I always am a fan of a challenge, there is nothing like painting with a goal in mind to get things done How crazy is it for me to try playing in the NOVA Open on August 27th? I would need to get 2,000 points of Dark Eldar painted in time, and it would be nice to actually get some practice games in beforehand as well.
If I had the core of my army painted by then, it'll give me some experience to try it in a competitive event and see what I like and what I don't before Adepticon. Plus with the ability to field a 2k list, I essentially could bring two Adepticon legal 1k lists. The other added benefit is that I'll be done painting by the end of August and then can focus on the display board as well as tweaking and practicing the list.
The downside is I won't have a display board that would be able to fly with me to the event in time (outside of a sand/flock board). Plus I'm figuring this will be about a $600 trip with all expenses included.... decisions, decisions.
Either way, the prospect of 8 competitive games and a deadline to get my project mostly competed is compelling. Something to think about!
I also finished painting the venom pictured in the previous post. While painting the three ravagers I struggled with how I'd like to go about doing the beast packs. Problems I have with the current DE beasts are they cost a ton, I can't stand the razor flocks, and being metal they're a pain in the ass. I thought of a great substitute in the mean time for beasts. For the Clawed Fiend, why not a not-so-freaky Spawn, and for the Khymera, I'll use the undead fantasy dire wolves. They looked like they are fresh from someone's nightmare and plastic!
As for the razorwing flocks, I really struggled. The bats are pretty lame in the GW line, so I scoured the Chicago Battle Bunker for ideas. I settled on the flying ripper swarms from forgeworld. You get 9 of those nasties for $28. It's not cheap, but by putting about 3 to a base, it's still cheaper then the metal one pose birds, plus they look way cooler. I just need to figure out how to modify them a little bit to look less tyranid.
I also started up on the three ravagers. I'm going to go with the hull and sail first, then do all the gunners and crew at once. Sunday I was able to get the exhausts and chain done, and the first coat of the base metal color for the plating. I'm not sure if doing three at once is such a smart idea, I might go insane with how tedious it'll get. It's funny how the hobby turns into a job at times.
Finally I got to the Razorwing Jet. What a cool model. It ended up being a little smaller then I expected, but went together smooth (for the most part). The only trouble I had was that the two hull pieces had to be held for awhile to keep flush and not pop a part. I think the engine exhausts put a little pressure on the plates. It was pretty cool how they gave the option for all three missile types. I decided to just go with the mono missiles since I like the look. You could probably magnatize them but I don't think many people will really care. More then likely they'll all get fired at the same time so I don't think I'll need to keep track of them like I do with the hunter killer missiles on my loyalst armies.
This will be a realtively light travel week for me, just Atlanta Monday/Tuesday. Should be another good week of hobby. I'd love to get the hulls and sails done on the ravagers.
Just finished up my first Venom. I have to say this kit was a joy to paint. Since my future venoms will probably be carrying either trueborn or warrior squads, I'm going to swap future crews with the raider kit. This week I'll work on the two kits and provide feedback with how the swap goes. I think the main gunner should be able to be interchanged.
The rest of the week I will work towards at least assembling a starter 1850 force. I just finished up assembling three dark lance ravagers. I'll try to paint them all at once. I'm really looking forward to picking up the razorwing kit. It really struggles against the pure awesomeness of ravagers, but I think it could prove to be an interesting distraction. We'll see!
I'm trying to also think about how I'll make some beast packs. The Khymara kit is pretty sweet but I really don't like the razorwing. Any ideas on models to substitute? I need to keep to the GW line to be legal in our tournaments. Otherwise I may just end up green stuffing them.
I recently stumbled upon another blog that just blew me away in how he paints his Dark Eldar. It's really making me rethink my choice of going with this army as a "fast paint" rather then taking my time like I do on armies like my Imperial Suns. I digress...
Please check out Rant in E Minor. His Trueborn are absolutely stunning. If this doesn't make you want to get into Dark Eldar strictly for the models, you have a problem.
Needless to say, I'll be following this blog on a regular basis.
This Saturday I've decided to scrap the whole crazy idea of taking foot Templar and go a little easier on myself and do a balanced Vanilla Marine force. 1,500 just works so much better with that. Hopefully by the next AWC tournament I'll have the Dark Eldar ready to at least make a decent showing.
