++ AUGUSTUS b'RAASS ++ pre-heresy BRASS SCORPION p.247

[Mitsman]

Hey Augustus,

 

Sorry to hear you had to sell all these models, espacially the IFs which I liked so much. I am of the side that supports keeping the models always and stashing them in a box, but I can fully understand your motives. At least the way you paint allows you to produce full armies quicker than me so Ι suppose selling them works better for you in this case.

 

Having found you girlfriend and wanting to spend more time with her is HERESY! the most natural thing in the world so happy to hear that. I am a father of a nine year old girl and my free time is always spent towards trying to help her with studying, after school activities and playing with her so painting and warhammer time in general is at a premium. I also have other hobbies that I like so time has to be shared among them too which means taking breaks from warhammer from time to time.

 

As you see I am a fan of your work and it seems you are doing fine with your new "schedule", BUT paint some loyalists you Heretic scum!

 

PS. That spartan blue is gorgeous. One small objection on modelling. You can remove those ugly leather thingies and grotesque heads whike changing that bat thing/mark/whatever to something more pleasing to the eye like a capital U but more ornate. All in all your Ultramarines Spartan is fantastic!

 

Mitsman

Edited January 28, 2018 by Mitsman

[Subtle Discord]

Passion demands focus, or it gets out of hand very easily. You need to be realistic about what you can actually take on. It's a large reason why I force myself to focus and concentrate on a select number of projects. I would love to dabble in so many other places, but that would be... bad... very bad. Balance is a good thing.

[hushrong]

Lots of head nods and chin up gestures from reading your earlier post. And agreeing with Subtle Discord on how balance is important I want to make a Star Wars joke. However I don’t have a good one and don’t want to force it. *I’ll get my stuff and excuse myself from this thread in a minute...

 

As for trophies...oh man, maybe Novamarine or Howling Griffin. Split paint jobs would be cool.

 

And looking forward to seeing the spartan done. Will that mean the Storm Eagle is next? I also do not think I mentioned it but hats off to you on building that kit flawlessly.

Edited January 28, 2018 by hushrong

[Kierdale]

Lovely work on the Spartan! :tu:

I’ve never sold any of my armies (except when I left the hobby as a teen...only to return in my 30s. My parents sold all my armies off then :D) but I understand your reasons.

I actually took about a year break around the birth of my son.

[DuskRaider]

 

@ DuskRaider: Haha really? It's so funny how different folks have different challenges. I still find red to be the most difficult  colour. The dirty white you're using for your brilliant, fantastic, awesome [insert other hyperboles] Death Guard also looks very challenging to me. y contrast, blue is easy to me!

 

Thank you very much, I really appreciate the compliments. Especially coming from someone of your skill, frater. 

 

Everyone feels hobby burn out... at least I think they do. I know that I do. I've sold off most of my armies at one point or another as well and I still eventually find myself back into the hobby. You seem to have successfully figured out that this is simply an escape from real life occasionally and not let it consume you, which is more than I can say for many in various gaming hobbies (video games in particular). Take it slow and just enjoy what you're doing.

[Ranker]

Even after purchasing both armies, I continue to find joy in having obtained AR's armies just through the stories associated with them.  Can I find better painters than you? Yeah, I've worked with some golden daemon winning artists before.  Can I find someone that does better conversions? I haven't worked with one as good as you yet, but I've seen some impressive stuff on these forums.  Now, can I find someone who can paint, convert, who shares his passion with others, and makes me smile whenever I see any of his work? Now, that's truly rare.   

One of the reasons for having made that impulse buy for the the IF army was having thoroughly enjoyed reading through all the posts about your creation and wanting to preserve it. These humanizing posts give your army a soul; making it that much more enjoyable whenever I walk past it and admire its beauty. 

 

 

Hey guys, I'd like to share some thoughts I penned down via PM in a convo with KrautScientist here too. they involve a deepening of my thoughts about why I sold my two biggest armies and why I had to step away from the hobby for a while. 
 

