All Things 40K

Step-By-Step Tau Devilfish

2011-07-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm on a bit of a transport vehicle kick right now, so out comes the Devilfish.

Step 1: Astronomican Grey

My previous paint pot of Space Wolves Grey was extremely thick. I got quite a few comments about how many coats I claimed I used vs. how many other people had to use in their experiences. Having a new pot, I feel their confusion. You don't want to paint Space Wolves Grey on black. So this is a bit of a basecoat so I don't have to do so many SWG coats.

Step 2: Space Wolves Grey

My Tau roll Bork'an. The codex describes their color scheme as Space Wolves Grey with Hawk Turquoise highlights. The accompanying picture was a flat out lie. No way in hell that was Space Wolves Grey. Turns out though ... I like the SWG and Hawk Turquoise scheme better. ;)

Step 3: Asurmen Blue

I paint my Tau differently than I do my other armies. I usually paint everyone very bright, then wash them down. With the Tau, I'm going for a bit of a brighter, cleaner look than is usual for my armies. The Asurmen Blue is used in crevices to add a bit of shade and form definition.

Step 4: Skull White

In contrast to the Asurmen, this is edge highlighted to give the other side of the definition.

Step 5: Boltgun Metal

While you're getting all the actual metal bits, lay a few streaks down in areas that look like they'd take some hits. I'll admit, I had a few to drink at this point and got ahead of myself. This step really needed to come after the next one. You want paint scratches to go over any possible paint. I remedied this by adding the turquoise accents to non-scratched areas.

Step 6: Hawk Turquoise

Interestingly enough, the codex has a phonetic translator for the Tau alphabet. I don't know the word for devilfish, so I just spelled out "devilfish - 1" using Tau letters. Close enough.

Step 7: Chaos Black

Not to disparage anyone who chooses to use transfers, but they're just not my style. I like to try and free-hand any logos I come across. It's part of the challenge to me. The key to any insignia is to just break it down step by step. I'm going for a Bork'an symbol here (I know vehicles are supposed to display the T'au symbol, but whatev), so first, I want a black circle. Don't worry about screwing up an edge... keep going, finish the circle, then pull out the Space Wolves Grey and touch up.

Step 8: Skull White

Smaller circle inside the black one. Same idea here: if you mess up the edge, just get out the black afterwards and touch up.

Step 9: Chaos Black

Do each shape one at a time, touch up, move on to next shape. For the Bork'an symbol, I found it easiest to start with the small circle, then the large area, and lastly the two filler areas.

Step 10: Badab Black

For all the metal bits.

Step 11: Devlan Mud

Ok, this I used on areas where there were metal scratches to dirty it up a little. Also along the steps under the back hatch.

Step 12: Blood Red

Screens and sensors. I'm going to do my usual 4-step gem tactic here. Blood Red is the mid-tone.

Step 13: Scab Red

This is our dark area. I'm applying this in the upper left area of the lenses as a large blob. Should take up 1/3 to 1/2 of the lense.

Step 14: Blazing Orange

This is our highlight, and it goes in the opposite area as the dark. I applied this in the lower right area of the lenses, as a line.

Step 15: Skull White

Depending on the shape of the lens, you'll want this as either a thin line or a dot in the dark area of the lens.

Well there she is; all trussed up and ready to act as mobile terrain for my Hammerheads ;)

Step-By-Step Eldar Waveserpent

2011-06-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Still in an Eldar kinda mood, I painted up a Waveserpent as I am in sore need of some transports. I took some pics along the way for those of you who are interested ;)

Step 1: Mordian Blue

I am assuming a basecoat of black before this, actually, so I guess there's a step 0. Mordian is a foundation paint, and is thicker than your typical Citadel paint. They're amazing for first coats.

Step 2: Enchanted Blue

I'm going for a mottled effect that's unique to the Alaitoc vehicles ... if the various examples in the codex are anything to go by... There's not much of a plan here, just irregular shaped blobs, more round than sharp.

Step 3: Ice Blue

Smaller blobs, and try to break up the others... i.e. have them hug edges and break the lines between mid and dark blue.

Step 4: Asurmen Blue

The wash is here to not only bring some depth, but to tone down that Ice Blue, as it is actually too bright for what we want.

Step 5: Dark Angels Green

This is specifically for the pilot. I'm going for an effect that looks like he's illuminated by his screen. Do these in a heavy drybrush upwards along the body, so he looks a little under-lit.

Step 6: Snot Green

Same as step 5, but not as thick.

Step 7: Scorpion Green

Same as step 6, but lighter still. We should be good to put the canopy down now.

Step 8: Dheneb Stone

For anything bone, this is our base.

Step 9: Devlan Mud

Dowse the bone.

Step 10: Bleached Bone

Staying out of any crevices, this is to work up the bone again.

Step 11: Skull White

This is a drybrushed highlight along the bone edges.

Step 12: Gryphonne Sepia

This is put in the creases and middle areas of the bone to bring some color back.

Step 13: Boltgun Metal

Drybrushed over the various metal areas of the ship.

Step 14: Snot Green

Ok, here we're starting on some of the various gemstones on the ship. Any you want in green, first cover with Snot Green, our mid-tone.

Step 15: Dark Angels Green

The next step is to have a darkened area in the gemstone close to where the light-source is. For simplicity's sake, I've chosen the "upper left corner" if I'm looking down at the front of the ship.

Step 16: Scorpion Green

The highlight should be a thin line along the "bottom right corner" of the gemstones ... or the opposite side where you put the dark area. Normally the next and last step is to put a tiny dot of white in the middle of the dark space for the reflection ... but I'm going to work up a second color of gemstone first.

Step 17: Blood Red

Our mid-tone for any red gemstones.

Step 18: Scab Red

For the dark areas of our red gemstones.

Step 19: Blazing Orange

For the highlight line of our red gemstones.

Step 20: Skull White

Ok, apply your dots in the various gemstones ... and while the white is out, get any runes you want down. I have a waveserpent rune on the side, and the sword of Khaine on the front ... the beginnings of the Alaitoc craftworld symbol.

Step 21: Iyanden Darksun

Yellow is a notoriously thin paint, so even for runes, I need to lay down a foundation paint first. For the above, there is the crescent moon behind the sword, and a set of random runes down the left wing ... as it wouldn't be Alaitoc-y enough without more yellow ;)

Step 22: Sunburst Yellow

Brighten up anything first done in Iyanden ... and there you go.

Let me know what you think of the mottled effect and how it came out in the end.

Converted Eldar Storm Guardians

2011-06-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

I'm looking to build some Storm Guardian squads for my burgeoning Eldar army for a few reasons. One, they're highly flexible, given their ability to take fusion guns and flamers as special weapons while also being scoring. Two, I have a feeling given the feel of the newer codices that this kind of squad is more likely to remain useful in a future Eldar Codex release so, to me it's a safe investment.

However, I don't want them to look like the normal Guardians. I want them to stand out in their own way. The idea to do this is not my own, it came from page 226 of the BRB where an example Eldar army is shown off. The Storm Guardians were given hoods and capes from the Wood Elf Glade Guard kit. I thought it was a fantastic idea, so here we are...

Upon receiving the bits, I came to the realization that the quivers on the cloaks would be a problem ... but promptly decided they were scabbards for the close combat weapons and added chopped hilts to those holding special weapons to drive home this intention.

Step-By-Step Grey Knights

2011-05-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

A 5-man Strike Squad with Psycannon ... to be mounted in a Razorback.

Step 1: Boltgun Metal

I toyed with the idea of using Mithril instead, but for one, I'd be left with nothing to highlight, and for another it's just not grim-dark enough.

Step 2: Badab Black

Ok, maybe a little too grim-dark. With the depth added, I'm going to highlight in silver. I usually highlight before a wash, but in this case, the silver actually gets lost in the wash, so it will come afterwards.

Step 3: Mithril Silver

Note that I did not do my usual line-edge highlighting. This was more of a drybrush effect, and I tried to highlight only areas that stood out and from the top down, to emulate a kind of subtle source lighting.

Step 4: Asurmen Blue

For creases and low areas, to add further depth and break up the monotony of an all grey model.

Step 5: Shining Gold

These models have so much detail it's insane.

Step 6: Mithril Silver

Very lightly drybrushed over the golden parts. This would be followed up by a Devlan Mud wash, but we're going to set up a few other colors that will also use the same wash first.

Step 7: Mechrite Red

GW's team paints the bolter casing black, but I think that's boring, there's not enough red.

Step 8: Blood Red

Covering anything in Mechrite.

Step 9: Macharius Solar Orange

I used to highlight reds with Fiery Orange, but that's been discontinued. I tried Blazing, but it was too dark, so this foundation paint has taken up the role. The reds are now ready for Devlan Mud.

Step 10: Dheneb Stone

Purity Seals, Cloth, Scrolls, Skulls.

Step 11: Vermin Brown

Sword handle (and if he had any belt pouches)

Step 12: Devlan Mud

Used on all the gold, reds, creams and the sword handle.

Step 13: Bleached Bone

Moving on with the skulls, scrolls, cloths and purity seals, we're bringing back the color a bit.

Step 14: Skull White

A few things happening here... The skulls, scrolls, cloth and purity seals are lightly drybrushed along edges and raised areas, the eye-lenses are picked out, and there are now bolts of lightning painted onto the blade.

Step 15: Gryphonne Sepia

To finish off the skulls, scrolls, cloth and purity seals, this was added to the recessed areas.

Step 16: Asurmen Blue

In the eye-lenses and on the blade.

Step 17: Skull White

I've dotted the eye again to make it look like it's glowing, and partially re-traced the bolts along the sword. You want some of those bolts to remain covered by the wash.

Step 18: Chaos Black

This is for scribbles on scrolls and barrel-holes in guns.

Step 19: Calthan Brown

We're almost to the end, just doing the base now.

Step 20: Basing sand

Step 21: Devlan Mud

To finish off the sand.

Well, there we are. The method is actually quicker than with some other armies, probably because I don't have to line edge the armour. Awesome, that means more time to spend painting more models (I'm such a glutton for punishment).

Bonus Draigo!

With one exception, Draigo was painted using the exact same method...

...that exception being the little bit of Thraka Green at the end of his blade to make it interesting/unique.

Grey Knights test-model

2011-05-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

I know there's not much to a GK color scheme, but as is typical with me, I need to test it out on one model first before I apply to the lot of them. Expect a step-by-step soon.

What? I'm Stylish Now?

2011-05-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

I got a nomination for the Sylish Blogger Award. A big thank you to Klaus from DEI GRECI. Go check out his blog, he's stylish too ;)

This award is an interesting way for us bloggers to show appreciation for each others' work and efforts in the community, and I'm happy to be a part of it. It works kinda like a chain letter, but with no scary "don't forward on to 10 people, and you'll die in a horrible fire" voodoo going on. Just positivity.

Here are the rules:

-- Thank and link back to the person giving you the award (see above)
-- Share seven things about yourself
-- Select 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award
-- Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award

Seven things, huh? Let's see what I can come up with that would be interesting. My work-history is riddled with crazy accidents and occurrences that seem astounding to some, but I've sort of become accustomed to crazy. Note these are ALL true stories, hit me up in the comments if you would like me to elaborate on any.

1. I got a job as a bus driver in college as a result of being physically thrown through a bus windshield during an almost-accident. I was late for my biochem final at the time, so instead of sticking around for the authorities, I ran the rest of the way to the lecture hall, covered in bits of safety glass. When I didn't sue the school, they offered me a job driving buses.

2. I got over my fear of bees, and promptly regained it during the same job. Out of college I worked as a quality assurance microbiologist for a sugar mill. You can imagine bees are a problem, but due to the availability of sugar, they were extremely docile. You could wave them away, and they'd wait for you to leave. Just as I was getting over my since-childhood fear of them, a silo accident left me covered in sugar syrup... then covered in bees. I freaked.

3. I was locked in a walk-in freezer overnight. Another while-in-college job was at a restaurant. Working late to help the manager take final stock before closing up, she forgot that I was in the freezer, locked up (we locked our walk-ins with padlocks), shut down and left for the night. Luckily the freezer had a shut off switch on the inside ... but the mayo didn't smell too nice the next morning.

4. I was once quarantined for Anthrax exposure. Out of college, I worked as a clinical microbiologist for a large lab. While working in the fungal department, I came across a strain I didn't recognize, and had the fungal supervisor check it out. He thought it was anthrax, and raised the alarm, sealing us in the fungal room for a couple hours. It turned out not to be anthrax, but still...

5. I was once blown out of a vehicle by a commercial jet engine. Another while-in-college job was working in Air Freight at LAX airport for a major air-liner. I worked graveyard shift, and one of my duties was to collect those luggage carts, attach to the back of my go-cart/tractor and return them to Air Freight for the next morning. A pilot decided to turn on one of the planes after-hours just for kicks while I was underneath it. I had a few seconds to react by driving away from it, but it still knocked me out of the go-card, and slid me down the tarmac. He was fired.

6. I once got sprayed with Iodine and looked like an oompa-loompa for a couple days. While working at the same job as #2, we would routinely hire exterminators to control the bee population. I walked around a corner just as he unleashed his back-pack-canistered sprayer at a cloud of bees. Fun fact: Iodine stains your skin deep orange (and is slightly radioactive).

