Hobby Aims - 2018

Well Hello There World,

No actual hobby progress to show today, I got absorbed in doing hobby yesterday rather than taking pictures of it! So it'll be a bumper update on Thursday instead. FYI I was in the process of batch painting 16 Deathguard Terminators. Those are some lovely sculpts, but the detail makes them a slog. I could do them in smaller batches, but I do get an immense sense of both relief and satisfaction of polishing off a large number at once!

So having failed dismally to keep up with or even round off the 40k Addict To-Do list of last year I've decided to keep things a little simpler this year. Just a few general aims and goals for the year including some related but not strictly 40k ones! Well one isn't related at all...

When you stare at the screen too long

Blogging

The first and most obvious is to return to blogging in a nice and consistent way. I'm happy with how posting twice a week feels thus far so hopefully this will be a pace that I can keep up with comfortably without pressuring myself to push out content. Additionally if I do fall off the wagon every now and again, it shouldn't feel like quite the insurmountable task to return to as it did this time. 

It is odd how blogging gets to you like that. I like to think I do an OK job with the blog and it is of a fairly high standard in terms of how I write and the creations that I display. But after such a long break I very nearly almost gave it up. I had this horrible internal monologue of failing, and coming back to it would just be a shade of its former self. I have thanks to both my lovely Wife, Serena, for encouraging me to return but also other hobbyists who in the past have had breaks and returned stronger for it. 

I think that internal monologue plagues us all at some time or another and can hit any aspect of our lives. Mine is has been a strong factor throughout my life, both personal and professional for as long as I care to remember, so to feel like I am getting one over it is always satisfactory. 

Anyway, the aim is to keep the blog going and put out fewer posts but with greater impact per post I should hope!

The mechanicum munching Orks... nom nom nom

Gaming

Playing games has fallen by the wayside somewhat as well, though the reasons for this are vastly different. Playing games of Heresy has declined due to the 7th edition ruleset. I sold all bar one of my Heresy armies (Mechanicum) due to the position of ForgeWorld staying with 7th. 

That isn't an 8th is better than 7th statement by the way, that is an I prefer 8th to 7th statement, I have little desire to start a debate on which is better. Though I will at some point lay out my likes and dislikes of 8th edition. 

Speaking of 8th, I haven't played many games of it because I was so heavily playing Heresy. I just didn't have any 40k armies ready to go! So it has been a long slog of getting a 2000 point playable force to the table, painted to a standard that I am happy with. That time draws near!

I am aiming to get a game a week or every 2 weeks in once my army is tabletop ready, as well as run a campaign at my local club hopefully. 

Tournaments

This. I would like to go to some tournaments this year again after none last year. The main prize I have set in my mind is attending one of the coveted SN Battle report tournaments so called No Retreat in Gibraltar. This event is open to submission but is ultimately a selected invitation only event, so I just have to cross my fingers!

There are other ones that I want to attend, but I have to work them around other life commitments and desires, but that is the big one!

Ooooh shiny!

Golden Demon

Having attained my first ever finalist pin at Warhammer Fest 2017, I would like to repeat that success at a Golden Demon event this year. I dare not suggest any higher achievement as I feel that is still prodigiously out of my grasp, but as they say... slowly slowly catchy golden demon!

I haven't gotten any specific plans for what I will enter yet, though I have drawn up several ideas that I will probably elucidate at some point. The standard is always insanely high! I can't stress how proud I am to have just one finalist pin from their premier event no less.

One day I might be this cool....maybe?

Cosplay

Ahh surprise!! Something that both myself and Serena have gotten into over the past year is Cosplay. We both like to go to anime and comic conventions and have long marveled at the amazing Cosplay skills on show. 

Originally I wanted to Cosplay something from Anime, but being the stout, rotund and bearded creature that I am that really didn't leave a lot of characters that I resembled physically! And I am the sort of person that really wants to look like the character, rather than be an approximation. 

So, naturally, a better fit for me was a 40k cosplay. I have begun work on an Inquisitor Cosplay costume that is in very early stages. I have a plethora of foam, elastic and contact adhesive in my flat now, and as parts of outfit progress I'd like to keep you updated on how it looks. 

