Jan 072013
 

Lunch Time = Paint Time!

Happy New Year!!! First blog post this year and I thought I’d bite a little off Larry’s resolutions post from BOLS. Thanks Larry! Without further ado, my hobby resolutions.

1) Organize my hobby work space. I should snap a pic of my room, shelves, closet, et. al. I spent 3 hours Thur night just getting organized enough to GET organized in order to clean. It’s insane, (holidays and our game on 15Dec didn’t help!). Every time I clean, I lose something, or more appropriately lose track of something. Not this time, the Log of Projects and Models has been amended!

2) Paint something each week. While my grand goal is to paint every lunch break at work an at least one evening for several hours at home each week, I know the way my world works. It’ll be hard enough even keeping to 1 hour per week, so as long as I paint SOMETHING each week, I’ll consider this resolution held.

3) Collaborate w/ nephew (see #1). My nephew has finally learned about the Grim Dark and is all fired up to paint. So, the goal is to collaborate with him on painting White Scars. His first army, my long overdue biker army.

4) To paraphrase Larry, “Face the ‘wall/closet/bins/shelves of unpainted purchases’, choose ANY 3 units, assemble, clean and get ‘em ready for paint.” Per #1, my organizing allowed me to catalog NO LESS than THIRTY ONE boxes containing Space Marine models on sprue and in most cases still in cellophane. This does not include Eldar, Orks or my Infinity & Warmachine projects… *sigh* In short, pick models which support the projects I am working on and get them assembled. Top options come to mind: Remaining infantry for Space Wolves, Rhinos for White Scars, ‘Thunderheart’ Vinidcator for White Scars.

5) No new purchases without painting a previous purchase, (see #4). To qualify this, I am further stating the following: No new models without painting a current model. No new armies started without completing an existing army. No new terrain without completing an existing piece of terrain. I am aiming to FINALLY complete 1500 pts of Space Wolves, so I think 1500pts of  40K is a good ‘completion’ point. There’s my White Scars collaboration, (see #3 above), which I have the models collected for to 1500. I also just started a PanO Shock Army force for Infinity, thanks to DesertFoxx’s holiday gift, so 200pts for Infinity should qualify. The only 40K ‘armies’ left to collect are Dark Eldar for me, which I fear may never happen as GW is seriously pricing things outside my comfort range. *sigh*Still, I should leave GK and all 3 of my Sons of Dorn tucked away until the above 3 are in some semblance of order. In fact, if I somehow manage to paint Wolves, Scars & some Infinity, I should get off my tail and paint from Necrons or Orks before another Imperial army.

6) Complete 4-6 pieces of terrain for each of my 3 tables. I have a fully painted Realms of Battle table as well as 4×4 and 4×6 temperate climate mats. I have several items assembled, but not enough painted. So, at minimum 1 piece for each 2×2 section for each table, painted to match. Again, to quote Larry, “I can drink in my house!”

7) Confirm state of paints, brushes, supplies. Some of my paints are quite old and I’ve begun finding a number which have dried up or separated their pigment. The desert is not kind to paint pots, so I need to know what I have that’s still in service and what NEEDS to be replaced for the upcoming projects, (looking at you my dried up Iyanded Darksun, right when I needed you for SW shoulders!!!).

8) Play 1 game a month. I’m lucky to get one game/month with the gang, but sometimes we miss several months. We only play 2 systems at present, we need to stay in practice. So, don’t let a month slip without playing.

9) Play with painted forces. I have 3k+ of painted Tau, and until I can paint more of something else, that will be my go-to 40K army. However, a better way to approach this goal is to not play any force without at least one painted unit. Every new game they play, they need to have one more painted unit than last time. This would suggest that if we play a game every month, I should have 12 NEW painted units before the year is out. As for Infinity, well, I’m going to paint up my PanO to at least 150-200pts and not play with my Caledonians until I do the same. Kilts are fun, so I need to paint them. Of course, being a skirmish game, perhaps for Infinity the goal will be to paint any models form a give unit type, so if I have my Shock Troop regulars painted next month, the next game day I should have my Bagh Mari painted, or some such.

10) Master 40K and Infinity.  While we have models out the wazzu for all manner of games, (40K/WFB/Necro/Mord/BFG/Infinity/CBT), not to mention those which we collect and don’t play regularly, (Warmahordes/Warlord/FoW/Epic/Dreadball), I can heartily say that 40K & Infinity are the go-to games. We’ve all had a recent thrust of 40K enthusiasm, (dunno why, since we all went into shock pricing out Chaos armies with the DV/CSM release), however Infinity is just such a terrific game with amazing models and a better than most entry price. So, we’ll be see Alpha Legion take the field vs Eldar on 12Jan, and after that we’ll do our best to hold 11 more game days in 2013.

Feb 212012
 
Necron Lychguard

Come get some...

