Some Good Basic Painting Tips

Read this post the other day and really liked these tips. Several of those are things I wish I'd known sooner rather than later too.

Inspiration: Tiny Sculptures

Damn this is cool...

Battle Report: Nemo3 vs Sorcha2

No picture unfortunately. Also, it'd been a whole month since my previous game which sucks, but at least I got to play and had a good time.

My list: Nemo3 (tier 4), Finch, Stormwall, Jakes, Dynamo, 3 Stormsmiths, Stormblade Captain, Stormblades (6+UA), Stormguard (10).

My opponent: Sorcha2, Beast 09, Ogrun Bokur, Reinholdt, Andrei, Decimator, Manhunter, Drakhun (no dismount), Winterguard (10+UA), Kovnik Joe, Widowmakers, Aiyana & Holt + Valechev, Eiryss2.

We played the Recon scenario and I won initiative, choosing to go first. I ran, then he advanced and used Shatterstorm to take out half of my Stormblades, then I feated and started laying out some hurt. The Nemo3 feat round is pretty ball busting especially when I use focus to extend his control area. Stormguard killed the Drakhun and tied up some Winterguard. A Stormsmith snuffed Eiryss. Dynamo mostly shot the Decimator off the board, with the final blow coming from the Stormblade Captain. The Stormwall had dropped a lightning pod right near Sorcha which afforded Nemo the opportunity to use his ranged attack on it and bounce lightning into Sorcha. The next round however things got messy for me. Winterguard cleaned out my Stormguard and then the rest of the army created a hole for Sorcha to do her whole Cyclone/Wind Rush charge thing and head in on Nemo. It was well done, and perfectly ranged with about half an inch to spare. And then dice happened. She had to take a free strike from Dynamo on the way in. He hit and rolled just above average and slayed Sorcha.

Lessons learned: Sometimes it's better to be lucky than smart! Sorcha2 has crazy threat range which I forget about, and even just camping 2 would have turned her assassination run from "average dice kills" to "average dice doesn't come close". Also, Nemo3 is super fun to play, but I doubt I would play in tier next time. The Stormwall is just not a great pairing for him in my opinion. Dynamo, with Jakes, is still the bomb and I love that combo to pieces. It's important to note that Dynamo still gets his affinity bonus in Nemo's control area even if he's in a different battlegroup.

Games this year: 31

Avenger

This is probably the last warjack I'll paint for a while. It's the last warjack from my unpainted pile, and more specifically, the last I wanted to add until either the Reliant or Hurricane come out. I really did like this plastic kit though and thought it gives the model a very large bulky feel, appropriate for a heavy jack.

Triumph

Another one done. This is actually the first Warjack that I've ever painted that was an add-on kit to a base heavy. Technically I'd done Proteus before, but never for a warjack specifically. I have to say that I like how well this add on kit worked for Triumph.

Major Markus Siege Brisbane

It's Siege! He's done! Moving on.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #91

Short update cause I'm exhausted.

I meant to get this out yesterday but the crazy situation in my household caused me to fall asleep early. Hence, a day late and, well, just a day late. So what's been happening on my desk lately? Well...

Siege, Triumph and the Avenger are all done and just need final seal coats. I'll have pictures of them this week. I got the riders for the Tempest Blazers primed and Saeryn/Rhyas assembled. I also got Zuriel mostly assembled. He's going to require some up-front basing work to get ready but that will make things much easier in the final steps. I also started monkeying around with some terrain stuff but odds are low that I will give it much attention during the next couple weeks. At this point I have almost everything in my backlog assembled, with the exception of finishing Zuriel, and then assembling Stryker3, Kraye, and a second unit of Stormguard.

I've been watching some basing tutorials off and on and it's getting me all excited to paint something to premium quality again, which may end up being the twins if I don't find a suitable alternative.

Rutger Shaw

Finishing a merc for me is sorta like watching a random movie trailer in the middle of watching a whole season of a show. Rutger here was more added to my paint queue due to the Moving Targets fiction that I listened to on Audible than because I'm super hot to play him. That said, it will be interesting to put him on the table with Tarin and perhaps put some ranged merc jack with him.

When I painted this model I took an approach of trying to get color on 80% of the model before doing highlights and shading. It was an interesting practice exercise for me since I'm used to doing the "finish a section" process method. After my discussion with Matt from PP, I decided this is something I need more practice at if I ever want to up my game on overall composition and quality.

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #90

Short update cause I'm exhausted.

Lots of stuff has been getting done, but I'm sorely behind on blogging. My personal life has been thrown into complete disarray with health issues for everyone in the house. Despite this, I got some stuff done recently, including Rutger Shaw who I'll post tomorrow. I also got a ton of models assembled and primed and base coated Siege, Triumph, an Avenger, and the horses for the Tempest Blazers. I also cut out felt templates for trenches, painted a whole slew more Tau Ceti bases for Cygnar, and generally got all my stuff organized. The next couple weeks are likely to be dead quiet from me though as resolving health stuff takes priority.

