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Scorpion group looks very good. Bring on the glamor shots!

That’s a wrap on the front half of the squad. Back half is plugging along.

And that’s also a wrap on my year 10 of the comp.



So mixed feeling for the year.

32 minis painted, which feels low, but is above average (30) Now for October I picked the best 5 out of like 20 models, which was good. But both July and August were supposed to be full squads and ended up with loners. Which is bad.

On a model per month I had a good mix. Typically the 1 model months are HQs/monsters/vehicles, but two of mine this year were just troopers. It happens.

Feels very marine heavy, but again, within statistical norms. This year was 8/12, where I average 61% Ultramarines. And only basic blue company marines and a pair of black chaplains. No scouts or phobos to at least pretend to have some variety. At least the 4 non-marine months were no repeats.

While the vote hasn’t started for Feb yet, overall I’ve polled pretty well. My JP chaplain got me a slice of silver, cut 3 ways. September was also a very strong showing. Which is a little odd, as I think the bike chap was my best month, with the nightguard and jump chap behind him in that order. We’ll see what the final standings look like, I might crack the top 10. (un)fortunately we have enough quality people entering regularly enough that my tactic of “just showing up every month” is not what it used to be.

Overall pretty happy with the year. Could be better, could be worse. The first half being 100% marines was not a good start, but I was able to mix things up at the end.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
You guys posted while I was typing that wall of text.

JoshInJapan wrote:I'm liking your approach to the Scorpions. Going with green camo keeps them close to classic Aspect colors without the eye-burning brightness of 2ed paintjobs.

Also, I'm intrigued by your approach to basing. I'm a white glue-and-sand guy, and I usually have the bases about 90% finished before I start painting the model. How do you keep flock and snow off the finished models?

Black rim and put a base color down on top. That’s not really needed as it’s going to be covered, but sometimes it peeks out around grass tufts or rocks, so I like to have something that’s not going to clash
Rocks and tufts get glued down to the base next, regardless of what style of flock
For the grass:
I water down some PVA glue about 50:50 with water and then paint it over the base, trying to avoid getting it on the model. Then I swish the model though a tub of flock. After I make sure flock has touched every part of the base it needs to, I hold the model sideways and tap the base rapidly to knock the excess off. From a few angles. Basically drumming my fingers on it. Generally the flock just sticks to the glue, but not the model. If I do need to remove loose flock, I just use an old dry paintbrush to knock it off.

For snow:
Again, I start with a 50:50 mix of PVA and water, but I mix in the snow flock until I get a paste that’s a little runny, but still mostly firm. Nape would be the cooking term. This gets smeared around the base to make sure it at least touches everywhere I want it, and built up a bit if I want drifts. Then it’s the same swish through the tub of loose flock and knock the excess off. For whatever reason the snow clings better to the models then the grass, but I like the look of that. They are trudging though the winter, going to get some snow up on their legs. If it’s too much, again with the dry brush to knock it off. If I accidentally got some glue on the model, a wet brush is used to dilute the glue to uselessness and grab the clingy bits.

For rubble (Not that I do a lot of them, but SoB, Salamanders, and a few odds and ends:
Bases start fully blacked.
Straight PVA is applied to the base, and the mini is swished through the basalt. Bits might need to be gently pushed into place. Not as simple as the flock. Once that is completely dry, a 50:50 PVA/water mix is liberally applied to help seal down the rocks. I may apply a coat of Nuln oil afterwords? I honestly forget and might only do it sometimes. I’d have to dig for an answer.

youwashock wrote:Scorpion group looks very good. Bring on the glamor shots!

Thanks!

Nice collection, I think I missed the night guard one though.

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
Nice collection, I think I missed the night guard one though.

When they re-printed Cursed City as a MTO a while back I snapped up a copy. Took me a bit to get it all built and primed, but I’m actually getting some paint on them occasionally these days. Especially with me paying more attention to Age of Sigmar. There were so many fun minis in the box. And with the Nighhaunt laid to rest, it’s time to unearth the Soulblight.

Yup. That's a cool unit.

Nice wrap-up for the monthly, too. You've got some great pieces in there. Maybe I should go back and look at my entries.

 youwashock wrote:
Yup. That's a cool unit.

Nice wrap-up for the monthly, too. You've got some great pieces in there. Maybe I should go back and look at my entries.

I’ll post a year end review thread for the comp next week, for people to share their retrospectives. It’s still a bit early in the month to start it. A lot of peple still working on the month’s entries.

