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Ah sensual loot! Nobody I know knows enough about the hobby to get me hobby related things which sucks but that display case is wicked! I really want to get one myself - I would love to have the link
Bikes are coming along very nicely as well

Actually Zambro, I think those two bikers look pretty rocking! I'm usually not that keen on SM bikes or the fists but I gotta say I'm liking what you've done there. All that mud splatter on them, esp across the faceplate is excellent - really DOES give a touch of wow factor. Sterling work fella

Yeah, I agree, I think you're being a little hard on yourself with the Bikes, they easily look as good as your other minis and great quality paintwork!

Don't worry, they're awesome, there's nothing standard about them! I love the weathering.

Bike look good. If you want something a little extra, there are old special weapon markings you could use to make them stand out.

Envious of the case, nice!

Hey guys,

Managed to finish off my bikes before we roll into 2016...




That fills out the Grav Bike squad I have used in my past few games. No longer need to proxy a WS bike squad, which means I can run my first 1500 point list fully painted!

I've been running this IF project for a year now... I've just tallied up everything and I'm just over 2500 points!

And here is everything I have done this year, in one big picture:


It doesn't look like much in one picture, but I'm happy with it!

I've done some meticulous book keeping this past year. I have kept account of all hobby related purchases and have a breakdown as follows. But first, back at the start of 2015, I decided to give myself a hobby budget of £150 a month. I've stuck to it (more or less), and at the end of the year I have averaged £132 spent on the hobby a month. For a total of £1588 this past year spent on hobby related things. Looking at the sum objectively like that, it really is a lot of money. I'm not really sure how I feel about having spent that much money... I know I've gotten my money's worth in terms of time spend on those items and enjoyment gained. But anyway, I looked into the details of the monthly spendings and worked out percent wise where that money went. Warhammer Fantasy took the biscuit with 25% of that total going into Fantasy (Remember my WoC at the start of the year, and now Dark Elves). 40k was just behind with 22%. Followed by Xwing (20%), Conquest (16%) and Board Games (3%). Hobby supplies made up 10% and membership at the LGS was around 3%, too.

I'm reasonably happy with that breakdown of the spending. I knew 40k would dominate but I'm supprised that Fantasy was the biggest spend. I didn't take into account money recuperated from selling my WoC, this is just the outgoing expenditure. But seeing as I have played mostly 40k/Fantasy I'm not supprised they were the top 2. I'm a little sad that Xwing was so high. I dont play it any more, and will be Ebaying it off in the very near future. It was huge in the club at the start of the year, but dissapeared when I got back after the summer and bought into it heavily. The rest of the numbers seems reasonable.
I forsee that next year, Conquest will down (Only 1 expansion pack every month or two). There will most likely not be any Xwing. Board games will probably go up and Fantasy and 40k will still dominate.

I seem to recall having a yearly goal to 'stick to one army, and only contribute to that army'. Well... that didn't really happen... lol.
I want this year to be the year of painting. Now that I have a display case, I want to paint random, display minis to really good quality.
My Imperial Fists will likely stay near enough the same. For consistence's sake and I have their paint scheme down. But I want to get other minis - single mini side projectes - and paint them. Testing new techniques, different painting styles etc. Something to really push myself. I've noticed myself becoming somewhat complacent with the Fists. It's time to shake that up and push myself.
Not really sure where I'm going to start, but I've been eyeballing some monsters for my Elves and the BMG minis for a while. When my unpainted pile isn't so daunting I'll look into it (mid-january, maybe?).

The final thing I want to address in my end of year ramble is you. Everyone reading and commenting on this blog. I appreciate it all! Thank you!

See you next year!

Z

Fantastic year's work there! Quality and quantity are both most impressive!

Have you considered painting any of your X-wing stuff before selling it on? It might be a fun diversion, and with the quality of your work, could definitely push the value up, maybe even spin a profit overall.

Impressive force of fists you have there! Good year.

That is a cracking army shot of your IF.

Hey guys,

Thanks for the comments, guys. Hope everyone is settling back into work/university now that the holidays are over.

I have the much anticipated first update of the year:


A horribly backlit picture, but just enough to tease you about the next few updates...
I've been working the past 4 days, and I have the next few off. Hopefully I'll get some hobbying in.

