Hobby Goal: paint a unit of Flesh Tearers

Thought I'd bring this back because I feel like getting some painting done this week. I want to finish up some Flesh Tearers because its been a while since I touched that project. I built a few units a while back and any random one will do for this Hobby Goal (though it will probably be some Sternguard I built recently because I absolutely adore Sternguard).

I also want to focus these Hobby Goals on developing my painting skills so, as often as possible, I'm going to have list out some techniques I want to improve through the goal.

Things To Do

Getting a consistent shade on the red armour was a real problem for me when I was originally working on this project. The simple solution, in theory, are Duncan Rhodes' axiomatic “two thin coats” and trying to recess wash the armour (before I just slathered Nuln Oil all over it and whilst that gave me a deep red it also ended up rather inconsistent).

I also want to try out the new AoS-themed golds which look to be brighter than the older golds.

Optionally, I also want to try highlighting some of the black elements, probably just the shoulder pads. I don't highlight often except through drybrushing and its probably about time I learned. 

October Goals

Hobby Goals

Getting a real start on the Empire, so by the end of the month I want to AT LEAST...

… paint my Handgunners unit.

… paint my Battle Wizard Lord General.

… build my Demigryph Knights and Knightly Orders.

… work out conversions for the final three Battle Wizards for the Drinking Society (the Grey, Amber and Jade members).

The big game is scheduled for the last week of November now, so I have more time than I thought to get this army up and running.

Audio Catch-Up

I have a couple of Big Finish box sets sitting on my hard drive, all of them ones I was really looking forward to so I should probably listen to them:

The Early Adventures: The Yes Men

The Companion Chronicles: The First Doctor volume 1

The Third Doctor Adventures volume 1

I really want to see how Tim Treloar works as the Third Doctor. The logical part of my mind knows that re-casting the Third Doctor is no different from re-casting any part when the original actor has passed away but the fan-reptile brain can't help but consider it heresy. Same goes for Elliot Chapman as Ben Jackson in The Yes Men, though I'm told he doesn't have too big a part there because they were still trying the idea out.

DVD/Netflix Catch-Up

Since Jessica Jones goes up on Netflix next month I really need to finish Daredevil, which is amazing but exausting. Same goes for polishing off the first season box set of Arrow.

Social

My old friend Jon is passing through London on Sunday and I am meeting him for a drink. This will be the first time I go to London alone and I am terrified. I know the odds of something going wrong are incredibly small since there are so many other people there for people to mug and murder that my anonymous ass isn't going to stand out from the crowd but, still, it's London and all I'm going to do is sit in a pub outside a railway station for a few hours. 

Getting Back On The Hobby Horse

I was surprised, finding my hobby diary, that I haven't actually finished a model in nearly a year. Its the usual story: I start something, I get distracted, life gets in the way and so on. I really, really need to get back on this horse, especially as I've just acquired a load of Wood Elves models from a friend who's simply lost interest in the army (in exchange for some Dwarfs I want rid of for essentially the same reason).

So this coming week I have the simplest possible hobby goal: start painting a model, any model, and finish it. Not sure what, doesn't matter what, though out-of-production female Wood Elf Lord Matt gave me does rather appeal (though she'll need acid bathing to get rid of a truly hideous green basecoat). Or the Harlequin Solitaire I impulse bought when it came out.

Let's see if I can manage just this: one model in one week. 

Hobby Goals for February and March

FEBRUARY HOBBY GOALS

Passed: 2 of 3

I did get my 1000 points Space Ork built, which was good for getting some games in (another one tomorrow) but bad from the perspective that I now have a huge number of barely painted Orks sitting to one side of my paint station.

I did get a start on my Inquisitorial Warband with the models I've already posted and ordering some others to do more conversions.

Failed: 1 of 3

The Heroic Scale Female Heads are currently out of stock at Statuesque Miniatures so I couldn't order them. Sadly, I'm also getting cold feet on them since I've been working on other projects in the meantime. Also, they're metal, not resin as I originally believed and I bloody hate working with metal.

MARCH HOBBY GOALS

Goal the First: Paint 250 points of Space Orks

With most other armies I'd have said 500 points but this is a horde army we're talking about so 250 it is. I really, really want to beat this goal good and hard but getting a quarter of the army up and finished seems a decent goal for what's looking to be a sunny month where I won't want to be indoors much during the day.

Goal the Second: Build my Looted Wagon

I've got it mostly planned out, I just need to get the glue and clippers out. It also gives me something to do with all the Mek Gunz parts I have left spare.

Goal the Third: Paint the first four members of the warband

Striking while the iron's hot, I don't want to lose inspiration on this project now I've finally started it. 

