State of the Blog Address

Here we are, a quarter of the way through the year 2012.  The blog has been through some changes, but I have been through much bigger changes away from the blog.  A new place of residence kept me away from the paints for a while, but ultimately enabled me to have a dedicated place for the hobby.  I have been able to complete my first conversion.  I was even able to really look into how I present my models overall.  But, I must say that I have an even bigger change coming... 

The Basis of an Army and Delusions of Grandeur

Well, well, well.  What do you know.  I might actually have a playable army in the coming weeks.  Go figure.  All it took was...

...not letting myself get carried away with my goals for the future.

Pathfinder

I promised an update on a Pathfinder I was working on.  Here it is.

He is the first in the squad, so he's the guide for the rest of them.  But what did I do and why did I do it?  Let's jump in.

First (Minor) Conversion

I had bought some Green Stuff a while back and wanted to practice using it somehow.  I wanted to start by filling in gaps on some models, but never really got around to doing it.  Thus, I decided to use it on a FireWarrior conversion.  Specifically, I wanted to simply use it to adjust an arm position in order to adjust the look a bit. 

The model in question was this guy:

Codices and Rumours of Codices...

Peering through the dark haze of uncertainty, our scanners

show Tau on the horizon.  ETA: Unkown.

These are Dark times for the Tau...  or so every Tau related blog this side of Ke'lshan says. 

Bases and Setting the Tone

I was originally going to update the previous post with images of the updated bases on my models, but, after performing the updates, I realized that I was stepping into a much larger world I had long forgotten about.  After experiencing something for the first time all over again, I wanted to share a bit about that experience .

Adding Some Grass

I took some time from unpacking and getting furniture back together to start adding more details to those Fire Warrior bases.  First up for updating was the Fire Warrior walking along the broken wall. The details in that one are the best out of all of them, but I felt it could still use a little spicing up. 

Tweaking Bases

Well, I wanted to do some updating to the bases on the Fire Warriors.  The camouflage on the Fire Warriors certainly did work with the bases as they were, but they did such a good job of blending in that under low light they hardly looked painted. I aimed to fix that...

Moving Along

Well, our family's move is underway.  We've still got some furniture to bring over to the new residence, but most of it is complete.  I went ahead and set up my shelf in the new painting room and put my 40K stuff in it so that it would start to feel like we were actually living in this new-to-us house.

Devilfish Base

I started making a base for my devilfish.  Why does my Devilfish need a base when there are "flying" bases for those?  Well, because I want one.  Everyone has a clear plastic "flying" base.  I want to have something unique that fits with the rest of my army.

Back to Painting

I finally got back to painting last night and decided to start finishing up the crisis suit.  I was trying to think of different ways to add distinction to the jetpacks on the crisis suit.  While running ideas through my head, two major points came to mind:

1.) I was imagining this force as using experimental digital camouflage, since such a camo scheme is not typical Tau design.

2.) The weapons and jetpacks for the Crisis suits are made as removable and interchangeable.

That's when it hit me... 

While the Cat is Away....

I've had some trouble with my computer at home the last few weeks.  It's needing some new memory.  :P  I'm back now and wanted to share something that has occurred during the period of incommunicado.

About a year ago, I created a 3D CAD model of a Tau Fire Warrior's pulse rifle:

In the Bunker at Memphis

I took a break from it all and went with my wife and daughter on a vacation.  After getting back in the swing of things this week, its time to show you some pictures!!!

We went to Memphis Tennessee to meet friends and family and try to enjoy ourselves.  Of course we did the normal things like visit the zoo and go to a baseball game, but the real treat (for me anyway) was getting to run by Games Workshop's North American Headquarters!!!!

Awesome, right?! Well, I didn't get to stay too long as my little girl was tired (She is already rubbing her eyes in the picture.), but I did get to check it out.

I went into the Battle Bunker, which is the store and game center.  It was pretty awesome.  They had a mini-shrine of sorts to their productions through the years, everything from Mordheim minis to current releases.  On another wall, they had several armies painted from different races for Fantasy, 40K, and Lord of The Rings.  But the thing that interested me the most is where it all goes down...

 That's a lot of playing space!  Me likey! One table in particular caught my eye...

 Surprise!!! It's a cityscape!  My army would love to hide here!!!

I have some some close-ups!  I apologize in advance for the poor image quality.  I was frustrated with my normally ace camera on my phone (most of the pictures I load on here are taken on it) only to find out after I left I must have touched the photo lens when grabbing it from my pocket as there was a fingerprint on the lens itself. :P

Fortunately for my wife and daughter, they had a zone for breaks and relaxation with recliners, couches and tables. My wife noticed the banners on the wall above the seating arrangement and took a picture.

