New Chaos and Tau Codex covers

A Hint of Apocalypse...

I picked up the latest Apocalypse rule book and has been reading it ever since, I must admit based on my pass experience on Apocalypse games my stance on it was even though I have great appreciation such projects it was very unlikely I will get into another Apocalypse game very soon.

That assumption was soon overturned as I went deeper into the book, GW's new approach of simplicity and added benefits of being fluffy have actually tempted me again to venture into the madness of massive battles.

The way I see it Apocalypse greatest appeal is also its undoing, impressive great battles is one thing, taking over 2 hours to run a single turn is in a way a madness on to itself. So my way to go about this is to get the best of both worlds... essentially turning Apocalypse game into a controlled beast. Yes to massive battles, yes to super heavies, yes to screw the FOC but no to whole day playing, that is simply too mortifying. In fact 4 hours should be maximum time for my taste to run what is essentially a mini Apocalypse, I have seen how players became zombified after more than 7 hours of dice rolling and to be frank it was not a pretty sight nor was the game in my opinion, "ënjoyable" any more.

So how should we go about this? Well we will see...

More Members Joining the Venerable Club

It could be because I recently bought the latest Apocalypse rule book or it could be also of a TV series which inspired me a bit anyway I am turning into over drive mode for modelling and finishing two dreadnoughts I had in stock for some time.

 A good old GW plastic venerable dreadnought and a resin Forge World Chaplain Dreadnought which I snipped from Ebay a long while back. I started on the afternoon and managed to assembled and primed both dreads and had the Chaplain dreadnought done to about 85%, not too shabby for a day's work.

Inferno canon... the ultimate reason to quit smoking

Also recently done, the chief Librarian of Ultramarine himself, clocking at a ridiculous point cost at the current codex I doubt he will see a battle field any time soon, but then again there is always the chance of Apocalypse...

Getting the Imperial Eagle Wing onto Your Vendetta / Valkyrie

Yes I ran a squadron of vendettas on some of my lists, their frequent appearance demand that I add some spice to their otherwise dull appearance ( for I "painted" them in... ahem, black) so having some free time on hand I finally decide it is time to get my butt on working on their "winged" look.

While process seems straight forward enough I have no doubt some of you can benefit from my experience while working on it, not to mention the free template.

First, trace a wing.

Then scan the tracing result.

Working in Adobe Illustrator, digitize the tracing. 

The Imperial logo is something I have traced a long while back, now it comes in handy.

Remove excess components.

Do a mirror replication.

Print the result onto sticker and cut them out carefully, use the nuts and bolts
on the wing as cue on making sure both wings are parallel in height
... last thing you want is a pair of off balance wings.

After careful masking spray the color you want for the wings

How painfully you mask your wings will determine the quality of the final result.
Stickers quality will also come into play, it is up to you to experiment.

The final result on the bird, by using only cheap spray and run the mill sticker,
it is a result I can live with... the only question left is how much time will I be
willing to invest on the endless touch up/weathering.

Now it goes without saying of course you can achieve much much better result by using professional usage masking film and/or airbrush but the whole point of this is to provide folks who are without such hardware to pimp their war birds with common items  :D

You can download the template >>HERE<<

Pimp My Inquisitorial Ride

The lazy assembly of Grey Knight stuff continues. This is an experimental painting which started by spraying the rhino in base coat silver, and I made a grave mistake of using one with a smooth finishing ( Or do all silver spray come like that? That itself will be another subject worthy of inquisition...)

Also note the kit bashed stronos turret with bits from Aegis defence line. The end result is acceptable but the overall increase in center of gravity for the turret means unless it is tight fitted it will fall off given the slightest chance to do so, a small price for overall swag level increment.

The Throne of Judgement Painting done, for now

I must say I am a slow to warm up person, while a lot of people in my gaming group are jumping on to the Greater Good wagon only now I am slowly gathering my Inquisition force N years after the codex release date. This slow reaction to  "hot cheese" might be a sign of inner fundamental shift from looking at what to field to how to look good while fielding stuff... or simply could be sign of age.

Triple barrel multi melta, what is not to love about it?

Kamarazov and his band of misfits.

Warrior henchmen with assault weapons, on the left is a kit bashed storm bolter dude, middle guy from the old metal storm trooper box who will almost never find an employment in the elite unit anyway.

Interceptor squad.. yes I broke off one of the personal teleporter back packs antenna.
  >.<

Painting The Throne of Judgement

While working on the throne, I began to understand why Cheng vowed to ban fine cast. This stuff feels like resin but does not react in the same way to super and plastic glue, the whole experience felt... weird. To add insult to injury, upon close up inspection certain details / connecting parts just don't live up to the "fine cast" status they claimed nor does it felt justified the for the price they demand.

My verdict for fine cast? While it is "fine" per say but expect less than what is promised by the GW promotional text. Anyway I just got a new macro lens for my brother's DSL and wasted no time in documenting the painting effort.

Primed and ready for paint!

Flanked by standard GK rifle dreads

Phase one painting complete, a few more hours into the details, details, details into this bad boy and he should be ready for battle.