Endgame's 40K Finish-an-Army Challenge

One of my local game stores, Endgame is running a 40K Finish-an-Army Challenge. The objective is to get people to get signed up and complete armies they've been working on, build some terrain, and related objective markers. The contest will be run in 3 phases, with the first phase starting October 11th and lasting a month. At the beginning of each phase, participants bring in a block of 750 points, set a progress baseline, and then judging at the end of the phase will be based on progress and quality against the baseline. Extra points are awarded for cool conversions, participating in terrain building, and making themed objective markers.

Approach

I think I've got 3 blocks of figures picked out that will let me play immediately and gradually add capabilities. I'm going with more units and less monsterous creatures. By the end, I'll only field 3 carnifexes but should have 5 scoring units. Here are the blocks of Tyranids I'm planning on:

Block 1 (742 points) - Kicks off 10/11/08

21 Spine Gaunts (primed)
10 Genestealers (primed)
3 Warriors (primed)
1 Carnifex (primed)

Block 2 (748 points)

1 Hive Tyrant (primed)
1 Carnifex (primed)
20 Hormaguants (primed)
9 Ripper swarms (primed)
1 Lictor (primed)

Block 3 (704 points)

14 Genestealers (primed)
3 Warriors (primed)
1 Carnifex (primed)
1 Broodlord (NIB)

Color Scheme

I have 85 figures to paint and not a ton of free time, so I'm planning on going with the bone and red scheme like this example gaunt:

The genestealers will get some Leviathan Purple wash as a contrast color since they don't have carapaces. The large figures will get some extra attention.

Progress and Commentary

3/7/09

Judgement Day and I am done-ish. Figures are all painted and based. I wanted to do some extra details, but never got around to it, but they are acceptable. In addition to the core Block 3 figures, I finished a bonus 5 Warriors, Lictor, and Zoantrope. I never did get around to making another objective marker. In any case, I'll try to post full army photos tonight.

As promised, here is the finished army, all 138 figure (3,100 points). Next up is a 750 point Apocalypse bonus round. Not sure if I have it in me to participate in that, but well, see.

3/5/09

Less than 48 hours to go. One last night of painting before Block 3 judging ... and I decide to add a figure ... the Zoanthrope in the foreground [smacks head] Oh well, I need it for the game on Saturday. Here are the lads, waiting for the glue on the static grass to dry. The Zoanthrope should get sand on the base before I go to bed and then it will get a couple of hours of drying time tonight.

3/1/09

Here's where I stand at the end of the weekend. I've touched up some of the missed spots with more brown wash, done the hoses with the Thrakka Green wash, drybrushed the sand on the bases, finished the tongues, and redid the carapace of the Broodlord in red.

2/28/09

Coming down to the last stretch and I was able to get in a good solid, uninterrupted 4.5 hours of painting last night at Gamescape. I got through eyes, teeth, and the majority of the Leviathan Purple wash, though there is still more to do. I think the biggest piece of work now is the talons on the Genestealers, the bases, and cleaning up the areas I missed with the Raw Umber wash.

2/27/09

Starting on some of the purple wash on the Genestealers. This has to be a big painting weekend for me as we only have next week to finish everything off. If I can stay away from Spore tonight and be really productive tomorrow (the Gamescape Pizza and Painting night), I think I can close most of the gap with where I need to be. Darn you Spore!!!!.

Gave my bases the Burnt Umber wash this evening so that they'll have the night to dry. I also washed the mouths and eyes in preparation for doing eyes and teeth over the weekend. Here's what I'm going into the last weekend with:

2/24/09

argh! Spore has stolen a second night of painting from me.

2/22/09

Figures washed, drybrushed Bleached Bone/White, rims painted black with sand laid down. I figure I'll spend a couple of days doing the Genestealer claws, another couple of days with the Leviathan Purple wash and then I have the remaining details. Fortunately, next Saturday is the Gamescape Pizza and Painting Night. Should be able to get some stuff knocked out then.

2/21/09

Real progress. My goal was to finish the red carapaces and clean up by Friday so that I could start the washing and therefore get in a full night's worth of drying time. Here's what I started with Friday early evening. Everything is basecoated and even got some of the talons painted black.

Three hours of washing later, here's where I am Saturday morning. I actually got through the Warriors and the Lictor Friday night and would have gotten to the Genestealers, except that I lost 3 hours of my life to Spore.

Goals for this weekend, paint the rims of the bases black, put down the initial layer of sand for the bases, and do the talons/claws. That will give me basic table top. That basically gives me 2 weeks to do the details and work on any extras.

