Selling the lot!

A while back I launched Operation 8th Edition. I raised a grand total to £20, which then went on non-hobby stuff. Now i'm selling stuff again, but this is far more important.

I recently put a deposit down on a flat with my lovely fiance and we're moving in in a few weeks time. Now the future Mrs Khorneguy has said that she isn't putting up with the obscene amount of hobby stuff I have cluttering up my current place. Therefore 99% of it's got to go.

Here's a list of what I have so far. I'll add (a lot) more as I sort through what I've got over the next few days. Email me if you're interested

rickyjoy9@yahoo.co.uk

2 x SM Scout Bikes - 1 sealed in box, 1 seal broken, but everything is in there - £4 each
1x classic Iron Hand Straken, painted - £4
2 x SM Drop Pods, 1 is slightly damaged - £15 each
3 x Eldar Rangers - painted - £6
1 x AoBR Warboss - painted - £5
1 x AoBR Dreadnought - painted - £5
8 x Assault Marines - mostly painted, 1 converted to hold a meltagun - £10
45+ Ork Boyz of various types - painted - £25
1 x Ork Weirdboy - painted and converted (head swap) - £5
Various converted ork vehicles - £25 for lot or individual offers
6 x Skull Pass Spider Riders - unpainted, slightly damaged - £2
1 Ork Stompa - built, converted and painted - £45
1 x Pair of dragon wings from HE dragon - painted, slightly damaged - £4
1 x SM Tactical Squad - painted - £10
Apocalypse Rulebook - £20


Codices - £10 each

Chaos Daemons Codex
CSM Codex
Ork Codex
Tyranid Codex
Eldar Codex
Space Marine Codex
Space Wolves Codex
Planetstrike
Vampire Counts Army Book
Orcs & Goblins book
Skaven Army Book
Beatsmen Army Book
6th ed Dark Elf Army Book
6th Ed Hordes of Chaos Army Book
6th Ed Lizardmen Army Book

Warhammer 7th Ed Rulebook - near Mint condition - £20
40k Mini Rulebook - £7
Chapter Approved 2003 - £10
2009 Space Hulk Tiles and Doors - £15
2009 Space Hulk Broodlord - £5


The Killing Ground by Graham McNeill - £4
Heroes of the Space Marines - £4
Eisenhorn Omnibus by Dan Abnett- £6
Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium omnibus by Sandy Mitchell- £6
Storm of Iron by Graham Mcneill £5
Signed hardback copy of Blood Pact by Dan Abnett - £15

Various back issues of WD dating back to 2003 - enquire for issue numbers - 75p an issue or 3 for £2

Postage will be worked out per item

There you go guys, go nuts, it's going to be helping me out a lot.

Even more Druchii

Just a quick update. I think I can honestly say at this point that I've never seen this amount of paint on one of my armies.


Some of the first rank of plastic Executioners



Hag BSB. The freehand's still WIP but I think it's going well. I'm going to dedicate a day or two soon to getting it done properly.





Assorted army shots. Nothing's completely done yet, but everything's in the later stages of WIP.







The spots you see on some of those crossbowmen shields are being turned into more freehand designs.

And finally, a WIP of what I'm doing with my Cauldron of Blood. There's going to be slaves and a Death Hag with a whip added




My god, at this rate I'll actually meet my goal of having a fully painted army by January. That's if I ever pull the money together to get my Witch Elves (45 of them don't come cheap)

Anyway enjoy and comment. Any comments or critiques are welcome.

The Shadowblade

This new Mandrake model by GW is quite frankly amazing and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have to for my Dark Elves. In my mind that thing would make a perfect counts-as Shadowblade.


I've always said that Shadowblade has to have some form of magical abilities, given the fact that he's able to hide effortlessly amongstthe likes of Dwarfs and Undead without detection. Now it's ok for him to hide in the ranks of the likes for High Elves, Empire, Bretonnias, or any basically man-shaped force, but to remain undetected amongst most of the races out there, there has to be some magic at work.

