2017 Statistics

I thought that I would post a few random observations using data from Warpstone Flux derived via Google Analytics.

Audience.
Most of my hits to my blog come from the UK and USA. Australia is a distant third, and then Germany and Canada. There's then another gulf to sixth place (France / Sweden / Spain). This is about in line with my expectations from previous years and at least points to a steady stream of viewers who are always coming back here and is consistent with previous years.

Age group modal value is the 25 to 34 year old age bracket. This is again consistent over the years. What is perhaps a little surprising is how I've (apparently) grown my gender balance. It used to be highly male dominated. Yet google analytics now reports that the male percentage of hits is just under 55%. Maybe this is related to who actually *owns* the device that is browsing my web site more than anything. Yet I remain hopeful that my writing is inclusive enough that there are now many more women involved in the game and reading this site.

Technology.
Most hits are from Chrome. There is then a gulf to Safari in second place and then Firefox in third. IE and Edge fall way behind these top three. Windows is by far the most popular OS, followed by iOS, Mac and Android in a distant 4th place. Desktop access is an order of magnitude more popular than tablets or mobiles to access this site. I find this aspect curious given how much technology in recent years has gone in to optimizing sites for mobile access.

Arrival.
Most hits arrive here organically or via google (by an order of magnitude). This is followed by direct hits (i.e. people who regularly come here or have bookmarked it, or similar). Lagging behind is the internal links I have embedded in each post (link within technology). Behind this is Bell of Lost Souls and Natfka. (Thanks guys!).

Most popular pages.
By far the most popular page is the homepage. However, in terms of individual pages, the top ten for this site for 2017 are:

10. Thousand Sons Legion Rules Review. I'm slightly disappointed that this post from 2017 is not higher up in the top ten. But clearly this is a popular legion by all accounts.

9. On Primaris Space Marines. A post from 40k in the top ten! Excellent!

8. How to automatically explode tanks in the Horus Heresy. You might not be able to do this without the consent of your opponent. Heck, it might not be possible depending on how you read the rules. But here is the method / combo regardless.

7. Night Lords Legion Rules Review. I don't particularly like the Night Lords (or playing against them). Yet here they persist in the top ten!

6. Dark Angels Legion Rules Review. They may not yet have rules for the Lion, but the legion rules being in the top ten suggests a very strong interest out there for the First.

5. Imperial Fists Legion Rules Review. A little bit of an eye-opener to me, the fists are clearly still popular in 2017!

4. Space Wolves Legion Rules Review. This is the top post that was actually created in 2017!

3. Alpha Legion Rules Review. Clearly my interest in the XX legion is shared by many and folks are keen to still read about my views of this legion in 30k. Thanks for the support! Hydra Dominatus, my loyal brothers.

2. Horus Heresy Army List Building: Basics. There's obviously a deep hunger out there for 30k information and thoughts how to make armies. So this post in number 2 slot seems like a no brainer.

1. Horus Heresy Review Summary. No surprises here for me, and probably anyone else. The resources I've made available here seems terrifically popular. Even if the older ones are now dated. This is by far the most popular page of the entire year by a very good margin!

The most popular non-rules related posts are about army building (at number 2) and painting Alpha Legion marines (a bit of a way off the top ten).

Happy New Year for 2018 Folks :)

Dark Sun Reviews: Thri-Kreen of Athas

In a similar way to Elves of Athas, Thri-Kreen of Athas expands on the player character insectoid race to provide a rich smorgasbord of background materials and roleplaying opportunities for both players and dungeon masters alike to feast upon. 

The background materials commence with an in-depth analysis of the psychology, physiology and biological nature of these insect creatures coupled with their basic mentality -- clutch, pack, and nation. This, combined with their daily "hunt" mentality set this race apart from all others on the planet. 

Much of the middle of the book is taken up with rules. Clearly these are not present day Dungeons and Dragons rules, but they can certainly be adapted if a Dungeon Master has the time and patience to do so. For instance, there are some easy ones to consider such as the innate ability of Thri-Kreen to perform large leaps thanks to their powerful legs. This would be easy to translate. Their antennae however, is open to some amount of discussion and interpretation as to how they should be handled (blind fighting analogues being more obvious). 

The final few chapters of the background deal with the nations of Thri-Kreen, ranging from those that have settled in to the human cities (e.g., Raam and Urik), to those who belong to the scholar group of Kreen. This gives a good set of divergent ideas to any player to run with in order to better characterise their character. Along with some NPCs, a fold out poster, and a genuinely interesting and intriguing (plus open ended) mini-adventure called the Taste of Fear, this book has a lot of materials inside its pages, including possibly expanding beyond the known regions of Athas that have already been documented elsewhere. 

All this said, none of the materials in this book are necessary for playing Thri-Kreen or for Dungeon Mastering them. The core game materials are enough, and enigmatic enough, that players should feel very content with them. However, for the dedicated Dungeon Master or player, this is a rich gold mine to be used widely and freely. As such, I'm giving this tome a mighty 4 out of 5 stars. Very enjoyable. But by the same token, very highly specialist with no real need to purchase it. 

Dark Sun Reviews: Black Spine

Today is the restart of a short series of role-play reviews of the old Dark Sun materials. This series was commenced a very long time ago but I never finished it out. Hence the next few posts scheduled by me will consist of a series of reviews of the remaining materials. The Dark Sun tag can be used to follow and access the previous materials in this line up. 

The first thing that I want to mention about Black Spine is that it is supposed to be a follow on from the previous adventures in this "series": Black Flames, Merchant House of Amketch, and Marauders of Nibenay. The only problem is that this series is anything but. It is a series of adventures that lack a connection or joined-up thinking between them. There is very little to no motivation for a player character group to follow the plot lines as specified in these adventures. 

Secondly, this is an epic scale adventure, along the same lines as Dragon's Crown. It is technically a series of adventures and subplots that commences with an operation to protect a Slave Tribe and eventually winds up with the player group facing an other-dimensional invasion of Githyanki forces. However, the set up for the first adventure (protecting the Slave Tribe from marauding Gith) is rather weak overall. There's no point in the adventurers participating. Hence there has to be some set up here to help the group think that this is what they want to do, or some railroading in this direction. Apart from this, the adventure proceeds very nicely from a skirmish, in to a large battle that one is recommended to use the second edition Battle System for, through to an exploration of the Gith's base camp. 

