Sunday, April 10, 2011

Valhallan Infantry: "D" Squad

I'm really looking forward to fielding this army, but I have to be honest: I've reached my saturation point with Valhallan troopers.  Halfway through this lot, which will bring me to a little over 50 ersatz-Russian squaddies, I became acutely aware of my desire to be done with white greatcoats and brown blanket rolls.  Every model in this squad is something I have painted previously, and as I trudged on, the hobby dial swung a couple of millipoints from "Play" to "Work", which is never a good sign.



It's hardly a surprise; this is the price I pay for having done all my tracks at the onset of the army.  Mind you, that was nine months ago, and I have only 16 infantry left to do, and 4 other models I can work on between to cleanse my palette, so to speak.

One bit of detail I really enjoyed painting up, strangely enough, was the bit of sculpted resin rubble I affixed to the base of the missile launcher team.  I've had an assortment of basing material like this for ages now, and this Valhallan project seemed a likely place to start using some of it up.  (Like hobbyists in general and wargamers in specific, my tendency to hang on to things because they might be useful 'some day', or to save things I can use right this instant for a bigger or grander project in the future, means that I run a much greater than average chance of being profiled on that "Hoarders" show.  As a result, I have tried to be more discriminating when the temptation to save something for later that I can use right at that moment, usually following the realization that I have a finite and steadily decreasing amount of time just to finish the considerable amount of projects I already have at hand right here in my basement.)



There's not a lot to it; a bit of girder and wire, a bit of ventilated pipe, and a chunk of ruined masonry with the inevitable Imperium themes of wings and skulls carved into it, but it adds a bit of detail, flavour and dimension to the base, and gives me a couple of different places to pile up fake snow to boot.

Despite the toll it has taken on my gumption, I still think my 'All armour first/ all infantry second' approach was a good choice.  A month from tomorrow I will be hauling a brand new army over to Belongamick for G&G VI's 40K Apocalypse game.  Sure, the fact that I will probably have never played a game with it means I stand a really good chance of getting my ass kicked six ways from Sunday in that first outing, but so long as the paint is dry when the Valhallan XXII hit the table, I'll still be happy.

2 comments:

  1. I know this project was some years ago but it’s still very Inspiring! In fact, you have me now looking for figures to build a Valhallan Kill Team! No doubt a kidney will need to be traded to pay for them, but if they come out as nicely as yours I will be happy - great stuff Stephen!

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