Monday, September 9, 2019

300 and a Primarch!!!

  This is my 300th published post!!!  I'm so excited as I never imagined that I would make it this far.  I do have to admit that I should have reached this point about three years ago, but I haven't been very disciplined.  But hey, this is a hobby blog about a hobby, so whatever!

  I do want to take this time to also send a huge THANK YOU to my 'loyal readers', or followers in blogosphere terms.  While this isn't a paid channel or even an 'influencer' job, it's still very awesome to have people show me in their blog rolls and have the patience to read my ramblings.  So again-
https://postmuseapp.com/say-thank-you-to-your-followers/
  Now that the gratitude part is out of the way (with more 'thank you's implied throughout, I promise), let's get to the plans I have and the actual point of this post:

  If you've been following this blog for any amount of time, you know that it's about my hobby and games with my family and a few friends.  It's not limited to Warhammer 40,000, but that certainly seems to be the dominant theme.  And that's because it's my second-longest game after Dungeons & Dragons.  Unfortunately, D&D isn't really a blog-worthy subject, so I fall back on the grimdark.  But there's only so much I can do with batreps on this site.  To support that point, my son and I have played a half-dozen games since the last batrep I posted and even more that the computer messed up before I could post.  It takes a long time and really hampers the enjoyment of PLAYING THE GAME when we have to stop every few minutes to take pictures and then write some notes.  Now I'm not saying that I've abandoned the batreps, but maybe there's a better way.

  We spend a good amount of time each week watching batreps online and this got me motivated to maybe explore that format myself.  Video batreps don't really interfere with the pace of the game and they give a great insight into the actual personality of those playing.  For example- my writing makes me sound so much smarter and cheerful than my voice actually is in real life.  I'm a trained writer (still waiting to finish something that can be published) and a skilled speaker (I've been a corporate trainer for over a decade), but I'm not nearly as upbeat as my posts might otherwise sound.  But there's an obstacle to doing video batreps that most people don't consider- I don't have a TV face!  I have a radio voice and the ability to express myself in an education and enthralling way, but I'm not pretty enough to show up on camera.  After all, I'm not trying to scare my audience away.

  But that isn't going to haoold me back.  My son and I have already played a game and recorded it on my phone and I've already built the video track for introduction and discussion.  I just have to splice all the videos together and build the actual batrep.  My plan is to load this up on the Youtube and eventually turn that into a venture.  But I'm still learning.  Plus, I don't have the professonal equipment or programs to do animations and layovers, meaning that my stuff will be amateurish at best.  Stay tuned for more progress on that as I learn and grow.

  Next comes my painting goal- "Operation Azul".  This is where I plan to get four fully-painted armies finished by the end of 2019 and culminating in my vaunted Ultramarines being painted.  So far this year, I've finished my Adeptus Custodes and a Bolt Action Soviet army for a buddy.  I'm supposed to be working on my Chaos Space Marines right now and then get back to my Ultramarines, but I've fallen quite a bit behind (hey, I'm halfway there!).  As I've mentioned before, I have other real life priorities and an excessive load of laziness to overcome.  But I'm still planning on completing this mission, even if it means having to rush a few brush strokes.  Again, stay tuned for that progress.

  On the note of promising to get models painted- my buddy bet me that I couldn't get my Primarch Roboute Guilliman painted.  That bet was made more than two years ago when I purchased the Gathering Storm III box and book.  I dragged and dragged and failed to get anything accomplished for quite some time, much to the chagrin of my buddy.  Funny enough, he had his own model and was beginning to be convinced that he would finish his before I finished mine.  In fact, we even made a bet that he would get his Primarch Leman Russ model released (40k version, not 30k) and painted before Bobby G.  Luckily, GW gave me a break and hasn't brought the Wolf Lord out [yet].  It still took me two years to get him done.

The point of this article, finally!
  Now I must disclose that I got this model finished just before midnight of Dec. 31st, 2018.  I said that I would finally finish it before this new year started and I did- with mere seconds to spare!  Below are some of the progress pics and then the finished product.  Note that the 'progress' pictures aren't at all edited, so forgive the offensive coloring and poor sizing...

Built and basecoated:



The hard part- gold and detailing:


Basically finished on the basics:


 Highlighting and basing:


The finished product:




 Close-up of the important details:


  And there we go!  I didn't get a chance to paint it to a 'display' standard, but it's still above a 'tabletop' standard and I'm really satisfied with it.  I also have to note that this model looks really good despite my lack of skills because the model is just absolutely amazing.  I remember when it first came out and I didn't like it.  The model was too boxy, the armor was too chaos-y, and the face was especially flat (by the way, I did paint the face and can replace the helmet anytime I'd like, but I like the helmeted head so much more that I just ignore the bare one).  But after painting it and staring at it for hours and hours, the model has grown on me.  Games Workshop really outdid themselves on this one.  So this model's awesome appearance is less ME and more GW.  Credit where credit is due...

  Well, that's it for this post!  Again, I want to thank everyone who reads my blog and puts up with the random rantings that often make it up.  Please advertise me to your friends and sign up as a Follower- I like to be noticed, even if I ain't pretty enough for pictures.  Stay tuned for more and, as always-

Happy Hobbying!

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