BaddaBoom...

Hitting a milestone today, this is my 500th post! That's a lot of stuffs, from it's slow beginning in 2011 I've tried to post something every weekday and typically have with a few breaks here and there. It's pretty crazy .. and has been a lot of models and words.. It's not a big deal I suppose, like many of us I decided I'd start posting pictures of my models and my progression over the last few years. Helps with motivation sometimes and nice to get some comments here and there plus have made a few new friends out there because of it. Some I've actually met up with like Evan from FTGT when we both went to play at the NOVA Open last year. This year we'll be going again playing in the team competition. I've talked to people from all over and that's pretty cool. I love looking at the stats and seeing where people are coming from, it's cool to think that one person sitting there painting a little plastic guy can then share with someone halfway across the world.

I was trying to think of something cool to post for the 500th but I'm kind of at a loss haha.. my head is also all stuffed up so .. I guess nothing to amazing from me today..  Last night I wasn't feeling too hot either so not a lot got done.. I worked on some Orks and some Cultists..  Dark Heresy is tomorrow night and was hoping to get the Cultists done but I've been jumping all over 8/ .. oh well.

Above is what my table is looking like currently..

I only got paint on a few of them.. in my mind it was a better idea to work on the leather for all of them and the Orks at the same time. That of course is taking longer then expected since there are so many of them ha.. But it's all good, I'll probably have some more time tonight to get more done and as long as they have some paint on them it will do..

I did the blending on the Orks, well at least their skin.. then I started messing with their cloths and that ate up some time. I wanted to see how they were looking so kept going unit I could see how the leathers will come out.

I know I've been saying I'm just going to paint whatever that I feel like but sadly I'm going to have to reign it in some. I have so many projects going on at the moment it's crazy!

Wraithknight
Dusk Wolf Land Raider
Ravenwing guys
Orks
Cultists
Infinity Chick on the bike
And the new display board (though that is more in designing stages)

But I'm going to try to focus more on getting something done before grabbing something else. Otherwise I'll have no room left on the table .. haha .. good times 8)

All that glitters is not always gold..

 Some more work on the Wraithknight's sword and shield. I don't usually do the NMM so figured I'd give it a shot. I usually prefer Metallics just for the look they give but with the blending I'm doing on this guy I figured it might go pretty nicely with the rest of his look. I looked around online to see the colors most people used and it was pretty close to what I figured.. lots of browns haha

 I think it's coming out ok so far but I think it needs a little more black contrast to really make it pop. The surfaces are all very smooth and there's not a lot of areas to form much of a contrast. so I guess I'll be fading in a few darker areas. It needs a bit more .. something .. I'm hoping adding some more contrast in will help its look for me.

 Its a mixture of air and brush so far, adding in all the hard lines of white by hand and now I'll go back in and darken some areas with hard lines and then blend out some more with the air. I added some red to the gem just to stop it from bugging me when I looked at that section. I also wanted to see if that was going to give me the contrast I needed but I think it has to be in the "gold" itself.

 The shield arms isn't as far along and really needs more shadows, I just have to figure out where they will be going.. right now I'm thinking around the gem and under the four top flanges.

It's not too bad so far, hopefully it comes out looking the way I want and I won't have to redo some more of this guy haha... It's also amazing how many colors you'll use and how many times you'll be swap colors in your airbrush. Youch ..

So far the colors I've used are:
Rhinox Hide - GW ( I ran out of Charred Brown - VGC and the store was out blah)
Beasty Brown - VGC
Leather Brown - VGC
Wood Brown - VAC
Plague Brown - VGC
White - Golden
Black Trans - Comm Art

I'll probably be using some black ink in there at some point and I was thinking of maybe adding in some bright areas using a yellow but I think I'll test that first and see how it looks .. The funniest part to me .. sitting here thinking about it is I'll probably never even use this combo on the board. But it will look cool sitting in the display cabinet .. and in the end I think that's all that matters to me haha

It's dusty in here..

 So I picked up a pack of Cultists and ordered a lot from eBay. I've been running a Dark Heresy game and want to paint up a few villains, I also run a Kill Team Event from time to time and it can't hurt to have some more random baddies ..

 There's nothing really special about these guys but I did use them as a test for the GW Tech paint Agrellan Earth. It makes a craked up surface that worked decently well. I wanted to see how it would look and figured these guys would be a perfect test.

