A Mandalorian & The Mandalorian

 o/

Two guns for hire.

Its been a little quiet here of late as I've been on a bit of a Battletech kick. Nonetheless, you all know me well enough to know that I can't go too long painting any one thing before my brush wanders off to another genre. The latest result of that are the Mandalorians (and baby Yoda) that see above. 

Yeah I know, Baby Yoda is supposed to be on his own separate base, but what-the-fuck ever. I have the second, 'eating a frog' baby Yoda on that base.

I'm rather pleased with how his cloak came out looking.

I bought Frankie The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda from Star Wars Legion for Christmas. Whilst I traded away most of my Rebels some ways back (I still have the half-painted pizza cannon), I wouldn't mind puttering around with the game a bit with Frankie at some future point, assuming of course that I can wrap my head around the rules. 

Thus, I printed off the SWL rulebook, ordered some 3D printed 'insurgents' to stand in as Rebels to oppose my Mud Troopers (in that pizza link above), and painted a Mandalorian for the each of us.  The blue Mandalorian doesn't have Boba Fett's gun so I'll use the same Din Djarin stat card for both, just kitted out differently. 

A Mandalorian. This guy was a freebee likely due to his scale being slightly off as he towers over my other Legion minis. Clocking in at 6'5" myself, I don't see this as an issue. 

My backpack's got jets! My Beloved Wolfy love, love, LOVED that video...

I'll still need to get the dice and range/movement thing, but according to Table top admiral our forces look to be about 300-ish points a piece. Enough to get a taste without spending too much in the event that I/we don't like it. 

While I have a few friends who play the game, I'm a bit wary as the local SWL demo guy tends to grind noobs into the dirt with meta lists from what I've seen. Personally I also find him irritating in general, neither of which is too enticing a prospect for a beginner. But we'll see what happens I guess...

Filling out the officer corps...

...not for any of the same factions mind you. 

This is kindova shotgun blast of random post covering the various army, or rather 'contingent' commanders that I've painted here of late. As you can see in the pic above, two are for Imperial loyalist factions. One is...debatable, capable of being used as either a loyalist Imperial or traitor astartes Lt. depending on whomever their allies are on that given day. Whereas the Cavalry officer in the back is definitely a traitor (loyalist IG don't enter battle half-naked).

First up: Buccaneer Captain Tharkins. 

I hate this guy's face. I painted it three times before giving up. I still think it looks kinda meh.

Clearly Tharkins doesn't see much combat, or rather maybe just PT. 

Guardsmen of the Buccaneer (pronounced: Byoocaneer) Battalions (their home world is too sparsely populated to offer up whole regiments for Imperial Guard tithing requirements) have a perpetual chip on their shoulders. Mainly as every 'off-worlder' who reads their regimental name, pronounces it as anyone logically would: BUCKaneers. 

No amount of barroom or mess hall brawls will ever change this fact either! Thus, Buccaneer Battalions rarely operate in conjunction with other Guard units, instead often serving as isolated garrison troops and other solitary unit deployments.

Second up we have: Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Tibadaux

Not too fond of how her bald head and face came out either. She might suffer a head swap at some point...

Her [Legends] Null Rod with integral whip. I have a feeling that My Beloved Wolfy would have commandeered this mini as one of hers.

To date, Tibadaux is my only inquisitor based to match my Silver Drakes. Perpetually fighting the Nids, the Drakes would likely be better served by an ordo Xenos inquisitor, though we can surmise that she's just rooting out Genestealer Cultist activity and the like.

For the second year in a row, my principle miniature for the Inquisitorial Conclave hosted by Neverness, Tibadaux was finished almost to the same day as last year's offering! I thought I'd try something a little different with her in that once painted, I 'ard coated all of the black paint on her armor. I'm rather pleased with the result, giving her armor a glossy black, almost patent leather-esque appearance. That combined with the whip gives her a bit of a dominatrix look, don't you agree? 

'Yes Mistress...'

Turning debatably towards treason, we next have my Soul Drinker's Lieutenant Amenadiel.

I LOVE this model!

Armed with a bolt pistol and Goliath Renderizer power maul, he is NOT to be fucked with!

Lieutenant with Imperial Fists successor chapter traits? Check. 

