Welcome To The Fold

After a long stretch of working my ass off, I was able to visit 31st Century Games and acquire a few new ladies for my army. I picked up a Sister with a Meltagun, a Seraphim with Twin Hand Flamers, another Cannoness, a St. Celestine, and a vanilla Rhino. I guess I really should get back to painting.

I really like the way my attempt at metal armor went so I am going to do another test model. This time the plan is Boltgun, followed by a generous highlight of Chainmail, a wash or three of watered down Devlan Mud, a tight highlight of Chainmail, and, if I feel chippy, a super light highlight of Mithril Silver. The fabric will be Deneb Stone washed with Gryphonne Sepia to get an aged muslin look. It's all sadly theoretical until I make time...

The Flow of Time

So, two things:

I built a tank! Not just any tank, either. My very first Games Workshop tank. I built an Immolator chassis with a Whirlwind turret to use as an Exorcist. It went together well and I am quite pleased with the results. I have three more unassembled Immolators and an extra set of Immolator bits. As well, some fine folks set me up with some cheap as free bitz! I'm getting one more set of modern Immolator bitz, a set of old metal bitz, an assembled old school Immolator, and an old metal Whirlwind turret. Great! If I pick up three or so Rhinos, I will be set for tanks. All I really need now are more Sisters with Special Weapons and I am good to go.

Secondly, I have orientation at my new job tomorrow night! Yeah! It's only a temp job, but work is work and it could lead to a real, full time gig. Plus, it gives me an excuse to wear a tie.


Third on my increasingly misnomered list is that I am going to try a different color scheme on some Sisters. The bone is okay, but I am going to try Boltgun-Chainmail-Devlan Mud-Chainmail armor with Graveyard Brown-Devlan Mud-Graveyard Brown for the fabric. It's worth a shot, I guess.

Exorcist

As I have stated before, I have a Whirlwind sprue and spare Immolator parts to convert an Exorcist from. This week, I have given some thoughts to a different conversion. I was eying the Empire Helstorm Rocket Launcher. It is a cannon mounting with nine rockets on it. After a quick sanding of all the Fantasy icons on the rockets, I could mount the rack inside an open backed Rhino, like a Basilisk. This would be pretty cool looking, I suspect, and better reflect the theme of the Exorcist than a tech looking rocket launcher. As a bonus, I would have the Helblaster bitz left over to do as I please with. Maybe a Hydra conversion, if I ever do some Imperial Guard?

Plans

So, this weekend I will have no painting time, which is a bummer. The upshot is that I get to spend some time with my little sister and visit 31st Century, to pick up my order (2 Sisters with Meltaguns and 1 Seraphim with Hand Flamers) as well as a White Dwarf and some paint.

Monday, Post-Mortem

So, I got my Shatter review done early, got the lawn mowed, and got some of Heather's Wood Elves assembled. Tuesday morning, I will prime up the Woodies and paint some of my Sisters. I ordered a few more of the Sisters of Battle minis I need from 31st Century. I ordered a pair of Meltagun Sisters and a Twin Hand Flamer Seraphim. The Seraphim was on a whim, but I'll need her second set of Hand Flamers if I am going to use the Seraphim. That leaves my current shopping list looking something like this, in descending order of importance.

1x Rhino, since I have the spare Immolator and Whirlwind bitz to make an Exorcist

1x Exorcist. I do not know if I am going to get a Forgeworld or a Games Workshop one. The Forgeworld one will blend in with my Whirlwind/Immolator kitbashes one better, but the Organ one from GW looks pretty keen. I might just kit bash a second Whirlwind/Immolator, but that could be more expensive than a proper one.

2x Heavy Bolter Sisters. For my eventual Retributors squad.

3x Storm Bolters. I have the disturbing idea of a 4 Storm Bolter Dominion squad with a Storm Bolter equipped Sister Superior. Not the strongest unit in the world, but pretty killy, on paper. Might go with 3 Storm Bolters, 1 Meltagun, and a Sister Superior with a Storm Bolter.

These three are all of about equal importance and are more ideas for the future than planned units.

6-10x Adeptus Arbites with Shotguns. Not the strongest unit. Not the cheapest unit. There is just something about a squad of shiny black Adeptus Arbites hopping out of a shiny black Rhino and laying down some serious shotgun fire. I might even have to spring for a Uriah Jacobus to ride with them, if I ever get them to begin with.

30x Sisters of Battle. I would like to be able to, on occasion, field an all foot based horde of Sisters. 100+ nuns with machine guns would be sight to see.

1-2x Mordian Iron Guard Squads. I love the classic Perry Brothers Imperial Guardsmen, but the Mordians are my favorite. A foot platoon would be okay, but two Armoured Fist Squads with Sentinels and a Leman Russ to back them up would let me expand my army without painting too many more Sisters, open up the way to Apocalypse scale games and Super-Heavy tanks, and would give me a foothold on a second army, if I so desired to start one.

