Hobby Bingo 2018

I joined in the Hobby Bingo challenge in 2018 but frankly it was a bust by the time we closed December. 2018 was a hard year to finish, after such a bright start.

However, some of the challenges were completed! Every title is clickable through to the original post ...

Play and Paint a Model For an Army or Game You haven't Played in Over a Year
Guild Ball Morticians had Veteran Graves and Vileswarm added. I do miss playing this game.

Paint All the Models in a Faction Starter Box
Primaris Marines from the Dark Imperium box. This isn't quite a faction starter box, but it's equivalent - so I'm claiming it!

Paint a Model and Use a Technique You Haven't Mastered
Shadespire Ironskull's Boyz, using NMM copper.

Buy a Model and Paint it Within 48 Hours
Attended Banshee's painting workshop in March, and by the end of the weekend I'd painted the bust that came as part of the course.

Paint a Model in a Color You Don't Normally Use
Word Bearers. I've traditionally stayed away from reds, as mine ended up too pink - but I changed it around and pushed into the shadows for depth, and it worked quite well. So well in fact my daughter practically has a whole army of them now.

Make Something That's Not For the Battlefield
Love my sci-fi vending machines and, while they're part of a larger piece, they meet this requirement admirably. In the grim darkness of the far future there is only a nice row of chocolate bar dispensers.

Finish Painting a Model That's Been in Your Do-Do Pile For a Year 
Norsemen from Hasslefree were a purchase from ... 2016! So nearer two years on the painting pile, but we got there.

However, that's a very poor seven from a potential 25. I plan for 2019 to be a better year on this front.

Grey Horde: February 2018

Bought: 0
Sold: 14 Dark Eldar Kabalites
Painted: 10 Word Bearers, 6 Vending Machines, 1 Sportscaster, 1 Space Wolf, 3 Norsemen
Total: -35

That's right. A big, fat zero at the top for things I bought!

Not as productive as I wanted, but still a decent month. A little more cleared from the Cupboard of Doom, and a few more projects progressed well. Selling off another unit of 40k 3rd edition "why on earth did I buy this?" was good, but ... finally wrapping up projects? A warm glow of happiness. That's my Norsemen, my Sportscasters and a terrain project all finished up.

Word Bearers: The Test Squad

Since abandoning my Death Guard last year, I've had an interest in starting a Word Bearers force, but this sat on hold while other projects came to the fore.

Plans were accelerated in January by a friend generously donating a whole box of "a few" Space Marines he'd bought as a job lot on eBay and realised would never paint or play. My oldest daughter quickly claimed them for herself, which suited me, and several conversations later she's bought in to the idea of playing the bad guys, in the form of Word Bearers. How fortunate.

Opening the box, I realised my friend's idea of "few" and mine are quite a way from each other. There were about 1500 points of models in the box! Mostly tactical marines, but 15 Terminators, 10 scouts, light vehicles and a couple of dreadnoughts. Here's what the horde looks like when primed up in full.

We had a discussion around what colour to paint the Word Bearers, as the official GW colour scheme is a little too bright for my personal taste and, selfishly, I know these will probably end up back with me in a year or two when she grows bored, so I'd like them in colours that please me.

Over the top of the black, I painted Scarlett Red then highlights sprayed from directly above with Bloody Red, then Bloody Red + Hot Orange. Three hours later we have the semblance of a painted force already!

Man I love my airbrush. Moving this quickly simply isn't possible otherwise.

After that, it's a case of trial and error to establish quick colour schemes. Chainmail Silver on metals. Dark Grey Blue on tubing, English Uniform on pouches, skulls and aquilas, and Goblin Green on lenses and jewels. Let it all dry, smother in Nuln Oil, tidy up a few points and then we're done! Here's how they look when finished up ...

So it's very basic in painting terms, but it's neat, tidy and satisfying to finish a ten-man squad in a single evening. They won't all be at this standard because my daughter will be painting the rest, but it's fun to set a benchmark for her to aim for.

Purists will note there's a myriad of lore issues here. Why are they all in modern armour sets but still wearing Aquilas, purity symbols and other Imperial non-heresy elements? Because my daughter doesn't give two hoots about staying true to canon, she wants things that she loves looking at - and I'm totally fine with that. Also, anyone wearing a helmet and you can't see their face? It's a girl in there. Why? Because my daughter wants girls kicking the butts of my boy Space Wolves. Because girls are better than boys.

Update: Did I accidentally participate in, and complete the #squaduary challenge? I think I did.