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Bits And Bobs – Random Hobby Thoughts In July ’17

Posted by johnnya10 on 06/07/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Silliness and Stuff, Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 2 Comments
Every now and again, as my regular readers can attest to, I like to put up a post that isn’t really about one thing. It’s about lots of things that maybe don’t deserve their own posts. The little bits and bobs of hobby-related ideas and activities that are worth voicing (well, I think they are and it’s my blog, so there) but not stretching out to a full post. So, here goes…
WoundWangs
Bits And Bobs - Random Hobby Thoughts
Heard of a WoundWang before? Well, now you have. These little bits of pointy plastic are the genius brainchild of Mönk Stevens and they are incredibly useful for tracking wounds in 40k now that there are some beasties out there with dozens of wounds on them. They come in a wide range of different sizes to cater for models with just a few wounds, to the really big stuff as well. The project is now backed on Kickstarter (and I count myself among the backers) but seeing as it’s such a darn good idea, it’s worth spreading the word a bit more. And if nothing else, you can giggle at the name. Wang. Lol.
Back the Woundwang project on Kickstarter today!
WIPs
I have found a little more time to paint recently and my Blood Bowl team, Da Mighty Redz, are progressing, though slowly. I’ve added three more linemen since the last time I posted, and I’ve also done their turn/score icons as well.
orc blood bowl team wip
I’ve also got a crazy plan for their cheat tokens, but more on that later.
And hot on the heels of last week’s Primaris Lieutenant, I’ve decided to get my grossness on again and I’m having a crack at the big bell bloke from the Dark Imperium box (I’ll learn his name later). He’s in his very early stages right now, but you can get an idea of what I’m working towards here:
nurgle marine wip
Some classic Nurgle green, and plenty of tainted metallics as well. Yuk, but yay. A few more bits to base layer and wash before highlighting happens, but I’m hoping to get a chance to work on it this weekend.
Orks & Primaris 
orcs and space marines
This is just a shower thought I had about how the appearance of Primaris Marines must have affected the greenskins. We know that Orks associate a great deal of importance with size. The bigger the Ork, the more authority he has. Snotlings are at the bottom of the food chain, then grots, then boys and then Nobs. Well, for all these millennia, presumably the Orks have considered the Space Marines to be the Nobs, and the Guardsmen the grots, right? So how did they react when they saw the new Primaris Marines? Surely these new humies must be the real Nobs! They’re so much bigger! Which of course to orks means that there’s more humie to kill, which is all well and good, but they still must have had a shock when they realised that what they thought were humie nobs were just boys and that the nobs have only just now arrived. Just one of those random thoughts that pops into your head when you spend too much time hunched over your paints and minis. Has anyone else thought this, or had a similar sort of thought recently?
Codices Are Coming
And what a schedule to look forward to. For those indignant that the Space Marines get the first book, you need to hush up a little. A) Often times the first book is the weakest (Baby, I know the first book is the weakest / But when it comes to rolling lucky I’m cursed / When it comes to learning rules I’m the worst… *cough* sorry about that. Anyway…) and B) Of course they were going to get the first book! They’re the poster boys and they just got a load of new fancy units. It would be weird if they didn’t go first.
8th edition codex
But by the end of the year (and that’s not that long) they’re talking about having 10 books out, which is darn good. While the index books have been fine for getting us all familiar with the new rules, they lack personality, they’re a bit bloated and cumbersome, and obviously, they don’t include the fluff or miniature galleries either. This will be a busy and very interesting schedule and I’m sure I’ll cover it in more depth as the books get released – I will definitely be getting a copy of the Space Marines book though, so I’m looking forward to that.
And that’s sort of that. Not too much specific, but plenty going on. I hope your own hobby efforts are going well. Onwards!

Chaos Space Marine Warband Name Generators

Posted by johnnya10 on 20/06/2017
Posted in: Silliness and Stuff, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 4 Comments
chaos space marine
Well, if I learned one thing last week, it was that you lot like name generators. It’s been a rather warm week where i am now, and so there’s not a great deal appealing about sitting in my baking hot flat watching my paints dry out as I water down the acrylics with my own sweat. Yes, it’s that hot here. But even hotter than that, was the blog post that I put out last week that contained a couple of new name generators for the armies in your Warhammer 8th Edition box set.
Almost a thousand visitors came to Heresy & Heroes on one day which was incredible. And lots of good comments both here, on social media sites and via emails too. And so, because a couple of people asked and because I wanted to do it, I’m giving you three more name generators! Because I did a Nurgle one last time, followers of the other dark Gods were a little miffed that they had been left out, and I shall now rectify this…
Also: Check out the links at the bottom of the page to the automated random name generators that have been uploaded to Ritual Miniatures. You can have plenty of fun refreshing those.
Tzeentch Chaos Space Marine Warband Name Generator
For all you Thousand Sons players out there whose miniatures no longer follow Ahriman and Magnus from within the XV legion, I bring new way of coming up with a new warband name…
thousand sons tzeentch name generator
I got The Jackels Of The Ruinous Alter – quite fitting for a band of Half-Dead Space Egyptians. What did you get? And are you happy with it?
Slaanesh Chaos Space Marine Warband Name Generator
Ah, my favourites. This name generator is all about pleasing She Who Thirsts, and pandering to The Prince of Pain and Pleasure itself, Slaanesh. Plenty of warped takes on conventionally unwarped things should come from this one…
emperors children slaanesh name generator
I’m more than happy with The Juggernauts Of Arrogance (I know ‘juggernaut’ is a bit Khorney, but even that is a little subversive which fits fine with Slaanesh) but did you get something even better?
Khorne Chaos Space Marine Warband Name Generator
And then there’s Khorne. I was tempted to make every entry here a variation on either ‘blood’ or ‘skull’ but in the end I tried to be different. A little bit, anyway. ‘Skulls’ is still an option. But every warband that already exists that I could find was something like ‘The Blood Slaughter’ or ‘The Slaughtering Skulls’ or something like that. So, hopefully this will give you something a bit different…
khorne warband name generator
In this instance, my army would be called The Jagged Axe which is perfectly Khorney. What did you think about this one?
Anyway, that’ll be it for these for a little while probably (unless a lot of requests come in). Next up will be more on my painting efforts and a bit more on the 8th Edition changes – played my first game of it yesterday and have a lot of positive things to say about it. A couple of downers too, but it was an overwhelmingly positive experience. Onwards!
=][=
And for those of you who want to try something a little different and far more usefully put together, the eminently talented Dan over at Ritual Miniatures has put together some fancy automated versions as well. Check out the Tzeentch, Slaanesh and Khorne random warband name generators now!

Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition – Learning Before Playing

Posted by johnnya10 on 09/06/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 2 Comments
7th ed tombstone
It’s getting closer. Are you looking forward to it? Am I? You know I am. Yes, Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition is just a few days away from landing on the shelves, and I for one am excited. Not only that, I feel that I already know so much about the game, that I’m genuinely eager to play it. And that’s what I want to talk about now – the benefits of knowing a game before you play it.
Think about it like this; You’re new to a country or community and one day your friends invite you to play a game. It’s a local game called, I dunno, ‘Dooperball’. You like playing games and meeting people, so you agree to come along. When you get there, you find that Dooperball looks like a bizarre combination of Rugby, Monopoly, Chess and Water Polo. There are a billion and one things going on and you have no idea what any of them are. You give it a go, and make a lot of mistakes but you carry on. And then, a couple of years later, when you’ve got your head around playing Dooperball, your mate says ‘We’ve updated Dooperball’s rules!’ and everyone else has read them except you, and you find out that it’s more of a cross between American Football, Scrabble, Checkers and Synchronised Swimming. Similar, but different, and it feels like you’re learning it all over again, and by the time you master it, another new set of rules come out.
balls
That’s what Warhammer 40,000 used to be like. You’d get good, get your army list set how you liked it, and then a new edition (or even just a new codex) would come out and change all of that. Well, no more.
In yet another example of GW opening up and talking to their fans and the community is the fact that 8th Edition has been play tested by external players who have a better understanding of what the people want. And on top of that, we heard all about it long before release. Articles about each faction, interviews with designers and a steady stream of information about all the changes have allowed us to ready ourselves and, dare I say it, look forward to the changes to come. You can even go into your local GW store and have a game right now! It’s like we’re goldfish and, very thoughtfully, they left us in the bag before tipping us into the tank, allowing us time to adjust and not suffer a goldfish-heart-attack (or whatever happens to them).
aos
And of course, just as Rogue Trader borrowed from Oldhammer Fantasy way back when, 40k 8th has borrowed heavily from AoS. I won’t profess to being an expert in AoS having only played a handful of games, but it’s a much better system for someone like me in comparison to the old WFB system. And what’s more, it hasn’t made it like for like – there are some subtle differences that very much retain the feel of 40k, and 8th Ed looks like it’s taken the very best bits of AoS that make the game genuinely fun and enjoyable to play, while still keeping it challenging. This is not AoS – It’s 40k that nods to a system that has surprised many by how popular it is.
panel-134074912-image-8c44a9718e15d353-320-320
On top of all of that, Games Workshop has been working with other content producers to help get the word out there, while using its own Twitch channel to further give people plenty of insight. At the moment, I’m loving watching the guys from MiniWarGaming get to grips with their factions and test out the games. We’re getting some insight into tactics, but not the full breakdown – it’s revealing while still being enticing. It’s a classic marketing tactic and I’m thrilled that GW are using it, because my interest is growing with every round of gaming that I see.
6d0ba4b0400b456f9cb7fbd77742062c
Now I’ll confess; 7th Ed passed me by. I got in a couple of games, but I didn’t play nearly as often as I did with 6th, or even 5th. I just never had the desperate urge to play it. But now, I’m actually thinking that I could become much more of a gamer. I might even push myself to enter a tournament at some point. I’m not coming into this like a Dooperball noob – I already feel like I know pretty much what I’ll be playing, and I’ve got the basic rules lodged in my head. And that is a nice feeling.
So here is my declaration to you – I will be playing more games of 40k this edition, and any that I do play, you’ll hear about here. And GW deserve a lot of credit for that pledge and attitude because of their own attitude. The openness is refreshing, and it’s got me very excited for the new edition. And that seems ti be true for many – not all of course, and many have their gripes, both legitimate concerns and not. To those people, I would urge them to wait and see – I think it’s going to be a good game. And if you hate it, no-one’s stopping you from playing 7th. But I, for one, can’t wait. With excitement; Onwards!

