Thursday, January 20, 2011

Hydra Night

This is going to be a relatively quick post tonight as I am about to begin the assembly of my Dark Elf War Hydra. Based on its reputation I am expecting this to be a frustrating and potentially unpleasant experience. I've heard numerous horror stories about this miniature and am understandably nervous about the modeling challenges it will present. Already in the short life of this project both a Harpy and a Dark Elf Shade have gotten the better of me and drawn blood from my careless fingertips. I therefore fear what might befall me while working on the War Hydra.

I'm sorry I haven't posted any updates in the last week about my Dark Elves, hobby time has been scarce and I spent what I had assembling the first batch of models. I decided to begin by working on all the metal Dark Elves I have in order to get the most annoying stuff out of the way early. I'll then move on to the plastic guys and hopefully be ready to begin painting by February, giving me about two months to get at least 1000 points painted before Adepticon. It's been sort of a slow start but I'm optimistic things will pick up soon.

So far I've assembled five Shades, the first five out of ten total Harpies, a Sorceress riding a Cold One, and an Assassin as seen in the picture below. All of those except the Shades were among the miniatures I had purchased before ever wanting to collect Dark Elves for WHFB, having planned on using them either for other projects or else purely for the fun of painting them. The Hydra and the remaining five Harpies are the last of the metal minis to be assembled so I'd like to start on the plastic ones by next week.

Okay, that's it for tonight's update. If I have some extra time this weekend I'll explain more thoroughly what I have in mind for this army and what I'll be working on over the next few months and beyond. Now though I'm off to fight a Hydra... goodnight!

18 comments:

  1. Those look badass! Can't wait for more updates on this army.

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  2. Thanks so much, IsoGame! I really appreciate the encouragement and I hope to post updates a little more often now that the army project is genuinely underway. Thanks again!

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  3. Looking good. Did I tell you about the time I superglued my hands because this one piece would not attach itself. Whilst assembling the model, globs of glue ran down onto my hands. Afterwards I couldn't do my buttons up or even open the tap for that matter because my finger tips were absolutely coated.

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  4. Ahahahaha! I too have had some less-than-super times working with superglue but that does sound like a particularly bad experience. Oh my goodness! In case you've seen it, your account reminds me of then scene from the movie Christmas Vacation when Clark Griswold gets his hands covered in tree sap. While it may not feature any secret agents, I think it's a fun movie to see. Thank you very much, Bartender, I really enjoyed hearing from you!

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  5. I thought I was going to get the Sorceress riding a Cold One and paint her for you... *taps foot*

    Any news on the books and the transfer sheet?

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  6. Oh no! I'm sorry about causing trouble for you, let me know if I can pay you back if you already picked up the miniature. I had thought you meant the older style one that comes packed with the Sorceress on foot as well. I really am sorry and want to help out if I've made a mess of your plans. Let me know if there's anything I can do.

    Good news though about the book and transfers. The items I had ordered originally have already been resent and IA10 has now been shipped separately. Fingers crossed that any of them actually show up this time....

    I apologize for my denseness getting in the way of your generosity. Thanks again, Derina, I really do appreciate it!

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  7. I'll pass on my address and you can send her and the deep one to me and Ill paint her and the mount for you.

    Was going to order them on monday....

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  8. The hydra should come together fine...if you pin all the parts together, reshape/gap fill many places, and pin it in multiple places to the base.

    Good luck!

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  9. lol... good luck putting together that crappy metal mini. :)

    I find that drinking and cussing usually help me deal with the hassle of putting together models like that. But your milage may vary.
    At the least, get ready to green stuff the cracks and remember that it is a literal beast on the battlefield.

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  10. @ Derina - I'm glad I finally got around to posting this update, I would have felt terrible if you had already gone to all that trouble and bought the sorceress. That sure was a close call!

    I just sent you an email with a possible idea for you to consider. Let me know what you think. Thank you so much for wanting to contribute and for being so kind-hearted, I appreciate it very much. Thanks, Derina!

    @ sonsoftaurus - Pinning is probably the hobby chore that I find most tedious and so I'll often cut corners when I think I can get away with it. In this case though I can tell it's going to take a whole lot of drilling to keep the Hydra from falling apart. Even the metal Cold One mount that I put together required multiple pins to keep it in place because it's so off-balance. I appreciate the support and advice, hopefully I'll have some positive news about progress to report soon. Thank you, sonsoftaurus!

    @ DrGabe - Got it... add more alcohol. And the great thing is that when I've managed to drill and pin the hydra to one of my finger bones, you'll be able to tell me how to stop the bleeding. Perfect! I seem to finally be overcoming my fear of working with greenstuff so I'm optimistic that I'll be able to deal with any gaps that remain. Of course that could just be the booze talking so who know's how this is gonna turn out! ;) Thanks DrGabe, excellent advice as always!!

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  11. played this game back in middle school.

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  12. Dang! It was difficult enough to follow discussions when only Papa and Bartender had similar avatars, and now IsoGame's going green and black. If anyone lurking has a pic that's a bit more red, get in between them please!

    In the meantime good luck with the hydra, young knight. Go forth with valour!

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  13. @ watchman - I think I started around sixth grade but it took me years before I had any idea what I was doing. It's been a lot of fun and really good hobby for me. Thanks, watchman, I hope you have a great weekend!

    @ Porky - Hahahaha! It does require close attention to keep it straight who's saying what. We really do need to better color coordinate these things. :) It is a perilous quest I have set for myself but I promise to never give up. Either I shall conquer the beast, or else I shall be conquered by it. There is no other way. Thank you very much, Porky, I will be brave!

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  14. Good luck with that beast!!

    I haven't realized that it's a metal model! I've read in your previous posts, that you would fight assembling it, and thought "why, it's only a big plastic model, it won't even need more than a few pins".

    Now, I understand what you meant xD

    As said, good luck when pinning!!

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  15. @ Derina - Looks good to me.

    @ Nesbet - Haha, thanks man! Oh how I wish that thing was made of plastic, that would be so great. Being metal though it will take a lot of drilling and pinning before I will feel comfortable with the assembly. So far it's been really slow going and I now expect to be working on it further into the coming week. Oh well... so long as it doesn't fall apart, right? Thanks again, Nesbet!

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  16. Found some DE Slaves / Prisoners last night while I was doing nothing, think they will be good if you have a cauldron of blood.

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  17. Thanks for emailing me the link to those miniatures, they will definitely come in handy I'm sure. I haven't gotten a Cauldron of Blood yet but I will once I start expanding the army by adding more specialized units. I'm starting off with sort of a generalist approach and will then turn to the fancier units once I'm comfortable with the basics. Thanks for keeping me in mind, I really appreciate it Derina!

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