Thursday February 14 2008
Picture: a War Machine Menoth warjack; a Reckoner. This army was quite an unusual project and turned out very nicely. The artist spent a lot of time on these, an extra few working days. At least one of which he was down at the studio until midnight. We all learned a lot about how to paint from Joseph. I found out today that he is *not* a canvas painter. He just pulled all of this right out of his soul.
Hear my expert oration.
See the nearly 100 pics.
Another day in heaven.
The following two projects came through today:
- Dark Menoth 01 JR
- Vampire Counts 01 JC
The following projects were checked out and are expected to be finished in the next 4-5 days:
- Chapter Masters 01 JS
- Green Tyranids 02 JC
In March we’re having a special on Zombies and Skeletons: a L2 paint job for $2.75 AND 31% off the retail cost of your models. You should be sure to ask for the special. See the first one hundred.
It snowed like twelve inches last night. That was fun to shovel. The world is very quiet when it snows. All sounds are absorbed into the snowpack.
Dark Heresy is coming! We are getting together tomorrow for character generation.
I have a few slots open for the March 4-11 Cycle for both assembly and painting. And the latter part of March is pretty wide open. Still not too late for Adepticon.
Wednesday February 13 2008
Picture: Grey Knights in ivory armor L4. See the rest of the squad here.
The more things that are going on at the studio, the less I write in the Blog. It’s reversed.
Since I was up until 3am this morning (I was extremely wound up from Insane Tuesday) I slept in until like 9am.
Today was a lot calmer. The following projects are officially done:
- Skaven 01 TB
- Emperors Children 03 EB
- Empire 03 JM
- Daemonhunters 01 BC
- Tzeentch 01 JS
- Zombies 01 JC (pics still forthcoming)
I can tell when a project turns out well because I wish I could keep it! I really, really like those ivory armored Grey Knights and very well may have a set made up for the studio… especially since they fit in so well with Dark Heresy.
We’ve got a few new Painters at the studio. They are going through the grueling first three months, each project like a giant leaden medicine ball to the gut. I often compare it to this scene. I have no use anymore for artists who are not teachable. One of the principal qualities I look for is “beginner’s mind”. In the clip, Pai Mei says “this is the beginning”; that Uma was in a place where she could start her journey. I am certainly in the same boat; I am constantly learning new things from the artists. Joseph is some kind of savant who showed me an entirely different way of painting– which he took from painting on canvas.
The buzz around the studio is about Dark Heresy. We’re making characters this Friday morning. I am completely stoked and have a LOT of related projects in the works. I have ordered numerous extra copies which I intend to sell at a profit when they become scarce. I can’t believe they discontinued the 40K roleplaying game rulebook. Beyond belief.
When I left the studio this afternoon it was snowing horizonatally; sticky, slashing snow that forms an icy crust when it hits the windshield. It was too dangerous to drive. When I got home, Tamie and Jonah left on a “mommy-son date” leaving me with Griffin and Kenna. It was like Lord of the Flies. I fell asleep on the couch, exhausted, and the kids just ran rampant. When I woke up Griffin had got out all the tools and “fixed” the dining table and smashed broccoli into the carpet.
Then, I actually managed to catch up on all the emails, and around midnight I am writing this.
Oh, and I’m booking projects for March now. The second week in March to be exact, so now’s a good time to get your project on the docket. Still time to get it done before Adepticon.
I also might add that I have two armies in the studio for sale: Dragons of Moloch (chaos) and Lions Rampant (pushing, I think, 3500 pts).
Ooooh! And in other HUGE news, the L2 Urban Tau I put up on youtube recently are for sale… the giant 3,000 pointer. That’s on the block for half price: $1150. If you do the math, it’s like $850 worth of models. First come, first served.
http://www.bluetablepainting.com/view_gallery.php?galleryID=2033
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QppOOCDaBZ0
Here’s what’s in it:
Tau Infantry L2 x88
Stealth Suits L2 x12
Drones L2 x32
Battle Suits L2 x19
Tau Tanks L2 x6
>> Extra Weapons L2 x36 (magnetized)
>> Extra Turrets for Tanks L2 x3 (magnetized)
Be sure to email me first if you’re interested, to be sure I still have it.
I do plan on spending about three more hours on it, just checking for rough spots.
Tuesday February 12 2008
Hey all, I had an enormous day today. It was insane. I don’t think I barely scratched my Inbox. So, hold tight, I will be able to catch up tomorrow!
I did shoot some footage around 10pm. We stayed until midnight and it still wasn’t all done. More to come.
Daddy Wants One
I would love to get my hands on one of these. Yes, I know they are majorly already out of print, but if you have one and would be willing to part with it, let’s talk.
