Tag Archives: Dark Angels

Sammael & Ravenwing Librarian

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2013-04-27 16.24.38

Finally, at last, the Ravenwing models I started on a bajillion years ago are done, varnished, photographed, and (now) posted.

I started out both of these models with a lot of energy, but for some reason, they both turned into total, complete slogs.

I’m not especially happy with either of them; I’m just happy to be done with them.

Sammael

I bought into Dark Angels on this model when they first released it. It’s boss. Of course, for some reason I never got around to painting or really using him back when.

My new planned Dark Angels list calls for him, though, so I finally picked him back up.

It’s the metal model, of course. I’d considered selling it and replacing it with a Finecast model… but decided the hassle of dealing with metal < the hassle of repairing Finecast. I was wrong. This is too much freaking metal. Blech.

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I’m really proud of the base. I think it came out really well. It looks a lot better than a clear plastic rod, and really makes the jetbike look like it’s floating. Of course,it’s holding up 8 lbs of metal, so I’m terrified about the glue not holding. It’s actually got a freaking nail behind that wall bit.

Librarian

It’s a Librarian and he’s on a bike, yep.  I feel like I did more greenstuffing on him than actually shows. I don’t know why.

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The arm’s magnetized, though. Force Axes > Force Swords right now, but who knows down the line?

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Anyway, they’re done, and I’m back to working on Tau.

First Stab at some 6E Lists

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Frustratingly, I haven’t had the chance to play 40K yet.  It doesn’t help that I’m still getting over this cold or that the AC’s busted/not working/not working well enough at GPC.

I have been thinking about what I’m going to do with 6E, though.

To recap, I have three 40K armies:

  • Tau Empire – My first army post-return to the hobby.  It’s about half-painted and rough (since it consists of some of the first minis I’d painted after a ~decade long hiatus).  I’m desperate for an excuse to revisit them.
  • Dark Angels – I think I’ve got something like 7,000 points of painted Dark Angels and probably about as much unpainted, hanging out.
  • Khornate Daemons – A fun, if gimmicky army.  Still in need of some repairs from when they were dropped.

Starting a new army at this point, while probably fun, is simply not an option.  I’m still neck-deep in painting Empire, and the goodies from the Kings of War Kickstarter are going to start materializing before I know it.

  • Tau – Got a shot in the arm with the Rapid Fire fix.  I say “fix,” because I don’t think Rapid Fire ever worked the way it was supposed to (“Hey, I’ve got this gun that shoots really fast, so obviously I can’t move and shoot it!” and the “half range” vs. “12”” thing has always infuriated me)… but I’m not sure.  Their vehicles look like paper now, and everything’s costed at 4E points.  Not the best start for me to learn the new game*.
  • Dark Angels – Easy.  I’m fully painted with this stuff, and Terminators look to be even better in the new book.
  • Daemons – Daemons themselves might be able to work out okay, but my specific list feels like it’ll be a non-starter.  No shooting means I still have trouble dealing with armor.  Hellblades are now a bit more like Heckblades.  Beasts feel less speedy now (but that might not be the base).  I don’t know.

So, Dark Angels it is.



This first list is effectively the list I threw together immediately after the FAQ that fixed our cut-rate equipment issues was released:

1,750 – Deathwing

HQ
Belial – TH/SS
Interrogator Chaplain – Terminator Armour, Combi-Plasmagun

Troops
Deathwing Command Squad – Apothecary, Standard Bearer, TH/SS x2, Lightning Claws x2, Heavy Flamer
Deathwing Squad – TH/SS x2, CML
Deathwing Squad – TH/SS x2, CML
Deathwing Squad – TH/SS x2, CML

Heavy Support
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Whirlwind

This second list is one I threw together the other day: I don’t expect it’s a great list, but it’s a start:

1,850 – Deathwing & Ravenwing

HQ
Belial – TH/SS
Librarian – Terminator Armour, Combi-Plasmagun

Elite
Venerable Dreadnought – Heavy Flamer, Plasma Cannon

Troops
Deathwing Command Squad – Apothecary, Standard Bearer, TH/SS x2, Lightning Claws x1, Chainfist, CML
Deathwing Squad – TH/SS x2, Lightning Claws x1, CML
Deathwing Squad – TH/SS x2, Lightning Claws x1, CML

