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AdMech Patrol #2 - Progress report
By Bouargh
Blog entries pass and sometimes look like very similar to some previous ones. It is one of the issues when dealing with army building on base of multiples buy outs of the same Patrol Box... Yet we might eventually expect some variation if the models are fitted in different fashion, ain´t we? The Onagre DuneCrawler as already been spoiled in the FOrums, but it has been the major progress of the past week so I will "proudly" republish it there. It is also an unhonorable wa- 1 comment
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Dakota Minor Defence Corps (PDF)
By Mike Zulu
Introduction Like many established Imperium worlds, Dakota Minor has a planetary defence force simply known the Dakota Minor Defence Corps (or DMDC). Most of its number are conscripted from the local population; a small number of citizens willingly join to escape the tedium of farm life that is prevalent on Dakota Minor. The DMDC is organised in a manner similar to Astra Militarum regiments, albeit more limited in their makeup. For the most part, it consists of dozens of infantry battalions- 0 comments
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They've housed Daemons within their bodies.....
Well I am continuing the path of Exorcists with more building and bases
Terminator Librarian
Terminator Squad
Terminator Assault Squad
Reiver LT
Reivers
Infiltrators
Ballistus Dreadnought
And I should be getting my scouts, more terminators, and terminator Chaplain today
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CTA2024 - First and second vows in the Xeno Forum
Hi Folks,
After painting most of what I though I could in the Imperium forum, I added 2 almost "last minute" vows in the Xeno Forum:
- 5 Incubis and their objective marker - for 5 or maybe 6 pts
- the Yncarne
No surprise, these are a way to increase my Asuryanis though Ynnari faction play. See previous entry and probably some future ones too.
In both cases I aligned my scheme on the ones promoted on GW boxes. I am chronically lacking of creativity (this is proved) but I also wanted to limit the decision making process (I can proscratinate a lot).
I managed to fulfill both entries in 1 week, and being a copycat while using narrow colour pallets helped a lot.
Let see the suspects.
Incubis have been largely inspired from the claimed "Ynnari scheme" that can be found on the back of the box and on the GW websites. The armour is made of Incubi darkness, washed with 1:5 black in water. The rest is annecdotical: metal (clear) for blades qnd cuting stuff, red ribbons and white pads. I tried the Vallejo 70.951 as white on Corax white and the contrast is a little bit violent. It might require a future downdown.
The Yncarne is as straight forward as can be. red character and frosthearth energy cloud. Everything in COntrast. first time for me the base coat is 100% Contrast on a model. Them subtility is added through washes and dry bruches.
I had quite a lot of issues with the final assembly and I have not been able to position properly yhr character on the swirl. I identified 2 delictive points:
1. the base of the swirl is set with a small mispositioning on the scenic base
2. for some reason the bottom of the hair of the Yncarne and the top of the hair on the swirl, where you make the connection, are a little bit deformed. you cannot match all the details and grooves, as if the bottom part was a little bit larger than it should be. There is a small additional angle too. Resulting that the Yncarne is not that centered and looks like it tries to slide ahead. It gives a puzzling idea of forward movement, like trying a hoover jet for first time...
But I am any way OK with the result: an ambitious model and probably the most complicated to assemble so far.
Here are some close up of the base and epic hero:
CTA2024 is now over for me. I ended 24h before deadline, so, I am happy that all my items and vows are complete.
See you soon,
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Greymanes Hellblaster
This one is so-so, in my opinion. The face came out better than expected, despite my struggles with the ancient Blood Claw sculpt I affixed to the model many moons ago. I couldn't quite tell where the face ended and the hair began. However, the plasma glow and the patchy metallics leave something to be desired. That said, I haven't painted a Space Marine in a few weeks, so it's to be expected.- Read more...
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Latest Entry
Where to go with 40k?
(Wherein the author discovers that the Horus Heresy ruleset is more to his liking, even if Orks aren't officially supported)
So, earlier this year, around January, I came to the realization that I was burnt out on keeping up with the Space Marine releases. The more that came out, the less I wanted to have anything to do with them; I was just buying them to have. I also admitted to myself that I didn't really like the lore changes that GW's team were applying to the game - this isn't the space to rehash the endless debate about Primaris Marines, but they're not to my taste. The evolving ruleset, as it changed from 8th to 9th, then to 10th, has also pushed me away; the more legalistic emphasis is surprisingly hard to keep straight in my head. So I sold off the new Marines, still in their boxes, and put away the old ones, and poked around other games in the meantime. Helpfully, GW just released a new edition of Age of Sigmar, as well as The Old World (good thing I kept my Tomb Kings!) so I had some background hobby stuff still happening.
But where do I go with my far-future aspirations? I'm still fond of the setting, even with *everything* going on.
A few friends had been talking up the Horus Heresy 2.0 rules, and it sounded like they were having fun with it! I had a small trial game with the Imperialis Militia, and that was fun, though I'd be rebuilding from scratch. (Mind you, Victoria Miniatures has some gorgeous not-Tallarn Desert Scorpions that I've started collecting). I still wasn't feeling like working on Space Marines, plus my Blood Ravens don't exist in the Heresy era (and I'm pretty tired of jokes about the Thousand Sons...). So that left my Orks.
Those of you who've explored the Xenos sections of the site will likely have seen my occasional forays into Ork-dom and I've added to my ladz as the new stuff has been added. I thought that I might be able to pull together something out of the old rulebooks from 5th and 7th Edition, even if it required a bit of work. Then one day, I stumbled across a fan-made work that covered effectively everything I already had: https://xenos-orks.tumblr.com. It was like I felt the touch of Gork (or possibly Mork)! I've played a few games with this army list against my friends, and oh my, it felt like I had come home. Even better, my friends have enjoyed the experience, too! I'm really excited to dig into my Orks again, and a few old ideas for converted wagons have been dusted off - the future is looking bright!
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The first episode of our Necromunda co-op/roleplay
So, I've been working on a set of rules for co-operative play for some time now (and have actually played a succesful mini-campaign some time ago, where a group of Imperial Guard veterans where sent to investigate a mysteriously quiet space station, but that's another story...). The core rules seem to work pretty well, so now I've moved on to the next step: creating "campaign packs" that allow for story-based campaigns based around randomly generated scenarios.
Last weekend, we got out first game in, and I'm happy to report that things went pretty well (some things still need to be ironed out, but that's the nature of homebrew; your games are also playtesting to a large degree).
Our characters, in no particular order are:
Ghanz Kurtz - A squat bounty hunter who used to belong to a cult believing that the Emperor is not only omnipresent but diffuse. He prefers not to talk about whether he still holds that belief and generally lets his axe and/or plasma pistol do the talking, but he still has all the underround contacts from his cult days, which make him an invaluable information gatherer.
