New Year Musings

Well the year is almost up and although a number of bloggers are reviewing the developments of the past 12 months I am more interested in how the next 12 months will turn.

In terms of Warhammer, I look at the current situation and all I can think is 'please God not more Lord of the Rings.' It's a futile plea I realise but a just and deserving one nonetheless. Apart from army book and codex releases, there isn't a great deal that needs doing.

Warhammer just received an excellent new book with excellent new rules and full support as always so it is difficult to see what could be improved this coming year. Warhammer has never really taken well to expansions in the past and the most useful expansion 'the empire tiles thing' is already available. It would be interesting to see if an expansion is developed and what form that would take.

5th edition 40k has also grounded well with, I believe, most players agreeing that the system is much better than its predecessor. Unlike Warhammer, 40k does lend well to new expansions and has seen a great many released already. Personally I would like to see a new flier based expansion for aerial combat and a re-release of apocalypse. I only suggest the latter because the book is a nightmare to read and some details could do with being brought into line with 5th edition.

Maybe Games Workshop will focus on a national 'cough fixed result cough' campaign like they used to do. I was a little young back then to participate fully but I do remember the storm of chaos and the 13th crusade campaigns. The Armageddon campaign sticks in my mind in particular as the landraider had only just been released and they wrote an excellent two part battle report in White Dwarf. Happier days indeed. If they did that now we would probably get a couple of pages containing an eclectic mix of unnecessary action effects, sloppy writing and yet more pictures of the damned eavy metal miniatures. Not to mention a picture of Matt Hudson looking smug and Matt Ward grinning inanely with his stupid hat telling us how the man of the match goes to some stupid scout sergeant or something equally ridiculous! I digress.

To tell the truth the only thing I really look forward to this coming year from Games Workshop is a price lock. It's wishful thinking I know but a man can dream. Please don't push us away GW because I seriously doubt our wives and girlfriends will allow us to spend the gas money on a squad of spacemarines because that will be the choice. I have been a loyal supporter of the hobby since I was 11. I love nothing more than opening up a new box of plastic sprus, laying them out on my table and thinking 'how cool could I make and paint these.' But if push comes to shove, I will choose to maintain my freedom (a house) and my health (food) above this hobby.

A bit over dramatic I'll admit but GW do have a nasty habit of hiking prices. The tactical squad has doubled in price literally since it's release.

What will I do this year?

Well my life is moving in all sorts of unknown directions at the moment so who knows where the hobby will take me. I may take this coming year as an excuse to scratch build most things as I already own a body of infantry figures for both my armies that I am happy with. Scratch building is great for hobbyists on a budget and it is a process I really enjoy anyway so thumbs up. I have already alluded to a number of modeling possibilities in a previous post, which I have not forgotten about.

I may try a number of different games with different systems. The Dystopian Wars range from spartan games has caught my eye in particular and I have just ordered the Prussian starter fleet and the carrier. My friends have all done the same with different factions. The game looks fun, the rules are cheap and the models look great and are also very cheap. Wayland games made them even cheaper for me which is always appreciated!

Indeed I may even take more advantage of games like rogue trader and deathwatch, where hours of fun can still be had without the financial hardship of creating a full blown army.

On the other hand, I may settle into a good well paying stable job in which case my hobby spending will continue to reign unchecked. Ahh such musings.

Ultramarines and bases

Despite the snow everywhere in the midlands my postman felt that he could finally stop being such a pussy and deliver me my mail.

Good thing too because he brought me both the first lot of resin bases I ordered from Dragon Forge and the collectors edition of the Ultramarines movie. Where to muse first?

The Ultramarines Movie:

When I first saw the first and second trailers I was not impressed. Indeed I believe a number of colourful descriptions regarding the quality of the film were expressed by myself with the main concerns centering around the lip sinking and the movement of the characters.

Now that I have watched the movie in full I must say I was wrong to judge too quickly. Then again, the producers did release simply appalling trailers so I think I can be forgiven.

The animation was, on the whole, a good standard. It felt like watching an hour of xbox cut scenes, which is a medium I think is appropriate to the 40k genre. It made it a touch comic book but without going full blown. I could almost see the screenplay story boards as I watched it, and it was easy to imagine Dan Abnet writing it for a comic book.

