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Ahoy! Just wanted to wish you all a glorious Talk Like a Pirate day. Drink some rum, have some spaghetti and meatballs, praise the FSM, and relax! Maybe get some painting in.

No pics, but I got the first red down on the last two WG. Plugging away. Layer a day and they will be done before I know it.

Happy holidays all.

--Nev

It’s not sexy, but sometimes production work finishing up a squad is what you need to do. All the basecoats should be down on these guys. Red needs a fair bit of touchup, but that’s why I call them sloppy basecoats.

Gotta figure any progress is good progress. Even little steps keep up the momentum. At least that is what I tell myself.

 youwashock wrote:
Gotta figure any progress is good progress. Even little steps keep up the momentum. At least that is what I tell myself.

Yup. Layer a day keeps the grey hordes away!

So I got The Boy for the weekend. His homework was to read the KT rulebook and assemble and bring a team. He kinda skimmed it, and just packed his minis. I’ll take that, I guess. We sat down and worked out a KT for him to play:



Tac Sarge, BP/power sword, -Leader
Intercessor Sarge, bolt rifle, power sword, -Combat
Intercessor, bolt rife, -Coms
Intercessor, bolt rifle, -Sniper
3x tac marine

Vs.

Scout sarge w/bolter -Leader
Scout gunner w/HB -Heavy
Scout w/shotgun

Intercessor sarge w/rifle, power sword -Combat
Intercessor gunner w/rifle AGL -Demo
2x Intercessor w/rifle

I think I’ve got an edge in firepower, and not sure on durability, We’ve both got 7 models, I have one more wound then he does. He bulked out his team with Tacs, while I’m using scouts. Should be interesting, once he wakes up. Slug boy gotta slug. Can’t really expect a 12 year old to wake up before the crack of noon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So, playing the basic mission. Split the table across the long edge, rolled to play for the cache, which was the objective in his deployment zone, under the hill. Set up:


My scout sarge and HB gunner are shooting from the windows, with the grenadier supporting from the ruins while the rest of my force lines up to move up the center. His CC guys pair up on the hill, while his tacs cover the objective and the rest of his force anchors the other flank.

I go first. I move up my center force, he advances a little and shuffles around to the flank. Pretty much everyone is obscured, and at long range. Lots of misses. I think I might have plinked a wound off his sniper.

Turn two I again get initiative. Too far to charge, I move up to the hill. He charges his CC guys into my scout and combat sarge. I use the strike first tactic to try to swing before I get cut down, but he does as well on his leader and wins the roll off. However, his vet sarge only puts one wound on the sarge, and gets cut down in return. The shotgunner takes a flesh wound at his combat sarges hand. 4A with a power sword is some pretty mean stuff, but cold dice are cold. Some other light shooting, mostly ineffectual IIRC. He can’t roll to hit, but can’t fail armor saves.

End of 2:


Turn 3 he wins initiative. Which is not actually that useful some times. He doesn’t do a whole lot of movement. My shotgunner falls back towards the lander, joined by my combat sarge (who charged one of the tacs down there). My leader moves out to get a better range and angle while the intercessors move around to get clear shots at his sarge. Between misses and good saves his sarge lives; he lost a wound. The shotgunner gets mowed down in a crossfire, and my combat sarge guts a tac and consolidates into the other two.



Turn 4 he wins initiative again. Charges my intercessors, falls back from by CC sarge. My sarge re-charges his tacs. I ready my backfield for shooting (did a lot of that) Not a lot of shooting happens, he wounds one of the intercessors. I slap flesh wounds on both his tacs. I use the fight again tactic, and wiff completely. He’s got enough guys OOA and with flesh wounds that he needs to make a break check, which he fails. None of his guys fail their test to be shaken though.

Turn 5, last round. I think he won init again. He falls back form CC, one tac to the objective, the other up the hill. His flanking force pulls back to make sure they can see the objective. I fall back from CC with my intercessors to get in range of the objective, my sarge charges his tac there as well.

Shooting I finally put down his CC sarge and his coms guy on the side. I fail to kill his tac on the objective, but I’ve got 3 boots to his 1.

Victory Ultramarines!

Thoughts:
All the -1s to hit add up a lot. My thought of a backfield support squad did some damage, but not a huge amount. It didn’t help that I needed to go to him.
While in 40k shotguns are roughly equivalent to bolters, I was disappointed in KT. The -1 at long range and a 12” range is pretty brutal.
Combat intercessor sergeants with power swords are mean.
Bolt rifles are cash. Good range is relevant, -1 AP is nice. Without cover giving a save bonus, even power armor can fail with a little prompting.

