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)...

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).

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...

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!