There are no Wolves on Fenris!

New 'Skin Wolves' from Forgeworld for WFB. £32 for 3, not knowing a huge amount about Space Wolves but perhaps they may have a use, I dunno?

40k Birthday swag

As you may recall the other weekend it was 40k's Birthday and local GW's had a number of offers on including these fine items that I secured: a 25th Birthday Mousemat

And a 25th Birthday Pin badge.

I also got an A3 Rogue Trader poster which I'll find a picture frame for, eventually. The day was not without controversy though. The manager had informed me previously of a local GW tournament that would be held at the 'GW Mecca' Warhammer World in June, a £15 ticket with £20 coach. That sounded good to me with the only downside that there would be only 20 tickets. At some point it was suggested I might like to take my son, which I wasn't 100% sure on, suddenly my cheap trip to the Mecca doubled in price. I was looking at possibly driving, which would have taken a third of travelling even with today's silly petrol prices. Anyway, it turned out on the day only 15 tickets were available, and presumably the reduced head count meant the coach had to be split between fewer people and that meant £27! I 'ummed' and 'ahhed' and just bought my own ticket with a view to speaking to the wife about whether it really was worth taking the nipper.

OK, I'm tight fisted but I maintain there';s a big difference between £30 in tickets and £30 in petrol and £84 all in, but she still made me feel like a 'heel'. So I got him a ticket and it means he should be painting 1,000  pts of Eldar to compete with, however much like the fallback cars in Top Gear I will be preparing a 1,000 pt Tyranid army too. I may also attempt to finish 1,000 pts of Dark Angels as well but with another 'nid force in reserve. Personally I don't hold out much chance for either of us but thankfully the 'nids are there just in case.

Incidentally, for MY birthday I got this from good friend Pete through Steam:

I needed to get a Graphics Card upgrade anyway to play Dawn of War 2 so this was just the incentive to do that with some birthday money, not to mention another ten Devgaunts and a second Broodlord. So expect some new distractions just when I need to concentrate on getting figures painted and I haven't even mentioned the two BloodBowl teams...

Here's the Trophy

As promised here's my Holy Grail in more detail, if just a little bit dull lighting, see the words prove my success

Lost Boys Gaming Club - Fall of Arminius Tournament

Yesterday I went to Church, the church of gaming that is! My local friendly neighbourhood gaming club was holding it's tournament and I think I mentioned it's based in the same church [hall] my grandparents used to attend. I took my eldest so he he could see what it was like and hopefully prepare him for whats expected in June, I really have to fill you all in on that score.

Anyway, I took a load of photos, but any semblance of battle reports would be incomplete. By the third battle my brain was fried, my legs ached from so much standing, basically I was knackered. In time I'll share some pics and perhaps a rough report of the three 2000pt battles I played. As well as th epics I took my son also took a few and it's great because while I was shooting board wide shots of the action he got down at model level and really captured the action.

I won't leave you in suspense though, I came 14th out of 16. I'm OK with that, I faced Space Wolves [loss], Grey Knights [draw] and Blood Angels and as much as there was plenty of Tyranid body parts strewn about the battlefields for not as much of the Emperor's finest I think I made every last point taken from me hard fought. I was beaten decisively but I don't think easily and even though there was plenty of vehicles I don't think my lack of anti-tank was an issue so I'm pleased with my efforts and enjoyed every game. 

"But what the hell is that trophy if you came 14th?" you say...

Well, I did win best painted army, voted for by the competitors. Which I'm so excited about and is two fingers to Toymaster [y'see I do practice Old Stuff Day every day]. Thanks to all those that voted for me. I should have taken pictures but the other competitors were a 'counts as' ork army which was full of character because practically every model was converted with tentacles coming from heads, human bodies with Tyranid scything claws for legs with a very rustic weathered finish. Another army of grey knhights had some fantastic force weapons, I think they were air-brushed. Lastly a camo-army of guard where there was an awful lot of character in every figure, with a sergeant with a blonde 'Beatle' hair do and every model with the tiniest painted eyes, in every colour. Also a lot of diversity among ethnicity within the ranks which I approve of, I don't suppose the Emperor is prejudiced [apart from xenos] if they can hold a las-gun they're welcome in the guard.

Well, I'll get the rest of the pics done at some point and write what I can remember and maybe take a better shot of my 'Holy Grail'. Does anyone know the etiquette of these things in future tournaments? Am I expected to have a different army or add extensively to this one? I have a few more dev-gaunts and a Broodlord coming but I don't think that'd be enough do you? I'm sure of the club hold another tournament they'll let me know if I'm in the shortlist and people can decide if I'm still worthy or reward someone else, but for today - I won 'for the Great Devourer'!

Old stuff day 2012

It's old stuff day 2012. Last year warhammer39999 wanted to join a movement to rediscover lost gems from the world of hobby blogs. To choose one of your own blogposts that your most proud of, or may not have got the attention it deserved or any thing that may warrant some necromantic blogpost bothering. On top of that you were to share blogposts from other bloggers which you thought deserved the same spotlight of attention before they were returned to their dark nightmare infested slumbers.

