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It's not just a ban; it's a fatal throttling of expression. This is not a time for making uneducated decisions; it's a time for reflecting on art. Here's some- oh screw it, I can't even continue with the bit. The less AI slop I have to see, the better.

The members of the staff were recently approached by a member who has used artificial intelligence (AI) / large language model (LLM) technology in the process of generating hobby content, asking if it was permissible to submit that content to the site for others to enjoy. This forced us to consider some things. Anyone who hasn't been living under a rock is no doubt aware that AI/LLM technology has proliferated across diverse industries/sectors. It was inevitable that tabletop miniature wargaming hobbyists would find ways to incorporate AI/LLM into their hobby pursuits. Similarly, it would be both a fool's errand and tyrannical to attempt to prevent any AI/LLM-created content from being submitted to the community. While there is significant controversy over the impact of AI/LLM (and I tend to stand with John Connor and Serena Butler on this issue), there are certainly ways in which hobbyists can enhance their enjoyment of the hobby with assistance from AI/LLM. After all, hobbyists might use AI/LLM to generate content such as avatars, signature images, etc. The converse of this, however, is that we participate in this community to celebrate our own efforts, not those of AI/LLM. Our mission statement: The Bolter & Chainsword exists to help the members of a global hobby community to better understand, engage in, and enjoy all aspects of the Warhammer 40,000 hobby through constructive discussion and the sharing of hobby-related content. (emphasis added) AI/LLM are tools, not "members of [the] community." These tools might be used by members of the community, but it is the creativity, skill, and dedication of the members that are to be celebrated, not the effectiveness of the tools used by the members. To be fair, some level of skill/knowledge is important in maximizing AI/LLM output, but AI/LLM are capable of producing products that might be far beyond the abilities of many hobbyists. Other members should know that AI/LLM is used so that they may give informed reactions and feedback. The members of the staff are working on additions to our community rules to address the use of AI/LLM in developing content that is submitted to the site. Members of the community are welcome to provide suggestions that support the basic principles identified below: Members of the community are allowed to submit content that has been developed with the assistance of AI/LLM. AI/LLM use will be clearly mentioned in a disclaimer so that other members aren't misled. The level of detail about the extent of AI/LLM use is up to the content creator. Content will be locked/hidden if it is determined that the content was created using AI/LLM and the content creator deliberately misled the community. Content creators may be allowed to edit content to add the required disclaimer if the omission was an oversight, but each member will only be granted this mercy once (i.e., we'll give you the benefit of the doubt once, but repeat offenses are suspect). Comments/replies to such content should not dwell on the fact that AI/LLM was used. We don't need to turn every such discussion into bellyaching about the use of AI/LLM. If you don't like it, you can simply ignore the content. Disruptive responses, including reactions, will be removed and may result in disciplinary action. If you believe a content creator is deliberately misleading the members of the community, you should REPORT the content. You don't need to harass the member, however (see #4 above). I doubt we'll attempt to be legalistic here. We'll provide common sense guidelines that rely on members being ethical and exercising good judgment, meeting the intent and being honest with the members of the community. The staff members are not going to be the AI/LLM police (we have much better things to do with our time), but we'll deal with disruptive/deceptive behavior as necessary. In the meantime, the interim guidance provided above should suffice for now. If you have questions/suggestions for the fair use of AI/LLM here at the Bolter and Chainsword, you are welcome to provide your input as a reply to this discussion.

