Red Scorpions Apothecary

So I decided I needed a codex astartes marines chapter rather than one of the non-complient chapters like Dark Angels. Right when I decided this, Forgeworld released rules for chapter tactics for all the Badab War chapters.

Immediately thought I should do Red Scorpions, whom I always thought were cool anyway. Love the color scheme, love their rules. They can bring an Apothecary as a sergeant in every tactical squad meaning its that much harder peeling a scoring unit off their objectives. Plus, it means I have to kitbash and custom-ish build every last Sgt. I want to do which appeals to me. Also one of their named HQs is a really powerful psychic character who can eliminate the randomness element to which powers he brings, which is one of the stupidest things in 40k. "Hey, I'm a really powerful wizard psyker and I somehow don't know what spells I know." Sometimes, GW, random is not better.

First thing I did was order the Legiones Apothecarion detachment. Used the Mk4 armored guy as my first Scorpion because they are known for fielding their guys in that pattern armor.

Only thing not done is I am going to order some transfer sheets for shoulderpads and for vehicles once I eventually do some of those. So, that blank black shoulder is going to have a white circle trimmed in yellow with a red scorpion in the middle.

Edit: Took some more photos, tried to make it look a little better. Not sure I succeeded or not, but I am not really a photographer so sue me.

Just a personal update. No photos :(

Simply chiming in to say I'm still alive, still kicking, and still working on stuff. Mom was getting worried. (Not really, but it's fun to think that.)

I've taken January more or less off because I burnt myself out in the Christmas Rush a little. Been playing a lot of video games in the meantime, which has been a great change of pace.

BUT I PROMISE YOU THIS! I am going to get stuff done in February. This post is proof.

Things I have to get done:
-Finish Colin's WW2 airplane. This one I actually should finish before February begins.
-Finish 5 mostly painted Dire Avengers.
-Assemble, paint 5 more Dire Avengers.
-Paint Wave Serpent.
-Assemble, paint 10 man Red Scorpions Tactical Squad.
-Paint 2 Storm Boys.
-Assemble, paint Mortis-Pattern Contemptor Dreadnought.
-Finish painting part of "The Knights of the Round." (personal project with Dark Angels, only have one done so far and another half finished)

And now just because I want to, RANT TIME.

Warhammer 40k is a lot of things. It's also a poorly written game filled with lots of rules gaps, and strikes me as something never meant for competitive tournament level play. It seems to me a game you're meant to play with a brother or son or best friend around a table you built in order to flesh out some epic battles. However, as any game with any level of competition and money involved as Warhammer, it brings out those kinds of people who have to win at all costs.

Those kinds of people are ruining the game.

The level of cheating that goes on blows my mind. "Rules lawyering" is a term gamers have thrown around for years, mostly meaning the kinds of people who miss the intention of the game and decide they can get away with something totally broken and overpowered and unfun for their opponent all in the name of winning. To me, the fun of competition comes almost solely from the people you play with and against. Doing things like this is a good way, in any other sport/hobby/game, of never having people to play against. However, 40k is an expensive and pretty niche game so we're all kind of stuck playing against people like that if we even want to play at all.

I am very fortunate that in person, we have a large group of guys and we don't really have anyone who's that way. We have very competitive people, for sure, but they aren't fielding lists specifically because of absurd rules or lack of specification in those rules. That said, the number of literal insane people online when you ask rules questions is hilarious and upsetting. It makes me wonder if 40k attracts people with Asperger's and other socially awkward illnesses.

It also makes me want to give up the game. I'm pretty much done with it anyway because even when played properly, it's not terribly fun. Spending months on end getting a force done just to have it wiped off the table because dice rolls are fickle is poor game design, in my eyes. Luck determines far too much of the game while skill and strategy play second fiddle.

Works in Progess 2014 Edition

2013 was a fantastic year for me from a modeling standpoint. My skills are significantly better than they've ever been and it keeps improving.

Sadly I did not win our local painters competition but that's okay. If we do another, I've got it in the bag. I'll submit it under a psuedonym so the M:TG players at our shop don't intentionally vote against me this next time. That might help.

Anyway I have a ton of projects lined up. First I need to finish a few orks for a buddy and then I'm home free to get back to work on my own things. Here is a work in progress shot to tide you over til I'm done.

Turquoise is a fun color.

I have been obsessed with it lately. It just contrasts and compliments so many other colors so well because its not quite green but its not quite blue.

Anyway, this is just a quick update. Got this done for a friend. Last one finished before Christmas! Whoo!

Kawaii Desu~~

Super Dungeon Explore's miniatures are just way too damn cute and I love them.

Note the bases are not painted on a few of them. Reason being last Thursday when I was working on these, I painted the ones people wanted to use in our game while one of the players was in the middle of his Warhammer match. Figured I'd just get through as many as possible.

Also turns out I found a technique I like a lot. When you base things with a pure white primer, applying washes directly to it can give you really neat bright color effects for utilizing shaded hair, cloth and the like. I did it with both the Riftling Rogue's hair by washing it purple and the Glimmerdusk Ranger's shawl by washing it turquoise. Was simply a matter of reapplying white highlights afterward, and boom. Done.

Their eyes are a llittle more complicated than I'd done on any other model because they are so large and unlike the Druid, weren't just little beady black slats. Ideally I aim for something similar to this with the more realistic models I do truth be told. Putting color in the bottom half and applying a white tiny dot in the top of the pupil goes a llong way toward making eyes look realistic. Its cartoony here because of the eyeball size in relations to the rest of the head but it works great when you can pull it off with more realistic miniatures. Give it a try!

Angry Bear!

Rawr, angry bear!

Busy!

I've been so swamped, I haven't had time to update my blog. The worst part is, I didn't even remember to take photos of some of the things I've done recently and that is quite sad indeed.

So we'll just skip to what I'm doing now. The guy I did the purple marine for, with the jetpack and wing helm? I am doing up all his miniatures for this really awesome board game called "SUPER Dungeon Explore!" I am totally in love with the game and the game's pieces.

The first guy I decided to work on was the Druid guy because he was my favorite of the two I played as in our game. Also he is technically two models as he can turn into a bear, which is my next project.

First off, painting chibi anime figures is a trip. Throw out all you know about highlighting 40k minis. To make it look cartoony, you have to do most of it yourself instead of letting the different types of paints do the lions share of the work. I only used shade paints on the skin to darken up his joints and the key Sepia wash on the fur to make it look mote organic than if I'd washed it black like I usually do with white. It was a straight sepia wash twice to darken up the fur, as I'd primed the model white. I love the results.

I can't wait to do the rest of the set!