WIP – Mortifactors Predator

Posted by johnnya10 on 04/11/2014
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . 1 Comment

mortipredi

Not that I’m totally obsessed with Predators or anything at the moment, work has now begun on my Mortifactors Predator that will hopefully change up the look of my army a bit and offer some serious firepower to my force.

I’m going for a completely different look for this Predator compared to the Rhinos that have come before. Still very much in the same palette, the colour balance is changed somewhat and the yellow of the II Company is gone. I’ll expand upon all the reasoning for this when I’ve got the tank up in a completed state, but basically, I want this thing to look like a hunter (an actual hunter not the tank of the same name – stupid, confusing Space Marines). I want it to look like it’s stalking (not like a Stalker) its prey across the battlefield and this colour balance works better for that.

nosponsons

Painting black is fraught with issues and I am not about to even dare to dish out a tutorial on it – there are far better out there on Youtube and if you’re going down the direction of Black Legion, Raven Guard, Ravenwing or anything with that sort of colour scheme, those vids are worth a watch. These pictures don’t pick up the more subtle blends in the black, but using Eshin Grey mixed in various amounts with black, I’ve managed to create some depth and contrast. This shows up a little better in the next shot.

pred top

I’m painting the sponsons and turret separately to make my life easier and I’ve barely started on any real detailing. The front of the tank is getting its first base coats now and hopefully it will be good to go at the end of this week or early next. Onwards!

Miniature Focus: The Predator Battle Tank

Posted by johnnya10 on 30/10/2014
Posted in: Uncategorized. 4 Comments

ultramarines predator by GW

This is a new type of article from me. There are minis out there that might be called iconic, impressive, classic or interesting and I want to explore a few of these, their looks, their history, their rules and their fluff. If you like this sort of thing, let me know in the comments section below, and I’ll try to churn out a few more.

For every tank that the Space Marines use when they embark unto the cauldron war, from the mighty Land Raider to the humble Rhino, for myself and many others, the king of the hill is still the Predator. Whether you want it for assassinating characters, pounding heavy infantry or ripping armour to shreds, this versatile tank has some solid rules and it looks like a boss too. Let’s take a closer look at my favourite Space Marine Tank.

A Bit Of History

arnie predator

In 1987, the word ‘Predator’ got a new lease of life when Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, and others tried to kill an alien in a Central American jungle. It’s not a nice word when you actually think about its connotations outside of the animal kingdom, but with that film, it gained a certain coolness. Two years later, still very much in the Rogue Trader days of Warhammer 40,000, the Predator battle tank rolled heavily onto our table tops and began blasting its way into our hearts. Not that I’m suggesting any link between the film and the tank but I’m totally suggesting a link between the film and the tank.

rogue trader predator

Aside from the homemade tanks (reminds me – must buy shampoo), the Space Marines had been relying on transports and APCs up until this release, and this tank became the first bit of armour dedicated to shooting. A moving artillery base, it offered a combo of lascannons and an autocannon to smash through ork wartrukks and the like. As an ‘Imperial Assault Tank’ it was also available to the Imperial Guard and (knowing Rogue Trader) probably all other factions as well, but it was built on the Rhino STC and that made it Space Marine through and through.

mkII predator

Over the years, the Predator lost a little glamour and gained a bit more grimdarkness as 40k began developing its own identity. It dropped the rounded turrets and sponsons in favour of blocky, more utilitarian designs that matched up far better with other SpaceMarine releases. In recent years, Forge World have developed the Deimos Pattern Predator, meaning the nostalgic amongst us get to work with something very similar to the original tanks (though of a much higher quality).

deimos predator

There were also a couple of variants introduced over the years. The Predator Annihilator showed up somewhere in 2nd Edition bringing with it the lascannon turret that’s now included in the standard box. A specific Chaos Predator was released too and the Blood Angels got their own ‘Baal Pattern’ Predator sporting anti-infantry weaponry in the form of assault cannons and flamers. Forge World also put out the slightly sleeker MKIVC variant too.

predator annihilator

And while Razorbacks, Whirlwinds, Vindicators, Hunters and Stalkers have joined the ranks of the Space Marine vehicles, along with the Land Raider and Rhino, the Predator has remained a stalwart of the armoury, and a great addition to most forces.

Let’s Get Fluffy

predator landing

The first Predator tanks were created to deal with one particular problem – Orks. As humanity expanded across the stars during the Dark Age of Technology, their early encounters with the Orks meant that humans had to rethink their battle tactics and so the Predator Destructor (that’s the heavy bolter/autocannon version) was born to help mow down Orks at long range.

Originally, these tanks could carry a small amount of troops too, but when this role was taken over by the Razorback, it allowed the Predator to hold more ammunition and increase the firepower of its weaponry. During the Great Crusade, the Imperial Army also employed the tank but when the Imperial Guard was born, Predators became Astartes-only vehicles.

Predator tank

A number of variants have been born out of necessity. Relics like the Infernus and Executioner are very rare in the 41st Millennium, while the Blood Angels and their successors jealously guard the STCs for the Baal Pattern (much to the annoyance of Mars). But due to their high output of firepower and their all-round usefulness, Destructors and Annihilators remain the favoured fire support tanks of the Space Marines.

Time To Talk Tactics

2nd Ed Pred

Because back then it was totally normal to have a Dark Angels Predator supporting the Space Wolves, ok!

