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Never played King of New York, but I have played King of Tokoyo. Is there really much of a step up? I would have assumed it was a rehash in a different city.

The Stormhawk doesn't really do much for me. Although it looks to be a welcome addition to your army. Looks like you have every other vehicle in the SM book.

Stormwall wrote:The commanders are looking good and you did a ton of painting this year.

Hopefully you get the china cabinet and I look forward to the Stormhawk.

It's what I wish the Stormtalon was from the start.

brushcommando wrote:I second that. Looking forward to what you do with that stormhawk.

I can’t say it’s been my most productive year ever, but it’s been the best in a very long time. Back in my hobby heyday in the late 90s I might have done better. But maybe not. Very few records from those days still exist; it’s mostly myths and legends.

The Hawk looks much more like a fighter then the Talon. The Talon has grown on me over the years though. But I don’t think of it as a fighter. More like a soviet helicopter gunship. Nice bit of clunky cold-war brutality. But by moving the guns back, the weight of the Hawk is shifted. Looks a lot more balanced and aerodynamic. Should be fun to put together.

Zambro wrote:Never played King of New York, but I have played King of Tokoyo. Is there really much of a step up? I would have assumed it was a rehash in a different city.

The Stormhawk doesn't really do much for me. Although it looks to be a welcome addition to your army. Looks like you have every other vehicle in the SM book.

I only played KoNY once or twice. The big difference is that the city fights back. There are districts in the city, with buildings. You can crack them open to get stuff, or find them full of army guys. A few other minor things as well IIRC.

The list of things I don’t have is significantly shorter then the stuff I do. But I don’t have everything.

Centurions (not a vehicle, admittedly)
LRR/C (I have a basic LR, but not the options. This was one of the major contenders to come home yesterday)
Whirlwind
Tons of FW stuff
And I don’t have all the options for everything, and some of the special characters are just counts-as.

Speaking of counts-as, I need to re-visit my LotD counts-as unit. They got new rules in the Imperial Agents codex, with much more restricted gear options. As long as I play them from my codex, I’m fine for now, but who knows what the future will bring. Plus the ability to just tack a unit of them onto a formation based list is very tempting. But if I do that, I need to have my gear comply with the tighter restrictions...

Man, you've achieved alot this year, well done.

EDC

I've been meaning to pick up a stormhawk myself, BA looking flyer. Question, how do you motivate and/or find time to paint?

Time is easy. Be unemployed. Or a stay-at-home-dad during nap time. Having my marriage disintegrate freed up the ~2 hours I spent a night watching TV with The Wife.

On a more helpful note: Make time. Even when I was working, I carved an hour or so a night to have “me time”. Sometimes it was puttering playing computer games, other nights at the workbench. Even if you are married or in a relationship it is important not to loose sight of yourself. Spend time doing things you enjoy. If you spend 100% of your time with the SO, you will end up resenting them for taking you away from the other things you love. There are a lot of things competing for your time in this busy age. Budget your life to keep space for the things you want. If you don’t set aside time, things will claim it. Even if you only manage to put down one layer of paint a day, that’s progress. Do it every day for a week, that’s basically all you need to bang out a table-top quality guy. One guy a week for a year is a full army. And it doesn’t take that much time to put a layer down, and you can do 2-4 guys at a time.

Motivation is hard. What works for me might not work for you. For me, 40k is a mix of fluff, modeling/painting, and gaming. The 3 aspects work together to keep me going. I read the stories, play assorted 40k video games, and otherwise brush up on the fluff. This helps me envision what the models I’m painting are going to do in their life. Drop pods screaming down from orbit, slamming into enemy lines. Hatches blow and a squad of marines emerge, tapping out a rapid bolter drill into their shocked foes. Very evocative, and ties into the mechanics. I want to do a hybrid drop list, so I need more pods. I think of the lists I could build once I get that third one painted. What to put in them? Sternguard? Dreadnoughts? So many options will be unlocked. Once it’s off the bench onto the table. Because if it’s not painted, I’m not playing it. The third leg of the hobby is the minis themselves. I’ll have to move away from my drop pod example, because those things suck from a modeling POV. Only the first 2 aspects got me through them. But for many GW models, they are just a joy to assemble and paint. All the detail and little grubins. Just waiting to go from grey sprues to a living model, brought out in color.

