Category: Warhammer 40k, Warhammer 40000

Bandai Space Marine! Games Workshop finally makes TOYS!

Many of us in the gaming world are also collectors of toys (myself included). For many years a large majority of us were scratching our heads as to why GeeDub hadn’t jumped on the action figure train. Well, as many of you know, last year saw the unveiling of a collaboration between Japanese toy giant Bandai and Games Workshop to unleash a Space Marine action figure, followed shortly thereafter by McFarlane Toys who would bring it to store shelves.

Our intrepid reporter, Matt Crump, took one for the team and wrote up a review for your reading pleasure. So get some Marmite and toast together and a cuppa and lets get started. Matt, over to you sir.

Continue reading “Bandai Space Marine! Games Workshop finally makes TOYS!”

Matt’s Retrohammer: Exo-Armor Squats

Welcome everyone! Today’s post is by my good buddy Matt Crump. Matt has become somewhat of my ‘Oldhammer’ go-to guy as he loves to delve into his archives and unearth something from the vaults. Those of you who got into Games Workshop around the time of Rogue Trader will be well familiar with Matt’s offering today, and even if you’re relatively new, sit back and enjoy a look at times past…

Continue reading “Matt’s Retrohammer: Exo-Armor Squats”

Nurgle – Then and Now…

Good morrow everyone! A quick post today as a small bit of amusement for myself really. I assembled one of the new Nurgle figures from the Dark Imperium set, which, I have to say, are just some of the most beautiful (?) Nurgle miniatures that GW have put out. I am a big fan of the old Rogue Trader era chaos renegades and also the metal miniatures from the early 2000’s. The Forgeworld upgrades are really nice too, and it’s generally just great to see papa Nurgle actually get some screen time over Khorne, whom I believe to be Chaos’ answer to the Imperiums poster boys – the Ultramarines. The new chaos releases are just so over the top, exactly how I would expect chaos marines to be.

GW’s plastics have come a million miles as well, as the picture shows, the static, one-pose plastic plague marine standing next to his Dark Imperium cousin, and well frankly, there is no comparison. Night and day for sure.

Obviously over the years we have seen a scale creep in GW (and indeed most miniature manufacturers figures), and this became even more apparent after building this guy last night. With the introduction of the new Primaris marines into the 40K canon, the stage is set to get ever bigger (pun intended). So my question really was simply “why?”. Why are we seeing this gradual increase in the size of miniatures? Is the desire to pack as much detail onto one miniature such that it demands this size increase to enable that? I wouldn’t say that was strictly true as I have been building a lot of Infinity miniatures lately – they are a lot smaller than GW figures and they have an intimidating amount of details on them. (Ironically, Corvus Belli have actually had some scale creep in their figures too). Is it for simplicity’s sake? to enable younger gaming enthusiasts to be able to build these figures quickly? I don’t think that’s the case at all. Compare a Rogue Trader era Space Marine to a Primaris and indeed a pre-Primaris Space Marine and the difference is very obvious. I’m not sure yet how I feel about the mixing and matching of the smaller size marines and the new guys. If Guilliman’s new boys are the ultimate fighting machines, then does that mean that all marines that came before can retire and watch from the sidelines? lol!

Do you even work out bruh?

Do other hobbies have scale creep? I wonder if model railway enthusiasts have to deal with similar issues? Just my musing for today. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the scale change over the years, so drop a comment below and thanks for reading!

Space Wolves – B&C paint challenge completed!

I just recently (by the skin of my teeth) completed my painting vow for the Bolter and Chainsword painting challenge. Here are my Grey Hunters!

I’m very pleased with how they turned out! let me know what you think!

Witchhunters/Demonhunters codexes officially gone from the shelves?

It would appear so, along with the disappearance of the box sets from the shelves of both GW outlets and independent stockists. I’m still busting to know what this means, and if it means an overhaul from these forces, when its going to happen.

I noticed in the latest edition of White Dwarf that the WH and DH ‘dexes will be available free of charge in a downloadable PDF format through the GW website in either May or June, although you do have to sign up on there. (it’s still free though!)

So whats the dealio, Games Workshop? there are legions of us out here slavering at the bit for some Inquisition news!

Lastly, what was this piece of art commissioned for???

Did anyone else notice the figure on top of the Titan? St Celestine???

An unnerving talent….

I was spacing out the other day, wondering what was going to be next on the project table for me to tinker with when I realized that all the armies I choose to collect, painstakingly paint and game with all seem to be obsolete (pretty much) or do so shortly after my decision.

Sisters of Battle.

Well, we all know where this is right now, well, we don’t, thats actually the whole point. I started collecting my Witch Hunters force back in about 2004 when I wanted to just start collecting and painting minis again. I bought the codex too. It wasn’t until I went uber serious with gaming again (thanks Colin) that I decided to ctually get a playable force together and went out nd bought the 40K rulebook too. Double whammy on this one. No less than 6 months after me buying the rulebook, then that edition was updated to the current edition. DOH! No matter. I picked up the mini ‘rules bits only’ book from the AoBR set, which I still use. Then, all of a sudden, we find out that the Inquisitorial forces of the Imperium are slowly vanishing. Are we getting an overhaul? are we going the way of the Squats? will we actually get plastic Sisters? The last few months have seen Witch Hunters stock disappearing from shelves, including the codex, and then, in turn, the stock becoming unavailable online through GWs web portal. There’s been a lot of nay-sayers and doom bringers on the interwebs, but conversely there have also been some very positive hints and possible ‘leaks’. For the most part, it seems to be the way of GW to snipe a line from sale for it to be released further down the line. This seems positive, although I hope it’s not going to be another year or two off. 50 points for a rhino? pffft! updated codex please!

