My first attempt at magnetizing a miniature

(Sorry about the layout in this post, couldn't get the pictures to go right with the text).

Some progress updates on my first attempt at using magents with miniatures. It's a great idea, I only wish I had known about it sooner. I'm not going to tell you how to magentize stuff, as I'm only a novice, but the best tutorial I've seen is over at All Things 40K (under Hobby on the left column). I got the magnets on ebay for about £2 for 50.

My first attempt was a gun servitor, firstly with heavy bolter:



...and then with multi-melta:



I used 3mmx0.5mm magents for these. There will be a heavy plasma gun as well, but the weapon needs some work before it can be used. The multi-melta points down as it turns out they're heavier at the front. I may put some green stuff on the back of the gun to balance it out.

Flushed with success, I went ambitious and went to magentize my Inquisitor Lord Coteaz based conversion.

First up, here he is with plasma pistol and power stake:



...and now with power stake and combi-plasma...



..power stake and bolter....






...and my personal favourite, combi-flamer and power sword.






The Inquisitor was a bit harder, as I was using 2mm x 1mm magnets which were more difficult to work with than the 3mm ones I'd used on the servitor. The hardest piece to magentize was the combi-plasma as it was too narrow for the magent. To get round it, I inserted a piece of wire into the gun instead to get it to magnetize. Overall, easy and enjoyable, I wish I'd known about it sooner.

Chosen Chaos Space Marines: Overlooked or Overcosted?

In a rare moment of rest in my house this weekend (I have two small children) I was flicking through the CSM codex. I was reading the army list, planning on what I was going to add into my Nurgle list when I get a) time and b) cash. Specifically looking at the Elites section, I started looking at the entry for Chosen. Now, I've been looking at my list in light of an excellent post a while ago on Warpstone Flux which goes through maximizing firepower in a Death Guard army by using templates.

Looking at the entry for Chosen, it turns out they can take 5 special weapons in a single squad. That's potentially 5 flamer templates per turn! 5 Chosen each with a flamer would cost you 115 points. They can also infiltrate, though this isn't much use in a Dawn of War setup as they can't deploy on the table (I think not got the rulebook in front of me here).

Now, being a Nurgle man myself, I'd want them to have the Mark of Nurgle, but the cost on the Icon is ridiculous. An Icon of Chaos Glory would be better. The main reason I'd want an Icon at all is that these guys are going to be deploying well forward (assuming they infiltrate) and so are in a good position to call down deep strikers, lesser daemons etc.

I'd maybe look at something like this (mainly for flavour of course, not optimized):

7 Chosen of Chaos, Icon of Nurgle, 5 flamers: 201 points

Let's say each template hits 4 models in a turn, a S4. That's 20 hits. The flamer is S4, so against a T4 model (like an Ork boy or Space Marines), you're wounding 10 of them on average. For Ork boyz on a 6+ save, that's 10 dead, not counting the bolter shots. For Space Marines, we're talking 3.33 dead but there's alot less of them in the first place. Either way, potentially it's a 1/3 of a squad. For the basic 5 Chosen/5 Flamer setup, that's pretty brutal. Two of these squads in tamden would be pretty harsh. I guess in the following turn they'd get charged but with two CC weapons and T5 they'd take some killing, potentially holding up that unit for a couple of turns.

As alternative, they can also take 5 plasma guns or 5 melta guns. With plasma guns, that's up to 10 shots, hitting on 3+, wounding on 2+ with no save. For 5 Chosen, this would set you back 165 points.

Chosen also get the option of a Rhino for getting close, jump out, flame, back in the Rhino, drive off.

The downside of Chosen is that, apart from their weapon options, they are inferior to Plague Marines. PM's get Feel No Pain, Mark of Nurgle, Blight Grenades and are Fearless for only 5 points more than Chosen. But, if you're looking to maximize your templates, this might be an option.

This is pure Theoryhammer of course, so as always, I'd like to hear opinions of others.

Edit: Having checked the BRB (and a helpful comment), Infiltrate also gives the ability to Outflank, which is great. Probably steers you towards putting them in a Rhino even more.

