Tidy mind/tidy workspace

With the Man Cave's case of Nurgle's Blight [which I've been keeping on top of and preventing outbreaks with judicious anti-mould spray applications] I've been a little down on the whole hobby room enjoyment but I realised in part it was becaus of how untidy my workspace was. I'm untidy at the best of time but the apathy and constant shifting of the paint table meant I just didn't care. The fact is I sit facing the computer anyway so the paint space is irrelevant. It was annoying me though and depsite not wanting to sacrifice a good deal of hobby time rectifying the situation I arrived at a moment where that was possible, because there really wasn't very much else I could do in that time.

Now some would say this isn't much better, and I admit since this picture it's begun to deteriorate yet again. However, I cannot underestimate the feeling I got from this experience. I'm sure there's a single word, like schadenfreude, untranslatable from another language that would explain the feelings I had whilst doing it. It's a sensation I've had numerous times before of 'rediscovering something long lost, like a memory from childhood', it's a peculiar mental process that then evolves into an emotinal one, not unlike losing The Game [Tom Widdows]. It's quite a nebulous emotion that when I feel it I keep reaching inside to capture why it make me feel that way.

Of course that all sounds like a whole load of nonsense but this is the hobby slump time of the year and I'm trying to harvest positive feelings when everything else is seeking to drag me down and stop progress - and yes I've been struggling with that due to:

• Numerous tasks at hand
• Sheer amount of dull and tedious jobs that are the priority
• Lack of completed To Do items
• Man Cave mould
• Bad weather
• Fatigue

They've all combined to sap will and its worth me noting that a simple tidy up has done wonders to my psyche, so I best keep it up and not leave it so long next time.

'nids part 182 - 6 Stealers

There was me bemoaining the slow progress of my forces of the Imperium and then I take a little detour to do Genestealers! What the flip?! Rest assured I pretty much loathe doing them so I takee no pleasure in scampering off to the Hive for a bit. These 6 were done over three nights btu in concert with my Imperial bits too.

I managed to paint all the legs and chests in one night, they're the easiest bits really. Then the next night I did the arms, back and head on one and the head and backs on the remaining 5. Night three had me finish of the 20 arms, which of course are split in two parts and I have to rotate them to get top, right, bottom, left sides - this is why I hate Stealers! Of course I was riddled with doubt prior to this on whether to go full bonewhite or add in some Chitin colouring on the back. I haven't gone full bonewhite since my first Stealers so snap-decisioned to see how they would look. Of course a better decision would have been based on disposition of miniatures so I could find ways to group them safely into broods but we'll go with it.

That currently gets me 16 of my 31 Stealers basecoated in bonewhite. I'm really regretting not using a Bonewhite primer now. With hindsight the bases and all the red fleshy bits could have been added quicker than using that as the undercoat and cutting in all the bonewhite colours. That realisation, alongside the reminder I hate painting them was one of the reasons they've been stagnating for a month or two but now I'm over half way I feel a little more relieved.

Of course this is only the basecoat of one colour. I still have the blues to do and then the washes and then it's the highlights - which for each coat will take just as long , if not longer than the they did to basecoat. I've just done a quick estimate of time

• 9 days - Bonewhite base coats [15 models at 3 days per 5]
• 2 days - shadow wash
• 18 days - Bonewhite highlight 1 [31 models at 3 days per 5]
• 18 days - Bonewhite highlight 2 [31 models at 3 days per 5]
• 2 days - Chitin highlight 1
• 2 days - Chitin highlight 2
• 3 days - Claws
• 1 day - teeth and eyes
• 1 day - wraithbone chips on bases
• 3 days - varnishing

These are rough estimates and may be speeded up or delayed but that's  59 days of work right there! Ho hum! Will have to measure that to see how accurate an estimate it is [once again I don't like to keep track of time spent so why would I be doing this?]

