10,000 page views and new 40k terrain!

10K views!

Wow, I’ve now registered over 10,000 page views!! How did that happen??

I think that’s pretty good for a small out-of-the-way blog that doesn’t get updated nearly enough. I started this blog in August 2011 as a way to re-focus myself in the hobby, and along the way I’ve bought, built and sold two large armies (Blood Angels and Orks), had a baby (best thing ever!) and had two ‘I’m selling it all, I hate you 40K!’ mega meltdowns/ fire-sales. My posting has gone from insane amounts per month, to 3-4 months without any updates. But in all that time I’ve watched the page-views slowly increasing as people came along for a look.

Now before I go any further, please understand that I’m not concerned about generating page-views for any other reason than to spread the hobby love (as it were). I get nothing from this page financially, and it’s purely a networking/ sharing of information/ online diary endeavour.

That now said, I thought it might be worth mentioning blog page views and how they come about. As it stands, my top-viewed articles, in terms of raw numbers (at today’s date) are:

1.      Blood Angels Paint Scheme sorted out- 829 views

2.      Modular Cities of Death Game Board- 631 views

3.      Mephiston Red- aka Hotrod Red- 559 views

For a very long time, the Meph Red and Modular City board articles were neck and neck for views, although the BA paint article has risen from obscurity to eclipse the other two. From what I can gather, a fair bit of my traffic is coming from Google searches based on a few key words- a search on any of the terms within the articles above should return a link or image from my site near the top of the search results (searching ‘Blood Angels Paint Scheme’ does exactly this).

So, to put it plainly, having the right words within your article’s title will (theoretically) draw in more views that if you were to put in a more obscure string of words. I don’t think my paint article would have had nearly as many hits if I’d called it ‘BA army colours’. Which leads on to another couple of points- spell-check if you are unsure of a word, and try to use terms that are both relevant and are spelt the same no matter who types it in. As an example I’ve tried to be mindful of avoiding the word ‘colour’ in my article names, as we spell this as ‘colour’ here in Australia, whereas our US brethren spell this as ‘color’, meaning that depending on how/where they search they could miss out seeing this article in a search engine results page based on a simple spelling variation.      

So, there’s a few quick things to help people understand page-views a bit better. If you run a blog of your own, I urge you to have a look at the statistical mechanism behind it to get the best understanding of how and where your page-views are coming from. In the rawest sense (for me at least), seeing the page-views increasing helps drive me onwards and keeps me enthused to keep coming back and writing articles, which in turn keeps my hobby going strong. Win-win.

Bring on the next 30,000- I want to see 40K views for my 40K blog!! J   

Hobby update! Or, ‘I’m going to wear out some paint brushes!’

As previously stated, there were several giant hobby ‘purges’, in which armies and terrain were sold off. The end result though was that my Dark Angels have stayed with me, and I’ve pushed them out further with a few extra purchases, so my hobby table* is starting to become very crowded- there is a lot of units to be built and/or painted- here’s what I have to do:

·         Dark Vengeance DA Captain (with headswap- aka Azrael)

·         Dark Vengeance Deathwing Terminator Squad

·         Dark Vengeance Tactical Squad (10)

·         Dark Vengeance Librarian

·         Forgeworld ‘Mortis’ Contemptor Dread

·         Vindicator

·         Predator

·         Rogue Trader- era Whirlwind

·         Rogue Trader- era Techmarine

·         3x Ravenwing Black Knights

·         Ravenwing Dark Talon/Nephilim

Some of you may ask why I’m doing more Ravenwing- well, to be honest I’m actually replacing some of the previous Ravenwing that I sold off. As funds are a bit tight nowadays I found myself accepting the offer of a young gent who was after some assembled Ravenwing for his own army- I sold him my bike squad (6), Black Knights (3), Dark Talon and Landspeeder for what was basically RRP- he needed them in a hurry and didn’t have time to assemble his own. So, in order to pay some bills I sold those off. However, with the subsequent sale of some more old hobby stuff (it just keeps coming out of the woodwork!) I have been able to replace the Black Knights and DT. Both are undercoated black on their sprues awaiting assembly, although im still yet to decide on what pattern to build the flyer as. Possibly a Dark Talon again, as it fits my playstyle and is slightly cheaper points-wise.

