List Crunching Help!

Here is something for all you list crunchers!  I recently received this novel of an email and thought I would kick it out to all you who love working on lists.

Hi,
    I am playing a few 2k points against mostly vanilla marines, (they like lots of named characters, drop podded sterngaurd
with combi plasma/meltas).  I am running through a few list variations, trying to incorporate the deathstar approach...  any help
would be great...  I have a few weeks to work on it, but would like a fresh set of eyes...  Any feedback about which list you like best
would be helpful...


List 1


HQ: Reclusiarch (1#, 165 pts)
1 Reclusiarch, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, 165 pts = (base cost 160 + Combi-Meltagun 5)

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)
1 Librarian, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, (might of heros, shield of sang.)

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (10#, 435 pts)
2 Terminator with Lightning Claws
7 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
1 Sergeant, Lightning Claws

Elite: Sanguinary Priest (3#, 245 pts)
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour, Jump Pack
2 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
7 Assault Squad
2 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant, Power Fist

Troops: Assault Squad (11#, 250 pts)
7 Assault Squad
2 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant, Power Fist x1
1 Rhino,

Fast Attack: Baal Predator (1#, 145 pts)
1 Baal Predator Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL auto canon)

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL laser)


The idea is to combat squad the termies, giving each group a HQ and a terminator Sang. Priest;
these are each placed into a stormraven. The troops follow behind to assist assaults and claim objectives.


LIST # 2



2000 Pts - Blood Angels Roster

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)

1 ...in Terminator Armour (might of heros, shield of sang.)

: Land Raider Crusader (1#, 260 pts)
1 Land Raider Crusader, Multi-Melta

: Grey Knight Hero (6#, 425 pts)
1 Grand Master [OM], Psycannon Bolts
5 GK Terminator retinue(s) [OM], Incinerator

Elite: Sanguinary Priest (3#, 235 pts)
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour Jump Pack
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour Jump Pack
1 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
7 Assault Squad
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant Power Fist

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 225 pts)
7 Assault Squad
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Sergeant Power Weapon

Troops: Assault Squad (11#, 250 pts) (jump packs removed)
7 Assault Squad
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Assault Marine with Meltagun,
1 Sergeant Power Fist
1 Rhino

Fast Attack: Attack Bikes (2#, 100 pts)
2 attack bikes with multimeltas

Fast Attack: Baal Predator (1#, 145 pts)
1 Baal Predator, Heavy Bolter



LIST 3:

Total Roster Cost: 2000

HQ: Reclusiarch (1#, 165 pts)
1 Reclusiarch, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, Combi-Meltagun

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)
1 Librarian, 0 pts
1 ...in Terminator Armour, (might of heros, shield of sang.)

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (10#, 435 pts)
2 Terminator with Lightning Claws
7 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
1 Sergeant, Lightning Claws

Elite: Sanguinary Priest (3#, 245 pts)
1 Sanguinary Priest in Power Armour, Jump Pack
2 Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour

Troops: Assault Squad (10#, 235 pts)
7 Assault Squad
2 Assault Marine with Meltagun
1 Sergeant, Power Fist

Death Company (395)
5 Death Co, 1 power fist, 2 power swords in
1 Land Raider Redeemer

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL auto canon)

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, 200 pts (TL multimelta, TL laser)




LIST 4

1998 Pts - Blood Angels Roster

HQ: Librarian (1#, 125 pts)
1 Librarian; Shield of Sanguinius; Unleash Rage; in Terminator Armour

Elite: Terminator Assault Squad (6#, 470 pts)
4 Terminator with Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield
1 Sergeant (Lightning Claws (pair))
1 Land Raider Redeemer; Multi-Melta; 2x Flamestorm Cannons; Twin Linked Assault Cannon

Troops: Death Company (6#, 405 pts)
1 Lemartes
2 Death Company Jump Pack; Bolt Pistol; Power Weapon
1 Death Company Jump Pack; Bolt Pistol; Chainsword
2 Death Company Jump Pack; Power Fist

Troops: Death Company Dreadnought (1#, 125 pts)
1 Death Company Dreadnought, Blood Talon with Meltagun; Blood Talon with Storm Bolter

