Review - The 'Eavy Metal Masterclass book

So while in town today I saw this (I also saw a Eavy metal box for 20 odd quid that constituted a metal pencil case tin 2 paint brushes and a couple of small tubs of medium, Jesus) and decided to have it just because I have stopped getting white dwarf but always enjoyed the master classes.

The book itself costs £18 and is about the thickness of a codex. Every page is colour which you would expect from a book on painting. The book contains 13 master classes, mixed between 40K, Fantasy and Lord of the rings (which I don't think anyone in the world actually plays).

The master classes themselves are just what are shown in white dwarf, lots of details and of course top class painting. There are certainly some techniques such as their one for painting parchment and their technique for painting glassware that I will certainly have a go at but there are others that aren't great.

So all in all would I recommend this book? If you don't get White Dwarf regularly then yes however if you do then there is really little point.

On a side note picked up some liquid green stuff a couple of weeks ago and used it to put together my Contemptor and a squad of mark III armour marines, I am going to go out on a limb and say its the best thing GW have released in the last few years.

How do you paint? - reader advice wanted

Since come back into the hobby I have never found a comfortable way of holding my models when painting them, I generally blue tac them on to the top of an old paint tub but this isn't the most secure of bases so I am looking for advice that over the next few months I could put into use?

Looking forward to seeing your replies

Learn through doing - airbrushing continued.

So I am still trying out things with the airbrush, just simple things to begin with such as simple highlights and basecoating and the results have been good (still no pictures unfortunately) however the issue I have had is still with cleaning, I can't get the thing as clean as I want so I decided to go for one of these.

I watched a few videos including this one from the same guy as before and it looks like it it can hopefully solve some of my problems.

At the moment on my painting table I've got a Contemptor, I really enjoyed putting the model together and I made sure I pinned it. I haven't really pinned much together in the past just trusting the the glue but harsh experience has led me to know that super glue just doesn't cut it when it comes to resin.

Like the drop pod I base coated it in Vellejo model air German Grey and then put on a highlight of model air light grey, I then hard highlighted it with GW fortress grey.

For the Gold I base coated with a watered down scorched brown and then put on a coat of shining goal followed by a highlight of burnished gold.

So far I am really pleased with the result

Airbrushing - an introduction

So as Fudal predicted Santa Russ came to visit on Saturday night and brought me an airbrush.

I'd done a lot of research on them over the past couple of months and all people were telling me that I needed to spend 300 quid to get a decent set up however knowing me and my ability to drop a fad quickly I decided that I would go for something cheaper so if I enjoyed it I could eventually upgrade. I went to Arcane Scenery and model supplies for my airbrush set up and so far I am really happy with it.



There are some really great videos on youtube to help first time airbrush users but for cleaning tips this was the best one I found. Cleaning your airbrush is the key to keeping it going for a long time so it was one of the skills I wanted to get right to begin with.

I found that a lot of it no matter how good a video is trial and error, I needed lots of cleaner, lots of kitchen roll and plenty of cotton buds, I did take his advice and get some of the nylon brushes and the the thing I have found most tricky is cleaning during use for colour changes, do you really need to make it spotless or just spraying clear?

Later in the week I will post my first picture which is a drop pod I had lying around.

It's Chistmas again!!

It's that time of year again and I put aside my natural disdain for all things wolfy so, in the spirit of the season, I thought I'd risk a re-post of last year's Christmas rhyme in case you didn't see it the first time:

With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore:

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Fang
Not a Wolf Priest was stirring, Swift Claw or Long Fang.
The tankards were hung in the Great Hall with care,
In hopes that the Allfather soon would be there.

The Blood Claws were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of blood and guts danced in their heads.
And Logan, the Greatwolf, an Axe in his lap,
Had hung up his Bolter for a long winter’s nap.

When out in the snow fields arose such a clatter,
Defence Lasers swivelled preparing to splatter,
Their targeting reticules trained on the sight,
But quickly stood-down with a beep of delight.

Out of the storm, stepped a shadowy figure
And as humanoids go, I’ve not seen one bigger!
Before him there strode two devilish beasts,
Both clearly great wolves with sharp, pointy teeth.

The wind whipped around him with hurricane force,
But the giant strode on staying true to his course.
He drew back his lips and spoke with a growl,
"On Freki and Geri, to the drinking hall now."

