In these dark days it is not totally surprising to find some plaguebearers in box. Before the current plastic ones, which are great, Games Workshop produced a few generations of metal plaguebearers.
Probably my favourite is this little guy, trying to hold his guts in with one hand while wielding a sword with the other. Such dedication.
The old and new mix well.
Quick and easy to paint, I’m pretty happy with how these turned out. And you can always use a few more daemons.
On a remote relay station, battle brothers of the Ultramarines stand ready to defend against desert raiders.
A nostalgia post today, I haven’t played any 40K since early 2019 and not much in the couple years before that. I still like the lore and I think my Ultramarine army are among the best models I have painted over the years. It was a solid force in 5th ed, and worked OK in 6th, but army structure has moved on.
I think it is time for these lads to head to a buy swap sell forum or eBay. I am unlikely to lead them into battle in the foreseeable future, maybe someone else will can bring them into the modern game. In the meantime, enjoy the pics.
Huzzah!
So how much do you love gaming? I love it enough it enough to get out of bed early on the weekend to cross town to attend the biggest 40K event (in Melbourne, anyway).
Before this weekend I have had exactly one game of 8th edition 40K. Not a great apprenticeship I know, but I figured at 12 or pages of rules, well, how hard can it be?
Pretty hard, it turns out. I took a 5th ed war band to an 8th ed gun fight. While I had six fun games, I had my arse handed to me every which way but winning. My opponents were all great. There were some very cool armies on show too. There are a fair few pictures on Instagram using #arc40K if you want to check some out.
Here is day one. Imagine ugly detail of poor chaos deployment, ineffective shooting, failing to reach close combat and forgetting to use special rules and upgrades, and you get the general idea.
Day two – rinse and repeat:
I did have fun, but one thing really bugged me about the current rules. Basic tactics just don’t seem to matter. Flanking is pointless, terrain doesn’t matter. And the command bubble type powers seemed to combine with big units to see every game end up as two, then one, big blob. Even so (and even while getting thrashed), I still laughed and shouted along with the rest of the participants. It was 40K after all, and it is nothing if not boisterous.
I’ve had my fill of the grim-dark for now. I’m content to leave those that enjoy 40K to roll their buckets of dice. There is a game for everyone out there. Maybe we’ll play one together sometime soon.
cheers.
D.
Can you hear the susurrous of brushes and crazed muttering of gamers as they prepare for a convention?
Arc40K, Melbourne’s longest running 40K tournament is this weekend, so I’m sure lots of folk are madly putting the finishing touches on their armies. Well, I’m ready, but given I only had part of one model to paint, this isn’t so surprising. It was, however, a model that has languished for years unfinished. Fear my Helldrake, it is finally ready to fly over the the grimdark battlefields of the far future!
A bit of mobility and firepower for my Wordbearer coven, most of which I think may have already appeared on this blog over the years. They’re getting on a bit, but I’m reasonably happy with them and it will be fun to have on the table again.
Plus the daemonettes I shared last-time. Lot’s of them.
Maybe I’ll see you across a table.
Happy gaming.
Arcanacon is convention dear to my heart. Arc40KÂ is an institution on the Melbourne 40K calendar, and deservedly so. It is only a fortnight away and with lists due soon I headed to the shed and pulled out some models. The decision on which one to take was easy, the only current codex I own is the Chaos Space Marine one. Job done.
Arc has always been a full hobby weekend: painting, sports and games, so most people bring some fiction and otherwise go the extra mile to really make their armies drip with theme. Here is my modest effort, background for a Word Bearer coven.
The Eidolon Speaks:
Do you want to live to ever?
Strive to shed the pathetic meat-sacks that bind your souls.
Shrive yourself with bolter and flame.
Strive to Glory on a tide of blood to honour our Dark Lords.
Pave the way to daemonhood with the eviscerated remnants
of the pathetic followers of the rotting corpse-emperor.
Well, do you?
[
The incensed filled landing bay of the deep-space transport filled with raised voices and the crashing of metal as fists beat time on shining armour. Lines of sigil-tattooed marines filed into the waiting landing craft, which roared to life and exited for the short drop the world below.
The Eidolon smiled as he felt the stirrings in his viscera and in the air around him from the pressure on reality as his allies from the warp pushed on the world-membrane, eager to enter this realm and taste blood once more.
The Eidolon smiled.
Soon.
Who wants to live forever?
The Eidolon.
And the pending carnage will bring his plans one step closer.
]
see you in the grimdark
For those who came in late, like me, just on a year ago Games Workshop released a shiny new and significantly revised edition of Warhammer 40K, the eighth incarnation of this now venerable franchise. Well two days ago I read the rules for the second time, which didn’t take long as they’re only 6 or 7 pages, and opened my copy of Codex Chaos Space Marines for the first time. And, today, I threw some models down with my friend Oli, as he took me through my first game of the current version of 40K.