Troops: Assault Squad (7#, 163 pts)
4 Assault Squad
1 Assault with Flamer
1 Sergeant Melta Bombs, powersword
1 Razorback with TL Heavy Bolter

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 180 pts)
4 Assault Squad
1 Sergeant with powerfist
1 Razorback, Lascannon and TL Plasmagun

Troops: Assault Squad (6#, 180 pts)
4 Assault Squad
1 Sergeant with powerfist
1 Razorback, Lascannon and TL Plasmagun

Heavy Support: Stormraven Gunship (1#, 200 pts)
1 Stormraven Gunship, Twin Linked Assault Cannon; Twin Linked MultiMelta (Death Co and Dread in raven)

Heavy Support: Vindicator (1#, 150 pts)
1 Vindicator, Dozer Blade


Thank you for your time,


Bryan Edward Kentner, DPM




Have at it guys!  I will chime in with my own input once I have digested it all. :)


Jawaballs

More Feast of Blades banner progress

Today's Progress

Today I made some good progress on the Feast of Blades banner.  I put the words on the banner at the top, and started laying in the illustration on the shield.  First the words.

The first thing I did was redraw the scroll I had painted on white paper so that I could make attempts at drawing the letters. I don't have much rhyme or reason in my letter designs. They are loosely based on the lettering that appears in GW 40k banners like The Blood Angels ones that I have created.  You can see a couple attempts I made at getting the proper size and shape.  Then it was a matter of drawing them onto the real banner, and painting them black.  Of all the parts of these banners, the lettering is the most time consuming because they have to be perfect. They are some of the things people grasp onto the most when viewing the finished work so get the most scrutiny.  

Finally, I started laying a yellow ochre boarder around the edge. You can see it at the top. This will separate the image from the black canvas banner.  I might have to go enter the Feast of Blade just to get a chance to win back this banner!

Jawaballs

The Best Chairty Event Ever!

Hey all, Kevin here checking in again and this time to talk about the next big way to game for charity. This past weekend was TempleCon and the club I am in ran all of the 40k events by ourselves. One of the events was a Doubles tournament to raise money for charity. It was a basic idea, 1250 points per player with a shared force org chart and some wacky missions but curveballs started to appear everywhere in what was probably the most fun anyone playing had in their time as addicts of our plastic crack love.

This is how my day went. I woke up for the event that started just before noon and walked into our place at the Con in the lower levels. It was nice to have a room to ourselves full of different tables and some awesome themed tables such as an ice world and a Mayan jungle scene but all meant for tournament play. Anyway the first curve ball was already known, for one dollar towards charity you could buy a token that allowed you to reroll any dice roll in the game! I was at the victim to this many a times. The first round for instance one of my club members playing me rerolled a save against a freaking shaken result on his stormraven 7 times! This would be a hard fought fight with shenanigans plentiful. Speaking of shenanigans it was announced for $5 you could buy an orbital bombardment on any table in the tournament! This was used very successfully by some players all ganging up to take out certain vehicles or just to retaliate on some of their buddies for a past game defeat! Think about some random template coming from some Nid player 4 tables down you played the previous round and all he had to do was yell “SHENANIGANS!” during his shooting phase? My first game saw one player buy 5 or 6 of these bombardments for people all to fire on one player’s army as a joke! It also saw over 100 reroll tokens being used against me. This got my buddy Marcus and I so into the game we went and bought our own reroll tokens just to combat such tom foolery and strike back. We ended up losing our first game just 11-10! It was one of the best games I have ever been able to play in.
The next game saw Marcus and I against a Tau and Blood Angels player I also played in the singles tournament. We ended up cornering them and leaving them to our combined bloodbride and Genestealer havoc around a Mayan Temple! Also after each round there was a raffle you could buy tickets for and some awesome terrain, models and even a 3000 point expertly painted Chaos Marines army was given away as a main prize! I myself won two Spawn figures. This all added to the fun.

Round three saw the Dark Eldar and Nid forces against a duel C’tan front. We lost a very close game again but killed the Nightbringer. This round saw the owner of our clubs FLGS call in a bounty of a gift certificate to the store for whomever could kill the storm raven of Dean, the guy I played in the first round. Lets just say a lot of orbital bombardments came down on that model before it died.

