Tuesday, September 30, 2008

My Deathwing Assault Force


Following on the heels of my recent article about Chaos Terminators, here's a peek into my collection of Deathwing Terminators. This collection includes models from the original box of eight lead models, the original assault Terminators sold in blister packs, the pewter Deathwing specific Terminators, and the newest plastic models. The photo above is of my heavily converted Terminator "command squad" containing a banner and Apothecary model. The whole squad sits upon detailed "urban" basing, a theme I used for all the bases in the force. My Dark Angel army was done as a successor chapter and I've tweaked the color scheme in places throughout the army from the "official" GW scheme. The main color used to paint this force was a mixture of a full jar of Skull White and about half a jar of Bleached Bone. This gave me the very light ivory off-white color I wanted. I've also given my characters names of my own choosing, even the special characters. I also tried to return to the tribal theme GW used to emphasize for the Dark Angels army and I've not only used most of the feathered upgrade bits they give you now on the plastic frames, but I've added feathers gathered from other model ranges. My names are all animal names, mostly but not exclusively birds.

To start this brief visual tour of the army, which thematically comprises seven squads of Terminators, one Master of the Deathwing, one Terminator Chaplain, a Land Raider Crusader and a Dreadnought, I'll start with my Master of the Deathwing conversion, built from the current metal Terminator Captain model. By adding the banner and boosting him up on a piece from the rare Urban Basing Kit, I've visually disguised the fact that he's a wee bit smaller than the newer plastic Terminators.

Next is a close-up of the Apothecary conversion. The head, all the medical equipment bits, the light on top and the caduceus-like pattern on the chainfist were taken carefully from a pewter Apothecary Space Marine model.

My Terminator Chaplain is a dark and wicked looking fellow, a true Dark Angel type:

Here's a close-up of some classic models so that you can see the earliest version of some still current weapons. This includes the original Cyclone Missile Launcher, Thunderhammer & Stormshield, Heavy Flamer and Assault Cannon. Note the little shield over the now tiny Assault Cannon.

Here's a peek at the unique squad markings of each squad in the force:

Months before GW announced they were making an all plastic Land Raider Crusader I decided to build one myself through conversion. The Multi-melta, Hurricane Bolters and Assault Cannons are all plastic on the model shown below. Note the custom crew shield on the Multi-melta. I also painted the inside of this model and the front doors can be opened.

My Venerable Dreadnought was built using the old metal Dark Angel Dreadnought and plastic arms from the current multi-part plastic kit. Note that his close combat weapon is one of the iconic symbols of the Dark Angels, a sword.


So who has tales to tell about their own Deathwing or other Terminator force in games? Have many of you tried fielding an all or near all Terminator army and what do you think of the concept? Leave your stories and comments below. As always, questions and request for hobby tips are welcome.

Oh, and I'll leave you with a teaser. What GW model is partially shown below? Warning, wrong answers may force a "perils-of-the-warp" test!

Interview With Gav Thorpe

As many of you already know, Gav Thorpe worked for Games Workshop for many years and was heavily involved in the writing and development of a lot of the game rules we are using today in Warhammer 40,000. Gav left GW earlier this year for other pursuits. For those interested in hearing his latest take on his time at GW and what he's up to these days, there's a new interview with him at
The Gaming Kingdom.

Tuesday Odds and Ends




Hi folks, a couple of quick things on a slow Tuesday.




FLYWIRE
First Mkerr is back from his long weekend concert and up to old armylist tricks. head on over to the Flywire and check out his latest creations. I think he's brewing up something with Pedro Cantor this time.

GW TICKER
Second, in honor of the world's economic meltdown, I've finally gotten around to adding the GW stock ticker to the right hand column as yet another fun widget for you all to play with.

~Now, back to your regular discussions...

Monday, September 29, 2008

NEWS: GW Canada Announces Price DROP

Read all about it!

~As with any conversations involving pricing, keep it under control folks... Deep breaths, you can do it :)

My Chaos Terminator Invasion

For me, Warhammer is all about the models and few models have inspired the collecting instinct in me more than Terminators. Let's face it, they are really cool looking models, so much so that even if they had little impact in games I'd still collect them. Original one-part plastic, lead, pewter, and now plastic again, I've collected hordes of them and painted them in a variety of schemes. Jes Goodwin created the look of Tactical Dreadnought Armor years ago during the Rogue Trader era and to me, the man's an artistic genius and I have a soft spot for nearly anything he has designed or sculpted. Anything he touches looks great. I have a bunch of the new Chaos Terminator plastics in boxes not even assembled yet thanks to the roughly 47% discount on the Chaos Doombringer Annihilation force bundle deal. My Chaos Marine army is an ongoing hobby project that never ends. Now without further delay here's a sampling of my Chaos Terminator collection. Each picture has a description. You can see larger versions of the pictures by clicking on the small versions shown with the text below.

This first picture shows my Khorne and Slaanesh themed Terminators. The Khorne models are the original lead Chaos Terminators, the first produced by GW. Note the look of the original Heavy Flamer and what was then an Assault Cannon. I recently upgraded their bases and added the Khorne icon to make them fit better with my newer models. The Slaanesh Terminators are heavily converted using the 2nd generation pewter models. I've used a lot of heads, tails and tentacles plus a few sonic weapon conversions. With the removal of Terminator sonic weapons from the current Chaos Marine Codex, the double-barrelled sonic weapons make good Slaanesh looking Reaper Autocannons.


This next picture shows my Nurlge and Tzeentch conversions, both done from the 2nd generation pewter Chaos models. The Nurgle squad has a lot of putty, head swaps, and other conversions added while the Tzeentch squad, not quite done being painted yet, has tabard, head and some weapon conversions. The Tzeentch squad has ten models in it, but I've only shown once since painting is not done yet.


Here are some Terminators I built using the Forge World upgrades and lots of bits from the Chaos Possessed, Chaos Terminator Lord and Chaos Spawn sprues. I can't wait to see these painted and I hope to get to them soon. Note that I've built the icons on poles to be removeable for ease of transport.


Finally, here's about half of my Chaos Terminators in my personal renegade legion colors. These are pewter with occasional head swaps from other models. I didn't want to paint my legion black, but I wanted it really dark, so I used GW's Deadly Nightshade which was an extremely dark blue color they used to make. I now use Necron Abyss when adding models to the army.


After reading this article to this point it won't surprise you to know that I also have seven squads of Deathwing Terminators in my Dark Angels army and they also comprise the lead, pewter and plastic model ranges. I'll endeavor to photograph those soon.

So how many of you out there also love Terminators? Who else out there collects them madly? Do you love them for their looks, for their in-game punch, or both? What kind of Terminators do you collect and for what armies? Will you be more likely to build Space Marine Terminator Assault Squads now that they get a 3+ save from Storm Shields? Let's hear from the community and remember, if you think I can help, questions asking for quick hobby tips are always welcome. Let's grow the hobby together!

CHALLENGE: Pimp My Night Lords


~2nd image taken by 5-year old Littlered and attached at the insistance of Mrs.Red (she who must not be crossed)

Hi all,

Remember last week when I said I was working on a new expansion to my excessivly large Death Guard forces. Well here they are; an ancient Night Lords army that has been in Mkerr's closet unloved for years. I've dusted them off, sat down with the new CSM codex, and picked up the x-acto blade, superglue, and brush.

One of the challenges I most enjoy in this hobby, is inheriting an old "Bad News Bears" army and bringing them into the here and now with a good round of re-basing, touchups, weapon swaps, and bulking up and expanding them with current models.

Why the Night Lords? Because they are psychotic criminals in power armor of course. Of all the Index Astartes articles describing the traitor legions, I always enjoyed the tales of Mortarion and Conrad Kurze the most. Whenever I need really dastardly villians in campaigns I'm writing, its Night Lords straight away.

So far, I've re-armed and expanded the terminator squad, fixed the raptor squad, and added a handful of heavy weapons to fill in some rough spots. Here is where you guys come in. I think a cool concept would be for you all, our readers to get to boss me around a bit instead of always hearing me bleat away. I'm going to list what I have and challenge you to design the perfect 2000pt list (in keeping with the Night Lords fluff) using only the following:

1) The existing models
2) Simple bits swapout of basic and special weapons if needed (things like flamers, plasma, icons, etc)
3) Up to $100 of new models

I will leave it up to you guys to rearrange models, redefine squads, add wargear, and reason with each other and revise the suggested lists until several of you agree that the last proposed list in this thread is pretty good.

Now you see the Night lords are also a good fluff army as you can feel free to use any marks of chaos you see fit, these nasty pieces of work aren't choosy.

