March to War 2019
Just like last year, this year, from the 1st of January to the 31st of March, Games Workshop Liverpool (okay, Warhammer Liverpool) are holding their annual March to War competition, where participants have to build 2019 points worth of miniatures, and paint 2019 points worth of miniatures. They can be from Warhammer 40,000 or Age of Sigmar, so there’s a good variety to choose from. There’s also the rule that allows models which are anything up to basecoated to be painted, which makes it quite useful to finish off things that you’ve started.
This year, with Dave busy studying and Adam making sensible purchases such as wardrobes, used for storing things other than boxes of miniatures – honestly, hobby is far more important than actual life – there’s only Mike and Rob taking part.
Mike
Last year I spectacularly failed to get anywhere near the target for March to War. It’s such a good idea as it encourages you to paint up a force of models and not get sucked into the abyss that is the winter months. The mistake I made, I’ve decided, is that I tried to paint a lot of infantry because I wanted to paint up the core of a couple of armies. Unfortunately, as nice as those models looked, they were quite low in points.
The previous year (2017), I painted up a good mixture of squads and vehicles which got my quite handsomely to 2017 points. The extra 2 points really shouldn’t make a difference this year as it’s the equivalent of half a power sword.
The usual recommendation is to get as much painting done as early as possible to meet the points requirement. Frantic assembling can always happen later in the challenge to get up to the points. To be honest, if I really wanted to, I could probably assemble 2019 points of models in one evening.
However, in flagrant disregard for my own advice I decided to start this year BIG. Go big or go home, right?
The Imperial Knight Valiant walks. It was a really nice kit to put together and I’m looking forward to painting it too. It comes in at 594 points, so if I manage to get it painted, that’s almost 30% of the total points in one model. I aim to do some more Knights, but I think I’ll tackle one at a time, so that it doesn’t become overwhelming.
Following on from the assembling theme, I decided that I wanted to put together some models that had been hanging around since they came out. Some evenings I don’t feel like painting so I put stuff together instead. For March to War I need to make sure that they help to bulk up the points. (This means the Nighthaunt are on the shelf for a few months). With that in mind, I put together these Allarus Custodes. I didn’t really appreciate how nice the models are until I assembled them. (I just need to add the hair to the top). That’s another 264 points. They should be fairly straight forward to paint as I’ve worked out the colour scheme already (step-by-step coming soon!)
I wanted to try and continue my Hobby Guilt work, which was mainly getting some patrol forces together. One of those was 1,000 points of Stormcast Eternals. All I managed to do was get them basecoated as you can see from the following pictures. I don’t get any building points from these, but as I said I can build the offset points later in the challenge.
Since that picture was taken I’ve done some more work on the white and highlighting. The Knight-Incantor is worth 140 points on her own, so that would add a decent amount to the total, and the three Liberators are worth 60 points in total, so not as handsome.
I also have these other basecoated Stormcast to work on. The Lord-Celestant on Dracoth is 220 points, and the Prosecutors are 100. If I could get everything to this point painted that would give me 1378 points painted, 68% of the total points.
These basecoated Custodes need finishing too, as they’ve been sat basecoated for probably somewhere around a year. So far they have just been sprayed with Citadel Retributor Gold.
Since that picture was taken a few days ago, I’ve shaded the models with a mixture of Citadel Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade and Gloss Medium. As you can see, it already makes a huge difference to the armour and provides depth. These would give me 138 points for the Shield Captain, 143 points for the Vexilus Praetor (Not a legal load out in 40k, but designed for 30k – I may look at 30k points to see if they’re worth more in that system, is that cheating?), and 189 points for the 3x Custodian Guard. (1848 points – 92%)
These 5x Sisters of Silence Witchseekers have also been sat around for ages, having only been basecoated in bronze. I think I painted them for when some friends and I visited Warhammer World in 2017 (wow!). Like the Custodes, they are mostly armour, so I may be able to paint them fairly quickly. We’ll see. 100 points for the 5. (1948 points – 96%)
There’s also these Necron Deathmarks and Immortals, assembled and basecoated respectively, that I put together for a Kill-Team. I have it in mind that Necrons are fairly easy to paint. We’ll see how that pans out… 95 points for the Deathmarks, 90 points for the immortals. (2133 points – 105% total)
Surprisingly that lot would cover the painting total of my March to War for 2019. I didn’t realise that when I set out to write this post, so that’s actually quite encouraging. Here’s hoping I can keep up with it.
That’s it from me for now. Check back soon to see how I get on.
Rob
This year March to War is a little different. Last year I set out on a new project and made a force of Fallen and Relictors, two suspicious groups of Astartes who compliment each other pretty well – and a few stands of Nurglings to make up the points.
This year I’m continuing where the hobby guilt finished on December 31st, and using my Orks to reach some of the bulding target, and pretty much all of the painting target.
‘But Orks are dirt cheap, pointswise!’ I hear you cry/mutter/shout*. Well, yes, they may be, but, I have a Stompa, warboss, nobz, bikers, a load of the new vehicles, and a load of bikes too, so I should be good. Failing that, any time in front of the TV is being used wisely, and my building points are growing there. Necrons are also helping with the build points, so with any luck, I should have at least that part nailed.
*delete as applicable
Built: 120 Painted: 0
I’m counting the shokkjump Dragsta as finished because it’s crew and part of the roll cage are all ready to glue on, but I wanted to paint the inside first. With the Rokkit Launcha providing an extra 12 points to the 108 for the motor itself, that’s 120 build points in the bag. The Snazzwagon is still half built, for the same reason…
Built: 200 Painted: 0
An easy 80 points from the fabulous Mekboy Workshop. I’ve wanted to build something for my Meks for years, but GW beat me to it. Well played!
Built: 350 Painted: 0
The Flash Gitz. What a great box with so many different options. I’m 50/50 looking forward to/not looking forward to painting them. They’ll look great when finished, but there’s some detail in there! Adding some heavy firepower to Waaagh Gazdakka, the Gitz have arrived with their own Transport, below.
Built: 538 Painted: 0
I picked up the Battlewagon (or Gunwagon, as it is) specifically for the Flash Gitz. The army has one for the Big Mek, forsaking weapons for work benches, and armour for ladders and a saw blade, it has another for the nobz, and now, it has one for the Flash Gitz. The kit from GW is completed, but I’m still working on the sail and rigging for it. For March to War though, it’s complete.
Built: 667 Painted: 0
With an almost complete Necron Force, I took the plunge and bought the Necron Dominion Spearhead, as I really wanted the Ghost Ark, and bought from a FLGS it only cost 49 quid more to get it than buying the Ghost Ark on it’s own from GW. These will hopefully be the bulk of my build points for this March to War, with the painting being almost entirely greenskins.
Built: 667 Painted: 0
I have started painting something for March to war, but as it stands, they’re still not done. Here’s the pictures of them anyway:
Well that’s all for this update, thanks for reading! If you have any thoughts about anything above, comments on painting, or are attempting something similar, please comment below, and please consider following us on the social media channels listed below:
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