The Damnation of Tinus - 1750pt Daemons

Ok, I'm still cut off from my hobby desk, but thank god(s) for having copies of all my 40k books on my laptop, so I can play around with army lists.

This time I'm working on my Daemons, trying to tweak my existing list a little and include my newer purchases in there. This is what I've got so far:



Kharagah the Bloody-Hooved

Bloodthirster, Deathstrike, Blessings of the Blood God, Unholy Might, Instrument

Zombies (Formerly the Nobility of Hive Primus)

14 x Plaguebearers, Noxious Touch, Icon, Instrument

Zombies (Former inhabitants of Hive Primus Mortuary)

14 x Plaguebearers, Noxious Touch, Icon, Instrument

The Twisted

9 x Horrors, Bolt of Tzeentch, Icon, Changeling

The Flames of Change

10 x Horrors, Bolt of Tzeentch, Icon

The Grinder of Souls

Soul Grinder with Phlegm

Gilgmesh the Seeker

Daemon Prince, Tzeentch, Master of Sorcery, Bolt of Tzeentch, Breath of Chaos, Daemonic Gaze

Dark Fires of the Changer

3 x Flamers


It's a nice little list to play. The Plaguebearers take objectives in cover and refuse to die, whilst the rest of the army concentrates on keeping the enemy away from them. Simple, yet effective.

I'm still wondering if Kharagah's worth taking in such a low points level, considering I gave up a squad of Flamers, Epidemus and a Tzeentch Herald to take him. Maybe I should save him for a higher points level. I think the only way to be sure is to play a few games with them when Kharagah's ready and see what works better

What do people think?

1750 Christmas Deathwing

So I'm sitting here at my parents for Christmas and I'm bored witless. No access to my hobby desk, which is well over 100 miles away. To amuse myself, I've been doodling ideas for army lists I'd like to do in the future.



One army that's always interested me are the Deathwing and the Dark Angels in general. I've always wanted to do a pure Deathwing force, but the idea of not being able to use Mortis Dreadnoughts has always bothered me and the purist in me balked at the idea of using the Space Wolves book to represent the Sons of the Lion, so the idea was shelved.

That's until my friend handed me a copy of Imperial Armour Apocalypse Second Edition yesterday as an early Christmas present. One of the (many many) options in the book is to field a Mortis Pattern Contemptor - the godsend I was waiting for and that sparked off a melting pot of ideas in my mind

So here's the 1750 point list I've been working out whilst steadily working my way through a bottle of rum:

Azrael, Supreme Grand Master

Belial, Master of the Deathwing

Deathwing Squad Azrael

Heavy Flamer, 2 x Lightning claws, Apothecary, Standard Bearer with Chapter Banner

Deathwing Squad Retribution

Lightning Claws, TH/SS, Assault Cannon, Chainfist, Power Fist

Deathwing Squad Deliverance

TH/SS, Heavy Flamer, Chainfist, Lightning Claws, Power Fist

Deathwing Squad Heavenfall

Assault Cannon, Chainfist, Lightning Claws, TH/SS, Power Fist

Contemptor Brethren Azakion, Mortis Pattern

2 x Kheres Assault Cannon, Extra Armour, Searchlight, Cyclone Launcher

Revered Brother Raziel

Venerable Dreadnought, Multi-Melta


The aim behind the list was to use Squads Azrael and Deliverance, led by Azrael and Belial respectively to spearhead the charge, while the other two squads and the Dreads give fire support.

I deliberately steered away from the usual Interrogator Chaplain as my second HQ, instead i felt that Azraels combat skills and 4+ blanket save over a squad were a better choice, especially when combined with LC's, FnP and a Chapter Banner in the squad he leads.

What do you think?

Throgg the Troll King WIP

I said Throgg is on the way and here he is...



So far I've take the Ogre Kingdoms Gorger, added GS scales to his back and extended his fangs.



He's nearly done. The only major bit left to do is I still need to extend his ears to troll proportions or give him horns. Not sure which I'll do yet, but I also need to add his crown and I like the idea of it pushing down on his ears, so I'm leaning in that direction.

All in all it's quite a simple conversion for a Hero choice (and a Special Character at that), but I like the savage cunning that oozes from the Gorger model and it's so beautifully detailed that there's very little I need to do.

Any thoughts or comments on him?

I Need Money! aka: Revised Project List

Wow, I really am keeping up the post count...

Last post I mentioned my project list has been revised due to money issues, so I thought I'd post up my new list to give you an idea of what I'm working on in the next few weeks

- Build my new hobby area (put on hold while finding a new place to live)

- Finish up my Dark Elf Corsair and Witch Elf units

- Finish painting my Hochland Empire force

- Paint up the bodies to my first five Scarab Occult

- Finish building and painting my first Grey Hunter unit

- Finish painting my Soul Drinker Tactical and Assault Squads

- Finish building Bjorn

- Paint my Rune Priest

- Finish building my Cygor-based Bloodthirster

- Paint at least 50 (out of 350)of my Zombies

- Strip down my previous failed attempt at Deathwing ready to start anew in the new year

- Build my Throgg the Troll King conversion, ready to lead my Ogre Kingdoms/ Warriors of Chaos monster force

As you can see, it's not all that different to my previous project list and still gives me a lot to do. I just really wish I could do the projects that have been 'bumped off' but there's no point starting them if i don't have the cash to finish them.

Sigh...

Still, should be lots of lovely pics of progress for you to see coming soon. Currently on my table are the Bloodthirster and Throgg for their latest round of GS work, so you should be seeing more from them very soon...

