I had no intention of really paying much attention to the 8th edition release but something piqued my interest and after really delving into it I find my self yearning to to start playing with square bases again. I get the impression I’m not alone either as from what I can gather the gaming community as a whole seems to be showing a lot of renewed interest and I imagine a lot of 40K players will be venturing into fantasy for the first time.

The thing that impresses me most is that the game and its setting feels magical again, in the same way it did 20 years ago. On top of this the improvements to the rules are very impressive. On the whole I’m very impressed and I really want to start a new Fantasy army.

As I say this, I’m fully aware that I probably don’t really have the spare time or funds to start a new (probably large) army especially as the game system I’m developing is really going to need most of my time.

Anyhow, lets pretend I do have some extra spare time. What army should I collect and what am I going to do to make it cool and unique?

I’ve narrowed the choices down to Skaven, Warriors of Chaos, Daemons or Beastmen. Whilst there are appealing things in other armies these 4 have always been my favourites and I can’t see that ever changing. I’m not overly concerned about using the most competitive lists, strong themes and cool conversions are my priority.

Skaven

One of the most compelling ideas for a Skaven army for me would be a pure Clan Moulder army with a large number of Rat Ogres. With the current Rat Ogre plastic kits I wouldn’t touch this army build with a very large stick but the Rat Ogres in the new Island of Blood box look phenomenal. Yes there’s only two but I reckon I can convert them well enough to create large enough variantion to field large units of them.

Warriors of Chaos

Whilst I like the Warriors list I don’t find the models particularly impressive. However, this isn’t a bad thing because it provides the perfect reason for some major conversion/sculpting work. Add to this the fact I prefer find sculpting armour plating fairly straight forward now and that the imagery of the Raven Host from Warhammer Online (which I used to play a lot as a Chosen) is a perfect guideline and inspiration.

Daemons

I only include Daemons in this list because I’m so impressed with the Slaanesh plastics especially the new riders. Other than Daemon Princes and Keepers of Secrets I can’t see much need for conversion work, and on the whole they would be a particularly unique collection of models to put down on the table. They would however allow me to field them in 40K too

Beastmen

I gotta admit I really like the Beastmen plastics, well except for the Crap-otaurs. I guess they could be improved upon but I’d be tempted to not field Minotaurs at all, even though the new edition makes them pretty formidable on the table. I’d probably be inclined to field as many ambushing units as possible and a couple of strong Bestigors as the core of the army. I’d be tempted to convert the Bestigors to make them look a bit more mean looking, but otherwise I’m unsure how I’d proceed with the Beastmen.

These are my ideas and I hope I manage to try one of ‘em. What about you? Interested in the new edition? Planning a new army or some crazy conversion?

As a sidenote I’m hoping that GW’s October mystery box this year will be Warhammer Quest as it would tie in nicely with their increased support to the Fantasy range.

I’ll start with the something that’s not exactly a tip but keep I get asked about it all the time: Clay Shapers.

A clay shaper is a rubber tipped tool that can be used for moving and smoothing modeling putty.

These are the clay shapers I have and they’ve served me well so far but I would like some more, specifically sharp edged ones. These are Royal Sovereign UK brand but I believe that other brands use the same colouring and sizes. The white are soft, grey are medium firmness and the black are firm.

The ones I use the most are the chisel shaped ones. Whilst using them I try to keep them wet and use a dragging/brushing motion (one direction). The size 6 shapers are generally too big for most things but work really well getting a smooth finish on power armour. I personally find the black ones too firm for anything other than adding sharp details.

I so far haven’t felt the need to use other sculpting more traditional tools other than a sharp scalpel, as the clay shapers have proved more than sufficient with the kind of sculpting I’ve been doing.

Not sure what else I can say right now, but I’ll edit these posts as and when I can.

You can see more of Roleplayer’s conversions and painting here, definitely worth a look, probably the best examples of painted Blood Ravens I’ve seen that aren’t just single display miniatures.

Many of the pics I had, have been lost to the warp over the years, but you can get some idea of what the final thing looked like from the few crappy photos I have left. The final casts were never finished (ran out of time).

This was my first experience with any kind of mould making and one hell of a steep learning curve.

Bear in mind most of these photos are WiP shots (oh and please ignore the scratches on some of the colour photos, I was trying to define the object from the background at the time).

The armature made from scrap.

The roughed out shape.

The roughed out shape from the front. The head received three or four revisions after this version.

Detailing on the spine.

Me trying to get the mould open without breaking it!

Anyway, I have a small update to show of the casts. These are the first casts of the recent greens I made, there’s a few small air bubbles here and there, but most of them are because of all the rivets. Unfortunately the glossy white resin doesn’t photograph too well but I figured I’d show them with a couple of other minis to give a good idea of size comparisons.

I began with the Mark V variant because I already have projects in need of them, but once they’re done I’ll be tackling others.

The last week or so I’ve been trying to complete a set of six Valkyrie builds, all fully magnetized (50+ magnets in each) with all available options. This is the current state of my desk.

They’ll be finished later today, so I’ll be moving forward with more actual scale work very soon.

This is more out of necessity than anything, as I need to raise some funds for a new computer to replace the steam powered one I’m currently making do with.

I’m pricing them at £250 which I feel is fair considering I would probably charge £300+ to convert and paint a squad of miniatures like these.

The items and tools used are a mark 7 helm (I use the one with two breather tubes on either side), greenstuff, Grandt Line plastic rivets (0.81mm), a small chisel ended clay shaper and a sharp scalpel.

