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Hey folks, Hopefully not jumping the gun here on the official release of the new game but I know a fair few people are busy on the printers, getting proxies or even classic minis for a new Legions Imperialis force. So, like the thread in the Age of Darkness forum, this is a thread for any WIP work or just hobby chat around the game and miniatures - or anything related really! For starters a bit of an off-piste project that is just in embryonic stages as I test various miniature ranges; a Great Crusade-era Craftworld Eldar force, and this is the first Guardian detachment. I've been reading up on some background and may try and go for a Craftworld that is ultimately lost at some point in the millennia leading up to 40k. But for now they have jumped out of the frying pan (escaping the birth of Slaanesh and destruction of their civilisation) and into the fire (directly into the path of the Great Crusade!) Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has in the pipeline!

Hi Folks, It is not really a post resuming my last year´s "New Year New Army" series, but almost. My February vow for the 12 Months of Hobby Challenge came back in the dominions of the God Machine, focussing on 2 miniatures; a Mago Dominus, from a Boarding Patrol set a ooP Reaver Titan from EPIC 2nd Ed., or at least it was the edition available when I bought it And here are the happy painted ones: The Mago is as per my usual paint scheme for my Not-Stygies VIII force. I tooled it with volkite weapon and the blaster in order to amximize number of shots. The eradication ray was more of my taste for its unique character, very AdMechy, but in the end I decided to go optimized game play instead. The Titan machine was all of a challenge, mainly because choosing a paint scheme is not necesarily easy for such a miniature. You want it to have presence, be distinctive from your force, but neither otT. This antique mold does not present the armour plate partying that the recent mini may have, with segmmented area being defined by engraved aquillas of decorations. It is especilly tricky for the legs. I decided to keep it plain yellow there, without stipes or fancy details. The colours are largely inspired from models (4ok by FW) that can be found in Google. Time to think about next month´s entries. In between I will go back to my plodding along entry. I completed all the pillars from the Bheta-Decima set and primed the 2 platform sprues. This part of the challange is going to be complete sooner than I imagined. I am still trying some paint schmes for the Ryza pattern buildings and ruins. But this will be for another episode. See you soon.

Could we really see the return of EPIC in the near future? That is the question we are asking in today's blog entry. With Titanicus almost done (see below), Aeronautica definitely done in terms of new releases, and The Old World already planned as separate project, is there room in the specialist game area for Epic? I believe there is, and I honestly think its going to be hinted at very soon, maybe at Warhammer Fest which at the time of writing this blog entry, is only Two days away. Before we get to the speculation, a bit of history! If you aren't familiar with Epic, it used to be one of Games Workshop's core game systems, and was played using miniatures in the 6mm scale, to better represent the massive and grandiose battles you often see in 40K artwork. It was back in 1988 when Adeptus Titanicus arrived in its first incarnation, which was just Titans vs Titans set in the Heresy era. It was followed a year later by Space Marine, which allowed for 6mm Infantry to join the fight, and the Epic game as we know it was born - in fact a lot of background fluff for the Horus Heresy was first written during this time, some of which then evolved into what we now see as Horus Heresy concrete lore! There was also a book called Codex Titanicus which had rules for Eldar, Orks and Imperials to get involved, along with some rules and articles that had previously been published in White Dwarf. In 1991 we then got the 2nd edition of Space Marine, and this moved the setting to the 41st Millennium and this really was the Golden age of Epic if you ask me. You had everything from Space Marines to Squats, every current race (at the time - no Tau or Necrons back then!) had forces for Epic, and you could field units in Epic that just weren't possible in 40K. I remember walking into Games Workshop for the first time in 1993 and seeing all the boxes of Epic minis and vehicles, things like Great Gargants and Eldar Titans and just being in awe of it all, and a little scared! At the time I was just starting in the hobby and learning 40K, and it wasn't until 1994 when Titan Legions arrived, that I first played Epic