Tonight's the last night for me to wrap things up before Adepticon. I touched up my Stompa and display board but didn't get around to doing weathering / battle damage effects to the ork monstrosity. After work, I'll be printing out all the lists and reference material and packing up all the supplies (and a good supply of beer).
If you happen to be coming, I'd love to meet you. On Friday and Sunday I'll be wearing one of my Blackhawks jerseys so I'll be easy to spot. Saturday I'm a part of the team tournament "Team Handsome" and later that night I'll be running the 40k trivia contest so please say hello.
Here's a picture of me; sadly the latest one I have from getting married almost a year ago!
My goal is to do a blog recap with the cool things at the convention every day. We'll see how much energy I have every night in the hotel room and how much I'll feel like opening up the laptop. See you then, looking forward to it!
Had a very productive painting weekend this weekend and basically finished most of everything for Adepticon. If my wife ever reads this blog, thanks so much for pulling all the extra hobby time!
I finished the 6 Killa Kans, my Warboss, Big Mek and the Nob Bikers. In addition I painted up a magnetized jump pack librarian for the team tournament. Sadly enough, I've gotten only one practice game in with the gladiator ork list, so I'm going to be green... literally. Here's a flood of shots.
It was fun going splotchy on the yellows. One thing I've realized more and more is Golden Yellow sucks. It is so translucent but needed for that yellow base. Rather then reapplying after the Sepia wash, I streaked and brushed in straight Sunburst Yellow. It makes for more dramatic contrast, but on orks I think it works.
Here's the last things I have to do for Adepticon.
- Write up 51 40k jeopardy questions... suck!
- Two 60mm bases for a teammate's attack bikes
- Touch up the Stompa (almost done)
- Reference Sheets & Army Lists
- Work on fixing up the display base for my Blood Angels (going to borrow the kroot one).
I finished up the objective counters for Adepticon for our Blood Angels. I like to do 5 because that tends to be the max you'll see in most games. I think a good looking objective really adds to the game. Here's the finished product!
I took advantage of the marine casualty pack. For the banner bearer, it was an easy arm swap. I had plenty of extra banners from the Sanguinary Guard. I didn't go the original route though, painted it very similar to my Sanguinary Guard banner. I also didn't like the hurt marine that was long dead... figured why would anyone fight over a dead marine. That was an easy head swap.
For the fourth and fifth objective I struggled with what to do, so I went to my bitz box. I thought the inquisitor "Book of Knowledge" might be something worth going after. Finally I grabbed one of the Blood Bowl trophies as well as an arcane candle thing. Maybe it's a chaos shrine full of blood... or my chapter going towards the dark side.
All of the bases were from Scibor Miniatures. I don't like the fact that they sculpted plants on the base. Painted plants just don't seem to mesh well. I guess if I was overly concerned, I could have chopped them out; laziness won over!
Here are the shots of the completed and based assault squads. For the guys on foot, I magnetized their backpacks so I can swap up with jump packs. It remains to be seen if I can go through a tournament without losing any.
Right now I'm working on the Nob Bikers for the gladiator list, and a Librarian with a magnatized jump pack for the Adepticon team tournament. I ultimately decided against the Sanguinator for the team list and for a little more utility of the librarian. More updates tomorrow!
The home stretch for Adepticon is here! I have less then a week to get a whole lot of things painted. I finished Snikrot and his 10 buddies last night. I really like that model, he has a lot of character. As with the rest of my orks, I'm keeping with the speed painting methods. Basically I'm doing one color with a wash on most of the model and focusing on one piece to focus - in this case it's a few color highlight/wash of the skin.
This weekend will be jam packed with painting. I should be able to finish my 5 Blood Angles objective markers tonight, and I'd like to finish or almost finish my nob bikers.
Here is the list of what needs to be done by next Thursday:
- 7 nob bikers
- Warboss on bike
- Mekboy
- 6 Killa Kans
- finish the stompa
- static grass all the orks
- clean up the old display base
- print out all the lists, signs, reference materials, etc.