Oh, I almost forgot. I bought a Baneblade box set, one of the nifty new ones that makes all 8 variants, and spent the better part of two days magnetising it to make every single variant. The amount of engineering involved to due this is quite large- made a lot of sprue-based support bars for the magnets (with bracing to remove any flex), as well as locating pins for gun mount swaps and a host of other small things. This kind of endeavour is not easy and I would strongly advise that people try a lot of small magnetising swaps before ever tackling something like this. You’ll also go through about $20+ in rare earth magnets as well, so that’s worth factoring in.

I’m hoping that I can get some photos up for the next post, to show you are the pure magnitude of what I have to be done.

*Speaking of- I built this little beauty out of scrap wood from my garage, I now have space for 70 or so GW paint pots, all my brushes and other hobby bits. Weighs a bit, but its easily moved around on top of a small rolling sewing table that my wife has. No more using shoe boxes for paint storage- going vertical is the way to do it!

All thats needed now is some channels carved in with a router to store the brushes/stop them rolling around.

 

More Terrain!!

I was recently gifted with a load of terrain from a mate of mine who has moved back to the US, comprising of a load of milk-crate terrain (which I cut out for him, incidentally). Mike did a fantastic job of building and painting up the ruins, adding plasticard panels in a lot of the open spaces (LOS blocking rules!) as well as lots of old gubbinz from things like broken printers and PCs. They’re like a more advanced version of my old ‘Fallout 3’ inspired ruins that Alan now owns, both milk-crate sets should work together on the table beautifully to create a huge ruined city. There’s the possibility of an Apocalypse game in the middle of December, so these will definitely end up getting some use!

Mike was also gracious enough to give me all his old blue insulation foam- I’ve never worked with this stuff before, but its pretty impressive. Using a really sharp thin-bladed knife, some PVA glue and sand I’ve been able to craft some excellent hills and some bases for my trees (see pic). The trees have had some flock added to their bases already, the hills will be getting some soon (ran out of PVA). I’ve also started building a load of shallow craters and some steeper ‘pits’ which will be painted up to contain bubbling magma- like a small volcano, or where a small lance strike has hit the ground. For this the blue foam is supreme. I’ve been using simple and cheap acrylic ‘Art’ paints from a tube to paint my foam creations, and there is no need to prime it beforehand- the art paint binds to the foam incredibly well.

Just needs some flock now

Trees came up better than I expected

Crater or bubbling lava pit? Not sure yet....

 

Actually, the first thing I built from the insulation foam was this little 40K objective marker… the Doctor’s T.A.R.D.I.S. J All the window and door details are hand carved into the foam with an exacto blade. I’m particularly proud of how the writing above the door came out, you can actually read it!! Its being based to match my Dark Angels army, and I hope to use it in some upcoming tournaments. Obviously, there's a bit left to do, should have some completed pics up in the next post.

The Doctor is in!

 

Okay, that’s enough for one day!! Will get more up as soon as I can. As always, thanks for looking, and please feel free to leave a comment- I appreciate any and all feedback on this page!

DA Tactical Squad- quick update

Once again its been way too long between updates, however as real life overrides hobby time this is to be expected I suppose. For the time being at least here's a pic of my first tactical squad, just prior to their bases being painted (im yet to get any new pics). There are still many small details to complete but for now they are 'useable'.

The second Tactical Squad is well under way, all based in luxurious Caliban Green and ready for nuln oil washing. Hoping to have them finished at some point sooner rather than later. Cheers, Tempest

Dark Angels- Power Armour scheme

Hey everyone,

Here's the new power-armour scheme for my Dark Angels- its near enough to the guide in White Dwarf, but with a bit of a different way to add the highlights- the brightest part of the green is centred inside the previous highlight, to make it look almost like its shining in the light. Seems to give a decent compromise between grim-dark and tabletop 'pop'. Hope to have two entire squads of ten done up in the next few weeks, if only to this standard. ANUCON in late September is what I'm working towards at this point.

Once this guy is done I'm going to put a picture up of him next to one of my original Dark Angels from second edition, to show exactly how far I've come!

