ToFP - September

Just thought I'd make a post to celebrate yet another month in the Tale of Fantasy Painters 2009-2010 has been passed, and that I've managed to keep up with my schedule.

To mark the occation I took a picture of my warband as it stands so far, hope you like it:
Sadly my Dragon Ogres - which are next on my to-do-list when it comes to Warhammer - are not completed yet, but at least I've ordered the bases for them now, so that's a start, mhm?

I have made some progress on my Space Hulk marines, though. Three of them are currently at my work bench:
- Brother Noctis (pointing Terminator) - almost completed, only have the base and the steel NMM left, plus maybe a last highlight on the red.
- Brother Leon (Assault Cannon Terminator) - reds are done, but nothin else.
- Lexicanium Calistarius (the Librarian) - painted some of his blue and decided to paint his shoulderpads red, but have put him on hold until Noctis and Leon are done.

Down at GW today, one of the employees showed me a cover from some book with a Marine with an energy field around his power fist, so I decided to test that out and I'm fairly happy with the result I got on Brother Noctis. Also recieved a can of Midnight Blue for free - being out of production, they can't really sell them, but as I use the colour for various things, I got one - very nice!
Also observed a 2.500 pts battle between Daemons and Dark Elves, and I can't say I'm looking forward to meeting either from what I saw! The players had agreed to go cheesy beforehand, but still, whew! Both armies got some really tough and merciless units, that's for sure.

When I finally got home half past midnight, a small package was waiting for me: 2 Elven Scouts from Mantic Games. Wayland Games are/were promoting the new line of miniatures by mailing a couple of free models to anyone who asked, pretty nice if I may say so. Sadly I don't think it's something for me, though. Not only am I more than busy enough with my Chaos Army and my Space Hulk set, but there's something about the models... The elves they got, while being extraordinairy well detailed, alive and very gracious, they're not quite my cup of tea - then again I'm not an Elf player, so it could be very much related to that. If I had to choose an Elf army, the Mantic ones would be a strong contender, that's certain. But, myeah, I sort of love the more heavy look of the general Warhammer minies, especially the Warriors of Chaos ones naturally. Might not be as realistic or lifelike as the Mantic ones, but still... It's a bit like the LotR range - lots of those models are really beautiful, but they're a bit too small, and doesn't feel right.
I do think that this competition from Mantic Games is very healthy for the hobby and industry though! Being at half the price of Games Workshop's models, and when it comes to the Elves they're even better sculpted (although slightly anorectic and some of the ideas are a bit off in my opinion: Bolt Throwers and the Spearmen mostly - I do love the concept art for the spears, but they've not managed to get the same design on the models, sadly), all makes for healthy competition. Hopefully GW will work even harder to produce good models, and maybe they'll even find it in themself to drop the prices back to the level before this summer's rise, if not even further down. That'd be great!

Anyways, I'll paint up the two Elves I got, just for fun, and share them with you. Havn't decided on a colour theme yet, think I'll go for something different than the white/black I do for Chaos, or the reds I do for the Blood Angels. Any suggestions would be most welcome - the two models I got are mostly clad from top to their toes in armour, no cloaks or other cloth to speak of.