Dreadtober 2021 Week 3

 Bring Out Your Dread!

Dreadtober 2021 Week 2

The Walking Dread...

This week almost all the base coats for the many details were finished.  I'm feeling like it's about to crest that wave where it goes from looking a mess to the downhill side of model painting where it finally looks like something and you're continuing to improve its appearance each time you paint.  The next step will be washes and highlights.  Check out all the great fun over at the main Dreadtober site.  Also, thanks to Marc over at Old School Gaming who is coordinating all the action for Dreadtober.

Dreadtober 2021 Week 1

 Better Dread Than Right Said Fred…

Work on my Venerable Dreadnought is coming along well.  I have the base colors, shades, and part of the highlights done on the legs, as well as beginning to base coat the upper body.  As a tribute to the huge 2nd Edition army I have painted in the last year, I attached a 2nd edition bolter (slightly glue scarred from a tween years attempt at kit bashing combi-weapons) to the base.  Be sure to check out all the great work at the main Dreadtober site and we will see you again next week, same Dread time, same Dread channel.

It’s Over Anakin! I Have The High Ground

Some of the heroes of Rogue One secure the highest roof on their side of town.

Sadly Building Rooftops Are Not As Significant In Star Wars Legion As Standing Slightly Higher On The Banks Of A Lava Flow Seems To Be...

I got to play Star Wars Legion again recently with my friend's beautifully painted Rebel army.  It's been mentioned here in the past, but I am in the ideal situation with this game.  I love Star Wars and find the mechanics of Legion very fun to play, but I don't have the time or money to buy into another game system.  Fortunately for me I have a good friend who owns Imperial and Rebel armies with all the fixings and who paints amazing looking armies.  That way I can just show up at his house and play a game of Legion on a great looking board without adding to my massive painting backlog.  This post will serve less as a detailed battle report and more as an excuse to show off my friends gorgeous miniatures.  Follow along after the jump if you wish you could still play with Star Wars toys and wanted the framework of a game to guide your galactic fun...

Dreadtober Begins!

 In The Grim Darkness Of The Far Future, There Is Only... Snow????

So excited to be here for my third Dreadtober.  Two years ago this month, this blog was created for the purpose of sharing my Dreadtober progress so this is always one of my favorite painting projects of the year.  This time around I'm adding another member to the Deathwing portion of my army, a Venerable Dreadnought. The picture of my primed model above will show my amateur's attempt at a zenithal highlight for the first time in my painting career.  Since I don't have an airbrush, my rattle can combination of primers may or may not bring the desired effect.  It will be a fun experiment nonetheless and I'm excited to get working on this project.  Clink on the link to be sure to check out all the fun at the main Dreadtober site.

40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - Complete!

Reinforcements!

Still trying to figure out what makes me filled with more nostalgic glee, the hazard stripes on the chainswords or the hazard stripes on the Terminator's power fists?

Spaceships Are Not Supposed To Be This Close Together Part XIV

 Armada Edition!

I finally got to try Star Wars Armada recently and really enjoyed playing the game.  Much more of a strategic game than the X-wing Miniatures game, Armada gives you a fleet of Star Wars ships to control.  If you have ever wanted to send your squadrons of Tie Fighters to deal with those pesky rebel X-wings or if you have always been dreaming of leading your daring rebel Y-wings on a bombing run versus a Star Destroyer than this is the game for you.  It has an interesting mechanic for the larger capital ships: the bigger the ship, the more turns in advance you have to plan out your orders that determine how the ship will move each turn.  I think my favorite part was having large "armies" (fleets) to play with rather than the small scale dogfights of X-wing.  Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Inquistional Conclave 2021 - Complete!

Tharok Radron, Ordo Malleus 

Inquisitors Radron and Ryloth lead their retinues through an imperial outpost that has suffered some nature of extradimensional attack.

40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - August - Final Month WIP

 Readying The Banners

One last work in progress shot from season two of the 40K2ndAC.  Dr The Viking will post the final summation of the challenge's second season soon so pay attention to that space to see all the amazing work of the many participants.

