I finally got a chance to play around with both my new camera and the lightbox I recently purchased. One of my delays was completely accidental; when I first set up the lightbox for a test, one of the lights tumbled to the floor, breaking the 50W bulb inside. Fortunately, it was a standard size, so I was able to order an inexpensive replacement. I would’ve been a bit upset if I’d just ruined my new investment. I’m happy with the results, though. It’s leaps and bounds beyond what I could do with my old camera and a desk lamp.

I did have to do some color correction, as the images came out with a distinct yellow hue. Whether that’s due to the lights, the white balance I had set on the camera, the blue backdrop throwing off the image, or all three combined, I’m not sure. This is a higher level of photography than what I’m used to, so there’s a bit of a learning curve. Still, once the colors were adjusted, everything was true to life.

If anything, the one downside of these images is that they’re so good. Every imperfection becomes visible, especially on the earlier minis and models I assembled. Unfiled mold lines and overgluing spots that aren’t as prominent in lower-quality images jump out in the new pictures, and painting errors become readily apparent. It’s not frustrating, though; it’s just encouragement to do better the next time around.

So, expect more photos in the coming weeks, as I get more of my Tau army photographed, as well as more WIP pictures of my Khorne CSMs!

I finally made some noticeable progress on my Berzerkers tonight, as evidenced by the picture above. First of all, I’ve experimented with how much I was thinning my Mechrite Red, and I think I’ve found just the right balance to let me get a good coating in just one or two passes. I also got to work on finishing up my first Berzerker and getting his color balance just right. I was worried that the Badab Black wash had darkened the mini too much, but after building the color back up I got just the effect I wanted. My process was:

1. Put down a layer of Red Gore, making sure to leave some of the washed edges showing for contrast.
2. Then, put down a 50/50 blend of Red Gore and Blood Red, although not quite as broadly.
3. Highlight with Blazing Orange.

I’m still working on getting my highlighting properly thinned; I think it was just a bit heavier than I would have liked in this case. Still, for my first attempt, I’m pretty pleased. I’m also happy with how the brass turned out. Highlighting the Dwarf Bronze with Shining Gold gave me just the effect I was looking for: something not as bright as gold, but that had a similar look from the right angles. After that was done, I dotted the eyes with Scorpion Green (or the Vallejo equivalent, Scorpy Green), and I ended up with what you see above.

There are still a few details left, like the hoses on the backpack and some cleanup on the bolt pistol, and I need to paint the base. Other than that, though, I’m pretty much done with this one. Now that I have my Mechrite Red technique figured out, I can get the other three (I tested on a fourth) basecoated and get this unit cranked out in the next couple of weeks.

I’ve been working on each of the four Berzerkers one at a time, and each one’s in a different stage. One just has Mechrite Red, one has some Boltgun Metal details, one has the metal details and some Bestial Brown where I’ll be laying down Dwarf Bronze, and the final one has been bronzed, followed by a wash in Badab Black. Speaking of the Bronze, I’m still unsure of how it’ll look for my brass, but I’m withholding final judgment until I start getting some Shining Gold highlights onto it. I’ll try to get some pictures soon, both of my Tau and of my Chaos Marines, as I’ve finally resolved my lighting issue. I recently picked up this studio-in-a-box kit from Amazon (for about $20 less than it’s currently priced at), and I’ll be trying it out either tonight or tomorrow. I’m very excited to see what a difference it makes.

It’s Valentine’s Day, and during a little bit of downtime between holiday outings, I figured it would be proper to put down some red paint onto something. Fortunately, I had some Khorne Berzerkers primed and ready to go, so today kicks off the start of my second army painting project. I’m breaking the army down into small, manageable chunks, rather than trying to paint whole squads in one pass; I’ve done that before with units of a dozen Fire Warriors, and it nearly burned me out. For Berzerkers, since I run them in squads of 8, doing half-squads at a time seemed perfect.

Here, I have three normal Berzerkers, and a Skull Champion (he’s the chap with the power fist). They’ve been primed in Duplicolor Black primer – a fantastic primer, by the way, and reasonably priced – and a basecoat of Mechrite Red Foundation Paint has been applied. I’m going for an inside-to-outside paint job, so I’m going to get the base armor painted first before I start painting the brass details. Sadly, GW no longer has Brazen Brass available, but I think a combination of Dwarf Bronze with Shining Gold highlights should give me a similar effect.

