Hobby Diary 06/11/2016

Lee:

Hobby wise this hasn't been a particularly eventful week. It has mostly comprised preparing projects for the rest of the month and re-jiggling my projects. It is irritating when you have a plan but new things shove the items you had wanted to get done out of the way. 

Preparation wise this week I constructed a 500pt Scourge fleet. I enjoyed putting these models together. Even though all the Scourge ships have the same basic hull the additional parts really do set them apart, at least as far as the frigates are concerned. My fleet is mostly frigates organised into Groups that have specific purposes with a light cruiser along to provide a bit of heavier firepower. Now that I have had a chance to read through the fleet list it is easier to recognise the ships as their individual classes instead of a succession of weirdly shaped vessels. I'll discuss my fleet when Allan and I get our first game in, I don't want to tip him off to my plan.

I intend to spray all these ships metal with silver along the tips of the protrusions. Over this I will apply washes. Then once these are dry I will pick out the detail traditionally. I will be paying particular attention to the unique parts of each ship so I can easily identify them on the board. Rather than go for the usual purple and greens that the display fleet are painted I will be looking at sea creatures for inspiration.

I was disappointed that I did not find Khalida during a search of my carry cases but determined to complete a Warhammer Fantasy model this month I chose a Tomb King instead, with a Scarab Swarm base as an optimistic hanger on that may also get done at the same time. This is going to follow the same method as the Liche Priest from last month, paint the gold, skin and bandages then brown wash the lot and then highlight and pick out the details.

The thing I made the most progress on this month was my Sicaran. As a main Word Bearer unit this is painted red but with charcoal black sections echoing the shoulder pads of my Astartes. I am making good progress so far and hope to be done by the end of next week though you know how it is with plans and reality matching up.

The first project that looks like it will be completed this month is my random Emperor's Children. The Emperor's Children for 40K are one of my oldest armies and I have quite a bit painted. This model found its way to the window sill when I was unpacking and was left behind so that when I started to paint it was to hand. Wanting to expand on this army rather than junk it I have painted this Marine as a test bed for my newer scheme. The main change is changing the banding from the same blue as the weapons to green. I think it works and will make sure that any new or touched up units match this guy. As it stands there are just a couple of details to finish and then to base and he is done.

As far as November's plan goes below are the changes. 

Definite

Word Bearers Sicaran

Emperor's Children Marine

Queen Khalida Tomb King

Planned

Scourge ships

Squats

Warrior Nation Braves

Khalida is out and the Tomb King is in and the Squats have been relegated to the sidelines to make room for five Warrior Nation Braves for Wild West Exodus. I have all the paints I need now to do justice to their skin so these will be my test bed. I had intended only to paint one but there is a new hobby challenge beginning on the Wild West Exodus Facebook groups and the minimum requirement for month one is five Hired Hands. Whether they get completed or not really depends on how long the Sicaran takes but if I keep up the pace I have set thus far then I should meet my deadline.

AL:

Like Lee, i have had a pretty quiet week comparatively after last week's mad rush. It's mostly been back to watching Star Trek Voyager while building cultists. I did get my UCM fleet undercoated though, ready for the airbrush, i've undercoated them black and i'll drybrush them with grey and white in an attempt to pre-highlight them before I give them the base coat. It's all a bit experimental at this stage. Still, i'm looking forward to getting them done and of all things, Call of Duty Infinite Warfare has been a major influence with the ships in that game being rather well realised and giving me a few ideas for my UCM. 

So like I said, in the meantime i've been adding to the ranks of the Cultists, i've actually finished all my Overkill sprues and though I have a box of neophytes (which are to be assembled with all the options and intermixed with my normal squads, it's been the Cadians that i have been working on this week. 

So one of the main things i have realised of late is that the Hybrids are FAR superior to the Cadian models. OK there are ten years between them but you can see every single one of those years when comparing kits. The Cadians are crude, oddly proportioned with massive mouldlines (thank the Emperor - Beloved by all - for the mould line remover tool) and just don't go that well together. Well overdue an upgrade i would say! After spending as much time cleaning the model as it took to assemble a dozen cultists I started to assemble them. I wanted to try to improve the way they looked a bit and in all honesty the removal of Aquilas and addition of cult bits and heads only goes so far with that. I'll be painting them quite drab so that they don't stand out too much compared to the much more interesting cultist models.

