To become or not to become a Spartan Vanguard...that is the question.

I finished up the Russian Coalition Fleet, Tiny Flyer Tokens and all.  So I submitted my application to Spartan Games for their Spartan Vanguard Program.  They ask for up to 14 days to process the application, so now I get to sit and wait.

When I set up both fleets for pictures, I realized that I really liked the Russian TFTs turned out.  So in the future (at some point), I am going to be striping my Covenant of Antarctica TFTs and repainting them up all blue sky and flying like I did the Russian Coalition TFTs.



Since painting up both Fleets quick, dirty, and table-top worthy, I definitely believe that the Russian Coalition fleet came out better.  I am sorely tempted to strip and repaint up my Covenant Fleet but I am going to try and stick to my guns and leave it as is, rather than change it and possibly make it worse similiar to how George Lucas fucked up the original Star Wars trilogy.



I placed a rather large order with Battlefoam the other day.  With the sheer amount of Trollbloods that I own now (Hush Scott!) I figured it was time to get some foam and fill up my P.A.C.K. Air.  So 5 custom cut foam trays are incoming as well as trays for my Storm Strider, a Stormwall, the Mountain King and the War Wagon.  I figured since I would eventually own all those models (having recently purchased a Mountain King, and already owning a Storm Strider) I should own the foam to protect them.  The new foams will also allow me to store all of my future purchases for my Searforge Commission lists and Trollblood lists as well as possibly storing other random models.

For my next project I am going to finish painting up the Runebearer for the Trollbloods and paint up Borka Kegslayer and his brew buddy.  Hopefully by then, I shall have General Ossrum firmly in hand and will paint him up and the Wroughthammer Rockram for my Searforge Commission army.

Dystopian Awesomeness

Hello Fellow Blogger Types and other random peeps!

I'm back!

Or at least I will attempt to be back on a fairly regular basis from here on out.  My surgery went off without a hitch so to speak and my recovery is well recovery.  For about 2 weeks I have been an absolute bum on the couch and doing nothing.  Well I have read a few good books and cleaned out the DVR and watched entirely too much crap on Netflix but all in all I still consider myself as having done nothing.

I do however, have a goal now.

To become a Spartan Vanguard!  Yup I am going to apply to become a Vanguard for Spartan Games the folks who make Dystopian Wars (among others games).  Think of the Spartan Vanguard as their volunteer program to show their products, so very similar to the Pressgang Program offered by Privateer Press.  In order to qualify I have to have two painted fleets so I had to go out and purchase a new fleet.  I already own a 'mostly painted' Covenant of Antarctica Fleet and so I choose the latest release and picked up a Russian Coalition Naval Group and Fleet Carrier, since most of us here in po-dunk Redding are playing at that level (around 750-ish points depending on your nation)

The first thing that kind of struck me about the Russian Coalition is the sheer size of the models.  Compared to the Covenant of Antarctica, which have a very sleek look about the models, the Russian Coalition is a hulking beast of sturgeniam-infused metal.  Sharp pointy prows and big guns

Stat-line wise, the Russian Coalition has no special weapons but they do have a great defensive MAR (Model Assigned Rules) called Abalative Armor.  The MAR basically makes them immune to damage until the targeted model suffers its first critical hit, then the MAR expires and they start taking damage normally.  Which should be pretty sweet considering the Russian Coalition has virtually no weapons that operate in Range Band 3 & 4 and so therefore have to close quick and fast to unload the heavy weaponry they do have in Range Bands 1 & 2.  Yikes!

Still as a polar opposite (pun intended, for those that know about the CoA and the fluff) to my Covenant of Antarctica Fleet, I think the Russian Coalition will be a great Fleet to use as a Demo Fleet alongside my Covenant Fleet.

Since it looks like I am going to be off work until early September, my goal is to get the Russian Coalition Naval Group and Fleet Carrier painted up so that I can apply for the Spartan Vanguard Program around the same time I head back to work.

No pictures yet, but I have primed the Fleet black and I have started working on the Fleet Carrier.  When I finish up the Carrier I'll get some pictures up for everyone to look at!

Until then...Game on!

