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Paintwise, it seems you had the opposite of the year I had. I wanted to get a lot painted, but my motivation just wasn't there. You, on the other hand, got over 100 models done [/jealousy]. Sisters look great; your friend should be very pleased with them. As for your other armies, you and your son will benefit a lot from you having more than just Marines to play with; games will be less samey and your son will get to test his mettle against a variety of opposition. Looking forward to seeing what you can accomplish in 2021!

I'll need to get my year end review, such as it is, sorted out over the next couple of days. I'm hoping to have a few more models to add to it if I can squeak them in.

Great year of well painted models Nev.

Yorkright wrote: Great year of well painted models Nev.

Thanks!

ZergSmasher wrote:Paintwise, it seems you had the opposite of the year I had. I wanted to get a lot painted, but my motivation just wasn't there. You, on the other hand, got over 100 models done [/jealousy]. Sisters look great; your friend should be very pleased with them. As for your other armies, you and your son will benefit a lot from you having more than just Marines to play with; games will be less samey and your son will get to test his mettle against a variety of opposition. Looking forward to seeing what you can accomplish in 2021!

I'll need to get my year end review, such as it is, sorted out over the next couple of days. I'm hoping to have a few more models to add to it if I can squeak them in.

I’d say most of the volume was nids, and only be partially wrong. Drop them, and I still painted 72 models. Which is up from 53 last year (and that was down from 58 the year prior). They were a chunk, but still less than half. By my metrics, still a solid year.

I’d like to get my other armies to the table more. One of the drawbacks of the crusade format. I want more RP for my ultras so I can add to that force, but also want to mix things up. And at this point if I started an alternate crusade army, I’d get a TON of CP to spend due to the mis-match in levels. Still might do that.

OK, time to look at the goals and see how I measured up.


Here are my New Year’s resolutions:
1 Paint 25 SoB Done
2 Paint more than I buy. 120/90 Done
3 Paint At least 12 spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options. 5/12 Fail
4 Try to get more games in. At least 12, with some being non Floorhammer.Done
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).Done
6 Paint at least one unit for all my army factions. (Ultra, Eldar, Deathwatch, Death)Done
7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique.Done
8 Buy, build, and/or paint at least one piece of terrain.Done

Just looking at the numbers, I’m 7/1. Which is amazing. Some of those are a little fuzzy.

1. Solid win. No question here. My goal was to paint the box, and they are all done, dusted, and delivered.
2. A lot of handwavium went into this win. I’m not counting the necron half of the Indomius box. This also does not count gifts, like the nid mega-box I picked up for myself with birthday money. Either one of those alone would push me over (although not by much)
3. This is a fail. Didn’t make it halfway. There is still a chunk of stuff that needs to be done, but a lot of it is junk that I don’t have a lot of need for. I should still chip away at it.
4. This is a technical win. I got some folding tables, so no longer am playing floorhamer. But the spirit of the goal was to hit the FLGS for games vs. someone besides The Boy. But then Covid hit, so that got nuked hard. Taking this as a win.
5. Still a steady blogger. Still painting on pace. More than doubled my 1-a-week goal.
6. This is another slightly fuzzy win. Deathwatch got 4 guys done. Not technically a full unit. But I added a whole new army to the list, and painted a zillion of them. So we’ll forgive the one missing brother of the watch.
7. Solid win here. Still running strong in the challenge. I’ve taken over most of the work in running it. Para still does the vote threads, but the rest is me. It’s a chunk of time, but I don’t mind. Back of the bench got a good bit of clearing out. Zoat, and other assorted metal nids. RTB01s, metal terminators. New schemes developed for arctic camo, nids.
8. Technically a win. Put some paint on a container. Carved some hills. Nothing table ready, but technically I “built” the hills.