Leaving the CSM and Baal Patterns aside (though this does count towards the CSM one as well), you have two distinct choices with what comes in the typical Space Marine Predator box. All you have to ask yourself is what role you want it to fill – anti-tank or anti-infantry (you can try and mix it up more but this is essentially futile). Decide what your army is already well equipped to deal with, and fit your Predator with the other. The Autocannon/Heavy Bolter option means you can hunt infantry (including more elite units) with a very good chance of smashing it off the table. All Lascannons mean you’ve got a good chance of blasting other tanks into ceramite dust. What’s more, it’s relatively cheap points wise and being a tank, it’s got a good bit of speed going for it too.

mkivc pred

Also to its advantage is an additional AV point on its front armour compared to most Rhino chassis vehicles making it a lot tougher to pop for all but the biggest guns. Add a missile launcher and/or storm bolter for a very low cost and weapon destroyed results might not be nearly as bad as they could be either. What’s more, the Annihilator weapon load out, at a pinch, could be used as a last gasp anti-air option (though this would be a bit of a waste in most cases) as you get three lascannon shots, one of which you can re-roll thanks to it being twin-linked. AA may not be its designated role, but I’ve used it a couple of times to this end (out of desperation) and managed to bring down a Nightschythe once (lucky rolling and said desperation can be a glorious thing sometimes).

If Looks Could Kill…

Touched on above, one the best things about the predator is that it looks like an actual tank. Despite its bulky chassis, the lines even on the current turret, somehow make it look a little sleeker. In fact, it definitely has the look of a hunting beast about it. This is outlined further when you’re playing a game and you see those three nasty looking lascannons peeking out from around the corner of a building or some ruins.

Though it gets nuked pretty early on, one of its rare appearances on screen outside of gameplay footage is this video from the opening of the first Dawn of War video game and I still really enjoy watching its lasers lance out towards the Ork lines (until half a bridge gets dropped on it). I just really like the fact that it looks like a tank that looks at all other tanks and says “Oh, you have just one big gun? Maybe two? Aw. That’s sweet.” Even if there are more effective vehicles out there (and there are) the Predator looks the part in any of its patterns, and for what it does do, few if any do it better.

Ah, The Memories…

chaos predator

When i was a lot younger, (coming up on 20 years ago!!) I had an Emperor’s Children army. It was crude and Badly painted, but it was a boss that scared the heck out of many of my opponents. It had a bunch of Noise Marines, a Daemon Prince (N’Kari – my own ‘conversion’ to represent the named character from the first Codex Chaos), a Keeper of Secrets (one of the old, good models with the bull’s head and crab claws) and three Predators. That army won me a lot of games and I added a lot to it over the years before I eventually sold it all. Those will be the Predators that I’ll always remember with great fondness. Maybe one day, i will have that formation back again…

scenic predator

In Conclusion

The Predator is awesome. Errrr… yeah, that’s about it. There doesn’t need to be a conclusion really. This wasn’t supposed to be ground-breaking or even particularly enlightening. I just wanted to wax lyrical about one of my favourite miniatures. I can’t say what I’ll look at next, but I had a lot of fun writing all of this so I’ll write another article like this soon.

Two New Tyranids – the shape of releases to come for 40k?

Posted by johnnya10 on 28/10/2014
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: , . 1 Comment

tyranids

If you’ve not been paying attention to the latest gossip flowing across the web over the last couple of weeks, you may not have noticed the news regarding the new Tyranids that could be enveloping biomass on a table near you in the very near future. To give you some context, here’s a link to the page from Bols…

bols tyranid rumours

click through to read more

And a video from GW pretty much confirming that some tyranids will be up for pre-orders as of next week…


It looks like, pretty soon, the Toxiccrene and Maleceptor will be chomping their way through the galaxy. People are of course already speculating about the accuracy of these rumours and the usefulness of the models as per the rules that appeared on the above article on bols, but really, who knows? The nids have been getting some pretty sweet looking big bugs this year, so I’m hoping for more of the same in that sense. Not that I’ll be picking them up – my fear of Tyranids (both in the way my armies typically get munched by them, and in terms of the amount of minis I’d have to paint) prohibits me, but it’s always nice to see a good sculpt.

sad blood angel

So why, given my Tyranid allergies, am I bothering to comment on this particular rumour? Well, a couple of things. Firstly, I had been looking forward to seeing the Blood Angels get some love from the hallowed halls of Nottingham, but it appears I’ll have to wait a little longer on that front. Secondly, this is the first release of its kind in the current era of 40k, and this intrigues and even potentially excites me.

We’ve been going along, relatively happily (depends who you ask of course) with the system of new minis being accompanied by a new book. Even the recent WFB releases for the End Times have had a book, even if it wasn’t an Army Book. Unprompted, and very much unexpected, we are now getting two new Tyranids which will, presumably have the rules enclosed in their box and/or in White Dwarf (unless a whole campaign book has slipped under the rumourmongers’ radars). Such a release, with no new Codex in sight, hasn’t happened in a long time for 40k.

new releases everywhere

What does this mean? Well, the flexible era of 40k may now well and truly be upon us. Who knows –  maybe we’ll have a whole month of this! maybe the Tau will get a new battlesuit two weeks from now, followed by a new Ork vehicle and an Eldar aspect warriors squad before the Blood Angels stomp into action. Or maybe this is just a one off to test the waters. Maybe after this kit, it’ll be back to the steadier release schedules. Seems odd to only do it once though.

