DreadTober: Planning

Hi folks,

It is that time of year again: DreadTober!

I have participated in this community event three times in recent memory, adding two Dreadnoughts to my Dark Angels collection and a Carnifex for my Nids. My favourite has probably been the Dark Angels Deathwatch Techmarine Dreadnought I completed two years ago, which really stretched my modelling skill and marks one my first forays into weathering.

Last year I felt like I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, to some extent. My Dark Angels collection has a lot of Dreadnoughts in it and, whilst I do feel that you can never have too many Dreadnoughts, I am not in the mood to add any more at the moment.

The new Redemptor really doesn't do it for me and the Forgeworld Dreads are now phenomenally expensive; a Leviathan that would fit the aesthetics of my Iron Snakes would set me back $170 AUD. I would still love to get one to but dropping that amount at short notice just isn't going to happen.

I don't have anything Dreadnought sized for my Nids at the moment, having finished my slither-slogging Hive Tyrant just recently (below, now with 65% of your daily intake of gore effects!). I would like to get the official model for the Exocrine, but, for now, my Scythed Heirodule is a pretty convincing "counts-as". The guys I play against are not the kind to complain about this sort of thing.

Sooo, what to do...

How about an Imperial Knight Errant armed with a Thunderstrike Gauntlet and Stormspear rocket pod!

I can assemble an Imperial Knight and paint it in one month. Right!?

Knight Warden says "Yes".

Well, that's the plan! Let's see how far I get... If you are interested in joining in the fun, click on the banner at the start of the post and sign up.

See you across the table,

Marc

Tyranids: HQ Units TO-DONE!

Hi folks,

I have decided to swap my Swarmlord model for a foot slogging Tyrant armed with a venom cannon and the Reaper of Obliterax. I carefully stashed away the Swarm Lord's sabres for use on another model one day, hopefully with a super dynamic pose. With the Tyrant done, I now have all of the units I require for the HQ section of my 2000 pt Nid list, featuring the Tyrant, his Malanthrope attendant (Dr Worm) and a Neurothrope (Mr Brains).

I experimented with heaps of poses before settling on this one. It looked pretty awful with the venom cannon aimed forwards. The way it looks now reminded me a lot of the picture below, which adds a touch of irony that I find delicious:

Sadly, when I got around to adding some blood effects to the lash whip, I found that my Tamiya Clear Red had completely solidified. The first hot day of spring and it turned into a lump of crystal. So that job will have to wait until I can get to Hobbico.

The sword came together really quickly with a few glazes and a drybrush layer. I feel that I could have done it more accurately, but I quite like how it turned out. At this stage, I am more interested in getting things finished that working painstakingly on something. That can wait for other projects that I have in mind!

Next on my To-Do list of needs are my Troop choices, which will obviously be a big post. I have to admit that I am not looking forward to painting all of the Rippers, but they won't paint themselves; otherwise they would have done so already! Thankfully, a bit of pain now will yield a bucket load of Command Points later.

See you across that table,

Marc

Pathfinder: Imrijka the Half-Orc Witch Hunter TO-DONE!

Hi folks,

I had a case of the painting yips on Sunday and completely stuffed up a model, which ended up in the Simple Green pool of shame. I actually began to wonder if I was losing my touch after taking a long break from painting. To allay those fears I worked a bit on the Pathfinder character I have been using during our Monday night sessions, and actually managed to finish it.

Imrijka is a half-orc, so very strong in close-combat, and I have poured a lot of XP into increasing her wisdom skill, which improves checks to use her spells and magical artifacts. As a Witch Hunter, she excels at killing daemons and the like, as well as using blessings very efficiently to add to my dice pool. Her skills allow her to burn through an adventure deck very quickly, as long as there are monsters to kill...

I have focussed on collecting ranged weapons, including the Starbow; a Desna themed weapon. I find it pretty funny that my completely uncharismatic orc should be running around with this dainty bow covered in butterflies.

I have found some Swallowtail Braces to match and have one Blessing of Desna, which combines into a nice combo if I pick them up all at once.

As far as RPG characters go, Imrijka is pretty quirky, in an aggressive, artillery toting way. Let's hope that the paint job will improve my dice rolls with her.

See you across the table,

Marc

Final Tyranid Build...Ever?

Hi folks,

Yesterday I finished, what could possibly be, the last Tyranids I will ever build. To finish off my 2000 pt Jormungandr list I needed another 3 Zoanthropes, 6 Ripper bases and a set of alternative weapons for my Hive Tyrant. I will be fielding a sneaky Tyrant on foot, protected by 3 Tyrant Guard and a Malanthrope. The main reason for this is to pack as many of my snake-themed Nids in as possible.

Friday night was spent on the couch watching Netflix and assembling the Zoanthropes. They fit together beautifully, much easier than the bad old days of slicking metal pieces to my fingers (but not each other) and bending thin resin pieces with hot water. I opened up my new Swiss Army Knife for these guys, and managed to give myself 3 or 4 very shallow cuts; I'm not use to the sharpness!

I have loved every sculpt GW has released of the Zoanthrope. The original beefcake variant was so awesome in 2nd Edition, I wish I could have gotten hold of one. The psychic phase was its own mini game in those days and these guys used to pop heads a-plenty.

Come at me bro

The new 3rd Edition model was a stark departure from this design. It was based on the idea that Nids used the genetic material from other species to bolster their powers, so the Zoanthropes were composed mostly of Eldar giblets. The head of the Zoanthrope was decidedly Eldar Wraithguard in design, which I thought was a clever idea. I still use one of these models, with some extra green stuff for brains, as a neurothrope.

The next step in the evolution of the Zoanthrope streamlined the head and added some more bulk to it. I have some of these guys in metal and some in Finecast, which all required bending at the base of the tail. On a hot day they still get a bit droopy, but I still love the design.

I am really impressed with the new figures, they have retained the aesthetic of the previous designs with the addition of larger head armour and creepier mouth and claw designs. That sneaky bastard grin of the 2nd Edition Zoanthrope is back!

Once these guys are painted, I can't see that I will have much motivation to do any more Tyranids. I have a few armies to get finished, and then I want to get playing. After that... who knows...?

See you across the table,

Marc

2018/19 Hobby Season To-Do List

Hi folks,

Thinking about the year ahead, I can't help but feel it is going to be very different. For many years I have been focused on the modelling and painting aspects of 40K, but recently I have been getting the urge to play more, in all of its forms. I think this may be out of a need to spend more time with my friends. As a result, projects that have gaming as an endpoint have been looking more and more attractive. This has influenced my To-Do list significantly...

Three 2000 pt armies, a Kill Team and two Imperial Knights isn't too much to ask in 12 months is it? Thankfully, many of these projects have been under construction for a long time, but all require some kind of work to complete. I am not entirely sure how many models this is going to end up encompassing, but each model that contributes to a major project is going to earn me a "Minor" goal badge, so keep an eye out for them.

In addition to these 40K projects I'll also be working on some Infinity figures (XCOM themed Ariadna), Battletech mechs (my mercenary unit, Foxfire Company), Age of Sigmar (Idoneth Deepkin and some kind of Silver Tower character), Pathfinder (Imrijka the Half-Orc Witch Hunter) and two Macross Plus Veritechs; Isamu Dyson's YF-19 and Gold Goa Bowman's YF-21. The last two I am saving for the start of the Christmas holidays.

That's heaps to do, and I can see this To-Do list bleeding through to the next season as well, but I am going to give it a red-hot go. Red-hot like an overheating plasma gun.

See you across the table,

Marc