Productivity Update #16 – Bullgryns!

Specifically at the behest DC, I got around to wrapping up the Bullgryns…  FINALLY.

My Resin Nightmare

So, this is my first real experience with a largely resin miniature.  Settle in, and allow me to regale with details of a modelling nightmare…

Productivity Update #15 – Trygon

Trygon time!

Regarding Dark Angels

Soo…. Yesterday was a productive day of HIGHLANDER, in which I was pretty much curb-stomped twice by the Dark Angels.  It’s left me wondering why there’s so much venom out there pertaining to the Beakies-with-Robes codex.

2 Years in the Imperial Guard

So, today marks the fateful day when I decided that 40k was pretty badass and that I had the time and available funds to get back into it.

Jeeze, what was I getting myself into?

Here’s a little photo-summary of what I’ve done in 2 years:

My first guardsman built, when compared with a Tau Shas’ui and Ork Big Shoota that I had assembled and painted back before 2004.

First guardsman fully painted was completed shortly thereafter (2 days). I like to think my painting has progressed mightily since then.

By the second week of February I had a fully painted squad and a Sentinel good to go…

Chimera #1 shortly after that…

Chimera #1 then had company quickly, with the Vanilla Russ assembled and ready to go. We’re into March now, 2 months before I moved out of my apartment and…

Got hitched!

Fast forward a tick to September 2013…  The house is now functional.  I painted walls, not miniatures…  There’s some breathing room on the VISA once more…

And we’re finally starting to see some progress on the Russ.

But before the Russ is even finished, we’re starting to see some exponential growth… Chimera #2 and a Hellhound appear!

Late October — We got a great big convoy….

I’m pretty sure this was my 1,000 point list, ready to go after about 10 months.

December 2013 – Chimera #3, and Sentinel #2

Merry Christmas, 2013… The Flow’ry Meadow enters the world…

January 2014 – My desk is gettin’ crowded, now…

February 2014 – Took me 4 friggin’ months to actually fully paint this bastard.

March 2014 – Pask is born.

April 2014 – a lot of mans are starting to take shape.

May 2014 – After having built him 5 months previously, I actually start to paint this thing…

June 2014 – I start giving my infantry a lot more attention… AND I MADE A BLOG! To help me more accountable with my painting and post reports of my exploits (and idiocy!)

September 2014 – Manticore!

October 2014 – Wyvern!

October 2014 – Hellhound had fallen from grace (thus being exiled to the far corner), but this is my hobby table at that point…

November 2014 – Taurox!

November 2014 – Commissar!

December 2014 – Scions!

And since this point — I’ve been pretty well painting almost exclusively Tyranids.

Anyways — in 2 years my force has ballooned out from 1,000 points as of November 2013 (or so) to 3,500 points in about a year.  It’s always fun to keep that in perspective!  Most of it is painted too.  I just have to keep going with that brush, and I’ll get there eventually.

Cheers guys!

Productivity Update #14 – ALL THE THINGS

Alrighty, so my last productivity update was actually around a month ago.  A lot’s happened since then!  So I will summarize with photos and captions.  Seems to go over pretty well.  🙂

So… where to… where to even start here…?

I guess I set down the Spawn of Cryptus for a while and got to work on the Warriors.

Hoo-boy. Really happy with how these guys turned out. Beautiful kits, and should look really swell once they’re fully based…

Dat Carapace. Man, it’ll look good once an entire army is done.

I guess once the warriors got their love I moved into the Genestealers…  Which are now pretty much finished.  I have some final line-highlighting on their armour plates to do, but that’s about it (and basing, obviously).

Da Stealer!

not so much doing in terms of carapace highlights on these guys.

The gang’s all here! I just need to finish some details on the Barnifex’s Stranglethorn cannon and base them all and we’ll be good to go 😀

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

I’ve actually done some friggin’ bases! What?!

They’re absolutely nothing fancy.  I snapped one day, staring longingly at my black primed bases, thinking how much of a pain in the ass it would be to start gluing sand down at this stage of the game, painting on primer, inking, painting, etc.

