Deathwing Librarian: Cape or No Cape?

I never liked the arms on this guy. I feel like it was a great idea to use the plastic arms, but they just don't look right on this guy. And then The King's Standard Bearer saw my unprimered Librarian in my last post and made a great suggestion in the comments: Add a cape!

I hadn't considered it before and now that I look at the model, I think that a cape would really help to make him look a lot less static...this pose is just so...statuesque! What do folks think? Add a green stuff cape or stop obsessing and finish him already?

Mind you. I will probably not be able to do both for a long time...but at least the base is done!

Basing: My Private Shame!

From the Warp provides the simplest tutorial on the webs for basing. Really. It is super easy to base your models. Do it! DO! IT!

In the comments, I mentioned that basing models was so easy that often I wind up with primered models and spectacular (in my not-so-humble opinion!) bases. Ron over at FTW seemed disbelieving, so in this post, I will provide photographic evidence!

Embarrasingly, my first pic is actually a completed base with an unprimered model of a terminator chaplain destined for Deathwing:

Next up, is the Deathwing Librarian. This Librarian model is relatively old (at least compared to the young sprite of a Chaplain above). I hated the arms on this guy as they were short and stubby as old metal Termies were back then. I wanted him to be able to blend in with my new termies, so I gave him plastic arms and converted a TH into a Force Axe. I also built the base up so he'd appear to be the same height as new termies. No short librarians amongst the Unforgiven!

I tried to make the pose look like he was brandishing that axe threateningly, but it's difficult when the body is essentially a block of metal. I'm not the happiest with the SB arm placement, but I've come to terms with it. What was I saying...oh yes. Again. Here we have a completed base. Unprimed model. I have a problem. The first step is admitting it.
Oh. The humanity! Here's a primered (Grey Gesso) Deathwing Assault Termie with a completed base.

Here's the Deathwing Sgt. Missing his head. And his stormshield. Yet. He is primered and standing on a fully painted base complete with Word Bearer wreckage (my friend plays Chaos Space Marines and rocks a Word Bearer paint scheme!).

You're probably thinking, "Jeez cawshis. That's got to be it, right? I mean...how many completed bases but not painted models could you possibly have?" To which I answer...TOO MANY!

Of course, since taking these pictures, I've since basecoated the Chaplain and Deathwing models above. The Ravenwing? Not so much. I'm not confident enough in highlighting black yet...but I'm getting there! To reveal a secret: I pinned all my Deathwing/Ravenwing models to their bases so that I could easily remove them for painting purposes...so painting the bases was actually pretty easy since I do them in batches separate from the model. I wish I'd get around to doing the models though!

But yeah. There you go, Ron! Primed models sitting on completed bases! Do you believe now? I really need to get better at not doing that...is there a support group out there?

Tau Firewarriors

My return to 40k after many years being absent was because of a fortunate fusion of two events: I found some folks in NYC that were into the game and GW had just released the Tau. I loved their sleek look coupled with their "unique" empire fluff…they didn't seem as desperate or as xenophobic as all the other races available. The Greater Good was cool to me and refreshing in a universe filled with so much hate! Also of importance was the ability of Skimmers to move and shoot (with the right upgrade) and also reduce all hits to glancing. All hail 4th edition!

The Tau Empire force I have now is pretty expansive. Nearly 5000 points in various stages of assembling, priming and painted-ness. I'm heavily working on them now in preparation for a July Apocalypse game.

Below are shots of some of the first minis I painted after being away for so long…so forgive the amateur look! I look at them now and I think "wow! I've improved!"

Orange Squad -
This Firewarrior Squad was the first 40k unit painted in my adult years. I went for a really simple paint scheme and as you can tell, I didn't even bother painting the bases (It drives me nuts!). You can also see that I broke canon by giving my Tau pink faces instead of bluegrey. I don't know why I did this…I think it's because I didn't really know how to paint the faces so that they didn't look like the armor!



Right now, I explain it away by saying the 3 pink-faces are albino triplets serving in the same unit. Take that fluff-activists! I even buy the bonding knife to represent the brotherhood!

The Devilfish came later, though you can still see my lack of confidence and frustration with painting orange and highlighting it. I think I actually wound up just dry brushing yellow on the orange! Looks muddled…but hey…they were my first unit!

Teal Squad-

This unit came second. I got better with highlights and painting on this unit, so I'm pretty proud of their look. To avoid the whole-skin painting challenge, all my squad members are helmeted (who goes into battle without a helmet anyway? Only crazy marines!). Again, it's a Devilfish with 12 Firewarriors.

My strategy with FWs has always been keep them safe in their DFs until I can get close and lay waste to a weakened target. The addition of the SMS to the Warfish in the Tau Empire Codex made the eventual "Fish of Fury" fairly effective against weakened MEQs units and very effective against GEQs (Ap5 weapons rule!). They rapid fire pretty well and when supported by Pathfinders and Railguns, they do an excellent job of clearing an objective.

They suck in CC though...and with 5th edition making CC even more deadly, I worry about my sad little "warriors." I have no idea how they might work in 5th edition. I imagine preserving them for the 5th turn is the best strategy for winning...since they score...and Kroot tend to die very quickly for me.

One thing I'm considering is the Devilfish Gun Drones instead of SMS. Now with any unit contesting in 5th, the Gun Drones become annoy-devices in the late game. 2 drones don't really do much, so I don't imagine many players to pay attention to them...but they can still contest! 12inch movement on turn 5 to contest...and if that doesn't work...well then all I've lost are 2 drones. We'll see how that works!

What a month!

So May has come and gone and now we're 5 days into June and I'm left wondering...how did time fly by so fast!?!

Work was super crazy for the month of May with nearly no time for updates. Any second in front of a computer was unfortunately spent doing work. Good news is, I'm back.

My friends and I over at nerdnyc.com are planning a 3 table Apocalypse game in July that I've decided to build up my Tau army to 5000 points for. It's nearly everything I own except the annoying Krootox(es). If you're in NYC, you should try and check out the Wargaming forums on the nerdnyc.com website. We're always trying to get games and discussions going!

Expect some posts soon. I apologize for the long wait thru June! Thanks for sticking with me.