Terminator LIbrarian Progress

I wasn't really planning on putting up a post today, but I had some time to put around with a new little light box kit I got for Christmas.

This is my Terminator Librarian that needs to get a little more of the dip.  It didn't shade him nearly as much as the other troops, so he and the termies will get another coat when I hit some more vehicles this weekend.

As for the lightbox itself it needs a good clip of room to set up properly, but even doinking around for 10 minutes and I'd say the results I'm getting here are a lot better than past pictures.

Razorbacks and Thoughts

So I've been working on my Imperial Fists over the holiday.  I've pretty much wrapped up the terminators but I'm not happy with the dip (I didn't shake it well enough so it is light) so I'm going to work on those again before I post pictures.

I also knocked out my Razorbacks. Here's some work in progress pictures.

Just the primer color with the silve base.

Certainly the tracks are the most time consuming part of these vehicles.  Just trying to get somewhat a complete cover of the wheels and treads is quite a challenge.

A bit further along with some base colors.  The white is based with Astronomicon Grey and is later built up with watered down layers (about 7) of white.

Finished basing, and I've added one of the Imperial Fists bits from the many drop pod kits I have.

Another poorly lit shot of the base coat.

And now with the dipping brushed on, dried, and dullcoated. 

Another shot.  You can see how poorly constructed some of these old models were, but what can you do.

Once I was done with these I saw how light the terminatros were.  Over all I'm pretty happy.  I may go back later if I ahve time and and some Mithril Silver to highlight and do those rivets.

I also managed three games today!  The first two games were with my Imperial Fists, and both were losses.  The first game was against a BA list in dawn of war and single objectives.  I think I just played it wrong from the begining (chose to go second, deploying poorly).

The second game was against bugs and was 5 objectives and corner deployment.  Again I think I deployed poorly (too far forward) and in the end could not kill enough troops and also had the swarmlord on me.  I probably should have stayed farther back and tackled those guys first, rather than being up closer and trying to kill the Hive Gaurd.

Then I switched to my BA just to give them a whirl against the same bug list.  We decided to play kill points and long objective.  I thought I would get creamed this game, and when only 2 of 5 squads came down (and no priests) I fell into my bad habit of vocally saying as much.  I should know better.  In the end my Godsquad (Sang Gaurd, Libby, Dante, Priest) just started clearing off a good clip of his army, while his Swarmlord didn't end up being as effective this game.

So what does this mean for the tourny?  Honestly I don't know.  It seems like the BA are indeed better.  They are certainly more flexible, and while some hordes may cause issues at 1500 I'm probably not bad off with them.  The paint job is just a rush job, but I'm looking at them again and wondering if I can do some highlights and details to get more out of them.  But their display base is kinda boring though it is magnetized which is cool.  I'm not sure what I can do to spruce it up a bit other than filling in 'objective' type bases for the blank spots.

The Imperial Fists certainly made a poor showing today, but it was my first real time out with them.  I think I can learn from these mistakes and get better with them over the next few weeks, but over all it is a pretty straight forward game plan.  As has been pointed out they are just an army that stands and shoots, and most people end up building lists thinking 'how do I A) kill marines and B) blow up tanks.'  I'm certainly still motivated to knock out the rest of the painting,  so I guess we'll see how they look and how a few more games go with them.

Then there's alway my beautiful but uncompetitive 1ksons.  I am just not convinced a two day tournament is going to be something I'm going to enjoy going into day 2 after probalby getting mopped up in day 1.  They may be better off waiting for the next one day tournament... but they are still an option.

More Troops, First Terminator

So of course I've been staying busy these last few nights.  I've got the base coats on the remaining 14 Marines, dipped them and now they are drying.

 I also took my 1st guy and did some basing.

Overall not bad.  I see some places I need to touch up, and I think I need another dullcoate to take some shine off.

I think 10 minutes of highlighting might really make the yellow and silver 'pop' but I'm worried about how much time that will add on overall.

