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.

I love the different gray hues on the Naga. The OSL looks really good, and orange was an excellent choice of color.

Totally jealous of the supply drop! Lots of good stuff there.

Ajax is massive! I knew he was big, but damn! I can't wait to get one. What conversion are you planning?

Always anxious to see more.

~Eric

Thanks!

Taarnak wrote:
Ajax is massive! I knew he was big, but damn! I can't wait to get one. What conversion are you planning?

My plan was to change the position of his left arm and replace the hammer with a more appropriate loadout for a homerid. Meanwhile I'm not sure anymore though. Maybe I'll leave him as is for now and buy a second one some time later for a intricate conversion.

Hey Baiyuan , This guys looks superb , beautiful colour scheme. Merry Xmas mate

Thx, Neil!
Merry Christmas everybody!
I'm still at my parents place, so no progress...
But for the happy birthday of baby jesus I got disgusting aliens from my sister and parents. Yay!




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Just back from my first match at the LGS. I fielded a changed list and managed to achieve a 0:0 draw against a veteran (there was a chance he could have scored a single victory point in his last turn, but we didn't play it out). Had a lot of fun and learned a lot, so it was a fantastic game.

My changed list looked like this:
Aleph | 9 models
________________________________________________________

Deva Lieutenant (26|0)
Devabot
Deva Devabot (27|0)
Devabot
Agema Mk12 (28|0.5)
Asura Spitfire (72|2)
Naga Monofilament (32|0)
Myrmidon Officer Combi CC (39|1)
Myrmidon Chain (16|0)
Netrod (4|0)
Netrod (4|0)
________________________________________________________

248/250 points | 3.5/5 swc
open with IA by Aleph : direct link

My opponents list was this one:
Ariadna - Merovingian Rapid Response Army | 10 models
________________________________________________________

Para-Commando HMG (32|1)
Zouave Lieutenant (20|1)
Loup-Garou ADHL (19|0)
Loup-Garou Sniper (24|0.5)
Loup-Garou Viral (21|0)
Loup-Garou Viral (21|0)
Loup-Garou Viral (21|0)
Chasseur Minelayer (20|0.5)
Chasseur Minelayer (20|0.5)
Moblot Infiltrator AP (42|0)
________________________________________________________

240/250 points | 3.5/5 swc
open with IA by Aleph : direct link

We decided to play a simple scenario, which was about taking and holding one of three terminals for a full round to gain a victory point.
I managed to get a Naga in contact with one of the terminal early on, but he was killed on my opponents turn, so no victory points for either of us.

Highlights of the match:
My Agema with Mk12 with the help of myrmidon smoke did a terrific job to decimate the frenchmen, killing the link leader (sniper) of the Loups and one of his buddies on my first turn and another one on turn 2 or 3.

My Asura had a huge impact on my opponents strategy, but unfortunately didn't get the chance to shoot at anyone before she failed her dodge and was gunned down by one of those filthy viral rifles.

My chain rifle myrmidon deployed the smoke cover for the Agema twice, both times being on spot. Survived a burst from the Para's HMG (NWI), then on his turn pursued and killed him. He then hid behind a crate and used his pistol for an ARO against one of the remaining Loups, who was approaching the terminals. My heroic myrmi achieved a crit at distance of 20" and shot the Loup dead. On his next turn he killed himself trying to climb onto a noodle kitchen...

Devas didn't do anything.

Myrmi officer dodged an HMG burst and looked good.

Netrods died.

Conclusion:
I made some bad decisions regarding my AROs and should have dodged less. Had some insane luck. Next time I'd swap one of the Devas for a Zayin. (I know I'd need a hacker too.) My Asura could have won me the game if had made better choices.

Long time no posts... and back with a pretty much unworthy update, but well it is what it is.

Recently I didn't have too much time for the hobby and that little time I had I spent on working out or gaming, so nothing worth showing miniature-wise.
I did actually work on some MAS D5 buildings and container stacks, but that has all been straight forward and quite boring.
Work on my current paintjob has been veeery slow, but you know "DON'T RUSH THE BRUSH!" (*whispered with Bob's voice*) I'm hoping to finish it soonish, but you know me 2013 will be over in no time...