The Night Lords Roster

Chaos Lord (plasma pistol, on foot)
Chaos Lord (plasma pistol, jump pack)
Chaos Sorceror (on foot)

Chaos marines (12)
Flamer, meltagun
Champion (powerfist or lightning claw)

Chaos marines (12)
meltagun
Champion (powerweapon)

Chaos Havocs (10)
autocannon(x2), missile launcher(x2)
Champion (powerfist or lightning claw)

Chaos Havocs (10)
lascannon(x2), heavybolter(x2)
Champion (powerweapon)

Raptors (10)
flamer,melta
Champion (powerweapon)

Chaos Bikers (5)
plasmagun (x1)
Champion (powerweapon)

Terminators (7)
heavy flamer, combi-melta(x4), powerfist(x3)

Dreadnought
plasma-cannon, ccw, havoc

Rhinos(x2)

Predator
lascannon sponsons, autocannon turret

Land Raider

(also assume there are 40 lesser summoned daemons and 1 major available)

~I'm right in the middle of "pre-heresying" this force as the Night Lords didn't change their scheme or logo (its just a swapout of @50 backpacks). I know this isn't the greatest force, more of a generalist build, but I trust you guys to come up with some great upgrades and armylists. Whatever you guys agree on, I will buy, paint up and test. "Help me Obi-wan Kenobi, you're my only hope! "

Sunday, September 28, 2008

NEWS: Space Marine Releases, Oct. 4

The following new Space Marine items will be released in the USA this coming Saturday, October 4:
- Codex Space Marines ($30)
- Land Raider Redeemer/Crusader ($50)
- Drop Pod ($30)
- Land Speeder (new reorganized sprue, easier to assemble, contains upgrade parts for Typhoon and Tornado variants) ($30)
- Scout Bikes ($12)
- Thunderfire Cannon ($45)
- Scout Sgt. Telion ($15)
- Sgt. Chronus ($17)

What items are you excited about adding to your Space Marine forces? Are you adding them to an existing army or to a new one? Which of the new Space Marine toys do you think will be the most interesting or challenging to play against?

Thoughts on Marines and Chaos...


UPDATE: This just in from GW: "I just checked with Andy Hoare, who is as close as we have to a rules guru, and he has said that units cannot use Locator Beacons, Chaos Icons, or Teleport Homers from the opposing army. He is going to have the studio consider that question for the next round of FAQs."

~ Look at that, a quick rules dispute turned around within 48 hours!

So, I've been going over the new Space Marine Codex with a fine tooth comb over the last few days, and working out various thoughs in my head. As I've done this, I keep going back to my large and ever expanding CSM army and running some numbers.

Here are some of my initial take-aways...

MARINES
For the marines, there is heck of a lot of sexy bling in that codex. A level of concentrated coolness that we really haven't seen since the days of the previous edition of the CSM codex with its 10-pages of wargear & gifts. I have a feeling that six months from now, just as with the old CSM codex, 90% of that "coolness" will be permanently discarded in favor of a tiny number of the new units that are reliably useful.

Lets take a look at the new SM veterans for a moment. Those Vanguards seem really game changing for a moment, until you read the fine print and realize that no one will ever try a Heroic Intervention without a locator beacon nearby to ensure your incredibly pricy unit doesn't plunge to its death, taking your chances of victory with it.

Now one could say, hey its no problem, I can just pepper my army with locator beacons, until you realize that they are particularly useful for many ENEMY UNITS who can use them to slam right back into your forces with perfect accuracy as well. Add to that the always difficult issues of trying to synchronize different units reliably (ask any Eldar player, its harder than it looks) and you have a recipe for uneven tabletop performance.

Now compare them to Sternguard; a unit that is easy to field, position, and that allows you to custom tailor your ammo for almost any foe from turn to turn. One of these two units is a recipe for a reliable, flexible unit, one is not. Things like this pop up all over the codex, and my feelings so far are that in general, just like with the previous CSM codex, with so many sexy options, very few of which make the army any harder to kill than the older SM codex does, will leave only the self-disciplined list builders with a leg up. Its going to be very easy to go overboard with the new SM codex and get left with an army as brittle as the Eldar, unable to take a solid punch to the stomach and easily recover.




CHAOS MARINES
Now let me return to the "terrible" CSM codex. As I've said I keep runing the numbers and I think that codex despite its simplicity offers some spectacular values in 5th. In particular: 30pt Termys, 150pt Close Combat Defilers (giving you a 12/12/10 battlecannon that fleets, ignores stunned/shaken and has 6 attacks on the charge!), and summoned deamons (in particular the major who is one of the best bargains in the game at 100pts). None of these units are sexy, but they are stuningly effective for their cost if used en masse. My current head is trying to wrap itself around an effective list that will provide the "connective tissue" from the rest of the CSM codex (in particular its sterling Troops options) that will tie these bargain units together into a cohesive whole.

~I'm positive there is something there, but my finger isn't quite on it yet. I'd love to hear your thoughts on constructing armies with the two codices and your battlefield experiences.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

NEWS: Firebase # 8 Approaches...


~Keep your eye's peeled guys. We hear this is due out early October.

Friday, September 26, 2008

NEWS: Price Increase Reminder

This is just a reminder that Games Workshop prices on all metal miniatures, most paints, and many books will increase as of September 29. If you were planning any imminent purchases on affected items it might be wise to make such purchases this weekend before the prices change. You can read a copy of the official announcement plus an interesting analysis of it at the Purple Pawn Gaming Industry News website. You can also find the official announcement on the UK GW website.

HEAR YE HEAR YE!


~Let it never be said that the Fly Lords are without Mercy... :)

Brass Scorpion Trio of Doom


One of our kind readers recently wrote in to BoLS asking to see my model collection. As you might imagine, I have a lot of models to show and featuring them all at once would likely cause a rent in warp space. However, we are going to feature some of them spaced out over time. It seemed appropriate that the first such topic should feature my Brass Scorpions. I have three at the moment and am planning a fourth, a sort of "King Scorpion" to be built using a Soul Grinder and a Defiler.

My first Brass Scorpion, shown at left in the photo, was built the weekend of Chicago Games Day 2007. Someone posted a photo of the Apocalypse data sheet on the Internet the evening after the event. By the next morning, I had talked myself into using the two Defilers I had in the basement to build one. I was instantly hooked on Apocalypse weeks before the book was even released! I stayed up all night the next night building that first Brass Scorpion. The second one was built shortly after that. The third came about when a friend offered me two more Defilers he didn't want at a discount. I just couldn't say no to the chance to build another daemon engine of doom. I still have more as yet unused ideas for creating unique twists for further Brass Scorpion models.

If you click on the picture above you'll see a larger version of the photo displaying all three of my Brass Scorpions. One thing I like to do is make each one an individual character, with its own unique face, scorpion cannon, and a few other tweaks in the details as well. The creative possibilities of doing conversions like this are what I love about the Warhammer hobby and I'm really looking forward to building more crazy machines for my Chaos Marines and other armies. In fact, if there are models from a particular army you'd like to see featured first, please make your request in the comments below. Besides my massive Chaos Space Marines army I have other large armies, like Imperial Guard, Eldar, Dark Angels with Deathwing and Ravenwing, Fantasy Battle Chaos Warriors and more. All my armies feature at least some converting. Chaos is my first love because of the conversion opportunities. I've done cult terminator conversions, Dreadnought conversions, possessed looking tanks and more. I never grow tired of making new monstrous beings and machines for my Chaos Marines. I hope this article inspires some of you to build your own massive machines for Apocalypse. Have fun and may all your armies grow to beyond 3,000 points!

The Mustering of Crusade



In two short weeks, the Macharian Crusade begins. All across Austin dozens of 40k enthuiasts have been collecting and expanding their IG armies, preparing their nefarious xenos and heretic forces, customizing Crusade Independant Characters, and organizing into their Imperial Army groups. Strategems both brave and vile are being hatched across dozens of homes and quarter will niether be given or offered.

For the next 2-3 months we will be covering the weekly progress of the Macharian Crusade as the Imperials seek to liberate the lost Segmentum Pacificus.

For those who missed it last year, take a look at the lower right hand column for our weekly coverage of the Age of Heresy campaign to see what we have in store for you guys. If any of our readers can make the Central-Texas event we would love to have you. If any of you other die hard campaign players wish to play in parallel with the Austin community, we would love to hear your battlefield dispatches, and will try to work any submitted games into our coverage.

Our las-guns are locked, loaded, and ready for action. Soon it begins.

