Heroes of Armageddon work in progress!

Meet Tom Schadle.

Tom is painting THE Hero of Armageddon, Lord Dante, supreme commander of all Imperial forces involved with the Battle for Armageddon.  I guess that makes Tom royalty?  Well, I don't know about that, but I do know what I have seen.  Tom has won well over a dozen Golden Daemons, including the elusive Slayer Sword.  Enough said. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. In no particular order, here is a body of Tom's work, all of these winners of Demons.

I actually borrowed this power sword technique!

Tom was asked by Dave Taylor, another painting legend, to do Dante for our cause and Tom eagerly agreed.  I have not gotten any WIP pics from Tom because he said he will be painting Dante all at once over the course of a weekend. I do know that he will be using the standard Dante model, with a little addition of a winged jump pack.  If you would like to see more of Tom's work check LOOK HERE.

So what else do I have for you?

How bout a WIP update from Tim Williamson from Tau of War who is painting some Sanguinary Guard!

Tim emailed me saying how he thought they were coming out terrible.  I'm glad he was just pulling my leg and being humble. These look fantastic man.  I particularly like the black at the top of the wings.  It is a nice contrast with the gold.  

What else?

How bout Ron Saikowski of From the Warp providing us with yet another awesome banner!  As you know, Blood Angels chapter banners follow a format.  They always have an image of a robed Sanguinius, hold various items that represent the specific battles in which the banner is used.  I asked Ron to create a custom banner, and paint a terminator carrying it into battle.  Here is a sketch of what Ron came up with. Sorry to steal your thunder Ron! How awesome is this?  I get goose bumps when I think about how beautiful this is going to be.

Mike de Boer, mastermind of the entire project, got involved with The Blood Angels army and is painting the Death Company Storm Raven.  I have not gotten any WIP pics from him yet, but he probably put them up on Santa Cruz.  He did send me this:

I know the flyer is in good hands.

Just in: Pics of Mike's Death Company Raven!

Mike Cho has been elusive on sharing update pics with me. I suspect he is waiting to unveil a big bang! Here is a pic I swiped off his blog!

Mike is doing a Furioso Dread, Storm Raven and Assault Squad.  

Yours Truly?

Here are some Land Raider pics! Oh, and for all of you who asked, the resin bas reliefs come from Scibor Miniatures. They look great, and while not the easiest things to work with, can add a nice finishing element to your tank.  

My models are not coming as fast as I hoped. First of all, school ends in 2 weeks and I will have a few weeks before our deadline to get the models done, and 8 hours a day from home with which to do it with no Jawababy running around because he will be at daycare.  :)  But the bigger problem is that my right arm has almost completely broken down! Some days are better than others, and on those days I paint as much as I can, but other days I can't even hold a brush. I have a doctor appointment scheduled for next week. They are saying carpel tunnel. I am only painting 5 termies, corbs a priest and this raider and I have no fear that they will be beautiful. It is just frustrating. Any of you have any insight into this?  My right hand and forarm either go numb, or cramp up with shooting pain.  Bah.  Pain be damned the 9th legion will march. :)

And hey Brad The Spoiler.  I have not forgotten about your Vrock.  I know it has been a while, but you are lined up in my queue to be completed right after the Heroes project and another little commission I have, and before I do my Nova army.  And no charge. I hoped to be done with your model by now. The wings are going to look like the wings on this raider.  (The left side)  

Back to the Heroes project!  I don't know what is next in line to be given away, but last week a beautiful painted model was given out to one lucky winner.  Check out the Heroes Blog for updates!

Coming up next, updates from Joe Johnson, Matt McClannahan and John Dickerman!  

Jawaballs

The Jawa Nation Grows!

I have set up a blog for Jawa Nation!  What is it? This is a guild that I am setting up for the new MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Through their website players have the option of setting up guilds early and hitting the ground running!  Currently, I have the guild registered as a Sith guild doing primarily PvE.  But all of this can be changed.  Those details are not important any way. 

