Simple update, nothing much.

As the title says, nothing much happened this week.

• My armies: Only managed to drill-and-pin my next Daemon Prince.
• Legio Hobby Night : Only helped Jeff a bit with puttying the FoW army bases for the Market Garden Project. Apparently the assembly team is rather depleted this week due to real life commitments.
  
• Blood Bowl @ Wolf's Game Shop: This was actually the highlight of my week. Got two very eventful games in, and recruited two new bloodbowlers to my team. See the tab below to view the Drakwald Vanguards' match history, or click here for more info of the current Blood Bowl league.
• Sunday: It's actually a very pleasant day to relax and do hobby, no work and no wedding to attend to. Despite of my WIP Kindred army, I decided to do some locum at a nearby clinic just because I felt like it. Later at night, attended Subhan's dinner at his house. His father wants to get to know the people he's been involved with, as he was worried that Subhan is returning home late every Friday night. Don't worry, I've lobbied Khairul to convince Jeff so that starting next week, Subhan will reach home from Legio by 10 pm. Hahaha :p

Okay, that's it for now. Boring, isn't it? Probably next week will be more or less the same, for I'm expecting a busy week ahead as it's my last week in my current posting. Then, it's a week off (Hurray!) and I'm planning to go on a short trip. Anyway, have you guys ever wonder why the blog updates in my Battle Brothers' blogs have been really slow lately. I think I know, all of you has the same resolution: a new army for 2010. But due to its secretive nature, all of you can't tell the whole world on what you guys are working on right now. Doesn't it pain you guys to keep those secrets? I can only laugh at it. Enjoy your secrets guys, while you still able to keep it a secret. Till next week, ciao.

First Hobby Post of 2010!

First of all, introducing the Drakwald Vanguards. So far, they only had one Blood Bowl game (winning it) but haven't had the chance to play another game due to their club owner's hectic working schedule :p

I've actually finished them around two weeks ago, but never had the chance to take a decent photograph. Total working hours: 10.5 hours. That almost 1 hour per model, not bad. But I still need to improve myself (and paint faster) as that 10.5 hours is not done in one continuous session. Legio's upcoming Iron Painter in February will be 12 hours straight, non-stop. Anyway, I'm rather happy with the final results (click on the pictures for a better view). Now I just need to play them more.

Some people may already know that I've been searching for an airbrush for quite some time now. I've probably spent most of my December browsing and surveying around the Klang Valley for more information regarding it. Lots of thanks to Khairul, Wolf, and Jit for the informations because now, I finally bought one for myself.

Yesterday morning I joined my fellow Legionnaires, Khairul and Alvin, to downtown KL surveying the hobby/art shops there. It definitely was a good outing as we all get what we were searching for. As for me, I bought an airbrush and compressor set, at a very reasonable price. My airbrush has a dual-feed mode with adjustable feed mount position; so you can still paint in any tilted position without worrying spilled paint from the feed, and the bottom feed mode allows you to continue painting without having to bother refilling the feed. Alvin got one too, and I can only imagine how Khairul, the Airbrush Sensei, is envious of this. Furthermore, my compressor has a pressure regulator, a feature that his compressor doesn't have. I'm very happy with this buy, hahaha.

 

 

After the short and fruitful outing, we parted happily to our own activities at around 1 pm. Alvin went to CM, Khairul went home, and I had to attend two weddings. I was really looking forward for a Blood Bowl game against Emil's Dwarves but then, social responsibility had to come first. I'm hoping that I'm free next Saturday. Anyway, since 7 pm up until the Chelsea game last night, I've been airbrushing all the way. Suffice to say, I am now ready for Legio's Iron Painter in February.

The same can't be said though for Kindred, as Faizal was assigned to Bangkok for two years starting 1st of March. So, I've decided to suspend any work on my Kindred army at the moment. I need to look for a partner first, before deciding on how the army composition going to be. I think it's safe to say now, the possibility of seeing either the CSM deluxe cheese list or the four CSM Daemon Princes from each of the four ruinous powers list during Kindred will not be a reality. Farewell bro, good luck, have a safe journey, and always apply safe method on those 'kaps', hahaha :p

During last Legio Hobby Night, we Legionnaires ran a production line of FoW miniatures for the Market Garden campaign in March. During my short break from assembling and painting, I took a short browse on Jeff's brand new Tyranid Codex. I can only say that the bugs are a big offensive threat, and I'm expecting to see this model a lot in the near future.

That's a Tervigon conversion I stumbled upon somewhere in the Web. The interesting part of this new Tyranid Codex is it opens up the possibilities of conversion, so no two Tervigon/Tyrannofex/Harpy will actually look the same. Despite it's menacing look and ability, I still took pride on fielding my own menace, Rath the Alpha Legion Nurgle Daemon Prince with Winds of Chaos. Come 'ere bugs!

On a side note, we have all come to an agreement that Legio's Birthday Celebration and the Golden Kris will be held on 26th of June 2010. I already have something in my mind for the Golden Kris's Large category entry, two ideas in fact. Just hoping that the other guys agree for a fourth category: Titan and Superheavy, so I don't have to choose one over the other. Hahaha :p

I'd like to end this post with a common Asrai teaching, my grand project for 2010:

Orcs and their Goblin kin are our enemies, for they are the defilers of glades and murderers of our folk.