~I would love to hear what you would like to see in this year's campaign coverage, and in general your thoughts on narrative campaigns are. I think they are one of the "deepest level" of play and enjoyment the hobby can provide, and leave long lasting memories you will recall with your friends for years to come.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Rainbow Warriors Logo Sheet



By order of the Inquisition, Open these doors!
CREEEAAKKKK....
By the Emperor, My Eyes, My eyes!!!
SLAM!


Its really hard to beat the Space Sharks for entertainment value, but I did manage to drum up one last chapter with lets say an "intriguing" history in the 40k universe. Lets hear it for the Rogue Trader era Marines of the Rainbow Warriors, the single most sadly named chapter in the Imperium.

You didn't hear it from me, but word on the street is these dudes give the Dark Angels a run for their money (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)! Now maybe we can speculate a little bit more on the mystery of the planet Prism from p.30 of the new marine codex. Enjoy guys.

We have been noting for a while that GW does a great job of covering the major 1st Founding and select 2nd Founding chapters with their decal sheets. However, there are a number of great looking 2nd and later founding chapters who get a good amount of back-story and have great alternative uniform colors that never have had decals produced for them. In the interest of promoting diversity in the Marine community and encouraging players to branch out beyond the "big 4", I continue our line of logo sheets for some of these other chapters who I think look great and have no GW decal support.

Here is the link to the PDF file for the logo sheet you can freely pull down and use:

Download Here

The sheet is designed for printout on decal printer paper which is easily available online. These decals are designed for the CLEAR or WHITE decal paper. The procedure is as follows:

CLEAR PAPER: If you use the clear decals, the decals need to be applied to a light colored surface to be visible at all. The procedure for applying the "outline only" decals is to apply them to a white surface, and wait till they are fully dried. Then using the outlines as a guide, paint in the darker color around the decal if needed. It is odd, but gets the job done.

WHITE PAPER: This paper will allow you to use it directly over dark surfaces. Cut out the white logos with the thick blue borders, and apply them directly over your blue painted models. Once dry, you can go back and touch up any edge defects with blue paint.

Click here for a detailed Custom Decal Tutorial

This sheet is sized for superheavy vehicles up towards the top and scales down to marine scout shoulderpad size at the very bottom. I have included the standard white chapter logo, against a blue "easy to cut out" outline as well a small amount of inverse blue logos for folks who want some variants for something special. There is also a small set of left-right reversed logos for folks who need to use them on both sides of vehicles. Please make sure you run off a test sheet first on your printer to make sure.

In any case, enjoy and I wish you the best in using this set for your forces.

~Please feel free to leave comments if there is a special Chapter, Craftworld, or something else you would love to collect, but have no GW decal options, and I will see what I can do. Finally, let the innuendo and off color remarks commence; within the bounds of good taste of course :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

NEWS: Citadel Spray Gun, Mega Paint Set

The Citadel Spray Gun is now once again available for pre-order in the US GW online store. Release date is October 18. The cost is $30.

The new Mega Paint Set is also available for pre-order and will be released on November 1. It contains all 73 unique products from the Citadel Colour, Wash and Foundation paint ranges in a hard carrying case. It also contains seven paint brushes, glue flock and sand. The cost is $250.

For full information, visit the US GW online store.

Who Says Wargaming Isn't Art?


The World's Largest Wargaming Table

~Whats even more incongruous are the wargamers hanging out in an art gallery! Still, I'd like one of those for a crazy Apoc game. I think there is some Cities of Death terrain in one of those pics to.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

BoLS Polls: Play for the Love Edition



So remember all that nonsense and mystery a couple of weeks back regarding the Amazon Poison Dart Frog? Well, its time to let the cat out of the bag. For the first time in 20 years, I've gone back on my promise and picked up another main-line GW product: Fantasy.

I said I'd never do it, stuck to my guns, but in the end, the forces that be just wore me down like Chinese water torture. Now the cool part is that I got to walk into my FLGS and do something not everyone gets to do with a new GW game. Approach it as a complete newcomer. No pre-dispositions, no biases, just eager excitement. It got me thinking, how does the average player get into an army? Its a question I get often on the 40k side of things "Hey Bigred which army should I collect first?"

I approached Fantasy exactly as I suggest folks do it on the 40k side. Follow your eyes. Take your time, look through the MODELS, box by box, range by range, and see what visually excites you. Once you have narrowed it down to a handful of armies, flip through the codices/armybooks to get a flavor for the fluff, then decide. I consider rules distantly third.

What I've found over the years of watching folks do this is those who are really into their models tend to really get into the game. They tend to paint them up, and get them onto the tabletop, carrying that initial enthusiasm onto army completion and tabletop play. I can't tell you the number of rules-first guys I've seen who still play with metal models, and bitch to high heaven when the (inevitable) new edition and codex upends their "perfect unbeatable list".

In the end, play for the love.

Oh yes, I almost forgot... my choice: Druchii






~Don't fret my 40k readers, like any maniac collector I've started to upgrade and expand an old Night Lords army to round out some of the missing bits of the CSM codex I can't justify doing in Death Guard colors to give me more options on the tabletop. I've thrown up a poll to ask you our readers, what motivates you to collect and expand your armies? Feel free to drop in comments as to why you love your current army and what made you choose them over the competition. You know the drill, poll right column...ATTACK!

Space Marine Captain Painting Guide



In response to a request here the other day as to how I painted my Assault On Black Reach (AOBR) Space Marine Captain, here's a quick painting guide. I will try to make this guide useful for not only painting a similar color scheme to the one I used, but for painting this and similar models in general. Hopefully this will make the guide helpful to the widest possible audience. You may also want to check out the GW Black Reach Character Master Class available on the GW website. There are some amazing paint jobs and great painting advice there. Nevertheless, by request, here's my somewhat more humble painting guide.

First, prime the model white. I usually use black, but for my color scheme in this case most of the colors look better over white. Next, if possible paint the inner lining of the cloak and tabard and the inner leg sections attached to them before gluing the model on its base as it will be much easier to reach these areas before basing. The inner lining of the cloak is painted Skull White, the inner lining of the tabard is Iyanden Dark Sun, and the armored sections of the model are painted with Red Gore.

Now paint the rest of the model from the inside out like you're getting dressed, starting with the lowest areas and working outward. This causes the least amount of problems with messing up areas you've already painted. Here's a breakdown of all the colors used on my Captain:

1) Armor: Red Gore shaded in the seams with thinned Chaos Black and highlighted on the extreme edges with Blood Red. Note that I used a wet slightly thinned coat of Red Gore, deliberately concentrating pigment more in lower and shaded areas and leaving it thinner and brighter on higher areas. This gives the model some depth and realism before you even begin shading and highlighting.

2) Cloak: Foundation Hormagaunt Purple, then a thin coat of Warlock Purple, shaded with Leviathan Purple wash and then highlighted with a mix of Tentacle Pink and Warlock Purple. Since Tentacle Pink is discontinued, if you have none, try mixing a little, very little Skull White with Warlock Purple. Note that I did not wash the entire cloak in the shading phase, I carefully blended the wash only in areas that have a fold or dip in them, going heavier with it in the deeper areas. This takes longer but can yield a more dramatic result, leaving the base color intact in the upper areas.

3) Cloak Lining and Tabard Front: Skull White shaded with Astronomican Grey and very thin Chaos Black in the folds. Highlight over and blend into the shading as necessary with Skull White.

4) Tabard Lining: Iyanden Dark Sun shaded in the fold with Ogryn Flesh.

5) Face: Tallarn Flesh with Ogryn Flesh wash, highlight sparingly with Elf Flesh. Then paint the eye socket black, fill mostly with white, then dot the middle. Bionic attachments to the head were painted black, then painted with Boltgun Metal. The bionic eye lens was painted Ultramarine Blue, then dotted with Skull White. Pick out the teeth with Skull White. Hair was painted Codex Grey, then highlighted around the edges with thin Fortress Grey.

6) Decorative Braided Cord: This is painted Skull White, but shaded with Regal Blue and very thin Chaos Black. By shading it with a different color than the white tabard near it, it stands out from the tabard even though they are both white.

7) Metallic Decorations, Sword Hilt: Shining Gold, washed with Devlan Mud plus thinned Chaos Black in the really deep recesses, then highlighted with a drybrush of Burnished Gold. Top off the extreme edges with a tiny touch of Mithril Silver.

8) Sword Blade: Mithril Silver, washed with Badab Black, then highlighted on the edges with Mithril Silver.

