That was the year that was

2012 has been quite a year for me, personally, professionally and hobby wise so as we steele ourselves for the onslaught of a shiny new year it’s appropriate for me to look back on what’s been the first full year for Ramblings from The Trenches.

Since I’m in a good mood right now, let’s look at the successes.  Like many, I set up the blog to help me complete projects, painting, writing, building etc.  While my painting and building has not been as consistent as I would have liked I have finally firmed up some of my armies backgrounds.  It has been far more difficult that I had imagined, I’ve always had difficulty corralling the various ideas bouncing around my skull and I probably always will but I’m very happy with what I’ve currently produced and I know that there’s much more to come. 

I’m particularly happy with the background to my Chaos Marines as that’s been a slow burn project for a number of years and I’m glad it’s finally showing fruit.  However I think my biggest success has been the background for my Bretonnians that I had to produce for the ongoing Rock in The Badlands campaign that I’m playing with some of my friends.  I’d not played Warhammer Fantasy for over fifteen years so I had to get to grips with the rules and the background very quickly, as such I only had a couple of months to hammer out a decent background and, while fairly slight, it’s something that I will be carrying on after my inevitable glorious campaign victory…

Despite my slow progress, I’m genuinely very pleased with the quality of the painted miniatures I’ve produced this year.  Posting them on the blog has definitely improved my attention to detail and the feedback I’ve received has been very generous and constructive.  Now I just have to figure out how to paint faster.

One aspect of my blog that I know needs some work is consistency.  I can go for weeks at a time without posting anything original (or anything at all!) then churn out a flurry of posts in a single day.  This needs to stop.  I have the greatest of respect for the superstars like Phil and Dave for their ability to post interesting content on near-daily basis.

Another thing that didn’t quite work this year was the inclusion of regular special features.  This was due to a complete lack of planning on my part and is something I’d like to investigate anew in the coming year.

That said, the thing that I am most proud of this year is the Trenchmates series.  I decided to set this up as I have several friends with many ideas but no time to commit to their own blog and I felt that their voices and opinions deserve to be heard.  I genuinely did not think that anyone from the greater Warmonger (and Warmonger Wives) community would wish to take part and I am really flattered and humbled that so many of you have.  Indeed, one of the blog’s most popular posts was Sexism in the Warhammer Worlds by my good friend Elizabeth; I sincerely hope that she sees fit to contribute again.

 

Now onto 2013.   For a variety of reasons that I’ll be going into below, I’m not going to make any cast iron resolutions.  However I think that for my own sanity and in an effort to improve my organisational abilities a series of vague objectives are appropriate.  So in no particular order:

 

1. Increase the amount of hobby time and spend it wisely.  I’ve not had much time to do anything hobby-related over the past year for a variety of reasons chief of which was due to my job.  I was commuting a silly distance and my job itself changed for the worse that began to seriously affect my health.  However on Tuesday 8^thJanuary I’m transferring to a new role which is far more to my liking and is based in an office within walking distance of my flat.  This will significantly increase the amount of leisure time I have and while my wife will quite rightly get the lion’s share, I will be able to devote more hours to the hobby as well.

 

2. Paint more and paint faster.  I love painting models, while I will never win a Golden Daemon it is the aspect of the hobby I love the most. 

 

3. Game more.  This year I only played one game of 40K and less than ten games of Fantasy.  Now that I will have more free time I really want to start catching up with my regular opponents and hopefully finding some new ones.

 

4. Improve my writing and expand my armies’ histories.  You have no idea how much more background I have to write for my four main armies.  Not only that, but I’m working on a series following the adventures of Inquisitor Malik Hakam in his efforts to track down and destroy the Heralds of Desolation.  The plan is to collaborate with my friend Tim (he of Canticles of Redemption fame) so that Hakam’s legacy becomes part of the Dark Heresy game that Tim runs and in which I play a semi-useful Tech Priest.

 

5. Improve and expand the blog.  Gosh, that’s a vague one isn’t it?  First of all I would like to commit to a more regular series of posts, how I don’t know but I’m working on it.  I’d also like to continue my Trenchmates series (hint, hint) and introduce at least one more semi-regular feature.  Tim and I have been bouncing an idea around but I’d best not say anything more for now just in case things fall through.

 

Anyway, that’s me for 2012.  I hope you all have a great 2013 and may your dice always roll 6 (unless you need a 1!). 

