T-minus who cares?

Ah victory, your taste is sweet.  While I didn't do the non-banner details last night, I knocked them out in short order this morning.  With those taken care of, I was able to spend most of the day on the banner.  I took a combined arms approach to the banner, using very thin paints and washes to build my layers.  The most annoying part was actually doing the back of the banner, which took far too many layers to come to a smooth off-white.  I have a few quibbles with the banner, such as the less-than-desired contrast between the brown background and yellow border, plus the Baal Red wash on the central blood drop not tying the gem together like I'd hoped.  Overall I'm pleased like a thing that's happy.  It doesn't look quite like the studio version, but that's fine because it's my version of the studio scheme.  The Guard turned out better than expected in general, a strong finish to a grueling marathon.  The slog was grueling enough that I don't really have much else to say about it, so a photo dump here before I formally proclaim my success at the B&C.

It's all over.  Except the varnishing...

Lookin good.