Dark Angels - Ravenwing - Verdigris started

The filters on my Camera360 phone app are usually only used to make the images more clearer, except for the cinematic To Done pics that use more aggressive/creative filters to make them look awesome, However, when I took this picture last night I had to use it as my WiP shot. I've finally layed down some Verdigris. This is a big deal, a real milestone that will herald the near completion of this project. [You'll also note the slightly untidy company number :( ]

I was once again concerned the Verdigris would spoil all the metallic efforts so far but once again these fear were unfounded as application enhanced it and I was sensible enough to leave some bits well enough alone. Obviously I decided to finally add the Champions shrin thingy on the back too.

Thhis is really starting to come together, which is a relief as I feel like I've been working on them forever. Now as happy as I was at finally getting the patina started I could only do this one before I felt enough was enough. I started flitting to other elements - the company numbers on all the shoulder pads that are brass - they really needed doing before any Verdigris is added. I also did some bits on the banner and some of the purity seals.

All the bikes have obviously had their second highlights done. I was convinced they were too light, I might still be right in that view but wasn't convinced knocking them back a bit with some sort of glaze was worth the effort. As you can see this group look pretty cool as they are.

And the other six, hanging out. With the Champion taken to the next level I'm hoping the remaining 12 can be patina'd up at least three at a time. That's a daunting thought, four nights of just getting that done maybe I'll be able to kick things up a gear and finish it in three?

Then it'll be all the fine details. They are fun to do, feel disproportionately time consuming but really do add a lot to the models so ultimately worth doing - I certainly wouldn't have them any other way.

I know this is dragging on, I'm getting closer every day though

Dark Angels - Ravenwing - Shade to black

Quick one, I'm currently shading again. All the less than stellar initial black highlights and Dark Reaper secondary highlights need to shaded to tone them down. It's taking between 15 and 25 minutes per bike but I'm committing to getting four done a night [3 nights work]. Surprisingly it's not an unpleasant process as it's not fine detail so feels more relaxed, less confined. it also helps that by adding black I'm creating smoother transitions and making the black more dominant instead of the lighter highlights. Here you can see the 'before', in particular note the staged highlights on the shoulder pad, elbow pads and wheel arches.

Here's the 'after shot. Immediately the shoulder pad looks almost black but I assure you some of the highlights are still there and a final line highlight will be added so it will still look OK. You can also see the elbow and wheel arches highlights are much more defined, perhaps too much but again I think the final highlight will mitigate this, not to mention the additional tribal markings and litany scripts to break up the flat areas.

I'm progressing now though and although there is that significant task list to complete these 13 Ravenwing, I actually think there's sufficient momentum to get these done. The only obstacle is an upcoming family holiday at the end of the month but I'm confident they'll either be completed by then or so close to completion that the hiatus won't stall their finish upon my return. Either way they've turned a corner and although not on the final straight, the final lap may be imminent.

Dark Angels - Ravenwing - Stat in black

The inertia of the black highlights has been overcome [for the moment at least], although it might be difficult to tell in these pics. The purpose of this post was really to document how long these took, my thinking being if I understand the timescales involved it'll be less intimidating in the future. Unfortunately I'm not sure if I've remembered it correctly but a rough outline should do. I initially thought I'd first highlighted three in one evening but it turned out I'd only done 2. So I believe the progress for each session was thus for first highlights:

1. 2 bikes
2. 3 bikes
3. 2 bikes
4. 1 bike
5. 3 bikes
6. 2 bikes

Essentially an average of 2 bikes a night, although I may well have misremembered days 2 and 3 and actually done 5 in one night thanks to a concerted effort, surely not?!

With that first hurdle out of the way I started to apply the 2nd highlight - Dark Reaper and you can see these 3 bikes have been highlighted. Adding in the Ravenwing Champion that means 4/13 are done. With 9 left I'm estimating another 3 per night if I can be consistent.

