Wednesday 30 January 2013

A theme for my Heretics in Skirts (aka Dark Angels)

This is not a new army project, not yet at any rate. All I want to do with these Dark Angels is paint them, simply because I don't want unpainted models sitting around cluttering up the place. Plus, I managed to score the last limited edition Dark Vengeance in the store so it seems somehow ungrateful of me not to paint it all.

It is the simple reality of this hobby that after a while you'll end up with a pile of unpainted, redundant models: unfinished projects, test models that went nowhere, presents that weren't strictly relevant to any of your projects but your parent were trying. My mate Greg thinks he can avoid this, by the way. He just started collecting his first army and he's determined to buy and paint one unit at time. This first army of his is Warriors Of Chaos so I don't think his illusions will last very much longer.

Anyway, I want a simple but effective colour scheme so I can finish these models quickly regardless of if they turn into an army or not. I want a lazy man's colour scheme basically. So it could only be...
… the Guardians Of The Covenant. Nice and simple: steel grey armour, black shoulder pads, a chapter icon even I can freehand and red robes so I can indulge my urge to paint things in that same cool red I've been using on my Night Lords. This will also give me a chance to test out some more metallic effects in my ongoing quest to learn how to paint.

Monday 28 January 2013

Hobby Vow the 1st

This week I'm going to start using a motivational techinque taught to me by Dave Palmer, manager of the local GW. He calls them “hobby vows” and they're simple enough: have a stated goal and a time limit for what you're trying to achieve in one of your projects.

I intend to have one every week, just little things to push me forward at a pace I'm comfortable with. I'll work on other things as I go so I don't feel too regimented in how I work but the focus of the week will always be the Vow.

So, to start off simply: firstly, this week I shall finish painting my Chaos Lord.

Secondly, because I don't want a load of unfinished models lying around, I will make a decision about what I want to do with those Dark Vengeance Dark Angels.

Sunday 27 January 2013

This week's hobby progress

Just to keep myself motivated (and so any readers I acquire don't get bored by an endless wall of text) I've decided to keep a weekly progress diary of my army projects. Motivation, that's the key.
Tomb Kings
Finished painting a test model for the Zandri Blackshields. The colour scheme for the figure is straight from How To Paint Citadel Miniatures. It was quick, simple and effective, just what I wanted for the project. The figure above isn't varnished. I intend to use gloss varnish on the shield and Lahmian Medium on the rest (apparently it works quite well as a matt varnish but doesn't bleach colour from the metallics).

Night Lords
Making decent progress with the Dark Vengeance Chaos Marines. I'm a fair way through painting the Chaos Lord. So far I've only used base paints and washes but it hasn't come out too badly. As to the rest of the models I've blocked out some of the basic colours on the Helbrute and Chosen ready to get to work on the details. I like how the cape is coming out, makes me want to paint more things dark red.
Death Guard
Not much progress on the slow build project. I bought, built and undercoated the Finecast Nurgle Daemon Prince though I'm dithering on how to paint it, whether to go with the pre- or post-Heresy colour scheme or to go in some other direction entirely.

Friday 25 January 2013

Introducing the Zandri Blackshields

It occurred to me yesterday that I had themes for both of my Chaos Space Marine projects but not the Tomb Kings. Now, I want the army to be balanced and rather general but at the very least I need a colour scheme. So I cracked open the Tomb Kings book and started to read. On page 36 a small box-out entitled “Amanhotp the Intolerant” really caught my eye:

“During the time of the Desertblood Crusades, a regiment of Bretonnian Knights returned from Nehekhara with the remains of what they believed to be Duke Cheldric, a hero whose daring quest into the Land of the Dead was the stuff of legend. However, the Knights had actually returned to the Old World with the mummified body of King Amanhotep the Intolerant, who awakened after unknowingly being paraded up and down the length of Bretonnia and carried across a score of battlefields by zealous Battle Pilgrims. Amanhotep's wrath was great indeed, and he singlehandedly slaughtered the inhabitants of dozens of towns before returning to his sarcophagus in Zandri.”

The moment I read that I knew I had my army general. I do sort of imagine an undead Victor Meldrew grumbling his way across Bretonnia as he casually slaughters the knights and peasants “selfishly getting in his way”. I used to have a Bretonnian army so I'll be raiding my bits box to furnish my characters with trophies of past victories. I might even be able to find a Bretonnian player and have a grudge match series with them.

There isn't much background for Zandri. Its identified on the map as “the Fleetport of Terror” though that doesn't suggest any particular theme for the army. Of more help is a brief mention on page 17 under Legions of Legend to “the Zandri Blackshields”.

So now I have a general, a name for the army and a unifying colour element. Black is the one colour I feel can still be relied upon and it'll give me an ideal chance to practice highlighting. It should also look nice and stark against the legion of bone warriors, especially if I give the shields a gloss varnish.

Wednesday 23 January 2013

Getting my Dark Vengeance on

For the Emperor!

This is the first starter set where I didn't feel even a little cheated that the good guys were More Bloody Space Marines. The last two sets gave us well-made but ultimately very static, blonked out Marines, functional but uninteresting. The Black Reach Tactical Marines looked like they were lined up on parade: standing ramrod straight with their bolters held straight across their chests. With a very small shift in posing the Dark Vengeance Tacticals have a sense of motion and more varied posing through the unit which looks so much more satisfying.