OK, need to get dinner on the table, so enough post game thoughts for now. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

--Nev

I remember coffee table 40k quite fondly...

 Gitsplitta wrote:
I remember coffee table 40k quite fondly...

I think my coffee table is the right width, but about 6” longer then the recommended KT board. Close enough and better then the floor.

Glad to see you gave it a whirl. Scouts with rifles are good as they ignore the long range penalty. The missions can be very variable and some can stitch you up, don't be afraid to house rule them.

Kill Team seems like a good way for your son to be able to use the models he paints, even if he paints too few to use in a regular game of 40k. Plus it lets you guys have a fun game without having to take the time for a full 40k game. Thanks for posting the report!

I keep on fiddling around with lists. So many options, and not easy to fit into 100 points. Looking forward to more games.

Some paint:

Should be basically done bar the grey edges and basing. Almost table ready.

Next month is going to focus on undead for the assorted competitions. I think my background project is going to get a deathwatch squad done. It will help with the xenos balance of the YTD shelf.

Classic Mordheim buildings and LotR bookends as terrain? I love it!

 youwashock wrote:
Classic Mordheim buildings and LotR bookends as terrain? I love it!

I work with what I have. I do need to do some repairs to the Mordheim buildings. I think I’ve got a few in parts somewhere. My terrain feels a little stretched on a full sized table, but does OK ok a KT one.

Just to keep up my layer a day goal, I put the green on the bases of the WG yesterday. Still need to grey line them, but I really need a block of time and the right attitude for that.

Grey done. Black rims and basing all that’s left.

Glued stuff before breakfast, blacked the rims after. Flocking will take place after work, then a group shot of the finished squad.

Nice to see the Eldar skipping through the flowers. Coming on well.

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Nice to see the Eldar skipping through the flowers. Coming on well.

Well, Eldar have been skipping though the meadows while humanity was still learning not to eat rocks. And would continue to do if if the Imperium would leave their maiden worlds alone. But the filthy monkeys have come to pollute our fair gems with their presence, so actions need to be taken.

So to protect our delicate flowers, We’ll resort to necromancy and soul-rending weaponry. Seems fair. Enter the scytheguard.

The last two members of the squad:

Not 100% on the highlights, but it is what it is.

And the whole squad:


Ready to be the much needed anvil upon which my foes will break. So nice to have something not T3 in my army.

Nice work on those Wraithguard. I've always like the Eldar Wraith constructs, from these guys on up to the Wraithknight. They have a really cool look.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
Nice work on those Wraithguard. I've always like the Eldar Wraith constructs, from these guys on up to the Wraithknight. They have a really cool look.

I’ll agree to that. Besides the grav tanks, they are my favorite sculpts. I have mixed feeling about the Wraithknight though. Like the model, but it’s rule went from “I’d feel dirty fielding it” to “I’d feel REALLY dirty fielding it” and then ended up as “Hot Garbage”. OK, that last one’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I do think they are a bit overpriced. There is also my knee-jerk dislike of apoc units in 40k and the large price tag that have kept me from picking one up.

Someday, maybe. But not now.

Wraithknight is an awesome model. Would be cool to see you take one on. Just sayin'. Unit of WG turned out sweet.

 youwashock wrote:
Wraithknight is an awesome model. Would be cool to see you take one on. Just sayin'. Unit of WG turned out sweet.

I’d like to see my take on one as well. But in the calculus of the hobby budget, I can’t justify the ~$100 for something that would be mostly a painting project due to bad rules. If I was to sink that kind of cash into my Eldar, it would probably be for some bikes and High Elf knights to kitbash into shining spears. Or at least one more WS and a box of DAs. Hmm. Maybe I should see of my FLGS still has that old battleforce collecting dust. KT means I actually could use some guardian bodies to work into specialists. Although now that I think of it, if I’m adding value from them, the Wake the Dead box starts to look a little better. Still a lot of stuff I’m so-so on for that price point.

Speaking of budgets and what I need, it’s almost October, time for a Q3 summery. First, the YTD shot:


Looking very Eldar up in here. Not that the Imperials are not represented, especially if we recall that the rows of penny in the back are there to stand in for the 10 man Salamander sternguard squad that went to The Boy. 45 models painted. 7 more for my 1-a-week goal (doable) or 13 more for my paint more then I buy goal (also doable, assuming I don’t buy more) If I fall back on my model equivalent math (bikes=2, vehicles=4) then I’ve got my 52, still a little shy of the paint more goal. But I’ve been using real numbers for a bit now, so lets not fall back on cheating. Overall quite happy with the quality and diversity of the stuff I’ve done this year.

