Warhammer is Truly PLASTIC CRACK

Seriously, this hobby is truly plastic crack.

So let’s talk a bit about my upcoming plans and purchases, and what my line of thinking is for all of this!  As you know, my Patreon is my budget, basically, with me chipping in the occasional dollary doo as needed.  This helps me limit spending and also keeps my wife from trying to murder me in sleep for spending too much cash hehe

July, I am pretty much set on what my hobby purchase is going to be, and it’s going to be the Blood Angels combat patrol box.

There are a few reasons for this.  First and foremost, this is one of the most cost effective options to get a full combat patrol for the game of 40k, which is the smallest sized game you can play.  And I don’t want to jump to 2000 point games or anything right out the gate, as I want to learn my force and figure the game out.

Also that box includes a bit of every sort of unit I could need.  The Librarian gives me access to the Psychic powers which will let me learn that phase, the Impulsor gives me access to learning the troop transport rules as well as vehicle rules, and the rest of the pack is just solid all around options.  Plus, its 15 minis, which is not a huge amount to worry about painting, as I have a personal rule that I will not play with unpainted / only primed stuff.

They don’t have to be “Parade Standard” by any means but I want to get em painted.

But what happens in August and later?  Well my hope, my goal, will be to buy that in July and get it built and painted by mid August, and then go and have my first game at most likely my LGS “Campus Cards and Games”.

For August, however, well, things are gonna get a bit more spicy.  And this is why I refer to the wargaming hobby as plastic crack.

Recently, Age of Sigmar (the Fantasy version of Warhammer) had its 3^rd edition announced, complete with the Dominion Starter Kit.  Now, I am not super interested in the Starter Box right out the gate.  I have no interest in Stormcast Eternals for one.  However, I have always been interested in the Fantasy side of Warhammer.  Recall that one of my early attempts years ago was doing an Orcs and Goblins fantasy army.

So to say I have been interested and intrigued by the announcement of Age of Sigmar 3^rd Ed is an understatement.  I hadn’t really looked into it too much either, but then…I saw this.

And my reaction was this.

I admit I have been watching a series of Battle Reports on Age of Sigmar on Youtube by the channel Seasons of War, so I was already curious about the game.  And with a 3^rd Edition coming, it seems like a near perfect time to get in.  Oh and this recent bat rep by Tabletop Titans doesn’t help.

So starting August, I am gonna learn 40k…but I am gonna look into getting a small “Combat Patrol” styled sized army for Age of Sigmar.  And I am leaning towards Orruks.  Of course I am leaning towards Orruks.  The boyz are great, they got great character, and looking over the line of minis on the GW Store is just full of excitement from the ‘Ard Boyz, the Boar Riders, and of course that big boy right there.  And because they split Orcs and Goblins apart (the gobbos are under the Gloomspite Gitz force) I can build a small elite Orruk force.

Yes that means playing 2 games.  But this is intentional.  I always have intended to get into both games at some point.  I like both ranges of models, and I want to see which game appeals to me overall more.  Also before anyone starts yelling, it’s pretty standard for wargamers to play more than one game, and frequently more than one faction inside the same game.  I know plenty of peeps who have multiple factions.  Hell when I played Warmachine I played both Khador and Cryx at the same time (when I got back into it after the Trollblood fiasco).

It also gives me another type of mini to learn to paint (Orruks have a lot of skin and whatnot, unlike space marines) and lets me keep from being bored playing one force.  With my ADHD having more than one option is always a good plan.

Obviously I will be taking my time with both of course, and slowly building up a force for each game.  Depending on which game speaks to me more, and which force speaks to me more.

How about you?  Do you play both games?  Only one?  If you play both games which factions do you run?

Warhammer 40k: Pondering the Combat Patrol Boxes

I found a nice discord for one of the LGS near me, so I dove in.  Discord is such a handy tool to bring gamers and other communities together let me tell you!

And in there, one person suggested I look at the Combat Patrol boxes for the “Chapters” such as Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Death Watch, ect.  Turns out (From my research with Ministomp and others) these other Combat Patrol boxes are just space marines, but they come with special Upgrade Sprues that let you make them chapter specific.  This means that you can buy one of these, get a full combat patrol, but have different contents.