7. I was once held at gunpoint. After I left the microbiology industry due to the health hazards, I entered the advertising industry as an analyst. Did some overtime one summer Saturday, had the whole office building to myself. Got so hot the fire alarm went off. I braced the door with a newspaper for the fire department while I went looking for the source. Apparently bracing the door for them only makes them send the cops in first to check for intruders.

OK, on to the bloggers that I feel should get this award. Please keep in mind that there are WAY more than 10 that deserve it. Feel free to scroll through the blog list to the right for the full list.
In no particular order:

The Hogs of War is a great place for hobby, minis, opinions and gaming in general.
Space Wolves is your go-to place for anything relating to our much loved space vikings.
3++ Is The New Black is an amazing resource for tactics and list-building in a no-nonsense attitude.
The Inner Geek is basically my hobby brother-in-arms. His shit is boss.
Black Matt's Black Legion Blog is a great place for hobby and gaming focused around spikey marines.
Dark Future Games Contests, tutorials, awesome painting, it's all here.
The Back 40K SandWyrm's color-theory articles are invaluable, and the blog's painting and tactics commentary is superb.
The Painting Corps has tons of tips and how-to's around painting and converting.
Musings of a Metal Mind Is a great blog for those of us who like all things machine (even outside 40K)
From the Warp OK, I know this is kind of a cheat. I do know he's already been nominated, but Ron deserves it. I'm seconding (or thirding, perhaps) his nomination >;)

Thanks again to Klaus for the nomination! Much appreciated. :)

Community Spotlight

2011-05-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

There's a lot of awesome stuff floating around the 'nets these days, and I figured I would shed some light in the direction of a couple blogs/projects that caught my eye in the last week. Might become a regular feature...
If you haven't already seen these, go check them out.

Over at The Inner Geek, Brian's been continuing his Titan building process. It's been fascinating to watch, and the details are glorious. ...now if only I had enough disposable income to do that kind of thing myself... or a fancy top hat to pawn, as was the case with Brian, apparently. ;)

Adam over at Space Wolves is hosting a weekly web-comic, and boy does it look fantastic. The art style is quite envious (the artist is Nacho Fernandez -comic artist extraordinaire!). I've played with doing the occasional web-comic myself, but my style is not nearly as refined as his. Amazing work.

Jawaballs is in the process of making another life-size banner, this time for the guys at Hogs of War. Jawa's banners look amazing, and I've been considering commissioning one myself.

Step-by-Step Dark Eldar Wyches

2011-05-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

Step 1: Charadon Granite
Wyches are half leather-half armour, charadon granite is for all the leather bits.

Step 2: Fortress Grey
This was drybrushed very lightly over the charadon granite parts.

Step 3: Badab Black
Doused over the same area. Our leather is done, now we can move on to the flesh...

Step 4: Dheneb Stone
Note that I'm intending on making her loincloth thingy "flesh" as well. We'll differentiate between it and hers with the washes.

Step 5: Skull White
Drybrushed over all things Dheneb, to bring out those details and highlights before we wash them down.

Step 6: Ogryn Flesh
Usually I would wash rather heavily to get a good amount of this in there, but I'm actually going for a somewhat pale skin, so I used it lightly.

Step 7: Gryphonne Sepia
Heavily used on the loincloth.

Step 8: Vermin Brown
This is the secondary leather color. There are a couple belt pouches and the cords to wrap her hair up that are being hit with this color.

Step 9: Elf Flesh
Elf Flesh is my new drybrush highlight for any leather based in Vermin Brown. I used to use Bronzed Flesh, but GW discontinued it. This has been a good replacement.

Normally my next step would be to finish off this secondary leather with a Devlan Mud wash ... but there are a few other areas that will be finished with Devlan Mud, so I'll set those areas up first.

Step 10: Shining Gold
Areas on the gun, jewelry, weapon hilts, and the zipper.

Step 11: Mithril Silver
The main part of the pistol and the blade are covered with silver, as well as a light drybrush over the gold areas. The gold is now ready for Devlan...

Step 12: Blood Red
My DE hair is red, to offset their teal/cyan armor color.

Step 13: Macharius Solar Orange
Drybrushed over the red hair, as well as applied to the various tubes running from backpack to various areas of the body ... I assume it's their drug supply. The red is now ready for Devlan...

Step 14: Devlan Mud
I think Devlan Mud is my favorite wash. This was applied to the secondary (brown) leather pieces, the gold, the silver weapons and the hair. I found the mud on silver to be an interesting and novel effect that I'm going to use for all of my DE.

Step 15:
OK, we're on to the actual armour proper now. This is the part that will cover most of the DE warrior models. I wanted the color to be near-black at the flat ends, highlighted to teal/cyan at the edges... to accomplish this, I based the area in Necron Abyss, a very dark blue.

Step 16: Enchanted Blue
This was used to make a rather thick edging along the plates. I say thick because it needs to show underneath a thinner edging line...

Step 17: Ice Blue
Thinly edged along the armour plates.

Step 18: Thraka Green
This was applied heavily to the blue armour plates. This is the step that adjusts everything from a blue to a teal/cyan color. If you liked the blue look better, consider using Asurmen as your wash instead.

Step 19: Shining Gold
Now that the armour is done, we can hit that little embossed detail on the glove with gold.

Step 20: Mithril Silver
This was used to touch the various spikes and studs protruding from the armour/leather.

Step 21: Bleached Bone
For the pick in her hair.

Step 22: Astronomican Grey
OK, I'm not sure if you had realized earlier, but there was a tiny bit of conversion work at play here, I attached a vial that I got from a Blood Angels sprue to the base of the sword's blade ... this is to be a Venom Blade. The grey is the vial's basecoat.

Step 23: Snot Green
Apply to the sword's blade as well as in the vial. Keep a level line with the ground to create the illusion of an actual fluid in the vial.

Step 24: Scorpion Green
A further highlight along the blade and in the vial.

Step 25: Skull White
A tiny vertical line along the vial for a shine to complete the effect.

Step 26: Calthan Brown
A basecoat for the base.

Step 27: Static Grass
I also found a bit of shrub to slap on there.

Well? Let me know what you think. I took a while deciding what kind of basing to use with them. I have 5 armies on a bleak brown rock-type base, 2 on snow, 2 on urban, and only 1 on grass (the Eldar). Part of me found it fitting that the DE should share the same basing as the Eldar, and the other part found it rather blasphemous. In the end, I think they look like they kind of don't belong there ... and I think I like that look.

While I Was Gone

2011-04-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

I did get a few things painted during that 6-month hiatus. Unfortunately, due to camera problems, I lost a lot of pictures I had taken for the various Step-By-Steps. Once I got all that sorted out, I retook the finishing pics at least for you all to see.

Here are the finished Sanguinary Guard I used in the 4-Step Gold tutorial. I think the next mini Step-By-Step will be on power weapons. Three of the models above are magnetized. Anyone (except Dante) NOT gripping their weapon with both hands has a magnetized arm. The two in the pic with Inferno Pistols can swap out for the standard Bolters. Also, the one on the far right can swap his power weapon for a Fist.

My finished Harald Deathwolf and a group of Wolf Guard. Harald is magnetized.

A few command squad members, including an old Cadian commander I had been wanting for a while. Also, chimera. I'm working more vehicles and transports into my armies, as they're all mostly foot

Ultramarines HQ. The two on the outside are meant to be standard Captains, and are both magnetized.

I always need more Boyz. Can't have enough. This lot came from the AoBR set.

Black Legion Thousand Sons. I love the way they came out.

I tried the new orange on the Hormaguants (Fiery Orange had been discontinued), but it's just not bright enough. I might need to go back to these to fix that.

Tau Piranhas. My new bottle of SW Grey is not as thick as my previous one. I had to use an Astronomicon basecoat first to really make any headway.

Khorne Flesh Hounds. They were done up in the same fashion as Skulltaker. ...though since they don't have all the extras, they were actually much quicker to do as a lot than he was alone.

... and this is my test-DE. I've been playing around with some color scheme ideas, and the above is what I've settled on. The kabal I chose is the Slashed Eye, which is a very dark blue ... but I really liked the Black Heart scheme, which was this dark green. So I decided to try for a teal. The armor is worked up in blues, then washed in Thraka Green.

Let me know what you think.

4 Step Gold

2011-04-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to do more of these short Step-By-Steps ever since the Frostblade and Fur tutorials, and what better model to showcase gold than some Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard?

Step 1: Calthan Brown Basecoat
This isn't always necessary, especially if the area is small... but for larger objects, you need the undercoat. Gold over black looks horrible for large flat surfaces.

Step 2: Shining Gold

Step 3: Mithril Silver
Be very careful with this to lightly drybrush over the model. Focus on hitting edges.

Step 4: Devlan Mud Wash
Douse it.

Here's a quick shot of the progress on some other Sanguinary Guard as well as a converted Dante (only really changed the backpack to match the Guard). Let me know what you think.

Step-By-Step Fire Dragon

2010-11-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

I went for a slightly different take on GW's Fire Dragons. I didn't like how bright the orange-red body-suit was, so I decided to darken it up a bit.

Step 1: Basecoat

Step 2: Iyanden Darksun

I was going to be dealing with yellows here, so I wanted a good foundation paint to go down first to make this easier.

Step 3: Golden Yellow

I wasn't worried about edging here, just get it all over where the foundation paint was.

Step 4: Baal Red

This might be where I'd stop for the kind of look that the GW site generally shows for them.

Step 5: Devlan Mud

I washed both the body and the helmet. At this point, the main body armor is done.

Step 6: Golden Yellow

I re-worked the helmet up, staying out of the crevices.

Step 7: Sunburst Yellow

This was to really make that yellow helmet pop, contrasting with the darkened body armor.

Step 8: Charadon Granite

This was used on the gun and the face-plate as a base.

Step 9: Fortress Grey

I highlighted the areas based in Charadon Granite. I built bright with the intention of washing down... but first another color that will be washed.

Step 10: Brazen Brass

For the business end of that Firepike.

Step 11: Badab Black

Here we go. I washed the gun, faceplate and brass bit on the end. The main colors are mostly done; the rest is all detail work to bring the model more to life.

Step 12: Boltgun Metal

Normally, I'd wash this area in black as well, but there's a different effect I like for my Eldar metallic weaponry...

Step 13: Gryphonne Sepia

This was washed over the metal bits. Note that I did not wash this over the tank-treads he's standing on, just the gun's metal bits.

Step 14: Hawk Turquoise

Adding some color for the groin flags. Sorry, I don't know what else to call them, lol.

Step 15: Bleached Bone / Hawk Turquoise

The highlight for the groin flags was a 1:1 mix of the two paints.

Step 16: Shining Gold

This was for the casings around gems as well as for the clasps on the groin flags. Why not, right? Might as well make them the blingest groin flags out there. Haters gonna hate.

Step 17: Codex Grey

This is a basecoat for the rocks he's standing on.

Step 18: Skull White

This was drybrushed lightly over the rock. You want an uneven grainy texture to it.

Step 19: Devlan Mud

This was washed over the gold bits, the rock and the tank tread piece he's standing on.
Ok, let's get started on all those gems...

Step 20: Enchanted Blue

Basecoat for any blue gems.

Step 21: Regal Blue

I added a dark upper section to the blue gems.

Step 22: Ice Blue

A highlight line in the lower section of the blue gems.

Step 23: Snot Green

GW's scheme for the gems on the helmets were alternating red and green, which I kinda dug. Green gems were based in Snot Green.

Step 24: Dark Angels Green

This was the dark section for the green gems.

Step 25: Scorpion Green

This was the highlight line for the green gems. Also, I did the eye-lenses while I had this out.

Step 26: Blood Red

This was the base for the red gems.

Step 27: Scab Red

This was the darker area for the red gems.

Step 28: Fiery Orange

This was for the highlight line in the red gems.

Step 29: Skull White

I applied a small dot of white in the midst of the dark section of each gem.

Step 30: Chaos Black

This was for the large rune on his helmet, though you could leave it yellow if you liked the way the previous step looked.

Step 31: Bleached Bone

This was for those funny little tabs on the wrists and ankles that all the Eldar seem to have. I've been keeping them bone colored across the whole army really for no reason other than consistency's sake.

With the model done, there's just a couple more steps to top off the base, and he'll be done...

Step 32: Calthan Brown

For the dirt.

Step 33: Static Grass

Glue down some grass on that brown!

Well, there we are, my Fire Dragon Exarch is all painted up and ready to point menacingly at his foes! Tell me what you guys think.

Gaming Table!

2010-10-11T00:15:00.001-07:00

Behold the new table:
It may not look like much at first, but this is a Geek Chic gaming table.

As you can see, the leaves are removable, revealing a sunken playing surface (that is 6'x4'). I decided not to get the shelves so that I could instead get the deeper playing surface. What I did get instead is several rail accessories that attach to the sides of the table:

Like a dice rolling bin with craps rubbers on the sides (I got two of them, actually), two attachable tables to hold rulebooks/codices, and 6 cup holders (not pictured) for lulz.

The wife and I decided to break it in over the weekend with a small skirmish. After our last battle, she agreed to a simpler setup so that she can better familarize herself with the rules. We both played the exact same list from the same codex (SM) to help minimize any advantage I would have due to list building experience. It was fun, with the highlight being our SM Captains in melee, both taking each other out first turn with powerfists. Game ended (annihilation) with her in the lead, 2 kill points to 1. Dead captains on both sides, but she popped my Rhino (not a euphemism!) to boot.

The arrival of the table was just too exciting not to share. :) I ordered this thing back in November of last year, so it's been almost a full year in the works.

