Heresy & Heroes

Most weeks, I try to come up with something to talk about here, but on rare occasions, such as this, it’s a case of something and nothing. I’ve got no big topic I want to delve into, no eye-opening, jaw-dropping or any other sort of orifice enlarging statement to make. Nor do I have a posing question that’s confounding me to the extent that I have the urge to share or burden you with it to any great degree. I do however have a few, smaller things that I’ve been mulling over – none of which probably deserves its own post at this stage. And that’s what this ‘sort of’ post is about really. A handful of talking points that probably aren’t worth talking about too much. So, if you’re having a bit of a slow day and want to kill five minutes, you might find this vaguely compelling.

Changing Colours – The Mortifactors Look When I started working on the Mortifactors, I painted my Lord Executioner, and as he was going to be in Artificer Armour, I changed up the colour scheme of the chapter a little. But because I liked the way it looked, I carried it over to all of the marines that I’ve worked on since. The differences are subtle, but it’s still drawn the odd comment ranging from engaged and interested to the nerdrage that declares me to be wrong and evil and more wrong. Personally, I don’t care about the latter and I’m happy to explain to the former that the reason for me doing it like this is simple: I think they look better my way.

Left: Original Mortifactors Colour Scheme. Right: My Mortifactors Colour Scheme.

It’s a purely aesthetic thing. I guess i prefer ‘uggs’ to little black booties (that seems to be the bit that most people seem to notice). Besides, the Mortifactors don’t do anything the way they ought to, and that’s one of the reasons I enjoy embellishing their fluff. To some, my decision to paint them a little differently is as borderline heretical as the chapter itself and I’m quite proud of that.

Dark Eldar – My ‘Vienna’

If you’re familiar with the music of Ultravox, you’ll know that with regards to Vienna, and to paraphrase Midge Ure himself, ‘this release means nothing to me’. That was a rather tortured and awkward way of saying that I don’t care about Dark Eldar. Not in a nasty way – indeed, the new minis look really impressive and the fluff is pretty cool too. It’s just that they’ve never really been on my radar in terms of a hobby project. I’ve thought about it. Their starter box was always one of the better looking kits to get going with, but as ‘interesting’ a place like Commorragh might be, I wouldn’t want to live there. Ergo, I shall be saying little else on the subject, unless some particularly amazing model comes along (the Void Raven does look rather nice, but it’s not really me…), I shall keep my council and stay schtum. To all you DE players out there, I hope you get lots of lovely, sadistic goodies.

Chaos Gods are Gathering I’m not much of a rumour monger as far as hobby bloggers go, but there have been plenty of rumours circulating about the Chaos Greater Daemons getting plastic models soon, as well as resculpts to bring them into the modern era (which is very exciting!). This will be part of WFB’s End Times gig (though of course Chaos transcends both games) and this has already produced some stunning sculpts. By many accounts, this has been revitalising to the game and that’s no bad thing. Even I’ve been tempted to join the Bows n’ Arrows brigade and I’ve been a confirmed bolt gun man for a long time.

I have heard a salty whisper from the warp though – someone I’m vaguely friendly with says that he has seen the new Great Unclean One model. Now, I won’t name names or methods, and to be honest, I have little to go on myself, but it is *apparently ‘considerably’ larger than the existing one (though not quite as big as the FW GUO), that its styling brings it in line with the plaguebearers and particularly the drones from the last release, and that it can be assembled as a specific character. *Apparently it’s somewhere in between looking ‘goofy and terrifying’ which probably fits. I can’t see why this person would have a reason to lie (other than the obvious, though he’s not that sort) but then again I wasn’t wholly convinced – I could probably have guessed all that myself. Make of it what you will…

Plinth Shopping Random question time – I need to mount my Slaaneshi Imperial Knight for Golden Daemon and therefore require a plinth. I was thinking about a simple bit of slate or just a block of wood, but was wondering if anyone else had any better/alternative notions. Anyone know where to buy a plinth for an Imperial Knight? (yes, that is probably the most bizarre question I’ll ask today).

Planning Next Year’s Projects

Ok, so this one will definitely get its own post as we get closer to 2015, but at the moment, I’m trying to decide what I’ll be working on in 2015. I’ve no idea what direction it’ll take, or if it will continue along the same path as 2014, but we’re almost into October now, so I need to get planning. There’s a lot of musing going on regarding how I carry on with the Mortifactors, whether to carry on pursuing Daemons, how I’m going to build on Dios Toros and my Slaaneshi forces, and if I take on something like INQ28 or a Necromunda gang. Loads to think about but it’s early days yet – plenty to consider and who knows what GW/FW will bring out over the remaining days of 2014? The rate they’re going, it could be anything.

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So, there you go. Something and nothing really. It’s almost a study in the random nonsense that goes through this particular hobbyist’s brain during a particular given week. Whether it’s of any interest to you is another matter, but if I’ve done nothing else, I hope I’ve helped you to enjoy five minutes well wasted.

p.s. Apologies for any formatting weirdness. It appears WordPress is having a minor crisis at the moment but I have tried to fix it.

You ever think about why you paint? Why you play? What you’re doing with this hobby? There are some obvious plus points, such as the games, the social aspect, the competitions, the collecting, etc, but there are so many little wins in this hobby. There are so many small moments that make you smile, grin or even laugh (like a crazy person, but a happy crazy person) that I wanted to jog your memories a little. There are others, but these are my favourite 10 little joys that the hobby hands out to any who take part in it.

