Letters Needed for Morning Show
If you have a question you’d like answered on our superlative Morning Show, please email that to bluetablepainting@gmail.com
We’ll pick one or more good ones and give you a shout out (maybe!).
PS- don’t forget questions for Sarah. I’m sure she’d like to get a word in edgewise once in a while.
Paint Fest October 2008
Picture: Imperial Guard chimera, the standard troop transport. See more pics.
My little camera ran out of batteries during Paint Fest today. For those not familiar, this is a chance for BTP artists, and some locals to meet and paint and talk and trade tips.
The day started early. Sarah and I were clearing up some basics at the studio– getting packages going. I brought my young three-year old son with me to give mommy some breathing room for an hour or so. I took him across the street to he gas station store to get some gummy sharks, his favorite. When he’s chawing on one of those, riding up on my shoulders, in the clear morning air, he’s king of the world.
I packed up my paints, some Dark Elves and headed over to Angela’s house. A respectable home in the suburbs, in what used to be farmland on the east edge of town.
Imagine a large dining room with a hardwood floor. There are a half dozen tables set up. One by one, people with food and paints show up. It’s a smorgasbord of different models and projects. Models are passed around, and every now and then pods gather around a particular person to see a new technique or color combination.
We had barbeque: steaks, hamburgers, and hot dogs; and dutch oven potatoes, carrots, and onions. Swilled down with a ton of soda. It’s good american fare. This is lunch, and later, dinner.
Renn is working on his Orks, and they are progressing slow but steady. He is really becoming quite an accomplished painter, too. I told people to bring models down to get pics, so you will likely see some of those later.
As the day lazily winds down, the hostess falls asleep on the couch, and one by one the paint kits are slotted into boxes and bins and hauled out to the car. The night air is icy cold and blowing strong off the himalaya-like mountains. It’s supposed to snow in the valley this weekend.
I made some significant headway on my Dark Elves. Here’s how my list is shaping up:
2x sorceress on dark steed
1x hydra and handlers
19x black guard
15x dark riders
1x hero type on foot
5x cold one knights
1x cold one chariot
1x hero type on cold one
2x reaper bolt throwers
6x harpies (converted flying spider demons)
1x assassin
I think that’s about it. I doubt this is less than 2000 points. We’ve decided to play some Warhammer Fantasy down at the studio. It’s a done deal, I’ve already put it into motion. My army is about a third painted already.
I don’t have any pics, but I really agonized over the color scheme and finally came up with something that worked– pale blue-green almost glowing armor with everything else dark. Today I tried again to use Joseph’s techniques with odd color blending (ie using almost every color without it looking like puke) with a lot more success. Overall, I’m happy with how they look. But it’s hard to tell until the army is all together.
The problem with Dark Elves is that they are… dark. There’s not much opportunity for light/dark contrast. The army tends to all have one value, and there aren’t many options. Hopefully I found a way around that.
I also have a great idea for an Eldar army color scheme. Really off the beaten track but still within the genre. Like the ghost warriors were. I’m trying to scrounge up models right now. No, I’m not going to tell you any more.
Anyway, I have a game set for November 9th with Mike Dunn. It will be 1500 points, Dark Elves vs Orcs, every last model painted up real nice. Today, we all went around and claimed armies. That’s the best part, if you ask me.
I remember in 1997 how a few of my 40K buddies came by with grins on their faces and a Warhammer Fantasy book. I claimed High Elves, and the others Undead and Skaven. That was the beginning of the troubles (eg starting my game shop, up to present day).
I thank you, noble reader, for giving our company support and goodwill. I have no illusions: it is by the good graces of our kind clients that we exist from month to month. My heart and strength go out to young readers, whose minds are passing through electrical storms. Keep your chin up!
Breaking News
Don’t get too excited.
I’ve decided to work up a Warhammer Fantasy army: Dark Elves. It’s going to happen. I plan on putting out the first few units during Paint Fest.
Little known fact: most people at the studio have a Warhammer Fantasy army in some stage of completion.
Still a few slots open (just two) for the first week (or two) of November. I’m trying to get those rounded out.
I’ll be playing against some Ultramarines this weekend. Paint Fest is Friday, I’m excited about that.
Tuesday October 7 2008
Picture: a Great Gnarloc by Forge World. See more pics.
For those that might care, here is the day…
I awoke at 2:30am. Griffin was up and about his nocturnal shenanigans, wondering aloud who had come into his room and poured water on him. Of course, this was because he finally passed out (figuratively speaking, for those of you who can’t tell when I’m using hyperbole) at 8pm and we being tired of his monkeying around just put him into bed without letting him take a leak first. He had shed all his wet clothes and put on a small baby blanket, his hair like Jack N. having a bad hair day. So, he finally went back to bed and I fell into a fitful sleep until 6:30am.
