Weekly Hobby Update Thing #16

Lets continue the pic updates, shall we?

My first full unit of Bulls is (mostly) done. No tattoos or design on the banner, as I have no idea which tribe I want them to be part of. Im saving that for later... though, I might have to go back and paint their eyes now.

The Champion and Bellower.

The Standard Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar. I painted the shield pure metal, as Ive not decided which Empire provence they have been pillaging of late yet.

The Bulls.

I also did a bit of work on the Chaos Lord. But only a bit.

I am not yet sold on the idea of the red axe head. If I go standard metal with it, it will likely blend in with all the other metal bits I am planning on painting on him. Hrm.

Weekly Update Thingie #15

So, I was going to tell you what I worked on, but decided to show you all instead!

My Circle Orboros battle box is underway. I love how the hide is turning out. Still need to tone down the copper. It looked duller in the bottle...

Chaos Lord for my upcoming Black Legion army (oh, did I forget to mention that I am starting Black Legion again? Oops.) I plan to use the Space Wolf codex until the new book comes out, so this guy is geared to "Count As" Logan Grimnar... I wonder why? I really dig the "undersized" axe head. It looks so puny in his hands.

My first Ogre Bull unit, still some work to go, but I really like how they are turning out.

The SlaughterMaster and converted Battle Standard Bearer, in the first stage of getting their flesh painted.

Painting Table Update

In an effort to put off working on anything else that I should be doing, you get a post!

Lets start off with the Red Scorpions. Ive got Loth basecoated with a dark blue, and will be moving onto a lighter blue for the armor soon. The rest of the new Red Scorpions are still sitting in their primer. Ive not gotten around to ordering more shoulder pads yet, and likely wont until mid-month. Still havnt decided on how I will equip the last three models for my command squad.

STATUS: Slow/Stalled.

My Empire army is in a box, in the storage room. I got the halberdiers up to the white drybrush and lost all interest. I might pick them back up sooner or later, then again, I might not. Ive been looking at Skaven a bit more lately. I like the look, and the feel of the army, but I am still not sure about all that brown.

STATUS: Stalled/Dead

Black Legion. Ive got a Black Legion army, have I mentioned it before? Im sure I have... Its over 4k points of fully painted goodness, and has actually won Best Painted at a tournament I went to WAAAYY back when (when? 5 years or so). What does this have to do with anything? Well, I am getting my sis-in-law to take decent photos of it, then I will be selling it. I havnt decided whether I want to post it on eBay or try to sell it through the blog, or even though the Bartertown or whatever... Ill let you all know. Im planning on using the funds to either add to the Red Scorpions, or maybe something new. ;)

STATUS: Circling the drain.

WarmaHordes, Malifaux, and other games are starting to look more interesting, and with the Bunker no longer being the base for most of my wargaming needs, there is less reason to hold back. Ive almost decided to back-burner my Cryx, though I havnt decided whether to start Cygnar or Gatormen minions. I do want to work on them more now, though.

STATUS: Gaining steam.

Actual gaming... Havnt done any of that since the last time DT and I played WarmaHordes (which I never got around to posting about, whoops! Suffice to say, I got stomped!). I really need to get around to that soon, before we get another Snowpacalypse.

Online gaming. Yeah, I am still addicted to WoW, but Ive been messing with Blood Bowl more lately. Havnt gotten Legendary yet, but soon!

Or maybe not...

Yeah, I was planning on going to Games Day, but life decided otherwise. Between doctor bills, a trip to the Frozen North to see the in-laws, and unexpected car repair bills, its just not a good idea to shell out for the ticket, the mini (if you are going, may as well get it!) and parking. If people are interested, I can probably meet some of you at the Glen Burnie Battle Bunker for a game on Sunday...

So, doctor bills (this will get vaguely 40k related, eventually), I messed up my shoulder twelve years ago, and while I was in the military they never bothered dealing with the cause of the pain, just the pain itself... Well, Ive been seeing an orthopedic surgeon the last couple weeks, who actually looked at whats wrong. Im going in to talk to him this afternoon, and might be going under the knife sooner or later to make it so I can feel my hand when the weather changes (a most useful ability here in MD). Then there is my ankle, which is in a similar state of disrepair, from a different accident, which may also get some work done, maybe. How is this 40k related? Well, if I am hopped up on the good stuff, I will be unable to put together a coherent Top Ten. Think of this as your advance warning. It may end up being that surgery is not the answer and nothing will come of this, but you never know. I will likely have more news tomorrow afternoon.

