Drybrushing: not to be overlooked.

Once again, going against conventional wisdom will usually give you better results then following blindly.

"They" will tell you that dry brushing is for beginners, and "real" painters will always blend. 

Sure, if you don't mind taking 18 months to paint your army. 

Getting a good blend and highlight can be done with drybrushing, plus it is super quick and easy.  To do it right, however, does take practice and patience.  Once you master it, though, the results are great.

I've decided NOT to spend forever blending and/or highlighting my Space Wolves. I've decided to go the drybrush route. I've never really done much of it, pretty much only for terrain, bases and the occasional slugga.

Getting shadows and highlights with drybrushing requires similar approach as blending, getting the high areas or even using zenith highlighting.  This is all stuff I'm working on, but since I've only done 2 guys so far I'm still very happy with the results I've had.

The other trick to effective drybrushing is masking.  Here are some picks of me doing the chest and belt buckle gold on my first Grey Hunter:

Here is the masking. I based the gold areas with Balthasar Gold and then washed withNuln Oil. Masking tape is Tamia tape and poster tack takes care of the details.  The masking took less then 5 minutes.

And after the drybrushing is complete. Started with a drybrush of Balthasar Gold, followed by Auric Armor Gold, followed by Golden Griffon (the dry paint).  I washed with sepia, then re-highlighted with Golden Griffon.

Here he is once the masking is removed.  Perfect job, good depth and highlights. Maybe too much Golden Griffon, but still very happy with it.

I should note this was the first time I've tried the GW dry paints..and omg they are awesome.   So much pigment that controlling it is a bit difficult but what I've tried so far (the metallics) are just fantastic.

So that's it for now.  More Space Wolves to come, as well as my OFCC display board.

Brief 40k OFCC afterthoughts and the last game of 5th edition, ever..

I had a good time at OFCC this year.   I ended up 4-1 and the team ended up dead middle.

Just some quick notes on how my list worked and some observations.

1. Every game but 1 I put the 10-man assault squad in the stormraven. I never put the SG in it, though I think I should have.
2. An empty rhino is incredibly useful. I used it for mobile cover, for blocking transport advancement, as a unit to score points in the opponent's deployment zone and (baring a failed terrain test) for last second objective contesting.
3. Empty rhinos are ignored.  Completely.
4. Dante is awesome. I love hit and run.
5. I still hate attack bikes.  They only miss when it really matters.  They are good for bullet magnets.
6. Blood Angels are fast. Really fast. I was able to get around the board so fast every time. Against MC heavy 'nids I was able to move and shoot over and over, stay far enough away and then go in for the kill at the end.  I was able to drop in one side, kill a threat, then jump/flat out my way across the board with little effort.
7. I got lucky several times.  From Dante making 7 invulnerable saves against fists to getting a single hit on a trygon prime with the libby and killing it with the force weapon.   Better lucky then good!
8. I rarely had the tools I needed to deal with something.  Twice I had to face a 40+ marines, and I just don't have the bodies to deal with that. If not for luck (see #7) I should have lost 2 of those games.
9. It is possible to make a really, really bad GK list. I've seen it.

This was the largest OFCC ever, and the largest even put on by Ordo Fanaticus.  Both of these will probably be broken next year.

My very last game of 5th ever will always give me a sad face. First, I made a couple of key mistakes, but even with that I was starting to crawl my way back into the game.  Then the dice really took a dump on me. Even though at the end of the game I still had the chance to fight for a tie, but the dice thought otherwise.  In the last turn I hit with the multi-melta on the SR, only to roll 1&2 for armor pen.  Then later that turn I lost a combat by 2, only needing a 7 and roll boxcars. Sigh.

Even as we were cleaning up I was starting to think about next year, both OFCC and my planned trip to the bay area open.  But that's a discussion for another post..

OFCC 40k, two day tournament.. can't sleep!

So one of the biggest tips anyone can give when playing in a tournament is get sleep!  Normally I stay up pretty late (as I don't have to be to work until 11am) so trying to get to bed early didn't work.

