Assembly

So I finally got around to painting the last interior detail of Unbearable Desire, the wall separating the reactor control room from the elevator room. Here I opted to paint the serial number of the Warhound, 2089 on the inside of the reactor room and I also painted the titans name in runes above the entrance on the outside.. After this part was done I attached the rear part of the upper body to the front part and put the wall in. At this point I could attach the upper body to the legs, and it did not fall over. =). As I saw this I decided to magnetize the arms and weapons. I drilled out the arm stub and attached a 10 mm diameter neodym magnet with a 4 mm hole and a 4 mm iron rod in the recess. Then I drilled out a 4 mm hole in each weapon and a small 10 mm diameter recess at the bottom of the socket. In the recess I glued in a iron disc.Once all parts where fixed I could not resist to assemble the titan. I know that it is unpainted and a lot of the smaller parts are missing, but it is the first time it stands more or less ready for battle. =)

I have also started to assemble the Reaver titan's legs. I started with the magnetization of the outer armor plates and now I am moving on towards cutting the pistons to the right length. I will keep the lower leg lose at the moment and only glue the toes, and piston guards in the right position. This gives me the possibility to paint the inner leg before assembly, which is good since the outer armor is removable. =). I don't understand why people say that the Reaver legs are easier than the Warhound, I find these more complex and not as flexible as the war hound feet. Well I will try to squeeze the pose that I want out of them and if it does not work I will have to use a more standard way to assemble them. I also have to think about pinning. I have not had any problems with the epoxy so far but it is not worth taking any chances with the legs.


I will probably take a break from the Unbearable Desire to work on the other titans, so that I get them to more or less the same state before starting to paint the armor. I still have some green stuffing to do. This will in principle mean that I have to paint every thing that I have done again =) but on another titan. We will see if I can keep away from the armor.

It stands!

 After being away for a few weeks it's time to show you all what has been done to the titans lately. Both legs of Unbearable Desire have been painted and assembled in their walking position. It was quite a scare to glue them together! I had glued the legs in their position and the hip, leaving only two joints unglued and held together by blue tack. This was done so that I could paint the parts separately before assembly. However, when I applied glue to the last joints and tried to get them to fit together I could not make the joints flush at the same time as all the toes where in contact with the surface. This was due to the fact the the blue tack that I used when gluing the other parts used more space than the final glue and hence the parts did not fit properly. Since the walking pose puts a lot of strain on the legs I did not want the feet to be in contact at just one point. After about an hour of fiddling back and forth I finally managed to get them into a position where the feet were flat on the ground and there were only very small gaps in the hip joints. I will have to fill the gaps with more glue or green stuff at some point, but it's holding and standing so it's not critical right now. However, it has to be done before the upper body gets attached. I have also worked some more on the shin guard, adding the border and Chaos icons. I also tried the idea of having a red paint scheme (Khorne type) starting to grow out from the Chaos icon, taking over the original paint scheme, though I'm not sure if it comes across right or if it just looks like something else. We'll see if I want to enlarge the areas so that it becomes more of a painted surface but I don't want to make it too cluttered; I don't want the armor to look like a colorful camo paint. Sine all of the armor plates are either loose or magnetized I can hold back on painting them until I know what I want. 

Great news: New Sisters of Battle coming up!

Ok so at this point I'm closing in on 'extatic' here.... A couple of weeks ago I heard from my local retailer that gw was dropping the SoB, which of course made my horribly disappointed. The Sisters of Battle have always been my absolute favorite army and actually the only one that has ever stirred my imagination and enough to spend money on. Now, the disappointment has been turned to joy, as I read on the great net that not only are gw keeping the SoB, they are actually releasing new models!!!!!! YAY!!!


I first read about it in Faeit 212, where was passed on from stickmonkey on Farseer. Rather than trying to rephrase the whole thing, I think it's best to simply pass along what was originally said. Read it while I try to regain my breath. The plastic (!) models coming up sound amazing (despite the traditional and oh so unpractical haircut which is still there).






(Link to original HERE)


I'm posting this in the rumor section on purpose, but it's more of a review.

