Ultramarines : My Poor, Broken Heart

EDIT : After watching the film again while I wasn't drunk, I've reconstructed my review. I felt much less critical viewing it while sober, and had a better opinion of the film overall.

I arrived back from D.C and there before me was the object of my desire : my copy of Ultramarines, resplendent in It's metal casing. My lady friend and one of my roommates sat down to join me, and I relished the opportunity to share with them the 40k universe which I had come to love.

The movie does a good job of making the 40k universe appear to be a pretty goofy place. It did a poor job of presenting this universe as the grim, foreboding place that it is.

Before I start tearing this film apart I'd like to state that I am fully aware of the limitations due to budget (roughly 15 million USD), and that's why I came into the experience EXPECTING a strong plot, strong dialogue, and strong exposition to keep the film enjoyable. I had no hopes for the animation or the action, knowing (hoping) that Dan Abnett's literary skill could make up for it. My hopes were, for the most part, misplaced.

The lore seemed to have been very loosely followed. There were many moments in the film that had me baffled. Why is this chaplains' crozius arcanum shooting pew pew bolts? Why does this astartes battlebarge have a total of 12 marines on it, ten of whom are novices? Why are these bolters dispensing shells? Why aren't these bolter rounds exploding? For a film that was expressly created for the 40k fan base there are a large number of minor details such as these that were overlooked.

 The plot, the storytelling, and the character development all lacked in my opinion. I assume that this is a result of the budget ; forcing Abnett to slam in a film's story into a 75~ minute time frame. Despite the amount of time Abnett had to work with, I was still disappointed in the dialogue which came off as goofy in many cases.

The marines act and move like toy soldiers. There is no air of these characters being the most deadly, efficient warriors in the galaxy. They move clumsily, they joke and scoff at their superior's words. The way they work as a squad reminds me of children playing army with toy weapons, moving in mock formations. The film just makes space marines look like giant, superhuman mongoloids.

The animation, as everyone should know by now, is pretty abysmal. I won't rail on It to any great extent because It would be beating a dead horse at this point. Needless to say, the action scenes suffered pretty substantially as a result of the animation quality. It was difficult to take the film seriously as a result.

The one positive aspect of the film would definitely have to be the voice actors. They took the roles and ran with them. Considering the bland character development and the sometimes silly dialogue, these actors deserve some applause for breathing some character into these otherwise waxen-faced cardboard cutouts.

If you aren't into 40k, I'd consider this film a 2/10.

As a 40k fan myself, I've fit this film with a 5/10. I sat through it, I was engaged, and despite all of it's glaring flaws I still found it moderately enjoyable. To be fair, though, I think the majority of this enjoyment was found by pointing out and nitpicking mistakes and details with fellow 40k players while watching. If you're going to watch it I would recommend doing it with a friend who's into 40k as well. That way you have someone to turn to with a bewildered look on your face every time something ridiculous happens. It certainly improves the experience, as sad as that is.

Here's hoping for better in the future..

I RETURN!

I'm back in Gulf Breeze after about a week up in Washington D.C to visit my Dad and tour my lady friend around the city, she'd never been before. After many miles walked, many attractions seen, and a lot of pain in my feet I return home to pick up where I left off.

After about 2 years my vile, terrible friends have lured me back into playing WoW (Srsly. I had no say in the matter. Don't judge me). I'm not naive enough to say that this won't hinder the speed of my painting, because It will, but I'll certainly continue onwards at a decent pace. Before I had left I was working on my other brood of 3 hive guard. I have them almost complete, they just need some touch ups followed by highlights. I'll have pics up soon enough

A Week's Progress -- A Year's Work

My arduous road towards Coastal Assault in late January of 2011 continues. I have dim aspirations of actually having my whole army painted for it. I ground out 12 Gaunts over the last week which at my own rate of painting is a feat. Changed up my color scheme a bit and improved upon the highlights on my gaunts by leaps and bounds (Used to just use white for the highlight).

I got together all of my models that are currently painted. Looking at all the Nids I've painted over roughly the last year is pretty underwhelming when you have it all together at one time. I had plenty of time in which I lost interest in painting for weeks at a time, so I guess it's to be expected.

Here's my Hive Fleet Orochi in all of it's sort-of glory. I still have a good 100+ models unpainted. -_-

Back to painting...

Oh, and I saw this on 4Chan's /tg/ board. 

I thought it was too batshit insane to pass up.

Trygon!

