Titanfall - Official E3 Gameplay Demo

This game looks interesting. But then most games with mechanised warsuits are interesting...

Weekly Finds

How to Paint Mirkwood Elf Rangers by Garfy from Tale of Painters - I've fallen in love with this series of tutorials by Garfy. I've got a modest size collection of LotR miniatures from when I first got into Citadel Miniatures. After reading through his Dwarf tutorials I've decided to take them out and throw* some paint on them. These is also this tutorial on painting the trolls from the Hobbit movie.

Time Travel with Max by Roman from Massive Voodoo - The monkey head looks so awesome.

Showcase: Space Marine Minotaurs by TEN from Tale of Painters - This is the sort of army I imagine most of us would love to play. Spartans in space...

Sculpting a Base from Polymer Clay by David Soper from Spoket's Small World - I've been following Mr Soper's current project from the start. The actually miniature he's painting doesn't interesting me all that much. However, the process is interesting. And I'm always interested in seeing how others go about basing their projects...

*throw is probably not that inaccurate a description. I've not painted for so long that highlighting is now a tedious chore

Merry Christmas

It's that time of year when we gather with family, eat way too much food and participate in a circle-jerk of present money giving. Yes, that's right my imaginary friends, it's Christmas.

Reality Aploding

Over the last year this hobby has exploded with activity from the Design Studio. We have updates on codices, new supplements and expansions, and now the formations and dataslates. And don't forget flyers and changes to the force organisation chart with allies. This increased activity has set our very tiny corner of the interwebz into a frenzy.

John Steining's stunning collection is now Tournament legal

The views of tournament organisers and vocal competitive players are great at driving the opinions of our community. As are Store Owners. Regardless of how good or bad something is, they can help set the intwerbz into a frenzy of nerd raging idiotz or something a little less crazy. Because, even though they may deny it, people do like to drink somebody else's kool aid.

Sigur's Lord of Skulls, coming to a tabletop near you

But how does that relate to Games Workshop's latest releases? After all there have been dozens of releases that haven't set the interwebz on fire like this in the past. Do you remember the gnashing of teeth True Line of Sight and Wound Allocation in 5th Ed result in? Now they doesn't seem so bad. My not so humble opinion is that the online rumours planted seeds of fear and it just grew out of control from there. Tournament organizers helped add flames to the fire in a way I've never seen since becoming apart of the online community. There was an innocent knee-jerk reaction to the sudden changes Games Workshop introduced.

According to the interwebz, TEN's R'Varna is just one of the growing problems plaguing tournaments

Fortunately the knee-jerk reactions are slowly being brought under control with some discussions taking place. There are some suggesting we keep on going the way we always have by ignoring the supplements, expansion and the dataslates. After all how many tournaments can you say that use the mysterious terrain, battlefield debris or mysterious objectives found in the rule book? So the precedence is there for tournament organisers to just pick what is and isn't used. There are even those who suggest we ignore the ally table all together.

Cagn's army is proof that Eldar Jetbikes don't have to be ridden by Seers & Warlocks

Possibly the most promising discussion is the one suggesting that careful mission design can have the desired results without introducing restrictions and bans. This approach interests me the most as it doesn't directly stop players from using their own toys while at the same time potentially addressing the over abundance of Taudar, Screamstar, Draigowing, Leafblower or whatever may be the next 'must play' netlist. These changes will shake up what it takes to win games of 40K.

Garfy's stunning collection is now also Tournament legal

Regardless of the approach to our perceived problems, the answers aren't going to come from Games Workshop. If we think they will then we're deluding ourselves. They care about this hobby just as much as we do. However, their actions suggest that this hobby is not meant to be played in a serious competitive way.

Weekly Finds

Less than a week to go till Christmas is upon us. What sort of things do my Imaginary Friends have planned for the festive season?