Make sure you apply it thick.. not crazy thick but if it's too thin it dries very quickly and the cracks are very thin if any form at all. I'd also recommend mixing the paint up with a stick, it's pretty clumpy and then shaking it vigorously. Tonight I'll probably work on them some more as the next game session is this Saturday night. They aren't going to be too special just a bunch of crazy heads looking to crack some skulls.

Like a hot knife through butter..

Last night was an annoying one but in the end a productive one. I had a pretty bad sinus headache last night and probably should have just laid down but I didn't want to just crash out. So I went in and worked on the Wraithknight sword, shield and head plate. I was determined to get these done or at least the parts I have been working on as of late.

I ended up getting some reflection in the pictures but I think the sword is looking pretty nice at the moment. I let it dry for awhile then clear coated it. Thankfully no runs this time!

The shield is almost done as well, I took this pic before I went back in and colored the runes. I noticed it as I was uploading the pictures but by they it was time to crash 8) .. I think the shield is one of my favorite sections right now. It has a marblesch look to it that I'm digging, I wanted it to look like swirling energy and I think it really does..

The next thing I worked on was the head plate, I was originally making it very ghosted in but as I was blending I liked the way it was looking with a very bright section in the middle. I played around with some designs and blending the blues back up and into the bright section. I think this also came out looking really good. Next, I plan on getting the work on the head and arms completely done. I want some part of this guy to be 100% hah ..

As I waited for the paint to dry completely I worked on the base some. I thought it needed more destroyed bits and a bit more black scarring. Sadly I think I went too far, I didn't really notice it till I sat back .. No biggy, I'm just going to blend back up and in with some browns. I'll also need to work on the scrap a little as well.. Another unfortunate happening was I had glue on my thumb and picked him up by his leg.. now I'm going to have to sand that section down and repaint..  that sucked..  haha it seems I take two steps forward on this guy only to take one back.. I'm in no rush with him though ... trying some new stuff as I go along ..

The Hand of Asuryan

This weekend past I was pretty busy but thankfully I did get some gaming in. I've been working on a 1K list for the Nova  Trios and I built about half a dozen lists I wanted to try. Friday night I setup a game with John and his Space Wolves. I then sat there trying to think about what I should bring to test..  I ended bringing this..

1000 Pts
1 Asurmen
   1 Asurmen - TL Avenger Shuriken Catapult; The Sword of Asur
15 Dire Avengers
   9 Dire Avengers - Avenger Shuriken Catapult; Plasma Grenades
         Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Lasers; Shuriken Cannon
   6 Dire Avengers - Avenger Shuriken Catapult; Plasma Grenades
         Wave Serpent - TL Scatter Lasers; Shuriken Cannon
1 Warp Hunter (IA)
   1 Warp Hunter (IA) - TL Shuriken Catapults
6 Warp Spiders
   6 Warp Spiders - Death Spinner; Warp Jump Generators
5 Windrider Jetbike Squad
   5 Windrider Jetbike Squad - TL Shuriken Catapults; Eldar Jetbike
Total Roster Cost: 999

For 1K it's pretty expensive to stick Asurmen in there but he is pretty beast. Having the D3 Warlord Traits gives him a good chance of getting the one to re roll failed armor saves of one. Pretty awesome if he's rolling on his 2+ not to mention his stat line and a pretty brutal sword.

I also wanted to try out the Warp Hunter to see if it worked for me, it's a pretty brutal tank but can I use it right.

It was a good game but by turn four I had him. I built this list hoping to be very aggressive but sadly I wasn't, for some reason its very difficult for me to be super aggressive with the Dar. One of the reasons I picked up Blood Angels back in the day, I could be aggressive with them and run the gambit. I usually look for more tactical advantages with the Dar and usually I hold back a lot more. I want to hold fire lanes and use misdirection as much as possible. I wanted to just go right in but from the beginning I hung back, I felt myself doing it but couldn't shake it haha.. I eventually forced the Warp Hunter up the field taking his Long Fangs out, the next round it took out a good bit of a Tactical Squad. The thing is killer for sure but I'm worried it won't make it up there and it needs to be close to really drop the hammer. I almost felt bad as the template erased the Space Wolves from the board. Low AP templates are devastating, at least it's a tank and not a flier. The Warp Hunter did well I'm just worried it might not survive to drop that hammer.

As for Asurmen he hardly did anything, He sat there with his DA squad moving around some in the WS then hoping out and taking a squad of bikers out. He broke from his squad and started moving forward to face the Wolf Lord as his squad took an Objective. By this time I had taken out everything but the Lord and a Squad of Tacticals. I bled the Tacs and then Asurmen went in against the Lord. Asurmen handily took care of him, the Lord falling to the skill of the ancient warrior.

