Progress Report: 12/15/2010

I finished the first of three Chimeras to tabletop standard, as well as the remaining troops in the Veteran squad. Total painting tally for the month to date: 1 Vendetta, 1 Chimera, 10 Infantry! That would be 30 points if using the old painting scoring system!

For this chimera, I was experimenting with rust effects. By my logic, I could always paint over it if I wasn't satisfied. To my surprise, however, I found it quite pleasing to the eye! It breaks up the monotony of the model quite well. Highlights would help a bit, but I didn't want my tanks being overly light in comparison to my Vendetta (which I blacklined with washes rather than highlighted).

So one squad down, 3 to go! Also, I have Penal Legionnaires to look forward to, as well as two Leman Russes and possibly a Basilisk.

Progress Report: 12/14/2010

I received a few of the tanks I traded for, two LRBTs and one of three Chimeras. I immediately began refurbishing them, starting by stripping the paint from the LRBTs, and did a quick repaint of the Chimera. I still have the details to pick out, but I just wanted to get a head start on the transport to take a break from painting infantry. On the plus side: painted infantry is up to 5 out of 30 veterans! I'd better finish the other five in that squad, so I can finish basing them.

Progress Report: 12/12/2010

I've been feeling a bit under the weather this weekend, but I didn't let that stop me from getting the lead out on these models! I assembled and based all three squads, and spent today fiddling with paint schemes. I finally settled on this one. Takes a little bit more work than I usually would deem acceptable for my rank-and-file troops, but it should be worth it!

On my table: 4/06/10

I finally got my new Blood Angels codex! My Sons of Baal will finally see some action! But first, I ordered a new Sanguinary Guard kit to go with them. This is a treasure trove for converters and kitbashers, as a single kit provided a complete Sanguinary Guard squad and enough left over bits to bash together a Honor Guard / Veteran Squad with the simple addition of an assault squad box.



I had a single Apothecary model lying around, so I used leftover bits to convert him into the Sanguinary Novitiate for the Honor Guard. The Sanguinary Guard box had 2 extra sets of 5 heads, and an extra 5 shoulder pads, not to mention numerous other bits that are to find their way into my kitbashes.

I imagine that the Death Guard kit is the same. I intend to pick up one of those when I have the dough.

Until next time,
--FP135

Brushes of Fury: 1 Week Until Deadline

Luckily, list of "To-Do" before next Friday is dwindling pretty rapidly. I say luckily, because I am not going to have the energy to keep doing this forever!

Today was a huge day for me. I finally finished not just the other Land Raider, but two Rhinos as well. I must say, in a moment of inspiration, I rightfully decided to add arrows to the tops of my Rhinos. That little detail really distinguishes them as transports for the troops, and I love it.

Tomorrow, I am taking a break, and going out to play a few games. Hopefully that won't set me back too much, as I have a few things to add to my "To-Do" list now. Since I know the scoring system now, here is my current To-Do List:

Make Display Board
Base Terminator Squads
Paint Display Board
Paint Terminator Squads
Make 40mm Objectives (3)
Paint 40mm Objectives (3)

I have a week to do all that, so I'd better get on that this weekend. For now, it's 1:00 in the morning AK time, so I'm off to bed.

Until next time,
--FP135

Like Christmas in March!

The postman made me a happy fellow today! (Ew, not like that, you pervert.) I got my humongous order of space marine goodies today, and I am already happily at work assembling some of the vehicles. I have to take a break every once in a while, or the glue fumes go to my head. It is during such a break that I am currently posting!

Brimfrost, the biggest annual tournament, is nearly here. I debated going for a while, but I finally decided to suck it up and go. It's going to start at 7:30 in the morning, meaning I have to leave my home at 5:30, but it might be worth it, so I am frantically trying to hammer out a list and paint up the models that require it. I have until the 19th to have everything finished (as I see it).

So far, it looks like I have the following to finish painting before the 20th:
2 Land Raiders
1 Rhino
10 Assault Terminators

That isn't so bad when you put it down on paper! I can get that done. Await updates, and you will be rewarded!

Well, time for me to get back to building the 1st Land Raider.
Until Next Time,
--FP135

Mustering the Angels: Preparing for Blood Angels update

With the arrival of some funds to buy new kits, I was able to get a start on some Blood Angel projects that have been on hold for quite some time. First up... A new Chaplain kitbash, made as a stand-in for Chaplain Lemartes or any other chaplain with a jump pack:



Next up, what kind of assault player can I be without some heavy-hitting Assault Terminators to back it up? This is the first of 2 Assault Terminator squads, the other is being built to utilize the fast-striking capability of Lightning Claws. For this first squad, however, I decided to utilize the Storm Shields to make a very tough nut to crack.



