My Opinion on the new Chaos Space Marine Design

I've already talked a lot about the new models for the Chaos Space Marines. But I haven't written anything down in my blog. Without further ado, here's my opinion on the new Chaos Space Marine models:

The new Codex: CSM. The cover is from the Blood Gorgons novel.

• Codex: The Codex: Chaos Space Marines is going to be hardcover and full colour. The price went up from € 26,00 to € 39,00, which is a lot. From what I have seen from various rumor sites on the web, the Codex is going to look badass and will have a lot of options to field a variety of highly different armies. It's not a Codex: Chaos Legions (I don't see one being published in the upcoming years) but the options for marks and icons are expanded to more units and certain marked HQs are going to unlock cult units for the troop section. Together with the allies rules you can team up with Daemons of Chaos or Imperial (i.e. Traitor) Guard. I like the way Games Workshop is going with this and I am really looking forward to buying the Codex next Saturday at the local GW store in Augsburg.

• Heldrake: The model everybody seems to hate. And I am afraid I don't really like it either. I am not convinced from what I've seen of the model in the White Dwarf and on GW's website. I'm not pleased by its rather cartoonish looks and, what is more, its price tag. € 59,00 is too much for a model I don't have fun to build and paint. Rumors say that the Heldrake however will be a flyer killer - and killing flyers is what everybody and their grandmother wants to do in 6th edition. I'll wait and hope that somebody comes up with a great conversion idea for the Heldrake. Then I might get one.

• Forgefiend/Maulerfiend: Those two are the other model(s) everybody has a different opinion about. So do I: I like their look. It reminds me of the Khorne Blood Slaughterer from Forge World or the Juggernauts of Khorne. The Maulerfiend certainly has a khorne-ish appeal. The Forgefiend on the other hand looks cold and menacing. I like them both and I like the rule rumors that say that both are very durable walkers that can put out high loads of pain to the enemy. Again, € 52,00 is a tough price tag but I will pick up one anyway sometime to build a really shooty Forgefiend.

• Raptors/Warp Talons: Every time I look at pictures from the new Raptors and Warp Talons I like them more and more. They already incorporate the new style of Chaos we know from the Dark Vengeance box. I dislike some of the helmets but I don't mind since I got a big box of Chaos bitz at home. I love the heresy era jump packs and the newly designed chainswords. I don't know if I want to use Raptors or Warp Talons until I've read the whole codex. But no matter what I choose, I can use the bitz of the other variant, e.g. the Raptors' CCWs and Melter or the Warp Talons' CCWs as Lightning Claws. For € 26,00 this box is full of win! Makes me want to start Night Lords...

• Aspiring Champion: The model continues the Dark Vengeance Chaos style. This makes me happy because I really want a box of Chaos Chosen (rumors whisper that there is going to be a second wave around October 20th). The model is superb but € 15,50 is quite a lot for a single plastic model with no spare bitz.

• Warpsmith: The Warpsmith looks great and any Iron Warriors player is going to be happy right now even though it isn't a Warsmith (the leaders of the IW Great Companies). Yes, this model looks like it is one lab accident away from hunting down Spiderman. I don't know if i'd want to glue on all of the tentacles to this model. How would you even transport it? € 23,00 is a lot. Too much for me to pick up the model at its release.

• Dark Apostle: This model looks really good and offers a lot of space for adding the words of Lorgar to the toilet pap... eh... scrolls dangling everywhere from the miniature. I still think that the Champion from the DV box whith his power maul would make a good Apostle too after adding some (im)purity seals here and there. But for € 15,50 you get a nice model to lead your cultists into battle.  

• Mutilators: Okay, jokes/comments/rants/etc. about the Mutilators' faces have been made. I won't pile on. But even the rest of the model looks way to cartoonish for my taste. Everything is out of proportion - even for Chaos Space Marines. The much older Obliterator models look much better than the Mutilators. I won't use them, especially not for € 41,00!

• Sorcerer: This model looks like an old miniature redone in finecast. It lacks details and dynamics. There are better models for Chaos Sorcerers. My € 15,50 will go somewhere else.

That's is my opinion on the new Chaos miniatures. I left out the re-releases in finecast because there aren't any changes besides the material. I hope the rumors are true and there is a second wave of Chaos Space Marines coming around October 20th, containing kits for the Hellbrute, Chaos Cultists and Chosen. Also, I keep a close watch on the rumors about Warriors of Chaos getting new models and Chaos Daemons a new Codex/Armybook next year. It's a good time to play Chaos!

Painting Tutorials on YouTube

What I always liked the most about the White Dwarf and smilar hobby magazines were the various painting tutorials. But I don't really want to pay 7 EUR per month for Games Workshop's ad zine (I hope this is going to change with the WD revamp) for some beginner tutorials and instructions on how to use GW's hobby tools. Other magazines like the German Tabletop Insider are published two times, maybe three times a year and most tutorials on the internet lack the quality of their printed counterparts. In a nutshell: I love painting and hobby tutorials, I want quality and I want it for free.

After some research I found some outstanding tutorials on miniature painting on YouTube. I want to introduce two dedicated tutorial channels with some of their best video tutorials.