Here is my “look ahead” guess from a year ago:

One of my goals is to paint something from each army.
I moved the DW TDA down to the in progress portion of the bench. They will be my entry for the month. Sometime this year I’d like to get the 4 heavies done as well. Those are the priority DW
Eldar need that WS. Their vehicles usually paint quick, so that’s a good thing. Depending on comp subjects, the axes or WW might get done at some point; I’d like to get one of them out of the primed pile. Banshees in 2020 depend a lot on when I can get them; might not end up getting paint this year.
Ultras are low priority this year. I suspect who gets paint will depend a lot on comp subjects. I would like to clean up some of the random stuff (like scouts) but also get guys like the primaris ancient done, as he’s a unit I don’t have. (not that he’s all that more then the other bannermen I have) Most Ultra progress will probably be the vanguard late in the year, as they will be fighting the SoB for bench time.

First quarter will probably be painting DW and Eldar, with a lot of building.
2nd-3rd will be a lot of SoB, with splashes of other things to help keep me sane and fill comp entries.
The end of the year depends a lot on how productive I’ve been on the SoB. At my peak back in the day, I was getting 4 girls across the bench every week. To a lower standard than I do now, but I had my rhythm. If I can finish my vow early, I can work more at chipping away my own backlog.

If I had to guess, my year brakedown should be something like this:
25 SoB (The Box)
8 Eldar (WS, 2 WW, axes or banshees)
7 Deathwatch (2 TDA, 4 heavies, one random guy to fill out 5 for a comp entry)
13 Ultras (2x3 man squads (cents, eliminaors, or supressors) 5 man squad of something, some HQs)
5 Nighthaunts (whatever I build for October)

Happy New Year to everyone, looking forward to a productive and fun 2020!

Not the best guess. The DW did get done early. But the start of the year was also very Ultra heavy, and they were solidly represented throughout the year. Nids came out of nowhere, sucking most of the life out of secondary projects; Eldar and DW were very thin this year. SoB were steady, but mostly late year.

OK, that’s enough rambling for now. Next stop; looking forward!

<Sigh> I had typed up the look forward part yesterday, but the internet ate it. Dakka keeps logging me out. The kicker is before I hit the post button, I thought “I should copy all this, just in case the internet eats it. Nah, it will be fine”. I’m an idiot sometimes.

Let's get the resolutions out of the way.

1 Paint 20 members for the primaris battle company
2 Paint more than I buy.
3 Paint At least 12 spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options.
4 Try to get more games in. At least 12, with some being non Floorhammer.
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).
6 Paint at least one unit for 5 different factions.
7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique.
8 Buy, build, and/or paint at least one piece of terrain.

With the SoB done, my new battle company is going to the the push for the year. So goal #1 gets updated. Now this is not just any Ultra to cross the bench. Red trimmed shoulders, line troopers only. Or permanent specialists, like the apothecary. But no vets, chapter level assets, scouts, etc. 20 seemed a good number to make sure I spend some time on the basics, and not just the fancy units.

I debated dropping #3. But I’ve got a lot of bits that still need to be done.

#6 got reworded. I was going to just replace “Deathwatch” with “Tyranid” but thought that if I did that, it would not be much of a challenge. I’m also not reinstating the old goal of painting the odds and ends from my friend’s army. I’ve still got a handful of old metals kicking around. So I bumped the number up to 5, and left it open ended. This should help keep me focused on moving a variety of things across my paintbench.



So here is the primed pile at the start of the year. There are also a few vehicles and bits in a side box not pictured. Mostly Ultras, surprising nobody.

3x Centurions
3x Suppressors
3x Agressors
4x Scouts
5x Hellblasters
3x 30k Destroyers (I think, I forget at this point)
2x RT Vets
1x RT Captain
3x RTB01 marines
5x Autobolt rifle Intercessors
5x Assault Intercessors
1x Primaris Techmarine
3x Outriders
1x TDA Captain
1x TDA Librarian
1x Primaris Chaplain
1x Judicar
3x Eradicators
3x Bladeguard vets
1x Bladeguard Ancient
1x Primaris Captain
5x Incursors
1x Phobos Lt.
9x Eliminators

6x Deathwatch

10x Nighthaunt Chainrasps

2x Warwalkers
5x Dire Avengers
5x Howling Banshees
1x Jetseer

(Not pictured)
1x Wave Serpent
1x Stormhawk
1x TML/HB Land Speeder.
Bucket of Bitz.

