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Chaos Marine Backpacks

by Curis on October 1, 2009 at 9:46 am

I’m having a little nerd crisis at the moment over Chaos Marine backpacks, brought about by Lost and the Damned, and the oldskool models I love to surround myself with.

Let’s start in the current day.

Current Imperial backpacks:

Current Imperial Marine backpacks

Current Chaos backpacks:

Current Chaos Marine backpacks

The main difference is the stabiliser jets at the top are on stalks on the Chaos ones. This is one of the main design features of Chaos models that give them a distinct visual identity.

Now, let’s travel back to the 1990s, Citadel’s Silver Age.

1990s Imperial backpacks:

1990s Imperial Marine backpacks

1990s Chaos backpacks:

1990s Chaos Marine backpacks

Again, the Chaos ones are characterised by the stabilser jets protuding from the backpack’s body. It’s nice seeing this design detail has endured through the ages.

But let’s go further back, into the 1980s when this all began.

1980s Imperial backpacks:

1980s Imperial Marine backpacks

1980s Chaos backpacks:

1980s Chaos Marine backpacks

Ahh! Again, we have the stalked stabiliser jets. An original design quirk going back to 40k’s fledling days.

But no! No! Look closer! The stabiliser jets are the things beneath the stalks.

So, what’s going on? What are the stalks if they’re not stabiliser jets? The mystery deepens with this picture from Lost and the Damned. (Fans of Squats please look away now.)

They’re flying?! Is this illustration intended to illustrate some of the options on the Special Equipment Charts? Perhaps the Equipment and Bionics chart?

Equipment and Bionics Chart

Woah! Jump Packs upgraded to flight packs?! What’s the difference? Well, look it up in Rogue Trader and you get:

Flight pack. A flight pack is worn on the back. It can be either controlled by a manual control (which requires a free hand) or b direct mind-impulse link. The pack enables the wearer to fly, using a small thrust jet combined with suspensors.

Jump pack. A jump pack permits its wearer to make a long, powerful jump instead of a normal move. Unlike a flight pack, a model using a jump pack does not remain airborne, but takes off, jumps and lands as part of its movement.

Okay, so there were Jump Packs and Flight Packs. So, who had what? Well, most Chaos Marine Squads in the army lists had access to them.

Jump Pack options

Which leads me to the conclusion that back in the 1980s the Renegade Marine models were equipped with Jump Packs as standard, while their Imperial counterparts had standard backpacks.

Weird really, as page 72 of 2nd edition’s Chaos Codex says: Though both jump packs and skimmers were available to the Space Marine Legions in limited quantities prior to the Heresy they were proportionally far rarer than in the later Imperial Space Marine Chapters. The complex fabrication and maintenance rituals required for jump packs and skimmers has eliminated their use by the Traitor Legions since their banishment to the Eye of Terror.

Weird how things change, no?

└ Tags: 40K, Chaos, Rogue Trader, Space Marine, warhammer

12 Comments

Golden Demon

by Curis on September 28, 2009 at 12:22 pm

Posted In: 40K Misc

My Golden Demon entry this year was based on a classic piece of John Blanche artwork that featured on the cover of the second edition of Warhammer 40,000 back in 1993. The piece screamed SPACE MARINES! with its energy and vibrant colours.

Not Hello Kitty 40k

During my research I also found another version of John Blanche’s cover painting. I don’t know where this comes from, but the notable differences are the captain’s expression, more yellow/gold on the Powerfist and an upgraded Bolter.

A little more grimdark

I’m not the first person to have a shot at modelling this Angel of Death. Mike McVey converted a version which appeared in the Citadel Miniatures Modelling Guide, which also got reprinted in White Dwarf 174 (June 1994). He used a whole bunch of metal Marines which weren’t anywhere as modular or flexible as modern plastic kits.

McVey Blood Angel Captain

He did a very impressive interpretation, though I felt the legs were always a little off.

