Tuesday 29 June 2010

Preparing For War - Getting Ready For WFB 8th Edition: Part I

Whilst my time with the (beautiful) new rulebook has been brief so far it’s very clear that Games Worksop have been very bold and ambitious with this edition of the Warhammer rules. There are some quite fundamental changes to the way the game plays and from what I can see they deserve a lot of credit for making these changes without invalidating the entire range of army book as had to be done with Ravening Hordes in the past. From what I understand a lot of issues that may arise too should be getting cleared up with the FAQ/Errata update that’s just around the corner.

Now, as the rumour mill ground out the odd snippet I have to admit that I was exceedingly sceptical. However, upon seeing a lot of the elements that concerned me in the wider context I’m impressed and genuinely excited! Warhammer really seems to play to its background now and the games take on the feel of the epic battles out of books and films.


Image Property of Games Workshop

One of the simplest but possibly the biggest change is in my opinion the ability to pre-measure distances. The purist in me was admittedly a little alarmed when I first read that. Suddenly the playing field has changed. I think this was a necessary change with the introduction of random charge distances. You can be a lot more precise when concocting your nefarious plans but like all good plans they might go straight out of the window when it comes to the nitty gritty.
I like the idea that charges might peter out before the warriors make contact with the enemy, leaving units sitting ducks for the counter-charge. I like to imagine this represents the natural ebb and flow of a battle, exhaustion setting in and enthusiasm being drained from a charge as those at the front realise they’re running at a wall of spears. So I’ve decided that all troops are going to need rousing speeches before the call to charge. Yes, this edition I just might be THAT player!

Once you get into combat, you come across a whole host of changes that really change the shape of Warhammer Fantasy battles. Firstly there’s the rules regarding stepping up and supporting attacks. In essence these allow troops in the second rank (and sometimes even further back) to make an attack. This will make combats more brutal and realistic. Alongside casualties being taken from the rear and not affecting the number of attacks you’ll get in retaliation (unless the rear IS one of your fighting ranks) we get combats that have a more life-like flow to them. Yes, you might chop down 10 of the 50 strong Goblin unit but this time they’re not all going to stand around checking their watches and waiting for a turn in which they can attack back. They’re instead going to scramble over the corpses of the fallen to try and stab you with something pointy, they’re going to jostle each other to get the chance to add to the kill-count. Combats seem more brutal, more visceral, more desperate and frenzied – exactly how war should be fought in the Warhammer world.

Image Property of Games Workshop

Before you get into combat though there are the magic and shooting phases. Magic has gotten a huge overhaul along with the combat system. Gone are the days when you need to take a Level 4 Wizard and two Level 2s just to remain competitive in this phase of the game. Dice are generated by rolling 2D6. The casting player takes the sum of the roll as his power dice and the defending player takes the highest individual dice as his dispel dice. These dice can then be used by any of your casters. To cast a spell you roll you chosen number of power dice and add your magic level. Miscasts are gone on double 1s but a double 6 casts with irresistible force. However, with irresistible force there is a magical backlash and you have to roll on the loss of control table. You dispel in much the same way you cast, rolling dice and adding the magic level of the dispelling wizard. Magic now falls more in line with the background. The winds of magic are fickle and ever changing. There is great danger in wielding them but also the chance of devastating power.

Changes to shooting have included one I hoped they’ make but which has come in for some criticism on forums; true line of sight. I was never a fan of the two heights fits all rules in previous editions; they were clunky, confusing and unrealistic. Whilst I used warhounds to screen my Chaos Knights from shooting it never felt right that the little doggy blocked my opponent from seeing the hulking, chaos armour clad brutes atop massive barded daemon-steeds that followed behind them. Interposing models which don’t block line of sight now decrease your chance to hit slightly and this feels so much more real. Picture the scene –

The Empire musketeers loaded their weapons. Their eyes locked on either the slavering jaws of the massive hunting dogs that scrambled across the battlefield towards them; or on the dark armoured riders whose steeds’ nostrils billowed steam in the cold morning air, keeping pace behind the warhounds.
“Aim for the horses!” the order was roared.

Adelbert squinted, taking aim at the exposed flesh under the barding of one of the chaos steeds. He heard a couple of panicked shots go off early, the pressure of the approaching foe affecting the concentration of the men and some in self-preservation choosing to instead try and fell the faster approaching dogs.

“Fire!”

A barrage of shots pelted the knights but Adelbert had hesitated a second, one of the hounds had leapt up, blocking his view and foolishly he’d attempted to adjust his shot but instead fluffed it and it flew harmlessly past both hound and steed. A few of the knights were felled in the volley but the hounds were upon them now, the knights would exact their bloody revenge if any of the Empire's men still drew breath afterwards. Adelbert drew his knife and roared in anger, trying to dispel the creeping despair as a tide of claws and fangs leapt at him hungrily…


You can’t tell me getting to play that out isn’t cool?! That’s what I really love about some of the rules changes; they’re making the game so much more cinematic!


