Tau - Part 2

Have kept things moving - managed to complete a marker drone that will be attached to my stealth suit team, and almost completed another fire warrior....

Tau - Part 1

I am free of the chains of self-expectation.

So wound up in 'getting things right' that I was 'getting nothing done', I have put the Eldar and Dark Elves I have been painting reverently on the back burner, as it were and picked up an army that I had until now not been so much interested in.

And it was that lack of interest that has re-sparked my desire to get into the modelling and painting side of the hobby that I have been involved in for so many years...

I wandered around my GW and considered the armies that I'd never considered before...a steampunk inspired Nuln Empire army clawed at my imagination and perhaps that's something I'll come back to at some stage..in the end, my eyes kept being drawn back to the Tau - an army that I've written off in the past due to the designs of the battlesuits (they seem to me to be the Volvo of the 40K universe!). Having said that, I've enjoyed playing them quite a bit in the Dawn of War PC game - their manouverability and weapon choices inspire enthusiasm in that context - and the battlesuits don't seem so boxy when on the move.

It's all in the posing, I suspect.

In any event, after reading through the fluff (I didn't want to be distracted by making up something of my own), the 'sept' that leapt our at me was "Se'cea" a highly militarised and honourable group of Tau - they also have a blue scheme that I've not used before that is pretty easy to paint, but can take a lot to master.

So here's to a new path for the time being.

Deus Ex Machina

+The machine spirit awoke, scarred and bloody angered...+

'It won't come off - his finger's too damned fat. Go and get that tree pruner from out the back.'

The 'it' in question was an unsubtly large diamond set in a simple gold band that was currently straining to encirle the sausage-like right ring finger that was causing all the problems.

The husband sighed in frustration and looked down at his t-shirt. He really should have changed first, but the urge to start was overwhelming.

Behind him, the car watched on.

His wife still stood near the door to the backyard, her hand resting gently on the hood of the 2008 Toyota Yaris, a puzzled expression on her face. The husband sighed again, but more with the patient understanding of someone who has dealt with this particular type of confusion before. With a flick of his hand, he gestured at the unconscious form bound to the garden chair.

The way they'd set it up only allowed a few feet of movement between the car and the shadowy back wall of the garage - but all the better to keep prying eyes away from their little project. The man was bound securely with white nylon rope to one of the four old deck chairs they'd had since they'd first moved in. The man's bulky arms were bound palm down to the wooden arms of the chair.

He switched languages and tried again.

Understanding dawned and the wife walked out into the backyard with a determined gait.

The husband turned his attention back to the slumped unconscious form: a youngish man of European heritage with an abundance of jewelry and hair product. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth.

It'd been easy enough to get the details from the motel where they'd been staying. Other guests had proved sufficiently informative witnesses, telling the husband about the BMW driving visitor that had caused a riot during the night and the staff were the type of fly blown yokel that were easily distracted by questions. It proved a simple task to swipe the guest book while their hunched backs were turned. One call from a public pay phone later, a brief conversation full of empty promises and an arranged meeting at a local cafe with the wife dangled as bait. Rohypnol and coke had sealed the deal.

+The machine spirit bellowed in pain, crying out for vengeance.+

The bound man was still unconscious, and it was getting late. The husband stood up slowly, his knees creaking in pain.

'Wake up'.

The words didn't register. The husband raised his right hand and struck the man across the face. He hadn't hit anyone like that before, but it felt good. The man groaned weakly, and the husband took the oppurtunity to shove an old rag into his mouth. He didn't stop stuffing it in until the man started making choking sounds.

The man shook his head slowly, trying to clear his head. He gazed around slowly with bleary eyes as he struggled to get his bearings. It was clear he had no idea what was happening.

The wife walked back in, holding a large pair of tree pruners that had seen good use. She noted that the man was awake and scowled. Walking over, she handed the tool to her husband and made a petit snorting sound. With economic movement, she spat in the man's face.

The husband pulled her back. She shook his grasp free and she went back to stand by the car, her hand again unconsciously resting protectively on the hood.

The man - more awake now - glared at the wife first in confusion and then in anger as realisation that he knew her hit. His face reddened and he struggled suddenly at the bonds. The man tried to yell for help or curse - the husband wasn't sure which - but the oil soaked rag was doing a good job of sound proofing proceedings and the bindings were strong.