In addition to the general love of the hobby, I have a few other tricks. One is setting public goals, and keeping myself on task. 1-a-week. It’s a reasonable goal. I bring it up frequently. Keeping it public, and running a blog keeps me honest. I’m OK with letting myself down. Happens a lot, where I fall short of what I’d like to happen. I’m a pessimistic procrastinator. I’m not OK with letting other people down. Which is where all you guys come in. I publicly shame myself when I don’t make my goals for the week. I post a “sorry guys, didn’t get stuff done” entry on my blog. You probably don’t care that I blew off a week, or that crap came up. Life happens, we all know that. But I hate posting it. So I get time at the bench. Just so I can make a little progress to report.

Find you muse, make it happen.

First off, thanks for taking the time to write out this veritable dissertation on the topic, It really helps Nevelon.
Fluff is a big one for me as well, as the image of my troops inspires me. That daily hour is the real struggle, as during the school year, i have homework galore and it's smack in the middle of swim season. But the blog part definitely helps. I've been trying to run one or two for the past year/half year, but finding time is kinda hard.
Yet again, thanks for your time.
JATW

You know, Nevelon I don't actually comment on your blog with much frequency, but I usually read whenever I see it on dakka. You dispense so much modelling wisdom that I found myself subconsciously attributing Gandalf's voice when I read your posts.
Thanks for the effort you put into the communtiy.

You guys are too kind.

I'll be on the quiet side for the next week or so. Things fell out in a way that lets me go down to kentucky and see my folks. Should be able to post and chat, but no hobby progress. Bringing my laptop, so can be a little more verbose then I normally am while afk.

I'll wave as I drive by to all my friends in western NY and Ohio.

Congrats on getting so much painted in 2016.

Cheers,

CB

There are the blog goals from the first post, which I covered a few posts ago. Then there are my annual New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve been recycling the same resolutions for the last few years. Need to modify them this year.

1 Finish painting the odds and ends from my friend's SOB army that I worked on. Just a handfull of arcoflagelents, spare immolater weapons, some IG HQs .
2 Paint more then I buy.
3 Make a display board for my army. I've had the sheets of foam insulation waiting to be carved for years, never get around to it.
4 Base my army. Someday this will happen.
5 Paint my spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options.
6 Try to get more games in.
7 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).
8 Get my Eldar army to a larger level, 2 more full squads minumum, with viable 1,500 or 1,850 point lists being stretch goals.
9 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique every month.

1 - Partial-ish. I did paint up an old D&D mini for a different friend, and painted an Orc for a collective project. So while I didn’t technically get any of the old project done, I did do some work for others, including dusty stuff from the back of the bench.
2- Success! Painted a ton of stuff this year, and while I did pick up a few things, not close to the amount I got done.
3 - Success! Not the Macragge board for my Ultras, but I’m counting the webway portal for my Eldar for this. And it is done.
4 - Resounding Success! Everything from the Ultras and Eldar is based, new and old. All new work is based. Victory!
5 - Partial. Did a few bits. Still a huge pile. But a bright lance, nightspinner bits, and all the options for my contemptor are done.
6 - Fail. I didn’t go back and count, but got very few games in at Cooper’s Cave, and have just started to get down to Flipside, and not with enough regularity.
7 - Success. I’m a good blogger, and maintained a decent pace on the paintbench.
8 - Success. Actually put a 1,850 list on the table for a game, so not just a theoretical.
9 - Success. So far, so good on the monthly challenge. Also entered the LoER terrain challenge with my portal.

So that’s 6/2/1. Although one of the partials was closer to a fail then a success (the first). Last year was 3/2/3. Much better off in 2016.

Here is a more specific list of things I had in mind to do, with some color commentary.

Overall I got a lot of those things done. I think my primed pile is bigger this year then last, so my to-do list is quite extensive. There is so much stuff, that I can’t just list everything primed as a “What to expect to see in 2016” list. Things that I think I’ll defiantly want to finish:
At least one full squad of BaC Mk. IV marines, possibly all 3. 2 out of 3 done
The BaC characters, dread Done
Vindi Done
LS Still in the primed pile
Bike techmarine. Done
5 sternguard 4 out of 5 done. I might have built some more, would need to check
More Eldar. I want to get paint on at least 2 full squads, preferably more. Done, with the “more” as well

Building is going to be more sparse. The pile of on-sprue shame is actually quite small.
5 BaC terminators Built and painted
10 Bac marines Some built as HQs, but most still on sprue
1 SM bike Still on sprue
1 Eldar bike (old) Still on sprue
Some Eldar guardians, weapon platform Built and primed
3 legs to build marines Still on sprue

Of those, the BaC is going to be built, the other stuff might. The guardians, if assembled, might be gussied up to try to pass for more dire avengers. Nope, just more basic troops, but built