"Stalker" - A bounty hunter who hails from House Delaque and who earned his nickname from the way he, slowly but surely, stalks his prey, tapping his cane softly on the flooring until they're literally caught in his webgun- web. He is adept at a strange coded sign language, which allows him to warn his comrades of danger without a word.
Calamity Joe - A Ratskin tracker, who has turned to bounty hunting as a way of life. He is an expert marksman with his lasrifle and has a Phelynx pet that he has tamed himself. He is also something of a card shark, which comes in handy from time to time.
A-C4B "Snake" - An ex-enforcer sergeant, who turned to bounty hunting after his unit was all but completely destroyed in a showdown with a (surprisingly well-organised) scavvy gang. He prefers to lead from the front, where he can inspire his comrades. Whether they believe as strongly as he does that he is their de facto leader or not is a question whose answer is shrouded in mystery, but they do seem to enjoy watching him get in over his head.
We generated an overall narrative for our campaign that we then fleshed out a bit - the emerging story is that we are on a mission to get back the deed to *redacted* for Lady Ataraxia Lockhart, so we went to a small settlement called "Fallout Post" to hunt for clues.
Then the location, scenario objectives, terrain and enemies for our first scenario were all randomly generated and as it turned out, some locals needed help flushing out some strange mutant sect known as "The Progeny of the Jubilant Kiss" who had rerouted some power generators for their own use. The locals promised to reward us not just with credits, but also with a clue - and since the tunnels even bore the name of our (slightly mysterious) employer, it seemed too good an opportunity for us to pass up. So, off we went.
Luckily, our two objectives - the generators - were not too far off from our entry point. Less luckily, the mutant leader was blocking our way and he had a lot of followers, including some strange three-armed monstrosities who seemed very eager to stop us from interfering with their power supply.
A-C4B promptly took charge of the situation (that's his version anyway), by kicking in the nearest door and opening fire with his stub gun on the three mutants guarding the first generator. Meanwhile, Stalker calmly walked up to the mutant leader and webbed him, thus neutralising perhaps the greatest danger (as we're just starting out, the enemy leaders tend to have better profiles than us, so when we saw him deploy right next to our deployment zone we were kinda worried, but the initiative deck favoured us!).
Ghanz opened another door and started walking towards the fray in his well-considered manner (some of his comrades might attribute this to his "stubby legs", but he maintains that slow and steady wins the race), while Calamity Joe ran to the enemy leader and took him out, after which he took up a firing position, as more guards milled into the big, open chamber containing the second generator.
While the team had got off to a great start, problems soon ensued; A-C4B's decision to charge into the fray proved to be more dangerous than he had anticipated, as reinforcements arrived for the three mutants he had engaged in melee and they all proved more resistant to his shock baton than expected. But Kurtz deftly picked some of them off with his plasma pistol, so things would probably turn out okay on that front.
In the big chamber, Stalker moved forwards, firing his plasma pistol at an emerging champion, while Calamity snapped off shots at a bigger group of shotgun wielding henchmen. But huge numbers of mutants, some carrying heavy weaponry was racing down the corridors towards them.
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30k Mechanicus expanded units
Hello
I've finally dusted off a project I started working on in7th ed 40k which was porting various 40k mechanicus units into 30k.
This if the first batch and working wip for the cult mechanicus side of things, I will be doing the Skitarii units as well. Currently the idea is these units simply add to the existing Mechanicum list but I've also drafted a separate detachment that will solely focus on the 40k units representing the more militaristic and regular mechanicum fighting force. There's a few special rules which don't have rules currently as they tie into the detatchtment I'm working on along with a few missing units.
The power level of this is probably a bit higher than the standard Mechanicum list but its also a bit more glass hammery.
Anyway please see the pdf below and let me know your thoughts
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Ride Eternal - Shiny and Chrome
August sure did fly by.
I'd intended about being more diligent about maintaining this blog alongside the progress of this project. However between work and family life being chaos as summer drew to a close I barely had enough time to finish this project, let alone effectively document its progress. As such this is going to be a behemoth of a post, though I'm going to keep the text down and try and let the pictures do most of the talking.
From cloth to chrome - the hardest part of this paint scheme was the "Khrome". Its a forced horizon perspective meant to emulate a chrome finish. My process started with a base-coat of a light blue, edge-highlightng that blue lightened with a white, and then drawing an initial "horizon" line. That was followed up with a layer of "ground" color (a brownish orange for my scheme), a hard horizon line (dark brown line) between the light-blue and the ground color. After that its a darker blue for the deep-sky portions and then mostly white highlight layer to hit the highest points of the metal surface. I also went back and added scratches/glares with the same near-white color to break up the deep blue
Once I had the process down the speed picked up, but it was still the most time-intensive part of the project by far. I put it on almost every metal surface on the models, and while the smaller bits are easier to "cheat" by omiting some of the colors, it probably took me 2-4 hours per model. (bonus picture of me working on some during some vacation downtime)
Once I was finished with the chrome I played around with a brass-like scheme for the non-chrome metalic parts of the minis. I was a fan of my initial idea, but the shifts were too gradual to read really well, so I made the transitions more stark
After settling on a darker base scheme I hit the throttle on painting and managed to get them all painted a couple weeks out from Nova, which was my "deadline" for the project. With the paint finished I needed to get started on the bases and the display board. I found a acrylic hobby display box at the container store that seemed like it would provide enough space to house the models as well as providing enough protection to allow traveling with it.
Bases all featured some orchid bark to represent rocky deserts, cut down to angles with the bottoms smoothed. I then back-filled with some desert terrain paste and sprinkled some play-sand to represent larger rocks.
The terrain paste I used lost a ton of volume as it dried, resulting in contraction from the edge of the base and evaporation pock-marks all over it. I was happy with the overall texture though, so and since I was going to have to paint the bark-rocks anyway my disappointment was tempered.
With the basing settled and my dimensions locked in for the display board I started in on blocking. I always like to add vertical elements to my boards to break them up visually, and I knew I wanted the snazzwagon to be the centerpiece.
Threw in some texture mud to break up the lines as well as add volume, then I added extra bark bits to break up the sand. While waiting for the board to dry I went back and finished up the skin on the orks and got the bases painted
Final "shipping" product fits nicely in the case!
Nova was a blast, both the compendium tournament and the GT were great fun. I didn't end up winning any painted prizes which was my main goal, but between the stiff competition, the poor lighting and the fact that my paint job doesn't read well from anything other than eye level, I'm ok with it. I ended up winning my bracket and met tons of cool people, every game I was in felt competitive and fun and I was glad I went.
Rushing to get the project done was more stressful than I would have liked and I'm looking forward to some low-stakes terrain modeling and finishing up some of the random projects I have either on my table or floating around.- Read more...