There is a tournament in my FLGS for 40k in 2 weekends time. I'll be buying a ticket tonight. It's 1850 points, and I'll be running a mostly Imperial Fist army (with a few WS seconded to the Fists to make up points). Nothing ground breaking, just going for fun to support my group (proceeds are going towards a cabinet at the club so we can store things down there).

Should be getting a test game in tonight. Will see how things go then...

Z

Mmmm. Vindis. Don’t forget the weather the heck out of the siege shields. Being rammed repeatedly through reinforced fortifications does tend to do a number on the paint.

Good luck on the games!

Afternoon, folks.

I hope everyone's week is going well, so far.
I've a little mid-week update for my Fists.



The time consuming part is done (the stripes and a wash). Just need to tidy up the stripes add decals before I jump into the weathering.
It might get some more progress today. But I'm torn between working on these 2 or getting the Dark Elves back out and doing another layer or two on them..?

Last night's game was really good! Fists vs. raven-/Deathwing, 1500 points, Maelstrom.
I seized then in the shooting phase rolled 8 6s with my first squad (heavy bolter devs) to pen the dark shourd... And that was the end of my luck. I proceeded to roll below average for the rest of the game. Noteably, my LotD dropped in, laughing at the cover save as they have ignores cover and lots of plasma. Missed, landed in terrain. 2 Died (1 plasma), then, the plasma cannon shoots, scatters back and kills himself...
Anyway, thankfully it was Maelstrom and I played towards the misson. It ended 11-10 to Dark Angels. Getting past the poor rolling, it was a well faught, close game!

I bought a ticket to the 40k tournament, too. It's in 2 weekends time. I'm looking forward to it!

Z

Those Vindis should be mean when weathered! The game sounds fun, though your luck with plasma sounds little better than my own!

I'd love to see some more Dark Elves, though the Fists are always excellent!

Your Vindis look awesome brother! Well done!

Vindicators are looking awesome, also sounds like my Plasma luck in my last game. Hope it's better for you next time.

Hey guys, thanks for all the comments!

Cracking on with the Vindis...



I'm thinking about doing some grey-black weathering around the bottom on the tank, near the treads etc. So it looks like it's picking up all sorts of dust and crap.
Need your advice too... Should I do water marks coming down from rivets etc? I'm not sure if it'll be too much... Thoughts?

@Para. I'll look into taking some pictures of the Dark Elves in the no-to-distant future

More soon,
Z

Too much weathering? On an Imperial Fist Vindicator? Madness!

Did you do water mark stuff weathering on the other vehicles? There is something to be said for consistency. If you are up for it, I’d give it a go.

Adding dust and rubble weathering along the bottom sounds good. Maybe snag a strand of barbed wire, or a chunk of concrete/rebar in the shield to be dragged around a bit.

Hey guys!

The Vindis are all done!






I did some run off water marks. I kept it subtle, and didn't go overboard. I like it.

I also went to a Conquest tournament... and won! I took first place, and the nice loot that goes with it:

It was very fitting, seeing as I was using a Dark Eldar deck. first time I've won a conquest tournament. I'm pleased with it!

I've got some non-GW minis in the works. My Gaming group's Xmas fund for new games saw us buying "Specter Ops". It's a board game, and there are 8 minis in it. The group nominated me to paint them, so they'll get posted up here when they get done. Not to mention I still have to finish the Desecent characters... I might relegate 40k to "building only", so I can focus on those. I have 2 drop pods, 5 sternguard and 10 tactical marines from Xmas left to do. I think I'll just cut and clean, and put the next week or two into those other minis.

Thanks for looking,
Z

That's a pair of great looking tanks. Congratulations on the tournament win!

 Paradigm wrote:
That's a pair of great looking tanks. Congratulations on the tournament win!

What he said.

I’m continuously surprised by what they are putting in board games these days. Guess I’m just used to simple things, like the white pawn being the wizard. Good time to be a gamer.

Excellent work on the Vindis, really stunning stuff.

EDC

Those Vindicators are gorgeous! That reminds me, I still need to finish up my Predator.

Thanks everyone!!

Just a quick update today;
Tomorrow is Torrent of War. My LGS's 40k tournament.
I'm fairly certain that it'll be a small, relatively quiet one - maybe 10-15 players(?). But I'm looking forward to it, anyway!
Just a casual list, pictured below.