The main criticism with the animation was the movement, which I mentioned earlier. This was no where near as bad as the trailer made it look but the characters running was a little clunky and flat. It didn't appear that the characters had weight when they ran, it's difficult to explain I realise but maybe you will notice the same.

On the whole, the only major criticism with the movie was the length. It is really short lasting a mere hour. The story, although good enough, seemed to be crammed into that hour and it was obvious that every effort had been made to cut all unnecessary material. Within 20 minutes half the squad was dead. I don't think I even heard their names being mentioned (although I have been asleep for 6 hours so its likely I have just forgotten). The end battle sequence was good and it was a sneaky little twist but I do feel more could have been made of the other fight sequences.

Irrespective of that, I did enjoy the movie and I take back most of the bad things I initially said. As always, nerd fear got the better of me. I hope that Codex pictures gets some measure of success out of this project as then more will follow hopefully expanding the universe and using some different chapters. If they are going to be an hour long, I would recommend producing a series of short installments focusing on various chapters as I feel the use of media would really lend well to that sort of thing.

Dragon Forge Resin Bases

I got a second package containing some resin bases that I bought off the Dragon Forge store the first time the Black Friday deal was announced. I used the opportunity to finally get some resin bases having never previously thought them necessary. The world of hobby is obviously changing and basing is becoming as integral to a models quality and success as the model itself. I have tried my own basing but it is never good enough. I simply cannot get it right so I thought it was about time I give these a try.

The Product

I bought three packs of 25mm round bases from the wasteland I and II ranges, which also allowed me to pick up two 60mm bases from the same range for free. The quality of these bases is absolutely flawless. Simply flawless. I know enough about resin bases to be careful when selecting quality and I have seen some absolute clangers from other people so I was a bit apprehensive.

However, there isn't a single warped base or air hole to be found in the whole lot. The only imperfection (if it can be so called) is a small minority of them had a few flecks of flash. That's all.

Not only is the quality good but the designs of the different range lines are too. They display a balanced level of detail and a good amount of spacial area in which to position a model. I can't wait to use them in January when I finally get some more orks.

In conclusion to this mini review, Dragon forge bases gets a massive thumbs up from me. I took the liberty of ordering a bucket more of them, which I'm glad I did now! I can't see myself starting a new army in the future without accompanying it with a selection of these appropriate bases, they are just too good not to use.

New Year Project Musings

I haven't had a lot of time to be thinking about anything particularly engaging in the hobby world lately due to me doing 6 days a week on the night shift at Sainsburys. Instead I have being reviewing my bank balance and wistfully compiling a list of 'stuff to buy' i the new year.

Most of the items on the list are hobby supplies as my bitz box has been completely depleted over the last few years while I have been a student. As a result I will be mass buying plastic tube, rod, magnets, wire, tools, the complete vellajo game colour range etc...

Boring things, which should lead to exciting scratch builds. There is room in the budget for a modeling project though, I just haven't decided what yet.

The Options

A Custom Stompa

My ork army is getting to a point now where I could do with expanding it. All the modeling project options are for my ork army.

I have always wanted a stompa ever since I saw Irondogs 'tatter titan' here. Its just ace! Then recently when searching for inspiration for a stompa project I came across this over at the Waaahhh forum. Again, fantastic!

My ideas are leaning far more towards this style of stompa rather than the GW template kit. I like the kit but I think may be a little too used. I would end up rebuilding most of it just to make it look unique, although I may get a kit anyway just for bits to loot.

Some Heavy Stuff

My ork army is built around a core of Ork nobz led my Ghaz in a battle wagon and a unit of 19 ard boyz in another battlewagon led by a big mek. This doesn't leave much room for much else points wise as the rest is taken up with 6 grotzooka kanz.

As a result, I wouldn't mind expanding the heavy support element of my ork force so that I can field a few different builds. I would need some big gunz, lots of lootas and a boom wagon or two.

I really don't like the loota kit models. The shoulder mounted weapons just don't do it for me. What I want is some beefy drum and/or chain fed Gatling guns!

