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 youwashock wrote:
Congrats on the new digs. Nice new boys in blue.

Not new per-se, but just putting decals on old guys. We all have different ideas of what “done” is. For the longest time, I didn’t count being based as a requirement for a mini to be complete. (I do now). Similarly, I don’t consider the decals a must. Mostly due to the finicky nature of them, and the trouble getting them on looking right. But with the right tools I think I’m going to be better about them going forward, and want to make inroads into my old stock.

I’m kinda afraid to survey my collection to see who needs work. Maybe I’ll just chip away a squad at a time and then be pleasantly surprised when there is nobody left.

So my office gets the morning sun. So until I get some more lamps, weekend mornings are the best time to paint. I did sneak in a coat yesterday before work though, which if I’m careful might be a productive way to get stuff done.



The salamanders are ready for their green second coat, then washes. I should probably start blocking in the next two. Need to finish all 5 before the end of the month. Eldar cannon is done, should probably grab another bit of the pile for work.

Hope everyone has a fun weekend. Need to balance running errands (get lamps!), unpacking, painting, and resting here. But I’ll probably end up spending most of it binge watching Netflix and working through a growler of beer. There is a beverage center literally a minute down the road with over a dozen taps (plus a zillion cans/bottles). I think the money I save on the commute is going into my beer fund. Or plastic crack. Or both.

Those salamanders are looking great! Also beer is awesome ^_^ I love our local growler store

What's a growler? It it a unit of measurement?

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:
What's a growler? It it a unit of measurement?

Yup. 64 oz. (or 1.89L). A lot of breweries, taprooms, beverage centers, and even gas stations will offer growler fills. Often fresh, local, seasonal, etc, beers. So you buy your growler, and then get it re-filled with whatever floats your boat on any given day. Cheeper then getting cans/bottles, and often a higher quality of product as well.

In hobby progress, I put the second green coat down on those two guys, and the first green down on the rest of the squad.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Let there be light!



The true test will be tonight when the sun goes down, but 2x100W equivalent LEDs should keep the Grues at bay. Might end up picking up a couple more of those lamps for other rooms. But a little illumination should help me get more painting in.

Light is working out just fine. Got the gold/black based on the rest of the squad last night, green washed the first 2. Put the black wash on them this morning.

And then shifted gears.


If you find someone waxing nostaglic about metal minis, ask them when the last time they build one was. Sure, it’s better then resin, but plastic is Soooooo nice. All those vents, mold lines in undercuts, odd gaps. Also, the real reason we don’t see bonesingers on the battlefield is that they'd all snapp their own necks! Not only do they have giant moose antlers, but vanes on their shoulders and back. Fine for base building away from the front, but terminal if you need to look around at anything other then a slow, careful pace. But once the glue dries, he can join the primed pile.

Wraithguard are in progress. Clipped all the body parts for wraithguard. Still very tempted to build them with axes. I feel my list needs an anchor unit, and that 4++ is enticing. But so are D-scythes. Next box will be choppy.

that's a very nice hobby space Nev, everything is within reach and that lighting looks like it'll be sufficient for now. Have you considered putting up some LED strip lighting along the underside of that top part to even out the light distribution? The bonesinger is a great model but I don't envy the job of putting him together. Working with the old metals was a miserable experience when I first got into the hobby. I remember having to try and build an "old one eye" for a nid army... never again.

 Inevitable_Faith wrote:
that's a very nice hobby space Nev, everything is within reach and that lighting looks like it'll be sufficient for now. Have you considered putting up some LED strip lighting along the underside of that top part to even out the light distribution? The bonesinger is a great model but I don't envy the job of putting him together. Working with the old metals was a miserable experience when I first got into the hobby. I remember having to try and build an "old one eye" for a nid army... never again.

There actually is a florescent light under there, it’s just off for that pic.

Nids and metal didn’t get along well. A number of years ago I (re) assembled an old metal hive tyrant for a friend, as his hobby skills were not up to the task. What an ugly piece of work. Lot of greenstuff, glue, and swearing.

Some progress:


Front guys just need bolters, back guys are mostly through basecoats. Overall pretty happy with how these guys are coming along.

So should be just about ready for the second green coat. Then the final washes and bolters/baseing. Month is half over, but looking good to make my goal.

UPS guys just rang the doorbell. New toys, my first purchase of the year. Using guilt-free gift cards. A second SC: Eldar box.