9) Banner: The red field is painted with Red Gore, shaded in the folds with Scab Red, then highlighted with Blood Red. The border is pure Skull White. The Black outer field is highlighted with sparing use of Codex Grey. The eagle is painted Skull White, washed with thinned Adeptus Battlegrey, then highlighted with Skull White. The scroll below the eagle is painted Dheneb Stone, then painted over with a thin mix of Dheneb Stone and Bleached Bone. Highlight the edges with Skull White. This technique also works well on the purity seals, but I used more Bleached Bone and Skull White for a lighter finished result on those.

10) Final Details: At this point, I highlighted any and all remaining details. Black on the boltgun got a touch of Codex Grey highlights, the plate on the golden bolter casing was painted with Chainmail. The "wax" part of the purity seals were painted Scab Red and highlighted with Blood Red. Their outline was shaded with Ogryn Flesh wash. The banner pole was painted Boltgun Metal. When everything else was done, I painted the bottom edge decoration on the lower rear of the cloak using pure Skull White.

I hope this guide is helpful to those trying to emulate my color scheme as well as to people just looking for some simple painting tips to bolster their confidence at painting their own models. I must say that I am truly impressed with the quality of the models in the AOBR set and I thoroughly enjoyed painting the Space Marine Captain model. It's an impressive miniature and I tried to give it a paint job which reflects that. Good luck and remember, painted models make the game more fun and they fight better too!

RUMORS: Heavy Metal Incoming





Hi guys,

The little birds have been tweeting.

Valkyrie
For months we've been hearing of the much rumored plastic Valkyrie. There has been much talk over the months as to whether it was tied to the Planetstrike supplement that has been pushed back. We now hear that it is coming with the approaching Codex: IG that is rumored to be arriving roughly in Q1 09. It is said to be a transport option for certain units in the codex, with highest probaility going to the rumored plastic IG Stormtroopers.

Stompa
There has also been fairly constant chatter since the baneblade first hit the shelves along with Apocalypse of a Stompa kit. We have heard various things over the months about the fate of this kit. Some said it was made as an experiment then abandoned, others said it was shelved for a later date, and still others have indicated it was reworked into a much improved version and is now slated for release either with next year's Ork 2nd wave releases, or as part of an "Apocalypse release window" to be shoehorned into the squedule sometime in 2009. In any case, we have heard that the green light has been given and it is coming.

Baneblade Variants
We have also now heard of the first sightings of plastic kits for the Shadowsword, Stormsword and the much talked about Stormlord superheavy transport (perhaps similar to the Forgeworld versions shown above). No talk of release dates for these.

~Take these with the standard caveat emptors, but there is also the never ending chatter regarding the much rumored plastic Thunderhawk. Time will tell, but my question to you is how interested would you be in these kits and do you regularly play in Apocalypse games? Does your group use some superheavies or forgeworld stuff in non-Apoc games? I'm just trying to get a feel for the interest in such kits.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Assault On Black Reach Apocalypse!



Much has been made of how huge Codex Apocalypse formations can be built relatively inexpensively from a few Assault On Black Reach (AOBR) 40K starter sets, but I have yet to see a comprehensive list showing the easy path to doing so. Being a 40K Apocalypse fan of apocalyptic proportions, I've taken it upon myself to compile a list of some of the formations for Apocalypse most easily and cheaply built using AOBR miniatures. So without further delay, here's a list that I hope will be helpful to some of you at jumping right into building Apocalypse sized armies. And if you think of any other great Apocalypse uses for AOBR, please by all means, add your suggestions in the comments area below.

Apocalypse Formations for which Assault On Black Reach (AOBR) sets comprise a full formation or most of one:

ORKS:
- 100+ Ork Boyz allows you to field "Da Green Tide" formation (p.27 Apoc. Reload)
- 6+ Deffkoptas makes a minimum "Deffkopta Choppa Skwadron" (p.25 Apoc. Reload)
- 3+ Nobz units provide more than half the minimum of "Ghazghkull's Bully Boyz" (p.24 Apoc. Reload)

SPACE MARINES:
- 60+ Tactical Marines provide more than half a "Space Marine Battle Company". With more than 6 sets you could bunch the missile launcher models into Devastator Squads too. (p.119 Codex Apocalypse)
- 3+ Terminator squads provide all but the single character needed in a "Deathwing Redemption Force" and you could use a Black Reach Terminator from an additional set to make the character as well. (p.21 Apoc. Reload)
- 5+ Terminator Squads, 1+ Dreadnought make a minimum “Deathknell Orbital Strike Force”. All you need to add is a Drop Pod for each Dreadnought. (p.18 Apoc. Reload)
- 3+ Dreadnoughts make a minimum "Ancients Assault Force" if you just add a single Techmarine. (p.33 IA: Apocalypse)

Remember, you often only need to buy half the AOBR sets you need for a large army if you only want the Orks or only want the Space Marines because you can usually readily trade the half you don't want with other buyers who only want the other army in the box.

Now, time to start building and painting. Let the 40K Apocalypse commence!

REVIEW: Assault on Black Reach




Better late than never...

As I'm sure you all already know the new 40k Boxed set for 5th Edition; Assault on Black Reach has been out for several weeks now. Many of you may not have easy access to local hobby stores or are just thinking of jumping into the Warhammer 40,000 hobby. If you are either of these, the new boxed set may be your dream come true. Lets dive right in.

Contents:

112 Page Mini-rulebook.
This is a wonderful little book. Small, black and white with a color cover. Its easy to read and perfect for thrwoing into your bag for gaming nights and tournaments. It covers the entire core rules up to the missions section of the full hardback and also includes the master racial index from the hardback's last section.

33 Page Getting Started Booklet
This is a perfect primer for folks who have no background to the hobby. Its a nicely produced full color quick start guide to both the boxed set's contents, and then the greater 40k universe including all the other races. This is really the ideal thing for existing players to hand off to friends, little brothers, and anyone else you think may be interested in getting into the hobby.

2 Whippy Sticks ~(Owwww!)
A blast from the past, the 18" measuring sticks are back. Just what you need for both gameplay and hijinks while awaiting your turn. I haven't done an exact comparison to a standardized metal ruler, but some say that the whippy-sticks are still marked in extry tricksy "Eldar inches" that may give you a miniscule advantage on the tabletop.

Dice and Scatter-die
Just enough to get you rolling, Nuff said

Templates
These are the new 5th edition extra thick green plastic tempaltes (similar to the Apocalypse ones), and include the standard flamer template, plus 3" and 5" round blast ones.

Minis
Marine Captain (power weapon)
10 Tactical Marines (flamer, missile launcher)
5 Terminators (storm bolters, power weapon sergeant)
1 Dreadnought (close combat arm/multi-melta)

Ork Warboss (klaw)
5 Nobs (sluggas, CCWs)
20 boys (slugga,CCWs, 2x big shootas)
3 Deffcoptas










This is the real prize. These minis are a true next generational leap for GW. We have all seen the "quick assembly" minis of past boxed sets, and these blow them out of the water. As you can see from the mini shots, and the painted samples on the Assualt on Black Reach page, these look stunning once you get them assembled and painted.

The relief is very great and they are cut into multiple pieces cunningly to give you maximum detail for the smallest number of parts. Not only that but the level of detail is greatly improved for starter minis. Standouts include the impressive Ork Warboss, the Deffcoptas and the Marine Captain which are real headturners once painted up.

I know it sounds like a cliche, but you really need to head on down to you local store to handle these minis in person. The first time I saw a deffcopta and the Warboss painted up I was just stunned. These minis are designed to offer something for everyone. They offer some unique items you can't get anywhere else (multi-melta dread, deffcoptas), and many can be easily expanded with the standard GW boxed minis to fill out the squads nicely as you build up your armies (termys for example). Once painted up and included in your amy you will be hardpressed to tell which models are the "quick assembly" and which are the full multi-part kit models.

Cost: $60 USD

~Bottom line: If you are considering either of these armies, or could trade the contents with other folks to get others you might need (and end up with the mini rulebook and templates) you should RUN, not walk to your nearest retailer and pick up a copy. The price is a steal for just one of the armies and the gaming materials, not to mention the entire second army they throw in. Its good to see that when GW sets their mind to something they can still knock one right out of the park.

5 Stars (out of 5)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

NEWS: 40K Lucky 13's Campaign


As many of you may be aware, the Lucky 13's Campaign will soon be drawing to a close on November 6. 40K enthusiasts all over the US have been participating in games and hobby events related to the campaign throughout 2008. Six of the game events are nationally advertised and all run on the same day in each GW store and participating independent game store, while each store is also hosting many additional events to allow participants to acquire the necessary thirteen stamps to fulfill their Lucky 13's "duty" and receive a patch and certificate signifying their successful completion of the program. Purchase of Apocalypse related merchandise like bundle deals offered this year also earned participants a stamp. There are two scheduled national game events to go. The next one is on October 4 and is titled, "Why Would They..."