Lester Bursley from AwesomePaintJob.com

Lester Bursley has literally dozens of tutorials on painting various Space Marine chapter colours. In his YouTube channel he also gives advice about handling airbrush tools which I find very useful. Watch this awesome video on how to paint Blood Ravens Space Marines.

BuyPainted

BuyPainted is the other YouTube channel focusing on tutorials. What I like about those tutorials is, that there are plenty of tutorials on painting vehicles and miniature bases. In this brand new video the guy from BuyPainted (sorry, I couldn't find his name) paints the Interrogator Chaplain from the Dark Vengeance starter box.

I've spent hours over hours watching those tutorials (a few of them even twice) and can't wait to get my hands on an airbrush pistol myself now! Have fun with the videos!

New Chaos Space Marines: White Dwarf Leaks (sharper pictures)

I'm back and thus right back to business: There is a complete White Dwarf overhaul announced for Saturday the 22nd and in it there will be the new Chaos Space Marines. I'm really looking forward to this! Not an hour ago, Natfka postet a few blurry pictures of new Chaos miniatures in his blog. I soooo love the Maulerfiend - it looks vicious!

Here are the pictures and I tried to improve them a bit (sharpen, dodge & burn) because a) I wanted to see more detail and b) I thought why don't I share this with you :-)

I'm not sold on this one. Looks to cartoonish for me. Maybe I need another view of the dragon.

I like this guy. He looks a bit static but that's all.

This model is beyond awesome. I hope its rules don't suck *g*

Doc Oc - how do you transport this guy? Anyway, looks good!

Weird poses, but i suppose they can be posed differently.

The Chaos style we know from the Dark Vengeance box. Love it :-)

A single Warp Talon (there was another one, but way too blurry)

Back... again!

Again, long time no new article. I'm sorry for that, but moving in with my better half took quite rather much of my disposable attention for the last month. But enough of my personal stuff, here's what happened in my wargamer life ;-)

• I managed to smuggle in a workbench for my hobby into the new place
• I bought Dark Vengeance. Love the miniatures! Especially the new style of Chaos
• I'm still looking for an affordable airbrush set

So, that's it for now. This time I'll really try to keep this blog updated and undisturbed my stuff like moving ;-)

Now on Facebook!

I decided to create a Facebook page for this site for several reasons:

1. I feel more obliged to create new content when I receive direct feedback via likes and comments.
2. Some of my friends don't visit this blog very often (and apparently nobody uses RSS feed readers anymore). On Facebook they won't miss any updates.
3. I can throw in the occasional picture or comment, even if it doesn't qualify for a whole article.
4. It doesn't hurt to gain a few new readers :-)

When my friends comment on news articles on Facebook in German, I will - of course - respond in German. Apart from that I will keep writing in English, so that everybody will be more or less able to understand me :-)

The Facebook page is public and anything posted by me there will directly appear on Twitter too. You can either follow me on Twitter (why aren't you already? ;-)) or check the Twitter feed on the right.

PS: I'm still trying to get everything (the blog, the Twitter feed and the Facebook page) in sync and stable. Until then, there might be double posts and other technical inconveniences - just FYI :-)

Aeronautica Imperialis: Eldar Nightwing (Craftworld Alaitoc)

Since I took a break for two months, I feel a real urge to write a bunch of new tutorials and guides. I want to start of with a model I finished yesterday: An Eldar Nightwing from the Alaitoc Craftworld for Aeronautica Imperialis (I have to catch up since my friends' Tau and Imperial fleets are growing fast). I only used basic layering technique to paint this model. In a nutshell: You start out with your darkest paints and paint the brighter ones atop with leaving the darker paint visible in order to create depth. So here is how I did it (from darkest to brightest paints, the ratios are rough estimates):

• Blues: Regal Blue/Chaos Black (3:1), Regal Blue, Regal Blue/Enchanted Blue (1:1), Enchanted Blue, Enchanted Blue/Ice Blue (1:1), Ice Blue
• Yellows: Snakebite Leather, Snakebite Leather/Golden Yellow (1:1), Golden Yellow, Golden Yellow/Skull White (1:1), Golden Yellow/Skull White (1:4)
• Bone coloured: Snakebite Leather, Bleached Bone, Bleached Bone/Skull White (1:1), Skull White
• Metal: Boltgun Metal, Chainmail, wash with Badab Black
• Gemstones: Chaos Black (all of the gem), Scab Red (3/4 of the gem), Blood Red (1/2 of the gem), Blood Red/Golden Yellow (1/4 of the gem), Skull white (tiny dot in the 1/4 that was left black)

This model is not at all hard to paint. Except for the yellow (I bet it took more than ten layers of paint) all other colours go on really smooth. So, there's only three more Nightwings, two Phoenix and one Vampire Raider left to paint. Stay tuned ;-)

Eldar Nightwing from the Alaitoc Craftworld

Eldar Nightwing upside down

I am back!

A lot of time passed since my last article. I'm sorry for that, but I simply lacked the motivation to do anything wargaming related - be it painting or writing about it (the European Football Championship didn't help much). I now want to start again, in a slower rhythm so that I am able to publish new articles more regularly. I am surprised however that, although I didn't post anything in the last two months, people still read my gallery and tutorial articles. Thanks guys!