So a Space Marine Terminator walks into a bar...

To Lightning Claw or Not to Lightning Claw, that is the question. 

I have been eyeballing my Terminators now for a few weeks and I just can’t decide if I want to equip them with the dual lightning claws or if I want to go for the Storm Shield & Thunderhammer Combo.  That sweet 3+ Invul save equals a whole lot of survivability but my boys are Lamenters and Lightning Claws really ginsu up the enemy infantry when coupled with the Black Rage (or a Sanguinary Priest) and a Chaplin…did I ever tell you guys how much I really enjoy fielding Chaplins.  Cause I do…a lot…almost OCD/Stalker kind of a lot.  Moving on…  

So hard to decide, I think I am leaning more towards the lightning claws just because it will capitalize on the infantry killing hate that the Black Rage confers.  I guess I will just have to protect them by stuffing them inside a Land Raider Crusader or Storm Raven and speeding them across the battle field. 

Which leads into another great thing that came in the mail....my P.A.C.K. Air showed up today!!!  I am again impressed by how great the products from Battlefoam are!  I put my Storm Raven, Land Raider Crusader, 10 Terminators, 20+ Space Marines, a Rhino, and some other odds and ends into the bag and it is still mostly empty.  I have another heavy Warjack Tray that I will be putting my Searforge stuff into and I will also use it to transport most of the Searforge Commission army back and forth as well.  As you can see in the picture, there is tons of space left over and eventually I shall fill it with one army or another.  Oh and yes I do intended to own another Storm Raven, just tossing that one out there. The folks at Battlefoam know what they are doing because both the Land Raider and Storm Raven fit very snug in the foam.  

I love these things!  And moving on…again

Joel over at ‘Brush Zealot’ got me thinking about how many projects I have up and running currently.  A touch of background first; while the gaming group was up at Joel’s house playing in ‘Retreat Condition’ Jon’s D20 Modern Game I saw him working on a post about what projects he currently has going and I liked his idea so much that I am going to steal it, convert it to the dark side, and make it my own.  Here is a list of models currently in progress.

Dystopian Wars: Covenant of Antartica Naval Battlegroup, Fleet Carrier, and others (whistles innocently while looking around)

Infinity: Militant Order (PanOceania)

Warhammer 40k: Assault Squad, Tactical Squad, Rhino, Assault Terminator Squad, Land Raider Crusader, Storm Raven, Terminator Librarian, Terminator Chaplin

Warmachine/Hordes: … Way too many to list folks, so I am not going to even try. 

In order to slowly whittle down my list of uncompleted projects, I did do some painting this weekend.  I am just about finished with the Covenant of Antartica Naval Battlegroup for Dystopian Wars.  All I need to do know is add a touch of Boltgun to a few select parts on nine Diogenes Class Frigates and finish up my tiny flyers and I am finished with the Battlegroup.  Once the battle group is finished the only model that I am ‘required’ to have painted up by NorCon 2012 is the Fleet Carrier.  The Prometheus Class Dreadnought, the six Icarus Class Flyers, the six Plutarch Class Destroyers, and the six Galan Class escorts will have to wait for another time. 

What I really need to do is work on my Assault Marines but since I am this close to finishing up my CoA Naval Battle Group that I am just going to grind it out.  I have two more Assault Marines to base coat and then I will just paint up each model individually since I kit bashed together the squad from an Assault Marines Box and a Death Company Box, lots of little bits and dangly pieces on the models, so batch painting at that point is pretty much out of the question.  The only other thing I need to paint once I get all of the Assault Marines painted up is the Jumppacks and then I get to move on to air brushing a Rhino.  Which speaking of air brushing, I just got my air brush back up and running and fully plan to utilize it to base coat stuff from here on out, especially the 40k stuff.

So now that Scotty will quit complaining =) I am signing off for another week of modeling (which I have been doing a lot of lately), painting, and gaming.  Have a good week and enjoy what ever gaming you do get to do!

WTF!!! I have a Pocket Super Star Destroyer!!

Holy Craptastic Crap Batman!  What the crap! WTF!  SERIOUSLY!  

