So Many Things!!!

And so little time, it seems!

So, I have a five man bike squad with lances, an attack bike, a Librarian, two Predators and a Rhinoback all base coated and ready to paint.  They have been sitting in that condition for varying amounts of time from three weeks to four months.  So the real question is this: how many of them can I get painted before the end of the year?  So this is the challenge that I'm setting for myself.  I will assemble and paint nothing else until I get all these guys done and off my plate.  Further, I will have them done before the end of December.  I will have none of these guys lingering on into 2013.  Heck, some of them have been lingering since last century...

Ever since I arranged my bits, I've had some more ideas and can actually find things to try them.  I highly recommend this to everyone: organize the bits box!

Some of my paints are getting a little long in the tooth, especially the ones I don't use all that often.  I think I may find a way to treat myself to some fresh paints.  I'm a little worried about this new line, but eventually I'll have to start using it anyway so I might as well jump in with both feet.

I also think my first project of 2013 will be to finish my Fortress of Redemption.  Just looking at it in its half finished condition makes me sad.  Just having it done enough to put on a table will be good enough for me.

I may also look into getting one of those Imperial Defense Networks.  Not only do I like the idea of having trench works, but I also want a couple of those Imperial Bunkers.  I acquired Aegis walls and I'm liking them quite a bit, too.  I may have to actually buy another set.  I gripe about GW from time to time, but their terrain is pretty freaking excellent.

And that's it for now.  Watch this space in the next two weeks for pics and painting!  There's work to do!

Lancer Sarge and New Acquisitions

So, I survived Thanksgiving.  Now that everything has been shaken out and is back on an even keel, I'm hoping to return to normal about the painting and modelling (well, as normal as I have ever been about it).

Well, well!  Look at you, you handsome devil!  The picture to the immediate left is my Black Lancer Sarge, complete and glued together.  I went with a High Elf Standard bearer spear because I just plain like the look of it.  I decided to put this spear overhand to make it more action oriented and flavorful.  If I had to do it all again, I think I would have chopped up the entire arm to make it look more like it's immediately about to be used.  But I got this done right before leaving for the holiday and, well, that kind of energy and time were not in the cards for me.  But at least I have more "flair" thanks to the other bits that came with the spear.  And another spear, too.

And then there are these handsome devils.  Remember my friend who gave me all his 40K stuff a couple months ago?  Well, he found some more.  I gave the Chaos stuff to my best friend and I kept the Loyalist stuff for myself.  Not only did I get the missing Vindicator here, but also another old school one!  The Lascannon Dred is a fun little addition, as are the Imperial Fist Assault squad and the Chaplain.  I believe they will join my Templars as part of my Eternal Allies.  I'll probably repaint the Dred.  With the Venerable I haven't assembled yet, that'll make 10 Dreds.  That's a good round number.

A while back, someone on the BOLS forums offered to send me a Dark Vengeance Librarian arm.  Well, not only did it arrive in the mail yesterday, but it also came with some Nemesis weapons and a couple other things.  Woot!  Since I have a (slightly chopped up) DV Librarian from my friend, I think I'll make some minor repairs and get him assembled, too.  No reason I can't have a spare Librarian, I think...

I'd decided a while ago that DA iconography will have other meanings in my Chapter.  Swords show membership in the White Swords, the squad led by the Chapter Champion devoted to protecting standards. I think DA wings will apply to bikers and their bikes and what not.  I think BA iconography will denote honors from boarding Space Hulks.  Since I have the Space Hulk Termies and they're covered in it, I think it will work out well.  I think I have a few other models with BA drops on them, too.

That's it for the moment.  Now I just have to wait until it's warm enough to prime my Sarge and a few other things.  Patience.  It'll happen and I won't have to wait until winter is over, either (more than likely)...

One Lone Devastator

This is a bit of a cheat, but it's still something I got done, so it gets a mention.