Image Property of Games Workshop

In Part II I’ll go into some more detail regarding rules changes and how it’s likely to impact the way we pick our armies. Then in Part III I’m going to try and build a new list for The Devotees of Elazar to make them ready for 8th edition.

Sunday 27 June 2010

WIP Brother-Slaughterer Vilan

I'm miles behind on the Land Raider. Haven't had a great deal of time to paint this week. To make myself feel slightly less guilty I've gotten a Terminator half-built (doesn't really work but shhh!).


Brother-Slaughterer Vilan

I'll be sculpting some flexi-armour into the gap on the Reaper arm and suffice to say he'll have a base strewn with shell casings! Lots to do so better get on with it!

Thursday 24 June 2010

Brother-Slaughterer Markard & A Quick Tutorial On Pinning Minis

I've built Brother-Slaughterer Markard mostly because I was asked to do a quick tutorial for someone on how to pin minis and the parts to build him were close at hand. He still needs a little tidying up.






And now for said tutorial. Pinning is an important part of an hobbyists arsenal and can be really important in making a reality out of all the cool conversions we dream up or for simply making

Pinning is really useful for strengthening joins, especially on metal or hybrid metal and plastic minis where the weight of the individual parts can make it difficult to get a strong and durable bond with just glue.

What you'll need:
A mini...
Hobby drill
Pinning wire or paper clip
Wire cutter or clippers etc.
Glue (not pictured)

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In this example I'm going to pin a chainfist arm to the terminator's torso (didn't need pinning but I needed to build the mini...)
Firstly, drill a hole in the torso where the two parts will connect together. I use a 1mm drill bit as this is the perfect size for the paper clips I use to pin the minis. I drilled the hole about 4mm deep in this case but basically, drill as deep as you feel you need to and obviously be careful not to ruin a mini by drilling too far. If possible try and get at least 3mm or so so that there's enough of the pin in each piece to make the join strong (and also to stop you having to work with an especially fiddly little pin if you don't have to!). It's nice and easy with plastic and resin minis but takes a bit more effort with metal parts.

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Now if you cut down a paper clip to the size you'll need it to be to pin into both parts of the mini. This doesn't have to be exact at this stage as you can always go back and trim it down once you've drilled both parts. This is easily done with wire cutters. Of course, make sure you do this away from you and carefully, the last thing you want is a tiny metal pin pinging about all over the place!

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Now if you glue one end of the pin into the hole you've already drilled.

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The next part is to drill a hole for the pin in the other part of the mini, in this case the arm. You can either guess this one, generally it isn't too difficult to work out where the second hole should go to line up with the first. However, if you want to be a bit more exact I find it helpful to draw on the end of the pin with black ink or use black paint and then try a sort of dry-fit of the mini and you should be able to get a mark roughly where you need to drill.

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Drill where you've marked out deep enough to fit the other end of the pin (or cut the pin down if there's too much of it still)

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Then if you apply glue to both the pin and the connecting parts of the mini they should stick together really well and form a strong a durable bond.

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Beyond strengthening joins pinning can be great for conversions and the like, it can be used to create gaps in a mini and/or as a frame to build up from with green stuff etc.
Hope that's of some help!

Wednesday 23 June 2010

WIP Land Raider Crusader

It's not looking like much at the minute, just a big red box but now I've blocked in all the red (felt like it took forever) I should be able to progress with this. Plan is to have it finished on Sunday.



I'll have the second one to paint for a fortnight later. Will try and get all the other minis built in between so that I can start getting some practice games in for the tournament in August

The Glorious Works

Not a very interesting post this one. More a promise of interesting things to come. I have a lot of changes planned for The Glorious Works over the rest of the summer.
On the subject of the Glorious Works Painting Service, I'm currently not accepting any more commissions as my time is fully booked up until pretty much the end of the year but if you have a future project you'd like me to take a look at and give you a quote for please don't hesitate to email me for details.
Anyway, so I hope visitors to The Glorious Works will keep returning and will like the changes as they take place!

Thursday 17 June 2010

The Dornian Heresy


Rogal Dorn - The Arch-Betrayer
Artwork by Diego Gisbert

This is probably old news now but just incase anybody has missed it. The Dornian Heresy Volume 1 has been released by Bolter & Chainsword in Volume 1 of the Legio Imprint. I won't write too much about this as it's really great and I hope you'll give it a look over but it's essentially an alternate history of the 40k universe in which after failing to lure Horus to Chaos the Dark Gods instead took advantage of Rogal Dorn's doubts and turned him against his father. There are so many great ideas in here with the divide of the legions falling completely differently and lots of smaller differences that totally change the face of the 40k universe. A brilliant read with lots of great artwork and I have to say I'm extremely tempted to build a White Scars of Slaanesh force! Check it out now!