Imperial Knight - in manufactorum pt 8

Aah, the opportunity to get back to some nid, welcoming me inot the Hive Mind's warm embrace!If I'm honest though, those chitin striations are pretty ropey though! Not to worry I'll probably be covering this with a lot of blood and gore so it doesn't really matter[unless it's brain matter!].

I did rather like the darker soft-tone washed bonewhite but it doesn't fit with my current lighter version of my colour scheme and the subsequent highlights do work much better. I've got to pick out a couple of those fleshy ridges on the legs and then a few fine highlights, pick out the hooves and any other odd thing but it'll probably all be covered in blood splatter anyway...

With the base almost finished things feel like they're progressing. However, with so much still to do and by simultaneously doing the same elements on various projects it's also a little overwhelming. It's a pretty bi-polar affair at the moment, pleased to have got everything shadow washed then depressed at the thought they then have to have all the metallics done - three or four lots of highlights with washes too, then weathered. Then I paint the coloured panels then add the battle damage and I have to do that for all the weapon options too!

And all the time I'm doing this on the Knight the bikes and the jetfighter I'm thinking about my Tyranid VSG and the Dark Angel Tac squad that should be my number 1 priority. I mean I've finished my Azrael conversion and Dark Angels Company Captain but not varnished them - two To Done's just waiting for ten minutes of attention! To help combat this I've resorted to session planning - actually writing down tasks I hope to achieve each session. Actually achieve isn't quite right, these are just things I want to focus my attention on during the next session, just get my efforts in order. Which can be a bit odd for someone who refused to 'keep score' of their progress. Still, ever onwards.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |

Dark Angels - Jefighter!!

The vast majority of my projects at the moment are at mundane but necessary stages so sadly my posts will reflect this. The Jetfighter is now magnetised and ready for painting, I'm not 100% happy with the magnets on the antennas, they don't hold it as steady as I'd like but hwne I put a 2nd set on I should have used a 5x5mm Magnetix on the fuselage, instead I went with 3x2.

I need to prepare the cockpit but as the windows will be Tamiya Clear Red X-27 I'll probably not need to do too much in the way of highlights. I've even printed off a red box onto acetate so I can see something similar to my eventual vision of how it will be. As you can see it may not require much painting, the Tamiya Clear Red X-27 will opefully be a little more tranpsarent but a lot of the interior will be obscured.

  I'm doing the metals bronze - so no problems there, but the black is the issue. There's no texture on this, like the black on my Cerastus, so I'm apprehensive about. I'm apprehenisve about all the Ravenwing, which is why they're languishing, still I'll get round to it.

Games night at Ben's

Ben invited us roundfor a games night, sadly it was just PeteB and I that could make it but we had a pretty fun game of X-wing. He wanted to do something different to the usual 40k so Pete brought his new Force Awakens expansion and went Rebel/Resistance scum and Ben and I upheld the might of the Empire/First order I controlled the Tie Interceptors, Ben was the Tie Fighters. My Obsidian pilot was obscenely good, putting two damage on the A wing. He eventually blew it to pieces [do I get First Blood?]

 

As the game progressed we all had to navigate round this group of asteroids in the centre of the board. The B-wing took aim at the Tie Fighter and would subsequently destroy it.

Mid way through the game and my Red Interceptor has just pulled a U-turn, which in all my experiences so fa has always proven costly...

and so it was again as he was blown to pieces by Poe Dameron [well he has to have done something to jusify that 'best pilot in the galaxy' title!]/

Ultimately it came down to Poe and one of the First order Tie Fighters, which was blown up giving PeteB the win. We then followed up with a game of Ticket to Ride Europe, which Ben won, all good fun, hopefulyl we'll do it again.

I also got to check out Ben's Red Planet BASE! for his new Mechanicum army, mmm looks like fruit cake.

He'd been debating the design and eventually got there after looking at lava planets and the like. I suggested he just tone down the black, just use it as an accent colour to break up the surface - obsidian chips on the martian Earth. C'mon it worked for my wraithbone! I really love them and the resin bases look so cool.