Over the last couple of nights, I've been rearranging my bits.  Noticing that I seemed to be running out of things, I thought it might be a good idea to organize what I have so I could actually, you know, find things.  Turns out that I have a little more than I thought I had and I certainly would have used some of them on my Librarian if I had known.  I also dropped $20 on some new bits and a special spear/lance for the Sergeant of my Black Lancers.  I'm glad I made the purchase and, truth be told, it was needed anyway.  It's not like I'm buying new sets and keeping the extra bits or anything these days.

Anyway, while I was doing my sorting, I found this heavy bolter dude.  His body and weapon were painted.  His other arm was not.  So I took 5 minutes to paint the little stub arm, mixed up a little JB Weld, and put him together.  There are a few places where the paint could be touched up, but he's not bad.  Definitely fine for the table on the day I get around to playing again...

Under him is the sorted case of bits.  Marines everywhere...  And a couple of Ork heads.  Don't know where they came from but I'm sure I can find a use for them.  Behind him are fourteen (count them FOURTEEN) Terminators in various states of paintedness.  They're  from last year's Terminator Saturday.  I've got a few more bikes to assemble and basecoat and Devastators I promised to work on, but I can't look at these guys (especially the Space Hulk Termies) and not feel the urge to finish them.  Heck, another Terminator Saturday could do it.  Not that I see that happening anytime soon because of my current schedule and situation now, but a man can dream, can't he?  Maybe I can do a few per night until I have them all done.  The other thing is that I also found the objective markers I started forever ago and kinda want to do them, too.

The real takeaway from all this is that, well, I'm totally schizophrenic about what I do.  I've still got Rhinobacks undone, bikes needing assembly and painting, Devs needing assembly, and now I want to add on this new project.  No wonder I have so much undone.  I guess, though, I'm doing something.  Slogging forward in a haphazard way is better than being completely stalled.  That, and if I'm doing what I feel like doing, I may have more of a chance to keep going and not burn out or anything like that.

But when that spear gets here, I'm totally making that Sarge ASAP.

Bike Librarian

 Well, here he is.  I started this for a painting challenge.  I have little hope of winning.  One of the first entries was head and shoulders above this guy.  I only had today to get it done after my daughters were asleep and my wife was gone.  But, more importantly  he's done.  Now all I have to do is actually do my jump Librarian and I will have an HQ of each and every type (foot, jump, bike, and termie).  I'll get around to it one of these days.  But, for the moment, I will bask in the joy of completion.  Not bad for two and a half hours, if I do say so myself.

Bike Librarian

Well, there he is, completed and built.  He's not exciting.  Well, sort of.  If you look really, really closely, you will see I sacrificed a Dark Vengeance Librarian to build him.  Not only did I use the force weapon arm, but I also cur off the shoulder pad to mount on the front and the book on his side to add to this one's side.  What I really wanted to do was cut off the force sword and put it on another, more dynamically posed arm.  I also realized I don't have a ton of time to get all that done.  I want to try to have him painted by Friday and I'm not sure I'm going to get that all done.  Monday evening I'm busy, Tuesday I'm working, Wednesday the family goes out for Halloween, and Friday my inlaws come into town.  Add to that that the weather has just gotten pretty cold so it's not a very good time to prime.  I don't think the weather is going to be back into the 60's until Wednesday.  I might be able to find a few hours during the week, but I really doubt it.

Oh, well, even if I don't get it done in time, I've got it built and that means I will get it painted sometime in the next few months along with all the other bikes.  I guess there's something to be said for getting it assembled.

The one other thing that this reminds me is that my bits box is very, very depleted of "flair".  No cruxes, scrolls, books, or a lot of other cool dealies and bobbers.  I had to really dig in to even find extra purity seals.  I may have to bite the bullet, gather $20 and buy some stuff on line or something.  I don't really want to spend money, but I guess I have to put some money to this hobby every year.  I think I've only spent $7 this year and I guess it's time to drop a little more.  Poop.

