Thursday 14 May 2009

How to - Lava Bases

this is my first how to, hopefully it makes sense. its pretty long for what it is, but i didnt want to miss anything!


1. Get your base… like this. Mine has green stuff in because I'm actually using slotta bases, and as you cant really do it with the big hole in the middle, I've filled it in a couple of days before.

2. Take you modelling putty, and model it onto the base. It doesn’t have to be flat as a pancake, as this is ground that we are modelling. Leave it for one hour to harden slightly.

3. Once you have left your base for an hour, come back to it and decide how you are going to model it. Basically, at this stage we want to cut the lava flow out possibly the most important stage so far. remember that lava does not normally flow round right angles, and that you actually need somewhere for the model to stand that isn’t lava! Even with ceramite shoes you can’t go paddling in molten rock. I tend to use a modelling knife, and trace out the outlines of the flow and cut it out.
4. Once you have done this, and cleaned up the flow area a little, you need to worry the base. Just get the blade of your modeling knife and prod or poke the green stuff with it. Not to much, but just enough to make it look like scared rock, and something that you can dry brush later.
5. Now leave it to set overnight, or at least until it is rock solid. Once it is, undercoat with black. Defiantly black in this instance, and I prefer to spray as it provides more even coverage.

6. After this, dry brush the base with Astronomican Grey.
7. Now for the good bit, where the base starts to take shape. Paint the lava flow with a dark red, I tend to use Mechrite Red and then Scab Red if I have time, to really build up the colours. Don’t worry about the coverage of paint in the middle for these coats, we are going to paint over the centre fairly rapidly.
8. After this, we’re going to use Blood red. At this point I tend to put a little more than I normally would on my painting tile, as we’re going to mix in yellow and gradually build up the colour, I find it useful to have there waiting for me.
9. The next step is to mix in some Sunburst Yellow, to get a nice orange colour. I don’t actually use orange in this process, as because I'm merging through red to white, I feel that it makes a more consistent colour. The most important thing is now not to paint the whole flow, but gradually paint less and less. The centre of the flow will gradually get lighter and lighter whilst the edges of the flow now need to stay darker colours.
10. Next, just mix in more yellow, to get a brighter/lighter orange. Continue to paint just inside the previous colour. Do this twice, just to build up the colour until you get to quite a bright orange colour.

11. Now, switch to Sunburst Yellow. Mix in a tiny amount of the previous orange that you had for the first coat. After this, apply a second coat of pure Sunburst Yellow on top.
12. After this, mix in some skull white with your sunburst yellow. Just paint a tiny amount in the middle, and then follow it up with a line of pure skull white.
13. Finally, tidy up the edge of the base with chaos black, and use matt varnish on the actual flow (nowhere else) and there you have it!

Objective counters

i saw an article on the front page of FTW a while ago about objective counters. i have finally caught up. mine are basically resin counters with parts from bedlam cubes super glued onto them. a little bit of wire mesh, so bits from some sprues, and indeed bits of sprues and here are the before and after pictures.

im kinda tempted to leave them as they are, because i like bright plastic colours, but i figure i will probly paint them.

Sunday 10 May 2009

Lava Bases

i finished these guys:





the bases are the bit im the most proud of. these are the first models which ive tried to highlight and ink all over. im hoping, at some point this week to make a how to for the bases. its really just a bit of green stuff, but i think its important.

Saturday 2 May 2009

Off to Warhammer World

Again?! i hear you cry! its nice to live so close, i really enjoy it and am conscious that not everybody is as privileged as us guys in the UK. having said that, i don't live near a battle bunker or anything like that, i would like one of those. im going for a mercenaries tournament, and here is the list that i intend to take:

Thunder Wolf Great Company

Wolf Lord: 122 Points
Frost Blade, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Frag Grenades, Meltabombs, Wolf Pelt
+1A on counter attack, always hit on 3 in combat.

