Gaming 102: Improving your game (tactica)

Warhammer 40k Tactica

So, you have amassed an 40k army, and played a few games with it. Yet, you are struggling against some of the more experienced players. How do you step up your game? How do you make an army list that is competitive? Hopefully this post will allow you to make that next step.

Each army has a many, many different units to chose from, but some of them are... awful. Others are ok, and  there are some that can be a foundation for a great army. Usually, when regarding the usefulness of a unit, it will be referred to as:

-"Competitive"- This unit performs well for it's intended purpose, whatever that may be. It's positives outweigh it's negatives, and it is a unit that can perform well in tournaments if used correctly.

-"Semi-Competitive"- This unit may perform well against certain armies, but poorly against others. While not as good overall as "competitive" units, they may be useful in tournaments.

-"Casual"- This unit will probably not contribute positively to your army. It could be too expensive, too weak, or have too many negative special abilities. It also may be that there is an alternative unit that performs similarly, that is cheaper or stronger. These units should only be taken in special circumstances, like when playing against close friends.

Sometimes determining what category a given unit falls into is relatively easy- like when you can tell it is complete garbage or super awesome. Other times, it takes several games, putting that unit in situations to prove it's worth, for it to be correctly categorized. You should also note that these are only opinions, and depending on how you use that unit tactically, your evaluation can differ from those given by other players.

Creating a unit breakdown of everything in a given codex takes a lot of hard work, experience and knowledge. For a single codex, this could take weeks/months of playing games and analyzing outcomes. Therefore, I will be creating a list of Tactical articles that I have found and deemed acceptable. Here they are:

Grey Knights Tactica
Imperial Guard Tactica
Chaos Space Marine Tactica (not completely finished, but still very good)
Dark Eldar Tactica
Necron Tactica
Space Marine Tactica
Tyranids Tactica
Oks Tactica
Sisters of Battle Tactica
Tau Tactica (Only goes over changes since 5th edition)
Dark Angels Tactica


Most of the above links are from DakkaDakka. If I could not find decent ones there, I searched elsewhere. Some of the newest 6th Edition codexes aren't up here (Daemons, Dark Angels, Eldar) because they are so recent, nobody has had the time to write up a decent tactica for them yet. I will post they as they are available.

These articles are an invaluable resource. I highly recommend reading the one for your army, and the others if you have the time. It's in the same category as reading the codexes for the other armies: Basically, know your enemy.

These tactica serve another important purpose: knowing which models to buy. Instead of buying every model for the whole army (which would cost a fortune), you can create two or three competitive army lists with different specialities. Using those lists, you can then buy only the models needed to create them (saving you a bundle). It also saves you the time and effort of painting those models that will never be a sucessful part of your army.

I hope this has been very helpful to you all. Be sure to comment with suggestions, corrections, or other random tidbits of information.

Gaming 101: What you need

I have already posted once about gaming, and some of the things I will go over will be somewhat similar. I will try to make this as helpful as possible though.

What you need(Essentials):

-Your army- This is pretty much a given.

-Your army list(s)- A list of all the units you will be taking for a given battle. Having a clearly defined army before you start the game is essential, especially if you are using proxies. Proxies are models that are used in place of other models for one reason or another. I occasionally use my Chaos Daemon furies in place of Chaos Warp Talons, because I don't own any Warp Talon Models. An army list makes sure both you and your opponent are completely clear on what rules/weapons your models have.

Below is a screenshot of one of my recent army lists. It wasn't that great, so I made others, but this one is the most organized. You can see the point distribution for each of my units, as well as their wargear and special rules. The rules are defined on the right side, so I don't have to check the Rulebook every time I want to use that unit. This style of list has been extremely helpful, and I would recommend this way to any player regardless of experience.

-The Big Rule book (BRB)- This is, in my opinion, the most important thing that you bring to a game (besides your army of course). There will no doubt be times when a dispute of rules comes up, and you need to come to an agreement. There is no way you can memorize everything in there, so it's best to bring it along. The traditional rule book is $75 on Games Workshop, but you can always find it cheaper in other places (a used copy on Ebay will probably be cheapest). Also, a condensed version can be found in the Dark Vengeance set (I haven't seen/read it, so I'm not sure how thorough it is)

-Codex for for army/armies- Everything that applies to the Rule Book applies to this as well. Especially at the beginning, you will be constantly checking your unit's stats and special rules. You should also carry along the codex of your allied army(s), and possible the codex of the army you are facing (if you know it, and own the codex).

 

-Dice-  In a dice-based game, you definitely need some dice. You need more than just a few, though. My suggestion is to buy one of the games workshop dice boxes, which also comes with a scatter dice. Also, having some differently colored/sized dice is very useful for attacks that have different characteristics. Having a dice bag to keep them all together might also be helpful.

-Templates- In Warhammer 40k, some weapons use templates of different sizes and shapes for their attacks. There are three different templates which can be purchased, or cut out of cardboard (or another like material).

-Tape Measure- Nothing fancy, just needs to have a range of over 72". That is usually the longest distance you  will be working with in the game.

