Saturday Knight fever

Much like every other 40k addict I am frothing at the thought of the new Knight Titans, sadly I'll probably end up being late to the party  even though I'm already well versed in their lore. I still have this Warden [I think] and one of the Eldar Knights knocking around, I ebayed the rest about 6 years ago but can't find the pictures :( . I don't quite know how this burning desire for the new model came about. Initially I was like, OK, now it's something I have to have.

However, I've planned out this year, hobbywise, so there is no window of opportunity to fit one in, and I have a slightly more impressive alternative to the knight in my sights at the moment. So I will probably hold out for 12 months but the fact that just the one model would really help bulk out my Dark Angels so they were playable much quicker may impact that position.

  

Additionally I have a really cool piece of fluff that manifested itself and fits with the fluff behind Ferron Proxima's rogue Titan Legion and the importance of Ferron Proxima to the Dark Angels. The fluff pieces are swirling around in my head and I just want to get them down but they really only work for me with accompanying images which slows the process and is very frustrating, sadly.

Here's the Eldar Knight Titan.

   

I have to say this initial concept sketch by Jes Goodwin has slightly more appeal to me than the final model, there is a bit more flair and menace about it. The row of spikes on the back, the more rounded shoulder guards and bulbous hatch on top seems to have been toned down a little bit in the finished model. I doubt they'll do this but I hope they make some replaceable shoulder pads and I'd love to see something like a Vulcan Mega Bolter or Punisher Cannon alternative weapon mount, just the two weapon choices seems a bit stingy at the moment.  

Anyway, just stating my intent and sharing these old pics, have a good weekend.

Support you local blogger - www.germy.co.uk

How do I get to blogging for so long without ever coming across this website. Germy has been creating free terrain tmeplates for years and I was completely oblivious. His awesome buildings for 40k are all FREE to download, which I obviously love and the sheer amount of them makes my own efforts pale into comparrison. With so many building I'm even questioning if I need to do anymore, although they mostly seem to be sci-fi/frontier, original Rogue Trader stylee, not the Grim Dark Gothic, so there's still a reason. What's more is they all seem to be pre-textured and look to be simple to construct, truly 'Print & Play'

http://www.germy.co.uk/paper25mm.html

There are even  6mm buildings for Adeptus Titanics/Epic Armageddon

Additionally there are some great tutorials: http://www.germy.co.uk/wargaming.html, not least this simple tutorial to make fences: http://www.germy.co.uk/meshfence.html

Apologies if some of these picture links don't work, they look a bit dodgy here, but that should be reason enough to check out Germy's website, it's pure gold and all for free, check it out NOW!

Flufftastic - Hive Fleet Gorgon - Ferron Splinter Fleet - 'Proto-Tervigon'

In the early days of Hive Fleet Gorgon arriving on Ferron Proxima there was some confusion surrounding some of the larger bio-forms that had descended with the splinter fleet. Various xeno-biologists and bio-magi believed the larger creatures belonged to the Carnifex family yet some of the more outlandish claims were that these were a 'missing link' an evolved 'proto-Tervigon' that had the ability to spawn the Termagant beasts.

In time these wild claims were borne out. It transpired that Gorgon was once again adapting to it's surroundings, utilising the Carnifex as a chasis for what would later evolve into the Tervigon. It was supposed that in a previous encounter the Hive Fleet had an abundance of these bio-forms and had added bio-matter and symbiotic incubation sacs to upgrade them into Tervigons until it could find the requisite abundance of biofuel to create the Tervigons from scratch.

Despite the different scales between the two beasts there are now clear evolutionary steps evident between the Carnifex - proto-Tervigon - Tervigon and despite the intial confusion it is now clear to see that these beasts are related.

Regardless, these proto-tervigons continue to be seen roaming Ferron Proxima and in slightly different evolved forms across the Imperium. Whilst the bio-magi squabbled and awaited a clear evolutionary apex progenitor these proto-Tervigons turned up on world after world. Now that the Tervigon has been classified and catalogued in the Tyranid genepool the proto-Tervigons cannot be dismissed and nor should they be as they continue to fulfil a specific role in the Hive.

Latest reports suggest that on Ferron Proxima at least there have been less sightings of the Proto-Tervigon. In fact data simulations predict only pure strain Tervigon's will be present in the splinter fleet withing the next few months. The speculation is that once again Gorgon is adapting to it's surroundings. It is believed that the Carnifex 'chassis' upon which the Tervigon is based may yet prove more effective within the xeno-forming porcess. The Carnifex have shown to be effective in a numbe rof small skirmishes and they require less biomatter to gestate and therefore planetary defence alerts are advising to be vigilant against the abomination. Whether this means the Proto-Tervigons habe been reclaimed in a Tyranid Digestion pit to be respawned as Carnifex is yet to be seen, but maybe that was the plan all along - to be adaptable in the face of opposition. Once again to assume such blasphemous notions of intelligent thought by this Xenos filth is open to censure and 12 lashes by the Mobile Inquisitorial Arco-Flagellant Wains [please seek their 'blessing' at the next available opportunity].

