Hoarding or horde-ing?

I was feeling ansty yesterday. My kid had wrecked the place. The living room looked like a Thomas the Tank Engine graveyard, intermingled with crayola crayons, pieces of chalk, balls and magnetic letters from the fridge. It was driving me nuts. We only have a small place, so a small mess looks like a hurricane blew through. Obviously, there is no point tidiying up when you have a 2 year old, as it’ll be thrown about the floor again in less than 5 minutes. We do all that after he’s gone to bed. Thats when the veil of calm descends 🙂 So, as I couldn’t clean up his mess, I felt I should really do something.

So, I went to my closet. Actually, i’ll correct myself, the ‘area I store my figures and hobby stuff, along with the coats, hoodies and other crap we can’t find a home for’. For a while now, it has looked a little like a GW independent stockists back stock. So, I dutifully used my little step ladder thingy to get up to all the stuff stacked on the top shelf. I went through all the boxes, pulling out sprues with odd bits and bobs on, throwing out boxes, empty FW bags, instruction booklets on how to assemble your cadians/rhinos/Land Raiders, devastators etc etc, and any other crap that I didn’t need. My plan is to condense all the sprue bits by cutting them off the sprues and bagging them up for easier storage. I’ll get to that this week hopefully. So, I restacked everything and stood back and looked at my handiwork:

It was then that it occurred to me that it didn’t look like I had actually done anything at all. This image belies the fact that I threw out an entire 13 gallon garbage bag full of stuff. Yikes. I want to get some better shelves in here. The ones I have were a temporary measure to give me somewhere to stash my minis. I also have 2 mini cases full of minis, that you can’t see here, plus the various foam trays you can see in the picture which also have stuff in them.

So, it made me think about all the stuff I have. I have plans for all of it, but it really made me think about the practicality and the time it’s going to take to get it all done. It seems to be a well known trait amongst gamers with having several armies and not one of them being fully painted, unless, however, you are my buddy Colin, whom I am convinced has elves and faeries that come out at night and help him paint all his stuff. Anyway, I digress. I look at what I have, and I often think, ‘should I get rid of a bunch’, in an effort to bring it under control, but I dearly enjoy all the stuff I have. I recently started revolving the armies for painting, to keep morale up and also to try and get more done and keep interest going. Maybe its because there is so much cool stuff that gets released, or is pending that it creates that ‘must have’ mentality. Before you know it, you have yet another army patiently waiting for a coat of paint. I will admit that a few times I have been eyeballing the new Blood Angels, but have thus far been successful in ignoring the ‘phwaaaooor! thats AWESOME’ feeling I get when seeing them. I never was one for getting in on the current trend, so I won’t be getting my IPhone Blood Angels. I’ll stick with my Bellbottom jeans Sisters haha!

PS yes, that is a signed Bolt Thower picture on the wall.

TTFN!

Paul

T-Minus 4 weeks and counting…

So I am heading home in a little under 4 weeks. I need the vacation! I made sure that I changed my initial departure date from the end of May to the beginning of May when I found out that my hometown heros Bolt Thrower we playing a frakkin’ gig in Birmingham with Benediction, Rotting Christ and others. To say that I am excited is the understatement of the century! I’m sure I will get time to go to Warhammer World while i’m there too. I can’t think about any of that now though, i’m seeing Bolt Thrower! Wooooooooorrrrrrrrrlllllld Eaaaaaaaateeeeerrrrr!

Updating ‘Aut Pax Aut Bellum’

Yes, it is true… I actually have started listing some of my Sisters force under their banner which I created aaaages ago.  It’s WIP for the most part, but I wanted a central reference point for my ongoing work on the girls. I’m sorta beginning to regret my choice of colors, simply for the amount of work that has to go into it, and free time is something I don’t get a lot of. I’m currently working on my squad of Seraphim. I am working on five of them, although I have another four, but to be honest, these figures are ass-paralyzingly boring to work on. With the exception of one in particular, the poses for the most part are boring and unimaginative, and lack any ‘movement’ it actually looks like they are in a cheerleading squad, doing some jumps. Maybe I should switch out the bolt pistols for pom poms…

I’ve been lurking on numerous forums, trying to glean any further information about any imminent Sisters updates or releases, as the GW stores have been yoinking their stock from the shelves, and they have been gradually disappearing from the online store as well. GW employees are usually full of information (when you ask) and obviously most of it is hearsay (heresy? lol!) or blatant wishlisting.  I just hope that whatever the ‘great plan’ that GW has for us legions of loyal Sisters, or =][= players that they do us proud and release a fine selection of minis to accompany a new Codex. If the recent releases are anything to go by, then I may just have to permanently carry around a box of tissues.  The recent pictures of the advance order Blood Angel stuff are incredible, and make me hope (read: wish) that we =][= players have something in the pipeline soon. Can you imagine, an army of Battle Sisters that aren’t all in the same pose? Glory to The Emperor! Beloved by all!

Thinking about what we currently have in our ‘dex, I don’t really think we’ll actually lose anything. Maybe some tweaks here and there, and obviously adjust some points costs (50 pts for Rhinos? HELLO?????). I am rather hoping that we get some new heavy stuff, or maybe some =][= specific transports. One big thing I am hoping we DO NOT lose, are the inducted or allied options.

Time will tell I guess. In the meantime I will paint my one pose army and dream of glories yet to come…

oh, and the updated page can be found here lol!

https://whencannonsfade.wordpress.com/aut-pax-aut-bellumeither-peace-or-war/

Paul

An unnerving talent….

