Work in Progress, Part 3

Tactical squad # 5

      Here I am, feverishly working on my Dark Angels. Another Tactical squad done. I am officially down to 18 more models for my hobby progress challenge (a light at the end of a very dark green tunnel). The last DA tactical squad I ever plan on painting. Unless, of course, someone decides to buy me the entire chapter deal that GW decided to sell. Somehow, I seriously doubt that's going to happen. And I could easily find better uses for $11,000. OK. Enough of that tangent. Before them is my veteran squad, minus one that I already painted, and a land speeder. My plans are to be finished by the end of October. We shall soon see if that hold true.

   In case you haven't noticed, I placed my models on a convenient piece of terrain that I happened to have finished. I cut the foam for it over three years. It was intended to be a spawning pool themed for my lizard man army. Unfortunately, I have more terrain pieces done for that army than I have models completely painted. So, I just removed some of the iconography from the stone work and painted and based it more generically. Looking at it now, I feel that it needs a tree or some larger plant growth to break it up just a little. Otherwise, I am very pleased with it. This weekend will possibly include some work on our cityscape table and hopefully work out my list for my next army project: Eldar.

    The last thing I wanted to add tonight was a recommendation. Check out this site and add your support for  http://thelordinquisitor.com/. These guys are doing a wonderful job bringing the Warhammer 40k universe to light. Watch the trailer. You won't be sorry.

   I'm off for tonight. I need to actually update my progress on the independent characters forums. I don't think I've update my progress in 2 months there. Oops!. Well, at least the painting is getting done. That is the actual goal. See you soon.

Space Marines released!

The 1st and only

        Well, if you follow this hobby at all, you know that the new Space Marine codex is out and, hopefully, 6th edition will never be the same. I, as of this post, haven't even laid eyes on the book. I will catch up during the week. But, this week has cursed me with little sleep and less time for painting and modeling. My work on the Space Marines that matter to me has been affected, but ongoing. I got a tactical squad base coated,  washed and moved onto detail work. That leaves only 1 more tactical squad, a veteran squad and a land speeder. If all goes well, I am hoping to finish them up by the end of October. I really thought I would be farther along at this point. Unfortunately, life interrupts most of my free time.

  Enough about the armies of the imperium, the Xenos got some love this week. I finished basic assembly on my wraith knight. What an interesting model! The pictures don't really do it justice. The model is huge. You need to see one in person to appreciate the size of it. Now I need to purchase a revenant for a size comparison. I'm not sure my wife would authorize that purchase, though. But, I got it assembled and primed, as well as a wave serpent and fire prism and some jet bikes. I plan to be dedicated to my elder by November 1st. We shall see......

Work in progress, part 2

Ravenwing assault squad

        For some unknown reason, I decided to inventory my Dark Angels army. So, I  made 2 list on army builder to see what my painted & unpainted lists would contain. I only included completely painted models in my finished inventory and I did not include unseen war gear or special banners or versions of a weapon. The total came out to be 4587points. I was fairly impressed with this number. the progress I have been making in the last year has been exciting for me. It has rekindle my love for the hobby side of things as well as sparked my interesting in playing games tenfold from where I was 2 years ago. So, as I'm sitting here going through my inventory, I realized how close I am to a personal goal I had put out so many years ago. I only need to paint 2 tactical squads and an assault squad to be able to field a whole battle company. And the best part about that is ....... The tactical squads are both in my hobby progress challenge. The next thing on my desk is one of these. So I need to gather up the pieces to assemble the assault squad and I have it.

    While speaking of the hobby progress, I only have 4 more units to paint. The two tactical squads I just mentioned, a land speeder typhoon, and a veteran squad. Not too bad from my point of view. So, that means since last update, I painted: Ravenwing assault squad, librarian and company master. I also got a chance to assemble a Ravenwing command squad and a librarian on a bike to go with them. They are not part of the challenge, so they will wait to get painted. Along with that, I have started assembly on a wraith guard unit. There is something therapeutic about assembling models when I am stressed out. So now, I am off to get to those Tactical marines finished.



  

The Light Side of 40k

       What makes the lore of 40k so alluring? Is it the epic battles? Is it the Exterminatus of a planet? Is it the titan battles? No. I think it is the characters. Everyone loves the hero. From the Emperor of Mankind to the lowliest guardsman. Whether it is the unlikeliest of heroes from the most unlikeliest of place to the ultimate fighter cutting swathes through the enemies of all that is good, the hero is the one that inspires us to be a better person. The archetype of the hero doesn't matter, he just needs to defeat his enemies. The need to see the hero defeat all the odds to succeed even if it costs him everything. His life, or even his soul, may be on the line. The universe allows for all types of heroes to overcome their odds or just die trying sometimes. Even the armies of chaos or orks can have that archetype hero. The narrative allows for the ork warlord that is trying to save his clan against the tyranid scourge. But usually, it is easier to connect with a human, or genetically altered human, than some strange alien race that is a bit racially profiled like the orks.