Pre-Heresy Thousand Son

Yes, I know he's got no arms, but i want to make sure i get the colour scheme right before I start messing around with weapons and wargear.

I also know he's not on the list of projects i set myself, but the list's been revised to suit my evolving financial situation (ie. I'm too skint for all the projects I wanted to start). Painting these guys replaces my Necron projects I had planned, seeing as I already have all the parts I need for them and rumours about the chaos legion codex have reignited my passion for the chaotic and misunderstood

So here we go, my first test model for my Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons.



I'm still working on him but you get the general idea for the colour scheme. Hardcore Horus Heresy fans would point out to me at this point that not all the Thousand Sons should have the crested helmets but, I'm planning to base the army around the elite of the legion, the Scarab Occult, so they would all have those crests.


I'm thinking of fielding them as Vanilla marines using this rough list

Tigerius (Senior Librarian, maybe even Ahriman himself)

Librarian

2 x ten man Sternguard Squads (special ammo reflecting their powers)

2 x Scout Squads (representing Prospero Spireguard support)

2 x Bike Squads (representing Legion Jetbikes)

Land Speeder Storm (Anti-grav speeders which the Imperial Army had access to)

On the other hand I may just go with Grey Knights to represent them, but they're a bit cheesy for my tastes atm.

I think I'll get some more painting done before I decide on which list to use. I don't see myself doing much gaming before February anyway.

Cygor Bloodthirster WIP

Ok, plans for new hobby area have been put on hold, due to the need to find a new flat, but in the meantime, I'm still working on clearing my backlog of projects for the new year.

First up is my Bloodthirster, converted from the Cygor/Ghorgon kit. I know I said in my original list that it was going to be made from a Zombie Dragon, but that was before I saw this kit. Right from the moment I saw it i knew I'd found the donor model for my plastic Bloodthrister. The Zombie Dragon pieces (minus the wings) have been put aside for another project.



As you can see it's closer to the original model than much of the rest of my Deamon army and still very WIP, but it's getting there.



So far I've started sculpting on the chest armour (to be finished over Christmas) and started adding the distinctive mane of hair that appears on the metal/finecast version. This is going to take the longest, i think, as i'm modelling each strand of hair individually

I'm also going to be scratch-building an axe and whip for him, as well as obviously adding the other wing.



He's obviously going to be quite a bit bigger than the GW version, but I've always thought that the current Bloodthirster is way too small and goofy looking for a walking demi-god of war anyway.

By the looks of things my one is going to end up sized about halfway between the GW and Forgeworld version, which means I should be able to use it as either.

More on this very soon, as well as the other projects...

Quest for a new Hobby Area

OK, before my big plans for a fresh start come the new year (see last post) can flourish, I need a new hobby area.

I figure instead of simply carting my woefully inadequate hobby desk into the new space, it's a great opportunity to revamp my working area.

So I've drawn up a list of everything I've ever wanted or needed from my hobby desk, which I'm going to incorporate into my new area.

1. Obviously I need a surface to work on

2. A place to tidy away my paints, brushes, glues, etc, away from marauding kittens and little hands (my first kid is due in march, so this is especially important)

3. Shelves to display finished projects and store current WIP's

4. Storage for my many bitz boxes (I have nearly ten years worth of these, which number in the dozens), or at least a way to categorise the bitz for easy access

5. A decent lighting set up

6. Noticeboard to store ideas, army lists, sketches and painting recipes

7. Space for my laptop (i need music, videos and access to the blogosphere when i work), but far enough from the working area to avoid splashes and spillages

8. (although optional, due to space restraints) A light box for photographing models

9. Storage for all my old projects that I've thought I'd abandoned but could switch back to at a moments notice


It's fairly basic stuff, but every bit of it's important for me, seeing as i only have about half this list in my current kitten-infested set up and if I'm going to make this change, I'm going to do this properly.

While this seems simple enough, I also only have a small space to work in, so all this also needs to be quite compact.

I'm going shopping tomorrow to see what i can pick up and hopefully by the end of the weekend i should have something that's at least starting to resemble the idea I have in my head.

A mighty hobby quest

I should know better than to venture into GW in the run up to Uni deadlines. I always end up with far too many ideas for projects that i have nowhere near enough time for.

But, in a feat of incredible self-control, I've decided that those can wait until New Year, when i have a six week break and my student loan. In the meantime, I'm going to focus my hobby efforts on getting my current projects done and dusted.


Here's my 'To Do' list to lead me nicely to the 1st of January. You'll notice most of it's stuff that's been featured on The Wandering Mind over the course of 2011 and never seen again.

- Build my new hobby area (more on this next post)

- Finish up my Dark Elf Corsair and Witch Elf units

- Paint my Dark Eldar Kabalite unit that's been sitting on my desk for the last 4 months

- Finish painting my Hochland Empire force

- Finish building and painting my first Grey Hunter unit

- Finish painting my Soul Drinker Tactical and Assault Squads

- Finish my Thunderwolves, including my Lord

- Finish Bjorn

- Paint my Rune Priest

- Paint Trazyn the Infinite

- Finish building and painting my Zombie Dragon Bloodthirster/ Shard of the Void Dragon

- Paint at least 50 (out of 350)of my Zombies

- Strip down my previous failed attempt at Deathwing ready to start anew in the new year

- Build my Throgg the Troll King conversion, ready to lead my Ogre Kingdoms/ Warriors of Chaos monster force

As you can see, it's a fairly substantial list, but one I feel i can manage. The theory is, if i get all this done, I can start the new year without an huge backlog of stuff, allowing me to focus on my new projects.

