Eve

So I've been spending a bit of time playing Eve recently. It has been fun, and I finally got me a Battleship. I also got PvP'd for the first time in I don't know how long today. For some reason I fond thist funny. Probably because the guy wasted his tome on me :) Or possibly because he did it in a frigate whilst I was in a cruiser. I really should have gone in with a core stabilizer, but oh well.

On th warhammer front I plan to get some more work done this week. We'll see how that goes.

Does this thing work?

So o thought that I would try out blogging from my touch. Seems to work, but I thought that I should actually try it and see :) So far so good. This is posted whilst I mine some ore in Eve. Gives me something to do.

Hope Christmas was good for everyone.

Tale Of Painters - Fantasy/40k 09-10

Well, long time no posts. It seems that I'm really rather crap at this. But that's also a little true of any regular thing, where I have no deadlines or such looming over me. Well, for my painting, that has changed. I now have signed myself up for the Tale Of Painter, both Fantasy and 40k, on Warseer. This is going to be an interesting exercise.

Fantasy
I have organised myself a plan that covers the 2000(+) points that I need to paint over the year for ToFP. This will be 2000 points of Lizardmens, and will not include the unit of Saurus that I have already completed. There will be a wide range of units, but the core will revolve around blocks of Saurus Warriors.
Marching Skinks


Those are some of the first months goal, 24 Skinks, setup and waiting to be painted. Got the idea from someone else on Warseer who was doing Night Gobbies. These shouldn't be too hard to get done, and are all that I have atm. When next pay day happens will be buying a bunch of stuff, most importantly the Battalion box so I'll have heaps and heaps of new stuff to paint.

40k
For the 40k tale, I'm planning to do some tanks. That's really it. I want to expand my IG force to include tanks. At the moment I have 2 Leman Russ and a Chimera that I need to paint. All the turrets are FW ones, and I intend to make the future turrets for my Chimeras into Autocannon turrets. The success of this Tale is dependent on when I get my airbrush system set up. If, like I hope, its by the start of August, then we should be all good. If later, as I suspect, then bugger.
Armoured Might


Tank Construction



Other Items
This is mostly to show off my girlfriends painting. She has had, for many year, poked and prodded at Undead. I thought that I might show off those that are fully completed and based, as well as some of her Pirate Zombies.
Dire Wolves


Zombies


Pirate Zombies - WIP


Well that's it for now. Ill be back once I start up with the painting to show off how I'm going.

Saurus Test Figure

Here is my first Saurus. I've gotten a ways through him, and am now just left to decide what to do with the contrast colour for the body. But lets have a looksee at him now.





This is after the first big step, covering him in red. First is a coat of Merchite Red, to gove a nice base to work on. Then comes a layer of Gore Red, which is heavily washed with Gryphon Sepia, to try to get a slightly browner ting. I don't think it worked like that, but it looks nice.

Next comes the details. At this stage I've taken photos, but havent done a couple of things, notably the wrist guards. Since then they have been made into gold, like the weapons.




The bone parts are copied from the guide to painting Saurus on the GW site. The gold is Shining Gold, followed by Dwarf Bronze, followed by Gryphon Sepia. I think it turned out well.

All that I have left to decide on is the contrasting colour. I'm leaning to the foundation colour Ochre, washed with, possibly, the red wash, and then hightlighted with Blazing orange. I'll see how that turns out.

Lizardmen 500 pts

The Hunting Pack of Zotician

"Zotician waited. The Skinks hunted his prey for him, and soon enough they would be found. The scent in the air told him that those he hunted were afraid. So they should be. Acoatzatl said they had stolen something from a nearby temple. Impudence such as this would be punished. Zotician knew that he would be the Old Ones instrument of vengence soon. For now, he waited."