Just have to -ahem- borrow -ahem- two white scars models... A little sad that I can't make a full 1850 list I want out of Fists, but awell...
I'm going to be a bit cheeky and pack away the WS stuff when we vote for painting, maybe I can contend for best painted..?
It's not super strong, but I'm hoping it can hold it's own down the bottom half of the rankings - Not looking for super-competive, just want to support my LGS+Club (proceeds are going towards group storage at the club).

I'll be taking my Camera, and I'll be grabbing snaps, where possible.
Maybe a sunday night / monday morning write up... Aiming for 2 wins (Was 3, but I've seen some lists that will be there...)

Wish me luck!
Z

Nice looking force there. Good luck.

Victory or Death!

Thanks Nev!

Quick day 1 round up, then I'm off to bed. I'm dog tired, and my legs / back are aching like crazy! Who knew 40k was so demanding!

I'm 1-2 (W-L). Half way to target.

First game against Grey Knights. I seized and went first. Nothing ground breaking in either of our lists. He was deepstriking a lot of it, so I was able to manage what he had and stem the flow. Really, really good game (best so far), it ended 11-10 to GK. His dreadknight dived onto an objective last turn, and I should have seen it and moved the obsec Scouts onto it and generally been a little more observant on what his objectives were on last turn or 2. Fantastic game, well balanced armies and really close game-play wise.

Second game was against SW. I seized again and it went down hill [for the opponent] from there. Hammer and Anvil, and I infiltrated my scouts behind his army in the far corner. His thunderwolves all out in the open ready to charge forward took a hammering, dropping 1 squad down to 1 wound left in my turn 1. He had a knight, too. First time I played against Knights... Went well! Dropped 2 HP off between Lascannon devs and the ICD. In shooting. TFC's destroyed his only grey hunter unit. Generally a splash of damage everywhere. His Knight charged my ICD, and we both struck at I4 and killed each other. (Chainfists are bad - for your opponent!!). End of turn 1, he was a Knight and TWC unit down. His dreadnought DP went off the table. We played it as a mishap, but thinking about it, does it kill the unit? Anyway, I tabled him. 20-0 on points. Was nice to win, but not a good game. No edge of your seat stuff...

3rd against Tau. With 50 kroot. And a Void Shield Generator. And big nasties. The VSG basically gimped my shooting first round - did nothing but took the shields down. Just your run of the mill loss. Nothing significant happened. 14-4 to my opponent. Only lasted 3 turns. A lot of it was a lack of Tau knowledge. First game against Tau since I played in Storm of Iron 2 years ago... I don't know their tricks, or tactics or even counters. Took it on the chin, but had a great chat with other player about a range of game-related things during setup which is why we only got 3 turns

There are 10 players, and I think I'm in the middle, with my scoring. Maybe the top of the bottom half. The 20-0 win second game thrust me right up there, but the third loss will average me back down. I'm almost certain I'm facing a heresy World Eaters army tomorrow at some point, and potentially Eldar/Tau... But, that could change... Roll on tomorrow!

Z

PS And typically, I take my camera around and forget to take it out even once. Will make a point of remembering tomorrow - atleast for voting the best painted. Will try and get a pic of each army.

Sounds like that's gone pretty well overall. Tau from what I understand (I also haven't faced them much recently) still do what they used to, sitting still and throwing a metric ton of dice in shooting, but with various new toys and tricks they're just much, much better at it now.

If a Drop Pod scatters off the table, it does count as a mishap (only way a Pod can mishap, actually) so you'd need to have rolled on the table.

I adore Vindicators and those two are cracking, your IF army looks very intimidating now.

50 Kroot sound like a major pain to face, at least it sounds
like you are having fun. Pictures of the various armies would be great, good luck!

Hey guys,

Thanks, Para and Thraxas, for the kind words. A good weekend, all in all.

Continuing from my previous post;

Game 4 was against Eldar/Tau (the son of game 3's opponent). Riptide, Wraithknight, scat bikes, seer, devilfish with pathfinders x3. He didn't get invisibility on his psychic rolls (luckily for me). And we spent most of the game in a face off. My dead pile was a scout model, and the cannon (not tech marine) until turn 3, but by then it was too late. He was in his school's league and his scout group's league and he had a good head for the game, but no invisibility and being non-commital with his wraithknight cost him. My gravs were sitting just outside of charge range waiting for the Knight to come into the open. The Fist's held the line well, and I won 17-4.

