Holy miss cast

So I got into working on the FSA dindrenzi starter I got and omg. Look at the miss casts on the hulls. I managed to salvage the Battleship but is still looks dodgy. The cruisers I took 1 look and decided to try and fix them and failed horribly. Hopefully spartan can help me out on this cause even though I ended up getting the models for free it is a bit annoying.

Anyway will continue working on the cruisers to try and salvage them but who knows. Luckily I should be able to make at least 1 cruiser and the frigates were all perfect. These along with a bunch of other miss models will be getting primed and based this week. I am also starting to assemble some DZC stuff too. Should get them primed and maybe based as well.

More later this week.
Aruki

End of month round up

So the month for spending has technically been good. I finished with +47.54. However, I am still in the negatives and have cleaned out almost all of my extra stuff.
So:

July: +$47.54
YTD Total: -$270.95

On the painting front I have done nothing. Well not nothing but have made no points. Everything I have done has been priming and base coating for future stuff. Given that when this is all looked at it will be about 200 models minimum that's not to bad and should take me much closer to my 500 point goal. So:

July: 0 points
YTD total: 252.75

I should get some done next month after the movie and will hopefully be able to make up for it. Even better is if I can get some done before the move but at the moment I have no idea.


I will be using some of my time to also figure how many points I have actually painted (model point cost wise) and how much I think I have left. Anyway more updates to come over next few days. Painting update bare minimum and maybe some stuff on model counts I have done.

Till then,
Aruki

Revised to do list and input needed

With the time I will have left over next few weeks for hobby stuff I will not be able to complete everything on my list so I have decided to revise it. But I have also completed a good amount over the past few weeks so I don't feel to bad.

So the revised list:
1: end of month round up next week
2:Finish priming and base coating titans
3: Paint/ omni stand the dang DW bombers
4: Finish up the foam
5: finish up the list of epic stuff
6: Titan storage solution
7: Prime more epic stuff
8: finish paint list
9: Sit down and take photos for baccus posts (already have them partially written just need the photos really)
10: Finish packing as much as possible before end of next week
11: Assemble FSA
12: assemble DW
13: Assemble DZC
14: get back on track with posting
15: prepare some posts in advance just in case



You will notice I have removed some stuff and others have been dropped down the list quite a bit. This is partially due to getting ready for the move and trying to get everything model wise secured at least a week and a half before the move. So that preparing for everything else doesn't get in the way. The Baccus Prussians getting primed and such have been doped due to time. Even the epic stuff may not get done. In fact I am not sure if I will get half of this done but I hope to. Anyway Hobby update on Monday. Should have the titans and some tanks for epic done if not more. At least I hope it works that way.

I am also looking for input on which project after the move you guys would like to see me focus on. Since I have so many. I have the following that I can do.

1. FSA Aqua prime fleet (primed/based just needs details)
2. FSA Dindrenzi (got another starter so needs everything)
3. Epic SM (mixed lot of preperation)
4. Tau (primed/based)
5. SM (primed/based)
6. DZC PHR (needs everything)
7. DZC Shaltari (needs everything)
8. DW Brit support fleet (needs everything)
9. 6mm Prussian force (needs everything)
10. 28mm Romans (primed and based)

Still have quite a bit left and will easily be able to make my goal for the year if I get organized in less than 2 weeks after the move. Though not sure how badly my hobby time will be affected by this move.

Till Monday,
Aruki

Tau and SM finished up

As the tittle says I finished up basing the priming and base coating the Tau and SM. I also primed and base coated the the warhound and warlord titans for epic.

I also got almost all of the tanks and other titans and tanks stripped and are almost ready for paint. Just a few more to finish up and then I will prime and base them all. A few I still can't get all the paint off of so I have to decide how to handle them.

In spending news their are multiple changes. FSA I bought was refunded do to some issues but on bright side I get to keep the models I got. But I also purchased some other stuff.

So the update for this month is as follows.
Ebay: + $116.35
FSA: refunded
Paints, filters etc: -$17.88
DW stuff: -$26.03
Omni stand stuff: -$24.90

Remaining for the month: + $47.54

So on the bright side I should still come out with a surplus of cash this month to roll into the debt.
More stuff as it gets done. And more baccus either this weekend or next week.

