More Crimson Fists

I finally finished my second batch of crimson fists. They took far longer than they should have, partly because I was busy and partly because I got bored and put them aside, and partly because I had an idea for the bases that I spent far too long working on before giving up.




Actually, I'm undecided about the bases; I lost one of the ones I was working on and it will be a little hard to replace. They don't look special or anything but they were meant to go together so it just won't work with one missing. I have no idea how I lost it, one day I counted them and there was just one less than there should have been. I have no idea where it could have gone, so I'm really annoyed about it.

Anyway, the flame came out a nice colour quite by coincidence. I had an idea of how to paint it that didn't work out the way I expected (fire is even harder to paint than I thought), and this was the result. Actually I like it, even if it lacks definition - I think it adds a nice bit of detail to the unit.

The transfers are the best yet, but still not perfect. I tried a new technique to apply them: after the models were varnished (to protect the paint) I washed white spirit over the shoulder then applied the transfer in the normal way (before the spirit evaporated of course) then washed more spirit on top. This softens the transfer so it sits better. After it's dry I apply another layer of varnish over the shoulder. You probably can't tell in these photos, but one model's transfer looks worse than the other three - that one I used microsol instead of spirit, and it didn't work as well.

I have four more models to paint for this unit, hopefully these guys won't take as long. After that I'll decide what to do about the bases. In all honesty, I will probably paint a couple of other figures first - I have a number of conversion projects in progress, though they are proceeding at, well, let's call it a 'relaxed' pace.

Abject Failure

I finally decided to try painting one of my Grey Knight models. Not, however, as a Grey Knight. The chaplain took a lot of effort, and I wanted to paint something quick and easy instead of another big project, so I decided to try painting a Ghost Knight. Mordrak and his Ghost Knights are probably my favorite fluff and special rule from the new codex (which, to be honest, is not saying much, but I'll leave that topic for later), so I figured why not start there.

Based on an idea I had for painting Legion of the Damned, I wanted to use glow-in-the-dark paints. I picked these up a while back with the intention of using them on the aforementioned Legion, but never got around to it. So this was an experiment in using those paints, and on achieving an "otherworldly" effect.

The basic idea was instead of the usual method of painted recesses darker and protruding areas lighter to achieve a natural lit effect, to paint recesses in white and higher surfaces darker, to make the model look as if it was lit internally and not reacting to actual lighting. Kind of like the ghosts in Ghost Busters, in a way. I planned to do this by painting a white basecoat of glowing paint then drybrushing it in blue.

The results were terrible. This was partly because of the paint not doing what I expected: it turns out that the paint dries clear, not white. So the metallic primer (I chose metallic with the assumption that it would help reflect the light outwards - that and I don't have any white primer right now) was not actually covered well, and I didn't get the basic colours I wanted. also, the glow effect was very weak and patchy (there are glowing particles in the paint, so a single coat does not give a smooth glowing effect, rather there are spots where it glows). So I had to apply a large number of coats of paint. But I was impatient and the paint took longer than normal model paints to dry, so I applied it too thickly (since it was clear a thin coat was barely visible to the eye so there was a strong temptation to load the brush and place a lot in each stroke, which I succumbed to). And the paint flowed very freely, so it ended up all pooling in recesses. This all made me even less patient and I gave up on having a nice model, so I just threw the paint on to see how thick it needed to be to glow nicely.

The result was that the model lost all detail and still looked metallic, albeit metal covered with something translucent. Then I rushed the drybrush and, because of the complete lack of detail, the drybrush looked terrible and covered too much. So I tried a white "wash"; white paint with a lot of water to fill the recesses (I mixed in some of the glowing paint figuring it couldn't hurt). That just made things worse. The final result? Complete abject failure.


As you can see it looks awful in the light. It doesn't look bad in the dark once it's had a good charge, but it's still not smooth and it takes a LOT of paint to get a reasonably bright glow. Here's a closer look so you can see the spotty glowing effect:



It's possible that those spots are partly due to the watered-down wash I painted over the drybrush, but I don't really think so - every time I checked it it looked spotty. Still, a lot of the problems are down to me not being familiar with the paint and rushing it's application. Actually, it's possible that my choice of model is not suitable either: Grey Knights have a lot of fine detail and different materials, the combination of flowing paper and detailed engraving means it's hard to tell what's happening without the colours. Perhaps a simpler model would be more suitable.

