1K Done, well sort of...

Hey guys, just a quick update today. So I managed to finish (well mostly) 1,000pts of Howling Griffons to enter into GWs painting challenge judged yesterday. While I did not have time to paint the glow on the second Tactical Squad's Sergeant or the Scout Squads, or do the weathering, I managed to get everything else done and submit.

Surprisingly, at least for me I managed to take 1st place do to the variety of techniques I used on the models. It was close though and there were 5 other very nice armies submitted. Unfortunately no pics today as I did not have my camera with me yesterday. I will take some pics of my guys and any others thaht are left in the case tomorrow evening when I get to the store and post them probably on Wednesday morning.

Also, tomorrow see the beginning of a new Challenge. While I am going to continue working on Howling Griffons off and on, September 1st sees me starting a new army, ORKS! The Painted Dragon, a forum which I joined recently is running the second event of a Challenge series they started back in May. There is a very skilled painter on the forum by the name of Gareth that is also an amazingly fast painter who is know for cranking out beautifully painted armies very quickly. The challenge is to beat Gareth to a fully painted 1500pt army starting with unbuilt, unprimed models. Pretty cool.

I have never played Orks before (in 40K) and I have been really interested in trying to build an army of them since the release of the 5th Ed Ork Codex. I recently came into 3 complete sets of Assault on Black Reach Orks and some lootas in a trade, which is the prefect start to an Ork army so I took the plunge and got the couple of things I needed to fill out a 1500pt army list. Then this challenge came up and I suddenly I had the motiviation.

Stay tuned as I embark on this new challenge.

Well I seem to have run out of steam, so I am going to say ado.

Until next time...

T...T...Terminators.

So after 3 days of illness (I have been sick a lot lately, sigh...) I finally got myself together and finished the Terminators, "Squad Aramond" for TOEMP challege 2. Here are some Pics:



The number one thing people seemed to like across the board about the Tactical squad I painted before these guys was the glowing power fist of the Squad Sergeant so I decided to extend it to these guys and do their Thunder Hammers glowing. The number one thing people did not like about the Tactical squad was the glowing around the eyes. I tried several different glow effects on these guys but couldn't get it to look right so I just ended up not painting the glow. I think I am going to go back and repaint the faces of the Tactical marines and remove the glow this weekend when I have time.

In addition to these guys I have also been working on a Master of the Forge, 2 Dreads, and the early stages of a second tactical squad. Hopefully I will be able to get them done along with a few additional odds and ends by Sunday for the 1k paint contest at my local GW. I'll post pics of them as I complete them.

Until next time.

Retakes and the weekend progress... Hey, I listen.

Okay, so you can't say I do not listen. When you said, more pics that are bigger and better I listened. When you said show me more, show me the details I listened. So take a look through this post and click on the pics because all of them are bigger just for you! Oh and you better let me know what you think. Love em, Hate them, I want to hear from you. So speak up! There may just be something in it for those that do. ;)

This weekend was not as productive as I had hoped, I wanted to be much farther along then I got, but eh, I am pretty happy how things are turning out. For all those that have been reading about the Griffons and how I am not sure I like them, well I decide. Yeah I think they are cool. There are somethings I need to work on from the first squad but hey, it is the first squad. All I have to do is paint 3 more Tactical squads and I will never have to play with that squad except in big games... Yeah... Right... Sigh...

So, as I was saying I did not get as far as I wanted. Besides the Tactical Squad, I got some work done on the Terminator squad I am paint for part 2 of TOEMP. There are some WIP pics of them below for you to take a look at. I am happy how they are coming, I just wish they were farther along.

I have include pics of the current progress of one of the models I am going to paint for the TOEMP challenge 3, Pedro Kantor, or my version called Captain Bercil. Ooh, time to share a bit about the Griffons I have not told you guys before. So, the Griffons are a existing chapter though there is very little fluff about them. The only hard facts I could find was that they are big on Oaths and not stopping until those oaths are complete. So with no real structure and organization describe, except that they are Ultra successors (eh, what am I doing, Ultras look good on bases, they are not for playing), so they are very much as codex chapter. That is just not enough fluff for me. I need more. So as I shared with you I created that painting guide. I also decide to base there fluff on the Arthurian legends. So while Arthur is not yet in the army, I have taken names from many on the Knights of the Round table and other sources in Arthurian legend. For example, the finished Tactical squad is "Squad Sagrenor" and Captain Bercil is short for Bercilak, which is the true name of the Green Knight from Gwain and the Green Knight. I also have dreadnoughts named after Giants, and an Ironclad named after Marrok, a Knight of the Round table also thought to be a werewolf. Fun stuff. More and the Arthurian tie ins of this army as I go on.

So as I was saying, I worked on my terminators "Squad Aramond" but I also spent some time on 2 Dreadnoughts for my army and my Master of the Forge. Master of the Forge Galvarium Vector is the current defacto leader of the Griffons on Lentrel Prime (an escalation league/campaign I am currently involved in). Captain Bercil has just made planet fall and is making his presences felt.






