All in all we had an awesome time and ended up, in a short period of time full of fun and shenanigans, raising over $700 for the Rhode Island Food Bank! Such a feat was not possible without the work of the event organizer, Dean, and the rest of the 40k organizers. It was a good idea to raise money for a good cause and everyone had so much fun in the process of the 3 rounds. I hope other organizer take initiative and have events like this before their events for a good cause. =)

As always, more on this later…….

Signing out, Kevinmcd28

40k Model Review- Blood Angels Stormraven!

MBG here with my review of the new Stormraven, which I found to be very innovative and daringly designed.

Like it or love it the new kit is here. I started right in on the assembly, after we got our black box in (containing the Furioso, and the Stormraven), and I had a field day with this thing.

If you are in the market for some Stormraven bits, checkout the Spikey Bits Online Store.

New player profile: My friend Jim Stanton

1850 Ultramarines

Now that I got the eye candy out of the way, here is his list.  

Chaplain with Plasma Pistol

Librarian with Avenger and Null Zone and Storm Shield

10 man tactical with las canon, flamer and rhino

10 man tactical with rhino, fist, multi melta and melta

5 man tactical with razorback with TL las

Predator with autocannon turret and las sponsons

Ironclad Dread with Heavy flamer

land raider crusader with Extra armor and multi melta

5 assault terminators as pictured

5 Legion of the Damned with Meltagun and Plasma Cannon

First some background on Stanton. I met him two years ago when I transferred to this school. He ran an after school club where his kids painted roman gladiator type models and played a game with them in an arena. He is also the creator of a game called Gnome Wars, which is sort of like 40k, but way less relaxed on the rules part.  Leprechauns are an army for example, and throw pumpkins for grenades.  

So it was easy for Stanton to jump into 40k when he started coming around my room and seeing me messing with my Blood Angels and working on projects. This year our plan was simple. Take a total 40k nooby with wargaming experience, and turn him into a tournament contender.  First of all I made him a competitive list drawing on units he liked from the SM Codex. I would never suggest some one jump into 40k and not play models he liked after all!  He liked the termies and chaplain so those were a no brainer, but he very much liked the damned based on some pics he found over at Dark Future Games blog. By the way his LoD are without a doubt the sexiest I have ever seen.  

Jim liked my furioso and wanted to play one and we filled out his army with effective units, an ac/las pred and tactical squads with transports. By no means is this list an over the top uber list, but I know I could take it to a tournament and win games with it.  Plus it was straight forward and reduced his tactical options to just a couple. Aim the Land Raider, send it forth, and shoot the crap out of any thing that can destroy it.  Have the Damned meet up the termies on the other side. Simple!

Before painting his Ultramarines, he had never painted a 40k model. His first attempt was an assault squad, which he sprayed with a bad batch of blue primer and got the dreaded sand paper effect.  Fail.  But with some direct tutorial by me, he was able to get his army ship shape!  Notice the red tabbards on the Sergeants. What kind of mentor would I be without influencing him into painting at least some red on his marines. :)  The rest is pure Stanton.  He decided early that he wanted to go with an extreme highlight approach. I showed him different styles online, and on my own work. I showed him my original extreme highlights, and my more recent "wet blended" stuff that has very few highlights at all.  He wanted to take my approach and master the touch needed to edge first, then work into blending and shading. 

The biggest difference he noticed right from the start was the incredible difference in level of detail between 40k models and the gladiator models he was painting before.  Even basic space marine troops are heavily detailed.  It took him some time to accept the idea that the better he wants to be, the more he will have to pick out every detail.  We practiced on some Black Reach marines. He would paint some, and I would at the same time, then we would compare.  I could use my examples to correct his painting and improve his work which drastically reduced the learning curve.  

From there I showed him hand painting techniques for his Ultra symbols, and other techniques like painting bone and parchment and blammo!  Welcome to 40k Stanton!  

But that was only part of it.  I also had to teach him how to play. For incentive, I made him sign up for a singles tournament that happened last weekend.  Due to the mass amounts of snow days, we had little time to prep him though. All I managed to do was get him on a table and teach him the basic mechanics of 40k. WS, BS, etc.  Then we were off to the tournament!