Interestingly, I noticed one front wheel mud guard edge had not had a first highlight and I just went straight in with the Dark Reaper and I think it looked pretty cool. I may well go down this route with the Deathwatch - higher contrast highlight, with no intermediate making the overall base lighter [and the process quicker]. Which leaves me with these remaining elements [those crossed out have since been completed between writing and publishing this post, yay. Bold items are elements that are big milestone hurdles - potential momentum killers, boo!]:

1. 2nd highlight - Dark Reaper [3 days estimate - indeed it was 3 days]
2. 3rd highlight - pale blue spot highlights [2 days?, actually 3 days, 3,4, and 5 bikes but I think I did them wrong as the highlight looks too pale, so I may need to do some remedial glazing to fix]
3. Black shading - to make them black again and smooth out the 1st and 2nd highlights [3 days, potentially as I managed to shade 4 in one session, around 75-90 minutes, leaving 8 remaining.]
4. Handlebar screens and buttons [<1 day="" span="">
5. Grenades
6. Leathergoods [1 day]
7. Eye lenses [1 day]
8. Ravenwing symbols - white [1 day]
9. Final highlight - bonewhite cloaks [included inbetween other elements 0.5 day?]
10. Verdigris [4 days - day 1 - 1 bike, day 2 - 5 bikes, day 3 - 5 bikes, day 4 - 2 bikes ]
11. Plasma [and we know how fun that can be... 3 days]
12. Red rivets [1 day]
13. Tribal markings - red stripes [<1 br="" day="">
14. Purity Seals [<1 day="" span="">
15. Litany scripts [<1 day="" span="">
16. Company markings - numbers [2 days?]
17. Various targeting lenses

In addition individual models will need:

• Apothecary - vials, tubes, symbols
• Champion - power sword
• Sergeant - power sword and face!
• Banner bearer - banner... oh my lord

And then the 'finishing' bits:

• finish the bases
• bonewhite chips
• Khorne Red/Heavy Red edges
• Mount the models [some drilling involved here]

• Matt varnish
• Tamiya Clear
• Weathering powders
• Gloss varnish [where needed]

To Done! As you can see it kind of explains why I felt this was a big deal [and that was before I'd even got this far] but it is 13 bikes all at once, more than double what I did the first time which was in fact double what I'd intended to do initially. I had the first list as standard bullets but switched it to numbers so I can see how many tasks remaining which gives me a rough timescale, 22 sessions at least, not including the unique guys and finishing them off. Maybe structure and ticking stuff off is what I need as previously timescale estimates have always prompted me to beat them and with a holiday in May I'll still be doing these in June at this rate, yawn!

But for now I have structure and I have a visualisation in my head of the process involved. With this clarity I have renewed confidence and even if it takes longer I can't imagine this project will see me into July which should leave with 2-3 months to complete something else [Assault squad? Deathwatch] at least before the end of the season.

1500pts battle report - Tyranids v Daemons [Tzeentch/Nurgle] - game 3

Round 3 and Matthew was up next with the unholy alliance of Tzeentch and Nurgle. He had Fateweaver so was blessed with more psychic powers than he knew what to do with - his choice of cards looked like a deck of playing cards! He also had another Daemon Prince [on foot] some Plaguebearers, a couple of discs, 3 Screamers, Pink Horrors and some Rotflies [?]

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC TR Broodlord Zoanthrope Dominion Dominion Dominion Warp Blast Onslaught Warp Blast The Horror Psychic Scream Catalyst

The low down:

• Eternal War mission - Emperor's Will 2 objectives
• Dawn of War
• Matthew deployed and went first, I failed to seize the initiative
• Warlord Trait - Move through cover/Stealth in Ruins
• Not sure about night fighting.

Matthew put his objective on top of the stone tower, mine went under the Skyshield and I just holed up daring him to come get it. Which he duly attempted, including summoning some Nurglings in front of the Skyshield. His Screamers went to the top of the tower and circled their objective like hungry sharks.

