6th Edition First Impressions

Welcome, welcome, as we set sail into the heart of the unknown, aboard the Folly of War. These last couple of weeks have been busy ones both with work and with painting. My Blood Angels army is steadily growing (I'm verging on 1500 painted!) and I have been feverishly playing games of 6th edition to try and smooth over any rules issues. So far I have played a total of 4 games and have won a grand total of... 0. However, this has not in anyway been a bad thing. Each game has given me a new aspect to learn or changed the way I have interpreted the rules. For example, I found out that jump packs must decide which phase they will jump in (movement or assault). If they jump 12" in the movement they do not get the hammer of wrath rule or re-roll to charge.

Another area where the game has changed dramatically is aircrft (I am trying to stop calling them Flyers as it makes me sound like I have the vocab of a 10 year old child). Now, I have a bit of a soft spot for aircraft, as my dad used to work at Heathrow and my girlfriend's dad works at Duxford. So, when an opportunity to include models that add an extra dimension to the gaming table I flew (pun intended) at the chance to make plane noises during the movement phase (they should've added something along the lines of this in the new book. "You must make a neeewooaaaah noise every time you move an aircraft else the engine stalls and it crashes").  Using aircraft is so much fun and can really freak out your opponent if they have no AA. Watching the desperation of an army unload the entire contents of their guns just to bring down a single plane is very entertaining... right up until the point that your opponent does hit your Stormbrick and it comes crashing down, killing the majority of passengers insides (damn you Jamie!!!).

I leave you with pictures of my Librarian dread. I have used the same chipping technique as before but I wanted to go another step forward with painting the Force Weapon. Using blending and washes I gradually built up a crystalline looking blade. Using 1:1:1 mix of Hawk Turquoise, Bleached Bone and Regal Blue (or equivalents if you cant get them any more) I gave the blade a solid coat then added more Bleached Bone to highlight and used Regal blue wash for low lighting. Lastly, streaks of white were added to create a reflective shimmer. Next, on the to do list of the angels is 5 scouts, another dread, a drop pod and the one I am putting off the most 7 Sternguard. Right, those marines won't paint themselves. Navigator set course to the Baal System we need reinforcements!!

Storm Brick Part 2

The dust has settled and the fog of war has lifted and I have finally played some games of 6th edition. Although there seems to be a lot of nay sayers out there I for one am a happy customer and it has given me a boost towards finishing my Blood Angels. This last week I have concentrated on finishing my Storm Raven and apart from the odd detail I am done. This was an interesting project from the start as my feelings towards the Storm Brick... er Raven were very negative. However, a bit of plasticard here and a hobby saw there I had something that looked plausibly flyable. Now for the paint. I have never been very keen to take a risk with battle damage. Many of my models have always had a "fresh from the factory look", but I was desperate to try out some new techniques.

Firstly, I wanted to try paint chipping. This was hard for me to start because it became one of those moments where I didn't want to ruin all the perfect highlighting I had achieved. Bravely I bit the bullet and started the chipping process. Using Wild Rider Red I stated to pick out chip points on the hull. Next I used Scorched brown over the top to indicate rust or older paint. Finally I used Boltgun metal for the exposed metal armour. The result was pretty good and I may go on to use this on my normal marines too.

Next was the soot from the engines. Not having any weathering powders was a downer so I resorted to that old reliable dry brush technique. It has worked a treat. I am really happy with the model I can't wait to use it on the battlefield.

Over the next week I am going to paint the Librarian Dread. I used a spare Dread Knight Force sword to make the dreadnought's force weapon. It looks way, way, way cooler than the silly force weapon. I hope to produce some of the same paint chipping techniques on the main body of the model. Also I want to use the crystallised blade effect on the sword which I did on the Sanguinary Guard. I have also taken a keen interest into the world of 40k Flying Machines and I am uuuming and ahhhing about whether I should by a Storm Talon to ally with my main force (Blood Angels can't take them but I would make a small space marine force with scouts and a Master of the Forge and paint them Blood Angel Colours). This by far is my favourite new addition to 40k. Ok, Ok I know it is a sneaky way of GW saying come and buy more toys but I honestly don't care!!! I love the 40k background and the idea that I can now take some steal legion to team up with my 3rd Company Armageddon Strike Force is amazing. With the holiday coming up I plan to be posting more and more so stay tuned....

6th Edition 40K



Eager to get to grips with the new book!



In the grim darkness of the far future there is only.... a brand spanking new book with lots of pretty stuff in it (woo). 6th edition 40K is here and on Saturday I was one of many people to purchaise a copy of the new rules.

I awoke bleary eyed and was out of the door in 5 minutes flat. The feeling you get when you're a kid at Christmas rushed over me. I talked to animatronica about the book all the way to the Heroes and Legends store. For those of you who arn't in the know Heroes and Legends is my semi local gaming store. Only just over a year old it has allowed me to experience games and products that I would have never heard of let alone seen in a GW.


Guy's excitement knows no bounds...



I arrived at H&L and to my suprise I wasn't the only one a que had formed already. The atmosphere was buzzing and you could have cut the excitment with a chainsword. Onlookers stared at the group in bewielderment (You'd think standing outside a gaming shop at 9 am was normal?). The shutters shuddered to life and the doors opened. The shop was rammed with people all with one quest, 40K. I asked Guy (one of the staff members) what his impressions were of the new rules. He was pleased that he now had even more psychic powers he could use in his Grey Knight force. After this brief discussion he then proceeded to show me how the new powers can effect a game. One power made my terminators re-roll successful armour saves!

Finally it was mine (at a discount too SCORE!), as well as many, many, many more things for my Blood Angels (looks like 2K points is going to be the new black). The staff were great and were happy to talk about the new rules, possible lists and play games. I myself played 3 games over the Saturday and lost all 3 (nothing new). However, it didn't matter, as it gave me a chance to learn new rules and discuss possible problems with slight inconsistancies with the codexes.

I also managed to be one of the first to aquired one of only 25 purity seals made by Hammer and Forge. The quality and craftmanship is outstanding right down to the scrollwork. Now I've just got to find somewhere to put the thing. If your interested check them out as they can made all manner of bespoked items for certain Sci fi games (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, you know what I mean).

A Purity Seal. Now where to put the thing?

So what does this mean for my armies. Well out of the ashes have arrisen the Templars. The have been given a significant boost by new F&Q (rage anyone?) but for the time being I will be beavering away at trying to get a 2K Blood Angel list with all manner of thinngs: Dreads, Stormravens, Tycho and possibly some Allies?

So thats it till next time. The Folly of War is setting off into the unknown. If you had a great 40K release tell me about it. What was your favourite bit? What do you think of the new rules? What was your 40K release like? Until next time. Navigator set co-ordinates Octoberfest!!!!!