Goals for 2010

I have one goal for 2010: To complete my Daemons of Chaos army in time to participate in the Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge. I believe this is in July or August.

Therefore, I am going to have to assemble and paint some things starting, uh... now.

I have next week off, so I hope to actually get the ball rolling.

Here's the current state of things:





Time to get to work.

Beastletter and Plaguebeastman Standard Bearer

Yes, I'm going to insist on using lame names for these creations. Why? Because I find it entertaining.

Anyhoo, here's a pic of the two models:



I really am proud of the standard that the Plaguebeastman is holding. I used a zombie head and a body from the corpse cart, in addition to a standard Ungor spear arm. The inspiration came from an image in the Boom! Studios graphic novel, Forge of War.

Baemons/Daestmen

I've actually done a little work on my Beastman-themed Daemon army. I have completed a sample Beastletter, as well as a heavily-modified, standard-bearing Plaguebeastman. I plan on getting pictures up on Friday.

Now that I have received a bunch of the items I need to crank-out some units, I plan on doing just that.

*crosses fingers*

Sunday Night Musings: Hobby Time

Being productive in this hobby is tough.

I have found that I spend most of my hobby time reading other hobbyists' blogs or browsing forums (or writing posts like this one on my lack of motivation). I get great ideas from these sources, but they typically stay plain 'ol ideas--they do not evolve into an actual product.

For instance, I started a Daemons of Chaos army because my fiance bought the Masque of Slaanesh for me as a gift. I decided that I should use that model as a springboard for an entire army. I spent some time developing possible lists, and even joined the Tale of Even More Painters as motivation to work toward a completed DoC army.

The motivation lasted a few weeks, but has since dwindled. During that "motivated" time, I was able to assemble and paint a Beast of Chaos and convert a Herald of Nurgle.

After that?

Pfffffttttt....

I have ideas on what I want to do next. I have developed an armylist that I am working toward building, and I have even listed what models I need for what unit and where I am progress-wise. I have the models necessary to complete a few of these units, but I find myself unwilling to take the next step and actually work on them. It's as if structuring the hobby makes it seem too much like a job. Yet if I don't add some structure to it, I never get anything done.

I need to restrict the amount of time I spend developing ideas, and use the time gained to actually grow my physical army.

The Cheese Comes After the Whine

After my previous pouting session, I've decided to suck it up and move forward. When an army is lacking punch, you add some punch. Therefore, I've brainstormed some ways to make that happen.

First of all, I'm planning on having a Daemon Prince of Khorne lead my army. Throw on some wings, a Collar of Khorne, and some Armor of Khorne on him and you essentially have a Bloodthirster with a Nerf axe--it's much friendlier, but can still be effective. Best of all, I have an idea for a model to represent it: Dragon Ogre Shaggoth with wings added. I love the Shaggoth model--it's one of my favorites, ever--and it would be a perfect opportunity to include one in my army.

So that takes care some of my issue with mobility and a bit of my lack-of-hitty issue.

A second idea I have is to include a Herald of Tzeentch on Disc or on a chariot. This would function as mobile shooting via magic. Additional bonus: I'd use the Be'Lakor model (yet another personal favorite) to represent this herald. I'd just have to make sure to let my opponents know that it is not a Daemon Prince or Greater Daemon. With the group I play with, I don't think this would be a problem.

If nothing else, these two characters will provide a distraction that should allow the rest of my army to march up the field without being the sole focus on my opponents' attention.

Other fun ideas: Using Centigors to represent either Fleshhounds, Fiends of Slaanesh, or Seekers of Slaanesh. Just brainstorming more ways to include Beasts of Chaos figures in the army.

I have enjoyed painting the Nurgle Daemons thus far, and I think that I'll enjoy painting models from the other gods, too. Thus, I'm going to focus on building an army I like and will like to paint, and hopefully will learn to enjoy playing it, too.

TOEMP Challenge 3.4: Herald of Nurgle finally completed!

Despite it being a late entry, I have completed my Herald of Nurgle. Sadly, I have not constructed a unique profile for him, as he's just going to be a Herald on Palanquin with the Staff of Nurgle in my 2250 point OFCC list.




I'm really, really proud of how he turned out. It was the most greenstuff I have ever used on a model, and I think that it looks pretty decent. There are enough tentacles on the base to adequately represent a Palanquin (hopefully).

Before last night I really hated the teeth, because they were just several white streaks on top of the base color. I decided to put some extra effort into them today before calling the model finished, and I think it turned out well.