Chaos Exalted Champion with renegade traits (whatever they currently are)? Also check.

I've been debating 'ard coating his skin to give him a glistening with sweat look. Not sure how that would look, though I guess if it sucks I can just matte varnish him again. Also wish that there was a relic that I could give him out of the Marine codex that would befit his massive close combat weapon. Undoubtedly, I'm sure Chaos has something suitable...

Lastly, we have this guy: My Renegade IG (Counts as) Death Rider Squadron Commander 

Somewhere there's a gamer who just looked at this and is now pondering the idea of turning their pet parakeet into a mount for 40k!

I'm thinking that the beak will be a worthy substitute for the hunting lance, whereas the mount's 'savage claws' will apply as normal. 

No idea if that's his piss, slop, or sandcastle building bucket. 

I got this 3D printed mini off of eBay and am quite pleased with it. Didn't like the original head though, so swapped it out for one from the genestealer cult bitz I ordered when I went shopping for Tibadaux's henchmen. This mini alone has made my renegade IG fall under the DKK regimental doctrine. Tis' okay though, they'll provide Zzzzz with the necessary insurgent excuse with which his MASSIVE collection of Guardsmen can use to lay siege to yet another warzone.

Painting thru it all...

And thus the entirety of my Tau's vehicle compliment (currently anyways) is complete!

Still making progress, despite the fact that my grandfather passed away unexpectedly last week in the wee hours of Thursday morning. He was a truly amazing man, and I can't even hope to sum him up in a few words on this page. 

Luckily I was able to take my grandmother to see him for a bit the evening before he passed and there was no indication that he was at his end. Meaning it was quick, if not instant. Like myself and My Beloved Wolfy, Ma and Granddaddy's last words (after 74 years) were 'I love you' along with a kiss goodnight. 

That's the best way to go if there is such a thing. 

This little bunch finishes out my pulse rifle equipped strike team and the hogziliary squads. 

As for my Tau, this week was mostly repaints. Those being the two former Fem Fa'Tau breachers, one last Hogziliary, as well as a fire warrior that I previously thought would need to be converted into a breacher (until I realized that I had miscounted and found myself  short one fire warrior for the pulse rifle squad). 

It almost looks all green, with the grey areas practically invisible under all that grime.

I also painted the piranha's two gun drones. Taking a bit of a break from the infantry, I then went on to completely repaint the also former Fem Fa'Tau vehicle. I'm sure that I never finished painting it originally as I was bouncing back and forth between it as well as a Hammerhead and Devilfish, not a recommended technique.

I always have a hellova time inking vehicles. The wash leaves dark splotches all over, and the model looks just plain awful afterwards. Thus the heavy dry brushing of grime which hides all sins. 

All were in the same half painted state when I gave up on them, never to return (certainly wasn't the easiest of color schemes to paint either). Now it only has six colors in total. As such  progressed quite a bit on it in a very short time and managed to finish it up yesterday morning, prior to leaving for granddaddy's funeral.

It camouflages quite nicely with my deck (which is in dire need of  being re-stained).

As before with the loss of my stepfather many years ago, more recently My Beloved Wolfy, Hoss, and now Granddaddy, painting minis is an excellent way to tune out the world for a little bit of a happy respite. That said, after the initial tears of this past week, yesterday's viewing and internment ceremony at the Mountain Home National Cemetery for Granddaddy (nobody can make it thru the playing of Taps with a dry eye), the day very much ended as a celebration of life!

The vulnerable underbelly. 

Tau Gue'vesa (Human Helpers) Pathfinders & more!

Happy Valen-Tau's day folks! 

I've designated this mini as squad Gue'vesa'ui sergeant since its my favorite mini out of the five.

I thought I'd share a bit more Tau love with my latest completed batch of minis. First up, my Heresy Labs KS Gue'vesa Pathfinder squad (looking back thru that KS's offerings, I ought to have gotten more than just five). They're really great models and if anything, even more detailed sculpts than the actual GW minis. 

The whole Pathfinders squad. 

From what I understand about the pathfinders in the new codex, using markerlights requires an action (of not moving) in the movement phase followed by hitting on a 3+ in the shooting phase...or something like that. 

Practicing retreating evasion tactics...

