Something to wash the 40k taste out of my mouth...

As I posted last week, I got my 40k Tournament Tau list done to go to an ITC event.  I knew that it would be complete cheddar due to being ITC based, but had no idea how bad it could be.  I expected cheddar, but the mildest cheese there was Blue!  Wow....

Don't get me wrong, if that's your thing, go for it, but the game has devolved to rock paper scissors at the army design level, once you are in a game it is too late!  To be fair, everyone I played was great to play and super friendly, they pretty much all thought the game has gone too far, but like me love the models and fluff, so keep playing.  Also, the organizers did a great job, things ran smoothly, on time, and they had tons of space available, tons of terrain, and a great looking setup.  It's just really too bad that they chose to use the ITC format, but like I said, to each their own.

So... to come to the point of this rant...  For the last 20 years, coming home from a 40k tournament I get anxious for my next project.  Like a junkie, I need my next fix, I have seen something that is just too cool, and I have to start a new army.  This has happened every tournament for 20 years....

Not this time.  Looking around the tournament, there were lots of amazing models, amazing armies, and paint jobs, but none screamed to me to start them.  In fact, seeing the direction the game has gone, I came home with a strong desire to paint something that would actually be FUN to play!

So, here is what I have done in the last few nights....

First up is a fleet of Venetian Galleys from Skull n Crown that Greg twisted my arm into picking up recently.  I started 1 of the ships in between washes on some of my Tau figures before the tournament, but finished the others up Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night.

They are laser cut plywood and come with all the flags, awnings, and side graphics. They are super easy to put together, but work better painting them in 2 main assemblies so that you can rig them through the supplied holes and then glue the two sub assemblies together afterwards.

Greg had already chosen two fleets before I decided to get in on the action with him, but he hadn't picked the fleet I wanted so all was good.  I figure if you are going to play a game, you really should have your army fit your personality.  As you all know I have a very evil, cynical, twisted take on things, therefore what better fleet for me than the most corrupt and evil faction of the time, The Vatican!  That's right, I am playing the Papal Fleet.

So far I have 1 large Lanterna, 1 Galley, and 2 smaller Galiots fully painted and ready to go.  Greg, what's the hold up?  Get yours done already!  Being at the lake is not an excuse!

The painting I did was very simple and plain, almost no shading or highlighting, yet on a flat surface I feel it works.  Adding too much to such a simplified take on the Venetian galley just makes the shape look wrong in my opinion.  The simplified block style design works great with these ships, I just feel its better to keep the paint simple as well.

Next up I got in a pile of 6mm figures to do Flames of War: Team Yankee with and had to start on them. I liked playing Team Yankee with Greg and Curt, however like Flames of War, really dislike the size of the figures vs the ranges on board, so am doing the game in 6mm where I feel things balance out better.

The first unit here is a group of T-72's that I actually painted a few weeks back, but never posted. 

The second unit is a group of M1A1 tanks, my favourite tank.

Both squads are done with very simple desert colours, then washed, and weathered with powders to give some depth.

I then based them on some bases I printed up that have lips around the area where I put labels, so that you can tell units and vehicles apart at a glance.  Oh, and to go with tiny labels, tiny magnets.  No, not for the labels.... I magnetized all the turrets, so they can turn to face the enemy.

To show how tiny these things really are, here is one next to a 40k model (who has turned his back to us in shame over the state of the game).

There we go, I have gotten the bad taste out of my mouth now. Next up in the queue is a mix of more 6mm to finish up some armies to do a Team Yankee game and some figs for a GW game, but not 40k.  I have an alternate Necromundia Gang to paint up and would like to get them done sometime soon.