Shredders (take 11 and 12)

It's been a while since I finished a lesser beast, and since my paint queue hit a weird log jam, these got done. Whee!

Artificer General Nemo and Storm Chaser Adept Caitlin Finch

Done and done!

Captain Jonas Murdoch

Nothing especially fancy here, but done is done. Photo is terribly dark too for some reason.

From the Desk: No Weekend Roundup

Sometimes life just goes upside down on me. Such as it was the last week. So there's no progress reports or anything really. I've been spending time assembling models when I can but little else. This post is just for my own sake really to distract my mind from life for a few minutes.

Now that Lock&Load is over, I think it would be good to have a new paint target. To that end, I've created the following two Cygnar tier lists that I want to start working towards.

Siege, Trial By Fire (tier 4):

• Siege - trimmed
• Squire - completed
• Triumph - trimmed
• Hunter - completed
• Journeyman - completed
• Hunter - completed
• Journeyman - completed
• Defender - completed
• Strangeways - completed
• Jakes - completed
• Charger - completed
• Field Mechaniks (6) - completed
• Gun Mages + UA - completed

This one is pretty easy. Most everything comes out of my existing collection.

Caine1, Sons of the Tempest (tier 4):

• Caine1 - completed
• Hunter - completed
• Defender - completed
• Gun Mage Captains (2) - completed
• Gun Mages + UA - assembled
• Hunter - completed
• Gun Mages + UA - completed
• Hunter - completed
• Black 13th - blister
• Tempest Blazers - assembled

This one requires a significant amount more work.

Major Prime Victoria Haley

Done! Completed before general in-stores release! I'm actually quite proud of myself since I did shell out extra bucks at Lock & Load for her. I sped up the process by undercoating with the airbrush and then the blues on the cloaks were done with thin blue glazes. I cut a few corners to get her done so quickly but nothing that I regret honestly. My color scheme is a slight departure from my normal scheme for Cygnar with so much extra blue. I particularly chose to do this simply because it's such a unique set of models.

Battle Report: Haley3 vs Zerkova1

My list: Haley3, Thorn, Lancer, Sylys, Jakes, Dynamo, Journeyman, Stormclad, Silverlines (10), Harlan.

My opponent fielded: Zerkova1, Sylys, Decimator, Devastator, Spriggan, Drakhun (with dismount), Greylord Ternion, Black Dragons (10+UA), Widowmakers, Eiryss2.

We skipped using a scenario and just went for old fashioned assassination. I lost initiative and Henry opted to choose table sides so that I didn't get a key piece of terrain for standing on a shooting from. The battle rushed into the center with me doing a lot of just trying to hold him at bay while I set up my ranged game. Rather than try to describe the middle of the game, I'll jump to the end. Zerkova was on a hill and a wall of jacks and black dragons was in front of her. I activated Haley's unit, arc'd Domination at the Spriggan and moved it around right in front of Zerkova and took a swing (missing). Then I moved Past Haley into range of Thorn and Future Haley into shooting range of Zerkova. Past Haley cast Force Hammer and slammed the Spriggan over Zerkova to knock her down. Then future Haley zapped Zerkova 3 times and put her in the dirt.

Lessons learned: Haley3 is very interesting to play. Very complex though. Because all 3 models activate as a unit, it forces some order of activation challenges in terms of getting things done. It's going to take a lot more practice with her to feel at all competent. There's a log of challenges in using Haley3. The past/future copies are only Focus 4 which makes it hard for them to hit with spells. Prime Haley is commonly expending 7 focus every round so it's leaving her focus starved most of the game. The first round of advancing and getting past/future haley out is a real strain. I will say that I had a real blast playing her though and I'm looking forward to more games with her.

Games this year: 30

From the Desk: Weekend Roundup #89

Still basking in the afterglow of LnL2015.

Gonna make this a quick update since I'm trying to cram in more painting tonight. This last week was moderately productive. I did some repairs on a number of models that suffered some "damage" during transit or during use. Mostly it was models that came loose from their bases and needed to be glued again. In addition, I assembled my new unit of Gun Mages, Tempest Blazers, and Eiryss2. I also assembled, primed and started painting Haley3 (as pictured here).

In order to get back to my more focused prioritization, I think it might be time to plan another tier list. Just have to decide which one it's going to be.

Cygnar: One Year Later

Almost exactly 1 year ago today I embarked on adding Cygnar to my stable of models. At the time I don't think I realized how much I was going to leap into Cygnar. Looking back at it now though, I'm glad I took the plunge.

So how did I really get into Cygnar? Well a lot of it has to do with my two good friends, Lance and Henry, who got me a number of models for birthdays and Christmas. That list includes a Stormwall, a Storm Strider, Stryker3, a Hunter, Eiryss2, and Tempest Blazers.