Other Recommended Accessories

-Carrying Case- This should probably be in the essentials, because it is so important. If you plan on doing any serious gaming, you need a carrying case. Otherwise, the trip to the hobby shop could leave your models broken or with chipped paint, which is a total downer. For those of you who don't want to fork up the $60 for the cheaper of the GW ones, you can always make one. I made one out of a cardboard box and some packing foam. There are also plenty of tutorials online on how to make your own. Here's one. Here is another using magnets (very interesting).

-Other Items- As I am almost positive I have forgotten something, or several thing, please let me know if you can think of them. As always, I appreciate the comments. They let me know what you guys think, because ultimately, I'm doing this for you.

Sometime soon, I will be doing some changes on the blog, trying to make it easier to navigate. Also, keep an eye out for more sculpting posts. I have sculpted many things since my last post, but none of them are worthy of showing anyone. One of my current projects is semi-promising, so we will see about that.

Getting into Gaming (Warhammer 40k)

Before now, I have been mostly fixated on the painting and modeling portion of Warhammer 40k. However, I have recently taken the plunge into the gaming portion. I went to my local hobby shop, watched a couple games, and then played 2 games with a friend of mine. From my little experience, I have just a couple tips for someone wanting to start gaming

(Pictures are from my local hobby shop. They are just to show what a game/game board can look like.)

First, you should read the rule book. I know it's huge, but only the first quarter of it or so is rules. Borrow it from a friend, and read it once through. If you are very sure that you are going to be sticking with the hobby for a long time, you should buy one. A rule book is a necessity for playing the game.

Second, just going and watching a game can be extremely helpful, especially if the people you are watching are new and learning the game themselves. Veteran players tend to remember most rules from memory, and an onlooker might not even realize what is happening. Still, any game you watch can be a learning experience. You get to see some of the rules in action, and you get a better understanding of some of the basic concepts (assault phases, line of sight, etc.).

Third, find someone to actually play a game with. It can be as small as one squad against another, but this will help you the most when it comes to fully understanding the rules. You will make some mistakes, but that's ok. You can play against another beginner, reading the rules as you go, or an advanced player who will coach you on the rules as you go.

The rules can be pretty confusing at first, so if I were to try and help someone understand the game, I would start playing with abridged rules, and then slowly adding more and more complexity, finally ending with playing the game in it's entirety. This is what I mean by abridged rules:

Abridged rules(for novice players learning the game):

(These are mostly to be read by the experienced player who is teaching the newer player. Not everyone agrees with me about the use of these rules to teach someone how to play.)

-Condense the game into just the three phases: Movement, Shooting, and Assault. Make an emphasis when ending one phase and beginning another
-Play without objectives, complex terrain (such as mysterious or dangerous terrain), missions, reserves, warlord traits. allies, etc.
-Play without leadership tests/morale checks, physic powers, multiple assaults, and other concepts that may be confusing to new players.
-Play without using special rules (very novice players). This means you will basically only be using your units' stats (WS, BS, S, T, etc.) and it's basic weapons. You will not be using rules like Hatred, Hammer of Wrath, Gets Hot, Instant Death, etc. You can gradually add these rules in as you see fit, maybe explaining them as you play, but not using them (i.e. saying, " In this instance, I would get to re-roll this die because I have Hatred").

The purpose of the abridged rules is to introduce the new player to the fundamentals: understanding the charts in the back of the rulebook (To hit, to wound charts) as well as other basic rules (such as armor pierce, armor penetration, vehicle rules, etc).

 

I hope to share my gaming adventures with you. I will still be posting about painting and modeling, as well.
Feel free to share any thoughts or comments you have, about this post or the blog in general. I get lonely when nobody comments... :(

Warhammer 40k Basic Modeling Tips

Useful Modeling Tools, Tricks, etc.

Pinning

Metal pieces sometimes do not hold together with just superglue. They need to be pinned ( have a metal rod inserted into both pieces for added support). This is usually done by drilling a small hole into both pieces and securing the pin into each hole. This can be done with either super glue or green stuff, if the hole is big enough. The drilling is usually done with a pin vise, but can also be done with a low-power drill or dremel tool (be extremely careful if you do these, as you can easily ruin your model).
Pinning can be extremely helpful with metal miniatures. I have seen it done with plastic miniatures as well, but only to secure them to a cork base while priming/painting.

Pictured to the right is basically all you need to get started with pinning: a pice of a paper clip ( or some other thin, metal rod), a pin vice and an appropriatly sized drill bit.

Gluing

I know this is a pretty simple concept, but it deserves some explaining. There are basically two types of glue: super glue and plastic glue. Simply enough, you use plastic glue for plastic (and resin/Citadel Finecast) models.

For super glue, you just need to find a decent brand and use it. It does not need to be specific to Warhammer/Modeling. Some generic brands are ok, but I have yet to find a very good super glue.

 For plastic glue, it is a little more difficult to find a good brand. First off, the GW plastic glue is complete crap. Just throw it in the garbage. Some other modeling companies make better plastic glues, but I find that it is actually "polystyrene cement" that works the best. People always have their own opinions on what the best brands are. You can do some reasearch on some gaming forums and decide for yourself.

Acrylic medium

Until recently, I had been using water to thin my paints. Although this worked well for a long time, I have moved on. I bought some liquitex Matt medium online, and it has changed the way I paint. I highly recommend it.

