Keepin’ It WYSIWYG

It has been so long since I’ve opened up a codex and actually sat down to read the rules, but it all came flooding back to me just how daunting it is to be confronted with all those pages of text and trying to figure out which units you want to take, with which pieces of wargear in how many units of which size.

The hormagaunts are easy in that they only come with two pieces of wargear. No need to choose, decision has been made for you in that regard. But with the genestealers (which I just picked up today at Pandemonium Books and Games {support your local store}) there are rending claws, adrenal glands, toxin sacs, and I-don’t-know-whats. And some of these can be shown on the model, so I need to make sure that the models are WYSIWYG.

When I built my first squad of Catachan troopers, I made them fun. There was Screaming Dan, the guy with the broken vox, so he ran screaming to communicate orders. There was Sideways Stan who held his flamer sideways because I needed him to hold the flamer in the wrong hand. There was Drama Queen Steve, who held the head of one of his fallen comrades. And so on.

But once I started building my Cadian squads, that all changed. Everyone model fell into line and nothing is out of order. Gone are the poses and weird antics and goofy shenanigans. WYSIWYG!

I want something in-between with my new Tyranid army. I want them to be able to take them about town and play games without some rules lawyer pointing out that none of my genestealers actually have venom sacs. But, as you’ll see with my hormagaunts once I steal my girlfriend’s camera, I’m doing my best to pose them and paint them in vivid and interesting ways. I want an army with personality and pizzazz that still follows the letter of the law. Yes, they will have reinforced chitin modeled correctly, but they will sparkle.

-D-

The Army

As part of this project, I decided I want to start fresh with a whole new army. I did not want to play Guard. In any game I play, I always pick the most boring character. Case in point: My first character in World of Warcraft was a Human warrior. You cannot get more vanilla than that.

So I’m going to build an army that is not vanilla. It will not be human or Astartes or Inquisition or anything Imperial. That means Xenos or pure demon. Demons and dark eldar strike me as way too goth and way too emo, respectively. Necrons are cool looking, but I have no interest in painting them. Eldar are elves and elves don’t interest me even when they’re elves. And I don’t want to play Tau. From what I’ve heard of their play style, I’d be terrible at them.

That leaves Tyranids.

Tyranids intimidate me. The painting, specifically. While I can do a decent job of painting guard, they’re easy. Armor and clothing aren’t too difficult. But the Tyranids have a whole different organic feel to them. I’m going to have to learn a whole set of new techniques (feathering, getting better at dry brushing). But they’re also much more freeing to paint. I see no reason that they need to all look exactly the same. They’re animals, not manufactured in a factory like a Cadian guardsmen uniform. And there’s so much potential to add splashes of color and personality. I think it can be a really bright and vivid army.

So! Before I get started in earnest, I need to figure out what units to take. I need to avoid wasting money on units that I can’t actually use in the army. I’ve already goofed. In a moment of weakness, I bought a pyrovore. From what I’ve heard, this was a cataclysmic waste of 30 dollars. But I’m going to paint it anyway. Practice.

Once I start choosing units and building my list, I’ll talk about what I picked and why and then we’ll commence to building.

-D-

The Beginning

I got started in Warhammer 40K about five years ago. I was hanging out with my friend and his brother and they had a couple of models and some paints sitting on a card table.

“What’s that?” I asked.

They looked at each other and back at me. “Dude, it’s Warhammer 40K, but you don’t have to get involved.”

I laughed. They had gotten me into playing World of Warcraft and, after that money and time sink, I didn’t see any harm in tiny army men. A few hours later and a hundred dollars lighter, I was cursing at a Catachan trooper that refused to hold his goddamn gun.

I eventually built up 1750 points worth of Imperial Guard, we played maybe half a dozen games and then I moved to Boston and forgot about Warhammer 40K.

But the seed had been planted.

One day, I received a box from my parents, filled with half painted Cadian and Catachan troops, along with my paints and brushes. I started to glue back on arms that had fallen off. Just to fix them, you understand. And then all that grey plastic started to bother me. So I blasted them with some primer and got to work.

I found a 40K podcast to listen to while I painted (specifically The 11th Company). They always talked about the community and tournaments they played at and tactics and strategies and they seemed to have a lot of fun and I kept painting, muddling my way through the best I could.

And an idea started to form. I wanted to get into the hobby and I wanted to document it, if only to be a part of the community that these podcasts kept talking about. I knew I was enjoying the painting and model building, though I knew I had a long way to go after looking at the pictures posted on DakkaDakka.

I’m going to start painting a new army and trying to paint it well. I’m going to learn how to do basing and learn how to use green stuff. I want to make great looking models, maybe even dabbling in conversions.

The next part will be harder for me, but, I want to actually field that army. I’m not a social person and jumping headfirst into an established group gives me the shivers. But I want to play. I doubt I’ll ever play a tournament, but I can see myself playing at the local gamestore.

And I’m going to document it all here and I’m doing it for everyone else who ever wanted to join the hobby, but was intimidated by the sheer size of it all. Hell, if I can do it, then anyone can.

I’m going to start with modeling and painting entries exclusively.

And then we’ll take it from there.

-D-