The Unforgiven

May Summary

2011-06-02T22:30:00.002-10:00

The month of May in review

Painting Points

Got the following painted up this month:

Deathwing Command Squad
Deathwing Squad 2

1 Hive Guard

1 Zoanthrope

1 Hormaguant ( Huge, I know...)

Grand Scrutator Severius

Menoth Attendant Priest

The Fire of Salvation

That brings me up from 47 points last month, to 67 at the end of this month. That's 15 points ahead of what I managed to get done all of last year.

New Model Fund

I totally blew the model fund. I completely forgot about it....That being said, I think I will add a new sidebar to the blog, to remind me that I need to log my purchases and deduct them from my monthly total. I've decided to add 100 dollars a month to the fund. I get paid twice a month, so 50 bucks every two weeks should serve my purposes just fine.

Fire of Salvation, Finished

2011-05-28T15:40:00.003-10:00

I painted up the Fire of Salvation a few days ago, but its been a busy time around here, so I've just now gotten around to snapping a picture of him to post up here. Really just the standard fare here, nothing to special other than the fact that he is a character jack. I did have to break away from my 4 color palette for this mini though, the fire would have looked stupid if it were any color other than the color of fire, if you ask me.

Up next for the Protectorate is probably going to be either the rest of my min choir, an Exemplar Errant UA, or a Reclaimer solo, or all 3. Who knows..

Deathwing Squad 2, Finshed

2011-05-27T20:47:00.006-10:00

Finally getting around to posting up pics of this squad. They have been finished for the better part of 2 weeks now, I just get distracted working on other stuff. Oh well...

With the completion of these 5 mini's, that brings me to 935 points of fully painted and table ready Deathwing.

Up next for this army will be finishing up the Chaplain. Unfortunately, the brush I use for doing the edge highlights on the army has pretty much died on me. With that being said, I need to find a replacement brush to continue work on the army, so who knows when that will be.

Fire of Salvation, built

2011-05-26T20:43:00.002-10:00

Title says it all, this monster is ready to receive some primer and begin its journey to stardom!

The arms aren't glued in, just the pin is keeping them in, for ease of painting. They will get permanently attached later on after the sloppy mop job is done.

Menoth Attendant Priest Finished

2011-05-25T20:39:00.001-10:00

Another random miniature I've had laying around for a while, is this Attendant Priest. Since he is actually a Mercenary figure, and not in the Protectorate of Menoth force book, I'm going to be using him as a counts as Heirophant attachment for my casters. I don't play in any tournements, so all my games are friendly house games where that kind of stuff is no problem at all.

Up next for the Protectorate is going to be the Fire of Salvation model. I've been itching to put some paint on him for awhile, as I need him for the eKreoss tier list I someday want to put on the table.

Deathwing Apothecary Finished

2011-05-24T12:19:00.003-10:00

Finished up the Deathwing apothecary for the Command Squad last night. With the completion of this little fellow, the only remaining terminator to paint is the chaplain. Once that is finished, I've got a Land Raider Crusader and 2 Land Speeder Typhoons to paint up, and that will have me sitting pretty at 1500 points!

Grand Scrutator Serverius

2011-05-23T12:08:00.000-10:00

Continuing with my theme of a Deathwing break, and as a result of my past few gaming sessions, I have found myself rekindling my interest in Warmachine. In order to kick off my resurgence into the game, I decided to start things off in grand fashion and paint up my Grand Scrutator Serverius that I've had laying around for a while.

Unfortunately, my Menoth army is painted to a very low standard. I was pretty much blind when I started painting the army, as I had just had Lasik eye surgery. I couldn't see anything when I was painting, everything was just a blur while my eyes were healing. It makes for a nice break though, since I was able to paint him to completion last night before the half way point of Braveheart.

Tyranids Finished

2011-05-21T18:34:00.001-10:00

Managed to get the Tyranids done that I was working on last night. The beauty of this army is they are a 3 color minimum in the truest sense. The only colors on them are the tan skin, the blue chitin, and the black blades. The Zoanthrope is the one exception, I put a Baal Red wash over the exposed brain parts.

So with these 3 minis painted, it brings me a 100 and something points closer to the 2000 point list I've got planned out for them. Whenever I get around to it, I've got a Carnifex kit laying around that will be converted to a Tervigon, and some gargoyles still left before I need to make some more Tyranid purchases and continue the growth of the Hive Fleet.

Tyranid Update

2011-05-20T19:34:00.005-10:00

Decided to take a minor break from the Deathwing extravaganza I've been having for the past month, and continued working on some gribbly little monsters that have been lurking around my desk for a while (since Christmas). First up, we have a Zoanthrope, the first one I've added to my Hive Fleet. I'm excited to try him out on the tabletop, Strength 10 AP 1 Lance is quite nasty!

Next to the Zoanthrope, laying in pieces, is a Hive Guard. I already have 1 in the Hive Fleet, and adding a second one will be absolutely lethal to Rhinos, Chimera's, Dreads, and anything of that nature. Especially since Line Of Sight is not needed!

And last but not least, a lone Hormaguant that somehow slipped through the cracks when I did a mass painting of them a few months back.

Deathwing Progress

2011-05-19T19:26:00.001-10:00

I just realized, I still haven't posted up pics of the 2nd Deathwing Squad that I finished last week. My bad on that one. That post will come soon. Anyways, onto the meat and potatoes of this particular post. I received in the apothecary parts from the Grey Knights sprue that I ordered from The Warstore, and so work has begun earnestly on the last terminator from the Command Squad.

I've also began working on the 2nd HQ choice for the army, an Interrogator Chaplain. The Terminator Chaplain model has to be one of my all time favorite sculpts from Games Workshop, and I'm really excited to finally get around to painting him up.

I still need to do another layer of Badab Black over the current layer, to darken it up a bit, then I'm planning a Devlan Mud wash over the entire model, hoping that will bring the color of the model in line with the rest of the Deathwing force.

Quick Update

2011-05-16T21:16:00.001-10:00

No pictures tonight, just a quick update on what I've gotten done in the past few days.

