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The repulsor looks as menacing and powerful as it’s suppossed to . Brutal beatstick of the imperium.

Nice job. Always good to see more grav tanks in the world.

@Josh: Thanks for the kind words! Land Raider crossed with a Land Speeder was exactly what I thought when I saw this model for the first time as well.

@youwashock: Thanks very much!

@Theo: Thanks! Big models like this should look powerful, and the Repulsor certainly does, despite being a hover vehicle among an army of tracked vehicles.

@Nev: Thanks! I totally agree; there should be more grav tanks. I've got a friend who's painting a Repulsor for his Deathwatch, so that'll be yet another one.

Wow, 2 weeks since my last update. I'm really slipping. Finally getting my painting groove on, and not a moment too soon. Less than 2 weeks remain before the Siegeworld GT, so I have absolutely got to speed up! Fortunately I've made some progress on some of my needed models, and I think I finally have a decent list prepared. So here are some WIP shots:
First, here's the last WIP shot of my long-awaited Talonmaster:

He's not totally done, but honestly just a couple of freehand details and touchups are all that's left to do. This model actually will probably not be in my GT list, as it turns out, but by God I'm finishing him anyway!

Next, here's the first WIP shot of my third Scout squad, this one equipped with a Heavy Bolter:

They are coming along nicely. The cloth parts are done, and most of the rest is basecoated (just the leather parts and the skin left really), so they shouldn't take too terribly long to finish.

Finally, here's a WIP of my Scout Bikers:

I forgot how tedious bikers are to paint. I'm not honestly sure why I find them so; they aren't that intricate or anything (although these scout ones kind of are). Probably just in my head.

In addition to these models, I've got a bunch of Hellblasters, a Lieutenant, and an Ancient that need paint, and I need to finish my Dark Talon as well. I'll be borrowing some Guard models from a friend, and running my already-painted Imperial Knight in my list, so that'll cut down on the painting. It's still going to be very close!

Looking good, man. Push on!

Nice work. Nothing like a deadline to get the motivation going!

I think there a a number of problems getting paint on bikes. They are just big enough to get tedious, but you need to paint them in squads. Not just a block of color like a tank, so you cant just cheat with a big brush. Old sculps with soft detail makes it hard to be excited. Just a host of issues.

And I need more myself.

@youwashock: Thanks!

@Nev: Thanks, and I think you're right about the bike thing. There's a reason why I've got a bunch of unpainted Ravenwing sitting around gathering dust...

Welp, I'm out of time, and unfortunately I didn't manage to 100% finish the models for my Siegeworld list. They are, however, beyond the minimum standards for the event, so I can play with them no problem. Motivation has been lacking, and being tired and distracted by other things hasn't helped either. I don't have any current WIP shots of the stuff, but it's basically all basecoated and there have been some shades applied, and the bases have texture on them. After Siegeworld, I'm hoping to finish them in time for a smaller local event at which I may very well use the same list, depending on how it goes.

While I didn't finish the Siegeworld models in time, I did finally finish the Talonmaster, who didn't make the cut for my list. Here are the final pics of that model:



Far from my best work, but to me it'll serve its purpose well. I decided to keep the speeder simple and not put too much bling on it, as it shouldn't look better than Sammael's speeder, Sableclaw. The decision to add text to the back panels was a last-minute one and I did them somewhat hastily, hence why it looks sloppy. I actually finished this model a week ago, but just now got around to taking pictures of it. Feel free to vote for these pics on the Dakka Gallery.

I would have had a Ravenwing Dark Talon to post final pics of here as well, but as I was looking it over before taking pics I noticed one freaking purity seal on the tail that I somehow missed. It'll have to wait until after Siegeworld so I can get it painted, as even if no one else notices that I missed it, I'll notice, and it'll bug the crap out of me.

Anyhow, wish me luck in Siegeworld, and I'll have some pics of that Dark Talon, and hopefully some other stuff to show very soon!