Nurgle objective markers part 3

Here's some pictures of my completed objective marker "The Arrival of the Great Unclean One":




I think I've managed to achieve a sufficiently unpleasant look to the innards on this one. They were done without about 10 different layers of colours, as I was struggling to achieve the look I was after. Once I'd got a reasonable gut colour, the model still didn't look like a daemon was bursting out of it, so I went heavy on the blood splatters. They were done using 1:1 Blood Red/Chaos Black (very thin) and applying this more heavily were the blood would be thickest, such as at the base of the arm. The splatters were added and then another layer of the mix was added in the centre of the splatter to darker it. For good measure, I used some Chestnut Ink on the deepest gory bits, like where the arm meets in the innards. Finally, I glossed them all with 'Ardcoat which really sets them off.

My final objective marker is just a simple weapons dump which isn't quite finished yet, but I'll post pics when its done.

I've enjoyed doing these Nurgle conversions so much I think my next project may be a Nurgle Sorcerer using a AOBR Terminator. Or it may be the Inquisitor I was planning. Or both :)

The Purge of 56-Izar: Fluff as inspiration

**This post may contain spoilers for the Eisenhorn novels!**

The background story of 40K is one of the things I like most about the game, and for me, it is what keeps me painting and modelling. Fluff can also be used to drive you tabletop games as well, adding some more interest to your battles.

One of my favourite pieces of background is the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett which follows the career of the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn.

I've been re-reading the first book this last week, and one of the things I thought would fun would be to see if I could make a legal army list to represent one of the incidents in the book. At the end of the first story, there is a full scale Inquisitorial incursion on to a xenos held world the Imperials have designated 56-Izar. Heretics have landed there to seize a rare and powerful Chaos artefact from the aliens who reside on the planet, and the Inquisition intends to stop them. The Inquisition launches a attack to prevent this with 150,000 elite Imperial Guard drop troops and 60 Deathwatch marines. This is a great part of the story, so I've put together an army list which represents (in small scale of course), the forces present.

I've used Codex:Daemonhunters for this, as the list required a Daemonhost which you can't take with the Witch Hunters list. Without the Daemonhost, you could represent this host with the Witch Hunters list.

HQ:
Inquisitor Lord Phlebas Alessandro Rorken, Bolt Pistol, Power Sword, 3 Crusaders, 3 Cherub Familiars.

Elites:
Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn, Bolt Pistol, Power Sword, Word of the Emporer (represents his will). Eisenhorn is accompanied by his retinue:
Sergeant Jeruss of the 50th Gudrun Rifles (Veteran Guardsman)
2 Veteran Guardsman
Alizebeth Bequin (Acolyte with hellgun (represents her las-carbine))
Midas Betancore (Acolyte with bolter (represents his needle rifle))

Inquisitor Konrad Molitor, Bolt Pistol, Power Sword, with his retinue of 2 Acolytes both armed with las-carbines (shotguns)

Cherubael, Daemonhost

Troops:
Mirepoix Elite Drop Troops:
3 Squads of 10 Drop Troops (Inquisitorial Storm Troopers) with Veteran Sergeant and 2 flamers
2 Squads of 10 Drop Troops (Inquisitorial Storm Troopers) with Veteran Sergeant and 2 plasma guns

10 Tactical Space Marines of the Deathwatch Chapter, lead by Brother Cynewolf (Veteran Sergeant) armed with a storm bolter, a flamer and heavy bolter.


This comes out at roughly 1500 points or so, depending on what extra tricks you put on the Inquisitors. I think this would be a pretty cool battle to re-enact and interesting to model and paint.

For the heretic forces led by Dazzo and Gorgone Locke on 56-Izar, these could be done from the Lost and the Damned list from Codex: Eye of Terror (Arch-heretic for Dazzo, Locke as an aspiring champion, traitors for the Naval Security detail).

To re-enact the battle to capture the Necroteuch, you could simply do this using the capture and control mission from the rule book. One objective (traitor side) represents the Necroteuch, the Imperial side objective represents the primer to translate the text. Or to add flavour, have Eisenhorn who is carrying the primer have to get to a certain point on the table and the other side have to stop him.

