff I'd worked out for these guys in my head was that the planet they're from is covered in blue foliage, but aquatic works too! I'm glad you like the scheme, as it's really fun to paint and looks better in person than these photos would suggest.

I'm not making much headway on the Stealth suits, as I've been throwing some paint on my Chaos Knight and my Cyclopian Cabal. Here's the latest WIP on the first Sorcerer from the Cabal:

The Black Legion color scheme is definitely coming together, as well as the skin and horn on the Sorcerer. You may also notice the stretched skin on the bike seat area; best not to think too much about what kind of skin that is...

I'm doing the sorcerers one at a time, so that way even if the painting challenge deadline catches up to me, I'll most likely have something to submit. More to come soon, I hope!

Hey it works either way huh? the blue armor is nice.

bike mounted sorcer is looking very Black Legion so the plan is coming together I see.

@Azazelx: Thanks! I worked very hard on the 'thirster and those two Deathwatch guys, so I'm glad you think they turned out good. As for the painting challenge thread, I did put the Deathwatch guys in (belatedly), and I'll throw more of my stuff in in the future.

@aov: I guess you could say the Sorcerer is horny

@shasolenzabi: Thanks!

Well, I've basically finished with the first Sorcerer, just a couple of minor touchups left:

This will be the last WIP for this guy. I'm going to assemble him and then do his base very soon, then I'll post some final pics. His buddies may have to wait a bit, as I'm going on vacation starting on Sunday.

In other news, I recently played in a 40k tournament (and placed 2nd out of 8 players), and while I was at the FLGS for that event, I snagged a set of the new Heretic Astartes psychic power cards, a copy of the most recent Black Legion supplement (mainly so that I would have a hard copy of the Cyclopian Cabal's rules) and a copy of the new White Dwarf, meaning that I now have this:

Yessir, that's the SLAUGHTERPRIEST WITH HACKBLADE, and he's a much beefier model than I thought based on seeing pics of him. He's too big to be a Possessed champion or even a Chaos Lord really, so I'm probably going to use him as a Herald of Khorne instead. I'm thinking of painting his skin red and using metallic tones for his armor. In all honesty, he's not a huge priority for painting, as I have a lot of other stuff I need to be painting right about now.

I should have final pics of the Sorcerer very soon, so stay tuned!

Well, I've now finished the first Sorcerer, so here are the final pics:







I feel like the model turned out ok, but my concern is that it doesn't look as much like a Sorcerer as a Biker Champion. I wish I had a model that could be a familiar or something, or maybe a spellbook. Oh well, can't be helped. At least my next Sorcerer will be carrying a staff. Feel free to vote for these pics in the gallery if you like them! I hope to get the other 2 Sorcerers done when I get back from vacation, so look forward to that and the final touches on my Tau Stealth team at that time.

Well, I've now returned from my vacation, so it's back to hobbying! I'm going to paint my Kroot for my Tau army, as well as hopefully finish up those Stealth suits soon. If I have time, I'll put some work in on the BL sorcerers as well. Here's where I'm starting with those Kroot:

I obviously need to start with primer, but there's a problem: my apartment's kitchen is being remodeled soon (all the kitchens in my building are getting it, but only a few each month), so all my kitchen stuff is in my living room. I can't get to my balcony door until I put everything back, but I really can't put everything back until the work is done (meaning I basically have no living room ). The contractors were supposed to take care of the kitchen while I was out of town, but there must have been a delay or something . So now I can't get to my balcony to prime anything. I'll have to prime with brush-on stuff, or else find somewhere else to spray.

In other news, I picked up a copy of the Lost Patrol game, and I've already assembled the Space Marine Scouts:

I kind of like the red plastic; for a non-painter, this looks better than gray and makes it easy to tell the models apart from the Genestealers, who are in dark blue plastic. I'm going to paint these Scouts in Blood Ravens colors (probably not real soon though).

Since I've now painted 38 miniatures this year (that Chaos Sorcerer was #38), I've officially painted more stuff this year than last year, and I've still got a few months left to get more done. Hopefully I can push a few more units out and really raise that number!

Wow, already beat last year in painted models... Good job!