1. A new brush

When you pick up a brand new brush, remove its fresh bristles from the little plastic guard and just take a moment to stare at it. That perfect shape, brought to a needle thin point. Is there anything so sexy?

2. The faultless FW piece

Where the pretty things come from…

When you get resin pieces, you’re used to slight bowing or the occasional weak point, or even a bubble once in a while. Once in a blue moon though, you clip it all from the sprue and you can see no imperfections, no blemishes and you just let how awesome that is sink in.

3. The perfect conversion

“I didn’t even need any green stuff!”

Like a surgeon, snipping carefully away at those tiny plastic bits, you gingerly remove one piece and you hope that it’s going to work and then, when you match it up to where it will go and it aligns so perfectly… sploosh.

4. A tidy desk

A place for everything and everything in its place. It may not last long (it usually never does), but when you sit down at your work station and the desk is free of clutter and mess, you say to yourself ‘Yes. Yes, I will do well in this unknown and pleasant land’.

5. FW’s weekly Email

They’ve been mixing it up recently, but it used to be that every Friday afternoon, some new goody would be revealed in your email inbox. Even if it wasn’t for your army, you could still ooh and aah about it. Best email of the week.

6. Putting your brush down after a long project

Annnnd relax. That last little detail is done and you can put down your mini and your brush and just stare at it. Proud of your accomplishment, happy with your efforts, you can just stare at it and feel your muscles relax. Bathe in those fleeting, glorious moments people, bathe in them.

7. Your Army getting something new and shiny

It used to be a long wait, but GW are seriously putting their foot down with new releases and coming up with some amazing sculpts right now. A new model for your army is always cause for celebration.

8. Opening a new codex and finding the wins

There’s always a hefty thwack from the nerf bat, but there’s usually a nice bonus or two in there as well. A weapon getting some power creep, points drops to your favourite unit, awesome psychic powers… they’ll be in there. Even Nid players have to admit to finding some nice things now.

9. Mastering a new technique

That day when you go onto a site that showcases quality work and you see that, for example, your NMM technique is on a par with someone who everyone thinks of as a great painter. That is a good day. Treasure it.

10. Completing an army

When you finish your 2000pts list of Space Marines, this is how it looks like to you.

You might have envisioned it a year back, or even more, but that first moment when you can stand back from your desk and see the whole army, in all of its glory, this is possibly the greatest feeling a miniature painter can have. The herculean effort, the blood, sweat and tears, the self-imposed isolation and the hours of lost sleep are all worth it at this point. This is why we paint and why we enjoy it.

Now, you may have your own little moments of simple bliss and understated (and often misunderstood) pleasures relating to the hobby, but I think that everyone who paints and plays enjoys some, if not all of these things. This growth, progression and simple happiness are as rewarding as the games, the victories and the collecting. This is where we get our kicks and to ensure that you can always find something to enjoy in all of these toy soldiers, take a moment, and think about your own little enjoyments. You won’t regret it.

Got your own ideas on what you enjoy? Stick them in the comments section below.

Oh, so much to do and so little time. What’s more, as covered at length in previous articles here, so many distractions. Life as a hobbyist would be so much easier if we all had several pairs of eyes, a few extra limbs, a time machine, limitless bank accounts and a never ending supply of fine sable brushes sprouting from various orifices. If only…

I’m also growing more and more accustomed to doing big shiny pieces and this doesn’t leave a lot of room for the du jour units of the game. The Knights and Contemptors of this world are far too alluring. This makes the idea of sitting down to paint ten basic, run of the mill space marines a little dull. And that’s unfair. I need another Tactical Squad to avoid a Highlander army, and it’s been in my plans for ages to have further tactical squads and rhinos. More than that, an unopened box of these fellows has been sat on my desk for months now. Furthermore, and also previously stated, the new Tactical squad box is a fantastic kit to work with. Lots of options and some faultless sculpting – I should be well up for it.

However, I’m not. I have a dreadnought on the way and tanks and aircraft and walkers and characters to work on. They’re the exciting ones. So, this leads me neatly and with great rambling to the crux of this particular dilemma – how to paint what you need to paint but that you don’t want to paint.

The question, that I’d be delighted if you chimed in on, goes thusly: can you work on projects piecemeal? So, the idea is, that I build the legs and torsos and then base them. The i undercoat those and all the other bits on the sprue, and then, I just leave them until I fancy working on them. Paint a little bit at a time. No rushing, no pressure. Can that work?

During the days of building the Contemptor, I maybe get all the basing done. On a busy weekend, maybe I have time to do a few helmets. A couple of pairs of legs in the evenings after work. And when the next big project is underway, I quickly paint all the bolters…

Can this sort of approach work? I’m sure I can get it all done, but will I be able to keep the look tied together, and will it keep my attention and love for the unit going. Time will tell (and this is bound to take a long time), but it’ll be an interesting experiment. I’ll try and get some WIPs posted up here throughout the process. You never know though, I might find myself with a quiet weekend in which case I’ll steamroller through the lot of them. Anyway, at least you know what I’ll be doing with my spare time.

I guess this counts as a WIP, albeit a rather pathetic one.

Let me know your thoughts. Onwards!