I plan to strip the paint from this model and try again. This time I will mix the glowing paint with white and apply it in very very thin layers, and stop when the white looks good instead of when it glows well. I'm thinking of either painting straight on the model (best done with plastic) as the glowing paint didn't stick to the primer very well. Actually, I suspect this metallic primer might not be very good for painting on as I noticed a little trouble with the Chaplain as well, although the problem seems to be much worse with this glowing paint than with my Citadel paints. Perhaps a wash and/or drybrush applied first might help.

Another thing to try would be to paint the model normally and then paint a few thin layers of glowing paint on top. Thus the model would look normal in the light and glow a little in the dark. Not the quick easy paint job I had in mind, and won't look as good under UV lights, but if I can get a reasonably strong glow it will still be kind of fun.


I also have some glow-in-the-dark clay, the problem is that it needs to be baked hard. I plan to use it for bases and perhaps eyes and blades, other bits of detail etc. However I don't have an oven right now so I can't bake it. I tried mixing it with greenstuff and milliput, but it the mixtures don't harden properly and don't glow brightly, so that's out. When I get an oven I'll come back to it.

Chaplain... of DOOM!

This is actually quite a milestone for me: this is the first model I've painted that I actually LIKE. I don't mean the results of my paint job, I mean the base model itself. Sounds stupid huh? The thing is, I like the 40K world and the space marine fluff, but I just don't like the standard space-marine models. They are supposed to be superhuman futuristic knights-templar, but they look like Star-Wars storm troopers with over-sized shoulders and poorly-designed backpacks. I can live with the shoulders (they are over-sized to allow room for painting detailed insignia and the like anyway), and the backpacks and helmets work for me on the heavy weapons crews, but overall the standard marine model doesn't really appeal to me.

So why did I paint so many? Why have I spent so long painting models I don't really like? Well, it seems I'm conservative by nature - I wanted to improve my skills before I painted the models I DO like - the Grey Knights, the Emperor's Champion... the Chaplain in Terminator Armor.

So I finally decided that it was high time to really start. My painting is not where I want it but I think it's adequate and I just don't have the time to invest in getting much better. Most inportantly I can't be bothered to paint any more models that I don't really care about, so from now on I'm going to concentrate on the ones I do. If I screw up, I'll just strip the paint and start again.

So here we are, my Chaplain in Terminator Armor:







He has a combi-melta/stormbolter (the melta barrel is magnetized but it presses too tightly against the barrels, some varnish and paint was scraped off the first time I took it off, so I'm leaving it on for now). The chaplain in terminator armor is the only model who I think justifies a combi-weapon since it only costs 5 points instead of the usual over-priced 15 (yes, you lose out on one bolter shot at 12-24" range - a small price to pay), and also I wanted his gun to look scary. I didn't want to remove the existing one, which has a fantastic ammo belt (and also a regular bolter would have looked tiny in his hands), and I hate the "stick a melta barrel over one of the holes in the storm bolter barrel", which I think is hideous. Instead I added a melta-pack from the space marine devastator kit to the back, replaced the existing barrels with a longer pair to balance the melta barrel length (and also to move them up - the old ones were much lower leaving very little room for the melta barrel). I also had to build up the front with greenstuff, which came out a little messy.

I left out the iron halo and weird thingies he came with, and I also replaced the hideously-unbalanced mace - the only bits of the original model I don't like. I actually wanted the mace used by the inquisitor model in terminator armor (the one with the gun over his shoulder) displayed in the old Deamonhunter's codex, but I have no idea where that is from so I settled for this Chaos Knight one instead.

Also note the right shoulder. Last time I forgot to point out the symbol of my chapter, the Sentinels Eternal, painted in freehand on the Scout's shoulder: an empty hourglass on a shield. OK, it's not obvious that the hourglass is empty, but it's the best I could do. Anyway, this chaplain is the second model to carry the symbol and this time it's not just painted on. I printed out a shield and hourglass, stuck them to a sheet of plasticard, cut them out as best as my clumsy mitts could manage, stuck them together and used them to make a mold. Then I cast a greenstuff shield in the mold and took it out while it was a little soft (luckily I had just got some instant mold, which does not stick to greenstuff so you can get it out while soft without damaging it), and curled it onto the shoulder.