Lately, I’ve been doing all my photography with my iPhone’s camera. It does a fair job, but it’s not a huge improvement over the old HP camera we have, a relic of the days when a 2-megapixel camera was luxurious. Thanks to a fortuitous deal on Woot, though, we were able to upgrade to a nice 10-megapixel Polaroid. The above picture is a sample of what it can put out. I’m very happy – and a bit embarassed. A good camera can highlight all the flaws in a miniature: the unfiled moldlines, the imprecise edging, and so on. If anything, though, it’s incentive to up my game and do better on the next minis.

One thing I’m still working out is my lighting situation. I’ve got a desk lamp and a shop light that I use, and it does an alright job. I’m still playing around with the right white balance settings, and I have photo editing software to play with the color levels. I’d really like to set up a lightbox, whether purchased or put together on the cheap, because I think even, diffuse light would really help. In the meantime, though, I think I’ll be taking some new army pictures over the next week or so.

Image © Games Workshop

Black, of course!

As I prepare to get back to assembling and painting my Chaos armies, I’ve been trying to piece together a Black Legion list. I have Abaddon, and I’d really like to use him, simply because he is a beast of a character. Sure, he’s got a massive point cost, but I think he’s survivable enough to make it worthwhile, especially if you throw him in with some like-minded Terminators. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

HQ: Abaddon the Despoiler (275 pts)
1 Abaddon the Despoiler

Elite: Terminators (170 pts)
4 Terminators (Lightning Claw x4; Combi-melta x1; Heavy Flamer x1)

Troops: Chaos Space Marines (255 pts)
9 Chaos Space Marines (Icon of Chaos Glory; Meltagun x2)
1 Aspiring Champion (Power Fist)
1 Rhino

Troops: Chaos Space Marines (255 pts)
9 Chaos Space Marines (Icon of Chaos Glory; Meltagun x2)
1 Aspiring Champion (Power Fist)
1 Rhino

Troops: Chaos Space Marines (245 pts)
9 Chaos Space Marines (Icon of Chaos Glory; Flamer x2)
1 Aspiring Champion (Power Fist)
1 Rhino

Heavy Support: Defiler (150 pts)
1 Defiler (Reaper Autocannon; Twin Linked Heavy Flamer)

Heavy Support: Obliterators (150 pts)
2 Obliterators

Total Cost: 1500 points

The general idea is to run up the CSMs in their Rhinos, supporting them with fire from the Defiler and Obliterators, and get them into some key positions. When Abaddon and his Terminators come in from reserve, they’ll pick whichever squad is most appropriately placed and make use of their icon to come in without scattering. The rest pretty much speaks for itself.

As always, comments and critiques are welcome! In the meantime, I’m going to need to track down more left-arm lightning claws for my Terminators.

At the same time, I’ll probably be working on assembling my other Chaos army. There’s no timetable on that, so it’ll be bits and pieces here and there. I’m still torn between going Black Legion – an easy choice with what I have – and going with a Tzeentch-themed army. I don’t know if I have enough minis to do both (and I’ll definitely need more Rhinos for either). Decisions, decisions…

I mentioned having to drill out a broken flight base in my most recent post. What I hadn’t mentioned was the drilling process itself. About a year ago,  I picked up a Gale Force 9 pinning drill, but other than drilling out the odd broken flight base (as a Tau player, I deal with this more often than I would like), I hadn’t really used it too much. The standard bit it ships with is a bit large for pinning 28mm mini bits. Fortunately, they sell a pack of extra bits and rods that includes a much slimmer bit, and I had purchased one of those a few months ago once my local shop had them back in stock. I wanted to avoid drilling a new flight base hole, so I got out the thin bit in the hopes of being able to drill a hole into the small nub of flight stand inside the mini and pull it out. However, I was disheartened to discover that the small bit didn’t work in the drill. The drill’s chuck was constructed in such a way that it could close around the bit, but could never grab it – there was actually a cylindrical section of the inside of the chuck cut away that was just slightly larger than the small bit. I ended up having to use the larger bit and making a new hole (which did work).

This was not at all what I wanted out of my pinning drill, so I did what any frustrated customer should do: write a letter to the manufacturer. I sent an email to Gale Force 9 expressing my dismay that their product did not work as intended, and asked if there was any possible resolution. This was on Sunday afternoon. Monday morning, shortly after the start of business, I received a response telling me that they were investigating the issue. Less than an hour later, they returned with what they’d found – that a batch of drills made a few years earlier had bad chucks – and asking for a mailing address where a new one could be sent. Since my drill could have been sitting on the shelf for a while, it’s very possible that it was in that batch.