I managed to get three complete squads of ten and with a bit of creative hacking have tried to vary the models up a bit with backpacks and the like though i have to confess i am not absolutely happy with them, it doesn't help that the superior Command kit has a lot of options that the cultists just CAN'T use like powerfist and plasma and melta guns. This variety would have improved the models considerably. Stupid Codex. 

Oh well, never mind, I moved onto the heavy weapon squads, a little bitz order a few weeks ago meant I was in a position to utilise more of the heavy weapons than normal and indeed I actually seem to have all options available which is handy. I do like getting the most out of my kits. The main place I had to be creative was with the missile launchers, they needed a bit of cutting to make them a bit shorter so they look like they could be fired without the need of the tripod. I think i've just about managed that. 

I've also been creative with the hybrid bits. I used Overkill models to utilise as many bits of the sprues as possible and have turned basic Acolytes to make Metamamorphs and a standard bearer. Though the models needed a fair bit of cutting, the conversion is actually fairly simple and I think i have got away with it. 

So that's the cult mostly done! The tanks are yet to do and another box of Neophytes, and i have a commissar from the start collecting box to get creative with - probably double up as another Primus. Oh, and the rest of the Cadian Command, OK the cult is not quite as done as I thought, good thing that we are only on season 3 of Voyager. 

I did also construct a glass cabinet to display my Star Wars Armada fleets, that counts as hobby right? 

Still, i'm casting my mind to other things, (i'm like a hobby magpie) and whilst I try to resist the lure of the wavering post Trump election dollar making a Kickstarter very tempting i'm thinking about what is next. I really want to finish those three busts i started, it shouldn't take too long, a couple of evening sessions maybe, in between i can do my UCM and 30k Ultramarines. As you will see from the picture i have the ventilated spraying station all set up so next time I hope to have much more than just construction done... 

White Dwarf Review: Issue 2

So the new White Dwarf then, not bad is it? I mean it's not perfect and it's by no means as good as the 'Fat Bloke' days (though I am forced to admit that my nostalgia tinted glasses mean that little ever could be) but as a magazine worth reading, yeah, not bad. Lets take a look at issue 2 shall we?

This is the second time i have had to write this review thanks to the previous version not saving on my notebook. Grrr. Still, that isn't the only reason for this review being a bit briefer than issue 1's. I'm not going to be reviewing every issue, well at least i'm not planning to, but I am interested in charting the first few issues to see what kind of improvements are rendered in it's early stages. So think of this as more of a brief overview rather than a detailed breakdown. That was done with issue 1 and is HERE should you so wish.

So, onwards! Once again the cover is artwork, though we know that this is not always going to be the case. Here it's the Genestealer Cult codex cover which makes for a rather impressive magazine frontage.

Inside it is revealed that Jes Bickham was only a launch editor and that the White Dwarf is under new stewardship, this may well turn out to be a positive move as fresh hands and eyes will prove more conducive to change in the magazine as at the moment it has Jes' undeniable mark upon it. Jes is off to the studio so all the best with that.

Planet Warhammer once again deals with the new releases and other goings on. I do feel that upcoming events could be included here which would preclude the need to devote a double page advert to them later in the magazine.

The new releases are of course the Genestealer Cult, a widely positively received range. It all looks pretty good though I must say i'm not a fan of the Metamorphs which kind of look like Tyranid hybrid kitbashes, still they are very nasty in the game, i'd be surprised if at least one unit didn't sneak into my army. 

I picked up Gulliman, review coming soon-ish

Elsewhere the description for the dice is different and indeed vastly superior to the actual product. WD is made well in advance and I guess the manufacturing changed after a print deadline. A shame. There are also Silver Tower cards and the Arcane Heroes set, a box which delivers appreciable savings over the individual clampacks. It must be noted that not all the releases in the weeks covered are featured with the recent battlemats nowhere to be seen. The new textured paints make it in though, apparently they will be featured more next month.

