Indy 40K: Tutorial - Heralds of Ultramar

Indy 40K is at it again today. I've always heard that painting yellow is one of the harder things to do on a model. Let's just say he makes this look easy. The highlighting on the Aquila is very impressive. I can't wait for more of these to get done. Keep up the great work Wienas!

Dawn of War II Retribution Announced

I have to say the idea sounds really cool. I've loved the first two sets of this game and loved the Original DoW and it's expansions. For someone who's working on building his army, games like this can really help my creative process. Especially with the color pallets and army editors. Should be interesting to see the updates come out on this one over the next few months. I wonder if the Tau will be the new army?

BoLS posted the following release from THQ on Wednesday:

New multi-race expansion coming for the critically acclaimed RTS from Relic Entertainment

Taking place years after the events in Dawn of War II: Chaos RisingTM, this title allows players to choose their perspective with the first multiple-race single player campaign in the Dawn of War II series. The first race to be revealed is the savage Orks, but no matter which race is chosen players will be taken on an epic journey through each story arc, revealing the answers to many questions left open in previous Dawn of War titles.

As well as the single player campaign, RetributionTM will feature new multiplayer units, maps and an entire new playable faction when it ships.

Jeff Lydell, Producer of Dawn of War II - Retribution commented: “We all love the Blood Ravens here at Relic Entertainment, but there are also a lot of fans of the other races and armies out there so we decided that Retribution should allow the player the freedom to experience the campaign from the perspective they select.”

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution is scheduled to be released for Windows PC in the first quarter of 2011.

About Retribution
It is ten years since the events of Chaos Rising and Sub-Sector Aurelia has been in a constant state of warfare with the Imperium struggling to retain control. The apparent betrayal of the chapter by Gabriel Angelos and his Space Marines has shaken the Blood Ravens and now the Imperial forces are beset on all sides by hostile aliens. Retribution allows the player to select the race of their choosing in a battle to determine the very survival or destruction of the entire sector.

WeeMen: Land Raider Terminus 'Invictus'

The Land Raider Terminus 'Invictus' is brought to by the guys over at Weemen. They've really gone above and beyond to trick this baby out. It would be amazing for an Apocalypse battle. I stumbled upon this sight the other night and think their work is spot on. I hope the rest of you like it as much.

Indy 40K: Tutorial - Angels of Vengeance

Indy 40k is at it again. This time he's taken on the Angels of Vengeance. Quite a feat I might say. The highlighting of an all black model seems extremely difficult, but his shading is amazingly life like. Just another great job, which by now I've come to expect.  I can't wait for the next model.

Last Chance for Little Boy Blues Renaissance Marines - The Hogs of War - 40k Conversions and Tactics

I posted about the sale of this army a little while ago and it looks like it just sold on E-Bay for $3,750. In all honesty I think it was worth every penny.

For more details head over to The Hogs of War.

This is definitely an inspiration to get my butt painting and really work on my technique. It would probably take me years of painting to get this good, but it's a really worthy goal.

Indy 40K: Tutorial - Praetors of Orpheus

Project Space Marine marches on, this one is a beauty. Great job with the yellow and the base Indy 40k picked out is pretty sweet.

If you haven't added this blog to favorites or blogroll yet, you need to do so ASAP. These models only keep getting better!

On Second Thought.....

I'd like to take a second and thank Weinas from Indy 40k for sending the PDF over to me.  It's given me a lot to think about.

I really like the Salamanders from a Fluff perspective, and as I've stated before that's really important to me, but I don't like the color scheme that most people use.  I believe it's too dark.  I however really like this image form Nick Kyme's first book of the Salamander series.

The Green, instead of being drab and dark really pops out.  Going with a Salamander army would also allow me to do some really neat things with my Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Terminators.

At this point I'm just kicking the idea around.

I just finished the last Soul Drinkers novel and I'm pretty sure unless the next installment turns them around, I just can't justify the investment of time into an army I don't connect with.  Though ironically Hellforged did turn me on to the idea of creating a Necron force at some point.

Maybe at some point I'll get it all figured out, but until then I promise to keep you posted.

Renaissance Marines 4sale! - The Hogs of War - 40k Conversions and Tactics

I couldn't help but post this pic from The Hogs of War. They are selling a Renaissance Marine army. Take a look and see the full army in all it's glory. I'm scared to see what gets painted up next?!?!?!

Indy 40K: Tutorial - White Templars

If you're looking for a great conversation on how to properly paint white, look no further than our friends over at Indy 40K.

The comment section has been extremely helpful. Jump in if you have some tips of your own to add.

The Weekend Painter: Whirlwind!

The Weekend Painter has have one of the coolest Eagle Warrior Whirlwind's I've seen in a while. A halved color scheme on one of these is extremely impressive.

I really like how the gunner offsets the scheme.  I may have to try something like this out.