Necron Cryptek Conversion by Garfy from Tale of Painter - A creative conversion that shows how easy it is to throw in some flavour to Necron Characters. I particularly like the way he went about showing us what parts he used to bring his creation to life. I suspect this miniature will find its way to the White Dwarf teams inbox along with his Goblin Wolf Rider Standard Bearer. Both represent true kit-bashes as opposed to the head swaps we regularly see in White Dwarf.

Horus Heresy Death Guard Killzone Team by Dave Taylor from Dave Taylor Miniatures - The Horus Heresy bug has clearly spread across the interwebz from forums to blogs. It is interesting that several years ago collecting a Forge World army was a daunting task to anybody that didn't want to be divorced. They were viewed as expensive luxuries that only the rich or socially withdrawn could afford. Now, that seems to be changing... unlike Death Korps of Krieg, they aren't strictly an all resin army. Dave Taylor's growing collection illustrates this nicely with a blend of resin and plastic components spread throughout the army.

How to Paint the Hobbit Miniatures Series by Garfy from Tale of Painters - I've included several of Garfy's The Hobbit tutorials in the past. He has collected links to all of them in one place. A must read for anybody that picked up the Goblin Town box set.

Craftworld Mymeara Painting Guide by GMort Nigel Bartlett from GMorts Chaotica - A guest's authors painting guide on one way to painting Craftworld Mymeara. The painting of the canopy window particuarly interested me. It seems like a great way for any painter that uses objective source lightening to add to the illusion.

Mismatch of Bolts and Bolters by coldfyre from Bolter & Chainsword - An indepth look into the inconsistencies between the Warhammer 40K background and the miniatures that we see on the table top. In this case the size of our much beloved bolter and the rounds of ammunition used within them. In the comment sections there was also a link to Phil Sibbering's website. I've not read through all of it. But it offers an interesting look into the Warhammer 40K Universe. For example, his illustration below helps challenge the misconception that Space Marine's shoulders aren't wide enough to fit inside Power Armour. 

Vinnie Jones' hard and fast Hands-only CPR (funny short film)

I'm off to do my Advance Life Support Course today. And while I'm off learning how to save lives, I figured my imaginary friends can also do some learning with Vinnie Jones...

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Warp...

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Warp...

White Dwarf - December 2013

Garfy, from Tale of Painters, offers the last White Dwarf review for the year. It's gone by fast...

Music Monday - The Cranberries' Zombie

Quote of the Day

While having a read on the BoLS Lounge, I came across this quote and felt it must be shared with my imaginary friends...

You're not suggesting they're [Games Workshop] actually a competently run, market dominant multinational are you? Because that bloke on the interwebs (you know the one. Lives at home, no actual experience running any sort of business, avant garde approach to personal hygiene, sense of entitlement eclipsed only by belly girth) said they're run by a bunch of idiots who couldn't find their arse with both hands and a map. And surely he knows what he's on about....

By Mr Mystery in this topic on BoLS Lounge 

Weekly Finds

This week I take a step away from the forums and blog-o-sphere to instead take a look at Youtube. Not just any Youtube channel mind you. This week we take a look at Games Workshop's own channel to look at their latest technical paints...

The first of Games Workshop's six Youtube videos reviews adverts. It is no secret that I'm a fan of applying weathering to miniatures to add realism. This new paint, indeed this collection of technical paints, are a great way to help new and old painters alike add some realism to their miniatures. Of course, this isn't the only way to add the appearance of blood to your miniatures. Mad Matt has his tutorial on creating blood. And then there is the Tamiya Clear Red approach as seen here and here.

This is possibly my favourite of the new paints as it offers a quick and easy way of adding weathering to bronze statues and decorations. I'm looking forward to see how the forum members of the Bolter & Chainsword manage to go about using these new paints in bringing the Adeptus Astartes to table tops.

Music Monday - Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

This is a song that can regularly heard in the background of my place after I introduced it to my fiancée several weeks ago...

Weekly Finds

After last month's Weekly Finds focus on utilising Focus Fire and the Movement Phase to kill more things... it seems appropriate to take a look at ways to win against the Tau Empire. According to the interwebz they are the new cheese...