2/20/09

Crap! I was just reminded today that Block 3 judging is March 7th, not the 17th. I've lost 10 days. Time to get off my ass and get painting.

2/15/09

Worked on my Realm of Battle board today and taxes instead of my Tyranids. Here's the current state of the union ... about 1,000 points. Tyranid Warriors are sure easier to paint when only partially assembled.

2/10/09

Slowly finishing the Scab Red lining on my Warriors, the Carnifex, and the Lictor. If I can get that done by this weekend, then I'm well set up to finish washing the batch on Saturday with maybe Sunday for some drybrushing and details.

2/6/09

Progress! I haven't touched a brush in a week and this morning I finally got started on basecoating my Tyranid Warriors. They're partially assembled, so the chiten plates are much easier to get to this time and the #4 flat brush makes the color blocking go pretty quickly.

2/2/09

With the time pressure to paint Orks past (Apocalypse battle report), I'm getting ready to get refocused on my Tyranids. Everything is primed and ready for the first basecoat of Mechrite Red. I assembled the extra 5 Tyranid Warriors in 2 halves, so that I can get to the leg chitin a little easier. I covered the connection points on the waist with a bit of white glue, which will pop off with a sharp knife, when it's time to assemble them. Anyways, the table is cleaned up of bits and debris and I'm ready to get started again.

1/31/09

Don't have much progress to report as I've been trying to get my Orks ready for an Apocalypse game today. I did get my Tyranid Warriors assembled and primed as well as the Lictor and Broodlord. Once the Apocalypse game is over, the sense of urgency over the Orks is over and I can get back to my Block 3 figures.

1/17/09

Woo hoo. Got to take home a prize for most points, driven by finished models, a plethora of extra units, and a custom objective marker. Also placed second again for People's Choice, which I consider pretty good considering the other armies. All in all, it was great fun to see some really stunning and well put together armies and get some time to prep figures. Here are the finished products from this Block:

Now, onto Block 3. Note. I also REVERSED the chronological order of this blog to put more recent activity to the top.

1/16/09

Tomorrow is the presentation and judging of our Block 2 figures. In addition to the 38 extra Tyranids, I got through all of my Orks in addition to 22 washed models that needed to be finished.

12/21/08

Finally got the last bits done on my 4 monsterous creatures. Once I get these sealed (waiting for the weather to improve), I am officially done with my Block 2 projects.

12/16/08

With the holiday schedules being quite hectic, we've all gotten a one-month reprieve. Block 2 figures don't have to be presented until the 2nd week in January. The organizer is trying to arrange for bonus points for additional figures painted above and beyond the completed Block 2 models. If all goes according to plan, and I don't run out of steam, I should be able to turn in an additional: 9 Ripper stands, 19 Gaunts, 2 Carnifexes, 8 Genestealers, 9 Deffkoptas, 70 AOBR Ork Boyz, 6 Nobz, 1 Warboss, and a Stompa.

12/8/08

Actually got the grass on the 39 gaunts yesterday. Now all I have is the 4 monsterous creatures.

12/7/08

Finally getting to the sealing and static grass. I just finished the grass on 17 Ripper stands and my Lictor. Hopefully, I'll get the 39 guants done today.

11/30/08

Moved another 10 Hormagaunts and 8 Ripper stands to the static grass stage.

11/30/08

This was a very productive weekend of painting. I got magnets on the bottoms of all my Tyraninds, wrote up some articles, got all of my eyes done, and moved 9 stands of Rippers, 6 Hormaguants, and the Lictor into final QA and static grass phase. I've got another 34 Gaunts that just need teeth, the purple wash, and edging on the carapace. The remaining 8 stands of Rippers just need the edging. After that, it's just the 4 monsterous creatures left. I might even have enough time to either work on my Orks or work on another objective marker.

11/29/08

Last push before the end of November and my workspace is jammed full of Tyranids. I'm making good time though and by the end of the weekend, the only thing I should have left is flocking the bases, edging the carapaces, and all of the purple bits that need to be washed. That sounds like a lot, but it's the basecoats that take the most time.

I've also been working on the bases so that I can transport them in a steel toolbox. The foam trays just don't cut it with the 1) quantity, 2) sharp pointy things all over them and 3) the relatively large footprint per figure.

For most of my figures, I either glue a nickel on the bottom when there is no slot (like the ork on the right) or part of a penny. I like the extra weight on the plastic figures and it helps they stay upright on slopes.