Start by cleaning up the mold lines. I mounted this helm on the end of a drill bit just to make it easier to hold, but you could just as easily attach to the figure. Take a small amount of greenstuff, two to three times more yellow than blue to ensure it’s nice and soft, and roll it into a ball. Push the ball directly onto the helms forehead and flatten it a little.

Now using the wet clay shaper gently spread the greenstuff left and right around the curvature of the forehead, keeping the mass of the greenstuff symmetrical. If you have too much carefully slice away small amounts with a wet scalpel blade. Once you have a nice smooth curve going across the forehead, take your wet scalpel blade and trim away the excess greenstuff covering the eyes, leaving a square tab over the nose. Finally clean up any rough edges with the wet clay shaper.

Allow the greenstuff to cure. Because of the greater amount of yellow I usually allow at least 6 hours, but you may be ok to handle it gently before then.

Trim the rivets from their sprue using a sharp blade. You’ll need at least 12 but it’s best to cut off a few extra.

Place a drop of superglue on a piece of scrap plastic.
Now using the point of your scalpel blade (or the point of a pin will do) pick up one of the rivets and carefully dab it into the drop of superglue. Because of surface tension you’ll probably end up with too much on the underside of the rivet so carefully brush it against something to remove the excess without actually gluing the rivet down.

When ready push the rivet into place giving the glue a moment to dry before carefully pulling the scalpel blade away. Rinse and repeat until all rivets are applied. This takes a little practise, but once you get the hang of it doesn’t take long at all to do.

However, last week my beloved iMac decided to blow its own brains out and died a rather sudden and unexpected death. Apart from the massive inconvenience of having no computer (posting this on a borrowed laptop), the thing is beyond repair, or at least beyond repair considering the cost of parts. Annoyingly this is the one Mac I’d decided I wasn’t going to trade in for a better model as I was so happy with its performance (normally I “upgrade” every two years).

Luckily I do have backups of all my data, but until I properly replace it I’m going to be struggling with a crappy laptop. It kinda like having a gold plated lascannon and then trading it in for a rusted stub gun that only fires rubber bullets.

Enough of my crying though. In order to help finance a replacement for my poor iMac I’ll be putting some more of my own mini collection up for sale. I hadn’t intended to, but needs must. First up will be my original Actual Scale conversions the Blood Angels squad, and also some Ork conversions. I’ll probably sell off some other stuff too, including Space Hulk (or at least the minis).

As soon as I finish these sculpts for casting of truescale components I’ll post the pics for all to see.

I just wanted to mention how cool the Battle Mission book for 40k is, more specifically the Kill Teams mission. This to me is the perfect chance to be able to make those cool characterful conversions that I can use in a game without having to build an entire army. Being able to create a Kill Team relatively quickly means I won’t get stuck on one project for too long. Many of the armies I mentioned in my Top 10 Armies I’d Like to Build I’d be quite happy to collect as small Kill Teams, better that than not build any of them due to time constraints.

So for those of you without the book, the force selection for the Kill Team mission is 200pts (0-1 Elite, 0-2 Troops, 0-1 Fast Attack). In addition 3 models may each have one of the Universal Special Rules from the main rulebook (must be three different selections). This small addition helps add flavour and character to the units you select. Here’s some examples of Kill Teams I’m considering putting together.

Lamenters – Sternguard Squad

Sergeant – chainsword – Preferred Enemy

Veteran – heavy flamer - Feel No Pain

Veteran – plasma cannon - Relentless

Veteran – combi melta

3 Veterans – bolters

Snakebite – Madboyz Mob

1 Madboss (Nob) – Big Choppa, Eavy Armour - with Feel No Pain

19 MadBoyz (Boyz)- Sluggas, Choppas, 1 Rokkit Launcha, 1 Big Shoota - one with Counter Attack

1 Runtherd – grot prod - Preferred Enemy

10 Grots

Imperial Guard – Inquisitorial Stormtroopers

Veteran Sergeant – Shotgun, Power Weapon – Furious Charge

7 Veterans – Shotguns

1 Veteran – Meltagun - Tank Hunter

1 Veteran – Sniper Rifle - Relentless

3 Scout Sentinels – Multi-lasers

It’s quite interesting to see what you can get for your measly 200 points. The Relentless rule is pretty much a must for a heavy weapon toting model. I’ve already got some Madboy conversions made, so for £8s worth of plastic Grots I can finish that Kill Team real easily.

With limitations on having enough spare time for build whole armies expect to see me building a few Kill Teams instead in future.

First off I’ll explain why I’m not revealing the details of the game beyond it’s very basics. If I simply explain what the story is behind the game and what the models will look like etc, without actual images, I’ll be giving you all ideas based on your own preconceived notions. At the end of the day, I’ll reveal things to you when I feel they are of a high enough quality to share, rather than feed you ideas with nothing to back them up and work in progress models that don’t represent the finished product.

To everyone offering assistance with playtesting and design concepts, Thank You!

I will most certainly be asking to playtesters, and I also want to give the opportunity to those people who really like the final game to contribute to it. We’re all familiar with Warhammer 40,000 having various Space Marine Chapters, Craftworlds, IG Regiments, Hive Fleets, where the basic armies of each are much the same but have many subtle variations amongst them like colour schemes or variant rules (ie: Ultramarines and Blood Angels are both Space Marine chapters, but are still very different). I intend to include this sort of thing this within my own game.

Once the Beta version of the game is revealed in a few months, I’ll be opening up the chance for anyone interested to create their own variant group – with it’s own colour scheme, fluff, and modifications to the rules -  probably as part of a competition.

More to come in due time