The Wachtmeister posted an excellent and much more detailed recounting of our 2nd edition battle on his blog so be sure to check that out here:  Wachtmeister's Patrol 

Inquisitional Conclave Weeks 3-4

 Tharok Radron, Ordo Malleus

THings are moving along well on my entry for the Inquisitional Conclave.  My inquisitor has a name and I have settled on the classic 2nd edition Hand Flamer as his pistol weapon of choice.  What better weapon for cleansing with fire the many enemies of the Emperor?  Be sure to check out all the fun over at the main site for the challenge, the excellent Neverness Hobby Chronicles.

For No Particular Reason, Epic Tyranids!

 

Inquisitional Conclave 2021 - Week 1-2

 Insert Clever Name Here...

Got the basing textured and started to block in the colors for the base coats on the mini.

The 2021 Inquisitional Conclave has kicked off and I am happy to be participating in the 2nd annual iteration of the challenge.  Be sure to check out the headquarters for the challenge over at the Neverness Hobby Blog. The blog's author is working on an excellent Jaq Draco with the classic terminator Inquisitor model.

As much as I love the RT and second edition era, the Inquisitor sculpts from those days never have excited me.  Last year I painted a RT era "Robed Space Marine" and got him to look the part of a power armored Inquisitor.  This year I have shifted gears and found and GW Inquisitor mini more to my liking, but from the more "modern" 5th edition time frame.  He still needs a name and some story to link him to my entry from last year, so I will keep working on that as I continue to paint the miniature.  

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there...

Blurry ebay picture if what the model looked like when I bought it.

40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - August WIP

 Almost There...

Closing in on the last month of the challenge.  Squad Astelan here needs a few final details and then I'll need to put everyone together for a Season II full army photo.  This last year involved in the two seasons of the challenge have helped me complete more models in 12 months that I have in the past several years.  Thanks for reading and be sure to check out all the fun over at the home of the 40K2ndACII

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #137 Back Cover

 

The flower of Bretonnian chivalry defends a town from an Orc raid.

League play - First Win For The Wolfenburg Steelers

Hard Hitting Action Against The Pointy Ears On The Pitch!

Those High Elf players might be fast but they do crumple easy when you hit them.

My Steelers notched their first win in league play against the only High Elf team taking the field this season, The Nomads.  It was a close game that saw the Steelers come out just barely ahead with a final score of 2-1.  The game was very exciting and came down to the last play when my opponent failed the second of two "go for it" rolls he was attempting to try and make it to the endzone in order to tie the game.  The league has been success so far as well as a lot of fun to play in, We have had more than one league meetup that has resulted in three simultaneous games of Blood Bowl which is a sight to warm any tabletop wargamer's heart.  Stay tuned to this space for more updates as we prepare for: first the playoffs and then Season II this fall.

Three simultaneous games of Blood Bowl!

When you're ahead with only a few turns left, prevent defense on the kickoff is a necessity!

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #137

 

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #136

 

Imperial Misunderstandings...

Or Camo And Feathered Wings Clash At The Cooling Towers

"Master Korlael, the Catachan unit that witnessed the ravings of the Fallen we ran to ground this morning are deployed on the other side of this subterranean manufactorum's cooling vents.  Squads Zanthor and Scalprum are moving into position to ensure that whatever the guard may have heard will not leave this world." 

The long awaited meeting between my Dark Angels and the picture perfect Catachans of the Wachtmeister's 40K2ndAC army finally occurred and it was great fun.  It was my first game with the 2nd edition ruleset since I was a teen.  The combination of nostalgia for the old days and the satisfaction of fielding the colorful 2nd edition army I've been working on for the last year was an awesome feeling.  Unfortunately that feeling didn't translate into onboard success since the Catachans defeated my Dark Angels 12VP to 5 VP.  However since I play more for the love of the game rather than competitiveness, getting our asses handed to us by a bunch of baseline humans was only a small speed bump in the road to pure happiness that this classic game generated.  The Wachtmeister took notes during the game so I will leave the detailed battle report to him.  Follow along after the jump for some awesome pictures of the action and a version of the events that fits with the perceptions of my members of the 1st Legion...

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - June Completed!

Combat Squad Astelan

The variety of units that I've painted in the second season has been a lot of fun and make for a more dynamic looking army next to the models I painted for the first season. 

Squad Astelan bears the grey eagles and trim of the 6th Company, composed of all tactical squads as a reserve company to reinforce the three main battle companies (3rd, 4th, 5th).

