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Looking good. Potato salad with bacon in it? I'm gonna have to put a pin in that recipient and come back to it sometime... Sounds tasty!

Is that laurel leaves on the end of those lascannon barrels? If so is that a conversion or part of the original kit?

GrimDork wrote:Looking good. Potato salad with bacon in it? I'm gonna have to put a pin in that recipient and come back to it sometime... Sounds tasty!

You've never had potato salad with bacon? You poor soul. Everything is better with bacon, and bacon and potatoes are BFF's.

Adamski Alders wrote:Is that laurel leaves on the end of those lascannon barrels? If so is that a conversion or part of the original kit?

They are stock on the TLLC from the venerable dreadnought kit. So much love for that box.

That's the second time I've asked you about something that looked awesome with regards to your Dreadnoughts and you've told me that it was from the Venerable Dreadnought kit. I didn't realise it had so many awesome looking bitz, I really need to get myself one.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
That's the second time I've asked you about something that looked awesome with regards to your Dreadnoughts and you've told me that it was from the Venerable Dreadnought kit. I didn't realise it had so many awesome looking bitz, I really need to get myself one.

It’s an awesome kit. Hopefully dreads will get a bit of a buff the next time they update the codex. I still field them, because of looks and fluff, but they are not the most dependable or economical way of getting shots downrange. As I write that, I think I’ve been listening to the internet too long. It might just be my casual FLGS, but I’m generally happy with their shooting. It’s their ability to take a hit (which admittedly got a little better in 7th) and their lackluster performance in CC (just 2 attacks blows) that bug me.

But from a P&M POV, they rule. And the Ven Dread kit is my favorite kit ever. So many options, all of them cool. Wow, I work slow. Just went back through my blog to find out when I put him together. About a year and 14 pages back

Every (non-WS) marine player should own a dread or three. And at least one of them should be venerable. They might not be good, but they are awesome!

I haven't played since 5th edition(trying to get back into it now though) but I always loved taking my Dread. He was a guaranteed starter in my list since 3rd edition. He is showing his age now(and my woeful painting skills) but I definitely think a new venerable Dread is going towards the top of my must buy list, mostly thanks to yours looking so fantastic.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
I haven't played since 5th edition(trying to get back into it now though) but I always loved taking my Dread. He was a guaranteed starter in my list since 3rd edition. He is showing his age now(and my woeful painting skills) but I definitely think a new venerable Dread is going towards the top of my must buy list, mostly thanks to yours looking so fantastic.

You flatter me. Glad I can help get more dreads into the world though. They are one of my favorite parts of the setting.

I’ve just noticed that I’m a bad blogger. I know, shocking! But last Thursday was the two year anniversary of my semi-organized ramblings. Here is the one year summery.

At one year I was at 9 pages, 262 replies, and some 10k+ views. As of now, we’re on page 23, 665 replies (once posted this should be 666 ) and 30k+ views. A solid year of growth. The shot of funds that started this blog have been spent, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Eldar: A year ago I was stalled out. Now I’ve got a decent army working it’s way up. Mostly built, partially painted. Solid progress.
Ultramarines: More good work done here. Slow, but steady.
Cases: I was happy with what I had a year ago, more happy now.
Photography: Progress. While not a full lightbox, I am getting better at pictures. Multiple light sources, clean backdrops, tripod use. Getting there. Also due to the Flashback Friday thread, I’ve been getting a lot of the old stuff out for pictures. A large chunk of my painted stuff is now uploaded, albeit a little haphazardly.
Tactica: Never got around to writing any articles, but I do put in my two cents in the forums still. I’m contributing!

Two things I’d like to focus on this year are basing and display boards. Both my Eldar and UM goals include them, and I’m not getting a lot done. I’ve had sheets of insulation salvaged from another project sitting around for years. Time to do something with them. I’ve got a hot-wire cutter kicking around, need to locate it. I should also go back and re-visit my blog goals. Some of them are a bit dated and need to be checked off or clarified.

I’ve also been pushing my skills a bit this last year, which is a good thing. More free hand work. Masking. Some blending. A start in heat-distress weathering. I’m mostly happy with the new results, and hope to keep gently pushing my boundaries forward.

Enough wool-gathering, here’s some progress:

Autarch is basically done. Not 100% happy with him. The stripe on his bike particularly. He might swap it out for another later, but I needed to get this one done for the monthly competition. I’m not sure if/what I’m going to do for the banner, or if I want to do more on the bike. But he’s good enough for now.



