First batch of Chosen done

Luckily, I was able to squeeze in a little painting this week before my trip and got these dudes wrapped up.  I wanted them to fit in with my other CSMs but make em a little more showy so that they could be identified as Chosen.  I am looking to get another group of 5 done but I am running low on melta guns.  I am thinking that each group of chosen needs 3 meltas.  Also this is the first time that I really used decals.  I am not 100% sold on em and I kind of felt cheapen by the experience but a couple of them turned out nice.

Chosen

Getting some Chosen melta dudes together today.  Converting some zerker CSMs and they are starting to look cool.  When you cut off the khorne helmet ornaments the head pieces great.  I am happy with the first one and have started in on the next 2.

Cthulhu makes me happy

Saw this today and it made me smile



Been pretty slammed with the new job and driving everywhere in the bay area so I havent had much chance to work on minis or play any games.  At least in a couple weeks I am going to get a chance to spend some time in Austin and hopefully I can check out the store the Bols dudes all play in.

Plague Marines batch done

Got the big batch done and can now ad in 8 more Plague Marines to my arsenal.  Now I just need a couple more rhinos and maybe some Meltas and I will be good to go for the tourney.  I feel like Rhinos are the bane of my existence but I need just a couple more to complete this army.

God made the desert to train the faithful

I rarely post personal things but today I am happy to post that I am back to full employment.  I might not be able to keep up with this blog now as much as I was but at least I got a budget for mini's again :).

Thanks to all my buds out there that gave me a ton of support throughout this long haul of unemployment.  The market is a bitch out there now and I can seriously sympathize with everyone out there who is still unemployed.  At least things seem to be turning around now and hopefully we are getting out of this mess.

Custom bases

After getting pooped on by Capt_Dees in the comments I decided to put a little more effort into my bases for the Plague Marines I am working on.

Using some crushed up rocks from the yard and some sand I think I got a pretty good effect:

They still need to be painted and such but I think they dont look too bad and the price is right :).

Plague Marines chugging along

I am almost done with my new batch of Plague Marines and am very happy with how they are coming along.  I kept with the Red Corsairs theme for the Plague Marines and I think it gives them a nice different look while keeping them in line with the rest of my CSMs.  Hopefully I will find a way to show them off at the next tourney.

1500 Tourney Coming up

I made a tactical decision to pass on the last tourney at Game Kastle so that I could spend some time with the kids, go to a bday party and give my wife a little morning break. So now I have earned enough good will to be able to play in the Feb 6 tourney coming up.

Once again the eternal debate begins to rage about whether or not to use Sisters or CSMs.

I think I could squeeze in another Immolator or another Exorcist into the list and I would really like to have another Battle Sisters Rhino as well for my girls. For CSMs I was looking at 3/ 7 man squads of vanilla CSMs, 2 Chosen 5 man squads in Rhinos with 2 meltas, and 3/2 Oblit squads, with 2 CSM sorcerers leading them.

I got some work to do in order to get together the lists and work on some models but I think I can get it all together. Hopefully this tourney will go well for me and I won't chunder in the brain this time.

Celestians done

I think I am done until I add in another Immolator. I also could get another Melta girl but in a way I am leaning towards have 1 melta/hvy flamer in with my Canonness retinue. Now I gotta go and start touching up my regular Battle Sisters. I think I will leave them Black so that there is a nice difference between Celestians and regular girls.

Brush battle

Recently I have been trying out a couple new brushes and deviated from my usual Raphael 8404 3/0. One is the Connoisseur 007 Kolinsky Round: I picked this one up at an Art Store in Santa Cruz because I thought it was on sale but it really wasn't. It cost me $18 and was a let down. The staff was nice at the store but got a little snooty when I asked for Raphael's and I had to endure comments like; "Do you want to spend that much on a brush you paint miniatures with?". It was rather annoying especially since you can get them at Dickblick for $8 and they told me they usually cost $24 for the one I wanted. So after I told one of the ladies who worked at the store not to touch my kid (it was rather creepy, this lady who worked there seemed nice but couldn't keep away from my 3 months old so I eventually told her to her back off). I felt bad and bought some brushes. To sum it up the brush sorta sucked. I am pretty tough on brushes but this one is burning out fast. It also doesn't hold or spread paint as nicely as the Raphaels which I found far superior. I was a wee bit bummed out cause I could of ordered 2 of them from DickBlick but at least I tried something new.