Chaos Land Raider Crusader WIP

The first Land Raider is pretty much built. Need to fill some gaps with green stuff and tidy up one or two bits more then it'll be ready to be primed and I can finally start painting it. Going to try and get a rugged and worn look as if it's a tank that's seen centuries of combat!




Tuesday 15 June 2010

Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition


Image property of Games Workshop

Warhammer Fantasy 8th Edition is now available to pre-order along with a host of related goodies. The rumours have been thick and fast of its coming and I have to say GW look to have done a stunning job presentation wise. The book and related products all look exceptionally pretty. I certainly want a set of those dice too, they'll go mighty fine with my other Gorewing dice too! Lots to have to buy, just as well it gets released on my birthday!

Monday 14 June 2010

WIP Brother-Slaughterer Nuthor

Commissions finished for this month I can focus back on getting my 40k army ready for the tournament in August! Had a mess about in between carrying on with the Land Raider and have mostly built Brother-Slaughterer Nuthor. Lots of little bits still to do including driling out the barrels on the bolter. The head and torso are the Forge World bits. Cyclone Missile Launcher from loyalist Terminator Squad, Wolf Claw from Wolf Guard Terminators and the rest is from the Chaos Terminators sprues.



I'm quite pleased with the pose. Want to try and get them all looking as mean and dynamic as possible!

Sunday 13 June 2010

Grey Hunters Commission Finished













The Grey Hunters commission is complete and the minis are back with the client who was happy with his minis. Hopefully they served him well in battle today!
Now my full attention turns back to the Gorewing!

Thursday 10 June 2010

Another Grey Hunter











Not much to say, hopefully more to follow soon!

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Chaos Land Raider Crusader & A Wrecked Vehicle Marker

After reaching that target last night of completing 2 of the Grey Hunters I set to work on Kaldor's Land Raider Crusader. Nothing interesting yet.



I started putting this together with the sides separate from the middle with the good intentions of painting the interior and trying some khornification of it. Sadly, the Forge World front door I had was warped. Credit to Forge World I phoned them up and they sent out replacement ones. Sadly, whilst the replacement was better it was still far from brilliant. The front door was too wide so I had to file back the sides to get it to fit that way but sadly the bars are far too short and so it doesn't sit properly and the gear to make the 2 hatches on front open together doesn't go anywhere near it. So, it's now glued in place and the tank will have to be sealed off. A little disappointed as I was looking forward to having a nice Land Raider with working doors and a blood-soaked interior. On the plus side once it's built it'll only take half as long to paint it!

Such is my confidence in how long the Land Raider will last in a battle that I've already made a 'counter' for when it gets wrecked. Works much better as a video than as an image so have a look.



Might have to sort my video camera out instead of using my phone and maybe do a few more videos for this blog.

Grey Hunters Commission - Two Down!














8 more to go!

Sunday 6 June 2010

Tale of 40k Tournament Painters

The Northumbrian Adventurers Guild 25th Anniversary 40k Tournament is on 28th and 29th June. You need a fully painted 1500pt army to enter. Myself and a few others who plan on entering the tournament are doing a painting Tale to prepare our armies for this event. There's a deadline every fortnight and you have to paint 250pts for each deadline. The first deadline is 13th June.

This is my painting plan for the tale.

Deadline 1 - 13th June
Slaughter-Lord Kaldor Foe-render - Logan Grimnar 275pts (PAINTED)

Deadline 2 - 27th June
Land Raider Crusader - w/ Multi-Melta 260pts

Deadline 3 - 11th July
Land Raider (Godhammer) - w/ Multi-Melta 260pts

Deadline 4 - 25th July
Rogoth The Berzerker - Lone Wolf Terminator w/ Dual Chainfists & 2 Wolves 105pts
Zakarn The Frenzied - Lone Wolf Terminator w/ Frost Axe, Storm Shield, Melta-Bombs & 2 Wolves 105pts

Deadline 5 - 8th August
Brother-Slaughterer Nuthor - Terminator w/ Cylcone Missile Launcher, Storm Bolter & Wolf Claw 68pts
Brother-Slaughterer Markard - Terminator w/ Storm Bolter & Chainfist 48pts
Brother-Slaughterer Ikar - Terminator w/ Combi-Melta & Frost Axe 48pts
Brother-Slaughterer Dakburn - Terminator w/ Combi-Melta & Wolf Claw 43pts
Brother-Slaughterer Randar - Terminator w/2 Wolf Claws 48pts