During my research I also discovered last year’s Slayer Sword winner Joseph Tomaszewski had had a go too. Though again I think his effort’s legs were off.

So, for my interpretation I took advantage of the current generation of modular kits, like Mr. Tomaszewski. Here’s a WIP shot where I tried to get the pose right. This needed several reposes of the leg to get the distinctive bend in the left knee, which meant pretty much re-sculpting huge sections of armour. It was very tempting to jump in straight away with the small fiddly details (like the little laurels and winged droplets), but I needed to have some solid groundwork done first.

Curis WIP

In terms of painting I kept him unashamedly bright and clean. This guy’s a definite child of the infamous Red Era, and I wanted to keep him fresh and pristine. I like my miniatures striking and brash at times.

Golden Demon Blood Angel

Only two problems happened during painting. I ran out of time to attach the sword, and the Powerfists’s purity seal (made out of tin foil from pill packaging) snapped off.

This is my first plinthed model. I wanted a simple understated affair which allowed the model to take centre stage rather than looking like a huge chuck of wood with a model daintily placed on top. I always thought plinths were a bit of an affectation. but having made one I realise they serve the purpose of making the model more handlable and better weighted.

And so, nervously entering the competition for the first time in years I came away with a Finalist’s certificate and pin badge. I was insanely delighted. I felt the brash colours and lack of battle damage would preclude me, so when the judges placed a little orange dot on my entry I was ecstatic. I even overheard one of the guys in the cabinet scrum saying, “Yeah, that well deserved it”.

Next year – more entries, grittier style.

└ Tags: 40K, Blood Angel, Golden Demon, Space Marine, warhammer

2 Comments

Golden Demon tomorrow

by Curis on September 26, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Posted In: 40K Misc

Golden Demon tomorrow! I’m flat out finishing off my entry, here’s a WIP.

Redtro Blood Angel

It’s the first time in years I’ve entered Golden Demon. It’s my first serious entry since I was a naive teenager, when Games Day was a major deal for me. I remember shivering with excitement the week before at school getting to go off for the day with all the guys in my teenaged gaming group and running amock in a beminiatured frenzy at the NIA.

Different this year. I went last year in the knowledge that I’ve grown out of a lot of the things that make it appealing. I now view it with that cynical detachment that gorwn ups have, rather than a kiddy frenzy. I would dearly love to be the right age to throw myself into the participation games with a sugar-fuelled abandon, run around swapping the contents of mystery boxes and gluing randomness together in the Scrap Demons. It’s kind of like Monsterpocalypse to me – something that would appeal to me were I a decade younger.

But the Golden Demon awards are the major pull for me now. I entered them years back when I was young enough to qualify for Young Bloods. I also (very precociously) entered the mainstream contest, unaware quite how astronomical the standards of painting there are. I was crushed when I didn’t get a statuette, but as a kid I had bounced back in minutes.

└ Tags: 40K, Blood Angel, Golden Demon, Space Marine, warhammer

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Squirrels with tits

by Curis on July 20, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Posted In: 40K Misc

So, you’ve spent hundreds on a Thunderhawk Gunship. The workhorse of the Adeptus Astartes. A vehicle the symbolises impending death for the foes of the Imperium.

So what do you airbrush on the side?

Squirrels with tits!

Original CMON page here.

└ Tags: 40K, squirrels, Thunderhawk, tits, warhammer

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Geek whinge

by Curis on December 18, 2008 at 9:00 am

Posted In: 40K Misc

My major beef with the new Games Workshop website is that it’s done with so little care. Time and time again you get the sense the entire thing was put together by lifeless automata. Then you consider the entire site is geared towards acting as a shop, the bit where you buy the product is so careless.

I was in Games Workshop a fortnight ago ordering some items from Mail Order through their website. In an incredible display of bad web design I was trapped in a cycle of pages that only let me cancel or edit my order – not actually purchase it. I was trapped in a recursive loop of pages from which there was no way out. And starting again didn’t work either. It utterly bamboozled me, two staff members and finally the shop manager. They resolved the issue by phoning the order through to Mail Order the next day.