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Expedition VI - Dakota Minor, 924M41
+++ PREFACE +++After a frustrating and costly tour of the Cellebos Warbone, Kill Team Rapier (at the time comprised Alyxander, Rarai’an, Auranis and Validus) had a chance meeting with Inquisitor Jemini Malethann. He was concerned with the myriad xenos incursions within the Matteus Subsector, and was headhunting experienced Deathwatch Astartes to investigate these threats.
Kill Team Rapier welcomed the opportunity to adapt their xeno-hunting skills in an arena free of the political infighting of the Jericho Reach. With the permission of their Watch-Commander, they relocated to the Segmentum Obscurus to assist Malethann's operations. Once there, they were formally introduced to the Inquisitor’s cohort and their newest Astartes members: Gorlin and Lucena.
+++ EXPEDITION IV - DAKOTA MINOR +++Kill-Team Rapier's first major assignment in the Matteus Subsector was on Dakota Minor, to investigate the growing Ork presence within the rocky forests native to the planet. The Orks had persisted forty years after their invasion of Dakota Minor, and it was speculated a new Warboss had risen up to lead the directionless Orks lurking in the forests. Meanwhile, the equally disorganised Dakota Minor Defence Corps was itching to charge head-first into the Ork-infested jungle; their confidence sky-high from their victory over the Orks decades ago.
Fearing a needless slaughter and a second Ork incursion on Dakota Minor, Malethann dispatched Kill Team Rapier to soften the Ork threat before the local PDF got involved. Their mission: reconnoiter the forests, determine the Ork strength, and if the opportunity presents itself, eliminate their leader.
The following transcript and pict-feed highlights are a record of their mission.
++++INLOAD BEGINS++++
+++KILL TEAM RAPIER OPERATIONAL REPORT – DAKOTA MINOR 989.924M41+++
++FOR THE EYES OF INQUISITOR JEMINI MALETHANN ONLY++As per your instruction, Inquisitor: a report of our operations on Dakota Minor.
Events were logged as deemed pertinent. Time zero begins at 1515h 971.924M41.
Composition: Alyxander (Leader), Auranis, Rarai’an, Validus, Gorlin
+CARRY THE EMPEROR'S WILL AS YOUR TORCH; WITH IT, DESTROY THE SHADOWS+
+0 days, 00:00
+MANUAL ENTRY+
Deployment by Blackstar into the jungle.
Gorlin and Validus scouted ahead; no resistance, no signs we were detected.
Kill Team Rapier proceeded to marker Primus.
+0 days, 01:27
++VISUAL FEED STILL 001 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL NOOSPHERE++
Kill Team Rapier enter the rocky forests of Dakota Minor, in search for the Ork warband.
+0 days, 03:55
+MANUAL ENTRY+
Kill Team Rapier arrives at marker Primus (co-ord 016.32 x 047.69).
Ork tracks identified. No sign of standing forces, ally or foe. Proceeding to marker Secondus.
+0 days, 06:00
++AUDIO FEED 001 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL VOX-LINK++
VALIDUS: Bearing two-two-one.
ALYXANDER: A small rabble.
RARAI'AN: They may lead to the greater horde.
ALYXANDER: We follow them. Auranis, acknowledge?
AURANIS: Acknowledged. Gorlin, we are moving on.
+0 days, 18:50
++AUDIO FEED 002 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL VOX-LINK++
ALYXANDER: A large horde, bearing zero-seven-three.
VALIDUS: Some large Orks, but not-
GORLIN: Orks approaching our position.
ALYXANDER: On what bearing?
GORLIN: Behind us!
RARAI'AN: Specifics, Gorlin!
ALYXANDER: Validus, hold here and watch that horde. Auranis, I am returning to you.
AURANIS: Acknowledged. Gorlin, provide bearing on the Orks!
GORLIN: ... Fifty metres ... at zero-seven-zero, approaching on foot!
ALYXANDER: They will have our scent. How many?
GORLIN: Fifteen... More!
ALYXANDER: Hold fire. Wait for my signal.
GORLIN: Die! <Ork roaring>
ALYXANDER: Curse it! Rapier, engage at will!
<15 seconds of non-vocal combat audio>
VALIDUS: Sergeant, the horde is turning to us.
GORLIN: We can take them!
ALYXANDER: No, we cannot! Rapier, tactical withdrawal bearing three-three-zero.
RARAI'AN: Auranis, watch your right!
AURANIS: <unintelligible; cry of pain?>
GORLIN: Xenos filth!ALYXANDER: Rapier, move!
+0 days, 18:51
++VISUAL FEED STILL 002 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL NOOSPHERE++
Members of Kill Team Rapier are ambushed by an Orb mob while on reconnaissance.
+1 days, 08:56
+MANUAL ENTRY+
Kill Team Rapier sighted a large horde of Orks. Estimated 200 strong, with 10 to 20 scrap-form vehicles.
Were forced to engage a small band of Orks approaching our position.
Half were slain, but we were forced to withdraw before the much larger horde approached our position.
+1 days, 13:50
++AUDIO FEED 002 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL VOX-LINK++
AURANIS: I count twenty to twenty-five Ork scrap units. Five hundred metres, bearing two-nine-zero.
VALIDUS: Logged. How is your injury?
AURANIS: It will heal.
VALIDUS: I have a reserve bolter.
AURANIS: I can still carry the cannon. But thank you, brother.
+1 days, 19:33
++VISUAL FEED STILL 003 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL NOOSPHERE++
A column of Ork armour is spotted by Kill Team Rapier, as they maneouvre deeper into the forest.
+1 days, 21:26
+MANUAL ENTRY+
Multiple Ork units were sighted and numbers recorded.
Initial estimates of two thousand fighting bodies and forty armour assets.
Scrap units were limited to small to medium sized vehicles. Many of them scrap-walkers and defiled Chimeras.
+2 days, 00:32
++AUDIO FEED 003 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL VOX-LINK++
ALYXANDER: Validus, another horde approaches.
VALIDUS: ... No sighting of a leader.
ALYXANDER: There must be a larger concentration, still within the forest.
GORLIN: Filthy and wretched-
RARAI'AN: Gorlin, be silent!
AURANIS: It has been forty-eight hours, brother. We have sufficient reconnaissance data. Neutralising the Ork Warboss was a secondary objective.
ALYXANDER: I am not leaving the fate of this world in that Corps Commander's hands. He is a fool, and they are drunk on their victory over the Orks so long ago.
VALIDUS: A Salamanders' victory.
ALYXANDER: Indeed. I will not settle for partial success. We will not have a second incursion on Dakota Minor.
GORLIN: We are His Angels!
RARAI'AN: And death is our gift.
ALYXANDER: Validus?
VALIDUS: Agreed.
ALYXANDER: Auranis?
AURANIS: ... Very well. Let us hunt this Ork.
+2 days, 11:59
+MANUAL ENTRY+
Rapier continued to reconnitore the forest, in search of the Ork leader.
Small mobs were engaged and dispatched.
