Sunday Musings: One Day Early

I haven't done much physical hobby work recently--a few magnetized movement trays is all--but I have done quite a bit of reading. That's one of the great things about this hobby: there are many different facets of Warhammer, so when you lose interest in one or it becomes tedious, you can just focus on another.

I have just recently motored through the entire Malus Darkblade series--assuming it hasn't continued beyond the 5th book. I borrowed these books from a friend after deciding to start a Dark Elf army (eventually). My reasoning behind starting the Delf army is due to my fascination with assassins. That's it. I didn't know much about Dark Elves, aside from the whole being evil thing. Therefore, I figured that reading the Darkblade series would lead to a decent understanding of the Dark Elf race.

What a great series! I won't give a detailed review or anything, but I do recommend these novels to anyone who enjoys reading about the Warhammer world.

The best part of these books was the inspiration it gave me regarding possible army themes. The first idea refers to Malekith's personal guard, known as the Endless. These ladies and gentlemen all wear masks--to take away their personal identity and show that they're only importance is to obey Malekith--and are pretty wicked. In the books, the ones that interact with Malus are a version of Dark Riders, so I see these being mainly core units--Spearmen and Dark Riders--with a unit of Black Guard thrown in and some Cold One Knights and Chariots. I'd use Dark Riders with shield and spears as well as Riders with repeater crossbows. This army would be lead by Malekith's Champion (represented by a Dreadlord).

The second idea is one that I had thought a little about before, but after reading the books, the basic premise was expanded upon: Khainite. There is an entire book dedicated to Har Ganeth--the City of Executioners. There are True Believers who are insanely talented individuals who fight without armor because they don't need it. They never get touched in combat. The executioners are fantastically portrayed, and the Witch Elves are mystical death-dealers that even frighten other Dark Elves. I can envision an army of Khaine dressed completely in white and covered in blood splatter. This would allow for me to load up on Assassins and Executioners--two of my favorite models/units in the Dark Elf list. Magic could come in the form of Khainite priests (in the books, there were male priests who used magic). Cauldron of Blood? Yes please. Witch Elves? You betcha! I think this would be a beautiful and fun army.

So there's what I have been doing with most of my time recently. Throw in a little Skaven rumor-reading (can't wait until November!!!) and some more lusting after a Beasts of Chaos army, and you have my explanation for why I have nothing new painted.

TOEMP Challenge 4.0: Joker!

Fail.

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!

A Question to Fellow Hobbyists: Greenstuff

I suck at using greenstuff. I am never going to be a sculptor, and I don't really expect anything fancy to appear when I'm rolling the yellow and blue together. However, I would like to be competent at filling gaps and such. I think I need some help.

After my recent experience with the Beast of Nurgle, I noticed that the ends of the greenstuff--where I attempted to smooth over a gap--were slightly raised, and did not blend smoothly with the rest of the model. It's as if when I was pulling the greenstuff over the model, the ends didn't stick. Any ideas on how to prevent this from happening in the future?

And when can you start working with the greenstuff? Do you roll it up, apply it to the model, get the general shape and then wait for a while before trying to get make solid designs/shapes/forms?

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.

Pushing the Pause Button

Even though the Tale of Even More Painters just started a few days ago, I'm going to take some time away from this budding project. Every August, my fiance and I volunteer at a bereavement camp in southern Oregon. It's a week long camp, but we are stopping at the beach to visit a friend before heading down, and then will stay with her parents for a few more days after the camp ends.

Expect the paint to start flying when I get back. I don't know what 73rd has planned for our second project, but I'm anxiously awaiting the orders. Hopefully my recently assembled and primed Bloodletters will be able to get some paint on them soon.

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.

TOEMP: 1st Challenge Preparations

So it begins. Here is the start of my Daemon army. Yep. It consists of headless Bloodletters and a few Pestigors. Pretty sad. But that's why I've decided to participate in this cooperative event. The goal is to take these metal and plastic pieces and turn them into something beautiful. Well... maybe not beautiful, but at least something that isn't just plastic and metal.

The Completed Skaven Clan Eshin Army

Tale of Even More Painters: Initial Orders

Received an email from 73rd today. Looks like we're getting ready to go!

Hey Guys!

Time for an update, or what can be considered more of the final draft of things to come.

In this email I will cover dates, schedules, plans and the excitement within the approaching Tale!

Firstly, please make a note of the following dates, as each deadline will be every 10 days and these cover the near future:

First deadline: 17th August
Second deadline: 27th August
Third deadline: 6th September
Fourth deadline: 16th September
Fifth deadline: 26th September

Now as for the schedules, it is difficult to create a permanent one as each of us are involved in different tasks, so I thought to try a more flexible approach; that of changeable targets.

For those of us painting 40k and WFB, set point limits will be created, whereas for those of us painting Epic 40k, those point targets should be doubled.