So, I thought it might be interesting to make a thread where we could discuss what appeals to us about 40K (other than just the game). Engaging with each others' posts and discussing what makes us tick is perfectly fine of course, but it is my hope that people will stick to what they like and refrain from telling other people they're wrong about their preferences (which includes framing your own preferences negatively "i.e. I like the old 40K because it's not stupid like the new 40K that only appeals to stupidheads" or the like). Both because it's more productive, but also because it's less likely to get the thread closed - but ultimately this is just a request, as I can't force anyone to do/not do anything With that out of the way, here are some of the things I can say with certainty that I like about 40K - although there is probably lots of less quantifiable things I like too. - I like the grim darkness of the far future and how the future portrayed is somehow an "old", crumbling and decaying future. I know it can come off as ott to some, but it just speaks to me as clearly today as it did some 30 years ago. - I like how the factions are all "evil" from a normal, modern human perspective, but still varied and nuanced and, most of all, possible to identify with, when you look at the universe from their pov. I also like how individual characters can be heroic, even admirable, despite their overall faction or cause being "objectively" despicable. I know this comes off as weird to some, but I find it a far cry from portraying real world evil as "cool". - I like how they have managed to incorporate references (of varying subtlety) to so many things from history to architecture, to pop culture in a way that should come off as goofy, but somehow made it work. Tastes obviously differ on this and maybe not all of it works equally well, but I think it works overall - and I think it somehow actuallymakes the universe feel more real, even though that honestly doesn't make a lot of sense... - I really like Space Marines. I like how they are at the same time one, very futuristic, thing (genetically engineered super soldiers with high tech armour and weaponry), but at the same time are also a vehicle for so many different concepts and references. I sort of think of them as "the pizza of 40K"; it can be anything from a somewhat generic dish, to a highly personalised (and perhaps rather weird) food, and so, it manages to appeal to a great many people in very different ways - even if some of those ways might be disgusting to people who prefer another flavour of pizza/space marine. - Continuing on from the above point, I like how the universe is a big place (that will not miss you or your little dudes) and how that leaves room for you to create your own stories, without having to write entire novels from scratch (although I absolutely also love that you can do that too). - I love the artwork. Especially the John Blanche stuff, but he was far from alone in capturing the strange and beautifully ugly essence of the 41st millennium. It's just a very powerful aesthetic that has spoken to me since forever and (I hope) always will.

Given that "... there is significant controversy over the impact of AI/LLM..." did the leadership team think to consult with the wider community? Was there a poll or something that I missed? I come to the B&C to engage with and see the human-created works of the hobby, not the output of some abominable intelligence. Now, I am broadly familiar with how the process of setting the guidance goes behind the scenes, so I know there's been discussion by the moderation team, but I really think you should have brought it up with the overall community as well. I'll be blunt, my answer to "should we allow generative AI content" is an emphatic "No", but this feels like something the wider community should have some say in.

AI/LLM content shouldn't be permitted at all - you can't host a creative, art-driven hobby space and allow them. It's completely antithetical to the hobby and demonstrates a complete misunderstanding of why we're here. If the staff are unable or unwilling to put in the leg work then they shouldn't be in that position. Frankly, I can't think of anything more disgusting and insidious than some feckless idiot deciding to run one of John Blanche's pieces through one of these softwares and using it as a background, or something to that effect. Apologies if this message is a bit harsh.

Yeah, on that note I dont know if its just me but I have been having absolutely terrible connection issues with B&C, probably 50% of the time it either fails on the host end or takes way longer than any other website. Maybe thats why the duplicates Or maybe the world is just telling me to take a break, I dunno

I personally would support a total ban on LLM generated content. It, by definition, cannot create anything new or original and seems to run entirely counter to the purpose of a board like this. Not to mention the awful slop voice and tone that virtually all of that content has (photo was an obviously AI written statement that got dragged all over hockey twitter).

I am incredibly whelmed. What a waste of a kit imo. To have such illustrious customisation as to have the bike on a 10% tilt to the right or the left. How will anyone recover from the sher shock of a kit that is basically a hand and head swap away from the push fit.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME GW I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE THE MIKE MCVEY DIORAMA SHUT UP AND TAKE MY KIDNEY

I have to disagree here. Writing, painting. like really all other forms art, can be measured in terms of skill and expression. A toddler making a drawing of his teddy bear isn't much in terms of skill, but we can at least understand the earnest expression of feelings behind it. That why we don't turn up our noses at goofy little crayon drawings. So, likewise, an amateur writer who channels his inner Abnett is valid, artistically speaking, because, while derivative, it is derivative because the writer (presumably) has a genuine appreciation for Abnett's work. The fact that it reads like a poor attempt at Abnett tells us something about the fanfic author at least. It ain't high art, it's flawed, but it still counts as a form of artistic expression. AI deserves no such credit. At best it's the equivalent of commissioning a highly skilled artist, who has no interests or preferences of their own. It doesn't create so much as it permutates. How much credit can we give someone who pays for an art commission? How much less credit to someone who commissions a digital automaton? Here's props for being an ideas guy I guess.

My thought on that would be that the "author" is creatively bankrupt and they edited a bunch of content and ideas stolen from other creatives without their permission in an act of self gratification rather than indulge in a creative endeavour.