Short work week already starting crappy, for modeling anyway. I did get President’s Day off, but I spent it installing my new Smart TV, (and all the hassle that legacy cabling incurred due to HDMI inputs on the new set), rather than modelling as I had thought I would. (Well, ok, I played a bit of SWTOR too).

I did manage to get 30min in today to clip swords, arms and review posing options. The ‘we can do anything’ arms are problematic, being shared in part with the warscythes. Awfully small to pin, I foresee many repairs in their future. I was able to pose one model. The erstwhile sergeant, (there are no such things in the Necron list), was chosen for the longest loincloth and fanciest headdress. For his gear, there are 5 total phase swords in the box; 2 pointed forward, 2 at right angles and one held sword tip down. I gave him this last one, the inverted sword, (it’s hard to tell from the pic at left). It’s not ideal, but I kind of like the way it turned out. He stands tall, tip of his sword buried in the sands, dispersion shield held relaxed at his side, arrogant in his knowledge he can best any challenger. His shield is only tacked on for the moment, I’d like to paint them separate.

The rest of them will be more dynamically posed due to the way the arms & swords  work, but it may take most of the week due to the fidgety nature of the hands. Ugh…

Feb 152012
 
Necron Lychuard work in progress

"Wheeerrre is myyyy mind."

Pic at left is a WiP for my Lychguard. I managed to base the legs, apply the loincloth and assemble the 4pc torsos for all 5. Not too shabby for a lunch break which included wolfing down the last of my chicken parm. 7pcs each if you include the bases themselves. Seems like alot of bits, but contrary to my first opinion, Lychguard aren’t TOO terrible to assemble, (easier than the Praetorians by the look of it). While the same legs are used with slightly different embellishments, I have a niggling issue about the torsos for either build which annoys me.

The torsos are front/back half the same as just about every plastic model from Dire Avengers to Space Marines. However, unlike the Immortals I just crafted, these require a special piece for the neck which fits between the halves. Um, WTF?!?! Yes, the high cowl in the back and the scooped neckline might be a bit deep for how they chose to fit the neck, but my response is still WTF?!?!

Seriously GW, was it absolutely necessary to pander to the sculptor when you have such vast resources at your disposal for making exquisite, plastic sprues of late? I am seriously impressed with the detail and quantity of bits, I truly am. But having to put a TINY little neck-bone in between the torso halves was ridiculous. No reason for that, NONE!!! Compared to what I’ve seen come off the sprue in recent years, this could have been avoided. Ok, so I guess it wasn’t very niggling…

Anyway, I should actually finish these up on Thu, affording me 5 lunch breaks to work on the Annihilation Barge before my game w/ DesertFoxx on the 25th.

Feb 142012
 
Necron Immortals

Die Humans!!!

Last Thursday I squeaked half hour over lunch to assemble another 2 Immortals. Not exactly a blistering pace, but considering what my pace has been like for many months, I’ll take it. I’m was out of the office for a long weekend, but I did manage to finish building all 5 of  them. W00T!

I had originally planned on  starting on the Annihilation Barge next, but now that I am clear on GW’s new fangled method for infantry, I think I’ll work on my Lychguard next afterall…

Feb 082012
 
New Necron Immortal

HOLD and get ye hither!

After a ridiculously long hiatus, I have finally put glue to plastic once again. I spent the lunch hour perusing my fresh from The War Store boxes of Lychguard and Immortals, becoming familiar with the parts. They are much more ‘matched’ than plastics have been in the past, but I suppose that’s also a good thing. After deciding that the Lychguard would be better assembled at home on my proper workbench, I managed to get the 5 legs clipped, cleaned and based for the Immortals. I did get one full Immortal w/ Gauss Blaster completed. I test fit the Tesla Carbine as well, just to see if I could magnetize them. A dubious effort at best. So, it looks like they’ll be permanent. I’ll grab 2 more boxes, making 5 each of the Gauss &  Tesla Immortals as well as Deathmarks before deciding on increasing the size of any one unit.

The Lychguard are pretty pimp, but they seem much more intricate, so I’ll give them my full attention at home. The interesting thing about these two new boxes is that ordinarily the limiter for plastics is the legs. In this case, the limiter is not only the legs but also the front torso. Each box contains 2 different model types and each type having 1-2 variations. So, I have 5 legs, 5 torso fronts, 2×5 Torso Backs, 2×5 heads, etc. It’s a bit insane! More insane is that the bits themselves has so much integral modelling, (arms, hands, etc), that trimming them down to make use in any other way will be an obscene amount of effort. I foresee most only being objective markers and terrain gribblies. I was really hoping I could fudge the 2 kits enough to convert a few Crypteks. I have my doubts.

I also have an Annihilation Barge on deck too, who is donating it’s Lord to become Nemesor or Obyron, but that’s a story for another time.