Aruki

Progress on the To Do List

So here is what was on my last to do list:

1. Prime all the SM and last couple of tau suits. (base coat if possible)
2. Base and paint DW Brit Bomber
3. Foam for all cases to properly store SM,TAU,FSA stuff.
4. strip epic titans and due last of repairs
5. Prime as much epic as possible
7. Get accurate list of current epic stuff (not even sure what I have anymore)
8. Assemble/prime DZC
9. Prime 6mm Prussians
10. Do blogs about the different 6mm Baccus Prussian models.
11. Securely pack all hobby stuff for the move.
12. Get list of all of my paints and paints I need.
13. end of month update posts

Now lets see what I have managed to do:

1: will be finished in next day or so

2.still need to do

3. All most finished this, just need to cut slots for the FSA ships

4. Titans are now all striped and repairs finished 

5. This is also a work in progress

7. Still need to do

8. waiting on liquid green stuff for the tanks

9. haven't started

10. Need to do

11. about halfway there

12. Already bought the paints i needed and halfway done the list

13. Will be done a end of the month.

At the moment It looks like I will be on track. Though with those new FSA models coming in I will  need to wait on about half of them until I do another order of omni stands. Other than that I think I will be able to accomplish most of these goals before my move. Next month after the move you can expect a resumption of more traditional painting posts after a bit of a buffer for moving craziness. 

So happy dance and painting update tomorrow. 

Aruki

Accomplishments over the last few days

Honestly, over the last few days I haven't done much. I have done no airbrushing and have instead been striping epic stuff. The problems have come mainly from the tanks. More than a few had 3+ layers of paint on them. And for some I can not get the final layer off. This is despite going through the process 4 or 5 times. In some cases I can't even get the top layer off. So that has been what I have been up to. I am cleaning some up today and getting ready for priming/base coating later this week. I still have a hand full more of tanks (20 or so) that I want to try and strip down before I do the base coating and such. So expect to see a bunch of epic stuff in the update in a day or two. Other than that I have been cleaning and organizing all my stuff for the move. In other news I bought some paint, airbrush cleaner and filters for my paint booth as well so that will be included in this months spending. I still need to spend a bit more and am also chasing an ebay auction I want for DW.

Anyway more later this week and hopefully the next baccus post as well.
Aruki

Spending in July

Well after the dust cleared on my ebay marathon I came out with 116.35 in profit. I got ride of 3 rhinos, an attack bike, bunch infinity stuff and the mantic. My profit was so low because I really really screwed up on shipping costs and had to eat it. The actual income before shipping was $271.41 but with me charging less then half the cost in some cases for shipping it killed me. Stupid me in this case for not checking to see if the post office had changed its fee structure. This really killed me on 2 particular boxes because I charged in total like $19.00 but it ended up costing over $40 for the two. :(  I then of course spent some money and bought another FSA dindrenzi Starter box. Keeping my eye on few things it would be nice to have but mainly I just need to get liquid green stuff to fix up the DZC models and maybe some more paint for tau.

So this month looks as below so far.

Ebay: +$116.35 (after fees, shipping etc.)
FSA: -$42.66

Month so far: +$73.69


Hopefully I want go to crazy buying much more and can roll that into the debt so far.





That's it for now.
Aruki

The end of the week update

So here is what I have managed to complete in the last few days. First off I assembled 2 crisis suits, a broad side and 2 crisis/broadside models. I also found the missing marksman I had and rebuilt him, along with the last 4 sternguard models. I also assembled a old beetle back warlord and an old warhound for epic. On top of  that I also finished fixing and touching up my imperator titan for epic. I also have another warhound going through its bath so I can strip and repaint.

The other big thing I started doing this week was foam. I forgot to take 1 picture but, the two below will give you an idea. The two small gw cases I had kicking around I have outfitted with foam that I will use for all my FSA and DW. Might also use it for my DZC but will have to wait and see.

That's about it for this week. Will try and get this stuff primed and base coated over the weekend. So I can get it all put away. I do however need to go get some liquid green stuff so I can hide the seems on my DZC PHR before I build/paint them.

More as it comes to me and I am trying to also work on more bacus posts. I have just been having trouble deciding how I want to present it all.