To discover more about the proto-Tervigon please point your cogitators to Imperium data file #61Z-5L#proto-tervigon#

Old Stuff day 2014

It's old stuff day 2014. A couple of years ago now 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.

Last year I was well up for this, I had 'starred' a number of blogposts from other blogs in Google Reader but of course the events of my father's passing meant I didn't write the post and since Reader was removed I've lost all those cool posts so this will be just a few from other blogs

The only problem for me is I tend to link to loads of my old stuff anyway during my usual posting. Additionally I've been sharing other blogs too, so already I may have shown you old stuff from others blogs that's great. But I want to show a little love (♥) to some of my older posts so let see if I can do one from each year:

2011:
One of my more successful posts, I think becuase it's 'not safe for work' which seems to appeal to us geeks. Anyway, my mate Liam from bluewarpstudios should take most of the credit, it's his model afterall
ebay sales YOU won't regret! Yet more daemons! Maybe not safe for work... eek!

2012:
How about the first completed thing for my Dark Angels army, a unit of Deathwing 2 years ago! I even got a comment of praise from Ron From the Warp!

2013:
I decided to feature 2 posts from last year, I'd have probably done my post for my Dad but I only referenced that the other day so instead something more positive - my blind gaming enterprise, one of the most rewarding experiences I've had, Dan and I still keep in touch through Facebook and we've had a couple of moans about the new Tyranid Codex, not that we're still bitter:
Battle Brothers

And also the awesome Apocalypse battle my and my buds played
Apocalypse WOW! 12,500pts of Armageddon - prelude to war 

And don't forget the full details of these battles are available on the Battle Reports page

OK so what's floated my boat from other bloggers.

Let us not forget From the Warp. It's been 15 months since Ron took a hiatus from his blog, hopefully one day we'll see his return and such treasures he's crafted while away. His blog is pure gold wherever you look but how about this scratchbuilt Inquisitor Mystic? With help from the tentacle maker from Green Stuff Industries

Eye of Error does some consistently amazing armies but I have to say this is probably the best  - his Cthulu inspired Mariners Blight chaos Space Marines they should all be on this page, from WiPs to the finished article, anything tagged and there's plenty of it - a corroded visual feast!

I stumbled across orphenox40k the other day when I did an image search for 'red Realm of Battle' board. I was quite taken by the image below but even more impressed to find out it wasn't actually the Citadel boad but a scratchbuild and the tutorial attached make it look so easy to replicate I'm strugglign to come up with a reason not to have a go myself, well worth a visit even if it's only 3 months 'old':

http://orphenox40k.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/diy-realm-of-battle.html

Terrain is everything - Hail the Omnissiah a new Print & Play building

As is the tradition on my birthday it's time to give a gift to the community, sorry it's just another terrain template but you could look at it as a gift horse, just don't look it in the mouth! ;) Therefore I give you the tall tower version for my new black 'Print & Play' terrain scheme. If you've made the first building then it's exactly the same footprint with exactly the same options to keep or remove the windows, this time a lovely diamond leaded effect. So the building is the same, but taller with just a different colour for variety on your battlefield.

These would ideally be suited for the foamboard that has the black foam core. I was going to make one but didn't get round to it, sorry. However, that black foam would make these easily playable from the off, without looking too much like a quickly knocked up bit of terrain.

To access the full STC please point your Cogitators here, be fair warned it is 18MB in size [I make no apologies for this, I could probably render it as a .jpg or spend hours trying to reduce the file size, I tweaked it a little bit and got it down so hopefully it's less of an issue now.]:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbb212X3VRbE5KX0E

Meanwhile all the other Print & Play and standard terrain templates are available here:
http://40kaddict.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/terrain-is-everything-hail-omnissiah.html   

"It's just one of those things son" a year on.

No doubt some reading the blog may have only started after February last year. As such they may not know my Dad was knocked down and killed on my birthday 2013. Once again this will be a personal post and not 40k related so if you're not into autobiographical parts of the blog I'd recommend, and understand, should you choose to stop reading this post

It's a year on now and thankfully the court case has finished and the person responsible was found guilty. I won't go into details about the sentencing, the law is a funny thing when it comes down to car accidents, quite often the victims don't really feature in the final tally, it's more to do with your driving ability and lack thereof at the time. Having caused an accident myself where the motorcyclist could have died, but thankfully didn't, I know how the system goes and I appreciate the need for understanding when a momentary lack of concentration or some other inexplicable decision can have tragic results. Unfortunately there is no Undo [Ctrl+Z] in life, much that I wish there was.

Anyway, moving on we've come to terms with our loss, 2013 was pretty crappy all round really so I'd like to recall at least one happy memory I shared with my Dad - probably the only time we ever got drunk together, sad though that seems to admit now. Rest assured there is no real story here, it's just me reminiscing, there's no punchline and it'll ramble on but I wanted to get it down.