The releases do not quite stretch to the end of the month either. For example we have no idea what is up for pre release this week from the White Dwarf, this allows GW to sneak in big releases to the end of the month which will be covered in the next months issue. Devious.

I'm doing this from memory but next is the letters, including a familiar name. Hi Ross! Still other than that its the same, still not Grombrindal answering. Shame.

Next up is a piece about the new Warhammer Comic from Titan, Will of Iron. A preview copy of the comic is included free with the mag. It's alright, I certainly wasn't blown away. I felt that it wasn't a patch on my 83 or so issues of Warhammer Monthly nor the Boom Studios titles which were recently rereleased. The artwork is competent enough but very starkly coloured, over saturated and cartoony. Still the article itself is good giving a hefty insight on the construction of the comic and if anything being more interesting that the preview comic itself. I've got my local friendly comic shop putting Will of Iron aside for me so I daresay a proper review will pop up once i've read a few issues.

Hall of fame is Smaug. Cant really argue, it's one hell of a model. however, i'm sure that like Nagash, it has been featured before. The article is quite cool though, with some interesting tidbits about the model that I previously hadn't known.

Army of the month is another 12 pages of someone's army, Space Wolves this time. It is a nice army to be fair. 

The Jes Goodwin article is next. Its a hefty chat with the miniature maestro at ten pages but if i'm being honest I was a little disappointed. I felt that the topics covered fell someway short of what I had hoped and the whole thing is FAR less interesting than you would think. Still, i was surprised to learn he was born in Hockley, Essex. Maybe he pops into Wayland Games from time to time when he revisits his old stomping grounds.

Temporal Distort looks at one of the issues from the 'LOTR days' where half the mag was dedicated to the Tolkien game. Again, its alright, basic and superficial, i'd like to see this section given a little more love. Hopefully it goes back a lot further too.

Armies on Parade presents more readers models and again they are all rather good, it's inspiring stuff, particularly the Mechanicum force but i can think of other things i'd rather read.

The Ultimate Guide is Genestealer Cults naturally. It's a pretty good article, though it is somewhat distancing itself from the classic fluff from the 90s. Still, there are some good bits in here and the designers notes are also worth a look. I do rather hope that this section doesn't just focus on the new release for that month though, that would get a little dull and mean there were things that would never get featured.

Battle report is next. Its Deathwatch vs the Cult, In a sneaky move by GW. The preview for this months issue had Deathwatch fighting 'The Alien Menace'  with pictures of them and tyranids, good bait and switch GW. Fine devious work. It's a good report, you can tell what happened and get an idea of the tactics though they are not really explored in any depth. I did bemoan the lack of points but if you open the fold out section you will find them there, though only the army totals are featured.

erm... Illuminations? I think that was next. It's all AOS stuff, heroes and monsters and although I may not like what GW has done with the universe and the aesthetics of much of the range, the artwork is undeniably stunning, great images. I'd still like to see Artist featured ones though like the old Des Hanley one I found in an old issue the other day.

Golden Demon is stuff that I have seen before. Nice models and inspiring enough but not really doing all that much for me. Bit of a waste. I read it all online ages ago.

Ok, i'll admit i'm just putting these in as I remember them and ill rearrange them later when i get home. Paint Splatter returns to show us which Citadel colours to use this month. But WAIT.. is that...?

 

YES! the return of the Eavy Metal Masterclass. This is an in depth tutorial on faces, and whilst it might not be quite as good as its primogenitor which I still have in folders and refer to regularly, its so far above and beyond Paint Splatter that its a major plus point in my book. I hope this is a regular feature.

