Immortalised (or should it be Zombiefied)!

Last year, the quite simply brilliant Giles Meakin asked fans of his work to supply a photo of themselves as reference material for a piece of artwork he had been commissioned to do...

I sent him a photo, not thinking much of it, as I'm sure he got inundated with the buggers!

Imagine how surprised I was when he sent me this:

That's me on the far right, in the Download t-shirt, and that's my dog Poppy with me!

The original photo that he used is this one:

I have to say, I'm simply stunned with Giles' finished work - it's brilliant!

BRAIIIINNSSSSS!

Defending Macragges Honour, and a matter of BALANCE....

Went to my local games store today TITAN GAMES to take part in a Warhammer 40K game to celebrate the release of the new Codex Tyranids!

Being an Ultramarine player, it seemed only appropriate to take the Blue Boys along!

Adam, the owner of Titan Games had come up with a scenario - an inquisitor had found himself in the middle of a Tyranid invasion, and needed to leave the planet quickly.

The Ultramarines despatched Chaplain Cassius and his Tyrannic War Veterans, with support from the local Imperial Guard armoured company and a detachment from the Raven Guard, to rescue the Inquisitor and retrieve the information...

The players (I'm on the right - the devastatingly handsome chap in the middle)

A Lictor Comes to chomp on the Devastators holding the tower!

Target Acquired! 

Lots of dice needed for those 'Nid assaults.... 56 in one assault!

The Ultramarines held the landing pad... So the 'Nids demolished the building instead to get to them!

Standing firm in the face of a Genestealer horde scittering it's way across the battlefield!

Two minutes later the Leman Russ took out the Trygon!

In the end, even though the Inquisitor died, the Imperial forces prevailed, killing Synapse creature after Synapse creature, and reducing the Hive Lord to bug juice, ending the game with a 7VP lead!

POST SCRIPT:

There's a lot of grumbling online about how the new Codex: Tyranids is somehow 'lame', with underpowered units and other old powerful ones 'nerfed' lists from the previous edition.  Now, I'm a player who likes to have balanced lists, rather than powergame.  I also prefer there to be a bit of fluff to the army I'm playing.

If you look at the list I used today you'll see it's balanced, and plays to the fluff, but was also effective:

Chaplain Cassius

Terminator Assault Squad

2 squads of Sternguard

2 Tactical Squads

1 Devastator Squad

2 Storm Talons

Squad of Scouts with Sgt Telion.

I'm a firm believer that when writing the Codexes, the writers have a use for each unit in mind, each one supporting the other.  To take a list that isn't balanced, to try and power game by using only certain units is to me, not how the game should be played.  

The Tyranid IS different to the previous edition, and players will need to adjust their lists accordingly, to take into account the changes effectively.  But this is the same for all armies when a new book comes out - at one time, I wouldn't have thought twice about taking a transport for each unit just to use as cheap cover, but with the changes to the vehicle rules and the inclusion of Hull Points, this isn't a viable strategy anymore, so I changed my lists.

To decry a codex on the day it's released, without first playing through to see what works and what doesn't is foolish at best, arrogant at worst.  

Me? I liked the look of the new Tyranid stuff, and from the way they ate through my Ultramarines in Assaults I may just need to do a small force - just a small one mind ;-)

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject raised!

RIP White Dwarf - you will be missed!

As so it comes to pass, that the venerable old dwarf is being put out to pasture....

White Dwarf, the in-house magazine of Games Workshop has been part of my hobby since I started.

My first issue, which I paid for myself, out of my meagre pocket money was issue 98:

Since then I've bought every issue without fail. Even through the last 10 years or so, when it declined in quality, culminating in the infamous 'Giant' issue of issue 320, and the recent resurgence in quality, I have never stopped.