5-Step Fur

2010-09-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Following off of the Frostblade tutorial, I figured the other thing to really pick out in this model is the fur, given that the actual Wolf Lord is covered under the Step-By-Step Space Wolf.

Step 1: Astronomican Grey
I covered the wolf entirely with this. Get out your ratty brush, too, all the crannies will mess up any good brush you have.

Step 2: Skull White

Mostly this was drybrushed rather heavily over the wolf. I'm going to bring the color down with a wash, so it's ok if it looks too bright.

Step 3: Badab Black

The wash was applied pretty liberally. If you're looking for a grey-ish kind of wolf you could stop here, but I'm looking for a little more variety so...

Step 4: Skull White

Two things are happening at this step. The head and ears are getting more of a watered down blend in successive layers to build up to what I want. The rest of the fur is getting drybrushed ...

...but you'll notice that I'm applying the drybrush heavier along the legs and underside of the wolf.

Step 5: Devlan Mud

To break up the black/white, I added some Devlan Mud in the areas (mostly the mane, along the back and tail) to get a bit of color in there.

There you have it. It's a relatively fast fur that comes out looking nice, IMO. The wolf isn't done, mind you, but the fur is. What methods do you guys have of painting fur?

Quick and Easy Frostblade

2010-09-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of painting up my Harald Deathwolf mini (using the Canis model) and whipped out the camera for some quick step-by-steps, the first of which being a 3 step Frostblade.

The blade has been based Boltgun Metal (I left the blade portion unwashed, unlike the rest of the haft).

Step 1: Skull White
What you see above is the result of two to three light drybrushes of white. I'm going for a frosted look, due to the name of the weapon, so the drybrushes are very light.

I do want there to be a bluish hue, despite that I know that frosted metal doesn't necessarily take on a blue color in real life.

Step 2: Asurmen Blue

Unlike with the method I use in standard power weapons, I do not dowse/flood the blade. The application is light; enough to make it blue and fill in cracks/crevices.

Step 3: Skull White

To finish off, I apply one or two more light drybrushes of white. This should be even lighter than the first step, like "dusting" the blade. I normally don't drybrush after a wash, as it tends to look grainy, but in this case I want that grainy look.

Tell me what you think. Do you have a method you like to depict Frostblades? Toss it in the comments, and I might post a link to it. :)

Step-By-Step Ultramarine

2010-09-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the very infrequent posts, work's been hell lately. Up on the bench, an Ultramarines sergeant!

Step 1: Mordian Blue

Step 2: Ultramarines Blue
Step 3: Ice Blue Things should look overly bright and garish at this point. If you know my style, you'll know that this is when you hit it with a wash to bring the colors down a bit.

Step 4: Asurmen Blue wash I tried using Badab Black, but man does that destroy any kind of blue you had going for it.

Step 5: Mechrite Red For the helm.

Step 6: Blood Red
Step 7: Fiery Orange I just found out that Fiery Orange is discontinued. Blazing Orange should be a good substitute, though it might not be as bright ... I'll have to order some and look into it.

Step 8: Devlan Mud wash
Step 9: Shining Gold
Step 10: Mithril Silver I like to drybrush some silver over the gold as a small highlight, then follow with mud. However in this case, we're going to work up the leahter, bone,cloth and parchment first, as there's a mud step in those processes too...

Step 11: Dheneb Stone Step 1 of all bone, cloth and parchments.

Step 12: Vermin Brown Basecoat for the leather bits.

Step 13: Bronzed Flesh Another discontinued color, unfortunately. Before stumbling upon this, I used to use a 1:1 mix of Bleached Bone and Vermin Brown for this same step. This is a highlight for the leather bits.

Step 14: Devlan Mud Applied as the finishing touch on the leathers as well as the gold. This is also step 2 in the bone, cloth and parchment process.

Step 15: Bleached Bone Bringing back the mid-tones of the bone, cloth and parchments, this is step 3 in that process.

Step 16: Skull White This is the final highlight (though not the last step) on the bone, cloth and parchments. Try to stay near edges, or high raised areas.

Step 17: Gryphonne Sepia This is the final step on the bone, cloth and parchment process. This was applied close to where the Devlan Mud still showed (and on skull temples).

Step 18: Boltgun Metal
Step 19: Charadon Granite This is for the chainsword casing as well as the base (he'll be on an urban road like my Imperial Guard).

Step 20: Fortress Grey This is the highlight for the chainsword casing.

Step 21: Codex Grey It's hard to see in the pic, but this is stipled/drybrushed on the base to bring out some of the texture.

Step 22: Badab Black For the Boltgun Metal bits, as well as the chainsword casing. The base will be washed in mud.

Step 23: Scorpion Green Eye lenses.

Step 24: Skull White Squad markings.

Step 25: Asurmen Blue This was used to bring out some detail on the embossed shoulder markings (fig is from AoBR).

Step 26: Iyanden Darksun This makes for great street paint.

Step 27: Devlan Mud To finish off the base. Well, there we have it. It's a quick method for the boys in blue (especially when you're not dealing with all the extra steps the sarg takes) that has served me well so far. Let me know what you think.

Harald Deathwolf

2010-08-11T09:34:00.000-07:00

The majority of this conversion is simply using Canis Wolfborn as the base. The model is amazing and huge ... plus I have no inclination to actually use Canis in game ... so he's now Harald. >:)

Originally, I was just planning on equipping him with Bolt pistol + Frost Blade, Belt of Russ, Thunderwolf, Saga of the Bear.

This would maximize on his number of attacks and (between the Twolf and Frost Blade) give him S6. Belt of Russ gives him 3+/4+. I've heard a lot about giving him a Thunderhammer+StormShield as well. Sure, I'd be hitting at S9 and have a 3+/3+ save, but with one less attack and at Initiative 1. I still do see the merits of it, though ... so I decided the best answer was simply to magnetize it:

His right arm is magnetized at the wrist with a 1/16" disc magnet. Both the Frost Axe and the Thunderhammer come from the Terminator Wolf Guard box set. Thankfully, Terminator hands look indistinguishable from Power Armour hands.

The left arm is magnetized at the shoulder with a larger 1/8" disc magnet. The shoulderpad is fixed, so the arm just gets slipped underneath. I added the above Storm Bolter for the hell of it. Why not?

A short time ago I converted a Tervigon and a Tyrannofex. Both of which required a ton of greenstuff ... and I have mixed feelings about them (don't worry, I'll show them eventually). I appear to be much much better at using greenstuff to fill seams and fix small patches, like the seam in the metal wolf model's head.

What do you guys think?

Magnetized Hellhound

2010-08-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

Things have been really busy at work; I apologize for the 'few and far between' posts of late...

I built a Hellhound in the small window of free time I was allotted last night. Of special interest to me was determining how to magnetize it so I can switch out the hull-mounted gun and the turret, making it interchangeably a Hellhound, Devildog or a Bane Wolf.

The hull mounted guns each received a magnet drilled into its back. On the actual tank, I superglued a flat-headed screw on the inside. Please do this before fully assembling the hull and spare yourself the awkward task of holding it in place with pliers from the outside (and having to fish it out if you drop it) until the glue dries ... like I had to do.

The actual turret barrel was pretty easy. I carved out a hole in each side of the turret so a small-headed nail would fit within the barrel. The magnet is glued to the end of the peg on the barrel tip. Here are the results:

Conversion: Parasite of Mortrex

2010-07-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I was struck with the very sudden desire to convert and paint up the Parasite of Mortrex. Thankfully, I thought to grab the camera to catalog the conversion.

See those primed Thousand Sons in the background? Yeah, the Parasite basically just cut in line. I would feel sorry for them if they had souls...

Anyways, back to the Parasite. The description in the codex described it as an organism the size of a Tyranid Warrior with bat-like wings. With that, I clipped out a Tyranid Warrior body to start with.

My vision is based off of the picture in the book, where the tail has this stinger on the end, and curls underneath the body, so I glued the abdomen to the torso backwards.

I had ordered some Tyranid Warrior wings from Forgeworld some time ago and had a pair left. Awesome.

Tyranid Warrior head with tongue-spine.

The rules give the Parasite Rending Claws, Implant Attack, and wings. However, the picture shows a couple sets of scything talons...

I tried using the Tyranid Warrior scything talons, but they looked awkwardly large, to be honest ... especially since the unit doesn't actually have them in game. So, I opted for a set of genestealer scything talons. This would serve to keep the aesthetic, while making them a bit more subtle.

Next up, the Rending Claws...

This idea actually came from Suneokun over at Pathfinder, back when he did his Parasite conversion. I had struggled for a long time to find a meaningful conversion for the legs of a Tyranid Warrior in flight. I hated the answer shown in the above Forgeworld link (using scything arms, or even rending arms); They just looked awful. Suneokun's answer was to use the legs, but cut off the hoof and replace with a Rending hand. It was brilliant.

One little addition though:

Suneokun discarded the rending hand's thumb. I moved it to the back of the foot, to emulate a bird of prey's talon:

Kaw!

Ok, with the talons attached, I'm ready to move on to the tail implant.

The piece I ended up being drawn to was a genestealer head. The Acid Maw head, to be exact. Above, you can see a whole head of the type I'm talking about. The tongue looks like it would make a suitable stinger. I cut the lower jaw off to use on the tail, discarding the top of the head.

With a little filing and greenstuff, I had a cool looking stinger! There's even a poison sac! Bonus!

Checking out the codex's stats again, I found that the Parasite has a 3+ save, while a Tyranid Warrior has a 4+ save. I decided to grab some armour plates from the monstrous creature sprue:

The shield shaped one will go on the chest, the other on the back. Notice how the one for the back has been filed on the underside to fit better with the Warrior's back. The Warrior's back has a steep peak to it.

Here's the mostly finished product:

And here I'm testing height/placement on a flying stand. I want him to look like he's swooping down on his prey.
At the above point, I had asked my wife to grab me a guardman I could use for reference. She got the one model of mine that looks oblivious to his surroundings. LOL. It cracked me up so much, I used him in the final pics after I finished painting him:

The Flying base's stand was filed at an angle with a cylindrical file so it would cup the tail at the angle I wanted. This made it bond very well with super glue.

For the painting scheme, I used the exact same method as in the Step-By-Step Old One Eye with the small addition of some Thraka Green around the stinger's base.

LOL Stormraven

2010-07-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you saw that project over at B&C, but check out the results:
He actually modeled Dante surfing a flying landraider while playing his axe. Hahaha, awesome.

How can any enemy stand to such high-octane insultery? -5 Ld.

"I'm sorry, what was that? I can't hear you over how awesome I am."

Biel-Tan Guardians

2010-07-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

Biel-Tan always intrigued me. Specifically, the part in the fluff about how they have much more Aspect Warriors than any other craftworld. Lately, I took to wondering what it must be like for the Biel-Tan Guardians to be always surrounded by basically elven frat-boys.

Step-By-Step Blood Angel

2010-06-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

OK, it's Blood Angel time!

Step 1: Basecoat

Step 2: Mechrite Red
...because Blood Red doesn't go on black so well.

Step 3: Blood Red
You're not a Blood Angel unless it's Blood Red.

Step 4: Fiery Orange
This was used to edge out the armor. Now, left alone the orange highlight actually makes the armor look less red and more ... vermillion, I guess. We'll fix that, trust me.

Step 5: Devlan Mud wash
This was applied ONLY in the recesses to give some depth. I had done a test model where I coat the whole thing in Devlan Mud, and it turned out way too dark. Great if you're looking for the Flesh Tearers red, or the Angels Vermillion. Not so much for Blood Angels. I did find a remedy for that orange, though:

Step 6: Baal Red
Ok, now THIS was coated over all the red. Notice the effect it had on the orange; it brought it closer to the red armor, which is perfect.

Step 7: Charadon Granite
This is for the black gun and sword casing.

Step 8: Fortress Grey
Edging on the gun and sword casing.

Step 9: Boltgun Metal

Step 10: Badab Black
This was for all metal, and for the gun and sword casing.

Step 11: Dheneb Stone
For all scrolls, skulls and purity seals.

Step 12: Shining Gold

Step 13: Mithril Silver
This was drybrushed lightly over all the gold bits as a highlight. I'm setting up a few things here for a Devlan mud wash...

Step 14: Vermin Brown
For all the leather and rope.

Step 15: Bronzed Flesh
This makes a great highlight color when drybrushed over the Vermin Brown leather/rope parts.

Step 16: Devlan Mud
This was washed over all the scrolls, skulls, purity seals, gold bits, and leather/rope bits.

Step 17: Bleached Bone
Build back up the skulls, purity seals and scrolls. Leave the Devlan Mud in the recesses.

Step 18: Skull White
Highlight/drybrush the scrolls, skulls and purity seals.

Step 19: Gryphonne Sepia
Bring back some midtone to the scrolls, skulls and purity seals. Stay away from the white highlights.

Step 20: Skull White
Coat the wings on his armor with white.

Step 21: Asurmen Blue wash

[picture lost to the warp]

Let it on heavy, this is for the shadows, we're going to build back up the highlights with white again...

Step 22: Skull White
re-highlight the wings with white, leaving the Asurmen Blue in the recesses.

Step 23: Iyanden Darksun
This sergeant is a productive member of the 2nd Company, and thus his blood drop is yellow. All my yellows are based in Iyanden, it makes things so much easier.

Step 24: Sunburst Yellow
Nice and bright yellow.