I really like the Kromlech field kannon supplied by Maxmini and they would obviously make excellent ork kannonz so I guess I will use them. No messing. I'll probably crew them with the forge world grot crew.

Looted boom wagon. Hmm I have a few novel ideas for these. A bit hard to explain them here but I may draw up a few sketch plans then post them up.

Fast Stuff

Nob bikers pure and simple. You hate them, I'm not keen. But they do offer a great modeling opportunity and they stomp face on the battle field. They would have to come with all the trimmings, cybork bodies, a painboy etc....

This will also include a warboss on a bike to lead them. I may even have a go at building wazzdakka, who knows.

Fasta Stuff

This is the project that is grabbing most of my attention. Recently I re-discovered a comic book I never read called 'Deff Skwadron' which featured the exploits of an ork fighta-bomma squadron. It is an extremely entertaining read, which was sadly cut short before its time. I'm hoping that the exploits of the Deff Skwadron may live on in my own battles as I plan on building 3 fighta-bommaz to represent the main characters from the comic, Uzgob, Raznutz and Killboy.

The link to the comic can be found here.

This last project really takes the cake for me at the moment. It is one of the cheapest options for one, it has the most challenging modeling potential and I think it will have the most rewarding finished results. Finally, it also provides a nice unit for apoc games, which isn't too high powered but is fun to use!

So there are my current modeling musings. If you have any preferences please let me know but more importantly If you have any insight or inspiration to share on any of the above topics please do let me know. I need all the help I can get.

We aint got a Clegg to stand on

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

Wolfrik

Ok a while ago I posted up the pictures of my work in progress Warriors of Choas army. At the current moment it is only an unfinished unit of marauders, Wolfrik and a chaos lord on horse.

The nightshift has not been kind to my painting time and so I have only been able to paint the front rank of the marauders and Wolfrik, who leads them. Wolfrik is near enough done, the maurauders need some skull work and a few other bits finishing.


Also I don't have access to my light box either so the pictures are a bit crappy but you get the idea.

Why Do we Play Wargames?

I'm living up to my name again and providing a few more smurf like musings for you to ponder and digest. This time I wanted to consider what it is about the hobby that makes us want to participate.

Warhammer, amongst other games, has been described many times as 'addictive plastic crack', which obviously suggests that most players cannot simply turn off the hobby. I'll be the first to admit, I spend a serious amount of time each day either thinking about what I want to add or I am actively participating by playing or painting. I'll even admit that thinking about my next conversion usually prevents me from sleeping at night (although not at the moment since I'm working nights).

So why is warhammer such an addictive hobby? What is it about warhammer that makes us invest so much energy? In order to explore these questions I want to consider some of my other hobbies first.

Music:

I love music. I had the fortune to be introduced at my local warhammer club to a guy in his 20's when I was just 14. He had been a teenager in the 90's and so was really into his American alternative music, which he let me borrow. Now at 23 I own just over 300 hand picked CD's and now that I have a full time job, it's bound to increase. I have a massive list of records to buy which I have been noting down during the time I had no money. I also have a part time job in the local independent record store and so I am surrounded by music all the time. I love it, it's the best job I have ever had.

So what is it that music provides to me as a person? Well it has quite a few elements in common with warhammer now that I think about it. I love to 'collect' CD's and place them in my CD rack. I love looking at them all neatly filed away and I enjoy the process of watching the collection grow. Sound familiar?

CD's (and records especially) often have fantastic and inspired artwork. My musical passion lies in a large spectrum of music including; alternative, math rock, post rock, shoegaze, post punk, hardcore, soft core, experimental, dream pop, etc... Artists within these genres often invest a great deal of effort into the art featured in their record and so I appreciate viewing it. Again, it's one of the reasons why we blog isn't it? I mean now that White Dwarf doesn't provide us with the artistic inspiration any more we have all turned to blogs so that we may appreciate the skills of others and try and add that knowledge to our own skill sets.