Matt medium basically thins the paint, without making it run like a wash (stay in recesses). I will be using it all the time from now on. I also use it sort of like a glaze medium in some cases.

Green stuff

I already went into detail on the uses of green stuff (see 100 Hours - sculpting first post), so I will just briefly describe it now. Green stuff is an epoxy putty that can be used by games to fill gaps between model pieces as well as sculpt new parts to a figure, whether it is a symbol on a backpack or a new body part. It is definitely a useful tool for advanced hobbyist to get acquainted with.

Pictured to the right is my green stuff. I found the tubes to be much more cost effective than the strips. Again, this is all explained in my earlier Green Stuff post.

Magnetizing

This is for very advanced hobbyist, and is usually applied for people who play in tournament. The idea is that instead pf having a different model for every available armory option, you can havr one model with interchangeable parts. People magnetized parts of their models so that they can be switched when they modify their army. As an example, they may switch out a terminator's combi-bolter for a heavy flamer in their army list, and instead of using an entirely new model they can just remove the arm the the combi-bolter and replace it with a heavy flamer arm. Magnets can be used on any number of models, but they are usually used thing like tanks and elite squads, not so much on basic infantry.

Magnetizing is done by drilling a hole, the size of the magnet, in either side of what you want to change out. Magnets are placed into either hole (making sure opposite polarities are facing each other, or else you need to dig them out and start over), and glued into place. You can place a magnet in each part you want to change out, making sure that the polarities work out as such. Usually, rare earth metal magnets are used, because they are the only ones that have the strength to hold the pieces together.

Miscellaneous

There are a few tools that can be used for the same tasks. In order to remove models from their sprues, you can use sprue cutters (more likely you will find then as flush cutters) or a hobby knife (X-acto makes good ones of these)
In order to remove mould lines, you can use the dull, reverse side of a hobby knife blade, needle files, or something like a GW mould line remover.
Picking up a decent set of needle files is recommended, they come in handy a lot, and don't cost more than $20 or so.
There are a bunch of other tools you can find in various places, often disguised as other craft tools.

My opinion is, buy tools that you need, don't find buy tools and then make up a need for them. This hobby is too expensive as it is without purchasing useless tools all the time.

Learning More

If you read something here that was confusing, or you are interested in learning more, post a comment and I will try and help out the best I can. For some extra reading, there are some interesting posts of DakkaDakka (a gaming forum) that talk about tools, and methods to better use them. Here are two of my favorites:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Useful_painting_and_modelling_advice

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/The_Toolbox%21

The Painting and Modeling forum in an invaluable too. Always search the forum about a topic before you ask, especially if you would be starting a new thread. If you do join DakkaDakka (I highly recommend it to all gamers), my username is dmerr187, you can friend my if you want to.

Obviously, I don't know everything. I am only a moderate painter/modeler, so I still have a lot to learn. If you read something here that is wrong, or maybe you just disagree, say something! I don't want to be spreading false information if I can help it.

100 Hours - Painting: Dark Eldar Wyches

I have a bunch of discontinued Dark Eldar Wyches from my first army. Recently, I decided to strip them and start over. To the right is my first of the batch, primed and ready to paint.

Below is my WIP photo, as well as my finished project.In the first photo, I painted a basecoat of Dwarf Flesh on the skin, Boltgun Metal on the metal parts, and Regal Blue on the blue sections. I used a flesh wash, and then repainted the skin with Dwarf Flesh. The photo below is right after the wash (I ended up washing again with a thicker wash). I highlighted the skin with a 50/50 mix of Dwarf Flesh and Bone White. The armor was highlighted with Ultramarines Blue. I painted the eyes with just white and black.

This was an extremely simple Wych tutorial/paint scheme, and is more just so I could get some practice painting skin. Overall it went pretty well, but I will be making some changes to my skin colors soon. Anyone with with tips on painting faces/skin, let me know! It's wicked hard.

Painting time elapsed: 1 hour
Learned: A little about painting skin, but I have some work to do on that.
Painting Time to go: 93 hours

100 Hours Painting: My First Ork

My First Ork/First Painting project

In this post, I will detail my latest painting project, which is my first project back from break. I think it went pretty well, and it is one of my best models yet. I will go through my painting process with photos, explain what I did at each point, and recap what I learned.

Side Note --- I work on miniatures one at a time. This is definitely not the fastest way to paint them. I just like to learn from my mistakes as I go, so I don't end up with a bunch of models that all look bad from the same mistake. Also, because I am not playing Warhammer 40k, I have no tournaments or deadlines to meet, so I can take as much time as I need.

The model (pictured above left) is the Ork model I will be working on. It has been assembled and primed. The priming job was not great, as my spray paint was very close to empty, so I touched up the model with black and let it completely dry before doing anything. Also above is the paint, palate and brush I used. The paint is Reeves acrylic craft paint, and the brush is a Robert Simmons White Sable size 3 brush. A lot of my brushes are White Sable, and it is my favorite type of brush. Another reason for the palate picture is to show the consistency of the paint. I know it is very difficult to see, but the craft paint comes out extremely thick. I thinned it with plain tap water until it would no longer obscure details on the model.