Thanks for looking,
Tempest

The mega-update: Four months worth of hobby and gaming.....

I'm back!!!

Hi all, its been way too long, almost four months by my count- my apologies. I’ve been off work for about that long, which would normally mean a lot more activity and posting on here, but unfortunately real life gets in the way- have been on holidays away from home, been really sick on and off and have had some family related interstate trips as well, so there’s been little time for blog updates. Oh, and my pc screen recently did a very uncooperative ‘blank out, pop, and produce smoke’, meaning that I now have this machine hooked up to a 42’ TV screen- trust me its not as great as it sounds- glaringly bright, everything is annoyingly large… first world problems, right? Hahaha! 

So without further ado, here is what’s been going on since my late January pre-Cancon post…

Cancon

All in all I got to play seven of the eight games on offer, having to head home midway through the third day due to our house having received some damage in a huge storm the night before (had to meet up with people to have it assessed), however this didn't have a huge impact overall, as I was struggling to get a draw most of the time.  I know that my list is one that is very situational and can be blown off the table with enough firepower, and that's what happened- I had a fair few games where the cover was inadequate, which was compounded by my lack of long range firepower. Aggressively taking objectives is the easy part for Assault Marines, but holding it can be hard with a lack of ranged firepower or backline support. My army units were almost all designed to hit hard in close combat/short range firefights, at which they excelled time and again, but at range they got mangled. I was tabled in three of my games (one was a very close run thing- my opponent had only one unit left), however I had a really great time! My opponents were all generally good fun to play against, with a mix of experienced and newer generals, and I was able to use my battles against them to try out new things with my list- tactics and unit combos mainly.

The last lot of shots pre- Cancon:

Went with helmeted heads in the end for my priests, as I was going to keep the white to a minimum I'd need them as a focal point. Turned out looking great IMHO.

Librarians. Both force weapons are very basic for now, but work! Custom jump pack turned out cool as well :)

Here’s a few pics from the battles at Cancon, with some details (where I can actually remember what happened!)

Bring the pain!! Army set up for best painted (or players choice?? i don't remember...)

First game, Vs Iron Warriors. Bikes take cover..

The Iron Warriors and their cultists minions.

Warpsmith Vs Sergeant surrounded by flaming Furioso and Drop Pod (my flickering flame markers). Sergeant almost killed him before eating power-axe! Karma got the chaos scum though- for his efforts the Warpsmith was turned into a Spawn!

Vs. White Scars, second game. Ran rampant in CC, and the Furioso carved his way through the backline.

Libby Vs Korsorro Khan in an epic Warlords duel. Force Axe eventually got the Khan with Instant Death after three turns of back and forth combat!

Str5 on the charge (with a Priest) vs rear armour 10 = boom! Barely used a meltagun all tourney...

Only pic I took of game three, Vs. Eldar. Most enjoyable game of the tourney. A bloody hard fought draw this one, loads of tactical manouvering, close range firefights and vicious hand to hand.

Game four, vs Necrons. Beat down a Destroyer Lord and a C'tan Shard (Nightbringer), but got tabled eventually... exploding C'tan took out my last Terminator funnily enough.

Ugh... game five, or 'how to suck the fun out of a game. Tau in a corner behind an all-covering Aegis line. Shitty and broken. Game five was not fun, and not because I lost (badly) but because it didnt feel like playing 40K, more like 'here's what the Internet says is 'teh awesomez'. Lame.

Game six, vs Grey Knights with IG allies. My opponent didnt like when I threw a Furioso at his backline and blended 10 GKs and two IG command squads. Minor loss to me, but was happy when my Termy Librarian and Inquisitor Coteaz both died simultaneously in their challenge. I laughed so hard at that, my opponent not so much :P

I missed game seven  so this is game eight- i'm in a table corner, my opponent in the other, we both have to get to the circle marked up at the top to evacuate units... all jump/fast/mounted in SRaven/Drop pod? I got a near flawless 'win' for this, but it wasn't really a fun game... just weird.

So, Cancon was good fun- some of the missions were a bit hard for me, and I think my future lists need some long range firepower and backline campers- sniper scouts, drop-pod Tactical Squads or the like. I'm going to keep playing with this at this points level and see what I feel is best before any new purchases.