For example, the first deadline of 17th August will be an easy one to fulfil. Simply paint 100 points, or 200 in the case of Epic 40k, of troops. This can be any troops choice, from Daemons to Space Marines. Now here are the points values, and please keep in mind there are two variations of the word 'points'. The first instance represents the cost of a unit, so 100 points of Space Marines, the other represents the points earned by completing the painting as below:

Standard Points

Foot Sloggers - 1 point each
Bikes/ Cavalry - 2 points each
Walkers/ Creatures - 5 points each
Vehicles/ Chariots/ Large Monsters - 10 points each

Please base these points on the model's base size or overall size.

Challenges

Icons/ Symbols/ Marks - 1 point per model
Eyes/ Lenses/ View Finders - 1 point per model
Walker/ Large Monsters/ Vehicles/ Chariots Details (accessories) and Freehand - 5 points per model

Targets

Beating Deadline by atleast 24 hours - 2 points
Meeting Deadline - 1 point
Missing Deadline - -3 points

Now that covers the points, here are a few benefits:

The Joker Card - Each painter has one of these and it entitles them to skip a single deadline. Can be used to extend time for that special unit but use it wisely. If used, the -3 points for missing a deadline isn't deducted.
The Assault Card - These can be used every deadline and entitle the user to an award (to be confirmed). The Assault Card represents painting more points than required in the schedule. This must be by atleast 50% (150 points in a 100 point target for example). Each time an Assault Card is played the individual may collect 2 tallies (sub-points) to go towards a title from the list below that should be displayed throughout the TOEMP:

Speed Painter - 1 Tally
Perfectionist - 2 Tallies
Lord of Time - 3 Tallies
Master of Time - 5 Tallies
The Accomplisher - 6 Tallies

Of course these extras aren't neccessary to take part in the TOEMP, they are more for fun. Here's something that everyone may enjoy though is a bit of small competition between our group:

Every deadline, I will create a poll for bloggers to vote for their favourite piece/pieces of work as we go along. I will specify that this poll isn't to vote for the nicest painted or converted model, but the all round best effort. The winner each week will be given a digital Trophy to display on their blog if they choose to do so. Remember that this is to expand an army, or create a new one, so don't worry too much about gaining points in certain areas as it should all balance itself out in the long run with a bit of communication.

NOW FOR THE FIRST DEADLINE:

17th August - 75+ points of models. That is the cost of those models in their Codex or Army Book, and not from the list above. For example, 5 Marines at 90 points. This is just a warm up for a bit of fun, so a minimum of 75 points is needed by the 17th and then the points earned can be calculated from the above list. This should be a troops selection, as next deadline we can concentrate on other aspects, and we all know how hard it can be to paint those annoying numbers of troops! So come on guys, let's give it a go.

Let me know if you have any questions or problems, and I have uploaded the TOEMP Logo in all its basic glory as an attachment in this email for those of you wanting to display it and maybe link back to the page I created as I will be updating it regularly during our progress. I'm also currently working on the Trophies and Titles icons.

I look forward to working with you all, this will be a great experience and one that we can all support each other through,

Thanks fellas,

All the best,

Michael - 73rd

So now I need to figure out exactly what my plans are for this Daemon army.

Tale of Even More Painters

73rd over at The Unforgiven Angels has decided to unleash a "Tale of Four Gamers" -type of challenge upon the blogosphere! I've decided to join him on this mad quest, and I will be focusing on a Daemons of Chaos army. I'm extremely excited, because there is an escalation league taking place starting in September, and this will be the perfect sort of thing to get my new army on the table looking all sorts of pretty! More to come--including an army list, goals, etc--when the competition gets underway.

Long-Term Goal Review

2009 Long-Term Goals

Warhammer 40K

• Have 500 points of Eldar painted
• Have 1,000 points of Daemons assembled
• Have 500 points of Daemons painted
  
• Play at least 3 games
  

Warhammer Fantasy

• Have 2,250 points of Clan Eshin Skaven painted [COMPLETED]
  
• Have 1,000 points of Daemons assembled
  
• Have 500 points of Daemons painted
  
• Have 1,000 points of Dark Elves assembled
• Have 500 points of Dark Elves painted
• Play at least 15 games [Currently at 10]
• Start a Beasts of Chaos army
  

Warhammer Quest

• Paint Wood Elf Wardancer [COMPLETED]
• Paint Bretonnian Questing Knight

When I composed these goals, I intended on completing them by the end of this year. It is now the 8th month of the year, and I'm not even close to completing 1/4 of them. Additionally, my focus has narrowed onto Daemons of Chaos, and I'm not concerning myself with Eldar or Dark Elves. Heck, I'm not even sure that Beasts of Chaos are going to be released this year, so how am I going to achieve that goal? I think I should change that to a reward for when I have completed both my Daemons and Dark Elves.

