NZ Masters 2013

So if your a Kiwi and play WHFB, you would be hard pressed to have missed that the Masters are quickly approaching. With the recent public release of all the army lists, social media is awash with critics. Not one to miss the party its time the southern most WHFB player weighed in...

The full lists can be found here, but in short its a bunch of net lists and snore fest's...

So in no particular order here is the Southern Sort Out!

Rory Finnemore - Empire

Rory's bought his A game and the list to back it up. Coming off a recent event win with the same list its hard not to think he will be up there. One wonders if Rory will be able to protect his light wizard and bunker without the aid of chaff, however he is only one rolly-polly away from doing the unthinkable...

Dan Butler - WoC

Hamiltons home grown prodigy Dan brings an interesting spin from the standard "net list" for WoC. Double Helcannon and Tzeentch magic offer some synergies, however the field will be reasonably resistant to the effects. I cant help but keep thinking they take too much away from pushing it forward...

Richard Barby - CD

Richard "the cow" Barby turns up with his tried and tested CD list. Whilst some components are missing (where is the TRUCK!), he may find the metal magic he has chosen to be a liability in half his games. With some of the major contenders bringing no armour lists like DoC etc the list appears to be more made for a bigger tournament meta instead of tailored to suit the Masters contenders.

Ross Hillier-Jones - WoC

Ross, I'm confused. WTF are Warriors doing in a WoC list... In all seriousness the list looks a lot slower than WoC can achieve, which in turn I think will be the downfall of his weekend. It does a little of everything but not enough of one thing. Ross will be leaning on the Nurgle Prince crutch all weekend.

Locky Reid - Empire

3 cannons, a light council, a lot of chaff and a bunch of other toys. Locky looks to have bought a fine tuned list that can preform well. The only question remains is will he be able to use it well? I'm unaware of how much practice he has running this lot as he usually plays hoardy armies... Will be interesting to see what tactic he ends up going for? 10 from the back? 8 from the back? or 6 from the back...?

Sam Whitt - Dark Elves

The first "real" appearance of Darkies in the NZ tourney scene for the new book Sam Dubb has opted for a touch of mathammer internet filth and a touch of his old crutch. There are some lists out there that will not be looking forward to this match up and one wonders how many times Sam Dubb can 6 dice dwellers... One to watch.

Hamish Gordon - WoC

Internet Troll turned table troll. Throgg turns up with a bandwagon of stupid however someone forgot to bring some pets for chaff... This list has balls, but does the player have the nads to match? Lack of chaff may loose him some games horribly, but then again it could all go horribly wrong... for both sides...

Tom Dunn - DoC

The absent general and last years Master turns up to defend his title after stealing it from the clutches of his old man last year. Tom arrives with a similar list to what Pete has run since the new book came out, and one wonders how much influence on the list old man Dunn has had... Tom is a strong player but has not attended many tournies this year. He probably practising furiously as I type. at least there is no Tomb Kings for you to face this year Tom!

Peter Williamson - High Elves

I like it. there I've said it! Peter Dubb shows us he's not done with "qwerky" yet. But take a closer look and the list is reasonably balanced, if but a little shy on combatants. Watch out for that combined flying chariot + dragon charge, its sure to catch some people out and make a mess of things since it can "fly" overtop of units that are in the way. Its very mobile and I am sure the sisters will have a field day with all the evil in the line up, but can he get the big wins necessary to take home the trophies?

Sam Campbell - DoC

Net list. Copy and paste. Nuff said... Sam will be sure to be a hurdle in every ones progression to he podium, but with everyone surely having taken into account the DoC "netlist" there is answers in the field. Has Sam read it right and surprised everyone by not surprising everyone? One weekend will tell...

James Brown - Lizardmen

taking Saurus warriors in a Skinkman army is almost as bad as taking Warriors in Woc army, or so the interwebs will tell you. Has James found the magic touch with his lizards or will internet theory prove him wrong. He turns up with only half the normal toys but he is packing Tetto Eko! Will little Jimmy have enough magic dice to ruin someones run to the podiums? Surely Lizardmen will not be on top at the end of the weekend. James, prove me worng!

Peter Dunn - Skaven

From not going to not taking Skaven, Pete has proven his furry nature and predictably turned up with the rat pack. Its his usual strong list, and one would be foolish to count him out. I am sure he and his skaven assassins have infiltrated every contenders homes to squirrel out their master plans, but has he been looking closer to home? His progeny did wrestle it from his grasp last time around...

So my Top 5, in no particular order are;

Rory Finnemore
Dan Butler
Tom Dunn
Peter Williamson
Pete Dunn

There can be only one...