Will continue to search the forest for another 60 hours before moving to Marker Terminus for exfiltration.
+2 days, 21:47
++AUDIO FEED 004 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL VOX-LINK++
ALYXANDER: Validus. Eyes on an Ork at bearing three-four-eight.
VALIDUS: Sighted. Inloading to the feed.
AURANIS: That is not the Ork leader.
GORLIN: How do you know?
AURANIS: Do you see the spanner sigil?
GORLIN: What of it?
AURANIS: That is indicative of one of their mechanic -
GORLIN: How would you know this?
AURANIS: The Deathwatch Librarius. Somewhere you will start to frequent once this is over.
GORLIN: I do not devolve myself to study -
AURANIS: This is not debatable. We study our enemies, so we can destroy them!
ALYXANDER: Enough, both of you. I agree, Auranis. It is not the Leader. We are less than a kilometre from their camp now. Move out.
+3 days, 01:10
++VISUAL FEED STILL 004 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL NOOSPHERE++
The suspected Ork Warboss is sighted, as Kill Team Rapier positions themselves for a killing strike.
+3 days, 01:10
++AUDIO FEED 005 - KILL TEAM RAPIER INTERNAL VOX-LINK++
RARAI'AN: I see the leader.
VALIDUS: Bearing?
RARAI'AN: Three-zero-nine.
ALYXANDER: Sighted... Inloading... Auranis?
AURANIS: ... A high-ranking leader, certainly.
ALYXANDER: You seem unconvinced, brother.
AURANIS: It is hard to judge without understanding the full scale of the Ork infestation.
RARAI'AN: If there are no other contenders?
ALYXANDER: I will make the call. The Ork is marked for termination.
VALIDUS: Loading Kraken.
AURANIS: Wait. Let me line up a shot in tandem. It may have a refractor field.
RARAI'AN: Be ready, brothers. They will run amock once it is dead.
VALIDUS: Neutralising... <bolter discharge>
AURANIS: <frag cannon discharge>
ALYXANDER: ... Confirmed kill.
GORLIN: Ha! That was easy.
AURANIS: Indeed, easy...
RARAI'AN: What of the horde?
VALIDUS: ... Squabbling amongst themselves. Infighting.
GORLIN: Orks approaching, one-seven-nine!
RARAI'AN: A lot of them!
ALYXANDER: Rapier, engage the beasts! <heavy weapons fire>
RARAI'AN: Artillery incoming!
ALYXANDER: Take heading two-zero-zero. Move, Rapier! <12 seconds of over-threshold noise>
GORLIN: <laughter>
AURANIS: What is it, Gorlin?
GORLIN: <laughter> That was not called in on us!
ALYXANDER: <unintelligible; laugher?> The Emperor smiles on us.
AURANIS: We should move to exfiltration.
ALYXANDER: Agreed, brother.
+3 days, 01:30
+MANUAL ENTRY+
Suspected Ork warlord terminated by Validus and Auranis.
Squabbling and infighting immediately occured upon the Ork horde.
Kill Team Rapier was set upon by an Ork mob, but was dealt with by their own artillery assets.
Returning to Blackstar at Marker Terminus.+3 days, 09:11
+MANUAL ENTRY+
Extraction by Blackstar at Marker Terminus.
+APPENDIX I+
Cartograph of sighted Ork encampments and estimates of force strength, as well as Kill-Team Rapier's path thro
++++INLOAD ENDS++++
+++ DEBRIEF +++++++INLOAD BEGINS++++
+++RE: KILL TEAM RAPIER OPERATIONAL REPORT – DAKOTA MINOR 998.924M41+++
++FOR THE EYES OF KILL TEAM RAPIER ONLY++Rapier, well done. I applaud your initiative.
Leave the rest of them to the DMDC. Let them have their battle.
Return to the Scepter. I have another assignment for you.
Inquisitor Malethann, Ordo Xenos
++++INLOAD ENDS++++
+++ END ARTICLE +++ -
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Rogal Dorn #2
Dorn #2 of 3. Getting a little bit done. Here's the squad. I've not quite worked out the regiment organization. I'm using 13 for division(?) markings. Vehicle numbers are consecutive, so this is 1st platoon, tank 2 & 3. (stowage - value gear details on Ebay, some left-overs from 1/35 models; Tarp - VMS modelling paper & solution, Ammo belt - Armorcast white metal, Meltas - tiny panzer on Etsy, tank commanders - forgeworld, and a very old pewter commander pre-dating krieg (finally used him!). Not super thrilled with the tarp. It was my first test. Probably should have done a few experiments. I for straps I used strips of pewter foil, cut from sheets from Green Stuff world. Usually I use this for reigns on my horses.
More Modifications. Brass rod for handles and antennas is great. Had a bit of trouble getting the drilled holes to match up this time though. I built a wooden deck on the back to keep stowage even. I think the spare artillery wheels and gas canister are from Zinge. Tow cables are just from scale models. Scale isn't too much an issue in 40k (if it were, I mean, the turret is essentially an 8" naval gun). Of course, all this stowage doesn't really make sense for engaging in combat operations - the view ports really need to not be obstructed. But, I wanted to make a bit of a story with this model. So the chimeras and trojans are destroyed. Supply lines are strained. This vehicle is doing double duty by getting more gear to the front.
As with the first rogal dorn, i did experiment some more on cast metal texture (tamiya putty + thin cement + old paint brush). Also worked a bit on the weld seams.
Next up - Meditations on Extra Armour. Next up... can we get something close to this sherman tank?? I found some rogal dorn track STL files. I think i can probably do it. Hard part is getting it to look right - going from real life to a model - covering up details might not pay off at all.
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Mechanicum stagger forth!
Sorry for the absence,
I was a little busy today so I built a chunk of the mech battle group box
The pain train is bigger than expected
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So, how did you get into the hobby?
Being a Catholic who joined The Church as an adult I am often asked how it is that I came to find God, and my answer generally holds great interest in the many 'cradle Catholics' who ask. My wife has on more than one occasion suggested that it was my finding of faith that inspired my love for the Sisters of Battle - the faction I've been collecting for the last year - upon seeing their exuberant Cathedral-Cannons on wheels (as she calls The Immolator Battle Tanks), rosaries wrapped around bolt-guns and simulacri.
(An Immolater - check out the Reddit profile who shared this great piece here)
'No' is the answer, of course - as I had actually began collecting them before my finding of faith... I swear!
But similarly to the popularity of this question within The Church, I find that everyone who pursues this amazing hobby has their own origin story of how it is they came to find themselves pouring over these exquisitely detailed plastic miniatures, their stories and their game that hold such a special place in our hearts.
"So how did you get into The Hobby?"
For the vast majority of people their answers will fall into one of three categories:
a) I walked past a Games Workshop and went inside because I thought it looked really cool.
b) Friends or older-relatives introduced me to the game.
c) I got into it through the books/lore.