One last thing...  I acquired templates for a 3d printable item that is remarkably similar (but in no way infringing) to a Drop Pod.  Now all I need is a friend with a 3d printer and I might make a few...

Bike Librarian

Well, this is the beginning of the Bike Librarian.  It's a bike with a couple dealies on the other side.  Also stuck a book on the bike that he can consult while driving.  Note the improvised Psychic hood...  OK, cute, but nothing stellar.  I'm holding off with the weapon arm until I can acquire a force weapon.  It should be easy with the Dark Vengeance Librarian all over the place.  In fact, it is because I have one on the way to me.  I think most of his awesomeness is going to have to be demonstrated via paint job.  I'm going to have to figure out a way to replenish bits soon.  Oh, well.  C'est la guerre...

I also assembled an attack bike, but I didn't take pictures of it.  By the time I was done, I was sick of looking at it.  JB Weld is really good for some things, but the wait time for it to begin to set seems like forever.  That having been said, I applied a little bit to my lancers' hands and spear.  Hopefully, they won't come loose for a very long time.

More Bikes

So,  I got two more lancers done.  I added a few decorative bits and some weapons and now I think all I need is a Sarge and the Black Lancers will be ready to basecoat and maybe even get around to painting.

I notice that my bits box is running out of little decorative stuff.  These are the last of my purity seals.  No bangles or bobbles or cool little things to separate the special from the merely mundane. I'll have to figure something about that.  I may have to raid my unopened Tac Squad box for bits.  I sure never use them on Tac Squads...

That having been said, I have to also admit that I am crazy.  Why do I say this?  Because I was searching for something and ran across another Devastator Squad.  It's a new one so there's actually 8 heavy weapons.  I went through the bits and pulled out every other heavy weapon I have.  So, I think after I'm done with bike stuff, I'm going to put together every heavy weapon dude I can.  I have the unopened box with 4, these 8 I found, three heavy bolters (two of them are old Rogue Trader ones!), three missile launchers, and plasma cannon, bringing my up to a grand total of 19 (!!!) heavy weapons which comes out to four whole crews and three to put in Tac squads.  I'll need two of those teams to create Dev squads for that my current demi-company.  I also know that I have more than enough  to make another Assault squad and another Tac squad to actually fill it out into a full Company.  Many of the others will probably form the Dev squads and the Tac squad heavy weapons for the next Company I start.

Man, I got a lot of stuff...

Bikes! Lancers No Less!!!

I was looking at a box when I noticed that it had a few bike parts in it.  I found two Bikes that I didn't know I had.  So I resolved to do something with them.  I started putting them together and then I was inspired to do something more.  About a thousand years ago, I got a bunch of brass spears and other weapons.  Unfortunately, being 25mm, the other weapons were too small, which is tragic because an assault squad wielding scimitars would have been awesome.  But the spears were fine.  I never did my original idea, but I had come up with the idea for a squad of Veteran Bikers.  I promptly dubbed them the Black Lancers.  I had a set of black Dark Angel bikers from a friend.  I dubbed them the squad in question until I got around to creating my own or until or got around to retrofitting the old ones.  I'm not the kind of guy who goes back to older stuff that often, unfortunately.

The point of all this is that when I put these together, I decided it was time.  I'll give them some spiffy iconography to make them look more veteran, but I've started.  Soon there will be at least 2 more.  Good for me. :)

Hopefully, I'll be starting on a Bike Librarian soon.  I found a guy who's supposedly sending me a force weapon for him.  Part of me is thinking it's probably just a power weapon but I'll give it a chance.  I may have to make something up on my own.  In theory, I'm doing it as part of a competition and it needs to be done by Nov. 3rd.  In reality, I just want to get it done.  It's been in the back of my head for so long I'm a little excited at the thought of getting it done.

Bikes Without Bikers

So I cracked open the boxes and assembled the bikes.  The outer two are the old school ones.  The one in the middle is the newer one.  It's also the one I'm going to use for my bike Librarian.  That's all I had time for last night.  Hopefully I'll be able to assemble the other bikes and the attack bike tonight, but we shall see.