Deadline 6 - 22nd August
Brother-Slaughterer Vilan - Terminator w/ Assault Cannon & Wolf Claw 68pts
Brother-Slaughterer Cardon - Terminator w/ Combi-Melta & Wolf Claw 43pts
Brother-Slaughterer Colthan - Terminator w/ Combi-Melta & Frost Axe 48pts
Brother-Slaughterer Suktor - Terminator w/ Storm Bolter & Wolf Claw 38pts
Brother-Slaugherer Halmar - Terminator w/ Storm Bolter & Power Fist 43pts

This means that in theory I'll be finished with a week to spare which will allow me time to finish off any remaining bits and sort out the display board if it's not already done for then. I will of course be bringing picture updates for each of these deadlines and hopefully get the chance to showcase everybody else's hard work too!

Thursday 3 June 2010

NAG May Hobby Contest - Building Character


Prizes kindly supplied by Wayland Games and Bitz Box
Labelled photos by Chris Sutherland of KC Photography


This was judged on Sunday. The idea of the competition was for the entrants to make a mini and write some background for it. Entries were judged on Modelling, Painting, Background and Overall Character. The first two are obvious, background was marked on quality, originality, theme and rule of cool. Overall character was based on how the model and the background tied together and how much each contained a sense of character.
A massive, massive thank you is due to Wayland Games and Bitz Box who really showed that they do their bit to support the gaming community that makes up their customer base by donating prizes for the competition.
Sadly I don't have pictures for all of the entries, if I do manage to get hold of some for the ones that are missing I will pop them in here. Most of the photographs were taken by Chris Sutherland of KC Photography who kindly donated his time and expertise. Some have supplied their own photos of their minis but it's quite easy to see that my job as one of the judges was a difficult one! Also missing is a great deal of the background fluff that people created. I'm still hoping to get hold of the rest of it but rest assured it was all brilliant and it was great to see everybody putting such thought and imagination into their minis.


18+ Category 1st Place
Malarius, Death Guard Dreadnough - By John Triplow

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18+ Category 2nd Place
Word Bearers Dark Apostle - By Chris Snowdon

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Inquisitor Demerius strode along the darkened hall of the inquisitorial citadel, the sound his iron shod boots reverberating from the walls sending echoes racing ahead of him. Behind him followed members of band, interrogators, savants, censer bearers and cyber skulls, a party of 20 in total. This was his last day here the inquisitorial citadel, most of his band were engaged making preparations for them to leave this world and begin their mission, To hunt down and kill one of the Imperium of man greatest foes, Dark Apostle Zurchol.

A head of his party he saw the portal to the briefing chamber, as he approached, the door opened smoothly and the guards stationed to each side snapped to attention. Striding in to the room, he paused only long enough for his party to seat themselves before he began his address to the ranks of interrogators sitting in expectant silence.

“Good and bad are subjective terms but evil is another matter.

Only a few ignorant fools would consider an Ork to be evil, they are beasts driven by their base instinct and no more. They are a threat to the Imperium of man but they are predictable and thus they can be countered.

There are far more dire threats to the Imperium of man abroad in the galaxy and few of them rival Dark Apostle Zurchol of the Word bearers.

Few beings are truly evil but by the holy throne on earth I am sure of it that Zurchol is one of them. Zurchol’s story begins with the rise of Lorgar to power on Colchis. Zurchol was a member of Lorgar war band. He was a preacher of sorts, a man of words not of arms but that was no impediment to him. He had a rare talent to move a crowd, to bend it to his will and send it on its way with steal in its heart. Bending people to his will came easy to him. He was an acolyte of Erebus and learnt much from him.

With the arrival of the emperor at Colchis, a great number of Lorgar warriors were inducted in to the XVII Space Marine Legion, newly renamed Word Bearers, Zurchol was one of them. With in a few short years he had risen to the rank of chaplain to the 34th assault company, his power with words even stronger than before. He had been able to motivate simple men to heroic acts of bravery and determination, the effect of his auditory on his marines was no less remarkable. Never one backward step was taken by his company, he would drive them forward with stoic determination or with fanatical rage as the situation needed.

The Horus Heresy and the Word bearer’s role in it are well known. Zurchol and his company were in the thick of the fighting on many occasions but they also undertook numerous small raids on worlds of little strategic value across the length and breadth of the galaxy. The purpose of these raids was unknown and at the time they were seen as irrelevant in the larger conflict. Only now are we seeing the fruit of his labours, 10,000 years in the planning, only now is the monsters plan is coming to fruition.

In the last year, we have lost communications with or have had reports of armed uprisings on 14 of the worlds Zurchol and his company raided. We are unsure his purpose but we an only speculate but anything which requires 10000 years of forward planning must be of truly huge proportion. We have requested Inquisition strike forces be dispatched to all the worlds that we know were raided by Zurchol and his company.