I do have lots of water to pack, ice, food, etc.  Just no sleep lol. 

If you have not heard of OFCC before, it stands for Ordo Fanaticus Club Challenge (Ordo is the gaming club) and is heavily comped, sports and painting-centric event.  In fact "tournament" isn't entirely accurate. Ya there are prizes for winning games, but that isn't the focus.

This event has been in planning for months, and the lists were submitted long ago so it's going to be a 5th edition event.  It will be very hard to go back to the old rules, even just a month into 6th..

I had to make what I consider a pretty bad list. I got it rated 2 out of 3, with bordering on a 1.

The one thing the list does allow is a great variety of deployment options.

HQ: Dante
HQ: Librarian, shield and unleash rage

Troop: Sanguinary Guard, 1x Fist, 1x pistol
Troop: 10 Assault marines, 2x melta, fist
Troop: 10 Assault marines, 2x flamer, power weapon, meltabomb, rhino w/sl
Troop: 5 Assault marines, melta, power weapon, las-plas razorback w/sl

Elite: Sanguinary high priest, power weapon, jump pack

Fast: 2x MM attack bikes
Fast: Baal Pred, HB sl

Heavy: 5x Devastators, 4x ML
Heavy: Pred, LC sl
Heavy: Stormraven, MM

The primary deployment is I'll be dropping Dante with the full squad of 10 guys and the priest.  The SG will ride in the SR maybe with the librarian, maybe put him in the razorback.

Another option I'm considering is putting the 10-man squad in the SR instead of their rhino, then either with the priest or libby. I'll do this against a heavy shooty army like IG and drop the SG with DoA.  This is the all-reserve deployment.

Against armies without too many power weapons or ap1/2 I'll drop the SQ with Dante instead.

I don't have any real answer for units of 10 TH/SS termies, or for grey knight anything in general. Hopefully I won't have to play too much of that kind of stuff.

Hobby update

Hobby stuff is kinda slow right now. After so much effort to get ready for OFCC fantasy it's nice just to leisurely decide what to work on.

I had 19 Orcs and Goblins models left to paint, and I've been kinda working on them. The 5 Night Goblins archers are done (need varnish and flock) and I'm working on the goblin shaman. It's from the Arachnarok kit. After these I have 10 more Boys with HW/Shield, a warboss on boar, a spider rider musician and Grimgor.  I wouldn't mind busting out these guys just to get them done, but no hurry what so ever!

In the next couple days I need to get started on the final highlights on my Stormraven for OFCC 40k which is first weekend in August.

I also assembled the Venom I'm donating for Toys for Tots this year. I wanted to do more but money is so tight right now.  Did I mention I accept commissions? :)  This will probably be my August challenge model.  Should be fun, doing something I've not done before.

I have so much to do, but I've been busy the last week doing almost nothing hobby-wise. And enjoying it. I finally got around to working on my computer, putting in a new CPU (well, new to me) and installing Vista so I can fully utilize my DX10 card (I told you, I'm poor!).  It's great being able to play games again, with no DX9 resource crashes.  Man, I love Vista. My favorite o/s ever.

If you play Need for Speed World look me up,  Sorien in-game.

Off to OFCC!

After a  year of work, I am out the door to Fantasy OFCC.

Pics of my army and display board.  Laters!

Ding dong done!!! Orcs and Goblins army complete!

As of 4:11 am June 17, 2011 I have finished my 2800 Orcs and Goblins army for OFCC 2012.  It has been over a  year of solid work to get here including twice having painted over 50 models in a single calender month.

As a reminder here is the video that started my O&G build on June 1, 2011



Here is a pic I just took of my last unit, the glue for the flock is still wet here:

Keep in mind this is a heavily comp'ed tournament which is all about modeling and fun more then winning.  I have been told I have one of the weakest lists at the event, getting 1-2 out of a possible 6 on the power scale.  Which is fine, that means I won't be seeing any 9 Mournfang/dual cannon Ogre lists or anything like that.