Indy 40K: Tutorial - Dark Sons

Another great tutorial is up over at INDY 40K.

I just can't get enough of the idea of Project Space Marine. Create an entire army composed of warriors from individual chapters, without making them all Deathwatch. This will look great on the table. Very interested to see what will happen with vehicles and Terminators. Should be fun to keep up with.

From the Warp: Storm Wardens final drawing

Image from Fantasy Flight Games

For those of you interested in the Storm Wardens Project you follow the action on Jawaballs Live! on Sunday.

It's been an amazing project to follow and the winner of the army will be really lucky.

Indy 40K

If you haven't gotten the chance already you should head over to Indy 40K and check out Project Space Marine. It's a pretty cool concept to say the least. This may even help me choose a chapter. I'll keep you posted.

So I'm lying here, just staring at the ceiling tiles.

So I'm lying here, just staring at the ceiling tiles.

and I'm thinking about what to think about.

Just listening and relistening to Smiley Smile,

and I'm wondering if this is some kind of creative drought

I've hit a bump in the road so to speak.  Since I last posted I've added an Assault Squad and an Assault Terminator Squad to my force, but I've made no progress in building my army.

I was really psyched when I picked out the Soul Drinkers.  Their color scheme was perfect for me. Purple and Gold remind me of my college days and Green has always been my favorite color.  And then it happened.....I started to read the novels.  I'm on the fourth novel and though they are great reads, they are unfortunately turning me off to building a Soul Drinkers army.  I want an army that I can get behind.  An army that I can believe in.  The Soul Drinkers just seem like a cop out.  Oh we don't like the Imperium, so screw off, but we'll still fight for the Emperor.  I guess it just reminds me of too many things and people in real life.  WH40K should allow you to escape from this exact mentality of I can have my cake and eat it too.  I want an army that stands up for all that's good.  And yet I've sworn to never make an Ultra Marines army.  Now that's a decision I may regret.

With the advantages of building a Space Wolves or Blood Angels army, the only upside to a vanilla Space Marine army is the variety of armies out there.  To say the least I'm a little bummed.  Looks like I'm right back at my original Conundrum.........

Maybe I'll break through my creative drought while I'm lying in bed, like Brian Wilson did.

Simple Green to the Rescue!

Hive Zero has a couple of great posts up on the use of Simple Green.

Maybe I should scrap the Super Clean and move on to Simple Green?  Check out the results!

I have to say I'm really very impressed.  And you have to admit that a Chaos Dread upside down in a beaker looks pretty cool.  Right?

Rub-a-dub-dub Space Marines in the Tub

Where to begin.........


I started with 60 pieces to clean and I have 18 left.  Next time I'll try Simple Green.

Hopefully by this time next week I'll be ready to attempt re-priming.

Time for a Soak?

I'm closing in on a week of soaking my Marines and I wonder if I'll ever get the primer off of them.  I've probably spent close to 3 hours scrubbing so far.  I have 20 Marines, 20 backpacks and 20 weapons soaking.  At this rate  I'll have them all cleaned up sometime around Christmas!  At least the Super Clean isn't showing an wear on the models so it looks like time is on my side.

Maybe my Marines will soak up some of the Purple and make it easier to paint?  If only I could get so lucky!

Meltdown Prime

So my first priming event was unsuccessful.

In a way I'm glad.  You always hear the first time is always the hardest, well it's true.

In order to fix my mistake I'm now soaking my Marines in a Tupperware tub filled with Super Clean!!!

They've soaked for a day but need a little more time.  I couldn't find a hard bristle brush at Wally World so I ended up with a medium bristle.  I tried scrubbing for about a half hour on two pieces with mixed results.  I'm thinking that density difference in the brushes makes a big difference!  I'll give it another run tomorrow tonight and we'll see what happens.

Prime Time Priming!

So I finally caught a break in the weather this afternoon!!!!!  And priming quickly commenced.

For my first attempt at it I was pretty impressed with my results.  I definitely learned a lot!  A few got powdery and I'll have to figure out how to fix them.  Should I sand them down or just rub the powder off and add a second coat of primer?  Guess I'll wing it unless anyone has a suggestion?

While I was working on the weapons and backpacks a storm sprung up and I had to rush so I'll have to refinish some of those as well.  At least when I get the priming done I can get serious about painting and I wont have to worry about the weather.  The joys of having four walls and a roof!

Rainy Days

Well so far weather has been my biggest obstacle in priming my army.  If it's not raining it's been way to humid for me to get up the courage to attempt it.  I'm hoping things will clear up by this weekend so I can get down to work.

In the meantime I've been playing Dawn of War II and I must say some of the new elements are a lot of fun.

I've always considered myself a Space Marine type of guy but some of the game modes have caused me to reconsider this stance.  I played as a Nid tonight and really enjoyed it.

I was afraid I'd feel dirty, but low and behold I feel untouched by the filth of the Warp.  Wonders never cease.