Inquisitor Hex's Warband pt.1: The Inner Circle

Apologies for the quality of photographs, can't seem to get good light today. Still, good enough for unpainted miniatures and I did so want to post the conversions before the end of the month, starting the warband being one of my hobby goals for February. So here they are: Inquisitor Hex and the most longstanding members of his warband, his most trusted lieutenants (click pictures to embiggen):

Inquisitor Laurento Hex of the Ordo Xenos

I didn't want Hex to be too showy. He's not the blood and thunder type of Inquisitor who storms into combat clad in power armour and swinging a thunder hammer. Rather, he's an investigator who prefers to work undercover, adopting a role and playing just a little larger than life. He was an actor before he was an inquisitor. The Empire Witch Hunter seemed low key enough, especially once I'd sawn off the huge Puritan hat and substituted a head from the Cadian Command Squad.

Alvin Callum, Imperial Strategist

Callum is a very old character of mine, my point of view character for every Imperial army I've collected. He started as a reporter for The 700 Wonders Of The Imperium, reporting on an Imperial Crusade. Yes, he was Ford Prefect 40k, I admit it. He ended up joining the warband where his multi-track mind and genius for finding connections soon made him Hex's closest confidante and even, though Hex would never admit it, his closest friend. They've been apart for a while with Callum deep undercover at Imperial Strategy, but now they're together again and I don't intend to part them again any time soon.

I put more thought into this one than any of the other conversions: he's wearing a Cadian officer's uniform but the head (from the Empire Pistoliers sprue) has long, flowing hair to show he's not “proper” Guard and the pile of scrolls in his hand (from the Empire Luminark) refers to his past as a scrivener and his current role as the warband's researcher and mission co-ordinator.

Junko Antioch, Sanctioned Psyker

I've been reading Graham McNeil's … of Mars trilogy and one concept that really grabbed me was the idea of “Ultramarian optimism”. I never gave Junko much background back in the day so I decided he's from Macragge because the idea of an optimistic sanctioned psyker appealed to me, hence the Ultra on his stave. He's a powerful telekine and very much the muscle of the warband, though he has some talents as a prognosticator.

Legs and torso come from the Cadian Command Squad, the arms from a Leman Russ tank commander and the stave is made from the Ultra out of the Space Marine Commander atop pole from the Empire Flagellants.

Punichello “Punch” Texman, Rogue Trader

Every warband needs transport and in this case its provided by Punch, the eleventh son of rogue trader Julius Texman. Julius' life was saved by Hex many years ago and in return he lent the inquisitor a spaceship, a skeleton crew and one of his less immediately useful sons on indefinite loan.

I've never liked the plastic Commissar sculpt, I think its overdone and badly proportioned but what it does have is ridiculously ostentatious clothes. I got rid of the silly sword, replaced with with a hand from a Cadian Command Squad special weapon and swapped out the head for a Bretonnian Knight Errant (with a ruff made from a purity seal to cover an embarrassingly raggedy join). Paint it in ludicrously clashing colours and I should have a typically over-dressed rogue trader. 

Hobby Goals for February 2015

Last day of January and so I'm setting myself some goals for the shortest month, which promises to be snowy and ideal for getting things done.

Goal the first: Finish building my Ork army

Dave's 40k campaign kicks off this month and I really need to get some more work done on the Orks. Most of my opponents don't mind fighting “in progress” miniatures so all I need to do is get the things built and slap some base colours on them.

Solid commitment is to get the 1000 points list built, which just means getting my Deffkoptas and Killa Kans done. If I can get the physical tally up to 1500 so much the better.

Goal the second: Order those head from Statuesque Miniatures

Because I really, really, really want to make some female Guard.

Goal the third: Make a start on my Inquisitorial Warband

A project that I have been meaning to get around to for some time: making the models to represent my Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Laurento Hex and his retinue. Since I'm planning on doing some loyalist Guard it seems like high time to get around to this little side project.

I'm not sure what “making a start” will actually mean but I want to at least build Hex himself and maybe some other members of the warband by the end of the month. 

Oh, sanding bases, my old enemy

So today I built the eight Knights Errant I intend to finish by the end of the month and this thought occurred:

I don't think any Warhammer hobbyist likes every part of the hobby. Some, my friend Dan for instance, find painting the models time-consuming and boring. Another friend of mine dislikes building rank and file models, again because of the time-consuming aspect. Commenters on rumour sites hate every single aspect of the hobby but that's their own bizarre psychosis and I'm happy to leave them to it.

Me? Sanding bases. I hate that there's this stage that no matter where I put it gets in the way of me finishing the damn model. I tend to sand the bases before spraying them black (always black, I hate white undercoat) because waiting a day for the PVA to cure before painting them is slightly preferable to doing it after finishing the paint job because then they can gather dust that affects the varnish's finish.

Luckily, this is a small gripe compared to the other possibilities. I like building the models, especially if I can add some little touches of extra personality to them with my extensive collection of spare parts. I actually really, really enjoy painting models now that I've got the basic skills down.

I may not love painting so much after trying to finish a whole lance of Knights Errant to my preferred standard but we'll see where we are once its done.