For the Tyranids, I also picked up a number of rare earth magnets and am attaching one to the bottom of each base (like the Genestealer on the left). Warriors get 2 magnets, the Carnifex gets 5. I got mine from KMJ Magnetics. $30.00 for 250 of the 3/16" dia. x 1/16" thick disc magnets.

When I'm done, I should be able to store my entire army on the refrigerator door.

11/20/08

I took a slight detour and made a Tyranid-themed objective marker out of pill bottle, a straw, and an extra pair of rending claws. Hope you like.

11/16/08

Block 1 for the Endgame Finish-an-Army-Challenge is over and now it's onto Block 2. We had 18 people show up for presentation of Block 1 work and it was pretty awesome to see 13,500 points of painted/in-progress goodness. I ended up tieing for first in the People's choice category which I was pretty satisfied with. For Block 2, I've got 3 monsterous creatures and 29 troops stands to paint up. Outside of the challenge, I have another 3 monsterous creatures and 43 troop stands. ... and then there's the 76 Orks I just primed ...

I've certainly learned some things from Block 1, and I'll be applying those process changes to Block 2. Also in the plan are two Tyranid-themed objective markers.

11/6/08

Pretty much done. I finished edging the carapaces on the Gaunts in Citadel Blazing Orange using a #2 flat brush and then added spots of green static grass here and there. Some of the lessons and process changes I'll take into blocks 2 and 3 are to paint the rims before sanding and do an initial QA pass right after the wash dries. I think those two steps caused the most amount of rework and I should be able to smooth out the process in subsequent phases.

11/3/08

Home stretch for Block 1. The deadline has actually been extended a week to 11/15, but I'm trying to stay on schedule for a 11/8 finish. I've done a tons of purple washing using a copious amount of Leviathan Purple, and the Warriors finally got some needed attention. This week, I need to spend a day on basing, a night picking out teeth and finishing up some other details, and probably 2 nights doing the edging on the carapaces. That should let me be wrapped up by Friday for a week "off".

10/26/08

This past week I gave my figures a targeted drybrushing of Skull White/Bleached Bone on the high spots, applied a Badab Black wash to the mouths and eyes. I was going to do the same for the claws and hooves, but decided that was too slow, so I thinned some VMC Black with Vallejo Glaze Medium and water and used that. It covers much faster. Last night, I laid down a layer of sand on all of the based and this morning, before I left at 5:00 AM for the airport, I applied a Burnt Umber wash to most of the sand bases. I think I have 10 more Spineguant bases to wash.

When I get back on Tuesday, assuming I don't collapse into bed, I'll try to finish off the bases and give the rims a coat of Chaos Black. After that, I need to pick out teeth and get to work on the Leviathan Purple washes. Overall, I feel like I'm ahead of schedule to get this block completed by end of Phase 1.

10/19/08

Finally finished off the carapace basecoats. As usual, I finished all of the top carapaces and then realized I had forgotten the leg plates. DOH! Anyways, the Red Gore is a nice color to use for edging as it flows much more nicely than the foundation paint and the slightly darker color is a nice accent to the Mechrite Red. Here's the full set of 35 figure after a busy night of washing. Included in the picture are some Tau Pathfinders that I washed at the same time.

Here's a close up of the washed product. This was the first time I had used a on such a large figure (i.e., the Carnifex), though I think it turned out OK. Next steps, washing the claws and talons and edging the base colors.

Nothing yet. I can't really start until 10/11, but I am starting to think about what kinds of cool Tyranid-themed objective markers I can make. Maybe I can get some marbles and make some egg sacs or I can use one of my extra carnifex heads and make hive tyrant head conversion in a specimin tank.

10/13/08

Been slowly laying down the basecoats on the carapaces of my first Carnifex, Warriors, and the Spinegaunts. I'm using Mechrite Red (Foundation) for the base color and doing the edges in Red Gore. It's the closest color match to the Mechrite Red and it flows better so it's easier to do the lining on the edge of the plates.

Notes

This should be fun. Getting my Tyranids is on my list of things to do before the end of the year and this will be a nice motivator. If I finished figures in a particular block, I still have another 60+ figures to paint up, so it's not like I'll run out of figures. Progress between Blocks 1 and 2 improved significantly as I smoothed out the process and re-learned some basics of assembly line painting. I turned our 35 figures in Block 1 (1 month) and basically finished 70 figures in more or less the same amount of time in Block 2.

Last updated	12/8/08
Author	Michael Kan
Pre-requisites	None
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