Cthulhu Wars

I can not possibly tell you how excited I am for Cthulhu Wars.  This just today got funded on Kickstarter... and by a significant margin.  The $40,000 goal was not only met, but total funding stopped at $1,403,981!

Cthulhu Wars is a table-top board game in the spirit of Risk.  Only, instead of using soldiers to conquer the world, you take command of the Great Old Ones from Lovecraftian lore.  The game looks intriguing in and of itself, but what really got me were the minis.  They look like they're great quality and I can't wait to paint them.

Unfortunately, despite funding here in early July, the estimated delivery will be in December.  I can only hope we'll get ours earlier.  I'll post pics around gameplay and of painting the minis when the game comes in.  :)

Conflicted

I've been gone for quite a while now.  Most of you probably haven't noticed.  Suffice to say a lot of things  have been going on that have taken up my time.

I have a lot of strange feelings towards Games Workshop as a company.  I'm sure a lot of you can relate.  Their business practices often get in the way of what might be the "best move" for the customer, I feel.  Price hikes on metals, then on plastics... discontinuing bits store, issuing Cease&Desists to various third party bits vendors (whom I often turned to for the occasional final piece for a conversion I was working on), discontinuing supplements, etc.  For the longest time, one of these things has been how easily half of the army codices go entirely ignored for several rules permutations.  Now granted, this time around it does seem like they're trying to roll them all out for this current rules set ... though you'll have to forgive me if I'm a little hesitant.  For all that I seemingly "loved" GW and 40K throughout the years, I did get the feeling like I was in a kind of abusive relationship with GW.  I often considered just walking away.  

The same thing happened to me with regards to Wizards of the Coast and their Dungeons & Dragons franchise.  The constant supplements and re-issuing of rules sets just drowns you after a time in a feeling that it's never enough.  I always happily jumped to whatever was new out of their doors... but this last edition (4th) just took it all out of me.  I tried it out with some friends a few times and I just couldn't get past this feeling like it was just... disappointing.  It was just bad.  I went through a phase where I swore off D&D.  I felt betrayed, in a way... I know how silly that sounds, but we're talking about feelings here and they're often irrational.  Then I swore off the whole d20 system (switching to the d6 system developed by West End Games for similar type campaigns).  Lately some friends of mine brought me around to trying another D&D game (v3.5) and I rediscovered my love for it.  The great thing was that I didn't have to worry about constant revisions and additions to the rule-set.  Version 3.5 was done, and solid.  It was a strange and freeing kind of realization that I can enjoy D&D again without being run through the wringer by WotC anymore. 

So, back to Warhammer 40k.  Having toyed with the idea of just walking away from the franchise like I had D&D, the thought came of what to replace it with?  I started looking around for other miniatures games.  Most of them I couldn't get into because the models were terrible.  I looked for a long time at Warmachine, by Privateer Press.  It's probably heresy to even discuss Warmachine on a 40k blog, but there you have it.  I  purchased a model to paint (like testing the pool with your toes before jumping in):

Adeptis Rahn was fun to paint, and I could see myself getting into this... but I also had a tremendous sense of loss when I even considered it, especially when I'd look at all the painted 40k models I already had.  This was something more than the situation with WotC.  With them, it was just the collection of books and supplements.  This was not only a collection of books, but a collection of miniatures I had poured countless hours into.  Much harder to walk away from.  I had bought the Dark Angels and Chaos Space Marine codices... and stopped there.  The thought that came to me was that IF they rolled out ALL the army codices right here in this current rules edition... I might just have an opportunity to crystallize my 40k experience similar to D&D.  I would collect all the codices, and basically stop there, regardless of further released editions/codices.  I was never much into the tourney scene, so this was entirely feasible.  It was just me and a few friends who got a game in once in a blue moon.  The thought excites me, but I'm trying to moderate my expectations.

Further disappointing, was when GW announced that they were discontinuing the specialist game lines.  I had collected a few Battlefleet Gothic minis and courted ideas of playing that as well, and seeing that fall through was a further downer pushing me into a slump.  I looked at Firestorm Armada for a while, and like with Warmachine, nearly took the plunge on that as well... but I kept thinking "I'll collect them and just apply the 40k fluff to the Firestorm Armada minis and game system."  It was a sad thought, really.  I was so entrenched in the 40k universe I couldn't even consider getting into an alternative sci-fi board game.

Coming out of all that, I wondered what to do with this blog.  Let it die?  Change the format/topic?  How would that go over?  Should I open it up to gaming in general?  Post about video games I've played, or even D&D sessions?  This is an area I'm still conflicted on, to be honest.  I'd love to hear any of your thoughts on the matter.

5-Step Purple

I've been in a Tyranid kind of mood for a while, thought I'd share how I do purple with the new paint line.

Step 1: Naggaroth Night

This needs to be laid on heavy on all areas where you're doing purple.  It's very dark, but will show through on crevices.

Step 2: Genestealer Purple

I painted this rather heavily on all raised areas, leaving the Naggaroth to show through in recesses and crevices.  This is the main color for our purple, and is a little bright for my taste, but will be toned down by the end.

Step 3: Pink Horror

As this is a flesh tone for my Tyranids, I'm looking for a little variation in the highlights to keep things interesting (similar to how I use yellow as the highlight for Orks).  As a highlight, keep it to very raised areas, edges, or places you want highlighted to to object source lighting.

Step 4: Kindleflame

This is a dry paint, and is your final highlight.  Stick really only to edges and as finishing spotlights along very raised edges.  The model now should look way too bright, and that's usually ok in my book as I like to finish off with a shade to tone everything down and tie colors together.

Step 5: Druchi Violet

Lay it on thick.  This will help to blend the different colors you got going on and reign in the extremes

5-Step Gold

How to paint gold with the new GW paints.
Following out of the Black and Bone tutorials, let's get gold out of the way. If you're doing Black Legion, these three should get most of your model done.

Step 1: Balthasar Gold

This is a Basecoat step, so make sure you coat the area rather thickly. I used to basecoat my golds with a warm brown in the older line of paints, but now there's a metallic for that.

Step 2: Gehenna's Gold

This is brighter, and has more red in it than the basecoat. The idea here is that we're working up a few layers for an overall effect that you can't get with just one step; like getting Candy Apple Red on a car. Coat this rather liberaly over the gold area, keep out of the crevices. (also note, in the model above, I based the bullet chain out of the gun, but am not taking it further.  I actually want a coppery color for them.)

Step 3: Auric Armour Gold

Auric Armour is a very bright yellow color. The application will be similar to above, this isn't a highlight, we're using it as a layer... though don't lay this on too thick as it will overpower. Keep it to a thin layer.

Step 4: Agrax Earthshade

Now we're getting somewhere. With the basic gold layers all set out and looking bright and shiny, let's bring it down with some brown shade. This will give us the depth and definition we want as well as tone down the gold.

Step 5: Golden Griffon

Our final step is the highlight. Golden Griffon is a dry paint, meant to be used with a drybrush technique. With that in mind, dust this over edges and raised areas to give the gold that tarnished, aged look.

...and the gold is done!