Before it started we had a little time so I spent two hours going over some advanced tactics, and possible responses to varied armies. Playing against Tau is a different game than playing against Blood Angels after all. Then it was game time!

In his first game he landed against a tough opponent with a good Blood Angels army. My buddy Bill!  Who proceeded to table him in just a few turns.  But thats ok. Jim learned a lot in defeat and would luckily be at the bottom of the heap for round two.

Then he drew a newer Tau player.  Game on.  I did not get a chance to watch most of the game, but from what I saw, his Legion of the Damned sgt accounted for no less than 44 dead fish heads.  His Land Raider got popped in the middle of the table and the termies drew most of the fire, while the damned went on a rampage.  Not long later, Stanton had his first 40k win and a life time record of 1-1. Not bad man.  

Going into game three he wound up vs a Black Templar army played by a fairly experienced opponent. Jim was in for a fight. But following the basic 40k tactics I showed him he managed to pull out a win!  2-1 lifetime.  Fantastic!  So he went to his first tournament, played his first 3 full games of 40k ever, placed 6th overall, and got 2nd best sportsman.  Not a bad day at all.  

I have to say that I was pretty proud. He scored very well in painting, and on the tables.  Now Fritz is in real trouble. I don't even need to try to corral him on the tables any more. I can let my padawan take care of my light work while I go for tougher prey. :)  

Jawaballs

Rediscovering Angels #7: The Predators

Hello there boyz and girlz!  What's happening.  Xaereth here again from Delusions of Grandeur, hoping to help give you ideas and thoughts on how Blood Angels can work for you.  Today I want to talk a little bit about some models that are close to lots of people's hearts:  Predators.  It's a somewhat tricky matter to talk about them, since I know that many people are completely sold on them already, but hopefully we can discuss this objectively, and figure out the best way to play them :)

The Types

So, I'm reasonably sure we all know by now which Blood Angels pred loadouts are the most popular.  But, for the random new guy reading here, let's talk about each one real quick.

Autocannon Turret, Las Cannon Sponsons

This is 'the' heavy support Predator.  Weighing in at 135 points, this guy has two S7 shots, and two S9 AP2 shots.  It's fast, and as such can move 6" and fire all heavy weapons.  People tend to think it's a big deal.

'Standard' Baal Predator

This is a Fast Attack choice, with an Assault Cannon and two Heavy Bolter Sponsons.  It's 145 points, and can move and shoot it's weapons well too.  Also of note, it can make a scout move or outflank if it so desires.  The scout move is better with its variant.

Flamestorm Baal Predator

This guy is cool, it can tote a S6 AP3 flamer, move 18" on it's scout move, and shoot after having moved 12".  Alpha strikes vs. longfangs can really hurt your opponent if they deploy stoopidly (lol).  115 points isn't much for an AV13 vehicle who kills marines without a thought.

Other Variants

Um... there aren't any.  Well, there are, but really seriously, you don't want anything to do with them.  For 180 points you can have three las cannons on a predator.  Or you can have a dakka pred with almost no impact on the game for 30 points more than your SM pals.  Neither is worth it in my opinion.  180 points is a ton of points to pay for three las cannons that can be glanced into silence.  The above builds are the ones we want to look at, from a competitive point of view.

Alright, now that the newbfest is over, lets talk about how effective they are in the field!

I'm kind of a math guy when I approach games.  It probably has to do with my stint as a poker player for a while after Iraq, but now I'm forever haunted by the fact that I can't play a game that involves numbers without trying to figure out probabilities.  As such, my first approach to Preds is a math approach.

So, let's do some maths for the AC/LC pred vs. Tanks, since that's what it's tooled for (though it can do well against some heavy infantry as well).  Shooting all 4 shots at a rhino, you're going to wreck or explode it a whopping 43% of the time, assuming it isn't getting cover.  To immobilize it, you're over 50%.  Against a Chimera, wrecking/exploding it is about 28.6%, and to immobilize it or better is in the mid 30's.

Conclusion:  It takes 2 Predators to reliably disable a rhino (assuming no smoke) and three Predators to reliably disable a Chimera.  From a math standpoint.  We all know what can happen when we roll hot.  Or terribly.