The aim is to get this complete by the end of the year, rather than aim for a particular con. In an ideal world, I'd like it finished in time for Warhammer Fest 2019 so I can strut my stuff. 

Most likely not impressed

Magic the Gathering...

Oh ho! Another surprise entry. This has been a major distraction from the hobby I must be honest, and an expensive one at that! I won't be keeping you updated much about what I am doing with my decks, but suffice to say I have been really getting my competitive kicks out of this game in a way that I could never play 40k. Not to say I act like that guy, but it's much more forgiving or crushing your opponent as it is designed for that sort of play in particular formats. 

My main aim with this is to win 4-0 at my local club. Thursday nights are usually a round of 4 with 10-20 people attending. I have gone 3-1 several times now, but the clean sweep eludes me. I dream of it! Serena also plays, though her competitive tendency is much more directed towards the Pokemon TCG. But it is a really nice routine for us to pop down and enjoy games with the like minded.  

Finally...

...I would like to meet up with people more, people from the blog and people from the Youtubes in particular. It is one area where not being able to drive despite nearly being 30 is really beginning to hamper me. 

But I love meeting fellow hobbyists and sharing the joy of 3-4 hours of rolling dice. If ever any of you are passing through Bristol or just fancy coming down for a day to game, please let me know, it'd be great fun to meet, chat and game :)

Peace out,

Rob

Hobby Space Bomb Site and Deathwing Land Raider - What a Difference a Day Makes

Hey ho,

Last night was one of those days when I looked at my desk and thought... I think I might be addicted... And I should really tidy this up! On my desk alone, we have Belisarius Cawl, 12 Imperial Militia, a mid-conversion Militia walkin Proteus, the Yncarne, a Culexus Assassin, a Wraithblade, Mortarion the Reaper and two Land Raiders!!

Yaaaaaay! Happy hobby space all round... But I will be tidying this up come the weekend I think! Saturday is going to be given over to tidying both the desk and also a few miniatures that are going to Warhammer Fest with me that just don't cut the mustard quite yet. The Yncarne's hair being one of those. Here's a few other snaps:

And in other news, you can see in the pictures above the progress I made last night on the second Deathwing Land Raider. Here's the last side by side picture I showed you:

And here is the side by side after an evening of work:

Obviously the lighting isn't as good! But I'm pleased with how far that came. All the highlights are needed now! Then I can work on the peripherals, once this beast is done, I just need to finish the bases off for the Deathwing termies and then you'll get a shot of the whole force :)

Peace out,

Rob

Hobby Bonanza - Many Projects Go Forth

Hi Gang,

Today is a day of hobby administration! I have had many many things from many many projects that I have just put off and off, added to which I spent some time at my parents for my Mum's 50th birthday and so I need to do some catch up with commission painting! 

So today you're going to get a run down of all the things I am working on, basing, undercoating, building, washing and painting :) though beware the rough pictures as it would have taken far too long to put all of these in the light box for better pictures!

Immediate Commission Work

These are on the painting desk today! The two cyclone's at the front need a sepia wash and then layers/highlights. The three chain fist chaps have had the armour layered and weathered but all the other colours need basecoating before wash one. The two at the back need it all! These should be done by weekends end :)


Overdue Administration

Well that's a lot of models!!! All of the Deathwing Knights along with the Empire models and assassin bases needed sand basing before I could undercoat them and everything else which is a Ravenwing Landspeeder and 5 bikes plus an attack bike, a vindicare and an eversor plus 5 Kakophonie and an Arlatax!!! just need undercoating now.


Side Project...

And finally I've got round to doing the arduous resin washing of the rest of my Raging Hero's models that are for my special side project ;)

Hope that gives you a nice taste of whats to come on the blog! Thoughts on a postcard :)

Peace out,

Rob

The Forge Fires Burn Bright - Imperial Knight Incoming - hobby update

Hey Gang,

So I finally admitted to myself that I won't be playing Magic the Gathering again, or at least I won't ever buy more cards as I just can't keep up with the releases... at least whilst keeping up with 40k anyway!!! So I rummaged through my several thousand cards which date back to my first starter set I bought when I was 7 back in 1996 and took them to a local shop to trade in for store credit.