@Zambro: Thanks! It really does feel good to be improving the rate at which I get paint on models, especially considering some of the models I've done this year aren't small (like the Bloodthirster and the Stormsurge).

I'm making some progress on the first 4 of my Kroot:

I've completely done the skin, and in a color scheme I've never seen used elsewhere. For those who are curious, I used Stegadon Scale Green as the base, with a shade of Nuln Oil, and a heavy drybrush of Sotek Green. I may yet go back and glaze the skin with Waywatcher Green, although I'm concerned that it will make it look funny. Most of the other base colors are down as well, with the exception of the shoulder pads (which will be Kantor Blue to help tie the models in with my other Tau stuff), and the head spines (which will be black). Hopefully I can finish these very soon and get the other 8 started.

Wow, 3 weeks since I last posted in this blog? No wonder it slid all the way down to page 5! Time to fix that! I've completely finished those Stealth suits I started way back when, so here are the pics:



And here are a couple more focusing on the Shas'vre with his Fusion Blaster:

I actually found them easy to paint, if a bit boring. RL issues and other painting priorities kept me from finishing these guys a while ago, but now I can move on to better things without feeling guilty. I am pretty happy with how they turned out; the dark colors (both the blue and the yellow) are intended to convey the "stealthy" aspect, while still tying in visually with the rest of my Tau. Feel free to vote for the pics in the Dakka gallery and comment on how you like them!

In other news, my FLGS recently had a sale, and among the marked-down 40k products were a set of Space Marine Centurions, regularly $78, marked down to $50. I just had to get them, so that I could ally them in with my Dark Angels sometime. I've already started putting them together, and will post pics here when I get them all built. I actually like the models, although I know many players out there hate them and think they are ugly. They will be added to my budding Blood Ravens force.

I've also finished 4 of my Kroot, minus the bases. Here's a low-quality pic:

I'm going to start on their 8 buddies soon. I've still got 4 more unbuilt as well, but I'm not in a hurry as I am unlikely to use more than 12 in a game anytime soon. I did these 4 mainly to test out my color scheme, and I'm happy with it (though I'm not entirely sure about the yellow war paint on the heads).

Hopefully there will be more good stuff to post here soon!

Stealth suits are looking good.

Liking the use of purple and yellow on the Kroot to tie them in with the Tau.

EDC

This is a nice little batch of models. The yellow warpaint on the kroot ties them in with the Tau, although it may be a little bright.

@EDC: Thanks! I wanted the tie-in to be noticable, but not completely in-your-face.

@JoshInJapan: The brightness of the yellow was a concern of mine as well, hence why I only put down one coat of the darker yellow basecoat. For the rest of my Kroot, I'll have to come up with something that can mute that a bit. Perhaps a bit of shading over the stripes?

I've gotten those 4 Kroot completely done, including their bases. Here's the photographic evidence:





I feel like they turned out well, although looking at the pics I can see where I missed a few mold lines. The Kroot kit is particularly bad for mold lines, though. As they are basic troops, I'm not going to worry too much about it, and I hope to have some more of these guys' friends painted sometime soon. Feel free to vote on these in the gallery!

For the next painting challenge, I'm going to tackle a trio of Centurion Devastators with Grav Cannons. They will be painted in Blood Ravens colors as part of my budding ally force for my Dark Angels. Pics will follow soon!

Those Kroot look nice. The warpaint doesn't lookt quite so bright in these photos, maybe because of the lighting? It works well.

Looking good!

I myself found a monochrome scheme with a few markings a tad boring myself and went at first with a very elaborate Dark Green/medium green/pale green jungle camo scheme, then went with a organic city scheme I was allowed to borrow from my days ate Advanced Tau Tactica, formerly Mechanized Tau Tactica

Nice. That dark green/ dark teal skin tone suits them well.

EDC

@JoshInJapan: Thanks, man! I'm glad you like them. I wasn't sure at first how I wanted to do the warpaint, but I figured simple stripes on the head would look okay and be easy to do. I guess it worked!

@shasolenzabi: Thanks! I'd be curious to see those city themed models.

@EDC: Thanks! I came up with the skin color after looking at some pictures of WFB Lizardmen (now called Seraphon in AoS) models. I decided that it might look okay on Kroot, so I tried it and, well, you can see the results.

