Paint Range Experiment Proposal

As a person who puts a lot of time into the painting aspect of the hobby, I came to an astonishing realization recently. I have only ever used one kind of paint. That would be GW's paints, unsurprising I imagine. That's what Hubs had for the most part when I started painting, and it's what we've kept buying. So, of course I love the GW paints, I don't know any better!

But when I took that fabulous painting seminar last month, we only used Privateer Press paints. I noticed some key differences between their paints and GW's. Not the least of which is consistency. And it got me wondering, what am I missing out on by only knowing and using ony type of paint? I suspect it's a lot. So, I'm here to propose an experiment.

I'm going to compare GW, Privateer Press, Vallejo, and Reaper paints. I really only own GW paints so I have to go out and buy some from all the rest of the lines. They're all easy enough to come by online but I'll see what I can scare up locally first.

There are lots of things to look at when comparing paints. I'm going to make sure to get a some of the "standard" paints, metallics, and washes and compare each in turn. I'll also compare how they work using several techniques, including layering, two-brush blending, and dry brushing.

For the models, I've decided to dedicate one full model to each paint range. That way I can really get a good chance to work with each line. I already have a whole plethora of models I can choose from. I'm thinking either my Reaper Giants or my beloved Rackham Wolfen. Once I get the paints, I'll decide for sure. In either event, they will all be prepped and primed in the same way for consistency.

This isn't something I'm going to do very quickly. I have quite a bit of prep to go through for my Adepticon armies (I'm playing Saga, Necromunda, and Lord of the Rings), so while I'm going to get started now, I don't anticipate being finished with it until the end of April. That said, I'll be posting plenty of WIP photos and a few posts as well.

Now here's where you come in. Are there other miniature paint lines you propose I also try? Other techniques? Suggestions? Let me know in the comments and I'll incorporate them into the test!

Updates:
Part 1: So Much Paint 
Part 2: It Begins!
Part 3: Results 

Hell Dorado Kickstarter Arrived!

Woop, woop! My Hell Dorado goodies are here! I wasn't even expecting them, as I didn't received a tracking number. But on my doorstep they were!

Lots of goodies are in there- mostly Westerners. They're my faction of choice. I also nabbed a few Saracens for Casey since they had some good KS prices on them.

Two small snags, though. I got one dude I didn't order, instead of one that I did (sent them an email, I'm sure they'll sort that out quickly). The second is more depressing- the book got kind of crunched in the mail. You can see the bottom right corner in the photo there- they all look like that. Thankfully the spine on my book in intact (not the case for my friend) but it's still pretty disappointing. The books were shipped in padded envelopes, so it's no wonder their corners took some damage.

Regardless, I am stoked that they're finally here. They were due back in June, but due to a series of snags (including getting specially delayed-er-selected by customs for extra screening), they are only just getting here. I was too busy with other (Space Wolf) projects to be worried about it, but I'm happy to have them in hand.

The book itself is quite lovely- the art is great. They also made the decision to switch to card decks instead of putting individual cards in each blister. This is a Really Good Idea. Saves them hassle and saves me from my old French versions of the cards with zero effort on my part. Two card decks (regular and Inferno) and you're good to play with any miniature in the range.

All in all, the Hell Gate pledge was a good buy. I got the expansion book, 9 blisters of minis, and both card decks to update my old ones. Plus, they threw in some dice, a patch, and a measuring tape just for fun. They also gave backers PDF copies of the original rulebook and the Inferno expansion. I'm looking forward to playing some more games of this in the near future.

*Update 1/20/14*
Cipher got back to me, saying sorry for the mispack and that they're sending out the mini I am missing. Overall, a very good customer service experience.

Hammer in the New Year 2014 Results

Yesterday, I ran the second annual Hammer in the New Year tournament. I learned a lot about running an event when I did the first one last year, and I think this one went even better! Due to space limitations at our FLGS, I had to cap it at 12 participants, but it worked out really well, and we had a full house.

The tournament was 3, 2 1/2 hour rounds, at 1850 points. Surprisingly, 4 of the 12 people ran Imperial Guard or Guard allies. There was a nice mix otherwise, with Tau, Daemons, CSMs, Necrons and even Sisters of Battle making an appearance.

First round!

One player had  to drop after the second round, so my army made a surprise appearance. It's the first game of 40k I've played in a while. Had a nice game against a new opponent, which is always a good time.

In addition to the regular missions, there was a special Baby New Year marker on each table, that gave bonus points if you completed the objective for it that game. They were small, plastic babies mounted on flying bases. Everyone thought they were sufficiently creepy, which was just the effect I was going for.

Results:

Player	Battle Points	Game Points	Painting	Total  Points	Overall  Rank
Phil II	12	32	4.3	16.3	8
Forrest	10	23	3.3	13.3	11
Bill	12	36	5.0	17.0	7
Kevin	20	46	4.3	24.3	3
Casey	22	63	6.0	28.0	2
Nassir	10	22	6.0	16.0	9
Phil I	12	37	3.0	15.0	10
Anthony	18	32	4.7	22.7	5
Judd	21	49	3.3	24.3	3
Chris	15	35	2.3	17.3	6
Joe	28	46	3.3	31.3	1
Nathan	0	8	4.3	4.3	12

Congrats to Best Overall, Joe, and to Best General, Casey! Prizes were store gift cards and the suprisingly-popular hammer trophies! I always have a fun time making them.

I think they came out even better than last year's.

Feedback has been good so far. I'm looking forward to running it again next year.

2013 Year in Review

Happy New Year, warmongers! 2013 has come and gone. I only broke 85% of my hobby resolutions so all in all, I'm going to call it a win! But only because I have the "I went back to school" excuse.

Party Troll knows how to let loose.

Let's do a little review of how I did:

2013 Goals:

• Finish my Space Wolves!
• Paint at least 50 models unrelated to my Space Wolf army
• Keep posting consistently.
• Attend more events than 2012
• Finish gathering the pirate Dwarfs for my WHF army

I really, truly did finish my Space Wolf army. But you'd never know it because I haven't gotten around to photographing and posting about them. But, scout's honor, they are done. I really didn't do anything other than that. I posted pretty consistently until I got crazy and decided to go back to school (full time). I think you'll forgive me for that. I neither attended more events nor finished gathering my pirate Dwarfs. AOW can take half the blame, since they're not sculpted yet.

2013 Events:

• Running my first tournament
• Games Day
• NOVA Open
• Mechanicon/Warstore Weekend

I failed all over the place on this one. But running my tournament was so much fun, that I'm doing it again (in two days). After I priced out Games Day, I came to the sad realization that I didn't have the money necessary to do it. Flying down was too expensive and I couldn't take the extra time off work needed to drive. I also missed Mechanicon, but mostly because I was too burned out from NOVA Open to do any other tournaments.

2013 Painting Goals: Not picking up any new models? AHAHAHAHAHA WHAT WHY DID I LIE TO YOU??? Actually, I think I was lying to myself more than anyone else. Sure, I finished my Space Wolves and my House Escher ladies, but good gravy, I still have a thousand unpainted models. And I bought more minis! I have resigned myself to forever being cursed with having more miniatures than I can reasonably paint.

I assure you, my 2013 Daemonette Project mini is in progress. I spent the last week of the year sick so my grand plan to finish her by NYE didn't work out so well. But, it's still January so I'm going to cheat a little. Try and stop me.