....Painting...this is supposed to be fun right?

Yeah so I've discovered I'm not having a whole lot of fun painting right now. The Tzeentch tank was more work than I thought. Now I'm painting the Tau crisis suits. I have one 99% done and let me say this: painting white over black...when did that seem like a good idea. It's kinda a pain in my ass and as I rush to get it ready for Kublacon I'm starting to justify not finishing.

"I'm just gonna sell them to Gavin and he's going to strip them probably..."

"Manny and Trent probably won't even have theirs done..."

"If I smash it against the wall...."

Painting season is just about done for me. I do this every year. The month of Kublacon I race to get some models painted for the big show. Then I don't paint, minus a day here or there, until about September.

Then football starts. And I'm on the couch from 10:00am until about 7:00pm, with a few interludes. Plus monday night football. And I can't just watch football. The local teams are the 49ers and the Raiders, so you see why. You can only watch a car crash so many times before it becomes dull. But even if its interesting, I can't just sit and watch. Don't ask me why.

So I paint. I get the lion's share of my painting done during the fall and winter. This year I got done about 110 models. I know what you're thinking: that's not a lot of models for all that time on the couch. To which I would reply thusly:

One: Shut up.

Two: I paint slow. I'm a deliberate painter.

Three: believe it or not there are interesting games or portions of games where I watch.

Four: painting every sunday for the whole time is the myth. The reality is I paint about 75% of the time. The wife and family do have some demands about me 'being present' at crucial parts of their life.

Five: Shut up.


Anyway, come the end of January, playoff season ends. Usually I've still got the painting bug, mainly because I'm not done with whatever project I'm working on at that moment. So I generally pop in DVDs of a favorite TV show, something I've watched like a dozen times, and keep painting. This year I just watched four seasons of Battlestar (up to the last ten episodes) in like 3 months.

In February, I paint almost every weekend and some nights. In March, I paint most weekends plus some nights. In April it's half the weekends plus some nights. And then in May I paint mostly on weeknights trying to finish whatever project for Kublacon, by which time I'm exhausted from painting...

Then the paints go away until September at which point a wind-chimey voice in my head says "And so it begins..."

Yeah, so no pics right now. So if you just read this whole thing for that, neener neener.

Tank done. Next!

So the tank is done. I didn't really enjoy painting it as much as I thought I would've. I'd always harbored dreams of doing a Thousand Sons army (you know, before they won the codex lottery) and so thought the paint scheme would make it interesting. It's one of those things: about half way through I wanted it done. Now that its done...I really like it.




The symbol on the front and the back: I wanted to do this Tzeentchian graffiti, scrawled by some cultist. So I was deliberately going for the 'rough' (aka bad) look. Think I was a little too literal with the Tzeentch symbol and may go in to make it look a little smother, less like a jelly belly left out in the sun.






Right, onto the next Kublacon project: the Tau. Here's a quick shot of them before they were primed. Mainly to show the bases. I'm gonna do white and red with a few back details, essentially the Tau color scheme from the front of the Cities of Death book.


Haven't decided on what to do for the base. I'm currently leaning towards stone grey with gold for the inset lettering/pattern of the Imperial Basilica. Any suggestions on something that'd contrast with red & white?

Vehicles

Working away on my Tzeentch Demolisher, I realized two things:

1) I haven't painted many vehicles.

2) I don't like painting vehicles.


Once upon a time, I had a blessed arrangement. My wife liked painting, but hated assembling & converting. So she painted two armies for me (and two for herself, which are long gone).

After 4 armies, my wife had had enough and I no longer had a blessed arrangement.

My Mordian tanks very done in a very minimalist style (black with silver rivets & guns, essentially). My Orky vehicles were a little more involved, but still...I didn't do them.

Since then I've painted a lot of models. Easily a couple hundred. But not many vehicles. And, well, I can't say I like painting them. The Tzeentch tank is being kind of a pain in the ass. I'm finding that I'm really not enjoying it, even though I like the look of it. I liked assembling it even less. I remember when I put together my 3 chimeras, basilisk, and russ for my IG that it was a frustrating process.

My Martian SRO has 2 Vendettas and 5 Chimeras.

Crap.

For someone who doesn't like 40K very much...

...I sure seem to have a lot of 40K projects, and none of them are the Martian SRO. Don't have the minis yet. What I'm working on:

What do Orks and Necrons have in common?

Nothing.

I have an Ork army, Deathskulls. Very heavily converted. And, one model aside, I never really made the transition with them to the new codex.

I'd been using my Orks with sniper rifles as Flash Gitz. But it didn't feel right. Flash Gitz have Nob stats and my guys were regular boys. (I think her hear some lightbulbs popping to life)

Yup, Nobs + Necrons = Deathskull Flash Gits with Cybork bodies.

Oh and the box of boys? Nothing, just needed some more boys to fill in a couple mobs here and there.

And this?

This is my Tzeentch Russ Demolisher. Work in progress. I'm playing in this event at Kublacon this. Go to Kublacon.com and search the events for "40K pink slip".

