Which came first, the army or the list?

 

So Ron asked us to consider the question "Which came first, the army or the list?" - So here it, my way of building an army...

The first stop for a new army is the Codex. I will usually flick quite quickly through the codex on first purchase, mainly looking at the big colour photos of the models. Once i have spent a while looking at the Codex photos, i will usually have a colour scheme or two in mind. At this point the process splits in to two parts:

• Normally i would get a couple of models from the army that i am collecting and do rough paint jobs on them. What i am trying to achieve is a good even look that can be replicated quickly, easily and neatly over many hundreds of models. Paint jobs usually consist of a base coat and then a wash, or in some cases a dip.
• At the same time, i would be looking at the codex to put together a basic army list. Normally i would start with the obligatory HQ + two Troops choices. To this i would add a couple of units that particularily stand out as being particularily interesting to paint. The army list would normally be around 1000Pts (as i find its a good number to aim for; there is enough scope there for a reasonable game).

This whole process usually last about a month or so - Notice that in this entire period i havent bought any models! I find that planning goes a long way in to the satisfaction you can get from painting a whole army. Once i am happy with the first 1000pts I will buy everything i need to paint those models. That includes all the paint, brushes etc. Nothing worse than starting a project and not having enough of a certain colour - especially if you are mixing custom colours (which in my experience is generally a bad thing for armies).

Next step is to paint up the models. Generally they are painted in bulk, around 10 models at a time.

Once the first 1000pts is painted and i've had a game or two with them, ill know the army a lot better. At this stage i will start to add more units, either focussing on the things the army is lacking (for example Heavy Support or maybe some Fast Attack) or on units that i specifically want in the army. Although you dont necessarily get an "ultimate, kill everything it takes on" army in this way, i find that you do get a characterful army that you enjoy painting and playing with.

The original question here was "Which came first, the army or the list?". I would say in response, neither - the relationship between my army and the list is a symbiotic one. Each part plays against the other and influences the way the army and the list evolve.

Viridian Sniper

So recently ive been taking a break from my guard (Im sick of painting guardsmen!) and working on a few single miniatures. The first to be finished is a Viridian Sniper from Urban Mammoth
This is a very nice model that with the addition of a scenic base forms a very single single miniature.
Painted as always with vallejo game colour, citadel washes and mig weathering powders. On an aside i was working on my photography as well with this post - hopefully the images here should be a lot better than previous attempts.
Comments welcome as always on both the miniature and the photography...

FTW December Round Table

So for the current FtW round table discussion Ron posed the question

"You have just been put in charge of Warhammer 40k for GW.
They would like to know what you think the company should do with the start of the new year.
What are the Top 3 things you would change about Warhammer 40k?"

Which started me thinking - what would i want to change in the 40K world. Originally when i looked at the question, my first reaction was to change some of the rules - to bring back some things that i think are missing (overwatch!) and to remove some things that i think make games unbalanced ("And they shall know no fear").

But then i started to realise that in many ways, the current 5th edition of 40K is actually quite a decent game. Sure it doesnt have all the intricacies of "Rogue trader" nor the totally silly weapons of the second edition, but it is fast and fun to play, and for the most part the designers have do a good job of clarifying and cleaning up the rules.

So having moved on from the game in general, i started to think about everything that surrounds gaming, and how i would improve that... Here are the answers that i came up with -

1. Setup an online community forum with experimental rules and interaction with gamers before, during and after release of main rules and codex include better online errata rules for each army, including a points calculator / unit development tools for creating your own custom units at home.

I have always had a bit of a problem with the fact that GW puts out rulebooks full of errors, and then takes ages to put up any erratta for them. When the errata does come out, it tends to be a very brief overview and doesnt answer some of the more detailed problems.

There doesnt seem to be any proper interaction between the GW designers and the people who play the games (namely us!). What i would like them to do is to setup a web forum, which the designers frequent and on which you could ask questions, get definitive answers, as well as helping to play test new rules that are coming up - For example, so of the changes to the vehicle rules between 4th and 5th editions could have been trialled in this way.

I would also really like to see the designer be more open about the way that they develop the points cost for the units they design, and if possible to make available the calculation tools that they use (I have this theory that its just an Excel file that they input some numbers to and it gives them a points cost - similar to what they have for Battletech etc).

With this sort of tool it would be trivial to create custom units that were "somewhat" official (in the sense that the points were at least in the right range...).

2. Provide software tools for army building that are included with a copy of the codex, which run completely cross platform (Mac OS, Linux, Windows)

Okay so I will freely admit that I am a nerd (and judging by the fact that most people reading this are also bloggers, gamers and painters I would guess the same applies to many of you!) and that this one is a nerdy request, but why is it, in this day and age that 40K codexes (codicies?) dont come with a set of database files for a well designed piece of software that allows you to build and setup your army? I know there was the poor thing that GW put out a year or so ago (and promptly forgot about) and I know that there is "Army Builder", but both of these applications are Windows only. Let me say this loud and clear

THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DONT USE WINDOWS!

