Darktide With More 3D

 

Darktide comes with nice, sturdy chipboard tokens and markers. Including some two sided ones that represent the blocking terrain and barricades. 

I understand why they didn't include plastic terrain: the cost increase would have been ridiculous. But still, the game would be so much more immersive if the terrain was 3D. Luckily, some nice folk on the internets made made some STL files ready to print and paint! The files were inexpensive, and printed well in our plastic filament machine (Mrs. Blackheart used the Prusa Mk.3S and XL).

The addition of the 3D elements really do improve the look and feel of the game. So much so, the next post will be all about this side of the hobby. 

Go Make Something

The Robots Are Here to Help!

For Now...

 

Darktide Quick Review

 

Darktide is Game Workshop's latest board-game-with-miniatures offering. It is inspired by the video game of the same name; where four hardy imperial types are brought out of prison by an Inquisitor to deal with a Chaos uprising. Fast and violent, it's a fun if shallow game.  

Darktide he board game is a stripped down version of Kill Team, modified to be co-op/solo. The game rules determine the actions of the forces of Chaos across a nice campaign. Your player characters can get new equipment and abilities along the way. 

The game is played on four double sided modular boards, and has a small footprint on your table. The hex-based gameplay does make for quick play and clarity. An Activation deck is built before the battle starts, and then it is just a matter of drawing the cards and seeing whos turn it is. Fast and clean.

All the stats you need are on the cards, both for players and enemies.

Overall, we have really enjoyed it. It is light, fast, and fun. No great tactical depth, but some days you just want to roll dice and have fun wiping out the forces of Chaos.

Go Roll Some Dice

With a Board Game Based on a Video Game Based on a Miniatures Game

Sons of Horus Heavy Metal

 

Large numbers of little tanks! It's the simple things in life, really. I recently finished up (minus tiny decals...) the backbone of Space Marine Armored formations: Predators and Land Raiders.

Flexible and tough enough to be the main force, but cost efficient so you can have a good amount of them. You can fix many problems by throwing a bunch of Predators at them.

The classic Space Marine duo, and it's very nice having them back.

Yeah, these tiny models have a bunch of really small parts, but the end result is amazing. 

Of course, if you enlarge an image of them, all I really see is the painting errors and a stray cat hair...

Still, I'm happy with how they came out. Now to Battle!

Go Paint Something

Or a Lot of Little Somethings

 

New Terrain on the Table

                               

Finally got my newly made scatter terrain out on the table for a game of Kill Team. I'm quite pleased with the results.

It's always a worry when making things from scratch that I'll get the size incorrect. Luckily, the margins for error on rubble piles are pretty wide. Big enough to block line of sight, and have to move around them, yet small enough to have a few on the board and fit into those areas that just need something in them. 

A good amount of interesting terrain makes for a good skirmish board in my opinion. I do think I will put some basing grit on the bases just to give them a more finished look.

Next up more fun with Darktide!

Go Roll Some Dice

Now With More Cover

 

Rejects, Assemble!

 

I picked up the Darktide miniatures boxed game a couple of weeks ago, and had to start with painting some minis of course. It comes a with a good amount of models, just no new sculpts. 

The "recruited" Inquisitorial team consists of a Zealot and a Psyker which are both from the Blackstone Fortress line originally, an Ogryn (old Guard model) and a Veteran (Kasrkin Kill Team). 

It just so happens that I had Nork Deddog parts left over from my last build, and they fit on the Ogryn that comes in the box. So, that was an easy and good looking upgrade. The Veteran I put on a 32mm base so he would match the others. I have yet to decide on a basing scheme for them, dark grey for the moment.

I totally cheated so we could get to playing faster: Everybody except the Ogryn and the Veteran were figures I already had in my collection and painted, I just needed to find the correct bad guys to match the ones in the game.

Ten traitor guard (from The Bloodied Kill Team), and six Poxwalkers (from Blackstone Fortress) make up the bad guys. I will build and paint up the figs that came with the set, but probally not change up any color schemes, just expand the existing forces. 

Now that everyone is ready to deploy, a review of the Darktide Miniatures Game is forthcoming.

Go Paint Something

Then Get Out On the Field

Scatter and Cover

 

At some point in every miniature gamer's life there comes a time when they realize the need  for more scatter terrain. This is completely normal and should not be a cause for alarm. This commonly occurs if they have been playing a lot of smaller scale skirmish games. 

I have been playing mostly Kill Team and OPR Grimdark Firefight, so the need for more, smaller blocking terrain has been growing. Luckily I have a substantial box of leftover bits from my various GW terrain sets. 