Now on to Challenge #4!

TOEMP Challenge 3.3: Herald of Nurgle project failed!

So close to finishing this guy! Sadly, there was just too much real life interference today to allow me to complete him. Anyway, as I'm not going to be able to work on it anymore before the deadline, here he is in his current state.

I still need to highlight the pink tentacles, horns, hooves, claw, staff, and mouth. The base needs to be completed, as well. But, I like how he has turned out thus far. I tried for a a decayed greenish brown skin color so he wouldn't look just like a regular old Beastman.



Comments are always appreciated.

TOEMP Challenge 3.2: Herald of Nurgle gets some paint!

Too tired to think of something relevant to type. Here are the pics of the current state of the Herald:





Tomorrow is the last day I have available to paint, so I'm hoping to get this finished early.

TOEMP Challenge 3.1: Herald of Nurgle

I've decided to work on converting a Herald of Nurgle on Palanquin of Nurgle for this 3rd challenge. Initially, I was going to work on converting a Herald of Slaanesh, but because I enjoyed painting the Beast of Nurgle so much, I figured I might as well continue working with the god of decay.

I've used the Morghur model as the base of this conversion. The Pestigor models are some of my absolute favorite models, and the Morghur model is fantastic, as well. The model belongs on a bigger base to begin with, so it just made sense to add some more gooey-ness and call it a palanquin. I wanted to make the Beastman himself to look more mutated, so I added a scorpion tail--and it just so happens to fit with the whole poison thing.

Anyway, here is the start of the conversion:




I'll be posting updates as the model progresses.

TOEMP Challenge 2.3: Just Another Touch

I added a few extreme highlights to the Beast, as I wasn't super happy with the prior results. Now, after the very simple additions, and a little bit of wash here and there, I'm pleased.

TOEMP Challenge 2.2: Completed

I was worried for a bit that I wouldn't make it, especially after misplacing the paint recipe for my Nurgle friends. Luckily, I'm still on vacation, so I was able to spend the day painting. I have no idea what I'm going to do for this army regarding bases--I'd like them to function for 40k as well as Fantasy--so those didn't get any attention.

Here's a companion shot of the Nurgle with his Plaguebearer relative:



Looking forward to the next challenge!

TOEMP Challenge 2.1: Greenstuffing Papa Nurgle's Pet

After getting settled back at home after a lot of time off, I was finally able to dive into the second challenge--well, technically it's my first since I was gone during the first challenge, but...

I have decided to paint up a Beast of Nurgle that I assembled a while back. The model had tons of gaps and didn't fit together very well, so I greenstuffed the crap outta it. For the firs time, I'm trying to make sure there aren't any apparent seams in my figures. I still struggle controlling the greenstuff, but I feel that I'm making progress. I added a very slight Nurgle icon on the beasts chest using greenstuff, but I didn't want it to be prominent because there is already one on his belly that comes standard on the model. I'll post a picture tomorrow when there is better light.

I hope to get the Beast primed tomorrow, and might even be able to get the basecoat on. I owe my Fiance a lot of "us" time, so I don't think I'll get much more than that accomplished tomorrow. Tuesday and Wednesday should be open to painting, and I'm confident that I'll have the time to get him finished.

To make up the extra points needed (the Beast costs 100) I'm going to finish painting a Screamer of Tzeentch I started previously. That'll give me the 130 points I need to meet this challenge.

TOEMP: Basing the Pestigors

I've been busy getting ready for the camp I volunteer at every summer, so I haven't had much time to work on models, but I did manage to get my Pestigors glued to their bases before slapping on some Black Lava (Vallejo). I used some greenstuff to help mount the Pestigors. After I was finished with that, I had some greenstuff left over so I decided to fill in some of the gaps on the currently headless Bloodletters. This is the first time I have done such a thing, and I'm interested to see how they turn out. I left some Bloodletters untouched--as a control group--and will determine whether or not I'm going to do this with all my models in the army. With my last army, I did a lot of basic gluing, drybrushing, and washing to get the army finished. With this army, I'd like to try to work at making a more finished product.

I'll be able to work on some things tomorrow morning, but after that, I'll be leaving town for at least 12 days. Fortunately, 73rd has been kind enough to allow some of to have a "delayed start" of sorts, so I won't get hosed for having a pre-planned scheduling conflict.

Tomorrow I hope to at least get my Pestigors primed. If I'm lucky, I'll get the Bloodletters based, too.

