Slowly making progress.

Started on the base coating step for my Sisters, and so far its going ok. As i have no found out, having a small production line isnt actually a bad thing at all. Although i havent completed the base coating on a single mini as of yet, I have started painting up 3 models thus far (painting Battle Sisters versus regular plastic marines is not as easy as it looks). As for WIP shots, we'll see how things go, maybe when they look a bit more neater ill take a pic or two.

The Faith Counter tutorial is semi on hold atm due to time limits since its at the GS phase (well i knew in advance that this be the trickiest part of the tutorial). Hopefully by the end of the week ill start up the next GS phase (which reminds me I should take pics).

Slowly rebuilding my EC again with alot more options happening this time around now that I have magnets to play with (and more confident about modelling and GS (to a degree)). I'm also recyclying some of my previous minis that didnt make it that far the painting phase to try and work out a way to paint a semi decent pink without having to run into the realm of mixing (as that WILL drive me crazy and insane). The idea of having to keep making mixes with different tones (not intentionally of course) is a bit of a con in my books.

Ive also become interesting in the B&C Space Hulk AoD, so I might dust off some of my older Terminators and see what I can do with them. It wont be too overly fancy, since alot of folks are using the new style terminators which do look gorgeous, but Im not in the mood just yet to folk out $60 (post 10% discount) on a box of termies for the SH AoD. If i can convert my older termies slightly and still have them look ok and useful for my AotL army, then all the more power to me.

Hopefully have a bit of a more meaningful post come the end of the week, and I also need to check on the Lion Guard colors for the AotL. If it is as easy as i think it is, then painting them up shouldnt be too difficult at all... It's just modelling the buggers that will be a pain.




-TAS

Good News..... and some Bad News....

And in any case one of you weirdos was wondering, no i was NOT fired from work!!


Anyway, lets start with the GOOD news.

- Touched up the undercoat on the Sisters and they look pretty good to go (and about time).
- Cleaned up the main Rhino components for the Rhino/Immolator.
- Started the first phase of the GS work on the Faith Counter markers
- Did some more robe work on my AotL Vet Sgt

The BAD news....

- My GS skills are semi lacking, so im not fully happy with some of the GS stuff Ive done today, but ehh, its a start and at least it doesnt look excessively bad (it could be ALOT worse).
- The more I think about it, the harder it is to really make a proper modular Rhino/Immolator without an extra plastic canopy (why cant GW just stick two in there or one with the Exorcist when it was in stock). So yeah, my only way to get some bonus puppies of these would be to go via mail order... So yeah, this worsens my problem as I dont have a CC and I dont think GW will be moving to paypal payments in the near future.
- I have random ideas for an Exorcist conversion based on the Immolator.. Suffice to say, my brain hurts with all these ideas.
- I want to re-start my Emperor's Childrens (not a good sign at all since Ive committed my time and efforts to my SoB). However, given that the redevelopment will take AGES, it isnt too bad so I could TRY to run a simultaneous 400 pt EC army along side my SoB for the Tale of X Gamers. I also have ideas for the bases which is good although I MAY need to go back to paint testing again since Im looking at abandoning the purple and move to the contemporary pink/black (unless i cant pull it off at all, in which ill go back to purple). Although I do want to keep some bits of purple here and there (plus this is Slaanesh, I can be a mini riot of colors with a similar color spectrum).


Thats pretty much where it is at for the time being. I might do a bit more painting although i DO want to catch up on sleep since I had work this morning and I dont want to still be awake at midnight tonight as I do want to get a good nights sleep.


Hmm.. i MIGHT have to use some of my contacts in the USA to do me a favor or two and see if they have a paypal account so i can pay them back, cos yeah, this is getting retardededed...


At least I dont feel too worried about my SW, TS and 'Nids atm......




-TAS

I picked up a paintbrush! Oh My!!!