Politely disagree. My experience is that if you design by too large a committee (the entire membership base), you end up with weak compromises and no clear direction. I am happy to let the leadership team navigate this one. Once a policy is set, it may make sense to solicit feedback for fine tuning and finding edge cases.

Cough Mk5 cough

I saw an AoS model at my local gaming store, remembered I had an FW Wraithseer kicking around, and started thinking...

For those of you engaged in a back and forth over primaris marines and their profitability - stop it. Its off topic and I don't want another thread derailed by that old saw. This discussion is the new outriders, on their own merits - deviances into old history are liable to get this thread locked. Dr. R.

And it's finally time for a return from the Condors! Three Bleeding Spear, the shaman leading II Company's remnants, is finally done. I am about 85% happy with him - I tried a few new painting and sculpting techniques, some worked, some could have been better. I painted him during the heatwave here in the UK and you can see it slightly in the paint texture. However, he'll do for gaming for now. I may revisit the idea at a later date. For now - I'm so close to a game legal force of Condors! Looks like we are revisiting 3rd/4th edition in my group, and I now have a HQ and two Troops choices - just one more model to paint for the Tacticals and then we're game-ready.

Thanks to the generosity of our members, we have raised $2,503.47 , reaching our target. This money goes towards monthly server hosting, semiannual licensing, and a planned software update/server migration. In addition, we have sufficient funds to cover emergency maintenance. While we have conducted this fundraising campaign as a two-month event, we gladly accept donations year-round. Any money we raise above this amount can be given back to the community as prizes for contests. In the past, prizes have been paid for out of pocket by the contest hosts (which is why most contests don't have prizes). Once again, a big thank you to everyone who donated, as well as to those who may donate in the future. Your generosity has been instrumental in ensuring the continued availability of this site to the members of the community.

There is no nuance when it comes to creative spaces - it simply isn't acceptable, and this was the wrong call to make even as an interim decision. Anything else is chomping the AI-bros self-deprecating reasonings for why we should roll over and accept it.

I personally don't think AI has any place here. This is my opinion.

If you couldn't be bothered to write it yourself, why would I want to read it?

Using AI is a sure fire way to make sure that the first two wont ever change. And frankly as to your last example, Some people are physically incapable or performing certain activities. this is unfortunate, but unavoidable. A paraplegic is probably not going to be able to climb Everest, that doesn't mean that it would be reasonable to try and make Everest wheelchair accessible. If someone is incapable of picking up a brush or using a mouse to create art themselves, and are unable to use any of the myriad of existing work arounds, then frankly it just isn't something that they're able to do. They aren't entitled to the result if they cant undertake the process.

I'll go opposite to the zeitgheist here, and write a post from the point of view of an old man sitting in a lawn chair screaming at teenagers to get off his lawn: Please don't make it necessary for me to buy an expensive machine and learn how to use it to participate in a hobby I've enjoyed for 40 years without having to buy an expensive machine and learn how to use it. Just keep doing it for me as you have for 40 years, thanks. I HATE disruptor culture. Taxi's were (and still are) safer than Ubers. Hotels were (and still are) safer than Air BnB. Thinking for yourself will always be better than outsourcing thought and skills to AI. I wish people had never let "Software" become a service. I'd like businesses to start selling things that don't require subscriptions or updates again. See, if GW ends up adopting 3d printing, you know where it goes, right? It's some version of "Well, you can still buy Marines off the shelf, but if you want Xenos, print them yourself" which is WAY worse than the status quo. What's worse is when people who like disruption in a business context apply principles of disruption to politics and governance.

+1 for the sandbox! The size of the setting has always been a major draw for me. It feels like anything could be happening. And the fact that the vast majority of the galaxy is not actually even settled by the Imperium (even a million worlds is a rounding error in terms of a whole galaxy) makes that even cooler. I also like that it incorporated so many different things that were cool about Golden Age sci-fi, beyond the obvious stuff like Dune or Heinlein or Moorcock. AE van Vogt's Slan (Slann, obviously), Saberhagen's Berserkers (Necrons), Niven's Slavers and their galactic kill command (Enslavers and their plague), Forbidden Planet (monsters from the Id/Warp). Those are just what immediately came to mind. All that makes it feel like the setting was created by legit sci-fi fans with deep knowledge of the greats.

