Another post about metallics

Group shot: Sanguinary Guard version.

A variation on a theme today, with no very little talk of Grey Knights.  Yesterday was very productive in the painting realm.  While I made no progress on the jump packs, I made quite a bit on the Sanguinary Guard, as you can see to the right.  I knew I needed to get in a good day of painting and while I got started a little later than I'd hoped, I still managed to get the armor done.  I wanted to get a test model done, just to make sure that I had the right idea and process, but because time is a factor I decided to jump right in.  As you're no doubt aware, the LPC deadline is a week from today, and while I've been worried about it for better than a month now, it looks like things will work out.  There are plenty of little details on the Sanguinary Guard, but they're all the same sorts of details that I've been doing on the assault squad, so I have my approach down and it should be a straight shot to the finish line.  The glaives and banner could be interesting, since I haven't done either of those before, but I think I'm going to just go with the studio approach to the glaives and I've been looking forward to the banner since I cracked the box open in January.  Another two or three days of good painting and I should be done, all done, done done, completely finished (except those decals), and that's a nice thought.

Rampant speculation

Not quite what I meant...

I've been reading most everything that says "Grey Knight" on it lately in hopes of gleaning some idea of how things will work.  The codex doesn't come out until next month, yet somehow lists are popping up all over the place. The "black boxes" are no doubt to blame, and I'm sure I could find a pdf of the codex in the darker corners of these interwebs if I were inclined to look, but I actually enjoy this period of scrounging for information and trying to piece together a feel for the army.  I won't be able to do this in a couple weeks so I want to make the most of it while I can.

Metal mania

These guys want metal too.

Still waiting on my order, while in the background the clock ticks on.  I thought about sending Neal @ the Warstore an email asking him to send on the metallics now and the rest of the order whenever it arrives so that I could get going on the Sanguinary Guard.  Having dug into the backlog orders part of Warstore lately, I see that what's holding my order up is the metal.  So much for that idea.

So very close

New technique, new thumbnail size.

Monkey wrenches do abound lately, especially in my painting plans.  My still-absent Warstore order tops the list, though I have myself to blame for that one.  Apparently some of the stuff I ordered was out of stock, which is holding up the whole thing.  I have exactly two weeks to finish my LPC pledge, which you'll recall is the amount of time I wanted to have, at minimum, to do the Sanguinary Guard squad.  If my order doesn't show tomorrow, and I have no reason to think that it will, I'm looking at Monday at best and likely later into the week.  So I'll have maybe a week to do the squad, which is less than ideal.  I took a look at the models the other day to see if I could get a start on them, but no such luck.  The vast majority of the models will be gold, even more than the regular marines are red, so at best I could get the eyes done, and there aren't really eyes to speak of.  While this is unfortunate for getting a head-start, it does mean that once I get the gold down they should go fairly quick.  I'm considering doing the wings now, since I can at least do the "feathers," but I have other fish to fry at the moment.

Short update from yesterday

Le shot du group.

I didn't quite finish off the last of the assault marines yesterday, but I came pretty close.  I still have to do the writing and basing, plus armor highlights.  Since I've been on the fence about doing this at all, I'll consider it while I'm between painting sessions.  I'm sure I'll end up doing the highlights, if only because the rest of the squad is highlighted, but I'll consider all the same.  I'm pleased with this last batch overall, both in terms of quality and time.  Speed has improved with each group, and I see no reason it can't get a little faster still.  I'll plateau eventually, but every new refinement of paint order makes things better.

A painting hat trick

You know it, you love it: the group shot.

Three days in a row of painting is a pretty nice thing.  I got more done today than I thought I would.  I did the helmets, blacks, and whites finished, plus the armor up to the highlighting.  While highlighting the weapons it occurred to me that I should have done them like I did the chapter badges, meaning a grey base and Devlan Mud washes.  I want the squad to all look the same though, so the weapons got the usual treatment.  Even if I didn't use the idea this time, it'll be something to try on the next batch.  The painting has definitely been going quicker this round, though I am still uncertain if it's because of practice or feeling the time crunch.

Got some painting in

Group shot: day one.

I found a little time over the past two days to get some painting in.  Despite my earlier resolve to paint inside to outside, I have basecoated most of the models to allow me to do one big wash on the entire mini.  I'm not sure if this will save time or not, but this batch already looks further along than the others have after a similar amount of time (~2.5 hours).  I'll have more time tomorrow and hope to make plenty of progress.  Finishing them is probably too much to hope for, but if I can go back to inside-out and get through the armor done I think I'll be satisfied.

Good intentions, bad timing

Clearly my attempt to post every day hasn't worked out quite as planned.  I've had barely a moment to sit over the past week.  This is the first time I've turned my computer on since my last post, so you can imagine what hobby time has been available.  This is troubling as the LPC deadline of the end of March gets closer with each passing day, but there isn't much I can do about it just now.  I'm looking to add a couple metallics to my collection in the hopes that I'll be able to finish the assault squad and Sanguinary Guard in time, but we'll see how that goes. 

Regardless of my current time crunch, I'm not going anywhere.  Updates may be sporadic for a while, but that's happened before in this space.  Consider this an announcement of a future triumphant return to wargame blogging.

Why I love Devastators, part three

Not this kind of Predator.

The final popular Devestator alternative is the Predator.  The so-called "dakka" Predator is cheap, bristling with guns, and has better armor and mobility than the Rifleman.  A baseline vanilla Marine Predator is a mere 60 points and comes with an autocannon turret as the default.  The dakka Predator uses the 25 point Heavy Bolter sponson option, resulting in an 85 point vehicle that can crank out up to eight shots per turn.  I went through my thoughts on the autocannon versus the missile launcher yesterday, and considering that the Heavy Bolter shares all the shortcomings of the autocannon, but suffers them more acutely than the AC, you can probably infer what I think about the dakka Predator as a viable alternative to missile Devastators.

Why I love Devastators, part two

Dipping my toe into counts-as.

Part two of why I love Blood Angels Devastators, especially the missile launcher flavor, starts with a fear of nothing, or perhaps fearlessness.  The so-called "Rifleman" dreadnaught, armed with a pair of twin-linked autocannons, is often advanced as an alternative to devastators.  A Rifleman can put out an equal number of shots (4) as the Devastators can, and the twin-linking means all of those shots are likely to hit, whereas one or two Devastators will probably miss per turn.  The Rifleman can also shoot while moving, so terrain will cause less LoS problems since the dread can adjust itself without losing a shooting phase.  Cost is always a factor, points-wise, and the Rifleman shines here.  Vanilla marines can get a pair of dreads, pumping out eight shots per turn, for 250 points.  Thorough readers or those with a sharp memory will note that this is the same price as a Sternguard squad with missile launchers and just 20 points more than a single missile launcher Devestator squad.  The accepted wisdom is that models with an armor value, like dreads, are more resilient than models with a toughness, like infantry, but I think that's situational and is a point I'll address in a bit.