The Midnight Shift

I've been called out!

2011-04-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

My good friend Lantz over at The Magnet Pro has just gotten a position as a guest writer on a well visited and from what I can tell a pretty darn swanky site Miniature Wargame Conversions (CONGRATULATIONS LANTZ! You earned it buddy). If you haven't checked out either of these sites yet, you should, you won't be sorry you did. What does this have to do with me? In his first post he puts a link to this site here in his introduction. So as not to look like a lazy chump I figured I had best put something up. More after the break.

In reality I have been busting my hump trying to get my minis fighting fit for a game tournament at the end of the month. So far I have all of my Plague Marines ( pictures below ) done and am about halfway done with my Khorne Berserkers. This leaves me with a Rhino, 2 Oblits and a Deamon Prince..

Oye

Anyway, here are my Plague Marines to look at

Group Shot

Ol' Fungus Horn

One I made specifically for Ice Station Lemon ( notice the helmet )

I liked how the skulls came out with this guy

I was exceptionally pleased at how well the "spore" treatment worked for these guys. They really match the Rhinos and look like they belong together. I can't ask for anything better than that.

And finally, a neat poster I saw for the upcoming Conan movie. Apparently he works for Khorne...

CRAP! Lost a contact.

As always questions and comments are always welcome

Have a good one,

1250 Tourney Preperation

2011-03-07T19:48:00.000-08:00

So Chaos Darrell and I are going to be throwing our hats in the ring at the FLGS

This is a team tourney with individual FOCs. Darrell is running a Chaos Deamons list, primarily Khorne with a Slanesh prince and a couple of flamers for flavor. I will try to get a full list w/his blessing ASAP. I have decided to throw in with my Plague Marines. Our MO will be me dancing around the board like a ninny trying not to get killed while we wait for his heavy hitters to deepstrike in to do the deed.

At first my list looked like this

Typhus

3 Terminators in a possesed LR
- twin lightning claws
- powerfist
- reaper auto cannon
- Mark of Nurgle

7 Plague marines
- Champion w/power sword & melta bombs
- 2 meltas
- Rhino w/extra armor

7 Plague marines

- Champion w/power sword & melta bombs
- 2 meltas
- Rhino w/extra armor

1 Obliterator

While it may look impressive on paper this list wasnt really living up to my expectations. I just can't get those terminators to pay off. We have played Ice Station Lemon and Lantz from the The Magnet Pro several test games and each time they were either stopped well before they got where they needed to be or, if they did happen to get out, they couldn't deliver on bringing the pain. I think the main issue is that I am trying to make them a Jack of All Trades unit and they just dont have the manpower (or the physical models) to pull it off. I tried another list with a deamon prince and an extra Oblit that looked like this:

Deamon Prince
- Mark of Nurgle
- Doom Bolt
- Wings

3 Terminators in a possesed LR
- twin lightning claws
- powerfist
- reaper auto cannon
- Mark of Nurgle

7 Plague marines
- Champion w/power sword
- 2 meltas
- Rhino w/extra armor

7 Plague marines
- Champion w/power sword
- 2 meltas
- Rhino w/extra armor

2 Obliterators

While the additional mobility that is granted by the DP is very welcome I am still sinkning a TON of points into the Termie group and their transport ( who is named Banjo BTW) and not getting the performance out of them that I want. On top of that, we are having to hold back a unit of Plage marines to keep points secure. Blood thisters are very good assault troops but arent too hot at point holding. Especially since you have to deepstrike them in all the time.

Sooooo I have an army that is very good at staying alive and killing things but it's not great at holding points which is something that has become very important lately. On top of it there is the aforementioned bucket of points that isnt doing anything. This has drawn me to make the following list:

Deamon Prince

- Mark of Nurgle
- Nurgle's Rot
- Wings

7 Plague marines
- Champion w/power sword
- 2 meltas
- Rhino w/extra armor

7 Plague marines
- Champion w/power sword
- 2 meltas
- Rhino w/extra armor

8 Khorne Berzerkers
- Champion w/power sword & Plasma Pistol
- 2 Plasma Pistols
- Rhino w/extra armor

5 Standard Chaos Space Marines
- Champion w/power sword
- Plasma Gun

2 Obliterators

I think this will be a much more effective list. I've got 4 troops now instead of 2 including one that I can just dig in and leave on a point. Also, Berzerkers are much better suited to kill people rather than the group of terminators. I was running the Oblits in a group but I think I am going to split them out as well. I know thats giving my opponent more kill points but I think its worth it to make sure that I actually get Oblits on the table faster.

The real downside to all this is that, while I do have all of the models needed to run this list, I don't have all of them painted/based. There is going to be a soft score portion of this tourney as well and I would hate to be the reason that we didn't score high enough to place. Luckily I have about 2 months to get prepared. Here is a shot of a WiP Plague Marine:

As always, questions and comments are always welcome but keep in mind I am running with pretty much all of my available models up there so even if you do have a great suggestion I may not be able to impliment it.

Have a good one
GV

I attack the darkness!

2011-02-24T22:54:00.000-08:00

I'm a triple threat now. I play Warhammer, WarMachine AND D&D

So it shouldn't be a huge surprise that I fell into this brand of escapism as well and where there are tabletops there are minis and where there are minis there are paintin's to be had. Lets take a look shall we?

This is Lowgrey Stormborn, born Thunk Flintstrike a level 3 Gnome Barbarian. He's been hit by lightning and thinks he is the son of Kord the god of thunder and seas. He is also known as Wolfhelm, Wyrmrider, Dragon Slayer and Orc-bane.

To make him I took a Dwarf Berserker model from the Mage Knight and then took a hammer head from some random Orc of the same model line and glued em together and slapped some paint on him. He took me about 2 gaming sessions w/a little time after for small detail work. Army Painter: Quickshade did the rest.

I have just read over this post and I feel about this cool:

I'm +1 to awesome

Finally, I must have had a thumb print on my lens when I was taking pictures because the first few looked like they were from a bad 80's porn. So here you go, Lowgrey Stormborn coming out of the pool ready for some lovin'.

Ooooh baby....

As always, have a good one.

If you are reading this..... you are part of the underground

2011-02-22T19:56:00.000-08:00

Psst... hey over here

Ok I think I have maybe 5 to 10 minutes before a dog eats something that it shouldn't and I have to save its life, stop the cat from destroying something valuable or get something up high for my wife so I can move it to another location up high that she can't reach.

The story thus far

While I have been away due to life I haven't forgotten my duties to the plastic crack. Here's whats been going on ( in chronological order as best as I can remember it)

1) Ice Station Lemon pointed out to me a nifty army variation from Imperial Armor 7: The Servants of Contagion
- I cheated a little bit and checked on scribd.com/Army Builder and found, what appeared to be, an interesting mix of 4th and 5th ed guard with a little Nurgle for flavor

2) Purchased the Protectorate of Menoth starter box, the Harbinger of Menoth and a Castigator
- I got it all for $75 bucks I couldn't turn that down

3) Chaos Darrell and I are going to join a 1250pt. team game over at the FLGS
- Nurgle-licious CSM and Chaos Deamons, together again for the very first time.

4) Found out that Army Builder really wasn't telling the truth about what I could take from that army list mentioned in #1 ( Mainly any of the special characters or vehicles )
- Well poop

Proof.. you want proof?!

Here is a flamethrower steam-punk robo-ma-tron from the box set listed from #2

Well thats all I got for now. I should have some in process work for my Nurgle CSM worth posting here in a few days.

Have a good one,
GV

In Memoriam: Marvin B. Vaughn 1931 - 2011

2011-02-20T09:02:00.000-08:00

I would like to take a moment to say goodbye

I wanted this to be my next post in my blog. I wanted to say something important about someone who meant a lot to me in the most public way that I could think of but I just can't. There aren't words to express the sorrow and pride I feel for the loss of the man, my uncle Marvin, that you see pictured above. Just know that he was a good man and that the world was a better place because he was in it. Thank you for your time.

Bane Thrall COMPLETE!

2011-01-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone I just added the finishing touches to a Warmachine Bane Thrall test model! Check it out!

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you Harcourt Farnsworth Cuddlington the 3rd...

That's all I got for today. As always questions, comments and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Have a good one,

If it wasnt for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.. (pic heavy)

2011-01-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

Lets start with the standard holiday diatribe... crazy travel, lots of family, yadda yadda yadda. I have been doing a LOT of gaming though .... and losing. I swear I've only won a single game of Monopoly in the last month. I'm starting to develop a complex.

I have so much I want to talk about but have been absolutely strapped for time. Here are some pictures to hold you over until I get a chance to rub some sentences together.

The following are from a game with Deamon Darrell where he brought his new "Fatecrusher" build. I was effectively crushed.

It all started so well....

After all that shooting I only killed 3 of em :(

And then the deamons started coming ..

and coming ..

Marbo showed up and promptly committed suicide

Then the BIG deamons show up..

3 WOUNDS! I eventually killed him.

Ellie boned up on her Warmachine rules..

These are Darrell's new flamers... I vowed to kill them too

and then this happened..

These were my ratlings.... they were completely useless

Case in point...

OM 'NOM 'NOM 'NOM 'NOM

Well there you have it, a smashing success .... for Darrell. As mentioned before, I got tons of stuff to talk about so keep tuning in. We got a lot of catching up to do ;-)

Have a good one
GV

What I did on my winter vacation

2010-12-06T19:16:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!
I just got back from the "Wine Country" of Missouri on a little break with the Mrs. I had a great time and am back, rested and rejuvenated with some new models and projects that I am working on.

First off let me show you my 2nd finished rhino:

As you can see this is very much a copy of my 1st rhino I did in the Nurgle style.

Here is a side by side, the new one is on the left. I am very happy with how they both turned out. They even kind of look like each other! Imagine that...

Now on to my Exalted Plague Champion of Nurgle.

As you can tell he is still a WIP. I needed a simple, cheap HQ to lead my forces until I can get my version of Necrosius done. At 90 pts with all of the bennies of a plague marine AND lightning claws I think he will be more than enough to lead my guys.
If you were wondering, he is just a champion from the standard Chaos Space Marine sprue. I clipped and repositioned his hands so his gauntlets would match up while he was doing his "Karate" pose. Other than that it was just a bit of greenstuffing and plasticard to get his lightning claws and shoulder/boot detail. I hope to have some more completed photos by the end of the week.

Finally, I will show you a quick glimpse of my 3rd project:

Thats all I have time for today, I got to get ready for work :(

As always, questions, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome.

Have a good one

Rhino... again and a test heritic guard

2010-11-16T23:54:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Got some more pics of the Rhino (hopefully better ones this time) and my first test model for traitor guard.... I call him Pig Pen

Ok, so I can finally table the Rhino thing once and for all ( for this one at least ) here are the last shots of the Rhino I am going to force on you

That's much better, as stated before, I faded Blazing Orange to Blood Red to the get the effect.

Next up we have Pig Pen my first Traitor Guard! I call him Pig Pen because I got a little heavy handed with the Devlin Mud wash so hes a bit grimy.

He was a snap to paint. Here is how he breaks down:

Base - The Army Painters "Skeleton Bone" primer

Leather (boots, belt and gun stock) - Bestial Brown

Flesh - Bronzed Flesh/Ogryn Flesh (wash)

Cloth - Gryphonne Sepia

Metals - Vallejo brand Ancient Bronze

Pox - Blood Red

Overall - Devlin Mud

As you can see it was really simple to do, after the primer dried I just filled in the leather, metals and flesh then washed the rest. What I was most pleased about this model was the Pox and the eyes. I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures but I got both pupils spot on my first try. It usually takes me FOREVER to get that done. Also, all exposed flesh is covered in small red "welts" to represent him going over to Grand-Daddy Nurgle's side. I thought it was a nice touch.

Now all I have to do is get some static grass on there and touch up the gun barrel a little and I am good to go! Next up I will probably have another Rhino to show you. I have just painted over the old purple one in the skeleton bone and am going to try to knock it together as fast as I did the other one.

As always, questions, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome.

Have a good one

Rhino Finished!

2010-11-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Just a quick post then I got to head to work. I got my light source finished and I wanted to show you the final product!

And here we are. Final picture with the lighting source flushed out. I used blazing orange and worked it into the "source" color of blood red ( thank you very much for your suggestions, they helped out a lot ). I think overall I couldn't have asked for a better result. I think I can do this relatively quickly and its definitely tabletop quality. Now all I got to do is make the rest of the army look like this. I already have a traitor guard painted up but I've run out of time to post him now. I will try to get that up tomorrow.

As always your questions, comments, and criticisms are always welcome and appreciated.

Have a good one.

WiP: Rhino part II weathering and source lighting

2010-11-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hello again! Back with another post on the Rhino that I was working on. I have made quite a bit of progress and am almost finished but there is something I need your opinion on.

Fist off, let me show you the progress thus far:

As you can see I really went to town with the weathering details. I figured if it was going to be a true chariot of Nurgle I needed to beat the mother loving emperor out of it. To do so I turned to who I believe are some real professional artists The Painting Corps. Their tank weathering tutorial(s) are top notch.

Overall I am pleased as punch at how it turned out. It was really quick and easy too. Working with washes and dry-brush/stipple techniques are my new favorite thing. Here is a side by side of my two Flu Hoopties:

Flu Hoopties!

In the end I think I will re do the one on the right to match the color scheme but for now I think the goobers covering the both of them tie the project together enough that it isn't that big of a deal.