Having surged forward I advanced in return. I managed to kill two of the Botflies and the Tfex and a Carnifex killed the Nurglings getting me First Blood. My Genestealers failed their charge on the Chariot leaving them exposed and likely to die next turn, which they did. Fateweaver swooped in close he managed to Peril on his roll, got a 1 but passed his leadership. Shadows in the Warp reducing his Ld by -3 but Tzeentch conferring a +3 bonus! He also re-summoned two of the Botflies next to the Skyshield.

Not quite sure what took out the disc chariot and the lone Rotfly but I think the Tfex did that with his Torrent Flamer, getting a 6 on a penetrating hit and blowing it up! That was a nifty piece of luck. Fateweaver summoned some Flamers and the Daemon Prince perilled, rolled a 1 and subsequently passed his Leadership on snake eyes! Two chances to be sucked into the warp gone begging :(

The Tfex and gang managed to wreck the other Disc of Tzeentch, while the Flyrant killed a load of Pink Horrors only for them to come back as more Blue Horrors.

With time running out the tournament organisers seemed to be spending most of their time watching our game. My Tyrannocyte arrived, sort of deviated off the board by an inch but Matthew said to keep it on. It was at this point the organiser pointed out I'd already technically won. 

With us both holding objectives and Linebreaker but with me having First Blood Matthew couldn't really do anything in this last turn to score a VP [probably regretting letting me get that pod on for Line Breaker!]. So I wanted to make that a moot point by killing the screamers on his objective. The Tervigon managed to put a few wounds on with his Miasmic spit, the Tfex also torrented them with Acid spray. Brainleech from Devourers on the Carnifex and Flyrant managed to kill the remainder leaving it 5:1 to me.

Unfortunately Matthew realised after packing up the Screamers could have Jinked in the towers giving them a much better save but he was a good sport about it, especially as I found out at the end this was his first tournament!

So two loses and one win, I think I came 10th out of 13, ha, ha! The ever-competitive 'nids. I had a great time, organisation-wise it was a bit haphazard with an hour late starting but I think it's been a while since they did one so they're forgiven, we did all get a free drink as an apology.

13 grown men [3 hidden in the background, 3 in the car] waiting for an hour to play toy soldiers! ;)

Winners got £30 GW vouchers and there were lower prizes for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even some smaller Scythe vouchers for other lower placings. That's pretty cool for just a £5 entry. Obviously I didn't make the cut but they did have a lone pot of Miniature Paints Aquamarine - the new replacement to Anita's Turquoise on my nids so I picked that up. Oh and this...

I got X-Wing at Christmas and although I've only had one game and don't foresee it as a regular activity the Scum & Villainy side is definitely my favourite faction as the ships are so diverse and interesting. It would have been rude not to pick it up for that price. In fact they had two and I was tempted to get them both.

As it turned out folk usually only ever have the one in their games so a second would have been redundant, although I suppose I could have sold it on ebay... Anyway, good times.

1500pts battle report - Tyranids v Orks - game 2

Round 2 and Aidan was my next opponent. It turns out it was his 4th game of 40k and given some of the lists that had been brought the guys running the event had advised him to take a Stompa just to stop him being mauled completely. Of course for Purge the Alien that does me no favours whatsoever but given his newbie status I was more than happy to go through this like it was a friendly game. Although with hindsight, due to the time constraints, I probably didn't spend as much time helping him learn the game as I would have liked.

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC TR Broodlord Zoanthrope Dominion Dominion Dominion Warp Blast Paroxysm Paroxysm The Horror Onslaught Warp Blast

The low down:

• Eternal War mission - Purge the Alien
• Vanguard Strike
• I went second whatever happened with deployment and whoever went first.
• Warlord Trait - + Seize the Initiative and +1 to my reserve roll
• Not sure about night fighting.

Probably due to his inexperience Aidan set the Stompa up in the far right which gave me the opportunity to set up on the far left and hope I could avoid the Super-heavy for as long as possible. Interesting note - this was a resin Realm of Battle board!

Luckily I had a lot of cover to keep my safe [potentially]. First turn I lost a few Gaunts due to poor Skyshield saves. More importantly I lost my Zoanthrope.

