Saturday, August 27, 2011

Anyone else remember when 40K was FUN?


I just had this thought:

Remember when 40K was cool?

The setting is my favorite of any story & it's still hell-a-cool but the game... it's just not as cool as it used to be. Remember how much you could do with the old Chaos Dex? Remember when your Imperial Guard could call down the thunder from a squad Grey Knight Terminators? Or the purging flames of the Sister of Battle? What about cool new rules and special characters in White Dwarf? They might have not been the most competitive moves or rules but they were cool, fit the fluff.... FUN even.

I guess that's the word I'm looking for: FUN

I haven't actually played a game since 4th edition & I'm waiting until I build enough of my Word Bearers to re-start so I'm probably not the best judge but it seems like GW has moved away from FUN for the sake of streamlining and "balance".

Years ago I had a Necron army stolen from me. When some of the local GW guys heard what had happened the replaced it free of charge. That along with a few other times they helped me out sealed my loyalty pretty firmly & I always vowed not to get on the bash GW Battlewagon. I think I have done a very good job considering they make it very difficult sometimes.

Anyway just a thought. I know there is still plenty of fun in 40k, but it's gone from something I used to love to something I haven't experienced yet & I don't like some things I see. I just hope GW remembers to make it FUN when they make books in the future. I mean seriously how hard is it to make a Space Marine & or Chaos book with rules for all KINDS of different chapters? Or if they want to stick with their special character rout how about some rules in White Dwarf for a special character that lets you play a different type of army with an existing codex?

It's not hard, the GW gurus are just dumb. How hard would it be to come up with a special character for the Tau to give them a little new life or polish while fish fans wait YEARS for a new codex? What about the Eldar? Necrons? What about a rules update in White Dwarf or online?

Hey they did it with Deathwing & look what happened. Now everyone and their mother is building one. What if they took it a step further & brought out a serious overhaul update for an old codex for *gasp* free?! Think that would stimulate some model sales guys? Too bad they will never do that:

That would almost make.... sense.

Let's just hope they get the point with the Deathwing... not that I'm holding out hope. That would be like trying to explain red to a blind man. Better yet it would be like explaining FUN to Scrooge.

So now all we need is the ghosts of 40k past.....

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Space Marine Demo & Modeling Hiatus

Lets face it friends there are just too few days in our lives when we get to gut f*ck Ork with a chainsword.

Lucky for me today was not one of those days.

Regrettably I'm on a modeling hiatus. The wife & I are taking a trip back to my home town of Boston next week & money is a little tight before the trip. Unfortunately I have plenty of bits for the projects that are next on my list to knock off but I'm missing some for all of them too.

So I'm on a break catching up with my video gaming. I got Assassins Creed Brotherhood for Christmas & never played it so I'm working on that (great game) & then today I downloaded the Space Marine Demo......

As I slid the Ork off my chainblade after violating his belly button like a drunk sorority girl and stepped on his head which cracked like an egg shell under the heel of my power armored boot I was hooked.

I can't wait until the day I get home from our trip because I'll be kicking Xenos/Chaos ass all day.

For those of you who haven't gotten to try it out yet: do it! My wife looked at me a little crazy when I kept saying "They made it so realistic" but you guys will understand me. At least you will when you start exploding Ork heads with Mass Reactive bolts from your Stalker Pattern Bolter or how short bursts from your bolter are much more effective than firing on full auto into a crowd.... you know like how a "REAL" Space Marine does it.... simply fracking awesome!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Loving the Kit-Bash: Word Bearers Grey Hunter Squad 3

Things work out funny sometimes, last night as I contemplated what to say when I posted photos of these new models I thought I'd talk about how much I love to kit bash. I took my photos but was too exhausted from a brutal Monday to write anything so I left it for today to do. Then this morning when I opened my Google Reader I find a blog from my oldest follower Papa JJ. In it he talks about Kit-bash & had some wonderful things to say about the models I have been working on for the 10 months. I can't tell you how flattered I was by that, so thanks to Papa JJ for making my day!

....also I'm concerned he's a psyker so I'll have to take a trip to my local Administratum office & file a report.... Sorry pal it's the law.

