April Update + Fall of Damnos Thoughts

Alright all, it's about time I posted an update. Hobby wise, I have finished another 5 marines in the past two weeks. I also did a bunch of drilling and magnet work on the land speeder, but nothing too exciting. I got it all primed up and then realized I hadn't put any icons on it. So now I'm designing the squad/chapter markings and green stuffing some fast attack symbols. I also picked up a U bit (along with a cyclone missile launcher) at a garage sale, and I'm looking to make some sort of press mold with it. My friend also picked up an airbrush, and I think that's going to make it much easier to paint this bad boy.

Since I've been traveling a lot for work, I've had time to read. I finished The Fall of Damnos. It's a decent 40k book. I was interested the entire time, but it did not have the "can't put down" effect of the Horus Heresy novels. I was looking for insight into the Ultramarines as an army (vs. the Ultramarines series focusing on Ventris) but was disappointed in that sector. While it provided information into Sicarius, his leadership, strategy, and tactics, it was almost fully limited to his command squad:

SPOILERS








*The initial attack consisted of three strike groups: 1 contained Tigurius and a small force to take out enemy artillery and air defense (er, space defense); 1 contained Sicarius and a larger force to liberate the final besieged city and confront the local Necron lord; the last contained a large number of Deathwind Drop Pods to defend the governor's bunker/tower. This is a good example of the space marine death from above aspect, and shows how much confidence is invested in a strike force of 3 squads.

*Sicarius is fully invested in the "Cut of the head and the body will die" strategy and consistently throws his force into danger to enact it. Whether this is arrogant or a necessity is never revealed, but he does seem a little too die hard

*There is a growing schism between the 1st and 2nd companies, based on political views centered on Calgar's successor.

END OF SPOILERS




Non-spoiler things I learned:

*Drednoughts are the wisest guys alive. Seriously, the Venerable Dred knows exactly what to say ALWAYS.

*Some Space Marines several hundred years old are trying to figure out basic life lessons I learned 3 years ago. Just an observation. I guess everyone has problems.

*While Space Marines may "know no fear" they can be whiny and emotional. And need to man up sometimes.

The Necron fiction was actually really good too - maybe even better than the Ultramarine sections. Overall, I found it an easy read, but did not get out of it what I wanted. I was also dissapointed by the mini-spoilers in the middle of the book, on the Strike Force layout inserts. It wasn't too bad (no giant THIS GUY WILL DIE!!! spoilers), but they could have just put it in 40 pages later, or at least made it spoiler free. Still, it was interesting. If you are looking for a shorter 40k novel centered on Space Marine or looking for some Necron backstory, pick it up.

I've been finding more time to 40k it up, and my next goal (in between working on my land speeder icons) is to find a wire picture of a rhino and other 40k vehicles from side, top down, front and other views to design some art/iconography onto.

Until next time!

Magnets, Land Speeders, and Blue Paint

So, over the past 30 days I have made a little bit of progress (pictures will follow, as soon as I get my camera working).

I finished magnetizing my land speeder, and have it primed up. In total, it took 11 magnets, though it is possible to do it with much less if you utilize other metal bits. Although there are already plenty of tutorials on how to do it, I might throw one up if someone is interested. At the very least, I will post pictures for reference.

I have also been painting up a third tactical squad, about a quarter of the way done. This required some green stuff sculpting for shoulder pads, which took little effort this time around. That said, I have to sculpt a new mold for fast attack shoulder pads.

Things will pick up once I put paint to the land speeder. I plan to do the lower, upper, seats, and extra bits separately. And after that, I will do the typhoon and tornado bits..

I've also been doing a lot of reading - Fulgrim (Horus Heresy, book 5) and The Fall of Damnos (I've also read Free Fall based on the FFG board game Android; very good). Fulgrim was gripping but I was not impressed by the title character. Looking forward to Descent of Angels though. The Fall of Damnos is alright. I won't say it has me on the edge of my seat but it is an easy read. It focuses on the Ultramarines vs. the Necrons. I was hoping for some in sight into how the Ultramarines fight as a force (The Ultramarines series really just focuses on Ventris) but so far it has just fleshed out the Necrons (is there such thing as a reverse pun?).

I think I'll add a full review when I finish.

Until then.

Gathering Bits

Finally found some time to do some 40k and blogging. Over the past month, I've returned to my simple green project. While it has not been as amazing as everyone says, I have had amazing luck cleaning off an old land speeder and those Tac squad I managed to ruin during priming. They have been reprimed and sit ready to be painted.

I have also begun to magnetizing my second Land Speeder, but I need to get a pin vice or dremel to continue. It's been pretty enlightening and fun though.

After seeing the price difference from now to when I bought models 2 years ago, I was pretty dismayed. I've been debating on buying a bunch of bikes and assault squad boxes now rather than waiting for the next price hike.

I've also been looking at getting a bunch of special and heavy weapon bits to add for my tac squads. Not sure what the best place to buy from is. I think I'll get a bunch of plasma now, before the edition change. I saw GW has a 5pack for about $8 on their website, but I guess if I can find plastic I'd prefer it.

The collector side of me has fully gripped me now, and I want to get the weapons to outfit/magnetize all my units with all their options. Is it feasible? I'm not sure, but I'm at least going to strive for special weapons, heavy weapons, Landspeeder Heavy flamers,  and Razorback Weapons. I'm also looking for any and all UM bits I can find.

The trick isn't finding them though; it's keeping the price reasonable. I keep coming up with whether I should buy the bits or just a new kit.

Hopefully when I get back from UT I will be able to put up pics of my landspeeder progress, and a simple green results post.

Ultramarines - Captain Finished

I've finished my Captain and I finally have an Ultramarine force I can field!

This is my victory shot, after painting him in one sitting. It was ridiculous, but I did it.