Enacting vengeance upon the Gith, the players then discover a metal mine, and eventually a lost city of the Gith - Yathazor (As well as a powerful psionicist Gith leader). Eventually this leads to the Nightmare Gate - a magical portal for the Githyanki to move their troops to Athas. Naturally by this point, the player characters might see that it is in their best interests for this invasion to not happen. But really - would it be any worse than living under the yoke of the Sorcerer-Kings? I do wonder why no one ever questions this. 

Personally, I like the fact that there is an extra dimensional threat, and the build up to discovering it. However, why hasn't a Sorcerer-King or a Dragon already thought this through or detected it? Would it not be better that this is some machination of a wheel within a wheel for the Dragon to make one of his rivals weaker somehow? That's just my take on it. The adventures themselves are largely linear in format. Although there is not as much rail-roading as in other adventures (or as much "you are now slaves!"), the linear nature of the plot means that it feels a little bit constrained in parts. What rescues it is the sheer scope, epic scale, and audacity of the plot line itself. It cannot be underscored enough what this book provides: three lots of 96 page books (288 pages in total), coupled with fold out maps and everything else. With work from a dedicated Games Master / Dungeon Master, this adventure can be turned in to something special along the lines of Dragon's Crown. 

Overall, I would give it just under 4 out of 5 stars ... hence I'm rounding it up to 4 out of 5. Good overall, but not as strong as others in the series, and features far too many Gith in the absence of anything else. The lack of a lead up is also a big problem here.

Merry Christmas 2017 (Editorial)

Well, this is likely to be my last editorial post of the year as I'm about to take a bit of a break from work and from blogging too.

Thank you very much for your input this year and the comments, feedback, and everything else that goes alongside that in the blogosphere.

In the coming week, I have scheduled a few posts on roleplaying games - mostly to finish off the reviews on Dark Sun that I started many moons ago. I am also aiming to do an end of year wrap up before the New Year arrives, depending on time.

So, once again, thank you very much for being here. And a very Merry Christmas and New Year to you all out there!

Age of Darkness Rules

Okay - I admit to being excited. After the delay caused by quality control a while back, the Warhammer Community Team has just announced that the Age of Darkness rule book will be being released before the end of the year. There's only 11days left, so one assumes that the order will be available either in the next couple of days, or in the period just between Christmas and New Year. 

I'm excited! 

Warhammer World: Dragon and Knight

I wanted to finish off this week with a picture that I took at Warhammer World a while back. This one was in the classics section of the exhibitions. It features an older style dragon pouncing on and combating the attentions of a knight.

Interestingly for a piece like this is the wooden mount that can be seen for the base. Show pieces like this one are somewhat rare, even in the modern era. It is really pleasing to see the effort gone to for a diorama like this. 

I like the colours on the dragon as well. At first, its not clear that a cream colour for the leathery wing sections would go so well with the reds and blacks of the dragon. But then think of the Blood Ravens chapter of the space marines for whom a similar approach works so nicely. The blue and white of the knight also work well together, albeit in a starker manner. However, this would be a very reasonable choice for an historic knight to pick as well. 

The base is nicely flocked and the overall effect is a joy to linger and stare in to. 

Large Sector Mechanicus Forge

This is what happens when one combines a Ferratonic Incinerator to a Promethian Forge in a horizontal layout (rather than a vertical direction).

In terms of just the sheer dimensions, this is more than enough for a centrepiece item of scenery. One could easily imagine this being at high level tournaments on various boards. However, I think that to truly do a board complete justice, one may wish to have double this (i.e. two lots of each) to fully complete a board's look. This would have the knock-on effect of creating more line of sight blockages, and interesting areas to run around on top, as well as fire from. In some ways, the walkways at the top are rather exposed. Hence although my thought was "I may need more of theses sets", perhaps what is instead required is simply an abundance of ancillary pieces to finish the look of the board. In particular, the crates sold by GW provide a good counter balance to the walkways with true line of sight (solid) blocking and several of them scattered around would be a good thing to employ. Pipelines as well at ground level would be a superb addition to complement what is already here. 

I will leave it at that for today ... the snow is falling and the ice is forming thick underfoot locally ...

Vertical Forge

Carrying on from my two previous posts on the mechanicum series of scenery, today I wanted to just briefly show and demonstrate the kind of vertical arrangement that is possible when one stacks them together. 

Here I have taken some items from the Promethian Forge and some from the Ferratonic Incinerator, just to see what it looks like.

The hard reality of a centre piece scenery item like this is that I don't think I would make too many of them. And moreover, I think I would want to be playing on a smaller board as well -- say 4ft x 4ft at maximum. This gives a good "condensed" area in which to play and is very suited to kill teams and similar games. Ultimately, I think those kinds of games are probably best for such vertical arrangements. Large armies on these kinds of ensembles are tough to do (and to place). Anyway, just thought folks might like to see what is readily available to construct with a bit of forethought and planning. I reckon the piece looks good - very good in fact; but I just don't think that in a 6ft x 4ft board, it would be too appropriate to have too many multi-level items like this, unless the entire board is geared toward this type of game, or it is a simple one off central terrain item. Just some random thoughts. 

Complete Promethian Forge

Its been a little while coming, but the Promethian Forge is finally completed. 

For this scenery piece, I wanted to adopt the same modular approach that I had started to take with the Ferratonic Incinerator. Indeed, I want both of my assembled kits to be interchangeable with each other and also be transportable. Hence although this piece looks glued together in this particular configuration, it is not. The octagonal platform for instance is in two parts - one containing the chimney and one containing the other have plus the first segment of the bendy walkway. The other bend constitutes the other fragment of the overall modular design.

Having learnt my lesson the hard way with the Ferratonic Incinerator, I made sure to dry fit each and every under-hanging bit to the piece before gluing it in to place. Moreover, this meant that I could readily add the sidewalk shields or bannisters (sorry, not really sure what the correct noun is for them yet!) without worrying where the support struts actually were located. 