I will be leaving shortly to lead one such strike force to the world of Nebiros which is less than 2 weeks distant with a favourable passage through the warp. There I hope to foil Zurchol’s plans as readings of the Imperial Taro show that this world is key to his plans. I pray that I reach it before it is too late.”

With that Inquisitor Demerius strode out the doorway and into imperial history, never to be heard from again. Wreckage of his fleet were found many years later scattered around the transition point where his fleet would have exited the warp at the end of their warp jump. This would have been a disaster long remembered in normal times but with the whole sector at war it was hardly noted.

In a twist of fate, at about the same time as the wreckage of his fleet was discovered Inquisitor Demerius came face to face with his nemeses.


It was not the meeting he had dreamt of all those years ago, no glorious charge to foil the Dark Apostle’s plans at the last second, no, nothing like that at all. Vladimir Demerius was all alone when he faced Zurchol, chained to the wall of his cell, he didn’t need his eyes to tell him who it was who had entered the room, he could feel the evil and it chill his very soul.


18+ Category 4th Place
Shas'o Me'ka: Commander Wolfstrike - By Chris Waugh

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The story of the XV9-MGX
Every Shas'o is allowed some leeway when they arm their battle suit for war. Some prefer the Kauyon, to wait patiently then strike as the opponent closes. Those Shas'o arm their suits for long range and barrage tactics. Shas'o Me'ka prefers the other tactic, the Mont'ka. To strike while the enemy is still preparing. To strike while they have yet to entrench themselves. He arms his battle suit for such strikes. And though the battles are won, it leaves a terrible toll on his suits.
It soon became apparent to the Ethereals that too many resources were being spent repairing the suit and a request for a more heavily armoured battle suit was sent. Shas'o Me'ka was soon gifted with a small strike force of XV9 'Hazard' armours. One for himself and several others for field testing.

The result was the same.

The suit came back battered and twisted. The Gu'la* forces had been pushed back of course, but it would be many more rotaa** before he or his suit would be in any state to fight again. It was during this 'grounded' period that he conducted an inspection of the kroot mercenary forces under his command and he came across a hound that was as badly beaten as he was. He enquired to the shaper guiding him what had happened.
"Old Garuru?" the Kroot Shaper told him "He may look beaten, but his hide is tough, and he's faster than any other hound."
The Shaper then cackled "Those scars are from his victories, you should see the ones that lost."
It was then that it dawned on him, armour wasn't the only answer! speed could be applied to survivability too. With this he quickly ended his tour and sought out the Earth Cast engineers working on his suit. He demanded that not only do they make his suit tougher, but faster and more responsive.

The Earth cast were appalled at the idea of making such a war machine, but challenge sparked their imagination and they began their work. They salvaged the gravity motors from a downed piranha skimmer, the jet boosters of his previous suits, and loaded it with the usual high-tech systems that Me'ka was accustomed to. The Earth cast refused to put their names on such work, knowing that controversy over the XV9 series was already high they simply dubbed it the XV9-X.

It soon got its chance to fight as the Gu'la* forces struck back. Though with incredible speed and fire power the suit out-preformed its owner and with its impressive defences it kept him safe.
To the amazement of the Earth cast the suit was returned with only minor damage. And, as a tribute to the hound that sparked its creation, the suit was painted blue and customised to resemble it. Its name was then changed to reflect its new look and role, the XV9-MGX, the Metal Garuru.



*Human warriors
**A tau day (15 hours or so)

Profile
Cost: 315pts

WS:4
BS: 5
S: 5
T: 5
W: 4
I: 3
A:4
Ld: 10
Sv:2+


Special Character: Commander Wolfstrike is a special character. He may be used in Tau armies of at least 1,500pts as an HQ choice. He counts as the 1+ Fire cast Commander the army must take.You may not select additional equipment from the armoury.

Equipment: XV9-MGX ‘War’ armour, Damysos flight pack, drone controller, Damysos drones, hard-wired multi tracker, shield generator, missile pod, plasma rifle and burst cannon.

Unit Type: Jump infantry (See Damysos flight pack)

Special rules:
Independent Character:
Except when accompanied by his drones, Commander Wolfstrike is an independent character (see the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook).

XV9-MGX ‘War’ Armour: The XV-9 series is a considerably larger battle suit armour than its more commonplace counterparts, and built to the highest specification the Tau Empire can produce on a substantial scale. As well as greatly augmenting the warrior within, the armour’s in-built systems feature a powerful compact energy source that enables it to mount weapons and systems of an unprecedented strength for its size based on experimental technology. XV-9 armour has the Acute Senses universal special rule, may deploy via Deep Strike and their in built photon canisters mean that they count as having Defensive Grenades. The XV9-MGX variant is further upgraded to include Iridium Armour.

