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!

What?! Menoth?! WTF!!!

Well I have made a New Year’s Resolution…23 days late, but still a Resolution. 

In 2012, I am going to try my damnedest to finish one army. 

Now seeing as how I am working on my Lamenters Space Marines for Aaron’s Badab Wars Campaign and I am also trying to save up money to go down to Arizona to participate in a convention hosted by the folks at Battlefoam…I am thinking I should be pouring my efforts into 40k.  In anticipation of the convention in September, I have worked out a 2000pt list that builds on what I already have and requires me to order a Land Raider and an Assault Terminator Squad.  I won an auction on ebay for a Terminator Librarian (NIB) and I have a Terminator Chaplin already.  If I keep all of my HQ Models at around the 175pt mark, they can be interchanged with no issues…so now I need to kit bash together a Terminator Captain with a burly ass power axe, eerily similar to the one my Malakim Phoros model uses…hmmmmmm

Of course I have already been sidelined once by a painting competition for a Warmachine/Hordes Tourney that is happening on the 18^th of February.  CURSE YOU SCOTTY!!! CURSE YOU!!!!  It is an interesting idea and I am glad I am taking part in it.  I’ll probably end up giving the model away when the competition is over.  For the competition, you have to paint up a Warcaster/Warlock attachment that has been purchased at one of the FLGS.  Aight.  Well damn it, I am not buying another Squire for my Cygnar army and the Searforge Commission doesn’t have a caster attachment…neither do the Blindwater Congregation, so I am left with only one option.  That’s right kids; buy another model from a different faction!

So I settled on the Hierophant from the Protectorate of Menoth.  I will admit it is a pretty neat looking model.  Very Holier-than-thou-art look to it; I kind of like it.  In grand Grant Fashion (and plain good sense) I pinned the Staff to the main body and also pinned the little scroll case on its back in place as well, about 20 extra minutes to do all that but I really don’t want this little guy falling apart.  I primed the model black since I am going with an alternate paint scheme from the Menoth White and went to town painting up the robes.  First thing I did was make a black wash by thinning out some Chaos Black and painting in all the cracks and recess that got missed by the primer and then the fun began!

Mecharite Red was the basecoat and then I just built up layer after layer of red starting with Scab Red, followed by Red Gore, then I mixed in some Blood Red with the Red Gore, and finally I added a small dab of Bleach Bone to the Red Gore/Blood Red mix for the final little touches.  I tried leaving the previous shade of red showing through on the layering but not really sure how successful I was.  Just one more step on the way to blending.  Over all, I am pretty happy with the look and feel of the red. 

For the Vest, I am going to keep it black and highlight the areas with Shadowed Grey.  For the parts of the model that have the Menofix on it, I am going to do a Bleached Bone/White background with a black Menofix. I am also planning on doing up all the metals in gold and also painting the trim on the Hierophant’s vest gold as well. As far as the scroll cases go, I am not really sure if I am going to give them a metallic look or try for an aged wooden look.  I suppose I’ll paint whatever suits my fancy when the time comes.  

Yellow is the color of the week

So I like I said last week I opened my mouth and said that I would do up another 500pts for my Lamenters Army for Aaron’s Badab Wars Campaign.  True to my word, I have started painting up the Assault Squad that will help get me there.  I have primed all of the models white and then used Gryphonne Sepia to wash the models and ‘pre-shade’ them before I start putting down the yellow base coat. 

Really I washed the models to help me avoid those damned annoying little white spots that always manage to crop up in the deepest darkest recesses of the models.  Also, it will help dull the brightness of the model just a tad.  I have gone in and put down the yellow coat of Iyanden Darksun using my spiffy new brushes.  I have also tried out something a bit different as well.  I am using Liquitex Flow Aid (diluted down per instructions). 

I think the hardest part about using the Flow Aid is that I am no longer licking my brushes.  Before I would roll my tongue and lick my brushes to help with keep the brushes moist. Now…not so much…odd chemicals coursing through my body, probably not the best of ideas.  I am trying to clean off my brush after every two or three dips in the paint.  So far I really like how the paint flows off of these new brushes. 

Another thing I am doing is avoiding painting in the recessed areas of the models where the wash has dried and created a nice shaded area.  So far so good, though I still need to work on my brush control because I am going to have to go back in at a later stage and re-apply some wash to even out some of my mistakes and to help deepen those shadows.  Of course you read any of the little painting tutorials and this is one of the first steps they talk about doing.  Well, guess I am a bit behind the curve. Won’t be the first time and definitely won’t be the last time. 