Which also reminds me...  I need to get my hands on a Force Weapon for him.  I'm not anywhere good enough to sculpt details onto a weapon.  I guess if I can't fins one in the very near future, I may have to try.  I do have some two handers I was using as relic weapons that I don't have intended for something else at the moment.  We'll see...

My Next Project: Bikers and Devastators

I feel a little like I'm cheating with this because I'm actually not done with my last project: painting vehicles.  I still have two Preds and a Rhinoback to finish, not to mention my instarted Speeders.  But, as I've mentioned previously, I'm tired of painting boxes right now and want to do something else.  So, digging in my undone stuff, I found a perfect target.  I've got four bikes and an attack bike that I got from someone somewhere  and three bikes that never left their original boxes.  I think one of those bikes will be used on a long envisioned but never started project.  I've always wanted a bike mounted Librarian.  I think now might be a good time to do that.  I also think that I might take this opportunity to redo my Black Lancers "Veteran" Bike Squad.  I might start giving these guys the brass lances I've had sitting around for so long.

The other thing I found (or, rather, ran back across) while I was there was an old school  Devastator Squad.  I've got some heavy weapons sitting with some of my other stuff so I think I'll put them together while I'm at it.  I'm sure I'll find a use for 8 heavy weapons somewhere.

I guess that's about it for now.  Tomorrow night, I hope to get started.  I think I can have them all done before the end of October, but I'm not making any hard deadlines...

Astramalleus Inventory!

So, the inventory has started!  After having taken all the pictures, I realize that my estimates of what I have painted have been a little inflated.  I've managed to add in things that I either haven't started or haven't completed yet.  That having been said, I believe my estimate of 13-15K is still pretty close.  At some point, I'll write it all down, and run the numbers.  But not right now.  Here they all are...

Good old tanks.  Pred x3, Vinddicator x3, Whirlwind x4.  Two of those Whirlwinds are actually Rhinobacks so good on them.

 More tanks.  Land Raider x2, Land Raider Crusader, Speeder x5.  A couple of notes: if you look really closely, you'll see that two of the speeders have assault cannons mounted on the sides.  I like the idea of the AC-130H Spectre; how it turns around the target, firing the Vulcan cannon out the side so it can maintain fire on a target longer than most air support can.  This seems like the kind of thing sited to the speed of Speeders.  My other note is about the Land Raider in the center.  The entire thing is made of plasticard and masking tape.  I bought that from a guy when I started playing 3rd Ed., back when there were no new Land Raiders and old Rogue Trader ones were going for $200 or more on the wild west that EBay.  I've only fielded it thrice, twice it died first turn, once it died to a deviation from that older Vindicator in the previous picture.
 

Dred x8.  Half are plastic, half are old school metal.  Note my now patented ghetto assault cannons on the lead Dred, as well as the converted Chaos hammer arm.

Assault Bike x5.  I've got a couple more in pieces.  I'll get around to them eventually.

Terminators x66, Termie Commander, Termie Chaplain, Termie Librarian.  I have many, many more waiting to be completed.  And one of these is a cheat because he's missing an arm, but it was one of my first Termies and, even though I have a replacement arm now, the army isn't complete without him.  The First Squad is the "Star Hammers" themselves.  I had a full 10 man Thunderhammer squad before they were cool.

Veterans x49.  Some of them are Vanguard.  Most are Sternguard.  As you have no doubt noticed, I can field an entire First Company if I want.  However, in my fluff, my battle companies' first squads are Veteran Squads so I better get some more Termies done because some of these guys shouldn't be there.  The "Sergeant" of that first squad is actually my Chapter Champion and the squad are his White Swords.  His (and therefore their) job is to guard the Company and Chapter Standards at home and away.  They are rarely together like this and they have their own personal Rhino a little further down.