The kit is large, and I have intentionally made it apparently even bigger by making it occupy as much of a horizontal distance as possible. I did not want to opt for the picture on the front of the box where the curved walkways are surrounding the central octagonal platform. This serves the purpose making sure more of the board appears to be covered in scenery (to be clear, I know it is the same area, but having it more snaking around the board creates a bigger impact which is something that I want). 

In future posts later this week, I want to show the modularity of the kit in two ways. Firstly in the vertical direction, and then by combing it with the Ferratonic Incinerator to make a centre piece building. They both have their pros and cons in terms of gaming, and I'll talk through them this week.

Messing around with Tree Making again

One item of scenery that I keep on returning to time and time again are trees. They seem to be a very ubiquitous item of scenery that every modeller from train enthusiasts through to fantasy and far flung future table top gamers seem to want to make - and often in bulk as well.

This effort is simply an experiment. It follows the same prescription for the wire mesh frame that I have used extensively in the past to create the trunk and root system. Several wires of florist wire are bunched together, twisted, folded and twisted again to make this kind of frame. On top of the twisting, I then apply several layers of filler, allowing each layer to dry off before the next one is applied.

The main difference for this tree is that I have added a bit of plastic fish bowl decoration to the top of the wire mesh frame. These items are relatively cheap and can be seen in the background of previous posts I've made here. Just a dab of superglue and its done.

I've mounted the tree on top of a 32mm base - this can be used to infer the scale. Its taller than a Primaris marine but rather stick thin in the middle. 

I think I need to do a bit more experiments on this - including painting up the trunk of this particular tree to see how it looks. My first step will be to expand the girth of the trunk as I cannot quite make my mind up if a thin trunk looks correct with such a bushy upper foliage or not. I think it could go both ways really, but I'd like to at least entertain what a difference a bigger trunk might make to the tree - and to line of sight blocking at minimum. 

Promethian Forge

Very much a work in progress, but today I have commenced assembling the Promethian Forge from the Sector Mechanicus range. This will fit snugly -- and more importantly: modularly -- alongside my other Sector Mechanicus range. 

The image shows just the first section of the gantry or ledge that I'm working on. One of the main problems with this piece is how to make it modular. There are just so many permutations to select between that it is often hard to know what to do.

However, I have decided that the best way forward here is to cater to my wants for this scenery. Hence I have decided to keep it at one level only, meaning I'm not going to stack multiple levels in a vertical direction. This is for a number of reasons, but one of the main ones is that I want some horizontal spread of scenery before I think about the vertical direction. One level up should be enough for the kind of board that I have in mind at the moment. 

More importantly, thinking about the horizontal spread, I also wanted to make sure that this piece was not compact like the picture on the front of the box. Instead, I want is to cover as much horizontal distance as possible. This dictated the need to have the support struts in the places that I've glued them in to in the image. Ultimately, I want to be able to make a long walking gantry for the miniatures to be able to fight along and provide interesting lines of sights in a number of locations. I think this arrangement will ultimately achieve that, but its still early days on this particular project. 

Warhammer World: Nostalgic Bridges

Some of the remaining photographs that I have from Warhammer World don't fit snugly in to any single category. Instead, the kind of span the bridge (literal and figuratively) between Warhammer Fantasy, Role-play, advertising, and Board games.

These two images are prime examples. The first is an undead scene (close up) of a charge across a polluted moat in to a castle like fort by undead. The second, is more of a board game style image that really appealed to me. I remember the former appearing in White Dwarf (if memory serves) way back in the day. The second is relatively new to me, but I think has its origins in Hero Quest and similar games. Can anyone comment what the second one is actually from please? I failed to jot it down, embarrassingly...

Warhammer World: Age of Sigmar Diorama

Some photographs from Age of Sigmar today that I have been meaning to process for a while now and get on the blog. However, some internet connectivity issues in the past week have forced me offline for a little while, so I hope these uploads make it! I like a number of features of this diorama. In particular, the thing that really shines for me is the floating rock in the middle of it. There is something very chaotic about it (Tzeentchian almost), yet it retains something of its former glory of the time that once was arguably. Very appealing overall.

Garden of Morr Statue

A small scenery item in focus today -- the statue of Morr himself taken from the Garden of Morr set sold by Games Workshop.

This piece is very easy to put together and features a high level of detailing around it. Perhaps a surprisingly high level of detailing in a number of parts in fact. The things that strike me about the statue is the roses and leaves on the front of the column upon which the statue stands, coupled with the plethora of small skulls and other ornamentation around the base. 

The statue himself is less impressive to some extent. The cloaked figure holding a shield and a sword is a standard motif, but at least there is an over-sized egg-timer at his feet as well to indicate the passage of time and death itself. 

Painting for this piece was basic and straight forward as I wanted to capture the idea of this piece being very old, perhaps somewhat neglected as well. Hence following a black undercoat, the base coat was applied in an even grey tone. I gave several washes to the grey base coat to give a suggestion of ageing -- especially around the base and the flagstones. For the upper parts of the miniature that have been exposed to (assumed) sunlight, I applied some subtle green tones and even overt greens to give a suggestion of foliage having developed and grown on the upper reaches. Highlights were conducted in a steadily increasingly light grey colour, with attention paid to the skulls to give them a slightly different tone to the flagstones. 

The roses were a slight issue as I wanted them to feel like a recent growth or addition to the monument, rather than some random part of stone work themselves (which they certainly could be painted as). Hence I went for a somewhat striking red colour that contrasts highly with the grey and dull stonework and the green verdigris that is growing elsewhere. A few washes and highlights later, and the roses stand out very well from the rest of the structure. 

Taken together, this is both a scenery item that is striking for its new growth foliage, yet retains the dullness that suggests it has been hanging around for a very long time. I regard it as suitable for using in both fantasy and 40k board games equally well overall. 

Ferratonic Incinerator

I am a real sucker for scenery and terrain on the table top. So much so that when the Forge World (as in the planet type) scenery became available, I knew that I wanted to mess around with some of the kits to see what kinds of things could be made and how modular they could be.

One of the first kits that I purchased was the Ferratonic Incinerator kit. This consists of a cylindrical element (the incinerator part), and a standard set of walkways to attach to the ends of the top of the incinerator (the octagonal lid element). 

