Genestealer Cult - Rogue Trader Hybrid

July 9, 2014, 1:56 pm

Another hybrid finished. This time we're going old school. This is one of my favourite models from the Rogue Trader era. I didn't get this guy in a fortuitous ebay bid, no. He's been in my possession since he was first released. He's had to wait some decades, but here he is at last. Quite a fiddly model to paint, with a lot of recesses and awkward little details, but for all that a real joy to have finished.

I did agonise over what colour to paint his armour. Black, purple, red, all were considered. In the end, with the scheme I chose, a simple metallic seemed to work best. It also has the advantage of highlighting all the wonderful detail in the armour ribbing and various joints. I did paint the little backpack/powerpack on his back green, which I'm using on guns, satchels and so on as well.

Here he is with his new school brother. Now to give them someone to boss them around.

"Back in my day, lad, a hybrid could wear a wristwatch and not be called on WYSIWYG."

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Genestealer Cult - Magos Kurgan

July 17, 2014, 4:06 am

≫ Next: BroCon 2014

≪ Previous: Genestealer Cult - Rogue Trader Hybrid

The magos is finished, and just in time too. He takes to the table this weekend at BroCon, for a spot of Oldhammer shenanigans. He was a very satisfying miniature to rescue from the brink of destruction and return to the cabinet converted up and with a shiny new paint job. He takes to the part of magos very well I think, especially with the addition of some cables and his floating pal. He really needs a couple of servitors though, I am thinking...

Here he is with his minions ready for 'The Quickening' scenario.

There can be only one.

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BroCon 2014

July 23, 2014, 8:15 am

≫ Next: The Return of Nagash

≪ Previous: Genestealer Cult - Magos Kurgan

Magos Kurgan (me), Captain Jameson (Just John), Inquisitor Verhoeven (Cheetor) and Zardork (theottovonbismark) for the traditional group shot.

Last weekend myself, Cheetor, theottovonbismark and Just John converged on BroCon. This follows on from our game at KnaveCon. We played two games, the first using the Pulp Alley rules, and the second using 2nd edition 40k rules. Both were highly entertaining, but the Pulp Alley game, set in the madness of Rogue Trader 40k, Get to the Chopper, was genuinely hilarious. Usually a good game was one or two memorable events, but there were several times during this game that tears were welling I was laughing that hard.

For the first game we all picked a small team to investigate the rapidly irradiating jungle for the key that opened the door of the ship waiting in the compound. With Inquisitors, Ratli - I mean Leprechans, moustachioed orks and genestealer hybrids, there was plenty of Rogue Trader variety going on.

Smell the Oldhammer

Uncanny radiation from perilium deposits exposed by recent seismic activity (see “Inquisitor – The Ragna Rock” for details) has caused the dead of the Northern Polar continent of Krellborn IX to rise and attack the living. Being suddenly surrounded by homicidal cadavers has brought the individual agendas of the various factions currently in the area to an abrupt end. Escape is the only thing on our heroes minds and the only reliable route out is by air.

The local wildlife is also aware that death is creeping up. Driven as before an eruption or forest fire, the colourful and hostile local predators are also panicked and aggressive. Therefore the likes of enraged Death-Ferrets, Bouncers, Face-Eaters and more will have to be factored into any plan.

The single available shuttlecraft in the area appears undamaged, but access to the vehicle is restricted. Remains of the prior owners of “The Chopper” surround the local Leprechan agri-science outpost. Hopefully those remains will also be the location of the key cards that allow access to and control of the vehicle. There is only one way to find out…

The Magos and his retinue creep forward.

Zardork spies the compound in the distance while taking fire from crack-shot Leprechans.

The Helga prepares for lift-off.

The finest moustache in 40k makes it's way through the jungle.

Bedlam on the landing pad as the scuffle for keys gets nasty.

Inquisitor Verhoeven finds that getting over a chain link fence appears to be the greatest challenge of his career.

For a more detailed report on the desperate dash for the shuttle, you can read it here on Sho3box, Cheetor's blog.

In our second game, the sensei and their followers face off against each other, highlander style, and, of course, there can be only one. With some jaw-dropping ruthlessness, the sensei butcher each other while making half-hearted noises about making common cause until the end. After several turns of such carnage, sensei Ramirez emerges to claim the prize. Cheetor has a more detailed report coming for this game also.

Both games went very well indeed, and already the O'Hammerers move to plan their next outing. Several ideas are fermenting, but there may be an electronux involved...

The sensei move through the jungle to claim the holy ground.

Otto twirls his moustache while considering his next dastardly move.


Ramirez battles his final opponent.

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The Return of Nagash

August 11, 2014, 3:17 am

≫ Next: Nagash Returned

≪ Previous: BroCon 2014

I've had a bit of a hobby sabbatical over the last few weeks. I think the amount of projects I dearly want to work on versus almost zero time to work on them temporarily killed my hobby mojo entirely. I think my funk is about played out now though, and normal services will shortly resume. The bit of news I saw on BolS yesterday certainly piqued my interest.

Rumours go along the lines of a new model for Nagash, three new kits for Nurgle and a new clampack, new vampire counts, tomb kings, skaven, chaos and dark elf releases as well as new models for Thanquol and boneripper. Also, some new fantasy terrain. Some of these releases seem to be part of the end times campaign. This might be a new book along the lines of Triumph and Treachery, but with a pile of new model rules and releases. Yehaaa I say to that. According to BoLS:

There had been talk for almost a year now that GW is looking to radically shake up the status quo in Warhammer Fantasy, and a myriad of theories about exactly what that meant. The return of perhaps the biggest baddie of them all in the Old World would be a step in that direction.

