Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Oh, man.

Looks like that Scout had better run, run, run, run ,run away.

Heh.

Whenever I see “Pycho <blank>” My brain goes to the Talking Heads. It’s all the ‘80s in me. And yes, unless that scout hoofs it real quick, he’s going to be a quick snack for the big bug.

Progress:


Just sucked it up and glued all the freaky little buggers on. Going to be fun to paint. Right now it’s in 3 parts. The base, the platform, and the revered dead. (barring her feet, which are part of the platform). Part of me is thinking about putting magnets into where the platform attaches to the base to make transportation a little easier. Just be able to take all the flappy/ribbon bits off and move them separate from the base (which will have the honor guard) Worried about structural support though. Might require the strength of a solid glue bond. Bit of torque with the way things are connected.

Taking a build break from the sisters to put together some neurogaunts.


Nothing fancy.

Here is my blue experiment:


I should also do a full scale test of the contrast over macragge blue. I did the arm on the psychophage, but it’s hard to get a good idea from that.

I also need to figure out what to actually do with lizard boy here. What color horns/talons, should I lighten up his belly? Drybrush the scales? He’s obviously a testbed for paint, but I don’t want to leave him hanging.

I like the Psychophage, especially the purple carapace. I was under the impression that your 'nids were almost exclusively Contrast, but did you do something different? The lining on the carapace turned out really well.

Critter looks really good Nev!

Nope, the big bug is just my normal contrast scheme. One problem with contrast paints is their more organic flow. I’m sure with more skill with brush/flow control I could manipulate how they settle better I could get more uniform results. I do work that angle a little, but mostly just embrace the fact they everyone is going to be a little different. Which works fine for the bugs. Glad you like them.

--

So, It’s October, time for a Q3 report. Such as it is.

I wrote:
Here are my New Year’s resolutions:
1 Paint 13 members for the primaris battle company 2/13 (stretch goal: finish it)
2 Paint at least 24 Tyranids, and strive to keep them PoS neutral. (stretch goal: clear the decks of all old nids) (28/24)
3 Paint more than I buy. (49/85)
4 Paint at least 3 units that have been in the primed pile/Pile of Shame for 3+ years (1/3)
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).
6 Paint at least two units for 4 different factions. In addition paint at least one model not for an active army.
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.
8 Finish magnetizing the bases and boxes for my Tryanids, at least to fill the boxes I have (stretch goal: add more boxes and cover all the bugs)

Battle company is not doing well. Although I did put some more layers down on the flamer boys this morning.

Well, I got my 2 dozen nids. The whole PoS neutral thing is kinda shot. But as that was a “strive for” we can still call this a win. I finished building the nerogaunts the other day.

I really need to start cranking through things if I wan to count the paint more then I buy thing. Probably hard fail here. The question is how bad.

Almost done with the jetseer, put the last touches on his bike and the seer himself is getting along. Still need to start on the spear arm. I should start the jet. I just hate vehicles.

I’m a good blogger, and the pace is steady.

The 2 units for 4 faction might have been a mistake. I wanted to have more focus then a “one and done” for diversity, but this might have been a little much. I have been painting a lot of assorted things, so victory in spirit, if not in fact.

Still painting the challenge, still running it.

I recently picked up a sheet of thin steel and some tin snips, so going to try to kick up the nid storage boxes a level. But that was is basically done. Might grab some more boxes for the new guys.

So right now I’m a little over 50% win rate on those. Not the best. But might be able to turn some of those around. Still have a quarter of the year to go.

Bad lighting is bad, but YTD:


Good mix of stuff, good volume. No major issues here.



So things are moving. Got 2 sisters cleaned up for the triumph. Putting layers down on the marines. Jetseer is zooming. I just need to be more diligent about getting to the bench and making progress.



So here is the primed pile going into the end of the year. (With special appearance of the local eldritch forces of darkness, evil, and pettings). The weather is still semi-decent, so I should hopefully be able to one more batch in before winter sets in. Right now I’ve got the CC heroes and the neurogaunts in the to-prime pile. I’d like to get more marines and some more nids built and primed. Plus the triumph. Which I want to have painted by the end of December.

So the SM preorders have gone up and the leaks have started in earnest. No lie, the legends hit of units going out is hitting me hard, and sucking a lot of motivation out with it. We’ll see what I can do with counts-as. Luckily I’ve been magnetizing for a while, but that’s not going to help with platform issues like Land Speeders, just wargear options.