Fast Attack
Ravenwing Squad x3 – Plasmagun x2, Meltabombs
– Attack Bike – Heavy Bolter
Ravenwing Squad x3 – Plasmagun x2, Meltabombs
– Attack Bike – Heavy Bolter
Landspeeder – Heavy Flamer, Heavy Bolter

Heavy Support
Whirlwind
Whirlwind

Finally, Casey’s suggested that I give something like this list a spin. I don’t think it’s great (or will be fun to play against), but it’s a goof.

1,850 – Chaos Daemons

HQ
Fateweaver
Bloodthirster

Troops
Blood Horrors x8 – Changeling
Blood Horrors x8

Heavy Support
Daemon Prince – Wings, Mark of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze, Bolt of Tzeentch
Daemon Prince – Wings, Mark of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze, Bolt of Tzeentch
Daemon Prince – Wings, Mark of Tzeentch, Daemonic Gaze, Bolt of Tzeentch

Allied HQ
Daemon Prince – Wings, Mark of Tzeetch, Sorceror, Warptime

Allied Troops
Thousand Sons x5

* Because that’s what it is: a new game.  If you try to play 6E like it’s 5E, you’re not going to be very good at it.  I probably have a longer kvetch about that in me at some point soon.

Hobby Status 20110502

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I’ve been painting more Skavenslaves, which isn’t particularly exciting.  Since we all know what they look like, I don’t think I’m going to bother taking any more pictures of them until the unit’s and movement tray are fully done.

I’m 95% done with Belial III, though:

He’s done save for painting the sword.  For that, I need to block out a little bit of time with the airbrush.  A little bit ago, I followed this tutorial from APJ to do a test power sword.  This was the result:

For a first try, I’m extremely pleased with it.  I’ll actually be doing something a little different with The Sword of Silence (since it’s obsidian and not a light saber), but not by much.

I also assembled what is possibly the most ostentatious turn counter ever:

I’ve got Island of Blood Warlords to spare (hence the pink one) and a history of throwing down with The Black Ark Apathy, so this thing pretty much built itself.

I’d originally planned on making the Druchii’s pointy helmet be the arrow indicating the current turn, but that didn’t work out quite so well.  It’s too far back, and the crossbow’s hanging over the edge.  I’d use the crossbow, but it’s off to the side; confusing.

Instead, I used a rat skull hanging off the back to indicate the current turn.

This’ll be one of the last things I paint in the current push, but I’m looking forward to it.

Painting Progress – 20110209

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It’s been dead silent around here, I know.  We went on vacation last week and the trip, the lead in to it and the catching up from it has been brutal on my free time.

The Snotorious B.I.G. that smacked the tar out of my half of America on 1/26 pushed our flight back a day, though, so I managed to spend the day working a Warp Lightning Cannon.

I hadn’t planned to work on it at all: I’ve got one of the old ones painted up, and I’ve only been fielding the one.  But, I cracked the kit open to see how things fit together.  This was a mistake.  If you’re going to start clipping this model off the sprue: be prepared to assemble it.  Be warned.
Furthermore: you cannot assemble this sucker.  Not without painting it first.  You can put together sub assemblies, but if you ever plan to paint it, that’s as far as it’s going to go.
So, I kinda got stuck painting it.
It’s a great looking model, though.  I’d originally not been a big fan of how high up the cannon is, but I’ve really come around on that.  The model really feels like something that might get fielded in a battery.  It’s less of a cannon and more of an artillery piece, if that makes any sense.
Anyway, I’m really happy with it.  I just wish I hadn’t been trapped into painting it…