So on to why I love kit bash so much: Years ago when I started playing 40K one of the things I fell in love with was some of the unique things some of the great modelers could create from green stuff, kit bashing & plasticard. Guys like Dave Taylor always made my jaw drop (and still does) & I wanted so badly to be able to do what they did. Regrettably for me at the time my green stuff skills were non existent & I had yet to learn what plasticard could really be used for so that left kit-bash.

Lucky for me this was in the heyday when GW did bits orders for thier metal models.... worst thing they ever did was stopping that, at least from me they lost a fortune because of it. I would sit hours on end going through all the bits & made plenty of orders for things that I MIGHT use at some point & my Chaos bits box still is overflowing with some things that I don't believe I have. I had SO much more, lots of loyalist marine stuff that I would KILL to have back but I ebayed it a few years back when I thought I was done for good. I think all I had sold for over $600... so yeah I had one big collection of some hard to get pieces. Lucky for me there are independent guys doing the same thing on ebay with plastics, more on that later.

Anyway I'm rambling. Long story short I learned to love, love, LOVE the kit bash. It was a way I could create something cool that would make people go: "wow" (hopefully) without getting crazy with green stuff. I also dreamed one day of building an army where ever model had something unique done to it, something that would set it apart from all the others and make him a character along with all the others. I'd say I'm as close to doing that now as I ever have been.

So with all of that said on to the models, it's not like people "read" Playboy for the articles right? Why should this be any different. ;) I'm going to start with my two favorite models from this batch that I think really show off kit-bashing, Sorry the links are all messy:


I love this guy, he may be my new army wide favorite & he's just my Icon/Wolf Banner bearer for the squad. I just finished reading Dark Apostle which is the first book in the Word Bearer trilogy & one of the main characters is the Icon bearer for the Host. He was a half possessed bad ass & his icon was just as much a weapon as it was a banner, he can even throw it and it boomerangs back to him. I thought that was cool & I wanted to build a model that felt like it could kick your ass just with it's icon.

As for kit-bashing goes I used bits from 11 different kits which may be my record & another reason I love this guy so much. The only green stuff work was to fill in the Inquisition "I" in the book I snagged form the Grey Knight Terminators kit.


My second favorite is this guy above. I just love the hell out of the combination of bits & he sort of happened by accident. He just came together perfectly as if the Chaos Gods willed him to life. I love when that happens. He's not meant to be anything special, just a regular guy in the squad but I can't help be goo-goo-ga-ga over him. This guy has bits from 7 different kits.

Some of the rest:

The last two photos are of the attached Wolf Guard, normally I try and make those the coolest looking models in the squad & though I like him I think I failed miserably compared to a few of the others.


If you haven't already picked up on it I love the Scout Marine kit. It's one of of the few that I do buy the whole kit & not just a few of the bits I want online as I have no doubt I will someday use them all even if I never build a single scout.... except maybe those heads.... those are pretty horrible.

The last two photos of the possessed marine are of my Mark of Wulfen count as model. The heads from the Fantasy Chaos Knights kit, one of my other favorites for kit-bashing and another one that I just buy outright. Already planing on getting another one because I want to re-do my Thunderhoof Calvary.



Last guy up is the power weapon wielder. I'd say out of all the models he is the only one that holds any disappointment for me only because I feel that I used to much of a similar head on the Power Fist model. It's not to say I don't like either of them, I do but as I said above I like to set my leader models apart a little and I feel like both of them missed the mark a bit. I do love the pose of the sword arm though.

As for the squad as a whole I gave them the running legs to set them apart from the other squads I have done. One thing I love about Grey Hunters is that you can model them almost anyway you like which means each squad can have a look all it's own to help figure out who belongs with who. My first squad had the standing legs with bolt pistols & chain swords, the second had the standing legs with bolters & these guys I modeled running into the fray like half mad-men. At one point while reading Dark Apostle it is mentioned during a battle that the Word Bearers had placed their brothers who's worship favors Khorne slightly in front of the lines during a charge, I tried to keep that in mind while working on these guys.

