Late Is Better Than Never

Ready to hand out +1 BS.

Having sorted my computer and priming situation I have time for the post I would have done earlier.  First up are the pics from yesterday.  On left is the new Devastator sergeant.  I did some minor reposing on the arms so that they don't jumble into each other.  Now that I've primed the batch I notice the mold line still on the auspex.  I knew it was there during the build and did the best I could on it, but I see now that I missed a whole bunch.  In my defense the whole perimeter of the auspex is fine detail, so going to town on the mold line would take most of that detail with it.  I'll see what I can do about it when the primer is dry, but I may well just call it a design feature.  I hope the basing will turn out better on this group.  I put far less water in the glue mix than I usually do.  It seemed pretty solid yesterday, but I still got some ballast coming off on my fingers when I took the minis off the priming stick and set them down to dry.  I gave a couple models another layer of glue on top of the rocks and ballast.  The ballast didn't shift around as usual, but I noticed it had still moved when priming.  Two layers of glue and a layer of primer should be enough to hold the basing material in place, but I've thought the same about a single layer of glue with primer before and been proven wrong.  If the double glue works out then that'll be my new approach, though I'll need to add a step where I patch the holes that appear.  Anything that keeps that ballast on the base better.

Old vs New.

Next is the primer comparison.  On left is the old, old GW Blood Red primer with a coat of ink on top, probably an equally ancient pot of Rust Ink.  On right is the Duplicolor Rust.  The contrast in the picture is less than in person, but it's still obvious how much brighter the GW primer is, even with a coat of ink darkening it up.  I may dabble in the double spray "dusting" technique I see around the interwebs, where you spray a full coat of your color on and then add another layer from above/at an angle that is lighter than the first in both volume and hue.  I probably won't use it on the BAs regardless of how it looks since I've established a standard with the assault squad, but it will be a good learning opportunity that may find application in a different army.  If it provides the quick shading and base coating that people say it does, then it could make something like Trollbloods less arduous than they would be otherwise.

Funny looking Stormraven, isn't it?

Speaking of Trollbloods, I may pull the trigger on that deal in the near future.  Looking to see how long I have left I note that the dice/tape measure appears to have been pulled from the deal.  This is a shame as I could use a new tape measure and matching dice are always nice, but it's a good deal regardless.  I had checked the date to see how long I have to procrastinate, but now I'm a little concerned that the sale may end prematurely.  With the new video card eating up most of spending portion of my tax return, the Trollbloods are likely to be big gaming splash.  On the plus side, I'll have more time to assemble bits and figure out how to magnetize an Honor Guard.  Once again I'm thinking about using the Dark Angels robed bodies for the Honor Guard.  That way I could paint the armor red and do heraldry on the robe, so doing a shoulder pad for each each would be slightly more viable.  In the meantime the Devs await the brush.