In the few moments I’ve found since finishing this, I’ve started on two more small projects.  
I’ve decided to paint the Warlord on the War Litter:
This thing’s going to be a pain to paint.  At least the bearers will be.  I can tell already.
I’ve also started construction on a third Belial model.  I had an order from MaxMini come in: Shoulder Pads.  They’d also thrown in a Steam Knight helmet for the heck of it… which was serendipitous.
The base is half of the Slate Wasteland’s Hero’s set from Dragon Forge.  The pauldrons and head, are from MaxMini, of course.  There’s a brass etched icon on one of the legs, and a resin Dark Angels symbol (with the sword broken) from… something from Forgeworld.  The sword is a Thunder Hammer Arm, two of the sergeant backpack icons from the DA veteran sprue trimmed and fused and worked together for the guard and a cleaned up Hellblade for the blade.
The shield will be an Assault Terminator Sergeant’s Shield: Casey is hooking me up.  I need to decide if I’m going to just use it as-is, or if I’m going to shave the iconography off and try to sculpt something.  I’d like to sculpt, but I imagine the outcome won’t be very good.
On the upside, however: I’m done making Belial models.  This guy will be Number 3.  So, I finally went ahead and magnetized the arms.
Although #1 has Lightning Claws and #2 has the Sword of Silence and Storm Bolter… I can always come back and build those for this guy.  Or if I decide I dislike the Thunder Sword or something.

Thinking about Lists

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It’s been a while since I posted any lists here.  I don’t think that’s any great loss: lists, in my opinion, make for poor content… at least without accompanying text describing how they actually performed on the table.

But, I’ve been dicking around with some different lists, and they’re on my mind.  (Also, I’ve got a pile of naked mole rat images burning a hole in my Downloads folder.)

So, the big news of last week was that they updated the Dark Angels FAQ.  This makes me extremely happy.  I’ve got about 7,000 points of painted Dark Angels and have, thus far, resisted the urge to run them as “Green Marines.”  (Running them as “Green Blood Angels,” is a bridge too far and “Green Space Wolves” is heresy that cannot be countenanced.)  That temptation’s gone.

Casey threw some ideas at me that sounded pretty solid, so I’ve spun them into a list.

HQ
Belial – TH/SS
Interrogator Chaplain – Terminator Armor

Troops
Deathwing Command Squad – Apothecary, Standard Bearer, TH/SS x5, CML
Deathwing Terminator Squad – TH/SS x2, CML
Deathwing Terminator Squad – TH/SS x2, CML
Deathwing Terminator Squad – TH/SS x2, CML

Fast Attack
Land Speeder – Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder – Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer
Land Speeder – Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer

Heavy Support
Whirlwind
Whirlwind
Whirlwind

In many ways, I don’t like taking lists like this: a single unit, a billion times… but it’s inarguably more reliable, thanks to redundancy, and it’s a lot easier for me to get my head around just sitting down and spitting things together.

Delightfully, I have to do very little to put this on the table.  Paint a few more terminators (the ones with the TH/SS, of course), do another two Speeders (I have three: a dakka speeder, a Sammael speeder, and one of the above), and dig up a few Whirlwind turrets (Heavy Support’s a bit light with my first legion troops).

Anyway, if you’re a Dark Angels player like me: I’m sure you’re delighted with this development.  If you’re a Space Wolf player: keep those power blue terminators Loganwing.  I don’t think I’ll be able to restrain myself from mercilessly judging you and your troops for their fickle defection from the Wolf to the Lion.

A naked mole rat and then a Dark Angels list?  What the heck is wrong with me!?!  Some Skaven lists will, hopefully, make things right.

This is the list that I ran last week, and will likely continue to run with a few changes.

Lords
Warlord (General) – War-Litter, Sword of Swift Slaying, Enchanted Shield, Poisoned Attacks
Grey Seer – Warp-Energy Condenser, Talisman of Preservation

Heroes
Chieftain (BSB) – Shield, Armor of Destiny
Plague Priest – Lvl 2, Plague Furnace, Flail, Dispel Scroll
Warlock Engineer – Doomrocket

Core
Clanrats x30 – Full Command, Shield
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Skavenslaves x 48 – Champion, Musician, Shield
Stormvermin x20 – Full Command, Stormbanner
– Poisoned Wind Mortar

Special
Plague Monks x34 – Full Command, Plague Banner
Gutter Runners x5 – Poisoned Attacks, Slings
Gutter Runners x5 – Poisoned Attacks, Slings