Do you want an Invictor Warsuit?  The Space Wolf box might be for you!  Do you want phobos scouts?  The standard Space Marine box might be your jam!

So let’s take a look at these boxes, and discuss the contents!  As I am going to get ONE of these boxes, but I am debating which one.  All these boxes are $140.

First, the standard Space Marine Combat Patrol!

This one includes:

• 1x Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour
• 10x Primaris Infiltrators
• 3x Suppressors
• 3x Eliminators
• 1x Primaris Impulsor

This comes with 18 total models, but is apparently very “sneaky” because of the infiltrators and whatnot.  It feels very driven towards that, and I am not sure I am into that style of play right out the gate.

Next is the Deathwatch box!

• 1 Primaris Lieutenant
• 1 Primaris Apothecary
• 10 Primaris Intercessors
• 3 Primaris Aggressors
• 2 Deathwatch Upgrade Frames

We only get 15 minis this time, but they are more “well rounded” in design.  The straight Intercessors are more general use, and the Apothecary gives you healing!  No vehicle though and that makes me sad.  We can ignore the Upgrade Frames as I would not be using them.

Next up, the Space Wolves!

• 1 Primaris Lieutenant
• 1 Invictor Tactical Warsuit
• 10 Primaris Intercessors
• 5 Primaris Reivers (Can instead be assembled as Hounds of Morkai.)
• 2 Space Wolves Primaris Upgrade Frames

I have no idea what a Hound of Morkai is, and I assume that is discussed in the Codex for Space Wolves.  This comes with a Warsuit instead of an Apothecary, and definitely feels more “fighty” with the Reivers.  Gotta get in there and cut some Xenos up!  This one includes 17 minis total.

We are on to the second to last, the Blood Angels box!

• 1x Primaris Librarian
• 1x Impulsor
• 5x Primaris Intercessors
• 5x Primaris Incursors (Can instead be assembled as Infiltrators)
• 3x Primaris Aggressors
• 2x Blood Angels Primaris Upgrade Frames

This time we get 15 minis, but one of them is a tank (YES) and one is a Librarian, which means psychic powers!  You also can build the Incursors are Infiltrators, so that’s nice.  A bit more variety here, giving the player some heavy duty armor, some heavy duty attackers (the Aggressors) some general purpose dudes and some possibly sneaky gits.

Finally, we have the Dark Angels.

• 1x Primaris Chaplain
• 3x Inceptors
• 1x Redemptor Dreadnought
• 5x Primaris Intercessors
• 2x Dark Angels Primaris upgrade sprues
• 1x Dark Angels transfer sheet

This is the only box that comes with a decal sheet it seems.  Only 10 minis this time around, so the least amount of dudes for the price.  However, one of them is a Dreadnought, which is a big beefy piece of hardware, and you get a Chaplain which is cool.  Honestly I think this is the weakest box overall.

With all these choices it’s kind of hard to choose, but I am leaning currently towards the Blood Angels box, as having both a tank and a psyker lets me experience the most phases the game has to offer.  It seems the most well rounded box as well.  Behind it is the new Space Marine box and then the Space Wolves.

Which box would you get?

For a real good breakdown including Power Levels of ALL the Combat Patrol boxes you can check this post out. The Space Marine ones are all above the min combat patrol level.

The Nerdsletter (6/12/21)

For those who read this blog (who does? I have no idea! I know SOMEONE does) this will be replacing my weekly hobby reports.  For those on Patreon, yes I am gonna be doing more of these here and there, combining both my hobby progress as well as updates on other stuff, and my general thoughts.

On the hobby front this week not much has occurred.  I did get my latest Ministomp order which was some paints, wraithbone primer spray, and the Core 40k Rulebook.  I have not had a chance to use the new paints at all yet, but I hope to at least get some priming / repriming done this weekend.  I got a lot of stuff I wanna do and only so much time to do it!  Reading the big rulebook, reading more of my codex, working on Youtube stuff, playing FF14 with my wife, and so on!  Plus laundry and the usual household stuff.

