Ferdinand Cardinal - An introduction

An overview of the Ferdinand Cardinal Sector showing the Golden Trail of the Pilgrimage of Saint Ferdinand.

Out near the Eastern Fringe north of the spinward boundary to the Tau Enclaves in the Ultima Segmentum is the nebulae dense sector of Ferdinand Cardinal. It is recorded deep in the data stacks of the many Forge Worlds littered amongst the systems of this sector that the region was subjected to intense warp storm activity during M34-M36 which led to various portions of the region to experience the flow of time at different rates to one another. This would explain the many varied types of nebulae that are present within a relatively short stellar distance. Young proto-planetary nursery nebulae are scattered amongst regions of ancient planetary nebulae graveyards which sit side by side with diffuse nebulae of no discernible origin.

Indeed, no small number of these areas are thought to conceal warp realspace overlaps. Though only a handful of these have been confirmed and none of them are as large as Ultima Segmentum’s largest warp real space phenomenon, the Maelstrom, they are still large enough to justify a heavy Inquisition presence in the sector with many Inquisitorial watch fortresses and quarantined zones. The myriad nebulae in the system harbour dense planetary populations, with all manner of worlds within their gaseous boundaries. Occasionally new planets are birthed from these warp rifts and at times others will temporarily vanish or relocate within the sector. Since it's rediscovery this region of space has been contested by several factions and small areas of the Ferdinand Cardinal sector change hands on a regular basis, in fact it can be argued if the entire domain is really under any kind of Imperial dominion at all, though it is largely accepted that the Imperium does in fact control the region.

Another byproduct of this irregular flow of time was the rapid evolution of various xeno species that are found nowhere else in the galaxy. These species have no love for the Imperium and many have formed alliances to stave off eradication by man throughout the millennia.In fact, some races have lived and died out due to the time distortions, their entire existence played out in mere centuries of relative space time. It was during the formation of the strongest of these coalitions in the opening centuries of M37 that the Sector was rediscovered when the last remaining bastion of Imperial rule managed to contact an isolated Telepathica Choir station in the Vidar Sector, alerting the Imperium to the fate of one of their long lost outposts. This precipitated the start of the Holgstadt Relief Convoy, later to be recorded as the Ferdinand Crusade.

The Ferdinand Cardinal sector as a whole has been under Imperial control since its rediscovery in M37 by the Holy Crusade of Saint Ferdinand for whom the sector is named. The pilgrimage route follows the ingress by the relief convoy forces which became the Ferdinand Crusade upon the world of Regdan Exus where the blessed saint rose up and led the Imperium’s forces to smite the foul xeno armies of the Yarl’g. This was the beginning of the Imperium's percieved dominance within the sector. Even along the Pilgrimage Route, where the Imperium's presence is strongest there are areas that are outside the influence of Terra, xenos and mercenaries intermingle on alien outposts and space stations, their builders long gone and their technologies decaying and forgotten.

The pilgrimage route  is populated with every conceivable type of Imperial world, all of which are guarded by fortress worlds on the peripheries of these productive systems. Beyond the pilgrimage trail the Emperor’s authority still extends but these are systems under constant threat from xeno, corsairs and worse. Constant vigilance is required to maintain Imperial rule beyond the periphery and there are several fleet based Astartes chapters on circuitous routes of the periphery lending aid as they see fit including two companies of the Emperor's Blades.

Many of the fortress worlds are at constant muster providing fresh regiments of Astra Militarum to feed into the many wars and skirmishes erupting beyond the watch of the Saint. A large Mechanicus quarantine zone is jealously guarded by the followers of the Omnissiah and no one is allowed in, the Mechanicum's activities inside are unknown and remain clandestine despite the Inquisition's continued investigations. There is also a plague zone which has been birthed in the last 50 years from Nurgle's garden of fecund entropy. This area is under the remit of the Emperor's Blades and they contain the plague and prevent it from spreading, though their proximity to the region also has also attracted the attention of one Inquisitor in particular.

Tertiary Nave of Adept Holgstadt in the Ferdinand Bascilica on the Diocese capital world of Surety

That so many worlds are worth the Imperium feeding so much blood and bone into the grind of war is a testament to the wealth of resources to be found within the sector and the planets found within the nebulae that spread across the night sky from any world that man walks upon in the Ferdinand Cardinal Sector. The varied age of the worlds within the sector have led to a diverse source of ores, crystals, chemicals and even biological resources in such quantities that these worlds must be denied to the Imperium’s enemies even if they cannot be exploited by man.