Thus far I've not bothered with the Actions game mechanic in my games of 40k, however markerlights are more or less the lynchpin that holds the Tau's ballistic onslaught together, so I'll have to figure it out! Otherwise I'm left with a mere 50/50 chance to hit under the best of circumstances for anyone other than an HQ model. 

Wait, why are the gue'vesa running towards us?

In addition to the pathfinders, I also completed another trio of Fire Warriors with Pulse Rifles. You can never have enough of these bread and butter troops in an army, and these bring my painted compliment of them up to 8 (with three more in progress). 

Empty Circles = Unpainted

Half Circles = Half Painted

Full Circles = Fully Painted

Speaking of, I tallied up all of my Tau minis, folding in all of the unpainted Fem Fa'Tau from that now defunct army (the handful painted Fem Fa'Tau have taken up residence in my display case). 

To better keep track of my progress, I created the painting chart above. Currently, I'm sitting at about the halfway point between painted & unpainted and all within a month's time! How's that for  Squaduary? 

Another view. 

As you can see, my force is all but bereft of vehicles and heavy weaponry. I had given a good chunk of the Fem Fa'Tau (including all of the tanks) to my buddy Hoss. He'd always flirted with starting a Tau army but couldn't afford the initial buy in. He was also as close of a friend to My Beloved Wolfy as he was myself, thus they were given to him after her passing. In the interim, not being too fond of the current Tau rules, he was just waiting for the new codex to drop before getting started.

Sadly, this past Thursday we laid him to rest as well. Still can't quite wrap my head around it really, don't think any of us can. I told My Beloved Wolfy to go and find Hoss, show him the ropes and for them to keep each other company. His family is looking to sell his gaming collection to raise funds to cover the funeral costs, so I'm hoping to buy back my tanks. I think I have enough infantry for now though. 

Edit: In reading the Goonhammer review of the new codex, I see that fire warriors and pathfinders now come in squads of 10. As such, the in-progress pulse carbine strike team will be moved into the pathfinders or else the Gue'vesa will be moved to the carbine squad (either way demoting the mini in the first pic to a mere grunt) and I'll just buy pathfinders later on. I'll also have to repaint a 1-off Hogzilary to bring that squad up to 10, and the in-progress pulse rifle fire warriors will join the breachers (also, I will have to scrounge a few more off of eBay). 

How now Green Tau?

10 out of 11, not bad for a week's painting! 

Aways back I posted where I'd repaired my (then) 1-off fire warrior whom had been decapitated by the office cleaning crew at work. I've always liked the color scheme, mainly as it was both simple and quick to paint. Skip to the present and after cranking out my Star Schlock KS troopers both relatively quickly and in a similar color scheme, I thought I'd see if I could do the same with some Tau. 

Close enough. Worst case, the desk jockey (on the right) will die first. I mean, previously he had been killed by an old lady armed with a feather duster. You know, typical Tau close combat stuff....

Using the aforementioned desk jockey fire warrior as a guide (albeit, without the entire base covered in grassy tufts), I started doing just that and quickly finished up a small squad of 6 breachers (sans drones at the moment), along with 4 strike team fire warriors to accompany the former desk jockey. 

I'm sure that the 'writing' on the flag is explaining where the rest of his armor is...

The strike team, with their soon to be 36" ranged pulse rifles.

The strike team's Shas'ui looks more like he's in his pajamas than he does ready for battle. He's is a non-standard fire warrior being the Devilfish crewman with added bits. I'm not sure how inspiring a leader he is having forgotten about half his kit, but whatever. 

Into the breach!

He works for now, and can be replaced if I ever get all of my Tau infantry painted up. Usually such a statement as that is a laughable notion, but then again I did paint 10 fire warriors in a week's time! Nominally, my list clocks in at just shy of 500 points. However with a new 'dex waiting in the wings, that's sure to change once Battlescribe updates. 

Black marines helmets from the Iron Hands? Raven Guard? Neverness' Death Watch? 

Also I'd like to clarify that these are NOT an extension of my late wife's Fem Fa'Tau army (a shame as I so LOVE that punny name!). My Beloved Wolfy was an ex-army wife, and as such had a serious dislike of OD green and anything resembling woodland camouflage. If I showed her a mini that I had painted in those colors, she'd usually tell me it was a good paint job, but she hated it at the same time because it was an ugly color scheme. 

