Hobby Update

It always feels good to finish something, even if it’s later than you had originally planned. As you can see, I’ve put the final touches on my big bad wolves. I actually finished them a couple of days ago, but you know how it goes.

I’m mostly pleased with the way the unit turned out. The poses fit well together, thanks to the 40mm bases and a little bit of prior planning. The original boxed sets were each comprised of three models, so each one had an identical twin. While metal isn’t normally the easiest material to work with, an easy solution presented itself. With a couple clips to each of the arms, the axes could be flipped around to run the opposite direction. This cut down on the mono-pose element.

If I were going to do them over, one change I would likely make is to use a darker red on the armor. I like the idea of all the sigils and runes. It looks very stylized. However, with such a bright color, the eye tends to be drawn towards that, rather than the model as a whole or the faces.

Regardless, I have some models that I think are really nice and can now play a variety of roles in my army.

On a similar front, I primed the Chaos Dragon. Or rather, I should say I sprayed it. I wanted to try out a new black spray, and I figured this one would be fine if it turned out a little too glossy. Well it turned out a lot too glossy. I don’t think it’s ruined, but a different kind of model may well have been. My quest for a better black primer continues. We’ll see how the paint adheres, but I’m guessing I’ll need quite a few layers. Once I figure out what color I want, that process can begin.

Hobby Goals

-Pick a skin tone for the Dragon

-Paint the exterior of Drop Pod 2

-Start assembling supplies to pack things away

Hobby Accomplishments

-Finished the Wargs

-Primed the Dragon (sort of)

-I think I have the missions nailed down for a September tournament

Hobby Update

It’s been an interesting couple weeks as far as my hobby. To begin with, I am closing the gap on finishing the Wargs. I know I’ve talked about them getting done, but I’m down to the last one, so hopefully the next post is the full unit, painted and photographed in whatever makeshift light box I spontaneously assemble.

I also randomly participated in my local ‘Ard Boyz tournament. I showed up at my FLGS hoping there would be an extra random table open and one or two other Fantasy guys would show up. Well, it worked out better than expected. Due to a lack of publicity/local interest/whatever, two other people showed up for the tourney. I threw my own hat in the ring, figuring I wouldn’t mind partaking in the prize support. I took the first round bye, since only one fantasy guy showed up. I wanted to make sure he got a game in, though I forgot to print out a list, so I ran one of the older lists that I’m now less than fond of. When I matched that up against Dwarfs, albeit not even the nastiest of lists, it didn’t end up spelling much of a game for him unfortunately.

Rolling back to 40K, I ended up with sixty bucks in prize support which I promptly spent on an entirely different system. Actually, I spent it on one fantasy system to convert and play with a different fantasy system if you want to be really technical. I have thought about converting a Fell Beast into a Chaos Dragon for a while now. The model comes with two heads, so with a little bit of green stuff work and some extra bits, I thought I could turn out something reasonably impressive. The other options were the new Dark Elf Dragon or the Chaos Manticore, but they didn’t have the latter, and the former is sweet, but I can probably talk myself into getting it later, plus it wouldn’t dare to try and convert a second head.

So this is how it turned out:

I greenstuffed the second neck underneath the first so I could pin one in the normal position, then pin the other to the first and to the body. Then I filled in around it.

I got a chain from Michael’s to wrap around the neck. This will provide a place for a pendant of some kind for a visual focal point, while also covering some of the larger greenstuff patches.

I did my standard scenic base with the flying stand, but I flipped the stand upside down, sawed off the tip and replaced it with a magnet to make transport not just easier, but plausible.

Hobby Goals

-One last Warg

-Continue reading Caledor

-Resume work on the second Drop Pod

-Prime the Blood Wing Land Raider

Hobby Progress

-Finished most of the Wargs

-Bothered showing up at the local 'Ard Boyz and got a prize for it

-Converted a Nazgul on a Winged Fellbeast into a Chaos Dragon

Hobby Update

I managed to get in two games of 40K this weekend. I had my choice of that or Fantasy, and I thought I’d go for a little change of pace after my foray into tournament play. I packed up the single foam tray that my Blood Wing fits in and proceeded to the store.

My opponent is a local that I’ve played about a half a dozen times. He seems to enjoy quirky lists that make sense in a fluff way, but also are interesting because of some mathematical factor. I don’t know if that is the way he thinks about it, but that’s my third party interpretation. For example, this week he brought a Death Guard list. He was conflicted about whether to run a list with 50 Plague Marines or Typhus, Nurgle Terminators, and 30 Plague Marines. Either way, it was an army that would shrug off any jabs and really only feared the power punches.

For game one, we rolled a Dawn of War/Killpoints mission. He gave me first turn, so I put down my Assault Terminators in a Land Raider in the middle of the board. He kept almost everything to roll on the board after turn one, taking a position along the middle left of his back line. I shoved two of my units forward to multi-assault one of the Plague Marine units, but failed both difficult terrain rolls, including snake eyes on an inch and a half charge. This led to Logan and the Assault Terminators taking 3 units worth of shooting and an assault by Typhus and his Terminators. My guys got wiped out, but not before taking out Typhus and two others. His 30 Plague Marines then tangled with three of my regular squads. I survived the encounter with just a Rune Priest and three other guys left. The game came down to turn six. Entering the bottom of the fifth turn, I was up a single point. His lone, surviving terminator came charging out of a crater, but missed his melta-shot. Then he charged in with his chainfist. I did two wounds, both of which needed a save on a 5+. He makes both, an 11% chance, then blows up my dreadnought, tying the score. We made the roll to keep playing, and the storm bolter from the dreadnoughts drop pod manages to score a wound and avenge his fallen master (roughly a 4% chance). So crazy things happened all over the board, and I took the game, 7-6.

Game two was a Capture and Control/Spearhead affair. Typhus wiped out the squad that deep struck and popped his Land Raider, but he got wiped out in return by Logan and two squads in a counter assault. That left his back line open and Logan and company wiped everyone out. He had one last hope in the form of a turn 5 assault on my objective. He had a decent chance, going first, and he only needed to force a check. But when he absolutely needed it, when he had to have it, his roll looked like this:

Despite the tournament being over, I am still making progress on my Wargs. I’m not nearly as motivated as I was, but I’m close and I keep doing a color here and there and getting closer. My biggest issue is not getting distracted. I look at the big shinies from Storm of Magic and I think, “I’ll magnetize a Black Dragon and a Manticore so I can use all four riders on each one.” Then I think about the Marauder horde I want to add to my Warriors army. Then I think about all the unfinished things I already have. If I don’t buy anything new, I guess I’m sure I’ll be ok.

Finally, not a review or a summary, just a thought. No spoilers either. I finished George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons in a little over a week. I went through all 1100 pages, after having read all four previous books. On the other hand, I read the first 40 pages of Gav Thorpe’s Caledor today, and there has already been dragons rampaging through an enemy army. This is why I read books published by the Black Library.

Hobby goals

- Finish a Warg every three days.

- Read Caledor

- Prime the Blood Wing Land Raider

Hobby accomplishments

- More frequent blogging

- Played two games of 40K

- Read A Dance with Dragons