Rare
Doomwheel
Hellpit Abomination
Warp-Lightning Cannon

I’ve really started to love the Plague Furnace. It dies horribly to Skinks, sure, but everything’s going to go down to something. People don’t pack in Chaos Knights because Jezzails make them sad, you know?  It’s done really well for me: it helps me bulk out to a horde of Plague Monks easily and draws a great deal of attention.  In terms of killing the life out of things… it’s surprisingly quiet.  The Monks make enough of a ruckus that the accomplishments of the Furnace are easy to miss.  (That means I should probably try running without the Furnace to see what happens.)  A horde of Monks pukes up five attacks per file… and the Plague Banner really makes that sting.

The Warlord’s relatively cheap, has a great armor save (2+/6+) and spits out a lot of attacks: 4 Poison with likely rerolls (not many things have I7) and 4 Poison maybe with rerolls (I5).

The Seer’s about what he always looks like.  If I could find the points, I’d like to give him a Power Scroll: it can be a real drag getting Dreaded 13th off, sometimes.

The BSB gets magic armor: keeping him alive is more important than fitting in the Stormbanner.  Fortunately, the Stormvermin can take it, so I’m not losing out.

I like the horde of Slaves, but I find I play too conservatively with them.  Part of me would like to double-down on it… but I’m still working on getting the one horde fully painted.

For those following at home: this is the list I’m trying to get to 100% this year.  If I go past this, great, but this is the baseline goal.

Here’s the other list I’ve got:

Lords
Warlord (General) – Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield
Grey Seer – Power Scroll, Talisman of Preservation

Heroes
Chieftain (BSB) – Shield, Armor of Destiny
Plague Priest – Lvl 2, Flail, Plague Furnace, Dispel Scroll
Warlock Engineer – Doomrocket
Warlock Engineer – Brass Orb

Core
Stormvermin x10 – Banner, Musician, Stormbanner
– Ratling Gun
Stormvermin x10 – Musician
– Ratling Gun
Stormvermin x10 – Musician
– Ratling Gun
Stormvermin x10 – Musician
– Poisoned Wind Mortar
Stormvermin x10 – Musician
– Poisoned Wind Mortar

Special
Gutter Runners x5 – Poisoned Attacks, Slings
Plague Monks x32 – Full Command, Plague Banner

Rare
Hellpit Abomination
Warp-Lightning Cannon
Warp-Lightning Cannon

Just in typing it up, I can’t help but feel like the Furnace, if not the Monks themselves, are a mistake.  Also, it’s important to note that I don’t actually see this being all that great of a list.  It’s just different.  That could be why I want to run it: I’ve heard so much about this vaunted SAD thing, I’d like to see it for myself.

I’ve also never run the Brass Orb: it seems terrible.  As likely to scatter back onto your head as it is to land where you want it.  But, hey, it’s just an Engineer, right?

The idea here, roughly, is to shoot at you until you engage.  And, when you do that, you’ve got to deal with the Plague Monks.

I expect this will do badly, but it’s just so different from what a Skaven army should be, I’m very, very curious.

Bitz Suggestion?

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Looking for some bitz advice.

What I need: a 28mm-scaled big-ass sword.  Bloodletter Hellblades are the perfect size, but this’ll be going on space marine (Belial, to be specific*), so they’re far too chaotic looking.  I’d been looking at using a sword from the Greatsword kit, but I don’t think that’s going to be heavy-duty enough.

Anyone have any ideas?

* Yes, I’m building a third Belial.  I’m okay with that.

Better, Faster, Cheaper

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I’m listening to Jay talking to the 11th Company folks.

You know what makes me laugh?  Space Marine players complaining about how Blood Angels do everything they can do, only better and/or cheaper.

I mean, I’m just sayin’.

(I think I need to add a tag called “Storm Shield Envy.” :) )

Revising the Dark Angels?

