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Thursday, September 20, 2012

A Closer Look at Bolt Action Germans


Well, today is September 20th down here in Australia and that marks the official release date of Bolt Action.  Now the excitement for me has slightly diminished due to my having the BA rulebook for a month now but I have to say it is nice, as a customer, to be able to communicate with the game designers (Rick Priestly no less) on their rules forums AND to know how to build a unit/ army prior to release date. 

More on that later… For now I thought I would write a quick and dirty review of the Warlord Games (makers of BA) plastic late war Germans.   As a long time Warhammer player I can’t help but compare my experiences with the Warlord minis to my years of working and playing with GW products… I would like to begin with the most obvious comparison: Price.  I was about to get a box of 25 multi-pose German plastics with bitz to make everything from minor officers to inexperienced foot soldiers.  The box comes with pistols, rifles, sub-machine guns, team machine guns, grenades, assault rifles and panzerfaust anti-tank rockets.  It also includes bitz like binoculars, backpacks, ammo pouches to match the guns, and gear to attaché to the webbing.  Frankly I was astonished to discover all the little bitz and bobs included on the sprues… You can see them below:
 


Now when I first saw pictures of the models I was not super excited but my local shop had an open box and I really fell in love with the detail on these plastics.  It is top of the line (GW style maybe 5 years ago).  They are easily as good as the plastic Cadians currently on sale if not a little better.  They are true 28mm so they are a little smaller than what I am used to which is fine BUT the guns are not heroic scale which leads to guys carrying around weapons that look childishly small compared to their hands.  If you look at pictures of people with the real things though…  It actually fits (I still think that things look a little small though).

The models themselves have crisp clear details that will easily lend themselves to detail painting later.  The faces are a little bland expression wise but The gear that attaches to the webbing is almost a little too busy and might look messy if not properly detail painted.  As I plan to have my guys mounted in half tracks I will probably skip the extra bits...

Now I have two boxes of guys that I have been assembling and while most of the bodies are one or two pieces this process has taken me forever.  Part of that is my own schedule being nuts but here lies my only gripe with the excellent stand of the Warlord models…  The mold lines…  Now the models don’t really have any kind of weird or extreme mold lines, in fact they are barely noticeable.  The problem is that because the models are one or two pieces and that they are so finely detailed the models end up with line that run across clearly visible areas that need to be removed.  Over the years GW has generally gotten much better about hiding their lines along the creases of their kits.  Warlord have yet to learn this lesson.  That said they are easy to remove and I have actually enjoyed the process.  I feel like I have a good handle of what the models look like now and I have actually started planning in my mind exactly where my highlights might go once the paint gets on these guys.

Another note with assembly.  The Warlord plastic infantry kits come with a double sided, colour, sprue and assembly guide.  Good stuff.  It labels exactly which arms match which gear/ weapons and gives you a guide to how what the finished troops will look like. 
 
As an aside I also like how Warlord already has a series of spare variant heads on their website to further individualize your models.  True most of the heads are for the Germans but I assume this will change over time (The German plastics have been out the longest).  I have a few blisters of metal models at this point as well and while those models are one piece their heads are separate (OK, I guess that makes them two pieces).  This means that you can individualize your artillery crew for example and as the plastic Germans come with loads of extra heads… I have lots to choose from… 
In short I am a huge fan of these guys.  I highly recommend them if you are looking to get into the 28mm WWII (Bolt) action…













Wednesday, September 19, 2012

The New Direction of Chaos...

Well it looks like the new chaos marine models are out and about...  Some stuff looks like the traditional  iconic image...  Here is the familiar stuff:


From here it goes somewhere else....  I am not sure about this stuff....




What do you guys think?

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

More Chaos Dwarf Action

So I sold my Blood Angels...
1) I didn't paint them
2) I have played exactly three turns of 6th ed.  I like it but meh... I just don't care at the moment...
3) It took up a stupid amount of space in my closet I desperately needed for other things...  Like Clothes... Etc...

I have also been chatting with an old mate who was looking for some painting work.  His stuff is ace... I have some cash from the sale and a burning desire to have my Chaos Dwarves done...