So, in closing, I have a small mountain of boxes left to open and sort through. For those interested, I dropped a lot of dough while I had it, picking up things that are meant to round out my collected Space Marines. I have left to assemble:

3 Land Raiders (I may be trading a friend one regular one for a crusader variant)
29 Assault Marines (9 of which will be death company)
15 Terminators (5 Lightning claws, another 5 TH/SS, and then I'll have bits left over)
2 Rhinos


I also splurged on paint supplies, picking up a very nice workstation lamp with the built in magnifier, a few expensive brushes, and the proper cleaners to keep those brushes in good shape. I hope these amenities will help keep up my motivation, and inspire me to put out more work! Look for a mass sprint to the finish of production before the end of this blog's first year! Thanks for sticking with it.

Until next time,
--FP135

Valkyrie Update: 1/26/2010

I've been getting some painting done on the valkyrie... in fact I put in 6 or 7 hours worth of it in just today alone! I got the cockpit and crew completely painted, and put in the canopy. Basecoating the gray took FOREVER, since I do it by hand. I had to thin the paint a bit so it would not get too thick and blotchy, and then I had to paint on several layers to get the coverage I wanted. I wish I had done more detail on the interior, but since it was so hard to get a brush in there I had to settle for a quick and dirty metal drybrush. I got some pictures of my modified sponsons, however. I am using the bodies of the gunner crew for a pair of meltagunner vets (pics of those tomorrow, hopefully), so these remain unmanned. The crewman bodies just looked too awesome, and I thought they'd make fitting stormtroopers if anyone wanted to try the conversion.

I am fairly impressed with this kit... it has almost as much modularity as the Demolisher kit. A few things make it fall short of that though: There are no options for Lascannons to make a vendetta, and there should be a way to swap out MRPs and Hellstrike missiles to really make this a truly modular kit. I put the MRPs on, figuring that it is better to have it and not pay for it than it is to not have it and not be able to take it later, right?


(Above text extracted from www.DakkaDakka.com forums)

Now to a real issue... I have not received a single name for this vehicle yet! Nobody has any suggestions? I've got to have at least 5-10 I like by next week to make a poll up.

To make a suggestion, comment on the previous post (http://foxphoenix40k.blogspot.com/2010/01/907th-reinforcements-and-naming-contest.html). You have the power!

I'm off to bed for the night, so I can resume work on painting this tomorrow!

Until then,
--FP135

DH Character Model Update 1/12

Just thought I'd share progress on these. I've been sick with a stomach flu the last couple days, so I haven't gotten much done. I initially thought it was food poisoning from bad Chinese food. A lot of my focus is now going to switch to Tyranids, in order to get them done in time for some 2010 tournaments.

Project Updates: 01/06/2010

My winged Hive Tyrant is coming along nicely. He is a bit too red, so I am going to have to come back and drybrush him back down later. Does anybody know why my Ogryn Flesh wash is suddenly making them redder than it used to? Do I need to add water to it or something to make it flow better?



This guy was a treat to paint. I haven't enjoyed painting a model this much since that Imperial Commissar. This is a Tech-Priest I plan to use in Dark Heresy, the RPG. In this model's case, the Ogryn Flesh wash worked great to darken the recesses of the model.

Next time, I'll work on getting more 'nids painted. I got more termagaunts and spinegaunts that need painting now, in addition to the models that I failed to paint previously.

Until next time,
--FP135

Tyranid progress resumes...

I've been converting a Hive Tyrant (a 2nd edition one) into a Flyrant. I don't have the models to run one with tyrant guards anyway, so I want a tyrant that will make it to CC faster. This particular 2nd edition tyrant also has a Venom Cannon, which I am hoping will be more useful under the new codex (only suffering a -1 modifier to vehicle damage rules now).

The rippers are an afterthought. I doubt I will use them for more than filling out points that I don't have models for, like bulking up to apocalypse-sized games. Since they came on sprues with the gaunts, I may as well put them on some washers and make use out of them, right? I paid for them, like the gaunts. Oh well, they might see some use until I buy all the models I want to get for the force (read: zoanthropes, trygons, and hive guards).

Project Update: 01/02/10

First up: A DH Character for my wife: an Adeptus Arbites. Armed with special shotgun I made from a SM Scouts shotgun and a Lasgun, with the handgrip of a bolter, as pictured below.