I managed to get myself one half of the renegade box set so I have an Imperial Knight to build! I'm planning to do some serious conversion work on this knight, and have bought some additional parts to make it as unique as I can. This includes some extra legs to lengthen the existing ones as well as two thunderstrike gauntlets! I'm going to be swapping the thumb round on one to have dual hands... 

I also managed to get a squad of the legion of the damned! I ended up with these two choices as it means I can add them in to any of my existing imperial armies. The Knight should add some much needed punch and terror to my Dark Angels army in particular which with it primarily infantry based set up struggles to face against some beefier armies that are out there. 

Anyway I just wanted to give you a little update on what I've got coming up on the blog. I'm hoping to do a very detailed series of posts on my Knight conversion and also hoping to get the legion of the damned ready for painting pretty quickly. 

Hope your looking forward to it!

Peace out,

Rob

Army Overviews - models to paint

Hey Gang,

Today I just wanted to show you a few pictures of my assembled and painted armies. I have finally got round to finish my unpacking after the house move and its always nice when I have all my minis out rather than half packed in boxes for games. I also just wanted to run through what I currently own that is left to paint for each of these armies as I was cataloguing that as I unpacked just for my own info so I can tick them off!

Mechanicum

So you've obviously seen a lot of these recently so I'll get them out of the way quickly! 

To-do:

2 x Krios Venators - these kits have arrived and they are LOVELY! Very excited to prep and undercoat these guys.

3 x Domitar Battle-Automata - You may have recalled I only ordered 2 of these and that is because due to an error in my order I got 3! Huzzah! These kits are also lovely and I am very keen to put some cool conversion ideas into practise with these. 

Death Company

These guys have been around longer than any of my current armies and I am so close to the end!!

To-do:

6 x Death Company - These guys are almost finished in their base coating and the end is nigh!

Sell 1 x Baal Predator - I'm just not quite happy this one came out so I am selling it for extra hobby cash!

The Red Angels

A much smaller contingent by far than the Death Company but they should be nicely bolstered by what I have left to do with them.

To-do:

5 x Vanguard Veterans - These will be alternatives in a CAD or I can run them in the Archangel Strike Force fromation.

10 x Scouts - These are leftovers from my Black Templar army that I have decided to give over to the Blood Angels as minimal tax troop choices.

5 x Sanguinary Guard - These were converted many moons ago now but I am still keen to get them painted up and on the table. Difficult to run without a CAD which as the motivation for the scouts really!

1 x Drop Pod - This bastard is needed to make the furiouso dreadnought viable and I am loathing finishing this. But hey ho it'll look good I hope!

1 x Chaplain - Again a model that has been converted for a long time and even has some base coat on it... I just haven't had the motivation, but it will be done!

1 x Librarian in terminator armour - The librarian specific to the blood angels, also part base coated, same as the chaplain it will be done!

The Dark Angels

My goodness I put a lot together very quickly and then just fell off them! But rest assured they have not been forgotten and I am lining models up to do in small batches of 2-3 for these guys. Though first up I have to clear a couple of big things...

To-do:

1 x Dark Talon - This guy has been 1/4 done for some time but I keep thinking its a bigger job than its actual is. I want to get the Ravenwing painted up first to give me the option as taking them as Ravenwing strike force. 

1 x Sammael - Already undercoated but also put off as a big job that probably isn't going to be that much work. An excellent multiplier for the Ravenwing and a near must take too. 

3 x Ravenwing bikers - These are the three bikers from the Dark Vengeance set so no complicated modelling to undertake!

5 x Deathwing Terminators - Again just the 5 that come with the Dark Vengeance set, I think I can whizz these out fair quick once I get the paint layers down in my mind. 

15 x Tactical Marines - This is just a duplication of the Tac marines that I have already painted so that I can run dual Death Company. 