Aruki

OMG a Tuesday painting update and SM almost done

I completed all but the 4 marines I have yet to build. I decided to work on them and two crissis suits tonight. The marines have all been primed and based otherwise. The tau broadside was also primed.

Next up after the remaining Tau will  be mainly focused on foam for next few days. After that probably the DZC or finishing of that DW Bombers.+

foiled again

So the big idea was to have all those models based from last Fridays post. Unfortunately  the airbrush would not cooperate last night  so I only got a small amount of them done. I also seemed to have decent success on Feebay though I hadn't realized the shipping fees had increased as much as they had and I screwed up shipping on two key ones. Which means I had to eat the cost which has seriously screwed my profit margin but more on that later once all the fees and such are worked out. So below you will see all the termies primed and a few assault but the rest is the same. Hopefully, the massive clean and such I did to my airbrush works and I can finish this all up for Wednesday.

Until then,
Aruki

Plan for the next two weeks.

First I want to start by looking at the list for this past week.

1. Finish tau assembly, priming basing.
2. Base/paint DW brit bomber
3. Prime remaing romans
4. assemble and prime SM
5.Assemble and  prime Epic SM
6. Assemble/ prime DZC
7. Prime 6mm Prussians


From this weeks list I have finished number 1 basically  The tau I mentioned in my last post I wasn't even planing on finishing up originally until after I move. The last of the Romans have been primed and the SM have almost all been assembled. The last 3 goals I have made no progress on.

Now on to these next few weeks.
1. Prime all the SM and last couple of tau suits. (base coat if possible)
2. Base and paint DW Brit Bomber
3. Foam for all cases to properly store SM,TAU,FSA stuff.
4. strip epic titans and due last of repairs
5. Prime as much epic as possible
7. Get accurate list of current epic stuff (not even sure what I have anymore)
8. Assemble/prime DZC
9. Prime 6mm Prussians
10. Do blogs about the different 6mm Baccus Prussian models.
11. Securely pack all hobby stuff for the move.
12. Get list of all of my paints and paints I need.
13. end of month update posts

That is my plans for what I would ideally like to do. The chances on finishing it are slim but I will do as much as I can. Numbers 1,2,3,4 I should be able to do without to many problems. Everything after that is in the if I have time category.

That being said You will see a lot of posts over the next few weeks dealing with that and then the set up of my new hobby area. Number 12 is rather important because I need to figure out what paints to order in so I can actually paint my Prussians. For example, I am pretty sure I don't have the blue I need for them. Never mind I know that I need to restock on some paints like the green I am using for my tau.

That being said I also plan on posting some things to help with organizing painting areas and of course on how I am going to base the Prussians.

Until tomorrow,
Aruki

Marines, Romans and plans for the next two weeks.

I primed the last of the Romans, and have assembled all but 4 of the Space Marines. I will assemble the last 4 over the weekend and probably prime them Sunday night. As you can see from the second picture I also assembled another broadside. I have two more crisis suits partially assembled as well and will figure out armaments and finish them up to be primed and based this coming up week.

After that my focus will switch a bit. I need to ship all the models I have sold off on feebay Monday or Tuesday.
After that I have come up with a new list of goals for the next two weeks.
Which I will post about tomorrow.

In short there will be a lot less priming and such. I will be focused on making foam for holding the models and such as well as repairs on different models. I still need to also strip some titans and such for epic.



That is it for today.
Aruki

Baccus Prussian stuff 2/?

Today I want to discuss how I am organizing my brigade. The 1812 Prussian Brigade follows the below chart. A lot of the information for this I was able to attain thanks to the help of some great guys on the Warlord Games forum and a book they recommend along with a few websites. I will talk about the book at another time in its own review.

I know I need to actually do it up on the computer at some point to make it easier to read, I will do that in the near future but for now I will break it down for you below.

The Brigade has 2 Infantry Regiments, 2 Heavy Cavalry Regiments, 1 Light Cavalry Regiment, 1 Foot Battery and 1 Horse Battery.

Each Infantry Regiment is made up of 3 Battalions and 2 companies of Grenadiers.  There are 2 Musketeer Battalions of 4 companies each and 1 Fusilier Battalion of 4 companies. Each Company in game terms is a unit of 24 men including command.

