Staying Engaged

When I work on my models, it's like I'm in my own little world. I'll listen to music while I paint, or perhaps put something simple on the television. I'll generally watch something science fiction related, something that I can listen to and don't have to look at. As of late, I've been watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. I've seen enough of it in the past that I can listen to it without having to focus on it. The distraction helps me devote attention to my models and keep me motivated enough to work for longer periods of time without getting bored with the painting process itself. Despite the motivation I have to work on models when they're right in front of me, I need to keep that motivation while I'm not painting, so that I'll keep coming back and continuing my work.

In my day job, I am a professional truck driver. Since I drive for long hours, I am unable to read novels, browse the internet, or receive any other visual stimulation to keep me interested in the hobby. Instead, I download a bunch of 40k-related podcasts to listen to when I drive. Listening to battle reports or hobby progress from other 40k players always makes me want to work on my models.

What do you do to motivate yourself when you're working on your hobby? Even if you don't paint models, what gives you to motivation to keep up with your creativity? When you're not working on your hobby (painting, knitting, etc), what keeps you coming back for more? Leave a comment below and let me know about how you do your hobby.

As for my own personal hobby progress, work is continuing steadily on the third and final Guardian squad. Today, I've basecoated the arms and am preparing to attach them to the Guardians. I've also basecoated the weapon platform. This squad is getting steadily closer to being finished. I'm looking forward to being finished with this squad so that I can start working on more ambitious projects. After this squad is finished, the Harlequins will be getting some work. I'm looking forward to seeing how the squad markings work. Keep checking back to see how the Guardians turn out!

Seer Council

The other day, I took a break from painting the third Guardian squad to focus on their squad leader, the Warlock. After an entire day staring into my magnifying glass, he's completely finished. With my third Warlock completed, I've been presented with an idea. Next time I play, I'm going to try running a Seer Council instead of tossing them into the Guardian squads like I normally do. I've realized that I'm having trouble getting their powers to work effectively and am having limited usefulness in their current position. I think, in the end, I'll keep them in their Guardian squads (where their squad markings will make more sense), but for the next game or two I'm going to try keeping them together so that I'll have more freedom with their powers. Feel free to post comments below and let me know what you think.

As for now, check out how the third Warlock came out. I think they look pretty sweet as a Seer Council.

As for the Guardians themselves, they're coming along nicely! I should have them done in another week or so. With all the pictures I've taken of all the steps, it looks like its going to be a fantastic tutorial when its done! Keep checking back!

Trying the New Eldar

Yesterday, I went down to Games Workshop: Eastport Plaza to see if I could get a game. I haven't played with the Eldar since the new codex came out, so I wanted to try them out. I ended up finding a game with Avery and Eric, who play Space Marines and Necrons, respectively. We played a 1,500 point game with my army verses the two of them (it's how the points ended up). In order for me to round out to a nice even 1,500 points, I used the Eldar as my main force and allied in a few squads of my Ultramarines.

We played for objectives, so when you see my Titan crew wandering around the board, that's why. They were the objectives.

The pictures below tell most of the story, but I'll give you a few highlights first. For starters, I took 6 troop choices (2 Guardians, 2 Dire Avengers, & 2 Tactical Squads), an Autarch, a Farseer, a Space Marine captain, and to a lesser extent, a dreadnaught. When you look through the pictures, you'll notice that the dreadnaught isn't in any of them. Why is that, you ask? Because it was immediately destroyed before it could take its first shot.

Also, in most of the pictures, the only Space Marines you'll see are mine. This is because the entirety of Avery's force was outflanking or deep striking and didn't make it on until late in the game.

That being said, I was still annihilated. Eric's Tesla-whatevers just killed squad after squad. In the end, I ended up losing, but I still learned a whole lot about how the new Eldar play, as well as what choices I should make in the future to have more successful games.

Check out the pictures below to see how the battle went!

Battle lines are drawn

Awesomely airbrushed Necron vehicles:
the bane of my existance

Eldar Guardians worked out amazingly well, even if they
didn't make it to the end of the game.

Space Marine allies outflank me!

This is the end. . .

 In hobby news, the last squad of Eldar Guardians is coming along swimmingly. I'm really looking forward to having them finished. When this last squad is done, I'll have all my troops done for both armies and I can focus on painting the fun stuff! Keep checking back to see the progress on the final troop squad!