As you can see by the photo at the top of this article, I just received my own patch and certificate. I don't often participate in these kinds of promotions, but something about this one caught my fancy. For one, it was Apocalypse related and I shamelessly admit that I love 40K Apocalypse; I think it's the best thing GW has ever done to Warhammer 40,000 since inventing the 40K model range and game itself. Participating in Lucky 13's was a way of showcasing my latest large model projects this year, like my Mechanicus themed super-heavy support force that I converted and painted earlier this summer. It was also a lot of fun seeing my newly painted big guns blowing a lot of stuff sky high before sometimes apocalyptically exploding themselves! I participated in many Lucky 13's games as well as related Iron Painter activities toward earning my patch. I also purchased some bundle deals and large Apocalypse models that earned me a few additional stamps. It's all been tremendous fun and I don't think I've enjoyed building and painting 40K models this much ever before and believe me, I've enjoyed 40K a lot for a long time.

By the way, here's a sneak peek at one of my next Apocalypse sized projects. It's my own Space Marine chapter using the generic Codex Space Marines book, something I've never done before in spite of years of building armies for 40K. It will be related to my Mechanicus support force in theme and color. I don't want to give too much away now as I haven't even picked a name for the chapter yet as you can see from the scroll space with no name on it in the picture below. Here's the first model painted for my new Space Marine army, it's the captain from the Assault On Black Reach set:

So how many of you out there have been participating in Lucky 13's? How many stamps away are you from completing the program? What about the campaign has stood out for you? Were there any favorite games or other related events that stand out as being special? What modeling projects if any have you purchased or completed due to Lucky 13's inspired enthusiasm? Let's hear how lucky the Lucky 13's has been for you out there!

Fateweaver; Oracle of Tzeentch, by Gentleben






Hi guys, Gentleben is at it again, as he's working through a new Chaos Daemons army. Today's treat is Fateweaver, everyone's favorite re-rolling failed saves two-headed magic chicken.

Gentleben isn't to sure but he thinks he may have gotten a one in a million mis-pack error as the Lord of Change he picked up not only came with multiple heads but multiple necks, making the conversion somewhat easier.

~Comments are welcome, and I'm sure Gentleben will chime in here and there if you have any questions for him. Are you guys having any success converting any of the Chaos Daemon ICs? I'm still working my noodle trying to figure out how to make Ku'gath (I've heard that that Ogre King mini on his palanquin might be a good start) . Consider this a "conversion show and tell" thread, so if you have links, lets see your latest stuff!

Friday, September 19, 2008

NEWS: New GW Advance Order Items



A plethora of items appeared on both the 40K and Warhammer Advance Order pages in the US GW web store today. Some items appear in both sections, like the three new carry bags. The "Fast Attack" bag ($50) is a hobby tool and paint carrying case, while the "Tactical" backpack ($75) carries two standard GW figure cases, and the "Heavy Support" bag ($125) has wheels and carries two GW army cases. Note the symbols on the front of the bags which match the 40K nomenclature associated with each bag. There are new dice available too ($6) and they come in a variety of colors encased in a container that is itself a die!

Additionally, the Warhammer Advance Order page now has many of the new Warriors of Chaos models available for purchase and the formerly limited release "Fallen Giant Template" from a few years ago makes a reappearance as well. If you missed buying the Fallen Giant Template last time you might want to snap one up now.

For your convenience, here are direct links to the GW US web store Advance Order pages.

40K Advance Order / WFB Advance Order

Editorial: Whither Fantasy?


Why 40k players should Play Fantasy by Austin's own: "Minus67"

Imagine an army of fair elves holding gleaming spears, dark rituals of debased magic and climatic duels that take place not on the ground, but on the backs of nightmarish beasts flying in the sky. These are the images that inspire me to play Warhammer Fantasy inspires in me, and fuel my adoration for both Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Fantasy.

Warhammer Fantasy rewards players for making bold choices, but also rewards players who plan their turns ahead of time, which is something you just don’t find in Warhammer 40,000. Too often, 40K armies are based upon how they will operate turn by turn, and each unit is usually expected to operate mostly on its own merit. In Fantasy, units are expected to play as part of a team; they protect the unit next to them from a flank charge, can threaten a flank charge on an outmaneuvered opponent and generally work as a big cohesive unit.

This is one of the most rewarding aspects of Fantasy: players design their army as one big unit. While it will eventually be divided into multiple, smaller parts, each piece has its place, its own brother or sister unit which it operates with. Truly, this is a tabletop general’s wet dream of a game. Watching your Chosen Khorne Knights, who have committed 888 corrupt acts to achieve their place as a chosen, utterly obliterate an opponent’s battle line is one of the most rewarding experiences the game can offer.

40K Players should give Fantasy a chance because the game is truly well put together, with each of the four main phases of the game being an avenue of victory. In 40K, most armies can only ever win the game in the shooting and the assault phase, but in Fantasy, players are greeted by a cornucopia of choices in their route to victory. Will a devastating magical onslaught each turn that crush your opponent’s spirit and send him packing? Will your ability to rapidly redeploy and flank your enemy lead you to trod his banners under your mailed boot? Will your arrows blot out the sun? Will your enemy meet the business end of your lance? All of these strategies are a viable route to victory, which leads to a more varied and tactical game.

You will be hard-pressed to find two games of Fantasy that play out in the same way. The overall faster pace of movement from the march ability of units enables the game to become more than pushing bricks of infantry at each other. We as a community have recently seen how drastically the game can change when some extra movement is introduced with the addition of Run in 40k. In addition, the different races of Fantasy have several different movement values between them; these values range somewhere between 3-6 inches, which enables the movement phase to become a true path to victory.

The magic phase is one of the coolest parts that makes the game totally unique. Each turn feels like an epic duel between the wizards on each side, but the whole feel is achieved without feeling like a game-within-a-game, thus allowing it to mesh with the rest of each turn in a way that feels natural and fluid.

Having 16 unique armies is the next feather in the cap of Fantasy compared to 40k. Each race is completely different than the next one, with each one boosting its own set of mostly-balanced special rules and unique units. Even something as mundane as cavalry is different in its rules, movement and role on the battlefield between each army. The very fact that the game can be won in four different phases of the game, rather than the normal two, allows armies to diversify in ways that 40K armies can only dream about. Armies that have low movement are usually rewarded with heavy armor, good shooting or magic. Armies that are quick usually are easier to kill, but can hit hard when they get to charge. There is no MEQ of Fantasy; each time you sit down to play you have come up with a new plan to try and combat your enemies strength and weaknesses.

Warhammer Fantasy is one of the most rewarding games you can choose to play. You will directly receive what you put into your models, army planning and overall game plan each time you play the game. Planning one turn ahead each round is actually rewarded in this game, rather than trying to react or seize the initiative like in 40k. There is a delicate back and forth in the four phases, which is not unlike a professional boxing match, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself winded and seeing stars for the first couple of games. I fully encourage all 40K players to reach out to those guys across the room pushing little bricks of men across the table and ask them about the game and why they love it. You may find yourself tempted to charge headlong across an open field screaming at your enemies.

~This is the first in a series of guest editorials across a series of topics that will be running on BoLS. These articles are meant to promote discussion and are first and foremost opinion. Hop to it guys! On a side note, if anyone has a flair for the pen and has a great idea for an opinion piece you think the BoLS community would enjoy, please submit them.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

NEWS: Modular Game Board



Pic brought to the community by Panic at dakkadakka

The Modular Game Board previewed at UK Games Day last weekend is now available for pre-order at US Games Workshop stores. The release date currently posted in GW stores is November 29 and the cost is $175.00. The set consists of six 2'X2' hard polystyrene sections. These are sturdy like the plastic hills currently sold by GW. The set is somewhat geomorphic so that the tiles can be rearranged in various configurations. If you're not near a GW store or independent store that will carry this, you might want to keep your eyes on the GW online store Advance Order page for more information as this item will surely appear there soon.

GDUK NEWS: Part 2



News brought to the community by Warseer's: Philbrad
Images brought tothe community by Warseer's Jimbo1701 and Felix's Gaming Pages

Ok, a couple of new pics from around the web and some news from the GDUK seminars.

On the pics front, we have these two images of the Ironclad Dreadnought CAD-design, and the Landspeeder Storm.

On the seminar front two interesting nuggets of info came out.

First, the Dark Eldar minis are being worked on by Jes Goodwin, and he is apparently slowly working through large sections of the range. Phil Kelly is said to be working on the codex.

