From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #88

Countdown to Lock and Load: 3 days (remaining of painting time).

Final things are coming together now. Stormsmiths are done except for sealing them which I'll do tomorrow morning. Sylys is very much in progress as pictured here. Probably a couple more hours of work left.

I also started sorting out carry capacity for models in my toolbox, which is sorely not as good as I was hoping for, but I'll manage somehow. In hindsight, I probably should have gotten a Battlefoam bag for this trip, but it's too late now.

Final Unbound Push:

• Stormguard - done
• Storm Strider - done
• Stormsmiths - sealing
• Squire - done
• Journeyman - done
• Gun Mage re-basing - painting bases
• Sylys - painting

Battle Report: Haley2 vs Asphyxious1

My list: Haley2 (tier 4, Riders of the Storm), Stormwall, Thorn, 2 Storm Striders, 3 Stormsmith Stormcallers, 2 Gun Mage Captain Adepts, Stormsmith Storm Tower, Field Mechaniks (4). Bunker objective.

My opponent fielded: Asphyxious1, Deathjack, Cankerworm, 2 Nightwretches, Skarlock Thrall, Aiakos, Leviathan, 2 Pistol Wraiths, 2 Warwitch Sirens, Withershadow Combine, Gorman. Fuel Cache objective.

We played the Recon SR2015 scenario. I lost initiative and my opponent opted to go second, choosing sides in the process. On his first turn, Asphyxious and the DeathJack jammed right into the middle of the table and left me with a real conundrum. I had a lower odds assassination option (slam Asphyxious with Thorn then put 6 boosted POW 15 shots into him) but that would have left me 3 points short of killing him on average dice. Instead I went the attrition route. This game would have been more interesting if I'd remembered to feat. As it turned out, I was thinking I should save my feat and totally forgot my initial thoughts about how to stave off a massive retaliation. During my turn I at least cleared most of the backfield (Withershadow, Gorman, 1 Warwitch and Skarlock) and disrupted the Deathjack. Unfortunately the retaliation was brutal. Both Storm Striders and the Stormwall got destroyed. At this point I didn't have a lot of options, so I went for the long shot. Because Asphyxious had cast Parasite, I managed to get Thorn loose and in range, dropped Parasite on Asphyxious, then started flinging shots into him. I believe I came up 3 points short. At that point I pretty much lost on scenario since I was already down 2 CPs at the start of my turn and did nothing to prevent him from scoring more on my own turn.

Lessons learned: First, read all my stuff carefully before playing, especially when I haven't played for 4 weeks. If I'd remembered Haley's bond, the Stormwall would have been much more threatening, and if I'd decided to feat when I should have, it would have been a very different game. Second, this tier list is pretty amusing to play. I'm looking forward to playing it more.

Games this year: 22

From the Desk: Deadline Freak Out

Countdown to Lock and Load: 9 days (before driving up).

I totally failed to do a normal weekend roundup, mostly cause I didn't get much done this last week. I was traveling for work and then during the long weekend I was installing recessed LED lighting in my living room and putting up ceiling tiles and crown moulding which ate almost the whole weekend. However now my living room has kick-ass lighting for board games.

I finally managed to get a blister of Sylys which I'd been searching for. He's now officially in my final push for Unbound as well. However I'm traveling for work the next 3 days again so I'm really down to just a few evenings for painting. This is gonna be pretty tight.

Final Unbound Push:

• Stormguard - done
• Storm Strider - done
• Stormsmiths - painting
• Squire - done
• Journeyman - done
• Gun Mage re-basing - painting bases
• Sylys - primed

From the Desk: Ready For Unbound

This post should probably be titled "Apparently Social Media is a Thing, But I'm Too Old to Appreciate It".
It's no secret to readers of this blog that I'm excited about playing in Unbound again. So the other day when Jason Soles posted an Insider about his preparations for Unbound at Lock&Load, I got even more excited. With the help of my good friend Mike, I finally got my Twitter account working properly and tweeted this picture of my Cygnar army ready for Unbound. I'm hoping it might bootstrap my odds of both getting into Unbound and actually getting to play Jason.
I also shared this picture with Mister Justin of Secret Weapon Miniatures to show my army entirely based using his resin bases which I've loved. He of course promptly asked to share it on the SW Facebook page which I was vary happy to agree to.

Now I want to be clear, all but 1 model in this photo was painted within the last year. The only exception in that photo is Maxwell Finn who I painted prior to Lock&Load 2014 as the test model for my new Cygnar color scheme. Everything else though was painted within the last year. I'm actually really stoked about this progress and even more stoked to be bringing this to Lock&Load 2015 in just a couple weeks.

Maybe now that I know how to use Twitter, I'll start using it more often to post little stuff.

Squire (take 2)

Second Squire finished! Same deal as the Journeyman Warcaster I painted. Nothing else fancy to say.

Journeyman Warcaster (take 2)

Second Journeyman Warcaster finished! I wouldn't have painted a second one of the same sculpt except that it came with the Cygnar all-in-one-army box and I can use it for Unbound. Perhaps I'll do a side-by-side comparison of the two at some point, but for now it's just a quick post.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #87

Countdown to Lock and Load: 17 days (before driving up).

