Painting update and a thank you

Alright I finished off the Romans yesterday when my hand stopped hurting. They could probably use more touch up but I don't want to look at the Romans anymore. I will do it sometime in the future.

So that is 20 more models complete.

Nov: 64 points
YTD: 350.75 points


Some epic marines next. Also I would like to thank everyone. The counter in my dash informs me I have broken 10,000 visitors in total and over 1,000 this month. Many many thanks that is a rather large mile stone for me to reach in my first year. At least in my opinion.

aruki

lack of updates

I haven't been painting for one simple reason. I did something to my hand. Some time last week I did something to my left hand around my thumb. It really hurts even when not doing anything. Hence I haven't been painting. I will post updates as soon as my hand stops throbbing.

Anyway more painting updates as soon as possible.
aruki

Hobby zone : paint rack review part 2

To begin with the instructions are a bit limited. In fact on my first dry run I did it backwards because the picture doesn't differentiate between the two different colored surfaces. I quickly realized the problem and reversed it without much problem. After that they were rather straight forward and quick to assemble. You will definitely need tape to hold it together while it dries. Otherwise they will easily dry wrong or fall apart.

16 pieces

first dry run, done backwards it turns out

halfway done dry run done correctly

completed dry run

other side of completed dry run

taped and glued up

completed, hung and with some paint on it. plenty of room for more paints

Yes one is hung crooked but I didn't feel like trying to fix the problem since my walls are concrete. Overall I found them easy to put together even with my 3 year olds "help".  Value wise for me they are great even with the cost of shipping being more than the actual products. They hold more than anything I can get here for equal or a lower price.  They hold about 11 bottles per a line and there are 5 on each shelf. So you have room for 55 vallejo bottles per shelf. Of course the two different size primer bottles don't fit in so I have them on top. So I definitely recommend them, so much so that I am considering paying to have 1 or 2 of the larger racks that are more universal shipped here in the future. I obviously need to buy more paint now to :).


Aruki

Wargamers unite : A push for your help.

Don't know if you have all seen this but I found out from Pirate viking at the following:
http://piratevikingpainting.blogspot.kr/2013/11/uk-wargamers-you-need-to-take-notice-of.html


Anyone that can check out his post and either follow his link or mine to sign this petition.

The changes royal mail want to make will seriously effect quite a few wargamers and modelers world wide who get there paints from the Uk when there is no local source. So help out and sign if you can.


Cheers
Aruki

Hobby zone paint rack review part 1

I will be doing this review in two parts since I just received them this morning. So in this first part I will show you what I received and talk about a few other things related to my order. In the second part I will talk about the construction of the products themselves and how well I find them to work.

This was actually an anniversary gift from my wife that I had just been waiting to order while considering the options. This turned out to be cheaper than any of the local alternatives and a few other companies I found on the net.


I got two of the Hobby zone Small paint hangers. They are $17.94 each. Price wise I cant really complain the huge cost on this was shipping. The shipping for even one to South Korea was over $30. So I decided I would grab the two I want to save on shipping. The total shipping was $43.48. The packages took exactly 1 week from the day they were sent to arrival to show up.


This is what It looked like on arrival.

Inside I found the two flat packed boxes. Between the two boxes were a invoice, a flier and instructions.

I only took a picture of the inside of one of the boxes to show how the pieces were packed. On closer inspection all of the pieces seem to be intact.

As soon as I have the chance to build and then hang them I will post the second part of the review. More updates and second half of the review hopefully next week.

Aruki

Flight stands and DZC models

I ran into an interesting problem with my omni stand stuff and my DZC models. Mainly they are just too big. See the picture for an example.

For the PHR it is so large, never mind ugly, that I could magnetize the slots to hang the tanks and walkers underneath. But then they would have to be dedicated to specific units and it would also look bad. With the shaltari it just looks bad.

I think the UCM would have the same problem as the PHR and It may still look bad on the scourage as well.

The solutions

There are two solutions. The first is to use the original flight stands and special pegs that were provided by hawk wargames and by all reports work well. The second option is to dish out the cash for the rods with a magnet on top made by the same company as the rest of the omni stand stuff. This would be quite expensive as my collection grows. It also has the possibility of another problem, I think the top of the rods with the magnets may be to large as well.

So the question, which option do you guys think I should try?

Aruki

Wahoo vets done

Since I managed to finish off these 20 guys I am now down to my last 20 Romans to paint. I am pushing to finish them before the end of the month if possible. But we will see.

Anyway that adds 20 more points to my tally. I still think I am going to fall short of my extended goal of 500 points but who knows.

Nov=44
YTD=330.75

More next week.
Aruki

An unexpected update

I managed to pull a couple of painting hours between yesterday and today. So I made a bunch of progress on my veterans. All that is left now is skin, ink and some touch up. So if I can find a bit more time this week I can finish them off. Here is a WIP pick.