I think i'm just about done with my Trygon. I applied the stain last night, which didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped. Brushing on the stain evenly on such a large model definitely takes a bit more finesse than the smaller ones I've done thus far. The stain on the chest looks blotchy and more heavy than I wanted. No amount of brushing and attempting to soak up the stain did my much good. It's my only gripe with the model.

It's turned out good, at any rate. I'm happy with it. I'll probably do some highlights on the scything talons once I figure out an effective way to do so. I'll be perusing Coolminiornot for some ideas I guess. I plan to make his base pretty ornate. A disemboweled Blood Angel will be featured on it. (/Wink at Ryan)

Think i'll just work on some Gaunts next. Back to basics. Mmmm :D

Pinning. Basing. Progress.

My procrastination finally came to an end on the Trygon's tail. It needed to be pinned in order to interchange the ends of the tails, and I finally did it. It was my first pinning and I entirely expected to ruin it in some way or another.

Turned out perfectly, actually. It makes a nice, snug fit and took a few minutes to do. Joy!

After a lot of failed experimentation I think I've reached what  will be my basing standard for the rest of the army. I see it fitting for the ground on which the great devourer treads to be flourishing, full of life. The Tyranids scour the face of planets, destroying any living inhabitants, ensuring that their massive hive ships are able to attach themselves to the surface. Free to suck every speck of bio-matter from it's prey-world without any danger. So i've gone with a pretty lively base. Full of grass, dirt, rocks. A fresh, succulent planet from which the hive fleet can fuel it's quest to sate the unending hunger of the great devourer.

Enough with the fluffiness. A layer of sand. A layer of small pebbles and rock. Saturate it in a dark brown ink (bestial brown). Once dried, I drybrush a layer of snakebite leather, followed by a layer of graveyard earth.
Then a few layers of static grass to give it some depth. I think it looks pretty good! A massive improvement over my previous attempts.

I also finished my second Zoey. So I have a pretty pair.

Warhammer all freaking day

I woke up Friday, had some lunch with Ryan. Played a few 1850 point games against Ryan.
Had dinner. Played another game against Mike Miller's orks. Watched Ryan finish up a game against Carter's Space Wolves and finally drove back home.

Left the house at about 10AM. Got back home at about 1:30AM. Long ass day of warhammer.
Had a lot of fun. My coastal assault list continues to plow through the lists I've put it up against thus far, and i'm continuing to refine my tactics with the list. Good times.

I went 3/0 for the day, if you were wondering. I had Ryan doubting his list until he pooped on Carter's space wolves with it. (I'm just that good)

Game 1 Deployment

Subsequent turns in game 1. Annihilation. Ryan's squishy tanks were his undoing.

Turn 1 of game two. 5 Objectives

Game 3 at Carter's house against the green tide. I enjoyed seeing the other player die in droves due to forced fearless armor saves. Gleeee~

Mike and his orks conceded at the top of the fourth turn.

Just snapped one pic in Ryan vs. Carters late game. It was a drop pod/vehicle clusterfuck.

The Tervigon Grows

The last set of big ol' scything talons that i've needed finally came in, so the Tervigon can finally start coming together.

He's still looking pretty rough. There's a lot of shaving and sanding to be done, as well as a good amount of epoxy and green stuff applications that are still needed, but I like how it's shaping up.

Also, my dice arrived. I'll get to give them a few rolls on the table tomorrow vs. Ryan's Blood Angels and Carter's Space Wolves. May run a batrep on one of them.

 ^^^^^^^^

                    I'm trying to make the conversion look like the codex artwork. 

I've reworked the two shades of lighter purple i'll be using for the highlights from now on. I've created two fairly large pots of them to continue to use. The highlights on the Trygon are ongoing.

The Dice Cometh

30. Of. These.

Incoming.

They will be rubbed against my nipples.

Hot sexy Trygon eyeballs.

Experimented with a few different methods of doing the eyes on the Trygons.
This one gives me a chub, think I found a winner.

A Friday evening game

I had another opportunity to test out my 1850 Coastal Assault list this Friday. A few tweaks have been made.

Here we see our dashing opponent : Gabe (Torpedo Vegas, Visit his amazing blog at www.irollboxcars.blogspot.com !)

The list continues to prove itself to be very effective. High toughness, a lot of anti-tank, swarms of Gaunts.

A fun game was played. Gabe decided to concede in the bottom of the fourth turn. The final tally resting at 1 objective controlled, 1 contested on the Nid side in a capture and control game.

I recomment moar tanks. Always moar tanks.