The man's eyes bulged as he realised what the husband was holding. The husband hefted the pruners and gave them a couple of quick practice snaps.

'Serves you right for letting yourself go'.

The husband leaned forward, adjusting for the man's futile struggling, and after a brief moment struck.

+The machine spirit stalked, circling it's prey+

At some point during the creeping dusk, the husband noticed that the headlights of the car were illuminating the pale man in it's baleful beams. He didn't remember turning them on, or his wife either, but he found the light comforting.

It had taken a while to staunch the bleeding, but they'd been able to get what they needed without the man losing consciousness. The husband had taken a moment's rest, stepping back from his work to circle the car in an almost reverant fashion. His finger traced the fresh scars gently as he walked, the white wounds contrasting starkly with the car's industrial grey colouring. The scars started at the front of the bonnet, wound around the driver's side and over boot, back along the passenger side pannels to their origin at the start of the car. Livid scars also marked the front set of tires, and the man frowned as he remembered how the car had limped those last few kilometres home.

He finished his circuit back in front of the man. He held the ring finger up in front of the man's face.

'This must have been expensive', he said, not really wanting an answer.

He disloged the ring from the digit, and threw the latter into a corner of the garage. The man was alert enough to grunt a response, though it trailed quickly off into a low moan of pain. The wife made a derogative comment at the finger, then walked over to stand beside her husband. At some point, she had retrieved a pair of disposable gloves - almost like the type surgeons use. She'd always been the more pragmatic one of the pair.

'So let me go through this again. You..attacked...my car because you thought we'd been staying in the same room that you had the night before.'

This time, he did look at the man for an answer. None was forthcoming, so the husband put a hand slowly on the tree pruner. The man's eyes grew alarmed at this and he nodded frantically.

'Good...and you did this because you thought we'd decided to steal an ear ring that you'd left in the room?' The man shook his head again quickly.

The husband tutted slightly.

'We're better people than that', he said looking up at his wife. She gave a nod.

He grasped the ring firmly between thumb and finger and raised his hand to the man's left shoulder. The man struggled again, but it was no use. The husband pushed the tip of the diamond ring firmly into the fleshy part of the shoulder and started to slowly tear downwards and to the right. The husband's face remained passive as he did so, though his wife had an almost hungry look.The man squealed in pain, blood flecked foam working it's way around the edges of the rag.


The car sat ominously behind them both as he worked.

+The machine spirit struck out+

An angry welt opened up across the man's body and blood started to trickle down his chest. The tip of the diamond was sharp, and the stone bit deep. A muffled yelp of pain and anger leapt raggedly from the man's throat.

'We don't know what happened to your ring. What I do know is that you're a thuggish idiot that made a mistake. We were staying in the room next to you.'

The husband wiped his sweaty brow with a forearm.

He raised his hand again, this time to the man's right shoulder and reversed the stroke. The ring stuck where the two lines intersected, causing the husband to grunt with effort. The man howled again, pulling at the bonds, but the garden chair was made from a heavy hardwood and refused to budge.

Finally the husband stood back, a bloody 'X' facing up at them. It seemed that the distance between the car and the bound man had narrowed. He smiled tightly and wiped his brow again, this time leaving a bloody trail. He handed the ring to the wife. She eagerly stepped forward and started working upon the man's face.

Time passed, and the husband had to roughly shake his wife to gain her attention. The baby had started to cry and it was almost dinner time.

'Time to finish it'.

His wife stood up and arched her back stretching. She'd been at it for a long time, and she was covered in blood from fingertips to her elbows. The man had stopped his pitiful crying some time ago. The wife looked at the man stonily and with a speed that startled the husband lashed out twice in quick succession. Blood gouted from the slashes to the man's neck, and they both had to step back to avoid the most of it. The wife let the ring drop to the pool of red liquid forming on the concrete floor. The parents turned as one and left for the house and their waiting child, turning the garage light off as they went.

+The machine spirit fed+

The darkness of the garage seemed intesified by the piercing beams of the car's headlights. Blood flowed slowly and edged up against the worn tread of the car's front driver's side tyre.