This is my basecoat of Caliban Green on the Ork's face. There is no need to be conservative with the paint, as long as it is thinned properly. Don't worry if you get your base coat everywhere, you will be painting over those other areas later.

The above left picture shows my next layer, which is about a 1:1 mix of Caliban Green and Moot Green. I used it to cover almost all areas, except for the deepest recesses.
The above right picture show the model after it has been washed with Thraka Green mixed with a tiny bit of Nuln Oil. A highlight of Moot Green was then applied to only the most raised edges of the model (some areas on the face, edges of fingers, etc.).

The two above pictures show the painted jacket. It was painted with Codex Grey and Highlighted with a 1:1 mix of Codex Grey and Skull White. The gun and sword have been base coated with Boltgun Metal.

These final four pictures show the model completely finished (besides basing, which will be done later). I skipped a couple steps with the pictures, but I will explain everything. All metal parts, which had previously been painted with Boltgun Metal (also called Leadbelcher) were washed with Nuln Oil and highlighted with Runefang Steel. The straps on his arms and backpack, as well as his boots, were painted with Scorched Brown. His pants were painted with Snakebite Leather, washed with Agrax Earthshade, and highlighted with Kommando Khaki. His teeth and the skull on the end of his sword were done basically the same way as the pants, but with another highlight of Screaming Skull. His eyes were painted with Red Gore. After this was all done, the model was coated with a Matt Varnish.

After that, I just went back and touched up some things. It is by no means perfect, but I am pretty proud of it, especially as my first painting project back.

I learned a couple things too. I should base coat everything first, not just work on one part at a time. I did the Ork skin, then the vest, then the pants, when I should have been working on them simultaneously. I had to sit and wait for some of the washes to dry, because there was nothing else for me to work on. I also learned I need to take better care of my brushes, as one of my favorites is starting to fray! I think I will do a brush-cleaning tutorial soon, even though its pretty straightforward.

These are all the paints that I used for this project. From left to right, it goes : Kommando Khaki, Scorched Brown, Caliban Green, Screaming Skull, Runefang Steel, Boltgun Metal, Thraka Green, Red Gore, Agrax Earthshade, Moot Greene, Snakebite Leather, and Nuln Oil.

These are a mixture of old and new GW paints. To find out the new equivalents to the old paints, look at the Citadel paint conversion chart Here.

Overview:

Painting time elapsed: 6 hours ( I think I could have cut this time down if I wasn't waiting for paint to dry as much.
Learned: Basecoat everything first, take better care of brushes.
Painting Time to go: 94 hours

Tips for Starting Warhammer 40k: Painting Basics 3

Here are just a few more general painting tips, I won't list them in any particular order, and I will definitely add to this list in the future, and if I learn new things.

Paint Thinning

You NEED to thin your paints. The new GW line is supposed to be usable right out of the pot, but I don't agree. Most painters will agree that all paints need to be thinned. What they don't agree on is what to use to thin the paint. Some people use just plain water, while other use things like Future Floor Polish, and homemade concoctions with snake oil and such. For master painter, this might matter, but for beginner, just plain old water should work just fine. Ideally, it should be deionized/distilled water, as some of the added substances in tap water, like chlorine, iron, copper, etc. can affect the pigment in your paint. I haven't really had issues with tap water, but I have never used distilled water, so I can't really comment on that.

Also heavily debated is how much to thin paint. Ratios like 1:1 and 4:3 of water to paint are thrown around, but it really depends on the brand of paint and the application. Drybrushing doesn't usually need to be thinned, but base coats and layers do. Some people say that the paint should be the consistency of skim milk. I think that's a little too much thinning, and again it depends on the brand, color and application of the paint.

So, how much do you thin? Your goal is to find a sweet spot of good coverage with as few coats as possible, while not obscuring detail. As a rule, your paint should not leave streaks, and your base coat should be completely opaque in 2-3 coats. You really just need to practice thinning and eventually you will be able to eyeball a good paint consistency for optimal paint performance. 

Water Pots

As you are painting, you will need to regularly wash off your brush. Try to wash of the paint every 5 minutes or so, maybe even more often, even if you are using the same color again. This prevents paint from drying on the brush itself or at the base of the bristles (which is a guaranteed way to destroy a brush). 

Keeping two or three water pots at your paint station at once is recommended. One is for regular paints, the other for metallic paints, and possibly a third just for thinning paints (you can use a dropper bottle for thinning instead, so you can measure how much you use). Metallic paints contain flakes of aluminum, which make the paint sparkle, for lack of a better word. When you wash your brush with metallic paint into a water pot, the flakes come off with the paint, and can be transferred to other, non-metallic paints if you use the same water. This can lead to your regular colors "sparkling" like metallics, which can make your miniatures look kinda silly.

I try to change my pots every painting session, but sometimes I forget or I am lazy, and do it every 2 or 3 sessions. As long as your colors are not being influence by the water in the pots, you should be fine!

100 Hours Sculpting: First Project

So, a couple weeks ago, I started a project bigger than anything I had ever done before. I converted a Space Marine into a standard bearer, painted it, and then did some freehand painting on the flag. Although it is not technically a sculpt (I started with a full miniature, so it's more of a conversion), I would like to share my technique, as well as some things that I learned using green stuff in this manner for the first time.