These guys are special.  My best friend, who is twice the painter I'll ever be, painted these guys for me as a Christmas gift.  I've only fielded them once, but they're so much better than anything I've ever done.  However, to balance out his ability, I'm ten times more productive than he is.  So there.

Ahhhh, the Second Battle Company of the Astramalleus, the "Red Legs".  Tac x6, Dev x2, Assault x2.  Commander, Chaplain, Librarian.  The company is named after the 7th Devastator squad.  I've been fielding those guys for a long time and won more than a few battles because of them.  Actually, as mentioned before, the first squad should be Vets, but I'm not going to quibble about that right now.  And that Librarian was the first HQ I ever had.

 A Demi-Company composed from the Seventh Reserve Company.  Tac x4, Assault, Jump Commander, Jump Chaplain.  I've got more than Tac and Dev squads to fill this up once I actually assemble them.  Can't remember if I have another Assault squad to finish out this company.

Bike x10, Bike Commander, Bike Chaplain.  The black bikes are the Black Lancers, a Veteran Bike Squad.  In reality, I bought them from a friend who did Dark Angels, changed a few details, and called it a day.  I do actually have brass lances for them and one of these days I'll get around to touching the bikes up and attaching them, but not this week...  

Scout x5, Commander x5, Techmarine, Apothecary, Standard Bearer, Marines x2.  The rest of the dudes.  When I was pulling them all out for pictures, I forgot that the central commander up front is the designated Commander of the Red Legs, my long running, named badass Commander.  I'm not going to retake the pictures or invoke Photoshop, though.  There's also a reason the Chapter Standard is more like an IG standard than a Marine one but that may or may not change in the semi-near future.  And one more thing: I can't stand Scouts.  I dislike them so much I came up with fluff reasons why I never field them.  I picked these up somewhere.  I used to have Scout Bikers, but I think I used their bikes for the Commander and other things.

Transports!  Rhino x12, Razorback x3.  The black ones are designated for Veteran Squads.  A couple of these are Rhinobacks so god on them.  The three Rhinos in the back on the left are the ones that get me the most attention.  They're actually made of wood with Rhino parts glued on.  I can't count the number of time someone has been watching one and trying to figure out what's not quite right about it.  I have a fourth one somewhere, but it seems to have been AWOL for this.  That worries me a little but I'll live for now.

  

My buddy who got out of the game and gave me his stuff several posts (and over a month) ago?  Well, these are his and now my Black Templars.  I'll never get around to repainting them so they will be my eternal allied Contingent.  Besides, since Templars aren't getting any love from GW, they're just fine as generic other Chapter.  Tac Squad x3, Assault Marines x5, Scouts x10, Commander x2, Emperor's Champion.

And lastly, the Templar Rides.  Land Raider Crusader, Rhino, Razorback, Predator.

And those are the current battle ready roster of the Astramalleus, Hammer of the Stars, Lords of Besradine, Keepers of the Yada Yada Yada Blah Blah Blah.  As mentioned last post, I hope, in the next couple of weeks, to go through all the stuff I haven't assembled or completed yet.  That's going to be a much rougher task.  But after this, it's time to kick back and relax a bit...

Attack Bike and Inventory Ideas

Well, I'm certainly not going to finish all my vehicles before the end of the month.  Part of that is because, well, I've been painting a lot of blue boxes lately and I'm a little tired of it.  So I've not been painting as much as I could have.  Shame on me.

Tonight, I decided to paint an attack bike instead of another box.  I think this makes 6 or 7 of them now.  I'm not sure.  Took a little longer than I remembered, but not much.  I think I'm getting my painting fu back.  Well, maybe not.  I've been noticing lately that I have much more of a "publish and the rest be damned" mentality.  I don't care about a lot of mistakes because I know that most of these will never be seen at much less than arm's length anyway.  I'm less interested in "pretty" than I am in "painted and done with".  I guess that's always been the great strength and secret of my army: even though I have some nice minis, most people like to play against it because it's painted and uniform.  How many people can boast a painted 15K+ army?  Not many, I think.

