Finished - 3D Printed Dice Case

 Well, hello there.

Long time, old friend. It is not that I have not been busy but I have not been blogging in over a year. Lots of things have happened.

I have fallen out of that 40k scene starting in the Summer of 2008. Since moving from Seattle to the boonies, I have met some awesome gamers but for the most part the quality of opponents was pretty poor. I don't think this is a function of my location but rather a comment on 40k in general. Back in 2008 in North Carolina, the few people that played were... frustrating to play against to say the least. I found the amount and quality of players in Seattle better but still really only played against a few people. Even before we left, I found that I played less and less and continued to enjoy the hobby aspects.

Finished - Alpha Legion Terminators

Deleted the in-progress post about these minis. This is another in the series of of Alpha Legionaries for a Vyndica client. I talked him into the smoother lines of the Tartaros Terminators with the intent of "Chaosing them up" later. Initially, I thought this would be pretty easy, but when it came down to it I was flummoxed on how to make them look more like Chaos Marines.

I had a bunch of spiky bits left over from a CSM Terminator project and in a moment of inspiration, I just glued them to the sides of torso. I could have tried to dremel out channels on the sides to make them fit flush, but that would have been a lot of work with high risk for wrecking the minis.

On The Table - Daemon Prince of Khorne

Putting the final touches on the converted Daemon Prince of Khorne. The body is basically done and clear coated. I am mostly satisfied with it. I wish the purple base had shown through more but the red highlights turned out ok.

Super happy with how the ax swap turned out. I was worried that it would be oversized and it is. But I like the overt Khorniness that it adds to the mini. The Khorne symbold that I put on the knees, forearms and shoulder were ok but are lost somehow in the model. A giant ax with half of Khorne symbol on it is somewhat less subtle.

The top photo is to demonstrate what difference a little effort makes. I see so many people do a base coat, wash and call it good. A little hard hedge highlighting (or for Emperor-sake, drybrushing) goes a long way to add depth to a mini. The bottom left is just based and washed and the top right is a little broke-edge highlighting. A world of difference.

It doesn't take much time, effort or skill to create depth in a mini which leaves me confused as to why so many people walk away from minis that are barely started with no effort put in. What is worse is that it is painfully evident to anyone with skill that they are phoned in. I feel the same about half-ass air brushing.

Vyndica - Alpha Legion Lord

Wrapping up on the Alpha Legion CSM Lord for a Vyndica commission. I know that I haven't blogged about this project but it all came together pretty quickly.

The client, jtalley12, posted for an Alpha Legion leader for his army. He didn't give any real direction other than to say that if there were conversions that he would be willing to pay for them "if the price were right." In conversation with him, I confirmed that he wanted the standard blue/green colors and that he wanted a "tactical" look. He didn't really expound on what that meant but I took it to mean that he wanted them to look more like soldiers rather BDSM space demons.

I asked what he wanted and he said he trusted me and I could pick bits. I sent him links to some eBay posts for single Forge World Alpha Legion bits. I found some and, since his deposit just about covered them, I pulled the trigger.

This is when things start to get a little weird. The links I sent were to a bits seller in Germany. While I didn't point this out specifically, I kind of assumed that he looked at everything I sent him and I didn't need to hold his hand and walk him through things. I told him that I would keep him updated once the bits got here.

Finished - Thousand Sons Sorcerer

I put the final touched on this mini. I was scared for a bit because it was not turning out very well when we started. The Sepia wash really helped and the new way of doing blue really pops. 

I am using Gulliman Blue over white or Runefang Steel with a little touch up to do my glowing bits. I had to make this change after they axed the old blue wash and I like the new way. It took forever to figure this out. 

I had asked on Bartertown about replacing Asurmen Blue and got the predictable smart ass reply of "there is a conversion chart." It bugs me when people assume that people don't Google something before they ask a question but then again so many people ask before they Google. I had not gotten much help from that (or really from any post that I make on BT) and none of my painting friends had any input either. It was through experimentation and fortuitous mistakes that I was able to come up with this new technique. 

Played a game, short update, rant

Have done zero painting since the cultists. Sorry, Greg. I am not painting my stuff either.

What I have been doing is playing lots of X-wing. Mostly with my buddy Charles who I got into the game but also once with a very good player Dan. For the most part, I have been having a great time. The games are fast (about an hour per 100 points) and brutal. 

