Unboxing the Death Guard Miasmic Malignifier

 

Whats in the box? Here we review the contents of the Miasmic Malignifier! 

A great sculpt with tons of detail and a welcome addition to the Death Guard to help defeat the Space Marines.

Space Marine Primaris Aggressors Unboxing Warhammer 40k

 

For the last post of the year we check out the Primaris Aggressors!

Falling out of love with GamesWorkshop

Ok, so I've been back on the plastic crack for around 18 months now and I still love building, painting and playing  Warhammer 40k. Don't think that will ever change, however, recent events have made me look closer at my dealer and I didn't like what I started to see.

Paints:

It wasn't till I bought a batch of Vallejo paints that I realised how bad GW's paint were. Initially, I thought it was because my paints were old, like 10years+ old but then I bought some new pots of the same colours to top up my stock and found no difference in the quality. On the plus side, they can really last if you don't use em and look after them.

Lets be clear though, my issue isn't with the paint so much as it is with the design of the pots and a quick Google about this issue will show you that I'm not on my own. When you start using other brands you really do notice the issues with them.

You would think a business that has been around since the 80's and has changed the design of it's pots 3 or 4 times (off the top of my head) would actually have a design that really works. Instead, they have a design that keeps you coming back for more. Why? Those big open pots of 'painting from the pot' encouragement. I didn't realise how much paint I was actually wasting, even with a wet palette, when using the GW pots and how much it dries out if you paint directly from the pot. Yes, I know painting from the pot is a big "no!no!" but sometimes I'm lazy lol. Fortunately, Vallejo paints encourage me not to! lol

Businesses and products can have differences, it's what makes the economy go round. So what's the problem? Well I guess my issue with it all is that GW clearly doesn't listen to their customer fan base. As I previously said, a quick Google search came back with a flood of posts and articles around this subject so if they did listen, they would certainly know about this issue. The only conclusion I can draw from this, is that GW want it this way for whatever reason, perhaps to get you (and particularly people starting out) to buy more pots quicker than you would with other brands.

Space Marines:

It's all about the Space Marines and some Necrons (but mainly Space Marines). Really GW, there are other factions in your game that hasn't seen any much needed attention in many many years. Obviously, Space Marines are the cash cow.

#PaintingWarhammer:

This one has always baffled me. A quick search on Instagram brought back 1.7 million results for the hashtag #PaintingWarhammer. Yes, I know you need to tag @WarhammerOfficial as well now but really? GW can't be a little proactive in showing off what their customer base does with their products? There are some old products on the GW website that have no customer photos along side them and then there are others which have loads. Guess it's just down to flavour of the month.

Armies On Parade:

Armies On Parade moved online this year due to the pandemic so here was an ideal opportunity to reach out to what is a MASSIVE community and encourage more people to get involved and also show some appreciation to it's fan base. 

Instead, the first part of the hour long Twitch event was spent showing of the works of their own staff. Was this really necessary? All power to the guys that did these great pieces of work, they are fantastic and I don't mind saying that I would love to be as talented and on this level but isn't this about your fan base? Shouldn't this have been about engaging with your customers?

The whole thing (even with covid in mind) was poorly done. It should have been an ideal time to make a better online presentation of it all. Even if it is only for one year, it wouldn't be too much trouble to knock up a webpage to display all the thousands of entries you've received to at least give some recognition. I can say this because I'm a web application developer by trade, this isn't a coding issue, just a bandwidth issue. They have armiesonparade.com so it's not like they don't have a place to put it but even this domain wasn't well advertised, I simply stumbled across it whilst writing this.

The physical stores:

I quickly stopped using the local GW Store for one simple reason. They never had what I wanted in stock. They were helpful enough and willing to order whatever I wanted but let's face facts; it's much easier and cheaper to order from an independent stockist online so why would I bother to order via the store?

The App:

This is the biggest head scratcher of them all, so poorly rolled out I'm amazed it's still available. Don't get me wrong, I actually wondered from the start (when I began playing again), why GW didn't have an app of it's own for 40k. With so many rules around the game and the building of armies it was screaming for an app.