Don’t be too hard on yourself for the freehand, it’s fine. Obviously could have been a little neater, but that can be said for many things. Practice makes perfect.

Good luck at your event. Crush all who oppose you, and purge the heretic! And have fun, always that.

Nice work on the Land Speeder there. My son and I built three for his army, but I could not get them assembled without gaps-- hats off to you. Is that guy going to lop someone's head off in a fly-by attack?

We're all waiting for a group shot, BTW.

@Nev: I'm sure you're right, but like most people I'm my own worst critic. I do feel like I'm improving as far as freehand, and I'm probably capable of doing better. I was just getting in too big of a hurry.

@Josh: Thanks! This Land Speeder was one of the newer plastic kits, which come in more parts than the older ones and thus are much easier to put together right. The old ones were a nightmare of ill-fitting parts and yes, there were gaps everywhere! As for the sword pose, Talonmasters are actually pretty good in CC with 4 attacks base, and I almost always give mine the Heavenfall blade relic, so he lops off plenty of heads! Group shot will probably wait until I get the rest of my Siegeworld list done (even though Siegeworld is over now), but rest assured there will be one.

Finally able to call my Dark Talon finished. It wrecked face at Siegeworld pretty well in most of my games. Here are the final pics (8 of them!):




The Dark Talon is one of my favorite models in the game, so it was really fun to work on this! I'm super happy with how it turned out, and it got compliments when I was at Siegeworld. Please feel free to vote for these images in the Dakka Gallery!

In other news, I picked up the Space Wolves half of the Tooth & Claw box set while I was at the tournament, and I've already assembled the Primaris Battle Leader:

I'm currently working on putting the rest of the stuff together, but I won't be painting any Space Wolves until I get the rest of my WIP Dark Angels that were in my list painted. I'm planning on running that same list in a local tournament in a couple of weeks, and I hope to be fully painted in time for that.

Since I lost my first game at Siegeworld, I was given the choice of a selection of Scibor models and accessories. I chose this cool model that will probably be used as a Thousand Sons Exalted Sorcerer or something:

I haven't glued him to the base, as I want to paint that separately, but I'm really looking forward to working on this thing. Scibor has some really cool stuff!

Anyway, that's all for now. I hope to have more Dark Angels stuff to show really soon!

Switching gears completely, I'm finally getting to work in earnest on my entry for the August painting challenge. I chose to paint some old metal Easterling Kataphrakts from the Lord of the Rings SBG (now called Middle-Earth SBG). The month is nearly over, so I probably won't finish, but I'm certainly going to give it the old college try! Here's how they are looking so far:

I've painted the skin of the horses (3 brown, 2 black) complete with highlights, and I've also basecoated and shaded the very prominent gold armor. I'll probably highlight that, then start tackling the cloth parts, which shouldn't be too terribly complicated. Time is definitely a factor though, as I actually have to finish sooner than the end of the month because I'm leaving town in a couple of days.

Anyway, I hope to have more progress to show on these and my 40k stuff soon.

I managed to power through painting my Easterling Kataphrakts in just a couple of evenings, putting the finishing touches on this morning, so here are the final photos:



I had a ton of fun painting these, and it really showed me how fast I could paint when my back was to the wall. If I could just have that kind of dedication when painting 40k stuff, I could probably knock out my entire pile of shame in less than a year, certainly less than two years. It was also very nice to take a break and paint something that wasn't 40k-related. I have always loved The Lord of the Rings, even before the movies came out, so when I finally had an excuse to get some of my LOTR stuff painted for one of the challenges, I jumped at the chance. I might not do any more of it for a while, but it was nice to get some of it done. I just love the models too; the Easterlings had, to me, hands-down the coolest armor in the movies. It's a crying shame that we only got to see them in one scene in the whole trilogy.

Anyway, back to 40k for me. I still need to figure out what to paint for next month's challenge...

