Painted Arjac Rockfist

I didn't intend to paint the new Arjac Rockfist model just yet.  I dropped in on the new Games Workshop here in Raleigh on my lunch break at work, and after getting pressured for the forty-third time in two visits to buy some of the new Necrons or start playing Lord of the Rings, I ended up picking up this finecast model instead. 

I would have hated putting this model together in metal, but the finecast went together quickly and simply.  I did manage to slice a piece of his shield out on accident, which you can see from the front, but I wasn't unhappy with how it looked. 

It's a great model, full of detail, and I'm particularly pleased with how the face and the armor highlighting came out.  Comments and criticism are always welcome.

First Painted Thunderwolf Cavalry with New GW Paints

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I picked up some of the new GW paints this past weekend.  I had a chance to try them out in painting my first Thunderwolf Cavalry model. 

I especially like the yellows and the glazes.  The paints also have an excellent consistency that is nice and thin. 

I'm off to the Brawler Bash WFB GT this weekend, and will be there starting this afternoon.  Wish me luck!

Painted Wolf Scout with Meltagun

Last Wolf Scout for a while, I promise.

Even though getting a meltagun onto a scout model meant that some pinning had to be done (it's a metal meltagun), it was well worth it.  Five Wolf Scouts with meltabombs and a meltagun, who can appear, shoot, and assault from an opponent's deployment zone on a 3+?  Yes, please.   They don't cost a whole lot, either, for something that can take out a tank or two very easily. 

I think I did a good job particularly on this guy's face.  The head itself had to be chopped down just to fit, as it's a head built for a Marine torso...but I think it helps to get a little more variety in the scouts.

Fourth Painted Wolf Scout

I only realized after I was halfway through painting this guy that I had used the same head on him that I used on the Wolf Scout Sergeant.  Thank goodness for the magic of painting, and the ability to give him a very different face paint scheme. 

I played what is either my last or next to last game of Warhammer Fantasy before Brawler Bash, and am reasonably pleased with my Beastmen going into the tournament.  I need to do some magnetization and fix some basing this weekend in preparation for the tournament, and I'd like to paint up a couple Thunderwolves as Razorgor.  We'll see how that goes.

Third Painted Wolf Scout

Continuing on with Wolf Scout-palooza, I finished the third Scout last week.   The big improvement over previous work was getting a better snow flock.  Army Painter makes a lot of great products, but their snow is too big and granular, and really sticks out badly on basing.  I suggest either GW or Gale Force 9 snow for basing. 

I'm going to be playing a practice game of Warhammer Fantasy this evening for Brawler Bash, which is up to thirty-one registered people.  I'm looking forward to it!

Wolf Scout Sergeant

So I'm cranking these Wolf Scouts out one at a time this week.  I base coated them this past weekend, but am giving each a couple hours each weekday evening for detail work.  This gent will be the sergeant.  A couple things to note:

I vastly prefer this snow, which is Gale Force Nine's, to Army Painters.  The difference is very noticeable even from a distance, in that Army Painter's snow is made of large grains which stand out from one another.  GF9's snow is made of smaller pieces, which go on more realistically and give the ground here a frosted, light snow look that I wanted. 

I plan on glazing the sword as a power sword, but wanted to try out the new GW glazes, for kicks.  I probably won't get my hands on that new paint for a couple of weeks. 

The eyes are painted and the gun barrel is drilled, as always.  You can't see those details as well due to the angle of the picture. 

Space Wolf Scout

Welp, for some reason I cannot get the picture rotated properly, so everyone just put your head on your right shoulder. 

I've had the Wolf Pack sprue for a while, and have always thought it was awesome for the sheer amount of bits it comes with, but what got me going on a little Space Wolf kick was the release (and my winning) of the Thunderwolf Cavalry and Fenrisian Wolves.  I started playing around with the Wolf Pack kit, and ended up putting together five Wolf Scouts.  I used to run a Raven Guard Scout army back in 4th Edition 40K, and really enjoyed it before Scouts were nerfed a bit in 5th Edition. 