Surely the Vampire controlling hordes of undead would notice there's a still-living mind sneaking about in his army?

Surely the Black Orcs notice that Gabnutz actually looks a bit skinny and pale?

Surely the Lizardmen notice that one of their number doesn't have scales?

Come to think of it, most DE Assassins don't make sense to me. For example, you can hide an Assassin in a Witch Elf unit. But you'd think the Brides of Khaine would notice that one of their sisters was actually a bloke and wore rather a lot of clothes, or at the very least the enemy would be able to see the black hooded and cloaked figure in the sea of pale elf flesh.

All this has always cemented in my mind the idea of magical concealment - it doesn't matter what the Assassin looks like physically, because it's magic that's really concealing them.

Which is why I feel Mandrakes would be perfect for representing them. I'll be watching rather closely to see what other Mandrake models they bring out, I may get a few, one for Shadowblade and a couple for 'mundane' assassins, but at the very least I'm getting this one for the Master Assassin himself. I can just picture how epic it'd look leaping up out of the enemy ranks, throwing off his magical disguise as he plunges his blade into the chest of the enemy general...

Just wish they'd hurry up and put it on pre-order already!

Dark Elf-y stuff

Here's Hyron, very nearly done. Obviously he still needs his halberd/blade painted, but after a year working on him, three different paint jobs and countless repairs, finally he's at a point where I'd actually be proud to use him in my games. It's mainly just little details to do now, which shouldn't take too long.







Here's everything I've got so far, the majority of it still being WIP's. They've undergone fairly dramatic changes, paint job-wise over the last few weeks as I've been getting advice from the regulars down at my local GW (Cambridge).

The whole lot



Corsairs



Crossbows and Executioners




And finally, what do you guys think of this idea for my Hydra...



I'm going to paint them brightly and vividly, saying that they're a rare breed captured from deep in the blackspine mountains and bought at great price by Hyrons expedition. A unique adaption for this sub species is their ability to spew magical flame - a by-product of the warpstone tainted water they drank (explaining the breath weapon).

Now I'm at uni, I should hopefully get a lot more done and posted up from now on. Hopefully.

I think I'm finally getting somewhere...

A combination of holidays and isomnia the last few days has meant I actually got some stuff done, I've been cranking out the progress on my Dark Elves at a fair rate.

Sorry for the bad photos - I lent my good camera to the missus for some project she's got in the works, so I'm not going to see it for a few weeks. In the meantime, I'm making do with my crappier one. I'm not letting a bad camera stand in the way of an update


First up is the standard bearer for my plastic Executioners.



The unit is based off the Zealots from the Malus Darkblade books, so I hit a little snag when it came to the standard, as the Zealots had never gathered together on the battlefield, so what should i do for the banner?

My solution: make the standard look like it's made from skin tied to a pole. Brutal!


Next up is my attempt to add a little 'pop' to my manticore and make it stand out on the battlefield (as if a flying mass of claws, teeth and rage doesn't stand out enough!)



I think it was Shadow Grey I added to the mane, before washing it with Baal Red.Don't know what you guys think, but I don't like it so much. I just can't seem to get his mane right


And finally, I'm showing you some of the progress I've made on Lord Malakai and Arkeus. It's not much, but it's slowly getting there.

The wind membrane was done by painting a Bleached Bone basecoat then layering on various shades of black and brown washes.



You can also just about see the start I made on the rider. I'm painting him up and attaching him to his mount one stage at a time, starting with the body, then weapons, then the rest of his cloak (what you see there is just the groundwork). I'm giving myself a time frame of about another month on this, but uni work's going to start piling up soon so who knows.

All in all, i'm doing really well. All i've got left now that's grey plastic is this:



These should be undercoated black in the next few days, which will mean that evey single one of my Druchii are at least partially painted.

Progress is good!

