My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Part 1

From Mars' Project Blog

The guys who play at the local game store have this kind of impromptu tradition of going to breakfast together before the tournament starts. Even though I wasn't playing in this particular tournament I met up with all of them. Over breakfast I got to talking with my buddy who plays marines. And then we did some more talking, and then I was pretty much done for. I had marines on the brain. The powered armored demon had a grip on my soul. My Dark Eldar Wracks had to move aside for a bit, I was going to need brushes to exorcise this evil.

I like the Assault on Black Reach marine contingent a lot. I think the models are really cool for what they are, and feel as much like green army men to me as they do models for a specific game. Since I had a set of them, I figured I should probably just do them up instead of paying thirty-something dollars for a box of tac marines.

Since they were already built the next part was pretty easy. Because inevitably their armor will be something dark I went with black primer, and an ample amount of it. Since it was a nice summer day I grabbed a beer (Yeah...it was 10:00 AM so...) and moved my priming operation outside. First I stood them all up and primed around them in all directions. Then face up:

From Mars' Project Blog

Then face down:

From Mars' Project Blog

Once they guys were all dry and I had done a good 45 min shift making sure the chair on our back deck didn't get away I picked everyone up and moved indoors. The next step was going to be to base them all in one fell swoop. But I noticed that despite my gallant efforts, there were still parts of gray plastic showing. So I broke out some Chaos Black and thinned it a little with water and grabbed my tank brush.

From Mars' Project Blog

I went over the models quickly, all the while having the Rolling Stones stuck in my head, getting the gray I saw poking through, which was mainly like the tiny areas of space between the side of the armor and the shoulder pad, or something equally as irksome.

From Mars' Project Blog

So now that everything was the blackest black in black land I figured I had enough time to get the bases done before I had to move onto not morning-drinking and toy soldiers. My first color for the bases was Catachan Green.

From Mars' Project Blog

After that it got a wash, well dowsing really, of Devlan Mud. Once that was dry I drybrushed in Codex Gray and then Fortress Gray. Eventually I will paint the ring graveyard Earth, but if I do it now I would just rub a lot of it off as I was painting the models. In the final touches some static grass will be added as well.

From Mars' Project Blog

That's what I got for now, kinda weak sauce that I made you read a book to see a guy prime and base models. It'll get better, or at least I hope you think it does.

Thanks for reading,
T

More Dark Eldar Warriors

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

Put the finishing touches on these guys last night. They are the last of the Kabalite units for my "army", unless Scourge count too. I am not super familiar with the fluff.

This is the second warrior squad that I have sized to ride in a second Venom. The list I have kicking around has two Venoms, two Raiders, and two Ravagers. Something about parity must really appeal to me. I was pretty stoked to finally have a banner come out that I didn't want to instantly paint over.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

It is the little things. Up next are some coven units.

Thanks for reading,
T

Dark Eldar

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

I tried something, it didn't work. That is about all I am going to say about it right now. I needed to go away from Daemons after the release of Grey Knights. I didn't throw in the towel happily, or even willingly, at first. I ignored the bitching and moaning around me and set out to try it for myself. What I discovered was disheartening. There are very specific builds, which I have no interest in playing, that I am certain could weather the Grey Knight storm. But the army I loved, and was excited about, simply cannot. But enough of all that.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

This was the first squad I painted. I really just set out to get to know the warrior models. I liked the big dark lance, and brought the blaster as well, as I used them a lot in my earlier Dark Eldar army. I am not crazy about the squad's banner and hope to revisit it someday. But I probably won't.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

After the warrior squad I decided to get to know some Wyches. I found them to be quite a bit more intensive than the warriors, but still very rewarding. I wanted to tie the blue into the warriors kabal and the Cult of the Seventh Woe was a pretty good fit. Rules wise, I am not a giant fan of the Agonizer with this squad so I stuck with just a power sword for the Succubus. This is all complete speculation, as I have never actually played a game with my Dark Eldar under this new codex.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

As soon as the Venom kit was released I knew I had to have few. Though not the huge amount that are springing up in tournament lists. I have always loved the Eldar Vyper, and the Venom is very reminiscent of that. Knowing that I would want a few I started expanding my kabal to accommodate one or two of them with a small warrior squad with blaster.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

Not hugely fond of their banner either. And again the hope is to go back some day and fix it.