Which simplifies my life significantly. One squad of WG will get scythes, the other axes. One WL I’m going to try to convert into a more agressive charging pose, the other will stand back for fire support. Probably try to convert one of the farseers into a spiritseer. Little work on the helm and change the spear to a staff should be easy. I hope. While I’m not a huge fan of the war walkers, I think they will do a lot better as a pair, rather then just a loner. With Eldar, grouping up for buffs makes a lot more sense.

I’ve still painted more this year then I’ve bought, but do need to be careful.

Got The Boy this weekend, so hoping to get some games/hobby in.

 Nevelon wrote:

If you find someone waxing nostaglic about metal minis, ask them when the last time they build one was. Sure, it’s better then resin, but plastic is Soooooo nice.

This. Started converting an Autarch out of a metal Fire Dragon Exarch about a month ago. Still not done. All this drilling and pinning just to get something to stick.

Roll on Plastic Aspects I say...

Did you sculpt those scaly skin things on the shoulders yourself, or are those some kind of aftermarket bits (sorry if I missed where you already said)? They look cool regardless!

Ynneadwraith wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:

If you find someone waxing nostaglic about metal minis, ask them when the last time they build one was. Sure, it’s better then resin, but plastic is Soooooo nice.

This. Started converting an Autarch out of a metal Fire Dragon Exarch about a month ago. Still not done. All this drilling and pinning just to get something to stick.

Roll on Plastic Aspects I say...

The lack of plastic options is severely hampering the growth of my Eldar. I’d love to field aspects, and would probably grab a box of each if they came out. But after the fire dragons, I’m not doing finecast again.

ZergSmasher wrote:Did you sculpt those scaly skin things on the shoulders yourself, or are those some kind of aftermarket bits (sorry if I missed where you already said)? They look cool regardless!

They are Kromlech.
https://bitsofwar.com/home/148-dragonborn-shoulder-pads-.html
I did have a thought on making a dragonscale cape. I’ve got 2 gravis captains, and can hardly see myself fielding one of them, much less two. And due to silly primaris equipment restrictions, it’s not like I’d need to build them with different gear. So I thought I might try my hand at addling scales with greenstuff. My thought was that rolling little balls and pressing them on with a blunt object to flatten them might work for duplicating the dragonscale look. Not likely to happen anytime soon, but an idea.

So while the boy sleeps in like a slug, I thought I’d post a quick report over coffee. Last time he was here, he wasn’t really feeling like playing, but we did put together 1k lists. Played them yesterday. He really just wanted to play killpoints, as he things a more straightforward game will minimize my strategic advantage of experience. I need to break him of that thought and get him to play the mission. Anyway, that’s down the road. The armies:

His:

Fun little balanced force. Light on long range firepower, which will hurt.

Mine:

I asked if he’d rather play vs. Eldar or Ultras, he chose the pointy eared xenos. While no bikes, this is a pretty typical list for me.

He set up the table, won the roll to choose the deployment. This is where were were at game start:


He goes first. His JP contingent lands near the rangers/vyper whlie the rest of his forces move up. Setting the tone for his game’s dice, both of the plasma pistols in the assault marine squad overheat, even with a re-roll. Overall he does end up killing the rangers though for first blood.

Unfortunately, now his jump captain is exposed. I pull the vyper back to my hill and start shooting downrange. I kill his captain, 2 assault marines, and plink 2 wounds off the razor. Not a bad turn.

He pushes forward, and his shooting takes down a hawk or two, but nothing major.
I smite his assault sarge before he can reach my lines, crack open the razor, and kill the sternguard. My spiritseer does perils, and looses half his wounds to the warp.


Here is where we are at mid-game. Not looking good for the imperials. I convince The Boy to keep at it, and work on giving him some tips so he can get better next time.

At my suggestion, his rhino advances and pops smoke, positioning itself to block LOS to his captain. His snipers take down my wounded seer. I think he kills another hawk. Not the best turn, but it was going to be ugly, and he’s in position for next turn.

I do manage to kill the rhino, and a few of the tac marines, but that’s it. Considering I’ve still got a solid firebase, it could have been worse.

While he’s not going to win, it’s time for a little vengeance. His foot captain and the survivors of the tac squad move up and lay down some fire. His dice continue to be ice-cold, but we talk about the importance of fire order, which is particularly relevant for Salamanders. But despite bad luck, he finishes off the hawks and the vyper in CC.

I then disembark from my transports and murderize the survivors. We call it at that point.