Here's the start of my Centurions. They are only primed as of right now, but I'm going to very soon start hitting them with some color. As there haven't been Centurions in the Dawn of War games, I'll have a bit of liberty with how to make them look like Blood Ravens, but it should be pretty straightforward to extrapolate the scheme.

The heads are separate to facilitate easier painting, as with them in place it would be difficult to paint the details on the heads and around where the heads will go. More to come!

I've gotten the first two base colors down on my Centurions:

2 layers of Mephiston Red for the armor, and 2 layers of Zandri Dust followed by 2 layers of Ushabti Bone for the shoulder pads. Next up will be Leadbelcher for the metallic parts, as well as Balthasar Gold for some of the decorative elements and Vallejo Model Color Black for the weapon casings and shoulder pad trim. Despite the crap quality of the photo you can already see the Blood Ravens color scheme unfolding.

I've now finished the basecoating for my Centurions, so here's a WIP before I shade them:

I'm going to pretty much cover them in Agrax Earthshade, with the silver metals being shaded in Nuln Oil instead. Then I can get to the tedious process of brightening up the colors again before highlighting. I hope to have these mostly done by this weekend so I can use them in a tournament. I need to reach the point where the heads can go in to accomplish that.

In other news, I've assembled one sprue of Lost Patrol Genestealers:

2 more sprues of those and I'll have the whole game assembled. Then I can worry about getting some paint down on them.

I also picked up a figure at my FLGS to use as an Inquisitor. I've always wanted to go 3rd-party for an Inquisitor model as the GW ones don't really excite me that much other than Coteaz. Here's the assembled mini:

The mini is from Raging Heroes' Toughest Girls in the Galaxy range, specifically Admiral Olga Kurganova. I may just paint her up next month since the painting challenge will be open to any models. I just need to decide on a color scheme that makes her look more like an Inquisitor. I'll probably paint the Inquisitor I symbol on the inside of her coat, for starters.

More to come soon!

The Centurions are very nearly done now, so here's a final WIP shot before I finish and base them:

All that's left to do is the freehand Blood Ravens chapter symbols and Devastator chevrons, but those won't be too hard I hope. I also need to highlight the gold details to make them pop. After that, I'll base them in the usual manner for my minis.

In other news, I just had a tournament yesterday that saw those Centurions in their first combat action alongside my Dark Angels. I ran a DA Combined Arms Detachment, a Ravenwing Attack Squadron formation, and an Allied Detachment for my Centurions, which also included a librarian on a bike, the Scouts from Lost Patrol, and a drop pod borrowed from my Dark Angels. My list, while not terrible, had some less than competitive options (including my first tournament outing with my Nephilim Jetfighter), but that was okay because I wasn't worried about winning, just having fun. Here's a short battle summary of my three games:

In game 1, I faced a Genestealer Cult for the very first time. I got royally slaughtered because so many of those Genestealers and hybrids just popped up everywhere and many of them charged right in on the very first turn. My Centurions were less than helpful since grav weapons aren't much use against 5+ or worse saves. The Nephilim actually didn't do too bad, as I caught a couple of squads of Neophytes out in the open and mulched them (Brrrrrrrrrt!), but it was too little too late. I lost 0-11, but it was a lot of fun seeing what a Genestealer Cult could do. Now I have to figure out what to do differently so I don't get roflstomped next time...

In game 2, my opponent was rocking a Raven Guard Talon Strike Force as well as a Skyhammer Annihilation Force (2x 4 Multimeltas on the Devs) and an Inquisitorial detachment, with Coteaz and a regular Inquisitor with 3 servo skulls. He left a lot of squads naked in order to really kit out his Vanguard Veterans from one of the Auxiliary formations (whatever the one is with the Scouts and Vanguard Vets). I chose to go second due to the fact that I was facing basically a null deployment army, and it paid off. My Ravenwing Command squad got charged on turn 1 by four different units, but two of them failed to make it in even with jump pack rerolls. Thanks to my Interrogator-Chaplain mainly, the two squads that did make it in got mulched without a single Black Knight going down. My Centurions came in on my turn and took out a couple of squads thanks to their Split Fire. This was unfortunately their only real action as they then got tied up in CC and killed over the next couple of turns. Long story short, I ended up winning 11-1, partly because the main mission objective was Kill Points, and my opponent's MSU-style army just gave up too many, causing him to concede after turn 4.

