Introducing Cerberus

I figured I might as well introduce myself, being the new guy to Fresh Coast 40K.  I've been a war gamer for over 20 years.  I started out with Battle Tech (still one of my favorites) and moved my way into Warhammer with Rogue Trader.  After a long break between 2nd and 5th editions, I find myself hooking up with the guys from Fresh Coast at our FLGS and diving head first back into the hobby.  I am the resident Eldar and Cygnar player in our group as well as an official Demo Team Agent for Catalyst Games Labs, the makers of Battle Tech (kind'a coming full circle there) and my personal favorite RPG, Shadowrun.

While I've always been an avid player, the painting aspect of the hobby has always eluded me.  I usually stopped at a simple base coat and a highlight or two.  However, once I inherited my brother's Eldar army and started to add to it, I decided to focus more on my painting skills than I had ever done before.  Thanks to the encouragement of Furious Phil from Ruinous Powers and Geneguard and his painting challenge at Gamers Sanctuary, my skills have improved tremendously over the last year.  I actually found myself the winner of he whole thing!  Of course, a lot of luck was involved as some of the other guys weren't able to earn some of the bonus points due to kinks in their schedule, but I ain't complainin'.  At Geneguard's request, here are the finished pics of the models I completed in the challenge.

My first entry; a unit of Pathfinders in "wonderful" Finecast.  I still hate the way these guys look, but this was the first attempt at developing my style.

My "masterpiece".  I won the HQ challenge by being ballsy and painting the entire Phoenix Court.  

The Shining Spears were my first attempt at painting white.  Washing the recesses of their armor was a first for me.

These Fire Dragons and their "whip" are the unit I am most proud of.  Two layers of washes with inks and some great contrasting colors make them look so sweet on the table.  The Wave Serpent inspired me to repaint all my vehicles and Guardian units in this "Iyanden" style.

This Fire Prism would have been my entry into the Heavy Support category.  It continues my Iyanden theme.  To get the red crystals I simply dipped the clear pieces in an old jar of GW red ink.  It dries clear, making the crystals really pop.  I get more comments about this piece than anything in my collection thanks to that little trick.

Stay tuned for more from me in the future.  I'll be talking more about my journey as a painter with my Great Marine Repaint scheduled for 2012.  I'll also dive into some tactics and thoughts on the Eldar, Space Marines, Cygnar and, occasionally, Battletech.  Of course, you can always check out my blog at droppodassault.blogspot.com.

Later