On the table now - More Khorne Cultists

After finishing my test mini, the next step in a big project is getting the recipe down and speed up the process. 

The minis begin by being sprayed black and then basecoated brown with Mournfang Brown. It takes two passed of overbrushing to get a solid brown coat. I have to be careful not to let the paint pool or it will ruin detail. An advantage of basing the minis brown is that the client also wants the base painted and drybrushed in brown tones. Twofer. 

The red cloth gets a basecoat of Khorne Red and then washed in Agrax Earthshade with everything else. 

Krylon, I am done with you.

I have been a big fan of Krylon since I got into the hobby. they make a wide range of shades. Paint goes on easy and, as long as you don't get crazy with it, it does not obscure detail. I still love them as a primer but I am done with their clear coat. 

The Necron Tomb Blades fogged and I almost lost my mind. I thought I had it under control when the Battlewagon came up for priming but that fogged too. I thought that maybe it was something I was doing, so when it came time to clear coat the Flash Gits that I have been worming so hard on for such a long time, I was super-careful. I waited until the humidity was under 50%. I did a test model on a mini that I would not mind repainting and everything seemed to go well. I did a light coat on all the minis as a first pass and walked away for an hour to let it dry.

As I was spraying, I could see the clear coat fogging. I tried to fix it by putting it in front of a fan. no good. I tried giving a mini another blast of clear coat because that has worked in the past and still no joy. 

I have started repainting a few of the bits and minis, I am going to try to fix it with Testors dullcoat or another Krylon matt coat that I have used before. 

I could be something I am doing. I do have a habit to get the paint can really close to the minis when spraying, but I feel like I was doing a pretty good job this time. It could be the weather but I was sure that the conditions were prime (pun intended). If this paint is so temperamental that it can not function above 50% humidity then I can't use it. I may be the paint. It could be defective or old. Regardless, I am throwing it away. 

Finished (again) - Tomb Blades

It rained yesterday. Today it was sunny. It was going to rain tomorrow. I checked Google weather and slid that little bar across the next 12 hours checking the humidity. 6pm tonight was the lowest the humidity was going to be for a week. If I was going to clear coat the Tomb blades (again) it would have to be now. 

I steadied myself and took a deep breath because if I messed these minis up again, clearly the only choice would be to set them on fire. Flame cures failure... right? I kept the spray can far from the minis and did two light coats on each side. Every time I checked on them I was ready to see the foggy milk of doom settling over them. The second time I checked them, I hallucinated that this was happening but it was just the light. 

Finished - Proxy Beasts of Nurgle

I started these guys what feels like a few days ago and they are done. Granted, I did not really paint them with any sense to detail that I could have. I put about $4 worth of paint on them which is what they are worth. I have already talked about how I painted these minis in some other posts. They finished up nicely then I gooped Nurgle's Rot into their worm-mouths. They required very little detail painting and turned out really well. I don't know if they will ever see table time as Beasts of Nurgle are kinda weak and can't be summoned. I could proxy them as Plague Drones but that is a little douchy for me. 

Overall I am pleased with how they turned out. I liked how easy they were to paint and how inexpensive they are.

On the other hand, they were kinda chincy. The white plastic was kinda hard to clean the mold lines. I had to really dig at them with a hobby knife and still missed some. I still had to find a base for them too. I was going to reuse a Dreadnought base but instead decided to use a large flying base. They are about the same size and that way I am not out some nice bases for cheep models. 

In terms of value for these minis it would only take about $8 to replace them if I can find them. The paint job is about a 5/10 for me and is worth about $10 each. Total replacement value is about $30. Trade value is about the same assuming someone would want them.


1-24-17 Update: Recently I traded these two worms and this green cow of Nurgle for a current edition of the Dark Angles Codex. That is $70 retail. I call that a pretty good trade for two $4 minis, a serendipitous find in the bits box ad a few days of work. This is the ideal for me. I would love to buy cheep minis, paint them the flip them for expensive books or more minis to paint.

Unfocused Mini-Rant Against GW

This could be a small part of a larger point but I'll start with a point about Whirlwinds and go on rant my ranty rant.

I just figured out why GW decided to make a new kit rather than give a new rule or change a rule to an existing model. It, like everything else lately seems to be, is about money. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but when you put money ahead of the integrity of the game, that is when I have problems with it.