The reason why I actually reanimate this temporarily dead thread is how awesome my fiancé is. She got me 30 presents for my birthday (guess my age, haha) and ten of them were these:

That means I've completed the collection of my second full faction (well, the whole Aleph and everything available to Shas sectorial, as I'm not collecting vanilla CA).
Now I just need another 30 years to put everything together (so far I have refrained from assembling any of the CA models to stay focussed on my Aleph) and paint it (most likely yet another 30 years).
Oh right, she also got me the "Avatar - An activist's survival guide (to Pandora)" as reference material, because I told her I'd try to replicate some of the pandoran flora on my bases. She's the best!
Hurray to supportive significant others!

Happy birthday, and very nice drop from your other half

Happy Birthday Big B!

Yeh, great haul from the missus! Happy birthday, mate! Don't rush your hobby, although I've found I sometimes get myself on a roll when I set myself one small task to do. Maybe worth a try? ...Says the guy who does sweet frak all.

Thanks guys!
The supply drop turned out to be reckless enabling, i.e. gateway toys (as usual). Tons of new supplies have been ordered. To name a few: lots of Alclad II colors (finally), the remaining few miniatures for my SEF and the hollow blank bases from SW, which are essential for my plans with the SEF.

@Casey:
Ironically, while being the best cure for them, small task unsurprisingly don't go very well with overambition and perfectionism (especially if they are temporarily paired with phlegm).
To look on the bright side things, I've managed to reduce my recently excessive share video gaming in my free time to a mere couple of minutes per day if any. That will show in my productivity sooner or later and once I'm back on the track, who knows I might even finish something worth showing.

Dude... your fiancee is cool. Was she "prompted" to purchase these for you? Or did she just come by and say, "Happy B-day Hunky Future Husband of Mine! Here is a new faction I bought specifically for you!" ?

Either way, Happy Birthday! And welcome back to Dakka! Looking forward to your work on these guys!

-Remi

Haha so true, dude. I'm still fighting it too. I can't find a happy medium between perfectionism/procrastination and getting things done, if ever. I fear we will be cursed with percrastinism for ever!

What's worked for me is setting myself such a small task that I can give it my all in a reasonable period of time. Of course reasonable to me, or you, is probably ridiculous to most people. But something like, 'I'm going to green stuff that single head plate of chitin,' has worked pretty well. It normally leads to something else as soon as I have time.

I have to say, I started playing Red Dead again a couple of days ago. That's going to hurt my productivity...

HF Izanagi wrote:Dude... your fiancee is cool. Was she "prompted" to purchase these for you? Or did she just come by and say, "Happy B-day Hunky Future Husband of Mine! Here is a new faction I bought specifically for you!" ?
Either way, Happy Birthday! And welcome back to Dakka! Looking forward to your work on these guys!
-Remi

Thx, Remi. I'm missing the old PMW and I4D times. And I too am looking forward to my work...
And yes, she was "prompted" so to say. She had asked what presents from the hobby sector I'd enjoy, so I put everything I didn't already have from the SEF into the shopping basket of the online version of my LGS and told her anything from the list would be much appreciated. And since she was determined to get me 30 presents for my 30th she bought the whole bunch instead of one or two.

Casey's Law wrote:I have to say, I started playing Red Dead again a couple of days ago. That's going to hurt my productivity...

It's Path of Exile and Hawken for me, both of which I've been playing at least every night for the last two months. But I stopped a week ago and I'm gathering the momentum to get (hobby-)busy again.

 Baiyuan wrote:

HF Izanagi wrote:Dude... your fiancee is cool. Was she "prompted" to purchase these for you? Or did she just come by and say, "Happy B-day Hunky Future Husband of Mine! Here is a new faction I bought specifically for you!" ?
Either way, Happy Birthday! And welcome back to Dakka! Looking forward to your work on these guys!
-Remi

Thx, Remi. I'm missing the old PMW and I4D times. And I too am looking forward to my work...
And yes, she was "prompted" so to say. She had asked what presents from the hobby sector I'd enjoy, so I put everything I didn't already have from the SEF into the shopping basket of the online version of my LGS and told her anything from the list would be much appreciated. And since she was determined to get me 30 presents for my 30th she bought the whole bunch instead of one or two.

Yea... me too - PMW was great - such zealous energy that everyone was pumped for: spectators and participants.


30 total presents ... hottdamn you're spoiled (and I'm extremely jealous). Hell, prompted or not, you provided a list that she didn't balk at. She deserves a fist-bump for that cool action.