Since last January I moved over to the digital version, but carried on.  Even in the dark days, I would find inspiration in the photos of the miniatures, from conversion ideas to wanting a new army, WD inspired, cajoled and edited me into purchasing new shiny toys - my Eldar, Blood Angels, Imperial Guard, Empire, Chaos Warriors and Bretonnians armies were all as a result of drooling over studio armies that I wanted to match.

Who can forget, it was through WD that we got Ghazkull Thraka, Iyanden as a ghost ship, the battle for Ichar V, Medusa, and Storm of Chaos? 

It's true that it's nothing like it once was, but what magazine is now? With the increase in rumour sites, sneak peeks such as the first ever pictures of Aspect Warriors are now pored over in minute detail as soon as the rumour mills can grab them.

I would in fact argue that these rumour mills are detrimental to our hobby - each release is almost now greeted with cries of 'well, we know all about this release, what's next? I demand to know!' Rather than getting excited over the kits in front of us.

With rumour control getting silly, it was only a matter of time before GW cracked down, reducing the previews to a trickle only scant week before their release.

Of course with the retirement of White Dwarf, we'll be getting WARHAMMER VISIONS in its place -what will the future hold? Will the quality return, making it a must purchase magazine?

Only time wil tell.

Good bye old friend, you will be missed.

EDIT:

It's now Saturday Morning, and no sign of any change to either The White Dwarf page or the subscription page....  I've also now had it confirmed that whilst the monthly magazine will be called 'Warhammer Visions', there will be a WEEKLY magazine called 'White Dwarf'!  the plot thickens....

EDIT TO THE EDIT:

My sources have confirmed the following:

The Truth... From February, there will be two publications:
1) White Dwarf Weekly. This will be concentrating on new releases, which will now be spread across the month rather than in big 'splashes' once a month (this also means more can be released quickly). The price is to be £2.40, and will be around the 100 page mark, and will concentrate each week on a different faction / game, which will mean if you don't like the content one week, you may like the next... 
2) The new monthly version is called 'Warhammer Visions' and will be ADVERT FREE, but full of hobby content in terms of the return of 'Eavy Metal masterclasses, army tactica, lots of reader's collections and more painting stuff. this will be 240 pages and £7.20.

NOW - the prices.... £2.40 for a weekly is around the same as a copy of 2000ad, or a couple of Sunday newspapers. £7.20 for 240 pages is equivalent to most of the higher-end magazines out there, and is certainly on par with some of the magazine I buy such as Comic Heroes, Empire and most console gaming magazines... 

I have high hopes for these both - if they can pull it off, this could well be the start of something good. I'll give them both a try, and only then, decide whether to bother or not.

Building the 2nd Company...

For the last 6 months, I've been busy building a new(ish) Warhammer 40k army.

Last year, I made myself a promise that I wouldn't spend any 'new' money on anything related to my hobbies, be it Airsoft, Comic collecting or Wargaming. Any money I wanted to spend would need to be funded by the sale of other hobby items. 

Problem was, I wanted a new Space Marine army, something that would challenge my painting skills, but also be fun to build over time.

The first couple of months of 2013 provided a 'fighting fund' of nearly £200 into my Paypal account (a sale of an airsoft rifle, quite a few comic books and a couple of games added up the sum). 

So I started to hunt eBay for the right starting deal.... 

Which came along almost straight away! - 
£54 (including shipping) got me: 
20 tactical marines 
10 assault marines 
10 old style terminators 
A squad of devastators 
The 'bionic leg' captain 
The old style Terminator Librarian 
Mk1 Vindicator 
Mk1 Predator Anhilliator 
4 bikes 
And a land raider crusader! 

Then the big deal landed - £60 for 120 marines, 4 Dreadnoughts (inlduing a venerable dreadnought) and quite a few character models, alongside £40 for 3 Storm Talons and a Storm Raven!

Along with a purchase of £30 which garnered me a Damocles Rhino, a command squad and a classic veteran sgt, it had the start of a new army.... 

But what Chapter to do?  Do I create one as I always have in the past, or choose  a Chapter already established?

