[40K] More of This Game is Just Pretty

So a new guy came into the store the other night (after much prodding from TheDude) and brought some of his beautiful Dark Angels to show us. I thought I'd share... 

I like it, I like it, I like it.

[40K] Sometimes, the game is just pretty

I showed up to my 40K night the other day, and one of my regulars was showing off his new toys. He had amassed a very large selection of figures for a theme army and wanted everyone to see them.

Pictures don't quite do this justice- there's a lot of shine and reflection taking away from the detail and lovely work he put into this army- but I really want to showcase his work.

Long shot of the whole army.

A narrower look at the oncoming mass.

Hey look! Skimmers and dreads!

I love the feel of the army- the different poses really helps it have a personality.

Who doesn't love a wheelie?

The bank on this is just super cool.

Ever hear of flanking? Yeah, these guys have it.

[40K] Works in Progress

On Saturday, our 40K league is hosting a Model Work Day. The idea is to allow a time to bring in models that need some work and learn from each other.

I'm thinking of bringing some of these guys

and trying to turn them into something like this

Courtesy of Darkfuturegames.blogspot.com

Am I up to it? Probably not. But I have a lot of bare basic Marines and some cool BT upgrade goodies, so we will see what happens.

[40K] Show Me How

I am starting a new project soon, but before I get to it, I want some advice. You know me, I am always willing to give it out, so now I am going to ask for some.

I want a "clean, shiny" look for my next project; but I generally paint in a overwashed, muddy, dirty sort of way.
I personally love the look. I enjoy the over or undersaturated aesthetic a lot, as seen here:

This Maurader is one I personally painted, and is pretty representative of my ability and "groove".

There is also this guy (Mihalis and Back40K, This is for you...)

I really don't like yellow, but this guy is stellar. I love his washed out, grungy look.

So, if your paint style is a little messy,  how do you get results like this?

I'd love to have clean, crisp, sharp lines and colors. I would love to have the colors be "just right", rather than "too much" or "not enough". I have no idea how to do it.

Can any of you show me demos, videos, tutorials or other resources for a CLEAN paint job?

[40K] He Defiles Explanation

Remember my buddy's Defiler/Dreadknight conversion?

Here he is now, all gorgeous and khaki.

You have to check out this awesome Big Infernal Contraption (BIC).

That's right, that DBG is a BIC Pen cap. My buddy is some kinda genius to come up with this chicanery.

All the fabulous paint is done by none other than a frequent commenter, Tom.

Beautiful work and fantastic collaborations, guys!

[40K] Black Templar Questions Again Plus AWESOME Pictures!

So I've recently been checking out other people's lists in an effort to get better as a list designer. Or maybe it's that I'm making crib notes/outright stealing ideas. Either way, I have seen something pretty disturbing that I do not understand.

I am seeing BT lists with EC tricked out with things other than AAC. And for the love of killing Xenos scum (sorry, Leebo), I honestly can't fathom why.

Can anyone help a girl out?

Also on the "Stuff I'm thinking about" list is my StormRaven. Some of you that have been reading a while may remember that TheDude gave it to me for my birthday.  It is finally converted, assembled and primed and I want to show it off! It's only 6 months later so I don't feel even a little bit lazy! (And I truthfully shouldn't as I did none of the work. FunDave did it all, and tried to claim my bird for himself, the turkey.)

So here we have some shots of her all dressed up:

Front view of the lady of death [I cannot tell you how much I am smiling. I just LOVE HER!!!]

And of course,  you have to have a profile shot! You cannot see the tail conversion well in any picture, but I had the tail turned "upside down" because I liked the look much better.

Hurrican bolters for the win, baby! 

Or, a door if you want troops. 

This is how FunDave did it- the cross bar is totally invisible from the outside, but keeps the doors/bolters on perfectly.

So there's my girl... I now need a reason to take her out for a drive/ride/killing spree ...

And as an extra special treat...


I've talked off and on about my Orks from way back when. I know I discussed at length how horrifically ugly and putrid they were- and how I did it on purpose. I gave these guys away, so I didn't have them available to show photographic evidence of how terrible they really are.

You're in luck- the Orks were on loan to a guy who is learning the game and I got some primo pictures to share with you.. bask in their hideous glory.

There's more...

And here's one I was sort of proud of at one time-

and his back ...

[40K] League Silliness

This week wraps up the league's tournament, and I saw some free play going on as well.