I think the only fresh paint I had was the guardian’s weapon platform. Which spent the bulk of the game chilling in the WS.
He was fielding the Shield Eternal bit I recently painted, which doesn’t really help when you are doomed and being shot at by a buffed squad of swooping hawks. I’m not sure how many times he’s fielded his foot captain with maul/plasma pistol; I know he’s used mine a bit. But he actually did quite well for himself. While I’m not huge fan of mauls in 8th, they still do a really nice job cashing out squishy eldar.

Hopefully will get some hobby time in this afternoon. The Boy wants to try to finish basecoating the green on his stormraven, and I’ve got some building to do.

Hope everyone is enjoying their St. Patty’s Day hangovers,
--Nev



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The dead walk. Right now the arms/torsos/heads are just tacked on, so I can still pose and swap around. But 3/5 of the squad is clean and partly assembled. Not sure if I’m going to add the extra armor plates and things that are supposed to go on the CC guys. I’ll try cleaning up a few and tacking them on once the squad is ready.

Those Wraithguard are going to be lovely when they're done Nev.

Oh, metal models. How I loathe and love you. Nice new additions.

good job the heads are only tacked on. The guy on the right looks like he has a neck problem

War Kitten wrote:Those Wraithguard are going to be lovely when they're done Nev.

youwashock wrote:Oh, metal models. How I loathe and love you. Nice new additions.

Zambro wrote:good job the heads are only tacked on. The guy on the right looks like he has a neck problem

For being sluggish animated constructs, these guys have a lot more life in them then most marine kits. Might be that the waist and neck are ball joins, so there is a lot of flex in posture, but also just the stance. Really enjoyed building them.

The arms come off for painting, just tacked on for now, but they are ready for the prime pile. Hopefully the posture of the guy on the right ended up as “looking sideways” not “broken neck”

Some paint:

Green wash is down. Next is a touch up pass, then the black wash. And I really should start on the guns. They need to be finished in a week.

I think the next build will be a wraithlord. Looking forward to digging into that kit.

Put the blackwash down on those guys last night, so just the touch-ups, basing, and guns left. We’ll see if I can finish them this weekend. Should be doable. Then I need to figure out what to paint next. Any preferences? Can’t prime for a few weeks yet, weather is still crappy.

In other news I did my taxes this week, and will be getting a nice check from the IRS. I normally earmark a bit of it for hobby use, so need to decide what I want/need. More KR boxes/foam is high on the list, maybe even a second bag. But I should also get something to paint. Both my Ultras and Eldar are in a good place right now though. Undead might be getting some new stuff, need to dig into the rumors more. Or at the very least, I might grab another box of skeletons. Should really build the the ones I got in the SC box a bit back. 3 blocks of 40 guys seems to be the go-to build, and I’m a bit shy of that.

Anyway, enjoy your weekends all. And have fun at adeptecon for those who are there. You lucky guys...

So many possibilities when you have some spare cash for the hobby... Do you have Shadespire? I'm told it's a good game to play on the side, and the undead expansion is ace, too.

 Zambro wrote:
So many possibilities when you have some spare cash for the hobby... Do you have Shadespire? I'm told it's a good game to play on the side, and the undead expansion is ace, too.

I don’t, and only sort of considered it. I’m not interested in any of the factions in the main set, and while the undead do look fun, you need the core set to play. So the question is how much do I want to blow on a game that I’m probably not going to get much play out of, just for some minis I enjoy? For things like BaC and BoP, the games were gravy on the 30k marines. Shadespire doesn’t have that. In a related vain, I enjoy the concept of Necromunda/Bloodbowl, but they require a regular crowd for play, and my attendance at the FLGS is spotty at best.

Speaking of which, I hit the more “L” of the FLGSs this afternoon. It’s the one I tried to go to after the Goblin closed. Perk is that it’s only a few minutes away. The owner claims that 4-8 guys are there every Friday for 40k, so I might give it a shot and see what’s up. Seems their stock is a bit lower then I recall from last time, but not terrible. Picked up some paints for The Boy and a paint handle for myself.

Some hobby progress:

Black wash is drying on the arm/bolters, they will just need a touchup pass and are finished. First glue is drying on the rocks. I want to make sure that it is completely dry before putting a diluted glue wash down to help keep rocks from flaking off. We had a problem before rushing this step, as applying the second coat was knocking off the rocks it was supposed to seal down. After that the bases need their black wash. I figure I’ll do the glue after dinner tonight, and the wash in the morning. Then it’s just glue the guns on and the glamor shots.

WL build progresses. Torso is built, and I put some liquid GS on to help fill gaps. Will sand that down once it dries. Put some thought into how to gear him up. Since I now have two, I think I’m going to specialize them. The heavy weapons are going to be magnetized, but the small ones and the sword are going to be glued.

