Mmmm Waffles (oh and painting research)

Right, you lot time for another forced history lesson (this may hurt). Over the last two weeks the Folly of War has been in dry dock in Belgium. Why? Well, if you were not aware a rather large war happened there from 1914-1918. I have spent the last week in a small, trench ridden part of Brugge (or Bruges if your from the French bit). What a fantastic opportunity to do some research for some new painting projects (and eat waffles). My first stop was the Tynecot Commonwealth cemetery. This really put into perspective how many men (just on the Allied side) lost their lives in a very pointless way. The stones seemed to stretch into the distance with name after name of the men who had fallen during the "Great War". The really sad thing was the many graves with the words "Soldier of the Great War" engraved upon them. This meant that when the body was found it was too damaged to identify.

This was found in a field!!
German Officer Armour. 

With the sombre part of the visit finished on I travelled to the town of Ypres. This town had suffered Greatly during WW1 and was ultimately levelled by constant bombardment by both sides. The Germans captured the town early in the war but the constant back and forth nature of trench warfare meant that town suffered constantly. What was remarkable about this little town (except for the waffles) was a tiny backwater pub called "The First World War Curiosity Museum". Outside, it looked like a standard Belgium bar. However, inside the walls were covered with a variety of artefacts found by the landlord around the surrounding countryside. As I went into the garden the bar turned into a trench works museum (very strange). It was easy to find inspiration for new projects here. I especially enjoyed looking at the German heavy armour worn to protect officers. You can see where forge world got their ideas from for their designs for the Death Korps Grenadiers (I can't believe the guy just found this).

Can you see the similarities?

Looking at this exhibition has really made me consider buying a very small 500 points Death Korps force (it will have to be small considering it is £36 pounds a unit). The problem is that this particular army screams to be a massed infantry army but I would only be able to buy one squad a month. Meaning that even a 500 point force would take approximately 6 months to finish due to monetary constraints (damn you forge world).

Finally, leaving 1914 Belgium (and the waffles) I went to Dunkirk. I haven't touched Flames of War for a while due to 6th edition coming out but this gave me some more ideas for further Flames projects. Dunkirk was a very hard fought battle by both the French and the British during early stages of the WW2. The Germans had the Allies surrounded with evacuation the only option. Hundreds of ships and boats (some of which came from my local area) sailed under constant fire to rescue thousands of British and French soldiers. The Early war game has never really interested me but Dunkirk may have sparked my interest. I really recommend that if you are stuck for painting projects... go on holiday. Simple as it may sound these little trips can inspire you to make and create some wonderful things.

Some inspirational dioramas to help think about future projects.

In other news, I have been beavering away with the Angels and I will have some more pics of them next time. Till next time, pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and its a long way to Tipperary. Now where did I put my last waffle?

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!!!!!

Can I Have A Free Hand?

With added free hand company shoulder pad.

Welcome back to the Folly of War, this week I want to talk about free hand painting on models. There was once a time when I used to love transfers. Back when I was a lad (before I had even glued my first space marine), I used to make airfix models. I can remember the constant battle with my parents to find somewhere to paint as airfix used oil based paints and God help me if I got any on the carpet. Once the plane was assembled and painted, I would go through the process of cutting the tiny transfers from the sheet and placing them in a bowl of water. Then repeating this step again and again because the transfer would split, folded or more commonly stick to (my mum often wondered why I was suddenly tattooed with RAF and German Iron Cross symbols). As soon as I hit making Space Marines my use of transfers stopped dead. I will always remember the frustration of trying to apply the Blood Angels symbol to a curved shoulder pad, followed by the inevitable teenage tantrum and finally ritual using of the transfer sheet as a paint pallet just so I felt better. Now what has this got to do with free hand painting I hear your cry....

Well let me tell you. I have always loved the iconography of 40k and squad markations of battle groups in WW2 so leaving models without squad numbers and symbols is just a no go for me. It wasn't until, I started working with Animatronica that I became interested at adding free hand detailed on my miniatures. He had painted a fantastic Baneblade Tank to go with his Chaos Alpha Legion just around the time when the Apocalypse rules came out. He named the Tank The Tower of Snakes (if you wish to see some of his work click on the blog of the same name) and had painted an amazing hydra down the side of the of the armoured tracks. It was stunning and I asked him how he achieved such an amazing results. He explained that you must always draw out your design, this gives you a base to work from and then build up the colours as you would for normal highlighting.