Case in point is the Whirlwind vs the Stalker/Hunter. 

Since rumors of the new Space Marine Codex have circulated, and maybe much before that, there have been further rumors of giving sky fire to Whirlwinds. Seems a very efficient way of updating the SM to 6th and giving them an option for anti-aircraft while preserving the fluff in an Occam's Razor kind of way. This seems reasonable. GW would not have to do anything other than add a line to the Whirlwind's entry. 0.5 seconds of work and then you would increase the sales of whirlwind kits, right?

The (Welcomed) End of an Era

Faeit 212 (usually a source of good rumors and intel) reports that Battle Bunkers are a thing of the past and I can not say that I am shocked at all. There are many reasons that Battle bunkers are a bad idea but here are my top 5:

-1 Faith in GW

I unsubscribed from GW newsletter today and the picture below is why.

I am so disappointed in GW for this nonsense. The most recent newsletter was a lot of PR rhetoric about these new one click bundles as if they are something new and hot. All these things are are a grouping of vaguely themed items with catchy names. There is no reason to buy these unless they are exactly what you are looking for. There is not even a discount for buying in bulk. The price of the bundles are the same as purchasing the items individually.

Vindication through FAQs

On a long enough timeline the survival rate for douchbaggery drops to zero.

I love the latest GW FAQs for 40k. When 6th Ed dropped, I was impressed with the tightness of the rules. Things seemed very clear and loopholes were mostly covered. What was not covered seemed like you could work it out with some logic and reasonable compromises. However there were a few things that did not sit well with me. turns out that it was the power gamer community centering around sites like BoLS that were deliberately misinterpreting the rules for advantage, but no news there. In an impressive move of listening to what the community was getting wrong and responding, GW addressed these holes and grey areas with speed and aplomb.

Backing up a little, we went through similar self correcting with the Space Wolf Codex. There were lots of folk that wanted to say that if they took 9 Grey Hunters and attached a Wolf Guard then that made a 10 man unit. That earned you a second special weapon. BS. When you try to call them on this nonsense (and you know I did), they come back with that it is now a 10 man unit and due to the ambiguity of the wording they can do it.

A few months later, GW has to release a FAQ specifically telling these people that not only can they do that, but they were DBs for doing it in the first place. It would be nice if GW took a leaf out of Privateer Press' book and beta tested the rules with the community a little before releasing the books to weed out this kind of end run around sanity and rationality, but that is too much to hope for. I guess that we (and by we I mean me), will have to put up with a few months of people trying to break the rules for advantage. I guess that is because they can't compete on a level field.

Coming up to more recent events, the gaming community that was not the douchbag core was lit up like a pinball machine over units of characters namely Paladins and Ork Nobs on bikes. The 6th Ed rulebook had those models listed as Cha and the community took that to mean they they were all Characters and could all make Look out Sir rolls for each other. I pointed out several times in several places (here I could link to me calling jerks out on BoLS but I don't want to visit their site any more than I have to or read their garbage), they this makes no sence on several levels. There are no other units that are made of all Characters. From a fluff/rules/reasonable point of view, why would the people go through acrobatics to each get shot for each other every time they are shot at? It does not make any sence for the purposes of the rule and it really slows down the game.

It is now a few weeks after GW has specifically corrected this and there is nothing from the DB community other than a a pouty face they they can't use this particular brand of cheese anymore. And that is how it goes. In my perfect world, there would be a black mark on the people that not only used this "tactic" but promoted it. Insted they go on to break the game in other ways.

So why write rants against this? Because it makes me feel good that I have the right interpretation of the rules and that few of my plans are changed when an FAQ comes out. It makes me feel like I have a good grip on the spirit of the rules.

Close to home

We all know this guy. He walks over to your table and tells you why every move you make is wrong and not tactically sound despite not really seeming to know how to play. He'll also tell you about why every unit you took is either broken, too powerful, under-powered or not worth the points.

This guy and I will never see eye to eye because in the end we are really not playing the same game.

Oh GW, it is like you are not even trying any more

For YEARS, many of us wanted a bits pack with decent-looking combi-weapons in them so we would not have to cut up a flamer and glue it haphazardly to a bolter. GW through that I would be a good idea to make our dreams come true by cutting up a flamer and haphazardly gluing it to a bolter.

