Fortress of Redemption project

Well, this week was busy. My weekend was overtaken by out of town family. So my painting progress suffered because of it. I did get a lot of work on my Fortress of redemption. I started with the tower. It was the portion that worried me the most. This is the part that is a centerpeice if the structure. If this section failed, the whole peice failed. Luckily, in my opinion, the wings came out clean looking, almost a marble sheen that doesn't really come out in the picture. All of the trim needs to be painted and dry brushing of the robes and the trim need work for it to be done.

So, I'm going to keep this week's post short & sweet. Hopefully, next week will warrant completion of this part. After that, I'm gonna switch to a squad before I do the main portion of the fortress. See you next week.

Work in prgress.

    My painting progress over the last couple weeks is a little sparse, but I did finish my Eldar Nightwing. I actually received this model more years ago than I want to admit to. When I started to assemble this model the top hull piece was about a 1/2 inch shorter than the bottom. I feared, for more time than it was worth, trying to repair this flaw. I never worked with putty (Green Stuff) before now. I really feel that the model came out beautifully. So, this is the final product. All that is left is the base. Unfortunately, I need to order one.

    Next is a brief look to the future. I need to organize myself  and set goals. I decided to use the hobby progress challenge from the The Independent Characters podcast.

     This is an add-on to my existing Dark Angels army. I will putting up more pictures of my existing models. Especially, comparative squad just to compare my older to current painting skills, that which they are. All of which need to be done by November.

My 1850 point list is:

 Company Master  with power sword, Lion's Roar, artificer armor, digital weapons, and melta bombs.                                             160 points

Librarian  with auspex and melta bombs and increase mastery level.                    110 points

Tactical Squad (10) with flamer and M. Launcher Melta bombs.                  165 points

Tactical Squad (10) with plasma gun and H. Bolter, Plasma pistol.                      185 points

Devastator Squad (10) with plasma cannon, 2 M. launchers, and Lascannon               205 points

Nephilim Jetfighter                         180 points

Ravenwing Attack Squadron (6) with flamer, power sword, and melta bombs. Attack bike with Mulimelta                                        251 points

Ravenwing Support Squadron (2) 1 typhoon with heavy flamer, 1 tornado with heavy bolter and assault cannon.                                155 points

Company Veterans (8) with 1 plasma pistol,
1 power sword, 1 lightning claw,
1 combat shield                              209 points

Fortress of Redemption with heavy bolters
                                                         230 points.

Yes, I did include a Fortress of Redemption. It is a beautiful building that I was terrified of messing up. This year is my year for confonting some of the things that I haven't tried yet. So, wish me luck.

A brand new toy

      The idea of starting a new game is scary at times. I'm not talking about Scrabble or the new God of War. A new miniature war game starts with a lot of choices. The first thing to consider is the game itself and what you need to play it. Basically, any game you want to play will require a rule book, miniatures (of course), a surface to play on, and most likely terrain of some sort. Hopefully, you have a friend or local gaming store to guide you with a table and terrain. Usually, someone is your gateway to this game. They should be able to teach you the rules or loan you the core rules. That leaves priority one on your shoulders. What army, faction or gang do you want to play?

      I think there are a few major factors, and an infinite number of minor ones, that will sway your decision. First one that comes to mind for is character archetype. What do you want your force to portray? Is it the devout followers of the god of light or the assassins that are sworn to destroy them? How about the fallen heroes or the police force of the region, whether they are good or bad? The army may be the mechanical constructs or alien life forms that eat everything in their path. Whatever your flavor, there is some army or character within the army for you.

       The next major factor is presentation. The way the models look is a huge factor when making a choice. I know, for me, if the minis don't click with me I am not going to spend money or time to assemble and paint them. There were many characters and squads that sat in my paint box just because I couldn't bring myself to paint them. The perfect example for me is the Lizard men Saurus  units. I painted all my skinks and Slann, but just can't finish the army because they just don't speak to me. The color scheme just never looked right. I googled snakes, alligators, monitors, & all kinds of reptiles to get a scheme that worked. I even consulted a friend of mine who is a reptile fanatic. I painted a dozen or more models, stripped & repainted them. All to no avail. So, I don't see they will ever get finished.

     The final decision for me is how they play on the table. An army needs to work. It can't be this kind of unit sitting next to a different type of unit and they don't work together. They need to perform the way you intend to use them. You can't expect Orc Arrer Boyz to run forward and beat down Chaos knights in close combat. It's not gonna happen!

   From there, you can decide on theme, paint schemes, armies that your friends play, your personal effects to the battlefield. These I consider minor, because you can paint a Space wolf army black and silver if that is what you really want. The conversions and objective markers and terrain features to go with your army are all defined after the force decision is made.

   I hope this helps anyone looking into starting a new force in a game you already own or getting into a new game altogether.

Taking flight.

        Most of my post so far have been on scenery. My thoughts on how to hide a guardsman in a copse of trees or ruined buildings.Tonight, my thoughts turn to the skies. Or at least 6 inches off the table top. Today the new Death From the Skies compendium came out. As a long time player of speeders, skimmer tanks, and jet bikes, I am used to weaving in and out of terrain at about 2 inches off the table. For these, trees & low buildings or ruins are your friend. A Vyper can easily dash from behind a hill to the safety of ruins and never be seen. It's actually easier than trying to do the same with ground bikes, tanks or infantry. The mobility of skimmers makes them invaluable for hiding and moving secretly.

