Courage and Honor!

Here are several pictures of my Ultramarine First Company.

There are several rare/unique models including the GD 05 Captain, 3rd Edition Commander and Apothecary, Several Tyrannic war veterans who are now stern guard.

This army was painted in around one week.  Granted, I was on vacation and got bit by the painting bug, but it still goes to show you what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it!!! 

Thanks for taking a look!

Dave

Imperial Guard- Vostroyans

Often times on the internet we are inspired when looking at gorgeous models.  Often we ask for the paint schemes, how to's, and tutorials.... this is one of those stories.

Several years ago I fell in love with the Vostroyan models released by GW.  I decided on building an army.  with some inspiration from the internet and several tutorials later I was left with this.

In the future I will continue this army.

The to do list
3 sentinels
2 chimeras
2 Leman Russ
1 Basilisk
2 Hellhound

This is a slow burn project that I want to take my time with.

Thanks for dropping by,

Dave

The Casual vs Competitive Gamer Paradigm

          There seems to be a general consensus on the Internet that there are two camps within the 40k community.  On the one hand you have the gaming/ tactics/ army list player who enjoys developing lists and playing the game.  On the other you have the more hobby centric gamer.  There are your folks who tend to enjoy the hobby/painting aspect of 40k. 

I will pose the question: Why is this a polarizing issue? I will also propose a series of solutions.

Why is this a polarizing issue?

            It is a common fact that the Internet tends to bring out the worst in everyone.  This is why we have an abundance of moderators, flame wars, etc; The ability to remain nameless leads people to saying things that they would never say in their FLGS. I have to say that I have very seldom heard hyper critical and abrasive comments in person.

            This leads me to my next point. The Internet only serves as a forum for expression of words, thought, and ideas, the participants, including myself, are judged on the information they present.

            I feel that people are drawn to one aspect of the hobby over another and as a result try to present their best work to the World Wide Web.  This, combined with anonymity, leads to emotions running high and people crusading for their own opinions, determined to portray their point of view as the superior point of view.

Thus I have developed some bullet points for consideration.

·      Play the game- I feel like we should all play more, if your hobby is important to you, time will be made for it.

·      See how the other half lives, don’t be afraid to branch out.

o   Casual Gamers- don’t be afraid to loose, talk to your opponent and perhaps try new/ different units.

o   Competitive gamers: Why not make it a goal to get a fully painted army?  Painted miniatures enrich the experience

·      Meet up with a gaming group- by playing a few different people over and over, each opponent will provide a different experience.

·      Try team games- often times this takes the emphasis off winning and losing.  It is great to come together.

·      I feel that the point of the game is to win, thus, play to win.  However, talk to you opponent about the type of list you want to use.

That is all I have for now, what are your thoughts?

Is it possible for these two types of players to come together?

What can you do to bring the community together?  As a player?  As a community member?

Thanks for reading,

Dave

Cronos Redux and Mandrakes

Recently I have been working on some Dark Eldar and have had the chance to repaint the Cronos to match the rest of the army.

As you can see, the typical black carapace has been replaced with the Necron Abyss/ Ice blue scheme.  I feel like it holds it all together.

Additionally, I have had the opportunity to paint some Mandrakes.

Please forgive the basing, I was in a bit of a rush and did not have time to base them before they were due.

It was fun to paint some of these for a change. The I feel like the blue skin brings a cohesiveness to the army.  With these I was worried that black primer would lead to them being to dark, so instead I used Armory Grey Primer.  I feel like they came out well.  As with most of GW's higher end kits, I would have liked more than 3 poses.  I suppose I can just place them carefully :P

Until next time,

Dave

15mm ACW- Batch Painting Faces

Today I was working on painting some 15mm ACW units and was a bit frustrated with the lack of progress that I was making.  In order to speed things up I attempted an Ink and Blot method.

I really liked the results and I was able to progress at a quick pace. This would be ideal if you had 2-3 people all working together.

Below is a shot of the batch I was working on.  It is around 108 figures. The goal is to get these to a very nice gaming standard.

*Note* All of their uniforms have been completed at this point.

At this point the face has been painted with one layer of GW Dwarf Flesh and one quick Highlight of Elf Flesh. Now we begin the process of inking and blotting.  

The first thing you will need is some ink and cup in which to thin it.  I chose Vallejo Game Color- Brown ink.

The next step is to mix your ink with some water in about a 2:3 ratio of ink:water.  If you have no way to count out drops go for a watery consistency. 

Once you have the consistency right you want to take an older medium sized brush and load up on ink.
 

In this example I am using an older Citadel Standard Brush

 Then liberally drench any flesh portion of the model that you want shaded. 

Blot with a cotton swab to remove excess ink. The harder you press the less shading you will get. The lighter you dab, the more shading.  By varying how much ink you remove, you should be able to create some flesh tone variation.

Your swab should have quite a few little dots of ink on it. Replace it when it is no longer effective .

I have included some before and after shots for your viewing pleasure. This technique is very fast and in my opinion effective. 

Before

After

Below are some close ups.

Thanks for dropping by,

Dave

As the wargaming world knows, our good friends at Citadel have released what they consider to be a superior miniature.  I will not go into the ins and outs of resin nor will I write a review, I simply painted one and thought I would share it.

One day at my local game shop I was informed that there was to be a painting competition, I gladly entered. 

While this chap did not win, I must say that I have been very happy with my effort and consider this my best work to date. 

Thanks for looking,

Dave

15mm ACW Union

These are some 15mm ACW guys that I painted up to give me a break from 40k for a while.

As I do not play any historical game I put them on ebay

Thoughts?