Just a quick little update now that I've returned from my short vacation. I've now finished putting together everything from the Space Wolves half of Tooth & Claw, so here are the unpainted models from that set:

I'm actually going to use the Redemptor for my Dark Angels, and paint my Easy-to-Build Redemptor as Space Wolves, which will mean respraying it with The Fang paint (I had already sprayed it with Caliban Green). The main guns are swappable (didn't even need any magnets), as are the fist-mounted guns (I did use magnets for that one, and it was very simple to do). The ones on the belly would not be very easy to magnetize at all, so I skipped them and just went with Fragstorm Launchers (which is what I would probably take every time anyways).

Now I'm going to get back to painting Dark Angels. I've got 15 Hellblasters, 5 Scouts, 6 Scout Bikes, and 2 characters that need to be finished up properly before I'll move on to other things, so I'd better get on it. Maybe after that I'll get started painting my Wolf stuff.

Nice work cranking out those Easterlings. It is always a good feeling to finish up a group of minis. That is one thing I like about this hobby. The potential for many tiny victories.

@youwashock: Thanks! You are definitely right about the little victories thing.

So, change of plans. I have another GT coming up (this time right in my backyard, so to speak), so since I'm planning on running a Chaos list I'm going to have to put the Dark Angels on the back burner for now and focus on cranking out some Chaos stuff. Fortunately, most of the Chaos stuff I need for my planned list is already painted, but I still need to knock some stuff out in case things change, which is definitely a possibility given that there is a big FAQ expected to drop before too long. I would run my Dark Angels at the GT, but they really just don't cut it competitively. Anyway, I've started working on a Death Guard Foetid Bloat-drone for my list. It is also my entry in the September painting challenge, and it'll be another unit from Dark Imperium finished. Here's where it's at so far:

Okay, photo's a little blurry but I've basecoated and shaded the green armor and the metallics, as well as the black cables (most of which are hanging down below the drone). Next up is to highlight these colors, and then I can move on to the more fun stuff like the fleshy sac on the back of the drone. After this guy, I'll have to do one more Bloat-drone and 3 Myphitic Blight-haulers, as well as a Poxbringer, 3 bases of Nurglings (bringing me up to 9 total in my collection), and a Herald of Slaanesh. If I go with the other version of the list, I'll need to paint a Feculent Gnarlmaw as well. I plan to also work on those Dark Angels concurrently, but the Chaos models will be my priority.

Update: the Bloat-drone is nearly done; just a few little details left to finish up, plus the base. It'll be ready to join the rest of my painted Dark Imperium Death Guard models very soon. Here's a couple of WIP shots:

I am pretty happy with it so far. In fact, since I took these pics early this afternoon, I've already made more progress. Basically just the base left to do at this point, so expect some finished shots very soon.

Next up will be some Myphitic Blight-haulers, 3 of them in fact. It'll be the first time I've ever attempted to batch-paint vehicles before, but for ones like this it seemed appropriate as they'll be run together and they are identical models. Like the Bloat-drone they are fairly busy models, but I'll be able to apply the same techniques to them as I did on the drone, so it won't be too terribly hard. Look forward to WIP shots of those in the days ahead.

I managed to finish the Bloat-drone, so here are the final pics of that:



I'm really happy with how it turned out. It was super fun to paint too, despite how busy the model was. The little puddles of goo on the base were a last-minute addition based on the advice of a couple of friends, and I think they do help to emphasize the influence of Nurgle on this thing (as if the drone itself isn't disgusting enough to make it obvious!). I'll probably do better ones on my other DG stuff, as I'm pretty happy with how they look, and they would look even better if I had planned them before putting down the base texture paint.

In other news, I've started working on the Myphitic Blight-haulers. No pics yet, as I've barely started, but they are under way. They'll have a very similar look to the Bloat-drone when they are done, as I intend to basically follow the same techniques and colors.

I've also finally gone back and assembled all of my Infinity models, but still no paint on them as I've got a lot of 40k stuff that needs done sooner. I may start trying to get a game or two of Infinity here in the next month or two, as after watching a couple of guys play at one of my FLGS in town I really want to give it a try. Painting them will be somewhat daunting, as one thing Infinity models are known for is really, really tiny details. I better learn to use the magnifying lens on my lamp!