What’s on deck:
Primed pile:

Built, waiting for nice weather: **EDIT** Today was nice out, these guys are all primed.

To be built:
No picture here, as the Pile of Shame is to large to be encompassed by a camera. But here is the short list of things on my to build list.
Eldar, in order of priority:
Wave Serpent
CC Wraithlord
Wraithblades w/axes
2x Warwalkers
(2x farseers on foot, low priority build, one straight, see if I can make a spiritseer from the other one)

Deathwatch:
Ven dread
2 inceptors converted for DI easy build
10 PA vets. Priority to well geared ones, especially frag cannons
convert a watchmaster, probably from the BoP Space Wolf with a spear made from GK bits.

Ultra/Salamander/DW unsure:
Gravis captain - I barely want the one in the primed pile, much less a second one; might build and paint for The Boy.
5 Hellblasters - I got a squad already. Probably good enough to include a second squad for the boys in blue. But could also go DW, or again be painted as a gift for The Boy.
5 DI intercessors - Might try to convert into KT specialists for Ultras, or just build stock.
Centurions - Will join the Ultras someday. I was always “meh” on the models, but they grew on me enough that the very good rules prompted the purchase. Now the rules suck, so the motivation is gone.

Undead:
Grave markers
Nighthaunts
Skeletons
Hexwraiths

Ideally I’d build 2-4 more things before winter hits.

Want to buy:
There are always more things I need. And they keep on producing new, shinier things.
3 man full aggressor box - To join the DW, geared with bolters.
10 man reiver squad - 5 for Ultras (knives and grapnels) and 5 for DW (mixed)
Scout bikers (still want to flesh out my squad)
WS - I love grav tanks, and one of the core concepts of my armor is not getting mud on your boots. I’ve got one built, and one on sprue, but adding a 3rd would let me fully mechanize a respectable army.
Dire avengers -good troops, want to build more exarch options, KT specialists
On the KT note, I could use another box of guardians and intercessors to make into more specialists.
DW kill team Cassius box - more justifiable now that I’m building a DW army, lots of cool sculpts in there.
Terrain
Battlemat (undecided on arctic or grassland)

What’s on deck for the rest of the year:
Next month I’m going to try to paint all 3 of the nighthaunt heroes. By the end of the year I want to paint up at least one of the 5 man DW intercessor squads. Depending what the November contest is, I might do them for that, or December’s wildcard slot. Or just as a background project. That leaves space for one more project. I’d like to get a vehicle or Guiliman out of the primed pile and onto the table, but I think that might be too much to ask for the holiday season. Especially as I think October is going to be tight with the undead. I’d like it to be Ultramarines. Maybe I’ll finish up some scraps of squads from the pile; I’ve got a few scouts, and more intercessors, plus the old LotD counts-as I built. When reviewing the pile, my eye caught on the Primaris captain, so I might take that as a sign to do him.
A lot depends on what I can build and prime.

Long term I think I’m going to retire my “Get my Eldar army to a larger level, 2 more full squads minimum, aiming to be more comfortable at 2k” goal. I’ve got 500+ points sitting on the YTD shelf right now. Next year I think it’s going to be “Bring Deathwatch to battalion strength (2xHQ, 3xTroops). I’ve got 1 HQ (librarian) and one troop (veteran squad) already, and plan on having another troop done by year’s end. While not a particularly adventurous goal, I want to replace the Eldar one with something

Hope everyone enjoys their weekends,

--Nev

Questions for the crowd: Paint schemes.

Next month (aka tomorrow) I’m going to start in on these guys:


I want them to fit in to my modern undead scheme. The primary colors are bone, black, dark-steel, red, with blue for ghost effects.

Examples of stuff painted this decade:


How much do I want to make these guys (as heroes/HQs) stand out? The guy on the horse is easy, the other two might just blend in with the rank and file nighthaunts.

Speaking of which, lets step back a bit.

For all the normal spooks, I’m planning black-washed steel for armor and weapons, black robes which are going to be tapered to blue wisps. Fairly similar to the studio army, but probably not taking it as far to white on the etherial effects.