Inspiration - Magnus the Red

I've been reading A Thousand Sons by Graham Mc Neill and loved it. Both times i've read it it, the urge to create a pre-heresy Thousand Sons army has been almost overwhelming. But not as overwhelming as the urge to create this guy:



Magnus the Red, the Crimson King, Lord of Prospero, Primarch of the Thousand Sons Legion. I get such a vivid picture of him from the novel, even more so than the other Primarchs and I'd love to scratch build a model for him, but while my green stuff skills are ok, they're nowhere near good enough to attempt this.



Another project for the 'maybe one day' pile, along with my Warlord Titan and Dark Mechanicus army...

Bored with 40k

These last few months, I really havn't got much gaming done. But those few times when i've managaed to get a game in, i've leant instinctively towards fantasy. I'm not sure why.

I've been playing 40k for over 8 years now, having gotten into it, like many of us did when the craze for it swept through the geeky cliques of my high school. Out of the people who got into it then, I think only me and my best friend stayed into into it beyond those initial few months.

Now 8 years is a long time to spend playing any game and I consider myself a firm veteran. I remember when Kroot Mercenaries was a legal force. I remember when there were so many varient builds that you didn't know what you were up against, even if you friend told you what army he was bringing (the incident with the shooty-death Blood Angels stands out particularly painfully in my mind).
It's been a rollercoaster ride, but I just feel I need to shelve 40k for a while, get some fresh perspective. The game just doesn't excite me any more and it shows on this blog. Fantasy has been creeping in more and more and my 40k posts seem to be just one complaint after another.

So where now?

Well I want to get my Dark Elves fully painted and finished. I've signed up for a few online painting challenges in order to motivate me to keep going with them. Only time will tell if it works, but i'm feeling hopeful with it

I also really want to get into 8th Edition in a big way. I've only played a single 8th ed test game, but I loved it, so when uni allows me a chance to get back into gaming, that's the route i'm going to take.

So as one hobby door closes, another opens for me.

Wish me luck.

Oh my good God!

GW never ceases to amaze me. Not with their models, but their ridiculously high prices.

They've just put the advanced orders up for the High Elf second wave. £25 for either a box of 10 Phoenix Guard. That's £2.50 each for a plastic model! And then they have the cheek in the 'Today' article about them to suggest field White Lions as a 30 stong horde. That's £75 for a single unit. No characters, just 30 plastic (plastic!) models! I remember a few years ago I could get 20 cadians for £18.

Is it just me or is GW trying to price people out of the hobby? First £45 for the fantasy BRB, now £25 for 10 frickin' models?! It's like they don't want any customers.

Now I was considering getting a box or two of both the Phoenix Guard and the White Lions but quite frankly this is going to be way too big a dent in my hobby fund to justify.

Sorry for the rant, but this has gotten me properly worked up, which hasn't happened for a long time.

A whole load of Dark Elves

It's been a while since I've shown some progress on my Dark Elves, so I thought I'd show off what I've done.

Before I start, I just want to apologise for the awful pictures. My desk lamp needs a new bulb, so until then, there's huge shadows every time I take pictures. It will be fixed soon, I promise.

Anyway, on to the pictures...

First up is Arkeus, the Black Dragon of Lord Malakai, Vaulkhar of Karond Kar.

I built this guy last year but the wings kept snapping off when I it took it out to play a game with it, so I took the wings that came with the high elf dragon kit and replaced them with a pair of Manticore wings. Much more menacing with the claws, as well as looking a lot sleeker and much more compact, so it actually fits into a carry case now.






