Knightfall | Indomitus 2021/2022 | After Action Review

[sibomots]

This is a post to start a thread on the after-action review of the Knightfall Indomitus 2021/2022

I'm making this post to capture the "what worked, what didn't work" aspect.  

 

Moderator - feel free to nuke, edit, or advise on better placement.

 

TL;DR;

Fun.  Thanks to TheOneTrueZon and rest of the crew.

I really enjoyed seeing the other models being completed.  Was a big factor in doing better!

I like the way the Dreadnought turned out.  I need to practice dry brushing more frequently on scrap plastic, and I need to spend even more time in the dry-fit, gap-fill, surface prep.

Planning ahead is a good thing.  Time to fetch bits, time to let paint dry overnight, etc.. Patience prevails.  I will do this again.

 

Main things:

 

1.  It got me off the couch.  I have probably started 2500 points worth of models over the last few years but never really finished them to the point of TT++ readiness.  The event got me off the couch and at the desk to model, paint and admire the examples of all the other players here.  I really enjoyed the challenge.

 

2.  What worked:

 

• Pre-washing the sprue in luke-warm water and soap.  Scrub with a toothbrush to get the scale off the sprue.  
• Priming the models was done with P3 black or P3 grey.  The aerosol can approach made the application fast and the layering was even.
• Taking the time to deburr all of the joints, gap-filling and other dry-fit problems took 75% of the time invested in the projects.  And for the most part it paid off.
• Following the main guidance of keeping the paints thin, layer thinly, and being patient with fine work.
• Painting (for the most part) metals first, then 'inside out' -- the deepest parts getting color before outer parts get color (but not always).
• Decals softened up (Micro-Sol).
• Having fresh brushes (not necessarily the expensive versions, but new brushes #4/0, 3/0 2/0, 1 and 2 for the most part, plus a new dry-brush.
• Paint re-mixing -- first steel ball bearings to loosen up the paint, shake and then sit on the vortex  mixer for high frequency perturbation to mix pigments in the medium well.

 

3.  What didn't work:

 

• Perhaps errors or confusion in instructions.   Some of the instructions in the GW paperwork were incorrect.  There was one point in the Dreadnought where the instructions wrote to not-glue the pin connecting the upper arm to the forearm.  This I believe is a typo.  Without glue on the tip of the pin, rotation of the forearm will loosen the pin making the assembly 'pop' out of it's elbow socket.  I studied this for some time and realized that a small point of glue at the tip of the pin would let the elbow work correctly and still maintain rotation in the forearm.
• The Dreadnought has cabling into the central area that is just downright almost impossible to paint well unless it's done before assembly.  I should have been more aware of that as it went together and instead had chosen to paint those cables in the front panel before assembling it.
• Gap-filling was done with a Milliput (white, extra fine) with the isopropyl alcohol trick.  It worked fine, except that it involved a lot of after-sanding and reapplication.   Also fine -- except if the space was  tight.  In the next models, I will need to be extra careful to do those gap-filling way before assemblies get glued together so I can still reach the surfaces that need gap-filling (and sanding/smoothing of those new surfaces).
• The back-of-the-knee and hamstring part of the Dreadnought legs involve a choice of whether or not both feet (left and right) stand on the ground.  As I built it, I ended up making it so one leg was lifted (as if running/stepping) and that looks OK, but in hindsight it made for an awkward mounting problem (which was solved with a clear plastic rod to pin the elevated foot).
• Decals have a printed portion and clear border.  When the decals go on, the clear border ended up being glossy from underneath so the effect of the decal was an opaque and matte decal (printed part of decal) surrounded by a glossy border of the thin decal wafer.  I didn't expect that and I should have researched the way to ensure the decal appears matte completely.
• Color combinations for heat-treat on gun barrels and shade tones were just done as an afterthought.  The solution might have been to study GW printed matter to find and practice those colorization of heat-affected surfaces (gun/weapon barrels, exhaust manifolds).
• Still unclear really the best way to do "bones" -- skulls, cross-bones, paper, purity seals -- anything that involves "white" or tones of white.  I tried 'off white' thinly layered, but it still ends up with a sedimentary effect of too much pigment in a small space.
• Writings -- words on ribbons, seals, etc..  I tried using a PIGMA Micron 005 scale pen.  Looked fine -- until I tried to do a wash.  The water in the wash bled the ink of the pen.  Next time I might pen words after the wash.  I still don't know what will happen to the ink of the pen after a final fog coat of matte model protection -- if that will also bleed the ink.
• Priming via aerosol was OK, but I would have rather used clear plastic primer OR got the airbrush working to do it with a better mixture (color-wise) of paint for primer.

 

 

4. Things that I found that surprised me how useful they were:

 

• MTM Plastic Primer. (made by Montana Colors).  Aerosol can of Acrylic clear primer for plastic. Goes on glossy and dries almost matte. It doesn't dry exactly matte, but very close (test yourself).  I used it on the base before creating the texture of the base.
• Contrasts and Shades (the Citadel range) were really useful for heat-treat colors.  
• Wet pallet kit -- made my own: From Masterson Art Products -- Sta-Wet sponge and paper.  Cut to fit.
• Machined Delron mounts for holding parts with a peanut sized TAC putty blob.
• Raided the machine shop toolbox and got 0.190" - 0.300" drill bits for pinning, reaming barrels with cordless Dremel and arbors to fit.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

-sibomots

Edited January 31, 2022 by sibo

[templargdt]

AARs are always good, nice idea.  I don't really have much to add, it was nice to have Knightfall again, especially with the much beloved release of the book and box set.  Thanks to those who made it happen and all the work they did, especially the graphics.

