Apocalypse Wow!

 

My local GW - Southport has recently had a new manager start, and as mentioned there will be an Apocalypse battle against the newly reawakened Necrons on the 19th November. So we've got together a 1,500pt force [as per instructions]. It's prety much our standard list but I wanted to try out the two Primes, and the Mycetic Spore.

We ummed and ahhed over Zoanthropes, Rippers, more Hormogaunts and the Biovore and in the end managed a bit of each just minus the Zoanthrope. 'Madness' some may say but he's currently broken and although their the only real anti-tank we have I don't think it's worth it to pin all our Monolith killing hopes on the big brained bug.

The Biovore was also not a first choice but having heard some reports about the danger of the new Scarabs I can see his pie-plate blasts coming in handy to thin out those things, so he came back in.

The Rippers may be surprising considering my past thoughts but I wanted to finish the other two bases of them but in the end thought just the three, and the Biovore was a better option. I ran the maths versus more Hormagaunts but realised I could have 4 Hormies or 3 Rippers and although there's less option to claim objectives the increased wounds may make them more of a pain to the Necrons. So long as I can keep them in Synapse of one of my creatures, probably the Trygon Prime after Tunneling then at least they won't start eating themselves!

So we have:

• Tyranid Prime with Lashwhip and Bonesword, Deathspitter
• Tyranid Prime with Pair of Boneswords, Scything Talons
• Tervigon with Catalyst, Toxin Sacs, Adrenal Glands, Stinger Salvo
• 10x Termagaunts with Devourer inside:
• Mycetic Spore with Hardened Carapace, Lash Whip, Ripper tentacles, Stinger Salvo
• 21x Hormaguants with Toxin Sacs
• 3x Tyranid Warriors with Barbed Strangler,Deathspitter
• Broodlord with Scything Talons, Adrenal Glands, with:
• 7x Genestealers with Adrenal Glands
• 7x Genestealers with Toxin Sacs
• 3x Ripper Swarms with Tunnel Swarm
• 10x Gargoyles
• Trygon with Upgrade to Trygon Prime
• 1x Biovore

1499pts. 68 figures [7 Synapse creatures] although some will be deep striking. The CC Prime will most likely join the Hormagaunts. I think the Trygon will be deep-striking but we'll decide on the day. I'll take pictures and report back after the event.

Size is everything... excuse me, isn't 'Terrain everything'?

Well, I suppose it's a bit of both in this case. You may recall the new kitchen was fitted last month and with it came a new dining table. Some may say it's too big but 'some' would never say that to his wife! The old table was 118 x 76cm, and the new table is 150 x 90cm [a 5' x 3' table!] which translates to 127% more width and 118% more length [depending on which way you look at it].

Obviously these pics imply that Ferron proxima has bitten the dust and been replaced with the homeworld of Superted's side-kick Spotty but this is only due to a new Ferron Proxima battlemat awaiting printing.

Here's my son's Tervigon and Old Matt Black: Former hero of the Imperium to add a sense of scale. Considering it's only a minor increase in size it certainly seems like there's a lot of room. To play I think we'll rotate the table so we can finally setup long board edge-wise but our deployment zone will only be 6 inches in so we have the full two inches of killing ground to make the shooting phase effective.

Anyway, when the new battlemat is done I'll share it with y'all.

To done...!

Following on from Purity Sealing 90% of my son's 'nids, which was on my To Do List. I still had to gloss varnish all the claws and talons. This wasn't actually high up on my list, not with some progress on my Dark Angels, which I'll share at some point. However, I found out the other day that our local GW is having an Apocalypse battle on the 19th to celebrate the Necron re-awakening and you've got to bring a 1500pt army. I wanted to get the majority glossed up so their claws are nice and sharp for the living metal.

The Trygon, Tervigon and Broodlord were already done but I've just gone through the

• 3 Tyranid Warriors
• 1 Tyranid Prime [the other hasn't been sealed yet so there's not much point to varnishing it]
• 24 Genestealers
• 28 Hormagaunts
• 47 Termagants [I think, it's difficult to count them as they all look the same - racist!]

Any job done so I'm a bit chuffed with myself and also that my son is interested again, well he's written his list for Father Christmas and good old Santa is going to have to visit GW too!

The art of 40k - More Gary Harrod

In the second of my posts about my favorite 40k artists I've only gone and stumbled across a few more pictures by Gary Harrod so I thought I'd share these before going on to my next fave artist. So here's the pic that blew me away the most [the one I described in my original post]. They all click much bigger than my usual fair, so enjoy.