At this point, I was 2-2 and quite happy. The the match ups for the final round came out... I was on the top table(?), against the Tau player again (game 3). Basically, I had scored so well in all of my games that despite losing 50%, I was still playing the last game on the top table. I talked with the TO about playing the same person again, but when he looked, the Tau player was top, I was underneath then the other 2 people below us he had already played. So if he was playing someone new, it would have been a mid tier army. I went with the TO's ruling that I had to play him again (no big deal, really) and we went for it.
It would have been nice to have played someone else, but at the end of the day it's not too big a deal.

Game 5 was very much a repeat of Game 3, but I went for points this time, insead of killing stuff. In what was probably the most closely faught game of the weekend, we were running for our points as much as possible. 3 Marines and 5 scouts charging 2 different units of 10 kroot and winning/cutting them down to get me 2 points for the objective that turn, and generally playing for points. We both knew what was on the line - my opponent was undeafeated in his past 4 games and I knew that if I got more points I could potentially get in the top 3. Anyway, we battled it out, and it came down to 9-8 to my opponent, because my TFC scattered (despite having LoS) on kroot in cover. AP6, ignores cover would have scrubbed the last 4 kroot and got me 2 points.
It was also at the end of this game that I got probably the nicest compliment I've had playing 40k. He said that I was the most 'switched on' person he and his son had ever played in 40k. In terms of knowing the rules, game and my army. Making sure I could claim 'toe in cover' saves with everything, flying stormtalons on in such a way that nothing could interceptor/skyfire and dropping dreads in DPs in places that make it a royal PITA to intercept and shoot next turn. And generally not getting lost in the frenzy of combat and doing my best to stop him getting objectives as well as achieve my own. The comment kind of went to my head, but I like to think I can play incredibly well.

And for the final placings:
1st - Marines (nasty skyhammer grav / RG VVs drop army). Truely nasty, and glad I didn't play it.
2nd - Tau (game3/5 opponent)
3rd - Ad Mech
4th - Me!! I was 4 points behind 3rd place. Really happy with placings seeing as I went 2-3. Especially with such a rounded and 'balanced' list.

I'm good friends with the guy who came first, and he thanked me for stopping the Tau player get so many objectives, as he won on points and actually lost to the Tau player earlier that day. I'm not sure how I feel about someone winning all 5 games and coming 2nd. It feels a bit cheap, but it was objective heavy... I wont lose too much sleep over it.

As for painting, didn't place in top 3. However, the TO who is a big and really great painter who won best painted at Storm of Iron (the last tourny we both went to) came over and said he wanted to vote for my army, but because there was a tie, he had to break it... Nice little compliment from him, but a list with FW stuff and 2 knights with freehand have more 'eye catching' stuff than my marine heavy list. I think for a chance at best painted, you'll need a centre piece.

Anyway, a crazy good weekend and it's relight my fire for 40k.

I'll leave this wall of text with some pictures of the armies displayed out. Warning, quality not great.. :(












Z


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Grats on 4th. For a new list and style (as opposed to your old scars) quite a good result.

I think you are probably right about the painting. Having something big and eye catching as a centerpiece would really help you stand out. Marines, barring allies, don’t have a whole lot of good options there though.

Hey guys,

Riding the high of the Tournament on the weekend, I've cruised right into starting my Drop Pods. I'm almost done with the infinite ball-ache that is Drop Pod assembly.



Just need to drill and install the magnets on the doors then I can do the final part of sub assembly before I start painting.
Hoping to be primed by the weekend.

My gaming group have found a tournament going on in April that is about an hours drive from us. 3 of us, inc. me, have already agreed to go. Not got the tickets yet (5 people buying in bulk gets us a slight discount), but I have until april to figure out what I want to run.
Lysander, Sternguard, Drop Pods, Scouts. That's where I am with the list, needs more thought and more fleshing out. But the restrictions means no formations or LoW etc. So I can go with more casual lists and be ok... At least that is the hope...

Z