All this is very exciting, more so with the deluge of 40k of late. We've not had a sniff of fantasy since the wood elf release. I'm very keen on this, new models, rules and such not dependant on an army book release. Here's hoping it's all true. It does seem like a lot of new models, but the rumours point to a big shake up for WFB, so who knows?

Top of the heap here is Nagash. We can't pass by a potential new release for him in the mountain without further comment. I'm a big fan of the over-lich, but there has never been a decent model for the lord of the undead. The only version of him we have is the frankly ridiculous Gary Morley model. I won't go too much further into how bad this model is, the internet is full enough of hate already. We'll just look at this for a second:

Oh God... I'd forgotten. I can't... I can't hold back the tears...

Aaaand move on. Good God.

Anyway.

Jesus. Sorry, I can't seem to look away. It's... sorry. I'm done now. We'll talk about the new version.

...

I mean, look at the arms. The proportions. That f&*king hat. The staff? With the skull bat/crow? Those goddam shoulder pads?! What in the seven hells were GW thinking? I've seen beautifully painted versions of this, as master painters attempt to beat some dignity into this model. It just can't be done. Okay. Sorry. Deep breath. All done now.

Deeeeep breaths.

So, can you imagine a new version of this guy, with 21st century technology? A new kit, with lots of tasty options? If the concept is worthy, it could be one of the most amazing kits GW have ever done. But there's a lot of expectation here. Here's hoping the ghost of bobo is laid to rest once and for all.

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Nagash Returned

August 19, 2014, 2:55 am

≫ Next: Metal Beards - Kashan Vra Chosen Review

≪ Previous: The Return of Nagash

Since my last post, the internet has imploded with pictures of the big fellow and his attendant releases. Normally I wouldn't post about something that's going to be released in a few days, but I'm a bit of a fan of Nagash and the undead in general, and there seems to be big changes in the warhammer world and indeed how the game is played. Whether this is as part of a campaign in the book, or in general, I don't know.

First off, when I saw the initial sasquatch of Nagash, I was unimpressed. I should know better by now, but hey, I was excited. Things were said.

However, this the appearance of the new images I have to say I am happy to change my mind. He's magnificent. The floating ghosts bearing him up are excellent. He's going to be a nightmare to transport though. Battlefoam are probably already working on the 'tomb of Nagash' transport case. His rules are pretty good, but boy is he expensive at 1,000 points. Here's the White Dwarf rules.

I was surprised to see Nagash gets his own army book. The cover seems to show Nagash shouting. 'HEY. I GOT MY OWN ARMY BOOK! DID YOU GET YOUR OWN ARMY BOOK? NO? THAT'S RIGHT, BECAUSE YOU SUCK! HA HA HA! ALSO! CHECK OUT MY NEW HAT!' Proper order in my opinion. Still, the 'undead legion' army lists seems to be a combination of Tomb Kings and Vampire Counts, with a spate of new releases coming in alongside Nagash. One of the two books in the set is pure background. This is kind of a must-have for me, it looks so tasty. Mmm, Nagash flavoured...

I hear Kislev is gone. That's kind of big, and I'm not sure I'm digging it. There's a lot of Kislev armies out there crying little lead tears. I have the ice queen here somewhere. That must be where the sobbing is coming from. From BoLS:

He looks smug there on the cover, don't he?

Warhammer, The End Times is noted to contain new rules that change the way a game of Warhammer can be played. It is not a new edition.

Warhammer: Nagash - 2 hardback books in a slip case. €65
Book 1: 296 page fluff book detailing the return of Nagash and events that affect every Warhammer race.
Book 2: 96 page book containing rules for Nagash, new miniatures, the Lore of Undeath, Undead Legion, fighting underground and more apparently.
Nagash - no mention of him being a dual kit, rules are included in the box. €85(!!)
Magic Cards
Nagash Novel

What the background in the WD tell us:

I hope you didn't like Kislev, because there is no longer a Kislev.
Archaon's advance has been stalled by Vlad under the order of Nagash (the Empire was in major trouble).
Nagash goes fighting to unite the Tomb Kings and VC (one of the scenario pictured in WD translate into "the Fall of Settra").

Regarding miniatures/rules:

Nagash is magnificent, and very very tall thanks to his flying posture (he is supported by a bunch of souls).
But he's not that massive overall, I have no idea how he managed to reach the 85€ pricetag.
Not a dual kit.
No other models that week, but the ones serving under him are hinted at the end of WD for the week after (so I suppose Vlad and that Arkhan dude, note that I know the WFB lore very poorly).
As people expected, the new magic lore appear to work like Demonology for 40k (except with undead).
Rules are changing with that extension, 50% lords for example.

That's some big stuff. Kislev gone? It's highlighted and in bold, so it must be true. Settra possibly dead? As far as rules go 50% on lords? Yipes. There are a lot of other new undead releases, which spells bad times for my finances. I think Christmas is sorted. The new kits seem to fall under a few dual or even triple kits.

Spirit Hosts
Morghast with VC/TK alternate
Monster kit that produces Neferata/Mannfred/Arkhan.

So it looks like four new kits all in all, and these new kits look bloody nice. An undead monster stuffed to the gills with skulls is about the most GW thing I've ever seen. Not entirely sure on the Morghasts yet, they're a bit action figurey, but I'll reserve final judgement until I see them up close. The spirit host are great. Finally, a decent spirit host set. Mannfred is hilarious. His pose implies he's shouting something along the lines of 'Suck it, b****tttches!' to all and sundry.