Last week I picked up a new Windsor and Newton Series 7 at Game Kastle to use up my Gift Card and I have been very happy with it. So far I have used it for about 8 minis and it is holding up really well. Its a very nice brush and for sure gives the Raphael's a run for their money. So far its held up a little better than my last batch of Raphael's but I was pretty harsh on those brushes. Overall its a great brush and I might have to order a batch of them once this one burns out.

So to sum up: I highly recommend both the Windsor&Newton Miniature brushes and the Raphael's. If you order them online you can save a ton of money and these brushes are really far superior to the GW and other mini company brushes. They have really helped me with detail and with great brushes painting really is way more enjoyable.

More rumors for Mr. Stickmonkey on Warseer

"Inquisition
* All inquisition units to get new models...eventually
* Codex: Inquisition to combine all orders of =I=
* GK being focused on for release, Sisters 2nd wave
* No allies, but indoctrinated units will include choices from other Imperial armies
* No faith points
* Lots of Psychic Nullification
* Lots of Ignore Invul
* Another flyer/transport kit Valkyrie-sized being planned for release
* GK models may see light of day early tied into another product release. (commentary: I hear rumors of a Space hulk expansion being planned, but they are vague and disorganized, so much salt needed here)
* Release window is not 2010 for C:I
* Imperial Assassin now a single unit, culdex, Caladeus, etc all gone. Unit will have numerous lethal options. Very Expensive."

From Warseer

One the plus side: New units, a combined codex (which I think will be cool), new models that could be rad, w00t a flyer. Psychic Nullifications and Invul save removers (which I would love).Maybe they will finally let Sisters get Incinerators.

On the negative side: No Faith Points :(: This makes me a little sad but if they just make them inherent abilities for certain units that could be ok. No 2010 release :(. Another year but in some ways thats ok since I am cash strapped now and would have a hard time justifying to the wife that I have to have this $60 flyer.

Overall this could be really cool. Some new diversity to Sisters would be pretty awesome since it seems that it has become an one list army. I would love to see PEs, Repentia's and Arco-flags become effective units. Hopefully something like this is in the works.

Started in on the new Plague Marines

For some reason I am ultra motivated on minis right now and have started to really get going on them. Got my new PMs all primed up and some base coated. It is always rough working with metal minis that come in pieces but after applying some Grey Stuff they are all good to go. I love the way GW does its Plague Marines and think that some of them are the best they have done.

Celestians almost done

Got another 5 wrapped up and this time 3 more melta girls. I now have a pretty good number of white painted girls to represent Celestians so now I just need to start cleaning up my regular sisters. I am also starting to eye my Exorcists because I sorta dorked the paint jobs on those.

Just started in on my group of Plague Marines and am hoping to have them all primed and flashed today. I was able to squeeze an extra one out of old bits and leftovers from the box so I have 8 to do instead of just 7.

Happy New Year and the new rumors

Happy New Year and for the first time in a long time some Inquisition rumors :0

"* New GK Terminators 3ups (5 poses, 1 HQ/leader)
* New Daemonhunter/Witchhunter concept art
* New DH/WH vehicles/support
* New Ork dreads
* New Marine models for a specific chapter
* New SM concept art
* New DE models (these are sweet, and I'm not a DE lover)
* New DE concept art
* New Guard tanks/artillery
* New Necron MC sized model
* New Necron concept art
* New Ork vehicles
* New 40k concept art and 3ups tied to a future Codex release
* A lot of the Missions book tie in releases"

From Stickymonkey on warseer

Very cool all around and could make for an exciting year for 40k if these are the plans. Inquisition with DE's and necrons could really bring a lot to the game. I am very curious about what new WH/DH vehicles could be coming out. Repressors would be nice for Sisters and some sort of Rhino/Chim transport for GKs but I cant think of much else. I hope it isn't a new Exorcist since I already have 3 and if it looks super kick-ass I will agonize over it. The only other possibility I could think of is some sort of Valkyrie or Vendetta transport that is specifically for the Inquisition. This would sorta bum me out since I would have to buy several but it could be awesome.

This should make 2010 an exciting year and I have high hopes for the new decade. Hopefully we all get full employment, the recession ends, Bin Laden gets his due and all our soldiers come home.