As I know I've mentioned before in several of my posts, I'm in the Army. Unfortunately, being in the Army comes at the cost of deploying for a length of time. For me, deployment is right around the corner. I'm not allowed to say specifically when I'll be leaving, but suffice to say that this will probably be my last blog post for a while. At the very least, I'll be gone less than a year and I'm planning on getting out of the Army after this deployment and getting a job that will allow me to devote more time into the hobby (and the blog). I'll talk about that more as it happens.

As for right now, I'm working quite hard trying to get my current project finished. I most recent Ultramarines project got my army up to 1,000 points. Now I'm working on doing the same for the Eldar. I'm currently working on my second squad of Dire Avengers. They're going to be exactly the same as my other squad of Dire Avengers with only two exceptions. First, the Exarch will have different wargear. As per my army list, I'm going to be taking a pistol and a power sword in this one, as well as the Defend power. Also, and more importantly, I'm going to paint them exactly the same as the last squad, but change the colors in their helmet plumes. This will help them stand out on the battlefield, especially when I get them into close combat. Instead of doing yellow and black like the last squad, the helmet plumes of this squad will be green and black. Not only will this help them stand out from the other unit, it'll also help them link back to the rest of the army. I try to do little things like that as much as I can since their armor is a different color from the rest of the army.

I'm about halfway done with them right now. So far, this is how they look:

Their waist and everything below it (except for the base) is completely done. I'll be cleaning up the torso next and finishing that completely. After that, its just the arms, heads, and bases and then I'm done. I really hope I can get this squad finished before I deploy. If I can, I'll be posting it here. If not, you'll see 'em after deployment, I guess.

Lastly, I'm still taking pictures and working on the Dire Avengers tutorial. Even if I don't get this project finished before I go, I'm still going to try and post something in the How To section. Until then, have fun painting! I'll try and post again soon!