 

Edit: one item for improvement, putting the year on the graphic I think is a good idea.  

Edited January 30, 2022 by templargdt

[9x19 Parabellum]

Ummm...I thought we had until the 31st...???

[sibomots]

Ummm...I thought we had until the 31st...???

 

Yes, that's my interpretation also.  I read "On Monday January 31 at midnight Pacific time zone (UTS-8)"

 

I just squeaked my vow in before the deadline, and have no reason to start another on Jan-30  :)   And, I was just recounting what worked/didn't-work.   By reading what else people would have done differently, I pick up good info.

[templargdt]

 

Ummm...I thought we had until the 31st...???

 

Yes, that's my interpretation also.  I read "On Monday January 31 at midnight Pacific time zone (UTS-8)"

 

I just squeaked my vow in before the deadline, and have no reason to start another on Jan-30     And, I was just recounting what worked/didn't-work.   By reading what else people would have done differently, I pick up good info.

 

You can write AAR comments before an event concludes, in fact this is common practice to enter AAR comments into system of record while an event is still on going to capture details while they are fresh.

 

My understanding is that Knightfall 2021/2022 concludes 0000 PST 1 Feb (i.e. you have all of Jan 31 to complete your vows.)

Edited January 31, 2022 by templargdt

[templargdt]

My next thought for Knightfall 2021/2022 is a question to the frater.  Is this our only event the rest of calendar year 2022?  This was an odd event carrying over two CYs, so I personally would enjoy another event later in 2022, in the fall timeframe.  Thoughts?

[Brother Carpenter]

@ sibo with transfers it is better to apply gloss varnish before the trasfer, then after the transfer is dry a second coat of gloss or a matte varnish to seal the transfer. After all transfers are applied an overall coat of matte varnish to tie it all together Edited January 31, 2022 by Brother Carpenter

[TheOneTrueZon]

My next thought for Knightfall 2021/2022 is a question to the frater.  Is this our only event the rest of calendar year 2022?  This was an odd event carrying over two CYs, so I personally would enjoy another event later in 2022, in the fall timeframe.  Thoughts?

 

Our Imperial Fist brethren always run a competition, and we've always got an open invite. Think that pops up mid-year.

 

There's always hope that ETL returns as well. 

[Urkh]

Definitely hoping for the ETL to return. I will be making lots of single unit vows vs what I did this time. It had been many years and 3 jobs since I did a painting event/challenge on the forum, and I almost bit off more than I can chew. I have lots of stuff to paint still though!

[sibomots]

Definitely hoping for the ETL to return. I will be making lots of single unit vows vs what I did this time. It had been many years and 3 jobs since I did a painting event/challenge on the forum, and I almost bit off more than I can chew. I have lots of stuff to paint still though!

 

It was a few of the Brothers who vowed in that range (  400 ~~ 900 ish) that I was watching with interest.  I really liked how those models turned out.  Really got me thinking about trying harder to do a better job.    I have a lot to learn and these sort of events help growth, oddly enough.

[Dangerman]

Definitely hoping for the ETL to return. I will be making lots of single unit vows vs what I did this time. It had been many years and 3 jobs since I did a painting event/challenge on the forum, and I almost bit off more than I can chew. I have lots of stuff to paint still though!

 

That was my strategy. It helped in two ways personally;

1) While I could have put all characters in one vow, if I finished 4 out of 5 on a single vow, it feels like I failed even though I did 4/5. Breaking it up helped to ensure any successes felt like that.

2) Life has a habit of getting in the way. Case in point I planned to knock off an apothecary on the final weekend of Kinghtfall, but I had the usual super-fatigue reaction to a Pfizer jab, hence ended with 4/5 instead of 5. If I put all the planned characters in a massive vow I would have failed on the last weekend because of Pfizer. Breaking it up helps to plan for unexpected events.

 

TL;DR - "What would Dorn do? Tactics"

[Sword Brother Adelard]

 

 

My next thought for Knightfall 2021/2022 is a question to the frater. Is this our only event the rest of calendar year 2022? This was an odd event carrying over two CYs, so I personally would enjoy another event later in 2022, in the fall timeframe. Thoughts?

Our Imperial Fist brethren always run a competition, and we've always got an open invite. Think that pops up mid-year.

 

There's always hope that ETL returns as well.

We ran a building event some years ago against the Blood Angels sub forum, but it was really constrained on what you could build and when, there was a week for each force org slot, but the timings weren't clear and I got majorly cussed off when my entry was disqualified for one week because it was the wrong day due to a timezone issue.

 

I didn't engage after that. But it did inform the flexibility of this year's Knightfall, so we could do something similar, but much more freeform. The advantage of a building event is it lines up kits for painting events like ETL or Knightfall.

 

So, if ETL is announced, we could do a building event?

[sibomots]

 

 

[ ... snip snip ... ]

 

So, if ETL is announced, we could do a building event?

 

 

ETL or BT specific, no matter to me.  What I look for is some forward plan -- it'll give me a chance to put the models in the pipeline (order, acquire, unbox and de-sprue, etc..)  OR at least give me time to entertain what to do.

 

I agree about the setup and framework comment.. Flexible and open.   Just clearly mapped out for the rest of 2022.

 

Cool.