A climb to the gate was made in a trice
Over rocky outcrops encrusted with ice.
Russ stood at the door and bellowed a call,
“The Lord has returned once again to his hall!”

A single Blood Claw awoke from his slumber,
And sought out a snack to stifle his hunger.
On passing the hall he stopped with a gasp,
Beholding a sight he barely could grasp.

The Primarch spoke out to in a deep throaty roar,
"Be at peace now my son, and don't stay by the door,
Come join me in drink there's Ale and Mulled Wine,
My stay here is short, it's not yet Wolf Time."

He drank through the night recounting the Sagas,
Thirstily downing both bitters and lagers.
The Blood Claw sat opposite, silenced in awe
At the sight of the legend who'd walked through the door.

As good as his word at the first light of Dawn,
Russ gathered his Wolves and laid down his horn.
But he turned back and called, 'fore he went out of sight,
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”

And a Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us here at Claws and Fists

Caledonian army list

Ages since I have done much hobby related, trying to bring down the tory parties cheerleading section takes up too much time.

The Caledonian uprising is upon is and today was the dead line for army lists (which I almost forgot) so here is mine, just really increased the lascannons in the army to deal with Paladins and Grey Knight and Necron armour a little bit more consistently.

Mick Simpson (93) - Space Wolves

HQ1: Rune priest: living lightning, Murderous Hurricane, chooser of the slain, wolf tail talisman [115]
HQ1: Rune priest: living lightning, jaws of the world wolf, chooser of the slain [110]

Elite 1: Wolf Guard Pack: 3 Wolf Guard, 3 Power Fists, 3 Combi Meltas [129]+ TRANSPORT1
Elite 2: Dreadnought, 2 Twin linked Autocannons [125]

TROOP 1: Grey Hunters Pack: 7 grey hunters: meltagun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard [135] + TRANSPORT 2
TROOP 2: Grey Hunters Pack: 7 grey hunters: meltagun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard [135] + TRANSPORT 3
TROOP 3: Grey Hunters Pack: 7 grey hunters: meltagun, mark of the wulfen, wolf standard [135] + TRANSPORT 4
TROOP 4: Grey Hunters Pack: 6 grey hunters: flamer, mark of the wulfen [105] + TRANSPORT 5

FAST 1: Landspeeder Sqn: 1 Landspeeder: Multimelta, heavy flamer [70]
FAST 2: Landspeeder Sqn: 1 Landspeeder: Multimelta, heavy flamer [70]

HEAVY 1: Long Fangs Pack: 5 long fangs+1 Squad Leader, 4 missile launchers, 1 lascannon [155]
HEAVY 1: Long Fangs Pack: 5 long fangs+1 Squad Leader, 4 missile launchers, 1 lascannon [155]
HEAVY 1: Long Fangs Pack: 5 long fangs+1 Squad Leader, 4 missile launchers, 1 lascannon [155]

TRANSPORT 1: Razorback: lascannon + twin linked plasmaguns [75] [Elite 1]
TRANSPORT 2: Rhino [35] [Troop 1]
TRANSPORT 3: Rhino [35] [Troop 2]
TRANSPORT 4: Rhino [35] [Troop 3]
TRANSPORT 5: Razorback: lascannon + twin linked plasmaguns [75] [Troops 4]

Had thoughts about dropping the Dakka dread but it was so succesful for me at Open War that I couldn't do it. Hope Santa brings everyone lots of hobby related goodies. Have a good one all and thanks for supporting the blog this year.

Revealed (NotW-Style Expose)! The Truth About the Lost 2nd & 11th Legions

So, everybody knows that the first rule of Astartes-Club is that you don't talk about 'those' Legions (just like those members of the family that never get mentioned at Christmas time. 'Long holiday', yeah right).

Anyway, I was browsing the internet this evening and found what I consider to be a perfectly plausible explanation for the mysterious disappearance of two whole Space Marine Legions, the 2nd and 11th. Here it is:

http://sonsoftaurus.blogspot.com/2010/11/secrets-of-lost-space-marine-legions.html

The only other explanation I can come up with for two missing Legions is printed on the side of the now-legendary Space Marines box RTB01 (one such box currently resides in my conservatory, storing cardboard scenery pieces for a very old Alternative Armies game, Firefight). I can summarise the reason for the two missing Legions in four short words:

Space Sharks.