I pondered on exactly how to do this for a while, and decided to try some old fashioned clay as the base and then just jam lots of cut up bits onto it. Then I realized that it would do much better if it was all on a wood base. Mixed media FTW!

It took about three days for the air-dry clay to fully dry. Of course it shrank some as it did so, requiring me to then gule all the bits that popped off back on, and then glue the clay base onto the wood base. 

The whole mess took black primer very well and was ready to paint.

The six  rubble piles I made match my city terrain very well, and I can't wait to put them to use. Clean lanes of fire is kinda boring! 

Go Make Something

So Others May Hide Behind It.

SoH Terminators

 

More bite-sized posts for bite-sized models. Here we have the very tip of the spear, a unit of Justaerin Terminators. Abbadon always had a thing for black armor.

Just for fun! I'm not sure that was their War-Cry. Naturally I had to give them the most impressive ride possible, a pair of land Raider Sparans. When I get another unit of Terminators for the Sons of Horus, they will be painted in regular line unit colors.

Let the Galaxy Burn

While Wearing Stylish Black Armor

SoH Xiphons

 

Still chugging away on my Epic Sons of Horus army. Here are three (out of the four) Xiphon Interceptors in that army. I have used them in battle, and are quite pleased with the close air support they provide.

I have a Thunderhawk, two Fire Raptors, and three Storm Eagles assembled and in the painting queue for all my aerial firepower and transport needs.

Fleet Does the Flying

False Emperor's Lap Dogs Do the Dying

Carnage Asada '24

 

Yes, this is about a month late. Sorry. Life happens. We had our (mostly) annual Carnage Asada Battle & BBQ this past Memorial Day. We always like to try big and/or new things on this day, and this time we went small and new.

Mrs. Blackheart is a professional theatrical carpenter, so she likes building things. She has recently discovered a love for everyone's favorite plastic crack from Denmark. Thus, the idea was formed to host a Star Wars skirmish game using Lego for the minis and scenery. Now to pick some rules.

For a bit now, I've trying out different Skirmish Rules. I love the new version of GW's Kill Team, but it is a very closed system, without any real ability to create new units of your own. One Page Rules' Grimdark Firefight is fun, but I'll get into it in an upcoming post.

I chose Space Weirdos by Garske Games. I had picked it up a while ago, and finally got around to giving it a go. Simple, fast, and a lot of fun. Most importantly for our game, you have to create your own units!  It seemed a natural fit for the event.

I spent a few evenings hunting up the names and generating stats for all the mini figs we chose for the game. We wound up with seven teams to choose from, six Outlaw/Bounty Hunter teams plus a Squad of Stormtroopers.

The battle was a lot of fun. So much fun that I didn't even take any good pictures while it was going on. 

The Handsome Outlaws (Han, Lando, and Chewie) were victorious. The forces of Law and Order (Stormtroopers) were wiped out, and both Jabba's Enforcers and The Operators, were badly mauled in the battle of Mos Eisley's Happy Hour. 

The rules work very well for such a setting, and I shall try for others. I do have a lot of painted Imperial Assault minis that are just sitting in the garage...

Go Roll Some Dice

With Carne Asada and LEGOs

How I Re-Base

 

Just a quick little post on how I do the re(re)-basing. Let's start with a old metal Nob that I now want on a 32mm base. I got some 32mm slota bases for just such things. 

Free the model from its old 25mm base, this is done by either carefully bending the base until it breaks along the slot, or cut it away if it's stubborn. Glue on on new base!

Plastic boy on 25mm base, that I am going to keep him on. 

Carefully scrape the old flock off with a knife. Painting over the old flock is really slow and tricky. Plus, the flock I used just drinks up paint, so that is a no go.

Next, I paint the tops of the bases with Steel Legion Drab, then with the paint still wet, dunk into the vat of new grit. 

My secret sauce is (all Gale Force Nine basing grit) 4 parts super fine, 2 parts fine, 1 part medium, and 1 part rocky. It gives a nice look to the bases. 

Finally paint the base ring with Steel legion Drab, and done! Pretty quick, very easy, and it looks good.

Go Make Something

New Grit for Old Flock

For Your Stenciling Needs

 

Mrs. Blackheart has entered a contest over at Printables.com. It is for designing old school drafting templates/stencils, so naturally she decided to go with a 40K flair. 

As she says, " Who will win?  Currently the Imperial eagle is the most downloaded, with Chaos close behind. Pick a side or join a Cult! Fun for the whole family!" 