This is also where digital codices could start to really make sense. Say this pattern of more random releases goes on for a year, each week a new kit with new rules in the box or white dwarf. If you like me favour a physical codex, we might end up with a fair few loose sheets tucked into the back of it. Digital users may find their products updated within a week! That’s a very nice situation to be in.

success digital codex

Tournaments might become a little more random too (*gasps* and mutterings of discontent from the tournament players in the corner) as you might find army rankings changing far more often. Not every release will become a must-have, but there might be a fair few. What’s more, if you miss your White Dwarf the week before the games start, you might miss out on something that eats half your army, or that could save several games for you.

Once the sons of Sanguinius get their new book, we’ll be all up to date, if you count 6th and 7th Ed codices together – I know Necrons are technically 5th but that book was written for 6th, though they too might get a Codex in the near future. Then we’ll see what’s going to happen for real. Time sharing with Fantasy (and presuming the Hobbit will be done with after this year), 2015 could see up to or more than 26 release weeks for 40k. Will we see any new codices? Although they’re still pretty new, CSM and DA players may well be counting on it, but what if instead, we got a new Dark Angels walker that could stomp on Wave Serpents, or a unit of exalted traitors that could bathe riptides in consuming balefire? Is this a brand new era of releases truly beginning? And if it is, are we excited or horrified by the prospect? I think I’m excited, though I could do with a few less Tyranids to eat through my power armour!

It would be great to hear your thoughts, so stick them comments below, people.

INQ28 – Iinky Squet: The last of his kind

Posted by johnnya10 on 27/10/2014
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

inq28 conversion

“He is a living relic, y’know. Terra knows how old that rat is, but his kind ain’t been seen around these parts for a quarter hundred and not often afore that either. I heard rumour that some big bugs melted ‘em all or something, or that a bunch of abhumans was sent in to flush ‘em away. Who knows, right? But I’ll tell you this; I ain’t never seen nobody outfight him, nor outshoot him. Even big fellas go down when he lamps one on their chin. Iinky’s won every bar tussle and duel he jumped into, that’s true, and he’s as sharp as a Catachan’s knife to boot. Wouldn’t trust his type though, but he always paid his bills and that’s good enough for me so long as I got an optic on him.”

– Byroll Coate, Bar Owner (testimony under oath)

=][=

This is the second member of my Inquisitorial warband, the master thief and scrappy fighter whose species is, as far as he knows, all gone. His name is Iinky Squet and he’s my nod to a bit of 40k lore that comes right out of Rogue Trader. Back then you see, GW still being in its relative infancy, the designers ported over elves, dwarves and orcs from the fantasy system. They of course became Eldar, Squats (RIP) and Space Orks respectively but the Hrud also existed and they were, originally, Space Skaven. Over the years, GW has moved away from this idea and while the Squats got eaten by Tyranids, and the Eldar and Orks have been given the chance to flesh out their own distinct fluff, the Hrud never even got off the ground and eventually their rat-like look was replaced by aliens with big black eyes and long limbs. So up steps Iinky Squet – the last of those Hrud who never made it. Or is he…?

space skaven

Iinky Squet is another pretty simple conversion based on a WFB miniature, the Skaven Warlord. The first step was removing a hand, most of the tail and filing off the very Skaveny details on the armour. Next up, he needed some guns. I filed off the details on a Chaos Space Marine bolt pistol (love the ammo hanging loose from the underside of those guns) for his right hand, and for his left, this gun come from the Legion Praetors set from Forge World. I won’t say why I have that set (not yet – all will be revealed) but I didn’t actually need this particular pistol and given that it looks so cool, I couldn’t resist using it. I created the tail by using a whip that come with the Astral Claws Master of the Forge (that I didn’t use when I built my Grey Knights Techmarine), and I then added a little ‘=][=’ charm (from a GK box) to his one of his tassles. Done.

converted skaven

I stuck with a very subdued painting style, darkening everything and bring it back up again with inks. The pictures don’t do it justice here (I know I use that excuse too much – I’m working on it), but I’m really happy with the more natural look I’m getting on the metal and the cloth at the moment. His cloak in particular resembles a battered, old leather sheet, and I’m very pleased with the effect, as I am with his skin/fur – having never painted a rat before I found it pretty rewarding to give that a go and pull it off.

iinky squet

I see his play style being that of a scrappy gunfighter and dirty brawler, big on speed and number of attacks but low on strength. And while he’ll be good at pinching things and picking up items, he’ll rarely show any heroism. He’s joined Thor Joshan’s retinue because the Inquisitor offered him knowledge about his species, their origins and their fate, but if he doesn’t get some answers soon, there’s no telling how long Iinky will stay around for.

original hrud inq28

So that’s two down in my Inquisitor Warband. A few more to go, but I think I need to do a bit more Mortifactors stuff next – want to get them finished off as soon as possible. So look out for that, and for some more INQ28 stuff too. And I promise (as bloody usual) that I will try and work on the photography. With not being at home when there’s any natural daylight, and having to rely mainly on my iPhone camera, I’m not doing myself any favours, but I’ll continue to work on it. Promise. Onwards!

INQ28 – Project OX135

Posted by johnnya10 on 21/10/2014
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . 3 Comments

FullSizeRender-5

“The existence of Project 135 would be considered outright and undeniable heresy were it not the work of the Ordo Xenos. The splicing of human and Ork DNA is an abhorrent idea, born of unchecked  minds being allowed to work too much in isolation. Designed as a weapon, 135 was conceived to combat the Ork on his own terms, but he should never have been created in the first place and Inquisitor Thor Joshan was entrusted with its termination. However, the Inquisitor went against his own vows and now uses 135 as it was always intended to be used – as a brutal killing machine almost beyond control. Whether these actions were caused by pity, heresy or vanity, the highest ranks of the Holy Inquisition Ordo Xenos hereby declares Inquisitor Thor Joshan to be ‘observed’.” 