My third and final opponent was playing Orks in a Great WAAAGH!-band detachment. He had several large blobs of Boyz, and 2 large blobs of Stormboyz, as well as a couple of small squads of Lootas and a 3-man Meganobz unit. No vehicles at all, just a sea of Boyz (he had something like 190 models against my 39). My Centurions sacrificed themselves to get a clean shot at the Meganobz and one squad of Lootas. When my Nephilim came in, it killed a bunch of boyz and a couple of Lootas before it got Crew Shaken and I flew it off the board (toward the end of the game). I ended up winning 9-3, as we tied the Relic mission since neither of us had it. It was a bloodbath, with both armies losing 80-90% of their models. Most of the Orks that died were swept by the Command Squad, as my Interrogator-Chaplain just kept that squad killing Boyz by the handful. I also got very lucky with most of my die rolls. Indeed, the dice won me that game, not my skill as a player.

My takeaway:
Genestealer Cults are NASTY. I'm not sure how to defend against them, so I'll have to do a little research.
Centurions are amazing against many armies, but crap against others. They also need to avoid getting tied up in CC at all costs (obviously!). They should always take an Omniscope to threaten multiple units at once and avoid overkilling a single unit.
The Nephilim is pretty good against certain armies, but near useless against most. It is also criminally overcosted. I probably won't run a single Nephy in a tournament again, but I do intend to try out the Silence Squadron once I get my other two DA flyers assembled and painted.
Interrogator-Chaplains are beastly with a RWCS, especially if they take the Mace of Redemption. Those rerolls to hit in the first round really help, and his higher Initiative means he can hit ahead of most enemies (really helped against those Vanguard Vets with LIghtning Claws).

After the tournament, I picked up a copy of Kill Team, so now I have yet another squad of Tactical Marines as well as some more Tau Fire Warriors (which will probably become a second squad of Breachers). The models were not the reason I bought it though. I hope to try out some Kill Team games sometime soon.

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and I've got something to be thankful for: my Centurions are finished! Here are the pics:





They were a real blast to paint! It was a lot of fun translating the color scheme from Dawn of War onto a unit that wasn't even in the game. Centurions are cool models and very solid on the tabletop. They have plenty of detail to challenge a painter, yet are not frustratingly fiddly. Feel free to vote for these pics in the Dakka gallery!

In other news, I've been busy assembling my Start Collecting Space Wolves box. I've gotten all of the Thunderwolf Cavalry done, as well as a Wolf Lord on foot and a couple of the Grey Hunters. I may not get around to painting them real soon, but at least I'll be able to play with them.

Since I will have some extra money over the holidays, I have decided to pull the trigger on building up my Dark Angels into a full Battle Company, including plenty of transports. I've already got a used Razorback on the way courtesy of eBay, and I'm looking at getting 3 more of them as well as a couple of drop pods and some more assault and devastator marines. I was originally thinking I would get the Deathwatch battleforce box that is going to be released soon, but then I decided that I really don't need yet another army, and besides, Deathwatch really aren't all that competitive. The models are sweet, but I'd rather spend money on more competitive things right now. To be honest, I still might switch and go with bulking up my budding Space Wolves instead (and buying some more Thundercav as well as some Wulfen), but I don't know that I want to go that route at this time.

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this blog, and I hope to have more good stuff to show soon!

Centurions look good! They are so beefy being a suit worn over another suit.

@shasolenzabi: Thanks! The beefy part is what I like about the models! They just have a tough look that goes well with how they perform on the tabletop.

I've been in between projects for the past several days, but I've still gotten some hobbying done, just not as much as I would like. I have gotten most of the Start Collecting: Space Wolves box built (not all in the past few days though):

I've built all 3 Thunderwolf Cavalry models (the riders are not glued on so as to make painting the wolves easier), 3 of the Grey Hunters, and the footslogging Wolf Lord (with a combiplasma and a Power Fist). I don't intend to use them in any tournaments, but they'll be fun for casual play. Those TWC models are just so cool, I just had to have some! I'll eventually get some more and perhaps run a Thunderdome type list together with my Ravenwing, but probably not anytime soon.

