Miniatures
Win & Orksome
Having quietly followed the progress made on Hobby Horse over the last month, it’s put me to shame and I feel compelled to at least attempt to try and match the man for output if not quality. First task was to have a look through what he’s managed to achieve so far and work out what, and the couple of points I’ve noted from his work …
Bad Finger Boogie
I starting writing out a basic guide for Mr Eldar to get to grips with what to buy to begin painting his Eldar force so it looks good while kicking my ass on the battlefield, and thought there may be some merit in making it a more useful article as it expands. As a result, enjoy my Kick Start Your Picasso walkthrough and fire any stupid questions at me so I’ve got the chance to improve it.
Battle Report: Ork vs Eldar (750 points)
Third game of 40k we’ve managed to sit down and play, and the first one where I’ve remembered to try and write the whole thing up as a reference point for the future when I want to see what worked and what didn’t! So here’s the overview from a green perspective.
The first difference to the last couple of encounters was I won the initiative roll at the start. That was reasonably beneficial for my rather predictable lineup and while distribution was pretty straight forward, with the four units across the width of the table (warboss in the middle) with trukk and bikers on the flanks, it meant I had a chance to thin his numbers early … unfortunately my shooting sucked and did very little damage, with some great dice from Mr Eldar to ensure minimum casualties and then he returned fire …
Orksome
Old figures resurrected from the loft, an appropriated Land Raider, an Ork battleforce, a Painboy and a Mek from eBay, coupled with the Assault on Black Reach set from my local store (awesome box) and now I’m up to something approaching a 1000 point force give or take an option here and there. I suppose a few pictures would probably be helpful to get an idea of exactly what I’ve committed to … well, they can follow soon enough.
In The Grim Future, There Is Only Ork
All my faffing and not a single mention of my Warhammer 40,000 exploits! Okay, so a couple of us have picked the 40k V5 rulebook and after a tester game with just a couple of infantry units it’s been decided we’ll give it a spin. I’ve opted for Orks to give me a chance to use my character figures from the 1980s (pictures to follow) as after getting into the fluff via Space Marines like most kids did, Orks grabbed my imagination and the interest never dissipated.
Hordes of Chaos (Niarkcalb the Rotten)
Finally finished it just in time for the Games Workshop National Painting Competition and entered at my local store. No idea how it’s fared as I haven’t been in since then, but if I assume the worst then at the very least my fears are confirmed. Gloss varnish hasn’t done the chap many favours, and analysing the finished product I can see I need to be more aggressive in my highlighting. What looks good to the painter’s eye knowing full well what he’s done is one thing, but having it visible to others without my rose tinted glasses is another.
Ork Painboy
This was my single figure/40k entry to the local painting competition. Minor conversion being the head from an old Ork boy and repositioning the arm. The base is comprised of polyfiller and random items from the bits box that happened to be to hand. Quite a bit of fun fiddling around with highlights and different metallic shading and learning what does work (the banner) and what doesn’t work (needle gun).
Road To Damascus
Just reading a painting tutorial and learnt something new which has taken me another skip and a jump in the right direction. After much faffing, fiddling and instruction via video, I’d already understood the basis that thinning paints was very much a Good Thing ™ because it gave you more control over how the pigment moved, dried, behaved and where it sat. One problem that has cropped up repeatedly for me, is the evil of the tideline which removed the benefit of thinning the paint by leaving just as unsightly a mark as too much paint.
The resolution? Hail to the fantastic invention that is simple kitchen towel. It’s so obvious that upon the realisation dawning, it was tempting to have an out of body experience simply so I should shout “Duh!” at myself. Pulling off the excess liquid down to a point where brush strokes leave the pigment behind and the water dries almost immediately is officially a thing of beauty and this afternoon will be dedicated to practising the dark art.
Warhammer 40,000: Armies (Summary)
Time to plan out what I’ll actually be finishing off model-wise this year I think.
Chaos Space Marines
Continuing my fascination with all things Nurgle, I’ll be adding a few more Terminators to my half-completed squad and then fleshing out a main unit of Marines before adding in some character. It should also give me the opportunity to work in a few amateur conversions and use up some of the insanely large Bitz Box that one appears to have accumulated from Santa knows where.
Daemonhunters
Discovered that the new Grey Knights marines are pretty damned tasty, and I’m quite a fan of the backstory for most of the Inquisitor-based fiction being pushed out by GW. The potentially disparate model selection by pulling out supporting groups from other armies gives me plenty of flexibility here as well. Well, Daemonhunters or perhaps Witchunters … they both look rather appealing.
Orks
Oh yes. Something very much “en masse” to balance out the reasonably small, neat forces listed above. There’s already a good box or two of figures sitting about and thanks to the generousness of a Bardub-shaped individual I have my warlord figure ready for assembly and priming too. Having now seen the new figure range, there is so much excellent work in there that I find myself drawn toward it. The old figures have been prepped in anticipation, so now is probably the time to start things off.
Acts 9:18
My painting technique over the intermittent years of enthusiasm, has been based upon a few factors. The key one being that I’ve never actually seen anyone better than me paint something, which is a probably a terrible admission considering the hugely mediocre standard of my own work but it’s the sad truth. I’m just lucky to get through a whole day without eating the paint or gluing my fingers (or eyes) to either end of a paintbrush.
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