HPC, Fantasy, and an awesome crescent moon shot!

So the I.C. Podcast Hobby Progress Challenge has been some really good motivation. I am managing to find time to do at least a little bit of work on my Sanguinary Guard every day. I have gotten the bodies based and washed, the weapons finished and am finishing up all of their gubbins (various wings and blood drops) The last step is going to be the wings since I have not yet decided on how I am going to do them. I think I'll go with the bleached bone/ sepia combination and just not highlight them as much as the wings on the armor. Highlighting up to the pure white makes them super bright and draws a lot of the focus away from other parts of the model but on the other hand leaving them darker makes the wings look kind of dirty. Also, I am quite pleased with the red for the shoulder pads. At first I was not sure it was going to look good but it really compliments the gold. They are both rich colors so they go well together. I am just glad that I looked at the picture in the codex before I started painting so I realized their right shoulder pads were supposed to be red.

Finally got in my first 8th edition game. It was really impromptu with just a few handfuls of models chucked on the table and I am sure we missed a lot of rules but it was a lot of fun and I think I may be able to get some of my group here to play it (they are all only 40k at this point) I was having a hard time conveying the fun and the tactics of Fantasy to them though. The model types and size of the battle was fairly limited as well as my not knowing the rules as well as I should. Some of the units didn't work out like they would when used in larger games while some had their effect magnified because of the limitations.  I am sure people everywhere have similar (game/entertainment related) problems but introducing people to something that you already love can be tough. Most gamers have their pet games and bringing a group around to it can be an uphill struggle. I myself am guilty of that type of stubborn resistance at times as well though so I understand it, especially the tendency to ignore the good stuff and focus on one or two negative things that happen. Even so, Runequest Ducks are the lamest things ever.

Now I am torn on what army to play though. The three friends that might start playing Fantasy are interested in Ogres, Vampire Counts, and Empire. So I am going to play either my Wood Elves or my Skaven. I have a lot of the nicer models for wood elves and their aesthetic is cool but the army book is just so old...Skaven, on the other hand, are a new effective book but some of their models are in bad need of an update (Grey Seer!) and it is fundamentally a horde army which would kill any painting dreams. I think I'll take a good long look at the Island of Blood Skaven troops again and then make my decision.

And, as a closing note here are some nice night shots that I took the other night. Caught the moon juuuuust before sunrise. You'll not see a sharper crescent than that.

Skies so clear you can see the night side 

Shooting Star, pardon the trash can

Zodiacal Light