When it finally came out I was excited to see what it had to offer and the answer was, not much. The contents of books I had to pay for initially anyways, the core rules which were free online already (and initially linked to a google drive pdf!) and the main part of it, the BattleForge option, was not available.

After a massive delay it was added. Slow and full of bugs.

The age of pencils is over according to the release statement. News Flash for you GW, it was over about 20/25years ago, nice to see you're finally catching up. Really can't see me paying a monthly sub of that price for something I'll rarely use when I need to buy the book anyways.  Personally don't see the point of the book if I just use the app and vice versa. I'm sure the army builder will be really handy for creating your armies but I'd rather do it manually or use a 'certain piece of freeware'. 

At £3.99 a month and twice as much as the AoS version, what are you really getting for your money? Honestly, just a different way of doing something you've already shelled out cash for. Their subscription model is clearly set up to avoid the charges that come with adding the app to both Google Play and the Apple App Store. You have to wonder if the Wh40k app will disappear like the recent Fortnite game did at some point in the future?

The simple answer to all this would have to been to make the app a mobile responsive web application so it wouldn't need to go up on either Google Play or the Apple App Store. One code base. I really don't see what the advantage is over it being an app, if your offline, you can't log into the app anyways so it can't be for the offline capabilities. With it's response times, I'm pretty sure it's calling an external data source for the info.

Does your IT Director actually have any experience with this kind of thing or is he just a mate from down the pub who can code a bit of HTML?

Finally:

On the up side, other businesses like Vallejo, will take advantage of GW's short falls and I dare say at some point a new product will come out that will take the mantle from GW. There are some positives to GW and some things they do really well but that's not what this post is about.

GamesWorkshop will always be my first love but just like in life, as you grow, someone new will come along and steal my heart if you don't show some love back. Relationships are a two way street.

Updated: Jakkob Bugmansson XI Warhammer Commemorative Series

 

Here he is! Check it out as we unbox Jakkob Bugmansson XI Warhammer commemorative series!

Update: he's all painted!

Drilling the Barrel!

 

I've always been in two minds about drilled barrels but now I've got a little hobby drill I'm sold on it and think it finishes off the mini perfectly.

I got a great little hobby drill of Amazon for around a fiver which came with 48 bits:

Wish I had got one sooner! Now all I need to do is go back over all my Blood Angels and drill their barrels! Not sure if I should do my Necrons but we shall see!

Blood Angels - My Entire Army

So, with the new Blood Angels Codex Supplement coming out (I'm eagerly awaiting mine!) I thought it was a good time to review my entire army and share it with you!

Unbound Army (Faction) (Imperium - Adeptus Astartes - Blood Angels) [178 PL, 3,067pts]

• Configuration

  • **Chapter Selection**

    Selections: Blood Angels

  • **Chapter Selection**

    Selections: Blood Angels Successor, Flesh Tearers

• HQ

  • Captain [5 PL, 90pts]

    Selections: Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Master-crafted boltgun, Power sword

  • Captain in Terminator Armor [6 PL, 115pts]

    Selections: Storm bolter, Thunder hammer

  • Chief Librarian Mephiston (Primaris) [8 PL, 155pts]

    Selections: 1. Speed of the Primarch, 3) Null Zone (Aura), 4) Psychic Scourge, 5) Fury of the Ancients, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol, Smite, Vitarus, Warlord

    
    
    

  • Gabriel Seth [8 PL, 160pts]

    Selections: Blood Reaver, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades

  • 
    
    

  • Librarian Dreadnought [9 PL, 180pts]

    Selections: 1) Veil of Time, 2) Might of Heroes, Chapter Command: Chief Librarian, Furioso fist, Furioso force halberd, Meltagun, Smite

  • Librarian in Terminator Armor [6 PL, 110pts]

    Selections: 1) Veil of Time, 2) Might of Heroes, Force axe, Smite, Storm bolter

  • Lieutenants [5 PL, 90pts]