WIP – Blood Bowl Orc Team

Posted by johnnya10 on 01/06/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . 2 Comments
blood bowl team wip
Yes, I am taking a break from 40k, albeit a brief one, because I am getting into Blood Bowl again with my Orc team – Da Mighty Redz. In an homage to old-school basing practices, and my beloved Liverpool FC, this team will soon be taking to the pitch, and I even hope to get a couple of tournaments under my belt by the end of the year. So let’s meet the players…
Only four players have passed through the paintbrush process so far, but I was happy enough that I wanted to show them off. Two linemen and two throwers are ready to take the field, and I’m very happy with them so far.
orc blood bowl players
Starting from the bottom, yes, those are goblin green bases. Well, Skarsnik Green (as it is these days) to be exact, but it’s as close as I’m going to get. It suits the “field of play” look that a Blood Bowl team should to have, and is gloriously retro to boot. I’ve been able to use flock again for the first time in years, and there are a few rocks on those bases too – well, this is an orc pitch. To them, the rocks just make the game more fun.
Their bases also feature their names; Brute Goblar, Hip-Prya, Stabya Lonzo and Burnz. For those of you who don’t get the references, that’s Bruce Grobbelaar, Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso and John Barnes – a selection of my footballing heroes. The rest will have equally orc-y monikers too.
orc blood bowl models
So of course, they have a red strip (well, the armour is red), and their kit sponsor is Orcidas. Their team badge is a flaming torch, and they all feature their numbers – the same as those of their name-inspiring Liverpool players. Goblar even has “YNWA” painted on his chest plate, but rather than standing for “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, it stands for the far more orc-appropriate “Yu’ll Neva Walk Again”.
I didn’t know how I’d feel about there being two of each model in this team, but I’ve found that with some minor mods, and a few change ups in the paint jobs, that this isn’t an issue. As someone who briefly played American Football, a uniformity in stances is actually a good thing. What’s more, I like my Orcs being different shades of green. It really does help to give them each an individual look.
blood bowl player names
And finally, I wanted to show these guys off against my old Dark Elf team. These particular Dark Elves were only painted (by me) perhaps four years ago (too many models have passed over my painting table since then to recall exactly) but you can see how far I’ve come since then. At least I hope you can – I can and that’s what’s important. Not only that, but it gives you an idea of how much larger and more impressive the new models are. I can’t wait to see the Elven Union team and, dare I dream, a Dark Elf team in the future too.
old new blood bowl painting
That’s your lot for now. More Scouse Orcs (Scorcs?) to come in the near future. But for now, that’s all on my models.
-=-=-=-
On a sadder note, I just wanted to pay my own little tribute to Alan Bligh who unfortunately passed away a few days ago. I had the privilege of meeting him on more than one occasion at Forge World Open Days and other GW events, and he was such a nice person, and a genuine fan of the game as well. He was funny too – some of his Q&A answers at the Warhammer Fest I attended a couple of years back had the room in stitches.
badab war books
For me, his work on the Badab War books was a glorious achievement. I read those two hefty tomes from cover to cover and loved every word of it. Thanks for that, Alan.
Onwards.

Blood Angels Veteran Tactical Squad

Posted by johnnya10 on 09/05/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . 3 Comments

blood angels veteran tactical squad

Finally! My Blood Angels Veteran Tactical Squad is, at last, done. The Horus Heresy now welcomes Squad Castor – The Black Helms, 1st Squad of the XIIIth Chapter of the IX Legion. It’s a bit of a long title, so let’s just call them the Black Helms, shall we? It’s taken me a couple of months to find the time to finish them, but I’m happy I took the time – not too shabby looking, and certainly unique, even if I do say so myself.

This marks the last bit of the Betrayal of Calth box and the penultimate unit of ‘Phase 1’ of my 30k Blood Angels Legion project. And boy, do these chaps like setting fire to things. I showed them off in the WIP from last month, but you can see better above that these guys are certainly packing plenty of templates (which should still be around in 30k for a little while at least, even if they’re not long for 40k). Let’s take a look at the rest of the squad shall we?

veteran tactical blood angels

So, why the black helmets? Well, I initially planned to paint them gold, as per the conventions regarding Blood Angels vets, but for whatever reason, this didn’t sit quite right when I was imagining them. This project, as long term readers will recall, has drawn a lot from the 2nd Ed 40k box art from John Blanche, and there’s not a whole lot of gold going on there. I guess there could be, but there isn’t and the effect felt a little alien to the rest of the army’s aesthetics. Then I realised that, without the Death Company around in this era, and with no other unit claiming the colour for their helmets, I thought; why not? I used mostly Forge World upgrade BA heads and I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. Also, this can add to the unique narrative I’m forging for the XIIIth of the IX. Black means death to the Blood Angels, and maybe these warriors have cheated death for so long, that they wear its own colours in defiance. Something like that, anyway.

I also wanted a bit of yellow throughout to make them pop. Maybe this shows off that they have the ability to operate as assault vets, though on this occasion they’re favouring a tactical load out. The knee pads, and yellow blood drops on their shoulders help to liven them up a bit, and help to tie them in to the themes of my army as a whole.

blood angels flamers

You’ll notice that my Legion Vexilla is a little different for this squad too – a piece borrowed from the Sanguinary Guard kit that helps these guys to both fit in and stand out in the army. The heavy flamers are a great looking bit of kit but if you want to avoid hobby-inspired rage, you should be warned that fitting the fuel line from the tanks on their backs to the weapons can be a nightmare. They actually led to me thumping a model with my fist (don’t worry, I pulled the punch) for the first time in decades. “Fiddly” doesn’t begin to describe it. But hey, that’s what super glue, green stuff and therapy are for, right? Oh, and as with other minis in this army, heavy flamers mean white flames and their shoulder pads do help them to pop a little more.

