Over the weekend Otis and I played a little against Angel's "Movie Marines". The idea behind them is they are like action-movie heroes, and they are ridiculously, wonderfully broken. For example, the lascannon on their razorback shoot all the way across the board, killing every model it touches. Unless one of the models makes a save -- which then "stops" the beam in its tracks. Well, it just so happened that the first model the beam "hit" was my jump chaplain, who apparently rubbed his Rosarius, made the sign of the Aquila and muttered, "The Emperor protects, bitch." (that was Angel's "fluff" explanation for his making the 4+ Invulnerable save that basically saved...well, everyone). Next turn, my entire assault squad makes a conga line behind the chaplain. Hey, it was the ONLY chance they had to not get vaporized! :)
All things considered, playing against "Movie Marines" is both an exercise in futility and more than a little fun. If you haven't done it, at least give it a turn or two. It'll be painful, but it will oh-so-clearly demonstrate what a real broken unit and army list is.
Today I tried my first experiment in airbrushing. Just before Christmas, I caught a pretty good sale at Hobby Lobby on a "starter" airbrush set (yeah, it's a Paasche, but at least it's double-action) and a compressor. I bought it with the idea that I'd use it to paint vehicles. I've been working on a Predator and finally got it all primed and ready to go, and thought that now was as good a time as any.
After a little experimenting with the mix, I got pretty good results. By "pretty good results", I mean that I got the entire body of the Predator painted a nice, fairly even ultramarine blue in a little under an hour -- and that includes a couple of starts and stops to fiddle with the mix, the airbrush itself, etc. All things considered, I'd say that's pretty damned neat. The best part? NO brushstrokes in the paint!
I'll admit that it's not perfect, and that I'm going to have to go back and do a little "fill in" work here and there (mainly on the bottom of the body) and I'll have to do it more-or-less all over again when I do the Whirlwind (my next project). And I still have the turret and sponsons to get done on the Pred, but that's OK. I'm actually very pleased at how it turned out, especially considering this is my first attempt at airbrushing.
As for "what did I learn?" The most important part of airbrushing (at least, to me, at this point) is getting the paint-to-thinner mix right. I used good ol' Citadel Ultramarine Blue paint and thinned it with rubbing alcohol. What seemed to work pretty good was a very thin mix (I've heard people say "about the consistency of milk", but that doesn't mean all that much to me). I settled on an approximately 1:1 ratio. This seemed to give good coverage and paint flow through the brush. A 2:1 (paint:thinner) mix clogged up my brush pretty quickly, so I thinned the mix down and suddenly, things were a LOT better.
I'm very pleased with my airbrush, and I'm looking forward to using it more...
Here's the list I've come up with for the game (and it's actually almost completely painted! Shocker, I know...).
1250 Pts - Ultramarines Roster
HQ: Captain (9#, 403 Pts)
1 Captain @ 403 Pts
Bolt Pistol (x1); Power Weapon (x1); Furious Charge; Command Squad
1 Iron Halo @ [25] Pts
1 Terminator Honors @ [15] Pts
6 Command Squad @ [284] Pts
Bolter (x6); Furious Charge; Terminator Honors
1 Rhino @ [58] Pts
Storm Bolter; Extra Armor; Smoke Launchers
1 Sergeant @ [58] Pts
Plasma Pistol (x1); Power Fist (x1); Furious Charge; Terminator Honors
Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 105 Pts)
5 Tactical Squad @ 105 Pts
Bolter (x4); Lascannon (x1)
1 Sergeant @ [15] Pts
Bolter
Troops: Tactical Squad (6#, 100 Pts)
5 Tactical Squad @ 100 Pts
Bolter (x4); Missile Launcher (x1)
1 Sergeant @ [15] Pts
Bolt Pistol & CCW
Heavy Support: Devastator Squad (10#, 250 Pts)
9 Devastator Squad @ 250 Pts
Bolter (x5); Heavy Bolter (x2); Plasma Cannon (x2)
1 Sergeant @ [15] Pts
Bolter
HQ: Reclusiarch (1#, 121 Pts)
1 Reclusiarch @ 121 Pts
Bolt Pistol (x1); Crozius Arcanum; Rosarius
1 Jump Pack @ [20] Pts
1 Rosarius @ [0] Pts
1 Terminator Honors @ [15] Pts
Fast Attack: Assault Squad (10#, 270 Pts)
9 Assault Squad @ 270 Pts
Jump Packs; Frag Grenades; Bolt Pistol (x7); Close Combat Weapon (x9); Plasma Pistol (x2)
1 Sergeant @ [62] Pts
Jump Packs; Plasma Pistol (x1); Power Fist (x1); Terminator Honors
Total Roster Cost: 1249
Comments, thoughts, critique?
Over the weekend Otis and I played a little against Angel's "Movie Marines". The idea behind them is they are like action-movie heroes, and they are ridiculously, wonderfully broken. For example, the lascannon on their razorback shoot all the way across the board, killing every model it touches. Unless one of the models makes a save -- which then "stops" the beam in its tracks. Well, it just so happened that the first model the beam "hit" was my jump chaplain, who apparently rubbed his Rosarius, made the sign of the Aquila and muttered, "The Emperor protects, bitch." (that was Angel's "fluff" explanation for his making the 4+ Invulnerable save that basically saved...well, everyone). Next turn, my entire assault squad makes a conga line behind the chaplain. Hey, it was the ONLY chance they had to not get vaporized! :)
