First Blood!

The Great Painting Race is underway and it was my goal to draw "First Blood" and get points on the board before Scott. I intended to make a dramatic splash but my aspirations were too big. I expected to drop like 6 points and do it this passed Monday. Instead it's Wednesday and I'm only dropping 3 Hidden Set Up Counters and a Space Marine Scout. Here's some pics and some info.

First off, last spring Planet Strike was officially announced and I was STOKED! I knew I could expect some of the unique rules from the old 3rd and 4th Edition 40K missions so I endeavored to make some Hidden Set Up markers that would look cool and possibly double as other types of counters. I rummaged through my bitz box and found some old Rhino bitz and I combined them with the rings that come in CD-R spindles. I've had these 4 counters sitting by my painting table for 10 months now? Something like that. Three are now finished. Despite the rules of the race being determined by base size - I'm no chump so I'm only claiming 1 point each. (Note: I still haven't played a game with Planet Strike yet.)

Now more importantly, I've owned 15 of the metal Space Marine Scouts since they first came out around 1998. They've been in various states of completion but I was never quite happy with them. Then, 5 years ago, the new plastics came out. Everyone hated the heads, myself included, but I still bought 3 boxes of them giving me another 15 Scouts. Up until today I had never finished a single one because I was never happy with their look, my early paint schemes, nor how the look of the current range fit into my "Dark Angels." So today I unveil my first Angels of Absolution Scout. His pants are Kommando Khaki to create a beige look that doesn't clash nor blend in with the Bleached Bone. I've used that color on the robes of my sergeants and felt that it worked very well with the paint scheme. If you look at the picture of the scout in C:DA you will see that he has a bald head and a tabard. I decided to take a bald marine head, shave down the neck, and use that instead of one of the standard scout heads, and I made my own tabard out of green stuff. Here are pics of the initial set of scout legs with green stuff tabard and then the completed AoA Scout.

Nick: 4

Scott: 0

Go Nick!

The Great Painting Race 2010!

As some of you may have noticed in my last post, I mentioned that I was the second slowest painter I know. I meant no offence to my fellow blogger Nick, but he knew exactly who I had in mind as the slowest painter I know. In the comments of that post I proposed a "painting race," and Nick was totally down for it. We quickly hashed out the rules and this is what we came up with:

Infantry(25mm base): 1pt
Larger models (40mm base): 2pts
Monstrous creature/ vehicle: 4pts

Models must be completely painted (including the base) and posted on here on 2nd City Warzone to score points. Models that have been started in previous years but finished this year DO count (After all, this is about getting finished armies on the table top).

Below are our opening remarks before the contest:

Nick: My hobby output last year was embarrassing. It's normal for me to get teased for how slow I paint, but last year I was distracted. I completed 3-4 Angels of Absolution early on and right at the end of the year painted 5 Skeletons from start to finish. I also added brand new shields to a unit of 20 Skeletons to make me feel better about myself and get them into my display case. I could try and lie to myself and assert that I finished 28 or 29 models last year in order to feel like I could compete with Scott's impressive 32 completed models when in my head I have trouble saying my model count was more than 5. My plan is to make a strong showing early on as I prepare my armies for Adepticon, and then keep pace throughout the year. Since he's going to be experimenting a lot with speed painting techniques - if he starts churning out models I may jump around to Undead, bulking up my Grot units in my Ork army, or completing that BFG Fleet!


One of my greatest weaknesses is that for every technique I streamline, I add something more labor intensive. I have a hard time wrapping my head around going "simple and effective." It always feels like a copout. My dad always loved the quote, "Those who run fast, do not run long." Despite the truth to that statement, I feel like my best chance in this race is to get a get lead out of the gate and then match pace with whatever he posts up so that I always stay one step ahead.


Scott: Last year was probably my most productive year in painting ever (32 models!). I've been a lot better about focusing and getting projects done, not just started.

For 2010, I really want to learn some techniques that will help me paint faster. I just got a cheap airbrush (for free, actually. Thanks, Art) and I'm hoping to use that to do some base coating. Also, I was initially hesitant to embrace Citadel Foundation paints and washes. However, now that I've used them a bit, I have to say I'm pretty impressed with how they can speed up project.