1. Deathwing Squad 2 is finished and just awaiting their photo shoot.

2. I ordered a resin casting kit from Micro-Mark, and eagerly await its arrival.

3. I managed to trade some extra Marine items for a 2nd Escher Heavy w/ a stubber

4. I scored a few cheap Chaos Marauders from ebay, and so its pretty much official I will be collecting more for that army.

5. I took a vacation to Waikiki, so that's why I haven't been posting.

That's all for tonight, tomorrow I should have time to get the terminators in the light tent and snap a few pics of the finished squad.

Resin, A journey into

2011-05-11T19:36:00.000-10:00

I have officially decided to foray into the world of casting my own pieces. More specifically, my own bases. The recently acquired Daemons army, along with maybe the Tyranids, I would like to mount on lava bases. Problem is, I'm getting to the point where I'm too lazy to model an individual base for each Bloodletter a 100 times over again. Enter the casting kits.

I asked the question on my local gaming forum a few months back, in preparation for when today came. I received an excellent response from one of the members that pointed me in the direction of Senji Studios. In that post, the author of the blog reviewed several (a lot) of different kits available to the budding resin caster.

I'm still shopping around though. I still want to go look and see what Micro-Mark has to offer, along with the FLGS, The Armchair Adventurer, has to offer. If any of you have been to Honolulu, and been in that store, you know how much stuff is hidden in there.

If anybody out there knows of a good kit, that they might have some experience with, I'm willing to listen to any and all suggestions.

Warriors of Chaos, Test model 2

2011-05-10T21:11:00.000-10:00

I've been busy beavering away at this guy alongside the 2nd Deathwing squad. So far I'm really happy with the way he is turning out. I might want to take the edge highlights up to a Mithril Silver, instead of Boltgun Metal. I really like highlights that you can see on the table when the mini's are actually being used, as compared to only when the mini is on the shelf and somebody picks it up and looks at it then.

So far I've gotten just the armor highlighted, and the fur has been dry brushed with Bleached Bone over a Devlan Mud wash, which in turn was just over the gray primer. The model is no where near complete, but so far I'm digging the way the model is shaping up.

One thing I really can't make up my mind on, and one I would like some second opinions on, is which shade of red should I go with? In the top picture, on the inside of the cloak, is a deep red, on the outside, a lighter red. I lean more towards the darker red, but I'm not entirely sure.

Deathwing Squad 2, built and primed

2011-05-09T16:23:00.002-10:00

Squad 2 is well on its way to completion. Just need to pic out the non bone colored parts with Codex Grey, then wash them liberally with Devlan Mud. After that, its just highlighting and picking out the details. Simple as pie.

Warriors of Chaos Test Model

2011-05-08T16:16:00.011-10:00

With my recent acquisition of a Khorne themed Daemons army, I think my thought process's have been tainted by the warp a bit. I was sitting at my desk working on the Deathwing last night, and I felt the call of the Chaos Gods. I've had some chaos warriors kicking around my house for a long time, as I use some of the parts to spruce up the Deathwing, but I've never taken the time to put one together, much less felt motivated to paint one. That all changed last night.

So far all I've done is clean him up and prime him, but that's a start. I think I'm just going to go with the classic look, black armor, red cloak and light brown fur. Either that, or red armor, since my Daemons are servants of Khorne.

Anyway, I'm excited to paint him either way. I'll just poke around for a bit and see if I can find some inspiration somewhere.

Deathwing Squad 2, All cleaned up

2011-05-07T16:13:00.000-10:00

Began work on the second Deathwing squad tonight. I had to strip an earlier attempt at painting Deathwing, which was an all together way too long process and one that could only result in the army never getting painted. Which, as you can see by browsing my blog, is exactly what happened.

Now I just need to file down 4 more shoulder pads, and clean off the paint that the toothbrush couldn't get off, and they will be ready for primer and painting. This will also be my last squad for a while, as I don't have the required pieces left to make a full 3rd squad. I'm going to need to Ebay some more shoulder pads for that.

Deathwing Command Squad, Finished

2011-05-06T21:23:00.003-10:00

Finished up the Deathwing Command Squad tonight. This is the first of 3 squads planned for the army, along with another Land Raider and a terminator Chaplain. I'm still waiting for the apothecary bits to arrive, so thats why the squad is missing its 5th member. His body has been built, and is ready for the arms and head though, so it won't take long to get him finished and on the table.

I'm not terribly happy with the way the banner turned out. All I did was the broken sword over a bone background. While that is the symbol of the Deathwing, I will probably end up stripping the banner and starting over once the army is complete and I have more time to spend on a single model.

These guys will be rolling around with Belial and the Chaplain, once I get him painted that is. The next squad of Deathwing is already in the works. Tomorrow they should be done with their simple green bath, and after that, ready to be repainted in the current Deathwing scheme.

Deathwing Command Squad, Part 3

2011-05-05T12:45:00.003-10:00

The Command squad continues to inch closer to completion. The Sergeant on the left is actually completed, along with the banner bearer, minus the banner obviously. The main work left on the squad just comprises of the Thunderhammer and Storm Shield terminator, and the Apothecary when the bits get here.

Speaking of the Thunderhammer terminator, I swapped out the storm sheild for a Chaos Warrior shield from the fantasy kit. I really do love that kit, so many useful bits for Chaosifying my Dark Angels.

I'm also at a loss for what to put on the banner. I've looked at the Deathwing company banner, and there is no way I can paint that. So with that ruled out, I'm unsure of what I should paint on to it. I don't want to end up with just a plain green banner, so I want to add some sort of iconography on there. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Deathwing Command Squad, Part 2

2011-05-04T11:40:00.002-10:00

Got some work done on the Command Squad. The Devlan Mud wash has been laid down on all the mini's and now they eagerly await the Bleached Bone highlights. After that, I'll highlight all the darker gray areas, fill in some Mechrite Red on the lenses, and that should about do it for these guys.

The banner bearer will take the longest however. First off, I'm not sure what symbol or design I even want to put on it. Second, I'm using mostly washes to paint just about everything in this army, so it takes a long time inbetween coats. Still, I've got high hopes for the model and I am pretty excited about how it will all turn out.

