Yet Another Look At The Horus Heresy: Book 1

Well, like most of the blogging 40K world I went out and as an early Christmas present to myself I bought the newest Forgeworld book: The Horus Heresy, Book 1…  

Now I could bather on about the high production value of this leather bound beauty or the Aquila metal corner protectors. I could talk about how nice it is to have a proper Crusade/ Early Heresy Era Marine list with lots of new rules, characters and toys…  I could even talk about how we finally get rules for Primarchs…  But I am not going to. People seem to be doing that enough on the internet.  The HH book 1 is amazing and is well worth the price.  I would have loved the new 40K campaign book to be this good (did I say that out loud?)…  Sadly it is not, but that is another topic of discussion.

The Hounds Of The Emperor

What I would like to discuss is some of the background that is included in the legion sections of the book.  Not only do we get a good pre-heresy look at each of the 4 major (original) chaos legions: Deathguard, World Eaters, Emperor’s Children and of course The Sons of Horus; We also finally get a really good look at the nature of each legion pre-Primarchs.  Sure these guys were created in one of the 20’s image and certain aspects of style and temperament of their “fathers” manifested itself into the character of the legion (Early World Eaters were still shock/awe assault troops used against the worst of foes) but it is interesting to see how things changed as the Primarchs were discovered.  I especially like the history of these early legions, battles fought and early colour schemes and original names.  I also enjoyed reading about how those legions changed with the introduction of gene-fathers and later with the onset of warrior lodges and the heresy... 

The Death Guard were originally The Dusk Raiders and The World Eaters were The Hounds of the Emperor.  As a huge fan of the old Index Astartes articles, I would have bought the HH book for this background information alone.

The Dusk Raiders

Another thing that I REALLY enjoy about the book is the detailed description of the Istavan 3 battle/war.  The play by play in a non-fiction setting is really enjoyable to read (IMHO).  There are maps, pictures, and character profiles from both sides of the conflict.  I especially like how there are playable characters for both the traitors and the loyalists with mini-histories detailing how these characters got to the battle.  I was excited to see “black shield” special characters as well (Garviel Loken anyone?).  I am really looking forward to seeing who they put in book two! 

Finally it included a Mechanicum allies list.  I am really hoping that we will see this expanded in the future.  I would love to a full/dedicated list with accompanying models and vehicles.  But that starts to get into the realm of wishful thinking…  Or does it?

A Figure Transportation Idea (Small Reaper Case Review)

As some of you know, I have lived in Melbourne Australia for close to 8 years now.  For that whole time I have lived in or immediately around the Melbourne CBD.  This means I have primarily lived in small apartments and shared houses and generally that I have avoided owning a car at all costs...  

Don't get me wrong... I LOVE to drive.  I do it whenever I can.  But after spending most of my life living in the States I have never gotten over how expensive car ownership costs down here. As a result, I generally don’t drive.  I recently had my class figure out my bike commuting distance and I ride an average of about 4500 kilometres a year (not including all the riding I do when I am not getting to and leaving from work).  This means that I often travel with toy soldiers either on my bike or on public transportation.  When moving whole armies or terrain this starts to get difficult due the volume of crap that one needs to carry in this hobby.  I needed a more viable transportation method on a smaller scale.  Something that was bike friendly.

Enter the “Figure Carrying Case” from Reaper miniatures.

Is it small?  Yup. 

I needed a case that would easily fit into my Crumpler Courier bag.  It not only fit like a charm but there is room for rulebooks/ army books, dice bags, tape measures and templates (and my lunch!).  Perfect.  Now at this size you will never fit an army’s worth of models but for specialist games like Necromunda and Mordheim it is the perfect size.  It would also work (in my case) beautifully for carrying a unit or two’s worth of models to a mate’s place for painting nights.  

You can see it’s capacity here:

With larger models:

Next up… Is it durable? Yup!

