Tau for Sale!

Check out my army for sale on ebay!

TauChi Episode 4

The end and the beginning!

Dead Man Walking

Howdy folks!

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.  Yes it's been little over a month since I blogged about my progress, so I am going to remedy that today.  With the family trading illnesses and my step son reaching the venerable age of 7, (his birthday is May 5th...his Uncle already claimed the 21st birthday) I've had precious little time with the hobby and been pulled into other diversions (I also blame Minecraft for some of it).

Thing a Day: A GrimDark Rainbow, and Dreadnoughts on Parade!

Thing a Day:  A GrimDark Rainbow, and Dreadnoughts on Parade!

Take a look, its in a book.  I have been hitting the books recently, and I also got some hobby done...Check it out!

Thing A Day 3/16 - 3/23 Finished JP Assault Squad

Thing A Day 3/16 - 3/23 Finished JP Assault Squad

As the title says, I finally finished my first JP Assault squad.  Additionally, I finished a Librarian and made up the rest of the bases I will need for the remaining 3 Squads. Phew...  It's nice when a plan comes together.  Read the rest of my week of updates after the jump.

Thing a Day: 3/8 - 3/15 I've Been a Busy Bee!!

Thing a Day:  3/8 - 3/15 I've Been a Busy Bee!!

Hello loyal readers.  MikeD here again to give you a quick update and to share some of my recent work.  This time I've been painting up my JP ASM, plotting my Traitor Guard, and I've been slapping together the last few units for a change to my DoA JP list.  More after the jump...

Relictors Update

      Welcome readers, Lord Castillo here with an update on the Relictors squad that I have been working on. Despite the Grey Knights incursion that is nigh upon our heads I am still building and re-vamping my Chaos army. I say "Death to the tools of the Emperor!" Any way enough of my ramblings, I do have an update to share with you. To the left we have a photo of my old Space Wolves army that I joyfully converted and transformed into a Chosen squad for Chaos. Space Wolves! But they ROCK!?!?! Yes they do now but these guys are from 3rd edition and they sucked. Let me clarify they sucked for me. I banished them to the garage because I lost every game I played with them. So imagine the light bulb going off in my head when I came across them again. There was no better way to put them back into service. 

Thing a Day 3/1-3/7 March is on!

Thing a Day 3/1-3/7

Howdy folks!  MikeD here again with another Thing a day wrap-up post.  The fam and I have been super busy starting March, and I've been lucky enough to get some hobby time in as well.  Check out the update after the jump.

The Return of the Relictors

 Back From the Warp...

A few short months ago I had started playing 40K again. I had been on hiatus for several years but was never far. My homepage was always honed in on the GW site so I was always in the know when something new was coming out. Well in those short months I have also teamed up with MikeD at our local store. I have been learning the ins and outs of 5th edition and getting my space legs back. I have come to the realization now that I need to re-vamp my entire Chaos army. I played a pure Slaaneshi army in 4th edition. The most obvious changes were how the daemons were used, then the loss of gifts of chaos for vehicles/units and lastly the Chaos god alignment restriction was lifted. This last part means that now Khorne and Slaanesh troop units can fight side by side. This was not always the case for I have not forgotten Skalathrax!!!!!

 

Thing a Day 2/24 - 2/28: Jump Packs and Traitor Guard

Thing a Day 2/24 - 2/28: Long Jump Packs and Traitor Guard

Here's some quick updates that are getting me back into the groove. As I mentioned last time, I am working on finishing my jump packs and getting my Assault JP troopers ready to paint.  I have achieved that first goal finally, and gotten over the 40 Jump Pack hump.  I am now back to my 10 man painting sessions and will begin tonight with my First squad and a Librarian on the side.

No Table No War Part 2

     Welcome back to the second installment. This past Friday evening we had a go at the the new table and it was AWESOME,  it will definitely see more action in the future. The modular capability is a plus and extends the life of the board, so that you don't ( no pun intended ). Another point that just occurred to me is that you can create a board that transitions. What I mean by that is you can have a desert land scape that runs into a cities of death city block or into a oasis/jungle treeline or frozen waste land. The possibilities are limitless, it's your world you decide. So with that said let''s pick up where we left off shall we..........

