Host of the Destroyer Hive

It was a great summer.  GW released the Eye of Terror codex and openned the tracker online and the league in-stores.  So much 40k destruction was wrought upon that Jersey mall.  I had the battle of filling some very distinctive hobby shoes- the three former managers were Studio Painters, or in the Promotions Department!  They were real good.  I slapped some paint on this monster for use in our mega-battles and did him in about three hours.  It went well enough, but I certainly wasn't replacing of my predecessors. 

With that being said, this model has stood the test of time.  Although smaller than the newer, plastic Terminator models, Typhus is still awesome enough to stand out and be suitably intimidating.

Notice the blood on the blade?  The Manreaper is ever-hungry...

Master of the Deathwing

It was just a couple weeks before Easter and the Emperor sent me to advanced training known as Immersion Course.  It was a major kick-in-the-teeth to get shop managers into the fast-paced skill of major events planning.  Build a few Battle-Bunker-worthy tables, run activities in the shop every day, promote and run a major month-ending event weekend, and, oh yeah, paint an entirely new army!!!

I chose Deathwing, because I are smart.  I had a sweet Dark Angels army which was going to be given away as a raffle-prize soon thereafter.  Plus, who can really pass up an all-Terminator army?  Not this guy, I can tell you that much.

Because I had so little time and I was separated from my ridiculous amount of bitz for a month, I broke down and just bought the stock Terminator Captain.  This model was great for the years after it was released, but the new plastic Terminators are bigger and better-looking.  But even with the ravages of time, I thought this model made a fine stand-in for Captain Belial.

The coolest part of painting this model was doing the checks on the shoulder pads.  This model's heraldry even brought a gushing compliment from a cool customer that came in for our big weekend.  I was very proud.  Unfortunately, this version of Master Belial is retired from the army, having now been replaced with a sweet conversion.  This one is honored as the one that got me to Easter...

Eureka!

I've been trying to figure out a 1,000 point Chaos Space Marine army for two weeks now.  You see, once I'm happy with the army list I begin the painting and knock it out of the way.  Here's my considerations:

1.  This is, by far, the most important- the army has to fit the theme.  Since I'm using Word Bearers, I should focus on undivided troops, possessed, sorcerers, and daemons.  I should also use cultists, but rules for them don't exist yet, so yeah...
2.  The army must have my concept of army-building at this level.  You can see what my suggestions are here:  http://www.jaysworkshop-agemmanjw.blogspot.com/2012/03/death-by-thousand-points.html
This one is hard to do just because Chaos has five troop choices, of which four are marked.  Looks like I'm gonna have to cheat a little and just make the squads different.
3.  And this one is the coolest- use units that epitomize that army's uniqueness.  This means using things that other armies don't get.  Chaos Terminators are cool, but Imperials can take 'em too.  Possessed, on the other hand...

Here's my original list:

HQ- Lord in Terminator armor, daemonweapon
Elite- 4 Terminators, 2 pwr fists, 2 combi-weapons, reaper autocannon
Troop-  8 Space Marines, Aspiring Champion, pwr fist, plasma pistol, plasma gun; Rhino w/ extra armor and havoc launcher
Troop-  10 Space Marines, Aspiring Champion, pwr wpn, plasma pistol, 2 flamers; Rhino w/ extra armor and havoc launcher
Heavy Support-  Defiler

Total:  995 points

The problem here is that this army has an incomplete squad and looks too much like a normal Space Marine list.  I have the issue of using only Undivided warriors, but I'm not unique enough.  My Terminator Lord is a copy of what Imperial Space Marines have.  What if I take a Sorcerer?  Oh wait, the good guys have Librarians.  Do they have Daemon Princes?  Hmmmm....

Plus, if I'm not taking Terminators then I don't need the icons.  That gives me points to take some Possessed.  If I don't take the Rhinos, then I have points to take my Daemonic Raptors.  Oh yes...

Here's my new list:

HQ-  Daemon Prince with wings

Elite-  5 Possessed

Troop-  10 Marines, Aspiring Champ, pwr fist, plasma pistol, plasma gun

Troop-  10 Marines, Aspiring Champ, pwr wpn, plasma pistol, 2 flamers

Fast Attack-  6 Raptors, Aspiring Champ, pwr wpn, metagun, flamer

Heavy Support-  Defiler

Total:  1000 points

With this force, I am very obviously portraying the possession-loving aspect of the Word Bearers while sticking to the concept of regular Marines.  The Defiler is a possessed war machine, the troops are set up for crawling assaults, and there's a halo of evil floating around it.  Doood...

And there ya have it- a peek into how my weird brain works when it comes to making army lists and trying desperately to plan something I'll finish.  I know it isn't much, but I figured my madness can be somewhat entertaining...  :-)

Let me know what y'all think, and as always, happy hobbying!



Humble beginnings...

As you all know, I've been into this hobby for more than a couple of decades now.  In that time, I've played in thousands of battle, painted thousands of miniatures, and introduced thousands of faces to these toys of ours. 

I've learned a huge amount of skills and talents, especially in the ream of painting.  My models have gone on to win many paint contests and best army awards.  That being said, everyone has to start somewhere, and I humbly present a couple of my early works.

'Neets Imperialis'
This is a model from around '93 or so when I felt that painting these models wouldn't be as difficult to paint as model cars and airplanes.  Needless to say, I was wrong.  Also take notice of the crazy amount of decals.  Make no mistake, I was a modeller that liked decals, and yeah...  Did I mention that I meant the name to represent 'Knights of the Imperium' in Gothic?  My Latin needed work.

'Mad Rick'
My first true delving into the GW universe was the Necromunda box game.  I chose Orlock and my buddy chose Goliath as our gangs and we immediately jumped into painting.  By now I've been painting these toy soldiers badly for a couple of years, but at least I was beginning to show progress.  Also, Mad Rick was responsible for a ridiculous amount of kills in my old campaigns.  Go Mad Rick!

And there ya have it!  The first posts in my gallery shall be a showing of my starting points.  Please also remember that I have terrible camera-skills, so these images are not true-to-life somehow.  One day I hope to master it...

As always, Happy Hobbying!