I've put this off too long, figured I would share a bit of completed works and upcoming stuff in an effort to give myself a bit more motivation and have a bit of fun. Life has increasingly been difficult to find time and motivation these last few years to hobby but dang it...gonna stubbornly do what I can. Bit of background: Started 40k in late 2nd ed. Been a Thousand sons fan/player/collector most prominently at the start of 3rd. Couldn't afford or even get a hold of some of the old pewter Rubric marines(I had some), so my first gen Thousand sons are a lovely hodgepodge of converted chaos marines scattered with the old pewter ones. One of these days I will have to find them. I played heavily from 4th through 7th. And built a substantial Thousand sons force, but M&P wise I did not put my best effort into the paint part of it. Battled Cancer through 8th and 9th, and slowly turned from less of a gamer to more of a hobbyist since. I largely worked on Necrons in the last few years but recently I have been returning to my first love. The awesome and ever amazing 15th legion! I want to re-start the army basically. Start fresh. So here goes in my attempt to keep motivated and adding to the Thousand sons. I'll start off with an Sorcerer I completed a couple months ago:

When I want background for my armies and characters I write it myself, I have several massive google docs full of just that. If I don't want to write it myself I'll use canon characters or armies, and why would I be so rude as to expect anyone to spend the time to read something that I didn't think it was worth spending the time to write?

It was pretty great. I bet whoever made it was very smart and handsome.

I think there's an awful lot of unfounded assumptions going on here. Shall we just go back to what was actually said: I've highlighted it for emphasis. Some people seem to be assuming this will apply to basically everything, others that it's going to be punishing for smaller ranges simply by virtue of them having smaller ranges. My suspicion is that it will - at least for now - be quite limited and targeted, based on the language used. Now I know the usual caveats around WarComm apply, but this is an interview with Richard Siegler who I strongly suspect has seen the new MFM and probably had some input into the new edition based on how GW run their "playtesting." Defilers are probably being highlighted because of the prevalence of 2-3 Defiler lists across CSM factions and believe me, they are a problem at the moment. I could see Riptides getting hit as well (Triptide is a meme for a reason) and then potentially things like Dorns, maybe Gladiator Lancers - but there aren't that many things that are really problematic when 3 show up. The vast majority of armies I'm struggling to think of things that are really an issue. Maybe Castigators at one point for Sisters, but that's not really a thing anymore. It's another dial for them to tune at least, and discouraging spamming very strong units can surely only be a good thing.

So, I have now finished my CSM Black Legion army, and started a new project, an army that I found fascinating since the early days that I've discovered the hobby: Genestealers and their Cults! One of the first models I've painted is a GSC limo, or a 'Genetic Cult Limo', from Wargame Exclusive miniatures, which is basically a nod to the original Coven Cult Limousine from the early 90s GSC, from White Dwarf 124. The model itself is amazing: detailed but not unnecessarily, pretty intuitive (you can understand what is what and the intention of the sculptor was), and has some really lovely details on it (like space for adding heraldry on the side doors, which I did in the colours of the Four-Armed Emperor Cult). It comes in 6 pieces, 3 for the car itself (the two halves of the car and the front fender/bull-bar) and then 4 extra parts for the bottom where you can make the car either a hover-car (leave the parts out) or glue them on to make it a tracked car (which I did in this case). The two wings at the end are in the same colours of my purestrain genestealers (which are Space Hulk era ones - more pictures in the next posts). I am really happy of how this model came out. I know that there are no rules for it (yet) but I loved every moment of painting it.

I'm more old school, I was getting images of my models stolen and reposted back when the only AI we had was Skynet.

I don't think it serves the argument to conflate fanfiction with AI-content. A lot of writing is inspired by or transformed by an artist. Are we saying that Dante's Inferno or Paradise Lost or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead are the equivalent of a LLM's response to a prompt? I don't think that they are and I doubt anyone else would either. Those works are considered by many as masterpieces even though much of their content is derived from the work of another author or authors. The primary difference being, of course, that they were created by people, not an algorithm that is unscrupulously "scraping" the internet and using pattern recognition to string together series of words that sound like sentences. Art is made by people not machines. People may use machines to make art but they largely make the choices for that art. Where to add color. Where to end a line. Where to place the camera for this shot. LLMs do that for the person using them. Often by taking the work of other artists that they've "scraped." Without credit. That's the big thing. The LLMs are stealing. And not well. I also think that characterization of artists sneering down at people who paint miniatures or write fanfiction is a poor one and is often used by those who aren't artists or creatives. It frames art as this gatekept realm where only the truly grand are celebrated. But any artists can appreciate the scribbles of a child. Are there jerks? Yeah. But there are jerks everywhere and they're never the majority. The thing about art, as I detailed in the long-ish ramble above, is that everybody starts from the same point. People have put a lot of time and effort into their craft and so are farther along in it than you. But if you want to be a painter, or a writer, or a musician, or a woodworker, all you have to do is start. Paint, make music, write, whatever. Letting something else do the work for you just cheapens your experience and the art as well.

