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So these little biters cleaned up quick. Should bring my total number of termagants to 103. 20 spinefist, 30 devourers, 50 fleshborers. And one of each special. Need to find my kill jar and see if I have any acetone left, get the 4 metals into the pool to respawn.

Old guys filling spots there are looking very plain jane next to the sculpts. Not so plain that I’m going to replace the ~70 of them that I have.

One thing about the new kits is that while they are all the same 10 bodies, none stand out. Which sounds like a bad thing, but in this case isn’t. For guys like marines, you might have 5 guys in a rifle squad, but one dude has his rifle slung and his pistol out. or with the old metal SoB range, the one gal pulling the pin out of the grenade with her teeth. When you have dups of that in your army, you notice it. With gaunts, you want a carpet of gribbles, all part of the hive mind. And they deliver.

Not that I needed more ripper swarms, but 3 more of them as well. I debated putting a 5th ripper on each base (and still might) just to differentiate them from the other ones I’ve built/painted (which have either 3 or 4 per base)

While I still have the stabby gaunts to build, I think I’ll take a break from the swarm and build some marines next.

Put the basecoat of grey seer on the stormhawk. Need to do all the details now, and then go back at the end with the contrast. New way of painting Ultras, we’ll see how it turns out.

Still need to get all the gravis armor on the painting handles done.

Still haven’t gotten back to the aggressors. Making progress on the chaplain and fighter today though.

So the YTD shelf is looking full, and we still have some time left in the month. I’d like to clear the workbench of the projects, but that might just not happen.



Spent the morning cutting sheet metal and fixing magnets.

That’s the YTD shelf nids (plus some who came loose) ready to go. And metal in the last 2 of the boxes. Also maged up the winged prime who is still waiting for flock. I suspect when I try to move the YTD down into the boxes they are not going to fit. I’m guessing I’ll need to pick up one more tall box and 2 more smalls. I should have enough steel for 6 more boxes, so that’s not an issue. I’ll probably order them in the new year. With the ones left to build (hormagaunt box) ready to prime (seen above) and the primed pile I should have about 75 more bugs of assorted sizes to add to the swarm. On the bright side, almost all the old stuff is done; mostly just new plastic. Evolving forward!

Due to the lack of motivation on the Stormhawk swapping to the chaplain for the month. He’s getting along.


Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

--Nev

Good progress. Only a few things left to clean up, then decals and base. Odd pic from the phone camera; getting comic book filter vibes.

And done.

That was fun. Love chaplains. They are the spirit of 40k, distilled into miniature form. Need to build the bike guy I picked up, and then get a new HQ collection pic. Been a while since I did a round up. This guy is my 7th chap, new bike will be 8. Assuming I don’t build/paint any more before I get him done.




Crappy nighttime lighting pic, but here is a wrap for 2023. While I might finish the WIP on the bench before the ball drops, it’s unlikely. I’ll get it out on a table with more space and better light for the formal year end pic. There is a staggering lack of blue out there. Bad year to be an Ultramarine. Bugs are looking good though...

Awesome stuff, Nev. Love the Chaplain. The bugs are getting out of hand, though.

The bugs are getting a little out of control. But honestly? The end is in sight. It might take a year or two, but this is not a blank check open book like my Ultras. As a secondary army there is a limit on how far I’m going to push them. I only really have my eye on 2-3 more squad boxes, maybe a lictor or two of some flavor that I still covet. Not that the built/primed pile won’t last me a good while. Well, 2 years give or take at the rate I’m going. Between the piles I have about 80ish more nids to join the swarm.

We’ll see what happens after that. I’ve got some ideas percolating in the back of my mind, but it’s a long way off. Still need to figure out what next year’s goals are going to be. Probably finish all the ones I didn’t get to this year.

But I’m not at that level of woolgathering yet.

Chaplain came out great, those models are always my favorite type of marine. How many heads does that chaplain kit come with?

