Storm Raven WIP 1

Greetings! one of the various projects I have in my desk is a second Storm Raven for my Blood Angels army. I was able to order it from Wayland before the price increase so it is a reasonable investment. Should I have ordered 2? well let's begin with 2 'Ravens lists, and then move on.

Painting the crew compartment.

How 12 Space Marines are going to cram in that area is beyond my comprehension :) and there are only  8 seats by the way. Anywho I decided I wanted to paint the inside of the 'Raven as well, even though it is going to have very little visibility. Guess it's all about taking the most out of each kit. It also makes sense though to just glue all the doors in place and forget about the inside, especially if you favor playing rathing the hobby side of it. I favour both  :)


That said, diven that I won't be peering much inside of it, I also didn't want to spend too much time in this area. Hmm so something nice and quick? airbrush and washes! I started by basecoating the inside in white using the Vallejo white primer with an airbrush. The reason for not priming black is that I wanted the inside to look clear, just like the 20th century tanks which look almost white in the inside, to be more visible when in combat mode the lights are turned out. I guess a Space Marine would not have a problem there though!


After that I applied a layer with a light grey color using the airbrush as well. It was one of the model air paints which are really handy - no need to use a thinner, just pour to the airbrush and paint. 


Next was painting the cables, seats and brass decoration in the inside, followed by a filter with devlan mud. This gave the plates a very nice worn out look, plus some shadows and depth. If this was going to be in the outside, I would have continued to work and clean it a bit, but for the inside will suffice.

Once everything was dried I glued the panels into place and locked them with some tools to ensure they fit well. The only additional work I did was on the front ramp hinge, which is too thick to allow for movement. I used a drill to enlarge it slightly so the ramp can actually swing. 

Questions / feedback, feel free to comment away!

Digressions on 6th ed

Space Wolves

I've been out for holidays, and that includes posting blog entries too :p It doesn't mean between mojitos and friendly matches on TV my mind has not been busy interpreting the new rulebook and FAQs, nor trying to devise playstyles and armies for 6th ed. I have not played a game yet so all that I have now are hypothesis and assumptions, which will probably proven wrong with time. Here are some thoughts:

