Builder's Permit: Assault Marine Squad

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**Candroth**

My gaming store has an achievement board for doing certain things -- rolling 10 or more dice and getting 75% 6s or 1s, not losing a single model during a game, etc. When you fill out a certain section of achievements, you get something. Dice, glue, blister/box of miniatures, etc. Some of them are ridiculously hard to get (all close combat Tau army, for instance ... lolwut) but they're a fun way to bring something new and interesting into the mix.

One of these achievements is called 'Builder's Permit' -- Purchase, assemble, and paint a full unit in one week. Bring in the receipt and the miniatures, and you get the achievement. I bought a box of Assault Marines tonight to make an attempt for this. Plans go as follows, boldfaced once completed:

Saturday: Buy miniatures, file on sprue
Sunday: Prime on sprue, paint basecoat
Monday: Cut from sprue, touch up basecoat and cut lines, preliminary gluing (front/back halves, etc)
Tuesday: Wash, first layer of coloring/highlights
Wednesday: Second layer of coloring/highlights, glue together
Thursday: Third layer of coloring/highlights
Friday: Final highlighting, glue to base
Saturday: Apply sand to bases, return to store.

* * * * * *

Saturday: After much agonizing, I decided on a squad of Assault Marines. I have one ten-squad already, but a second wouldn't hurt as I don't have many Fast Attack units currently. I had to start a 40k game after buying them, but it didn't stop me from cracking open the box and playing with the new shiny toy.

No pictures for now; it's plain old plastic on plain old sprues, and who wants to see that? I'll start taking pictures once I've primed them and try to take at least a couple pictures every day until it's all done.

I decided I was going to prime on the sprue, since I want to add the little accessory bitz to the models and getting those primed off the sprue would be a royal nightmare. I also wanted to see the difference in ease of priming on the sprue as opposed to off. With that in mind, I spent the evening working out the mold lines tonight. It was occasionally a pain in the ass because of one thing or another being in the way, but the sprue itself didn't seem to be much of a problem.

Tomorrow morning, I follow the advice of several Dakkaites (including some Canuckistanian folks) and try priming outside. It still has yet to get above freezing out here, so I'll have to be relatively swift about it. I suppose the good news is I won't have to take too long since it'll just be the three sprues, once for each side.

I tried to spread out the different stages so I wouldn't be working too much in one day and burn myself out or get sick of it, as well as giving each layer of paint a chance to dry completely before I start in on the next. Since I'll be blending colors, I may go with areas instead of layers and save the most detailed parts for last. The final basing will have to wait until I find where the rest of my painting supplies went.

Wish me luck ... between real life getting in the way and my pest of a cat, I may need it! This is the first brand new unit I've acquired that's not from the Black Reach set. I've just 'crossed the line' ...

**LunaHound**

The achievements sounds really interesting , what kind of rewards do you get? do they accumulate as you achieved more?

**Candroth**

Sunday: Prime on sprue, basecoat.

In very brief: Spraying primer in winter makes your hands cold, ice makes you slip on gak. Why am I thinking of changing my painting method AGAIN?

Longer: Took me a while to find a chunk of cardboard that I could lay down outside to put the sprues on. I heated up the primer can as folks suggested (BRILLIANT IDEA) and went to town.

Apparently, P3 primer is thinner than the other stuff I'd used, and a local friend suggested that I do multiple thin coats. I think I sprayed a bit too much for the first layer -- not enough to obscure details, but the creases got a bit more primer than I wanted. First lesson with this stuff, don't bother trying to get a good coat the first time, just go over it lightly and then do it again half an hour later. I remembered to flip them over to prime the other side, but forgot to spray the other direction so there are a few bits that are somewhat light on the primer. I'm not that worried about it this time around.

The suckiest part was when I went outside again later to lay down a second coat of primer and thought 'I'll bring my other Dreadnought out and spray that sucker down too while I'm at it.' Brilliant idea, right?

... Sort of.

In my stupidity, I tried going around the cardboard to spray from the other side. The wind had changed direction and it wasn't working, so I went to move back to where I'd been and slipped on a patch of ice. Since I was already half-bent over, I didn't have time to react and my arm landed right on the back of the Dreadnought. Ow. It's got some damage, and I'm hoping it's salvageable, but for now it's sitting by itself and not getting much attention. It'll just irritate me. I quickly got the rest of the sprues primered and ready to go.

Once they were dry enough and didn't smell like ... well, stinky wet primer, I grabbed some liche Purple and painted a bit of the sprue to see the difference in shading with white vs grey primer. Not much lighter, honestly, and I think I'll like it.