In the morning, the car would be healed, it's form made whole again.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

*sigh* And that was one of a variety of vivid and imaginative scenarios my wife and I described with regards to what we would have done had we caught the guy who keyed our car over the weekend. My wife is scary when she's angry.

No Sense of Huma

Looking at it's component parts, it really should never have been as big as it was.

A series of books written to accompany some new modules that were designed to try and re-energise the D&D franchise. It was basically 'Lord of the Rings' Lite (TM).

At first glance, the writing was economical, the world of Krynn wasn't particularly innovative, and the characters were pretty much your typical adventuring party types (in fact, they were designed to be just that) and yet...not only did the Dragonlance 'Chronicles' series, and later the 'Legends' follow up meet it's intended purpose but they managed to leave an indelible mark on all of us that were lucky enough to be enveloped by the story of the War of the Lance.

It was 1987 and the first year of high school for me when a friend first handed me 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight' and between the long bus and train trips that it took for me to get home each day, I had that book finished in about a week. Then I read it again the next.

Unlike Lord of the Rings, this was a fantasy story that grabbed you by the scruff of the neck and said, 'We have to keep moving!' From the first chapter to the last it was action all the way, with a story that escalated higer and higher, and with a cast of stereotypes that you came to realise were people all along. The theme of balance played through many aspects of the story - from Tanis Half-Elven battling the natures of the two races that formed his name and personality, Raistlin's love/hate relationship with his brother to the 3 moons of the world itself and the aspects of good/evil/neutrality they represented. This Libran loved it.

The second book in the first trilogy, 'Dragons of Winter Night' was the first book I can remember ever waiting for to be released.

So with the above outlined, you can imagine my level of excitement when I learned that a Dragonlance movie was in the works. It made sense - the success and quality of the LOTR movies had caused a spike of fantasy based movies to be released, and while all D&D based movies released to date have been steaming piles of crap, if there was ever going to be a successful effort, this was going to be it.

I can sadly report that the D&D movie tradition continues.

This was...awful. A kids movie - animated to boot. Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing, but this was mish mash of dodgy traditional animation (worse than the 80's D&D cartoon) and horrid 3d graphics.

No one who has seen Larry Elmore's vision of Lord Soth's charge could be happy with this.

Granted, a 90 minute movie was never going to fit all the content of the first book (which this is all the movie covers), but the treatment of the characters, the plot and more importantly, the audience is just abyssmal. I couldn't watch it all, it was that bad.

To try and take a positive out of the experience, I have to hope that perhaps this movie will expose others to the books, and in turn lead them to clamour for a proper effort sometime in the future.

People, if you've never read these books go and do so - they're fun, thrilling and sad.

While you do that, I'll keep on hoping that one of you is talented and lucky enough to be able to right this wrong and make me a version that used to fill my imagination when I was a kid.

Irezumi

Well little Bloom is living up to the verb form of the word and sprouting marvellously - we just had our 6 week check in and she's finally cracked the 3kg mark, now 3.258kg up from 2.58kg at birth (for you old worlders, there's about 2.2 pounds to a kg, so do the math).

It's a relief to know she's progressing well - Mrs Sigil is adamant about breast feeding, and it's been the one small point of frustration (to me) as it's not something I can help directly with. Ah well, plenty of other things for me to do.

Some updated snaps:

Oh, and I got my fourth tattoo on the weekend, and went with the one below:

Eldar - Part 6

So despite being a hell of a lot busier due to Project Bloom, I've not only managed to get some painting done, but have (in my opinion) greatly improved my process for painting my Eldar (I really need to think up a name for their Craftworld).

One of the first decisions I made was to cut back on using strong colours as base colours. For example, black now isn't pure chaos black, but 50/50 chaos black and codex grey. The step after is then to wash the above in Badab Black and then highlight with 75/25 Codex Grey and Black. It takes a little more time, but is more pleasing to me.

The other decision was to stop thinking that the new washes are necessarily the be all and end all. Rather, I've gone back to finding more natural wash colours for each base colour. For example, the purple cloth above (painted originally in 50/50 Hormagaunt Purple and Skull White) was washed in a 33/33/33 mix of Hormagaunt Purple, PVA glue and water (the glue was a trick I learned from a GW staff member whose work I've always appreciated).