Damysos Flight Pack: The XV9-MGX is an incredibly heavy battle suit due to its upgrades, to compensate for this earth cast engineers modified an anti-gravity motor from a piranha to allow not only short jumps, but limited flight capability. The Damysos Flight Pack works as either a jump pack or a jet pack, chosen at the start of the turn.

Damysos Drones: These are custom fitted drones capable of keeping up with Commander Wolfstrike’s mobility. 1-2 drones must be selected from the Tau armoury, and may move in the same manner as a normal Damysos flight pack.

Lone wolf: Due to the uniqueness of the XV9-MGX ‘war’ suit, few pilots are able to keep up with its sheer speed, and even less survive to try again. Despite being an Independent Character, Commander Wolfstrike may not join any unit other than his drones. This includes after the destruction of any and all drones.

Ice Wolf Strike: When his battle suit was constructed the earth cast engineers never expected it to be used in such a manner. The Ice Wolf Strike is named for its cold-blooded use of Tau weaponry. Once per turn, providing the he gives up All movement, Commander wolfstrike may fire all of his weapons in a single devastating barrage.
Range: 18” Str:6 Ap:4 Heavy 1, Large Blast



18+ Category
Eldar Avatar - By Steven Cavanash

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18+ Category
Wolf Brother Captain Vikahs Ulvetand Of the Black Templars - By Iain Wright

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Once every ten years, high amongst the mountains of Asaheim within the Great Fang, the high king of Fenris Logan Grimnar holds a tournament of strength where his greatest champions fight in hand-to-hand combat for the honour of the Fangfather. The last tournaments champion was Arjac Rockfist, As the Great King scanned the faces of this decades tourement with his iron gaze, he notices an outsider not of the clan.
Logan summons the outsider forward and asks why someone not of the Space Wolves has the ordacity and the bravery to enter such a contest of strength in his deep bellowing voice.
Vikahs just smiles back at his host and says “you will see”, he then turns his back and walks back into line with much jeers, boo’s and cheers from the massive crowd that envelopes the inner walls of the Great Fang.
Round after round Vikahs manages to defeat his opponents, showing great determination, stamina and valour. This act of pure guile, from an outsider intrigues Logan Grimnar, for this marine captain, whom is not of his chapter shows a great warriors soul and could easily be mistaken for one of his own.
In the semi-finals of the contest Vikahs nearly manages to fall Arjac. Grimnars champion, with a powerful blow to Arjac’s jaw that sends the towering wolf guard reeling back before steadying himself. Arjac retaliates by throwing his massive fist into the bridge of Vikahs nose, sending the burley captain to the floor. Thunderous cheers erupted around the inner walls of the Great Fang as Arjac stood triumphant over the unconscious body of the fallen captain. Grimnar raises his giant hand from his throne and the hall drops silent.
As Vikahs comes too, his eyes open and he gazes upon three figures standing over him, Logan’s giant hand outstretched towards him. Vikahs grabs Logan’s hand and is lifted to his feet. As his eyes gain focus he realises that he stands in the presence of The High King of Fenris, The Young King and the Wolf High Priest.
Still grasping his hand Logan announces that for his bravery to enter such a contest that Vikahs is inaugurated into Logan’s personal wolf guard. Vikahs looks directly into the Fangfathers gleaming eyes and turns him down saying that he could never truly leave his own chapter. Logan, Ragnar and Ulrik all burst into booming laughter and it is agreed that Vikahs shall be taught by ulrik while on Fenris then he may return to the black templars bearing the honour of Wolf Brother. Rangnar hands Vikahs his Frost Blade as a trophy for his heroic efforts in the decadent tournament. And so after spending 20 years on Fenris under the tutorlidge of Ulrik The Slayer Vikahs returned to his chapter stronger and more wise and now enters battle for both the pride of the Black templars and the Space Wolves welding his prized Frost Blade in one hand and his trusted Storm Sheild in his other.......

WS BS S T W I A Ld
6 5 4 4 2 5 3 10

Wargear: Power Armour, Bolt pistol, Master Crafted Frost Blade, Storm Shield, wolftooth Necklace, saga of the Bear

Special Rules: Independent character, And They Shall Know No Fear, Relentless, Counter Attack, Insane Bravado

N.B; Vikahs Ulvetand may be used in either Black Templars OR Space Wolves army lists as a HQ choice

(Ulvetand is the danish word for wolvestooth)


18+ Category
Guiselle de Gisoreux - By Kevin Miller

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Under 18 Category 1st Place
Broodlord Alpha XII "The Stalker" - By Josef Ducat

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Broodlord Alpha XII Hive Fleet Imvot

“I’m Falling. Endlessly falling. Oh my God I’m dead, aren’t I? Twisting and turning, there’s something in my head, can’t get it out, must get it out. Pain; pain like no other. A world. My world. A world in flames, suffering, pain; death. Jaws, huge jaws closing around the planet. No escape. NO ESCAPE! The bottom I see it, I can’t stop falling, the floor coming up quickly, no way out, I’m going to die No escape, No Escape, NO ESCAPE!!!….”