Next on the agenda is Malakai himself. I'm not sure what to arm him with. the dude I used to have on there carried a lance, but that kept getting bent out of shape, so I'm thinking maybe giving him a halberd, which would not only look cool, but also give him some close combat oomph if he's left high and dry by the random charging distances in 8th edition. I'd give him a magic weapon, but I want him to fit into 2000 pts, so I need to keep him under 500 pts, which means after buying the Dreadlord and Dragon, I'm left with 40 points left to equip him with. At the moment I'm thinking of fielding him as the following

Lord(140)
Dragon (320)
Halberd (6)
Armour of Darkness (25)
Repeater Handbow(6)

Total - 497

Yes, he's a little light on equipment and doesn't have a ward save, but he's being fielded in games where there won't be too many big things due to points restrictions and I can avoid the ones that do appear. He's there to sweep up the flank and hit big infantry blocks in the side with his breath weapon (which he can now use in combat mwahahaha!) I plan to team him up with a unit of Cold One Knights and see how that works.


Next up is the progress on my Corsairs. I'm testing a Baal Red wash for the armour, tying them in with the Khainite elements of the army. I don't like painting these guys, but they can bulk out my force until I have the money to buy my Witch Elves.




Here's the start of my attempt at a freehand standard for my corsairs. Just in case you can't tell, it's going to be a hand with a glowing sword coming out of a sea of blood. It's still early days and I have no idea how well this will turn out



My Cold One Dread Knight. I'm still pondering on whether or not to paint his mount red, to make it a bit different, as most people have green Cold Ones. Plus I feel that the red would fit the Khainite theme too





And my Sorceress. I've spent the longest time trying to to get a decent blood-like effect on the magic 'swirl' (being in the service of Khaine). There's still a lot of work to go into this and I need to find a replacement staff for her too. She's probably going to go on the back burner though until my Corsairs and Dragon is done




So what do people think? Any and all constructive criticism is welcome

Khorneguys Commissions

I'm announcing the launch of my commission service.

As many of you are probably aware, I've been extremely short of cash recently to the point where i can't do my hobby. Doing an english degree means i'm likely to be even more permanantly skint this year as well, so i've decided this is a great way to get my hobby 'fix' and still earn money at the same time.

So basically if you want to commission me, shoot me an email at rickyjoy9@yahoo.co.uk and we'll talk.

My prices are on a job-by-job basis, depending on a variety of factors, like complexity of work, etc, but i'm sure you'll find them very competitive.

Back with Gobbos

Back from my holidays at last. We stayed a little longer than planned but it was a fun trip, that's all that mattered.

Anyway, Here's the progress on that Night Goblin unit I started before I went. I havn't done much, but i've been working mainly on their faces and weapons, as that's what people are going to pay attention to in-game

My first rank...




...and with a Shaman - complete with tin foil hat! (in his words - "to stop 'me brains gettin' zogged")



I've decided to used the wooden rabbit as a Snotling Pump Wagon and will be mounting it on a chariot base shortly. I'm also planning on building a larger contraption to use as a Giant.

But more on all that soon, for now, let me know what you think of these guys

Operation 8th Edition: suspension

Operation 8th Edition and The Wandering Mind in general is taking a break for 3 weeks, whilst I have a holiday to norfolk with my Fiance.

You can still email me with offers, but don't expect an answer until at least Friday the 13th of August

See you!

New Night Goblins

Despite the lack of money to buy the 8th edition book, i'm building a force to use in 8th Edition.

An army that's sat unpainted on my shelf for nearly a year now are my Night Goblins, so a long summer holiday before I head to off to uni and the shift of the game to focus on large hordes is the perfect excuse to get them done.

So without further ado, i present...

Slugart, Lord of not-very-much-at-all-but-has-a-troll-so-there.




Bit of a mouthful i know, but it's something me and my friend came up with when i was bouncing ideas off him for this army. He's my 'counts as' Skarsnik and Gobbla, the idea being he's an ambitious Night Goblin who's rise to power has mainly been due to the troll he's managed to train as his bodyguard (would you argue with that thing?). The full background for him and the other heroes of the force is coming in a later post.