In the first image below, I show the final product that I made from the kit. 

The kit was easy to put together and required less than an hour of gluing and clipping out from the sprues overall. I did not use all of the pieces though. And this is probably one of my major complaints. I followed the instructions for the kit almost to the letter with the main deviation being that I assembled it in a T-shape (rather than an X-shape) as I wanted the incinerator element at one end of the piece. 

In doing so, it became clear that some of the under hanging elements (e.g., cables, cords, skull like pulley systems) can get in the way of attaching some of the walk way elements (the barriers seen on the edges of the upper platform to prevent falls). I have several of these components left over that I don't quite want to glue in place in other locations, but would have used on the edges had I realised before assembling that the underslung elements would be getting in the way so much. Hence this is a sort of warning to others to dry fit the elements, regardless of what the instructions say you should be doing. The issue can be seen with a top down view, below:

Some of the underneath elements can be seen going over the edge of the platform. Its just poor planning on my part coupled with strong adherence with the instructions.

I also wanted to try to keep my assembly somewhat modular. Hence I have not glued the sub-elements together. Explicitly, the walkways are only held together by the tabs underneath -- I have not glued them together in to the T-shape. This is so I can potentially re-arrange in to an X-shape, L-shape or even just one long continual linear shape. I have another one of these kits (a different one in fact) that I would ultimately like to be able to mesh together with this one. Hence I would very much like to keep it all modular.

The ladders are also worth a little note here. It is essential that they are pushed in hard in to the underside of the walkways and upper platforms. Doing so means that they will be flush with the pillars that enable the platforms to stand on their own. On one of my ladders, it is fractionally below the height of the pillars and caused a little imbalance. I have corrected this by shaving off a little bit of the ladder to give greater stability and less wobbly model syndrome.

It is also worth noting that the kit can be assembled in a number of ways, including not only the overall configuration, but also the sub-elements. Here, the door or hatch to the incinerator has been left open (and glued in to place in this open configuration) at the behest of my daughter. This is actually a good idea in some ways as the door then provides additional cover for miniatures on the table top and effectively extends the surface area of the kit on the table top by almost an inch. The risk is, of course, that the open door stands more of a chance of being snapped off in transportation. But I think that's a price worth paying for it looking better in my opinion. Other bits and pieces enable the modeller to cover up some of the other exposed pipes, but in general I have avoided using them. Got to find some time to paint this one up now and build the other kit!

Kraken Mats: Desert Warzone City

I have bought Kraken mats before from their online retailer, FantasyWelt and been really pleased with the high quality of the product. Today is a quick review of my second purchase from the same company: the Desert Warzone City map.

This mat is of the exact same high standard that I have come to expect from Kraken. It really is high quality, durable and with a rubberized backing to make die rolls muted and the table surface non slip during any gaming activity.

The colours of the map itself are incredible. This was the thing that really stood out to me when I was considering a purchase. I didn't want to get just another city or city-scape map -- I wanted something a little bit edgier and unique. That was what the Desert map encompassed for me.

The production of these maps feature high quality photographs of real gaming board that have been custom built by Kraken. This is what sets their maps apart from a number of competitors. For Kraken, there is no subtle background that can be found elsewhere with these maps: they are real. Well, they're more than real. They're obviously enhanced digitally later on after the principle photography is complete.

The mat features a number of ruined buildings on the terrain, replete with debris inside them, as well as a road feature snaking through. One aspect that I had not fully realized is that these maps are symmetric. Hence if I bought another one, it would tessellate with this map perfectly to create a huge gaming board. This is such a lovely touch, and not an idea I've seen much of in 6x4ft gaming mats before.

To say I'm pleased with this purchase would be an understatement. These mats are fab!

The Lion

Rumour mongers ahoy. There are plentiful rumours circulating on the internet at the moment about the return of Lion El'Johnson to the Warhammer 40,000 timeline.

This is one case that is strongly supported by the background materials as well. The Lion has reportedly been sleeping at the centre of the Dark Angel's Rock for a long while. Possible beside Luther (or maybe not). The last we saw of the Lion was when he descended for his battle with Luther on the (then) surface of Caliban. Following its destruction, the Lion was nowhere to be seen. Luther whimpered something about the Watchers in the Dark having taken him.

Hence, there is no contradiction in the background materials about him coming back. I'm far more at ease with the Lion coming back than I was about Guilliman re-materializing after healing in a stasis field. Heck, I'd also be fine with the re-emergence of at least:

The Khan,

Leman Russ,

Vulkan (because, you know, he's immortal and all),

Corax,

Alpharius (or Omegon) (or someone being Alpharius at any rate),

and any Daemon Primarch in general (because why aren't they attacking the rotten heart of the Imperium already?).

Can Alpharius Omegon please turn out to be loyal? You know, just to wrap up that story line. Pretty please? And the only person he told was someone else who went missing at a similar time? I don't know where I'm going with this really.

Bottom line, I feel re-invigorated by the new fluff that seems to be coming out recently. And I'm feeling very positive about the future of the hobby in the near and medium term! Long may it last!

HH Rules Delayed due to QA

The news came through this morning for me. The new Horus Heresy rules book has been delayed. The reason given for this is Quality Assurance. In other words, it did not meet the standards deemed worthy of publication by Forge World.

These kinds of issues can and do happen from time to time. To be perfectly honest, I would much sooner have a rule book that was deemed to be of the correct standard than a rule book that was sub-par and not worthy of publication of worthy of living up to the previously high standards that the entire Horus Heresy series has been setting for all of theses years. Hence whilst I'm someone sad that there will be a delay on the pre-orders, I'm actually not all that bothered.

Santa can wait :)

Melta Bombs in Horus Heresy

Following on from the previous digest of thoughts relating to the new edition of the rules set for Horus Heresy, I wanted to briefly touch on one of the most outstanding corrections to the rules we have seen. Namely: Melta Bombs.

To explain the context for this one: Melta bombs have long been an upgrade item that a squad can take to battle. More specifically, it is an upgrade that certain units can take one of for every single member of the squad. Legion outrider squads spring to mind, amongst others.