Soooo I finished building the dwarves for the list I have written...

The basic warriors are made from bull centaur upper halves combined with the old one piece CD legs...  This makes for a much more dynamic warrior model that is taller to boot.  I really like the end result... Here are some samples of what I mean:
As you can see I have added a few metal command models to round out the unit.



Next up are the war machine crew.  I made these using the "new" Avatars of War Dwarf Slayers with plastic chaos warrior heads, green stuff beards and other bitz and bobs...  I have three war machines in my list and sooo... nine crew...




 Last up the characters...  I used the Forge World Character pack for this with a few small modifications.  The models are on raised bases so they stand out from their stunty buddies.  I shouldn't have worried they are big and don't blend in at all.  I still like the look though.

I gave my BSB a book as a banner as a small nod to the tourney I run down here in Melbourne once a year, Book Of Grudges...

 These boys head out tomorrow for Europe.  I cannot wait for their return...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

BOG Results 2012

` Name Army BP Pres Sport Total
1 Aaron Graham High Elves 94 17 26 137
2 David Duriesmith Ogre Kingdoms 83 20 25 128
3 Chris Sedgeman Lizardmen 80 19 29 128
4 Jason Murdoch High Elves 84 19 24 127
5 Adrian Stakula Orcs and Goblins 83 20 24 127
6 Dino Zanon Daemons 84 18 23 125
7 Greg Johnson Empire 80 20 25 125
8 James Brett Orcs and Goblins 79 20 24 123
9 Johannes  Chaos Dwarves 78 20 24 122
10 Nick Gentile High Elves 75 20 24 119
11 Elliot Yung Dark Elves 75 20 24 119
12 Matt Curtis Orcs and Goblins 73 20 25 118
13 Pieres Oshea Daemons 72 20 25 117
14 Lachie Mulcahy Dark Elves 75 18 23 116
15 Leigh Callahan Lizardmen 71 20 24 115
16 Craig D-G Daemons 71 20 24 115
17 Chris Grace Beastmen 72 18 24 114
18 Chris Penwarden Orcs and Goblins 71 15 25 111
19 Dom Holloway Lizardmen 66 20 24 110
20 Ken Gifford Wood Elves 66 19 24 109
21 Pip Heinz Dark Elves 63 20 26 109
22 Shaun Hogan Warriors of Chaos 66 19 23 108
23 Chris Cousens Daemons 65 20 22 107
24 Ben Farrar Lizardmen 64 20 21 105
25 Aaron Harrison Warriors of Chaos 62 19 24 105
26 Nick Hoen Daemons 59 20 26 105
27 Jabe Brown Orcs and Goblins 61 19 24 104
28 Michael Crossman Ogre Kingdoms 57 20 26 103
29 Hieu Lam Skaven 57 19 26 102
30 Nick Steel Empire 60 20 21 101
31 Drew Mclean Orcs and Goblins 54 20 25 99
32 Lee Jefferson Daemons 56 20 22 98
33 Ben Leopold Wood Elves 53 19 26 98
34 David Stephenson Beastmen 66 7 23 96
35 Brendan Slade Vampire Counts 66 7 23 96
36 Mark Audley Bretonnians 57 19 19 95
37 Greg Greenfield Dwarves 50 20 25 95
38 Mark Skilton High Elves 51 18 25 94
39 Matthew Edwards Warriors of Chaos 49 20 24 93
40 Chris Hardy Skaven 49 20 23 92
41 Steve Tuck Ogre Kingdoms 47 20 24 91
42 Adam Reynold Lizardmen 51 15 24 90
43 Daniel Bird Wood Elves 45 20 24 89
44 Tim Stewart Lizardmen 47 17 23 87
45 Brenton Shaw Beastmen 47 8 27 82
46 Ben Crowther Tomb Kings 52 4 25 81
47 Rojo Warriors of Chaos 36 20 25 81
48 Peter Sivets Orcs and Goblins 36 20 25 81
49 George Spiridonos High Elves 47 5 26 78
50 Brent Craske Wood Elves 29 20 27 76
51 Alexander Game Vampire Counts 35 5 27 67