Like a shot out of left field!

I painted an Eldar mini. 

I've always liked this model and every now and again the urge would pop into my head to paint it. However having no real want to play 40k instead quelled the notion and in the case this mini remained. This go round however, that thought was acted upon as you can see below.

This still needs matte varnishing and 'ard coat over the gems and eye lenses. I may add some writing on his bandana, something that equates to: 'Suck it Mon'keigh!'

I don't recall if this is simply an old, glorified Guardian, or rather a Dire Avenger Exarch. The point is kinda moot as I've always intended him to be an Autarch for my rinky-dink Iyanden contingent. This mini's most frequently fought battle however has been to survive the list building process and simply make it onto the tabletop!

Competing with my 2 Exodite Autarchs, of which both are better equipped and better looking than a primed white mini was the first hurdle. Then came the inevitable need for a Spirit/Farseer, as psychic accompaniment is all but required for the Eldar. To my knowledge I can only recall one game in which this Autarch was used, and that battlefield debut can be described with just one word: 

Abysmal.

Attached to a squad of Dire Avengers, I was going 2nd and on turn 1 his squad suffered 2-3 casualties. Rolling boxcars for both LD and distance to run off of the table and I was in the unenviable position of having given up 1st Blood and Warlord VPs within minutes of the game's inception. As you can imagine it prettymuch went down hill from there. After that game, this fucker should have gone the way of ebay, but its hung around long enough to get painted this week instead.

Quonset the Hut!!!

o/

Yesterday I finished my Quar-Bolt Action terrain piece. For those that missed my mention of it previously, its a very Foreign Legion monument and triage station. The project was a fun little exercise and a nice diversion from painting all of those Alpha Legion marines. The base is a piece of slate which was nicely textured for drybrushing to look like stone. However it also means that I'll have to be extra careful with this piece as one drop to the floor and it'll shatter like glass!

The spray painted camo was much more difficult than expected!

Gotta love those little leaves!

The Quar in the doorway was a bit of a test model using my new Vallejo paints. Blue skin aside (painted using good ol' GW paint), he's in the color palette of my forthcoming Bolt Action Army (which is still somewhere in transit). True its a bit drab, but then again I'm used to painting mainly sci-fi and fantasy minis. Even the greens and browns of GW's paint seems unnecessarily vibrant in comparison to replicating a 'real-world' military uniform (not that he's wearing one...).

As for the mini himself, with his neck, head, snout as well as his one remaining leg covered in protective fabric it would be a safe bet that he's a victim of some very severe burns. Possibly a former tanker or the like. Given the ridiculousness of the Quar's tank design, I would imagine that they'd be easy prey on the battlefield.

"Punishing" some new colors...

Our 1st batch of Noble Knight goodies arrived Wednesday and once again the urge to paint this ship up like Da Bad Moons icon has hit me! This however is my Beloved Wolfy's ship, so the colors of it's repaint will be up to her.

Speaking of paint, I got the above to go with a few other Vallejo paints I bought at the FLGS for my forthcoming Bolt Action army. I've always used GW's paints...and a few from Coat D'Arms which are just some of GW's former paints. These however have more paint per pot and cost less! To go along with 'em I bought a pack of 6-well palettes for $2 at the craft store, and will soon give these a try!

Short post today though as we'll soon be heading out to watch Labyrinth on the big screen! Its one of Wolfy's all time favorite movies, and we already have our tickets!

The Quar are dead. Long live the Quar!

To be clear I'm referring to my (former) army of Quar, not Zombiesmith who both makes the Quar and is alive and kicking. True, they really are lovely minis, but like so many armies of my past, I tired of painting them. That and as they were used exclusively in Bolt Action, a game which I've had something of a love/hate/yawn relationship with, I thought it was time to send them off to become trade-in credit at NobleKnight.

In Memoriam.

A few Quar did survive their exodus however. First up, the mini that Kushial gifted to me this past Christmas. As you can see above, it has been painted up as a statue. This is just the first stage in a larger Bolt Action terrain piece which will be a memorial to France's (very) Foreign Legion.

Not sure of all of the specifics yet, but the gimpy Quar above will be the statue's keeper. Whilst he appears to be doing a good job of keeping the statue clean of bird shit he doesn't seem to be bothered by the plant growth that seems to be taking over the pedestal. The piece will also feature one of my DUST tactics quonset huts, which my beloved Wolfy suggested I paint a red cross onto. Sounds like a plan that'll tie it all together nicely I think!