• Space Marine armies of all colors, shapes and degrees of facial hair based in light AV11 vehicles will be less viable than before with the hull points rules, reduction in cover and I think increase in TL Str 6-7 weapons we're going to see. Perhaps spamming 10+ vehicles will still work but I certainly don't see these 4-6 razorbacks hybrid builds as before. Hybrid SM armies will have to use other resources, namely larger foot slogging units (if possible with some AI protection in the form of 2+/3++ saves toting guy leading the way), jumpers for BAs, TWC, whatever the army has to offer.
• 2+ saves can't be hurt by EW as before, so plasma will need to be taken to deal with these efficiently. What rapid fire, the extra range and hull points bring to the table make it a much more viable choice against the previous allmighty melta. Which in turn, if we see less melta in the tables, could cause other side effects in the form of LR or other big guns that were too easy to kill before, for what they costed.
• Challenges will also impact the way ICs and sergeants are equipped. A PF in a 1W guy will have a hard time in a challenge, as he will be wiped out way before he gets to strike. Are we going to see challenge-oriented characters? I would think so. Artificier armor, invulnerable saves and some type of EW (we shall see which one prevails) will be more often seen when available. At this moment, no option seems clearly better than the others, so we might end up in a rock-paper-scissors meta in which characters will be good against some types and not as good against other. For example, if your opponent has a 2+ save you will need a mean to bypass it, and that means generally striking at I1 throgh a PF, TH or power axe. On the contrary, these weapons will put you at disadvantage if your opponent has a 3+ and strikes at normal initiative. Let's keep in mind not all the characters have access to 2+ saves so this is not as easy to solve as equipping your guyas with 2+/3++ saves and a PF.
• Flyers are completely in the air (no pun intended) as there are almost no AA guns. Once GW unveils the whole thing we will have a better idea. For now the only way to efficiently deal with Flyers is using flyers, which strangely is what GW wants to sell you now. Are we so easy to manipulate as GW thinks?
• The change in reserves might turn out for good, as you get more stuff sooner (3+ in T2 and T3). However not being able to reserve more than 50% of the units is bad. It's bad because it makes certain armies illegal (DoA), and it's bad because sometimes you have to reserve, or be alpha-striked. Say you go second and face a leaf-blower style IG army, or Str6 spam (some builds can pour 100-shots-per-turn), Tau gunlines, wolves missile-spam, you name it. And say there's not a lot of cover to hide behind. I'd like to hear a viable solution to this other than buying your own cover in the form of GW terrain kits.
• On the upside, I like that the change rules will revive some units from their death limbo. Death Company (hehe), Sanguinary Guard, quite a few Eldar units, hopefully Chaos Space Marines and Tau... the list is long. I won't neither miss seeing 3 hydras every time I face IG lol.
• Things like premeasuring and random charge distances are, well difficult to justify. Anyone who plays the game enough can eyeball distances reasonably well, and missing from time to time gives it this "almost certain to happen but not guaranteed" feeling that is good for the game. The 2D6 charge will sometimes punish well articulated tactics, more than expanding the charge range I'm afraid. Because if you are at 11", are you going to attempt charging and get the overwatch damage?  Conversely, if you are at 5" you will likely try to assault if that was your plan all along, and yet you can miss that assault. Probabilities are not high but we know things happen when you roll too many dices. Bottom line: random 2D6 will not likely grant incredible charge distances, but rather screw from time to time charges that should have happened. Reminds me of shooting point blank melta to a LR and failing to hit.
• Last but not least, the commercial policy of GW. So they launch the new rulebook in June but the starter set comes in September, so you either buy both, or are meant to not play these months (of course there are ways to...). They bring Flyers to the game in a way that you either use Flyers, or get screwed by other Flyers. Allies are designed in a way that will push many people to get GK or IG, or *potentially* (we still need to see the effect of allies) face stronger builds. See what I mean?

So, we're in July, the sun is shining and beer gets warm very fast. 40k is still a great way to haven fun, and I do so by musings around with my own ideas. Time will tell how right or wrong (likely) I am! Looking forward to my first 6ed tourney late this month. Fun times ahead!

Games Day 2012 Spain

Well I'm just back from the Games Day 2012 in Barcelona. What a day! I'm as thrilled and motivated to continue with my projects as I could possibly be. After all, it's difficult not to be inspired by so many great creations. Big dioramas or individual minis, the quality of Golden Demon participants was breath taking. I have to confess this is my very first Games Day after some ~20 years in the hobby, and will certainly not be the last one.

Huge battles with Flyers... yay

I'm also glad to have in my hands the GD'12 mini; this year is a very special one for me: the Blood Angels captain that was featured in the 2nd edition box. That was the box I began with so this sort of closes the circle. The mini is plainly awesome, and it was good to have the sculpter, Juan Diaz, around. He looked happy to be at home (well, 200 kms to the north but ya know) and was seemed content to give sculping tips to just everyone who swung by his table.

Golden Demon

It's difficult to convey my feelings after seeing so many great pieces of art. I consider myself a (relatively) good painter, and I've even won best painted army at a couple of tournaments, but the stuff at Golden Demon is well above my current capabilities. Some years ago I would have felt abashed but this time I'm just motivated to try and replicate this painting style. Things like creating shades, like line highlighting with different tones to reach almost a white, to paint faces in layers and not with washes... the list goes on and I made sure to take a pic on some minis that struck me the most. Below you can see some pictures.

Now, Anja from the 'Eavy metal team was there, and some of her creations too. The NMM Sanguinor, Astorath, Arjac Rockfist, Njal Stormacaller... these stood head and shoulders above anything else. I own the WD with the painting guide of the Sanguinor, you know full of high quality pics, but seeing the actual mini live makes you think she's sold her soul to Slaanesh (I'm kidding of course). I can only say, there were some incredible minis for the Golden Demon, whose owners probably spent weeks if not months with them. Well I don't know how long it took her to paint those minis, but with GW's release schedule, I suspect only a few days. I *believe* with practice and effort I could one day get closer to a Golden Demon level, but I *know* I will never be able to paint like Anja. That said, GD level is good enough to me so I'll be satisfied if I ever reach that level.

