Steel Phalanx Painting Challenge: Day Eight

I think I've broken tha back of this one. Two full days of painting ahead of me this weekend, with a couple of games on Sunday night. Should make a big inroad into it by Monday. Seven days remaining...

Steel Phalanx Painting Challenge: Day Five - A New Colour?

Update on my stupid Steel Phalanx painting challenge! Well the purple didn't last long. I played a game with the basecoated/shaded models on Sunday and didn't like how they looked. So, came home and grey primered them immediately and went for my Plan B colour: turquoise.

I would say my crappy phone camera makes them look grey in this photo. Believe me, it's a lurid turquoise!

At this point I've rationed myself to just the models I'll be taking to the tournament, so dropped six models - the Rebot is still not included in the photo as the bases arrived yesterday so is still bare metal.

Nine days to go. Crap.

Steel Phalanx Painting Challenge: Day Two - I've Given Myself 'Airbrush-Thumb'

Well day two of the challenge, and it's been pretty productive. Still no sign of the base for the Rebot, but aside from that I think I stand a good chance of finishing! Famous last words...

Today has been all about the purple (more like lilac).

Suffice to say, I've given myself a newly invented condition of Airbrush-Thumb. Painters RSI.

Here's the frankly ridiculous sequence of layers you can (or can't...) see in the photo above:

Full coat of GW Naggaroth Night
Generous highlight of GW Xereus Purple
Highlight of 2:1 mix of GW Xereus Purple and GW Genestealer Purple
Highlight of GW Genestealer Purple
Highlight of 1:1 mix of GW Genestealer Purple and GW Slaanesh Grey
Final highlight of GW Slaanesh Grey
Post-shade touch up of GW Naggaroth Night to re-emphasise the darkest shadows

Eighteen models done in a day.

Next: Final shading with pin washes and blocking in other colours

Steel Phalanx Painting Challenge: Day One

I've set myself the insane challenge of painting a full army of the Steel Phalanx to compete in a small tournament in Sheffield, on March the 8th. That gives me exactly 14 days (possibly 13...) to complete all of the models required for my two lists. At this moment, I have absolutely no complete models for this army so it's going to be a bit crazy to try and meet the deadline... but I'll certainly try.

Today's progress? Not great. Sorted out a few basing issues, and some minor reassebly which took an annoying amount of my time up. Then a simple light grey airbrushed primer coat to cover over most of them having the original grey scheme and the bare metal new comers.

There are seventeen 25mm based models plus Ajax and Penthesilea, and the unbased Zayin Rebot (still waiting for bases to arrive!) is still bare metal. Out of that lot, I'm using probably between twelve and fourteen models but I still haven't settled on a list yet!

My plan is to do all the airbrush work on all the models initially, then finish off the tournament models by hand/brush. This at least means I can go back to the rest later without having a different colour scheme on them.

Next: basecoat and shading.

Operation: Steel Phalanx In 15 Days Or Bust

Bit of a gap in posts, but I'm pleased to say this post will show I've managed to progress towards two of my Infinity resolutions for 2014.

Tuesday was 'No Shirt Or Slacks Day' in the Lhost training camp

Myself and a pair of friends (Starmonkee aka James, and Nate) are driving down to play in a small tournament in Sheffield in March, Paradiso Lost, hosted by The Outpost.

Suffice to say I'm really excited to be going as this will be my first proper tournament. I've been spending a lot of time with different lists, tweaking here and there to try and get the best out of the Steel Phalanx as far as ITS is concerned (a lot easier said than done).

Three games, 300pts, objectives with classifieds slightly modified from stock ITS. You must provide two lists and use them both over the three matches so lots of scope for list building fun, which I absolutely love. Honestly someone could create a tabletop wargame that involved just writing army lists and I'd be set for life!

It promises to be a really friendly day. Interested? Head over to the Facebook page for 'Infinity The Game: Northern Alliance' and have a look for yourself!

My second goal was for a painted Steel Phalanx. In an earlier blog post I'd mentioned batch painting them in a warm grey scheme reminiscent of Splinter Cell or Deus Ex. Well that stalled pretty suddenly as I really wasn't feeling the grey... partly as I realised I was effectively colour matching my army with my buildings. And partly as grey just isn't fun to paint. I've just added the Myrmidon box, Spitfire Myrmidon, Machaon, and a box of Rebots to my Phalanx collection and so I'm taking the opportunity for a wholesale repaint.

Small issue... it needs to be done in under 15 days to be ready for the Sheffield tournament. It's going to be extremely tough to do this, but I feel with my airbrush I have a chance at meeting this goal. Emphasis on the word 'chance'. If by March 3rd (army list deadline) I fear missing the March 8th final deadline, then I'll fall back on Ariadna instead as my army. I really don't want to have to do as I've been loving using the Phalanx of late!

Expect a progress report over the next two weeks.

A Happy New Year... And Resolutions!