Tale of Four Gamers continues, the participants have all increased their armies but there appears to be no consistency in the reinforcements. This really kills it a bit for me and though the models are well painted (particularly the Nurgle force) and its interesting to watch the armies expand, there is little investment to be had and i'm finding this edition to be a pale shadow of it's predecessors. The lack of a budget removes a level of immersion, I mean even when they were using monetary values we ALL knew they were just getting the stuff from the warehouse but it made it seem like they were collecting the armies like we were, I just don't get that here. Hopefully as they start playing a few more games it will become more interesting.

Sprues and Glue shows how to kitbash Guard and Cult models, Its a good article, I think i'll grab me a Cadian HQ box. 

Blanchistsu has reverted to people imitating the style of John Blanche, to be fair they are quite nice as always, but this feature in particular runs the danger of becoming somewhat derivative.  I hope they find a way of jazzing it up whilst still keeping it Grimdark.

Parade ground features a Stormcast Eternal army, meh, don't really care. Its just another reasonably well painted army. Id feel the same if it were a 40k force, just for the record. This isn't my AOS prejudice rearing it's head here.  

Readers Models, well i shouldn't need to say anything here tbh.

The usual, in the bunker and such sees us out. This time its all models from the Arcane Heroes set.

So in summary little has changed, we can see the formula that the mag is going to follow and barring some drastic changes next month, which does have a big release admittedly, I think my opinion will not change all that much.

And that opinion is that the new WD is a perfectly serviceable hobby magazine totally in line with the current GW. It's not perfect though and this is why i think that.

Far too much space is devoted to other hobbyists models. I see models the equal of this every day on various Facebook groups and pictures of stunningly painted miniatures are not exactly hard to come by. Therefore I slightly resent paying for a magazine which is over a quarter filled with other peoples models. Army of the Month, Armies on Parade, Golden Demon, Readers Models AND Parade Ground is just overkill and using  40 pages that could far better be utilised with other features.

I think this is a side effect of the magazine absorbing Warhammer Visions. Time will tell if this split identity issue will be resolved when Visions relaunches. Personally I have a limit of how much of other hobbyists models I want to see. Imagine Empire if half of it was Youtube videos.

The adverts are also becoming a touch more noticeable. Though they are not particularly intrusive nor numerous,nonetheless a good few pages are lost, 14 in fact. These adverts I guess are a necessary evil after the tidying up of the hawking in the new releases section but one cannot feel that things like event adverts would be much better served in an appropriate section rather than a double page spread in the mag.

The writing overall isn't too bad but I would like to see more depth, its all a little superficial and friendly. Though I do enjoy reading the mag I cannot say it takes long and its normally finished in a hour or less. And that's with a reduced AOS presence, an Age of Sigmar focused issue would potentially represent much less value to me.

Still, i'll carry on the sub for at least a while, though it is far more expensive than it used to be, in the hope that White Dwarf will become something I just cannot resist. I do have a few ideas of what could be included to make this more likely.

Index Astartes: This was the benchmark in articles in the old White Dwarf, so popular that it was released in collected volumes that now fetch staggering prices on Ebay.  Indeed, I kept them from the White Dwarfs and have them in ring binders. Originally focusing on the Founding legions it was then expanded to include other chapters and more esoteric elements of marine background. It was then expanded further with Index Xenos and Malleus. They were great reads and with the wealth of additional material presented by the Horus Heresy series and other publications they are surely ripe for an update.

Heroes and Villains: Much like Index Astartes this was a fluff series that focused on characters from the various universes. It wasn't just lore, there were also strategies and rules presented. In fact it must be said that after last months glut of rule updates this issue is rather bereft with only an additional mission that was fought as the battle report.

Codicium Imperialis: This was a great series that focused on great events and battles of the 41st Millennium, More fluff basically, that's what I want!

Also maybe something on scenery building, not just using GW stuff but maybe something akin to the Forgeworld Masterclass books which i found immeasurably useful.

Other than that it would be nice to see a little more love toward the older stuff, it's all very new and shiny at the moment with little attention paid to anything from GWs past. Even the  Jes Goodwin interview was guilty of this.

Still it's early days so far and with the new editor I am hopeful that the magazine will continue to change, we'll find out in Novembers issue...

When Prospero Burns.....