Ahem...
In an ideal world, i would really like this to be included with each codex, along with templates for basic armies, images of painted models for that army and a PDF copy of the codex - (maybe on a locked memory stick for copy protection purposes?). Okay, it might add a small amount to the cost of the codex - which lets face it are not exactly cheap at the moment, but think of all the time it would save and hastle playing round in Excel. However, i dont want it all digital - for gaming at a friends house the paper codex will always be needed.

3. Bring out plastic titans!

Yep, everyone wants a titan (or three!). So i'd put together multiple kits (Warhound, Reaver, Warlord, Gargants etc) for as many armies as possible. Then put them out as plastic kits at under £100. I'd put money on them being one of the most popular kits they make.

So there we go, my 3 ways to chnge the 40K landscape. Comments welcome as always, and thanks to Ron for such an interesting round table idea!

Painting 3 Baneblades...(Part 1)

For a game of Apocalypse that me and friend have planned ive been working on a Steel Fury Apocalypse unit - this consists of 2 Baneblades and 1 Baneblade command tank - Yes, that is 3 Baneblades in one unit! As i was painting them, i took stage by stage photographs. These are included with a basic tutorial of how i painted the models.

Stage 1
Once i had bought and assembled the units (a very enjoyable experience i must say - the Baneblade really is one of the best kits ive ever put together), i undercoated each Baneblade with several coats of Chaos Black undercoat.


In total each model have around four or five coats on each part (two lascannon mountings, turret, Hull Heavy Bolter and main hull). I then left each Baneblade to dry for approximately 24 hours.

Stage 2
Next each Baneblade has Vallejo "Wolf Grey" lightly airbrushed over each panel, concentrating on the center of each panel


By the time i had finished the third tank, the first was dry, and i then applied a second light coat of wolf grey, covering mostly the same areas. If you havent tried using an airbrush on a tank before, i highly recommend it. The finish that can be achieved in far superior to brush painting, and other effects are easy to learn. Whilst there is some initial outlay (i use a Spray Master kit that i got on Ebay for about £70) the differnce it will make to your vehicles i vast. However, i digress....


After the second pass of "Wolf Grey" each tank then had a mix of "Wolf Grey" and "Stonewall Grey" airbrushed in to the very center of each panel, lightly. Sorry about the photo above - it came out a lot bluer than the actual tank is. Later photos show this more clearly.
One question that friends tend to ask me, is about the consistency of my paint when airbrushing - although this depends on the colour and the effect that you are after, normally i work at a 1:1 paint / water ratio. The paint ideally should be about the same thickness as semi skimmed milk. This is similar to the ratio of water and paint that i would use when brush painting, so i guess its habit more than anything.

Stage 3
Once the "Wolf Grey" basecoat was complete on all 3 tanks i gave each one a light dry brush using "Stonewall Grey" and "Bone White" mixed together, in varying amounts. Initially i focussed on wide areas using a high concentration of "Stonewall Grey" and then as i added more and more "Bone White" i concentrated more on the absolute hard edges


Stage 4
Painting the tracks and other metallic areas was next - I like to paint these in a mid grey to start with, as a good flat backing fot the mettallics and then work in the metal with the weathering and mud (shown in a future post!). The first thing i did here was to mask off any areas that could potentially catch the overspray from any parts. Main areas that i concentrated on were the tracks and the gun points

Once the areas had been masked off the exposed areas were given several light coats via airbrush of Vallejo "Cold Grey". Once this was dry, the masking tape was carefully peeled away

Stage 5

Once the Grey on the tracks was dry they were given a watered down coat of MIG Pigments "Standard Rust" pigment mixed with a lot of water. You can see the combination in the photos below

If you havent used MIG Pigments before, i highly suggest that you get hold of some. They are basically artists pastels ground up to a fine powder. You can make you own by rubbing a pastel on a piece of fine sand paper (this is something that i use later on in this tutorial, for "soot" effects on gun barrells etc). If you are using the pastel method, make sure that you dont buy oil based pastels as these are no good and will simply smear on your nicely airbrushed tank.

The mixture of pigment and water was then liberally splashed all over the tracks.

Once this first coat had dried a second coat was applied, using the same wash. You will notice that the pigment stains in a way very different from inks / washes. One thing that is very cool is that you can use a wet brush to move the particles of the pigment around, even after the wash has dried!

