Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry Christmas to All!!!

I got a little drawing time in last night. So drew a pic of the little buggers 8). Hope everyone has a great holiday.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Ok who gave me the hot foot?

A got to squeeze in another hour last night, which could have been longer but I told my wife I wouldn't be long. Which I wasn't, a little over an hour and I walked out of the room and what do I find? She's asleep. WTF .. haha .. I had already cleaned and packed up so I just went to bed and watched a little Christmas Carol before rolling over for night night.

I've been wanting to get some more work done on the Farseer Conversion I've been working on but it's been awhile. So last night I start getting more colors on him, he's still so far from being done it's silly. So far I'm digging the colors which I only have a tiny bit of blending in. Once he's finished up he should look pretty cool, hopefully haha.. I'll highlight sections of the "warp energy" he's riding on, blend out all the fabrics and smooth out the gold sections. For gold I'll usually start with a bronze or brass and then hit all the highlights with gold. Then taking a very thinned gold I'll do some coats over it to give it a darker gold hue over the bronze areas. Black ink the cracks and then start with the highlights using a silver. Then it's back to the light coats of gold. I want the metallics to look good on him so it may take a few more run through of the steps. I'm un-decided if I want to use some glow effects on him, sometimes it really does look good but other times it's just too much. But there is plenty of time before I need to decide. So I might just wait till he's done and clear him then take a serious look at him and if I think he needs more I'll try adding some. Plus if he's already cleared I can remove it if I don't like the look of it.


Some of the early pics since it's been awhile.



I also put some paint on the BA guy. If I'm using the same colors I'll grab whatever is nearby that needs it haha..



Mainly just added the white/bone/grey and gold. I did hit him up with a little shading but only a few washes. I'd like to do something cool on his shoulder cloth but with my limited time it might be hard. Makes me wish I would have went back to the table last night haha.. But what can you do. After tomorrow I'll have 11 days off of work for the holiday, I need to finish up the room but I'll also try to get in some painting time. And do Christmas stuff. And see the Hobbit. And hang with the kids. And replace a gutter. And.. wow...  um build a dimensional portal where time passes slower so I can get everything done!!

Monday, December 17, 2012

BOOYAH!!

I actually got some paint on a mini. Saturday night I was tired but both the kids were asleep as well as my wife so with great sneakiness I crept like a creepy creeper into the shambles of my painting room. It's still a hot mess but I had cleaned it off the other night in case such an occurrence popped up. I felt like a ninja sneaking to the bathroom to fill up my now bone dry water jars. Slowly turning the knob and tip toeing, shutting the door, two quick fills and sweeping back into the painting room. All  that and it bought me an hour haha.. oh well. It was an hour I got to paint some. This week I'm going to glue together the Orks my niece picked out so she can try her hand at painting some. She's only 5 but she had fun painting an old marine I had. But .. here's some of the not much I got done haha..

I was hoping to get more done on this guy, but when I was dispensing the bronze it was slow to pour out. So I squeezed harder and I'm sure you know where this is going haha. I should have clear up the nozzle but I didn't and then Booyah. A ton of Bronze paint. I've mentioned before that I hate to waste paint so as usual I grabbed whatever was nearby that needed bronze paint. It mainly ended up on a Deffkopter and a Nob..



Nothing got very close to being any where near done but at least I got to paint something that wasn't a fence or wall 8)

Monday, December 10, 2012

First Rule of Paint Club..