I think I’m going to pick up a box of sternguard with the codex. I want to get the command squad for the company sorted, and need a pair of vets for that, one with a HB. I have some spare intercessor bodies, so can mix and match bits to stretch the box out, and still get the 5 men there, as well as the two I need. There are a lot of boxes in this wave I want, but am trying to keep a little restraint and practicality in my purchases.

On the to-build list is the remains of the Leviathen box. On the nid side it’s just the termagaunts. I think these guys are going to wait until I get a full box, so I can make them all non-fleshborers. Looking at the rules, I think I want another 10 spinefists, and probably more devs. Plus the new toys. From the marine side I need to so the SG/Lt/Apoth sprue. Might wait until I get the full SG box before I do them, in case I can spice things up a bit. Should get the characters done though. I also have the captain, who is going to end up as a chaplain. Although leaks I’ve seen have removed the GL-fist option for the TDA captain, he should still be fieldable. He’s a little non-WYSWYG, as he has a SB, fist, and a sword. But I think I don’t care at this point. I’d like a in-scale TDA chaplain who is less then 30 years old. The question is if I go for a SB or SS, or if I try to magnetize. We’ll see what the rules look like how how I feel with the knife. Last in the Lev box are 5 more flamers. I might build these as the back half of the squad, or paint them as Salamanders. The Boy might not be playing, but it would let me paint something non-blue. Not that that’s been an issue this year.

A year ago today another hero joined the Emperor.
Finished the build. Hopefully have some nice weather to prime.

<insert maudlin stuff here, I’ll save you from having to read it>

Looking forward to it, Nev.

When dragging the the garbage cans after work yesterday I noticed the weather was actually quite nice, so I broke out and rattle can and hit everything in the to-prime box. Which is the Triumph, CC heroes, and the nerogaunts. All off to the to-paint pile.

Put a little paint down:


Finished the seer, including the spare arm. Also put the base coat on one of the vamps for this month and a pair of nid gun arms for the fexes. I really need to stop slacking and finish those marines so I can free up the paint handles. Oh well. Maybe this weekend.

TGIF

Now that’s looking nice,,,

Thanks. I do enjoy the Eldar, and should paint them more. They’ve just unfortunately been bumped down to my tertiary army. As more of their range transitions to plastic, I’ll probably keep slowly picking them up. There are already a few things released I missed on my “to get eventually” list.

So did a little building. Put together the gravis apothecary and the combi-Lt. from the Leviathan box. Started clipping the SG to build, but realized the first one was the sarge, and he didn’t have any CC options. Looking at the pics from GW’s pre-order page I’m not sure if the rules are going to be swap his rifle for a CC (situationally worth it) or in addition to it (no-brainer in 10th). So putting a big pause on those guys until I have the codex in hand.

I should get painting. Or build something else. Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

So a few weekends I picked up a sheet of steel and some tin snips. While technically the snips work, it is hard to cut a neat straight line in sheet steel. I’ve got got cuts on my hand from this then I’ve received from my cat total. (To be fair, Izzy only claws me accidentally; but is also composed entirely of murder and darkness). Worth the pain. These guys are on solid. The only one with any wobble left from these 2 boxes is the 3rd ed sister, who is a giant chunk of metal. Which is why she’s not sideways here. Did a full inverse upside-down test with the gaunt/ripper box, but wasn’t brave enough to try the big box.

Right now the metal sheets are just sitting on the sheet magnets I previously stuck in with their self adhesive side.

The steel was 2x3 feet, so should line 8 boxes of the size I have. Only own 4 right now. I think it was like 40-50 bucks, so while not cheep, will basically cover all my needs for the foreseeable future.

In other news put the second blue coat on another marine and the red on the nid arms. grey on the stone base of the vamp. Slow progress, but progress.

Shock surprise, I picked up the new codex. And a box of SG vets. With a bonus vet for the mini of the month. Which is good, as I needed a spare for the command squad project.

Going to give them a chance to update the legends docs before I go over the shelf to count the fallen. I suspect it’s going to be ugly. But it’s not like I don’t already have outdated stuff sitting there. It’s just going to be a lot of stuff added.


Automatically Appended Next Post:


Working on getting a TDA chaplain out of the captain. The angle of the weapons really wants a bald and screaming head. Might see how it would work if I angles up the SB. Then we could go with a more determined look.