Okay now that the minor freakfest is over with it is time to move on to the matter at hand…DYSTOPIAN WARS! Well let’s be honest it isn’t that amazing but still.  So Joel and I are working to paint up our respective Fleets for Dystopian Wars before NorCon. 

All in all, I am making some good progress so far.

My tiny flyers are almost all finished.  Horray!

I finished up my Aristotle Class Battleship.  Of course like I said last week; Quick, Dirty, and Tabletop worthy was the goal.  I feel that I have met that goal rather well so far.  It is rather simple scheme.  Adeptus Battlegrey basecoat, a wash of Devlan Mud (Why didn’t GW invent this stuff sooner!), a dry brush of Adeptus Battlegrey, a dry brush of Codex Grey and done!  Of course on a 1/1200 scale model you are going to make some mistakes but!!! Tabletop worthy!

I also finished up the three Plato Class Cruisers in the fleet as well.  Same method again for the hull, plus I picked out some of the engine details with Scorpion Green on top of a Dark Angels Green basecoat.  On some of the filigreed areas I just picked them out with Shining Gold to help break up the rather military grey paint scheme on the models. 

Also I haven’t painted up the turrets yet and probably won’t until the very last finishing step of the fleet.  They are pretty damned tiny and I am going to need to magnetize a dowel to use as a tool when I do paint them up. 

I have one of the nine Diogenes Class Frigates painted up as my test model, with eight more to go and my Pericles Class Fleet Carrier to paint.  Everything is painting up pretty quick so I figure pending crazy insane things happening I should have most of it painted up in the next week or so.  Of course work has been stupid busy for the past two weeks so not making any promising.

Speaking of promises…I opened up my mouth and committed myself to another 500 points for the Badab Wars hosted by Aaron P. for NorCon this year.  DOH!  Painting up Space Marines…yellow Space Marines with hearts and checkers and…and…and…dear god, what did I get myself into again.  Actually as bad as I am making it sound, for a cool 1000pts of Lamenters all I need to paint up is a ten man Assault Squad and either a Sanguinary Priest or a Rhino.  It doesn’t seem like much but with what I painted up last year it is going to be pretty nasty. 

Malakim Phoros, Chapter Master of the Lamentors

5x Death Company

-          Jump Packs

-          Power Sword

-          Power Fist

-          Infernus Pistol

-          Plasma Pistol

-          Abraxas (converted Lemartes) 

Death Company Dreadnought

-          Magna Grapple

10x Assault Squad

-          Two Hand Flamers

-          Sarge has twin Lightning Claws

Rhino or Sanguinary Priest

Seems like a pretty solid list for me.  Lots of quick heavy hitters.  So again my poor Blindwater Congregation is getting pushed behind another painting project…sigh.

On a good note, my Spartan Games Battlefoam Bag (Link can be found HERE) has gotten ordered and should be in my grubby little mitts soon! Can't wait!  AND!!!!!!! my Winsor & Newton Series 7 Miniature brushes just showed up today!  Of course...$40 for four brushes and some brush restorer/preserver is still kind of a kick to the nuts but I am happy that I have them.

Anywho...until next time! 

Quick, Dirty, and Tabletop Worthy!!

Breaks Over!  Back to work!

Yeah, that time has come again for me to start posting on a regular basis not like I haven’t been but I did take an extra week off for the holidays.  It was a nice break.  Nothing crazy happened except Christmas! And a Dremel 4000 with loads of attachments!  That is right!  I be cutting MDF Board with a small hand held power tool and 3500 RPM!!!! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Ph33r m3!!!!

So in case you are wondering, no I haven’t exactly been idle over the Christmas Season.  I painted up a Dwarf Lord from the Warhammer Fantasy line for a D&D Game I am in.  I also cut out a few templates (with the circular cutting attachment for my Dremel 4000!) which I will be turning into swamp templates for my Blindwater Congregation army, and I started painting up my Covenant of Antarctica Fleet after Joel and I had a friendly game of Dystopian Wars.  As you can see lots of little things. 