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
Chaplain came out great, those models are always my favorite type of marine. How many heads does that chaplain kit come with?

He is not the new TDA chaplain, but a kitbash from the leviathan captain. Who just has one head option, which I didn’t use. This head is the unhelmeted head from the primaris techmarine. I used the helmet option when I put him together, leaving this one free in the bits box. I’m not going to say you need to have half a cyborg skull to be a chaplain in my army, but half of my chaplains do. And most of the rest are wearing their helmets, so might underneath.

Ok, going to star some year end ramblings. Will probably come back and edit this post to add more later.

I wrote:Here are my New Year’s resolutions:
1 Paint 13 members for the primaris battle company 6/13 (stretch goal: finish it)
2 Paint at least 24 Tyranids, and strive to keep them PoS neutral. (stretch goal: clear the decks of all old nids) (35/24)
3 Paint more than I buy. (66/91)
4 Paint at least 3 units that have been in the primed pile/Pile of Shame for 3+ years (2/3)
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).
6 Paint at least two units for 4 different factions. In addition paint at least one model not for an active army.
7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year.
8 Finish magnetizing the bases and boxes for my Tryanids, at least to fill the boxes I have (stretch goal: add more boxes and cover all the bugs)

1 - Nope. Pretty bad fail here. 6 finished out of 13 I wanted. Even if I count the 3 agressors WiP on the bench, still a hard fail
2 - Win. Mostly. With the leviathan box and other extras that came into the house, I did not stay pile of shame neutral. But I did hit my target volume for painting. And I think as far as old stuff, there is only like 7? Old minis in the primed pile. So while not quite the “clearing the decks” of my stretch goal, did well here.
3 - hahahahah No.
4 - Partial? 2/3 solidly done. Actually, this might be fully done. I know the stormhawk, which was supposed to be the 3rd, is still in progress. The jetseer and the destroyers were the other two. But that HB scout might have been older then the 3 year mark I set in the goal. Will need to research.
5 - win-ish. Lower volume then prior years, and a little patchy in spots. I should be able to do better, but still crossed my (low) bar.
6 - Calling this a win. I might not have technically made it, but close enough. 2+ units from 3 factions, and the a pair of mismatched cultists and some vampires. I’m also starting to think of anything 30k as a separate faction these days, as the overlap between that and 40k is getting slimmer and slimmer.
7 - still going strong. Solid win.
8 - victory. I think there might be one or two of the old (non-flying) nids that haven’t been magnetized, but this is basically done. Even did the YTD shelf before I left on vacation. Will need more boxes, we’ll see how things look when I try to integrate the new stuff down. Probably order the same collection I did again, 1 tall, 3 short. But might need more big boxes.

5/1/2 overall for the year. And some of those were sketchy. Still, not horrible.

Minis Painted: 66

Ultramarines: 20 models, 591 points

Tyranids: 35 models, 1,240 points

Eldar; 6 models, 145 points

Death: 3 models, 90 points

Other 2 models


Ok people are up and about, time to stop for now. Have a happy holiday everybody.

—Nev

Edit:
First post for the year before the reset for 2024

Ok, so some looking forward.

I need to figure out my new year goals. Probably going to be a lot of copy/paste from last year. Might tweak the numbers/wording.

The primaris 3rd company is still a goal, and still probably 2 years out. Crazy as it sounds, I might not be finishing it until 11th edition. So do I wait until we get some leaks for that before buying more guys just to fill out the company? Right now I think I want to focus on painting what I have on hand, maybe grab a box of the jump troops, as I know I’m going to want to add a squad of them to the co.

I’m going to see if I can resist buying more nids. Still might get some zoenthropes, tyrant guard, or a lictor or two. The original goal of keeping them PoS neutral is kinda shot, but I shouldn’t revel in it. On the bright side, they paint quick.