And so the great painting begins (ok, maybe we should just stick to painting begins). Blu-tac'd what sisters I have ready (6 of them) for undercoating and thats well under way now, although I still need to do some touch ups, as there are still a few areas where random bits of pewter are still coming through and I didnt want to coat the minis in excessively thick black paint. If all goes well, I can try and get the undercoat finished within the next day or so. I also undercoated the first 'Nid as well and he looks really nice in black (surprisingly enough). However, like the Sisters, it needs a another quick coat of black to cover up any random bits of plastic. Also, for future reference, I think im going to avoid gluing 'Nid models completely together as its actually a pain in the backside to get to certain parts of the model. However, live and learn I guess (and i was thinking the 'Nids be the first models Id be able to assemble completely and paint without issues). The 3rd SoB Conversion project is going well, I've loosely marked out the 'bases' with the general shape of the Fleur de Lys (which I ended up just drawing on rather than using my template as it was a pain to use). Next time I think i might have to just get some tracing paper and draw the template onto a piece of paper and do it that way. However, they are merely meant as a guide and when the GS phase comes up, ill still do it piece by piece and not try to do the entire Fleur de Lys in a single go, as I KNOW something will go wrong. So with that part of the project done, ill probably wait til maybe this weekend or early next week to start slowly working on the GS phases.

So yeah, surprisingly enough, Im actually getting stuff done and oddly enough, a lot quicker than I normally would!





TAS

Darn.. "Peer Pressure" is Evil!!

Since It would be nice to actually have an actual legal and playable army, I have given into what I claim to be "peer pressure" and signed up for the 'Tale of X Gamers' at the B&C. Although, for my sake I didnt set a target of 2000 pts, cos as we ALL know, I'd be here til 2009, PLUS some...

Anyway, Ive signed up my Sisters of Battle for a target size of 400 - 500 pts. Mainly cos I know I dont have that many playable stuff available to me (that works) as I dont think a squad of Repentia in under 1000 pts is really tactically sound (unless the idea of the army is to be insane). Later on (perhaps via an edit of this post) I'll put up a general idea of the list I'm hoping to achieve (and yes, it probably will be variable as I'm sure I'll make magnetic Veteran Sister Superiors).

Im sure it will be an interesting experience as I'll try to make use of all these Eldar bits to make some plastic Sisters (daring I know) to help bulk out what limited models I have and create ALOT more variety of models. So keep an eye out here, as I'm sure there will be alot of interesting things to be seen and hopefully I'll get my target ACHIEVED so maybe come Medusa V I'll actually be able to PLAY a few games!

*EDIT*

So I sat down and made a very brief list of what I wanted to get done in my estimated target size, and surprisinly enough, it wasnt alot (although 26 models for under 500 pts, I didnt think was a BAD thing).

Ill also try to have some of my VSSs magnetized for a few more options without having to make additional models (since they arent exactly cheap to come by).

HQ:

Canoness: Cloak of St Aspira, Blessed Weapon, Book of St Lucius, Bolt Pistol
Total: 101 pts.

Alternatively, I might give her an Inferno Pistol over the Bolt Pistol, thus making her final points cost 115 pts.

Battle Sisters, Squad 1: 10 Sisters, 2x Meltaguns, VSS, Book of St Lucius, Sarissa
Total: 154 pts

Battle Sisters, Squad 2: 15 Sisters, 2x Storm Bolters, VSS, Book of St Lucius, Storm Bolter
Total: 204 pts

I also made another variant of Squad 2 that had the VSS with a Book of St Lucius and Sarissa for a total of 199 pts, although Ill probably be more inclined to take the option with the VSS w/ Book of St Lucius + Storm Bolter due to the overall feel of the squad.

It isnt a bad start (admitedly small yes) but its got alot of space to expand. After i replenish my models (or learn to make kick ass conversions) Ill work on adding in a Retributor squad and probably a Celestians squad as well for the Canoness, which Id imagine will get me close to 1000 pts.


-TAS

Picture Update!

For those who think that nothing is actually getting done on my desk, HA! It's time to prove ye wrong!! Well slightly wrong.

Anyway, i was taking pics for the Modular tank guide (which just needs to be written up now) and i took a few pics of the finished hormagaunt (modelling wise), who is actually not tilting now (thanks to some sinkers glued to the base). So here you go, the side profile of the hormagaunt, which i wish i didnt put fully together, as Ive unfortunately noticed, its arm is somewhat in the way of its mouth, which means picking out details will be a pain. On the upside, since the arm hides some of the detail, it means it wont be visible normally, so i can probably get away from picking out a few of the teeth.






-TAS

Getting Somewhere.. Kinda...

So I clipped off all the Eldar bits and put them away, so im quite happy with that. It hit me again that the box comes with enough bits to make 16 Guardians (to which i still think is whoa). With that sorted out, I can SLOWLY start on making the first test plastic Sister of Battle. Found a nice lil clever way to get some weight into the 'Nid bases for my Hormagaunts to counter balance them and it seems to work VERY well and it didnt set me back too much in price either (well it seemed pretty ok).

