Blood Angles Rhino WIP

Sometimes cleansing the palette is important. After NOVA I found myself besieged by projects. limited time due to a crazy work schedule, has left me with little time to properly plan for a next army project. I haven't even really felt like tackling a large project, consumed as I am with product launch for work. On the other hand, I paint to relieve stress. Rather than overwhelm myself with a lot of choices, I decided to finally try out the new(non Baal, so new to me!) GW reds on on a salvage rhino  paint stripped years ago and forgotten in a drawer.

Shading consists of:

• Mephiston Red
• Evil Suns Scarlet
• Wild Rider Red
• Paint Chip highlights with Troll Slayer Orange  

The rhino has a semi-gloss varnish on it right now, which makes it a little worse looking than normal. The varnish allowed me to add oils without ruining the base coats. With paint chips in place, I can now add decals followed by environmental effects. I might even find the tracks that were pulled off years ago.

Maybe it is time for a fresh BA army.

NOVA

(Borrowed from House of Paincakes)

(Borrowed from House of Paincakes)

(Borrowed from House of Paincakes)

(borrowed from Greg Hess)

The NOVA Open was incredible. I entered the Narrative event with my Sons of Horus army, and despite a grueling early morning/late evening game managed to help humanity loose the earth. We lost, and had a blast doing it. It is hard to describe how good the Narrative really is. It plays the way I want games to play. It is a sort of a "bring what you've always wanted to see on the tabletop" and let's make a scenario where it is fun.  The event is about camaraderie, and using story elements to ensure that everyone has a good time. The organizers, Owen and Steve, did an outstanding job. Will Nick and Kramer lead the forces of humanity to victory in space next year? How many desperate boarding actions will there be? The sky is the limit for the Narrative event. As players we dove right into the role playing aspect, and I think it showed. Hopefully next year we'll see  team missions, side boards, and asymmetric battlefields and missions. Sometimes winning means loosing ground more slowly than the other side expects. No-win scenarios can be fun. Maybe we'll even see fewer games and more strategy.

The NOVA Charitable foundation managed to earn 20k for Doctors Without Borders. The winner of the Ultramarines force was even a member of my favorite warhammer 30K forum. I was supposed to play a game with Terranraida, but the narrative schedule left me panting for breath between games. Hopefully we'll see a Kreig supported Imperial Fists force from him at next year's event.

I met a load of people this year. Todd Sherman and Greg Hess both of whom I have either blog-stalked or chatted with online were a lot of fun to hang out with. Both are great painters. Greg took a huge amount of photos, so if you want to see the huge breadth of painting at the NOVA Open, he is your man. Todd has one of my favorite Eldar armies. His stuff looks great in photos, but when you see it in person it is an order of magnitude better. Brian Ballard and Jeff Jenkins might even convince me to go to Adepticon for some 30k action. Jeff already has EC's so maybe I'll have to paint up another legion.

The Capitol Palette was a turning point for my painting. It still does not seem real to me.  My "Imperial Knight stomping on an EC contempter dreadnought" won Best of Show. I hadn't even considered that possible.  The German panthers won another gold, and the SoH land raider won a bronze. Even typing this right now it does not seem real to me. When I entered this year my primary goal was to get painting feedback. Last year a combination of seminars and paint judging by Justin McCoy spurred me to change my painting style. After last year's seminars I embraced weathering in a totally different way.  I even started chasing the military modeling community in order to learn their techniques. I can't think of a better endorsement for an event. I entered a competition, took a class, and that pointed me the right direction to push my painting. I am lucky so many people kept posting encouragement on this blog and in person. That helps more than you know.


It has been a great journey so far.

Thank you
-john

NOVA Charity Army Raffle Sunday August 24th

The NOVA Open is nearly here, and that means there are only a few days left to win one of the lovely armies showcased below. A tremendous amount of work went into the armies. I believe several of the armies could win best painted awards if they were eligible. The charitable foundation needs your help right now.  Let's push the charity donation higher!

For anyone attending NOVA please come by and say hello. I'll be playing in the warlords track, and will be hanging out in painting seminars. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2014
COUNTDOWN TO CHARITY ARMY RAFFLE DRAWINGS:  7 DAYS

Only one week remains to purchase raffle tickets in the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation's five (5) charity army raffles.  On Sunday, August 31, 2014, between 6:30 and 8:00pm EST, the winners will be announced.  Armies will ship anywhere in the world with an deliverable address!  Here they are:

THE MACRAGGE PROJECT:Raising funds for Doctors Without Borders

Twenty-one renowned miniature artists have created two massive 40K forces reflecting the iconic Battle of Macragge.  Together for the first time!