My favorite pic of this bizarre beast in the midst of combat!

The last survivor of my Quar collection is this tank. It is to be transferred to my new Bolt Action army which is currently making its way over from the UK. Bolt Action 2nd. ed. is being released more or less right now, and I'll be purchasing the new rule book when its available.

Will I enjoy the game more than its prior incarnation?
Maybe. 

Will I be using actual, historically accurate miniatures to represent my army?
lol, nope! That said they'll look a lot more um...realistic than the Quar did.

Is this whole exercise just an excuse to paint a new army that I wanted more than anything else?
You betcha!

I'll leave my new army's identity a secret for now, but rest assured I'll be giving Bolt Action another go at some point in the coming months. I'll still be holding at the 500 point limit initially, but as bigger games seem to be more popular I can just team up with somebody I suppose for the time being.

My first Alpha Legion Sergeant is complete

o/

Ya know, way, waaay back in the olden days of my youth, I was apparently a more talented mini painter than I am today. I thought things through before starting. I would think of things like:

 'once built these areas will be hard to reach with a paint brush, I'd better paint-as-I-assemble this model.' 

Ah yes, I see that old timer's disease is in its early stages, as currently I instead like to think:

'fuck it, I can reach anything with the right brush!' 

...and promptly start gluing bits together with little to no thought of the forthcoming painting process.

The result? It looks good, indeed no worse than any of my other Alpha Legionnaires, but man was this model was an absolute bitch to paint! The leather centurion's belt (...what's it called? Bob help me here...), connected to the Thousand Sons helmet beneath and...yeah. Painting in under there was a nightmare! Luckily part of painting recipe is to simply slather the whole model with an ink wash which darkened up (read that as: hid) any obvious mistakes.

As far as armament goes, this sergeant for my 'non-decal' Veteran tactical squad is equipped for versatility. He has the same bolt pistol and CCW of the rest of the squad, as well as a combi-flamer. That in concert with the squad's heavy flamer means any unit charging this bunch (or any failing to keep them at a safe distance) will be in for a mightily warm reception!

Cutting myself while listening to Jim Gaffigan...

Sounds like I need to schedule an appointment with a therapist doesn't it?

Ouch!

The truth is nothing near as worrisome. Sunday, after taking the WIP pics for my prior post, I decided to continue work on the beast. My desk is in our living room, so whilst I started hobbying away, my beloved Wolfy pulled up a Jim Gaffigan stand up routine on the roku to watch. We love his comedy, he's hilarious! Listening to him whilst using an X-acto blade and working on minis? No, not a good idea at all!

Pieces on the floor, almost broke a bit or two due to spontaneous laughter, cut my thumb, blood on the dreadnought (that was hastily wiped off with a paint smeared paper towel which was then pressed onto the bleeding wound!), gluing pieces to me rather than the dread (always a concern but all the worse when laughing) and uh...yeah.

I highly recommend watching Jim Gaffigan's routines, just not while working on minis!

Despite minor self-inflicted injuries and several near catastrophes, I think the project coming along nicely:

New armor plating, search lights, and a tuning-fork-antenna-thing (aka: the bit I almost broke).

Additional hoses and hand holds (the latter of which may help in maintenance, but probably are a bad idea in close combat situations...). It looks good though.

Feet, rocks, and wargear liberated from the enemy (loyalist or traitor...it really doesn't matter to the Alpha Legion).

An approximation of the forth-coming finished product. 

The heavy bolters' ammo belts were attached as well, though I forgot to take photos of that. I'm almost finished painting my first Alpha Legion Sgt., so with that minis' completion (which is something of a nightmare that I'll discuss later), I'll start the painting of this one.

The (re)birth of a dreadnought...

o/

...yes, just a little over nine months of being submerged in the Simplegreen and I finally rescued my old dreadnought from its chemical grave. For those that don't recall (and that would be all of you), this is what I like to call the original resin dreadnought. For a recap of its history, click here.

Much better!

All ready for some plastic legs!

Originally, I had intended to clean this old dread up to join the ranks of my budding (now long-since-gone bust) Black Dragons army. However like so many things intended to serve the Imperium, the Alpha Legion stole, or rather is going to steal it.

Sure, sure, 30k's got all kinds of them new-fangled (but still supposedly ancient) alternate dreadnought types, but yes the plain old, standard issue Mk IV dreadnought that's in every marine army does have stats in 30k as well. And unlike Kushial who has TWENTY!?!?! dreadnoughts (seriously, WTF man?), this old wreck is the only one that I have.