Screamers of Tzeentch: Back In The Saddle

I've spent so long building my Thunderhawk, that I have had very little time to do some painting, so when a few hours became available I decided to paint up some Chaos Deamons I had tucked away in my GW closet. (yes...a full closet...a mini store....) I learned quite a few things from picking up the brush and air brush after months and months of non-painting.

The first thing is that having a filler army, or an army that you paint in between your 'real' armies is really nice to have. I have two filler armies, Deamons and Chaos Marines. When I am hesitating to paint my blood angels, templars, ultramarines, krieg, tallarn, or voystroyan, I can always pick up a unit of Daemons or CM to brush up my skills, try new things, and generally get myself back into the groove. The reason this is important is that there is no self imposed guildlines on my painting. I don't care if my Deamons are themed or not. I do not care one bit about the army list. I have never played Daemons nor will I likely play them. (well maybe at the 1500 pt range someday!) Basically filler armies or units are no stress. I want my Ultramarine force to look spectacular. That brings a lot of baggage along with it.

The other great thing about filler armies/units that that they introduce a pause in army building. I am going to paint a small Black Templar force soon, but after that I am unsure what should follow. A huge purchase of Tallarn would argue for them to be the next big thing. However the Horus Heresy book has thrown a wrench into my whole plan. All those FW units I have been hoarding for my Ultramarines may have to end up as Loyalist Emperor's Children. (the screamers may have been a test of my purple skills for the ECs)

It feels good to be back in the saddle.

Fake Forgeworld

Two of my winning bids on Ebay arrived today, one for rhino doors, and the other for storm shields. Both orders appear to be fakes. A couple of things make me think this. First, the resin is more brittle than other FW models I have. (I have a lot of FW, so I have seen everything!) Second, the pieces are oily, and have muted detail and lack of density. Although muted, the detail is better than what I have gotten on my own castings of my bases, so it would seem this is from some pseudo professional service. Now I don't know for certain that these are forgeries, but they are off just enough for me to doubt them.

Had I suspected these were forgeries, I would not have bought them. I've been avoiding purchasing any FW stuff from any seller in Russia for this reason. The other thing that made these seem real was that the prices were good but not awesome.

So what do I do now? Should I dump these? Should I mail them off to FW, so they can be reviewed? I could just paint them up.

Any suggestions?

So I lost a bet at NOVA

I lost by so much, that I am now required to paint Necrons or Black Templars. I have Necrons, which means it is only fair if I paint Black Templars.

So what can I do with Templars? I need to paint an allied list. Any ideas what I should paint? I need to fulfill the minimum. I'd like to paint units that have great models as well.

Games Day Chicago: Forgeworld doing heresy codexes (updated live)

How cool is it to be sitting in a bar having 40k conversations?
Very cool.
Extremely Cool.
Can't use my words it is so cool.
Community is the best thing about games day. Having the opportunity to sit a bar and strike up conversations you know the whole group is interested in is an absolute blast. Learning about a new player's blood agle force, or geeking out about forge world, it is just a fun way to connect with our community.
I may post throughout the day. I might be having too much fun to post. (did I mention adb is here? Sheer coolness.)
















Ok, why is the fact forgeworld is doing heresy codexes, primarchs and other minis not of bell of lost souls. I expect more from them.

Games Day Chicago

My wife and I are heading to Chicago this morning as part of a Games Day mini vacation. Who else is going?

Stormtalon Weathering

Paint chipped, and weathered, these storm talons are only missing testers dull coat to seal the decals before I start working on the bases. One of the details I like is that each pilot has a different stripe on their helmet. In sort of homage to star wars, I used red, orange, and purple.

While pondering cleaning my desk, I put together the bane that is the thunder fire cannon. I love the model, but mine came with so many finecast flaws it was no fun at all to put together. Now given that all I did was put a model together, I don't think I broke my oath to clean my workspace before painting anything new, so there is still a chance I break down and start cleaning. (such a pain because my paint pots are covered in air brush paint dust, so they have to individually cleaned as well)

Stormtalon Progress

Slow but steady wins the race! I've got two more Stormtalons ready for transfers, along with all three pilots. I am really looking forward to putting ultramarine icons on the left red shoulder pads of these guys. I might be because I never see the U on a red background.  I plan to take some nicer photos when these guys are weathered up and ready for the table. I think that probably means i have to build scenic bases.

This brings up the question. Should I start basing all of my miniatures on similar bases? With the allies rule, I can now mix and match pieces from my favorite armies for games or tournaments, but unfortunately my bases are usually only consistent across a single army. The allies change is just fantastic, especially for army painters like me. Now I can design a force that explicitly includes allies and end up with a more interesting narrative. I had planned to base my tallarn similarly to my Ultras, but now I think I will go for even tighter integration.

Trio of Stormtalona WIP 2

Back from vacation, so I was able to spend some time on my Stormtalons. I am really pleased how these guys are turning out. I am trying to get the two talons on the left up to the same level of completeness as the one on the right before I do any additional work. An accent color is definitely needed, which means I will need to mask an area and spray on stripes or something. I broke down and bought a Stormeagle from FW, so I'll have that to paint up to go along with these guys.


I need to clean my painting area. It is horrible. It is a mess. I get pigments and paints all over me as I work on it. I actually spilled a pot of ultramarines blue (you know regal blue) on the floor because I was working in such a cramped space. I just can't bring myself to clean the desk. (the floor is covered in models as well) I feel like one of those crazy people from those reality tv series who hoard crap.

With that said. I have instituted rule #1

1) After these three are complete, my entire work area must be cleaned before a single model gets touched.

What do you think, can I keep to the goal?