In return I pushed forwards and managed to kill up but 1 of the Tankbusters on the hill behind the statues. Couldn't quite get that kill point. Probably about here I realised that the Zoanthrope in a pod behind the Stompa might have got me a Lancing hit on him and forced him to kill the Zoie leaving the rest of my force unmolested. But with time short avoidance was still probably the better tactic.

Clearly at turn 3, I'd been using cover and the Venomtrhope to keep my MCs alive as long as possible.

The Stompa was having none of it though and redoubled his efforts to kill what he could.

Luckily for me the MCs survived, unluckily the Venomtrhope did not so now they were all exposed. i did take out the lone tankbuster.

I also took out another mob so I was up on 2VPs. The Tyrannocyte arrived and my Devgaunts let rip but only amounted to 1 wound on the mega-nobs :( They were going to die.

Aidan blasted the Flyrant to pieces with tons of inaccurate fire he just couldn't avoid

Final score was 7:4 to Aidan. He scored 4 kills, First Blood, Slay the Warlord and Line Breaker. I managed to kill 3 [not sure what the third was] and Linebreaker.

I hope Aidan had a good game, sure a Stompa was a bad match up for me and the organisers were apologetic for suggesting he take it but these things happen. Like I say I wish I'd been able to help him a bit more in learning the game but I suspect in a few months it'll be moot anyway. Ha!

1500pts battle report - Tyranids v Ynarri/Aeldari/Eldar/DarkEldar/Space Pixies/Evil Space Pixies - game 1

It's been over four years since I last went to the Scythe and Teacup but they announced on Facebook a 1500pt, 3 game tournament for only £5, what's not to like? Limitation were only one flyer or LoW and a CAD must be taken before Formations or other shenanigans, apparently to keep the cheese down [not so sure it was successful ;) ]. More of a concern was the 2 hour time limit for each game! You know me and how long I take, couple that with the event starting an hour late and things were less auspicious than I'd hoped. Now pictures are less than usual because of the time factor so I'll do my best to try and remember what went on, bear with.

However, when I was there last I picked up the Miniature Paints Aquamarine that I'm now using as my Anita's Turquoise substitute and I hoped to find some more. I've found it on ebay but when you add postage on too it's like £4 a pot which just seems a bit annoying.

Anyway Round 1 and Ryan with his new Aeldari alliance, wonder if they'll get a new name in 8th. He had some Venoms, a Raider full of Incubi and Harlequin Solitaire, a couple of Farseers on Jetbikes, Warp Spiders and the Yncarne...

Psychic Powers Winged Tyrant HQ Tervigon CC TR Broodlord Zoanthrope Dominion Dominion Dominion Warp Blast The Horror Psychic Scream The Horror Paroxysm Catalyst

The low down:

• Eternal War mission - Crusade [5 objectives]
• Vanguard Strike
• I went second whatever happened with deployment and whoever went first.
• Warlord Trait - 3 Enemy units pinning check [useless against these]
• Not sure about night fighting.

You can see 3 of the objectives, top left between the bunker, debris and hill. One below my Genestealers and one in the middle on the hill next to the Honoured Imperium Statue.

The other two are on the hill and in the Shrine. Ryan focused on the Genestealers taking them all out and leaving the Broodlord with one wound! Serves me right for not putting them within range of the Venomthrope!

My turn and the Flyrant managed to destroy a Venom getting me First Blood, the Broodlord retreated to gain cover from the Venomthrope and the Carnifex moved up with the Tervigon, who spawned Gaunts to secure the centre objective on the hill.

As the Venom, or one of it's occupants died the Yncarne was born [reborn? reincarnated?], bother!

My Tfex had done a little damage on the Warp Spiders with his torrent weapon but that Raider moved up

It disgorged it's Incubi and the Solitaire then was made Invisible and everyone decided to shoot the Tfex.

Which couldn't stand the Firepower of the Raider and Warp Spiders. The Incubi charge the blob of Gaunts, cutting through a third of them without any opportunity for me to hit back.