Tamie’s progressing well with the pregnancy. She’s “up” again, which is nice. Only 10 weeks or so left. I am worried of course about saving up the money needed for the birth home, on top of getting everything else ready. Children are like jewels in the crown of deepened love.
Once at the studio, I found Sarah busily typing away. We’re both early risers, so we’re usually there hours before any of the artists (but not before the accountants!). That way things are all ready by the time they show up. There was a flurry of activity. Brigh left a little early, coming down with a cold. Angela isn’t doing well, either. But everyone sticks with it and makes things happen. That’s professionalism.
I am booking projects for November, ready to take your call or query. I got my inbox pretty much cleared today, which is a good feeling.
Once home, I found my family in the living room around Kids Monopoly. Imagine playing a board game with a spider monkey crawling all over. That’s what it’s like with a three year old. This was our Family Home Evening. Pretty sweet.
I think the gates of Heaven should be replaced by the door frame of my house, because that is what I feel like when I get home. It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime trip to have the kids at this age and I’m enjoying every minute of it.
The only worry I have at this moment is getting projects booked. It’s the nature of the beast, really, I don’t think it will ever end. And not so much for myself, but I like to keep the staff busy. I think everyone is on edge about the apocalyptic doomsaying about global financial meltdown. I feel completely at peace about the matter. After listening to General Conference multiple times, all my worries have been laid to rest.
Did you know that Brigham Young was indicted for treason? The Federal Government has been the cause of endless anguish throughout the centuries. I was reading about the Utah War today. good stuff.
When I hear about this “credit crisis” I just want to laugh. If all the banks disappeared tomorrow, that would be the best thing to happen to the whole Earth. Like passing an enormous tapeworm. A business doesn’t need credit to make payroll. You just need to get money, plan ahead, and balance the checkbook, and make sure there’s money in the bank.
It would hurt for a while, but things would balance out.
Interest… payments… put a damper on business growth. Debt is bad. It doesn’t help. You can’t get something for nothing.
Various Deals and Armies
Picture: a Monk by Reaper. This was one of my much, much earlier models and I was always pleased about how he turned out.
I’m still booking projects for November. Now’s a great time to get that started.
Here’s a brief overview of various deals and things I have going on:
- Ork army (about 1500 points of various figures- get a good deal on cost of models; uh, I’m not even sure what’s in there right now)
- Studio Imperial Guard army (over 3000 points, normally $2600, now $1800) see below for details in a video
- Talos Nids studio army (1000 points of L2 Tyranids for $289) see below for details in video
- Dragons of Moloch studio army (2200 pts of Chaos Space Marines for $950) see some pics here. Some.
- Trollbloods (half off on materials if you commission them– see below for details)
- Lizardmen (40 skinks, 1 Salamander/handlers, 4 skink heroes from my personal stash in yellow and turquoise, L3 for $199)
- Horde of Goblins (80 various goblins from my personal stash, L2.5 for $329 that’s $4 each)
- Emperors Hawgs (at least 2000 points of fast attack marines, in a leeegal list, super deal on cost of models if you commission them– White scars most likely)
Trollbloods are as follows:
1x box champions
5x longriders
1x Earthborn Dire Troll
2x Thumpers
1x Winter Troll
Cost for materials: $125 (this is the reduced price)
Cost for Assembly $110
Choose one for painting:
Cost for painting at L4: $360
Cost for painting at L3: $260
Cost for painting at L4 with Artistic License: $320
Cost for painting at L3 with Artistic License: $230
They need a Warlock of course, and maybe some fleshing out.
Check this out, Brigh made this for an oddball piece, but I thought this sort of thing would make awesome Wraiths for an Vampire Counts army. We’re doing up a few just for kicks (use in D&D game).
Fire, Hate, and Darkness
Picture: a model NOT painted by BTP, but by “snotling”. See the rest of the army here.
I found this great Chaos Dwarf site and came away completely inspired. This post is to pitch the idea of making a commissioned chaos dwarf army.
I’ve always been a fan of Chaos Dwarfs, a warhammer fantasy army that is little-seen and insanely hard to create.
The original pewter models are discontinued. You can’t even get them via bitz order. They are gone, gone. Even very rare to see them on eBay. But there are a few devout who will create them from scratch, sculpting and base plastics. This is the way I would do them. I’ve got a few guys on staff that are perfectly capable of doing the needed sculpting.
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I am supremely confident that we can do work of the calibre you see on the above-mentioned site (with our own techniques and twists, of course). For example, the Bull Centaurs are a tricky proposition, but I feel confident we could get them out of these “Longriders” by privateer press.
This is a start. This project is not likely to be less than $2000-3000 for everything included. What I’m talking about here is to make a masterwork army. If you’d like to make some inroads here, just email me at bluetablepainting@gmail.com with your army composition and ideas and we’ll get something unique created.
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Serious inquiries only!
Sunday October 5 2008 General Conference
Today was general conference, which I like because we get to stay at home. We record it an watch at our leisure throughout the day.