Rainbow Warriors.

Really, I know 40k was a fledgling game back in the eighties and not every idea was going to be a winner, but surely they could have come up with something a bit better?! No wonder the modern fluff-writers have gone to such lengths to mask these two less-than-spectacular Legions!

Blog Wars - Game 2

 

Game 2 was against a “friend of From the Fang”, Dave Crawford, and his Blood Angel Army. He opened by telling me all about how, he'd only just come back to 40k and that he'd not won a game yet. Dangerous talk because my confidence level shoots through the roof and I start to make mistakes. This time however I had promised myself that I would play each game as though I knew my opponent was the best person in the draw. So I had a look at his list:

HQ

Dante

Honour Guard

(5) Blood Champion, Thunder Hammer, 2x Infernus Pistols, Storm Shield, Power Sword, Chapter

Banner

ELITE

Sanguinary Priest

(2) 2x Power Swords

TROOP

Assault Squad

(10) 2x Meltaguns, Power Fist

Assault Squad

(10) 2x Meltaguns, Power Fist

Assault Squad

(10) 2x Meltaguns, Power Fist

Scouts

(5) 5xSniper Rifles, Camo Cloaks

HEAVY SUPPORT

Dreadnought

2x TL Autocannon

Dreadnought

2x TL Autocannon

… lots of troops.

The mission was spearhead deployment and cleanse (table quarters), I lost the roll and Dave chose to go first. He combat squaded everything giving himself 8 scoring units (Special Characters count as scoring in this mission) deploying roughly half his force on the left of his deployment zone and the other half on the right. He placed his Dreads in the back corner and held Dante and his Honour Guard in reserve, the Scouts infiltrated into cover on his left flank.

I decided to split my force to send Ghaz and a Battle Wagon full of Boyz off to take on the three combat squads on the right, the Stormboys and the other Battle Wagon went left after the other three combat squads and the two Trukks were set up centrally, aiming for the back corner and the Dreadnought. The Lootas were placed pretty centrally in my deployment zone with good LoS to both flanks and I held the Gretchin in reserve (for a change).

Oh I forgot to mention the Deffkopta, that's probably because I forgot to scout it and two rending shots from the scouts later it was toast. Bit of a bummer really as I'd planned for that to go and root out the scouts. This was to set the scene for a roller-coaster of dice rolls that did not go my way, Nuffle was clearly not pleased with me for some reason!

Dave advanced down both flanks spreading my forces further apart, I pushed forward and at the top of turn 2 he made a play for my Battle Wagons with his meltas. Surprisingly the one with the KFF was destroyed while Ghaz's BW emerged unscathed, I felt pretty good though because all of his assault squads were now in charge range. I kept my Meganobs heading towards the Dreads in their Trukk, everyone else piled out of their vehicles keen to take on some crunchy marines, the 18 shoota and 12 sluggas went for the 10 marines who took out the BW and the 15 Stormboys went in on the remaining combat squad. Likewise the other unit of shootas went for the Marines who'd failed to take out their BW and Ghaz made a b-line for the last combat squad harbouring the second priest. I have to say I was feeling pretty confident here, I thought I'd wipe him out with Orks to spare to hunt for Dante when he arrived. I was wrong.

The Stormboys failed spectacularly losing combat and getting run down, the other combat on the left was similarly unsuccessful with two 5-man combat squads running down the 30 boyz who piled into them. Fortunately the marines did suffer heavy losses and they fell back into close proximity making an easy target. Over on the right the Shoota Boyz were able to hold the two Assault Squads they were engaged with and Ghaz made short work of the combat squad he was aimed at, freeing him up to come back and support the shootas.

The collapse of my left flank meant that the Meganobs had to come back and mop up the remaining marines there, while they managed this they suffered two losses thanks to a remaining power fist. And headed off to settle the Dreadnought who were contesting the back left quarter. While all this death and destruction had been happening, Dante and his Honour Guard had turned up and were happily tearing through my Lootas and the Gretchin who had turned up only moments earlier. Not to worry I thought, they're not Sanguinary Guard so Dante doesn't make them scoring (Face-Palm!)