Things on my to-buy list. Which is still very fuzzy, and unlikely to happen. I’d be more likely to spring for an unknown new release then pick up old stuff.
1-3 Whirlwinds Nope
Stalker/hunter Yup
LRC/R Nope
Scout bikes (Would be nice to have a larger squad a/o field 2 squads.) Nope
Cents (I know, they are kinda ugly, but the rules....) Nope
Eldar Fire Prism Yup

Another thing that might happen is that I may strip some of my old RTB01 marines (and possibly a few other old guys from the BA) and work up a second battle company. A chunk stripped, some even cleaned and primed

Normally at this point I’d go through the primed pile and all the unbuilt stuff on sprues. Figure out my game plan for the next year. But as I’m halfway across the country from my workbench, I’ll have to go back and add it back later. I’ll probably edit it in here, as well as posting it down thread.

But now I need to get back to eating homemade cookies and drinking top-shelf booze. Just wanted to sit down and post something this week. If I don’t check in before the weekend, hope everyone enjoys their holidays.

Grats on everything accomplished this year! You're lucky to even have a game store to play at, nothing up here in Washington!

 JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:
Grats on everything accomplished this year! You're lucky to even have a game store to play at, nothing up here in Washington!

Over the years I’ve had dry spells with no FLGS in the area. It sucks. One of the reasons I’m willing to buy local to support them. It might cost a little more, but if it keeps the doors open, that’s a win.

I just went back through my last year’s worth of posts looking for games played, for the formal count.

At Cooper’s Cave:
30k U 2W
40k U W
AoS C L

At Flipside:
40k U 1W/2L
E 1L

8 games total last year. Not the best for getting out of the house and pushing plastic around. If you count the 30k/40k games together, that’s 4/2 record for the Ultras. One outing out with the Eldar was a loss, and the AoS experiment with the Chaos was a loss. But the Sigmar thing was before the points came out, with us just eyeballing roughly equal forces.

I’m not sure exactly how many games I got in during 2015, but I’m pretty sure it was more then that.

I sometimes take the LGS for granted. I'm sure it would be terrible if they closed and I couldn't play any games! (I'd probably paint a load more, though!).
And on playing games, do you know Vassal? It's been years since I used it, but it was convenient to log in and play on the PC. It did take a while to get fluent with.

I'm interested to see what new goals you set for yourself next year. In your repeated goals, you pretty much cover the entire scope of your hobby (paint/play more, build scenery/table etc.). Pretty standard stuff for most people. Anything specific?

Happy Christmas!

 Zambro wrote:
I sometimes take the LGS for granted. I'm sure it would be terrible if they closed and I couldn't play any games! (I'd probably paint a load more, though!).
And on playing games, do you know Vassal? It's been years since I used it, but it was convenient to log in and play on the PC. It did take a while to get fluent with.

I'm interested to see what new goals you set for yourself next year. In your repeated goals, you pretty much cover the entire scope of your hobby (paint/play more, build scenery/table etc.). Pretty standard stuff for most people. Anything specific?

Happy Christmas!

While I’ve heard of Vassal, I don’t really find it appealing. Part of my joy in the hobby is watching two well painted armies duke it out over a battlefield. While playing online would scratch some of the getting games itch, I feel it would leave me feeling hollow. 40k, for all my love of it overall, is mechanically on the weak side. If I’m playing games online, there are other options.

On a concrete goal front, here are a few off the cuff ones. Once I mull over the primed pile and random sprues, I’m sure I can get more.

--Paint the terminators from the BoP box. I had a lot of fun building them, looking forward to painting them.
--Finish stripping all the stuff in the simple green right now. I’d like to get that box emptied
--Finish all the Eldar in the primed pile, bikes at the very least. IIRC that’s 6 more bikes and another guardian squad. To be honest, I’m only including the guardians as a courtesy. No real need for them. Although painting them in a non black wash scheme would be nice. And I could use the weapon platform
--Source parts and build the bulk of the BoP guys as breachers.
--Build most of the stuff on sprue. The new Stormhawk is high on the list, but also the custodes/SoS from BoP, the rest of the SC:Eldar box, etc.
--Sell/trade unneeded stuff. I’ve got a ton of crap collecting dust. I need to lighten the load.