My goal is to get the marines wrapped up this week, get the terminators and the libby done before xmas madness, then get the 3 razorbacks done by the new year.  I'll have time off so that could be possible, it just depends on how much family time will occur (my guess a lot) and how late I'm willing to stay up some nights (also guessing a few of those).

That would leave first week of Jan for the Dreads, 2nd week for the Speeders, and 3rd week for the Predators.  Last week leading up to the event I'll try to get a display board done.

If I can get ahead of schedule at any time that then I'll maybe hop back and hit the marines/termies with I quick highlight coat as well.

Speaking of termies I also sat down to base coat the first trial guy.

I was really tempted to do the 'braces' on the back of the legs in black but again I'm just concerned how much time that will take.  I remember doing those on all my 1kson Termies and Oblits and it being a pain in the ass.

The black on the shield certainly took the most amount of patience and time.  The black is tricky to get in the gaps, and behind the shield next to the arm without dumping paint all over the body.

I ran this guy out for a dip as well.

With a little luck I'll find time to get the marines based up, and maybe I can pound out the Terminators on the weekend.  That would give me next week to get the libby done, and maybe a spare night to get those highlights done across the infantry!

First Trial Imperial Fist

So this is the first Imperial Fist painted in stages.  Not a huge update.  Some blurry phone pics I just wanted to snap while not losing steam painting.

This is going to be a very 'rinse and repeat' army.  All of these models are Out of Print, and they are all the same pose.  So I want a process that is easy to repeat and can be done relatively quickly.

This is the base coat.  I found doing the decal I was hoping impossible so I'm giving freehand a go.

This is the dip, I'm using the 'soft' this time instead of the darker tone I used on the Blood Angels.

This is the dullcoatte.

Since doing this guy I've decided to add splash of color to the left knee pad and a freehand arrow on the other shoulder.

I've been busy cranking out the rest of the troops, hoping to get them done this week.

It's pretty simple.  It looks... eh, ok I guess.  Not sure what I'm really hoping for of course.  Maybe when I get the troops based it will look a bit better.

I think I'm going to try a broken concrete type of 'ruined city' base this time.  With this thought I'll go for a kind of display base that is more city/hive warzone which should be a new challenge for me.

More pics to come soon.

Of Tournies & Motivation

So another few weeks of not much going on at all.  I haven't been able to get a game in, but it doesn't help that I just spent 8 days out of the country as well.  I've tried to squeeze in some painting, but I just can't get motivated to finish Borka.

Here he is pretty much base coated.  I really should finish him.  I should.  I just need to push through it.  Yet I can't seem to get him done.

When I don't get games in I just don't feel like painting.  For one I'm busy, and it also takes more effort than, say, watching DVR'd stuff or playing a video game.

In fact is seems like, when looking over these last few years, the thing that really drives me to getting painting done is tournaments.  They end up giving me a goal and pushing me to really time table out plans and get things done.

Of course with no tournaments these last few months motivation has been low.

So I'm glad to see the LGS has a two day tournament coming up at the end of Jan.  Normally two day events are hard to do with the family, but I've been so busy with family functions (and will continue to be for the holidays of course) that I've lobbied a bit with the wife to get this on the calender.  Hooray!

Now this is a 1500 pt tournament which is not my favorite point level, but what can you do I suppose.  There will be a best general, a sportsman award, a best painting, and a 'overall' best score.  So this is really exciting to me as I feel like while I have a shot at any one of these categories on a good day, I can usually muster a nice overall score as well.  There is a nice painting score sheet so you can kinda guess where you'll end up, but thing like display base are things that are not the normal for the LGS!

Of course the real question is what army do I take?

I don't think I'll go xenos.  My Tau are still feeling very underwhelming, and my orks are really built out for 1850.  I could maybe scale them back but... I just think the list I have works at 1850 and cutting anything out really makes the whole thing horrible.

So that means marine options!

Blood Angels Jumpers

Blood Angels Jumpers at 1500 is certainly a viable option.   I've basically cut out my 5 man assault squad and trimmed my Vanguard Vets to 5 guys that are fairly well equipped.  I think it keeps the feel of the army from 1850, though I got to say looking at that picture is a little underwhelming.

