Forge World Newsletter #243 - Mega Space Marine Issue!!!

Exciting new Forgeworld Newsletter just in, as its so AMAZING I have reporduced it wholesale here:

###########################################################################

Hi There,

At last your wait is over! As you know, we've been whetting your appetite over the past few weeks with some exclusive sneak peeks and in this Newsletter we can proudly announce the first wave of our fantastic new Space Marine releases, with an array of full resin kits that are now available to pre-order. We've also got an FAQ on our recent Death Korps army list update and Experimental rules for you to download. Read on to find out more!
Thanks,
Ead Brown


Space Marine Caestus Assault Ram

The speartip of our Space Marine releases is the intimidating Caestus Assault Ram. This hulking full resin kit, designed by Daren Parrwood, is armed with a devastating Magna-Melta, designed to carve through the hull of a mighty star ship, and wing-mounted Firefury missile batteries, capable of unleashing a storm of deadly micro-warheads in the seconds after an assault has begun. As you can see here, the Caestus is an intimidating behemoth of a miniature - measuring 9.5" long with a wingspan of 10" - that dwarfs even the might of a Land Raider with its ceramite-armoured bulk.


Assault Rams are void attack craft, intended to participate in close-range space boarding actions, that can also act as drop-assault vessels for direct orbital attack. There are many patterns of Assault Ram in use across the Imperium, but among the Space Marine Chapters, the multi-role Caestus is the most commonplace. Smaller than either the Thunderhawk Gunship or the Shark-class Boarding Torpedo, the patterns' chief advantage is its speed and phenomenal durability which make it a highly resilient assault craft, even in the most fire-swept landing zones. Compact and heavily armoured, the Caestus Assault Ram is designed to survive direct collision with an enemy, leaving only ruin in its wake.


The Caestus Assault Ram is available to pre-order for despatch in the week commencing August 23rd, and as an added bonus, experimental rules for this devastating attack craft are available to download here, fresh from the keyboard of Imperial Armour writer Alan Bligh.


Space Marine Infantry Upgrade Sets Available to Pre-Order Now:

MkIII 'Iron' Armour Set

The first of our new Space Marine armour sets is this fantastic MkIII Armour Set sculpted by Will Hayes. The full resin kit provides enough parts to build 5 Space Marines in MkIII 'Iron' Armour, including two different sets of legs, shoulder pads, arms, torsos and helmets. You can see these here, along with a gallery of photos showing examples of how these brilliant parts can be combined with plastic Space Marine kits.


The MkIII 'Iron' Armour is a variant of the previous 'Crusade' pattern adapted with additional armour plates to the front, as well as a reinforced helmet faceplate and strengthened vambraces for the savage firefights of fleet-based boarding actions. This extra armour turns an already resilient Marine into an almost unstoppable juggernaut within the cramped confines of a ship. This detailed kit can be pre-ordered for despatch in the week commencing August 23rd.


Umbra Pattern Bolter Pack

The Umbra Pattern Bolter Pack is the first of a range of Weapon Packs that we will be announcing over the next few weeks. Like power armour, the sacred Bolter of the Astartes has undergone various design changes over the millennia, and the Umbra pattern first saw use during the latter years of the Great Crusade, produced in huge numbers to ensure that the Astartes were constantly supplied with effective firepower.


Click here to view a gallery of close-up shots of the parts and accessories supplied in this pack; veteran hobbyists will see shades of the venerable RTB01 box in the design of these fantastic accessories. The Umbra Bolter Pack, designed by Will Hayes, contains 10 detailed weapons and optional bayonets, and can be pre-ordered here for despatch in the week commencing August 23rd.


Space Marine Special Weapons Pack

The second of our new weapon sets is this fantastic Space Marine Special Weapons Pack, sculpted by Phil Stutcinskas. Each Sergeant is able to freely select his squads' armament for a given mission, and the Chapter Armoury contains many weapons that are ancient and sacred relics - patterns of weapons long since replaced by other designs that are nevertheless maintained diligently. This Weapon Pack contains 2 Flamers, 2 Meltaguns, and 2 Missile Launchers complete with arms, reminiscent of the venerable Rogue Trader-era miniatures fondly remembered by veteran hobbyists, and perfect for adding variety to your squads.