Beastmen, the children of Chaos and Long Night are our enemies. They fight us for our right to exist in the woodlands and forests.

Skaven of the Underworld are our enemies, for they gnaw the roots or our world and bring pestilence and death to our forests.

Dwarfs are our enemies, for they cut down trees to fill their furnaces and to power their infernal machines, and many times they have waged war against us.

Kegh-Mon, the hairy Humans are our enemies, for they are war-like and greedy, and would drive us from our homes if they cold. Many, many of them have turned to worship of the Dark Powers.

Halflings are our enemies, for they clear trees away for their fields to grow crops which they then comsume with unsatisfiable hunger. They would eat the whole world if they could.

Elves of Naggaroth and far-off Ulthuan are our enemies, for they have turned their backs on Isha and Kurnous, and betrayed their Elf heritage.

These are your enemies, child. Know them well and keep your bow and arrow ready.

2009: Year in Review

18th of January 2009 marks the beginning of Stealthy Blades. It may not be much of a blog, but to me it signifies my intent and seriousness of my hobby. Although initially intended as a gallery for my Raven Guard army, it soon evolved as my own personal hobby blog as the word 'Stealth' can be applied to all three armies I own at the moment; Raven Guard, Alpha Legion, and Wood Elves.

Somewhere around March or April, I joined a fantastic hobby club called Legio Malaysia. Damn, it was one hell of wacky & fun people to be with. In this club too, I get to be reacquainted with some familiar faces of the past (Faizal, Arzmi, Jit/Rizal and 'small' Shazli to be exact). We spent almost every Friday nights together, talking and doing hobby, rolling dices, painting stuffs, making tables, and organizing events to make the Malaysian gaming community better. We even went to Singapore together, just to play some more games. I am so happy that I found a place that I felt at home with, thanks guys!

Come July, I was already halfway through my second 40K army: the Alpha Legion. Up to this moment, that army is still in the 'Painting in Progress' mode, but trust me when I say it already wrecked havoc in my gaming club. Especially during the great Arenxis Minoris campaign that was organized by Azlan. I also noticed something while working on this Chaos army; other than the freedom of conversion that it provided, my painting skills actually improved. This realization came to me when I decided to play a game with my Raven Guard again. I definitely have to thank Jeff and Khairul for this, because now I feel more confident to actually finish painting my abandoned Wood Elves.

And now, I'm already looking and searching for my own airbrush set. Being in a proper hobby club really encouraged me to be better. I'm really confident that my conversion skill has gone way beyond my own expectations, just need to brush up on the painting skills. The best part is, I'm doing it by my own free will because I want to be just as good as the other hobbyists around me. Some fellow hobbyist even went a bit extreme by developing their own secret army projects, hahaha. I'm foreseeing that 2010 will be the year of secrets unveiling. I wish I was this eager with other aspects of my life.

My real life, almost all aspects of it, can be summed up in one word: Sucks! Hoping it would turned for the best by next year though.
And some may notice that I don't drive, at all. One small reason was because my license has expired way back during my studying period overseas, while another big reason was...hmm, don't really wanna talk about this much. Let's just say even when you're working in the health-care field, actually being diagnosed of something doesn't really sound nice to your ears. I'm thinking of going against the doctor's orders in 2010; can't just rely on others' kindness, sometimes we just have to take the risk.

I am very tempted to start a new army in 2010. BUT, I'm not going to buy anything until I completed painting all the models that I'm going to frequently use in my current armies. This applies to all my Dryads, Glade Guards, Treemen, Wardancers, Alter Kindreds, Raven Guard & Alpha Legion Tanks & Walkers, Daemon Princes, Obliterators, Raven Guard marines & scouts, and Alpha Legionnaires. Looking at all those stuff, maybe I won't be able to start a new army at all but who knows? It's a son of Corax, an Alpha Legionnaire, and an Asrai who's doing the talking here; nothing is what it may seemed to be ;)

Fare thee well 2009. Welcome 2010.

Fastball Special

In the last few days, the boredom of painting only either black, blue, or green finally got to me. But all that changed yesterday. Guess what arrived in my mailbox (courtesy of Wolf's Game Shop):

Yup, the Wood Elves Blood Bowl team. I even played it straight out of the box and won my first match against Shaz's Human team. My experience playing with multiple Alter Kindred heroes really helped, as playing the Catchers and the Wardancers in this team were just like playing with the former (freakin' speed demons but still, not as fast as the Lizardmen's JTLoD: Jaguar Turbo Lizard of Doom). I chose to name them the Darkwald Vanguards, after the Darkwald Forest somewhere within the Empire region. Initially planned to name them 'Sentinels', because the Asrai are guardians of the Forest, but when I mentioned that word, the first thing that came to everybody's minds that were there yesterday was the giant purple-maroon mutant-hunting robots. 'Defenders' and 'Watchers' were too cliche, so 'Vanguard' it is then.

And here it was today, in their white primer condition. 2.5 hours later, all of them are already based coloured, but the camera I have right now doesn't do me justice. The main colour would be bright red, since I wanted something away from the blue or green hues. Yellow did came into consideration, but since I'm going to paint them blonde, painting them yellow would then be very boring to look at. Once I get a better camera, I'll post a better picture.

Hmm..I may need at least 1 more Catcher in this team.

p/s: The pictures are taken with my phone's 2 megapixel camera. Sorry for the low quality.