Journeyman, End of the Road

Retribution of Scyrah

The Journeyman League is at an end.  Twelve weeks ago I hadn't put brush to mini in over twenty years. Now, I own a wet palette and sixty-two points of painted Retribution of Scyrah.


Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper
Griffon
Chimera

Manticore

Lord Arcanist Ossyan Vyre

House Shyeel Magister
House Shyeel Magister
House Shyeel Artificer
House Shyeel Battle Mages (5+leader)
Mage hunter strike force (5+leader+UA)
Mage hunter strike force (5+leader+UA)
Mage hunter assassin
Mage hunter assassin, variant
Gorgon
Phoenix
Hydra

By my count, that's 34 Journeyman-points.

They don't make much of a list, do they?  The selection of models was mostly due to working within the Journeyman League system.  We start with the battle box – or the Retribution equivalent (Kaelyssa, Chimera, Griffon, Manticore).  Over the first four Journeyman weeks (eight calendar weeks), I fleshed it out to a dangerous 15-point list:

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper
- Chimera
- Griffon
- Manticore
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin

And then to a reasonable 25-point Kaelyssa tier 2 list:

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper
- Chimera
- Griffon
- Manticore
Mage Hunter Strike Force (min+UA)
Mage Hunter Strike Force (min+UA)
Mage Hunter Assassin

And then for the last two Journeyman weeks (four calendar weeks), I painted for straight points.  Myrmidons felt quicker to finish than infantry, probably because of all the buckles and widgets and details on these Retribution sculpts.  Plus, I loved painting them.  Learning to paint smooth white armor was great fun.  The artificer was an easy knock-on with the same white armor with purple-silver and arcane-green highlights as the myrmidons, and the same green-black cloaks as the mage hunters.  From there, it was an easy jump into completing Ossyan, the magisters and one unit of battle mages.  In the final week, I finished out a Phoenix and Hydra – and nearly Discordia – purely to catch some quick points.

Post-Journeyman I will finish the myrmidons and Dawnguard units and attachments, Eiryss, Wyshnalyrr, and a pair of arcanists.  These will give enough flexibility to continue playing and fielding only painted models.  After that I'll begin the slow trek through the Houseguard units, Starfall Archers, Destors, and, eventually, the Arcane Force Generator (thanks, Santa!).

iBodger (version 4 and later) has this great feature where it'll track the state of your collection, providing handy little checkboxes for "assembled", "primed", "painted" and "in-bag".  Tons of fun to fill out.  And, for a reward, you can see how much work remains.  It might not feel like much, but 12.4% is an infinity more than before the league.

The League's deadlines and competitive pressure were great for getting started and accepting mistakes.  Without it, I might never have gotten back into this part of the hobby.  With the League over, I'm looking forward to cleaning up some mistakes, and getting some new models onto the painting table.

...and learning how to base

...and painting facing semi-circles

...and shading with complimentary colors

...and painting proper eyes

...and a few million other things

Excelsior!