+ inload: The Call of Chaos +

+ Prelude to Pleasure +

+ 16th Millennial, Emperor's Children +

A cry came up from the rabble – far from cowering, as had the denizens of Old Paultney, here the population had, to the Lieutenant's amused surprise, come out to line the streets. Clearly, the Legion's harbingers had found one of the cities ripe with rebellion.

The advance felt more like a parade – and while the crowd was clearly agitated and nervous, the destruction of the Arbites Precinct garrison by the 16th Millennial had been cheered.

The Legionaries, clad in purple, moved with little caution, enjoying the sensation of being heralded as liberators rather than conquerors. Freedom! That was what they promised the populace. Freedom from tyranny, from Imperial taxes and oppression, and from more besides. Freedom from propriety, freedom from the repressive mores of society – until eventually they would be ripe for the ultimate freedoms of the Prince of Pleasure... freedom from the chilling confines of the flesh, from sanity, and eventually – from life itself.

+++

+ Slaanesh Space Marines + 

+ The Emperor's Children – for our 15mm project [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – are ticking along nicely. Last night, the last ten received their highlighting (a single edge highlight on the boltguns and powerpack ridges, and a two-stage form highlight and edge highlight on the purple armour), and then I went back to paint in all the eyes. +

+ The front ten are pictured prior to the highlighting; compare with those behind. +

+ I'm pleased with the results. As hoped, the 15mm scale means that I'm finding them more enjoyable to paint than their 6mm Epic cousins, without feeling the pressure to tick in lots of time-consuming detail. It's a nice balance for me, particularly at the moment, when I'm hard-pressed for time. +

+ This pict-capture shows the highlighting on the Rhino nicely – again, the small scale means tanks, which I normally find a bit of a chore, are much more in my comfort zone. It's great to push your boundaries with your art, but it's also useful to bear in mind that familiarity can be a great escape, too. +

+ Still to add are the Legion markings and a few bits of gold trim here and there; but they're largely ready to fight. +

+ Aerial view of the figures +

+++

+ Comparisons are odious +

+ Apropos of nothing, I thought it an interesting lesson to compare the 'en masse' army photos at different scales: my 15mm Emperor's Children and 'truescale' (i.e. 32mmish) Ultramarines. +

+ When viewed like this, without any scale reference, it's easy to think they're both similar sizes. The overall effect is similar in feel. More than that, I think it highlights (ho ho) how the smaller size has resulted in my highlights being starker and more obviously contrasting with the underlying tone – something I avoid at 32mm, as I generally prefer more subtle, less eye-grabbing highlights. +

+ Having said that, I think that the Emperor's Children look considerably more striking. Part of that is likely ten years' worth of experience and gradual improvements in my painting overall, and part of it might be the inherently simpler form of Mark VI over my Praetor-plate. Whatever is causing it, it's making me consider things again – and that's useful. I try to avoid cutting off any technique, style or approach entirely – all tools are useful for something, even if you use them rarely. Taking a few moments to compare and consider allows me to reconsider whether I'll aim for stronger, bolder highlights on larger-scale models in the future. +

+++

+ Uprising +

+ Also lurking and recently uncovered is my Renegade Guard army, originally ordered for The Augustine Crusade project, which I thought I'd kick off with a Kill Team, using the 'Blooded' rules from the recent Kill Team box. A nice way to ease into a force without getting bogged down in batch painting! +

+ inload: Musings on the Leagues of Votann +

+ Leagues of Votann +

+ A Squat conversion [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+] – that will now become a Hearthykyn +

Squats are back... or have the Warhammer dwarfs made their way into the 41st Millennium? Or are the Leagues of Votann something else entirely?  

This inload muses on the way that GW are approaching the Leagues, and how they relate to the Squats and other Dwarfs in Warhammer. Thought I'd throw it up here to hear your thoughts (and show off some of my dwarf models!).

+ Aesthetics of the League of Votann +

Anecdotally (that is, from what I've read here and on similar online spaces) the reaction to the aesthetic of the Leagues of Votann has struck me as mixed rather than actively hostile or frothingly enthusiastic (though there are obviously exceptions to this). Although a lukewarm or hesitant reaction might seem a bit of a downer, I think that's actually a pretty good result for GW, I think. Familiarity breeds positivity, and the previews have been met with (again, anecdotally) less vehement opposition than the Tau did when they were introduced. 

I don't want to dwell too much on this, as I want to discuss archetypes, but wanted to head off too much discussion on the aesthetics except where they relate to archetypes – or in other words, how they relate to what we (as painters, gamers and collectors) expect.