I'll post the stuff up here as I do them, so you can see how I get on and I'll do a follow-up post in the New Year, where hopefully I can congratulate myself on a job well done. Hopefully.

Here we go then...

Cats and Corsairs

As I mentioned before, my hobby time has been serious cramped by these cute little gits being born underneath my painting desk



However, I am in the process of setting up a temporary paint station in another room, so I can get my army plans back on track very soon, once my uni deadlines are out the way.

I did manage to paint up a test model for my latest unit of Corsairs though



There'll be about 30 of these when I'm done, forming the perfect bunker unit for Master Hyron, who's next on my painting list. He should be done in a very similar scheme to these guys, although minus a Sea Dragon Cloak.

What do people think?

The myth that is Finecast

Ok, so about 6 months ago, Finecast hit the shelves and the internet was instantly awash with complaints about the quality, with air bubbles apparently all over the place and even whole pieces of missing or unsalvagable, to the point where many people are put off buying Finecast because of worries over quality control

Of course, unless you've been a hermit these last 6 months, you probably already know all about this

I would like to make quite a sweeping statement:

The internet has blown this problem out of all proportion.

To date I have bought 4 Finecast models, a female Vampire Lord, two Ogre Kingdoms Gorgers and this guy:




Not one of these models has had so much as a single blemish (the nick in the shoulder pad you can see is down to me not being careful enough with the clippers) and I can honestly say these have been some of the best quality GW models I have ever bought, in terms of quality of sculpts, crispness of detail and ease to paint and build

Also, none of my gaming friends have ever had a problem with a Finecast model either, sharing my views on the quality.

Of course, these ravings on the internet have to come from somewhere, so I've been thinking and all I can suggest is this:

Any model manufacturer, no matter how big or small will occasionally make mistakes, whether it be a missing sprue in a boxed set, or bubbles in the casting, etc. For example, the very first box of GW product I bought, way back when I was eleven, was a box of Chaos Space Marines. They'd been mispacked so I only got half the marines i paid for. The manager of my local GW was quite happy to exchange them for a full box and let me keep the mispackaged box, as they couldn't sell them on for obvious reasons, but not before noting down the details he needed to warn head office of the problem.

The point i'm making is that there will ALWAYS be mistakes that slip through quality control. It's an inevitability. problem is, with the internet being a vital tool in spreading the word about Finecast, the most vocal group will always be the ones who are complaining. Always. It's human nature. People are more inclined to say 'this was terrible!' than 'actually, this model was brilliant, no problems with it at all', so we only end up hearing one side of the story.

As a little final point, I've had more problems with Forge World casts since the release of Finecast (a grand total of one problem, with some armour kits i got) than any GW product.

I suppose what this post is really saying is, don't believe the internet doomsayers and give Finecast a chance.

Allas Hyron

In the flesh at last.

I've finally got round to building a model for my Dark Elf character who I've been using in games and writing stories about for the last two years.



Unfortunately he's also the same model who took a Asur longbow to the chest in my last Mordheim game and died outright

May his WFB career be longer than his Mordheim one.

Too many distractions!

Well it's not called the Wandering Mind for nothing...

So I picked up my copy of the new Necron codex yesterday, along with a plastic Zombie Dragon kit and Trazyn the Infinite.

My hobby time over the next couple of weeks will probably be taken up with crafting a Necron test list based around Trazyn and a Shard of the Void Dragon (the Zombie Dragon).

I'm also in the process of painting up a few test models for my Space Wolves, using a recipe recommended to me by Odinsport and re-booting my Dark Elf Corsair army, so I should hopefully show those soon, however my painting and modelling time has been cut down drastically by uni deadlines and the fact that my cat decided to give birth to a litter of kittens under my hobby desk.

Gaming-wise I actually managed to get a game of Mordheim in the other day. It was good fun. I was up against a High Elf warband, 3 Empire ones and Witch Hunters, with me playing Dark Elves.

My secret mission was to put five of the High Elves out of action, which I failed at spectacularly. My Corsair henchmen got slaughtered as we poured out of a building, hoping to catch the Asur in a pincer movement, then before my heroes could pile in, the High Elf leader raised his longbow and took out my Highborn with a single shot! To add insult to injury, it was the same character my Highborn had been taking pot-shots at all game with his crossbow pistol and the Highborn died outright after the game. Curses!

All in all not the greatest of results, but at least i got a game in and after the post-battle looting I could afford to hire myself a new hero, a Beastmaster this time, with a whip to put the fear into those damnable hounds the Witch Hunter play insists on bringing. Come here little doggies, i want you to meet my Cold One Beast Hound...

Everything must go! (again)

That's right, Khorneguy's having another sale.

As a student, I'm far too skint for hobby stuff and looking over my finances, i've found that my little splurge at Games Day cleared out my hobby fund completely, severely hampering my progress on my Space Wolves.

I've figured my best way forward is to sort through and sell the mountain of old and half finished projects I have in a bid to raise money for my newer projects.

So here we go...

Obviously I'm looking for cash for these, but I would be open to trades for Space Wolf items too.

Email me at: rickyjoy9@yahoo.co.uk, if you're interested in anything.

The painted stuff can be easily stripped before sending if you're after unpainted.

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.