Techniques used

The banner was just about the only part of the model that was made of entirely green stuff, but I will not go into too much detail about the process I used. To make the green stuff banner, I used a technique very similar to the one found Here ( Instead of using talc to prevent the green stuff from sticking, I used water. Not a great idea on my part, but I didn't have anything better). I rolled out a ball of green stuff into a sheet, cut out a banner shape using an sharp X-Acto knife, and allowed it to dry in curve position, to simulate it "flowing" like a flag in the wind. The flag handle is just a thinly rolled rod of green stuff as well, which I did just using my hands.

What I Learned

First, I learned to definitely work in stages. Trying to work on/near green stuff that has not dried is a nightmare. My advice is to let a part completely dry before you do anything to the area. In this example, I tried to mix and use all my green stuff at once. I had cut the Space Marine's arms at the joints in order to re-position them, and I did the same with the legs. I attached the limbs in their new positions using green stuff and super glue. Before the green stuff had dried, I tried to attach my already-made green stuff banner to his hand. The whole thing fell apart. I didn't learn from my mistake the first time. I slowly put it back together, and then tried to start painting. Again, everything fell apart. So to sum up my point, you really should wait for

Another example to prove my point is the purity seals. I flattened out a sheet of green stuff and cut out two lines and a small circle for each seal. Then, stupidly, I tried to glue them to the model right away. They ended up looking smushed and disformed. I should have waited for each of them to dry completely before applying them.

Second, I learned to definitely use lubricant. I used water in this example, but I think I will be moving on to something like petroleum jelly next time. When I rolled out the green stuff into a sheet to make the banner and the purity seals, the water underneath the sheet would get displaced, and the putty would still stick.

I (also stupidly) did not take pictures throughout the whole process like I wanted to. I do have pictures of the finished model though. I was generally pleased with the outcome, but now I know a few things that I would do differently.

Overview:

Sculpting time elapsed: 1 hour (not including conversion, painting or putty-drying time).
Learned: Work in stages, wait for putty to fully dry, use a good lubricant.
Sculpting Time to go: 99 hours

My next sculpting project will be a true sculpt ( building up from nothing to make a full miniature). It is a huge step up, and I know I will make a lot of mistakes, but hopefully I will learn a lot as well, and that's the goal.

Tips for Starting Warhammer 40k: Painting Basics 2

So, you have your miniatures all assembled and primed. What to do next? Well, assuming you have some brushes, it's time to talk about paints.

Paints

Starting out buying paints can be a little overwhelming at first. There are so many brands (GW, Reaper, Vallejo, Army Painter) and hundred upon hundreds of colors. Where do you start?

There is no "best paint brand" out there. It really depends on what you're painting and also your own preferences. I mostly use GW (Games Workshop) paints, with a couple Vallejo Game Color and general craft paints mixed in. Many beginners enjoy GW paints because they are specifically tailored to painting citadel miniatures, so you need to do very minimal or no paint mixing, which can be extremely difficult for people just starting out. However, the new GW line has hundreds of colors, which total to about $450. For most of us this is not a realistic option.

Instead, a better option is to buy paints as you need them. This is sometimes more difficult, as won't have the colors you need right away. But when you are starting out, you should only need about 10 colors or so if you choose them well. As I stated in an earlier post, the GW starting paint set is great for this, although you may need to buy some additional colors.

If I were to recommend one paint brand over all others, it would be Vallejo (Game Color and Model Color are similar, I'm not 100% sure on the difference, but I prefer the former). They come in dropper bottles, which makes mixing paints easier (you can count the drops of each color used to recreate later) and they don't dry out. I don't think they have a starter paint set, so you should just buy the paints you really need.

When you have both your army and your color scheme chosen, you need to chose the paints you are going to use. Typically you will need a base color, a shade, a highlight, and a couple various other colors. For an example, I will chose the Dark Angels. Looking at the  Dark Angels color scheme, I can see that the colors are mostly dark green with some red parts as well. I chose a base of a pretty dark green (I used Caliban Green), a shade of Nuln Oil (a GW wash), a highlight of Moot Green mixed with a little bit of Caliban Green, and a few other colors, like Leadbelcher for the metal and Blood Red (now Evil Sunz Scarlet) for some other parts. I completed my entire model with just a few colors. You will need a few more colors to paint more complex models, but you can see the process here. The goal is to spend as little money on paints as possible, because the cost can really add up. 

---Games Workshop Paints---

Even after exploring all the other paint brands out there, many painters chose to use GW paints. There is nothing wrong with that, they are good paints. However, the new GW paint set  can be awfully deceiving. There are 144 paints, and many of them look nearly identical. Unless you have money coming out all bodily orifices, you can't afford to buy them all. Here are a few tips for the new GW paint line:

-   The "Basecoat" and "Layer" paints are almost identical in everything that counts. They can be used interchangeably. 

-    Instead of buying all 4 GW glazes, you can buy a "Glaze Medium", and make a glaze using any of your existing colors.

-    The GW washes are good. You should get at least the brown and black ones (Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade).Washes in general are almost a necessity in your painting arsenal (I will go over what they are, and how to use them, soon).