I’ll set up the tripod and get some more formal shots in a day or two.

And as it looks like “monster” is going to be the next category for the monthly event, I figure a nurgle champion from the back the the bench and the depths of time should suffice:


Thanks for reading all!

Just wanted to drop the final pic of the Jetbike Autarch here:

More in the gallery and the competition thread.

Congrats on two years of blogging! You've certainly been productive in that time!

Autarch looks good, all I'd maybe do is add a rune in white over the black, either a decal or freehand, just for some contrast.

Very nice view of that model Nev.

Paradigm wrote:Congrats on two years of blogging! You've certainly been productive in that time!

Autarch looks good, all I'd maybe do is add a rune in white over the black, either a decal or freehand, just for some contrast.

Looking back, I have done a lot. I generally do that retrospective at the end of the calendar year. I’ve got two sets of goals, the overall ones set in the blog, and my yearly resolutions. There is a bit of overlap, but I try to track them separately. I should probably focus them a little more. Keep the blog goals open ended, big picture things, and the New Year resolutions more bullet point things that can be checked off as done.

I fully agree about the detailing. In truth, that’s probably not going to be his final bike. The masking on the stripe is a little rough, so I’ll probably shift it over to a regular biker and paint up a new ride for him. I had a vision of the stripe on his bike not being simple, but ending in a snake head, possibly with a lightning-esque zag in it. Obviously not happening now. I also want to do something on the back banner. Either the autarch rune, or the Saim-Hann snake. Once again, not happening anytime soon. I’m just kinda fed up with this guy. He turned out OK, but I’m not really happy with him. Need to get him away from the paint bench so I can focus on other projects. But at some point I’ll probably go back and put white snake decals on all the bikes.

Gitsplitta wrote:Very nice view of that model Nev.

Thanks. I took a half dozen shots, I think that one is the best. Gives the best sense of the model.

Edit:
Part of my problem with the Autach is the same I had with the old Battle of Macragge marines I was painting when I just picked up the new sternguard kit. The old bikes are just so lame compared to the new ones. Sucks some of the joy out of him.

Congrats on the two years. And where did you find that Nurgle Champion? He looks like he's from the 80's or early 90's. Reminds me of some of the old models my step-dad had many moons ago.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Congrats on the two years. And where did you find that Nurgle Champion? He looks like he's from the 80's or early 90's. Reminds me of some of the old models my step-dad had many moons ago.

Thanks.

I picked him (and his buddy I used for my santa nurgle sleigh) NIB at my FLGS. Of course, I did this back in the early/mid 90s. He’s been sitting around for a bit waiting for his turn on the paintbench. The earliest picture I can find of him in a catalog is the 1989 one, so good guess on the era.

I don’t have anything against the newer plastic lords/heroes that GW is making these days, but the older ones have a lot more charm and character IMHO.

He’ll get some paint starting next month, for the challenge. I think I’m going to try a little extra weathering on him. Mostly in washes. We’ll see how grungy, slimy, and worn we can get him.

If you can, get some Typhus Corrosion before painting him. Used sparingly, that stuff is brilliant for easy slime and grime!

 Paradigm wrote:
If you can, get some Typhus Corrosion before painting him. Used sparingly, that stuff is brilliant for easy slime and grime!

If there is a pot at my FLGS, I might impulse buy it, but I don’t think I’m going to special order it. I remember looking at it when it came out and thinking it might be useful, but never grabbed it.

It’s a beautiful spring day out, and it felt like a shame to let it go to waste. So I grabbed the spray can and primed. (After I went for a walk and sprayed some poison on weeds poking up in the driveway for those of you reporting to The Wife)



Viper
new bikes
old riders
FD exarch
Chaplain (who is going to need his cozious pinned)

This should bide me over for quite a bit at the rate I work. At least long enough to last until the new marines find their way to my bench.

Looks like enough to keep you busy for a while. Will those old riders be going on the new bikes?

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Looks like enough to keep you busy for a while. Will those old riders be going on the new bikes?

I’d not deface the new bikes with those ugly old mugs! Their rides have been done for about a month and a half now, they were the first prime this year I was just putting off working on the riders, because frankly they displease me. They are just a little dated, and don’t fit with the modern aesthetic. But getting a torso swap with newer guardians was a bit of work for the one I attempted, so that project got scrapped. So rather then just dither about, I cleaned up the old riders and will end up painting them. It’s going to be painful though.