I am fairly rough on my bike and on my gear when riding and I have kicked the crud out of this case in the short time I have owned it.  That said it looks exactly the same now as it did a few months ago when I bought it.  Generally, the foam inside protects models well and holds different sized models in place in a way that prevents figs from rattling around against each other (a recipe for chips and disaster).  My only gripe is with the foam insert that divides the two halves.  It is fairly flimsy.  While this prevents rubbing and breakages when the case is closed, getting the case closed sometimes causes issues.  The two sides fold together when closing the case.  This leads to some dexterous maneuvering with fragile models in order to close it without models spilling out or banging into one another.  It is an annoying design flaw in an otherwise dependable product.

 

Is it expensive?  Surprisingly no!

This little baby retails for something like $16 US (or $18 here in Australia) which compared to GW’s cases is unbelievably cheap! Mind numbingly so!  For a product of this quality I think that Reaper could have charged $30 easily and still had a good deal.  Not that I am complaining!

Overall I am a very big fan the of this little gem of transportation gold.  Does it fit everyone’s needs?  Probably not…  Does it fit my needs?  Absolutely…  So much so that I have already bought two. 

Til next time!

B

For those wondering this is what the Reaper website has to say:

This carrying case is the same hardshell plastic case that all of our boxed sets come in. With two layers of rugged eggshell foam, you'll be able to transport your figures with ease and in Reaper style! Size approximately 9" x 10.75" x 3".

One more size comparison...  Here it is on top of a Marine Codex.  

The Suitability of Forgeworld, Victoria Miniatures, and Cadians... (REVIEW)

As many of you know I have been eyeing up the work of Victoria Lamb the last year.  Her Imperial Guard conversion kits and accessory sprues have looked great online and over the last 15 months or so she has turned out an impressive number of the bitz.  Last week I ordered my first stack of  parts and today I am going to look at them with you.

A couple of years ago I got the itch to do yet another Guard army and I went online and ordered a massive Tallarn Army from Forgeworld.  Forgeworld doesn't make a Tallarn army some of you might say...  Well you would be sort of right.  They made heavy weapons teams, weird camel cavalry, and sniper teams (who used the same rifles as the regular guardsmen).  I would guess that they had planned to do the whole army but decided not to at some point.  Most of the parts are there to do it.  It just needs to be done!  And that is where I step onto the stage (so to speak).  

I ordered the army and true to form for Forgeworld at the time (they have gotten much better since) the 120 or so guardsmen that I got from them had crazy flash lines and assorted miscastings.  This is not the worst of the problems... The lasrifles that the models come with are beautiful long barrelled lasguns.  The issues comes in here...  These lasrifles are a mess because they are so long and thin.  I have heard Death Korps of Krieg owners bitch for years about the state of their fragile, often miscast lasrifles.  I would say the Tallarn ones are worse...  The state of the basic rifle of the army is the single issue I have with actually doing this army that I am keen to get together at some point...  Which brings us back to the present.  I ordered a pile of Victoria Miniatures lasrifle arms specifically to use with my Tallarn troops.  Let's see how that works...

To start with I have to say that I was pleased with the prompt delivery of the Victorian parts.  I had them within a week from placing the order (more likely within days but to be fair I was out of town).  The parts came in a padded envelop within durable plastic bags much like forge world used to use.  The casting of these metal parts was pretty good.  There were a few large horrible most lines BUT they are in easy to reach spots and would be no problem to clean up.  The detail on the models was exactly as was advertised on the website.  All in all I am very happy with my purchase.

These parts were made to integrate fully with GW's Cadian line.  Here you can see a variety of parts on cadian models with a full plastic guardsmen thrown in for scale:

 As you can see the arms fit perfectly (please excuse the blue tac).  Everything is to scale and arms fit torsos with little to no gaps.

Now to the Tallarn problem.  Here is are a few of the Tallarn Rifles next to the Victorian rifles for scale.