In line with my curiosity about how many attack bikes I have, I think it's about time to pull everything out and look at it.  I'm not even entirely sure what all I have anymore.  I have some good guesses, but I'm not entirely sure.  Besides, when I see chapter elements incomplete (I'm probably two or three squads shy of three companies [and one of those is the Termie quad that will complete my Terminator Company]), I get inspired to actually complete them.  I already know that I have a couple of Dev squads that need doing to fill in a company.  I'll probably put the unpainted Predators and Rhinoback on hold for a while...  There's a small chance that I've already made a dent in a fourth company.  Yeah, I think I'll whip it all out in the next few days.  Of course, I'll post pics.  Not often I have it all out for viewing.  I may even pull out my new allied Templar force.  It's probably good for a thousand points on its own.  And once I have that done, I may try to take an inventory of what I have unpainted.  I've never done that.  And I know I could make an entire new Marine army with the stuff I haven't painted yet.

Most importantly, when am I going to find the time to do all this?

Vindicator and Attack Bike Touch-Up

Alright, the second Vindicator is done.  Took me long enough, right?  It's only been two weeks since the last one.  Actually, I did most of this Vindie last week, but didn't feel like getting back to it.  So, I guess this means that I won't have all my vehicles done by the end of the month.  At least, not unless the wife and kids disappear for a week...

As for the attack bike, well, I noticed that I had never gotten around to painting the multi-melta.  So I did.  It's a bit of a rush job, but it's good enough.  With the others, you wouldn't even notice the rushed nature of it.

My best friend got three Dark Vengeance box sets.  I must say that the Chaos stuff they have in it is pretty freaking good.  Not all that jazzed about the Dark Angel stuff, but I have more than enough infantry so no big deal there.  The important thing is that he gave me one of the mini-rulebooks.  Awesome.  Nothing beats having dead trees in your hands.

Lastly, it occurs to me that one day I'm going to have to replace my paints.  I do not look forward to that day, thanks to the new paints.  I find it hilarious that neither Calgar Blue nor Guilliman Blue are good old fashioned Ultramarine Blue.  No, that honor goes to Altdorf Blue.  Altdorf?  Is that some kind of Fantasy crap?  Not a clue.  But it is dumber than the proverbial sack full of hammers.

Vindicator

Well, that's one Vindicator down, one Vindicator left to go.  It's funny, but I don't remember these things taking so long to paint.  I've been noticing that for the last few weeks.  I assumed, at first, that I was just out of practice.  Now I'm starting to think that maybe the greater detail is causing me to be more...careful about what I'm painting.  Or perhaps it's a combination of the two.  Either way, this one take took me most of a day.  Bit of a shame, really.  I had been hoping to get more done.  That and I've got quite a bit left to do.  I've still got a Vindicator, two Preds and another Rhino-Back, not even to mention multiple Speeders and a Dred or two.  At this rate, I might not even have my vehicles done until the end of September.

Note to self: don't acquire any more vehicles in the next month (Though, who am I kidding, because I don't think that's going to happen and not that I'm going to turn down anything anyone just decides to give me).

Veteran "Rhino-back"

The Veteran "Rhino-Back" (as I believe I will now call them) has been completed.  Nothing special here; just highlighted the raised bits and corners, painted the special doo-dads I attached to it in the first place and that's pretty much it.  With removable top plate (shown above) it's ready for action as soon as I put one of many Rhino doors or Razorback weapons on.