- write 51 jeopardy 40k questions for the quiz show
It's so nice to see a finished product, I just wish I was a little better at taking pictures. Here are the shots of the 4 squads of Sanguinary Guard with the basing finished. These miniatures took way longer then I expected. I'll have shots of the 2 squads of assault marines finished tonight after I'm done with the backpacks.
For each of the squads, I tried to match their right leg knee-pad. For gaming purposes, I also numbered the bottom of the base so I can identify which squad is which easily.
I had a lot of fun basing some of the taller resin bases. With the ruins, I was able to glue some dried flowers against the facing for support. Places like Hobby Lobby or Michaels are perfect to find supplies. One plant is worth decades of projects. I'm still using the dried plants/flowers from my kroot project a few years ago and I haven't even gotten 10% through the supplies.
Tonight, I'll have the backpacks done for my assault squad and I'm going to try and get as far as possible on the five objective markers. I'll be sure to post progress.
Making some major progress this weekend painting. I finished off the Sanguinary Guard as well as my lucius pattern drop pod for the team tournament. This drop pod was a recovery project. I bought it off someone years ago, and it was badly mangled. With a little TLC, lots of simple green, and elbow grease, I think I was able to clean it up for the most part.
I didn't go with any dirt or exhaust effects, went with a clean look. Also I kept the metallics pretty simple. I may go back and do some extra highlighting if I have time.
Right now I'm working on the objective markers as well as the magnetized backpacks for my assault marines on foot. I'm lazy so I'm not pinning the backpacks to corks, so my hands are completely covered in paint trying to hold them while applying detail. Here's a "unfocused" shot of the army so far.
I'm going to take a little break from the painting and start applying foliage & flowers to the bases. I'll put a couple of close up shots with what I come up with, I feel like I'm almost doing flower arranging. Here's some of the materials I'm working with. I'm going to try some new materials today, I'll provide my review of how they hold up.
I'm hitting a wall with my hobby progress, mainly due to the lack of strength in my painting hand. I think it has to do with the fact I've been cramming in way too much painting and repetitive strokes (insert repetitive strokes joke here)... mainly due to the damn Sanguinary Guard wings!
Figuring there is about 30 feathers per side, that's 120 feathers per model multiplied by 21, that's 2,520 feathers. Seeing that I do three line highlights per feather, we're talking 7,560 repetitive motions. Oh, that doesn't even count every shoulder pad with all the wing grey colored details too and the weapon "feathers". Argh. Combined with typing on the computer all day for my job, I need to give my hands/wrists a vacation.
I'm really close to finishing them off, here's the work in progress on my chapter banner.
On to the home stretch, less then 2 weeks until Adepticon. I'm hoping to (wishful thinking) finish the Sanguinary Guard tonight. That will leave me with:
- 10 backpacks
- finish the drop pod
- 5 objective markers
- Warboss on bike
- Big Mek
- finish the mekboy stompa
- Snikrot and 10 pals
- 6 killa kans
- 7 nob bikers
- 3 grot helpers
- pretty army lists
- touch up an old display base
- do all the grass/flowers/foliage on all the bases
- write the Adepticon quiz show questions, 51 in total and get Jeopardy ready!
- most importantly get supplies for Adepticon (beer, etc.)
Worked on a few more colors to the stompa, and it's starting to remind me of a taxi cab. I added the checks as well as an ultramarine plate on the side. I tried to give some light effects to the gaze of mork eye and tried for a little bit of "glowing embers" of the lifta droppa.
I've also started by adding some of the white as well as the first steps to work on the gretchen and ork crew. The model is in desperate need of some dirt effects as well as metal effects to show paint chipping. I think I'm going to shelve the stompa for awhile and work on the rest of the army. Right now it's at least painted enough to play.
Next up, I'm going to finish those 12 pesky Sanguinary Guard, then start up the Nob Bikers!
I had one painting marathon weekend. Probably spent about 20 hours between Friday night and now painting Sanguinary Guard and the stompa. This was a hobby first for me, my hand got so fatigued from painting the thin highlights (especially for the Sanguinary Guard wings), I had to stop since I began to lose grip on my brush. Any other time of the year I'd give it a break, but I'm so close to finishing!