These weapons are compatible with the full range of Space Marine units available from Forge World including our new MkIII 'Iron' Armour. The set is available to pre-order now for despatch in the week beginning August 23rd.


Additional Web Content Now Available


Since the launch of the new Forge World website we have received many queries about what had happened to much of our additional content - well worry no more, because many days of painstaking work has come to fruition. As you may have noticed, the image galleries in our Online Store are gradually being fleshed out, and the Downloads section has returned, complete with several updated documents for many older Imperial Armour books.


Following last weeks' update to the Death Korps Army List, we received lots of questions from you and so we have compiled this free FAQ to help answer these. Thanks for all your queries and please keep them coming!


We have also prepared a parallel update to the Imperial Armour Volume 5 Renegades and Heretics army list that you can find here, again it's a completely free download for you to enjoy.


Forge World Events News


Forge World will be attending Games Day Baltimore on August 21st. The Reservation period has now closed for this exciting event but if you have any specific requests or queries, please don't hesitate to contact us and we will be pleased to offer any assistance we can.


Forge World will also be attending Games Day UK on September 26th - keep an eye on forthcoming newsletters for more information about our stands at this event as we have plenty up our sleeves!

###########################################################################

 

All I can say is just WOW!!!! Some amazing stuff there, just cant wait to see more of this new old marine stuff in coming months!!

Friday 5 Finds - 30.07.10

Week two of the series and this week we go from Skaven War machines through the Imperial Guard and on to some Art work!

I have had a very quiet week but I have managed to find some very interesting bits and pieces. I also managed to find 2 very good links on the Games Workshop Official Blog, which is unusual in itself!

So here are this weeks Friday 5 Finds:

1. An excellent post over on Blood of Kittens by TASTYTASTE looking at the Artwork of Dave Gallagher, an excellent way to spend 5 minutes.
2. An awesome looking Doom wheel posted by Rasputin over on Warpstone Pile
3. More Cadian 501st updates over at First Rank, Second Rank by Col_Festus, just hope mine turn out as well!
4. The First of the GW Blog links showing some very interesting conversions for the Ultramarines by Mat Murphy-Kane posted up by Andy.
5. The Second GW Blog link, again posted by Andy, showing a rather nice looking, and well converted, Reaver Titan

Enjoy folks!

Blog News: Payday Poll Results

Morning Folks,
just a quick post here due to work and life, seems the results for the Codex vote have come in today and the results are actually quite surprising to me.

The winner of the vote is:

I must say given the number of Space Marine players and fans out there I was expecting a run away win for the Space Marine book, however the results clearly show that the Imperial Guard fan boys were out in force! The end results were 20 votes cast, with 16 for the IG book and only 4 for the SM book.

A big surprise but exciting and interesting for me. Time for me to get on and order the book, if only I could decide which unit to pick up along side it now :)

Thanks to all that voted in the poll.

Mondays Mirthful Meanderings

Hi folks,
its tuesday, but ssssh, no-one noticed :)
heres this weeks posting:


Enjoy!

The Airsoft Armoury - G36C Project

As promised here finally are pictures of my up to date G36C now I've completed here, or at least as far as I can see.

As you can see externally I've added a Magpul replica angled fore grip. I've also added as seen in the later pics a CQB quick release silencer and an Eotech 552 scope. The G36C is mainly stock internally but the new tight bore inner barrel and hop bits have helped improve the accuracy no end.

Also in the pics is some of my ACU gear, my Mich and mechanix gloves. you can also see my KJW SIG P226, a great pistol with spot on range and accuracy, and the serpa holster I use. All I need now is a pretty decent shotgun. Apologies on the poor quailty of the last pic.

Enjoy folks

Blog News - Upcoming Blog Posting Issues - There is a reason! + Blog Roll News

Blog Posting Issues
Apologies in advance but as I'm sure you've worked out from the title that this week I be posting a lot less than normal, this is due to having one of these:

As I'm sure you've worked out from that but just to let you know that this week I have the family visiting so when I'm not stuck in work the majority of my spare time will be dedicated to them. I know this will result in a lower than average post rate this week but it will be back to "relatively" normal soon.