Part of the reason I was away for about four months was of course was to engage in courtship with my GF. But I also thought long and hard about my hobby and its role in my life and the influence it had on myself, as well as about the way the changes to the game and fluff affected that. I came to the conclusion that my hobby had gotten a bit out of hand - it was taking too much of my time, my thoughts, my life - time I could also use learning new skills, meeting new people, developing myself. I knew that I had to do something drastic, and that turned out to be sell a large part of my collection, my Night Lords and my Imperial Fists. I've already told some of this in a previous post in my thread, but now that some time has passed, I've gained a deeper understanding of my reasons, as well as how it affected me. Many people (including myself in my profile text!) say to never sell an army. But in my recent experience, selling the army was quite cathartic. Let me explain those, here.

 

I long had had ideas about selling a portion of my Night Lords, but the more I thought about it, the more selling all my Night Lords stuff made sense to me. Like my Word Bearers before, they all had different paint styles, that had developed as I was collecting and painting the army. The collection thus looked mashed together visually. In addition, there wasn't any sense to the collection from a crunch point of view - it just reflected my collecting all CSM units and converting and painting them in Night Lords colours. They didn't 'feel' right, didn't feel like the Night Lords. (That last point is actually the same as Brother Heinrich's reason for selling his Night Lords.) So I decided to sell all of them - which felt great, actually. I had lost all connection with that army, was even somewhat annoyed by it at times, and so I have zero regrets. My shelves are empty, which saves me what had become an annoying sight an army without thought. I understand that it was an impressive army, that almost all the miniatures looked good to great individually, but for me, personally, it wasn't working anymore. In that respect, having sold the army to about eight different people was a plus: other people are happy with the different miniatures, and the breaking up of the collection allowed the differences between the different parts I sold to not stand out as much. I'm just glad others are happy with them, now   

 

The selling of my Imperial Fists is a slightly different, and more convoluted story, though. I had build my Imperial Fists purely for gaming purposes - I could use each and every unit, and had built and planned all units so that they fit in the most competitive 7th edition Imperial Fists special rules, formations, and the lists I had build around those - while at the same time this collection fulfilled an almost life-long wish to make a codex compliant space marine army with full regalia and markings. The funny thing is that I had come to feel a sense of completion of the army around the same time that 8th was announced. I was just adding for laughs - beginning a ten-man librarius conclave, for example. Basically I felt that I had done it: create the army of my dreams. And with that sense of completion, I was starting to loose interest in them. For the first time in years, I was starting projects that I couldn't find the will or motivation to complete.  I was just adding miniatures I liked to paint, while some projects I had in minds for competitive play were put on hiatus, as I wasn't sure I could actually  field them - 8th was around the corner - like the Imperial Fists command squad on bikes (which your biker libby was to be a part of), or a terminator squad with shields and hammers in a Caestus ram. That didn't bother me, actually: I felt like I had done it, and proved to myself that I could do it - and do it again, if I wanted to.

 

And then 8th actually hit the shelves. Suddenly, almost the entire collection didn't make sense to me anymore! The meta had completely shifted - the entire way the game worked had changed! I realized learning the game to the same competitive level I had reached about a year ago would take far too much time  -time I didn't have anymore what with a new job and a woman in my life. Plus, cven as a casual gamer, I want to be good and wield good lists. That meant -for my Imperial Fists army- getting into the Primaris Marines miniature line, which I hate both from a visual standpoint and even more so fluff-wise.

To sum up, I had three reasons to make the decision to sell my Fists:
- I had completed my wish to create a 'perfect' space marine collection

- 8th made the standing collection non-sensical from a crunch POV

- to make them competitive I had to add units that I didn't like the look of

And the funny thing as, moments after I had made the decision to sell them, I mentioned it to the buyer who had bought the largest chunk of Night Lords. He asked me what was in the collection and how much I wanted for it, I made the list and decided on the price, and he quickly agreed. It was literally a matter of one or two days between the decision to sell and the actual sale! 