New Terrain from Forgeworld

I did not see the news flash in my inbox but Forgeworld have finally released the Castellum Stronghold previewed at Dames Day

 When the situation calls for a prolonged deployment, Space Marines can rapidly construct modular fortified structures, known as Castellum Strongholds, to use as forward operating bases on a planet’s surface.

Designed by Blake Spence, the Realm of Battle Space Marine Castellum Stronghold is a 24" x 24" (609 mm x 609 mm) tile which can fit the Citadel Realm of Battle board. The model features areas that can accommodate Tarantula Sentry turrets, and its design allows several boards to be put together, expanding the size of the base. The Castellum Stronghold will be available to pre-order now and will be despatched from Saturday 30th November.

Castellum Strongholds were used in our Isstvan V display boards at Games Day UK which you can seehere.

There are also some bundles on offer with savings of about 10-15%

Bundle includes: Castellum Stronghold x1, Space Marine Air Defense Missile Launcher x1, Space Marine Air Defense Command Platform x1, Space Marine Tarantula with Lascannon x1, Space Marine Tarantula with Heavy Bolters and Space Marine Tarantula with Multi-Melta.

Bundle includes: Castellum Stronghold x4, Space Marine Air Defense Missile Launcher x4, Space Marine Air Defense Command Platform x1, Space Marine Tarantula with Lascannon x4, Space Marine Tarantula with Heavy Bolters x4 and Space Marine Tarantula with Multi-Melta x4.

Also today we see some new additions to Zone Mortalis. Looks to be some warpage in the examples...

Online exclusive deal. The Realm of Battle Zone Mortalis Set contains all four of the Zone Mortalis individual tiles, allowing for a huge range of possible corridor arrangements covering a total area of 2' x 2' (600mm x 600mm). Epsilon Complex, Eta Complex, Theta Complex and Zeta Complex are each 1' x 1' (300mm x 300mm) tiles that are fully compatible and interchangeable with each other.Detailed hollow resin tiles, designed by Blake Spence. To see our video of Zone Mortalis click here.

The Zone Mortalis tiles use hollow resin, which allows us to produce highly detailed, light and very durable scenery pieces. Due to the casting process of this material, it is sometimes possible to find small air bubbles on these terrain pieces. These are easy to fill as our Working with Resin guide explains. Blast doors shown in some images available separately.  Figures shown in some images for illustration purposes only. The last image shown to illustrate how expandable the set is.

Raging Heroes Dark Elves Kickstarter confirmed

A few days ago Raging Heroes updated their "Toughest Girls of the Galaxy" Kickstarter page with a plethora of new sculpts and digital designs for the upcoming range. 

Hidden away in all the words (and there was a lot!) was this little snippets:

The Dark Elves...

We were very excited to get so much positive feedback on the Dark Elves concepts, and on the prospect of focusing our future Kickstarter on the Dark Elves and the Sisters of Eternal Mercy. To be honest, we were not quite sure that doing a DE Kickstarter was the right thing to do next, but apparently, you are telling us that we should not hesitate.

So, as previously explained, this project will include both Fantasy and SF versions of our Dark Elves and of our Sisters of Eternal Mercy. But it will have to wait a bit, because right now, we are putting all of our energy into delivering the Toughest Girls of the Galaxy.

Highly anticipated but I am still doing a happy dance! I simply can't wait for this, however the timing is very unfortunate since I want them now...

If you are not familiar with the standard and quality of their work here are some pictures from the latest wave of previews:

The rest of the images and words can be found here

Forgeworld New Releases

Forgeworld keep on marching our more Heresy models. This time we see the new shineys in the form of the Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer!

 A variant of the Sicaran battle tank introduced towards the end of the Great Crusade, the Sicaran Venator is a purpose-built tank destroyer. It mounts the fearsome neutron laser system and the atomantic arc-reactors required to power it. The neutron laser is a formidable anti-armour weapon, and is capable of penetrating any known armour. The combination of mobility, protection and firepower being highly valued by the Space Marine Legions. 

The Sicaran Venator, designed by Phil Stutcinskas, is a complete resin kit that comes with a choice of lascannon or heavy bolter sponsons, as well as a remote turret-mounted heavy bolter. This model is available to pre-order now and will be despatched from Saturday 30th November.

We of course had some previews of the new tank from Forgeworld Games Day

Will we see any more variants? Heres hopeing so...

Forgeworld Promotion

Holiday deals from Forgeworld? You bet!

How it works:

All orders placed with Forge World between 00:01 (GMT) 11th November 2013 and 23:59 (GMT) 20th December 2013 will receive a free Standard Shipping voucher within the order for use on a future order. 

Free Standard Shipping vouchers must be redeemed before 18:00 (GMT) Friday 31st January 2014. There is no limit to the number of vouchers that you can collect or use.

