Blog Addiction and Finished Space Marines

I definitely went from reading blogs sporadically and jumping from user to user with no real pattern to now having 62 feeds that I keep track of daily.  Why you ask?  My fiancé introduced me to Google Reader.  Beyond being addicting, it's extremely handy to keep up on all sorts of Black Library stuff that I love as well as general hobby goodness.  I try to make notes on posts that I find educational in some manner, either teaching me a new painting or assembling technique, or even tactics.  That goes for beyond even what I plan to play with (orks), as if you want to counter something, you better know how your opponent is most likely to field it.  My most recent blog addition would be Secret Weapon Miniatures, which I discovered on another blogger's site.  Great inspiration for bases, or even to purchase if you do not want to spend the time on them.

As promised earlier, a few pictures of my "finished" Space Marines.  The quotations are because, as this is my first ever attempt at painting, one of their number had his armor come out closer to purple than blue due to poor primer choice.  He will be shelved to be fixed at a later date, I am moving on to Orks.  Apologies for the somewhat strange lighting, they looked fine and then came up odd after the transfer to the computer.

Nothing fancy, painting in general, much less miniatures, is something I have no experience with at all.  So no wash for shading, no weathering, nothing beyond simple colors.  Good practice though, I am getting more adept at using a smaller brush, though the level of that adeptness is all relative.

View from the back.  I have seen more adept painters freehand squad number markers and other details on these, but my attempt was splotchy, so that will have to wait until I get a great deal more practice.  This picture reminds me I need to paint the bases brown for the two on the left.  

Anyways, I am feeling somewhat accomplished at getting this done, since it is a big step for me and I feel a bit more prepared to tackle the Orks I have piled up next to my work table.  Next up should be some Boyz.