Secondly Jervis was asked about earlier comments regarding the possibility of seperate codices for the Traitor Legions and said "Yes we aim to do a standalone codex for each legion". World Eaters were given as en example and of course no timelines.

~ I can't see them cranking out 9 CSM legion codices, but I could definately see the "big 4" (World Eaters, Emperor's Children, Death Guard, Thousand Sons) being worked through in due time. Thoughts?

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

PLAY AID: Lords of Battle v2.0



After a lengthy overhaul for 5th Edition, Lords of Battle v2.0 is here. Within you will find updated Apocalyspe datasheets for a ton of old Epic warmachines from across the 40k universe.

Here is the link to download the Adobe Acrobat file for the rule-set.

Download Here


This Apocalypse datasheet supplement includes a host of the most cherished "big guys" from back in the days of yore. Many of these have old resin models available, and many will require scratch-building from crazed modelers like you. We have managed to track down great pics of all of these from the BoLS readerbase ~THANK YOU ALL! We have also put in a set of sample Apocalypse Independant Characters and some suggested Apocalypse battles to use your cool toys with. Enjoy!

The Table of Contents is:

Imperium

  • Reaver Titan (Hun Class)
  • Reaver Titan (Goth Class)
  • Legion Fellblade
  • Imperial Guard Leviathan
  • Imperial Guard Capitol Imperialis
  • Imperial Guard Deathstrike Missile Launcher
  • Knight Warden
  • Knight Paladin
  • Knight Lancer
  • Knight Household
  • Mechanicus Ordinatus Mars
  • Mechanicus Ordinatus Golgotha
  • Mechanicus Ordinatus Armageddon

Eldar

  • Phantom Titan
  • Warlock Titan
  • Towering Destroyer Knight
  • Bright Stallion Knight
  • Exodite Knight Host
  • Tempest

Orks

  • Great Gargant
  • Slasha Gargant
  • Digga Stompa
  • Digga Mob
  • Gibletgrinda
  • Wierdboy Battle Tower

Tyranids

  • Dominatrix
  • Exocrene
  • Haruspex
  • Malefactor
  • Dactylis
Chaos

  • Cannon of Khorne
  • Cauldron of Blood
  • Contagion Plague Engine
  • Hell Knight of Slaanesh
  • Harbinger Heavy Bomber

Necrons
  • Obelisk
  • Aspis

    • -We have a a bunch of Apocalypse and titan fanatics over here at BoLS, so I hope you all enjoy this one. If you have any comments or questions, let us know.

      Monday, September 15, 2008

      NEWS: Space Marines



      The September 20 Space Marine Spearhead release in the USA is now just a few days away. With the arrival of the new Space Marine Codex imminent and all the great new rules and miniatures that go with it soon to be available, I was wondering, how many hobbyists will:

      - be starting another new Codex Space Marine army?
      - be starting a Codex Space Marine army for the first time?
      - continue to avoid Codex Space Marines like they carry Nurgle's Rot because they just never have any interest in collecting or playing Space Marines?

      For those building a new Space Marine army, whether it be the first such army or one of many, it might be interesting to hear how many people will be using the Assault On Black Reach miniatures as part of their new army. Personally, I'll be using about five sets worth of the Black Reach Space Marines as the heart of my new Codex Space Marines army. I will be upgrading some of my Black Reach Marines with bits left over from all the multi-part Space Marine kits I used for my Dark Angels and I'll be adding a bunch of other Space Marine kits and vehicles as well. Years ago I built a Space Wolf army and I now have a roughly 5,000 point Dark Angel army I just finished earlier this year, but I'm anxious to build my own chapter using the new Codex Space Marines. It will be my first army using the generic Marine Codex. Now let's hear from the rest of you, new Marines, more Marines or no Marines, what will it be?

      GAMESDAY UK 2008










      Images courtesy of David Swanston, Gingo, and Admiral Drax

      Another year, another Gamesday UK. Here are some of the things that were seen.

      It would appear the THQ Blood Raven Rhino made it safe and sound to the show. It looks fantastic. Anyone get shots of the interior? Speaking of crazy projects, did you check out that warlord? Madness!

      There are also shots of the upcoming Plastic Ork Nobs that are part of the 2nd wave ork releases for early next year. Forgeworld displayed more detailed shots of the nob bikers as well.

      Towards the bottom of the shots are some Forgeworld drop-pod accessories ~I think, and some Marine Casualties ~I have no idea if these are GW or Forgeworld, and the work in progress Lord of Change ~finally!

      UPDATE: Look here for TONS of GDUK pic including the Land Speeder Storm.

      ~More as we get it, stay tuned. As usual, lets hear your thoughts.

      Sunday, September 14, 2008

      RUMORS: Legion of the Damned



      Pic brought to the community by El-Diablo at Warseer

      People who attended the product seminar at the recent LA Games Day reported that pictures of new Legion of the Damned models were previewed. Legion of the Damned are now an "elites" choice in the new Space Marine Codex that will be released on Oct. 4. These new metal miniatures apparently have the expected skeleton and flame iconography copiously sculpted onto them. It was also announced that there will be a new Sgt. Centurius model! Some of you may remember the limited edition Sgt. Centurius model that was released as a celebrational promotion for the opening of the 100th Games Workshop store many years ago.

      The picture above was taken at UK Games Day today, September 14 and appears to show a new Legion of the Damned sculpt. More than one miniature like this was photographed at the event.

      Fans of the mysterious and preternatural Legion of the Damned will surely be excited to see their return to the tabletop battlefield. Although there's no release date announced yet for these miniatures I'm looking forward to painting some flames and bones myself!

      FANTASY RUMORS: Warriors of Chaos



      Pictures of much of the new Warriors of Chaos for Warhammer Fantasy Battle are now splattered all over the Internet. The huge and menacing Chaos Lord on Daemon Steed pictured below seems to pay tribute to what is one of the most wonderful and perhaps the most famous sword-and-sorcery fantasy painting of all time, Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer. Thanks to the folks at The Painted Dragon, there are many pictures of seemingly all the great new Warriors of Chaos sculpts for us to admire.

      Some great-sounding rumors about the rules for the new Chaos Warriors are:
      - there will be Chaos Trolls and even a Troll character.
      - a spell that with a lot of luck can make an entire enemy unit vanish.
      - chaos characters must issue challenges where possible and if they win there are potential bonuses because the Chaos gods may be watching.

      From what I'm hearing in the Warp, it sounds like Chaos is really getting its due in Fantasy Battle this November. A lot of the character from the early days of the Realm of Chaos is being restored in both the miniatures and the new rules for them.

      Like most of our readers here I'm a solid 40K fan and spend most of my time on the 40K side of the hobby, but anything Chaos, be it Fantasy or 40K, always captures my attention. I think these are the best Chaos sculpts for Fantasy since the days when the metal miniatures were lead, which means pre-1995 for those who entered the hobby solidly in the era of pewter alloy. I'm also already thinking about which of these new models can be incorporated into my massive Chaos Marine legion as well as my Fantasy Chaos hordes.

      NEWS: THQ's Rhino Gets a Paintjob



      Another couple of weeks and the project continues. Apparently the Rhino is structually complete and they are moving onto painting.

      It is slated to make an appearance at Games Day UK 2008, so they better hurry!

      So head on over and check out their press release and Flickr photos. We will keeping tabs on this one as project as it works its way through to completion.

      ~It seems like this one will be down to the wire with Gamesday UK mere days away. I fully expect our UK readers to post some great shots of yourselves doing something silly with the Rhino.

      Friday, September 12, 2008

      SNEAK PEAK: Plastic Daemon Prince


      Pic brought to the community by Podhammer

      We've gotten our first full shot of the upcoming plastic Daemon Prince.  We have seen the earlier teaser pics before that showed alternative heads and such...

      ~Wing! Wings!  The scale looks good and I'm sure such a kit will have lots of options for heads, and other accessories.  Thoughts? 

      NEWS: Forgeworld Gamesday Releases




      Hi all,

      Forgeworld has kicked out thier last newsletter right before Gamesday UK, and as usual, they have offered up a few morsels.

      -Ultramarines Venerable Dreadnought
      -Ork Nob Bikers
      -Chaos Lord Zhufor
      -Imperial Armor Masterclass Volume 1

      These releases are not currently available for pre-order and a limited number are going to avalable on a first come first serve basis at Gamesday UK, so show up early if you want these limited early releases.

      ~I like the Lord Zhufor mini who is from the upcoming Siege of Vraks Volume 2. They really captured a certain sense of Khornate violence in that mask.

