Star Trek Online, and some WIP shots

So I'm going to start this out with a blanket statement that I am not really a huge fan of the Star Trek TV shows.  I watched a lot of Next Generation and Deep Space Nine in my younger years, but I honestly attribute that to being a huge Sci Fi fan and not having anything else on TV at that time, and the fact that I was living on a military base overseas and AFN only had like 2 or 3 channels back then anyways.  That being said, I am actually a HUGE fan of Star Trek Online.

My brother and his friends have been playing this game for a while now, and I finally caved in and downloaded it.  It's a Freemium game from Perfect World Entertainment, who has a near perfect track record of being buy to win with online games.  This one isn't too different in that regard, but I like it enough that I am actually willing to over look that issue, for now at least.

You start the game by picking one of three allegiances, Federation, Klingon, or Romulan (who end up joining either the Feds or Klingons at level 10 anyways), and are quickly immersed in the two different aspects of the game: ground combat and space combat.  The ground combat is really nothing exciting, running fairly decent graphics but a physics engine that feels lack luster and clunky.  The space combat though is where I am invested in this game.

There has not been a huge amount of space combat games that I have liked in the last decade or so.  Eve is cool and all, but I like to physically control my ship while fighting others.  The Star Wars MMO has a realllllllly fun space PvP system, but I can't stand to play the game because it feels like you're getting punished severely for not giving them money.  The combat and ship building systems in Star Trek Online though have cured my itch.

You unlock larger classes of ships as you level in this game, which makes sense, and you also unlock different crew and bridge officers that help you in various ways as you complete missions.  You can equip what ever types of weapons you want on your ships, which all have different damage types like energy, plasma, etc, as well as each having different ranges and firing arcs.  This lets you build the ships to your play style, and gives you the option to play a high risk, high reward type of gaming by putting a bunch of strong, 45 degree - 90 degree firing arc weapons on your ship and hoping nothing gets stuck behind you.

Aside from all of that, I have actually managed to get some painting done as well.  Mostly just base painting and some layering with my airbrush, but check out what I have so far.  These are all work in progress shots, so hopefully I'll get some finished shots up soon as well.

My three Avenger Strike Fighters that I have to support my Mechanicum.

A closer shot showing the airbrush work I have done so far.  Needs a lot of detail still, but it's coming along nicely.

I am also working on some Night Lords models, probably not as a full army, but I loved the Sevetar and Curze models so much that I just had to buy them and get them painted.  Only have a few colors down at the moment, but I'm loving it so far.

Well, that's it for now.  As I get more done on the models I post more pictures.  Stay classy internet, and if any of you cool kids out there have video game suggestions, feel free to post them below and I'll check them out.

Well, I'm not dead...

So as the title says, I'm actually not dead.  I do think that it is a little ironic that I posted that my wife may kill me, and then went silent for about 8 months, but it was purely unintended irony.  I had a sort of sudden falling out with the hobby, and I shifted jobs, so posting didn't seem like a priority for me.

The board and some other models that have had my attention as of late!

So here is where the board is at.  It's coming right along, with some Summer Leaves, and I have also started doing the bases to go along with it.  Once the 28mm bases are down, then I just have to paint the models...yay me.

As for the rest of these pictures, these were all taken with my phone, so bare with me on the quality here.

I fixed the board somewhat...

So here is what the board looks like now that I fixed it.  I'm happier with this than I am with how the train wreck prior came out, but still angry, haha.  I added some grass clumps sporadically around, and I have some leaves from Secret Weapon Miniatures as well to add, but I need to figure out what I am going to do with those.  I bought their Fallen Leaves - Fall Mix, which has a beautiful color that I REALLY wanted to use, but the board turned out much lighter than I imagined, and I'm actually rather please with the general color scheme.  They have some lighter colors that I coincidentally carry in my store, so I might have to snag one or two of those and try them out.

I based this with a dark brown from Minitaire Airbrush Paint, and then I used Dark Earth, Clay Brown, and Burning Sands pigments from Secret Weapon Miniatures in successively lighter dustings.  I love working with their pigments, and a project of this size gave me a LOT of practice on using the pigments.