After stopping at the store to grab some groceries and lightbulbs, I came back and painted the base layer for the bitz I'm actually going to use. I can't quite decide whether to leave the jump packs purple, change them to green, or have part green and part purple. Bleah.

The bottom image is me trying out someone's idea of using thinned-down paint. I definitely like the idea; I've got too much of my current army painted to switch to it but maybe for a different company in the chapter.

Switching to white primer really hasn't affected the basecoat purple color, which is what I was worried about. The green came out too light, but I can fix that with a second coat and additional fiddling.

Tomorrow I take everything off the sprues, sand the bits I missed or couldn't get to, touch up the basecoat, and glue anything with a front/back together (chestpieces, jump packs, etc, maybe attach legs).

Also, sorry LunaHound -- I was a goober and left the Achievement sheet at the store the last time I was there. I'll grab another the next time I'm up there and put 'em up here or somewhere. (:

**ShotgunFacelift**

Good luck with this.
I dont think ive every managed anything close to getting a unit fully painted within a month.

**Candroth**

Thanks, Shotgun!

It's not as difficult as it seems. An hour or so a couple times a day, between doing one thing or another, isn't really all that bad. So far, anyway. Keep a watch, if the stages keep going as I hope they will this might not be too awful at all!

**Candroth**

Monday: Cut from sprue, touch up basecoat and cut lines, preliminary gluing (front/back halves, etc)

Man, I didn't realize how much work cutting all those little pieces was going to be, and how much time it would take to glue everything.

No pictures today; I was a moron and forgot to take some. There's a lot of armless Assault Marine action going on right now.

I glued heads, torsos, and legs today. Woohoo! I narrowly managed to avoid gluing my fingers together. I had a bit of a time because the dining room table was occupied inconveniently right when I wanted to glue things, and that was annoying. I don't react well to my schedule getting mussed around with.

Nothing really of import; the cutting and gluing took up most of the work for the day, and the painting was fairly quick and unimportant. Now instead of being purplish blobs on sprues, they're purplish blobs in small plastic baggies, with a bit of green.

I meant to get the silver bitz painted tonight, but I ran out of steam. Lucky for me, the silver bits aren't that important and only have one or two layers of paint.

I'm trying to figure out how I could make my Sergeant have swappable weapons; I can't decide on whether to give him a power fist or a power axe, so I'm trying to think of ways to do both that don't involve trying to buy magnets.

I think this was the last really complicated day I had. From here on out, it should be 90% painting and 10% gluing, and whoopty-doo to that. Smooth sailing from here if all goes well.

**Leigen_Zero**

You could try and do it using double-pinning. If you use two pins instead of one you can leave the arm separate without having the mini having 'dislocated shoulder syndrome'.

It wont be as sturdy as a magnetized model, but it works quite well, I did for my friend's guard heavy weapon teams so he could remove one crewman when it took a wound, the pinned crewman falls over a lot, but it makes wound tracking a lot easier.

**Candroth**

Tuesday: Wash, first layer of coloring/highlights

I got seriously sidetracked by necessary stuff today, and didn't have enough time to do everything I wanted to.

THE BEST PART IS: I grabbed my camera, all set to take pictures, and ... dead batteries. No sweat, I'll just recharge them ... DEAD BATTERY CHARGER. aflgkubtvart. No pictures for a while. Sigh. Incidentally, Target giftcards are on my Holidaymas wishlist ...

Most of the work I did today was Chainmail along the jump packs, weapons, joints, and etc. Along the way I noticed a bunch of spots that got completely missed when I was painting on the purple stuff, so I have to go back and fiddle with those. Once I wash those spots with black, I'll pretty much be done with them save for a teeny bit of drybrushing touchups.

The wings on the chestpieces were painted in green as well, and will get their gold drybrushing in a couple days.

I got the Sergeant's head basecoated in Dark Flesh. After the wash, I'll mix in increasing amounts of Dwarf Flesh and end up with another NON PASTYFACE screaming space marine sergeant. (I ended up deciding on just giving the guy a poweraxe; I'll slap together a second Sergeant later on out of leftover Bitz for the Fist of Doom.)

I was pretty much considering myself done for the day when I decided I'd paint up a meltabomb for kicks. Chainmail, wash in black, quick Cm drybrush, then Blood Red for the lines, done. I suppose I should paint the handle too, but I was too busy using it as a handle. Har. I'll probably just cheat and paint it black. Next dilemma: How the frig am I going to glue it to the Sergeant?