CD's are similarly priced to warhammer. I would expect to pay £12 per item, which isn't too dissimilar from warhammer really. Considering I have spent over £3000 on CD's over the years building my collection it suddenly dawns that perhaps I have spent less overall on warhammer?

CD's also provide you with repeat enjoyment. The best thing about music is that it provides you with enjoyment when you want it. That is why we listen to music after all. Warhammer has a similar aspect in that you use your army again and again and again. Ok it isn't on demand like music is unless you work at GW, but you use it often enough for it to be considered a repeat enjoyment. Also warhammer games are never the same twice and so perhaps it has a slight edge over a CD. Then again I don't get emotional emphatic with my warhammer models, whereas a piece of music is designed to do just that. Sings and roundabouts.

My Guitar:

As a sideline from my music obsession I also play the guitar and have gigged around the UK in a band. Not really much to add here as the music element covered most of the benefits. However, the guitar I suppose could be seen as my extension of actively participating in music, which is similar to how we all actively participate in warhammer games from playing and painting. Again my guitar is; a repeat pleasure, it improves over time (I guess you could say I collect my improving skills and techniques) and I have invested a similar amount of material cash into it.

Conclusions:

So I guess warhammer is addictive to us because it has a multifaceted texture. The benefits we gain from participating in warhammer as a hobby operate on every level of our being. We gain the emotional benefits of pride in our work, challenging our strategic thinking, communicating with other human beings (most of my best friends I met at my club), quenching our desire for competition and achieving the often elusive feeling of victory! We also gain the physical benefits of improving our awareness, numeracy skills and also our hand-eye coordination when painting. Finally, the material benefits also weigh up in the end as most of us probably spend as much on this hobby as we do on the others (think how many xbox games you might own, how much the console and the tv cost you and also include the internet charges and electricity charges you might have built up!).

The take home message then is to enjoy the hobby. It is repeated time and time again but seriously, just enjoy the hobby as there truly is much to enjoy!

Home made lasguns

For Halloween this year me and my mate Rob (pic below) decided to go as men of Tanith. This meant building life sized replica lasguns.


We started with a bit of research and found very little in the way of home built lasgun tutorals. So we decided to design them from scratch. The first stage of the design was to go out into town a raid all the stores for suitable bits to use. Rob was especially good at this and credit is given to him for finding most of the key pieces.

We decided first to build the weapon from scratch rather than building on top of an existing toy gun. The reason we did this was because all the toy guns we found were made of cheap plastic and were also too small. It would have proved very difficult to make them look good. So from scratch it was.

The first important article came along in the form of a solid wood axe haft, which formed the base of the rifle and provided the wooden stock. This haft was perfect in size and length. What was needed then was to create the box shape around it with foamcore. A handle was also needed. This we took from a cheap paint roller we found in £land.


The barrel was the last piece to create and it was the largest worry for us because we could not find any tubes big enough for the scale. In the end I had a brain fart and asked the local stationers if they had any tubes as waste. They did and that was that! The inner barrel then came from an old curtain pole that my flat mate had lying about.

Finally we detailed the lasguns with bitz box bits and smoothed over any rough edges with milliput etc...

Heres is a list of materials used;

1x large axe haft
foam core
plastic tubing (inner till role tubes) to act as inner support for the foamcore
1x paint roller
1x cheap dog lead
1x mop handle (the tube on the top of the lasgun)
1x large thick card tube for the outer barrel
1x wooden curtain pole (inner tube)
.80 gauge plasticard
bitz box bits

Here is a picture showing what the gun looked like before detailing and painting.

Apocalypse, do I love it or hate it?

More smurf like musings from me here. This time I'm focusing on the game of Apocalypse as it has been Apocalypse week over at GW.

So what is Apocalypse all about? In my mind it breaks down into two distinct properties; the modeling, painting and conversion potential, the gaming experience. Lets look at the gaming side of Apocalypse and what my musings deduce. I shall talk a bit about the hobby side tomorrow.

The game

Games workshop (God bless their zombie bones) markets the game of Apocalypse in a light that promotes the anything goes ethos. They claim that there is no limit to your imagination with apocalypse and that you can pretty much do what ever you like (they prefer to say 'fight the battle you have always wanted to fight').