I’ve given the squad a bit of height and variation with some very simple but effective basing too. Half on slate, half not – it’s a very easy way to keep things interesting and it takes very little effort to do. Oh, and the sergeant is wearing the Master of Signals’ backpack. It was meant to be the nuncio vox upgrade from Forge World, but I mixed them up, and in the end decided to stick with this. I’m not intending on using my Master of Signals any time soon, and it does look rather fancy – again, it helps to make him a little different from the other sergeants.

blood angels legion veteran sergeant

Speaking of the sarge, meet Sergeant Castor. He’s got his black flames, yellow cloth, and even a golden Sanguinius mask to be getting along with. He also has his trusty hand flamer and a stonking great power fist for no other reason than it looks cool, and when you’re packing a squad like this full of bells and whistles, the additional points involved with power fists… well, you just think ‘Why not?’. And there’s the “SaOlNpS hOaF lHeOgRiUoSn” (read the caps and lower case letters separately) helmet on his base, with its bolt hole. I’m really happy with various parts of this particular mini. The power fist looks good, it’s one of the best bare heads I’ve done, and that’s some of my best ever script work on both the fist and his shoulder. Winner.

horus heresy blood angels

And there you have them! All done, and on to the next project. Which will definitely not be another 10 man squad. Not for a while at least. No, I think these guys need a unique and fancy ride… but more on that later.

Was a pleasure working on these, and I hope you like them too. Any comments, or questions, just let me know in the section below. I hope your own hobby efforts are bringing you plenty of satisfaction. Onwards!

White Dwarf: A Personal Tribute

Posted by johnnya10 on 01/05/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 1 Comment
white dwarf
With the ever-present publication that is the one and only White Dwarf turning 40 this month, I thought I’d pay my own tribute to Grombrindal’s rag right here on H&H. I’ve even pulled out a few of my favourite issues and covers – the sight of which still enthuse me with the hobby spirit (though I’ll confess that a couple were from before my time). I, like nearly every gamer, have a stack of these magazines at home, and though all my older editions long since were thrown away, I still remember those old monthlies like it was yesterday…
When I was but a slip of a lad (the lad in question being my father, and the slip being me) I, like several other children, enjoyed toys. And, being that I was a boy child, I liked guns and swords and tanks and all the really fun things that I’m now told aren’t fun and are in fact a stereotypical cage with which to assign children their future gender roles based on patriarchal pigeon holing (which sounds like an incestuous sex act but moving swiftly on) but I, as a child, didn’t really care about all that. I liked guns, and I didn’t like dolls, and I don’t think that did me any harm (nor would it have done any harm if I’d liked dolls instead of guns of course). What’s more, being an avid reader, I liked comic books because these were like books but thinner, cheaper, and full of guns and swords and silly words like ‘Waz-Bo!’ and ‘Zoorp!’.
old white dwarf covers
I remember all those years ago that I was once in a news agents when I was of an age to still be receiving pocket money (which narrows it down to anywhere up to the age of 31) and I saw what looked like a comic book, and it had a free toy on it. What’s more, that toy was holding a gun! Just as a pizza covered in curry sauce and topped with chocolate bars would be a combination of my three favourite foods now, this was a combination of my three favourite things then. Incidentally, my three favourite foods back then would have been chips, bread and roast potatoes which, while nice, wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting. I scraped together what little pocket money I had, and bought a chocolate bar  which I used as a distraction while I stole the magazine. And I haven’t looked back (or gone back into that news agents) since.
white dwarf 166
That pinched magazine was White Dwarf Issue 166 from 1993. I was almost 10 years old. And it was glorious. I didn’t understand half of what was going on inside, and it certainly wasn’t a comic book (which was a little annoying at the time) but it was so much fun. It was a new world full of strange words like ‘Space Orks’ and ‘Norse Raiders’ and ‘Man O’War’. And then I discovered that you could actually buy all of these things! Oh, the elation! Well, you can see how many exclamation marks I’ve been using here – that should give you some idea of how exciting this all was back then. But just in case I haven’t quite conveyed that, here are some more!!
captain tycho first appearance
My birthday was a few days later and I actually asked for a subscription to the magazine for my main present. This was unusual because it wasn’t made of lego and, as far as my mum could tell, wasn’t covered in guns and swords. Then she opened my copy and saw that it was full of guns and swords at which point she rolled her eyes (she got a 3 and a 2), shrugged her shoulders and sent off for what would be one of the most influential birthday gifts I ever got. Thanks, mum.
white dwarf covers
And so it has been ever since. Well almost. During my teenage years, I replaced White Dwarf with Loaded for a while (along with some much studied copies of Playboy that I purchased with a deep voice which, at the time, was more valuable than Sterling) but even when I was trying to be all cool, I would keep myself up to date. But before that, I saw some amazing things in those old White Dwarf issues. 4vs4 battle reports, the birth of characters like Captain Tycho, games like Epic 40,000, Titan Legions and the 3rd Edition of 40k being announced, and so much more. Names like Jervis Johnson, John Blanche, Adrian Smith, Mike McVey, Andy Chambers, Rick Priestly, Gavin Thorpe and so many others became familiar monickers that were uttered with the same levels of veneration that popes typically reserve for saints.
4vs4 white dwarf battle report