I can't actually think of any other 'broad categories' of answer to this (in)famous question... if you can, can you let me know in the comments below?
But, as the face of the hobby has evolved over the last few years and continues to do so, I wonder how these typical answers will change and grow. Especially as the hobby starts to enter more of the mainstream! No doubt aided by the burgeoning value of Games Workshop following their steady pre-pandemic growth followed by their Pandemic-explosion in business and the developments being followed closely by many in their negotiations with Amazon about a TV series with Henry Caville, there are signs all around that Warhammer is becoming more widely known as a hobby to share and enjoy. For example, this post I recently shared on my Threads (below).
However the question is answered, there's always a unique spin for each partaker of the game. It usually gets the nostalgia going and is a reminder of simpler times.
I was about 10 years old when I first became exposed to Warhammer. A family friend whose son was about 6-7 years old than me had a major home clear out and from them my twin brother and I inherited 'The Box'.
'The Box' was a large container of toys and other such things that didn't survive their cull and were promptly taken off their hands by my mum and dad. Within the box were toy cars, action figures and that sort of things but nestled right at the bottom was... a 3rd Edition Warhammer 40,000 rulebook. Paperback, with the famous Black Templar Illustration on the front.
Now you may be looking at my profile picture and thinking that there's no way I was 10 years old in/around 1998 when this was first published and... you'd be right! Even then it was old and battered, but it was enough to ignite a passion in our young hearts that would continue to burn to this day. The topic of the introduction of The Warhammer Universe to the young and inquisitive mind is a subject that requires its own article another day! But suffice to say it was... horizon expanding.
From reading that book obsessively cover to cover we dragged our poor mum to the Games Workshop in Central London where The Battle for Macragge was all the rage and the rest, as they say, is history.
I wish that I still had that copy now, but, growing up is first abandoning our childish ways and then reminiscing about the lost pieces once we realise that our happiness is worth pursuing even if doesn't fit the idea of what others think is 'cool' around us. I was heartened to see when searching for the above image on google that there are many copies going cheaply on eBay...!
Warhammer has had a profound impact on my life. As a bit of an odd-ball child/teen with a lot going on at home it gave me both a creative outlet and a place/community where I could go and actually interact with others in an accepting and healthy environment. I look back now at my childhood and really thank God that the hobby came into my life when it did.
And now as an adult, I returned to the Hobby in 2019 with the aim of once more making friends and finding a counter-balance to my extremely busy and demanding professional life and, five years later here I am!
So let me know down in the comments, what's your origin story?
With best wishes,
Mini Painting Mike.
PS: If you've made it this far down my post, thank you for sticking around. This is the first of what I hope will be many blog posts and articles I will write and share here about the hobby, my hobbying and other things related. From my painting projects, to games, to hobby-life in my world and discussing developments in the wider Warhammer/hobby-landscape.
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BatRep: AT Tempestus vs Solaria
Quick photo dump of a recent game with my Tempestus playing against my friends Legio, using Solaria Rules to maximise warhounds. This was a first for us as he wanted to play using all AT rules and not just part, so we used stratagems, Legio traits, and I brought out a corrupted titan for a laugh. I might be reading it wrong, but is there a way to get more than 2 strat points other than being the underdog?
My Force was:
Corsair maniple
Aegis Fidelis - Reaver princeps - volcano, chas laser, apoc
Fons Irae - Reaver - chainfist, gatling, top laser
Arma Akimbo - Reaver - melt, gatling, volkite
Neglecta Rege - Warlord - quake, bellicosa, apocs, frozen soul, gelid aura
With my 2 strat points I bought an apoc missile silo.
Opponent had the artillery/nemesis can use LOS of warhounds maniple
Nemesis with laser arms, volcano top
3x hounds with plasma/vulcan
1x hound with twin swarmer missiles.
I rolled and chose the vital cargo/rescue mission, my opponent chose glory/kill stuff.
I deployed aggressively with the idea that my fist reaver would rush up and either grab the objective, or run past it and then Arma Akimbo would get it, which worked really nicely. My opponent strangely deployed all the warhounds in cover and left the nemesis out in the open, kind of the opposite of what the maniple is supposed to do - I did point this out but my opponent was happy with his deployment.
Regardless, the warhounds were the real threat and had to be targeted.
Fons Irae full strided outand onto the objective T1 ready for a T2 charge, akimbo followed up, while a few things took potshots. My opponents hounds move blocked one another and stumbled out from behind the building, lighting some things up, most notably the swarmer hound lit up Fons and stripped his shields with the double missiles.
Turn2, Fons charged and fumbled his attacks on the warhound, calling for the head and getting 1 hit for only a direct hit - I forgot the body has lower armour, but I went for the shorter track. In the combat phase, I only did another direct hit, gatlings shot the legs and that was it. That hound moved back. Akimbo moved onto the objective.
Turn 3, Akimbo turned and full strided away from the objectives, losing it's firepower, but securing the objective. The warlord opened up and stripped shields and got kills, frozen soul coming in handy. Fons got focussed down by 3 hounds and went nova, while Aegis had it's shields stripped. I then focussed down a hound, and Aegis was laid low.
End result, I lost 2 reavers but completed my mission, my opponent had to kill the warlord, so got very few points, but had done more killing than me.
Frozen soul is cool and I want to try it on a venator reaver with volcano to try and manage the draining from all the free shots.
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Solar Auxilia Lord Marshal
I have managed to get a little bit more painting done for the Lord Marshal of my Burgeoning Solar Auxilia force:
The body is Anvil's gothic void suit commander while the head is from the command upgrade sprue for gothic void suits.
The hammer is from the old Coteaz kit.
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The Devourers
As a World Eaters main and having recently sold my Black Legion army, I have decided to start a new project.
I really enjoyed the AoO narrative, particularly the murder curse created by Angron destroying a planet.
I recently created some WE terminators - 6 of the 12 Devourers and a DP on foot. My project is going to be a Crusade CSM army based on the Devourers starting a murder curse during a boarding action. I plan on converting loyalist factions (that my friends are playing in our Crusade) to the worship of Khorne. These will need to fit with CSM datasheets and will hopefully fill my BL sized hole.
Some pics of the beginning (don’t expect fast progress hehe).
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Call to Arms 2024 ..... further progres
We are now into August, with the deadline for the challenge only just over a month away, but I think I'm well on top of it which is just as well as I have a few busy weeks and a short Holiday looming. So as you can see below, I have finished the Tau themselves and moved onto their Kroot allies:
I squad of Tau Pathfinders and 3 drones (13pts)
Flesh Shaper, Trail shaper, War Shaper and BSF tracker (16pts)
Kroot Lonespear (5pts)
Krootox Rampagers (6pts)
Krootox Rider (3pts)
The first 5 Kroot carnivores (5Pts), just another 15 to finish off =
Now up to 111pts out of 126, so nearly there, will probably add a few more drones and I've also got another Broadside on order that I will try to add time willing.