Angelo Septimus, General of the PDF on the planet Nimbosa XII, awoke in his hab bathed in cold sweat and with a small trickle of blood running from his nostril. Wiping the blood from his face he lent over and glanced at his timepiece beside his bed. 12:30. Always the same. Ever since someone had started to assassinate the heads of the organisations, creating mass panic, on Nimbosa XII, he had been plagued by the same dream, the planet dying.
He rolled out of bed and headed for the shower, turned the tap and stood in the cool refreshing water, hoping to create the illusion of sleep. After around 5 minutes of standing in the cascade of water, he heard a window of his hab shatter. Reluctantly he turned off the shower, pulled on a bathrobe and went to investigate. He found the window shattered inwards in the kitchen, and the cold hand of fear clasped his heart. His mind racing he thought of what could of happened, he was in the top spire of one of the largest hive’s on Nimbosa XII “nothing should be able to break that window”. Leaning in closer he noticed a strange, translucent, purple liquid covering the shattered glass.

It was at this point whatever it was scuttled across the room behind him, just in the corner of his eye, and one word jumped to the forefront of his mind. “XENOS!” Thinking quickly he ran into his bedroom, scrambled under his bead and pulled out a large, heavy standard pattern chainsword. Stalking back into the kitchen he thumbed the ignition switch, and adopted the ready position that had been drummed into his head since the age of 10, but had never used. It was at this point the creature chose to reveal itself.

It was hunched over but still dwarfed Angelo standing at least 11foot tall and had a horrible purple hide dripping in an alien ichor. It had four muscular arms; at the end of which were dark obsidian claws, which Angelo guessed, could decapitate him in an instant. Its head was strange, a bulbous cranium and large deep-set eyes regarding him with a strange alien intelligence. They stood facing each other for what seamed like an age, each reluctant to move transfixed by each other’s gaze. Suddenly the timepiece chimed 1:00, breaking Angelo’s trance. He raised the chainsword above his head for a killing blow. The xenos had other ideas. By simply cocking it head Angelo’s arms dropped and he suddenly couldn’t move like a marionette that’s had its strings cut.
The alien didn’t waste anymore time studying Angelo and with an explosion of blood it punched its fist into his chest cavity and took a hold of Angelo’s spine. With immense, inhuman strength the creature pulled his sine out from his chest and let him crumple to the ground in a spreading lake of blood.

“The broodlord studied its handiwork and was pleased. The leader beast was dead and this world was one step closer to the jaws of Hive Fleet Imvot. With one last look at the pitifully weak creature, it bounded out of the window and, melted back into the shadows, once again becoming a silent hunter of the night.”