The same approach was taken with the grey armour, which was then soft brushed using the technique that Gobsmasha taught me.

I'm really pleased with this Banshee and it's really inspired me to start trying to paint properley.

It's the last point above that led me to make 2 further decisions with regards to the hobby:

The first was to place less stress on myself with regards to having to get an army painted. That pressure I've often put on myself has taken some of the joy out of the past. I still want to play, of course, so the approach I'll be taking is construct the armies I have in mind and just take my time painting what I want and doing it well. I'm much more comfortable assembling prior to painting than I used to be when I first started the hobby - now I get the best of both worlds.

The second decision was to write everything I do down. Once I've found a scheme/approach that I'm happy with, I'm noting it all down, from colours for base/shades/highlights through to the method of execution and basing. I have a horrible memory and since I may not come back to a particular army for a while, it's important to do what I can to keep things consistent. I've done this with my Eldar and Dark Elf army and will be doing the same with any other army I have an interest in painting/playing (which is nearly all of them!)

Finally, Project Bloom has forced me to re-evaluate my work place - as peaceful areas around my small as it is house are decreasing at an alarming rate. So the above shows how I've re-arranged things. A while ago, I purchased one of the GW hobby stations which I thought might have been a little extravagant at the time, but it has come in very handy.

Going from left to right, on the bottom tier first, you'll see a larg magnifying glass that I picked up in Japan on my last trip over - I use this for all my fine detail work. Combined with this you'll see a recent purchase - a twin flexible LED light globe (originally for illuminating music) that I only just recently picked up at Borders for about $25.00. That, combined with the larger flexible lamp to the right have been a real life saver - now I have reliable light at all time - right where I need it.

Further to the right, you'll note a large ceramic tile I use for mixing paint and general work duties. Looking closely, you'll see a large gob of blu-tack which I use to hold open my paints at an angle so there's no dripping into the rim of the paint tins.

I keep whichever model I'm painting at the moment blu-tacked to an empty mixing pot as it gives my chubby fingers something further to hold onto. On the far right, you'll see my paint container which I've sorted from top to bottom in the following order: foundation paints, inks/washes/warm colours/cold colours and finally metallics, black, white and varnish. It's good to have these things sorted.

On the top tier you'll note the various tools of the trade as well as other works in progress.

*phew* Hopefully there'll be more updates in the days to come. I feel like painting an Iron Hand.

OMG! I gave birth to the Slann!?!?

Heh. Warhammer players will get it. Here's a much kinder photo of little Bloomy:

Hell

There's nothing like being responsible for the creation of a life and the thought of imminent death to clarify just what is important to you.

This week, I experienced both.

On the positive, the birth of my lovely daughter. I don't have the words at the moment to express the intricacies of what we are both going through at the moment, but they'll come.

On the negative, my home state of Victoria is currently being ravaged by the worst ever series of bush fires in modern history. The latest statistics I have seen are 131 people confirmed dead, 750 houses destroyed and 2 towns completely wiped from the map.

These figures are probably already out of date as you read this.

I mention this here because on the worst of the days, there was a report of a fire taking off not 5 minutes from where I live. It was severe enough to close down our local train line and the main highway survicing our area. I had to leave the hospital, my wife and daughter to rush home to ensure that my house was protected.

Those that have not experienced such a phenomenom may not realise that while the fires themselves are horrid, much more danger is created by high winds and the spreading of floating embers that can travel for miles and then land to start another blaze.

Thankfully, the hot wind was blowing away from our house, not towards it from the fire, and a cool change came through shortly thereafter with it a light rain that eased my concern.

This is the second time in my life that bush fire has threatened me directly. The first episode was worse: living in the mountains during what was known as 'Ash Wednesday', we could see an out of control fire approaching us from over a ridge. My father decided that we were going to leave, and leave asap. No time for packing, just get what you could into the car so that we could go.

Again, we were spared that fate by a change of wind, but the image of a fox fleeing from the direction of the fire is one I'll never forget.