+++

+ Dwarfish archetypes +

Dwarfs of one sort of another pop up in folklore all across the world, but I think it's fair to say that Warhammer dwarfs mostly draw from a well filled by the European tradition of dwarfs as small, cunning cthonic spirits – ugly craftsmen elves. Perhaps the clearest and most direct inspiration for the old Warhammer dwarfs are Tolkein's dwarves. European folklore is surprisingly flexible on what makes a dwarf; some were implied to be larger than humans, for example, or more akin to what we'd probably now call 'spirits of earth', rather than physical creatures.

+ Burly, heavily armoured fantasy Dark Age warriors – who happen to be short +

What we – that is, inloaders here and hobbyists more generally – expect from dwarfs is likely coloured, particularly by Warhammer Dwarfs. A lot of the established imagery has been gradually refined for the past hundred years or so, until nowadays I think you could probably ask pretty much anyone, young or old, to draw a 'fantasy dwarf' and get something fairly similar: small, short-limbed, probably bearded. 

For anyone with a deeper interest in fantasy – be it literature, roleplaying or folklore – I think you could probably refine this to include a gruff, perhaps short-tempered character; greedy and avaricious, with a deep reverence for riddles and rules. They might swindle you, but they'll follow the letter of the law while they do so.

Beyond this, the common archetypes become more refined and specific; less useful in analysing 'dwarfishness', but better for creating something with its own identify and character. What I'd like to discuss is:

• Are there more archetypes? What makes a dwarf a dwarf?
• How do the Leagues of Votann relate to these?
• Is it a good thing for them to be distinct from the Squats?

+++

+ What makes a dwarf a dwarf? Archetypes and peripherals +

I'd argue that all of Games Workshop's dwarfs stem from Tolkein first and foremost. The dwarfs of the Old World show this most clearly. Starting out as essentially 'expys', they gradually developed their own character, but less so than (say) Warhammer Orcs. Dwarfs from the Warhammer world were reliable (to a fault), honour-bound, deeply respectful of age and tradition. They were master craftsmen, intelligent (but not necessarily wise), secretive and defensive in nature, and well-equipped and armoured. Physically, they were short, but stocky; tough and enduring and slow. These are (some of) the refined archetypes of the Warhammer dwarfs.

+ Warhammer Dwarfs – stoic, stolid, (dare I say?) doughty. And with more than a few beards, pipes and tankards of beer scattered about. +

Many of the other aspects that I associate with dwarfs – beards, underground fortresses, a longing for a past golden age, axes, beer, hatred of elves and greenskins, distrust of magic,  etc. – stem from these, but I think they're more peripheral than the core archetypes above. (I'm open to discussion on that, of course!) I'll call these 'peripherals' in the rest of this post.

The distinction between archetypes and peripherals is simple – but I hasten to add that much of my list is purely personal. Beards, for example, seem to have popped up in discussion so much as 'core to dwarfs' that it's very easy to argue they're archetypal. I'd very mcuh like to hear your thoughts.

Why's this important? Well, consider the other Dwarfs of Warhammer – the Chaos Dwarfs and (to a lesser extent) the Norse Dwarfs and Blood Bowl Dwarfs. All Warhammer dwarfs shared the archetypes listed, but the peripherals varied somewhat.

+++

When it came to developing the Squats in 40k, I think many of the core archetypes got a bit muddled, and I wonder if that's why the GW studio ultimately felt a bit hampered in not knowing where to take them. Where the Old World dwarfs had a firm anchor, the squats were a bit torn between their inherent 'conservative scepticism' and the need to do something new. Lots of peripherals were bolted on – the bikes, for example – but the peripherals were torn between pseudo-Tolkein anglo-saxon/norse, greasy-leathered bikers and short Imperial Guardsmen.

Epic seemed to grasp the archetypes a bit better – perhaps because ancient, slow, tough super-heavy vehicles are a good analogue of many of the archetypical elements: essentially beautifully-crafted mobile fortresses. Here, the biker guilds were less obviously distinct – the scale making the aesthetics less jarring – and so the range held together well.

When 2nd edition 40k rolled round, the few previewed 40k-scale squats seemed to have stabilised a bit, refining the angle pioneered by Epic, and leaning back towards the Anglo-Saxon/Norse vibes and away from outlaw bikers – in short, getting closer to the Warhammer dwarf archetypes listed above. Whether this would have turned things around was never to be determined, of course, as the faction faded away.

+++

+ Age of Sigmar and dwarfs +

Age of Sigmar saw a real shaking up of the factions, with many factions taking a deliberate step away from the peripherals of their previous incarnations. This was, to my mind at least, a positive thing. While I very much like the Old World aesthetic, it was ultimately reductive. The accretion of years of real world development (and peripheral additions) had painted the world into a (very cool) corner that made expansion difficult. 