Anyhoo, I hope to have more progress to show on my models soon, so stay tuned!

Hello again, everyone. It's been a while since I posted in this blog, and I have to sincerely apologize for that. RL stuff was really getting me down, making me see everyone as being critical of me, hence my lack of motivation to show off my hobbying progress. Now that I've gotten my head back on straight, I can return to business as usual around here. First, some info about my upcoming GT (upcoming as in 3 weeks away now): the event is called the Mid-Mo Maelstrom, and is being hosted by my local 40k club. It is being run in a venue just a short distance south of my hometown, so I won't even have to travel or worry about where to spend the night. It'll be 5 rounds, using the ITC missions. I've also had yet another complete change of plans as far as what I'm going to run in the event. Since the time of my last blog post, I've decided that instead of running Chaos (who took some nerfs in the big FAQ recently), I'm going to field my Tau. This of course means that I need to have 2000 points worth of Tau painted, but thankfully while I haven't been blogging at all I have been getting some paint down on some models, even if it hasn't been as much as I should have. Anyhow, I do have some pics of stuff I've been working on:
First, here's a pic of a bunch of Fire Warriors that I'm considering finished for now:

The only thing that really could be considered unfinished on these models is that the blue armor has not been shaded or highlighted; I'll get back to that if I have time before the event, but I think they look okay as-is. The back row are actually not from this current push; they are the first Tau models I ever painted! I only added texture to their bases to match my other models; I'm not going to touch them up, either, as they are a reminder of how far I've come in the hobby.

Next, here is a trio of ever-useful Shield Drones, ready to protect my bigger Battlesuits from enemy fire:

These guys are done; I just don't think they are worth setting up my proper photo area. Once I get a few more of them painted, I might take a couple of better photos.

Here are a couple of WIP shots of two character models I'm working on, Darkstrider and my Commander in XV86 Coldstar Battlesuit:

Darkstrider is almost done; the gray parts need to be covered up with yellow, and the armor needs to be shaded and highlighted, and there are a few details to pick out. The Commander still needs a fair bit of work; like Darkstrider, the gray parts need to be covered in yellow (gray works good underneath yellow to make it look better). You may be wondering about the Custodes helmet and leg guard on the base; that is there because in a practice game my opponent underestimated the threat range on my Coldstar and I managed to fly over and annihilate his Vexilla bearer, shutting down a major component of his army's protection (it was providing a bubble of -1 to hit). I have done a lot of Marine heads and stuff on bases, but I never see any Custodes stuff on bases and I had a spare helmet and a couple of other bits, so I decided to go with it.

Finally, something very different. A WIP shot of my entry in the October painting challenge, the second set of 10 Poxwalkers from the Dark Imperium box:

Lots left to do on these guys; all they've gotten so far is a couple of layers of Rakarth Flesh, a couple of layers of Pallid Wych Flesh, and an all-over shade of Reikland Fleshshade. I'll be adding a few more shades to the skin, plus some highlights, and then I'll start picking out the other details like the clothes and weapons.

Now that I've returned, I hope to start updating this blog more frequently. I've got a lot of Tau stuff to get done in 3 weeks, including probably 20 more Fire Warriors, 3 Riptides (thankfully 2 of them are partly done already!), some characters, and at least a dozen more Shield Drones. You'll see it all right here.

Hey, welcome back!

3(!) Riptides? That is going to look awesome on the table. I like the blue for the Tau. Clean and striking. Good luck getting the boys ready for the fight.

Whoa, another new army? You're amazingly productive. I also think that the blue you are using is a nice departure from the usual ochre.

@youwashock: 3 Riptides will be awesome, and quite powerful in game (although not so much as it would have been in 7th...). I've been pretty happy with my blue color scheme so far, and it has gotten compliments at my FLGS and here, so I'm going to continue with it.