Step 25: Blood Red
This is for all the blood droplets/gems on the armor.

Step 26: Astronomican Grey
There's an odd vial hanging from his wrist. I will fill it with blood (what else would it be?).

Step 27: Scab Red
The blood for the vial. Also, this was applied in the upper sections of all the blood drops/gems on the armor.

Step 28: Fiery Orange
This was applied along the lower rims of the blood drops/gems on the armor.

Step 29: Skull White
This was applied as a small dot of light in the blood drops/gems on the armor. It is best placed within the darker Scab Red area. Also, a thin line of white on the vial to make it look like a glass sheen.

Step 30: Scorpion Green
For the eyes.

Step 31: Chaos Black
Scribblings on purity seals, writing along scrolls, and the bolt pistol gun barrel.

Step 32: Calthan Brown
Base him!

Step 33: Basing sand/Devlan Mud
I glued down some basing sand, then washed in Devlan Mud to darken after the glue was dry.

Well, there he is. I have to admit, getting the red satisfactory was a bit of a challenge. I had to do a few test runs to find the right approach. The Baal Red made the red+orange highlight look great, but didn't add enough depth. The Devlan Mud added depth, but darkened the red too much. The method that I liked was to use both, just using Devlan Mud only in the recesses. What do you guys think?

The Dornian Heresy

2010-06-18T09:57:00.001-07:00

I need to give two colossal shout-outs for something that happened this last month. The first one goes out to Elazar the Glorified (The Glorious Works) for making me aware of this. I cannot thank you enough.

The second goes to the team at The Bolter and Chainsword, one of the great 40K communities that exist out there. They are the ones responsible for crafting this great work of art (and I don't just mean the picture above). They wrote the Dornian Heresy.

What's the Dornian Heresy?
Oh man, if you haven't already seen this you are in for a rare treat, my friends. The Dornian Heresy is this amazing pdf document containing 82 pages packed with fluff and images - all centered around a simply amazing "what if" alternate timeline in the 40K universe. What if, as in "What if the Ruinous Powers chose Rogal Dorn instead of Horus?"
A simple, single decision that changes everything. What happens in the heresy? How do things play out? Who are the main players? 82 pages of glory, people, and it's only VOLUME 1. It looks like there's more on the way, and damn am I anxious to see what else they can put out.

You all should check it out, it is good. You can read/download this for free off The Bolter & Chainsword's site HERE.

DO IT. DO IT NOW.

Step-By-Step Dark Angel

2010-06-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

I painted this veteran sergeant for a friend. He's an accomplished painter himself, so I hope this is up to snuff.

Step 1: Basecoat

Step 2: Dark Angels Green / Knarloc Green mix
This serves as the base that will be darkened with a wash. It took some fiddling to find the right mix, and Knarloc is in there to make it thicker and easier to apply. The mix is 2 parts DA Green to 1 part Knarloc.

Step 3: Goblin Green
This is for the edges. I had previously used Knarloc for this, but I like the added brightness that Goblin Green brings.

Step 4: Badab Black
Yeah, there's our Dark Angel. Before this step, I'm always afraid I'm painting a Salamander.

Step 5: Dheneb Stone
For all cloth, bone and parchments.

Step 6: Mechrite Red
This is for the gun casing and the lining of the robe.

Step 7: Blood Red
Covered all areas based in Mechrite (plus a sword icon on the shoulder cloth as well as the eye-lenses).

Step 8: Fiery Orange
Edged out the gun casing.

Step 9: Shining Gold

Step 10: Mithril Silver
This was lightly drybrushed over all the gold bits.

Step 11: Vermin Brown
For the sword handle and the waist rope. Ignore the old pot, this color has been renamed Vermin Brown.

Step 12: Bronzed Flesh
I like to drybrush Bronzed Flesh over all leather and rope areas that I based in Vermin Brown.

Step 13: Devlan Mud
Ok, several areas are ready for Devlan Mud; The cloth, parchments, all red areas, gold bits, and the leather/rope.

Step 14: Bleached Bone
I'm building back up the mid-tone for the parchments and cloth.

Step 15: Skull White
Highlighting the parchments/cloth.

Step 16: Gryphonne Sepia
I'm not coating the parchments/cloth here. I applied it only in the recesses, where there was still some Devlan Mud to bring some more depth to the cloth. Basically, stay away from the white areas and you'll be fine.

Step 17: Boltgun Metal

Step 18: Badab Black
Applied to the metal. Do not apply this to the sword though. I'm going to apply a power weapon effect to it.

Step 19: Skull White
I'm laying out the lightning/power arcs along the blade sides. I've drawn them specifically to have the lightning hug the edges to better accentuate the blade's shape.

Step 20: Asurmen Blue
This sergeant's power weapon will be blue. However, feel free to exchange this wash with any of the other washes for a different color power weapon.

Step 21: Skull White
I pulled the Skull White back out to pick out a few edges and corners in the lightning to make it pop just a little more.

Step 22: Skull White
I still have the Skull White out. This time to get the chapter icons on his shoulder and his helmet.

Step 23: Chaos Black
Parchment writing and gun barrel holes.

Step 24: Calthan Brown
My friend's armies are based in brown dirt with patches of static grass and a brown rim ... similar to how a lot of the GW staff do theirs.

Step 25: Basing Sand
Glued down with PVA (Elmer's White) glue ... then after it dried I added a layer of watered down glue over the top to seal it in and keep the sand from falling off.

Step 26: Devlan Mud
To darken the sand.

Step 27: Static Grass

And there it is.
Yeesh, last time I try taking these pics at dusk. Lightbox or no, this is attack of the sepia tones.

Ork Deffcoptas

2010-06-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Ork Deffcoptas are your most expensive Fast Attack option at 35 pts per model. Let's just get that out there right now.

That said, let's check their stats:

WS 4, BS 2, S 3, T 4(5), W 2, I 2, A 2, Ld 7, Sv 4+

Mob Rule seems a worthless add-on, since you're limited to no more than 5 models per squad.

Furious Charge and Waaagh! are nice to have, though standard for the army.

Deffcoptas are considered Jetbikes. Hopping over terrain is sweet.

Also, they benefit from both the Scout and Hit and Run rules. Everything here is pointing towards a highly maneuverable unit. Let's check out their equipment:

Twin-Linked Big Shoota. This is the standard equipment. It sounds nice, but Warbikers have a similar gun (although not TL) and are about 10 points cheaper per model.

Twin-Linked Rokkit Launcha is a 10pt upgrade per model. Despite how expensive this makes the models, I like the idea of highly mobile TL Rokkit Launchas.

Kustom Mega Blasta is a 5 pt upgrade. This is basically the same as the above Rokkit Launcha, just not Twin-linked ... which now means less guns hitting their targets.

Bigbomm is a 15pt add-on. It looks like a huge waste of time and points, as you have to fly over where the template is placed, it will scatter, and it's ony S4, AP5

Buzzsaw is a 25pt add-on. This is essentially a Power Klaw. Something to keep in mind here, is that you're paying the same 25 pts that a Nob pays for this upgrade. A Deffcopta's Strength is 3 (making this an S6 Power Klaw) vs a Nob's Strength of 4 (an S8 Power Klaw). Same price for a worse version. Save the 25 for a Nob, they can do it better.

OK, so we've covered all of their options. Lets look at how they would be used.

With the standard gear, they seem like overpriced Warbikers. More maneuverable, yes, but also limited to very small mobs of up to 5. The mob limit of 5 makes them highly vulnerable to any kind of assault, regardless of Hit and Run. The part that interests me is the TL Rokkit Launchas. That upgrade makes them 45 pts/model, though. 5 'coptas would be a 225 pt mob. While the idea of 5 TL Rokkit Launchas hitting side/rear armour ... I'm not sure I'm convinced that they're worth the points. Compare them to Warbuggies, though (another Fast Attack option); A Warbuggy with a TL Rokkit Launcha is only 35 pts/model. That's 10 points cheaper.

Here's a differing opinion on the buzzsaw/rokkit take. His answer to the cost? Take sacrificial squads of 1-2.

"Buzzsaws are crappy if you're using them as anti-infantry weapon. The real point of a buzzsaw is to be S7 versus a vehicles rear armor during assault. With few exceptions (land raiders, monoliths), that gives you a 50% chance to get a pen with each hit. And if you get first turn, that means you'll probably get 1 or 2 pens per deffkopta on any vehicle you can reach.

I run units of 1 or 2. They are sacrificial units. If I go first, they scout-turboboost, then go for the side/rear armor on a transport or gun platform, and aim to assault that vehicle. If I go second, they outflank and do the same. Even if they don't actually kill anything, the opponent has to stop and deal with them, giving the rest of your orks time to get to optimal charge range.

My most recent game had a great example of this. At 2000 points I had 3 units of 2, all with rokkits and buzzsaws, up against a Blood Angels army with 2 Baals, a Whirlwind, and a couple of Rhinos. I got to go first, and on that first turn, between the 6 koptas, they killed a Rhino and stunned or shook every other vehicle and assaulted a the only tac marine combat squad with a long range anti-tank weapon. By turn 3 the Whirlwind was dead and neither Predator ever got to shoot before the battle wagons with deffrollas arrived to finish them off. One Kopta even survived long enough to help kill off most of the combat squad of Tac marines.

All 6 deffkoptas died, but in doing so they kept everything that could have targeted my Trukks and Battlewagons early game until those my troops were delivered into combat. My Nobz, Mega Nobz, and Shoota boyz all got do exactly what they do best and as a result I tabled my opponent."

-DaR

Most of this is speculation over what I see in the books. To be honest, I haven't actually had the opportunity to field them much (just finished painting them). Have any of you guys used Deffcoptas? What have your experiences been with this unit? Leave a comment, I might just add your input to the post.

Step-By-Step Imperial Fist

2010-05-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Contestant 3 won in the recent contest for a painted AoBR Captain. That means either a lot of you like Imperial Fists, or a lot of you wish the secret hell upon me that is painting yellow. ;)

Either way, I'm up for it. Yellow it is! Onward the Banana-Knights of the Emperor!

Step 1: Basecoat

Step 2: Iyanden Darksun
Yellow basecoat for the yellow bits.

Step 3: Golden Yellow
Nice and bright. This process would have been so much worse without foundation paints.

Step 4: Devlan Mud
I coated the yellow in this wash to get all the depth. We'll work the yellow back up from here.

Step 5: Golden yellow
Build it back up.

Step 6: Gryphonne Sepia
Similar to that 5-step bone process that I do, the Gryphonne Sepia brings back some of the mid-tone after we've painted over a wash.

Something else to note, at some later point I came to the realization that the yellow was too orange. There is another step that should go here, but in this process I didn't apply it until the very end.

Step 7: Mechrite Red
Onto the reds.

Step 8: Blood Red

Step 9: Fiery Orange
Along the shoulder pad rims, this was lined along the edges. For the cape, this was drybrushed along edges and folds.

Normally for the reds, the next and final step I take is a Devlan Mud wash. However, there are a few other things that will need a Devlan Mud wash, so I'm going to set them up first...

Step 10: Charadon Granite
This is the base for anything black. I'm mainly working towards the scroll on the banner here.

Step 11: Fortress Grey
This is an edged/drybrushed highlight on all the "black" items that were based in Charadon Granite.

Step 12: Dheneb Stone
The tabard, parchments, scrolls, skulls and skin.

Step 13: Vermin Brown
Ignore the old pot, this color is still around (though called Vermin Brown). This was for the leather pouch, sword handle and the ropes across the chest.

Step 14: Bronzed Flesh
Bronzed Flesh makes a great pre-wash highlight to the leather/rope bits that were based in Vermin Brown.

Step 15: Shining Gold

Step 16: Mithril Silver
My new(ish) favorite way to highlight gold is to drybrush with Mithril Silver before washing in Devlan Mud.

Step 17: Devlan Mud
OK. This is the final step for the reds, golds, and leathers. This is the second step (of 5) for the scrolls, tabard and skulls.

Step 18: Bleached Bone
This is the third step for the scrolls, tabard and skulls.

Step 19: Astronomican Grey
For the imperial eagle on the banner, I want to try a faux gold. I saw an easy NMM gold effect on another blog that I can't for the life of me remember. It was done on The Sanguinor. If anyone remembers where that article was, please shoot me a link. Found it: I saw it on The Vanus Temple.

Step 20: Skull White
This was drybrushed over the imperial eagle, over the captain's face, and was also step 4 for the scrolls, tabard and skulls.

Step 21: Gryphonne Sepia
This finishes off the scrolls, skulls and tabard. Also this went on the imperial eagle. It's not enough though; we're going to want a second coat.

Step 22: Gryphonne Sepia (the sequel!)
Again on the imperial eagle. I think this is dark enough. This shows some promise, I'll have to try this a few more times to get the hang of it. Also, as an aside, this step is where I finally realized there's a scroll on his gun. I quickly painted that up in between steps; I hope you'll forgive the omission. ;)

Step 23: Ogryn Flesh
Face!

Step 24: Boltgun Metal

Step 25: Skull White
His hair looked kinda cool with the whitish look in previous steps, so I'm making it actually white.

Step 26: Badab Black
This was applied over anything based in Charadon Granite, and most of the Boltgun Metal (not the sword, we're going to do something else with that).