Well 2014 has begun, 2013 was one hell of year for me being as it was my first year back into tabletop wargames. I spent the first two thirds of the year up to my nuts in Warhammer 40k, and the final third up to my nuts in Infinity. In fact those final four months of 2013 have probably set the marker down for how my wargaming future will pan out - less GW, more of what else is out there!

Infinity is my main gaming system now, having replaced 40K with some ease. I've played Infinity almost non-stop since August with just a couple of games of 40k in between. I've tried and failed to muster the interest in collecting a new 40K army in that time, and instead have put my finances into more Infinity and more recently Dropzone Commander and Hordes too (new to me).

Setting wargaming themed New Years Resolutions seems to be the thing to do if you run a blog these days, so here are mine for 2014:

1. Own a 400pt, fully painted Ariadnan army - already most of the way there, but for ITS I need some additional models finished (I've plenty to choose from).
2. Own a 400pt fully painted Steel Phalanx - as above. I've already got the models (Gawd bless 80pt Achilles) just need to pull my finger out and get them finished. Then add Myrmidons.
3. Expand the Ariadnan army to a fully painted Ariadnan sectorial - this one will take some work as I have a very even mix of Kazak, French, and Scotch units. I'm excited to see how the Kazak sectorial will look so this could be the one I eventually choose.
4. Paint my goddamn terrain - I must have £200 worth of MAS and Bandua terrain and none of it has gone beyond a grey primer yet. Disgraceful.
5. Play in tournaments - the UK doesn't have the biggest tournament scene so this one will be tricky to fit in...
6. Create missions - I love a bit of creative writing and so I want to try and concoct some narrative-based standalone missions. Even better would be to string a couple together for an easy afternoons gaming a la the old Space Hulk mission booklets.

Assault Pack out of shot an' in yo' face.

So there you are. Plenty to be getting on with already and this is just for Infinity!

Non-Infinity related stuff revolve around Dropzone and Hordes, or anything else that takes my fancy this year. I can't rule out getting back into 40K at some point, but right now it's not on the radar at all.

Batch Painting The Steel Phalanx

As the title suggests, I have indeed lost my marbles. I tried to do this a few weeks ago, and one airbrushed highlight too many and they were back in black primer within minutes. For me however, unpainted models are an unacceptable feature of wargaming (tongue firmly planted, dear reader) and so with two weeks of holiday having commenced today, I have decided that I will have a fully painted Assault Subsection by the end of it. Family and festivities, be damned.

The question is, will they be the same colour at the end of it?

Early Days Of The Steel Phalanx: A Greek Tragedy

It's been about six weeks since I picked up a sizable chunk of Steel Phalanx units with which to run my second Infinity army. I've only played a couple of games with them in that time, but it's clear I've a way to go before I'd claim to have felt them 'click'.

Coming from an intensive period of using Ariadna and being very successful with them, has meant a sharp learning curve (more like a sheer cliff) as I almost have to relearn the game in the process.

Trinkets and Pretty Things

Another solid month by CB standards for Infinity, with the new batch of announced new models for Infinity.

The Dire Foes combat models are all really nice again, although only the Shasvastii really sings to me if I'm honest. However the two civvies are superb, with the hazard suit lady being probably the best civvie model in the range in my opinion.

Nomads get the really brilliant Intruder sculpt, and Tohaa get for me probably one of the least attractive models in their range with the Ectros HMG (weird looking legs?). As an ALEPH guy, the Machaon model is my highlight. Initially I was somewhat disappointed that he didn't have the athletic pose of many of the other male Myrmidon officer heroes. However the more I look, the more I love. The mini-Ajax school bag and the long coat are just lovely little stylistic ideas, and within the existing Phalanx model range it will make a great addition from an aesthetic point of view. Not sure about the greasy looking fringe thing Angel painted though...

The Steel Phalanx Are Coming!

With my Ariadnan army reaching a 300pt painted milestone, I decided to begin a second faction project. With them being a strictly vanilla army with mix of each of the different nationalities of Dawn included, for the new faction I decided to try a sectorial army instead. I'd gone as far filling a shopping basket on a couple of occasions, with Shock Army models; but indecision regarding the composition of my list meant I was constantly changing and tweaking the list I'd written.

This delay was fortunate though, as whilst idly leafing through the Paradiso book one evening I started to read the background of the Steel Phalanx ALEPH force... and a love affair was born.

After a couple of weeks of waiting for models to arrive, my fledgling Steel Phalanx force has been assembled!

Cometh The Dire Foes

After a couple months of anticipation, the Infinity Dire Foes boxsets are starting to filter out from Corvus Belli. And my oh my, what a selection of lovely little baubles they've put together for November!

The models are anything BUT Dire! See what I did there?!

Random Post: I've Found The Theme Song For My Steel Phalanx

The hatch of the dropship slowly unfolds to the ground; the Paradiso snow whips around the engine vents, buffeted by the downdraft. As Ronald Jenkees smashes out an 80's action movie theme song on the synthesizer, Assault Subsection leader and hero, Achilles, is seen framed in the hatch doorway, hair blowing manfully as he grimly surveys the battlefield and his troops stream past him in perfect formation...



Or something.