I'm playing in a local tournament this weekend at 1,500 points (so used to 1,750 and 1,850) and I figured I would try something and dust off an old army. Now that the Templar have gotten a little boost with the FAQ, my assault terminators are even more nasty. Only if I had more storm shields painted up! I thought it might be fun to do an all infantry list. I'm going to get a practice game in tonight, we'll see how it goes.
Here's the crazy list I'm thinking about bringing at 1,500 points.
HQ: Emperor's Champion with the all-so-fun preffered enemy vow
HQ: Chaplain with bolt pistol & melta-bombs with 3 cenobite servitors
HQ: Chaplain with bolt pistol & melta-bombs with 3 cenobite servitors
Elite: 10 assault terminators with 7 twin claws, 3 TH/SS. All with furious charge (wish I had more TH/SS)
Troop: 10 initiates with BP/CCW, one melta, one powerfist. 10 neophytes with BP/CCW
Troop: 6 initiates with BP/CCW, one melta, one powerfist. 4 neophytes with BP/CCW, drop pod.
Troop: 5 initiates with bolters, one lascannon
Troop: 5 initiates with bolters, one lascannon
This could be a huge disaster, but it should be fun. The two giant infantry blobs put my opponent in a situation, the minute they take one casualty the chaplain with the servitors allow a d6" with reroll +3" move towards any unit (chaplain allows unit to go towards any enemy, not just the closest). With the addition of the run rule, they should be able to zip accross the board pretty fast.
I'm not seeing a ton of long range infantry firepower outside of guard and venom dark eldar, and we surprisingly don't have a ton of that in our area.
The infantry blob and the terminator squad straight up murder hordes - orks and tyranids don't stand a chance. I'd get killed against an extreme mobile list like SM bikes and will be extremely frustrated against the eldar air-cav. Unfortunately the two lascannons are hamstrung with the "shoot the closest" rule, and since I'm not bringing a commander, I'll need a roll of a 7 or less to shoot things far out.
I need to figure out on the drop pod rule for Templars. I think they still start coming in on turn 2, and not automatic on turn 1 like normal marines. I thought it might help out a little to get an additional squad out at hard to reach parts of the table.
My big choice may be to say screw the two lascannon squads and put another infantry blob on the table. I could probably field an additional 20 man squad by tweaking some things and have the emperor's champion lead it.
Either way, it'll be a good change of pace to bring this list.
Yesterday I worked some on a few wyches and picked up the new venom kit at the Chicago Battle Bunker. I have to say, that this venom kit is pretty sweet. It went together without any problems and has been painting up easily. To make things simple, I detached the riders and gunner from the venom for priming and ease of painting.
The great thing about the kit is that there are multiple options to make additional vehicles unique. The railing around the back side has two different options, and I like the fact there are two different canopies. My only downside is that I'll more then likely be running warriors or trueborn in my venoms. I'll have to use the raider crew on the next venom I make and swap out these wyches for the raider. I think they're almost a perfect swap.
I decided to tackle the venom first and that was how far I got tonight. I finished up the hull and underside, and have yet to do the banner poles, guns, and the driver. I put a clear coat on the hull to keep from smudging and giving it that extra gloss for the armor. The whole time I was painting it I kept thinking of the spaceship from Naboo on the Star Wars movies! I'm really looking forward to painting the dark eldar flyer!
Tomorrow I should be able to knock out the crew and the finishing touches on the venom. Very nice model, I love it.
Next Saturday I'm playing in a 1,500 point tournament. I'm thinking of going a little old school and either bringing out my Black Templar or Tau. I'd be great to be able to get some practice games in with the Dark Eldar, but there is no way I'll be even close to getting anything ready, even if I crammed every night to get a three color minimum.
It's almost like I've been a drug addict, getting the itch to paint some miniatures and play some games! Today after doing some work around the house, I'm going to head on down the Chicago Battle Bunker and get my paint on!
It's crazy how addicting this stuff is and how taking almost a month off has been torture. I've fooled around with the Dark Eldar skin tone some and I've come to the conclusion I've put way too much contrast in the muscle tones so I'm going to strip out the purple wash step. Additionally, I want to seperate the skin from the purple armor so I'll use exclusively blue washes and keep them mild. Pictures to be posted tonight as I finish up some infantry
For once, I won't be traveling for work this week, so it's time to break out the brushes. I have a 1,500 point tournament next weekend that I'd love to bring my dark eldar to, but there is no way I'll even be close. I think the orks need some non-gladiator games under the collective belts.