I spawned Gaunts to throw into the melee but really these would be suicidal sacrifices if they got into combat next turn.

I think the Flyrant downed another Venom but I think it was just wrecked leaving the occupants safe in their disembarkation.

Ryan's turn and both the spawned gaunts in the centre and the Carnifex were dispatched with ease.

Additionally the second brood of gaunts were shot to one left and was subsequently killed alongside what was left of the big blob by the Incubi.

My Tyrrannocyte arrived and I managed to put a wound on the Yncarne and kill of the Dark Eldar next to the Venom leaving a bigger gap around the objective. Unfortunately the Yncarne did his best Fenella the Witch impression and popped up where the Dark Eldar once stood. So much for securing that flank. The rest of the Dev Gaunt and Flyrant shooting did significantly less than I'd hoped, probably killed the other Warriors though.

Last of the Warp Spiders arrived to steal another of the objectives, alongside some turbo-charged Farseers.

I think the final score was 10:4. Ryan had three objectives amd Linebreaker, I just had one and First Blood. I think at some point I realised I may well not have been out-gunned but definitely out-classed. Certainly seems odd that a faction/factions that have so many benefits were given a new way to play with equally good benefits. With the Soulburst actions allowing movements and shooting in my turn it was a tough ask of the nids. That said Ryan was an awesome player and he went on to the final and think may have won the entire tournament, so there's no shame in my efforts.

So, reinstated my habit of losing first game, what's up next.

Dark Angels - Ravenwing - Detail work

With renewed vigour I return to the Ravewning but can I overcome the black? Well, no! The first level highlights still fill me with no motivation whatsoever, so I try to come at them from a different angle - what can I do that'll move them on, feel like progress and put me in a position where I can tackle the black with more confidence? Essentially I outflank the black! I decided to start picking out some of the details - all the Ravenwing symbols, purity seals, cloaks etc.

I remember someone once saying when painting 'start on the inside and work your way out'. This approach is contrary to that advice, laying the detail work on the top of all the black. Now there's a chance the subsequent black highlights might spoil these details but it's a risk I'm willing to take. As you can see I also painted the rolls on the back of the bikes red. Originally these were supposed to be green but I thought it was adding another colour to the bikes and extending the palette, which I thought was unnecessary [in this instance]. Black was too much, Rhinox Hide potentially - but didn't want to mix materials with the leather goods already used so I went red... OK, so why red? I see these rolls as bike covers. When the Ravenwing are on the hunt although they forgo camouflage they might need to obscure their bikes while in the field and Ferron Proxima is red afterall. It might be a bit odd, but I'll see how it goes and if I do another unit of bikes with them I'll try green so you can differentiate squads.

Some of the Black Knights were also brought up to speed.

Including the Ravenwing Banner with it's basecoats - this is near enough a unique job in itself!

And some more of the Knights. Annoyingly I kept on finding purity seals without red wax or grey paper, skulls on back packs or scrolls on legs in no contrasting colour. I'd go through all the bikes, pick out a detail move onto another one and find I'd missed something, fix it, move on and then find another detail overlooked - it was really annoying. So I'm now at a point where the black is inevitable, where completing that will almost leave them finished. There are plenty of little extra details to do [that Banner not least among them] but once the black is out of the way they'll be so close I'm hoping it'll ensure the black no longer feels like a hurdle. No avoiding now - I need to push on through!

Of course I can always nip back to the Assault Squad should I feel the need ;) As you can see I picked up some of the same details on these, again making best use of the paints on the brush. And much like the Hybrids the whole tone of the squad has changed thanks to this injection of new colour. Also completing steps here and there will make them easier to finish when they get my full attention tlater on.

And that leaves me currently in a better headspace, not all my chickens have hatched, so I won't count them just yet. I'll certainly feel better once the first black highlights are done and then I can focus on the Dark Reaper ones. If I get a timescale I can predict how much effort is involved but I'm sure it's no more than a week to 10 days to get the black all done [which means they may very well be done by the time this post is scheduled ;) ] Fingers crossed!