At the root of this discussion is my claim that the peripherals make sense because of the archetypes, whereas the archetypes make sense because they're culturally familiar. To take Warhammer trollslayers as an example, they build on the cultural pressures facing Warhammer Dwarfs specifically: in a world of ultra-reactionary traditionalism and a culture of honour and oaths, if something dishonourable happens, there's no way out for a dwarf. The solution? The ultra-specific trollslayer peripheral concept.

That peripheral concept doesn't work quite so well if stripped out of its archetypal context, and I think that's part of why the first Age of Sigmar dwarfs – the Fyreslayers – had (again, anecdotally) a similar lukewarm reaction among the fanbase as the Leagues of Votann are receiving. With the benefit of ten years of hindsight, and with the Age of Sigmar setting built up around them, I think the Fyreslayers have actually made clearer a lot of the links to the archetypes – and that's something that I think GW are doing a bit better with the Leagues of Votann, 'preparing the ground' with lore previews.

+ I converted these Fyreslayers to better fit my preferred aesthetic – but I'm glad there are multiple options for people to choose from. +

Compare the reception the Fyreslayers had with the Kharadon Overlords. The latter took a very different spin on the common archetypes, presenting us with a Ghibli-esque art-deco steampunk aesthetic. On the one hand, that's quite a bold change – but on the other it actually hews very closely to the archetypes. I'd argue that the Kharadon Overlords, while being visually quite radically different from the Dwarfs of the Old World, better captured the list of archetypes below than the Fyreslayers did on release:

'reliable (to a fault), honour-bound, deeply respectful of age and tradition. They were master craftsmen, intelligent (but not necessarily wise), secretive and defensive in nature, and well-equipped and armoured. Physically, they were short, but stocky; tough and enduring and slow.'

To me this suggests that the Leagues of Votann are more likely to get a positive reception if they manage to hit the list of archetypes relates to Warhammer dwarfs, rather than being an update of the rather muddled Squats. Note that this is largely separate from the aesthetics, as I note at the start. There's overlap, sure, but I want to avoid conflating the core underlying concepts (i.e. the direction GW are taking) with the reflection of those concepts (i.e. how that's shown in the models) – there's a separate topic for that, and how successfully that's achieved.

+++

+ ...And back to the Leagues of Votann +

+ Hearthkyn from WarCom +

Thanks to the GW previews, we're starting to get a good idea of how the Leagues range is going to look as a whole. Right at the start of this diatribe post I said that the reaction to the Leagues aesthetic was mixed, but also that that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Here, I'd like to draw some lines between what we've seen thus far, and how they relate to my list of archetypes above:

• The Votann themselves – I think these are a brillant sci-fi re-imagining of lots of the Warhammer dwarf archetypes, touching on veneration of age and secrecy, and crafting ability. I also think the fact that they're slowly failing is a good peripheral narrative angle for the faction. It's also a fantastic exploration of 'intelligent, but not necessarily wise'. The Votann have the semi-mythical feel of 
• The Hearthkyn and Hearthguard warriors – definitely hit the 'well-equipped and armoured' angle, and also hit the physical archetypes for me. 
• The Ironkyn are a nice nod to master crafting, and more deeply, I think that they reflect the 'magical craftsmen' concept of older dwarf archetypes too – the sort of dwarfs that make magic items for gods. It's a nice twist to have what are 'far future' concepts to us be 'ancient history' to the Leagues.
• Hernkyn Pioneer – to me, this is slightly at odds with the 'defensive' and 'slow' archetypes that I suggested above, but does hit the crafting angle, if only obliquely.
  
• The Sagitaur better interprets the archetype of 'defensiveness', being a well-armed transport that's rugged and reliable.

Overall, I think the things we're missing, or are less obvious from the list are more about character: reliability, cunningness, honour-bound and intelligent. These are aspects that I'm hoping are explored a bit more in the lore and particularly in the Codex. I'd like to hear how the Leagues relate to the other xenos – while it's peripheral (I'd argue) that dwarfs hate elves and greenskins, it's an angle that was front and centre for the Squats.

This is what's most exciting me at the moment about the Leagues – how closely will they hew to the Warhammer Dwarf archetypes above, how will they explore and expand on that to make a unique creation – and what, if anything, will they draw from the Squats?

