It is an Honor to Have This Warboss in My Army

Look at my website banner.  See that really awesome Warboss?  The one that's the best looking miniature in my army?  The one painted by my buddy Steve?  Yeah well now, go buy the Cool Mini Or Not 2010 Annual that was just released.  Because that Warboss, the one painted by my buddy Steve, is on page 101.  So buy it, and look at Steve's stuff at CMON, and then vote for his stuff.

Necrons!

Games Workshop has updated their Advance Orders page with Necron goodies.  I seriously think this is the coolest looking release so far. 

Here are the items I like:

Ghost Ark

Command Barge

 Deathmarks

Personal Painting Challenge Wrap Up

After I failed my personal painting challenge, I finished up the Deff Dread, and then decided to take some pictures of what I did complete.  Hit the jump and check out what I did get done, and then take a look at my slowly progressing army.

A warning and a reminder.  Warning, there are a bunch of pictures after the jump so if the page loads slow that's why.  And the reminder: I suck at taking pictures of miniatures, so there's that to deal with too...

Personal Painting Challenge Update #4 - FAIL

Well we saw this coming for quite a while, and it's official, I failed my personal painting challenge.  I really set myself up for this trying to do too much with my normal summer schedule chock full of family stuff, outdoor stuff, work stuff, and drinking stuff (okay that didn't work, I don't just randomly drink stuff, I just find random stuff to do while I drink).  Anyway, add in all of my normal outside summer influences and my already limited free time gets stretched pretty thin.  Knowing this, I probably should have scaled back my ambitious attempt at focusing myself on 40K.  I was working on my Nobz, so I had those to finish, I really wanted to paint my Deff Dread so I put that on my list, and I always need more Ork Boyz painted so I put those on my list.

The Nobz were a treat to paint, but because I magnetized them I had to paint a slew of arms to complete them.  This was fine, but it took longer than I expected.  The Deff Dread was a blast to paint, but for colors I went cheap.  Most of the Dread is black, grey, or metallic.  Splashes of color were mostly reserved for the cabling or details.  However I again magnetized him so all the arms and most of the weapons had to be painted.  Unfortunately timing this weekend got messed up by circumstances in Real Life that curtailed my painting time.  He's almost done, and I can likely have him finished tonight.  His body is all painted except for some minor detail work, attached to the legs, the engines are done and glued on, and really I just have some detail work on the weapons and arms to finish up.  The Ork Boyz were cleaned but I never primered them, and thus didn't even start to paint them.

So while I failed the challenge, the challenge wasn't a failure.  Thanks to this challenge I was able to refocus on 40K, refocus on what made the game fun for me, and refocus on getting my army painted.  I failed at the task I set before myself, and failed my challenge.  But the challenge didn't fail me and I'm more invigorated for 40K than ever before.

Personal Painting Challenge Update #3

When I set up this personal challenge to myself earlier this summer it was an attempt on my part to manifest my re-commitment to 40K and create a challenge to try to fit this into what is always a busy summer schedule for me.  I knew I had put some pretty heady goals for what I was trying to accomplish based on my limited time I could set aside for painting, my penchant for slow as molasses painting even with me dipping, and hard end date of Labor Day.  I'm not throwing in the towel, but the challenge is going to go down to the wire, and hope is fading.

That said, I have made progress.

My Nobz are finished.  I touched up the paint and finished dipping this week.

My Deff Dread is still a work in progress and the painting is coming along.

I have done nothing with the Ork Boyz since getting them ready to be primered.

How can I finish the challenge?  Simply put I need to buckle down and get the Deff Dread done.  IF I can focus on the Deff Dread and get done painting him by the weekend, I have a chance.  Ork Boyz are pretty basic for painting, and with large mobs of them I don't do a lot of detail work.  Yes they look good, but I don't spend the time on them like I do the other models.  I could, if time permits, feasibly get them painted in a weekend.  However it is a holiday weekend, and I am not sure how much time I will actually have.