This is one of the reasons that there is an abundance of Mechanicus Forge Worlds dispersed amongst the systems of the Ferdinand Cardinal Sector. The scions of Mars were not idle during the isolation of M34-36 which is known as ‘The Detachment’. A great many worlds were colonised and the influence of the tech priests was extended far though this led to manifold schisms as the various worlds waxed and waned in power meaning that there is a corresponding number of independent fief enclaves as distinct from one another as any within the dominion of Mars. This was also the period in which they set up their quarantine zone. Picket fleets regularly patrol the borders of the zone and none have entered and left again to tell of what lies within.

The Stuff - An Unboxing #2

Back again. The next box in the pile also says Orks on the top though this one looks to have a lot more plastic sprues in it.

While I'm going through these boxes I am also cataloguing what I have Hopefully it will help me work out what forces I have at my disposal or even help me rearrange the parts into better groupings for storage.

19 Goffs still on sprue from Warhammer 40,000 2nd Edition. I already have twenty of these painted up do this will double my Goff boyz strength. Still 60 short of a green tide but you can't give these things away so it shouldn't be too hard to source some more.I have a lot of affection for these lads as they appeared a lot duringmy formative hobby years.

Where there are Goff sprues there has the be gretchin sprues close by. Again, I have a load of these painted already, forty in fact. I think that's plenty enough for the Goffs so I'll be painting these differently.

A squad of flash gitz to accompany Kap'n Baddruk and those freebooter boyz.

A squad of fifteen boyz, mostly from a Black Reach set. Once I know how many boyz I've got I can start divying them up into clans. These are based on some random resin bases I got off ebay.

Another five gives me a full squad of ten. I bought these already made from a second hand toys shop for a fraction of their normal price.

Various parts of artillery, or big guns as they are now. The only complete model is the ancient hop splat gun but I know I have the parts to complete the others. There is a smasha cannon, squig catapult and pulsa rockit battery here.

A selection of nobs including the very nice Banna Waver. This is enough to spread across my clans or just build a big nob force for Ghazghkull.

A collection of characters. Another bad dok who can be attached to a different clan though I converted up this one to be a Bad Moon., Zogrod Wartsnagga 2nd edition special character runtherd who fields super grots! I'll need to find out how many a good unit of these little buggers are and get some models together for that unit. Nazgrub Wurrzag is a scrap prospector from Gorka Morka. He was a weirdboy which is good as I always need more of those. As a scrap prospector he'll fit right in with the Deathskullz. Lastly is Bad Dok Dreggutz. He is missing his head and an arm. The arm I have seen in the first ork box, the head hasn't come around yet.

A random boss pole that is big enough I could use it to convert up another banner.

Da Red Gobbo! The resistance figure head from Gorka Morka.It is another lovely Brian Nelson sculpt that pacs a lot of detail into such a small miniature, I am looking forward to getting some paint on him.

The Red Gobbo did not come alone, here are 39 assorted grots from the Grot Revolution range from Gorka Morka. That's enough for one clan's worth of Gretchin.

Assorted metal Gretchin from the 2nd edition era that can be used as crew for artillery pieces of oddboy helpers.

A complete smasha gun. I reckon I have two if these but I'll have to keep digging to be sure.

Some more Rogue Trader era orks. The clans did not exist when these guys were cast so I am free to add them to any clan though the banna wavva looks very Deathskull.

A lone night goblin and some miscellaneous miniatures including some Cawdor gangers for when Necromunda rolls round again. That's box two. Can't wait for box 3.

Conclave of Har Article Archive - A UTOPIAN DYSTOPIA - DYSTOPIAN WARS

Today I'm going to talk about Dystopian Wars, a Naval Air and Land based combat strategy game produced by Spartan Games. Set in an alternate timelines 19th Century where technology has advanced somewhat differently resulting in a fascinating mix of advanced steampunk weaponry and WWI/II era battleships and dreadnaughts. It’s an interesting and well thought out background rife with political machinations and a decent amount of historical awareness. Obviously it cannot hope to rival the background and sprawling universe of something like Warhammer but it does its own thing rather nicely.

Battleships! Giant Flying Robots! Mechanical Squid! What's not to like?

