And the beat goes on...

Quick update, I did some more detailing on Rhino Titus, I'm trying to show some battle damage at the front, I've almost got it to where I'm happy with it.

Mostly, I just did the tank treads and the exhaust. Now if I could only remember to find the two top hatches.










And I started the same process for my two Razorbacks, Ignis and Vorenus, but mostly I worked on their kitbashed Lascannon turrets. Not perfect, but they will do for WYSIWYG...







Here's a closeup of the turrets...






Whew, time to call it a night!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

One down... Almost two...

Not a lot of time to paint today, but I finished up my first Rhino... Well, all but the campaign badge and the Storm Bolter cover... That'll take a little more patience than what I have left right now... So here is Maximus.. Second Company Rhino Transport...










Here's my first try at inscribing an Oath of Moment...



And I got some simultaneous progress on Titus, also a Rhino...









It's starting to come together...

Painting progress

Well, a couple of hours of painting, and my mechanized army is coming together.

I basecoated my vehicles using Macharius Solar Orange, which is my go-to foundation paint for painting burnt orange.

In priming my vehicles, I've used everything from GW white primer, to grey Walmart primer, to Krylon fusion paint, so I have gotten varying shades of orange, but for the tabletop, it shouldn't be too bad...

Ok, enough talk, here are the pics...


My first Rhino was the one on the right here, and the one on the left is a Razorback I picked up on eBay...



Here's a side shot of the freehand arrow I'm going to paint on the door...



This Rhino I got from a Bizarre Bazaar at my GW shop last fall... Hard to tell he was Salamanders green in his past life...



I got this one at the same Bazaar, he was primed a flat grey, which I think is the way to go for any future vehicles. I had to hack off the top hatch so I could convert him to a Razorback... The hacked away part covers up nicely when the new hatch is in place... Thankfully...



My WIP Vindicator...



And my "almost done" Vindicator "Invictus"...



My ambitious freehand design for the dozer blade...



My Predator, I wanted something different for my Predator and Whirlwind... I kind of like this, albeit with more detailing of course... The main cannon and the sponsons are magnetized, allowing me to swap weapons...



And my "experimental" Drop Pod... I think I'm going to go with some grey on him and a lot of metallic highlights...

Well, not bad for a couple of hours, only two more weeks to go!

The Horns are tuning up...

In order to jumpstart my involvement in this hobby I've chosen, I decided to enter a 40k League at my favorite gaming store, Area 51 in Grapevine, TX.

The league will be over three months, and will consist of playing two games a month, for a total of six games.

I think I can handle that.

In order to participate, I will need a 2000 point army, and so I sat down and did something I've never done before: write an army list.

HQ
Cato Sicarius

TROOPS
Tactical Squad Alpha
10 man tactical squad, Sgt with Power Weapon, Flamer & ML in a Rhino

Tactical Squad Beta
10 man tactical squad, Sgt with power weapon, Meltagun & Heavy Bolter in a Rhino

Tactical Squad Gamma
6 man tactical squad, Sgt with power weapon in a Razorback with TL HB

Tactical Squad Delta
6 man tactical squad, Sgt with power weapon in a Razorback with TL HB

HEAVY
Vindicator w/ Dozer Blade x 2

Predator with TL Lascannon & Lascannon sponsons

FAST ATTACK
10 man Assault squad with 2 flamers, Sgt with Power Fist and Combat Shield

ELITE
Dreadnought with Drop Pod

I based it on the models I have, maximizing troops, and adding in a few "fun" units. So now all I have to do is paint them all up to tabletop standards in 2 weeks...

Any feedback would be welcome... I'm not worried about being the best, I just want to avoid getting wiped off the table, if at all possible.

To done list...

Ok, I seriously need to get a better camera setup for my minis, my iPhone just won't cut it.

Done:
- One Reaper wolf for a member of my party in the Pathfinder game I'm playing.

I liked this mini, it had a lot of texture that I was able to have fun with. After this pic, I went back in and re-did the "shiny" parts where I missed some of the metal. I guess the primer wore off as I was handling it during painting. I also gave him blue eyes instead of the Bleached Bone ones in the picture.

- One Reaper Paladin, which is my mini for the same Pathfinder game.

I really like this mini. I had to resist the urge to make him completely burnt orange, so instead I basecoated him white, and did Bleached Bone shading to his armor, adding orange to his surcoat and helmet as accents. I also hit his shoulder pads and selected armor joints with Boltgun Metal and Chainmail as a highlight. Finally I used Shining and Burnished gold for the hilt and the cross on his shoulder.


- One Reaper Ranger with bow, which is my backup character in case my Pally gets killed.... :-)

Painting him was a real challenge, since I originally wanted him to be kind of stealthy and muted, but when I finished that color scheme, I realized that he blended in with the map, so I went the opposite way and ended up with a Blood Red cloak and a Hormagaunt Purple tunic/shirt. I'm really happy with the leather and the wood on him, and if the picture were better, you might be able to appreciate the different tones...


In Process
- One Reaper Ranger with scimitar for the same party member.

- One Reaper warrior for another member of my party.

Both of these models are pretty much done with basecoats, now I just have to do some highlighting and apply some washes to give them depth. I'll post pictures next time.

Up next, I get back to my rats as I just picked up a Plagueclaw Catapult for my Skaven army... woo hoo!

Back, from outer space...

After a long period of neglect, I am restarting my blog... again..

A lot has happened hobby-wise since I last posted, so here's a quick recap:
- Skaven army has been built, primed and painting is progressing slowly. I have focused on my plague monks first, making all of their robes a uniform green...
- Space Marine ranks have swelled and are now well over 100, thanks to the most recent Bizarre Bazaar at GW Grapevine...
- My motor pool has been rounded out, with 3 Land Raiders (2 built) and enough Rhino chassis to transport the battle brothers. I also have 2 drop pods and 4 land speeders...
- I spent most of the year playing D&D, and I've painted up quite a few Reaper minis for my characters. Pictures to follow...
- I made my first foray into "sculpting" by making a Milliput base for my screaming bell figure (the first edition metal one)...
- I also made my first foray into scratchbuilding with my (still WIP) HellPit Abomination.

So, plenty of stuff to keep me busy... You'd think I'd be posting more... Well, here goes nothing again....

Back from the Dead!!!

Or how I survived peak season...

So this blog has been in hibernation mode for the past 3 months as work completely overwhelmed me. But thankfully my hobby activites were not put completely on hold.

First off, I finally succumbed to the siren song of the Skaven (alliteration, FTW!). I now have more rats than I can shake a stick at. I've enjoyed painting them up as a nice change of pace to my Space Marines.

Secondly, I bought the Space Wolves codex, and although I like the fluff, I don't think I'll be amassing an army of wolves just yet. I did get my hands on Njal, Lukas and Logan, but so far, I've just primed them grey, which is almost halfway there in my book...

And now, I'm retaking my beloved Horns and starting up painting them again. I've been invited to the local GW shop to play on Monday, which is not enough time to get all my guys up and rolling, but I'll put together a nice representative force, and have some "grey recruits" fill out the gaps.

So stay tuned for updates, as I kick this baby into medium gear...