New Space Marine Models Leaked!!!

Pictures of the new Space Marine Centurions and the Space Marine AA Tank the Stalker are starting to make their rounds. Personally, I think the Space Marine Centurions look ridiculous at least in yellow. I'll reserve final judgement until I see better pics and the models in person, but my first reaction is yuck! They look way too clunky and don't even look like they could walk.

More pics after the break.

Quick Tips: Keeping a Painter's Journal

Welcome to another installment of Quick Tips. When working on painting a unit or army for 40K, one of the most important things to keep in mind that a lot of people forget, is to keep a consistent color scheme throughout your entire army. There is nothing worse than adding a new unit or vehicle to your army and having the base color not match. This generally ceates a rather garish affect and makes the new unit or vehicle seem out of place.

Fixing Space Marines

Today's post is going to be a bit different. Normally I focus on things that are a bit more hobby related, but I was inspired by this post over on the Spikey Bits blog entitled Is This The End of the Space Marine Era? I'm not going to rehash JStove's analysis of the rise of the Xenos and the fall of the mighty Space Marine, so it would be a good idea to check that post out first.

Quick Tips: Making a Paint Palette

This is a new series I'll be running on my blog that I'm calling Quick Tips. If you've read any of my previous tutorials they are usually pretty long and involved and often span multiple posts. Quick Tips are mini tutorials or short pieces of advice for the wargaming hobby.

Today I'm going to talk about paint palettes and how to make your own that isn't only easy to clean, but will last you a long time and cost you only $5.

The Cardinal Rule of Painting

I had a rare opportunity last week and was fortunate to have the week off of school. One would think I would be working on my E Tenebrae Lux 2013 vow, but I was drawn in another direction. I did a conversion of Mephiston back in October that I posted over on Bolter and Chainsword in my WIP thread. I thought the conversion was different enough from what everyone was doing with the Astaroth body and I was really happy with it.

Next, I had to paint him. Awesome, right? Wrong! I rushed through it to get him ready for a tournament and while I thought he was good at the time I never really finished him. A few days later (which is the litmus test for any artwork I do) I took him out and absolutely hated the paint job. Back in my Battle Foam bag he went where he sat untouched and unloved since last year.

Fast forward to the Kill Team Tournament I was in last month where I was being berated by one of my friends for never having any of my miniatures done. I paint fairly well, but my big problem is I always jump from project to project and I rarely finish painting anything. Not sure why, it's just what I've always done. Of course my plans for getting best painted at the Kill Team Tournament were foiled because I only got one model done (well, it wasn't really done...) so I wanted to finish something and claim with a mighty voice: "This model is done!"

Sternguard Update, How I Paint Red, Kill Team Report

Well, I didn't get all my Sternguard finished, but I did a pretty good job on my Sergeant, Brother Tyrael. Yes, I named all my models and I'm a dork. I also had a chance to touch up my mini display board. I need to push the highlights on this miniature a bit more and add some lighter colors to make it pop, but as is, I'm pretty satisfied. This is my most recent formula for red:

1. Prime with Army Painter Dragon Red
2. Paint over with a really watered down Mephiston Red. The main point of this is to get all the spots that the primer missed.
3. Wash with Carroburg Crimson.
4. Paint with Mephiston Red. Focus on most of the mini leaving Carroburg Crimson in the deep recesses (panel lines, between the different armor plates, between the joints, etc.).
5. Paint the raised areas with Evil Sunz Scarlet.
6. Paint over with Bloodletter Glaze to bring the colors closer together. This is as far as I got unfortunately.
7. When I continue, I plan on painting the raised areas with Wild Rider Red.
8. Finally, I'll paint a very tiny highlight with Bestigor Flesh. If necessary, I'll go over the miniature again with the Bloodletter Glaze.

E TENEBRAE LUX 2013: Sternguard

It's that time of the year again when Bolter & Chainsword hosts it's annual painting competition between the various Space Marine Chapter subforums to see which forum can paint the most models by points. The contest is closed to new entrants, but I did sneak in to make this my second time participating in what I think is great way to get people motivated to paint their models.

Desert Terrain Photos

Holy geez! I can't believe I haven't posted in 6 months. I won't bore you with all the details, but a lot has happened in my personal life. Among other things I've been busy with school, won my first 40K Tournament, had 2 surgeries, and most importantly of all I added a new addition to my family with Space Marine Initiate Darryn! Here's a pic of the little guy.

I have a lot more coming up soon (including a move across country to Austin, TX), but I wanted to start working on the blog again because it helps me stay motivated with the 40K hobby. As an aside, if any readers are from the Austin area drop me a line in the comments below. I'll need to find a new 40K crew once I get out there.

Anyway, I was looking through my old posts to see where I was at and I realized I never posted an update on my desert terrain. A lot of the desert terrain I searched for that was specific to 40K was pretty plain in my opinion and all looked the same. Everyone does the same type of rock columns and just rocky looking hills and I wanted to break out from that.

The Hobbit Review

Been quite some time Battle Brothers! Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time, but I had a lot of things going on that I was trying to juggle and the blog kinda fell on the wayside. I won't bore you with details, but I needed a break from blogging. I'm still in the hobby and playing regularly and I'll get back to my hobby focused posts shortly. For now, I wanted to post a quick spoiler free review of The Hobbit which I saw last night.

E TENEBRAE LUX: Painting Challenge

Man, does time fly. I've been holed up playing 6th Edition and working on my entry for the E TENEBRAE LUX painting challenge from over on Bolter and Chainsword. It's a cool thing the forum does every once in awhile where the different chapters from the various subforums duke it out and see who can paint the most models.

This is my first time contributing and it figures that the Blood Angels are getting crushed. I still wanted to finish my vow, get my models done, and preserve my honor. I really wish this competition didn't take place during the 6th Edition release window as I would have been able to get a lot more done. I'm contemplating upping the ante and doing a second vow, but there is less than a week left so we'll see what happens.

Below are the completed pictures of what I pledged: 2 Baal Predators, a converted Lascannon and Twin-linked Plasmagun Turret, and a Death Company Dreadnought is 480 points. A pittance I know, but every little bit helps. I'm fairly satisfied with how these turned out. Messed around with weathering powders for the first time and I can see a lot of potential for these in the future.

I also included a pic of my converted Librarian as I've been working on him forever. Reminds me a lot of the Librarian that Ron was working on over on From the Warp. Great minds think alike!

You may have seen some of my blog posts over on the 40K Radio website. I volunteered for the staff writer position so you'll be seeing my posts over there as well. If you don't know what 40K Radio is, it's THE 40K Radio Podcast that caters to all things 40K. You can check it out here.

I have my first 6th Edition Tournament this Sunday so I'll try and take some pics and provide a quick tournament report. Have a lot planned for the blog in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

Till next time,

–The Harrower