What does this actually mean in practical terms? Well in my experience it usually means that the person/people with the most money buy the super heavies and everyone else just fields the models they own. An example of this can be seen in a recent apocalypse event that my original club in Telford held. The premise for this event was that they wanted to hold the largest apocalypse battle ever fought in the UK. The organisers worked very hard on the background and got the whole gaming community in Telford involved. They also invited GW to send representatives to take part in the event as well so as to make the claim 'official'. There was no limit placed on the amount of stuff you could bring but you could not use anything that was not Games Workshop produced (minor exceptions made for certain scratch builds).

Sounds good? Well no. From what I can gather it was a disaster. All the Imperial players were adults holding down full time jobs and spent a combined total of thousands of £'s on their armies. The forces of disorder were largely made up of the young members of the club, which held part time Saturday jobs on minimum wage, they simply could not compete in the money game. As a result, the event was a flop. Nobody had any fun.

What is it about Apocalypse that causes disappointing games such as the example given above and how can these problems be solved? Lets have a look at some of the issues that bug me.

The Super Heavies

I, like all of us, love to own the awesome killing machines. I have been drawing up plans for a stompa recently now I have some money coming in. When I have finished converting and painting it I will want to use it. That is why we buy models. But these machines can cause problems if not used properly.

1) They can be too powerful in certain battle situations
2) They can be too weak in others

oxymoronic or what?

1) 40k is a turn based gaming system. The person who goes first has a tremendous advantage in that ALL of his/her units can move and shoot together. In an Apocalypse setting this is usually game winning. Imagine all those super heavies just opening up and doing terrible damage to the opponent. Especially as many of the super heavies have weapons that can ignore cover and usually have an elevated position of fire. It's also a double whammy as the player that invests considerable amounts of points into super heavies often has less to deploy and so usually wins the deployment bid and goes first!

Some super heavies are just too hard and cannot be brought low without the aid of other super heavies. They are almost always expensive to buy, which limits their availability to people. I have been a student for 4 years and in that time I have not worked (I did a proper degree, which required hard work). I simply could not afford to buy a super heavy, even though the £60 price tag on the baneblade or the stompa is good value.

2) Believe it or not, I actually think that many super heavies are too weak. Take for example the shadow sword which I fielded as part of my traitor guard. It only really has one gun worthy of note and if that becomes damaged or is not allowed to fire it becomes worthless. Yes you can repair these issues with damage control and/or a field repair unit like a tech marine but it takes a turn to do. A turn in Apocalypse takes forever! One of the weakest results of the damage chart for super heavies is pick a weapon and it cannot fire for a turn! Ok if you are a baneblade, crappy for most other super heavies. This ruins the enjoyment you can get from your super heavy tank if its constantly not allowed to fire.

Apocalypse Game Structure

The game is stressful to play. With so much going on turns are prone to dragging on. People get bored and begin to pander for their turn. Tempers ware thin and voices are raised. Without drill sergeant like organisation Apocalypse games often descend into anarchy. This is not the loving image of amazing cinematic sequences that we are all led to believe from the pictures in the Apocalypse rule book. Ahhh look at those guys, all smiles and joy. One of them has a face like he's saying 'wow that was cool.' Total rubbish! Most people round the Apocalypse table have a face representing either; boredom, disappointment or smug elation (its a talented individual indeed that can process all 3 emotions at once).

My Musings and Remedies

I really do have mixed feelings about Apocalypse. It can be the best game you have ever played or the most pointless. I think the key here is to do what comes naturally and ignore GW's advice. The main correctional tool for all Apocalypse ills is organisation!

Plan the game to the last detail. If necessary appoint a games master to plan the event and deal with any and all issues during the game. Certainly have a lead planner.

When planning a game you must think of all the tiny details as well as the big stuff. You need to be aware of the models that each player will use and the points values as well. Both sides need to be fair. This does not mean both sides must have an equal amount of super heavies or stratagems, there are other factors that can correct the balance.