The ONE thing that I am not 100% on is the source lighting . I dig the concept of red light pouring out of a possessed machine but something in the execution just isn't hitting me right. I would really like your input on whether I should keep it, scrap it, or do even more with it. At this point I think I could re do those sections with very little to no trouble at all so don't hold anything back.

Especially now your comments, questions and concerns are more than welcome.

Have a good one,

WiP: Rhino

2010-11-11T01:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Just chiming in with a few shots of a Rhino I am trying to knock together.

Its been a while since my last post and that's because, quite frankly, I was burnt out. I had just bitten off way more than I could chew and all the projects stacking up around me was really getting me down. Then Chaos Tad came to me with something that really turned me around. Apparently, in Imperial Armor # 7 they have an army list that's built specifically for me: The Servants of Decay.

From what I have read so far think 4th ed Imp. Guard rules with 5th ed tanks/equipment and just a pinch of chaos thrown in for flavor. You can field regular imp guard and plague marines side by side as well as run around in rhinos and chimeras. PLUS, and this is what got me really excited, there is options for plague zombies! In a nutshell, I can use models from 3 different armies ( including Warhammer Fantasy Battles ) to complete a working army! You cant beat a deal like that with a stick.

Looking through the prints that they had in the book I found a color scheme that was this bone colored/rusty look. I had a spare primed rhino laying around so I thought I would give it a shot:

Please keep in mind that these are still works in progress and I still have a lot of detailing left. I got this far with the Skeleton Bone primer from Army Painter (that stuff is a godsend). After the base coat went down I just started going over the model with Gryphonne Sepia until I got the desired tone of ick. I left the recesses and exhaust vents untouched ( for now ) just to break up the model a little bit. The spore node/pus sack/conversation starters are all made w/green stuff and painted with a base of Dark Angels Green followed by Catachan Green. The free-hand fly is Gore Red and Blood red for the eyes and the wings are golden and sunburst yellow. The Metals are Ancient Bronze from the Vallejo line with a Scorched Brown undercoat.

I still need to get the rest of the metals flushed out and maybe work on that Nurgle icon some more. I got a new yellow yesterday ( whose name currently escapes me) that I think will fit in better with the color scheme. After that its some line highlighting followed by weathering and then adding the "pollen" from the nodes.

As always I appreciate any questions/comments/criticisms you may have.

Have a good one
GV

From the Work Bench: WIP Aspiring Champion Power Sword

2010-10-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to post some pics of a power sword that I am working on for my Chaos Space Marines army.

As a star wars fan I cant help but think of light sabers every time they talk about power swords. Relic weapons from a long ago age that can cut through metal and bone just as easy? I mean, come on...

In that same vein, if you follow the mythos you know that each warriors weapon was highly individualized with its own set of unique styles and properties. I try to get that feel to come across when I do my own power weapons/fists. In this case I am going with an ancient blackened blade crackling with arcane energy. Cheesy, I know, but considering the subject matter I think I got a pretty good representation.

As always questions, comments, and criticizms are always welcome

Have a good one,
GV

Special Mission Variant

2010-10-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,

So I was watching Inglorious Bastards (the original one) and I got an idea for a special mission type.

At first I felt all clever for coming up with this all by myself. However, after a look through the Battle Missions book I found that there is a very similar mission (almost identical) in the Space Marines section. Don't you hate it when that happens? Well, I am going to post it anyway for those of you that weren't interested in picking up the battle mission book.

The Setup:

In the movie the Inglorious Bastards had to steal a V2 rocket guidance system from a very heavily guarded science train. With the help of the French underground they posed as Nazi scientists, got onto the train, sabotaged the internal defenses, and then ran off with the part.

In my mission the planetary invasion has hit a stalemate. Resistance was much more fierce than originally expected and both sides have been stretched to the limit on resources and manpower. As the defender you have been chosen by high command to deliver a very special resource ( be it people, bullets, food, stickers, whatever). A standard cargo carrier just won't do, you need military grade transport and professional protection.

While your mission has been going swimmingly so far your transport mysteriously shuts down. Weapon systems, drive train, everything is dead. In the distance you hear war cries of the enemy. Dig in! ITS AN AMBUSH!

Deployment:

Defenders
Just as in the Space Marines All-Around Defense the defenders set up in the center of the table. Take one of your transports and use it as your objective. You get 12" around that vehicle to set up.

Attackers
You get the rest of the board! Aren't you lucky? Give the defender a good 6" buffer around their 12"

The Objective:

The attackers need to either A) Kill/force off the force defending the immobile transport or B) Embark into the transport using the standard rules listed in the 40k rule book

Defenders need to keep the transport for a min. of 5 turns. Additional turns are determined as normal per the 40K rulebook.

The Special Rules:

Out-manned and out-gunned

Seeing as how the invading force (the defender) has cut off all off world supplies to the underground (the attackers) they have the advantage of having more units. To represent this the defender gets twice as many points as the attacker. So if the attacker has 500 pts. the defender will have 1,000.

We just don't have the resources

As stated before, things are hard going for both sides. While everyone would like you to drive to the destination with Land Raider roller skates you just don't have the resources. To represent this there are to be no vehicles( dedicated transports or otherwise ) on the board. One exception would be walkers (Dreadnoughts, Sentinels, and the like). The rest of are going to have to foot slog it.

An inside job

The resistance has been planning for months to get their hands on this wonderful Maguffin and they couldn't do it alone. To represent the resistance infiltrating the off world invaders the attacker looks at the defenders army list and picks 1(one) non HQ unit from that list and writes this unit down on a piece of paper. Once game-play begins, roll for reserves as normal. On a successful reserves roll that unit falls under the control of the attacking player. The attacker may not place any other units in reserve.

My best men

This is an important mission to everyone involved. To represent this you may substitute Elite Choices for Troop choices. In addition to this, the defender can choose one (1) unit that the Attacker may not claim with the "An inside job" rule.

The Cavalry is Coming

The convoy managed to get one radio call off before everything hit the fan. Central command has dispatched a fast response group to help. To represent this the defender can place one (1) unit of fast attack in reserve. This unit does not have the "We just don't have the resources" special rule

Final Thoughts:

I know the extra rules make it look pretty daunting but once you get a game under your belt they go pretty fast. Also, as you can probably tell already, this is NOT a competitive game. We really didn't play for balance but tried to replicate a movie-like setting and overall it was pretty fun.

As with anything I do I really appreciate your feedback. If you have any further questions or comments please drop me a line or comment below.

Have a Good One!

From the Work Bench: A crappy wall and a pump house!

2010-09-10T00:37:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

Those that know me would call me impulsive, or possibly a spaz. I cant argue, I flit from project to project like a leaf on the wind. Take the examples below as proof.

So do to my FABULOUS schedule I got a differed holiday today. I was planning to do a boatload of chores but the weather was rainy and the Veterinarian and dog grooming salon didn't have any spots available for my war pugs so I bummed around the local hobby stores.

Amidst the swatches of felt and odd Styrofoam Halloween decorations I found that they had a sale on foam-board. Thats all I needed to get me going! I picked up a prime sheet, some additional cutting utensils and went to town and made this wall....

... which looks like boiled crap....

So that discouraged me from pursuing the lifestyle of a professional foam-board sculptor (for now) but I still had the bug. So I dug around my bits bins and came up with this!

It still doesn't look so hot but I figured what the heck. I can always eat more cashews, use straws and stave off the onset of heart-worms again if I really felt the need to.

Thats all I got for now. If you want to comment or suggest improvements to my... um ... things please do! Until then...

Have a good one

Back to the Blog!: Sopwith Camel and IG Vostroyan

2010-09-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
After over a month I actually have something worthwhile to show you.

So, as my title suggested I have some pics of something that you wouldn't expect to see on this blog, a Sopwith Camel! Here she is, isn't she a beaut?

I put this little fighter together for an upcoming game that Blood Angels Aaron is going to be hosting called Aerodrome. Its a nifty little table top game representing the daring do of the wild blue circa WWI.

Apparently this game is a labor of love and you probably wont find it at a FLGS any time soon as the creator is also the publisher and distributer as well. I have only gotten a chance to play it online over a BBS and it was very entertaining then so I can't wait to see how it fares in real life.

Also, for your viewing pleasure I have a Vostroyan that I painted up on a lark

My lighting washes him out a little but you get the general idea, I'll have better pics up as soon as I get him based and quickshaded. I have to admit, at first I wasn't too keen on the Vostroyan IG sculpt but after actually getting my hands on one I have these delusions of running a full force of these guys foot soldier style with a Malcador Defender as a centerpiece model. That is a very expensive delusion. Well, thats all I have for today. I will be posting some more here soon ( for real this time ) about my love/hate relationship with the Vostroyan fluff and my first ever forays into the realm of Warhammer Fantasy Battles!

Have a good one,

Trying to Break the Burn

2010-07-26T10:09:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

As I am sure you all have gone through if you pour yourself into a project too much its way too easy to get burnt out on something. Even if its something you enjoy doing. I had to take some time off last week otherwise I wouldn't have the stomach to touch this stuff. Fortunately for me I play with an awesome group of friends who make it easy to get back in the swing of things. Enough jibber jabber, I got stuff to show you...

When Necron Darrell told me that he had a surprise for the next gaming session I had no idea it would be something like this..

Check that out eh? Pretty schnazzy I must say. So I figured that I would show you some of the other stuff that he has cranked out lately

Here is as a family photo of his Deamon army. Note the color swap deamons going on in the front there.

Wax on.....
Wax off...

Then there is this fella. I hate fighting this guy.

But not as much as I hate fighting this guy.

With the arrival of our new terrain of course we had to fight over it. We ran a series of short 500 pt battles. It was the most fun I have had with Warhammer in a good long time (especially the battle for puddin' hill). I took some photos but they didnt turn out so well =( .

Well thats all I have time for. I really need to get to bed. I am not going to have much to show for the next few days as I am going to be concentrating on building my Fantasy army. However, with any luck I can convince my other friends to let me showcase their work here on the site. I really enjoy looking at it on a weekly basis and I am sure you would as well.

Have a good one,
GV

Taking a Break

2010-07-20T08:00:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

I am going to put my hobby on hiatus for a bit. The two day painting challenge, while rewarding, is taking its toll. I am getting burned out on something that I love and I cant let that happen. I will post something this weekend.

Two day painting challange: Ork!

2010-07-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here we are, back in the saddle again. I have for you today a Space Ork.

This is what I call a "Water Color" Ork. The intention is to make him as detailed as my imperial guard with the ease and small palate of an old style skeleton warrior. I feel that if I can somehow perfect this technique I can crank out hordes of Orks in no time at all.

The color palate for this guy is as follows:
White Primer
Tausept Ocre
Boltgun Metal
Chaos Black
Blood Red
Skull White (if you are unlucky)
Thrakka Green Wash
Devlin Mud Wash
Baal Red Wash

As you can tell this model is very wash reliant. Any skin and cloth is done with either the Thrakka Green or Devlin Mud. Detailing is really a non issue if you can get it to work for you though. One thing that you do have to look out for, however, is making sure you don't get the "real" colors onto your white "wash" areas. Otherwise you will have to come back through with Skull White and perform touch up work.
Lastly, give this guy a good chance to dry before hitting him with your quickshade. These colors take time to settle and you may need to do some touch up work before putting on that varnish.

As always, questions, comments and criticisms are always welcome

Have a good one,
GV

Two day painting challange: Apologies

2010-07-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I'm afraid that I wont have an update today. The wife was home from work this morning so I wasn't able to get to my painting project until way late. I will try to get an update tomorrow morning as well as set the next task for the big weekend project. Thank you for your patience

The two day painting challange: Storm Trooper

2010-07-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Just chiming in with my latest painted miniature the Storm Trooper.

I must admit I was quite surprised at the amount of detail that was on this guy. It seemed like every time that I thought I was done I'd find some little piece of tech that I needed to flush out. All in all I really enjoyed painting him.

I wanted something different from my usual rank and file ( seeing as how hes a Storm Trooper and all ) so I went with a black/red color scheme. I was thinking of doing a white/black scheme with him being an Imperial Storm Trooper but after a 2nd look at the armor he had I decided to do my own thing.

Here are the paints that I used:

Scab Red

Blood Red

Boltgun Metal

Chaos Black

Goblin Green

Tausept Ochre

Scorched Brown

Moth Green ( vallejo )

Ancient Bronze ( vallejo )

Blackened Steel ( vallejo )

Baal Red Wash

Ogryn Flesh Wash

As always, questions, comments and criticisms are always welcome

Have a good one,
GV

The two day painting challange: Big Project Status Update

2010-07-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

Holy crap I changed the format! Forgot that I did that... heh heh.

Anyway, I have some new pictures to show you of what should have been my Thursday painting challenge post (sorry about that) and the completion of my corpse cart! WHOO HOO!

First off the corpse cart:

All that I need to do now is just glue the Wraith to the cart and I am good to quickshade/base. This has been, without a doubt, one of the hardest projects that I have ever attempted. When I do another in the future I am SOOOO painting the individual pieces before sticking them together. You can't imagine how many nooks and crannies you get once you get those bodies on the cart.

