Unboxing the Raven Guard Codex C.E.

Hey guys, just here to point you to a video I made, unboxing and showing the Adeptus Astartes Collectors edition codex, Raven Guard edition.  Overall, pretty nice.  Standard caveat though, for $160, you do not get anything 'extra' for gaming purposes.  It's just for the aesthetics of the version that you would spend the hard-earned ducats on!!  

See ya soon!!

Space Marines inbound!

  Wow, saw a video over on Spikey Bits.  Linked to this video, it's unlisted on the GW (Warhammer TV) channel, but it sure points to next Saturday as the new Spess Mahrine day!  Check it out...

Always a good day when new Spess Mahrines drop :)

The Darkwing Knights... or changing my fluff

  Well, I did it again...  I changed my fluff for my chapter.  At least I haven't painted a whole mess of them yet...

  Why you ask?  Hell, I don't know.  I was just never happy with the Black Templar background, so I am playing it down quite a bit.  I have always loved the Raven Guard and the Blood Angels.  My play style is WAY more BA than RG though, so I am going down that road.  I will be using BA for my main CAD and using BT as allies to maintain the proper fluff/game ratios :)

So, the banner...  At the top we have the chapter logo, no it is not a Batman logo :)  It is close though.  I have been associated bats for as long as I can remember.  Everything from call-signs to Squadron patches and logos have been bats.  I like bats.  It's my chapter, back off ;)  Also, bats are terribly under-represented as far as I can see searching google for chapter ideas! 

  Under that is the Latin "Post Tenebras Lux" which translates to "From Darkness, Light", yes, we spread the light of the emperor!  (It is actually, After Darkness, Light, but it gets the same message out :)

  Next is the Imperial Aquila, Hail the Imperium!

  Then, the crossed swords of Loyalty.  Loyalty to the Imperium, glory to the Emperor!

  Beneath that is the Laurels of glory in battle!

  The Darkwing Knights scroll follows that.

  On the peals are the symbols of the Blood Angles and the Black Templars, in homage to our parent chapter(s).  In the center is the flaming skull, an homage to our desire to strike from the sky in a burning hellfire of the emperor's truth and glory!   Yeah...  Boom, there it is...

The decal and Symbol of the chapter;

The Darkwing symbol, in black and red, to honour the mother chapters and the cross, our symbol of knighthood.

  And the new, improved paint for the marines;

  Simple, easy to paint and looks pretty decent, I think.  Sergeants will have red helms. 

  Vehicles will be black, with some attempt at camouflage!  They will also have the Teal and Red on them for flavor.

  So, that's it, the new look...  for now...  until I change again!  LOL

Space Marines Codex: Ultima Edition Unboxing (Vid and Pix)

  As you, my good gentle-readers know, I am a sucker for anything collectible.  You could probably bag crap, if you labeled it correctly, I just might jump on it.

  This time, it was the Games Workshop, Space Marines Codex: Ultima Edition.  (Only 129 left, get yours NOW!  LOL)

  And because I am finding it funnerer and funnerer to do videos, I made you all a great little video unboxing of the package.  I really didn’t do a video, it's more a like a slideshow with narration, but I have been pretty sick lately and I didn't want anyone to catch anything viral from my video...  So, without further ado, here is the video I made, for you's guys...

  After the break, there is a all the pictures and the text review for those who hate youtube, or videos or both.

  All in all, I have to say I am not disappointed with the product, nor do I think it is worth the $250.  I think $200 would have been stretching it a bit.  But product wise, it's very cool.  High production value and lots of little extras.  Not as much as a forge world book, but not too bad.

  So, here is the break, and off we go into the pictures...

Death from the Skies

Or, the hurrier I go, the behinder I get.

  What a day.  After trying to kill the Dish Network guy, things went downhill...

  But I still got my hopper and it is pretty freakin cool.  My fed-up-ness wirth DirectTV is finally over.

  I did try to start painting the realm of battle boards tonight.  Only to find that when I spray primered them, I used an enamel primer... yay Me!!  In a hurry, in a cheap mood, got stupid and bammo, now I have to re-prime the boards.  Oh well.  I should still get to them this weekend if all goes well still.  it is annoying though, I was all ready to go and nada.

  But on to the new book. Thunder from the skies is a mixed bag, IMHO. There is about 15 pages of fluff. Then a section on new air war missions, just like any other mission book they have put out. If you want to use them, you have to roll and win, then you can roll to see which one you play (unless you both agree, of course). After that is a reprint of the Burning Skies rules for air combat and more flyer fun to add to the game. Up next is the 'Bestiary', war gear and army lists for the flyers. The Space marine section adds icons to show what flavor SM chapter has access to what flyers.