The Game itself can be played in a variety of different ways but is usually an action packed affair with the ever more popular ‘exploding dice’ mechanic usually ensuring a high casualty rate. The entry point is also remarkably affordable with £50 getting you all you need to get into the game proper and enjoy a full game lasting an hour or more. This 50 notes will net you the Rulebook (which we shall discuss in a moment) and one of the many fleet starter sets. The starters come in naval land and air varieties and Spartan have recently started providing more and more modular bundles to add to your force such as support fleets and air attack wings.

In my advice the starter fleet is the option to go for as it includes a couple of flyers anyway so you will be introduced to two elements of the game at the same time. Coming in at between £30-35 a Starter Naval Battlegroup will usually contain a Battleship, 3 Large Crusiers and around 9 smaller destroyers as well as the aforementioned flyers (you’ll also receive the resin tiny flyer tokens required for CAP and bomber wings) as well as all the tokens templates and stat cards for your models. The models are made from a hard somewhat brittle resin (should be fine if you don’t drop it though) and the detail is exceptionally crisp with very little flash that needs removing and little in the way of mould lines. The computer aided sculpting that they use is well serviced by the mechanical nature of the ships and there are a multitude of different looking factions to choose from, each of which will be featured later in this article.

Spartan Games Prussian Fleet from Dystopian Wars

However, before we get too much into the models lets discuss the rules which will take up the rest of your roughly £50 starting budget. Basically the rules to Dystopian Wars are an awful lot of fun. The aforementioned exploding dice mechanic means that pretty much anything can happen and even a weak fusillade can destroy a capital ship if you keep rolling enough sixes. The core shooting mechanic is much like that of GWs Battlefleet Gothic. Basically you take your attack value and then apply any modifiers for range, obstruction, facing which will dictate how many dice you can roll to try and beat the targets armour. Should you beat the targets CR value you’ll cause a critical hit and have the chance of causing additional effects. Squadrons of vessels can sacrifice a portion of their individual firepower to link fire for a concentrated punch which can pay dividends when attacking a well armoured target like an enemy capital ship.

One of the great things about Dystopian Wars is it scales exceptionally well. The game can be as big or as small as you want it and the modular ruleset means you can strip the mechanics down to suit you (my first games were played omitting the flyer rules completely with no impact on the enjoyment of the game) and you can have as complete an experience with a handful of ships as you would with a mighty fleet of vessels. Games can drag on a little of you play to last ship floating as the last few combatants circle round each other trying to land the killing blow but this can easily be circumvented by establishing a fixed turn length.

Yours for a shade over 30 quid if you shop around a bit.

The rulebook is fairly well presented, as I touched upon earlier, the game universe is well realised, a grounded steampunk setting with real world politics creating a fascinating alternate history. The designs throughout the book are full of character and rules for the primary factions are all included, each nation having unique tech so as to retain an element of individuality One oft cited criticism that I will level at the rulebook is its layout. The way the rules are presented is somewhat counterintuitive and far from concise and most games will involve a lot of flicking through the book trying to find a relevant rule till it all becomes committed to memory. Overall it’s a little difficult to digest in its presented format and the section on Arcs of fire in particular is cumbersome and awkward.

So, its time to talk about the models and factions: There are already a good 8 or so countries represented in Dystopian Wars and more are being added all the time, with three more due anytime now. I'll present them all in brief here.

Kingdom of Britannia:

Why not start at home? At a glance you could identify this fleet as British, wonderfully reminiscent of the Ironclad Dreadnaughts of the 19th Century, they also feature funnels that could have been ripped straight from Stephensons Rocket Steam Engine. Even their landship is basically St Pauls Cathedral on a set of massive tracks, it doesn’t get much more grandiose than that. Ship classifications such as Sovereign and Eagle complete the theme.

The detail on these models is quite remarkable.

Prussian Empire:

For a while these were my first choice when I was deliberating which fleet to collect. You could probably guess much of what is contained within the Prussian Empire list but certainly not all, Zeppelins? Check. Heavily armed battleships? Check. Giant Airfield in the shape of an Iron Cross? Oookay….. How about Giant Pcikelhaube wearing Tesla Cannon Armed Robots? Didn’t think so. Lots to like here, loads of character and the main theme is brutality and lots of forward facing firepower. If there is one thing the Prussian Empire isn’t its subtle.