properly. My friend got the Titan Legions box and we played the game with me often being the Orks, as he loved the Imperator Titan. In 1997, the Third edition of Epic arrived with a new boxed set called EPIC: 40,000. I bought this box, and I loved it, but sadly it wasn't that well received and disappeared off shelves after 6 months, and I never actually got to have a game of this rule set. I did manage to paint up some of the Land Raiders and Whirlwinds as Imperial Fists though. The box ended up being put away, and then eventually disappearing from the garage which looking back, is slightly annoying! There was a further rule set released as a book only, called Epic: Armageddon, but that was pretty much it from GW in terms of Epic support. Anyway, enough about the history of Epic and my lamenting about lost starter sets, what about now, what about the return of Epic? Looking at what we have at present, Adeptus Titanicus is the closest thing we have to Epic, which is approx 8mm in scale according to Games Workshop, but personally I hope any future infantry is 6mm or maybe 7mm, to better show off the scale of Titans, but that's just me. This new version of Adeptus Titanicus has been around for a few years now, and they have just announced a campaign compendium book which releases this coming weekend, and compiles all the previous campaign expansions together along with custom Legio rules. While this might not signal the end, you could easily argue that this book could indicate the wrap up of Adeptus Titanicus, and the parking of any further development. But what about all the AT kits? Well, If they do bring back Epic, that would allow all the models and terrain to stay on sale, and be usable for both AT and whatever form new Epic takes. Adeptus Titanicus would still be active as a game, but complete, with no further expansions, and the development focus would shift to Epic, with all the Titans, Knights and terrain being usable in both game systems, most likely with a packaging change. This could also be the same for the Aeronautica Imperialis stuff - that game seems to have finished in terms of development, but there's some amazing miniatures available and all it would take is a packaging change and hey presto, flyers for Epic. Lets assume for a minute that it IS returning - how will it work rules wise, and what will the setting be? For the rules, I don't think they will be an expansion or a 'bolt on' set of rules for Adeptus Titanicus, I think it would be a separate game system and rule set entirely. For the setting, I suppose the Horus Heresy would make financial sense for GW, as they can make a starter with identical sprues, and in past Warhammer Community article interviews they have hinted that if they expanded to Epic, it would likely be the 30K era, but that was pre-pandemic and things can change. Ideally, it would be 40K, then all races can have a play in the Epic sandbox, and with races like Tau and Leagues of Votann, the scope is amazing, but its more of a risk for our evil plastic dealer overlords. There is another option for the setting, both! - I made a video about the return of Epic, and once of the comments about the setting was "I don’t see why GW should pick between Heresy and 40K. Have the lore do a high level of the whole history of the setting, have a couple pages on some “Epic” size battlefields (Heresy, Armageddon, Cadia falling, etc), come up with rules that cover all setting then just pump out armies". I actually love that idea! Having the setting encompass the entire 10 millennia of 'Epic' warfare would satisfy all parties, and give them the scope to explore some legendary battles and wars throughout the history of 40K, right from the days of 30K up to present day Indomitus era. First war for Armageddon, Macragge, Ichar, Piscina, Badab War, Damocles, Age of Apostasy, Rynns World... the scope is incredible in terms of what they could explore! Personally, I think its about time that Epic made a return, officially, but as above the questions we need to be asking is how will it return rules wise, and when will it be set? Also, they need to do it in a way that will not kill off the Titanicus game, as that is a solid set of rules with an active following. With Warhammer Fest happening this weekend at the time of writing, if they do reveal anything there, my guess would be only a hint or a tease of Epic, perhaps just a logo reveal, and it may well tie in with the Horus Heresy reveal that they have planned. Heresy Thursday's have been put on hold until later in the year, and while this will allow for the spotlight to be on 10th edition 40K, I don't think its the sole reason for them to pause Heresy Thursday. Do you remember Epic, during the Golden era of Space Marine 2nd edition and Titan Legions, or was it before your time?

