We had the second of the fortnightly gaming
evening last night, another successful evening and we had a spectator along, two if we include Skeletal Sid.
Earlier in the week I was asked if I could take Dreadfleet down for the chaps to have a game. I said that I would and then it occurred to me that it wasn’t fully painted, there were a couple of islands, some shipwreck markers and a few other pieces that needed finishing, to be more accurate they needed to be started. So over the last two weeks I have spent Monday to Thursday evening with brush in hand and surrounded by paint pots, jars of water and reams of kitchen towel whilst franticly painting in order to complete the last of the Dreadfleet models, and what a journey it’s been. I started the first model back in December, in the three weeks leading up to Christmas I had painted eight of the ships. I had a break during the Christmas holiday and in January I carried on with the project, by April I had finished the ships and had made headway into the islands and shipwrecks.
Towards the end of April everything came to a halt as the kitchen table would be needed for other purposes. May arrived, bringing with it the wettest drought I’ve seen in a while so I took the opportunity to paint some assault marines that have been sitting around for the last eighteen months. Ten of the little blighters were painted and they had their first foray into battle last Saturday when they tore there way through a Blood Angel Tac Squad. Then it was into the final stretch of the Dreadfleet set, I had hoped to have it finished in time for the Thursday game session but some very uncooperative plumbing and an hour travelling to and from B&Q meant that I had all but five components of the entire set painted. I plan to spend one evening finishing them and I can sit back and relax.
On Thursday morning I gathered Dreadfleet and my Space Marine army, now the sole inhabitants of the army case, the Necrons have been temporarily consigned to the smaller figure case until they are completed and then an army case will be bought for that set. After work I headed to the shop where I showed sue the fruits of my labour, I’m pleased to say that she was impressed with the work I’d done. The usual suspect trickled in, each taking a look at the Dreadfleet models, I must admit that it does make the effort worth while when other people see your work and make comments like “WOW!” and “Oh that’s nice!” So with Dreadfleet getting the approval of some chaps that are much better painters than me I feel that the last six months of squinting, cursing and very late nights have all been worth the effort.
I will hopefully have the last few components finished very soon and then it’s straight on the next project, The Necrons. After finishing the Assault Marines, (Smiffy beware!) and with the completion of Dreadfleet imminent I am now looking forward to painting the Necrons, there will be a few firsts involved in the new project. It will be my first experience of painting the new* Finecast resin models and for the first time I have painted Character models rather than just standard HQ models. This means that I shall be following the original colour scheme and painting the Finecast models as they appear in the codex.
Once the Necrons are complete I think I will finally get around to painting Space Hulk and then the Skaven from the Isle of Blood set. I will also, Hopefully get on with the Tau whilst working on other projects.
I’m really pleased that the fortnightly gaming evening seems to be working, it means that I get to game a bit more often and this is restoring my enthusiasm for the game and the hobby in general. The last session was a brilliant evening and although I didn’t play, by choice, I enjoyed the company and the pure lunacy that arises when we’re playing with our toy soldiers, long may it continue.
Before I close this entry I have a little snippet of advice for those who have never used an airbrush and are planning on getting one at some point, get a dust mask! not for health and safety reasons, purely to prevent the look of complete horror when you blow your nose and what ends up in the tissue looks like you’ve had a major artery burst in your head, not a pretty sight and I still don’t get why we feel compelled to examine the contents of the tissue after clearing your nostrils.
The airbrush is a brilliant addition to my kit and it will halve the time it takes to paint the larger models.
Right that’s me done for now, I think I’ve waffled on enough and I’m sure you have better things to do than faffing around on the internet, maybe you should fix that leak thats been dripping for the last five months!
Ta ta