There is not a lot of stuff on my to-buy list. A lot of what I’m going to be painting in 2024 is already in the primed pile. If I can grab a copy of the KT box, I will. I like the scouts, and the scorpions are cool and adding infiltrators to my eldar list is a good way to excuse some mud on boots so I don’t need more transports. Do I need 10 of each? No. But I could have them on the shelf, and they way they price boxes, it might not be that much more expensive then getting a single box of each. There are still a few things from the last eldar release I’d like, but need to paint more of what I have waiting first.

I suspect next year is going to look a lot like this one. Probably over half the volume will be bugs. Less big ones, more gribbles. Hopefully 8 more 3rd co guys, If I grab a box of JP will be 13. Less 10th, more 1st company to fill out the rest of the marine portion. I’d like to focus to get the marine and nid combat patrols done. Assorted other stuff to keep a diverse assortment of things getting paint. And whatever the 3 oldest things in the primed pile are, which I’ll have to dig into.

And that’s enough rambling for this Christmas morning. Happy holidays everyone! Hope you all made the “nice” list this year.

Great YTD Nevelon.

Must make the pledge of two models painted for each one new figure.

Cheers,

CB

 Captain Brown wrote:
Great YTD Nevelon.

Must make the pledge of two models painted for each one new figure.

Cheers,

CB

The big question is how much GW is going to drop on me that I covet. I’m holding of on more 30k stuff. Need to paint what I have, and the divergence from 40k compatibility sucked a lot of the wind out of my sails. I’m not getting into the new Epic. Looking at the free tiny rhino, I’m not enthusiastic about working with plastic on that scale.
The Old World is a maybe. I’ve got some TK from back when they were part of the unified Undead book, but my unbeating heart leaned towards VC. Who look to only be getting phoned in support. That said, I also have a chunk of chaos warriors. Also, a solid core of a 5th brettonian army that a friend passed onto me before moving away. And my own scraps of that starter, some of which have tatters of paint or were subject to conversion attempts. If I do get into it, that will do bad things to the PoS. Assuming I buy the bret starter. I really hate just buying straight rulebooks. They go obsolete so fast, and cost so much. Especially considering how often I get to the table.

There are rumors that KT might get a summer release could be a potential purchase.
Decent bundle boxes are always tempting.

Right now I’d like to get the scorpion/scout box, but won’t be broken up if I miss out. I’d probably be fine with a 5 man squad of each, but a double helping would be OK with me. They are also minis I would be just fine waiting to show up in a bundle.

A lot of stuff is like that. A lot of stuff that I’d like, but not anticipating and lusting after. The odds of me buying nothing are low, but assuming I pass on TOW, may only be 20-30 new minis bought this year. In which case, painting twice what I buy might happen.

Nice work on the chappy, Nev.

Edited these into the year end summery, but for those following along at home 2023:

Minis Painted: 66

Ultramarines: 20 models, 591 points

Tyranids: 35 models, 1,240 points

Eldar; 6 models, 145 points

Death: 3 models, 90 points

Other 2 models


Not horrible? Lower volume then I’d like to see, but a good mix of stuff. Mix of new and old stuff.

--

Moving forward, this is what’s on deck:


The Boy gave me another primaris grav tank. I’ll mag it up like the one still waiting for paint so I have a pair that can swap between tanks and transports. Also in the build queue are the hormagaunts, TDA squad, and the bike chap. Still some undead in the weeds and some assorted odds and ends might show up.

There are a TON of little gribbly nids in the pipe, with a few medium ones to break up the swarm. I need to get back in the habit of just running these guys across the bench as side projects as I work on other things.

Chunk of Eldar need work. I should try to do more then just 2 squads this year.

Cursed City and my undead need more attention.

30k is kinda stalled, but a lot of plastic there. Need to push some out.

Some new marines, some old. Need to get the company rolling again. The fail on this year’s goal hurt the project a lot.