As a side note, the Sergeant (far left) will be entered in a local painting competion! My first ever, so we will see how it all works out.

As a second side note, this is The Unforgiven's 50th post! All of you who follow my random ramblings, I appreciate it. Its nice to know somebody is listening.

Choir of Menoth

2011-05-03T20:58:00.002-10:00

Painted these 2 Choir Boys up awhile ago, back in April. Unfortunately, they are the only Choir models I currently have, the store didn't have the leader blister when I purchased these, so I can't even use them in a game yet. Oh well, some day I'll get a min sized unit on the table and sing some hymns to my warjacks of divine righteousness.

Deathwing Command Squad, Built and Primed

2011-05-02T11:59:00.001-10:00

I put these fellows together Saturday afternoon, while my wife was at work. There are only 3 at this point since one is already finished, and I'm going to order some of the Grey Knight Apothecary bitz from The Warstore so I can make an apothecary, obviously.

I'm really pleased with how the Standard Bearer turned out. Just a simple hand swap is all it took. The banner itself and the pole are from the Chaos Warrior box set. I use bitz from that box a lot, as I like my Deathwing to look a little Chaosy.

I'm looking forward to getting some paint on these guys, and I'm really pleased with how fast work is progressing on this army.

Belial Finished

2011-05-01T11:59:00.001-10:00

I actually finished Belial two days ago, but this is the first chance I've gotten to snap some pics and get him on the site. Not a whole lot to say about painting the model, other than the fact that drilling out Lysanders head almost made a 23 year old father of 2 children cry....

Anyways, here are some pics:

I'm really pleased with how the cape turned out. It almost has me convinced to try some more serious blending, perhaps venturing into the world of wet blending. Maybe I'll try that on my Khorne Daemon army, whenever I get around to doing that.

April Summary

2011-04-30T20:15:00.001-10:00

Here is my month in review. April was a bit of a powerhouse for me.

Painting Points

I mangaged to paint up the following:

Belial

Land Raider Crusader

2x Choir of Menoth

1 Terminator with Cyclone Missle Launcher and TH/SS

All that brings me to 47 painting points, which is only 3 shy of what i painted last year. Not to shabby if you ask me.

And now I have decided to incorporate a monthly hobby fund, for 2 reasons.

1. I was inspired by Stuck Between Stations

2. I buy too much crap.

New Model Fund

So taking 50 bucks for a new month, plus my random cash pile, gives me 76 bucks to spend on hobby items for the month of May.

Land Raider Finished

2011-04-30T13:01:00.001-10:00

2 weeks in the making, this post marks the finishing of the first of two Land Raiders I've got que'd up for my 1500 point Deathwing list. I've still got alot to finish for the army (pretty much everything but this and Belial), so its going to be a while before they can all take the table painted and looking glorious. Anyways, without further delay, here are the pics.

I'm very happy with the way the vehicle turned out. I actually learned a few very valuable lessons while working on the Land Raider.

When working with washes on large flat surfaces, use the biggest brush available. This will prevent visible brush strokes.
Never let the edge of the wash dry. This will prevent lines showing up after the washes dry. It will also save you from ruining a spot by leaving brush spots on a partially dried wash.
Wash everything at the same time, so all the parts turn out the same color. Most of you will probably have noticed that one of the door panels and the sponsons are a slightly differant color. Washing everything at the same time would have prevented that.

Well thats all for now, thanks for stopping by. In the very near future, I'm going to have some posted pics of finished Belial. Whats after that, who knows.

Skulls for the Skull Throne

2011-04-28T22:22:00.001-10:00

As I mentioned yesterday, Tuesday night I completed a trade with my good friend Adam. I sent his way 2 MK1 Rhino's, 1 MK Razorback with the Las/Plas turret, and 1 MK1 Predator Annihilator. In return, I received this pile o mini's:

Among the Necromunda terrain and my mobile painting station, you see the following:

Bloodletters x 50

Blood Crushers x 9

Fleshhounds (Khorne Dogs as I like to call them) x 5

Chaos Hounds x 10

Skull Taker x 1

Old metal Daemon Prince x 1

Karanak x 1

Forgeworld Khorne Daemon Prince and Herald x 1

This army is still a ways off in the future. I'm going to finish my Tyranids and Deathwing before I get started on these daemons, but I can't possibly be more excited to start them. I also haven't decided if they will be for Fantasy or 40k, or both with some Gale Force 9 movement trays for the circle bases.

"The Dumpsters" Part 3

2011-04-28T11:18:00.001-10:00

The 3rd member of The Dumpsters to recieve some paint is Taylor Rayne. Armed with an autopistol and a sword, she has been carving her way through Delaque and Scavvies like its cool (which it is). I think it goes without saying, that Taylor is assigned to The Dumpsters close combat division.

Land Raider Part 3

2011-04-27T23:13:00.002-10:00

I made some major progress on the Land Raider tonight. I managed to get the Assault Cannon shield and the Hurricane Bolter shield all highlighted, along with half of the remaining Hurricane Bolter itself. All the other bitz of the vehicle, the actual assault cannons, the camera's and the other half of the Hurricane Bolter, have all been base coated and washed, and only need the highlight to finish them off.

I also worked on Belial in between washes drying on the Land Raider, but I forgot to snap a picture of him. For what its worth, I laid down the green on his cloak, and almost finished highlighting his armor too.

Last night was also a awesome trading night for me. More on that to come tomorrow, once I finish taking pictures of everything that swapped hands..

Land Raider Progress

2011-04-26T11:00:00.001-10:00

Just a quick update on the Deathwing Land Raider thats been kicking around my desk. Today I managed to get half a sponson and the assault cannon mount done.

I still need to do the gun site and camera for the sponson, and the actual assault cannons. After that, I've got the other sponson and the multi-melta. Once that is all done, this bad boy should be about finished!