10 Zombies, built but unpainted £7
4 Assault Marines, painted £5
30 Ork Slugga Boyz, painted £20
1 classic Iron Hand Straken, painted - £4
1 Ork Weirdboy - painted and converted (head swap) - £5
1 Ork Stompa - built, converted and painted - £45
3 Space Hulk Genestealers - unpainted

Current Edition Codices/Army Books - £10 each

CSM Codex
Ork Codex
Tyranid Codex
Eldar Codex
Space Marine Codex
Planetstrike
Skaven Army Book
Empire Army Book

Out of print Army Books £5 each

7th ed Orcs & Goblins 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
Warhammer 8th Edition Rulebook £30
40k Mini Rulebook - £7
Chapter Approved 2003 - £10

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
Signed hardback copy of Blood Pact by Dan Abnett - £15

Various back issues of WD dating back to 2003 - pm me 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

Bjorn the Contemptor WIP

Here's a little preview WIP of my Bjorn the Fell-handed based on the Contemptor chassis.

The way I see it, Bjorn really should be in one of these anyway, seeing as he dates from the time of the Heresy, plus it looks really powerful and imposing - just the way Bjorn should be.

I need to sculpt some details to make him more 'wolfy' (the string of Green Stuff round his neck is going to be his Wolf Tooth Necklace), but on the whole I'm pleased with how he's shaping up so far. By the way, in case you're wondering his claws were made from DE Corsair blades and smoothed out with liquid Green Stuff (an awesome product).

Let me know what you guys think

A new saga begins...

So begins the tale of Wolf Lord Rylak Foestrider and the Great Company of Tra...

After months of proxying lists and fine-tuning my army composition, i have finally started building my Space Wolves force properly, seeing as it's been in the works ever since the latest codex came out.

Each and every model will have its own name and backstory, which I'll present to you when I post them up, along with their ongoing sagas (to be added to after particularly spectacular feats in-game)

I'm really excited about this project and I aim to have it finished by about June-July time next year, just in time to enter them into next years Armies on Parade at GD UK 2012.

So here's what I've been building so far...


Olyek Dragonfoe, my Rune Priest, based off the Forge World Boarding Marine and various SW bits, with the spear shaft coming from a chaos knight



Baldric Greymane, slayer of the Bloodtithe and member of the Grey Hunter pack 'The White Wolves'.


I painted guy this a while back as a tester model, but I'm not really happy with the way his armour turned out. I've still yet to find a nice grey recipe that works for my wolves. If anyone's got a good one, let me know.

And finally, we have Alrik Thunderslayer, a member of another of my Grey Hunter packs.



I love the old mk's of power armour and will be using them in combination with the SW bitz pack throughout my force, not quite making them pre-heresy, but having that sort of vibe.

So what do you guys think so far?

Next time I should have some pics of my Bjorn and Thunderwolves ready to show you

Broadening the Mind

I'm currently in the process of launching the Khorneguy's Commissions page and generally overhauling the blog in generally, so there may be a few issues in layout or even accessing The Wandering Mind next couple days.

Just bear with me and I should have all of it sorted by the end of the week at the very latest

Is anyone else sick of Dreadfleet?

It's nearly a week since Games Day and I, like I'm sure many others have, logged on to the GW website to get a look at the pics from Games Day and all the lovely hobby goodness and craziness that I might have missed on sunday featured in 'What's New Today', as they do every year.

But no, instead I'm confronted with some coverage of it in mondays post, then tuesday they were back to their constant coverage of Dreadfleet, with no mention of Games Day what so ever.

Thanks GW

Ok, Sarcasm doesn't translate well to blog posts

Anyway...

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice enough game and I get that they've got to get people interested in it, but only having a passing coverage of their premier event on their own website?

Really not good GW. At least chuck us a couple of photos of interesting thing or models from GD a day, at the end of the post after the Dreadfleet stuff.

But no, nothing.

Personally I think it's because of the organisational hell they had and they don't want people to see how ridiculously overcrowded it was.

Either that or the GD stuff will come flooding out on monday after Dreadfleet's out there. Or maybe not, they'll just start showing people playing Dreadfleet or people's painted ships, etc, trying to milk the should've-been-Man O' War cash cow for everything it's worth, having already milked our GD money out of us.

*I* probably have more coverage of GD on my blog than GW has - and i broke my camera 9am Sunday!

Grrr...

Ok rant over. Normal service will be resumed shortly

Post Games Day Recovery

Games Day made me ill.

It always does. I don't know what it is about it, whether it's the 10,000 geeks packed into the same space, the constant noise or my usual all-nighter the day before, but it does. My voice went round about 11am Sunday and still hasn't returned and i've got the flue from hell.

I lost yesterday completely, falling asleep as soon as I got back 10pm Sunday night and waking up 11am this morning. Not good, especially as I was due in Uni yesterday.

But all in all it was worth it. Yeah, i know people complained about the queues, but as long as you weren't fussy what time of day you got your stuff, it wasn't so bad.

I managed to bag the following




- Forgeworld Boarding Marine

- Contemptor Dreadnought with Kheres-Pattern Assault Cannon and Power Fist

- Salvations Reach, unsigned unfortunately, due to the queues, but a damn good read nonetheless. I've been forcing myself to keep putting it down to get some uni work done.

- The Outcast Dead, again unsigned.

- and finally, a single Scout Marine from the Rites of Initiation. Rather handy, as I've been trying to work out the best way to make my Wolf Scout with Mark of the Wulfen without having to buy an entire Scouts box


I also struck up a few interesting conversations. I went to the Warseer meet-up, saw Harry and co. They seem nice sorts, but i mainly ended up talking to the guy who goes by the name ChaosAstartes about the nature of Khorne and martial honour.

I also went out to smoke and got chatting to a fellow Space Wolves player about Thunderwolves conversions (Bloodcrushers are the way to go!) and the Sons of Russ in general.