Of future events, I am going to try and make it down to Arizona this year to attend a convention put on by the folks over at Battlefoam Bags.  They are going to have a tourney for both Warhammer 40k and for Warmachine/Hordes so I need to decide which event I want to attend.  I have made up a 2000pt list for the 40k, now I just need to figure out what I want to bring for the Warmachine/Hordes Tourney.   This is all pending I can save up the money to buy the plane tickets and Convention ticket and and and…to many ands.  Never hurts to make plans in advance though.  

Well here is for hoping!

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! 

2 for 2!

Alrighty, so far so good, this is 2nd week in keeping true to posting to the plog. I have been painting. I wish I could say that I have been painting more, but I haven’t. Working two jobs can really put a crimp in the ol’paint time. Usually my two jobs don’t gobble up a lot of my time but this week and next week are going to be rough. Between both jobs this week I am working between 40 to 60 hours. What makes it bad is that I go to my first job from 7am to 2pm and then I usually have to be at my other job by 4pm and stay till 9pm…by the time I get home the last thing I want to do is paint…needless to say, I am pushing to get in an hour a night. For NorCon, which is a local gaming convention in Redding, I am to take part in the Badab War Campaign. I have committed to fielding 500pts of Space Marines.


I have chosen to play a Blood Angels Successor Chapter, the Lamenters. I am fielding a Reclusiarch, 5 Death Company w/Jump Packs, and a Death Company Dreadnaught; the models count amounts to about 500 or so points, give or take a few. I know this doesn’t seem like a lot especially considering that the Death Company are basically painted black with a few splotches of color.



So why am I having such a hard time actually painting up these models. I had a great time painting up the Chapter Commander Malakim Phoros that I scratch built and I really enjoyed painting up my converted Reclusiarch Abraxas. I think I am having a hard time painting up the Death Company because the Death Company are just different versions of the same model and are fairly boring to paint.



I can hear you all now…most miniature games only have a few sculpts and I do understand that it is more cost effective to have a few sculpts than each one being an individual sculpt. I can also hear you saying, “Well, why don’t you just convert your figs?” Pretty easy to answer really…limited funds and lack of belief in my own abilities, more of the former than the later really. Also I have a few new models for Warmachine coming out and I really want to paint them up and my painting ADD has kicked in hard.

Anywho…enough woe-is-me-bullshit.

Speaking of painting ADD and faction ADD and Game ADD, I think I am going to try and paint up two 50pt Tier 4 Lists for Warmachine different factions. Roll your eyes, I know you are, hell I am rolling my own eyes but that doesn’t change the fact that I really want to do it.

One list will be headed up by Constance Blaize leading her Army of Light. The other faction will be Kommander Harkovich, the Iron Wolf leading the Wolf Pack.

Constance Blaize’s list is filled to the gills with Precursor Knights, Sword Knights, Mechanics, two Heavy Warjacks, a Journeyman Warcaster, Harlen Versh, and Archduke Alain Runewood…around 42 models total.

I am still working on a list for Kommander Harkovich, but I know it will have three Heavy Warjacks, two Man-o-War units, Man-o-War Kovnik a War Dog, Kovnik Joe, and some Morter Crews.

Two totally different armies and two totally different playstyles…now let’s see if I can actually do this. Here’s for hoping!

Painting ADD

As per my usual, it has been a little while since I have posted anything to the plog. The nice thing is…is that I am still painting. I have decided to put my Blindwater Congregation Army on hold. I know, I know…I said that I was going to continue to work on painting up my Blindwater Congregation Army while I was working on the Lamenters. I stopped for a few reasons:

1) The local meta has chilled to Warmachine/Hordes pretty considerably in the past few months. Occasionally there is a game but honestly, I got tired of waiting four hours for someone to show up that might have a Warmachine/Hordes army to play…hence why I picked up some 40k figs again. Most folks are playing 40k and as a Wargamer, I want to be able to play games myself.

