Classes Begin - Sons of Sek Are Competing for Attention

School Pressure
School started on Monday, and that has changed everything! There's a saying in law school: First year, they scare you to death; second year, they work you to death; third year, they bore you to death. First year: check. Done and over with. This second year the work comes in the form of the substantial paper, that everyone has to write. For me this substantial paper is part of my membership on the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law. Being on journal also means that I have regular assignments of editing and copy work. I've already had some assignments due over the summer, this week and next. Don't these people know I have a 40k army to complete.

So needless to say my time has quickly evaporated. I don't have entire days to devote to building and painting, and the GT is quickly approaching. I have 45 models left to build and paint, and I'm feeling the strain. I have class everyday at 8am, and end around 10 or 12. Then I have reading for the next day and Journal work. By the time I get home, and make dinner, I don't really start working on the Sons of Sek until 7pm. I try to work until midnight or 1am. Ultimately I'm not getting much work done.

I figured out last night that it takes between 15-17 hours to finish 10 men (7 hours to build [yes, 7 hours!] and 8-10 hours to paint. That means I need to come up with 60-68 hours to finish the Sons and still try to build and paint a display board. This will be tight.

Today my entire afternoon and evening can be devoted to the Sons, and I'm planning on working hard through the entire three day weekend.


Practice Games
Last weekend, Anthony drove down from Phoenix and we played 6 games of 40k over a day and a half. We took turns playing our armies against Epidimius Cheese, all Nurgle CSM and Nidzilla. What we took away from the games is that 5th edition has definitely toned down drop guard. They're no longer nearly as powerful as they were in 4th. Which is good, they needed the nerf. It will definitely make games more challenging. This nerf comes from a combination of improved cover saves for everybody, ability for opponent to always keep things in reserve, and annhilation missions to name a few. No doubt 5th made some changes that benefited the drop guard, like not being able to consolidate into the enemy, always deep striking, etc.


Display Board
I had originally planned to have an entire week to work on the display board. Now it looks like I will have one day. In the past I have constructed a frame from light lumber and have covered the entire surface with the wallpaper I used on my bases. For issues of time, this won't work.

I think given my time, I'm going to look into building a board into a wooden poster frame. In addition I will not be using much of the wallpaper, since painting the red energy takes quite a bit of time (last GT I had an army of 8th graders paint the energy).

Here's what I'm thinking:

The gray sections will be pieces of foam core raised off the "lava" of the main board. They will be covered in sand painted gray like my bases. They will also have random pieces of the wallpaper mixed in with the sand. This will tie it to my army's bases, while keeping the work time down. Maybe it will give them impression that when the Sons make planetfall, warp energy starts to break through the surface and change the planet. Sure, why not? I also might add some kind of ruined building on the section reserved for the command squad. We'll see, time permitting.

The board will have some depth to it, it will tie into my army, and it will be relatively quick to do. Any ideas for what I should use to form the backing of the poster frame, that will essentially serve as the base for the whole board? Really the only metal in the army is the sentinels, so I think the army is still relatively light despite the fact that it's 169 models.


Transporting the Sons of Sek
I have the boys in a Sabol Army Transport. My plan is to take them with me as a carry-on item on the flight. Anyone had experience getting armies through TSA security? Anything I should be aware of. I've done a good job of protecting them in the army transport, but would really prefer not to check them.

Well, that's it for now. As soon as class is over today, I have about an hour's worth of work left on the last 5 models of 2nd Platoon, and then I will get a jump on 3rd platoon. Crunch time is here.