Black Templars

I decided I wanted to dabble with the Emperors finest, Space Marines. I didn’t want a vanilla force, and certainly not Smurfmarines. I saw the codex for Black Templars and fell in love (figuratively speaking). Maintaining an almost grim, medieval kvltness about them, I thought they were perfect. Well, now I hear that these chaps will be getting a makeover soon, although I also heard on the grapevine they might be axed. I’m more inclined to believe the former rather than the latter, considering the fluff, and the the fact they are a progenetor chapter of the Imperial Fists. Still, I guess we’ll see. Just as well I am putting together an auxillary of Salamanders…. 😉

Tomb Kings

I got bitten by the WFB bug again, and with Colin amassing an Empire force, I wanted to get in on some axes and maces action. I went with Tomb Kings – Skeletons =cool. Egyptian skeletons with a host of nasty stuff and something akin to the Lost ark of the Covenant = epic WIN. I have managed to score an obscene amount of stuff on Ebay for this, which is awesome, so I don’t feel too bad about collecting this army. It wasn’t until I was surfing one of my regular haunts that I started picking up on other TK players getting twitchy as the army doesn’t seem to be getting any love, apparently because of it’s somewhat ‘fringe’ status, and it not being as popular as the usual Orcs, Chaos etc. I’m hoping for a new army book, although it has just been announced that Orcs and Gobbos are to be released in May, so yet again, something else that will probably be the end of this year, start of early next year. I’m reaaaally hoping they make some new minis to coincide with this, as the Liche Priests and Bone Giant minis = f*cking awful.

With so much being up in the air, i’m wondering whether to shelve the SoBs and TKs, concentrate on my Templars see what happens. At least I can proxy the marines :p

Which leads me to my Lizardmen. A newly refurbished army, new book, new minis, and i’m collecting them! HA! nothing can go wrong with this one….

Templar Landspeeder completed! (at last!)

Finished my first Templar landspeeder last night. It’s taken a little while, but I am pleased with the results. I am still trying to perfect my weathering ‘skills’, but i’m pretty happy with the results on this. I have a second landspeeder thats in the ‘to do’ line, but I am still trying to locate a flamer to mount under the nose. I guess I’ll start on some troops next, as I’m a little burnt out on doing vehicles lol! >eyeballs Land Raider Crusader warily<

C+C very welcome, cheers!

Paul

Black Templar Assault squad

Just finished these bad boys last night. I have been toying with the idea of weathering the jetpacks, although i’m not too sure. Let me know what you think!

 

 

 

Obviously I still have to paint the bases, but I wanted to get them posted 🙂

Now, what next? Terminators? Land speeder??

*scratches chin thoughtfully*

Planetstrike Tourney – Chicago @ Black Sun Games!

FYI:

This tournament will begin on Sunday, Nov. 1st and end on Sunday, Nov. 29th. Armies will consist of 1750pts. of painted miniatures and will utilize both 5th edition and Planetstrike rules. Players are free to play at their leisure, so long as all battles are completed by Sunday, Nov. 29. I will provide my cell # to all participants so I can be reached if any problems arise and I am not present.

There is a $10 registration fee for entering. The fee can be paid at Black Sun Games or via my Paypal (please PM for Paypal information). Deadline for registration is Saturday, Oct. 31st.

Prize support will be provided by Black Sun Games.

Please email your army lists in either MS Word, Excel, or PDF format to ancientsociety79@gmail.com by Thursday, Oct. 29th

Basic Rules

• This tournament utilizes the normal 5th edition 40K rulebook and the Planetstrike expansion. The AdeptiCon INAT FAQ will be used (Updated 03.19.09). This FAQ can be found here: http://www.adepticon.org/wpfiles/inat/INATFAQv3.0.pdf

• Individual units that may have multiple rules versions will follow the rules presented in that army’s codex. Please take the time to review the relevant GW/Adepticon FAQ’s for clarifications.

• Special/Unique/Named Characters may be fielded, provided their individual rules allow them to be used in armies of 1750pts or less.

• All models must be WYSIWYG. Any model not represented properly will be removed from play. If this results in an illegal unit (below minimum squad size for example), then the entire unit will be removed

• All models MUST be fully painted to a 3-color minimum. Any model not painted to this standard will be removed from play. If this results in an illegal unit (below minimum squad size for example), then the entire unit will be removed

• Armies are limited to 1750pts. total. Please provide a clear, concise army list to your opposing player and the judge

• This tournament utilizes the Planetstrike force organization chart for all scenarios. The Planetstrike FOC is as follows (underlined units are COMPULSORY):

For attacking – 1 HQ (+2 HQ), 6 Elites, 6 Troops, 6 Fast Attack, 3 Heavy Support

For defending – 1 HQ (+2 HQ), 3 Elites, 2 Troops (+6 Troops), 3 Fast Attack, 6 Heavy Support

This will mean each player can have two separate 1750pt. army lists. If doing so, each list MUST be clearly marked as “Attacker” or “Defender”.

• Tournament judges’ rulings are final

Scoring

192 total points. 48 points per scenario divided into primary (20), secondary (15) and tertiary (10) objectives with three (3) +1 battle point modifiers.

Victory points will be used in the case of a tie.

Objectives

ANY non-vehicle unit (unless specifically stated otherwise in their relevant codex) may claim an objective, even if there is only a single model remaining, if it ends the game within 3”. Should an objective be claimed by both sides, it automatically counts as being claimed by the defender.