A 40K Artist Needs Your Help!
Recognize this artist? No? Maybe this is a bit more familiar.
That's art by Nicolas R. Giacondino, or as many 40K fans know him, Aerion-the-Faithful. He's done a ton of fan art for the 40K community, including the picture of Sanguinius for the Dornian Heresy document that Bolter and Chainsword put out a couple of years ago, the Emperor "Abide" image for Adepticon 2012's Friendly Tournament,and the design for the AdeptiConstruct. If you're a 40K fan who's spent any time online, you've probably seen one or more of his pictures. You can check out more of his 40K artwork in his deviantArt gallery.
So, why am I bringing Nicolas up? Because he's a friend of mine, and he's in a bit of a financial tight spot right now. That means he's open for commissions, and he's ready to jump on them and get them done. I can personally vouch for his quality and speed. I've commissioned him three times, and every time he's been fast, communicative, and the artwork has always been top-notch. His prices are very reasonable, and he's very, very good. The picture at the top of this post was one I commissioned for my podcast - a group portrait of our four hosts. Not only did he turn it around in a very short time (while working on finishing up the first volume of his comic Free Mars), but based solely off of a few pictures I provided him from Facebook, he did portraits that even my 5-year-old could instantly recognize - all while maintaining his signature style.
So please, if you're interested and can spare the funds, contact him at his deviantArt page and ask for an art commission. He's very familiar with the 40K universe and can definitely make your vision come to life. The help will be greatly appreciated, I assure you!
Army Challenge: Marshal and Crusader Squad
The Marshal I was working on last week is now assembled. My only gripe with him is that the glue on the Templar cross on his shield set too quickly, so it froze in place a bit askew and I couldn't adjust it. Not the end of the world, but a minor annoyance. Otherwise, he's perfectly good and templar-y.
I'm a bit intimidated at the concept of freehanding the banner and/or any cape detailing, but fortunately that step's a bit far out. I don't want to get ahead of myself and psych myself out. In the meantime, I also managed to get my small shooty Crusader Squad completed:
Loyalist marines feel like they keep their legs in a wider stance than Chaos marines; getting these guys placed on the basing material (pieces of corkboard) was trickier than I expected just because their legs are so far apart. I'm getting more used to it with each one and sizing my cork scraps more appropriately, so the next batch - the first pistol/CCW squad - should go smoother.
Also, I just want to say how awesome it is to work in a dedicated hobby space. All my tools are within reach and not packed away, and I have room to spread things out as I build. I'm absolutely loving it.
Army Challenge: It Has Begun!
May 1st has come and gone, and I have officially started working on my Black Templar army for the Preferred Enemies Army Challenge. I thought about starting off with vehicles - a Rhino, maybe, or a couple of Land Speeders - but I decided to keep it simple and start with an HQ and troops. That means I have 19 Initiates and 4 Neophytes to make, along with a Marshal for my crusade. The former I can build from the Space Marine battle force (which is the stack of sprues in the background), and the latter I'm building from a Space Marine commander (his sprues, along with a command squad and some Black Templar sprues are in the foreground).
I've already got all the parts for the Marshal clipped out and set up. They just need to be cleaned up a bit and assembled:
I'm using the combat shield from the Assault Marine squad as a storm shield (and had to clip off the hand on the back because it's for the wrong arm), and I'm using the special Black Templar backpack from the upgrade set instead of the double-eagle backpack. Hoping to get him together tonight and then maybe make some progress on the Crusader Squads. I think I might do the las/plas squad first - it's smaller, and it'll get me used to building marines again.
In the meantime, I also have some Tau Pathfinders to assemble and paint, and I think I'll try out the brush-on GW primer for those as an experiment. It'll be nice to finally try out the new paints, I think.