Here is the paint list I used:

Grey Primer
Rotting Flesh
Codex Grey
Scorched brown
Bleached Bone
Scab Red
Blood Red
Tausept Ocre
Elf Flesh
Chainmail
Yellow Green ( vallejo )
Moth Green ( vallejo )
Baal Red Wash
Devlin Mud Wash
Gryphonne Sepia Wash
Ice Blue ( Carin Wraith )
White Primer ( Carin Wraith )
Asurmen Blue Wash ( Carin Wraith )
Leviathan Purple Wash ( Carin Wraith )

Now moving from the hardest model I have ever done to the easiest model(s) that I have ever done. I give you THE SKELETONS!

The one on the right is the "old" style skellie ( that they still sell in booster packs ) and the one on the left is the "new" skellie that came with the boxed set. As you can see the right one is significantly larger than the left which, in the beginning, caused me no end of heartache

This guy is TINY and as it so happens the 2nd attempt at painting the new style. I attempted a whole company using the Skeleton Bone primer from Army Painter. A word to the wise, that stuff is THICK! I was careless in the application and I swear I was going to field and army of marshmallow warriors. All of the definition was gone from the ribs/skull, it was not a pretty sight. Simple Green couldn't even dent that stuff either. I started scrubbing with a soft bristle brush after a few days soak and I just ended up with a hand-full of plastic mush, none survived. Oh well, live and learn.

The paint list that I used for this model is as follows:

White Primer
Chainmail
Scorched brown
Devlin Mud Wash

... yup it was as simple as that. White primer, paint the metal/wood, wash in mud, quickshade... BAM skeleton warrior. There is only one thing more simple than that... OLD SKELETON WARRIORS!

I didnt even use wash on this guy, it was just like they show on the website. Took me all of 10 min. if that. All of the shading that you see here is from the actual Quickshade. I use soft tone by the way. I find the subtle shading effect it gives better suits my style.

The paint list that I used for this model is as follows:

Army Painter Skeleton Bone Primer
Blood Red
Chainmail
Scorched Brown

Finally, I couldn't have done this without the love/support of my two War-hounds:

Matilda, Eater of Things

and Pugsy, Destroyer of Gummy Bears
... seriously, he ate 3 lbs of Gummy Bears once. It was disgusting.

As always, questions, comments and criticisms are always welcome

Have a good one,
GV

The two day painting challange: Big Project Status Update

2010-07-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Nothing profound to say, just wanted to show you corpse cart progress

Questions, comments and concerns please.

Have a good one,
GV

The two day painting challange: Wratih!

2010-07-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, for today's painting challenge I give you my Carin Wraith and show you an update on the corpse cart

Here are the paints that I used:
Midnight Blue
Ultra-Marines Blue
Ice Blue
Liche Purple
Skull White
Asurmen Blue Wash
Leviathan Purple Wash

I am still on the fence on how well this guy came out. I tried something new with him and I don't think it paid off. Some of the textures are nice, like certain areas near the cloak but he doesn't give off the ethereal, haunted spirit look that I am going for. More than likely he'll end up in the simple green to get re-done at a later date. I have a new idea for how to do the ghostly bits that I am trying out on the Carin Wraith that comes with the corpse cart so we shall see how that turns out.

Speaking of the Corpse Cart:

I couldn't stand not having a wash on this thing anymore so I broke down and threw some Devlin mud around. I am much happier with how its looking now. Although it brought out some areas that I had missed entirely (I guess that's a good thing overall). I think next I am going to throw some ogryn flesh wash on the metal to try and tarnish that some and then get the lighting effects done for the lodestone assembly.

As always, questions, comments and criticisms are always welcome

Have a good one,
GV

The two day painting challange: Big Project Status Update

2010-07-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

Guh,

Well, it didn't quite work out as well as I had planned. I got some time to work on the corpse cart but with a very soggy trip to the family on the 4th it somewhat put my schedule on its ear. However, I was able to make some very good progress this weekend and everything is shaping up very nicely.

I will talk more at length on this project when I have it complete, which should be before this weekend. Until then..

Have a good one.
GV

The two day painting challange: The Ghoul

2010-07-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

On to my 2nd Warhammer Fantasy Battles showcase... the GHOUL!

I am very pleased at how well/fast this little fella came out. The great thing is that I used almost the exact same color palate as I did with the zombie. The paints are as follows:

Rotting Flesh
Codex Grey
Scorched brown
Bleached Bone
Scab Red
Blood Red
Baal Red Wash
Ogryn Flesh Wash <-- This is the key right here

Its amazing what one little change can do to an entire look and feel of a model. If I were to level a gripe at this one it would be the way that he is put together. They have a ton of great arm/head features but they all don't match up quite right with the sockets in the torso leaving some noticeable gaps. The next time that I build one I am going to try using greenstuff instead of glue for those particular joins to see if I can get a better result. Also, he doesn't appear to be all that photogenic. Hes at just the right size to be in my camera's "fuzzy" zone. Oh well, its another one down.
As far as my big project for this weekend I have been using the extra paint time to try to get it presentable. It may be a crunch with the 4th and all but I think I can get it done.

As always questions, comments and criticisms are always appreciated

Have a good one
GV

The two day painting challange: Zombie!

2010-06-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

In the constant battle to stave off panic attacks and clinical depression I have decided to turn myself over to a painting challenge. As I don't have much time during the week I will keep it simple at first. 2 minis a week and then a big project on the weekend. I figure I can build/prime one day then paint/quickshade the next. Also, I was able to paint a little this weekend so I have some Warhammer Fantasy Battles test models that I can use to hedge my bets. First up... the Zombie!

Prepare to see alot of this guy and his ilk in the coming weeks creeping out from the mist. Painting him was a snap. I actually spent more time on the bone portions than the rest of the model combined.
I used the following paint:

Rotting Flesh
Codex Grey
Scorched brown
Bleached Bone
Scab Red
Blood Red
Baal Red Wash
Devlin Mud Wash

Questions, comments and criticisms are always appreciated

Have a good one
GV

Oh thank goodness!

2010-06-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

As you are all well aware by now Games Workshop is releasing its 8th iteration of the Warhammer Fantasy Battles game ( Got my copy on pre-order =-D ). As such they have a whole slew of new fancy-schmancy gaming aids out there. Look intimidating? Well worry not! They have instructional videos that help walk you through the fine details. All I have to say is thank Sigmar that they translated it into so many different languages! I don't know how I would ever have figured it out if they hadn't taken the time to produce an English version. (watch the last link and you'll see what I mean)

Dice pool quiz

2010-05-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

You are a d6: How can I put this nicely? If you were a flavor, you'd be vanilla. If you were a color you'd be white. If you were a blanket, you'd be wet. I'm sure you're a nice person, but excitement doesn't run down your alley, does it? If it ever did, you'd stop it, and politely ask it to walk. Honestly, you have no right being on any sort of adventure. You're much better suited hanging around at home and telling visitors that the princess is in another castle.

HA! This is hilarious... and probably more accurate than I would like to admit

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Photo Dump III

2010-05-18T00:46:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Not much to post as the way of progress. This weekend marks the 2nd anniversary to my beautiful wife Lindsey. However, I was able to get some game time in on Friday. It was as pretty low attendance so Necron Darrell, Chaos Tad and I decided to run the 3 player mission in the back of the big rule book. We called it the Chaos Company Picnic, enjoy:

3 HQ's eying the last of the potato salad before all hell breaks loose

As you can see here Darrell brought the Korne (see what I did there... its a picnic... yeah)

I brought the cheese ( more on that later)

Tad brought the cool ranch

Nothing really happened here

There was dancing...

The Chaos Conga... yes that's me cheesing 2 victory points

The guardians of soda

TATERS!!!

A neat shot of Tad's defiler

My rhino must be possessed with a spirit of an old sheep dog because it usually ends up herding Darrell's bloodletters around

There is where I forgot to declare my charge.. needless to say it didn't end well

One of Darrell's new Deamon princes

Finally, what Darrell thought of Tad's 1k sons

Have a good one,
GV

From the Work Bench: Chaos Rhino - Complete!

2010-05-13T08:31:00.001-07:00

AAAAAAND .... here we are. Same tank as yesterday but with dirtier smokestacks.

Not really much to write today, just creating a post to mark the completion of a milestone and to give thanks to the blogs/people that helped me out through this project.

First off I would like to say that this is, by far, my best work to date. I until now I haven't been able to achieve such a level of detail. To help better put it in perspective here is a shot next to one of my finished Chimeras:

Secondly I would like to give thanks to the blogs that I took inspiration from.

SandWyrm @ The Back 40K for his articles on color theory

Ron @ FTW for his tutorial on his solid color painting technique
- For some reason I can't find the particular tutorial (it was about his blood angels/space hulk)

The Painting Corps @ ... The Painting Corps for their tutorial on tank weathering

Finally, I would like to thank you who follow this blog. Believe it or not knowing that there are people stopping in here from time to time to look at my work is a great motivator for getting this stuff done.

As always, questions and comments are more than welcome.

Have a good one,
GV

From the Workbench: Chaos Rhino WIP - Mud, Dust and Pollen

2010-05-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

Just about ready to pass out for the day so I thought I would show you the latest on my possessed Rhino. Today I took the weathering up another notch and added mud, dust and pollen. Hepa filters be damned! GLORY TO NURGLE!

I am super pleased how everything is turning out. One more bout to dirty up the exhaust and I should be ready to apply the matte finish.

Also, here is a pic of the gaming table that Necron Darrell and I knocked together over the weekend. This sucker is solid as a rock! I will have more pics the next game night/photo dump.

As always question and comment away!

Have a good one,
GV

From the Work Bench: Chaos Rhino WIP - Weathering

2010-05-08T08:33:00.001-07:00

Hey Everyone,

Just taking a break from lawn work to post some pics of that possessed Rhino I have been working on

This is the old photo, I took some time to make it look like its been around a bit longer

Here is the new look:

As you can see I have been adding a few chips and dings here and there a la The Painting Corps. if you haven't been there you really should go. They have FANTASTIC tips and tutorials. That's all I have time for for now, I need to get some supplies for more yard work and to hopefully knock together a new gaming table!

As always questions and comments are always appreciated.

Have a good one,
GV

From the Work Bench: Possessed Chaos Rhino WIP

2010-05-03T03:11:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Everyone!

Just wanted to chime in with an update on my possessed rhino. Check it out!

Overall I am very pleased at how well things have been going so far with this army. Also, as a plus, I have figured out how the white balance works on my camera! No more blue rhinos for me. Anyway, as always, comments are more than welcome

Have a good one,
GV

From the Work Bench: Plague Marine WiP

2010-04-28T09:37:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to throw a few pics on the blog of a Plague Marine that I am trying to knock together:

As you can see I am going for the same "fungusy" look that my Rhino has.

This is the part I would really like some additional input on. I am not sure how I feel about the stringy bits.

Anyhoo.. thats all for now. Please let me know what you think. Feedback most welcome

Have a good one,

From the Work Bench: Chaos Warrior Test Model

2010-04-05T09:02:00.001-07:00

Good Morning Everyone,

Just a quick post here to show off my chaos test model. You may remember my less than impressive first foray here

Gotthammer, pointed out that I was using too pastel of a color scheme and I couldn't have agreed more. However, I wasn't coming up with anything better in my head so I put it on the back burner.

Then, I found this article ( BTW if you don't read The Back 40k you really should give it a try, its a fantastic site). Part II in particular really got me thinking about the quality of colors/paints that I used and the foundation that I build them on. So with the gears turning and a successful outing with the color purple on my WarMachine models I came up with this:

I'm as pleased as punch with how it came out and I think a whole army in this color will look pretty swanky. Well what do you think? Questions and comments are always appreciated.

Here is another pic in a different light... for some reason he looks blue here:

Have a Good One,
GV

Photo Dump II

2010-04-03T03:52:00.000-07:00

Another game night, another photo dump!

The Thousand Sons' tricked out ride

The Deamon Prince ready to pounce

Trouble at Smurf Village

The Drop Pod Crush

This is me trying to be all artsy-fartsy

Immortals out... imortal-ing

A crusading they will go..

BEHOLD! The hand of ChAoS!

Thats all I got for now. I am going to get started on Chaos of my own this weekend so hopefully I can have some pictures of that here soon

Have a good one,
GV

Photo Dump!

2010-03-30T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Long time no post I know. Been very busy with life and stuff. HOWEVER, I have managed to take some interesting POV photos of some recent games so I thought I would share

Here we have conclusive proof of the North American Tree Obliterator

The Death Guard coming to save the day!

Fight for the last known deposit of Kool Aid in the galaxy

Deamons, deamons everywhere...

Finally the epic draw that we have come to know and expect from our game nights

Battle Missions: First Impressions

2010-03-16T22:37:00.000-07:00

Good evening everyone,

I got my hands on the last copy of battle missions from the FLGS (YAY) and promptly turned it loose on my gaming group...

I wont go into the specifics, you can find those on the official website, but I will tell you what I think about it. Why not? I have the internet and an opinion! Lets begin...

What I like

- Another excuse to get your toy soldiers out and play with your friends
- Some new fluff and artwork to ogle
- Race specific missions and rules

What I don't Like

- This isn't anything we couldn't have come up with on our own
- Random mission generator for a "themed" mission book
- Some of the missions seem a bit unbalanced

The Bottom Line

If you have the discretionary funds to pick up this book then by all means snap it right up. The same GW feel/flavor is still there as is with all of their products and that, for me, is enough to justify the purchase. However, if you are trying to weigh the options of picking this up or grabbing that new chimera model that they have rolling off of the line here soon, go with the model.

Thats all for now, I will try to have a more in depth review here shortly with some more pics of my WarMachine figs. ALMOST DONE!