For the trench line I based the bottom with a dark grey, followed by a dark wash, and then any dirt colored pigments settle where they may.  This allowed it to get dusty and dirty in a manner that appeared random as opposed to something that would have looked too forced.  Once the wash was dry, I dipped my finger in SWM's Metallic Iron pigment just enough to get some on my finger tip, and then I rubbed my finger pretty forcefully across the floor of the trench to pick out the raised edges and the nuts and bolts with a metallic tinge, since they would have been worn to a more metallic sheen through continuous use.

Anyways, this is what I am working on hobby wise, and I am also putting together an 1850 Ork list to break up the monotony of doing clean color schemes.  Here is what I am in the process of building:

Wazdakka Gutsmek

10 Lootas
10 Lootas

6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa
6 Warbikers with Nob w/ Big Choppa

Blitza-bomma
Burna-bomma
Burna-bomma

Battlewagon w/ Killakannon
Battlewagon w/ Killakannon

So that's my 1850 list.  Terribly exciting, I know, but I think it should play well enough.  The 4+ cover saves on the bike are silly, as are the number of shots I can throw out a turn.  Anyways, I need to finish my work for the day, so I'll post again soon...ish.

So, being impatient is a bad idea

So I am working on a display board, and I was gonna wait until it was mostly done before posting any pictures.  Mostly done came yesterday, and I got done using about $40 worth of pigments to make the dirt look real.  I was sooooooo excited that I instantly wanted to Matte Varnish it.  One problem: I forgot to let all the pigment sealer dry.  Do yeah, this disgusting mess above is what happened afterwards.  Yay me.  Back to buying more pigment and starting over.  

So more pictures!

So here are some models I have worked on while at my work.  We have a Thursday group that meets every week, and we all sit around, sip on some beers, and paint!  It's a lot of fun, and it is actually helping quite a few people with their painting.  I don't have much time, so that will be all of the words for now, so check below the break to see more!

Update time!!!

So yes, I am finally adding more pictures.  However, these were taken with my iPhone, so they aren't necessarily the best quality.  They will certainly do for the time being, however.  So this is the knee pad of the Chaos Reaver Titan I am working on.  For more pictures, check below!!!

New pictures coming soon!

So yes, I haven't posted in a while.  Nothing really new there.  However, if you have kept up with what I have posted, you'll remember that my son lost my CF Card for my camera.  And at 30 some odd dollars a pop, I haven't had too much money to buy a new one.  I got on finally though this paycheck, so once it comes in I'll post pictures up of what I have been working on.

The Reaver Titan is coming along, and I am done with the guns and almost done with the legs now.  I was having trouble settling on which copper color to buy from what brand, and after testing out a plethora of them, I finally settled on GW's.  I'm not as fan of GW's paints normally, but their copper goes on very smooth and coats very nicely with only 1 or 2 coats needed for the base color.

I also am almost finished with 2 Nurgle Blight Drones I am painting on commission.  I'll have pictures of them side by side as well on here when I get the card.

Finally, I'll have pictures of my finished Nurgle Warpsmith I converted up.  The thing came out nicely in my opinion.  I love the final look.  The Scythe and Forge World parts really pull it all together nicely.

Anyways, there is my small post.  Enjoy if you will, and hopefully I'll have a real post filled with all sorts of goodies later in the week. 

A Titan and a Hell Chicken

So yes, I have taken on another very large commission piece!  This time I have the pleasure of painting a Chaos Reaver Titan!  First off, this model is MUCH larger than I thought it would be, and it is a heavy piece of resin, haha.  I dread what Forge World will put out if they actually follow through on the Warlord Titan...  Anyways, check below for more info on how this model will play out as I paint, and also for my thoughts on the new Chaos Hell Drake.

Greater Brass Scorpion done!!!

So yes, as this title states, this thing is FINALLY done!  It took me WAY too long to complete, but I'm sure my friend is going to go banana sandwich when he sees it tomorrow.  I have to apologize for the really crappy pictures here.  I wanted to take great ones since it was finally done, but it seems my 2 year old thought otherwise when he took my memory card for my nice camera off my desk and hid it God knows where...  But anyways, check below for more!

Getting my Chaos on!