Venerable Dreadnought: 170 points
Assault Cannon, Extra Armour.
Re-roll Dice for first turn

Grey Hunters: 235 Points
Pack of 9, Meltagun, 2 Power Swords, 2 Plasma Pistols, 5 Bolters, Frag and Krak

Rhino: 50 Points
Extra Armour

Blood Claws: 146 Points
Pack of 9, Power Sword, Power Fist
Come with Frag Grenades

Rhino: 50 Points
Extra Armour

Blood Claws :186 Points
Pack Of 11, 2 Power Fists, 1 Power Sword
Come with Frag Grenades

Blood Claws :186 Points
Pack Of 11, 2 Power Fists, 1 Power Sword
Come with Frag Grenades

Vindicator 140 Points
Extra Armour, Siege Shield
Ignores Dangerous Terrain

Whirlwind: 85 Points

Wolf Scouts 130 Points
Pack of 5, Melta Gun, 2 Power Swords, Melta Bombs, Frag Grenades,
Comes on from opponents table edge.

1500 Points



im hopefully of at least one win, as i have only ever won there twice (i must have been like 10 times) ive gone for a whirlwind and a vindicator as i feel that the whirlwind allows me to force the game and play objective denial a bit more, bombing the oppenent whilst he (hopefully) can't see me.

Friday 1 May 2009

painting a gaurdsman competition






so, to celebrate the release tomorrow of codex guard, my store are having a competition. best color scheme/paint job will lead to their entire store army being painted that color! and to boot, we all get a free model :) this is my entry, he doesnt have a name. the paint job has taken me ages (as i cant really paint) but i think the color scehme is simple yet effective and possibly a winner :) or least top half! i should find out tomorrow. i know there are no transfers on the shoulders, im going to sort that out before i hand it in! any thoughts? what has been your relationship with the new gaurdsmen so far?

Monday 27 April 2009

terminator updates

hey guys! sorry for the long no post, work can get on top of you sometimes.

here are a couple of pics of my terminators... not finished yet as ive still go to highlight and do a load of final touch ups.... but they are looking pretty. im really happy with the gold and green!

in oter news, i am currently painting a single imperial gaurdsman for a store competition. GW leciester (uk) are having a comp where the best painted gaurdsman will become transfer his colour scheme to the entire store army. you get the model by pre-ordering the codex, and its the promo one standing to attention from the (as i speak) current codex. i will take some pics for my next post.


Monday 20 April 2009

Getting New Stuff without paying

So, Ron over at FTW has asked for a few money saving tips. since im currently trying to build an army and pay for a honeymoon, it could be said that i have to keep my wallet in check to avoid my priorities being discovered. so here is what i have learned.

1/. Old Models. As i mentioned in the last week, old models are a blessing which you cannot love enough. i found a rhino, a predator, an attack bike with MM. and these are just the ones I've used! There was 3/4 of a LR Crusader, and around SM bikes in this bag of goodies as well. that's a total saving of £117.20 brand new!

2/. eBay. this is obvious. my salamanders army so far as cost me about £30 and i have a devastator squad with 4 Multi-Meltas, 20 Black Reach Marines, and a Squad of real TH/SS terminators. i say real because they are not black reach ones. how i hear you cry?
-look for cheap bargins. thats how i got the tactical marines.
-don't over spend - just because its on eBay does not mean its a bargain.
-sell what you don't need. i had spares to make the terminators, so i sold the all the lightning claws and shoulder pads (amongst other things) to recoup the cost of the terminators. so much so that i had enough to buy a whole second box

3/. conversions. yes conversions are cool. but how much more accomplished does it feel if those conversions are in fact from you putting in the effort to look in your reserve bits box for that left arm, or that extra tentacle? you will feel more proud, i definitely do!

4/. magnets. if you have both sets of arms of you terminators, or both sets of sponsons for your Leman Russ, then why waste one set? magnet them up baby! this allows you to interchange them. or, if you are to busy to do that, use blue tack or double sided sticky tape!

5/. play test. the easiest way to save money is not spend it. if you are thinking about shelling out for that second carnifex, or the 3rd wraithlord (shudder)then borrow a friends for a game. if the store battle bunker is really cool, they may even let you borrow one. though that's probably an outside possibility. failing this, if you are playing with mates, just sub models in for a game. that way you find out how vulnerable land speeders really are, or how much fire wave serpents can really take.

6/. research. this is kinda included in the previous point, but the internet is a world of a place. ask in your local battle bunker or store, check out sites and forums to see what people think of certain builds. they may help you out. a warning though on this, always remember that it is your money you are spending. don't buy the baneblade to please the staff member, or cave on your opinion that you want to play with wolf guard in Terminator Armour because you like the fluff.

7/. Swapping. this is an easy one. somebody somewhere will have a use for your spare power sword or chaos havoc. if you can find that person, and they have something that you want, then you are home and dry. you both get new models, and it doesnt cost anything!

thats pretty much all i can think of... its not exhaustive, and has no pictures. but hopefully its helpful!