Details of event: Epic Space Marine Participation & Exhibition Game Did you used to play Epic Space Marine back in ye olde days of yore? (Early 90s?) Perhaps you weren't even born then and think Epic is a word used in front of 'skateboarding fails' videos on YouTube? Either way, if you wanted to see the game in action and take part in a casual and fun environment, now is your chance! The version on display is the 2nd edition of the game, released in 1991, with elements of the 1994 edition Titan Legions included. Because it is played at 6mm scale (which is very small!) it means you can assemble an awful lot of troops on a tabletop! Come along and see why this game was a best-seller for Games Workshop for many years; take control of entire armoured companies, Titan battle groups and massive Ork Hordes as you grind the opposition to dust! (It's easy to learn and our Epic enthusiasts will show you how!) Come & Play Epic Space Marine Warhammer 30,000 Firestorm Games, Cardiff. Saturday 11th March 2023 from 12pm Price: Free Link to Firestorm Games event page (you can 'sign up' here to confirm attendance) Link to the Event flier page where you can find out more details Finally, the project blog for the forces featured in the event has been hosted in Bolter & Chainsword's own blog/Age of Darkness section, you can see more here: Bolter & Chainsword project log

Yesterday night, I discovered this US based company, that makes lets say "resin vintage miniatures" from old Epic model at W40K. Mostly, Knights for now. A bit redesigned, but still clearly well known old models. Also, they have some few extra things,like Proteus Land Raider-like tanks and landing pads to use in Titans. For now just five products but more are coming, I think. https://www.battlecastings.com/

While back a friend of mine and I played a game of Epic: Armageddon. During the battle I took several photos and will attempt to string them together for your viewing pleasure. Sister Palatine Valerie Studied the dataslate in her lap as she and her Celestian Bodyguard cruised along the open roads in their command Rhino. The dataslate was displaying a an overview of Imperial intelligence regarding the crusade's progress on the northern front against Waugh WooTang. The balance of the squad, save Sister Vanessa, Slumbered as best they could. Vanessa was doing her best to ply her commanders face with restorative balms. It would never do for the Order's leader to look fatigued when they met up with the regions Militarum general, even if Valerie insisted reviewing orbital reconnaissance images when she should be trying for some beati-sleep. Val's reverie in the wee hours came to a jarring halt as the com-link beside her blared “CONTACT! CONTACT! Hostile force of unknown size blocking the Pike” The area had been reported as clear, but all the same the Dominion's who'd comprised the columns reconnaissance had made contact with their opposite number from a greenskin force and promptly mutually bugged out. The game we played was Ill Met by Moonlight, the eponymous one of it's document available here In the game's first turn and the deployment columns off table along the road I neglected to photograph, but as I recall, I launched a disastrously unlucky assault with my dominion recon group against his scouting kopter squadron, the outlier outcome of which removed my poor girls from the table with the pitiful exchange of breaking his orks. They fled to hide out atop the lumber mill in the north east corner of the town. Fortunately, they remained there until later in the game when one of my warhounds strolled over that way for some revenge. The second turn of the scenario was largely a matter of deployment. Knowing that urban combat is the natural habitat of the battle sister I largely confined my operations to the centre of the town in an effort to bait the Orks into closed terrain. One warhound stood out in the middle of the street to draw a blitz brigade to it to provide the exorcists a future target, the other hid behind the town hall. One the third turn the Orks made a recklessly bold advance down the east side of town placing themselves inside a cul-de-sac. After I'd advanced the warhound on the west side further north toward the north west objective I'd filled that space in with the exorcists as planned and put paid to the Orks down that boulevard. Back on the east side of town I continued the envelopment of the Orks there with the Retributors. Bizarrely, the Seraphim on the south side of the grocery store do not take part in the ensuing firefight scant centimeters away for lack of line of sight. In the view from the north you can catch a glimpse of the Warboss as he observes the annihilation of one of his blitz brigades. This was followed up with one of the warhounds finishing off the scout kopters and Valerie's mission taking the bridge to rain fire on the blitz brigade that'd started the turn on the west side of town. The Warboss directed his third blitz brigade down the west side boulevard where I'd broken the first one in a desperate gamble that he'd win ititiative. On turn four the Greenskin's remained plagued by ill fortune as I won initiative for the third consecutive turn and started the turn with sustained exorcist fire down the west boulevard, breaking the third blitz brigade and sending them packing to the western wastes. In response the Stompa mob assaulted Valerie's mission on the bridge, but the light of the Emperor was upon them and the Xeno menace missed with all their attacks and got routed soundly. Abandoned by Gork (or Mork?) the Ork moral suffered a general collapse and the waaugh quit the field to regroup and find another location to assault. Valerie stood atop her APC on the bridge and watched the waaugh recede over the horizon. "They'll be back Vanessa, but it'll be a few hours before all our treads are back up and running. I bet you can find me a nice comfortable suite to catch some winks in while we wait."