So I showed a little love for one of my old posts but then again I link to loads of my old stuff anyway so maybe I'm guilty of doing this all the time. Anyway it's time to choose this years blogpost and like the Highlander there can be only one and this time lets show a little love (♥) to my most popular of old posts:

Standard Template Construct (STC) systems were advanced computers created during the Dark Age of Technology, which are said to have contained the sum total of human technological knowledge. An STC system was possessed by every group of human colonists before the Age of Strife, allowing them to build all of the equipment necessary for survival on an untamed colony planet. It enabled the colonists to build efficient shelters, generators and transports without any technical knowledge and using almost any locally available materials. The user simply asked how to build a house or a tractor and the computer supplied all the necessary plans.

My STC page has been accessed over 4,000 times and I've seen versions of my models recreated and remixed. This hobby we do costs money but with a bit of effort, some skill and a few bits and bobs we can all have some terrain that we can be proud of, it's all I wanted to do and I hope there is value to the community and that even if folk find no use for it themselves they pass the link on to their friends and share their results with me. I've still got STC's to come so this thread will hopefully never die, just be reanimated on a regular basis ;)

OK so what's floated my boat from other bloggers. I made this easy on myself and went back through all my 'starred' stories in Google Reader and this is what I found.

Recipe for Bronze by Brian @ A Gentleman's Ones

Brian does an awesome job here and if you root around he goes verdi-gris crazy

Sandwyrm's guide to painting black @ The Back 40k

It's not so much the guide as the awesome 'emo-guard' end result

Sandwyrm's Adepticon Siege of Terra Diorama @ The Back 40k

I've no idea why I starred this, I don't even remember doing so but the diorama is awesome and it's just a feat for the eyes which I suppose is a good enough reason.

Loler's guide to painting yellow and grey marines @ The Brush Brothers

This isn't just a guide to painting yellow and grey marines, there's all sorts of tips from battler damage to weathering powders, a tour de-force of painting techniques.

synaps3 guide to Terrain at synaps3

I was going to do a post about terrain and 'tournament terrain' but after reading this I think synaps3 pretty much said it all.

To all those I may have missed mayhap I will reference you throughout the year anyway, enjoy the old stuff, wake the dead!

Terrain is everything - Hail the Omnissiah a new STC is found!

Techno-archaeologist Avro Vulcan continues to catalogue the many man-made hills that dot the Ferron Proxima badlands. It has been months since he unearthed the Standard Template Construct (STC) systems for what has been classified as the Vulcan Plateau. In this time he has discovered numerous other man-made hills buried under the distinctive steep sided flat topped hills that can be found all over Ferron Proxima. Excavating these sites has revealed one man-made hill in particular that has shown many sub-categories of construction. Vulcan has designated this hill the 'Mercury Plateau'.

The purpose of some of these structures are still a mystery but it has been noted that some of them have a slightly different composition of rockcrete than standard Ferron Proxima fare. Whether the richer iron content is due to the value or protection of the many storage facilities built into these mounds is unknown, Vulcan has theories but so far has kept them closely guarded. What is known is that these iron-rich mounds are particularly well suited to accept the STC for Plasma Generators., was this their primary function? Indeed even the current generator model  has adapted well to the Mercury Plateau and it is believed very little retro-fitting was required to the connection manifold.

However, the details of this coupling was another secret kept by Vulcan that has attracted a great deal of interest from data-hackers who have sort to gain control of this valuable information to share outside Adeptus Mechanicus control. Once private enterprise can access this information they will utilise it to gain control of all Mercury Plateaus suitable for Plasma Generators, thus reducing their need to pay tithes to the Ad-Mech administration.

To access the full STC please point your Cogitators here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbd2NTd3JpUGpSbm1ldTRhUzFwd2NOdw/edit?resourcekey=0-Uo2SSY82guWZ3FrOehSQ7g

This STC will be uploaded to the full Ferron Proxima STC library shortly. You can access the database here:

http://40kaddict.blogspot.com/2011/02/terrain-is-everything-standard-template.html

Happy Birthday to me, this is my gift to you!

Deathwing Progress 4 - Power Weapons and Belial

Back in April I shared my idea for Belial and as the first Deathwing squad is approaching something close to completion I though I would turn my attentions to him in an attmpt to finish them simultaneously. First thing first was the height difference from this ancient miniature. As he is shorter than the Assault on Black Reach terminators I decided he needed a bit more base! I got to use my Dremmel and rout a slot into a piece of slate from the garden, this has then been Vermillioned!

I'm going to redo the lightening claws to fit the same style as the current force weapons I'm doing, both on the Terminator Sergeant and the AoBR Captain [see the end of this post for where that's at]. Some Badab Black wash still to be applied.

Next up was the hard part, painting over the green reinforcements. I thought they were cartoony but they did look well executed if a bit glossy and OTT. Everything that was 'green enamelled' will now be weathered bronze like the current Deathwing. Not sure if I should change his eye lenses to green though...?

Last up his Crux has been covered in Mechrite Red and then overbrushed in Vermillion as standard. Not entirely sure how to treat the vents on the top of the armour and I need to decide if I'll drill into the middle jewel on top and pin one of the Ravenwing upgrade sprue items. It should make him look even more impressive. He's currently taller than the other marines but only just taller than the sergeant with his Iron Halo. Of course I'm loate to do anything that'll easily snap off, especially as this is such a 'compact' model, even if it does weigh a tonne!

Referring back to what I said above, here's my first stab at power weapons [pun intended]. Just playing around with the Vermillion Art acrylic. Will add some more washes and highlights. It's not awesome but I'm confident it'll be sufficient in the end.