Under 18 Category 2nd Place
Lupis Ferrous - By Paul Curtis

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Lupis ferrous once Canis Lupis protégé of the great canis wolfborn renowned for his combat skill and expertise was on the fenris home world when canis wolfborn set him a task to build a squadron of the toughest men in the space wolves army and have them ready to make an assault on the neighboring planet to fight off a horde of unknown origin heading for the fenris home world. After about a week of assembling and training the men Lupis and wolfborn set out for the planet to fight this moving unknown horde. Upon arrival upon the planets surface or what was left of it seemed to be a wasteland infested with taint but not a taint that canis wolfborn had seen before this day, after some time searching for any survivors of the attack when there was no sign of any survivors Lupis unsheathed his relic blade and stabbed it into the ground and laid out a challenge “ all those he think are worthy to fight show yourselves in one on one combat with me” after about a second the ground in front of Lupis began to rise and shift and soon revealed a giant creature with a hard hide back two giant claws like a crabs and to large talons spurting from its abdomen and a scared left eye making the creature half blind and a large drooling tongue which reached out to Lupis and he slapped it away with the back of his hand, as he did this the creature let out such a high pitched sound that all the men around Lupis and canis began to collapse as the screech caused them to faint, but Lupis and Canis both stood unaffected by the screech and Lupis mocked the giant alien by saying “is that the best you got you useless beast ” having realized it was insulted it let out a large scream and swung for Lupis with one of its formidable talons and as Lupis doges the blow narrowly grabbing his sword at the same time turns and leaps onto the beast and stabs it in the other side of its head and blinding the beast completely, the beast then let out a cry as it fell to the floor still alive and Lupis goes up to the beast and says “ I expected more” and stabs his blade into the beasts head and into its chest in one strike and as it falls to the floor the in a slump dead, “now that was showing off” Said Canis as he looked at Lupis “ well you got to have a little style when doing this you know otherwise this would be no fun” replied Lupis. as the two went to awake the men they had brought with them the ground began to rumble and the squadron fell into a hole into a infested pit of random DNA “ Damn it I just got them and as they turned around they saw a flow of unknown creatures come out of the gaping hole the beast left when it went to fight Lupis “well it looks like its time to have some fun” said Canis as he randomly charged into a group of the creatures “wait for me I don’t want to miss this” shouted Lupis as he ran into a group of these creatures. After a few hours of continuous battling with these creatures they began to fall back into the hole they came from “thank god for that I was beginning to run out of energy” said Canis as he caught his breath “are you kidding” said Lupis as he breathed deeply “I was only just getting warmed up” they both looked at each other and laughed and as they turned to see if the men were awake yet they felt a slight rumble beneath them, then a stronger one which was getting stronger and stronger until a figure with four large arms a reinforced skeletal structure on the exterior of its body and had a viscous look in its eye at which moment it swung at Canis wolfborn and knocked him clear over onto the floor “hey get off him” shouted Lupis as he jumped on this creatures back and stabbed his sword into the beast making it let out a cry and twist its body knocking Lupis off but leaving the sword in the beast, then the creature pulled the blade from its back and slammed it to the ground breaking it which at the same time one of its four arms thrusted for Lupis and shattered several of his ribs and knocking him over the beast turned to see the over prey leave and take off in the ship for fenris as Lupis looked he saw the beast lurking over him “finish it you infestation monster” spluttered Lupis as the creature picked him up the creature said “your no fun” hissed the creature so Lupis spat on the creature and as it raised its claw a large booming noise of what seemed to be drop pods came through and the beast chucked away Lupis as it could see a new plaything heading towards it, as Lupis looked up all he saw was a flurry of gunfire which tore through the beast making it fall dead next to Lupis at which point Lupis fell unconscious. Later Lupis awoke to find himself in a cell with two what seemed to be chaos warriors and as he tried to stand he felt a pain in his chest at which point he noticed the bandage around his body “yeah we gave you medical attention when we found you we thought you were dead” said a voice from nowhere “who are you show yourself” demanded Lupis a large figure emerged from the shadows he was wearing terminator armor and had his hair tied so that it went up and fell back down “I am abaddon leader of the black legion of chaos and you are Canis Lupis protégé of Canis wolfborn part of the space wolves army” replied Abaddon “ how…” “do I know your name, I know everything there is to know about you Lupis I have been studying you for some time now to see how your progress shows within the imperium and it is somewhat lacking your full potential” interrupted Abaddon Lupis stared long and hard at Abaddon and said “what do you want with me” Abaddon laughed and looked towards the cell behind him “your dying, your wounds are slowly killing you” lied Abaddon “what, how” asked Lupis in a confused tone “does it matter you should be worrying and trying to work out how to save yourself not how your dying” replied abaddon in a more anxious tone “alright then I suppose this is the part where you say you’ll save me if I join the forces of chaos then” said Lupis in a sarcastic tone “yes but you must be placed inside a dreadnought of our own design with a special feature” replied abaddon as he swung his body round and looked at Lupis “what special feature is that” asked Lupis more intrigued than worried “you’ll just have to find out” abaddon said, as he began to walk away Lupis said “why should I Canis will come and rescue me soon so I wont need your precious dreadnought” abaddon stopped to turn and look at Lupis “he left you to die out there with that beast” Lupis’ face went blank as he fought why “then he looked to abaddon and said with the most viscous tone in his voice “Ill test your dreadnought then” abaddon smiled and waved the men to help him to the dreadnought bay. Upon arrival abaddon told the men to place him in the dreadnought and prepare it for activation, and before they closed it Lupis asked abaddon one thing “why are you helping me” abaddon looked and then smiled as he threw the switch and Lupis ferrous champion of the skyrar’s dark wolves was born.

Lupis ferrous 220pts

WS BS S F S R I A LD
6 5 7 13 13 11 5 4 10

Wargear: Multi-melta, dreadnought close combat weapon

Special rules: Demonic blessing-confers +1 strength, preferred enemy-space wolves, potent power source-2D6 explosion range when destroyed exploded result, berserk charge-+1 initiative and attacks to Lupis and his squad if they charge but next turn him and his unit must take a minus one penalty BS when the combat is over.


Seeing as Chris did an excellent job on all of the pictures for the competition I also asked him to take a few pictures of Kaldor Foe-render, who with his background was my sample entry for the competition. Done a little work on him since he was last photographed, fixing a few untidy bits and darkening the gore to make it look more realistic.






Kaldor's background is on here elsewhere so I'll not repeat it here!