In other news, Ive been looking at the Space Wolf codex, and considering breaking out my Black Legion using that book. I am just wondering if I would have problems if I were to take that list to the local GW... I am liking the idea of making a full unit of 5 "Thunderwolves" for $25 (Chaos Knights!).

The short list, shortened.

Alrighty, I had a nice list of eleven (or so) potentials that I was looking at, and Ive managed to gut it down to three. Gonna talk through them, maybe give myself reason to pick one over the others.

Black Legion Chaos Marines - These guys are in the lead right now, for the main reasons that I have a ton of them, and they are mostly painted. Any money I throw at them is going to go into the more fun to paint models, and tanks.

Imperial Guard - Ive also got a significant amount of Cadians, though only a few of them are even in the color scheme I want. There is also a lot of stuff Ill need to pick up, like tanks and psykers and more troops.

Empire - I actually dont own any Empire models right now, but Ive been toying with an idea for a Reikland/Altdorf themed force for a good while now. One of the biggest reasons they are on the list however, is that I am going to Midieval Times this weekend with the wife and inlaws, and I know thats going to inspire me to do something with horses...

Right now, the Cadians are taking up the desktop real estate, but Im thinking of swapping them out with the Black Legion when I get home.

Time for another one of my infamous random wandering posts...

Disorderly's Tyrant has a good post up regarding the game we played last Saturday!

On Sunday, Deo asked when I was going to start working on my Imperial Fists again... He didnt seem too pleased with my answer ("bleh, I hate painting yellow"), but he did get me thinking about it, so I pulled them out Monday morning and have been looking at them.

Since then, Ive also pulled out my Black Legion, and have them set on the table... Ive done a decent amount of work on fixing the broken models, and I even assembled a trio of Obliterators that have been sitting in pieces for a year or two (or more!). I did the math, and if I were to play a game using only fixed and completely painted models, it would be over 4000 points... And then there are the 70+ models that still need paint and/or fixing, like all my Rhinos and one of my Land Raiders....

This afternoon, as I was trying to figured how I was going to fix those Black Legion Rhinos that have lost spikes (simple answer, break off the rest of the spikes!), I got to looking at the Imperial Fists that were on the other side, and decided it was finally time to do something... So, I picked out all the heavy weapon guys with the metal guns and popped them off, and went looking for my leftover plastic heavy weapons. Im not a fan of the "hybrid" models, they love to break on me whenever possible. I found 5 heavy weapons, to go with the 6 models... Hrm. I actually think I have a spare missile launcher in the box o' sprues, so I should be ok. I might actually get them assembled this week, maybe. Im actually hoping to get around to rebasing another squad or two this week... once the based models are up to current standards, Ill get on to working on finishing some of the others.

Attention span? We dont need no stinkin' attention span!

So, lets see...

Black Legion was on the shelf, with more of them on the table to be painted.

I found the Emperor's Champion I was going to use for the Imperial Fists when they could use that model, and decided to paint him up for the Black Templars, and maybe even get some of them going.

I go digging in a box that I expected the BT terminators I have to be in, and didnt find them, but did find the Ultramarines I had been working on, and that light a pilot light in my head. Around this point, the Black Legion was boxed back up, and I put up the Smurfs in their place, along with a squad of Black Reach marines and the terminators....

Then for reasons unknown even to myself, I get to thinking about the Red Scorpions once again. Ultramarines are boxed up, and Red Scorpions are up in their place.

Thats where we stand right now. Will the Red Scorpions stay up there? Hopefully for a while, but knowing me, something different will get my attention sooner or later. Im half considering getting a marine tank this payday to work on, maybe as incentive to finish the dreadnought, tac squad and rhino still sitting there. Luckily they are fairly easy to paint.

Ive got a set of plastic space marine legs just sitting around, that Im considering using to convert into a Red Scorpions Librarian. I know he isnt a part of the battle company (which is my current goal, the full 5th company), but a recent conversation with Mikie has me considering dropping the Chaplain from the 1k list.

Mikie is of the opinion that Chaplains are cheesy. Yes, he used the "C" word. I dont see it, but rerolls for the assault squad are nice. So, in order to show that my list works even with different leadership, Im looking at either the Captain (who is slow), or a Librarian (who would be more flexible). I have to convert one, cant use one of the metal ones, for one simple reason: all the current models have bare heads. All my Scorpions will have helmets, and finding one of the older ones on eBay is a pain in the ass, either painted already or too expensive (or both), or I just cant find any.

