Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Progress ....

I am almost finished with my first Grey Hunter Pack.  I kind of did a bunch of things backwards and it has cost me some time.  Now that I learned from them, the rest of the army shouldn't take me as long to paint.  I have to finish a few little details on these guys, including their Pack/Company markings and the bases.  I will definitely have them finished this weekend, then I will finish the Green Stuff work on my Thunderwolf Clavary.

Here are the WIP pics as they stand now:









I am also currently reading Gav Thorpe's Path of the Seer when I am not painting.  It is an awesome book, I like a bit more than Path of the Warrior.  I will also finish that this weekend and do a little review on it.

Thanks for tuning in,

-The Man Behind The Mask-

Friday, August 26, 2011

Music Is My Motivator... song of the week

So tonight I had about an hour to dedicate towards painting.  I got all of the shoulder pads to where they need to be.  I just have to add the pack markings and one final quick highlight (which will be done last so they don'e get rubbed off).  I will have some more pics up after this weekend.  If I can get a hold of a tripod, I would love to do a little video tutorial of how I produce my Power Axes.  I will do my best to accomplish that goal for you all, on to the Song of the Week!
This week I wanted to go with another side of my taste in music and post something a little more aggressive.  I chose to post "Two Weeks" by All That Remains.  I have been a fan of these guys for about Five years now.  Most of their stuff was a bit underground when I stumbled on them, but they have become pretty popular lately.  This song is a good one to pump you up for a knock down drag out battle.  I hope you all enjoy it, and tune in every Friday for a new Song of the Week.



Thanks for Tuning In,

-The Man Behind The Mask-


Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Slowly Coming Along ...

I need a serious kick in the rear to get my hobby up to par.  My Wolves aren't coming along as fast as I would like.  I finished cleaning up the base coat on the armor, and have finished all of the heads.  I will be working my tail off to finish this first pack over the weekend.  Here are some WIP pics of the pack so far.






I airbrushed the models with Codex Grey, then black lined the armor with Badab Black.  I then went back over the armor with Codex to clean the lines up.  For the bases I just painted all the ruble Bestial Brown then washed the whole thing in Badab Black.  I will drybrush them and add snow to finish them up. 
Hopefully I will finish these guys up this weekend and get some finished pics up next week.  

Thanks for tuning in,

-The Man Behind The Mask-

Friday, August 19, 2011

Music Is My Motivator... song of the week

Welcome again to my weekly installment of "Music Is My Motivator".  This week I chose to post "Waiting For The End" by Linkin Park.  I heard this song at work today and I immediately wondered why I haven't posted it yet.  When this song first came out I instantly fell in love with it, and I have spent loads of nights painting to this one.  The video is pretty awesome as well, if you watch it in the dark (in full screen mode, just click the four arrows to get it there) it enhances the visual effects.  Linkin Park always seems to release songs that have helped me deal with certain hurdles in my life, and I usually stumble onto them at the perfect time.  This song has really hit home with my current life situation.  The first time I heard it I remember thinking "Damn, I couldn't have said that better myself".  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.




I am planning to get some hobbying done this weekend (I have been way too busy these last weeks), so hopefully I will get some pictures up for next week.

Thanks for tuning in,

-The Man Behind The Mask-

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Erik Morkai's Company vs. Grey Knights