WIP - Storm Raven, Aquilla, Icon Mold

  Long weekend, short on ability.  Story of my life, it seems.  I did something to my arm Friday night and spent the whole weekend aching.  It falls asleep a lot and tingles just about all the time.  Methinks this is not good.  Anyhow, between that and some other malady's, my hobby work was cut quite short.   So, first off, a big "huzzah" to Danica Patrick for taking the pole for the Daytona 500.  you go, girl!

  Next, I was able to finish up on my Aquila.  This version does not suck nearly as bad as the last one.  Here it is, it still needs dullcote and some final tweaks...

  The next thing I worked on was the new icon for my chapter, the Templars Sanguine.  I will be putting up a whole page of their goodness, with preliminary fluff and designs very soon.  What I needed was the blood angels wings with a templar cross.  I can't have my brand spanking new chapter going around with the wrong iconography.  So, since I was working on my Storm Raven anyhow, I decided to cut apart the wings from one of the icons.  I also hacked up a banner from the Black Templar upgrade box to get the cross.  I had to chisel off the skull and re-shape it a bit, but it made the grade.

Review: Let's Paint Black Templars

  Call me crazy, if you like, but I like painting tutorial videos.  I seem to be able to pick up something from every one I watch, no matter how bad they might be.  This 2 DVD set from AGProductions is not bad, in fact it's the best I have seen to date, save for the GW "How to Paint..." DVD.

  The DVD I bought was, oddly enough, Let's Paint Black Templars.  I wondered when I clicked "buy it now" how the producer could possible spend 4 hours (2 DVDs) on BTs.  I mean, really, slap on the black, pick out some white and metallics and bammo, you're done.

  Not so fast.  Christopher Davidson starts off with the very basics, how to build the marine in a way that makes it crazy easier to paint.  I had always left the bolter off the fig, but Christopher has a way better take on how to do things, and the one Marine I have painted so far shows the effect of this improvement.  (No, I'm not going to divulge all his tips in the review, buy one of his videos for that :)

  Christopher then goes on to talk about all the normal stuff, but he uses an approach you don't normally see on youtube vids, and I think it works darn well.  Especially his take on edging, which I have never seen done anywhere before and is great for someone like me (old, with brush control issues :).

  Just for those alone, the $15 price tag is justified, but wait... there's more.  Seriously, at $15 these are some of the least expensive DVDs I have seen and you get 4-ish hours of instruction.  The production value of the DVDs is great.  The steps he uses are clear and in focus, most of the time.  Every now and then he may drift the area being painted out of the camera, but he corrects it right away.  You're not going to find yourself annoyed by this, but it happens once or twice.  He has a very moderated voice that does not grate on your nerves over the duration of the video.  His words are well thought out and it does not seem scripted at all.

  And best of all??  There is NO FREAKING BACKGROUND MUSIC.  DVD producers take note, background music SUX!  I don't care how much you really love that loop from your favorite (crappy) band, hearing it loop 500 times while you tell me how to paint is FREAKING LAME.  STOP IT.  For the love of god, at least turn it down.  Some videos I own (see this review, not mentioning names) have music so annoyingly loud that you cannot hear the speaker, and it's not like it's good music either.  It's crappy loops, you see them on YouTube all the time.  Why people?  WHY????

  If the DVD has any weak spots, it's the menu/navigation again.  I know what a pain it is to author DVDs with menus that work in every machine and computer, so I don't harp on this too much.  I have 6 computers here and 2 different DVD players that I use frequently, and as usual, the menus work great with the mouse and keyboards on the computers, but less so on the dedicated DVD players.

  All in all, this video gets an A grade, or 90 out of 100 on the DVD coolness scale.  It is not for general use painting, it is very Black Templar specific, but the techniques are usable anywhere.  Production and sound quality are GREAT.  Content is top-notch.  Alongside the Hot Lead DVD's and the GW How To Paint Citadel Miniatures, this video stands up very well.  Kudos to the author!!

Ciao for now...

The Templars Sanguine ver 0.1

  Well, here they are.  Had some time this evening so I took a swing at painting a test fig for the Templars Sanguine.  This is a test fig I did up to look at the paint scheme up close.  I kind of like it.  The photo's don't really do the Hawk Turquoise justice (Sotek Green, I guess it is called now).

  I do like the starkness of the contrast between the Green and the Red.  You won't lose sight of these guys on the table, but they also don't scream out in Neon highlights. 

  I am wondering what this will look like on some Characters.  My captain and Librarian are waiting for a shiny new coat of paint and I'm still really hesitant to do them.  Anxiety of a lamer-painter :)

  Once I get to the edging and highlighting, I think they will be ok for large scale production.  I used a lot of tips I got from a new tutorial DVD I have that I will be reviewing shortly.  Best DvD I have gotten so far, I must say. 