Mannfred. He's doing well for himself, isn't he?

Neferata

Spirit Host (Finally!)

Morghast Harbingers

Arkhan

There is a new lore too, the lore of undeath. New cards are going on sale alongside Nagash and the book. Seems he can pick pretty much whatever the hell spells he likes. There's a novel, and possibly a commemorative mug. There may be a parade. Actually, that would be quite the parade. Judge Death would probably be the commentator. 'Here issss the man himseelllff, loooking dazsssling in hisss amazssssinggg neeww hat. Whaaat a classss act. Now ovverr to Juudge Mortisss who is coming to usss from the foot of the black pyramid ffflooattt..."

Sorry. Nagash is my Justin Beiber.

Anyway, here's the release schedule, better get some of that bone coloured paint before it's all sold out.

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Metal Beards - Kashan Vra Chosen Review

August 27, 2014, 3:26 am

≫ Next: KnaveCon 4

≪ Previous: Nagash Returned

When the Titan Forge Kickstarter for the Metal Beards kicked off I was interested, but when the Kashan Vra, or chaos dwarves to you and me appeared, I was all in. I'd seen some of their other ranges, Drakskull's Menace being a firm favourite. Undead greenskins? You bet. These guys do snazzy miniatures.

My own particular take on the chaos dwarves features the original spiky stunties, and the Kashan Vra fit very nicely with that look. The Chosen are essentially fireborn, and the steampunk, gears and evil approach Titan Forge were taking suited me a lot better than the chained fire elemental look Forge World have gone with. I don't dislike the Forge World fireborn as such, but I do like these lads a lot better. The kickstarter wasn't that cheap, three Chosen costing about £23 at KS prices, so God knows what they'll cost at retail. It should be noted though, that you do get a resin scenic base for that too. So, let's see what you get.

As you can see, these models require a fair bit of assembly. Even the troopers come in a huge amount of parts, so these models do require a bit of hobby mojo to put together. The resin is crisp, though there are some bubbles and the odd bit of thick flash, but generally they are great quality. The resin isn't brittle, though I did see a phenomenal amount of mold bits in the scenic bases. The mold attrition rate must be pretty high. The only issue I saw with the parts are the shoulders do not fit that flush with the main body. There may be some minor gap filling required for the arms to fit snugly.There is also a huge gate at the top of the shoulder pad which will take some patience to trim. Small potatoes really.

Here's is our boy hastily blu-tacked together.

There's a shed-load of detail on this guy. Pipes, gears, pistons, a Victorian engineers worst nightmare. Get that metal-painting-fu ready.He just about sits on a 40mm x 40mm base. I'd reckon painting the arms and head separately and then pinning them on would be a good idea, hence the concern over the arms not fitting flush. Once I've hacked off the gates (you cans see one jutting out of the right shoulder pad on the second picture) I'll get a better idea of the fit.

With some minor conversion, this guy and the 'good dwarf' version would make superb squat armoured suits. There are two heads for this particular version, the head you see above, and the burning skull head, below, which looks pretty great. OSL FTW.

I'll be building a unit of eight fireborn, so six of these lads and two groovy unit fillers should do the trick. The basing theme is an abandoned and ruined city, so plenty of scope for nice filler pieces.

Along with the chosen I got some of the Kashan Vra war machines, which oddly enough fit in nicely with the chaos dwarf machines. I'll pop up a review of those next, once I figure out where all the bits go.

You can see an earlier review on the Metal Beards basic trooper here.

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KnaveCon 4

August 29, 2014, 6:31 am

≫ Next: Genestealer Cult - Altered Hybrid

≪ Previous: Metal Beards - Kashan Vra Chosen Review

If you're going, see you there tomorrow!

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Genestealer Cult - Altered Hybrid

September 8, 2014, 2:55 pm

≫ Next: Review - Blight Wheel Miniatures

≪ Previous: KnaveCon 4

After what seems like an eternity, I've finally gotten a model of the painting desk. This unfortunate fellow has been lounging about half finished for weeks. My stumbling block, apart from a general lack of painting mojo, was what kind of right arm to give him. I must have tried five or six different options. In the end though, I went back to the gun arm. I guess he must have a hand attachment for when he's not hosing unbelievers with high velocity rounds.

He joins the hybrid squad, leaving me with another six hybrids to assemble and paint. Next up will be a larger 2nd generation toting a meltagun. Before that though, the fimir are about to get a pool to paddle in.

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Review - Blight Wheel Miniatures

September 11, 2014, 8:53 am

≫ Next: Scaling Lead Mountain - Eight Tips For Reaching the Peak

≪ Previous: Genestealer Cult - Altered Hybrid

I've been amassing a lot of bits and pieces for my adeptus mechanicus genestealer cult of late, and with the huge amount of small companies providing a cornucopia of choice for miniatures and conversion parts, I thought a post or two on my experiences with them might be of use. The first of these is Blight Wheel Miniatures.

Blight Wheel do a pretty huge amount of sci-fi models and conversion parts, and for someone interested in anything cyborg or adeptus mechanicus related, they have a lot of choice. The war bot in particular is a great model. I have noticed though, that there can be an issue with stock. I've been waiting on the bionic arms and servo arms to become available for a couple of months now, to no avail. Maybe it's a low restock and I've been missing them.

