Tomb Kings Time Attack end of week 1

(Soundtrack to this week's hobby: Eddie Izzard: Dress To Kill DVD, Ronnie Barker's Lines From My Grandfather's Forehead, The Goon Show: Foiled By President Fred and Doctor Who: The Companion Chronicles: The Anachronauts.)

I didn't get as much hobby done this week as I intended to, due in the main to having to prepare my flat for a house inspection but I made a little progress. I've also managed to drag my best friend Matt into this hobby challenge business as he now intends to finish a 1,000 points Daemons Of Chaos army over the next month, just as soon as he decides between Tzeentch and Slaanesh. Dave might be getting in on the act, as well, with a Warriors Of Chaos army.

My test skeleton (front rank far right), finished oh so long ago, now has nine little friends to keep him company. Ten models takes me a quarter of the way to my 1,000 points target. Okay, so they're the easiest models in the army but just finishing some models gives me a nice buzz of satisfaction after spending so long faffing around and not really getting anything done.

I took some advice from a friend and used Lahmian Medium as a matt varnish for the most of the models and 'Ardcoat on the shields to make the black spring out at the viewer. It doesn't come out too well in the photographs but its a nice effect. The Lahmian Medium worked perfectly: I've always preferred the effect of matt varnish but as anyone who has used Purity Seal when there's even a single molecule of moisture in the air it fogs faster than the Thames waterfront. These models I varnished at 3am on the last day of February with the heating off and they came out fine.

Speaking of getting things done these two giant rats have been sitting on my paint station for over a year. Not really relevant to anything but it was nice to get them out of the way.

Another model I've been meaning to finish for a while was my Dark Vengeance Chaos Lord. As you can see I've steered away from the traditional Night Lords lightning bolts, it takes a far better painter than me to make those look good. I tried and it just looked cartoony no matter what I did. The model doesn't suffer from it, with all that fine detail it doesn't need the extra embellishment. I must say that Warplock Bronze goes on a treat in just one coat in marked contrast to the golds I was using on the Tomb Kings.

Yes, I've changed my mind again. This started out as my Guardians Of The Covenant test model but after a few layers I just got so bored of all that metal and resprayed the thing. I might not really be intending to use this army in game but there's no point painting something you're not going to enjoy. By contrast, I had great fun painting it as an Angel Of Absolution. I think the bone armour came out really well, though the highlighting on the cape could certainly use some work.

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.

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.

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!*