Alright, let's do the maths for a Baal Predator w/ Assault Cannon/Heavy Bolters.  Against T4 (shooting all weapons), 5.6 wounds will be caused.  This means about 2 marines will die, or 3 orks in cover.  Against a Rhino, you've got about 18% to wreck/destroy it with the assault cannon, closer to 30% to immobilize it or better (though ironically, the exact same percentage to do the same to AV12)

Conclusion:  It takes 3 'Standard' Baal Predators to kill half a marine squad in a single turn (or a longfang squad).  It takes 3 'Standard' Baal Predators to reliably disable a Rhino or Chimera.

Now we know what they can do.  I'd say for it's points, so far the Baal slightly outweighs the AC/LC Pred.  Keep in mind that the Flamestorm Baal is so variable I don't want to do math for it, since there are too many scenarios to try to do it justice.

One thing I haven't mentioned much (as if I really need to, lol) is that Predators are all AV13 in the front, and that you can take 6 total Preds if you want.  This is what the internets loves about Predators in Blood Angels, the spammability of AV13.  Many people view AV13 spam as a step lower (but cheaper) than AV14 spam.  I have to posit that it is nowhere in the league of spamming AV14, however.  Sure, it's tough to pen the front armor with shooting, but Predators are vulnerable to assault in ways that Land Raiders really really aren't.

Another weakness I must point out (since we're trying to be objective) is the one that all tanks suffer from:  suppressing fire.  If our pred sustains even a little damage, the odds are that it will be completely unusable in our next shooting phase.  This is a weakness that is not shared with ground-pounding shooty squads (such as Devastators).

So, let's say we want 6 Preds.  How much would that run us?  840 points is the damage, coming just under 800 if we want to swap out 'Standard' Baals for Flamestorm (we generally don't).  This isn't a terrible pricetag, though I have to point out to you that certain armies will be able to glance every single predator of yours on turn 1.  Space Wolves come to mind, being able to split longfang firepower, as do Guard, Tau, (Necrons? lol) and a bunch of random shooty lists.

It's really your call- Blood Angels generally need some sort of suppressing firepower, and they all have their shortcomings.  Devastators can shoot but can't stay with our army.  Preds can stay with our army, but can be glanced into submission.  Attack bikes can be insta-deathed.  Gotta pick your poison.  Preds are certainly not a bad choice.

So instead of quibbling over if they're a bad choice or good, let's discuss what types of lists could benefit from the use of Predators.

Pure Jump Troops

AC/LC- Yes
Baal 'Standard'- No
Baal Flamestorm- No

These guys can really benefit from the AC/LC, in order to pop the tanks before the jumpers get to them.  I said no to the Baals because Jump Troops already rock against troops as it is.  Another thing to keep in mind is that tanks of any kind (except Land Raiders, oddly enough) will be somewhat out of place if you plan on making full use of Decent of Angels every game.  In that case, I'd recommend you find something else (like honor guard w/ melta guns).

One other thing I should point out is that Predators make good walls for your Blood Angels to advance behind.  If you stay close enough behind them, the Jump Troops can generally ensure the charge.  Still, that's a somewhat expensive piece of mobile terrain.  Options are always good to have though.

Mech Gunline

AC/LC- Yes
Baal 'Standard'- Yes
Baal Flamestorm- Sometimes

This list would look something like this:  6x Predators, 4-6x Razorbacks, Librarian OR 3x Land Raiders, 3x Predators, 3x Assault Squads inside Raiders

So, lots of hard to deal with armor, and lots of shooting.  The troops won't be as good in combat (as in, not good at all) and the Baal 'Standard' will help out with taking out troops.  I said the Flamestorm sometimes, because of alpha strike capabilities.  I'll talk about that a little bit at the end.

Mixed Randomness

Well, this list could be anything.  I've been more and more under the impression that Blood Angels need to pick one thing and do it well- either pure mech or pure foot.  Mixing the two isn't to be advised.  In that case, whereas the preds might help this type of list, I would advise against it in a competitive setting.

