Some progress

Just finished up 5 Ironbreakers. This includes the entire command for the unit. I'm really happy with how quickly they came together. One day of painting chainmail all over and then another for all the other colors and details. Badab Black wash is fast becoming one of my favorite painting tools. Ever. I really love the sculpts for the IBs, so old school but still awesome, they hold their age much better than some of the other old sculpts. They were a lot of fun to paint and I just can't get over how cool they look. I don't think my wallet or my fiancee would appreciate doing an Undrin Ankor force? Ahwell.

Also started thinking about doing a Wood Elves army today. I know, elves! The idea of a force themed around a forest at the height of fall is so cool though. Lots of brown but with subtle reds, oranges and just a hint of yellows throughout. I don't know much about the elves so I will read up on them but my next purchase might just have to be a WE codex and battalion.

space wolves have arrived

got my codex and one pack today in the mail. hopefully building and painting should keep me busy for a bit. my goal is to not buy anything else for them until i'm finished painting one unit. we'll see how that goes

Longbeards done!!!!

Finished the 24th Longbeard for the unit! The thane that goes with them is still bare metal so he looks a little out of place but they are done! In the long term I'm looking at doing a magnetic movement tray for them but for now I am just happy to be done. Next up on the painting table: Ironbreakers! Then when they're done I think a couple of characters or a war machine!

Space Hulk and some rough 40k

Last night went out to the club and got a few games in. Played Mission 3 of Space Hulk as the terminators. It's such an awesome game, I don't know why they're making it limited edition, I think it would be a really great tool to get people into the hobby. Rambling... Anyhow, I won the game as the Space Marines. I don't remember all the gory details, but I do remember Brother Goriel holding a hallway against about 12 genestealers all by himself to put the final nail in the coffin. Very impressive. After that I got in a game with a rough mechanized SW list against the tyranids. My army wasn't exactly optimized for killing bugs and it showed. By turn 2 I had genestealers running rampant in my backfield and only one squad of GH and a Landspeeder left. I made a dumb mistake and forgot all about one of my GH squads and left them off the board b/c I think I forgot to take their Rhino out of my tank box. I don't know how much help 8 more GH would have been but you never know. I think if they had had a drop pod I could have held them reserve until the end of the game and at least contested my opponent's command post thingy. I think the next time I play them I'm going to put a ring of tanks around lots of GH and then a few packs of Blood Claws to mop up whatever gets through. Hopefully destroying the tanks will pile up the 'nids and make them vulnerable to flamers and the like. Ohwell, every game is a learning experience, especially the losses. I think a learned some new tricks for the next time we show down. The club's starting a Planetary Empires campaign that I'll be playing the wolves in. Should be interesting to see how that goes.

More Dwarves

Painted 3 more Longbeards today (with the exception of their washes). I also decided to change up their paint scheme a little bit. I had the shields in Dark Angels Green with DA green accents on their armor and then a few different colors of green for the tunics that they're wearing under their armor. I changed it to be DA green trim on the armor and Orchide shade foundation paint on their tunics and shields, which will also include mechrite red in some form or another. This particular unit has the red and green quartered but different units will have different patterns. I was initially worried that the red would be too bright as I'm going for a darker, earthier color pallete but I really like the way it came out, it makes the shield pop a little bit more which helps break up some of the monotony of the model as a whole.

The joys of rank and file

Got 5 Longbeards about 90% finished today. I don't have my washes with me so when I get them I'll be able to finish out the 5. That brings the unit up to 15 painted out of 25. This will be the first unit in the army that's fully painted, and shamefully, my first fully painted unit since I started playing. Gaming next weekend at Hell's Crucible if I don't have to work. I have a core army list that I am trying to get the right balance as far as runes go so I will keep tweaking that. I'm still learning the tactics and some of the trickier rules but I feel that every game I play I learn more and more and have more success the next time I play.

Saw some more Space Wolf rumors yesterday, as much as I am trying to avoid them I couldn't resist. I want to have a "pure" experience with them when I first get my hands on the codex so I'm trying not to spoil that by reading rumors.

I have 1 squad of "veteran" grey hunters (Sternguard models wolfed up) and a rune priest painted in the scheme I will be using for my whole army. I also have about 2 full squads of Grey Hunters painted in an old, terrible color scheme that I am trying to decide if I should strip the paint and salvage them or just wait until the new models come out and have a complete force of the new ones. Maybe a mix of the two? We shall see.

Will try to get some photos of the longbeards in all their glory once I can put some washes on the 10 in the unit that do not have them.

Intro

Well, I've been in the hobby for about 9 years now but have just settled down with 2 armies: Dwarves in fantasy and Space wolves in 40k. Hence the title, both love beards and beer. I plan on updating this with my forays into learning how to play both systems and my trials on both the battlefield and the painting table.