 
Is never make a deadline..  2nd is don't call it paint club.. it sounds dumb. I wanted to have the playroom done by Thanksgiving but then my daughter got sick and then I got sick and now I have Bronchitis, AWESOME! But it is pretty close. Close enough that I finally got the display case I bought built and filled with miniatures.
Which is cool as I've had some people ask about seeing a group shot. So here's a good way to get some group shots of my armies. (Though I wish I would have remembered to switch lens on my camera and set it to micro, Focusing is a bit wonky because of it.) But there are also some downsides. When I was looking for a case my friend Matt mentioned that the IKEA case has a lot of space between shelves and he is totally right. I really couldn't get a ton in there. But it is enough for now and I actually can see my painting table having placed what was on it in the case. I'm going to get some glass and make some shelves of my own. Otherwise a good portion of stuff will still be sitting on shelves. But I'm sure IKEA didn't build it with Minis in mind, the nerve.
The other thing I noticed was about my army coherency. Color wise at least. My Blood Angels, Dusk Wolves and .. well pretty much every army except my Eldar were all bought, built and painted with an idea in mind. I knew what I was going to do before I even bought the minis. I have played Eldar for 20 years and it really shows haha. When I first started painting I was learning so they aren't awesome, I also didn't have many paints so the colors are typically the same and the combos were pretty bad. My tastes also changed so my models did as well. Bases went from green to black or even blended in so now I really see the difference in age. And I really noticed that the Dar need a huge make over literally from top to bottom. I'm not changing my color scheme but I need to update the older minis to match up, since I'll be changing my lists for 6th it needs to be done anyway. Only sad part is I'd like to wait till some of the new minis come out.
It also made me realize how many minis I have in a 50% state. I jump around so much my armies get scattered. Also noticed I have way more vehicles mostly done so I need to come up with a plan to try and get them completely finished up. Just seems like I have more fun painting a vehicle as there are more things to mess with. Or I build all the minis up and want to get them all done together instead of knocking one out and moving on haha.. oh well.
 
The Land Raider is almost done so I put him in there but he needs some final detailing.
The guard needs a lot of love as well. Most of my Tanks are 80%, I don't really think about it when they are sitting up there and forget after I get a game in with them. Putting stuff in the case really helped I think. I'm going to setup a list of what needs to get done and what it's importance is, maybe that will help. Maybe but probably not haha..

 Thankfully my painting table is almost ready. I have a few more things to find homes for but it will be ready sooner then later. I was thinking of moving it over to the wall with the display case and moving the tread mill next to the puter looking out the window. That way all my stuff is in one spot. Still not sure yet. I need to get some Orks built for my niece, I bought her some a month or so ago but couldn't get to my table to build them. And if you know kids, every time she comes over she wants to know my progress haha..

Monday, December 3, 2012

Wraithguard Got Game ..

I got a game in this weekend and threw together a completely mixed up list to get a feel for what's decent and whats crapola. I played against the new Chaos Dex so it was a good test for one of the oldest Dex's out there. My list really was a mess haha but I wanted to play test a lot of units.

Eldrad
Farseer w/ Stones and 3 powers
5 Jetbikes
5 Pathfinders
5 Pathfinders
10 DA + Ex w/ 2 SC and Bladestorm
8 Wraithguard
5 Hawks
7 Spiders + Ex w/ Duel Spinners and WD
5 Reapers + Ex w/ Fast Shot (whoops edit bad word spell check missed)
Deathspinner
3 WWalkers w/ duel Scatterlasers
Aegis D line

It was a good game and we called it a draw as my friend had to leave at turn 4. It was the 5 Obj mission and he went first. He was sitting on 3 of them and I had 2 but I was making for one on the far side of the board with my Jetbikes to either contest or take. I had been pummeling his blob of chaos zombies or whatever the hell they were most of the game with the Spinner. I really haven't had time to even read the new Chaos Dex so really didn't know what the new stuff was and figured I'd just learn what they did as I went. My list was far from optimized and wanted to see how it would go down. I got first blood and would have most likely had line breaker. If his dice wouldn't have been on awesome mode I would have marched up the field sooner with the WG and Eldard to through down a Challenge on Typhus. But man was he getting a lot of 5s and 6s on his Mauler (whoops edit not the flyer) Daemon saves. Those things were pretty tough, especially for my non CC Dar haha. But 2 Witchblades brought one the pain and then the WG sent anothers' ass back to the warp.

Some things.. The Eldar did get a boost in the Psy Field. With the addition of the deny the witch and changes to the Psy Hoods you are going to be able to get off most of your powers without being contested at all. Most of the new powers in Div and Dex powers are Buffs/Blessings so it doesn't target the enemy. No stopping me sucker! We have Ghost Helms, the only thing I can think of that still will save you against a Perils. Poop, double ones.. Booyah .. a 5, the Warp aint got nothing on me! Runes, we still have a way to stop our opponent (not counting Deny the Witch) plus they have the added bonus of whoops you had a Peril.. My friends Sorcerer died from perils. I love that. Not to mention he got to use not one power before his head exploded. And that's just equipment.