But I need to get cracking on my Eldar in general. I’d rather not field unpainted minis. Particularly with a powerful codex behind them. I know personally I don’t mind so much getting my teeth kicked in by a well painted army. Losses from a sea of grey, or base primered forces are harder to swallow.

It’s going to be painful though.

Something tells me that's not going to be the good kind of painful

Does this mean Eldar will be at the forefront of your blog for the time being?

 Adamski Alders wrote:

It’s going to be painful though.

Something tells me that's not going to be the good kind of painful

Does this mean Eldar will be at the forefront of your blog for the time being?

I've got two more VVs I want to do, plus some other odds and ends. I'll try to work on both armies at the same time. Help keep me sane.

Do you use your Vanguard Veterans in games? I recently bought a box to use mainly as bitz and as a possible starting point/base for a homemade Ultramarines 5th Company's Captain Galenus, Master of The Marches but I'm now wondering if using them as a squad would be better value for them. Having never used VVs I'm not sure of their worth over a simple assault squad other than more power weapons available for the squad.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Do you use your Vanguard Veterans in games? I recently bought a box to use mainly as bitz and as a possible starting point/base for a homemade Ultramarines 5th Company's Captain Galenus, Master of The Marches but I'm now wondering if using them as a squad would be better value for them. Having never used VVs I'm not sure of their worth over a simple assault squad other than more power weapons available for the squad.

They’ve seen the table once. They finished off a squad of CSM, and then butchered cultists so efficiently, we had to look up the rules for when your pile-in move is insufficient to keep you locked in combat. Could these jobs been done with assault marines? Maybe. But they did their job, and they did it well. Point efficiency and value are fuzzier topics. I enjoyed fielding them and plan on doing so in the future.

When I built the first 5, I did build a captain out of the box. I added in some assault marine parts to replace the ones I used, so I could still have a 5 man squad. The sternguard/vanguard boxes are really good for building captains. You could buy one of each, shake them together, and have a whole chapters worth of captains fall out for the cost of 3 of the mono-pose one.

On the subject of vanguard vets:

The second mad bomber is done. Not that you can tell he’s got a melta bomb from this angle, as he’s also packing an axe and shield. I should probably put a transfer on the shield next time I’ve got them out.

On the bench right now is the last two built vanguards. I put their base blue down last night. Also, the monthly creature feature champion of nurgle, which I should start sooner, rather then later, as June is looking to be a busy month.

I’m getting a little torqued off at GW with the rate of rules releases. The two year cycle for 6th was unnecessary, Eldar was irritating, and the SM codex completely unneeded. I’d rather be buying models. From a dollar spent to enjoyment received POV, it’s still not horrible.

On the bright side, it doesn’t look like there are any “must-haves” with this release. Just new assault and dev kits, a TDA librarian, and the chapter upgrade sprues. I’ll probably pick up the UM frame, and the assault marines. I had my eye on a box of AMs anyway. I wanted to re-do my old sarges, as they are fixed (one with crappy gear) and could use one more VV. The UM frame will be put to good use making a new foot captain, and a counts-as sicarius. Assuming nothing drastic changes with the new codex.
I have no plans to grab the new dev box. I’d be buying it just for the grav cannons. Although more MMs wouldn’t hurt. But I’m not buying a whole box for just a couple of bits. I’ll see what I can do to trade, although I suspect that’s not going to happen easy, as they are going to be the latest hotness. Do without and soldier on is the next option. Shame though, as unless things change a lot, they look to be a very nice option for tac squads (who hopefully can take them).
The Librarian looks OK. I’m not wowed by him, he’s a solid mini, but not amazing. And I’m not going to switch styles on my terminators. If I get a new TDA character, I’ll want to replace all my old ones. And that’s not in the cards.

Looks good, nice pose!

I agree about the releases being too fast, and to be honest I doubt I'll bother with the new book. Between rumour leaks, Battlescribe updates and a few post-its in the old book I should be able to keep abreast of the changes, but then I've not got to play 40k in so long that I doubt I'll even need that.

The new Devs look nice; if I ever get back to my Ultras I may grab a couple of boxes to get enough heavies to outfit the Company, but at the moment I'm far more keen on skirmish forces and display pieces than building full armies I'll likely never get to use.

I disagree Nev. 6th was killing 40k... lots of people around here left the game for others and still haven't come back. Once you made the move to 7th and the fundamental change in how armies were built... you had to go through all the codecii and bring them up to 7th edition standards as quickly as possible because earlier edition dex's simply aren't designed to handle the army construction meta of 7th. Besides... for DECADES we've been complaining that GW didn't support their game with sufficient models or updated rules. Now their finally doing it and everyone is complaining about that. Can't have it both ways. And if I'm going to pick one... I'll err on the side of having too many releases than too few.