Like I said it was a fun game and I got to test out two units I was wondering about. I think Asurmen will probably sit out just because of his price, he would be nice to include but I don't know if I'd get full return. The Warp Hunter is a beast and if it gets up there it's going to burn down troops in bunches which is nice..  I'm still on the fence between it and the Prism. The Prism can wreck shop from afar and I like that but it doesn't have the pure destructive power of the Warp Hunter. I'll be ordering one from FW either way, or more likely waiting till April to see if GW will indeed carry FW in the stores. Might be able to save on some shipping!

Sadly I didn't remember to take any pictures of the game I was too worried about the data from the game.

But here are some of the Orks I primed and start to coat green (can barely see it, I didn't get to far on the green haha).

Nothing too fancy, just some Boyz and Nobz I want to get painted up. Nova is still a ways off so I still have some free painting time. But I do want to figure out what I'm taking so I can start painting early and be ready this year. There was a lot of house stuff going on this weekend and thankfully I got the garage a bit tiddy'd up. . I want to start working on the new display board giving myself a bunch of time to add in details over time.. last time it was more just GET IT DONE!. 8)

A hard days knight..

Last night was good and bad all at the same time. I had planned to take it easy and just work on some priming stuff but I had to clean my Siphon Feed so I ended up working on the Wraithknight's sword and shield. I mentioned yesterday I was going to paint it blue instead of red to better match my color scheme and that's what I worked on last night.

I've been using the PH Martin paints more and I do like them, for some things their translucency really helps but .. let it DRY for at least 15 minutes before you clear coat. I sadly figured that out last night as I was working on the sword. I had just spent who knows how long playing around with the look of the sword only to have the clear coat smear it all up... In the second picture of the sword you can see the smear near the tip of the sword. In the pictures it doesn't look as bad as it does in person. But needless to say I'll be repainting that side of the sword AGAIN.. haha.. I'm telling you, me and this sword.. I really wanted a different look for the shield and I think it's coming out looking pretty cool.. I have some more to do on it but it's close. Then I an can paint up the arms ..

I glued the magnets onto the gun arms as well last night so they are also ready to move on.. I finally feel like he can start making some real progress now. It felt like I had painted a ton on him and he seemed to be nowhere near done. Now that I can assemble him I can do all the light work on him.. I want to start knocking a part out and then move onto the next.. jumping around is also making progress seem slooooooow.

So.. here we are haha..

I've also been looking at making my NOVA Trios Team list and it's killing me. The 1K built as Allies is really going to be a pain, I wanted to mix in some Forgeworld units like the Warp Hunter but now that I can only use one Heavy Support I'm really going back and forth. It's like the old Eldar days, so much goodness in HS and not enough slots. Eldar have had a ton of good HS options for awhile and that is usually where I pull from, being so limited is really leaving me discombobulated.

Reapers? - at 1K there could be some decent bike armies out there and they always perform for me.
Warp Hunter? - Could be nice but usually needs to get up close.. would it make it?
War Walkers? - Hard to argue with that many shots.
Fire Prism? All rounder but one good shot could end it quick.

All that being said right now I'm leaning toward the Prism just for it's all round options. For the 2K list I'm also in debate about weather the Revenant should hit the table. I really want to but 900pts is a heafty price haha..

The Power of the Dead..

Ok, so the pictures might look a little crazy. The Wraithknight looks like he's got some overly sweaty pits, and hey maybe he does hah.. But we'll get to that in a few. Last night I didn't feel like painting anything (I placed an order from Secret Weapon Miniatures and in that order are two new brushes that I desperately need. Normally I receive an order pretty quickly, but sadly not this time ... it knows I need them)  so I just worked on building and sanding. I glued the lower torso/abdomen to the hips and let that dry.

Now I can detach the torso for travel purposes and also allows a little swivel movement from him. I wanted him to be built so I could pose the arms and glue on the magnets.

It might look a little crazy but I will normally put some tissue between the magnets when I'm gluing another magnet to the model while the magnets are attached to one another. I do this for a couple of reasons;
1. I don't want the glue to seep into the gap of the magnets and glue them together. This kind of defeats the whole lets use magnets thing 8)
2. If you need to use accelerator like I did here the tissue will soak up the extra while the glue can wick it from the tissue.
3. It's easier to remove the pieces to check the bond. On a surface that is curved like this the magnet isn't going to bond flat surface to flat surface. It's mainly going to bond on the edges of the magnet and it might not be as strong. The tissue makes it easier to remove and then you can glue the edges of the magnet a little better if it looks like there could be some missing.
4. It looks crazy .. not really a reason 8)
I let the glue dry overnight to make sure the bond was good, there's no need to rush. This morning I pulled them off to take a look.