Some Tricks to make your Preds better:

• Remember your scout moves.  They can be a lifesaver.  Remember them, even if it's to move them 1" and pop smoke, since you're allowed to do that.
• Building on the first tip, pop smoke at the start of the game, and use them as mobile cover for the rest of your force.  You can start with a solid 4+ cover on everything in your army if you do it right.
• Remember outflanking with Baal Predators.  They aren't super likely to pop a tank on side armor (no matter what the internets tells you, it's less than 40% to wreck a chimera), but they can still cause mayhem.  Throwing a wrench in your opponent's battle plan is usually worth it.
• Remember to set up so that you can alpha strike with your flamestorm against footslogging armies.  You'll need it against wolves especially.
• Tank shock and 18" ram can be amazing.  I rarely see people tank shocking their enemies, and it surprises me.  AV13 + 5 (for moving 15"+) + 1 (for tank) is a S9 hit, that ignores smoke and hits in the movement phase.  Plus, leadership on combat squads is only 8- may as well try.
• Armies that have lots of footsloggers (like orks w/ kan wall) can be stalled for a turn by boosting your preds at them and turning them sideways.  The goal isn't to keep the preds alive, but rather to keep them from advancing on you for a turn, while you deal with the rest of their army.

Flamestorm Alpha Strike

Well, I'm sure I overplayed how cool this is.  It's going to be anticlimatic now.  Here's the gist of it though:  Turn 1, you move 18" with your flamestorm if you get first turn, and turn 2, you move 12" and flamer a squad out in the open.  Lots of times this will be Devastators/Longfangs, but sometimes it'll be extremely awesomesauce against Loganwing or to a lesser extent against jump pack Blood Angels.  It's worth remembering though- if you run a pred-heavy army, you're going to hate those missile launchers.

Another option is to drive in and position your flamestorm next to an enemy transport.  If you can pop it that turn, you can fry the inhabitants.  Muhahaha

What do you think?  How do you run your Preds?

And here's a question:  how do you pronounce 'Baal'?

Option 1:  BALL
Option 2:  BALE

Let me know.  I always pronounced as Option 2, but the guys at my LGS pronounce it Option 1.  That's why you have all the ball pictures this time.  Baal spam, lolz.  Like my Razorspam wasn't enough. 

Anyways, catch ya later!

As a sidenote, I just quit my job because of a scholarship I just got and... hopefully I'll be posting more now that there's more time, both here, and on my 'main' blog.  If you haven't checked it out, feel free :)  Peace!

Brent's Strictly Average Painting Guide: Amon Ad-Raza

Okay folks, this is it!  The first ever Brent's Strictly Average Painting Guide, featuring Menoth's best 'Jack Caster, Amon Ad-Raza!

Let's spend a moment clarifying the basic premise: I'm not an expert painter, I'm a speed-painting competitive hobbyist.  I love every aspect of this hobby, from the fluffy background of the Warhammer Universes to the slightly-smelly halls of a competitive tournament to the small room in my home where I spend countless pleasurable hours painting tiny toys.

As a blogger, no topic even remotely related to the hobby we all share has escaped my attention, but there are two topics I tend to shy away from.  The first is trying to illustrate my method of painting and the second is trying to teach my brand of aggressive tactics.

While it may not sound like there's much left, that's only because those two things make up the vast majority of topics the average hobby blogger posts about.  Am I wrong?  Isn't it always paint this way or play this way?

There's nothing wrong with that, but I long felt the best way to ply my trade was to write articles which demonstrated my passion for the game, the hobby, and the community... after all, I'm neither the best painter nor the best player out there.  If I've had any success, it's because my love of the whole shebang has shone through.  That's what I think, anyway.  Still I've always thought about tapping into my ideas on painting and playing...

...and this series on The Blood Angels: by Jawaballs is a big part of that: step 1 of 2, you might say.

Anyway, over-long intro notwithstanding, my primary goal is to write an entertaining article.  If you read something that helps, great!  If you want to help me, that's great too - I'm always willing to learn.

The general idea here is to layer up thin coats quickly.  Inside-out is usually the best way, especially here  since it's skin.  This isn't really the first layer as much as it is the foundation for the colors that come later.

The skin layer gets a wash of purple, the rest of the model gets its foundation layer.  I love painting over brown, since the warm colors all live there.

