The second Canadian issue of White Dwarf hit the mailbox today and I'm even less impressed with this issue as I was with issue #1. It just seems as if there is nothing to read in the magazine. And while I've not been one to critique WD in the past as being nothing more than a catalogue it is indeed starting to feel like that.
Perhaps part of this has to do with the lack of content in the magazine. The two Canadian issues of White Dwarf have been about 100 pages. A 30% drop in page count from the US issues. And still at the same price mind you. A price that is still at a ridiculous price when compared to the US White Dwarf.
So Canadians are paying a premium to get a smaller magazine. One wonders what the logic behind this is?
According to some people I know who have contacts with the Canadian Design Studio the problem is that the Canadian print run is a fraction of the US print run and so it is more expensive to print.
But surely the folks at GW Canada knew this when they planned on producing the magazine. And if so why did they make a decision to create a product that would have to contain fewer pages and still get sold to Canadians at a premium price?
It seems as if GW Canada made a decision that they knew was going to screw their readers and did so knowing this?
Very odd.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
40K armies
Well I have gone from having one incomplete 40K army to having two more fully complete armies. I did one large trade and one financial transaction funded by some recent eBay activity to add an Iron Warriors army and an Ork army.
Well not exactly complete. The Iron Warriors army needs a few more units to make it more flexible (in my mind that is...I am sure its emminently playable) but the Ork army I picked up is ready to go.
Even if it does have a few too many Killa Kans than it can use :-)
I'll be using the Ork force next Thursday for the inaugural 40K evening at my place. And work will them progress on expanding the Iron Warriors and then hopefully having a game with them at the next 40K night.
Well not exactly complete. The Iron Warriors army needs a few more units to make it more flexible (in my mind that is...I am sure its emminently playable) but the Ork army I picked up is ready to go.
Even if it does have a few too many Killa Kans than it can use :-)
I'll be using the Ork force next Thursday for the inaugural 40K evening at my place. And work will them progress on expanding the Iron Warriors and then hopefully having a game with them at the next 40K night.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Riders with brass spears
A week or so ago I asked on a messageboard about the usability of Veni Vedi Vici brass spears as replacements for the broken plastic spears on some Riders of Rohan.
Justin Taylor the owner of 3V replied that they were too large but offered some 20mm scale spears that he had assembled for another project.
The spears arrived a week later and I was a bit too busy to get to work with them at the time (and still aren't really :-) but I took some time today to get a few of the assembled. I took a few quick snaps of the newly restored Riders (click for larger versions).
The spears are much smaller in proportion that the plastic ones that they replace but they are also much more realistic. I had to trim the spears slightly to get them to fit in with the models as they were made for infantry troops, I am supposing, but cavalry spears need to be smaller.
Very nice looking spears and its a pity you can't buy any more from 3V. Thanks to Justin for sending the spears along.
Justin Taylor the owner of 3V replied that they were too large but offered some 20mm scale spears that he had assembled for another project.
The spears arrived a week later and I was a bit too busy to get to work with them at the time (and still aren't really :-) but I took some time today to get a few of the assembled. I took a few quick snaps of the newly restored Riders (click for larger versions).
The spears are much smaller in proportion that the plastic ones that they replace but they are also much more realistic. I had to trim the spears slightly to get them to fit in with the models as they were made for infantry troops, I am supposing, but cavalry spears need to be smaller.
Very nice looking spears and its a pity you can't buy any more from 3V. Thanks to Justin for sending the spears along.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Rebased Marines
The new GW Urban basing kits came in this week and so I took the opportunity to not only rebase my painted Marines using the kits but also to rebase them on 30mm round Warmachine bases.
The kits come with some large shale pieces (that are actually just rock) and some very small and light grey and white urban "flock" that looks like it might also be stone. The light flock is a little flaky to be used on its own but it looks quite nice when used with some light sand to create a very nicely textured base.
The wire that comes in the set is very nice as well but it is very bright, shiny and new. I am going to be priming the rest of it and then drybrushing and washing it to make it look more worn and dirty. It currently looks like it came from a hardware store and it doesn't hold an ink wash at all.
I think that the new bases give the Marines a much nicer look that the smaller GW bases. You can check the Marines out in their original bases to compare.
Instead of using black to paint the base edges I used Valejjo German Grey. Its dark but not overwhelming like Black often is and it provides enough contrast with the bases that it allows the bases to be quite visible.
The kits come with some large shale pieces (that are actually just rock) and some very small and light grey and white urban "flock" that looks like it might also be stone. The light flock is a little flaky to be used on its own but it looks quite nice when used with some light sand to create a very nicely textured base.
The wire that comes in the set is very nice as well but it is very bright, shiny and new. I am going to be priming the rest of it and then drybrushing and washing it to make it look more worn and dirty. It currently looks like it came from a hardware store and it doesn't hold an ink wash at all.