Ban that slop.

PSA for anyone with the Armageddon box: the cardboard insert that contained the printed stuff makes a perfect portable assembly station.

Spade sighted. Krieg reveal confirmed! This will be a nice wee treat on my only night off this week. Will have to get some beers in.

3D printing I think is far more likely to hurt GW's competitors than GW itself. People outside of a GW-Bubble have already shown they're happy to go elsewhere than 'the biggest game in town' and tend to be more mercenary about their purchasing habits - the percentage of non-GW gamers using 3D prints is probably higher than the percentage with GW kits. Those competitors also don't have the legal resources of GW (save maybe certain big licenses like Star Wars being able to call on Disney lawyers by proxy) to get into an extended fight about people ripping them off. I always use the airbrush analogy. The airbrush is an excellent tool for getting primes, basecoats and potentially even shading and highlights done quickly Long-term the initially high investment pays off versus buying rattle cans (especially Citadel ones), but at the end of the day... the majority of people don't airbrush, whether because they can't or simply have no interest in doing so, sometimes because of that upfront cost, sometimes because they simply lack the space for it, sometimes because they just don't want to bother learning another tool, but the result is the same. I think 3D printers very much fall into that same camp, except you have even more fiddly setups and the resin fumes to contend with as well. At the end of the day, the vast majority of people are always going to be content grabbing a plastic box off the shelf versus everything that 3D printing entails. The amount of damage that Finecrap did to the perception of resin as a material also cannot be understated, which is probably in part what is driving GW's plastic push. I've been hearing that GW will be shuttered by 3D printing for well over a decade at this point and we don't appear to be any closer to that, despite the technology having improved in that time. I'm not saying that the 3D printing scene won't also grow with it, just not to such an extent that GW will pay much attention to it beyond sending their lawyers after the most blatant derivatives. If I was Corvus Belli or Steamforge I'd be more worried, though. I think Trench Crusade is an excellent case study to look at it too - if anything it probably undermines my concerns for non-GW games. It initially set itself up as the 3D printer/proxy/conversion darling of the wargaming scene and it's fair to say a lot of drivers behind the initial hype were "this isn't your GW slop baybeee, here the printer goes BRRRR and it never stops!". Then, once they had the capital, they pivoted to focusing on plastic kits and said their own 3D offerings were done. So long and thanks for all the fish. Has that actually hurt Trench Crusade? It doesn't seem like it. A lot of the hardcore printer-individuals were declaring it the death of Trench Crusade overnight, but if anything the plastic drive seems to have driven a lot more people to the game who were initially on the bench or waiting for a retail release. TLDR I just don't think GW really care beyond lawyering the worst derivatives and their ongoing plastic push. Convenience and ease will trump everything else. Maybe if their profits shrink dramatically but- well, that's seemingly not going to happen anymore. With said profits always on the rise there's not much reason for them to throw a bone to 3D printers.

I have returned brothers! After a long hiatus from 40k (play MESBG mainly) I have decided to give it another crack with 11th edition around the corner. My friends and I are organising a slow grow and this thread will document my WIP as I gradually build my starting 500 points and above. For such an occasion it only feels right to push the hobby boat out and culminate around 10 years worth of ideas and create my own Chapter. The key features I wanted was their main colour to be Citadel's Dark Reaper base paint and their chapter badge to be an owl. I'll collate my ideas for their background but in the meantime using a little AI magic I present to you: While I wait for the Armageddon launch box I've painted up a spare Primaris marine as a test model and personal I'm delighted with how it's turned out. More to come. Cheers, Brother Tancred

More or less accurate. I think because of a number of reasons that it's morally bankrupt, and I agree with the United Nations, every artist I know, and, much to my surprise, the Pope that the best way to use LLMs is to not. Furthermore, this is something that has existed for a only few short years, and everyone on this forum has lived most of their life without it. It is simply unnecessary and counterproductive for the human-engagement focused environment that B&C has cultivated over decades, and will only harm the community. There is a beautiful spark of creativity in every single person who comes to this forum, and I want to see that grow, not be stifled and crushed under the weight of slop we see in so many other places. I come back here again and again over the years because I want to see all of these human endeavors in art flourish.

