A day of accomplished goals

     I started painting the second batch of assault marines in earnest yesterday.  I had done the initial Bloody Red pass on 2.5 of them over the weekend, and with the LPC deadline coming closer every day I needed to start making some real progress.  With that in mind over in my LPC WIP thread on the Bolter & Chainsword I said that I wanted to get the red ready for highlighting, which was an ambitious but realistic goal.

How they started the day.

     As a side note, it appears you can't stick a picture halfway into a paragraph.  This is unfortunate, but perhaps I can figure it out in future installments.

     You may have gathered that I reached my goal for the day.  While it still took all day, with very large breaks for socializing and non-painting activities, it felt like the process went quicker.  This could be because of familiarity with the process, having done it twice before, or it could just be that I'm feeling more comfortable with painting in general.  Whatever the reason, I made good progress yesterday and hope to repeat it today.  While I would like to finish this batch off, I'll be happy if I finish the helmets, chest eagles/parchments/skulls, green details, and get a start on the black and metal bits.  This seems like a big list, but considering that 90% of the minis are red armor, which I don't plan on touching, I think this is well within my reach.  If I can keep this sort of momentum, I may well finish this batch over the weekend, though that is very optimistic.

How they finished the day.

     I made it to the FLGS on Tuesday, a trip I've been meaning to make for a week or more.  I wanted to get the new White Dwarf, which has features on Blood Angels and Empire.  The FLGS has a convoluted magazine setup, but this is a known factor and I'm always prepared to look carefully when I'm after a particular issue.  I initially found the February 2011 issue, which I thought might have been the one I wanted, but considering the lack of Blood Angels or Empire on the cover, not even a mention in a blurb, and that it was for the current month instead of the coming month as magazines normally work, I figured it wasn't the one I was after and continued my search.  I should also mention that just about everything, including magazines, is shrink-wrapped at the FLGS, so simply opening the magazine and flipping through it is not an option.  Next to the February issue I spotted one for April that had a big, red marine on the cover.  April seemed a bit much for future-dating, but what do I know about how magazines work now?  April was feasible, so I got it and headed home.  I opened it up at a stoplight and started flipping from the back, as is my custom, and found that all the advertised new releases have been out for nearly a year, since the Blood Angels codex came out.  Smelling something fishy, I took another look at the cover and saw my mistake: the issue was for April 2010.  I've been careful about the year and haven't gotten skunked by it until now.  Fortunately there are a couple painting articles, which is what I was after mostly, notably one on how to do gems, blood drops, and vials.  While it doesn't have anything on the Empire, it scratches most of my itches, so it's close enough.  I'm considering stopping by another, not-so-friendly, not-so-local game store today to find the issue I intended, and maybe a mini or two that the FLGS never has in stock.