So there we are, a legal (I think) army list inspired by a background story. There are many others to inspire you in the rich canon of the 40k background. Perhaps the Mechanicum army of Adept Zeth at the fall of the Magma City, or Commissar Yarrick's forces on Golgotha, there are many great possibilties. I'd love to hear suggestions for other armies based on events in the 40K background.

Nurgle Objective Markers Part 2

Following on from my earlier post, I've painted up my "Tree of Decay" Nurgle objective marker, and here's the finished result:

I'm really pleased with the outcome of this one. With the paint job, I was going for the look of intestines rising up from the ground, hence the grey-ish colour. It was an easy paint job to do:

-Black undercoat
-Astronomican Grey base coat
-2 washes of Devlan Mud
-Fortress Grey drybrush
-1:1 Fortress Grey and Skull White drybrush
-Skull White drybrush on the tips of the tentacles
-Glaze of Leviathan Purple on the tips of the tentacles

Both the modelling and painting method have worked out well and I am going to use them again in the future.

I've also started on my second objective marker, entitled "Arrival of the Great Unclean One":

Summoned Greater Daemons arrive in game by possessing the body of an Aspiring Champion which is what I've tried to capture here.

My inspiration for this came partly from around the FtW blogosphere:

1- The rock he's lying on is a bit of bark chipping from the garden, idea courtesy of Ron over at From the Warp
2- The fallen marine idea I robbed from Cawshis Clay from Adepticus Prime and his really nice fallen terminator objective. I didn't think Chaos Space Marines would bother going back for a fallen solider, but I liked the idea of modelling something like this
3- The CSM Codex has a piece of fiction (page 62-63) of the arrival from the warp of a Keeper of Secrets and it says the aspiring champion "gorily exploded with shards of armour and bone scattering across the rocky ground". Sounds gross, so I had to make this :D

The model was easy enough to do:

-The leaning "stone" (bark chip) was PVA glued to the base
-The CSM, which is a pretty old model, had his feet cut abit so he looked like he was lying down rather than standing. I then put a pin through from the bark, through the backpack and into the body and glued it all together.
-The arm was pinned into place. The arm is from the Chaos Spawn box.
-Green stuff was then applied. He's robed and modelled in the same way as the rest of the my CSM force. I added some green stuff guts and gribbly bits.

More pics once he's painted up.

New White Dwarf contents UK 352

The new White Dwarf arrived yesterday (I subscribe, and yes, it is a waste of money). This is UK WD352 and here's a heads up on the contents:

-Cover: War of the Ring
-Preview of new LOTR minis
-War of the Ring design notes
-Liber Apocalyptica for 40K has a Shadowsword data sheet (Shadowsword domination force and the Iron Saint which a Steel Legion Shadowsword)
-Collecting Fantasy Lizardmen part 2
-Dave Andrews and Jeremy Vetock on a Warhammer Campaign they're running
-War of the Ring battle report
-Painting an Ork Stompa
-John Blanche's favourite miniatures
-Painting workshop on army painting
-Army Masters: Wade Pryce's World Eaters (double page of photos of this cool looking army)
-Modelling workshop: War of the Ring Terrain

Plus the usual store catalog (why we need that every month is beyond me) and events diary.

Plenty for LOTR fans, not much for anyone else.

Nurgle objective marker

I've modelled the first of my Nurgle objective markers, and I'm pretty pleased with it, though as usual with my conversions it doesn't quite look like it did when I was imagining it. I'm not 100% sure what it is, but I'm calling it the Tree of Decay.

Here's a step by step guide to how I made it. It's pretty simple to do:

1 - I got some wire, drilled a hole in a base and inserted the wire. I then clothed the wire in milliput to bulk it out, and added a blob underneath the base to secure the wire. I prefer to use milliput for this kind of bulk work, but there's no reason you couldn't use green stuff instead. There's some wire sticking out of the top here which I cut off later. Here's how it looks (slightly phallic at this stage...)


