Astronomicon 2012 in the bag.

The Astronomicon tournament in Winnipeg happened last weekend and it was a blast. I had 6 great opponents and enjoyed every game despite losing the first 4 of the 6 straight. The first was due to bad dice and a slightly overpowered scenario (in my opinion and for some others as well). But in all cases my opponents did their jobs and earned their wins. The last two games were pretty much dominated by my Wolves but that was due to some good dice and some scenarios that really suit this army.

Every year Mike, Christian, and Keith (as well as several volunteers) put on a great tourney, which is impressive considering that I have been to numerous tourneys in the past that had a much larger staff and were much less successful in providing a good gaming experience.

I placed 10th overall at Astro, maxed out my Sportsmanship and Painting scores, received the most votes for Best Single model, and I won the award for Best Army. This award is voted on by the players and I am grateful that people thought that the army looked good and that they liked the approach that I took to it. Under the Astro system award winners are essentially eligible to win one award regardless of how many categories someone came in first for. So if a player qualifies for multiple awards, she/he will be presented with whichever one is ranked the highest with Best Overall being the top prize.

There was mention of having the next Astro Winnipeg in November. Maybe I can get back to the Orks for that one but for right now there is a lot of painting work and detailing to complete on this army. Despite the attention the army received, there are numerous touch-ups it needs before I can begin to feel like it is actually done. For now though I have some shots of the finished models. I really do have to invest in a portable photo booth some time.

Dread almost done.

New dread photos. About 90% done and going.

A bit more progress, but in no planned fashion whatsoever!

So I am finding that my previous 40K malaise still lingers in that I am having problems production-line painting the wolves. So I have been all over the place, doing bits of a different models here and there. So I have given the Rhino most of its first base coats; done the flesh on the Redmaw (good news for me about this guy!! See below); have done most of the base colors for the scouts; have started parts of terminators but mainly the flesh tones; same for Bran in his human form; about half of the base metal coats on the drop pods are done.

Some shots are included below. And the good news about Bran? Forge World has an errata for Imperial Armour 11 that gives the Redmaw the Monstrous Creature classification. Now the Redmaw is a threat to infantry and vehicles....actually vehicles even more so now, which makes the Redmaw's Furious Charge even better. I still expect him to be nickle-and-dimed to death but he can potentially do stuff now, maybe...

Anyway most of the paint jobs are at that supremely ugly stage where I can barely stand the sight of them. But the painting is slowly continuing so I am considering any progress to be good progress.

 By the way, it must have something to do with how I am lighting these models (a lamp pointed directly at them) but the brush marks are enhanced in these photos. It makes them look rougher than they appear in reality. Either that or my eyes are finally going....damn it....

Rough paint shots.

And I do mean rough. I spent some time getting some of the base coats and some washes down on the scout unit and the contemptor. The details of the contemptor are at least more visible. But it is also apparent that the base coats need a few more applications to get them solid.

The scouts' skin tones are currently fairly dark and I am tempted to leave them around that level. Space Wolves are supposed to get more tan and leathery as they age so this would at least be in line with the fluff. Anyway, the painting has begun.

This is the part I like the least about preparing an army for a tourney. It always looks like crap when they are WIP during the painting process. And they will continue to look crap up until the finishing touches are done, and then it is like something magical happens and it is all good. On the other hand I must admit to feeling stoked about this army. Not in its playing potential as I believe that it will be thrashed like a seal in a sharks jaws. No in the appearance and feel of it. My original 13th Company army is still one of my best and my most favourite army project (my Nids are a close second). In a way I am glad I have found some way to re-use the army as some of the models are quite neat.

I will probably not get much painting time prior to the weekend but I will continue to post on this project as it happens.

The Dread redone

Primed black. So sorry for the pictures but you can make out some detail...maybe if you squint.

A quick scout update

 So I have finished assembly of the scout unit, having finalized the poses. Now the tedious green stuff work begins. I snapped a few quick shots to show off the unit. One member has the Mark of the Wulfen, represented by the dude with the beastman's face. There is a scout with a power axe and a scout with a meltagun. The meltabombs are there because they look cool. I'll be back.

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Wolf Scouts in progress

A few years back I had seen a diorama on Coolminiornot.com done by an artist under the name of Prophet. He had converted his Wolf Scouts using a combination of Catachan, Chaos Marauder, and Space marine bits. Now consider at the time the Wolf Scout models from GW looked like a bunch of over-energized retirees that had escaped a Pepsi commercial i.e. they looked lame. They then updated the Wolf Scout models to make them look like the most generic models in the line, which is weird as they should be some of the most individualistic models in the line. So I resolved to use this same idea to make my own Wolf Scouts as a lot of my Wolves are fairly extensively converted. And considering the level of conversion on the 13th Company models that I am basing this current Wolf army on, these style of scouts would fit right in.

Now all those years ago I acquired the necessary parts and stored them in a container as a "to do" project, then stored it in the 'Closet of Shame'TM*. Years passed...and then some more. Really I have had this set aside for a long time.

 Anyway here we are and I am making a list based around two units that can use the "Behind Enemy Lines" ability, using the heavily converted 13h Company models. So it was finally time to break out the scout conversion project bits (as I had dubbed them) and to spend countless hours agonizing over pointless details, then still changing stuff around.

So here are some pictures of the Wolf Scouts in progress prior to any greenstuff work. Over all I am relatively pleased with them although they are massive compared to even normal marine models. The pose of the melta gunner, the kneeling guy with bolt pistol, and the grenade thrower just work for me. I will be making some modifications to some of the models though. The guy at the handrail was supposed to be stalking stealthily up to cover but I altered it and am not pleased with the result for example. Still the shots give some idea as to the look of the unit.

Some parts did not photograph well due to being made of a white or tan resin. I have been playing around with casting parts for GW models and have learned that I am really best at casting up icons and other conversion pieces that can be done as one part molds. So I have an abundance of SW icons and other bitz I can use, including shoulder pads, torsos, and heads/helmets.  This is clear in the group shot as two of the models incorporate a resin piece in their structure.

Five points for anyone who can identify the backpacks origins. They are GW models.

P.s. The Contemptor dread looks completely different now. I used several cast bits to spruce it up and used the FW brass etch on the inner part of the legs. Overall I am much happier with the model this way. I have primed the Contemptor and will post photos of it by next week when (hopefully) the painting begins. Right now it is hard to see the details because of the uniform colour. I will snap a few shots to see if it appears as intended but can make no promises.

* "Closet of Shame" is a reference by a friend of mine (Colin F.) and he is the first I know of to use the term. I just wanted to give him props but if someone else said it first, I am not aware of them...