The Pale Olympics, More Angels of Absolution, and Thoughts on the Rumor Mill

A couple of weeks ago a friend of ours issued a hobby challenge. It was put to us that we should commit to painting one or more of our hobby projects by the end of August. Those more ambitious than I committed to painting things like a unit of 48 High Elves, an entire Khador 50 point Warmachine Force (I think that's big for Warmachine, I'm not 100% certain), and some madman committed to 100 models... In a month and a half. I, being either pathetic, or a realist, or both, committed to painting a Librarian for my Angels of Absolution - a model that was already started. Yeah, I'm a real go-getter.

This is a fraction of Aaron's Phoenix Guard. The 48 Sea Guard he intends to paint will be similar to these. 48? Really? Go Aaron!

I actually really like challenges like these because they give us deadlines or push us to get something accomplished in our hobby. Like most miniature wargamers, my collection of models far exceeds my available time to paint all of them. I've slowed down considerably with purchasing models but I still can't seem to catch up. Regardless, my primary source of challenge and inspiration has always been fellow 2ndCityWarzone blogger, Scott. He paints at a similarly slow rate and churns out a fantastic finished product, but after 2 or 3 years of kicking my ass in our yearly painting race, he chose to sit this year out to focus on another one of his hobbies - comic art.

The middle set of panels is awesome. I think Scott captured the  reaction s with both accuracy and humor. Great job Scott!

Anyway, this hobby challenge through the end of August has been dubbed "The Pale Olympics" which would be suitably titled for those endeavoring to paint 50-100 models. Personally, I already have wicked tan lines and not the highest expectations for my hobby time. We'll see. That being said I did make some progress on the model in question. Nothing significant enough on the main body to post, but on his gun arm? Yes, indeed.

Librarian Arm

Pictured above is my Librarian's arm. I wish I had gotten a better picture. The shoulder pad is one of the white metal shoulder pads that you could order as bitz in the early 2000's. I added the horns using green stuff to turn it into the classic Librarian design. The picture unfortunately doesn't show that there are actually washes of Devlan Mud and Thrakka Green to give it a more archaic look.The gold on the shoulder pad and pistol both have multiple washes as well. I kind of want to paint a pattern on the upper portion of the bolt pistol to make it even more of a pistol for a leader but it's so small. I really need to weigh whether the end result will be worth it.

The other day I posted this picture showing the assorted bits for this particular Tactical Marine with Flamer:

As you can see I paint everything a bit at a time. I find it much harder to get at areas when models are completely assembled and I'll get frustrated and break them apart anyway to get at the details I can't reach otherwise.

This is that Tactical Marine today:

Front view. Is it me our are Flamers huge compared to the rest of the model?

Straight on view. As you can see in both pics, the knee pads are currently blank and the shoulder pads have been left off for the moment.

That leads me to discussing the rumor mill surrounding 40K. I remember when I'd troll Warseer endlessly for posts from Brimstone (RIP), Harry, and Hastings for the latest bits and blurbs on what was going on behind the scenes at GW. Eventually BoLS came along and started reposting all the best rumors to their blog without me having to sift through 39 page threads scanning for that distinctive Pie avatar of Harry or the devilish visage that was Brimstone (before he passed away.) Now the entity that is BoLS aren't as immersed as they once were so they have other bloggers in charge of rumor mongering and they hype up the rumors they receive for a couple of days before they drop them with the intent of generating traffic for their blogs. Basically, there's a lot more hoopla and showmanship to rumors than there once was. Brimstone would often save a gem of a rumor for a holiday but otherwise there wasn't a whole lot of knowledge hording. I also didn't feel as though there was as much speculation posted as fact. The rumor mill has been rife with Chaos Space Marine rumors and there was widespread insistence that the Codex was going to drop this month. There were even people in the know saying September and others tried to say this was not the case. But people are so impatient that as soon as someone said it was coming sooner rather than later, GW must have had some sort of problem and suddenly people are mad at GW because they have somehow screwed over their fan base AGAIN. I just want to point out that: 1) They are rumors. Until a New Release schedule or a new WD drops, nothing is delayed. Something that has not been announced cannot be delayed, because as far as you truly know, it does not exist, and thus, no one is screwing you over. 2) The rumors for months have been that Chaos Daemons were going to be released at the end of this summer. Then people tried to shoehorn in new flyers, and then they tried to shoehorn in Codex: Chaos Legions. Normally by now we would have at least had a picture of the codex cover if not a a glimpse of one of the impending models. The rush of rumors on their rules just started to flood in. That usually means we still have another month to go. So why would anyone assume there has been a "delay" when it doesn't hold up to precedent. Wishful thinking does not qualify as a rumor. Its just "wishful thinking."




There are people who have been trying to assert that Codex:Dark Angels will come in October. As much as I would love that to be true, I think the idea is absurd. We don't have any information on rule changes or new units. We really have no information at all other than that we will see them in the new 6th Edition Starter Set, which is awesome. It's about time the 1st Legion get some love.




I'd actually like to take a moment to wish list what I'm hoping to see with the new Codex: Dark Angels. Note, these are not rumors, these are my hopes, dreams, and theories: 1) I'd like to see synergy between the Ravenwing/Deathwing and Scouts much like the synergy between the Deathwing and Ravenwing. At the very least give Scouts Teleport Homers. The 'Purging of Kadillus' by Gav Thorpe really highlighted how these companies work together. I doubt they'll make this connection, but I'd love to see it happen. 2) I'm hoping that Scouts are moved back to the Troops slot, or that at the very least, a Special Character like Vet Sergeant Naaman unlocks them as Troops. 3) The Deathwing Dreadnought should be its own option with its own special rules. Everyone loves the idea of the Deathwing Dreadnought and the Mortis Dreadnought from FW, so one, the other, or both should make an appearance. 4) Considering none of the Space Marine flyers can be taken by Dark Angels, I can only assume that they will be getting their own cool flyer. I've been thinking about this a lot today and what would make a flyer completely unique to Dark Angels and necessitate its own kit. My theory is that it will be able to transport bikes. Crazy, I know, but the Ravenwing need to get to the ground somehow, and giving them a flyer, perhaps with an Assault Ramp would be mega cool and probably not overpowered when compared to Deep Striking Landraiders and the like. 5) I hope they bring back the Watcher's in the Dark concept or at least add some cool Chapter Serfs like in a lot of the art. They are seriously one of my favorite parts of the Dark Angels. 6) A lot of people are hoping for a squad on jet bikes. Though it would make sense for the 1st Legion to have such ancient technology, and it would give them something utterly unique, I'm not holding my breath on this one, no matter how cool.




Okay, enough blather. I need to ship out some Ebay stuff and get back to painting.




-Nick




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