Need to paint:  Nothing! The army is ready to go!
Display Board:  Well it exists... it is nothing special.  I have some missing holes that I could fill in with maybe some plant life on bases to make it more interesting... but even then it is not so speical.
Overall Army Look:  Honestly I think this is my least favorite painted army.  Sure I did it fast and as a whole they look ok.  I'm actually amazed how well the dipping came out on them, especially the Sang Gaurd.  Still this is definately not my best foot forward on painting!
Competitiveness: Well I think it is pretty good, but I think it has just horrible matches also.  Armies like Grey Knights might just own these guys, and I'm not sure how other new books like DE and Necrons would do.

So basically not a lot of work, probably pretty good army to play, though my least favorite looking of the bunch.

Black Templar Mech

So moving away from my pod list (which I think jumpers BA can do... well, better) would be looking at a mechanized Templar force.  I haven't really played these guys in a mech style since the updated faq.  Some things hurt now (can't cheat the Righteous Zeal, using new smoke) but some things are now pretty rocking (Assault Termies got even better, Land Speeder Tornados are ridiculously cheap).

The above list looks something like:
Champ, AACNMTO
Marshal with Claws x3, 4+ invul, Term Honors
5 Assault Termies (2 TH/SS)
7 Marines/2 Scouts, melta, fist, Rhino w/ Smoke & EA
7 Marines/2 Scouts, melta, fist, Rhino w/ Smoke & EA
5 Marines/1 Scout, Lascannon, Plasma Gun
LS Tornado
LS Tornado
LRC, Smoke, Blessed Hull


Need to paint: 1 Speeder, and the Missiles for the 2nd Speeder
Display Board: Again a display board exists.  I think I could spruce it up with some ruins and craters.
Overall Army Look: I'm always a little torn on my Templar.  I think they look nice, but they are in some ways sloppy (a lot of the marines are repaint jobs).  Also a lot of people think painting the black and white is easy.  I think they look better than my BA, but I'm afraid that is just really a matter of opinion.
Competitiveness:  Honestly I have no idea.  I'm guessing probably not so much.  I think it lacks enough ranged threat and I'm counting on my marines in the two rhinos to do an awfully lot.  I seem to recall they always end up dying and there goes my scoring potential.  I think I've got a thing for wanting to use a LRC with Blessed Hull just to annoy some DE players, but probably that is 25 pts mispent.  Hell the whole list is probably a total disaster, and it would only take a practice game or two to realize it.

So probably a list that is probably only to win 1/2 the games out there, looks ok, and not a ton of work to get ready.



Thousand Sons

Ah my 1ksons.  The army I made to score as best I could on painting scores.  If the new dexes really come I'm praying to my Tzeentch alter that these guys can be made competitive so they can really kick ass.  I haven't played in a tourny yet with them, and I think it would be nice to do so before 6th/new dex.  If only to see my paint score and how badly they do!

From my 1850 I basically dropped one rhino and one squad, but maxed out the two remaining, and dumped the two preds.  I think I'd run the 3 oblits solo and just go for crazy deep strikes off of icons.


Need to paint:  Nothing!
Display Board: Certainly my best display board.  I still need to actually paint the checkerboard white (it is currently grey) and I could do a few tricks to really kick this up to prime time.
Overall Army Look: Like I mentioned this is my best shot to taking painting.  There are conversions, there's freehand, and there's just a level of detail way beyond my other armies.  Of course all it takes for one master painting to come in and knock me off the top.
Competitiveness: Total. Utter. Rubish.  It is a bad list and a bad dex.  Every game would be a struggle to win.  Hell I didn't even try to make as good of a list at 1500 as I could.  Chaos Dread?  Ya it is all about having a great looking list, so if I won even 2 games it would probably be a miracle.

So I guess this comes down to wanting to show off my painting skill, playing for fun, and knowing that I'm not going to win a damn thing unless everyone shows up with armies not as well painted as mine.

But there was a point to this post beyond me rambling about armies.  It was about tournaments and motivation.