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JULY - Back to work and back to work
So last month was a bit of a dull one. Blog-wise anyway, real life was very much full of activity. We're now coming up on 8 weeks of have two kids under two and let me tell you it is no picnic. Absolutely wonderful in many ways, but also the most exhausting thing I've ever known. Three to four hours sleep a night is doable for a bit but eventually.......well eventually you fall asleep in a presentation at work because the chair is comfy and they've dimmed the lights.
The question is though, following the write-off that was June, have I managed to do any hobbying? Happily I can report that the answer is yes! There's been some incoming models again - the launch of AoS 4.0 has me excited for that system and so I've added some stuff there. Slightly more stuff than expected thanks to some fairly rubbish work from a retailer who finally cancelled an order after weeks of hounding, only to send me everything out anyway. Normally I'd contact them and return the stuff but after the frankly shocking and rude customer service I'd received up to that point I was in no mood to correct their error for them. Long and short of it is that while the Models In number is a little high this month, it's not cost me anything like it should have done which makes me feel a little better about the whole thing.
In terms of models painted? Well not a bad return this month actually. I've continued to focus on the two armies I've been enjoying painting the most recently - Ad Mech and Solar Auxilia. For both armies I've got their schemes at a point that I have a system and I can easily do them in short bursts. I don't have to dedicate 2-3 hours hobby time to completing any particular section, for the most part it doesn't matter if it's only 20 minutes at a time. The exception is the oil/enamel washes near the end, but even they can be done quite quickly now. The biggest time sink is the drying time unless I crack out the hairdryer.
First up this month then was the SA. Specifically some Big Axe Dudes. Yes I know the volkite is better in game - and I will definitely be adding some of those in the future - but this is one of those rare occasions where there's a cooler option than CHOOOM. The storm axes are simple awesome so that's where I started.
Seriously cool models and I'm increasingly moving from my SA being an allied detachment to them being the lead with an allied Legion force instead. Yes I know the bases need rimming, but that's a job that'll happen across the army when I feel like doing a mind numbing tax 50-60 times in a row.
I also converted and painted a pair of medicae. Again, not the "efficiency" choice - a 6+++ that only works up to S5 isn't going to make a huge difference - but they're cool and add some variety to the infantry. And let's be honest, Heresy isn't about peak competitiveness. To me, it's a system that - like Necromunda - should be lead by narrative and Rule of Cool.
Then onto the Ad Mech. Nothing too exciting going on here. 10 more Skitarii since even with the welcome changes to the codex, they're still important for several buffs etc.
And I also painted up a babysitter for my robots. Not happy with the eyes on this guy. Will likely redo them at some point.
So there we have it. Back in the hobby swing and I'm pretty happy with the month. August sees one release that I will find difficult to turn down - the Mechanicum battlegroup. I know they can't be used in 40K and I've already got Legion and SA models for heresy.....but just look at them! Even if I resist early on, once that Thanatar comes out then that might be the end of my fight. It's a model I've adored for years and one that I will find a place for. Even if it's just looking pretty on a shelf.
Finally let's run the numbers for July:
Models IN: 49
Models OUT: 28
JULY TOTAL: +21
YTD TOAL: -73
Hmm the slide continues after hitting triple digits a couple of months back. Going to try and paint like a madman in August. Assuming I don't just melt in this heat!
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Guardians "Done"
16 Guardians done for my pirate force. I might touch up some spots, but no hurry.
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In preparation for a 40k Campaign that will run at my local gaming group, past weekend I got together with some friends to get some photos of different 'scenes' that are going to be in the Campaign source book. Did I mention that one of my friends is a professional photographer?
Here are some of the pics from the session - we were all blown away with the results! 
I'll share a post about the campaign in the not too distant future, but in the meantime do please enjoy these pictures
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Ky'Vash Recon Cadre - Devilfish APC
KY'VASH RECON CADRE
DEVILFISH APC
TY7 'Devilfish' Armoured Personnel Carrier.
Infantry-heavy T'au forces often rely on Devilfish-Chassis vehicles for transport and fire support, the TY7 Devilfish having remained in service for much of the T'au's recent military history. The ubiquitous T'au anti-gravity technology is here used to ensure full viability over all surfaces, and when paired with the oversized engines allows for aerial insertion alongside battlesuit units. While lightly armed - similar to many Piranha variants, despite being more than twice the size - the Devilfish is durable, agile, and a proven cog in the T'au military machine.
KyVashi vehicle camouflage is intended to break up the outline, rather than somehow hide what is, in essence, a main battle tank lacking a turret.
Alongside paired Gun Drones, the Devilfish's main armament is a Heavy Burst Cannon, a high-output variant on basic T'au plasma-pulse weaponry.
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The Call to Arms continues! This is my first real tank since I returned to the hobby, which is funny, because it was also my first ever! T'au being my first army as a kid, way back in 3rd Edition, it was funny to discover that the Devilfish kit hasn't changed at all. Same odd lines and awkwardness, but fun all the same. It's a very pleasant model to hold, the curved lines just feel nice, and I've caught myself handling it more than I probably should.
I'm now on to the final section of my second vow: More fire warriors, and my Commander. We should have enough time to get that done, before moving on to a final, smaller 3rd vow! Wish me luck. And wish me luck using this thing to deliver Breachers into close range. Pow pow!
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Understanding [Most of] the B&C Site Features
This blog post started life as an effort to better educate members on the benefits of Pages/Articles after some posts, especially the one by @INKS here. The information herein goes beyond Pages/Articles, however, so I decided to locate it within my blog and then link to it in the aforementioned discussion, and maybe also in the Amicus Aedes forum. Realistically, this is just a precursor to something that should be either an article or a series of articles. It is being presented in this abbreviated format, however, in the interest of time (i.e., getting the information out there now) as we lean into making the Pages/Articles feature public.
A key issue is understanding the various features that the site offers. These include:
- Blog
- Club
- Discussion
- Download
- Event (i.e., Calendar) - I'm not going to discuss this feature much herein)
- Gallery
- Pages (hereafter referred to as Article)
The features that are well understood are discussion, download, and gallery. These features are mutually supporting and distinct from each other.
Conversely, the features that are not well understood (and woefully underutilized) are blog, club, and articles. As you will see below, there is a lot of overlap, but each serves a distinct purpose.
DiscussionThe core feature of the site, and that for which the site was created, was discussion. As the name implies, discussion is about various members providing their viewpoints/responses to various topics, engaging in a discussion with each other. The methods for formatting discussion posts transfer over to the other features. Discussion also supports the other features via the ability to post comments, notably in the blogs, galleries, and downloads. When members submit new downloads or articles, discussions are created to announce those additions and provide visibility for other members.