Plus I got to be sarcastic to Matt Ward and STILL get his autograph

So all in all I'd rate this Games Day 7/10. Next time GW, sort the queues!

Right now GD's out the way, back to my projects. My question to you is, where next? Thousand Sons or Space Wolves?

Ok on the coach on the way back from GD UK. So the plan for pics completely backfired. The camera packed up the moment I went to take a picture of that gorgeous drop pod outside. Instead i will try and put together my recollections.

- First of all I spoke to Jervis Johnson. We had a talk about the lack of army-specific magic items in 8th ed fantasy and he said it was to make it easier to control balance between army books. I tactfully 'forgot' to mention the Ogre Kingdoms Hellheart

- Next was Matt Ward. I tried subtle sarcasm by say 'I really like how you've made the most elite army in 40k even more powerful and elite'. Either he's used to this kind of thing or it went way over his head. I would've spoke to more of the team but a crowd was building by then and i wanted to beat the scrum to Forge World.

- Both new Forgeworld and Warhammer Forge books were on display, with IA11 featuring guard and Space Wolves fighting Eldar. there's a range of Eldar Corsair army lists to draw your army list from, including the Shadow Spectres.

Bram Redmaw is being released. A rather taSty model i must say, but they kept pretty tight lipped about the possiblity of further releases, namely Thunderwolves. They claimed anything from maybe to not even in the distant pipeline, depending on the designer I spoek to. The GW design team kept mysteriously quiet about this too, almost like they weren't allowed to say anything...

- Warhammer Forge was interesting. Apparently they're going to focus on the 'tech and cogs' side of things, being more interested in magic and beasts.

- There will be Elementals for all main BRB lores. For now they're keeping them as bound monsters for Storm of Magic, mainly because of worries of balance and points-cost issues if they had wizards being able to summon them in normal games.

The Fire one will be a pillar of flame with dragons coming out the top and the Metal one will be an orb of metal with carvinal mask-esque faces coming out of it

- No Dark Elf stuff is planned at Warhammer Forge, as they've yet to have an inspiring-enough idea for them

- Warlord Titans are a definate possibility, with the new Phantom Titan being about as tall as a Warlord would be

- The queue for sales was ridiculously long, with Forgeworld, Black Library and mainstream GW sales being crammed into a tiny area, resulting in extreme congetsion, with people queuing through the gaming area and waits of over two hours to buy anything. GW, if you're reading, bad call...

- No mention of future releases from GW, nothing was even forthcoming about next months releases

- There was however a massive WoTR display board witht he Battle of Five Armies. Interestingly, there was an unfamiliar Bear model on one corner of the board (future Beorn release anyone?)

- Specialist Games models and Rulebooks were on sale for the first time at GW that i can remember in my three years of attending Games Day

Right, I'm going to get some sleep. I'll post more as it occurs to me

Madness I tell you!

Well it's 3am here and we've been up all night painting.

That's right, we left our Golden Demon entries till the night before.

We aren't expecting to get far, using them as more of a reason to get into Games Day at nine rather than ten (thus ensuring we can grab our seminar tickets), but it'll nice to get through to the second round.



Mine is the Psyker, my friend Johnny's is Harker. Not bad considering the short time available to us. You'll be seeing more of Johnny's army in the near future as he has graciously let me photograph his fledgling Catachan force as it takes shape.

More updates later, i'm taking an internet dongle with me so hopefully i'll be able to post updates as the day goes along

Games Day Weekender

Well with less than 24 hours to go, the excitement is palpable. Me and my friend have decided to stretch the excitement out even further and make a weekend of it.

Ignoring these "Mini Games Days" happening up and down the country at GW stores, we're celebrating in our own way. We're not sleeping tonight due to the fact that we have to up at 3am, so instead we're grabbing a few beers, few mates and playing an all-night 40k game.

If we've got time after that, we're having a painting session, before walking down to catch the coach for the big day itself

Once we're actually there, i've got a list of things i want to check out, also I'm picking up my Forge World order of some pre-heresy marines plus weapons and a Contemptor Dreadnought to kick off my planned Pre-Heresy army properly. I'm still teetering between doing Thousand Sons or Space Wolves, but I may see what Forgeworld are bringing out Space Wolves-wise with the next AI book before deciding. Or else do both, given my love of both Legions

For the most part though, big thing at Games Day this year is going to be Black Library. A must for me is picking up Salvations Reach, the new Gaunts Ghost book, as well as getting it signed by Mr Abnett himself, as well as getting in the "Writing for Black Library" seminar

I'll post what i can up tomorrow, but you might have to wait until early next week before i can.

Anyway, off i go, wish me luck. I'm off to game, drink, be merry in the highlight of my gaming year

Project X at GD UK?

I just picked up my survival guide to games day uk from my local GW and in there it says an area of the Design Studio section is set aside this year to "Project X"

They won't say what it is for obvious reasons, but anyone heard any rumours about what this might be?

It seems to be something major, seeing as according to the map, nearly a quarter of the design studio area is given over to it

My gut instinct is one of three things:

1. The Hobbit. With the film due next year, then it would make sense to announce it now. That said, i doubt that GW would be allowed to show likenesses of characters, etc. so far in advance of the release date and it seems like an awfully big area just for an announcement with no figures

2. Dreadfleet. Yes i know it's not a mystery any more, but we don't know when this guide was published/ sent out to stores. I know GW has had a huge crack down on leaks and rumours this year, so it could just be them covering their tracks in case one got out before last weeks announcement

3. Something completely new that's slipped under the rumour/leak radar, in which case i say well done GW...

Whatever it is, I'm going down there on Sunday, so i'll be able to tell you first hand what it is, hopefully with pics too.