New Powers - I chose to replace both Eldard and the Seer's powers. I wanted to see how good they were and I'd have to say I was pleased. I was hoping for the Seer to be more of the face puncher but Eldard got the better powers for that role. Not to mention him getting to replace 4 powers helps to get all the good ones. I only used Div powers as I wanted to test the all buff mindset I mentioned. Grouped up with a squad of Wraithguard they are a mean combo. Re-rolls for shooting, Firing Snaps at full BS plus some of the others. The other Seer in the backfield with the Reapers giving them re rolls and Snaps at BS as well. Being able to reposition and still fire normally is pretty nice. Overall pretty happy with are Psyness so far. I think next game I may put in a Council and see how they do.

Aegis D Line, I think will be a must. With fliers filling the sky now the Dar need something to shoot them down. The Dar have no GW fliers atm and have nothing to reliably shoot them down (Unless a Seer has buffed a unit and they are in range and have a decent Str weapon, a long list). I put the Seer with the Reapers and the Reaper Ex on the IcLas from the D Line. I gave him fast shot for that sole purpose. Getting another shot in with it is pretty sweet, on the second turn his first Helldrake came in and got smoked by the Reaper Ex. A bit lame that the Dar have to hop on some Imperial equipment to get the job done but what can you do. I see this setup working well so I'll probably be making my own version of an Eldar D Line.

Wraithguard, what's not to like. Their guns will destroy anything pretty easily, be it infantry, vehicles or even characters. If he wouldn't have had awesome rolling on a 5+ they would have brought down one of his Mauler Daemon things in one quick round of shooting. He ran amuck on a poor squad of Pathfinders who thankfully held him up though his next turn and then the WG brought it down. They have a high Str for Eldar as well as Toughness coupled with some Seer powers they are down right mean. Charging down a squad of WG firing at full BS is going to be a hard overwatch to get through even for Termies. ReRolls to hit on an already good BS and then a 2+ to wound and AP2, all that equals up to MEAN. The only downfall is their speed and range but it could be worse. I liked the combo so I'm thinking 10WG with Seer in the future. I'll have to paint up the rest of my WG though, only had enough painting that could ride in a Serpent and that won't be happening anytime soon.

War Walkers, Wasn't too impressed. I'm use to having a faster gun platforms so maybe I have to just get use to it but there wasn't much to really shoot at in the game. The way the board was setup the only fire lines I had would have put me in range of 48" guns that would have taken the WWs out quickly or have nothing to shoot at so I pretty much just shot at the second Helldrake. 24 Shots, 3 Hits and then 1 Glance (Saved). I think I got about the same result twice. The number of shots is nice but they aren't going to be decent vehicle killers for sure and definitely not flyer killers. I was hoping to have Eldrad in the back so I could give them re rolls as well but no such luck. I'll give them another try but they really aren't calling to me so far.

Hawks, they did nothing. And that may tell of their usefulness. I don't see people running large mech forces anymore so I don't know if the hawks are worth putting in a list. All they did was hide as I looked for an opening to do something and when nothing appeared I jumped off the table to at least do something with them. They dropped their grenades and missed. Blah .. oh well 8)

Spiders got caught by the Mauler thing and cut them up pretty bad so they didn't get to do much either as they were now limited in numbers.

Nightspinner, I love this thing. I actually did as soon as it came out but never has the space for it. Now that people are slogging a lot more and seem to be using blobs on more then just IG the NS really shines. It's range is very good and is TL'd. So if it scatters poorly, re roll. With it being Str 6 on average you are going to wound alot and if you are hitting T3 units it's instant death. You also have a chance to pin and now they are in dangerous terrain. So you have another chance to put some hurting on them plus they are slowed. If someone is footslogging over you can really hold a squad back. Overall fun, I don't know if it would be as awesome in a Tourney but the annoyance factor is there haha.

