Man Vs. Hobby Day 11

Today I got basing and undercoating done and a little painting too, yay!

Last night I stayed up and added basing material to the models, I add it prior to undercoating because I find the undercoat helps to keep it attached to the base. For basing I use a tub which contains a mixture of bird cage sand, bird cage grit and some kitty litter. In my opinion this gives a great varied texture and is very cheap too.

This morning started off with a visit from a dear friend Chris, was lovely to have a cup of tea and a catch up.

This was followed by two hours of undercoating, for this I have always used the ProDriver Auto Spray Paint from Poundland, its good value and give a nice surface to paint on. I know other people will look down their noses at it, but when one is on a budget one works with what one can afford. Anyway it was very very hot, and I just had enough undercoat to actually do everything, then proceeded to blackout once it was all done due to dehydration.

And of course I was able to begin painting, concentrating on the models that make up the Fierce Eyes Finest formation first. I have laid down a basecoat of The Fang first followed by two very thin layers of Russ Grey, then a wash with Agrax Earthshade, and then another layer of Russ Grey, its slow going, but at least the painting has begun. Tomorrow I continue to get some colour on these models and hopefully order Space Hulk and a Rune Priest in the evening.

Man Vs Hobby Days 8, 9 & 10

Due to blackouts my hobby time has been restricted as has my time to blog, however I have got some stuff done.
But first off let me start with this video that Games Workshop debuted on Monday!
I wonder what this could be, Space Hulk perhaps!!!
Monday I had to go into my doctors to be examined to make sure I wasn’t going to drop dead as a result of the blackouts, and have to have ECGs and wear a heart monitor, not good stuff. Afterwards I did accompany Megan to the Metrocentre, where we had a KFC, my favourite fast food.
Afterwards, she then splashed the cash and bought herself some stuff for her new Ork army, the Ork Mekmob and Badrukk’s Flash Gitz boxes, to add to the two sets of Stormclaw Orks that I gave her, minus a Warboss, I wanted one for my Orks. She also picked up a Talos Pain Engine for her Dark Eldar, because she is into those S&M freaks!
Tuesday, was quiet, had a delivery of some present I bought for Christmas and then I did a bit more Christmas shopping, and today I had to go back to the doctors, we think the blackouts are a result of new diabetes medication, dehydration, my head injury and the chronic fatigue, so lets see how that goes.
Anyway back to hobby stuff well I have built quite a bit thus far, got another unit of Power Armoured Wolf Guard built with their Drop Pod, and two units of Grey Hunters along with their Drop Pods and of course Wolf Guard Pack Leaders in Terminator Armour, I also built the last drop pod as well, meaning now I have built all seven drop pods.
I have still yet to strip the metal Rune Priest, and need to purchase another, but I intend to do that Saturday when I go to the Metrocentre and buy Space Hulk, which is awesome and I cannot wait to get my hands on it, also, hopefully acquire some more of the Terminators for a future Blood Angels allied detachment. Oh and some Genestealers too, you know in case I ever decide to start a Tyranid army up!
I think I am done with building for now, so tomorrow I am going to try and undercoat some of these bad boys at last, and finally begin the painting phase, and lets face it there is an awful lot of painting to do.
For this I think I am mostly going to be following the guide that was put up by Games Workshop movie star Duncan Rhodes in his tutorial video on the GW YouTube Channel. These videos I think have been utterly fantastic and have given some really great tips, particularly for unskilled painters like myself. Anyway lots and lots to do still, so lets get on with it!!!

Man Vs. Hobby Days 6 & 7, & Games with Dylan

The visit of my muggle brother has restricted hobby time, but that's cool cause I have got the chance to spend time with my amazing nephews, Dylan, Rieley and Max.

On Saturday I managed to build a Stormfang, not the best use of the kit but this will serve as my primary anti-armour and anti-air unit until I am able to add a couple of Storm Wolves and perhaps a Fire Raptor. Equipped with Lascannons, Skyhammer Missiles and the Helfrost Destroyer it should pack a nice punch.

I also managed to introduce Dylan to a couple of decent games, Castllan on Saturday and Rampage and Dino Hunt Dice on Sunday, he love them all, however I now have to play Monopoly with him tonight :-(

Castellan is a great game for kids and I really think Steve Jackson Games should try and market the game to younger kids, I suppose the small bits are an issue, but every time I play it as an MiB it goes down amazingly with kids, yeah it's a pricey game, but the components are top notch, the rules are simple and it's a great way to teach resource management and how to plan ahead to children.

On Sunday spent time watching the Great North Run, my brother Paul got an impressive time of 2hrs and 19 Minutes and did me and his family proud, well done you silly idiot!

I did manage to build a single Grey Hunter, used the torso from the Stormfang kit, and I used a Space Marine biker torso for the pilot. Again, I like to mix a few parts around so I get a slightly more unique army, and it's a nice torso, too nice to be behind a canopy!

Due to blackouts the girls had me stay at home rather than either go to South Shields to cheer Paul in as he finished or head up to Newcastle to check out the new Comic Book cafe, but well they have to look after my health, I suppose.

Anyway, tomorrow I plan to do some undercoating and finally strip the Rune Priest, still need to buy an additional Tune Priest however, and perhaps a Wolf Priest too.

Man Vs. Hobby Day 5

Today i have been having blackouts, possibly a combination of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, the sever head trauma and a change to my diabetes pill, the girls exiled me to bed fairly early.