I did however order some bionic arms with weapons, Sino russia Torsos 01 and Torso kit 04 Composite armour for the Contagii. Delivery time was pretty reasonable.

Composite Armour Torsos

Sino Russian Torsos

The torsos were both good quality, with plenty of detail. They fit well with other 28mm ranges. A couple of the Sino Russian torsos were miscast, bit once I contacted Blight Wheel and sent on some photos of the affected components they sent me some replacements right away. The Sino Russian in particular are very useful for adeptus mechanicus conversions. I can recommend these pretty heartily.

bionic arms with weapons

The same can't really be said for these. The resin is pretty brittle on the set I received, and there was a lot of flash and a fair few bubbles. I soldiered on with one arm, and after a lot of clean-up and a little green stuff it turned out okay. The larger flamer type weapon was so warped as to be pretty much unusable though. However, I may have gotten a bad casting. As I mentioned Blight Wheel are good at sending replacements, so I wouldn't let this put you off completely. Caveat emptor for certain though.

Right now it seems the company is closed for holidays, so a lot of the items are unavailable. Once they open up again do take a look at the range if you're looking for that certain arm/head/torso, there's a lot to choose from.

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Scaling Lead Mountain - Eight Tips For Reaching the Peak

September 16, 2014, 2:18 pm

≫ Next: Fimir - Swampy Pools

≪ Previous: Review - Blight Wheel Miniatures

I thought about an appropriate title for this post for a bit. It's hard to encapsulate the topic, and right not the title field is empty, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

So. All those projects. There's nothing new about folks bemoaning the lack of time/willpower/skill/extra arms required to complete all the projects they have in their head to satisfaction. Tons of hobbyists tell you about the list of incredible projects they have coming up that just never materialize. There's even the cheery notion that a hobbyist can't die until he's painted all his miniatures. This is not true. Unpainted lead does not bestow immortality. In fact, it may even cause a health hazard as it teeters on the point of collapse, threatening the pulverize those below into marmalade.

I've been doing this a while now, almost 30 years, and I've had some conversations over the years on how the lead pile might be tackled. There are many suggestions. Good suggestions that I often ignore completely, but I'll list them here for ye to take on or ignore at your pleasure. If even one child is saved from a wardrobe full of unassembled, unpainted models, I'll go to my grave happy. Well, not happy as such, more trying to suck in one more bitter, ragged breath while railing against the unfairness of it all while I soil myself all over the nurses, but let's go with happy.

Before I get into the tips on salving this situation, let me put things in context on a personal level. I have a TON of projects I really, really want to work on. (Deep beath) Theeeerree's: the rest of my undead (I have at least two thousand undead models, most of them metal) the chaos dwarf army, the rest of the fimir army, the Genestealer Cult, The Martian and human factions for All Quiet on the Martian Front, the Realm of Chaos army, the Chaos Renegade warband, undead BlooBowl team, Scavvy gang, and that's just the ones I really want to do and can remember. I'd also like to work on my Chinese and Japanese undead, Orc army, 2000ad Torquemada and his terminators Pulp Alley league, etc, etc etc.

As you can see, it's enough to keep me going for some years without ever buying another model. Will I then not buy any more models? I think the clip below delivers the response to that question perfectly.

Right now, I'm getting excited over the new undead releases from Games Workshop and the new dark eldar plastic wracks, so let's assume an ongoing amount of new models are adding the pile on a regular basis. There's probably an equation somewhere for this. New stuff over old stuff divided by time plus inclination equals painted models or something. Anyway.With that in mind, here we go.

1. Accept you'll never get it all done.
Let go. Take a deep, cleansing breath and exhale. Repeat after me: 'I will NEVER get everything painted. Were I to live for a thousand years, there would still be a box of stuff in the cabinet I meant to get to someday.' Now, with that acceptance of inevitable failure, the piles of blisters and boxes will seem less oppressive. After all, this isn't a job, it's a bleedin' hobby.

Just own it.

2. Decide what kind of painter you are.
Are you an individual model painter? An army painter? What kind of army? Big hordes of gobbos? A small skirmish force? A bit of each? Approach each project with that consideration in mind. If you want to win the golden demon, crystal brush and so on, great. Pouring hours into one model leads to often beautiful results, but don't paint a skaven horde like that. You often see folks on the internets that can crack out amazing armies of individually astounding miniatures in jig time. IGNORE THAT. These are often from studios where folks have learned all the tricks for painting models fast and to a high standard, and they do it all day, every day. It's the painters version of looking at pictures of photoshopped supermodels and comparing their ass to yours. Admire yes, but find your own pace and standard.

3. Stop Being Precious
This is really more of 2, but fmeh. Don't endlessly tinker with already painted models. It is the road to madness. Paint a model. If there's something you don't like, tinker away, but don't expect to get loads painted. It's super frustrating, as lack of progression is a killer for painting mojo. Paint the model. Paint the next model. Especially if you're doing an army. Stick that dude with the chalky layering in the middle rank. I say this, but I have 4 fianna fimm awaiting stripping so I can redo them. Sigh.

Don't do what I do kids.

4. Cheat
Not in the games. That is the realm of the douche. For painting, yes? Find techniques that speed things up. Shaded basecoat, drybrushing, zenithal highlighting, glazing, dip, precision washes, the list goes on. There's so much more out there than layering. Don't ignore any technique, try stuff. I keep looking at getting an airbrush. Those things are time saving magical paint shooting wands, so they are.