-     You don't have buy the whole range of one color ( i.e. all the shades of green, there are like 15 of them). You can buy the darkest and lightest of them and mix, like Moot Green and Caliban Green. I use those for just about all my greens, and I can add a little blue to make shades of turquoise.

-      The "Dry" paints can be avoided. They are meant for drybrushing, a technique I will go over soon. They are pretty much just lighter colors of some of the common layer paints. 

-      I haven't tried any of the Citadel "Texture" paints, nor have I heard bad or good things about them. I will do my research and get back to you.

Hopefully, with these tips, you can cut down your paint spending as much as possible. It's usually a good idea to know that you need a specific paint before going and buying it.

---Other Paint Brands---

There are lots of paint brands out there that I haven't tried. If you want to try a brand, don't be afraid. GW and Vallejo aren't necessarily the best, they just happen to be the ones I use and have access to. Sometimes, when you need a very large amount of some color, like for painting tanks, using a cheaper craft paint is the way to go. I usually don't like using certain craft paints, as mine sometimes don't thin well and leave streaks, but I'm sure others are good. Don't be afraid to branch out, but test them out on some practice miniatures first.


Overview: Buy the paints you know you will need. When in doubt, just buy Vallejo paints. I think they're awesome, and I don't even get paid to say that. You can always mix the paints you need using the ones you have, but if you are going to be using one A LOT, just buy that color. Make sure you have a basecoat color, a highlight and a shade color for you army (these are the ones you don't want to have to mix, because you don't want half your army to look one shade off from the other half). Test out paints from lots of brands of some test miniatures.

Tips for Starting Warhammer 40k: Painting Basics 1

Painting Basics

When you're first starting playing Warhammer 40,000 you need to paint your miniatures (that's a given). Most tournaments have rules about painted miniatures (i.e. you need at least a basecoat, or up to 5 colors, etc). Either way, it is always better, in my opinion, to have an army that is fully painted instead of one that is just grey (or primed black).

In this post, I'm going over some basic painting tools and tips. I am breaking this up into several posts so it can be more easily digested.

Paint Brushes

When you start out, you only need a few brushes. if you keep them well maintained. I use only round brushes (the ones of the left column of the picture). The one's that you really need are the following ---

-A large/basecoat brush (Size 3 or 4)
- A standard size brush (Size 1 or 2)
- A detail brush (Size 0 or 2/0)
- Any brush size 0-2, for glue/drybrushing/liquid green stuff (one you don't mind ruining)

Not every company uses this size system. Army Painter and Games Workshop use names, like "Detail" and "Standard/Character". As your painting needs get more complex, you might need some more brushes (like a 3/0 or 4/0 brush for fine detail, or a larger brush for tanks and such).

Brush Maintainence

When you are first starting out, you don't need to worry about any fancy brush cleaners or anything like that. Just follow a few simple rules and you should be fine:

1. Never store your brushes tip-down. Ever. You can store them on their sides, or tips up in a cup or mug.

2. Always clean the paint off your brush. As soon as you are done painting, clean off your brush thoroughly and never let paint dry on it. Also, letting paint get down towards the base of the brush (where all the bristles converge) is bad, so try to only load up paint on the tip of the brush.

3. Try to keep a good tip on all your brushes. A brush is basically useless once it can no longer keep a good tip. If the bristles no longer come to a point at the end, but instead fray in all different directions, the brush should no longer be used for painting, only things like glue and maybe mixing paint.

If you are careful with your brushes, they should last you a long time.

Priming

Every model should be primed (spray painted) before being painted. This allows the paint to stick to the model better, and results in a better overall paint job. Usually, this is done with either black or white, but can be done in other colors (maybe a metal color for Necrons, or a blue for Ultramarines. This can be done with a spray gun, which I will go over much later). Additional coats of paint go on top of this. 

The choice of a white or black priming depends on the color scheme of your model. It's pretty simple: If you have mostly light colors, prime using white. If you use mostly dark colors, use a black primer. It's hard to make light colors cover a dark primer (painting white or yellow over black is very difficult). 

I will go over priming technique, as well as some things to look out for while priming, in a later post.

This has been a very brief introduction to painting, more to follow! Be sure to comment if you found this helpful or have any questions!

100 hours - Sculpting: Green Stuff

Although this is not technically part of my 100 hours diary, I want to take some time to talk about Green Stuff and sculpting miniatures in general. Sculpting has always fascinated me as a hobbyist. Seeing fully sculpted miniatures online, all I could think was "I want to learn how to do that!". So,  a while back, I purchased some Green Stuff, and messed around with it a little, but did not attempt anything major. These picture show what the possibilities are with green stuff, albeit with lots and lots of practice (just so you know, these are not mine, they are pictures of the level of sculpting I wish to accomplish).

Green Stuff Basics

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Green Stuff, aka Kneadatite, it is a two-part epoxy sculpting putty used by many gamers to sculpt miniature and do conversions.

Green stuff is made up of two parts: The Base, which is yellow, and the Hardener, which is blue. It comes in two types: bar and strip form, both shown in pictures below. In both kinds, you create green stuff by mixing equal parts of the blue and yellow until the mixture is uniform. To change the properties pf the mixture, you can experiment using more or less of either color.