No pictures this week. My desk is actually somewhat empty. The Squire and Journeyman got finished this morning and the Stormsmiths are not started yet. I'm actually doing this post early cause I expect to crash early. I spent a big chunk of today installing new recessed lighting in my living room area. The project is about half done but most of that work involved holding things above my head. On the plus side, the work is about half done. Also, I'm flying out tomorrow morning for work for a couple days. In fact the next two weeks before Lock&Load are packed with work travel and meetings and lots of junk so I'm not sure how much more painting I'll be getting done before then. Out of the 17 more days before I get into a car to drive to Seattle, I'll be traveling for work 6 of them.

Final Unbound Push:

• Stormguard - done
• Storm Strider - done
• Stormsmiths - primed
• Squire - done
• Journeyman - done
• Gun Mage re-basing - painting bases

Total Cygnar points painted for Unbound (now tracking theme-based mercs):

• Casters: +45 pts (8 models)
• Warjacks: 175 pts
• Battle Engines: 9 pts
• Units: 57* pts
• Solos: 27 pts
• Merc Solos: 8 pts
• Merc Warjacks: 5 pts
• Merc Units: 4 pts

Silver Line Stormguard

Painting whole units can be really soul crushing. I'm glad to have these finally done.

Storm Strider (take 2)

Technically this was finished last Saturday but I've been sorely behind on blogging due to work/life/sick events. Painting a second one of these was both fun and quick. I really enjoy the huge based Cygnar kits in general and I'm really looking forward to having two of these on the table at the same time.

The "pose" on this one is a little different, partially by accident and partially on purpose. It's leaning forward a little bit as if it's about to fire a massive strike. When I was first lining up the legs after pinning, I discovered that it had a bit of a lean. It would have been easily corrected, but I decided to keep it as I liked the look of it. I will say that on the flipside, for some reason the overhead bar above the central ball came in really close on the ball itself which still baffles me a bit. However, it's done, so in the spirit of completing and moving on, I'm moving on!

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #86

Countdown to Lock and Load: 25 days.

This weekend update is sorely behind schedule unfortunately. Things have been really hectic for me on the life/work front.

Storm Strider got done. Stormguard are getting some attention again finally. I also got 30 more small bases drilled, magnets added, primed and a first base coat on them. In addition I got 3 Stormsmiths assembled along with my second Squire and Journeyman, even though I may not actually paint them.

My big question to myself now is just how hardcore to get with my Unbound list. Do I limit myself to just models I've painted since last L&L, or do I go ahead and include things that I painted before but re-based to match in theme. If I drop prior models, then I lose both Gun Mage units, both Gun Mage Captains, Tarin, the Vanguard for Gastone, and Reinholdt.

Final Unbound Push:

• Stormguard - painting
• Storm Strider - done
• Stormsmiths - assembled
• Gun Mage re-basing - painting bases

Total Cygnar points painted for Unbound (now tracking theme-based mercs):

• Casters: +45 pts (8 models)
• Warjacks: 175 pts
• Battle Engines: 9 pts
• Units: 48* pts
• Solos: 22 pts
• Merc Solos: 8 pts
• Merc Warjacks: 5 pts
• Merc Units: 4 pts

Harlan Versh Illuminated One

Somehow Harlan managed to sneak into my paint queue. I'm not sure how, but once he got there I couldn't help but respect him. This model was actually quite fun to paint. I went with a minimalist style like the rest of my Cygnar and I feel that really helped make the model more compelling overall. There's lots of details and it could be easy to throw lots of color all over him, but this final result is something I'm quite happy with.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #85

Countdown to Lock and Load: 33 days.

Not as much progress this week as I had hoped, but still progress. Harlan is done and just awaiting photos. I ordered a second Storm Strider which arrived Friday night and in that time I got it prepped, assembled (for painting), primed, and finished all the metal base coats. I ordered a base at the same time which is in the same state. The glow effects are almost done as well. My Stormguard are still in progress. I completed the unit leader entirely, but all the grunts still have a lot of work left to do.

I've changed my paint target to be more in line with my L&L goals. It's mostly just the Stormguard and Storm Strider, but I'm also hoping to re-base my gun mages and also to paint 3 more Stormsmiths.

Final L&L Push:

• Stormguard - painting
• Storm Strider - painting
• Stormsmiths - blister
• Gun Mage re-basing - not started

Total Cygnar points painted for Unbound (now tracking theme-based mercs):

• Casters: +45 pts (8 models)
• Warjacks: 175 pts
• Battle Engines: 9 pts
• Units: 48* pts
• Solos: 22 pts
• Merc Solos: 6
• Merc Warjacks: 5
• Merc Units: 4

Resource

If you haven't already seen this article about composition, then you should go read it right now. It's especially useful for creating scenes. And just a tip from myself on this...

It's possible to practice this sort of compositional thought process in everyday life as well. Try arranging things on your desk into a composition, or even better, some models. Keep a sketch pad with you and just doodle and think about these principles. Or in the case of myself, practice it when doing art projects with kids. The other day my son wanted to finger paint so I got all the stuff out and got a sheet of paper for myself as well. My son is 5, so I'll spare you his rather abstract art, but here's what I painted.

Once completed, I took a studious eye to it and realized my key error in the composition: the sun is centered. If I'd moved it of to the left or right just a bit, it would have made for a much stronger overall composition with the space separated into thirds. Even further, I could have exaggerated the lines coming off of it to draw more attention to the empty space in the middle. It's a fun exercise to do even in these very informal situations.