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!
Sisters of Battle… What is happening?
Hmmm. Suffice to say, I was deleriously excited when I saw the inside back cover of last months Games Workshop Monthly Release Catalogue White Dwarf and I noticed the little box that declared ‘Next month – Part 1 of the Sisters of Battle Codex!’. While I was disappointed initially by the fact that my girls only seemed to warrant a Chapter Approved WD codex, I got over it and moved on. I rushed up to my FLGS on Wednesday to purchase the latest issue (even after reading all the venom online about the codex) to see wtf all the fuss was about. I was pretty disappointed that a vast majority of the issue was devoted to Vampire Counts. The Sisters debut of the ‘new’ rules were stuffed at the back of the magazine almost like an embarrassing afterthought. A whopping 14 pages out of 120… I can only hope that next month will see the Sisters maybe even gracing the cover and taking center stage, although with the preview of next month being focused on Ogre Kingdoms, i’m not too sure. We are promised at batrep of the Sisters Vs. Orks, although elsewhere they said it was against Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan, so either they will publish more than one batrep, or they just did a shit job proofreading before going to press.
Now i’m not about to launch into whether this new set of rules is going to make them more competitive etc etc, as there are a deluge of blogs out there who are already doing that (and very well, I may add). I’m just trying to get my head around what exactly GW are doing with this army. A cursory glance at the first part of the glorified pamphlet Codex shows us a little bit in the way of the origins and key conflicts, then jumps straight into the Army Special Rules. I wonder if newcomers to the game will look at this and think ‘holy shit! this looks awesome! sod the other armies out there with their shiny books packed with background fluff, i’m rolling with these ladies!’. I guess I have to ask, has this been put together with current non-sisters players in mind, or are they simply appeasing an older crowd who play them? If it is the latter, then I’d be suprised, as i’m sure GW will want to milk as much moolah out of it as they can, so if it’s the former, it’s not particularly impressive. Shit, they’re even regurgitating old artwork for filler.
I’m not sure how I feel about the new Faith Points system. At the start of the Sisters player’s turn, a D6 is rolled, and this is the amount of Faith Points available for that turn. As mentioned on many other blogs, it makes little sense to have this the same for forces of any size. A 3000 point Sisters army would have a max of 6 Faith Points available? Seems a little goofy, considering the religious fervor these ladies are supposed to have…
Gone are Inquisitiors and their retinues, as well as allied forces of Imperial Guard or Space Marines. We do get Priests, with ‘Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclaves’ which is where Crusaders, Arco Flagellants and Death Cult Assassins have now been lumped. If I remember correctly, weren’t the arco’s weapons in the previous Codex classed as power weapons? They have added Feel No Pain, which I guess is pretty cool, and gone is that bloody horrible ‘stim injector death’ rule.
We don’t see an entry for the Repressor in this list. This was one of the things that was getting me excited about the new lists, was the posssibility of plastic sisters, and a plastic Repressor (any one who has attempted a FW one will know how much of a pain in the arse it is to put together). In fact, the only minatures in the book are old ones, so are they saving that up for the next issue? will they get new minis or will it be the old range redone in Finecast? No fire points on an Immolator now? No 12 inch ride-and-fire either? wtf?
Gone is Lord Karamazov on his toilet Throne of Judgement, and back is Arch-Confessor Kyrinov and Uriah Jacobus, who have returned from a well earned break between Codexes.
There are some interesting little tweaks here and there, but the army seems to be lacking the somewhat ‘medieval’ feel they had to them before.
On the whole, it seemed pretty anti-climatic. I can only hope that GW redeem themselves by releasing new minis, vehicles etc in the next issue, and while i’m not going to be sending my army off to Ebay just yet, their days may well be numbered.
100th Post! Today is Old Stuff Day… Black Templars revisited!
Rob over at Warhammer 39,999 had a great idea for resurrecting old blog posts that may have been missed by newer readers, or just forgotten about in the annals of internet time.
I guess When Cannons Fade is still in it’s infancy when you look at some of the other big players out there, but thats ok. I’ve never really been one to post up army lists, dissect rules, or start working on the math behind my beloved hobby (I leave all that complicated stuff to Dethtron 🙂 ).
I do however, enjoy focusing more on the hobby side of the game, the painting, converting, WIP side of it, so thats what this contribution to Old Stuff Day will be, a look back on my boys in black, my Templars.