"The Dumpsters" part 2

2011-04-25T11:59:00.002-10:00

Continuing with the theme of The Dumpsters, here is our next gang member to receive some paint. This lovely little lady goes by the name Priscilla, and is part of The Dumpsters fire support division. Again, this model was painted by my wife, known around these parts as The Warhammer Widow.

Necromunda Gang " The Dumpsters"

2011-04-24T22:17:00.001-10:00

With the kick off of a brand new Necromunda campaign last week, my wife decided to paint up the Escher gang I've had laying around for the better part of 10 or so years. So far she has gotten the leader done, which we named Teagan. Here she is in all her glory.

So far after 2 games she has taken 4 enemies out of action, and is responsible for the death of at least 1 scavvy ganger. Definitely the top performer so far in The Dumpsters.

City Fight!

2011-04-14T12:00:00.004-10:00

Last night, while I was waiting for Belial's wash to dry, I started working on my newest terrain project!

So far, it is what you see. 6 2x2 squares painted black. Not to impressive, I know. I'm hoping today after work though, I will be able to make it to the local craft store and pick up some plastic canvas to cover the table with. Once I have that down, and painted silver, the base of the table will be complete.

My plan eventually is to be able to use the modular squares to have either a city or space hulk terrain set up. I still haven't worked out how I'm going to make corridors and such, but its still a ways off, so its not a huge deal right now.

I also saved this piece of cardboard like substance from the ravages of the local trash man. It came from the bottom of my wife's new steam cleaner box, but to me, it looks a whole lot like some sort of manufactorum or something. In the next week or so, after the table is done, I'm going to take some time to slap some paint on this as well. I think it will do just fine as a center piece of terrain for a battle somewhere in space.

Beginnings of Belial

2011-04-13T22:08:00.005-10:00

Started to paint up my version of Belial tonight. Seeing as how he is what makes Deathwing a legal army, I figured I should get him painted up and ready for the tabletop.

So far, I managed to get the armor washed with Devlan Mud to give it the appropriate color, and that's about it. It takes a good 45 mins for the wash to completely dry, so I didn't have much of a choice but to let him sit and dry for most of my painting time tonight.

Tomorrow I should be able to get the cloak painted green, and all the bells and whistles on the armor painted the appropriate colors. I'm hoping on Friday to do the highlighting on the edges of the armor and cloak, and that should finish up the mini. Lets see if it happens though...

Deathwing Progress

2011-04-11T23:23:00.000-10:00

I've been busy for the past week or so working on my Deathwing army, even though in the last post I said I would work on Tyranids. I've got plastic ADHD, I can't help it. Anyways, I've always wanted to make a Terminator with a cyclone and thunderhammer with stormshield, so I did it. And I must say, the end result is a pretty spectacular looking Terminator.

Work has also began on the 1st Land Raider for the company. I have yet to get to doing the sponsons or assault cannon , but the hull and 1 door is 99% complete.

Hopefully in the next couple days, I'll be able to post up some pics of a finished Land Raider, and then maybe I'll get around to actually working on the Zoanthrope.

Hormagaunts Done

2011-03-31T22:05:00.000-10:00

Finished up my first batch of 18 Hormagaunts last night. That should leave me with...32 more to finish for my planned 2k list that I someday want to put together. That seems like a lot to finish, but between the 25 Termigants and these hormagaunts that are now completed, I'm over half way done with my gaunts.

Up next for the 'nids is my first Zoanthrope. I've already got him assembled, just need to prime him and throw some paint at him and hope it sticks. Although, I do have a squad of Deathwing that needs to get painted up, and they are looking awfully tempting...I guess we will have to wait and see what happens.

What I've been doing

2011-03-25T21:00:00.000-10:00

Just a quick update on what I've been doing hobby-wise for the past few months. I've been busy continuing work on my Tyranids and I've slowly started to work on my Imperial Guard. I've managed to get the 'Nids to a painted and playable 1000 points, minus the Hormagaunts you see there that are still gray, but I'm working on that.

The Imperial Guard on the other hand I haven't actually painted anything new for them, mostly just been doing repairs on mini's that have been broken over the years. I actually just got those Ogryn's in the front in a trade yesterday, and Monday I will be getting a squad of Rough Riders too, so I'm pretty happy about that.

Anyways, that's all for now. I know I don't always have time to post on the site and keep content coming regularly, but when life permits I like to take the time to post up what I've been working on and share my projects with all the bloggers out there.

Aloha!

2011-03-24T23:27:00.000-10:00

Its been awhile since I've posted on here it seems. But I'm not going to bore anyone with my life story for the past few months, so I'm here to just ask a question.

Can anyone recommend a good starter kit for resin casting? I need 21 60mm bases to mount the old metal IG heavy weapons teams onto, and I really don't want to buy them. Best I can figure, it would probably cost about the same to get a kit as it would to buy all the bases separately.

Deathwing Test Model

2010-12-21T15:06:00.000-10:00

I actually finished this mini last week, just haven't gotten around to posting up the pics yet. Its not my own method that I came up with, just a simple following of a tutorial posted by Ron over at From The Warp. Its a simple and quick process that produces good looking miniatures, which is what I'm after. Actually, when I was done painting the mini, I felt that this was easily the best painted mini I've ever produced. Quite a nice feeling.

I've also adapted the technique for producing green and black, for regular Company Marines and Ravenwing, respectively. I'm very happy with the speed and results of this process. It actually takes longer for the washes to dry than you spend puting the brush on the mini. Thats a good thing to me!

Autumn Bronzeleaf

2010-12-17T07:18:00.001-10:00

It's always good to spend time with the Wife, especially when she is doing stuff that I really enjoy. Don't get me wrong, I like doing stuff with her no matter what, but its nice when she sits down to experience this little part of my world.

Anyway, enough rambling. Here we have an Elf Wizard, Autumn Bronzeleaf, from the Dark Heaven Legends line of miniatures from the Reaper website. We might be having an upcoming DnD group, but I'm thinking its going to fall apart before it ever gets off the ground. Hopefully not though!

