BattleMonkey
Member
The actual Hordes and Warmachine books have some excellent painting tutorials that go into some more detail than most with unique sections for each faction.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Miniature Gaming-Age (WH40k, Warmachine, Etc.)
- Thread starter BattleMonkey
- Start date
The actual Hordes and Warmachine books have some excellent painting tutorials that go into some more detail than most with unique sections for each faction.
Android18a
Member
I just ordered a Tau Empires 40K battlebox. I know some people arent keen but I love the designs of the army. It's my first foray into 40K since 1998! 
£49 down from £60 with the maelstrom games discount coupon
£49 down from £60 with the maelstrom games discount coupon
I just ordered a Tau Empires 40K battlebox. I know some people arent keen but I love the designs of the army. It's my first foray into 40K since 1998!
£49 down from £60 with the maelstrom games discount coupon
Lots of rumours saying Tau are getting a new codex next year. Looks like space dwarves are coming back in the form of the Demiurg. Hopefully the new codex also sorts out the bad joke that are ethereals.
DeathIsTheEnd
Member
I just ordered a Tau Empires 40K battlebox. I know some people arent keen but I love the designs of the army. It's my first foray into 40K since 1998!
£49 down from £60 with the maelstrom games discount coupon
Just make sure you shoot the hell out of everything that gets close. Even Imperial Guard can mess Tau up pretty badly in CC.
AlimNassor
Banned
i was cleaning out my garage and found a bin with a box containing the battle of maccarage with tyranids and ultramarines in them. I haven't seen them in over a decade. ): too bad they were all moldy.
Android18a
Member
Yeah I'm a long-range player at heart anyway so Tau kinda suit me. And I like the idea of the new codex. I'm just gonna paint them up for now anyway.
Please do! I love seeing peoples paintjobs! It'll keep the thread alive too.
Please do! I love seeing peoples paintjobs! It'll keep the thread alive too.
The_Hitcher89
Member
If any UK gaffers want cheap minis, Maelstrom Games have a 17% off voucher code: ITS-CHRISTMAS-2011
I just ordered some of the new plastic Khador Men-O-War. Pretty cool the code works on pre-orders.
Edit: Now with shields. Paintjob is tabletop standard at best. Lots of patchy areas, but it took me 9 hours or so solid painting to get them to this state
Just popped in to say that you're fantastic with a brush. Nice work
Here goes. I mostly got into Menoth for the paint scheme because it was not blue, red or green. Also, because of the small army size I can concentrate on the units, rather than worrying about getting 300 ork boyz done in a week.
I also have some Malifaux minis painted up if anyone would be interested in seeing them.
I also have some Malifaux minis painted up if anyone would be interested in seeing them.
Android18a
Member
Nice work, lovely shading on the robes there. I'd be happy to face against your Menoth
Feel free to post any pics you want! I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see.
Feel free to post any pics you want!
I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see.
Android18a
Member
If you're in the UK, try this place: http://www.maelstromgames.co.uk/index.php?act=cat&cre=min-40k-ork
Get 17% off with code ITS-CHRISTMAS-2011
Thats how I got my Tau Battleforce for £49 against GW's £60 cost.
[edit] Nice work, there. Lovely skin colouring and I like your bases!
Unless you love the aesthetic of the Ork trukk you can use anything on 4 wheels with some moderate kit bashing. I would grab all kinds of vehicle bits of ebay and smash them together, which is what an Ork would essentially do anyway. Good luck, trukks are so much fun, especially when they carom back into your advancing lines and explode.
ColonelSkills
Member
Hey nerd gaf.
What are all your experiences with Gesso as a replacement for spray on primer? Living in an apartment and in a humid part of the country means that sprays don't always work out too well for me.
I've taken to Gesso but it's not the easiest shit to handle, sometimes it'll flake off the mini after given some time to dry. Touch ups are ok but I don't want this to occur while I'm painting, so.