Step 27: The Revenge of Skull White
I've been playing around with a new fun way to do power-weapon effects. First step was basing in the Boltgun Metal. Second step is applying where the electricity is crackling through the weapon with white. I mostly "cheated" and had the electricity hug edges and the middle line, arcing from edge to edge and then focusing at the tip.

Step 28: Asurmen Blue
Dowse the blade.

Step 29: Return of The Revenge of Skull White
This was then applied to the tip edges, and areas where the bolts forked off. It gave it this cool kind of coursing-power look. I don't know if you guys will all like it as much as I do, but the great thing about this is that you now know how to make several different colors of power weapon ... simply by substituting the wash with one of the other colors. I'm pretty psyched about that.

Step 30: Enchanted Blue
Playing off of the blue in his power weapon, I'm going to make the bionic lens and the chest jem blue as well.

A quick word on the choice of blue here. I found a great article that goes into a little color-theory, and explains it quite well. I may be referencing it quite often in some of my posts in the future. It was written by SandWyrm from The Back 40K. Before I used blue for the sword/gems, the model mostly had an analogous harmony; it used colors mostly in the red to yellow range of the color wheel. What I was looking for in the end was a Split-Compliment, some color to contrast the current analogous colors. Immediately across from the yellow-to-red range was blue. This is a great tool for choosing complimentary colors and color schemes for your models. I would highly recommend reading and book-marking that article for your own further use.

Step 31: Regal Blue
Upper corners of the lens and gem.

Step 32: Ice Blue
A slight rim around the bottom edge of the lens/gem.

Step 33: The Undead Bride of Skull White
Applied as a dot in the middle of the Regal Blue areas.

Step 34: Blood Red
I found a detail in the model that I had neglected: the cross-shaped spikes behind the skulls in both his belt-buckle and right knee. I quickly touched them up with red.

Step 35: Chaos Black
Gun Barrel hole, scroll writings (the banner scroll is currently empty as I'm letting the contest winner decide what he wants written across it), and a semi-circle on his chapter-heraldry shoulder pad. I fished in the SM book for the chapter's icon, it is a black fist in a black-rimmed circle of white.

Step 36: Skull White - Resurrection!
for the interior of the chapter icon circle.

Step 37: Chaos Black
The majority of the icon would be covered by the cape, but I wanted a hint of what was there. I applied a small notch near the bottom where you might see the edge of the gauntlet.

Step 38: Dheneb Stone
With the model done, I'm moving on to the base. For this, I want to emulate the contest winner's army. Check out his models. if you zoom in there, the brown is somewhat uneven (like a marble effect). Some have grass on them. This is what I'm aiming for.

Step 39: Devlan Mud
Marble effects are easy with washes. Uneven application.

Step 40: Static Grass
Applied with PVA (Elmer's White) glue.

Step 41: Sunburst Yellow
I had mentioned before that I (at the end) wasn't happy with the yellow-ness of the model. This is where I fixed that by making the yellow a little more vibrant. This would make the yellow itself a 5 step process.

Well, here we are! Start to finish, one gloriously yellow Space Marine Commander! I really do not envy you Imperial Fist enthusiasts. This is far too much yellow for me. I get enough of it from my Alaitoc Eldar, but as a main color? Wow. Just wow.

Step-By-Step Imperial Guard

2010-05-03T09:01:00.000-07:00

With bonus Cadian Marbo! (at the bottom)

Step 1: Basecoat

Step 2: Charadon Granite
For the boots.

Step 3: Dheneb Stone
This is for all flesh and cloth.

Step 4: Skull White
Lightly drybrushed over both the cloth and the flesh.

Step 5: Calthan Brown
All actual armour plates were painted Calthan Brown.

Step 6: Kommando Khaki
This was edged on the Calthan Brown armour plates.

Step 7: Vermin Brown
This is for anything leather. Ignore the old paint pot, the color is still around, but renamed "Vermin Brown."

Step 8: Bronzed Flesh
This was lightly drybrushed over the leather parts. I used to do a mix of Bleached Bone and Vermin Brown, but I experimented with Bronzed Flesh instead and it worked out rather well.

Step 9: Mechrite Red
Mostly for the grenades.

Step 10: Fiery Orange
This is a drybrushed highlight over the Mechrite Red grenades.

Step 11: Gretchin Green
For canteens.

Step 12: Iyanden Darksun
This was drybrushed over the canteens, and used for the sergeant chevrons on the sleeve.

Step 13: Boltgun Metal
For all the metal bits.

Step 14: Shining Gold
Imperial Eagles and knife/bayonet hilts.

...ok, we've built up the model pretty bright, complete with highlights. Let's bring it down with washes. Washing after a highlight also works to soften harsh highlights and bring it all together.

Step 15: Badab Black
Washed over the boots and Boltgun Metal bits.

Step 16: Ogryn Flesh
Washed over the fleshy bits.

Step 17: Devlan Mud
This was washed over all the gold, cloth, armour, canteens, leather, and red grenades. Pretty much anything you haven't covered already with the previous two washes.

Step 18: Skull White
Shoulder insignias.

Now with the model basically done, I move on to the base. Since Guard is a horde army, I'm going for a very minimalist base. Urban streets.

Step 19: Charadon Granite
Basing the base.

Step 20: Fortress Grey
Drybrushed and stipled on the base (hard to see in the pic). Drybrush to get the natural texture out of the base, stiple when you need more.

Step 21: Iyanden Darksun
Street paint. Crosswalks, lane divides, etc.

Step 22: Devlan Mud
Now mud it up.

It's a relatively low number of steps, which suits me fine given how many guardsmen I have in my future ;P

I never was a fan of the traditional Cadian scheme of olive green on khaki (especially since I already collect Dark Angels, which is a very similar scheme). The scheme I chose was actually inspired by the game Dawn of War: Winter Assault. The 180th Cadians were this cool brown color-scheme, but the cloth was dark and the plates were light. I tweaked with the painter to lighten up the cloth and darken the plates and thought it looked awesome. And here we are, my 221st Cadian regiment.

...as promised, Marbo:
There's an Ork Tankbusta bomb on the base, to represent his demolitions charge. Marbo was painted using the same techniques as above with a couple additions. The green on his bowie knife (off of a Marine sprue) is Scorpion Green.

To represent his unique pistol, I latched onto the 'Sniper' rule that came with it. The above pistol is a chopped up sniper rifle.

The wound on his arm was a small drop of Baal Red wash on the bandage. The overloaded backpack came from the Heavy Weapons Team sprue. Marbo is prepared for anything.

Contestants!

2010-04-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, we had a total of 3 entries to the contest.

The winner of this contest will get the AOBR Captain model, and I'll paint it to their army's scheme.

Below are the "favorite model" from each army (posted in no particular order). You can click on the image to see a picture of the whole army.

There is a new poll on the left. Please vote for who you think should get the AOBR Captain.

Contestant 1 (Blood Angels - his HQ are in white):

Contestant 2 (Unknown Marine Chapter):

Contestant 3 (Imperial Fists):

I've left the identities of the contestants out, though nothing's stopping any of you from making your case in the comments. It's all fair game.

The poll closes at midnight(PST) of Friday, 5/7.

Step-By-Step Epidemius

2010-04-26T08:35:00.000-07:00

With bonus Beast of Nurgle!

Step 1: Basecoat
Same with my Skulltaker, all my daemons are based on cork/lava.

Step 2: Calthan Brown
As a basecoat for the ground.

Step 3: Bubonic Brown
Lightly drybrushed over the cork, to bring some texture to it.

Step 4: Iyanden Darksun
This will serve as a basecoat for the lava.

Step 5: Fiery Orange / Golden Yellow
This is a wet blend. First, lay down the Fiery Orange. Next, start leaving blobs of Golden Yellow in the still wet Fiery Orange. Next, use your brush to drag the orange around, creating "currents" and bubbles.

Step 6: Dheneb Stone
Basecoat this on all things fleshy and bone. For the Beast, that's the whole model.

Step 6: Skull White
I've been having a lot of success with this 3-step flesh effect. The White is lightly drybrushed over the Dheneb Stone. This is the highlight, and will show through under the wash.

Step 7: Ogryn Flesh
Make it heavy, get it all over the fleshy bits.

Step 8: Thraka Green
Now we need some green in there. They are Nurgle after all. As far as choosing where to put the green, I went with extremeties (toes, fingers, etc) and along creases/folds in the skin. I wanted this to look gangrenous.

Step 9: Iyanden Darksun
Epidemius doesn't have this kind of area, but the Beast does. I based in yellow the area where the skin had been pulled back. Yellow, because I wanted it to look like especially diseased subcutaneous fat, which tends to be yellowish. We'll wash it in Red to make it look a bit bloody, but there's another thing that will be washed in red, so let's do that first...

Step 10: Skull White
This is for all those little bumps along the skin. I want them to look like blisters, zits and boils. Hit them with the white. Also, on Epidemius, the maggots on his stomach and his eye.

Step 11: Baal Red
Four things are happening here. First, tongues. Second, get this thick in that open skin area on the Beast of Nurgle. Third, around the zits and boils, to make them look aggravated. Lastly, and you see this mostly on Epidemius, on joints. The red will make his knees, knuckles, elbows, etc look puffy and inflamed - a hallmark of chronically sick/diseased peoples.

Step 12: Scorpion Green
In a lot of those areas you probably hit with Thraka Green, you'll see some details that look like straight-up-slime. I touched up those areas with Scorpion Green to really bring them out. Also, some stipling on Epidemius' chest, as I started to realize he'd apparently vomited on himself (amazing the details you pick up only as you paint). I found a few slime areas that had not been previously picked out with Thraka green on Epidemius (in the throne) and based them in Scorpion Green as well.

Step 13: Thraka Green
This was for those aformentioned areas on Epidemius' throne.

Step 14: Dheneb Stone
With all this wash hullaballoo, some got on the areas that are bone, so this is to go back over those areas to start the bone process.

Step 15: Devlan Mud
On all the bone.

Step 16:Bleached Bone
This is a drybrush effect. We want to bring some of the color back, but not undo what the Devlan Mud brought out in the cracks/crevices.

Step 17: Skull White
This is an even lighter drybrush, along edges, points, and skull faces.

Step 18: Gryphonne Sepia
Mostly along the bases of the bone areas, where there is still some Devlan Mud. Try to stay away from the areas where you applied the Skull White. At this point, the Beast of Nurgle is done. The rest of this tutorial will be focusing just on Epidemius.

Step 19: Graveyard Earth
Basecoat for the wooden throne and the wooden sword handle.

Step 20: Bleached Bone
This is a light drybrush over the wooden throne and sword handle, to bring out the grain and the edges.

Step 21: Devlan Mud
Also for the wooden throne and sword handle.

Step 22: Boltgun metal
Base all the poles and metal bits along his throne. Don't forget the sword.

Step 23: Shining Gold
For the bell as well as his arm bracelet and hourglass frame.

Step 24: Mithril Silver
This is my new favorite way to highlight gold. Lightly drybrushed along anything gold.

Step 25: Devlan Mud
Heavily coat anything metal.

Step 26: Fortress Grey
This is for the hourglass itself.

Step 27: Snot Green
This is for the sand (slime?) in the hourglass.

Step 28: Thraka Green
This was placed sporadically along the metal bits, to show Nurgle's corrupting power.

Step 29: Scorpion Green
Again to pick out those slimy areas along the metal. I realize afterwards that a few of these steps could have been consolidated, but I wanted to show you the full thought process. A lot of these details didn't become apparent until after the painting process had already begun.

Step 30: Macharius Solar Orange
Very, very lightly drybrushed over various (iron) metal bits like the sword. This will look like rust. Try to stay on flat areas, and not on edges. Typically rusty items keep their color along edges where they're likely to strike against something.

Step 31: Charadon Granite
We're moving along to the only details left: the banners. This is for the left one.

Step 32: Fortress Grey
Drybrushed along the banner.

Step 33: Chaos Black
This was used for a chaos star on the grey banner. You don't need to be neat - it's chaos.

Step 34: Devlan Mud
To finish off that same banner. I am actually going for a faded look in both of these, to make them look very worn and old. If you want something more vibrant and/or high-contrast, you may want to do the design after the wash (and in yellow or green instead of black).

Step 35: Bubonic Brown
This banner will be Nurgle-specific.

Step 36: Goblin Green
For the Nurgle-balls.

Step 37: Thraka Green / Baal Red
I splattered these two colors on the banner to make it look bloody and dirty.

Step 38: Devlan Mud
I made it heavier along the end/edges to make it look more worn and filthy. The original logo is barely seen, and looks very faded. That's how I like it for Nurgle.

Step 39: 'Ardcoat
This finishing touch was put only on areas that are wet - vomit, slime, etc. It gives it just one added dimension of gross and ensures that my wife will never play Nurgle.

Well, there we have it. Putrid, filthy and rotten. Awesome.

Let me know what you think about it all.

Contest!

2010-04-17T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've never held a contest before, so this will be interesting.

First thing's first, let's talk about the prize. It's nothing huge, but still:

The model itself is the captain from the Assault on Black Reach boxed Set. The real value here is that I will paint it for you.

Here's what you do to enter: Email me two pictures, one of a collection of your current SM army. The other of your favorite model within that army. My email is MasterDarksol@gmail.com

In about a week or so, I'll post the entries along with a poll to determine the winner.

I will paint the model to match the winner's army, as well as post a Step-By-Step on how it was done, before shipping it off to you.

So, hop to it! Send in your pics!

Speaking of Painting Space Wolves...