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - June WIP

So Many Greens To Blend...

Well you can tell my kids got out of school two weeks ago for the summer since my blog out put suddenly dropped to nothing.  Almost all of my hobby time has been tied up in getting my painting done for the 40K2ndAC II.  Some quick pictures to show this month's entry as I worked on them over the last few weeks.

Dr The Viking will be posting the monthly summary for the project in the next few days so I won't beat him to the punch with pictures of the finished minis, but be sure to check back in a few days for pictures of everything I've painted for season two so far.  Thanks for reading and stay safe out there!

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #134 Back Cover

 

Battle Report Incoming!

 Ready The Cardboard Bunkers And Freshly Flocked Hills!

One of the members of the 40K2ndAC community lives in my area and we are going to get together in a few weeks at a neutral venue to have our first 2nd edition game with the 1,000 points we painted for season one of the challenge.  This will be a warm up and refamiliarization game for both of us since we haven't played with the classic rules since the early 90's.  In a fun bit of bonus news, Dr The Viking is busy planting the seeds of a gaming meetup for many members of the challenge in August.  The idea is for us to all to play with our closest colleagues in the challenge but in many separate locations of the globe: Australia, Europe, Asia, and North America where the many participants of the challenge reside. More details on this global gaming meetup will appear in the future so stayed tuned to this space dear readers!

2nd Squadron, 2nd Company

 Squad Validus

Let's ignore for the moment the fact that the two flags in this picture are going in different directions, physics in the 41st millennium are weird ;-)

Roaring into battle this month are the first finished Ravenwing models I have added to my army.  Composed of the three bikes from the Dark Vengeance starter set plus an attack bike I lightly kitbashed to make it more Ravenwing.  They have been seeing a lot more use for me on the tabletop lately as my son and I play through a crusade campaign and I explore the new rules upgrades for Ravenwing in 9th addition.  These were the first unit out of the Dark Vengeance box that I painted, but do to a lack of confidence in my transfer and bannering skills I only recently fully finished them so I'll take the easy win of posting them here.  Follow along after the jump for pictures of these fast moving battle brothers of the Ravenwing...

I Expect You To Die, Mr Bond.

 

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #134

 

Ahhhh 1991, when you didn't have to contemplate why a Dark Angels officer with Terminator honors was leading a squad of Blood Angels tactical marines on a space hulk :-)

Blood Bowl WIP III

Trolls And Orcs And Gobbos, Oh My...

My son needed a troll for his orc team so instead of ponying up $35 plus tax for GW, I dug this long forgotten chaos ogre out of my bitz box and drafted him for the cause.  With green flesh and colors that match the orc team I think it disguises the fact that this guy started life as a ogre and makes him have a passing resemblance to a troll.

These orcs were my first attempt at the classic paint it yellow then shade it green approach to orc flesh.  I really like the vibrant color and dark recesses this method produced so I will have to remember the formula when I get around to finally painting my RT orks.

Blood Bowl - #58 Jack Crambert

Wolfenburg Steelers Blitzer

My first completed model for my human team is Jack "Crambert".  Based on legendary Pittsburgh Steeler Jack Lambert, a linebacker who literally embodies the look of 1970's American football.

While looking for an Old World Empire town with "burg" as a suffix I found the perfectly named Wolfenburg which sounds sufficiently macho while also allowing me to use my Space Wolves transfers as the team logo.  This was the first model where I tested the yellow and black scheme.  I think with future models on the team I will go a little stronger on the black highlights, they seem to really vanish when I gloss varnished the model.  I don't varnish every model in my collection but these Blood Bowl minis get handled so much just in the course of one game I think it's a necessity.  While I'm going to try and get as many models "pitch-ready" as I can first, Jack here gives me the goal post of what I want my final product to be when I have the time to finish the details and numbers.  Thanks for stopping by and stay safe out there...

 

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - May Completed!

 Dr. Jones Said That Crystal Skull Should Be Here Somewhere...

Epistolary Azathor Commands the Deathwing squad holding the ruins of the xenos temple while scout squad Rhellion advances in search of the foe.

