I've started working on my Dwarf army a little bit. It looks like I've got about 2000 points to paint, which is somewhere around 110 figures. I did have to build the characters up a bit to stretch the list out to 2000 points. In an ideal world I would probably take some points away from characters and add in another artillery piece. I won't be gaming with them any time soon, so I can get that all sorted out when I'm home. The paint scheme is nothing spectacular or unique. I am just going from the How to Paint Dwarf Warriors article on the Games Workshop website. So far I've just got some of the metal and clothing started. I am a painfully slow painter, even when I'm trying to speed-paint. Another dilemma I have is figuring out how to get them home without destroying the paint job. I don't want to be too much of a whiner, but many of the packages I receive here look like they've been through a mail shredder. Just about every box is crushed, and it's not uncommon for flaps and strips of cardboard to be torn off the boxes. I imagine that boxes moving the other direction suffer a similar fate. I'll probably have to order a couple of foam infantry trays or some kind of army case for them.

I've also had a look through last month's White Dwarf. The magazine featured an article on different terrain boards that one of the staff had made up, of course using different GW scenery kits. For the 40k board he built and painted a Mars-type red planet board that I thought looked pretty good. I'd already been planning to use a red and gray color scheme for my Imperial Guard, and this terrain board looks like a good starting point for me when I get around to building some scenery for them. I think I may build all of my 40k figures to fight on a red planet, so the basing and painting and terrain will all match. I'm not sure how that will affect my Orks, but I've got a little while before I have to worry about that. There are still a few model kits I'd like to have as far as gaming pieces for my armies, but I'd really like to bulk up on my scenery collection, which at the moment consists of an unbuilt Watchtower kit, a grass mat, and a space mat. Games Workshop has released a few nice kits recently, and I could stand to scratchbuild some things, too. Eventually some of my armies are going to be painted and I may want to play with them or set them up on a table and make battle sounds while marching them around.

I've also been thinking a little about my planned Space Marine Chapter and how it will be put together. I doubt I will ever paint 1000 Space Marines, plus HQ, vehicles, and staff, so I will probably try to paint a Battle Company (3rd Company), selected HQ (Chapter Masters, Librarians), vehicles (a little of everything), and elements from the 1st Company (Veterans and Terminators) and the Scouts. I saw this blog post from GWpertinent showing magnetized arms for every Terminator weapon option today. It seems like a good idea, and I can see the benefits, especially when you are just trying to fill out a unit for a game. You see a lot of vehicles and larger kits magnetized, but it's more rare to see it in basic troops. I will probably still build my models the old-fashioned way without magnets or interchangeability, but it's an interesting idea.

It doesn't look like I will be taking any classes this semester. I can't count on being in the same situation all the way through May, and I can't risk failing any more classes. It stinks not to be making progress in school, but right now I just don't think I can do it. My wife says that at least I will have a chance to work on my Dwarves. She's a good woman. I'm glad she bonked me over the head and made me marry her.