The Great Airbursh Adventure - 2016

Hey Folks,

After continuing struggles with streaking from washes on vehicles with larger flat surfaces I finally plumped up for a cheap beginners airbrush. This will be used to apply washes more evenly on miniatures as well as take advantage of being able to apply basecoats easily.

Here is the box it came in for a modest £55:

So it comes with a dinky little compressor that can output at approximately 10, 15 and 25 PSI. The airbrush itself is no good for detail work but will be (has been) great for the basecoating process and applying washes evenly. I plan on acquiring an additional brush later in the year to have a go at detail work, there are a few ok looking budget brushes so I won't be blowing more than £30 on that.

Here's the little beggar himself (I shall call him Jeffrey). The top button turns the compressor on and off and the lower button allows you to cycle through the PSI settings. The cup for paint is nice and large which is perfect for its intended use of batch washing or basecoating miniatures.

In the coming month I should have a few examples of how it can help without getting into the full on airbrush experience as it were, I'm still skeptical that an airbrush for the detail will actually improve my painting at all, but I will have a go and see how we fly.

Peace out,

Rob

Blog Recommendations - Objective Secured

Hello,

This is the second in my series of blog recommendations, and today I am going to be telling you all about Objective Secured. This is a blog that I started reading primarily for the amazing Dark Eldar conversion of NaffNaff (or Nathaniel but Naff is my preferred moniker for him). These are truly fabulous creations that I will go over below.

However in addition to Naff, there are a couple of other bloggers who post there which adds some very interesting variety to the style of work that you see. Similarly this is a blog that covers multiple game systems beyond 40k such as Malifaux and Dropzone Commander. While I don't play any of these other systems. the miniatures are beautiful and it is always interesting to see the different styles of painting that come through because of the miniature and the style of its respective game universe. 

Below are a few highlights I have picked out for your perusal!

Dark Eldar - The Danse Macabre

One of the truly unique armies out there in any corner of the 40k hobbyverse is Naff's Dark Eldar. Each individual model has been exquisitely hand crafted to looking like a disturbing part of a multi-coloured circus act. The imagination and forethought that have gone into each model is immense and couple that with an extremely skilled converting and painting hand gives you some of the best miniatures I have ever seen. Below are a few pictures but if you want to see more look here!

Dark Mechanicus - Corrosive by Nature

One of the other bloggers at Objective Secured is Arcade. In a similar vein to Naff above, Arcade has put an amazing amount of effort into his stunning Dark Mechanicus army. Unwittingly I saw this army displayed at Blog Wars X before I realised it was his and voted for it in the best converted army category. It is simply brilliant with a great lashing of fun, again like Naff's army. There is a whole range of miniature companies represented in his collection, some certainly not even intended for tabletop use, but they all come together very well when you see them on the tabletop. Again below are a few pictures but for more follow this link!

The Scourge Descend

One of the more recent additions to the hobby interests of the blog is Dropzone Commander. This is a game that I think I would really love to play, but with so much time and money tied up in 40k AND not having a regular playing partner for that I haven't invested anything in it. Sadly I just don't have any friends who are greatly interested in tabletop gaming so getting games in is just that much easier with more widely played games in my area. However I have heard nothing but good things about the game and the company behind it Hawk Wargames. Here is a couple of shots of Naff's scourge (the baddies in Dropzone) which look great! More pictures over here.

Honourable Mentions

I could keep going through this blog and bringing out picture after picture of fantastic miniatures but that would be a very long post! I will finish this off my giving you a couple more pictures that I just really like. The first is some Tau by the third contributor to Objective Secured, Xacheriel. I love these Tau because they have a real Gundam worn look to them, proper battlefield equipment!

And the final picture is one of Naff's Malifaux miniatures. The viscera painting on this mini is just perfect. I cannot think of a single way it could be improved.

In Summary

Read this blog! The painting is exceptional, the converting even more so, and the range of styles and games with a general more 40k focused experience is absolutely brilliant. They are also great at replying to comments and talking about techniques so I urge you to head on over and have a browse at Objective Secured!

Peace out,

Rob

Dark Angels Drop Pod - Complete - TO-DONE

Hello,

I finally completed the drop pod for my dark angel devastator squad, though I did end up doing a bit of dry brushing to kill the beast. Definitely sub par effort for me, but it'll do fine for playing on the tabletop.

As per comments on my review post I will be aiming to up the photography of my miniatures but I'm afraid that will only begin after a consolidated effort to tidy my work space giving me more room to put back drops down and I need to purchase a new lamp also to get even lighting. So apologies for the quality of the photos but it shows you most of what you need to see.

There is plenty of wash streak on this that I hope a matt varnish will subdue. However that effect and the sheer number of vehicles I hope to paint this year did spur me on to make a significant hobby purchase which should cause even greater drain on my money. However without a lady to wine and dine there is more of it about!

All will be revealed this week..

Peace out,

Rob

Horus Heresy - Alpha Legion Sergeant - Version 1

Hey Hey,

More work on the Alpha Legion, still trying to get the damage and rust down.

Peace out,

Rob

2015 in Review

Hey Folks,

Today I'm just going to review 2015 very quickly. I'm afraid my posts will likely be quite more curt in the following month, my lovely girlfriend and I of 3+ years together departed ways on christmas eve. This was unfortunately not due to any actual problem between us but just a divergence (children wise) in what we wanted from our lives. I'm a quite unstable person at the best of times, so this hasn't been the best New Year for me so far. 

However with that malaise out of the way I will also say that my blog and hobby has been an excellent distraction for me and the best form of escapism I could hope for, so I hope that that will eventually shine through. On to the review.