Why join a guild? Well, if you enjoy playing MMORPGs, being part of a guild is a huge help and greatly increases the enjoyment level for all involved. It makes it easier to get groups because you have a ready source of like minded individuals to help with quests and tasks. Plus it helps with establishing friends and communication. While you certainly don't need to be part of any guild to enjoy playing the game, and some of you actually prefer going solo more, in every MMORPG I have ever played, I have had a better experience when part of a guild.  

Why join Jawa Nation?  Well, this is not going to be just a Star Wars guild! This guild will carry over into the new 40k MMORPG that is on it's way as well.  I am launching it as a social group that spans games and genres. 

If you have never played a MMORPG, now is your chance!  This is an exciting time as two games that promise to be monsters in the gaming world loom on the horizon.  

I created a blog for Jawa Nation. You can find it HERE. Go become a follower and keep tabs on this exciting new group as it grows.

To join the Jawa Nation guild, visit the guild site HERE.  

This is gonna be awesome!

Jawaballs

Mail call!

Ok guys, time for some Mail Call:

"Can I fight battles with my own created chapter? or do I have to follow a specific chapter, even though I can paint them how ever I want. I have the New Codex for Space Marines and understand the points, swapping wargear, can only have so many heavy arty, assault troops, Tact. squads, HQ's, elites, stuff like that but when you say one is better at something then the other I'm lost. Wouldn't the make up of your army/points make that distinction, not the chapter? I have made a Chapter called the Blood Marines, and written a brief bio and history of how they formed, but like the ranks, and insignias stuff like that, do they all follow the same format? I have a Terminator Librarian I will use for now as my HQ, but can I give him a name, for instance one that would suit my story line and his role as so and so, Commander of the Blood Marines? I just don't want to do all this and find it's not viable in table top games."


I get questions like this a lot.  And this is pretty confusing to new players just coming into 40k. Here is the answer.  If you want to play Space Marines, you have a few options to what rules you want to use to create your army.  Codex: Space Marines, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Black Templars, Dark Angels and Grey Knights are all "Space Marine" chapters.  It is sort of like the US military. We have the Army and we have the Marines.  They are all military, but don't you dare tell a marine he is in the army! Don't call a Navy Seal a Green Beret.

The generic book is Codex: Space Marines.  The BA, BT, DA and GKs are all specialized chapters.  The difference is that while armies created using rules from Codex: Space Marines are more versatile and have the most amount of options, the other codexs specialize and have restrictions on what they can take in exchange for powerful abilities not available to Codex: Space Marines.  The Blood Angels for example can take Jump Pack Assault Marines as troops.  Dark Angels can take Terminators as troops. Black Templars have special rules that enhance their troops called Vows. Grey Knights specialize against Daemons and have lots of psychic powers.  But all of these chapters give up things that the Codex: Space Marine armies have. C:SM armies have Combat Tactics and other army wide unique special rules not available to the rest of the Marine chapters. C:SM have special gear like Thunderfire Cannons which are very powerful and cool special characters like Vulkan.

So, if you want to play your own army you need to do two things. First, decide on a theme and color scheme for your army.  You have done that.  Second, decide how you want them to play.  Then you pick the codex that best suits your purpose.  If you want to play all of the great Space Marine toys, choose Codex: Space Marine. If you want to play lots and lots of fast moving Assault Marines, play Codex: Blood Angels.  The only rule is that you must pick a codex and follow the rules from that book to create your army.  Color, names, background are all up to you.  But you have to follow Force Org Chart rules from ONE book only.

Blood Angels or Black Templars?

hello mate,
I'm from Manchester in England. your an amazing painter and a awesome player. I have been playing Warhammer 40k for about a week. Two games against my dad, he is Tau and he hasn't been beaten, and I tied with him both times. I used his Ultramarines. And I love Space Marines. But I really want my own army. And I am stuck between choosing Blood Angels and Black Templars. If you have the time could you message me back saying the pro's and con'c of each army.
Thanks jawaballs!