How to Beat New Tau by Matt-Shadowlord from the Pinktastic Blog - The beginning of what promises to be another excellent series by Matt-Shadowlord. The look at objective placement is a great way to challenge the thought process of how you may regularly deploy objectives. I know I've made silly mistakes with selecting table sides and then furthering it with poor placement of objectives.

Deployment 101 Against Tau by Kirby from the Pinktastic Blog - Kirby uses some games of his to illustrate common mistakes as well as encourages players to get into the habit of thinking where they want their units to be during the game. This is reinforced with him highlighting the mistake of putting the Aegis Defence Line in your backfield rather than the midfield... something very important to consider. Especially, in tournament play or at local game stores that lack a decent amount of terrain.

Weekly Finds

Imperial Fists Dreadnoughts by gnoks from Reaktor.Miniatures - I normally find inspiration for my Imperial Fists on the Bolter & Chainsword as they have some amazing painters with some beautifully weathered 1st, 3rd and 5th Company Imperial Fists. Plus there is the growing 30K Era collectors. But I saw this Dreadnought in a news feed on House of Paincakes... I'm glad I did because these guys look great. The yellow isn't exactly too my liking. But the weather is just right and a great source of reference. It also inspired this weeks focus on weathering.

Weathering Overview by Roman from Massive Voodoo - A collection of some different approach to weathering including my favourite chipping.

Sponge Weathering Video by Grey Death from The Painting Corps - An old tutorial that I feared was lost to the Warp. However, a quick Google search revealed that TPC was still active... but far from alive like it was in it's golden days. Grey Death's Sons of Medusa are some of my all time favourite due to the vibrant green he has created along with the use of weathering. Definitely worth a look if you've never seen the collection.

Demetrius Katafalque's Company by Apologist from the Bolter & Chainsword - I've shown Apologist's True Scale Imperial Fist in the past. But you can't show off weathering without including this beautiful miniature.

Forge World Space Marine by Meph from Cool Mini or Not - I came across this while searching Google Images. An amazing find that isn't limited to just the Forge World Space Marine. There is also a Blood Angel Terminator built to the non-table top large HUGE scale.

Weekly Finds

Half a Dozen New Evisorators by Kari from Spiky Rat Pack - These are amazing... with the upcoming release of Codex: Inquisiton this idea has so much potential. Between the Dark Eldar Wyches and the Dark Elf Witches can easily build a coven of Death Cult Assassins. Just need to throw in some bitz from Flagellant Warband and Grey Knight kits...

Hussar 2013 by Volomir from Volomir's Blog - Photos of some of the best entries... after seeing these banners the other week I've been caught on the idea of trying free hand designs. I doubt I'll ever get as good as the two pictured below. But if you aim for the stars you may manage to hit the moon...

White Dwarf - November 2013 Dark Elves

This month's White Dwarf review by Stahly over on Tale of Painters.

Weekly Finds

The Truth About Cover Saves in 40K by Matt-Shadowlord from the Pinktastic Blog - The beginning of a series that takes a look at using Focus Fire to it's full potential. In this article we get a look at one way to approach the rules in regards to Area Terrain and Ruins. Regardless of whether you agree with Matt or not there are some great tips. This article is a must read before going further in the series...

Focus Fire Part 2: Taking your shooting to the next level by Matt-Shadowlord from the Pinktastic Blog - Continuing with the focus on focus fire... once again Matt empowers gamers of all skill levels with insightful tools. In the previous article he mentions using focus fire on models further back in a unit with pistols pre-assault to avoid widening the assault range. In this article, he takes a deeper look at this concept.

Focus Fire Part 3: When have to kill everyone in the room by Matt-Shadowlord from the Pinktastic Blog - In this final article we get a look at killing Tankstars... against Tau this is a must have tool in the utility belt. It is also useful against Lysander or even the Skulltaker.

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Warp...

... you don't see Ork banners like these any more.

Weekly Finds

Lost in the Realm of Chaos...

