Wraithknight Finished!!!

He/She is DONE!  If I don't paint another gem in awhile it won't be too soon.  I probably went a little too liberal on what is considered gems, so it almost looks like a cheetah.  But I think it's a pretty cool effect, that's what wraith constructs are all about.

Here's the finished product.  Now only a crap-ton of suits to go before NOVA.

I sized senior wraithknight with his pal the riptide.  Yeah the wraithknight is a bit bigger. 

On to painting some crisis suits.

She Got Legs... Wraithknight Progress

I needed a break from painting the monotonous line highlighting of all the Tau armor plates so I thought it would be great to try a portion of the wraithknight.  Luckily the kit naturally is pinned so I can transport and paint the upper body separately. 

Damn, these legs are long!  I started with just one to see if I like the color scheme.  Here's the progress.

There are so many gem possibilities I just decided that any large circular area I'd just paint the regular color of the army.  I know I probably painted more gems than most people but I really think that is what makes eldar a different army - covered in stones.  Hopefully it doesn't look too "pimply". 

On to the other leg, progress to follow. Only a few weeks to NOVA, gotta get crackin!

Eldar Jebike

Wow, NOVA is approaching fast - only have three weeks to get my painting finished and I adjusted my list yet again... just can't settle on what I want to bring.  Also means I'm painting up a boatload of miniatures in the next three weeks.

Of of those is the Eldar allies portion.  Here's my test model of a guardian jetbike.  I'm keeping the same color scheme as my Tau but having a little more white then blue (Tau is blue with white accents).  Nothing to write home about, it's simple but I think it looks ok. 

Here's what I have on the docket to finish before NOVA!

- 2 more Broadsides
- 5 Crisis Suits
- 5 jetbikes
- farseer on jetbike
- 1 more Riptide (damn they take a long time to paint)
- 1 Wraithknight (he should go pretty quick)

Riptide Painted!

The riptide is finished!  Wow that was a big model.  I kept the black highlighting simple, probably could have used an extra highlight but I honestly hate painting black.  If you've seen my kroot mercs list I put a little extra flowers and plants on the base.  Nothing too over the top, just a little decorations.

Working on the three broadsides now.  At least I did the biggest model first, these broadsides will be nothing compared to that.  By the time I get to my 1 crisis suit I have to do, I'll feel like I'm painting a single marine.

Off traveling for the next week so I won't get a whole lot of painting in. I might bring my brushes with me, not decided yet.  Nova is only a little over a month away, gotta get cracking!

I'm around... with Hot Tau Action!

Wow, I really have been distracted with "real life" lately, but still finding a bit of time here and there for the painting hobby.  I decided about three months ago I was going to get serious about working out, watching my diet, and getting back to fencing.  Good news is it has been successful, and I've dropped about 25 pounds and getting my endurance better then what it was 20 years ago!

Bad news, is my hobby has been a little on the light side.  I did decide I'd dust off the Tau and give them a try.  I've been having a lot of fun testing different army builds and am working on a Riptide and some of the new broadsides. Pictures will be up this week as I finish the riptide up.

For kicks, I pulled out all my painted infantry.  Holy crap, I have a lot.  Back in the day I had a fully painted kroot mercs list.  This isn't including all the vehicles and suits that are painted.

Not sure what I'll do with all those hounds, since I have only been using one per kroot squad to give them acute senses.

I've found a farseer is a must as an ally for tau, especially if you don't want to load up with marker lights.  His ability to do fortune and prescience allows for the twin linking madness that tau's BS3 really needs.  Plus two jetbike squads are a big help.

I'm going to try and roll with this list for NOVA.  Still tweaking the specifics, but I'm fairly happy with how it works together.

HQ: Ethereal
Elite: Riptide with ion, SMS, interceptor
Elite: 3 crisis suits, with 2 individual missile launchers a piece (great to be twin linked), 2 target locks
Troop: 11 firewarriors in devilfish with SMS
Troop: 11 firewarriors in devilfish with SMS
Troop: 20 kroot, 1 hound
Troop: 20 kroot, 1 hound
Troop: 10 kroot, 1 hound
Troop: 10 kroot, 1 hound
Heavy: Hammerhead with submunition, blacksun, SMS
Heavy: Hammerhead with submunition, blacksun, SMS
Heavy: 3 broadsides with all missiles, SMS, 2 target locks
HQ Eldar: Farseer on jetbike
Troop Eldar: 3 jetbikes
Troop Eldar: 3 jetbikes

The Ethereal is a must giving the leadership 10 bubble as well as dishing out the bonuses.  Nothing like twin-linking with fortune 33 shots from a firewarrior squad, or 60 shots from a kroot squad.  Nasty stuff for not a ton of points.  I've found the SMS coming in handy too to root out the annoying minimum size squads like henchmen that hide.

Here's what I'll need to paint to make this list finished for nova.

- Ethereal
- 1 crisis suit (replacing one that doesn't look right)
- riptide
- 3 broadsides
- Farseer
- 6 jetbikes

Painting updates to come soon!

Tablescapes Kickstarter - Let's fund the ruins!

Just got back from my vacation in Hawaii, wow was it much needed.  Really helped refocus things for me and do what vacations are meant to do, hit the reset button!  I'll try to get some Adepticon coverage up later, but this year may be my break.  I plan on doing some major hobby spring cleaning and figure out what my projects are going to be for this next year.

More importantly... help fund this awesome kickstarter!  I am fiending for the ruined temple board to get funded.  It will match perfectly with my flagstone bases I'm doing for my silver and red marines/guard!  Check out Secret Weapons kickstarter at: TABLESCAPES by SECRET WEAPON MINIATURES

The boards are great, and are sets of 16 1 x 1 foot tiles.  I think with some cool custom frames you can pop them out for display boards.  The thought was mirrored by the team as they even have a backer option to get 4 tiles with a border to do just that!  So all of you that want an easy option for display boards, this may be the way for you.  I'm really looking it as an option for when I travel via air.

This week I'm going to frantically get some miniatures painted in my necron paint scheme for an apocalypse game this weekend. Have some tricks up my sleeve, let's see if they can work!

Tablescapes Kickstarter by Secret Weapon Miniatures

Well the last few days have been grueling back breaking painting!  I'm almost done with the 36 guardsmen. I hope to have them finished tonight then on to the three chimeras. 

In the meantime I'd like to inform everyone about an awesome kickstarter by Secret Weapon Miniatures.  Justin is doing some very cool 1' x 1' tiles in unique 16 square sets.  Check out his page at :  Tablescapes Kickstarter

The proof of concept, Justin should have one at Adepticon

As you can see they are fairly affordable, you're basically getting a 4' x 6' table for $190 or a 4' x 8' table for $250.  I'm really looking forward to a few themes.  In order of want, I'm shooting for the Urban followed by Ruined Temple, followed by the trench table.  Depending on how they're executed I may back all three.  

That means this will need to get up to $280k for the temple table and $360k for the Trench.  I think we can get there! 

Very nicely done, and it's great to support someone putting out a high quality product at a reasonable price.

Now a good day at work then back to the grindstone tonight painting.  See you all soon at Adepticon!