Its' gonna be close...hopefully I can get them done.

My Personal Challenge - Update #2

In my quest at trying to find ways to fail, I think I've set up a pretty good method this month.  With two camping trips scheduled in August those weeks tend to be a complete loss for painting progress as we spend our evenings packing the camper, and getting stuff around to go.  Or at least that was the case last week.  I wasn't able to do much of anything because I was either working hard to pack stuff up, or was just too exhausted from work and everything else to focus.

But I did get some stuff done after I got home Sunday.  I glued together some of the pieces of my Deff Dread that I wanted to paint as a whole and primered them.  I've finished painting the arms of the Nobz, and have only some of the boss poles that go with them to finish up.  My Nobz bodies are all at my buddy Steve's house in the middle of a game so when that is finished I will bring them home and finish gluing them together and dip them.

I planned to magnetize and start painting the Deff Dread Wednesday, but ended up getting home late from seeing some family.  My plan is to not do much to recess the magnets, because I'm envisioning the arms looking like they are barely connected...which I think will look very Orky.  I'll have to experiment some.  I'm magnetizing the small arms to make it customizable, and the big arms to avoid breakage in transport when I take it anywhere.

The Ork Boyz have had nothing done with them, because they are currently in the middle of the same game that my Nobz are in.  So I'll clean them up and primer them when I get them back to the house.

My Personal Challenge - Update #1

I've been working as diligently as time allows on my Ork Challenge.  I always paint in pieces, and then glue together, so I started gluing together my Nobz.  I have some detail work to do, and the shoulder armor pieces need to be painted, but they are coming together quite nicely.  If I can focus on them like I want, I envision having them dipped by the end of the weekend.

The Deff Dread is completely off the sprues and cleaned up.  I'm going to magnetize the Dread so he can be customizable, so I'm looking at possibly gluing some of the bigger pieces together before I paint.  I also need to primer the pieces.

The Ork Boyz are off the sprues, but have not been cleaned yet.  Once I do that, then I'll primer them and begin the assembly line process of painting them before putting them together and dipping.

I Proclaim My Ork Trukk Complete

I spent a good 20 hours working on my Ork Trukk, and it's finally finished.  I think it came out pretty good, but I'm most pleased with how customizable I made it.  I wanted my Trukk to conform to the WYSIWYG rules, but still allow me to add and remove components to fit it into what points I could allot the Trukk.

I also learned some more and refined my painting/dipping process...which is always a good thing.

Working on the Trukk, I realized the biggest influence on how I painted and pieced it together was the Ramshackle Rule.  It's a special rule for the Orks on how to handle a vehicle destroyed or vehicle explodes hit to the Trukk, and I just wanted the Trukk to look as ramshackle as it could.  Here's what I did to customize the Trukk:

• Added a piece of a rokkit from a stormboy to the back of the trukk (just for cosmetics)
• Magnetized the boarding planks to be removable
• Magnetized the wreckin' ball to be removable
• Magnetized the reinforced ram
• Cybork'd the driver when one of the arms came up missing (I blame my cat)
• Added hooks to the armour plates for easy attachment
• Cut off and reglued the skull on the radiator to make it more crooked
• Misaligned the bars in the cab to make it look more off kilter

The only 2 customizations I made permanent were the red paint job (by the very nature of it) and the stikkbomb chucker (because I forgot it was a customization and so it got pinned to the side of the trukk).  I may go back and change that, but for now I'll leave it as it is.

I have a slew of pictures after the jump, so hit it and enjoy the show.  And of course any feedback (positive or negative) is always appreciated.

Work In Progress: Ork Trukk

Last year when I started dipping my Orks I had planned on doing it just for my standard Ork Boyz and then do traditional painting for what I termed the "fun figures" like my Ork Trukk.  Well after looking at my Orks I've decided to dip everything because I'll get a more consistent look to my army.  So since then I've cleaned my Stormboyz off and repainted them, and now I'm on my Ork Trukk.  I've painted and dipped the frame and trukk bed, and I've painted part of the cab.  My daughter is on spring break this week so I'm not sure if my plan to have it done by the end of the week will pan out or not, but we'll see.

