Thursday 26 February 2009

Small Update

Well its been an entire week since I last updated this heap o' crud. Hasn't been helpable due to my current workload (which is quite a bit).

Small update today. I'm halway through painting the 20 conscripts and I've painted the greatcoat of my first commissar. I wanted to have the conscripts, commissar and chimera all finished tomorrow, but that isn't going to happen now.

Got a bunch of new arrivals coming tomorrow:
20 Mordian Troopers
Commissar with powerfist

Looks like it's going to be a busy weekend. I'll try and get an updated army shot in at some point.

Take care,
~Pettsy~

Thursday 19 February 2009

Progress, Pics and Purchases

Afternoon,

Progress Update
Another quick progress update. I've just basecoated most of the metallic parts of the Chimera (Multilaser, Lasguns, Comm Gear and Hatches). Once the rest are coated I'll be applying a Black Ink wash (whilst trying not to get any on the red :)) before drybrushing them with Chainmail. After that I need to paint on the details like the freehand sabres (see the shield in the banner up top) and the tank will be completed.

Progress Pictures
Well I've promised you these since last thursday (again I apologise for my tardiness) but they are here at last! Please excuse my lack of photography skills but that can't be helped (I'm an Engineer not a Photographer! :)) They don't look too bad though.

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Everything I had at that time last week (since then I've added a Commissar).

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Everything assembled (except the Chimera which was sitting on my paint station drying).

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Close up of the assembled Leman Russ.

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Groupshot of my Conscripts.

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Conscript units.

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Undercoated Chimera.

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Armour completed (Side)

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Armour completed (Front)

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Armour completed (Rear)

Future Purchases
With the financial crisis currently gripping this country by the crotch I've decided to try (I say try because knowing me I'll fail miserably at this) and cut down on my monthly Warhammer Spending. Therefore I've decided to set myself a few rules regarding purchases. They are:
-£100 limit. I can't spend a penny more unless I complete the remaining rules.
-Everything purchased in the month before must be completed before the next month comes round. If I don't get everything finished I get my remaining limit halved.
-Any money left over from the previous month can be added to the limit of the next month.

So there they are. I'm gonna try to keep to them, but I'm not holding my breath ;)

Painting Goal for this month (Finishes final Friday of March)
-Chimera = Finished
-Leman Russ = Red armour finished
-Conscripts = Finished
-Commissar = Greatcoat finished
-Infantry Platoons = Clothing finished

Well until next time,
~Pettsy~

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Seeing Red

Hey,

Small progress report for you today (and another promise to get those pictures up). The red coat on the Chimera is pretty much done. I have to say I'm really happy with the result for once. I've never really used the Painting Masterclasses from White Dwarf, until now. Up to that point I had been using quite a lot of watered down paint to try and get a smooth coat, but all I ended up with was a blotchy result. Following the Masterclass I tried using hardly any paint on the brush and building it up in layers. And wow what a result! The blotches are gone and the colour looks uniform now. I can still improve on it though, so hopefully the more tanks I paint up the better the overall result. The edge highlighting however didn't come out to well, I may need to follow another tip from the Masterclass and purchase a Large Flatbrush.

I promise you the pics will be up at some point this week (Yes Kim I mean it this time:))

Take care,
~Pettsy~

Monday 16 February 2009

Changes and Progress Update

Well looks like I've broken my first promise already. I will get those pics up as soon as possible, I've just been rather busy with FEAR (Extraction Point, Perseus Mandate and Project Origin) over the weekend.

Changes
Well the Terrax idea took a swandive out of the window. The attempt I tried was a complete failure. Note to self: Improve with the greenstuffing and try again at a later date. So I've gone back to my original idea: a regiment based around my county - Essex. I've finally settled on the range of models I'm going to use, Mordians. I love the look of these. The dress uniforms and vivid colours will look pretty sweet on the battlefield surrounded by a number of tanks.

Progress
The base coat of the first Chimera is almost complete. Another few layers of red and she'll be ready for the highlight. Now I've never really tried to highlight a tank before so its going to be an interesting time (how I wish I had a Save option before I start). After that I'll move onto the metal areas (guns, doors etc). Once the base coat is complete I'll get a pic or two up.

Until next time,
~Pettsy~

Thursday 12 February 2009

Mobilisation

Not much of an update this time, not so mind numblingly boring that way :)

Well I finally settled on what Guard Regiment I want to collect. Since my friend leant me his codex a few years back I've always loved the look of the Terrax Regiment. Commissars are my favourite thing about the Guard, so it seemed like a regiment of Commissar lookalikes was the perfect choice. Hold on a moment though, "there are no models for Terrax Guard" I hear you say. Well yes that is true. So obviously I'll have to convert them. Armed with my new files, clippers, sculpting tool, greenstuff and a box of Cadians I've tried my hand at a reasonably complicated conversion job. The first one took around an hour and a half to produce (after a slight accident saw my first poor attempt destroyed) and I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the result. The conversion requires a few little details added and then it wil be completely ready. Should have pictures uploaded by tomorrow (before I start on FEAR2).

Next jobs:
1. Complete 10 conversions (1 down).
2. Think of possible paint scheme.

Until next time. Take care
~Pettsy~

Sunday 8 February 2009

Step Up Guardsman! The Emperor Commands It

Welcome.

Hmmm how to start this off? Well I suppose most people start off with an explaination of who they are and what the blog is for. Well, if it's good enough for those people then it sure as hell is good for me. I'll keep it brief so not to bore you.

So who am I exactly?
Well my name is Mark, I'm 20 years old and I've been playing Warhammer for 7 years. I started off on Warhammer Fantasy with an army of High Elves. Over the years I amassed around 4,000pts of Elves and dabbled in Slaanesh Chaos Mortals and Wood Elves. Since late October I've been building a decent sized Brettonian army which has grown to the 2,000pt stage. For the battlefields of the 41st Millenium I fight for the Dark Eldar (1,000pts) and the forces of the Emperor with Imperial Fist Space Marines and Grey Knights (both at the 1,5000pts level). And now, as of the 7th February 09 the Imperial Guard (more of them in a bit).

What exactly is this for?
To motivate me to get an army finished for once. Like numerous people I get to a certain point in building an army before my eyesight wanders onto the next project. Now don't get me wrong, I am not one of these people that has to have ever new army when it is released because it must be the best. If anything I'm the complete opposite. If one of my armies is updated I won't rush out to get all the new stuff on the release date, nope, I will leave that army alone for around 2 months until the little kiddies have moved onto the next best thing. This however means that I have yet to completely finish a single army. So yea, hopefully this will motivate me to get my Guard finished and to improve my painting standards.

Essexian 23rd Mechanised Imperial Guard
I've always loved the sight of massed tanks on the tabletop. From the sleak Eldar vehicles to the spikey vehicles of the Chaos gods. The problems I encountered with my other armies meant I couldn't field as many tanks as I would have liked (have you tried painting yellow? I tell you it's a fragging pain the butt). So the Guard seemed like the perfect excuse, plus I just love thier Chimera's. My next decision is on what models I wish to use. Cadians - cheap but most people use them. Mordians - lovely models but really expensive. Valhallans - lovely models and I just love the Cain series of books but again expensive. I'm gonna have a think before making my final decision.

In conclusion
Hopefully you have read up to this point. If not well that was a complete waste of time wasn't it :) I hope to update this at least once a week (work permitting) and share my progression on whatever I've been up to. Any comments or pointers you wish to share with me are more than welcome.

Cheers,
~Pettsy~