Also, it's not cheating. If your miniature looks good when you're done, it doesn't matter what awful things you did to it to get it there. One great question I read on Massive Voodoo, I believe it was, went: 'What do you use to get the great earth effect on your model's bases?' The answer was actual earth. Dried out and so on, but just real dirt. If it works, it works.

5. Keep Moving
The way to keep the hobby exciting is similar to the reason a shark keeps swimming. To stop is to die. Keep at it. Even if it's ten minutes every day, paint for ten minutes. They all add up, those ten minutes. There will always be demands on your time. It's amazing how you can get a regiment painted in those little snatches of hobby time. If you can, keep a place where you can leave models, paints and such, out. Unpacking everything every time you want to paint is another barrier to your finished miniature. I have a nice permanent paint station in the man cave, but I bought the Games Workshop painting tray thing a few years ago. It's one of the best items I ever bought for the hobby. I can leave models and paints on it, bring them up the living room, paint in front of the fire, chat and half watch tv. I can pop it back down to the cave when I get too dru...I mean tired, and not have to pack stuff away. I can just pick up where I left off. One recommends it.

Turns out this is as handy as a small pot.

6. Follow Your Muse
This is a tricky one. Especially when it comes to army painting. To keep the motivation levels up, don't paint 40 skeletons in one go. Batch painting is another trick one can use, but even so, keep each batch to between five and ten models. But as you paint that new army, slowly, every other model you're not painting seems like way more fun than the one you are painting. This gets to crisis levels if you don't deal with it. The so called hobby butterfly kicks in and voila, another half finished project. A way to deal with this is to give in early. Say you're painting 50 skeletons. Paint ten. Then do the movement tray. Paint another 10. Then paint a necromancer. Paint another 10. Then paint something totally different. That Bloodbowl referee, that Necromunda special character etc. The break gives you a bit of a palette cleanser and keeps your painting stamina high for getting those 50 skeletons done. We're doing this for fun, after all, so if you really want to paint something different while you're slogging through a large group of models, do it, and use the change to reinvigorate your determination to go back to the bigger project.

7. Stay Focused & Have a Plan
'But you just said paint whatever you want!' I hear you cry. Yes. I did. But. Also, when you're not taking a break from the squad of orcs to paint that fairy, paint the orcs. If you're painting a squad, decide the make-up of the squad before you start. How many troopers, special weapons, etc. If it's an army, make a list. Each regiment, squad or even individual will add to your total, and as you see units complete, it'll spur you on to paint more.

8. Play Games
I don't play anywhere near as much as I'd like, but few things get the creative juices flowing like playing some actual games with your minis. Every time I come back from a good game I want to expand the army I just played, or add some new terrain or whatever. If you're lucky enough to have a good, regular group or club, all the better. Whittering on about how your 30k space marines are made from eighteen different kits to someone who is listening AND interested does wonders for your painting enthusiasm. it's a social hobby too, after all.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but for now, there you go. I hope this helps anybody out there who's scaling the lead (also plastic, resin restic, playdoh...) mountain. Aha! I think I just found my title.

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Fimir - Swampy Pools

September 18, 2014, 4:45 am

≫ Next: Genestealer Cult - Parts for Hybrids

≪ Previous: Scaling Lead Mountain - Eight Tips For Reaching the Peak

I decided to take a little tiny break from the cult in order to paint up some fimir themed scenery. Partially for my army display board, and partially for the fimir terrain set. I had ordered a pile of these from Wargamma, where they are listed as lava pools. Like a lot of gamers, I have a dearth of water scenery. Pools, rivers etc. These were quick to paint up, and filled a hole in the terrain set. I have another two sets, and with nine of these and some dead trees and the odd menhir I reckon that'll do nicely to represent the bleakmoors of Albion.

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Genestealer Cult - Parts for Hybrids

September 23, 2014, 7:42 am

≫ Next: NWG 2014 - Post Mortem

≪ Previous: Fimir - Swampy Pools

I've been back in the hybrid toy box lately. I need a couple of specialists for the squad. My plan was to have the special weapons carried by larger 2nd generation hybrids, so that they would be easy to pick out. This guy here is almost ready for green stuff, but his weapon seems a little off. After some conferring, it became plain that the melta needed either some support to add weight, or a change of pose for the arm was needed. That's where I am with him right now. There are a few cults springing up lately, so outlining some of the more useful parts might help other followers of the Allfather. This guy uses a Deadzone plague model as the base model. The plague are really useful for hybrids. The are quite bestial already with the large spinal ridges and boney spikes, as well as the deformed proportions. I added some dark eldar talos bits to his back. I imagine these are some kind of stimulant injectors. I'm a little short on weapons, so this melta will need to be chopped up and re-built a little. I may add a chain strap, or alter the angle of the forearm. I want his ripped shirt to form the upper half of a tabard so he fits in better with the mechanicus theme, so he needs a dose of greenstuffing for that and to build up the shoulder where the genestealer arm meets the body.

This guy uses the brand new plague zombies sprue. There are two torsos with cowls, which are about as genestealer hybrid as you can get. Lots of useful parts on this sprue. The arm with the hand splayed out to compensate for the weight of the flamer is from this sprue too. The legs are from a Games Workshop grave guard, though at the moment this hybrid has no ass. The head is from Victoria miniatures, though truth be told, after yet more conferring I'll probably pop in a bald human head instead to bring it closer to Jes Goodwin's hybrids.

Lack of appropriate arms for the hybrids is a biggie, though the modern Cadian arms are about the right size for human size hybrids. More on these lads once the green stuff is on.