 Now here is a Tallarn torso with the Victorian arms attached next to a Tallarn with the Tallarn arms attached (please note the crappy bent Tallarn Lasrifle in this photo).

What you might be able to tell from the photographs is a slight but noticeable size difference between the large arms and the smaller Tallarn Models.  It is not the fault of Victorian Miniatures that there is a size discrepancy.  Forgeworld Guard models (Kriegers, Drop Troops, AND Tallarns) have always been smaller than GW's over exaggerated "Heroic" scale.  By matching the Cadian models, Victorian Miniatures arms are a little too big for my true scale desert raiders...  Which is a pain in the nether region!  I had hoped that the VIC parts would solve my Tallarn problem.  They might but they do not solve it as cleanly as I would have hoped. 

Here you can kind of see the size difference of the GW and the Forgeworld guard models:

Would I recommend Victorian Miniatures to fellow guard players?  Yup, they get TWO big thumbs up from this guy.  Can I use them for this...  Sadly...  Probably not.  

Back to the drawing board!

Ideas anyone?

Guest Review of Bolt Action Miniatures by DaveOWar

Recently I have been getting more interested in historical games. After playing a hell of a lot of WHFB I have just been feeling the urge to start painting different types of models. To scratch these itches I've have been playing a bit of FOW, until about two weeks ago when I discovered bolt action. Bolt actions a 28mm WW2 game written by Alessio Calvatorie with the assistance of Rick Priestly made by Warlord games and Osprey Publishing set to come out in a few short weeks’ time. As someone who has always loved this history of ww2 and used to paint a lot of 1/35 models this was an opportune too good to miss. After reading up all I could find on the rules I decided to purchase British Commandos as my main force. 48 hours after ordering about 1000pts worth from War and Peace Games they were in my mail box (a free plug for a really amazing customer experience).

 The first thing I got is a section of commando characters including Lord Lovat, his piper and The Brig. I really love these figures as they encapsulate what I think of when I imagine British ww2 forces, the sense of gentlemanly style and the impractical use of a per in battle really tops it off. The detail on these is quite good compared to some of the other metals although the faces could be a bit sharper.

 I also got a machine gun and mortar as support options. While I do quite like some of these models i felt the overall detail could be improved and did not look as good as other models in the range. The poses that they have chosen for the models are particularly good and I really enjoy the guy blocking his ears. I ended up replacing one of the mortar crew with a plastic model and using here crew as a forward artillery observer.

 The bulk of my force is a box of 25 commandos and 25 British infantry with scots heads. I am really impressed with these models. The detail is great, the poses are energetic and well designed and the kit comes with huge amounts of extras for you to use. I have only started to play around with the kit and see what can be done but so far I think they compare well to most current GW kits. (I haven't assembled any of the normal British infantry but the kit is quite similar)

This is a model I assembled as the section snipper, hopefully he will be useful.

Finally a small number of commandos

Finally to support it all I got a Cromwell cruiser tank. This beast is a solid chunk of resin and British stiff upper lipishness, the detail is very crisp and the model goes together very quickly. Assembling a tank like this is a very different experience to GW kits of historical model companies like Tamaya where there a huge numbers of parts. There were only 4 large resin parts and a handful if resin accessories. All up the assembly took about 15 mins. The tank looks a tad small for the figures but it may just be that I misunderstood the size of Cromwells.

 Overall I am very happy with the models and am really looking forward to getting stuck into them and getting painting. I think for people looking get into historical games but have been put off by the rules systems or small scale should keep an eye out for Bolt Action. The previews of the rules seem to be easily understood by those who have played GW and 28mm scale is a comfortable place for many players.