2 - Next, stop to add in your gribbly bits. This is pretty simple, just roll long sausages of green stuff and wrap them around the core. Make sure the sausages are thinner at each end. As it's tree-ish, it'll need to be wider at the base (for the roots) and at the top (for the branches). Keep going until you are happy with the look. Here's mine at this stage:


3 - Add details as you see fit. You could leave it smooth, but I added some texture to each tentacle with the sharp point of a modelling tool. You could also add boils, warts, etc. Here's the finished product, ready for the paintbrush:


And there we are, a nice simple conversion. You could use this technique for other uses. Scaled up with more wire, you could make some Chaos-y trees for scenery for either 40k or Fantasy. Scale this down and you can use it as replacement limbs for Nurgle champions, daemon princes by replacing the arm or leg with something like this and keeping the original foot or hand.

I'll post more pictures when it's painted.

Completed Seraphim Squad

As you may have guessed from the lack of painted miniature updates, I'm a pretty slow painter, mainly because I work away quite a bit and I have two small kids which consume alot of my hobby time. Anyway, I have managed to actually finish some miniatures this week, a second Seraphim squad for my Witch Hunters army.
They've turned out OK, decent enough tabletop standard, though they have taken me an eternity to paint.

I've managed to arrive at a skin tone recipe I think I can settle on which is:

-Tallarn Flesh base
-Ogryn Flesh wash (twice if required)
-2:1 Dwarf Flesh/Bronzed Flesh highlight
-1:1 Dwarf Flesh/Bronzed Flesh highlight

This makes a skin tone I'm relatively happy with. I now need to put some more work into my eye painting technique.

My next project is going to be a change of pace, I'm going to make some objective markers for my Nurgle marines.

The end of Podhammer

I'm really sad to see that Jeff over at the always excellent Podhammer has been forced to close his doors on his superb podcast. I sincerely hope that Jeff gets things sorted out in his personal life soon. His podcast will stand as a trailblazer for all podcasts in terms of quality, content and professionalism, and I for one will miss it.

Good luck, Jeff, with all your future endeavours.

Witch Hunters without Sisters of Battle

A picture of a Hammer :)

I've been doing some Theory Hammer over the last couple of days, looking at a Witch Hunters list which does not features any Sisters of Battle at all. Why the hell would you want an army without Sisters since they're the best thing in the codex? Well, fluff reasons really, nothing much more than that. I like the idea of an Inquisitor Lord and his close allies coming together to root out a nest of heretics.

Here's the list I've been messing with:

HQ:
Inquisitor Lord, Psychic Hood, Purgatus, Divine Prouncement
3 Gun Servitors with Multi-Meltas
2 Chirugeons
1 Familiar
2 Acolytes with combi-meltas
Land Raider with extra armour and smoke (549)

Priest with Eviscerator (65)

Elites:
Inquisitor, Bolter, Hammer of the Witches, 3 Gun Servitors with Heavy Bolters, 1 Familiar (123)

Inquisitor, Hammerhand and bolt pistol, 2 Crusaders, 1 Close Combat Servitor, 3 Acolytes with carapace armour, laspistol, CCW and power weapon(165)

Troops:
Inquisitorial Storm Troopers x10, Veteran with Eviscerator, 2 Flamers, Chimera with pintle mounted Heavy Flamer and hull mounted Heavy flamer, extra armour and smoke (238)

Adeptus Arbites x9, 2 Flamers, Chimera with pintle mounted Heavy Flamer and hull
mounted Heavy flamer, extra armour and smoke (193)

Inquisitorial Storm Troopers x8, 2 Plasma Guns mounted in a Rhino with extra armour and smoke (153)

Inquisitorial Storm Troopers x8, 2 Plasma Guns (100)

Heavy Support:
2 Penitent Engines (16o)

Total 1751


Battleplan:
I'll briefly explain the intention of each unit:

Lord: The Lord will be using his psychic hood to nullify enemy psychic powers (good against some armies like Eldar, not much use against Guard). He'll then be using the rest of his powers to reduce enemy leadership and force panic tests against non-Fearless units. The rest of the unit will be anti-armour hunters with potentially 5 melta shots. I've taken a Land Raider for this unit, but I could use that as a mount for the CC Inquisitor and use the Rhino from the 2
plasma gun IST choice for this unit.