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When Ron posted about his Deathwing, I have to admit that I made a face.  
His list isn’t codex legal, it’s just stuff that he wants to play, in terms of theme, fluff, and Unforgiven.  This sort of thing is totally fine for casual games, or games in a small group.  Jervis isn’t going to kick his door in and arrest him for Doing It Wrong or anything… but it’s not entirely portable.  It’s not the sort of thing you can take to a tournament.  With as large a player base as we have in the IFL, it’s not the sort of thing you can just drop on the table without some warning.
Boy, it’s a nice idea, though, isn’t it?  In many ways, I’m frustrated by the inconsistencies between the Dark Angels codex and the Space Marine codex.  I don’t expect the two books to be the same (because, in that case, we wouldn’t need two books), but the disparity between how things work in one book and how they work in another is just headache inducing.
This isn’t helped by the fact that we’re not going to see an update any time soon.  If GW keeps up their pattern alternating between Imperial and non-Imperial codices, maybe we could see an update sometime in 2011.  (It sounds like Grey Knights are dropping late this year, which covers pretty much all of the Imperial books save Black Templars and Dark Angels.)
It’s a bit of a touchy subject for me: I’ve been rolling with the DA codex and plan to continue to do so (when running my Dark Angels and not my Khornate Daemons)… but I’m quite frustrated by the difference.  Folks who cannot understand that frustration really tick me off.  I gave the Imperial Vox Cast a try until they went on a rant about people who play Dark Angels should quit their bitching, etc.  Uh-uh.  :stop:  :delete:
Some folks have taken it upon themselves to try to reconcile the two books:  
Austin‘s taken a stab, with what’s basically a single page document that suggests using the DA book, but with rules, costs and unit options for certain units taken from the Space Marine codex.  It’s pretty spartan, but not bad.  Worth checking out.
The most recent issue of the AstroMag (#6) has a segment in that summarizes a much more in-depth attempt by Captain Kellen to bring the Dark Angels codex in line with the Space Marine book.  The full treatment can be found here (not really a page there, just a file host).  It’s 60 pages, including fiction and art; the Astromag article summarizes the changes.  What’s really great about this approach is that he tries to justify every choice he makes (in the full document).  There’s a lot to be said to be said for that sort of transparency.
I’m on board with almost all of his changes.  He makes good cases for them and, in many ways they’re a superset of the changes Austin proposes: just basic stuff that says a Cyclone Missile Launcher is a Cyclone Missile Launcher is a Cyclone Missile Launcher, you know?  He goes a bit further, though, and brings over units: he makes a fluff-based claim to Sternguard Veterans and Sgt. Telion Naaman, for example, but cannot do so for other units like Ironclad Dreadnoughts or Land Raider Redeemers.

The only place I disagree with him is where it comes to Librarians.  I’m on board with not bringing over the full list of Space Marine psychic powers… but his arguments for simply using the powers in the Dark Angels book don’t hold up.  “It has been clear that the Dark Angels have different powers than other chapters,” he says… but the basic Dark Angel psychic powers, Hellfire and Force Barrier aren’t really different from The Avenger or Force Dome.  The former is an unreliable version of the Space Marine power and the latter has the same fluff as the Space Marine power, but is mechanically useless.  I’d swap the powers: The Avenger for Hellfire and Force Dome for Force Barrier and leave Mind Worm.  Mind Worm might not be all that useful, but it is unique.

I also don’t like his treatment of Ezekiel’s Psychic Hood.  The table-wide psychic hood is one of the extremely few things the Unforgiven have going for them, but I really feel that if we’re updating equipment and options, we have to take the bad with the good.  That means making the Psychic Hood 24″, you know?  I get why he made the choice, but I disagree.

I’m not likely to crack either of these approaches open and, even if I did, I doubt it would change my list in any substantial way… it’d just synchronize the way equipment behaves.  I honestly don’t see having a better Storm Shield changing the number of Storm Shields I take, you know?

I thought I’d bring it because, between thinking about running Deathwing at ‘Ard Boyz (using the unmodified Dark Angels codex) and Ron’s confession that he’s running fast and loose with the codex, it’s rattling around in my forebrain.

What do y’all think?

(Images are from the Deathwatch RPG site and classic GW DA art.)