I am currently debating how to start my Combat Patrol as well.  I am looking into the “Combat Patrol Space Marines” box that recently came out.  I need to see exactly what each unit in that force can do, and of course that might take me a bit longer than one month to get depending on price, as its MSRP is $140 and I get around $100 a month via Patreon.  Remember, my budget is set by my patreon amount!  But if the discount I can get from Ministomp is low enough I might add a few of my own dollar doos.  Time will tell.

Another big hobby thing is I attempted to create my little foam core shelf…only to discover that all the cutting tools I had were not up to cutting the foam core board and ruined it.  So I am just gonna look into a little desk drawer thing like the one I mentioned before.

Which is sold out literally everywhere around me.  Amazing!

Finally, on the hobby front, I finally visited one of the three nearby LGS.  Yes, I have three all within about 20 minutes of my home.  Comically I had not intended to visit it yet!  I was GOING to visit today, Saturday the 12^th, but instead I had the perfect chance to hit it up this past Thursday.  Let me tell you a story!

So Thursday after work I decided to grab dinner for me and my wife from Boston Market.  I head out after work and get stuck in traffic.  As I am sitting about a block from the turn to the Boston Market I glance over to my right, at a strip mall near me.  And realize that right there…is the store I intended to go to today.  I just went “wait, I can check them out today, maybe grab the newest White Dwarf and some brown paint!”

I quickly turned into the parking lot from my stop in traffic and went in.  It was unsurprisingly dead, given the day, time of day, and of course the whole COVID situation in the US.  I was disappointed that one of the employees was maskless, but thankfully he was the ONLY PERSON in there without one.  Everyone else, both the other employee, the customers, and me all had ours on.  The play area for Minis was kind of small, only 2 tables, but it’s mostly a comics shop with a gaming area in the back so I ain’t surprised.  I was able to grab my brown paint (XV-88 to be exact) and the latest White Dwarf, cause I wanted to check that out too.  Then I left to grab dinner.

Was kind of fun.  I want to check out one of the other two places, as the 3^rd is one I have gone to in the past and know what its about.

Beyond all of that, my wife and I finally finished the very last current Main Story Quest of Final Fantasy 14 Shadowbringers.  We are officially caught up, and now working on leveling alternate jobs (Machinist and Dancer for me mostly) as well as doing the Alliance Raids for Nier, the Eden Raids, and working on the Save the Queen (relic weapon) chain.  Lots of stuff to work on this weekend in FF14.

As far as YouTube work goes I have slowed down until Monster Hunter Stories 2 releases.  I have it preordered on Steam, and it’s the next major game I intend to review on my channel.  I also need to sit down and play some more Pokemon Platinum Nuzlocke for the Patreon!  Again, lots of stuff to do, and limited time to do it.  I have to pick and choose what I want to do with my limited free time.

I also want to play Elder Scrolls Online and maybe review it.  Further still I have a LOT of thoughts on FF14 vs World of Warcraft and I am debating how I want to approach it.  Do I want to do a “WoW vs FF14” vid like so many have done?  Do I want to do a straight FF14 in depth review which includes story spoilers AND a non spoiler bit?  I am unsure here.  I can say that FF14 is one of the best MMOs I have played, and has one of the most engaging stories I have experienced in gaming IN GENERAL.  And the villains you deal with in Shadowbringers, the current expansion, actually made me care.  I felt sorry for them, but at the same time I knew due to our differences in opinion on how things need to be handled that conflict was going to happen.  In an “us vs them” situation, well, I am going with us. And NGL  I teared up multiple times during the Shadowbringers story and I am very much ready for Endwalker.

Seriously, you can play FF14 for free up to level 60 and through the Heavensward expansion and if you have not tried it you should.  Just…be aware that 1-50 / everything prior to Heavensward is basically world building and character / plot dev, and is a slow burn.  You gotta immerse yourself and let things grow around ya.  It pays off a hundred times over by the time you hit Heavensward, and Stormblood, and Shadowbringers.

That’s enough for this post!  Thanks for reading!

Warhammer 40k: Combat Patrol vs Kill Team

Yesterday I got my new Ministomp order, which included both a selection of paints for me to test another scheme as well as the Core 40k Rulebook.

No one told me just how T H I C C that book was.  But damn if it aint sexy.  Apparently the rules section is pretty small and a large portion of it is Lore and Fluff, which pleases me.  I want that in my rulebooks.

