And I did something about it. This old man has been with my army for almost 10 years and a few years ago, his arm came off and I said I would fix it but I never got around to it. Last night, I shook my fist at the world and pulled out some superglue...
And now this heavy bolter is ready to return to proud and storied ranks of the Red Legs, the honored 6th squad of the Second Company of the Astramalleus! Fight on!
Remember when I said that I didn't think I was going to get any painting done this weekend? Well, I guess I lied to you all because I managed to whip out these two just a little while ago. Combined with the three in the background, I have a new 5 man Veteran squad. Of course, I believe in the glory of the ten man squad so, when time permits, I'm going to continue painting. 
One more painted veteran for the squad. For some reason I couldn't get a very good picture of him so I went with what I could get. I painted over him with chaos black like I said I would this time. I think he came out a bit better, but not much. I realize that what I need is to sit down with someone who paints everything in black and learn a few tips for highlighting it. I can highlight, but when I'm doing something as big as an entire model, it never comes out that good. But it is good enough for government work so I'm not too terribly upset. I just figure that I should try to take these opportunities to get better at this. 
Well, here are two painted Sternguard Veterans for you guys. I'll tell you a secret and I hope you don't all hold this against me. I didn't paint them black. I merely spray painted them black and painted on top of that. I'm also beginning to think that's why my black Veterans never seem to look quite right. I think on the next Veteran I work on (hopefully tonight), I will give it a good coat of Chaos black before I continue on. Or I may paint details and then paint on black to clean it up. And if I like the results, I may go back to these guys and paint on black, too. I've already got a "Veteran" squad to repaint. Back in the day (until about a year ago, that is), HQs got command squads and they weren't Veterans. So now I still have a Veteran Squad that is in all blue instead of traditional Veteran black. I should (and eventually will) repaint them.
In the meantime, while I was waiting for the Veterans to dry from the spray painting, I took a few minutes to do something I've been wanting to do for a very long time; I made palm tree stands. Many moons ago, I found that rear taller palm tree at a party supply store. I kinda liked the tree but it was $3 on sale and there were no others. I bought it with the thought of getting more later, but I didn't want to spend that much on each tree. A few months ago, I was at a Tar-Djay and I found a safari play set with wild animals and palm trees in it for $10. Yesterday I whipped out the cutters, cut the playset palms into separate trees and glued them all to cds/bases. And wait until I paint the bases and maybe put a little sand on them. They should look pretty neat. We'll see about working more on the veterans tonight or tomorrow, I think.
Well, here's the rest of the squad. Five more veterans that I finished last night to make a full ten man Sternguard squad along with their brothers in the background.. I kinda cheated with one of them. I used one from the actual Veteran set I bought long ago that doesn't completely suck as much. That was partially because of the missing backs from the Tac squad. At the point of this writing, however, all ten of them have been put under the spray paint in preparation for what needs to be done. With luck, I'll start painting them tomorrow night.
Well, I got three more done tonight. Obviously, I'm tricking them all out differently and not like standard, store bought Veteran squads. Why? For two reasons. First, These are some of the most experienced Marines in the Chapter. By this point, they have weapons that they prefer in a fight and gear that is special to them so most Veterans should be different from one another. Secondly, it offers a bit of versatility to the squad. If I decide that one of my guys has a lightning claw, well, he'll be represented by the one with the lightning claw. If one has a meltagun or a combi-plasma or a whatever, I'll probably have at least one guy who has one. I don't play in tournaments so having each and every model WYSIWYG isn't that big a deal to me. I also try to have a variety because of something a friend told me once. We were playing a battle and I didn't have any sergeants with power weapons. I substituted things for them and my friend and opponent said that with as many points in miniatures as I have, I should have some. That kinda stuck with me. I don't have many but I have a few now. And I'd rather have a few of many things than have none of something and have to sub my balls off to take the field.
Well, here are the first two Veterans along with the bodies of some of their friends. As fate would have it, I had a minor problem with the Tac Squad box. You know the back piece that attaches to the chest plate to make the torso? Well, the box was missing two of them. In fact, the same back was missing from both the two sprues. I guess the guy how sold them to me needed them for something. For the price I paid for them, I won't quibble. I went diving in the bits and found a left over back from a tanker. You know the one? It has a cable running down into the tank and no backpack. Simple fix: I attached an Auspex and now the cable looks like it's the power conduit for it. That's the one on the left. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the back so you could see it. The one on the right, it looks a little plain for a veteran, but I guess not every vet looks completely different. He's got some pieces of flair, but nothing overwhelming. I also decided to use one of my older metal veterans that doesn't suck too much. I want to get my hands on a few Dark Angels because I use robed veterans, too. 