Next up are three images from the Deathwing, Space Hulk expansion rules. Like I said the stark highlights and shadows literally jump off the page compared to the rest of the illustrations and I think when you add in the two pictures I already found you can begin to see the awesomeness of Gary's work. I love this terminator, just look at the amount of light coming from his gun, you can imagine having your retinas scorched by that after image!

Here too, the psychic battle between genestealer and presumably Deathwing Librarian. Taking into account most of the GW rulebooks at this time were monotone, with pure black and white and where grey was needed the dots in the halftone pattern were employed to give the required grey it was Gary's extensive use of black and white that made his drawings stand out most, like I say they leap from the page.

Lastly, what i think is the weakest of the three images in execution but possibly the image which holds more menace and anticipation thanks to the unsuspecting marine about to experience 'death from above' not the other way round as their usual motto states.

Oh, and the two previous pics to see Gary's work I've discovered so far as a set.

Get your Dose

WARNING, this is not really 40k related so please don't panic but it's better than nothing.

Some may recall my post in September regarding the video for the music from the recently released Space Marine video game. I got to showcase some of the work my Facebook buddy, Sam Hayles. Well he's only gone and updated his Portfolio website. On it you can see his awesome CD cover designs for the likes of Earthtone 9 and Monstter:

Also his excellent playing card designs:

His work is really cool and potentially inspirational for those who are creative and if you're painting figures then yes, that means you. Additionally you can purchase some of his artworks [currently featured in the TV show Hollyoaks of all places?!], sticker packs, t-shirts and even a mug at the DOSEprodSHOP. Check out his stuff, he's a really cool dude.



Deathwing Progress

That aim to produce a years worth of content has been a bit of a killer. I hoped to still have plenty of content to share with you but Dawn of War, the new kitchen and the slow progress on any Dark Angel material has brought the blog to a standstill pretty much, or it will do. I still want to keep up with blogging and my painting but a number of other projects really need priority, not least an update to my Kendo Club's website. What's frustrating is my desire to do 40k/hobby stuff  is still very much there, I just don't have the motivation to translate that desire to action... still here's an update on the Deathwing.

As you can see they all now have Ferron Crux Terminatus, although I think they need a Devlan Mud wash to bring out more contrast.

I've also added the bronze items, still need to do another highlight, then Devlan Mud and Badab Black to bring back the shadows and I'm going to do some Turquoise for a bit of verdigris patina which should age the weapons nicely, though I'm concerned it'll be a colour too far. Still to debate the use of Dark Angels green anywhere, it's questions like these that are delaying progress.

Eye lenses will be green, I think [?], but there's targetting lenses, all the odd rivets and bolts etc. the whole thing is just building into a chore to get even the smallest detail resolved. I'm happy with the Bonewhite but the battle damage will be another risk, which stalls that too.

On top of this I worked out I could have scratchbuilt an assault cannon from my Ravenwing upgrade sprue, which would have been useful and so would a Cyclone Missile launcher, which I could also make from the upgrades, or try to use the launcher from my Drop Pod.

G.O.D. knows what I'm going to do for the Sergeants Power Sword. I really want to progress with these but I'm spending ages on them. They're by no means Golden Demon, but I'm taking more care on them than the nids and the slow decision making is hampering progress from the beginning. Which obviously slows down the blog. Anyway, progress is progress, we'll get there in the end.

Apologies for the colours in the pics, night shots again in the garage. Hopefully I'll get some better ones at the next update.

Flufftastic - Ferron Proxima and the 'Caffeine Wars'

As I was writing my last STC post for the 'Ruined Caffeine Plaza Market' things kidn of got out of hand. A lot of ideas surfaced, fluff-wise for Ferron Proxima, far more than one post deserved and it would have taken away from the fact a new STC had been found! So I decided to split the fluff and create another new series 'flufftastic'. I've a couple of ideas of how this is going to go to bring Ferron Proxima to life but the very process of writing things down can build a rich tapestry and exciting new options arise, for example who knew there are a couple of sister planets - Ferron Ultima and Ferron Minima? So I give you my first efforts [although there's plenty of fluff already been written in the blog], 'The Caffeine Wars'

The flora and fauna on Ferron Proxima has always had a profound effect on how settlers and natives interacted with their environment. Unlike Caliban with it's mass of ancient woodlands [before it was destroyed] Ferron Proxima is a much more barren, desert like environment, rich in iron deposits, basking under sulphur skies. Many plants have had to evolve to cope with such a hardy environment. One of these is the Ferron Bindweed (Fallopia ferrousica). Ferron Bindweed is a species of flowering plant in the Bindweed family known by several common names, including Ferron vine, Guarana fleeceflower, Caliban fleecevine, Caffeine lace vine. It is native to Ferron Proxima and it can be found growing wild in parts of the Heartlands and has been bio-engineered for crop reasons. It is grown for its seed-laced vines, and is extremely fast-growing plant that has the capacity to become an invasive speces by spreading beyond its intended limits.