I have been pondering this over the last month with me slowly getting back into WH40k and miniature gaming in general, and it’s been a debate between Kill Team and a full “Combat Patrol” level force for 40k.  And I think I am going to actually go for a Combat Patrol first.

Originally, I was going to go with a Kill Team due to its small scale size.  However, the negative I have found with Kill Team is a lot of the minis I want to collect and paint (stuff like flyers, tanks, and bikes) are not usable in Kill Team!  Kill Team is designed and played with infantry models and while I could do a team with Terminators mixed with regular troops and librarians, I wouldn’t be able to use stuff like the Landspeeders, ATVs, or Assault Bikes.

And if I am being honest I want more than JUST infantry.  So I am adjusting my plans.  My goal now is to plan out and build a Combat Patrol level force of the stuff I like.  Once I have that core force I can expand outward AND build a Kill Team as by the time I get a Combat Patrol level force I should have enough grunts that I can build my own Kill Team.

I know that to many this process seems slow.  Especially given that I will be sticking to my monthly patreon budget for Minis (And that’s assuming I don’t need patreon funds for a new video game to review!).

I want to take this slow.  I want to buy something, and then work on assembling and painting it.  I want to at least have painted minis before I play a game.  Sure, I am not aiming for “Parade Ready” or anything.  I am aiming for 3 colors at least, and a wash, and a base.

But I think this will work for me.

Now to get to reading this massive ass Rulebook so I can learn just HOW to build a Combat Patrol set.

And yes, I have considered the Start Collecting Space Marines set.  Not sure how I feel about the Scouts.

Warhammer 40k: Weekend Hobby Update (6/5/21)

Time for yet another weekly hobby update!  A sort of digest as it were about what I have done recently, and where I am going.

For now, not much has really been done.  I updated my Chapter Background for sure, and I want to write more when I am inspired.  I am doing my best to not force myself to do anything to avoid burnout.

I also posted about my first attempt at painting and the things I learned doing it.  I like my little purple friends but one thing I learned for sure was that the color scheme was simply too dark for what I wanted.

I also discussed my thoughts on Color Schemes in general, and the idea my wife gave me for a new scheme.

Finally, I talked about my hobby space issues, and my ideas to deal with that.

It’s those last two I want to sort of update.  As far as schemes goes, I got another order from Ministomp on the way and it should arrive this Sunday.  It will include:

• The Core 40k Rulebook (I need this, and I think I am going to focus on getting a Combat Patrol level force up, rather than a Kill Team.  What can I say, I want my tanks and bikes)
• Iyanden Yellow Contrast Paint
• Nuln Oil Shade Paint
• Averland Sunset Base Paint
• Khorne Red Base Paint
• Leadbelcher Base Paint
• Wraithbone Primer Spray

Now, that will be added to my current paint collection.  My intent is to take the three unpainted marines I have and do the following!  On one, I intend to leave it primed in Mechanicus Standard Grey then paint it with the Averland Sunset for the armor, and trim the shoulders / paint the chest eagle in Khorne Red.  The backpack will be black, and the gun will be black and leadbelcher.  Mini 1 will get a Nuln Oil Wash.  On a second marine, I will add a “zenithal highlight” of the Wraithbone, but leave the rest in Mechanicus Standard Grey.  On this one I will test the Iyanden Yellow Contrast on the armor, and then do the rest (Trim, Eagle, Gun, Pack, Ect) as above.  Finally, the last one will be reprimed fully in Wraithbone, and then follow the second minis color scheme.

I want to see how both the Averland Sunset looks vs the Iyanden Yellow and how the contrast paint looks over grey and the “correct” primer of Wraithbone.  Fun test time!

Now, as far as the storage issues go!  I am going to look at getting one of those small “Desk organizer” desk drawer sets.  Most of them seem to fit perfectly into my bookshelf.  Additionally, I am still going to build a smaller sized “insert shelf” out of foam core, to store my minis.  I think this will work pretty well overall! I might check dollar stores first though as many will carry these “small desk drawer” organizers.

That’s it for this update! 

