Black Friday: Looting and Reclaiming

Its Black Friday!!!  How many of you ventured out of the house into the Zombie Shopping Apocalypse?  Me, not so much into that these days.  However, the local game shop had a Black Friday sale that was not to be missed, so I did head on over there to check out the stock.  Although it was a bit more crowded than usual, I didn't have to avoid being trampled, camp out, or kill anyone (lol).   

I have been tossing around ideas for my next Warhammer 40k army.  With the Ogre project starting to see its finishing (at least the playable army), I want to get back into 40k.  However, wanting to avoid competitive play, I'm looking for an army that is:

a.) Relatively new or being Released soon

b.) Fun to play, with plenty of variation.

c.) fun to paint/model.

With the Tyranid and Ork releases on the horizon in 2014, those were my top choices.  Tyranids would field an army completely the opposite of my long-tenured Imperial Guard and Orks are an old love of mine.  What I didn't think about until browsing miniatures today, were the good ol' Chaos Daemons.  How could I have missed them?  I'll probably wait until the Tyranid Codex drops (next month I hear?) to decide, but in the meantime I picked up some miniatures for both to see what I like to paint.  Tyranids have a lot of cool painting options and are far more different than any other army, but the Daemons offer the diversity of color and out-of-this-world imagination.  To top it off, also picked up a copy of Triumph and Treachery.  5-player Warhammer sounded fun!

Score!

After I scored at the Black Friday sale, I went home and began working on a hodgepodge of projects.  Finished up the assembly for my Skullvane Manse, primed my Ogre BSB and Hunter/Beast Wizard, and began work on the Wreck Age Reclaimers below.  Have some ideas for color scheme and basing, so I'm going to try a few things out.  I did get them assembled and attached to their bases.  I will be updating these on a regular basis and talking about how I took each step.  The weather here is crazy, so I'll have to prime them tomorrow evening when we go above freezing.  I feel like I live in the desert...  Maybe that'll get me in the zone to paint some wasteland bases!

Testing out one of the special effects paint from Citadel.  This one is Agrellan Earth - GW's crackle medium.  To avoid any serious issues on the reclaimers (since I've never used the stuff) I've tested it on a regular Wreck Age Staker model.  

Spending the day tomorrow working on models... So I'll have another update at the end of the night.  Happy Black Friday!

Quick Update - More to come

Hello!  Been working on quite a few things.  I finished my Thundertusk, but I had to drop it off at the local GW store for a competition that is coming up.  Once I get it back, I will post some good pictures of it.  Looking forward to going into the final stages in finishing up a playable Ogre Kingdoms army.  I signed up for Adepticon during pre-registration (lucky enough to get a VIG ticket) and will be participating in the Big Brawl (3000pt Warhammer Tournament) with my Ogres.  Guess I'll have to get them done one way or another.  Since the Thundertusk is done, next up will be will be the maneaters (which I've assembled and cleaned up, save some green stuff work on a couple) and my custom BSB I made from an Ogre Bull.  

Maneaters ready for paint!

However, before I get started on the next Ogres up, I will be working on a special project.  The picture below is of the new Wreck Age Reclaimers that I will be painting for Hyacinth games.  I'm hoping to spend quite a bit of time and effort on these as they are set to grace the box art!!  I will be providing regular updates on my progress with them on the blog.  Be sure to pick up your pre-order over on the Wreck Age site.

While I'm waiting to start on these guys, I decided to do some miniature assembly tonight while watching some football.  Back at Gencon, I picked up a copy of Super Dungeon Explore and I've been anxiously waiting to play.  Opening the box the other day, I realized that the assembly of the models will be a bit of work, so I wanted to get started.  I like the models and very much look forward to painting them, but I am disappointed with how difficult they are to clean up/remove mold lines.  The models are the new wave rubbery plastic... meh.  Hopefully I can find a better way to clean em up - I want them to look nice.  Anyway, got the heroes assembled from the boxed set and the dragon.  I will work on the baddies soon.  

Finally, I was cracking up at a phenomenon that repeats itself all too often for me as I paint models over and over.  My painting area always starts out very organized, neat, and well kept.  I can always tell how close I am to finishing a project though based on the messiness of my desk.  I'll close this post off with a funny before and after pic of my work area in the living room.  Thanks for reading!

Before

After!

Check out the New Tutorial Section!!!

Hello!  Rolling from my weekend progress on the Thundertusk, I started work on the base and the Ogre riders tonight.  Still a lot more to finish, but my goal for the night (albeit a late start) was to get the airbrushing portion.  You can see the progress below. 

I have to say, I did pick up the Deathworld Basing Kit from Games Workshop. I initially criticized these packs as very overpriced.  However, the bits included in the set are actually really cool.  Probably still not worth the price, but there are some interesting resin bits that are included.  Many of which I plan on using for a diorama in the future.  

Anyway, I used one small bit from the basing kit on the monster base, which you can see on the front, right side (just a skeleton).  I am painting the base to be consistent with the rest of the army - I also did go ahead and use the small base bit from the Thundertusk kit.  

I'd also like to announce and point out the new Tutorials section of the blog.  To your right, under the chopping block you will find the link list of Tutorials that I plan to start.  I've already made the first one - A step by step (with pictures!) on how to replicate the Ogre Skin that I use for the Ogre Kingdoms project.  I will also post a step-by-step for the base seen below once I am finished.  Enjoy.  And please feel free to offer suggestions on how to improve the tutorial - This is my first. Thanks!  More to come soon!

Can you hear the Thunder?

Sooooo... I promised that I was going to start working on the Thundertusk.  Aside from cleaning up the model and priming.  I started yesterday and finished the monster up today.

I think I mentioned this before, but credit to Dreadboi on the Ogre Stronghold forums.  I based the model on his tutorial in those forums.  He did a much better job keeping up with his progress than I did, so you can check his tutorial here.  Started with a black undercoat. 

Here is the base - got it done while I waited on the model to dry.  I now have it primed white and should get it started soon.

A couple of shots before the last bit of detail work was finished.  I'm particularly happy with his face - tried to duplicate the box art.

The finished model.

I'll start the riders this week.  Already have them primed and mounted on cork for painting.  Also have a empire soldier that will hang from one of the hooks - any suggestions for colors for the poor chap?

Update

Gonna start prepping a couple miniatures tonight for work coming up.  I did change up the priority a little bit - the next miniature I will be working on is the Ogre Thundertusk.  I've had this for a while and the local GW store is doing a competition for monsters / monster sized models.  Hopefully it will give me some motivation to get it done.  

Found a nice step-by-step that someone (Dreadboi) did in the Ogre Stronghold forums, so I'm going to start with that and tweak it.  

Also waiting on some minatures to come for Wreck Age - the new reclaimers... and I will paint them promptly upon arrival - The first miniature was fun to paint and these look awesome.  Check them out on the Wreck Age site.  

Will post updates as I have them.  With a large model like the Thundertusk, I'll have to take my time (I want to win!)