From one of those amazing 4vs4 battle reports

In later years, those personalities have all but disappeared from regular issues, and the magazine has gone through many changes. We had the recent run of weekly mini-Dwarf and monthly Visions magazines, and while I was fine with this, it didn’t really feel like White Dwarf (though issue 16 of Visions is a sure classic because some of my miniatures are in that one). As the hobby has grown, so have the depth of features and now these magazines are full of useful painting tips, conversion ideas and inspiring armies and miniatures from very talented painters. Not that those haven’t always been there, but it’s amazing to be able to chart the progression of the talent involved in this hobby.
white dwarf covers
Even today, as a sour, embittered middle aged man who has to deal with things like paying council tax, tinder dates, and morning commutes, I still get a wee pang of joy when I get my hands on the latest White Dwarf. It’s an escape that lives in my rucksack for much of the month, and is taken out to quietly enliven long train journeys and boring periods of waiting around (often waiting for those trains). It has been a near constant in my life since the age of 9, and it has brought me so much joy and inspiration that has lead me to be the hobbyist that I am today. Thanks, White Dwarf.
So, as this sickly sweet and saccharine puff piece of a blog post draws to a close, and my trip down memory lane leads me back to the fast moving motorway of modern responsibilities, I shall simply say this; I like White Dwarf. It is not the perfect magazine, but it is one that I read religiously. It has its issues with its issues but I am forever glad that it is there, and for the most part, it oft plays a blinder. And I’d like to thank the thieving little git that I once was for swiping me my first copy. It was good enough that I have paid for every issue since.
Untitled 6

Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition – My Two Cents

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/04/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 7 Comments
So, you may have noticed this little thing about a new edition of 40k appearing some time in the very near future. No? Not heard anything? I don’t blame you. It’s not like everyone everywhere within the wargaming community has been obsessing over it for the last month. It’s not like the battle lines between those excited and optimistic, and those already googling “how to set fire to my Tyranid army” and rage quitting have been drawn. Nothing like that. All is as calm as a mill pond in the hobby at the moment.
beaker crazy gif
Though it’s hard to convey sarcasm through the written word, I think you can probably tell that the above statement was made with the lowest form of wit. I’m actually surprised that I haven’t witnessed people running around inside GW stores shouting ‘The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!’. And given that everyone is weighing in on the subject of the new iteration of everyone’s favourite grimdark game, I thought I’d start shouting as well.
The Basics
You know what TV news items I hate? When there’s something big going on, and the guys in the news room “go live” with their reporter on the scene – usually some poor journalist who is stood out in the torrential rain. They ask him something like “what can you tell us?” and he starts with “Well, we don’t know anything for sure just yet, Jim but things are certainly happening!”. It’s at this point that I typically throw my remote at the TV and resolve to never watch rolling news again.
My point is, that there are so many sites already dealing in what we don’t know right now, and I really don’t want to do this. Let’s focus on what we do know first, eh? We know that a new edition is coming. We know that it has been simplified (though not “dumbed down”) and that existing codices will no longer be valid. We know that templates are gone, WS/BS rolls have been standardised/simplified and that charging armies strike first in combat.
We also know that it’s going to be Death Guard and Space Marines (likely smurfs) in the starter box. The movement stat is back, there isn’t a different profile for vehicles anymore, and that the core rules will be free. In this blogger’s opinion (humble or otherwise), I can’t see anything to be upset about here. What’s more we know that there are going to be three ways to play the game (casual, story-driven, competitive) and that there will be two ways to work out your army points – simple and detailed. Can this addition really be all things to all wargamers?
The Details: Books
codex burning
So, your codices are going to be ‘useless’ in this addition. That’s not entirely true though. Yes, the rules won’t work, but given that most codices are filled with fluff, artwork and painted minis anyway, they’re still a great source of inspiration. And the fact that GW will refund (with a voucher) any codices that have been purchased in the eight weeks prior to 8th’s launch is pretty awesome of them. That being said, yes, it is still annoying. But a sacrifice I’m willing to make for progress. But then again, I haven’t recently spent £30 on a big book.
The counter to this is that the core rules, and the stats for all existing miniatures (and one presumes a few new ones at launch – plus-sized space marines if a few grainy snaps are to be believed) will be free for the new edition is pretty huge. GW giving away free rules!? GW giving anything away for free!? What’s not to love about that?
What’s more, those who love to clutch their codex as they fall asleep at night (I may have done this once or twice) will still have the option of picking up new books in the future. GW confirmed that books are not a thing of the past, and just like with AoS, army tomes will still be published. If you don’t want them however, you will probably get free rules still, but at the very least you’ll be able to spend a couple of quid to get them in a new 40k app.
When it comes to printed words, I think this is a slight win for GW. Killing the current codices wasn’t the kindest of moves, but by giving a lot away for free, they’ve probably made up for this.
The Details: Rules
salamanders flamer
We’ve seen only a fraction of these so far. The two wound terminator stat line was a great thing to see, and details of how the template-less flamer will work already have some people declaring it OP, while others think that they will suck. By the looks of it, I think they’ll operate much the same, and it means we won’t have to worry so much about wasting time spreading models wide to avoid those deadly transparent plastic discs and shapes being placed over them.
The movement stat is actually a great call. And getting rid of vehicle profiles and unit types, while moving to a keyword based system is a stroke of genius. Not only does this mean that people who get all pissy about larger Tau suits being called ‘Gargantuan Creatures’ will be silenced, but it also means that the cross-codex death star will become a thing of the past (one can hope).
Charging armies fighting first in close combat is a good call, and it does away with the initiative step (though I now wonder what boon of Chaos the Emperor’s Children will get instead – we just got good, guys!!) and the simplifying of the BS stat is a godsend. No more explaining to people that ‘it’s the opposite side of the die’ or ‘subtract it from 7’ – that needless nonsense is gone.
The two methods of costing your armies is also a great idea. A time saver for those who need it, or a detailed system for those who want it.
So when it comes to individual rules, I think GW have scored very well at first glance. The proof of the plasma is in the firing though, so we’ll see how that goes when we know a little more.
The Details: Sigmar-isation
warhammer 40000 age of sigmar
So, all those people who were panicking and threatening to rage quit if the game went down the AoS route are still a little upset about this, but given the resurgent popularity of the fantasy system, and that it looks like GW are cherry picking the best bits of this and applying it to 40k, I’m pretty happy about this.
Again, we don’t know enough to comment (oh, God! Now I’m doing it!!), but based on what I’ve seen and heard, I’m optimistic. The three ways to play being introduced to 40k is a great shout – fun for everyone. If you want a super competitive matchup, you can enjoy that sort of game while someone else plays something else that’s super narrative.
That’s what i think we’ll get. All the best bits of 40k, smushed together with the best bits of AoS. Not bad at all.
Then There’s The New Stuff
new death guard chaos space marines
We know that the Death Guard are on their way. And we know that Papa Smurf (aka Roboute Guilliman) is working on some super-sized new Space Marines. Ok, this isn’t new edition dependent, but it is something that we can expect sooner rather than later. And to all those moaning that they’re going to have to remake entire armies with new Sigmarite-Sized Marines (Wait, does this mean we’ll have to call these Sigmarines as well!?), you won’t. Your old minis will all be valid, but you will be able to add to your armies with the new breed of super soldier. That’s what I’m hoping at least. And if I’m proved right, how’s that for a win?
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We’ve also been promised a bit of a return for close combat so suddenly those Orks and Nids aren’t looking so bottom tier any more, are they?
That’s Probably Enough For Now
Thumbs-and-Ammo-15
Quite right. This has rambled on for long enough now. One of the reasons that I kept going was that I was looking for some genuine negatives because, going by what I can see above, I am feeling really good about this. The codices thing is annoying, but GW have done enough to deal with this as far as I’m concerned. What’s more, they have dealt with one of the main issues that was making the game a real pain to play – the rules bloat. I welcome the simplification, but I’m glad that, from what we can see, it hasn’t gone full AoS. Taking the best from the Mortal Realms, and marrying it to the Grimdark is a great idea, and I look forward to seeing more details emerge in the coming days and weeks. Onwards!

