And now, time for a short commercial break...

Today I'm breaking with my normal service of Dark Angels flavoured goodness to bring you something completely different. After much lurking around, my crazy Dutch friend CJ has finally entered the wonderful world of 40k blogging. Knowing how difficult it can be to find readers in the early days I'm doing my best to get him some coverage! 

The Dragon Riders

CJ is doing some awesome work with the familiar old Saim-Hann theme. Taking the tactics of Fritz he's added his own completely unique modeling ideas. Make sure you go and check out the Dragon Riders. It's early days yet, but its promising stuff! 

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Okay, I couldn't quite resist talking about Dark Angels, but it is my blog after all! Anyway, here's a quick snap shot of my painting table. The last ToP entry is coming along nicely, and quickly! This is great, because I'm only able to catch about an hour of painting every other day at the moment. At this rate, I'll coast through the final deadline! 

Thanks for reading!

Of Termis and Tournis

First off, the Deathwing are highlighted! 

Those of you who have been following The Astronomican for a while will know its taken me months to get around to doing this. I really wish I'd done it earlier now...

Anyway, here are some photos of the vastly improved models.

Termi Squad 1

Termi Squad 2

(Bigger photos available here)

What this means is that the 1500pts army list is so very nearly done! All I have left to do is print off a transfer for the Deathwing Banner. I'll have to wait a couple of weeks until I can get my hands on a high quailty printer but, the moment it's all sorted, there will be army photos a plenty! 

In the mean time its on to struggling to find time to paint my final Tale of Painters entry. I am determined not fail at the last round, university be dammed! 

Now, on to Tournis. I've finally found some time to go on my first ever tournament. Me and my Dark Angels will be whizzing our way up to Liverpool for the WPS Club Challenge on the 16/17th of May this year. I'll be heading up with my local club, the Bristol Vanguard and hopefully I wont let them down too much!  

Anyway the point of telling you all this (bar sharing my geeky excitement with people who will understand) is twofold:

1st - What advice you would give someone preparing for their first tournament. What should I bring? Should I get anything especially? What sort of things would a 'casual gamer' like me overlook? 

2nd - Are any of my UK readers out there going to the WPS?? Would be great to put a face to some of the usernames out there (in a totally non-stalkerish way you understand). And, again to the UK readership, what other tournaments are you guys planning to attend this summer? I'm looking at doing one more, and I would love some recommendations! 

Right then, lets see if anyone can help me. Thanks for reading! 

Tale of Painters Deadline 5: Met

Well, its the penultimate month of the Tale of Painters challenge on Librarium Online. Of the 54 entrants back in September, only 11 or 12 people are left. And am I glad to say that I continue to be one of them!  

Here are a few (admittedly rushed) shots of my entry:






And a picture of the Sergeants face - not great for seeing detail, but a really atmospheric shot I thought!



I'm pretty happy with how these guys turned out. I managed to get them done in just over a week, which for me is extraordinarily fast! It also means I've finally painted everything in the Ravenwing Box.

For next month I'll be painting a Terminator Chappy and 5 Tactical Marines. This will get me up to the ToP requirements of 1000pts with at least 1 HQ and 2 Troops.

However, before I start them, I have finally finally started to highlight the Deathwing Squads. 5 guys are done, the remaining 5 should be finished shortly. Most excitingly of all, I'm going to have access to my home printer in the next couple of weeks so I'll be able to make up the transfer for my Deathwing Banner. With that, the first 1500pts of my DA will be completely finished. I cant wait!

I'm also working on a blog post with some thoughts on my DA, as they have now seen their first 10 games. This will be slow in coming & dependant on getting uni work done.

Thanks for stopping by...

Land Raider Crusader Completed

I'm not dead! Honest! 

As I feared, the last few months of university are proving a nightmare and I'm not being able to blog or paint nearly as much as I would like. However, its not all doom and gloom as I have finished my first Land Raider, and I think she's a beauty: 

Front

Left Side

Back

Right Side

Detail

(Bigger pics can be found here)

Sorry for the plethora of pictures, I just couldn't decide which ones to cut out. Plus I hope that somebody might use them for reference when painting their own models. I know I used pictures off forums when doing this!

This took me about 2 and half weeks to complete, mainly because the doing a dissertation means my painting time has been much reduced! I wasn't planning on using this for ToP, but if I cant get some Ravenwing done before the 19th, I may have too. With work as it is, that looks likely!

Thanks for looking guys!