Hobby: Maximizing Space

For those unaware I live in a small apartment, only around 600 square feet.  One bed, one bath, and both me and my wife have to share what space we have.  We each have about half the living room, which is divided by our massive computer desks and whatnot.

As such, I have limited storage space when it comes to my video game, tabletop rpg, and now miniature hobby storage.  In fact, I have a single bookshelf to my right.

Seriously, this single shelf pictured below is the space I have for storing my miniature hobby stuff.

As such, knowing I am going to have more paints (hell I already ordered more), as well as more minis, I need to sort out a way to maximize space.  Obviously, space saving solutions exist out there made out of word or chipboard, you can find em on Etsy.  But my shelf has some…odd measurements (its 12.9in tall, 9in deep, and 22.25in wide) which means many of the “solutions” I can find for purchase are not going to maximize my space.

So I got to thinking.  The first thing that popped into my head was building my own shelf solution for the inside of that book shelf space out of Foam Core.  If you are unaware, foam core is a pretty useful hobby product.  I know people who make terrain out of it, and its surprisingly sturdy for what it is.  Basically it’s a stiff piece of foam covered in an almost poster board type of paper.  I wondered if people had made shelves out of it, and sure enough, people had.  But this one was a staggered step styled shelf, which is not what I want.

But seeing that means it’s doable.  So here is my plan.

First, I cut a backboard out of the foam that is roughly 12.5 inch tall, and 22.25in wide.  I cut 2 sides to this shelf, that are 12.5in tall and 3in deep.  I then cut out 3 shelves that are 3in deep, and long enough to fit between the walls I just cut.  I then space the 3 shelves roughly 3.5in from the bottom.  That will give me 1 bay at the bottom, and 2 bays on top at 3.5in in height in, and then some space at the top that’s most likely going to be around 2in or so in height.  I might adjust the height as well of each space.  I will also then glue in small pieces of foam core in between each shelf starting at bottom.  These might be double thick (ie 2 pieces of foam core glued together) to provide support to each shelf.

The height of each shelf will give me space for Dropper bottles to stand upright, as well as GW paint bots.  I will also have space to store minis on each shelf, as my space marines are only 2.5in tall give or take.  Also at 3in deep, I can store 2 GW pots, 2 Minis, or 2 Dripper Bottles deep.  And I still have 6in of space in front of the shelves for vehicles and such.

My friend Rich also suggested I try one of these, which would fit quite nicely. I could do a mini shelf built out of foam core, and use one of these storage solutions for my paints and tools.

I think my idea will work!  I am gonna work on it this weekend.  Should be a good time!

Warhammer 40K: Color Scheming

You may have missed my previous post where I spoke about lessons learned from painting my first minis in 12 years. This is a follow up to that, and if you want to see the minis I am talking about, you can view that previous post by clicking the link above!

I showed my minis to my wife, and she pointed out just how dark they were. I agreed with this, and it got me thinking. Originally, I wanted bright colors on my minis, which is why I chose a grey primer, point of fact. However, I had no idea that once applied to the mini and hit with a wash just how DARK everything would get.

Further, I chose purple and gold because I hadn’t really seen any space marines painted in that scheme for official chapters. There is a good reason for this: that’s the color scheme of the traitor legion The Emperors Children. Two people, Owen from FarFarAway and a gent on Facebook both pointed this out, and while there is a chapter called The Hawk Lords that use purple as a base, most people seem to think of this color combo as the Emperors Children.

I did not intend for this.

Now, if all this had occured a few years ago, I would be crushed, and consider this entire thing a failure but I dont now. Honestly, I am still happy with the minis overall, I am still proud of how they came out. I just feel they are too dark for what I wanted, and am calling them test minis instead!

So what do I want for a color scheme. I want bright, thats for sure. I want something that pops, thats eyecatching, thats cheerful. I don’t want dark. So clearly we need to go towards the bright end of the spectrum. In talking to my wife who is an artist and can actually draw (see her old webcomic here) and discussing the actual lore of my chapter she pointed something out.

“If your marines are from a desert why the hell did you choose purple? Thats not a desert color!”

….she is right ya know. In truth, I told her the color came first BEFORE the desert theme. She pointed out I should look at browns, reds, and yellows, colors that are earthy and bright and evoke a desert. After showing her some of the color options on the Citadel website we both kind of agreed that maybe a bright yellow with a dark red trim / eagle, and black/gold on the weapons and pack would work well together, and stand out.

