Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Keep on keepin' on- 30 October update


Blood Angels- my hands are constantly stained red...

Progress on my army is going okay, I believe I'm going to need around 10- 14 hours per week for the next 12 weeks painting and assembling time in order to get it all done for Cancon (!). And by done, I mean something along the lines of an army that could compete for 'players choice'- high impact, high detail with lots of cool freehand and interesting stuff to look at, the kind of army you'd like to own.  I might not get there but im giving it my all, most nights I can at least basecoat and shade an Assault Marine, which takes a while when you're trying to not paint up all the other detail on the legs, chest and jump packs- a good 40 minutes to get a nice even coat down followed with a wash. I've taken to filing down, undercoating and basecoating/washing the heads whilst they're still on the sprues, once the base red and wash is on and dry i then glue the head in place. Even right now with no shoulderpads, a basic red/black colouring these yellow heads make the guys 'pop' on the tabletop heaps, and im happy to use them in games at this point in time.

14 in base red 'n' yellow, with 16 to go! (and, who are still all on sprues...)

Looting the Ravenwing

I also decided that it was time for some more units, and to this end I decided to strip down all my terrible old DA Ravenwing bikes, which were only ever black spray undercoated (and not well..). Thanks to my previous use of poor quality superglue they came apart quite easily, with the only casualties being a couple of sets of handlebars (eBay is my friend here for replacements). The tentative plan is to run three attack bikes with heavy bolters for some tough long range support and a six-strong bike squad, packing two meltaguns. However, I might drop the meltas and swap the Sgt's power weapon for a powerfist, i'm undecided at this point. Should be relatively easy to get them painted up, all I need to do is source two more attack bikes, some bitz and some more bike- specific bases from B2B.

About to swap allegiances. Just don't tell Azrael.

 Go Furioso!!


So my Furioso Dreadnought (see last post) ended up winning the Second Sphere 'Elites' comp, staving off a strong challenge from a very nicely painted set of Sanguinary Guard, so the BAs were the main winners here :) It does feel nice to have finally won a 'main' (ie FOC slot- specific) contest on Second Sphere, having come runner up or third many a time(including back in the old Tau Online days, before 'the exodus'). And, as is the way, nothing motivates me more to paint than an impending deadline, be it a tourney, a big game with the boys or a painting contest. I'm never one to bring something along if i cant at least paint it up (or at very least throw down a basecoat and shade wash).


Charlie approves of contest- winning Dreadnoughts.
 So if there's anything to be said, its that having a baby really changes things; you're suddenly the most time poor person in the world, and hence organisation is key when you want to keep going with the hobby. Hence my earlier comment regarding how long I'd need to finish this army- I factored in all the required steps for each unit, and a rough estimate of the time required to do a good non-rushed job. At this point in time there's around 12.5 weeks till Cancon, so i've gotta keep the pressure on and keep going. Nothing motivates me quite like a deadline!

In saying that, we're throwing around ideas for a small Apoc/ large 40K team game around late November, which I'm looking at as a way to test some of my new units as well as get some painting done :)

Anyhow, thats enough carrying on from me for one night.

Cheers,
Tempest

     

Monday, October 8, 2012

Furioso- completed!

Today is short and sweet- my Furioso is now completed, after a very quick and brutal paintup in time for an online painting comp. While the finish is not as smooth as I would have liked its still quite nice, all things considered. Might chuck some more orange on the claws for some more definition, but he's basically done.

I particularly like how the script on his leg turned out.


Hazard Stripes will appear here and there in my army- a nod to 2nd edition 40k.
Brother Adiel, ready to rock n roll

These new paints, washes and glazes make painting a breeze, should have some infantry updates soon.

-Temp