Huh. Your approach to basing is pretty much 100% the opposite of mine. Do you leave a little space around the models' feet so as to avoid gluing flock on them? On models with a slotta tab, I leave them just a little higher than the surface of the base so I can glue the sand right up to their feet, so that they look like they're standing on the ground. I sometime have to Liefeld models that attach directly to the base because they look like they're sinking in quicksand if I'm not extra careful.

 JoshInJapan wrote:
Huh. Your approach to basing is pretty much 100% the opposite of mine. Do you leave a little space around the models' feet so as to avoid gluing flock on them? On models with a slotta tab, I leave them just a little higher than the surface of the base so I can glue the sand right up to their feet, so that they look like they're standing on the ground. I sometime have to Liefeld models that attach directly to the base because they look like they're sinking in quicksand if I'm not extra careful.

I'm having the exact opposite problem, as I'm trying to make Knights look like they are so heavy, they sink into the sand.

What I want to know, is how do you place those flowers and other bits of foliage on the base so neatly?

For both grass and snow I like the fact that it hides the feet a little. It does bother me a little on the rubble bases, as that goes down in a fairly thick layer, and the mini “sinks” deeper into it than realistically they should.

For many years I didn’t base at all. I just tidied up the bases with black paint and called it a day. At one point I did goblin green and flock my undead, but never consistently kept them based when I added more units. So when it came time to base, I needed a style that could be done to existing models. And I was not going to cut everyone of their bases. This style of flocking works with that, where painted sand would not. I know how messy I am. If I tried to paint sand on a finished mini, I’d slop everywhere. And the reverse. If I tried to paint a mini on a finished base, it would not stay finished and would need a lot of touch ups.

Tufts are applied with tweezers. I recommend a pair of angled tip long ones. Front and center in this pic:


Pull the tuft off the sheet with the tweezers (for tear away sheets like the new flowers I use my fingers and then pick it up with the tweezers)
Put a dab of PVA glue on the bottom
Place on the base. Nudge around as needed; PVA gives you a lot of time to work.

I normally do that last step with the magnifier, but not always. I try to make sure everyone has enough rocks/tufts/flowers going on all over the base so it doesn’t feel empty.

Second batch of scorpions getting along. Just put the brown wash down. Next step will be a little touch up on the green, then camo. In an ideal world I’d like to get them done and off the handles today. We’ll see how optimistic that goal is.

Great work on the Scorpions Nev! One of my all time favorite Eldar units/sculpts.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Great work on the Scorpions Nev! One of my all time favorite Eldar units/sculpts.

Thanks. That’s an interesting question. What is my favorite all time Eldar unit/sculpt? Was thinking a bit about this in the “what attracted you to your army” thread.

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Miniatures:_Eldar

Pics for those playing along at home.

Falcon grav tank is way high on the list. It’s what got me to start them as an army, and not just as a random collection of minis as an OpFor for RT as a RPG.

I always like the rangers. Never got the real old metal ones, got the mid range in finecast, new plastics.

Pretty much all the seers, Warlocks, Farseers, on bike or foot. Of my collection I like the one with the staff.

Bikes got a major glow up over their previous versions. Big fan.

Of the aspects? A lot of the old ones suffered from the limitations of the time. While I love the old hawks and banshees, the flat metal poses did not do them any favors. I like the fluid motion of the new ones. Really sells the grace of the faction.

I do like the new scorpions, don’t get me wrong. But they are not in my top 5 favorite Eldar units.

--

Did some more touchups (missed a few gold bits) ready for camo

That was one of the things I've always loved about the craft world eldar... something for everyone to spark their imagination.

Looking forward to more goodness!

I noticed the Centurion made another appearance in the background.

What's that on his back?

Gitsplitta wrote:That was one of the things I've always loved about the craft world eldar... something for everyone to spark their imagination.

Looking forward to more goodness!

The range is pretty diverse. Which is a good thing.

Lathe Biosas wrote:I noticed the Centurion made another appearance in the background.

What's that on his back?

Omniscope? I don’t think it has specific rules in 10th, but IIRC let the unit ignore cover. But I forget, and am too lazy to dig into the old codexes right now. Now it’s just fancy bling for the sarge.

--



Black wash down. Next step to to polish the gems and put some green and silver highlights down. Plus a few other odds and ends. But almost done.

Great job, Nev! Scorpions coming on strong!

I love how you formatted your completed minis list - what program did you use for that?