Not pictured, Giant Iron Cross shaped mobile airfield 

The metzger Class robot, it wades so even ships arent safe.....

Federated States of America:

Skewed American Civil war background aside one of the most characterful of factions. In a nutshell, Paddle steamers. Totally iconic and highly distinctive the FSA was nonetheless one faction I instantly discounted. There was something about the aesthetic that just didn’t appeal to me and that was even after considering the giant flying robots. Yup, giant flying robots. More of an Iron Giant riveted design than the Prussians lumbering plated behemoth its still pretty cool and should give pause to any that would dismiss the FSAs Mississippi styling's as quaint.

Empire of the Blazing Sun:

Probably the most unconventional of the primary fleets the Empires vessels are cigar shaped affairs, all smooth lines and curves in place of turrets and towers. They do have some rather fantastic quadruped walkers though and are certainly distinctive. Oh and their unique unit is a giant mechanical squid which I am reliably informed is an absolute terror and probably the most powerful thing in the game.

I'm told this thing is VERY nasty. I've yet to encounter it myself.

Covenant of Antartica:

The Covenant were another faction I briefly toyed with for a while before Lee staked his claim (I remember words along the lines of ‘Piss off the Covenant are mine') Overall i'm glad I didn’t choose them as although I really do dig their B movie Sci FI stylings and they do have some AWESOME looking ships their flyers in particular look a little odd, not least the tiny flyer tokens which somewhat resemble miniscule penises. The background for the Covenant is rather intriguing, technologically advanced but highly secretive, a but of an unknown element. They have developed shields and teleportation but hide inside Artic fortresses, jealously guarded and which few who venture into return from. Still, phallus shaped aircraft aside, not quite my thing, particularly some of the smaller vessels. So who DID I choose for my first fleet?

Lees chosen fleet, think we must be due another game soon

The Republique of France:

I chose the French, when I choose a faction/army for any game it is always based upon aesthetics, with little thought given to how they actually play. Although I do enjoy a good game I would label myself as a painter primarily and it is from that perspective that I approach new ventures. That said the Republique of France also have a fairly interesting background. Basically they have kind of been the whipping boys of the other nations for a while, subjugated and battered and only now with a charismatic new leader are emerging resurgent, a brave and wounded but proud nation. I do like a plucky underdog. 

But the main reason I chose the French? Flying Battleships. That’s right, Flying. Battleships. The masters of Antigrav technology many of the Republiques vessels are also skimmers. Quite handy in a variety of situations I assure you. Viva la Republique indeed!

Viva La Republique!! We have flying battleships. Your argument is invalid...

Russian Coalition:

Last of the ‘Core Nations’ we have the Russian Coalition with their oddly shaped circular vessels (actually inspired by historical experimental naval designs) Their larger capital class vessels look much more conventional and their flyers resemble nothing so much as a giant eyeball complete with optical nerve. Possibly one for the future but a bit too quirky overall.

Heavily armed and a bit odd. In Russia odd is you.....

Then we have the Alliance Nations, The league of Italian States (I really like the look of these) With their narrow hulls and very realistic look. The Italians are most likely to be my second fleet. They will also ally well with the French. Also imminent are the Australians whose fleet presents a very unified look and the Chinese, with massive river barge inspired designs complete with pagoda superstructures. The Ottoman Empire have just been previewed and as you might expect look like they are straight out of Arabia, floating jewelled palaces and towers.

The Chinese. in case you couldn't tell 

The Italians, like these guys.

A fleet from a land down under..... 

Coming soon.....The Ottoman Empire.

And it doesn’t end there either, should it take your fancy there are a number of spin off games that Spartan have produced from Dystopian Wars: The first is Dystopian Legions, a somewhat misleading name given that it seems to be a squad level skirmish game, albeit with some wonderfully characterful 28ml models offering much more from a painters perspective. The other new offering is called Armoured Clash, which in all honesty looks to be more like Epic than anything else. Im a little comfused by this one as the Land aspect of Dystopian wars seems to offer something remarkably similar but i'm sure Armoured Clash has its own appeal.

Also the Dystopian Wars ruleset is available in different flavours. Should Galleons and Cannons be your thing then there is a fantasy version called Uncharted Seas (I rather like the Elven ships) and if Sci Fi battles are your thing then check out Firestorm Armada which has some rather wonderful factions available.