I also got started on another squad of Tau drones:

They are pretty much basecoated, just awaiting shades and highlights. Drones are unsurprisingly easy models to paint, but there are just so many of the little frisbees in most Tau players' collections...

My next main project is that female Inquisitor model, which will be my entry into the December painting challenge. I've primed her already, so now she just needs a bit of paint!

Well, I haven't gotten a whole lot of stuff done so far this month. I've decided to shelve that Inquisitor model for the time being, since I heard that Inquisitors got nerfed into the ground in the new rules (like losing servo skulls). So instead of that, I'll be painting the Convict team from Dreadball Xtreme. I've only barely started on one of them as a test model, and that was a while back. Here's their current state:

I'll hand prime them, as the weather outside is way too cold to spray anything. They should be quick and easy to paint up, but we'll see.

I recently bought a few things on eBay to start beefing up my Dark Angels Greenwing into a full Battle Company. Among what I've acquired so far are a Devastator Squad, an Assault Squad, and a Razorback all new in box. I also got a Razorback that was already assembled and primed. To me, the most interesting piece was this:

It's a metal Chaplain model from 2nd or 3rd edition. I saw it on eBay for a good price, and I just had to have it. I'm not sure what to do about the backpack banner holder; what were players meant to do with this? I might have to make some kind of banner out of ProCreate (like Green Stuff), as it will look kind of funny being just a naked pole.

I've also begun assembling a Tactical Squad (the one I got from the Kill Team box); 4 of the minis are assembled:

I'm going to squeeze 2 squads out of this box; the other will have a Plasmagun and Combiplasma. I have a Tactical squad that I picked up in my very first visit to an actual GW store while I was on vacation back in September; it will be assembled as a 5-man tac squad and a 5-man Assault Squad on foot (there will be plenty of extra chainswords and pistols from other kits). It'll be interesting when I get it all assembled and actually try running my very first Battle Company list. It probably won't happen till next spring, though.

That's all for now, but stay tuned for more updates, and my end of the year review on New Year's Eve.

P.S. You'll have to excuse the quality of these photos, as the lighting situation wasn't so great with all the cloud cover from the winter storms ravaging my hometown.

I've made a little bit of progress on those Dreadball Convicts. They are all primed with Vallejo Black PU primer, and I've gotten one of them done with basecoating as a test model:

Not the greatest photo, but you can tell what kind of look I'm going for with these guys. I'm hoping that some of those colors will really pop once I get some shades and highlights down.

I've also started on the sponsor for the Convict team, known only as The Warden:

I've only done the suit, shirt, and skin basecoats so far. This is the first time I've attempted to paint a black person, so I hope I can at least make the skin look right.

Now that I have my scheme for the Convicts down, I can start batch painting them. I'm hoping to have them all done by the end of the month, as not only will it be a good entry for the December painting challenge, but it will help fluff my model count at the end of the year.

That's a pretty good start. If you're unsure of how to approach darker skin, there is an article somewhere here on Dakka about just that. Sorry, though, my Dakka-fu isn't strong enough to locate it right now...

@JoshInJapan: I didn't find it either, but I just kind of adapted how I paint white skin to darker tones, and it looks alright. Thanks anyway!

Okay, it's time for a review of what I painted in 2016, but first, here are my final 2 minis for the year! First, a Dreadball Xtreme Convict Thug:

Okay, even I admit the paintjob is AWFUL on this one. It looks, well, okay, in person, but zoomed in you can see how bad I did. I thought he was okay until I took the picture. I'm not proud. I'm only calling this guy done because he's complete to a low tabletop standard. I'll touch him up when I finish more of his teammates.
Finally for 2016, we have the sponsor for the Convict team, known only as "The Warden":

This guy is definitely not my best work either, but at least he turned out better than the train wreck above. I did find him enjoyable to paint.