If that's Tau propaganda on his flag, it's lost on everyone BUT the Tau.

I knew where her disdain was coming from, and that it wasn't directed at me. As such I won't sully her infamous Fem Fa'Tau's legacy with this color scheme. Instead, my army will hail from the Dal'yth Sept due to the large number of auxiliaries (both official and otherwise) in my list. Amusingly, the above linked Lexicanum page lists their principle uniform color as green and grey...heh, that was lucky!

(Squat) Captain Teague

I based him the same as Dev0504, meaning they'll both likely fight alongside one another in Stargrave at some point.

Teague grew up the child of diplomats, spending his childhood traveling the galaxy. Honestly, his early years were the envy of most children I would imagine (and that's excluding the fact that most Squat children were devoured by the Nids). He had an eye for the worlds his family visited and took to pict recorders naturally. He easily ought to have been famous the galaxy over, but wasn't by personal choice. 

Despite being an abhuman, he was accepted for and contented himself with a menial and meagerly pict recorder position within the Imperial Propagandus division of the Administratum. His lack of personal drive was baffling to most, even those close to him. Like all squats, he had a taste for heavy drink, though his was rumored to be excessive even by a Squat's standard. 

Often his superiors would submit his picts for award consideration, with frequent wins and most of the resultant bonuses going to those above him. Honestly, Teague couldn't be bothered to even care. He soldiered on quietly, mindlessly. Rather than reap the rewards of his minimal though still spectacular picts, he instead chose to live in his once decent but soon dilapidated and trash filled, mid-spire hab.

After a century or so of dutiful (and in his opinion) effortless work for the Propagandus, Teague reconnected with an old love from his youth and chose to suddenly retire and move onto a happy retirement on a distant world. 

Within days of his departure, that dream was shattered. Details are few, it is believed that his personal daemons (liquid and otherwise) which probably lead to his lack of drive in life came to a head, and his love cast him off. 

Walking off into the unknown...

He sold all of his pict recorders, claiming 'that wasn't him anymore'. He sobered himself up (no mean feat for even a modestly drinking Squat), tried in vain to clean up his hab before selling it all, and along with a not to insubstantial inheritance, he purchased what is officially a small Chartist vessel, but would be better described as a curiously warp capable garbage scow. 

Teague chose to end his days in the difficult, dirty and dangerous work of a lowly Chartist captain (as is evidenced by his bionic arm after losing his own in an industrial accident aboard his own ship). His vessel, the Knuckledragger departed with without fanfare and for points unknown. Sadly, Teague and the Knuckledragger haven't been heard from since. 

*****

Originally, Captain Teague was going to be the Rogue Trader-esque captain who hauled Inquisitor McClellan around the galaxy as like said inquisitor, Teague is also based off of someone I once knew. I only met him once, though he was a decades long RPGing friend and acquaintance of My Beloved Wolfy. 

Since he deactivated his Facebook account sometime last year, I have no idea where he is. Though presumably (due to a lack of funds) he's still locally punishing himself with his chosen physically demanding, minimum wage jobs in lieu of his gifted photography. Hopefully the remodeling of his woefully neglected home is coming along as well. 

Rather than get any deeper into Teague's personal demise, I'll instead leave you with his 'parting shot' that ended his decades long career at our little local newspaper.

Photo credit: Andre Teague, 7-31-20

Also, for anyone interested: 

The above mini came from Uscarl Miniatures.

Downsizing 'da Groop

 lol, I'm sure that just by that title alone Neverness has a knot in the pit of his stomach, and perhaps rightly so.

It isn't news to anybody that I don't play near as often as I once did, which has only been exacerbated by the ongoing pandemic. Thus my pile o' shame is both considerable and taking up a lot of space. Granted I still have some extra of that following the passing of My Beloved Wolfy, but that said I could probably do something better with it were some of it not filled with a literal pile of plastic that I have little want to paint. As such, force reductions are well under way:

First up, the Spess Mahreenz. As y'all may recall, having just sold off all of my non-primaris Spess Mahreenz, Kushial blindsided me with the gift of a veritable horde of them! From that collection both the Astral Claws were reborn, and my Incandescent Coyotes came into being. However with the Coyotes clocking in at about 500 points, and the Astral Claws at about the same, I was still left with a Landraider and 30-odd marines. Not wanting to sell what was gifted to me, I passed those minis on to Neverness. 