This afternoon, my new chuck arrived in the mail, along with a few extra slim brass rods for good measure. That’s a three-day turn around between them receiving the initial complaint and my receiving a replacement part. I can happily report that the new chuck works wonderfully with the smaller bit. I’m very, very pleased with Gale Force 9. I’ve sung the praises of their micro files before, and now I’ll praise both their pinning drill and their customer service department. I can guarantee that I’ll be buying more of their products in the future.

However, the foam trays are only half the story. With my two new Devilfish, my two painted Piranhas, and some additional Crisis Suits, I’d outgrown my foam trays. For a short term solution, I had the Devilfish in a slim cardboard box, and everything else in a small plastic tub. Said tub was balanced precariously in the crate, and when I put the crate back, it decided to take a tumble. It bounced off the top of my head and fell to the floor. Fortunately, the tub stayed closed, but I knew that all those minis falling six feet or so unpadded would not have come through undamaged, and I was right. Damages included:

• Three broken Crisis Suit arms – two at the shoulder (the ball part of the ball-and-socket joint snapped right off the torso), and one at the elbow (where I’d cut it to reposition the arm)
• One broken Gun Drone – both guns snapped right off of the body
• One broken Shield Drone – one antenna snapped off at the joint between it and the plastic drone body
• One broken flight base – the end broke off inside the Crisis Suit it was bearing

Fortunately, Zap-a-Gap CA+, much like time, cures all wounds, and the flight base nub was able to be drilled out and a new flight stand inserted. All in all, the incident took about 15 minutes from fall to completed repair, but it highlighted my need for more foam trays. Yesterday, I went to the gaming store near my workplace in search of more. The good news is that I was able to find some trays. The bad news, though, is that I barely managed to find the trays I needed, despite them having shelves and shelves of them.

Here’s my conundrum: there is no standardized foam tray size. Instead, you’ve got three competing brands, all with their own unique dimensions. First off, you have Sabol Designs foam, which measures 13 inches by 7.5 inches. This is what makes up most of the foam I have. I don’t have one of their Army Transport cases, but I’m all ready to go if I ever get one. Next, you’ve got GW’s own foam for their hardcases, which measures 14 inches by 10.5 inches. I have some of this as well, acquired (along with a large hardcase) when I bought my Chaos Marine minis several months ago. Last, but certainly not least, is Battlefoam, the newcomer to the field, who makes really nice foam. They’ll even custom-cut your foam! The only downside is that their trays measure 15.5 inches by 12 inches, and only fits their own cases. (Yes, I know that they make foam to fit the other two brands. That’s not the question here, though.)

The store I was at has decided to throw their lot in with Battlefoam, and as a result they have stacks and stacks of BF foam trays, along with the bags to go with them. The Sabol foam, what little was left, was relegated to one small shelf in the back. Now, I would love to go completely Battlefoam. They make a nice product, and I’d love to have some of their pre-cut Tau trays for my army. However, they also make an expensive product, and I’d easily be looking at $300 or more to get a case and the trays to fill it. That’s a bit initial outlay when I already have perfectly serviceable foam trays in need of a case. Sabol cases are getting harder and harder to find without going online, though. I’ve got a perfectly good GW case, but nothing else fits it, and all that’s available for that is generically-sized foam for troops.

In the end, I found my Sabol-sized trays and got my minis safely packed into them. I’m still lacking a case, and I feel that I’m eventually going to have to bite the bullet and go Battlefoam. I’m not looking forward to dropping the money on it, but if I’ve put all this time and effort into building and painting my Tau army, the least I could do is store it in a way where it won’t fall on my head and break.

Round 1
Deployment: Spearhead
Mission: Seize Ground (5 Objectives), with Kill Points as a secondary objective
Opponent: Dark Eldar

This was the first time I’ve ever faced a Dark Eldar army, and while I knew roughly what to expect, I didn’t know all the details. This, combined with a bit of first-round nerves, led me to make a few critical tactical mistakes. Spearhead is my least favorite deployment format anyway, and against a fast assault army it leaves me at a distinct disadvantage. I left my Fire Warriors in reserve, which was a mistake in retrospect. Had I deployed them along the back edges of my corner, I would have had a gunline that could have been putting out 30″ shots. My opponent went first, and on turn 1 managed to get one of his two Archons in assault with my HQ unit. Amazingly enough, I managed to lock that Archon in melee for two turns, and actually came out on top. I lost my bodyguards and shield drones (which kept me alive) and took two wounds on my commander in the process, though, which left him weakened against the Wyches which followed. Meanwhile, I was able to thin out two of his Warrior squads with Hammerhead submunitions, but that left two more – one in a Raider, one in ruins near an objective, that I could not destroy. The sheer number of lance weapons I had to face kept my vehicles stunned, and my Fire Warriors coming on piecemeal were wiped out one by one. I managed to wipe out one unit of Warriors, destroy one Ravager, and disarm and disable a Raider, but in the end my army’s setup worked against me. I lost two objectives to none, and fifteen kill points to three.