So I moved the remaining shootas on my right to threaten his Scouts and charged my Meganobs into the nearest Dreadnought … and then the game ended. Draw I thought and then Dave reminded me that while the Honour Guard were not scoring, Dante was and I'd lost by a quarter. Kicking myself does not come close.

Aside from forgetting about Dante there were a couple of things which lost the game for me, first was not scouting my Deffkopta to get a cover save, I think he would have comfortably had those scouts, as it was, they took him out comfortably. Secondly was my complete failure on the left flank, causing my Meganobs to have to come back to secure it and that stopped them being able to clear the Dreadnoughts from the back quarter.

Grr, a frustrating loss thanks to some bad dice, forgetting mission rules and playing an opponent who stuck to his game plan. I was staring down the barrel of going win-less, lets hope I could pull it together in game three which would be a show down between Ghaz and Yarrick! Stay tuned.

Blog Wars - Game 1

On-Fire Painting blog

This weekend saw a motley crew of Bloggers descend on Maelstrom Games to contest the coveted Blog Wars trophy for the second time this year. Blog Wars is a tournament run by Alex of the From the Fang blog and is intended to be a fun day out for us bloggers to get together, chat, eat, drink and roll some dice. Graham (Grazer) and I were there representing Claws and Fists and I think it's safe to say we both had a great time and I'd like to say that I think Alex runs a great tournament in the just the right spirit for his target audience. I have thoroughly enjoyed the first two tournaments and look forward to the two he's got planned for next year.

My first game was against international 40k Podcast net-celebrity Dave Symcox of the 40kUK podcast and blog. Now I've been a fan of the 40kUK podcast since it started and even before that when Dave did a regular segment on the 11thCompany Podcast so, since we usually operate at opposite ends of the draw in regular tournaments, it was great to face off against him here.

Here's my list for your consideration:

HQ

Ghaz

Big Mek

Kustom Forcefield

ELITE

12 Lootas

TROOP

Meganobs

(4) Kombi-Rokitt, Kombi-Skorcha; Trukk

Ork Boys

(18) Shootas, inc Nob w. Power Klaw & Boss Pole

Ork Boys

(18) Shootas, inc Nob w. Power Klaw & Boss Pole

Ork Boys

(12) Slugga & Choppa, inc Nob w. Power Klaw & Boss Pole; Trukk

Gretchin

(11) inc Runtherd

FAST ATTACK

Deffkopta

Buzz-Saw, Twin-linked Rokkit Launcher

Stormboyz

(15) inc Nob w. Power Klaw & Boss Pole

HEAVY SUPPORT

Battlewagon

Deffrolla, Armour Plates, Red Paintjob, Big Shoota

Battlewagon

Deffrolla, Armour Plates, Red Paintjob, Big Shoota

Dave was playing a Space Wolf Army which pretty much looked as follows:

HQ

Njal

ELITE

Wolf Scouts

(5) Meltagun

Wolf Guard

(5) 5x Combi-Melta & Power Fist

TROOP

4x Grey Hunters

(7) Meltagun, Wolf Standard; Rhino

Grey Hunters

(5) Meltagun, Wolf Standard

HEAVY SUPPORT

Long Fangs

(5) 4x Missile Launchers; Razorback w. Lascannon & TL Plasmagun

Long Fangs

(5) 4x Missile Launchers; Razorback w. Lascannon & TL Plasmagun

Long Fangs

(5) 4x Missile Launchers

(I can't remember the exact list but it was very much along these lines)

I won the roll off and decided to go second, I wanted Dave to deploy without knowing where my Battlewagons were going. He spread out across the back of his table edge with Long Fang packs on each flank and the third dead centre. The Grey Hunters and their Rhinos were evenly distributed as well and he held the 5-man Grey Hunter Squad and the scout in reserve with the scouts OBEL. Oh, and the Wolf Guard were split among the mechanised Grey Hunters and the Scouts.

I deployed heavy right hoping to deny two of his long fang packs side shots on my BWs and out-range the other(Ghaz was deployed in one of the wagons). The two trukks were tucked in behind the BWs and I deployed the Stormboyz and the Deffkopta on the extreme edge of my right flank. The Lootas were central, in cover with good LOS across the board and the gobbos were, of course, in reserve! I scouted the Kopta down the right table edge and after I failed to steal the initiative, Dave kicked off turn 1.