Anyway, the basing is dirt, followed by grass and fall leaves, and then some snow.  This base's snow came out a little thicker than I would have liked, but I hope to get it down to a lighter frost look. 

I seem to be distracted by side projects lately, and need to finish up the current Wood Elf project at some point, but I've also got four more of these Scouts, the second half of a Bretonnian knight, and a Ghorgon to finish.  Right now, randomness has the best of me. 

Weekend Update: June 6th, 2011

It's my belief that a great many of us manage to get some hobby and gaming time in over the weekend more than any other time.  Assuming that to be true, I thought I'd start using Mondays to catch up on the blog with the things that I did over the weekend in terms of hobby and gaming, and hopefully hear from a few of you as well.  I figured I'd try this out as a regular Monday fixture, and see how it goes.

So this past weekend, I went to a 40K tournament on Saturday, which was a lot of fun.  I hadn't gotten to go to a 40K event in about six months, so I was a bit rusty, but went 2-1 with the Blood Angels.  I beat an Eldrad Eldar and Razorback spam Space Wolf army, but lost a tight game to an Imperial Guard list.  I also lost my voice! I was pleasantly surprised with my 40K performance, and will hopefully have some battle reports up tomorrow or Wednesday.

On Sunday, I finished up some Chaos Warhounds that I've had kicking around, and came that much closer to finishing up my Beastmen.  I really dislike the Warhound models, and they were slowing me down considerably.  I have ten Centigor and thirteen Minotaur left to do, as well as a Giant and some Character models.

So what'd you crazy kids get up to?

Blood Angels First Tactical Squad: Meltas

I've always been a fan of the melta gun, and nobody will tell you these days that they aren't great for 40K, what with the Mega Mech Madness (patent pending) going down on every table.  I ordered up some of the melta bits packs from ol' GW a while back, so I can promise that the Blood Angels won't lack in this department.

The temptation with an army like the Blood Angels or Space Wolves is to name every model, to give each one a saga or story.  I like that a lot.  They're a little more flavorful, at least to my mind, than my Imperial Fists (an exercise in painting yellow) and my Raven Guard (my first army...okay, I like them a lot too).  I was initially attracted to Space Marines way back when because of the idea of big giant armored guys crashing into the enemy lines, guns blazing and swords hacking, and because of variations like the Wolves and Angels I've never been tempted to leave.  Sure, some people will say that's a bad thing, but I've know what armies I liked in 40K for years and years.

New Project: Blood Angels

What do you do when you have two huge Space Marine armies, and still have models to paint and put together?  A little bit of Blood Angels and Space Wolves will hopefully be coming down pipes from me to you in the next few months, as I stick to a decidedly Marine trend while trying out some new books and paint schemes.

This is my first Blood Angel model, and a decent test subject.  You'll notice some differences from the official paint job.  I wanted to differentiate a bit.   I'm going to be painting up the Fourth Company, known as the "Knights of Baal".  I'm going to use an emerald paint on the shoulder pad to fancy things up a bit, and the knee pad will show individual "heraldry" for each marine, rather than a squad marking.

I hand painted the Company and Chapter symbols on each shoulder pad rather than using transfers, which was a new challenge for me, and I think it turned out well.  The sword blades have also been highlighted with mithril silver since I took the picture.  I look forward to cranking out some of his battle brothers!  Any suggestions for improvement or ideas on how to spice him up?

Last of the Trollbloods: Dire Troll Bomber Painted!

Like my Khador and Imperial Fists, who have all wrapped up in the last month or so, my Trollbloods are finished now with this fantastic model, who brings the entire collection up around 110 points.  concept and pose of the Bomber, and wanted to add him in.

Unlike my Khador, my Trolls aren't going up for sale.  For now, they'll sit in the cabinet while old projects (Dark Elves and Beastmen) get upgraded for Eighth Edition and new projects (Blood Angels, Space Wolves, High Elves and Skaven) get started.  In the long run, I think this fella has a great gaming future...as a Hellcannon in a Warriors of Chaos Troll army. 