2010-04-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

I had just posted my Step-By-Step on Space Wolves yesterday, but wanted to share some other painting methods I've seen for painting SW over on the Space Wolves blog.

The first one is Adam's:

You can read the full tutorial here. It's interesting to me because it's an actual grey base (Adeptus, then Fortress) instead of the more bluish grey you see from GW.

The second one is Dave's:

You can read Dave's tutorial here. His is a similar though slightly different take on the actual grey, going from an Astronomicon-Fenris mix to a Codex Grey highlight ... complete with some weathering!

Both great tutorials, check them out.

Step-By-Step Space Wolves

2010-04-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

I just put up the Black Legion Step-By-Step, and I spent this weekend painting some Ultramarines ... but you know it's just not enough of a Power-Armoured sausage-fest around here. Let's paint some Space Wolves! :D

Step 1: Basecoat
This is a SW Runepriest. I made a small conversion before starting this. The metal mini comes with a plasma pistol. Since you can't both shoot a pistol AND use a shooting attack psychic power, I decided to give him a Bolt Pistol off the SW sprue.

Step 2: Shadow Grey / Space Wolves Grey
This technique was described on the GW site shortly after the new codex hit. I'm trying it out. The mix is 50/50.

Step 3: Devlan Mud
This was only put in the cracks/crevices of the armour.

Step 4: Space Wolves Grey
Edge and lined the armour. It's a 3 step process, and not too tedious.

Step 5: Charadon Granite
SW guns/equipment tend to be black, so the pistol's getting the granite.

Step 6: Codex Grey
Not only am I edging the pistol, but I've hit the little stone trinket around his neck and covered all fur pelts with it.

Step 7: Skull White
This was drybrushed over the fur pelts and the stone trinket.

Step 8: Boltgun Metal

Step 9: Badab Black
With this I washed the metal, the granite gun casing, the trinket and the pelts.

Step 10: Shining Gold
Lots of lovely gold details

Step 11: Mithril Silver
I'm trying out a new technique I saw online. I drybrushed the gold bits with Mithril Silver. It'll give them a tarnished look. Awesome.

Step 12: Dheneb Stone
All bone, the pelt "skins" and flesh get hit with Dheneb Stone first.

Step 13: Skull White
Two things going on here. First, the flesh (face) was drybrushed in Skull White. This will give us some natural highlighting underneath the wash. Second, I drybrushed the fur pelts again. We're going to hit that with a Devlan Mud wash to bring a bit of variety to the fur.

Step 14: Vermin Brown
This color has been renamed to Vermin Brown, but is still in production. I've based all leather bits with it.

Step 15: Vermin Brown / Bleached Bone
The mix is 50/50. This was drybrushed over the leather bits.

Step 16: Devlan Mud
Ok, this was washed over the leather, the bone bits, the gold, and sporadically through the pelts. I did not wash the entire pelts, so they looked more interesting.

Step 17: Bleached Bone
Drybrushed over all bone

Step 18: Skull White
Drybrushed even lighter over the bone

Step 19: Gryphonne Sepia
Strategically washed on the bone. hit the areas where you still see the Devlan Mud, stay away from the areas that were drybrushed Skull White. Also, this was used liberally on the pelt "skin."

Step 20: Ogryn Flesh
in the face.

Step 21: Fortress Grey
Cover his hair.

Step 22: Skull White
Lightly drybrushed over the hair.

Step 23: Badab Black
Also for the hair.

Step 24: Mechrite Red
I used this on the grenades, but also on his shoulderpad. My wolves are in Harald Deathwolf's company.

Step 25: Iyanden Darksun
I couldn't really find any guideline for what markings go on the right shoulderpad for a Runepriest. The only things I had to go by were in the color section where there was a model or two with yellow on both shoulderpads. I knew the left was for Ragnar, but I went with it anyways.

Step 26: Boltgun Metal
For the runes on his shoulderpad

Step 27: Devlan Mud
Mostly used along the edges of the shoulderpad, and around the runes.

Step 28: Blood Red
Ok, I need to warn you about this. I had this awesome vision in my head that the runes on his Force Weapon would look like they were glowing hot. Hint: it didn't come out right. I'll show you what I did, but I don't think it worked and will be revisiting this at some other point. I'm thinking more orange.

Step 29: Sunburst Yellow

Step 30: Skull White

Step 31: Sunburst Yellow
... because I already thought it looked wrong. I somehow thought bringing out some more yellow would fix it. How? Magic, I don't know. I feel that it's important to share with you guys the things that work as well as the things that don't. You'll get to see for yourself and not make the same mistake. ...also, posting my failures online is a great way to keep my ego in check. :D

Step 32: Chaos Black
Here I'm working on the logo. Break this down, it's just a series of lines. The first line I place is from the nose to the fang. Straight, slanted, and near the middle of the pad. Second line curves from the nose to the corner of the pad. Next, another line branching out from the last one, making the forehead and ear. Bottom jaw, then neck. All the rest is fill in. Easy-peasy.

... I wish I took pictures of each line, now that I think about it. I'll do that for next time, it's really not as complex as it looks.

Step 33: Mechrite Red
Important thing to remember: if you feel a line was placed wrong, just whip out the base color and "erase" it. This was a dot for the eye.

Step 34: Skull White
For the star he's eating. Nomnomnom.

Step 35: Codex Grey
I'm moving on to the base here, so this is for that rock he's standing on.

Step 36: Skull white
This covers the base, and was drybrushed on the rock.

Step 37: Snow!
Sprinkled on a layer of glue, then shaken off.

Step 38: More glue!
As with sand, I'll cover the snow with a layer of watered down glue after it dries.

There we are! Deathwolf's Great Company from start to finish!

Step-By-Step Chaos Space Marines

2010-04-12T08:51:00.000-07:00

Black Legion is what we're after here. Huddle close to your Emperor, here we go:

Step 1: Basecoat

Step 1: Charadon Granite
This is the first step on how I paint black armor now. It allows me to add depth, something you can't do if you just highlight over black.

Step 3: Codex Grey
These guys were my experiment with highlighting before the wash for black armor. The highlights get lost a little, since this I've been using Fortress Grey to much better effect.

Step 4: Badab Black wash
Nice and thick. This tones down the highlight a bit, brings the Charadon down to an almost-black, and adds depth in all the crevices.

Step 5: Shining Gold
I'm going to start laying down all colors that will be washed with Devlan Mud. With these guys, there's a lot.

Step 6: Dheneb Stone

Step 7: Boltgun Metal
Normally I wash Boltgun Metal with Badab, but for my CSM, I like it a little dirtier. It's going to get hit with Devlan Mud as well.

Step 8: Mechrite Red
Just a basecoat. Cover it with...

Step 9: Blood Red
and then edge/highlight with...

Step 10: Blazing Orange
This is the same method I'll be using on my Blood Angels. It's 4 steps (only because of the foundation paint basecoat).

Step 11: Vermin Fur (Vermin Brown)
This color is still around, it's just been renamed to Vermin Brown. I use this for leather parts.

Step 12: Iyanden Darksun
This is used to paint any chaos symbols on shoulderpads, etc. Horus' Eye, 8-pointed Stars, all the good stuff.

Step 13: Devlan Mud
Get rid of all those bright colors.

Step 14: Tentacle Pink / Skull White
This is for the power weapon effect. I want a red crackling energy weapon, so first up is to get some watered down light pink onto the blade. Heavy on the edges and where you want actual bolts of energy coursing through.

Step 15: Baal Red wash
Make it heavy. The heavier it is, the darker red it will be.

Step 16: Skull White
Pick out the edges/bolts.

Step 17: Calthan Brown
We're on to the base now.

Step 18: Basing sand
Flood the base with watered down PVA (Elmer's) glue after you've already glued it down, to make sure that the sand is sealed.

Step 19: Devlan Mud
This is to darken the sand to where my earth/terrain is done.

Step 20: Solar Macharius Orange
I generally give my CSM a rust-colored base (similar to what I do for my Orks). Ideally, this will match up with some terrain that I will be making for them (rust-covered Imperial ruins).

And there we are.
... looks like they had a litte run-in with my Cadian 221st. I'll have to talk to the Colonel about that.

Tankbustas

2010-04-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

Wot's da biggest fing you killed, eh? A Marine-boy? Feh. Come talks ta me when ya scores sumfin' with treads!

Tankbustas are an under-used and often overlooked unit in the Ork player's arsenal. Let's break it down.

WS 4, BS 2, S 3, T 4, W 1, I 2, A 2, Ld 7, Sv 6+

Wargear

Rokkit Launcha 24" range, S 8, AP 3, Assault 1
Right here our first problem with this unit. An Assault 1 gun in the hands of a BS 2 model. Ouch. The offset to this is two-fold. Everyone in the unit has one, and the high Strength/AP of the gun. Tankbustas cost 15 points/model. Keep in mind that a normal Boy with a Rokkit Launcha costs 16.

Tankbusta Bombz are used like Krak grenades with an Armour pen of 2d6+6. Not quite a Melta Bomb, but still better than a Krak grenade.

Special Rules

Furious Charge gives you +1 S, +1 I on the charge. Standard issue for Orks.

Mob Rule allows you to substitute your unit's Ld value for the number of models in the unit. 11 or more is Fearless. Also standard issue for Orks.

Waaagh! means that the Tankbustas can gain Fleet of Foot when the Ork player decides to unleash his Waaagh! Standard issue for Orks.

Options

Bomb-Squigs cost 5 points each, and you can take up to 3 of them in your Tankbustas mob. On a 2+, they will move 18" towards the nearest enemy vehicle, causing an S 8 hit. On a 1, they go after your closest vehicle within 18". These are great. One of the best ways to off-set that horrible Ballistic Skill is to have a few of these around. While shorter range than the Rokkit Launcha, they hit on a 2+! The strength is the same. You know what else is awesome about Bomb-Squigs? According to GW's FAQ, they are unhindered by difficult/impassable terrain and do not require line of sight!

Tankhammers are free, and you can take up to 2 of them in your mob. These are interesting as you trade your ranged weapon for a two handed melee weapon. The good bit is that it is S 10. If you can get into h2h with a vehicle with that, you're golden.

Some of you may have noticed that I still haven't addressed the elephant in the room: Glory Hogs. This part is important, so I saved it for last.

Glory Hogs is the biggest reason a lot of Ork players don't take this unit. Tankbustas must "always shoot at and/or assault an enemy vehicle if there is one in line of sight, regardless of range." Hmm, that "and/or" is a bit vague. Well, according to GW's FAQ, the Tankbustas are free to move as they like in the movement phase. Glory Hogs takes effect in the shooting/assault phase, forcing you to shoot at and attempt to assault an enemy vehicle in LOS.

Glory Hogs can be a fun and fluffy rule, though a wise opponent can use this rule to control and negate your unit. This is why they aren't taken much. Too much chance of losing control. Lets talk about ways that you as an Ork player can work around and overcome this.

Plan your movement. Remember, the movement phase is yours. You get to position your Tankbustas before Glory Hogs takes effect. Don't want to shoot at a vehicle, but rather at the Marine-boys nearby? Position yourself so that no vehicle is in LOS. It takes a lot of strategic thinking, staying ahead of your opponent by a turn or two to keep them away, but it can be done. Also, keep in mind that whatever a Bomb-Squig targets does not affect the target of the Tankbustas unit. You can fire away at who-ever, and still release a squig after a vehicle 18" away even if out of LOS.

Put them in a transport. Maybe you do want them shooting at vehicles, but the problem is that your opponent is kiting them around the board? Staying always out of range yet staying in your line of sight, thus forcing you to waste shots at something way out across the board? Put them in an empty Trukk, or even a Looted Wagon. A Looted Wagon costs 35 points. Keep it Open-Topped, so that all (up to 12) your Tankbustas can shoot. Hell, throw some Big Shootas or Rokkit Launchas on the Wagon to help out... they're cheap. This additional movement will allow you much greater control over your Tankbustas, meaning you'll be within range of that vehicle you want to shoot more often.

I give them a transports so they can be sure theyre in range of any vehicle, using my bigger battlewagons to block their lines of sight. (Scuzgob of Adam's Level 3 Team Project Blog)

Having an entire mob of Boys with S 8, AP 3 guns can be a very powerful tool. Having savvy uses for this underestimated unit can really put the hurt on your opponent.

The_King_Elessar (of Mind War, FTW!) brought up a good point about Tankbustas competing for the same Elites slot as Lootas. I would argue that as far as vehicles and Marines go, Tankbustas are better at it. Against mid-armoured troops like Eldar/Tau you'd be better off with the Lootas.

Assuming 10 Tankbustas vs Marines, you're looking at causing 2.5 wounds/round, due mainly to the AP3.

Assuming 10 Lootas (D3 shots, so assuming average shots of 2/model) vs Marines, you're looking at causing 1.5 wounds/round ... because a Deffgun's AP is 4.

Against T4 or lower, the difference in strength won't matter much unless you're shooting at a multiwound T4 model (in which case a Rokkit causes Instant Death). Against vehicles, though ... You'll want the S8 Rokkits over the S7 Deffguns, despite the increased range.

What have your experiences been with Tankbustas? Hit me up in the comments, and I may just add it in the post!

Is That What I Think It Is?

2010-03-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Yep. BOBMAKENZIE over at Bolter and Chainsword is making a BA Stormraven based on my comic. ...and I think he's improved on the original design. More guns!