Saturday 18 April 2009

New Models!

one of the best bits about this hobby - getting new stuff! the terminators are fairly easy to recognize, but the third model is slightly more subtle. he is, technically speaking, a womble marine.





which leads me to my next question. does anybody have any cool ideas for names for these guys? eg i play against somebody who has named all his guardsmen, either as star wars good guys or bad guys, or heroes from this or that. i was thinking of something similar, but i just cant quite put my finger on it. maybe as they are from vulkan i could do something with star trek and the vulkans. having Spock beat up a bunch of Khrone Deamons would be pretty cool. any thoughts?

Thursday 16 April 2009

index astartes and finding models

couple of quick things today. there would be more posting but im currently on holiday and planning my wedding! being in my parents house does have its advantages though! today i found an attack bike, a rhino, a half intact land raider crusader and a predator! they may be a bit shabby, but touching them up will cost me a lot less than buying them all :)dont you just love that! thats a possible saving of like £50! im also seriously considering making the preadator into a lasscannon/plasma gun rasorback. because they are cool.

does anybody know which white dwarf has the salamanders index astartes in it? i want the background detail for my salamanders, but the books in which they come are oop and expensive! and the 4th one is also not on ebay at the current time!

Tuesday 14 April 2009

Space Wolves - Hunting in Packs Part 1

Recently on BOLS, there was a couple of articles regarding the top tournament armies that they see atm. Obviously everybody has their own opinion on if each army is in the right place or whatever. i just thought i would talk about what i know. so im going to talk about Space Wolves. these musings do include things to do with the latest SM codex, they are not just about 5th ed. this article is tactics in a way, if you dont face space wolves often it may help you see some of their weaknesses, but in the second part of the series i will discuss hold to actually play with them.



Advantages

1/. running. running is awesome. even your dreadnoughts can run! in any given situation, you are going to be in a position to assault the enemy (should you so choose) possibly up to 2 turns earlier that you would be normally. so, with your squads of 11 with 2 power fists and 1 power sword blood claws spend less time absorbing lasgun fire. seeing lots of marines run at you very fast is enough to panic anybody. and when they panic, they make mistakes. all of this works to your advantage.

2/. storm sheilds. are now awesome. and as a son of russ they are very very cheap! 10pts for my wolf lord to have a 3+ invulnerable? dont leave home without it. 5pts for wolf gaurd - even better.

3/. no more partials. as a general rule this does not help space wolves, as they tend to get blown away more than before. however, for 100 odd points the investment in either a whirlwind or vindicator is well worth the potential fire support that they can offer.

4/.improved cover saves. shooting through other units is a massive boost when playing a gunline army. furthermore you can put marines in front of your dreadnoughts, and they then get a cover save as well!

5/. old codex. the costings for space wolves are based on 3rd rules. this again works both ways, but blood claws are really quite cheap. and they will very rarely need anything more than a 4 to hit somebody (not that this matters with 4 attacks each)other things that are a little broken are the cost of storm shields, our venerable dreadnoughts are better (and can be taken as HQs)they also use the old upgrade system, so you can have units of 5 grey hunters with a plamsa gun, a power sword and a plasma pistols.

6/. counter attack + wolf pelts. this is possibly the biggest (and least know about) advantage. space wolves already have counter attack, and this means that on a successful leadership test, when you charge me, i charge back. with the whole unit. this means that should you charge a unit of 10 blood claws with 1 power sword & a power fist, they will receive 32 normal attacks, 4 power weapon attacks and 3 power fist attacks.
the break down is as follows:
1 basic
1 CCW
2 berserk charge
=4 each (apart from the power fist, who gets 3)

7/. multiple HQs. for every 750pts or part there of you have to take a hq choice. even if you have to take 5 for a 2500pt game. this means you really can have loads of guys running around with power weapons, leading the charge, healing your long fangs, doing everything. and space wolf HQs are amazing. the wolf lord in particular is a beast, 4 attacks basic is pretty hefty.

Disadvantages

1/. no more charging into another unit. you cant charge into a second unit at the end of an assault phase, meaning that you are open to nicely formed gunlines. especially with the new gaurd codex up and coming. this is a big disadvantage for the way i play my space wolves. being in between the enemy lines is how you kill them with space wolves, which means that you will usually end up with rapid firing everything in your face... even more so than in 4th.