The main body was painted metallic (Army Painter metal primer - I don't have time anymore and why risk losing details with more coats of paint?), then a layer of heavily watered down black with clear washing up liquid was painted over to get a very black metallic look. I wasn't really happy with how this turned out, I think just mixing black and boltgun would work better (in fact that's what I used for cleaning up after I made some mistakes later and it blended in quite well). The brass turned out a little dark but I figured that fit. I deliberately made the parchment very dark to differentiate it from the skull, which I wanted to stand out and be a focal point for the model. To that end I brushed it with plenty of skull white to get a really pale bone, which contrasts well with the black armor. I painted the eyes as black lenses so they would give the impression of an actual hollow skull, rather than the glowing red I believe the model on the GW site uses.

Unfortunately the model itself showed some problems, I suspect the GW mold is old at this point and has lost some detail. I had to do some cleanup work, especially on the left shoulder, including adding a stud (I forget where I read about this, but someone once suggested using the things in water filter cartridges, which worked quite well - there's a range of sizes so you can find one that fits it well with the ones around it) and trying to file some detail back in to the skull and crossbones. Shame, but I don't think it's too noticeable.




I'm happy with the model overall: black armor, white skull helm, big gun and a heavy blunt weapon - not someone you'd want to run in to in an alleyway late at night. The black is less metallic than I had hoped, the mace lacks depth, and the edge highlighting is a little cruder than I would like. On the other hand I'm proud of the gun and the gems look pretty good (might have to give them another layer of 'ardcoat though), the paper doesn't look too bad and the skull really pops out. So yeah, he'll do.


And yes, I know everyone is into Grey Knights right now. No, I don't like their new codex very much, but I still have the old metal models I bought a year and a half ago sitting around, and I still think they look great, so I'll probably be starting on some of them before too long. Might try to finish my scouts or crimson fists first though, we'll see.

Scout model

I haven't written for a long time; I've been too busy and didn't have anything to write about. However, I recently finished a scout sniper; the first model in my own chapter: the Sentinels Eternal. The colour scheme I'm planning is blue and black, with scouts having a darker palette than the normal battle brothers. This scout is a test model but is very close to how the final models will hopefully look.



Crappy photos due to several camera trouble. Nothing special going on here, paint-wise. The metal detail is Tin Bitz drybrushed with Dwarf Bronze, which created a dark copper look that I'm very happy with. The cloak is just a green base with two green sets of spots and another in Bleached Bone, drybrushed with camo green then washed several times with Devlan Mud and Badab Black. I wanted an olive-green color, but the washes overpowered the spots. I'm still looking for a better way to do it that doesn't require layering or blending (I don't have the time or energy). The skin ended up looked too pale due to a bleached bone drybrush, which looks especially bad due to very dark shading (it's actually not as bad as it looks in these photos, which came out too bright - the blue is actually also a lot darker than the photos make it out). I also threw some grass on the base just because the built-in rock under his foot looks silly without it. I may or may not use grass for the final models.

"In Your Face" Astartes army

I just had an idea for a Space Marines army list. I need to check the Infiltrate / Scout rules to see if this makes sense or can be improved, but the first version goes something like this:

HQ:
Shrike (195)

Troops:
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)

Elites:
8 Assault Terminators (320)

Fast Attack:
10 Scout Bikes (210)
10 Scout Bikes (210)
10 Scout Bikes (210)

Total: 1985 pts


The important thing is that Shrike gives everyone Fleet, and everyone has Infiltrate- this means they can start the game anywhere that is 18" away from the nearest enemy unit, and have an 18" assault range - just enough to touch the nearest enemy units, who then have to pile into them.

That guarantees that your entire army will be in their face on the first turn, barring terrain slowing you down (luckily scouts have Move Through Cover, and I think bikers are not slowed by difficult terrain, the Terminators might not make it but Shrike can split off to ensure that he at least can reach the enemy). If you get first turn, that's pretty devastating - 186 attacks from the scouts, 63 from the bikers, 32 from the termies (assuming claws for the sake of argument) and 5 from Shrike himself, for a total of 286 attacks on the first turn!