Have a good one,
GV

From the Workbench

2010-03-08T00:49:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

Just taking a quick break from painting to show you what I have come up with so far with my latest WarMachine WIPs.

First off we have Warwitch Deneghra:

Man she was a bear to paint. SO SO tiny in comparison to a Games Workshop fig. I will have to show you some comparison shots once I am all done. Also, those that know the model range will probably notice that she is missing some backpack blades. I'm afraid that couldn't be helped. One was missing when she came out of the box and the rest were lost to a war of attrition with my giant banana fingers. I think she came out pretty well all said and done though.

Next up we have a Defiler:
He still needs some touch ups and basing but more or less good to go

Finally we have my Slayer:
Sara Michelle Geller hes not but is coming out pretty cool none the less.

Welp, that's all I have for now. As always, comments and recommendations are always appreciated.

Have a good one
GV

From the Workbench: Techno Chickens

2010-03-02T02:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone

Just wanted to get an update on the blog to keep myself going. My schedule has changed and free time is a very valuable commodity right now. Which would probably explain why I am doing WarMachine instead of my usual 40K fare. I figure I can get a battle box knocked out pretty quickly and taking 5 models to the game store for a Mangled Metal duel instead of 30+ for a 1500 pt game is looking really appealing right now. Anyhoo...

Below you can see some of the Cryx bonejacks I have been working on.

This is the first time that I have tried light sourcing (if you couldn't tell =P ). I think it went pretty well considering. The one on the left was my first attempt and as you can see the right as a much more subtle effect which I am digging. I probably wont get a chance to get to them until this weekend where I will try to knock out War Witch Denny and the acid spewing techno chicken (dont know all the names yet, I just picked up my 2010 deck)

Also, this

A quick HTML tip for my 40k friends

2010-02-18T02:55:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Afraid that I don't have anything in the way of 40K this week. I have just started school for web/program development. Its pretty demanding as far as time is concerned leaving me to look wistfully on my minis in passing.
HOWEVER! I can still contribute to the FTW blogging community by sharing what I learn in class with you.

Today's quick tip will focus on placing links in your site. Do you ever notice that when you use the link tool at the top of the txt editor in Blogger that it opens the link in the same window? It may not be a big deal for some of you but for me I like to make multiple links referring to other sites or pictures. If you constantly have to move back and forth it breaks the flow of the blog. Now, with a simple trick in the "edit html" tab it will open a new window allowing your readers to access the content at their leisure.

Make sure your text box is on the Edit Html tab

Create a link within your blog ( I am going to use GOOGLE )
- Now you can do this one of two ways either do it by hand (which after this example you will know how to) or highlight the word you want to link and click the link button at the top
It should look something like this:

< a href="http://www.google.com">GOOGLE < /a >

In actual HTML there will be no spaces between the <> symbols and the a

after the command line href="http://www.google.com" add target="_blank" ( no spaces between www.google.com" and target)

It will look like this < href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank">

With that one simple addition you can go from this to this

If you have any questions feel free to email me. I really dig playing around with this stuff and any challenges/problems you may come up with will help me troubleshoot.

Have a good one
GV

Valentines Day wishes and a word about Orks

2010-02-15T01:03:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Ok.. on to Orks.

At first glance you would think that Orks are a simple army to play and fundamentally they are. However, after you get behind the wheel of these green behemoths you will find that there is a lot more in the way of bookwork/accounting that you will have to manage.

Now I won't go into a tactica about Orks here. You would be much better off at Dark Future Games "How to Build an Ork Army" by Culler. A six part list that breaks down every thing you need to know about Orks and how to make them go. I am more talking about how they actually play on the battlefield which can be in a word "exhausting"

This all comes on the heels of last Friday's gayme night. Wanting to give my Iggys a rest for a bit I decided to break out the green (or in my case grey) tide. My arm list was something like this

HQ
Warboss
- Power Klaw
- Heavy Armor
- Bosspole
- Twin linked big shoota

Wyerdboy

Troops
Nobs x10
- x2 big choppas
- Painboy
- 'Eavy armor

Boyz (3 groups of 20)
- Nob with Power Klaw and Bosspole

Elite
Burna Boyz x15

Lootas x10
- Mekboyz w/ Mega Blasters x2

Fast Attack
Da Vulcha Skqad x10
- Zagstruk

Now the first thing that you are going to say is "Eric didn't read Culler's list," and you would be right. I didn't read the list before I bought my Orks. What you see here is a list of what I actually have which was bought on a "well this looks cool" principal. I will be slowly correcting this over the next few months.

The tactics are straight forward and to the point.
Step 1) Run up board
Step 2) Place Power Klaw A into opponent B
Step 3) Make profit.

It all looks so easy on paper but when you have to move those 90+ models down the board it can really get drawn out, I don't care how fast you are. Then there is the combat.

Orkish combat is surprisingly more tactical than I thought. You basically have a 1 for 1 squad kill ratio. By the time you get them to where you want them actually IN CC and killed off your target there probably wont be enough of them to carry on in any sort of effective capacity.

If that wasn't enough you then have to take into account at what phase of CC you are in thanks to furious charge. On the charge they act like space marines but if you are unlucky enough to get into a 2nd round of melee with your intended target they deflate to Eldar/IG str models with Necron initiative. This wouldn't be so taxing if it was just one group a'la the Death Company from the Blood Angels but its your ENTIRE army. The problem only compounds itself when you have multiple assaults or even worse when those assaults come on the same unit in different turns. Toss in mob rule for flavor and you have a potential logistics nightmare.

For example ( this happened last week) :

1)Warboss/Nob squad and Boyz Squad A charged a Grey Knights Purgation squad with a Grand Master. The Grand Master has I5 so goes first and kills off my Warboss in one shot with his force weapon ( which is lame BTW ). Nobs and GK go next with an I of 4 and start beating the tar out of each other. Boyz Squad A goes with I3 and then I1 for the Power Klaw. The GKs are beaten down but not dead and they don't run.

2)Next turn Grand Master/GKs go at I5/I4 again, then Nobs at I3 and Boyz Squad A at I2 and I1. By some cruddy luck they route my Nobs (because the don't have enough for Mob Rule) but Boyz Squad A still has enough to remain fearless so they stick around.

3)Turn 3 rolls around and Boyz Squad A is joined by Boyz Squad B. So now you have 2 identical groups with very different stat lines. Grand Master/GKs go at I5/I4 Boyz Squad A at I2 and I1 and Boyz Squad B at I3 and I1. Thankfully it ended there as the Power Klaws were able to finish off the Grand master.

The example above was just initiative. The strength of my Orks were constantly in flux as well as the # of attacks due to the charge and consolidation rules. Needless to say this was a very daunting task to keep track of.

Now don't get me wrong, I love my greenskins. They ooze with personality and if you work it right you can steamroll anything that stands in your way. I only suggest to take the following precautions:

1) Make sure you have enough time to play.
Regardless of how you field your orks its going to take a bit of time to move them around and work out CC. Having a patient opponent is a plus.

2) Bring cheat sheets
After last weeks game I am going to spend the time making some flashcards with my Orks stats on them both before and after the charge. That way I don't have to keep going back to my army list/codex to find all of the rules. A special rules card will help too for those odd ducks like the Shokk Attack Gun and Wyerdboy psyker powers.

3) Bring counters for actions
I need to make a batch of these as well in case I get into another mosh pit in the middle of the board. Considering that I am running with a heavy foot slogging force its inevitable.

Well thats it for today I hope that this helps my fellow greenies in the future. As always questions and comments are always welcome.

Have a good one
GV

From the Work Bench III

2010-02-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

Good morning everyone, I have some new pictures to share

First off I fleshed out my Predator a little more... literally, it has more flesh on it

The sponsons are starting to come along pretty well too, they really help to add a coherent look to the tank

Next up we have a familiar I made for my Chaos Sorcerer out of green stuff.

Here we have my Nurgle Prince with wings that I got from Su-Bak-Na. A figure from the heroscape range.

As you can see here I have a little more work to do. I am either going to try my hand at skin or fall back to pustules when the putty dries

And finally I tried out a paint scheme for my chaos troops but it just isn't doing anything for me. More's the pitty as I was wanting to do a corrupted imperial fists. Oh well back to the drawing board. As always questions and comments are always appreciated.

Have a good one,
GV

Rhino and Predator WiP

2010-02-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I have some pics to show you of my Rhino chassis conversions and my first attempt at playing with Green Stuff.

First up we have my Predator:

The idea behind this tank was to make it look like the people that it has killed have been trapped within the armor. When I paint this up I am going to go for a "fleshy" look for the GS parts. Going to try to throw in some veins for good measure too

I would like to say that this was an original idea but I can't. Somewhere out in the internets there is an amazing chaos fantasy model with a custom banner where tortured souls are trying to escape. If anyone can find it I would really appreciate it. I want to give the artist who I drew this inspiration from the credit they deserve.

Here you can see one of my favorite effects that I got from this build. I was surprised at how well the GS took to me dragging the hand through it.

Next up we have the Nurgle Rhino. I was VERY pleased at how well this turned out.

This effect was just me sticking little balls of GS on the tank, tamping down the edges with a file and then poking holes in it with wire, it couldn't have been simpler.

Here is a good shot of the twin linked bolter pustule

Finally we have the back hatch and a close up of some of the rear pustules.

I gotta say I love working with green stuff. Its like playing with silly putty all over again. In the end I may end up Simple Greening that predator just so I can re do it with the Nurgle theme. Now that I know what I am doing I think I could re dress it up in about a day and I think the Rhino looks heaps better. I'll take the paint to it and see how it turns out first though. That's all I have for now feel free to let me know what you think. Questions and comments are always welcome.

Have a good one,
GV

Tournament Results are IN! ( a word on customer service)

2010-02-09T03:47:00.000-08:00

I went to my first tournament this last weekend and I have to say that I was really impressed with my record. I DIDN’T LOSE ONCE! Yup, you read right, I didn’t lose a darn match. I can owe this all to the fact that I didn’t get to play.

Words couldn’t properly bookend the frustration that I had on Saturday morning. Inquisitor Sterling, Blood Angels Aaron and I all went to the LGS only to be advised that they had already gotten 20 people for the tourney and they didn’t have room. They then went on to say that they normally set up tables outside but seeing as how it was freezing cold and snowy that wasn’t practical. This brings me to the buzz word of my post “Customer Service”

Now, I can understand having a popular event. More people = more income = better store (hopefully), I’m fine with that. But when I come in earlier that week to make sure that there wasn’t anything special that I needed to do and totally re arrange my sleep schedule so that I am able to attend only to be turned away because they didn’t expect that kind of turn out… I get peeved. On top of this, while I was trying to show off my army to the store owner who had given me a few pointers in the past about painting somehow the searchlights on my chimeras got caught on my carrying case and was sheared off at the base. Not a good day for yours truly.

Enter LGS #2. This is where I shall be doing my business from here on out. While a considerably farther away they have access to a major thoroughfare so the drive time is comparable. The stock is better, the store is cleaner, better organized and the shop owner will talk to you for hours about the hobby if he isn’t busy. Also, it turns out that #2 holds tournaments as well I just didn’t know about their scheduling BBS (that’s right, they actually set these suckers up online). While they do tend to run a few dollars more for their product you get what you pay for.

Now that I got that out of my system on the creative front I have just started playing with Green Stuff and man am I having a blast. I am converting some Rhinos over to the dark side and am super pleased with the result. I will try to post some pics when I get home.

Have a good one,
GV

Two days until tournament, a revelation and Warmachine Mark II first impressions

2010-02-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

Two days to go! Man am I excited. I went to the LGS to pick up some paint and I think I saw one of the competing armies. It was a splendidly painted Tallarn IG force. I hope I get to talk to him this weekend to tell him how great his army looked.

As for my list I have been going over and over in my head and I think I have settled on something that I can live with:

1K

HQ

Primaris Psyker ( Tim )

Troops

Vet Squad
x2 Melta
x1 Flamer
- Power Weapon
- Chimera
- Hull heavy flamer
- Pintle mounted stubber
- Extra armor

Vet Squad
x2 Melta
x1 Flamer
- Chimera
- Hull heavy flamer
- Pintle mounted stubber
- Extra armor

Vet Squad
x2 Flamer
x1 Heavy Flamer
- Power Fist
- Demolitions
- Shotguns
- Chimera
- Hull heavy flamer
- Pintle mounted storm bolter
- Extra armor

Heavy

Econo Russ
- Battle cannon
- Hull mounted heavy bolter

Punisher Russ
- Hull Lascannon

As you can see it really hasn’t changed all that drastically... I have dropped the primaris psyker in order to fit in a lascannon on the punisher and to give a couple squads a little more punch when it comes to melee.

If there is one thing that has me a little iffy its the flamer squad. While it looks good in my head I just don’t know how effective its going to be overall. The flamers are nice for ‘Nids and the melta grenades will be helpful for suicide rushes against LRs and other such toughies but the issue will be getting them there. The Chimera is great for getting you where you want to go but not so hot when it comes to assault.

Which brings me to the revelation. I understand how chimeltas with hull heavy flamers work now. I have been a disciple of The Back 40K for quite a little while now and it was after reading posts by SandWyrm that I was introduced to the concept. He runs a heavy mech vet squad as well but the main difference was that he puts 3 meltas in his group where as I take a flamer.