‘Ard Boyz 2010

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I thought I’d be missing out on ‘Ard Boyz this year because we’ll be celebrating the extremely awesome Mrs. Rushputin’s birthday on that Saturday.  I was okay with this, because I’ve never actually played in an ‘Ard Boyz; I ran the first one for Game Parlor and… missed the second one for reasons that escape me (probably work).

As it turns out, however, for whatever reason (I’m sure there’s a good one, possible that I’ve missed) my FNVLGS* The Game Vault will be hosting theirs on that Sunday, rather than that Saturday.  Between this extremely convenient scheduling fluke and the slightest bit of prodding from Casey, I’ve decided to head out to it.

Now, I can’t run my Daemons at 2,500.  It just can’t happen.  My Tau, I’ve yet to figure out how to play in 5th… it could happen but, let me assure you, it won’t.

That leaves my largest army, and one of my favorites: my Dark Angels.  This is particularly convenient, because during the first ‘Ard Boyz, I wrote up a DA list to run at ‘Ard Boyz.  All Deathwing.

Two HQs.  Nine Deathwing Terminator Squads.  47 models.

I have no illusion that this is a particular ‘ard list or anything, but it should be fun.

Deathwing ‘Ard Boyz
2,500 points

HQ
Belial – Sword of Silence, Storm Bolter
Grey Knight Grandmaster – Nemesis Force Weapon, Storm Bolter, Psychic Hood, Ungents of Warding

Elites
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Cyclone Missile Launcher
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Lightning Claws x1, Thunder Hammer, Heavy Flamer
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Lightning Claws x1, Chainfist, Assault Cannon

Troops
Deathwing Terminator Command Squad x5 – Apothecary, Standard, Lightning Claws x3, Thunder Hammer x1, Chainfist,  Heavy Flamer
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Cyclone Missile Launcher
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Cyclone Missile Launcher
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Cyclone Missile Launcher
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Lightning Claws x1, Chainfist, Assault Cannon
Deathwing Terminators x5 – Lightning Claws x1, Chainfist, Assault Cannon

That leaves me with 5 points to throw in an extra chainfist somewhere, I dunno.

They Grey Knight Grandmaster is a new thing for me.  I’ve never run one before.  He’s taking the place of my Terminator Librarian (ironic, because my Terminator Librarian will be taking his place as a model); I think he’ll do everything the Librarian does, only better and for marginally fewer points.  For 20 points more, he’s got more wounds, more attacks (with the +2 strength of the Nemesis Force Weapon).  No, he doesn’t have any psychic powers, but who cares?  I sure as hell never took the Dark Angels Librarian for his psychic powers; he’s there to add punch to the assault Deathwing Command Squad and to run psychic defense: he’s got the same table-wide Psychic Hood the Dark Angels Librarian has… throw the Ungents of Warding in for a few more points, and things are even better.

Ungents of Warding?  That’s freaking how Blessing of the Blood God should work for Khornate Daemons: ignore psychic powers on a 4+.  Period.

Anyway, Belial chills with one of the Cyclone Missile Launcher squads.  The Grandmaster goes with the Command squad.  Given that I’ve been rocking the Daemons for the past however long, I’ll probably just Deep Strike everything in.  Five squads come in on the first turn via Deathwing Assault.

Could I run this with Space Wolves?  Maybe.  Probably.  Who cares?  I’m throwing down for the Lion, not the Wolf.

(Now, I’ve just got to assemble the last 16 terminators or so.)

* Friendly Not-Very-Local Game Store.  The Game Vault’s anywhere between 45 minutes to two hours away from where I live in Manassas, depending on the how generous Northern Virginian traffic feels like being.

20091013 Painting WIPs.

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Didn’t have much time for hobby-type stuff last week on account of work getting out of hand.  I was able to make up for it over the weekend, kicking it into gear with those Devastators I’d gotten started on a month and half ago.  (Kromac over there’s been where he is for over a year, now.)

Then, I decided to come to grips with my motivation to paint some Skaven.  I’ve got rat-fever, but I can’t wait for the new Clanrats to drop to get spun up on them again.  Instead, I started slapping paint on some Gutter Runners and then got distracted by the Warlock Engineer I’ve been meaning to paint for a long while.
All of these are WIP, of course.