Ratings out of 10

Value: 9 (the plastics are amazing while the resin and metal are still good value)

Quality: 8 (the plastics and resin are an easy 10 but the metals still do have room for improvement)

Style: 10 (though these models don't look as anatomically accurate as other companies outings, such as wargames factory, they have great style and really remind me of the 60s war movie heroes that I grew up on)

Ease of assembly: 7 (against the plastics and tank are great. But assembling small weapons out of complex metal parts is always a pain. This isn't really the fault of warlord it is just a result of the weapons size and type)

Overall: 9 (I have really enjoyed assembling these models so far and am pretty darn excited about the game)

DaveOwaR out!

Scibor Adeptus Custodes Model Review (Quality Assurance Time)

I have gotten a number of requests for a review of the quality of the resin Scibor Adeptus Custodes Models I am working with. Here are my thoughts.

Having ordered a few armies worth of models over time I can safely say that Scibor delivers models in a timely fashion (much more so than Forgeworld for example). I had my models very quickly (10 days or so) after ordering them and I ordered fairly large quantities of the same models at the same time. Additionally (and very cooly)they threw in bonus models for ordering "bulk" (I ordered 45 models at one time plus characters and scribes so like 50 models all at once). That is ten days shipping keeping in mind that they were shipping from Poland to the United States (and I was ordering from Australia... I love the global marketplace!). The models were carefully packed and everything arrived in the appropriate pieces. 10 out of ten on this front.

Getting down to the models themselves... Scibor models are notorious for their oily coverings when you first open the packages. I am sure that this is just model release agent and a quick warm soapy bath and you are clean as a whistle. As I do the same with Forgeworld stuff it is par for the course and fine with me. I am told that if you do not clean this off it can muck with your priming. Clean it. It takes little time and is worth it.

Now the casting of these models is the worst of any Scibor models I have bought to date. My dwarves and chaos dwarves had at most 3 miscasts each (and we are talking hundreds of models here). The Custodes have miscasts or extra flash on almost every other model out of 50. Now, most of these can be easily fixed by a quick flick of a hobby blade. I anticipating a 45minute job (and that is only because I work slowly) to clean the whole army. There are two models with damaged faces:

As you can see these two have minor miscast holes in their faces and one is missing the tips of his feet. A little putty and this is fine.
You can see extra flash on this guys chest:
And something similar on this guy's face... It is not a tumor!:

The most common problem by far is the back of the robes. Many models need flash removal on their kilt. They look like this:
All in all though this is much less flash and miscasting than you would see in comparable GW models especially if those models were Finecast. The flash is so minimal I almost feel guilty for complaining about it. The two face divits are the biggest problems but some putty and those dudes will be fine. In the Era of Finecast these are resin cast models with crisp detail and none of the rubbish that I have come to expect from GW's resins...
Sure the models are largish but that makes them extra heroic scale!
Honestly, though they are larger than GW's models, they still easily work.

The long and the short... I recommend Scibor. Working with their models is a pleasant breath of fresh air from the usual problems we face as hobbyists.

Impressions of Space Marine on XBOX360

Like many other fanboys out there I bought the new Space Marine video game by THQ soon after it released. I have an XBOX 360 arcade which really limits my experience with the game (no online multi-player for this kid). As I have been playing it a bit I thought I would share my thoughts.

First of all you play a Space Marine Captain of the Ultramarines Chapter (I would love it if GW would leave the Ultras alone for once BUT I digress) who leads a partial squad of a few other dudes around a forge world under seige by orks. There is no mechanism for squad leadership in the game. You basically get a few gun drones to follow you around in space marine skin that provide covering fire where you go. It is possible to out run them in combat situations which depending on the situation can be very bad for your health. I would like to add that your buddies are basically invulnerable and you can shoot through them like they are not there with no chance of hurting them. This is fine and all but I have been playing too many hours of New Vegas and everything dies in that game.... Alot. I kinda like that.