This, unless the tank is popped, is inefficient. On paper the flamer appears to give the group more flexibility allowing it to take on hard and soft targets simultaneously but drawing LOS from the hatch on the back of the Imperial Guard's version of an El Camino is just awkward. Also, you don’t really NEED another flamer because one COMES WITH THE TANK. To maneuver around to get the max potency out of a flamer in the back you have to sacrifice the heavy flamer in the front which just dosent make sense. This was a real facpalm moment for me, let me tell you. I am definately going to have to make a changes once I get past this tourney but thats a post for another time.

Finally, I picked up the Mark II version of the Warmachine rulebook this week and gave it a good skimming. I don’t have any experience with the system so this was all virgin territory to me. The first impression that I got was "steampunk pokemon". They give you a general or "Warcaster" that has control over these steam punk robots called "Warjacks". You can allocate focus points to these metal monsters to allow them to do special attacks, run farther, take out the trash, etc. On top of that you can add support units such as long gunners, battle zealots and other magi to help you enact your favorite Robot Wars fantasy.

All in all it looks like a cool system. The models are well detailed and the rules, while complex, didn’t completely fry my brain when I tried to take them all in. I think the most attractive feature so far is that you can buy one starter set of a faction and you are ready to play their "duel" game type. While I have so many other Warhammer projects on the table right now I can see myself picking up a starter set in the far future. I will probably go with Cryx as they have the most internet memes rolled into one. They are robot, zombie pirates that want to bring about a robot zombie apocalypse in the name of a great dragon..... you cant go wrong with that.

GV

From the Work Bench II

2010-01-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Hey all,
What with the tournament and all coming up I have been feeling a very Iggy vibe as of late. So much so its caused me to table my orks and paint completely irrelevant things. How fun is that?!

First we have a Commissar Lord with power fist

The more I work on "power" weapons the more I like giving them effects. All of the fluff that I read nowadays makes these types of weapons pretty special deals. I think of them as Light Sabers from the Star Wars franchise, each one of them has their own feel unique to their owners. This one is "Magma". A fiery fist for a fiery sermon.

Following up on the fire theme I also tried my hand at some freehand flames

This is going to be for a Hellhound (shock) that I eventually want to knock together. I doubt I will be able to get it all prepped and ready to go by the time of the tourney but I should have it done shortly thereafter. Unfortunately you cant see it too well in the picture but the flames have a pretty nice blending effect going on (Thank you Ron)

All in all I think they both turned out pretty well for a trial run. As always tips, tricks and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

To war! TO WAR!

2010-01-21T23:47:00.000-08:00

"..Ninety-nine decisions treat
Ninety-nine ministers meet
To worry, worry, super scurry
Call out the troops now in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it, boys, this is war
The President is on the line
As ninety-nine red balloons go by.."

Goldfinger - 99 Red Balloons

The time has come! A tournament has rolled around to a date that I can actually attend. The fighting 415th is mobilizing for war. If you couldn't tell I am very excited about this prospect. The FLGS down the way is hosting a 1K pt. tourney. I have no illusions that I will come out on top. On the contrary, I am confident that I am going to be ground beneath the heels ( or chitinous foot-bits as the case may be ) of the local talent. However, I will give them a fight they won't soon forget. This is what I am planning to bring:

1K

HQ

Primaris Psyker x 2 ( Tim and Tom )

Troops

Vet Squad
x2 Melta
x1 Flamer
- Chimera
- Hull heavy flamer
- Pintle mounted stubber
- Extra armor

Vet Squad
x2 Melta
x1 Flamer
- Chimera
- Hull heavy flamer
- Pintle mounted stubber
- Extra armor

Vet Squad
x2 Flamer
x1 Heavy Flamer
- Shotguns
- Chimera
- Hull heavy flamer
- Pintle mounted storm bolter
- Extra armor

Heavy

Econo Russ
- Battle cannon
- Hull mounted heavy bolter

Punisher Russ
- Hull heavy flamer

I played against a raider heavy DE force today at the same value and fared pretty well ( AN EPIC TIE!). My only concern is that I wont have enough anti tank available for more mechanized forces. I am pretty sure if someone brings light armor I will have them by handles though.

At the very least I will have a good time. It looks like a lot of people from my gaming group are going to attend as well so if I do get stomped I will be among friends. We will be gearing up over the next few weeks to see if we can sharpen our game.

On the home front it turns out that I have another fight on my hands. My house is right in front of the Home Owners Association (HoA) pool. As such I am allowed to have guests park in the parking lot as long as they have a piece of paper with my house # on it displayed in their window. Apparently this really upsets a irascible old man that lives in my neighborhood. Lantz has been yelled at twice now for parking in a perfectly legal spot. Sterling ( who doesn't have a blog that I can link to at the moment) has even had the cops called on him! I was patient at first hoping that after the HoA yelled at him he would go away but I guess its time to be a little more persistent..... a strongly worded letter! ( What can I do? He's an old man.) Don't make me angry... you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

Anyhoo, wish me luck on both fronts!

Until next time...

Food for thought... is it worth the time?

2010-01-19T02:47:00.000-08:00

Look at this

Beautiful isn't it? I told him as much and am now a devout follower of this site. It also got me thinking about how I am wanting to customize my own models.

At first glance I thought "Man that thing is big, it looks longer than the LRs that I have seen." Then I started thinking "Man that thing is big, I bet he could get an extra 1 or 2" on his assault envelope with that thing."

Now I know that wasn't the artist's intention. They saw a cool tank, they built a cool tank, done and done. However, I wonder if they catch any flak from opponents by bringing something that isn't "regulation". This also makes me wonder if, with my models, it will cause any tension when I go out and about.

With Orks its a little different, they are supposed to be bodged together with string and hope but now that there are updated, standardized versions of trukks and wagons from GW on the market should I even bother? YES I have the right to express myself and YES its only a game and I play in a basement league with friends but I want to expand my horizons eventually. I would like to have a 1.5K army for all 3 of my factions ( IG, Ork and Chaos) that I can pick up and play anywhere I get the itch too.

I guess it all comes down to weather I want to invest the time. Yeah most people won't care as long as it isn't something SUPER outrageous but all it takes is one guy to raise a ruckus to throw everyone's day down the chute. I just don't know if I have the time/money/resources to make 2 of every model just to satisfy my vanity. Food for thought...

A killa ...... Kup?

2010-01-16T05:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

I had a really bad day at work a week ago so I thought I would take out my frustration with a new project.

Can you guess what it is?

How about now?

Does this help?

WRAWR!

Its far from done but has been a blast to make. It still needs chainsaw hands, skorchas and ALOT of cleanup but I think he will turn out to be a "Roit' proppa' Dread'." Now I am off to sort ork bits.

From the Workbench

2010-01-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

Just got done building some Chaos Space Marines and I thought I would show you some photos:

The Gang

My Nurgle Icon Marine

My Tzeentch Icon Marine

Now if you look in the group photo above I don't HAVE a Tzeentch Icon Marine. How can this be? Magnets of course

This marine has magnets on the end of the staff, neck and left shoulder so now I can support all four gods and the glories of Chaos. It was pretty easy to do, I just used a 1/16" drill bit and some 1/16" x 1/32" thick cylinder rare earth magnet. I got the idea from Lantz's conversion of his Dire Avenger Exarch over at The Magnet Pro.

Now for my best Jeff Dunham impression:

I have a talking Nurgle Head.... on a steeek

More things you probably know about already...

2010-01-12T23:13:00.001-08:00

I just found out about this great site from Dark Future Games. I may never try to build terrain again http://armorcast.com/store/index.php

You never know what you'll find...

2010-01-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

... if you just look around.
Found a new blog out there that I am really excited about: Kitbashed 40K by Alan. I am a big fan of putting stuff together out of bits and bobs you find about your house and what you have on your work table. ALSO they have a link http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Imperium_-_Limited_Release that brought to my attention that the 4 grenade gals that I got with my first ever IG lot were collectors items! DOUBLE WORD SCORE!

Project "Thunder-horse": a tutorial

2010-01-03T23:52:00.001-08:00

A fellow brother in arms by the name of Vern asked Lantz the other day:

What size magnet do you suggest I use for the sponsons and turret options on a demolisher? I don't want to buy something too big where I cant use them.

While Lantz is the magnet king around our gaming group he doesn't have all that much experience with IG stuff so he turned it over to me. I have recently knocked together the new IG "Heavy Russ" with the Punisher, Demolisher and Exterminator cannons and have come up with something I like to call Project "Thunder-horse"

Here she is now:

While still a work in progress all of the magnetizing has been completed. I can add/remove sponsons at will, change out each gun in each slot, change out the main gun and add/remove the track guards

What you will need:
3/16" x 1/32" thick cylinder rare earth magnets
1/16" x 1/32" thick cylinder rare earth magnets
A flat bladed file
A 1/16" drill bit
A Dremmel and/or drill
The sprue for the tank and a blade/knife/Dremmel attachment to cut it with
Super glue
A sharpie or magic marker

All of the steps that I will show you were done during the construction of the tank. While the examples are of the finished project I did not have a camera at the time to record my steps.

--Sponsons--
I cut a small section of sprue and glued a 3/16" x 1/32" thick cylinder rare earth magnet to the flat edge, I then stood the cut sprue inside the sponson and glued like so:

Let me save you some heartache and show you the trick to it now. Take the flat bladed file and use that to hold the magnet in place. This is a two fold step as it will make sure that your magnet/sprue combo wont move while the glue dries AND it will ensure that your magnet is flush with the side of the tank (see below)

*PLEASE NOTE* If I had this to do all over again I would have used a much shorter bit of sprue. While the longer sprue does center the magnet more in the middle of the tank there is no real advantage. I suggest making a cut that just barely extends beyond your magnet for added stability.

After the glue dries simply take the outer wall of your track housing ( see figure 1 of your manual) and fit the sponson on the raised grooves. Once in position take the magnet that will be this sponson's mate and place it on the inside of the outer wall of the tank. The magnets will attract and will tell you where you need to put the glue. Simply apply the glue to the general area and repeat this step. Now you have a magnet on the inside of the tank and the one glued into the sponson itself. Repeat for the other sponson and you are now ready to assemble the track housing.

--Tread Guard--
After you built the track housing but before you add the actual tank treads you can set up your track guards. For the top guard simply count the treads out to find the center and place your 3/16" x 1/32" magnet on the inside of the track like so:

Then take your track guard and glue it in the middle on the underside (please excuse the primer):

The front and back track guards are a little more tricky as you will not want the interior magnet to be in the exact middle of the tread. I suggest gluing your magnet to the tread guard first then using that to get the exact position of the magnet that you will use on the inside. When complete you will have something akin to this:

*PLEASE NOTE* The next two steps I would almost consider optional. After you prime and then paint the guns that fit in the optional slots you may have enough friction there to hold the guns in place without magnets. However, if you are an OCD nut such as myself, read on. Also, this is where things start to get a little tricky/dangerous as they involve power tools. If I have any young readers viewing this please make sure that you have adult supervision and take the necessary safety precautions.

--The Turret--
First take your drill/Dremmel and attach your 1/16" drill bit. Bore out a small hole in the indention of your barrel hinge ( Fig. 12 in the instruction manual ) like so:

You can then glue the much smaller 1/16" x 1/32" magnet into place.

Next we will want to attach the magnet to the individual gun barrels. Each barrel has a different mold cast to it but the basic premise is the same :

As you can see the Punisher cannon (1) already has an indention large enough to place the 3/16" x 1/32" magnet with room to spare while the Executioner (2) and Demolisher (3) will require you to drill small holes as shown. Simply glue the magnets in place and allow to dry.

*PLEASE NOTE* While the instructions state that you shouldn't glue the barrel hinge to the turret to allow you to aim I did glue mine in place. I have never needed to move my gun barrel up or down to make sure I could hit something. I also find that gluing your barrel hinge in a middle "neutral" position will add stability to the cannon that you have inserted (and thus making the magnetizing of the turret optional )

Now, if you are feeling exceptionally crafty, you can magnetize the ammo hopper/plasma vent on the back of your turret. If you flip over the upper half of your turret ( see figure 13 of your "closed hatch assembly" of your instruction manual) you will have just enough room for two 3/16" x 1/32" magnets to fit inside. You can then glue magnets on the underside of the hopper/plasma vent like so:

--The Sponson gun slot/hull mount--
Ok, we are almost done. This was the most difficult part of the build for me but I have a trick that should save you some of the heartache that I experienced.

Going back to our example on the sponson you will notice that there is a 1/16" x 1/32" magnet in the gun housing :

You will want to take your drill/Dremmel and drill all the way through the barrel that your gun slots into trying to keep as close to the center as possible. Then glue your 1/16" x 1/32" magnet into the hole you have just created, you should find that it is a perfect fit.

Now drill a small hole in the "tab" that slots into the barrel of your sponson/hull mount like so:

BE VERY CAREFUL ON THIS STEP as you could possibly damage the tab that slots into the barrel.

Simply glue your 1/16" x 1/32" magnet in place and allow to dry

-- The tiny magnet sponson trick --
While this will probably come off to you as a no-brainer but it was something that I found myself doing because I was too "in the zone" to realize that I was doing it:

DO NOT TEST THE POLARITY OF YOUR MAGNETS IN THE DEEP SIDE OF THE SPONSON

All you have to do is:
1)Flip your sponson over
2)Place your magnet on the "shallow" side of the sponson
3)Mark the exposed side of your magnet with your sharpie/magic marker
4)Glue your magnet into the gun tab so that the sharpie is the side that is going to go into the sponson

I was dropping my tiny magnets into the barrel of the sponson, using a slightly larger magnet to fish out the magnet I had just thrown in there and then marking what side needed to be facing out. It was a totally bone head move on my part and I was really lucky that I didn't get my polarity reversed.

