Friday, November 28, 2008

Small Steps = Big Accomplishments

Image created with Space Marine Painter V5.0
Yesterday I finished another Angel of Absolution. I still need to consult my master roster, paint a name under his base, and give him some static grass. For all intents and purposes he's a completed model. Here he is:
This model actually was used to replace one of my oldest models, Barrak (no relation to the President Elect), who was painted in 1994 and was ready to be demoted to the 6th Company (Reserve Company). The first image is Barrak after the demotion, and the second image is what his banner looked like a week ago. You might notice that Barrak is an Rogue Trader marine body with 2nd Edition marine arms, pads, and backpack. He was originally completed 14 years ago. That's kind of mind blowing:


That's actually Sergeant Kilomitus' head. He's also on the demotion list.

Anyway, the title of the thread implies that these little steps are leading up to something much bigger for me to announce, and that is true. You see, I have a ton of unfinished models and I started looking things over and I realized that I've reached a threshold of sorts. When I complete these next 3 models I will have a fully painted 1500 point army. This is huge. Its not quite the standard tournament size. Nor would it hold up under tournament play. Hell, it doesn't even take advantage of any of the unique Dark Angel unit types. Still, its an accomplishment. For the first time in 14 years of playing Warhammer 40K I will have what most would term a completed army. So what's left to be done to get these models in the case? Well, the two marines will complete a 5 man devastator squad. They have a ways to go but will likely be completed this week. As for the dread, you will notice it only needs tactical markings. Easy stuff!

But there is more exciting news! You see, as I am talking about being on this big threshold - this army has yet to reach a plateau. I have multiple other vehicles and squads that are on the cusp of completion. Once I hit that 1500 mark then the 1750, 1850, and 2000 marks should fall in rapid succession. Well, maybe not 2000. That might be getting ahead of myself.

The only sour note as I sing my own praises is that in a tournament setting it still won't be a competitive army. I really need to go the multiwing route if I want to be tournament viable. Still, I only play in tournaments 2-3 times a year, whereas I'll be able to see them in the display case every day and know how long I've work on this army and what a huge accomplishment it will have been for me. Hopefully you'll see me here, tooting my own horn some more, in another week.

7 comments:

Space Hulk Enthusiast said...

Really nice work.
I love the dread.

Wait until you can get the whole force painted completely and you assemble them on the tabletop. All the work is worth it then.

Anonymous said...

Wow they look great! Really nicely painted, and Ron's right, there's nothing like seeing a fully painted force on the battlefield after so much effort.

Great work mate

xNickBaranx said...

Thanks for the props! What's funny is my first army was a 2000 point Undead force that I drybrushed to glory back in 1993/94 over the span of like 6 months. I originally selected the AoA because I "understood" how to paint the bone scheme. Of course, unlike the Undead I'm 14 years into the army and its still not done, haha.

VoidLord said...

Great Work. Looking forward to more

JamesCabak said...

Can we get a tutorial on your Angels? How did you get the colour gradient to mesh so well on the highlighting/shadowing for example?

xNickBaranx said...

I can do that. I'll try and work that up this week.

xNickBaranx said...

Oh, and ThirdxParty is me as well. haha.