Painted Vindicare Assassin With Glitch Camo

A painting experiment complete!

This is a Vindicare assassin with glitching camouflage.

The central portions are painted with contrast (Guilliman Flesh) and highlighted with a dry brush and stippled technique with eldar flesh dry paint. Some further highlighting was applied to make everything consistent. 

One of the interesting parts was the Imperial Eagle which is affixed to the building ruins. I have given the assassin some silvery grey on his calf to try to mimic this and blend in even further. I think this has mostly worked as well in the abstract sense. 

The outer parts were picked out in Eshin grey and then dulled down using nuln oil. I picked out some parts in silver (parts of the rifle, the close combat blade sheath) as well as the red on the end of the blade and the red lens with yellow and white highlights. 

For the glitching, I've used a steady build up from dark blue through to lighter blues (3 different colours there in fact) and a vanilla and white highlighting. Hence 5 different colours layered on top of each other. The base dark blue was applied probably a bit to thick on the joint between the ruins colours and the black and grey of his uniform, but this only serves to enhance the glitching. Although I was originally intending to make the glitching a bit more digital by having squares painted freehand, I think the straight forward approach is much easier and works just as well. 

The base rounds it out with Armageddon technical grit which has been inked and highlighted to blend in with the rest, and some application of green knots of weeds. Not sure if I'll keep him or sell him on eBay at a later point, but that's a decision for later. Hope you like this paint scheme. 

Vindicare Assassin Build

The Vindicare Assassin model is sold as a single blister pack in all plastic. The price is fairly steep for a single miniature though, but I got one regardless since I wanted the challenge of painting it.

As a build, the miniature was very easy in many respects. I think the only "mistake" if I can call it that was that I shaved a bit too close to the shoulder when I was removing it from the frame. Although it was mostly push-fit, glue is certainly required. The pose is nice enough and I didn't feel the need to undertake any conversions with it. 

My premise to paint it up will be to use a digital glitching camouflage approach. I'm not quite sure what the exact form of that will be, but I'll decide once I've figured out the colour scheme for the rubble behind the assassin first. He will then have an identical scheme for the main part, and black on the left and right hand side I think. More on this concept later in the week I hope!

 

Which Faction Is Easiest To Play In Horus Heresy?

Which Horus Heresy faction is the easiest to play?

It is a seemingly innocent question, but goes deeply into how the game plays and how players can learn the game. It is also the question that Gaming Gitz recently posed to me! A few conversations, and we have a new collaboration video out:

My answer here, for the sake of spoilers, is Iron Hands. 

But you are going to have to click on the video link to hear why (assuming that you can suffer my dulcet tones!). Enjoy!

Warhammer: Birmingham City Centre

No trip away from home would be complete without attempting to hunt down the local Warhammer store and checking it out. Recently, it was the turn of the city centre of Birmingham!

Birmingham is often referred to as the second city of the UK (but I do know a number of Liverpudlians who would dispute this and would explicitly note that London is the second city). As such, the infrastructure for getting there is excellent. Birmingham New Street train station is one of the busiest railway stations in the UK with 36.6 million transits in 2024-2025 making it the busiest outside of London (but not the largest by any means). The Warhammer store is literally a short stroll up the road from New Street station. 

The store isn't big in the grand scheme of things, but it is well appointed and the staff were very friendly toward me (yes - I know its their job, but still, they were genuinely enthusiastic!). 

What caught my eyes the most were the window displays: one of each for Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40k. The detail of these were excellent. I was quite taken by the Age of Sigmar one myself (the reflection of me in the glass and the general light in the background also don't do the image much justice - it was superior in real life I assure you!). The Salamanders were very nicely painted in particular. 

Great job Birmingham and you certainly passed my "mystery shopper test"! 

Onward to the next store whenever it happen!

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Warlord Titan

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars. The titan that is the size of a child and costs like a very old used car.

Background. 

The mainstay of the titan legions. More responsibly for Unity and Heresy than the space marine legions themselves - arguably. They can lay waste to both armies and cities alike, and can do so on airless rocky moons and verdant planets alike so long as the ground beneath them can support their mass. Their only true enemy is others of their kith and kin. 

Strengths.

It is a Warlord Titan. I can't actually believe I'm even reviewing it (pinch me). It is incredible, and certainly a centre piece. 

For the Arms:

The Mori Quake Cannon has macro auspex with large pie plates, S=12, and 10 damage. This is great against knights and tanks and will rip down other titans over time as well. 

The Belicosa Volcano Cannon is similar, but has a smaller pie plate but increases the strength to 13 and has 12 damage. This is real anti-titan territory here. Macro auspex does mean anti-tank and anti-Knight and Titan duty though. 