--Final Thoughts--
BEWARE THE POLARITY - please make sure that your magnets are facing the right direction before you glue them in place. Take it from me that digging magnets out of your toy soldiers is a pain in the rump.

BEWARE THE POWER TOOLS - just do it, don't ask questions on this one.

TAKE YOUR TIME - a lot of this is pretty delicate work but if I can do it so can you. Just take your time and make sure that you measure twice and cut once.

There you have it. My complete guide to magnetizing your "Heavy Russ". Its a really fun project and gives you quite the sense of accomplishment after its done. On top of that you have a tank that you can custom build for any situation. Please let me know what you think and if I can improve this tutorial in any way. Questions and comments are always appreciated.

Once more.... WITH PICTURES! ( VERY pic heavy)

2010-01-03T22:19:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! I got a camera! Now I can show you some of what I am actually doing around here. I was really impressed at how well the pictures turned out. Albeit some of them are still a bit fuzzy but I assure you that is the fault of the operator not the equipment.

The new carrying case:

The new army:

Tom the Psyker:

Tim the Almost Sanctioned Psyker:

Next I want to show you some of the highlights of what I have been working on:

These two are models in the force shown above that I thought really turned out well.

The one on the left is part of my "assault" squad and is carrying a combat shotgun and a demo pack. The guy on the right .... wasn't really supposed to come out so "Gomer Pyleish" but has become one of my most favorite models. There is a great picture of a Catachan soldier in the IG codex that is holding a grenade launcher in one hand that I just had to try. However, when I did it, he was either shooting you in the foot or in the face. I figured the face was the more effective of the two poses and then I modeled him telling you about it.

Here is another shot of the assault vet with a better angle on the demo pack and shotgun.

The shotgun is just a standard lasgun with the aiming gubbins and the barrell shaved off. The demo charge is a trimmed down Cadian flamer fuel tank with a vox caster glued to the facing. I found it to be a simple yet effective conversion.

Finally, I want to show you a few of the models that I have finished but haven't made it into the army yet.

My grizzled commander w/power sword and sniper Dave
I was really pleased with how well these two came out as far as detail is concerned. Not sure how often they will see the battlefield considering that A) I want to be a mobile force and B) a power weapon on an Iggy is as useful as a screen-door on a submarine

My Astropath and Master of Ordinance

These two are my favorite GW sculpts to date. The Astropath is such a simple model but has some great opportunities for fabric detail and the Master has so many bits and buttons to him you cant help but want to go through and pick them out.

Well there you have it. I plan to be a lot more detailed in my posting from here on out. Let me know what you think. Comments and criticisms are always welcome.

Dreading the Dread

2009-12-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

The other day I found this

All the net is a-twitter about these new images from GW for their 2010 line-up. Speculation is that its the new Ork Dread. The URL for the picture stated as much when they were first released. Now, I am going to start up on my own Waaaaagh here soon and this new pic got me thinking... do the orks really need a new Dread design? Personally, I think not.

Way back in the way back when I picked up Warhammer 40K I chose Orks as my first army ( I miss them so :( ) because they were sloppy. I came into the hobby with no experience and I wanted a scapegoat just in case my first forays were less than desirable. However, after I got further into the Ork culture I found that it wasn't just an artistic choice... its a lifestyle.

Check this out
Now look at this

Which seems more orky to you? Yeah they both look orky but to me the tater titan seems built by orks while the stompa seems to be made to look like it was built by orks.

Going back to my own personal experience, after I built my first few models I realized that I wouldn't have near enough boyz to make a "'roit proppa Waaagh" so I went out and bought Gorkamorka. Within these pages the GW staff had created a plethora of custom buggies. Not a single one was the same. Hell, they didn't even look like the trukks that came in the boxed set. It was then and there that I realized that if you wanted to make orks look orky you have to do it yourself.

Now I will admit that I bought some of the new trukks and a battle wagon. It was a moment of weakness, I wanted to get my army up and running as soon as possible ( Assault on Black Reach anyone?). They look cool, I will give them that, but they just don't feel orky to me. As soon as I can, I am going to whip up some plasticard trukks and I already have a junked up Land Raider that I am going to make into a wagon.

My suggestion, if GW were to ever read this, would be that they give us a frame, some pre cut plasticard squares and a bag of odds and ends. Let us build our own stuff so we can get more of this and less of this

Done done doooooooone!

2009-12-27T23:40:00.000-08:00

GLORIOUS DAY! I AM DONE!

After about a years worth of on an off work, starting over and making crap up as I go I am finally done! Bask in the glory of the poor quality picture with me!

Ahhh, quite a stirring site is it not? Its really nice to be able to look at a completed army and think to oneself "I don't have to paint that crap anymore." Don't get me wrong, I loved every bit of it but I am so very glad to be finished.

I would elaborate further but... I don't wanna :D. I have been running on about 3 hours of sleep a night over the Christmas weekend and I just don't have it in me. I WILL say that I made out like a bandit with combined gifts from Chaos Tad, my wife and both sets of parents ( in law and blood ). I am now sitting on 1.5K worth of Chaos Space Marines.

Anyhoo, that's all I got for now. In the coming weeks I am going to go get myself a carrying case for these fellas and one of them there cameras with an OPTICAL zoom. Once I have that taken care of I can really show you what I have done ( unless I steal Lantz's camera phone again )

HERE'S WISHING YOU A HAPPY HOLIDAY AND A SAFE NEW YEAR!

Merry Chaosmas!

2009-12-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone!

It looks like I have finally completed my backslide into heresy. I have been thinking about doing a 3rd and final army of Chaos Space Marines so I can stop getting my can kicked around by 3+ armor save armies. Apparently the ruinous powers overheard me talking about it because Chaos has started to infiltrate my collection.

First, there was the Sorcerer on my birthday ( THANKS BLOOD ANGELS AARON! ):

Today, I got this guy ( THANKS CHAOS TAD! ):

... and for Christmas I am pretty sure I am getting this from my wife and parents.

Needless to say SUPER excited about getting my own traitor legion started. However, I have to temper my enthusiasm as this is intended to be "IT". I want to put all of my accumulated knowledge and experience from the Guard and the Orks into this army. I want to be able to stand back from these guys and say ... "Wow, this is something I can really be proud of," not only as an army but as actual "art".

I am all ready to go when it comes to the look/fluff of this army. They are going to be a band of Imperial Fists that were seduced by Nurgle and keep a similar color scheme with the exception of swapping the red for black. I would also like to use a variant of the Imp. Fist's symbol as well

I plan to find a basic symbol, photo shop it in front of the chaos star, make it look like the fist is throwing the horns and put it on a banner

Of course I have a list in my head for them as well, it goes a little something like this:

Hand of Corruption (1500 pts)

Deamon Prince
- Wings
- Mark of Nurgle
- Sorcerer
- Nurgle's Rot

Chaos Sorcerer
- Mark of Nurgle
- Power Weapon and Bolt Pistol
- Familiar
- Palanquin of Nurgle
- Doom bolt
- Nurgle's Rot

Plague Marine x 6

Chaos Space Marine x 10
- Aspiring Champion
- Power weapon/Bolt pistol
- Melta
- Flamer
- Icon of Nurgle
- Rhino
- Possessed

Chaos Space Marine x 10
- Aspiring Champion
- Power weapon/Bolt pistol
- Melta
- Flamer
- Icon of Nurgle
- Rhino
- Possessed

Terminators x 5
- Twin lightning claws x4
- Reaper Auto Cannon and Power Fist

Obliterator

Obliterator

I think this should be a decent all comers list and at the very least some fluffy fun. I was especially happy to be able to shoehorn the "magic 7" into the plague marines ( the sorcerer will be the "leader" and 7th member). As always comments and criticisms are always appreciated so let me know what you think!

To the RESCUE!

2009-12-23T05:14:00.000-08:00

I just had to share this with you guys. Found it on DakkaDakka by a fantastic artist by the name of Kid_Kyoto. If you want to see the original link click here

AAAAND back

2009-11-30T21:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lapse of posts there everyone. Had something come up that I was turning into a much bigger deal than it really was. I have since then gotten my head out of my rear and am back up and running again! I haven't been idle either, I have plenty of new things to show you... and will as soon as I get out of Detroit :/

That'll learn me...

2009-11-24T00:31:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a weekend
Had a schedule change and as such was able to play an extra night o' Hammer with my friend Sterling. Sterling as of late has been playing imp guard/deamon hunters so something I am familiar with. This time, however, he decided to bring full on Grey Knights. I learned the hard way that this was a VERY different army.

His list (from what I can remember)

1 Squad of Grey Knights w/flamers in a LR ( Heavy Support)
- I believe this is called a Purgation squad
1 Group of Grey Knights on foot w/brother captain in artificer armor
1 Grand Master in terminator armor & psycannon
3 Grey knight terminators
1 Dreadnought w/psycannon and CCW
1 Dreadnought w/TL lascannon and missile launcher

My list

2 Leeman Russes w/heavy bolter sponsons, lascannons, extra armor and dozer blades
1 Leeman Russ Squad
- 1 Punisher with lascannon and heavy flamer sponsons
- 1 Standard Leeman Russ with hull heavy bolter
2 Groups of vets with 2 meltas and 1 flamer a piece in chimeras with pintle stubbers and extra armor
2 Primaris Psykers that rode with aforementioned Vets
1 Group of Vets with Demolitions, shotguns, 2 flamers and 1 heavy flamer in a chimera with a pintle storm bolter and extra armor

We played a 3 games: 2 annihilation and 1 capture and control. I lost 2 and tied one :/. As I am still trying to decide how I want to do batreps on this site I will give you some highlights of each game:

Game 1 - Annihilation (lost):
- Killed the Terminators down to the Brother Captain turn 1 and finished him off turn 3 as he was trying to hide behind a bunker
- Successfully melta'd a Dreadnought hiding in cover on the other end of the board
- Totally underestimated the assault envelope of a Land Raider (20 INCHES!!!!!!!) and got to watch it rip my tank squad apart
- Last turn a Dreadnought routed one of my vet squads w/psyker giving him 2 victory points and the win

Game 2 - Capture and Control (tie):
- Immobilized the LR on the first turn of shooting! Right... in front... of his objective :/
- Decimated the squad inside said LR down to one man
- Did not play aggressive enough and left a unit in reserve so I could not get to the cap point in time

Game 3 - Annihilation (lost):
- WON the steal initiative roll
- Poured 3 turns of Russ fire ( ALL OF THEM ) into the terminator squad and could not kill them
- Totally underestimated the assault envelope of a Land Raider AGAIN and got to watch it rip my flamer vet chimera apart
- Finally got tank shock to work and was able to save said flamer vet squad from complete destruction
- Last turn a Dreadnought routed one of my vet squads w/psyker giving him 2 victory points and the win.... AGAIN!

As you can see there needs to be some finger wagging in my general direction. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I just couldn’t get over how far a LR could move disembark troops out of the front 2 inches and then charge. That coupled with multiple str 6 hits tore me to ribbons. Believe you me, I will not be making that mistake again if I can help it. Also, I need to keep in mind that while my Psykers hang out with my Vets they are NOT PART of the vet squad. Throwing them into hand to hand combat was just adding a free point.

It wasn’t a total loss though. I had a lot of fun and I learned how my army plays by itself. Normally we run team games due to the # of people we have over at any given time. You can really build a good relationship with your fellow players that way but you don’t get a good feel for what you can do as an individual. Now that I have tasted defeat I can start analyzing where I went wrong and make changes to bolster that aspect of my game.

Truffle me baby!

2009-11-17T05:44:00.000-08:00

Don't you love it when a plan comes together? How about something that you planned that comes out in a completely different and actually better way than when you planned it? Thats what happened to me today! Also I think I may have found an alternative to the camera problem.

When I first started painting I knew what paint was, lets leave it at that. I primed up one of the Russ models that I had cobbled together and went to town. It was OK for me at the time but now that I have a few models under my belt I think I can do way better.

Anyway, I am working on getting a punisher up and running and thought I would try to get "Alpha Russ" to look at least in the same ballpark as the rest of the army. So I got out my Dark Angels Green and found to my dismay that I was almost out. Looking at the model in its flat Catachan green glory I thought I would try to do a "dry brush" with a watered down version. Yeah, now that I say it out loud a watered down dry brush sounds pretty dumb. HOWEVER, it worked really well! I would load my brush, take 1 or 2 passes at a paper towel, then run it lightly over the model. While it didn't get the highlighted look I was looking for it mixed really well with the base coat and came out almost exactly like my other tanks.

Check it out:

The one on the left is the first Russ. The one on the right is of my "new style". While I know that the picture isn't the best in the world it shows a lot of promise. I think I can actually see a little detail! Much better than my old digital camera could do. Amazing what you can do with a netbook webcam no?

So there you have it. I blundered onto not one but TWO things today. I think that puts me in the running for the "Blind Pig and Truffles" (BPaT) award this month don't you?

