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GIANT WALL OF TEXT WARNING!

Hey all!

I have been lurking around the P&M section for a while, and have decided to start my own P&M blog. I don't know how often I will be able to update it as I am about to start working a 12 hr swing shift schedule (I'm not excited ), but I will do my best.

About me

I am fairly new to the wargaming hobby, but I have been gaming for over half my life. I got into 40k over the summer when I split the cost of an AoBR set with my buddy. I took the orks, he took the SM. Since then, I have (I think) considerably expanded the force, bought a Realm of Battle board and other pieces of terrain, started a 'Nids army, and have pretty much become addicted to plasticrack!

So, since I have spent WAAY to much of my disposable income thus far, I'm trying to cut back. My friends are all about playing the game, but I have found that I quite enjoy painting the models. However, it's hard to get motivated to do it when all of your opponents come at you with the Grey Tide. I'm hoping that this painting blog (plog, i guess?) will keep me inspired to paint my little plastic men and perhaps inspire my friends to paint their armies as well.

My Stuff

Here's a list of models/terrain that I own right now. I don't expect to be buying too many new models (need to save for a house and a wedding...you know, important stuff ), but I do have a hobby budget that my fiancee and I have worked out. Anyway, on to the list.

Orks

AoBR Warboss (painted)
Big Mek w/KFF (painted)
Big Mek w/SAG (primed/basecoated)
Warlord Thraka
55ish Slugga Boys (29 painted)
26 Shoota boys (a couple primed/basecoated)
A handful of Big Shoota and Rokkit Launcha boys (1 BS painted, some others primed/basecoated)
1 Trukk
23 Stormboys (8 unassembled)
Boss Zagstruck
14 Nobz, including a Painboy...some of these are squad leaders for da boyz (most primed and bascoated, a couple painted)
6 Warbikers with a Nob
8 Lootas and a few Meks
A handful of burnas
5 Tankbustas w/bomb squigs
3 Killa Kans (1 custom/scratch built, it's probably my favorite miniature that I own)
1 Deff Dread
1 Battlewagon (this is technically assembled, but it's going to be deconstructed as I don't like the options I put on it )
A couple of Rhino looted wagon WIP
Other randomness like custom cannon/zzap gun, some random grot accessories and some squigs.

Tyranids

I don't have an exact count right now, as I'm at work. I will let you know soon though!

Terrain

Realm of Battle board (painted)
Fortress of Redemption
4 Bastions
6 Defense Lines
A bunch of foam that needs cut and shaped
1 Temple of Skulls
1 Arcane Ruins
A couple of Pegasus building kits
Trees, bushes and random battlefield accessories

PHEW! You don't realize how much stuff you have until you list it all. So, the point of all this is to get it all painted. As you can see, the VAST majority of my stuff is still grey or silver. I will have all of this painted by the end of 2010! However, I have some questions for you Dakkax2:

1) What should I paint first? Some orks, some 'nids, some terrain?!?! Let me know what you want to see, and I'll put it on the top of my list!
2) How should I paint them? I already have some orks painted in the Bad Moon scheme, but I kinda wanna branch out some. I've been thinking of painting the bikers and vehicles like Evil Sunz, the lootas and looted wagons like Deffskullz and some of the boys and others in the Goff theme. What do you prefer? Do you like the 'horde' look or the single clan look? Also, I'd like some input on a scheme for the 'nids, be it a hive fleet or what you think would look cool!
3) What should I get next? I already have a sizeable ork force for what me and my friends do, but I'd like to get some more kans, shoota boys, burnas, and another BW or two. I got into the 'nids because of the new dex, I am definately going to get a Trygon/Mawloc kit, other suggestions are welcome. Then there's the terrain, I like what I've got, but I want some more building/ruin stuff (I really like the look of the CoD stuff). Also, I've been thinking about getting an airbrush to help with the vehicle/MC/building painting, but I have no idea how to use one or if they are even worth the investment.

If you've made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS! Here's some pics of my painted boys. C&C is always welcome and thanks for reading!

Cool.This looks really promising. Heres a tip for your gaming crazed buddies: you can't play in most tournies unless your army is painted.
Secondly: on't worry about feeling unmotivated! It's usually a common symptom of newbies(at least where I come from ) to feel unmotivated. But dont worry! Usually after the first month at the most, you'll be waiting anxioulsy to start on the project.
Now onto the questions!
1:paint what you think is the most boring model(s) first, so you can save the really cool models as a treat.
2:Generally an ork horde is a massive jumble of orks in every clan. I prefer a multi-klan army. Just make sure you have a unifying colour.
EDIT:You already have a unifying colour. Green!
3:I'll have to think.
Good luck!

3.
start a long term project, something you can putt down when the orks need a boost and pick up were you left it, eg- try a squad of an army you would like to do, then gradually add on until its a small to sizable army and bam, the time pays off as well as not getting too bored by switching projects when you get a bit bored or irritated at painting orks

Loving both the truffle shuffle avatar and the boyz.

Have you considered building your bases up more like with sand and/or gravel? It looks like
you just have static grass on the base. If you lay down some material first it makes it easier to
apply patches of static grass. Just a thought.

Thanks for the replies everyone!

@munch - Thanks for the ideas, I look forward to hearing more from you.

@physcosamatic - I like that idea, but both of my armies have sizeable forces (I think the 'nid force is over 1500, I bought it in the swap shop), but I think I might take your advice in regards to terrain.

