Monthly Vox: 4 (August, 2021)

 Howdy! I hope you're reading this in August, or else I've been a bit tardy. This month has been an interesting one. I expressed my excitement a month ago for the new Black Templars supplement and we've seen even more news since that I've been covering on the blog extensively. 

This month has been a growth period for the blog. I've tried writing about new topics, utilising varying formats and lengths to see what feels and reads well. Hell, I even wrote an environmentalism piece about Games Workshop which actually received great feedback from people I've spoken to about it. 

Earlier in the month, I wrote a long piece about Warhammer 40K's Crusade Ruleset which definitely didn't get much traction. It definitely seems as though 'short and sweet' is the way to go for this blog. Quick 2-minute reads for people on the crapper or their lunch-break. I'm all for it!

But alas, you've eaten your veggies, onto the meat!

Modelling and Painting

Last month, I have a general inventory of my pile o' shame. I can safely say that I have made a decent dent, either by kit-bashing more characters out of existing troops, or by actually painting things. Huzzah!

Again, not counting heads, transfers, or bases, the list currently consists of:

• 3x Infiltrator 
• 1x Infiltrator Sergeant 
• 2x Eliminator 
• 1x Eliminator Sergeant 
• 1x Kit-bashed Captain in Terminator Armour 
• 1x Kit-bashed Primaris Captain w/ Plasma Pistol + Power Fist 
• 1x Kit-bashed Primaris Techmarine 
• 1x Bladeguard Veteran 
• 1x Kit-bashed Primaris Captain w/ Master-crafted Auto Bolt Rifle + Master-crafted Power Sword 
• 1x Kit-bashed Primaris Lieutenant w/ Bolt Pistol + Master-crafted Power Sword 
• 1x Magnetized Invictor Tactical Warsuit 
• 1x Magnetized Impulsor (Half-Painted)
• 1x Magnetized Venerable Dreadnought (Half-painted) 
• 1x Primaris Chaplain on Bike (Half-painted) 
• 1x Kit-bashed Primaris Lieutenant w/ Bolt Pistol + Master-crafted Stalker Bolt Rifle
• 1x Kit-bashed Primaris Lieutenant in Reiver Armour

As I said last month, I've been trying not to buy any more kits (with the exception of templar-dedicated releases) until this pile gets way smaller and honestly it's going well. Any units that have appeared on this list, such as the Primaris Lieutenant in Reiver Armour were kitbashed from models and bits I already owned. 

Primaris Captain in Gravis Armour (Painting)

This month saw the painting of one of my favourite HQ units. I created Marshal Reinhardt some more heavy-duty armour for crushing heretics. I even chose to include a helmet/head belonging to one of the Emperor's Children since I'm considering picking up some heretics when the CSM codex drops! (Possible hint at a future conquest? 👀)

In my typical dumbass fashion, I sprayed a bit too much matte varnish on the model, muting the colours considerably and adding a slightly chalky appearance. Currently looking into getting that fixed up. Also his base still needs "crustifying"...

Primaris Lieutenant in Reiver Armour (Modelling)

Cannibalising one of my Infiltrators, I was able to put some bits together to create a true angel of death. This Reiver Lieutenant needs a bit of paint and then he'll be ready to drop in on some heretics and scare the Emperor into them. I utilised some spare infiltrator bits, along with a left-over pistol from my Vanguard Veterans, as well as a head I found in a bits bundle on eBay.

Primaris Lieutenant in Phobos Armour (Painting)

This guy was a delight to paint. He features, quite-possibly, my cleanest highlights to-date. This model still needs proper basing (notice a theme?)

Closing Statement

This month has been Fistful of Beans' busiest so far! I've been making plans to purchase a domain name and also make small investments into advertising since the bulk of my exposure is self-promotion in discord/instagram. I've also been considering establishing a YouTube channel but with the university term closing in, I'm not sure I could reliably and consistently upload so will probably put that off for a while.

In terms of content, I have a few ideas in the pipeline including a segment in which I look at custom forces/chapters designed by the wonderful hobby community. I'll also be pivoting the blog towards regular bi-weekly posts with smaller pieces in-between, just to get a bit of consistency. Though I am not a motivated person and this will probably fall flat in the first week if I get lazy or struggle with ideas.

Thanks for another awesome month. Hope you've all had a good summer holiday. Let's get back to work so we can pay off scalpers in November when the Templars box drops.

Cheers,
Ryan