My Warhammer 40K Army
..........and why I chose it.
“The Necrons are ancient beyond reckoning, predating even the birth of the Aeldari. At long last, however, they are beginning to awaken from their Tomb Worlds, for the galaxy is ripe for conquest and the restoration of the Necron Empire since the disappearance of the Old Ones more than 60 million standard years ago.” (1)
Yes I am a huge Geek and Nerd. I love DnD. I love comics. I love video games. I love Warhammer 40,000. Henry Cavill, if you ever see this Stack, hit me up for a game. My Necrons would destroy your Adeptus Custodes………..maybe.
But why Necrons? I wish I could say it was for the lore (which I do love) or the models (the Void Dragon is amazing.) but alas. I chose The Necrons due to the ease in which they could be painted. Warhammer 40,000 is a vast hobby which can encompass so many different aspects. From building and converting models to painting to the novels and that doesn’t even take into account the actual game itself.
Is it expensive? Yes it can be. But there are ways around that (shop around etc) which is what I do. I won’t lie though and will admit that I own a lot of novels (give the 1st 3 Horus Heresy novels a go. You won’t be disappointed.)
My painting skills though. They leave a lot to be desired, hence why I chose The Necrons to collect as my army of choice. A quick going over with Leadbelcher Spray then add some red and I’m done. Quick and easy. It was a life saver when I had to isolate in Bahrain for 2 weeks when Covid restrictions was at its highest in 2020. That and Critical Role. Vox Machina saved my sanity during those 2 weeks.
(The Void Dragon not painted by me)
See the picture above? I wish could paint that well. It’s bloody amazing. No matter how much I try I can’t seem to improve my skills. It must be the brushes!! Not the slight shake my hand has.
For those that do see this. Do you collect? If so what army? Do you only like the lore? The novels? Please share in the comments. I love to hear what people love about the 40K universe.
(The Silent King watches.) (2)
I hope you find this post interesting or that it piques your interest in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
I hope I find you all in good health.
Vulkan.
(The Emperor Protects)
(1) https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Necrons
(2) https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OmYgJw
I don't do warhammer particularly, but I do minis. Also have shaky hands, and I use cheap craft paint too (gasp!). In spite of all that have received many, as far as I can tell sincere, compliments for my minis. You can learn to pain them better if you want (if you don't, no stress).
It's really more about technique and theory than it is about tools or physical gifts. I knew a guy who was full monochromatic colorblind who painted full-color minis beautifully, because he knew his theory and applied it even though he couldn't see or appreciate the outcome.
Good brushes do matter, but they don't have to be *great*. I have a mid-range set of synthetics (was about $60 for the set of 10), and a couple very fancy natural brushes. While the fancy ones are marginally better in ways that matter to me, they didn't have any significant impact on my output. Just made a couple things easier. The main thing is to maintain them well.
For dealing with shaky hands, when I'm doing something very fine like a pupil or a keyline, I get comfortable, stabilize my painting arm at the elbow, take a few deep breaths, hold it, do a couple practice strokes, and then go in. Usually fuck it up once or twice and have to carefully lift the paint off and try again. No big deal.
On theory, you can't really get around learning color theory and other painting basics. But there's plenty of free material on this out there on the youtubes. If you want to go deeper, I found Gurney's Color and Light very useful.
On technique, Tabletop Minions, Squidmar, Black Magic Craft, Goobertown and Duncan Rhodes on youtube were all really helpful and inspirational.
Anyway, just some unsolicited advice if you want to up your game. But in the end they're just game tokens and the important thing is the game, IMO.
I have Thousand Sons. If you don't like painting you should definitely get them and make your friends paint them and never ever paint again. Like yes, let's carefully paint all the gems on the gold bands on Ahriman's tassels, and then let's put a happy little blue horror over here (OK, they're definitionally not happy at all) because this is our world and change for the change god, birds for the bird throne. This is probably the real reason GW can't let Thousand Sons stay powerful too long (even though it happened after I called it.)