Round 2
Deployment: Dawn of War
Mission: Cut Off the Head (see below), with Capture and Control as a secondary objective
Opponent: Space Marines (Imperial Fists)

The mission was an Annihilation variation – kill points counted, but only after you had killed one of your opponent’s HQ choices. Anything before that did not count towards the objective (but did provide bonus points for the overall standings). My opponent chose to deploy and go second, and deployed nothing before the game. I mostly concentrated my forces in one corner (near my objective), but kept my Piranhas, one Hammerhead, and one Devilfish in the other corner. His army itself consisted of two Land Raiders containing terminators – one with Lysander and Storm Shield/Thunderhammers, and one with a Chaplain – and two Razorbacks containing five-man tactical squads.  He moved them up the middle on his first turn. I responded on turn two by destroying one Razorback and immobilizing the Chaplain’s Land raider with railgun and missile fire. In return, he started moving up Lysander’s Land Raider and destroyed the Devilfish. I eventually lost the Piranhas to lascannon and assault cannon fire, and didn’t manage to do much beyond shaking the mobile Land Raider. I did manage to immobilize the other Razorback about 5 inches from his objective. Unfortunately, without the lighter vehicles as targets, most of my army was left with nothing to target. Lysander and his escort did get out twice; once to kill my Deathrains, and once to kill an immobilized Hammerhead, but beyond that I had few opportunities to kill his HQ. I kept mine on the edge of the board and out of LOS. In the end, no one was claiming either objective uncontested, and no HQs had been destroyed, so no kill points were awarded. With that, the game ended in a draw.

Round 3
Deployment: Pitched Battle
Mission: Once More Into the Breach (see below)
Opponent: Eldar

This was an interesting mission. It was a variation on kill points, but instead of points being awarded for killing units, they were awarded for forcing a morale check by causing 25% casualties during the Shooting phase (even if the check couldn’t fail). Every such check awarded to shooter one point. There was also a secondary objective that awarded points for destroying enemy units in assault. My opponent was running a hybrid Eldar list – one maximum-size Jetbike squad with a Warlock, a Jetbike Farseer with Fortune and Doom that ran with them, two Wave Serpents filled withFire Dragons, two units of Pathfinders, and a Falcon for heavy support. Being mechanized was to my advantage in this game, since my vehicles couldn’t give up points, with one exception: the gun drones. Early on, one of my Piranhas was destroyed by an immobilizing Pulse Laser shot, which caused the squadron’s drones to all disembark together. One was then killed by shuriken cannon fire from the jetbikes, forcing a morale check. The other Piranha ended up getting revenge against the Falcon, however. His Jetbikes spent half the game turbo-boosted, and along with the Farseer’s Fortune, that made landing any wounds on them difficult. The other challenge was not landing too many wounds. On two occasions, both against his Pathfinders, I managed to do so many wounds that the unit was wiped out before a morale check could be taken. Eventually, though, his Jetbikes had to slow down to take shots, and that opened them up to my attacks. I managed to force two morale checks against them in turns 5 and 6. I also forced two checks on his Fire Dragons, but not before he forced checks against my Deathrains and Fireknives. At the end of turn six, we were tied on shooting morale checks with four each. The secondary objective never came into play; we had one assault at the end of the game, with three of his Fire Dragons against my one remaning Fireknife, but neither group could hurt the other. Again, the game ended in a draw.

So, one loss and two draws. Not as good a performance as I’d hoped, but I did hold my own, more or less. Once again, a fast assault army was my undoing; this just shows that I need to practice against such armies more, especially in Spearhead deployment games. Still, I had a great time, and I hope I can attend another event sometime this year (although the schedules rarely work with mine). On a side note, my friend Dennis, who played the other Eldar army at the tournament, came in just shy of getting third place, so congratulations are in order to him!!