He and his big unit of 40 gobbos are still WIP, but when they're done they're gonna form the core of my army, being a bunker for Slugart and a pair of Shamans.
Don't worry about the fact he's missing a hand and his weapon, i've just seperated it for painting purposes, to be reattached at a later date.

I've also built this...



What can i say? I've been watching Monty Python recently and i just got an overwhelming urge to build it. I didn't have a particular unit type in mind when making it, but with a bit of jiggling about, it can fit onto a chariot base, so it's probably going to be used either as a Snotling Pump Wagon or a Chariot of some description.

I'm open to suggestions if people have them.

That's it for now, mainly because I need a new battery for my camera, but there's plenty more where that came from.

Operation 8th Edition: failure

3 days into my sale and so far the grand total made toards 8th edition is nothing!

That's right, nothing. Not even a single enquiry

I know times are hard financially and i'm only a small blog, but it's still frustrating.

Please help me out :(

here's an updated list, complete with prices

contact email is: rickyjoy9@yahoo.co.uk

Books

Planetkill BL short story collection - £3
Vampire Wars - Steven Saville - £5
Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium - First Omnibus - Sandy Mitchell - £5
Witchhunters Codex (still usable!) - £5
6th Edition Hordes of Chaos Army Book - £3
6th Edition Lizardmen Army Book - £3
Ultramarines Omnibus by Graham McNeill (paperback) - £5
The Killing Ground by Graham McNeill (paperback) - £3


Models (can post pics if you need them)

50+ 40k ork boys
6 AoBR Nobs (unpainted)
1 Painted AoBR Warboss
1 Painted Weirdboy - £45 for the lot of these, make me an offer if you want something individually

Various Converted Ork Vehicles (pm for pics) £35-40 for lot

Carnifex - £15

Roughly 30 Plastic Zombies (built but unpainted) £22

Various White Dwarfs, dating all the way back to EoT campaign (2003), email me to enquire about issue numbers - £1.50 each


I'm also open to trades and i'm looking for the following

DE Witch Elves (any number)
DE Female Dreadlord model from GW collectors range
DE Hag Queen
DE War Hydra
DE Assassin
Night Goblins of any Variety
Skarsnik and Gobbla
Trolls (any kind)

Assault Marines or Jump Packs
Blood Angels Codex
Any BA Bitz with Grail/ Chalice design on them

Everything must go!

Well it's taken 3 days but i've finally had my sort out and i've got a lot to sell.
Anyone interested, email me with offers. However, due to shipping costs i'm afraid i'm only selling/trading within the UK

rickyjoy9@yahoo.co.uk

Books

Planetkill BL short story collection
Vampire Wars - Steven Saville
Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium - First Omnibus - Sandy Mitchell
Witchhunters Codex (complete with allies rules and still usable!)
6th Edition Hordes of Chaos Army Book
6th Edition Lizardmen Army Book
Ultramarines Omnibus by Graham McNeill (paperback)
The Killing Ground by Graham McNeill (paperback)

Models (can post/ send you pics if you need them)

50+ 40k ork boys
6 AoBR Nobs (unpainted)
1 Painted AoBR Warboss
1 Painted Weirdboy
Various Converted Ork Vehicles

Roughly 50 Plastic Zombies (built but unpainted)

Various White Dwarfs, dating all the way back to EoT campaign (2003), Email me to enquire about issue numbers


I'm also open to trades and i'm looking for the following

DE Witch Elves (any number)
DE Female Dreadlord model from GW collectors range
DE Hag Queen
DE War Hydra
DE Assassin
Night Goblins of any Variety
Skarsnik and Gobbla
Trolls (any kind)

Assault Marines or Jump Packs
Blood Angels Codex
Any BA Bitz with Grail/ Chalice design on them

So there you go guys, hopefully you'll find a something you want in there, as well as helping me out.

Operation "Afford 8th Edition" begins now!

