Procrastination by Numbers

[Meals]

He'll be fine. He can just slip and fall into a Lifeboat.

[cunningmatt]

Oh don't get me wrong I've said far more inappropriate things... just not as the public voice of my employee! Sure it'll be fine just seems an unfortunate choice of nautical phrasing!

[noahtonkin]

He'll be fine. He can just slip and fall into a Lifeboat.

Oh so true!

[roland murat]

He'll be fine. He can just slip and fall into a Lifeboat.

and then get a taxi into town (allegedly)

[cunningmatt]

Don't worry at the point when this blog is holed below the waterline I'll be the last to jump ship... what do you mean that's already happened?

[cunningmatt]

Exciting, and a potential alternative set of models for LOTR players...

http://thelordoftherings.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx

[Meals]

Wicked!!! I'm kinda surprised it took them this long though...

[cunningmatt]

I know, thankfully they haven't thought of Star Trek LEGO yet - else I would be insolvent!

[cunningmatt]

Update 40 – Wednesday 25th January 2012: I have a Confession to Make...

Don't worry I am not harassing you to vote! Yes the good news people is that The 2011 Procrastination by Numbers Awards are over, finished, completed for good, well at least until the 2012 version.

In the meantime I thought I'd share some musings I've had, impart some knowledge if you like – no you can't ask for the cash instead, this is all that's available.

I was reading last month's (December's) edition of the White Dwarf here's a picture in case you don't believe me (I am not sure why you wouldn't):



During this reading of the White Dwarf, I came across an interesting article – no that's not one of my jokes, this bit is serious. In actual fact I'm going to take this as an opportunity to go off on my possibly my first tangent of 2012 to say that I quite like The White Dwarf. I generally find it a good read, that fills a few tube journeys with interest (no more, but no less than any other magazine). Obviously 2011 has been a bumper year for Warhammer news, so with 2012 being the 25th anniversary of Warhammer 40,000 there might be a few less pages of interests and exciting releases but still, at least I'm not a Lord of the Rings player with my one article a month. Still Lord of the Rings fan don't be downhearted because there's this exciting news:

http://thelordoftherings.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx

I know I put this link up earlier in the week, but it's so exciting it deserves a second mention!

Back to the point, I know shocking, but if I don't we'll never get there. In December's White Dwarf I was reading the Blanchitsu, a variant on the regular Standard Bearer feature, written by Games Workshop Art Director John Blanche – hence the name, though if you hadn't worked that out for yourself you probably shouldn't be applying for the next series of Mastermind.



In the article John talks about how there is no "right" style of painting, comparing someone who tends to paint with a very neat painting style to someone who tends to paint with a very dark and somewhat grubbier painting style.

This got me thinking about my own painting and modelling style, which I'd say is kind of neat and "out of the box". Generally my models are neatly painted to a reasonable style, nothing amazing, but hopefully nothing too shabby. And as someone, who once said to me "Don't you ever use models for exactly what they are intended for?", correctly identified I tend not to go for massive conversions, my models are very much what you see is what you get in that they are built as pictured on the box with only a limited flourish for conversions and kit bashing. And the painting further matches this in the sense that it tends to represent generic armies from a particular race rather than being heavily painted to represent a specific named group/tribe/army etc.

There are a couple of reasons for this, one is that I don't really want to spend too much time kit-bashing, and themeing every model in my army. Now and again some extra details or conversions on a character or large model are fine, but I don't really have the inclination or am willing to invest the time to heavily theme or model every warrior in a rank-and-file unit. Often this may result in me buying some models people generally avoid, citing them as being too expensive or not great models, as I'd rather pay for something that saves me the time and thought required to come up with a suitable conversion. The other reason for my generic painting is that I like to be able to use my army to represent any army in any scenario, and not feel it's constrained. For example if my High Elves had been painted as a fully Caledorian force with lots of Dragons and Dragon-themed conversions (as Noah's planning to do – which sounds amazing), I'd feel a bit odd using it to represent an general High Elf force cobbled together to repel a Dark Elf invasion or in a scenario set in Chrace. Whereas generic armies allow you to put them in any themed situation and they'll fit well enough.

My most heavily themed army is my Warriors of Chaos who all bare the mark of Tzeentch. And whilst I like the character it gives the army, there are moments when I pore over the Games Workshop website, as we all do, and wonder if I should add contingents of the other three gods, just in case I'm representing a unified Chaos force, perhaps in some kind of full on invasion of the Dark Gods.

As another tangent I think this is why I like painting Special Characters so much, they give me an opportunity to do some specific themeing on the odd model, but still fit into my generic army.

I think what I found interesting about the article was that it validated the fact that I have chosen to paint and model my army this way, and that this is right, because it is what is right for me. It was kind of like a bulls**t inspiring Oprah Winfrey style speech.

It also got me thinking about the other ways in which we're different. Just as there are different ways to approach painting and modelling, there are different ways to approach gaming. Some people play to win concocting the most devious army lists they can throw at their opponent, some play for fun taking the weirdest most bonkers list they can come up with, and most people play somewhere in-between those extremes. None of these are necessarily wrong, though I'd argue some are more appropriate than others dependent on the setting/opponent.

