I had as I have mentioned before been on a epic losing streak of late, however last night saw the turning of the tide (I hope). I vanquished Stef’s Trollbloods and won a game! But that win has reenergized me and given me some much needed enthusiasm for the Legion, so much so that I’ve planned out a painting scheme which in theory should allow me to keep playing while each unit and beast has its time on the desk.

So with that little ramble about positive thinking and the power of victory I’m off to the shop to marshal the Tyrants and see if I can’t get them winning some games.

It’s not like I haven’t been painting, in fact I’ve painted a lot since my last post – a hell of a lot by my standards. I think the problem lies in actually taking photos of said miniatures. I have dusted off the camera and over the next few days and weeks pictures will finally be going up of things I’ve been working on and things I’ve completed of the past few months.

So what am I working on right now?

Having recently taken part in the UK Masters for Hordes/Warmachine my Trollbloods have come along leaps and bounds. After finishing off all the models I needed for the event there’s more painted than need painting now, and after the rush I had to get them done I’ve decided to steadily be painting towards the ultimate goal of having it all painted. Next on the list is Borka Kegslayer and his Pygmy companion.

With the UK Masters out of the way I have also made a start on my new Khador force. I have some WIPs in the shape of a Marauder warjack and The Butcher himself.

Firestorm Armada has taken my fancy too, and I only have a few escorts and a carrier to paint and they’re done. These babies are nice and easy to paint so that will be a quick “bish bash bosh” to get those done.

Finally, we turn to Warhammer 40,000 – my old friend and also my oldest enemy. For years I’ve built armies, painted a couple and each time I fall down defeated. This time will be no different I’m sure, but as part of the local club‘s tale of gamers project and thanks to some great background written by Ross I’m putting together a Subjugators Space Marine army. This for me is less of a gaming project and more a painting project. I have visions on how they will look, I’m busting out some nice freehand on every single miniature and at the end of it all want to have something I’m proud of.

That’s about it for now, that puts me at 4 ongoing projects, each of which I’ll be writing a post about over the next few days along with shots of what I’ve done etc.

Now I thought I was good at the game and I certainly use to be fully versed in dishing out a good ass kicking…I wont go into the details but of the six games played I only walked away from two victorious.

This is no lament no no, please don’t think that I’m about to cry about my losses because each one taught me something new about the game. I met some great people and had some good conversations about the hobby and various other things, but what I really want to talk about is the fact that I’ve been bitten by the Tournament bug, big time!

So with a sizable Legion of Everblight force already sprayed (I have been using the excuse they are fighting at night to get around the matt black look), but here is my dilemma as I mentioned in my last post I really really want to start my Cryx but the horde of wagon jumpers between me and the shelves (despite the fact I organize and stack those shelves) is proving more of an annoyance every day as each time certain people start a conversation with me I’m finding myself editing my own sentences so as too not mention anything I might want to convert, proxy or paint incase its stolen away from me. (This may sound petty but stand in my shoes, not only do I have to see some one else do my army almost an exact match for my list but I have to see it done badly).

So as I said I still plan on doing my Cryx but as more of a painting project than a tournament owning mega list of doom! No I think the Legion with the fast approaching release of Mark II Hordes is a safer bet for a tournament win, now all I need is to get back on form and I’ll be well away.

But and there is always a but, this now leaves me with three major painting projects along side several individual miniatures that I want to paint, work, writing and sleeping, my schedule is pretty packed but I think I can do it! I pledge now too all you readers that I will come hell or high water post a WIP or finished photo every week, and if I don’t well then you can feed me to this bad boy!

The key for me to remember is that whilst I want to make my Draconic minions look amazing and spend hours lavishing attention on each mini, I have to remember these are gaming pieces. They will get knocked over, fingered by the sweaty Magic the Gathering players, hit by die and tape measures, fall out of my case, get crushed in taxies or trains (or planes), get sworn at and in rare cases thrown so a good balance between practicality and master piece should be good enough (although best painted would be nice).

