Raptors Test Mini Update

My plan was to refrain from any weathering on the test mini for my Raptors project until I had the chapter markings in place. As it turns out I could not resist and went ahead with the first of my dirtying experiments. While that may complicate things when it's time to apply the transfers, I was too impatient to wait and by now have lost confidence in Forge World coming through for me in a timely manner with my order.

I've never tried to use weathering powders before so this was all new for me. Derina, author of both the Irons Hands and more things and Brigannion 4 blogs, suggested I go with rust powder to achieve the dusty appearance seen in some Raptors artwork. That's the look I want for this army so I took her advice and have made my first attempt at brushing on some dry pigment, using Orange Rust from Forge World. It wasn't quite what I expected but I feel like I started to get the hang of it towards the end. There were a few areas where the powder clumped a bit or went on streaky, but otherwise it was easier than I thought it would be.

(No worries, I've gone back and painted that little boot cable.)

Overall I think I'm satisfied with how the weathering powder worked and I'm happy with the choice of color. It surprises me how much it changes the tone or feeling of the miniature even though the effect itself is rather subtle. I applied the powder in two passes and was fairly cautious as I did not want to overdo anything and I now wonder if I should perhaps add even more Orange Rust. I may also try adding some darker earth-colored powder to his boots and legs but for now I'm going to leave him alone. I've started in on the first batch of Raptors and will be working on them this weekend. Yesterday I primed them and even had time to apply both coats of Devlan Mud. With those steps out of the way I'm ready to begin painting and am eager to find out how quickly I can get them finished.

Okay, that's it for now. I hope you're all having a great weekend so far... happy gaming and painting, everyone!

Good Karma Pre-Heresy Winners

I'm very grateful for all of you who entered this contest, thank you. Your links and proud creations were all fascinating and indeed quite inspirational. I appreciate everyone taking the time to participate and for your continued support of my own hobby endeavors as well. And thanks for making this such a successful celebration, too.

The winners of the Forge World MkIII marines, the pre-heresy weapons, and the Secret Weapon Miniatures display bases are Col. Gravis and Messanger of Death. Congratulations, guys! Send me an email at [+++DELETED FROM IMPERIAL RECORDS+++] so that we can work out the shipping details. Woo-hoo!

I really enjoyed this opportunity to learn more about your hobby experiences and to see so many examples of what keeps everyone motivated. It's been a lot of fun checking out all the cool and inspirational material you contributed to this. In a day or so I'll compile a list of all the links that were submitted and post them here in case anyone else wants to see what keeps us ticking. As a bonus for me there were even a number of tutorials in the mix that answered questions of my own, making this surprisingly helpful as well. I'm so encouraged by how this went that I'm already thinking about what to do for the next contest.

Thanks everyone... happy gaming!

Good Karma Pre-Heresy Celebration

I've had a lot of good luck recently. Early last Friday I was overjoyed to see that I had won an awesome "Copperhead" Imperial Guard Valkyrie created by Col. Hessler, author of SADOUKAD 16. I am very grateful to have won such a cool and unique model. Woo-hoo!

Copperhead Valkyrie, currently en route to my corner of the Imperium

My winning streak was then confirmed on Monday when I scored another choice victory, this time in a contest held that morning at The Astral Wolves. Thanks to the fortuitous intersection of Hunter S. Thompson trivia and some adorable kitties, a link back to here is now kindly featured in a place of great prominence on Von Drakin's blog. But that is not all as my winnings also included the promise of a feature article to be written about this very blogging enterprise, diceRolla! (I admit this does make me a little nervous.) Lastly he's going to paint a miniature in my honor... how cool is that?!?

Thank you very much, gentlemen!

With such good fortune on my side I've decided this is the perfect time to kick off another contest of my own. I've actually been thinking about this for a while. More than a month ago I gave in to temptation and clicked on this blog's "Stats" button for the first time. My goodness, I was shocked to say the least. Thank you to everyone for checking out my little world of internet gaming silliness, it amazes me how many people I've been able to reach here with my curious efforts. And in the time since my last contest the number of people following diceRolla has more than quadrupled, for which I am very appreciative, and I feel this is overdue for some celebrating as well.

Therefore, as an expression of my gratitude for your continued support and encouragement, I am offering the two sets of Forge World pre-heresy Space Marine goodness seen below. I understand not everyone plays Marines, or even 40k for that matter, so to hopefully broaden the appeal I'm including for each winner a resin display base from Secret Weapon Miniatures designed to hold the individually based models. That way even if you don't normally do anything with Marines, perhaps you would still enjoy painting them for your display shelf.

(Sorry about the dark, awful photo. You can click the links in the list below to see the primary items at the company websites.)

The two winners of the contest will each receive the following:

- five MkIII Iron Armour Space Marines

- five Umbra Patter X10 Space Marine Bolters

- one pre-Heresy style Flamer

- one pre-Heresy style Meltagun

- one pre-Heresy style Missile Launcher and arms

- one resin "Squad Display: 25mm Trench Works" base

- five matching resin bases for individual models

So here's how to enter:

1) Join my Esoteric Order if you haven't already (i.e., click the Follow button).

2a) Either leave a comment on this post with a link to something you've written of which you are particularly proud...

2b) Or leave a comment on this post with a link to someone else's work that has inspired you or helped you out with your hobby in some way. It can be a piece of artwork, a tactics article, some army list advice, a painting tutorial... anything really. Just no links to diceRolla, please. (It's probably not necessary for me to specify that last part but I just want to be clear on the matter.)

And that's it. For the links I'm essentially interested in seeing an example of what drew you to bring your hobby to the internet. While more demanding than the terms of my last contest, hopefully it is not so great an obstacle as to discourage anyone from entering. On Sunday, October 24th at 10pm EST I will randomly select two people who've entered this drawing to win one of the prize packages described above. So please pick out a link you'd like to share and enter the contest... good luck!

And thanks again for supporting me in my blogging adventures, you make it a far more fun, interesting, and rewarding experience for me. Thank you.