I really struggle with the thought of "lowering my standards", but I think I need to realize I'm not painting for a golden daemon, I'm painting to play with a cool looking army.



Keep an eye on this blog for what is sure to be a gruelling contest of wills, race fans!

Mike Hughes: Red Scorpion Rhino & Cmd. Culln

Over the last month or two my good friend and former GW co-worker has put up pics of 2 more beautiful Red Scorpion Space Marine models. Today I present his Red Scorpion Rhino and Commander Culln.

You can see full sized images and the rest of the gallery of Space Hulk Terminators painted in the Red Scorpions colors here:

http://s208.photobucket.com/albums/bb174/Verit4s/

Daemonettes and the New Year

I know I've been silent lately, but I have been working. As I mentioned in my last post, I decided to split my 11 member strong unit of daemonettes into two groups in hope of finishing them faster. Above is the first group of six more or less completed (with my test mini thrown in for good measure).

I was trying some different techniques with the gold and I'm kind of disappointed at how crappy the gold looks in these pictures. A couple of them look OK, but most just look splotchy.

Anyway, here is the whole unit with the unfinished models.



I won't do the bases until they're all finished. That way, I can be sure they're all consistent.

As far a breaking up this unit into two bunches, I couldn't be happier. It's nice to see results sooner rather than later. I was originally going to take a break from this unit and paint something with power armor (which I haven't done in about a year). However, I now feel encouraged with what I've done and want to hurry and finish the rest of the unit.

Then, maybe some power armor... or maybe this:


This is my WIP Herald of Slaanesh. It's just tacked together at this point, but I think you get the idea.

Onward to 2010!

Yeah, yeah, I know it's February and probably too late for New years resolutions. I do this every year for myself as much as I do it for you, so bear with me.

First, I need to learn to paint faster. I am the second slowest painter I know. I paint damn near everyday, but my results come very slow. I don't want to sacrifice quality, so I hope to learn some techniques that will give me decent results without taking years to complete.

Second, more games in this year. Not sure how I'm going to make this happen but it will.

Third, sell my condo* and buy a house. This may not sound gaming related, but it goes with....

Fourth, build my own gaming board. I really don't have much room for this right now, but hopefully when we get a bigger place, I will. This may help with my second resolution as well.

That's about it for this year. Wish me luck




*Also, if you or someone you know is looking for a condo in the Logan square neighborhood in Chicago, let me know.

UPDATED: A New Year and New Scenery

Before I talk about my own projects I want to take a moment to pat my compatriot Scott on the back. After looking at his year in review entry I went through every entry of 2009 that I did between my old blog, Redemptors of Golinar, and here at 2nd City Warzone. What I discovered was really disappointing. In the first weeks of 2009 I had completed enough scenery to complete an entire table. You can see that here. Then, over the course of 2009 I pulled all my models out of the figure cases, did minor upgrades to a few, and then put them back in the case. I'm pretty sure I only finished 4 Angels of Absolution and added shields and 5 Skeletons to a unit of Skeletons with Hand Weapons.

So not exactly the most prolific hobby year. In fact, I bought the Imperial Guard Codex, played 1 game with it. I bought Planetstrike and haven't played a single game with it. And I bought a Stompa that remains untouched. I really want to turn things around in 2010 and walk away with something to show for it like Scott did last year. Especially with having a new born midway through the year and having all sorts of other things on his plate, he powered through and really accomplished a lot.

That being said, what are reasonable goals for me to have for 2010? These are the things I'd like to accomplish:

• I'd like to get the Angels of Absolution to 2000 playable points. I have over 1500 right now and adding just another 4 or 5 models will make certain squads playable pushing me to this goal.
• I'd like to get my Tomb Kings of Khemri to 2000 playable points. Once again, painting a handful of models and updating a few units will get this army to this goal.
• Complete the Ork Trukk I've been working on for the last 2 years. This is my only Ork goal. I just need to paint the crew and do some weathering. It's so close to completion it really shouldn't sit like this anymore.
• Complete my Humboldt Park/Chicago themed city board. Last year I started the project of making buildings loosely based on buildings in my neighborhood and putting them on giant sidewalk edged movement trays to create an authentic yet playable city. A week of work and I can turn the work I've put in into a 4' x 6' or possibly larger board. I really think the end result will be very dramatic and I'm looking forward to it.
• Update: Run a narrative campaign that links a mere 5 games with the Nerd Night crew.

