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For starters, the feudal shrineworld's background (skip it if you just want to see minis). Markings While most household troops go to war in their pristine uniforms, some (usually those who have seen regular combat) often don more battle-worthy armour and fatigues. Nevertheless, a unit’s battlefield role is indicated by coloured markings upon their armour and uniform in a manner akin to that of Arcadian regiments (c.f. the Arcadian 5th): Units fulfilling a command role such as company command squads display yellow markings. Units in a support role have blue markings. Examples include heavy weapon squads and dedicated transports. Assault units such as cavalry and many veteran units are marked with green. Infantry squads and other such line/tactical units are indicated by red markings. White indicates conscripts. Black indicates penitents. Infantry display these colours on hat bands, trouser stripes and epaulets (in the case of those wearing `soft` armour) or as a vertical stripe over the helmet and the front, back and lower side trim of shoulder pads (in the case of those wearing `hard` armour). Should an officer wear an aiguillette, the primary colour will be that of his unit type, with yellow or gold tips indicating his command position. Dual roles are indicated by combining two colours in these locations. This medic (white crescent trim) is assigned to a company command squad (yellow epaulets and hat band). Were he assigned to a platoon command squad he would have white trim on red epaulets. This veteran is a member of a company command squad, hence his yellow markings. This lieutenant commands a platoon command squad, hence his yellow hat band and the fact that his epaulets are yellow trimmed with red and his aiguillette is yellow tipped with red. Note that while platoons may include support and/or assault elements (heavy and special weapon squads) their colours are not indicated on the markings of the platoon command squad. This sergeant commands an infantry squad, hence his red hat band and the fact that his epaulets are red trimmed with yellow and his aiguillette is red tipped with yellow. This guardsman belongs to an infantry squad, hence his red markings. This sharpshooter belongs to a special weapons squad, hence his blue markings. His squad leader here too has a blue stripe and blue trim. As he is not a sergeant he lacks yellow markings (which would be a single yellow stripe along the top trim of the shoulder pads). This guardsman is a member of a veteran unit assigned to a close-assault role (tank-hunting, specifically) and so has green markings. Note that many veteran units dirty up their unit markings in the field to reduce their visibility. His sergeant: green trim and yellow command additions, weathered. This unit of homo sapiens variatus has a non-regulation standard in black, indicating their penitent status. Their custodian, a junior priest, has black trim upon his armour to indicate their role and his acceptance of leading the flock to their retribution. Ground vehicles primarily display these colours upon heraldic shields (mounted on the right side of any turret present), and occasionally other locations. This Medusa fulfills a support role and so its shield has a blue background. This is the shield of a Chimera transport assigned to a command squad, thus it displays both blue and yellow, with added red to reflect the squad’s role in commanding line units. The golden wreath indicates the high rank of the officer aboard. Additional markings One common marking seen upon infantry is a skull on the shoulder pad. This indicates a heroic action by the individual. It is coloured as per the individual’s role and/or unit type. The above image shows a master of ordnance’s shoulder armour, then that of a special weapon squad leader and a penitent squad custodian’s.

https://youtu.be/zuIPJUA0PlU Cheers, Thoth

So I've been posting in the Guard forum for the better part of two years now (or something close to that) so I figured it's about high time I showed off my own homebrew guard force, the 53rd Army Group. The fluff is still TBD so I won't put any here, just some photos of a few models. Also I haven't a clue how to set up a spoiler so forgive the post length. To start with here's some bullgryns (I realised after glueing one shield on I should magnetise them so that's why the other two are lacking their's) Here's the CCS of the Cadian 1st Regiment's Alpha Company, the Officer Commanding, Major Fel is the one missing a hand (the power maul fell off (yes I see the irony)). The powerfist is his No 2 an as of yet unamed captain. Here are two images of Colonel Jakob Stern, OC Cadian 12th Armoured Regiment (I play him as Pask) and his command vanquisher the "Thesius" And finally the CCS plasma gunner from what remains of the Armageddon 119th Steel Legion (so it's not just Cadians) Anyway thanks for looking, I'll try and throw up another update tomorrow.