 

There was only one issue: I never did do 'perfect' Night Lords. So when two buyers of my Night Lords asked me to do some vehicles, I used those two commissions as a way to prove to myself that I could make the perfect Night Lords as well! And now that I had freed myself of those two armies, I had the physical and mental space again to create something new, and to see the hobby as it should be: as something to enjoy in my spare time. I have really come to appreciate the hobby again - as an outlet of creativity. I'm dying to start working on my Death Guard, which I see as a reward for finishing the commissions. 

 

Thanks for reading. TLDR: selling your collection can also be cathartic, and opens up funds, space, and energy for new projects!
 

[Vairocanum]

It was very interesting to read your thoughts regarding selling your armies. Loving the Spartan so far, definitely can't wait to see it completed. Also looking forward to seeing you work on Death Guard, especially that daemon prince from a few months back.

[malcharion]

Thanks for sharing the process for your hobby catarsis with us Aug' that's really interesting and while I've always stated that I would never sell an army I start to give the same look as you did on my own night lords.. Getting old, not liking the way they work in 8th edition plus being my first full peinted army the technique I used backthen look so mutch off in comparaison with my sharks or raven guard.. Your post make me think a lot to sell all of it and start on something new.. I guess I'll have to put more thought on it ^^"

 

Malchy

[Augustus b'Raass]

Wow, thank you all for the warm response to my post about my hobby developments. I really appreciate all of them. Thank you so much, truly. This hobby forum is such a welcoming place. It warms my cold, dead heart. :) 

 

I'll reply to each and every one of the comments below. But first, to business. I've finished the Spartan!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you like! Comments and feedback most welcome!

Replies!
 

@ Bjorn Firewalker: Thank you, buddy! I hope you like the finished product as much!

 

@ Mitsman: Thank you for your thoughts, buddy! Family always must come first. The hobby is just a way to express excess creativity. I'm glad to hear your nine year old girl has such a loving (and creative) father! I'll surely paint some loyalists again but my current attention must go to the last two commissioned Night Lords vehicles. After that, it's Death Guard for sure. The maybe I'll have some time to do more Imperial Fists. Forget about the smurfs, though. ;)

 

@ Subtle Discord: Yeah I can totally get behind your thoughts and process. I feel like sometimes you and I are kindred spirits, in that we both like to think stuff through until we're satisfied with a design we have in our heads, then have a spurt of creativity and productivity and create it. The weird thing is in that in all other respects in life, I'm super chaotic. My mind just focuses when I'm hobbying for some reason.

 

@ hushrong: ABout that Star Wars pun. Get out. Now. :p ;) :D The Storm Eagle will be next - and it will feature a squared breast plate!

 

@ Kierdale: When I'll have a son (or daughter) I'll probably do the same thing. Thanks for the compliment on the Spartan - how do you like it finished?

 

@ DuskRaider: Thanks, mate. That was kind of you to say. In the meantime, I'll enjoy your awesome stuff and be inspired. I meant what I wrote and stand by it!

 

@ Ranker: THANK YOU! Really, you don't even know what those words mean to me. I am SO GLAD my army went to you, to someone who truly appreciates it, and tells me so. i couldn't have been happier than to have my armies be owned by anyone other than someone like you. Thanks! I'm wondering if you already unpacked the Imperial Fists and looked at the miniatures - figuring out which one belongs to which squad, and matching them to the guys described in this thread. :D
 

@ Vairocanum: You're right! That daemon prince does need work! I'll get to him, I swear!

 

@ malcharion: Well I'm glad to read your words and learn the effect my thoughts had on yours re: selling your night lords. Only do so if you're sure to want to part with them, though! :tu:

[The Traitor]

Really impressive, would love to see a group shot of this last two! Or have you already sent them away?

[BubblesMcBub]

Great work on the spartan!
Now only the flying brick left on the commisions?
 

[Augustus b'Raass]

Your wish is my command (this time), The Traitor: 

 

 

Although this is the only time ever that these three will sit beside each other, as that particular Spartan is not made for the same client as the Land Raiders.

And BublesMcGub, yes! The Storm Eagle is next. But after that, I'll do one last Spartan, and then I'll be finished with the commissions. Then it's on to Death Guard!!!! WOoooooo

[DuskRaider]

Dude, that Spartan is the cat's meow. The bee's knees.

