Monday, May 23, 2011

Airbrush replacement...

A word to the wise, when it comes to getting an airbrush name brands tend to be quite a bit better constructed. I made the mistake a number of months back of buying a cheap airbrush from some company in China. It worked great for the first week... then became a huge pain in the butt to work with. So I just dealt with it for a few months, until I reached the 'what was I thinking' point and went and bought a new Iwata brush. The change from cheap to Iwata was amazing. The new brush works sooooo much better it is like night and day.

Now, something that can be helpful for those doing a lot of hobby things.

Hobby Lobby is a great place to pick up odds and ends, as well as basic materials for hobby use. To make things even better hobbylobby.com allows you to sign up for their weekly newsletter. This newsletter gives a new coupon every Sunday for use in their physical stores OR for use with online ordering. Some weeks it is for specific things, others it is a straight percentage off of one regularly priced item. Many times it is either 25% or 40% off that one item's regular price. So signing up for the newsletter is a no brainer if you want to reduce the cost of certain items in their store (such as airbrushes/airbrush accessories).

Until next time!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Finalized DieCon GT list

With DieCon only a few weeks away, I've completed finalization on my Blood Angels list for the GT. At 2k this list has given me so many headaches it's silly, far to many ways to go at that point level. But, in the end, I've settled on a DoA list with Mephiston.



2000 Pts - Blood Angels Roster - Meph DoA 2k

Total Roster Cost: 2000

HQ: Mephiston, Lord of Death (1#, 250 pts)
   1 Mephiston, Lord of Death, 250 pts

: Honour Guard (5#, 350 pts)
   1 Honour Guard, 80 pts + Chapter Banner 30 + Equip with Jump Packs 50
      1 Sanguinary Novitiate, 23 pts
      1 Honour Guard, 68 pts = (base cost 23 + Power Fist x1 25 + Storm Shield x1 20)
      1 Honour Guard, 68 pts = (base cost 23 + Power Fist x1 25 + Storm Shield x1 20)
      1 Honour Guard, 58 pts = (base cost 23 + Lightning Claw x1 15 + Storm Shield x1 20)
      1 Honour Guard, 53 pts = (base cost 23 + Meltagun x1 10 + Storm Shield x1 20)

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 255 pts)
   8 Assault Squad, 159 pts = 8 * 18 (base cost 18) + Infernus Pistol 15
      1 Assault Marine with Meltagun, 28 pts = (base cost 18 + Meltagun 10)
      1 Sergeant, 68 pts = (base cost 28) + Infernus Pistol x1 15 + Power Fist x1 25

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 255 pts)
   8 Assault Squad, 159 pts = 8 * 18 (base cost 18) + Infernus Pistol 15
      1 Assault Marine with Meltagun, 28 pts = (base cost 18 + Meltagun 10)
      1 Sergeant, 68 pts = (base cost 28) + Infernus Pistol x1 15 + Power Fist x1 25

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Furioso Dreadnought, 140 pts = (base cost 125 + Extra Armor 15 + Talons)

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought (1#, 140 pts)
   1 Furioso Dreadnought, 140 pts = (base cost 125 + Extra Armor 15)

Elite: Sanguinary Priest (2#, 180 pts)
   1 Sanguinary Priest, 0 pts
      1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour, 90 pts = (base cost 50 + Jump Pack 25 + Power Sword 15)
      1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour, 90 pts = (base cost 50 + Jump Pack 25 + Power Sword 15)

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 215 pts)
   1 Stormraven Gunship, 215 pts = (base cost 200 + Extra Armor 15)

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 215 pts)
   1 Stormraven Gunship, 215 pts = (base cost 200 + Extra Armor 15)

Okay, now here are the disadvantages of the list as I see them:
Short on bodies, with only 32 models total this list is very 'elite' in feel at 2k points.
Depends on deep striking, or doing a flank smash. Anti-DS will hurt to a fair extent.
Not a shooty army, needs to get stuck into CC as fast as possible.