I'd have to say the game went pretty well, the things I was trying to do seemed to work and that's cool. I'll have to whittle a little more and see how it goes in the next game. But it seems like I'll be painting a lot more as many of the units I have done are what I ran in my old lists. It also means I'll be painting stuff that might be getting replaced when the Dex comes out if rumors are true. So, don't know where I'm going to go with that haha.. not that it matters at the moment. Hopefully soon I'll have more time to work on some stuff.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Cash for Clunkers

While going over the new rules for vehicles I've come to some conclusions but I'm sure they are they same as most peoples'. Vehicles took a huge hit. Yeah they get easier cover now but it's usually going to be 5+ or so and fast skimmers get Jink which is decent too. That all gets wiped out by easily being glanced to death in my opinion. Tanks/Vehicles with a lower AV are in danger from almost any weapon. I used the Vyper as a cheap mobile weapon platform. I'd run three solo (non Squad) armed with 2 ShurCats, I'd zoom them around blasting this and that with 6 or 3 shots depending on how far I needed to move. The AV is the same but in a standard Marine Player world I didn't have to worry all that much as the marines were typically on the move. Now RF weapons can move and still go max range so the marines and the Vyper have the same effective range. Yeah it might take 6's to Glance but all they need is two and it's down in flames. And that's if the squad just had bolters. From a high level glance I'm thinking the Vypers are going to be sitting for a bit and the War Walkers will be taking their place. They have the same AV but they will run SLs so their range will at least be increased to 36". They won't be as mobile but they are going to hold the back field I'd think and may get some Seer love so I'm thinking they are pulling ahead. The only down fall is the WW is a Heavy Slot and like any Eldar player knows, the Dar have a large choice when it comes to their Heavys. Though I'd say my biggest aversion is the fact that I hate they way they look, HATE. Eldar are all about sleek design and nothing about a mechanical ostrich touches on sleek. I'm going to pick up a WW and a WL kit/bits and try to figure out a decent conversion. Sadly it will be expensive me thinks haha..

I know most people ran WWs but I avoided them because of my dislike for them and the fact I already had the heavy slots filled. But as I revise my list all the slots are being looked at, I don't know if I'm even going to run a WL..  and if so that will be a sad day for me haha.. I do so love the WL..

Thursday, November 15, 2012

To the sky!

Swooping Hawks. They have always been one of my favorite aspects, in the past few editions they haven't been anywhere near as strong as they use to be. In the olden days, Leave the board  and come back for sure anywhere without rolling or scatter. Then with Baharroth and his sustained assault, he'd go from CC to CC in a blaze of glory tearing off heads and adding them to his web of skulls (yeah thats right I went there and still have a Reaper Ex with one. Yeah that's who I want to carry that thing, the guy I want no where near CC). Now they aren't nearly as strong as they use to be but they can still be a pretty strong unit with the new vehicle assault rules and Haywire Shenanigans. With increased mobility and DS ability they can move up the field and with the change to intercept if they get into CC with a vehicle it's going to die. Sadly so will they most likely after they do their job. A bit more expensive then the  Dragon but now they have more chance of getting into the fight and you have some outs if you take skyleap. It's added points but if you want to try to save them.. don't know if it's worth it. They don't need a Serpent so that will save points but they are pretty much only vehicle killers, their sad little guns aren't going to win you any wars that's for sure. I'm going to try a squad I think and see how they do. Many moons ago I bought all the bits to finish a squad of the conversion I did above. Maybe it will give me a reason to complete the squad. 8)


Rangers/Pathfinders. Again another unit I've always liked; the idea behind them, the models and what they did. They can be a devastating force or they can be a source of complete frustration. It all depends on Lady Luck, will she send you those lovely(5)6's or will she tease you like the heartless ... she is. (Seething complete!) Well, they got a bump in this edition as well. With precision sending an AP1 shot into the face one whichever model you want is quite nice. The Look Out Fool rule is still in effect for Characters but if that ML Marine is giving you the stink eye it's nice that you can put a bullet through it. They still have serious cover protection and with cover being a little less available now it's a plus. They are troops and can hold plus they can be placed close or on an Obj if someone else isn't already there and if it's smart to sit there. Just hanging out all by themselves without any support will mean their death. People usually fear them and rightfully so, if the dice are on your side that day they can put a real hurting on a squad of anything. I usually run two squads of Pathfinders, not sure if I'm going to drop it down to one to stay with two. You can save some points and just go with Rangers but I can never get myself to do it. The bonuses are just too good in my eyes.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Eldar.. can you stay above the creep?

