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.

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.

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...

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...

A Small Act Of Defiance

Life, for the last few days has denied me the ability to paint or do anything, primarily because I've been packing. But last night, I took a moment from packing to take care of a minor project and damn the torpedoes if the world was going to stop me!

I saw this:
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!

New Project Decision

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.

After the Veterans, I'm going to put together that Devastator squad. I've had it much, much longer. At least three years and probably longer, now that I think about it. And I'm going to do up some of the new snap-fits from Black Reach to fill out the squad with bodies. This is especially fitting since my other Devastator squads are filled in with snap-fits from 2nd Ed. I've ve been wanting more heavy weapons that are not heavy bolters and missile launchers for a while. Sure, this will only give me two more (a Plasma Cannon and Lascannon), but they're two more I didn't have before. Besides, I'll never get all my stuff built and painted if I don't get down into the piles and actually build and paint.

One last thought: I'm going to have to come up with a new way of transporting vehicles. I have always used tackle boxes for carrying my army and while the trays are fine for foot models, I have been using the upper storage area for vehicles. I have two tackle boxes and I'm realizing that they were barely enough in the past. I had to perfectly place just about everyting in order to make it all fit. Now there's no chance. I could leave behind my Land Raiders because I never use them anyway, but it still wouldn't be enough. Eight Dreds? Twelve Rhino/Razorbacks soon to be fourteen? Four Predators? Three Land Raiders? Five Speeders eventually to become nine? I need a new answer. I think I'm going to have to get some vehicle specific carrier for all that stuff. Or maybe just for bigger vehicles and leave the Rhinos in the tackle boxes? I don't know, but I'm going to have to come up with something eventually.