Weekly Finds

Lost by the Administratum...

Music Monday - The Fox by Ylvis

One of the girls from work played this for our amusement on a night shift...

Ylvis' other songs are equally silly and worth taking a look at.

Weekly Finds

Hairspray Technique by Scale Model Medic from Youtube - This popped up on the side bar while watching Youtube the other day. This technique is nothing new to me, having seen it and the salt technique on Massive Voodoo several times as well as other great hobby sites. However, with Templars Crusade's Youtube vlog getting me motivated to work on my Imperial Fists, this is a technique I plan on using extensively. Especially, after seeing how heavily weathered BCK got his White Scar Space Marine using this technique.

Face Painting by Iguazzu from Massive Voodoo - Painting face can be a challenge. And although this video tutorial uses a different scale to what many of my imaginary friends would be used to... it helps highlight some of the points to face painting that other professional painters have also suggested in their tutorials.

White Dwarf - October 2013 Dark Elves

Garfy's review of this months issue of White Dwarf can be found over on Tale of Painters.

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Maelstrom...

Weekly Finds

How to Paint Iron Hand Space Marines by Garfy from Tale of Painters - Following on from Garfy's Imperial Fists tutorial we have this one for the Iron Hands...

The Minotaurs by Lorenzen from the Bolter & Chainsword - I've been following Lorenzen's work for some time. His Centurion conversions are what has given me hope that I'll never see use of them in my collection. This week however, it is his recipe for painting stunning flesh that caught my attention. The link provided gives a close up on the Sternguard Sergeant pictured below... wow is all that can be said.

Weekly Finds

Space Marine Librarian by Damn13n from the Bolter & Chainsword - This miniature seemed to get some negative reactions when pictures first hit the interwebz about a month ago. I'll be honest and say I didn't understand the dislike. The miniature shows why Games Workshop is one of the leading miniature makers. And despite the unusual choice of colour, this miniature is turning out beautifully. I look forward to seeing it finished.

How to Paint Imperial Fist by Garfy from Tale of Painters - The use of red for shading gives this yellow a unique warmth... not something I'd want to repeat on my own Imperial Fists. But for 3rd Company this really works.

The Minotaurs & an Ultramarine by Lorenzen from the Bolter & Chainsword - I'm not a fan of the Centurion miniatures. I don't dislike them as much as the Dreadknight. However, when I first saw the pictures I was convinced they would never be included in my collection. Seeing them in person at the FLGS reinforced that view. However, Lorenzen's simple alterations has given me hope... just need to see how they would look with the chest mounted weapons removed I suspect it would take a lot of work.

Miniature Photography by Phil from Massive Voodoo - I'm likely to pick up a decent quality camera next year for the honeymoon... so this brief guide is a good starting point as an introduction.

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Realm of Chaos...

White Dwarf - September 2013 Space Marines

Garfy's review of Septembers White Dwarf can be found over on Tale of Painters.

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Realm of Chaos...

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Realm of Chaos...

Weekly Finds

Lost to the Realm of Chaos...

Weekly Finds

The Minotaurs by Lorenzen from the Bolter & Chainsword - Lorenzen has started another Adeptus Astartes army following on the heels of his current Death Guard project and his inactive Fire Angels. The Space Marine picture below is just his test piece for the colour scheme... his converted Tartaros Terminators are envy inducing. And his skills at adding details using green stuff are amazing. Really looking forward to seeing this army progress.

Iron Warriors Land Raider by Nyhil from Ten Inch Template - Nyhil shares his approach to painting metallics. Although his approach has washed out the steel... it is something I prefer when compared to the crisp look associated with Non-Metallic Metal.

BCK's Thread of Stuff by Brother Chaplain Kage from the Bolter & Chainsword - It isn't enough that BCK is working on what looks to be one of the most heavily converted Imperial Tanks I've seen on the interwebz, he is now in the process of converting four Iron Warrior Captains. Each will be dedicated to the four Gods of Chaos. The Captain pictured below is dedicated to Slaanesh...