Daemons Painting Update - Tournament Thoughts

This weekend was the Millennium invitational, an event held at Millennium Games every December.  It is a great event, with the participants qualifying through the normal tournaments at Millennium Games over the year and all the prize support being on the house.  Normally I play my Da Boyz GT army at the event, but this year I did not attend Da Boyz and changed things up with a Highlander style list.  I had intended to bring these fellows...

...unfortunately they did not make the cut.

Et tu Brute?

It might be the change in weather, or it might be that I started running/hitting the gym again but Spring has somehow resulted in more motivation to paint, build army lists and generally be more productive.  The past two weeks, I took the time to work on one of the 3 Helbrutes that I need completed as part of the list I plan to bring with me to the next Millennium tournament.

I have a few new elements in this list - and I have found these incremental changes really help a lot when it comes to pushing me to complete painting projects.

The End is Near...

Ok, I'm are not talking the end of the world or the end of 40k, (although with all of the recent releases and changes GW has added some may think that), rather I am addressing the end of 2013 and what that means to me in regards to the hobby. There is one more tournament that I will be attending this weekend to round out the 2013 season plus I have a few modeling projects that I want to knock out before 2014 rolls around. So now that I am somewhat refreshed after taking off some time last week I figured I would run through what I am currently working on and then talk about the Millennium Games Invitational. So let's take a look at what I've been working on over the past couple of weeks.

Da Boyz GT: T - 4 Weeks - Crispy

     We're a month out from Da Boyz and it's crunch time to get everything finished. On top of that, I'll be heading down to the Warstore Weekend to participate in the Colonial Fantasy GT Optimally, I want to get everything wrapped up over the next week and a half.

     The Colonial has historically been in the spring, but this year they split the event in to 2. The 40K event is still in April, but the Fantasy portion is being run at the Warstore Weekend. With the Colonial moved to the beginning of November, our gaming group didn't think we'd be able to swing 2 GT's in a month (Colonial Nov 1-3 & Da Boyz 22-24). Well, it turns out that there's a lull of activity before the holidays and we all wanted to get a few more games in before the holiday hibernation comes along.

     On the list of things I need to finish, I can cross off the Movement Trays, Trolls, and Night Goblins (see below the fold). Now I'm just down to touch-ups and single models. For single models, I still have a Savage Orc Shaman, and a Night Goblin Shaman. In terms of touch-ups, I'd like to redo the wood parts of a few chariots I have, and maybe even re-paint my Arachnarok.

     Here's a taste of my trolls. Check out below the fold for more Troll pictures, Night Gobbos, Fanatics, and movement trays.

Da Boyz GT: T - 4/5/6 Weeks - Calypso2ts

The inevitable painting countdown is beggining and while I am in better shape than last year, things are starting to get a little tight overall.  The unfortunate part is the really key units I want to use are precisely the ones that need painting (Seekers, Flesh Hounds).

Limited progress on the Seekers so far but I did manage some on the Flesh Hounds.  There is some detailing left in the face, but I am going to leave them as is to get at least a minimum standard on the rest of the Hounds and the Seekers.

DaBoyz GT T - 6 Weeks - hy3mynd

It's been several weeks since I posted a formal hobby update on the Eldar + Dark Eldar force so here's some eye candy on my most recent models.  Some of the colors are washed out due to experimenting with new lights and light box, so sorry about the picture quality.  Here's my farseer who I just finished up by washing, drybrushing, and adding grass to the base.  I also painted his face plate white to match his runic armor.

Da Boyz GT: T - 8 Weeks

The last week has seen a big emphasis on Battle Reports for the previous weekend's tournament.  One of my big takeaways form the tournament was I desperately need to get the rest of my units painted - having black primed Flesh Hounds really hurt my painting score and almost cost me my second place finish.  In fact, a fully painted army may have secured a first place finish for the tournament.

I managed to get a basecoat on all of the flesh hounds so far - that is with a brush still since I have not had time to really break into the airbrushing since my last article.

Friday Reflections

This is a big week for Warhammer 40k around the world.  I'm going to touch on a lot of things, but only briefly.

First up is a farseer I've been working on this week.  I've been doing a lot of basecoating with the airbrush over the past few weeks so I needed a break from the boring stuff so I indulged in some detailing.  This guy is mostly done, I just need to finish the sword, feet, base, and maybe add some freehand later on.

Parkhammer Painting Competition: Tzeentch Sorceror

     A few months ago I remembered a feature that I'd seen in an old White Dwarf. GW had released a limited edition SM Captain with a power axe, and had given everyone in the design studio a copy to convert and/or paint. Rolling with that idea, I thought it would be a great idea for all the authors of the blog to try their hand at something similar. After a little bit of discussion, we decided that we should open it up to anyone who wanted to give it a try, and make it an event for Parkhammer.