                                             – Lord Inquisitor Redinath Diaz

=][=

Didn’t expect that, now did you! 😉 Yes, I am braving the dark dark grimdark world of INQ28 and this is my very first effort in that system – OX135. Let’s look at a few more pics, and I can take you through my thinking (such as it is).

ordo xenos inq28

As someone who spends nearly all his time working in power armour (well, I mean i paint it – I don’t sit at my desk in power armour because that would be a bit weird) and the rest of the time on gribbly daemons, I have decided to add some aliens to my portfolio. The theme for my small retinue is based around Inquisitor Thor Joshan, a very unorthodox Ordo Xenos operative who surrounds himself with aliens and those fascinated by them.

OX135 is slightly different though. He’s an experiment that certainly didn’t go wrong (if anything, it worked too well) but isn’t right. Human DNA mixed with that of ork DNA has created a hulking humanoid monster capable of rage, strength and intelligence. Had the project ever been approved (which it never would have been), those following in 135’s oversized footsteps could have proven to be a cheaper, faster to deploy, and more expendable alternative to Space Marines should humanity encounter vast ork hordes in remote space. However, that was never to be, and though the project was ordered to be destroyed, those orders were given to Inquisitor Joshan who had some different ideas.

inq28 conversion

So apart from working on something other than power armour, I wanted to test out my converting too. I’ve invested in a few smaller sculpting tools, some different paints and washes, and I reckon I’ll be getting through a fair few sticks of green stuff over these projects as well.

The keen eyed amongst you will recognise the base model for OX135 – it’s the Savage Orc Big Boss from the fantasy system. I removed the head and cut back the shoulders a bit, as well as removing the axe, and have replaced those components with some from the Grey Knights kits. He now wields a huge blade and there are a few wires here and their, including the kill wire in his back which was supposed to deliver the killing voltage before the Inquisitor earned the beast’s trust by hacking through it at the last possible moment.

ox135 rear

My inspirations behind this included Orks and even Space marines, but also things like the Incredible Hulk and Juggernaut from Marvel. But then, when working on INQ28 stuff, the biggest influence has to be John Blanche. I wanted this monstrosity to look like it might fit in one his beautiful and bizarre illustrations. With the loin cloth changed to parchment, and wires, trinkets and tattoos, I hope it does that (at least slightly).

This is also a chance for me to try a completely different style of painting. Rather than the “comic book realism” (if such a thing exists) that I use with my 40k work, I’ve tried to really go somewhere different with this. It’s lots of dry-brushing and washing. It’s leaving parts looking a little rougher to play on the ideas of dirt and shadow, and treating light sources a little differently, looking for contrasts and the curiosities of how the brush moves over the subject. It’s by no means perfect, but as a first attempt I’m very happy with it. In fact, I’d be happy if this was a much later attempt too.

IN28 lighting

My light source is coming directly from above, as if this brute is fighting his way through an underhive where the only light is second hand and high above. I’ve painted the metals and skin in a completely different way to how I have done previously with the high light source really playing a part in that.

If I had to find one thing about the model that I’m not happy with, it would be the eyes. I tried to go for the bright red eyes of an ork and I’m not sure it works so I may change those to more human shades in the future, but who knows – maybe I’ll learn to love them.

So, there you have it. I have officially embarked into INQ28 and as well as all of my other projects, you can expect some more curiosities from the fringes of the galaxy coming your way soon. Onwards!

Project 135

Mortifactors Rhino 2

Posted by johnnya10 on 16/10/2014
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

mortifactors rhino front

It’s odd. Whenever I say ‘it’s going to be quiet around here for a while’ I invariably end up posting something up within a couple of days, and true to form, may I present to you my second Mortifactors Rhino. Turns out the somewhat understated (read boring) APC can actually be a lot of fun to paint.

I started this a while ago. In fact, I kind of started this Rhino about three years ago. It used to belong to the Emperor’s Children (the first army I painted up when I got back in to the hobby) and it looked bad (seriously bad). Like the rest of that army, it was wasting away in a drawer, so rather than splash the cash on a new one, I got out the Fairy Power Spray, changed a few bits and undercoated it black in preparation to become a Mortifactors armoured transport vehicle. And because of the questionable activities of the Chapter from Posul, a Chaos Rhino makes for a better kit than a loyalist one for these guys. I don’t need all the spikes, but a couple of spikes give it the edge it needs.

rhino side door

As this Rhino belongs to Squad II, Second company, its designation is there on one of the doors for all to see in the yellow that really makes this colour scheme pop. It’s in a slightly different style to the Squad IV Rhino that I worked on earlier in the year, but if I do another, I’ll want that to be slightly different too. I don’t like them all being uniform – that’s far too Ultramarine for me, and for the Mortifactors. Little differences that would make the OCD Ordo Astartes cry ‘Heresy!’ before being told to calm down are what’s called for with these chaps. The little banner on the front also bears the name of the sergeant, Iamador, whose unit rides inside.