Many players (including myself, I must admit) were very used to playing that every single model armed with a melta bomb could try to land it on their enemy in close combat (the fight phase) if they chose to.

The Frequently Asked Questions for 7th edition put an end to this. Those clarifications mandated that only one grenade could be used per phase of a turn per squad. This outraged many people in the community who felt that this was the wrong call. In turn, there were others who pointed to the fact that this was simply just "rules as written" and was therefore simply reinforcing how grenades should have been played all along.

With the introduction of the modified 7th edition rules set for Horus Heresy, this situation has been reversed. Now every model armed with a melta bomb appears as if they will be able to try to land their bomb on top of a target. Of course, this will make the players happy who spend a (not inconsiderable) number of points on upgrading their units to take melta bombs on every single model.  Why would the army lists allow this, after all, if only one model were to take an attack with a melta bomb in a single given phase.

I am personally very glad to see the return to the rules as they were being played before the FAQ was released for 7th edition. It all makes a bit more sense this way to my mind!

Mind Howl

Bit of a rough week just gone (thanks to those of you who messaged me). Hopefully things should improve now and we'll get back to our more usual roll out of posts. 

Today, I wanted touch on the forth-coming release of the new Horus Heresy rules set. There appears, on the surface, to be a number of important, significant, and (dare I say it?): longed for changed in the rules that are being proposed.

One of the big ones is the total elimination of Invisibility as a psychic power. Invisibility caused all sorts of shenanigans in the 7th edition of both Horus Heresy and Warhammer 40,000. So much so, that independent tournaments invariably had their own house rules on the power to prevent too much abuse.

Its termination with extreme prejudice is a welcome one from me. In its place, we have a new power entitled "Mind Howl". The image below was taken from the Warhammer Community website, and I use it here under "fair use" clauses (happy to take it down if desired). 

On the surface, Mind Howl is a reasonable replacement power for invisibility. It provides the caster with a way of reducing the effectiveness of a target unit both in terms of the WS and the BS of the victim. At Warp Charge 2, it has a steep price (but we do not yet know how the psychic phase will operate under the new rules system ... I'm hoping for something more streamlined myself, but time will tell), and has to be within a range of 12 inches. This range won't be an issue for a melee orientated psyker to take on. However, the temptation will be to attempt to nullify opponents best ranged weapons as well. 

In practice, this means that packers that have rules such as infiltration and teleportation may well be able to shut down some of the most powerful incoming fire power from opponents. 

You can probably guess my thoughts here. With the Alpha Legion, one of these infiltrating strategically near the backlines could do amazing damage to the ranged potential of any enemy units. Even certain Thousand Sons builds can pull off this kind of treachery. Hence, even though Invisibility was a game defining psychic power, the Mind Howl replacement power can potentially be just as frightful in its own right. I can certainly see me taking an Alpha Legion librarian just to exploit this power alone and shut down the ranged weapons of heavy support squads to snap shot levels. Hydra Dominatus brothers!

7.1 Edition

Watching the Twitch Channel for Warhammer in the week, there were plenty of previews coming out of Forge World. These not only included the miniatures (Astraeus, Red Scorpion chapter dreadnought, space wolves terminators, doors for rhinos, etc.), but also a quick glance through the new rulebook for the Horus Heresy era.

Described as Version 7.1 of the rulebook, on screen it appeared as a large tome held together by a pair of large bulldog clips. In other words -- a high level proof. All the pages were printed and ready. Everything was there. Just the binding missing.

The guys explained that the rule book has been sent to the printers and they are estimating something like one month or so before the book is ready.

I'm still pleased that the Horus Heresy will be adopting a modified 7th edition, but sad that it is not wholly compatible with 8th edition (meaning one set of rules for 30k, one for 40k). I guess I will withhold judgement until I can actually get my hands on the new rulebook to see what has changed. Exciting times ahead!

Rumour Engine

One of the "newer" items on the release schedule from Games Workshop in recent times has been the Rumour Engine. Delivered via the Warhammer Community webpage, the Rumour Engine regularly depicts part (or a sub-part) of some model from the upcoming release range. This weeks Engine appears to be some kind of candle. Who knows whether this one is in relation to Warhammer 40,000, or the Age of Sigmar? Could be either really.

As a marketing tool it is a good one. There has been a long tradition in the Warhammer 40,000 blogosphere of posting rumours from people who are on the inside of the trade. Whether this be shipment people, or workers very close to Games Workshop, keeping secrets within a world-wide trading organisation that has to ship things on a regular basis is tough. Once upon a time, these kinds of rumour mongers were about all we had in the community. From my perspective, it is really good to see Games Workshop embrace a new philosophy, and, in doing so, stay a step ahead of the older rumour traders.

This in turn has fuelled a lot of speculation about the direction(s) that Games Workshop will take in their next batch of releases. Will it be Dwarves, or perhaps something a bit more Nurgle-esque, for example? A number of sites now regularly document the rumour engine and what has already been solved and what remains to be. In doing so, they're contributing positively to the release schedule that Games Workshop has and informing the rest of the community about the possibilities that might lie in the future.

I personally like to read through some of the comments on Facebook on the subject matter when the engine makes a release. Some of them are hilarious, others a lot more considered and pointing out things that escape even my keen eyes. The rumours that most stuck in the back of my mind were the snips we had of the Grand Cultivator. It was obvious that we were getting something Nurgle-esque, but was it going to be a new Beast of Nurgle, or something else entirely. I was a bit torn to say the least. The other ones that stick out to me are what Forge World used to do over the Christmas build up period with their jigsaw puzzle pieces. The approach is similar, but we get many pieces slotting together over a few weeks to yield the final picture. I like this particular approach a whole lot as well since it not only gives hints, but the full picture will ultimately reveal itself at a pre-known date -- unlike the rumour engine that could last for who knows how long before we know the solution. Or even see the solution with the benefit of hindsight.

Regardless, I've no idea what the candles are about this week. Sorry! I have no insight to share there.  Yet, I'm still thinking about what this one could be, and what some of the older ones are! Good work GW, you've hooked me...

Ruinstorm

Its not a big secret that I am an avid reader. This obviously includes the Horus Heresy series that has been released by the Black Library for more years than the Heresy lasted for. The latest release in the series is Ruinstorm.

