I actually managed to grab a week of vacation time over the Thanksgiving holiday, and miraculously we had 60+ degree weather for most of it. Given that it's not going to be long before we're deep in winter, I figured that it's time to get priming while the weather's agreeable for it. First on the block was my Realm of Battle board. My wife got a new bike that same week, so fortunately we had a big empty cardboard box that made the perfect priming setup for large flat pieces of plastic.
Besides the board, I also had the additions to my Chaos Marine army: the Bike Lord, the Chaos Bikers, the Autocannon Havocs, and some more Noise Marines. By the way, these Noise Marines were made with the new Finecast bits, and I can't begin to describe how much easier these were to work with than the old metal bits. I had a love/hate relationship with the metal Noise Marine kits, but these were all love. My only minor complaint is trying to get the arms lined up with each other and the body, but that's a fault with the design, not the material. If I ever needed to expand my Noise Marines further, I would buy another set of these bits in a heartbeat.
I also primed my Cultists to get them ready. I did hit a point of frustration here, though, and it's with how Dark Vengeance is packaged. Each squad is 1 Champ, 8 Cultists (either CCW/Autopistol or Autogun), and one special weapon Cultist. However, combine two of those, and you don't have a legal squad of 20 unless you count Champ #2 as another CCW/Autopistol Cultist... and one of the champs doesn't even have an Autopistol. I've got a tournament coming up this weekend where I'm using the Cultists (if I play; I'm the ringer to pad out even numbers), and I needed a legal unit of 20, so I ended up picking up one of the GW Cultist boxes after I'd done my priming... so I'll have one bare plastic Cultist (the shame; the shame!). Also, the Shotgun is crap, so I did an arm swap between the Champ and one of the close-combat Cultists.
And to wrap up all the 40K-ness, I also assembled and primed my Aegis Defense Line. A friend is lending me her Dremel, and I used it to deface the Aquilas off of the various barrier bits and the Quad Gun base. On the quad gun, I smoothed it down nicely to put a new Chaos marking on it, but on the ADL bits I just left the Aquila spot looking distressed and defaced to give it that "hastily defiled" look. Oh, and spikes were added, because it's Chaos. Can't have Chaos without spiky bits, right?
But that's not all, folks! I've also been branching out, and recently picked up the Viktorias for Malifaux. I'm still waiting on some Ronin and a Convict Gunslinger, but I got the twins and Taelor primed. I want somewhat more vibrant colors, so I went with a gray primer instead.
And finally, some models I'm just doing for an eventual display piece: 4 Darklands/Bane Legions Melusines, ordered from Maelstrom Games before that vendor imploded under the weight of their own debt. The manufacturer's sending me the fifth to make up for the one I never received. I have some special basing materials set aside for their display board, which will start out as a sheet of cork glued on a plinth, with square holes cut out for their bases. I'm wary of that totem staff, though; it's resin and very wobbly and fragile.
Between all this and my Black Templars, I'll have plenty of models to work on over the next few months!