Priest: Required for Penitent Engines, he'll accompany the Arbites squad. The Eviscerator is basically a chain fist for carving up any armour that fancies a pop.

Inquisitor 1: Ranged anti-infantry fire support. He'll also be using his psychic power to force Perils of the warp attacks on enemy psykers. The familiar is there so I can allocate wounds to it without losing an important model.

Inquisitor 2: This ones a close combat specialist, and so will be mounted in a transport from another unit. With 5 models with power weapons, one power fist and a psychic power which doubles the users strength. Don't forget acolytes count as armed with laspitol and CCW for free, so adding a power weapon will mean they can use it and the pistol/CCW in close combat for an extra attack.

IST squad with flamer: These guys are the close fire support units to follow in the wake of the CC Inquisitor and Penitent Engines. The units have flamers and the transports have two heavy flamers for cover save ignoring goodness. The Veteran with Eviscerator is to mash anything heavy. The Chimera has two heavy flamers for the same reason.

Arbites squad: Arbites frankly aren't even as good as IST's, but I've gone for them here as this unit will be accompanied by the Priest meaning they always count as moving and must charge is able to do so. If this was an IST squad, their rapid fire weapons would be limited to 12" (as they're moving), and they wouldn't be able to rapid fire at a unit within charge range as this would stop them from charging (this was FAQ'ed in the latest FAQ). The Arbites have shotguns which are Assault 2 with the same strength as the hellgun but AP - so they will be able to fire 2 shots at anything within charge range.

IST squads with plasma guns: These are longer ranged fire support and objective holders.

Penitent Engines: These guys do pretty much one thing: Run towards the enemy and stomp on it until either it or they are dead. They have the Holy Rage special rule so they get +D6" movement, and now in 5th ed they can run too. Potentially, you're then talking about an 18" charge range with a lucky roll (can't run and charge as they aren't fleet, so no 24" charge range). Only drawback is that they are fragile being relatively low AV as well as open topped, and they will be a massive fire magnet.


Drawbacks:

• The army is pretty squishy. Nothing has better than T3 and only the Lord has a better than 4+ save.
  
• Some of the powers I've taken target psykers specifically (psychic hood, Hammer of the Witches) so will either be useful or not depending on the enemy.
• There is a hell of a lot of kill points here (16 if the Penitent Engines count as one as they're in a squadron)
• The Elite Inquisitors are pretty weak really, their points would be better somewhere else (more Penitent Engines, more ISTs), but I like 'em ;)

I think this would be a pretty characterful army to put together. I see the Lord as a wizened old Inquisitor Lord with mighty pychic powers accompanied by his Inquisitorial allies. I had Commodus Voke from the Eisenhorn books in the back of my mind when I was putting the list together, with one of the Elite Inquisitor could easily represent his pupil Heldane. Voke even has his own black uniformed Storm Troopers.

Modelling ideas for Inquisitorial Retinues: Penitents and Chirugeons

To complete my series on the theme of alternative models to use for WH Inquisitor retinues:

The Penitent (Bound Psyker/Penitent Witch/Pariah):
The current IG range have some OK psyker models, but they don't really look bound enough for an Inquisitor. The penitent is a dangerous psyker who has been captured by the Inquisitor and bound as a punishment for thier crimes, so they need to look both dangerous and punished.

I'm struggling with models for this one, so I'd welcome suggestions. One possibility might be the human that is strapped to the front of a Penitent Engine (I think you get two with the kit so you might have one spare), attached to some kind of frame. The WH hunters rule book has some example in the back but I really don't like them that much.


The Chirugeon (Torturer/Excoriator/Sister Hospitaller):
Once the Inquisitor has captured his prey, these guys use their abilities to extract information from the suspect. For a torturer/excoriator (excoriate means to strip skin, in case you were wondering), you could do something like Narg the Torturer. He's basically hooded, and with some green stuff work, I think you could quite easliy do this using a GW Empire Flagellant as a base. Use the flagellant as a base and add the hood using green stuff. There are various flames, sticks and other weapons on the sprue that could be used as weapons for the torturer. I'm planning on doing this for my torturer, adding a brazier of hot coals to the base and having the model carrying a red hot poker. I've used the Empire flagellants before as the basis for a WH priest, and they're a really good source of bits for WH conversions.