I have a great idea for a quick and easy display base, plus finishing the snowshoe template. I was going to make a diorama-like display base but now I have an idea I'm going to run with that requires only a display base instead. will be much easier.

I have this Friday off so I expect everything to be done before then and I will make videos and stuff talking about my army then. 

After this monumental task (as far as I'm concerned), the question is what's next?  Stay tuned...

The Snowshoe of Gork

Last week while I was getting my face pounded by dwarfs, I was commenting I need to make a Foot of Gork template before OFCC.

My opponent suggested I make a snowshoe, you know, cause it fits with the theme.

I was like "damn it, don't do that now I'm going to have to make it!!"  and tonight I did. Sure it wasn't my idea but it was my execution including watching videos on snowshoe stringing. The knots used are authentic!

I tried to get some square balsa wet enough to bend but I don't think I could have done that in time, so I went with plastic. I'll have to do a faux wood paint job.

I also plan on altering the spell card to say snowshoe and then set it and the template on a small stand next to my army.

This weekend is going to be awesome weather, so after Pokemon with the kids, washing and some buffing of the car I'll start my display board. It's going to be a lot simpler then I wanted, but time is short..

There is no such thing as a break - Terminator Captain WiP

Spent most of today doing  housework, then went out to my WHFB game night and got my weekly ass beating this time at the hands of Dwarfs.  How long does an Arachnarok last to a cannon? 2 turns.  Always.  I did a lot of damage to each unit (only a few guys left in each), but just could not finish anything off.  I only completely killed 1 thing the entire game..when my chariot killed off the cannon. His volley gun blew itself up. Those were the *only* victory points I had. What did I have left?  The Rock lobber, a doom diver and 4 black orcs.  460pts out of 2800. 

In both of the last 2 games, my HW/Shield boys have turned out to be fairly resilient.  That stubborn with the general/bsb nearby is actually pretty good.  I need to figure out how to properly support this unit either with the chariots, NG spearmen or the spider.  I think if I can figure out how to play around that strength I'll do a lot better.

At least I'll have one of the weakest lists at OFCC so I probably won't be playing any VC, Ogres or skaven at all.

So anyway after coming home and getting some sleep I decided to work on the Captain a bit.  Finished the head, and I'm very happy with it.  It really won't take long to finish.

Icy Orcs: Not quite done but close enough..

Finished the shields and got them attached. Then did the re-arranging of the models into the new formation.

Very happy with how things are now. I am actually done enough where I don't have to do any more at all. I will probably do the skin on the guys around the edges, then do the varnish and flock.

For now though I'm gonna push out the terminator captain, then try to get a display board done.

Boys command group (OOP)

Didn't slow down much after the Night Goblins were done. Hopped right into the boys.

The command bits are some OOP metal ones I got from an Ebay Auction. Really helps make this unit different then the other one I have with the new plastic bits.

Base color is Vallejo extra opaque heavy brown.  Fuck, I hate this paint! I used it on the interior of the Stormraven as well and it's a bitch to work with. It starts to separate the instant you're done mixing.  But the color is great, just like the old Khemri brown.

Shields will be done at the end, all in one huge batch.

I'm skipping many steps on these guys for now, if I get them all done in time I'll go back over and add layers/highlights.

40 Night Goblins in 9 days!

Not quite done yet, they still need varnish and flock, but the painting is done. More pics and video when totally complete.

Here is what I did to each one:

Cloak:
Base Liche purple, badab black wash, layers of liche purple, hormagaunt purple and a glaze of purple wash

Skin:
Base Ice Blue, blue wash, layers of ice blue, space wolves blue and white

Shields/speartips:
Base boltgun, bad moon in iyunden darksun, devlan mud wash, chainmail highlight, splash of Model Air rust

Other bits include just a base/wash/highlight on the spear shaft, belt and shoes.

very happy with how fast these guys were to paint, I wasn't planning on finishing them until the end of the month so I am way ahead of schedule now.