Salute 2017 – What Went Down At London’s Biggest Gaming Convention

Posted by johnnya10 on 26/04/2017
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment, Uncategorized. Tagged: . 3 Comments
salute 2017 hand stamp
In what has now become an annual tradition, I bring you reports from my yearly trip to London’s cavernous Excel Centre and Salute which occurred this Saturday just gone. For those who don’t know about this festival of all things geeky and game related, it’s run by the chaps over at South London Warlords. Every year, they rent out a couple of halls (think aircraft hangers) at London’s biggest building (in terms of area covered), the Excel. From heavyweights like Forge World and Wayland Games, to the smallest of independent traders and the most obscure games, there are a vast amount of stalls selling everything from miniatures to stencils, from books to boardgames, and from paints to scenery. It’s a great place to shop, and for a few years now, it has been a fixture in my calendar.
london excel
Allow me briefly, as I am wont to do, to set the scene for you. The Excel is on the other side of London from me, and for someone who lives West (because West is best), it takes an hour to get there via trains, tubes and the faded, once futuristic driverless trains of the DLR. Once there, you are confronted with thousands of people, and not just those who are there for Salute. Our nerdiest of conventions always falls on the same weekend as  the London Marathon, and those mad fools who are readying themselves for a 26 mile run the next day, all turn up at the Excel for orientation. The chaps outside Salute in their High Vis vests were shouting “Wargamers in here! Runners keep moving!” as if anyone could confuse the two. Not many long distance runners have the builds of sedentary pie eating champions, and very few of the wargamers in the queue for Salute could spell the word “exercise” without running out of breath. That being said, many of those wargamers smelled more of sweat at 10am on Saturday as those Marathon runners did after reaching the Mall on Sunday.
That all sounds a bit mean, but it’s a yearly bugbear. Applying deodorant shouldn’t be a complicated instruction to master. Washing is not optional. And, speaking as a fat guy who feels model thin when I go to Salute, some of these guys need to understand that Doritos are not a fruit. But there you go, rant over. Back to the day in hand.
the salute 2017 queue
After queuing for about 10 minutes, in a queue that covered an actual kilometre (my Pokemon Go told me so), we get in through the door and of course, as with every year, the queue for the Forge World Store is already so long that it’s going back out of the door. It’s always the most popular stall and I dare say they do very well from this event.
blood angel cosplay
But many other stalls too are already thronged with eager gamers and painters trying to get their hands on products while stocks last. A smattering of Cosplayers, including our resident Blood Angel and Guardswoman (who I’ve met before – lovely people) were stomping around. Speaking of women, again, there were definitely a few more ladies at this year’s event, and not just tolerant and long suffering wags – actual gamers. That’s a great thing to see, and it’s always pleasing to se our hobby’s appeal growing outside of the typical audience.
Already by this early point in the day, a lot of games are being played. Each year, I usually see some really fun, interesting or amazing boards, but this year there wasn’t a whole lot new in the super impressive and noteworthy stakes. There was a big Apocalypse battle going on of course – always good to see some Titans stomping around, and that was impressive enough. One other game that did catch my eye was a Jurassic Park game which looked like a lot of fun if nothing else. The dinosaur-loving kid that I once was really enjoyed seeing that experience going on.
salute painting trophies
The Painting Competition remains a popular centrepiece to Salute and there were a lot of fantastic looking entries there, all vying to pick up one of the shiny new trophies which looked very good on display. I’m going to let South London Warlords show those off – its very hard to give credit, but I would like to show you the diorama that I liked the most. I can’t give any credit because I couldn’t see the name, but if you know who did it, do give me a shout – they deserve much praise for this Batman/Only Fools And Horses/Goblin mashup. Made me laugh – always a great bit of praise that you can give to a mini.
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So what did I pick up? let’s have a look at the haul…
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I eventually managed to get close to the Forge World store, but by the time the queue had died down sufficiently, the Moritat with Volkite Serpenta that I wanted was sold out. In fact, when I went to Nottingham a couple of days later, the guys in the Forge World store told me that there is now a 10 day delay on what has been one of their most popular Space Marine kits ever. It’s now on order for me. I did manage to pick up a couple of Blood Bowl special characters (including the event exclusive Star Player Duo), but more on that in a later post.
I popped along to MDP’s stall – something I do every year, and picked up many useful things. Rods to fashion pipes and girders, some snake chain to make pipes and some mesh to make fences. Oh, and a cutting mat because mine got, well, cut through. Finally, aside from all of the bits that were in the goody bag (and there were many bits in that bag) I picked up an elephant. My first 75mm scale miniature, which is a tad daunting. I want to try working properly on a larger scale, and i shall do this later in the year. I got it from Figone, which is run by Jeremie Bonamant Teboul who makes some wonderful pieces – truly beautiful figures and busts. The elephant was just too pretty to pass up.
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A couple of other stalls I should mention, include Mierce Miniatures who almost got my large scale miniature money with one of their wonderful sculpts. Their beastmen particularly are worth looking at, but the whole range is splendid enough. Also, a new game that was getting plenty of attention was Rumbleslam – a fantasy wrestling game. The miniatures aren’t much to shout about, but the game looks like a lot of fun and it’s worth taking a look. Great to see these fun sort of ideas coming through each year.
I think I’ve written enough on Salute now. It’s always a pleasure to go there, and an annual event that I thoroughly enjoy. What’s more, I got to meet a couple of heroes this year as well. Running into Jes Goodwin was rather lovely, and I had a proper fan girl moment when I bumped into Rick Priestly as well (on a day when a big announcement was being made about the game he invented – more on that later). And then, I shall leave you with my favourite encounter of the day. It was like looking into a mirror…
john ashton
Onwards!

