Pride Before a Fail... and Upcoming Content!

While waiting for the stuff to arrive for the Kraken's base, I could hear my Behemoth begging for some TLP (that's Tender Loving Paint, naturally). While I was working, I couldn't shake the feeling that he was too clean. I think spending so much time beating up the Kraken has altered how I like my models to look.

I decided to add some battle damage, but I was confident I remembered the steps for painting it on. I was wrong.

My aggravation may not be obvious, so I'll try to quote what went through my head when I looked at it:

"I think I just painted silver-lined poop on my Behemoth."

I didn't want him to look as weathered as the Kraken, so I tried making it appear like he'd been involved in several battles over the years. I didn't want a full-blown rust effect, but he needed to look used. In my head, I pictured some old paint chips from ranged weapons or spells. It should be obvious that he hadn't been to a Khador mechanik in awhile.

Basically, I got my steps backwards. I was supposed to do shrinking layers of black-bronze-silvers. Instead I did a dainty layer of silver and then slapped some Tin Bitz on it. Blech.

So I went back and followed a guide I'd used in the past, and I'm so much happier with the results. Bear in mind that it has a bit of work, but the color layers just feel right.

Yay! He still has plenty more damage to take, but I wanted to share my lesson in humility. It'd been awhile since I'd used this method, and I should have saved myself some time and refreshed myself on the technique.

I'm really hoping to get some work done on the Kraken tomorrow. It's just sitting there on my shelf, so sad and baseless. Fingers crossed!

I also wanted to let you all know about some upcoming series I'm excited about.

• Coat-of-Paint Battle Reports (working title). Normal battle reports, but if my opponent wins they get a model painted for free. So if you're around the Des Moines, Iowa area get in touch with me!
• Relationship advice! I'm a bit of a geek; my wife is not. We've spent over 5 years learning to live with my addictions, and I think we've both learned a lot. Hopefully I can give some helpful advice for you or your ungeeky partner.
• Terrain On a Budget. My post about investing in a game to enjoy it was hard to write because I love budgetizing. While I stand by my article, I think it's also important to show that you don't have to pay top dollar for everything in a game to enjoy it. I have always wanted to write a series of articles where I build nice-looking terrain with inexpensive and/or everyday items, so look forward to this one.
• Into the Unknown - Investigative Reporting. I'm mostly sharing this one because if I don't, I won't be held accountable and therefor won't do it. The world of the geek is a big one. I play video games, card games, and tabletop miniatures games. I enjoy the occasional board game and comic book, but that's about as far as I go. But there's so much out there that most geeks won't touch. Bronies, LARPing, cosplay... there are many hobbies that exist on the fringes of geekdom, and I've always wondered at the fascination people have for them. Truth be told, I don't want to do it, but I think it would be a blast for you all to experience with me and my handy-dandy camera (that I still need to get).

So those are the highlights of my idea notebook so far. Some have me excited, some have me terrified. Let me know your thoughts, and hit me up with any ideas for future content. We have 340 posts to go, so there are no bad ideas!

See you tomorrow!