We have a light-hearted, generous group- one of our regulars brought in a piece of terrain that he donated to the store. Here's a shot of his lovely work.

The Defiler and space marine are for scale comparison. I love the marbling effects he got in there.

I also saw some very pretty Dark Eldar raiders - I've wanted to show them off for a while now.

I'm really taken with the colors here... truly vibrant and well done.

And last, I have one of the silliest conversions around. I can't help but giggle when I see it.

The guy did a lot of work- he made 6 of them... I just love them.

[40K] Grab Bag - Including WIP shots!

GMort's article about blaming dice made me smile. He's right, for the most part. But sometimes, you CAN blame the dice. 

Really. ONE six and 9 ones (1 not visible in picture)

This week I did a lot of admiring. My Chaos-As-Space-Wolves friend showed me these:

Pointy Land Raider!

A Flamer. So fun!

I did get a game in against The Star Wars Imperial Guard Army. His Sentinels are really nice!

We played a pitched battle game where he seized initiative. We did a lot of blowing each other up to a mutually satisfying draw. I'll try to do a full bat rep later this week.

As one might expect, a guy with an army like this has a big personality. He was more than happy to model with his models!

Brother Darius continues to slay Heretics. Here, he's got a Guardsman hanging by that lovely sword.

And here's the  hill after the assault phase:

I'm finally getting a little painting done. I am trying to achieve a brushed dark metal look- black, without USING black.

TEST MODEL 1

Using Ral Partha's Steel as a wash.

TEST MODEL 2

Using P3's Armor Wash as a wash

In person, I much prefer the Steel wash- it's got a slightly metallic look and gives a much darker feel. In pictures, it's tough to see a difference.

I've been putting off makimg my army ready to play long enough. I went through last night and sorted- what needs "repairing", what needs primed, and what needs painted.

I have a large batch of little plastic Space Doodz ready to prime. It's big enough it will probably take several batches to get them all done.

In addition to repairing some broken models, I'm putting new "choppy" arms on about 30 guys. I'm also considering putting together that Storm Raven. It has a lotta parts! (But thankfully comes with instructions)

I'll probably be throwing some guys into the purple lake tonight as well- I'm tired of the Ugly Crusade.

Be Well,

'Lo

[40K] Arguing With Paint, Vol. 2: Opinions Welcome

In my last adventure with removing paint, I was regaling you with my distressingly bad results.

I'm glad to say that with the liberal application of your sage advice, I've assembled a small force of really plain guys.



And One Pre-painted Black Templar Termie. There's 4 more in one of the bags.


But I still have a lot of work to do. I have all the guys in the Batallion Bag to do:

Plus the Vehicle Transport bag:

Borrowing the Eldar Codex for a day. NOT playing them.

That's a lot of guys! Not all of them are being done right now. The guys I THINK I might use for league are staying ugly for the moment until I have a list- I don't want a crucial model to be in the soup come game day.

Here's one that is seriously un-pretty; but I'm not sure what his weapon is... help?

I also discovered even MORE surprises while going through the bags, getting little men ready for the swimming pool. Any idea why a Landspeeder would have magnets HERE?

The Landspeeder and many of the other Fast Attack/Heavy Support presented a totally different dilemna -
for the most part, the bodies are a very acceptable black. It's the highlight colors of really, really orange that I'm not thrilled with. Should I dip them, or leave them as they are and paint over the offending color? I'm really debating the Rhino seen in my first bat-rep, as it's a LOT of orange. Here's a bike, as an example of the rest of the models configurations.

Dip, or just repaint?

There were some genuinely nice models in the bunch. This 'Dred was lovely- but not what I'd like for my army. He's getting a bath, too; despite being very pretty.

I assembled all these conscripts into a bucket (rather than my small Rubbermaid bin, which can only handle about 15 guys at a time) to be covered by Purple Power and paint removed. (This idea was the brilliant suggestion of TheDude.)

As stated before, there are quite a few more to be dipped yet- but they are potential army bait and staying out for a little while longer. At least until I have a couple 1K lists...

Next on the list after paint removal is test models. I'm hoping for the weekend, as this week is stuffed with some very exciting but massively time consuming activities.

Much more to come, with modeling (um, some Termie arms fell off... that means I can stick hammers on...) and painting (I'm aiming for a no-black used "black" color) and batreps etc.

Be Well,

Lo