+++

+ Conclusions +

So, the ideas are laid out above. I'm very happy to discuss whether my list of archetypes is too broad, or too narrow – or even misses the point – but I hope that it provides a good place to start discussions on what you consider core to the idea of space dwarfs, and what you'd like GW to be more exploratory with. Most importantly, what you'll do with the models GW are presenting to us. :)

+ inload: Where the Stone Oxen and Lions Stand +

+ Emperor's Children, 16th Millennial +

+ Work in progress Emperor's Children 'The Illuminator demands perfection!' +

+ Another short painting session last night sees progress being made to my 15mm Emperor's Children. I'm not a fan of batch painting, but it's really the only practical way I've found to make progress with this scale. They're not small enough to whip through like Epic, nor quite large enough to be worth trying to focus on them as individuals. The upsides are that the details are clean and reward quick, simple techniques. +

+++

+ Painting 15mm Emperor's Children +

+ I'm planning to work through four stages for these marines, summarised from left to right below. +

_1  Quick and simple – the model is painted with Screamer Pink. The bases are then painted with drybrushing, as described in an earlier inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]. The model is then washed with Druchii Violet and the guns, backpack, studs and visible soft armour in Incubi Darkness. +

_2 Stage 2  This sees the metallics picked out with Ironbreaker. The midtones are then added with an even mix of Screamer Pink and Emperor's Children, favouring the upper parts and avoiding the recesses. +

_3  Having dried, the metallics are washed with Nuln Oil and the highlights added. Form highlights are Emperor's Children thinned with flow enhancer, over which are added Fulgrim Pink edge highlights to areas facing the light. +

_4 Detailing. The guns get an edge highlight of Vallejo Off-white, the eyes are picked out with Moot Green, and the Legion markings are added with gold (I think it's Liberator Gold, but wouldn't swear to it) a over a circle of Incubi Darkness. +

+++

+ Paint musings +

+ An overall shot of the force as it stood at the start of the evening. As usual when starting a new project, my mind is bubbling over with ideas for development and expansion – but I really think it's only right to at least get these all painted and ready before asking the ever-kind Lucifer216 to print any more! +

+ Natural light always shows things slightly differently; I find it lends itself better to colour accuracy (at least with my phone). Below are some shots from the desktop this morning. I don't think they bear up to too much close scrutiny, but I'm pleased with the overall effect even at this stage. Indeed – it's actually been nice to simplify things. +

+ Block colour space marines, with little in the way of individuality or complication, is how I remember the Epic battle reports of years ago. Armies painted like that have a lovely 'Legion' feel; of near-identical super soldiers, and I think that aesthetic is perfectly suited to 15mm. +

+ At 32mm, I like a bit of individuality, as the size and detail of the figures allows easy reference. Smaller than that, and it becomes considerably harder to tell the difference between different units at a glance. For that reason, I'll be keeping personalisation to a minimum here, perhaps lavishing a bit more time and attention on squad leaders and so forth. +

+ That will leave space for more elite units – Palatine Blades, Noise Marines (Kakophoni if you're feeling fancy) etc. – to be picked out with the addition of more silver and white. +

+++

+ Lore +

+ There's more to this hobby than painting and playing; so I wanted to come up with some background for the force in general. The Emperor's Children are a faction I've never really explored in depth, though they're a long-familiar name. Like the other three Chaos god-aligned Traitor Legions, I like how they represent a warning of taking a virtue to its extreme – for the Emperor's Children, pride curdled into arrogance. That's something that's long been tempting to explore – which I partially did in my Iron Hands narrative project, May You Live Forever, which followed a couple of Iron Hands during the Isstvan Dropsite Massacre. They encountered a few isolated Emperor's Children there, and so I'd like to touch back on that. +

+ Lucifer216 came up with the brilliant idea of producing some key figures in 32mm scale, and using forced perspective to get some shots. A lovely way to inject some personality and a great excuse to paint up some one-off larger figures, too. We thought it'd be good to generate some names, too, so my commander will be revelling in the name Lieutenant-Commander Dolichenus Tyrian, Prince of Chemos, Great Bull. +

+ Beyond this, however, I've left things fairly loose. Part of that is deliberate – I don't want to be distracted from making progress by diving into the minutiae of Legion's background and getting distracted. After all, everyone involved has a good solid understanding of the forces they're commanding and opposing, and I'd rather focus on the standard Legion troops than exceptions. +

+++

+ Gaming stats +

+ As outlined in this inload [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], we're planning to use a modified version of Beyond the Gates of Antares (version 2) to play out this war. There's quiet a bit of counts-as and exceptions (mainly simplifying, but also some direct changes), so I thought I'd start drafting a reference sheet for us. I'll try to find some way of sharing it here. +