BA or BT? Well, first of all, you need to decide what colors you like. Black or Red. But there is more to it than that. I won't get into the competitive nature of the codex books.  BA have a new codex written for 5th edition. BTs have a 10 year old book designed for what was really a different game.  BT cannot field a tournament competitive army as good as BA.  I'm sure that will be debated, but I need only point to the top ten finishers at all GTs in the US this year and you will see many more BAs than BTs.  


Having said that, both armies focus on assault. They want to get down and dirty.  Both have unique options for troops.  BA can take assault marines with jump packs as troop choices.  BT can take 10 man squads of marines with assault weapons, and compliment them with 10 more scouts, or Neophytes, for huge 20 man squads.  Both armies have powerful characters, though I have to give the edge to the BAs for sheer ferocity with characters like Mephiston.  Both have army wide special rules that make them more powerful. BA can get furious charge, fearless and feel no pain for every marine in the army.  BT can get Preferred Enemy and fearless in close combat and leadership 10 for every marine cheaply.  The two armies are very similar, but very different. 


Part of your decision should be fluff.  What do you like more?  Space Vampires or Crusading "Dark Ages" knights.  They have unique backgrounds and motivations. The chief difference is that the BA were a founding chapter, one of the first 20 or so Space Marine chapters that fought in the Horus Heresy.  The BTs are a Second Founding chapter, actually an off shoot of the Imperial Fists, which was created after the Horus Heresy because the Space Marine Legions were just too large and needed to be broken up.  My advice? Get the books and read them. Pick the one that most appeals to you, and use it.  :)


  

new to BAs

Is a mech BA list viable. With LRs, preds, baals, speeders, and dreads. I was thinkin of doing this plus jump infrantry. would this do well in tournaments.

The answer to this changes every few months. I have been able to stay at the top of the competitive scene because I have been able to adjust my army and reinvent my tactics and list as the trends change.  Grey Knights have introduced a new element to the mix. The short of it is that they will make your tanks less effective, or more accurately, dead hulks. You will do well against other armies, but always run up against that GK wall of psy cannons that will simply demech you.  They don't have the long range, but are now the most devastating medium range army in the game.  

So, yes, your list will be competitive.  Just be ready to change! Take a look to the right of my blog here for samples of my ultra competitive mech lists that have won Grand Tournaments.

Ok time to go! More soon.

Jawaballs            

Brent's Strictly Average Painting: Inquisitor

Ah, here it is!  Brent's Strictly Average Painting Guide, gracing the pages of Jawaballs' own venerable blog... proof there is reinforcement in slightly creepy hero worship!

It's only been since February - what the heck was I doing all this time?  Truth is, I attempted another miniature for this series a few months back...

...and that didn't work out so well.  There were a number of problems with this model, my attempt at light sourcing a neon green glow off of a Dark Eldar's red armor.  Based on the feedback, the glow wasn't appropriately diffused nor was it the right color.  Many people also thought I was attempting a second light source from the Soul Trap in his right hand - which I wish I would have thought of but didn't.

Keep in mind, this series is my inducement to attempt a greater degree of difficulty in my painting.  If this helps someone that's awesome, but I'll be equally appreciative of any feedback you brush-jocks out there can offer.

As the model is predominantly brown, I used a reddish-brown base coat.

I start laying down the basic colors in thin layers.  I want the colors underneath to show through the layers a bit.  To that end, I paint the kilt a bright blue, covering the brown...

...before layering grey.  Goatboy taught me that, once sprayed, the under-layers effect the tones above.  For purposes of composition, this area needed to avoid the browns of the rest of the model.

I've been taught that triangles are an important element of model composition, and this dictated some of the color decisions here.  I wanted a 'no nonsense' Inquisitor with workmanlike gear - meaning earth tones.  Anyway, I wanted the weapons to be metal, which appears greyscale, right?  I hoped to balance that with the kilt, making an upside down triangle.

