On the table now - Tau Barracuda

The magnets are in and the nut is glued into the bottom of the flyer. I got my basecoat down of Fenresian Grey and have started shading with Drakenhof Nightshade. I am having to do some of the painting piecemeal due to the complexity of the mini. 

I have also done some interesting conversions. I have the secondary weapons magnetized in such a way that I will be able to swap the secondary weapons out as needed. The downside is that because of the way that I chose to do it and a few other reasons (like breaking one of the cupolas on the side that holds drones when trying to pound in the nut on the bottom), I will have to glue the drone turrets on the side in place. I am a little sad as I won't be able to rotate them to shoot someone behind me but the benefits outweigh the losses. For instance, these rotating turrets always end up rubbing off the paint where they contact the cupola. That alone would bug me more than not being able to rotate the turrets.

Look closely at the bit at the top of the picture. The Ion Cannon comes standard on the Barracuda. I have ideas to increase the points cost and let it use the overcharge mode that lays down S8 AP3 templates. I also envisioned a "tank hunter" variant as I talked about in my previous post (and likely every post about this mini from here out). I loosely based this idea on the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, a plane that was built around the GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon, a big bad phallus if there ever was one.

It is a beautiful day...

First nice day with normal temp and sane humidity. Time to clear coat everything that I have painted in the last 6 months. Thanks to Fallout 4, that is basically nothing. 

Finished - Slaanesh Lord

I have wanted a Slaanesh Chaos Lord with a snake body ever since I saw the WFB Slaanesh Lord on mount model. I could not find one for a reasonable price (dudes on BT and eBay wanted $40 plus for it), so I decided to add a Dark Eldar Sslynth to my recasting order with the idea of converting my own Slaanesh Lord. 

The mini retails for $16 but only comes in resin. The recaster sold for $9.50 including shipping which is just over retail and also comes in resin. The quality is not great with lots of air bubbles. The tiny arms were also poorly cast and misshapen. My "buyer protection" through Aliexpress (the Chinese version of Paypal), has expired so I decided not to pitch a fit over it. I would likely have replaced them anyway.

For the large arms I used a regular CSM arm and a Possessed arm. The shoulder guards also came from the Possessed box. The smaller right arm with the knuckles is part of the kit and the other smaller arm is a Dark Eldar Wytch arm. It is difficult to see, but I also added a Bolt Pistol in a holster on the left side. The sword is from the Dark range. I picked it because it fit the theme of the model better than a CSM sword. I also usually color my Power Weapons green on CSM but chose to just do silver on this one. I thought the green would be too distracting. 

On the table now - Tau Barracuda

I am taking a bit of a giant project. Normally I hate large vehicles as they take too long to complete. I have been putting off starting this Forge World Tau Barracuda for a while now. I needed to figure out a few things. First, how to properly mount the ship on a stand. Second, hot to magnetize and convert the ship. 

The Barracuda does not come with a sane way to mount it. It predates the current flight stands and only had a randomly-sized hole in the middle of the bottom. I could use a brass rod to hold it up but that would not reliably hold this beefy piece of resin.  What I decided to do was to get a wooden base from the Christian-run hobby store and some nut and bolts from the hardware store and make my own base. I drilled though the base then widened the hole from 1/8" to 1/4" with a spiral bit being careful to keep my hole perpendicular to the base. After that I drove a partially threaded bolt through the bottom and Gorilla Glued it into place. After trimming up the predictable overflow, I packed the hole with super glue just to be sure. 

Finished - Jango Fett Firespray

I finished my first X-wing repaint fairly quickly once I decided on a pattern and techniques. 

I tried the three stage weathering but could not make it work. What I ended up doing was adapting the half ass wet blending from that Tau minis. For the blue I used Teclis Blue, Ultramarine Blue and Kantor Blue and tried to blend them together while they were still wet (I probably should have used Royal Blue for the final highlight as the Teclis Blue is a bit overpowering). The grey area was a mix of Fortress Grey, Codex Grey, Adeptus Battlegrey and Stormvermin Fur. I was very careful not to trace all the angles with highlights to give a very smooth hull an irregular appearance. I did this by highlighting all the top pars of the horizontal lines and paid less attention to the vertical lines.

The end result is an uneven appearance even within a single color type.

Some people work up rules for minis or pilots that might not have rules. I liked this particular version of Jango Fett that I found on a Facebook group. I am looking forward to playing him.

The mini along with the tokens, dials, and pilot cards (basically everything but the upgrade cards) goes for about $20 at most. Some people think that minis in that stripped down state are worth gold but they are not.