So, my idea for that is normal legs and torso, greenstuff a tabard, toss a helmet on, and either do a hood like Ron did for Sarpedon, or fix up a plastic shoulder pad as a full hood. Maybe a mix of the two, somehow. Arms will be simple, a Black Templars power axe (converted up) and a bolt pistol, possibly with greenstuff tubes. Pretty detailed for a random idea, huh?

Mikie and I should be having a game this weekend, so Ill have to get a move on if I want to use it this time...

Stuff here and there...

A few different things tonight, sort of a head clearer for now...

A while back I mentioned my Dark Elves, 5 months later I finally got around to priming the models... whoops. They are now sitting on my desk, and Im actually planning on moving ahead with them very soon (either tomorrow or the next day). Still not entirely sure of the paint scheme, though I do know I want a dark metal look to them, so Ill be giving them a coat of darkened BG metal, followed by a wash or two of black. Im mainly trying to decide between red and blue for the cloth areas...
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This week starts the TTT over at FtW, gonna be kinda quiet on my ol' blog, and to be honest, Im expecting my traffic to drop significantly. So, what is the future of OtPT? More of my random ramblings I think. But I will still be here. :)

Ive been thinking about what, if anything, I wanted to change about the TTT. I considered sticking to just 40k stuff, and I thought about limiting it to painting and modelling posts. Both ideas got shot down real quick. I was also trying to decide if I should stop posting stuff from the others who post at FtW, since the list will be hosted there... I said screw that idea. No reason to penalize them just for where they post their good stuff. As of right now, the only things that automatically get ignored for the list is stuff thats obviously offensive, and my own stuff. Yes, I know Id be biased towards my own stuff, so I dont even let it in... not that Ive had much thats TTT worthy posted yet. ;)

In the end, there was one idea I had that I am still fighting over. Do I start the numbering over at #1, or do I continue the numbers at #28? Personally, Im leaning towards continuing the numbering, as it shows there is continuity, and this is not something new (for the new readers) and that this is the TTT you know and love (for the previous readers).
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The Black Legion is still up on the shelf, fighting for space with The Purge. The unfinished BL models are ranked up on the table itself, along with a platoon of Cadians. The IG have their green done, and Ive got the black mostly done on one squad, gonna finish them off before moving onto the next, I think. The Dark Elves complete the mess in front, and I think most of them will be shoved aside to make room, so that I can actually paint. Im thinking the BL will be boxed up again, so I can make room for the Red Scorpions again, Ive had the urge to paint Imperial Space Marines again...
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Ive been looking at my Tomb Kings book again, and if Mikie and I can actually get a game in, I might have to run them, seeing as he has a good number of Skaven now... Ive been sorta "wish-listing" their book lately, maybe Ill put that up later on...

Notes to self: Black Legion ideas

Ive been drooling over the Chaos codex ever since I dusted off the BL, and Im deciding how much of what I want to add... So, Im gonna make notes here, by FOC sections.

HQ:
I have a Daemon Prince, but I think I want a second one, from the upcoming plastic kit. If its worth it, Ill add one, if not, well....

Ive got two power armored Lords and a converted termy Lord, plus a power armor Sorcerer and termy Sorc. The termy Sorc is the robed Lord from a while back (and prolly the most recent model in my BL army), so I think Ill demote both them to Terminator Champions, to cut down the number of HQ choices I have...

Abaddon... Ive got the model, and he is mostly painted, just needs to be repaired and rebased to match the current scheme. For now he will be restricted to Apocalypse scale games. Im trying to decide if Im gonna keep the existing model (which is showing its age compared to current models), or put the weapons and head on one of the new plastic termy lords.

ELITES:
Ive got 19-20 Chaos Terminators, so they are being split into two squads. Two dreads, and Im gonna add at least one more (the FW one).

Im gonna get 4 boxes of Possessed, as my Tzeentian faction, but also as bits for some mutant champions.

I want to add Chosen, but Im not entirely sure how Ill mark them out as special that wont make them look weird compared to the rest of the force... My terminators have red helmets, I might duplicate that...

TROOPS:
Khorne Berserkers: Just need to add a few more models to max them out, and hey, Ive got a sprue sitting under my desk right now!