No Table No War Part 1

Hello to All...and welcome to Boltguns, Bashers and Brushes. Are you tired of playing on the same old table with the same old terrain? Or maybe you always wanted to make your own  battle board but don't know where to begin. Well today is your lucky day. We have a work in progress that will span 2 to 3 posts that will cover from start to finish how to make your own modular board. So lets get started shall we.......

Community, Updates, and Multi-tasking

Community, Updates, and Multi-tasking

Thing a Day update 2/18-2/23

Howdy Folks!

I have been keeping my Thing a day, to thing-every few days or thing-a-week, which I think is probably ok as to not clutter and spam the blog.  But don't fret, I am still working on my armies!  This update straddles a weekend, so not too much happened on Saturday and Sunday.  Recent highlights after the jump.

Blog Changes: For Good and For Awesome!!

Blog Changes:  For Good and For Awesome!!

So, I've been pretty good about keeping up with my Thing A Day, If I may say so, and in my local group we've been talking about things we can do to expand our play and include narrative campaigns and other avenues for game play outside of the same old book missions.  That of course, started my wheels-a-turning.  To that end, I've been talking to my frequent opponent and friend, MikeF about campaign ideas and expanding our games, and tossing out the idea to join the blog.

Thing a Day 2/17 Me Time = Painting time

Thing a Day 2/17 Me Time = Painting time

Hello true believers! Last night, I had a rare opportunity.  The kids were away, and the Significant other was out having a girls night.  So what would a self respecting gaming nerd do?  Paint, of course!  So I did just that.  Sitting down in front of my neglected jump packs, I finished touching up the base colors and applied 30+ decals, then touched those decals up.

Pics after the jump.

Thing a day, 2/15-2/16: Game Day and Cleaning!

Thing a day, 2/15-2/16

Game Day and more cleaning/organizing.

This update covers our Tuesday Night fight game for this week, and a little tiny bit of related on Wednesday (2/16).  On Tuesday, it was MikeF with his Chaos Marines, Freddy, with his 1k of Grey Knights, and me with my Angels Sanguine.  As we had three players, we decided to do a 2 headed at 1k side, Freddy and I, against Mike F's 2k of Chaos.

Thing a Day 2/14/11 Toy Time!

Thing a Day 2/14/11 New toys!

Thing a day, Cupid edition.  So with last week, (kind of non productive) behind me, I spent my Valentines with the lady friend and family, and whats the best way?  Spend time together and stealthily get a few more hobby tools and toys to boot! More info after the jump. 

Thing a Day: 2/7 - 2/11 Back in action!

Thing a Day:  2/7 - 2/11 Back in action!

Sorry for the lack of updates this week, but I spent Monday through Wednesday out of town and the rest of this week catching up with work.  I will be getting back into the swing of things this weekend.

So here are the real updates after the jump.

Thing a Day 2/3-2/5 Reinforcements and more!

Thing a Day, February 3-5, 2011  

So I didn't get a specific post up for Thursday as I was still a bit under the weather and my Uncle just flew into town from Colorado, So I've been busy.  But to make up for it I've been busy planning, plotting, and researching.
As many of you know, the new Blood Angels SR and Dreads came out on Friday, the 4th, and you know me... Reinforcements were INCOMING!  More after the jump.

Thing a Day, 2/2/11 S.S.D.D.

Thing a Day, February 2, 2011 SSDD

Same Stuff, Different Day.  I was home with a nasty fever Wednesday, so upon recovering later that evening I got more work done on the Jump Packs.  Now I have roughly half base colored and ready for decals.  Not very eventfull, but still slightly productive.  Can't complain for a day I spent mostly bed ridden.  No pics...you just have to take my word for it...

MU HAHA

Thanks for reading,

-MikeD

Thing a Day 2/1 Tuesday game night

Thing a Day, February 1, 2011

Last night marked the first game night at my FLGS for February.  We did a team game consisting of the three Mikes, Me, M.Brown, M.Fursa and Cody/Cory/Something with a C?  I'm horrible with names....  Details after the jump.

