It's an Elemental, dear Watson

Now that the Tyranid project is out of the way, it is time to turn my attention to the Dark Age figures I had purchased some time ago. The core of my army is a Soul Warden and Ice Elemental. Being mostly a single color, I started with the Ice Elemental and it painted up quickly. I'm currently working on the Soul Warden; and when it is finished, I will take a break and paint up the slaves.

On a related note, my Warmaster Ancients army arrived from Sri Lanka. Now I have 330 miniatures to base. Yay!

The Secret Revealed

Today is the revelation of my secret project. Here is a picture of it in all its glory.

For those who don't recognize the miniatures, they are Tyranids from Warhammer 40,000. The army is 400 points and is designed for Patrol Clash games. I used the army in a game Dan and I played for the podcast; and, as far as I can remember, the game was first time I have played 40K since "the Outrider incident."

I can't quite explain why I painted them. I guess the main reason was that I was waiting for Dark Age figures to arrive and looked in the closet at my year old Battle for Macragge game. One thing led to another and I painted the Termagants, then the Genestealers, and then I started to release that if I added a Tyranid Warrior box and Gaunt box I could have an army.

Why keep the project secret? For one thing, I own a painted Tyranid army so this is essentially repainting something I already own! Adding to the insanity is the fact that the old army is for sale while these new Tyranids are not. Another reason to keep the project secret is my professed hatred of Games Workshop. After all, I did give them money with my purchase of the two boxes. Will I expand this army past 400 points? Maybe, maybe not: that's the advantage appearing insane

Winter doldrums

The winter period from after the holidays until Little Wars has always been a difficult time for me. Perhaps it is seasonal affective disorder; but, it has always been hard to get enthused about the hobby during this time. In previous years, I would need to prepare for Grand Tournament Chicago; but, now, there isn't anything with quite the same looming deadline.

As far as the secret project goes, I have finished unit 4 but ran out of Dullcote and so haven't been able to truly call it done. I have started unit #5 and should be finished by next weekend. I promise a big unveiling picture.

I received word that my 10mm Warmaster Ancients army has been completed and is on its way to its new home from Sri Lanka.

Work on the Egyptians has stalled pending the completion of the secret project but painting on 8 of the elements for the army has begun.

New (Kingdom) DBA Army

As I said previously, I wanted a new DBA army for the tournament at Little Wars. I have from now until mid April to finish the army. It doesn't sound hard; but, you'd have to know my track record with projects. I thought my first post on the project would be a little about why I selected a New Kingdom Egyptian army. In typical tournament style it has more to do with the tournament than history. I my opinion, a good tournament DBA army is one with a low agression factor and a variety of troop types that do not suffer too many quick kill results. This means that armies like Crusaders are best avoided because they have knights (quick killed by bows and light horse) and are high aggression.

I was originally going to take Hundred Years War French but didn't have the right figures and I didn't think I would have time to paint heraldry on the Knights and I wanted to avoid knights anyway. Interestingly, New Kingdom Egyptians have Blades and Bows (just like medieval French) but the Chariots count as Cavalry which, while not as powerful as Knights, also do not have the quick kill outcomes. New Kingdom Egyptians also wear white linen for the most part meaning they would be easy to paint.

I decided to order a 15mm New Kingdom Egyptian army using Chariot Miniatures from Magister Militum. This company has excellent servce and my order arrived (UK to the USA) in a week! I have decided to start painting the infantry and, as the picture below shows, have 32 ready to paint. The figures have my usual treatment of being mounted on sticks and were primed using Krylon All Purpose Primer. Admittedly, 32 is more than I would normally paint at one time; but, the simple paint scheme should enable me to paint them at a good pace.