Since on Saturday night, I had to take a break from the fine detail of the angel wings, I switched gears and began the broad brush strokes of the stompa. Here's my progress so far. I've put the base down on the metal parts and yellow and can now start adding extra details. I think I need some elements to break up the model - maybe some checks, scorch marks and weathering. It's definitely lacking now, but it's progress.
I'll need to reconfigure my lightbox to take better shots of the stompa, I'm not used to photographing such large models.
Unfortunately I didn't get my goal done of finishing the 12 guard. I've hit the wall with them, it may just turn into some easier painting orcs for this week until I get a little brush grip control back.
I whipped up my 5 objective markers for the Blood Angels. A couple were stretching it, I just didn't have the creative juices flowing on this project like some of the other armies I've done. I think I'll go back eventually and do a cool statue, I really like how Dave Taylor did his on his Greatsword Unit. I took the easy route and modified the marine casualties. I also did a book of knowledge looking one along with a chaos type looking cauldron. Guess it could be full of blood angels blood... muhahahaha!
It's a little too windy to do any priming outside, so I think I'll head to the Chicago Battle Bunker to get some painting in all day. It'll keep me focused, this is the weekend to wrap up a bunch of the things I need to get ready for Adepticon.
Big thanks going out to a good friend of mine, Michael Krol for giving the blog a fresh look. I have no graphic art skills and he came to my rescue. You can check out some of his work at his website. Thanks again Mike!
This weekend is going to be the make it or break it turning point on whether I can get my armies ready for Adepticon. The goal is to finish all 12 of the Sanguinary Guard I have left. I'm going to so hate doing the line highlighting for all the angelic wings. Better loosen up the hands!
Just finished up the Sanguinator and my custom Dante. I was happy with how the Sanguinator came out. I did a bunch of protective coats on the wings especially since I have the feeling it'll get roughed up during games. Still yet to add grass/flowers/etc., going to do that all in one batch.
I have 12 Sanguinary Guard yet to paint, I think I will break them up into batches of 4. Next up will be the power fist and chapter banner version.
Here's what I have yet to paint for Adepticon:
- Drop Pod
- 12 Sanguinary Guard
- objective markers
- Big Mek Stompa
- Warboss on Bike
- Big Mek
- 7 Nob Bikers
- Snikrot and his 10 buddies
- Blood Angel backpacks (10)
It's crunch time now with only a few weeks to Adepticon. It's time to maximize painting time when I'm not traveling and I really need to get some practice games in. Here's the finished product of the priests and the non helmeted assault marines (minus backpacks).
So what does my hobby A.D.D. do? Makes me want to procrastinate by assembling a bunch of models. It was nice to spend some time on the couch with my wife and I got to put together the storm raven, two dreads and 5 death company. I bought the forgeworld chaplain dread awhile back and by adding bits of the new furioso dread, was able to make a sweet looking death company dreadnought.
I've decided in my gladiator list to add Snikrot & Pals to one of the sidebars. Traditionally there is one of those missions where a model is able to carry some sort of nasty titan killing vortex grenade. Snikrot should be the perfect vessel. I bought the standard kommandos, but needed a few more so I added some old backpacks and bitz to a few ork boyz to make them part of the crew. I had the chance to make two of the new ork burna boyz too... great plastic kit.
Currently on the workbench is my custom Dante (figured I'd make him look better in plastic) along with the Sanguinator. As I was working on the priests' power swords I worked on these at the same time. Additionally in this batch I'll be painting the chapter banner and power fist for the Sanguinary Guard.
Tomorrow will be a non-stop hobby day at the Chicago Battle Bunker where I'm hoping to get a practice game in with my Blood Angels and Ork Gladiator list.
I'm off for a few days traveling on business so I won't get any evening painting sessions in. Here's the latest on the Blood Angels Priests and the rest of the assault squad on foot (minus backpacks). I did the next stage red, along and white along with laying down the base gray, black, brown, blue, flesh, and green. I find after I put my mid tone red down it's good to fill in the other base colors before I start pulling in detail.
This sunday will hopefully be a day full of hobby action. I'm heading to the Illinois's battle bunker to get painting in and hopefully two practice games; one for my 1850 singles list and to try out my ork gladiator 2,250 list (stompa & nob bikers list).