    • Primaris Lieutenant

      Selections: Frag & Krak grenades

      • Neo-volkite pistol, Master-crafter power sword and Storm Shield

        Selections: Master-crafted Power Sword, Neo-volkite pistol, Storm shield

        
        
        

  • Primaris Chaplain [5 PL, 85pts]

    Selections: 1. Litany of Faith, Absolver Bolt Pistol, Crozius arcanum, Frag & Krak grenades, Litany of Hate

  • 
    
    

• Troops

  • Assault Intercessor Squad [5 PL, 100pts]

    • 4x Assault Intercessor

      Selections: 4x Astartes Chainsword, 4x Frag & Krak grenades, 4x Heavy Bolt Pistol

    • Assault Intercessor Sgt

      Selections: Astartes Chainsword, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol

    • 
      
      

  • Intercessor Squad [10 PL, 140pts]

    Selections: Bolt rifle

    • 6x Intercessor

      Selections: 6x Bolt pistol, 6x Frag & Krak grenades

    • Intercessor Sergeant

      Selections: Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades

  • Tactical Squad [10 PL, 195pts]

    • 8x Space Marine

      Selections: 8x Bolt pistol, 8x Boltgun, 8x Frag & Krak grenades

    • Space Marine Sergeant

      Selections: Astartes Chainsword, Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades

    • Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon

      Selections: Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Missile launcher

    • 
      
      

  • Tactical Squad [10 PL, 215pts]

    • 7x Space Marine

      Selections: 7x Bolt pistol, 7x Boltgun, 7x Frag & Krak grenades

    • Space Marine Sergeant

      Selections: Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol, Power fist

    • Space Marine w/Heavy Weapon

      Selections: Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Heavy bolter

    • Space Marine w/Special Weapon

      Selections: Bolt pistol, Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma gun

    • 
      
      

• Elites

  • Aggressor Squad [6 PL, 135pts]

    Selections: 2x Aggressor, Aggressor Sergeant

    • Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets/Fragstorm Grenade Launcher

      Selections: 2x Auto Boltstorm Gauntlets, Fragstorm Grenade Launcher

    • 
      
      

  • Dreadnought [7 PL, 125pts]

    Selections: Multi-melta

    • Dreadnought combat weapon w/Storm Bolter

      Selections: Storm bolter

  • Reiver Squad [5 PL, 90pts]

    Selections: Bolt Carbine

    • 4x Reiver

      Selections: 4x Frag & Krak grenades, 4x Special issue bolt pistol

    • Reiver Sergeant

      Selections: Combat knife, Frag & Krak grenades, Special issue bolt pistol

    • 
      
      

  • Sanguinary Ancient [7 PL, 125pts]

    Selections: Angelus boltgun, Encarmine sword, Frag & Krak grenades

  • Sanguinary Guard [17 PL, 165pts]

    • Sanguinary Guard

      Selections: Encarmine axe, Frag & Krak grenades, Inferno pistol

    • Sanguinary Guard

      Selections: Angelus boltgun, Encarmine axe, Frag & Krak grenades

    • Sanguinary Guard

      Selections: Frag & Krak grenades, Plasma pistol, Power fist

    • Sanguinary Guard

      Selections: Angelus boltgun, Encarmine sword, Frag & Krak grenades

    • Sanguinary Guard

      Selections: Angelus boltgun, Encarmine sword, Frag & Krak grenades

    • 
      
      

  • Terminator Assault Squad [9 PL, 76pts]

    • Terminator Sergeant

      Selections: Lightning Claw (Pair)

    • Terminator w/THSS

      Selections: Storm shield, Thunder hammer

  • Terminator Squad [18 PL, 266pts]

    • Terminator Sergeant

      Selections: Power sword, Storm bolter

    • 6x Terminator w/PF

      Selections: 6x Power fist, 6x Storm bolter

    • 
      
      

• Fast Attack

  • Land Speeder Typhoons [6 PL, 120pts]

    • Land Speeder Typhoon

      Selections: Multi-melta, Typhoon missile launcher

    • 
      
      

• Heavy Support

  • Baal Predator [8 PL, 155pts]

    Selections: Baal Flamestorm cannon, Hunter-killer missile

    • Two heavy bolters

      Selections: 2x Heavy bolter

    • 
      
      

  • Predator Annihilator [8 PL, 175pts]

    Selections: Hunter-killer missile, Twin lascannon, Two Lascannons

  • 
    
    

Total: [178 PL, 3,067pts]

Feel free to comment and let me know how I can improve things!