So all I did was complete my Void Claws. My brother is coming up to run the Great North Run this weekend for CLIC Sargent, so if you want to support this wonderful charity who helped my nephew Dylan survive leukaemia then visit his Facebook page and show some support and if you can donate something.

Unfortunately my brother is a muggle, so there will be little hobby time with him around, but I hope to get Dylan playing some good board games, all he plays at the moment is Monopoly, despite me giving him a copy of the excellent Castellan for Christmas and Dino Hunt Dice about a month ago. We shall convert the child to our ways yet!!!

Man Vs. Hobby Day 4

Still a bit ill hence the late post again, but got a bit better in the afternoon so I build two drop pods and a unit of Wolf Guard. Also began work on the Void Claws, a rather tasty formation form the champions of Fenris Supplement.

Got the Space Wolves Accessories frame as well so that has been put to use in this Wolf Guard unit, and I think they look pretty cool, the parts are a little retro and do seem to have a bit less detail than the regular Space Wolves stuff but that's because they were designed for the old school Space Wolves box from the late 90s. The ornate backpacks will look really good on the power armoured Wolf Guard Battle Leader for the Grey Hunters I built yesterday, because I really think with the Mk VIII Errant Armour, it needs something really ornate and awesome looking.

The Void Claws are a fantastic little unit and their ability to help with reserve rolls will really help me out a lot, I am heavily basing my Space Wolves around drop pods, why because that's how Space Wolves should roll baby, drop from the skies and pump bolts and melta into the enemy in a crippling alpha strike. Only issue is that they have to wait a turn before they can assault anything, being only armed with Wolf Claws they can’t do any fighting in the turn when they arrive.

I am building them using some parts from a Wolf Guard Terminator set and an Assault Terminator set, again some kit mixing to give a nice varied appearance to these Sky Warriors of Fenris.

Man Vs. Hobby Day 3

Another slow day, mostly spent in bed thanks to the headaches from my ongoing brain trauma and some lovely new side effects from a change in my medication.

Anyway today I managed to build another unit of Grey Hunters and their Wolf Guard.

So here is hoping for a better tomorrow!

Man Vs. Hobby Day 2

Curse my head injury :-(

Late post because my headaches have been quite bad, so no work on the Rune Priest as it needs stripping and the nail varnish remover fumes are not so great for my head.

Anyway so I got the Bloodclaws from

Stormclaw built, which means the Fierce-Eyes Finest are now fully built.

The other unit done yesterday was a unit of Grey Hunters with a Wolf Guard in Terminator armour, also realised how I have only two Terminator Power Axes, and a need a couple more, so off to Bitz-Box I must go.

The first of seven Drop Pods was put together yesterday as well.

Today I plan to finish another unit of Grey Hunters and add basing material to the built models in preparation if being primed, now the question is, should I prime black or dark grey?

In response to a comment from yesterday, I don't have a Lord of War I want to use for the Rout for the forthcoming tourney , I had considered buying an Assault Ram from Forgeworld as they fit the Space Wolf aesthetic in my opinion, but they are banned from this tourney. I

f I were playing Orks then a Stompa would be missed, as it's amazing fun to play, not worth the points but it's incredible when it manages to blow itself up!

I suppose my complaint is more that hey, that huge Necron Obelisk is allowed in, but not say a Thunderhawk, seems nuts to me, considering an Obelisk will tear fliers out of the sky and it's pretty hard to kill.

Anyway, onwards and upwards!

Man Vs. Hobby – Day 1

Today in between tidying up, as much as I can brain injury permitting, and helping to plan this new business venture, I have started out with developing a list for the tournament. Much harder than it first seemed due to the restrictions put in place by the TO.

Restrictions are only 2 detachment's, one must be a combined arms detachment or an army specific detachment and 1 allied detachment, and you can replace either with a single formation. Not great frankly as its hugely disadvantages Tyranids, Space Wolves and Orks, there are also nerfs to invisibility and the psychic powers dice pool, but they shouldn’t impact me. Dataslates, White Dwarf Datasheets and Lords of War over 400pts are also banned, so that rules out almost every Lord of War and Assassins altogether unless you use the formation. I have said it to the TO, and I will continue to say it, I hate restrictions of any kind and these feel more like we should be playing 5th.

But grumbling aside, I shall develop a plan that works, but it will be difficult to do in a way that I like, not because I am a WAAC guy but more because I like lists that are fun to play and have decent fluff.

I have also ordered a couple of the Space Wolves Accessories frames and a few paints to help me out with this, the accessories frames will give me a few little bits to add into the army to give it a bit more flavour, I already have some standard marine squads that I intend to mix with the Space Wolves stuff, so it should look quite varied.

So building and painting, well I have built a Wolf Lord, in this case Krom Dragongaze the Fierce-Eye as I also going down for Warhammer Fest in October, I may paint him up to enter into the Golden Demon, I have no hope in hell of winning anything, but it will be fun to put something in for a laugh, and as my nana says, shy bairns get nowt. Anyway, I highly doubt he will be in my tournament list, which is right now not ideal because its low points and to be competitive I really need to introduce cheese, which I don’t like at all.

I have made a start on building the Fierce-Eyes Finest, not for the tournament, but firstly, its not a bad formation and given its special rules, I can see me using it as a self contained small allied force that can concentrate on taking out a single troublesome enemy, while the rest of my army does its thing.

Anyway I have built today, alongside the Fierce-Eye himself, Hengist Ironaxe’s Grey Hunters and The Fierce-Eye’s Wolf Guard.

Tomorrow I move onto Egil Redfist’s Blood Claws and hopefully a Rune Priest.