Since the other features came later, discussion has been used to emulate/bastardize those other features. For example, members often use discussions to present their blogs instead of using the actual blog function. Similarly, many articles are presented as discussions rather than via the actual article function. These emulations/bastardizations are functional and familiar, but they are sub-optimal, underutilizing the site's capabilities (for reasons that will be demonstrated later). That said, these emulations/bastardizations are effective (so we're not going to stop anyone from using them), though they are less effective than the actual features.
One aspect of discussions that many members don't notice is the archiving process. In the process, the site software automatically archives a discussion topic after a period of time. Once this happens, members can neither edit posts nor submit additional replies to that topic, effectively locking them.
GalleryThe use of the gallery feature allows members to host images online so that those images can be used in the other site features, such as displaying an image of a painted miniature or a header image for a club/blog. Members have other options for hosting images online, but the B&C galleries are convenient and free. Since the hobby is so visually intense, the ability to display images is essential to effective discussion.
DownloadIf you look at the top of the page, you'll see the site's mission statement. A key element of that is the final sentence - the sharing of hobby-related content [to help others enjoy the hobby]. While images (see gallery above) are an obvious element of that, there are many non-image forms of content that members can share with each other to fulfill this portion of our mission statement. Over the years we have seen myriad types of files shared via the downloads, including roster templates, homegrown rules, decals, missions, etc. In many cases, these content types can be shared via discussion, but the ability to download files provides much better control and enables more efficient printing of these files. An announcement is created in the discussion forums any time a file is submitted to our downloads, and members are able to comment in that discussion or directly to the file page to provide feedback to the content creator/submitter.
BlogA blog bears a very strong resemblance to a discussion forum, but where the structure and scope of the discussion forums are controlled by the B&C admins, each member has control over their own blog. The real value of a blog is that a member can have a central location for all of their various projects. Discussions might fall off the front page, so if a member decides to update a project, they may have to perform some level of searching to find an existing project discussion (and there are various ways of performing such a search). If a member has a blog, however, they simply have to open their blog to narrow their search down, making it much easier to find the project they're looking for (and for others to review all of a member's projects without laborious searching).
One of the great things about the blog feature is that it provides members with a convenient and free way to present their own blog, saving them from having to host/download some other blog software and learn how to use that software.
ClubThe club feature is easily the best of the new features (since the site update a few years ago). Clubs fulfill a variety of purposes, limited only by the community requirement that a club be relevant to the Warhammer 40,000 hobby and members' imaginations (with the caveat that we won't approve of clubs that effectively duplicate public discussion forums - for example, we don't need a club for fans of the Dark Angels since we already have a discussion forum for that purpose). Clubs may be created to focus on products (e.g. 40K Action Figure Afficianados for fans of the JoyToy and McFarlane WH40K action figures), allow for coordination within specific geographic areas (e.g., the Europe club for those WH40K issues that are specific to the members of our community that reside upon that continent), allow for coordination within WH40K game clubs or stores (e.g., Metal Head Armory in Phoenix, Arizona, USA), development of homegrown rules (e.g., The Chronicles of Saint Katherine's Aegis), etc.
One particularly great capability that clubs provide is the ability for members to work on group projects without the need for B&C administrator support. In the past, we had the Special Projects forum in which members could create discussions to coordinate efforts in a special project (typically working towards the creation of some set of homegrown rules). Particularly complex projects often required the creation of dedicated sub-forums, allowing participants to have multiple discussions for better organization and partitioning of their project; and the creation of such sub-forums required administrator approval and a degree of work on the part of the approving administrator. With clubs, however, members can simply create a club dedicated toward their project. The really great part, though, is that the club owner/creator can include various features in the club, including one or more discussion forums, files (i.e., downloads), galleries, and events. This enables participants to upload project-specific files and images within the club, and to coordinate efforts on their own calendar. The club owner/creator can decide upon the features that will be available in the club, and these features can be updated later. The only hurdle with the clubs is that clubs must be approved by administrators, but with no other effort on their part, speeding things up considerably. In addition, club owners/creators can be given permissions similar to those of moderators within their clubs, allowing them to control content more easily without the need for administrator/moderator intervention (though they won't have disciplinary permissions). Overall, clubs provide members with a great deal of freedom, better supporting member-created content with much less need for moderators/administrators.
ArticleThe (soon-to-be) newest feature is the pages (article) feature, which resurrects the functionality that we used to have in the Librarium (way back in the day). The key distinction between articles and discussions is that articles are a way for an author (or authors) to present their content to others, much the way articles are published in magazines and journals, whereas a discussion is much more open and anyone can participate. If a member has conducted a lot of research on a subject and wants to present their conclusions to other members, an article is an excellent format. If a member wants to debate issues or if they have questions for which they desire answers/feedback, however, a discussion would be a better format. As with downloads, the submission of an article creates a discussion that serves as both an announcement (providing visibility to other members) as well as a medium for others to provide their feedback on the article (and which the article author may consider for possible updates to the article).
Articles can have different origins. For example, a discussion topic may prompt a member to compose an article, whether some discussion of lore, the presentation of their homegrown Chapter of Space Marines, etc. Alternately, a member may complete a project that they presented in their blog, then they might collect the blog (or highlights thereof) into an article. Or a group may develop some project, presenting the finished product as an article.
It is also very important to identify the relationship between downloads and articles. Each of these features enables members to present the same (or similar) information via different mediums. The articles [pages] function allows for online/digital presentation of content (that is formatted based on the user's device), whereas downloads allow for that same information to be presented in a format that can be printed (in a format defined by the author). Many of you may be familiar with a variety of online libraries such as those that are available at learning institutions; those online libraries allow members to view an article online and often to download that article (typically in .pdf format). Our software doesn't allow for online presentation of a .pdf, unfortunately, but the online format (via the articles feature) provides better accessibility that is tailored to the user's device. There is no automatic linkage between the two features, unfortunately, nor is there (and there will not be) any mandated requirement from the site for members to submit content in both formats. In my ideal world, however, members will take the time to develop content in both formats to better support the various needs of other community members. At this point, all we can do is provide incentives to those outcomes via achievements/badges (i.e., the system tracks your content submissions and awards badges at different thresholds).
The most important thing to realize is that all of these features exist within an ecosystem. Each has a specific function and works best for different types of outcomes, though there are many commonalities. Yes, the discussion feature can be used to emulate blogs and articles, but blogs and articles each do their own thing better than discussions. Many of these features support or are supported by various other features.
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Intermission 2 (WIPs)
Nothing very fancy from me today, just a potato cam images of some WIPS.
Two Khymaran Veterans. I might even finish them at some point. These are deliberately rough as a badger's chuff, and I'm a little fed up with myself, since despite practice, I just couldn't get the battenberg shoulder scheme down. In the end I settled for a mixed veg melange of red and yellow as their pauldrons would be if they were in normal livery.