One minor aside, but something I thought worthy of mention in a weblog of this type.  A few days ago, I showed my 3-year-old daughter that I paint and what I paint.  She found it interesting enough that the next day, we (her, my 21-month-old, and I) had art time together, them coloring in their sketchbooks, me paint this bad boy.  The jury is still out on whether I want to attempt such a thing again.  Though they like art time, they get bored fairly quickly and the older one kept wanting to get into my brushes and paints and whatnot.  Fun time was had by all, but I'm not sure I want to join them in Art Time again quite yet.  We shall see.  I do not foresee painting again until this weekend, however I think real progress will be had since the kids will be visiting their grandparents and my wife wants to spend a sizable amount of time writing.  Guess I'll just have to start painting that Vindicator...  Actually, I think I'll base the other Vindicator tonight and tomorrow and work on them both at the same time.

"Whirlwinds"

So, I got the launchers finished and another frame done.  Did another set of top doors.  This means that I have two Whirlwinds that are ready to do double duty as Rhinos or Razorbacks.  W00T!

I will also say this: I'm really liking the wet palette I made.  It's a little annoying how the paper in it rolls up, but it's been quite useful.  I'm glad I've got it now.

My only other thought for the moment is that I've been looking at my paints and they have been a little wanting.  No more, though.  Five drops of water and some vigorous shaking seems to do the trick for bringing them back.  Considering their age (2-3 years with 1.5 years in storage), they're turning out pretty good.  It also is a testament to the paint pots.  From what I understand the paints in black fliptops and the old school Citadel fliptops will last forever.  On the other hand, I was given a Warhammer paint set a week ago with all screwtop pots.  They were all in terrible shape.  Just tossed the entire thing.

Oh, well.  Time to call it a day for now.  If I can find some more time this weekend, I may try that Veteran Rhino.  If not, it can wait.  I'm happy with my progress at the moment...

Rhino Frame and Top Plates

Holy crap!  Does this mean that I actually applied pigment to plastic?  Why, yes it does! 

So, I got one frame about 95% painted.  All I have to do is paint some chapter symbols and do a little highlighting.  I also drybrushed a top door so I can run it as a Rhino, and painted two weapon mount panels so I can run it as a Razorback, Whirlwind, or sponsonless Predator.  I think this weekend I will paint up my Whirlwind launchers and see if I can get another frame done.  Then I think I will be cooking with gas!  That would just leave me with, what, five more to paint?  One will be easy.  I have it doled up with bits to be a Veteran Rhino/Razorback.  Since my Veteran stuff is black, all I really have to do is paint appropriate black top plates so I can switch between the two, paint details and flair, and highlight.  Heck, with luck, I might even be able to squeeze that one in, too.

That, and it felt good to just paint again.  There have been a lot of things in my life that have kept me from doing it.  Even if I had the time, I've suffered from an overabundance problem.  I have more than enough painted to play almost any size game so it is difficult for me to get myself to paint more stuff.  That's why I have three or four speeders unpainted for almost a decade.  I already have 5 painted.  How many more do I need?  When I first started out, I decided I would acquire/paint enough so that I could field whatever gonzo type of army I wanted to field.  Of course, that was three editions and twelve (?) years ago.  I'm now a little short on some things (Vindicators) and quite long on others (Tac squads, Vet squads, Assault squads).  But as long as I have stuff, I'm going to paint.  I may take year long breaks, but painting never stops.  Not as far as I'm concerned.

Vindicator and Based Vehicles

Look at all those Rhino Frames!

So, i assembled my last Vindicator tonight.  Nothing special there.  Over the last few days, I've been basecoating all the other stuff I've built over the last couple of weeks.  Not pictured here, but soon to be added to the pile, are two Rhino frames I basecoated forever ago (at least two years).  One of them is rigged up as a Veteran Rhino/Razorback, but has never been finished.  The other is meant to be a convertible Whirlwind.  I've got two Whirlwind launchers also so they'll be painted along with the others.

Most importantly, I believe that covers all my Rhino frames.  Once I paint these, I'll have no more tanks to build or paint.  So, I think, after I'm done with these, I'm going to go on to the four or five speeders I've had sitting around for more than a decade.  Jeebus willin' an' the crick don' rise, I will actually apply pigment to miniatures this weekend.