And I like that they're Dark Angels, even though I've never really been a Dark Angels fan. For one thing it means you don't have to paint any fiddly chapter symbols on their shoulders (always a plus). Whether I'll actually get around to painting them is anyone's guess, my dance card already being full of other projects.

The Terminators are fantastic too, again a great advance their Black Reach predecessors. Iconography! Tabards! Assault cannon! Chainfist! Giant bunny ears!

*THWACK!*

My friend and longtime Dark Angels fan Dave has just informed me via the medium of frying pan that they are not bunny ears but racks of feathers.

… yeah, that's so much manlier...

Greatest advancement on the More Bloody Space Marines side? Bikes that look great. Space Marine Bikes are a divisive subject and I swing back and forth on them: in general I think they look terrible but every now and then I get a yen for a White Scars army which lasts for exactly one model before I realise I cannot and shall never be able to paint white and abandon the project. These bikes however can be painted black (so much easier) and have been posed slanted to one side so it looks more like they're moving at speed.

The Company Master is a groovy character with a big ass sword and his friend the Librarian looks properly sinister. I even had a stroke of luck and picked up the last limited edition in the store so I got one of those fantastic Interrogator-Chaplains, which is a model I'm really going to have to take my time over whenever I get around to it.

Death to the False Emperor!

But never mind the good guys, I'm a servant of Chaos at heart, always have been. Codex: Eye Of Terror, oh how I miss you, which is why the inclusion of Cultists in this set did my depraved old heart good. Twenty of them, as well! Woohoo! Woot! I shall not squee, I have some shred of dignity.

*THWACK!*

Yes, the frying pan again, as my co-worker Kerry reminds me I really don't.

Beyond those twenty Cultists the Chaos side is a little sparse: you get a Chaos Lord in that cool pose with a downthrust sword (not enough models like that) and his six mates, a unit of Chosen with various cool weapons options. To be honest the two bolter-armed Chosen are the only time in the set that duplicate models stand out. All the others are hidden in much larger units aside from the Terminators but they're big enough that it's somehow less noticeable. Chosen are supposed to be mini-Chaos Lords so having two identical ones sort of stands out.

The Chosen Champion has this weapon: a maul topped with a head that looks like the Chaos starburst. That and the third eye makes me think he'd make a good Sorcerer but at a pinch I think you could also use him as a Dark Apostle since the Accursed Crozius now counts as a power maul.

Finally comes the Helbrute, the insane mash-up of Dreadnought and Chaos Spawn. It looks great! Great in a disgusting, makes me worry about the sculptor's mental health sort of way, granted. It'll be a bugger to paint, though, as it's mostly flesh and I'm not quite sure where the metal starts in some places. Still, it's a Dreadnought with toenails, I can hardly argue with that.

Oh, and you get some dice and shit but who cares? Cultists! Squeeeeeeee!

*THWACK!*

Monday 21 January 2013

Hobby Resolutions 2013: better late than never

So, I decided to start a hobby blog. I've been playing various GW games for nigh on ten years now but rather fell out of the hobby a while ago. This wasn't due to any rancour against GW, just that for a while I didn't have much money and it is an expensive hobby. So for the last year I've been struggling to get back in and I decided I needed a bit of motivation: hence this blog.

Success, failure, victories, defeats, models, ideas, it'll all go on here, a real journal of my progress with a few off-colour jokes thrown in. So what are my goals?

Post regularly, post often
This blog is a motivational tool, I should use it otherwise what's the point? It'll give me a place to document my successes and record my failures so I can learn from them. Hopefully more of the one than the other but I'm realistic.

Learn how to paint
There are new paints and my earliest attempts to use them yielded abysmal results so it seems it's not just the rules I'll have to relearn.

Focus on a limited number of projects
The point of all this is to get gaming again as soon as possible so I've narrowed my focus to just three projects, three armies that I really, really want:

Tomb Kings: This was a no-brainer because I already own the army. I got a council tax rebate last year (yes, folks, it can happen) and splashed out on just about everything I needed for a 2,000 points Tomb Kings army. All it needs is building and painting. Since there's a pretty comprehensive Tomb Kings Army Project in the new How To Paint Citadel Miniatures it'll also be a good place to try out techniques.

They're also completely unlike any Fantasy army I've ever played: magic heavy, can't march, chariot units, huge monsters... just so different from the line infantry armies I've had in the past.

Night Lords Chaos Space Marines: Like the Tomb Kings this will be an army to do straight out of the box, quick and simple to get me back into gaming. It also means I can get some use out of the Dark Vengeance set I bought with my Christmas money. Phase two of the project, once I have a functioning Chaos Marine army, will be to expand into some allied Imperial Guard to resurrect my old Lost And The Damned.

And finally, Death Guard Chaos Space Marines: I have always wanted a Death Guard army ever since I read their Index Astartes article. Unfortunately for me, impatiently trying to finish a project quickly, the Forge World conversion kits are too good not to use. This will be a slow build project, probably completed at a rate of about a unit a month.

Try to paint more than I buy
Every hobbyist does it eventually: gets over-enthusiastic and swamps themselves with minis. However, I have a system. Between Dark Vengeance and the Tomb Kings in my cupboard I have plenty of pre-bought models so I should be able to get more done than I buy. (This last resolution is doomed to failure, I know, but I have to try).