Built:
5x Stalker Boltrifle Intercessors

Top of the Pile of Shame:
1x Hive Tyrant
1x Exocrine
3x Hive Guard
10x Gargoyles (plus dust off some old metals)
24x Genestealers (If crazy, dust off and repair old ones from the deeps)

5x Intercessors (back half of a squad or KT specialists)

Short list to purchase:
10x Assault intercessors
1x Gladiator tank (magnetize as Impulsor)

Known items that I will buy when released:
10x Heavy intercessors
3x Bladeguard Vets (really 2 BGVs and a new Captain)

Potential additions to the swarm:
Carnefex
Zoanthropes
Another box of each of the gaunts
(Raveners)
(Warriors)

The to-buy list is just the known things. It does not include "known unknowns” like we know there is something KT related coming soonish, but nothing but a teaser video. Keeping half an eye on that. Or true unknowns. Like if we get another set of plastic aspect warriors released this year, which would find a home here. I’m going to continue to try to keep the nids pile of shame neutral, and not buy any more units until I paint up the ones I’ve purchased. Right now, I’ve bought 11 and painted 7. So at least 4 units need to get paint before I spawn any more.

I expect this year to be primarily Ultramarines early, with increased tyranid activity over the summer and into the rest of the year. While there is going to be a lot of blue, I also want to get some of the HQs and phobos non-company stuff done. Eliminators and Techmarine are probably going to be early additions to the force, as I’d like to add them to my crusade list.

That should wrap up the summaries. I’ll copy/paste and reset the first post at some point. And lets get running on 2021:


New Tricks is the subject for the month. I’m going to break in the new brushes I got for Christmas. I’ve been using either sale-rack brushes from the local art store (the Richesons, not bad) or “lets see how these bargain ones from Amazon do” (the Zems, just OK-ish). Doing the intercessors as a start, becasue they are a known quality. I’ve painted literally hundreds of Ultramarines. These are basic battle brothers, I should be able to paint them to my normal standard in my sleep. So it will be easy to compare the new guys with the new brushes to the old.

Enjoy your weekends, and the New Year!

(copies this time)
Edit:
C/P 2020’s front post here for the records:

Those seem like good plans for 2021, I'm mostly excited to see more critters cross your desk to some day overwhelm your son's space marines with bugs

Almost played my nids today, but didn’t want to waste the time getting a crusade roster set up and my printer is down, and I can’t just play them from memory. So took my ultras out vs. his Salamanders. Combat patrol, supply drop. No pics, but solid win for him. Came down to a 50-50 roll on the last turn to see what objective remained. He won that roll, and tabled me to boot.

First of the new bugs built. I didn’t think I’d like these guys as much as I do, but IMHO they look a lot better from the side then face on. More of a beefed up termagaunt than a warrior with bad posture.

Those "new" hive guard look great Nev, I've been tempted to restart my nids again and I reckon I'd be picking up a couple of those boxes!

Great to read your recap of 2020, it's been fun to follow along again!

I'm also looking forward to seeing how you find the Series 7s, I have the 0 size brush and it's been my go to this year.

Like you, I used to use whatever cheap brushes I could find at the local DIY store, but about a year ago, I switched to W&N, and have never looked back. I think you'll find them a joy to use.

I love the looks of the hive/tyrant guard model. In particular the tyrant guard are so beefy and menacing. It's just a shame they don't have great rules.

Great finish to the hobby year. Looks like you're all set for the upcoming one, at least the start of it. I like the resolution to paint more than you buy.

No pic, but I put the first sloppy blue down on the autobolt intercessors.

One I did with the #2 W&N.

First impression was a firmer brush. Technically referred to as the “snap” I think. Better control of were it goes. Kept the point nicely, One little stray hair decided to stick out. Nudged it back in. We’ll see how that guy behaves. The barrel of the brush held a lot more than I’m used to. Normally, I’m used to there not being a lot of room before paint gets wicked up to the ferrule. The paint just hung out mid-brush on the W&N. Also when I rinsed it out mid coat and reloaded it, there was a LOT of rinse water still in the brush, which over diluted the next load of paint. Easy to adjust my habits, just learning.

