The Inner Circle

Just a quick update - I finally finished painting a pair of miniatures I started over a year ago. The dreadnought is from Forge World, and is one of my all time favourite miniatures. The Librarian is the old, very old, Grand Master Ezekiel model. I replaced his backpack with a modern Dark Angels version and gave him a Forge World servo-skull, but he still fits in extremely well with the modern GW space marine range.


Until next time...

Project 2011

It's been nearly a year. That's slack. Real slack.

Did I hit my targets? No. Not by a long shot. What happened? Computer games... Dragon Age: Origins, followed by Fallout 3, followed by Fallout New Vegas. 150+ hours into each game. In succession. I guess the miniature painting just couldn't compete with that kind of addiction. Maybe I should see a shrink...

Not all is lost, however. The new year has introduced new interests, and new passions. Field of Glory: Renaissance has arrived, and with it, strangely enough, an interest in building a French army. French? Who'd have ever thought that would happen. Not me, I can tell you! Why French? Well... three little words... The Three Musketeers. Yup, cliche, I know. But painting those little (15mm) fella's in bright blue tunics with white crosses sealed the deal. The Japanese are still there... waiting for brush to touch metal... but the French are more appealing. Maybe it's just because the Testudo miniatures are so damn nice:



So, French for FoG:R is Project 1.

What about Project 2? My gaming group has decided to start a painting 'competition' (not the right word, but will do for the purpose of this post). Each month for the next twelve we have committed ourselves to paint up 250 points of a Warhammer 40,000 army. My choice is the First and Finest, the Dark Angels Adeptus Astartes. I thought painting an army of 3000+ points would be hard, real hard. It is, and it isn't. It seems I always paint with more dedication when I'm working to a deadline. Breaking a whole army down into individual monthly deadlines seems to be doing the trick. It also seems that having a varied colour pallete is also beneficial: dark green with the odd bone-coloured robe for they standard marines, black for the 2nd (Ravenwing) company, and bone for the 1st (Deathwing) company. So far, so good:



Project 3? Keep this blog more up to date than I did in the last year...

Well... stay tuned. Let's see how it goes.

First Check-point

I've decided to make this post the first test of progress for the year towards the goals I set out at the start. Final update:

• Glued together Parliamentarian Dragoons, twelve foot and twelve mounted (W:ECW). Undercoated the mounted figures, ready to start painting.

So, how did I go in the first third of the year? Considering my achievements tailed off something drastic over the last month (partially due to a new computer and PC game, and partially due to lack of focus), I think I've done quite well considering my standard painting efforts over the course of a given year!

Done (towards specific goals):

1. Completed the Angmar army for War of the Ring (around fifty 28mm figures)
2. Completed the Thaniras Elf Fleet for The Uncharted Seas (10 ships and 2 dragons)

Missed:

1. Good effort toward the Teutonic Order army for Field of Glory (2 commander elements and 2 Knight elemnts done, another 4 knight elements mostly done, and several previously completed elements finally based up).

Extras:

1. 2 Byzantine Cavalry elements completed
2. a 54mm Grey Knight completed
3. a Dark Angels Rhino half painted and a unit of Dark Angels Scouts constructed
4. a Command squad, Renegade squad, Psyker squad and Leman Russ Vanquisher conversion, Leman Russ Punisher and Armoured Sentinel all constructed for the Chaos Renegade Guard
5. a block of 16 Parliamentarian Foote (pikemen) constructed

In light of the hits and misses above, I think I've achieved a reasonable 'score'. There's something to be said about having a looming deadline (for the Angmar and Thaniras forces) to get the motivation up. The possiblility of a game of Inquisitor was too much to pass up to not get distracted by the Grey Knight.

Getting the Teutonic Order army painted for an early-May game was really a tad ambitious for me. I have, however, painted enough new options to go for something completely different with my Komnenan Byzantine army for the tournament.

