Warhammer 40000 – Page 11 – An Archive For The Steinberg Shed Space Blog

Warhammer 40,000 – More Shading And Upgrading

It often makes me smile to see my early painting efforts and what I had previously decided was ‘ok’ back in the day. The recent updating of my old Space Marines has reminded me of this on a number of levels. Thankfully a simple ink wash is often enough to hide some of the worse parts and, as always, adding a touch of shade makes them fit in closer to my current style.

Terminators in their original state.

Before and after a coat of Army Painter Dark Shade.

Unit refreshed and drying. Bases will be updated when I have decided what to do with the original Blue/Black ones on the Tactical Marines in the back of the photo.

One thing I never added to my vehicles in past rule sets, as they never seemed worth it, are Hunter Killer Missiles. In this rule set they are more effective so a rummage through the bits box comes up with 3x missiles but only one base connector. A couple of other random parts work well as alternates.

Again, a simple paint job. Black base coat, very light dry brush with silver and pick out lens and LED on control box. Magnets to the bases allow me to fit and remove it to help remind me when this one shot weapon has fired.

Warhammer 40,000 – Preparation Progress

Some of my painted 40K figures were base coated with an old Games Workshop blue grey colour spray paint. Nothing special these days, but this was done back when GW only did white and black. For a year or so they tried to release some other colours but these didn’t sell so were discontinued. About 10 years later they are now back selling a wide range of colours. NOT ONE OF THESE COLOURS MATCHES THE ONE I ORIGINALLY USED THOUGH!

What that means is I cannot add figures to the units. If I want to expand the Army I have to find a way to mix colours without making it look like they are just badly matched versions of the same colour…

Originally I can recall that I had a spray can of the blue/grey colour and a can of a yellow. The result was a Space Marine Army that had some yellow troops and some blue.

To make the force look more unified, and to allow me to add new troopers, I have decided to add some yellow touches to the original blue troopers so that any new troopers can be painted in a yellow colour that I have found to match the original yellow base coat.

I am sure that I can convince myself that the Chapter was originally liveried in blue but changed their armour colour to yellow after some significant event or action. Its only me that needs to be convinced so it doesn’t need to be to detailed. That said I may feel prompted to think up some sort of history for them…

So, the veteran’s helmet becomes yellow. Originally he had a bare head with a dodgy chestnut ink wash that gave him a skin tone that looked almost wood varnished.

They will never get more than a simple paint job as I have an aversion to painting GW plastic figures. Some details are easy to pick out but others are moulded at a slight angle and almost blend into the lower layer. I like clear lines to follow, if you know what I mean…

Warhammer 40,000 8th Edition.

With a slight pause in my hobby activity, while I was on holiday, Games Workshop caused a little bit of news with the release of a new edition of Warhammer 40K. The eighth edition of the game takes it back to a more simple rule set and changes a few things to make it appear, at first glance, easy for new players to dive in.

I am certainly not a new player, but I have been ‘out’ of 40K for a fair number of years. We tried 7th edition 40K for a couple of games but it had little that was new enough to keep us hooked. Age of Sigmar managed to hold us longer as it was very different from the normal, repackaged, Warhammer Fantasy game of previous editions.

8th edition 40K looks to be more like Age of Sigmar in its simple approach. I picked up a Primer and Index for my old Space Marines just before I left for holiday and have pondered it for the time that I was away.

So, now that I am back in the shed, I have a 100 power point game planned for this week.

To prepare I have looked out my ancient painted figures, and even managed to run through a quick (30 power point) skirmish game with Veganman, to get a grip on the basic rules.

Some of the older paint jobs leave me slightly uncomfortable so I plan to touch up a couple of bits here and there.

How many other folks out there painted their original Space Marines in a Camo colour scheme? (Own up Coronasan as I know you had a few…)

40K Followup And Falter/ Frostgraves Infiltration.

Our first game of Warhammer 40,000 was a large force (1,500point) game that allowed us to get lots of toys on the table. Our second game was a smaller affair (1000points).