That is what I have been up to. I need a little more for my bases though. I am having a hard time deciding what color static grass to use. I want the bases to look like a desolate or blasted planetscape, so I have narrowed it down to Citadel Dead Grass or Citadel Burnt Grass. If I have any readers left after my hiatus chime in the comments section and let me know which one you think would look best. At this point I think either would work, so I will take whatever one you all think would work best.

Thanks for reading,
T

MPB Sleeping, Not Dead, Until Late AUG '11

Working on a theory, I will report back in Aug. Talk to you then.

Thanks,
T

Flamers of Tzeentch Complete

From Stuff I Have Painted: Chaos Daemons

Finished up the "off-color" flamer, who, for now serves as my Bolt of Tzeentch guy. More and more I am not convinced that running him with bolt is the best way. He ends up being 65 points, which seems like an awful lot considering he only gets to shoot one of his guns every turn. We are going to give it a few more games. Bolt of Tzeentch is one of those weird things for me where I would almost rather have it an not use it, then not pay the points for it. I have a heck of a time with a lot of AV as is. Maybe I will continue indulge myself this crutch?

The models were a lot of fun to paint and good for my attempts to "speed up". They are really fantastic once you start brushing on them, and there is the a lot of potential to make them look interesting. But in an attempt to actually finish this army before August I had to suffice for some limited blending and some drastic line-highlighting for contrast. Here are a few more pics:

From Stuff I Have Painted: Chaos Daemons

From Stuff I Have Painted: Chaos Daemons

In all I am pretty stoked about they way they turned out, I think that although a small unit, they should be eye catching. I am excited for a Tzeentch break, having finished all the of the Tzeentch contingent but a herald (Of which I am still waffling on whether or not he is even in the list.) for my current army. So my brush is now devoted to the Blood God, Khorne, for what I hope is only a month or so. We shall see.

Thanks for reading,
T

Two Flamers of Tzeentch

From Mars' Project Blog

This handsome duo is two of the three Flamers of Tzeentch in my army. The third one is slightly different, color wise, and was supposed to represent the one with Bolt of Tzeentch. Now I am kind of unconvinced so I may drop Bolt from this squad and just have one that is oddly colored. It shouldn't be too disruptive, and I can always play the, "Hey its Chaos," card.

I am still having a difficult time deciding how I like to paint fire but I think I am getting closer with these models. Here is a few more pics.

From Mars' Project Blog

From Mars' Project Blog

Thanks for reading,
T

Horrors of Tzeentch with Changeling Done

From Stuff I Have Painted: Chaos Daemons

Got the last of these guys done finally on Friday but was a little late in getting them up. They took far too long, and though it seems like I am always saying this, I am still looking to find the "sweet-spot" of quality vs. economy of time.

The last bit I had to do was the icon, musician, Bolt of Tzeentch one (Blue arms.), as well as two rank and file guys. The icon was a little maddening in that it was almost as big as another model. It didn't end up how I envisioned it at all, but it will have to pass. I have a lot of army to go. As an aside, who ever sculpted these models, while doing an great job, clearly never tried to fit them into the formation they have to be in when they enter the table.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Chaos Daemons

From Stuff I Have Painted: Chaos Daemons

I do my best to not talk tactics on this blog anymore, I just don't have the knack for it. I'll keep my editorial on the new Grey Knight Codex to a dull roar. It is extremely disheartening to think that by spending fewer, or no points, a GK player can make all the points I spend useless when it comes to army construction. That is assuming I can get the guys I have paid for to even get on the board on account of Warpquake being free. In all, I do not look forward to GK opponents because it seems like playing poker against a stacked deck. Time will tell.

Thanks for reading,
T