What are all your experiences with Gesso as a replacement for spray on primer? Living in an apartment and in a humid part of the country means that sprays don't always work out too well for me.
I've taken to Gesso but it's not the easiest shit to handle, sometimes it'll flake off the mini after given some time to dry. Touch ups are ok but I don't want this to occur while I'm painting, so.
That's the first time I've ever heard of gesso as a primer, outside of canvases of course. I can't say I'd recommend it. If sprays don't work then prime with a drybrush in the color of your choice.
I'm in Florida and I've never had a problem with primer not drying. If you can, put your minis under a lamp between 40 and 100 watts for 10 minutes or so.
I'm in Florida and I've never had a problem with primer not drying. If you can, put your minis under a lamp between 40 and 100 watts for 10 minutes or so.
Android18a
Member
Maybe its the UK climate but when I use GWs spray primers they're always dry in less than 5 minutes .
ColonelSkills
Member
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Priming_With_Acrylic_Gesso
It works remarkably well and holds the paint well, I just find that handling it during the painting is really a bit of a pain in the ass.
BattleMonkey
Member
I like GW's black primer, not a fan of their white though, never goes on well for me. Picked up some Armory primers though to try.
They just brought back Mage Knight in the form of a board game. The new click bases they are using for their stuff is also much nicer and easier to click.
They just brought back Mage Knight in the form of a board game. The new click bases they are using for their stuff is also much nicer and easier to click.
RumblingRosco
Member
Same. I loved Mage Knight for the first couple years of its release, then I dropped it just before 2.0 came out. I still have a large portion of my figures and am interested in selling them; been trying to sell them over at RealmWorx and that's been working albeit slowly. Trying Craigslist, but sure as hell am avoiding Ebay if at all possible.
BattleMonkey
Member
Most of the clix game stuff become really worthless outside of Heroclix which has stayed strong for some time now and still going. Know some folks who took their collection of Mage Knight and basically removed the figs from their bases and put them on square bases for use as fantasy RPG minis
Hrmm, that is interesting. Thanks for the link. I'll have to experiment with it, though I'm more about color than detail and prime everything white.
I'm starting my first Warjack Tomorrow. Would anyone like a WIP set of pics and my process?
Android18a
Member
Yeah, go for it Switters. What kind of 'jack is it?
It is a Dervish. I'm having more trouble with it than my usual dreadnought method. Jacks, it seems, require a little more finesse. I don't like how it's looking so I'm prolly going to soak that bitch in some pinesol and start over.
As an aside, you play Menoth, Android? What kind of list are you running, might I ask?
I'm just building the Thyra tier list. I have no idea how to play, but that look and feel reminded me of Orks or Dark Eldar, which are the two 40k forces outside of SM that I'm most familiar with.
V
Vilix
Unconfirmed Member
I know this is OT but just wanna say I love WH40K universe. Space Marine was excellent.
I played the demo, just waiting for the steam sale hoping the price gets nerfed. I loved the rts.
If you're interested in reading more about the 40k universe that's not over-broed, I recommend the Ravenor triology by Dan Abnett. Eisenhorn and Gaunts Ghosts are good too, but he really hits his stride with Ravenor.
Other than that, the first three Horus Heresy books + Legion are completely steeped in the mythos of the universe.
BattleMonkey
Member
New Review/Preview of the original game that is getting a relaunch soon and that has made Spartan Games a recognized force in miniature gaming:
The Uncharted Seas
What is it?
- Spartan Games was a UK miniature company that has been around for some time, they specialized in mostly historical figs for quite a while like many other companies that never got much popularity, but a few years back they put out a brand new game system that became an instant hit, and that was Uncharted Seas. Game quickly sold out of intitial runs and there was many delays in the initial months as Spartan were not prepared for such success from one of their products. Months of growing pains later, and Spartan has branched out into other genres and become quite well known for their unique game settins/systems. Uncharted Seas was quickly called by many the return of the classic abandoned GW game, Man O War, though outside of being fantasy naval combat, they had little in common. The game introduces Spartans game system which they use on all their titles now, which is very simple yet functional, and makes sense in the context of the universe. Many naval games have been seen in the past as being too complex or mostly in the realm of more difficult to grasp historical games. Uncharted Seas keeps things quick and simple with a mix of traditional dice mechanics, and cards.