Obviously this is just an example, you would really want to trade a unit of Bikers or two for some melta and power fists, which would probably be a good idea since in real life there would be no-way to actually get all your units in close combat right away, but it's still fun to consider.


If you want a more interesting and slightly less spammy list, try this:

HQ:
Shrike (195)

Troops:
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)

Elites:
10 Sternguard Veterans - Drop Pod (285)
10 Sternguard Veterans - Drop Pod (285)
10 Sternguard Veterans - Drop Pod (285)

Fast Attack:
10 Assault Marines (190)
5 Assault Marines - Drop Pod (100)
5 Assault Marines - Drop Pod (100)

Total: 2000 pts

This time we drop the scout bikers and a couple of units of scouts for some Sternguard Veterans in drop pods - the 5-man assault squads give us super-cheap drop pods so we can drop the three Veteran squads in the first turn. That gives us close-up AP3 firepower to back up our (reduced) assault teams. Again, we will probably need to trade for some heavier firepower though.

The point is there's a lot of room for variety while sticking to the basic formula of putting everything in their face in the first turn. For example, first time I wrote the list I had a Librarian with Gate of Infinity instead of the drop pod to carry the third Sternguard unit forward. You can trade the 10-man assault marine squad for assault Terminators or Vanguard Veterans (with or without jump-packs), who obviously get an extra attack and all the wargear you can afford. Or you can trade one or both Veteran squads for a Dreadnought or two in drop-pods (if you can tie up all their anti-tank with your assault units then this is safer, or use smoke and/or cover when they land and assault in following turns), or for Heroic Intervention Vanguard Veterans (while they can assault enemies that your infiltrators may not be able to reach, you cannot predict which turn they will arrive in and deep strike scatter can hurt them). It might be a good idea to trade the small Assault squads for a Tac squad in a drop pod, to better hold objectives.


You know what? Let's try one more time, this time we'll try for a less spammy list than the first but more powerful than the second:

HQ:
Shrike (195)

Troops:
10 Scouts - Telion, Heavy Bolter, 3 Sniper Rifles, 5 CC weapons (200)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)
10 Scouts - CC weapons (140)

Elites:
10 Assault Terminators (400)
Dreadnought - Drop Pod (140)

Fast Attack:
Land Speeder Storm - MultiMelta (75)
Land Speeder Storm - MultiMelta (75)
Land Speeder Storm - MultiMelta (75)

Total: 1860 pts

This time we use Land Speeders to give us a bit more range (by my calculations a scout unit assaulting from a Land Speeder Storm has a 24" assault range, or they can shoot and still assault 18") and some multi-melta firepower. Telion splits off in a 5-man group and snipes special models while sitting on an objective. The Dreadnought is vulnerable but still provides target saturation on the first turn and should put at least one melta attack into the back of a tank before he goes down. And we still have 140 points left, enough for some power fists or a small tac unit to hold objectives or a small Devastator squad with missile launchers or multi-meltas. Upgrading to a Furioso may be a better bet too thanks to it's better armor.


Let me stress that I'm only writing these lists for fun, I wouldn't actually build it - I like variety in my models, and I plan to build an army with as little duplication as possible. Still, it's fun to see what you can do with a codex.

New job

I just finished my first week at my new job at a SFX company in London. There's a lot to learn - I see it as a balancing act between reading and working, at least at first. Having said that I have yet to actually get to work, I'm still just starting to figure out how they do things here. It seems like a nice company though, surprisingly organized and they seem to treat their employees quite well. I do hope to fit in and prove useful.

I am quite busy with both the change in location and in profession (I mainly worked with games before), living out of a suitcase right now and trying to pick up a half-dozen new skills, so I don't think I'll be working on my engine for some time, though I do hope to do a little miniature painting.

Speaking of, I finally got the chance to step in to a Games Workshop yesterday. It's been months since the last time. Saw the Storm Raven, the front is kind of cool, very aggressive in a military, form-over-function kind of way - it really is a flying tank - but the tiny back just unbalances the whole damn thing. If I was ever to get one for my Grey Knights - not that I'm planning to - I would have to do something to make it a little more balanced.