Here's his test model Skitarii to go with it.

Imperial Knight - in manufactorum pt 7

I followed up the undercoat by putting the Red Planet Base layers down. As you can see the additional medium sized sand grains are much more obvious now compared to the area at the front just to the right of the large vertical pebble shard. The PVA really did a job on moulding the sand together, I had to add the second pass of sand to get any decent definition.

I also went about bronzing the legs and I've obviously got two Termagants on the base to paint as well! Bonewhite chips need doing but I'm debating the colours of the cockpit interior so may Bonewhite that, even though I've not built that into anything. I'm just hoping the resticted view, dark interior and a mix of washes and a little trompe l'oeil might make it look like a detailed cockpit.

Here's most of the other bits having been bronzed or awaiting Warplock Bronze - good stuff.

While I was painting the knight base I also did the base on a small corner section from a Sanctum Imperialis kit I have knocking around. This is actually one of my random terrain pieces to do in my Hobby Season along with the main structure that doesn't have a base. They'll both be red but with bronzed 'skirting boards' and then the interiors will be a distrssed light colour, as if they'd actually painted the interior a different colour! It'll most likely be bonewhite to try and keep things consistent throughout but I'll try and twist it a bit so it's not completely the same as always

Of course all that extra detail means it's not the quick job it could be and I have to get the painting order right in my head too - which colours will cause the most mess so I do them first allowing the more controlled applications to cover up the stray brush strokes and to ensure I only need to add washes a couple of times intead of repeatedly.

Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |

1500pt NOT a battle report - Dark Angels v Orkses

I had a game with Ben just before Christmas and before I knew it I hadn't actually taken any pictures so there wasn't much point trying to do a battle report thereafter. I did take few pictures, just because they looked pretty cool and sadly I can't remember much of what happened anyway. I thought I'd share the pics and try and recall some observations [such as they are]. We played a Maelstrom game, the one with ever decreasing amounts of objectives - from 6 down to 1 I think. The Orkses pulled out an overwhelming victory with VPs in the teens compared to my single digit score [or 11 at the most, I don't recall]

Ben drew some very helpful objective cards, usually the objectives already in his deployment zone and then compounded his success with cards that rewarded holding more objectives than me, which early on in the game was eminently doable. Typically my Bastion was destroyed once again, it's becoming par for the course now so I actually look forward to seeing it come tumbling down [I'll have to ensure I always take a crater with me].

The Cerastus was a beast, he did almost all of my damage, loping about the field stomping on all and sundry. Ben's a bit down on the whole issue of Knights, in particular the way Stomps can remove swathes of models in one go. That said he did put 5 hull points on the Lancer [I managed to repair one with my Techmarine] so he scored an additional VP alongside his mission cards and was close to destroying the knight outright. As he'd destroyed almost everything else I don't think in this instance it caused an imbalance in the game but I can appreciate given it caused most damage to him it can be considered over-powered, although it needed it to balance the lackings in the rest of my list.

I did have one mission card to make 3 challenges, which I achieved but in the process lost a Tactical sergeant, drew another match up and killed and Ork with my Techmarine - win, lose and draw. And additionally my Ravenwing Sergeant was once again armoured with some mighty damage defying power armour. He saved out of his skin, much to Ben's annoyance, but I think did eventually fall to wait of Ork numbers.

I'm pretty sure I had very little left on the board by the end, mainly the Knight and a few other models, I'd been overwhelmingly beaten ['crushing victory' I believe is the official term, aka twisting the knife!] but it was a good game and I really do like moving just one big beast around, it even makes me look at the Knight Gallant with Thunderstrike Gauntlet and Reaper Chainsword with fresh eyes. The weaponry doesn't seem to do half as much damage as when they get down and dirty and although Ben dislikes them in your face he did the most damage when I brought the fight to him. There's definitely a level of honesty about going all assault with your knight, although for the most part the Lancer fulfils that role too, without the shenanigans of a stubber and a big gun to line up different choices to assault.