I think that the new bases give the Marines a much nicer look that the smaller GW bases. You can check the Marines out in their original bases to compare.
Instead of using black to paint the base edges I used Valejjo German Grey. Its dark but not overwhelming like Black often is and it provides enough contrast with the bases that it allows the bases to be quite visible.
Monday, June 12, 2006
No TMP until July 11th
It seems that sports fans on TMP can't contain themselves from posting the results of World Cup games in the subject lines of messages on the site's messageboards. And for whatever reason Bill, the site owner, has never added the ability to filter out things like the Sports messageboard from the front page.
So if you don't want to get World Cup results ruined then you really have no option than to not read the site for a month. And it seems like an odd thing that Bill would develop his site in such a way that people have to avoid reading the site to not have to view information totally unrelated to miniatures.
One also really has to ask what a Sports messageboard is doing on a miniatures website? If I wanted to talk about sports why would I go to TMP? Boggles the mind really. Either way I'll just be viewing the News page there for the next month.
So if you don't want to get World Cup results ruined then you really have no option than to not read the site for a month. And it seems like an odd thing that Bill would develop his site in such a way that people have to avoid reading the site to not have to view information totally unrelated to miniatures.
One also really has to ask what a Sports messageboard is doing on a miniatures website? If I wanted to talk about sports why would I go to TMP? Boggles the mind really. Either way I'll just be viewing the News page there for the next month.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Woldwarden photos
The Woldwarden is finally done. The mini still needs to be sealed and have some dullcoat applied but its finally ready to game with.
The photos are not against my regular backdrop as my table is covered with a vast amount of Geo-hex terrain. As well I'm finding it difficult to get an accurate shot of the Woldwarden and these images aren't as sharp as normal.
The miniature was done by drybrushing and washing the stone areas and then painting and highlighting the wood and ropes. After all the other steps were done some of the runes were painted and then a soft glow added using a dilute mixture of Livery Green and matte medium.
The photos have some glare in them due to the lack of ambient light. I may retake the photos tomorrow to get some better images.
(Select the images to view a larger version)
The photos are not against my regular backdrop as my table is covered with a vast amount of Geo-hex terrain. As well I'm finding it difficult to get an accurate shot of the Woldwarden and these images aren't as sharp as normal.
The miniature was done by drybrushing and washing the stone areas and then painting and highlighting the wood and ropes. After all the other steps were done some of the runes were painted and then a soft glow added using a dilute mixture of Livery Green and matte medium.
The photos have some glare in them due to the lack of ambient light. I may retake the photos tomorrow to get some better images.
(Select the images to view a larger version)
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Woldwardens then Marines
So the Woldwarden is almost finished. I am doing some of the runes in a glowing green effect and then I need to do the base and its ready to game with.
After that I will be taking a break from painting Hordes minis. I've been painting and building then nonstop for almost two months now and I'm starting to get a bit weary of them. I have my unit of Scattergunners assembled and the unit of Wolves. IIRC there are no Circle or Trollblood releases this month and I don't particularly want any of the new Warmachine solos that are coming out this month either.
So I think I am going to go back and try to finish the squad of Marines that has been on my table for three or four months. The Marines are about half done so it should only take a few days to get them finished.
Once that is done I need to go ahead and assemble a few other Marine units as I want to a) get a playable 1500 pt force ready regardless of whether pr not its painted and b) I am getting some of the other minis painted for me and I need to have them ready to go. So the Devastators, Terminators and the Rhino are all going to be put together and primed this coming week as well.
After that I will be taking a break from painting Hordes minis. I've been painting and building then nonstop for almost two months now and I'm starting to get a bit weary of them. I have my unit of Scattergunners assembled and the unit of Wolves. IIRC there are no Circle or Trollblood releases this month and I don't particularly want any of the new Warmachine solos that are coming out this month either.
So I think I am going to go back and try to finish the squad of Marines that has been on my table for three or four months. The Marines are about half done so it should only take a few days to get them finished.
Once that is done I need to go ahead and assemble a few other Marine units as I want to a) get a playable 1500 pt force ready regardless of whether pr not its painted and b) I am getting some of the other minis painted for me and I need to have them ready to go. So the Devastators, Terminators and the Rhino are all going to be put together and primed this coming week as well.
Geo-Hex
As part of my yearly "clean-up" I am getting rid of the vast amount of unused Geo-Hex terrain that I have.
Update: the Geo-hex terrain is now up on eBay.
Before putting this up on eBay I am trying to see if I can sell this entire lot privately. So if you are interested email me (pixelgeek at gmail dot com) and send an offer.