The orks in the game are kinda dumb about when they charge... I get that orks mob up before assaulting. I guess it is just odd to watch in real time. I do like how the orks appear in a variety of types in the game and I like how these different types appear in groups that support each other. Just off the top of my head there are slugga boys, grots, shoota boys, bomb squigs, nobs, rocket boys, the list goes on and on. You will often see hordes of slugga boys charge that you will have to deal with at close range. While you are you will be getting shot by snipers on various structures all around you (Usually much higher up). It requires you to use some brains rather than button mashing (sometimes). There will also be more than occasional bomb squigs mixed into the hordes meaning you go boom if you wade in to deep.

I really like how the only way to heal yourself in the game is to be aggressive. While this is not usually the way I play games it does make for an interesting dynamic. When you kill enemies your "rage" meter goes up. When you hit the top of the meter you can activate your pent up "rage." This heals you and gives you combat bonuses first in hand to hand and later when shooting. The only other way you can heal is by stunning an opponent and using a fatality style attack ala Mortal Combat. These are suitably gory though I am usually hesitant to use this method of healing when I am wading through twenty slugga boys. By rewarding aggressive play the game makes you be as aggressive as space marines are hinted at in the Horus Heresy novels at least. True the violence is very "Movie Marines" (a great White Dwarf Article if you ever get the chance... issue 300 for US readers) sooo I really would not suggest this for younger players. Then again maybe I am just old fashioned.

As far as levels go I am alittle disappointed that there is only ever one way to get through levels which after playing the free range game of New Vegas almost feels a bit boring. There is lots of walking around between skirmishes by yourself. I imagine that all the cover holes and interactive scenery that you can roll over or jump off comes into play when you play multi-player. Once again I cannot do this so... It is all lost in the background, which to be fair is nice. There are good views in the surroundings and the graphics are nice to look at so as far as that goes THQ has surpassed my expectations.

As a marine I am pleased with the number of weapons that get kicked around. I am mid-way through the 2nd big mission and I have a stalker pattern sniper bolter, a bolter, a bolt pistol and a grenade launcher. I have also messed around with a plasma cannon and a hvy bolter. I am always fairly conservative with ammo in these things but reloads are so prolific that I have changed the way I play. I assume it is to once again reward a more aggressive style of play. Each weapon has its own role and you end up using them (at least I do) to fit your need at the time. Grenades are in there too and I really do enjoy using them as often as I can get my paws on them...

As a quick aside and this is strange for someone who lives in Australia to say but I expected the Marines to sound American... Clint Eastwood flavoured to be specific. Everyone has a British accent. Not surprising given that GW is a British company but still. It just sounds not quite right to my ear.

All in all I am enjoying Space Marine by THQ. Is it for everyone? No... But what is? It is generally mindless and brings the 40K universe to life. Which I always like. Good times.

Anywhoooo... Till next time gang!

Maximini Sniper Rifle Review

Well “The Land O Misfit Toys” has officially had it’s first ever tournament. Book of Grudges is done and dusted. I will get results and a TO report up shortly (double checking a few scores… sleeping… you know the important stuff).

I did have a blast and Realm Of Legends is a GREAT venue but I will get back to that. One thing that I do love about the shop is that they have all sorts of bitz and bobs that I can pick up for existing projects that I have never seen anywhere but on the internet.

This last weekend I picked up a pack of Maximini sniper rifles. I had been eyeing these up for quite a while but was worried about how the barrels of would come out (resin, thin barrels are usually not so good). Anyway, Ross and Maria had a pack of these bad boys that I happily picked up for my Raven Guard scout army (yet another project kids).

Anyway I thought I would let you guys (and gals) in on my opinions about the blister pack. There were 5 rifles in the pack and while some of the flash was horrific it was only on the casting tab. The rifles themselves were clean as a whistle with crisp edges and details. The barrels of the rifles were straight and nice (as were the bi-pod legs).

Love them.

My only gripe is that I am not sure HOW I am going to get the rifles and bi-pods off the casting tab without breaking things (I am a bit of a bull in a china shop some days). That though is a challenge for another day.

My quick two cents…