I'm pretty happy with it so far.  I think the only area I'm not please with is the tires.  I tried to make the wheels look like a hodgepodge of patched metal and rubber, and it really looked more clownish than I wanted.  I mean I'm no Cool Mini or Not level of painting, but I'm more interested in painting a table top ready army to game with than to be the next Rembrandt of miniature painting.

Also, if the trukk looks bad remember I don't have the best camera and I'm totally blaming it on that and not my measly painting skills.

Hit the jump to see the pictures.

The Summer Duldrums

Last year I had the same problem.  Summer hits, and I find myself a slave to my wife's naggish whims...and busy with family stuff.  Either way, my productivity in painting, gaming, and blogging all go down.  So I decided to update my pictures of my Boyz.  I was hoping to have more done before I did it, but I'm currently cleaning the paint off my Stormboyz to repaint them to my liking, and my magnets haven't arrived so I've done very little with my Trukk and Deff Dread.

So hit the jump to see some photos of Da Boyz...none of which are as badly Photoshopped as Da Ork enjoyin' da sand 'n da sun on da beach.  Also, these images and more are part of the slideshow on the main page.

Check Out this Blood Ravens Librarian

Not one to pass up an opportunity to wield the frighteningly minuscule power of my blog for good, I thought I'd link to the Blood Ravens Librarian my buddy Steve painted and then posted to Cool Mini Or Not.

I encourage you to go check it out and rate it.

Painting Party and Skirmish reports

Saturday we had another painting party/gaming session.  It was our first time with our new recruit James with us, and while we didn’t do a lot of gaming, we did have a productive time together.

If you haven’t done a painting party, it’s just a great way to really reinvigorate the painting process for everybody.  We can see different statuses of the various works in progress.  We can discuss and talk about all things 40K, and hobby specific topics at leisure while making progress on our minis.  For our group of players it’s something we really have come to look forward to.  We have lots of fun, we pick up different tricks, and we do a lot of smack talking.  Steve says he envisions us as a sort of 40K version of the Marvel Bullpen from the 1970s.  I just think we all have a deep addiction/passion for 40K and combining all that into one room just makes for a dynamic day that is quickly becoming not just a staple, but a key component in our gaming group’s makeup.

A New Year, A New Way To Paint

As my army has grown, and my slow plodding progress in painting hasn't picked up speed, I've started to get worried that I'm going to burn myself out before I finish my Ork army.  I'm not speedy, and I'm probably marginal with my skill at best.  That's not to say I don't enjoy painting, I do.  However, I got Assault on Black Reach, an Ork Trukk, a Killa Kan, and another set of 20 Assault on Black Reach Ork Boyz over the holidays.  Combine with that my Stormboyz I'm almost done with and my Nobz and Warboss I hadn't started yet, and you can see where I would start to feel overwhelmed.  I want to spend time making my Warboss, Killa Kan, and Ork Trukk look really good, but I'm afraid I'll either never get to the Boyz, or the Boyz will take so much time I'll never get to the other pieces.

So I decided perhaps I should attempt a quicker, although not necessarily simpler painting method.  So after researching and getting an understanding for it, I attempted the Dip Method of painting.

God Bless Us Everyone

I hope Christmas was good for you guys, because it was good for me.  I ate too much, I didn't drink enough, and I spent too much time with in-laws.  But other than that, I got Assault on Black Reach and a Killa Kan with Rokkit Launcha to build my army up.

This is cool, because I have a bunch of minis to paint and it gives me an excuse to switch gears on how I paint.  I spend so much time fixating on the details that I'm convinced I'm going to burn out on painting.  So for the rank and file of my army I'm going to start dipping them.  It'll get them painted faster and allow me to spend my time painting the boss units, or big units that just look like fun to paint (like my Ork Trukk).