My very own Magenta Class Battleship. Non flying variety 

And Lee's vessel, the Soliquy of rusting at the bottom of the ocean with big holes in it......

So as you can see, Dystopian Wars offers as much or as little as you want. Embrace Land, Air and Sea and all the Expansions and settings or settle for a smaller Fleet like myself. (mainly due to time constraints it must be said) You’ll not be punished for doing less and your experience will not be diminished by choosing smaller engagements. Which reminds me, it must be time to send those pesky teleporting Covenant to the Bottom of Davy Jones Locker again……

Viva La Republique!!

Al

Conclave of Har article Archive - TO BE GREEN YOU GOTTA BE MEAN! ORKS IN ROGUE TRADER

I’ve gone a bit Ork crazy lately. Picking over eBay I have acquired a full compliment of old Ork big guns as well as a few Runt Herds to make sure the dozen or so Gretchin that crew them do as they are supposed to. From there I had to get some Snotlings to be getting in the way and cheering on any lucky hits (with Ork ballistic skill they are all lucky hits). The idea of fielding these fully painted make me itching to crack out the paint right this second!

But what set me on this splurge? Going through Rogue Trader ignited my curiosity and has now led to me completing my Rogue Trader library with the last two books I needed, ‘Ere We Go and Freebooterz. Each book and their accompanying volume Waaagh the Orks! Contain more Orky know whats than you would be able to stuff into one of today’s codexes so it is about time on our Rogue Trader retrospective to give the big green their due.

Orks and Gretchin first appeared in the Rogue Trader rule book and were the main adversary race in 40K. Games Workshop originally intended that players would convert up fantasy miniatures to represent the creatures of the 41st millennium and Orks being a mainstay of fantasy lore were an obvious choice for inclusion as there was an abundance of Ork models to choose for converting.

Their original entry only contained a couple of paragraphs of text explaining who they were and their motivations. They were the first extra terrestrial civilization encountered by humanity during its first tentative steps into the void. Legend has it that both races took a long hard look at each other, didn’t like what they saw and thus began a conflict that has lasted tens of thousands of years. A more likely account is that the Orks started it as they do love a good scrap and here was a new race that could put up a fight and keep coming.

Orks of today do not differ too much from the first description of them from back then. They are a humanoid race two meters tall on average with long powerful limbs. Their heads are bald and brutish with jutting lower jaws, beetling brows and piggish noses. Orks are an extremely violent race with an innate dislike of anything not of the Orkish race. They respect strength above all things and a healthy dose of insane courage.

Their space comprised an area west of the galactic pole though this is constantly in flux as Orks fight other species and amongst themselves. Fleets and armies are the gauge of a ruler’s strength though technology is only of importance to Orks in war.

Gretchin got a couple of paragraphs too as goblins were another source of abundant conversion fodder as well as being another fantasy mainstay. They are described as small, wiry and athletic but not particularly strong. They are cruel and sadistic. They take joy in causing pain in those they have overpowered and captured. They are a slave race considered untrustworthy and expendable.

That is pretty much it. There was some elaboration on their conflict with Man in ‘The Farm’ the first scenario for Rogue Trader set on Rynn’s World where the Crimson Fists attack and Ork party in the wake of the disaster at their chapter monetary. Like all races in Rogue Trader they share the same weapons and equipment as the Imperial forces. There is nothing apart from their stat line and background that really differentiates them from any other unit in the book.

The First Ork
Very little would change with the Orks after the initial release. There appeared a series of scenarios where the Orks were pitted against the Space Wolves which introduced several new ideas that would germinate later such as Mekaniaks, shamanic psykers, veteran Ork squads and light vehicle squadrons.

An Ork dreadnought would see release that could be constructed as ether the standard two armed Killer class or the larger four armed Onslaughter class. The Wartrakk and Hop Splatt field gun which it could tow and a crew for it would follow as well as a spattering of more Ork releases. Adeptus Titanicus would introduce Gargants and through prose shine a spotlight on the Orks themselves.

As the Rogue Trader era was coming to an end there was an explosion of Orky releases particularly rule books. Waaargh Orks was a pure background books that introduced most of the Ork staples that survive to this day and pinned the Orks down as a unique race all of their own with their own culture and unit types. This was followed by ‘Ere We Go probably the first codex which was accompanied later by Freebooterz a book that allowed the Ork player access to specialist squads outside the norm.