The little grenade Bitz are FUN! I cut two of each apart and swapped them out, so each Marine will have one Krak and one Frag grenade on their belt. I also cut a couple of the three-pouch ammo thingies apart to sandwich between the grenades. I want to get one good picture of that before the week is out so I can get opinions on whether it sucks or not.

I suddenly have so much crap I need to do this week. A bunch of housework needs done, more laundry than you can shake a paintbrush at, knitting a lace cowl, plus the very strong desire to play WoW, Dragon Age: Origins, and read False Gods. *sings* One of these things is not like the others...

Where's my cheering section...

Edit: Unrelated -- but I liked being a 'Loud-mouthed Agitator'. Frighteningly accurate for real life...

**Dysartes**

Go team?

Was that enough of a cheer?

Sounds like you're making quite a bit of progress, though, which is a good thing. Interesting idea to start working on everything in bits, though - are you finding it is helping you paint quicker?

**Candroth**

ROFL ... thanks Dys. (:

I'm not sure about paint-then-assemble vs assemble-then-paint, because I honestly haven't painted enough miniatures yet to figure it out. I have noticed it's a TON easier to get some detail work done without worrying about that damned arm being in the way, but it remains to be seen whether I prefer one method or another. After today I might go ahead and glue everything together anyway, because I don't want to end up having to cover a few details with touchup jobs on the joints...

I have a few already assembled Assault marines that have primer but no paint; after I'm finished with these I'll sling paint at one of them and see how I like it versus this batch.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Wednesday: Wash, second layer of coloring/highlights, glue together

Obviously, I found camera batteries to show off today's work:

I spent a lot of time doing touchup work, adding more silver to the jump packs and such, and agonizing about the fact that I couldn't find my frigging glue. I found it later after I'd given up for the day, and proceeded to futz around with it and glue most everything together.

You can see the work I did with the ammo pouches and grenades here:

I placed the ammo pouch first, then glommed the grenades to either side. I'm REALLY digging how they turned out; all I really need to do is maybe a bit of highlighting on the pouch and a wash of the grenades, and I'm done.

I still need to add all the gold work around the shoulderpads and the aquilae. I sort of did a stupid and glued the arms on, forgetting that I was going to do the gold drybrushing FIRST, but that's what I get for getting overenthusiastic about finding my glue.

My sergeant is coming along nicely; I haven't finished the face yet but I'm very very proud of his pose. The ammo pouches on his right are very meh -- they don't sit flush and it irritates me. I may cut the last one off tomorrow so it doesn't look quite so crappy (to me).
(Edited to add: I still can't figure out what to do with that Meltabomb!)

I haven't decided whether to touch up the purple around the arm joints tonight or save it for tomorrow. Either way, I'm taking a break for now to come here and babble on about the project. I'm seriously almost done, and I could probably stop soon and save the real detailwork for later if I wanted. I'm really enjoying working on a deadline though, and it would be nice to have most of the busywork done BEFORE the deadline.

One thing I'm trying to think of now is BASING. The only anchor point is the ball of one foot, the other hanging up in the air. I need to think of something to put under the other foot so they'll not come off the bases if I look at them funny. Chunks of sprue, maybe? Find a small rock? The rest of the basing will be easy; figure out a kid of glue to coat the base with, dip it in sand, win.

**Leigen_Zero**

Looking good so far! I usually paint-then-assemble, but not on the sprues.

The little grenade-ammo things look cool, something different to usual style, however they remind me of tiny versions of the classic stormboy rokkit packs lol

**Dysartes**

With regards basing, Candroth, PVA glue (called Elmer's in the USA, I believe) for attaching your basing material. Once the glue has dried, I find it best to shake the base to get rid of any excess which hasn't stuck properly, then make a "wash" of watered-down glue and paint this over the sand that I use - it helps stop it falling off down the line.

With regards attaching the dudes to the base, I've found that polystyrene cement provides a strong enough bond on its own (as the plastic of the foot & the base melt together). If you are wanting something to build it up, then sprue buddle or small rocks would work nicely.

Have you planned a basing scheme yet?

**Candroth**

I ... feel so dumb. Here I've been thinking 'Oh god, I've never HEARD of PVA glue, I don't want to be a complete idiot and ask someone where to get it when everyone's talking about it all the time like they know everything about it!' and I've got two whole frigging bottles of Elmer's sitting in the room with me right now.

For a basing scheme, I'm thinking of going with a relatively simple rock-and-grass tufts plan, nothing truly fancy. The bases are too small to attempt anything really fun; I'll save that for the Dreadnoughts. (I -do- have plans for them, heh heh heh...)