The pic robs the guy on the right of his MK VII-esque armour, as I've trimmed his poleyns and his gorget. Worked a treat and very easy to do. Unfortunately this is the only phone/camera I have, ad this is the best pic of a dozen.
The weathering powder filled up some of the bolter holes in the legs, but at this point IDGAD, because they look great standing next tot he Deadnought (no not a spelling mistake) that can be found a couple of entries back. I both did and didn't enjoy doing them. Frustration is the worst type of motivation killer.
Speaking of which, that's it for today. Happy blasting.
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I’ve Dropped the Ball!
Man did I fail hard and immediately at posting once a month! Good news and bad news. Good news, I’ve kept intermittently painting through the first year of grad school. Bad news, I didn’t get anything photographed until just a few weeks back! Here’s a collection of some completed models and some WIPs from the last year.
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McFarlane figure basecoated
Got round to taking my McFarlane apart, cleaned and painted on the base coat in the colours of my Imperial Reivers. I'll move onto the details now, but I think it's looking nice so far!
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anyone know what the cheapest kill team to play is?
I'm trying to to start playing
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A review of different Sci-Fi miniatures
It has been a while since I posted something on my blog and since I have been thinking about different miniature lines and their advantages and disadvantages I decided to do a short review comparing miniatures from 3 different companies: GW, North Star and Wargames Atlantic.
The cover I chose for this blog entry is a conversion made of bits from different companies, including the 3 companies I will evaluate in this review.
As a initial warning, this review is based on my personal preferences and should be seen as a perfectly impartial review, but I will try to describe the advantages and disadvantages as straightforward as I can.Lets start with GW
GW has a lot of experience and you can notice that easily with their model boxes, including the painted examples and the instructions that are often detailed enough to help with assembly.
Still the models have varied greatly throughout the years and there is a clear difference from older models to newer ones and in my opinion not everything is good.
Many modern models have loadouts that are only meant to be used with specific bodies/heads/other parts which wasn't the case for the older ones and this is particularly noticeable on the models with the more dynamic poses, where it can be painful to try and use slightly different loadouts or heads to give a different look (examples from my experience would include the escher models, some of the gsc infantry, but obviously there are more examples).
Advantages:
- Experienced miniature designers
- Useful assembly instructions (although not always perfect)
- Painted examples (often with indication of the paints used)
- Clear description of contents (in most cases)
- Good sprue photos (most often than not)
- Lots of extra parts for customization (although often not usable for all models)
Disadvantages:
- Modern models tend to be less customizable without extra work (poses, places where parts fit and so on can be tricky to work around)
- Heavy cost
- Often difficult to find through EU retailers as many items are exclusives or have limited availability
- Push fit models often have areas which lack detail despite being cut in lots of different fragile parts (seen in some of the old 5 cultists sprue and some of BSF renegade guard)
North Star Stargrave
The models done for the Stargrave game are mostly recent and thus the line is still relatively small, but the kits are overall well designed and the parts put on the sprue in a decent manner.
Some numbers on the arms are not always easy to see from some minor mould issues, but overall the quality of the sprues is great and the models are easy to assemble and can be customized in several different ways.
Since they were developed for small games the models are less standardized than something like IG in 40k but they are great for representing ship crews, militias, mercenaries and renegade forces that don't follow a strict uniform policy.
Sculpts for decorative parts are usually simpler compared to GW but extremely pleasing to the eyes and easy enough to paint.
The heads are often sculpted as different people and not just clones with different expressions/hair/beards, although you might see repeated bare heads across different kits in the same line.
Advantages:
- Painted examples
- Clear description of contents (in most cases)
- Good sprue photos (not always but on most occasions)
- Lots of extra parts for customization
- Unique sculpts for the heads that avoid repetition
- Decent sprue layouts
- Good fitting of parts
- Relatively cheap
Disadvantages:
- Minor issues with areas of the sprue that are not well detailed (the numbers placed on the area of the arms that fits the body are not always visible)
- Lack of experience in terms of model design (not an issue with Stargrave in particular but some of the first Frostgrave kits were a bit less customizable and designed in a simpler way)
- Not as common as GW kits (still relatively easy to find through retailers but not everywhere)
- No assembly instructions (although the models are easy enough to assemble so not a major issue)
- Not standard in terms of equipment so not suited for things like IG regiments
Wargames Atlantic (mostly Death Fields)
Wargames Atlantic has the Death Fields line as a sort of IG proxies line, with many kits being roughly compatible with IG infantry in terms of weapons and gear, although there is a clear effort to be slightly different in terms of loadouts to avoid issues with GW.
There is a clear lack of experience in terms of kit development and while they are still relatively high quality, some part fitting is difficult (arms for example might not fit exactly right for some pairs) and some sprue layouts are not necessarily the best, with many kits having areas of simplified details to get around their inexperience.
There are no instructions and in some cases pairs of arms are found through experimentation or by checking reviews of the models.
Sprue pictures are usually available, but most seem to be taken with potato quality smartphones.
Lots of repeated sculpts, especially in the heads, for example with gas mask heads it is often the case that all of them are the exact same sculpt, no small details changed nor anything similar in order to add lots of customization.
Advantages:
- Painted examples
- Lots of extra parts for customization
- Relatively cheap
- Standard equipment
Disadvantages:
- Bad fitting of some parts
- Lack of experience in terms of model design (lots of issues come from the fact that the designers are good at making designs, but not good at making sure those look good in a sprue)
- Not as common as GW kits (still relatively easy to find through retailers but not everywhere)
- No assembly instructions (sometimes this can be an issue for some kits)
- Repeated sculpts for the heads that cause lots of repetition
- Bad sprue photos (not always but on most occasions)
- Read more...
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That makes sense too as Janus was a Thousand Son. Im just not a fan of the whole Emperor Geneseed idea. I tried it out last night....Lessons were learned.
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By MoriyaSchism · Posted
The paintjob idea sounds fantastic. Metallic red with hexagrammic wards sounds really cool. Some of the Imperial Armour images have them with slightly faded checkerboard patterns and I think one of the beakies had the Eye of Providence on the forehead of his helmet. Looking forward to seeing your Exorcists. -
I like the implication in the HH and Siege Series that the GKs actually use stabilised Thousand Sons geneseed. This was further supported in 9th edition when GKs and 1KSons had basically the same special rules. -
By MoriyaSchism · Posted
I didn't get the chance to read any of the recently released Exorcist themed Black Library short stories or novels, but what I heard doesn't really fill me with confidence. I have my own vision as to what the Exorcists are and I thought the White Dwarf treatment they got was weak and an example of GW messing with the balance of what is known and unknown in the setting. The White Dwarf article and the "sons of Dorn" revelation is something I will be ignoring in my current Exorcists project, becau
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