It took a long time to get one guy done with the sloppy basecoat blue stage. Part of this is that I had to be very careful with my nice new brush. When using old crappy brushes, I just stab them into the nooks and crannies to get paint there. Generally you should avoid pushing your brush, and paint by pulling.

I did the remaining 4 marines with my #4 ZEM, which I could treat roughly and not care about. It has trouble keeping a point, is a lot more floppy, and the time for the paint to race up the brush was quite short. I did get the set of 4 for like $20, so my expectations are low.

The W&N is hands down better, deserving of the rep. But for sloppy basecoats, overkill.

Yeah, for sloppy basecoast, you're probably better off with cheaper brushes. Same with drybrusing and washes. Save the good ones for fine work.

Interesting to read about your experiences with the W&N. If they get back in stock at my go to online store, I really might try one out, especially since my Army Painter Character brush has like 5 hairs left

And love the look of those new nids, the chitin armour looks very cool, excited for the painted versions.

WIP


So after the first pass for the blue, I switched to the W&N #1 for the first detail pass. They are not magic wands that instantly make everything better. My hands still shake the same, my eyes still suck. So there is still some slop. Would have it been better if I did this pass with the #0? Probably, but would have take longer. Running with the old advice of use the biggest brush you can for the space you are painting.

Point control was a lot better. Doesn’t help me when bumping the side of the brush against things, but was nice. Easier to use. Less of the feeling of trying to force the brush to get where it needed to be, or figure out how the mis-shapen point needs to angle to get into that corner.

Just one or two more colors and then I’m at the wash and drybrush stage. I will use the W&Ns for the targeted washes, but for the final blue glaze and the drybrushing, I’ll probably stick with the cheepos. Final edging and detail cleanup will be back to the nice ones.

--

So enjoying the heck out of the new brushes. Might not make things better, but does make it easier. The big show will be in the final passes, where the quality should shine a LOT over the old brushes.

Poked around with my 3D printer yesterday to make some base extenders. I think I want to have my genestealers on 32s. Not really MFA, as small bases let you CC better and hide, which is what they would want to do. The larger footprint will help them screen better and eat more table space, but that’s really a gaunt job. Printed one no problem. Tried to print 10 at once, and about half of them popped off the pad mid-print. Might be worth adding some sprue support linking them all together.

In non-hobby news I’m looking to move again. Just a bit south to be closer to my son, and have a place that I could have a grill and a cat. Step 1 talk to the banks is done, now for the search. Getting to be more “it’s happening” then wishlisting.

Good to see the brushes are working for you Nev, I spent ages not touching my good ones as I was afraid of ruining them but it's a matter of just biting the bullet and going to town.

Good to hear about the house move too, that'll be exciting for sure!

Ambitious resolutions Nevelon.

Good luck for 2021.

Cheers,

CB

My goals this year are not that much more ambitious than in years past. We’ll see what kind of monkey wrenches life tosses at me this year to get in the way of progress.

Speaking of which:



On to the detail passes. Cleaned up the brown a little this morning.

Good luck on the move. And now I feel like I want better brushes.

Looks good, the flesh tone you've picked for the sgt looks pretty good to me right now.

Nice to hear about the W&Ns. Good to see some decent progress at the start of the year!

"Captain, we have received a missive from the inquisition requesting our assistance to eliminate an alpha level xenos infestation. A broodlord has been spotted and must be eliminated before its coven grows and draws the Tyranids to this system. We have already heard rumors of advance elements of a leviathan tendril in the sector”
“Very well. I will lead a patrol to eliminate this thing personally. While we cannot abandon our crusade against these marines wearing the Ultramarine colors, if the Tyranids land on this planet, they will consume all life, not just the foe.

...

"Contact! Auspex shows a large bio-form hiding the central ruins and two smaller readings on it’s flanks. We have our target! I’m also picking up some strange sub-sonics, but no locus”
“Form a line and engage, we cannot allow it to escape, try to pin down that other signal”



The brave Salamanders are here to kill the broodlord, while his pure-blooded children try to protect him. But there is more at hand. Some strange things drift in the shadow of the ruins, not native to this planet, and there is still those strange readings on the auspex.