Here's a close-up of one of them...

Pretty Schweet, huh?!  Come to think of it, Elvis would be an awesome Ork!!!!  Rockboss Elvis... has a nice ring to it!

I went through the store section, but no picks there. Sorry.

I tried to pry some super secret information from the Games Workshop employees as well, but they were well trained.... too well trained for my Tau Water Caste buddies to sweet talk it out of them.  I'll bring my 'A'-game next time I''m there.

It was a fun time and I'd like to spend more time in the Bunker.  I will return.  Definitely the best experience I have had at a GW store.

Now it's back to the normal routine and painting my army when I got a moment to spare.  More to come, my friends... more to come!!!!

Crisis: Continued

Well, I've been taking it easy this past week, so I haven't done much.  Spending time with my wife and daughter has given me a nice break.

What I have done is map out my color scheme on the crisis suit I started.

It gives a good idea of where I am headed with it.  The most notable thing I want to point out is that I blacked-out the outer portions of the torso.  I think it takes away the boxy look and makes it look more agile and threatening.

Again.  I'll add more pics as I finish the camouflage.

Starting the First Crisis Suit

Well, I felt it time to start on a one of the Crisis Battlesuits to change things up and finally see what one would look like under my paint scheme.

The first thing that I've done differently than the other models from my friend's army, is that I didn't strip the paint off this model.  It was mostly still black, so I decided to just go along with it as if that were my base coat.

I decided to go with a cross between the Fire Warrior and vehicle paint schemes I had already outlined.  The overall look of the Fire warrior is the primary aspect I want to go for... black base, with dark "boots," digital camouflage armor, yellow markings, and red lenses/lights/etc.  But, the battlesuits are a median of sorts between the infantry and the vehicles, so I wanted to carry over something from what I had outlined on the devilfish as well.  As you can see in earlier pictures on this blog, the plates down the center of the vehicle forgo the digi-camo treatment for a solid color.  I decided this would be the perfect element to bring over for the Crisis 'suits.  I also decided to use the color surrounding the Devilfish's engine intake on the 'suits as well.

Time for some visual conformation of what I am doing.  Here is a picture of what I started last night. 

As you can see, I am working my way up the battlesuit from its feet.  I styled it just like the Fire Warrior. You can also see where I outlined the chest with the solid color application down the center. Once the digital pattern surrounds it, I believe it will be a good transition between the Fire Warriors and the Tau vehicles in my cadre.

I will report back when I've finished the Battlesuit and upload some pics as well!

Five for Fighting

I’m now up to five Fire Warriors. 

If you are wondering why it’s taking me so long to get through these guys, it is because it takes me a few hours to do each of them.  That may seem crazy, but I like to take my time with such things.  Patience IS a virtue you know!

As you can see, the new guy is walking through the mud past a broken wall.

I think it might be time to add some guys with pulse carbines.  What say you?

3rd Base

Here are pics of the next base I made.  I added some rusted rebar in a broken wall and mud on the ground to make it different from the others.

 

So, do you like it? Is it too different from the rest? A welcome differentiation? Let me know.

The Fourth Horseman

I finished the fourth Fire Warrior.  Here he is:

He found a slab to perch on, apparently.

The Three Amigos

So, I went ahead and added the antennas to the helmets and have the three Fire Warriors I have completed thus far ready for combat.Take a look!

As you can also tell, I updated the bases on the first two to match the third.

Like always, comments and questions are welcome!

Three's Company...

Well, I mentioned that I put a Fire Warrior on that first base I made. Well, here's the first baseman (Ha! A baseball joke! ...And I don't even like baseball. :\ ).

A dynamic fellow indeed.  He's weighted on his back foot, looking up the top's of the surrounding buildings... or what's left of them.  His gun may be in a non-active position, but that left hand is definitely reaching to meet it or at the very least is ready to support it if the need to return fire arises.

If you're wondering where the antenna normally on the right-hand side of his helmet is... well, its not on yet as I need to add it.  I want to get everything else finished on each fire warrior before I pull the antenna off the sprue, as they are easily lost otherwise.

****

This guy is going to hold a special significance for me.  Why?  Well, he is the first 40K model that is entirely my own.  I bought the box, cut him from the sprue, carved the materials for his base, glued him together, and painted it all.  It's original me. 

I am forever grateful to my friend for sending me his Tau models to get me started (and I have many more of them yet to paint).  Those models hold a different meaning for me.  One that exemplifies friendship and comradery.

But, this model is the first in something unique. The first of my personal creations.  When it is all said and done, I can say this is where I stood on my own and started the journey.