So with the release of Chaos over the weekend, I have been a busy man!  In all honesty, I have been mildly busy with Chaos anyways, but this has been the motivation I needed to get me back on the right track.  I haven't posted in a while due to general laziness, followed by finals, followed then by Guild Wars 2, Borderlands 2, and the new WoW xpac (don't judge me...).  I am, however, back at it!  This post will hopefully show all of you what I have been up to, and what the future holds for me.

An update!

So I haven't posted in  a while, but I just had midterms so I was fairly busy with that.  However, I haven't completely stopped painting.  I have been doing a Forge World Greater Brass Scorpion as a commission piece, and matching it to the paint job off of the Forge World site, and it is coming along great!  I have finished the armor plates, which were airbrushed, as well as the cables, which I built up from black to a very dark grey so that you can actually make them out.  Once it is done, I will make sure to put up pictures.  I am also working on 40 Plague Bearers and a Soul Grinder for my Death Guard army.  The airbrushing, washing, and dry brushing is done, and all I have left on them is the detail work and to rust the metal parts.

On to more important news, I actually won my local painting competition.  I got a Vallejo Game Color paint set with 72 paints, 3 brushes, and a carrying case for it all.  I was very pleased about that! 

My final bit of news is that I plan on starting some commission work on models.  I have to knock out some more models that I am currently working on, and I have to set up my blog to reflect it, but I should be ready to go in a month or so.  I will only be doing single modes, single squads, or large vehicles/monstrous creatures.  I used to do large scale commission painting in the past, but I cannot do anything more than a few models or else I start to resent it.  I will be painting to only one degree, which will be a high-table top level, and the pricing will be on a case by case basis.  Stay tuned for more info on that.

Anyways, sorry for the lack of content on here, but the stuff I post in the next week or two should be amazing and make up for it.  Everyone have a great and safe Labor Day weekend!

Stupid models....

This model.  It makes me angry while I put it together.  I keep gluing the blades on wrong like an idiot...fml

Update!!!!

So I am now finished moving out of my old house, and now begins the process of unpacking everything and going through all of the "fun" associated with that business.  Anyways, I thought I would fill everyone in on what I am working on during my 5 minutes of free time a day, and what my future plans are:

• Daemons!  I got a large amount of them to compliment all of my Chaos stuff.  I bought a bunch of the new Nurgle toys to go with my Death Guard, and a bunch of just about everything else to go with the Word Bearers I will be working on.  I have a Battle Box and a few other kits already for waiting to be built once the new codex drops, and I will be absolutely buying a large amount of the new stuff once it comes out as well.  I plan to buy about 3 of the starter boxes, which leads me on to my next project...

• Fallen Angels.  I plan to build me a Fallen Angels army, which will be built using the new Dark Angels codex whenever that comes out.  I plan to use a lot of the actual Dark Angels kits, but also some Chaos stuff as well.  I'll have some squads who truly fell to Chaos, as well as some who rebelled during the Heresy because they thought Lion El'Johnson fell.  If you think that it's wrong, read more into the Dark Angels.  There are several different things that have been mentioned in different books, short stories, etc, that sheds some very interesting insight into their true history.

• The table!  Now that I am moved in and in a more static set up, I plan to actually finish the table.  I have a friend who is going to help me get it all painted and mounted, so it shouldn't be too bad once I actually put forth the effort, haha.

Anyways, I now have unavoidable wife aggro, so I must complete more things on the Honey-do list that is 5 miles long...

Well, it's the weekend.

First off, here are some pictures from the Beerhammer 40k game at my house a couple of weeks back.  I have been forgetting to post them, so sorry about that.  These were taken as we were cleaning up, so there aren't many models on the table.  All of the containers from the drinking are still there though, giving you a rough idea of how we used them as terrain to block vehicles and shooting.  What we should have done though is taken a count of all of the shots we took to reroll, haha.  That's what ended my sobriety.  You could take a shot of anything to reroll something, and on average there was about 3 shots taken per team, per player turn.  We literally finished off a bottle of vodka, and a little absinthe as well.  Rough night.  Anyways, here are some other angles of the battle.  The board isn't finished, but since I am moving across town next months, I haven't felt like working on it just for it to get messed up in the move.  I'll do more once I'm all settled in.