So, does anybody have any advice before I start dipping?  Any suggestions, tips, or tricks?  I'd love to hear them because I'm going to admit that I'm a little nervous about starting this.

UK Golden Demon Winners 2009

Games Workshop posted the Golden Demon Winners for 2009.

For the record, if I was Sylar from Heroes, these are the people who's brains I wold eat.  (via Games Workshop)

400 pt challenge update - Howl Like a Wolf

I've been sick, and my mind has been battered by the warp. I have pulled myself out of my delusional state long enough to post pics of the my buddy Chris' army for the 400 point challenge.

For those who are unfamiliar, my friends and I - in an attempt to give us motivation to paint - have embarked on a 400 point challenge. We are painting 400 point value armies to then combat each other so that I can win and rub it into them.

Da Boyz vs. Da Humies

So the 400 point challenge that has been mentioned numerous times out here is facing an end at some point soon. We had left it somewhat open ended, but the time is coming soon (so I really need to get my Stormboyz done so I can get the Nobz done so I can do my Warboss, man I'm behind).


That said, the beginning of the end started when my buddy Steve sent out this picture of his Space marines.

So, obviously I had to respond with Da Boyz
Obviously Steve is farther ahead. But they're just marines. They look good, but they just miss that snarling bloodthirsty look Da Boyz have. Or at least that's what I try to tell myself everytime I look at his picture. Man, they just look so good, better than mine, in my opinion. My only consolation will be when I crush his poor misguided Throne worshippers.

So I finished up Da Boyz Last Week

You might have noticed that my posting schedule has been erratic. I'm not gonna lie. I've been putting in a lot of hours at work, and when I'm home I'm either painting, sleeping, playing an occasional video game, or trying to catch up with the family. It's not any better this week, as I currently am taking a short lunch at 11:30 after having come into work at 4:00 am (yes I was up at the ungodly time of 2:30 this morning -insert pathetic violin music as I beg for sympathy-). Eventually things will settle down....I hope. But until then, at least I have a job.

So I wanted to give an update. I haven't taken any pictures recently, but I have finished up Da Boyz, or at least my share of them. Out of the box for Da Boyz, I have made 8 Boyz and 1 Big Shootah. For those good with math that's 9 of the 10 bases included. The last base is actually reserved for my 6 year old's Ork Boy that she's about half way through. She hasn't painted in a while, and she loses interest after a bit, but I'm trying to engender a love of 40K and all things nerdy with her.

Over the weekend I didn't get as much painting time as I had hoped, but I did get started on my box of Stormboyz. These guys are going to be fun. First of all, I was expecting them to be more like Zagstruk. Zagstruk was fun, but where he had a lot of detail, he didn't have any real customization. I probably shouldn't have expected much customization, but remember I am a neophyte, and Zagstruk was my first metal piece. I was used to having all sorts of oddz 'n bitz to use on Da Boyz, and Zagstruk didn't have that. I realize now it wasn't a Stormboyz thing but a metal showpiece/boss thing. So the Stormboyz have all sorts of different customization that can be done. Like the seemingly infinite possibilities for the different rockets. I spent my time this weekend trying different rocket combinations to settle on the 5 I will be using. I could still change...except for the one with the gretchin/grot (I'm assuming gretchin, but my newbie ways say maybe it's a grot) piloting it. I love that rocket. I also love the gretchin that you can have holding onto a rocket with a stikbomb in his hand. That is just vintage Orky goodness. Violent, yet funny.

So I'm going to paint the rockets, then paint the figures to put them together. I hope I can get the 5 Stormboyz done faster than the Ork Boyz since I'm WAY behind on the 400 point challenge.

I'm also going to get some pictures taken this week. I promise.

Adventures in Pinning

Tragedy struck the other day when Boss Zagstruk's arms popped off. First one arm, and then as I was trying to re-glue it the other one. Being a heavier metal model I had thought about pinning his arms, but decided that since there were rectangular guides pinning wasn't necessary. Sadly I was wrong.