    We put up suggestions on our forums, and after voting we went with this guy: 

    At the Parkhammer event, votes were cast and Grubnards came out on top by a handful of votes. I'll have picture of all the models, and some thoughts from their creators below the fold.

Showcase: Mangler Squigs

     Here are my finished Manglers. There's a few differences from previous WIPs that may not be immediately apparent. Foremost, I had to change the attachment to the bases. The legs of the Manglers felt too weak for the amount of resin they were supporting. There was quite a bit of flex, and I didn't feel that it would hold up in the long run. To remedy this, I sculpted up some tree roots and a large mushroom around 1/16inch brass rods. The rods extend from the base, halfway into the body, giving much more support.

     Check out more views below the fold.

Orc & Goblin WIP

     After getting a little frustrated with the bone painting technique on my Savage Orcs, I took a little break from Orcs & Goblins. Pulling me back into the O&G groove, I started to clean up a set up Mangler squigs.
 

 

            The first thing I noticed with these guys that differ from many of the other models I've been working it, is the texture of the skin. The next time you happen by one of these guys, take a close look at them. For the most part, the models I've been working with haven't had subtle details like this. Tyranids have some texture, but not like this. Even the Arachnarok Spider doesn't have this level of detail, and they were released around the same time for the same army. If this is the direction GW is going with its finecast models, I think it's good.

What's on our Painting Table

As the week comes to a close we thought we would round out this weeks articles by highlighting some of the painting projects that each of us are currently working on. As with most of you, we are lucky if we can get in 2-3 hours of painting a night but yet we push on through into the early morning hours, putting off sleep until our eyes get too blurry to paint. But one thing all of us at the Mandulian Chapel agree on is that playing with a fully painted army just looks too cool when spread out on the tabletop. So take a moment and look through our current projects and let us know what you think.

Fantasy GT this Weekend!

    This weekend is Crossroads Spring Break GT out in Horsehead’s NY. I know it’s pretty short notice, but if you play fantasy and don’t have plans for the weekend, we’re going to be accepting players up until Friday. Email the TO (Corey) and let him know you'd like to come. Right now, we’re looking at around 50-60 players. Not too shabby for an event initially planned just 2 months ago.

    I’ll be paint judging, and I might even get a game in as the ringer. Friday night is going to be a Warmachine tournament (a few locals just threw this together, so I have few details), and Saturday night we’re going to be running a Dominion tournament. I’ll do an event wrap-up next week, but if you’re up to it, come on down.

  Speaking of Fantasy, I’ve been slowly plugging away at Savage Orcs, and I have to say that for being pretty much naked, they have a ridiculous amount of detail that needs to be painted on. The loin cloths, the bones, the belts, the weapons, and not to mention the tattoos, all make for a time/tarpit. Check em out below the fold.

March Blog Update & CSM Rebuild Update

March was an exciting month for the Mandulian Chapel.  We saw our 300th post and brought our 5th author on board.  Crimthaan (Andy) posted yesterday's article and will be a resident Space Marine player and fluff enthusiast.  Now that we have five authors, it will be our goal to get in one article per day Monday through Friday.  Our content will span from fluff to theory/mathammer, terrain, painting, converting, and battle reports.  Together, we share a deep passion and respect for the hobby and the desire to share our thoughts and discuss our experiences.  I hope you enjoy the additional content!

Calypsots - CSM and Sorcerer Painting

Following the huge painting push I went through before Da Boyz back in November I have had a bit of trouble getting back into painting.  Other life stressors contributed as well - is it me or are the holidays terrible for Warhammer?!  The important part is that I had a few days where I was able to sit down for a few hours and do some painting and modeling.  The painting aspect was the most therapeutic  but this also represents my first real foray into kit bashing.  Below is the Sorcerer I will be using as an allied HQ - and maybe in a CSM army at some point.

I wanted to keep the models consistent with my Daemons colors - since I already spent so much time discussing CSM allies for Daemons - which means Purple, Pink, Teal and Green are the primary colors with fleshy tones for the skins.

Hobby Time

     After reading through Hyv3mynd’s last post covering his latest works-in-progress and airbrush setup, I thought that I’d show off what I’ve been working on and some of my painting setup. My hobby time has been split up between a few projects: 1) Fantasy Orcs and Goblins, 2) Necrons, 3) Chaos, 4) Space Hulk 5) Tyranid touchups. The Orcs and Goblins have been eating up the most of my hobby time, with the other projects receiving a smattering of attention when the inspiration arises.