Intercessor who?

My Fire Hawk Dreadnought

As a way of ensuring that you never get better at your creative skill set, AI certainly seems quite a formidable tool. It is also quite useful for making sure we don't have to do all the drudgery of creative work, so we can finally concentrate fully on the true purpose of the hobby; meticulously stacking boxes of expensive plastic in our cupboards. It's also very good for farming likes and generating flamewars that generate a lot of traffic in the short term, as well as putting a dampener on actual interaction so it should save a lot of bandwidth in the long term. Seriously though, "AI" is a very broad category (that mostly has nothing to do with "artificial intelligence" at all, despite the name). Is it useful in some, very specifically targeted, areas? Sure. Is it useful for hobby work in the shape of the current LLM-based general rollout that is currently making it nigh-impossible to find actual content (not "content") on the internet? I'd say not so much. So, what uses does it actually have? For any sort of creative writing, the only use I've ever found productive (whether we're talking myself or others, and I've seen a lot of people use it for writing), is to use it to ask questions and get you to consider and reflect on your ideas (coincidentally, this is also what sparks new ideas). For actual text production, it obviously stinks and it's a very distinctive stink too. If you use it to remove the background from pictures of your minis, I'd say we're in the "very specifically targeted" area, which is "AI" in the same way as the "magic wand" tool in photoshop and other photo-editing programs. I don't think anyone will be able to see whether it's one or the other. Adding in AI-generated backgrounds is something else, though and runs headlong into all the usual pitfalls. If I squint a bit I can kinda-sorta see it as a conceptual tool for kitbashing and conversion, but even then, I'd argue you're better off amateurishly mashing together pictures of the actual models you're going to use, because they will look like the actual models/bits you're going to use, whereas AI won't (and let's face it, if you're so good at sculpting that you can make the actual model pieces expand, contract and fit as seamlessly as AI can, you're probably not going to use AI for this part of the process anyway). My guess would be that mostly, it's just going to make you use a lot of time generating images, instead of interacting with the actual miniatures and figuring out how to do the actual conversion/kitbashing, but that's just my take. In any case, if people are going to carry on this discussion, I think it would be wise to focus pretty sharply on what we're actually talking about here. Both because a "discussion" of the general concept of AI never leads anywhere good, but also because even when we're talking about AI only in the context of its use on this forum, the waters get very muddled very quickly. I mean, if I use it for a colour scheme, as some sort of brainstorming tool or for bouncing ideas off along the way, why would that ever show up in my posts here? Now, personally, I think it would make a lot more sense to use the members of the community for those sorts of things - now that we're on a forum and all - but in any case it's not like anyone will be making posts of their "me and my AI brainstorm session", is it? That kind of AI use is simply not going to show up in our posts here and if it does it's never going to be detectable (let alone provable), so logically, that sort of use can't be what we're discussing. If this discussion (and policy) is to make any sense, we're talking about posts and images that are much more directly LLM-generated. Whether people use it in their process, I have absolutely no desire (and, very obviously, no ability) to control. But I think it's counterproductive to a hobby forum to allow it in any sort of "final product" posted on the forum, as it will just detract from the actual hobby content. If you need examples, the internet is chock full of them, as several other creative hobbies, from gardening to knitting, have been more or less turned into a slop-mire that's impossible to navigate and so people either get in on the content-farming or disengage. I don't see why anyone would look at that and think "well, maybe if we just do a little bit of that, it would be ok". Especially on a forum that is already struggling a bit with engagement. That's all I really have to say on the matter and it's not a stance that's realistically going to change. Not because I'm "afraid" of or "against" AI or anything silly like that, but because I simply have no interest in "creative" AI content and I've seen its effect on other creative hobby spaces.

Older players that complain about the contents of these boxes baffle me. They're not for you unless you're just trying to hoard plastic crack. They're for newer players trying to round out their forces or get started in general.