WIP – BA Veteran Squad

Posted by johnnya10 on 13/04/2017
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

hh ba vets wip

So, it’s been a little while since I gave you an update on my hobby progress and I wanted to share with you where I am with my BA Vets. The good news is that the torsos and weapons (between them the longest, most time consuming and frustrating parts of the process) are now almost complete. As you can see above, these guys are a little fancier than the standard tactical squads, and I’ve added plenty of yellows, and even a dash or two of gold to help them stand out.

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And yes, you can see two heavy flamers in this squad. These are Blood Angels vets – they know a thing or two about shock and awe, and they do like setting fire to things, so I expect to have some real fun with these fellows drop-podding in and burninating everyone around them. It will of course make this one hell of an expensive squad to bring to the table, but the rule of cool dictates that it must be done. But what of their own mighty leader…

blood angel power fist

Yep, that power fist is going to make them even more expensive. But it looks so cool. I can win games with ‘cool’, right? Also happy with the helmet on his base there. Is it Sons of Horus, or is it Alpha Legion…? Well, instead of trying to be mysterious, I’ll just say that it kind of works as either. Which is fine. I mixed the paint myself so it’s a little too green for Alpha Legion and a little too blue for the SoH. Works either way, so I’m calling that a win. And what will my sergeant have in his other hand?

forge world hand flamer

Yes indeed, that is a hand flamer. Because why have two template weapons in a squad when you can have three? And again, it looks cool. Winning.

Once this is painted up and put in place, it will be shoulders, backpacks and heads. Of course, I will keep you up to date with progress here as and when I can. I hope your own hobby-related endeavours are going well for you. Onwards!

The Descent Into Theta-7 – A Necromunda Short Story

Posted by johnnya10 on 30/03/2017
Posted in: My Fluff Writing, Uncategorized. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

black and white delaque leader

It’s always nice to flesh out a character that you’ve painted with a bit of a backstory, and that’s just what I’ve done for the miniature above. I’ve named him Viskar, and you can enjoy a quick read about him below. Enjoy!

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Nargo pounded down the ruined hallway, his boots thudding against the ancient, rust-covered metal as he descended further into the darkness of Theta-7 quadrant. His right hand gripped the cooling barrel of his heavy stubber, long since run dry of ammunition and now only useful as a club, while his left applied pressure to the wound in his side. His running had become more of a stagger as red life spilled through his fingers. Worse still, it had ruined his favourite tattoo. The enemies of House Goliath would pay for this night’s treachery.