Ah well... I think *most* of us are still around. Still hop by your blog (if case you haven't noticed) and I'm hoping that seeing you spurred back into work gets me going as well. Doing a Cawdor gang in darker hues, like that group you posted earlier on from CMON. Time to practice some new techniques and hit the next level with my work.

-Remi

That would be cool, Remi. Make sure to drop me a line if you do so!

And about being spoiled, I do not normally get that much, but we both love that scene from HP when Dudley gets his birthday presents and is pissed that it's less than last year. Being as altruistic as she is, my fiance always buys too much and I like to use that line from the movie to emphasize how exaggerated that is.

Hey Baiyuan..because I saw it on your blog, I ordered a few of those Schmincke airbrush paints.those are fething fantastic paints! The metallics and opalescent shiny ones especially!

Yeah, in my experience Schmincke has great quality, but can get quite pricy. The set of metallic paints that I've posted was a real bargain and I got 6 paints for under 35€. Short time after buying them I saw one of those paints at "Idee" (art supply shop for morons, good range of products but very expensive) they sell the exact same paints from the set for 15-20€ each depending on the color and effect. Greedy bastards!
I've just recently used one of those paints (dark copper) as basetone for my dwarven steamship from Dreadfleet, my first impression was a mixed one. I found the paint quite thick, which meant I had to decide between increasing the pressure or thinning the paint (which took away quite a bit of coverage). Several thin coats took care of that problem of course, but I prefer and expect airbrush colors to be usable directly from the pot.
The other thing I found strange was that the tone of the paint changed soo much. In the bottle it looked milky (the medium obviously). On the model it looked very red at first and very dark and coppery in the end. Not a unique phenomenon, but the color in the pot, freshly sprayed on and fully dried had very little to do with each other. I've never seen that much of a difference. Makes me wonder what the other colors will look like when applied.
The overall properties were good though and they provide very nice colors.

Have you worked with Alclad II yet? I can't wait to try them. A proper chrome effect will allow for some fancy-pancy painting if done right.

Well, yeah, pearlescent paints will dry a different color, that's just their nature. Their black is my favorite black from now on, bar none.

I used Dark Ice and Brilliant Silver on this large scale Cylon Centurion


I had a daylight bulb on the left, and a soft white bulb on the right. You see how well the paint reflects real light so well at this scale.

I got them from www.dickblick.com a bit expensive, but the bottles are big 28ml, compared to Vallejo @ 17ml, so not that bad considering...

What's so good about the black?
What do you think about the ModelAir Black? I'm a big fan of that particular paint and the whole range in general.
What did you think about the thickness? Did you thin the paint?
Besides nice Cylon! I've seen it before on your blog, but didn't know you used Schmincke on it.
Dickblick is a really strange name for the german reader.

I can't say it sounds great in English either.

That is all. I have no further input, although I am enjoying reading the conversation.

Yes, I imagine it is. I mean "dick" is obviously an ambiguous word in English.
In German it is an adjective and means "big, fat, obese" so it's innocent compared to English.
"Blick" on the other hand is a noun and means "glance, look".
Put together it's just gibberish, but it consists of actual words and thus might elicit some strange associations.

I'm pretty sure that Dick Blick is the name of the guy who started the company though I don't think a literal interpretation on the name means anything.

no, no thinning at all, it's actually perfect right out of the bottle for brushwork. Yeah, I swear by Modelair primers now, but the Schmincke black is just simply a better black shade than al the rest IMHO. You're speaking to a guy who has spent entire saturdays shopping for the right shade of black paint

Yeah, that's what I thought, poor guy.

I'll have to give it a try then. Even though I'm happy with my blacks, I know what you mean (my fetish are greys not blacks btw) I have several black paints that I learned to used for very different effects. Some black paints can easily be shaded with another black. Like the VMC Black, which is brownish and can be effectively shaded with VMA Black, which is much darker, cold and blueish. VMC Black as a wash creates a very soft, flat and cloudy effect. VMA Black a strong and slightly shiny one.

Yes, I'm alive. And if you need to know, I'm very close to finish my next ItG miniature (might take another couple of days), but more importantly for now...

I just came back from a tabletop event (the Magabo-Day hosted by the great guys at http://magabotato.de/). Had some nice chats and some random fun hobby action, but most importantly I got down to play my first two games of Infinity in this year. (I know, sad, isn't it?)

Anyway had two great opponents, who even though they were both quite experienced, endured my pondering and constant questions.