She spend a lot of time working on the armor and the eyes of this mini. If you look at the painted pics of the mini on the Reaper website, you will see that she reproduced the armor quite well if you ask me. Getting the bronze over the green must have been a pain, I would imagine. All in all, a successfully painted DnD mini, and I think her 10th fully painted figure, if I remember correctly.

Wednesday Update

2010-12-15T20:56:00.000-10:00

Hello again, time for the weekly Wednesday Update. I got a few things done this week, and a few things planned for the upcoming week.

1. I painted up my Trygon to a table top ready standard. No fancy highlights or anything, just a base 3 color minimum that I can build on later when I have more time for that sort of stuff.

2. Did a little experimenting with a Deathwing Terminator this week. I really like how it turned out, easily the best painted figure I've ever produced. More on that to follow in the coming week. I'm in the process of testing out the same technique for a regular Dark Angel, just modified to produce green instead of bone. Again, once the test mini is done, I'll post both up for your viewing pleasure

3. I started work on a brood on Genestealers, and got the first group of 5 90% done. I completely forgot to get some WIP shots though, so maybe next time around when I do the second group of 4.

In the coming week, I'm hoping to get up some pics of the Deathwing and regular Dark Angels test mini's, and also complete the squad of Genestealers, which will round out my first list for the escalation league coming up at the end of the month.

Trygon Table Top Ready

2010-12-14T20:53:00.000-10:00

Here it is in all its Table Top Ready glory. Not a fancy paint job, just enough to get the point across. No highlights, no shading, just the basic base colors that I can build on later once the basics of the army is done. You will notice that the base is still black, but nothing in the army has been based yet. I still haven't made up my mind on how I'm going to approach that subject. I've had a suggestion to go with a red planet type base, which would provide a nice contrast to the blue of the army. Decisions, decisions...

Wednesday Update

2010-12-08T18:29:00.000-10:00

Having been inspired by All Things Fett I have decided to start my own version of the Weekly Update. If you read over his post it pretty much outlines a list of great reasons to do a post like this once per week. I agreed with him so much, I borrowed (stole?) the idea from him. Hope you don't mind!

So off we go!

First off, Tyranids are my main focus right now. I've got a escalation league starting up toward the end of December,and I'm slowly growing my force to make the initial 750 point list. I've got some more WIP photos to post up and also a quick tutorial on how to paint 'nids, the lazy way like I do.

Second, I've always got my Dark Angels to work on. I recently tried out a test mini focusing on line highlighting, and it was terrible. There will be a post coming up soon on my thoughts about line highlighting and pics of my attempts. It won't be pretty...

Third, My wife and I have began to play Blood Bowl again. Life has settled down to the point where we both have some free time at night to get a game in every once in a while. Perhaps later tonight even, who knows? Expect some game reports for that soon and maybe, a big maybe I might add, maybe some WIP shots of some team members finally getting painted!

That's all for now! Lets see how much of this I actually get done before next Wednesday!

On the Work Bench 2

2010-12-04T19:56:00.004-10:00

In the continuing effort to complete my Tyranid force, here is a little snap shot of the work I've completed over the past two nights.

My Tryanid force continues to grow closer to completion. I'm quite happy with the painting of this army so far as the scheme my wife and I came up with is so easy. More on that next post though, as I will be posting a How-To on that topic!

They Trygon has gotten the Asurmen Blue wash over the grey gesso I laid down a few nights ago, and the Genestealers got their second coat of Gyphonne Sepia. I also hit the Trygon's talons and spikes with a coat of Chardon Granite. I plan on picking up a pot of Ice Blue next time I'm at the LGS so I can start to highlight the edges of the carpace on all my mini's.

I also can't think of a way to base this army. Any suggestions?

750 Tyranid List

2010-12-02T17:48:00.003-10:00

Here is my list for the upcoming escalation league later on this month. I've only played a few 500 point games with Tyranids so if this list sucks please let me know and what I can do to fix it.

Head Quarters:

Hive Tyrant W/ Heavy Venom Cannon
Paroxysm and Leech Essence

Troops:

Termagants x10
Fleshborers

Termagants x10
Fleshborers

Tyranid Warriors x3
Scything Talons and Devourers

Genestealers x10
Scything Talons

Heavy Support:

Trygon

On the Work Bench

2010-12-01T20:56:00.002-10:00

My current projects for the upcoming 40k escalation league.

I made some significant progress tonight on the Trygon and Genestealers. The Genestealers still need another coat of sepia wash on their skin before I can start to paint up the carpace, claws and other such items on aliens.

The Trygon has already gotten its 2nd coat of sepia and I have started to basecoat all the armor plates in gray gesso. Once, the gesso is completed I'm going to hit the armor with a Asurmen Blue wash, which turns out a really nice deep rich blue.

Once the Genestealers and Trygon are finished, that will round out my 750 points list for the first week's game!

November Painting Points And Summary

2010-11-30T21:18:00.004-10:00

So I finally painted something this month, enough anyways to mention the painting points that I earned for November! Yay Me! I managed to paint 50 points this month, which brings my total for 2010 to...50 points!

I also played in a Warmachine slow grow league this month. We started out at 15 points on week one and added 5 points to our forces each week, till we ended just yesterday at 35 points. It was a good to finally learn the game since I bought the models back in May and had no clue what I was doing. It also earned me half my painting points for the month!

Looking ahead to next month I have a at home 40k slow grow league that my friend Adam and I have been planning. Look forward to seeing some progress on my Tyranid force that I will be assembling and painting for that.

35 Points of Menoth

2010-11-29T17:59:00.004-10:00

Well here it is, 35 points of painted Menoth in all their glory. It was a fun league to play in and maybe I'll get another chance someday! Thanks for the good times guys!

Grand Exemplar Kreoss

2010-11-17T19:28:00.004-10:00

This is my warcaster for my Protectorate force.

I really like the model, its way easier than regular Kreoss to put together I think. I think the Exemplar models for the range are pretty cool looking, so naturally I wanted to build a force around them. Kreoss was a easy choice for me as he is the leader of the Exemplar order.

Next up will be my Vanquisher followed by the rest of my heavy jacks. Later this weekend I will post my in progress pics of my Cinerators, which will be the last addition to the force and will bring me up to a total of 35 points.