But more importantly, I took a brief glance at the Space Wolves codex. Grey Hunters cost a point less than regular Space Marines but have an extra attack and the (very useful) counter-attack rule? What the hell? That's just disgusting. Downright obscene in fact. This blatant example of power-creep presents me with a conundrum. Do I play with the Space Wolves codex and take advantage of how powerful it is, or stick with the regular Space Marine codex in protest of this unbalanced filth (which, I reckon, is tailor-made for min/maxed WAAC armies)? A big part of me dislikes the idea of paying more for less with regular Space Marines, but the other part hates jumping on the 'latest and greatest' bandwagon and is annoyed at the first part for being so weak.

The other thing is that Space Wolves have some units that I really like, especially the greater versatility in Terminator use and equipment. At the same time I'm thinking of looking at Blood Angels, who also have some cool stuff. Regardless of what I decide to 'major in', I plan to get all the codices and buy/convert/paint any specific models that I like regardless of whether I actually use them or not, that's what I enjoy after all. I'll probably end up with one of those 'counts as' Space Marine armies in the end, and play them as different things on different days. Why the hell not right? Variety is the spice of life after all.

Also waiting on the Grey Knights. I can honestly say that the Grey Knights were a big part of what got me to finally take the jump into Warhammer 40K, they were always my favorite models and the Grey Knight books are still my favorite Games Workshop novels - each one is better than the last (bear in mind though that I certainly haven't read all the Black Library novels, still not started the Horus Heresy for example).

To wrap things up, there's a lot of changes in my life right now, sometimes I feel homesick but I'm trying to keep busy - I do have a lot to do after all - and I'm hoping for the best.

Idea for in-line kill-cam

I was playing Black-Ops at a friends house, the fact that you can play split-screen online makes it fun again - I might have to buy it just for that. Anyway, I died many times without any warning, which is a bit annoying. Of course it's fun when you insta-kill another player, which is why it's possible, but when you just fall over dead and you're not sure why (until you see the replay of how you died, if it's enabled), it can be annoying.

Then I had an idea. In some one-player games, when you kill an AI enemy in a dramatic way (e.g. a headshot with a sniper rifle), you get a slow-motion view of the kill from a more dramatic angle. As a repeatable example, in Stranglehold there is a special ability (I forget the name) where you take a single shot and, if it hits, you get to see the hit in slow motion from a better angle. So why not do that in an online game like Black Ops?

Let me clarify. In Modern Warfare and Black Ops, after you get killed you see a replay from your killer's point of view. My suggestion is; instead of waiting until after the player dies and falls to the ground, as soon as the player is officially "dead": stop, zoom the camera out a little to show the player, and in slow motion show them dying. If the get hit by a sniper bullet you will see the blood fly (and perhaps the bullet hit), if they trigger a claymore you can jump to an angle from above the player that shows the claymore, then show it explode and the player fall.

It won't work well for everything (so it can be applied selectively), but for some instant deaths (like the claymore or long-range sniper kill previously mentioned, which are not immediately comprehendable at the moment of death), it can avoid the momentary "how did I just die?" frustration while looking pretty cool. And there's room for a little cheating too. For example, if you do get killed by a sniper, the game can actually go back in time a little and follow the track of the bullet (camera exits the player's body, flies down to focus on the sniper, shows the shot, follows the bullet from behind on it's flight until it hits the player and we see them fall in slow motion) - basically the player himself is shown only in the frame he died in while the sniper can be shown only in the frame he took the shot, even if the two are actually a few frames apart, it won't look wrong because the bullet is supposed to be that fast. Whether or not that would look wrong for, say, a grenade-launcher kill I'm not sure, but it's probably worth a try right?

It won't impact the gameplay since the player is already dead and has lost control for a moment when it happens anyway, if the spawn time is shorter than the view time the player may be given the option to just skip it and get right back to the killing. Since these games save enough information to show the replay anyway, it shouldn't be technically hard to do, and of course it can be disabled by the player just like the current kill-cam. The player can view either the regular after-kill view or this in-line kill-cam view depending on the type of death.

Well, it's an idea. I wouldn't be surprised to see it done soon, the way slo-motion is being used these days - or perhaps it's already been used and I just haven't seen it?