The Space Wolves fell back to the centre of their deployment zone away from the bulk of the Ork force. They were able to draw line of sight on both Trukks and the resulting salvo blew one up and immobilised the other. Not a bad start as my Meganobs would be walking! Never-the-less the Orks set off across the field with the 12-man Slugga Boy unit racing to keep up with the Stormboys down the right flank, the Deffkopta tucked in behind the Long Fangs on the right and next to their Razorback. The BWs Angled for the mass of Wolves in the centre and set off at full speed with the Meganobs, trudging out of their stricken Trukk, in hot pursuit. The Lootas unleashed a hail of fire vaporising the lead Rhino in the central formation and the Deffkopta was able to wreck the Razorback.

The Wolves reformed their lines but most of their turn was about the shooting, the Long Fangs on my right flank were unable to despatch the Deffkopta and didn't do much to the advancing Slugga Boys thanks to some good cover saves. In the middle, however, the Long Fangs managed to blow up the Big Mek's putting a unit of 18 Shoota Boys out on foot. The Lootas took some fire but didn't suffer significant losses and Ghaz's BW escaped without a scratch! In my turn the Sluggas continued their advance towards the Long Fangs on my right flank, ready to support the Deffkopta. The Stormboys managed to engage a rhino and Ghaz's unit poured out of their BW into the Grey Hunters who's been de-meched in turn 1, this turn though, the Lootas could only stun Njal's Rhino. In assault the Deffkopta managed to win combat against the Long Fangs taking only a single wound, Ghaz and the Shoota Boys lost combat against the Grey Hunter pack in the centre but thanks to Ghaz's Waaggh, they stayed in it. The Stormboyz also made it to their target and managed to wreck the rhino but they were starting to look pretty thin on the ground thanks to a few deaths to Murderous Hurricane terrain rolls.

Now obviously Ghaz was a concern for the Wolves, right in the heart of their lines, locked in combat and already with a taste for Wolf. Njal sprang into action and lined up a Jaws attempt aimed at the BW behind but conveniently tracing a line through Ghaz. The roll was a tense one but Ghaz passed comfortably with a three! More fire directed at the Lootas was ineffective, the Long Fangs were able to finish off the Deffkopta and the unit who were de-meched by the Stormboyz returned the favour and wiped them out. In the middle a second Grey Hunter Pack had piled into Combat with Ghaz and the remains of the Shoota Boys; despite the Shootas getting finished off, Ghaz held firm and was comfortably chomping his way through the Wolves. In the Orc turn the Sluggas finally made it into combat with the Long Fangs on my right and the remaining shoota boy mob was heading towards the melee in the centre. The Lootas took out the last Razorback and Ghaz continued to much his way through the Grey Hunters finally finishing off the first unit he engaged! It should also be noted that the Goblins arrived this turn, choosing to hunker down behind a wall towards the left edge of my deployment zone.

Turn 4 was the turning point, the Wolf scouts turned up in charge range of my Gretchin, finishing them off easily, Njal was able to Jaws Ghaz (the roll of a 5 sealing his fate). Somehow, the BW in the centre of the table was still working and the Meganobs had finally reached it! They chose to board hoping to be able to launch some sort of game-saving multi-charge in turn 5. The Shootas continued to close in on the centre but the depleted Wolf units were going to be able to keep them at a safe distance for at least a turn or two.

Turn 5 saw the Wolfs manoeuvring to deny as many kill points as possible but Njal was till a possibility but it was a bit of a long shot, I would need to pop his rhino with my Lootas and then cause enough wounds on his unit with my Meganobs to force a Klaw wound onto him. As it transpired the Lootas could not pop the Rhino and the Meganobs had to console themselves with popping the Rhino themselves in the hope that there would be a turn 6. Unfortunately that's all she wrote and the Wolves came away victorious.

I have to say that, particularly given my recent attitude towards 40k, it was a very enjoyable game. I felt I made a number of mistakes, in particular giving away first turn, and then in not properly covering my Trukks but other than that I think I played pretty well. I didn't experience any huge dice slumps and could only put the loss down to my own mistakes and my opponent's superior play. I do think that if Ghaz had survived that second Jaws attempt the game would have looked a lot different come turn 5 though. Never-the-less my confidence in the Orks was re-affermed and I was looking forwards to game 2.