+++

+ inload: Ironstaff Throng +

+ Adding to the Ironstaff Throng +

+ A review of the Necromunda Ironhead Squat Prospectors +

+ Squats! New squats. From Games Workshop. Intriguing stuff, and being a bit of a fan of this long-lost faction, I pre-ordered the Necromunda Ironhead Squat Prospectors as soon as they came on site. +

+ The pinks are for an Emperor's Children project, you might (or might not!) be relieved to hear+

+ The box contains two identical sprues, each allowing you to build four Squats. The models go together quickly and smoothly, and result in a burly and broad finished figure. They are on 28.5mm bases: slightly smaller than those of Primaris Space Marines, but larger than that of Guard infantry and the like, which are on 25mm. This gives a deceptive appearance. They are slightly larger than I'd anticipated, but not as large as I was fearing. +

+ Pictured here, in what might be the least useful scale comparison picture ever, is one built virtually stock, besides a Rogue Trader classic (the Piscean/fishman/saharduin) and another modern remake of a classic, the Ambull from Blackstone Fortress. The Piscean is on a 30mm base, same as a Space Marine; the Ambull on a 50mm base. +

+++

+ Gut reaction +

+ My overall reaction to having one built is fairly positive. I love the core silhouette. Once the two halves of the torso are connected, and the legs added, you have a great core figure. I'm less immediately sold on the the heads and arms, however, as they add a huge amount of bulk that cover up a lot of what I like about the figure. +

+ As you can see from the more useful scale reference picture below, they're not, as some were fearing, as tall as modern Imperial Guardsmen, even taking pose into account. It is, however, notable that they are bigger than the fantasy dwarfs – the converted figure on the left is based on an Kharadon Arkanaut (the steampunk sky dwarfs), for example, and they themselves are larger than the older Ironbreaker etc. models (Dispossessed). +

+ From left to right: converted Squat, new Ironhead, Death Korps plastic, Forgeworld Cadian + 

+ A few years back, I posted a tutorial on how to convert Squats from the then-new Warhammer sky dwarfs (you can check it out here, if you wish [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+]), so my view of how reimagined squats could look is probably coloured a bit by that. +

+ Nevertheless, I like the result. For a start, it's considerably more creative than my attempt, which mined the 2nd ed. plastics and contemporary dwarfs very closely. The new Necromunda squats take their inspiration from elsewhere. Indeed, I think they take a lot of their design cues from 'Iron Bonce the Squat' [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+] (not least their name), the first space dwarf released for the then-new Rogue Trader – no bad thing; it's nice to change things up a bit. +

+ Let's take a look at some of the other bits and bobs of the new models. +

+++

+ Beardie-weirdies +

+ I read some pre-release fears that the heads weren't 'squatty' enough, and didn't have enough facial hair. For anyone on the fence owing to this particular concern, rest assured that all five of the head options include facial hair, ranging from a full set to some powerful mutton chops. +

+ Let me be clear that it's not the aesthetic of the heads that I dislike, but the decision to use a ball-and-socket approach. In all honesty, lack of beards is not something that would have put me off anyway, but I like the decision to include them nevertheless. Beards and dwarfs seem to go together in sci-fi and fantasy, and part of me prefers the more subtle facial hair here than the flanderised alternative. Giant beards are a key part of the Warhammer dwarf archetype, but I don't think they're quite so key to squats. Even the original squat plastics had relatively short or restrained beards in comparison with their Fantasy battle compatriots. +

 

+ Having said that, I do think it's a valid point that they don't look like they have beards from the studio's stock shots. This is partly because of the angle of the shots (the lower part of the face is often hidden behind the high collar of the suit), and partly because of the separate visors, which further cover them up. +

+++

+ Any bad bits? +

+ Few reviews of Squats are going to be entirely free of 'grumbling into beer', so I did want to flag up a couple of bits that I was disappointed by. Firstly,  let's address those visors. While a nice nod to Ironbonce, and eminently practical from real-world safety principles, it's a shame to cover so much of the face. On my build below, I trimmed away a little at the back to allow it to sit a little higher, revealing more of the face. +

+ I also left off the backpack and cut away the second barrel on the gun; mainly to clean things up a bit. +

+ Secondly, the sprue has a surprisingly small number of options. You don't get enough weapons to give everyone two-handed rifles without doubling up the heavy, and the few options there are are limited to grenades and the like. I would have vastly preferred some extra heads or characterful bits like the Goliath cigar to multiple visor options. This is something that I hope is addressed in an upgrade sprue or alternative expansion sprue (as the other Necromunda gangs have received) so consider this judgement in light of the likely appearance of that. Perhaps further releases will make this early one sing. +

