State of the Warp Address
Hello, faithful readers. I've tried to make my state of the Warp address something of a tradition. A few years ago I forgot to do it and I ended up skipping from one project to the next with no real planning or completion for most of them. Think of this as a chance for you to see what I've got planned for the next year, and a chance for me to make those plans and hold myself (somewhat) accountable. I had a number of plans last year, some of which worked well and others that didn't quite make it. I'd like to mention those a bit, so you can see what I accomplished and what I didn't, then I'll go over what I'd like to achieve this year.

Here are the plans I made...
Let's all jump in the Wayback Machine and see what I said last year.

Deathwing
What am I actually going to _do_? Revamp my DeathWing army. In addition to completely changing my tactics (previously they've been a fire army completely mounted in LandRaiders and looking for an early charge or an Earth army, with lots of footslogging Terminators and long-range missiles) to those of a Water army, I have other plans as well. I need to reassemble quite a bit of the army, and I plan to repaint it a lot as well. My Deathwing army was the second of my armies where I really concentrated on painting, and it was a big step up. My painting has improved quite a lot since then, and I think it's time for another leap. I'm planning on really working more on the individual models this time through. I'm also planning on stretching some of my skills, so you'll probably be seeing some NMM on them, and maybe, just maybe, some source lighting. Not sure about that, yet. With only 17 models, it should be easier for me to concentrate on painting these to a higher standard. My plan is to focus on this one army for the bulk of this year, so I should have time to really do it right.

The Girls of Warpstorm!
I had planned on updating and upgrading my picture gallery, given that I have definitely improved my painting (and I've gotten way better about documenting that with pictures.) Unfortunately, that plan, like some of them, got forgotten over the past year. I will definitely be updating and improving the picture gallery this year. I plan to break it down by army and I'll have a terrain section as well.

Next, the projects to improve my skills

Tactically
Tau have really helped me understand a lot of tactical thinking better, and have somewhat rounded out my general knowledge. I expect that I'll be learning even more this year as I try to come to grips with playing a Water Army. I'll also put together some tactical treatises from different points of view and I may revive some of my tacticas on how to play or how to play against different armies. I'm not committing to anything definite yet, but tactics were the backbone of my reason to launch my own website, so I can guarantee that articles will keep on coming on this subject.

Aesthetically
I have made some huge strides as a painter, though I am usually hobbled a bit by my impatience to actually play the game. I had planned a series of projects to help me improve my skills, with an eye toward a Golden Daemon entry. Those projects have also languished as I built and played my Tau army. While I may eventually come back to these projects, I think that I will leave them up in the air for the moment. I do have a plan to use some of them in my upcoming army, though, so I may not need the individual projects after all. For completeness, the projects are listed below.

The first project in this series was A Study In Black. I've wanted to do this for quite some time, but I haven't quite gotten around to it. The concept is to take some character model and paint it all in black. Just painting it black isn't enough, however. I plan to use Gloss Black and Flat Black and Cockpit Black and other shades of black that I can get my hands on. I want to take a Black model and paint it black. I'll do tone-on-tone designs and even highlight it (with graphite, most likely) Basically, I'd like to have a model that from 3+ feet away looks like it has been primed. Then as you get closer, you notice some highlights. When you pick it up, you realize it's got designs painted on it. Partially this is to satisfy my twisted desires, and partially this is to make me work on fine designs.

The next step in the process is Non-Metal Metallics. For those of you that aren't familiar with it, that's the process of painting something so it looks like metal, but without using a metallic paint. You see this in posters all the time. Next time you see a print ad that has a chrome look to it but isn't just a picture, notice the painted-on lights and shadows and reflections. That's what I want to do. Eventually, I want to do a Tin-boy. I'm planning on taking a plastic character model and painting it so that it looks like it is made of metal. From 3+ feet, I'd like it to look like unpainted pewter. Once you realize that's not a pewter model, you'll be able to see the painted on reflections and things. This will be much more difficult to carry off, but I think it's a worthwhile goal.

I don't have projects planned for the last two yet, but I'd like to work on my blending technique and I'd like to work on Source Lighting, which is where you paint a model so that it looks like there is light coming from it, such as a Blue Powersword casting shadows and blue tints onto the rest of the model. I still haven't made any plans here, but I've seen the source lighting effect used in a number of models, and I've got a better idea about how to pull it off when I do get to it.

...And here is the progress that I made and what I plan for this year

I know I said final, but I do have a final scheme now,
and this is not it! (Tune in next week)

Deathwing
Okay, so that's what I wanted to achieve. Even with lowered plans, I definitely did not get there. I did get started on the DeathWing, but then I got sidetracked by reaching too far on the paint scheme. I've finally compromised on a paint scheme that will look good and that I can actually paint! (More about that next week.) This year I'm actually getting my Deathwing off the ground and playing them. That will be my focus for the year. Playing more often. I actually plan on playing them for the first time 2 weeks from now. (That should help me get off my duff, only 1 Terminator is actually painted. In that time, I plan on painting the rest of both squads and a character model to use as Belial. The LandRaiders are currently painted, so I'll use them as-is for the moment.

The Girls of Warpstorm!
I succeeded at the Gallery improvements. Unlike my army plans, I actually hit every target on this one. I will be adding more to the Deathwing part of the gallery this year, and I'm going to make an effort to find more variety of pictures of models. (That way if I need a picture about Space Marines, it's not necessarily going to be one of the 3 or so that I currently use.)

Self-Improvement: Tactics
Well, I did improve, but not as much as I wanted to. I did manage to write up a number of tactical articles, and you can expect to see more this year as I get more into following the way of the Water Warrior. I may also restart my tactica series about how to play, or play against, different kinds of army.

Self-Improvement: Aesthetics
As I said, my reach exceeded my grasp on the NMM effects. I got some success, but not enough to please me. I will still be attempting these, but not as a primary part of the Deathwing army. (I might try them on a character model or something.) Source lighting and blending will also have to wait for later. My first priority is getting paint on the models so that I can play. I might try some fancy stuff later, but for now I'll concentrate on painting effectively and being as precise as possible.

What about the new Tyranid Codex?
I expect I will also be distracted by the release of the new Tyranid codex, but I'm not going to sweat it. My goal is to get the Deathwing up and running. I'll be playing games with my Deathwing army while I take a look at the new Tyranid codex. While I'll definitely have to try out some new Tyranid ideas and configurations, Deathwing will be my priority for a while at least.

What about Kabal Rillishelwe Mor?
Sadly, this again relegates the Dark Eldar to obscurity. I do eventually plan on getting them running again, but I am placing those plans out beyond the range of scheduling for now. It's possible that I will get through the Deathwing and the Tyranids more quickly than I am expecting, but I will certainly not count on that.

If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know

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