I got to get a good look at a new protoype basic sister, and I'm hoping one of our other sources can sneak a picture out once they see it. The reason is, this sister has a "veil". Words cannot describe...the detailing is phenomenal. The veil is a separate piece, but it looks gorgeous. If they can get this right in molding the sisters wave will be beautiful models. If you've seen this one, you know what I mean... I begged to take a photo for here, but no luck. 

The model maintains the existing armor styling, but with more filigree. Little details like lace boot tops, small details in the armor. Look at the evolution of daemonettes to wyches, and think what the next step would be. 

The bolters however are now streamlined, they are not the marine bolter we've known and loved, but still recognizable. Feminine.

I know I'm getting folks worked up, but sisters are still a long way off, it will be a long wait. So temper any enthusiasm.


EDITED:

I've had a chance to gather notes and thoughts a bit more now that I've completed my work today and had time to get a pint and a bite...

So to clarify a few bits.

The lace, is not laces, its lace around the top of the boot. at the knee. the model has like a pirate style boot and the lace is around the top edge..or thats my take away of what it was.

The bolter is still most certainly a bolter, but look at the existing line, the bolters are disproportioned...especially the bolt pistols...to the models. the new ones are much more like the AoBR SM bolters. With straps, etc. and are separate pieces from arms. they "look" slighty thinner than a SM bolter and have a different shape to the over all gun, but they are not "Girly" i did not have a SM handy to compare directly, so it could just be impression. Also, they have abandoned the banana clip completely it seems.

the veil covered the whole head, its an alternate to the helmet, the face piece is just separate. think cobra commander vs vera wang wedding.

the torso has small details in the corset, i think skulls.

the tabard between the legs had flur de lis details.

there are "sleeves" similar to the image on 19 of the current WH book. similar, but not identical.

I'll reiterate this is a prototype though, not what has necessarily been approved. But as a beta stage model, i really like it, and I think a teaser of it would really build up excitement...hint hint GW overlords...  Maybe wait til closer to release...

Overall when i see the current sisters their are very "bulky" these new ones are very graceful, but in a brutal way. the poses are much more dynamic and agressive. not everyone has their feet planted shoulder width apart torso straight on to their opponents....

I was told there will be numerous head options for the sisters, in the way theyve been doing all releases, but the "bob cut" is the preferred hairstyle.

I'm also told sisters repentia, priests, celestians, and seraphim will get new models with seraphim likely to adopt jump packs similar to the sanguinary guard...though I saw no evidence of this. No word on arco flaggelants.

Penitent engine is getting reworked as well.

And of course you saw my Jan rumor post. To provide a clue, Dominion squads.

Inq forces should all be updated by the GK release, so no news there for SoB, but they are expected to be present in the codex.

I also know of a few more "new" units that are being developed.

Cheers.

Prospero Burns... and so do I!

I should say that it is hard to impress me when it comes to pseudo-Viking sagas. I am very familiar with the Old Icelandic literary tradition and Iron Age Scandinavia, which obviously the Space Wolves' culture is modeled upon. I have sat by the fire, huddled up under my heavy fur-lined cloak, and listened to the sounds of the night. I have felt the chill of the ocean, and held the coarse wooden oar between my hands as the waves crashed against the mighty ship. Don't come to me with half-assed accounts of comical, barbarian Vikings because I'll see right through it. Am I being presumptuous? A bit arrogant perhaps? Hell yeah. But you better believe it's true. 

With that said... Prospero Burns, the latest addition to the Horus Heresy series, has truly gotten my blood pumping and put some fire in my heart! I often find myself speed reading when a book doesn't completely manage to grip me and I just want to get it over with. Dan Abnett's Prospero Burns, on the other hand, took unusually long for me to get through. I wanted to taste every sentence, every word of this epic contribution to the 40k universe. It almost felt wrong to simply read it. I wanted to say it out loud, and hear the words, feel the words. They are brutal and honest, just like the Wolves themselves, and completely knocked me out. 

Already after a few pages, I was happily cast back into the coarse, short-spoken and very clever style echoing the language of the Icelandic sagas. I couldn't help smiling at terms like "Upplander" (born and raised in Uppland I am, wee!) and shudder at chilling descriptions of finger's scattered on the snow. Defensive wounds. Yeah, that's nasty. And very true to life, so don't even think about trying to stop the blow of an axe with your hands.