2) I just don’t like the Fury Mechanics of Hordes. This is the 2nd Army I have bought for Hordes and there is something about the Fury Mechanic that I just don’t like. The models are beautiful, don’t get me wrong. Early game, Hordes is over-powered.; the ability to purchase a ton of extra attacks, or boost the attack/damage roll, or even the ability to shuffle the damage off to a Warbeast. It is all a part of the Fury Mechanic. Come late game however the Warlock loses a ton of hitting power due to the attrition game. My tactic against a hordes list is to drop the most powerful Warbeast first. This usually means the opposing player loses out on their high-fury Warbeast and there is an immediate draw down in power for the warlock. Rinse, Recycle, Repeat, and possibly by the second or third turn, the Warlock is down to a couple of fury a turn and is hampered by their lack of heavy hitters. Now the Warcaster starts to shine…getting focus every turn regardless of Warjacks on the board equals a Warcaster that has a constant utility and survivability through every turn of the game. Yes, losing a Warjack hurts but it doesn’t directly affected the Warcaster. However, losing a Warbeast directly affects the Warlock effectiveness by loss of fury generation and loss of a spell.



So I am willingly calling myself a liar. Sorry folks, hate to disappoint, but on the upside, I have been painting, in my typical, slow as a snail, painting method.



I finished my Death Company Dreadnaught and I am fairly pleased with the results. However, my freehand skills are well, sucky to say the least. I decided to do the Lamenter’s Space Marine Chapter because of the challenge it presented to my painting skills: Free-Hand, Yellow, Layering & Blending. So far I am up to the Free-hand part and it is pretty “bleh” to me. I know the saying that we are our own worst critic and oh yeah…I am mortified by my free-hand. It will get better as time progresses but I see this model and want to claw out my eyeballs with a rusty spoon and smash my face into a brick wall and then go run and hide in shame from my lack of free-hand skills. (sigh) BUT…I won’t and I am going to leave it as is and eventually go back and touch up after I have gotten a few more free-hand checks and hearts.



I have also put down quite a few layers on to Malakim Phoros, the Lamenter’s Chapter Master. I am to the point now where I am going to be doing up some of the small detail work and starting the cloak. I hope to have him finished by week’s end.



So until next time!

Completion Issues and Space Marines

Have you ever had an issue finishing a model?

Especially when it is a model you are just not too keen on painting? I am sure most of us have…and the model I am finishing up isn’t an exception to this little issue. First off let me preface this little statement by saying, I absolutely love Kara Sloan. I love her fluff, I love her spell list, I love her feat, and I love the assassinations I have pulled off with her…that being said, I really hate painting her model! The model is just boring to paint and she has been half painted for months. I figured I could take a little break from my Blindwater Army and finally finish painting up one of my three favorite Warcasters for Cygnar (the other two being Siege and Caine). I mean half painted and killing fools seems like an injustice to the model

All I am going to say is wow; I can’t wait till she is finished. Maybe it is her pose (not keen on the whole gun in the air pose) or that I have waited for so long, but I am finding that I am just trying to get her done as fast as possible. Really, this just means she will be table top quality, which is kind of a shame. I like having my ‘character models’ look better than the rank and file troops; as it should be, but I want her done and off my painting desk as soon as possible. Tonight, seems about right.

I must confess to a few things though.

A: I am going to be trading off/selling off about 2/3rds my Cygnar army in anticipation of the new Warcaster, Constance Blaize – Knight of the Prophet. I am going to get rid of the stuff I just don’t use. Cygnar to me equals Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and Knights (Sword & Precursor). The lighting theme is pretty sweet and I like the idea of Lightning Theme but I have never played that theme and I don’t plan on starting now. Give me guns, guns, a few more guns, with a side of guns, topped with a bit of guns. I have always liked the idea of the Precursor Knights and the Sword Knights. In the ‘Wrath’ expansion, both units are getting some lovin’! So stuff has to go to make room for the swelling ranks of Knights and Gun Mages

B: I am working on a Warhammer 40k Army for a local Campaign, the Badab Wars.I have recently purchased a Box of Death Company, a Storm Raven, a Blood Angels Dreadnaught, and Lamartes. They will be getting converted and painted up in the livery of the Lamenters Successor Chapter. I have to have the models painted and ready to go by the end of July. Even me, the world’s slowest painter, can do this.

So far I have converted Malakim Phoros, Chapter Master of the Lamenters (from Imperial Armor 9), using parts from the Death Company sprues, the Sanguinary Guard spures, and the Space Marine Commander spures. I also have the Storm Raven in three pieces as I am painting it from the inside out.

Now that having been said let me say this. I will still be working on my Blindwater Congregation Army. I have one of my Ironback Spitters primered up and ready to go and I am also going to be getting my Gatorman Posse ready for priming as well.

Now for a special treat!

I am proud to present you all with the first image of Malakim Phoros, Master of the Lamenters, Lord of Ruin, Watcher of the Deeps