Don't Give Up

Catchy title eh?  Have some T&A and pertinent music along with your read.  An interesting effect of blogging is that now matter how shallow or deep you make your content, you will develop followers who will experience your 40k and life journey along with you.  Even the most stoic and focused bloggers will leave clues to their journey and struggles in their articles if you can read between the lines.



I've been lax in blogging recently due to being self-employed in the retail sector during the holiday season.  I'm sure many of you know, understand, or have even seen on TV how challenging it can be in a small family business which has been made more challenging by the increased demands and stress of the holiday run.

Don't give up on me as a blogger, articles will become more regular soon.

We're in a very dynamic place right now as a community.  I've largely kept silent about the recent updates and releases.  There's so much rage on the internet right now about how the game is changing or shouldn't change.  Convincing another hobbyists they should play the game in a way which they don't get excited about is a losing battle.  As such, my articles will continue to remain focused on hobby and gaming execution and avoid the contentious debates that are burning up so many forums and blogs.

Don't give up on 40k, make it what you want it to be.

Our group of authors and hobbyists are lucky to be a part of a community that for the most part shares a common appreciation for diverse lists and we rarely see the common spam/deathstar/netlists that are trending, even in our monthly tournaments.  Based on this track record, I'm not too concerned about facing the revenant titans and super forts that have so many people up in arms around the internet.  Rather than spending hours arguing how the game should be played online, meet with your friends and peers and come to an agreement on how your local meta will handle the new releases.

Don't give up on your local hobby community, reach out and be a contributor instead of a detractor.

OK... enough of the emo crap.  All is not doom and gloom.  Despite December being a really challenging month for me, there are some beacons of light that I can share with you.  First off is my favorite band ever, VNV Nation.  I've followed these guys for 15 years and seen them live in concert from Rochester NY to Pittsburgh PA, Los Angeles CA as well as Melbourne, Australia.  Their 2013 album (Transnational) is the best in many years and its been an inspiration both in my personal life as well as in the hobby.  One track in particular is a suitable battle song that will be playing in my car on the way to every tournament to get me pumped.

Merry Christmas to me!  I hope all of yours was joyous as well.  Even though the album released in October, I've been so busy with work I didn't find it on iTunes until Xmas week so it was received with open arms.

On the hobby front, I've been toying with a new paint scheme for the hive fleet in anticipation of the new codex in a few weeks.  I wanted something quick and easy for speed purposes, but something that looks good on the table too.  I decided to go with a new technique of pre-shading with the airbrush and finishing with washes.  Here's a test model:

I started with a grey primer and zenithial/reverse zenithial airbrushing with white and black to create highlights and shadows.

 

 

Next I applied very watered down washes of blacks and teals with some purple spots, and very light white drybrushing.  It's pretty minimal, but looks cool and it's very fast.  1-2 infantry models a night shouldn't be a problem once the codex drops and I figure out which models to switch to the new scheme.

In the meantime, I've also started a Tau project with the same approach.  Back before I rekindled my 40k hobby, I was a pretty hardcore Dawn of War player.  Tau were my army of choice and when it came time to rediscover the table top game, I had the Tau codex in one hand and Tyranids in the other.  I only chose Tyranids at the time as they had the newest book, but a Tau force has been on my 40k bucket list and the new allies matrix has helped convince me to take on this final new army.  I'll probably use them to salvage my CSM zombie/spawn/maulerfiend build with some needed fire support, but thematically speaking I want them to be an addition to my "ISWAT" police themed Grey Knights.  Here's my first test model:

Using the same zenithial technique as the genestealer, I airbrushed it with blacks and whites first.

Then a light blue wash.  Whereas my GK are black and white, the Tau detachment will be the "boys in blue" reminiscent of ESWAT from Appleseed.

Finished it up with some black washes, red detailing, and white edging.  More to come on this project as I'll keep with it for a few weeks and then reassess once the Tyranid book is released and I see which army will take priority.

That's it for now.  I'll finish up my DaBoyz GT battle reports next and be prepared for some tyranid content after the new year!