Hobby Sunday 14/08/16- Forests and Imperial Church

For hobby progress this week, I decided to make a start on my Imperial Knight and get some terrain done that has been sitting around for ages. 

I finally got round to magnetising my Imperial Knight that was purchased back in April. I posted about this earlier in the week, so check that out if you are interested. 

Ages ago, I also purchased some wooden bases for my trees that I had lying around. The last time I had looked at these was back in February, when I glued the bases together and added sand to them. A few weeks later, I was able to undercoat them black, and that is where they sat for several months awaiting completion. 

Frontline Gaming Articles

The more eagle-eyed readers of the blog may have noticed a new tab in my menu above, the Frontline Gaming Articles tab. 

My first few articles on Frontline Gaming have started appearing, I will be providing links to them in the tab periodically, so keep an eye out and check them out!

Magnetising the Imperial Knight

Here is my guide on magnetising the Imperial Knight. 

With my White Scars army recently completed, I was keen to make a start on my Knight. I had picked up the Imperial Knight Renegade box as it was a bargain, selling off one of the Knights to make it even better value. I decided to magnetise my Knight to use all the available options, as I would be unlikely to purchase another. 

There were two other guides online that I found very useful for my own attempts. These were Nick's guide (the Burning Eye) and Alex's guide (From the Fang). I decided to write up my own guide too, in part because I was going to do a couple of things differently after checking out the assembly, and what else is the internet for except repeating the same information over and over in a variety of different ways. 

For my guide to magnetising the Imperial Knight, you will need:

• Imperial Knight (obviously!)
• Imperial Knight assembly guide (I used the one from the Renegades boxed set and I will be referring to numbered parts throughout)
• Hobby drill with 6 mm and 2 mm drill bits
• Eleven 6 mm x 2 mm magnets (I used these ones)
• Nine 2 mm x 1 mm magnets
• Hobby knife/stanley knife
• Superglue
• Plastic Glue
• Green Stuff or modelling clay
• Marker pen

GENERAL NOTE: I left the armour plates off of the Knight when assembling to make it easier to paint these separately and get to the detail underneath. 

White Scars Army- Complete

After a very prolific painting spree over the past two months, I was finally able to complete my White Scars army. The first models for this army were purchased in December 2014 and I have added many, many more to my collection over the past two years.

My White Scars army consists of:

HQ

Kor'sarro Khan on Moondrakkan
Chaplain- Bike
Librarian- Bike
Librarian
Captain- Bolter and Power Sword
Captain- Bike, Storm Shield, Power Fist

Better Know A Blogger- Part 19: Code 40K

This week's Better Know a Blogger features Mike (AKA extremedoc1 AKA Doc) from Code 40K.

Doc is chief amongst the large number of contributors to Code 40K. As a result of having various people writing for the same blog, you will find a wealth of different writing styles and work on various different armies and projects to keep you entertained.

Doc's own work includes his great series of posts on building and painting his Cerastus Knight, with plenty advice on building the massive kit and some great links to tutorial videos for certain aspects of the build.

You will also find various posts on his 30K Death Guard and some great terrain pieces on show.

Doc is also a fan of video blogging (vlogging) and you can find many videos on different parts of his 40k collection on the blog. You will also find some great video battle reports on the blog.

One of the most recent series on Code 40k is "Using the interwebs for hobby purposes". In this series, Doc aims to collate a number of hobby videos and hobby blogs, each to do with a different topic. The first in the series, Mechanicum, features some great hobby links and content and will be a great resource for anyone interested in the army or who is thinking about collecting the force.

Here are Mike's answers to my questions:

Hi Mike,

So first off I am ‘DOC’ the chief of the code40k blog and a member of the group of the same name. We have been blogging since 2010 and have been running our gaming group since 2006 with many of the core members gaming together since the 1990’s. 

Our blog is www.code40k.blogspot.co.uk

Our facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/code40k/

Our youtube account is: https://www.youtube.com/user/extremedoc1

All members of the code have gamer nicknames developed over the years of our gaming life, although mine is my childhood nickname. I loved the young gun films and DOC was my favourite character and simply it stuck. I also used it for all the three letter scoreboards men of certain age will remember putting their initials into. My real name is also Mike, like you Corrm. 

Hobby Sunday 07/08/16- White Scars Rhino and Razorback

This week, I have completed my White Scars Rhino and Razorback. 

Originally, I had two Rhinos for my White Scars army, which I thought would be more than sufficient for the force. However, the release of the new White Scars Formations brought the Stormlance Battle Demi-Company that required 4 Rhinos or Razorbacks to use. I picked up another Rhino from ebay a while ago and recently acquired parts of a Rhino from ebay. The Rhino parts were missing the top hatch, so I decided to use the opportunity to convert a Razorback from my extensive bits box. 

Caledonian Revolution 2016: Best Army Nominees Photos

Today's post features the nominee armies for the best army at Caledonian Revolution. This was a really tough decision to make, as the quality of the armies was amazing. 

First up, we have a deathstar type army based on several fantasy and Age of Sigmar models. 