This project is filled with so much awesome, it might just be good enough for the Blood Angels. ;)

Old One Eye: Step-By-Step

2010-03-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the down-time. Warpstorms stole my internets. It's all good now, I called an electrician to run ethernet lines to the back of the house (wireless signal couldn't penetrate walls, and wireless repeaters were unsuccessful).

Anywho, on to business. :)

I have 4 Carnifex kits that I stocked up on long before the new codex release. Imagine my dismay when I found out how the carnifexes got nerfed! I had already assembled the above, and decided he was to be Old One Eye, as that character actually seemed worthwhile, though expensive. The other three shall be converted into a Tyrannofex, a Tervigon, and a Harpy.

Step 1: Basecoat

Step 2: Mix of Warlock Purple and Dheneb Stone
The ratio I used was 2 parts Warlock Purple, 1 part Dheneb Stone.

Step 3: Codex Grey Drybrush
Apply lightly to the already black carapace.

Step 4: Fortress Grey Drybrush
This was drybrushed even lighter along carapace edges.

Step 5: Heavy Leviathan Purple Wash
Cover all that "way too Slaanesh" pink.

Step 6: Dheneb Stone
Here comes that 5-step bone effect. Base in Dheneb.

Step 7: Devlan Mud Wash
Heavy wash, get it dark in all cracks/crevices.

Step 8: Bleached Bone Drybrush
We're bringing the color back.

Step 9: Skull White Drybrush
Applied light and mostly along edges.

Step 10: Gryphonne Sepia Wash
This is the final step for the bone. Apply strategically, along the mid/deep areas of the bone. Near the roots. Leave the Skull White edges alone.

Step 11: Blood Red
Along the face.

Step 12: Fiery Orange
My bugs have bright warning signs along their carapaces. I chose Orange to play off and stand out from the current color scheme. Mine is meant to be garish and contrasting. There are other effects that are more in-line with the color scheme, yet still make a statement.

Step 13: Dheneb Stone
This is for the tongue. I've found that Dheneb Stone looks a lot like lifeless flesh. Applying a wash to it to give it life tends to look good.

Step 14: Baal Red
Ah, a fleshy red tongue.

Step 15: 'Ardcoat
Again for the tongue. Makes it look slimy. Ick.

Step 16: Calthan Brown
Basecoat for the base. I'm going with my typical brown barren dirt scheme for the 'nids.

Step 17: Basing Sand
Put down a layer of glue. Cover with Basing Sand. Allow to dry. Coat with watered down glue to seal so you don't get those annoying bits of sand coming off later.

Step 18: Devlan Mud Wash
Done! :D

What do you guys think? Anything in there you found useful? Anything you'd have done differently? Lay it on me in the comments section.

Genestealers

2010-02-16T09:10:00.000-08:00

With the new codex, everyone's taking a second look at all of their favorite units of old. Let's see how they treated genestealers.

WS:6, BS:0, S:4, T:4, W:1, I:6, A:2, Ld:10, Sv:5+

Cost: 14 pts/model.

Brood Telepathy: Genestealers are not subject to Instinctual Behavior. They don't freak out when out of synapse range.

Fleet: Allows you to assault despite making a "run" move.

Infiltrate: Allows you to set up on the board outside of your deployment zone. This used to only be available to genestealers attached to a Broodlord as a retinue.

Move Through Cover: Lets you roll an additional d6 when moving through difficult terrain.

So What Changed?
Stat-wise, absolutely nothing. Points-wise, they're 2pts cheaper/model.

The real difference here is in biomorph selection. Biomorphs in the new book have changed drastically from what they were in the last book. In the old codex, they adjusted your stat-line. In this book, they give you a special rule (most of them USRs).

Scything Talons: 2 pts/model
Scything Talons allow you to re-roll any 1's to hit in close combat. The old codex gave you +1A.

Adrenal Glands: 3 pts/model
Adrenal Glands give you the Furious Charge USR, meaning you hit at +1S and +1I when you charge into close combat (only for that first round). The old codex did not have this option.

Toxin Sacs: 3pts/model
Toxin Sacs give your attacks the Poisoned (4+) rule, meaning you always wound on a roll of 4 or more. In addition, if your Strength is equal to or more than your opponent's Toughness (in this case, anyone with a T of 4 or lower), you get to re-roll all failed to-wound rolls. In the old codex, this biomorph gave you +1S.

The old codex had a few more biomorphs available as well; Acid Maw, Feeder Tendrils, Implant Attack, Scuttlers ... but the most felt absence I believe is Flesh Hooks. Flesh Hooks were assault grenades, allowing you to assault effectively into cover. Now, genestealers no longer have the ability to assault into cover viably. This means you'll have to take care with your 'stealers to avoid this scenario. Assault first with a lesser brood (gaunts, gargoyles, rippers, etc) then come clean up with the stealers.

I've used genestealers a couple of times now, and they're not completely pointless ... but they really have changed from a frontline shock troop to a more commando ambush and hold objectives role. Their biggest weaknesses are the 5+ save and the lack of flesh hooks. In the games I've played it's the versatility of a 5-man stealer brood that make it tactically useful. Going second, you can infiltrate ... hold in reserve to back up your backfield or flank. At 70pts, they won't break the game if they fail ... but they are STILL stealers, and that's not to be balked at! (Suneokun of Pathfinder)

Broodlords
Another big change is the option of taking a Broodlord as an upgrade to your troops unit of Genestealers. Before, they were ICs that took an HQ slot.

WS:7, BS:0, S:5, T:5, W:3, I:7, A:4, Ld:10, Sv:4+
46 points to upgrade one genestealer to a Broodlord, so he's basically 60 points (still less than before).

Your Broodlord can take :
Scything Talons (2 pts)
Implant Attack (15 pts) - Instant Death on any 6 to wound. It's like "rending +"
Acid Blood (15 pts) - Any wound inflicted on the Broodlord forces the wounder to make an initiative test or suffer a wound with no saving throws.

Also, the Broodlord is now a psyker!

Aura of Despair causes all enemy units within 12" to suffer a -1 Ld penalty. I saw an interesting article on GW's site that this can be used in conjunction with the Hive Tyrant's Psychic Scream to increase the effect. This confused me, as AoD is used in the beginning of the Assault Phase, and PS is a shooting attack. So... it retro-actively helps PS? I think the GW article writer needs to pay closer attention to their own material.

Hypnotic Gaze causes a Ld roll-off with one model in base-to-base with the Broodlord. If the Broodlord wins, the loser cannot attack in the close combat that turn.

Since he's just an upgrade he can't be singled out, but he works great to single out and ignore that powerfist or IC. God forbid these things run up against something like a wraithlord, or a single character. He could be taking serious lumps. (Xzandrate of The Kabal of Agony)

Any thoughts on the new codex's genestealers? Any tactics/insights into their use? Drop a comment and I might include it in the actual post (with credit given, of course).

OMG Blood Angels!

2010-02-10T09:02:00.000-08:00

I'm excited too, but seriously people... calm down. ;)

Eldar Warpgate

2010-02-08T16:59:00.000-08:00

I got an email about a link in one of my old posts. It was a link to a cut-out template that I had used to make the above Eldar Warpgate. This template was hosted on GW's site, but is no longer there.

After a bit of searching, I decided to reconstruct the template myself, using my finished gate as a stencil.

Below, you can see the cutouts. You can click on the images for full-size. As far as the material, I used 1/4 inch poster-board.

Have fun, guys:

Eldar Jetbikes: Step-By-Step

2010-01-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

Eldar Jetbikes. It is about time I got around to painting my squad (I have a 12-man squad, 3 of which are Shuriken Cannons). In celebration of this, I've been reading up on the tactics articles on Fritz's blog The Way of Saim-Hann. Great stuff, you should check it out if you haven't already.

Step 1: Basecoat
Note that during this step-by-step, the models are NOT glued to their stands. I just dry attach them before each picture so you can see how it looks.

Step 2: Mordian Blue
I'm trying a new process to get a good blue (also, because I'm looking to start an Ultramarines army). Lay it down thick and get it in all the crevices.

Step 3: Enchanted Blue
It's an old pot, but not a discontinued color. This was heavily drybrushed over the Mordian Blue.

Step 4: Ice Blue
Light drybrush, mostly along edges.

Step 5: Skull White
Very light drybrush. Only on the edges.

Step 6: Asurmen Blue Wash
As is typical with my style, I like to build brighter than I want, then wash it down. Dowse it.

Step 7: Iyanden Darksun
As the yellows are notoriously thin, anything to be yellow is first done with the foundation paint.

Step 8: Sunburst Yellow
This took 2 to 3 coats, despite the foundation paint to get it good and bright.

I plan to hit this with Devlan Mud, then re-build, but first, there is another color I want to wash with Devlan Mud, so let's get that one ready too.

Step 9: Vermin Fur
This is for all the leather bits.

Step 10: 1:1 mix of Vermin Fur : Bleached Bone
Drybrushed over the leather sections.

Step 11: Devlan Mud Wash
I hit both the helmets and the leather. You'll notice I didn't hit the details on the carapace, because there really was no details for the wash to pick out.

Step 12: Sunburst Yellow
Bring the helmets back up, staying out of the crevices picked out by the Devlan Mud.

Step 13: Bleached Bone
I normally have a 5-step process for bone, but this was an attempt to bring that down to a 2-step.

Step 14: Gryphonne Sepia
Washed over the bone. It's a good quick effect, though I think I'll be going back to the 5-step from here on out.

Step 15: Boltgun Metal
Foot pedals, handlebars and all the mechy bits under the seat were drybrushed with this. I do apologize for the bad angle on the pic, you can hardly see where it was applied.

Step 16: Gryphonne Sepia Wash
Here's a better view of those bits I was talking about. I generally wash Boltgun Metal with Gryphonne Sepia for Tau and Eldar, because it gives the metal a neat almost alien look, but not rusty.

Step 17: Macharius Solar Orange
Most of my Alaitoc Eldar are gingers. :) Here's the steps I use to get that red-head look.

Step 18: Tausept Ochre
Light drybrush.

Step 19: Devlan Mud Wash
3-step redhead. It may not be bright red like my wife's hair, but I like it nonetheless.

Step 20: Jade Green (Snot Green)
This is for the gemstones. Unfortunately, GW has discontinued Jade Green as a color. It's really a shame, as Jade Green was a very saturated color. Nice and bright. I would suggest as an alternative to use Snot Green. It's as close as you're going to get (as far as the GW paints) without mixing a proprietary blend.

Step 21: Dark Angels Green
Applied to the upper left area of the gemstones.

Step 22: Putrid Green (Scorpion Green)
Another discontinued color. They re-named it Scorpion Green. This is applied as a curved line in the lower right area of the gemstones. Also, I used it to paint the eyes.

Step 23: Skull White
A small highlight dot in the middle of the Dark Angels Green on the gemstones.

With the models themselves done, we move on to the bases...

Step 24: Calthan Brown basecoat
Mmm, earthy.

Step 25: Basing sand/rocks
It's important to note that in order to get a good solid hold on the basing material, it was applied in three steps. First, lay down the PVA glue (Elmer's White). Next, sprinkle/pour on the basing material. Lastly, after the glue has dried and you've shaken off the excess, coat it with a watered down PVA. This will make sure you don't lose sand over time.

Step 26: Devlan Mud Wash
I like my earth dark.

Step 27: Static Grass
Lay down some PVA glue, sprinkle on the static grass, then gently blow the excess off (this will also make the grass stand up).

Voila! Guardian Jetbikes:
I think the most fun/interesting part to all this was coming up with unique designs for the carapaces. I didn't want any bike pattern to be duplicated. I view the Eldar as a very eclectic bunch, and while disciplined (and Alaitoc are notoriously stern), I like to think of the jetbikes (and Storm Guardians) as one step from taking the path of the Ranger. Hence the leather jackets and individualistic carapace designs.

Let me know what you think.

Christmas Loot

2010-01-04T06:05:00.000-08:00

Guess what I got for Christmas:
Lots of Space Wolves. Two Wolf Pack boxes and a Rune Priest. Awesome.
Also under the tree was an IG Hellhound, a Tau Crisis Suit, Captain Sicarius, the Dark Angels Fortress and a Shrine of the Aquila. All around an awesome haul. I love my family.

Back to the Space Wolves, I'm not so much a fan of Ragnar ... so what great company are my wolves going to hail from?

My wolves howl unto Harald Deathwolf.

As far as Harald himself, I plan on modeling two versions of him: on foot in Terminator Armour (using Logan's model) and on a Thunderwolf (using Canis' model). Each will have some minor conversions.

Here are the equipment loadouts for the two versions:

on foot: as "Logan Grimnar" - 275 points

on wolf: Frost Axe, Runic Armour, Thunderwolf Mount, Belt of Russ, Saga of the Bear - 250 points.

Logan flat out comes with too many goodies to try and build myself using the standard Wolf Lord equipment. When I run this version, he'll be attached to a unit of Wolf Guard in Termie armour in a Land Raider. Only for high point campaigns, mind you... as this is way expensive.

For the mounted version, he's Harald Deathwolf. His fluff pretty much demands that he ride a Thunderwolf. The sagas are mostly great, but Eternal Warrior is just too much to pass up, given how much of a target he'll be ... so Bear it is.