Armies on Parade: Twelve Hour Mark

After a long hard slog, i'm finally there. The mind has been focussed for once!

While i don't have any images of the finished army right now, what with them laid out on my desk for final detailing, i can assure you i am bang on schedule to have them on display for 12 Noon today. Here's a shot of the board from earlier today.



I think i need to make the earth mounds look more scorched and war-torn, but that might just be the camera flash.

More images, including the whole finished product are coming in the next few hours, just before i pack them away for transport.

Armies on Parade: 8 Days to go

It's 8 days to go until the UK Armies on Parade and all the materials i need for my entry have finally arrived.

The plan is have my Blood Pact overrunning an imperial defence line, with all sorts of gribbly chaotic support.

So now with the board, aegis line, a bag of filler and a box of guardsmen for desecration/ fallen victims, i'm finally entering the last leg of this. If i stick to the schedule i've made for myself i should get it done in time. Wish me luck

Here's how it looks at the moment, but obviously the finished thing should be far more impressive



I'll keep you updated on my progress

Stumble Gun

This is the start of a Stumble Gun for my Blood Pact.



For those of you who don't know, it's a terror weapon unleashed by the Archenemy in the Gaunts Ghost book His Last Command.
Essentially they're spheres of metal and guns that are literally rolled at the enemy, bouncing around randomly, crushing and killing all in their path with both their weight and energy weapons studded across its surface.

I loved the idea of these balls of destruction the moment i saw them and i've wanted to build one for ages. I'm still not sure what i'm going to use it as yet, but i'll work that out later.

Hopefully i'll be able to show you more in the next couple of days

Plans for Rebirth

Ok I'm back. I've been away for a while, due to the need to move flat and lack of internet, but i'm back and i've got big plans.

1. First of all, I'm going to start doing reviews and maybe even articles on The Wandering Mind, instead of just my few-and-far-between painting and modelling updates. The reasons are twofold really:

- I'm very opinionated when it comes to GW and gaming in general and this blog is going to be my outlet for it all.

- I'm doing a writing degree at the moment, with a view to go into journalism at the end of it, part of which is writing reviews, so it'll be good practice for me as well

I picked up the Sabbat Worlds Anthology yesterday, so i think this'll probably be my first review.

2. Next up I've taken it upon myself to get most, if not all my armies done by the end of the year, (mainly due to the lack of funds to start new ones),so you should be seeing a lot more progress on projects that you've seen me start but never finish.
My first point of call will probably be my Blood Pact. I want to add some of Heritor Asphodels 'Woe Engines' to the mix, including a Stumble Gun and a unique take on a Deathstrike Missile Launcher. I might even get these done in time for Armies on Parade.

3. Finally (and i may regret saying this), I'm going to try and post on here at least once a week. The blog's been a bit neglected recently and in serious need of reinvigoration, so this is hopefully what it needs.

So watch this space i will be back very soon.

Welcome to a World of Pain

While I'm waiting for the weather to improve so I can fully photograph my Deamons, i've decided to work through my backlog of pictures i've taken of my many, many works in progress.

First up are my Grotesques and Talos Pain Engine for my new DE force. I really wasn't all that impressed with the official GW offerings so I've decided to make my own.

Don't ask what the Grotesques were built from, as I really can't remember. I know there's some Orks in there, Bloodletter parts and a BfSP Troll (a highlty underrated model), as well as a ton of Green Stuff



The Talos is far easier to identify, being built from a Wraithlord, a Manitcore's tail and Tyranid bits (including the carapace from the classic Zoanthrope i picked up in Holland last year). The idea behind this was that a Haemonculus would consider it the sweetest irony to capture one of the machines of his craftworld cousins, rip out the soul and replace it with something far more terrible, before turning it back on them.



I'll post more up soon, but for now, let me know what you think

Deamon Challenge

I've decided to set myself a challenge, seeing as I'm bored and
I've got a few days to kill.

I will turn this...



and this...



And the contents of my half-finished figure case...

... into a fully finished 1750-2000pt 40K Deamon army by 5pm Monday. Seems a tall order i know, but i have twenty Plaguebearer-Zombies to finish basing, 10 Possessed-Guardsmen-Horrors to paint and my Soul Grinder (the 'ruined' Land Raider in the pics above) to finish up and I'm done, so i'm confident of my chances.

So, donning my paint brush, I'll check in on monday to let you know how it goes and post pictures. I've promised myself lots of shiny Storm of Magic stuff if i manage it

Rebirth

Just a post to check in and let people know that The Wandering Mind is not dead, I've just been unable to access the internet to post. I shall be working my magic with a digital camera tonight to bring you rather a lot of hobby goodness over the next few days, and indeed the next few months, considering that I now have a three month holiday from uni.

In case anyone was wondering, I've been working on the following:

Space Wolves - A heavily Thunderwolf-themed list which hopefully should be ready in time for Armies on Parade at Games Day UK

Hochland Engineer Empire Force - the shift in provinces is mainly down to the fact that someone at my LGS already has a Nuln themed list. Also i feel i can explore the background and mindset of Hochland more in my army than if I'd stuck with the Nuln route. And the airship is still coming. Slowly.

40k Deamons - I'm finishing these up by the end of the month hopefully, considering they've been in the works two years already. The watchword for this army is Zombies. Lots and lots of Zombies.

Dark Eldar Carnivale Macabre - Watch this space for the show of your life. Featuring Wracks, Grotesques and a Harlequin support act, may well steal your very soul away.