Heros
Zotician, Saurus Scar-Veteran, Burning Blade of Chotec, The Maiming Shield, 135pts
Acoatzatl, Skink Priest, lvl 1 Wizard, Plaque of Tepok, 80pts

Core
16 Saurus Warriors, Full Command, 206pts
10 Skink Skirmishers, Skink Skirmisher Brave, 76pts

Total: 497pts

Fairly simple here. I got me the basic heroes that I want in a bigger army, and a small core force. This will be easy to expand into 1000pts by expanding the core units, and maybe grabbing a special unit to bolster them.

Where Have I Been?

Well, that's easy to answer.
Unemployed.
So there has been no monies for the spending, at all, let alone on plastic crack. But there's a little income now, and hopefully more to come. So I'm starting up a plan: $20 a week, and no more then that. As it stands I have $40 set aside atm, and by the middle of this week I'll have another $20. With the standard box of a Warhammer Regiment costing $55, that means I can get something this week. At the moment I'm tossing up between Lizardmen Skinks or Saurus. Leaning towards the later, as that is less things to paint, and gives me a chance to plan a nice start to my army. I'll come back later with the beginnings of an army list, for 500pts, and then for 1000pts. These will probably not be very good fighting lists, but they will have what I want to use in them, so that's all that matters to me.

This amount a week also means that I can look towards expanding my IG army when the new book comes out. First on the list for them is some (I'm thinking like 6) Chimeras, to make my current force entirely mechanized. Then we can work on other things. But I need to see what the book has to say, so I can decide on what it is that I'm building. I want the give the Chimeras Autocannons for turrent weapons, so that may require a planned purchase from Forge Worl, but thats a ways down the line.

The last couple of days I have been working on getting some sceneary finished. I touched up the hedges that I have (painted and grassed the bases), built a pair of silos ( started painting them), base coated a crater I had made a some stage, painted the little hill for a standing stone (the first thing I ever made for scenary) and stuck them togeather, and made the first attempt at a hay stack. Currently the hay stack needs to finish drying (put to much PVA on part of it me thinks) before I can undercoat it. Once Im finished I will make a step by step of how it's done, so that others can see how its done.

Well, off to work out my little Lizardmen Lists.

What's Heppening in the IG?

Yesterday I decided I needed to figure out what I had, and what state it existed, in my IG army. I went through all the different boxes and such, and categorized each model by what role it played in the army. Then I tried to make an actual army list out of them. Turns out that I must have organised them at some previous time, because I had just the right numbers to make a really small army list (below). So now I know what I have, what needs to be painted, and what needs to be based. That's a good start. Next on the list will be sorting out what I can still make up from all the bits and pieces I have floating around. I know I can make at least 3 Heavy Weapons teams up, and they are all going to be Heavy Bolters. I might be able to scrap togeather some Missile Launcher teams as well, but I'm also looking into being able to make something to put into my current, singular, Chimera.

Basic Army List (really really really basic)

HQ:
Command Platoon
Command Squad
- Officer
- Medic
- Radioman
- Special Weapon
- Rifleman

Support Squad
- 3x Mortar

Troops
1st Platoon
Command Squad
- Officer
- Medic
- Radioman
- Special Weapon
- Rifleman

Squad A
- Sgt
- Radioman
- Special Weapon
- Heavy Weapon Team
- 5 Riflemen

Squad B
- Sgt
- Radioman
- Special Weapon
- Heavy Weapon Team
- 5 Riflemen

2nd Platoon
Command Squad
- Officer
- Medic
- Radioman
- Special Weapon
- Rifleman

Squad A
- Sgt
- Radioman
- Special Weapon
- 7 Riflemen

Squad B
- Sgt
- Radioman
- Special Weapon
- 7 Riflemen

As I said, its the real simple kind of army list. But I have all the forces that I need to actually field it, were I to choose to. I also have a Leman Russ (and another in a box that needs assembling sometime) that I could use to bolster the forces, but for now my goal is to get this lot painted up.