Guess whos Back? Back again, Pyros Back, tell a Friend. Guess whos back? Guess whos back? Guess whos back? Guess whos back? nah nah nah.... Sorry impromptu Eminem lyrics out of the way long ago in a forum not so far away I was but a humble lurker of the hallowed halls of hobby wonderment but then i couldnt help myself any longer and posted my first thread which led to many conversions and much painting fun and shenanigans. I even entered in a couple ETL's and a few other competitions the names of which i cant for the life of me remember and as it does life for me kept on moving and i like im sure many of you suffer from wicked hobby ADHD like its bad like real bad and my tiny plastic spacemen ended up shelved to see a short resurgence some time around 2018? idk somewhere around there and then when Papa Nurgle came to visit and you would think would have been prime time for some hobby action you would be wrong because i was "lucky" enough to be deemed an essential worker being at the time i was firearms salesman at a local shop which meant no time off and any spare time i had was unfortunately not dedicated to my plastic crack addiction hiding in rubbermaid tubs in my garage. Then Xmas 21' happened and my wonderful wife got me an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro and about 8kg of resin which is basically like someone handing you the keys to a forgeworld so of course like any self respecting nerd would do i set out to print the most ridiculous thing i could figure a way to print which at the time was a lucius pattern warh... Wardoggo Big Stompy Bot which i could never justify actually buying but i mean it was just there on cults 3D just saying "print me pyro print me" and i was like no its wrong IP and all that. and the Stompy Bot was like " but they dont even sell me any more and youre a modeler you dont even play 40k you nerd" and i was like rude but your probly rite. So i downloaded the STL's for that model and you know just a couple others nothing crazy only like 732GBs worth and got to printing. yes i printed the whole thing besides the pistons in translucent resin and no theres no reason why im painting this monster for sure . Now I am aware that in our hobby 3D printing is and kind of has been a touchy subject but like the Stompy Bot said i am but a humble modeling nerd ive maybe played 5 games of any sort using any of the thousands of dollars worth of official citadel models ive accumulated since i was teenager slopping testors model paint onto my 3rd edition black templars in short its 99.9999% about the models for me so everything i build is to rule of cool standard and will rarely actually fit proper rules unless theyre the rules for a comp or something. My goal here is to hopefully keep my motivation up too keep the hobby train rolling ive got an aboslutely massive pile of shame from as far back as the betrayal at Calth box and even further not to mention the plate after plate of models i keep adding to said pile cuz i just cant help myself at present the pile is home too lots and lots of Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Grey Knights, Custodes, Sisters of Silence and Battle, Admech, Eldar, Necrons, Orks, Tyranids, Tau, an imperial Knight, a Titan, as well as a growing collection of epic/AT scale models of all the aformentioned factions, but wait theres more you didnt think i'd leave out the Chaosy goodness did you? in the works are warbands and deamons daemons demons idk i always forget but ive got a little bit of every flavor except for Tzeentch not that i dont have of few STC's with scarabs n such ready to be sliced and summoned forth from the goopy forge. torsos and legs for my death corpse of cheese ranged and close combat arms Comander Dwayne the Rock Johnson and some nice lady with a big sword with there hotshot friends this little gem crew included took 6hr 37 min to print fully intact and cost me a whopping $1.27 You can do so much more than print your models though turns out need a wet palette? print one or three. Need a brush holder? print one of those too. Besides finally getting that titan my mom said i couldnt have when i was 14 (i showed you mom) there was another line of models i always lusted after largely due to there incredible detail and that was the larger scale inquisitor line which was dieing out as i was first coming into the hobby but i always wanted some of those models just for the fun of painting and converting something a bit bigger. Now that can be any model i want i can even do multiple scales of the same sculpt and even print physical censor bars to cover up the bits too naughty for our virtuous hobby halls. Anywho i look forward to getting more perspectives and sharing ideas about this ever changing world of plastic and resin crack any c&c are always greatly appreciated.