Chapter Changes

 Fare well, Templars Mordain.... Hellllloooo  Templars Sanguine

  Like all good things aborning, the chapter has changed yet again.  I am forced to make my home-brewed chapter a descendant of the Blood Angels rather than the Black Templars as I had previously thought.  There are several reasons for this, but most important, was the desire to have a Storm Raven and Furioso Dreads available to my lists.  I also love the thought of painting up a group of Sanguinary guards as well.  Of course, you have to take the good with the bad, so it means I will have the Red Thirst as well.

  Another reason is the fact that, while I still love the Black Templars, the style they have and the 'fluff' is not my favorite.  I have some personal reasons for liking them and wanting to use them though.  So, the story is simple, I'm at the FLGS (Active Imagination) Friday night and my friend Matt says, "look, they have a Furioso Dreadnought".  Well that just tore it completely.  I had been edging toward the boys in red for some time and that just sealed the deal.  (I love the way he spends my money... LOL)  Not to mention the fact that we had been to the GW store in Denver (Square One) a few weeks before and I picked up the Angels Codex.

  The new banner is simple, yet defined, IMHO.  At the top you have the symbology for new chapter, a sort of amalgamation of the two progenitor chapters, Blood Angels and Black Templars.  These are stylized a bit and the red is deepened a bit.  Next down is the Aquilla for the Emperor (Praise to the throne) followed by the crossed swords with Loyalty Banner.  This is an important symbol.  It represents the ideology from my fluff for the desire of the chapter to be seen as loyal.  Both progenitors have had their loyalty questioned in the past, and the leaders of the new chapter wanted to display in no uncertain terms what they mean to address going forward.  Under that is the Laurel wreath to represent the chapter's honors to come.  Rather than a resplendent display of all their past glory's (of which there are none, new chapter and all.) they put the wreath here to stand for all the glories of the combined forces.  The chapter banner name in blue is beneath that.  The three peals at the bottom of the banner are, homages to the progenitors.  The center peal, with the flaming skull represents the new chapters desire to strike hard and fast from above.


  So, my new paint scheme will be more like this...

Templars Sanguine

  I'm hoping to get going on this soon, although I'm not sure what to do with the first squad I painted already.  Maybe I'll just refer to them as the old "11th Company..."

The Templars Mordain - My own Space Marine chapter

Well, it's been a while since my last post, and I do apologize.  In the next few days I will explain why.  Work has been crazy, the holidays have come and gone and travels have abounded.

I have had a couple of major projects  come up that took all my hobby time, but they were worth it.  There was also a small disaster that had to be recovered from, but more on that later, in another post.

I did however, solidify the new Chapter Banner and decided on the back-story for my made-up chapter of Space Marines.  I wonder if anyone can tell that they are an off-shoot of the Black Templars?  Am I that obvious?  LOL.  Designing that chapter banner took WAY longer than I would have ever imagined.  It is not very artistic, but rather highly stylized.  All the imagery on the banner has a meaning.  (I will make a post later to explain all the elements of the banner.)  My Templars Mordain are a rather plain jane chapter, but I did not want to create a chapter that stretched reality or bent/broke rules.  They have no special abilities and are in fact, Codex Marines.  The one thing this allows me, is Librarians, unlike the Black Templars.

The backstory is kind of simple, add 1 part angry Helbrecht, 1 part rebellious crusade Marshall and two parts very angry Adeptus Terra and you have the idea.

6th Edition - renewed energy

Well, it's time to try to get back to it again.  Been doing some hobbying lately, but not as much as I would have liked.  I lost a great friend of 20+ years to Cancer last week and that sort of puts things into perspective.  I'm not saying I'm living for the moment, but I think I am appreciating them more as they go by.

Space Marine Paint Scheme v15.1. Basic Black, Sotek Green and Caledor Sky

Anyhow, I have been bitten HARD by the Space Marine bug (again...) and it's time to work them boys into shape.  15 different color schemes came and went, but I think I have settled on a good one this time.  It's basic black, with Sotek Green Pauldrons and Greaves andCaledor Sky highlights here and there...   Here is the first crack at it.  None of the details are done yet.

It works pretty well for me, I think.  My biggest thought was how it would look on a vehicle.

The Chapter Name is temporarily the "Stigmata Martyrs"  (A compliment to Abney Park), but that may also change.  I'll be using the crosses from the Black Templars and it may affect the name as well.

Necron-Metalman-Teminator Goodness

Ok, so I'm back into WH40K in a big way.  I have the beginnings of a decent Space Marines force, an Eldar Battleforce (still in the box) and now...  There is Necron goodness...

I am totally digging on painting these guys.  First, I have always really loved Necrons.  Second, the new codex and new minis are a joy to behold (except for the FineCrap minis... different rant).

My forces are going to be basic black with Copper and Blue highlights.  These guys were dry-brushed with copper and highlighted with three different shades of blue.  I also am going to replace the ghastly green weapon barrels with a far more sedate blue acrylic version.

It's so nice to be back into 40k!!