Chaos Cookies

2009-11-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

Hello all!
The polls are in and ..... one... person ... voted. I guess that teaches me that I should build a stronger viewer base before I go asking for public opinion ;) . The thing is that I know for a fact that the one person who voted is none other than my good friend and gaming group buddy Chaos Tad ( CT from here on out )

CT runs runs a chaos undivided army with a lean towards Tzeentch. He has just come over to the world of 40K and while is still a little short on models to really field what he wants he is making a marked improvement every time that we play.

I have just realized its been a while since I have posted. Quite a bit has happened but I still don't have much of a camera so I am afraid no pics of a decent quality. I am about 2 tanks away from getting my 1500 pt army completely finished. I have the base coat down on my Punisher and am touching up the paint on a Russ that I did a loooooong time ago. Everything else has been quickshaded and Tim has been touched up to actually match my army.

We got together and had a game today too which was good. I am still working on how I want to do my Bat - Reps ( a separate blog on that later ) but here are some highlights:

1) Made a new friend and gaming buddy by the name of Keith
- Keith is going to be our 'Nid player and has a handful of SMs that he ran with today
- He is also very good at making 6+ cover saves
2) We ran a seize ground mission with 5 whole points!
- We usually only see 3... being dead serious. We have been playing for over a year now
3) I am still getting used to the truncated range of the "Heavy" russ
- Just not used to that 24" that you get with the Punisher and Demolisher
4) I am never going to underestimate vets with krak grenades again
5) CT got a new rhino!
- It got blown up first turn!
- Valkyries are very fast :(

And there you have it. Thats about as comprehensive as you are going to get with 3 hours of sleep. I will have more posts to follow in regards to this new heavy russ and a little something on mathhammer

Chaos Poll Dance

2009-11-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,
I, like most of you out there, have multiple armies. I currently have 2, Ork and Iggys, and am thinking of doing one more. I have a couple of reasons behind this:

1) I am getting a little tired of horde armies
2) I have heard wonderful things about armor saves and am dying to try some
3) I want an army that I can really focus on all that I have learned painting wise from these hordes

Therefore, I have decided to go down the path of Chaos for a couple of reasons:

1) I think the visual styling on this army is just fantastic
2) Plenty of chances for customization / greenstuff work with mutations
3) You cant throw a rock in my gaming group without hitting a space marine

While this is going to be a LONG way away ( I only have one Ork painted ) I want to get the planning done and out of the way so I can hit the ground running. The other day I was reading through my friend Tad's ( a CSM player) codex and was surprised to find out that CSM on the whole worship the Chaos gods equally. I thought you had to pick a god and run with it. This changed things for me quite a bit because originally I was going to run a Nurgle only army.

I like the idea of very tough troops and FNP. However, this would be really expensive to put together. The Plague Marine troops from GW are metal and cost the same as the standard plastic CSMs and you only get 7 with 1 plasma gun. Now I could just get the standard CSM and order the Death Guard resin conversions from Forge World but that would raise the cost exponentially. To get the army that I would want to feild would cost over 400 dollars. Which I understand is part of the hobby but I could spend about 100 dollars less, get the strike force and battle force boxed sets and get so much more in the way of troops and vehicles.

So I am in a pickle. Which army to choose? Should I go with a deity or play vanilla with chunks of deity mixed in? I like the fluff for all of them really so I am not partial ( sorry Grampy Nurgle) .

This is where you come in. You will see on the right that I have swapped out the painting table and added a poll. Please let me know which army you personally run with ( if you have one ) or which ones you had the most fun playing against. This army is going to be created purely for the fun of building, painting and playing so you dont have to factor in the most "Killer Combo". Also, don't feel that you are restricted to that poll. Let me have it! Lets get a good conversation started on this post and hash it out once and for all.

Thank you in advance for your input

How 40K killed video games for me

2009-11-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

I think I am finally over video games. I was quite the addict in my younger years. I used to play all the time. Every bit of information, every kernel of rumor, every trailer, article and website I was there.

However, a co-worker asked me what new game I am most looking forward too this Christmas and I couldn't honestly answer. The 360 Space Marine game looks cool and I play the odd game of a Dawn of War and Dawn of War II but I just cant get excited like I used to. Now its all 40k. I check FTW and BoLS daily ( if not hourly) and my co workers and I talk about army lists, character builds and battle reports constantly.

I think the thing that did it for me was the actual models. I LOVE to paint, mod and build and it always gives me a sense of accomplishment regardless of what I've done. You just cant get that in a video game. Yeah, you can beat a game but what do you have to show for it? Its all ephemeral, a one shot of gratification that you can't replicate. You could go back over the game and try to get all of the achievements but still, at the end of the day, you are left with a beaten game. One could argue thats the same feeling you get when painting a model but at the end of the day you have... well... a model. Painted and ready to go "pewpewpew!" at a friends model. Its all beer and skittles from there on out.

Its that staying power that I have been missing from the modern video game. It all looks like the same thing to me anymore. Its like the yearly sports game: just the same thing with new characters, a few bits and bobs and a new paint job. Underneath it all its still just a FPS, RPG or sandbox game. Wash rinse repeat.

Finally, there is the chance to meet all of you. Joining something this widespread was quite the experience. Everyone that I have talked to so far has been the bees knees and have yet to come across a really negative comment/person. Now I may have just been lucky so far and there is some forum troll out there waiting to pee in my Cheerios® but until then heres to you 40K gaming community! May your dice never go round!

Practical AND Waterproof!

2009-10-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
Just popping in to say hi and to give you a real quick tip that has helped me out ALOT when it came to hosting games. I don't know about you all but I find that when you first start your gaming career terrain can be one of the most difficult aspects of the hobby. I realize I am probably stressing over something that can easily be represented by egg crates and Pringles cans but, I admit it, I get board envy. All of those great looking pics of epic battlefields made my first attempts with unpainted ice cube trays seep rather paltry.

SOOOOOooooo whats a newbie table top gamer to do? GO TO THE PET STORE! Dont follow? Here I will show you ( Click the words for Links):

Natural cave WITH easy to hide in foliage

Really tall rock ( great for hiding valks behind)

Busted up columns

Natural Rock Formation

These are just a few examples of what I have on my gaming table right now. The great thing is that everything comes painted and to scale. You can pick up quite a chunk of terrain for under 15 bucks too. Even more if you sign up for a preferred shopper card! The only thing that you have to do is come up with a good lie to tell all the little kids that ask you about your pet fish.

Some call me.... Tim

2009-10-30T04:19:00.000-07:00

Ron over at FTW asked us bloggers to choose our "Must have units" the one unit you always find a way to squeeze into your army, regardless of how well it does or how points effective it may or may not be.

Well, for me, thats easy: Tim the Somewhat Sanctioned Psyker! As posted earlier Tim was one of the first models that I actually felt I could show to other people. I think I was originally drawn to him game-play wise because in 4th ed you had no control over what power he had which matched my play style perfectly as I had no idea what the hell I was doing.

Now I use him ( and his younger brother Tom) for a portable multilaser battery. Hide him in the back of a Chimera and tack on at least 2 more STR 6 shots. He can also be used as a poor mans smoke launcher and isnt too bad in hand to hand ( for iggys) in a pinch.

Speaking for the actual Mini I don't believe that he was an actual Citadel cast. I cant tell you for certain because I didn't buy him. He was given to me in one big lot 'o Iggys in return for me playing Warhammer ( more on that later) . Unfortunately I don't have any decent pictures of him and he needs a new coat of paint on him now that I am more confident with a brush. Its too bad too because its Tim's look that makes him "Somewhat Sanctioned". Tim's force weapon has a giant eye wreathed in skulls. I really don't think he'd pass inspection if a Commissar got a good look at him but I let it slide due to his loyal service to the god emperor.

So there you have it. My must have is TtSSP! Whats your favorite?

Fluff Fighter Round 2

2009-10-29T22:49:00.001-07:00

I am a fluff fanatic. I love the rich back story that GW provides and sometimes it gets me into trouble on the tabletop because I like to put the story before the stats. As an Iggy player I feel that I am fortunate enough to have one of the richest stories in the universe. You can't beat the heroism and bravery of plain 'ol humans going up against an HR Giger nightmare and coming out heroes. However, there are some aspects in the story that just gnaw at me when I read through the codex. Imagine this conversation if you will....

Soldier 1: 500 count ration containers
Soldier 2: Check
Soldier 1: 1000 count Lasgun clip containers
Soldier 2: Check
Soldier 1: 50 tonnes hay
Soldier 2: Che.... wait, what?
Soldier 1: Yeah, for the horses
Soldier 2: Horses?
Soldier 1: Mounted Cavalry, 250th company
Soldier 2: We are taking horses... into space?
Soldier 3: MAKE WAY FOR THE OGRES! OGRES COMING THROUGH!

Now I know that they call them "Ogryns" but you get the idea. In my opinion this stuff just doesn't seem to fit. Horses? Ogres?.... Hobbits? I mean, come on, we have tanks that can spew the 4th state of matter on command and you expect me to ride to battle on a horse? Not to mention the sheer logistics of dragging a bunch of horses through space.

Also, what's up with the Ogres and battle Hobbits? Isnt one of the main tenants of the Imperium:
"Burn the heretic. Kill the mutant. Purge the unclean."
It should read more like this:
"Burn the heretic. Kill the mutant. Purge the unclean.... Unless they are really, really helpful then we should totally recruit them."

I don't know about you but I would file a planet full of giant, brutish ab humans under M for Mutant.

Now I can understand why GW may put these characters in to justify game-play balance but why not just make specialized human troops? Are there no ninjas in the 41st millennium? No stealthy, well trained snipers that we can rely on? Have we no other alternative to a fast reacting close combat unit other than a guy on a horse with a bomb on a stick? They don't seem to have any issues with specialization in other armies. Just look at the Eldar for crying out loud, they have an Exarch for everything from tank busting to dog walking.

I would be fine with it if they wanted to make the Imperial Guard a "Lighter" army with funsy units such as sniper hobbits, ogre commandos and the My Pretty Pony Patrol but if you go that route I believe you should either embrace it or leave it. To go halvsies on a concept like that just comes off feeling flat and cobbled together (Squats, where did you go?).

Those are my two cents, what do you think?

To post or not to post....

2009-10-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

That is the question.....

The sad thing is that nothing remarkable has happened in the recent weeks. I did some painting but didn't get anything done that I could really put a post up for. Played some games and took footage for the first bat-rep but found out that I sound like a jabbering dink on video am not putting it out until I do some MAJOR editing. I could try to do a standard battle report but without pictures/diagrams most of the information would be irrelevant.

I did get to spend some quality time with a "heavy" version of the Russ with the Punisher Variant..... man I love that gun. If nothing else its just an excuse to roll 20 dice and then say "Ok thats done, now let me shoot with my other guns,". Word to the wise though, be sure to add some anti tank weapons to your chassis otherwise you are going to be a sitting duck.

Oh, I also made a slight miscalculation. I thought I was almost done with my first ever 1500 painted army but it turns out I am far from that goal. I recently stopped using my command squad in favor of Primaris Psykers which dramatically reduced the point cost :/ Sooooo now I have to come up with a way to make up the cost. I think I am going to stick with the old Latin phrase "Ut in nuto adaugeo magis lacus" Which, according to the translator I found on-line means "When in doubt add more tanks" It looks a little something like this:

HQ:

Primaris Psyker

Troop:

Vet Squad
- Demolitions
- Shotguns
- 2x Flamer
- 1 Heavy Flamer
- Power fist
- Chimera
- Hull Flamer
- Extra Armor
- Pintle Mounted Storm Bolter

Platoon
Plat. Command
- Power Weapon
- 2 x Melta
- 1 x Plasma Gun
- 1x Medic

Squad 1
- Melta
- Chimera
- Hull Flamer
- Extra Armor
- Pintle Mounted Stubber

Squad 2
- Melta
- Chimera
- Hull Flamer
- Extra Armor
- Pintle Mounted Stubber

Heavy:

Leeman Russ
- Battle Cannon
- Hull Mounted Heavy Bolter

Leeman Russ Squadron ( 2 tanks )
- Battle Cannon
- Hull Mounted Lascannon
- Sponson Heavy Bolter
- Dozer Blade
- Extra Armor

Punisher
- Punisher Gatling Cannon
- Hull Mounted Heavy Flamer
- Sponson Multi-Meltas

1500 pts ( If i remember correctly )

Not much subtlety here but I think theres enough to get the job done. The Psyker will hitch a lift with the Vets and as long as I don't have to deal with Runes of Warding every game I should be able to add a few more "Multi Laser" shots out of the back hatch. Everything else is pretty self explanatory. The troops will do what troops do, the tanks do what they do and that tiiiiny little command squad will hide on points and try not to be shot. As always questions and comments are always welcome and greatly appreciated.

Two for Two

2009-10-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

Gah! They had me working again! No real time to post but here is the 500 Pt army I was telling you about:

Big Mek w/Shokk Attack Gun
Deff Dread w/2 CC arms and 2 Skorchas -> counts as troop w/Mek
Looted Wagon w/boomgun & 'ard case
24 boyz w/sluggas and choppas
- 1 boy w/big shoota
- 1 Nob with Power Klaw, shoota, heavy armor and bosspole

500 pts. on the nose

Played this army in a 1000 pt team game with Eldar against CSM and Tau and it faired pretty well. However, the deployment was spearhead and I held everything in reserve so my opponents were in prime position for me to strike. Not 100% sure how good it would go on a 1 vs. 1 but its fun none the less. Plenty of strong template action and wacky randomness and even though I took some casualties my boyz got off 51 (FIFTY ONE!) close combat attacks. I will try to get the other army lists and some highlights posted soon

What madness is this?!