mortifactors rhino side

I also did a little bit of “weathering” on this, and the reason I’m using the quotation marks there is because this is cheat weathering that doesn’t require powders or pigments. It’s achieved by layering up some paints and using a knackered old brush. It works, but the better painters will know it’s not what gets applied to their showpiece models. The mud flecked up from the tracks is just Typhus Corrosion. Simple as that, but it’s a nice enough effect for a lowly Rhino. Besides, that’s probably not what people will be looking at the most…

freehand rhino top

Quite easily the largest skull that I’ve painted adorns the roof of this Rhino, and I’m chuffed with it. I had tried painting a Tarot Card on there (The Mortifactors were led to Posul by the Emperor’s Tarot), but it looked awful – too cartoony and weak. So I painted over that and went all out on a massive bit of skull-shaped goodness. After a period where my skulls have been a little poor, this was a return to form. Nothing like a bit of freehand success to really perk you up. You might also notice that this is very much a tactical Rhino with light, smoke launcher and the little satellite dish up top there, but then if you’re staring at the skull, you’d be forgiven for not noticing. Here’s a close up for you…

freehand skull painting

Anyway, on with the show. I hope you enjoyed that one – I certainly enjoyed painting it. I’m still not particularly chipper at the moment (hence the warning that this place may be a little quieter – which is probably a lie) and I’ve got a lot on, so who knows when the next piece will be ready to show you. I still want the 2000pt Mortifactors force done by the end of the year though, so I’m going for it. Only three things left to do now… Onwards!

mortifactors rhino apc

Warhammer Fest – My Day at Golden Demon

Posted by johnnya10 on 14/10/2014
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: . 1 Comment

Well, that was an interesting weekend. I know this is a little late now (what with this internets thing, 24 hour rolling news and whatever else the kids are into these days), but I thought I’d give you a run down of Sunday at Warhammer Fest, accompanied by plenty of pictures, a bit of gossip and probably a lot of waffle too. This is picture and word heavy, so make yourself a milky drink, sit back and enjoy.

Coventry Cathedral

Coventry, we hardly knew thee (and this, I think, is a good thing)

Let us first address the venue. Coventry is not a pretty town. Apart from its beautiful cathedral (destroyed during World War 2, with the ruins left as a monument and a new one built with art from some of England’s greats), it is a city of ugly, 1950s concrete (again, a legacy of WW2). It’s a central-ish location in the UK, so that makes sense, but I’m really looking forward to Warhammer World’s completed renovations. Nottingham has charm. Coventry has a general sense of greyness, disappointment and underlying threat. Mind you, for an event focussed for the most part on a grimdark distopia, it is at least fitting on that sense. And the hotel did give me enough pillows to build a little fort in my room, so that was a win.

Hotel Bed Fort

Fort HeresyAndHeroes – A temporary installation.

Sunday began with a passable fry-up and then a cup of coffee which had the consistency of gravy (good) and an aroma akin to the recently deceased (bad). My travelling companion, Henry South, and I stayed at the Ricoh Arena (and enjoyed the charms of the windowless hole of a casino next door to our hotel) so we could walk out after breakfast, pick up our tickets to the last Forge World Seminar of the day and then get in line for Golden Demon. And so it began.

Models Submitted, Next Year’s Bought

Here are my three entries, looking all shiny in their glass cases alongside the best the hobby has to offer.

dios toros golden demon

farseer golden demon

vanguard vets golden demon

I didn’t snap any of the others (mad egotist that I am), but there was some incredible work on display so I urge you to find the pictures which will be all over the internet in any case – there’s plenty on the Eavier Metal page on Facebook. Speaking of cases, the prevailing opinion was that there was a distinctly smaller offering on show than in previous years (though I couldn’t confirm this myself of course) but the standards were still incredibly high, and it’s better to be overwhelmed by quality rather than quantity. Once everything was set in the cases, we went down to the main hall which opened up to a throng of people wanting to buy their goodies.

warhammer app

The first thing that caught my eye was this, the new GW app due for release in just a few weeks. I spoke to one of the guys at this stall and he informed me that we can be expecting exclusive rules, downloads, wall papers, blog articles, book excerpts and more. You can even customise it, so that it will only show you what you want to see. If you don’t care about, for example, Black Library releases, you can turn that part of the news feed off. It will initially only be available on iOS (apols to the droids) but that may well (should) change. It’s not a great revelation, but it’s nice to see GW trying to drag itself into the 21st century and I’ll definitely be downloading it.

We both had a little splurge on some grade A plastic crack, and though i won’t reveal what those purchases were, I’m very excited about what I’ll be doing Hobbywise in the near future. Hopefully, I’ve already bought some of next year’s entries!

Oh, Forge World… *heart flutters*

First thing I’m going to do is show you some of the display tables from Forge World. There were three of these representing different heresy battles and they just looked so amazing. These are the sort of tables that give you ideas, that inspire you and that make you want to run home and get the paints out. Here you go…

alpha legion vs mechanicus

Alpha Legion and Dark Mechanicum assault the loyalists of Mars.

Imperial Fists vs Iron Warriors

Imperial Fists smash their way onto an Iron Warriors Cruiser

ultramarines vs word bearers

The Ultramarines and their allies take on the treacherous Word Bearers in the Calth shipyards.

They’re just so beautiful to look at. I want to be fighting battles that look like that. Huge amount of respect to not only the painters, but the guys who constructed these boards – every detail is superb. Beautiful stuff.