Terrain plays a massive role in Apocalypse. You can really limit the influence of certain super heavy units by a careful and appropriate use of LOS blocking terrain. If a player wants to just blast stuff with his/her big toy then let them do so on the flanks in a spot of open terrain, which will not necessarily affect the outcome of the battle too much. Let the main objectives be fought over in bloody close combat fighting in a dense city.

Some stratagems are totally overpowered and have a very negative effect on the game. The flankmarch asset immediately springs to mind and it has ruined a number of Apocalypse games for me over the years. The solution is to plan a narrative for the battle and govern which assets are available to each player before the battle. I find this not only adds to the story of the battle but also readdresses the balance significantly.

Something I have not used myself is the introduction of a FOC into the battle to limit the number of super heavies you may take. This is a great idea and keeps the sides fair, I would really like to try this out for myself at some point.

One final point I would like to make about improving your games of Apocalypse is that of discipline. It seems odd to mention I know but tempers flare up very easily in chaotic games of Apocalypse where multiple players are involved. Enforcing rules such as no speaking out of turn with others can really calm the game down and prevent people from getting agitated.

These are just a few issues I have had some time thinking about recently regarding Apocalypse. I think my take home message would be to plan a game of Apocalypse before hand and make sure all players involved know the details. A game of Apocalypse is an event so it is only right you treat it like one.

Some thoughts.....smurf like musings if you will

Ok, so we live in exciting times for our hobby. Lots of things seem to be occurring all at once and the quality of it all only seems to be getting better. Although gamesday was a massive disappointment for me, I was able to take a look at the miniature design stall and glimpse into the tech they use to create our wonderful models. Needless to say, its all very impressive.

However, we get the odd slip up every now and again with the likes of the plastic minotaurs and the new stormraven but this is to be expected. The eb and flow of life seems to dictate this pattern in all things. Remaining on the hobby, take a look at the new dark eldar. They are all great models and most people seem to agree. Then we get a sneak look at the stormraven, not so good. Skaven range....great, plastic minotaurs.....oh dear. To coin a popular phrase, its all swings and roundabouts and we should expect this. However, in fairness, the amount of disappointing models is definitely on the decrease but this maybe having a disproportionate effect on our opinions.

Consider this, GW releases a range of new models (lets say beastmen) and the majority of them are really nice. Unfortunately, two kits are really horrible and that ruins the whole range. This is enough to put me off collecting this range of miniatures and I ask myself, and you guys, why?

Is it because this occurs so rarely these days that we expect all the products to be at least acceptable? When one or two kits fail our expectations, it disappoints us as customers to the extent that we cannot see past these failures and instead enjoy the majority of the range. With all the advancements in technology and the seemingly unmoveable price tags do we now expect so much more, whereas before we could excuse the bad models on account of the fact that they had been largely sculpted by human hands without the aid of computers and lasers. We said to ourselves, well I couldn't do any better so its not too bad?

Could it be that in years gone by most ranges of models were actually (compared to todays standards) pretty bad but we put up with them because we didnt know any better? You can see this in some of the plastic kits that are still around today. For instance, the plastic catachans and the plastic marauders are getting on a bit now and they are both pretty horrible kits. However, I remember when they were released that my opinion was 'wow plastic guardsmen for the first time, awesome!' Or 'chaos models that actually rank up...sweet!' As things get better and standards are raised our perspectives and priorities change. We were grateful before just to have 'affordable' models to use as plastics were still fairly uncommon. As the years have gone by the opposite has occurred and suddenly its all about the quality, because the price range hasn't gotten better.

The final point that I would like to consider is a strange one and it seems to crop up in my opinion forming of new models an awful lot. It concerns GW's advertisement of new products through white dwarf and the web. There have been a number of model kits that have initially put me off big time because they have been painted or positioned badly by GW. Examples include: the ork stompa, the ork nobz box, the imperial guard command squads and the ork deff dread. All of these kits I now love.

My point is that GW just don't seem to put effort into advertising the hobby possibilities of their kits anymore. I remember a particularly special white dwarf (for me personally as it was my second ever issue aged 12) which featured the release of the plastic khorne berzerkers. There were large sections of the issue dedicated to the conversion of these models both big and small in scale. Head swaps, arm replacements, simple body positioning techniques and complete limb repositioning. Also the issue featured a number of different paint schemes and examples of what people in the studio had done with the kit. For me as a 12 year old and new to the hobby, it was inspirational stuff, and as a result of the issue, I saved up my pocket money for 3 weeks so I could buy a box and then spent a week trying to replicate the conversions shown in the issue.