The Bindweed seed is an effective stimulant: it contains about twice the caffeine found in coffee beans (about 2–4.5% caffeine in Bindweed seeds compared to 1–2% for coffee beans). As with other plants producing caffeine, the high concentration of caffeine is a defensive toxin that repels pathogens from the berry and its seeds.These seeds plays an important role in the native cultures. According to a myth attributed to the Bear Claw tribe, Bindweesd's domestication originated with a deity killing a beloved village child. To console the villagers, a more benevolent god plucked the left eye from the child and planted it in the forest, resulting in the wild variety of Bindweed. The god then plucked the right eye from the child and planted it in the village, giving rise to domesticated Bindweed. The fact that the Bindweed seeds were in fact bio-engineered to deliver a purer and more refined fruit by the early settlers had been lost for millenia, although the tribal tales, passed down from shaman to shaman, remain to this day.

The natives would make a tea by shelling, washing and drying the seeds, followed by pounding them into a fine powder. The powder is kneaded into a dough and then shaped into cylinders. This product is known as Bindweed bread, which would be grated and then immersed into hot water along with sugar. This highly potent 'caffeine' brew has become renowned among the subsector and over time Ferron Proxima became awash with competing franchises.

Caffeine shops, plazas and markets are a massive part of Ferron life, including Ferron Proxima, Ferron Ultima and Ferron Minima [although the sister planets produce their own Ferron Bindweed it is not of such high quality as Proxima Bindweed seeds so a huge export operation accounts for a good portion of Proxima's GDC]. Caffeine joints sprung up across the planet, the sudden increase of consumption and competition even raised questions among the Inquisition as to whether the Bindweed seeds were at worst warp tainted or at the very least addictive. Declassified documents pertaining to the Caffeine Wars of 4541942.M40 show close examination of the gene-structure by Inquisatorial MechAdepts revealed discrete but recognizable STC matrix components. This led the Inquisition to publicly close their investigation but privately they approached each franchise with a mandate to claim compensation on behalf of the Emperor and the Adeptus Mechanicus for the use of  STC technology in their brew. Forced to capitulate to these new 'tithes' the cartels pressed harder to expand and compete against each other to cover the new expenses. 

Competition grew to the point where open warfare in the 'caffeine plazas' between franchises took place, with some franchises stepping up their protection by employing mercenaries and off-world gangers. Much like gang warfare in many of the Hive's sectorwide the 'caffeine loyalists' would band together to assault rival franchises, bringing new meaning to the term 'hostile takeover'. Regardless of the victor the battlefields were the caffeine plazas, the terraces awash with blood, spilled beans and latte foam. Many of these ruined plazas have long been abandoned, as it's not good for business to associate with the lowest point in 'barrista history'. Many independent retailers were obliterated including some large franchises, as well as renowned 'caffeine dynasties' dating back to the early settlers, who learned of the properties of the Bindweed and shared 'tea' with the Bear Claw Tribe. Since the cessation of all attacks in 4541947.M40 Starforts Caffeine has remained dominant in the Ferron market but Codex Coffee waits in the wings, plotting and vying for another chance to take control...

A dreadful idea?

It's been a long while but I popped into  a GW the other day. Not that I particularly care about the new game we've all heard about - Dreadfleet, there was however one aspect I was keen to see first hand. I'm talking about the printed fabric play-mat that comes with it. I had in my head an idea of the material I thought it would be but because I can't actually describe what that was lets just say I was surprised at the actual finished product. At this point I must apologise for not actually taking any pictures at the time, one of the staffers was keen to get me playing the game and I really only had enough time to look at it and all the cabinets and high-tail it back to work, so all the pics below are from the GW website.

 

Anyway back to my opinion of the mat. Well it actually looks like a big thick silk scarf. The pattern is vibrant and really detailed and I'm sure the weight of it is sufficient to keep it in place while gaming. It's even got a stitched edge to it to ensure it doesn't fray. My whole reason for checking it out is to raise the questions "What if this mat wasn't 5' x 3.5' and 6' x 4' instead? And what if it wasn't a sea-scape but a battlefield?" Is this something GW should be looking at? What would it be like for the next iteration of 40k to come with it's own battlefield included?