Of course, this is a similar scheme to the Imperial Fist chapter! This is where I realized that no matter what color combination I choose, there is probably already a chapter out there with that combination. There are simply too many chapters already defined. Now, as long as my color combo isn’t a traitor legion, this is fine to me. Sure, my marines might end up looking like the Imperial Fist (as I have seen Fist with Yellow / Red, Yellow / Green, Yellow / Black, and even Yellow / Blue out there), but thats still ok because it would make sense in context of a desert dwelling chapter. Yellow would be natural camo after all! And again, no matter what I choose there is a good chance a chapter exists with that combo, unless I go hog wild and do like Pink or something.

So here is my current plan overall for a test scheme. Remember, I got 3 more Marines I can use for this, so I fully intend to do so!

• Base Armor Color: Averland Sunset Base OR Iyanden Yellow Contrast
• Trim on Pauldrons / Chest Eagle: Khorne Red Base
• Backpack / Belt: Abaddon Black with Leadbelcher on the Vents / Circle bit in the middle
• Pouches on Belt: Brown (I have a Reaper Brown I am using for this)
• Gun / Weapons: Casing in Abaddon Black, Metallics in Bathalsar Gold
• Shade for the Non Contrast Bits: Nuln Oil

The real question is going to be the contrast vs the base yellow paint. I wanna see how they compare against each other. Obviously I will hit the mini thats gonna get the Contrast with some Wraithbone primer, and I may even try the contrast on my Mechanicus Standard Grey mini as well. Further I intend to base everything with yellow sand / rocks anyway to go with the desert theme.

I also will be keeping my two little purple friends. I can use em in Kill Team or something, as they are painted fully. I can just claim they are buddies from another chapter or something!

Warhammer 40k: The Void Breakers Chapter Entry 2

With some suggestions / ideas from Owen of FarFarAway, I am updating the lore and background of the Void Breakers! This includes the previous entry plus the new entries, and some more organization. I also edited it for spelling and whatnot. Enjoy!

______________________________________________________________

Overall Chapter Background

On the desert world of Eshinti XI stands the fortress monastery of the Void Breakers.  This chapter of Space Marines was founded ages ago, by their recollection, and while they no longer have the records of their founding or who their Primarch was, they nevertheless are as staunch defenders of humanity as any other.

Eshinti XI is a desert world, where nomadic tribes called The Avantil roam the wastes, fighting with groups of Orks over water and resources.  These nomads are where aspirants of the chapter are pulled from.  The nomads use large purple insect-like creatures called Spinebursters for both beasts of burden as well as mounts, and are well versed in mounted combat.  They use these skills to deal with the Ork tribes on the planet, who are obsessed with speed.  These skills are transferred to the chapter, who have developed their own tactics based on the mounted combat style of their people.

The Void Breakers are, as a whole, not concerned with where they come from.  A pragmatic chapter, they are focused on the now and the future, and their singular hate of the Xenos threat, particularly Orks.  The Void Breakers also are close friends with the Covenant of Fire and frequently assist them in assaults and sorties.  Frequently, Void Breaker brothers will join the Deathwatch as well, to bring their skills in dealing with Orks to that chapter.  Being chosen by the Deathwatch is a great honor among the brothers of the Void Breakers.

At times, the Void Breakers exhibit traits associated with the Dark Angels, the Salamanders, and the White Scars.  They tend to specialize in either hard hitting and fast assaults with large amounts of assault bikes and outrider squads, speeders, and ATVs, or heavy defensive lines with terminators and Eliminator squads.  When brought out in force they favor hammer and anvil style tactics, using outriders and assault bikes to drive their foes into their hard armor terminators and heavy weapon squads.

The chapter also takes their armor color from the Spinebursters, as these creatures hold cultural value to the people of the Avantil.

Notes on the Avantil People

The Avantil People of Eshinti XI are a hardy, tough, pragmatic race who are hunters and gatherers by nature.  The endless deserts of the planet make for hard living, and the Avantil are divided into tribes, ruled by a chief called a Mogkra.  The Mogkra decides where the tribe moves, the laws of the individual tribe, and more.