Another family picture of all the units I have painted so far for the 40K2ndAC II.  Epistolary Librarian Azathor was an awesome model to paint this month.  It was nice to have a whole month to focus on one miniature and I have always wanted to paint one of the original Terminator Librarians ever since my early days of reading WD in 1990.  The intricacy of the Aegis hood and force axe were interesting details to explore and painting blue armor was a nice break from all the usual dark green. The lessons I learned from wet blending with the greens and last month's bone white were able to be applied to the blue armor and gave it a look I really liked.  The banner is a slight cheat since it came from the 3rd edition codex, but I think the visual meta in early third still hewed very close to the banners of 2nd edition.  Sometimes the geek in me lives for sentences like that one where I can make the 30 years I have spent in the hobby sound like I had a career in very esoteric academia :-)

Three months into season 2 and I have already painted 700 plus points so I really need to start thinking about bonus models.  I have already planned out how I have enough models left if this endlessly enjoyable project goes into season 3, so I'll have to plan carefully not to dip into that material.  There's a fun twist on the bonus models that other participants have taken in the past that may be the route I go.  So that cliffhanger will hopefully have all you bat-viewers tuning into the same bat-time and same bat-channel here in the future.  Stay safe out there...

Be sure to follow along with all the great entries from all the participants for the month of May over at:

Dr The Viking's Cowabunga

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #129 Back Cover

 What Ever Happened To Lothar Bubonicus?

 

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #129

 

As much as I love some of the earlier issues that were my first WD purchases, this issue is still my favorite WD of all time.  I think this was the 4th or 5th one I picked up back in 1990 when I was first getting into the hobby.  Loads of important WH40K lore content including History of Space Marine Armor by Rick Priestly which still stands as my favorite piece of the lore GW has ever created.  It also featured the highly detailed painting guide for Mk VII armor that still forms the basis of the schemes I use on my Dark Angels today.  There were also updated vehicle rules, the first descriptions of artificer armor, the first beta rules for overwatch, intricately detailed Painboy rules for orks,  and, in a move that has the most bearing on the current era: this was the legendary issue where space marine Toughness went from 3 to 4!  It's hard to believe all this content was in one humble issue and that's why as much as I enjoy many other issues, this one still takes the crown for me.  Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Blood Bowl WIP II

 Match Ready

The two catchers on my team have had their base coats applied along with an all over wash of Reikland Flesh shade.

My long held dream of playing in a Blood Bowl league is finally reaching fruition.  Some friends and our kids are the participants and we kicked off the season with our first matches last weekend.  There are only five participants for our inaugural season but that's enough for us to all get some games in against a variety of opponents.  In the fall I'd like to run a season with more players concurrent to the American football season so this spring season will be great practice for that endeavor.  Follow along after the jump for more pictures of my human team, the Wolfenburg Steelers.

Truth

 

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #128 Back Cover

 Strange Beasts Of Nurgle...

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - May WIP

 My Least Favorite Stage

Trying to get all the base coats on these very detailed and very old minis is always daunting.  As I have written before I feel like the base coast stage always make the miniatures look clownish.  On my particular models, my choice to add many different colors to all the details and blow the three color rule out of the water probably only magnifies this comical appearance.  That will change once all the colors are on and the shades start defining the different areas by darkening the recesses.  I have to rely on my prior witness of these transformations to keep me going through what seems like an endless process just to cover up the primer with my chosen colors for all the different parts of the model.  Make sure to follow the links to see all the great work completed by the participants in the challenge for the month of April.

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #128

 

WH40K 2nd Edition Army Challenge II - April Completed!

 

Just a quick post to show off this month's entry for the 40K2ndAC II, plus a group photo of what I've painted for season II of the challenge so far.  These Terminators add some heavily armored punch to my second edition army list.  Once I have some decals applied to the Terminators I'll add a post with all the angles of the minis, they were a lot of fun to paint.  Thanks for reading and be sure to check out all the great participants in the challenge:

https://c0wabunga.com/2021/05/01/40k-2nd-ac-ii-month-2-wave-1/

Cover Gallery - White Dwarf #126 Back Cover

 

Many earlier posts have spoken of my love of the old Space Hulk range of WH40K miniatures.  This week's back cover is a fantastic example of how the 'Eavy Metal team beautifully rendered these classic minis that still look amazing thirty years later.