February Purchases

Righto, so it's February, and that means it's time to spend some money. Yay money! Only, the things that I was originally planning to get this month will add up to more then I have to spend. So, only part of my original plan will be completed this month, but it means that there's more time for me to do other stuff this month, like plan what I want to buy in the next few months.

Anyway, this month I bought the new Lizardmen Army Book ($45). I like it. I like the Lizardmen. I like the fact that they look like they could tear you to bits, eat you, and then carry on. I like that I finally got something to do with them, as I have liked them for a long time. Some of the stuff that I've seen in the book looks odd, but then, I don't actually know how to play the game at all, so it could all be normal and sensible.

And, somewhere, in the back of my head, I'm thinking that they will be an awesome little army to collect, that I will actully play games with. Look later for an outline of my purchasing plans for them.

Previous Total: $82.90
New Money: $100
Total to Spend: $182.90
Spent: $45
Carry Over: $137.90

Lizardmen Paint Schemes

So I've been trying to decide how I will paint the Lizardmen that I'm getting in the near future. I did a Goggle Image Search for "tropical frog", and looking through those lists I found the following images that look quite cool.

This one I've seen people using for things before, I believe it was a Tyranids. I think its an awesome looking frog, but I'm not sure that I want to do it for my critters. I think I might hold onto it for some of the special ones, maybe for like a Stegadon, or some other large critter that I need to paint.












These two are the same kind of frogs, but with slightly different colouring on their backs. I've seen a Lizardmen force started with these colours and I think it will be a really good combination. I'm thinking of using the blue legs idea here on my guys, as it will offer a nice contrast, and will, I think, look quite cool in combination with the next idea.



This is what I'm going to base the body of my guys off of. I think that the red/brown main body with a dark yellow/orange colour on the scales will look quite nice, especially with some contrasting blues on the legs. I'm thinking that the main colour could be something like Mechrite Red (GW) or Scar Red (VP) as a base with Gore Red, Terracota, or Dark Flesh (GW) as an overcoat. The orange could be an undercoat of Solar Orange (GW) or Bloody Red (VP), with some basic highlighting and a nice orange wash. These are just guessed at though, as I don't have my paints with me to look at to decide on an actual combination. We'll see what I decide on once I've actually got something to paint.

January Purchases

Nothing. Nada. Naught.
This month I am too many things that are inconsistent with following my plan. I'm living at a friends place until our new flat is ready (not till the 19th), all my painting gear and current models are packed up, and I'm unemployed. So this months money will carry over to February. But all is not lost. This carry over allows me to concentrate on the releases of the new Lizardmen stuff next month, so I'll be able to get a good pile to start with.
I also have no plans for painting at the moment, for obvious reasons. Maybe once we're moved in I can decide what to try to get done this month. Probably look to finishing off a pile of IG infantry.

Addendum: So I had no brushes to do any painting with. So I spent some monies ($17.10) on some new brushes. So far they have been good ones.

Spent: $17.10
Carry Over: $82.90
Current Balance: $82.90

The Plan

Ok, so, I need a plan. A plan that will both encourage me to finish painting those things that I have bought, and a plan that will attempt to reign in my urges to spend butt loads of cash on this hobby with out actually doing anything with the stuff I buy. So, here is the plan that I have come up with, and the rules by which it will run:

1. I may spend, at most, NZ$100 per month on new models, paints, and accessories. This is to include any postage costs if it were to come from overseas (such as the great great stuff from Forge World).
2. If I spend less the NZ$100, the balance carries over to the next month. This is to allow me to save up to buy those really really costly things, such as a Battalion box or some such. This means that I may spend a total, by the end of December 2009, of NZ$1200 on this hobby.
3. Anything that I buy in a month MUST be finished painting before I can spend anymore money. So if I happen to buy something that has 50 models in it, then I need to paint all 50 before I can move on to buying something else. The standard of painting should be Table Top usable, so that I can actually play games with them.