Now why a Frost Axe instead of a Thunderhammer, or claws? The Frost Axe gives him +1 Strength. So does the Thunderwolf. This means he hits at S:6, I:5 A:6 (base 4, +1 additional ccw, +1 from the Thunderwolf)... A:7 on the charge. That's amazing, And I'd rather not lose that Initiative advantage. When I take the Thunderwolf version, he would join a unit of Fenrisian Wolves, and generally cause mayhem wherever needed.

As I haven't painted SW before, the above model was my "test pancake." It turned out ok, so I'll be pressing on with this method for the rest of them. Expect a SW Step-By-Step to come down the pipe shortly.

Tzeentch Daemon Weapon

2009-12-31T12:17:00.000-08:00

I was painting up some CSM last week, and decided while I was at it, to attack a project I had been meaning to do for a while; My CSM Lord already has three magnetized daemon weapons (undivided, Khorne, and Nurgle). It was time for change...

The Tzeentch daemon weapon has gun stats as well as melee abilities, so I was hoping to find something that looked like a cool gun. What I settled on was the old metal Kai Gun that came with an older Chaos Terminator Lord:
My only problem with it is that it's a right arm, and the options in the latest codex have the weapon replace your melee option (which I've modeled on the left arm).

...out comes the hacksaw:

I'm not very good at greenstuff, but I'm ok at filling seams and doing small-scale stuff. All I did here was flip the shoulder section around so it will work as a left arm (I also drilled a hole for a magnet):
Now the only thing that still bugged me was that little circular joint near the elbow that typically sits on the outside of the arm, so I greenstuffed one for the other side (this is about as ambitious as I get with greenstuff:

Here's the finished product:
and attached to the model:

Tau Fire Warriors

2009-12-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

For Troops selections, Fire Warriors are one of two options (The other being Kroot Carnivores). They are also the more popular of the two by far, so expect to see a lot of them.

WS:2 BS:3 S:3 T:3 W:1 I:2 A:1 Ld:7 Sv:4+

From what you can see above, I'm sure it's no surprise that Tau suck in melee. What they do excel at is ranged shooting. They cost 10 points a model as well, so you can easily get a good number of guns on the field.

Pulse Rifles: 30" range, S:5, AP:5, Rapid Fire
These guns are awesome, and at S:5, you have some ability to take out light vehicles (especially at rapid fire range). This is one of the two reasons Fire Warriors are awesome at shooting. The other reason is their ability to benefit from shooting at a unit tagged by a Markerlight. One of the benefits you can choose from a Markerlight is to have your Fire Warriors fire at +1 BS. BS:4 (with Marker Lights), 30" range, S:5, Rapid Fire? ...at 10 points/model? That's pretty hard-core.

Shas'ui
For 10 points, you can upgrade one of your Fire Warriors to a Shas'ui (sergeant). He gets +1 Attack, +1 Leadership, and access to the Infantry Wargear list. The extra attack isn't worth it, but to have your squad benefit from a Ld: 8, as well as the capability of a drone/markerlight/etc. is probably worth the extra 10 points.

Photon Grenades: +1 point/model. These are defensive grenades, negating an assaulting enemy's charging bonus attack. I may get some flak for this, but I'm not convinced this upgrade is worth it. They suck in melee anyways, this just seems like postponing the inevitable. The benefit doesn't carry past the initial round of combat either, so it's not effective in the tarpit sense... I don't know. Assuming a 10-man squad, photon grenades cost 10 points. What else can I buy for that? A Markerlight for the Shas-ui. A bonding knife and a target lock...

EMP grenades: +3 points/model. These are used when assaulting vehicles. Roll a 4 or 5 to damage for a glancing hit, and a 6 for a penetrating hit. That flat out sucks for how expensive those are. 30 points? That's as expensive as an XV25 Stealthsuit!

OK, let's check out some non-standard upgrades only available if you upgrade a Fire Warrior to a Shas'ui...

Markerlight: You can equip your Shas'ui with a Markerlight for +10 points. That's not bad for how awesome Markerlights are. Only downside is that the squad that contains it cannot benefit from it. Only another squad can benefit from it (since it's not a Networked Markerlight).

Bonding Knife: 5 pts. Allows regrouping even if below half strength. For 5 points, I'd take this. The better the chances I can keep my guns operational and on the field, the better.

Blacksun Filter: 3pts. Awesome for nightfighting... which at the moment only applies during the first round of a Dawn Of War mission setup. Hopefully there will be more nightfighting in the new Missions book, and this piece of wargear will actually become useful.

Drone Controller: Free. Allows you to take one or two drones. You just pay for the drones you want.

Gun Drone: 10pts. BS2, Twin-linked Pulse Carbine. Pulse Carbines are 18" Assault 1 versions of the Fire Warrior's rifles. Twin-linked helps to offset the BS 2. Great for added fire at mid-close range and while mobile.

Marker Drone: 30pts. BS3 (due to an equipped Targetting Array), and a Networked Markerlight. The Networked Markerlight means the Fire Warrior unit it is attached to can benefit from the Markerlight.

Shield Drone: 15pts. It has a 4+ Invulnerable Save.

Multi-Tracker: 5 pts. This would enable your Shas'ui to fire two weapons in one turn. An example would be if you bought him a Markerlight as well. He would now be able to fire both his Markerlight and his Pulse Rifle.

Target Lock: 5pts. Enables your Shas'ui to fire on a different target unit than the rest of the squad. Also useful if you have a markerlight.

One last option available to a Fire Warrior team is to replace all of their Pulse Rifles with Pulse Carbines for free. Pulse Carbines are 18" range, S:5, AP:5, Assault 1, Pinning. Again, I'm not totally convinced of the worth of this option. Pinning can be useful, but really only for enemies with low Ld. I do like the 18" Assault, though. This gives you a bit more range when on the move compared to the rifle (...though the full rifle gives you 2 shots at 12").
A unit of six carbine equipped firewarriors can be a useful 'sacrificial' unit when you want to rapid fire the assaulters to death. So few mini's mean your attacker is bound to succeed (which you want). The assault 18" weapon and the chance of pinning makes them just annoying enough to provoke the charge. (Suneokun of Pathfinder)

How to use your Fire Warriors

One method I've seen used often (though it's gone a bit out of favor due to the whole mechanized movement in 5th ed.) is the straight-up gunline. 12-man ,standard equipment, Shas'ui, Bonding Knife = 135 points. Put them in cover with a good lane of fire and fire away. 30" range is a big deal. If you have points to play with, give them a Marker Drone for added support.

Another great tactic/setup I've seen (and used) is 12-man, standard equipment, Shas'ui, Bonding Knife, Devilfish = 215 points. Mechanized and mobile, you are able to respond to threats easier. A great tactic I've seen used (lovingly called the "Fish of Fury") is to move your Devilfish up to ~3 or 4 inches in front of an enemy unit. Disembark your Fire Warriors (all exiting the rear access point, within 2" of the back. The Devilfish is 6" long and as a skimmer (as long as it's not wrecked or using it's landing gear) will not block line of sight. This puts your Fire Warriors in Rapid Fire range, as well as puts a vehicle in the way that (assuming the enemy would want to assault) will prevent them from getting into melee. They would have to go around the Devilfish.

While I like squads of 12, Suneokun prefers squads of 9. 12 isn't always the best, unless you are deploying in devilfish. 9 firewarriors will break after 3 deaths, the same as twelve. But 4x9 gives you four scoring units with decent firepower and the same breakpoints compared to 3x12. Plus 9 FW and a Shas'Ui are 100pt (makes the math easier). (Suneokun of Pathfinder)

Bryan prefers to use Kroot, so his Fire Warriors have a much smaller role on the field. FWs are ok...but i run mine as 6 man squads in a fish...they move around and contest and control objectives. (Bryan)

Any tactics or insights you have that I haven't covered? Drop in a comment and I'll add any viable comments to the review (with credit given)!

No One Likes Veggies and Dip

2009-11-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

Boy, this one took a while for me to finish. It's a two pager, as picasa won't allow any image taller than 1600 pixels...

A 3, a 5 and an Ace? I'd be pissed too. Hope those other two cards were also aces... though he probably would have waited until after this hand to go berserk if they were...

Space Hulk Mission 3

2009-11-17T09:05:00.000-08:00

Time for another round of Space Hulk with the wife. She seems to have the sneaking suspicion that I may have not been giving my A game in the first 2 rounds, and has decided that a mere cup of tea is not high enough stakes!

Should I lose this round...
I vacuum the house. Should I win, she makes me some gingerbread cookies. And I loooove Katie's gingerbread cookies, so it is definitely ON!

Here's the setup:
She gets 10 terminators in two squads. Sgt. Lorenzo's squad begins in the corridors to the north-east. Sgt. Gideon's squad begins play in the southwest. Her goal is to escort a C.A.T. (which is currently with Sgt. Lorenzo's squad) off the board at Sgt. Gideon's starting zone. With 10 terminators, and me only getting 2 blips/turn ... I'm not so sure about my chances with those cookies...
Katie sets up her models.

Turn 1:
Sgt. Gideon moves to cover the genestealer entry points immediately to the west with a liberal use of command points and even sets him to Guard. Brother Omnio stands as backup, while the rest of the squad moves to secure the mid-section of the board. Gideon and Omnio must hold this area, or Lorenzo's squad will have a hard time getting the C.A.T off the board here.

Meanwhile, Brother Noctis takes the charge. Brother Scipio holds the C.A.T.

My first blip is placed in the mid-section. I see this as my only chance to really stop this mission is to flood the mid-section with genestealers...
But I can't let the wife know that. ;) I've thrown a single genestealer blip to lurk down by Gideon just to keep her attention split (Since Gideon is within 6 squares, the blip must lurk a turn before entering the board).

Turn 2:
Sgt. Gideon and Omio hold position. The rest of the squad plow onward. I throw my genestealer at Gideon and the valiant sergeant promptly makes its face explode.

Katie positions Brother Noctis to cover the north corridor. I allocate one of my two blips to the midsection. Each one is lurking behind a door or at an intersection.

My second blip was placed down here, mainly to keep Brother Zael and Goriel's attention.

Turn 3:
I've thrown another blip into this stalemate with Goriel. He positions himself to allow Brother Zael to move onward.
As with the first two turns, my other blip is in the mid-section. I anxiously await Sgt. Lorenzo and Brother Scipio to arrive carrying the C.A.T. >:)

Turn 4:
Lorenzo and Scipio set up in the room and open the door. I throw another blip in the midsection. The tension is certainly rising. I also have my two blips in the south charge Brother Goriel, so Katie isn't completely focusing on what's going to happen with Scipio and Lorenzo...

Down by Sgt. Gideon, I've placed my second blip of the turn to lurk there. I don't want her feeling it is safe to have him help out the middle.

Turn 5:
Gideon's squad approaches, and Scipio and Lorenzo hold, waiting for the assistance. I chose to strike now before Gideon's squad could fully assist. While Scipio's Overwatch took out 2 genestealers, the third got him and took him out. Sgt. Lorenzo took out the offending xeno, but was then falls prey to a hideous roll. He parried my high dice (a 5, which re-rolled to a 4), and rolled a 1 himself! Guard allowed him to reroll, but again he rolled a 1! Alas! Sgt. Lorenzo is no more! The genestealer moves to engage Brother Zael!

Turn 6:
Brother Noctis wheels south and sets Overwatch, fearing the worst! A newly allocated blip races down the north corridor unmolested! He's right behind you!

Brother Zael is creamed!

With enough mahem going on here, I allocate another blip to lurk by Sgt. Gideon again. I want to try and overwhelm him.

Turn 7:
Sgt. Gideon lasts this round holding off the tide (he stalemated with the front stealer).

We rolled a 2 to determine who moves the C.A.T. 1-3 means the genestealer player moves it ... and I moved it north west ... into the den of the genestealers midsection. This is going to be hard to recover...

Turn 8:
Brother Noctis falls to the swarm, beset on both sides. Brother Goriel moves to hopefully recover some of the mess. Blips now flow freely from the location he was guarding.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Gideon destroys 5 genestealers, only to be felled by the sixth. Brother Omnio uttered a curse and destroyed the foul thing with his Storm Bolter.

Turn 9:
The genestealers are waiting behind doors. At this point, time is on my side. Every turn gives me two more blips. Katie realizes this and moves Brother Valencio to the door, and sets overwatch. The C.A.T. roll goes in my favor again, and the little treaded crazy moves further out of their reach.

Brother Goriel clears out a few of the beasts, but gets into close combat with one...

Turn 10:
and doesn't last long. Brother Valencio takes out the first genestealer who opens the door, but jams and falls to the second. This is an unholy day.

Turn 11:
Even Brother Leon falls! Brother Deino sets up in the corner to deal with the horde, while Brother Omnio leaves his post to assist. Fresh blips pour from where he was guarding! The exit is cut off!

Turn 12:
Brother Omnio realizes his mistake and wheels around, setting Overwatch. Foul, crafty xenos!

Turn 13:
The horde overwhelms Brother Deino (seriously, just check out how many have been grouping up here! There's a veritable congo line of blips back there!).

Turn 14:
Omio wheels around again! He can't decide which direction to watch! A blip closes from behind!

Turn 15:
Brother Omnio moves to set himself in a corner. All enemies to the front, his last stand will be made here! The Emperor will find no claw marks at his back, only thousands of spent Bolter casings and tyranid carcasses before him, finally laid low by some lucky stealer in the back!

... not really. He jammed on his first shot and died without killing a single genestealer.

You lose! Good DAY, Sir!

Aaaaaah, yes! My prize! Omnomnomnomnomnomnom! ^^