Weekly posts such as Mondays Mirthful Meanderings and Fridays 5 Finds (though this one may be difficult if I don't get much time on the t'interwebs) should be uninterrupted however anything else is subject to the usual caveats.

Blog Roll News
To make up for being away the Blog Roll sections on the right hand side have now been updated with new gaming related blogs. Broken down in to three sections in alphabetical order (+-F, G-P and Q-Z), there are now just over 200 blogs listed there to help keep you entertained and introduce you to something new. I hope you enjoy them and get a chance to see something new, I know I have.

 

apologies to all and back soon I hope.

Hobby News - Storm Wardens Total Announced

Reproduced with kind permission of Dave over at davetaylorminiatures blog

 Storm Wardens Total Announced

We are happy to announce that this project has collected

$16,107.00

 

for Doctors Without Borders

 

########################################

 

All I can say in response to Dave's post is WOW! Well done guys for pulling together something so special and so unique, but mainly for raising so much for a great cause.

Thanks to Dave and the team for organising this drive and thanks to all you guys and girls that like me have contributed to an awesome cause.

 

Well done!

 

Original post can be found here: Storm Wardens Total Announced

Friday 5 Finds - 23.07.10

This blog entery is the first in what I hope will be a regular series blogging some of the more interesting things I've found on the web over the last few days. This can be from any of my favourite subjects but for the most part will be from the world of miniature wargaming. The weekly post will include a drect link and some information on each of the finds and hopefully you'll find it as interesting as I have and also find some new blogs while your here.

Here is this weeks Friday 5 Finds!

1. An excellent guide on how to paint Desert Marpat in the 28mm scale (also links to Temperate Marpat and ACU are on the page) by Darkwing over at Arcadia Prime.
2. A step by step guide to converting set-back Chimeras by SandWyrm over at The Back 40k
3. Pictures of two examples of nicely weathered and painted DKOK Centaurs by The Gungrave over at A Guardsman's Guide to Glory.
4. Examples of some nice Platoon Command Squads with some simple Cadian conversions that make them stand out by Sidestreaker over at the Byzantum Empire.
5. A simple and well painted Blood Angels Sanguinary Priest in Terminator Armour by Crosser Modelling over at the Crosser Modelling blog.

So folks thats the first Friday 5 Finds, I hope you find something in there you like and see you back here real soon.

Forge World Newsflash - Space Marine Sneak Peek & DKOK Rules Update

Evening folks, just received an Forge world Newsflash email in my inbox (well 5 hours ago but I've been busy) detailing some new rules updates for the DKOK and another pre-heresy/ancient Space Marine Armour pattern. Here are some details:

Death Korps of Krieg Update Available Now

Imperial Armour author Warwick Kinrade has recently put the finishing touches to an updated version of the Death Korps army list printed in Imperial Armour Volume 5: The Siege of Vraks Part 1 as a free download that you can find here. The document addresses many of the most common questions that we have received from gamers across the world – thanks for all your feedback!


The Death Korps rules in all three parts of the Siege of Vraks Trilogy are fully updated, and we have added several options to army list entries including the Death Rider Command Squad, allowing our show only Commissar to be used. The document also includes the Leman Russ variants available in Codex: Imperial Guard. Note that the Armoured Company list published in Imperial Armour Volume 7 is largely unaffected, but any Infantry squad entries should be replaced by those found in the update.
 
DKOK RULES UPDATE HERE
 
Forge World Events News

Forge World will be attending Games Day Baltimore on August 21st. The Reservation period has now closed for this exciting event but if you have any specific requests or queries please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will be pleased to offer any assistance we can.
Forge World will also be attending Games Day UK on September 26th – keep an eye on forthcoming newsletters for more information about our stands at this event as we have plenty up our sleeves!