Immediately after mixing, green stuff becomes extremely sticky. Working with green stuff requires some kind of lubricant, which can be water, petroleum jelly, oil, spit, or any one of all sorts of things. Green stuff becomes progressively harder, and becomes mostly unworkable in an hour or so. It then takes a full 24 hours to fully harden. This hardening time can be shortened or lengthened depending on the temperature. If you wish to shorten the hardening time, increase the temperature slightly. I use a makeshift oven-type thing using a light bulb (pictures to come later). However, you shouldn't make it too hot, as Green Stuff can burn, and also "melt", blurring details. If you wish to lengthen the workability time of already mixed green stuff., maybe because you were interrupted and have to put off your project till the next day, you should just throw your mixed green in the freezer. This can allow you the green stuff to be workable for another day or two. After that, it will still be soft, but will be very rubbery and unusable.

Green stuff can be mixed with other sculpting putties for various properties. Although I have not experimented with this, I have heard good things about a 1:1 ratio mix of green stuff and Milliput, another sculpting putty. I plan to try it out soon.

Getting Started with Green Stuff

Obviously, before you start out with green stuff, you need to buy some. In this regard, there is definitely a right way and a wrong way. Green Stuff, even though it is all pretty much the same stuff, can cost 5 times as much (or even more) from some companies than from others. Games Workshop sells the stuff fairly expensive, but not as much as some other companies. I bought a strip from Army Painter, and I was very disappointed in how much I got (I bought it online, and the picture did not match what I got). In general, look for green stuff under the name Kneadatite, it is much cheaper. Look for tubes (approx $10) or the strip (approx $15) shown above, and you should be all set.


So that's about it. Green Stuff is not terribly forgiving, but it can be used to create great things. It really just takes lots of practice and patience, just like most things. Keep an eye out for my first actual 100 Hours - Sculpting post, which will be coming very soon!

Tips for Starting Warhammer 40k #1

Tips for Starting Warhammer 40k : Post #1

This post will be a general guide for starting the hobby. Before you go out and buy a ton of models, or give up on the hobby entirely, just read this. It will hopefully give you a clear perspective of what to expect and how to go about it.

So, you have decided that you are interested in Warhammer 40,000! That's cool.  It is very fun and rewarding for lots of people. For others, it is a money-suck that ends in them having a ton of unpainted models in a box somewhere. That's what happened to me for a while, and it really sucked. So, I made it one of my goals to prevent this from happening to as many people as possible.

First thing's first...

Before starting anything major, you should probably weigh the pros and cons. Warhammer has a few of both. 

Pros

- It is very rewarding to see a finished model that is painted well (or even just ok).

- Playing the game with friends can be very fun.

- The gaming community is great

Cons

- It can get VERY expensive (this is the big one).

- It can get very time consuming.

Obviously there are more for both categories, and it varies from person to person. If you can think of any more, leave a comment! 

Actually Getting Started

Once you have decided that Warhammer is right for you, it's time to get started. There are a couple things to consider before making your first purchase. How much money are you willing to spend? Is there a particular army you have always had your eye on? (It might be a good idea to check out the "Picking an Army" label if you are unsure on what to chose, or just want some more info on your favorite army). Do you have some friends that would want to get started with you? 

The absolute first thing you should do is look around at all there is to offer. This can be in your local hobby store, or just online. If you're up for it, probably the best way to get acquainted with the game is two watch two people play. This can be as simple as sitting in on a game in progress at a hobby store (as long as they don't mind). Players are generally very helpful and willing to give tips to anyone who asks. Otherwise, just go to Games Workshop and browse. Look at the models, the paint schemes, everything. You want to be able to make your decisions as educated as possible.

If you are starting fresh, I suggest just buying the Warhammer 40,000 Paint Set. It comes with a brush, a few  basic paints, and 5 Space Marines. Just assembling and painting these miniatures might just be enough to let you know if the hobby is good for you or not. Even if the paint job came out not so great, as long as you had fun doing it, that's good! Nobody is good when they start. But if you were miserable doing it, that does not bode well for your Warhammer future. 

SIDE NOTE---  If both you and a close friend are joining the Warhammer 40k legions together, you can always go halfsies on a box set, like Dark Vengeance. It has both Dark Angels and Chaos Space Marine starting forces, as well as a mini-rulebook, dice, and templates. Basically, everything two people need to start playing.  ---- 

Once you have a taste for Warhammer, or just want to get right into it, buy a squad of basic infantry for the army you want (Again, look at "Picking an Army" if you haven't decided), and maybe an HQ choice. Nothing more. An HQ and two troops choices are all you need to play a basic game! Also, you should make sure that you actually enjoy painting/playing with that particular army before you go crazy buying things. I know the tanks and some elite squads look super cool, but you won't need them for a while. Also, having a ton of unpainted models can be kind of demoralizing, and may lead to you giving up (and we don't want that!). 

Once you have really, really decided an army is when you should finally start to branch out and pick up more elite, fast attack and heavy support choices. That's when things start to really pick up. You can play big games with lots of models, and sometimes it's just satisfying to look at your army all assembled together in one place (preferably painted as well).

The Next Step...

