Of the Madness of Brother Argent: 30 Power in 30 Days

[Brother Argent]

So over the long years here on the B&C I have, on occasion, given people cause to call me mad.  Whether it my over the top vows in the Liber or my tendency to throw myself at the greatest challenges I can.  So, after a bout of depression (ah, the old black dog, my long term companion) left me severely sapped of my motivation to do much of anything either hobby related or otherwise I was left considering where i go from here.  I had hardly touched a paint brush, other then to bash out the five marines I needed for the DIY swap challenge.  A long period of about five minutes of meditation on what path to take led me to the realization that, without over the top goals and deadlines, I had no where to go.  So, what path to take? Well there was only one option really.  Jump down the rabbit hole. 

 

Thus, 30 Power Level in 30(ish) Days was born.

 

In an attempt to tackle some of the massive back log I was hoping to clear this year I decided to craft this little challenge for myself.  I will give myself a month to paint a semi competitive, mostly legal and very fluffy force of each of my forces on a month to month basis.  This force will be to 30 Power Level or close enough.  Along with these models I will expand on the fluff of the force and the army, both here and in the sacred halls of the Liber.  I will attempt to regularly (at least once a week) update this log here.  When these challenges are complete I will likely attempt to maintain this blog (he says knowing he will likely forget about it in a week)

 

So, without further ado let me present to you all the Madness of Brother Argent:

 

MONTH 1 (June 2021)    - - - The Star Leopards - - -   (Adeptus Astartes)

 

ARMY FLUFF

 

The List:

 

NAME TBA

Primaris LT with Storm Shield and neo-volkite pistol

 

BEFORE/AFTER

 

NAME TBA

Assault Intercessors x5

 

BEFORE/AFTER

 

NAME TBA

Intercessors x5

 

BEFORE/AFTER

 

NAME TBA

Rievers x4

 

BEFORE/AFTER

 

NAME TBA

Outriders x3

 

BEFORE/AFTER

 

NAME TBA

Land Speeder Tornado

 

BEFORE/AFTER

 

 

 

So I know its very WIP but then again it is close to midnight and I start work early tomorrow so I can't get to involved but I needed to get the log up.  So I need to complete these (he says after struggling to paint 5 scouts in a month) be the stroke of midnight on 30th June.  Or else I will turn into a pumpkin... or just a disappointment to myself again.

 

And so let the madness begin...

 

[Thousand Eyes]

Good stuff, who doesn't like a challenge?

[Dwango]

Nice challenge. Looking forward to seeing you complete it!

[Skidman]

Get it brother!! I always love seeing another of your logs pop up and this is no different! I’m super excited to be able to cheer you on and see you accomplish this and keep trucking forward!!

Skidman

Edited June 2, 2021 by Skidman

[Brother Argent]

Okay so 15 days in to my 30 Power in 30 Days challenge and I finally get some before pics up of some of them...

Rievers:

Outriders:

Some trademark atrocious photos for you all...

[Dosjetka]

Excited to see what you manage to get done in your allocated time. Good luck! :tu:

[Brother Argent]

Excited to see what you manage to get done in your allocated time. Good luck!

Unfortunately not much. A change in Real Life circumstances meant most of my free time for the past month has been taken up. That and then deciding to try to reduce my procrastination by painting the metal first on the outriders (I hate painting metal for some reason) meant I needed to paint the white far more carefully then usual and it bogged me down, taking the wind from my sails and stopping me dead in my tracks. In the end I only completed the four Rievers and one outrider. I will get pics of these up soon.

I also got almost no weekly updates and no fluff done so in the end I would call June a complete failure....

... but this thread isn't called the Madness of Brother Argent for nothing. So for July (my birth month) I decide to raise the challenge. My personal motto (and indeed my Chapters Motto) is " Through adversity, strength. Through defeat, triumph." so why not follow an epic failure with an even bigger challenge. At least more models. So, here we go again.

MONTH 2 (July 2021) - - - Hive Fleet Titan - - - (Tyranids)

Army Fluff

The List:

Tyranid Prime

BEFORE

AFTER

Genestealers x6

AFTER

HORMAGAUNTS x30

BEFORE/AFTER

SPORE MINES x6

AFTER

CARNIFEX

BEFORE/AFTER

So the hopefully saving grace here will be my use of Contrast for the basic colours of these guys. How else am I going to paint over 40 models when I struggled to paint less then 20... I am also torn on unit to unit fluff on these guys as it doesn't seem right for Tyranids.

But anyway lets try this once again with a bit more feeling this time.

Oh and dont worry, I haven't forgotten about the Star Leopards. The models will be done in the interim. This Sunday I may even try to get up some of my year long goals in the hope that making things more... public, may help me get the motivation I need.

Thank you all for your support and interest, I hope to do a better job for you all this month...

Edited July 19, 2021 by Brother Argent

[Brother Argent]

And a teaser of what I got sorted in June...

There will be a better/bigger update in the next day or so.

[Brother Argent]

And to follow that with my first actual Sunday update:

Here is my before pic of the whole shebang. Showing my age and time hobbying here the spore mines and genestealers are from the Battle for Macragge starter set from.... 4th or 5th edition I think. And yes, some of them are unpainted...

Oh and another insight into my pile of shame,

Still unopened and sealed in plastic. Two boxes of from 2010. And $15 Bucks cheaper. And these were a few years in to my hobby journey too, after I grew bored of Fantasy, before they destroyed it.