Beautiful subtle NMM touches

An epic battle worth 100 quid

Forge World

People were buying FW stuff like if there was no tomorrow. I had planned to buy the Space Marine Captain and Banner holder, and the new apothecaries, and began a small collection of a pre-heresy Legion. Instead I've decided to hold myself until I can paint those awesome minis to the level they deserve, and thus set upon myself to try to improve and maybe next year I'll be ready for that.

Black Library

Graham McNeill was the BL's VIP and was kind enough to have a Q&A session with the audience. But what caught my attention was some of the new books. Priests of Mars from McNeill himself looks tasty, especially after the monumental Mechanicum, and Fear to Tread's cover with Sanguinius fighting/falling to a demon gave many people a heart attack. Unfortunately the Black Library won't speed up things for a while and the final battle of Sanguinius vs. Horus in the Vengeful Spirit won't come anytime soon, but the reminiscence of the cover is evident.

Conclusion

Any 40k hobbyist worth his salt will greatly enjoy these events, and I love how you have so many different aspects of it available in just one event. You can play, paint, create stuff, talk to other fans and folks from GW, and also spend too much in FW goodies. I had a blast and I'm definetely looking forward to next year's edition.

Age of Darkness Review

Age of Darkness is a compilation of 9 short stories of the Horus Heresy, set in a time frame between Isstvan V and 2 years later. It is nice to see the story moving forwards, and hopefully the next few years until Horus reaches Terra won't require 20 books again.

The book has clear highs and lows. The first stories aren't really great, and some of them are plain boring.

This is a small recap of the stories:


Rules of engagement
Black Library's best-seller writer Graham McNeill brings this piece about Captain Ventanus, one of the main characters in Know No Fear. The story has advanced since the Word Bearers attack and we can start to see  some cracks in Ventanus' faith and loyalties. Since when does an Ultramarine, a captain nonetheless, questions the purpose of his actions? Interestingly I read this book after Know No Fear (which was launched before) and I think this order fits better, as the timeline is now in order and you have a deeper knowledge of Ventanus.


Liar's due
Set in a small farming settlement in a corner of the galaxy with no strategic nor military importance at all, tells the story of one of Horus' agents manipulating its inhabitants to their cause. It's one of those stories that help to provide richness to the HH background, covering small details far away from the main action. The story is far from exciting and seeing little action doesn't help much. I would say pass unless you're truly absorbed by the HH.


Forgotten sons
This is a rather strange story of an Ultramarine and a Salamander send to convince a world to stay loyal. They would not do this by bolter and chainsword as you would expect, but rather by debating against an iterator sent by Horus (?). The story is more interesting that the plot though and it has some memorable moments, such as the Salamander recollections of the battle at Isstvan V and the last moments in which he saw the Primarch Vulkan alive, fighting for his life and his honour. All in all a decent read.


The last remembrancer
A traitor vessel appears in the Sol system, carrying a lone remembrancer. Dorn and the Half-Heard will have to find out why he's here.



Rebirth
A Thousand Sons captain is held captive by a Space Wolf (is it?) and slowly remembers how he got there. He had gone down to the surface of Prospero to look for survivors.


The Face of Treachery
This is a short prelude to Deliverance Lost and depicts the evacuation of the few remaining Raven Guard from Isstvan V, and how the Alpha Legion are already pulling some strings. Interesting and helps to better understand Deliverance Lost, which is a fine novel on its own.

Little Horus
The story I was most looking forward too, both for the author (Dan Abnett) and the subject. Little Horus has some scars than Abaddon after the Isstvan events, but fights to carry on his duties. We see here the continuation of the Mournival as a 4-men group again, and some fight against the White Scars.

