Everybody needs a big one...

Hi all,

Remember this guy?

I finally got around to renovating him (I'm going with 'him', it suits him). First task was to dry fit the parts to see what pose he was originally in and then to see what, if anything, could be changed. Some of the parts were pretty well fixed. So much so that I was wary of applying too much pressure to separate them in case I damaged or broke the pieces. 

Quick break for a mini-rant. It really amazes me sometimes that people are willing to spend tens and sometimes hundreds of pounds on models, especially Forgeworld models, and then treat them with such contempt. This model costs £90 pounds new. When I got him he was in bits (see above picture), parts not cleaned up, a half arsed, unfinished paint job, and with so much superglue residue all over him that it took me the best part of three days to get him ready for more work. Ok, rant over.

I then got on to removing the old paint. I discovered this stuff a couple of years ago and what a revelation it was. Cheap (around £2 a bottle from Super drug,  in UK), quick and easily disposable.  

It strips paint in a few minutes. After soaking in a cheap tub for around 10 minutes and with help from an old toothbrush the paint just slides off.

A good wash with soapy water and allowed to dry overnight followed by a final clean up in the nooks and crannies with the point of a craft knife blade and I was ready for assembly.

The Red Tide are currently collecting skulls on the hive world of Grent, in the Bellopheron Sector of the Segmentum Pacificus. As such my model collection is based for an industrial/urban theme hence the ruined metal bits and pieces on the base. I tried to align the gatling cannon with the direction the head is looking in (the head was one of the pieces welded in place) with the axe ready for action once he's finished shooting the crap out of something. The right leg was another fixed piece when I got the model so I had to pose him as though he's stepping over the rubble. Here he is, ready for painting.

Next time we'll see the beginnings of the paint scheme (hint, my warband is The Red Tide).

The Times They Are A Changing

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is

Rapidly fadin'.

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'.

B. Dylan, Ancient Terran.

Necromunda Terrain Tile 2 - The Winchester

Greetings Sinners!

Things have been a bit slow around here just lately. I've been waiting (im)patiently for 40k to settle down and for GW to release the required FAQ for the Chaos Space Marine Codex.....thankfully the wait was worth it and it won't be long before I'm busy beavering away on my Castigators once again.

I haven't been completely idle though, for the last couple of weeks I've been immersing myself in the background of my small corner of grimdark. For me, 40k has always been about the background and the atmosphere that it invokes rather than crushing my opponents into the dirt. With rumours of Necromunda finally coming to fruition and Shadow Wars and Path to Glory occupying my thoughts I turned, once again to building more terrain so that Rob and I can kick off with our Path to Glory campaign.

8th edition and the joys of Ebay

Hi all,

I must admit to not having got hold of the new chaos codex yet so I'm only talking about my brief experience of chaos in 8th from a fairly narrow view point of Khorne from the index. I have heard that there are some errors in the book so maybe I'll hold off until another, hopefully correct, print run comes round.

If you have been playing chaos long enough you should remember when cult units were originally only allowed as elites (2nd, maybe 3rd edition). Then came the ability to unlock them as troops, usually through a named character or a Lord with the same mark. Most,  if not all, players liked this as you could have entire armies of Berzerkers, Noise Marines, Death Guard or Thousand Sons. Now we're back to them being elites only (so far, come on Chapter Approved, who knows what 'alternatives' will be allowed?) and much wailing and gnashing of teeth can be heard throughout the land. Personally I don't think it's all doom and gloom. With the new detachments now used for army building we can still have cult heavy lists with the Vanguard detachment (3 to 6 elite choices).
I may be biased but I think berzerkers have come off ok. With vehicles being generally more durable and therefore able to get close to the enemy, assaults are more achievable and reliable, from a Khorne point of view at least, with an Icon of Wrath (re-roll assault distances). Chain axes at 1 point per model are a must have, never mind pistols. +1 strength gives berzerkers 2 attacks at S6 and 2 attacks at S5 (from the chainsword), hitting on 3s and fighting twice each fight phase (not just you're own) means berzerkers are back to being the pre-eminent assault troops in the game.
My current favourite set up is 8 berzerkers, 7 with chain axes and chainswords, champion with powerfist, Icon of Wrath. 3 of these and either Kharn or a Lord (points dependent) coming out of a Spartan should break most enemy forces in a turn or two. Throw in some support from Maulerfiends and/or Bloodslaughterers and watch the skulls fly. I realise some people frown on FW stuff but my gaming buddies and I like using them and have no problem facing them.  To that end;

The vagaries of EBay.

Caveat emptor and all that. I saw an ad for a Kytan Ravager  (Kytan daemon engine as was) on offer for £45, bargain. It turned up like this;

So it looks like a WIP series coming up, before I get to use him.

See ya all soon.

Reader's Army - Latori dell’Odio

Greetings Sinners!

I have another fantastic reader's army to share with you. A warband from the XVIIth Legion, the bearer's of the word and keeper's of the Faith.......

Scale Creep is causing Havoc

Greetings Sinners!
As I mentioned in my last post, I need some Missile Launcher Havocs for a doubles tournament that I'm attending at the end of the month. I actually thought I still had some from 3rd Edition and was somewhat disappointed to discover only one of them had made it through the 17 years since I last used them; and even that one had taken a bit of a beating.....Still it had lasted much longer than the two Ex's that had been and gone :-)

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

Greetings Sinners.
It's been ominously quiet on here just lately. I am (just like most people) still adjusting to 40k 8th edition and while there is plenty to like about this edition, the glaring issues that concerned me when GW previewed the game have come to pass and  have left me feeling stuck between the proverbial solid objects.....