Wednesday 29 November 2017

'nids part 226 - Trygon & Genestealer Broodlord/Patriarch - Red Planet BASE!

A nice step-by-step Red Planet BASE! for the Trygon and Broodlord here, although there are already a couple of tutorials for how I base my models already in the tutorials tab at the top. At this stage it's just the Red Oxide Primer.


Here's the Strong Tone wash. You may be wondering a little about the basing materials around the 'eruption' area. These are constructed from BBQ wood chips. I have a bag of them but my BBQing is terribly infrequent and my wife isn't fond of me messing about with them, so I just figured they'd make ideal bits of ground burst effect. I could have tried to achieve the same effect with small bits of slate but the natural curves and angular chips seemed ideal so thought I'd give it a go.


It's obviously not a complete ground eruption, more an impact as the Trygon 'sidewinds' across Ferron Proxima. Its far from a scientific recreation but it looks almost representational so I'm quite pleased. Anyway, Vermilion highlight next


Second highlight


Oops, missed a step, second highlight followed by the final Pumpkin Craft Acrylic highlight. Just Bonewhite chips to add, but that will happen during the rest of the painting, but for now it's done.


The Broodlord is the same - Red Oxide.


Strong Tone wash.


Vermilion drybrush.


1st highlight [Vermilion and Pumpkin mix, don't know the ratio]


2nd highlight [moar Pumpkin]


With the broodlord detached.


The final set of Pumpkin highlights.


Both detached.


I'm really impressed with how much detail I was able to get on the drybrush of the untextured base, I'm sure it'll end up scuffed and damaged over time though :(


Anyway, badges! I get another two Big Build badges for completing my bases. OK I know my bases need edging and the bone chips but they get done later in the process, so for me this element is complete. Interestingly in last year's Great Build this was a badge just for priming the model! Then I realised I was thinking of it as 'prime and base' but as I can't base without priming it became pointless to reward the inevitable. Anyway, two badges. Washes on the base colours next and then I need to take a moment to review progress and plans...


Monday 27 November 2017

Moar Armies on Parade

Armies on Parade was a month ago and I never really debriefed, mainly because as the event unfolded the actual result became less and less relevant to me. Leading up to it my belief that 'taking part' was reward enough was posted many times on Facebook where folk seemed disappointed not to win. Winning is a welcome but purely incidental part and as much as it's nice to win the 'hobby should be the winner' [© Toby Liddiard]. I saw plenty of examples of the best of this spirit during the weekend of the Parade, I also saw examples online of the very opposite, folk bogged down over arbitrary self-imposed rules or dismissing entries because it didn't fit what they perceived as an 'Army'. It was quite depressing actually, but I reminded myself this was the minority and promised myself I would eventually write a feedback letter to GW to hopefully move things forward in a more positive direction.

As you recall I entered twice and no this was not 'against the rules' as someone questioned me online. I think perhaps he thought I was hedging my bets, which would be true if I was intent on winning but not entirely true when my second choice store is renowned for it's hobby quality. That's like competing in a local Sunday league football match and also having a crack at the FA Cup final so you have greater chance of winning!

The Southport store had just five entries so the categories were reduced to Young Bloods [of which there were ony two elligible], Best Painted and Best Themed Board. First up was this Raven Guard/Custodes army that was really cleanly painted.


I really liked it and gave it my Best Painted vote. Amusingly the store manager suggested I could indeed vote for myself - to which I refer you to my recent politician comment!


As you can see it was nicely executed.


Simple, but really tidy and effective.


Anda a bit of terrain at the back for a nice vantage point.


Next an Imperial Knight and Ad Mech force.


Then a Tau army that was one of the Young Blood entries.


It was really quite a nice effort for a youngster.


This was the other Young Blood entry a well realised Death Guard force.


The quality and effort got my vote for the category and I was left to choose best theme. As much as I liked all the entries I kept thinking my own theme was truly the best there.


But, I don't vote for myself, so I voted for the Death Guard as this City Board had the most effort put into it.


Now I'm sure you're interested in the result and it would transpire that the Raven Guard did indeed win the Best Painted and the Death Guard did win the Young Bloods, but the best Theme was...


... a tie! Mine and the Death Guard. The Manager eventually shared  pictures of the two boards with his colleague to cast the deciding vote.


I was half a mind to happily concede at this point because I could see it meant more to the Young Blood than it did to me but luckily she chose in his favour anyway and what a potential impact on his hobby that success will bring him no doubt.


I think the kid with the Tau was disappointed I didn't win saying he thought mine was the best and the subsequent discussion about Armies on Parade was the highlight of the day as I hopefully convinced him of my view of the spirit of the event. 


But my Parade looked much better than I'd hoped and without AoP I'd never have got these pictures.


Also of note is their store front display which looked pretty impressive.


And the amazing calligraphy work in their hobby areas.


Not to mention this cheeky chap! ;)


Now, to Manchester and despite the last-minute reservations in Parading there the team really tried to accommodate me in the end, for which I'm truly grateful. Sadly, I only got to see two other entries [which were by members of staff] when I returned to collect the Dark Angels. There was this mixed Age of Sigmar force.