Next up is my Creed kitbash, which finally got painted. See the below pic:



I made a minor modification to my own DH character, swapping out the plasma pistol for a blade:



Finally, I liberated a Leman Russ from an Ork player. It is in pretty rough shape, but I am piecing it back together. It will match my other Russ, excepting the lack of sponsons, as I have already installed the barrel dowel:





Ok, for those of you who were wondering, the store owner is supposedly posting the Battle Report but I'll give you a summary:
My Sons of Baal did not fare as well as I had hoped against the green tide. In our planetstrike game, there were five bastions to defend, which I placed none-too-strategically upon the table top. I had a couple of tactics which made sense in my head, but didn't translate to the table top. First off: I started a lot of terminators in reserve, and deep-struck them in to avoid the initial Firestorm barrage. In reality, the barrage was not that effective, so I don't quite know what I was so afraid of, and could have deployed normally without too much risk.
Secondly, I didn't read through the rules of the stratagems I chose thoroughly enough. For example, I didn't realize that void shields don't protect units on the roof of the bastion. I also didn't notice a detail about the Krak Attack that could have substantially changed the game: once declared, EVERY hostile unit that deepstrikes gets hit by them until the end of the game. I didn't deploy this stratagem until about midway through, when there were only 2 units left to deepstrike on his force. I also cratered a deepstriking unit of terminators with an attached terminator captain into a wall, losing about 360 points to dice fail. My predator annihilator saw a lot of action, destroying 2 vehicles in as many turns.

After playing several different armies, I definitely need to decide what play styles I prefer most. It may be time to cut out armies I have never really had luck with, like marines, in order to make room for expanding my favorite armies, like Guard.

Until next time,
--FP135

Project Updates: 12/22/2009

As you can see, my bug-infested scratch-built bastion is coming along nicely.

I also have been working on a Christmas present for my son, who is almost 2. I am making him a plaque for the door to his room. This is the most grim-dark the wife would permit :P -




In a moment, I'll post the recent undertaking I have been attempting.

Titan Update 12/14

Most of the basic shape is hashed out out. A bit static, but being my first big project I decided to keep it simple. I ended up constructing a Double-barreled Turbo Laser and a Vulcan Bolter for the armament.

Titan Update 12/13

I'm off to bed, here's what I got done today!

Any ideas as for armaments? I plan on using it in my MEQ army, combating mainly horde or mech armies. I want it to be able to hurt a super-heavy if need be, though.

On my project table: 12/13/09

Yup, I have reincarnated the Papercraft Titan project. Thanks to the templates that Ron hosted on FTW, I realized that it was a cheap way to add 750 points to my Apoc forces. I got started on it right away.

So far, the money I have spent on this project = $3.14 for 2 pieces of Schedule 40 PVC.
The cardstock and ink I already had, as well as a roll of masking tape, scissors, a hobby knife, and balsa wood sticks.

I'm still deciding how to base the "counts-as" Valkyrie I converted for non-competitive games... as soon as I do, I'll post pictures.

Until next time,
--FP135

Project Update: 12/06/09

I got a bit more done to that Broodlord. As you can see, he is decent table-top quality but I have some cleaning up to do on it. For the rest of the day, however, I plan on working on the Carnifex and Lictor you might have spied in the background of the last image I uploaded.

Until next time,
--FP135

Project Update: 12/05/09

I started painting the 3 big tyranid creatures I had left, a Lictor, a Broodlord, and a Carnifex. This is step one, after priming anyway.

I also promised pictures of my new cabin that my wife and I bought. It is only 4:30, but it is dark already, so this was the best I could manage but here you go! Also included is a picture of my loft, where I store my hobby supplies.







Ahh... it's nice to have some time to do a bit of painting. The Broodlord will look pretty good I think when it's done. Well, I'm off to continue painting! Expect more updates soon!

Much Ado about Imperial Guardsman

Today I had the day off, so the entire morning I spent getting some paint to plastic on my box of unfinished Guardsman. I might have a game with them in the afternoon.

I drybrushed and painted some 11 heavy weapon bases, including 3 lascannons, 3 autocannons, 3 mortar bases, and 2 missile launcher bases. For those of you that remember my post on getting the most out of your heavy weapon sprues () you will notice that I used the same technique for all the heavy weapons except the mortars. I still have more to construct, such as the heavy bolters and another missile launcher (all required more tripods and bipods that I hadn't acquired until just recently).

Well, now I'm off to make an army list for this afternoon's game against some vanilla Marines.

Until next time,
--FP135

On Foxphoenix's Painting Table: Leman Russ Executioner finished!

I finished up my Leman Russ variant today, the Executioner type. I started running out of black wash on this one, so I had to mix up my own. It didn't turn out too bad, but I definitely prefer store-bought washes. Anyway, enjoy!