I think I have decided on my new project for the next couple of weeks. For quite a few months, I've had a couple of Tactical Squads sitting around gathering dust. I picked them up as part of a large lot and the other things in the lot (a Razorback, Predator and Dreadnought) and since I have 8 or 10 Tac Squads already, they sat on the back burner. Since I'm thinking about finishing a 1st Company, however, I'm thinking about Veterans to fill out the remaining squads. I actually already have two Veteran squads but, because of fluff, I also have one Vet squad in every Battle Company. I actually purchased a Veteran Squad many moons ago (the Mark 1) but I don't like it too much. I just don't like Metal Veterans. Not only do they seem hokey and ill-posed, they always have at least one beakie in them and I just don't like beakies (there! I said it!) They should put out plastic ones that have tons of customizable weapons, heads, badges, dealies, bobbers and all that. Until then, I'll just put space bits on Tac Squads and make them into Vets. Which is what I intend to do. I'm going to build a Veteran squad and you're going to watch me do it bit by bit. It's going to go slowly because I have another painting project for something not 40K related that I want to accomplish this week.
On one side, the good guys, the Ancient and Glorious Astramalleus, the Scions of Besradine, the Sons of Guilliman, the Scourge of the Stars and the Hammers of the Emperor!
Why were we fighting? Well, I maintained that the Planetary Governor had gone renegade and was using the Planetary Defense Forces to try to shield him from his just and righteous justice. My friend claimed that his world knew a secret about the my Chapter and we were attempting to eradicate any trace of it by wiping out the inhabitants of this world. I'm sure that's what their renegade Planetary Governor told them!
He lost the roll so I had him go first. It was Command and Control with long side setup. He placed and I placed and chose not to seize the initiative. First turn, he advanced and I advanced. I fired off a few heavy bolter shots with my speeder and killed a Guardsman. It was a pretty quick Turn 1.
Bottom of turn two, my Captain along with a Tac Squad moved forward and assaulted his Guard. Unfortunately, I was a little strung out so I could only get into hand to hand with one unit. I killed 5 of his guys but they didn't run away, which was good for me because I wouldn't get shot up during his next turn And believe me, he would have liked to. If he had his way, he'd fire Basilisks onto his own men to get the enemy if he could. 
On the other flank, however, I moved out of the way of a heavy weapons team that popped two of my men with Krak and heavy bolters.
We continued the assault and the might of my Captain and the squad managed to kill them all...but one. 
How this lonely little Guardsman lived, I have no earthly idea but he did which was bad for me because I would have to spend my next assault finishing him off meaning he could shoot at me when his next shooting came up. To their credit, this squad did more to mess me up than anything else in the game. What a waste that capable Imperial troops would have to be used up this way...
Bottom of turn three, Of course, the assault was finished and I was aware that I was being anticipated on two sides. On the other flank, however, I decided to take the fight to the enemy. I went up the hill and decided, instead of pulling out pistols and risking not being able to assault through the difficult terrain, I prepared to lay out the glory of the bolter on these rebel scum.
I point at a squad and put a squad of rapid firing fury into them. And killed three... Some glory. I think this squad is going back to target practice when they get back to Besradine. But the IG squad failed its LD check so they fell back anyway! But that was little comfort because now my boys were standing in the wind on a hill being looked at by a lot of flashlights.
On the other flank, he decided to take the hand-to-hand to me. He brought up the Company Commander(and his power sword) with his Command squad and charged up the hill. They charged and killed...nobody! I counter attacked and fared just as well. Drawn combat and he didn't shoot me up. That was a good result for me.
Bottom of turn four, the Captain ans his squad needed to get to his objective. So I made a beeline for it and then ran four more inches to get closer. That left them right outside the ruin it was in and they were prepared to lose a couple guys from Krak and maybe some Melta. In the assault, there was a different result. I attacked and killed four of the five Veterans. He swung the power sword and killed nobody again.