Exclusive Sneak Peek
Last week’s MkV ‘Heresy’ pattern power armour helmet has clearly piqued many peoples’ interest. We have been inundated with e-mails and telephone calls, all seeking more details about this Top Secret project – it’s still under lock and key, but our agents have managed to obtain another exclusive work-in-progress glimpse of some of the many forthcoming Space Marine releases that our talented Studio team are working on. Many boffins died to bring us this information, but despite their sacrifice all we can say for now is that it is well and truly set in the 41st Millenium…

So folks more exciting bits and pieces from Forge world, just in time for my Marine forces and just in time to start taking my money off me :( There will be many people out there annoyed its taken this long but looking at the two sneak peaks we have had so far I'm pretty certain it will be worth it.

Any thoughts or comments?

Painting Update: The Test Model Disappointments - Workshop Woes!

Finally got round to opening up my box of Space Marines and my Snap-Together Imperial Guard last night after work and unfortunately I have decided I had to post as I was a little shocked at the quality of the models! I was originally going to leave this post until I had made some progress on the test models and could show you some progress on that. As I say though I really was disappointed with the models, so lets have a look at them.

IMPERIAL GUARD

Initial impressions as they stand now the models aren't too bad but I was extremely disappointed with the fit, I knew they would never be perfect but given the gaps between the gun arms and the body as well as between the holding hand and the arm was vast. In the end some serious bending, gluing, filing and hacking was needed to get them this presentable!

but wait it gets worse.......

SPACE MARINES

This is the final stage I managed to get my Marines too! That's right this is the best I could get my marines, there was a serious mismatch between the front and back of the moulds for these with a misalignment of roughly 1mm all round the model! The mould lines are amazingly bad. not to mention there were some serious problems with the models as a whole, these two were put together using the best parts I could find from a box of 5 marines!

Whilst I appreciate sometimes models can be difficult to put together I really wasn't expecting worse quality control on Games Workshops "main stay" products than you get from Forge world. I am annoyed that this is the state of their current moulds and just prey this is a one off incident and not the shape of things to come.

I suppose the only saving grace in this case is that these models are destined to be Test models and just glorified palettes for my ideas rather than actual table top figures.

Please if you have any thoughts on this or have had similar issues please post them and let me know just so I know what I will be facing!

Mondays Mirthful Meanderings

Well folks it's time for the first in what I hope to become a regular feature on the blog, Mondays Mirthful Meanderings. This is going to be a post that I pop up every Monday, all things being right with the world, and will hopefully bring a bit of a smile to your working day! It can be anything from a picture to a video, a story to a joke and anything in between.

So without further ado and in honour of its creation we have huge bonus post with a few items for you all to enjoy!

An Apocolyptic Laugh!




A shocking visage!

Henry the hoooo-hooo-hooover!

Debts are a bad thing and everyone has them!!

Oi! Shorty, no! NO!!!

Have fun and be safe!

Questions, Questions, Questions & Some News!!

well folks after sorting out my models, paints, supplies and workspace over the last month I've now come to the stage where I need to sort out rules and project requests and more purchases. So tonight's post is a post of at least two parts, so lets begin!

The first part is nice and simple, as I'm building two forces I need to pick up the codex for each force! Now as I'm planning Guard and Marines it could be expensive but now that the allies I was planning, witch hunters and daemon hunters, now have their codexes available as PDF this makes things a lot cheaper. So come payday this month I will pick up the first codex of the two and a unit from that codex, and then next month I will pick up the other. So the question to you, and one you can vote on on the right hand side, is:

Which Codex should I get on payday?

Nice and simple choice, so please help me out and cast your vote. Then later in the month once the votes are in I will reveal the results and then ask for suggestions on a unit to pick up at the same time!

Second thing is not so simple but is quick to ask, does anyone know any UK or USA based casters that would be able to cast full figures in resin or metal? I'm only looking for 20 or so but no one I have contacted so far as been prepared to work on such a "small" project. Failing that does anyone know any good cheap UK based sellers of rubber mould materials and resin?

Finally keep your eyes out over the next few days for some new regular features such as Blog News, Hobby News, Mondays Mirthful Meanderings, Fridays Five Finds and also the addition of Keywords to posts to allow for quick and easy searching within the blog.