The other night I had the opportunity to play against the new Grey Knights for the first time.  My friend Matt brought his Knights down to Battle Foam and we ended up playing a Seize Ground mission with four objectives, Pitched Battle deployment.  The first three objectives ended up being placed on the same half of the table, so I placed the last one inside of a building on the other end of the table.   The Grey Knights deployed first.  Matt Had two five man Terminator units, two ten man Purgation Squad units in Rhino’s, a Grand Master with a retinue of Paladin’s (including an Apothecary), and a little surprise that I didn’t notice until the game began. 
I tried to steal initiative but failed.  On the first turn I lost one of my Vindicators to a Turbo Penetrator round from Matt’s Vindicare Assassin (that was the surprise I didn’t notice).  I didn’t even see it on the table, true to Vindicare form.  Matt then moved his Rhinos up to block one objective, both Purgation Squads disembarked on the side of them, out of my line of sight. 
On my first turn my Drop Pod came in and delivered a full Pack of Grey Hunters onto the objective on the far side of the table, they would hold this uncontested for the duration of the game.  My surviving Vindicator moved up the middle and took out one Terminator with a not so well aimed siege shell.  The rest of my shooting didn’t do any damage and it was on to turn two. 
The second turn opened my eyes to a great little Grey Knight power called Astral Aim, this allows the unit to fire without needing line of sight to the target.  Matt uses his Rhino as moving cover, so when the Purgation Squad passed their psychic test, they can fire their weapons while hiding behind the Rhino.  I had sixteen Psycannon rounds and  twelve Storm Bolter rounds come crashing into me, and he had two units like that.  My Long Fangs didn’t last too long against that. 
My second turn started by Erik Morkai and his Wolf Scouts moving on the left table edge within charge range of one of the Purgation Squads.  My shooting was horrendous, but combat was glorious.  I wiped out all but one of the Purgation knights and I only lost four scouts.  Jarv Valdsam did very well being able to re-roll to  hit and to wound rolls due to the Preferred Enemy and dual Wolf Claws combo. 
The rest of the game was mainly combat based.  I moved my Rune Priest and his unit up to contest one objective.  My Thunder Wolves took out one of the Terminator Units, but not before two of them fell as well.  The Grand Master and his retinue charged Erik’s Unit and took out all the scouts, only Erik and Jarv remained.  The second scout unit arrived and charged in to help Erik, although Psychotroke grenades caused half the unit (Including my Wolguard Jagare) to attack each other.  They still managed to kill all the Paladins before withdrawing back to cover.  Erik Morkai finished off the Apothecary and at the end of the game He and the Grand Master stood alone locked in combat.  Erik Morkai was unscathed, but the Grand Master had been wounded in the last round of combat.
The Game ended at the end of Turn 5 on a roll of a two.  I ended pulling out the victory with two Objectives to Matt’s one.  It was a very fun game, and I learned a lot in this one.
I will have some pictures of the progress on my wolves up here in the next couple of days so be on the lookout for that.

Thanks for tuning in,

-The Man Behind The Mask-          

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Music Is My Motivator... song of the week

Well it's that time again folks.  This Friday's installment of "Music Is My Motivator" features One Republic.  I have liked these guys for awhile, and this song "Secrets" is hits home with me.  They are a bit soft, but when you're in the right mood it just works.  I have been a little obsessed with this song lately, and I'm sure Kyle is sick of me playing it four or five times a day at work.  As always I hope you all enjoy it, and be on the look out for some more WIP pics of my wolves.



Thanks for tuning in,

-The Man Behind The Mask-

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Back From The Void ... Again


I am finally back from Gen Con!  It was absolutely awesome!  I had to work most of the time at the Battle Foam booth, but it was still fun.  This was my first convention ever, and it was a positive experience.  I wanted to personally say thank you to all of you who stopped by the Battle Foam booth to say hello.  I did have to walk around in the General Baggy costume for a bit (see pic above), but even that was fun.  I would love to go back next year, for work  or pleasure.  There was so much going on here that I can't even begin to go into detail.  There was 24 hour gaming, a plethora of merchant booths, amazing artists, costumes galore, and even a children's gaming area.  This convention has everything you could imagine and more.     
I will be working hard this weekend on my Wolves, so I should have some WIP pics up on Monday.  I am currently working on a small Grey Hunter unit and my Thunder Wolves.  Pictures will be on their way soon.  
I also feel bad that I had to miss last Friday's installment of "Music Is My Motivator", so I am going to post one today.  
This belated edition of "Music Is My Motivator" features Paramore.  I have heard this song after every episode of Torchwood on Stars and I was instantly hooked.  Paramore is an awesome band, they continuously pump out hits.  I hope you all enjoy "All I Wanted".



Until Next Time,

-The Man Behind The Mask-

Monday, August 1, 2011

I Must Dive Into The Void Once Again ....

I will be leaving for GenCon tomorrow so I will not be able to post until next week.  This will be my first convention, and I am not sure what to expect.  I will be working most of the time, but hopefully I can break away from my duties to soak some nerdness up.
I have started to work on my Thunderwolf calvary and some Grey Hunter Units.  I have come to the conclusion that the Thunderwolves are going to require ALOT of hours of Green Stuff work.  In the end I think they will be worth it though.  I will be posting some more WIP pics next week, until then here is the start of my Thunderwolves:



I am treating the Bloodcrushers as a skeleton to work off of.  I have done a little more work since I took these pics, and I will post those pics next week.  It is a lot of work, but I think that these are the most practical option for Thunderwolves if you can work with Green Stuff.  It is significantly cheaper and offers more options for posing.  I will be extending the tail, and making the body look more fluid.  I will also be leaving a lot of the armor and cybernetics showing to add to the flavor.  Stay tuned for more updates next week, and thanks for tuning in .....

-The Man Behind The Mask-