Blabla, end of story, it was a glorious day for mother Aleph, because I had loads of fun, learned a lot and last but not least won both rounds quite clearly. [:evil:]

I'm not going to give a full battle report (Got to get back to painting, next game I want a lot more paint on the table.), but I'll post the lists and give you a quick rundown of what happened.

My list:
Aleph | 11 models
________________________________________________________

Combat Group #1
Deva Lieutenant (26|0)
Devabot
Deva Devabot (27|0)
Devabot
Asura Spitfire (72|2)
Proxy Mk.1 Hacker (22|0.5)
Proxy Mk.2 Sniper (29|1.5)
Myrmidon Chain (16|0)
Myrmidon Officer Combi CC (39|1)
Naga Monofilament (32|0)
Zayin Rebot (27|1)
Netrod (4|0)
Combat Group #2
Netrod (4|0)
________________________________________________________

298/300 points | 6/6 swc
open with Aleph Toolbox : http://goo.gl/0TKryA


Pretty much what I've done well with so far, but giving the Mk2 sniper a chance over the hacker, which I've normally taken.

Asura and Naga as heavy hitters.

Myrmis for smoke, covering the rear and ODD+Dodge for order depletion (which worked like a charm).

Proxies because they are cheap and pack a punch, when fed with lots of orders.

Zayin and Devas for a solid perimeter control. (Worked relatively well, one opponent called it "Ballerburg" loosely translatable as "shooty fortress".)

My first opponent played Haqq and fielded this:

(I didn't care about combat group structure and I must be wrong about a detail, maybe his Lt. as this is not a legal list, but pretty much what he had.)

Haqqislam | 13 models
________________________________________________________

Combat Group #1
Naffatun LFT (10|0)
Naffatun Lt (12|2)
Ghulam Rifle (13|0)
Ghulam Rifle (13|0)
Ghulam Doctor (17|0)
Nasmat (3|0)
Nasmat (3|0)
Djanbazan HMG (36|1.5)
Izzat Beg Combi (22|0)
Kum Chain (11|0)
Combat Group #2
Kum Chain (11|0)
Kum Rifle (21|0)
Kum Rifle (21|0)
Kum Rifle (21|0)
Maghariba MHMG,HFT (89|1)
________________________________________________________

303/300 points | 4.5/6 swc
Warnings: too many points spent (303/300)
open with Aleph Toolbox : direct link


The game was great even though right in the first turn I managed to throw smoke in exactly the right position (no deviation, just stupidity) to give the Djanbazan a free shot through smoke if I wanted to move my Zayin into a reasonable position.

Performace report:

Mk2 killed Djanbazan (active) and 2 Kum (reactive) and damaged the Maghariba (active) and ultimately died in a reactive shootout with the Maghariba, which ignored the two mono mines going of in its face and passed 3 armor checks against them before finally being destroyed.

Which means the Naga killed the Maghariba and later two Naffatun.

Zayin killed 2 Kum, but died to another.

Asura was mainly successful in dissuading my opponent from going her way and only got to kill a Kum and to kill the Djanbazan for good, before he could regenerate.

Second game was against Shasvastii who spontaneously upped his 250p list to 300 by adding a Q-Drone and a Seed Soldier:

(Might be wrong about the third Shrouded and the Aswuang as I never got to see them)

Combined Army - Shasvastii Expeditionary Force | 10 models
________________________________________________________

Sphinx (110|2)
Q-Drone Mono (35|1)
Shrouded Combi (24|0)
Shrouded Combi (24|0)
Shrouded Combi (24|0)
Seed-Soldier Combi (14|0)
Seed-Soldier Combi (14|0)
Seed-Soldier Combi (14|0)
Seed-Soldier Combi (14|0)
Aswuang Lieutenant (25|0)
________________________________________________________

298/300 points | 3/6 swc
open with Aleph Toolbox : http://goo.gl/bdg2oI


I thoughtlessly gave him the first turn, even though I had heard rumours that he likes to bring his Sphinx, which resulted in the TAG rushing around my fire lanes, climbing up the tall building in the center, killing my Zayin, a Deva and shooting a lot at my Mk1 and Myrmi. All of it practically unopposed ramboing.

Unfortunately I forgot to ARO hack it on its very first attack and thus allowed it to needlessly mess with my plans. When I came to, I actually managed to IMM it, but he managed to reset in his second attempt and went on.