I have absolutely been loving both painting and playing Cygnar. I love having a quick paint scheme that I can slam out army painting for. I also love playing Cygnar because it suits my play style of having good ranged pressure options and a variety of tools in my toolbox. I'm a big fan of the "water" theory of battle and not going into a game with a "playbook" to execute on. Instead I've been building my Cygnar armies using a "fire team" sort of style list building.

So how much have I painted in the last year? I painted 101 models covering 280 points and 8 warcasters. In addition I painted a few mercs specifically for this army, including Arcanist Core, Harlan, and Sylys. It's sort of amazing how much I got done. I also re-based one unit of Gun Mages and both of my Gun Mage Captains.

And what's next? Well my remaining horde of Cygnar models is as follows: another unit of Gun Mages + UA, Kraye, Sloan, Siege, Stryker3, Nemo3, Haley3 (which I'm painting now), Murdoch, a Cyclone, an Avenger, and another unit of Stormguard.

And I'm still looking to add more. Specifically I want the Storm Lances and Laddermore (cause Soles showed me that cavalry is totally a thing). I'd also like the Black 13th, although I'm hoping they do a re-sculpt of them eventually. I would also like to obviously add the Hurricane when it comes out.

Lock and Load Recap

Back from Lock & Load and finally doing a quick recap. This time in ACHIEVEMENT format!

Soled Out - Play a game with Jason Soles. I almost won, until he crushed me. It was awesome. I played Sturgis and he played Kreoss3. I have new respect for cavalry. And Jason is a class act of a guy.

What were you thinking? - Ask Jason Soles about Grotesques. Yeah, totally asked him. Can't quote him though. But it was an interesting conversation in general about models in the game that exit play-testing in a state that still feels incomplete.

Measured Connection - Give something to Jason Soles. I gave my spare tape measure to Jason Soles. His old one broke during his 15 hour Unbound game the night before. I have therein creating an awesomeness link to him. It's sort of like an arcnode for awesomeness.

Unbound - Play a game of Unbound. This was my biggest goal for the trip. I played it against a PP staffer, Bryan (sorry I forget your last name). It lasted a mere 9 hours. Bryan's dice were terrible, but he still managed to grind me down eventually. By hour 8, we were both running out of juice and started making tactical errors. Bryan just made far fewer of them. He played Durst, Feora1, and Vindictus against my Haley1, Nemo2 and Sturgis list. It was a major highlight of the trip for me.

Time for sleep in the grave - Not sleep enough but muscle through. So yeah, pretty obvious. I think I averaged 5 hours of sleep each night which is still a lot given the situation. I think I honestly found just the right balance of sleep and pushing myself.

Been there, done that - Play 5 new games. I tried out all 3 Level 7 games, High Command, and Bodgermania, all for the first time. I have to say, I kinda liked High Command and Level 7 Omega Protocol. Might pick one of those up. We played Omega Protocol with one of the staff guys who actually did graphic design for it, and with assistance from the staffer that designed it. Sorry again for forgetting names. Those guys were a blast and definitely improved the enjoyment of the games.

Getting the band back together - Played games with everyone from our crew. There were 4 guys that were a part of our crew that all went and I managed to sneak in games with all 4 of them which was fantastic.

Chillax - Take the year off from painting competitions. I'm so glad I did this. Taking the year off from competitive painting and the consternation it causes me was really rejuvenating. I have to say that showing up to Unbound with a whole fresh painted army was awesome and I feel great about how much army painting I did this last year.

Starstruck - Chat casually one on one with Matt DiPietro. Such a good chat with him. Talked about painting processes (rather than techniques), Crystal Brush, artistic vs technical judging, comparison of studio vs his personal style, and just general chit chat. I always enjoy talking with Matt and find him to be such a humble and talented artist. My only regret here is that I would have loved to spend far more time with him.

Shut up and take my money - Get awesome stuff at the store. I got the Hordes 10th anniversary box, the Haley3 box, Shredder plushies, pins, and art prints. Lots of awesome stuff. Totally blew out my hobby budget badly. All of it is super cool. Perhaps my favorite though is the "Perfect 10" print, signed by Matt Wilson. Such a glorious piece of art. I'm now racing to get Haley3 ready before our next normal game night at the LGS just to taunt the big Cygnar player there with her.

Ninja! - Ninja shop for a friend. I totally ninja shopped and mailed Durst and Scout models for my buddy Mike. You're welcome bud!

Whew! That was close - Drink plenty but not get myself into trouble. I think this year I managed to not get myself completely wasted and be overly loud and obnoxious. Unlike last year. Honestly though, who would have noticed?

And that's it! LNL2015 is in the bag and I had an amazing time! I'm already looking forward to next year!

Sylys Wyshnalyrr the Seeker

This guy is long overdue from when I had wanted to add him to my army. I really enjoyed painting him and the little details made it all the more fun. This is the first model for my Cygnar army where I actually opted to not have any insignias added, mostly because of all the carved runes he already has.

Stormsmith Stormcallers (take 2)

More Stormsmiths! Can't have enough zapping! So ready to play 6 of these in Unbound at LNL2015!