Leigen_Zero wrote:The little grenade-ammo things look cool, something different to usual style, however they remind me of tiny versions of the classic stormboy rokkit packs lol

Can't say as I've ever seen those, Leigen, but thanks! I'm almost unnecessarily proud of myself for those, especially since when I was cutting them apart one of the grenades went flying across the table and I had to try and find it.

**Dysartes**

'Tis better to ask than to suffer in silence, Candroth

**TragicNut**

If you're concerned about the joint between foot and base, why not pin it in addition to gluing the model to the base?

**Candroth**

TragicNut wrote:If you're concerned about the joint between foot and base, why not pin it in addition to gluing the model to the base?

Because among other things, my ex-fiance took my pinning set out of my box of paint supplies while I was packing everything, and I didn't realize it until I'd moved three thousand kilometers away.

Dysartes wrote:'Tis better to ask than to suffer in silence, Candroth

Now I have an Apoptygma Berzerk song stuck in my head. Thanks for that. (:
(I know I should just ask, but I constantly surprise myself with how prideful I can be sometimes. I'm a Leo, it comes with the territory.)

**Candroth**

Nitpicked more details out of the bunch, got bored, and decided I wanted to stick the bases on. In the interests of actually having them STAY PUT, I glued small rocks under their feet. We'll just say they're landing on a rocky hill or something. Before the glue around the rocks dried, I stuck the base in some sand and got some to stick. It'll do for a ghetto basing for now!

The eyes got yellow, which I'm ambivalent about but sticks out more than the Red Gore did on Fred when I was done with him. I'll do another layer tomorrow and clean it up.

I could NOT decide what to do with the belts, so in the end I just mixed in some Chainmail and Chaos Black and did a layer. It's quick, it's dirty, it doesn't stick out much, I don't care cuz I can't think of anything else that wouldn't pop out and nobody really wants a belt to be a centerpiece.

I painted a bunch of Shining Gold on the poweraxe, which you can kind of see here (along with the guy I featured yesterday, hanging out behind and to the right of the Sergeant).

I think I suck at eyes, but the Sergeant's got just a quick line that I think will work out just fine from a couple feet away. I swear, his face has more detail than it looks like in the picture.

Tomorrow is highlights on the jump packs and bits of armor. I might do some drybrushing/stippling/whatever tomorrow to break up the monotony of the power armor. I want to do something interesting with the chainswords, but I don't know what just yet.

**Leigen_Zero**

The backpacks in this pic:
http://www.solegends.com/citcat94/cat1994144-03.jpg

Gotta say they are coming along real nice, not sure about timezone diffs but i think you'll make it in time.

Power-armour-painting-monotonoy breaking suggestion, you could go with checkerboard pattern or hazard stripes on the chainswords, give it a 'large deadly thing here' look, as personally I think even in the grim darkness of the far future there are health and safety laws.

**Candroth**

Mmph. After a day of 'Can't give a frig about anything' I'm back on track. Today's the deadline, and I'm about to head out to the store for a combination 40k night and turning in of the squad. I'm thinking of bringing some paint with me just in case.

I really dig on your stripes idea for the chainswords; I think some black and yellow is in order (: (And you're tempting me to scrawl 'PUT FACE HERE' along one of them...)

**Leigen_Zero**

Angry marines ftw!

**Candroth**

I GOT IT.

I had quite a headache trying to get to the store, but in the end I managed it, and even though I forgot the frigging receipt the person who rang me up last week remembered and signed my achievement list!

I also forgot my camera ... I was going to take a picture of the sheet. -.-

I proceeded to put the squad in part of a list against some Tyranids, and did pretty good in my opinion. I still lost, but not nearly as badly as I have in the past. I'm learning.

The end result, and the point of posting this here, is that yes, you CAN get a tabletop-quality army (Err ... unit ... thank you Dys) done in five or six days with about two to four hours worth of painting each day.

**Dysartes**

Glad to hear you got everything finished in time - are we going to see pictures of the completed unit?

And I really hope you meant unit rather than army there, Candroth

**Candroth**

Dysartes wrote:Glad to hear you got everything finished in time - are we going to see pictures of the completed unit?

And I really hope you meant unit rather than army there, Candroth

Er, whoops. Fixed! >.> I suppose only the TRULY neurotic would be able to get an actual ARMY painted in a week. That's a lotta painting ...