I build up the brown tones - FAST.  Seriously, this is all about getting a decent quality quickly.  I'm literally using a crappy, canvas painter's brush - the ones you get in varying sizes like 10 for 5 bucks.  Don't glop it on though; over-brush it.  In my mind, over-brushing is like a wet dry brush.  It won't always leave a great texture, so it's not appropriate for flat armor like that of a Space Marine, but it's great for cloth and fur - again, like dry brushing.  Then I layered on thin gold... and here's where the foundation helps.  The browns will show up, giving the gold a decent richness...

...but but but..!  It won't look appealing at all.  Don't be discouraged; again, you're building up layers which you'll bring out later with washes and/or controlled layering.  Notice here I'm not painting the chain on the left arm - it can't really be done properly, which means I'd have to clean it up later, which means I'm wasting time.  As I'm painting, I'm enjoying the process... but it doesn't mean I'm not ready to paint the next dude.

This is the same stage (the base metal) but taken from the rear point of view.  Again, I'm trying to be neat so I don't waste time fixing things later, but the problems are glaring.  Resist the urge to fix.  Trust the process.

The washes are probably the best thing GW has ever come up with and they've replaced most of the custom washes I used to use.  As an aside, I think Devlan Mud is overused - don't neglect the others.  I used Sepia on the cloth and gold, green on the gold, and black on the metal and some shadows.  Let it dry completely.  

I never paint one model at a time.  If I'm painting a one-off, like a character, I'll have another project running concurrently.  The reason is obvious - I'm not wasting time twiddling my thumbs while paint is drying.  Avoid downtime.  If you've got only half an hour to paint, make sure your brush is moving for 30 minutes.  You'll make progress.

Here you can see the washes are dry and the model is starting to take shape.  The white is layered carefully.  Now I'm using the good brushes.

It's hard to see, but I'm also applying the base coat for the cloth Amon wears underneath his forearm armor.  I'm using the Foundation Ochre, I believe - whatever the yellow one is!

Here's the skin stage.  I'm carefully layering on different stages.  It becomes obvious when you compare this stage to those at the end.  If you've done your foundation work properly, you won't be applying color on the edges - anywhere color-meets-color should be done; I'm layering mid and high tones.

The interior wrist straps are blue - it's hard to see until the final picture or two.  Anyway, the skin on the back is easier to see.  Use water in your paint and layer it on in thin coats.  Don't over paint it or over think it - the process is the thing, right?

In my army the contrasting color is the turquoise.  I've had some criticism about it, but I really like it... and you're the one who has to live with the model, right?  Anyway I only mention it because I had a composition problem at this stage.

Part of painting is solving a puzzle; at its core, the puzzle is what color fits where?  Look at the model above; I knew I was using white and red.  So where?  Well, white draws the eye in, so it made sense for the head scarf... especially since the eye has to look past the huge wrecking ball before it can see the core of the model.  Since the head scarf is white, I decide I don't want to overuse it on the model, so I'll settle for constraining the model with white on the trim.

That said, red would have made sense on the trim, too.  Triangles are another shape that draws the eye inward, and for some reason red works great with triangles... it's why the 3-spot technique works so well.  Anyway, the trim points up, yes?  It would have worked.  Funny, I worked all this out before actually seeing the company's version of the model.  I was pretty gratified when I did!

Don't worry, no model looks that great magnified this much, certainly not mine!  Still, it's important to see the layering; you're not meant to see the model this way, so don't obsess over it too much.  I'll admit, the eyes bothered me no end, but I realized two things, 1) the eyes are actually hard to see on this model because of the cowl, and 2) I probably would only screw it up further since the shape of the headdress made it so difficult to paint.  I left it alone.

The red goes on in thin layers.  The foundation shows through, providing instant depth - and it was light enough a color that the red is vibrant, not muted.  I applied a few washes of a deep red in the creases...

...both front and back.  Here you can see the final layers of skin, as well as my answer to another composition problem I didn't go into.  Note the greens in the gold work with the reds on the kilt - ignore the Christmas curse, it's a myth: green and red are fine together most of the time.

I paint the gem and the crosses.  I highlight the metals.  I layer the metal chain and fix the chain on the left arm.  A big problem at this stage was fixing the individual fingers on both gauntlets - for some reason, they'd ended up appearing washed out and flat, so I quickly toned it down then built it up.  I flocked the base.