I am willing to sell the lot in groups. Specifically I am willing to sell the Moustainscape, Road and Cliff terrain elements as separate groups. So if you only want one of those groups then feel free to send along an offer for those only but be aware that my priority for sale will be to sell it all as a lot.
Remember: shipping for this is going to be quite serious. Shipping will be in addition to any purchase price
The Moustainscape, Road and Cliff elements are not complete sets. These should be viewed as add-ons to an existing set so if you don't already own Moustainscape, Road and Cliff sets don't try to buy these.
The names I am using below are my own and if anyone knows the correct names please feel free to send them along to me.
Basic
9 hexes
9 half hexes
7 half hex slopes
8 hex edge slopes
8 despression hexes (small depression on one hex face)
14 edge caps
1 ridge
Moustainscape
9 long mountain edges
5 hex parts (elements used to build or expand hexes)
11 corner elements
Road
All the road hexes are reversible and have plain backs
18 hexes
7 half hexes
2 hex edges
1 hex edge slope
Cliff
8 cliff hex edges
2 hex half cliff
4 hex half depressions
22 small cliff pieces
The terrain has been used as as such has some markss, chips etc. Nothing that normal wear and tear wwouldn't account for. One of the basic edge caps is snapped and needs to be glued and flocked along the tear. A few (three?) of the pieces are hex printed terrain that has be reflocked.
Click the images below for larger versions
Update: the Geo-hex terrain is now up on eBay.
Before putting this up on eBay I am trying to see if I can sell this entire lot privately. So if you are interested email me (pixelgeek at gmail dot com) and send an offer.
I am willing to sell the lot in groups. Specifically I am willing to sell the Moustainscape, Road and Cliff terrain elements as separate groups. So if you only want one of those groups then feel free to send along an offer for those only but be aware that my priority for sale will be to sell it all as a lot.
Remember: shipping for this is going to be quite serious. Shipping will be in addition to any purchase price
The Moustainscape, Road and Cliff elements are not complete sets. These should be viewed as add-ons to an existing set so if you don't already own Moustainscape, Road and Cliff sets don't try to buy these.
The names I am using below are my own and if anyone knows the correct names please feel free to send them along to me.
Basic
9 hexes
9 half hexes
7 half hex slopes
8 hex edge slopes
8 despression hexes (small depression on one hex face)
14 edge caps
1 ridge
Moustainscape
9 long mountain edges
5 hex parts (elements used to build or expand hexes)
11 corner elements
Road
All the road hexes are reversible and have plain backs
18 hexes
7 half hexes
2 hex edges
1 hex edge slope
Cliff
8 cliff hex edges
2 hex half cliff
4 hex half depressions
22 small cliff pieces
The terrain has been used as as such has some markss, chips etc. Nothing that normal wear and tear wwouldn't account for. One of the basic edge caps is snapped and needs to be glued and flocked along the tear. A few (three?) of the pieces are hex printed terrain that has be reflocked.
Click the images below for larger versions
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Sci-fi skirmish rules
So hand in hand with the urban terrain I am building I am going to start work on creating my own sci-fi skirmish rules. There are quite a lot of sci-fi miniatures that I like but almost next to no rules that I like. At least for skirmish level games. I'm actually quite fond of Void but I want to have games with 20 minis not 70. Skirmish games like Confrontation and games like Warmachine (which have lower mini counts) have really change my outlook towards gaming. I'm still going to be playing games like 40K (and maybe even prowling eBay for a painted army of Orks or Eldar miniatures) and the main impetus for building my urban terrain is to play 40K on it. But that said, I'd prefer a smaller scale game.
I've done some research on rule sets and I really haven't found anything that I like. I've seen some rules that come close but ultimately I think this is a case where if you want something you need to build it yourself.
So some basics about the rules.
1) D10 based. D6 systems lack the ability to provide small meaningful differences between troops. A D10 system will let you create infantry that is slightly better than a lower rated counterpart without making them too expensive or much more powerful. As well you can also avoid having to use 2D6 resolution systems and still get a wide range of possible results from single dice rolls.
2) Alternating activations. Any game I have played that includes this has been a much more entertaining and tactically interesting game. My thoughts are that the core mechanic would have players activating two minis at a time with some leaders having the ability to attempt to active more if they can make a task check
3) Unit generation system. The game is going to be built from the ground up to use a single point calculation engine so that people will be able to easily created stats for their own miniatures. If you want to use the new GW Vostroyan minis then you should be able to create some stats for them and put them on the table safe in the assumption that your created stats should balance well against your opponents.
4) Simple calculations for tasks (similar to Void) and an avoidance of table. Players should be able to calculate base results without having to refer to tables. Void was very quick to play since once you had the shooting and CC modifiers memorized you could do combat without ever referring back to a book or table. Even the opposed results table in Void was actually redundant once you determined the calculations used to create it.