Mr. Padlock I was thinking of going red. Basically he’s be done the same way I did Manfred’s cape. Iron armor, but bronze locks/keys.
Mr. Lantern would get the same treatment. One thing I was thinking about for him would be to do the smoke from the lantern in an etherial green, to help him stand out.
Now the Dark Knight gets a few different treatments. The horse has strips of skin that are ghosting off. So that’s black horse to blue ghost transition (like what I’m planning for the rank & file) Horse bone gets my normal bone treatment. The rider defiantly gets the red to blue cloak treatment. His skin gets the blue. This should tie in nicely as a inverted scheme from the hexwraiths (who are black riders on red clad horses)

I guess my main question is weather or not to go red/black on the “foot” HQs. Do their accouterments stand out on their own to distinguish them from the R&F? If I go green flame on the lantern, that will make him stick out. Lock guy might blend a bit, but he’s got distinctive gear.

Thoughts? Not just on them but on the rider as well.

Thanks
--Nev

Ambitious goals! I salute your waitlist management... my P&M to-do list is again in need of an update.

Can't wait to see those ghosts... the blue transition scheme sounds/looks awesome. Will you wet-blend or something else?

If I don’t keep track of my to-do list, I tend to forget stuff. I should probably do a more thorough reckoning of the pile of shame. Things have been lost there.

I’ll have to review how I did Manfred’s cloak. I think I mostly did it via overlapping washes, but there might have been a little wet blending to start it off.

Some progress for the morning:


Everything done and magnetized except the chin turret. On my list of things to do today is hit the hardware store and look of small metal disks I could put under the nose to stick magnets to. If I can find something, I can retro-fit all my old tanks as well. Right now that’s a major roadblock for WYSWYG options for the tanks.

I've had good luck with magnet-to-magnet, although it does create polarity management issues. The magnets are cheap enough and powerful even when spaces call for small options. Any reason you're looking at magnet-to-metal?

 MacPhail wrote:
I've had good luck with magnet-to-magnet, although it does create polarity management issues. The magnets are cheap enough and powerful even when spaces call for small options. Any reason you're looking at magnet-to-metal?

Mostly becasue the work to retrofit older stuff that the hulls are already sealed. For new constuction, I could just glue some supports or greenstuff a back for the magnet to sit on. But the largest magnet I have is 3mm, so I can’t just glue a disk over the whole. I guess I could order larger magnets. But I figured if I could find a metal bit I could just glue, it would be easy.

Picked up some thumbtacks at the store. They had a white plastic cover, that made them a little too big. Take that off, they slot perfectly.



This is exactly what I was looking to be able to do. Quick, easy, no muss, no fuss. And I co go back to the older hulls and just stick them on.

Hey, Paint!


Done with the basecoats. Of course, this guy is primarily a wash built paintjob. Smoke gets a green ink, turquoise from the ghost up into the cloak, plus the arms. Brown for the bronze, black wash and/or ink for the armor/robes.

Then highlights, maybe a second wash to blend transitions on the robes, baseing etc.

And a quick first pass of some washes. Still need the black, but as that’s going on in layers, need some dry time.

Looking nice, I think I prefer the smoke in the first pic however! The subtle greens are nice!

I was planning on going over it with a drybrush. Wasn’t sure if I’d go back to a goblin green, or just a white-ish one.

Yes I'd knock it back a smidge, coming on nicely though.

What chapter is that Space Marine from? He looks a bit skinny.

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Yes I'd knock it back a smidge, coming on nicely though.

What chapter is that Space Marine from? He looks a bit skinny.

One problem with washes is that due to their more organic nature, it’s hard to tell exactly how they will look once done. One concern about going back to the goblin green is that it may blend too much with the base. Kinda wish I had a more minty/pastel green in paint selection. I could just mix some up, but that sounds like effort.

He’s for my Eldar army, obviously. They are well know for their foul xenos necromancy. But yah, he could use a sandwich.

Got the boy for the long weekend (and took time off today from work to make it a long weekend). Player a game of KT yesterday. He used the same list as last time, I swapped out the HB for a ML, gave my sarge a sniper rifle instead of a bolter, and dropped the shotgunner for points.



Rolled up capture prisoners for the mission. Interesting thing with points. I was low (94 points IIRC) which gave me a major advantage. I was going to win ties. Having more long range firepower, I was content to sit on my hill and ready my troops to blast him while he approached. As the only way to score VP was to take guys out of action while close, he had to come to me. The game also runs short, with the end check coming after turn 4. He probably should have been more aggressive, as he only got his combat guy into CC on the last turn. Didn’t help that I was making retrograde tactical repositions to keep the range open.