Dark Elf Beastmasters - I'm building this force to be ready to use this summer for the Storm of Magic expansion, which i still have mixed feelings about, probably because of the lack of solid information on it. Even if it turns out to be rubbish, I'll still have a fully painted Druchii amry at the end of it, so it won't be a wasted experience.

Orcs and Goblin army - although it's the least of my priorities right now, this force is slowly building up to completion. Just a few tweeks to move it from 7th to 8th edition and it's ready to go.

And finally I want to get Khorneguys Commissions off the ground, because all these projects don't come cheap. A flashy new page for the service should be up within a few days, so if there's anything you want built, large or small, just shoot me an email and I'll see what I can do for you.

So as you can see I will be rather busy over the next few months and I'm planning to document as much of it as possible on here because if I'm quite honest with myself, I've let The Wandering Mind go a bit recently.

So until next time (when I'll have pictures), Happy Gaming!

1000pt Rifleman List

I've worked out a 1000pt list for my empire force, to get me by until
I can buy the models and bitz to finish up the other 1000 points, which
could take a while as i'm trying to find large quantities of the old-style
Handgunners after quickly getting sick and tired out the hunchbacked
new-style ones.

Anyhoo, here's what I've got for the first half of the list. Hopefully it's fairly
competitive. Perhaps any Empire players out there reading this could let me
know what they think of it

Engineer Markus - Long rifle, pigeon bombs

Golbert Golfunger - battle wizard with power stone, dragon bow

15 handgunners, marksman has repeater handgun

12 handgunners, marksman has hochland long rifle

8 outriders, champion has grenade blunderbuss

'the hellbringer'- helstorm rocket battery

'wrath of karen' - helblaster volley gun

Dwarf allies- 10 handgunners

Engineer-Seargent Lozorro

I originally bought and painted this guy to be an airship crew member, but after the winged contraption took several nose-dives off its flying standing due to the fact that he's metal, he got reassigned to the role of Marksman for my Nuln Ironsides unit.

The rest of the unit will follow when I get a chance to take pictures. Uni deadlines are closing in, meaning my world is currently a whirl of caffeine, late nights and library sessions.

Normality should hopefully be restored by the tenth of may. Hopefully. Either that or my sanity will finally give out, we shall see...

Engineer Markus and his not-so-Mechanical Steed

This is going to be my engineer on a mechanical steed, except the twist is that it's not as mechanical as most...

Looking at the rules for the clockwork horse, the only difference between it and a barded steed is the Brass Globe that somehow generates Impact Hits.

Now, seeing as i'm planning on using the official Mechanicl Steed model for a Clockwork Pegasus conversion later on in the project, i don't want to use the same model for two characters, so i figured an engineer who can't afford a mechanical steed would make do with the next best thing - strapping the impact hit-generating brass globe to a horses head!

I'm green-stuffing ballistic armour onto the horses flanks to represent the barding, seeing as having a horse covered in metal around lightning is a really bad idea for the poor horse and the even poorer rider (now i come to think of it, it's a really bad design flaw for the proper mechanical horse too).

Next post I'll hopefully be able to show you the Airship mounted on a base and my take on the new Nuln Ironsides unit from Warhammer Forge

Volley Gun and Dwarfs

Here's my first war machine for my Nuln army almost finished, complete with Dwarf advisor, who I'm sure will offer much grumbling and cursing about humans and the 'proper' way to operate a war machine (not even a full beard between them...grumble...).

I'm planning on having all my war machines have at least one Dwarf each for two reasons: 1. I have the models knockign around from Battle for Skull Pass, and 2. even the famed marksmen of the famous and celebrated Imperial Gunnery School can always benefit from advice from the race that developed the handguns before the Empire was even born.

I'm also planning to use these guys as a detachment for a much large Handgunner unit...



The weird thing in the musicians trumpets is going to be painted up as an experimental device that's being 'field tested' - counting as just a handgun. I figure dwarfs living away from their holds would be far more open to experimentation than the more old-fashoined Engineers in the mountains (this is probably the reason why they aren't still living in the mountains in the first place)

I'll have pics of my first full handgunner units very soon

Airship Pilot and gubbins

This is 'Skraggy' Thror (There's Cookies and Nerd points to anyone who can tell me where the name comes from), an Engineer assigned to Von Nearostaffens control, who's been convinced to become the test pilot for the flying machine.

He's been converted from the Helstorm/Helblaster crewmen and the Outrider kit.

The base he's on is a temporary thing. Eventually he's going to be mounted on the prow of the machine, bawling instructions to his subordinates.

Talking of the airship, here's how it's coming along...





As you can see the deck is coming along nicely and I've added a squat dwarfen cannon to the front to represent the steam cannon (I'm going to use the Steam Tank rules for it)

I've also started work on the gas bag, using artists gum tape around a drinks bottle to form the shape of it, then using green stuff to start creating the ropes and rigging that's going to tether it to the hull of the ship



and here's the base i'm creating for it, mid-paint. It's going to bethe job from hell trying to get the ship to stay on the flying stand but it'll be worth it




There'll be more Empire progress shown very soon guys, I just need more pictures

WIP Beastcatchers

Yes that is a Druchii trying to strangle a Cold One.

This is my latest batch of count-as Witches. There's enough there for 15 all told, including unit fillers and they'll be be undercoated and painted as soon as this post goes up





I havn't neglected my other projects though. Progress on my Engineer-based Empire force will be updated soon and my Thousand Sons will get their day in the sun when the Grey Knight codex and the shiny new, kitbash-able to be Pre Heresy GK Terminators arrive.