All that being said, exactly like how I started last year, when the holidays come around I feel compelled that I should be playing with toys, so that's what I did. Here are 4 new pieces of scenery I made to go along with the scenery I started 2009 off with.

A quick note on these pieces of scenery. The "concrete tube" piece was a piece of busted PVC pipe I found on the ground while walking the dogs. Similarly, the railroad track section was one of several railroad track bits I found busted in the alley while walking my dogs. The desert "giant thicket" trees are based around broom bristles from a beat up broom I found in the trash somewhere, and the pile of metal pipes - the tubes are from the center of a roll of dog poop bags. Recycling at its finest. Here's to a productive and fun 2010!

Scott's Hobby Year in Review

Here we are at the beginning of another year, and I couldn't let the year get too far along without my usual year in review for 2009.

Last year was a busy year for me personally. Some of you may remember, my daughter was born in May of this year. It's been wonderful to have a new baby around the house, but it's been a big change, obviously. Still, this has been one of the most productive years painting-wise I can remember having.

I began last year with two resolutions. First:

First off, I plan to focus on Daemons this year. I want to finish 1,500 pts by the end of the year. I hope I'm not aiming too high, but it seems to me that Daemons paint up pretty fast. Much faster than my Thousand Sons or Space wolves.

Wrong! For the record, Daemons do not paint any faster than anything else, at least by me. I am a slow painter no matter what I paint. I have just come to accept that.

Spending a year on daemons only resulted in me having two unfinished armies instead of just one.

And...

Secondly, I plan to work on only one unit at a time. Being a "painting butterfly" is a huge problem for me. For example, in 2008 I started or worked on at least eleven projects but only finished two. Now, I plan to finish a project before I start a new one.

This worked out really well, actually. As you can see in the picture above, I finished five units this year. I started three projects this year, one of which (the fiend) is one of the finished projects this year

No, five projects isn't a lot, but considering it's more than last year, I call that a victory.

Here are a couple "table level' shots of the completed units:



I give myself a "close but no cigar" prize for the unit of daemonettes below. They are pretty close to being done, but not until 2010, so I don't get six units for 2009.


So, what did I learn this year? First, focusing on one thing at a time gets results.

Unfortunately, the other thing I learned is that I get bored working on the same thing all the time. The solution to that I have figured out is working on smaller batches helps stave off boredom. The flamers and fiend are good examples of this.

I have now applied this lesson to the daemonettes I'm working on. I was painting all 11 at the same time. Now I'm painting six and as soon as I finish those, I'll paint the other five.

What's in store for next year? That's another post, my friends.

Magnetized Landspeeder Storm Finally Complete!

First off Happy New Year all. I had shelved this project for quite a while now whilst working on my new Death Guard Army, but since Adepticon is coming up I decided to play a somewhat crazy list for the Combat Patrol. I honestly don't know how it will do, but am looking forward to trying it out. This is what Im thinking at the moment.

10 man Scout Squad bolters (no upgrades)
2 Landspeeder Storms (no upgrades)
2 Landspeeders (in a squadron) 1x Assault Cannon upgrade 1x Heavy Bolter upgrade
400pts exactly

Figure I would combat squad up the scouts and put them each into the 2 Landspeeder Storms. Then just buzz around and try and stay out of range of folks, whilst still trying to use my regular landspeeders to take out my opponents. I could also use the Storms as mobile firing platforms. or just use them to grab last minute objectives. Serious, if I just move six inches with each of em... that would be 4 str 6, 15 str 5 (36' range) & 10 str 4 shots.. not too bad. but who knows, will see how it goes after play testing a couple times.

But here are some pictures of my finished Storm and scout squad...
















All the scouts are magnetized and so are the bases, there are some earlier posts showing some of the work.

As always would love to hear peoples comments, especially on this one, with peoples thoughts about my Combat Patrol list.

Cheers,
Brose