The combi weapons are awful except for the melta which is a direct cast of the one from Space Marine Captain sprue. The flamer and plasma are little better than even the most untalented hobbist could do with 5 min of effort. I think anyone could do better than the combi-flamer really. What is it with GW wanting to make spindly little bits that hand off their minis then make them out of a material that make glass look like steel.

Base Trial - Texture Paint

Stirland Mud with sprinkles!

So I ripped this guy off his brown base and stuck his brown butt on a black base. I made a special trip to the CLGS to get some of the new texture paint to try out a more complicated basing method other than my paint, sand and forget method. 

A short aside about the local GW store: I am starting to really hate even going in there. May of the black shirts are ok but there are two that are just awful. Chris is loud, obnoxious and really a jerk. He is the black shirt that denied me the use of the new paints and then painted right in front of me without offering his own. I am still shocked at the thought of that. The other is Eric (but he spells it all weird). Both of them do this really fake chatting you up every flipping time you come in. "Whatcha workin on? (So I know what to sell you)" "Need and brushes (...at our crazy markup?)" "Why don't you enter our BS contest/tourny?"

Starting Space Wolves (Now with bonus Liquid Talent mini-rant)

In addition to starting Sisters, Orks and Tyranids, I thought it would be a smart idea to start Space Wolves too! Really I am just hammering out a color pallet and figuring out how I want to paint these guys. Rather than paint them in a icy blue style, I wanted to paint them is a dusty or desert theme. Think Tallaran Wolves. 

I based them in Dheneb Stone followed by two coats of 1:1 Graveyard Earth and Kommando Khaki. The metal bits are Chainmail and the gold bits are Shining Gold. After that the whole model gets a wash of Dev Mud. 

I know what you are saying and we've talked about this before many many times. The difference between me and most folks that lean on the Dev Mud crutch is that I do not stop at this step. As you can see the model is really dark and muddy-brown. It makes me a little sick to see a "painted" army across the table from me that looks like a brown blob because the "painter" threw down a base color, washed it brown and called it good. Not. Painting. 

Rumormongering

Just flippin wait.

The short: I don't like it.

The long: What's the point, really? Assuming that 50% of the rumors are accurate, there is still not enough information to make any kind of informed decisions. They is so much BS and chaff, that you can't separate the fact from fiction until after the official rules are out. Then even after they are out, it still takes months for every to get a grip on the changes to the game.

Take a look at this. This is The Back 40k and my new favorite community. They usually have their heads screwed on straight. In that link they are giving a review of some rumors for the GK Codex as reported by Blood of Kittens. You can read down them and see that even 4 months out from release the rumors are fairly accurate at least in kind of a general way, but not accurate enough to relate the subtly in some of the rules. None of that was readily apparent until you could get the codex in your hands.

And even then, the real impact of the changes do not come through until months later. That point was illustrated very well on World's End Radio in a recent episode. (I would link to it but that would mean re-listening to a 3 hour podcast.) They were talking about their review of the Dark Eldar Codex and how they were way off on how some things worked until after they had played many games.

The kids over at BoLS, blood of Kittens and everywhere else that reports rumors does a disservice to the community. I know why they do it. It is the same reason that they do the worthless "Caption Contests" and idiotic Goatboy articles. They generate hits and those hits are how they sell advertising. It is just like the local news. They do not care what they report as long as you read it and they can get real paid.

I can wait. I am gonna wait. Don't get me wrong, I have my pennies saved and I'm going to get the rule book the day it is available. Then I am going to read it. Then I am going to write about it. Them I am going to read what other people write. Then I am going to play lots of games and only after all of that will I have enough information to make any sort of informed decision.

I wonder what this could be

I mean it is so subtle and cryptic. I am perplexed at what it could be.

Unless you are living under a rock, you know that 6th Edition of Warhammer 40k has been on the drawing boards for a while now. There have been all kinds of rumors about when and what and who that it makes me a little sick. Half are wrong and the other half are inaccurate. I see no use in speculating as to the difference or planning anything in advance. When the books hits we are all gonna buy it and then I'll see what is what.

What I find especially frustrating is that there are no repercussions for rumormongering just like there are no penalties for predicting the end of the world. Loudmouths can yell whatever they want no matter how half-baked it is and pay no price for it. a few years later they get to do it all over again and no one calls them on it.