The Void Breakers choose initiates based on a combination of a tribe’s size and strength, making sure that no tribe becomes too small to survive.  The Avantil consider it a great honor to be chosen for the Void Breakers, as only their strongest and mightiest warriors are selected to join the brotherhood.

The Orks of Eshinti XI

The Void Breakers look at the Ork Tribes of Eshinti XI as training, a perfect crucible to gauge the strength of possible initiates, and as such keep their numbers in check.  Never too many orks, and never too few.  The balance is delicate, but having Orks is useful for practice missions as well as combat training.

The Orks themselves are broken up in a similar way to the Avantil people, however great pains are taken to prevent the Orkish tribes from forming a proper WAAAAGH under a single leader.  Any time a singular warchief or big boss comes up, the Void Breakers are quick to undertake a mission to deal with them and prevent the Orks from becoming too organized. These missions are considered perfect for testing Initiates who are being considered for promotion to the Scout company.

Warhammer 40k: My 1st attempt at Painting & what I learned

Now I want to preface this by saying these are not done by any means, but I already have learned a bit about painting and how I want to go about it.

EDIT: I ended up finishing the minis! More on that at the bottom.

So as I had originally said, I wanted to try to prime my 5 space marines this past Memorial Day weekend. On Saturday I went ahead, and while my wife was asleep went and primed my minis with my Mechanicus Standard Grey.

This instantly taught me something: I don’t like Grey Primer. Here is a pic of the five minis:

Can you tell that three of those are primed? Cause I can’t! Grey Primer is fine honestly, as a primer, but for me? I can’t bloody tell the minis were even touched by the primer. The color is the exact same as the plastic! If you can deal with grey primer more power to ya but I think I won’t be using it going forward.

In fact, I think I am going to prime in my base color, going forward. Because of what I learned about those two that are purple.

Story time!

So after I let the primer dry for an hour, I got everything together and busted out the palette I had bought at Walmart (a cheap plastic one with little “cups” which I found I didnt like) got my rinsing water and brushes, and got to work. The purple I was using was Phoenician Purple by Games Workshop. I made sure to try to thin the paint but…Phoenician Purple went from ok to watery real fast. I am not sure it needs thinning with water if I am being quite honest. I tried out my new Magnification Goggles which work great by the way, and got to work.

And painting on a large block of base color like this was…interesting? But didn’t feel efficient for me. Again, I want to stress that I am not trying to be the worlds best painter. At most, I want to be a “it looks good at 3ft away” painter. I want to make the minis look as clean as I can, but I aint aiming for fancy, least not yet.

And painting on the base color like this feels…inefficient as a use of my time. So I am now resolved to get a colored primer to speed things up. Sadly, GW does not make a purple spray primer…

But Army Painter does! Its called “Alien Purple” so I am going to try to see if any of my local stores carry Army Painter, and if I can get a spray can and bottle. I have been given some info about a few stores that might carry it, gonna call around this week to see if I can find it. If not, well, I will just order online.

For now, the three grey marines (which ARE PRIMED remember) are gonna stay that way, as I intend to use them to test the Purple Primer. Sure, they may not come out the same shade of purple as the other two, but such is life. Also, priming in the base color will save me time when it comes to vehicles and watching some of the GW Tutorial Vids, it seems they even suggest priming in the main color anyway so its not like I am doing something weird!

Now on Sunday, I did add more color. I have discovered I am shit at controlling brushes, and even trying to correct mistakes leads to more mistakes so yea. Thats a thing. I am not very good at this at all. But here is what they look like so far, minus a wash. I did discover the Reaper Paints seem incredibly thin and adding water to them (to thin them down) was a mistake. I do not like the Reaper paints at all. I do like the GW Gold though!

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Oh and I mentioned a story yea? Well how bout this? I hate the GW Paint Pots, cause I cant tell if they are closed fully….which I learned when I went to shake the purple again and IT POPPED OPEN ON ME AND SPRAYED ME WITH PAINT. I basically lost a good chunk of purple paint, got it on my carpet, my desk, my pants, my legs, and my feet. Thankfully I had Resolve Carpet Cleaner, which took care of the carpet issue, and the pants I was wearing are my “house” pants so I dont care if they got paint on em. Had to scrub my leg and feet though to get the paint off.