So as a note beforehand. I am that type of person that has 12 different projects lying around in various stages. I am that type of person that can be used as an example: How to not buy into 40k. Pre brexit I was unsure what would happen so I sold one of my magic legacy decks and bought around 50 boxes. Of course over time I also had all these other impulses and my pile just keeps growing. But now, I have a date, 17th of september untill my custom made display case will be done. 210 cm high with shelves of 24 by 48 inch inside to fit the sector imperialis boards. With the time frame remaining, I am aiming to semi fill out 2 shelves. My mind scatters form wanting to paint Ultramarines, Vostroyans, Epic Iyanden/UM, Adeptus Titanicus,terrain (with necrons and adeptus custodes sitting on the maybe list). Yah thats to much I know . Anyhow, I will post pictures here of projects I am working on and will be finishing over time. Knowing myself, I know I want to touch up some older squads of models once I have the display case. Hence I most likely will pump out pictures at a higher rate around that time. I would like to get some Imperial Guard done before the display case arrives. (Only have a handfull of models painted right now) Maybe my mind gets tired of painting the same colours and I might finish something else in between. (longterm) Goal with the guard army is having at least 300 infantry models so I will need to settle on a TTQ army. I will aim to finish a 1000 point mechanized list before said date. This is my latest project. I am roughly on 95% with these 4 and need to finish 1 more. Its a very basic approach of a single layer primary colour and applying a heavy agrax earthshade to add depth over the model. All I have left are the lenses with 2 of these guys and do some shading on the mud of the bases once its dry. Im considering adding a couple of skulls and rocks to add a bit more depth to the base but nothing to fancy. For those wondering. The heads are from Wargames Atlantic. Its a pretty simply headswap with the DkoK. Only remark I can make is that you need to cut down the WA necks in a slightly diagonal way to make them fit better. Here is a little sidenote. As a Dutch person I am far more direct then the average person online. Its a culture thing that we don't like people dancing around the subject and just get to the point. I know everyone on forums is very respectfull when it comes to commenting someone his painted models. We all recognise that said person put a lot of time and love in getting whatever it is finished. So we are very carefyll not to insult said person. That said, please don't be afraid to give constructive critisism in terms of colour theory and such. I am very much open to criticism that I can work with and welcome it!

Quick clarification - 'Epic' here refers to the 6mm scale, rather than any indication of quality! I've been collecting Epic 6mm for some time now, and thought it would be interesting to write up a blog featuring some background (which will hopefully help direct the course of the project), miniature and modelling pics as well as battle reports as I go along, featuring both the infamous 12th legion and the foes unfortunate enough to lie in their path. I realise that the little guys aren't the most common scale, so this will hopefully act as a guide as well to anyone who fancies having a go themselves. So if anyone has any queries about the things featured in this blog, please ask away! So without further ado.. Background and Setting This project will cover the exploits of the 12th Legion following the discovery of Angron, and the re-naming of the legion as the World Eaters. Angron has (somewhat reluctantly) taken his place as Primarch of the legion and his influence has started to be felt, in the form of the Butcher's Nails psycho-surgery that transforms the troops into raving lunatics that want to hurt things badly. This quote from the Horus Heresy book 1: Betrayal (via Lexicanum) captures the exact moment in Pre-Heresy history: After this event (the Ghenna Massacre), the Emperor moved to intervene, reprimanding Angron and ordering the prohibition of the Butcher's Nails and similar psycho-surgery. He further ordered the World Eaters out of the main line of the Great Crusade, sending them to the northern fringes of known space to combat xenos instead of human foes. This exile, likely intended as a punishment, instead allowed the World Eaters the freedom to operate without higher Imperial observation; they did not cease from the practices the Emperor had forbidden My own take on this is that an Expedition of the Crusade (one of the later ones, the 3001st) of the World Eaters, Blood Angels, Imperial Army (inc. Abhuman regiments) has ventured into the distant galactic north, beyond the Segmentum Obscurum. There they have encountered an enormous Ork Empire, which is currently expanding and gobbling up both human worlds (un-encountered since the Long Night) and other alien worlds. Why this setting? Well for me the most interesting period of the World Eaters was always when they had started to transition into the frothing berserkers that they would later become, but elements of the 'Combined Arms' still exist - which gives a lot more modelling variety and opportunity to represent units from all aspects of warfare, and all of the elements that involves. Finally, the 6mm epic scale gives an ideal opportunity to have thousands of troops clashing amongst ruined city blocks, while Titans and other massive war machines fight alongside them. Orks would be a great opponent for them (no double looking forward to the good scrap!) and also have a great miniature range at small scale. The inclusion of the Blood Angels is to allow me to do some other Legion troops if necessary - Coming from Signus Prime, these companies have got their own demons to hide so probably wouldn't be looking too closely at their peers in the 12th. Also we do know that the Great Crusade often grouped 'more hurty' troops and legions together, to complement each other when they didn't want prisoners, so the combination seemed a logical one. The 'other aliens' bit allows me to include some of the more flowery denizens of the 30/40k universe - maybe even some we haven't seen yet! That's it for now - I'll start posting units I've already finished soon, as well as more 'in character' posts based on the stories of the 3001st expedition! Any comments (or even challenges) to the background definitely welcomed! http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HLHHRrTQbv8/Sl8JfMkD3bI/AAAAAAAAAD8/un9opbzLzUo/S150/backginfoicon.jpg