Time to crank out some boys!

Final OFCC Fantasy 2800pt list

I had to turn in my list for OFCC fantasy today, and after a few tweaks this is it.

I dropped 10 HW/Shield boys for a troll and a 3rd fanatic. Also means 10 fewer models to paint so that will save me several days.  I was going to run that unit as a horde, but now I'll go 5x7 tarpit.

The army idea is the same as before, using manglers, magic, warmachines and the spider to thin down things before the boys come in to clean up. sometimes it works, sometimes it does not..:)

Lords (413) 14.48%
1 Orc Warboss: Shield, Armor of Fortune, Gold Sigil Sword (168)
1 Night Goblin Great Shaman: Level 4, Talisman of Preservation, dispel scroll (245)

Hero (275) 9.64%
1 Black Orc Big Boss: BSB, Gambler's Armor, Sword of Battle, Ironcurse Icon (160)
1 Orc Shaman: level 2, talisman of Protection (115)

Core (1000) 35.05%
29 Orc Boys: extra hand weapon, big'uns, full command, Banner of Eternal Flame (360)
35 boys: shields, Musician, standard (265)
50 Night goblins: spears, musician, standard, 2x Fanatic, netters (265)
25 night goblins: bows, musician, fanatic (110)

Special (500) 17.53%
20 Black Orcs, full command, shields (295)
1 Orc Chariot (85)
1 Orc Chariot (85)
1 Troll (35)

Rare (665) 23.31%
1 Mangler Squig (65)
1 Mangler Squig (65)
1 Doom Diver (80)
1 Doom Diver (80)
1 Goblin Rock Lobber (85)
1 Arachnarok Spider (290)

 

Almost done with the night goblins..

Icy Arachnarok spider pics!

Lots of pics of my spider for your viewing pleasure while I continue to pound out Night Goblins.

Hey, I gots a photostream:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/da40korks/

Arachnarok Spider WiP #2; New GW paint line

Finished the howda and then decided to pin it to the spider. Turns out I made a mistake in assembly so I had to make some modifications to the spider.  Nothing that will ever be seen though so no biggie. I plan on mostly airbrushing the spider, which I can't always do, so I started on the base. lots of detail but nothing I have not done many times before. Won't take long to finish, then I will have all weekend to paint the spider. Might actually make it by the end of the month after all.

I'm completely ecstatic for Coelia Greenshade. It is a nice blue-green wash from the new shade line. before I had to mix my own blue-green wash from Thrakka green and Asurmen blue.  The blue has so much stronger pigments then the green that getting it right was a pain.  New shade color, no more mixing. thanks gw!

I also mixed the base ice color, which is 1:3 liche purple and scaly green (yes I know they dropped scaly green years ago, so I used a Vallejo equivalent) which makes the most amazing deep blue color.  Hopefully one of the new paints will be close enough where I don't have to mix that either.  I'll be checking out Sotek green and Thunderhawk blue to see if either of those will work. Not mixing, especially when airbrushing, will make me do the happy dance.

Lastly picked up Mourn Mountain Snow to try it on the basing for the O&G.   I like how it turns out, a lot.  It has a very slight blue tint.  Before I used a combination of flock layers and the white sand to get the look I wanted. Now I plan on just doing a layer of mourn followed by a quick flock. Time saver!!!

So anyway I need to make an update video.  Maybe tomorrow.

Arachnarok Spider WiP #1

Almost as soon as I put the Stormraven in the box, I grabbed the Spider and started cranking on it.  Started with the crew, which are now down plus starting on the howda.

Right now I'm stuck on how I want to handle the spiderwebs. I'm thinking a white base with a blue-green wash and then a drybrush. Not sure yet.  Howda will be simple but time consuming, lots of little detail on it.

I also took a really good look at the base for the first time. It also has a lot of detail that will be infuriatingly slow...

Too busy painting to blog..

..or make videos.