So I went out to the shop, vented for about 20 minutes, and came up with this stop-gap solution.  Easy, 2 step bases to success.

1. Agrellan Earth – GW Technical Paint that induces dry-earth-like cracking.  SUPER cool.
2. Army Builder grass flock.

Again, not going to win any friggin’ Golden Demons but it’s a far cry better than simply black bases.

My one issue with the cracking texture is that you have to be right up in the model’s face in order to see it. Once you get in there, you’ll be all like: “WOOOAHH, CRACKS”, at which point you’ll probably be saying: “That grass flocking looks like crap”. From further away, it looks like I’ve just painted it a dirt colour and glued on some flocking. Which is precisely what I did, I guess. *sigh*

But then there’s more still…

I started mucking about with the colours for the Blood Angels components of the Deathstorm boxed set, which will likely be getting some attention in the near future.  I’ve never painted beakies with this kind of detail before (my Dark Angels from 3rd edition were simply base-coated, and looked pretty terrible…) so this is an interesting and unique challenge for me, particularly with all the ‘Nids that have been getting love lately.

So this is a test model of sorts.  It includes the black armour that I’ll be giving the Death Company (and other miscellaneous black bits as req’d), and a panel of almost completed red armour (for the sake of argument).

I’m pretty pleased with the result, just need to apply the concepts across the entire model now.

Here’s the almost completed armour panel. Shaded with Agrax Earthshade, back in with Mephiston, and Evil Suns over top that. I might hit the edges with Firedragon Bright afterwards… We’ll see.

And then the black armour pad… Skavenblight with Dawnstone. Looks pretty clean, too! (Especially considering sometimes when I’m painting I feel like I’ve got Parkinsons or something.)

…And then there’s this guy.  Who I’m going to leave as the subject of another post entirely.  He deserves it.

COME AT ME BRO

…and then there’s THIS guy… who will also be another post.  Someone gifted him to me as part of a Secret Santa.  Note his swords of conquest — the demonblade and Wraith-sword…

THE SWARMLORD — He was modelled leaping into the fray. I don’t mind this. He’s going to be a blast to paint!

Anyways, been a busy month.  It’ll be a busier weekend as I try to finish the Trygon and Swarmlord for a game on Sunday 😀

Cheers, and happy modelling guys!

-Oak

I Call the Big One Bitey

WordPress’ Year in Review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.  — I found it kind of neat!  It’s always fun to see where my strengths lie, and it seems that people are most interested in the battle reports.  This is cool!

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,000 times in 2014. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

AAR: Astra Militarum vs. Necrons (1,500 pts HIGHLANDER)

Hey all!  Oak here with another “BEAT. BRUCE. BATREP.”  *insert punch motions here*

*sigh, eventually I will have to go and Beat Matt.* 

Highlander League Starts Today!

The LGS is hosting a Highlander League.  This’ll prove to be an interesting time!!!  Rules as follows:

1. Only 1 of Each Codex Entry (although I’m not sure how this works for dedicated transports, will confirm)
2. No Allies
3. 1,500 points
4. FW models to be vetted by opponent

That’s about it.  At the end of 6 weeks, whoever has the best record out of the players at the store will have one of his units voted off.  For example, if i play my way to first place, then people have the option of voting Pask off the island.  I would then be forced to defend my title.  Kinda brutal eh?

Anyways, your list needs to be set ahead of time, so this’ll be mine.  You’ll notice it has sparks of the 1,850 I’ve been mucking around with.

• Punisher Pask w/ Lascannons & Multi-Meltas, Camo Nets
  • Vanilla Russ Bro
• Priest
• Commissar
• Infantry Platoon
  • PCS – 3x Flamers, 1x Heavy Flamer, Lieutenant w/ Power Fist
  • 2x Squads w/ Krak Grenades, Sarges w/ Melta Bombs
• Veterans:  3x Meltaguns, Chimera w/ Hull Heavy Flamer, Krak Grenades
• Armoured Sentinels [x3]: Multi-lasers
• Bullgryns [x3]
• Vendetta
• Manticore
• Wyvern

Simple, eh?

I’ll report back once this thing gets kicked off good and proper.  Cheers all!