Pedro Kantor, Now in Imperial Fist Flavor

What would Imperial Fist be, if it was a flavor?  Something sour, I think, and probably smokey.

Anyway, I know that there's always going to be a great debate out there as to Space Marine special characters and whether or not you should use them in armies that are not their own Chapter.  While I love the 40K fluff, I'm perfectly willing to blur the special character line a bit.  Vulcan in the Ultramarines is a little tricky, but I figure ol' Pedro here is a Imperial Fist successor, and fits their shooty playstyle.  I'm also going to get around to painting a Telion for my Raven Guard sometime, since they are the super scout chapter and he's the super scout guy.  And Chronus...if he ever gets into my army, it's going to be as an Iron Hand.

Pedro actually marks a big day for me, however.  He's my last Imperial Fist Space Marine.  The army, which pushes around 2,500 points, is finished up, and will now sit in the cabinet between friendlies and tournaments.  Now that my Raven Guard and Imperial Fists are finished, it's time to head for Wolf and Angel country.

Slow Down and Smell the Roses!

In the past month, I've painted around 1500 points of Beastmen, an Imperial Fists Tactical Squad, Rorsch for Trollbloods, and around ten Khador models.  I've been efficient and organized, and I've enjoyed the experience.  I haven't had to sacrifice quality, because I've gotten to the point where I'm happily painting up to my optimal standard very quickly. 

And therein lies the problem.

Just as in every other aspect of the hobby, it is my belief that when everything is going incredibly smoothly with your painting, things have to change.  It's not my life goal to become some sort of sweat shop model painter, churning out good models at high speeds.  Instead, it's always been my goal to continually improve my painting.  While the work I'm doing makes me happy, I've stopped improving in the name of speed.

So here's the plan:

I'm going to finish my Beastmen, Khador, Imperial Fists, and Trollbloods for Libriarium Online's Tale of Painters.  Most of these are down to a few models, except for the Beastmen, which will involve painting a lot of Gors and some Chariots.

After that, I won't have more Privateer Press to paint.  As much as I love the models, I've come to the realization that I am not going to play Hordes or Warmachine.  I don't dislike the games, but I have limited free time, and as it stands, I like WFB a lot more than anything else.

What I will have is a) more Space Marine models than I can shake a stick at and b) a new Warhammer Fantasy army to start working on.

So I'll start painting the new Space Marines (Blood Angels?  Space Wolves?  Salamanders?) and probably what will be a joint High Elf / Wood Elf Avelorn themed army.  Instead of rushing them through, I'd like to make each of these armies an army of individual, detailed models where I push myself to paint and model my best work.

That's the plan anyway.  Here's hoping!

Black Library Trailer for "A Thousand Sons" and "Prospero Burns"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viFLhyJXqNQ

Although Warhammer 40,000 isn't my main game, I've been a big fan on the Horus Heresy series.  The Heresy is one of the defining features that make 40K's fluff so great.  It's an old story told brilliantly in a new setting, with Horus the fallen son turning on his divine father, changing the course of history forever. 

I'm really excited for A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns to be released in the Spring, and I hope you can see why from this Black Library trailer for the two books.  The fall of Magnus and The Thousand Sons is one of the great little stories in 40K, of the tragedy and treachery that went on during the Heresy.  The details set out in the Horus Heresy novels, of Magnus doing everything he can to save Horus and then warn his father, with such terrible and unforeseen consequences, makes for a great tale.   

Here's hoping for great things from these two books.  Enjoy the trailer.

Work that Inspires Me - Ulrik the Slayer

One of my favorite things to do is to look at the amazing work that miniature painters do around the world. Some stuff just amazes me! I thought perhaps that once a week or so, I'd pull one of the pictures I've found that have really inspired or impressed me.

This is an Ulrik the Slayer model by David Rodriguez. It won a Golden Daemon in 2007. It's a beautiful model and paint job, but the thing that really sells me on it is how dynamic it is. You can almost hear the cold wind howl as you look at it as Ulrik hunts through the ice. A great model tells a story, and this one really does the trick.