Armies

2015 saw the rise and fall of several armies under my control. Both by Chaos Space Marine Night Lords and my Militarum Tempestus were sold to make funds and time available for other projects. My Black Templars (Emperor Love them) will be joining them shortly sadly. 

Its hard to believe but I didn't have any Blood Angels at the beginning of 2015 and I now have an entire army of Death Company as well as a smattering of "Redwing" Terminator units as well as a Furioso Dreadnought. In addition I have Lemartes, Dante, Astorath, and Captain Karlaen as special characters too! Phew the thirst is strong within me! These guys total around 4500 points

And but a few months ago at the beginning of September I had no Dark Angels and now I have nearly enough models to field 4000 points if they weren't painted! In those three months though I have managed to paint up around 1200 points of Dark Angels and so am very happy with their progress!

The latter half of the year also saw me begin a foray into bigger conversions and more importantly 30k. This began with my Dark Angels which have all been converted from Sigmarines. I have 10 of these built and 5 more to go. To go along with these I have my "jetbike" mounted Praetor on the dragon/cat mount of sigmar and a trio of bodyguard jetbikes in production. Finally for these guys I have converted a Spartan Assault Tank and a Caestus Assault Ram. All these conversions have met with mixed reviews so I think I need to improve, but also develop a thicker skin if I keep putting myself out in the public domain.

And finally the Alpha Legion are here! But they only just nipped into 2015 so not much to report!

Hobby

I cannot overstate how much I think my hobby skills have improved over 2015. I think I have gone from a decent average tabletop painter to being a little cut above. Certainly I don't think I am a "great" painter but I am increasingly proud of the quality of work I produce. 

I can only hope that my skills continue to improve and I get better throughout 2016. I have a little ace up my sleeve in that respect that I hope I will have a post about soon. 

I would dearly love the regular readers of my blog to give their feedback on how far they think I have come this last year BUT more importantly what you think are they key areas/techniques you think I need to brush up on so to speak. 

I directly attribute my increase in painting skills to the feedback I have received from this blog and so I cannot thank you enough!

Blog

Obviously one of the big events hobby wise for me this year was the birth of this very blog! I have gone from 200-300 views a month in my first couple of months to garnering over 9000 views last month and not a single day below 200 views which I am incredibly proud of. I have some 30 followers over google+ and blogger and I am quite frankly astounded!

I did not in my wildest dreams think I would be sat on 34000+ views at this point. When I started the blog my aim was for 3000 at the end of the year, so more than 10 times that amount often has me pinching myself and giddy with excitement. 

I cannot thank you as my readers, occasional or habitual enough. All the comments I have received across all platforms that I throw my blog (here, facebook and google+) have been positive or constructive with very few unhelpful comments all round. 

Similar to my painting, if there is anything that you think my blog could stand to have altered I am all ears :). I do plan on doing a little give away to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the blog which will be in April I think, so hopefully that keeps you interested for a few more months :P

Gaming

I managed to get a lot more games into my fairly busy life in 2015, averaging around 1.5 games a month when you factor in the two tournaments I went too. I attended both the final Blog Wars X and also Bristol Vanguards Vanquish earlier in the year. I placed poorly in Vanquish with a fun list and I placed just outside the top half in Blog Wars with a none-optimised list. I'm quite happy with these results as I have only really just begun to get into "competitive" or "dirty" gaming if you like. My aim this year is to attend 3+ tournaments and place in the top half of two of them.

In addition to those tournaments I plan to attend Nick Thrower from the Burning Eye blogs charity event:Hero for a day. I will do a full post on this in the coming month but please go and check it out here. Nick is a top notch stand up guy and its for a great cause indeed, if you are interested do let him know :)

2016 - What do you hold

Due to the aforementioned separation event in my life (or conscious uncoupling you might say...I know pop references!) I should have a lot more time for hobbying and importantly gaming. I would like to make this a once a week or once a fortnight event rather than once a month!

In addition to my commitments for the 40k Addict season run by Dave Weston I have got a list below. Much of this list is mystery as I don't want to spoil surprised (some forgeworld surprises perhaps...) that are coming up in the next few weeks/months...

- New painting technique.. (Mystery!)

- Paint shiny new units.. (Forgeworld mystery!)

- Get Alpha Legion on the Table (Includes mystery guests!)

- Complete my 30k Dark Angels army 1850 points

- Complete 1850 points of 40k Dark Angels tournament army

- Complete all Blood Angels (approximately a drop pod, 11 death company, 10 scouts and 6 Assault marines)

I think thats a pretty ambitious list myself, but people seem to be surprised at my rate of painting so maybe not? Though I think as I have said above, I routinely sacrifice quality for quantity...

What do you think?

Do you have any favourite highlights from my blog so far? What are you most excited to see from me in 2016? Is there anything you are burning to see me do first?

Let me know and I'll be happy to oblige. 

Thank you all again for all the support and kindness you have shown. 

Peace out,

Rob

30k Alpha Legion Sergeant - WIP

Hey everyone,

Just a little WIP shot of my alpha legion sergeant. This guy has a forgeworld torso and some kromlech legs to make him stand out, but his paint scheme will be the same as his troops and he has a regular helmet.We are all Alpharius!

As you will see I have cut damage into him and these will be rusted up, as well as rivets and the like. I have bought some actual rust powder now to try and really nail the effect.

Thoughts?

Peace out,

Rob

Happy New Year

Hello,

May the new year bring you love, luck and happiness.

Peace out,

Rob