All the best and enjoy your weekends!

Forge World Newsletter #242 + Exciting tidbit from Forge World

Recieved the latest Forgeworld Newsletter today and was lead to some nice looking bits and peices, the main body talks about the following new releases (click on the text to go to the item):

• Ork Kommando Upgrade Set Available to Pre-Order Now
• Raven Guard Transfer Sheet Available to Pre-Order Now
• Shas'o R'alai Rules Now Available to Download

Theres some nice stuff but by far and away the most interesting and exciting bit to me is this section:

Exclusive Sneak Peek

As you may have heard from our Studio design team at the Forge World Open Day back in March, or read in the Games Day UK Preview, our designers, graphic illustrators and writer Alan Bligh have spent much of the past few months feverishly working on an incredibly exciting Imperial Armour project that is, as yet, still Top Secret.

Our agents have managed to obtain this exclusive work-in-progress sneak peek of one of a veritable cornucopia of forthcoming Space Marine releases. Forge World is once again turning its attention to the noble warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, the Emperors' Finest. Many boffins died to bring us this information, so keep an eye on the Forge World Newsletter over the coming weeks for more details of this thrilling project...

When "saved to the pc" this comes up as a file called "mkVnl." I'm guessing that means Mark V Armour or at very least a helmet. I am very excited about what could be coming as it means my Mentors (especially) and Red Hunters will be getting some serious new outfitting.

The Airsoft Armoury - M249 Project

As promised a while back here are some pics of the provisionally completed and upgrades M249 Para version. There hasn't been much external alteration, in all there has been the addition of the 552 holosight and a mk1 length external barrel. Externally I think she's pretty much complete though i would love to add a lower ris to her eventually.
internally she has a new longer tight bore inner barrel, that has almost doubled her range. she has a new piston, seals and hop unit. The final most important upgrade is a new M120 hi-speed motor, the rate of fire is now unbelievable and results in a solid string of plastic between you and the target when you pull the trigger, I will try to get some videos up eventually comparing the two!
so here's the pics, hope you enjoy and if you have any questions please let me know.

New Release News - The Purging of Kadillus - Space Marine Battles BL Novel

After completing Helsreach I made a start on Path of the Warrior, before reading I flicked to the back to spot any new ads or teasers and came across a "coming soon" ad for next Space Marine Battles Novel, The Purging of Kadillus.
The artwork on the black and white advert looked cool, A new novel from the Black Library that is forth in the series this novel is now listed on their site for the first time and again looks cool, staring Dark Angels it once again stares the Orks as the main antagonists but it certainly looks promising.
Here are some details from the BL site:

Faced with an ork invasion of Piscina IV, the 3rd Company of the Dark Angels believes the threat to be minimal. As enemy numbers continue to increase, their commander, Captain Belial, insists that his Company are strong enough to resist. But Scout-Sergeant Naaman knows just how dangerous this foe can be, and when a renewed greenskin offensive takes the Dark Angels by surprise, the orks swarm towards Kadillus Harbour. Little do the Dark Angels know of the technological power available to the xenos, and the true scale of the threat they face. Belial, Naaman and their fellow Astartes fight a desperate siege at Kadillus, knowing that they must hold out until Imperial reinforcements arrive or the planet will be lost.

Gav Thorpe • February 2011 • Softback, 416 pages • ISBN 9781844168965

Looks promising and certainly should fulfil my Dark Angels fix for a while!

Helsreach - Book Review

Helsreach - Aaron Dembski-Bowden

When the world of Armageddon is attacked by orks, the Black Templars Space Marine Chapter are amongst those sent to liberate it. Chaplain Grimaldus and a band of Black Templars are charged with the defence of Hive Helsreach from the xenos invaders in one of the many battlezones. But as the orks numbers grow and the Space Marines dwindle, Grimaldus faces a desperate last stand in an Imperial temple. Determined to sell their lives dearly, will the Black Templars hold on long enough to be reinforced, or will their sacrifice ultimately be in vain.