Got the blue ink down on 2 flamer marines. Plugging away.

Gun angle helps a lot. Needed to trim the tilt shield off that arm, as the angle was wrong, but not hard to do at all. Next step is a little glue.


Automatically Appended Next Post:


And glued.

That's what a Codex looks like now? Wild.

New Chaplain looks rad, Nev. That head really works.

The codex is hiding at the bottom of the pile. I also got a little folder thing to store the collector coins they hand out, as I finally got around to getting 6 of them.

I think that’s the “bare” head from the primaris techmarine. But I’m a sucker for my chaplains missing half their skulls. When I saw that head when I built the tech, I knew it would be screaming litanies someday.

I should be painting more, but have been working my way through the DC movies recently. Trying to keep some momentum, but feeling like a slug lately.

Your momentum is more than I'm managing. Definitely been thinking about magnetized cases. Most of the guys I game with have them and they're really nice.

I like that Chaplain a whole bunch.

Triumph is a massive diorama piece, can't wait to see it in turquoise.

 DJJazzyJeff wrote:
Your momentum is more than I'm managing. Definitely been thinking about magnetized cases. Most of the guys I game with have them and they're really nice.

I like that Chaplain a whole bunch.

Triumph is a massive diorama piece, can't wait to see it in turquoise.

I’m quite pleased how the chaplain turned out. Hopefully I can get him primed before winter.

I paint sister in black and white, with a little red. Turquoise is for etherial undead. With the exception of the sister on the place of honor, all these ladies are alive. Although, to be fair, I think the diorama would work as a nighhaunt-like spectral procession. Heck of a lot easier to paint as well. Hmmmmm…

Remember these guys who were supposed to be done in August? Getting there.

 Nevelon wrote:


Remember these guys who were supposed to be done in August? Getting there.

I have models I started five years ago that I need to finish.

Generally once I start putting paint down I finish what I’m doing before moving on. I think the last major drag I had was doing a drop pod as a background project that took a couple seasons.

Just need to to the red trim edges on the guy on the right and then touchups to get these guys off the paint handles. Then I can move the other 2 vamps up and really get cracking on them. Running out of month.

Looking very nice,,, wish I had your powers of “sticking with it till it’s done”

The pose you have going on there is superb

Alaricuk wrote:Looking very nice,,, wish I had your powers of “sticking with it till it’s done”

I like to think of it as weaponizing my stubbornness. But mostly I’m very good with planning and logic. Just the way I’m wired. Make a plan, do it. The blog helps a lot. I’ll give up on myself at a drop of a hat, but I’ll walk a mile over hot coals before letting other people down.

inmygravenimage wrote:The pose you have going on there is superb

I really like the way the chaplain came together. really just a simple weapon and head swap, and adjusted the angle of one arm. But came together really nicely.

--

So the two marines are off the handles and ready for base work and decals. Vamps up and ready to go.

Also, a heavy pour of a martini and a followup bourbon means anything else is can wait. Have a great weekend all, time for me to call it a night.

Built some of the ETB sternguard from the leviathan box this morning. They can join the free one and the rest of the guys in the to-prime box


Still have the sarge left, who pisses me off. Stupid 10th edition rules. It would be trivial to swap that bolt pistol for a power sword, but the rules do not support that. No combi weapon and CC toy. He’s going to have to be demoted and just be the guy in charge of the back half of the squad. I’m going to have to take a spare body and spruce him up to join the squad, as I’m going to poach the HB and one rifleman for the command squad. Probably going to grab a spare HB to fill out the squad, but might have some cool burny bits hiding on GK sprues to make a pyreblaster. I always enjoyed HFs on sternguard squads.

So some paint:


With the space now free, I can start in on the month’s entry. Took no time to catch the two new guys up to the one I started earlier. Going to be a bit of contrast on these guys. Right now one big issue is deciding what’s skin, what’s leather, what’s cloth, and what’s armor. Kinda fuzzy in a lot of places.

And finish those last 2 burners.

Parkour vamps on deck! Sorry to hear about the equipment woes. That's a cool looking batch of upcoming Marines, too.

 Nevelon wrote:
Remember these guys who were supposed to be done in August? Getting there.

Most projects take longer than we planned. I have a ship build that stalled in 2012 and has moved three times since it was ready for painting.

Cheers,

CB

Heh, you're complaining about having models sitting around since August, and I'm still getting dirty looks from a batch of Easterlings that have been sitting mostly completed on my desk for like a year and a half at this point, and that's just the tip of the sad WIP iceberg for me.