The Heavy Cavalry regiments are both 4 Companies large and can be either Dragoons or Kurassiers  In game terms they are 9 man units including command.

The Light Cavalry regiment is exactly the same as the Heavy Cavalry regiment except for 1 difference, The units were Hussars.

The Foot Battery and Horse Battery were identical in terms of cannons. But obviously the Horse Battery was more mobile. Each Battery consists of 8 cannons in game. In theory they should be 6 6lb cannons and 2 7lbs howitzers.


So in game terms this means I need the following:
16 musketeers Companies
8 Fusilier Companies
4 Grenadier Companies
8 Heavy Calvary Companies
4 Light Calvary Companies
16 cannons with crew and in theory limbers for the Horse battery


Now as you will notice from this list I am short on a few things. First I need a few more cannons (4), then I also need another 4 companies of fusiliers and 6 more companies of musketeers. I will remedy this in the future after I have already got the army going. On the other hand I also have a ton of extra cavalry but at the same time I am missing cavalry I need. I am short on Kurassiers/ Dragoons but have a ton of extra lancers and reserve cavalry.  I will remedy this as well in the future and maybe trade off the extra stuff. I am not sure yet as I have yet to see if they will be of use in Black Powder.

On that note I would like to point out something important. I am not building this purely to game with. I am building this because I have always wanted to build an accurate Napoleonic time period army (actually I want two). The fact that I can play games with them just makes it better.

That all for now. Will start looking at the actual models in the next post.

Aruki

Tau finished for now

As the tittle says I managed to finish priming and base coating all the currently assembled tau. I still have yet to assemble all the suits and kroot. Honestly the suit are waiting for me to sit down with the book and decide on weapon load outs. The kroot are waiting on me to decide color scheme and if I am going to even use them. I also have a small pile of spare drones I need to figure out what to do with.

Tonight I plan on getting started priming the last of the Romans I have. I should easily be able to finish this for Friday. After that there is nothing to do this week except more assembly. Unless I prime my epic 40k stuff. Haven't decided yet to be honest. But so far I am looking on target to finish most if not all of what I want to do before the move.


Another painting update on Friday. More Baccus posts this week and next week as well.

until then
Aruki

Baccus 6mm Prussian stuff 1/?

I am going to do a series of posts on my stuff from Baccus. Do take a look at the website. Baccus has models that cover everything from ancients all the way to Sci fi.  I am unsure how many posts but I will  be doing a review of all the models I received along with whatever else comes up. To begin with I will lay out the combined models in my two orders and then the next post will be about how they break down into the force I am going to make with them.


First off after a lot of research I decided on doing a Prussian 1812 force. I started off by ordering in the Napoleonic Prussian Army pack 1806-1815. This force is huge. It includes the following.

10 units of foot (24 men each with command)
2 units of Kurassiers (9 men each with command)
2 units of Dragoons (9 men each with command)
4 units of Hussars (9 men each with command)
2 units of Lancers (9 men each with command)
2 units of Reserve Cavalry ( 9men each with command)
4 artillery pieces ( 4 crew each)
3 command strips

I followed this up with an order for 2 more artillery sets, a pack of grenadiers and a pack of fusiliers. 

8 artillery pieces (4 crew each)

4 units of Grenadiers (24 men each with command)

4 units of Fusiliers (24 men each with command)

Between these two purchases it gives me more than I need to field a full 1812 Prussian Brigade. This was all done for around $65 + shipping. Baccus is also very open to adjusting the number of types of strips in their packs. By this I mean if you want more command and less troopers they can do that. I should also note that these do not come with bases. I purchased them separately because of the way I wish to base everything.

Now to be completely honest I did buy a set of banners out of curiosity but can't find them for the life of me. So I have omitted them until I due. I also did have a few problems with my initial order. I was missing some cannon wheels and command strips. But instead had extra trooper strips. Peter from Baccus was excellent (and very very patient) in helping me rectify this problem and was more than willing to send them out no charge. But since I had another order in the works I just had him put them together. And to quote him in an email to me about the help he had given me " As far as I am concerned you should get what you pay for and if you don't it's up to me to sort it out". This is a refreshing change from when I tried to get a failcast piece replaced and the message was fix it yourself.