Okay, now on to the main portion of this post, my year end review of my hobbying for 2016! First, here's a picture of everything I painted this year:

In total, I painted 50 miniatures for 2016, which was well short of my goal of 74 (which would have been twice as many as last year). Still, it is an improvement on 2015's 37 painted miniatures (some of which weren't really finished). Here's a breakdown and list of what I painted:
IMPERIUM OF MAN
Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain on Bike
3 Blood Ravens Centurion Devastators
2 Jump Pack Marines from Deathwatch: Overkill
Total 6 Imperial minis
CHAOS
Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage
Black Legion Sorcerer on Bike
9 Chaos Cultists
Total 11 Chaos minis
TAU EMPIRE
KV128 Stormsurge
10 Breachers with Guardian Drone
3 XV25 Stealth Battlesuits
4 Pathfinders
3 Marker Drones
4 Kroot Carnivores
TX4 Piranha with 2 Gun Drones
Total 29 Tau minis
DREADBALL XTREME
The Warden
Convict Thug
Avaran Treebeast
Vlorox Spinpede
Total 4 Dreadball Xtreme minis
From this breakdown, I could say that 2016 was way better for my Tau collection than anything. If I had just finished more of what I started, I could have done much better. I've got to get better at sticking with things and pushing through rather than getting bored or distracted. With that said, here are my hobby goals for 2017, in no particular order of importance:
1) Paint more models than I did in 2016. That means 51 or more models.
2) Finish my partially painted models. This includes, but is not limited to, 3 more Dreadball convicts, a Nephilim Jetfighter, 5 Dark Angels Devastators, 3 Ravenwing Command Squad bikes, some Chaos Raptors, a Land Raider (may not happen as I've screwed it up badly by not thinning paints), and others.
3) Paint the right combination of models to take a completely painted army to a tournament. I'm tired of missing out on painting points!
4) Win a 40k tournament. May not happen due to some pretty stiff competition around my area, but I've come close in the past! This goal is not very important to me, as I have a good time playing no matter how I finish.
5) Specific model goal: complete all of my Dark Angels flyers to run the Ravenwing Silence Squadron.
6) Specific model goal: paint my loyalist Imperial Knight. The Chaos one is mostly done, but I haven't even started building the other one.
7) Improve my freehand painting, and learn to paint neater in general. This is one area in which I really struggle badly. I've got to learn how to keep my hands more steady.
8) Improve my photography skills. Perhaps I should invest in materials for building a lightbox to help with this.
9) Buy fewer minis. I've been spending way too much money on more models; I've got plenty of models now, so I need to knock out some of what I have before I pick up yet more. There are a few specific things I want (like a couple more boxes of Black Knights), but other than that I need to keep my wallet on a tight leash.
10) Set up some bits boxes. I'm getting very tired of having to search through many many kit boxes and sprues to find specific parts. I meant to do this in 2016, but I never got around to it.
11) Update this blog more frequently. It's no wonder I don't get a lot of replies or feedback; most people probably think I've dropped off the planet! Updating once every two weeks is not going to cut it.
Okay, these goals seem manageable enough, but we'll see what happens. I'm sure going to give all of these the old college try!

Finally, I'll wrap this up with my top 5 favorite minis (or squads) that I painted last year, in order:
#5: KV128 Stormsurge


#4: Tau TX4 Piranha


#3: Blood Ravens Centurion Devastator Squad:


#2: Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain on Bike


#1: Bloodthirster of Insensate Rage


That's all for 2016, so I'll see you all in 2017! Happy New Year!

Those Centurions are gorgeous!

Now I want to do a Blood Ravens army. God Emperor help me...

Really great stuff on here. I love the tau camo and the blood ravens!

@War Kitten: Thanks! I went with Blood Ravens because I like the Dawn of War games. Plus their scheme is really cool looking. If you start a new Marine army, Blood Ravens would be a good way to go as you could use any chapter tactics you want.

@brushcommando: Thanks a lot! The camo pattern on the Piranha came out even better than I hoped when I first planned it, which makes me very happy! Also, I really enjoyed painting the Blood Ravens. It was fun extrapolating their scheme onto Centurions, which are not in the DoW games since they didn't exist when the games were released.

Sadly, no freshly painted models to show you, but I do have something, although it was done technically near the end of last year rather than this year. I've assembled two more Tactical squads for my DA battle company. Here's a quick pic:

They are still gray, and will remain that way until we get some decent spray priming weather (here in central Missouri it could be a little while). I've got some other Marines that are already either primed or partially painted to occupy me until then, so no problem! As I said, I actually assembled these in December, but I realized that I never posted about it.

