Firestorm Armada: Frigates! Is that a dirty word?

Starter Fleet is finished!


     I just wrapped up my painting on the six frigates included in the Dindrenzi starter box. Though they were easy enough to paint, these were my least favorite models. Mostly because the fuselage was white metal and the engines were resin. They presented the most difficulty in construction, and actually are continuing to piss me off in regards to getting them to sit properly on their flying bases. I'm hoping I don't get an urge to purchase more frigates. I'll stick to the capital sized vessels instead.

     I magnetized all the ships to their bases. That wasn't easy, and I'm still rather unsatisfied with the results. While most of them are sitting pretty level, they continue to rotate on their post a little bit. What I'd like to see is for Spartan Games to adapt a Phillips head style post end to stick into the ships. This would negate rotation and would likely mean that you wouldn't have to glue the ship into the base. As good as these models are, I can't help but think they need a more elegant base solution. Also I'm hesitant to glue these things in (which would solve the rotation and some of the more unstable models) because I'd like to transport these things. I'm looking to purchase the Battle Foam bag when they release the Firestorm: Armada trays.

     Here are a few more shots of the frigates and the starter fleet. Enjoy:

Firestorm Armada: Cruisers Complete!

Cruisin' the Storm Zone!


     Here is the next completed portion of my Dindrenzi fleet. These were pretty easy, not unlike the battleship. I just did the same techniques that I used there, and pretty much in the same order. The results were exactly what I wanted. I just have the frigates left. I started priming them tonight, but I need to prime them slowly to make sure I get all the fiddly little angles on them. Harder than I thought it would be.

     I received my order from The War Store today. I got my wife's Aquan Prime starter fleet, and some more Vallejo paints, specifically to paint that fleet up. We opened the box and took a quick inventory. There's zero assembly on that fleet, as the ships are designed in kinda one organic lump. The battleship model has some really awesome detail on the underside of the model. Kind of a shame really, as you're really not very likely going to see that part of the model very often.

     Here are some more pics of the completed cruisers:

Firestorm Armada: Dindrenzi Battleship Completed

Looking for Blood


     The first ship of my Dindrenzi fleet is complete! The paint scheme looks good, the techniques are coming together, and I'm excited to get moving on the next part of the starter box; The Cruisers! I used some of those good 'ol Vallejo weathering powders in just a few areas, and I think it really helped. I'm certainly going for more of a battle-worn look with these models. I tried doing some fancy-pants glowing effects with the airbrush for the engines, but I didn't like how that turned out. I made a mess of it. Instead, I did some simply brush work, and the effect was good enough. I could come back with the airbrush at a later date and make some new attempts at this "glow" look, but I need to get more comfortable with the brush first.

Firebase Delta


     I've been looking around for any sort of information stream on Firestorm Armada, something to give me ideas of what to expect from this game. I came across this podcast called "Firebase Delta" so I gave it a try. It was great! Just what I was looking for, but wait... there's a kicker:

     40K Radio vets Scotty, Phil, and Chipley! WTH?!? Yeah! They're all there! What a great crew! I've really enjoyed listening to these guys, and they're giving me a good look into the Firestorm Armada arena. I'm getting ideas for games, and the hobby, and I'm excited to hear more. As of now, they have five episodes up. I've listened to two, and I'm afraid I'll be burning through the other three quite quickly. Big props guys!

Firebase Delta Podcast Check them out.

Here are a few more pics of my Dindrenzi Battleship, enjoy:

 I'll have to get some more time behind the airbrush before I do those glowing engines justice

We Brake for No One

Firestorm Armada: Killer Bees?

Fleet Color Scheme


So here's a little test of the color scheme I've planned up for my Dindrenzi. This is a carbon grey with a nice yellow to setup some high contrast. I've got a few masking leaks to fix, but it came out pretty good. I'll likely do a single engine stripe on the mediums and no stripes on the frigates, just to create a little theme. Lots of work ahead, but I'm enjoying a nice slow pace on these, so I'm not going to stress about hammering out the kit in some record time.

I tested out the scheme on Photoshop first, these were to two that I tested out:

I think the diagonal one was a little weak. I liked the bolder vertical stripes.

I've ordered another starter set for the Aquans. I've got some interesting color ideas for those, but I'll show you that at a later date.

Still wrestling with the airbrush and getting used to troubleshooting it when I have small issues. Progress is being made. There's a certain amount of trouble that you're just going to have to put up with when using water based acrylics on an airbrush, this I've come to learn. I've started looking at buying as much of the base coat colors in the Vallejo Model Air line as I can, since that seems to cause the least amount of trouble with the airbrush. Go figure, right?

I'm hoping that I can find some good tutorials on playing Firestorm Armada to help me learn the game. If anyone knows of some, let me know.

Firestorm Armada!

A new system?!


I've passed my three year mark in war gaming. It has been strictly 40K all that time. I've really enjoyed the hobby, and the gaming, but the prices... a little less enjoyable. As I mentioned before, the recent price increases from GW got me thinking about the future I had in all this stuff. While I'll still stick with 40K, and I have no plans of abandoning my current list of 40K projects, I have decided that a bit of a breath of fresh air might be in order.

I've been looking through all the current major game systems out there, and I was really looking for something that was approachable, wouldn't break the bank in the long run, and seemed like it was backed by a good company. Firestorm Armada looks like it will fit that bill.

They have certainly checked a bunch of boxes here: good models, interesting rules, sci-fi setting, great starter sets, and the game represents a big step away from the tactics of 40K.