2/.template partials. this on both sides because it works for and against me. whilst i use vindicators, plasma cannons and whirlwinds, having one flank blown away by a battlecannon or a big chunk taken form the middle of my lines by a couple of obliterators is just much more likely to happen.

3/. true LOS. this can be a huge pain. no longer can units of blood claws lurk behind a wall of trees until a late game move. you have to find solid cover, like a big hill, or some buildings.

4/. still no rhino rush. i was not (even a little) expecting this to come back in, but since its been taken out space wolves really have had to work harder for thier victories.

5/. "no matter the odds" is no longer applicable. for those of you that dont know what that is... in the space wolf codex there is a rule that says because space wolves are so crazy, they can ignore any and all negative moral modifiers. so testing for LD in combat would always be a straight leadership test. however, in the most recent FAQ this rule just "no longer applies." now, im not going to moan horrifically, as it did show how much the SW codex was broken with the new assault rules... but to merely wipe it away is a little annoying. hopefully, the new SM codex will rectify this, without just making them fearless.

6/. drop pods. the latest FAQ says that for the old space wolf rule you now refer to CSM for the rules. the main problem with this is that under my interpretation, you have to take a whole drop pod army. which personally, i dont like using.

7/. old codex... hurts a little. there is no point taking wolf gaurd in terminator armour, they really are unbalanced. and 30 points each for assault marines? thats a little to much. they eat away points very quickly.

Sunday 12 April 2009

in short

Something i didnt do as my first post, was to set out my stall in the world of 40k. what armies do i play? what is my background etc. i didnt want to make it the first post... but i do need to contexualize my blogs.

so.. the armies i play are: Witchhunters, Deamonhunters, Space Wolves, and Imperial Gaurd. im basically the kinda guy who plays the good guys lol. im also starting of a salamanders army, based around vulkan rules of nastyness.

Space wolves are my main army, although they are only really just beginning to shape up after 5th ed, they can be very nasty. i like the fact that storm sheilds only cost me a maximum of 10 points, but dislike that i now have negative combat modifiers on my morale checks.

my current project is my salamanders, (pictures will follow in a week or so) but they are coming along nicely. somebody showed me a nice way to do the bases which im really please with. you basically green stuff the whole base by maybe a couple of milimetres, and then once it has cured for an hour you cut out a stream shaped area which becomes the lava. if you also worry the green stuff with a blade it makes it look good. then on a black undercoat wash the whole thing in a watered down gray before painting the lava red through to white. simple, yet effective.

Friday 10 April 2009

vulkan hestan list

So, im currently building up my salamanders list. i currently have 2 tactical squads and a squad of terminators in the works. my main problem is that with these guys, a couple of rhinos, vulkan and 3 squads of Devastators all with 4 multimeltas, i work up to around 1250 points. which leaves me with 250 points.

now, my army is fairly defensive, with the 12 multimeltas from the devastators forming a nice firebase from which to shoot things up, whilst the tactical squads go for late game objective siezes whilst not trying to give KPs away. the TH/SS terminators deal with anything advancing on my lines, whilst distracting my enemies into not shooting at the things that will actually hurt him (my devastators)

so, i figure that these are a few of my options, working from the models i already have/ think would provide what the army needs

1/. Deamonhunters Inquisitor Lord, with three mystics and an Eversor assasin. this option allows me to shoot the living hell out of anything that dares to deep strike in my half of the board. whilst the eversor can either outflank and take a chunk out of a flank that is bothering me. these guys love wraithlords.

2 Grey knight terminators. this option provides me with hitting power, and also gives my oppenent to much to think about in the way of terminators. also, the force weapons that the grand masters wield do not cause instant death. meaning i could topple things immune to it in one go.

3 Sterngaurd + librarian. this combo would allow me a lot manauverability in terms of using the Gate to fly around the board, wiping out units as i go. would also allow for late game objective siezeure or contesting.

4 sisters of battle dominion squad, possibly also with seraphim (thou i think you can only take one fast attack as an ally.) these girls would be able to use the ability that vulkan confers for thier flamers and meltas etc, which would be cool and annoying for my oppenent.


so yeah, these are the choices that fall to me off the top of my head. 250 points sounds like a lot, but when you get down to it, it really isnt when you are looking for a finisher, or the unit that will just irritate your oppenent.