The Iron Within
Definetely the story I enjoyed the most in the book. Reminds me of Storm Of Iron from Graham McNeill, although in a much smaller scale. A few loyal Iron Warriors are holding a fortress and making their enemies pay for every meter they gain with the help of an Ultramarine captain.


Savage Weapons
The last story, and finally we get some bloody, direct action! after some time chasing each other in a lost region of space, Konrad Kurze and the Lion decide to confront each other in a lonely planet, just the two of them plus a couple of bodyguards.





A good number of stories and a fine selection of writers, unfortunately the end result is far from satisfactory.





The best
The Iron Within is the only truly good story of the bunch. Little Horus is passable but I was expecting more of Dan Abnett.


The worst
Some of the novels are plain boring, and most of them lack any action or interest. Save 2 or 3, the rest are not good enough to be published, in my opinion.

Rating
3/10 Accepting the format is different to a normal novel, the bar has been set too low for this compilation. The lack of action makes it boring to read at times, and the fact that the stories are short don't mean they can't have any depth, but sadly this is the case. Finally, it would have been nice to use the small stories to uncover some loose threads, some mysteries to be solved, or to shed light on Legions that are not getting much attention right now. Unfortunately, nothing of this happens and we get a  collection of dull, flat stories that will disappoint many BL readers. A good wasted opportunity.

Forge World Rant

19 frigging days to process an order comprised of a pack of rhino doors and 3 space marine torsos, from a recently launched kit.

Charge 20.5GBP for that.

Add 15% on top for shipping and handling

According to their website, expect 10-14 days of transit.

And then pray you don't get too much bubbles.

Nicely done, Forge World. Another happy customer.*

*Dear reader, if you happen to be a Forge World supervisor, please note the sarcasm intended in this last sentence.

Know No Fear Review

Know No Fear is the 19th installment in the Horus Heresy series, and a fine addition to the list. Author Dan Abnett explores one of the crucial battles of the Heresy when the Word Bearers attack Ultramar, the vast region of space controlled by the Ultramarines and in many ways an Empire on their own.

Surely the Ultramarines do not have a reputation like those of the World Eaters or the Space Wolves, but are nonetheless a perfect killing machine and the largest legion at the moment, so their destruction was a key step for Warmaster Horus. The novel provides a rich description on how the XVII Legion of the Word Bearers attack the XIII, Ultramarines, focusing in the first hours before and after the attack. As the Ultramarines casualties pile up and the Word Bearers draw close to victory, there is something inside each and every Ultramarine that makes them face the unexpected and fight to the end.

In the same fashion as we previously were introduced to the ways and customs of other chapters (like the Thousand Sons or the Space Wolves), Dan Abnett creates the Ultramarines personalities and ways, with their own ways to interact amongst themselves and their primarch, with their unique way of thinking, and pretty much erasing for ever the feeling that the only difference amongst Legions was the colour of their armours. Roboute Guilliman appears for the first time in the series (about time!) and his is a portrait of a perfectionist, a ruthless strategist that has everything under his control and expects only the best from their men. All in all it's very nice to finally see the origin on why the Ultramarines are like they are - they are just like Guilliman made them to be.

But don't get me wrong, this is not a book about how the Ultramarines repel the invasion and wipe out the traitors - this is a book about how Ultramar and its Legion is almost destroyed. The description about the attack is long and detailed, almost painful, and certainly most enjoyable by all the Chaos fans. The Ultramarines fleet is almost completely destroyed, the damage in Calth is unbearable and the loses of the XIII legion are above the 100K Space Marines, a most damaging blow to the heart of the Empire. Only their courage and honour will keep the Ultramarines fighting.

The best
Abnett's description of the Ultramarines through their customs and their prmarch is delightful; they will no longer be just Space Marines in blue. The book structure containing different sub-histories makes it very intriguing and addictive.

The worst
The 200-long pages of the Ultramar destruction are tiresome. One of the sub stories doesn't have a clear ending, perhaps that will come in another book.

Rating
8/10 Enjoyable, addictive and throughoutly well-written although the Word Bearers' attack description was too long for my taste.

