Change of plans

I was going to see if I could finish off the post-game considerations I did from my last game with EV, chronicled in my first ever video battle report, but as I was cruising the interwebs today I found something that I really like.  Heroes of Armageddon is a charity project in the same vein as the Storm Wardens of last year.  This year four "celebrity" painters will be doing armies from the what I believe is the third war for Amageddon, though I don't have my books handy to be certain.  Codex: Armageddon came out at the high tide of my gaming, at least in terms of games played, and concerns a lot of things that I like about 40k (Orks and Blood Angels).  I really liked the seasonal feel of the codex, much like how PP does the leagues for Warmachine, and I always wished GW would do more things like it.  They seem to have moved away from that idea sadly, but it's been on my mind lately while considering orks and now I see this project pop up.



Four bloggers, all of whom I read to one degree or another, are each doing "centerpieces" for 3000 point armies.  I've linked to Dave Taylor's blog before, and it's where I found out about this project in the first place.   He's doing a Steel Legion IG army.  I like the aesthetics of the Steel Legion, but the fact that they're all metal puts me off, not to mention all the transports.  I like IG in general, except the buying part.  All those tanks add up.  Regardless, Dave Taylor does some amazing work and the Steel Legion seem like they'll suit him well.  Since the name of the project is Heroes of Armageddon, I'm guessing Yarrick will appear in this list.

The guy who does Spikey Bits is doing foot slogging Orks.  Orks are an obvious winner in terms of getting me to look, and Thrakka is as iconic of a character as the game has.  I think Spikey Bits is somehow linked to a store in Richmond, which isn't exactly local but is at least in the same area.  I check this blog out less than I'd like, but now I'll have a good reason to look at it more.  I mostly see naked conversions there, all of which have been very nice.

I read Goatboy's blog for odd reasons.  I enjoy his posts occasionally, or at least parts of most posts.  I'm not really a fan of the very dark style of painting, which is unfortunate because that's what he does.  That said, he cranks out models at a staggering pace, and they look pretty good when you take volume into account.  If I could paint the same number of models in the same amount of time to the same standard, I'd be happy.  He's also a creative modeler, as witnessed by his Word Bearers counts-as army that helped stir an internet poop storm about counts-as.  He's doing Speed Freaks, another win on the interest front.  I can only guess that the character he'll be doing is Wazdakka.  Color me very curious.

That just leaves Blood Angels.  Jawaballs was one of the first names that came up when I started looking into Blood Angels again, and while there's less BA content on his site than there used to be, it's still a good read.  His tanks in particular are wonderful and I'm sure he'll paint up a mean Dante.

So all of these folks are painting an army to be raffled off for charity.  They're supporting Doctors Without Borders in this venture, which is as worthy a cause as any.  They're basically doing $1 tickets that go into a drawing for the armies, which I assume will go to four different people.  The Storm Wardens package was very nice and I imagine these will be as well.  A good chance to support a good cause and have a chance at winning some stuff as well.

In my hobby news, I got the paints out last night to work on the orks, but had a surprise visitor that put a halt on painting.  I was all set to do some this afternoon as well, but that time became posting time.  I did get a good look at the models last night though, and have a plan of attack for when I get to them, which will hopefully be tonight or tomorrow.  The Blood Angels will be back in action tomorrow against EV's Deathwing.  Last time was a bit of a rout for the boys in red, so we'll see how this one goes.  I may do another video or stick with the tried and true pictures + words.  I'll be breaking in new dice as well.  No more blue dice for my red lads.  I also had an idea for a custom dice bag that I hope works out.  In the immediate future I'm going to see if I can figure out the Vallejo decal stuff and get all my assault marines done.  I got more varnish at Home Depot, though it's Rustoleum instead of the Krylon I've been using.  I'm sure it won't make a difference, but one never knows.