Thing a Day 1/31 Jump Packs Part Deux

Thing a Day, Monday January 31, 2011

More work work...  Quick update and starting the real Jump Pack mountain of work.  Check out today's after the jump.

Thing a day: Weekend Edition 1/28 - 1/30

-Image from
Dawn of War II

Thing a day:  Weekend Edition 1/28 - 1/30

This weekend saw me spending lots of family time, and not much space for the hobby.  Not bad though as I did get  something done anyway.

I have been wondering what to do with my Jump Packs to give them the used/in use look and in Googling may ideas, I decided on a Jump Pack glow effect.  Eggroll on Dakka has a perfect glow on his army,  that finally made me take the leap.

Thing a Day 1/27 JumpPacks, the Basecoat...

Thing a Day, Thursday January 27, 2011

Digging into the 40 ASM Jump Packs, I busted out the airbrush and laid down my base colors.  With my deep Red Gore-esqe base mix, and my Blood Red highlight coat, I was able to produce the following:

Steps one and two, base dark red and highlight Blood Red.

Final Step, Highlights.  This of course, is only done on the top facing surfaces. I really want to take my highlighting serious on these, which is kind of why I waited until I painted all of my foot troops first.  The JP ASM might be slower to paint then my Tacs and Devs were, but I hope to improve now that I have had 104 models of practice.

Basecoated and finished for now.

Tomorrow night, I plan to line and paint my Blue-Black on the other half.

Thanks for reading.

-MikeD

Thing a Day 1/26 Organization party!

Thing a Day Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Organization party!  So tonight I sat down to begin the next leg of my painting journey, my Jump Pack Marines.  All told I have 4 units of 10 ASM to paint up, and since I use them on my Tuesday games, I will start by slapping together my Jump packs and getting them painted up first, then as I paint them 10 at a time, I can complete them with base and Jump pack for use in my games.

So to setup 40 jump packs and get them ready to paint, it's time to clean and organize.  Oh yeah, Martha Stewart, eat your heart out!

Tutorial: Razorback Flamer Turrets

Tutorial:  Twin Linked Heavy Flamer 

Razor Back Turrets.

As many Blood Angles players have had to do, Scratch building Heavy Flamer turrets is a fun and challenging prospect, read:  Crappy.  My best ideas that won't break the bank, revolved around the Flamestorm cannon.  There are plenty of alternatives out there, the Imperial Guard Sentinel Heavy Flamer, creating a scratchbuilt flamer, plastic tube and plasticard based, or re-purposing the Baal Predator sponsons.  Read on to see my solution.

Thing a Day 1/25 Grey Knight Game

Thing a Day, Tuesday January 25, 2011

Game night!  This was January's third Tuesday Fignt night.  A huge storm came down on central Florida, so we got a late start but managed to work a game to the fifth turn and the game was basically over anyway.

This night I was helping a new player get a practice game in.  This is the reason I slapped the LRC together last night, one of the possible lists had it.  Our new player is Freddy, and he will be starting a Deamonhunters army with the new codex drop, so we took a thousand points out of the old codex to practice with.  The match was Capture and Control/Spearhead.  Keep reading for the game synopsis from my horrible memory.

Thing a Day 1/24 CRUSADER!

Thing a Day, Monday January 24, 2011

This is a quickie as I only did one thing.  That is..MAKE A F-ING TANK!.

I assembled the Crusader I acquired at the end of the year (yay sales!).  I planned to wait a bit, but a new player at our shop was wanting to learn how to play and will be doing a Grey Knights army when the new codex drops, so we are working a few practice games and one of his lists called for a LRC, so I decided to whip it together real fast so that we can use it in a few games.

Also, its part of a BA list I want to try out.  Something akin to Jawaballs Mechanicon army Land raider unit.  I will probably try to make his LRC Rock portion and remove some of the mech and add hybrid elements in DoA/StormRaven love.

So on with the pics...

Process pic.  