There was also some new plastic crack on show. I really like the look of the new Solar Auxilia armour, and Forge World are the ones who almost make me want to start a Tau army – this guy looks amazing (see below).

fw tau

Solar Auxilia Tanks

At this point, I popped over to check on Golden Demon again. Red stickers were being added to the minis that were photographed and green stickers got added to the minis that were selected as finalists. I am absolutely thrilled because my Mortifactors Vanguard Vets have been photographed and will hopefully be appearing in a White Dwarf or Visions sometime over the next year! I didn’t expect it, so I’m really chuffed to have had them snapped for the magazine.

But above that, I did spend a bit of time hanging around Dios Toros and heard some wonderful compliments and those really made my day. Everyone was really liking my work, and one kid even pointed out my farseer (by far my weakest entry) and was telling his dad how cool it was and that made me very proud. I heard nothing but compliments about my work so despite not placing, or getting a pin (which this year were little certificates), this made me so happy. Excellent stuff.

One regret? I should have entered Dios Toros into the Open Category. This has always been the big, scary category and yet this year, there wasn’t that much going on. There was as still some real high quality stuff of course, but Dios Toros might have had a chance of getting a picture had he been stomping around in that category instead of the very competitive 40k Vehicle cabinets. Ah well, now I know for next year.

History and Good People

old nagash

There was some really nice displays of models through the ages. With the recent rereleases of Undead, Dark Eldar and Space Hulk, there were cabinets featuring those things through the years. It’s amazing how the standards of sculpts and paint jobs have jumped up, especially when looking at the old Nagash Model compared to the imposing and amazing new one.

I also met up with some very cool people too. Henry introduced me to John Blanche who is as nice a fellow as you could ever hope to meet. He still gets inspired and excited by these sorts of events and he even showed off a couple of his brand new pieces which looked suitably Blanchitsu-esque. We also briefly met up with Garfy and Stahly from taleofpainters – both lovely chaps who both got finalist certificates for their entries. They were wearing T-Shirts with their blog logo on it – definitely stealing that idea for next year.

In fact, everyone there was nice, and it’s this sort of event that reminds you that we, as hobbyists are for the most part in excellent company when with each other. Good work, people.

The Forge World Seminar – Spoilers inbound!! 

Well, now. This was the highlight. This was the main event for me and it was so much awesomeness to get a sneak peak at what’s coming up. It was also great to hear Alan Bligh and Tony Cottrell answer some Qs. They’ve both got a great sense of humour and they don’t dodge the hard questions either. There was so much information (which you have probably heard already on various sites) but apparently, we got some extra gossip (because it was Sunday). here are my highlights of their upcoming releases: *SPOILERS*

• Two new Space Marine Flyers including “the biggest one we’ve done yet” (Stormbird!?)

• A new pattern of Space Marine dreadnought that’s “bigger than a Contemptor” (Is this where the Decimator comes from!?)

• The next Two HH books will revolve around smaller battles post Istvaan as the Death Guard and Sons of Horus clean up loyalists (including 30k Knights!) and the first part of Calth.

• The next primarch will be Conrad Kurze, closely followed by (slightly unconfirmed but almost certainly) his right hand man, Sevatar (double squeee!).

• Probably No 30k Xenos – Sorry aliens, this is a civil war, so there’s no place for you here.

• They might start doing scenery (particularly container crates) and corpses just because everyone keeps asking them to release them.

To show you the scope of what they’ve got to work with (and this doesn’t even include everything), here’s an image of what they’re up to and what’s left. Expect the Siege of Terra within 15 years. 😉

horus heresy timeline

And, I had to share these – FW have managed not only to do the now corrupted Word Bearers justice, but they’ve managed to make the Ultramarines look awesome! Even I’d be tempted by those smurfs!!

word bearer

ultramarine 30k

And a model that could almost tempt me to the Alpha Legion…

alpha legion contemptor

At The End Of The Day…

After that, we picked up our models from Golden Demon and headed for home. I wasn’t feeling particularly well actually, and I’m still not in fantastic shape. This means that I was completely wiped out by the end of the day, and it also means that until I’m better, this blog will be a little quieter (probably – but who knows!) for a while. Special thanks to Henry South for his company and for being a proper pal and nursing me back to health by buying me lemonade and crisps.

Would I go again next year? You bet I would. And I hope to have an even sweeter offering too – time to try for one of those finalists certificates. One thing though, I’d rather it wasn’t in Coventry. Nottingham, Birmingham or London would make more sense and would be considerably nicer. That being said, I’ll be there. it was a fun day and a good weekend – congrats to GW for putting on a more intimate event with plenty to do and enjoy.

Golden Demon Preparations – Part The Deux

Posted by johnnya10 on 06/10/2014
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: . Leave a comment

golden-demon-statue

Less than a week! Squeeeee! …I mean, *manly cough*, I am somewhat excited that there is now less than one week until Golden Demon. In this post, I’ll be taking a closer look at the models I’m taking, and how I’ll be taking them. There have been a few changes around here (and I might be the only one who noticed the majority of them). Here’s what I’ve been up to…

Dios Toros – The Cold Shoulder

dios toros shoulder

The most dramatic change/fix that I’ve made over the last couple of days has been to the shoulder of Dios Toros. If you recall the original post, you’ll know that the one bit that I was unhappy about was his ‘skin’ shoulder. I’d tried to create a patchwork of skins held together by metal staples and the effect wasn’t particularly good (you can see it in the above right picture). So this weekend, I added some spikes  and completely repainted it. It’s now a piece of skin from a large, spiky beast and it sits much better than my previous failed attempt. It retains the theme and adds another aspect to the character without losing anything. The only other thing that I’ve done is basic touching up.