Joel and I have agreed to have our Starter Fleets plus Aircraft Carriers painted up NorCon.  Honestly it shouldn’t take a terribly long time to paint them up.  First off the scale is 1/1200 so they are super tiny and while they are packed full of detail I have absolutely NO intention of painting each individual rivet, wooden board, and window on those models.  Base coat, wash, drybrush, maybe some highlights, pick out a few metallic details, done!  In the course of one evening of painting I got all of the woodwork done on my Battleship, Fleet Carrier, and three Cruisers.  I am going to test out the hull paint scheme on one of the nine Frigates I have and if I like it…apply it to the rest of the fleet. 

Don’t get me wrong; I applaud those painters that take the time and effort to make their Dystopian War models look gorgeous, but that isn’t what I am going for this time around.  I want a painted fleet on the table.

Quick, Dirty, and Tabletop Worthy is my goal!! 

Joel and I have also both agreed to purchase a second Starter Box of a different nation and a Fleet Carrier (not sure on the Aircraft Carrier but I am presuming we will since both of us did that last time, and I know Jon did as well) once our first set is all painted up.  I’ll be getting the Britannia Starter while Joel is going to get the Empire of the Blazing Sun Starter. 

At any rate while on break I cannot be accused of having idle hands.  I’ll be posting pics of my progress on my fleet next week.  The gators will just have to be patient a little while longer.  I am sure they understand. 

P.S. oh yeah I also got Elder Scrolls: Skyrim so that has been chewing up a good chunk of my free time as well.  

Black or White...and no I am not talking about Michael Jackson

Oh white primer, how I try to love you but I just can’t. Actually on certain models I really dig the white primer. I like the lighter undertone that it gives to the model and for those vibrant colors like yellows and even reds; it just tends to make them pop. However, this comes with a pretty hefty drawback. White primer is not forgiving….at all.

I have had a model finished and right when I get ready to go and seal it, I notice this little white dot tucked away in the nether reaches of the model that is just staring at me and daring me to paint it. Oh how I hate those little white dots. So I find my tiniest brush, I get out as close to the color as I can get of the surrounding paint, which at this point has been layered up nine different ways from Sunday, and I gently try to exterminate that white dot of doom that is just staring at me. I am successful about 50% of the time and don’t screw up the paint. Not so much the other 50% of the time however and the resulting clean up takes about another hour to make it look passable to the not so discerning eye.

I figured I would go with the White Primer on my Covenant of Antarctica Fleet and try this spiffy new washing technique that I learned from Aaron at NorCon. Looked pretty snazzy actually! I bought the flow aid, diluted it per instructions, mixed it with the paint and the water to get that skim milk consistency and started washing my primer’d white model. Everything was groovy until I started painting on the model and dear lord did I miss a metric shit ton of spots. Disgusted with myself and only a few hours in, Dystopian Wars are on a 1/1200 Scale so a few hours is really an almost finished model if you aren’t getting all detailed and shit. Some of the paint jobs at the Spartan Games forums are rather impressive FYI.



So I dunked the whole fleet in Super Clean, busted out a tooth brush, brushed off the P3 White Primer and grabbed my trusty can of P3 Black Primer, a few spritzes later and poof…I now have a black primer’d fleet that will be much more forgiving of my screw ups and mistakes. The detail on these models is crazy impressive. Just insane really but honestly, I just want some playable painted models. Nothing award winning, not that I am there yet, but something that will look good on the field and won’t be just a primer’d model. So I am going to do a few very simple layers.



- First Layer: Base Coat (obviously) – Debating on going with a grey scheme or a green scheme (Gretchin Green Foundation Paint)
- Second Layer: Wash – Devlen Mud!
- Third Layer: Drybrush – With what every color I decide to go with as my base coat
- Add some sort of striping or pattern in a darker shade
- Pick out details (such as deck plating, metallic surfaces, windows, turrets, etc…)
- Done



Sounds fairly simple in its execution and it should churn out a pretty clean and table-top quality models. I just have to make sure I write down all of the paints I use and on what layers so that if I pick up other models, which I invariably will, I can recreate the scheme without having to re-invent the wheel so to speak.

I did however run out of Badab Black wash while washing the fleet and typing up this blog…

/sigh