I was spacing out the other day, wondering what was going to be next on the project table for me to tinker with when I realized that all the armies I choose to collect, painstakingly paint and game with all seem to be obsolete (pretty much) or do so shortly after my decision.

Sisters of Battle.

Well, we all know where this is right now, well, we don’t, thats actually the whole point. I started collecting my Witch Hunters force back in about 2004 when I wanted to just start collecting and painting minis again. I bought the codex too. It wasn’t until I went uber serious with gaming again (thanks Colin) that I decided to ctually get a playable force together and went out nd bought the 40K rulebook too. Double whammy on this one. No less than 6 months after me buying the rulebook, then that edition was updated to the current edition. DOH! No matter. I picked up the mini ‘rules bits only’ book from the AoBR set, which I still use. Then, all of a sudden, we find out that the Inquisitorial forces of the Imperium are slowly vanishing. Are we getting an overhaul? are we going the way of the Squats? will we actually get plastic Sisters? The last few months have seen Witch Hunters stock disappearing from shelves, including the codex, and then, in turn, the stock becoming unavailable online through GWs web portal. There’s been a lot of nay-sayers and doom bringers on the interwebs, but conversely there have also been some very positive hints and possible ‘leaks’. For the most part, it seems to be the way of GW to snipe a line from sale for it to be released further down the line. This seems positive, although I hope it’s not going to be another year or two off. 50 points for a rhino? pffft! updated codex please!

Black Templars

I decided I wanted to dabble with the Emperors finest, Space Marines. I didn’t want a vanilla force, and certainly not Smurfmarines. I saw the codex for Black Templars and fell in love (figuratively speaking). Maintaining an almost grim, medieval kvltness about them, I thought they were perfect. Well, now I hear that these chaps will be getting a makeover soon, although I also heard on the grapevine they might be axed. I’m more inclined to believe the former rather than the latter, considering the fluff, and the the fact they are a progenetor chapter of the Imperial Fists. Still, I guess we’ll see. Just as well I am putting together an auxillary of Salamanders…. 😉

Tomb Kings

I got bitten by the WFB bug again, and with Colin amassing an Empire force, I wanted to get in on some axes and maces action. I went with Tomb Kings – Skeletons =cool. Egyptian skeletons with a host of nasty stuff and something akin to the Lost ark of the Covenant = epic WIN. I have managed to score an obscene amount of stuff on Ebay for this, which is awesome, so I don’t feel too bad about collecting this army. It wasn’t until I was surfing one of my regular haunts that I started picking up on other TK players getting twitchy as the army doesn’t seem to be getting any love, apparently because of it’s somewhat ‘fringe’ status, and it not being as popular as the usual Orcs, Chaos etc. I’m hoping for a new army book, although it has just been announced that Orcs and Gobbos are to be released in May, so yet again, something else that will probably be the end of this year, start of early next year. I’m reaaaally hoping they make some new minis to coincide with this, as the Liche Priests and Bone Giant minis = f*cking awful.

With so much being up in the air, i’m wondering whether to shelve the SoBs and TKs, concentrate on my Templars see what happens. At least I can proxy the marines :p

Which leads me to my Lizardmen. A newly refurbished army, new book, new minis, and i’m collecting them! HA! nothing can go wrong with this one….

Tomb Kings archers

Completed 8 Tomb Kings archers, the first of my first Warhammer Fantasy Battle army! I’m quite pleased with the results, so the rest should be a snap to do. My buddy Colin lent me this pot of pumice stone filler type stuff, which I panited onto the bases for a realistic sandy/desert type effect (Thanks Colin!). The Skellies are relatively easy to do:

  • Spray undercoat in white
  • Liberal wash of Devlan Mud all over (be as messy as you like, but make sure you get all the nooks!)
  • Drybrush Menoth White Base (or equivalent, e.g. Bleached Bone)
  • Drybrush with Menoth White (or equivalent. You want a slightly off-white)
  • Hey presto – painted bones!

And for the blue parts:

  • Undercoat with Hawk Turquiose
  • Wash with blue ink
  • Wash with Devlan mud
  • Add Menoth White to Hawk Turquoise for some simple edged highlights

And for the gold/brass bits…

  • Basecoat Shining Gold
  • Wash of chestnut ink
  • Drybrush of Shining Gold
  • Light drybrush of Brass Balls
  • Tadaaaaa!

The red was simply Mechrite red base, then highlighted with 1/1 mix of Mechrite and Blood red. I didn’t focus too much on these highlights, as this is supposed to be a quick army to paint. Blacks were simply line highlighted with Greatcoat Grey with a thin line of Codex grey to finish.

For the bases:

  • Basecoat Graveyard Earth
  • Drybrush Menoth White Base
  • Light drybrush Menoth White
  • Snakebite Leather for the base edges (two coats required for this, else the white will show through.)

Here they are:

C+C welcome!

Cheers

Paul

Templar Landspeeder completed! (at last!)

Finished my first Templar landspeeder last night. It’s taken a little while, but I am pleased with the results. I am still trying to perfect my weathering ‘skills’, but i’m pretty happy with the results on this. I have a second landspeeder thats in the ‘to do’ line, but I am still trying to locate a flamer to mount under the nose. I guess I’ll start on some troops next, as I’m a little burnt out on doing vehicles lol! >eyeballs Land Raider Crusader warily<

C+C very welcome, cheers!

Paul

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