Taken together these three books represent a codex that could only exist today in the deranged wish listing of a mad Ork obsessed fan-boy. So it is that next time I will be delving into the first of this green trinity, Waaargh Orks.

Lee

Conclave of Har Hobby Archive - Fun With Magnets

There can be few areas of the hobby that have seen so much use or necessity arise as magnetizing, in these days of multi-option models and dual build kits we are all out to get the absolute maximum return out of our ever increasing purchase costs. Now it has always been common to see magnetized beasties of various types but the use of the humble magnet has now proliferated even further and now its use is incorporated on all size models so that you can switch out weapons options as you desire for even troop choices.

And so it was with me, I have recently undertaken two separate magnetizing projects one far more ambitious than the other but equally problematic in their own way. Ill detail them both here and offer some tips and hints that should help you should you wish to attempt something similar.

Project 1: Hordes Legion of Everblight Warbeast.
I had a lot of success magnetizing my Cryx Warmachine army a few years back, the ability to swap out components to represent any of the different builds is a real boon. Now I wanted to do the same with my Legion of Everblight Warbeasts. The magnets would go in more or less the same places; Head, and the two upper arms. I drilled out the holes in the nubs that the arms glue onto and put the magnets in and though it was a job well done.

The problem is that Warbeast arms are considerably larger and therefore heavier than their Warjack equivalents and the magnets that had held the Cryx model together just weren't up to the job. The model suffered a severe case of drooping arms and the magnet link was tenuous at best. The arms were wobbly and there was no way they would stay on throughout the course of a game. Well, there was no way I was going to subject my Warbeasts to the ignomy of having their arms drop off midfight so a thorough reworking was required. It was obvious that larger magnets would be needed but the little nubs that the arms attached to were too small to accommodate them, therefore they had to go, much clipping later I had a nice smooth surface to drill into and place some chunky magnets in (paying close attention to the Polarity) Now of course the insides of the shoulders were recessed to make room for the recently departed nubs so they would require filling to ensure a flush fit, Greenstuff to the rescue! The bonus of using greenstuff is that you can imbed the magnet in it which saves on drilling and speeds things up considerably, just make sure it has fully cured before you attach the pieces or you will rip the magnet out of the putty. You may still need to use a little superglue to make sure the magnets stay put.

Thankfully the second time round the job really WAS a goodun, the increased sized magnets meant the connection was solid and I can now choose my variant of Legion Of Everblight Warbeast at will (though the very largest arms still droop slightly – I could rectifiy this with a pin if I wanted to)

Project 2: Eldar

Project 2 was MUCH more problematic and in depth so hold on to your hats. Project 2 was magnetizing an entire Ghost Warriors Box set. This is the army deal that GW released last year and as it actually offered a substantial saving I felt I had to get one. Its sat languishing in the cupboard (along with hordes of other minis) for a while and I decided to finally do something with it, inspired in no small part by the paint scheme for my Legion, (I do like painting purple) I decided early on that I would be magnetizing EVERY model in the force (for the record that’s a Wraithknight, 2 Wraithlords and 15 Wraithguard/blades) now this involved some degree of planning and there were a few stumbles along the way along with a few abandoned plans. It certainly didn’t all go smoothly and I'll list my mistakes as they were made so that you can learn from them. So here we go with how I magnetized the Wraithknight and Wraithblades

Now just before I get started, a quick word on the magnets. You want Neodymium or ‘rare earth’ magnets, these are inexpensive and readily available from a variety of sources, but probably the easiest source is Ebay where there are a variety of different sellers. I bought a number of different sizes as I doubt this is the last time ill ever need to magnetize anything.. This said many independent hobby stockists such as Wayland games are also starting to stock hobby magnets should you wish to see the size of what you are buying. Now another thing to consider is that the smallest size you will be able to find is 2mm wide by 1mm deep. I was able to source some 1x1mm magnets but they were over four times as expensive as their larger counterpart and the only place I could find that sold them was in Germany.

Another thing to consider is just how many magnets you will need. You need to bear in mind that each joint will require 2 magnets and each weapons option that you use will take up another. For example my Wraithblades fully magnetized with all options took 120 magnets. And that’s just 15 models (albeit with a lot of weapons options – more on this later) just make sure you have plenty of magnets. You will also require superglue, a decent hobby knife, some greenstuff and a screwdriver – why a screwdriver? Fear not all will be revealed.