The paint is worth money however. I spent a lot of time on it and had to make up some new techniques. I would value the paintjob at $40 for a total replacement cost of $60. I would not let it go for anything less than that. I put it up on Facebook and might put it up on eBay with a high reserve. I don't rely want to part with it and would be happy to keep it on my shelf. 

Finished - Tau Remora

Also from the China recasters, are these Tau Remoras. They retail for $25 each not including shipping which is insane. The Recasts are not awful. The detail is good, the lines are nice and deep and the wings are all almost straight. For $25 shipped, I got two Remoras which is fine by me. Depending on how they actually perform for me on the battlefield, I may be getting more. 

At 110 points each, they are expensive to fit into small games. They also eat up a very valuable Fast Attack slot int eh Tau army. That means less these days, but I tend to think in the old Force Org chart even in these Unbound days. For only 20 more points, you can get a Barracuda, which is superior in my opinion. 

On the table - Thousand Sons

I am super-excited about a new painting project that I am getting ready to start. It is fitting that since one of the first posts on this blog (and still one of the most popular) was about Thousand sons, that this post is about them too. I just hope it is not also the last.

I have been enamored with these third party Thousand Son bits since I first saw them. I thought there were Russian but mine are coming from somewhere in South America. I feel like they may be recasts as well. If they are anything like the pictures, then I'll be happy.

There should be enough bits there to make a full squad of Thousand Son Marines (8 plus a Sorcerer) with one or two left over. I plan to rehab an old mini into a pre-Heresy Sorcerer like in my other squad so that will help to bulk up my numbers.

I also ordered some Khopesh bits to give them that little bit of extra Egyptian flavor they need. I am really looking forward to converting them all up.

On the table now - Jango Fett Firespray

Working on my first repaint of a X-Wing miniature. I talked about my reasoning before on how I picked the color scheme but I had no idea on how to pull it off. I started by painting it Celestra Grey. Then I let it sit there for over two weeks. I had no idea on how to paint in the weathered style of Star Wars minis. 

I wanted it to look used but well cared for. I wanted it to look like it had been repainted a few times as well. I thought about using three stage weathering (where you paint a dark color, silver chipping then a lighter color around the edge) but ended up screwing it up. I painted the hull Teclis Blue with Kantor Blue over that, the domes on the side of the cockpit Waaagh Flesh, and the dependent hull Codex Grey over the Celestra Grey. I ended up washing the whole mini in Nuln Oil. 

We'll see how it turns out. 

On the table now - Khorne Cultists 26 of 30

The finish line is in sight! I have these 4 that need details and 4 more that need touching up. I should have the 30 Cultists done in time for Greg at Cranky Old Gamer to take them a tournament. I hope they do well for him. 

I have been able to dedicate more time than normal to painting because my computer has crashed and needed to be shipped out to be fixed. That means that there has been no video games. So many Raiders, Gunners and Super Mutants have gone unshot in the head. 

On the table now - 6 more Genestealers

I have had these Genestealers on the painting table as a side project since February 20th or so. I use them as a break from long or repetitive projects. I would do a little work on them to break the monotony. 

These are a mix of Space Hulk Genestealers and 40k Genestealers. The 40k ones are assembled in a way that annoys me. You will notice that they have scything talons in the forelimb slot and claws in the midlimb slot. Compare that to every Space Hulk Genestealer that has claws in the forelimb slow and humanoid hand in the midlimb slot. I tried to swap them but they are glued in too well. I almost broke them mid-arm when I tried to pull them apart. It is too late anyway as they are already painted. 

Thinking about a Deathwatch army

I picked up Deathwatch: Overkill for $130 including shipping on Bartertown and it has gotten me thinking. Once all the minis are painted up and combined with my existing Deathwatch Marines, I would have the start of a pretty nice Deathwatch army. I have outlined everything below with a little padding and estimated points costs with current rules. 

Chaplain - 90pts

Librarian, bolter - 65pts

Librarian, pistol, Mastry 2 - 90pts

Chapter Master, Power Ax, Combi-plas - 150pts

Sternguard x10, Heavy Bolter x2, Combi-melta, PS/PP - 280pts

Vanguard x5, Lightning Claws x2, Jump Packs - 120pts

Terminators x5 H Flamer, Combi-melta - 190pts

Bikes x3, Power Sword - 78pts

Finished - Tau Tetras

Ugh, I just wrote a huge write up for these minis and I lost it. So frustrated now. 

I went into a lot of detail on how I paint the Tau minis and now I don't feel like rewriting it.