Things I’m thinking of picking up:
--Rumors of new mechanized bundles are appealing, but price point will determine if I spring for one. But the Eldar one is a Wave Serpent and 5 DA. IIRC you get the avengers for like 10 bucks over the cost of the serpent. I wouldn’t mind being able to field a full 10 man squad of them, and need another WS. Slightly complicating the decsision here is the fact that my FLGS has the old battleforce still on the shelf. Which gets me a vyper and another guardian squad, neither of which I need. Although the vyper could be build with my new and improved magnetization skills, and frankly a 3rd one would not be out of place. The foot troopers would never come off the sprue though.
--More Foam. Maybe just another KRU or two with custom trays for some of my new stuff, or a loaded Kaiser 2, just so I don’t need to lug my K3 down to the FLGS partially full.
--The same tanks I keep on thinking about: LRC/R, a WW or 3, Another pred or stalker. A unit of cents or some more scouts/scout bikes/LSS are also tempting.
--I’m not sure if GW is going to make the HH box and annual thing. But I was very happy with BaC, and not unpleased with BoP. I might budget for another one coming out next year. Not that I need to get it, but would be nice to have the cash set aside.
-- FW. In a few weeks I’m going to get a large check for my half of the house. This needs to carry me over until I get a job and an income source. Part of me wants to blow some of it on ale and whores. And by that I mean overpriced resin from across the pond. Totally irresponsible, but a little retail therapy to help keep me sane in a turbulent time. What to get is very fuzzy. Sicarian tank, Primarch, suzarian marines/other 30k Ultras. Lots of options.

OK, gota call it a day on the rambling list. Brother just showed up with his boys.

Words of wisdom Nev! Very impressed by your progress this year

Just a quick note to let you all know I’m still alive, and get my update in for the week. 13 hours and change on the road is a little on the brutal side.

So next month’s challenge is Rouges and Scoundrels. Nothing in my active primed pile seems to fit. I’ve got some chaos marauders lurking in the back that could do, but they still feel a little off. I think I’m going to have to go deep.

A pirate should suffice.

Nice! I'm interested to see what you do with him.

 brushcommando wrote:
Nice! I'm interested to see what you do with him.

I’ll need to give it some thought. Probably after more rum.

He’s a slayer pirate, so the beard is orange. Probably break out a color wheel to figure out what to do his pants and parrot in. The rest is just flesh, wood, gold and leather.

Edit:
Quick look at a wheel has me leaning towards a teal/light green bird and blue/indigo pants. Now I need to play catch-up with the rum!

An interesting model! Is he an older GW model?

Pirates you say? I'm listening.... Its not Ultramarines goodness but it's good enough for me!

JustaerinAtTheWall wrote:An interesting model! Is he an older GW model?

From the old Dogs of War range. Individual units you could hire with any army (mostly) This guy is none other the the captain of Long Drong’s Slayer Pritates

War Kitten wrote:Pirates you say? I'm listening.... Its not Ultramarines goodness but it's good enough for me!

I’m all for bending the nature of the contest to fit an active project in, but didn’t want to demean my Ultras with the label scoundrel a/o rouge. Didn’t really fit the Eldar either. Then it was a mater of sifting the piles of lead for something with primer on it. Hence the pirate.

I do need to pick out some other projects to work on, and wrap up my year end wrap up stuff.

Happy New Year everyone. 2017: Nowhere to go but up! 2016 was a giant dumpster fire and I’m glad to see the end of it. Normally I just recycle my resoulutions from last year, but I can’t just to a copy/paste this year.
Here are last year’s again:

Chopping out 3 and 4. I might make a display board for my Ultras at some point, but I’m not committing to any terrain projects this year. 4 is done. I could re-write it as “base everything I paint” just to score an easy point next year when doing my tally. But I think I’m above that gimmicky accounting. I base stuff now, it’s not something that needs to be strived for, it’s the new normal. Eldar goal needs to be adjusted. With all the changes going on, it might be harder to keep the hobby pace up, but I’ll see what I can do.

1 Finish painting the odds and ends from my friend's SOB army that I worked on. Just a handfull of arcoflagelents, spare immolater weapons, some IG HQs .
2 Paint more then I buy.
3 Paint my spare bits. I've magetized a number of things, painted the primary set up, but never get around to doing the other options.
4 Try to get more games in.
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).
6 Get my Eldar army to a larger level, 2 more full squads minimum, aiming to be more comfortable at 1,850, possibly 2k.
7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year. In addition, paint something odd from the back of the bench a/o try out a new technique every month.

Here is what’s in the prime box:
5 BoP terminators
Apothecary
Master of signal consul
4 RT metals
Techmarine
RT captain
4 deathwatch
3 sternguard
5 scouts
3 lotd counts as
Tml speeder
Stalker/hunter/command tank
12 RTB01 beekies
6 jetbikes
8 guardians
Weapon platform
Homagaunt
Pile of random bits

Stuff to build:
8 Mk. IV bodies from the BaC box
30 Mk. III bodies from BoP
3 Mk. VII bodies from the modern tac kit
1 bike
5 Sisters of Silence
5 Custodes
2 BoP HQs
1 Stormhawk
<some number of RTB01 marines in various states of being striped>

1 old Jetbike
3 new Jetbikes
1 Jetseer

I think I’m going to make an effort to get some of the older projects off the pile. So some of those guys who have been loitering for years can finally be checked off the list.