I’ll leave you with a little summary of the blog in 2012 that WordPress kindly prepared.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 16,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 4 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

SILO41

As 2012 draws to a close some cheeky bugger has chucked a whole load of Dark Angel snaps onto the internet including a few close-ups of rules, unit details, the new Asmodai model (about fooking time) and a few other choice bits and bobs including the Dark Talon/Nephilim kit. Be warned, the images are blurry.

Enjoy…

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Happy Christmas!

 

 

 

Today my wife spoiled me with some hobby goodness 🙂

 

That’s my evening sorted, thanks honey! x

A New (Old) Leman Russ Pattern?

Well this is interesting. Today Forge World uploaded this image.

Now, on Facebook the mad genius that is Alan Bligh indicated that this image contains several new models that FW will be releasing over the coming year. Treadhead that I am, my eyes were immediately drawn to the Leman Russ in the foreground.

Just look at it, isn’t it beautiful? Not only does it appear to have a Predator Annihilator like twin linked Lascannon which is nice however just look at the tank’s lines and the old school targeter protruding from the right of the turret.

I think this could be a Heresy Era pattern. Even if it’s not I must have at least three.

Sweet God-Emperor

I want!

SILO41

Another month, another hacked off employee taking snaps on their mobile of the upcoming White Dwarf. Specifically the Dark Angel releases.

I’ve got to say, my feelings are mixed. The new Deathwing Terminators look pretty cool and have lots of conversion potential for other Chapters. The Ravenwing ‘Black Knights’ are a reboxing of the standard Ravenwing bikers with a few more baubles. And yes they all have plasma weapons. The air superiority flyer rumours were clearly true. And it looks pretty cool. The landspeeders on the other hand… They’re certainly bigger and meaner than they use to be but they have all the aerodynamics of a brick.

Enjoy.

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What a difference a wash makes

This evening I decided to compare my recently completed Herald models with the test model I produced a while ago and the results were surprising.  Take a look:

The one on the left I completed last week while the one on the right, the trial model, was painted over a year ago.  I’m sure that you will agree that they look rather different but, aside from the base there are only a few differences in paints used.

Both models were based using black spray, the basecoat was Mordian Blue which was given a heavy drybrush of Enchanted Blue followed by a light drybrush of Ice Blue.  The Horns were painted using Bleached Bone and the eye lenses in Iyanden Darksun.  Where the models first diverge is in regards to the metallic areas, the trial model on the right uses Chainmail while the model on the left uses the new Ironbreaker colour.  Secondly, the model on the left uses Warplock Bronze for the chainblade’s chain and Bolter details while the bolter details on the right model use Bleached Bone and Shining Gold.

So why the big difference?

It’s all down to the ink.  The model on the right was given a single wash of Badab Black whereas the one on the left was washed in the new Nuln Oil ink.  Now, I really hate coming across as a GW apologist or over-enthusiastic fanboy but this shows, in my opinion, how much better the new inks can be.  When I applied Badab Black to the model on the right I watched in annoyance as much of the detail and vibrancy I’d worked hard to produce was near-completely obscured by a single coat of ink.  Using Nuln Oil allows me to present the colour scheme as I intended.

This is not to say that I’ll be pouring my stash of Badab Black down the sink as I still have many uses for it, particularly in regards to my Dark Eldar, and I  hate to see perfectly good hobby material go to waste.  Al I’m saying is that sometime change is good, it certainly is in this case.

Forge World Christmas Jigsaw

It’s that time of the year again folks and Forge World are tantalising us with a bit by bit preview of a forthcoming mini.

Here it is:

I don’t know about you, but I’m fairly certain we’re looking at part of a Primarch. Given that it looks like he’s clad in a form of Terminator Armour my guess is that this could be the man himself, Horus.

What do you think?

Heralds of Desolation Chaos Space Marines

It’s been another quiet week on the painting front thanks to Christmas-related nonsense but I’ve managed to finish a couple more Heralds. I hope to get at least five more done this week.

I’ve gone for a fairly basic scheme that so far has shown to be easy to reproduce and should be simple to upscale for vehicles and larger infantry.

As always and comments and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Heralds of Desolation Aspiring Champion

I’ve not submitted to Miniature Monday in a while so I’m glad that mine is the first of my new army’s Aspiring Champions.

This particular fellow is a disciple of Tzeentch, as are a great many of his comrades. Of course this has nothing at all to do with their added invulnerable saves, no sir.

I’ve also experimented with some of GW’s new paints and also with a red lightening effect on the power sword. The paints I’m impressed with, my lightening effect less so. As I improve I’ll repaint the blade but it will do for now.

Anyway, on to the pictures!