Which was undeniably impressive


Part of me feels the need to do a Sigmar Army just so I can take part in this category as it seemed there were very few entries during the Sigmar week.


And then this Chaos/Blood Raven Dawn of War showdown.


Gabriel Angelos facing down [up?] a Bloodthirster!


Oi, where's he nicked that Mace of Absolution from, thieving git!


OK, so I won a couple of awards - Best Monster/Machine and Best Painted but the certificates were the only prize I got so just to put it into perspective I lugged a double hobby case, an aluminium hobby case and a board and backdrop on three consecutive hour long train journeys to work. Then I carried them 20 minutes across Manchester with a friend and spent a further 30 minutes setting them up.


I then had to do the entire thing in reverse. I am extremely grateful for those that voted for me and honored to win, but if anyone thinks the primary motivation for this double effort is the two certificates at the back, then they're missing the 2'x2' expression of my hobby in front of it. I may have belaboured this point, but look at this way when we think back to the Cold War and all those Red Square Parades of Soviet weapons and armour, does anyone remember the bit where some guy won something at the end? No, you remember the endless sea of marching soldiers, freshly painted missile carriers, tanks and vehicles - the might of their army on display. This is the same, this is 40k Armies on Parade, not '40k Armies Winning a Prize'.

Next year, Parade your Army and damn the result!

Friday 24 November 2017

Whats on my palette?

Bless me readers for I have sinned, it's been nearly 2 months since my last confession.


I feel like I've been pretty productive, although under close inspection it might not seem that way. I've completed the Deathwatch, my Dreadtober Genestealer Cult Sentinels and finished off some future containers. That's not actually a lot and I've still to do proper To Done pics/posts of all those. But these successes, such as they are, left me without an obvious project to jump into. I've flitted here and there between things I had started but progress has been minimal, or at least hasn't 'felt' significant. I feel a sense of 'raging ambivalence, or 'obsessive dissatisfaction' - I'm just not loving doing it as none of them have become my muse. But in reality whatever I've done will indeed pay dividends further down the line as they'll all be closer to completion when I do set all my attention on them [you know the drill by now].

Dark Angels Rhino and Predator 



The two Dark Angels tanks have received some panel shading with Dark Tone and had two sets of highlights on the metalwork. I've got another highlight, followed by some shade washes and then it'll be to focus on the green. There isn't actually a huge amount to do on these so they could be a quick win but I'm just not 'feeling' them enough to dedicate them all my attention.

Space Hulk Brood Lord & Trygon 



These two guys, as you know have just come on the radar. Right now I'm blissfully unaware of the horrors that await me painting all the Chitin highlights on the Trygon. However, much like the Dark Angels tanks I can visualise roughly how much work is involved to get these completed and although there is still the lion's share left ont hem for some reason I also see them as a quick win. I may split them to go 'between projects'.

 Ferron Fire Firs

After my can of Simoniz Red Oxide Spray malfunctioned I picked up a smaller 400ml can of Hycote. It covered both the Tyranids and then 80% of my Ferron Fire Firs so I've ordered another can of spray. This was very much at the forefront of what I wanted to finish before the can went bust, but the actual amount of work involved and just how much time it'll take me away from the other tasks means it may stall at the priming stage. Coupled with the fact games at my house are a rarity anyway investing my time and effort in something for no functional reason seems a little short-sighted.

Ravenwing Land Speeder Dark Shroud 

This has been sat on the shelf for far too long. As I wrestled with the magentising aspect a conclusion became essential as both the Dark Shroud and Vengeance platform are now viable. I solved the magnet problem by leaving the Vengeance Plasma Battery as push fit and just magenetising the underneath of the Dark Shroud relic to the top of the control station [I'll show it in future pics]. The urgency for this is it may form part of my GT3 Dark Angels list, should I take the Dark Angels. The single Land Speeder Typhoon was handy, but I think this would be a better alternative and offer more benefits for cheaper. Unfortunately GT3 is in February so I have 2.5 months to get this guy done and it's not even primed. It's doable but there's pressure involved which is both helpful and unwanted.

Rippers

What the flip? Yeah I know... This is so left field and off list I don't even have a picture to illustrate it. Bottom line I'm also debating taking the Tyranids to GT3. I have two lists at the moment, though pretty similar one is based on a Brigade and another on two Battalions. But they both require two broods of 3 Rippers [cheap troops] and I only have four Ripper bases. Therefore I'll need to make two up. I've one brood part painted already, my son did them around five years ago. The other will be a little bit different, a stop-gap solution to the Forgeworld inspired kitbash/press-mold version I'd been planning for ages. 

Movement trays


Another task that may present itself should I choose to take the nids is the adoption of movement trays. There are no two ways about it I'll probably end up with a couple of big broods of Termagants and I need to be much quicker than I currently am to fit in a full game and movement trays may help with that. These from www.lasercutarchitect.co.uk seem like the best solutions to me. You have the Tervigon/Trygon brood tray and four random blobs of 10. They're about £8 each but will still require a bit of sanding, basing and painting to be truly happy and I haven't even bought them yet...


Regardless it's another task and I need to find a way to manage the projects and prioritise what I'm doing. GT3 is only 2.5 months and if my post-Christmas malaise hits like usual I could find things very difficult to get done in time.