5 x Lascannon Devastators - Same as the other Devastators they will have sternguard torso/legs and they will look boss for it!

3 x Company Command/Veteran Squads - I have a couple of boxes of Dark Angel Veteran boxes and want to make Command Squads out of them, as well as make a veteran squad out of left over bits. 

1 x Contemptor Dreadnought with dial Kheres Cannons - This is making use of the Contemptor from the Betrayal at Calth box that I don't fancy for my Alpha Legion. 

1 x Interrogator Chaplain - Seraphicus from the limited run Dark Vengeance that is very close to being done but just fallen by the side!

2 x Company Master - Both are from Dark Vengeance and I haven't had a chance to have a play around with them yet.

1 x Librarian - Another Dark Vengeance push fit model that I want to try and convert for some extra identity. 

1 x Drop pod - this is in bits but needs to be put together and finished off for a squad to ride into.

Things to buy:

This is the only army on my list that has a too buy section as I really want to boost the vehicles of the army. Mainly this is too add to the manoeuvrability of the army but also to take advantage of the full company free transports formation.

4 x Razorbacks - I want these with a variety of options so that I can have the extra fire power but also for objective grabbing with 5 man tac squads or Company command squads as they will have objective secured in the demi-companies. 

2 x Dreadnoughts - I want these just for the chance to model them as I feel they really fit the Dark Angels very much.

Overview and other things

So that's the run of my armies that are currently under way already. Obviously I still have the Alpha Legion lurking in the back ground but they will be dealt of in a separate post. In other news I also got my standing from the tournament I attended the other weekend, despite only playing 4/5 games due to illness I managed to rank 27/60 which is my best showing ever and also is a TO-DONE as one of my other 40k addict challenges was to place in the top half of a tournament! So that tournament has really fulfilled a lot of long term goals for me :)

Thats all from me today! I hope you have enjoyed a little flit through my collection today!

Peace out,

Rob

Basing the Cybernetic Horde - Tips and a look at my new hobby set up

Hullo there!

One of the concepts that can easily pass you by as a newcomer to table top wargaming and is an omission that can stick with you for quite some time is the basing of your miniatures. Its almost impossible to understate how much a base can compliment, set off and improve the look of your miniatures. This applies to both the miniature as a single entity but also to the army as a whole. With the right colour scheme and basing scheme you can create a fantastic unified look to an army that make it really "pop" as they say.

This is definitely something I did not appreciate for some time and so I thought I would show you the bases for my Cybernetic cohort in an unpainted stage as then you can see how I've put them together from pretty simple bits and given the bases a distinct look. I have to really emphasise the important of advice I've received from NafNaf of Objective Secured, Dave Weston of 40k Addicts fame and Nick Thrower of The Burning Eye. These guys really pushed me through comments (in the nicest way possible) to improve my basing and I have noticed, primarily starting with my Dark Angels, how much of an impact this has had on my overall army looks. 

I'd also like to link you to this article by Nick which deals with the other side of a cohesive army look, where he discusses ways to pick your paint scheme. I feel that if I had read this sort of article when jumping back into 40k it would have sped up painting choices if not ability and choosing the right paint scheme is really half the job sometimes!

Anyway here are some pictures of my bases at the moment:

The grilled floor is mesh I got from a craft shop. I cut squares out that I then bent over the base to give the circular impression which I just cut out with scissors. The black is just plasticard which is edged with cut up bits of paper clips. The copper wire is... well copper wire I got from a hardware store. And the little white clamp looking things came with nails in and are designed to hold wire to the wall such as running along skirting board. 

Everything else is just GW bits from my bits boxes. So nothing fancy at all! I just played around with bits until they looked good to my eye. And if they look good to me, that is what is really important, and generally it will look good to others as well. I feel you get a good "gut" feeling if something looks off. 

Here they are with just the Thallax on posed on their bases:

Even without being painted, because the components are all of metallic colours it already looks cool! I haven't put a detailed discussion of how I put these things together as I feel they are a bit too specific to my army. But I still have a few to do such as the Thanatars in the background so do let me know if you would like a step by step guide :)

Finally today we have some pictures of my new hobby set up. Its a little misleading as I have a lot of shit still in boxes but you can see that I have so much more space that I can separate my paints from the actual work area which is such a blessing:

The last picture shows a peak at something I am dicking around with for my mechanicum at the moment, though it may be re-purposed for the Alpha Legion... 