I'm finally getting through my project mountain

Hellebron, Beastcatchers and a dab of magic

Hellebron on Manticore



This is taking far longer than i expected but as my general that's only to be expected really. I'm showing progress here but this is the real reason why I'm posting...



Beastcatchers of Kar Karond aka. Witch Elves, converted from the new Dark Eldar Wych kit. All in all i think it's quite an effective conversion. Simple too. All i had to do is clip off the splinter pistols and attach the tabs to 20mm square slottabases


And finally the dab of magic in the form of my two Lv 2 Sorceresses, Beccar and Luhna.



Beccar, the one in the dress is the physical manifestation of my fiance on the battlefield, after she borrowed the model for an intro game i played against her (my gobbos were massacred mercilessly by her) and since I got it back it's been incredibly lucky, with no miscasts at all and three lucky escapes from death against Ogre hordes. with a bit of luck it might break the dice curse that seems to have fallen over me over the last few years. Maybe

Anyway, comment away guys, let me know what you think (I'm getting paranoid noone's actually looking at this stuff) and I'll be posting progress on the Winged Contraption sometime soon, along with the beginnings of the Empire army to go with it, plus fluff.

ttfn

The Winged Contraption of Hedvig von Nearostaffen

Has anyone worked it out?





It's the start of a Steam Powered airship that I'm building for my planned Nuln-based Empire force, after being inspired by seeing this on Warseer (scroll down a bit to see it).

It'll be a very slow project due to my lack of funds until May (gods bless student loans), but i have a large supply of plasticard and no less than 12 bitz boxes to draw on, so i'm cobbling together what i can.

Anyway, turning our attention back to the Winged Contraption itself, my aim is to create a set of wings to propel it forward similar to Leonardo De Vinci's flying machine and having it held aloft by a Zeppelin-style gas bag. Hopefully it should turn out looking awesome, but I'll just have wait and see.

What do people think so far?

Mysterious Thing...

See if you can guess what this is going to become...

Answers and progress coming soon

Magnus the Red WIP

Carrying on with the showing of progress, here is my WIP of my scratchbuilt Magnus the Red.

I know it doesn't look much right now, but eventually he's going to be used to represent Magnus at the height of his Pre-Heresy/ Pre-Rubic power. Made entirely from scratch,using Milliput, Greenstuff and Plasticarc, at the moment his chest comes to a little higher than a Dreadnought's carapace.

His size I've had a few lively debates over. Every source on Msgnus has him standing at a different height, but seeing as I'm basing him off Graham McNiells description of him, it doesn't really matter what height i make him, seeing as he describes Magnus as being able to morph his size as he saw fit, sometimes appearing a little bigger than a marine, other times a towering monstrosity.
Either way he's taller than other Primarchs and making him about the size of a Dreadnought (5-6 metres tall) seems to work for him, both in terms of looks and possible playability. No idea what to use him as yet but I'm thinking either make my own stats/ datasheet, use either a Tzeentch Deamon Prince or Lord of Change/ Fateweaver or look into Forgeworlds Lord of Change special character. Either way, this guy's taking to the field in one way or another, at the head of these guys...




...I know the pics are a little blurry but here's the first of the Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons to accompany him, along with a Rhino as well. This first squad is going to be Ahrimans personal squad, hence the start of the Corvidae symbol on the side of their transport.

The rest of the squad will go up when I can get pictures.

Hellebron and her Manticore

As promised this is the start of my showing of progress. This is Hellebron on her Manticore. She’s more or less done apart from obviously adding arms (already done by the time I post), sculpting a cloak to visually link her to the Beastmaster who originally came with the Manticore model and finishing up the paint job. As you can tell she’s based off the Lelith Hesperax model from the new Dark Eldar range and held on by sculpting an extension to the mane around her legs - a long difficult task green stuff, milliput and repostioning the wing, now I see why so many people complain about the metal DE Manticore to be honest

The on foot version will be posted as soon as I work out where the bloody cat’s hidden it

Next from my DE are probably going to be my Wych-based Beast Catchers

I'm not dead!

Honest. I've just moved flat and been without internet for the last few months, so I've not had a chance to post anything up. I still can't post pictures up though because of my browser acting up but this is really just a post to let you know that I'm still around and doing hobby stuff. I'll have plenty for you to see once I've sorted out this technical issue, including:

- Hellebron on foot, finished, with a WIP of her on a Manticore

I'm finally getting her done, along with finishing up my Dark Elves, who've gone from being Khainites to a Beastmasters expedition (but still with plenty of witches in there in the form of Beast-catchers). The reason behind the change is mainly so i have an excuse to include as many big beasties as I can and keep it fluffy.

- Some of my Commission work

yes, I finally have some commission work coming in. It's not much but it's a start. What i'm working on at the moment is a Steampunk style Techmarine with a top hat. Sounds odd, but who am I to argue with a paying client?


- Magnus the Red WIP

This is something i'm really excited about. I've been reading the Horus Heresy series, in particular A Thousand Sons and I've been really inspired to sculpt my own version of Magnus to go with my pre-heresy Thousand Sons. It's still in the early stages, but I think this will be a worthy test of my sculpting skills.


Also, for those of you who remember last year, when I made a resolution to have a finished army by the 31st December, I've suceeded! I have a finished 1000pt Blood Pact force, sitting in front of me right now, fully painted and ready for war. Photographic proof is coming very very soon.

Right, i'm off to try and sort out the picture issue. Watch this space for plenty of hobby goodness in the very near future.