I guess I don’t really see 7th as significantly different from 6th from a rules POV. Sure, you have the psychic phase, but I think that’s more of a lateral shift in power. I guess the maelstrom missions promote a more mobile game, and hurts static gunlines. But frankly, I’ve yet to play one. We’re mostly happy with the old missions here. But I could see where it could breath some new life into the game.

The codex release is irritating because I’m not a fan of the new formation system. IMHO units should be balanced with points. That’s the whole point of points! I can understand formations giving slight bonuses for fielding fluffly/sub-par units. A way to reward people taking mediocre stuff that fits the setting, rather then just the latest hotness. But when you start handing out big bonuses, for no real reason, I worry. BS5 just for taking 3 aspect squads? Free power weapons/combis for veterans? If those kind of bonuses are being handed out like candy, then every codex needs to have them. Because that’s the worst codex-creep I’ve seen in my time playing the game. With a few outliers (Eldar) the 6/7th ed codex were reasonably balanced. But the Necron and Eldar ones are just hands down overpowered.

OK, that’s enough state-of-the-game ranting from me. I still love 40k, it just GW does a fine job irritating me periodically on the rules/business side.

On the painting front, I put the first layer of silver down on the champ. I looks like he’s only going to have 3 basic colors on him; silver armor, brown haft for the scythe, and then green for the skin/tentacles/etc. Then I get to muck him up with some washes and drybrushing.

I'm not really trying to argue the merits of 7th... but more state that it's "in for a penny, in for a pound". Once they decided to go this way, they had to go all-in.

I remember reading that battle report with the Vanguard Veterans, I was quite impressed with your Jump Librarian as well IIRC.

I agree that the shield on that Vanguard Vet needs a little something more, whether that is a transfer or something else I don't know.

Gitsplitta wrote:I'm not really trying to argue the merits of 7th... but more state that it's "in for a penny, in for a pound". Once they decided to go this way, they had to go all-in.

I just wish GW could find a balance level and stick with it. Ain’t going to happen, but a guy can dream...

Adamski Alders wrote:I remember reading that battle report with the Vanguard Veterans, I was quite impressed with your Jump Librarian as well IIRC.

I agree that the shield on that Vanguard Vet needs a little something more, whether that is a transfer or something else I don't know.

Yah, the jump libbi rocked the house for his first outing. Same with the vanguard for that mater. I’d like to see how they do separately. Would the VV still blender things without the buffs/debuffs from the librarian? Would the librarian be strong enough to replace my chaplain leading the assault marines? Will things significantly change in the next codex? Stay tuned for the answer to these and many more questions!

That almost makes me want to re-do and re-pack my lists for tonight. Last week I had packed up a “get the lead out” list composed entirely of metal models, but never made it up to the FLGS. But I need to go tonight, as I realized that this is the only Wednesday I’m going to have free this month. Next week is my anniversary (15 years), the week after that I’m flying down to Louisville to visit my folks (and drink bourbon), and the last Wed of the month is The Wife’s birthday. June: it’s packed.

And some progress from the paintbench:

Basecoats going down.

While I did make it up to the FLGS yesterday, I wasn’t able to get a game in. Did help coach a new player in a game though, so it wasn’t a total loss.

As this was probably the last chance for me to get a game in with the current codex, I thought I’d go back and tally up my record with it.

Under 6th edition rules W:5, L:3. Under 7th, W:7, L:2. Total 12 wins, 5 losses. That’s a reasonably balanced mix of singles/doubles and tournament/casual games. While reviewing my games, I also have 3 wins, no losses under 7th (old codex) with my Eldar. Not fielded them with the new book yet.

From a painting POV, the vanguards are done with their basecoats. Next up is the washes and drybrushing. I also asked the FLGS to hold a box of AMs and a UM sprue for me. He has them on order, so I hopefully will be able to pick them up this weekend. Part of me wants to wait until I have the new book in hand before glueing stuff together. But the AM rules are already out, and largely unchanged. And I’m planning on building with magnets anyway.

It will be interesting to see if I’ll need to pick up anything to update my army to the new rules. I doubt it, but who knows.

OK, it’s Friday, time for an update. Just a little slow progress here, base coats are finished on the VV, and the green wash just went down.


Hope everyone enjoys their weekends.