Once dry this gave a nice rusted effect to the tracks, as seen in the image below. Although not much of this rust effect will be visible once the mud and other debris has been added, it non the less gives a more "used" look to the tank where the tracks are visible

Stage 6

The next stage was to add mud effects to the track areas of the tanks. This was acomplished in several simple steps -

First the entire underneath of the tank and the edges of the tracks and skirts were given a light airbrush of watered down Vallejo "Charred Brown" followed by a light airbrush of Vallejo "Earth". This gave a good base coat for the mud to come.

A mix was then made of Vallejo "Plastic Putty", Vallejo "Charred Brown", Vallejo "Earth" and MIG Pigments "Basic Earth". I also mixed in a large handful of "Burned Earth" static grass. This was then liberally applied to the base, tracks and skirts, covering roughly the same area as the airbrushed in step 1, but leaving some of the base colour to show through. The Plastic Putty means that the mixture remains malleable for a good while (I usually find that the working time is about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the exact ratios). This is usually more than enough time to get the mud down. I try to avoid key areas that would avoid mud in real life (If you look at real tracks, mud doesnt generally collect on the actual face plate of the tread, because it is constantly moving) and also try to avoid splashing mud too high up the side of the skirts - in real life, this is what the skirts help to do; prevent mud from getting in to the drive mechanism!

Once the mud has dried it gives a very realistic effect, as can be seen in the photos below. The static grass especially give an extra dimension to this effect, and especially if you move the grass whilst the Putty is still wet you can achieve really great results!

To be continued...

To dip or not to dip, that is the question...

Recently i started to play with the "Army Painter" series of minature dips as a way of bulk painting squads of miniatures. Being an imperial guard player ive found that it can be soul destroying to finish painting a ten man squad and realise that you have only added 100 pts to your army total!

On a random trawl around the web, i started to read more and more about the painting technique of "dipping" - essentially you block colour a miniature and then "dip" it in a stain - the stain acts as a wash and a coat of varnish. For a more complete description of dipping, check out this article over at Dysartes.com.

So after a bit of research i went with a tin of "The Army Painter Dark Tone" - This is the darkest shade available, and i quickly discovered that the tone is very dark - to achieve the final shade that i wanted, i generally had to paint the base coat 2 shades lighter than i normally would. However, with a bit of experimentation i found that i was achieving a reasonable looking set of models, especially when used 'en-masse'. Suddenly i was able to have the uniform looking, large army that I had always wanted - I never was much good at painting armies, because i would focus too much attention on each model and never get squads finished!

Unfortunately its given me a bit of a pause for thought - whilst i enjoy being able to paint a large army quickly it does mean that im not painting 'properly' any more. Because of limited time around work, i have to make a decision about what to work on - and usually its the army. At the same time it feels like im losing my painting 'skills' because they are not being used.

So im wondering, how do other people deal with this impasse - Do you have ways of working single models in to your painting schedule? I had considered enforcing a 'one unit for the army' then 'one single model' rotation, but knowing myself, im sure ill find that hard to follow...

Imperial Armour Model Master Class Vol 1

I thought i would write a quick review of Imperial Armour Model Master Class Vol 1 which ive just recieved from my darling wife as a birthday present!!

First off - the presentation of the book. As usual for Forge World, it is an impecably packaged product, being presented in full colour and on glossy paper. As per the Imperial Armour books it is an 'oversized' book (roughly the same size as the Apocalypse book from GW), and the photos are lavish with detailed text accompanying each photo.

The book is split in to 17 chapters. Each chapter focussing solely on one model / diorama at a time. Each chapter is long enough to give you the key points with regards to this model. By doing it in this way, it forces you to read the whole book before you jump in, because techniques sometimes feel like they are spread throughout the book. However, each technique is demonstrated clearly and with simple steps.


Lots of the book focuses on the preperation and painting of rust and weathering (A good thing!)
Unusually for a Games Workshop publication it actually includes references to materials other than those manufactured by GW themselves, in this case specifically mentioning several brands of thinners and pigments to use.

At the back of the book is a small gallery showing a battle taking place over a custom gaming table with apocalypse size forces, including a couple of titans. These photos are simply stunning! Infact in many ways this book is worth possessing simply for the quality of the photos, even without the text (although the text is very good). Simply looking at other peoples work can inspire new ideas for working with your own models.

This book is clearly not aimed at the inexperienced modeller however. In several places on the book cover and in the introduction is clearly states this - with good reason! Without a good grounding in basic / moderate miniature preperation and painting it will be hard to make the best use of the information contained within.

I have absolutely no reservations in recommending Imperial Armour Model Masterclass - although it is an expensive book to purchase (£26), in my opinion it should be required reading for any serious 40K treadhead! The photos are excellent, the text is informative and well written and the layout is clear

Minature Photography II

Just came across a second post by Ron over at From The Warp - This time about lighting when photographing minatures. This is another excellent post, and well worth the time to read. When i get a chance at the weekend i'm going to try out some of the things that Ron suggests.. You can read the article here