The rules
- As mentioned already, the rules for US is quite simple, and if you have ever played Axis and Allies Naval miniatures, you will see lot of similarities. The basic combat breaks down into weapons/arcs which have range bands. At different ranges a weapon will produce a certain number of D6's which are rolled to meet the same target number when fired. The number of successes are compared to the opponents ships armor/defense values with hits dealing damage. Certain rolls will then cause at times critical hits that instead of dealing damage, you roll on a random critical chart for various unique abilities. Ships besides having hull points for damage, also have crew ratings which also can be hurt by combat, which also will affect close combat later on. All the combat is essentially resolved the same way so it's all simply a game of rolling large amounts of dice. Now to keep things interesting you of course have to simulate being on water so movement has lot of rules including randomly determined wind direction which can affect ships with sails, and that your ships will normally always be moving on their forward momentum. Weapons all have arcs as well plus LOS is important in relation to size of ships since you can for example use a larger ship or one of the same size to block and protect another ship. Arcs are for weapon use only though, and doesn't bog down into other areas of gameplay like hit allocation, ships just have a basic hit point pool.
Movement of your ships becomes a major part of the game to take advantage of your weapon arcs, blocking shots, as well as manuevering around your opponents dangerous sides (broadsides as usual are often very dangerous). Movement is done using templates that control how much ships of different sizes can turn. Unlike most miniature games, this is a naval game so turning ships usually will have restrictions on how wide of a turn they must make and not so free form as common infantry based game. Most turns are done in increments of about 45 degrees followed by a movement forward, so not planning carefully can cause you to accidentally end up in the wrong position, or even colliding with other ships/landmasses. The different races all have similar ships with variations in stats in relation to the race fluff, and some unique ships for each race. To keep things interesting US uses game cards which each player will have his or her own. Each deck of cards has a set of universal ability cards which grant different bonuses in games and such, while half of the deck will be unique to that specific race and represents that race's unique traits and also is the game's magic system. The Shroud Mages for example has a card which is a spell that summons a land mass up from the ocean floor that you can use to block the path of enemy ships, hope they crash into it, etc. Dwarves who are not strong in magic as another example have bunch of cards that can be used as counter spells against other races to represent their natural defenses against magic.
While slinging shots at each other is normal, some races also specialize for getting in close and also boarding actions which for the most part work out the same as shooting outside of forcing ships to be in close, and involving a contested combat action. Boarding actions have some different results though as the main focus is combat against crew and not the ship itself usually, and can also lead to capturing opponent ships which is a way to score bonus points in games.
Also to note that some folks don't like in games, but Spartan games products all have an exploding dice mechanic, as where you roll a 6 and it counts as a double success. You then get to reroll that dice, and this can continue as long as you keep rolling 6's. This can create some really random situations that some don't like, but I think applies well to naval combat which often has unforseen combat consequences.
Further Notes:
- Uncharted Seas has a very nice range of figs available now, but it's also a game that is getting a relaunch and all of the ships are getting redone. All old materials are still fine for playing and nothing is being phased out, but simply the success of the company has improved their production techniques and they are using them to put a new coat of paint on the entire line. All models have been redone. As with any game that does this, you have some people who like the old models versus the new, but all figs are still widely available, with many stores liquidating the old ones before the new wave of the game launches, so now is a good time to invest for cheap models! Spartan games are usually not too expensive to get into, a starter set will run you around $50 and with a couple more fig purchases you have a perfectly playable fleet. Starters are recommended for the game since they come with the deck of playing cards needed for your race, otherwise you have to buy it separately. The factions have lot of beautiful ships that are very characterful, though the game has little identity when it comes to the actual world which I think it's one of the games flaws. Unlike other games, many have found Spartan games universes to have a somewhat generic aesthetic to them. In the first runs of the rulebook for example, there was little fluff and we didn't even see pictures of what any of the races actually looked like, just generic description. We all know what an Orc is yes, but what does the Orcs in this universe look like? No one knew and the game had lots of this. To be fair they are trying to improve on this with more illustrations. Production values have also improved in recent years with the success they have achieved. Also to note, most of the pics in this review/preview are the old models which you can see are quite good, but the new ones for the most part are even better with lot more detail work!
