Nostalgia!

I can't believe it! I just went through my bitz box looking for something as I stumbled upon the first miniature I ever painted. Usually, I doesn't brag about how much I sucked at painting. But it's nice to see that I was capable of improving my painting by practice and learning new techniques over time. Maybe this encourages other players that are new to the hobby not to give up. Paint! Read tutorials! And paint more!

My first miniature ever (left: Ultramarine from old starter box) vs. a Chaos Marine I painted for fun last week.

Blogwatch: Painting Metal, the Ruinous Powers and thoughts about GW

He reads all the blogs!

I want to start a new series of articles in which I want to pay tribute to the work of others. So, from now on I start collecting good blog posts, great tutorials/miniatures or other things worth reading and will post them here on Bawaaaghria! from time to time. In this first issue, I want to present you a few articles from blogs I subscribed to:

• From the Warp: Creating metal effects with just a few washes. This blog post inspired me to do a metal painting tutorial myself (I hope I'll get it done this month). I especially love the effects on the weapon barrels. Read this and the linked tutorials within the article if you want to become better at painting metal effects.
• Eternal Hunt: The Ruinous Powers - Synthesis. KrautScientist from Eternal Hunt did a series of articles in which he painted  Chaos Space Marines from all of the four Cult Legions. It reminds me of this GW product and makes me want to do something like this myself.
• Frontline Gamer: Sunday Sermon: Does familiarity breed contempt? I should have mentioned Frontline Gamer much earlier as he inspired me to do this blog in the first place and gave me advice on how to do it. I always read his Sunday Sermons because I like the meta approach to gaming, the industry and people around it and how it reflects back to ourselves.

This were the articles I enjoyed reading this week. I'll try to make this a weekly or bi-weekly category in my blog and I'm positive that this is going to work since I read a lot of wargaming blogs anyway. Have a nice read and see you again on Thursday when I'll ask the question: Which Chaos Legion should I play?

How to represent Chaos Legions with the new Codex

Ever since the old codex was released, people complained that it doesn't do justice to the Legions of Chaos. I want to revisit this thought with the rather solid rumors about the new Codex: CSM in mind and find out if the Chaos Legions are now better represented by their codex from a fluff perspective (!). If you are only interested in rules, you might want to look somewhere else as I am rather a fluff romantic than a great tactician

Black Legion

Everybody says that the Black Legion is bland and boring. I don't agree. Although they might be the Chaos Smurfs because they could take any model fluffwise, that doesn't mean they have to. People who call the Black Legion Vanilla CSM tend to forget that the marines of this legion are no less than the Lunar Wolves, the Sons of Horus, the army of the greatest Warmaster of Mankind ever. They are an elitist force and the new Codex: CSM suggests they should be played as one. The rumors are pretty solid that Abbaddon makes your Chosen troop choices. Combine this with the rumor that Chaos Terminators can be upgraded to Chosen and you got yourself: Chaoswing! I don't say that this is super competitive (most likely it won't be) but it is awesome! You can still use any other entry in the codex for a Black Legion army, but elitist super hard troops seems to be the direction Phil Kelly wants to push the Legion of the Warmaster. I really like this!

World Eaters

World Eaters are easy to represent with the new Codex: CSM. Kharn or a khornate (is this an adjective?) Warlord will make Berzerkers troop choices. Along with the new Mutilators, Close Combat Cultists, Close Combate Hellbrute and the Maulerfiend this army is going to be brutal in hand to hand combat. I think that the World Eaters are represented well in the new codex, especially when you take Khorne Daemons as allies.

Death Guard

Mark of Nurgle or Typhus makes Plague Marines troops. What is even more awesome: Typhus is told to turn Cultists into Plague Zombies. Taking Nurgle Daemons as allies is a great idea since Epidemius special rule affects all Nurgle models on the board (even the enemy). Death Guard is going to be fun and one of the most synergetic armies out there!