If you are the least squeamish, and faint at the sight of blood, you really shouldn't read this book. The violence is almost too... violent... It is so very direct, carnal and feels way too real. The descriptions poke at your insides in an almost disturbing manner. Bodies fall from the sky like "human hail" and hit the ground "with a noise like smashing eggs and snapping celery". Yet the Wolves of the 6th legion remain true to the chosen heroic ideal, never even flinching. When Heoroth Longfang falls to the ground, mortally wounded, his brother remarks that it's "a fine day for sitting on your arse." Longfang casually replies that he likes the weather here! Unrealistic? Yes definitely, but that's the beauty of it! When characters in the Icelandic saga's present such comments it is accepted as an unrealistic yet charming cultural trait, which probably had very little to do with reality. But the warriors of the 6th legion are not human, they play by a different set of rules and they become more true to the ancient ideal than regular humans ever could.

Now of course, Prospero Burns is not only about the 6th legion. With unexpected ease one is suddenly thrown back into "regular" imperial culture, and regards the Wolves as a part of imperial mankind while at the same time being utterly separated from it. Dan Abnett is a master of transitions! From ancient to modern, from dream to reality, from bestiality to great humanity, from the physical to the transcendental; the crossing of these intangible borders is a recurring theme throughout the novel. In a way the theme runs through the entire Horus Heresy, but it is never as forcefully and exquisitely expressed as in Prospero Burns.

If I could only recommend one of the Horus Heresy books, it would surely be this one. You don't even have to be a fan of 40k literature, or even familiar with Warhammer 40k in general! Dan Abnett has created a masterpiece and I look forward to going back into his world, tasting the bloody words again, once more hearing the wolves howl and smelling the fear of enemies as they are torn to pieces. As Prospero burns, so do I. And I love it!

 

Dark Angels from the Past

Here are some of my Dark Angels space marines. This was the second army I painted (the first was a Space Wolves army). These models where pained during the mid 90th. After finishing my spacewolfs I wanted to paint something in a diffrent colour and to try out some new techniques. The space wolves where mostly dry brushed, while here I tried a combo of drybryshing and layering to get nice blends between diffrent shades.  The colour scheme fn the inner cirlce is sligthly different from what is common today. Instead of bonewhite robes I have used purple. This was inspiered by a diorama by Mike McVey that appeard in the first Blood Angel / Dark Angel codex (Angels of Death) . The Raven wing comander on a bike was made before the release of the Raven wing master mounted on a land speeder or the subsequent master on a jetbike. The chaplain on a bike is part of the raven wing masters comand squad.

 This is one of  the first Death wing terminators that I painted. It does not have the typical bone white canopy that is seen today, but is based on the original Death Wing saga told in the one of the Spacehulk rule books, (can't remember wich) where the story of the death wing is told. In this case story a squad of terminators return to their home world to find it overrun by a genestealer cult. Their armour is the pre-heresy black. As they knew that they were not going to survive the cleansing of their planet they washed their armour in lime paint in preparation for death as was their custom. Doing this over a black armour would not give you a bone white colour, so I choose a more grey/black/white combo.

 This is my master of the Death wing, the first terminator captain released by Games Workshop. It might not be as detailed as later versions nor as dynamicaly posed, but I like it. Especially because of his heroic stand against a genestealer hoard (where single handedly drove off 30 or so genestealers!) during a battle in the mid 90's. He could withstand a serious amount of damage under the rules back then! 

My first sculpting attempts where made on this dreadnought. The imperial eagle on the leg and shoulder is made with miliput. First I made a mould from the standard coming with the model. When this was dry I used it to mould wet miliput on to the model. So I didn't really sculpt it, just made it a bit special. I also added an extension to the assault cannon to make it a bit longer.

These are some of my scouts. They don't have a particulary story, but I still thought that I would show them. I remember that I was quite pleased with them at the time when I painted them, right at the end of my active work on the army. It is still not fully painted! I have some scouts, attack bikes and land speeders left to finish, as painting has been slow going for the last 15 years for this army. /M

Faith & Fire: Review

What do I look for in a good novel? Of course the author has to have more than a sufficient grasp of the written language. Furthermore the characters need to be believable and the plot captivating. Now when it comes to 40k literature there are some additional points worthy of consideration. The author has to show a degree of insight into the 40k universe (obviously!), and managing to stay away from descriptions and plots that require too much prior knowledge from the reader. And, what I find most important, the author must always portray people and events, not gaming pieces and tabletop wargames. In other words, the reader should be able to forget that the novel is based on a game, and accept both characters and plot as they would in any other good novel!