In fact there's just as many approaches to hobbying in general, from collecting every army you can, to collecting a smattering of units from many different armies. And from painting the biggest army you can, to painting just the odd character, to fielding unassembled and unpainted units. All of which are "right" for the "right" person, just different.

So what I'm trying to say is that we're all different, and it's okay to be different, and because of that I feel ok, telling you what I'm about to tell you. But please whatever you do, don't judge, because remember it's okay to be different. Just as you paint, game, model and collect differently to your opponent we're all different in our special ways. And it's about time I shared a big difference between me and all of you.

So, I'll take a deep breath as I tell you...

[spoiler]
...I bought and painted some Silver Helms, and I intend to use them as Silver Helms!!!

Look I know they're rubbish in combat, (though in fairness since I last used them they get to reroll most rolls to hit and fight in two ranks) and I know Dragon Princes are a better choice, and I know any self-respecting general would never take them. But as we discussed above, everyone's different. I'm not a hobbyist trying to win every game I play, instead I am a more of a collector-painter who has a side line playing fun games. I wanted some Silver Helms as they're one of the few units not in my army, they're good enough models and they fill a slot in my army roster. So don't judge me.

We shall say no more about my awful choice for the Silver Helms, there shall be no mocking, understand?

Instead I present a painting guide for them:

Stage 1 – Silver Helms









Base: Khemri Brown
Hooves: Chaos Black
Horse Flesh: 1:1 Chaos Black : Codex Grey
Mane: Drybrush 1:1 Chaos Black : Codex Grey
Silver Metal: Chainmail
Gold Metal: Tin Bitz
Saddle, Sheaths and Leather: Scorched Brown
Armour Trim and Yellow Cloth: Iyanden Darksun
White Cloth: 1:1 Skull White : Astronomacian Grey
Blue Cloth and Plume: 1:1 Enchanted Blue : Ice Blue
Wood: Khemri Brown
Rider Flesh: Dwarf Flesh

Stage 2 – Silver Helms









Base: *NO CHANGE*
Hooves: *NO CHANGE*
Horse Flesh: Layer Codex Grey, then wash Badab Black
Mane: Drybrush Codex Grey, then wash Badab Black
Silver Metal: Wash Badab Black
Gold Metal: Cover Shining Gold
Saddle, Sheaths and Leather: Wash Badab Black
Armour Trim and Yellow Cloth: Layer Golden Yellow
White Cloth: Layer 2:1 Skull White : Astronomacian Grey
Blue Cloth and Plume: Layer Ice Blue
Wood: Layer watered down Graveyard Earth
Rider Flesh: Layer Elf Flesh

Stage 3 – Silver Helms









Base: *NO CHANGE*
Hooves: *NO CHANGE*
Horse Flesh: Highlight Codex Grey
Mane: Drybrush Codex Grey
Silver Metal: Highlight Chainmail
Gold Metal: Wash Gryphonne Sepia
Saddle, Sheaths and Leather: Highlight Beastial Brown
Armour Trim and Yellow Cloth: Layer Sunburst Yellow
White Cloth: Layer watered down Skull White
Blue Cloth and Plume: Highlight 1:1 Ice Blue : Skull White
Wood: Layer watered down Bleached Bone
Rider Flesh: Wash watered down Ogryn Flesh

Stage 4 – Silver Helms









Base: Drybrush Bleached Bone, and flock with Citadel Grass
Hooves: Highlight Fortress Grey
Horse Flesh: Highlight Fortress Grey
Mane: Drybrush Fortress Grey
Silver Metal: *NO CHANGE*
Gold Metal: Highlight 5:1 Shining Gold : Mithril Silver
Saddle, Sheaths and Leather: *NO CHANGE*
Armour Trim and Yellow Cloth: Wash Ogryn Flesh, then highlight Bad Moon Yellow
White Cloth: Highlight Skull White
Blue Cloth and Plume: *NO CHANGE*
Wood: *NO CHANGE*
Rider Flesh: Highlight Bleached Bone



I painted the feathers in the Champion's headdress to match the Great Eagles from my army (as in the Silver Helm entry in Warhammer Armies: High Elves it says that the High Helm is allowed to wear the feathers of an Eagle). I like little details like this where little colours and techniques are repeatedly occasionally in the army. Here's how they were done:

Stage 1:

White Feathers: 1:1 Khemri Brown: Bleached Bone
Black Feathers: Chaos Black

Stage 2:

White Feathers: Wash with Gryphonne Sepia then Drybrush Bleached Bone
Black Feathers: Drybrush 1:1 Chaos Black: Kommando Khaki

Stage 3:

White Feathers: Drybrush 1:1 Bleached Bone : Skull White
Black Feathers: Drybrush Kommando Khaki

Stage 4:

White Feathers: Drybrush Skull White
Black Feathers: *NO CHANGE*



The banner, and runes on the blank shields, were all copied from Warhammer Armies: High Elves, initially drawing them in the darkest blue then highlighting up in the same way as the other blue parts listed above.

[/spoiler]

So there you go, I leave you on that deep dark secret. Hopefully you found this blog informative, I realise it's not that funny! Until next week when I may actually do a proper Warhammer blog, maybe even with some jokes in... don't hold your breath.

[noahtonkin]

I know Dragon Princes are a better choice, and I know any self-respecting general would never take them

What are you talking about, I take silver hel... oh wait, I've confused my self for a self respecting general again havent I?!