When I lost the document I was writing about hard edge highlighting. So many people, when they try it, just trace the edges in one solid line. (I tried to find some examples but gave up) With hard edge highlighting, less is truly more. You want to put the least amount of paint down needed to achieve the illusion of a three dimensional surface. On my Tau flyer, I used too much in some places, but even then I was still figuring out how to paint such large minis with this technique/pattern.

The mini was $20 each and the paint was pretty good for me *8 of 10) and detailed. I value the paint at $60 because of the detail work on the drivers. Total replacement cost is $100. 

On the table - Tau Tetras

Also in the package from the Chinese recasters was these two Tetras. Forge World pricing and shipping as well as lackluster rules in previous editions made them not worth the expense. Before X-Wing took over my gaming world, I had a game of 40k with Charles and he brought Tetras. 

They dominated the battlefield. The Heavy Markerlights were able to get 4 or more hits each turn. The unit is amazingly maneuverable and able to get into position quickly as compared to the static nature of Pathfinders. Even for AV 10 vehicles, they are tough thanks to their special rules and cover. I fell in love and had to have them. 

As far as painting, I am doing them in my standard "ice blue" Tau colors which is proving difficult to paint at the same time as other projects. I am noticing that red and brown paint is contaminating my rinsing water and sticking to my brushes. When I go to paint the white/blue colors on the Tau, I can tell that my paint is discolored. It is so frustrating that I have starting to keep a third was pot on my painting table: one for colored paint, one for metallic paint and one for light paint. This would be fine except I also have a water cup, a soda and a beer on my desk. Sometimes, I get confused as to which one is which.

Finished - Khorne Cultists 22 of 30

I am a man of my word. I got up early (8 AM is early for a Saturday) and went right to the painting table. It took about 4 hours but all the detail work got done on these 6 Cultists today. 

Yesterday, I had all my base colors down and washed them in Agrax Earthshade before going to be and leaving them to dry overnight. Today, I retouched the areas that were washed too heavily and performed the highlighting. 

Only 8 more left and those are being basecoated now. I should have this massive project done way ahead of time for Greg at Cranky Old Gamer. 

On The Table Now - Korn Cultists 22 of 30

Tomorrow is a painting day. I am going to get up early on my only day off this week and paint like it is my job. I have a lot of projects on the table and it is time to start clearing them. Or at the very least, make some progress on them. 

The plan will be to finish, these 6 Cultists tomorrow and do some work on the previously pictured Lord of Change and the unpictured Tau Tetras. I also have the Jango Firespray, Tau Remora Fighters and Genestealers. Clearly, there are lots of projects out there and we need to finish some before we take on new ones. 

By "we" I mean me and not you, dear reader. You cool. 

On the table now - Greater Daemon of Tzeentch

Greg over at Crank Old Gamer did a rehab on this old metal Lord of Change for me and incorporated some fantasy wings. The transformation was epic. I base coated this mini before the Fallout hiatus and have not touched it in months. 

It started spray painted white and then basecoated it Celestra Grey. I washed it in Guilliman Blue and then drybrushed it again in Celestra Grey and that is where I left it for almost half a year. 

I did not have a good direction for this mini much like my Horrors. I liked the technique that I used on my Tau repaint and wanted to incorporate that into a more organic model. 

My main stumbling block is the cloth. After much thought, I have decided to paint it royal blue to try and tie it into the Horrors and 1k Sons Marines. I really wanted to do blue and green but I have failed to pull off that color scheme in the past. Guess it is good that I don't play Alpha Legion. 

On the table now - Firespray

I traded a buddy of mine for this Firespray from X-Wing miniature game. It was awfully painted. Muddy dark colors. Clearly the person had no idea on how to paint in even the most basic way (I find this common in X-Wing players). I struggled on how to repaint the mini. Most Firespray repaints are of Kath Scarlett and all of them are awful. Red and white are not colors for beginners. 

I dislike this repaint on more than an aesthetic front as it breaks cannon. Jango Fett stole one of the five Firespray prototypes and blew up the remaining four (like you do when you are a BAMF). There are no other Firesprays until the company that originally built them, Kuat Systems Engineering, breathed life into the project again. In the current Star Wars story line that X-wing is set in about 30 years after the Battle of Yaven, there are no other Firesprays other than Slave I. 

I am instilled with the original Holy Trilogy at heart and have been reading the Expanded Universe since I was a teenager. While I can't say that I take this stuff seriously, I do like my fantasy universe cohesive and internally consistent. I like fun but I love history, even my fantasy history, as fact more. Episode VII and X-Wing fluff is trumped by The Expanded Universe for me based not just on precedent but also on the volume of the body of work.