Under the Milky Way

Today is Monday, which means I am compelled to paint. I have two Sisters begging to be finished. I will be priming some Wood Elves for my wife and assembling a couple more. I might have time to clean and prime some stuff for my army, as well.

As an aside, does anyone have any suggestions about resin bases? A dozen or so of my Sisters have broken or clipped tabs and I figure they might as well get resin bases. My other minis are getting Tamiya Black Lava painted on to their bases, unless I thing of something more novel.

Did I mention I have 1000-1500 words on Shatter for the PS3 due tonight, too? And I have to mow, so I better get down on it.

Menofearthereaper

Tuesday night was quite productive, with Heather, my wife, and I getting some painting done. I did final touch up on the six Battle Sisters I had started already, leaving only the bases to be done now. Heather has only one Glade Riders horse to finish before she can move on to riders or Dryads.

Funny aside about Dryads and Tree Spirits. I initially suggested she make an all-Tree Spirit army, with Drycha as the general. I love the Dryad models and think they are the bee's knees. They are elegant and elongated and pointy in a way that only plastic allows. I wish there were more models that were so lanky. That might just be me being jealous of anything taller than a Dwarf, though. Anyway, I even went so far as to suggest she sculpt her own Treekin and Tree Man, since the GW metals are not so elegant. She wants to make them based on the work of Pumpkinrot http://www.pumpkinrot.com/. She still won't go all Tree Spirit, though.

Pics, Attempt Number 2

My wife took these.

Also, some of her Wood Elf horses, or ponies, as she calls them.

Search and Destroy

Here is a list of what I have, since I should be working on an army list, I guess. I am willing to spend a little more, but no crazy 8 Immolator lists for me, sir. Any suggestions?

Four Immolators/rhinos
One Whirlwind sprue
Two Penitent Engines
10 Seraphim (7 pistols, 2 flamer pistols, 1 VSS w/ Eviscerator) mounted on resin bases
2 Sisters w/ Melta
2 Imagifiers
1 Sister Superior w/ Combi-Melta
3 Sisters Superior w/ Bolter and Icon (I forgot what they are really called, but if you play Sisters, you know the model I mean)
1 Sister Superior w/ Chainsword and Plasma Pistol
1 Canoness w/ Book and Chainsword
1 old Canoness w/ Icon and Combi-Flamer
3 Sisters w/ Hvy flamer
2 Sisters w/ Hvy Bolter
1 Sister w/ Multi Melta
1 Sister w/ broken Multi Melta
3 Sisters w/ Storm Bolter
3 Sisters w/ Flamer
45 Sisters w/ Bolters

I'm planning, in the very least, to pick up a Priest, so I can field the Penitent Engines some day, even if they do not make the every day list. Same goes for at least 1 more Rhino, since I can use the bitz I have to make it an Exorcist. One purchase not on the itinerary is a Repressor. The model is nice and all, but I am looking for a fairly standard list with no wobbliness, rules wise. Also, I am not exactly an ace convertor, so I likely won't be giving all my Sister Superiors the book of St. Lucius, unless it is really ace and I am told of a super easy fix. So, give me your suggested lists, be it horde, mech, or some combination. Winning list gets, um, a Canoness named after them.

Pics...

Well, with half a squad painted, I figure I might as well post some pics of my early attempts at painting Sisters of Battle. I will have time Monday, so let's make it a date. Monday will see the first blurry pics of my mediocre miniatures.

Agogo

Well, I got some painting time in, like planned. I painted an unprecedented four sisters in one sitting. Mostly. The two bare headed ladies are awaiting me figuring out how to paint flesh and all of them need some touch up work. So far, so good.

Laziness

I have had a busy week, with a couple trips out of town and a Royals doubleheader. Tonight, I should have a little painting time. The Sisters compel me.

Ultra

After a busy work week, I have some primed Sisters waiting for me to paint them, so tonight will be a painting night. Now that I have the old Canoness model, the one with a Combi-Flamer, and some older Sister Superiors, all I need is the old Standard Bearer, 2 Melta guns, a Seraphim with Hand Flamers, Sister Celestine, and I'll be pretty close to complete. After that, I am at a crossroads. Do I add more squads of Sisters? Do I add some Retributers or Immolators? Do I add Witch Hunters or Imperial Guard? I will, hopefully, get some gaming time in before I make that decision.