Minute flecks of paint have been concealed, edges have been tidied and teeny-tiny little highlights have been added here and there. But apart from the shoulder, casual viewers will notice almost no difference to the piece from when was first presented (which is good because everyone seems to think he’s awesome – myself included – and therefore I don’t want to change much at all).

The last bit of news is that he won’t have a plinth to stand on. He’s going into the Vehicle category and it’s the one category I feel you can get away with not having a fancy-pants base. And due to expense and me leaving it too late, I don’t have one to put him on. Hopefully, it won’t detract – he shall stand on his own.

Farseer and Vanguard – The Little Things

vanguard veterans and farseer

Not a vast amount done here to be honest. I’ve painted a simple plinth for the Farseer. It’s a glossy black which is pretty good under a light because it shines light on different places making him look quite ethereal (not in the Tau way) but in a very subtle way. He also received some minor touching up and I finally got rid of that tiny red fleck that had been getting on my nerves every time I saw an image of him. You know the one I mean. Don’t you? Let me show you…

red spot

That has had my OCD going for ages now, but one of the greatest problems in my life is that I have OCD and yet I’m also very lazy, so I usually just let this sort of thing really upset me for a long time until I can be bothered to do anything about it. Well, now, it’s fixed. This pleases me. The Vanguard Vets had even less done to them. I cleaned up some edges and that was about it. I already made their display plinth a while back now as seen before, but will repost it here:

mortifactors vanguard veterans on display plinth

And that’s the minis done! All ready to go. But how will I be getting them there…

Travelling Light – Moving Minis

KR Backpack

I don’t do many endorsements here, but I feel I should give a nod to the folks at KR Multicase. I picked up this backpack a few months back and it’s so useful. It’s my day-to-day rucksack but it’s been designed to hold a cardboard case of ‘pick n pluck’ foam (which comes free with the backpack) and that’s super helpful for moving minis around. Now, Imperial Knights (at least my one) won’t fit in that case, but the pack is big enough to hold the old kettle box that does fit Dios Toros, and will hold another box with stands and another box with minis. Toiletries in one side pocket, socks, undies and a t-shirt in the other, and my iPad in the front bit. Done. I should even have enough room left to hold the odd Forge World kit should I when I pick one or two (or more) up. You can check out the KR site here.

So the preparations have been made, the minis are ready, and all is well in the realm of Golden Demon prep. Very much looking forward to it. I will of course do a recap/review after the day and let you all know how it went. I doubt I’ll get anything for my efforts in terms of awards, but I’m hoping for a fun experience and the occasional compliment will be a blessing too. Onwards!

Mortifactors Tactical Squad Sergeant – Squad II Complete

Posted by johnnya10 on 02/10/2014
Posted in: My Painting and Modelling. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Mortifactors Sergeant

This model marks a big moment for me in this year’s Mortifactors project, but I’ll get to that in due course. Firstly, allow me to introduce you to Iamador, Sergeant of Squad II, 2nd Company, Mortifactors.

Iamador leads a Tactical Squad set up for tank and walker hunting and as such I’ve equipped him with the very versatile and cool combi weapon that comes with the Tactical Squad box set, and of course I tempered the bolter aspect of that weapon with some classic melta goodness. And I gave him melta bombs too, as illustrated by the rather hefty device at his feet.

ornate space marine shoulder

Both shoulder pads were robbed from remnants of the Vanguard Veterans kit that were in my bits box (such a great kit). There’s of course the classic skull motif on his left pad, but above is a very ornate design, marking him out as something special. I’m not 100% sure where his helmet comes from – possibly a vehicle kit, but I couldn’t say for certain.

There are lots of little touches that set him apart from the rest of his squad – the skull on his knee, the crest on his helmet and even his backpack all carry subtle marks or colour changes to show his stature in the squad.

skull sword

This sword too comes from the Vanguard Vet box and as soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to use it – all the skulls! I could have given him a powerfist to match the meltas in tank hurting ability but it always seem such an expensive choice for sergeants. Besides, a good chainsword is traditional!

As for that skull, I’ve noticed of late that I have slightly (just slightly) lost the knack for painting those. I think I used to worry about them more and since time has gone on, I’ve got a formula in my head for how I paint them – that’s not such a good thing. I start relying on that formula too much and intuition goes out the window. I often find that, oddly, as soon as I know that there’s a right way of doing something, I find myself doing it wrong. Anyway, it’s something for me to work on.

space marine melta weapons

That’s a nice tank you have there…

Tactical Squads aren’t the best tank hunters in the world by a long shot, and while they’re more of a jack-of-all-trades unit in many cases, they’re still darn tough as far as basic troops choices go and that means that they’re a little more adaptable. True, if and when these guys do go after a tank, seven of ten won’t be doing much, but the above three will have a pretty decent chance of wasting even the larger vehicles in the game if they get good rolling on their side. And they make a nice change to my other tactical squad which is all about massacring infantry (Heavy Bolter, Flamer and a Stormbolter on the Sarge). Here’s what Squad II look like in full…

mortifactors tactical squad

Ah yes, that milestone I mentioned earlier. Well, of the 2000pts of Mortifactors that I wanted to have painted this year, I have now completed everything that walks around on two legs! This sergeant was my last bit of infantry. All that’s left now is vehicles and, time and life permitting, I should have my 2000pts done by the end of the year. So prepare to see some armour rolling out from my painting area pretty soon. I hope you enjoyed the read – comments and questions below please!