I went blue...

I've always fancied doing an Ultramarines army, but never got round to it.  Well, now I was.... a whole bloody company no less!

I've gone for the 2nd Company, which is this one:

I've kept to the Insignium Astartes for the markings and icons, so that it's got a nice 'codex' feel to it.

In terms of collecting the parts, I now have enough to allow me to field the whole 2nd Company.  All I need to do now is build and paint it all!  

So without further ado, here's where I'm up to so far:

WiP Contemptor Dreadnought

Dreadnought

My Masters of the Chapter - the one in the middle is my custom Marneus Calgar (based on the Legion Praetor model

My Tyrannic War Veterans - looking forward to the Dataslate for these boys!

Sternguard Squad (using the Anniversary Captain as a Veteran Sgt)

More HQ Choices (Two Games Day Captains, the DV Librarian and a Master of the Chapter)

Assault Terminators (the Sgt is from the Space Hulk set)

Classic Terminators

Tactical Squads

Tactical & Devastator Squads

Scouts with Sgt Telion.

I've got a long way to go yet, but I've really enjoyed painting these so far - of course, other projects get in the way but these are now a labour of love!

Would love to hear your thoughts on these - constructive criticism is always welcome!

Resurrecting an old classic... MUTANT CHRONICLES: WARZONE

Back in the early 90's, Target Games released Mutant Chronicles: Warzone.

The setting was an instant hit with me - instead of countries, 'Megacorporations' have took over, leaving the Earth behind, setting up colonies on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, using the Earth as their battleground.

Of particular liking to me were the Bauhaus and Imperial corporations - essentially Europe and Great Britain respectively.

The previous edition of Warzone 

Unfortunately, like with so many other games, it fell by the wayside and was cancelled.  There have been a few attempts since (one by Fantasy Flight Games which used repainted 'collectable' figures), but none that took my attention.

Until now...

Prodos Games have completed a successful Kickstarter Campaign which just before Christmas started delivering packs of rulebooks and miniatures to backers.

Without me knowing, my wife backed the Kickstarter through my local games store, Titan Games, and on Christmas Day, I was presented with a rulebook and the entire Bauhaus faction releases!

The rulebook is a full colour hardback, which is beautiful.  I've not yet read through the entire book, but it's well presented, full of detail and background of the Mutant Chronicles universe.  There are a few typos, but I'm sure these will be rectified in future printings, and don't detract from the reading.

The miniatures:

My Bauhaus Faction

I'm a wargamer of 30 years, and I've seen good, great and downright BAD miniatures in my time.  Prodos have done a great job on these.  Made from resin, they're nicely detailed, and have done a great job of updating the classic MC look.

Left: Prodos Etoiles Mortant, Right: Target Games Etoiles Mortant

There's very little flashlines or mould slippage to deal with (if any) and with a prime, they paint nicely.

I'm looking forward to playing the game, which now includes an innovative use of cards to add a further random aspect to the tactical choices made.

I'll chronicle my painting of these further over the coming months!

Back to the beginning...

The picture above was taken on my 4th Birthday... 1979 (that's me on the right, the other boy is my older brother Dean).

I didn't know it then, but toy soldiers would provide enjoyment to me from then on, for the rest of my life.

My hobby really kicked into gear 4 years later, with a birthday present of a red box, with a dragon on it, containing two booklets and a set of funny dice....

THAT'S where the fun really started! Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Wizards! A BLOODY GREAT BIG DRAGON!

31 years later, I'm still playing D&D, still painting toy soldiers  and bloody loving it!

I've seen games come and game go (and some even come back for a second try...), and have played more games than I can remember.

I won't just be looking forward on this blog - there are plenty out there that claim to be the masters of rumour gathering (hint: they're not) and the various fora cover the major systems, but I will be looking back, and at the projects that currently occupy my time...

Now, what is this 'Oldhammer' of what you speak?