This post from back in February 2009 showcased my efforts for the founding of my Templar chapter. I had acquired the Assault on Black Reach box set, and given the Orkses away to my buddy Evan. I thought that this would be a great way to start an army, or at least bulk up the plastics I had already been amassing.
First to be tackled was the Dreadnought. The snap-fit style of the set was good, although I think they used a harder type of plastic, because cutting and trimming it was a bitch! Eventually, after some blood, sweat and tears were expended the honored brother, in all his resplendent glory, was finished:
Don’t forget to check out the original post for more views: http://whencannonsfade.com/2009/02/27/completed-the-aobr-dready/
Fast forward to August of 2009. After tinkering around with some other bits and pieces, I did a test run on how I would be painting my boys in black. I was very happy with the results:
Before
After
You can see the post and pictures in it’s entirety here: http://whencannonsfade.com/2009/08/27/chaos-lord-wip-and-black-templar/
November 2009 sees the appearance of my Black Templar Assault Marines. Exactly as the label says:
So there we have it, a couple of snap shots from WCF’s past. Since then I feel that I have improved on my painting skills (i’m pretty pleased with my Templar Rhino with xtra armor, and my Landspeeder). There will be more Templar goodness to come, but I do hope you’ll swing by the WCF TARDIS and have a look back through the archives!
Cheers!
Paul
Black Templar Rhino with xtra armor/armour
This seemed to take waaaaay too long to paint. I’m not too sure why. Maybe because you can’t be as ‘slap happy’ with marine vehicles like you can with say, Imperial Guard vehicles. Well, I guess you can, but it just doesn’t work as well, IMO.
The Forge World armor pieces were pretty much a pain in the arse to work with. Some parts were bent, others ridiculously warped and at least 2 pieces had shrunk, yes shrunk. Making the best of a bad situation, I forged ahead (geddit? Forged? Forge World? never mind…) and this was the finished product:
The Templar cross was masked off and sprayed onto the roof, then weathered to show wear and tear. I’m pleased with the results, I just hope that my other vehicles (i’m looking at you, Vindicator) won’t take as long.
In the meantime, having OB’d (over blacked) i’m going to take a few days off from painting Templars, and having a go with something with a bit more color to it (well, slightly more, I guess). I started one last night. Here is a teaser:
As always, C+C always welcome!
From the mighty halls of Asaheim
‘Come my brothers, come walk with me
to the new worlds across the Great Sea
In Asaheim our destinies lie
as warriors at The Emperors side…’
I decided to take a step out of my current projects and do something completely different. I have some odds and sods that I picked up off Ebay, like Deamonettes, Chaos Warriors and whatnot, just odd minis, not whole units, so I could change things up once in a while. I Also thought it would be a good way to push myself in terms of techniques and strive to get me up to a higher standard. So, reaching into my drawers (hehe) I pulled out this chap and set to work.
I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for Space Wolves, being a frustrated viking myself, so I was pretty intrigued as to how he was going to turn out. I debated at first whether or not to go with dark grey armor, or the lighter ice blue/grey armor. I settled on the latter, as so much of my other stuff is supergrimdark so the change of pace was quite satisfying.
I spent 10 hours (roughly) on this chap, but I’m very pleased with the results. I have to pick up some of this adhesive stuff to apply the decal to the shoulder pad. I’d forgotten how much I hated water slide decals, especially for shoulder pads. Trying to apply a flat surface to a rounded one will ineveitably lead to frustrating creases. I remember Dethtron telling me about this stuff you paint over the decal which basically fuses the membrane to the surface of the mini.
This was the recipe I used for my Space Wolf:
Armor:
Basecoat with a 1:2:1 mix of Space Wolf Grey, Shadow Grey and Codex Grey. Wash with Devlan Mud in the armor recesses. Don’t worry about being tidy! The add progressivley more Space Wolf Grey to the base mix and paint the armor plates, concentrating more on the outer edges to get that defined edging.
Bones:
Base coat of snakebite leather. Devlan mud wash over the basecoat. Re-apply snakebite leather on the higher parts to begin your highlights. Add bleached bone to this for your highlights. Take this all the way up to bleached bone, or even skull white, depending on how ‘bright’ you want it.
Yellow areas:
Base coat of Tausept Ochre, add some skull white to this and paint a layer on. Wash with devlan mud and gryphonne sepia (concentrate more on the edges). Add skull white for highlights.