This is a limited edition Dark Heresy book by the way. You can contact me at bluetablepainting@gmail.com
Saturday February 9 2008 My Cup Runneth Over
Picture: a custom Wave Serpent I painted in 2000. This is one of my much, much earlier armies. I was very proud of it. In fact, my new year’s resolution for 2000 was to collect every army published at the time. I made it to eight armies. Some days I would get up at 3am to get in a few hours of work before heading out to my job (I would leave around 4:30am for the hour-long commute). I can’t believe I did that for years on end. Anyhoo, see the other pics here.
Warning: almost no game-related material today.
Today was a perfect and wonderful day. I spent some time this afternoon working with one of our rookie painters (which is funny, because a “rookie” painter at BTP is what would be considered an experienced hobbyist painter). That was very rewarding.
Having wrapped up almost all the loose ends at the studio, I left for Wal Mart with my wife. But by the time we got there, the boys were asleep so I just stayed in the car with them. But by the time my wife got out, they were awake and wanted to go inside. Wal Mart is a magical place; wall to wall junk you mostly don’t need. But they have a lot of good staple items at decent prices…
After that we went to a ward Valentines Day activity (for the Elders Quorum) and that was awesome! My wife and I realized what a great marriage we have. It’s because we both have short memories and don’t remember offenses more than ten minutes. I often say it’s what it must be like if two mentally retarded people got married. It’s like “what were we fighting about? I don’t remember either. Say, let’s grab some milk and cookies and go watch TV.”
The kids got some late Christmas presents from their grandma including some slide whistles for the bathtub (they make tones according to how much water is in them) and the kids had a groovy old time with those. When all three of them are in the tub I call it “kid soup” and joke that I’m going to chop up some carrots and potatoes for the stew. And the water does look like a disgusting stew when they are done.
Now on to the good part: I got about a quater the way through the Dark Heresy book. It reminds me of old school RPGs what with all the charts and rolling. I’m eager to run an adventure, but I know how irresponsible that would be. Well, we’ll see.
Tau "Thunderbolt from the Heavens" Army List and Tactics
Here’s an interesting list for Tau. I think this would be very flexible and fun to play. Thanks go to a BTP client for this one:
Army:
2x 12 fire warriors with pulse carbines (24 total.)
2x 12 fire warriors with pulse carbines (24 total.)
1 crisis suit commander, positional relay and twin linked missile pods, body guard with 2 crisis suits with targeting aray and twin linked missile pods.
3xsquads of 3 crisis suits with targeting aray and twin linked missile pods
Commander farsight with 7 crisis suit body guard (each with twin linked plasma rifle and shield generator.)
3 broad sides with smart missile system and targeting aray, shas’vre with target lock, shield drones, and blacksun filter.
Army deploys with broadsides claiming a good lain of fire, the fire warriors taking up defensive positions around the broad sides, and the 3 man crisis suit commander and body guard hiding behind something.
Turn one, broad sides pick off up to 2 targets with divided fire. Fire warriors keep their heads down, commander and company fire 6 twin linked missiles at whatever the broadsides didn’t kill. They use their move to get in line of sight for their target, then use their jump jet move to get back behind cover.
turn 2, repete, accept that now Farsight’s unit comes in on a 2 up deep striking and unleashes 2 bs 5 plasma shots and the rest of the unit gets off 14 twin linked plasma rifle shots if they can do so within 12 inches.) Pretty much, what ever they shoot at dies.
Turn three, farsight moves to start exterminating units, broadsides continue to plug armor and big infintry, missile pod commander continues to snipe, in addition the three units of 3 each crisis suits all come in on a 3+ from deep strike (unleashing 18 twin linked str 7 bs 4 ap 4 shots at range 36.)
Continue shooting (the crisis suits using hit/run or pop up from around tarain to avoid return fire) until there’s nothing left of the enemy.
Fire warriors can pin with their carbines, or use them to pick off smaller units before charging them to chump block the broad sides.
Editor’s Note: This army would cost about $1100 to do from A-Z appearing on your doorstep magically in about thirty days. If you did it at L2, it would be more like $900.
Friday February 8 2008
Picture: one of my favorite Lizardmen color schemes; an oldie but goodie from BTP! See the others.
I played a game this morning with a friend of mine.
The following projects are currently under the brush and should be done in the next seven days:
- Tzeentch 01 JS
- Necrons 01 TA
- Witch Hunters 01 JD
- Amazons! GT rush
- Empire 05 JM
- Emperors Children 03
- Daemonhunters 01 BC
- Imperial Guard 02 RF
- Eldar 01 TB fixes (magnets are in!)
- Urban Tau 01 AF
- Menoth 01 JR
- Fantasy Figures 02 PM fixes
- Vampire Counts 01 JC
- Dwarfs 01 AS
I went up to the local game shop with my kids tonight and picked up Dark Heresy. Good grief, that system is insanely complicated. Good grief, I mean come on. It reminds me a bit of Traveller. Anyone remember that one. It’s already out of print. Just a few copies floating around. You can still get them on eBay.