Since I've been so busy lately I haven't had time to really work on anything. But I figured I might as well start putting together some thoughts as to what I want to do. Eldar are my boys, from the start of my 40K gaming I've played them. But with the new rules and the evil codex creep the Dar are getting more and more limited to what they can field. Well, field and actually be a force to deal with. In 5th the CC units were at best below average compared to most of the armies out there. 6th has put a serious hurting on the Banshees and our delivery system. In 5th I tried to maximize shots in my army. My old lists ran something like this..

Eldrad - (He's a beast, for the points he can't be beat)
10 x DA's with Ex Bladestorm 2x SC
        in a WS with Scatter, Stones
10 x DA's with Ex Bladestorm 2x SC
        in a WS with Scatter, Stones
5 x Pathfinders
5 x Pathfinders
5 x Dragons
        in a WS with BLs
5 x Dragons
        in a WS with BLs
Vyper w/ 2 x ShurCannons
Vyper w/ 2 x ShurCannons
Vyper w/ 2 x ShurCannons
Wraithlord w/ Flamers and a BL
Reapers w/ Exarch Crack Shot

The amount of lead I would throw was awesome. I'd get "Aren't you done shooting yet?" and usually no, I wasn't. When Vehicles had some staying power people feared the Dragon. They were as mean as they came, he knew he was going to die but so be it if a LR went down and those Termies now had to trudge across the board. Plus the player now annoyed with the Dragons would charge and deal with them. Another round tied up. Plus the Wave Serpent would zoom off to blast something else, his delivery completed. Now the Serpent, probably the most expensive Transport out there isn't so great any more. They use to hang tough, typically weathering all manor of shots and annoying my opponent. Now being glanced to death hurts when their price is so high. Dragons are also hit, they don't have a solid delivery and popping vehicles is much easier these days. From looking at it, I'm thinking Hawks may now be the tank killers of choice, jump up to a vehicle Haywire the crap out of them and then typically die. Today I started going over some options and maybe in the somewhat near future I can get in a test game. I'll be posting up some new thoughts about the Dar.. and I'm thinking of doing a War Walker Conversion. I usually don't use them because I hate the way they look. But they can throw out some serious fire. So far just some thoughts.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Dead Lines

This weekend I stopped by my local shop and finally picked up my DV box set. I got the limited for the extra mini and so far looks pretty cool. I'll probably sell most of the Chaos stuff off.. I don't do Chaos, can't get behind peeps that willing infest themselves with one kind of mess or the other .. haha.

I still haven't had a chance to work on anything. The Room is still a hot mess but I've given myself a deadline for completion of the room. I ordered the carpet for the room and it will be installed next week. That means I need to have the room drywalled, tape and mudded.. then painted. I don't want to do that with brand new carpet installed. So I have a little more then a week to get a TON done. But if I can stick with it I'll finally be able to clear my painting area!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Hot Mess

This is currently the state of my work area..  some people have been asking me where I've been and I figured I'd post up some pics of the current state of my working area. I'm turning our breezeway in to a playroom for the kids so for right now all the extra stuff had to go into the computer/hobby room and garage. This is actually much better then it was haha..  I bought a new display case but sadly it's still in the box as I have no place to even put it .. I'm pretty tired but keep trying to motivate myself with the thought that being done means I'll be able to paint again 8) ..


But I am getting close on the playroom..  the wiring is almost done .. just have to add the lights and button it all up (secure all the wires and what not) and then start on the drywall !! It's been a battle in the room. I had to replace all the insulation as it was crap as well as all the wiring. It looked like a spaghetti mess. I can see the light .. Hopefully I'll be done sooner then later..

And here I'm ripping down the joists and old insulation. The room had a very low ceiling so I vaulted it.