Anyway more info and such on the models themselves and overall impression of the stuff. 
As a side note images used from the Baccus website with permission.

Aruki 

first update of the week.

All of the tau models seen last week and a few that were not have now been primed. I hope to base coat them all tonight as long as I don't run out of paint. All that is left for assembly is some crisis suits and kroot. Not sure if I will assemble the kroot now or hold of but I will do a chunk of the suits. Probably 4 or 5 for now.

Next up will be the Romans since they are already assembled and just need to be base coated.  After that I will probably run a lot of epic through base coating. Since I have so many assembled. Still need to strip a few titans and such though but should be able to do that nice and fast. So goals for this next week are moving along nicely. Think I may move on to priming the DZC stuff after the epic stuff. As I need to figure out a good way to prepare all the Prussian models for priming.


 In short, I am on target for completing my goals before I move. Till Wednesday .

Aruki

Goals for this week

On trying to stay on target I have decided to keep posting my short term goals. Here is the list from last week.
1. FSA aqua primed and based
2.tau primed and based
3.prime,base, paint last DW brit bomber
4. Prime remaining Romans
5. Prime epic 40k
6. assemble more epic 40k
7 assemble/ prime last of SM
8. assemble and prime DZC
9. Prime 6mm Prussians


I have completed number 1 and am halfway through number 2. Number 3 is primed. So here is my update goals for this week in order of importance to finish before the move.

1. Finish tau assembly, priming basing.
2. Base/paint DW brit bomber
3. Prime remaing romans
4. assemble and prime SM
5.Assemble and  prime Epic SM
6. Assemble/ prime DZC
7. Prime 6mm Prussians


I think I should be able to at least do 1 and 2, maybe even 3 this week.  Hobby post soon and a review.


Aruki

A look at my goals for this year

So this year I had 3 goals.

First, was my main goal the painting challenge, to complete 300 points later increased to 500 points. As a refresh my scoring goes like so:

6mm=0.25 point
10mm/15mm fig, 6mm vehicle, DW fighter tokens= 0.5 point
28mm figure, large tank for 6mm-15mm, DW ship/aircraft, FSA ships= 1 point
28mm large model/tank= 5 pts


I have so far achieved 252.75 points. This is just over half way to my final goal of 500 points. I should be able to easily complete this goal. Just based on repainting my tau and finishing off my Romans. Hopefully, my move doesn't screw this on up to bad.


The second was spending. Specifically $250 dollars or less with the overall goal of breaking even if possible. I knew this was a long shot to begin with. At the moment I am at -$419.34. In order to decrease this I am planing on selling off a bunch. Honestly this goal I am not sure if I will be able to stick to. As I still need to do at least 1 more omni stand order and buy a broadside. If I am able to make this goal great. If not, I wont to keep it at $500 or less.



The last goal was a total of 5000 points worth of models painted. This one I should be able to reach as well. I am over 3000 points easily but until I figure out the exact points I have finished for epic I have no idea on the exact amount I am over.


Hobby update on Monday,

Till then
Aruki

Last update of the week

Alright this overall week has been rather productive. I managed to find a green I liked and base coated all the primed tau. I have managed to assemble most of the other tau as well. I think there are about 2 dozen models left to assemble. I plan on priming most of the currently assembled models tonight. Most of the models that need to be assembled are crisis suits and a couple broadsides, the rest are fire warriors. Hopefully, I will have all these guys rebuilt, primed and based by next wed. Then I will probably prime my Romans since they are already mostly assembled. I have also been working on foam for my cases (sorry no pics). Anyway next hobby update on Monday or Tuesday.

most of the based tau

tau waiting to be primed and based

some almost assembled tau

fire warriors, mostly assembled should take 20min tops to finish

Until then
Aruki

Mid week update

Lots of progress all the previously seen models. The FSA aqua have been primed and based. The Tau have been all primed. And as of last night all of the Tau models have been striped. There is just a bit more assembly needed so I can base the last 1/3 of models. So I may actually be on target to complete at least 1/3 of my goals for the month. I did try base coating the Tau but the Dark green I tried is actually very bright green. So need to try another color.