     But today, I'm looking higher. Should I be making terrain high enough to hide a squadron of Vendetta? The question really is, are we trying to create high flying aerial dogfights or strafing runs through the streets of Los Angeles. I already own and have building of 9 inches or higher. But as a tournament organiser or group host, are you obligated to provide a hiding place for a Storm Raven. I don't think so. It would be nice for 1 or 2 that might obscure, but for the ground part of the game to flow you can't have a table full of spires and multiple story ruins.  Squads would be climbing out of one building into the third story of another. There are just not enough turns in a game for that.
         But, for all the jets and drop ships in the 41st millenium, I am really surprised that the only warrriors to not employ aerial combat are also the dogs afraid to teleport, too. I hope the best for them.
   
    

Supernatural Intervention

      This week , I was watching the last week's episode of Supernatural. God bless the DVR. One of the characters states "Abbadon was a demon knight of Hell. All of the demon knights were killed by the Dark Angels." Sounds like some serious foreshadowing to me.

     That got me thinking of the direction of my painting that has been less than what I want it to be. When I first decided to start a blog, I was setting a 2 week painting goal. 1 squad and 1 vehicle painted start to finish in 2 weeks. This is the perfect goal for me at that time. Well, since my 2 year old decided that he doesn't need to sleep anymore. My painting has dropped off, but the blog has picked up. Despite that, I am going to restart my efforts and  I want to concentrate on my Dark Angels collection. I call it a collection more than just an army due to my level of involvement.


Ancient warrior or new addition?

I own more models than I would field in any normal fight. Anyway, I'm not here to brag. Not at all. There are plenty of people with far more models than I. And my wife would certainly not be happy if I told her I have more  little men than most gamers. My intentions were to build a battle company, with plenty of Deathwing and Ravenwing add-ons to go with it. This way I would have anything I want to play with.    
    I decided to go for a long term goal for my painting. This week I will be posting my list on the   The Independent Characters podcast forum. This will include the remainder of  my Dark Angels battle company. Included in this list will be 2 Tactical squads, Devastator squad, and veterans for the chapter. I am going to add only 2 characters, just to keep with the force organization chart. And for theme, and the fact I should really paint it, the Fortress of Redemption.

   This will be giving me a long term goal of November. Which should work well for me as long as my boy decides to start sleeping again. 1850 points should be attainable. Of course, I will be putting updates here as well. Talk to you next week.

Building Rome: Part II

      Alright, I am back this week for an update on our city fighting terrain project. We have 5 buildings structurally assembled and based. The final vision is to cover a complete 4 foot by 6 foot table with a tile system. Every tile will have some kind of feature on it. From buildings to a  park piece, and the roads to finish the table off, we should have everything we will need for a believable cityscape in the grim future. The geography of this near desolate city has been bombarded by years of warfare and strife.

 This Imperial habitat is one of the many recruitment points for the Space marines. Many buildings are dedicated to the chapters of the emperor's sky warriors. The mausoleum is going to have a sarcophagus with the interned body and a honor guard of marble. Also, a statue. Tiles of debris & streets will complete this tabletop.

   So, far the footprint of this projec  is         aproximately 21" x 36' So we are almost 1/2 half way through, yet we have only really started. There is still all the priming, painting, basing, and sealing. So completeing Rome is going to be a little longer than a day. Hopefully, it won't take as long as completing the whole empire... But don't worry. I will keep you inform.
   Also,on a side note, I painted my Aegis Defense Line. But, I neglected to take a picture. I guess I have content for next week. Talk to you all then.
     

 

Trains to terrain

      I decided to take my boys to a model train show this morning. Though this has very little to do with war gaming or painting, it has a lot to do with modeling and scenery. It really got me thinking about the small details of scenery that are usually missed.

      First thing I noticed was scenic & structure alignment. Most things in nature occur in lines. Not necessarily straight lines, are in lines, none the less. I'm not just saying 1 tree after another after another. More of a starting & stopping  point along the landscape. Think of a river, tree line or rock formations. Buildings, as well, are in columns or rows and they are usually dependent on the topography they are located in. Nobody builds structures at 37.4 degrees of angle different from the one next to it. Unless, of course, they are building on a cul-de-sac. Most wars are not fought in suburbia, U.S.A. This display, of course, was set up for visual aesthetic, but still represented these lines. City structures are easy to place on a table. They are all parallel or perpendicular to other buildings around them. If you are doing wilderness terrain, tree outcrops and rocks should follow the lay of the land.

      The next thing I took note of was the details. The grass, gravel, and brush are the little details that make the big difference. There is, typically a line between terrain types. The most notable on the train display was where the grass met the gravel for the tracks. They put a line of lichen to show where the grass is trying to retake that ground. this is one little detail that needs to be added to all my outdoorsy terrain pieces. I just need to make sure not to overload the area and be able to place a miniature. Buildings, for city fighting, should have debris or dirt and garbage laying up against it. I'm sure no one was out sweeping the walks just before your troops walked into town. This part is all about building your terrain pieces.

     The last thing in all this was the cool factor. They had clouds, thunder & lightning effects, planes and hot air balloons. None of these would I set up on a battlefield, especially the cloud effects. But that would be pretty cool effect and reminder for night fighting or using the Storm Lord's special ability. Planes would be cool and pretty easy here. I could just loop fishing line through the drop ceiling and attach the plane to the line. That would certainly give a more cinematic feel to the table .

    In the end, my boys loved the trains and i got some great terrain ideas. So, I am off to make my little world a better place. Thanks for stopping by.