2009-10-22T01:19:00.001-07:00

I am having to work at work today! What is this world coming to? Its going to be a somewhat skimpy post I am afraid. On a bright note my "weekend" went really well. I got my first Chimera completely finished and the 2nd one is ready for Quickshading. Also, if you check to the right you will see I have somewhat of a gallery. I am still getting all of the kinks worked out but it should be up and running here soon. If I get done in time I will be sure to update again tonight on a funzy 500 pt ork list and some musing on Iggy gun lines

Another Successful Weekend

2009-10-15T01:24:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

Just chiming in to say that I had another successful "weekend" in modeling. I finished up some bits on a looted Ork Leman Russ, got my 1st of 3 chimeras done and and tested how the soft tone Quickshade would look on said Chimery and one of my "finished" Iggy minis. Short answer, they look great. Long answer, I am going to spend alot of time coating and re basing my Iggys :s

In other news, I am going to try to set up a gallery or something of the sort for my minis on the blog here. While I couldn't ask for anything more simple to use for blogging it seems that every time I get the photos in reformatting the text can be a real chore. I am rather new to this though so please bear with me.

Finally, check out Lantz's blog for some neat conversions (if he has it posted yet). That guy has some very tiny magnets and knows how to use them

Sour Apple Pie: A Leman Russ Tatcia

2009-10-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Let me say something right off the bat. I will NEVER tell you how to play your army. I just wanted to share some views that I had on one of my favorite units in the game. Every time that I give someone advice and it turns out wrong I feel personally responsible. Also, people play this game for so many different reasons to try and write something that could apply to everyone is well outside of my abilities. Oh, one more thing. For those not in the know, we call the large blast templates "pie plates" due to their relative size in comparison to the other blast template. Our particular set of pie plates are green and see through so we call them sour apple. I guess we could call them Granny Smiths but thats not near manly enough. Now that I got that out of the way lets get to it shall we?

Ah the venerable Leman Russ, the cornerstone to many an Iggy and Inquisitorial mech list. It was dangerous in 4th ed but now its down right deadly. Please keep in mind I am talking about a stock Russ here not those new fangled "heavy" Russes ( Rear armor 11) with all their rock music, multiple cannon variants and acid wash jeans.

When you talk about the Russ amongst us Iggys you often hear this argument: Sponson or not to sponson? Some argue that all you need is a battle cannon and the hull mounted whatever-needs-to-die-the-most gun. Others state that you need to bring a more to the party by throwing some extra guns on the side. I say "Why the heck are you arguing about guns when you can be out driving your tank around?!"

Of the 3 Russes I have 2 have heavy bolter sponsons with a hull mounted lascannon and one with just the battle cannon and hull mounted bolter. I'm kinda stuck with these 2 variants because this was before I knew about rare earth magnets and quite frankly both load outs work just fine. If its not broke don't fix it right?

For me it all boils down to the battle cannon (BC from here on). My gaming group is really afraid of this gun and for good reason. Weighing in at STR 8 AP 3 Large Blast Ordnance it can really do some damage IF it gets a hold of you. The down side, however, is that when you scatter you can REALLY scatter. That BS 3 is going to bring that shot back only on the rarest of occasions. This can be especially hilarious during team games. Think of it this way: it doesn't matter who you get the MVP award from just as long as you get that MVP.

As far as sponsons go you cant really go wrong with adding more guns to something. I realize that sounds Orky but it rings true for the most part. As for what guns you want its pretty much at your own discretion as that battle cannon can back you up for everything else. If you want to kill tanks throw some meltas and a hull mounted lascannon on there the BC will cut a swath through all but the toughest troops. Killing people wholesale more your game? Throw some bolters, flamers, heck even some plasma guns on there and go to town. The BC will back you up on this too because of its ordnance capabilities allow you to roll 2 D6 on your armor penetration rolls and pick the best score. Take THAT land raider!

Now the counter argument to all of these guns is the Lumbering Behemoth rule. This allows you to fire your BC along with any ONE other gun on your tank when you move 6 inches or less. For all intents and purposes it makes your BC a defensive weapon (you can fire that too!). This affords the Leman Russ a very high mobility which makes assaulting it that much harder and allows you to get into a better firing position without having to sacrifice output.

Personally it all comes down to points. Smaller armies usually get the "Econo Russ" bolter and BC combo while with more points I have to toss around I will consider throwing in a fuller bodied Russ, two if I am feeling exceptionally zesty. I like to run both types around the board as well, yeah I'm not getting to fire all of my guns all the time but very few people will willingly stand still while I take pot shots at them anyway. Also, what I lose in firepower per turn I make up for in redundant weapons systems. Heaven forbid that it happens, but your BC CAN and probably WILL be shot off of you. When it happens its nice to know that you have something you can fall back on.

The one downfall of the Russ, as with most tanks, is the rear armor. This makes moving around that much more attractive when it comes to the assault phase. At least now they have to roll a 4+ to hit you. You also have to be mindful of the dreaded butt shot. A mere bolter can bust up your tank from the rear and believe you me thats an embarrassing tale to tell around the water cooler the next day.

The bottom line is that the Russ is a great all around tank that you can't really go wrong with. Keep moving, dont get shot in the butt and keep delivering sour apple pie hot and fresh from the oven!

Flippin awesome!

2009-10-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

I just went to my local electronics store and got a Flip HD! I think I can kill two birds with one stone here by giving some bat-rep action as well as taking some photos of my figs so I don't have to keep stealing cameras. I will try to get some stuff up as soon as I get everything charged up and sorted out.

Fighting the Fluff

2009-10-09T23:31:00.000-07:00

I get too emotionally involved in my armies. Not so much on a competitive level but on a fluff level. So much so that it gets in the way of my actual playing of the game.

All the "good commanders" know and respect their men. Ibram Gaunt from the Dan Abnett series of books is a good example. He knows his men by name and does whatever he can to help them out. Creed is another fine example, always leading from the front and right in the thick of things. They all paint these great pictures of stalwart leaders and a hard knot of soldiers that share a brotherhood of mutual respect. On the other hand you have the "bad commanders" you can usually tell who these guys are because the "good commanders" spend most of their off battlefield time calling them out for poor tactics and then conversely being double crossed by them. They go through troops like a chain-sword through butter, feeding them into the meat grinder willy nilly.

Unfortunately this causes an issue for me when the dice start to roll. To "win" (where win = having the most points at the end of the game) at 40k your guys have to "die". You cant expect to throw a group of BS3 T3 +5s out there and have them all come back. Yet every time that my troops take a hit, and this happens often, I cringe a little. I know they are just little plastic men but in the back of my head I can just see myself creating little greenstuff letters to send back to their little plastic families on their little plastic home world of Littleplastica V. But to be an Iggy is to lose men. Thats the way of things. Even if you wrap them in a tank they still run the risk of getting it shot out from under them.

For example: Tim the sanctioned psyker. I have had Tim since I got my first lot of Iggys. Tim was the first model that I painted that I wasn't embarrassed to put on the table. Tim killed my first dreadnought for me ( back in 4th ed when you could bust up a tank with a psychic CC attack). We have been through a lot together and I try to get him out there as much as I can. The bad part is, I don't want Tim to die.

Which leads me to this weeks game. My Iggys have gone rogue and are helping out some Chaos (there was a promise of cookies) against a combined force of Tau and Eldar. Unfortunately Lantz has brought out the Runes of Warding as he is wont to do (3d6 for LD test on psyker powers 12+ is perils of the warp). Both my psykers are down to one wound and game is coming to a close with Tim making a tactical retreat off the board. While I think I could get him out alive the Tau commander is directly in my path and its our turn next.

What should I do? Tactically speaking I should take the shot. Tim's going to be gone next turn anyway so there's no reason to keep him around. Its a capture and control game so kill points aren't so much of a factor and this is all happening right next to the bunker that is holding my flag. I guess I better get out the mop and bucket to clean his cranium off the walls and get ready to pen another tiny greenstuff letter.....

Photo Update!

2009-10-09T02:08:00.000-07:00

Guess who stole Las One Standing's camera phone at work today!
Oh BTW, he is a really good source for sniper rifles too, you should check it out.

As promised, here is the de-glossed Ork. Just a few hits of the anti shine matte spray and viola!

I tell you what, I couldn't be happier with the outcome. I know the lighting is a little "meh" but you get the general idea. As an added bonus hes got a super crunchy exterior to boot! I think I could use him as a solid slug round and he would keep his paint.

Also, here is one of three Chimeras that I am working on:

I think I am pretty much done except for a few touch ups and minor details ( going to add some "dirt" effects to the lower part of the tread). I am going to hit this up with the varnish too and see how that matches up with a finished paint job that I have done with just straight up citadel washes.
I apologize for the rather spartan post today but I am running on about 4 hours of sleep :( I will try to get something more substantial up tomorrow.

Too good to be true?

2009-10-08T01:27:00.000-07:00

As my recent posts may indicate I think I am falling in love with The Army Painter's Quickshade. This seems to me to be the magic bullet to all of my modeling fine detail woes. Its just too easy. Paint with primary colors, quickshade, base and done. Once I get used to it I should be able to pump out Orks like nobody's business with a pretty high standard of quality.

Its also helping my FLGS. The owner told me that he is seeing more income due to people getting more armies done on time. Why have one army when in half the time as it took you to make your first you can have two? Your fast attack acting a little weedy? Throw together that new squad of jump pack troops, you can have it table top ready by the end of the week. This and other products like it seem to be nothing but helpful to the hobby and the industry.

I wonder, however, if this is all beer and skittles as it appears to be on the surface. In most cases any time that a modernization comes along in the production of a hand made good there is a decrease in overall quality. Will this be the same way for the modern mini? Now that you can get your new army out of the box and on the table relatively quick and easy will you take the time to add that extra detail? I'm not saying that it will be the beginning of the end of the Golden Daemons but I think it will be interesting in the coming years to see how this effects the overall quality of the game. Could this cause a rift between the newbies and the veterans? Will I be looked down upon because I didnt do all of my detailing by hand?

What do you all think? Are products that help the new and untested helpful or hurtful? Should we be willing to sacrifice the artistic quality of the game we play to let more people enjoy our little slice of heaven?

Painting Update

2009-10-07T04:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately I don't have access to a decent camera ATM otherwise I would show you how the Ork came out. Happy to say that it looks great! The dull coat really took the high gloss off and hes ready to hit the field ( still needs some basing work but its good enough for gov't work now ;) )

Also, I have one of my three chimeras pretty much done. Seeing as how well the soft tone worked on the Ork I am going to forgo my normal highlighting/washing and give it a shot. My only concern is how I am going to get the undercarriage taken care of without making a mess. Wish me luck!

The Washed Ork Project

2009-10-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

One last picture for today before I get back to Star Trek: TOS and painting Chimeras

This is an experimental (for me) painting style that I am going to try for my Ork army. I want something quick so I can mow through the hoards of boyz.

What I did:

1) White base coat of Rust-Oleum Specialty Plastic Primer Spray ( FANTASTIC PRODUCT)

2) Colored in the shoulder pads, metals and boots with standard Games Workshop paint

3) Used Citadel Foundation: Tausept Ochre for the leather straps

4) Washed the skin in Citadel Wash: Thrakka Green ( directly on the white primer )

5) Washed the jump suit ( again on the primer ), straps and metals in Citadel Wash: Devlan Mud

6) Coated the whole model in The Army Painter's Quickshade: Soft Tone

Whats really great about this project is that I didn't have to obsess hardly at all over the finer details. I didn't expect the washes to do such a great job at highlighting/shading as they did. Hell, now that this guy has set for a little bit with the Soft Tone he looks as good if not better than my imp guard auxiliaries that I painted by hand! (This cheeses me off to no end BTW)

Anyway, that's all I got for right now. I plan to swing by the FLGS tomorrow and pick up the Anti-Shine Matt Varnish that The Army Painter recommends to take off that super high gloss finish.

Now for a little eye candy

2009-10-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

Now that you know a little bit about me let me show you a little of what I do:

Thanks to Lantz over @ Las One Standing for the use of his nifty camera phone

The Econo Russ:

My bare bones Leman Russ, I could never wrap my head around the numbering conventions for the Imperial Guard so I just throw the units value on there so I know exactly how many points of sad I should be when they blow up.

The Assult Squad:

2 Regular Flamers + 1 Heavy Flamer + Power Fist + Shotguns + Demolitions = explosive short range fun for the whole family! Note that the shotguns are just lasguns with the barrel and sights shaved off of them. Thanks to my friend Sterling for that great idea.

Command Squad Auxiliaries:

These are the guys that I usually run with my command squad. I have used my most "advanced" painting techniques on these guys to help them stand out. I will try to get some more individual shots soon.

Sniper Dave:

This is Sniper Dave (as seen above). Check out that swanky cammo pattern eh? Too bad we fight on a grey wasteland of a moon so he stands out like a sore thumb :( .

I'm Bloggin Mike! I'M BLOGGIN!

2009-10-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
Just wanted to start the ball rolling on this whole "Blogging" thing all the kids are going on about these days. The main purpose of this blog will be to discuss my weekly Warhammer night as well as product reviews and show off my minis. I will try to keep you informed as to how I did what I did ( if you are interested ) and hopefully get some good feedback to better hone my skills. The bottom line though is to have fun and celebrate the cultural phenomena that is Warhammer 40K