At start of this post I mentioned the ability of these event to clarify what is important to you. During my first encounter with bushfire I remember grabbing my favourite Transformer toy. For the event just gone, I'd decided that if it came to it I'd take the contents of my safe, and the portable hard drive attached to my computer -as this contains all the photos I have ever taken as an adult.

My thoughts go out to everyone touched by this. Fire is an unstoppable force at the height of its power, it destroys everything, and it just does not care.

Tattoo

For every significant event in my life, I get a tattoo. To date, I have three:

- One for when my brother died;

- One for when I decided I wasn't going to die the same way he did, and;

- One representing my beautiful (yet currently grumpy and tired) wife.

Now, I must decide upon an image to represent my daughter. I've already decided upon the theme which is something representing the word "bloom'', as this is the original meaning to the name 'Chloe'.

The design must be powerful, but simple and small as the tattoo will only be about the size of a large coin. Some likable designs from trawling the internet include the one above and the one below. If anyone out there stumbles across this and has some suggestions, I'd love to see them.

The Arrival

Chrysalis

I feel that something is changing within.

At first, it was just a mere tingling at the edge of my consciousness - but over time, the tingling became a scratching, the scratching became an whisper, and now in these final days it has become an unrelenting roar that has drowned out any other rational thought.

It is only now that I realise what it is that I had, and what came before to others.

I know that you are changing too, that you are becoming - and it is this synchronicity of metamorphosis that will mark our future paths forever.

I am terrified. I am elated.

Soon we will be together.

Eldar - Part 5 (A blast from the past...)

I must have painted these 'Revenant' class Eldar scout titans nearly fifteen years ago now...

I love these guys - not only are they a reminder of my happy Uni days, where work and responsibility was a far away thought, but they also triumphed in one of my most memorable (and literally 'epic') games of Epic..

During an all night multiplayer game, these two little lithe predators managed to take down a massive chaos warlord class titan all by themselves - seems the heretic machine spirit couldn't deal with our ability to leap elegantly from spot to spot and very soon had outmanouvered and outflanked it, stripped it's void shields and dismembered it.

A joyous day indeed for the Eldar..

They don't make them like this anymore - the below is what the Revenant look like now:

Druchii - Part 5

TA - DAAAA!


My last post might have been a little bit premature. There was one last colour scheme that I needed to get out of my system before going full steam ahead. For those that know their Warcraft lore, I was basing it on the look of Arthas after he starts wielding 'Frostmourne'. I'd thought at the time that this might make a good scheme for the Druchii as the themes of ice and evil fit nicely. I ended up thinking it looks not quite sinister enough in this context, but it's still I scheme I might use for something else - perhaps for Necron lords? For a change, I've painted a Blackguard, but this is only a test model - my actual unit will all be of the helmeted variety.






So after that, I went back and re-did the model in my original 'Slytherin' scheme and I think this just works better for being a little more sinister. Most green schemes tend to incorporate yellow/gold into the designs, and while I understand the colour thoery behind it, it's something that I have been trying to steer clear of. It took me a while to figure out why - but I do believe it's the idea of looking like an Australian sports team that was doing it.

So instead, I've toyed with the idea of using an additional cream colour for trim, thinking that perhaps these Druchii have a thing for scrimshawing their armour with the bones of their enemies/victims. I've tried that on a couple of models, but in the amount that I was doing it per model, it started to make them a little 'feral'. It's still a concept I'm going to use (particularly on my shades - as they are feral), but just with the approach of 'less is more'. So rather, I've done the trim in a brighter silver colour which I think works as it keeps the model looking cruelly elegant.



So with nothing further ado, it's time to start painting. I do believe I'll set up a project log over at Warseer and see what that sort of feedback generates.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year and all that....

Big changes coming for me this year, and while it's going to be a challenge, I'm really looking forward to it. I've found a nifty countdown widget thingy (*points to the right*) to highlight when Project Bloom's going to kick off (the name will eventually make sense).

But more on that later.

So traditionally, now is the time to make resolutions for the New Year, so here we go:

1. Don't forget what's really important.

2. Given the above, work smarter - not harder.

3. Become more focused on my hobbying pursuits - i.e. more quality and less quantity.

I might keep it at that for the time being, any more and I might scare myself.