      Thursday, September 11, 2008

      FANTASY RUMORS: Warriors of Chaos Spearhead



      As a prelude to introducing more Warhammer Fantasy Battle content on Bell of Lost Souls, here's some information on the upcoming Warriors of Chaos releases. The Warriors of Chaos Spearhead has now been available on the Advance Order page of the Games Workshop US online store for several days. The picture on the cover gives a hint of much of the Chaotic thrills to come. There are several new plastic kits, including Chaos Knights, Chaos Marauder Horsemen, and Chaos Hounds. These will certainly be a welcome addition to existing Chaos armies or a great, economical start to a new Chaos Warriors army. Rumor has it that these sets will be $22 US each as have been many recent plastic regiment sets. Of course, there's the rumored plastic Daemon Prince model as well that will likely be released in the later "2nd wave" of new models for this army.

      As expected, there are also many terrific new metal models, like the new Chosen Warriors, Chaos Lord On Daemonic Mount, a Nurgle Sorcerer, Sigvald The Magnificent, a Chaos Lord with a crab-like claw mutation, and Wulfrik The Wanderer. Some of these can be seen on the box cover shown above.

      The most interesting story I've heard about the background of one of these new characters concerns Sigvald The Magnificent. Supposedly, he is so narcissistic that he has a retinue that carries mirrors around for him so that he can gaze at himself any time he wishes, which is a lot! This will apparently translate into some form of "stupidity" type rule during game play.

      This is an exciting time for Chaos fans. First, we got a whole new range of wonderful plastics for Chaos Space Marines last summer, now we're about to see an exciting new wave of Chaos Warriors for the Fantasy range. Many Chaos fans, myself included, have over the years used Fantasy Chaos miniatures for conversions in 40K as well, and the addition of more plastics to both ranges should make this easier than ever.

      Personally, I'm thrilled to see the latest incarnation of the Warriors of Chaos. These new sculpts hearken back to the GW models that first captured my imagination so many years ago: mutated limbs, hulking frames, arcane and even bizarre designs on their armor. Fantastic stuff, literally.

      Remember as always with rumors, anything can change or turn out to be incorrect with time. Chaos is coming, come to Chaos!

      A Fly Lord Enters...


      Hi guys,

      Quick announcement.  Our very own Brass Scorpion is joining the BoLS team and will be keeping tabs on all kinds of news and other topics you've come to expect from BoLS.  Brass Scorpion is one of our longtime readers and a community leader.  I'm thrilled to have him helping us out to bring you the freshest 40k content out there.   Lets all give him a warm welcome!

      SPACE SHARKS!!! Logo Sheet



      Knock, Knock.
      You guys aren't those crazy Space Sharks are you?
      No Governor, Pizza boy.
      Oh, OK, I'll let you right in....AARGHH.....

      We have gotten tons of crazy requests for logo sheets, but I have to admit you Space Shark guys are the best. Who doesn't have a special place in thier heart for the second most sadly named chapter in the Imperium (right in front of the Rainbow Warriors).

      Don't forget that these guys kicked the Mantis Warrior's ass (those pansies) and claimed their Homeworld during the Badab War. Their fluff also says that they have Dev squads with move and fire heavy bolters, so how cool is that! Enjoy.

      We have been noting for a while that GW does a great job of covering the major 1st Founding and select 2nd Founding chapters with their decal sheets. However, there are a number of great looking 2nd and later founding chapters who get a good amount of back-story and have great alternative uniform colors that never have had decals produced for them. In the interest of promoting diversity in the Marine community and encouraging players to branch out beyond the "big 4", I continue our line of logo sheets for some of these other chapters who I think look great and have no GW decal support.

      Here is the link to the PDF file for the logo sheet you can freely pull down and use:

      Download Here

      The sheet is designed for printout on decal printer paper which is easily available online. These decals are designed for the CLEAR decal paper. The procedure is as follows:

      CLEAR PAPER: If you use the clear decals, the decals need to be applied to a light colored surface to be visible at all. The procedure for applying the "outline only" decals is to apply them to a white surface, and wait till they are fully dried. Then using the outlines as a guide, paint in the darker color around the decal if needed. It is odd, but gets the job done.

      Click here for a detailed Custom Decal Tutorial

      This sheet is sized for superheavy vehicles up towards the top and scales down to marine scout shoulderpad size at the very bottom. I have included the standard chapter logo, as well a small amount of monochrome logos for folks who want some variants for something special. Please make sure you run off a test sheet first on your printer to make sure.

      In any case, enjoy and I wish you the best in using this set for your forces.

      ~Please feel free to leave comments if there is a special Chapter, Craftworld, or something else you would love to collect, but have no GW decal options, and I will see what I can do.

      I had so much fun making this Logo sheet I'm toying with a Codex: Space Sharks VS Mantis Warriors minidex. It might be a hoot! Don't forget about Captain Kundera, the Space Sharks named character in the Genestealer Cult Minidex. Perhaps we should have a "paint a Space Shark" conversion challenge???

      Wednesday, September 10, 2008

      NEWS: Forgeworld Models Incoming




      Hey guys,

      New stuff has been announced by Forgeworld. It is available for pre-order now and will ship out the week of Sept.22.

      Imperial Minotaur

      Death Korps Mole Mortar

      Hades Breaching Drill

      ~Wow, I don't know what to think about that Minotaur, but twin Earthshaker cannons can't ever hurt. Gamesday UK is coming up fast, and Forgeworld promises another newsletter before then. They usually like to unveil something big so lets see what we get...

      Tuesday, September 9, 2008

      Tuesday Omnibus



      Ok guys, on this slow day we have a few odds and ends to chew on.

      Lords of Battle
      I have gotten tons of great feedback and submissions for the updated Lords of Battle book. You guys are great and I hope the BoLS community gets a kick out of some of the awesome converted models that are going into the book. It should be out very shortly as I'm just working on a couple of finishing touches.

      Ardboys Basic Training
      Its that time of week again, so head on over to Mkerr's Flywire and let him have it. He's got his latest ideas on a 2500 army to "Destroy All Monsters"... Have at him!

      Army of Death Minidex
      Finally its time to give yet another sneak peak at what we are brewing up for you guys. With all the moaning over the latest marine codex, its a good time to give the Blood Angels players something to get their frustrations out with on the tabletop.... Keep an eye out for more news on this one. It won't be long.

      ~Open thread guys, have at it. Thought of the Day: If the Master of the Ravenwing wrecks his jetbike in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does his sobbing make a sound?

      Monday, September 8, 2008

      RUMORS: Plastic Daemon Prince



      Pic brought to the community by Warseer's: Urgat

      So this little fellow has been floating around the tubes for a couple of months and just sort of flew under the radar.

      The smart money says this is the much-rumored plastic Daemon prince which would appear to have a plethora of buildout options.

      ~I'm just hoping for plastic wings myself. This one is probably aimed at both the Fantasy and 40k ranges, and may have something to do with the 2nd wave daemons releases scheduled for early next year. Thoughts?

      Sunday, September 7, 2008

      REVIEW: Battle for the Abyss



      ~Part Sink the Bismark, part The Guns of Navarone, and all schlock...

      Ben Counter has brought us the latest installment in Black Library's hit-Horus Heresy novel series. Battle for the Abyss tells the tale of the Word Bearers ruthless plan to ambush the Ultramarines as one of the Heresy's opening gambits.

      What could have been an instrumental connecting novel, opening up the Battle of Calth has here been rendered stillborn in novel form. I won't get into any specific plot points, but there are many issues with Counter's latest work.

      First is the style. Rarely has a book been more "put-downable" that this one. The prose is dry, and drags on unnecessarily for long stretches. As we have seen before in the Horus Heresy series, where Abnett shows us the 40k universe and challenges us as readers to enter this foreign world, Counter tells us about it as dryly as a grammar teacher. Where Abnett, McNeil, and Swallow have given us multi-faceted characters with conflicted spirits, Battle for the the Abyss give us cookie-cutter marines all around. Horus Rising is such an intrigueing novel because Horus is a real individual, and a force of good. You sympathise with him and struggle to see how this mighty warrior could possibly become the diabolical Warmaster. Battle for the Abyss offers the reader no such challenges.

      We see Ultramarines who are painfully noble, (while fumbling through dozens of blatant logical errors) Space Wolves who are one step away from being literal wolves in power armor, and most shocking, Word Bearers reduced to bumbling, back-stabbing, b-movie villians.

      Is it all bad? No. Counter has passages (in particular anytime he deals with the Warp as experienced by various characters ) that are outstanding, and he gives us a tiny number of standout characters. We are gifted with the first detailed rendering of what a loyalist World Eater and Thousand Son look like.