Pros:
+ Quick simple naval combat game.
+ Very cheap and affordable game to get into fully
+ Majority of models are resin and easy to assemble as they come in few pieces
+ Card system adds a unique flavor to the game with lot of neat effects
Cons:
- Spartan Games rules are often in transition, they often update them through the web
- Generic setting with weak fluff
- Spartan games support for their games tend to jump around between product lines
Want to learn more then hit up Spartan's official website at: http://www.spartangames.co.uk/
Spartan games produces a Space Version of the game known as Firestorm Armada, and their current big hit is Dystopian Wars which features a mix of land, air, and sea combat in a steampunk setting. I would possibly review/preview those in the future, but much of what was said here applies to all their other games as they use the same basic game system and concepts, with each system just having some unique rules added on for the setting.
The Uncharted Seas
What is it?
- Spartan Games was a UK miniature company that has been around for some time, they specialized in mostly historical figs for quite a while like many other companies that never got much popularity, but a few years back they put out a brand new game system that became an instant hit, and that was Uncharted Seas. Game quickly sold out of intitial runs and there was many delays in the initial months as Spartan were not prepared for such success from one of their products. Months of growing pains later, and Spartan has branched out into other genres and become quite well known for their unique game settins/systems. Uncharted Seas was quickly called by many the return of the classic abandoned GW game, Man O War, though outside of being fantasy naval combat, they had little in common. The game introduces Spartans game system which they use on all their titles now, which is very simple yet functional, and makes sense in the context of the universe. Many naval games have been seen in the past as being too complex or mostly in the realm of more difficult to grasp historical games. Uncharted Seas keeps things quick and simple with a mix of traditional dice mechanics, and cards.
The rules
- As mentioned already, the rules for US is quite simple, and if you have ever played Axis and Allies Naval miniatures, you will see lot of similarities. The basic combat breaks down into weapons/arcs which have range bands. At different ranges a weapon will produce a certain number of D6's which are rolled to meet the same target number when fired. The number of successes are compared to the opponents ships armor/defense values with hits dealing damage. Certain rolls will then cause at times critical hits that instead of dealing damage, you roll on a random critical chart for various unique abilities. Ships besides having hull points for damage, also have crew ratings which also can be hurt by combat, which also will affect close combat later on. All the combat is essentially resolved the same way so it's all simply a game of rolling large amounts of dice. Now to keep things interesting you of course have to simulate being on water so movement has lot of rules including randomly determined wind direction which can affect ships with sails, and that your ships will normally always be moving on their forward momentum. Weapons all have arcs as well plus LOS is important in relation to size of ships since you can for example use a larger ship or one of the same size to block and protect another ship. Arcs are for weapon use only though, and doesn't bog down into other areas of gameplay like hit allocation, ships just have a basic hit point pool.
Movement of your ships becomes a major part of the game to take advantage of your weapon arcs, blocking shots, as well as manuevering around your opponents dangerous sides (broadsides as usual are often very dangerous). Movement is done using templates that control how much ships of different sizes can turn. Unlike most miniature games, this is a naval game so turning ships usually will have restrictions on how wide of a turn they must make and not so free form as common infantry based game. Most turns are done in increments of about 45 degrees followed by a movement forward, so not planning carefully can cause you to accidentally end up in the wrong position, or even colliding with other ships/landmasses. The different races all have similar ships with variations in stats in relation to the race fluff, and some unique ships for each race. To keep things interesting US uses game cards which each player will have his or her own. Each deck of cards has a set of universal ability cards which grant different bonuses in games and such, while half of the deck will be unique to that specific race and represents that race's unique traits and also is the game's magic system. The Shroud Mages for example has a card which is a spell that summons a land mass up from the ocean floor that you can use to block the path of enemy ships, hope they crash into it, etc. Dwarves who are not strong in magic as another example have bunch of cards that can be used as counter spells against other races to represent their natural defenses against magic.