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NWG 2014 - Post Mortem

September 30, 2014, 1:41 pm

≫ Next: The Mumblings on Point Hammered

≪ Previous: Genestealer Cult - Parts for Hybrids

Undead Legions at NWG

Once again I made the journey to Wicklow to attend this year's NWG. With one other member of my club, the League of Bastards, we headed down to the event. Friday night saw us take part in the traditional NWG pub quiz. This year Games Workshop had thrown in some prize support in the form of an Imperial Knight, so competition was sharp. A few wee drinkies, lots of talk about wee men and futile attempts to wrangle news out of the GW ambassador took up the remainder of the evening.

This year NWG had three tournaments running. As usual, Warhammer Fantasy Battle and Warhammer 40k were there, and this year for the first time Flames of War made an appearance. Fantasy was 2000 points, 20-0 system, no comp, with up to 60 points for painting, making the paint scores a significant part of the overall score. There were some rules modifications in the rulespack, mostly to do with magic. The Emerald Daemon was running again this year too, in which I had two models entered.

I don't really get to play as much as I'd like, and with a few pretty grizzled tournament veterans about, I was anticipating some tough games. Still, as long as folks were good sports and the games were fun I didn't really care all that much as long as I managed to avoid total poundings.

I won't go too deeply into my list, but here's the flavour of what was in the army. I brought along a daemon prince (meargh) with all the usual toys on lore of death, an exalted hero of Tzeentch (dirach) on a disc with the 1+ armour save and ultra-ward save, as well as burning body, and Festus, (Avagdu & Morfran) who accompanied the warriors. Festus turned the already hard as nails block of warriors into a total brick. The rest of the army consisted of a block of 22 Nurgle warriors with full command (fimm), 3 skullcrushers with full command (Marlryrms), 5 warhounds and a Chimera (Crom Cruach). It was a pretty small army.

Game 1 - Dermot Maguire - Ogre Kingdoms
As last year, this year I faced ogres in game 1, which was Meeting Engagement. Dermot was a very pleasant and easygoing opponent, even when his gutstar and mournfang failed to appear on turn 1. His characters were initially vulnerable, if well hidden in cover. A lone sabretusk held up my crushers in the village however, preventing me from getting into the ogre's flank. Two ironblasters meant I didn't try anything too daring off the bat. Once the rest of the ogres turned up his firebelly gave the daemon prince a hosing which wounded it and ensured I had to keep her well out of the way of the blasters for the rest of the game. The firebally did miscast and go down a hole though, taking a couple of ogres with him. The mournfang, aided by the Flaming Sword of Rhun spell, charged the warriors. Even so they would have come to grief had they not passed all nine 4+ armour saves in one turn, winning the combat and running down the warriors. Despite a late charge on both blasters with the chimera and the bsb they refused to either die or bugger off. The game ended with a win to ogres. I can't recall exactly, but I think it was 18-2.

The ogres advance onto the battlefield.

Game 2 - Mark Moloney - High Elves
Mark had a large block of swordmasters with Teclis and the banner of the world dragon, two units of five dragon princes and two of units of five reavers. A large block of archers and two bolt throwers finished out the list. The scenario was Dawn Attack. I set up mostly facing the cavalry, leaving the swordmasters to slog across the woodland in the centre before they could bring their numbers to bear. I managed to tie up the cavalry and run down the dragon princes before they got close, by which time the chimera was able to get a decent charge in and as the game ended it was stuffing scores of screaming elves down it's gullet as it munched it's way toward Teclis. This one was s 10 - 10.

Dragon princes line up for the charge.

Game 3 - Fergus Finch - High Elves
The scenario for this round was Battle for the Pass. Fergus had a large unit of dragon princes with his level four wizard, noble and bsb. There was a unit of eighteen archers with a level one wizard, ten sisters of Avelorn, eight silver helms, five reavers, a great eagle and frostheart phoenix. The game got off to a disastrous start for Fergus as his level four wizard miscast and then cascaded, killing himself and some of the elven knights. From there on in I had magical dominance and managed to tie up the cavalry while my mobile units hunted down the rest of the army. In the end it was an 18 - 2 to the fimir. This one was the last game on Saturday, so I forgot to take any photos. Ah well.

Game 4 - Neil Butler - Warriors of Chaos
I'd love to say bad luck lost me this one, but a leaner list and more experienced player was more the cause of my battering here. Neil had the tooled up daemon prince, bsb on a daemonic mount, chimera, hellcannon, 3 Nurgle chariots, three units of five hounds and a unit of three crushers. We were playing Battleline.

Penned in and harassed from all sides, the fimm battle on.

I did in fairness have some bad luck, with my bsb and chimera both failing their initiative rolls with two rolls of six to survive Purple Sun in turn one, my daemon prince cascading and going down a hole in my own turn one after casting her own Purple Sun, while the initiative two chimera I'd cast at gaily made it's own initiative two test to survive. There were a couple of other examples of fun dice, but you get the drift. Neil commiserated and gave me some great tactical tips while efficiently and amiably rolling me up. With a single hellcannon the only thing I managed to destroy it was a resounding 20 - 0.

Game 5 - Nikki Hanna _ Empire
Nikki started the game with a squeaky voice from what sounded like an impending sore throat, and it became less audible as the game went on, but she battered on regardless. A very fun game, using the Blood & Glory scenario. Nikki had two cannons, a light council, a huge block of halberdiers, a unit of five knights, two units of three and four demigryphs, a steam tank, two cannon and some archer detachments.