@Josh: Hardly a brand new army for me, as I've had Tau stuff since very early in my time with 40k. I wanted to do something different with my Tau compared to the ochre color, so I came up with the blue and yellow scheme (kind of a reversed Craftworld Iyanden scheme) and haven't regretted it one bit.

I finished Darkstrider, so here are a few pics of him:


This guy's one of my favorite Tau models, so it was lots of fun to do. It's also the first time I've painted a named character in a different scheme to their "canon" colors. Maybe it's actually just Darkstrider's cousin or something... Anyways, feel free to vote for these pics in the Dakka Gallery. One thing I will say about the close-up shot is that my camera doesn't like to zoom in too much. The pics become kind of grainy. It was the only way to get a decent close-up of this guy's face, though. I probably need to get a better camera, but I'm not willing to drop the cash for one right now.

In addition to Darkstrider, I've been getting work done on some other Tau stuff. I've made very good progress on two of my Riptides, so here's where they are at right now:

The one on the right has already had the shading done, and it really makes a difference in how defined the panel lines are. My third Riptide will actually be a repaint, as I bought it used and it was already partially painted. It'll be pretty easy to just go over it with two coats of Caledor Sky (the shade of blue I use), which should cover the underlying paint easily.

Here's the current state of my Coldstar Commander:

Not too much progress since my last post, but he's getting there. Next thing for him will be shading, then I just need to highlight him and pick out the details.

Finally, here are a couple of Ethereals that I'm working on. Not sure yet which one will make it into my list:

I'm doing the foot one in a more classic Ethereal scheme, whereas I was thinking I'd do the Hover Drone one in a very flashy scheme, with the skirt in bright yellow (to go with the blue that the armor will be when it's done). I'm not sure I should do that, as that yellow will be really bright and might be way too garish. Maybe I'll stick to a bone color like the robe on the foot one will be, although I want to get some yellow somewhere on the model to tie it in with the rest of the army.

In addition to these, I've got a whole bunch of Shield Drones in various stages of WIP, just no pics of them. Most have only had the blue parts basecoated. They are pretty easy to paint, so I should be able to knock them out fast. I really need to get a move on, as I've got two weeks to have the whole army painted and ready to play. It'll be tight for sure. And before anyone asks, there will be group shots when I get it all done, don't you worry!

Darkstrider (who I know squat about, but he looks neat) came out cool. Those Riptides are rockin'. Solid mecha goodness.

The blue and yellow are a really great combination and Darkstrider looks like the boss .

With the brightness of your suits, I’d not worry about having some on the etherial as well. Probably help him tie in with the rest of the force better. And make him easier for imperial snipers to pick out, but that’s just the cherry on top.

I wonder how it would look to have the etherial on disk painted to look like he was a hologram. Blue glow, scan/grid lines/wireframe. The Tau are the practical race. Why have your politicians leading from the front? Just slap up a motivational holo-projector. Unless of course your leader class is a bunch of mind-controlling jerks who need to be present.

@youwashock: Thanks very much!

@Theo: Thank you sir, I've been pretty happy with how my scheme has turned out on different Tau units myself!

@Nev: The hologram idea is cool, but I think it's beyond me to pull it off. I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future, though! Also, it is more fluffy for Ethereals to be actually present; in the current Tau codex there is mention of an artillery shell killing all of the Ethereals in a command center except for the holographic Aun'va (who is actually dead), and despite him giving commands to make a heroic sacrifice many troops, a certain Tau commander feels no compulsion to obey at all and calls the idea a useless waste of lives, unlike what would happen if Ethereals were actually present. Mind control indeed...