Noise Marines: I found the icon bearer from the previous squad with sonic blaster, the rest of the squad is either illegal or busted up, so Ill fix what I can, then add more to fill them out.

Plague Marines: This unit is taking a lot of thought... In the end, Im thinking Ill be mixing Chaos Marines and Warhammer Zombies with an (un)healthy dose of greenstuff.

Chaos Marines: All in all, I think Im close to having the full 6 troop choices. I need a few more special weapons, champions, and Icons, but its not too bad.

FAST ATTACK:
Bikers: Ive got 5 already, so 5 more isnt that much of a heart ache, and these upcoming models will be the fun ones: special weapons, champion, and Icon bearer. I think I have an old Chaos Knight lance I can give the champ to use as a power weapon/fist.

Raptors: I have 10 of the old raptors, and 5 of the new ones. I think Ill be haunting eBay for the old ones for a while, just need the bodies and backpacks, I replaced all the really hidious heads and arms with bits from the plastic sprues. Im going to also have a unit of the new models, though these will be easier to pick up.

Im half considering adding a third unit of raptors, using the wings from the Possessed sprues... but only half considering it.

HEAVY SUPPORT:
Havoks: Ive got a unit with 4 heavy bolters, and Im thinking about picking up 4 of each heavy weapon choice for them... Thinking also of making a second havok squad with all special weapons, 20 CSMs running up with 4 meltaguns might be a nice distraction.

Obliterators: Ive got one in package on the desk, and another 3-4 sitting in a box somewhere. Need to find them and paint them.

A pair of Predators are ready, not sure if Ill add more, maybe one more to make things interesting.

Defilers: I have one assembled, mostly... I need to fix the damage it has suffered as being used as terrain, and paint it, then put the second one together.

I have 1 land raider ready to run, and a second one that is missing the heavy bolters, plus needs to have the painting finished.

Currently I do not own a Vindicator, but Ill prolly add one for completeness.

So, for those keeping track at home, we are looking at: 6 HQs, 7 Elite, 9 Troops, 3-4 Fast Attack, and up to 11 Heavy Support. That is a very healthy Apocalypse force.

Speaking of Apoc, Im also looking at adding one (or more) of the plastic super heavies to the list. Forge World goodies later on. If the hinting at GD-Chicago pans out, I might be adding a Warhound sooner or later...

All squads are or will be max sized, though Ill prolly not always use them that high. Ive got some rhinos for a few of my squads, but they are fairly banged up, and I might just say screw it.

Rough guesstimate for completely painted: 70%, but there is still a good amount of work needed to get it where Id like it.

Playing with Army Builder and my Black Legion

So, as I stated earlier, Ive got my Black Legion set up on my table. Ive got the finished models on the shelf, and those that still require work sitting down below, where I can easily get to them.

Being who I am, I loaded up Army Builder, just to get an idea of whats sitting there... List ahoy!

Unlimited Pts - Chaos Marines Roster - Unnamed

HQ: Daemon Prince (1#, 135 Pts)

1 Daemon Prince @ 135 Pts

Close Combat Weapon; Fearless; Warptime (x1)

HQ: Chaos Lord (2#, 275 Pts)

1 Chaos Terminator Lord @ 150 Pts

Daemon Weapon; Twin Linked Bolter (x1); Fearless; Personal Icon

1 Chaos Lord @ 125 Pts

Bolt Pistol (x1); Power Fist; Combi-melta; Fearless; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

HQ: Chaos Sorceror (1#, 165 Pts)

1 Chaos Sorceror @ 165 Pts

Bolt Pistol (x1); Force Weapon (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bolt of Change; Doombolt; Mark of Tzeentch

HQ: Chaos Terminator Sorceror (1#, 135 Pts)

1 Chaos Terminator Sorceror @ 135 Pts

Force Weapon (x1); Combi-melta; Doombolt; Personal Icon

Elite: Dreadnought (1#, 110 Pts)

1 Dreadnought @ 110 Pts

Crazed; Dreadnought CCW; Twin Linked Bolter; Twin Linked Autocannon; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

Elite: Terminators (6#, 450 Pts)

5 Terminators @ 450 Pts

Chain Fist (x2); Power Fist (x1); Power Weapon (x2); Combi-flamer (x2); Combi-melta (x1); Twin Linked Bolter (x1); Reaper Autocannon (x1); Land Raider

1 Land Raider @ [220] Pts

Twin Linked Heavy Bolter; Twin Linked Lascannon Sponson (x2); Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