I only ever put one together for a friend years ago, but the kit is not bad.  I had no real issues at all.  I, of course, magnetized the hatch options and magnetized the "extras" hatch for my HKM, Searchlights, etc...

Here is the completed pic, including all of the magnetized options.  I would never use it as a Redeemer, but just in case I did magnetize the bolters.   I used the redeemer sponsons for my Flame turrets, (as discussed in this weekends post) so I would need to bit order them again.  Don't see that happening, honestly.

So there you go.  Not bad for a few hours work.  Thanks for reading!

-MikeD

Thing a Day, Weekend edition 1/22-23

Thing a Day, Weekend Edition 

1/22-23 

As you may have guessed from my pic, All the devs are done.  All 26 are finished, based and good to go.  A bonus 7 Meltaguns too.  Check out the pics!

Thing a Day 1/21 COMPLETED METAL!

Thing a Day, Friday January 21, 2011

There is light at the end of the tunnel!  Oner more sitting and the Devs are DONE Man!  I don't want to see a heavy weapon again for a long while...

Heres the Update:

90% completed devs, and bonus 7 Meltaguns ready for the last pass.

• Painted the remaining metal, Aquilas, weapons, and hoses.
• Painted 7 meltaguns

Next time, I will line the black, base them, and fix all touch ups.

Thing a Day 1/20 METAL!

Thing a Day, Thursday January 20, 2011

Today I got bizzay with the brush and started on my METAL!  Did my red armor shading and tweaked out a few Heavy Weapons.

Check out the pics!

All of the marines finished armor reds and the finished 8 Heavy weapon marines

Closeups of the finished metal, still lacking the black highlight and touch ups to be done last.  The last shot of the ML marines shows the shading a quick ink and wash can do.  I ink with more of a Magenta color, and I feel its deep enough that a highlight won't be needed

• Touched up all my reds.
• Shaded all red armor with inks and washes.
• All metal tubes Imperial Eagles, armor joints, and bolts are now METAL! 
• Began painting all my Weapons.  
• -All Heavy Bolters
• -All Plasma Cannons *Plasma Cannon coils are to be done with airbrush last.

For tomorrow I hope to whip up the last run of metal for all the Devs, giving one more sitting for trimming out my black armor With Codex Grey and basing these bad boys.  By next week All my Devastators shall be ready to lay waste to all those who defy the EMPEROR AND SANGUNIUS!...ahem...

Thanks for watching!

Thing a Day 1/19 Paint it Black, Part 2. THE REMIX

Thing a Day, Wednesday January 19, 2011

So today I got a lot done!  WOO!  I was able to finish my second half of "blacking" for my missile Devs, and I did the blue helmets completely on all of them as well.  With the two converts from the Tac squads, I repainted their helmet halves and got them tidied up.  Check out the update pics below!

Three shots spanning all of the devs fully blue-d and blacked out.

• Painted the half blacks for the remaining heavy weapons.
• Painted black 7 Meltaguns (not pictured).
• Painted all helmet halves blue, highlighted and shaded.  100% DONE.
• Painted all purity seals, highlighted, shaded, script, and seal wax in green tones.
• Painted all Eyes and Lenses green with highlights and shade.

Some closer examples of each heavy weapon and the two transplant Missile marines from the Tac squads.

If anyone is curious as to the colors I use, feel free to comment or ping me.  I will be happy to pass it along.  Tomorrow I will hopefully line, highlight and shade all the armor, red and black.  Lastly the weapons will finish it out.  hopefully they will be done by next week?  Wishful thinking?  Stay tuned to find out.

Thing a Day 1/18 - 2000 Point game

Thing a Day, Tuesday January 18, 2011

Today I played my first 2000 point game against a Slanneshi Army bent on defiling the glorious forces of the emperor.  Well, the Angels of Death swept down on wings of flame, crying havoc and bringing death for the Emperor and Sangunius!

So yeah, the Emperor was with us as the cursed chaos bent to the power of righteously cursed dice.   By turn 4, there were still two chaos units in reserve.  The game was Spearhead Capture and control.  At the close of turn 4 there were two controlled Angels objectives, and the other two were in contest.  