The back.  I was attempting a plastic look for the Carapace armor and wanted well worn metals with sharp highlights.

By this point, the colors are all in place and its simply in need of highlighting up.

By this point, the Inquisitor's face is almost done.

I'm aware these pictures appear dull on the computer screen, but using the flash creates artificial colors.  I did this on the lead-in picture so the face, hidden under the hat, is visible, but the actual color is show in these step by step shots.

The back again.  The inside of the coat is a different shade of brown, but I also painted it in a different style.  It's been pointed out I sometimes use extreme highlights which appear 'cartoony.'  I cleaned it up a bit, but that's probably a true knock on the finished product.

I reached the stage where I had to make a decision about the Power Sword.  After some thought, I determined I'd blend Boltgun to Chainmail to Mithril, from the base to the tip - a classic look with no ostentation.

The model is basically done, but there was some minor cleanups and color corrections here and there.  As I recall, the brim of the hat bothered me some, and I spent time on the Inquisitor symbol on the chest.  I considered changing it, since white didn't exactly jump off the color I chose for the Carapace Armor, but in the end I just defined it a touch.

Here's an extreme closeup of the face.

Here you can see the highlighting on the metals and the final look of the Power Sword.  I did only very subtle highlights of green from the two weapons -  far cry from the Dark Eldar above!

I spent entirely too much time trying to get these pictures right!  Compare this with the first picture up top and you'll see the difference between flash and no flash.

Thanks for taking the time to give this a once over!  I welcome any comments you might have, such as...


Was the color scheme natural or too natural?  Where can I improve my technique?  For beginning painters, was there anything here that helped?

The Jawa Nation is Born!

Complete awesomeness.

Check out this movie!

http://www.swtor.com/media/trailers/return?sourceid=eag3006


So who is playing?


I just created a guild and Jawa Nation shall rule the Old Republic.  Visit the GUILD PAGE and sign up.  For preliminary settings I registered it as a PvE guild on the Sith side. But I would like to get in some PVP too.  I figured the sith with their Bounty Hunters would appeal to the most types.  But I will reassess the guild path once we get organized. I will also be looking for some one to take charge.  I prefer to lead from the shadows.  Once the guild is organized and launched, a leader will be chosen. But more importantly I simply have too much going on to be the full leader of a MMORPG guild.  At this point we are accepting all comers. Though strict behavior, maturity and language restrictions will always be in place.  This guild will also cross into the 40k MMORPG once it launches.  Lets get this going!


Comment here once you sign up!


Darth Jawa

Your paints and their containers.

Ok folks. I deem it time to talk about paint!  This has been a long time coming and I'm sure others have written about the issues. But I figure in light of the recent apparent missteps it could not hurt to add a bit more scorn to the pile.  So my friends, I bring you the current state of GW model paints.

Some of the first things some of you will scream at me is "WHY DO I USE GW PAINT?"  There are all sorts of competitors such as Privateer Press, Vallejo, Army Painter and so on.  To you guys, my simple answer is, I like them.  What is better? I don't know.  I've tried Vallejo and sometimes I like sometimes I don't and the same goes for PP and AP.  But this article is not about what paint is better.  This article is about GW paint. I will talk differences some other time.  Please save the "you're an idiot for using GW paint blah blah blah" for your mom.  :)

So on with the article!  In the past, such as with my article on GW Super Glue, I just griped. And that does not really do much for you other than make you gripe too.  I want to be more proactive.  While I have a few gripes, I want to also share with you some positive solutions.  But lets start with the fun stuff.

The Gripes:

Price!

This one kicks us in the Jawaballs the most.  First of all, yes, I understand rudimentary economics.  The cost of producing a product coupled with inflation leads to having no choice to to gradually raise prices in your product. Oil prices are up and down, leading to cost of shipping and manufacturing. Plus I believe the acrylic polymers used in the paint are derived from oil too?  So I agree, a price increase should have happened over the last four years.  