So victory for the Ultras. We tallied up XP and kept rosters, so this will be an ongoing saga.

Happy Thanksgiving to our neighbors to the north. I’m all about cultural appropriation if there is food involved, so am doing turkey, stuffing, and while not all the trimmings, a few of them. You have my permission to celebrate again in November and borrow some Thanks from us in return.
I think Thanksgiving is a much better holiday then Columbus day (or Indigenous People’s day, depending how you roll) Not just for the food (which is one thing to be thankful for) but it’s good to take stock of all the good things in your like you do have, and be thankful of. Not just the bounty on the table (which not everyone has) or the friends and family (again, not universal). But be thankful of all things great and small in your life. It’s easy to focus on the negative, but once you start looking at all the things that are good and positive, you will be surprised how many there are. The silver linings probably outnumber the clouds.


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KT take 2,



3 objectives, I’m defending them. Same lists. Again, I hold the hill and he needs to come to me. Scouting phase is pretty relevant, as I booby trap all 3 buildings. He plays more aggressively this time, both his CC guys make the hill. He only manages to cut down one of my intercessors, before I finish them off. Without much chance of taking the objectives, he withdraws before the bitter end. We both had a few guys level up, so lists are going to be interesting next time we play.

Managed to sneak in a few coats of paint.

Back to the goblin green smoke, will drybrush later. Also black ink on the robes. Darkened and smoothed them out a bit. Pretty happy with the guy as he stands. Or floats, whatever.

Did a light elf grey drybrush over most of the lantern guy. Looks pretty good. Blackrimmed the base, he just needs tufts and flock. Will grab a pic in some better light. Put the first blacks down on the other two.

Package in the mail today. 200 2mm magnets from a company called umagnets. Based in china, but seem legit. $10 for 200, and a large chunk of that was shipping. Took a month, but they got here. Seem a little longer then the ones I thought were 2x2mm. Shouldn’t be an issue for the most part. They said they are N42, no way to check. Part of me keeps asking “Is this too good to be true”. I assume I’m just paying wholesale prices for something I normally buy at a hobby markup.

Got some layers down. Plugging away. As I put brush to the horse, I’m rethinking my thoughts. I might do the horse bone in blue, like the rider/spooks. Not sold either way, thoughts?

Should be a quiet weekend, we’ll see how far I get. I want to do more building then painting, but who knows what motivation will allow.

Grey and rainy out, not helping. I’m generally in a funk this time of year anyway. Go-go seasonal depression! Bad news from work. They are rearranging some of the perks/benefits. One of the things that’s getting dropped is the giftcards from the vitality health program. These were the primary funding for a lot of my hobby purchases; I cashed out $400 in Amazon cards this year. I (finally) got my annual merit raise review last week, which corporate had pushed back from it’s normal spring timeframe. While I’m getting a moderate raise, it’s basically being canceled by the change in the vitality program. What this means for the Blog will probably be a slow down in new stuff. While my finances remain stable, the loss of my guilt-free source of income will hamper incoming supplies. There are other avenues of income; I should look into cashing out some of the reward points on my credit card (also Amazon). But the fact that my “fun” budget is going to be coming out of general funds means it’s going to be competing directly with things like dinner/drinks with friends and other expenses earmarked for keeping me sane.

Oh well, life progresses onward.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

--Nev

Edit:

Some guns for the knife-ears. Thinking about Eldar in Kill Team, I might want more options for the weapon platform. Figured I’d do up pairs, just in case I want to use them on a WS for 40k. And more bright lances, can never have enough AV firepower. Added some under-nose/bike cannons, because they are generally just better then the twin cats.


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And just because there has been quite enough xenos up in this blog of late:



Coming together nicely.


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I love the dread kits. So iconic, so fun to build.

Scratchbuilt the ML.

Started with one of the gun arms from the Ven Dread kit. Obviously it’s going on backwards. Took a hobby saw and cut the grubbins that were the back of the arm off for a flush surface. Was careful not to mangle the hose.
The ML bit is from the old Ravenwing accessory sprue, for making typhoon land speeders. Trimmed the mounting pegs off the back, otherwise stock.
Back vent from same sprue. There was a bit that stuck out to the side, that got cut off. The vent itself was just a hair too wide, so I filed it down a little. Mounted at an angle, so the bottom is flush with the bottom of the arm.
There was a gap behind the ML mount that needed something. I used a spare bit from the back of the stormtalon gunpod. Had to be slightly trimmed to fit.