The Macro Gatling Blaster also has macro auspex and pumps out 5 S=10 shots per turn. The damage is 5 and there is also armour bane. I would actually tend to disfavour this weapon unless you are really tank hunting or knight hunting in favour of something more anti-titan (remember the primary rule: if you are taking titans, then so is your opponent!). 

The Sunfury Plasma Annihilator is also macro auspex as you might imagine and has two modes - the maximal fire mode having power hungry. The pie plates are either big or apocalyptic. But I think unless you are going to go for maximal mode regularly, this one is really clearing out tanks and knights rather than being strictly anti-titan. 

The Arioch Power Claw has a built in Vulcan Mega Bolter which is great for shooting up tanks and knight. As a power claw, it has an impressive S=13 with 12 damage which is more than enough for taking out knights in a single backhanded swipe and will similarly hurt titans if it lands. So long as you get in range! Take a BS upgrade here. 

For the Carapace:

The Apocalypse Missile Launchers have the rule of cool and are shield breakers. They wreck 3 void shields per hit which is magnificent when facing off against other titans. 

The Laser Blasters on the carapace are also fine and give S=10, and 5 damage with armour bane. I actually prefer the missile launchers slightly for this edition. 

Weaknesses. 

As with my comment about the Reaver (etc.), I want to see the full range of weapons available at epic scale come in to being for 28mm play. 

As an aside. This is the third time I have reviewed a Warlord Titan. Here's a brief history:

Year: 2016. First Edition. Points Cost = 2750. Financial Cost = 1240 pounds sterling.

Year: 2023. Second Edition. Points Cost = 3000. Financial Cost = 1537.50 pounds sterling. 

Year: 2026. Third Edition. Points Cost = 3000 (3300 for BS=4). Financial Cost = 1741 pounds sterling.

Financial costs assume the basic body, Mars-Alpha pattern head, carapace missile launchers, and 2 volcano cannon arms). 

Builds.

Warlord Titan, Apocalypse Missile Launchers (Carapace), 2 Volcano Cannons. 

Strong anti-titan duty for stripping void shields and ripping up hull points. 

Warlord Titan, Laser Blasters (Carapace), and 2 Sunfury Plasma Annihilators.

I prefer the above build, but this one is still viable even if the plasma is not quite as good as it was in previous editions. 

Warlord Titan, Laser Blasters (Carapace), Quake Cannon, Arioch Power Claw.

Slightly up close and personal, and well worth the increase in BS here. 

Horus Heresy 3e Review: Warbringer Nemesis Titan

Warpstone Flux Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars. Another medium sized titan!

Background. 

The Nemesis has a reputation for a restless machine spirit with ghost sensor artifacts that sometimes enable it to lock on before a threat is even sensed by the crew. It is in effect a "heavy support" choice (my words) for the Titan legions and brings heavy weapons to bear in order to bring down enemy titans. Hence the name.

Strengths.

This titan is your long range firepower platform and needs to be played as such. Consider the power hungry rule carefully for the imposition of snap shots and go from there. 

For the Arms:

The Gatling Blaster gives 5 shots at S=9, AP=2 and 4 damage. This will rip through lighter tanks and really hurt elite formations given the opportunity. Armour bane is the icing on the cake.

The Laser Blaster is S=10, and 5 damage, but reduces the fire rate to 3. Armour bane here as well which means this is almost a go to weapon for anti tanks and even anti-titans. 

The Melta Cannon has S=12 and the valuable melta rule with a pie plate and 8 damage. Of course, only one shot here though. 

The Volcano Cannon is your real titan killer. With S=13 and a whopping 12 damage, it will cause serious problems. But it is also power hungry with a small pie plate. 

For the Carapace:

The Nemesis Quake Cannon is a power hungry large pie plate with 10 damage at S=12. Great for clearing the board of pesky knights. 

The Nemesis Volcano Cannon is also power hungry, but has a smaller pie plate in exchange for S=13 and 12 damage. 

Either is viable, but the question is whether you are facing tightly packed vehicles or not. If not, then the second option is really the one to go for from a purely power gaming point of view (pun not intended). 

Weaknesses. 

Not many weaknesses here at all. You get what you pay for in terms of the points cost and it is very effective.

Builds.

Nemesis Titan, Quake Cannon (Carapace), 2 Gatling Cannons. 

Take the Majoris Crew and fire aware. 

Nemesis Titan, Volcano Cannon (Carapace), and 2 Melta Cannons.

Pure armour (knight, titan) hate here. 

Reaver Titan, Volcano Cannon (Carapace), Volcano Cannon, Laser Blaster.

Yes, the power hungry rule can hurt. But it is still magnificent!