Having said that, some of my original paints still sitting on my shelf were $2.40.  My most recent?  $3.70.  Mathhammer quick, the percentage of increase?  Just quick that is a $1.30 more in 2011 than I paid in 2007.  1.30 is about half of 2.40, so we will call it a 50% increase in price.  Lets bring that into perspective now.  In CT a 20 ounce bottle of coke costs about 1.50 at the typical gas station.  If we went by this price increase, we would now be paying 2.75.  Ouch!

I just spent a little time looking for comparative figures for other things, like the cost increase of the Toyota Corolla since 2006 to now, but I suck at finding stuff.  Plus I made the point. A 50% price increase over four years is crazy.  One last example? I just paid 11 bucks to see a movie. I paid about 5.50 to see Transformers: The Movie in 1986 or so when it came out.  That is a 100 percent price increase in 25 years.  So one can assume that in 12.5 years they had a 50 percent price increase, and in the five years I am using as a reference for my paint comparison we can assume there was a roughly 20% increase.  

Ugh my head is spinning!  In other words, using movie tickets as a comparison, we should be paying about 2.90 a pot for paint.  About a 20% increase over 5 years. That would be a fair price increase in my opinion.  Hows that for irrelevant comparisons? :)  

Now lets compare your price per gallon!

Martha Stewart Interior Latex house paint gallon: $100.00 a gallon

Da Vinci professional artist acrylic paint gallon: 256.00 minimum.

I got that price by using their basic black since it is most like our GW paints. Non toxic, etc.  The price will go up sharply if you get into the Cadmiums and other rare and poisonous oxides.  

Ready for this?  

GW Model Color paint gallon: 1184.00 

Yes, that is five times the cost of one of the best professional artists acrylics on the market. (but those little pots are oh so convenient!) There is a lot of truth to this. Convenience is key.  None of us want to deal with a gallon of GW paint. But I just thought you would like to see what you are paying.

So what have we gotten for this price increase?  Thankfully the same amount of paint is coming in the pots!

It has always been my motto that "If it aint broke, don't fix it".  

The venerable GW Paint Pot

And I don't think there was much particularly wrong with this one. The only improvement they should have made was to go the way of all other paint producers and used the dropper bottle. 

Ahh Vallejo and your efficient bottle.

But is that a big deal? Do we really want the dropper? I for one am a well known pot painter.  While recently I have been working to improve my painting by thinning my paints with glaze medium, I traditionally like to paint right from the pot.  Who knows!

Lets look now at the venerable pot and see what it's problems were.

Ahh the broken hinge.

We have all seen this!  That can't be good for prolonging the life of the paint.  But also take note of the paint collected in the cap on the side where the hinge is.  When the cap is left open the paint settles there and dries. Here is another pot with a new pot next to it.  

The lip intended to help paint pour back into the pot 

actually becomes a catch where the paint dries.

What was GWs answer?

The cap falls!

Yup, they created a cap that would not remain open.  I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but the caps on these two pots are missing the little "tooth" that snaps the cap into an open position. One appears here on this Foundation paint pot. At some point some executive must have realized they will save .0000003 cents per pot by omitting that little tooth.

Behold it stays open!

You can see the cap snap open and stay open and the flange lip was designed long enough to guide the paint back into the pot.  Why omit that plastic tooth that keeps the cap open from the new pots GW?  Was it to help stop paint from drying in the cap?  Was it to stop the cap hinge from snapping?

Paint dries in the cap, screw it! (Off)

Well you already had the answer. Yes, the caps screw off.  For pot painters like me who want to dip their brushes right into the paint, we can just unscrew the cap and voilla. Also, if that little hole in the cap gets filled with dry paint, same thing. Plus, pouring paint from these pots is nothing but a joke.  What a mess.  The screw cap was a necessary must. Glad you can unscrew the new pots to make them easily usable and pourable! Uhoh...  