One more thing before I cease my ranting: I'd like to give a shout-out to Blackdagger Games over on E-Bay. They are my favorite bit provider & I will always go their first when looking for parts. I've made 4-5 orders with them in the past year and each time it's always been a joy. I've always gotten my bits in perfect shape, for a decent price & always from Georgia to me in California in two days flat. I couldn't recommend them highly enough & since I don't think I've ever left feedback for them (which I will now) this is my way of making it up to them. So if you want to do some kit-bashing & don't want to drop a small fortune on a whole kit shoot on over there and give them some business..... they are a lot better than GW ever was at bits service even in the golden years.

Have a great week everyone!




Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Is it time for Codex Chaos Legions Yet?

Because my God do I want to use the Dark Eldar Talos as a base for a Slaanesh Demon Prince Conversion!


So many cool possibilities to exploit with that thing. Anyway just thought I'd throw that out there. New models are inbound soon, just waiting on some bits to finish my latest squad of Grey Hunters.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Army Construction Status

I figured I should average @ least ONE post a month.

It felt like only a few day but it ended up being a few weeks that I took off from modeling but I'm back on the horse & halfway done with my next Wolf Guard Squad, so I'll have some new stuff to show off soon. In the mean time I actually wanted to post something just for me.

Last night I thought that I'd list out the models I intend to build for my Word Bearers to help keep me focused on the models I have to build and those I already have done to show me how far I've come. Like i said it's just for me really and it will help keep me focused.

- Black Cardinal Vaul (Logan Grimnar counts-as)
- Dark Apostle on foot (Wolf lord or possible Ragnar Blackmane stand in)
- Demon Prince (a Wolf Lord on Thunder-wolf counts as)
- Rune Priest 1
- Rune Priest 2
- Dark Apostle w/Jump Pack (Wolf Lord or Wolf Priest)
- Krakus the Outcast, Lord of Skulls (A Khorne devoted Lone Wolf, ergo a Word Bearer heretic)
- Maybe 1-2 Other Lone Wolves (each for another God)
- Wolf Guard Squad 1
- Wolf Guard Squad 2
- Wolf Guard Squad 3
- Swift Claw Raptors (Retinue for the HQ w/jump pack)
- Landspeeder(s)
- Thunder-Wolf Squad 1.0 (these guys are getting redone)
- Thunder-Wolf Squad 2.0 (First unit I did & I'm not totally happy with them.)
- Mounted Demons (Ferensian Wolves)
- Long Fang Squad 1
- Long Fang Squad 2
- Dakka Predator
- Rhino
- Rhino
- Rhino or Drop Pod
- Razorback

Yeah there is a lot of red but as for model count I'm about half way.... not so bad.

More soon.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

So I know a Chaos Jump Pack Chaplin has been done...

but sometimes you just need to steal someones ideas....

Yeah the Jump Pack Chaplin has been converted to Chaos with the bat wings more than any other loyalist model in history. Yet it's just so damn cool & it fits in with Word Bearers so well how can I not do it again?!


The Raptors I posted last week are meant to be this guys retinue. I also modeled him with lightening claw. I plan on running him as a Wolf Priest but I wanted the option of running him as a Wolf Lord with a Wolf Claw.

As you can see it’s also a failcast model. Actually I didn’t have to many problems with it, yes there were a grew things that needed to be filled but it otherwise wasn’t horrible. His weapon IS bent & that drives me nuts as I’m a perfectionist but it could have been worse. Also I abhor the old metals & hadn’t bought a pewter mini in years. Finecast is certainly easier to work with & convert & for me that's a big plus. All in all I think Finecast is meh but for me at least I like it a lot more than the metals. If they make some improvements it could be great stuff.

Hope everyone has a great 4th for all you fellas in the States


Special thanks goes out to Ryan from On The Painting Table for his plug on his Space Marine supplemental to the weekly top ten for my Raptor squad!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Model Gallery

So if your like me and you have ADD, when you get to someones blog most of the time you just want to cut to the chase and see their work! Well being the easy going guy that I am I added a new tab @ the top of the page titled "Model Gallery"! Click on it & you will find a few photos of the squads I have worked on and a link to see the rest. You can check it out here: