Mari0, or why I didn't get any painting done

So I have done absolutely no painting this week.  There are a variety of events I could assign blame to, but I think the most important factor is the introduction of Mari0 to my life.  This free game is basically the classic Mario game with the addition of the portals from the game Portal.

Experiencing Allies

So yesterday night I played my second game of sixth edition.  I was interested in trying out the rules for allies, so I threw together an army list based around the idea of an Imperial Guard artillery force being supported by Space Marines raining down in drop pods.  My opponent also wanted to try out the allies, so he went with the slightly less thematically appropriate combination of Tau and Marines.  We decided that they were from the Exorcists chapter, for maximum oddness.

Sixth Edition

Hey internet, long time no see.
I've been busy working 10 hour days and as such have not had much time for hobby stuff.  I have however got in one game of sixth edition, which I will briefly relay here.  I used a slightly tweaked version of my dark eldar list against my brother's jumping Blood Angels.

Team OP picture collection

    Bonus item: Here are some picture of the armies found around the Team OP (omnipresent petrichor) tournament, both 40k and fantasy.  

Snake monsters!

Ogres!

Team OP Tournament Report: The Hunt for the Elusive W

    Last weekend I attended the Team OP (octopus party) Tournament, a 1600 point 40k affair with the craziest scenarios I have ever seen.  It was run by a new group on the tournament scene, but I would say that they really did a good job.  The tables and terrain were all quite nice, and they also provided lunch on both days. My army list can be found here.  The final twist was that each player was given eight secret mission cards, which were chosen after deployment and gave +5 to the battle score.  Winning a game fully gave 13 points, for a maximum of 18 per game.

Ready to Rock

Ok, 1:30 AM and I am finally done!  No time for pictures though, you'll have to wait until the tournament is over for those.  Battle begins in seven and a half hours!

Bonus Youtube video: an extreme terrain building tutorial!

Team OP prep: 33 down, 31 to go

Time for another painting update.  Today I managed to finally get the first combined infantry squad done.
Well ok, not entirely.  For some reason I still haven't touched their autocannons, but those will have to wait until tomorrow.  Here is some photographic proof.

Success!

Team OP painting prep: Missiles away!

Hey there.  I just finished doing a bunch of work on my first 20 man squad and I also based the missile launcher teams.  These were a major pain as I had simply glued both small based models onto one larger base when the codex was updated.  This would not look good with the basing material I was using, so they had to come off.  It was a brutal struggle, but in the end I managed to separate the men from their bases and the small bases from the larger ones.  

First up we have the group shot.  Also seen in this picture are a commissar and a platoon leader who were based using extra glue I had.

On Painting the Imperial Guard: Memory Lane

In lieu of fresh pictures, today's post will describe the techniques I have developed as I learned to paint my army.  As you probably have noticed, I am not a 'pro painter'.  That being said, I have come a long way since my first model.

It all started back in 2002.  After talking to my good friend Chris about this Warhammer game we decided that the Imperial Guard was the faction for me.  My first model was the infamous Sly Marbo.  Buying him taught me the most fundamental skills of Warhammer modelling: buying your model and gluing it together.  At this point in my hobbying career I had no time for silly things like undercoating or basing.  My brother and I also learned quite quickly that 'black ink' was not like the other GW paints we had bought as it took a lot to get a nice even coat.  Instead of investigating this further we simply ignored the subtleties of painting and stick to the basics.

A Catachan from the first batch.  Pretty gross by today's standards, but it did the job.

Warmachine Break

You are probably wondering why I have a Warmachine post in the middle of my fervent preparations for the Team OP tournament.  Don't worry, I'm a bit of a multitasker.  Work will resume on my Guardsmen tomorrow.