Sorry for lack of updates recently, I've been busy painting in addition to yet more RL stuff. The good news is that I have indeed gotten my tournament list all painted to at least minimum tabletop standard. Here's my promised group shot of the army:

The only models in there that I didn't paint are the Broadsides, hence why they are in a different scheme. They'll get repainted eventually. It certainly feels good to have a force like this all painted, even if they aren't totally done. I'll probably start going back and touching them up to fully complete them after the tournament is over. Of course, I said that about my Dark Angels a couple of months ago too. Maybe that's what I need to do for the rest of the year, just polish off my partially completed models, in addition to whatever I do for the monthly painting challenges. Speaking of which, I unfortunately did not have time to finish the Poxwalkers for October's challenge, so my dream of finishing all of them in a single season (March-Feb) remains unfulfilled for another year.

With that done, I now have a painted force for three of my armies (Tau, Dark Angels, and Chaos Marines). Yes, I have more painted than just what I need for tournaments, but now it'll be easier for me to get painting points since I won't have as much to paint in preparation.

I also sadly have found out that I will not be able to go to next year's Adepticon. My club is not sending as many teams, and all of the ones they are sending are picked already. Oh well, that's money I can save for other things, notably a new computer. I do intend to go to more big tournaments next year, but Adepticon will not be among them. Hopefully I can get into a team for ATC, as I've always wanted to play in that. We'll just have to see.

Nice shot of the Tau. I’m sure they will look nice on the battlefield being purged like the filthy xenos scum they are. Good luck out there!

Having a solid core of an army makes expanding it really easy. Not having to start from scratch every time is huge. Just need to swap out one or two units to chase the meta.

Shame about not going to adeptecon, I’ve heard good things about it. It’s on my wish list of things do do someday, but I can’t really justify the time off or money to go.

Look at all that mech. Great looking force.

Very cool looking army, I've never seen Tau in blue but they look brilliant. Having a core army is always great to work from, it's something I need to try and do!

@Nev: Thanks! You definitely should go to Adepticon sometime; save up some money and take the time off if you can. It's worth it. I hope to go back at some point, but it just won't be next year.

@youwashock: Thanks!

@Tyranid Horde: Thanks, and welcome to the blog! I haven't seen any blue Tau either other than mine, so it makes me feel like I'm doing something unique (although I'm sure someone else on Earth has a blue Tau army somewhere...).

Switching gears once again, I am now working on some Space Wolves for the monthly painting challenge, and I'm also working on some Dark Angels stuff for yet another event coming up in a little less than a month. First, here's a quick WIP of the Space Wolves Primaris Battle Leader from Tooth & Claw:

The gray armor is done, and I've started to pick out the details. Lots left to do on this model. The other half of my challenge entry is my metal Logan Grimnar model, but I've barely started on that.

On the Dark Angels side of things, I've begun working on my unit of Aggressors, as well as this Librarian:

The blue armor is done, and I've basecoated the robes and the green on the shoulder pads. This model has loads of detail, so I'm going to take my time and pick all that out as best I can. I haven't really started on the Aggressors yet.

RL has once again decided to kick me in the head, this time nearly literally. On Saturday night, as I was eating some pizza, I noticed a sharp edge in my mouth. On closer inspection with my tongue, as well as a mirror and a flashlight, I discovered to my total dismay that I somehow broke one of my teeth. There was no pain or anything, but I still went to see the dentist on Tuesday and it turns out that I had a very large cavity in that tooth, and it needs a crown. I didn't have the money for something like that, and I lack any kind of dental insurance, so my father had to pay for it, and I'll have to pay him back. Over $1600 to put a crown on one tooth. Thankfully the decay didn't go down to the nerve, so I didn't need a root canal. The dentist has already taken care of the actual bacteria that caused the cavity, and prepared the tooth for the crown, but I won't get the temporary crown until next Wednesday, and the permanent one a few weeks later. I really didn't need this, as now I'm going to have to allocate a lot of my spare money each month to paying my dad back. I had planned to buy a new computer this month, but now that's extremely unlikely. Oh well, life sucks sometimes, y'know?

Anyhoo, more to come on the Space Wolves and Dark Angels, hopefully soon.

Yikes! Sorry about the dental mishap. Real life is such a drag.

Bummer about the tooth. I’ve been putting off seeing the dentist myself.

Nice work on the wolf and the libby!