 The Big Game III- Goodgames Canberra, March 2013

I heard about the Big Game III through a mate, and was intrigued in the possibility of being part of a game that contributed globally towards the end result for either Imperial + Allies or 'the forces of Disorder'. So with this is mind I pulled all the stops out and completed the basic structure of my Warlord Battle Titan!! Even in flat grey undercoat it was a sight to behold, and certainly drew some *seriously unprintable* comments when I first brought it in the door of the LGS. There was a few issues on the day though- one being that the tables were only 4ft wide, meaning I was easily assaultable and the carapace weapons were limited in their use/minimum range. The other issue was that my car had been giving me huge dramas on the way to the event, and I chose to try getting it home at the lunch break- it gave up halfway home and I waited an hour for a towtruck. Once I got home I wasn't then able to return in time for the end of the game and could only get there afterwards to retrieve all my stuff. From what I could tell it acquitted itself well, I erased a jetbike-mounted Seer council with a single Volcano Cannon blast, and stomped some terminators into paste, but a FW Daemon Prince thingy (Agrath??) eventually pierced the Deathwing/BA Terminator screen at its feet and wrecked it. Still, I love building things that people reckon are too hard/impossible to build etc.

On my completed 6x4 urban road boards- dominate!!!!!!!

Deployed for the Big Game. 

 

Long table deployment shot

Belial and Chaplain with 10-strong Deathwing charge forwards. Note- Agrath is incoming!

Thats a big titan...

Necromunda- welcome to the Underhive!!

About four weeks ago me and the boys started up a Necromunda campaign, with six gangs in total- My Orlocks, and some Van Saar, Delaque, Goliaths, Spyrers and Enforcers- a very diverse range of original gangs and later 'Outlanders' gangs.

So far we've all managed to get a few games in, and I've been lucky to not have much in the way of injuries. Several of the other gangs have had multiple deaths or even roster changes (Alan's Enforcers notably- they keep rolling up Ld increases, and the leaders all leave!). After a couple more games, my guys- the Tunnel Stalkers- should be getting in another Heavy- maybe another Heavy Stubber, but i'd really like a Heavy Bolter if the creds are there.

The Tunnel Stalkers, led by 'Hitman' Harlon (Dan Abnett fans may get the reference...)

Harlon started out as a Catachan Sgt. Added greenstuff t-shirt, shoulderpads, hair and tabard, its passable... in-game he's got D3 extra attacks on the charge, hits at Str 5 with his chainsword and has carapace armour, so a bit of a badass!

Some of my purpose-built Necromunda terrain- will be useful for 40k as well.

The majority of this new stuff is made from foamcore board- lightweight, strong and versatile.

+

WIP cargo containers- I'd like to make a whole bunch of these (at least a dozen) for use in 40K as well- fighting in a cargo depot or starport for example.

So far our campaign has been very enjoyable, although I'm somewhat sad now with the recent news that GW has decided to can the Specialist Games line. But that's how it goes- as long as 40k continues I'm never really going to bemoan GW that much (I dont really anyhow!).



Dark Angels rebuild/ how to be totally crazy....

So I was lucky enough to get a terrain prize at Cancon, giving me a $50 voucher for a gaming company, and decided to finally lay my hands on the Dark Angels Codex. Once in my possession I had a really quick look and just put it on the shelf, as I had a load of other things being done at the time. Only recently have I had the time and inclination to sit down and read it from front to back, after which I have come to the conclusion that my army needs resurrecting, both tactically and aesthetically.

My original Dark Angels (power armour anyhow) were not dissimilar to the current GW Eavy Metal scheme, being a fairly dark green with mild highlights, however along the way I somehow decided that snot green bright highlights on all raised surfaces was the go. Why, I am not sure, but for a while I was happy with it. They were a bit too bright for 'typical' Dark Angels but looked okay to me. However with the change to the GW paint line I realised that any new power armour or vehicle units wouldnt match, as Dark Angel Green is a totally different colour to the new Caliban Green. Caliban is a darker shade that I think actually suits the First Legion really well, so I resolved a while ago to redo my army once I had the Codex (and the inclination..). So, I tried my hand at repainting over the green armour of my tactical and assault marines, with an Abbadon Black basecoat (thinned) to bring it back to a dark base. Got 5 marines done, all resplendant in their new smooth Caliban Green, but retaining their nice robes and boltguns, and I was fairly happy...