Dodging cannon fire, the fimir raced across the board to attack the Empire left flank. The steamtank clanked forward before mounting a hill to deliver a devastating flank shot on my crushers, annihilating the entire unit in one shot. My daemon prince got within one turn of reaching the juicy backline of the empire before succumbing to an irresistible banishment, for which she failed every 3+ save and every 5+ ward. Things looked very bad for the swamp dwellers, so the warriors charged the tank to stop it causing any more mischief. With poison attacks, and Festus' own unique rules, they destroyed the tank in three turns, then managed to wipe out a unit of knights and demi gryphs. My fimm warriors had been performing only so-so all tournament, but they rallied mightily in this game. As the halberdiers took to a building to avoid my advancing fimir, they managed, with some magical help, to kill the chimera outright after taking some horrendous casualties. After a fair old scrap the Empire came out on top, winning 15 - 5 due to the fortitude bonus.

My favourite moment from the game was the steam tank engineer attempting to detonate the badly stricken tank in order to destroy both it and the fimm warriors in one monumental explosion. Alas, the dice decided this was not to be. It would have been an epic end to the combat though.

The fimm perpare to charge the steam tank.

So, after five games I was looking at three losses, one draw and one win, earning me 34 battle points. No comp can be challenging, but my painting scores gave me a boost, with 56 points out of 60 shooting my up to 6th place out of 19 players. At the end I was pretty tired, but I enjoyed my games and the relaxed vibe evident throughout the tournament.

NWG in full swing.

As to the painting, which is really my main bag, I came away with 2nd place army for Warhammer Fantasy, one point behind the winner, Ugo Greevy, whose Undead Legions army is a sight to behold.

Ugo's legions.

My curs'd ettin managed to bag best single large model in the Emerald Daemon competition, which made me happy as I do rather dig that model. The organisers did a fantastic job of keeping things ticking along, and I heard of not a single unhappy incident all weekend. Nice one lads.

Big ugly brings home the goodies.

So, after NWG I'm actually really keen to get more games in, rather than being all warhammered out. I have a couple of units to finish for the fimir, then there are a lot of undead looking for some painting love, methinks.

First though, back to those hybrids.

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The Mumblings on Point Hammered

October 9, 2014, 3:07 am

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≪ Previous: NWG 2014 - Post Mortem

Morning folks. I was out in my garden yesterday, listening to Podcasts, as I am want to do. While listening to the excellent Point Hammered I was stopped firmly in my tracks as at 1:12:30 the hosts, Johnny Hasting and the Rodge began the blog post of the month segment. The subject of which was my very own Fimir of Albion army, about which they had some very nice things to say. I'm feeling a bit chuffed, as anyone who has seen the work of either of these guys knows they produce some pretty goddam fantastic work, such as the Bull Ogres and the Cthulhu daemon army, so praise from these guys is praise indeed. It made my day, to say the least.

A better man would be far too modest to mention such a thing on his own blog.

Sooo... if you like your Warhammer podcasts on the laid back yet slightly salty side, and I do, check out Point Hammered. They also run the You Magnificent Bastards blog, which is chock full of tutorials, army projects and general hobby goodness.

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Genestealer Cult - Aberrant 2nd Generation Hybrid

October 14, 2014, 3:19 am

≫ Next: Freshening the Dead

≪ Previous: The Mumblings on Point Hammered

My hobby has been intermittent lately, due to this, that and the other thing. I did get a few hours in recently though, and I managed to finish putting together this guy, the melta-gunner for the squad of hybrids.

He's not your standard bald bloke with an extra arm for starters, even though he is actually bald. And has an extra arm. Anyway. There will be enough of those in the force, and I wanted the specialists to be a bit more standout. In my iteration of the cult, not every hybrid turns out as expected. I wanted some weirdness in the proportions as the human genes assert themselves over the generations, this fellow being somewhere between 1st and 2nd generation. To reassert a bit of realism I had to add a bit of heft. This became pretty apparent after some discussion about his gun with Cheetor. His arm needed some re-posing to look like he was bearing the weight of the gun instead of waving it about like it was made of foam. I added some straps to make it look still heavier. The tabard was added to make him fit in a little better with the adeptus mechanicus theme, as were the stim injectors on his back. The masked head I plan on using across the force, probably more so on the skitarii, but also on the occasional hybrid.

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Freshening the Dead

October 18, 2014, 5:13 am

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Recently, with the return of Nagash and the general undead vibe going around, my thoughts have turned to adding some new bits and pieces to my undead army. It's been a few years since I worked on it, and I have a hankering to add some new units. I have a lot of old lead sleeping uneasily in their cardboard graves, awaiting the call.

With that in mind, I've been looking at the basing scheme on my existing undead units. I'm not entirely sure I still like it, but I can't make up my mind. The black does frame the miniatures nicely, but maybe it's time to update it to something a tad more realistic and earthy. I'm considering breaking one of my own cardinal rules here, and going back over old work, but it wouldn't take too long, a couple of weeks. It's more a pain in the arse. I'd rather do that though than paint new units to match a basing scheme I don't think still cuts the mustard. I've been looking over them for a couple of days, and I think I can't see them anymore. Is the flock getting a little tired looking? Would more of a dark earth work better with some tufts etc?

Or are they totally fine as is, and I'm a madman for even thinking about it?

Here is where you come in, dear reader. To re-paint the bases, or not? You tell me. I've scattered some samples from the army so you can see the existing scheme. I leave it you, as I'm 50/50 right now...