So thats the basic outline of the plan. Also, each month, as early as I can, I will post up what it is that I expect to buy for that month, as well as what I plan to get painted.

Pholus Military Structure (1): Divisions

Overview
The military of the planet Pholus follows a very broad structure. Logistical structures, including Divisions and Regiments, are used to organise training and other overarching force requirements. These organisational and logistical structures are also used in case the planet itself is attacked. But when Pholus is required to raise a unit for the Imperial Guard, the chosen structure supplied is that of a Battlegroup, a flexible combined arms force based around one particular central unit supplemented with required support from other units.

Divisions
At the highest level of force structure lies the divisions. These units are comprised of several individual regiments, and several thousand men and machines.
1st Infantry Division
The oldest of the divisions, and possibly the most traditional, is the 1at Infantry Division. When Pholus reorganised its military away from the old Regimental style to this newer Divisional concept, the 1st Infantry gained the bulk of the existent units of the time. Since that time, the 1st has shed out those units that do not fit its primary goal, namely the armoured and mounted infantry regiments, to be replaced with light infantry regiments. Today, the 1st Infantry contains all, and only, active light infantry regiments.
2nd Armoured Division
As the Pholus military expanded it became necessary to look at how the training of different regimental units conflicted, comparing such things as terrain, large scale manoeuvres, and weather truly different forces could realistically continue to train at the same bases. In recent times a trend towards whole specialised bases dealing with just a single type of force had begun to emerge. This originally adhoc action was formalised into policy with the creation of the 2nd Armoured, who took over the direct command of all armoured and armoured infantry units currently in existence, seperating out of the 1st Infantry, and gaining their own specialised bases and training.
3rd & 4th Mounted Infantry Divisions
The 3rd Mounted Infantry grew out of the older Armoured Infantry forces that were part of the 2nd Armoured. These new forces lack the armoured component of the older units, the tanks, but maintained the inherent mobility and flexibility. After the 3rd Mounted Infantry was seen to be a solid success, a second division was introduced, and the mounted infantry became the core of the Pholus military philosophy.
5th Airbourn Infantry Division
Recent actions on and near Pholus have shown a need to be able to deploy forces quickly and accurately to a battlefield. While the muscle of the force, the mounted infantry and armour, gears up to punch through the front, the ability to deploy forces behind the lines to engage and eliminate their reserves, supply lines, or command centers, has lead to the construction of the 5th Airbourn Infantry. Still under construction, this force supplies an added option to the Pholus commanders, letting them decide how and when to engage the enemy forces.

Next in the series: Unit Types and Composition

Why Are We Here?

Hi.
As the title of this post suggests, we are here to talk about what I plan to achieve with this blog.
First, the goal is to use this to chronicle my efforts to complete a painting project. In fact, it will be two painting projects. Top of the list is the Pholus 3/7th Battle Group, a Mounted Infantry force serving as part of the Imperial Guard. This force is partly built and painted, but as will be seen when I post up the final goal for them, there is always, always going to be room to expand.
After the IG force, the next on my list is a Lizardman force for Warhammer Fantasy. They are the next on the list of Fantasy armies, and the new book is coming out on the 7th of Febuary. I have always wanted to do an army of them, so this is a nice time to set out to collect one.
So those are my main painting goals. Whats the other use of this blog then? Well, beyond my interest in Warhammer stuff, I am also quite an avid consumer of Dungeons and Dragons. I have my own gaming group who play regularly, and have my own world that I try to put my games within. To that end, I will, from time to time, talk about what we are doing, what I'm interested in, and what I think might be fun to run in a game.
And then theres WoW. And Eve. And maybe something to do with Startrek. And all sorts of other things to do with computer games. I plan to waffle on from time to time about different games I play, what I like, what I hate, and how things are going.
So thats the plan. In the near future I will go over what my plans for each of the main painting sets will be, and maybe give some background.