So some new goals:

Here are my New Year’s resolutions:
1 Paint 8 members for the primaris battle company
2 Paint at least 24 Tyranids, and strive to keep them PoS neutral.
3 Paint more than I buy.
4 Paint at least 3 units that have been in the primed pile/Pile of Shame for 3+ years
5 Update my blog at least once a week, and maintain a consistent pace of work (1 mini a week).
6 Paint at least two units for 4 different factions.
7 Enter and finish an entry every month for the painting challenge. If the monthly challenge stops, enter at least one comp in the year.
8 Paint models to be able to field the SM/Nid combat patrols.

Some slight tweaks over last year.
Lowered the company goal. I’m going to focus on other aspects, but don’t want to abandon this. 8 is the 3 WIP I’ve got on the bench and a 5 man squad.
24 is 2 a month. I know I can do better, so this should be a gimmie. Going to focus on not buying anything new to get the PoS aspect back in line.
Paint more than I buy is a classic, and a good goal to keep in mind.
Need to review the pile for the oldest stuff.
updating the blog and the 1-a-week is also kind of a given, but I like to keep it on the chart.
I’m formally going to consider 30k Ultras a separate faction from the 40k side. So this will probably end up being Eldar/nids/2xflavors of Ultras. I’ll try to splash an extra little thing in there, we’ll see.
The SM patrol needs 6 models (TDA squad, Lib) and the Nid needs 8 (barbs, VR leapers) Stretch goal would be to get 20 modern gaunts on the new sized bases done

OK, enough rambling, I should get some productive stuff done. Happy New year everyone!



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Nice work on the chappy, Nev.

Thanks!

That reminds me, I forgot to try to pick out my favorite models for the year.

Chaplain probably tops the list. Swarmlord in second? And probably the rangers bringing up 3rd. I should have made the call when they were still on the table for the year end shot.

You did pretty good for the year, I think. Maybe not as much variety as you would have liked, but you did good on the stuff you did work on. I look forward to seeing what you paint in 2024 as always!

Nice wrap-up, Nev. A solid body of work. Swarmy and SK are really standouts, as is the new Chaplain.

youwashock wrote:Nice wrap-up, Nev. A solid body of work. Swarmy and SK are really standouts, as is the new Chaplain.

The SK has a few places where his ETB nature bug me. Both on the build and the paint there are places I know I could do better, so while I like him, he’s not my favorite for the year.

ZergSmasher wrote:You did pretty good for the year, I think. Maybe not as much variety as you would have liked, but you did good on the stuff you did work on. I look forward to seeing what you paint in 2024 as always!

Thanks.

Looking forward to things on the known to-paint list:

Finish painting:
3x agressors (will count for 3rd co goal)
Gravis Captain (even if I give him red trim, he doesn’t count for the company goal, as I already have a captain on the shelf)
Stormhawk (old mini)
Lizardman (random)

Eldar Warwalker (old, faction)
Old TDA Librarian (old, could be for CP)
New TDA Lib (CP)
5x terminators (CP)
5x Barbgaunts (CP)
3x VR Leapers (CP)
Combi weapon phobos LT (Jan challenge)

Those are “fixed’ and make for a count of 23 minis. Once I finish them I’ll need:
5 more 3rd company marines (probably the 5 intercessors I built to be a KT)
16 more tyranids
1 more eldar unit (probably one of Eldar Shining spears, shroudrunners, dire avengers)
2 units from another faction. (either Death, 30k, or something crazy left field)

Assuming i pick one of the 3 man bike squads for the Eldar, and go with a character + 5 man squad for the 4th faction, that brings my proposed total minis up to 53. Which is my yearly goal. And while last year was light at 66, the prior two were just shy of 100. To hit those numbers, probably a lot of gribbles are going to need to cross the bench, but I’ve got a bucket of those on deck. And there is the question on how to fit them into challenges.

A great year of painting Nevelon!

 Tommygun1918 wrote:
A great year of painting Nevelon!

Thanks.

I should start some progress for this year. Slow going, as I’m a bit under the weather right now. Got the month’s goal over to the bench, but will need to make room on the handles for them.