A Forest

I have started painting some of my Cadians, just for kicks. I did it primarily to test the Deneb Stone and Devlan Mud paints we picked up at 31st Century Games, in Olathe, KS. I also picked up a three pack of Sisters, since they did not have the minis I am really looking for: Sister Superiors, Heavy Flamers, Heavy Bolters, Flamers, Meltaguns, or Seraphim with Hand Flamers. I would have even picked up some Imagifers. I am very happy that I have most of what I need for an army, because the capital to start a Sisters army is quite high. Speaking of high...
I bought the last two White Dwarf issues I will purchase until there is an issue with Dwarf or Sisters or Wood Elf content. The magazine is nice, and I have over 100 of them, but without any content I can really use, $9 is way too high for me. Even the subscription price is too high. No lie, I get 50+ issues of Entertainment Weekly and 26 issues of Rolling Stone for $10 a year or less. My Rolling Stone sub was a year for me and a year for Ryan for $15. $90 is two more squads of Sisters or some tanks or a renovation of my paint collection or some more Cadians to use as Allies. I will miss you White Dwarf, but the lack of tangible game rules or applicable hobby tips makes you a luxury I cannot abide.

Proof of Concept

Two of the three initial Sisters turned out pleasingly well. The paint scheme will be easy to do in an assembly line fashion and it is quite fetching. Pictures will follow.

In the Beginning

Yesterday, I started basecoating the three Sisters I primed. I can already see that I need to work harder at getting my paint properly thinned and on my patience. Focus.

This Is The First Day Of My Last Days

Today is Sunday. This is the day of the week I both dread and enjoy the most. On one hand, I must go to work a full 2 hours earlier than my other early day, three hours earlier than my standard shift. The upside is that I get to ride my Triumph to work. So, no free time on one hand, motorcycle time on the other. At least there is a chance that I will get out around midnight, so bully for me.

Today is also the last day that I will let pass without lifting a paint brush. I have dedicated myself to painting every day, even if I only have 20 minutes to spare. I guess I can live without Mafia Wars for a day, right? My plan is to paint my Sisters of Battle at a steady pace. I have a philosophy about painting that basically states this: Miniatures are too expensive to paint sloppily, hastily, and badly.

I feel it is my responsibility to paint my minis with care, precision, and effort. I am not a 'Eavy Metal level painter, but I can do good work if I am patient and focus. My plan of attack is to paint in batches of 3-10 Sisters, increasing the number per batch as I go. I am starting with the standard Sisters, then the Serephim, then the Celestians, then the characters, then the tanks. I have two Penitent Engines that will be painted last, so that I can paint them to a high standard. After all of that has been painted, and I do mean all, I will reward myself with a unit or two of Mordian Iron Guard. Mordians are my second favorite models, behind the Sisters, and are something I have always wanted to do. They are a little pricey, but I think I can justify a platoon to use as an adjunct ally, if I paint all of my Sisters first.

My Sisters of Battle paint scheme is adapted from an old issue of White Dwarf. I will be painting the armour bone and the cloth red. The bone colour will be achieved by working from a Codex Gray undercoat to 2:1 Codex and Bleached Bone, 1:1 Codex and Bone, 1:2 Codex and Bone, and a final highlight of Bleached Bone. The red will be a much simpler transition from Scorched Brown to 1:2 Scorched Brown and Blood Red, to a pure Blood Red highlight. I am going to use a variety of hair and skin tones because I want to try painting as many skin and hair tones as possible and I hate the clone look that many people use. Personal preference, but a strong one at that.

So, until tomorrow, keep your head up and your brushes down.

Step One of a Journey

I primed three Sisters with helmets white today. Tomorrow I will have no painting time, so Monday is the start of the process.

Why Sisters of Battle, Part 2

Theme
One of the strongest reasons I can think of for wanting a Sisters of Battle army is the theme. These are unaltered humans defending mankind from threats, inside and out. They are resolute, sure, and faithful. Plus, they carry flamethrowers. Space nuns with flamethrowers!

Why the Sisters of Battle?

The Sisters of Battle are one of Games Workshop's worst selling army, a force of human women fighting genetically altered humans, Orks, Tau, Necrons, Chaos, and Tyranids. For such an unforgiving, and frankly butch, universe, it might seem strange for a straight, married 30-something dude to want to have an all-female army. Because of this seeming disconnect, I am going to explore the appeal of the Sisters, as I see it.

The Models
It might seem obvious, but the models are simply some of the best that GW has ever made. They are simple, elegant, and, best of all, metal. Metal minis are an increasingly rare treat. The weight, the heft in my hand, makes me savor each metal mini I own. The feel of unfinished metal minis is unattainable with plastics. I wish there was a better way to express this, but I cannot find it. The best way to see what I mean is to hold a metal mini in your hand and then a plastic. Plastic has it's place, in the making of tanks and Space Marines and the such, but a metal mini feels special and has a magic to it that no amount of bitz on a sprue can equal for me.
Aside from being metal, it's the design of the thing. From the nun-cum-armour suits they wear, to the tasteful use of fleur-de-lis, the Sisters are well designed. The tanks are also cool, using gothic imagery to be less wargame-lite than the Imperial Guard.