They can be used as a drawing template or a spray paint stencil. Put your faction love everywhere!

Best of all, they are FREE! Head on over and download some today!

https://www.printables.com/model/885152-40k-eagle-stencil-or-drawing-template

https://www.printables.com/model/885209-40k-chaos-stencil-or-drawing-template

https://www.printables.com/model/885297-40k-tyranid-stenicil-or-drawing-template

Go Print Something

That Will Let You Stencil Something

Unplanned Rebasing

 

Last year I built and painted the newest Ghazghkull model. What I didn't catch myself doing was painting the base in my new desert style, which means the Supreme Leader of All Orks had decided that green bases wuz out like bell bottoms. 'Cause Gaz is neva wrong!

Like a lot of long time miniature hobbyists, I have gone through a few stages of talent and refining of my aesthetic. In the beginning there was the bright goblin green bases of the '90s.

Crude, but easy to do, and it matched my playing surface at the time.

From 1998

A few years later I moved to a less painful shade of green and better flocking, and stayed with it for a good long while. The last minis I did with green bases was the first batch of Imperial Knights.

After that, I felt the urge to make my Guard army look better, including (finally) building up the plastic Cadians. They looked sad and weird on green bases, so I went with the rocky scrublands look. 

The tan bases with sandy basing grit, along with some tufts on them looked great. Plus the neutral tan made the bases a bit more invisible. Slowly I went back and re-did the bases on most of my older armies, and all new ones going forward. Except the Orks (and Tyranids). Too damn many boyz! 
 

I had never really liked the green bases with Orks, but at the time I didn't want the ladz to have some weird basing job on my green field. So I just suffered with the ugly bases.

The time has come around at last. I've done a few test bases and now it's time to have a rebasing party!

I will move a few Orks to bigger bases. like Nobz and such, but for the most part it will just be scraping off the old green.

The Slow Evolution of my Basing

I'm sure it will take a few evenings, but it should be really worth it.

Re-Doing is Doing

Makes Old Armies Like New

Last Two Death Guard

 

It's such a good feeling to finally finish an army. I had 'finished' my Death Guard a while back, but these two characters were hanging out in the Pile of Grey, one built, one not. 

Now completeness reigns!

I put them at the top of the list for the weekend hobby time, and presto-Nurgle-o! 

Both nice have detail, but the Biologus Putrifier has a ton of little fun bottles to paint.

Now I need to put the whole army on the table for a group photo...

Go Slap Some Paint

Reduce The Pile

Sons of Horus, Pt.II

 

More tiny Marines! I have finished enough squads and Rhinos to form a combat company. 

The itsy-bitsy Rhinos have a bunch of parts, and require a bit of care to assemble. They do look great, and a have a few weapon/hatch options.

More tanks to come! And I contemplate the world's smallests decals.

Go Build Something

Good Lighting And Sharp Brushes Help

Sons of Horus, Small

 

Back to the small scale! After some trials and lots of errors, I figured out how to paint my Epic infantry. 

A lot of people paint them on the sprues, but that was a bit klunky for me, and a few (tiny!) figures had to be assembled. Those Dreadnoughts are SEVEN @#$% parts. Ahem. So that was not going to work out for me. After trying blu-tack and crazy glue, I set upon good ole hot glue to temporarily attach the wee figs to a piece of wood. 

I find this method fast and really easy to paint. Removing the little dudes does take a sharp X-actor and a bit of patience though. It also makes painting the bases much easier without anything on them.

I have some more infantry to paint up, then it's tank time!

Work Smaller, Not Harder

Wait. That's Not Right

Star Destroyer, Large

 

Imperial Star Destroyer. One of my all-time favorite starships (Galactica '78, Yamato, Enterprise-Refit, and the K'Tinga are the others in my top five). I have made a couple of the older plastic models, and I have the super fancy Bandai, and the big Revell/Zvesda kits, still unbuilt. But I have always longed for a really big model, maybe not the studio scale eight foot long monster, but larger than any available plastic kit.

Along comes the 3D printing revolution. I'm not (yet) a CAD artist, so I had to wait for someone to make a really nice STL that could be printed out...FAB365 makes a wide array of very nice files. 

So we just scaled it up by 200% and about a 120 hours later, Mrs Blackheart's fancy Prusa XL printer made a 30" long beauty.

The one thing I didn't really take into account was the huge amount of paint it took.

It was a lot, six-ish pots about three drybrush layers. Printing it in black saved a few painting steps as the model has very nice panel lines. Now to hang it up in my office.

Go Make Something

The Force Is Strong With This One