CAUTION MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

The Second book in the Space Marine Battles series deals with the second Ork invasion of the Planet of Armageddon. This is one of the more famous planetary invasions and leads to a series of battles that many Space Marine Chapters of the Warhammer 40,000 have been involved in and is the defining moment for many a Chapter or Space Marine Hero. This book tells the story of that invasion and the horrific consequences for population of Helsreach, its Defenders and it Enemies and concentrates on the Black Temaplars Space Marines.


The book sees the lead up to the invasion with details of the invasion and the preparations and decisions that lead to the eventual outcome. The book also deals with the siege of Helsreach and final outcome to save the city and its population. This was an excellent book that I felt looked at one of the most interesting and devastating events that could impact a world and ultimately a Hive city.

The book was well metered for the most part, though some small parts did seem to drag rather slowly and this seemed to pull the whole book back and make it seem a slow read in the places. The story was pretty straight forward and for the most part however did seem well planned out, but there were some issues with the format and style it was written in. The thing that particularly frustrated me where when it flicked between the flowing story and Grimaldus’ inner monologue, those bits whilst interesting and involved didn’t seem to gel with the rest of the book. Again like the first book in the series this book had the 4 colour pages in the centre with maps of the planet, continents and cities. This single little touch really makes this series stand out as something different to the normal warhammer 40000 novels out there.

The story was a very good telling of the siege of Helsreach but rather then concentrate on this (which in my view would have made a great guard and titan novel and could have been expanded) this book looked at the “limited” involvement of the black Templars. And most importantly looks at the development and failings of Grimaldus, a black templars chaplain.

Whilst the novel was well written I wasn’t impressed overall with the battles as the few that the marines seemed to be involved in were over too quickly and didn’t go in to the greater depth I expected to see in the Space Marines Battles series. Most of the characters were fairly two dimensional as well and were pretty much 40k stereotypes, but this I guess is what made it a true 40,000 novel! The novel again was a good start to a good series and is going a long way to help set some of the best short fiction stories down on paper in a more in depth and complete manner then before

As with the previous book in the series (and I’m taking this almost word for word about the previous Space Marine Battle series review) is that my final gripe and one that I though could have made the book an outstanding pinnacle of Black Library fiction was the liberation, or in this case lack of one. Whilst the hive is liberated and we know this, what we don’t know is wholly how or who by. To me adding a few more chapters covering this and all the forces involved would have really finished the novel off and would for me as a gamer opened up some interesting avenues for modelling and army building. Not to mention finding out the fate of the Black Templars Techmarine after his sins!

With all that in mind though Helsreach is a reasonably enjoyable read and because of that and its place in a great looking series of books I personally think this is worthy of a 4 out of 5

Availible from:

http://www.blacklibrary.com/

Helsreach - Aaron Dembski-Bowden
softback, 416pp • ISBN 9781844168620

So it begins..........

Well folks after a week of waiting with baited breath for the postie to arrive, well when I haven't been stuck at work that is, all the modelling bits and airsoft bits I've been waiting on have finally arrived! YAY!

The Airsoft bits were the first to arrive and once I've finished the alterations to my M249 I will make sure that they are fitted then get some pics up for you all later in the week.

On to the modelling and painting bits! Other then new books these have been my first purchases of models and paints in well over a year. I dug out my old paints and bitz and found that it had all either dried up (apart from a couple of pots) or I had traded it away, so I set out on the task of restocking and getting enough models to tie me over until next month. In the end i ended up ordering:

• A Bucket load of paint
• Couple of varnishes
• Some paint palettes
• 5 snap together Cadians for test models
• A box of 5 Space Marines for some test models
• 20 Marine shoulder pads for casting pads on to (Thanks to imcdonnell on Dakkadakka for giving them to me for free).

