Joint Blog Project: Arabian-Themed Ogres

Skarvald from over at Wolves for the Wolf God threw out a request to the Blogging community for some help with his Arabian-themed Ogres, specifically relating to some green stuff work that he wanted to accomplish. Instantly my mind started working on not just to figure out how best to sculpt some key thematic pieces, but also how to break down the processes for the sculpts in a manageable way for army-wide production.

After a few emails back and forth, the Arabian-Themed Ogre, Joint Blog Project was born :) Over the next while, Skarvald and I both will be addressing this theme and it's conversion and sculpted components.

Let's dive into 3 key themed conversions for his Ogres.

New Gaming Charity: Celebrity Dreadfleet!

I'd like to bring everyone's attention to a little something I caught on Dave Taylor's Blog.  Looks like Chris Borer and Dave Pauwels, of Golden Demon and Slayer Sword fame, have brought together a whole slew of the miniature painting world celebrities to make an impact and support the Ocean Conservancy!

The full painted fleet of Dreadfleet, along with painted terrain and gaming accessories and the rules signed by all the artists, will be raffled off at Adepticon 2012 in Chicago!  Some of the celebrity painters will even demo the game!

A Matter of Opinion: The Glue that Binds

Yes folks, that right. There is more than one type of glue out there, and don't let your local GW store tell you any different. No matter how much they want to sell you that pretty little (emphasis on 'little') bottle with their logo on it, shop around and try out a few brands before you pick a favorite!

Or just read this article and take it from my experience on what has and hasn't been able to glue my models, and my fingers, together reliably.

Since this is one of the "A Matter of Opinion" series of articles, please note that the only glue brands and types I'll be offering any opinions on will be ones I've had personal experience with. Lets dive in, shall we?

What Comes First, the List or the Models?

Recently I answered a friend of mine's question about how I go about starting an army. The article resulted in some comments, of which I am always grateful for, that brought up a bit of an addendum in my mind.

In said article, I placed making an army list before purchasing the models. The simple reason being that it saves me money…and makes my wife breathe a little easier when the dent hits my wallet. However, this was not always the case. I didn't always plan far enough ahead so that I knew what to buy. I used to buy what scratched the hobby-itch and build my army from there.

So which is the better way of thinking?

The New GW Plastic Kits...A Love/Hate Relationship?

As most of you know, I'm putting together a Grey Knights force for the Tournament Circuit next year. One of the best things about this army is that I get to play with the newest, as well as some of the most advanced, plastic kits GW has released to-date. As an avid modeler, you would think I'd be excited to dive into these detail-rich new plastics.

So why do I feel like I'm just going through the motions?

Grey Knights: 3 Dreadnought Conversions

"Mr. Owl, how many kits does it take to get to the plasticy center of a dreadnought?"

You've seen that commercial, right? The Tootsie Roll Pop one from way back they keep recycling? I kind of felt like Mr. Owl when my wife asked me how many model kits I really needed to make just three dreadnoughts. She's been around this hobby as an observer for long enough to realize that typically one vehicle kit equals one complete vehicle.

Of course, she also knows me and how overboard I can go with a conversion to get a model to look exactly how I want it to look. So her question had a bit of a dual-meaning to it; literally how many kits was I going to use, and how much would it end up costing!

Lets find out, hmm?

Army Building: What do I do First?

A friend of mine is new to the hobby, having yet to put together his first army. He's very enthusiastic, has been devouring 40k books like crazy, and has picked the Imperial Fists to be his first major project and completed army. We've brainstormed various conversions for his Fists and he's even bought the vast majority of parts, pieces and bitz to make them happen.

The other day he came up to me after I got to work and asked me something I wasn't quite prepared to answer...

"So Tim, after buying everything I needed for the army... Where do I start? What do I need to do first?"

You just... I mean... You... Crap. No one has ever asked me that before!