My Silver Drakes clock in at about 1000 points, with maybe 1/10 of that painted. No plans to add to or reduce their numbers at this point in time. They're not too high on the list to get painted either...

Next up: Chaos. I mentioned just a few posts back that I sold the majority of  my chaos marines off, reducing them to a mere kill team. 

Then there's My Beloved Wolfy's Fem Fa'Tau. By far my largest army (at the start of this paragraph anyways...), clocking in at a little over 1500 points of almost entirely unpainted minis (the original, paltry collection of painted Fem Fa'Tau minis Wolfy herself fielded are all in my display case). I didn't see meself doing much with these, and burned out after just a few painted up in a new scheme. Still, being hers, I didn't want to sell em, so what to do? Well, my buddy Hoss has flirted with Tau and 40k for years, but the astronomical cost of entry into the game has always kept him from making the jump. He was also one of My Wolfy's favorite folks. As such I have approx. 1K of Tau set aside to suck him into the financial hell that is 40k. The remainder are staying with me to all wear the Fem F'aTau's new colors...someday. 

The Exodites...barely clock in at 500 points, They're good as is. 

And lastly there's Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop itself. Recently they achieved something like 90+% painted status when 30 or so unpainted minis were sold to another local gamer. Riddled with sentimental favorites, they're all but impossible to sell off in their entirety. They are still fieldable as an army (albeit a small one) as their troops compliment has been reduced to a mere 10-strong slugga boy mob. 

Storage and transport of these little guys will be much easier as well!

That said, just days prior to the above mentioned sale, I purchased 48 new orks (pictured above)...in 15mm scale. Sure they may not be as detailed, nor have as much variety of models, but at the same time a *NEW* 500pt army cost me $50, of which a goodly portion of that was shipping from the UK. 

So...that's the current state of things around here. More minis are likely to go, just not sure what at this point. 

I finally bought a display cabinet

 o/

It's already filled with a random smattering of favorites, of which only the Grot Spee, Baby Squiggoth and Exodite Autarch on the griffin are likely to see any actual future in-game use. 

I've always wanted one, but they're usually quite expensive and take up a fair bit of my little house's limited space. However and old friend of My Beloved Wolfy whom I'd never personally had met until this purchase was selling one for a mere $75 and I pounced on it! His parents had stored it at his house during a move and never retrieved it. He himself had never used it for anything and it never made it back to them or their estate sale. 

It's solid wood and as you can see it also has a mirror back panel and interior light. the boxes on top are full of My Wolfy's mementos that I don't have the heart to go through/look at right now, as well as the hat she wore at our wedding and a few Halloween decos (her favorite holiday).

Retiring the Fem Fa'Tau (for now...)

I have a whole sheet of these decals, none of which have been used.
I'll remedy that...someday.

Several folks have inquired about the fate of My Beloved Wolfy's Fem Fa'Tau army. Locally her army was infamous for a time though it has been inactive since the end of 7th ed. Whether that infamy was due to it's groan inducing yet glorious name, my trash-talking beauty who was in command of said army, or simply her penchant for vaporizing enemy characters with railguns (indeed, Tyberos the 'Red Mist' and Neverness' Big Mek with the Shokk attack gun both come to mind) is a matter of debate. Likely it was a combination of all three. 

The Fem Fa'Tau's small completed menagerie. 

I can assure everyone that they'll never appear on the auction block due to sentimental reasons alone. That said, there is one oft sold/given away/recycled squad that was originally mine, went off to fight on other fronts, and was 'donated' eventually back to her that may well get sent off once more. Hoss, a mutual friend of ours and aspiring Tau commander himself would I'm sure like to have a portion of her old army (such as it is) in his new one. That and quite frankly I'm sick of seeing it. She only used them as they were fully painted, though neither to her taste, nor her army's color scheme. 

Two Fire Warriors and two breachers alongside the 'pin-up',
who was often a sniper specialist in games of Kill Team.