This guy is going to be fire support. I’m going to put one heavy on the pistol grip, and the other on the alternate shoulder. The other shoulder and arm will get shurcats. I don’t think it’s worth the point upgrades for the flamers and glave on him. 29 points is a lot for something he’ll probably not need. Basic fists should work well of something gets close and needs to be slapped around. Primary heavies will probably be brightlances. I want to like the other heavies, but the BLs just get the job done for a decent price. Stance will mostly be standing around at rest.

The other one is going to be more CC oriented. He’ll get the burners and the stabby bit. I figure with advancing and possibly taking hits on the way in, the auto-hit flamers will be worth the price. The Glave looks cool, and while I prefer the flat 3D to the d6, the +2S puts him at a good breakpoint. S9 is wounding tanks on a 3+ regardless of size, and is cashing out T4 models on a 2+. The extra AP will be nice for LRs, but mostly irrelevant. Default will probably give him 2xShurCannons. I’m going to hit a craft store tomorrow and look into getting a razor saw. I want to carve at least one leg for more of a running pose. I envision him running forward, one arm forward with a cannon on it, and the sword held back and to the side (behind?) in a reverse grip. We’ll see if I can actually execute this vision. I don’t do a whole lot of limb cutting/bending.

Still dithering about what guns should be on the War Walkers, but they will be magnetized, so no rush making decisions. Plus they are pretty far down the build list.

So they are done. Nothing earthshaking from the first 5, but done by the deadline. Here is the full squad, ready for deployment:


Which bring us to the end(ish) of March, so I should probably do a quarterly report. Here is the YTD:

14 minis, so ahead of my 1-a-week goal. But not significantly ahead. I’ve been doing much better then that recently, so should probably pick up the pace.
6 bits done, so halfway to my yearly goal. Good work there.
Little shy on games played, need to get more in. Heading to the local FLGS should help here, with the benefit of playing more then just The Boy’s Salamanders.
While I painted the platform, I do need to get more Eldar done. I’ve been building them, but they need to be painted to count. I suspect they will feature heavily in Q3-4. But I should try to get some of the old guys out of the queue to make room for the new. Getting to a comfortable 2k should not be hard if I get even half of the new guys to the table. A SC:Eldar box clocks in at over 500 points, and I have two working their way out of the pile of shame. Plus the WS I picked up; forgot about that. If I build/paint all the Eldar I recently picked up, that’s 1,250 points right there. And I have 6 bikes, a jetseer and 8 guardians already primed and waiting.
One thing I want to focus a little harder on is my much ignored 1st goal; painting stuff for my friend’s SoB army. With the news of plastics on the way (Emperor willing) he’s perked up a bit and might get back into 40k. With that in mind, I’d like to dredge up the remnants of stuff I’ve had waiting in the wings and get them done. If he does dive back in, I’ll probably end up painting some of the new stuff for him. One of these days I should kidnap the chunk of his army I did paint for a photoshoot. It’s hard to get a grasp on how many sisters I did paint, as they were delivered and deployed in waves, but it feels like I did a zillion of the little ladies.

You know, I never actually considered using my Mk 3 Marines as Sternguard. Once I get some suitably fancy looking bits I just might steal that idea, I still have 20 of the Burning of Prospero Marines to build, and I would like some more Sternguard

Salamanders look great.

Cheers,

CB

Your Sallies turned out great! What's next for you and the Boy?

Eldar and Sisters coming up? Right on.

The new marines look good, especially as a full squad.

War Kitten wrote:You know, I never actually considered using my Mk 3 Marines as Sternguard. Once I get some suitably fancy looking bits I just might steal that idea, I still have 20 of the Burning of Prospero Marines to build, and I would like some more Sternguard

Suits of older marks of armor seemed a good match for sternguard. I think the Mk III works well for more aggressive squads; it just looks very brutal.

Captain Brown wrote:Salamanders look great.

Cheers,

CB

ZergSmasher wrote:Your Sallies turned out great! What's next for you and the Boy?

I’m quite happy with the way they turned out. Was a little on the fence on the shade of green, but it’s grown on me. I started work on some Eldar guardians for my next painting project. Mostly just to get them out of the primed pile. But they are fairly simple, so hopefully will go quickly. Not sure what The Boy has got on deck. I just sent him a reminder that the month is almost over, so if he wants to finish painting an entry for the month, he needs to get on it. He’s got a lot of things partially painted I’m trying to convince him to finish. He might also be picking up some new stuff as his birthday is imminent.

youwashock wrote:Eldar and Sisters coming up? Right on.