Monday, October 15, 2012

Wyatt's Here

I haven't been able to post lately ..  My son made his arrival Sept 29th and he is doing well. Little man is an eater haha but he's pretty alert and is all about the tummy time..  been busy working on the house and hanging with the family .. hopefully I'll have the playroom finished soom and I can clear out my painting room. I keep forgetting to take a picture of the shambles that is my painting area haha .. hopefully it won't be much longer now!

Made him a Darth Vader Onsie 8)

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

You can never start too early ..

Last night I took my Niece to Chucks to get her first mini's and paints. I let her pick out 5 colors and a box of what looked cool to her, she went with Stormboyz ... haha. I told her they are Orks.. She said that's a funny name and asked if they could be called beasteses.. sure. They are yours you can call them whatever you want. I also got her the small box of 4 Fantasy Orks.. So my next project is to get them built and primed for her. If you have kids you know they aren't a very patient sort. She asked me if I'd have them done by today.. haha ummm no. Probably this weekend, which was allowable .. but I even got yelled at for being late because I said I'd be over at 6:30 and I walked up at 6:34 ..

I don't think it will last very long but it's still cool.. well for me it's cool for my sister well she just groaned haha .. Right now if Uncle Todd likes it .. Makenzi does too ..   8) I know my wife is already worried about how much I nerd up my Daughter and Son haha ..!!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

KIll Teams .. it brings out the MEAN in you

Last night I ran the second Kill Team Night at Chucks Comics.. it worked out well and everyone seemed to have a good time. We're going to try to figure out what Friday will work best so we can have a monthly Kill Team night. We had six show (which was pretty good for a Monday night) but a few had to leave early.. Scotty B stepped in with the Stormtrooper KT I brought.. and was playing quiet going for his objective until he had the misfortune of having a drop pod of Death Company land right by him (but he brought them the pain with the Hot Shot Las). I added a few surprises to the game this time like the Drop Pod and a few of the bonus chests beside being bombs or points could be a Broodlord (Which Scott also found haha Josh got the other) There are going to be a few more mods for next time .. I'm trying to get a well balanced system that's fun and fair..  so far it seems to be a success.
I got the other containers I was working on mostly down .. so they were on the field. I also cut the boards down from 4x8 to 4x6 .. that may even get smaller next time ..  who knows 8)

Friday, August 3, 2012

Get your Kill Team on..

This Monday night going to have another Kill Team Event at Chucks.. (Chucks Comics our local gaming store) .. I made a few modifications to my rules to bring them up to 6th Ed .. Depending on how many people come to play I may just be Reffing .. if now I think I'm going to be take 8 DC with various kit, with the change in the Rage rule they should be fun to run around and smash face with.

I'll also be bringing some other forces for others to use if they show up and want to play but have nothing to use. It should be a pretty good time .. the last one was awesome (other then the fact that I rolled a 1 or 2 to wound almost every damn time! haha)..

Have a good weekend..

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Big Sharp Pointy Teeth..

Last night I was cleaning up my painting room and showing my 4 1/2 year old Niece how to paint a mini. She loved it .. but my sister was a bit worried I think haha ..  My Niece now wants to go pick out her own minis so she can paint them like Uncle Todd does .. haha .. WHOOT!

I didn't paint anything last night so took some pics of the Demon thing I made at Games Day.. Looking at the picture now I noticed that a few pieces must have popped off. the main thing is the blood letter's head that should be on the body on the ground by his left foot (hoof actually I suppose) haha ..  I went for a gimpy birdman look.. with the bits I had I thought that would look decent. He's leaning or jumping over a Khorne Banner while stomping a downed Blood Letter into the dirt .. Who knows what I'll do with this guy. He really has no use in anything I play haha ..



Here's a pic of what I need to find a new home for ..

Matt responded yesterday with what I was thinking as well.. there aren't many shelves in that IKEA case .. I do have some fliers and tall models so it may not matter but I'm going to look around for something else better but not too much more expensive ... don't think that will happen so the IKEA cases will probably end up being what I get but I'll look a little more ..  I could build something but I want it to be glass. And while I could go buy the glass and build a frame I don't think I want to or have the time to.