Come the Apocalypse, Come the Man. (Or Necron).

January has quickly become a series of deadlines for me Wargaming wise.  Between a game this Sunday designed to reinvigorate the hobby love and an Apoc game at the end of the month, deadline therapy is IN!

With so much currently there to finish, I decided since getting my hands on that beautiful tomb Exeterminatus (Read: Mephritt Dynasty ROCKS!), that Troop choices are also firmly IN!

Currently possessing a meager 20 Warriors and 10 Immortals, I figure I'd prioritise more.  Firstly an extra 10 Warriors for this weekend, followed by some nice and easy Scarab Swarm Bases (x11).
Its been a while since I laboured through that old painting plan, especially since the fire, a lot of paints turned out to have dried up or simply missing.  Regardless, I managed in quick time, to get the following up to that stage shown.

 There are also another 10 Warriors at a lesser phase of being painted. I seem to have accidentally gotten good at quick painting, being able to get through a lot to Wargame standard with a fixed palate and a lot of Netflix in the back ground.  Either way, I'm not the best expert on speed painting, but I do have some advice.

Rik's rules of speed painting!

1. When writing your painting plan, consider how much fine detail work you have to do.  Keep this as low as possible.
2. Dry or Wet brushing is your friend.  And Inking.  In fact, you want to have as much time doing this.  Detail work should be left for essential highlights and small stuffs.
3. Primer!  Working from a priming coat that IS your forces colour helps. A LOT.  For me this meant indulging in Army Painters Skeleton Bone (and matching paint).  This helped a lot.
4. Always have a painted example on hand.  This helps making sure that you don't suddenly finish off another unit only to realise they look significantly different to your army, be it a bad batch of paint, a missing layer or worse. Have your goal right there.
5. Paint the easy stuff on everything first, then finish off units at a time.  I began keeping a fine balance between putting the basic layers on all the things, like inks, before working on each unit at a time, bringing them to a finish.  This balances efficiency with psychological "pat pat" on the head.  Its easier to keep going when you can SEE the progress.
6. Out of sight, out of mind.  Units you aren't working on should be put away or on the other end of the table.  It is very easy to lose your mojo when all you can see if what needs working on.  Allow only those finished units to sit on your table. Again, you can see the progress, also see point 4.
7. Keep a tight palat. For my Necrons, I decided to keep a simple rule, paint wise.  Bone for armour, metal for the joints, grey for weapons and good old Necrony green for the power flow, eyes etc.  Indulging in too many paints on your basic troops can quickly become a nightmare, especially when wet blending or highlighting is required on everything.
8. Blog!  That's right!  Share your progress!  You would not believe how great a motivator it is to get feedback, comments and even better inspire others to get their crap done!
9. Bases are 1/3 of the figure.  Those bases which you often see left bare or single colour painted are a huge sin.  Sand, seal, paint with dry brushing.  Easy, quick, and gets over a third of the actual model done.  I do this phase half way through to get instant gratification on my need for progress!
10. Treat yourself with the big guys.  Characters, monstrous creatures etc, these guys should be a reward for doing the bulk.  All the above rules can be forgotten if you like.  Go nuts, take your time and change the rules.  This is where you make something special.
11. And finally, play games.  It quickly loses the point when you aren't remembering why you're working for weeks on that Infinite Phalanx.  This hobby should be mostly reward, not burden.

Easy kills are amazing moral boosters.  For me, these Scarab Swarms were a delight.  I dropped the flighty micro prong things that make them seem to fly in favour of them coming out the ground.  Not only does this make them more enduring, but easier to paint and frankly more fun to model.  Grab that bitz box and have fun. 
Painting them?  Remember what I said about bases and painting them?  Thats over half the figure here.  An absolute speed painting dream.  And scary as duck in game.

 Hopefully, the Warriors will be ready for the game this weekend, looking something like their predecessors underneath.  I'm really feeling the style of the Mephrit Dynasty, walls of nigh unstoppable machines bent on ruining your day.

"IS THIS YOUR BALL?"

A quick note on that day, since our social gaming group began flagging last year, this gaming day is more about practicing rules in a non-competitive environment, trying new things and new armies, meeting new gamers and basically having fun before fair games.

For many of us, its rediscovering why we love this hobby.  For me, it's a great opportunity to get a goal to get stuff done.  SCREW THE PLASTIC MOUNDS! 

It's time to rise! 

Thanks for reading,
R