The first generation of foundation paint pots had screw caps.

But not these!

Nor do the most recent generation of foundation, or the washes...

How do you get these caps off so you can pour paint for mixing?

You pry it off with plastic cutters.  Crap. 

So lets take a moment to review. 

Since 2006 or so, there has been a 50% price increase in GW paint. 

The cost per gallon of GW paint rivals the Gross Domestic Product of some small countries.

GW claims that the price increase is justified in part by their continually offering "superior" product. 

(its the same paint.)

They redesigned the paint pots.

The new pots suck.  

Did I get it all? 

So what the hell do we do? (Please reread the first paragraph if you need reminders.)  

I have a couple of things that I am doing. 

First I have decided to recycle old pots.  

Screw caps make pot recycling easy!

Mechrite Red poured from a new Foundation pot into an old pot.

Screwing off the cap allows you to run your pot in the sink.  I simply let the water blast at the last bits of drying paints in a dead pot and it does the work for me. A few minutes later I finish the job with my fingers and the pot is clean.  Then I can pour whatever color I want into the new pot.  This old Chaos Black pot became the new home for my Mechrite Red.  The new pots go right in the trash. Can I do this forever? Nope. Like all things exhaustable, I have a finite amount of old GW pots.  And some of them have broken hinges.  As I use up those paints they will get second lives, and with my new recycling attitude I will handle the caps much more delicately. But for the time being, I should be set.  So one of the first things I do when I buy a new pot of paint is pour it right into an old recycled pot.  

But there are other options!

A dropper!

Since I am trying to embrace thinning my paints, it would not hurt me to use my paints from a dropper. I found this at an art supply store local.  It cost about .98 cents and holds two full GW pots plus some space to spare.  Why is this good?

Well color mixing of course!  Have a color that you use a LOT of but can never get the right mix twice?  Well buy two pots and pour them both into one of these droppers and boom, insta 50/50 mix.  On the left you can see a 50 mix of Regal Blue and Chaos Black. I was making a wash for my Grey Knights.  The next bottle is a 50 mix of the first mixture, and Glaze Medium.  Easy mixing, and in convenient dropper bottles.  The third bottle is the home for a new pot of Regal Blue.  It frustrated me when I tried to mix the paint with black because that was when I found out the new pots were not screw caps.  So I poured it all into a dropper and chucked it out the door.  

Wonder where that Skull White went from that pot I recycled?

In this bottle I consolidated two skull white pots that my gaming club kids had used into one bottle, and recycled the old pots.  The dropper is definitely good for the kids because it controls how much paint they use, and stops them from dropping open pots on the floor like little paint grenades.

I'm sure you all have your own things you have done to adjust to the new pots from GW.  This is a minor issue to be sure, but still! Feel free to share them in the comments section, or email me pics and I will post them up.  If any one has any visual data comparing and contrasting GW with other companies for quality, I would love to talk. That will be my next paint article.

Until then,

more to come.

Jawaballs

Send me your fine cast pics!

Hey guys, in follow up to my recent post about the quality of the new Fine Cast models, I want to run a piece comparing and contrasting the various successes and failures that you have encountered.  So send me your pictures! Please use the "macro" setting on your camera and use bright lighting.  Flashes will wash out the details you are trying to show.  Photograph them outside if possible. Too much direct light is not good either. Ahh the wonders of photography.  Try to get them in asap so I can run the article on Monday. I have already received a few!

Not a bad cast!

I want to like Finecast. Really.  Lets see if the rash of poor casts is just bad net reaction or bad business sense. And please don't photoshop in comments to the pics. :)

Jawaballs

I don't use twitter!

I just noticed that some one created a twitter account for Jawaballs using my first name. Well, it is not me. I don't use twitter and never will!  If you are following this account, it is a fake.  :)

Jawaballs