Greetings to you all! I have for many a year been plucking away in the WIP thread, but as most of the things I put there are actually finished by the time I post, I thought it a bit more apt to have a thread here as well - and as there is not far from though to action, thus it is done now. The aim of this thread is for me to post pictures of the various B&C permissable armies that I usually work on and the units belonging to them, which I finish. Currently, I have the following armies in my possession: Dark Angels (1st, 2nd and Battle Company) - about 5000 points total Chaos Space Marines (Death Guard, World Eaters, Black Legion & Fallen Angels) - about 4500 points Chaos Daemons (Tzeentch, Nurgle & Khorne) - about 3000 points Imperial Guard allies (Death Korps of Krieg) - about 400 points Grey Knight allies - about 400 points Tyranids - about 8000 points As you can see, there is plenty of potential for varied things to be shown and displayed here - and I look forward to sharing with you all. Thus, with no further ado, I bid you welcome to my thread of finished works from the forge of Master Ciaphas! Faithfully, Master Ciaphas

Back in the day of Metal IG, there were models that I feel head of heels about. I even based my Elysians using these models, but sold it years ago due to RL. Lately I've been itching to get back into getting them. So far I managed to get roughly 60 Kasrkins back... now to make a list around them. Edit: title, updated on to reflect on growing collection.

I've been a lurker on the site for several years (2012) and have always told myself I should add a plog, well now, amidst this apocalypse (Covid-19), I am. I need to get a lot of my stuff photographed so I'll start slow and try to add a bit more weekly. Me: I started Guard in 2nd editions in the early 90's but sold off all of those beautiful metal guardsmen and Rogue Trader era rarities (jet bikes... /sigh ) when I thought I was getting out of the hobby. I didn't stay away long however and had to start over in 5th edition (2008, i guess). My main force is composed of Cadian models in blue fatigues with grey flak armor. I also have urban Catachans, some Praetoreans, and a growing Tempetus Scion force. At the start of 5th my plan was to have my Cadians in blue be the police contingent of a penal colony (Catachans in prison orange) but I didn't like painting orange as much as I thought I would so that was dropped. The Catachans's were re-painted grey and they became their own army. The Fluff (feel free to skip): The Planet of Agamemnon is a barren Mars-like world in the Aquila constellation (it's a thing). It's main export is a rare psi-resonant crystal used solely in the manufacture of psychic accessories (psychic hoods, force weapon conduits, psychic choir harnesses, etc.). The planet's surface is mostly red desert with sparse pockets of scrub-land. Beautiful glass domed cities are spread out across the planets surface. This where the wealthy and privileged live. The common folk live in the tunnels that spread throughout the entirety of this hollow world. The military is broken into 4 components: - The Standard PDF (cadians in blue) drafted from dome dwellers. It's considered a high privilege to serve and a minimum tour of duty is a requirement before holding any position of power with the government. - Mining League Corp of Combat Engineers (Catachans in Grey) made up of underworld volunteers. These are the poor saps that turn to the horrors of war to escape the horrors of a life of mining. - Agamemnosi Expeditionary Force (Praetorians) are the armed branch of the Royal Academy of Science in the capitol city of Ulyon. They have close ties to the AdMech and sometimes serve as their armed escorts. - lastly, due the planet's unusual resource, a Tempestus Scion academy was built in orbit at the behest of an Inquisitor several millenia ago. Like all great planets, this world once belonged to the Eldar so naturally they show up from time to time to harass the new residents. The resonant nature of the crystal draws other threats like Tyranids and Chaos. So that's what I've got. Now the fun part, Pics! These are my recently painted Scions (how were called away to aid Commissar Yarrick in the defense of Chalnath): and here is a sampling of my PDF colors and some visiting Adeptus Ministorum: ...and these are my Catachan/combat engineers (a blurry pic from ETL 2014 I think) So there. it's begun. I'll try to add pics as I take them. Enjoy.