While slinging shots at each other is normal, some races also specialize for getting in close and also boarding actions which for the most part work out the same as shooting outside of forcing ships to be in close, and involving a contested combat action. Boarding actions have some different results though as the main focus is combat against crew and not the ship itself usually, and can also lead to capturing opponent ships which is a way to score bonus points in games.
Also to note that some folks don't like in games, but Spartan games products all have an exploding dice mechanic, as where you roll a 6 and it counts as a double success. You then get to reroll that dice, and this can continue as long as you keep rolling 6's. This can create some really random situations that some don't like, but I think applies well to naval combat which often has unforseen combat consequences.
Further Notes:
- Uncharted Seas has a very nice range of figs available now, but it's also a game that is getting a relaunch and all of the ships are getting redone. All old materials are still fine for playing and nothing is being phased out, but simply the success of the company has improved their production techniques and they are using them to put a new coat of paint on the entire line. All models have been redone. As with any game that does this, you have some people who like the old models versus the new, but all figs are still widely available, with many stores liquidating the old ones before the new wave of the game launches, so now is a good time to invest for cheap models! Spartan games are usually not too expensive to get into, a starter set will run you around $50 and with a couple more fig purchases you have a perfectly playable fleet. Starters are recommended for the game since they come with the deck of playing cards needed for your race, otherwise you have to buy it separately. The factions have lot of beautiful ships that are very characterful, though the game has little identity when it comes to the actual world which I think it's one of the games flaws. Unlike other games, many have found Spartan games universes to have a somewhat generic aesthetic to them. In the first runs of the rulebook for example, there was little fluff and we didn't even see pictures of what any of the races actually looked like, just generic description. We all know what an Orc is yes, but what does the Orcs in this universe look like? No one knew and the game had lots of this. To be fair they are trying to improve on this with more illustrations. Production values have also improved in recent years with the success they have achieved. Also to note, most of the pics in this review/preview are the old models which you can see are quite good, but the new ones for the most part are even better with lot more detail work!
Pros:
+ Quick simple naval combat game.
+ Very cheap and affordable game to get into fully
+ Majority of models are resin and easy to assemble as they come in few pieces
+ Card system adds a unique flavor to the game with lot of neat effects
Cons:
- Spartan Games rules are often in transition, they often update them through the web
- Generic setting with weak fluff
- Spartan games support for their games tend to jump around between product lines
Want to learn more then hit up Spartan's official website at: http://www.spartangames.co.uk/
Spartan games produces a Space Version of the game known as Firestorm Armada, and their current big hit is Dystopian Wars which features a mix of land, air, and sea combat in a steampunk setting. I would possibly review/preview those in the future, but much of what was said here applies to all their other games as they use the same basic game system and concepts, with each system just having some unique rules added on for the setting.
Android18a
Member
Nope, I'm Khador. And I don't really have a list as such, I've barely played at all. All I have is:
Starter Battlegroup
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Butcher of Kardov
Manhunter
and some merc shield guys as I posted earlier.
My bad, bro. I still get those two confused. I wonder if there's a vassal like prog out there for WM/HDS.
10 man Space Marines? I've painted hundreds of those. I'd be happy to give you some tips that worked for me, if you want.
BattleMonkey
Member
I've seen pics of WM being played on Vassal, so I'm sure the plug ins and such to do it are out there
Android18a
Member
Call me Little Sis and I'll let you off
Wooooorrrdddd. You can never tell or assume by avatars.