Previously I have read the not yet completed Horus Heresy series, as well as Dan Abnett's Ravenor Omnibus and the Eisenhorn Omnibus. I also began reading an older 40k novel, the name of which I can't even remember, which was horrendously bad and inspired nothing but despondent laughter, after which I decided to stick with more recent contributions to the literary 40k universe. After having read a few other books by James Swallow (those wihtin the Horus Heresy series) I eagerly started to read Faith & Fire, in which my beloved Sisters of Battle hold the center stage.

Unfortunately, after finishing reading it, I must say that I am disappointed. My main critique is simple; I was never swept away by the story, and not for a second did I feel the characters come alive! To my surprise, Swallow never managed to step out of the 40k game, and I kept getting the feeling he wasn't actually describing characters in a story, but elaborate miniatures in a fake battle scenario.

At their head was a tall rail of a man, draped in fine silks and priestly regalia. Red and white purity seals hung off him like the medals of a soldier, and the rage on his face matched the crimson of his robes. In one hand he clasped a heavy tome bound in rosaries, in the other there was the clattering blade of a gunmetal chainsword, the adamantine teeth spinning and ready.

(Faith & Fire page 45)

Now what is this? A righteous preacher charging across the battlefield, ready to strike down the unbeliever? No, this is how high priest LaHayn is first presented, as he storms into a chapel for a heated discussion with the Sororitas. Why on earth the high priest would run around carrying and a spinning chainsword while not on the battle field is above my comprehension. And the large tome he is carrying in his other hand? Oh, that has no purpose other than looking cool I guess, since it is not used for anything or ever mentioned again. Similarly, though not as bad, is the description of Canoness Galatea as she goes to battle, constantly showing off a large book with one hand in order to inspire her sisters. Very practical. Yeah. Right.

Another irritating thing is Swallow's tendency to play 'lets try not name as many SoB terms as possible'... No, casually namedropping every possible SoB troop type, vehicle and title does NOT automatically make a believable SoB story, it just makes the author seem slightly desperate. The same applies to the oh so discreet mentioning of certain objects, like the Cloak of St Aspira. Remember Chekov's gun? If you've placed a gun on stage at some point it will have to be fired! The entire discussion about the Cloak on page 186 was just tiring and almost amateurish, I'm sad to say.

Should I even mention the slight tendency to sexualise the SoB simply because they are women? "Women like these" apparently do not inspire fear, respect and awe amongst the imperial citizens, but rather "thoughts that ran the spectrum from lustful fantasy to violent distrust". Some even consider them "as much concubines" as soldiers, able to "bring pleasure and damnation to the unwary in equal measure". Shortly thereafter the Sisters Hospitallers are presented, and the idea presented to the reader is not one of piety and healing, but rather something connected to the stereotype naughty-nurse imagery as the nearby man "amused himself thinking of how he might like them to comfort him in bed one night". Now even though Swallow doesn't actually let the sisters themselves speak of such tings, the fact that he feels compelled to revel in sexual imagery is irritating to say the least.

Before I end this all too long and depressing review, let me assure you that there also are other problems which are common not only in bad 40k literature, but in bad literature in general. The characters are incredibly   flat and show no personal development whatsoever. They speak in artificial and overly embellished lines and embrace the classical mistakes such as "oh, lets make the villain explain all the details of his plan to his prisoners" and unnatural one-liners meant to make the main character sound like a truly hard-boiled heroine.

I could say so much more about this novel, so many quotes that should really be adressed. But, I am running late and have to go and therefore you won't have to endure any more of this depressing rambling. If you have read Faith & Fire and have a different opinion I'd be happy to read any comments! And of course if you agree with me, I'd be very glad to read that as well!