The book centres around the closure of the whole Imperium Secundus story arc. That's the one where Guilliman thought that Terra was probably extinguished already and where he got together with two of his brothers, Sanguinius and the Lion, to build a new Imperium in the core of Ultramar. 

I do not wish to write about any spoilers here. So I will keep my comments generalist in nature. Firstly, I think that the Black Library made the right choice in the author of the book, David Annandale. I like the way that he has approached the whole arc and how the various different threads have been woven together in to a successful and cohesive whole. 

Ranging from the guilt felt by the Primarchs about the founding of the Imperium Secundus, through to how they act within their own fleets and tackle the obstacles presented in front of them. Ruinstorm presents a good yarn for the long time readers of the series.

The positives for me include the perspectives on the Rainstorm and what it means for Chaos to encroach on the material Universe in general. The literal chaos that results in deep space is well described and provides an evocative ensemble of blasphemous material to draw upon for game terrain creation for example. Remarkably, as well as being a book to bring the Secundus plotline full circle, the book also links in to the Damnation of Pythos. I was not expecting that really. 

Each of the three Primarchs is "tested" in some way or other. Sanguinius wrestles with his fates (turn left and its bad, turn right and its worse). Guilliman and the Lion also wrestle with their own demons (or daemons, not sure which way that should be spelt any longer, sorry!). 

The culmination of the book deals with the "Why" and "How" of the Blood Angels making it back to Terra in time for the final battle. In that way, it provides nice closure to this known fact alongside the "Why" of the Dark Angels and Ultramarines not making it back in time. Similar to how the White Scars made it back, I was pleased with the way that the story developed around this narrative. It might not be to everyone's tastes though -- but I liked it.

The major negative is the huge amount of back-material needed to properly enjoy this book. Jumping right in to the series here is probably not a big recommendation by me. Its possible, but readers will probably scratch their heads about a few items along the way. To be honest, not even I've read the full series (I tend to skip the anthologies for instance unless there's a chapter that I really, really want). So overall, a good tale, but a specialised one in relation to the Secundus arc, yet at the same time accessible for addressing the "Hows" and "Whys" behind the Blood Angel's presence on Terra when Horus came.

Astraeus

By the time that I've sat down and had chance to write this, the Astraeus super-heavy primaris tank will be old news to many in the blogosphere. Regardless, I had a few thoughts from the video and writing that was released via the Warhammer community page that I wanted to jot down here.

Firstly, the link -- check out the Astraeus for yourself if you've not already done so!

Described by the Warhammer team themselves as a cross between a Sicaran, a Repulsor, and a Fellblade, its not hard to see why this tank blends these elements together in to a single vehicle. The macro cannons on the top of the tank are a force to be reckoned with due to the stats alone, and their presence on the top of the tank is highly reminiscent of the Sicaran itself. The use of the gravitation platform to keep the vehicle floating seems to be a recurring theme that is developing with both the (re)introduction of the Custodes and now with the Primaris marines. 

Although there are obviously other weapons on board this device of destruction such as the las-rippers on the sponsons, the main stand out is the defensive capabilities. This super-heavy is boasting some serious armour and defensive capabilities in terms of hosting void shields inside it. Indeed, it seems to have the defensive capabilities of a war hound titan from first glance. 

All together, this tank is a new evolution. Yet, in doing so, it seems to be breaking one of the fundamental constants that has been with Warhammer 40,000 for so long: the fact that no new technology gets designed and built since the grim dark of the far future is in a state of technological stagnation. Of course, this statement applies to other items such as the Primaris marines themselves and the other weaponry that have come along with them. I get the Guilliman has been preparing for this in secret, but I do wonder how the existent Forge Worlds might feel about all this new technology coming along. At least in terms of the grim dark dystopian narrative that has been with us for so long.

In terms of the model itself, I'm actually a bit of a fan of it. When the Primaris marines and their new transports came along I was a little bit sceptical. Yet for this tank, I really do like it. Somehow, despite the obvious things like the grab-technology all over and the over the top weaponry, it somehow just all works as a singular entity. The modellers have done really well to blend all of the aspects of the tank together in to a cohesive whole. Whist I will not be purchasing this particular model myself in the near future, I'm sure many people will be. I think it will perform very well indeed on many battlefields and will look glorious whilst doing so. Bring me my titan...

Styrene Hill of Old

At the time I created this piece, I was unable to afford items like the Realms of Battle boards. I liked the look of the (then new) Realms of Battle since they had hills that were directly moulded in to their surface for miniatures to climb up and down.

Instead, I decided that some of my terrain could do with some natural hills for the miniatures to be placed on. Vantage points that were not ruins, or generic houses -- but natural features. After digesting the contents of books like How to Make Wargames Terrain I decided to have a go myself at making a styrene hill.

The construction of this piece is straight forward enough. Two roughly rectangular blocks of styrene, each about the height of an imperial guard figure, have been stacked on top of each other and glued in to place using PVA glue. The lower styrene block is mounted on cork board that was sold as a table mat in a department store. To shape the styrene blocks a little, I used a hot wire cutter to give them a little bit of shape and texture. 

Once the two rectangles dried out, I then coated the piece liberally in PVA glue once more and added in some large stones in corners (e.g., see the lower left corner of the upper block). Flock in several different shades of green were then applied on top of the rest of the PVA glue and left to settle in place. 

Painting consisted of touching up some areas of the piece where the flock didn't stick well to, using dark green paint for some low-lights and crevices, and painting the stony areas in black followed by several passes of a whiter dry brush. 

I have had this item in my collection for many, many years. Some of my earlier battle reports might even have it in although I've not looked at those photos whilst I was writing this piece. As a result of its age, the green flock has faded. Too much UK weather (it got rained on a bit when I was transporting in one time), Australian Sunshine, combined with transport back to the United Kingdom again has all taken it toll on the hill. I might attempt some rejuvenation on the piece, although at this stage I'm tempted to retire it and produce new pieces as its replacement. If nothing else, the construction of this piece demonstrated to me that home made terrain items can look good and not be limited to crazy conversion ideas!

