Fire Warrior Complete

Painting minitures is a tedius thing, at least for me right now. I'll probably get faster and better though. This is my first completed one. I didn't use Citidel's foundation paint, and as a result I had to use two coats. I think in the future I will use the foundation paints so I only have to do one coat.

The hardest part on this was the leg plates. I pretty much gave up trying to get it perfect. In the future I am going to try and paint the leg plate in one solid color then go back with a darker color to do the pattern. Otherwise its just too hard to paint the individual plates, staying in the line so to speak.

Also I am going to consider painting the peices before gluing together, but after cutting out of the sprue. I think I can be more accurate, and reach places that would be otherwise difficult to reach.

Fire Warrior Painting

Here's where the true artist starts to shine... unfortunately I am not an artist. Instead I am learning as I go.

For my first attempt I followed Game Workshop's step by step. Unfortunately by the time I got to the main color there was no detail left because of primer, basecoat, and color. I suspect this is because I was learning to fly before I learned to walk. I feel those techniques are for someone experienced, or willing to fail many times.



Actually it's not that bad, just lacks the nice contrasting detail. I think I can do better.

So I tried to do drybrushing. This was an epic fail. I think this would look very good with many hours and experience, but I am not there yet.



My third and best attempt follows. I skipped the basecoat and went straight to the color. Also by now I was much better at pushing the brush. I stayed in the lines so to speak.



This is the way I will go for now. It looks pretty good for a first army. I will finish the details such as gun, pants, shoulder emblem, etc.

All in all this was pretty hard for me. At this pace, I can do 1 model every 2 hours. Hopefully I get better and faster.

Primed and Ready

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Everything is primed! This took me less than an hour. At first I did them one by one, but then did them in groups of 5. It's nice because the Chaos Black primer dries so fast, you can rotate the minis without any issues.

The bases are done by brushing on PVA glue, which is basically fancy Elmer's glue, and then sprinkling on bird gravel from the pet store. Do this before priming.

Assembly Complete

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I decided to just go without a squad leader. I didn't feel it was worth the extra 10 points. Also I didn't add any photon grenades. They supposedly take away the +1 assault bonus of your opponent, but if my Fire Warriors are being assaulted, I'm doing something wrong.

These were easier to put together than the Kroot, because the left arm and left hand are together already. So its just a matter of positioning the arm in a realistic position.

For the ones that are kneeling and aiming, I found it best to turn the torso slightly to the left and then turn the head drastically to make it look like he is aiming down the barrel.

Next is the priming!

Shas'El Reporting For Duty

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This is the HQ unit, the Shas'El with Plasma Rifle and Missile Pod.

This was very easy to put together. I noticed there is a right and left leg as well as left and right feet, even though they look similar. Also I found that the ankle balls fit directly into the feet and don't rest on top of them.

This unit also has a multi-tracker, targeting array, and black sun filter, though I don't think there are any parts to represent this.

I am going to start using Flickr for photo storing, since Blogspot doesn't seem to like linking to larger versions of images anymore.

Kroot Madness

The Kroot were pretty hard to put together, but in the end I think they turned out well.

The biggest struggle on this one was the arms. They give you about 16 or 18 gus for 12 different models. The guns have the right arm attached and left hand. The left arm is separate. I cannot stress enough that you should make sure the left arm and gun/hands piece match. The first one I put together I didn't do this only to find out the pieces weren't anywhere close to matching.

Quickly I found what worked best for me was to get an idea of the arm positions and then glue the left arm to the gun/right arm. Once the glue set enough where I could let go I glued it to the torso. The glue I am using is kind of gummy, which is really helpful. It allows me to make minor adjustments before it really sets in.

There are 3 guns that don't require you to glue a left arm, since the left hand is holding a knife. I took full advantage of that, because it is much easier. As for the other ones, I found the longer the left arm, the easier to glue. However, I did want variety, so I toughed out some of the more difficult shorter arms as well.

I noticed when putting the legs and torso on the base it looks like its crooked. Once you get the arms and head on through, you'll find it's how it should be. It just makes them look like they are ready to pounce.

Another thing I had a problem with at first was the back pieces. I don't know if they are satchels or capes, but I got them to fit ok. The satchels look better than the capes. Maybe I put them on wrong. I don't know.

Overall this was very challenging, but worth it. I'm guessing the true challenge will be painting them.

The Battleforce Has Arrived!

After a shipping mishap I finally got my Tau Battleforce. It was undamaged and nothing appears missing, so that's a good start.

I've decieded to glue everything together first, and there is a lot to glue. I started with the Devilfish and moved on to the Stealth Team.

I made an attempt at Warhammer 40k back in college and even have some Space Marines left over from that. Back then, saving money was key and as a result I cut corners. I think it's OK to save money, but not by cutting corners. So this time around I got two things that have made things much, much, easier.

I bought a sprue cutter for one. The thing the minis come molded into is called a sprue. These are like wire cutters a bit, but they have a flat edge on one side for a very flush cut. Better than a regular hobby knife, butter knife, or simply twisting the minis out.

The other thing was a new little glue bottle invention. Testors makes it and it's very accurate and sets on the table very neatly when not in use.

Things went pretty smooth. The only gotcha I will mention so far is when assembling the Devilfish. Note that the assembly lines on the instructions don't neccessarily denote order of assembly. I put the Devilfish together thinking that, and got to a part where it was impossible to attach the top and bottom part together. Luckily, the glue had not 100% dried and I was able to pull it back apart.

Instead, work from the bottom up. Put the center panel and back panel on to the bottom panel.
Add the top piece and then put the side panels on.

One thing to note about assembling the Stealth Team is there didn't seem to be a correct atenna for the drone controller on the Shas'Vre squad leader. So I cut one of the left over atennas down a bit to make it fit better.

For the Greater Good

I thought I would start a blog to show off models and terrain I do. I am no expert, but I do feel that I will get better with experience.

Also, I might do battle reports at some point.

Hopefully, you will enjoy it and maybe even get some ideas from it.

I am starting from scratch at this point. I am in the middle of making a gaming table and waiting for my Tau Battleforce to arrive. My goal is to have them glued and primed by the end of the week. But I don't want to rush it, espeicially with Father's day. So maybe the weekend after is a better goal.

***IMAGE PLACEHOLDERS***