+ Thirdly, and my biggest grumble, is the head recess. It's huge, and makes using parts from other ranges much harder. Perhaps it's a design feature that will be shared by the upcoming Leagues of Votann (the other new squats) models, but at the moment it's just annoying that the Ironhead prospectors aren't compatible with any of the existing dwarf ranges from fantasy – or indeed anything else. If you don't like the super-wide helmet aesthetic, you're a bit stuck – and that ties back in to the lack of options. Even one or two unhelmed heads would have been nice. +

+ One stock and three lightly converted figures +

+ Fortunately, it's not an insurmountable problem. As you can see above, a lump of plastic offcut can raise a Fyreslayer, Arkanaut or Dispossessed head to an appropriate height, though you'll also need to carefully trim the beard of the donor model. The results above will be improved by some greenstuff around the recesses to tidy things up, but you get the basic idea. +

+++

+ Conclusion +

+ How do the new squats measure up? Despite my critique above, I think these are lovely little models. I always try to avoid expectations on redesigns of older models, as I always value someone trying something new and creative over being slavish to the past. While these don't quite scratch the itch for me as stock, I am very pleased with them once converted, and I'm excited to see what everyone else does with them. +

+ Most of all, however, I'm most pleased that the new squats are good solid models in their own right. I don't think that you need be nostalgic for the old models to find these appealing, and the designers should be congratulated for that. The Squats have lurked for so long that almost anything would have been borne some serious weight of expectation – and I'm pleased to say that, overall, I think they stand up to it, straight out of the box. +

+ Overall, bar a couple of grumbles, these get two mechandendrites up. +

+++

+ Ironstaff Throng +

+ The Ironstaff League is the little space I carved out for Squats in the PCRC's shared sector, Antona Australis. The background can be seen on the blog here [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], and was my attempt to integrate Squats into the 40k universe, and includes a bit more Warhammer dwarfiness than what we've seen so far. Fortunately, I think such differences add to the richness – you might think of the Ironstaff League as a slight cultural outlier, rather than completely incompatible. + 

+ It's largely because I already have some converted figures that I decided to convert my Ironhead Prospectors. In other words, had I not already converted some squats, I'd probably have left the models unconverted – because for all the minor grumbles above, I do think the new models are very characteful and appealing. +

+ What I have done is to include some more of the Celtic/Brythonic design language – knotwork, filgree etc. – common to Warhammer Dwarfs, and largely absent from the new models. I have done this sparingly, as I think there's a fine line to tread between homage and caricature. Indeed, part of me admires the GW designers' decision to avoid such design language completely, as it makes a definite statement of intent that they're not beholden to the past in the relaunch of the Squats. +

+ Despite this, there's no question that the new models do stand out from the rest of the force. I don't think that's necessarily a problem – indeed, if anything, it gives me a bit of space to have these as some sort of specialists – perhaps I'll use them as heavy-weapon wielders or something, given the unusual way their weapons are held compared with my existing models. + 

+++

+ The chap with the banner is a loose nod towards the old hearthguard models, and that's something that I think I'll experiment with for the other sprue. Having a squad of clearly bigger and brawnier figures, with bulkier armour and equipment, makes should work well to mark out the Warlord.

+++

+ The new figures are pictured here alongside my conversions. Further releases  and a coherent paint scheme will hopefully further blend away the differences; but I already think they'll look nice on the table together – what do you reckon? +

+++

+ inload: 15mm gaming in the Horus Heresy – and painting Emperor's Children +

+ New frontiers +

+ One 15mm Emperor's Children Legionary complete, and twenty-odd more well on their way. +

+ New projects have a habit of becoming over-ambitious and under-delivering, so I wanted to play things down and keep things as simple as possible. Here then, is an inload to give an easy reference point for the PCRC on gaming in the Horus Heresy at 15mm. It's a gathering of my thoughts as much as anything else, and if anyone else fancies testing this out along with us – please feel free. I'd love to hear your feedback and experiences to help make things better. +

+ Gaming in 15mm +

+ This will be playtested using the Antares 2 rulset, available free at the Antares Nexus here. Our first considerations:

• Walk before we run  Keeping things simple and minimal to begin – a new game system is tricky enough to adapt to.
• Use existing stats where possible  A mag gun might not be the final set of rules we use for a boltgun, but it's a good place to start.
• Add granularity sparingly  We get little enough time to game as it is, so keeping the game accessible and benefitting from the balancing of the Antares community is important.

