Guess who's back?

It's been almost two years, and that's just shameful. I suppose I should dust off this blog and post some hobby goodness, no? Let's skip the pleasantries and get right into it then:


1. The GorkaNaut
The new Gorkanaut kit from GW is simply fantastic. I definitely plan to get my hands on one and fix it up proper. By proper I mean, of course, using the kit as a starting point to create the best giant dread ever. I have plans to up-armor the body, remove the stupid 6(really? six?) troop capacity belly, and add that overall Big Mek Deezull/Bloo Flamez touch. To that end, it is also spurring me to revisit my old Stompa, to finish beefing up the arms and armor plates, etc.

2. Orks
40k Orks in general: the new releases are looking really slick. I never fancied Flash Gitz, but the new kits are brutal. I have no idea what this release schedule is about, so I'm just going to wait until I can read the codex before I buy any of the superfluous kits. (This doesn't include the Gorkanaut, that's happening regardless!) I doubt I'll ever play another game of 40k, but who knows.

3. House Cleaning
I need to ebay my errant stash of malifaux models. This note is more for me than the general public, and I'm not sure there is even a market now for Wyrd's old metal sculpts. I just need to clear up some space.

4. Project: Monolith
Project Monolith has progressed, and I will be updating on that front as soon as I get clear pictures. I had a great selection of WIP shots on my phone before I foolhardily tried to upgrade the OS, losing everything in the process. So less excuses, I need to take more pictures. New wooden paint shelves are finished, and the workspace has internal power outlets and LED lighting. Progress!

5. Dystopian Wars v2.0
Finally, Dystopian Wars. The release of the 2.0 rule book has seen the ships back on the table in a big way. I recently had a game pitting my Brits against a friends FSA, and the new ruleset is surprisingly clean. Games play faster, carriers are actually useful (coupled with changes to support aircraft) and a clear threat on the table, and a lot of the murky rule bloat has been thinned out. All in all, I'm loving the new ruleset. The book is great, if you ignore the terrible overuse of bold fonts throughout every page.


And now, pictures!

How many rockets? Oh the humanity!

Last night I set out to prime my Chinese Federation fleet, when I remembered exactly why they'd sat unpainted for so long: rockets. Many rockets. All little fiddly individual metal bits, maybe 3mm tall. All needing cleanup and some filing to fit onto the models.

All 38 of them.

Four bastions and a flying dread clocked in thirty-eight of the little buggers. So I settled in a rhythm and got them all cleaned up and glued in.

Finished product

With the rockets in place and various metal trim installed, I set about priming them. I decided to experiment with a new primer after reading about it online, and found it to be really amazing: Vallejo surface primer. It's a urethane based primer, pre-thinned for airbrush use and packaged in a flip-top bottle with a pour spout perfectly designed to fill an airbrush paint cup.

For the Chinese fleet I chose a nice sand color. It sprayed on easily, and a single thin coat was more than enough to establish the base color. I'm very pleased with the vallejo surface primer, and plan to try more colors in the very near future.

More progress on fleet painting, DW2.0 gaming, orky conversions, and Project: Monolith to come!