So, I've had this one sitting around for years and today I finally decided to do something about it. The picture is a little dark but this is a Terminator knocking the head off of a Genestealer Hybrid. I put this together several years ago and every now and then I'd look back at it thinking that one day I would paint it and it would look cool. Well, it took years but I finally decided why not and just did it. It's not sexy and Golden Demon winning or anything like that, but it's mine and it's done.
So tomorrow starts something new. My friend who's got IG and hasn't played for years is going to be playing me tomorrow in his first 5th Ed. game. It's going to be a tiny one (500 pts) so he can learn the new mechanics and get a feel for how things work. If he's cool with it, I'm going to make a battle report of it. Sure, it's small, but a battle is a battle. And the plan is for this to be the kickoff of an escalation campaign between us so he has time and motivation to reassemble and paint things. I kinda hope he doesn't field a Russ but, knowing him, he might. On the other hand, the Land Speeder I intend to field may give him some pause...We'll play it by ear and see what happens.
Our other friend who is into Orks gave me a call today. He's really thinking about them and is looking to paint. This is the thing about this friend. He's a phenomenal painter. If he painted more, I think he could have a shot of competing at Golden Demon level. However, he does everything so slowly from painting to assembly. He has Ork and Eldar armies both on par sizewise with mine. However, between both armies he probably has 100 miniatures painted total. And now he has two more armies. He inherited a Necron army and, thanks to Black Reach, he has more than enough Marines to start a small army. When is he ever going to find time to paint them all?
Last night I took the evening off from painting, only putting away the Lightning Claws I just finished. Checking through my Termies, I realized that I only have three Lightning Claws, meaning I need two more to finish a squad of ten. More disturbing is the realization that I have 54 painted Terminators of various types and four HQs in Termie Armor for a grand total of 58 painted Terminator models. What on earth does one do with that many Terminators? And what about the 30 more that I have sitting waiting for paint, assembly or whatever state they're in? Eighty-eight Terminators? When I stopped acquiring terminators, I figured that I have a couple of Veteran squads already with plans to make more so 75 Termies with Veterans would make a good First Company. On the other hand, since I have 88 Termies, now I'm thinking why not just get the 12 remaining and have an entire Terminator Company? Sure, fluff doesn't support it since only the most ancient Chapters have entire Terminator Companies (I'm looking at you, Dark Angels) but at this point, why the heck not? Astramalleus fluff already has the first squad of Battle Companies being Veteran Squads of one form or another. Why the hell not?
Well, wow... How long has it been since I actually painted a miniature (as opposed to a vehicle or building)? So now I have 5 more Lightning Claw Terminators. I think I have four or five already so I'm close to or now at a full ten man squad. I also think this brings me up to 45 or 50 Terminators painted. When I pulled the unpainted ones out, I found that I had a done one in with them. I was probably using it as my reminder guide and forgot to put it back with the others.
Last night, while I was considering how my two towers from last night looked with walls, I found myself thinking about what foamcore project to do next, most likely another tower. However, a couple of days ago, I was remarking about the new Space Hulk and the possibility of more Terminators being out there and how Terminators are sorely not needed, especially by me. I mentioned this in a web forum and someone immediately offered to take the Termies I had sitting around off my hands. Of course, I demurred. Just because I haven't done anything with them yet doesn't mean I won't ever. So last night, while I was thinking about what to paint, I decided to revisit the Termies I've had sitting around for so long. I had based most them in black with their customary drybrushings in white and Blazing orange. Last night I took out the Assult Termies I hdn't finished (all lightning claws), pulled out the Ultramarine Blue and painted the details (helmets, hands, joints, etc.). 
Well, there they are , cleaned up and finished. Simple towers that can serve as simple bastions. I haven't set them up with walls yet to get a feel for them yet, but that's alright because I bet they'll look just fine. Tonight, time permitting, I may try to make one or two more.
Well, I got two towers built and mostly painted. Tonight I'm going to do some touchup work and black in the windows and then these will be great bastions and wall towers. Definitely need at least two more but the standing plan is for three more anyway.
Finally finished up the touch ups on the walls and building. Took me long enough, eh? Now they get to join the pantheon of terrain I already have. Apparently my terrain collection has had an effect that I never originally intended.
This morning I put some templates on foam core for planned desert terrain, specifically two story buildings that I can use as bastions, wall towers or just stand alone generic buildings. With luck, I'll be able to cut them out and assemble them tonight, If I'm really lucky, I'll be able to paint them, but I wouldn't bet on that. Either way, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
