28 July 2019

Bash the Back-log #4; Medge's June - July

This year I've pledged to #BashtheBacklog - taking steps to correct that most grievous (but widespread) of hobby sins; the backlog of unpainted plastic!

Last update covered the end of April, May and most of June.

It's been five weeks since my last installment... so how have I done?


With our Tale of Four Gamers: Muster for Vigilus series coming to an end in June I was hoping to have some extra time in June/ July to work through backlog.

Stymieing that plan, however, is my new series following my Grey Knight project. The Grey Knights will, hopefully, involve some backlog... but my list aspirations (and some list miscalculations) have seen me buy more than I intended for that particular project.

BUT this post isn't for talking about new projects... but older projects I've pushed over the line. And I have had some success this month.



After 5 months of painting Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Knights I decided to focus my "spare" hobby time at the end of our Tale on my Blood Angels. A patch of good weather allowed me to undercoat a big chunk of models in Mephiston Red ahead of a painting spree!

The first squad over the line was a welcome addition to my Blood Angels force: a Devestator Squad:


With two missile launchers and two lascannons, this small squad provide the only real heavy weaponry my Blood Angels have and are a welcome addition to the force.

You'll notice they don't look particularly "Blood Angel-y" - and that's because, much like my Blood Angels Lieutenant (from Update #2) and the Ultramarines Captain (from Update #3), these guys were acquired in a trade some years ago. With a limited number of upgrade parts lying around I didn't have the spares, not the inclination, to rip apart a full squad for the sake of a few minor conversions. 
Plus I figure not every squad in a Blood Angels Company would be bedecked in ornate iconography... (I say, trying to convince myself!)

Following on the heels of these guys came another welcome addition to my Blood Angels force, and this time in the form of Primaris Heavy Support: a squad of Hellblasters.


These models came from Dark Imperium, and are the penultimate squad I needed to complete to (finally) finish painting my copy of Dark Imperium. Having sat in the painting "In-Tray" for over two years now it was time to finally push through and get them done!

As with the Devestators that came before, the level of conversion/ Blood Angels adornment on these models is pretty low. But considering they're all easy-build kits it would have been a MAJOR hassle to convert them up.

Narrative-wise though, you can almost imagine the new blood of Primaris Marines not having earned the right to wear the same level of decoration as their compatriots in the Legion, and as time goes on they'll become more at home decorating their armour like their peers.

Up next, another addition to my Primaris Blood Angels collection: Five Reivers


Originally from the First Strike boxed set, these Reavers make up more of my "Easy-build-only" Primaris force. When First Strike dropped in 2017 I snatched up a box for the ETB Reivers to try out and, like all the Primaris models I own, they just sat there collecting dust.
Unlike the other models from the first wave of Primaris, however, these models sat unassembled for nearly two years. With Reiver Squads needing five models, and First Strike only providing three, I didn't have enough for a full squad. Couple that to the weird look the Phobos Armour has (this was a time long before Shadowspear, so Phobos Armour was pretty unique) and I didn't really feel compelled to try the models out.

Fast forward to March 2019 and the release of Shadowspear and the Vanguard Primaris Marines, and all of a sudden Phobos Armour was looking pretty amazing.
I picked up a copy of Warhammer: Conquest for the cheap easy-build Reivers to completed my 5-man squad, and three months later have the full five-man squad finished!

I didn't like the Phobos Armour on release, but I must admit that these guys were great to paint and look amazing. I'm gutted Shadowspear has disappeared off the shelves because I really want to get my hands and brushes on more Vanguard! Probably safer for the backlog project it's not available though!

That ends this months backlog update. I've been working pretty flat out on the Grey Knights this month and will be able to share an update on them shortly, but none of those (right now at least) count as backlog models. Hopefully some will make it into the next update though!

For now, let's just take stock of what's been done so far!

Jan-Feb 2019:


2 Imperial Knights
1 Knight Armiger
1 Blood Angel Primaris Lieutenant
1 Adeptus Mechanicus Sydionian Dragoon

Feb-April 2019

1 Blood Angel Primaris Captain
1 Blood Angel Primaris Lieutenant
1 Blood Angels Chaplain
1 Blood Angels Lieutenant
Robute Gulliman - Primach of the Ultramarines
20 Chainrasps
20 Skeleton Warriors

April-June 2019

1 Questoris Knight 
1 Ultramarine Captain
1 Vampire Lord
1 Guardian of Souls
1 Necromancer
1 Arkhan the Black

June-July 2019
5 Blood Angels Devestators
5 Blood Angels Primaris Hellblasters
3 Blood Angels Primaris Reivers (+ two extra that were bought this year)

Thirteen more models added to the backlog, bringing the total up to sixty seven for the year. Not bad going, and not a bad chunk of money saved on new models! Maybe I'll actually get the backlog down to one box by the end of the year!!

If anyone out there is following along then comment below with how you're getting on, and let's Bash this Backlog together!

Until next time, so long!

Visit my Instagram for regular updates on all my hobby activities: https://www.instagram.com/drmedge/?hl=en

2 comments:

  1. Brilliant well done, I have a massive to-do pile mountain and the constant "ooh shiny" new releases doesn't help. Now I got my Warlord Titan done that has freed up some time and space to get some of my backlog too. I have a squad of Devs with Lascannons too, and some Armourium Cherebs and some Skitarii first up, then Tartaros Temies eBay rescue and see where I go next, maybe some terrain!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooo - a Warlord! Colour me green with envy! I suffer with shiny model magpie eye too (Warcry is coming soon!) but I'm trying to be better!!

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