On my first active turn I ran up with the Naga to put a mono in its face, which he reacted to by using his flamer, destroying the mine and burning my Nagas Camo. (Not sure yet this was correct, I'll have to look it up later.)

After that I realized I could have simply immobilized it first, which I did, just to put two more mines around it and shoot it with the combi rifle a little to dare him.

A shrouded also flanked my troops and I managed to steal him lots of orders by ODD/dodging with my myrm and Mk1, before letting my officer kill him later on.

The link team of Seeds was broken by a well placed shot from my Mk2 sniper and then I sent in the Asura to mop up the rest of the filthy alien scum, which she did mercilessly and without resistance by overwhelming them one by one.

Let me know what you think and if you see any mistakes I made. Did you make similar experiences with these units?

No idea what you're talking about but you sound happy.

Looking forward to seeing another model painted by your good self.....that'll be what four painted models in 4 years right?

 PDH wrote:
No idea what you're talking about but you sound happy.

Oh Peter, you're a darling. Yes, it made me happy, thanks for taking note of it.

Looking forward to seeing another model painted by your good self.....that'll be what four painted models in 4 years right?

Yeah, thx. That's close enough, let's see.
I've been on DD for almost three years now. In that time I have painted a mock-up firewarrior, four minis for Necromunda (one miner, one delaque, one henchman and Samarianne), so far one for Infinity and yeah I also painted a CRATE.
So I'd count that as a whopping five in under three years. I might be able to improve on that in the future.
Then again you should see all the virtual achievements I've...

On the upside I'm staying away from most video games and my paint to build/convert ratio has improved lately. Even though building less has had an impact on that, I'm also getting down to paint on a more regular and inspired basis.
Blabla, back to cooking and then painting...

In your face, procrastination!
I consider work on the Thorakitai to be finished.
I'm happy with the overall impression and I decided that the additional weathering effects that I had planned wouldn't actually contribute to it.
Adding chipping and rust on a miniature that already looks quite "down to earth" by Infinity/Aleph standards, would probably rather ruin the vibe than enhance it.
Tomorrow he'll receive his matt coat and as soon as my sister is back from Venice (thursday me thinks) and brings back my camera, I'll take and post some nice pictures.

Next up is the Asura. She has just taken her soapy bath and is ready to become pretty.
Tomorrow I'll break out the airbrush and get the priming and basecoating done.

It's time!
As promised I have finished work on my Thorakites with light rocket launcher.
Taking pictures of it has taken the better half of the day, so I'll cut the blahblah short, just some words about the idea behind it.

Thorakitai Concept:
The Thorakitai aren't the most shiny tools at Aleph's disposal. They don't have the flair and popularity of the larger-than-life Myrmidons, who after all have their own animated series on the Maya.
The Thorakitai are the work horses of Aleph's endeavors on Paradiso (and elsewhere if you believe them filthy lying Nomads). The mind of a perfect soldier transfered into an unpretentious Lhost, a body bred with two things in mind: Kicking ass and looking like a normal human while doing so.
These aspects of the background in mind I have gone for a paintjob that isn't as flashy as you might expect and be used to with Infinity and especially Aleph.
Future paintjobs (except further Thorakitai of course) will vary heavily from this one depending on their function. So a doctor/engineer will look distinctively different from a linetrooper.

Pain(t)ing Progress:
Started painting it in December, then took 8 months off (Damn you, Warframe!) and have finished it now. Overall I guess I spent maybe twenty inconsistent nights of painting on it.
Unfortunately there has been an accident during application of the matte coat. It came out very grey and even after "saving" it with another coat of a different varnish, some of the contrast and all of the subtle shades (like the blue shadows on the straps) were gone.
Still rather happy with the overall impression, so let's smile and move on.
Maybe at some point I'll go back and add battle damage and troop markings, but I'm currently still not sure whether and how much of both I want on my Aleph.
All in all I tried a load of new techniques and eventually found my rhythm again.
Next one is in the works already and progress is much better.

Nuff talk... here he comes:

I'd appreciate a vote for him over at CMON. It's actually the first picture I have posted there in 17 years of being in the hobby and visiting the page regularly, go figure.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/342538

For all of you who start shaking, when they have to leave DD I've uploaded him here too of course. Click it, it's quite large:

I want to steal your colors for my Corregidor, Baiyuan.

Really that looks fantastic.

Thx, Kan.
If you want to know what paints I used on a certain areas, feel free to ask.