 

Seriously, it looks awesome. Surprisingly, a lot of color to it. It really pops! I can't wait to see what you do with your Death Guard either.

[malcharion]

AVE DOMINUS NOX brother !  Nothing else to say here , that's glorious !

This would make the Caradaras Proud (Jealous ? :p )

 

Maybe just the red wings that could be better, we see to mutch of that shade I think,  do you use Agrax  on them ? 

You should maybe tone it down with medium in order to avoid those halo effect that we see on the side doors in particular. (purpul shade are also nice for the red parts ;) )  

 

Malchy

[Sagentus]

Dam that spartan looks great along side the 2 LRs. Spectacular work as always Aug, look forward to you finishing the next one, really looking forward to you starting on your DG. Especially looking forward to seeing more of your DP ;)

[hushrong]

Spartan looks great! And I am really excited about seeing the Storm Eagle.

 

I love the photo of the opened ramp doors and the darkness within. Nice way to show off "these is where the monsters and nightmares come from" to your opponents. Very fitting of the VIII.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Thanks a lot, team! 

 

The GF is out of the country to go to a wedding this weekend, so it's painting time for me! :D I started with the Storm Eagle:
 

 

I would like to hear your opion on the following. The Fire Raptor has those ball turrets at about the same location as the Storm Eagle has those doors. I painted those Fire Raptor ball turrets black. As such, I was thinking to keep the Painting scheme similar across the two flyers, I would paint the Storm Eagle's side doors black as well. However, on the three tanks, I painted all side doors Midnight Black. What do you think I should do?

 

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts on this!

Replies!
 

@ DuskRaider: Ha! Yeah I love to add colour to what potentially can be a very monochromatic miniature. 

 

@ Malcherion: I do use agrax indeed, but I like the shade. I'll try purple washes the next time I'm doing something red - for this commission, I'd like to keep the colour consistent though. :)

 

@ Sagentus: That's a lot of looking forward to's! Thanks, buddy! :tu: :D

 

@ hushrong: Storm Eagle is getting there.... And thanks about noticing the darkness within with the ramp doors open picture. That was exactly what I was going for ;)

[gaurdian31]

Man that spartan came out great!   As for the doors do you still plan on doing the lightning on them whether they are black or midnight? If so I think they would look good in black. If you only plan on doing lightning if the doors are midnight then I say go with midnight. I guess I just really like the lightning  I will say that the idea of tying it to the Fire Raptor with black doors is a nice thought, and if you add the lightning it then ties to the tanks. Sorry for the short ramble.

[Augustus b'Raass]

BOOM!

Storm Eagle finished. Pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a blast to build and paint! Even more so than the fire raptor - although my having already build one of those in the past might have smething to do with that too. Also, the fire raptor has too many parts. Brother Chaplain Cage's infuriating pepsi challenge also helped in motivation and enjoyment. That last part is because as a NIght Lord, vindication gives me orgasms. 

Sorry for the blurriness of some of the pictures. I only now figured out how to photograph big models in my small photo booth; from far away. Unfortunately I'm too lazy to get a tripod, so my moving around didn't help. SOrry!

@ Guardian31: Thanks buddy! Glad you like it! I also hope the storm eagle strikes your fancy

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2018 by Augustus b'Raass

[KrautScientist]

Storm Eagle's looking fantastic, buddy! Masters of the Universe-style alien skull and all! Stunning work!

 

On a partially related note, I am sooo looking forward to seeing you finish that Nurgle Daemon Prince at long last!

[Sagentus]

Wow that looks epic. I bet the buyer/commissioner will be chuffed, i know i would be!

[Atia]

Awesome work on that Storm Eagle 

[Exellon167]

What a stunning Storm Eagle! It looks fantastic.

 

I also second KrautScientist in wanting to see your Nurgle Demon Prince finished. It's a very promising model even in its unfinished state.

[DuskRaider]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUU.... dude, that thing's epic! Amazing paint job man, and that monster skull on the bow is pure genius. Top notch!!

[BubblesMcBub]

Yay we are getting closer to the death guard army!