Over the last few months I've continued collecting OOP models to fill in YET ANOTHER ARMY.  yes I have a sickness, I can't help myself.  It has just been on the back burner, but I've got it all collected now, and it is assembled and primered.  If I kick it into gear and use the tournament as motivation I could possibly bring...

Imperial Fists Thunderbubble

Hooray for silly internet names for lists.  This is the 1850 army I've assembled.  Essentially I could  trim the three troop squads to the absolute min, and drop a few termies.  I've played the proxy version of this list once a few months ago at 1850 and it did put out an amazing amount of fire power, and a big mob of TH/SS termies are still no joke either.


Need to paint:  Everything!  I'm on crack!
Display Board:  Nope!  I need to build that too!
Overall Army Look: Who knows!  My plan is to dip these guys but I've learned quite a bit from doing the BA.  I think I could make them look good, better than the BA, maybe even better than the Templar.  Still nothing dipped will looks as sweet as the 1ksons.
Competitiveness:  Well I'm not to sure really.  I think it has a lot of merit still.  It's a lot of chasis on the table for the point level (9) and has a good clip of ranged fire power.  Enough TH/SS termies to be a threat to almost anything that wants to close.  It is just really really like in the troop department.

Could I paint all that in 7 weeks?  Well I could try?  And a display board?  Eh... who knows!   But even if I don't I could always move to the other armies.   I figure about two weeks before hand I can make that call and see if I press on, or if I jump to one of the other 3 and get them into shape.

All I know is I'm excited about undertaking a new project, I can't wait to get going, and am looking forward to doing a tournament!

Now if only I could score some 1500 pt practice...


Wow long post...

Earthborn Dire Troll Painted

I know I have not been posting much, but as always this time of year is hectic.  Never mind having small children and having to travel more than normal for work, now we can add the holidays in to just make sure that I wont get much gaming done anytime soon.

I have however been trying to get painting done even though my motivation has been fairly low.  That and video games are still really compelling when I'm exhausted at the end of the day.

Either way here is one more Dire Troll complete.  I think the Bomber turned out better truth be told.  He was much smoother in the blending, and despite my efforts to try to work more brown/grey into the skin I think the Earthborn looks.. chunkier.

Not that chunky looks bad from a ways away.  I'm sure if you just look at these pictures the contrast of colors in the skin and on the rocks really stand out on the model.  But when you look closely (or make these pictures bigger) you can really see that the blending of the skin did not come out smooth enough, and the rocks is... well let's just say it wasn't quite the way I imagined it would turn out when I started.

So this is another model I'm calling done, but maybe later I'll come back and smooth him out a little.  Of course I say that but then again I think I know I'd rather work on newer models.


So I think it's on to Borka next.  Maybe I can get him and his keg carrier done by the end of November.  Then I could bounce to Grim to have that 3rd 15 pt option.  Then I'll move on to getting both casters up to 25 points.


And how knows, maybe I'll get a game in sometime before the end of the year!

Stone Scribe Elder, New Plans

So I finished up the Stone Scribe Chorincolor over the weekend.

I'd say he's ok.  There are a few bit I'm not happy with but I just wasn't feeling this model really.  I think it shows a bit.  I got a little lazy on the scrolls, which could maybe be made to look like various worn leathers to add some character and depth.  I, however, was lazy and just went with metallics.   From the front it looks fine.  From the back I think he looks boring.

Even still this guy ended up taking two weeks to paint.  Again part of that was me not being horribly motivated, but the other part was some Batman: Arkham City action.  What can I say, I still like playing video games more than painting!

This does complete my Gunny 25 pt list, but I'm a little behind my whole plan of getting Gunny's 35 point list done by the end of the year. 

Of course now I've totally thrown that plan out the window.

After the number of games I played the other weekend I have decided that rather than pushing for 35 points I'll just build up a few other 15 pt lists first.  For one I found we did a lot of small point games, and I think we'll probably end up doing more small ones going forward.  Next I just don't see tournaments in my near future (both for lack of them being held as well as my busy schedule).  And lastly because once I knock out these other 2 15 point lists going to 25 for either is pretty much near done as well.