It has been raining on and off the last few days and today the clouds broke and the sun made pools of water glitter. On the near and looming mountains, the rainclouds tenuously clung with their cotton-like fingers, then let loose to flee into the distant west.
I took two walks with the boys last night, in the rain, with our hoods drawn tight, Jonah poking around in the flowing gutter for worms, and Griffin on my shoulders with the flashlight beam dancing about our path.
And I took another walk this morning, inhaling deeply rain-cleansed morning air.
During the course of general conference the various things plaguing my mind were completely laid to rest. I feel a deep and abiding sense of peace. I know now what I should do.
As many of you know, I am sort of in a “rage against the machine mode”, but now I think I am seeing more clearly: I should calmly go about my business and make sure my own life is right. Win the war, so to speak.
For any that care to look them up, the most meaningful talks (for me) were by Boyd K. Packer and Thomas S. Monson (see link above).
Saturday October 4 2008 Dark Pact
Picture: a Nurglified tank.
Now booking projects for November. Contact me at bluetablepainting@gmail.com for a quote, questions or ideas!
What people most want to know is how much does it cost? You can get a la carte pricing here.
However, you can get a ballpark really easy: an army costs between $0.50 and $1.00 per point. Quality, army type and a ton of other factors can make it go higher or lower. So, a 1,000 point army usually costs $500-1000. That is for everything included.
If you provide your models it’s about $0.40 to $0.70 per point. So, $400-700 to assemble and paint a 1000 point army.
If you provide your models assembled, it’s about $0.25 to $050 per point just for painting. So, $250 to $500 usually to paint a 1000 point army. This is usually the amount of money your army cost to begin with.
This is only meant as a guide to get a ballpark estimate. It doesn’t work for smaller armies than 1000 points. Email me for an exact quote.
You can get the price down to the lower end by a multitude of specials that I have going:
- Save $0.50 per model (about 7%) on painting by a run of identical models 50+
- Tank factory (discount on 10+ runs of tanks)
- Artistic License (give us control over your basing and color scheme is 10% off on painting)
- Level 2 (basic paint job is 30% off on painting cost)
- Combine AL and L2 (35% off on painting)
- Let me pick your army! (extra 5% off on cost of materials)
- Trade in models to bring the cost down (Warning! I don’t offer much!)
Basically, if you aren’t too picky you can get your army pretty inexpensively.
On the other hand, you can get the price up by:
- Having us do the models at a higher level (50% more on painting cost to increase all Levels by ONE)
- Do loads of conversions and sculpting
- Make a display board
- Magnetize loads of options
In short, Blue Table is extremely flexible. I really want to help you get your army painted and on the table.
The white horde from Primer Mountain. If you know someone with two armies that he hasn’t painted for years, there’s no reason he couldn’t have had us whip them out at L2. It’s easy as pie to get a commission set up.
Last idea: a lot of times you can get an army reallly cheap on eBay that is already assembled. You can send it to the studio, allow us to do a little refurbishment and paint it up. This can be a very, very inexpensive alternative.
Like this Tyranid Army. We could paint that up for $800 (you pick everything, painted wargamer standard L3), $600 (L3 but we pick color scheme), or $490 (L2 and we pick color scheme). And I might add that’s one huge tyranid army, probably pushing at least 2500 pts.
Or this Insanely Huge Tau Army. What makes these such good deals is that they are already assembled.
Another day is passed…
I woke first in the household this morning. It was raining. So, I put on my hooded black coat and went out for a walk. I grew up in Oregon. I love the rain. My mind is clear when the clouds are overhead, but today my mind was distracted with money and business. It’s a constant burden. I wish I had peace. But now the only choice is to find peace and strength while the shells are whizzing overhead.
It’s general conference this weekend, and we have it on all the radios and recording it on TV.
We finished up our climactic D&D session today. Raining outside, chinese food, good background music and good friends for some D&D is really a bit of paradise. It was the climactic battle at the end of the horned hold against a drow priestess. It was pretty swell. Only one casualty, though. We have a great dedicated group, all workers at BTP. We have sort of a dream D&D game: always tons and tons of new miniatures (all my personal stash) and great terrain. And each player is an accomplished modeller and miniatures painter, so every character has a fabulous painted figure.
Mike’s Warlock, Damakos, died hidously, swarmed by two Nephilim demons. I’m going to start dumping my home brew D&D stuff on the website in case anyone is interested.
Once home I cradled the lovely faces of my children for a moment, to look at how beautiful they are and we ate the rest of the chinese food (dumplings and sweet/sour chicken). Then the afternoon session of General Conference (link below).
Insight: I need to get a planner. I used to plan out my day a lot better, especially as a missionary. Now, I just sort of take things as they come and try to get my Inbox clear at the end of the day. It’s worked pretty well so far, but I think that I could make the business and my family life a lot better through planning.