They came out looking good, now I'll add a little more glue to the edge to make sure the bond is completely secure. In the picture you see the shield and sword which I'm still in a love hate relationship with. I'm now also thinking I should paint them blue to keep everything matchy matchy. I want to get the sword completely done before I glue it onto the arm. Tonight hopefully I'll get to glue the magnets on the gun arms too, then all the magnets should be done.. though I might bore out the neck area and add them to the head to keep it in place. The other Wraithknight's head just sits there and is fine but can pop off if hit. Either way is fine though really ..

I also worked on some Orks and Infinity stuff but I'll probably just post that tomorrow. I'm adding a large scale blog roll to the blog and I'm trying to figure out the best way to do so. I added a button above and it takes you to another blog, sincain40Kblogroll.blogspot.com .. It's still in progress so if you jump over there remember it's a WIP.

The Strength of a Million Souls..

I got some more work done on the Wraithknight last night, I probably spent about two hours working/playing around with the torso and the legs. I had a couple of ideas I wanted to try and I think some will work but others will no haha.. For spending two hours I didn't feel like a lot got done though.. it was a lot of back and forth. I probably put about six more layers on the torso but it's all good, I need to relax a bit when working on models. It seems that I'll get to a point and then I start getting the itch that it needs to be done. Which makes me start to push or rush... slow down..

I started out by making hard outlines or lines by hand and then went back with the airbrush and blended some out. Some I left as hard edges which after I added the other colors it really didn't look right so I blended out most of the hard line areas. I also started working on some of the areas that will have a bit of a glow, some of the lines in the torso and the inner vent cuts. I think that is coming along nicely and giving me the glow look I wanted. I also added some lighter swirling near the center spirit stone and I think that will need a lot more work to match what I had in mind

The back is just started and I'll need to blend that out a lot. I'm also playing around with the clear coat to find the right blend. I don't want the model to be either crazy flat nor very very shiny.. So you'll be able to see the sheen changing in the pictures.

 The legs are getting pretty close to being down, I still need some more blending on him but he was done enough to mount on the base. I really want to get him close to his final pose so I can Mag the arms and look at the final way he'll be highlighted and shadowed.

 The hard lines I added in, all of which I blended back out. Trial and error ... 8)

A relic of a bygone age..

 This weekend I picked up the Relic Board Game. I have been wanting to pick it up since I saw the demo version at Games Day two years ago and finally got around to buying it. I was hoping to have some models to post up today but last night got hectic, I then was rushing to finish up and ended up ruining a section of the new Wraithknight up haha.. never rush! So figured I'd go over the Relic game, if you have played Talisman before then you know all about it. It's mainly just a 40K version of the same game. I use to love playing Talisman back in the day and as I prefer to play 40K to Fantasy I figured this was a win win. I haven't been able to play yet but hoping to get in a game soon! I started reading the rules which there are many but most are just the small rules that make the game work.

 One of the coolest parts of the game is the busts that come with it, they are the game pieces. They are pretty awesome looking and now I want to paint them up haha.. Always another distraction ... always.

 I knew it had some sort of bust for the pieces but had never paid that much attention. When I opened them up I was pleasantly surprised, they are very nice looking and should be fun to paint.

 Before you play be ready to pop a lot of cut outs haha... there are a bunch of pieces that need to be popped out and even some bits that are assembled. Nothing serious just the life meters which are some discs that mount to another card. Everything is of pretty nice quality and looks very cool. Overall I'd say this is a pretty nice product and can't wait to get a game in. Maybe this week some time but with getting up early it makes it tough 8\

Sadly I couldn't get a game of 40K together this weekend past, I was really hoping to test out a few units. If I can't get a game of Relic in I'll still be trying to get a game of 40K in but this weekend is filling up already. I'll also be shooting for our next game of Dark Heresy in a couple of weeks and want to get some cultist models together for it. I use a grid board for combat and I'd like to have it look the part. They will also come in handy for Kill Team baddies. Which is good because I'll be running a Kill Team event in March and want to have a wider mix of baddies. I'm going to add in some cultists, Daemons and maybe some more Orks. Lots of gaming going on but I also need to focus some on 40K to start preparing for NOVA!.. I don't want to get behind on building and painting.. I don't want that crazy rush again haha..