These things were a big help:

• All my reserves came in on turn 2
• Great rolls all around for the blessed Angles of the Emperor, horrible rolls for my opponent.  This game was all about dice.
• Charging with more then one unit is a must.  I may be getting some kind of hang of this DoA stuff...Maybe...
• Overlapping Priests, I am getting better.
• Wishing for not killing a enemy unit all on my assault phase, worked out twice in my favor

Bad:

• Havoc launchers.
• Blast Masters. 
• AP 2 and 3 suck.

Overall, not a bad game.  Second against chaos.  Thanks for reading!

Thing a Day 1/17 Paint it Black, Part 1.

 Thing-a-day Monday, January 2011

Painting it black.  Part 1.  In this episode, our hero took to the black inky depths to base coat all his metals and weapons in black.  Chaos black to be precise.

After the decals and armor colors are laid down, I lay down base colors.  First I hit all black and metal areas in chaos black, and then I will then hit all the lighter white/blue areas with Adeptus battlegrey Foundation paint.    I stick to a thicker black paint then I normally use to apply a good thick foundation for colors and to leave a good thick coat.  Normally I would thin it a lot more, but for this application it's thicker.  I wish there was a readily available heavy pigment foundation-like black...

Check it:

This is Part 1, as I only finished half of my devs tonight.

• Painted all dark areas black, for 1/2 of my devs.  Part 2, my 12 Missile Launchers, coming hopefully Wednesday night.
• Also played Mr. Mom as the better half worked her late shift for the month and Cooked Tacos and Helped my 6.5yr old bake a cake!

Tomorrow is Game night at my FLGS, so I will be not painting tomorrow night and instead doing a quick recap linked to our local forums. I know you must be waiting with baited breath!  Stay tuned!

Thing a Day 1/16

Sunday, January 16 2011

Today's thing a Day was a bit of cleanup.  I edged and cleaned up my Devastator knee icons and shoulder chapter badges with my Armor red and Armor black.

As I used white decal paper to ensure my white is bright and crisp, I need to always trim up the edges of my decals.  Not only does it clean up the color I feel it gives a clean and easier blend from the icon colors to the armor color.  Then once I edge and ink my flat areas, it also blends into the badges.

Examples of the edging.  Hopefully you can see a marked difference from Friday's post and image. (click for a better look)

My cleanup red is a easy two-stepper.  Quick edge in The Foundation Color, Mechrite Red, and a dab of Blood Red on a second coat as needed.  My black armor is actually a 3:1 ratio of Chaos Black and Regal blue.  I learned a long time ago in some blog or art class, don't remember which came first, never use straight black as a final color.  At the least add blue, it adds a depth to your black, and looks waaaay cooler.

For my whole black models such as Death Company and my Chaplins, I plan to do more blue into the mix, and rip off Roman's awesome black...you'll see soon.

Thanks for watching!  Stay tuned for tomorrow's update of heavy support POWAH!

Thing a Day Idea 1/10-1/14

I am working on a new feature for the blog, It's my Thing a Day. (not to be confused with the equally awesome, thing-a-week) I have shamelessly stole this idea from my better half, and her blog GingerGoddess.  She is doing a 365 pics for 365 days. So I will be doing an update each night I do something Hobby related.  So each update will be like a hobby diary and contain a pic or three to show my progress that day.  Now, I might not have a entry each day, but my goal is to at least do four out of five days a week (not so much on weekends, unless I get lucky to have time), and if theres a reason I don't update, I'll make sure its a good one.   For this first week, I will roll it all into this one post, and from now on I will keep it one post a day on the blog.  I will later put each week on the thing-a-day page for archiving.  Sounds awesome right?  I thought so, Read on!

Happy 2011, Now get to work...

Howdy folks, No I'm not dead, just enjoying the holidays and my time off.  I try not to post more then 2 weeks apart, but this one is still a viable update, even if late.

So what have I been doing?  Organizing and painting, one I do well and the other..meh.  It depends on the day, which is which.