Showcase: Blood Angels Sniper Scouts

Howdy! today's entry is about some BC Sniper Scouts with camo cloaks. I quite enjoyed painting them, except for the the cloaks was a bit of a pain but nothing too major.

Getting started

The kit nicely comes with 6 torsos and five legs, giving the choice to have a missile launcher scout if desired. It only takes 3 magnets to be able to switch over, so well worth the effort. I am also planning to take them around to play games so I also magnetized the other torsos/legs - these long rifles won't last for long in one piece even in a foam tray.

As for the bases, I'm using the urban rubble bases from Secret Weapon Miniatures, as opposed to the normal urban bases the assault marines have. It's a way to link them to the rest of the army, yet showing that they are stepping on a different ground - they're scouts after all!

Painting

Until the scouts, the rest of my BA army had been painted with airbrush, at least the armour, so it was the first time I was painting armour with a brush. I had also decided when starting the army that I would go for a darker look so the scouts needed to follow the same scheme. Why not using the airbrush here as well? maybe because the visible armour areas aren't that big, I kind of felt lazy about the airbrush. Silly I know as the airbrush is way fastest than the brush but don't ask me ;)

So the base color is mechrite red, followed by a 50/50 blood angels red/mechrite red mix, then some pure blood angels red glazes in the most prominent areas. Neat and simple. I think I also sparingly added some light edge highlighting with blazing orange.

The suit beneath was painted with one of my favourite combinations: khemri brown basecoat, bleached bone layers and a devlan mud wash. It was looking good already so I just added a few highlights with bleached bone/skull white here and there.

The metallic areas were basecoated with black, then added boltgun metal and a final black wash. Usually with guns this big I would also add some black pigments to show the grease, but these are not machine guns, these are precision guns and I would expect them to be completely clean.

Finally, the lenses. For the night vision goggles I went for a Splinter Cell looking scheme, with a light, ethereal green that seems to glow. To recreate this effect I started with goblin green, and then mixed it with scorpion green and white while working my way towards the centre. A green + black ink wash to soften the progression and a final glaze with an almost white green were the icing in the cake.

The cloaks

I wanted the cloaks to have a digital urban camo, yet this is easier said than done. The idea about "digital"  camo is that from close it looks like a pixelated image. After browsing some time on google I was unable to find a pattern that fulfilled all of conditions, namely i) that I liked it and especially ii) that I could paint it!. The thing with the pixels is that it is difficult to paint small squares in such a curved surface, much more than your standard camo pattern with seemingly random shapes.

At the end I just painted the cloaks in a dark grey/blue color, then added some grey pixels / shapes around, then smaller, darker squares and finally some black pixels. Can't say the results blew my off but look good enough, and I already spent too much time on those guys!

And finally... how to play them!

Blood Angels have some great options in their troops slot. Okay they have Assault Marines with jump packs or in Razorbacks. These guys are the jack of all trades of the army, able to assault / occupy / support pretty much anything as long as there are enough of them, and within 6" of a sanguinary priest.

But what if you want a small, cheap, expendable unit to camp back in the home base, hide from the enemy guns, be left unnoticed but at the same time able to be a nuissance if needed? enter sniper scouts. Under heavy suppression fire they can just go to ground for the 2+ joy (disclaimer: 5th edition! ;) ) and with their sniper rifles and ML, they can disturb these annoying long fangs, lootas, devs, IG heavy weapons teams that camp in some ruin far away from the reach of the main body of the army.


So to summarize:

• They will sit in my home base, or move to claim a base near my deployment areas and sit there all game long.These guys won't scout, as they don't have the gear for it.
• If the opponent wants to remove them from afar, a lot of firepower will be needed to go over 5 2++ saves.
• If not, I will just shoot and annoy whatever enemy infantry in sight. A failed pinning check can mean 3-4 krak missiles less going my way.
• Same story for annihilation. They will hide and do their best to not get killed, and maybe they'll do something else. It's just 5% of the points after all.