Blood Angels: Mephiston

 

My Blood Angels army has always needed a good Librarian so it had to be Mephiston who would fill this gap. For some reason though, I've always been nervous about getting him and painting him, he's one model that I always wanted to paint really well. As well as it is painted on the GW website.

Sadly, this was not to be. It looks good in my hands but up close I made a lot of mistakes. The face highlights went on real thick for some reason. I often struggle to get the right consistency, often I water it down too much but in this case it wasn't enough.  The highlights on the cloth don't show up enough in the picture, so I wonder if I did the variations enough? The blue gems (?) on his head I just couldn't get right at all.

I need to go back and finish off the gems, sword handle and other bits when I get chance.

That being said, my paint range isn't that great, I really should buy new paints and they are Citadel paints so they are in those crappy pots which dry out the paint lol Bad workman blames his tools right? lol

It's nearly xmas!

 Christmas is around the corner but my wife should note that it's not December yet so you can't put the decorations up! She will though lol

Games Workshop are bringing a bunch of new stuff out just in time for the festive season as revealed over on the Warhammer Community website. As previously mentioned, this includes the new the BattleForce box sets:

Not only that, it also includes the new Blood Angels Codex Supplement (yay!), Blood Angels Dice (yay!), Blood Angels Datacards (yay!) and the Blood Angels Combat Patrol box (Dear Santa....):

Not only that, there is also a newDeath Company Intercessor kit and a Assault Intercessor kit:

And it just keeps coming, as the new Gladiator Implusor is also going on pre-order along with all of the above!

I need another job to go along with my day job lol Time to write that letter to Santa...

Space Wolves: Ragnar Blackmane

 

From unboxing to fully painted finished model, the other Twin is looking forward to getting this one on the battlefield! Really like what he has done with the base on this one, what do you think?

Follow up - Warhammer Primaris Invictor Tactical Warsuit - Space Wolves

 

New Tank Incoming! Space Marine Gladiator!

 

Warhammer Community is showing off a new Heavy Support for the Space Marines. This beast is coming up for pre-order in just over a week on the 28th November. It's a welcome change from the standard tanks I think and it comes with a multitude of variations on the weapons front.

Looks like tracks are a thing of the past now with all the recent tanks having the repulsor field technology. There are three variants:

• Valiant - twin las-cannon and multi-meltas
• Reaper - Twin heavy onsalught gatling cannon and twin tempest bolters
• Lancer - Lancer laser destroyer (longest range)

Unboxing Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine Heroes Series 3

 

Warhammer 40,000 - New BattleForce Boxes Incoming!

The Warhammer Community Website has been updated with a look at the brand-new Battleforce boxsets coming soon (They don't actually mention a release date but given they mention updating your xmas lists it does suggest that it's a matter of weeks).

The boxes all look great and would a great starting point for any new army:

• Space Marines: Interdiction Force
• Necrons: Eradication Legion
• Astra Militarum: Bastion Platoon
• Chaos Space Marines: Decimation Warband
• T'au Empire: Starpulse Cadre
• Tyranids: Brood Swarm

All the boxes look packed so I'm not expecting them to be cheap or at around the same price as the new Combat Patrol boxes which are £85 here from GW. I'm thinking more around the £100 mark if not more. That said, there is (as previously mentioned) a new Combat Patrol box coming for the Blood Angels but with the Battleforce boxes, I'm liking the Space Marines set over the actual Blood Angels one simply because it contains more of what I need:

Whilst Blood Angels are my main love, Necrons are my army of choice and their box holds a lot more of what I need to bolster my army:

Lychguard, Canoptek Spider, Triarch Stalker, these are all on my list to get and you can never have too many warriors right?