Yes, I'll post a final picture soon. I'm going to try finding a 40k game tonight, and I'll take a couple action shots of the unit if I manage to get into anything.

**Candroth**

I just realized I'd completely forgotten to upload and post this -- I have a finished action shot!

**Gavin Thorne**

Congrats!

My gaming club runs events at their monthly meetings - usually "arena" style last-man-standing kind of things that focus on one part of the FOC: Troops, HQ, MC/Walkers/Dreadnought, etc. With a month's worth of planning, purchasing, preparation, converting, painting, and basing I've been able to gradually assemble a nice chunk of a quality army.

I've found the monthly deadlines helps give me a nice sense of pressure to complete what I would otherwise let languish in favor of the BBC's Black Books...

BTW, what did you win as a result of completing the squad? Keep it up, let's see some of the other challenges and awards!

**Candroth**

As requested, the rules for my LGS WH40k achievements:
(Entries with an asterisk are ones I've earned so far.)

1: Oneshot a vehicle (Must be the first time anything has shot at this vehicle in the game) -- Deadshot 10
2: Kill three units with one assault unit -- Melee Triple Kill
3: Kill two units with one scatter weapon in one round of shooting -- Big Guns
4: Roll more than 75% 1s or 6s out of a die roll with tenor more dice -- These Dice Must Be Weighted
5: Roll scatter dice that rolls onto your own unit and kills every model -- Gomer Pile Award
6: Kill more than 15 models with 1 super heavy shooting phase -- Template of Fear
7: Deep strike your entire army -- Cheap Strike
*8: Start the game with your entire army on the board -- The Ground Pounder
9: Cause six units to run off the board in a single game -- Run Away! Run Away!
10: Convert at least one model to a different army -- Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
*11: Buy, build, and paint a full unit in one week (must have store receipt for purchase) -- Builder's Permit
12: Fail a Perils of the Warp test (armies with psykers only) -- It Burns! It Burns!
*13: Complete a successful Death or Glory -- Tiananmen Square
14: Play a Tau army with only close combat weapons and win with it in a close combat interaction -- Mission Impossible
15: Kill one unit with a 2+ invulnerability or cover save -- Bow Before Me
16: Complete one game without resorting to any rules book arguments (must be declared before game start, both players must agree) -- The Perfect Game
17: Finish a game where you killed your oponent's models at a four-to-one points cost ratio where you began the game with an equal number of points -- Kill Tacular
18: Play with three different armies/factions (they do not all have to be yours) -- Master Of Any Domain
19: Remove all structure points from a superheavy with at least four structure points -- David and Goliath
*20: Steal the initiative -- Ninja First Turn
21: Win a game where the initiative was stolen from you -- They Stoled It!
22: Field and play a full game with a 5k+ army -- Fresh Meat for the Grinder
23: Win a game with one model left on the board -- One is the Loneliest Number
24: Win a game with no Monoliths (Necrons only) -- New Strategy Time
25: Kill over 75 models in a single game -- Weapons of Mass Destruction
26: Win a game without using any of your HQ's (no close combat attacks, no shooting attacks, no movement after deployment) and the HQ units must survive -- Protect the VIP
27: Win a game without engaging in any close combat -- Gun Them Down!
28: Win a game without using a single attack with strength higher than six -- What's Rending?
29: Win a game without taking any invulnerable or cover saves -- Do it! Do it now!
30: Win a game using only infantry -- Who Needs Mech?
31: Win a game without using any power weapons or ranged weapons with an AP of two or less -- Shootas Ain't Workin Boss!
32: Win a game without losing a single model -- Perfect

The achievements are arranged in a grid in various orders; collect every achievement in a column or row to get something (dice, glue, blister pack, etc). The Tau- and Necron-only achievements are in a single entry in the grid, along with a non-specific achievement. As far as I know, there's no bonus for getting EVERY achievement.

All the achievements must be earned in games of 1500 points or more.

Sorry this took so long to get out -- I just found the reference sheet today!!

**Lexx**

Haha great idea. Must see if my local store has plans to do something like this or encourage them to do so.

**Manchu**

Microsoft will be suing your FLGS pretty soon, I'd reckon.

**Candroth**

Manchu wrote:Microsoft will be suing your FLGS pretty soon, I'd reckon.

Doubt it, they're not the only company that uses them and they have better things to do than go after a LGS that loses money on what's basically a joke. (: If they're going to sue anyone, they should sue Blizzard -- WoW uses achievements, and so will D3 and SC2.

**Manchu**

Maybe they should just call them "trophies"?

Now get back to work! *whip snap*