I've yet to play a game as I'm taking my time reading up on the rules, and I'll likely purchase another starter box so I can enjoy those models and learn how the different fleets play. Thankfully the costs of these starter sets are such that it lends itself to experimentation.

If you're interested in checking out the game, here are a few relevant links:
Spartan Games Firestorm Armada background site
Spartan Games Firestorm Armada store
CorSec Engineering - Nice movement template and awesome dice docks that glue in over the base of the flying base, allowing you to lock in dice to represent damage numbers. Perhaps a better alternative to the little card markers the game comes with.
Studio Burgstrom - Neat little potential fighter/bomber/interceptor models you could use instead of the card markers for those too.
Litko - Or you could use these to indicate the fighters, bombers, etc. Looks like it would be easier to spot on the table, and easier to move about. Price is a little high, but that's Litko for you.

I purchased my starter fleet and rulebook from the fine folks at The War Store. Love that place.

Now for some 40K


This update will not be total heresy. Here is a picture showing the progress I've made towards my first Imperial Guard vehicle. All the base camo work is done. I've got some supplies incoming to help me with the next couple of steps. I'll talk about that when appropriate.

Don't worry, that's just the base camo. I'm going to be doing much more detail.

If you're in the area...

I live south of Baltimore, near Arundel Mills mall, and if you're interested in Firestorm Armada, and maybe wouldn't mind taking a newb to school, gimme a shout. I've got to finish painting the fleet, because I never play with unpainted models, but I'd be interested to know if there was anyone out there that could teach me this game.

Battle Bunker Opened!

Don't you want to go where everyone knows your armor save?


     So the Bowie Battle Bunker has opened! I swung by today around 11:00am to take a look. I saw a few familiar employees from the now closed Arundel Mills store, and one of them was kind enough to compliment me as I walked in the door, boasting about my painting skills to another customer. It's really kind of silly, but regardless it put a smile on my face. The store was very busy with games going on all the tables. They had a Spearhead tourney that started around 2:00pm that had a surprising number of participants, but I didn't hang around to see the conclusion.

     The only down-side to the day was the incredible temperature in the store. I'm not sure if the AC was just not cooperating, or if that many heat-radiating nerds in that confined space just over powered the system. Thankfully, no musty dank nerd smell. Give it time though.

     I played a game against a younger player. He had Necrons and I had my Orks, but I didn't want to slaughter him, so I have to admit that I pulled my punches a little. Though he was tabled in turn four, he managed to put up a good fight. He was very loose with his measurements, but I didn't call him on it. I did stick to the rules on everything else though, because I still feel that he could learn from that. We had fun, and I gave him praise when he made smart moves. Hope he keeps with the Necrons because I'm sure the new dex will bring them in line.

     So here are some more pics, I didn't get pics when the crowd was thickest, but trust me, there was little room to move about. Here they are:

 I drove around the place three times before seeing that tiny banner.

 "Wait... is this a trick?" Yeah that's the door... squeezed in between two stores.

Yeah... it got worse before it got better. Strange narrow hallway leads to the store.

WHAAAAA? There's more than just one painted Ork army? I met the best dressed wargammer I had ever seen; Suit with a tie and classy suspenders... playing painted Orks. I gotta say I liked the man's style.

He's a hell of a converter too. Here's a custom made Big Mek. Absolutely stunning work.

Punch for the Punch God! Cake for the Cake Throne!

That's a Land Raider Achilles as part of a Spearhead army that had a total of 5 Land Raiders. I sorta call this cheating... those things are stupid awesome. Guy playing it was a bit of a smart ass though. I heard him boasting that he could table any multiple other tables after he was done with the Spearhead mission. Jerk.

Busting up a Slaneshy tank. Nice modeling work, and a clean and simple paint job. Thumbs up. This guy's Eldar army had some good solid work all around.

That's about it. It was a thrill meeting some good gamers out there and I really look forward to making my way out there for some more games in the future.

Maybe I'll just paint it red. Works for the Orks!

Camo time!


I know it has been a hot minute since I've posted, but work has been crazy, parents came to visit, and just other stuff getting in line ahead of my painting table.

But enough with the excuses! So this is my second attempt at knocking up a camo scheme I might want to use on my Imperial Guard. The first go was so horrible, I didn't want to document the mess.

So I decided I'd put my new airbrush to good use and came up with this scheme. It's easy, I can replicate it, and it doesn't involve three hours of masking.

A couple of "excuse the..." things that I need to explain about this mock up:
-Ignore the tires... just... well.. just do that.
-Yes... I sorta took my silly putty mask off the windows before I sealed it with matte spray. Dumb. But I really don't care all that much on this model.
- Vallejo weathering powders! Very easy to use. I'm sold!
-Blue/white/blue stripe thing is going to be on the front side of each tank hull. I only did it on the back of the hummer because there was enough space back there to really test the look.
- The roughness in the paint is because I didn't bother stripping my previous failures off before just respraying. That's why I test on this model. The 40K models will be smooth.

So I learned some important things, and I saw the cleverness of using silly putty for masking, and learned of the perils of tape masking in general. Weathering powders are working like I want them too, and I'm becoming a little more confident with them.

That's about it for now. I've got to work on magnetizing my first Chimera. That'll likely be my next post. Here are some close ups of the stripes and the different levels of weathering I was trying out. The one with more weathering gets my vote. Something about the chipped white paint, just looks right.