But onto a more productive post, here is where I stand with my Tyranid Prime. Built from one of the similar age Warrior sets that don't have any fancy bone swords etc. Hive fleet Titan will have a 90% Close combat focus and unfortunately I have used the only two close combat weapons from the set so he is going to have a ranged weapon and will be relegated to a standard warrior later on:

I am torn on bases. My first attempt at Titan was dirt, and my second was cork city bases which would work well when I get to the Space Hulk Genestealers but difficult and expensive to reproduce on a horde scale army. The Nids themselves will be flesh coloured skin and green carapaces so I think I could make anything work. So, hit my up on what you people think.

Anyway, not a huge update but an update none the less. So, lets get to it...

[Brother Argent]

Okay, so maybe some paint will get some love:

Done sans base and a few bits of white primer I just noticed. Will get a few more pics up once he is finished but still no idea on bases. Not making the progress I had hoped but its better then nothing...

Any thoughts?

[Xenith]

Looking great, keep it up - I find contrast makes Tyranids super easy.

 

Also, don't forget that if you aim for 30 power and only complete 15, then it's still more than most will manage to paint in a month, myself included! 

[jaxom]

A red base color would contrast nicely with the green armour plates; maybe cracked martian ground? Simple and not expensive enough to do with crackle paste (a type of acrylic paint medium).

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/358692-how-to-base-crackle-paint/

 

If there's excess pooling of the contrast paint on some of the plates, it can be wicked up with a bit of paper tissue or a spare brush.

[LameBeard]

I’d be tempted to go with grey rocks - like this hive fleet has already consumed most of the biomass of the planet. Maybe purple as a spot colour - the odd vestige of alien vegetation that’s left behind, or some side effect of the consuming process. My wife says “red and green should never be seen” but she was talking about her head of department’s shirt and tie at the time.

 

Edit: just read the post about space hulk genestealers coming up. So a blue-grey urban rubble type base to blend with the furniture they’ll be crawling over? “Sprue rubble” can be done cheaply, with sand, and then discarded/half buried equipment from any imperial bits box you have?

Edited July 14, 2021 by LameBeard

[jaxom]

Grey is a great idea!

[Brother Argent]

Thanks all for the replies guys. I unfortunately haven't been well this last couple of weeks and have made no progress on anything here until yesterday. I seem to have finally shaken my malaise and am back at it. I know I will likely fall well short of my goal again but I am not going down without a fight.

@ LameBeard and jaxom: I am thinking grey will be the way to go. I have a rather substantial Imperial bits box so that with a bit of Astrogranite might be the way to go. Quick, easy, and able to detail just enough to look effective. Thanks for the suggestion.

@ Xenith: I last painted them with washes which was similar but not quite the same. So now its a combination of both then highlights. Really makes them pop in a way I am happy with. Thanks for the support.

So, I missed and update or two but here is some pics to stop this just being text. I soaked my genestealers and painted spore mines in Simple Green for nearly three weeks. Normally this would take all the paint off bar primer. This time... well see the results yourself:

I guess the old GW paints were made of sterner stuff.... Still I am hoping that the primer will hide the old paint work.

Thanks again all for the support, lets see how far I can get from here...

[Dosjetka]

Given your real life situation that you've alluded to, any progress is good progress, brother. :)

 

The test model you posted further up looks good, I look forward to seeing more models in that colour scheme!

[space wolf]

Oooh...let's see where this goes. Good luck to you!

[Brother Argent]

So a day late but here is my in progress shots. Started with the spore mines. Was really happy to go from bare(ish) plastic through to primer and finish in one day:

Even got a few test bases in there.

Than moved onto the genestealers:

Unfortunately I trusted too much in past Brother Argent to deal with mold lines etc.... Past Brother Argent was a bit of a bum it seems. That combined with what I found to be the far worst and least enjoyable models I have ever painted meant these are a very sub standard job. But these made way to this:

The first 15... two days of savage mold lines on old models.... Looking like I wont get my full 30 power done but at this stage hoping to push through these guys (the most models I have ever painted at once) then if I get through it reward myself with the carnifex. It wont be the full 30... but it will be close.

[Dosjetka]

Solid progress, bruv!

 

[...] these are a very sub standard job.

Main thing is: they're painted and they will look fine among the horde of hungry Nids that you shall soon have. :tu:

 

at this stage hoping to push through these guys (the most models I have ever painted at once) then if I get through it reward myself with the carnifex.  It wont be the full 30... but it will be close.

I hope you'll manage to get to finish the Hormagaunts and the Carnifex in time. In any case, you've made some good progress and should be proud of it. :)

[Brother Argent]

Solid progress, bruv!

 

[...] these are a very sub standard job.

Main thing is: they're painted and they will look fine among the horde of hungry Nids that you shall soon have.

 

at this stage hoping to push through these guys (the most models I have ever painted at once) then if I get through it reward myself with the carnifex.  It wont be the full 30... but it will be close.

I hope you'll manage to get to finish the Hormagaunts and the Carnifex in time. In any case, you've made some good progress and should be proud of it.

 

 

Thanks mate.  Your and others support is much appreciated.  I am giving myself a little lee way on this due to the fact the Bugs Life challenge I think goes a few days past the 30 days so hopefully I will get them done, if only a few days into the next month.