Speaking of paint, sadly I painted only a handful of her Fem Fa'Tau minis, and there isn't much consistency among those few that are painted. Ironically, I think her favorite amongst her painted Fem Fa'Tau was the 'pin up' Wargame Exclusive fire warrior that Neverness gifted to her at Christmas? her birthday? something like that some years back.  

She didn't dislike Smurfs anymore than any other loyalist chapter. Chaos marines however, were the only marines that she actually liked!

Her vehicle pool is almost all partially painted, perhaps if I had concentrated on just one tank rather than three... The half paints consist of a hammerhead (a 2nd is simply primed black), a devilfish and what's the small skimmer...a remora I think? (edit: Piranha). I doubt they'll ever be painted in her army's last color scheme (which is kinda guesswork for vehicles as none were complete). Though I might leave the pink engine cowls as is...who the hell knows at this point.

So unassuming, yet so deadly...

Lastly, her Tau Commander was originally my only painted Crises suit, and later her only one as well. It is painted in a color scheme that predated my meeting Wolfy altogether. Still, she insisted that it's colors never change after it was dubbed The Belial Slayer by another gamer after one particularly glorious, multi-turn, hand-to-hand slugfest vs. the aforementioned, and eventually deceased Dark Angel. Indeed, her Stealth suits always seemed to fare rather well vs. the Dark Angels in hand to hand as well. If not by winning, then at least by refusing to die! Which reminds me, I believe there are a few painted Fem Fa'Tau stealth suits now that I think about it. No idea where they might be at the moment though. 

*****

Looks like he's kneeling in my yard which is of a
similar height were I to kneel in it right now...

I do like the look of it though.

Also on the Tau front, I did a speed-paint (for me) test model the other day. I wanted to see what it would look like to have the base be entirely covered in those little adhesive tufts of grass. I like it though wouldn't likely again cover the entire base due to the cost of said tufts. but maybe half or so, more than the usual one random tuft we so often see. 

Also fear not for Oblivi'Anna. She's up to 4 colors now, just the basics but it is a start. 

Coping with Orks.

o/

This little bastard was much harder to correctly insert
into place then he well ought to have been.

A thought occurred to me the other day as I fought to properly fit the grot gunner into his portion of the Blitz Bomma's cockpit. Boy, what a lot of fun THAT was...and here I was thinking that people kept building dakka jets for the 4 supa-shootas, only to realize it was to avoid having to deal with the infernal gunner!

Despite my bitching, the gunner is properly seated whilst da pilot's left arm isn't...

But anyways, that aforementioned thought...about a decade ago, my stepfather passed away of cancer. Awful stuff that is, as was the situation. I took a leave of absence from work to go to Florida to be with him for a few weeks before he went and then a few more afterwards for Mom. 

Da Grot Spee, firing a full broadside!

As what I figured would be a much needed coping mechanism, I brought the as yet unpainted Grot Mega Tank (a.k.a.: Da Grot Spee)  with me to give me something to focus on and shut the world around me out for a little bit each day. This worked quite well for me and I worked at it a little be little each day, before and after he had passed. 

That only made the red beakies angrier than they normally are. This is probably my favorite in-game pic ever! Here you see Da Eleet Grot Mountin' Duvishun charging, in a futile attempt to assist Da Grot Spee...

Skip forward to the present, reeling from the loss of My Beloved Wolfy, I found myself at first in a hobby malaise, and then jumping whole hog into working on my Blitz Bomma that had been buried for years (though had I bothered to put in a half hour of work I could have uncovered it at any time). However it wasn't till I was fighting with the above mentioned grot, that I realized I was once again working thru my grief via another Ork vehicle project.

Gettin' ready to shoot da tail some more!

Unlike the Grot mega tank this go round it really wasn't a conscious decision, but hopefully it'll work out just the same. Also I can only hope that the bomma turns out as well as Da Grot Spee, which in my opinion is one of my best painted models. I guess we'll see. Regardless, much like this ol' blog that I can't seem to put down despite my repeated, half-assed attempts to wander away from 40k, Da Orks iz always 'ere for me. 

Note: The usually justified type is absent from this post because blogger is busy 'improving the interface' by breaking shit that already worked correctly. Most of the type would justify whilst writing this post, but a few random paragraphs would not because reasons.