Faith & Fire

Today, as we went downtown to get some new paint brushes and some new paint (Marcus' collection which was bought several years ago has been in desperate need of a refill!) we also came home with some books... To the left is Faith & Fire by James Swallow, which I have wanted to read for some time now. Sisters of Battle is of course dear to my heart and since I love high quality 40k literature, this book is simply essential in my book collection. And since I enjoyed Swallow's contributions to the Horus Heresy series I'm sure Faith & Fire will also be good!

Speaking about the Horus Heresy... The newest book in the series, Prospero Burns by the great Dan Abnett, we've bought but not yet read! So Faith & Fire will have to wait until I'm up to date in the Horus Heresy. I'll probably find the time to write short reviews of them both afterwards! =)

Today's second addition to our book collection is Titanicus, also by Dan Abnett, which I more or less forced onto dear Marcus. Yeah, of course he has to finish Ravenor first (which I absolutely loved!)... But now that he's working so hard on his titans he can't NOT read Titanicus, right?

Shin guard

Well, I could not help myself. After painting a bit on the legs I got an urge to try the painting scheme that I had in mind for the armor plating. But since I am still working on the green stuff mods and I had decided to hold of on this until I was sure I did not want to add something more so I was not sure I really should do this. Well I have one more titan I thought and did a quick base spray of one of the shin guards. I had an idea of having the armor in a base green and then having a blue-white striped pattern on half of the guard. The blue-white paint should be chipped and pealing off, showing the green armor beneath. So to do this I first painted the armor plate in the same way as the rest of the green areas on the titan.

I then used masking tape, teared into small pieces, that would be where the paint has pealed. I then painted a sand-bone-white over the green area and tape patches. Then I striped the white area with masking tape, removing every other stripe. I intentionally left a gap

between the stripes to make room for a dividing line between the blue or white fields. After this it was just to paint the in the blue stripes, re-attach the masking tapes over the blue and painting some metal stripes in-between. Then it was just to carefully peal all the masking tape away. Unfortunately some of the base coat came off the resin, I dont know if this was because I started painting before the base coat was really dry of if it was due to the thickness of the paint covering the tape. Well, it achieved the effect I was looking for and I can always cover up the patches where the resin is showing. I just hope this is not a sign that the base-coat has a generally bad adherence to the resin, which would indicate a repaint at some point. I have not finished the rest of the border and the chaos mark, since I just wanted to test the pealed paint thing at this point. I am rather pleased with the result so far, but I will have to finish the piece to see how it will turn out in the end.

Twelfth Night Titan Mayhem

Finally I have had the time to spend some days (whole days) on my titans. Firstly I have cleaned and washed the Reaver. It has been on my conscience for some time that I should get around to it. It is after all a project of building a titan battle group of three titans, not just a pair of scout titans. Well now it is cleaned up so that I can start matching the green stuff work on it.

Then I have finally started with the painting of the exterior on Unbearable Desire. I began with the legs as I don't plan to do any green stuff mods on these. They are painted in the same dark geen/brown colour that I used on the interior. The green is drybrushed over a green base coat that has been inked with brown, red, and black (in different areas). After the first layer of drybrushing, three shades of green, it was inked brown again. After this it was once again dry brushed with the three greens. Then I used the water that I clean the brush in to water the model. Once dry it was another turn of dry brushing and some more watering. Hopefully this will give the model a smooth look but where the details are seen. Once the base color of the legs and hips are done I will start on the details such as pistons, skulls, and border work. I will see how many extra features I can paint on them without it looking crowded.

More Desert Eagles

A squad leader from my Desert Eagles army. I try to find more dynamic hero poses for my models in this army, epecially for comanding personel. It might not be too realistic but i like this guy advancing, fiering his bolter at one target while casually shooting someone sneaking up on him from behind with his bolt pistol. /M

This dreadnought was built in the beginning of my Desert Eagles project, even before I knew that it would be an army. The inspiration came from a White Dwarf article about custombuilt vehicles with rules for using them in battle. I had always been a bit annoyed that you couldnot have your choice of heavy weapon on each arm if you did not go for the close combat weapon option (which by the way are available in pairs). So I equipped this dread with two arms with gatlingmounted autocannons. /M

I really gotta continue with these!

I really should get started again with these two ladies; my most heavily modified miniatures so far. Any suggestions on the colour scheme? I am a bit short of ideas at the moment...