Hope he's hiding a few more battle brothers in those pouches...

Get well soon, Nev.

 youwashock wrote:
Hope he's hiding a few more battle brothers in those pouches...

Get well soon, Nev.

He does have a ton of pouches. Could be more though; I can still see his feet. Points wise, the leapers only have a 5 point edge on him. But he’s got a lot of points in army buffs and special rules, where the VR’s are basically murder machines. Still a lot more of fair fight then some of my vs. diorama/pairings.

Put the base grey seer on everyone this morning.

Started clipping terminators. Going to mag the sarg’s CC weapon and I think I should also be able to get all the heavies. Although the AsC and HF might have to put up with the CML targeter on the powerfirst. I don’t see a whole lot of reason to equip chainfists these days, but will probably build two anyway. One for this squad, one to swap out for the ETB guys from the Lev box. This is mostly institutional inertia from prior editions. Strength 8 powerfists vs. rear armor values was fine vs most vehicles, but sometimes you needed armorbane. Having one guy in squad able to step up and just carve open anything was worth the 5 point investment. in 10th, -1 to hit for anti-vehicle 3+ is a significant drawback for situational bonus.

Going to also see if I can get a spare fist out of the box to mag for the ETB sarge from the Lev box. While the sword on the sarge is iconic, +1A is not worth loosing 3S and a point of Damage.

Due to the way the box is set up I’m building all the bodies first, then will go back and do the arms and position the heads. All the SB arms are interchangeable (as are most of the CC ones) so I want to get the poses/direction right on everyone.

Assuming I survive the day. It’s been snowing all morning, and is supposed to keep at it for another couple hours. Probably around a foot of white stuff to clear once it’s all done. I’ve got a snowblower, but am not as young as I used to be. Lots of painkillers in my future...

Stay warm everyone.

Quick update to prove I’m still alive. Got another layer on the LT, and did a little bit on the gravis captain.

Built the sarge and the heavy terminators, at least their bodies. Mag’d the AsC/HF/CML. Will still need to do up a SB.

Not a lot of hobby progress.

I did order parts for a new computer build and put that together last Friday. And now I have an ilithid parasite in my head which makes it real hard to concentrate on painting…

So got the dappled purple down. Will do more touchups later, but that’s the base for it. Next is cleanup and then the skintone.

Lt is getting layers.

Captain is slowly getting there as well.



Bodies are done. Next up is the arms. Will need 5x SBs, one with a magnet, and at least 4 fists, mostly power, one chain. Would be good to see if I can get 6 fists out of the kit, so the ETB sarge can get an update.

Ordered the KT box online for the scouts and scorps. Hard to pass that up at a discount. Not that the pile of shame needs any help...

Enjoy the weekend and stay warm all.

Woot, Terminators inbound. That guy on the far left isn't taking any chances. I am looking forward to seeing these updated dudes finished.

 youwashock wrote:
Woot, Terminators inbound. That guy on the far left isn't taking any chances. I am looking forward to seeing these updated dudes finished.

I’ve actually hit a major stumbling block on the terminators. Shoulder pads. I was always under the impression that they shared pads with gravis armor, but I think these new guys changed that up. None of the terminator/gravis pads I have fit on these guys. It might be the little nubs all over their shoulders. Going to try to trim some of those off and see what happens. Because without spare pads, I’ll not be able to magnetize all the options.

Put the flesh wash on the VRLs, continued progress of the Lt and captain.

Next month is going to be “out with the old, in with the new” so expect to see a pair of TDA librarians.

Reds down



Need eyes and teeth, but a lot of cleanup. Lt plugging along. Lot to do, not a lot of month left.

With the compound eyes, I don’t think I’m going to do the pupils. No way I can get them straight. They have had the corrections blocked off, need to go over them with the flesh wash and then final steps.

Lt is still plugging away.

Getting closer

Coming along good so far, Nev. Month's almost over, but I believe in you. You got this!