Painting Update

Did a good bit of details on the marines yesterday, finishing up shoulder pads and jetpacks. Will be assembling the marines once I'm sure I've hit everything up.

Some Painting Progress

Have been adding different shades of gray for the past week on assault squad Chordeiles. Generally pleased with them so far, although they have a looong way to go before being finished. I also worked on their jetpacks, but they aren't shown here.

Combat Squad Nighthawk and Combat Squad Poorwill

Combat Squad Nighthawk

Highlights: Highlights

Testing out highlighting on my assault marines... being super cautious, since I have some model-fear. Mixed Gray & Black 1:1 and got a very subtle shine on the model's exposed surfaces, leaving crannies black. Any tips on highlighting? Right now just planning on going 1:1 to 2:1 to 3:1 with more limited application each go, then applying a black wash, then a gray re-highlight.

Update

Working a lot, and we should have a release candidate for our first computer game by the end of today: it's been a good touch of work, but pretty fun!

Warhammer Stuff:
-Assembled all the assault marines
-Spraypainted them (in the future, I'll return to spraypainting on sprues... touch up is a pain)
-Got my order of Scouts and Scout Bikes.

My Army List is looking like this:
--bought--
HQ - Captain Korvydae @ 155 pts
Troops - Assault Marines (x10) @ 255 pts
Troops - Scouts w/Snipers + Tellion (x10) @ 200 pts
Fast Attack - Scout Bikes (x4) @ 145 pts
--planned--
Troops - Tactical Squad w/Pod or Rhino (x10) @ 250 pts
Troops - Tactical Squad w/Pod or Rhino (x10) @ 245 pts
Elites - Sternguard Squad w/Pod or Rhino (x10) @ 350 pts
Elites - Assault Terminators (x10) @ 400 pts

Total: 2000 pts

Stuff Arrived

My GW order arrived today:

-2 Assault Squad boxes
-Codex: SM book
-2 brushes
-6 paints

Still waiting on my Forge World sprues, which should arrive either tomorrow or early next week.
-2 Raven Guard upgrade sprues
-1 Captain Korvydae

Idea is to make a very special assault squad to accompany Korvydae: his rules (if my opponent allows Forge World rules) lets me take assault squads as Troops units as long as I bring along a scout unit too... in all other senses he is just a jumppack Captain. The big thing there is that it'll let my assault squads not only contest objectives, but claim them too!

I'm hashing out a tentative Army List plan tonight: goal is to have a very mobile, fluffy force emphasizing mobility and precision deep striking that can play well from 500 to 2000 points.

UPDATE:

Forge World sprues arrived too... the detail is incredible on them!

Also grabbed cutters and a file from the hardware store... will be fun to get started in on these models!

First Combat Squad

My box of stuff from Games Workshop showed up! I had ordered online their starter painting set, some super glue, and a can of black spraypaint. The starter set comes with a small oddball collection of paints (no green!), a cheap-ish brush, and 5 snap-together bolter-equipped soldiers. Because I'm weighing the pros and cons of entering the hobby of painting lots of little guys, this set of materials is a kind of 'test run' to see if I enjoy painting them enough to do so regularly. It's a bit of a costly test tho: I've gone out and gotten a small painting table and a stool too, so I got to work right away.

First I took them outside and spray painted them black. I used a cardboard box, placing the sprue on its side leaned up against the interior. We have an empty parking space, so I just did it there. Quick short bursts on both sides until the sprue was covered.

After the sprue'd dried, I brought the sprue inside and took the marine bodies and shoulder pads off the sprue. I touched up the removed models with black where the sprue had connected them, and attached the bodies to their bases.

The snap-together aspect of these models is really dumb: the pegs don't really fit right, and the joins between parts are quite loose. Thankfully, the 'non-starter' models are much more poseable and professional looking. For these models I'm sawing off the snap-pegs and just using super glue.

After they dried, I confirmed that I really just wanted to practice technique on these marines. They are supposed to be painted blue, but Dad already has an impressively painted collection of these smurfs; since I'm likely going with a darker-colored army anyways, I'll paint these marines dark with white shoulderpads.

Now, I had a small Blood Angels army way back when, and I remember how hard it was to paint white on black: it's always an uneven, brush-strokey, blobby mess. So I resolved to do something fancy for my first painting bit: paint the shoulder pad white. I mix 2 drops of white and black 1:1 to get a dark gray, and add 3 drops of water from my drinking cup to make it a bit more liquidy. After applying it to the shoulder pad and chest emblazonment, I added another drop of white to the mix, and gave the shoulder pad another thin coat. Repeating, it took several thin layers to build up a semi-respectable light-gray foundation. Only then did I use the white alone (2:1 paint/water) and finish the white shoulderpad. I then did a bit of half-hearted highlighting with my leftover light gray.

This had taken a while, seeing how I had done 5 shoulderpads with 5 thin coats each, so I wanted to practice brush control a bit. Towards this end, I painted the omega symbol on the right shoulder pad white against its black background, and trimmed both pads with a gold metallic paint. It took lots of fine motor skill I've not used in a long time, but I got it done with minimal touch-up work.

A brief complaint: the black shoulderpad, for some unknown reason, has to be snapped onto the model. The peg is completely wrong: I had to saw it off on each model just to get the shoulder snug to the model.