However, when going back for a quick check of something, i picked one up and where my finger lightly touched the dark green it just wiped off like it wasnt even there, showing the Snot Green underneath . So, what I came to realise was that a repaint was not going to work, meaning a complete dissassembly, paint strip and rebuild. 

Wish this had worked- repainted in new Caliban Green on the left. Just didnt stick though :(

Whilst a large undertaking, this isnt a bad thing- I'd long been thinking about re-basing the army, which I now realise wouldn't have happened unless I disassembled them all- some of the bases were that solidly glued to the feet that they tore holes out of the bases instead of the bases just snapping off from the minis. I even had to cut and sand some of the feet until the plastic of the old bases were no longer there- a horrible job to do! So for now my Dark Angels are sitting in a large container filled with Simple Green concentrate, awaiting a stripback. All 30 Tactical Marines and 10 Assault Marines went in- they'll all be rebirthed as Tactical Squads, as I have more than enough assault units in my Deathwing and Ravenwing- the former being finally completed with some paintjob updates (thankfully the paint does stick to them!) and the latter, my Ravenwing bike squad, having been filed, smoothed and rebuilt with new eBay sourced handlebars, boltguns and RW fairings.

Sigh... at least i can start fresh again. Got ten scrubbed back bare, another 30 to go- then arms, weapons etc....

Looking a lot better than last time I had them up here! Glad I didnt convert them all into Blood Angel bikes (as per my original plan). Ive actually now completed the rebuild of all the riders, minus a few missing RW shoulderpads. New rounded-end bases are miles better than the previous fantasy cavalry ones I was using.

I've also purchased some new goodies for the Dark Angels- the Deathwing Command Squad box, the Ravenwing Command Squad and the Dark Talon/Nephilim flyer box. The DW command box is truly inspiring- I'll be using the components to build a squad of 5 DW Knights, however there is more than enough remaining torsos, heads, and weapons to build another squad of either 'regular' (albeit ornate) Deathwing OR a DW Command Squad- i just need five sets of Termy legs (got three already). Not too sure which of these two I want first, suffice to say that I will be using the Plasma Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher options included in the box somewhere in my force. The RW command box will be turned into a squad of three Ravenwing Black Knights, who will in essence spearhead my main RW force, and I'm still tossing up whether to run a Nephilim (mild duties fighter craft) or a Dark Talon (dedicated support flyer to supplement ground forces). Both are cool looking vehicles, so im most likely going to buy and build another later on in the alternating setup to whatever I choose for this one.               

Conclusion!

So that's how it stands at the moment- I've got a bucket-load of 40K, Necromunda and terrain things going on, and when I can find the time I'm getting a lot done. Im hoping to get back into more regular post updates, especially with my Dark Angels progress, as I'll be taking them along to Wintercon in mid July (7 weeks from now).

Until next time, thanks for looking!
Tempest 

Dreadnought drop pod, power swords and more BA progress

Wow, its been a month since my last update- apologies to anyone thats been looking for an update- things have been very busy at home and whilst I've had a lot of time painting I've barely been on the computer at all.

With only 17 days left before Cancon i'm in overdrive trying to get the Blood Angels up to a certain level of completion. I've resigned myself to the fact that they wont 100% done- they'll most likely still have unfinished bolt pistols and chainswords, and some chest and shoulderpad details wont be completed. However, I should quite happily get all the red armour plating painted and basically highlighted. I have finished the helmets on all the Assault Marines, included their eyes- I will go back and re-line a few bits later, but they will suffice. Terminators will get some love really son, and the Attack Bikes after that. Wont be winning any awards with them in this state, but I'll have them all completed and detailed in time for Wintercon (June) without too much hassle.




All the yellow helmets done- they really stand out now


The Stormraven is getting moved along quite well- all the 90 degree edges and gaps between panels have been shaded with several coats of Carroburg Crimson, and i've started on highlights on the sharpest edges, the whole vehicle is really starting to 'pop'. I also built an overlay to go on the Raven's base, which is made from MDF and has been carved with a dremel and small cutting wheel to look like ruins just like the rest of the army's resin bases, it looks fairly convincing.