My colour scheme is pretty simple, I want to emulate the style of the Privateer Press examples but also give it my own twist, so I’m thinking perhaps a deep purple or red for the Draconicly blessed beasts and solos whilst keeping the pale white flesh for the Troopers and Warcasters.

As I have a tournament penciled in for August (Two in fact as I am hoping to get down to Cardiff as well as crushing the regulars in the Blood and Oil event in the shop, nothing short of a crushing will do as I finished bottom half last time round), I had better get painting!

Pictures soon my loyal followers!

It isn’t the fact that no matter how awesome they are they get thrown back at every turn, I’m looking at you Games Workshop! But Warmachine is different, the bad guys turn up and bring the pain yes on occasion they get an ass whooping but the Cryx are insidious and even when they are defeated they are winning the bigger war – a dead soldier can’t fight another battle unless you happen to be a millennia old arcane monster of a necromancer.

This is why Cryx has snared my soul, the undead have always captivated me whether it be the zombies portrayed in films like Dawn of the Dead, Ghosts, Daemonic entities, Vampires, all of them get the neurons jiggling and slam my imagination into over drive so when an army of bio-mechanical undead minions ruled by a cast of near immortal necromancers, you can more or less guarantee I’m going to do something with them at some point.

Now my good friend Anton (http://toomuchmetal.blogspot.com/) , has been collecting Cryx for a long time and I have spoken to him on numerous occasions about the nascent urge to start a Cryxian force and he has given me some sound advice ‘Go with whatever you think is cool’. I have seen his armies and I know this might seems like an odd way to start a new force but believe me look at his blog and you will understand, Anton is a hobby guru and he knows his stuff.

Unfortunate with the recent release of the Cryx forces book every Bill, Bob and Dick have started a Cryx force (which has severely annoyed me as not only are they doing an army of the faction I wanted to but my some miracle of eaves dropping they also seems to be doing the tire lists I was intent upon), but I cannot let this put me off else I risk cutting off my nose to spite my face.

So I’m resolute in my decision to continue with my Cryx force, my parents very kindly bought me a Cryx starter box at Christmas and that is where I shall begin. After a lot of contemplation I have decided for now I wont be building a tire list, I know that the aforementioned Bill, Bob and Dick will quickly lose interest and move on to the next new a shinny thing so when that happens I’ll unleash the beast and tackle a tire (Also if they do move on I can buy their stuff dirt cheap strip it with the help of Mr. Cooper – Bonus!)

BY now you’ve realized that this is another massively wordy article that has been crafted with devious genius to hide the fact that I’ve done no painting…you would be correct so to make up for that have a look at this monster.

That is a Slayer, its more or less Ronseal in that it slays things…simple enough.

I promise you now my next article will have either pictures of my WIP minis or some finished work for you, but for now I’m going back to the drawing board to try and pin down a tournament list for the Cryxian horde.

Sleep well my friends lest I steal your soul to fuel my infernal machines!

Did you like that?

Well you shouldn’t have, my tainted mind long ago dreamt these renegades into existence. I can’t take all the credit some of that goes to Games Workshop them selves for giving me the nugget of inspiration; it was a single image in the previous edition of the Chaos Codex that lured me in and beneath it a single caption, a name.

Warp Ghost.

Now being a writer at times is an amazing ability (I say ability because whilst every one supposedly has at least one good story in them, most don’t have the words to write it), I took a simple name and turned it into a tragic story of betrayal and jealously. A tale of two worlds brothers of the same orbit and two men one the son of the savage death world Olos, the other a noble scion of the civilized paradise Nolos, a story that I wrote because of two words.

Now this is going some where before you start getting antsy.

As I said in my previous post I am working on a new Chaos army, having already lavished so much time on the Warp Ghost’s I thought hell why not I’ll turn my literary warriors into table top warriors, so I went on over to Bolter and Chain sword and knocked this little beauty up.