Apoc tourny at warhammer world.

As you know, i went to warhammer world on Monday for a tourney. it was Leicester Store VS Stoke Store, and the idea was we played each other in two rounds of smaller games, and then the outcomes of those games would have an effect on the larger apocalypse game. as it turns out, i ended up teaming up with another member of GW Leicester, who also had marines. he pretty much had the same army as mine, a Librarian with gate of infinity, and the Avenger. he did not, however, have a vindicator, but he had some scouts and some toys for his marines.

the first game we played was against a couple of cool guys called Dan and Andy. all the games were Kill points, and we had a pitched battle deployment. They had Eldar; with 3 Wraithlords, and Eldrad with a seer council. when they redeployed the wraithlords all to one flank, i knew we could be in for some trouble.
The early game went well for us. the wraithlords stumbled over the terrain and we shot them up a bit, and we double teamed a squad of Guardians with our HQs. so we got an early kill point, which was pleasing. however, Eldrad was a pain as his ability to force us to use 3D6 when testing for psychic powers meant that we stood to loose wounds for perils of the warp test, as neither of us had taken invulnerable saves.

the mid game saw things even out, with them dropping a Autarch right next to the Galleons Reach and though it survived, the vindicator was now immobile. we also started constantly missing the approaching horde of wraithlords, which we horribly realized we couldn't hurt in combat. we did manage to nail the Autarch in one glorious round of combat with scouts, but the odds were racking up against us.

The late game was the best period of the game, easily the most enjoyable. two of the wraithlords crunched my librarian with a combat squad, whilst the third was facing down on our gun line, supported by half a seer council with Eldrad, who was now not hindered by physic hoods, since the warp had taken Dan's Librarian. in the end it came down to our tactical squads taking out Eldrad, his seer council and a wraithlord in the last turn to give us a cool 3 kill points, totaling us to five. they unfortunately, had 6. so we lost by one.

The second game two guys called Matt and Adam. again it was kill points, and this time it was table quarters. facing chaos and chaos daemons, we created a fire base with all the guns we could muster and waited to see what would drop and where. it turned out to be two soul grinders, right in front of our lines. they promptly ate one unit of scouts, and whilst we managed to kill one of them in a trade of for my vindicator, the second one hid in some trees. the fast approaching daemon prince was also a pain, for some reason in the second half of the game he really started to pass all of his warp time saves. didnt manage to murder him, which was disappointing. we ened up loosing seven kill points to 5.

As it turned out, stoke were the overall winners, with more kill points in thier team by some margin. i would point out that they had been told that they only had to bring a troops and HQ and could spend the rest on what they wanted, allowing them to field power.. but i wouldnt want to seem ungrateful. i enjoyed playing at warhammer world.

the Apoc game was my first, and consquently i didnt really understand it. we played on this beautiful table. stoke chose to defend, which left us to assault. everybody seemed to enjoy it, even if my whole contribution was flank marching with my marines into a squad of orks with a warboss, and then fleeing off the table. normal marines really dont hit as hard in combat as space wolves.

overall, i enjoyed it. i enjoyed bugmans, the forgeworld stuff i bought, and playing in the big hall. im looking forwards to the proper 40k tourney next month now :)

Sunday 5 April 2009

warhammer world

going to warhammer world tomorrow, the bigger version of my room. only for a little store on store tournament, you get 500pts to throw down against your oppenent, and then there is a big apoc game at the end with all the models. hopefully will be able to get some pics.

im going to take my space marines, heres the list im taking:

DLR Combat Patrol.

Librarian Beckton. – Gate of Infinity & Smite. 100pts

Tactical Squad Shadwell – Sergeant has Meltabombs. 95pts

Tactical Squad Blackwall – Flamer, Missile Launcher, Sergeant has Power Sword. 180pts

Vindicator “Galleons Reach” – Siege Shield. 125pts

Total Cost: 500pts.


The main idea is for the Vindicator to just pie plate anything i dont like, and for the librarian to smite anything that he misses, whislt jumping around late in the game to get me objectives. im taking the majority of my painted salamanders so far, but im having to help them out with a few space wolves as well. the quicker of you wil notice that all the squads are named after stops on the Docklands light railway on the london tube map. just a little bit of fluff, but i do really like Galleons' Reach for my Vinidicator.

hopefully should be able to snap some snaps, and will report back tomorrow.