Spray Painted Cork as Mountainous Scenery

This is an idea that I have toyed with on and off over the years -- using Cork to represent mountainous regions of the playing board. As a material, cork is a good one to work with. From a practical point of view, the material is very light and therefore can be transported with a minimum of fuss. Moreover, it is also "green" in the sense that it is regularly harvested and harvesting does not kill the cork plant. Its more like how sheep get sheared for their wool realistically. 

To represent mountains, I decided to experiment a little bit with using different colours. On the example below, I have used Games Workshop's own white spray paint to coat this piece of cork.

I will say from the outset that this process uses a whole lot of spray paint to be honest! If you look closely at the image, you will also see that there are patches where it looks like I have missed my target when spraying. This is not true ... the cork absorbs a lot of the paint and some areas are a bit more resistant to spray paint than others.

What I will say though is that the overall effect -- certainly in terms of the texture -- looks impressive. The nooks and crannies combined with the layered visage of the cork makes this piece look very much like a small scale mountain or cliff. 

I'm pleased with the overall effect here. Although I want to try more, I think that I might need to assess whether there's a better way to mass paint cork for a cheaper amount of money. 

L-Bend Hardware Scenery

Carrying on from the last post, today is just to highlight a small scenery piece that was made from parts purchased at the same hardware store. This time, I am using a pair of plastic L-bend pipes from the store. 

The plastic pipework was firstly glued with superglue to a square MDF board. In this case, the MDF was bought as a table mat (the kind that you would put glasses of wine on, or just drinks in general). Following that, I used filler to mould around the base of the pipes to create a rugged look as if these pipes had been there for quite some time. Inside the opening of the pipes, I glued in to place a plastic square grid mesh. This was probably the hardest part to be honest as I could not quite get the grid cut to a perfectly circular shape. Hence if you look carefully, you will see a distortion in the grid as it sits inside the L-bends. I actually don't mind this one bit as to me it simply suggests more ageing. 

Painting followed the same scheme that I had used for the toilet parts in the previous post: red as the base colour followed by sponging of rusted oranges and selected use of black here and there. 

At the "lip" of the L-bend where the grid was glued, I applied a liberal amount of watery black ink. This gives the appearance that the pipes have seen extensive use and are probably a significant source of pollution. The overall effect is that of a forge world, or an industrial hive perhaps. These pipes have been there a long while. But does any seriously know where they connect to or what their actual function is these days? We're not sure. So we'd better not move them in case they actually are important after all!

Hardware Store Scenery

Some of you might recognize the origins of this scenery piece. Some may not. 

On a visit to the local home hardware store a while ago, I got looking at all the plastic pipework that was avaialble. Ranging from tubes, to pipes, to L-bends and everything else in between and beyond, the scope for turning hardware in to Warhammer style scenery piece is very high indeed.

This particular item was constructed out of a regular toilet valve. I attached the bottom (actually the top in the real world) on to a rectangular MDF base with superglue. Using filler, I then proceeded to create some material around the base of the MDF and the bottom part of the plastic. For the connecting pipe (pictured on the right hand side), I have inserted a plastic grid and glued it in to place to cover the opening (actually, part of it is literally screwed in to place using the plastic connection present). 

For painting, I used a subdued red tone for the base colour and have then liberally applied some orange dabs with a wet washing up sponge to give it a suitable weathered and rusted appearance. Black low-lights have been applied to the lower parts of the piece, whilst dark brown/black ink has been made to cascade out of various parts of the piece to generate an even more weathered look. The numerals are from a decal sheet I had lying about from my Shadow Sword that I had never used.

The overall result is a scenery piece that not only looks rather unique, but fits in with the grim dark vibe of a dis-used industrial world or Forge world in the depths of the Imperium. This item has already seen use in some games and tournaments we have had, and will no doubt be used again.

The only negative thing I can say is that the paint chips off too easily. I should have sand-papered the surface prior to painting to give it a better chance of sticking. Hence, I use a lot of bubble wrap when transporting it to keep it relatively chip-free.

Fire and Smoke Markers

A set of Fire and Smoke markers are one of those hobby items that the senior modeller usually gets involved in at some point during their hobby career. I am no exception.

In essence, these markers are relatively simple to create and use. On the other hand, I've also discovered that they can be a huge pain to make and execute. The picture below shows several from my collection along with one of my Alpha Legion space marines to give a sense of the scale of the markers.

To make them, I have used a small LED light from a high street supermarket (in this case, Tesco in the United Kingdom sells them in packs of six). These LED lights have a switch at their base and a small little light in the shape of a flame coming out of the top of them. Hence when they are switched on in the final product, they flicker in the same manner that a real fire might do.

The smoke on the top is made from soft toy filling. This is available at many department stores (look out for the knitting section: it is usually tucked away somewhere near all the needlework hobby area).

Assembling the markers is rather simple. Using some glue, just dab on a generous amount on to the surface of the LED itself. Grab a good amount of the soft toy filling material and stick it to the top. Job done really. 

Almost.

The major issue with this is the sheer amount of glue that ends up on your fingers and the fibres from the toy filling that sticks to it. So be aware that you are going to have to give your finger tips some serious scrubbing after making these if you do so without any gloves on (like I tend to do). 

For extra marks, I've given the toy filling a bit of a twist before gluing it in to place. This gives the sense of some winds fanning the fire and the smoke up in to the air. 

As the last step, I apply a very gentle and limited amount of black spray paint to the smoke. Aiming the spray at the base of the fire ensures that the tip remains almost white and gives it a more authentic look and feel. 

In game, these double up as both regular scenery, and as markers for where vehicles may have met their demise -- literally a smoking wreck marker. Gritty and grim, they really at some atmosphere to a tabletop. Some rules might also be necessary to use if they are part of the scenery. We favour having them as blocking the line of sight (you cannot see through the thick smoke) and you cannot approach within 1 inch of the base of the fire (it is literally too hot or too toxic, or similar). I can attest that they make battles more memorable and make the scenery much better to look at. Particularly at tournament level displays. 

Aquarium Scenery

On the occasional visit to a large shopping mall, or to a local specialist shop, I will sometimes browse the aisles looking for aquarium items. Having owned fish in the past, I can at least hold a sensible conversation about them with a retailer. But that is not the reason I look these days. Instead, I like to see if there are any cheap-ish items of scenery available for wargaming purposes. 