Turn one he advances most of his line, while the one squad on the flank gets an angle on the prey, and lays down some fire, lightly wounding the beast (which is healing unnaturally fast)

The broodlord takes a commanding position in the ruined tower and blasts the bladeguard veterans with eldrich power, killing one and wounding another. With lightning speed the genestealers race around the hill and pile into the intercessors in a blur of claws. Two brothers fall and a third is wounded, but they fight back and put down most of the monsters.

With the flank clear, the reivers descend on grav chutes, pistols blazing on their quarry. But their target deftly dodges their shots, and takes notice of their presence with a hungry glare. The intercessors finish off the stealers, leaving only the broodlord and the strange spores in the building. Or so they think...

The ground explodes as a massive serpentine shape erupts from its tunnel. The horror towering over the nearby ruins, massive talons ready to scythe apart the emperor’s finest. But the horror is not alone, as a horde of smaller creatures emerge behind it. From the ruins of the broodlord, a handful of his kin skulk out of the shadows; he is not alone...

One perk of playing a new list against his is that I have a zillion command points to burn. I blow a few to get some more stealers. Nice perk of the format is that I don’t need to use reserve points. Fun with power level open games. They and the broodlord go down to mug the reivers. The Hormagaunts make their charge against the flanking intercessors, and the Trygon Prime goes to mug the Bladeguard Vets. Except he doesn’t. Despite having the “roll 3 dice, drop the lowest” relic, he fails the charge. Sad noodle.
I run the broodlord fight first, as I know the reivers get a huge number of attacks, and don’t want them carving up my HQ. Unfortunately this leave him the opertunity to blow the CP to interrupt the normal order and have his intercessors swing before the gaunts. The end result of this is the poor little stabby bugs end up just splashing off the marines. Between the overwatch and CC, he kills them all. But the Hive Mind considers their lives well spent for soaking the command points that killing them took.



Turn three his captain and the vets move up to the hill, looking to engage the broodlord and end this fight. Meanwhile the troops lay fire into the Trygon, wounding the beast as hardened chitin shrugs off some of the fire, but still the expert marksmen of the salamanders find some vulnerable spots and ichor starts to flow.

But the ichor does not flow for long as the monster reintegrates some of the wounds (I did mention I had CP to burn) and the focus now settles on the hill. No meek prey to sit back, the Tyranids descend on the marines in a wave to teeth and claws.



With a glance and a gesture, one of the stalwart veterans is cut down with fell warp energies while his brother’s head explodes from psychic forces. The captain readies his shield as the claws descend. And is astonished as the claws stab in from the right, as the broodlord strikes blindingly fast. The massive Trygon’s flurry is mostly born upon the relic shield however. Bloodied but undaunted, he stabs the target of his mission with the burning blade; felling it. Or so he thought, as it reels from what should be mortal wounds, some power keeping it clinging to life where most would have succumbed.

So epic showdown time. His Iron captain, T6, 2+/4++/5+++ 4+ vs. Mortal wounds, extra wound, vs. tyranid blenders of death. The Broodlord land some solid hits, and his dice decide to take a vacation to the arctic. I almost put him down from full health. Rushing back from the cold, they mostly soak the Trygon’s claws (although I rolled poorly there a bit) and he take a couple more, leaving him with one wound remaining. He stabs back with the burning blade, and almost kills the broodlord. He should have, but my 6+++ save saved my final wound.

Turn 4 his free intercessors gun down the spore mines. On the hill, the broodlord swiftly cuts down the captain, while the trygon cuts apart the troopers. But the captain is not done yet. Archaotech med devices revive him, barely alive, but he has not given up the mission yet...

But his target tires of this, and with a baleful glare pushes psychic death past the protective barriers of the captain’s relic shield, putting him down once more. He’s got things to do, and hive fleets to summon...

We are both hungry and it’s getting late, so we skip turn 5.

Victory Tyranids!

