Vandals and Vagrants

After a long layoff, I finally painted a new Sister. It went swimmingly and I am very pleased with the new direction I am headed in. More soon.

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 Motor Pool

So, I got an interesting package in the mail today. A guy sent me the old Immolator, a set of new Immolator bitz, and a set of old Whirlwind bitz, all in pristine shape. Greatness! I plan on assembling the old style Immolator as such and using the other bitz to make an Exorcist and an Immolator out of two standard Rhinos. Currently, I have three complete Immolators, still in the box, and the bitz to convert two more from Rhinos. A fellow in England sent me more of the metal Immolator bitz, so my motor pool looks like this:

1 Exorcist, completed
1 Exorcist, bitz need Rhino chassis
3 "New" Immolators, complete and unassembled
1 "Old" Immolator, complete and unassembled
3 "New" Immolators, bitz need Rhino chassis
1 "Old" Immolator, bitz need Rhino chassis

If I spring for some bitz store Rhinos, the kind without the accessory sprue, I can get them for $15. I need 5, so that is $75 or so. When I pick those up, I will have 2 Exorcists and 8 Immolators. Awesome!

Now, obviously, that is a lot of Immolators. What I will more likely do is go more along the lines of 2 Exorcists, 4 Immolators, and 4 Rhinos. All I really need now are some Sisters...

Want List:
8 Storm Bolter Sisters
4 Meltagun Sisters
1 Seraphim with Hand Flamers

Well, off to the grocery store.

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.

Back in the Fold

During my unexpected bout of unemployment, still ongoing, I drifted away from Warhammer 40k. Between going to the unemployment office, filling out applications, and going to interviews, I have not been in the mood for miniatures. Instead, I have spent the majority of my free time playing video games and writing about them for www.diehardgamefan.com.

Miniatures gaming is something I have always done as a form of meditation. Put on some soft music and paint with my wife. When I am agitated or in poor spirits, it is hard for me to paint. Maybe it is because I am not a naturally gifted painter, but it takes a lot of concentration for me to achieve the dizzying heights of mediocrity with my painting, let alone something I would like to share with others.

This week, however, I find myself drawn back to my Sisters of Battle. While I will likely not return to my Dwarfs until after 8th Edition launches, my Sisters are untouched by rules changes. Plus, without a community of Sisters players to influence me, I can endeavor in the creation of a different sort of Sisters army. I see Storm Bolters in my future. Lots of Storm Bolters...

Unemployment Day 10

If the student loan goes through, I'm going back to school. Exciting, for sure.

Unemployment Day 7

So, after one week of being jobless, I have figured some things out. I am going to school. I would say back to school, but I dropped out of college a decade ago, so that hardly counts. There is an IT school with 4 month classes starting on Sept. 14. I'll be going to class until mid-January, slowly eating away at my savings, but the upside is that I will be certified to be a programmer, something I've done on my own since I was like 5. As a bonus, the fellow I talked to said that my background in video game reviewing for www.diehardgamefan.com gives me a leg up, especially if I want to take further steps towards being an instructor or technical writer. I know it is hard to tell from this blog, but I can actually write, when necessary. One more, slightly self-aggrandizing note, I scored in the 95th percentile on the numeric part of the test, a test that is designed for people who are already proficient in the field. That was a good feeling.