Once all this lot arrived in its various dribs and drabs I was a happy bunny, though admittedly I did spend my first day off having a very interesting day out at a local music festival. To be fair though it was worth it and it was definitely a great way to spend the afternoon with the other half! So once I got home and unpacked everything I was confronted with this little lot:

I know it doesn't look too much but considering other then books I haven't spent a penny on 40k stuff for a long time its a vast amount of stuff for me. Well now that lots arrived I have a lot of things planned and now realise I need to buy some important things, like the Guard and Marine codexes, still lots planned over the next few weeks when I can slot things in around work and the real world! So as a brief run down and to help me remember here's a list of whats coming up:

• 
  
  Mentor Legion Test model
• 
  
  Red Hunters Test model
• 
  
  Guardsman Test model
• 
  
  Storm Trooper Test model (using guardsman)
• 
  
  Inquisitional Storm Trooper Test model 1
• 
  
  Inquisitional Storm Trooper Test model 2

So as you can see lots planned and over the next few weeks there will be a couple of polls appearing on the blog for some important decisions, and as always any feedback, help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Shotgun Storm Troopers Part 2 - Conversion Corner

As promised here are the more detailed pictures of the latest models out of the Conversion Corner, my Shotgun Storm Troopers. The pics show some more detail on the work carried out and give you an idea of the look in going for.

as you can see, simple looking conversions but strangely difficult! I currently have 10 but I am thinking of possibly adding another 5 or so to allow me to field full 10 man squads with Sergeants and Special weapons. Colour schemes will be put up for vote hopefully by the end of the month once I have received all my orders and completed some test miniatures to show the schemes.
Hope you enjoy these and feel free to leave any feedback.

Shotgun Storm Troopers - Conversion Corner

Hello folks
here is the first of the catch up posts while I'm working to show you what Ive been up to recently. The guys are quite simple conversions of Kasrkin models with the old metal scout biker shotguns and a lot of green stuff to fill gaps and re-sculpt hands.
All the models will have alternative back packs to the standard power cell backpacks for the Kasrkin. I have decided in the end to use the backpacks from the Kasrkin Grenade Launcher, this not only keeps the theme and style of models linked but it also does look like the backpack would hold ammo rather then just batteries.

here's the pics:

My apologies for the group pics but it was the quickest and easiest way to show you all 10 of the models. Individual or at least more detailed pics will be up later in the week. hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think.

Storm Wardens Space Marine Project!

Storm Wardens Space Marine Project?
So whats all this about I hear you cry? what is the Storm Wardens Space Marine Project?

Well until I started re-blogging I hadn't heard of it either, though now I have I'm glad. The Storm Wardens Space Marine Project is a fan based project consisting of a number of bloggers from around the Internet working together to produce something unique!

The Project is to build a Storm Wardens army, with each individual blogger contributing a number of models or units to the force.

For some more background ++From The Warp++ has this to say:

The Storm Wardens are a new Space Marine chapter from the yet to be released Death Watch RPG. Together with Games Workshop, Fantasy Flight Games (Horus Heresy, Wings of War) has been developing the game which will be released this summer.

Sounds cool I hear you say, there will be some awesome pics out there in the blogs and some nice models but what else does this do for me? Well here's the clincher:

The end result will be an incredible painted army going to one of you!

That's right one of you could not only win an awesome piece of original art from the guys at GW and FFG but you could also win the whole army! The project is a great idea and has some awesome painters and modellers working on it.

So please, please, please head over to ++From The Warp++ to check out progress and get links to the other bloggers, or watch my favourite blogs rolls on the side of the page for updates from the blogs I'm subscribed too.

More information on the basis of the project and details of how to enter can be found on Ron's blog, ++From The Warp++, here at this page: About The Project

Enjoy the threads and good luck!

Thanks to Ron for the information and being a driving force in the project.

Rynn's World - Book Review

Rynn's World - Steve Parker

When the ork hordes of Warlord Snagrod lay waste to the planet of Badlanding and wipe out the Crimson Fists sent to stop them, Chapter Master Kantor prepare a hasty line of defence on the Fists home planet of Rynn's World. Tragedy strikes when an errant missile destroys the Space Marine's Chapter monastery, killing most of their warriors. With a handful of Crimson Fists left, Kantor must fight the campaign of his life, to defeat Snagrod's orks and prevent his Chapter's annihilation.

CAUTION MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!

The Ork invasion of the Crimson Fist homeworld of Rynn's World is one of the more famous battles the Space Marines have been involved in and is the defining moment for the Crimson Fists Chapter. This book tells the story of that invasion and the horrific consequences for the chapter.