Short-Term Goal Review

Current Short-Term Goals

Warhammer 40K

• Assemble 500 points of Eldar
• Assemble 500 points of Daemons
• Paint 5 Pestigors (that count as Plaguebearers)
  

Warhammer Fantasy

• Paint converted Skaven Ratling Gun by April 20th and submit it to Under-Empire competition [COMPLETE]
  
• Paint 2 Skaven Gutter Runners [COMPLETE]
  
• Convert 2nd Skaven Ratling Gun
• Paint to wash double-based Skaven Warplock Jezzail [COMPLETE]
• Paint 5 Pestigors (that count as Plaguebearers)

General

• Figure out and create or buy Daemon conversion bases/movement trays to go between Fantasy and 40K

My short term goals have changed somewhat since I first posted them. I am no longer even thinking about Eldar, and any 40K that crosses my mind is in the form of Daemons. I love the idea of double-dipping, so to speak. I never know what I want to do with the Eldar, so I never settle on an idea and follow it through.

I'm not going to convert a 2nd Skaven Ratling Gun because I don't plan on playing my Skaven again any time soon. The next time I play WFB will probably be when the new escalation league begins, and I plan on playing my Daemons.

I still need to figure out what I'm going to do with bases/movement trays. I really want to go with round bases so that I can use the models for both 40K and Fantasy, but I know that I'll be playing WFB with them the majority of the time. Time to price-check GF9 custom trays!

An updated version of my short-term goals would read as follows:

Warhammer Fantasy

• Assemble 10 Daemonettes
• Assemble 10 Bloodletters
• Assemble 5 Seekers
• Test model a Horror
  
• Model 4 Humanoid Plaguebearers
• Greenstuff gaps on Beast of Nurgle

General

• Figure out and create or buy Daemon conversion bases/movement trays to go between Fantasy and 40K

Game Night: Eshin vs. Empire

To celebrate the completion of my Eshin army, I took the all-skirmishing force to Game Night to give them one last run. I ended up playing Tom and his Empire.

I was quite worried about his two units of Knights (one unit of 10 Inner Circle with Warrior Priest Lord, one unit of 5 vanilla with full command) when the game started, but my Jezzails absolutely destroyed them. Each unit of Jezzails was averaging 3 dead Knights per shooting phase. By the time the knights got into the midst of my army, they small enough to tolerate. One of my favorite moments came when his Inner Circle Knights trounced a speed bump unit of Night Runners, over-ran, and ended up right between my Globadiers and a unit of Jezzails. Next turn--seven dead knights! (This had to have been the first game that any of my Globadiers or Jezzails failed to kill themselves. )

My Master Assassin was Skitterleaped into combat (courtesy of Irresistible Force) on the 1st turn, and he was supposed to take out the unit of Pistoliers that were going after my Triad. Sadly, as is becoming a habit, he only killed managed to kill one member of the unit, thus getting stuck in combat. He was then charged in the rear by a unit of Flagellants. I thought that for sure he'd be struck down, but the crazed zealots only managed one wound. A unit of Night Runners then charged into the Flagellants' flank, and a nearby Eshin Sorcerer Skitterleaped the Master Assassin out of the combat and into the flank of a 30-man swordsman unit--more specifically, into the flank of his BSB. He only managed one wounding hit on the BSB, but that became five wound (thanks, Fellblade!). The combat was lost, but the Master Assassin stuck around. He held up this unit for two more turns before the combined might of Gutter Runners and his Fellblade broke the unit, and the fleet footed ninja rats ran them down. Of course, the brave Master Assassin succumbed to the poisonous Fellblade on turn 5, right before he was going to kill the enemy Warrior Priest who had hid behind his Champion the previous turn. Such is the Skaven way of life...

I really enjoyed the game. I lost two units to a cannon ball the first turn (only two models were killed, but the unit panicked and then scared off another unit directly behind them). This was problematic, because I had overloaded my left side with a plan of overrunning his right side and then moving on down the flank of the army. For the first time ever--I think--I stuck to this plan and actually saw it through. Having so many placements allowed me to wait out my opponent before tipping my hand. With deployment being something that I have wanted to work on, I was pretty proud of myself.

Tom was a great opponent, and I'd love to get a game in against him in the future.

The best part about the game was that both of us had fully painted armies. I had never experienced that before, and it really increased my level of enjoyment.

Time to get crackin' on the next army!

An Elf Walks In to a Bar...

...to meet his four Skaven Assassin friends.

Finally, I have some pictures to share. I finished painting the Wood Elf Wardancer, as well as the two final Assassins for my Eshin army. Here they be:







The Eshin army is essentially complete. The last thing I would like to do is make a crap-ton of snow and to base the entire army. Then it will be completely complete.