Illic Nightspear

So, I kinda had no choice but to have this guy. He is a special character for Alaitoc, and the uber ranger at that. I fell in love with Alaitoc back in the days of the Ranger Disruption Table. And not because of the rules, though they sure didn't suck, but because I loved the idea of the scout/sniper, and an army of them was like christmas.

This model was pretty straight forward to paint. I painted him up in the color scheme of my other rangers so he fit in. Although I tried to make his coat a little more elaborate. I am still pretty rusty in a lot of areas, but this guys was a lot of fun as return. I will be fielding him a lot, rules be damned! Not that I think he sucks or anything, I am just saying, he will be present. That being said, I will likely not upgrade my rangers to pathfinders very often. If Illic joins normal rangers they get Stealth and Shrouding, so I will take the cheaper points values and better cover save over everyone making precise shots.

Here is a quick shot of Illic with his rangers.

Would you run pathfinders vs. rangers? What do you think of my base vs the sculpted base he is normally on?

Thanks for reading,
T

Objective Markers, Thanks Magnus Wood!

Quickie. Awhile back my buddy Magnus gave me some miscasts of some club objective markers he was selling. He cast them out of resin, but that is about all I know about where they came from. They have our game club logo, and look bad ass, so they got some paint. Can't wait to slap these down at the The Brawl.

What are you all using for objectives? Making your own? Servo skulls that were released with this edition?

Thanks for reading,
T

Alaitoc Warlock

Finished up this warlock last night. He had been sitting around for awhile, as I got it when I got the Farseer I painted almost a year ago. I am not wild about the Finecast products, but I have heard they are getting better. There may be some truth to that, as the first Finecast model I got that didn't irritate me was Nightspear. He is far and away better than the Finecast Swooping Hawks. The thought of them threatens to launch me into a vitriol-feuled diatribe on crap-tastic Finecast kits, but that is not what we are here to talk about.

This guy was pretty straight forward. I am always a little gun shy of light colors like yellow and white, and this guy had an ample supply of both. That being said, it wasn't so bad. The new GW line has a slew of light grays, whites, and off-whites. Though I have yet to find it exactly, I sure there is a solid build among the aforementioned. The yellow I am not as sold on. There is something about the old Golden Yellow, maybe because it has just been my go-to yellow for so long, that I was missing on this guy. However, I do appreciate that the Flash Gitz Yellow is less lemony in color than Bad Moon Yellow was.

As far as the model, it is not one of my favorite warlock sculpts. With the rules change to witch blades I am not sure about singing spears, so this was the only warlock I had that was carrying a witch blade. I always thought the way this guy was holding his witchblade was goofy, more, "Check out my sword brah," than "Engarde!" Also it makes the model kind of hell to store. I don't mean to sound all negative, even the least cool Warlock is a pretty great model. I really like the fur mantle he has, though with my version painted blue I kinda feel like he is wearing Cookie Monster's pelt. In addition, I really like the art piece I think the model was made after.

I tried a glowing effect around his eyes, which you can kind of see below. Pic isn't great because I still can't figure out how to take good close up pics with my wife's new camera. I think I will go with a little more Lhamian Medium next time to thin the Temple Guard Blue, and then apply the glow in a few more thin coats.


What about you, Distinguished 44 (Followers)? What do you think of the Warlock model? What build are you using for your whites? Wanna beat the dead Finecast quality horse? Do you happen to know how to work my wife's camera. Sound off in the comments.

Thanks for reading,
T

Alaitoc Farseer

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

From Stuff I Have Painted: Eldar/Dark Eldar

Just a quick note. As I said in a earlier post, I needed to change it up from Dark Angels. So I started on this model I had lying around. I was surprised at how quickly this miniature went. It looks a little less clean then most of my work, but it was also done really quickly, especially for me. In all I am very happy with the trade off, as all said and done this was like a five hour model.

With him complete I have 2 troops and an HQ for my Alaitoc models as well. So I can now field the two tiniest armies ever, although fully painted!

Thanks for reading,
T

Reinforcements Arrive: Tactical Marine Combat Squad, 2nd Tactical Fully Assembled.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

The rest of the boys from 2nd Tactical finally got finished. I will be the first to tell you that I am really disappointed that it took me so long to finish these five miniatures. It is all on me, as there were nights where I didn't follow Picasso's advice, often obeying the voice inside telling me not paint.

It felt good to put this squad behind me. I have done a lot of green lately and am looking forward to taking on something else. That something else being Ravenwing, specifically an attack bike. Working in black has always been a challenge, so I am eager to under take it. Until it pisses me off...

But back to the tac marines. Here is a close up of the Sarge:

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

Already having one bald sarge, with this guy I attempted to create an effect of closely cropped hair to break it up a little. It met with moderate success, but unless you get up close it just kind of looks like light spot on top of his head.

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

And here is a quick shot of the whole 2nd Tactical together:

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

Lastly, for the first time in like 5 years I do, technically, have a painted 40k army. It is only like 840 points, and would get clobbered, but min force org is met. It is a small victory I am going to take. So my take on the 5th company up to this point:

From Stuff I Have Painted: Space Marines

Thanks for reading,
T

Reinforcements Arrive: Tactical Marine Combat Squad

Put the finishing touches on these five guys this morning and have already started work on the five remaining models in the squad. These guys are members of 5th Company, 2nd Tactical, better known (Only to me...) as Thrones of Fortitude.

I have enjoyed working on my Dark Angels as I learn this edition. It can be said that it is a continued labor of love and patience. Not only because I paint slow and must fight the urge to jump from project to project as usual. But also because I have been getting my head kicked in with them. I think in nine games of 6th Edition I am like 2-7. And maybe only two of those losses were close. Most of the games have just been me getting pummeled. I am sure that all of that speaks more to me as a player than the codex. Also I don't really talk tactics here anyway. I am super eager for a new codex for my beloved Dark Angels. Perhaps some new tricks will be exactly what I need to discover my inner tooth-chipper.

I did pretty much the same thing with these guys that I had for the Assault on Black Reach set. I had been advised that my bases were kind of plain and one dimensional. In order to fix that I added some tufts of grass, in addition to the normal static grass mix I use, to add something different visually. I think I will go a step further and add some large chunks of debris to the next batch.

A canny-eyed reader might notice that these are the tactical marines from the Battle for Mac Cragge set. I promise my army will consist of models other than those in the boxed sets. It probably just won't seem like it for awhile, as I am super eager to tackle the rumored models coming out in the 6th Edition starter box. That box has me incredibly excited, as it will contain new Dark Angels models if the rumors are true. Something not seen for like five years. At least I can use quite a bit of the marine stuff that has been coming out in that time as it looks great.

Thanks for reading,
T

My Assault on Assault on Black Reach Complete!

Nothing says anti-climax like crap photography. Try as I might, I just couldn't get a good group pic with the lighting rig I have. Anyway, now is not a time for negativity, nay it is a time of joy! You see, I actually finished something I said I would do. Granted, seventeen models isn't exactly worthy of a medal or anything, but it still feels pretty cool. And just in time for the next half of a starter box to boot.

I do the majority of my 40k blogging over at Still Practicing, however I felt it only appropriate that this end where it begun. So I finished up the dred. And since he has been painted I think he has lived about 3 turns (Hull points, wah wah waaahhh.) Even still, I had a good time painting him, as I have alway loved dreadnoughts.

Thanks for reading.
T