I like it.
It reminds me a lot of the house rules that our gaming group finessed over many years of playing Apocalypse. Lots of toys, large explosions, not too much book-keeping and plenty of general dark-millennium mayhem. No doubt weird stuff will emerge, but for the moment Abaddon gives this edition 5 skull encrusted spikes.
The Mechanicus won the field today, but Chaos took it right up to them before being purged with flame.
Congratulations Oli, and thanks for coming over to show me how 8th ed works.
D.
With rage and excitement (sometimes in the same person), the 40K community is looking forward to the launch of 8th edition next weekend. I see a few battle reports for 8th are already popping up , but my friends jumped the other way, as we assembled to farewell 7th in proper WATT style: with a chaos on chaos apocalypse game. We threw down two twenty thousand point armies: so 40k of 40k. Â Nurgle and Tzeentch joined together to battle a coven of Word Bearers and Khorne for bragging rights at the next Eye of Terror Pie Night.
We kept it simple: basically lined up our toys and charged forward. Apoc is such a random mess of events going on it is difficult to build a narrative out the game. Titans threw down huge templates. Successive waves of terminators, then daemons, then more terminators deep struck and the armies lost all cohesion into a one seething mosh pit. We expected this might happen, which is one reason why we sorted by colour at the start.
I have a growing hoard of daemonettes. The models have dynamic and threatening poses, and in numbers they bring some great close combat grunt. A large squad with a herald can gain re-rolling, rending wounds on the charge. While shooting can really mess up their day, if they can get in a charge, terminators and other marines will be quickly gutted and served up as victory kebabs.
The chainmail-bikinis can perhaps be forgiven since they have 5+ invulnerable saves. However, I do have reservations about collecting daemonettes. It doesn’t take long to see that in the Grim Dark future the patriarchy has not withered and died. It is more than the frequent lack of women in this fantasy sci-fi vision of the universe. The images that do make it through into the background and the artwork, and onto the table, are from a rather limited selection. It is like the designers of the 40K universe read the first couple of pages of the Damned Whores and God’s Police and rather missed the point.
The Juan Diaz sculptures: still my favourites, even with the limited number of poses
And yet, here I am. Life is messy. Daemonettes often accompany my Word Bearers. Nothing says I’ve been reading Lorgar quite like zealots summoning daemons, and the combination of shooty marines and close combat daemons complement each other nicely. With my most regular opponent often fielding pskyer heavy Grey Knights it also feels right on theme.
An experiment in practicing painting flesh
One from each squad
I have a recently acquired a lot of Nurgle plaguebearers. Add a Soulgrinder and greater daemon (or two) Â and a troop heavy Nurgle-Slaanesh daemon hoard is looking like my next 40K army.
The most recent, and final, squad. For now.
And in the meantime, no slut-shaming my daemonettes or they’ll manifest on your home world and teach you the error of your ways.
Rejoice citizens of the Imperium. Those valiant warriors of the faith the Adepta Sororitas have successfully defended Imperial Shrine world WB-R-Murphy-02 from a brutal Chaos Marine invasion. Long a shining light of the Imperial Creed, Murphy-02 found itself threatened and near obliterated by the combined efforts of several traitor legions. However, the Sisters, along with steadfast support from the Mechanicus and several Imperial Knight Houses, stood firm.
The Sisters and their allies prepare for the initial Chaos assault
Apocalypse means beer, huge templates, buckets of dice and lots of minis. It remains a favourite with our gaming circle. Big games are especially sweet if you can assemble two themed lists and play with friends over an ace looking table. In the past we have played Tyranids versus Space Marines and lots of Marines against combined daemon and traitor lists. This time we bought in the Sisters and pitted them against a “pure” traitor marine list: no daemons, cultists or dodgy alien allies; 12,000 points a side plus super heavies.
The Sisters set up the center of the table and Chaos came on from both short table edges.
Turns out all you need are some lucky orbital bombardment roles and 3 or 4 Knights and Nurgle’s finest Titan is a smoking, smelly pile.
Once close combat was joined the scores started to close, but Chaos never looked like getting in front. But that is not the point of Apocalypse. You just have to go with the flow, and “forge the narrative”.
Don’t worry, Abaddon is already plotting his revenge.
Space Marines are celebrating 30 years this week-end. Blimey!
To mark the occasion I dug into the Faith and Steel vaults for the oldest space marines I could find. My own date from the starter set with the Black Templars on the box and dark eldar on in inside, plus a few of the (now out of production) metal figures from the time.
These are fine miniatures but I came across a box of something older. I have on long-term loan from a friend some seriously old marines. A mix of plastic and metal, I would love to hear from anyone who can identify them, because all I know is that they are OLD!
Of course, marines never really retire and these veterans still get the occasional run in Apocalypse games.
What’s hiding in your cupboard?
D.
Faith&Steel 