Seriously, I have so much to do it's not even close to funny. I need to finish my spider and 100 infantry by June 25th. It's not going to be fun.  Plus I have other stuff to do along the way. Sigh.  Right now I'm almost done with the crew for the spider, then I'll do the howda and finally grab the airbrush for the spider itself.  Plus I have a 1500pt fantasy tourney on Sunday..

For next months freebootaz challenge I wanted something quick and simple, and one thing I've wanted for my Blood Angels is a regular foot power armor chaplain to join the death company. I was going to buy one but decided to raid my bits box instead. Used the metal veteran body I bought just to get the right hand lightning claw.

I still have 3 terminator bodies on sprue, so I want to build and paint up a terminator captain with dual lightning claws.  That will be my June challenge.

Oh, plus the spring contest model..YIKES!  Oh and doing part 2 of my tactics post..and working on my fandex..

WTF is wrong with me?!?!?!

Sometimes it's better to be lucky...

So I went 4-0-1 over the weekend.

I wish I could credit some sort of tactical genius but no, I have to admit I got lucky at least once in every game.

Game 1: Failed morale test on Dante's unit after coming in. Rolled an 8 on 3d6 and barely stayed on the table.
Game 2: opponent failed 1 warpquake, which gave me the much needed opening to drop in my guys.
Game 3: In my fist turn of shooting, I blew up his vindicator, immobilized and took the cannon off his defiler, and immobilized the land raider with Abadon in it.
Game 4: In one turn of shooting, I took out 2 chimeras, the vendetta, one of the devildogs and took the cannon off the 2nd. In retaliation a manticore scored a penetrating hit on all my tanks, and I made all but one shield of sanguinius save.
Game 5: Not only blowing up a land raider with an assault cannon, but a couple times his vindicator was just out of range on key shots.

One very interesting note:

-Out of 5 games of at least 5 turns each, with 3 assault squads with meltaguns in razorbacks, I fired the meltaguns exactly 6 times.

OFCC 2011 all done!

Took me a day to recuperate but 40k OFCC 2011 is done!

It was a great event, run very well. Thank you Jeremy!

Videos are coming.  I have the 2nd day bat reps to post, but that is it.

First video in the series:


Enjoy!

OFCC day one in the bag!

Went 2-0-1, team went 7-3-2.  Not bad.

One of the paint judges told me my army was in the top 5 at the event, which really made me happy.

Video soon, had a lot of brainfarts with the recording.

Finding myself disillusioned by Stormravens..

I *love* the Stormraven model, unlike most people I guess.  However the more I play it, the more I realize just how fragile it really is. It's a big investment in and of itself, not including the passengers. I was planning on taking 2 of them to OFCC, and I might still but I need to play it some to see if 2 is really better then 1.

But in the meantime I've come up with a new 2k list, which is quite a bit different. No stormravens, no termies, no dreads at all!  Just lots of long-range and medium range shooting.

HQ: Captain, jump pack, dual lightning claws, meltabombs

HQ: Mephiston

Troops: 10 Assault Marines, 2x melta, fist

Troops (x3): 5 Assault Marines, power weapon, metla; Razorback, searchlight, Las-Plas

Elite: 2 Sanguinary High Priests, one with jump pack, both with power weapons

Fast (x2): Baal; Heavy bolters

Fast: 2 Attack Bikes, MM

Heavy: Predator; LC sponsoons, searchlight

Heavy: Devastators; 4x ML

1999pts

This provides me a nice firebase with 3 lascannons, 1 predator and 4 ML all under shield and FNP.  FNP devastators are actually quite hard to dislodge from cover, especially if the roll for red thirst. They stand up to Venoms quite nicely.  The Baals are serious anti-infantry firepower, and take the place of Blood Talon dreads.  The jump pack squad can come in almost anywhere with DoA with 12 FNP Marines and cause a whole lot of trouble or at least cause all guns to turn around away from my firebase.

I think it is a lot more effective then the dual flyer list.  I will be playtesting a lot over the next 2 months. We'll see..