Caledonian Revolution 2016:Armies on Display

Since I had a lot of spare time with my first tournament game finishing so early, I got a chance to take some photos of the various armies at the tournament. This post will feature some of the random armies that caught my eye as I walked around. Tomorrow's post will feature the armies that were nominated for best army. 

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Caledonian Revolution 2016: White Scars Army Review

As is customary after any tournament that I attend, I like to take a look at how my army performed to see which units worked well and which units could be improved in the next iteration of the list. For the context of my army review, check out my battle reports for the tournament in the Tournament Battle Reports tab above.

As a reminder, my army consisted of:

Scarblade Strike Force

Hunting Force

Khan- Moondrakken

Command Squad- Bikes, Apothecary, 4 grav guns, 4 storm shields, Banner of the Eagle

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with power axe and meltabombs 

6 Bikers- 2 grav guns, sergeant with meltabombs 

Attack Bike- Multimelta

6 Scout Bikers- 2 Grenades launchers, sergeant with meltabombs and homing beacon

Stormbringer Squadron

5 Scouts- bolt pistols, combat weapons, sergeant with meltabombs

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher 

Landspeeder- Multimelta, Typhoon Missile Launcher

Combined Arms Detachment

Chaplain- Bike, Hunter's Eye, Meltabombs

5 Scouts- Bolters, sergeant with meltabombs

Landspeeder Storm- Heavy Bolter, Cerberus Launcher

3 Bikers- 2 meltaguns, sergeant with meltabombs 

3 Centurions- Grav cannons and grav amps, hurricane bolters

Drop Pod 

Stormhawk Interceptor- TL assault cannon, Skyhammer missile launcher, Las-talon

I will now take a look at each component of the army and see how it performed. 

Scarblade Strike Force

For one of the first times with my White Scars, my tournament army did not solely consist of a Combined Arms Detachment. This time, I decided to use the Scarblade Strike Force (the White Scars' Gladius-type formation). I figured that the bonuses from the formation would be extremely beneficial to my army. 

Lightning Assault:

The re-rolls to failed Hit and Run rolls were useful in this tournament, as there were a few instances over the course of the tournament where I failed these rolls. Unfortunately, the Grav Cannon Centurions were not a part of this formation, as they were the only unit that repeatedly failed Hit and Run rolls (as per usual). 

Ride the Wind:

This allows vehicle and bikes to move an extra D6" after moving flat out or turbo-boosting. I always completely forget about this rule and can't think of too many instances in my games where it would have come in useful. 

Maximum Impact:

Gain hammer of wrath if charing 8" or over (or re-rolls if you already have HoW). Never once came up in my games. The only time I risked a charge that was over 8", I failed the charge. With the mobility of my bike squads, I can pretty much guarantee that I will be charging less than 6" most of the time. I would be unlikely to risk a charge of 8" or over, possibly taking overwatch wounds and failing the charge, unless it was absolutely necessary to win the game. 

Better Know A Blogger- Part 18: Faeit 212

This week's Better Know a Blogger features Gary (AKA Natfka) from Faeit 212. 

I'm sure that Natfka and his amazing blog, Faeit 212, needs little in the way of introduction. For me, it is my first and only stop for all the latest 40k news and rumours. For years now, my morning ritual has been the same; check my emails, check facebook, check Faeit 212 for the latest info. 

I can't imagine the work that goes into finding all the disparate rumours and news from around the internet, but it is very much appreciated by gamers like me. What I really like about Faeit 212 is it is not click-baity, like other news and rumour sites are. You won't find any "You'll never guess what was spotted at GW HQ this week!?!?! Click to find out more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". What you will find is great and regular updates that actually credit the original source of where the information came from (crazy, I know!). 

Not only is Faeit 212 a fantastic news and rumours site, it also does a fantastic amount of community building. The Faeit 212 Blog Exchange is a must join for any 40k blogger (or any tabletop gaming blog at all). It is by far the biggest traffic source for me of any of the blog networks that I have joined. I frequently scroll through the network at least once a month in order to see if there are any great new blogs that I need to read. 

Another great feature is the "What's On Your Table" posts. In this, photos of gamers' current projects and completed projects are regularly featured. This gives you a chance to showcase some of your work, even if you don't have your own blog or anywhere else to showcase your work. Now could not be a better time to enter, as Natfka is currently looking for submissions for this great series. 

I was fortunate enough to feature once on a Reaching Out post that gives a shout out to blogs when I reached 100,00 views earlier this year. That one small post brought in over 2000 additional hits in just 2 days, which should show you exactly how popular a blog Faeit 212 is. So it is well worth showcasing your own work on "What's On Your Table". 

So here are Gary's answers to my questions:

1. What age did you get into gaming and what started it off?
I got into tabletop wargaming in 1998, when my roleplaying games were at a gaming store ran by a good friend of mine. This led me to really look into games that I saw being played. As far as gaming in general...... well I was playing chess at age 4 or 5. I don’t remember anytime in my life where I was not playing board games, or even early roleplaying games.