The new marines look good, especially as a full squad.

“Sisters” is a bit of a stretch in the short term. It’s mostly unloved scraps. A seraphim and superior without backpacks, a canoness (bare metal) another canoness who needs a new hand carved from spares and painted, a half dozen arcoflagelents, a vindicare assassin, 3 kurganova sisters for an allied guard force, and spare HF/MM/HB options for immolators. Which is the first time I think I’ve inventoried them. Some of the flagelents have a start to a basecoat on them. I wasn’t happy with how they were looking and just sorta stopped work on them. I think they would take well to a nulan oil wash, as my big issue with them was the confused detail and flat colors that were happening. But a good wash to muddy things up and hide the flaws might be just what the Emperor ordered. I should probably clean up the raw canoness and move to to the to-prime pile. She was a low priority due to my friend already having a few painted, and the special characters massively overshadowing her in every previous edition. But as the only complete sister model I have that’s actually a sister, I should paint her up.

Kill! Maim! Burn!

Agents of chaos is this month’s theme, so im going to finish up these guys. Time allowing, i might build and prime two more to bring them up to a five man stick. As I’m a few hundred miles from my workbench, and won’t be back for a week, time will probably not allow, but it’s good to have stretch goals. Need to find their shields.

I should have grabbed a pic before 2 guardians are almost done with thier basecoats. I think I’m going to treat them as a background project, and slowly work on them as i do other things. I’d like to get them out of the primed pile, but there is no rush.

Gave The Boy the salamanders, he was thirlled. I also got him a set of the same brushes i use (slightly different sizes, is use 00, 0, and 1 ricktons, got him 0, 1, 2) and a puck of master’s brush cleaner. Plus a pair of paints, a base gold (he was complaining about his layer gold not covering) and BftBG, as I think it’s a fun paint to have, and he does his eye lenses red, so can use it. My folks got him an IOU for a KR box. So I’ll sit down with him and pick out what he wants to fill it. Get myself a new case at the same time, bump us over the free shipping threshold. So he didn’t get any new 40k kits for his birthday, but did get a lot of hobby support stuff. And a fully painted squad.

Hope everyone has a nice Easter, April fools, Passover, spring beak, or just a weekend. I’m semi-AFK for a week, so no hobby progress from me. Just relaxing, playing board games with my brother, his boys, and The Boy. And eating well and drinking top shelf booze. It’s good to visit home.

Take care all,
—Nev

top shelf booze...

Good to see something different coming across your table. Enjoy your week away!

 Nevelon wrote:

One thing I want to focus a little harder on is my much ignored 1st goal; painting stuff for my friend’s SoB army. With the news of plastics on the way (Emperor willing) he’s perked up a bit and might get back into 40k. With that in mind, I’d like to dredge up the remnants of stuff I’ve had waiting in the wings and get them done. If he does dive back in, I’ll probably end up painting some of the new stuff for him. One of these days I should kidnap the chunk of his army I did paint for a photoshoot. It’s hard to get a grasp on how many sisters I did paint, as they were delivered and deployed in waves, but it feels like I did a zillion of the little ladies.

I'm definitely pumped to hear this... I'll keep an eye out for these photos to come around!

Just a quick update, so I’m not a bad blogger.

Got some paint down on the marauders. Just the pants and flesh basecoats, but it’s something. I’ll try to get more done tonight, and a large chunk this weekend (as I have no plans/boy). I’m reminded how much these models suck. Plus, younger me who built/primed them did a kinda crappy job. Oh well.

In other hobby news I ordered another KR case. A Kaiser 2, so I don’t need to drag my 3 around for smaller games. It was partly subsidized by my folks, who got The Boy some foam for his birthday, so one of the KRMs is going to him. But it costs less to pick them up as a bundle deal, so I took advantage and ordered everything together. Tax returns are great for stuff you kinda want, but can’t justify the rest of the year. I probably wouldn’t have gotten the new bag, just more foam otherwise. I still probably need another KRU worth of foam, but can do that next year.

In non-hobby news my trip home to KY went fine. No problems with airplanes, lots of games played, less booze drunk then expected, but that’s probably a good thing. My brother and his kids were actually keeping passover all week (for the first time ever) so food was a little weird. Irritated my mom, as she did all the meal planning for the week expecting to use flour. Still excellent, but a little restricted.

Spring is still not here yet, but I should finish working up the to-prime pile just in case. And get some more paint down.

Hope everyone endures the rest of their work weeks,
--Nev