BLOOD & HONOR: THE DEFENSE OF MACRAGGE 
KR Multicase has provided custom trays in a Kaiser4 for this giant Ultramarine army

SCYTHES OF BEHEMOTH
KR Multicase has provided custom trays in a Kaiser4 AND in an Aluminum2 (black) for this enormous Tyranid army

THE PENNY ARCADE PROJECT:Raising funds for ChildÕs Play Charity

KR Mutlicase has provide custom trays in an Aluminum1.

Thirty members of the Penny Arcade created this Deathwatch army and donated it for the PAX/Penny Arcade charity which works to improve the lives of children in hospitals around the world.

THIS ARMY COUNTS AS GREY KNIGHTS!

THE NOCFÕS FIRST FANTASY CHARITY ARMY:Raising funds for Fisher House Foundation

Stiff Neck Studio owner/artist, Capt. Wes Cogdal, created this Fantasy army for the NOCF. He was the creator of last yearÕs House of the Silent King which also raised funds for the Fisher House Foundation. We are hoping the Fantasy community could step up and match those efforts this year!
Comes with Ogre Kingdom Army Book.

THE PANZER LEHR WESTERN FRONT ARMY:Raising funds for Wounded Warrior Project

This enormous WWI Flames of War army was created by Steve McCuen who joined forces with Eric FontaineÕs charityFacebook project.  FoWÕs company, Battlefront, has been providing support, encouraging players to purchase raffle tickets. The FoW community has been responding with great enthusiasm. This is a ready for battle starter army like no other!

Sons of Horus Go To War

The jet bikes need proper bases, and there are loads of little details to touch up before completion, but  overall I am happy with how far this has come. It is going to be a bear to maneuver this thing around the Narrative event!

NOVA Open Narrative Event Display Board WIP

It is that time of year again, when hundreds of people head over to the NOVA Open and  have a weekend of gaming, friends, and far too little sleep. At the NOVA Last year I decided to paint up a 30k Emperor's Children force for this years event. Instead of purple, I decided to paint up the Warmaster's sea green legion instead.

This display board was meant to evoke the Forgeworld Istavaan III drop site massacre. If you have not seen the FW diorama, then you really should check it out. For those who don't know, the traitor legions had to first purge their ranks of loyalists before they could focus on brining war to the Imperium at large. I built my force to be a loyalist force, but will be fielding Horus as my Lord of War.

The board itself is not complete yet. I have  chipping and smoke streaking on the thunderhawk, and then another round of weathering powders.  Saturday I will test fit the models, and touch up some of the units. I am not sure if I should try and paint the edges of the board black or if they should stay rough and dirty, blending into the rest of the diorama.

I hope I get the chance to meet a bunch of you guys at the convention. Maybe one of you will be lucky enough to win the Ultramarines charity army supporting Doctors Without Borders. It is a magnificent army, and is supports a really good cause.

Sons of Horus Scimitar Jet Bikes

As might be evident from reading this blog, I don't play a whole lot of the actual game, instead  focussing on painting. Once or twice a year this changes, and I get the chance to bring out an Army and engage with the gamer side of the community.

The downside, is that my list building skills are non existent. My goal is to make sure my opponent and I have a good game. Part of that though, is not bringing such a bad list, that there is no fun for the other player. This cuts both ways. The list needs to be solidly middle ground, neither broken, nor cakewalk. Aside  from Horus, who should be a death dealing machine, my NOVA Narrative list looked pretty lacking in AV14 abilities. It was also lacking in speed. Hopefully this squad of jet bikes will solve my fast moving scoring and melts-bombing capabilities.

Now for the question. I had the choice of replacing one of the heavy bolters with a melta gun, but instead I opted to give the squad melta bombs. Is this practical? I could scrimp and scrape and have a melta gun and melta bombs but it would leave my large tac squad vulnerable to walkers.

Ok.. time for everyone to snicker at these models. Go ahead, FW deserves that. In game these guys are basically single shot highly explosive suicide mission troops. The leave as fast as they come.

Horus The Warmaster

My Lord of War choice for the NOVA Open narrative event is now completed to a playable level. I have some work to do to complete the model, but since this was a last minute list change, I thought it important to get 99% of the way done. Horus still need to have final face highlights, and then dust applied to his legs. After that I think he will be fit to lead the Legion into battle.

Initially I was really worried about making the scenic base fit with the rest of the army, but I think the application of green earth weathering powders did the trick.

On to the jet bikes!

Look Who's Coming to Dinner At the NOVA Open Narrative Event

The NOVA Open Narrative event allows FW and Lords of War. Since I am playing in the Warlord track, it seemed reasonable for me to bring the one true Warmaster himself. Why dicker around with a titan when when I can bring 500 points of doom on a 50mm base. I know it will be trivially easy for opponents to avoid the uber death star that is Horus with terminators, but I think it will be really fun to give people the ability kill the man himself.

Horus fights for humanity.