Tomorrow (well today) i should get some time to myself, so im going to try and do some modelling here and there, and might even aim to finish the Modular tank guide (or at least get the pics of it done). So yeah, we'll see how things go now that stuff is slowly moving along now (might even be able to get this single Hormie undercoated as well). And in saying that, hopefully i can prep up some of these Sisters for undercoating as well.

Thats about it for this lil update, hopefully ill have something a bit more meaningful later today.





TAS

Procrastination is the Mind Killer!!

That.. and work for the last few days has been somewhat draining and im quite certain, so will tomorrows 6 hour shift, but oh well, these things happen.

Anyway, i now currently have 6 Battle Sisters ready to move onto the slow process of painting. I was hoping to have them ready Ie tac'd down to a base and ready for priming etc, but as i said work has been a bit funky and my sleeping pattern isnt helping at all either. However, im still happy about that, as that means im almost having half the models I need ready for one squad (and i thought marine squads were painful). I also picked up a box of Eldar Guardians, for a bit of 1. to experiment on making plastic sisters (since the pewter will probably be the end of me) and 2. for my future Eldar army. With the bits coming in from Arjan/Erwin/Rico, I should probably have enough eldar components to make a few sisters (unless it proves to be excessively successful in which ill buy more) and still have some bits to play with if I want to start running around with my Eldar idea(s). Mind you, with their codex coming out, I think in the next few years, as I dont think it will be out by the end of the year, ill probably keep any Eldar ideas on hold for a while.

Also picked up a few paints to help improve my Battle Sisters (red ink and 2 vallejo flesh paints). So that should go ok. This weekend will be a lil hectic, so ill see how things go.

My lil Modular tank guide is going a tad bit slowly (no big surprise there i guess) although when i finally get stuck into it, it shouldnt take me too long to finish, although i might try and take less 'worthless' pics and more of the post converted pics of each step (if you cant get the idea after ive done it, then we have a bit of a problem). So if all goes well, i should get my next lil 'care package' in a few weeks.

So tomorrow ill put the Eldar bits back into their box (cleaned them today) and buy a cheap lil bits box for them (getting a nice lil collection of stuff, cos i snip things off their sprue when i can and box them) and maybe look through some of my other boxes for parts i could/would utilize for these Sister conversions. Although im going to TRY and finish the tank thing off before starting them, as that would be ideal. That way, if i need to do alot of GS work, i can do it all at once, and in saying that, i should try and clean up a few 'Nid heads so i can work on them too (since they cant all be set up in one sitting without having finger prints coating the whole head).

Otherwise, thats about it.




TAS

Just a small Update.

Nothing exceptionally important for this update since I havent done a great deal.

Slowly started on the Modular Rhino/Immolator guide for the SoB (taken a pic of the parts from the sprue required). I guess if i really sat down and did the guide, it would probably be finished in a day or two. So i might try and do some work on it tonight.

Cleaned up a few more Battle Sister models, including drilling out the bolters/storm bolters which i must say is NOT fun, especially since its pewter stuff. But yeah, its going pretty ok, although considering i want a squad of 15 Sisters, yeah, this could take some time (and boy is it not fun cleaning pewter models). After the Modular tank guide is finished, Im tempted to make DIY Faith Point markers, which will probably be a lil bit of work since this will be a GS tutorial, or if you can afford it, just buy like 10 SoB vehicle sprues and that will easily get the job done, although thats alot of extra stuff you dont really need, especially in the area of weapons, but oh well.

Although it IS a pain, Im going to try and focus on my Sisters for a while and see how much I can get done on them before needing a chance of pace. Havent been touching the 'Nids alot, mainly since alot of that stuff is GS based, so when i start the Faith Counter tutorial, Ill try and get some more 'Nid work done then, so in saying that, I guess I should switch between cleaning up Battle Sister models and cleaning up 'Nid models (which are 10x easier than the SoB models anyway).

Might try and do some painting later this week (we'll see). Trying to get some decent sleep habits back since im pretty settled with work, but yeah, it isnt working as well as i would like it to. Also debating if i want to do anything for the 'Gathering of Angels' competition in lead up for the Medusa V campaign. The competition isnt too difficult, its just finding the time to work on the models and do all that jazz (since we ALL know how slow a painter and converter I am). But we'll see. I might try and get some 400 pt armies sorted out for Medusa of some sort. Perhaps not the Sisters, since 400 pts seems small, but we'll see.

Otherwise, thats this lil update finished.





-TAS