Zombies!

I took a commission to paint a lot of zombies from the guy that bought the AoBR Greenskins.  I've finished the first lot of fifty.  Here are some shots of the progress thus far.

The first thirty zombies get a basecoat.

The final lot of 20 after drybrushing.

The first and second lot of this batch.  Basing still needs to be finished on 34 of the 50 zombies.

The first batch of 50 zombies, all together.  This is one of a few zombie hordes this patron has planned for his army, all using the Kings of War Undead figures from Mantic Games.  For anyone who hasn't gotten a first hand look at these yet... they're just great.  Clean tooling on the molds, crisp detail on the figs.  The assembly is just slightly more difficult than the AoBR starter; but only because the GW figs have pegs to hold them together.  The sprues come packed with gubbins to boot.

In other news, this gem was acquired gratis, courtesy of the neighbors putting it out on the curb...

As soon as one of my housemates saw it, I rounded up my brother and we were out the door, barefoot, to fetch this beast from across the street.  I dunno why on Terra the neighbors decided this had to go, but a big THANK YOU! from Productive Thinking Industries for you.  The desk is not one of those cheap particle board constructs from Walmart, either; this bugger is SOLID.

...and here it is after being populated.  Its going to be nice to have dedicated project space again.

In the pipeline are some KoW Skeletons, more progress on my Stormtroopers, and the beginnings of a Space Marine allied contingent, 'counts as' Adeptus Mechanicus.

Cheers,
-Xi

An Update on da Boyz

They're done AND sold, thus marking the first earnings of my little enterprise here.  The gent that picked up the Orks has commissioned me to paint up some Kings of War Undead by Mantic next, these blokes here.

I'll have pictures up as soon as possible.  I've had photos of the completed AoBR WAAAAGH!, I'll get them posted as soon as I get them from the photographer.

Til next time,

Xi

P.S.  I'm going to be getting in on Reaper's Bones Kickstarter for the Sophie's.  Everyone should check it out here.  The Vampire Level alone is an amazing value.

Nostagia pt. 2

So I got into the hobby because I had collected enough Space Marines to cobble together an army... and not a little one...

So I went in on my first starter, the 3rd ed box with the Dark Eldar and Space Marines.  Does anyone remember those terrible 'trees' that came with the starter?  There were a few battleforces that came with them, as well.  The others came with the gothic ruins sprue... much more useful.  Now that I think about it, I do believe those ruins came with the starter, too.  There was also included the battlefield accessories sprue, which included barrels, ammo crates, and tank traps.  I remember having so many barrels at one point...

I got a SM battle force, and then a mega force just to round out my section.  Keep in mind, this is when a battle force was $75, the mega force was $150, and totally worth it.  I got my army together and played with lots of troops at first, then a mix of vehicles and troops...  basically I had everything I needed for all the options the codex threw out at the time.  I got comfortable with the Marines.

So for about a year I played at the LGS, learning the rules and having a hell of a time creating all sorts of things with the VDR in Chapter Approved.  After that I dabbled in the soon to be defunct RTT scene here in Utah.  We had some absolutely fantastic Outriders before that program went away.  The first one I ever met gave me lots of advice on what units complimented what best, as well as tons of painting and modelling tips.  He pointed out White Dwarf to me, as well.

After a year of Space Marines, I was ready to branch out a bit, and I did...  Into everything.  I started Necromunda, and Battlefleet Gothic.  I picked up minis for Epic.  There wasn't anything I wasn't interested in learning.  The great thing about the LGS back then was that all the older gamers were willing to teach the games to us.  Hell, we even played in campaigns that had events over multiple Specialist Games.  After the SG range lost its *new and shiny* luster, I started a Chaos Space Marines force, and then an Imperial Guard force using Steel Legion figures.

After all that, there was only one GW hobby front left...

Horus Heresy

So for a few years now, Forgeworld has been dribbling out Pre-Heresy goodies, including the Conteptor pattern Dreadnought.  I've heard yes and no, from high to low, for the whole time, including definitive evidence that the next book would be X vs Y countless times.  Today I've gotten this lovely little teaser from the gents at the resin works.

Horus Heresy Announcement

I'm excited.  This coupled with the new rules set and the pending release of Codex: CSM...

Anyone else excited?  I mean, if the word on the street is correct and the FW lists gain legitimacy, then there could be all kinds of amazing allies combinations on the horizon.

Nostalgia

So I was sitting around thinking about the Allies post I worked up earlier, and I got to thinking about the game as I got into it way back into it last decade...