So these are some ideas for alternative models and conversion project for Inquisitors. Any more suggestions, then I'd love to hear them.

Modelling ideas for Inquisitorial Retinues: Warriors and Familiars

Continuing the theme of alternative models other than those in the GW boxes to use for WH Inquisitor retinues:

The Warrior (Veteran Guardsman/Servitor/Crusader):
The Warrior provides combat support for the Inquisitor, either in close combat or at range. Veteran Guardsman would be easy to cover, as there is a huge range of models already in the IG range (with more to come soon). I particularly like the Cadian Senior Officer, the Vostroyan models, or some of the characters like the Jungle Fighter captain. Probably for the veteran guardsmen, the model you choose will be based of what you're going to arm him with (like a plasma gun).

Alternatives to using guardsman are many. For example, some of Necromunda Arbites models look great and would fit in pretty easily (Godwyn Fischig in the Eisenhorn novels was an ex-Arbites). Here's a picture of Fischig, courtesy of WH40K Lexicanum:

Eisenhorn also employs other warrior types, such as the bounty hunter Harlon Nayl. Bounty hunters would be well presented by Necromunda models like the Delaque Gangers (check the Delaque leader in the top left of the picture). Some of the models from Armor Cast would also make good bounty hunters, such as this one, though I'm not sure on the scale of the model compared to GW models.

As a complete alternative (and because we don't see enough of them), why not resurrect some Squats? How about this one from Hasslefree minatures as a plasma gun armed one?

Servitor models are available through GW, but given they come in packs of two, one ranged servitor and one close combat so you might need some conversion work if you want both to be one type. A nice alternative would be some of the Iron Brotherhood minis from Micro Art Studios that I posted about as alternative sages. The figure on tracks would be ideal as a close combat servitor.

Crusaders are close combat specialist in the retinue. In the Eisenhorn novels, Eisenhorn has a couple of death cult assasins which accompany him (beginning of the second book if I remember correctly, here's the Inquisitor scale models of them), so the models for those at 28mm could be used as "count-as" Crusaders. Strictly speaking Crusaders are armed with suppresion shields and power weapons, so it would need to be a shield armed model to be more accurate to the weapon configuration. I particularly like the model for the Beast Hunter from the Mordheim range, and with some weapon swaps (a shield on his right arm, changing the axe in his left hand for something more 40K-ish), I could see him as a warrior from a feral planet that the Inquisitor has bought into his retinue. You could also use Arco-Flagellants as "counts-as" crusaders if your Inquisitor is particularly gung-ho.

The Familiar (Cherubim/Servo-skull/Cyber-Eagle):
I'm drawing a bit of a blank on alternate models for these creatures, which act as psychic conduits for the Inquisitor. The Coteaz box set has a cyber-eagle (on Coteaz's arm) which could be clipped off and added to a perch as an alternative. The Necromunda arbites box has a cyber-mastiff which you could also use.

That's all for now, in the next post I'll look at the two remaining members of the retinue: the Penitent and the Chirugeon.

Modelling ideas for Inquisitorial Retinues: Acolytes and Sages

Continuing the theme of alternative models to use for Witch Hunter Inquisitor retinues:

The Acolyte (Interegator/Explicator/Notary):
These guys are Inquisitors in training, so re-using Inquisitor models could be a possibility. Both the WH and Coteaz boxes provide Acolyte models, with the WH being the better of the two in my opinion.

For the Acolyte in my retinue, I've based a conversion of the Warhammer Empire priest with hand weapon and shield.

You can read the details of what I did to this figure on an earlier post .

As for other models which would make nice Acolytes (or possibly even Inquisitors), the Necromunda range has a few like The Redeemer and some of Redemptionist gangers. The Redemptionist gang leader would also make a nice Inquisitor as well. The Kal Jericho special character would also look good as a Acolytle. With some additional conversion work, then some of the miniatures from the Mordheim range would be good, such as the two lead models in the Witch Hunters warband.

The Imperial Guard Missionaries would also make absolutely ideal Acolytes.