Be VERY careful when using power tools on your models, particularly on the ever so slender Eldar, if you are not careful there is a real danger you could drill through the model leaving yourself an intensive repair job. Go slowly, drilling out a little at a time. You can always take out a little more if needs be, test the magnet fit frequently, you want it flush to the plastic, not too recessed if you can get away with it.

Wraithknight:

First I drilled out the shoulder joint on the body, now on the Wraithknight this was actually quite difficult as the mounts for the arms are separate and hollow, so drilling a hole to mount the magnet in means you will HAVE to drill through the shoulder joint. All I can suggest here is to choose your drillbit size very carefully and have the Greenstuff on hand, you might do better to choose a slightly smaller bit than the magnet then widen the hole will a knife or file to ensure a good fit. Now, when drilling the hole for the magnet in the actual limb be careful with positioning, where you place the magnet in the joint will dictate the final pose of the arm as you will see from the pictures.

One area that I completely and utterly failed with was magnetizing the waist, there really was just not enough plastic to work with and I just ended up drilling great big holes in the model. I abandoned this idea and just glued it, which is a shame as it would have made transport a lot easier but in all honesty it was perhaps a little ambitious. As it is I have covered all weapons options and can field any configuration i want. The magnets are strong and I have to say the poses I have ended up with look pretty good.


Wraithguard/blades:

These guys were quite the challenge, mainly due to the weapons options, with GWs rapidly changing rulesets you never know if you'll want to field assault or shooty loadouts. There are 4 weapon options all of which i intended to fully utilise. Unfortunately both the axe and the sword shared an arm, for a while i considered magnetizing at the wrist but decided this would be far too fiddly, (the 2mm magnets were hard enough to manipulate i can only imagine what the 1mm woudl be like!)

Whilst we are talking about fiddly magnets i will say it is INEVITABLE that you will drop some of these magnets, and being so small once they hit that carpet they can be a bugger to find. this is where the screwdriver comes in, simply pass it over the rough area where the magnet fell and it should jump onto the metal part of the tool. I dropped at least half dozen magnets trying to do the Wraithblades and after a few quick passes with the screwdriver recovered them all.

So, wrists were out, shoulder joints it was again. now this time I had 15 models to do not just one large walker. it would be nigh on impossible to ensure that the polarity was the same for every single one, BUT I had to ensure that the arms fit each model or else you might end up with too many negatives, not enough positives and be unable to assemble the squad. The Axe/sword option i got round simply by not using the sword on that arm, an axe and sword would do to represent 2 swords, at least till I get extra arms.

Thus the best way was to assemble each model with the magnets one at a time, going through each weapon load out one by one. So once again the first step was to drill out the shoulders. Back to the pin vice drill here, using the power drill would have been disastrous. Again, a little at a time drill out the shoudler joint you may need to make a guide hole with a pin or the hobby knife to prevent the drill bit from slipping.

Once the holes are drilled put the magnets in the shoulders. do not worry too much about polarity at this stage I have a trick for ensuring that everything will match up. Glue the magnets in and allow to dry. Once dry attach another magnet to them, then paint the showing side of the magnet as shown in the picture. This solves the issue of knowing which polarity is which. Now here you have options, you can either take the magnet off and then glue it into the hole you drill in the arm (which is fiddly and will result in you dropping at least one magnet) a method I tried more than once. Another way which I discovered after a while is to add glue to the recess and then hold it over the magnet. making sure that you have it fully in the hole, then after a few seconds drag the arm away LATERALLY, it should retain the magnet, just check that the polarity is correct (unpainted side showing) then put the part to one side.

Now as you get a pile of magnetized components building up, be sure that either the glue has dried before you let them get too close together or you may find that the magnets rip each other out of their sockets. Just something to bear in mind. As long as you continue to match each arm one at a time you cannot go too far wrong. Now thankfully the melee options are a doddle to magnetize, you should encounter no real problems. The gun options are a little more problematic as again they share an arm, you'll need to pay close attention to the polarities. This said it shouldn't be too difficult to get them to line up, if you have any issues maybe use a pin.

So that's about it really. Hopefully my tips have proved useful should you wish to try magnetizing your own figures, a little forethought and planning and you'll not go too far wrong, one of the main things is looking at the model and working out exactly what you are going to magnetize. Good luck, and may your polarities always align....