In the past, I've come across a number of gems ranging from gel-like plants or reef items, through to buildings that have been cast for fish to swim through.

This particular example that I picked up recently is a plastic tree-like item with a hard base that appears to be made out of a combination of rocks and resin. As a stand-alone piece it is large enough to provide significant cover for any troops or even light tanks in the surrounding area. The size of it can be gauged from my hand in the picture. It is approximately just over 10cm tall with an extent about half of that horizontally. As for the cost - 3 UK pounds. Not bad overall and it will come in for several gaming mats that we already own.

Wargames Gallery: Lone Sniper

I'm not saying it was the Alpha Legion, Sir.
But it was the Alpha Legion.

Symmetric Deployment

Over the years, the methods by which armies are deployed on the table top have varied strongly. Once upon a time, they were all just lined up in a row and directly faced off against each other in a pitched battle style reminiscent of Fantasy armies arrayed in long rows and columns. For a young mind, the idea that one could do this using the short edges as well as the long edges was novel to me. Then there was the battle in the back of the Rogue Trader rule book where the main force was surrounded and the enemy came in from any old angle. This also was amazing to my young impressionable mind.

What these kinds of deployments have in common is symmetry. Whether this is the long edges, or in the centre of the board, they are almost always rotationally or mirror symmetric. I really favour this kind of set up. Indeed, one of the biggest compliments that I can give the 30k battle ethos is that each and every one of them are symmetrical in some manner. One of the core examples that folks might not have seen much of is below (Clash of the Line). 

Increasingly, there are more and more deployments that feature somewhat asymmetrical deployments. Or worse: terrain that is very biased to a particular deployment zone. Now, of course, that is just realistic at some level. However, for a game such as Warhammer 30,000 where everything has been so very carefully balanced in terms of their points value on the board, I think there is a lot of merit in retaining symmetrical deployments as much as possible. Not only is it simpler, but it means that the players start on a roughly equal footing supposing that the terrain is also reasonably balanced and well positioned. Symmetrical deployment is therefore a concept that I have really come to like - doubly so for tournament play, even though I also like the narrative of unequal forces and terrain in general.

Cartoon Bad Guys (and Good Guys)

In this short article, I wanted to briefly talk about a few views that have been developing in the back of my mind with the recent releases that we have seen from Games Workshop -- and specifically the Death Guard chaos space marine faction for 40k.

My long term readers will know that I have owned a Death Guard army of one flavour or another since my youth. In modelling the Death Guard post-Heresy, I have long opted for the green colours of decay mixed in with browns and reds of flowing blood and the occasional purple of diseased flesh. Combined together, they make for a gritty and rather grim interpretation of the downfall of a once great legion and represents the monsters that they have become. Unconcerned with the feelings of the flesh and the dents in their armour, with the odd mutation here and there, they are a particular type of repugnant that only the grim dark can fathom.

In the new releases of the Death Guard, I have become a little concerned that the representation of these notorious bad guys has become a little bit more cartoonish. By this, I mean that the mutations have become almost laughable -- not so much the subtle change here and there, an odd horn growing out of the head or an addition to the armour, but a big gut of teeth and a mouth in the place of a stomach. Not some revealed corrupted flesh where the armour has dropped off, but exposed spines leaking gaseous effluent.

Now before I go further, I will readily concede the point that the ancient Great Unclean One miniature had a belly full of teeth option. So these kinds of changes are not without precedent by any means. The opening of the guts to intestines and the baring of naked spines have long since been with the Death Guard and the daemons of Nurgle in general.

However, the thing that is new for me is the sheer degree and the in-your-face style of these mutations. Many of the newer space marines in the Death Guard seem almost like an exaggerated cartoon of themselves in a number of regards. The over the top tentacles instead of arms. The exposed flesh is on almost every miniature. Combined with the proportions, it all adds up for me as being an army that now looks too cartoonish rather than inherently dark and foreboding. To much Skeletor's assistants, and too little fallen from grace.

Okay. Those are probably controversial views. I suspect that the comments below will soon have people chipping in saying they like the new sculpts. I can see merit in the sculpts, to be clear. But I do wish that not every single Death Guard marine was so over the top with the mutations and naked flesh. Just a little bit more subtle fallen angels please, and less of the cartoon bad guy would make it much better for me.

Let me end by saying something positive. I like the new Mortarion. In fact, I like this interpretation of the primarch even better than the Forge World sculpt. It shows him in his full corruption. Still wearing the battle plate from millennia ago. Still wielding his preferred scythe. Still holding Lantern. Still everything that he was. Yet darker. More grim. A true spectre on the battlefield. With appropriate levels of Nurgle built in along with the wings. His visage is that of a man who has been through a lot and has grudges unfulfilled. I really dig it.

Okay, I'm going to hide from the flak now...

Horus Heresy Review: Acastus Knight Porphyrion

Background.
Rounding off our examination of units from Inferno, we have the Knight Porphyrion. This is a brand new chassis in the Horus Heresy and one that is very rare. Indeed, even the largest of Houses only have a couple as it is the ultimate sign of the Machine god's favour.

The background story behind them seem a bit odd as well: only those who have fought a brother over a matter of honour seem to obtain them.

Other than that, they are the supreme enforcers of a House's will over their scions.

Strength.
It is a Knight. It is great.

More specifically though. It has a pair of magna las cannons that are twin linked. These dish out a large blast with Ordnance 2 and AP2 at S=10. Magnificent really!

Combined with this, it comes with auto cannons as standard along with iron storm missiles. Overall, this is a lethal level of firepower that will attract attention from across the board from all enemies. And rightly too. For if this Knight is not dealt with, it will represent a significant threat to most units across the board.

On top of this, it has BS=5 and good armour compared to other knights and a healthy hull point count.

Weaknesses. 
This is not a close combat knight. Forget it. It is a shooty knight.

Builds.
Although I like the naked knight, I do like this one as well:

Porphyrion with autocannons replaced with Irad-Cleanser (495 points).
Ouch. Just ouch. This is deadly to everything. Swap to las cannons if you have the points. It matters little. It is still a beast!