It’s a rough mock up of how my Marines will look, the majority will be converted in some way to represent the recently turned Renege nature of the Chapter. For example I have chosen to keep many of the Imperial Symbols on the models as they in the fluff relish the terror such blatant heresy invokes in the souls of their victims.

The first conversion you are going to see from me will be my Chaos lord or as I know him First Captain Oc’thar, I have gathered all the pieces I need to craft this malevolent individual and as soon as I have him in a fit state I’ll get some pictures up for you all to drool over.

But now I can hear the Scouring wind howl my name and summon me to glory!

The Emperor Protects…for now.

Ross

Removing Mold Lines

Often there will be “Mold Lines” present on the parts. This is due to how the Molds are put together whilst in production. Using a file these can be easily removed. If you were to leave these Mold Lines they would still be present on the finished miniature, and you don’t want that!

Washing Metal Parts

With metal parts, it is usually best to give them a quick wash in warm water before assembly. When metal parts are removed from the mold, a lubricant is used to get them out. This can still be present when you get your hands on it, and can cause difficulties when trying to glue them together.

Cutting Mat

A cutting mat is very useful to work on. It protects the surface underneath, so any slips of the knife or paint spillages are caught.

Brushes

Brushes are an obvious one as we’ll be painting, although which brushes to choose is a good question. There are a few brands of brushes out there designed for the detailed work you’ll be doing. Games Workshop’s range of brushes have recently been revamped and seem to be a good all round set of brushes. Army Painter have a range of brushes, although I’ve not tried them myself. Personally I have long been a fan of the Windsor & Newton Series 7 range, as even though they are more expensive, they are the best quality I have used. The important thing here is that you are comfortable using your brushes of choice.

Palette

A palette to mix paints in is essential, and the best thing for this I find is a ceramic tile or saucer. There are palettes you can buy out there but a saucer does the job perfectly, and most of the time you can use an old one for free! I’ve played around with “Wet Palette’s” in the past too, but still prefer my old saucers!

Water

An old jam jar is ideal as a water pot, but you can use anything you can put water in really. Remember to change your water regularly too!

Paints

Paints are another obvious one, but again which paints to choose is the question. Like brushes there are many choices. Personally I use both Games Workshop’s range and Vallejo’s Model Color range.

Daylight Lamp

As I mentioned in the previous section, you will need plenty of light! Ideally natural light, however sometimes you can’t paint near a window, and of course there’s no light at night time! Enter the Daylight lamp – or more specifically Bulbs. I have an angle-poise strip lamp bought from Ikea, and have put Daylight strip bulbs in. Daylight bulbs will give you clean light so you can see your colours perfectly (normal bulbs are usually tinted yellow and aren’t as bright).

Clippers

Clippers are ideal for removing models from sprues and removing unwanted parts. Personally I like Games Workshop’s clippers, but you can pick up a similar pair elsewhere.

Files

Files are useful for removing unwanted mold lines from models. I picked up a cheap set on ebay.

Super Glue & Plastic Glue

Glues are essential for putting your models together in the first place. Personally I like Loctite’s precision super glue and Games Workshop’s plastic glue.

So there we have some essentials. If you have any suggestions on alternatives for any of them post up a comment letting us know!

As you may have already noticed my comrade Stef has set out a nice series of articles concerning the basics of painting, starting form the very beginning and working through all the techniques you will need to become a MiniPainter your self.

I on the other hand prefer a less rigid approach, over the coming weeks and months I will endeavor to bring you informative articles about whatever I happen to be doing at that moment in time. Before you all wander back to Stef’s articles give me a moment of your time, I won’t bring you articles about how I have managed to get the DVD draw on my PC stuck or about the multitudinous mundane and boring tasks I perform during the day Oh no sir!

I will deliver articles concerning the every day hobby activates of your average painter (That would be me, this isn’t some off the wall social experiment were I follow some one around annotating their life), this will be anything from putting brand new models together to painting lighting effects or attempting the dreaded non-metallic metals!

So with this in mind I hope at least some of my haphazard editorials will be helpful.