It turns out that I've messed the camera settings up - haven't been paying attention and made two mistakes: used my landscape preset AND used the off-white background to set the white balance. The recipe is a variation of the previous ones aimed at streamlining the process, but retaining the same colour. Thanks! I'm not entirely convinced that going for the whites was a good example but it doesn't look bad by any means AND I need more practice before I work on my veterans and HQs. Thanks! *** So, I managed to do some work. I did some panel lining, glazed some darks/shadows onto the armour and removed the Marines from the temporary bases onto their proper, pre-painted bases. I think I'll be doing the same from here on out for the rest of the minis. Not having to pay attention when painting bases was a huge time saver; even if rebasing was a bit problematic and took some time, I think overall the tradeoff is worth it. Here are some quick photos - I think they're better than the ones before. The colours should be more representative of how they look in person. And two random close-ups: So, overall, the current painting process is somehow way better than anything I've done in recent memory. I think that close ups reveal the shortcuts I've taken but all things considered, I like this. The sponges, drybrushing together with actively fighting my natural instinct to hit all possible edges with 2-3 level of highlights do the job, I think, especially given the scope of the project... Especially-especially since I'll probably at least get the squad of intercessors from Armageddon. Now I have to decide on the colour for the squad shoulder pad markings (I think I'll chose between purple black or the standard light blue) and - more importantly - for the helmets (either the regular purple ones for troops or - perhaps - white, to go with the pads and weapons).

Again, it’s not about “a melee centred army” frankly I run a lot of regular intercessors and in days gone I used to run a lot of tacticals. It’s about having something on paper that says my army have the red thirst - it’s not about the specific effect so much as the affirmation for some of us old timers that we are actually playing a blood angel army. this is precisely why I hated the loss of it as an army rule in the first place note: I’m well aware that it comes across as silly, but that is how many people’s brains work

This might be a bit meta, but the great thing about 40k is that it's a 40 year old IP with hundreds of contributors, it's incredibly broad and because it's all made up you can simply ignore the parts you don't like! I wasn't a fan of some of the more modern lore for a good while, so I just didn't engage with it. To expand on the broad setting point, using guard as an example: there are loads of regiments documented but that leaves 99.99% of planet's guard regiments a mystery. Filling those gaps with conversions and my own lore is a real treat. It's a world away from historicals, where there are interminable arguments about the correct shades of green.

And for a bit of fun, something I haven't painted anything for in about 25 years...

Good. Next kill Lion and Guilliman.

In fairness, the current edition of Necromunda is what, nine years old? I wouldn't call that a churn machine. Most non-GW games don't go that long without one. I don't think female Goliaths are a new development, or at least, the Juves have had 'em for a few years now.

Thanks, guys. Few big updates to come, but in the meantime I'm chipping through some more 20+ year old Guardian plastics!

Playing with pics

For me it's the various setttings being firmly established, buckets full of lore, but then the creators and their successors essentially saying 'now do what you want with it'. The whole 'take what you want and let your imagination run riot' thing is a remarkable way to run a creative property and I'm hard pressed to think of another large company with what I'm resignedly going to have to refer to as 'IP' that's as well-known and profitable as this taking a line that basically goes 'your headcanon is good enough, ignore whatever you want to, just do what makes you happy with the thing, take ownership of your engagement with our product'. It's very refreshing, in a world where advertisements seem to be inescapable, to have such a seemingly anti-commercial position be taken by a huge business. I appreciate that of course in this particular case it is a very commercial position indeed; it's pretty much the USP of GW and they well know it, but just the singularity of it appeals to me. On top of that, just the sheer scale of everything in 40k. The sheer enormity of certain explorable areas in various Half-Life games and mods has given me a real taste for a vast space, and that's basically 40k lore's main thing.

Castaferrum Dreadnoughts, big stompy boxes of death, but the real fun part was the modularity. If there was a marine weapon system, then it could be fitted to a dreadnought, classics like Melta, Lascanons, and Missiles along with all the rest of the Mortis options, and then there were the melee options, Seismic Hammers, Siege Drills, chainfist, multiple-Power Fists and Claws. And then there were the accessories. Want HK missles? Stick em on. Frag launchers go! Magna Grapple to grab onto enemy units, yesssss. Plus the varieties of armour plates, all the options that venerable and furioso kits had, the Ironclad with it's frag launcher options, and of course the ever-green look of the Casket. Then there's the Chaplain Dread and the old MkIV kits. For me, nothing else quite had the appeal of a Castaferrum.