More news about this as work progresses.
I've done some research on rule sets and I really haven't found anything that I like. I've seen some rules that come close but ultimately I think this is a case where if you want something you need to build it yourself.
So some basics about the rules.
1) D10 based. D6 systems lack the ability to provide small meaningful differences between troops. A D10 system will let you create infantry that is slightly better than a lower rated counterpart without making them too expensive or much more powerful. As well you can also avoid having to use 2D6 resolution systems and still get a wide range of possible results from single dice rolls.
2) Alternating activations. Any game I have played that includes this has been a much more entertaining and tactically interesting game. My thoughts are that the core mechanic would have players activating two minis at a time with some leaders having the ability to attempt to active more if they can make a task check
3) Unit generation system. The game is going to be built from the ground up to use a single point calculation engine so that people will be able to easily created stats for their own miniatures. If you want to use the new GW Vostroyan minis then you should be able to create some stats for them and put them on the table safe in the assumption that your created stats should balance well against your opponents.
4) Simple calculations for tasks (similar to Void) and an avoidance of table. Players should be able to calculate base results without having to refer to tables. Void was very quick to play since once you had the shooting and CC modifiers memorized you could do combat without ever referring back to a book or table. Even the opposed results table in Void was actually redundant once you determined the calculations used to create it.
More news about this as work progresses.
Dire Troll Mauler finished
So I have finally finished the Dire Troll Mauler.
Click to enlarge
The WoldWarden is also partially painted but I am trying to decide if I want to add green glows to all the runes on the model or do something that I may have a chance to finishing :-)
The Mauler didn't turn out too bad. The skin was a PITA to shade as the stones on its body broke the surfaces up and added shadows on the surfaace that you actually do need to deal with or your eyes will refuse to believe the highlights you paint in. Messy business really.
All of the Trollkin Scattergunners are assembled and ready to prime and I'll get to them as soon as I finish the WoldWarden.
Click to enlarge
The WoldWarden is also partially painted but I am trying to decide if I want to add green glows to all the runes on the model or do something that I may have a chance to finishing :-)
The Mauler didn't turn out too bad. The skin was a PITA to shade as the stones on its body broke the surfaces up and added shadows on the surfaace that you actually do need to deal with or your eyes will refuse to believe the highlights you paint in. Messy business really.
All of the Trollkin Scattergunners are assembled and ready to prime and I'll get to them as soon as I finish the WoldWarden.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Troops in Hordes
While reading through Battlecollege this morning I realised that one thing I've not really been taking into account when looking at the spells etc for the Warlocks that have been released for Hordes is how they will interact with troops.
I was less than impressed with the Wolves unit until I realised that the Circle warlocks have all manner of defensive buffs to give them and also quite a few ways to put up Forest templates in front of them to block them as well.
Now they don't look so bad.
I was less than impressed with the Wolves unit until I realised that the Circle warlocks have all manner of defensive buffs to give them and also quite a few ways to put up Forest templates in front of them to block them as well.
Now they don't look so bad.
ebay auctions
I currently have two sets of auctions running on eBay that have about a day and a half left.
You can check them out here
There is a painted Dark Eldar army up for grabs as well as a pile of Epic Ork minis
You can check them out here
There is a painted Dark Eldar army up for grabs as well as a pile of Epic Ork minis
Friday, June 02, 2006
Scattergunners and Dire Trolls
So amongst a lot of other things (like adding some new features at TGN) I managed to get some painting and assembly done today. I've been working on the Dire Troll for the last few days and he is coming along. I've got the skin done and claws/teeth and I'm now working on the stones in his skin as well as his spines. I expect that I'll get him done before the weekend so I can bring him down for our regular Saturday Hordes gaming event. I may also try to push to get him done for this Thursday when I will be having some people over for gaming.
While some of the Dire Troll was drying I started assembling the first six Trollkin Scattergunners. I am very impressed with the miniatures. Nice poses, nice sculpts and they are very expressive miniatures as well. It took a little work to get them together but nothing serious. I am though a little worried about my ability to be able to paint a unit of *ten* medium base creatures before the next set of Hordes releases.
And that isn't even considering that July will have Superiority and new Confrontation releases as well. Keeping up with all these minis is almost a job in itself.
While some of the Dire Troll was drying I started assembling the first six Trollkin Scattergunners. I am very impressed with the miniatures. Nice poses, nice sculpts and they are very expressive miniatures as well. It took a little work to get them together but nothing serious. I am though a little worried about my ability to be able to paint a unit of *ten* medium base creatures before the next set of Hordes releases.
And that isn't even considering that July will have Superiority and new Confrontation releases as well. Keeping up with all these minis is almost a job in itself.
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