8th Edition Blues

8th edition is looming this saturday and I think I might have to sell a kidney to afford it. I've got very little money coming in and even more going out. I thought I'd put some money aside for it, but then another bill came along. *Sigh* Damn £45 price tag

So I've been doing some serious thinking and I might sell some of my many armies. I'm going to sort out what i've got (over 400 models at my last count), then post it up so people can make me some offers.

Watch this space

Some answers at last!

GW has posted upsome new FAQ's for both the 'Nids and Blood Angels. They clear up some major rules debates which have been raging for months now.

First up, the Doom of Malantia's Soul Leech ability does NOT work on units in transport vehicles.

Mawlocs can deliberately come up underneath units, instead of relying on luck to scatter them onto their target

Descent of Angels CANNOT be used on transport vehicles, so no more DoA-ing Land Raiders

BA Demolisher Cannons are exactly the same as the other marine codexes

Vehicles gain cover saves from Shield of Sanguinius - wow, they must really want us to mech up with BA. I'm tempted to do it myself after hearing this, although i've been against the mechanisation of my armies my whole gaming career (about 7 years)

There's a load more, but not as major as these. Check them out on the GW website if you want to know more.

On the whole, common sense has won out, but there's still some odd ones in there, like the fact that Shadow in the Warp doesn't effect units in transport vehicles, but i can forgive them that one, as the other 'Nid powers don't affect units in vehicles, so top marks for consistency.

It seems like GW's finally starting to address the real issues in its FAQs, which can only a be a good thing.

Only time will tell if they'll keep this up

Stuff I've painted this month

College has now finally finished, but that means i now have to find a job and start paying my way in life :(

On the other hand, i now have a ton of free time compared to before, so i've been painting. I've decided to work through the huge pile of random models that litter my desk, shelves, cupboard, army cases, etc. But me being me, i'm not working in a logical order, literally painting whatever the hell i feel like at the time. It's had mixed results. I'll leave it up to you to decide if it's good or not.


First up, i'm stripping down a load of (very) old models that have too many layers of paint on to even identify properly, let alone use. I'm using fairy power spray and it's working quite well on metal. Plastic's a slightly different story, as you'll see in a minute



Heres the first batch, freshly stripped. I know the top one (plastic scout in case you're wondering) isn't fully stripped, but as i said before, the power spray didn't work so well on plastic as metal. I think I might need repeated soakings to get it all off.




I've also been starting to work on the batch of scout bikes i got for my birthday back in February. I'm planning to eventually make a Salamanders Biker army. The low model count means i can take my time and paint them up really well (for me at least)




A batch of zombie Plaguebearers for my Deamons force



Possessed Dreadnought. Probably going to be used as a Lord of Change or Bloodthirster. Note that it's a Blood Angels Dread, the only chapter to get Librarian Dreadnoughts (the only thing easy to possess than a psyker is a nearly dead psyker!)



I'd nearly painted this guy when i decided he needed more flames and 'possession-y' stuff, so the final thing will look a lot more elaborate than this, complete with flaming wings coming out his back! I think it'll look awesome and it'll be good for WYSYWIG too.


The first of many Orcs



I also found a buch of random marine models whilst sorting through stuff, so i decided to paint some up, more as test models or experiments than with any consistent colour scheme in mind





I know it's random stuff, but what do people think of it all. Any requests on which stuff to paint up first? I've still got Blood Pact stuff in the works to show off too.

Common sense rules/ models? Pt 1 Vendettas and Orders

This may turn into a little rant but here it goes.

In recent years I've noticed some really stupid rules and models coming from GW. They've been bugging me for a while but I've kept my doubts to myself. But after an incident involving Orders recently, I've decided enough is enough. In this series of articles I'm going to be covering some of my (huge) bugbears about 40k

First up to face my scrutiny is the Imperial Guard

OK here it goes...

