Land Raider Mk I and Battle Report

 Oh, baby...  Look at you...  A thing of beauty is a joy forever. :)

So, as you can see, the Land Raider arrived.  She's a bit knocked around and worse for wear, but she's beautiful.  The funny thing is that I have three Land Raiders already: a Mk2, a Crusader, and a scratch built one that emulates a Mk1 from before Mk2s were a thing.  I rarely ever field them, but I find it well within the personality of my Chapter to have found a Mk1 and brought it back to life.  Besides, Apocalypse exists for the guy like me who has four Land Raiders. :)

So whoever assembled her in the first place put the lascannons on upside down.  They both broke off, one with a longer stalk than the other.  That means that, now that I have put them back on correctly, one is a little farther out than the other.  Nobody is going to notice unless they look really closely, but it will always bug me.  I was also reminded why JB Weld is annoying as hell.  But, thanks to some masking tape, they were held in place long enough to properly set.  I even managed to get them on so they can still swivel around.  Good for me!  Now my big question is do I strip it or just prime as it is?  It's been too cold lately to spray paint so I think I may end up stripping it because I can't really do much else.

On a different note, I played a 1000 point game with a friend on New Year's Day.  He hasn't played in forever.  I haven't played in the new edition.  The game took forever and we both screwed up rules, but we both had fun, even if it took far, FAR longer than it should have.  Most things are basically the same, but so many things have been changed just enough the I'm not sure how they work.  Our new goal is to start playing 500 point games, each one focusing on a different part of the rules so we can (re)learn them properly.  The first one will be in a few days and will focus on movement rules.  The next ones should be shooting, assault, and vehicles and then any specific things we're having trouble with.  Hopefully, in a few months, we will be able to play a 1500 point game in an evening.  And no better time than the present.

Here's to new entries in the new year!

Honored Imperium Part 2

Well, I finished the statue and the little ruin.  I decided to go with the painted look for the statue, but I also decided not to go all the way painted, either.  I can totally imagine the zealots of the Imperium painting every square inch to make sure it's as "realistic" looking as possible, but I'm not one of those zealots.  That and leaving some of it actually looking like statuary reminds one that it is, in fact, a statue.  It was also pretty easy.  Broad areas not any super crazy detail.  On the whole, I'm good with it.

The Land Raider has not yet arrived.  I don't expect it until after Christmas.  Bit of a bummer, but it's better than not getting it at all.

I'm considering the idea of playing a mini game of 40K against myself to bone up on the current ruleset.  Maybe 500 points of Marines vs I don't know...  I have a Templar force that I can use as an OPFOR and do Marines on Marines, possibly using two different builds to get a feel how different units feel.  That's probably not a bad idea since I'm probably most likely to play against Marines, Chaos Marines, or any number of MEQ armies.  I think I'll try to slip it in sometime in the next week so I can actually say that I played a 6th ED game this year.

I've got a good handful of Tac Squad Jobbers started but not done.  I think those are going to be the next thing I work on.  I should also finish my Fortress of Redemption and maybe even start on my Shrine of the Aquila.  Or my 30-something Terminators.  Or my unpainted Vindicators.  Or unpainted Predators.  I've got too much stuff undone.  So let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Let's just go one step at  a time and, you know, get some stuff done while I have the time.

Honored Imperium Part 1

Holy mother of crap!  You guys forgot I existed, right?  I guess there's a certain amount of irony that my third post of 2013 is almost at the end of 2013...  Now that life has opened up some more time, it's time to paint!

So last night, I based an Honored Imperium I had sitting around gathering dust.  Tonight, I painted the Broken Aquila.  I figured it gave me time to decide how I want to do the statue.  I've thought about good old fashioned gray stone, but I've also had another idea.  We know that most statues in antiquity weren't bare gray stone, but rather painted in bright colors to be eye catching.  I'm thinking about doing something similar: gray stone, but paint parts in bright colors to make it look as if it had been painted.  Maybe the shoulder pads and the shield and the blade?  The chest should definitely be gold.  I'll think about it.  I don't think I can get to it for a couple of days so I have time.

I do have one bit of awesome to report, though.  So I ended up in contact with a guy who plays Eldar, but somehow ended up with a MKI Land Raider.  So I'm trading him some Eldar stuff I've picked up (I'm working on an ally force, you know) that I don't want, namely some Dire Avengers (which I would like, but are worth trading) and a wraithlord (which I totally won't use!) and I'm going to throw in some Guardians, too.  What a bargain for me!  He's already posted it and I'll have his stuff off in a couple of days.  Doubleplus good!  I don't really field Land Raiders, but I can't not have one of those old beauties!

Get back to you in a couple of days...

Devastators and Black Lancers!

 Well, folks, I've been doing something!  Despite the lost computer (and by "lost", I mean down and usless)!

I started assembling heavy weapons earlier this week.  Finally used the crouching legs I'd been holding on to and learned that many heavy weapons really don't work well on Marines in crouching positions. I still managed to produce a heavy bolter, multimelta, and two lascannons, all on the crouching position.  Add to that some more standing heavy bolters, plasma cannons, lascannons, and pretty much every outstanding missile launcher I have and I managed to get 19 heavy weapons built!  Good for me!


So a window in our really crappy weather opened up a couple of days ago.  So I thought it was now or never (at least for a month or so).  So I got out there and whipped out the spray paint.  I ended up missing a couple of heavy bolters, so that brings me up to 17 heavy weapons primed.  And while it was on my mind, I whipped out a few old school tac squad jobbers and primed them, too.  I still need a couple more and a couple Sarges, but ultimately, it means this: my Seventh reserve company will soon have two full Devastator squads to help fill it out.  That means I'm two Tac Squads (which I have) and an Assault Squad (which I have the parts to assemble) away from a third full Company.  And the extra heavy weapons for other new Tac squads don't hurt either.  Maybe I'll just hold back four of them for the first Dev squad of my fourth Company.  Woot!

Lastly, I got around to painting my four Black Lancers.  I look at them and think that I could do a bit more here or there, but I'm pretty happy with them the way they are.  I still have to paint the Lancer Sarge, but at least he's already primed.  I may start on him once I'm done with those Dev squads.  Either way, these buys are pretty close to being a blip in my decade looking rear view mirror. 

I'm feeling pretty good.  Several things are getting done, slowly but surely.  Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed by how much I have to accomplish.  Sometimes I get a little down because I have no earthly idea when I'm ever going to get a chance to put them on a field.  But, in the end, I'm creating.  And that's what matters the most.

The Hopes of a New Year!

After all these years, I am still naive.  I actually seem to think that I can get anything done during the holidays.  I was woefully mistaken.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I did get some painting done on the bikes, but other wise, I got nothing accomplished.  Poopy.

BUT

It's a new year!  Hope springs eternal with the thought of 360+ days to get some painting done.  So, let's choose not to look at what didn't get done.  Let's instead look at what could be accomplished!

Happy 2013 to you all and here's to painting and building!

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.