Hobby Project 2012/2013 – Black Templars
Now that the Independent Characters' 2011/2012 Hobby Challenge is over, it's time to look towards my project for 2012/2013. It's looking like they won't be doing another army project for this year - which makes sense, as expecting listeners to crank out a new army every year would be a bit much - but I have another army waiting in the wings for such a project. Since I'm ready to go now, in May I'll be kicking off my Black Templar army. My goal - a 2000-point army completed by March 31, 2013. I have pretty much everything purchased and ready to start assembling, so I'll be spending the next two weeks making sure my hobby space is stocked and ready, and then I'll be off to the races!
Here's the list that I'm looking at right now:
HQ: Marshal (136 pts)
1 Marshal (Terminator Honors; Frag Grenades; Lightning Claw x1; Storm Shield x1)
HQ: Master of Sanctity (127 pts)
1 Master of Sanctity (Terminator Honors; Frag Grenades; Crozius Arcanum; Bolt Pistol x1)
HQ: Emperor's Champion (140 pts)
1 Emperor's Champion (Accept Any Challenge, No Matter the Odds)
Elite: Venerable Dreadnought (166 pts)
1 Venerable Dreadnought (Searchlight; Venerable; Skill: Tank Hunter; Twin-Linked Lascannon; Missile Launcher)
Elite: Dreadnought (148 pts)
1 Dreadnought (Smoke Launchers; Multi-melta)
1 Drop Pod
Elite: Sword Brethren Terminator Assault Squad (523 pts)
1 Sword Brethren Terminator Assault Squad (Furious Charge)
3 Terminator with Lightning Claws
3 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
1 Land Raider Crusader
Troops: Crusader Squad (213 pts)
1 Crusader Squad (Squad with Frag Grenades)
4 Initiate with Bolt Pistol and CCW
1 Initiate with Meltagun
1 Initiate with Bolt Pistol & Power Fist
3 Neophyte with Bolt Pistol & CCW
1 Rhino (Smoke Launchers)
Troops: Crusader Squad 213 pts)
1 Crusader Squad (Squad with Frag Grenades)
4 Initiate with Bolt Pistol and CCW
1 Initiate with Meltagun
1 Initiate with Bolt Pistol & Power Fist
3 Neophyte with Bolt Pistol & CCW
1 Rhino (Smoke Launchers)
Troops: Crusader Squad (194 pts)
1 Crusader Squad
3 Initiate with Bolter
1 Initiate with Plasmagun
1 Initiate with Lascannon
1 Razorback (Smoke Launchers; Twin-Linked Lascannon)
Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (70 pts)
1 Land Speeder Typhoon (Typhoon Missile Launcher)
Fast Attack: Land Speeder Squadron (70 pts)
1 Land Speeder Typhoon (Typhoon Missile Launcher)
I'm going to be joined in the challenge by my podcasting co-hosts Dennis, who will be painting his Dark Eldar, and Richard, who will be painting Tyranids. They already have all their models assembled, and Dennis's are primed as well, so I'm starting a bit on the back foot. Of course, my army's primer is going to be their main color, so that gives me a slight advantage on painting speed - not that it's necessarily a race. I do have a few models already assembled, though - I went ahead and got my Assault Terminators and Emperor's Champ ready.
This will be my first Imperial army, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. It'll be nice to work with power armor that isn't covered in spikes...
My New Hobbying Space
So, with the new kid here, we had to convert the home office into a nursery, which left me without much of a place to work on minis apart from the kitchen table or a folding table in the living room. Fortunately, we had a garage with a workbench in it that had mostly been used for storage. We've cleaned up the space (and are still working on it; it's a work in progress), and have officially made it into a "man-cave" of sorts.
I've got a magnifying lamp, a pegboard for all my tools, a couple of barstools (it's large enough for two people to easily work at it) and more than enough space to be working on a whole army at once. I've also got shelves underneath for all my various gaming books, so my BRB and codexes are never far away.
And yes, that is a lightsaber on the pegboard.
It's going to be great for this year, because I've got a cabinet full of models (also in the garage) for my Black Templar army this year...
I think all I need is a paint organizer or two, and to straighten up the workbench a bit, and I'll be set.
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