The Vendetta

For those few of you that don't know it, it's a variant of the Valkyrie, filling the role of an anti-tank gunship - something especially important in the mech-heavy environment of 5th edition. The thing mounts 3 twin-linked lascannons, a very heavy weapon outload for something that needs to be able to fly. In my opinion, a little too heavy.

Now remember a few years back when Apocalypse was released? remember the Terminus Ultra pattern Land Raider? The thing mounted 3 twin linked lascannons and two single ones. It also had a tiny chance of blowing itself up if you rolled too many ones.
This is the heaviest tank the Space Marines can bring to bear, sacrificing it's not-insignificant transport capabilities for the space to store the powercells, cooling systems, etc so it can fire its huge arsenal of weapons.

So how in the hell can a light aircraft, which can also carry 12 men in its hold, support three twin-linked lascannons and the appropriate systems to support them?

The idea that the Imperial Guard, which are all about mass production over efficiency, would have sufficiently more advanced technology than marines to mount virtually the same outload of weapons on a vehicle about half the size of the marine one is just ludicrous to me

Now the cynical side of me says it's all to sell the shiny new Valkyrie model, but that doesn't excuse badly thought out rules.
Even three non twin-linked lascannons would have had people snapping them up like hot cakes, but as usual, GW only thinks about how many plastic kits they can sell.

Think about it, 3 lascannons are easy to come by from your average bitz box.
However, 3 twin-linked ones are a whole lot harder, meaning people would be buying the Land Raider Terminus bitz pack (ironic, don't you think?) which was released near the time and had all the lascannons you'd need, or splash out for the Forgeworld conversion kit six months later.

And to top it all off, they could have easily included the parts to make a vendetta in the Valk box, especially considering the Leman Russ Demolisher box released just the next month, with parts for half the Russ variants in. It just bugs me big time. But not as much as this next one...

Orders

The much-praised Orders system came as part of the ruination of the Guard codex that was 5th edition. I could write pages upon pages of my dislikes about the IG codex, but I might come back to them at a later date. For the purposes of this article, i'm focussing on the Orders system.

The idea being that at the start of the shooting phase (the 'Orders Phase' as i quickly came to call it), the Officers in the army shout, curse and generally inspire their men to great deeds. In reality it opens up a whole can of worms both rules and fluff wise, for me at least.

First up is the abilities they grant. These men, for the most part are trained soldiers. They would've at least gone through basic training and learnt to shoot straight, while the vast majority will have survived several war zones. Why is it they need their officers to tell them how to shoot a tank accurately? Is it like they don't try their hardest to deal with the big scary death machine in front of them unless they have a junior officer yelling in their ear? I can understand abilities like rallying and running faster, as the officers are shouting encouragement to their men. I just can't stand the idea of granting re-rolls to shooting or magically giving their lasguns an extra shot.

Then we come to vox. Consider the fluff for them. Fluff-wise they're long-ranged radios designed to let frontline units stay in contact with their superiors. In the Gaunts Ghosts books, the vox casters are shown to work over entire continents (one the scouts specifically states this fact in 'His Last Command') so why is that in game, it doesn't work on anyone further away than their own arse?

Vox should increase the range units can take orders from, not grant re-rolls to failed ones. Better yet, go back to the old system of a vox network keeping the army together, where taking out the master vox could cause huge problems for a guard player

The sheer ridiculousness of the newer rules was highlighted in my latest game.

Picture the scene, bullets are flying, artillery crashing overhead.
I gave the 'run, run, run' order to my company command squad with my count as Iron Hand Straken who was in the unit, aiming to cover ground before the marines shot again. They failed the order check. I shrugged and was about to move on when i remembered his squad had a vox-caster, hence granting me a re-roll. This resulted in the ever-so-slightly stupid situation where he's bawling into his own headset, trying to get his own order through to himself.

I laughed and joked about it at the time,putting it down to the unhinged nature of the Blood Pact, but it highlighted to me just how bad the 5th edition rules are for Guard and the main reason I'm writing these articles. I know it's a science fiction game, but it still needs a grounding in realism - something the GW writers seem to be forgetting recently.