Borka
Impaler
Earthborn Dire Troll
Fennblades Min
15 pts

Grim Angus
Slag Troll
Earthborn Dire Troll
Impaler
15 pts

This basically means I need to get the two casters painted and the EBDT.  I know Gunny at 15 pts isn't thrilling, so that might be two decent lists to toy around with once they are done.

From there I can go back to getting the Fellcaller, the Chronicolor and the Fenn's UA and have 3 good 25 pt lists I think.  I'll probably have to do some tweaking, but it would be nice to have that wrapped up by the new year.

Stone Scribes Painted

So life has been quite busy as of late.  I've spent almost two weeks on the road so that has left very little time for... well anything.

I did manage to finish up my Stone Scribes before leaving for my work trip last week.

They fit in nicely with the Krielstone Bearer, and now I just need to finish up the Stone Scribe Elder hopefully this week.  That should pretty much keep me on pace for finishing 35 points by year end.

Last weekend I got a ton of games in for Warmachine/Hordes as we had basically 2 days of 'they boys' all hanging out to play games.  We played 3 40 k games, but I probably got about 10 games with my Trolls.

I think I only played 1 25 point game with Gunny, and probably 3-4 35 point games with Gunny also.  The rest were 15 point games which I just decided to run Borka.

I likey Borka.

Of course this kind of makes me question my painting progress.  I'd like to get this 35 points done, but at the same time that pretty much leaves Borka off the painting table until the new year.  I'm now questioning if I instead wrap up the Chronicoler since that would be 25 pts for Gunny, then move on to a Borka based list.

Not that it matters for much as there is nothing I'm shooting to really be done by or for, which is kind of depressing in and of itself.

Oh well, I'll just keep painting and see what shakes.

Kreilstone Bearer Painted, What's Left?

So another week and I've got one guy to show for it.  I decided to do the Kreilstone Bearer since I had still had him in pieces since I figured it would be easier to paint with the stone off the trollblood.

More crappy photography.

I was a little lazy with the green glow on the the stones but with so many runes I wanted to do something quick.  In the end it isn't bad, not as great as blending but, meh, I wasn't going to blend every rune.

So what do I have left now?  Well to get my Gunnbjoun list to 35 I have exactly 13 guys left.  Oddly there are exactly 13 weeks of the year left.  So in a very low benchmark I should be aiming for a guy a week.  Now the wrench is I travel for 3 of those weeks, but maybe I can make it up with some holiday time or by getting a couple grunts done in one week.

First up I need to get through the rest of the Krielstone squad.  That's my first task.

The I'll probably move on to the Stone Scribe Eldar as that puts my 25 point list to bed.  Once done with that I'll have two solos left to get to 35 (the Chronicolor and the Fell Caller) but I might save these to mix in with...

The remaining Fellblades and the UA.  This I'm really not looking forward to as I've already knocked 6 down and another 4 don't sound fun.  At least by mixing in the UA and the other solos hopefully getting the last 13 guys done to get to 35 by the New Year will be a manageable feat.

So I've returned home from another long week of travel and I did manage to finish up the min Fennblades over the weekend.

It has been slow going on these guys but the results are pretty nice and it isn't like I'm in a huge rush to get them done I suppose.  I'm not sure when I'll feel ready to pull these out at a tournament type event.

It does feel like forever since I've made a tournament of any sort.  It is just life right now be crazy, but hopefully soon I'll be able to get out a bit and get some gaming done.

I also picked up the Space Marine game that launched right as I left for my trip.  It was a fun play though it was a bit short (8 hours) for my taste.  I think they captured the world of 40k and many of the intricacies very well.  The story was nice if not a bit predictable.  I will say hacking apart hordes or orks was both satisfying and eventually tiring, but I think that also oddly fits well with the feeling that an ork invasion would be like!  Like I said it was a fun play (despite having to be an Ultramarine) and I hope they can put out some more of these games now that the mechanics of it are in place.  It would be great to play as other chapters and have some great stories played out in this format!