The GW pots alone may keep me away from em to be honest. Dropper bottles that other companies use, combined with the fact that other companies (reaper, army painter, ect) give you more paint for less money is a big thing. May just use GW for their washes like Nuln Oil and Earthshade.

I did actually hit my minis with an Earthshade wash as well, and holy cow did the purple come out dark. Almost black. And that is not what I wanted. So I might change the chapter colors. Maybe a nice bright orange with black trim. I am gonna think on this. Hell I got 3 primed minis, I may just use em to test schemes! Maybe even try a contrast paint!

Live and learn! Its a learning experience, and I am not mad or anything. Every journey starts with a single step.

Or paint explosion.

We will go with Paint Explosion.

Warhammer 40k: Weekend Hobby Update (5/30/21)

Alright! This is something I hope to do every so often, a sort of digest of all my hobby progress. That way I can see what, if any, progress I have made and you all can keep tabs on what I am working on.

First off, I wrote up a little background on my Successor Chapter, the Void Breakers which you can find here. Just click that link.

Second, I assembled all 5 of my current Space Marines. I have 3 Intercessors which came from the Intercessors plus Paints kit, and 2 regular marines with Bolters that were included in my Ministomp Order and Replacement Order.

Now this weekend is/was Memorial Day in the US, which means I got a 3 day weekend. I am writing this on Saturday, at the start of the weekend, and my aim is to spend a fair amount of time with my wife in the Shadowbringers expansion of Final Fantasy XIV, but I also have a few small hobby goals.

Mainly, I want to prime my minis! So first step was grabbing some double sided tape, and some sort of stick for holding the minis. This is what I grabbed for $1 at my local Lowes Hardware store:

A nice 3 pack of 21in painting / yard sticks, which is not quite what I was after, but the price was right, and they are very sturdy. Basically I will simply lay down some double sided tape on it, then stick the minis about 1.5 to 2in apart on there, and spray away!

I also went ahead and earlier in the week ordered some Magnification Goggles. I have poor eyesight, and I had not quite realized how small these minis are. My wife actually suggested I look into some sort of magnification solution, to help not strain my eyes. She also suggested a desk lamp, which I got as well. The Lamp I got is an LEP Wireless lamp, rechargeable thru USB. I am a little worried, however, as my charging light on the Lamp doesn’t seem to work….so I cant tell if its charging. It was $12 though so no big loss if it doesn’t recharge, I will just get a different model. There are a surprising number of LED Desk Lamps!
I also got the goggles, which I found on Amazon on well. Now these things are badass. Here is the lamp and the goggles.

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So the Goggles take 3 AAA Batteries, and has an adjustable LED light on the front. Further, it comes with 5 different Magnifying Lenses, which range from 1x to 3.5x magnification. Additionally, if you have a big head (like me) you can actually disconnect the arms on the sides, and replace them with that adjustable strap! It also fits fine with glasses, which is great. The distance for the lenses are also adjustable. I tried wearing them and holy crap what a difference they make. I can clearly see every detail on the minis using the 3.5x magnification, and the light is a godsend. These things are gonna be perfect for my needs, and I was able to get then for $23 (shipping included in that) which was great. You can find the Lamp I got here and the Goggles here, on US amazon.

Hopefully by next weekend I will have Prime and POSSIBLY painted minis. I need to order some additional colors cause the gold I have from the Paint Kit is more bronze colored then gold, and I want some leather options and such.

Oh, and to finish this off, I wanna take a minute to discuss my feelings on Push Fit minis.

Every one of those space marines above is a Push Fit mini. What this means is they are designed to not need super glue, and instead just “push together” and hold. In theory this is great, but in practice some of the parts are hard as hell to push together while other parts are super loose. This was not something I liked. The first one I put together I also messed up slightly (I cut a bit on the head that was to hold it in place) so I ended up getting the Brush On Gorilla Super Glue set, and used that to fix the head on the first, and then add glue to every “push fit” join on the other 4 minis. I think Push Fit works best if you use Super Glue to add to the strength of the join, honestly. So I would still use super glue.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great holiday weekend!