Thanks for stopping by.

What I've been up to

2010-11-13T21:08:00.004-10:00

I know I've been quiet for the past couple months. Unfortunately, work has gotten in the way of the hobby, so I've not had a lot of time to blog. However, that doesn't mean I haven't been not doing things. My current project I've got going on are my Protectorate of Menoth army, a Tyranid force for a escalation league coming up in December, a Sanguinary Guard force, and of course my Dark Angels.

First up for for show and tell is the Protectorate of Menoth as they are my most important project right now as we are half way through the escalation league for Warmachine. The force right now includes eKreoss and a Revenger light jack. For the heavy jacks, I have a Crusader, Vanquisher and a Castigator. Right now the only unit I have is a minimum unit of Exemplar Errants but there is a unit of Exemplar Cinerators and the Unit Attachment for the Errants on the way.

In the coming days, I will give each unit and jack their own showcase on the website, along with a few previews of the Tyranids and the Sanguinary Guard.

Tyranids vs Dark Eldar

2010-11-09T20:56:00.007-10:00

Wife and I played a 500 point game tonight. I took the tyranids for a spin since I've never played them, and she used the brand spankin new Dark Eldar. Not much of a battle report, just more of a few pics.

Wyches are absolutly deadly for what its worth. They wiped out a unit of termagants in assault and took at turns worth of firing from the Hive Tyrant and a unit of Warriors and only lost 1 model. The pain tokens really help them out.

In the end, it wasnt enough though. I had pretty much tabled her by my turn 3, all she had left was lelith. The Hive Mind was closing in and she conceded.

Going on Campaign

2010-08-16T20:25:00.002-10:00

Well, the gaming group and I have decided to put some story behind our games for the next couple weeks. This coming Sunday officially kicks off the Battle for Coriallis 4. We don't have all the fluff worked out, but basically the Black Legion has invaded and my Dark Angels are the closest ones able to respond. With all the fighting on the planet, of course Orks are attracted and rumors of the Tyranid menace have began floating around.

The plan we have is a campaign map with a random Risk style deployment. Each player will make a 10000 point "master roster" and then divide up that master roster into as many Army Groups as they want, each no bigger that 2,999 points. 2 Army Groups are allowed to ignore the FOC, as one is dedicated attackers and one dedicated defenders. The defense force is allowed one Super Heavy or Apocalypse formation in it as well, however, they cannot move from your capital.

We will also be incorporating Kill Team. Each player is assigned 200 points to make a Kill Team. They will be able to assist an Army Group in an attack, or they themselves can go attack an undefended territory and take it from the owner, but they can't capture it.

There are also rules in place for experience points, so units can advance and gain USR's based on how much experience they have gained. Kill Team members and Independent and Special Characters will also have a separate attribute table to roll on, both for advancement from experience and dying in a game.

All in all, its shaping up to be a fun couple weeks. I'm pretty excited for it to begin. Saturday is Games Day here in Honolulu, so we get to do that and begin our campaign in one weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

More Terminator Progress

2010-08-08T20:47:00.006-10:00

Terribly sorry about the double post. Please forgive me!

Just wanted to share some more progress I made on the first squad of Deathwing, and their assigned Land Raider. Not much done other than just basecoating. I've decided to give The Vanus Temple way of things a try and see how that works out. Without keeping you in suspense any longer, here's the pics!

Tomorrow I need to finish basecoating the Land Raider and wash all the models. After that, they will start to get some color other than tan!

Terminator WIP

2010-08-07T22:23:00.004-10:00

Just a quick update on some work I did on some terminators tonight. These guys will be painted up as Deathwing once they get to that point. All the arms have been magnetized, but I'm still cleaning them up so I didnt have them attatched. Here are a couple close up's.

In other news, my marines finally came in the mail, so now all I'm waiting for is the Guard to show up, and I will have all my stuff.

Tomorrow's Game

2010-08-06T20:43:00.003-10:00

Got a 2k game tomorrow against Adam and Chris. Chris I know is bringing about 1k of Orks and im not sure what Adam is brining. Regardless, here is my list for tomorrow's game. On that note, my armies still havent arrived, so im using proxies and Deffkopta's in a Space Marine army...Oh well.

HQ - Captain
Artificer Armor, Relic Blade

HQ - Command Squad
Company Champion
x2 Power Weapon
Storm Shield
Plasma Pistol
Rhino + Extra Armor

TRPS - Tactical Squad x10
Lascannon

TRPS - Tactical Squad x10
Power Fist
Rhino

ELT - Terminator Squad x5
Assault Cannon

ELT - Terminator Squad x5
Assault Cannon

ElT - Dreadnought
Multi Melta
Drop-pod + Locator Beacon

FST - Assault Squad x5
Power Fist

FST - Deffkopta's x3
T.L. Rokkit Launcha
Bigbomm x1

FST - Deffkopta's x3
T.L. Rokkit Launcha
Bigbomm x1

HVY - Predator (chimera proxie)
T.L. Lascannon turret
Lascannon Sponsons x2

Check back tomorrow for the game report!

The First Wave Has Landed

2010-08-04T19:54:00.007-10:00

Just yesterday I was playing Star Craft 2. In particular, it was the level that the Terran Dominion decided it was a good idea to invade the planet Char, which is the home world of the Zerg. After looking at this picture, I think I know what the Terran's felt like when they looked out the window of their drop pods.

In a slightly less dorky vain, I got some of my collection back today. On the table you see all manner of Games Workshop shwag. 40K, Fantasy, LoTR, Space Hulk......too much stuff. Its almost like a time machine in a way, with miniatures starting out at RTB01 and going all the up to Space Hulk 3rd Edition.

With the return of some of my minis, and just importantly these bad boys, "The Almighty Bitz Boxes", you the reader will begin to enjoy regular updates here on The Unforgiven.

Also, stay tuned for this weekends Apocalypse battle report! Its my first ever Apocalypse game and I couldn't be more excited! Wish me luck!