On to other news, I have been painting as much as I can lately, so I should have some nice pictures of all of that to put up shortly.  I have been focusing purely on my Dust stuff, since I am waiting for the new Chaos Codex to drop before I put any more Chaos models together.  Don't want to build them all with weapon A when weapon B becomes AMAZING!  I hate painting flesh, but it has been a good exercise for me in it, since I generally try to avoid it at all possible times.

On a more somber note, however, today marks the 5 year anniversary of the death of a great friend.  His name was Juan Restrepo, and we served together in Battle Company, 2/503rd (ABN), 173rd ABCT while in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan.  He was a great friend, an amazing battle brother, and the best damn medic I ever worked with.  There isn't a day that goes by where I don't think of him, and no matter what happens, I'll never forget him either.  No matter what you think of the wars, or of soldiers, please just respect the sacrifices some people have made.  DTV brother, I'll see you again one day.

This is a picture of us in Afghanistan, a few weeks before he was killed.

Anyways, I'm fairly drunk, so take care and stay tuned for less depressing stuff, and more models!

News from me, and something I MUST buy!

So the fires here in Colorado Springs have kept me occupied for the last week, as a very good friend of mine was forced to evacuate his home so I put him up in mine.  I was busy playing the role of a good host, so I had literally no time to work on any of my models.  I was wayyyyyyy to busy keeping my house clean and drinking on the porch all week.  Anyways, his house is fine, and he is no longer in the mandatory evacuation area, so I have my house to myself again!  As for the mention of what I must buy, I came across an AWESOME invention by a painter who goes by the interwebs name of Rathcore.  He is an amazing painter and sculptor, and he came up with a tool that lets you hold a project steady with out getting your dirty mugs all over it.  Check out below for more info.

Drinking and painting equals...

Stripping models!  So yeah, priming and painting drunk may not be the best idea.  My proof is my Cygnar army.  I have about 30 some odd models that I am in the process of stripping and washing off.  Tons of fun.  When drunk, I screwed up in way too many ways:

-Used WAY too much primer on the models
-Primed in my garage while it was raining, so the humidity made everything fuzzy
-then sponged on rust colors, and went straight to sponging on liquid latex, without varnishing first.  This meant that the latex REALLY got a firm hold in between all the ridges of the models that the fuzziness created
-Next morning while hung over, I convinced myself I could fix it.  How?  By putting MORE paint on the models.  4 layers to be exact.  And wash. 

So after wasting a few hours and a bunch of paint, I had to go out and buy Purple Power to fix it all.  Most of the models are stripped to the metal, which is nice, but I still have a few left and then I get to start all over.  Yay me.  So, lesson learned.  Maybe.  And by maybe, I mean probably not.

Cygnar Stormwall is done!

So yes, I bought one of these last weekend, and I have been slaving away at it.  I absolutely loveeeeeee the model, and I wasted no time painting it up in my Swamp theme that I am doing all of my Cygnar in.  Anyways, more pictures and words below!

What, I still have a blog? Oh, yeah....

So to get the obvious out of the way, I haven't posted in over a month.  Lots of things have been going on.  Diablo 3 came out, and my damn near 250 hours of time played between my 3 60's shows that I no longer have a life...  Also, I have been trying to close on a house, and that should finally be finished next Friday.  That means a bigger man cave, and the chance to paint my walls however I want (wife approving, of course).  I also have been frustrated with GW over their recent price changes AGAIN, but the Internet is filled with enough vitriol over that, so I won't bore you with my feelings.  On a bigger note though, I have dove head first into Warmachine and Hordes.  More info on all of this though below!

Secret Weapon bases are in!!!!

So yes, my bases arrived yesterday afternoon, and as soon as the kid went to bed last night and I had free time, I stayed up until 3am working on getting my Cygnar models based.  I have to say, these bases are easily the best I have ever worked with.  The raised edges add a whole new level of detail, and the water effect is amazing on bases.  Anyways, here are the pictures of how these came out.  I'll put out a post on how I did all of this once the rest of my models arrive in the mail next week or so.