Welcome to the 1st Edition of GreenScorpion's Build, Paint, Discover Event, an Astra Militarum Hobby Challenge! Objective: Complete as many hobby related tasks by January 7th. The focus of the event is in 3 different categories: Build, which includes pledges for building, converting, sculpting, scratch building and so on; Paint, which includes painting, repainting, basing and other decorative tasks like decals and so on; Discover, which includes reading books from Black Library (or listening in the case of audio books), reading fluff in the codex, writing your own fluff and so on; Critical dates: Sign up period - October 1st - December 31st This is an open event, so participants can pledge or add to their pledges throughout the entire period of the event. Once you have made your pledge and posted your before picture or relevant information on the pledged activities, you may start with the particular activities that you have pledged to perform To enter, post your before picture/relevant information with your pledge: "In the name of the Emperor and Lord Commander , I Commander <name> of the <regiment>, shall <particular tasks(s)> by January 7th." October 1st - January 7th: Hobby period Hobby in earnest! WIP and update posts are encouraged! January 7th : End of event Pictures, links or other proof of the completed task must be posted by 23:59 in your local time Those who successfully carry out these tasks, will be provided a medal honouring their service to the Emperor and Imperial Guard. Event notes: You can pledge at any time throughout the event. There is no minimum or maximum pledge. Miniatures can be pledged in various levels of WIP, as long as the task is clear and the initial state of the miniature is shown as part of the pledge. This includes partially built and partially painted miniatures. During this event you can pledge for any valid unit or model from the current Astra Militarum range. This includes kit bashes, conversions, sculpted miniatures and scratch built miniatures. You may also pledge terrain features / buildings for this event. This includes kit bashes, conversions, sculpted miniatures and scratch built miniatures. Badges will be issued at the end of the event that can be added to your signature. These badges will indicate different levels of completed tasks per type or overall. Badges will be earned per each of the three task types, based on the amount of tasks completed, regardless of the complexity of the task itself, so for example pledging to build 100 models as a task would earn the same badge as pledging to convert a character. The idea is to get people pledging small feasible tasks in order to complete more than if they just go with a single huge task. Any questions can be directed to me either in the thread or over private message. Carry on and good luck to all!

Thought it might be considered a dereliction of duty if I failed to get a WIP up and running for my ETL vow(s). First 9 grunts completed More foot slogging to continue over the weekend. For the Emperor.

A thread for this book. Kudos to Black Library for continuing to just drop some books paperback straight away. Wish they did it more. Steel Tread – Andy Clark (Audiobook) When reading Clark, I feel like I’m still chasing the high of Gate of Bones, and won’t get it until he drops another Dawn of Fire novel. It probably isn't fair to him, but it’s hard not to make the comparison. This book was okay. It’s certainly competent, but it delivers very little you couldn’t find in dozens of other pieces of military fiction. It’s the new leader proving herself, it’s the unmotivated crewmember who’s tired of the war, it’s the belligerent crew member who gets in a fight with their superior, it’s the younger more idealistic crew member, it’s the annoying one who talks a lot, etc etc etc. It’s pretty middle of the road and by the time we’re ramping up to the big finale all the more interesting elements have already happened. It isn’t helped by the Chaos forces (with one literally large exception) being about as flaccid as I’ve ever seen them. The only thing that really caught my attention was how well this works as a companion to Hill’s Minka Lesk series. While those books do a great job at detailing the struggle of the displaced Cadians from their perspective, Steel Tread flips the dynamic and we get to be the outsiders looking in. Needless to say, it’s a much less flattering portrait and succeeds at what I’d love to see Black Library used for more often. All in all though, it’s fine, it’s not great, gets a pass but not much else. ANR: 5.5/10 Diehards/Bored People Only. There’s better tank books and better Guard books you could be reading.