One of the big features that I have added to the Griffons, who have no way of differentiate squad from squad and company from company, at least not in existing fluff is the inclusion of personal emblems and insignia for the Captain of each company. So for example, Captain Bercil, whose name is derived as I have said from Bercilak, the Green Knight in Arthurian legend, I have chose to have a Green Cross be his personal emblem. To be honest, thinking about it a green fist would have been easier as I would not have had to carve off all the Fists on the Pedro Kantor model, but oh well. So what all the Green Crosses let me do is use all the cool Black Templar plastic bits and models in my army if I want. The Cross motifs are very heavily present in my Assault Terminator Squad, but also on Tactical squad 2, "Squad Garreth", which borrows heavily from the Black Templar plastic sprues for its construction, but more on them later when I get around to starting to paint them.

And finally the dreads that I mentioned before. The one on the left was one of my original test models for this army so is a bit further along. The one on the right is mid way through the early stages of blocking out colors. The yellow is about done, just need to be washed with Gryphonne Sepia and then dry brushed one more time. The red has the first 3 layers done and the first layer of wash (Baal) applied. It still need a wash of Sepia (conveniently) and then Blood Red highlights. Then I can start working on the metals, details, and what-nought... ;)

Well that is it for this Update. More to come as I paint hard for my August 30 deadline for the GW in store contest that spawned this project. Please let me know what you think good or bad. I can only improve if I receive criticism and tips from others.

Until next time.

TOEMP Challenge 1 Complete... 6 days late

Man, these Howling Griffons are proving difficult to get done and I am really not sure what I think of them. Below you will find pics of my first finished squad and what I pledged to finish for TOEMP challenge 1 which was supposed to be finished on the 17th. What is TOEMP, well it is a cool moditivationaly painting contest/group started up by 73rd over at The Unforgiven Angels. TOEMP stands for a Tale of Even More Painters. Each week(well 10 days actually), the group of us rise to the challenges put out by 73rd. The first weeks challenge was to paint 75pts worth of models, which some how I just couldn't do. Now I find myself knee deep into Challenge 2 and I am only just finishing things up from challenge 1. Well anyways here are the pics.



Sorry for the poor pics but I really need to build myself a nice light box. I really am not sure, as I said before, if I like these models. I tried a few things that I have never done before, main the green glow under the eyes and around the lenses. What do you think? I also tried out a new way to apply decals which was an astonding success. Additional this squad uses the first decals I have printed myself, anoth milestone for me. Sigh, but I'm just not sure I like them.

Next time some progress on TOEMP Challenge 2, a squad of 5 Terminators and if I have time part one of that tutorial I keep mentioning.

Till next time.

It is all in a paint scheme.

Well guys, here I am at post number 30, and 22 followers. Who would have thought 22 people would follow my ramblings and antics as I try to get stuff painted. Thank you very much to everyone who has become a follower. Now onto some content.

B&B 2.0 is not quite done being configured. I am working on a new title bar and may end up up changing the whole layout as I have just received another layout that I really like made by Akenseth of Path of the Exodite. Akenseth, thank you for sending it over for me to take a look at. While I am not quite sure how the site is going to end up looking I am relatively happy with how it looks now, though the double right column does not look quite right somehow.

Sorry, but no pics today. Instead I thought I would share something I made to help me paint my Griffons. Using Bolter & Chainswords Space Marine and Terminator Painting program and Adobe Illustrator I created at guide for me to use when painting my army. You can see it below.


It has been a big help so far. The upper left pic is of a basic marine, in the modern day Quartered scheme. The pics of the Marine in the lower left and the terminator in the lower right are done up in the original Badab War scheme for the Griffons and is how I am going to paint all the Veteran and Terminator models for my army. Recently I realized that the Terminators scheme should be reversed, as the shoulder pad with the Griffon symbol should always be the Red one. Thankfully, I have not started painting my Terminators yet. Need to rework the image and update the guide. At the same time I need to fix the white chest eagle of the lower left pic, it should be silver like the other two.

Since this is post 30 and I have been talking about the details of my Howling Griffon army I thought I would share with you the finished 2K list I am shooting for.

2000pt Howling Griffons Army

HQ
130pts Master of the Forge Galvarium Vector - w/ Thunder Hammer
175pts Captain Bercil (Pedro Kantor)

TROOPS
195pts (10) Tactical Marines "Squad Sagrenor" - w/ Power Fist, Flamer, Missile Launcher
045pts Dedicated Transport: Rhino - W/ Hunter Killer Missile
200pts (10) Tactical Marines "Squad Garreth" - w/ Power Fist, Meltagun, Missile Launcher
045pts Dedicated Transport: Rhino - w/ Hunter Killer Missile
205pts (10) Tactical Marines "Squad Calogren" - w/ Power Fist, Plasmagun, Heavy Bolter
110pts (5) Scouts "Squad Nabon" - w/ Power Fist, Combi-Meltagun

ELITES
180pts (6) Sternguard "Squad Agravain" - w/Power Fist, Combi-Meltagun
035pts Dedicated Transport: Drop Pod
200pts (5) Assault Terminators "Squad Aramand" - w/ 5 Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields

FAST ATTACK
065pts Landspeeder Storm - w/ Multimelta

HEAVY SUPPORT
145pts Ironclad Dreadnought "Marrok" - w/ Chainfist, Hunter Killer Missile
035pts Dedicated Transport: Drop Pod
115pts Dreadnought "Rion" - w/Multimelta, Hunter Killer Missile
035pts Dedicated Transport: Drop Pod
085pts Predator Destructor - w/ Autocannon, Heavy Bolter Sponsons


The Master of the Forge makes the Dreadnoughts count as either Elites or Heavy Support so I chose to make them Heavy support because when I go up to 2.5K I add in either another Terminator Squad (Shootie) or a Venerable Dreadnought. I also add in a second Scout Squad and another Landspeeder Storm for them to ride in.

So let me know what you think of the current new look of the forum, the paint scheme I am planning to paint the Griffons, and lastly the list I posted? I promise my next post will have progress pics of painted Griffons plus part 1 of the promised tutorial on how to paint them.

Till next time.

Under Construction, Don't mind the mess.

Hey guys, please don't mind the mess. I am working on revamping my blog to goto a new snazzier 3 column format (like many of you). Please excuse the mess and flurry of changes as I setup the new format.

Don't worry, I am still hard at work and will have some Howling Griffon updates and the promised tutorial soon.

Thank you.

A Tale of Eve... Failure

Hey guys, well it has been a while and things are not looking good. My Howling Griffons which I talked about last time are proving harder to paint then I had envisioned and I am getting behind. To make matters worse I am not sure I like how they are turning out.

So about a week ago I pledged to joined in 73rd's A Tale of Even More Gamers. I had 5 days, now that I think about it to get 75pts of Marines done for the first "warmup" round. Think of it like a bonus period to get in the habit of painting every days and getting things done. Well Ladies and Gents, I failed in my mission. I got a good way in but just could not get them done by the deadline. I think the fact I do not like how they are turning out to be a big part of that. Here is a pic of what they look like now. As you can see, almost done, I just need to highlight a lot of the details, paint somethings I missed, do the eyes and the sergeants skin, some bone, and the purity seals. Do the final highlight on the yellow and then chip, weather, and base. Sigh.

I hope the next challenge goes better.

Until next time.

Howling... for Griffons

Hey guys, its me again... yeah, yeah I know, but you are stuck with me. So no photos today. Instead I'm sharing the Howling Griffon guide I created using Bolter and Chainsword's Space Marine Painter program (which if you haven't tried yet I suggest you do. You can find it here.) This is the paint scheme for my basic marines (Tactical, Assault, and Devastator). I will be doing a bit more in depth scheme on my Vets and Command models (more about that in another post).

Army construction and paint wise, I have most of what I need for GW's 1000pt Iron Painter contest being run during the month of August built and primed white. All I have left to build is 1 squad of tactical marines. I will be painting a Master of the Forge, 2 Tactical squads, a Scout squad, a Dreadnought, a Rhino, a Landspeeder Storm, and a Predator Destructor for the contest. For larger games I also have 5 Assault Terminators with Thunder Hammers and Storm Shields, 5 Sternguard, Pedro Kantor, an Ironclad Dreadnought, and a second Drop Pod built and primed as well.

Today kicks off the Lentrel Prime campaign at GW Sugarland. The Lentrel Prime campaign combines a 4 round Escalation League with some campaign elements. As noted on the Dead Tau Project (another great blog which I think you should check out here), players start with a non-named independent character to build the story of the campaign around plus a 1000pt army comprised of:

1. 1 HQ Choices
2. 6 Troop Choices
3. 1 Elite Choice
4. 1 Fast Attack Choice
5. 1 Heavy Support Choice

In addition to the above force org players also start with 2 Catalysts. Catalysts modify the above force org allowing for example additional HQ, Elite, Fast Attack and Heavy Support choices to be taken. Other examples include allowing 1 troop choice to cost only 50% of its total value when building your list, stat increases for your character, and even an extra 50 points. Players can not have more then 12 Catalysts at anyone time. Players gain and lose Catalysts by playing games. Each player must bid 1 Catalyst and an additional one is rolled for randomly. The winner of the game gets their choice of any two while the loser get the remaining one. Pretty cool if you ask me.

I am using the Griffons for the campaign. My starting two Catalysts give me an extra Elite and an extra Heavy Support slot. Here is a copy of my list:

HQ Master of the Forge w/ Thunder Hammer
TR (10) Tactical Marines w/ Power Fist, Flamer, Missile Launcher
TR (5) Scouts w/ Power Fist
FA Landspeed Storm w/ Multimelta
EL (5) Assault Terminators w/ Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
HS Dreadnought w/ Multimelta in Drop Pod
HS Ironclad Dreadnought w/Chainfist in Drop Pod

Let me know what you think of the list.

Next time expect some pics of my progress on the Howling Griffons and maybe a short tutorial on how to paint them. See you next time.