For those that don't know [probably most of you] I went to art school [college/university] in Falmouth, Cornwall. It's about 350 miles from where I lived, pretty much the furthest I could possibly get from my home without leaving the country [although some people claim Cornwall is another country, those people are called Cornish people ;)], this was purely intentional. I desperately wanted to 'fly the nest' and did not want a back up plan should I feel homesick. By making sure I was 10 hours away by coach there was no chance I could scurry home with my tail between my legs [and it's such a nice tail too!]. But this distance was problematic a few times a year when I needed to get to or come home from university and the coach really didn't cut it to take all my stuff. For those times I needed my Dad, or once my brother made the journey instead.

This particular time my Dad came to collect me my Mum was supposed to come too. Unfortunately I think she had sciatica - back pain so severe she had to stay in bed with my brother to watch over her. Meanwhile my Dad set off to pick me up and I'd booked him into a B&B about a mile from the town centre on the outskirts. Falmouth is one of those typical harbour towns rows of houses seem to spread back onto a hill and then back down the other side so if you want to get out of town you have quite a climb to get up and then down, I never imagined I'd be escorting my 'slightly worse for wear' father along this route.

Anyway, my Dad arrived in the afternoon and we spent it with the family I was living with and then in the evening went down to the town to get something to eat. We went to the Quayside Inn, which as the name suggests was on the quay side and there are plenty of benches outside, in fact it looks exactly like the following picture [this was the day we handed in all our course work, probably a year after my Dad and I went for a pint]:

My Dad and I sat outside, it was a glorious summer evening and we drank and probably had a 'cheese hand' - a flat oval loaf of bread about 12" by 4" and unsurprisingly covered by cheese and it's all toasted, yum. So we drank and ate and as it was just the two of us on the bench other people asked to sit alongside us. I've no idea who the group was but I was under the impression these middle aged people were lecturers at the art college, although none that I recognised. They proceeded to discuss art and the merits of modern art and eventually fuelled by the local brew my Dad started to enter into the debate they were having. He boisterously started to decry 'modern art' his Liverpool heritage and practical engineering background making him unable to accept any art other than, well y'know - a 'nice picture'! I was both mortified and amused to see him delivering the 'joe public' view of art to these people who were just too cultured to offer an argument to convince him otherwise.

It reminded me of when I was choosing my A-levels and wanted to take Design and when my Dad questioned the Design teacher about it he said 'can he make any money doing this?' to which my Teacher said 'why yes, he can make around X thousand pounds a year' to which my Dad then questioned his whole life by saying 'well if that's the case why aren't you doing that for a job instead of being a teacher!' My Dad wasn't thoroughly 'Northern' and outspoken but he had a couple of moments like this that stick out which is why I cling to them in equal embarrassment and fondness.

Anyway, with the conversation reaching a stalemate I forget whether we left or the lecturers decided there was no argument that could overcome Northern common sense and made their escape. Eventually it was time to take him the mile back to his B&B, but the journey home with an inebriated person who has rediscovered the Scouser within was fraught with more embarrassment, not least when he struck up a conversation with a couple of Cornish glaziers who were replacing a smashed shop window around 11 or 12. I'm not sure they had a clue what was going on when this bloke, who was clearly not local, just started to chat with them in the middle fixing the pane in place.

I eventually got him to the B&B, and then had to travel half a mile back into town to where I was staying. Of course I could have left him to find his own way and got home earlier but I could see he was in no fit state to navigate by himself and I wanted to ensure he got in safely. So I was quite surprised when I finally got in and found my Landlord or Landlady still up and waiting for me. It turns out that my Dad had not rung home to tell my Mum or brother that he'd arrived safely. To cap it all my Mum's Sciatica had got even worse over the course of the day and my brother was in bits about what to do and had rung my landlady to speak to us but we'd been out all evening having a right old time!

I never quite found out how much trouble he got into for that little escapade, I think I recall a sheepish phone call the next day and us probably spending that 350 mile journey back trying to come up with a series of believable excuses as to why, at the least, he'd not made the courtesy call to say he was safe and why we'd been out boozing when my Mum was ill. To be honest though I'm glad we did, whatever the price. We didn't spend  much time like this, just the two of us and certainly never in the capacity of father and son going for a pint. It's a cherished memory for me, the nuances lost to anyone else but one I have always held dear. Thanks for your indulgence, yet again.

This was my Great Grandfather's World War 1 Memorial plaquette, my Dad was named after him and my Mum recently gave it to me, so I thought it worth including both in memory for my Dad and my Great Grandfather in this anniversary year.

Bluewarp studios: Warlord Battle Titan, Part 5 - Last day on eBay!

10h left on Liam's Warlord Titan, I expect everyone's going to bid in the last few minutes of the auction, just to make him sweat. Of note is the addition of delivery to the UK! So please consider giving it a good home if you've always wanted one and I suspect with the introduciton of the Knight Titans you may well need one of these in your army.



Bluewarp studios: Warlord Battle Titan, Part 5 - Last day on eBay an...: My Warlord is down to the last 24 hours on eBay, it's had 2729 page views in nine days and it's time for some battle shots..... stay...