MDF is still the greatest IMHO...


I decided that my Assault Sergeants should stand out a bit, and to this end I've swapped out the one guy with a Power Axe to have a Power Sword instead. I've then painted up a scheme on all three swords that is a stylised reflective look, going from deep dark blue up to white, through 6 colours and thinning the paint as much as possible. It can take a fair bit to get right, and a lot of time is spent going back and fixing up the transitions to make them as smooth as possible.

On a gaming note, I've been doing some research concerning what Psychic discipline to roll for with my 2x Librarians- we roll for this before our first game and our opponent signs off on it, and this is what they use for the whole tournament. I was originally using Biomancy, for the potent offensive capabilities it gave, however I now believe that Divination to be the best for a Librarian, who should be used to buff an attached unit. Even if you roll for things you dont want you can fall back to the primaris power of Prescience, which provides for re-rolls to hit (shooting and cc) which really helps boost the power of an assault unit. Moreso than any other discipline these ones will keep your men alive and killing better for longer.

I'm also thinking that my Librarian in Terminator Armour will only selectively answer or issue challenges, as his axe-wielding capabilities are massively overshadowed by the 5 Thunder Hammers in the squad he's attached to- in addition he's going to be my Warlord, and will therefore have a 1VP price on his head, which I dont wish to squander. So, he'll skulk at the back of the pack for most engagements, unless circumstances are in his favour. Still working out how best to use the Terminators, I'm even thinking that I could Deep-strike them in on turn two in the vicinity of the Furioso's Drop Pod, to form a ridiculously resilient CC strongpoint.

Speaking of, here's the modified drop pod for my Furioso. Didnt want to splash out for the FW Dread Pod, so I've modified this standard troop carrying one to have a removable fin section (fluff wise- explosive bolts blow it out on landing when the doors drop) and Adiel comes lumbering out. I also magnetised the gun mount in the roof to allow me to still use the stormbolter or missile pod, and they can still articulate up and down. If one takes the liberty of assuming that the gun and its mount retract into the roof of the pod then the Dreadnought fits in quite easily!! This conversion turned out better than I expected.



Fits easily :) 



Magnets are mounted top and bottom for maximum hold.



Magnetised gun mount. Used a drill press on high speed and
 lots of care to make this fit without blowing out the sides. 



Recessed magnets with lightly filed-down outer edges. Snaps into place really solid.

Thats enough for today- got loads more work to do!

Cheers,
Tempest

 

BA: Characters update + Baneblade

More Red Fury

Some more progress on the Librarian in Terminator Armour, he's now rocking a cool 'flamed lightning' effect on his axe blade, and i've coloured in his face and done some simple colour/wash work on his tabard and purity seals. 



Face looks awesome for just a colour, wash and retouch!! 



Sang Priests... going to run with bare heads I've decided. Still loads to do, but the flesh tones have turned out great. Its nothing more than the now out of production 'Tallarn Flesh' foundation paint, a wash of Devlan Mud and then a retouch of Tallarn. Will go with some lighter highlights at a later point, but its more than table-top standard at this point.

Enter the Baneblade!!

I also decided to finally pull my finger out and get my Baneblade finished/ moved forwards. This is a tank which was previously painted in a **horrid** Mechrite Red base colour, of which small bits can still be seen- im cleaning these up at the moment.

Base is the now (sadly) superceded Charadon Granite- luckily my pot of it is still nice and useable. The base colour for the camo stripes are Zandri Dust (Base) and then I used umm... I cant rememeber? Its the one thats almost Bleached bone, but a few shades darker... this was used in the middle of the stripes to make the scheme 'pop'. All the camo was done with a GW tank brush, drybrushing lazily while watching some TV.

And cos I was bored I thought i'd try some blue tones and white reflecty stuff on the searchlight, I think it worked out okay. Next up is all the metal on the gun barrels, on the tracks, etc, and I'm going to do some gold trim as well- ie  silver with sepia washes, for that 'battleworn' look.