Troops: Chaos Space Marines (64#, 1235 Pts)

15 Chaos Space Marines @ 300 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Bolter; Flamer (x2); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Chaos Glory

1 Aspiring Champion @ [55] Pts

Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

15 Chaos Space Marines @ 325 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Bolter; Plasmagun (x1); Lascannon; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Chaos Glory

1 Aspiring Champion @ [55] Pts

Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

15 Chaos Space Marines @ 305 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Bolter; Plasmagun (x1); Missile Launcher; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Chaos Glory

1 Aspiring Champion @ [45] Pts

Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon; Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

15 Chaos Space Marines @ 305 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Bolter; Meltagun (x1); Plasmagun (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Chaos Glory

1 Aspiring Champion @ [45] Pts

Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon; Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

Troops: Khorne Berzerkers (16#, 401 Pts)

15 Khorne Berzerkers @ 401 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Plasma Pistol (x2); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Furious Charge; Personal Icon; Mark of Khorne

1 Skull Champion @ [51] Pts

Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Fearless; Furious Charge; Mark of Khorne

Fast Attack: Raptors (10#, 260 Pts)

9 Raptors @ 260 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Plasma Pistol (x1); Flamer (x1); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

1 Aspiring Champion @ [60] Pts

Bolt Pistol; Power Fist; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades

Fast Attack: Bikers (5#, 165 Pts)

5 Bikers @ 165 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Twin Linked Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Bike

Heavy Support: Havocs (16#, 310 Pts)

16 Havocs @ 310 Pts

Bolt Pistol; Close Combat Weapon; Bolter; Heavy Bolter (x4); Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Chaos Glory

Heavy Support: Predator (2#, 225 Pts)

1 Predator @ 100 Pts

Autocannon; 2 x Heavy Bolter Sponsons; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

1 Predator @ 125 Pts

Twin Linked Lascannon; Daemonic Possession; Searchlight; Smoke Launchers

Total Roster Cost: 3866

Created with Army Builder

Copyright (c) 1997-2006 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. All rights reserved.

So... notice that its fairly troop heavy? And these are all the completed models. I still have a couple dozen sitting in the "need paint" section, and another couple dozen in the "needs repairs" section. Just under 4k points with random psychic powers.

Just looking at it shows obvious spots for additions, like special weapons and a champ for the bikers, optomising squad upgrade weapons, and stuff like that. Im fairly certain that once I get everything finished it will be well over 5k again... Then I can start work on filling in blank spots. :)

Ill see about getting pics before next weekend, but no promises!

Return of the Black Legion

Yesterday I pulled my Red Scorpions off the shelf and boxed them up... They are not going into the closet, but they are out of the way. Why? Because I dusted off my Black Legion. I set up just the ones that are not broken and are completely painted, which added up to about 2/3 of the models... still well over 100 models though. Gonna work up a few army lists for them pretty soon too, I think. Once upon a time it was over 5k points. Ill have to fix stuff and pull out the tanks and see what the total value is currently.

Looking at this army, you can tell I enjoyed myself. All sorts of conversions, and while the paint scheme is simple, it looks good, and now Im considering adding more to give more variety. Especially on the special/heavy weapon side. Ive only gotten a single box of Havoks, and all the rest of the big guns are heavy bolters. Special weapons are just as dire, with a pair of flamers and a pair of melta guns breaking the plasma gun monotony.

Before the CSM sprue got recut and fun stuff added to it, I decided that normal banner poles were not working for me (they kept snapping). So, all my Icon Bearers carry shields yoinked from Fantasy Chaos Warriors. I think Im going to keep them that way, and might have a go at making a half dozen or so icon bearers for each of the chaos gods, so my force can change loyalty at the drop of a hat.

I still need to sort out cult troops for them as well. Ive got the obligitory unit of Khorne Berserkers, but my Noise Marine squad was rendered illegal with the current book... Ill be looking at the sonic weapon conversion kit soon... Plague Marines are on my list, but I dont like the current ones, and the FW ones dont fit my vision of a Black Legion plague marine. I dont want to include Thousand Sons, but I need some kind of Tzeentchian unit... maybe Possessed, they are screwy enough...

I had a full unit of Black Legion Chosen in termy armor under the old book... Ive rebased 5 of them to keep them legal, I need to get around to getting another 5 done, just to have 10 chaos terminators ready to go.

More later, hopefully with pictures...