Snow bases with the Ultramarines are so iconic and striking - I feel like that should be the default GW basing scheme for them.

youwashock wrote:Great job, Nev! Scorpions coming on strong!

Just need to be flocked and they are done.

blockade23 wrote:I love how you formatted your completed minis list - what program did you use for that?

Snow bases with the Ultramarines are so iconic and striking - I feel like that should be the default GW basing scheme for them.

I use a program called PhotoScape. It’s free (although you can pay to unlock more templates/features). Would recommend.

I think the fact that my Ultras are darker then normal helps make the snow look better. I do agree they are the best base for Ultras, but may be biased.

Edit:
Put some base grey seer on 4 dire avengers. Going to try to contrast paint 90% of them and see how quick I can get them done.

Edit2:
Scorpions are flocked and off to the YTD shelf. Not feeling up to detail work right now, which is where the DA will need to start, so no paint tonight.

I didn’t recall the DAs being quite so bad a kit, but painting these guys? It needs to be re-done. Plugging away. Golds next, them some washes.

I'm amazed at the speed in which you paint to such a high level. You will finish your army before I finish buying all the paints I need.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
I'm amazed at the speed in which you paint to such a high level. You will finish your army before I finish buying all the paints I need.

Finish an army? I understand the words individually, but together they don’t make any sense. There is only the long war vs the pile of shame and the lure of shiny models.

This year is actually off to a fast start. My nominal pace is one model a week, and I think I’ve doubled that. 22 I think so far this year.

No army is ever finished, but you're making good progress on your space elves. The Scorpions turned out really great!

 ZergSmasher wrote:
No army is ever finished, but you're making good progress on your space elves. The Scorpions turned out really great!

Of all my armies, they might be the ones with the most stuff I still want to add to them. Not just from this last wave (where I want everything) but the prior one as well.

Marines I don’t “need" anything. Obviously, that won’t stop me from adding more. And getting it to the full company will need another box or 3.

Tyranids are pretty set. I think the only thing I really covet for them is a box of zoenthropes. I’d have to review. Right now their goal is to clear the decks of all the backlog. Which I’m doing well on.

Fantasy is fuzzy. Not sure if I want to buy in past the spearhead level. And I’ve got enough stock to keep me in minis for a lot of Halloweens.

--

Put the brown and black washes on the DAs. Next step is a clean up pass, then the contrasts.

Lot of progress with the DA. Put the blue down yesterday, did some cleanup this morning, andd put the white on the helmets. Once that dries, they get the red for the crests, and the green for the eyes/soulstones. Few extra gems and touch ups and almost there. Put the first silver on the guns, they will be next.

Going to paint the indominus shield captain for this month, maybe a pair of BGVs. I’d also like to get the duel gun DA exarch done, just to fully clear that squad from the primed pile. And there are always more gaunts to paint. I want to leave a couple spots open on the painting handles to cycle some of them through as well.

Are you going to base all your Eldar the same?

 Lathe Biosas wrote:
Are you going to base all your Eldar the same?

Yup. Unless I decide to paint more in arctic camo that require bases. Which I don’t plan on. The shroudrunners, being ranger-based, will get painted white, but they are on transparent flight stands.

I had in the past tried to find white rocks for my Dire Avengers, and may try to continue this. I’ll also need to look at what flowers they had and try to match.

10 years of the comp... Excellent showing from you to enter into each one!

You're end of year comp pictures look great. The bike chaplain is my favourite, with the scorpions coming a close second.

I'm enjoying seeing your DAs progress.

Forgot the gun arms had armbands, so working on those before the blue. Bodies are done, unless I decide to go back and highlight/brighten things up.

Moved the exarch down to start him while I’ve got them fresh in my mind. March is going to be the captain and a pair of BGV. I might risk the weather and prime the free mini of the month and do up a fire dragon. Not that I need more, but hey, free mini.

Edit: Went out into the garage with the FD, rattlecan was light, but hey, it’s only one mini. Single spritz and dry. Not sure if I feel like hitting the hardware store today for a fresh can. I need to head out to the area a week from tomorrow, might just hit it then.

Lovely and crisp. Proper classic vibes.

 inmygravenimage wrote:
Lovely and crisp. Proper classic vibes.

Almost done. Popped them back up on the handles to do the last cleanup and highlights on the guns. Rocked and tufted. The only thing left now is I need to gloss the lenses on the scope (which I forgot about, just put the base green down on them) and to flock them once the glue on the rocks/tufts dries.