And the man at the back said "Everyone attack!"....

...And it turned into a Hobby Blitz...... A HOBBY BLITZ!

Right, on that rather dodgy song link I thought I'd post about the weekend I've just had and all the hobbying (is that a verb? It is now!) I've done in it. I said a while ago that I should post more about random things, and followed that up by not doing so, so this is an attempt to make amends.....

Recently I've actually been doing almost nothing to do with this slightly geeky hobby of ours other than play. Yes, I've been painting the odd sister squad and rhino for the Blog challenge, but that's been sporadic and half hearted at best for the last couple of months. To be honest, I'd even wondered if I was going off painting little figures I was that disinterested!

But fear not, something snapped on Friday. I don't know what it was..... Perhaps it was the thought of shifting the climactic GOG battles forward to about a month's time..... Perhaps it was the fact that I played a game of 40k last week and realised that every game I played used exactly the same scenery and grass mat, just shifted that scenery around a little each time..... Perhaps it was the fact that I have to spend 15 minutes clearing the garage before every game to even mean we could lay out that scenery.....

But something did snap. And a Hobby Blitz ensued....

I started off by finally finishing the half ar$ed job I'd done on some rather simple tank teeth thingies (you know, the things that stop tanks going over them). All I'd previously done was spray them with roughcoat and stick them to a board which I added sand to. I had only used them once, probably because they looked rubbish. So I added some flock, bushes and rusty old barbed wire to ensure it was clear that they were difficult ground and offered LoS blocking (and were impassable for tanks) and now I can't wait to use them.

Encouraged by this I started some entirely new terrain. For ages now (over a year?) I'd saved some interesting packaging that muffins for my weekend breakfasts came in. "They'll look great as some kind of tent" thought I. Not so when kept in a big cardboard box since then though. So out they came, out came some of the mountain of polystyrene that I've been keeping and some plasticard and voila, Imperial All Environment Survival Posts. The simple addition of doors (spare from rhinos), an Imperium Eagle (again spare from rhinos) and an exhaust fume (from a the first ever rhinos!) finished the modelling. I reasoned that they wouldn't need windows (might not work in the harsher environments) and if time and conditions permitted they would be built on a concrete base (mine were). This meant the building would block LoS or offer cover for vehicles and the concrete would offer saves for infantry. Just need to highlight the concrete and they're done.

Then I started on my last sisters squad. This is the one I need for April's painting. So here they are, stuck together with basecoats on half and basecoats and washes on the other half.

Next up was the pirate ship that's been sitting around getting in the way looking like a toy. Some conversion work on the masts and windows and sticking the thing all together (including adding some new decking, drilling new holes for the masts and adding a door) and then spraying it brown. Highlighting to do and then it'll be ready to challenge Master Shipwright Waple on the Seven Seas.

I even dug out all of the Armoured LotR Elves that I had lying around in anticipation for War of the Ring to work out how many I had. (Enough for 4 bases of eight warriors and 2 bases of eight archers if you're wondering). So I converted up a new banner bearer, cleaned up, based and undercoated all those not yet painted in anticipation of them being painted too.

And I even found time to add two coats of paint to the walls in our bedroom, watch two 6 nations games and the City game on Sky!

Apologies for the long post, but I'm just so chuffed to be back hobbying again! Really enjoyed the weekend and I have a new lease of life. It's good to be back :)

if i could get my pictures up I'd be dangerous....

...so here they are for the month!

1 unit of sisters (with obligatory rhino) and a unit of 7 Seraphim. The seraphim benefited from a re-basing and a bright new green colour for their smocks. After differentiating the celestians with purple outfits i decided that each of the types of sister should have their own colour, and I'd recently discovered a way of highlighting green that I was pleased with so green it was.

I now only need to build & paint the turret of an exorcist and finish painting the turret of an immolator and I'll be at 1,500. Good job really, as my attention is really starting to wander to other projects instead of thinking about my last 500 points. Now wher did i leave those dark Eldar.....

Bit of an easy one this month....

.....because I got scared of what you boys were bringing and decided to get the Exorcists in!

I've already got those painted, so both of them come straight in to try and kill Wazdakka and the Lord of Change!

Not much chance given my 1's for shots from these ladies, but you've gotta try, right?

My 500 - Done!

Here they are, my 500. The rhino and the three sisters standing in front of it are totally new this month, the others are part of my old army and have been touched up to go with the others (stop sniggering at the back Waple!).

And after my charging rhinos did the business against the Howling Griffons yesterday (mainly due to great dice) that's my month done.

Onto next month then. Now where did I put those exorcists.....

Just a little late.....

......But here they are!

8 Celestians, 1 Palatine and their rhino, snapped while still drying on my painting desk.

Why are they late? Well, essentially a combination of only chooing my army 2 weeks into October, making scenery for Cowboys and a busy end to October cutting into my painting time. Still, I decided to not rush them in the time I did have as I knew that I had this weekend to work on them, so I decided to submit them late instead.

Rather enjoyed doing this lot and I decided to try layering on the cloaks to make them a little different and try to improve my skills by trying a new technique that I hadn't really tried before. I discovered whilst doing my cowboy posse that small numbers of models give you a great opportunity to just try new stuff without worrying as to whether it's a simple enough technique to replicate across a whole army. As the Celestians were to have different colour cloaks to the rest of the sisters I decided to try it on them. Took me quite a bit of time, but I'm pleased with the result and have learnt a fair bit about colour variations of the layers for next time.

The results are in - and the winner is.......

The Ladies!

Yep, Sisters of Battle it is for me. I had a good rummage through all my stuff sitting in the garage and the SoBs managed to win me over, what with all the bits I've collected for them and a recent injection of fresh blood from the Silverback (cheers dude).

I think what I needed was a hook - something to differentiate them from the crowd, something to keep my interest. And I found it.

I wanted to make them something different from marines and I decided that the essential role of SoBs outside of battle was massively different. Whilst marines get shipped from warzone to warzone, wiping out the Emperor's enemies and all that, the SoBs have a much greater impact on the "normal" folk of the imperium, only being called into action when necessary. To this end I decided to make sure that the Mech army I was planning (lots of rhinos, lots of flamers, lots of meltas) would fit this role to a T. The role of the SoBs is to spread the emperor's word and also to enforce it and root out heresy, often over quite a large area where visits by the Emperor's servants are few and far between.

Therefore each of the rhinos would have to be more than just a troop transport. Some would be mobile shrines...... and on the flip side some would carry the implements of torture by which the sisters seek out heresy and ensure it is purged.

Fortunately the Exorcists I've previously put together fit this theme pretty well as they are mobile shrines, including the friezes on the converted launchers themselves. My mission therefore was to make the rhinos more the instruments of torture and compliance with the Emperor's will - as defined by the fanactical SoBs.

I wanted to give the impression that the rhino cavalcade would roll into one of the Imperiums many settlements and allow the masses to worship at the vehicles, but also that they would be there to root out, and punish, those they considered lax in their service to the Emperor. And let's face it, they'll never be short of finding people who in their eyes are lax in their service.......

So, first up is a unit of celestians with rhino and Palatine. I've stuck the celestians to their bases, so this weekend is painting and rhino building. Celestians first because they're the only unit I'm planning that is allowed less than 10 members so this will hopefully give me flexibility going forward when I need to drop a few points to get something in or have a few points spare.

Piccies to come once I'm further advanced!