        For today, I would like to talk of the heroes of Mankind. They are the ones that are easier to connect with, in most cases. The Imperial Guard are the bread & butter of the universe. They are the infinite hoard of lasgun toting soldiers that fight for the existence of mankind. In almost any story, you can find a guardsman. They are the army, navy and planetary soldier that defend their home lands every day. They have a strict, I mean STRICT, military organization. If things go bad for you in the guard, you don't get court marshaled. You get executed on the spot. Which brings me to the first character I would like to talk about. The Commissar. What would be cooler than to be the guy in the trench coat that everyone is afraid of? Break formation and Sergeant Tom gets a bolter shell to his forehead. How better to prove what a good and noble cause fighting for the Emperor is? This guy is arguably cooler than any other position in the imperial army. Especially considering the highest field rank is Colonel.


       Then, there is the spiritual leader of the Space Marines. What is more grim dark than a 8 foot tall black armor-clad, skull helmeted, power weapon wielding hero? The chaplain is the spiritual leader of the chapters. They drive (or maybe scare) the space marines forward to destroy their foes for the "good" of mankind. "In the name of the Emperor and in the name of .... (insert primarch  or chapter master name)!" Hopefully, they scare the bejeebies  out of whoever they are charging at.  It would work on me, for sure.

     The only thing that scares me more than that is the whole adeptus sororitas. Because there is something not right about form fitting power armor.

Sticking to my Path.

        I must say that the last time I wrote I was elated that the new Eldar codex was out. Time has changed my opinion. I am beyond jump up and down excited. I got my first trial down. I must say, neither of us brought point hammered lists and we only played 1000 points. Let's just say things did not go well for the forces of the dark gods.  I did not play with a fully painted army, which has been a personal goal for me, but I did play with units I haven't fielded in a long time. Guardian defenders did great. I stuck them with a scatter laser  and a warlock with conceal. Because they were guardians, they did not attract attention until they shot. Then there were three....   The Scatter laser is a terrific support weapon. Strength six and the laser lock ability is a very cool in combination with bright lances. This worked very well on the war walker. Swooping hawks did as expected. They dropped in, threw a haywire grenade, did nothing & got shot. My Wave Serpent was shot down before I could shoot the Serpent shield. Three glances from a Forge fiend took care of that.

     That trial fight rekindled the spark for me to paint my Eldar. As I said, I'm trying to play only fully painted armies. But I'm drawn to my Eldar like Slaanesh itself with beer & pizza. Yet, I must stay the path that is before me. I must finish what came before. The first legion must be ready to be deployed. So, on the momentum of the fortress of redemption, I have finished the jet fighter. The colors came together nicely. It only took me three nights to finish. Approximately  4 to 6 hours, never uninterrupted. From there, I started on my 2 characters for this list. I got the base coat and first dry brush on the librarian and the same with some detail work on the company master. I will have finished pictures next time.

        I also finished reading Angels of Darkness by Gav Thorpe. I love & hate the dual story books. I really enjoy seeing the two stories come together at the end, but I always have a harder time following the story before that. I did enjoy this book. It just took longer to read because I kept going back to check what I read.
   
       Well, until next we meet, I am off to the next adventure.

The Past Two Weeks.....

       The past two weeks for me has been extremely busy. Normal life warranted a few open doors and opportunities. But that is not the focus of this blog. My hobby has also been very busy. First off, the Eldar codex came out. I, of course, ran out Saturday morning to pick it up, then came home to digest the contents. That took all of nap time for my boys and then some. There are a lot of new rules in that codex. A lot to learn from the last version. I'm still working on list, between what I want to run compared to what I have to run. Then, I need figure out my paint schedule. Before that comes the completion of the Dark Angels.

      That leads me to the completion of my Fortress of Redemption.
It took me much longer to complete than I thought, but the results were better than I expected. Here are a couple of pictures. I really like the way the brass and black came together. I threw some Devastators on the walks for anyone who hasn't seen one before. Then, off the momentum of that, I started painting my Nephillim jet fighter. I painted the pilot and enclosed the canopy in one sitting.  Pictures of that will be coming later.

And if that wasn't enough, I even got a  fight in. 2 on 1. Chaos/ Imperial Guard versus Space wolves. My Imperial Guard did a pretty good job feeding chaos marines to the Space Wolves. Unfortunately, we lost the game. Victory to the werewolf vikings in power armor.                                And off to the  next black crusade. 

Happy Memorial Day!

    Today is a day to remember all you have died so we could have the freedom that we have. So, enjoy your day. Have a moment of silence for those have fallen for our way of life. Even if it has to be between the hamburger & Cole slaw. Honor the heroics of the men that held the line so others could escape and those who took orders unsure if they would see home again.

    The games we play are war. I push models around a table hoping they live through every encounter. They usually don't, under my command. Even when I win fights, the death toll is higher than I expect. Whether it is a Deathwing Terminator, Striking Scorpion or lowly guardsman, each model represents a soldier, some one's son, or daughter, brother or sister. So today, all I ask is if you must put your armies to the field. Please. Save a life. For all life is precious.

Except for those damned termagants. Blast their freaking heads off.......

Happy Memorial Day!