Game 1 Loss to Sisters with a Knight Great opponent coming into this with no recent games. A good learning game to start the day and get on my feet. That said it was a total rout. With more time he'd have wiped me off the board. At the outset terrain placement is a big problem. Thank the emperor I didn't bring a baneblade. Movement was hugely constricted. Obscuring created weird avenues of sight. Challenge. Learning when to reserve is a key weakness for me. I continue to have a bad matchup against sisters. I think it shows a lesson I've not come to terms with yet. In 10th edition it's worth more reflection on where I lose. Solution. Using reserves and having the patience to play a conservative game is necessary. I tend to be much more willing to do the reckless all out attack when the time comes, but far less able to see when I need to tuck back. Which is odd - I used to be the opposite playing blood angels for years. I'd be hiding in and around terrain, not assaulting with an assault army. Now I tend to be overly belligerent with a shooting army. Anyway, the amount of first turn melta sisters (and a knight) can put out is devastating. Solution. Learn, learn, learn terrain. I need to be fluent in the rules or, as here, the pace of the game is completely dictated by what I don't really understand. So, I wanted to hold my lemans back. But, I also realized terrain placement meant none of them could move out when the time came. I'd be pinned in a far corner while the opponent sits comfortably on 4+ objectives. Solution. As I continue to learn deployment I think the redeploy warlord trait is just crucial. I suspect you wouldn't see it used by the top players as they see the board immediately for what it is, whereas I already make a mistake in reading what I can do. The warlord trait is therefore a very helpful tool, even if a bit of a crutch at my level of play. Solution. Blitz Division. Born soldiers is the best regiment. But, it's not the best in all scenarios. It's good in the shooting phase. I think my over reliance on it opens up bad match ups. Having Rogal Dorns or lemans coming as if it were turn 3 opens up a lot of the table. This means (1) more lines of sight on the enemy; (2) more opportunities to deny opponent line of sight in return fire. It's hard to call this a great regiment... but I need to start thinking more about my bad match ups. Especially as I'm less reliant on scions for any real damage these days, utilizing strategic reserves for hard hitters is more interesting. Give and Take. There are always counters - vanquishers don't work when Tau have drones, or there's some body guard rule. But, that doesn't mean I should abandon units that ignore invuln saves. Rarely is there a panacea unit that does everything just right. Well, if there is it's spammed and winning all the tournaments. That aside, I think an overall issue is balance. Something like Born soldiers - getting that 6 to hit as an auto wound is very very good. But, where does my army fall flat on its face? Can I give up born soldiers and still be "good enough" at shooting, while bargaining some other rules to smooth out the weak points in my army? Game 2 Victory over Tyranids Hadn't played Tyranids in a long time. I really had no idea what this list was about. Ah, got the exact same table again. Great. Awesome. But here he didn't have a lot of long range melta. He therefore didn't want to get out and exposed to my firepower. I tried to keep lines of sight on the three center objectives. Declaring the terrain obscuring again dictates the entire game. Terrain is such a huge piece of the game it's weird that players kind of handshake on what it means. Like if I can see through the terrain, he's dead right now. If I can't see, then he can maneuver around it and kill me. Hopefully 10th edition has a better terrain design. Annoyed with the terrain himself, he said he didn't want the final piece placed... I was fine with it. Still that left a huge gap for my scions to come on in for a neighborly bug barbeque. This game was unusually slow, I'm not sure why. Time ran out I think as we barely started turn 3. But, with barbicant's key kasrkins, and a whole handful of scions, his whole HQ and center section was crippled. The lemans also moved up for line of sight. Turn 4 and 5 would have been nasty. Still that little parasite bug came in and dropped rippers all over me. The bullgryns got infected repeatedly rolling a couple of 6's on that parasite and were really devastated. Game 3 Close Victory over Custodes If you don't count my paint score, I lose. If the Cadian command squad with the ogryn bodyguard dies in the final turn, I lose. If he makes a couple of key saves, I lose. If I didn't get first turn... probably lose. He really had me, but I squeaked it out. Great opponent, lot of fun to play. Custodes are so durable I was using vanquisher leman russes against his bikes. Ultimately he was afraid of my shooting, and played conservatively. I often feel that a hyper durable army can play recklessly. I really have no effective counter assault in this list (something like rough riders next to lord solar would be a totally different story - don't go charging units near that non-sense). My scout sentinels had some use in drawing him out onto the objectives - just a bit too tough for his shooting and he needed to get into combat with them... which is where I had lines of sight. Challenge: I don't know all their tricks, but I know they can really augment pile in, charges and consolidate. If they get to my lines custodes bikes will bounce all over me. This means I can't shoot them effectively. Charges mean significantly augmented movement - they can be anywhere on the board. Counter: I can use a strat to shoot into combat, but (1) only one unit can do it; (2) rolls of 1 go on my tank... with anti-tank guns. Also, if I fail to do damage, that enemy unit gets to hide from shooting while in combat, and lives to charge another. Counter: While lemans can shoot into combat and out of it, blast weapons still have limitations. Multi-melta sponsons can sometimes help a lot (though they're expensive). If it's ten thunderhammers charging you, there's not going to be any shooting back. If there's something dumb like a rhino transport trying to tag you in combat, there's defensive value here. Also, 3x heavy bolters and a stubber into the combat... that's not going to kill custodes. Counter: Just fall back? While necessary at times, this looks a lot like bad deployment and planning on my part. Also, if it's obvious the tank is dead, sometimes just shooting at what it can shoot at might just be better (acknowledging that falling back could instead mean using my whole army to shoot at the charging enemy). Counter: Why not get some practice games in to learn other armies. I even have custodes I need to paint up. It's hard to get too excited about rules in the twilight of the edition. But the larger principals of failure points in gameplay are likely going to play out again and again until I learn. And here's the list: - Happy Hunting -