And I decided to repaint the power sword green. It is used in my palette, but infrequently. The change from blue makes it stand out, especially with the red on the sword.

The cloth has been done in the same way as the Tactical sergeant.

That banner was ridiculous, but I'm proud of it. I painted the eagle without a wash too.

For the cape, I used Blood Red mixed with brown. This gives it a really interesting look, and as my first time painting cloth without a wash (and second time period) I was really proud of the results.

My first power sword; I used Dark Angels Green and drew a lightning (well, a zig-zag since it doesn't look too much like lightning) pattern. Afterwards, I added a little white and traced within the lines. I added more white for a third layer, and I thought about doing a final layer of just white in the intersections, but decided against it.

The other side of the sword.

Paired with my recently painted tactical squad.

Tabletop shot.

Shot in the daylight.

I still have to figure out what I want to write on the banner and bolter, and add any other markings to him. But I've finished my first marine character!

Next on my list is to paint up a land speeder. Not sure when I will repaint the other tactical squad, but for now I want to try something new. I also have to get some simple green to fix a bad prime job. I also found about the IC Hobby Progress Challenge: Paint up an 1850 list with 400 pt sideboard before March 31st, 2012. It started in July, and since so did my reentry to the hobby, I figured it isn't that much more effort to try it. It also forced me to set a plan out. I'm not sure I'll have the time to finish it all, but it can't hurt to work towards a goal.

I'm also going to be out of town conducting training in Wisconsin, so my next post won't be until late August. Have a good three weeks everyone.

-Esh

Ultramarines - Tactical Squad Finished

I finished my tactical squad the other night. I really like the lighter blue color scheme. I've also used one of the GW Washes for the first time (Gryphonne Sepia) and it was awesome.

Flamer: Cygnar Base Blue (Heavily watered down), Drybruh Scorch Brown, Drybrush Black

WIP Shot: I painted a grey cloth at first, and it came out really good. Unfortunately I wanted it slightly tanned., so I had to repaint it.

Cloth: Bleached Bone, Bleached Bone : Skull White Highlight, Skull White High-highlight, and Gryphonne Sepia.

Skin: Elf Flesh followed by, you guessed it, Gryphonne Sepia.

A few shots from outside. We actually have sun today!

The entire finished squad.

I plan on using the same basing material, but I'm looking for a good tutorial for making crystals out of the necron gauss sprues.

My next project will be an HQ. I definitely want to take a break from assembly line marines and do a model I can focus on. Plus I need one for compulsory. I'm not sure when I'll repaint my first tac squad, but I have a second AoBR one to paint first.

For my HQ, my options are:

Captain/Chapter Master

Librarian

Chaplain

Master of the Forge

I also have Chaplain Cassius, but I'd like to get a little more experience on another character first. With what I currently own (2 AoBR captains) I pretty much have narrowed my choices down to the Captain and Librarian (as I want to convert one of the captains).

I'll sped this week figuring out my conversion details, and probably paint one of the Captains up just to get my compulsory units done.

Til then,

-Esh

Ultramarines - Adding Green Stuff Chapter Badges

I took a break from painting to make some green stuff chapter badges. The tactical marking shoulder pads look better than transfers, so I wanted to make the other side match. Learning to sculpt green stuff was pretty tough, but I like the results. And even if they aren't the best, I made them myself. I've also added one with the iron skull for the squad sergeant. You can see the test version below.

Was it worth it? Well, the tools were cheaper than ordering the sets online. And the Ultramarines sets are nearly as cool as the Crimson Fists ones. Also, the AoBR models come with shoulder pads already on, so they can't be replaced  easily. And in the future, I do other shoulders like terminators or the tactical sergeant. A little work, and I can do Devastator and Fast Attack symbols. I've even got a few icons for bikes now. But the time investment was quite a bit for me. It took a few hours, and while I know I'll get quicker at it, your time may be worth more than the cost of the packs. I might go back and touch them up a bit now that I've seen the finished product, but from 3 feet away, they look fine.

Here's the link to the guide I used.

The supplies I personally used:
Vaseline
Sculpting tools (A nice little $15 set from JoAnn's, with the weekly coupons was about $8).
Wooden Dowels ($1 for a 48" rod I cut down)
Green Stuff ($8 for a pack of 2 strips from GW; I used less than one to learn how to do all this and finish this tactical squad)
File (Initial the icons were thicker than I wanted, so I had to file them down a little bit)

I found a good skull on this backpack.

A quick shot of the impression.

This is the symbol I needed to make for the sergeant.

Another shot of it.

This is the icon prior to taking an impression of it.

One of the finished sculpts.

The dark blue (older models) have transfers for comparison.

From a tabletop view.

So all in all, a successful project. If anyone has any questions about minus_t's guide let me know.

-Esh

Ultramarines Tactical Squad - Half Finished

I finished up the first combat squad of the marines I'm working on.

Basing, Purity Seals, and Squad markings still need to be done, but the other details are finished.

Before I finish the squad, I've started making green stuff icons for the shoulder pads using this guide. It's going well enough. However, just in case I can't shape the icons well, I'm looking for kits with Ultramarine icons in them. Unfortunately, since I just moved away from everyone I know who plays, I probably won't be able to find someone who will hook me up with the bits.

The laurel turned out pretty well.

Tabletop style shot.

The one in the background was the test model.

Far left is the test model.

The squad in its entirety.

A new shot of the old scheme vs. new scheme.

I took some photos outside to try and counter the light bias. But when you live in Seattle, sunlight is hard to come by.

I went back and painted the scopes up.

So, a little more to finish up. After this squad, I think my next project is taking apart a built vindicator. Still have to figure out how I'm gonna pull that off. I've heard freezing it, but we'll see.

-Esh