On a slightly different thought, I know that Games Workshop is coming out with new paint pots and new colors.  I have no doubt that they will have some approximation of Ultramarine Blue, but there's a little part of me that is afraid that they won't.  Stupid, I know since the boys in blue are one of the most important armies in the game, but these are the things you think about when you're me...

Predator and Vindicator

Well, I didn't get as much done as I might have wanted this weekend.  Turns out that one of the three Vindicators that come with the Linebreaker Squadron isn't there.  My friend who gave it to me might have traded it to someone else for something or assembled it and didn't have it with the stuff he gave me.  So I've only got two new Vindicators.  Shucky darn.

Got one of the Vindies assembled.  Also decided to assemble that older Predator.  I've had that thing for about 10 years and, for some reason, never got around to assembling it.  So it was time.  Since I just put the other Predator from a couple of days ago with Las sponsons, I decided to give this one heavy bolters.

GW's newer stuff has spoiled me.  I had a heck of a time putting that Pred together.  I'm used to the better designed, tighter tolerances of the newer kits now.  I did lots of metal dropping with those sponsons.  Well, not putting enough accelerant in the epoxy didn't help with that, either.  As for the Vindie, well, it looked terribly complicated, but was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be.  More time consuming, yes, but still easier.

This leaves me one Vindie left to assemble.  I also found a Venerable Dred still on sprues that I acquired quite a while ago.  I could assemble it for my tenth Dred, but I've got other things that could stand more work these days.  I've still got to paint all this stuff I just made, I've got based but unpainted stuff from a a year and a half ago or more, and I've still got those Speeders I've had since early 3rd Ed. to do something with.  And this isn't even mentioning the Fortress of Redemption.  I think the Venerable will have to wait a little while...

Predator and Two Rhino Frames

Geez!!!  I forgot how much a pain in the ass tracks are for new Rhino frames.  As a result, I only got the Predator and those two Rhinos in the background done.  I found my Razorback gun mount plates so those frames are almost ready for their double duty assignments.  Once they're painted, they'll serve as Rhinos or Razorbacks or Whirlwinds.  I thought about doing something similar so they could also be Predators, but I think I'll have enough Preds anyway...

Started today on an old-school Pred, but I'm out of superglue to assemble the metal top and sponsons.  I also found my Venerable Dred that I haven't assembled yet.  I think I'll finish up all the vehicles/armored whatnots I have extant.  Then I'll handle the bikes.  I've got eight or ten bikes in various states of construction/priming.  I also inherited a few Templar bikes and am deciding whether to repaint them or not.  I keep thinking I'll keep all the Templar stuff as an ally contingent, but I also wonder what the point would be.  Realistically, it'll be forever before I even get to them so I've got a ton of time to think about.  Besides, I'll probably be too lazy to do it, anyway.  Oh, well.  Hopefully, I can find some time to clip my new Vindicators off their sprues in preparation for assembly.  With a little luck, I can have them done before the weekend is over.  We shall see...

Yes, it's been THAT long...

Yes, it's been over a year since I have had the chance to paint, build or anything approaching 40K.  Today, that changes.  For how long, I'm not sure, but the new edition has got me a little more motivated.

If you remember, quite a while back, when my wife was away for a weekend before we had kids, I had what I termed Dreadnought Saturday, assembling and painting a bunch of Dreds.  Well, tonight is going to begin Tank Friday.

So a few days ago, a friend of my divested himself of some stuff he never assembled.  Among other things, I received a Linebreaker Squadron, bringing my total number of Vindicators to four.  I've also got two unbuilt Predators (one new, one old), a couple Whirlwinds assembled and primed, several unbuilt Rhinos (that are going to do double duty as Razorbacks), and four or five Speeders I've had since 3rd Ed. came out...  I think it's time to assemble some stuff!  So tonight and tomorrow, I'm going to assemble (and possibly paint) all this stuff.  I've got tomorrow off so I may actually get something done!

Here's to tanks and painting!