Essentially, it's a 200 pt game where the winner takes the loser's army for the rest of the tournament. People bring a second 200 pt unit (can be from a different army) that goes in a pool. First round losers make a 400 pt army from the pool.

My other selection are some Tau Crisis Suits. They're just primed with some red on them right now, and so didn't make a good pic. When they get painted, I'll post them.

My final project: Updating the Mordian 442nd to the new IG Codex. Got a couple of sergeants who're going to get their arms hacked off and powerfisted up. (Edit: Um...that sounded a lot less wrong in my head. Which probably says a lot about me).

And just for fun: my ogre blood bowl team for this year's Kublacon: The Ten-See Titans.

If you're interested in the event search "BBCS" or "Blood Bowl Championship Series." It's a great event, with digitally rendered pitches by Trent LeClair.

You've never played until you've played on a forcefield over a pit of lava with Tzeentch changing the rules every kickoff ("for this possession...two blitzes per side!")

And a pic of the team captain

First game of 5th ed

Played my first game at Game Kastle (a store you should go to ;-) ) this Sunday. Played a nice guy who was very patient in explaining stuff to me as the game progressed.

Anyway, I played my Deathskull Orks against Marines. Mission was Seize Ground w/Dawn of War deployment. Got wiped out to a man, but had a good time. My after game thoughts:

• Just because you can deploy 24" forward doesn't mean you should. My opponent choose to deploy nothing and then he could move his entire army onto the table. 3 rapid firing tac squads, 2 land speeds, a vindicator, and 2 predators later and my poor shoota boyz mob and warphead went back into the case.
• Outflanking with the deffkoptas was fun. Previously they were warbikers (they're converted to be riding Dark Eldar jetbikes), and this was the longest they were on the board in any game I can remember.
• It's been like 4 years since I played where Marines don't have their performance degraded if you damage the transport. Was hard to get my mind around. Is kind of fun to see mech marines though.
• Even when you're down to a squad of 'Ard boyz, you can inflict some damage. Killed a dread and was whittling down two other squads. Given a little support, it might've made it close.
• Flash Gitz are sorely underestimated. While I rolled over a 4 on all three shots for the AP of my guns, they managed to beat an assault marine squad with a PF sgt and a librarian in melee combat, despite having no power claws. Essentially they're Nobz with 'Eavy armor (so 4+ save and 3 attacks base). The pain boy gave then FNP and I bought the cybork body. Pricey, but well worth it I think.

Anyway, looking forward to another game with them. Need to convert some more guys and fix some guys damaged in the move. Also need to tear off all those sluggas off my PK nobz. I wish there was still the option for more dakka guns. Ah well.

Starting...a new Imperial Guard army

I'm always terrible about how to start these sort of things, so I'll just dive in:

After having the same Imperial Guard army for roughly ten years, I've decided to build a new IG army. The plan is to paint it up during my "Painting Season" (Sept-Jan), play it at Kublacon 2010, and then sell it off.

My current IG army is a steam punk, Space 1889 type army. Which meant that things like Storm Troopers, Valkyries, and mechanized infantry just never fit in. So this is a chance to play with a bunch of stuff that I've looked at forlornly the past decade or so. Right, onto the fluff:

The Martian SRO (Search and Rescue Operations) are a special form of Skitarii commanded by Explorator Tech-Priests. Operating on detached duty, they investigate rumors of STC fragments and other valuable arecheotech. A rapid reaciton force, they secure the site and airlift any valuable technology. They have also been known to drop into hot zones on the front to recover valuable technology lost in combat. Rumor has it these rescue missions are just cover for the SRO to capture xenotech...

(cause, you know, it's 40K. Everything has to have a sinister underside. It's in the rulebook.)

Right the 2000 pt master list, using the new Imperial Guard codex:

Company Commander: power sword, plasma pistol, carapace armor
4 veterans: carapace armor, 3 plasma guns, voxcaster
Chimera w/extra armor

Tech Priest w/1 Servitor

10 Storm troopers: 2 plasma guns, sgt w/power weapon

10 Storm troopers: 2 plasma guns, sgt w/power weapon

Veteran Squad: carapace armor, 3 plasma guns, missile launcher, voxcaster, sgt w/power fist.
Chimera w/extra armor

Veteran Squad: carapace armor, 3 plasma guns, missile launcher, voxcaster, sgt w/power fist.
Chimera w/extra armor

Veteran Squad: carapace armor, 2 meltaguns, heavy flamer, voxcaster, sgt w/power fist.
Chimera w/extra armor

Veteran Squad: carapace armor, 2 meltaguns, heavy flamer, voxcaster, sgt w/power fist.Chimera w/extra armor

2 Sentinels w/Lascannon

Vendetta Gunship

Vendetta Gunship



Edit: oh yeah, I'm going to pull a Cato the Elder (Wikipedia it, ya ignorant wretches) in order to hopefully get proper ads on my blog for two game stores I love:

If you live in Northern California (Bay Area) you should go to Game Kastle in Santa Clara. Best. Game store. Ever.

If you live anywhere else, shop from FRP Games. Best. Online. Retailer. Ever.