Once you have a small army amassed, you're free to do whatever you want. Find some friends to play with. Go to you're local hobby store and ask around. I'm sure there are some veterans who would love to show you the ropes, or other newcomers who would love to learn with you. Most players are friendly people, you just need to talk to them.
Also, check out some Warhammer forums. My personal favorite is DAKKADAKKA. There is so much useful information here, you just have to find it.



So, there was my first in a long line of (helpful?) tips on Starting to play Warhammer 40k. Keep an eye out for the label "Starting Out Tips" for more like it!
Please comment if you found this helpful, unhelpful, or just have any general questions or ideas!


-Dana

Agenda for the next bunch of months

So far, I have given some tips on picking a Warhammer 40k army, and shown you guys what I have in terms of models, paints, etc. Now, I'm putting together a list of things I want to do over the next few months or so. I probably won't do them in any particular order, so just keep an eye out for the ones you are interested in. Here we go:

1. Tips for Starting Warhammer 40k : I want to just give a more in-depth look at the risks and rewards of starting to play Warhammer 40k, as well as some helpful tips for getting started. I am leaving this open-ended on purpose, so if I learn/think of anything else, I can share it.

2. 100 hours -  Painting : One very useful thing I have seen across the internet is a 100 hours blog. It consists of multiple posts about a given experience, each consisting of pictures, tips, and things they have learned. In this case, it will be about painting Warhammer 40k miniatures. Starting at 0 hours, I will discuss each of my painting projects and slowly accumulate hours towards my 100 hour goal. This should take a while (100 hours is a very, very long time in terms of 1-2 hour painting sessions), but I will be posting regularly (probably weekly).

3. 100 hours -  Sculpting : I will do this in the same fashion as my Painting one, detailed above. I will be using green stuff, an epoxy sculpting putty, to do various sculpting projects and conversions. Sculpting is something that has always fascinated me. To be able to sculpt and then paint my own miniatures is my dream as a hobbyist. I have not done any sculpting yet, only small conversions, so this will be very interesting and fun ( I hope).


In addition to the things above, I will post just any new ideas I come up with. Keep checking back for more tips, tutorials, and other information about Warhammer 40k.

What I'm starting with...

Now that I'm done with the "Picking an Army" portion, I'm on to the painting and modeling portion. First, I want to show you guys what I'm working with. I started Warhammer 40k back like 6 or so years ago, and started back up recently. I started with Dark Eldar, but quickly moved on to Chaos Space Marines. Since then, I have branched out to almost all races, with the intent to paint more than play. Now, onto the goods...

Figure Cases

 To the right is a picture of my two figure cases. One is a Games Workshop case, the other is one I made. I made it out of a box with foam for packaging fruit (It was in my basement somewhere).
A figure case is a must-have. I used to not have one, and that was one thing that killed my desire to play. I kept all my figures in a box, and they seemed to always be broken. It really kills the painting mood when you need fix a model  and wait for the glue to dry before you can paint it.
You can either buy a figure case (they are pretty expensive though), or make one. With all the materials basically free, you should at least try to make one before spending 60-90 bucks on a Games Workshop one. Sometime I will post a tutorial on how to make a case, but for now you can check on Warhammer 40k forums, there are plenty of them.

Miniatures 

Pictured to the right are all the miniatures I have painted, minus a bunch of Dark Eldar and Chaos Space Marines that I stripped and re-primed. Most of them are completed, save for basing (right now, the bases are just painted green, as I am going to put fake grass on them later). I hope to drastically increase the number of models I have painted in the coming months. None of these are particularly well painted, some are ok though. As I paint more miniatures, I hope to see an improvement in my painting ability over time.

Below are the miniatures I have to work with. Many I bought on my own, and the rest belonged to a friend of mine who gave up on Warhammer and let me buy his stuff. I have lots of Chaos Space Marines and Dark Eldar (I have some tanks and larger things from those armies but not at school with me), as well as a squad or two from Grey Knights, Space Marines, Eldar, Chaos Daemons, Necrons, Orks, Tau and Tyranids.

Reference Material

Pictured above are all my Codexes, my two rule books, and a couple of White Dwarf magazines. These are an invaluable resource when it comes to painting, and also they are pretty fun to read for background information on the races. I have both new and old versions for many races. With almost all my miniatures, I am painting them using one of the color schemes in the codex. Eventually, I hope to make my own color schemes and paint miniatures using original schemes (i.e. creating my own Tyranid hive fleet, or Space Marine Chapter).

Materials

These are the paints, brushes and general modeling materials I have paints of 3 different types (Games Workshop, Vallejo Game Color and Reeves). I don't really have an opinion on paint brands, they all seem to come out the same. Then only difference I see is how much they need to be thinned. 

I have about a bajillion paint brushes as well, in all shapes and sizes. My favorite brushes are Sable, which are on the more expensive side, but they are worth it. My suggestion is to get just a couple good quality brushes, and then a few cheaper ones for other things such as stirring paint, drybrushing, painting on glue, etc. 

The plastic case on the upper-right is green stuff, a modeling epoxy putty used for sculpting. Although I haven't done a whole lot of work with it yet, I hope to do some very soon.

So, that's an overview of what I have in terms of Warhammer stuff. I probably wont buy any more for a while; it will take me a long, long time before I'm done painting these ones. My next post will be an agenda for the next few months. I have a lot of plans, and I hope you will enjoy them.

-Dana