Love how these guys turned out.

all primed and ready for base coat

Some more tau ready to be primed and in bottom corner you can see a failed base coat test

After the last of the Tau being assembled and primed I will move on to the Romans. Another update on Friday.


Aruki

Why Apocalypse and GW are failing for me

Let us start with this isn't a rant just more of a side note. When I was young I loved the idea of apocalypse and would often play huge point games. This was back in 3rd when there was no apocalypse. But as an adult with a family I just can't justify playing an apoc game. Even getting time for the 2000-2500 point games I used to play just a few years ago is hard. This for me is the major turn off for apoc now. It is also the prime reason I have never bothered to buy any super heavies. What I would like to see from gw is a reasonably priced (I know I am dreaming) set of campaign books that can be used as a jump point for people. The ones they did in the past were disappointing but with many competing companies doing similar things that are a lot of fun and well done I think it would be a great idea.

I also like many others feel they really dropped the ball on their one click purchase deals. With well over 3k points in all of my armies there is no need for me to buy those deals and there is no real discount.

On the point of failing, GW in general is very much pricing me out of the hobby all together. I would love to redo the army I first had when I started over 15 years ago. But at current prices it costs more than double what I paid. I am hoping that we will see prices go down in the future but doubt it. It is even more killer when you live outside Europe or north america as prices are even higher than normal. Thankfully it isn't as bad as living in Australia here but it's still more expensive. An example is the apoc book which is one of the smallest price increases. it is around $88.00 here. No discount available really. Something like the new Khorn lord of skulls is going to cost close to $180. Normally in a year between all of my games and supplies I spend maybe $500. I have already sold off two of my armies in the past year just because I cant afford to keep them up to date just book wise. With books costing around $80 each I only buy the books and keep new models to bare minimum. A good example is my tau. I bought a box of pathfinders and will buy a broadside this year. Combined with the book that's almost half my normal spending gone for the year. So after my next broadside unless I do well on ebay I wont be buying the SM codex. The rest of the cash will be spent on my other games.

I would love to know whats going to happen in the future. I have even been considering selling off my SM army as well since I cant afford to keep even 2 armies. For me this is a huge difference back at my peak of GW love (about 8 years ago) I owned 6 armies (SM,CSM,IG,DE,Tau,Orcs). Never mind my 3 WHFB armies. I also owned all the codexs and did WD every month etc etc. Now I am having hard time justifying to myself keeping even 2 armies.

It makes me wonder how much longer GW will have the support it does. I have loved my time with GW through the ups and downs of editions, man did 4th kill my khorne army. (Ah back when I bought my whole Khorne army for $250. I will definitly keep 1 army through the future. But I will probably no longer bother with spending half my budget a year on GW.

Sorry about the wall of text and such. But this has been stewing in my mind for a while. Hopefully somehow someone from Gw will see it and think about it.
Aruki

Things done over the weekend

I finished assembling all the stealth suits, striped a batch of fire warriors/pathfinders and started priming. I primed half of a devilfish, the two broadsides and then started on the FSA Aqua forces. Then I ran out of paint. I have to go find my bigger bottle of primmer so that I can finish off priming everything I have built.

a few FSA Aqua halfway done, as a side note I plan on doing there base coat as Jade green and gems in an orange color

All the 40k stuff on airbrushing area, there are still  a lot of models on my painting table waiting to be moved to air bushing area, never mind in storage (romans)

The whole airbrushing area

Over the next few days I plan on stripping the last of the firewarriors/pathfinders. Re assembling as many tau as possible and priming everything I can. My moving date has been moved up to the beginning of next month so I am rushing to get as much done as possible. The current list of goals is:


1. FSA aqua, primed and base coated
2. Tau primed and base coated
3. Prime, base coat and paint last DW Brit bomber
4. remaining Romans primed
5. Epic 40k Primed
6. Assemble more epic 40k
7. assemble and prime last of space marines
8. Start dropzone commander assembly and priming
9. Start priming 6mm Prussians

The only other goal I have for this month is ebaying off a bunch of  extras/stuff I don't use. For example, I have a bunch of Pan O, 3 rhinos and an attack bike to get ride of.


Another update on Wed on what I have done.
Till then
Aruki