+ With these things in mind, we'll be using the game largely unchanged to begin with. We've got a fairly slim selection of units at the moment, which is good to start with. These, along with my suggested proxies from the Algoryn, are:

• Legionary Tactical Squads – Vector AI Squads
• Rhino – Defiant Transport Skimmer 
• Land Raider – Bastion Heavy Combat Skimmer

+ I suggested Algoryn because they've got the most 'basic' armour and weaponry of the Antares system; no variance between ranges and few special rules. That makes them a great proxy for the simple, brutal warfare of the 31st Millennium. Algoryn also have relatively better physical stats than many of the other factions – suitable for the Space Marines. +

+ Heresy in progress... +

+ Unit changes +

+ There are some modifications that we've discussed. That might clash with the simplicity note above, but they're really there to ensure WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). It's simpler, after all, to refer to the model in front of you than the ruleset.

• We strip out all drones for the moment.
• I think these add a lot to the game, so I'd be quite keen to see them reintroduce eventually as servo skulls, signum rules or something. For the moment, however, we'll keep it simple.
• Changes to the Tactical Squads 
• No option to change squad size. They're fixed to five. 
• The Algoryn special guns aren't a good approximation of the Astartes loadout, so they are also all armed the same way by default, with a boltgun (mag gun).
• For every two squads (i.e. ten marines), you can take either a missile launcher (using Mag cannon stats for krak missiles and X-launcher stats for frag) or an autocannon (using Mag Light Support) stats.
• This is a bit different to how these weapons are used in Antares, where they're crewed support weapons, so we'll need to see how this works in practice. It may be that we need to bump up general survivability somehow, or draft our own weapons stats.
• Changes to the Rhino
• Use as-is, but with no options.
• Be sporting when it comes to terrain – these are tracked, so don't get the various hover benefits etc.
• Changes to the Land Raider
• As for the Rhino notes on manoeuvring/terrain
• Replace all weapons with two twin lascannons (Heavy Mag Cannon)

+ The aim of all these changes is to make things as simple and approachable as possible. At 15mm scale, some granularity is good, but if we can keep things really simple, then it's going to be much easier to play bigger battles. +

+++

+ A nod to scale +

+ One thing we are still discussing is the table scale. I've suggested that we start on a Kill Team-sized board (22 x 30in) and use cm in place of inches. My argument for that is mostly practical. While I would love to play giant games on a 6 x 4in with loads of models and suitably monumental terrain, at the moment we've just got 30-odd figures.  Also, a small board makes it more easy to set up and put away in the limited time we have; and more able to be played alongside other games at our meet-ups. +

+ Secondly, Antares is quite a mobile game – you can typically move two or three times your move stat – and has much longer gun ranges than typical in 40k. As a result, I think things should work out alright at this size – or at least I'd like to see how this plays out in metric. If it doesn't work, or looks a bit crap, I'll happily change over to imperial. That's the joy of playtesting! +

+++

+ Who's involved? +

• Myself – Emperor's Children
• Lucifer216 – Night Lords
• TrojanNinja – Dark Angels
• ...and hopefully other the PCRC members soon! :)

+ Painting 15mm Emperor's Children +

+ A quick rundown of how I've been preparing and painting my models: +

+ 1_ The models are glued to pennies as their bases, which are then covered with sand. +

+ 2_ Once dry, the models are sprayed with Halfords Camouflage Brown. A great matt finish. +

+ 3_ The models are sprayed at a 45-degree angle off vertical from both front and back, giving a zenithal highlight. I used Halfords Khaki as that was the lightest colour I had. I suspect it'd be more effective with white. (This was done on a whim as a bit of a test  for other schemes, to be honest – seemed to work well, but purple has such strong coverage that the effect is minimal with this scheme. Had it gone wrong here, no great shakes, as the purple would cover it.) +

+ 4_ The models are painted Screamer Pink (front), then washed with Druchii Violet. Once dry, the guns, soft armour and metallics receive a layer of Incubi Darkness. Note this is not pure black – to help with the sense of scale, tones need to be slightly muted to suggest aerial perspective (that is, dust in the atmosphere makes more distant things appear slightly bluer and less contrasting in value. Avoiding pure white or black, therefore, helps to create the illusion of distance).  +

+ 5_ I add a little circle of Incubi Darkness to the pauldron (to help the Legion symbol to pop) and studs on the other shoulder. Metallics are then added with Ironbreaker, then the guns and backpack get a wash of Agrax Earthshade. Once dry, highlights are added by adding a touch of Vallejo Off-white to the pink and Incubi darkness. The details, such as the Legion symbol on the pauldron are Liberator Gold. Eyes are a bright green (Warpstone Glow?) painted over Incubi Darkness. They are dotted with white to finish. +

+ Basing +

+ All very straightforward – a straight succession of drybrushes with the colours above. I added a hint of white to Zamesi Desert for the final pop, and then painted the rim of the base with Dryad Bark to tidy things up. +