So, fresh paint report (been a while)
Broodlord: Stabby, fast, lethal. Soft. T5 4+/5++, 6W is not all that. Enjoying the psychic phase. Gave him the relic that lets him cast an extra power, with +1 to the roll and psychic scream, so he is basically handing out 2d3 MW a turn.
Trygon Prime: Big, nasty looking, full of claws. Rolls for crap. So he’s got the relic that lets him roll an extra die for charge range and discard the lowest. Despite that, both charge rolls he had to make were a real number and a pair of ones. Would have been better off with the non-relic adrenal glands that are just a flat +1. Luckily the second try he was close enough to make it. The goal is to get him so he can reliably pop up and charge from DS. He got a little blood out of the captain, which considering how hard that guy is, is no small feat. Against targets with less layered defenses, I’m expecting good things from him.
Genestealers are not technically new paint, being built as counts-as chaos spawn back in the day. But this is the first time they took the field as part of the hive fleet. Advance+charge is very nice. They hit OK for what they are. I was expecting a little bit better from them.
Hormagaunts: Died without doing any damage. Honestly these guys are pure speedbump. Even if they got to swing, they are killing maybe one marine? And a basic intercessor squad with a power sword sarge is just butchering them. In an objective game they could get more use by being fast and Obsec. But they are all filler, no killer.
Spore Mines: Did nothing but screen a flank from DS’ers. That’s not nothing. Also as 1PL/squad, they make great list filler.

OK, enough typing, time to paint.

Quick update before work:


Might not seem like much, but the 3 guys on the left have their second blue coat. Two more of those, the ink glaze, and highlights/touchups. Getting there.

Progress is progress.

Every little step, like Bobby Brown said. Keep it up!

Nice batrep. I have to wonder how much your son was caught off-guard by some of the tricks Tyranids can throw out, if he's never faced them before. That's one thing I remember from various "first time playing vs. X" games, all the "gotcha" moments.

Marines are looking pretty good so far!

Got another one done during a work break. Will try to get the last guy done tonight, but seeing a house after work.

There were a lot of surprises on both sides in the game. I did sit down before we started and went over all the strats I had access to. Both to refresh myself, and to inform him. But most of what I have does what it looks like. If anything, it’s more on the paper tiger scale, where things look a lot nastier then they are. Like the Trygon looks menacing AF, but is softer then a rhino. And it (in theory) blends what it touches.

Some habits will need to be reinforced. It’s not the first time I’ve shot him up with psychic powers, but it’s been a while, and not since 9th dropped. But he’s gotten the mind whammy from my eldar before. This game the bladeguard ate most of it, because they were on point as the closest unit. A little deployment/screening will help there. Although at low points, it can be hard to do that.

And I need to learn to get the most out of my bugs. Still feeling my way along in the shadow in the warp.

Very nice batrep, happy to see the Tyranids taking to the battlefield.
Squad looks good, nearly there!

So done with the base blue cleanup. Next is the glaze. Hopefully can get that done (and more) today. Right now just working on coffee. Will be interesting to see what gets announced today. Already pumped about the bladeguards they showed off earlier this week.

House hunting has been up and down all week. Saw one that looked promising, was going to get another look today, but someone else put in a bid, and it was at the edge of what I could afford anyway, so dropped that one. But yesterday a better place popped onto the market. You think Fear of Missing Out is just a GW thing? Do I bid on this house, knowing it’s good, or hope that something better shows up? Because other people are also hunting, once it’s gone, it’s gone, and everything is unique. Well, mostly unique. The place that I’ve got my eye on now is a townhouse in a gaggle of them, so something very close to it might show up again in my timeframe.

It’s affecting my hobby. Is it easier to move built models or sprues? Should I order more minis, just to have to move them? Is it worth ordering foam to help me move/store old stuff?

Nice progress on the marines.
House hunting, you'll never get exactly what you want exactly in your price range. As long as you think you'll be happy living there, just put in the bid. I definitely understand how that could be giving you decision fatigue on the minis though! (If it helps, I found layers of towel in a box between layers of models worked well enough for me self moving partially painted stuff, but I kinda have low standards)