Then there are the advantages I see to this army:
Can kill most anything in CC.
A fair amount of melta, and a lot of Pfists.
FNP and FC bubbles for all the troops and HQ (Meph + Honor Guard = 1 unit)
Can basically pick the point of attack out of DS, DoA helping to get more units out quickly without stringing out dribs and drabs.

Tactically this army works on the idea of loading each raven with a furioso, one loading up with Meph+honour guard, the other possibly loading with a combat squad from one of the ASM squads. Deep Strike everything in, and do everything possible to concentrate them on one section of the enemy army. Then begin to roll through other units, with the ravens as fire support and armor suppression.

Overall I think this will work, it's downsides can be its downfall, but in the end I think that using it in such a way as to keep constant pressure on enemy forces will allow the low model count to not get it wiped.

Comments, critiques, suggestions, etc always accepted. Feel free to speak your mind!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Clearing out some space

Well seeing as I have just a 'touch' to much in the way of miniatures/models... and limited storage space... I've put a bit of it up on eBay today. In the next week as I go through everything I'll be putting more up for sale there. Today saw the introduction of an OOP Catachan Jungle Fighters Army box w/6 additional Catachan Mortars (including crew arms), as well as a Gaunt's Ghosts box with an additional commisar/captain fig from the 1994 GW line (metal). Both auctions are easily accessible with my widget on the right hand side of the blog, so feel free to take a look, bid, buy them outright... I gotta get space for projects I'm working on. Not to mention I may be getting some commission work in the upcoming future.

So feel free to comment, etc. And have a great night!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Delays delays

Things were going so great, then suddenly I somehow strained my wrist. So my productivity went right into the toilet. Can't work for more than 20 minutes at a time without major pain, which is extremely annoying. Though there are some upsides to this lack of painting/modelling... Dean's List at the University again, and a Summer off to work on hobby/business things before I get going on my Bachelors program in Business Administration.

I've had a lot of time to think on some things, and came to a few realizations.

1) Putting together to-do lists is a life saver.
2) My 'fandex' project has to go on hold indefinitely, due to a number of reasons.
3) Need to sell some of my 'stock' to pay for some upcoming business related things.
4) Must finalize my Blood Angels Successor army.

To-do lists are a life saver, they've helped me keep on track and not go off on my 'normal' tangents of sporadic hobby work. Definitely have to get a little better at time optimization, but overall they've done a lot of good.

The 'fandex' is a great idea, but until I get a lot of other things out of the way it's just far to time consuming. So it's on the shelf until I can get the dedicated time for work on it.

Having to sell some of my stock has brought me to the point of doing an inventory. I have a TON of stuff I haven't touched yet, or only got to the priming phase. Then again I have a LOT of stuff I never even opened... So I'll be having a 'cleaning out the workspace' sale starting Friday on eBay. This will include my 3rd Ed. Space Hulk game (never opened), Catachan Jungle Fighters Army box (The older out of print one), and some other things. But overall I'm just wanting to get back what I paid on this stuff, so keep an eye out as I'll be posting each time an item goes up on eBay.

I've reached the point where I have an army that I can field, but it has a handful of figs I have to finish. As well as some weathering and detail work on some of it. At this point I'd put it at 80% finished overall. My goal is 2250 points total, and I currently have 1700 points finished to what I consider to be 'Excellent' quality. And roughly 300 points finished up to what I feel is 'table top' quality. I won't be taking any pics until I get at least 2k worth to what I feel is excellent quality, and with my wrist being what it is that might be about 2 weeks off. So basically just in time for the DieCon GT. One issue I'm debating is whether I should do a display board for them or not.

Needless to say I need to spend more time blogging and working, but it's been a hectic couple weeks, as well as painful. I'll be posting more though now that school is over until September, and I have a few articles roughed out that I'll be posting up soon on hobby topics.

Have fun and feel free to comment!