OK, enough lists for now. Need to go clear the driveway while the sun is shining.

Interested to see what the year brings. I'm excited to see what you do with the Tartaros Termies -- I really liked your cataphractii last year.

Happy new year, Nev!

Looking forward to watching you achieve goal 7. It always amuses me when something random pops up in here that you have lurking at the back of your bench. It's ultras for so long, then bam! suprise slayer pirate. Also looking forward to seeing you try a new technique each month. Any ideas where you'll start?

Is that Master of Signal dude the one day, GW store only mini?

brushcommando wrote:Interested to see what the year brings. I'm excited to see what you do with the Tartaros Termies -- I really liked your cataphractii last year.

They are a little less ornate then the other guys, but should be fun. They are probably top on my list of things to do next.

Zambro wrote:Happy new year, Nev!

Looking forward to watching you achieve goal 7. It always amuses me when something random pops up in here that you have lurking at the back of your bench. It's ultras for so long, then bam! suprise slayer pirate. Also looking forward to seeing you try a new technique each month. Any ideas where you'll start?

Is that Master of Signal dude the one day, GW store only mini?

No idea on what I am going to do to push forward with new techniques. That’s mostly there so I’m reminded to try to get a bit better, rather then just stagnating.

The Master of Signal is one of the two 30k consuls I put together out of random bits and BaC parts.

While I’ve got plenty of crazy old stuff, the nearest GW store is over 100 miles away, so the odds of me having anything limited edition is next to zero.

OK, enough woolgathering. Started to put together the hawk. Enjoying it quite a bit. Actually feels like something that could fly.

One thing that is slightly irritating about it, which it totally not it’s fault, is the size. I don’t think that KR makes foam for it. It’s wingspan is slightly longer then the talon, but I think it will still fit into the tray I have. The issue it the wing mounted AsCs. I’d have to do a little cutting to make room for them. It’s only an issue because I an thinking about picking up some more KR, and want to have space for everything. Not that there is a huge rush, as it will not get primed/painted until spring at the earliest.

Definitely a cool lookin' model, much more jet-like than the talon. Looks like you've got a good bit of work ahead, glhf!

That thing is pretty sweet looking. I really dig the armored canopy as opposed to the open one. Makes it look more like a flying tank -- which suits the space marine aesthetic quite well in my opinion.

And done with the build. Mostly stock, although rather then the two little landing pads on the back of the body, I just used the AdMech logo/fuel port bit from the talon. I didn’t bother to magnetize the missile pods, something I’m sure I’ll regret at some point. But I remember it being on the fussy side from when I did my talon, which I’ve never flown with anything but skyhammers. Did do the chin gun. Not fully magnetized. The lastalon will need to be stuck on with poster tack. Not hard, as there is a lot of space under there. But if I wanted to put a magnet in there, I’d somehow have to find out how deep a spacer I’d need and cut it to size. For reference, the stormcannon needs magnets flush with the top of the gun, and flush with the chin (cut off the little square).

I figure if I want to fly it counts-as a talon, I’ll just not mount a gun under the nose.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK, I said I was done, but I’m going to sneak in a little more retrospective. I was reading another blog, and he had picked out his top 5 minis from the last year. I thought it was a cool idea, and something to keep in mind for my summery next year. Then I thought, “Why wait?”

#5, RT lieutenant. I like the retro nature of him, and thought I did a good crisp job on him. Bonus points for a decent freehand.

#4 BaC captain. He sorta encapsulates all my 30k marines. Love the model, did a pretty good job on him. Really enjoying the blue and golds of the 30k guys.

#3 Librarian w/axe. High point is the axe, but I can’t find anything on the mini that I have issues with. Which considering my general level of self-criticism, is saying something.

#2 Fire Prism. While the paint job is on the basic side, I have an inherent bias towards grav armor. So cool.

#1 While I was happy with it when I first painted it, finishing the siege shield really pushed it over the top. Mastered a new technique (masking), nice splash of color in an otherwise monochromatic army, and the pie plate of doom.

Love it, Nev.

What are the rules for that flyer? It came out after I stopped playing...
I agree on the point about magnets. Its nice to have everything customisable, but if you're never going to use it, what's the point?