Test pics with new camera

2010-07-30T20:33:00.005-10:00

Took some pics today with the new camera we got. I'm impressed with the results. My wife got me a light tent for my birthday right before we moved. This was the first time I've been able to try it out.

First up we have the Incredible Hulk from the Heroscape line of minatures. Nothing fancy, just one of the few painted models I had handy, as most of my stuff is still in the mail on its way here.

With flash on

Without flash on

A group shot of some BFG Imperial Cruisers

All in all pretty good photo's if I do say so myself. Any critiques are welcome as I'm always trying to improve my miniature photography skills.

We now return to you regularly scheduled broadcast

2010-07-30T07:36:00.004-10:00

Well folks its been a long crazy haul moving to Hawaii all the way from North Carolina, but im finally here and set up. Not that I havent been doing anything hobbywise, ive actually put together the beginnings of a Command Squad for my Dark Angels and a 5 man Assault Squad. Tonight after work I will take some pics and put them up for you perusale.

I also wanted to share these babies with you.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/New_Stuff/

New MK3 "iron armor" marines from forgeworld. I will definatly be picking up some of these guys to spread around the army, most likely as Veteran Sergeants.

I've also recently completed my gameing table, kinda, still making and completeing terrain, but the actual table is complete. Pics to follow this weekend. Thats all for now though, I need to get dressed and go to work. Hooray for Friday!

The Unforgiven are still alive!!

2010-06-26T18:36:00.002-10:00

The blogs not dead I swear. Im in the process of moving to Hawaii and all Im waiting for is the keys to my house. After that there will be a return to the hobby and blogging. yay! Speaking of that, any members of the blogosphere that are in Hawaii and would like to get some games in? Let me know!

Menoth Test Figure

2010-06-01T18:02:00.006-10:00

Finally started work on my Menoth army box that I bought a long time ago. Most of the time wasted was thinking about how I wanted the army too look. I ended up deciding on something other than the studio colors and went with yellow and blue with silver armor.

I've never painted yellow before and its turning out to be quite a challenge. I think I got the base color down, but I haven't figured out how to shade and highlight the yellow. Actually, all I've done is base colors here, no highlighting or shading has been done, just wanted to see how it all looked on the mini compared to in my head.

So far my plan is to take the blue up to Ultramarine's Blue and wash the armor plates with Badaab Black. The yellow is still a mystery though. Not sure how I'm going to do that.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated, all help is welcomed!

Game Review: Heroscape

2010-05-25T16:19:00.005-10:00

Just finished my first couple games of Heroscape with my wife. Must say, this game exceeded my expectations. There are 2 different rule sets that come with the game, a very basic version that would be good for teaching young kids (which I will be doing in a few years) or introducing someone to their first tabletop miniatures game.

First off the master pack is a terrific value for the money. $40.00 Dollars gets you 24 painted figures and 75 terrain tiles ranging anywhere from 1 hex to 24 hexes per tile. Also included is all the dice, counters and cards necessary to play.

The advanced rules are a bit more complicated but anyone who has experience in tabletop minis games wont have any problems catching on. I'm sure any member of the blogosphere could go straight to the advanced rules.

The board itself is a hex-grid type map that you put together yourself in whatever way you want. There are several different types of terrain including water, swamps, grass and desert. Some units can take advantage of the differing types so its not all just stuff that your minis walk on.

The minis themselves are outstanding for a prepainted mini. The minis have been base coated and washed to bring out the details and textures. Its not just half blue and half grey, they actually have picked out the details on the miniatures.

The combat system is a skulls vs shield dice roll. Simply roll your dice and the defender takes the difference in wounds between the number of skulls the attacker rolls and the number of shields the defender rolls.

All in all, a very sound game with sound mechanics. Nothing overly complicated with this game makes it perfect for a short evening or perhaps a lunchtime skirmish. I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for something to play that doesn't take as long as 40k or Warmachine, but still will provide all the entertainment needed for the evening.

Product Review: GW Skull White Spray Primer

2010-05-18T17:53:00.003-10:00

Good ol Games Workshop Skull White Spray Primer. Ive had this can for a while now and finally found a use for it when I began to work on my Protectorate of Menoth army a few days ago. Before I get to far into the review, here are a couple factoids about it.

Price = 15.00 USD on the website
Can Size = 10oz/400ml

Now that we have the pricing and size info out of the way, lets get to the review shall we?

To sum it all up, this product does not deliver at all. I am extremely disappointed by the quality of this primer. It really is a spray chalk and not a spray paint. Now I know Spray Paint is already somewhat dry before it even hits the mini, but take a look at the pic below and you can see what I mean.

(click for bigger shot)

If you look closely you can also see some shiny spots where the primer has just rubbed off from handling the arm once. Unacceptable in my book.

I tried to press on with it anyways, seeing as how thats all the primer I have right now. It didnt work at all. Im just going to have to strip my minis and restart. Im going to Michaels on Thursday to pick up some gray gesso and give that a whirl.

Overall, this spray primer gets a whopping 1 out of 5 stars from me. Never again will I buy this primer.

Protectorate of Menoth

2010-05-17T09:26:00.008-10:00

Been a long while since I posted anything. Between moving, work and raising kids, not much time has been spent making progress on hobby related things. However, I did recently pick up a Protectorate of Menoth battlegroup box and that's got me pretty excited about working on miniatures again. I also grabbed a box of Exemplar Cinerators and Exemplar Errants officer and standard bearer, just cause that's what they had at the hobby shop. Here are some pics of the progress Ive made so far.

Kreoss

Crusader Heavy Warjack

Revenger Light Warjack

Repenter Light Warjack

Been a slow week

2010-01-09T16:08:00.003-10:00

Well over the past 5 days I have gotten absolutly no hobby time in. Guess waking up everday at 3am to go to work will do that to you. Anyways, tonight I've started working on the 3 squads of terminators I need for my 1500 points Deathwing list. Nothing worth taking pictures of, its just a bunch of peices laying around right now. As soon as I get somewhere with it though i'll post up some pics. I've also got a Belial conversion I've got planned that should turn out pretty neat too. Thats about it right now. Oh yea, I also just won a copy of the old Epic Space Marine game on ebay for 15 bucks. Not to shabby.