The book like many of the recent novels is split into multiple parts. In this case its split in to three parts. The first part sees the lead up to the invasion with details of invasions elsewhere, warp news and the Librarium all making an appearance. Then it moves on to look at the invasion itself and most importantly the catastrophe that strikes the chapter.

The second part follows the defence of New Rynn City and the brave defenders holding at all costs. It also examines the trek of Chapter Master Pedro Kantor to New Rynn City along with his bunch of survivors, both marine and civilian. The final part details the retaking of the New Rynn City Spaceport and ends as the liberation begins, but doesn’t detail any of the retaking of Rynn’s world.

This was an excellent book that I felt looked at one of the most interesting and devastating events that could impact a Chapter, however despite been excellent I’m afraid it could have been better. The book was fast paced and I managed to get through it extremely quickly, without missing any of the action or wondering what was happening at any point, the book was just so well laid out that it moved on with little pause.

The language used was simple, if sometimes overly so, but on a whole read well. I did find parts of it to be a little over the top and did notice one or two mistakes in the tense used in the novel.

One thing that I did like that despite the loss, anger and in some cases just plain rage there were some nice humorous sections, almost grave digger style humour but it worked and helped portrait the marines as something other than automatons, however for the most part they did stay true to character as it were.

The book also had some nice little features like the 4 colour pages in the centre with maps of the planet, continents and cities. This single little touch really helped finish the book and really makes it stand out as something different to the normal warhammer 40000 novels out there.

The things that I felt could have made the book better were little things that if I hadn’t played 40k for so long I wouldn’t have noticed. For example Cortez, in current fluff he’s a survivor and has no problems, however in the book despite surviving and theoretically being fit for duty there is a major change to established fluff.

As pointed out by a number of other reviews the story of the Land Raider Rynn's Might (remember the land raiders shown on the Land Raider poster in White Dwarf and written up in issue 256) this almost pivotal component of the siege was missed and was actually disappointing not to see.

My final gripe and one that I though could have made the book an outstanding pinnacle of Black Library fiction was the liberation, or in this case lack of one. Whilst the planets liberated and we know this, what we don’t know is how or who by. To me adding a few more chapters covering this and all the forces involved would have really finished the novel off and would for me as a gamer opened up some interesting avenues for modelling and army building.

An excellent book and as the opening salvo in the Space Marines Battle Series was an excellent read and was well written and true (for the most part) to accepted cannon, it was nice for the writer not to reinvent things, and helped detail something many gamers have read about in brief but haven’t had the chance to explore in detail.

Well done Mr Parker and let’s hope that the second book in the series, another Imperial Fists Successor novel in the guise of the Black Templars, holds up to the standard set by this novel.

With all that in mind though Rynns World is an excellent read and is well worth of a 5 out of 5.

Availible from:

http://www.blacklibrary.com/
Rynn's World - Steve Parker
softback, 416pp • ISBN 9781844168026

Blog News - work it doth sucketh!!

Well folks just a quick update, due to a large amount of work and then another 4 days of long shifts there has been no painting as such, and wont be for a fair few more days due to me having absolutely no free time!

However to satisfy my need to blog and peoples appetites for some of my models there will be postings of some recently completed works and a book review coming over the next day or so. The First of which i hope to have up this afternoon for you all.
Also those of you that have asked about painting I'm pleased to say that not only have the paints been ordered but I have also ordered some basic Marines and Guardsmen to do some test painting on which means some up coming votes on colour schemes. Once there is more information the blog will be the first to know.

Blog News - A joining of forces with "Bell Of Lost Souls"

Millest's Mediocre Meanderings is pleased to announce that we have now joined forces with the "Bell Of Lost Souls" Blog ring. This links this blog to over 1200 followers and around 500 other blogs who all have views and thoughts on gaming, as well as numerous unique armies and modelling options.

This is a great opportunity for all on the blog to visit some new sites and see something new.

Please visit From The Bell of Lost Souls:

BOLS Bloggers Group

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/