The guides for Zagstruk's arms are just that, they are guides. The recesses on the arms and the protruding guides are both very shallow, so they direct how to have the arm on the body, but they don't really hold it in place. The leg is different, there is a very pronounced rectangular post you have to fit the leg piece onto (I actually had to file the post and the hole in the leg to get the leg to fit properly).

So I decided to pin the arms. Man I was really nervous. I spent so much time on Zagstruk I didn't want to ruin him, but I didn't want parts of him just coming off either.

First lesson in pinning: Pay attention to the instructions. I didn't buy a pinning kit, I just used the how to guide from a recent White Dwarf. If I hadn't paid attention I would have likely had holes that didn't line up that would have led to some very uneven looking arms that weren't quite flush with the body. The instruction have you drilling a hole, putting in the pin, then dipping a little glue on the end of the pin so that when you put the pieces together you have a clear spot where to drill. Solid advice.

Second lesson in pinning: It doesn't take much to pin. The piece from White Dwarf suggested using a paper clip to create the pin as it is the right size for the hole and you can clip it down to the length you need. This is ideal for me since a)I'm cheap and b)I have no problem with white collar crime. So I took some paperclips from work to have a supply for pinning. However, it doesn't take much paper clip to create a viable and working pin. So my handful of paperclips will last me forever. After realizing that I had way too much for pinning I clipped the piece down. And then clipped it down again. And then one more time. You need something to hold it in place, but you don't need it to be too big (mostly because you have to drill forever to get a hole deep enough for a large pin).

Third lesson in pinning: Glue. You need to glue the post into the first piece too. My first attempt at pinning Zagstruk I thought I had the post in snug, so I put a bit of glue on the end to line it up, but I didn't actually glue in the post. So after mounting the arm onto the body, the arm fell off the body having transferred the post from one piece to the other.

Fourth lesson in pinning: Putting the pin in the first piece. The book said to put the pin in the deepest piece to drill first, this wasn't the easiest way (for me anyway) to pin. The deepest piece to drill into would be the body on Zagstruk. But for the second arm I put the pin in the arm first. I actually found it easier to work with the pin in the arm. Maybe it's splitting hairs, maybe it's just psychological. All I know is I felt more comfortable having the pin in the arm first.

To be honest, pinning was a lot easier and less nerve-wracking than I thought it would be, once I got started and worked out the kinks. I will be continuing to pin my heavier metal models from now on as I feel much more comfortable that the added weight of the metal won't break the glue bond with that pin there.

Anybody else have any suggestions or ideas for pinning?

Boss Zagstruk

After starting, getting sidetracked by Dawn of War II, restarting, stopping to get ready for my step-daughter's open house, restarting yet again, and probably 15 - 20 hours of total time working on him: Zagstruk is finished...for the most part. I have a few minor details to finish up (a decal on a wing, a couple parts that need the colors blended at the seams, seal the paint...), but in my grandest George W. Bush moment I'm willing to call him finished even with some work left to do.


I'm pleased with him. I'm surprised how hefty, and how large he is. I mean I knew he'd be heavier since he was metal, and I knew he'd be larger...but he's substantially larger than I expected.


I tried some new techniques, mixing paints, using some washes, I still did some dry brushing, but I also used my detail brush to highlight some of the highs and lows in the details as well.


The final push to complete him came at my buddy Steve's painting party. Not many could make it, but those of us who did all accomplished something. Jason (of Bob Waaagh! fame) is working on terrain and he completed his sacrificial pool. Steve made headway on several of his Space Marines. I got there late, and spent probably 5 1/2 hours on Zagstruk. I'm glad he's done - his was the first miniature to exhaust me - but now I have a boat load of catching up to do on our 400 point challenge. I have to finish my boyz, I have to paint my Nobz and Stormboyz. I have a Warboss to paint...and while it seems a lot....I'm loving every minute of it.