So what do people think? Am I wrong? Am I talking crazy?

I'm also open to suggestions for rules to look in the future at if you want to drop me a line.

New Bases? What the Hell?!

GW has just announced it's releasing the Screaming Bell and Dreadnought textured bases next month.

Looky here

Now the Dreadnought base i can understand. I've been wanting some of these without having to buy the full Dread to get it. I'll be picking up a few of these for my Bloodcrushers i'm making and if anyone else is like me (a scary thought, i know), they'll sell like hotcakes.

What gets me is the Screaming Bell base. It's not that i can't see why they're selling it. It's a new base size (something i wasn't aware of until today, despite facing one several times since its release - i thought it was a chariot base), so naturally it follows to sell it seperately, like every other sized base they make. I can imagine people building Hellpit Abominations and other big monsters on these things, or even mounting dioramas on one.

What was interesting though was the example they gave of its usage. They mounted twenty Night Goblins on one of them. Now i know some people mount multiple models on bigger bases, especially in horde armies, but twenty on one base? Seriously? I can't imagine a single situation where even twenty Gobbos would be removed from the table at once.

Call me crazy, but is this a sign of things to come in 8th edition? Will there be uber destructive weapons or spells out there that can wipe units out in a blink of an eye?

If so, I fear for our hobby

Also, as a side note, it also talks about mounting a High Elf Chariot on the bigger Screaming Bell base. Does this mean they're getting rid of the strict base size limits?

Discuss. Any and all theories are welcome

New Army for (almost) nothing

In honour of GW's announcement of a second wave of Daemons in August (only 2 years too late, but never mind), I've decided to finally start the army I've been promising myself since the codex was released.

Now, i have more bitz than I'll ever know what to do with, so i might as well make use of them and convert myself up a batch of daemons, rather than have them cluttering my desks, shelves, cupboard, floor.... you get the idea.

Anyway, onto the models I've made so far, heavily inspired by Dead Emperors project log on Warseer. ( here if you're interested).

Possessed dreadnought. The marine within is channelling the power of A Lord of Change. I'm going to modelling wings on him at some point and the hull's going to be painted up in the colours of one of my regular opponents




My first Horror squad

If the rumoured plastic Horrors come out, I'm going to be mix and matching parts from the Cadian and Horror boxed sets, if not, I'll just get hold of some of the awesome metal ones to mix into the squads, maybe as leaders - I just don't like the idea of an all-metal army.






This old-school rhino has been through many incarnations in its long life. It was the second GW model i ever owned (the first being one of those old snap-fit Khorne Berserkers). It's been a Rhino, a Vindicator, a Rhino again, an Iron Warriors artillery piece, an Ork Looted Wagon, Trukk, had a brief stint as a Battlewagon, before finally being consigned to the cupboard.



Fast forward to yesterday, as i dug it out looking for bitz to scavenge and came up with the idea of turning it into a Soul Grinder - a fitting end to such a long and varied career. A fitting thing is that in it's last game before disappearing into the depths of the cupboard it got zapped by a Tzeentch Sorcerer, so I'll stay it got taken into the warp as an offering for the Forge of Souls, only to reemerge to plague the mortal realm once more.

As you can see, I've cut it up and rebuilt it with the aid of Plasticard. When i get paid I'm going on a bitz website and grabbing the Soul Grinder torso (I'm not paying £30 if I'm not going to be using the legs), then use green stuff to build it up from there

Lunchtime Progress 10th May - Cauldron of Blood

Today i've been working on painting up the base and improving the blood in the cauldron. A hairdryer was my best friend here, otherwise all the progress you see would've taken me the better part of a week!




I've been dabbing in more red paint and layers of gloss varnish to try and add some depth to the blood. I'm personally quite pleased with the result and now that's done it means that i can move on to freehanding runes around the rim.