The Sage (Autosavant/Lexmechanic/Sister Dialogus/Calculus Logi):

These guys are responsible for assisting the Inquisitor in gathering and recording information, processing information, translating texts and so on (think Uber Aemos from the Eisenhorn novels). I think Adeptus Mechanicus models would look pretty awesome as sages, and there is a great looking Mechanicus army in the last issue (#8) of Firebase magazine. The minis used for that army were by conversions of models by Micro Art Studio and they look really good. Specifically they were the Iron Brotherhood models, which if you have a look on their site, the HTTP-05 models would look good as Mechanicus information gatherers (or the guy on wheels, though he'd be nice as a servitor as well). Bear in mind, that I don't think these alternative models would be tournament legal in an official GW tournament.

Similar models which would also work (and look a bit more combative) and the Techpriest Enginseers from the Imperial Guard range.

Modelling ideas for Inquisitorial Retinues: Inquisitors

Just a post today with some thoughts on an upcoming project I'm going to be working on over the next month or two. I've not got any painted miniature updates this week as I'm working away and haven't been able to paint anything. Anyway, back on topic: Witch Hunter Inquisitors. For me, the chance to model and paint Inquisitors and their retinues is one of the best things about the WH list as it gives some really good scope for conversion work and putting in models you wouldn't normally use. I thought I'd share some ideas around each of the members of the retinue and the models I'm thinking of using for them. I'll probably split this over a few posts to avoid them being too massive.

Most (probably all) the models I'm going to talk about will be GW models, as this is a range I know best. I'd love to hear from anyone who has ideas which use other model ranges.

-Inquisitor: I'm not a huge fan on the stock WH inquisitor that GW make:
It's nice enough, but not unique from every other players inquisitor. Inquisitors are individuals, and should be modelled up as individuals (a bit like Daemon Princes and Chaos Lords). I also don't think this one looks "lordly" enough to be an Inquisitor Lord.

Instead of this figure, I'm going to use the Inquisitor Lord Coteaz model with some conversion work. Technically, he's a Daemon Hunter Inquisitor, but with some light conversion work this won't matter so much. Anyway, any Inquisitor going into battle with an SoB army is going to want to put some armour on, unlike the WH Inquisitor above. I've got a few things planned for the Coteaz model which I'm still crystalizing in my mind, so I'll post more on that when I'm closer to converting him. I particularly like what Andy Hoare did with his Inquisitor which you can see on the GW website, so I might do something along these lines. As the model is armoured, then I think Space Marine bitz (arms, weapons etc) should fit in pretty well with him.

The limited edition Gideon Lorr model from GW would also be a possibility, but you can expect to pay £20+ for this one on ebay.

Caesar and Cleopatra card game

I received this game as a Christmas present, and I've had the chance to play a few times with it, so I thought I would share some thoughts.

Ceasar and Cleopatra is part of the two player Kosmos series from Rio Grande games, and as it is mostly myself and my wife playing it suits us well. The background to the game is that Egypt is attempting to win independence from Rome and each player plays one of the two factions. The aim of the game is to win the support of Roman senators. This is done by playing numbered influence cards against difference groups of senators. When a vote is called (this is done each turn) the player with the highest (usually) influence for that group wins the support of one of the senators. At the end of the game, each senator won gives a point, as does winning the majority of senators in a group, and there's a bonus for acheiving a certain goal given to each player (winning a certain number of senators in a group).

So the game boils down to:

-Hand management: You can only hold 5 cards at a time which can be a combination of influence and action cards. Action cards allow special actions such as removing a influence card from your opponent.

-Bluffing: Influence cards be played either 2 face up or 1 face down. There is a special type of card called the Philospher which means that the player with the lowest influence total wins the vote. The fear of this card can be a useful bluff tactic when you play a card face down.

So that is the game mechanics in a nutshell. The components are OK, the box is compact and portable and takes only a couple of minute to setup and tear down. The artwork on the cards is quite nice, though some of the Roman senator names are a bit dubious in some cases.

The game plays quite fast (about 45 minutes) and is quite good fun, though there is a strong element of luck to the game. Overall, I quite like it and if you're looking for something for two players and you like the theme, then it's worth a punt