To quote Monty Python: And now for something completely different...

Kit Review: Wargames Factory's Apocalypse Survivors: The Women

This is the first time I've attempted to actually review a model kit. I purchased the kit back during the summer to use as additional Chaos Cultists, but I only recently assembled some of the models. To start out, here is a pic of the front of the box:

The kit contains parts to assemble 30 models in various poses, with plenty of optional extras to customize them. It's also a bargain at just $22 or so (US dollars), especially compared to GW models that cost $29 for just 10 models (and that's for Cadians, one of the cheaper GW infantry kits). The box contains 3 sprues with 10 bodies and bases on each, plus the basic weapons for each pose. There is also a fourth sprue which contains alternate arms with weapons, plus a ton of spare weapons without arms attached, as well as accessories like canteens, backpacks, ammo pouches, etc. If you are good at converting models, the options are almost limitless. If you aren't, though...well, I'll get to that in a bit. Here's a pic of 10 assembled models, with the "stock" options (the ones that come on the sprue with the bodies):

As you can see, they come with a variety of gear, including pistols, rifles, shotguns, and even sports equipment as improvised weapons. The clothing and body types are also varied, from a little girl with a pistol, to various adult types in different outfits and even a heavy-set gal with an RPG launcher. The models have great detail and should paint up pretty nicely, whenever I get around to it. Now, for some good news and bad news.

The good: There's a great variety of parts in the kit, including extra heads, weapons, and accessories. The heads include options for making a couple of the women look African-American as opposed to all whites, so there's potential for some diversity among your survivors. As I said above, the detail is very good for a plastic kit at this price point, so there is the potential to create some very nice figures (and that's not just because they have feminine curves either). The extra weapons could probably be mixed and matched with other model kits at this scale, although they wouldn't mix well with GW stuff as the weapons look too fragile next to GW's weapons (if you were to hold one of the M16s from this kit next to a Guardsman's lasgun you'd see what I mean). The models are also suitably generic and so could be used in a variety of game systems, although they would be particularly suited to stuff like Zombicide, This Is Not A Test, and other games of that genre.

The bad: While there is variety, it requires good modelling skills to get the most out of it. There is only one set of alternate arms for the models, meaning that without some serious cutting and weapon swaps there will be plenty of duplicate poses. Many of the heads, and most of the arms, are designed to go with a specific body, so while mixing and matching is possible it won't always work well. For example, there are two different heads that will only work on the little girl's body, as well as two heads that are clearly meant for the RPG girl. Those heads would not work well on any of the other figures. While there are a lot of weapons, most of them are very samey. There are lots of shotguns, assault rifles (both M16 and AK47 style) and pistols (both semiauto and full auto Uzi-type ones), but no flamethrowers, LMG's, or anything like that. Also, figures wielding sports equipment will look somewhat goofy in a lot of games (especially something really serious like 40k).

Now, as for my planned use, I have to say that while the kit overall is okay, the models are just not very suitable to use as Chaos Cultists. For one thing, the wargear is all wrong, which is part of why I specifically mentioned the lack of flamethrowers or LMG's, as there is nothing in the kit to use as a flamer or heavy stubber without some serious use of the imagination. The models don't fit the aesthetic of most 40k figures, being more realistic in proportions (compared to the jacked physiques of actual Cultist models or even Guardsmen). In short, I probably won't be using these in 40k games at all unless I am very desperate. Maybe I should look into This Is Not A Test, as these models would be quite suitable for that game.

Overall the kit is pretty good, although far from perfect. It's cheap enough, as well. It should work well for any game system where you need "regular people" surviving some kind of apocalypse. One thing I should mention is that I think the kit, and the male counterpart, are no longer in production, as I could not find the kits on Dreamforge Games or Warlord Games' websites (they took over from Wargames Factory in terms of selling stuff). One could probably find them on eBay or Amazon, but I've never looked.

That's all for now, I hope you found the review of the Apocalypse Survivors kit helpful. More to come on the painting front soon, as I've started painting some Chaos Space Marines for Paradigm's monthly painting challenge.

Nice haul of painted for 2016, the Blood Thirster really is amazing, definitely worth the top spot.

Looking forward to more in 2017.

EDC