Granted GW might fear the cannibalization of it's Realm of Battle Game Boards but lets be realistic £155 is a lot of cash for a table-top, which you still have to paint yourself.

In actual fact GW is already aware of this which is why it already has a gaming mat for £18.50. Now I did have to do a bit of searching to rediscover this little gem but I think that's a decent price for what could be a new sideline in the GW market. Coincidentally it also seems to be roughly the price the Dreadfleet mats are selling for on ebay. I'm pretty sure these things would make quite a profit, even compared to the current play mat. I'm sure there are far more companies who can produce printed fabric sheets than sheets with flock glued on them. Having a multitude of fabric companies to secure a cheapest deal is more likely than couple of specialist model suppliers.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod2060001

But the concept doesn't end there because if you can do one type of printed battlefield, 'Cityscape' for instance, you can probably do half a dozen -

• Chaos Waste
• Ice planet
• Desert
• Jungle
• Alien infestation
• Oh, and Red Planet!

Because, as we all know when given the choice GW often tries to sell us six products when one will do (£15 for 6 Vortex templates?!):  

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=&prodId=prod1250222a

I'm sure you actually need all 6 of those templates but it's sets a precedent that there could be half a dozen different battlefields on offer for those that just want to play, not interested in the hobby aspect and what better way than to include one in the next starter set? They could even add another £10-£20 to the base price and you'd probably find people amenable to the concept.

Of course I'm not going to hold my breath for such a thing, and you don't have to, you can always print out my FREE Ferron Proxima battlemat, either at a local high street printers or in tiled A4 sheets and piece it altogether on one big piece of MDF...

http://40kaddict.blogspot.com/2010/10/battlefield-mars.html

My mate in the news, AGAIN!

My mate Liam, he of the scratch built Warhound and Warlord, fame once again hits the headline. He and one of my other old gaming buddies Ben trotted off to Warhammer world for the Throne of Skulls doubles tournament. He came 54th out of 200 and Ben came 6th! So congratulations but Liam also got nominated for best painted army and here's why:

And here he is hiding at the back in the middle when he received his award

Well done Liam!

A year of living dangerously

In my life I've always had an obsessive nature, certain things have owned my attention, firstly Games Workshop but after university and a lack of gaming that died off. Then I found a new passion with my obsession for my favourite band Pitchshifter until they went on indefinite hiatus, there's only so long you can pine for a band in the hope they'll release new material. So my return to kendo took over and for a good few years I was happy until the catalogue of injuries made me think I'd have to give it all up [though that may still happen] and it opened the door, together with my son's interest, to my oldest obsession  and it was then that I realised it was more of an addiction.

So there we go, I've completed the task I set - to try and post at least every other day something 40k [or gaming]  related. There's been ups and downs and hopefully I've contributed to all the true hobbyists out there, not just the ones that GW co-opted the name to use for the people that buy their products, but the ones willing to build and convert and model because they see value in home made stuff. I never wanted to start a blog and then leave it after a few posts. I wanted to add to the community both with items to build on the cheap and old bits from my extensive collection and I think I've received enough positive feedback to know I've done that.

But don't worry, this is not the last of the blog, I will still be keeping my hand in, just not rigidly sticking to a post every other day. It may be longer between posts and there will still be good stuff to share with you all. I still have my Dark Angels to complete and I will post updates of those and the many other projects started on my 'To Do list', but not completed over the coming weeks and months.

With the pressures of life I don't need the added hardship of supplying content when I should in fact be doing the hobby, if you recall I'd had nearly a years head start on my son's 'nids before I took up the blogging side of things so maybe it's about time I built up some more stuff so I can have a better source of material further down the line. Thanks to all those that have stuck with me for year, I'll keep trying to give you something worthwhile but I hope you aren't disappointed with me 'cruising' along, for a while at least. Here's to year two and whatever it may bring.

Terrain is everything - Hail the Omnissiah another ruined STC is found!

Caffeine shops, plazas and markets are a massive part of Ferron life, including Ferron Proxima, Ferron Ultima and Ferron Minima. The massive competition for the highly sort after local caffeine came to a head in the 'Caffeine Wars' 4541942.M40. Details of the Caffeine Wars are still be declassified for public consumption but common knowledge is that 'competition' grew to the point where open warfare in the 'caffeine plazas' between franchises took place.