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Genestealer Cult - Hybrid Aberration Heavy Weapon Servitor

October 23, 2014, 8:24 am

≫ Next: The Depths of Obsession

≪ Previous: Freshening the Dead

I've had a notion to do a large hybrid servitor as an addition to the squad for a while now. This guy has been cobbled together with blu-tack and left at the back of the paint station for months now, so I thought it time to put him together properly. As with the smaller aberrations, this fellow is a less than perfect blend of human and genestealer dna. He's been heavily augmented, then pumped full of growth hormones and stims, turning him into little more than a massive automaton awaiting the will of the magus.

He'll take the spot of a heavy weapons team in the squad. The autocannon is magnetized in case I want to change out the weapon.

The next member of the squad under the knife is also in the shot, the six-limbed vox caster. He needs some work on his vox set, but otherwise is pretty much ready for assembly.

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The Depths of Obsession

November 3, 2014, 8:17 am

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Ours is a hobby that easily leads itself to obsession. We've all either witnessed it or been subject to it.

This particular post is inspired by an incredibly vivid dream I had last night. Vivid dreams should be spent doing things like riding a harley off a cliff while playing an electric guitar which is on fire before plunging into a sea of decent whiskey, or flying a pirate ship made of crystal that smells like cinnamon through a sea of paperclips wearing a lavender mankini. Or other... pleasurable scenarios.

Not picking out oldhammer blister packs from an imaginary game shop. But that's what happened. Myself and a few friends (on of which, incidentally, was the first one to comment when I mentioned this on the oldhammer FB page) were walking through a town when we came upon a game shop. Not one I'd ever been to, just a gameshop. While perusing I discovered a wall of old Citadel blister packs. The next 20 minutes of the dream were spent picking out various packs. This part was so vivid I can remember the John Blanche art on the card backing and the various contents.

I know.

I had it in hand man! Right in my hand!!

Anyway, I had that feeling of brief but intense disappointment when I woke up. I've been mulling over the dream ever since. It's pretty indicative of an obsessive interest in miniatures, which I'm totally fine with. I've long since made peace with my deep fascination with models and gaming. What interests me is how this made me pause and appreciate how deep this fascination really is. It's not a 'must buy entire box of boosters for one card' kind of thing, though I have been known to scour the planet for a specific model to complete a range I've been collecting. I don't weep tears of blood if I don't find said model, but it's pretty full on I'll admit. It's more stepping back and observing how much time and energy I devote to the hobby in general. Don't misunderstand, I don't feel the need to change anything, but sometimes it's useful to step out of yourself and look at what you're doing, and how you're doing it. At the very least it might give you an insight into how to do it more/better!

So, the point of this self indulgent ramble? It might be interesting to look those moments where you've gone'Woah. This is pretty hardcore. Maybe I AM obsessive.' and add them into the comments, if you feel like sharing. Like gamer group therapy. Or just a game of who's done the most crazy stuff. Either is good.

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Curse of the Limited Edition - Gouging

December 2, 2014, 8:24 am

≫ Next: Genestealer Cult - Hybrid Aberration Finished

≪ Previous: The Depths of Obsession

Good luck.

It's been quiet here on the mumblings of late. I've not had anything of worth to say, really. Which is odd, as there's a hell of a lot going on. The end times rolls on. I've just finished Glottkin (not to worry, no spoilers) and have started into Khaine. I'm loving it thus far, but I've been quiet here as I feel I need to absorb it all before commenting. Games Workshop's frenetic release schedule is giving the commentators little time to review before the next release. Poor us.

Anyway, onto the topic of the post. It's become ever more apparent over the last couple of months as limited edition this and limited run that has been released, that folks are more than willing to snap up multiple copies of these limited items and sell them for many times the original price. I saw copies of Khaine on ebay for hundreds of euros before it was even released. Cards for both the lore of undeath and the end times spells are going for at least triple the original price.

My question is, so what?

Now, personally speaking, I don't think this is cricket. You should only be allowed one of any limited item at the store or in your cart. I'd feel a bit of an arse buying ten and selling them on for huge profit. BUT, I don't agree with giving folks who are doing it a bollicking on social media either. If you disagree with gouging, ban it from your page/blog/site/shop or write a post, but personally I don't think name-calling on Facebook is the way to go, despite my personal feelings. In fact, I managed to snag a set of end times cards this morning, (no smugness intended) and was told one copy only. Bravo. That's the way to do it.

There is another side to this. Folks aren't forced to buy these things. Also, if I was after a chaos dwarf juggernaut I'd expect to pay hundreds of euros. Not that I would. But these sellers aren't lambasted. One reason I imagine is these sellers didn't buy 20 juggernauts the day they came out to resell them later that day for triple the price. But it's a point.

Prepare to shell out.

I'd be super interested in what the good folks out there think on this. Is it fair game, or fair play for the frenzied rush to snag the end times releases?

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Genestealer Cult - Hybrid Aberration Finished

December 3, 2014, 1:47 pm

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≪ Previous: Curse of the Limited Edition - Gouging

After spending a long damn time on my painting table, the heavy weapon hybrid is done. I painted him in brief snatches of hobby time over the last month, ten minutes here, half and hour there, as that's all I had available to me until recently. Anyway, he's finally done, and as such brings the squad up to half strength.

As you've probably guessed, the autocannon is magnetized. I feel he'll be getting a big claw at some point in the future. My 40k bits box is slowly getting to the point where I at least have some options. This entire guy is made from bits I purloined from the various trading pages on Facebook.

Here's the gang so far. Five more to go. Melta gun armed 2nd generation up next.

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