Warhammer 40k Zeppelin... So, the Rob Hawkins blog entry from 2013 (appropriately entitled "Oh the Humanity") really remains the key inspiration. Length You can see it's actually fairly big. It's also then a pain to transport on it's own. Lots of fiddly bits on the bottom. Unfortunately I also wanted double heavy stubber emplacements on the top, matching old WW1 artwork. This doesn't really work for transport. It needs to lay on one side. And though it does stand upright... I also wanted to add a left to right rudder (presently I only have up and down). I suppose again here that if I were to keep the project sectionalized/modular then separate pieces could be transported and put together at location. If (a big "if") I make a bigger one, I'd certainly figure out a way to make it in separate sections. Texture Here is one area where I departed from the inspiration. I tried to paper mache a texture, or more specifically a cloth mache. So I got some cheese cloth and used wood glue. The cheese cloth was too unwieldy. It streches when cut, and doesn't like being cut to the point it clings on stretches out in unexpected ways. In short, it worked, but was really uneven. Fixing it was going to be a terribly long endeavor. On a whim, I'd previously thought to look for athletic/cloth tape, thinking that would make it easier to cover gaps. This however turned out to be the better solution for the whole blimp. It's hard to cut really uniform lines on the curved rear and front sections, but it's good enough. Also, 100x easier than cloth mache. 100x. Lines. I wasn't sure that I really needed to run a pattern of supports like the Hawkins blimp. Also it was going to take a lot of time. I decided to just run a few lengthwise, and abandoned the plan to run them widthwise too. In the immediate run up to Adepticon there just wasn't time. I used evergreen #175 styrene strips (square shaped). I did this instead of balsa, as I found much the same as in the Hawkins blimp that balsa just didn't bend well. To be sure, styrene also doesn't like to bend too much. It was a pain to glue. With more time I'd have run some caulk down each lateral styrene strip to blend it in more with the texture (glue spots are obvious at present). Engines. Part of where this project came from was seeing the engine bits on that new ork buggie. Shokk jumpa or whatever. I saw that and thought I could make a blimp engine. An odd thought, but it stayed with me. Notably, styrene is not really that strong, so this design is not recommended. Some kind of brazed brass cage would be much better. The Sharpie marker design isn't necessarily what I wanted, but it was in the ballpark, easily reproducible, and saved me several hours of custom fabrication on each engine. I'd imagine many household items might have stood in here just fine - small bottles or travel bottles. The fins are from RC/drones, I found on ebay for fairly cheap. Steering. The old WW1 artwork had some really cool designs for steering, that wouldn't make much sense with modern innovation. But, 40k isn't about engineering efficiency, it should look a little crazy. So we're doing four fins - elevators controlling pitch, up and down. I'm not a pilot. I'm learning this. This was a bit of a catastrophe to get straight and aligned. Brass rod and plates might have been much stronger and reliable. Also, it still needs a lot of detailing. I'm not satisfied, but i'm out of time. Painting. I wanted grey, I think, but didn't have any on me in the time crunch. So, I went green. I then realized I had created a giant pickle. Facing a literal and metaphorical pickle, I went and found some brown and black. So, camo it is. In hindsight I should have sealed the whole thing with a spray varnish first as the cloth didn't take paint well at all. Also, since it's so big, I just used craft paint through the airbrush. This is not really a great way of doing it, cheap though it may be. I think a couple of cans of spray paint would do just fine. I should mention since this is foam... I did worry it would melt with spray paint so that was a limiting factor I did consider (but I'm not sure what all melts this particular foam and it certainly could work - I just couldn't risk melting my project this far in and days before the tournament). Burning the midnight oil!