To redeem your voucher please call the Forge World Customer Services team on 0115 900 4995 (UK), 011 44 115 900 4995 (US) or 0044 115 900 4995 (Europe and Rest of the World). 

Please have your voucher number and the number of the order with which you received your voucher to hand – you will need both of these to take advantage of the offer.

I have placed an order for a Contemptor Autocannon x1... As soon as it comes I will order $399 to take maximum advantage of the free shipping. Couldnt think of a better way to flesh out the legion these holidays.

I only wish Forgeworld had a lower threshold for free shipping. 150 squid would be good...

A Titan Story - Part 3

Last week Forgeworld delivered the replacement parts to my Titans enabling me to finish building the Warhounds feet and legs assembly

Pictured above is the second set of feet. The front foot on each picture will be the forward foot on the finished model. You can notice a slightly greater backwards angle on the ball socket. This pose will be more of a prone stance, one foot forward but braced for firing off the rear foot.

The first set of legs is now fully assembled and pinned. Both legs balance perfectly on a level surface. The legs are shown above with one of the shin guards in place.

This side view gives a good idea in how dynamic you can build the Warhound. This first Warhound is in a walking motion and can easily imagine it striding into battle guns blazing.

With the legs lying flat its easy to see the subtle differences are mainly in the positioning of the foot. The difference in angle is ever so subtle between the two.

Another flat angle view of the first leg assembly. Once the second set is finished I will have one Warhound in a dynamic shooting pose and this one walking. A nice contrast. 

This last picture you can see the two magnets in the bracket on the lower front leg. These are what holds the shin guards in place as there are two different designs. Each kit comes with four guards in total, two of each. It would also be a shame to hide all the detail underneath.

The last thing to do to the legs is fit all the pistons around the lower and upper ball joints. I will wait until I finish the waist section and fix that into place before attaching all the pistons. Then its off for a bath to get rid of all the oils and residue from building before getting primed. 

Next up: Second Warhound legs to finish assembling, and progress on the Reaver Titan!

First look - Dark Elves second wave

So over the weekend Games Workshop released the second wave of the Dark Elves.

The new Warlock and Dark Rider Kit

The kit is based on three medium sized sprues which are all unique.

The warlocks share most of the kit with each of the two model variants. The main parts that differentiate between them are the heads, arms (including weapons), and upper torso. 

The Dark Steeds cruel masters (GW sculptors) have resulted in "lipless" mounts. I have read many people talking about how the teeth are too big etc. Scaling these back would make the model look ever more odd IMO. However I think this can easily be rectified with a little green stuff and putting the lips back on.

I plan on using the Warlock upper torsos/head/weapons with Daemonette's from the steeds of Slannesh  to kit bash my Warlocks. i plan to mount them on Fenrisian Wolves to complete the more feral look since they are meant to be outcasts and renegades.

The new Scourgerunner and Cold One Chariot kit

The kit comes complete with three medium sized sprues, an instruction booklet, and a transfer sheet.

The options included for making the two types of chariots are mostly unique and the main components used between the two are the yoke, harness, chariot floor and wheel. There are two sets of sides as well as the two different draft animals. 

The crew share almost no parts between the two, with only the ropes to the harness being the common ground. There are however more than enough parts to make the two left over crew completely separate from the chariot. A clever person would be able to magnetize the kit to make both options with a little fuss. 

On the other hand, making the Cold One Chariot leaves you with two Dark Steeds and two Corsair/Beast Master crew, including a rather nice cloak. I plan to use the Dark Steeds for character mounts and the spare crew to make characters, particularly the Beast Master and his cloak!

The new Black Guard and Executioners kit

There are two full sized sprues, plus two half sprues. The two larger ones are identical and the small ones are also the same as each other. This kit is essentially made up of three half sized sprues. 

Once again the kit comes complete with a transfer sheet. This is really nice to see and makes a nice change from the High Elves release where you had to purchase the transfers separate. 
Unfortunately GW got it wrong with the embossed shields removing the one easy way to use the transfers effectively. 

They however have released a shields pack (direct only) with finecast shields. These have arms moulded into them to suit you Dreadspear models.

The one problem with the kit is the join line between the shoulder pads. If you are not careful this seam wont square up flush and will leave an unsightly gap that will need to be filled. It is a common problem with the Dark Elves range along with other GW models. A little liquid greenstuff should fix the problem...


All in all its been a good few months for the Dark Elves. GW has shown that once again they are willing to break the mould and change the release cycle formula when needed. With five books remaining there is arguable several cases for this to occur again, however the apparent schedule for 9th is due in the third quarter of 2014, it remains to be seen if we will see all the races redone for 8th. Next up though, Dwarves and Wood Elves....