Totally agree about the stupid wargear rules. I checked and you can indeed have a bolt rifle and a good melee weapon, but not a combi weapon and a good melee weapon. Like, why GW?

But, at least you are getting some paint down, which is more than I can say. I've been assembling plenty of stuff, but not getting much actual painting done lately. Keep up the good work!

youwashock wrote:Parkour vamps on deck! Sorry to hear about the equipment woes. That's a cool looking batch of upcoming Marines, too.

Nice mild day, so they all got a coat of primer and off to the to-paint pile.

Captain Brown wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
Remember these guys who were supposed to be done in August? Getting there.

Most projects take longer than we planned. I have a ship build that stalled in 2012 and has moved three times since it was ready for painting.

Cheers,

CB

Normally once I start putting paint on things I finish them. If I count things that are built with just primer, I’ve got stuff back to 2017 in the “active” pile. If I dig into the Pile of Shame I’m sure I’ve got dead projects from the 90s. Mostly old WHFB stuff. Occasionally I dig things out for comps (like the dryads and slayer pirates), but not often.

ZergSmasher wrote:Heh, you're complaining about having models sitting around since August, and I'm still getting dirty looks from a batch of Easterlings that have been sitting mostly completed on my desk for like a year and a half at this point, and that's just the tip of the sad WIP iceberg for me.

Totally agree about the stupid wargear rules. I checked and you can indeed have a bolt rifle and a good melee weapon, but not a combi weapon and a good melee weapon. Like, why GW?

But, at least you are getting some paint down, which is more than I can say. I've been assembling plenty of stuff, but not getting much actual painting done lately. Keep up the good work!

I’m not a GW hater, but they do vex me sometimes. The big one is when limits are placed on things not due to fluff/background/game balance. It stifles the creativity and modeling side of the hobby.

So I finished the sarge, and just left him as-is. He made it before the primer came out, so will join the squad. I’ll need to remind myself not to give him sarge markings; he’ll be the nameless guy in charge of the back half of the squad. Started clipping the full kit. The ETB ones from the Leviathan box are a mix or combis and rifles, so I want to make sure I have enough for half the total squad to have each. So 4 troopers each, 2x heavy weapons (going to need spares as I’m poaching the ETB HB for the command squad) and a rifle/CC sarge and a basic combi sarge/second. I got a spare rifleman as a mini of the month, so will need one more body, which I should have kicking around.

Not that I’m doing much with the DW these days, but it might be worth seeing what I could do to get them field able as sternguard squads. I know the classic firstborn one I built with that in mind. Might need some HB/HFs to get the primaris up.

Put some more layers down on the vamps. plugging along, but not a lot of time.

State of the 10th:

Scouts
8x snipers (+1 in primed pile)
2x HB
1x ML (Mag at waist to swap for a sniper if needed)
4x BP/CCW
4x shotguns
5x bolters (one of them has a real big knife, an issue now that they differentiate between "Combat knife" and "Close combat weapon”)
3x chainsword sarges

Legends:
Sgt Talion (just a sarge with a bolter now )
3x scout bikes.
Land Speeder Storm

Gone:
Sarge w/ SB and powersword

Phobos:
5x Incursors
10x Infiltrators
9x Eliminators (2 rifle squads, one las)
Chaplain
Lt in phobos armor
Lt. w/ combi weapon (primed)
(bonus phobos librarian, not technically part of the 10th)

So due to the new box, the way the rules for scouts work have drastically changed. The big thing is that snipers are 1/5 guys now and not a swap at will thing. Full squads are still in legends for now.

Organizing them into squads for 10th seems like a lot of the options are gone. You need a sarge. You want the sniper and the heavy. That’s 3/5th. From what I hear on the play side you want a shotgunner. Having an assault weapon in the squad makes them eligible to shoot after advancing, so lets them perform actions. The 5th guy can do whatever he wants. It still might be worth it to aggressively run a squad for close combat, but is it worth giving up the heavy/sniper for a single extra CC swing? Because that’s all the BP/CK get. In the days when we needed to pay extra points for the big guns, a lot could be said for keeping them cheep and cheerful, and not paying for things you wouldn’t need. But the way 10th does points, why not?