More as I can.
Aruki

Give away to check out

Check out the link for a great give away.

http://wolvesinarms.blogspot.kr/2013/11/free-stuff-for-you-giveaway.html


I'm hoping to win cause I need a good etheral conversion.
So jump by sign up and pimp this contest people.

aruki

Painting update and opinions on the models

So I have basically finished off the auxilia. I am not completely happy with them partly because I have come to realize that I hate the models. They are the auxilia from warlord games that came in the roman army starter box.  The arm options and posses make the models very annoying to rank up and the consistency in the sculpts themselves I don't like. For example some have sword scabbards or swords in scabbards attached to them that connect with the belts and such this is great. Others just have a blank space with no bits to add so they look unfinished. I also found them really annoying to paint for some reason. So I will definitely be looking for other models to use in the future. But for now they are finished mainly cause I just don't want to look at them ever again. They could still use some touch up though.

So that is another 24 models complete.

Nov: 24 points
YTD: 310.75 points

Next up will be some more of the 40 or so Romans left.

Aruki

Firestorm armada 2.0

I must admit I am a huge fan of FA and 2.0 is going to be interesting. I will hold off on any claims or major comments until I have a copy of the book in my grimy little hands. The eye candy is nice though.
The part that has me most excited are the new patrol boxes. Though the new starter set is also very tempting. The major thing that will make or break them for me is price. I am hoping they will be around the same cost as all the recent DW releases. (edit: alas they are not they are only a couple pounds cheaper than the current starters) Thus them being more of a supplement to the already existing starters and not just a new starter.

Above are for the 3 factions I have at the moment. Here are my initial thoughts based off of the photos. First the Aqua not bad but a lot more of basicly the same. Though that new battleship sculpt seems too fat compared to all my other models. The dindrenzi just hit me as more of the same, no real changes except more detail on the hulls. The Terran I like the changes it makes the ships seem a bit more stream lined. The new bomber and fighter tokens will be interesting depending on how the new rules handle them. By far my favorite thing about the new boxes is the extra pieces so you can make one into a heavy cruiser. I am very interested in how this will work exactly. For example, if for the dindrenzi this just means taking the stock body and adding different engines and guns I am psyched. Cause this means with the purchase of an extra hull you could easily have another cruiser. But if its the bits for the normal cruiser plus x extra bits i would be a little disappointed.

With the new starter I will probably get one since it will nicely supplement two of my existing forces. (edit: this will be costing 80 pounds, have 15 ships the rule book and some other doodads, little disappointed to be honest but it is not that bad of a deal. How ever, when compared to something like the DZC starter this is very very disappointing) But as with the patrol boxes price and such are major considerations.

Ah well time will tell. Hope this doesn't break my budget.

Aruki 

To keep or not to keep.

Lately, as some of you know, I have been debating ditching my 40k space marines. This has lead me to wonder how other people decide what to keep and what to ditch. Recently I have decided to review my collection every 6 months or so. I am looking at a few things, status of that army, enjoyment factor, cost of the game, local conditions and finally attachment. Allow me to elaborate.

Status of the army: with this I am looking at what I have, is it painted, needed stuff etc.

Enjoyment factor: Do I actually enjoy painting and playing the game/army

Cost: how expensive are the models and game system in general? How easy is it for me to get cheaper models or trades?

Local conditions: IE who do I know that will happily play the games with me.

Attachment: How much do I really want to keep them?

An example of this can be easily demonstrated on a scale of 1 to 10.

DW Prussians 7/8/7/5/8.

40k SM 5/6.5/6/8/6.

With this quick side by side you can see I am much happier with my DW Prussians than my 40k Space marines.  A lot of that is because of cost, enjoyment and attachment. In comparison to my tau as follows.

40k tau: 5/7.5/6.5/8/7.5

The main reason status is the same for my tau is because I decided to repaint them all. But as you can see it almost on par with DW Prussians. The main reasons for the difference are DW is fully painted, the game is usually more fun because of the people I can play with even though the local condition isn’t that good and so forth.

I hope this helps you guys decide what to keep or trade off. I would love to hear how you guys decide.

Aruki

FYI and this past weeks progress

The FYI and progress this week are entwined and also affect the next week or two. Work is crazy and may remain crazy until the end of the month. I have a few posts written up and ready for next week but nothing else after that. I am also not sure if I will even have time to post or paint at all next week never mind the week after. So yeah, it sucks.

Anyway this week as you can see from the photo I have done all of the clothing and such on the auxilia. I have also almost finished there shields. They just need a wash. I stuck with the plain wood look because they are auxillia. All that is left besides touch up is skin and washing the models. So they shouldn't take to long to finish but time will be in short supply at least next week.

More progress when I can do more and have the time to paint it. Till then.
Aruki