@malfred - Glad you like the boys! I like the work that you do, so I appreciate the compliment. For the bases, I plan on either putting them on rocks eventually, or getting some scenic bases. The static grass was a first attempt, and I don't like it myself. Doesn't look grimdark enough.

I will post some more pics of finished models today. I'm getting the painting bug, so I'm going to start on something (honestly haven't decided yet). Check back to see some of my other completed (and incomplete!) minis.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

+1 Brownie point for the Pratchett book as well.

+1 brownie point for the goff boy from 2nd edition starter set hding amongst the proppa ladz

Your stuff is looking good so far. You sound just like me btw, we both have loads of stuff that needs painted. Keep going with your stuff and hopefully it will give me motivation to get the mountains of stuff I have done. Looking forward to seeing more!

Alright, it's been a few days, but I finally found some time (and got my camera back!) and here's an update.

First up, I would like to show you the first 40k model I painted. After I got my AoBR set, I picked up a box of Ork Boys and set about putting them together. The first one I wanted to paint was the one I thought looked the coolest, and it was the guy I built with the Big Shoota. So, here he is in all his glory!











Next, we have my Big Mek with Kustom Force Field. I really don't like the way his paint job looks now. I was trying to paint yellow over black without the use of foundation paints (they are amazing!), as such the yellow is really thick. Oh well, I think he was my 2nd or 3rd model I ever painted though, so I'm not too upset. Enjoy!







Lastly (for this post), is my warboss. He, again, was one of the first few models I painted. I still like the way he turned out, though I need to find a way to either a) cover the "dags" on the one shoulder or b) just redo them. Enjoy!









C&C is always welcome and thanks for looking!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I made a new post to break up all the new pics. So, here are a few pics of my Realm of Battle Gameboard after the last conflict that took place on it.







This next picture is of one of the [sarcasm]AWESOME[/sarcasm] skull pits on the board. I have heard of people using a dremmel to take out the skulls, and I just wasn't comfortable taking a power tool that I've never used to my $250 game board! So, I came up with an alternative. I'm sure others have done it, but I just painted the skulls red (mechrite to be exact) and put water effect over them. Now, it looks like a bubbling magma/lava pit! I plan on going back over the water effect with oranges, reds, yellows and black to make it look more "real".



The last scenery pic that I have is of my WIP Temple of Skulls. This was the first piece of terrain I bought and I'm finally getting around to putting some paint/sand/foliage on it.



OK, for the last bit of this post, I'm going to show you some un-painted conversions that me and my buddy did. The first is probably my favorite mini that I own. It is a killa kan that we built using the water tower from the stompa, some girders from the stompa kit, a trukk grabbin' klaw and an Imperial lascannon and rocket launcher. The feet are bits of sprue. The gun is a grotzooka in game. Enjoy!











Last, but certainly not least, is my Waaagh! banner nob. He's just a regular nob from the box set with the addition of the stompa belly/face plate (I got a whole bunch of stompa bits off eBay in a big lot) to his back to act as a Waaagh! banner. It's incredibly over the top, but they're orks and it's 40k so, it should be fun, right? Enjoy!



As always, C&C is welcome and appreciated. I plan on getting some painting done this weekend (we're supposed to get snowed in here) but I don't know what all I have primed! Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.

Starting to get a little over the top there.

Yeah, it's over the top but i LOVE that Banner!!
Sometimes the craziest ideas are the best ;-)

What yellow did you use for your warboss? Banner is very over the top, but feels very orky xP

Nice models, good job on ya for painting them. Too many people around with grey hordes...

As for giving them a little extra, try getting some washes. It will do wonders for the finish of the model, both for the metals, and larger blocks of color like the yellow on the Big Mek.

@Breotan: I am aware, but I love it.

@Larendard: Thanks!

@Limbo: You know, it's been so long i'm not sure. I believe that it is Golden Yellow with some Sunburst Yellow highlights, but it may be the other way around.

@Xanthos: Thanks! I get tired of looking at my grey horde and my friends as well (although, one of them has taken the first step and has a black horde). I did wash the boys from my first post with Devlan Mud on everything but the skin. They need the metals washed again. The others I painted before I got the washes and just haven't gone back to revisit them.

Again, thanks all for the replies, I really appreciate the feedback.

@Zatchmoto: dont use one thick layer of yellow to cover the black. Use successsive layers of yellow,gradually building up the colour. oh don't forget to congradulate your friend for undercoating his minis. +1 for that orky banner! It may look over the top but it woudn't be a proper ork banner if it wasn't. I'm just suprised how the thing manages not to tip over!
BTW, your killa kan makes me think of my pet scorpion!

@munch munch: I've actually started using Tausept Ochre to over my basecoat before I apply any other yellows. It works out really well and gives the color much more depth, I think.

As far as the banner goes, for a few weeks, I had him glued to a clear CD spacer (like you get when you buy a pack of CD-R's) in order to keep him from tipping over. Since then, I've repositioned it to fit right in the center of gravity.

For the kan, my buddy and I were trying to think of a way to mount the grotzooka and he said, "Why not just give it a tail, like a scorpion?" So, off we went with a lighter and a piece of girder from the stompa kit. The girder fits that lascannon perfectly BTW. I just wish that kans could have a second DCCW so that I could complete the scorpion look.

YAY!Scorpions and ideas derived from scorpions FTW!