      Taken as a whole however it just does not stand up. The entire novel is essentially an aside to the Horus Heresy, that is so seemingly self-encaplulated that the entire adventure could have not happened at all in the greater timeline. If you are a die-hard Horus Heresy fiend (like me) go ahead and pick it up. If you are looking for an exhilarating page-turner that you just can't put down that will expand the 40k universe in fundamental ways (Legion, Fulgrim, Flight of the Eisenstein) you might be better served by giving this one a pass.

      The Guns of Navarone is always available for viewing and Gregory Peck and David Niven turn in quite a performance!

      One Star (out of five)

      Saturday, September 6, 2008

      SNEAK PEEK: Marines Confirmations



      In the words of Blade Runner's Roy Batty "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe". Here are a short list of things I've seen regarding the upcoming Marine codex:

      Marines: 16pts a pop. ~Goodbye 15 pts, it was great knowing you for all these years!

      Vanguard Veterans may not assault the turn they deepstrike if an IC is attached. If they decide to do the charge they also cannot run or shoot. ~You better work on your hoping skills, or have a locator beacon close by!

      Sternguard Veterans are going to be popular. Their ammo is pretty much custom designed to take out Orks (Dragonfire), Monstrous creatures (Hellfire), Tau/Aspect Warriors (Kraken) and MEQs (Vengeance). ~They are pricy, but a single squad in good cover could really achieve great things.

      The Terminator Cyclone missile launcher is indeed a 2-shot weapon in either its krak or frag mode ~Expect to see some of these reappearing from dusty shelves onto the tabletop.

      The Ironclad dreadnought is a nasty piece of work. AV:13/13/10, deadly in assault, can run and mount not one but two hunter-killer missiles (and the potential for two heavy flamers). ~Add a drop-pod and you have an instant party!

      Scouts + Techmarines = Poorman's Eldar pathfinders. ~Its possible to get 2+ cover saves with this combo!

      Scout Bike Squads are one the true standouts of the codex. These go from zero to hero. Three Astartes Grenade launchers combined with outflanking will be a real problem for enemy vehicles. ~Everyone will want a squad. Can you put a price on 1001 tricks up your sleeve?

      Razorbacks: Four words... "twin-linked assault cannon" ~I can't believe it but its in there.

      Land Raiders: Its true... Power of the Machine Spirit fires at full BS:4! ~Expect to see lots of Land Raiders forging ahead at full speed popping off single sponsons in your face.

      ~So much more to talk about, but the codex is just beautiful. Thick, really thick and full of lavish color plates. It almost feels like 2 codices. I am impressed! First Impressions are that Marines will finally live up to their fluff. Aggressive, lethal, mobile, but woefully outnumbered. As the horde armies continue to drop in per-man cost, marine players should get used to operating in a heavily outnumbered way against almost any enemy army.

      Thursday, September 4, 2008

      SNEAK PEEK: Space Marine Video Game



      I'm sure you all will want to see this. Its a developer walkthrough of yet another 40k videogame in development called Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.

      http://www.vgblogger.com/?p=3731 (link may be unreliable)

      or

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tdCnJKb5l0 (youtube version)

      ~Very little is known about this title, but some are speculating that THQ may be involved in some way. Its obviously a very early alpha, but take a look and let us know what you think.

      BoLS Polls: Burninator Edition


      So I've been painting. As you can see from the above shot, Jwolf and I came to "an arrangement" last week. I'm whipping up a couple more Tallarn Hellhounds for him so he can use that snazzy new Hellhound Apocalypse formation from the Reload book, and he's helping me out with "Project: Amazon Poison Dart Frog".

      In any case, I wrapped these Tallarn Hellhounds up and took a step back to notice the sudden addition of Hellhounds, heavy flamer terminators, combi flamers, and regular old flamers to a lot of the 5th edition army lists around town. I mean, I probably went 3 years without seeing a single marine using any special weapon that wasn't a plasma/melta, so its kind of jarring.

      So this weeks poll is how are you dealing with template weapons in your 5th edition army buildouts? Why? What are you seeing in your local playgroups? Whats your favorite tempate unit or sneaky tactic?

      ~You know the Drill. Poll, right column, attack!

      Wednesday, September 3, 2008

      Flesh Tearers Logo Sheet


      Its time for the Blood Angels successor chapters to get some love! We have gotten tons of requests for everyone's crazed on the brink chapter, the Flesh Tearers! You all asked (loudly, and repeatedly) for sweet relief from the pain and sufferring of trying to handpaint that little buzzsaw shape and you shall recieve. Look in the Blood Angel codex for a shot of the Flesh Tearer's cool black and red paint scheme.

      We have been noting for a while that GW does a great job of covering the major 1st Founding and select 2nd Founding chapters with their decal sheets. However, there are a number of great looking 2nd and later founding chapters who get a good amount of back-story and have great alternative uniform colors that never have had decals produced for them. In the interest of promoting diversity in the Marine community and encouraging players to branch out beyond the "big 4", I continue our line of logo sheets for some of these other chapters who I think look great and have no GW decal support.

      Here is the link to the PDF file for the logo sheet you can freely pull down and use:

      Download Here

      The sheet is designed for printout on decal printer paper which is easily available online. These decals are designed for the CLEAR or WHITE decal paper. The procedure is as follows:

      CLEAR PAPER: If you use the clear decals, the decals need to be applied to a light colored surface to be visible at all. The procedure for applying the "outline only" decals is to apply them to a white surface, and wait till they are fully dried. Then using the outlines as a guide, paint in the darker color around the decal if needed. It is odd, but gets the job done.

      WHITE PAPER: This paper will allow you to use it directly over dark surfaces. Cut out the black edged circular logos, and apply them directly over your black painted models. Once dry, you can go back and touch up any edge defects with black paint.

      Click here for a detailed Custom Decal Tutorial

      This sheet is sized for superheavy vehicles up towards the top and scales down to marine scout shoulderpad size at the very bottom. I have included the standard chapter logo against an oversized black circular background for ease of cutting out, as well a small amount of negative color logos for folks who want some variants for something special. Please make sure you run off a test sheet first on your printer to make sure.

      In any case, enjoy and I wish you the best in using this set for your forces.

      ~Please feel free to leave comments if there is a special Chapter, Craftworld, or something else you would love to collect, but have no GW decal options, and I will see what I can do.

      Tuesday, September 2, 2008

      NEWS: Forgeworld New Releases



      Hi guys,

      Forgeworld is out with their latest set of new releases.

      The latest set is:

      Eldar Cobra Mk II ~a VAST improvement on the old one.
      Red Scorpions Mk IV Venerable Dreadnought
      Red Scorpions Vanguard Veterans with Veteran Sergeant Culln

      ~Apparently the Red Scorpions are involved in Siege of Vraks: Part 2. The odd thing is we already have a terminator-clad commander Culln from The Anphelion Project, so perhaps chronologically Vraks occurs before the Tyranid encounter...hmmm. Its also nice to see this new set rolled out as Vanguards to integrate with the new marine codex.

      Monday, September 1, 2008

      Happy Labor Day!


      Happy Labor Day folks! For our overseas readers, happy Working on Monday Day!

      On this day of barbecueing and kicking back I have a very special treat for you and a tantalizing mystery. Maybe this post is just a sort of cleansing group therapy, but just check these cool minis out!

      I've recently been re-organizing my hobby room and came across a box containing some long lost minis including the first ones I ever painted. I thought that with all the comments about the Death Guard and my titans, you should all see how I started out. Now be warned... this stuff is circa 1987... Behold, my first foray into GW minis, a squad of totally badass Dark Elves. While I have no explanation for my odd decision of equipping each one with a different weapon I firmly believe you will agree with my trusty instincts that a Dark Elf holding a stick of dynamite is not to trifled with!



      Second is my first 40k mini ever, a Blood Angel from the RTB-1 plastic boxes set. Back then it was 30 marines for $30!!! I believe he has a black arm and helmet because according to some ancient White Dwarf that indicated the marine was an aspirant to the Reclusiam, and had taken the first steps on the path of the Chaplain.



      Finally, I leave you with an enigma. That top picture of the Amazon Poison Dart Frog has caught my eye and is the current focus of my painting table. I wonder what it could mean?

      ~This is an official Labor Day "take the piss out of yourself" thread, so if you all have truly horrible and embarrasing minis from your starting days, lets see em! We all had to start somewhere and now you've seen my worst. Come on in, the water's fine! We will be back to reguarly scheduled posts tomorrow. Have a great holiday!
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