Eagle/helm trim:
Base coat is a 1:1 mix of shining gold and scorched brown. Wash with devlan mud. Add layer of shining gold on the high points. Add mithril silver to this for highlights.
Jewels:
Scab red base coat, followed by blood red, add vomit brown to the blood red for highlights finished with a dot of skull white.
Shoulder pad rims:
Base coat of Bolt Gun Metal, washed with devlan mud. Mithril silver to give worn look to the very edges.
As always, comments and criticisms are always welcomed!
When Cannons Fade is rapidly approaching its 2nd birthday (seriously, where has the time gone?) and there may be a few changes going on around here. I’ll reveal more on or around November 7th, along with some self indulgent ‘looking back’ at WCF since it’s inception.
Cheers!
Paul
New 40K short story finished
It actually started out (in my mind) as a couple of paragraph snapshot that I wanted to scribble up to be able to give an impression of what it would be like to witness the Legion of the Damned turning up to lend a hand. Well, six and a half pages later and it was finished. I guess I got a little carried away, but it was a lot of fun putting myself into the story and trying to picture the scene. I could have gone into waaaay more detail than I did, but I didn’t want to get too bogged down with specifics. I’m not a writer really, and just wanted it to be a bit of fun. I hope you all enjoy it. Here is the link: https://whencannonsfade.wordpress.com/dark-brotherhood-a-40k-short-story/
C+C are welcome!
Cheers
Paul
Sisters ‘Angels of Deliverance’ Seraphim.
Well, I finally finished my Seraphim squad for my Sisters army. I had one casualty while I was painting these, one of them fell over and the backpack pinged off. After an outburst of cursing it was taken care of, but this goes to show how unbalanced these minis are. Very top heavy. Take into account this was also on a flat surface. As anyone who has played against my sisters at Colins place will attest, they fall about all over the place as though the were drunk off their asses. I have noticed, since taking these pictures last night and uploading them this morning, that there are a couple of touch ups I need to do, but anyway, here they are:
And there we have it. As I had mentioned in previous posts, I hope that we SoB players won’t have to wait too much longer for some updates, and new minis. With the recent Blood Angels release, with the fast attack squad having some pretty sweet ‘feathered’ wings, could this be a pointer for what else is in store…? Plastics are definitely the way forward, its just unfortunate that some of us are being held back.
C+C welcome!
Paul
Updating ‘Aut Pax Aut Bellum’
Yes, it is true… I actually have started listing some of my Sisters force under their banner which I created aaaages ago. It’s WIP for the most part, but I wanted a central reference point for my ongoing work on the girls. I’m sorta beginning to regret my choice of colors, simply for the amount of work that has to go into it, and free time is something I don’t get a lot of. I’m currently working on my squad of Seraphim. I am working on five of them, although I have another four, but to be honest, these figures are ass-paralyzingly boring to work on. With the exception of one in particular, the poses for the most part are boring and unimaginative, and lack any ‘movement’ it actually looks like they are in a cheerleading squad, doing some jumps. Maybe I should switch out the bolt pistols for pom poms…
I’ve been lurking on numerous forums, trying to glean any further information about any imminent Sisters updates or releases, as the GW stores have been yoinking their stock from the shelves, and they have been gradually disappearing from the online store as well. GW employees are usually full of information (when you ask) and obviously most of it is hearsay (heresy? lol!) or blatant wishlisting. I just hope that whatever the ‘great plan’ that GW has for us legions of loyal Sisters, or =][= players that they do us proud and release a fine selection of minis to accompany a new Codex. If the recent releases are anything to go by, then I may just have to permanently carry around a box of tissues. The recent pictures of the advance order Blood Angel stuff are incredible, and make me hope (read: wish) that we =][= players have something in the pipeline soon. Can you imagine, an army of Battle Sisters that aren’t all in the same pose? Glory to The Emperor! Beloved by all!
Thinking about what we currently have in our ‘dex, I don’t really think we’ll actually lose anything. Maybe some tweaks here and there, and obviously adjust some points costs (50 pts for Rhinos? HELLO?????). I am rather hoping that we get some new heavy stuff, or maybe some =][= specific transports. One big thing I am hoping we DO NOT lose, are the inducted or allied options.
Time will tell I guess. In the meantime I will paint my one pose army and dream of glories yet to come…
oh, and the updated page can be found here lol!
https://whencannonsfade.wordpress.com/aut-pax-aut-bellumeither-peace-or-war/
Paul
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
When Cannons Fade... 