Krieg Diorama 2023 Ok, still catching up to where we are presently. So, back to the making of the board itself. Constraints/limitations. Space. Firstly, space is an issue. I'll need to transport this by vehicle. My truck only fits so much. I have to drive 7 hours to Adepticon. It's cramped. I have a truck bed, but March does not have pleasant weather in Minnesota/Wisconsin/Illinois. Rules. Second, the rules of the tournament only allow certain sizes. I suppose each tournament is different. For the Adepticon Team Tournament, we have three categories of display, traditional 3'x2', technical 3'x2' and structural - 5'x3'. I've always wanted to do the 5x3, but it won't fit in a single vehicle in my situation (gear, bags, paints, printer). With a bed cover in the back of the truck, maybe it'd fit, but it's also a large liability for moving around in stops and starts. Still, this isn't a tournament of strict/harsh rules. You probably could build whatever and they'd be happy to see hobby effort. I can't imagine they'd throw us out for a size infraction. Still, there were awards for each category in 2022 and 2019. So, crossing into the wrong category could mean untenable competition against larger 5x3 boards. Models. Third, we have model constraints. We've got 4 team members, each with 1000 points. 3x2 is not big enough. So, my board from 2022 and this year is going to feature 2 levels. I mean we could have every model on the board, but it'd be so tightly packed there'd be virtually no interesting terrain whatsoever. It'd simply be a textured flat board. So, using multiple levels is the only way I can see to fit the rules. Well, we'd thought about a vertical board with every model magnetized, but this has all kinds of problems of it's own. That design might be a great void combat board - like space marines walking on the outside of a ship, or on a moon. Design. Bunker. The problem this year was trying to avoid repetitiveness of doing Death Korps of Krieg again. I love the trenches, so they'll stay. But, I'm adding a bunker. I liked the atlantic wall style bunker and gave it my best shot. With a proxxon hot wire table, and the circle cutter jig, I was able to make concentric circles for the gun emplacement design. The circles were fatter/thicker than I'd like, but due to time constraints they were good enough to move on. The bunker will need gun shot holes, and chip damage (also some rusty rebar sticking out of any damage is a great effect). I've experimented with camo netting, but am still not satisfied. That needs a rethink. Too WW2? Maybe go more gothic? Hmmm... Turret. Also, I wanted to include elements similar to the Maginot line. So, I went about a second experiment with a moveable gun turret. It's supposed to be a retractable turret - it pops up to fire, and sinks down to load. That said, I left the guns sticking out even though this is impractical, as I figured many would not realize this is a gun turret without the guns showing. I'd like to add more of a base for it, so it has more detail. I'm also thinking of scraping it and just adding a hydra turret... That might look better anyway. ...also should have designed a ring for it to be seated in. Little details add a lot. I still like the concept, but I think execution needs more. Layout. The team wanted smoke effects in the trenches again, so I caved and made a crater to pipe in a fog machine. I did want to redesign the trench works, maybe run a communication trench too. And, instead of two opposing trenches as a theme, this year is one defensive trench system being overrun. And, I think I actually want the krieg overrunning the bad guys. So, I'm looking to get some chaos stencils from Fallout Hobbies. I love that old forge world renegade stuff that had rusty eight pointed stars on it. In hindsight I should have paid a lot more time and attention to the design. I'm not thrilled with it spatially. Like at least each table quarter should have something to draw the eye, if not every inch of the table. So, here I've got a somewhat interesting right side and just plan no-man's land on the left. I think tree stumps, water filled craters, or even a destroyed bunker might help fill it out. *note, it's a lot easier to cut trenches and craters before gluing sections on... carving out three layers deep takes much more time. *also note, should have labelled these as it became a huge mess...

Death Korps of Krieg Display Board 2023 - Adepticon and Beyond. So, I'm catching up from work these past two months. 100+ hours in, but never finished. Anyway, step one, I'm building a blimp display board this year. Last year was great. I got a lot of really great feedback at Adepticon and on B&C. People were really kind. But, the question is how to improve it? The problem with going to a new army is that I have to paint a new army, and make a new display, and learn all the rules. Huge, if not insurmountable, time commitment in my context. But, doing Krieg again... we'll it's more of the same. So it's got to stand out. Time to make a Zeppelin. Inspiration & Options. WW1 "dirgibles," "airships," "zeppelins." Now, in practical hobby terms, the Rob Hawkins hobby blog did it 10 years ago - "Rivet Wars Diorama: The Blimp." It's really great. I've also seen on various forums people attempted zeppelins in 40k via the mechanicus terrain (it being roughly cylindrical in shape. You can buy skeleton frames made of laser cut MDF. But they didn't fit my size expectations. Also, the cost was more than what I'd be ok with to test it out. If I didn't like it, it'd never get used. Construction of the shape. First, I attempted to use a 3-liter bottle filled with expanding foam. it was roughly a usable shape from the start. Expanding foam however, can only be added to a certain depth in one use or it will not set properly. So, go slow with the expanding foam can if you build it this way. I think it'll work just fine. I just didn't get a good effect and gave up on it. Second, I switched to cutting circles out of foam with a proxxon wire cutter table. That works great. 1" x 2' x 2' foam sheets (menards, home depot, lowes). I also got a circle cutter jig made of MDF. It's not strictly necessary, but it's helpful. Gorilla Construction Adhesive (for use in a caulk gun) is the magic glue. It doesn't dry fast and it's not super strong. But, it dries regardless of air supply. It also doesn't dissolve the foam creating noxious fumes. A hot glue gun can work, and it is very fast, but it is a fumes hazard and may melt the project to some degree (I suppose more or less depending on the heat of the glue gun). With the rough cylinder cut, it's time for shaping. For the rear and front cone shapes I used a knife to cut a rough cone. Then I used an electric sander with 120 and 220 grit to soften it up and shape it more. This can be easier without the whole blimp constructed. I think it's better to make a front cone, middle cylinder, and rear cone. Put them together only at the end. *Note: the electric sander kicks and gouges into the foam very easily - proceed with caution or it makes a lot more work. *Note: I used plastic bags and rubber bands to secure the end of the caulk gun - that way the gorilla construction adhesive didn't dry out when i stopped the project for the day. Worked great. Construction of the fins. I used Basswood sheets, 1/8" x 4" x 24." I didn't want to cut any more than necessary as the tiniest mistakes really show. So, the 4" width was very close to the radius I needed to install the fins. The 24" length was too long, but not a hard cut to make. Later on I came to realize styrene sheets might have been better because the stabilizers I installed were a real chore - breaking constantly. Not great. Gluing styrene to styrene is easy enough. Gluing styrene to wood or whatever doesn't work well. Maybe there's a better glue to consider. In hindsight I also should have been cognizant of the glue used to secure the foam discs to each other in making the overall shape. So I did it wrong - I glued the foam discs together and then went ahead and cut out foam for the fins to fit in. Don't be dumb like me. Glue doesn't cut easily with the hot foam knife. Plan the glue so perfect cuts can be made for the fins to attach. Actually the rear cone could have just been cut in 4 equal pieces, really. Transportation. Ultimately moving this thing is a disaster. I believe designing this in three separate sections would have been better. I think a center hole through the length of the ship, with a rod installed along the length would have been a better way to make this and also be able to transport it. Seams from the three sections could be easily hidden.