The loss of my tricked out sarge hurts my numbers. That drops me down to 29 guys, assuming I just use Talion to fill his sarge’s slot in a squad. Not really relevant from a play POV, as I can still comfortably put together 3 kitted out scout squads (and a legend scout sniper squad) for lists. But it bugs me as I like to have tidy shelf deployment. He can still hang out in the back if I want to push for a full 10th company. I’m not going to try to source another old scale scout just to replace him.

Looking at the phobos side, I’ve got 24 troopers, plus some command

For the eliminators I have two pure rifle squads, and one squad with las fusils and a carbine sarge. Back when they were released, the sarge could forgo his shooting to buff the squad. So it was worth it to not pat to give him a las. if I was building a squad these days I’d have just had a pure Las squad. Not worth giving up the 3rd AV shot for the shoot and scoot ability. Might be worth tossing into a rifle squad. If I end up with spare bodies might try to trick out a new sarge.

I’ve got a 5 man incursor squad, with the gear they need. They have a very nice looking ability to spot a unit to give the rest of your army +1 to hit it. I don’t know if I need another squad of them, but like the way the look these days.

10 Infiltrators have some issues with the swap to 10th. It used to be the coms/helix was either/or for the squad. Now you can have both, even in a 5 man squad. They seem a little pricy for what they do, but it looks like they still do their job, and do it well. Which is camping and area denial. I could fake a tricked out 5 man squad, using the “sarge” from the back half of the squad for a comms trooper. But I could use some spare guys to gear them up properly.

With the combi weapon lt from the Leviathan box that’s both the guys I need for 10th company command. Still need a captain. And if I want to go all-in, an apothecary and command squad. Might be fun to figure out how to do a modern command in phobos. The rifleman and HB guy are just weapon swaps, pretty easy. Ancient would need me to find a banner/pole, but should also be doable. I’ve got power swords a plenty, the issue would be finding one that looked good, and a good pose to make the champ stand out. The reiver Lt might make a nice base, but I’d hate to pay GW’s single character prices.

I feel like a squad of reivers would be nice to have on the shelf, but their rules are a bit naff for their points. We have so many better options for CC troops.

So where are we? A solid demi company of the 10th. Made the transition to 10th OKish. The support units (bikes, LLS) went to legends. The loss of the storm and the way gear is structured hurt the CC scouts. I can still put 3x solid units on the table, so from a practical POV, still good. Loss of dedicated non-legends scout sniper squad means I’ve got more of them then I’ll ever need. Oh well. Phobos are largely untouched, but the upgrade structure impacts the infiltrators.

Where are we going? Will I pick up the new scouts when they drop? I don’t need to, but might anyway (especially bundled with scorpions). They look cool, but the budget is not infinite. The old phobos KT box could be fun to grab. Use the parts and bodies to make a KT, add options to existing squads, maybe do up command.

All of these things are pretty low on the priority list. I’m probably going to focus on the 1st first. But I wanted to spend my Sunday coffee ramblings taking stock of what I had, because the 10th ed changes had some pretty big impact on my self.


Automatically Appended Next Post:


So some progress and not just random musings. Vamps are basically done. Need to be flocked. Built the SG sarge. Fist is magnetized. Didn’t like the one in the kit, so pulled one from the bits box. It’s got a crux on the back, so went for a plainer shoulder so as to not double up.


Moved the 3 old metal raveners down to the handles. Hope to bang them out quickly, so I can do the aggressors next month. Would have started tonight, but one snapped off his base and needed to be re-glued. Kinda glad we get something for the pure melee build (a pip or armor save) as these guys never had guns.

My 10th got gutted pretty hard. I had 11 snipers (including 2 old metal ones), a ML, a HB, a squad of five of the old metal close combat ones, and a bunch with bolters. Plus 6 Scout Bikes. I've sold or am in the process of selling all of my old scouts, in favor of getting some of the new ones when they drop (I like those models so much better). Thankfully my Phobos side is still just fine. My Ravenwing fared pretty badly as well, losing a bunch of Attack Bikes, 5 Land Speeders (Typhoons and Tornadoes), and a lot of my normal Bikes have special weapons and so can't really be used as Outriders unless I do some cutting, which I might. I'm pretty much selling anything I can't use, as my FLGS will give me some store credit for it and it'll clear shelf space for newer stuff. I'm holding on to a few pieces for nostalgia reasons, but I'm not particularly attached to most of it so most of what I can't play with anymore outside of Legends is going to the used model bins at the shop.