Here’s another Reaper Bones Kickstarter model that I painted a couple of months ago, the Rat Swarms.
It’s a simple enough scheme, but it gets the job done.
Updated February 2018 with improved images.
Reaper: Rat Swarms
Dark Eldar: Grisly Trophies
Back in January, I realized I wanted to put Grisly Trophies on some of my Dark Eldar skimmers. The game was an Apoc game which required vehicle upgrades to be modeled. These poles come in the kit, and I hadn’t been using them.
To make it easy to move around, a glued a thin magnet in the vehicle and painted it to blend it in a bit. I drilled out the base of the poles and put in a matching magnet.
I tried out the Citadel Technical Blood for the Blood God paint on these guys, which I think looks neat. Don’t ask me why these clearly dried skulls have fresh blood dripping from them. Maybe the Archon decorates them before going out to battle.
Updated July 2019 with improved images
Eldar: Guardians
These guys are part of the first reinforcements for my Eldar allies force. I should get a different color background to photograph against, so the white helmets and guns don’t get lost.
The heavy weapon platform is magnetized, and the weapons can be swapped with War Walkers
I’ve gone for painting all the blisters on my Eldar as gems in a couple colors. I think it adds a nice bit of detail.
This is a pretty old kit, but it goes together pretty well. The arms are matched, but once you cut them off the sprue it’s hard to see which goes with which. Since I generally don’t glue on arms until after I’m done painting, I need to keep track of it through priming and painting until I get to final assembly. I ended up sketching out each pair’s defining characteristics (the pendant and arm angles, mostly).
Backlog complete
Finishing Andre Durand brings my backlog down to zero for the first time since I started tracking it. This seems like as good a time as any to talk about what the backlog means to me, and how it I use it.
I started using Kanban Tool to track my hobby progress after hearing about using kanban boards on the Independent Characters. I’ve set up categories for different projects (Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Eldar, Reaper, General Hobby, etc), and using swimlanes to roughly divide up the categories into systems (40k, 40k models from when I played way back in 2nd/3rd, Malifaux, other).
I set up the columns to track the state of each model/unit/project:
- Acquired: I own the model.
- Selected: The model is currently selected to be completed. More on this later.
- Assembled: The model is assembled, including any gap filling or the like. If I intend to paint the model in subassemblies (which is almost always), then the subassemblies are completed.
- Basecoated: The model is primed and any airbrush basecoat is complete.
- Active Paint: Just what it sounds like. Even if there are a number of models or units ready for paint, there’s usually only one or two that I’m working on at a time.
- Painted: Painting is complete, but there’s still work to do. This might include varnish, basing, decals, or final assembly.
- Done: Finished and ready to use.
I’ll often batch up a couple of things for priming and airbrushing, then pick them off for active paint one at a time. Sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate for spray-based varnish, so models sit at Painted for a while.
I try not to buy too far ahead of what I can paint, or buy things I’m not intending to immediately paint. Ideally this would mean that few things sit in Acquired without being Selected. Most of the volume is individual models from the Reaper Bones Kickstarter, but there are also leftovers from bundles and some limited editions pieces. Most unpainted stuff that I have from my first foray into 40k (2nd/3rd edition days) isn’t in here, unless I intend to paint it up.
Between overbuying at a store closing at the end of 2013 and buying the Space Marines Strikeforce to build up for the Inquisition War, I had too much backed up. I declared no buying more models until I cleared it. Naturally, I cheated some — I bought some Malifaux for the summer painting contest and in their Gencon deal. I pulled some models out of my deeper stash.
The backlog won’t stay clear for long. I’ve already picked out a few more Reaper Bones to paint, and bought a box to expand my Malifaux collection. There’s always the next thing.