With all of this in mind, I think I need to adjust my targets for the rest of the year. Here is the revised To Do list:

1. 500 points of ECW Parliamentarians for Warhammer English Civil War in 25/28mm [due August, 2010]; with an additional unit or two to be done for November.
2. 800 points of Teutonic Order for Field of Glory in 15mm [due 6th November, 2010]

The 'wish list' remains relatively the same:

1. Continue painting 1,500 points of Dark Angels for Warhammer 40,0000
2. Continue painting 1,500 points of Chaos Renegades for Warhammer 40,000
3. Start 1,200 points of Noldor Elves for War of the RIng
4. Start a couple of battlegroups of Muromachi Japanese for Field of Glory

Then there's the inevitable new-comer to the scene: a Napoleonic army for either Lasalle or Black Powder, or possible both! Yet to decide on a scale, but likely 6mm. The plans for this are still 'under negotiation'...

Ok - now to set myself a target for my next post! Next week's blog will have a progress report in photos of the progress I make on the Parliamentarian Dragoons... Let's see if THAT keeps me motivated...

A Brief Hiatus

I know, I know... It's been more than a week since I updated last... Ok, more than two weeks... Hush.

• Continued painting four bases of Teutonic Order knights (FoG)
• Completed two bases of Byzantine Cavalry archers (FoG) to finish off the unit. Also completed the basing on a couple of dozen bases to make them look a little prettier than bare card.
• Finished gluing together my Daemonhost Coterie for the Renegade Guard army (WH40K)
• Completed my Grey Knight Adeptus Astartes for Inquisitor!

Yay! I got the old guy finished and he's turned out better than I had hoped (even if I do say so myself). I thought I'd manage to get him painted faster than it actually took (about 6 hours total), but he was finished in time for the Inquisitor game last weekend so all is good. See the following three shots:

The game was heaps of fun. Brother-Justicar Ezekiel teleported down into a rocky canyon to be faced by an Arbites enforcer and her pet metal dog and then hit in the back of the shoulder by a las-bolt! The unfortunate mutant with the lasgun was turned into a bloody pulp by a hail of storm-bolter rounds, an act that seemed to upset a nearby Inquisitor who seemed to be interested in talking to the old fellow. Said Inquisitor then seemed hell-bent on asking numerous irrelevant questions while a swarm of local fauna (read: hormagaunts, genestealsers and a tyranid!) decided to join the party. I managed to convince the Inquisitor that maybe the present was not quite the best time for a friendly chat, and engaged all and sundry alien monsters with bolt shell and mind-powered force halbard!

After we dispatched numerous xenos beasts, it became apparent that there was quite likely a rather limitless supply of the beasts, and I extended the invitation to the Inquisitor and his cronies to join me in my transport ship in high orbit. With a crackle and a flash of light, we vanished from the surface of the supposedly 'barren' world to ponder the content of the unfortunate mutant's pockets. It was a great game, and I look forward to having another crack.

Other than this my time has been rather poorly spent on the miniature wargaming front. The purchase of a new computer and Napoleon: Total War has absorbed rather more of my spare time than I had intended (although no less than anticipated). The likelyhood of me achieving my goal of a painted Teutonic Order army in time for the Lionheart tournament in two weeks is next to nil. Instead, I'll give my Komnenan Byzantine list another go, perhaps with a few tweaks learnt in my game against an interestingly constructed Late Imperial Roman army last weekend.

Additionally, I seem to be getting once more sucked into the idea of Napoleonic wargaming. I purchased a copy of the Lasalle rules last week and I'm quite impressed by what I see so far. The Prussian army is appealing to me, so maybe there's something more I need to add to my To Do list...

Stay On Target

It seems I am going through a phase of uncertainty as to what exactly I want to do with my modelling/painting time!

• Completed painting a Phoenix Battleship and a Cobra Cruiser for my Thaniras fleet (TUS)
• Continued painting the Dark Angels Rhino (WH40K)
• Started painting 4 bases of Teutonic Brother-knights (FoG)
• Resumed conversion work on my Grey Knight character (Inquisitor)

The Thaniras Elf fleet got another run last weekend with a small 400 point battle against the mighty Iron Dwarves. Things started off really well when I managed to engage the three dwarven cruisers on their own with almost my entire fleet. It all went pear-shaped from there as the Gods of Dice deserted me and the dwarven flame-throwing Belcher submarines got close enough to engage. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty!