Oh, and the following projects are in Assembly and should be done in the next five days:
- Road Warrior Orcs Prep
- Tyranids 01 RK bf
- Orcs 01 JE
- Deathskullz 01 PM need squig
- Dwarfs 01 KO
- Fantasy Figures 02 SJ
- Biel Tan 01 AS
- Bretonnians 01 JE
- Cygnar 01 CG
Thursday, February 7 2008 Feeling Blue
Picture: an Ultramarines Vindicator. See the rest here.
My day started at 2:30am. I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep. So, I finished up posting the high elf display videos.
I crashed around 4:30am. Then up again at 7:00am to get Kenna off to school. I did the whole thunder run so Tamie could sleep in. Then I came home, almost cleared out the inbox, nearly. Then off to the local barber with my six-year-old son. This was an old school barber-pole-barber-shop with straight razors and neck-powder. After “Megan” finished trimming our manly heads of hair, we heard the sad news that Romney had dropped out of the race. I met several distraught Mormon-folk throughout the day.
After dropping the boy off at school, I headed into the studio where Heather was finishing up a huge High Elf army.
Then I headed to the MTC to translate Spanish. When I was done with my duties I headed out to the residence halls just to wander around. As I walked past the corner of a building, I saw a snow-covered pine tree where I had taken a picture of myself in 1990 before I headed to my two year mission to Chile. That sudden memory was like a lightning bolt. The MTC is quite a magical place.
Translating is tough work because you have to listen to someone in English in real time with no breaks. I’m getting a little better every week.
Man, it was a slow news day. Well, I’ve got a game tomorrow. I really wanted to use my IG, but I think I’m going to whip out the Dragons of Moloch. We’re playing a 1500 point game. The mission is indeterminate.
Tuesday, February 5 2008
Picture: an Imperial Guard Sentinel, ready for action. This is what I painted for Paint Fest January 2008. And yes I’m proud of them.
Hear my expert testimony.
See them closely.
Buy them.
As I write this I’m eating a chocolate chip cookie, drinking a glass of ice cold milk and watching Scrubs with my sweetheart.
First thing I did this morning was head to the polls and cast my vote.
Today at the studio was insane. At one point there were like eight people all crowded in. It was great. There is a great Esprit de Corps. I got to help a rookie with a Tau army, and that turned out very well.
The following projects are going under the brush this week:
Tzeentch 01 JS
Necrons 01 TA
Witch Hunters 01 JD (bitz order shorted one Exorcist– working on it)
Amazons! GT rush (sorry, I really wanted to get them done in three days)
Empire 05 JM (please contact me- I have a question)
Road Warrior Orcs 01 RT (some delays with move trays)
Daemonhunters 01 BC
Imperial Guard 02 RF
Lord of the Rings 01 GM
Vampire Counts 01 JC
Menoth 01 JR (turning out very well, a bit different than the original idea, though)
Fantasy Figures 02 PM fixes
Dwarfs 01 AS
Eldar 01 TB fixes (needs magnetization of dowels)
Aaaand what about last week? It was chock full of HUGE projects.
High Elves 03 DL (finishing up then working on the display board tomorrow)
Orks 01 MP (waiting on paaaaaayment)
Ultramarines 01 JD (due in by Thursday)
Urban Tau 01 AF (delayed a week for some extra attention)
Skaven 01 TB (underway)
As usual, if you don’t see your project, and you’re wondering what’s going on, by all means contact me.
What’s on my mind? The last thing I thought I would ever be thinking about: Imperial Guard. I got those Sentinels up and running and I just want to play a game. It’s been too long. I think Ren is working on some Guard, too. I think he might need a good smack-down. He brought them in today for me to do a little interview, but we didn’t have time (did I mention it was insane– it was like a ten hour sprint, eat your lunch with one hand and type with the other type of crazy).
I’m expecting some of the Orks in tomorrow from assembly and that means that I can start in on them. I’ve settled on Goffs, though I will probably include more red.
Tau 01 AF- We took the project in a slightly different direction by adding battle damage and weathering. I think it looks good. I’m stoked.
I am shutting down the terrain room for six weeks. I don’t think that affects anything.
Are you Ready for the Tuesday of Destiny?
Twenty-four states are scheduled to hold caucuses or primary elections on Super Tuesday, 2008. Blue denotes Democratic-only caucuses (3), Red denotes Republican-only contests (2), and Purple represents states holding elections for both parties (19).
Are you in a state that is holding its Primary tomorrow?
Call 877-766-7285 and someone will look up your status and can tell you where the polling place is.
Good Grief! First religion then politics! Will it never end? I promise there will be some juicy wargamer stuff tomorrow.