The lower point value made me drop some of the heavier units. No heavy support means the need for a faster, flexible strike force. The Terminators remained in play with a razorback to provide some long range firepower. My fast options changed from assault marines to a squadron of Land speeders. This included a newly painted speeder with Typhoon launchers. A scout squad also adds some pinpoint firepower that may be required to pick of high value or harder targets.

I have often looked at my marines force and wondered why I painted some units with a bright yellow undercoat (I had a good reason I am sure when I did it) the speeder and scouts show the original Green/ Yellow camouflage that was my plan. I guess that marines should not really be dressed in camouflage but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I was unable to take photos of the game we played but I can tell you it was a hard fought game. My opponent brought out his Spacewolves and played a force of Terminators and Elites with a leader that was in fact a Venerable Dreadnought.

He played a reserved tactical game but then failed to hold his objectives and opened him self up for a heavy hit to the Dreadnought which left him without a leader.

Soon after this game was played a small game called Frostgrave was released and hit the shelves with a huge wave of interest.

Frostgrave will, I am sure, be our next major investment. In this case the investment will be minimal on miniatures as only ten can be played in a crew. The investment may be made in wandering creatures and scenery to play the various missions listed in the book…

Only time will tell…

40K First Outing In A Millennia.

So, our first 40k game in years was planned and set up.

With an easy, simple paint job completed on the few units I needed to finish off. I was ready to go in no time.

Our table was set up with a simple set of generic scenery.

My forces were ready for deployment and my opponent was again ready to try to stop me. Veganman was on form as usual bringing Devastator squads, Terminators and a Land Raider.

Short edge deployment was rolled for along with objectives placed along the length of the table. First contact was made and battle commenced.

Although we played along the length of the table it soon split into a game of two sides. Both forces trying to stop the other outflanking their men. Not a difficult task when the battlefield is only 4 feet across.

One tactic I remembered from years ago is the use of cheap transports as mobile terrain to cover other troops advances. This worked well to a point but the side of a Rhino will never give much cover from 2 twin linked lascannons and a multimelta…

Razorbacks are also great for providing cover and some heavy fire but don’t stand up to close assault from something like a squad of Terminators.

This game turned out to be some good fun and a nice change from GWs previous trend. I suspect it will get played again very soon but with so many other games vying for our attention who knows what will happen.

Times Change But The Publisher Stays The Same.

With Games Workshop being so much in evidence, with our run on Age Of Sigmar, it was never going to be long before we revisited GWs other cash cow.

I have collected Space Marines for many years and have a sizeable (mostly unpainted) force. Warhammer 40,000 was always a great work of fiction with a huge following that love the history and story of eternal conflict. Space marines have been central to that story from the start.

My collection has not seen the light of day for many a year now. It finally got dusted off this summer when a couple of friends decided to try out a few games in a local GW store. As usual it wasn’t long before we all started thinking about our past love of this game.

Most of us became disillusioned by GW as their collection of games became more complex and more prone to list building than being played just for fun. With their shift towards unstructured games (Age Of Sigmar being an obvious example of this) GW has opened the path back to fun. The rules for 40k have again opened up to allow a mixed, play with what you want, list of armies. That was all we were waiting for it seem.

That said, I still feel a space marine force should be mainly men on the ground. The options for tanks and flyers will come in time but to get to grips with the basics it is best to go man to man in a slug fest.

To that end, I have put together most of my painted forces, and have decided what other items I need to get painted up to complete a basic force.

I was always a fan of Assault marines so a squad of these and another of their elite equivalents forms the core of the force.

2 small Terminator squads add some strength and durability, with the option for deep strike deployment as well.

Some basic tactical marines with transport options (Rhino and Razorback) add some extra firepower.

A land speeder and a land raider add some much needed speed and punch respectively.

All in all its a simple paint job, and it should be easy to finish off the few troops and tank needed to field a fully painted force.

Next up, our first play of 40k in about 10 years…