Warmachine actually. Starting up a Cryx army as I have two friends that have played for a while, and they've already for Khador and Menoth covered. This particular unit is Bane Thralls, while I'm waiting for my battle box and some other stuff to show up.
Android18a
Member
Diatribe1974
Member
I really need to paint all my Space Wolves. They've only been assembled & primed for months now. I'm such a horrible gamer
You often can't tell in person either
Lol! I guess I don't get over to trans-gaf as often as I should. Much respect.
Android18a
Member
Thanks.I really need to paint all my Space Wolves. They've only been assembled & primed for months now. I'm such a horrible gamer
Get to it
Show your opponent that you mean business!OttomanScribe
Member
This arrived today:
Win!
Win!
Android18a
Member
That chap means business =D I'd be scared if I saw him coming.
OttomanScribe
Member
So sad that Ilyad Games went out of business, their minis are epic.
Android18a
Member
Hopefully the sculptor will be able to continue doing it for someone else.
Android18a
Member
I'm shopping later today. What's a good addition to the Tau battleforce? Another devilish and unit of fire warriors? Or some of those dudes with the wing things?
It is a bit on the expensive side.
On a more serious note a Devilfish with either firewarriors or pathfinders would be a good edition. No pathfinder boxset makes getting a squad a bit expensive though.
Android18a
Member
Ah, Thats cool. I already went to the shops and came back with the Codex, a Piranha and XV8 Battlesuit.
Oh, and I picked up an Ethereal too, because it looks fun to paint.
Oh, and I picked up an Ethereal too, because it looks fun to paint.
BattleMonkey
Member
Haven't played Tau in forever so no idea what is good. I used to play mainly suit heavy with Firewarriors and the indoctrined guard as meat shields. But they changed them that the list is no longer legal.... won 2 rogue traders with it too.
Cosmic Schwung
Member
Tau are supposedly getting a new codex next year so it might be worthwhile holding off on any further purchases unless you desperately need something for your army. Vespid and Crisis Suits are apparently getting new kits. New stuff will include another allied race and some sort of transport vehicle. There's also talk of a bigger crisis suit although that sounds like it's really straying into gundam territory.
The age of the codex really does let it down at the moment so don't worry if you're not having much success with them on the table at the moment. I'm sure they'll get a lot better with the new book.
The age of the codex really does let it down at the moment so don't worry if you're not having much success with them on the table at the moment. I'm sure they'll get a lot better with the new book.
Android18a
Member
Yeah I heard about that. Thats partly why I wanted to get into them. I get some 'vintage' old school Tau while I still can and I get to be excited about the new stuff when its revealed. I don't mind if I don't wipe the floor with anyone. Just buying what looks cool right now.
Oh yeah, my Tau Ethereal was a finecast figure. Not too bad, I guess. Theres a little notch missing from the end of the... thing behind and over his head, but apart from that it's just a bunch of flash to clean off. I'm not sure I prefer it to metal, though, I do like the weight that a metal mini has. I can certainly see these lasting longer in travel, though.
Edit: My battlesuit I'm not sure whether the weapon choice is great, I'm not entirely sure what all the bits are just yet, but once I've poured over the codex I'm sure I can work it out by the time the Battle Force and its own battlesuit get here and I can make an informed choice on that one. Oh, I forgot to clean up the mould lines on the weapon to our right. Hm.
Oh yeah, my Tau Ethereal was a finecast figure. Not too bad, I guess. Theres a little notch missing from the end of the... thing behind and over his head, but apart from that it's just a bunch of flash to clean off. I'm not sure I prefer it to metal, though, I do like the weight that a metal mini has. I can certainly see these lasting longer in travel, though.
Edit: My battlesuit
I'm not sure whether the weapon choice is great, I'm not entirely sure what all the bits are just yet, but once I've poured over the codex I'm sure I can work it out by the time the Battle Force and its own battlesuit get here and I can make an informed choice on that one. Oh, I forgot to clean up the mould lines on the weapon to our right. Hm.