“Damn Rats” he spluttered quietly, a whispered shout in the darkness, as he rounded the shattered vertical pipe of an old pumping station that had been abandoned after its malfunction hundreds of years ago. Theta-7 was common territory, caught between the boundries of Goliath, Delaque and Van Saar, like dead vermin in a trap that even the psi-vultures wouldn’t eat. It was even darker than The Sump, and a thousand corridors spread out from its toxic core.
“Damn those Rats” The words forced themselves from between his gritted silver teeth as he paused for breath by an abandoned security shed. The Ratskins had made their oaths to Goliath before the assault on the Delaque stronghold, but when the slugs started flying, the filthy bastard mutants had disappeared into the shadows, and the brutes of Goliath had been cut to pieces by the ranged guns of the waiting ‘Baldos’. Nargo had seen a juve sliced in half by a lascannon beem, before watching his leader, the mighty Frakkosh, burn to nothing in an instance as a heavy plasma blast had taken him square in the chest.
And that had been it. Even the largest brute lost his nerve then, and Nargo had been the last to turn tail and disappear into the darkness of Theta-7. He wasn’t built for speed, and the weight of his ammo pack, even when empty, and the hulking heavy stubber in his arms had made running all the harder, even before that slug had cracked his ribs. Where the hell had that shot come from, he thought to himself. All the chem-stims and pain-supressors wouldn’t stop him from bleeding out in the grim darkness of one of the underhive’s most Emperor-forsaken sink holes.
His fellow brutes long gone ahead of him, he came to a halt and slumped down onto a heap of debris. He didn’t care about the barbed wire tearing into his back as he slid a little further down still into the detritus. Where had that slug come from, he thought again. He could have sworn that he’d given them the slip somewhere around the Verti-lifter platforms. And as he scrambled through those claustrophobic tunnels and hallways, he’d made as little sound as possible. But despite all of that, searing pain had leapt out of the perpetual night and bitten into his flank with ferocity and cruel enthusiasm.
He felt the stubber’s barrel slip from his fingers as he ran short enough of blood that his extremities tingled as if he had injected some of the Doc’s best ‘Pulse-Up’ chems, and his head felt heavy. He could almost see his soul slip gently from his flesh, climbing up towards a light high above him in the smog-choked night sky of the underhive. And it was as his gaze moved upwards, that he noticed the green eyes staring at him out of the black, and the bolt gun barrel trained at his head.
-=-=-=-
Viskar ran down the hallway without making a sound. Even his long trench coat didn’t stir audibly as it flapped through the stale air of the long, dimly lit corridor. His eyes operated perfectly in these low levels of light. Typical, he mused, of a dead head Goliath to run into the darkness of Theta-7 when he was being chased by a Delaque. They really were all idiots.
As he sprinted silently through the narrow space, following the trail of chemical-thick blood that his pistol had gifted him from the brute’s torso, he grinned. Paying off those treacherous Ratskins had been the right thing to do after all. When he got back to his House’s territory, he’d have to apologise to Colbera. Viskar had no misconceptions about trusting the rats of the underhive, and would rather have executed them as soon as they had shown their faces, but for the price of a rundown track-loader and a barrel of nutrient slime that was a decade too old to consume, he had to admit that their information had been useful. Colbera had been right about that, and that irked Viskar a little, but with the chase on, all was forgiven.
House Goliath had almost been insultingly foolish, thinking they could take territory from House Delaque with so few men, and for that, they would all pay.
The blood trail lurched around the side of a tall, vertical pipe, large enough to fit two Arbites Repressor vehicles though long since shattered and abandoned, and he followed it into the gloom. To a Delaque’s eyes, the dank and murky hole at the centre of the unwanted Theta-7 district was a well lit room, and even if he hadn’t been wearing his goggles, his vision would have been near perfect in this trash heap.
He stopped suddenly and silently. Behind an ancient, broken barricade of discarded ferrocrete slabs, he saw the oversized and studded boot of a Goliath. His eyes could see through the gloom the slightest movement – a slight shudder around the heel indicated that it was still being worn and not simply a discarded item. He could just make out the laboured breathing of his injured prey, and he could smell the sticky vitae pooling below an over-muscled, perspiring body.
Still without a sound, Viskar swung himself up an ancient and disused stairway. He wanted a better vantage point to shoot from, but more than that, he was smart enough not to let a Goliath, wounded or not, get anywhere near him. If he made himself visible on ground level, the downed monster might still have enough spirit left to charge for him, and that would likely be a short fight indeed.
He moved across a creaking ramp that once crossed the expanse of Theta-7 but now ended abruptly in a rust covered gateway – half an arch that sat atop a mound of debris. A lone skull sat just beneath the parapet, gazing out into the darkness of the underhive beyond, while a thick, green ooze lazily sloshed from a broken pipe beneath the platform. From this point he looked down at the slumped figure below.
The brute was huge, his body covered in unnatural muscles and ornate skin ink. His heavy weapon lay on the ground and for all the colour in the Goliath ganger’s mohican, his skin was palid, and looked as if it would be cold to the touch. Slowly and quietly, the Delaque romoved the bolt gun from his jacket, pulling out the shoulder stock and drawing a bead on the bastard’s face. In that moment, the Goliath looked him square in the eyes.
-=-=-=-
In the second that transpired before Viskar pulled the trigger, he saw the soul of the man, on route to stand before the Emperor, or whatever Hell-monster the Goliaths prayed to, and he saw nothing more than a man. A lost, ruined and hideous man, but one who had come to be like that because of the underhive. Because of the endless gang wars, punctuated all too sparsely with brief and uneasy periods of truce. Because of being born at the bottom, beneath Necromunda’s gargantuan ash clouds, and not in the rarified atmosphere and gentility of the upper spires. He might have been a friend in another galaxy, or on another world. Neither of them would ever sail between the stars, see the great, mythical Astartes in war, or drink the finer chemohol that the governor classes chugged down with every meal. Viskar saw Nargo as a brother he would never know. But he still pulled the trigger. There could be no mercy in the underhive.
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I hope you enjoyed that. Let me know what you think in the comments below, and thanks for reading!