Hello folks - welcome to 2023! If you read my last blog entry, which by the way was too long ago, you will know that the reveal of new Astra Militarum aka Imperial Guard minis had me quite excited, and I talked about trying to resist starting a Guard army, especially if other regiments were to get the same update treatment as the Cadians. The new stuff is fantastic, and following that last blog entry there were some other reveals too, such as the Lord Solar (BraveStarr) on his steed, the Rogal Dorn Battle tank, a new Castellan and new fancy Cadian upgrade sprue, so in true fashion for someone who has a plastic crack addiction, I broke, but not in the way you might think. Upon reading the title of this blog entry you may have thought I caved in and got the Cadia Stands army set when it released? Nope, I did not. Nor did I pre-order the new Guard stuff when it went on general release, although that was a factor. When the new Cadian Shock troops, Field Ordnance Batteries and all the other stuff that was in the army set went on pre-order, I saw the prices of everything and quickly released that the Cadia Stands army set was ridiculously good value. Not only was it good value, it was still available on Games Workshop's website and also with a couple of Third party retailers! I did some quick maths, let out an excited laugh and ordered the army set for £110. I took my wife to the theatre that same day, so its fine. I couldn't help it, and I don't care. Its been a rubbish start to the year in RL terms, so this was a nice treat to myself, retail therapy I guess you could say. So far, I've built and magnetised the Filed Ordnance Battery, and I'm halfway through building the Sentinel. Its a actually a really nice set, the shock troopers and command squad sprues are jammed with all sorts of options, so I'm looking forward to getting those built and I have an idea for my own custom regiment, the Joroduun Aces - more on those later. Anyway, looks like I am indeed doing a Guard army, though whether it will see a tabletop is anyones guess, as is the question of will I ever get it built and painted. I can say one thing for certain though, I fully intend to pull my finger out and do some serious hobbying this year, and not jump from project to project if I can help it. Oh and by the way, that half built Wyvern - it lives again! It was actually in the garage and half built as a Hydra, but with a broken peg. I've repaired it and re-done it as a Wyvern, as I thought it might be more use. Just needs track gluing on and then paint. So then, Imperial Guard it is. I'm off now to go and pray to the miniature gods that we see some plastic Tallarn, Catachan, Valhallans etc, then I can really have an old school Guard army. Thanks for reading.

As per the title, I'm sure that will be a familiar statement amongst many collectors once the newly revealed Imperial Guard minis are released. Its been a long time since the Imperial Guard, or Astra Militarum if you're that way inclined, got new infantry sculpts for their main range. Granted we got a Death Korps of Krieg box recently, but the plastic Cadian range, which I'd say is their 'main' Guard range, has been showing its age for a long time now, and is way overdue for a refresh. I know they did an upgrade kit for the Cadians recently which had some nice bits in it, but it didn't solve the poor proportions of the original kit and did nothing to really bring the Guard up to today's standards. Don't even get me going on the plastic Catachans... Anyway, that all changed on Saturday the 8th October when during their online preview show, Games Workshop revealed brand new Cadian Shock Troops, along with a new Command Squad, a Commissar, Field Ordnance batteries, Heavy Weapon teams and a lightweight Scout variant of the already shown Armoured Sentinel. Not only that, there's going to be a new army box on the way ahead of the main release, much like they did with the Black Templars and Leagues of Votann, and this kind of ties in with my previous blog entry. The new Cadians/Guard look amazing, and once again I felt the familiar 'I must have these' urge. The new box will be called Cadia Stands, and will contain 20 Cadian Shock troops, a Field Ordnance Battery, a Command Squad and a Sentinel which can be built as the either the Armoured or the Scout Variant. There'll also be a limited edition Codex and presumably some transfers. They didn't show the Codex as apparently the cover shows a new character riding a mechanical horse, which immediately made me think of the old BraveStarr cartoon - if they don't call the horse Thirty/Thirty then they've missed a trick! I've never had a Guard army, but I've always wanted one. I've bought bits here and there - I had the old metal Valhallans, some Tallarn troopers with special weapons, and I've got a Valkyrie in a box somewhere along with a half built Wyvern. I've even bought and sold a Taurox, some Orgryns and Scions when I got a bit giddy once, but I never quite fully committed. Now, I have to admit I'm tempted, and I hadn't just bought the Leagues of Votann stuff I'd be declaring myself all in right here right now. I'm tempted because not only does it all look amazing, there was a key piece of information in the reveal that made my ears prick up like a cat hearing a food pouch open from 6 miles away. We can mix regiments again. Imperial Guard armies can once again have different squads from different regiments, just like the old days, and for me this is fantastic. Not only does it mean we'll see armies with tons of variety, its also gives us hope that other regiments might get the Cadian treatment, and if they make new plastic Catachan Jungle fighters, plastic Valhallan Ice Warriors and plastic Tallarn Desert Raiders, then we are right back at the start of this blog entry: My wallet will break before the Guard does.

Fix bayonets, etcetera.