Golden Demon Preparations – Part The First!

Posted by johnnya10 on 01/10/2014
Posted in: Thoughts and Comment. Tagged: . Leave a comment

golden-demon-statue

On the 12th October, at the newly formatted Warhammer Fest, Golden Demon will be taking place, and yours truly will be going for the first time, and this is indeed an awesome thing. Ever since I was a little kid, reading about Golden Demon in White Dwarf, I’ve wanted to go along and though I came close last year (annoying story follows), this year I will be there for definite. The hotel and train tickets are booked, and now begins a few days of preparations. This is the first of a short series of articles about how I’m preparing for the big day, and in this post I’ll be looking at my expectations, my arrangements and my choices for entries. But first, here’s the reason I didn’t go last year…

2013 – The Most Frustrating Day

bang head here

I woke up, not to the sound of my alarm going off at 6am as I could have sworn I had set it to, but with my phone ringing. On the other end of the line is Henry South (of 4gotowar.blogspot.co.uk fame) who was to be my travelling companion for the day.

“Dude, where are you?”

“Hgnuf? Wha? Muh.” looked at the time. It’s almost 9am. “Oh, f*ck!”

The train I had booked to Birmingham was leaving in minutes and I was an hour away from the station. Mr South went on ahead and I hurriedly washed, clothed myself and ran down to the tube station. Tube to Marylebone. Jump on train, still able to make it. I wasn’t submitting anything last year so didn’t have to worry too much about luggage or getting there too early, but 30ish minutes (if I recall correctly) out of London, I check my belongings and notice one rather glaring omission. I don’t have my Games Day ticket. I know exactly where it was. It was on my bedside table.

Another call from Mr South

“Where are you?”

I think I just growled down the phone.

Changed at High Wycombe Station, went back to London on the slowest train ever which decided to stop in sprawling suburbia for quite a lengthy break. I got back to Marylebone, and went outside for a cigarette (I was a smoker back then), only to realise that my cigarettes were no longer on me. They had probably fallen out on the train. As I walked, with a face like thunder, towards a little shop to buy some more, I stood in dog doings. It was at that point, that my brain just said  ‘Frak this shiz’ (or something like that) and I went home, to bed, and was grumpy. That’s why I’m determined and prepared this year. This year, I shall make it to the promised land.

Golden Demon Prep: Bookings

coventry

I am once again travelling with the aforementioned Mr South but rather than struggle to move first thing on a Sunday morning, we’re heading up on the Saturday. We’ve booked train tickets for a sensibly timed train and have secured lodgings at a rather nice looking hotel too. That means we can wake up on Sunday morning, enjoy a cooked breakfast, steal some towels, and take a short taxi ride to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry where this year’s show will be held. What’s more, we get to spend Saturday evening enjoying the delights of Coventry. I know there’s a Cathedral of note and… well, actually, that’s all I know. But there’s bound to be pubs, and that’s the crucial thing.

coventry cathedral

I know why GW are holding this event in Coventry – it’s cheap. The Ricoh Arena used to host Coventry’s football team but after a dispute about rent, that team is now playing its home games elsewhere. This means that the Stadium is losing money and GW won’t have to pay the same sort of bills that they’d normally pay at the NEC in Birmingham, the event’s long standing home. I understand that, but I still really wish they’d hold it in London. It would make my life so much easier. But, like I said, this makes it cheaper for them and that helps the company, so I can deal with that. Onwards to Coventry!

Golden Demon Prep: What I’ll be Taking

I’ve decided to take three very different entries to the event this year, just to cast my net wide. Three different things in three different categories – here’s what’s coming:

Warhammer 40,000 Single Miniature – Eldar Farseer

autumn farseer

Warhammer 40,000 Squad – Mortifactors Vanguard Veterans

mortifactors vanguard veteran squad

Warhammer 40,000 Vehicle – Slaaneshi Knight, Dios Toros

Dios Toros - Slaaneshi Imperial Knight

These are the miniatures that I’m most proud of, and the posts featuring them here have been the most popular, so that’s all a good indication that they’ll be well received. The Farseer demonstrates my work with cloth and more organic colours, the Mortifactors show off a variety of skills from freehand skulls to the cracked bone effect that everyone seems to like, and Dios Toros is, well, a big, pink monster. If I’ve painted anything worthy of Golden Demon, these are the chaps for the job.

Golden Demon Prep: Managing Expectations

calvin and hobbes

Copyright Bill Waterson (used lovingly without his permission)

Now, I am fully aware that I am not going to win anything. There will be some of the country’s (and the world’s) best painters at this event, and I cannot yet count myself amongst their ranks. But that isn’t the point for me. I’m just happy to be in the mix. I’m happy that the judges are going to be looking at my miniatures. If I get a pin, I’ll be ecstatic. If I get a compliment on my work, I’ll be thrilled, and if I get sweet FA for all my troubles, I’ll still be happy because it was no trouble at all. I’m looking for a fun day out, maybe a bit of constructive criticism, and if anything does bum me out, I’ll just head to the Forge World stand and spank some hard earned pay cheque on some A grade plastic crack. Besides, there’s nothing that says I can’t mug the Slayer Sword winner afterwards and take his trophy (though mugging a guy with a sword is fraught with danger). 😉

In the next Golden Demon Prep article, I’ll show you what I’ll be doing to clean up and put the finishing touches on my entries and I’ll also discuss a possible, last minute addition to my offering too. Onwards!