Emperor's Children

I haven't really heard much about Lucius the Eternal or Fabius Bile (at least I can't remember a lot) but they can't become any worse, can't they? Noise Marines are as good and versatile as ever and the mark (or icon?) of Slaanesh now gives the unit the Feel no Pain special rule ("You call THIS pain? That doesn't impress my senses at all!"). As far as I know, there are no Sonic Weapons for tanks and walkers. Again, the ability to take Daemon allies adds flavor to the Emperor's Children.

Thousand Sons

Ahriman is rumored to be to psychic powers what Michael Jordan is to Basketball. Rubric Marines seem a bit better to me than they were before. Together with the very fast and competitive Tzeentch Daemons the Thousand Sons look fluffy and playable to me. Can't say any more about them until I read the codex.


Now here comes the more interesting part. The Cult Legions are rather easy to represent in a fluffy manner. The remaining four Legions however, don't have special cult units or a dedicated deity. So let's see if the new Codex: CSM does them justice:

Alpha Legion

The Alpha Legion are known for cunning tactics, cultists, propaganda and surprise. It's rather difficult to surprise your opponent in a game the way the Alpha Legion does in the background. Cultists are in to distract the opponent but from there you are left on your own to create a fluffy Alpha Legion army. You could, however, ally with Imperial (i.e. traitor) Guard to go deeper into highly tactical warfare. E.g. Chaos Vendettas and Veterans seem appropriate. I'd love to play against such an interesting army.

Iron Warriors

The Iron Warriors got a lot of new toys in the form of daemonic flyers, daemon engines and the Warpsmith as an HQ. Together with tanks, Havocs and the Hellbrute (formerly known as the Chaos Dreadnaught) you can easily field an interesting army of Iron Warriors. I'd rather take Imperial (traitor) Guard as allies than Chaos Daemons, in order to get access to heavy artillery and more tanks!

Word Bearers

The Word Bearers are great to represent in the new codex! Actually, the Word Bearers are pretty standard CSM minus the cult units. The Dark Apostle and the Cultists are a great addition for the followers of Lorgar. Together with Daemon allies I could imagine a really atmospheric Word Bearers Host. From a fluff perspective the Word Bearers are looking forward to a good time with the 6th edition codex.

Night Lords

Night Lords got new models for Raptors and a new, more daemonic unit: the Warp Talons. If I recall correctly, the Night Lords use Chaos more as a tool than anything else an don't like mutations. This doesn't fit well with the new Warp Talons but I guess if you spend millennia in the warp it doesn't matter which philosophical approach you have towards the Ruinous Powers: in the end you turn into what surrounds you. Cultists could be described as thugs and gangers that fight as brutally as possible to be recruited as Night Lords Space Marines themselves. Right now I can't see which allies would fit the Night Lords from a fluff perspective since they don't tolerate daemons besides furies. Fun idea: Dark Eldar Wyches (desperate allies) as talented gangers and thugs fighting alongside the Night Lords (I still have to read the NL book trilogy, so I don't know if this idea works).


To sum things up: I think that the new Codex: Chaos Space Marines is a good thing to properly represent the major nine Chaos Legions, especially with the allies rule in mind! The Black Legion is steered towards being a more elitist army. The four cult legions can take their deity's Daemons as allies - Word Bearers take them all! Iron Warriors take the heavy tanks and artillery from the Codex: IG; Alpha Legion take veteran infantry and fast flyers (or whatever pleases them to completely mess with their opponents). Night Lords have even more jump infantry to choose from but I don't know which allies would fit with them. Nevertheless, I am really looking forward to picking up the new Codex: CSM and I am already counting the days to Saturday.

Closing thoughts: Right now I want to start a new Chaos army and continue to play my Dark Wolves as 13th Company Space Wolves instead of Traitor Wolves (I don't want to collect two armies from the same codex). This time I want to play one of the 'Big Nine', a full scale Chaos Legion - yes, hence this article. My problem is that I can't decide on one legion and am torn between some of them. I am going to expand my thoughts on this topic later this week.

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 ;-)