Devastator Sgt with Tycho's personal banner.

So starting small I started on some campaign badges for my Black Templars. This was easy enough, a simple shield shape with a red stripe. From then on nothing could stop me I moved on to chapter badges and then finally banners. I can have the most fun with the banners because you record your own victories and also historical battles. One of my Marshals has a banner of Helsreach Spire. Free hand painting takes time but with practise the results can be superb. I began to develop my own styles and techniques which suited my designs. One such technique I use now is to block out the design in silhouette with black and then build up block colours. I have had a lot of fun with painting my Blood Angels and I have increased the amount of free hand work on the marines. I hope that some where out there in Internet land you have a go too. Before I go I will leave you with some more Blood Angels goodness. Captain Tycho is almost finished with non traditional colour scheme. I'm leaving the gold armour behind for red. Personally I feel that the gold armour is far to garish and I want to tone him down.  Next week I plan to cover the 6th edition release so stay tuned.

Devastators with added light effect on the plasma cannons.

Captain Erasmus Tycho of the 3rd Company (work in progress).

Nurgle's Rot




Assault Marines as promised.

 

A very short post this week, due to an unfortunate case of Nurgle's Rot (stomach virus probably picked up from work). This has given me another opportunity to think about new projects and  existing projects. The Blood Angels are coming on and I have now moved on to painting a unit of devastators and the army is filling out nicely. Why the sudden interest in 40K? Well a certain 6th edition of a certain round based game is (rumour has it) only two weeks away. There is a lot of murmurs all over the Internet and all I can say I just can't wait. It got me thinking how my armies are going to be effected by rules changes. In the last edition my Templars changed radically and I feel this is going to happen again. Whether this is for better or worse only time will tell? Illness leaves you with a lot of thinking time. Is starting a new army now a good idea? Should I have waited...Nah even with drastic sweeping changes armies can be built, modified, tested and modified again. An army is a living thing and it should be allowed to grow and change.  If you have opinions about this please feel free to leave a comment.




My painting table in all its glory.

 

Finally before I go to pass another nurgling here is something that has keep me sane during the low points of my illness. So in the light of all this euro 2012...

 



Storm Ravens (It doesn't matter how hard that pilot flaps his arms it ain't taking off!)

The Storm Brick!

Power down the warp drives, seal those bulkheads damn it! Welcome aboard The Folly of War having only just made it out of Warp Space in one piece (Derbyshire). With no communication relay or astropathic choir I have been a drift in that god forsaken place known as the Eye of Terror AKA The Peak District. As we all know time flows mysteriously in the north and my painting hands have not been idle. My Blood Angel Army is taking shape and after calming down about not being able to take a storm talon I took the plunge and brought its bigger cousin the storm raven. Its a good job I got one too, as the price increased by a whopping 25% last week and only I missed the price hike by a matter of days. 

Que Damnbusters Music!!

Love it or loath it the storm raven is a huge kit but to me has the aerodynamic finesse of brick with go faster stripes painted on it. It was time for a quick refit. Now I'm not saying that my conversion work has turned this model into something as sophisticated as a euro fighter but it is a damn sight more believable than what it was like. First thing to go was the tail and with the help of Jose' in Heroes and Legends I extended it to give it a more helicopter look. Secondly, I added stabiliser fins to the nose so that it would give the front more lift therefore not ploughing into the ground as soon as it took off. These were made from the unused tail wing. Finally, I removed that awful turret from the top and placed the las cannons under the wings. Now I know that in game I should have the turret but the aesthetics of the model needed addressing (in games I will just measure from where the turret used to be). I mean, why can't you save the galaxy from the alien and the heretic and look good at the same time?

Note the tail has been completely
reworked using plasticard.

I have also built and painted a assault squad. Pictures next week as I want to base them before I unleash them on the world. Whilst up north I also managed to make a quick visit to Warhammer World and pick up some MK 5 Heresy Armour. I am a MASSIVE fan of forge world and the new (old) armour that they are producing. Mixing these with the MK 3 Iron Armour I have I'm going to use them as Sternguard. I especially love the alternate pattern bolters I got as the have chain bayonets Wooo!

Right then, off to make repairs to the ship and hopefully I'll have her up and running by next week. Till then May the Emperor Protect.