Now that 'Ard Boyz is over, I've been trying to get back to my normal painting schedule, as well as trying to get more games in. The good news is that we're well and truly terrain-ed up now, so getting games on nice looking tables is not a problem. Things are settling down life-wise as well, so finding more time for painting and playing shouldn't be a problem. So, where am I on my current projects?
Chaos Space Marines
My Slaanesh army for the Independent Characters' Hobby Challenge is coming along, slowly but surely. I have my first squad of Noise Marines almost complete; I just have to paint their bases and perhaps touch up some minor details. Painting marine helmet lenses has been an exercise in frustration, given how narrow they are. My hands just aren't steady enough, and even my fine brushes not quite fine enough, to do things like put a tiny line of Scorpion Green on top of a Goblin Green eye. I'm also working on highlighting black and gold, and the "standard" techniques don't quite work for me. For black, the general recommendation is to highlight with Codex Gray, but I find it to be too light and cartoony. Instead, I'm using a 50/50 blend of Codex Gray and Chaos Black, and that gives a much more subtle highlight that I like; it drybrushes well, too. For gold, I'm still undecided on techniques. My base color is Shining Gold, and I'm not sure if I prefer Burnished Gold or a 50/50 Shining Gold/Mithril Silver blend for highlighting.
Still, almost done with the first squad, and then I can move onto the next squad, which is the first one with topknots and sonic blasters. With the topknots, I'm planning on basecoating them in Dheneb Stone, then washing them with appropriate colored washes (Asurmen Blue, Baal Red, Thraka Green, etc.) and then drybrushing with a very vibrant version of the same color (Electric Blue, Squid Pink, Scorpion Green, etc.). I may try to get started on that squad this weekend. I've also got some priming to do, since this month saw me getting the Terminators, Lesser Daemons (go go Juan Diaz daemonettes), and last two Chosen assembled. There's also a number of tanks, like my Predators and a couple of Rhinos, that need to be primed for painting.
Black Templars
I sold off my old Khorne CSM models this month, and immediately turned around and purchased a Space Marine battleforce and box of Assault Terminators. Along with what I have from Black Reach, my Black Templar upgrade kit, and my Emperor's Champion, that gives me enough models to field at least 1000 points of Templars. My next purchase is likely to be a Land Raider Crusader, and a couple of Land Speeders. I haven't started putting anything together yet, but I'm probably going to look at that in late September or October. I want to have at least a 1500-point army ready to go, and if I can get it built and primed (black, of course) in a weekend, then that gives me a quick third army to play.
Tau
My Tau have pretty much been idle since DieCon, sadly, but I'm planning on using them for a 40K game day we're having this weekend, and to start using them once again now that our local gaming shop has terrain. It's always good to use painted armies whenever possible. I also managed to rediscover the miniatures I thought I'd lost a while back, so I have my two sets of SMS pods back. In celebration, I've integrated them into my 1750 list and will try it out on Saturday. I still have a third Hammerhead to finish painting, and I have 2 Crisis Suits to assemble, most likely as Deathrain suits. However, I might actually magnet-mod these, now that a friend has done it and can walk me through the process. Building/painting anything new for my Tau is low on my list of priorities, but I have it as an option in case I need a break from painting marines.