+++

+ inload: 15mm Horus Heresy +

+ Madness – an exercise in 15mm +

+ The PCRC met up for our first tabletop wargaming in a long time – and longtime PCRC droog Lucifer216 very kindly presented me and the gang with a gift of thirty-odd Space Marines and tanks each. The title of the inload has probably given away the ending, but they're 15mm. +

+++

+ Theoretical: Gaming plans +

+ Teeny-tiny (but not as teeny-tiny as Epic-scale) Space Marines +

+ A whim? A bit of fun? Who can say, but the possibility of 15mm gaming is a tantalising one. I'm keen to try out the now model-agnostic Antares rules, which are freely available from their new home at the Antares Nexus [+noosphericexloadlink embedded+]. Partially that's because I have really enjoyed the smooth lines and gameplay of Antares, and partially because it's an opportunity to explore the intriguing idea, presented by the authors themselves in the foreword to the core rules:

'[...]it was suggested by several of our play testers that the Core Rules, this file you are reading right now, could form the basis for a game set in almost any futuristic universe and not just the Antarean Nexus peculiar to the Beyond the Gates of Antares background. Although the core rules are designed to cover the sophisticated technologies and machine-centred forces of Antares, all the elements are there to enable players to adapt the game to any background and any model ranges they please.'

[Rick Priestley and Tim Bancroft]

+ I think the Antares 2 engine will be suited to a Horus Heresy-style game, as the game works really well at reinforced platoon-level (that is, about thirty infantry plus a supporting tank or two). The fact that we both have almost identical forces should also help: mirror matches circumvent some of the problems that can skew specialised forces. Basically, you're less likely to have balance outliers if both sides are identical. +

+ I haven't put a huge amount of thought into adapting things, but my current musings include:

• Using the (relatively) low-tech Algoryn as a basis for the Space Marine stats
• A wholesale conversion from inches to cm
• A basic squad size of five
• Keep things as simple as possible to begin
• Consider the use of Army Options to differentiate Legions

+++

+ Practical: why 15mm? +

+ This picture demonstrates the size of the Space Marines. In the foreground is a multi-based set of Epic-scale (~6mm tall), and on the right a modern (i.e. Primaris-sized) 40k piece. The 15mm tall ones are in the middle. +

+ This scale will – I hope – hit the sweet spot for me of visual impact in-game (something that Epic loses) with practicality of company-size gaming (something that 40k struggles with). 15mm infantry is large enough to be interesting to see and paint, but small enough to allow meaningful manoeuvring on a typical game board. +

+ A better comparison with the 32mm marine +

+ Secondly, while I love Epic dearly, I find the infantry dispiriting to paint. They're individually quick to do, but the multiple models on a base makes the practical side of painting them frustrating for me. To that end, I've based these individually. I've used pennies for the bases: cheaper than washers(!), and heavy enough to give the lightweight resin some resilience against table knocks etc. The base is relatively larger than that of a 32mm figure, but fits neatly proportionally between the base size of 40k and Epic. Much smaller and I'd be concerned about stability. +

+ A group of Astartes advances in the wake of armour +

+ You'll notice I've also based the tanks, using 50mm round bases for the Rhinos and a 60mm for the Land Raider. The small size of the vehicles is one of the big appeals for 15mm for me. At 32mm scale, tanks just have too large a footprint to 'feel right' with the 40k rules, but here they're chunky enough to look cool, but slight enough to allow for that elusive 'meaningful manoeuvre' I mentioned earlier. +

+ You'll notice I've also based the tanks, using 50mm round bases for the Rhinos and a 60mm for the Land Raider. The small size of the vehicles is one of the big appeals for 15mm for me. At 32mm scale, tanks just have too large a footprint to 'feel right' with the 40k rules, but here they're chunky enough to look cool, but slight enough to allow for that elusive 'meaningful manoeuvre' I mentioned earlier. + 

+ Basing vehicles is something I've been experimenting with for a while. I find that it helps to place the vehicle both in the army (by giving it another element that matches the force), and in the broader setting. The base acts like a picture frame, making it clear that this is part of the same game. +

+++

+ Force plans +

+ Here's the full force – a mighty thirty Space Marines with their transports and heavy armour support. +

+ The only Emperor's Children marine I've painted in the past couple of decades was a casualty under Ferrus Manus' foot [+noosphericinloadlink embedded+], but a vibrant purple is opposite yellow on the colour wheel, so will stand out nicely in battle. Secondly, purple paints tend to have quite good coverage, so I'm hoping that means the force will be quick to paint. +

+ A squad of Emperor's Children emerges from their Rhino armoured transport. +

+++