After this, I mostly dinked around trying to highlight a few things on the model by coloring them. Here's the back after my efforts (eyes are a *pain*!):

And here's the front:

By this point, it'd been a couple hours, and I needed to go to sleep. I'll revisit these (prolly with a wash on the shoulderpads and some highlighting) later.

Monday February 28 1802

Am in Hong Kong at the moment, in Tsim Sha Tsui, at an internet cafe looking up some things to do this evening.

As always, Hong Kong is basically the coolest city I've been to this side of the Pacific. Definitely recommended for anyone looking for a vacation: no visa needed for the first 30 days, just need a passport, and it is a pretty epic little city.

Friday February 25 0947

1/11/10 - 2/25/11, Game Design Lead

I've worked in China for over a year now: kind of hard to believe in a way. Today is my last day at work, and I look around me to see very few familiar places: the company has almost completely turned over, staff wise, during my stay. Only four people remain, and we can't really talk to each other.

My favorite memories are:
-Riding to the Sea with Chris
-Chinese New Year's with Sean/Chris
-Scooter riding with the guys
-Counter-Strike\Starcraft\Ping-Pong with the guys
-Hitting on girls at DADA
-Goth Night
-Rock Band with Michal
-Being big-guy, design-wise
-Hong Kong
-Trying to keep up with Blake's walking pace when I was getting first situated

My bitterest memories are:
-The SoZ meltdown
-All the artists quitting
-Having my scooter stolen
-The situations associated with Sean/Chris/Jeff/Blake leaving

Hopefully, my 'vacation month' here will be filled of many more positive memories. I am heading to Hong Kong to get a Tourist Visa, then will stay in Shanghai until the end of March, where I will then be hanging out in Seattle for a month or two. By that time, I will have spent 1 year and 50 days cumulative time within China's borders.

Great Adventure indeed!

Thursday February 24 1014

Penultimate day of work here.

Gotta pack up my stuff tonight, get it to my friend's spare room, double-check all my Hong Kong trip requirements, and deal with people. Moving is always frustrating, haha.

Wednesday February 23 1001

I'd just like to say: the stuff going on in North Africa right now is riveting to watch.

February 17th, 1147. Resigned

Hey there!

I've resigned from my job, and will finish my work at the company at the end of the month. Still deciding if I'll have a vacation with friends here in Shanghai for a month thereafter, or go straight back home on the first. I resigned largely over an honest evaluation of my relationship with the company, the fact that I am financially secure for the next year, and a desire to start a new chapter for myself personally.

What an exciting day!

Wednesday February 9th 0841

New Year's was pretty fun: lots of fireworks and explosions again! I didn't do anything in particular though... mostly got lots of sleep, reading, walking, and gaming done. The weather's been progressively getting a bit warmer, and so it hasn't been as bitterly cold the last two weeks.

I'm past the hump of my stay here now: under three months left, then I am back!

Sunday January 30 1817

Humdrum-drum-dum, little to report.

Chinese New Year coming soon though!

Thursday January 20, 1714

So much snow!

Sadly, it had accumulated about 3 inches when the snow turned into freezing rain and washed all the snow away.

I think once spring comes around, I'll start exercising maybe. I feel really sedentary as of late, and the whole 'living one floor above my workplace' is making me feel like I never get outside.

Wednesday January 19 0938

It is snowy and wet today, and really quite cold. Toby will be coming back through Shanghai from Xi'An, so will have to find him a place to crash, since my new place doesn't have a couch. I think Jeff and Matt are able to put him up though, so that should work.

Eugh... it's only Wednesday, hehe. At least there's Goth Night.

Monday January 17 0902

Moved into my new work-owned apartment, and it is pretty okay. I have a nice warm room with a view, and it is only about 2 minutes between my bed and my workdesk, so I can sleep in a little bit more now.

Had a good weekend, and feeling a bit more optimistic going into work today. Let's see how long that lasts, ahha.

Monday January 10 0919

Hey there, potpourri news time:

1. Being moved by the company to another apartment. Should be a grand distance of two blocks away. Hopefully this one has a heater.
2. Got onto facebook, although I can't click on most of the buttons, nor log-in. I can only change my status (which I dislike doing) and replying to direct e-mails.
3. It's really cold here, and I miss the sanity of the USA.

Friday January 7 0913

Yay for Friday!

I've cut my age in half and have been playing a bit of Pokemon recently. Reminds me of 7th grade, and it's still about as much fun =)

I should really do something non-geeky some time soon: I think I'm approaching Geekical Mass:
1. Game Designer
2. Playing Pokemon
3. Math degree
4. General nerdiness
5. Owns >5 portable devices, which in sum become unportable

I think I'll buy, like, a Car Magazine or something just to atone?

Monday January 3rd, 0915

Happy New Year!

I have lots of pictures from Beijing, but I am having difficulties with my thumbdrive, so they are still stuck on my laptop. Will keep trying to find a work-around. Beijing was awesome, although very very cold.

On a related note, there is absolutely *NO ONE* at work today. I'm the only person in. I somehow feel like I didn't get a memo, but last time I checked, Jan 3rd isn't a holiday...

Christmas: 25th Dec
New Year's Eve: 31st Dec
New Year's Day: 1 Jan
...
"I'm too drunk still" Day: 3 Jan?