Mold Lines... How I Loathe Thee

So I haven't been very active in the physical aspect of the hobby world as of late (How many times have I started out a post with a phrase similar to this?). What I have been doing, however, is participating in Deathmaster Mik's ORPG, "The Armor of Woe," on The Under-Empire, and weighing the pros and cons of sticking with an Eldar army. Those things don't yield a physical product, but they do count as "hobby time."

This weekend I decided to break out some of my Daemon bits and start scraping away all the annoying excess plastic that tarnishes their allure. I haven't been spending a lot of time on this, just a few minutes here and there, but I have managed to clear off Bloodletter torsos x10, left arms x10, and legs x20. I also filed away all the metal flashing on my five Pestigors.

I'm having trouble imagining Daemon armies running around with banners and musical instruments, so I'm going to have to figure out how to model appropriate "counts-as" figures that eschew such items. Most of my Daemon units won't use command models, but I think that the Nurgle unit will need a command, and probably my Daemonette unit, too. The Bloodletter units will just be blocks of killy-death, so the only possible upgrade will be a Champion.

Daemons of Chaos 2250 point idea

Here's the 2250 army I'm thinking about working toward:

Herald of Slaanesh - Many Armed Monstrosity, Level 1 Wizard
Herald of Slaanesh - Etherblade, Steed of Slaanesh, Level 1 Wizard (might get rid of this)
Herald of Nurgle - Palanquin, Level 1 Wizard
Herald of Khorne - Chariot of Khorne, Armor of Khorne, Soul Hunger

16x Plaguebearers of Nurgle
10x Bloodletters of Khorne
10x Bloodletters of Khorne
17x Daemonettes of Slaanesh
10x Horrors of Tzeentch
5x Furies
5x Furies

5x Seekers of Slaanesh
5x Screamers of Tzeentch

1x Fiend of Slaanesh
2x Beasts of Nurgle

6 PD
6 DD
90 Models
11 Deployments

There is really no rhyme or reason to the units in this army aside from just throwing in units I have and units I want to have because I like them. I'm pretty sure that, being Daemons, the army won't suck no matter what I take, so composition isn't too important to me. The above list only has one of the "ugly" combos--the regenerating Plaguebearer unit.

I see the Herald of Slaanesh on Steed being a suicidal knight killer. The Herald of Khorne on chariot will just run around slamming into things, hopefully causing plenty of casualties. QUESTION: Does Soul Hunger work on chariot attacks? Or is it just for the attacks the Herald makes himself? If it works on the chariot, too, then this guy is going to be uber-deadly.

I'm not really planning on having any useful magic, but I didn't want to be weak in that department, either--especially concerning defense. But it is really hard to have a legit defense without having a Spellbreaker and such. I don't know if there is going to be any way to have a good defense without including a Herald of Tzeentch...

Just jotting down my jumbled thoughts...

First Screamer

I hate painting yellow. I'm only going to do one more yellow model, and that happens to be a Horror. Then I'm swearing the color off.

New toys!

Just received three separate Ebay packages, all of which contain miniatures for my Daemons of Chaos army:

1 Morghur, Master of Skulls (This guy will be used as my Herald of Nurgle on Palanquin)
5 Beasts of Chaos Pestigors (These fellows will be Plaguebearers)
10 Daemonettes (new plastics)
10 Bloodletters (new plastic, and some of my favorite models)

With these additions, I will have a unit of 10 Plaguebearers, 10 Daemonettes, and 10 Bloodletters--a solid core to my slowly materializing army. I'm planning on converting at least one more Plaguebearer out of a Zombie, which would give my Plaguebearer unit three ranks when the Herald is included.

Adding a little something to the Plaguebearers

After getting some good advice from willydstyle on Ordo Fanaticus, I added some verdigris corrosion to the blades of my Plaguebearers. I went a little over-the-top, but I like the effect. Next time I'll tone it down a bit.

First 5 Plaguebearers

After posting the picture of my test Plaguebearer, I decided that it was too bright and clean. So I dirtied it up with some Devlan Mud. I liked the result, so I painted up the other four PBs.

Something new that came of this little project was the documented painting process: I wrote down each stage of painting so that I could easily complete additional models. It also allowed me to take a look at what stages were unnecessary so that I could cut them in order to streamline the process. I think I'm going to be doing this from now on.

Anyway, here is a picture of the five Plaguebearers:

Test Plaguebearer