Witnessing a game of Inquisitor last Sunday has inspired me to resume work on converting my Grey Knight model, after more years than I care to admit of ignoring it. The image below is a work in progress - well, it was going to be the final product, but then I got ambitious and decided to rip his hands off and try and model a nemesis force halberd... I'm also not 100% happy with the way the book on the chestplate turned out. We'll have to wait and see how it goes...

Another parcel from Forge World just arrived containing the Renegade Psykers and Nurgle Chaos Marine Sorcerer. I might have to put the Grey Knight on hold and resume modelling Plague Zombies to finish the psyker battle squad for the Renegade Guard army now that the daemonhost leading it has arrived. Or maybe I should just finish one thing before returning to the other - there's likely another Inquisitor game next meeting, so I need to get him finished and painted!

I'm getting keen to have another game of FoG too, so I've been concentrating on continuing with the Teutonic Order army during my lunch breaks at work. It really is a pain in the arse painting white, but after if I get all the Order models finished first, I'll be able to relax with the native rabble to finish the army off. Also, I may be able to at least borrow some miniatures for a game or two if I have the distinctive core elements all done...

Until next time...

Slow Going

I've been chopping and changing a lot this week. Unfortunately no models completed (gasp!), but I have returned to a number of old(er) projects:

• Continued painting Dark Angels Rhino (WH40K)
• Glued together a Renegade Militia Heavy Weapon Team and converted some Plague Zombies for the Battle Psyker Squad (WH40K)
• Started painting another Cobra Cruiser and a Phoenix Battleship for my Thaniras Elves fleet (TUS)
• Constructed four six more tiles for my modular terrain board.

Reading the Battle Missions book (WH40K) and re-reading Siege of Vraks, Volume 1 has given me some inspiration to make more terrain. Four of the new terrain tiles I made are trench tiles, making enough for a single defensive trench line to stretch across the width of the game board when playing length-wise. This should add a little spice variation to our games in the future!

The renegade milita conversion set left me with a lot of spare Cadian guardsmen bodies, and these are coming in nice and handy for the Plague zombies that will make up the numbers in my psyker battle squad. I've ordered the rather cool renegade psyker pack from Forge World that'll provide me with a suitable model for a daemonhost to lead the pack of living dead into battle.

Re-focusing my efforts into The Uncharted Seas for the club meeting next weekend has necessitated the removal of the Inquisitor models from my painting table. This is probably a good thing, as I have renewed enthusiasm for completing the conversion of the Space Marine miniature for Inquisitor into a Grey Knight, and that wasn't something I wanted to rush!

Well - TUS is top of my priority list at the moment, and I really should make a final decision on which FoG army to use at Lionheart in May. Teutonic Order versus Muromachi Japanese versus Nikephorian Byzantine (tried and tested - and very little left to paint to make the army viable!). Decisions, decisions...

Angelus Acerbus

The end of this week heralded a change of direction:

• Completed painting two Teutonic Order Sub-commanders (FoG).
• Started painting one Dark Angels Rhino APC (WH40K).
• Undercoated six more Dark Angels Tactical Marines (WH40K) and glued together a unit of five Dark Angels Scouts.

The resurgent interest in Warhammer 40,000 in our group has given me some more incentive to get some progress done on my Dark Angels army. Completion of the Rhino and marines listed above will enable me to field a complete 500 point army to get the troops gamed with.

I picked up a copy of the Battle Missions book for WH40K on the weekend, and I like it (with a couple of notable exceptions). For the most part the various missions seem to be a variation in one form or another of the different combinations available in the main rulebook. However, each includes its own variant on victory conditions and a special rule or two to add a little spice to the game. I think most of them are well done and will add some interesting tactical challenges to our games.

The Uncharted Seas is looking likely for the next meeting, and a suggestion of slightly larger games means I will once more need to alter my planned painting schedule to squeeze in a few more ships. My enthusiasm for Inquisitor is waning a little - maybe I'll give it a miss this time and see how well it gets taken up by our group. I have got to start rationalising what I paint!

I've had a brief scan of my Painting Tally (left), and it seems this blog is at least achieving its primary stated aim: get me painting more models! I think I have probably painted more figures in the first two months of this year than I did in the entirety of 2009. Just need to ensure I keep the momentum going...