And here it is.  There are some minor imperfections, but truth be told they're only really noticeable in picture.  Also, keep in mind the point here is to get an effect you're happy with without spending a stupid amount of time at the painting table - if you fix every nit picky error you'll never be done... primarily because there will always be something else you're unhappy with.  That's the definition of obsession.

So there you have it, my Amon Ad-Raza.  I actually don't know how much time I spent on this model because, like I mentioned, I don't work on one thing at at time.  It was somewhere between 2 and 3 hours - and probably much closer to 2.  He is a character model, so he was worth investing a bit more.

What's more important is that I enjoyed spending the time doing it.

Okay, I'll admit something here, at the end... I'm not sure what to do with the morningstar... giant ball... thing.  Right now its metal.  It's dull and uninspiring.  It's a composition problem that I've not quite sorted out - primarily because I was saving it for this article!

(That's a lie.  I have no idea.)

Help me out!

Your thoughts and comments are much appreciated, ladies, gentleman, and Unicorns.

Feast of blades banner update

Finally I got some time to work on the Feast of Blades banner!  The wings are mostly done as are the scrolls. I started going in and adding black outlines to make elements stand out in space, such as the lines around the scrolling. This is a painting trick to make certain spots appear closer in space. Notice how I emphasized the black line on the end of the up flowing tassel on the right, to the right of the sword. I really made a hard edge black on the end of the tassle, but the rest of it sort of gets thinner. That enhances the effect of the tassle flowing in front of the wings. 

I played a bit with the bone fingers to make them look like they are popping out, and the red on the flowing sleeve around the bone hand.  That will end up being brighter and lighter than the rest of the robes since it is closer to you in space.  The shield represents a different challenge in that it is a domed shape, that is closer to you in the center but receedes at the edges.  Plus it is done with two different colors.  I have still left the colors of the shield intentionally muted because what is more important will be the things I paint on it's surface. With so much going on in this design, I am trying to minimize the effect of elements in the painting competing with each other.  With some luck, I will be done this week. Then I can start on my next one, the Space Wolves Chapter banner!  I can't wait. :)  

Jawaballs

There's a storm on the horizon!

Behold!

Bullet Holes, and Hand Painted Raven! (I got inspired)

Close up of raven

Yes some of the Dragon Red prime is thick, it was late 

and I was getting stoned from the fumes. :)

Weathering straight from this months issue of White Dwarf

featuring ME of all people! :)

It's here!  I wrote a Blood Angels Storm Raven into the list I plan on playing in the Templecon singles tournament tomorrow. This was entirely contingent upon me getting one of these babies in my hands! But unfortunately the model was not to be sold until the day of the tournament, and there was no way I could get one assembled, painted and ready to go.  But of course, JawaNation came through! My first Storm Raven arrived last night, probably right around when GW preorder models were showing up on people's door steps.  That gave me the evening to assemble and prime it. I used Army Painter black primer, and then Dragon Red for the base color. It already looked amazing!  The picture shows the results after priming.  Primed and assembled the engines separately so as not to have to hand paint the metalic.  I used Army Painter Platemail.  In this pic I quickly did the pilot and gunner and the compartments and just glued on the canopies.  Also you can see the magnets attached to the turret, I magnetized the options.  

So there it is so far. Now I am working on highlighting and blending, and I am doing lots of battle damage on this one.  This being my first, I don't really care how it comes out so this gives me the freedom to experiment. 

Will Storm Ravens make it into competitive lists?  Well I am trying. I won't let the cat out of the bag yet on my new list, but it is a drastic divergence from what I won Mechanicon with.  After the tournament I will post up the list and results/tactics.  Look for that next week!  Time to get back to work.

I am doing bullet holes in the side where I put a big fat finger print in the primer because I was rushing.  wish me luck!

If you are looking to get Storm Ravens at 20% off GW Retail, OR if you want Storm Raven Bits, visit Spikey Bits!  Clicking the link will take you straight to the site where you can find Storm Raven Bits, or call Rob and tell him to send you the box sets!  Make sure you tell him I sent you.

Jawaballs