Now we get a 2 page spread if you are lucky and a whole load of pictures of the same eavy metal models fighting different foes in different terrain types. The plasitc ork nobz box is, in my opinion, one of the best plastic kits GW have ever done. There is so much variety in that kit its unbelievable. I have purchased 6 boxes so far for my various ork projects. Yet the white dwarf coverage consisted of a page showing 5 very static, very boring goff nobz and a snake bite with a big choppa. I mean the big choppas are the best thing about the kit?! Where was the variety? Where was the hobby and conversion advice? Where was the enthusiasm for advertising the variety and versatility of an excellent kit! The only reason I bought a box was because I needed some nobz for a tournament and i couldn't get hold of the old metal box in time so I bit the bullet and reasoned that I could probably convert them.

I guess my point here is that GW have obviously lost the incentive to advertise the quality of their kits. Maybe they are so confident in the quality that they feel they don't need to anymore as we expect a high level of detail and variety?! I don't know. However, it seems that kits that initially make you react badly on the whole seem to surprise you when you actually look at them 'in the flesh'. Maybe the stormraven will do the same? Only time and a little courage will tell.

Ebay obliterator sale

For the benefit of any interested parties I have included a picture of each of the obliterators included in my ebay sale. I hope they serve you well in your decision making.

The auction can be found here


Enjoy

Marauders WIP

Here's the progress on my first unit for my new warhammer army. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to warhammer so this new army is going to be my way of learning the rules. I figured because there is so much choice in the warriors of chaos army book, I could always revisit the army list at a later date and make it good.

Anyway, I hate the marauder models so I'm jazzing them up. I want them to pop like the picture in the army book. If people can recommend any parts to use the make them stand out a bit more that would be good. Fur cloaks and better heads are a priority (I'm on a budget though so be sparing).

Enjoy

Pics for Tob

Hey there tom, took some photos of the stuff you would like. Hope they are ok.

Light box experimentation

Ok all,

I have spent the last 30mins or so having another go with the light box. This time using a fairly detailed mini that I have previously photographed. The previous photos were horrible. All the subtle highlights were bleached out and the model was left looking cartoon like.

This time I hoped to find the best way to photograph the model in as much a natural state as possible. Unfortunately the camera is not great and the lights I am using dont appear to be up to scratch either. I think I will need to replace the bulbs with high watt natural white light bulbs instead as the photos are obviously yellowish in shade.

Below are the results. They follow in order from 2 lights with flash, through to just one light with no flash. The pics have not been improved using any fancy digital imaging software. As I said I want to get the most natural photo possible.

Light box construction

Ok, The ftw collaborative post recently concerning photography was a big help for me because I have never been able to take a good photo of my minis. The lighting is always bad, they are blurry and often I have to take loads just to get a few good ones.

So built a light box similar to the ones listed on the post. Here it is:
I had a quick go with it using an old model. The results are not great yet. Ill have a longer experiment later i think. Also I think the camera is just not up to the task, its quite old now so maybe a new one is in order.
Any way here are the results:

Holy Christ!

Its been a long standing intention of mine to one day own a sisters of battle army. Ever since I was young I can remember longing to own sisters of battle, but at the time metal blisters were too much for my £3.50 pocket money budget.

So with the new inquisitor codex coming up, I have decided to buy up a few bargains on ebay and also preserve a little 2nd ed gold.

And so I present to you my first Canoness; St Clair Florette of the Ebon Chalice.

Unfortunately, I just cannot get the hang of taking digital photographs of models! I have no idea why all the colours look unshaded and blurry.

Mecha madness

Its been a while so here is a dreadnought.

Enjoy

Deff Koptas complete

Here is evidence of todays progress,

Deff koptas completed.
Left to do are the kans, the wagon, The deff dread, 5 burners and ghaz