Much like gang warfare in many of the Hive's worldwide the 'caffeine loyalists' would band together to assault rival franchises. Some franchises would begin to step up their protection by employing mercenaries and off-world gangers, regardless the battlefields were the caffeine plazas, the terraces awash with blood, spilled beans and latte foam. Many of these ruined plazas have long been abandoned, as it's not good for business to associate with the lowest point in 'barrista history'. Since then Starforts Caffeine has remained dominant in the Ferron market but Codex Coffee waits in the wings, plotting and vying for another chance to take control...

The Ferron AdMech library has revealed STC files to construct your own Caffeine Plaza/Market. To access the full STC please point your Cogitators here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B97Rk-BalgZbNTcwOGZkNzMtMGI0Yi00Nzc1LWExMjUtYzYyMTUxY2RiYzU3/view?resourcekey=0-GjiGlbjp643pOQD_WM14Nw

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

'nids part 27 - DiY Mycetic Spore pt5.

Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a jump from pt4 isn't it... OK, what can I say? I've already pointed out that when I get into painting something that I have a clear process of start to finish it just flows and boy did this thing paint easily. In actual fact I think this was by far the easiest thing I've painted. The Bonewhite bits just drybrushed like a dream and the texture built into the Pot Pourri seed practically painted itself. The Gryphonne Sepia washes pooled to perfection, I used Badab black in all the joins with the Chitin armour, blending it with the Sepia in places to make a pseudo Devlan Mud.

The hardest part was the Turquoise striations in the Chitin, there's quite a lot of them and doing it all at once became a bit tedious. This baby was pretty much cranked out in an evening, after the washes had gone down, hence the lack of step-by-step shots.

The Tentacles are just simple liver highlighted with a Devlan mud wash. I don't usually do more than that, maybe I should but anyway the base was done to my usual Red Planet basing recipe but where the spore has impacted I used Early learning Centre Black poster paint to shade it. Not sure why, there's no afterburners to scorch the earth on the spore but maybe it's orbital entry made it's bottom hot, hence the scorched bits. The Poster Paint really works well for this thing, really matt and effective, maybe this might be useful for other effects on my buildings etc.

A close-up of the Pot Pourri seed and Chitin armour

Now there's a few more shots where i was messing around with the white balance to try and get better colours. As mentioned I have the Ferron Proxima battlemat in the garage while we do the kitchen so I nipped in there to take these pics. There's slightly more available light in there, I don't know how, so I think these pics are naturally a bit brighter. The main point I took them is for scale - so can you fit 20 Termagants in one? I doubt it, certainly not 9 Warriors but the original plan was just for my son's Zoanthrope which it's plenty big enough for. Anyway the Monstrous Creature base is a significant enough concession to the real world dynamics of this beast.

I've looked again at the rules for this thing and aside from the obvious nonsense I really love them. 40pts with a squad of 20 Dev-gaunts dropped in your opponents back field would be so much fun. 60 shots from the Termagants and then just have this thing with a Stinger Salvo to get four shots on folk to hopefully annoy them into assaulting. If they get through the Termagants then maybe they'll forget that as a Monstrous Creature this thing does Power Weapon Equivalent attacks - BOOM! 

So, there we go, all I need to do is Purity Seal the beast and gloss varnish it's claws and it's complete. So why do I want to do another one. A lot of heartache and delays on this but in the end I think I could crank one of these out over the course of a week if I was pushed. With them being so easy makes me wonder about the Plasma Hatchers and their future... hmm!

Bill the Pony and his horsey mates

What can I say? It's Bill the Pony. I always planned to have him in my Empire Army and although he's been in this Humbrol Enamel state for decades he's been in the Dettol so he can be shiny and new some day soon.

http://www.solegends.com/citlotr/bme1fellowship.htm

Now this fella is indeed another Lord of the Rings figure but not from the Fellowship set. I think it's a Citadel Miniature and is one of the Black Riders mounts. Not sure where the Nazgul is but of note is the mistaken use of red poster paints on the hooves and eyes, y'see they're flaming right!

Partiuclarly mistaken in then using it on these elven chariot horses as no matter what I did the poster paint bled into the white. Successive coats still of white paint were left with an unearthly pink glow anywher in proximity to the red poster paint, which pretty much killed off all efforts to continue painting them. Except of course for ranomly starting again in black, which was sure going to solve that seepage problem.

http://www.solegends.com/citmd/md04elfchariot.htm

Anyway, check out the solegends site, there's plenty of old skool stuff that I remember/still own!