A buddy of mine had some small assortment of D&D figs, as well as some randomly chosen 40k minis... one of which was a Space Marine with Heavy Bolter.  The figure caught my eye and my brain flashed back to 1998 and one of my friends in high school showing me an impressive collection of Second Edition Space Marines.  I had only a passing interest at the time, playing Decipher's Star Wars CCG and MTG, as well as the MB classics; ie Axis & Allies.

My interest, which had imprinted unknowingly, was to be fully sparked now.

I inquired as to where my friend had gotten his few scifi minis, and he told me of the first FLGS I was to attend.  Over the course of the next couple months, I bought anything Space Marines that caught my eye.  I had quite the collection of special characters, including this Black Templar Marshall (the one on the left), and this Games Day 1999 Limited ed. fig.  I painted with a scheme that was somewhat original.  No one around here was using it, and the internet was a little guy back then.  The seeds of the community were there.  Terragenesis, one of the first terrain sites I found, is still around.

So one day the guy who was using his 40k figs for D&D came around and discovered my collection of figures.  He asked, when did I start playing?  I replied, Just collecting.  He informed me that I had the makings of a decent army in sheer number of figs.  It was at this point that I first considered a rulebook and codex...

Allies and Collecting

So one of my favorite parts of 6th ed is the new Allies rules.  This is a great excuse to collect more awesome for my shelves.  To reflect this, I'd like to repost a bit I offered about collecting from circa 2009.

"I got a large armoured reinforcement for my Imperial Guard over this most recent weekend. One of my gaming acquaintance who is leaving the 40k hobby sold them to me. I got six Leman Russ tanks with a variety of turrets, five Chimeras, four Sentinels, two Hell Hounds, a Thunderer Siege tank, a Laser Destroyer, a Medusa Siege gun, a Salamander scout, and an Earthshaker platform. Well now I'm not gloating (not too much), but this month's Standard Bearer in White Dwarf magazine was about the collection aspect of the hobby. With this new armoured influx, my collection of Imperial Guard now numbers over 40 vehicles, including a mighty Bane Blade. What do I do with them? Play Apocalypse games? Not really, actually. Right now I look for an out of the way place to stash them so they aren't underfoot or in reach of my toddler daughter. I am ever so slowly working through the process of painting and repairing them all, since most of them I have gotten in trade. This last batch I bought outright, but at a serious discount. Where was I? Collecting, that's right. Most of my friends in the hobby collect exactly what they need for their army and thats it. If they find a unit that works better, they replace something and shelf it from their army until it can be traded away or sold. My Imperial Guard collection has been growing since the release of the codex in 2003. I have Steel Legion, Cadians, Stormtroopers, and Death Korps of Krieg, and Adeptus Mechanicus models. There are lots of conversions in my army since I can't seem to leave well enough alone, and I expect it will be true of my Orks as well. I'm all about my collection. It's what does it for me about the hobby. I've played one whole game since the launch of 5th edition. I hope to play more with my Orks and I have high hopes for the new Guard codex release in May. More for me to add to my collection. I guess my point is, don't be afraid to collect the figures that you like from what ever you play. Even if you never use them, as long as they make you happy, go with it."


Since then around 99% of my hobby stuff was lost to me.  I'm slowly working on my forces, but instead of collecting a pile of work that needs to be done, now I'm finishing the bits I have before collecting more.  Getting into this habit has helped me follow the mantra some hobbyists try to achieve: one unit at a time.

Now everywhere you look on the web, people are offering different power lists made of the myriad of combos available on the new allies matrix.  These are great for the competitive gamer, but I'm looking for something a little more fluffy.  So besides thinking what I could add, I am also considering how I can cast it in the allies role.  For example, Adeptus Mechanicus-counts-as-Space Marines.

On the Shelf

I'm in Barnes & Noble at The Gateway SLC, perusing the latest scifi offerings, and to my surprise there are 10 Black Library books. 

Here is a list of em:
The Emperor's Gift - Aaron Dembski-Bowden
The Macharian Crusade Angel of Fire - William King
Dead Winter - C.L. Werner
Path of the Seer - Gav Thorpe
Void Stalker - Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Phalanx - Ben Counter
Ultramarines The Second Omnibus - Graham McNeill
Gotrek and Felix The Anthology
The Best of Hammer and Bolter vol I
- both edited by Christian Dunn

Now there has been BL novels available for quite some time at B&N, but this is the first time I've ever seen so many at once on the new rack, regardless of how many had been released...  And it makes me happy.