Fear My Wrath

2010-01-02T10:51:00.009-10:00

Here is my new dread that I have recently converted. I was hoping to achieve some sort of sense of motion with a normally static and boring model. I haven't gotten around to doing the Assault Cannon or DCCW, but they obviously will be magnetized also. The holes in the legs will be the regular armor pieces from the dreadnaught and the Dark Angels Chapter Upgrade sprue, so there will be 4 total. I left them off for now for ease of painting later.

The one thing I can't decide on is whether or not to put some sort of flag or ornamentation on top of the dread. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! C&C welcome as always. Later.

Land Raider Crusader/Redeemer Sprues

2010-01-01T11:11:00.011-10:00

The Wife and I did a little post holiday shopping yesterday and I managed to nab my self not 1 but 2 Land Raider Crusaders! Not to shabby if I do say so myself. As a little extra to this post I managed to contain myself long enough to take some pics of all the sprues that come with the box, for those among us who are looking for conversion parts or whatever reasons you have. Enough talking though, onto the pics!

If anyone is curious about a particular piece and wants a close up just let me know and I'll post it. Later.

2010 List of Goals

2009-12-31T08:57:00.007-10:00

Well here it is. A list. Everybody loves lists and here is mine for the year of 2010. 2009 was a bit of a disappointment for me on the hobby side of things, but being in Iraq from early January to late October tends to make any sort of progress a bit difficult. 2010 is looking to be a different year though. So without further ado, here is my list.

1. Play at least one game a week when possible.

This doesn't necessarily mean a Games Workshop game, however I would like to play a game at least once a week with my wife and anybody else who would like to play. Monopoly can still be a good time! However, being in the military makes being home all the time quite difficult so i know i wont be able to play every single week.

2. Get my Dark Angels to at least 2000 points.

Well this is a bit of a conundrum honestly. The game i want to play the most is definitely 40k, but it is the one game i don't have a playable army for. Space Hulk, Blood Bowl, Necromunda and even Fantasy i have minis ready for. As of right now I can't even fill out the basic requirements for the force organization chart with my Dark Angels. I really need to fix that.

3. 100 Painting Points.

Painting is something i need to allot more time for. I get way to into converting and modelling my minis so i tend to neglect the painting portion of the hobby. Not to say all my stuff is grey plastic, far from it. It just seems that my minis are in various stages of completion and not done.

4. Minimum of 1 blog post a week.

This one should be pretty easy. This one ties in with my first goal though as far as the military goes. Still, if I'm around the house and not off doing who knows what in who knows where, I will post at least once a week on The Unforgiven.

5. 1 tutorial post a month.

This is the one i feel will be the most difficult to maintain. I can already think of about 6 tutorials for me to post, but for the other 6 I'm going to have to force myself to learn how to do something new well enough for me to teach somebody else. Hard? Yes. Worth it? Without a doubt. This is also my chance to give back to the blogger group. I would be lying to everyone if i said i hadn't gotten a ton of ideas and thoughts from the blogger group. This is my way of repaying everyone.

6. Start my scratch build titan.

This is the biggest goal in terms of physical size. I've always wanted a Titan. Forge World makes some great stuff, unfortunately, I have yet to find the 'Golden Tree O' Money' so I'm going to have to improvise. Can't wait to start this one. It's gonna have to wait till at least mid year though. I'm going to me moving to Hawaii sometime in May-June time frame, so it would be foolish of me to start it anytime before then.

7. 1000 points of High Elves.

High Elves are my last resort project. If i don't feel like working on anything else, I'll bust out the High Elves and do some painting or mould line cleaning on them. Progress on these guys is obviously painfully slow. I would like to take these guys out of the back 9 and get them to a playable 1000 point force.

Well folks there it is. Mikes list o' stuff I would like to accomplish. As always, thanks for stopping by and i know this is a new blog so thanks even more for taking the time to read something from somebody who has only been around for a few days. Have a Happy New Year!

Blood Bowl Season Opener!

2009-12-29T15:46:00.006-10:00

Played my first ever game of Blood Bowl tonight with my wife. As usual with a new game, it took a while to get things rolling, but about half way through the first half things were going pretty smoothly. The above pic is the opening kickoff!

The first pass of my Blood Bowl Career ended up in a horrible miss as the attempted pass was about 4 squares too long...needless to say it took quite a bounce in the wrong direction.

Even though I missed my first pass attempt a lucky dodge roll and a quick scoop by my second catcher landed me in the end zone for the first and only score of the match. Even though my wife didnt score at all, her Orcs proceeded to beat my Humans into the ground in a particularly brutal fashion. At the end of the first half, which is all we played, I had 2 blitzers and a lineman in the dead box in the dug out. All in all, it was a fun time. Can't wait to play again!

Fortress Tower Scale

2009-12-28T09:03:00.004-10:00

Started work on the Fortress of Redemption earlier. Just thought I'd snap a picture with a marine next to it so you can see just how big this thing is. The tower itself measures just a hair under 14in. I knew this thing would be big, but its a bit larger than I had originally thought.

A Very Merry Hobby Christmas

2009-12-27T12:08:00.008-10:00

Well I thought i would start a blog here and figured now would be the best time. Christmas has come and gone so i guess i'll start off by showing you what I got. My wife went over the top and suprised me with a bunch of stuff this year. I almost got mad at her for spending all the money, but hey, its cool stuff. To start out, My brother actually got me the Ravenwing Bike squad. But as you can see, I am now the proud owner of a Fortress of Redemption, a Vindicator, a command squad and a Dreadnaught.

In addition to all the mini's, i also got a new dremel, which has made my converting life so much easier. More on that later. Also, a new vice and some diamond files from Gale Force 9. She also got me the spray brush, which will help out with my vindy and rhino.

And as an aside to regular 40k, we now have our own copies of Bloodbowl and Talisman, which compliment the new Space Hulk we got a while back. All in all, a very merry hobby Christmas.