DreadTober: Armiger Warglaive "Patroclus" Audax TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

I have been so busy keeping the DreadTober blog up to date that I have neglected my own blog this month. If you are interested in seeing some more WIP shots of this little fella, check out the weekly updates I have already posted there! 

Overall, DreadTober seems to have been going well this year. The number of page views have been down in line with how all blogs seem to be going at the moment, but there is a solid core of contributors that have been diligently posting their progress and commenting. As I have mentioned previously, I would far prefer to have less views in exchange for more engagement, so I am content that the challenge has been getting out to the people who count. It has been particularly great to see some of my contacts form other 40K circles getting involved, particularly the 2nd Edition Army Challenge folks and some mates from Australia (g'day Dippa!!). 

My project this year is the final nail in my "Walls of Ithaka" coffin. This is a 1500 point Imperial Knight army I have been working on since winning a Knight Warden a while back. Next post I'll see if I can get them all together for a photo shoot. The Armiger Warglaive "Patroclus" Audax (or, "Courageous Patroclus", if you prefer...) is the squire of "Achilles" Aeternum, who I painted for DreadTober last year. He'll gain advantages from being next to the Preceptor, which creates a nice in-game dynamic for them that reflects their relationship in Homer's Iliad. 

I huge thanks goes out to Taro Modelmaker who sculpted and cast the resin sword and head pieces. If you are hunting for custom Imperial Knight parts, I definitely recommend searching for him on Etsy.

See you across the table,

Marc

Van Diemen's World Veterans: Heavy Weapon Squad TO-DONE!!!

 

H folks,

About 12 months ago The Trooper and I put a fairly big order into Victoria Miniatures to bolster his Imperial Guard collection (Astra Millawhatsits). I have been working on them ever since, in short bursts. I find Victoria Miniatures figures to be beautiful but challenging to paint. As a result, I hit quite a few stumbling blocks with these guys. During the last stages of painting the squad, I was spending 2 hours on each infantry model just to finish them off! That's why I don't collect Imperial Guard, I guess.

The autocannons themselves were completed a long time ago. They look a lot like Bren guns, a light support machine gun used by Australia in active service for a long time. I have painted the rounds with a blue tip to represent incendiary rounds (note also the blue stripe on the ammo boxes. The bases were done using dried soil from out near Parkes/Dubbo in central-western NSW. My mother-in-law went for a tour out there and collected soil wherever they stopped for me to use as basing material. All I can say is that I felt very loved!

See you across the table,

Marc

Ork Rukkatrukk Squigbuggy TO-DONE!!!

 

Hi folks,

For Christmas last year my son received a GW gift certificate from his uncle. After very careful consideration at my FLGWS, he chose to bring home one of these squig buggy things. The selection suits him so well! Over the past 9 months we have assembled it and painted together in short bursts; you canonly hold the attention of an 8 year old for so long. This holidays he said he wanted to finish it off, so we made one last big effort to get it done. 

It is, with perhaps the exception of my Imperial Knights, the most complicated model I have ever been involved with. Thankfully, my son is fearless and just got stuck in. I had a good chat to him about sub-assemblies, because I couldn't think of any other way to do it that he wouldn't find completely frustrating.

He is a very happy grot with the finished project; I can definitely see the impact Splatoon has had on his paint scheme. During the project I was constantly impressed and surprised by his brush control, he is just a bit ridiculous for his age. I helped him with the very small detail on the faces and squigs, as well as some washes (he is afraid of spilling the bottles). I did some of the checker patterns as well, he is still learning how to do those. Here are some final shots:

Hopefully, I can keep his love of orks going for a while. You never know with kids, but I think this will be something he remains proud of, even if 40K doesn't end up being his thing. 

See you across the table,

Marc

To-Do List 2021/22

 

Hi folks,

My new hobby to-do list is enormous, just like the last one. With most* of my 2nd Edition Dark Angels complete, I will be shifting my sights to a classic Legion of the Damned army later in the year. Legion of the Damned were my first army, so returning to them and giving them some justice on the paint table (hopefully) will be very cathartic.

My 9th Edition work will be focused on finishing off my Dark Angels Crusade army "The Last of the Plains People". I have a lot of options for that army as it grows, so I will probably be adding things to my list just as I cross them off! I also have a Warglaive to do for DreadTober and several family projects to work on. My son is still painting Orks with me, though we have had a break due to other distractions.I have just gone with the flow with this, because he is so young, but yesterday he was gazing lovingly at them and said he would really like to paint some more. Wifey has also been waiting for me to help her base her Necrons, which we got a roller for from Greenstuff World. That's a post in itself, so keep an eye out for it.

I have a couple of Age of Sigmar jobs to work on just for fun, we'll see if they can be a palette cleanser at some stage. That includes a couple of Warhammer Underworlds bands that I picked up during lockdown (supporting those local FLGSs), which I am keen to play on the tabletop when this COVID lockdown ends. 

With Wave 2 of the BattleTech Clan Invasion KickStarter (that's more capital letters than one would usually put in the middle of words...), you can expect A LOT of Mechs getting painted over the next 12 months. I am absolutely NOT adding them to my pile of shame**. 

I have also kinda forced my best mates into playing some Aristeia with me, which is an anime styled, futuristic, eclectic, skirmish, gameshow, tabletop, miniatures, boardgame. I have two teams from the core set ready to go, including some alternate models for Musashi (the famous samurai of legend) and 8-ball (a fluffy kung fu panda). It is a highly enjoyable game to play, so hopefully I can include some battle reports on the blog.  

Of course, there will be projects that jump out of the shadows and grab my attention; there is at least one super-secret piece I will be working on when it reaches me from Canada, which I am very excited about. 

If you want to check out the full to-do list, just check the side panel, it will be there all year as I slowly cross off projects!

See you across the table,

Marc

* I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.

** Oh Crom, please don't let any of these end up in the grey tide.