Hope you enjoyed a little look at this side of my hobby. Comments always welcome and don't forget to follow the links at the top to some other great blogs. We live and feed off your support and it makes us keep up on the content :)

Peace out,

Rob

30k Thallax Update and General Blog Thoughts

Good afternoon fine cats,

Today I have a quick update on painting progress with my Thallax which has been a bit slower than I hoped, mostly because I got up at 1pm today.. the shame the shame... the wonderfully comfortable bed... And I also have a few thoughts on my blog at the current time. Firstly some blog stuff. 

Blog Housekeeping

Mostly today I wanted to acknowledge that particularly in the realm of comments I have been very tardy in terms of replying to everyone, this is simply due to work commitments really draining me as of the present and a few minor health issued which are refusing to remain dead and buried. This coupled with trying to make swift progress on painting for tournaments and the like has been quite the limiter on mental fortitude regarding sitting down to write replies. 

I don't for a second think any of you wonderful people who do take the time to comment are fussed by my rate of reply, but I do like to give everyone proper time and thought as some of your comments are very important beyond encouraging me with factual inaccuracies in my review posts being pointed out as well as great hints and tips around model painting, tactics and army composition for example, factoring directly into my hobby. Therefore this is just by way of an apology!

I also wanted to point out that some time in the past week I surpassed 1000 comments as well as 1'000'000 Google+ views and thank you all for that as well! 

Other than that I think I my life and therefore blog time should settle down significantly in the first half of April after I have moved house and completed a couple of very time intensive experiments, so I am greatly looking forward to having more structured posts as well as posting at regular times again!

Thallax Progress

In more blog focussed and less serious news I have made movement on my Thallax! Below is how you last saw them:

And here we have them after the metallics have been added, the black under layer for the red face plate, as well as screaming skull highlights on the yellow and using it as the base layer on the skull of the chest piece. I lightened the yellow a little too much and so added some seraphim sepia to blend it back to a level I'm happy with, though I have a few "tide marks" I need to correct:

Nuln oil wash is now needed on all metallics and then highlights plus colouring of the cables that will be red with black. Then the face plate and black cables will have blood for the blood god added to them and these guys are done!

Tonight I should have time to blue tack up all the arms and guns for undercoating and washing and hopefully get over half way done with them tomorrow. I also have plans to start basecoating the final 6 Death Company and start yellow highlighting the three Castellax.

Peace out,

Rob

Improving Photography with a Light Box

Hi Gang,

So after much promises made and frequently broken I have finally received a light box through the post to begin improving my images with!! The one I bought is called "Light Room" appears to be a cheap imitation of the Foldio/Foldio 2. I got this by way of eBay and it cost me £15 including postage and I really can't complain!! Below you can see a few different images of it folded out and in use:

As you can see on the sides their is a central disc shape which is the magnets that hold the box together. On the final picture you can see both the LED strip attached to the top edge that is power directly by a micro USB charger. Incredibly handy given all modern phones in the UK charge off these so I have several lying around. Finally in the last picture you can see two "hooks" on the back wall that you can attach to provided back drops too. These back drops are a simple white or black with the white one being attached in the pictures. 

Below are a selection of photos I took very quickly. I elevated the models for these pictures but will play around with this as I go on:

One of the main next steps is to utilise a guide that NafNaf from Objective Secured linked to me (thanks again mate!) which uses apps downloadable for your smart phone to help correct balance and the like. I have been reading this a lot and will link it in an article when I discuss using these to improve the photos even more than above already is. When I mentioned software last time the App was all I meant!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the improved photos, I would like to get shots of most units I have under these lighting conditions to put under my page tabs which are in dire need of an update. So hopefully you'll bee seeing some more of them soon. And finally I apologise for taking this long to really up the photo quality on the blog!

Peace out,

Rob