But this isn’t an isolated bit of bad design. It’s all-pervasive. From big things like not enabling you to buy models, to little annoying niggles.

So, you’re browsing the site and you come across this funky product:

Hello Mark.

Aha! You read that description: This boxed set contains 1 metal Space Marine in Mk 1 armour, 1 metal Space Marine in Mk 2 armour, 1 metal Space Marine in Mk 3 armour, 1 metal Space Marine in Mk 4 armour and 1 metal Space Marine in Mk 5 armour,…

There are better ways of writing that sentence. There are conciser ways of writing that sentence. There are more exciting way to write that sentence.

But look at the punctuation at the end of the description – a comma followed by an ellipsis. For starters it’s written as three full stops and not the Unicode ellipsis character BUT THAT’S ME BEING INCREDIBLY PEDANTIC.

But the ellipsis indicates there’s more to the description. As does that read more button. So you click and you get this extended description:

Hello Mark.

No, it’s not extended, it ends on that awkward comma.

Then you get treated to a selection of gallery of pictures showing the item. This veritable smorgasbord consists:

Hello Mark.

And:

Hello Mark.

Poor showing.

That pathetic rant’s out my system now. Time to get on with my life.

└ Tags: 40K, pedantry, space marines, whinge

1 Comment

Playing the game, not the system

by Curis on October 21, 2008 at 5:52 am

Posted In: 40K Misc

One of the questions facing Rob and me these last few weeks is: Is it actually possible for either side to win Battle for Armageddon?

QUICK! Adopt White Dwarf poses

No matter which variant you play the drawing bracket is pretty wide. The Imperial player has to control every single Hive, have them intact AND kill the enemy commander (Ghazghkull/Angron). If people were playing with a hardcore 40K tournament mentality it’d be very easy for the Orks/Chaos to just keep the commander on a supply line and deny the Imperials victory.

The main reason we enjoy the game so much is the background. The whole game is grounded in some of 40K’s richest fluff. Indeed, the rulebook itself is actually a story of the entire campaign penned by the mighty Bill King with a few pages of rules slipped in. The point of the game (as far as we’re concerned) is to take on the role of the army commanders rather than actually try and win.

Huh?

Well, the Ork player has just punched a hole in the Imperial defensive line. He decides to pour two whole clans through the gap, and avoid further causalities swamping the rest of the line.

It’s very unOrky. (Well, unless you’re playing with the Chaos Attacks Blood Axes). In fact, with our gaming philosophies it’s almost cheating as that’s not what the Orks would do (or “did” if you take the fluff as seriously as us).

This is the roleplay element that is present in wargames I love. Deciding what your pewter captain model will do, and not the omniscient player towering far above his miniature legions.

The 6th Imperial Army prevail!

It’s lovely when you play games where both players have this attitude. They’re fun, and you have cool discussions over which Hive Yarrick should be in based in. This is in great contrast to tournaments, where the WAAC attitudes mean the games are decided by who’s able to fudge their inches the most get the petty rules anomalies rules in their favour.

└ Tags: Armageddon

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When Chaos Attacks

by Curis on January 18, 2008 at 2:01 am

Posted In: 40K Misc

You may well know I’ve been playing a lot of Battle for Armageddon of late, but I had yet to try the supplement Chaos Attack. (If you’re interested, you can download them for free from Games Workshop’s Specialist Games site.)

Chaos Attack is set during 500 years previous, when Angron invaded. He paused halfway through his campaign to build statues to the Chaos Gods, which allowed Logan Grimnar time to organise the second continent’s defences, and summon a whole pile of Grey Knights. He was subsequently banished back to the Warp for 100 years.

You may also know that The Chaos Attack supplement allows you to field Squats, much to my glee. With this in mind I went over to Rob’s to give it a go.

He rightly pointed out that since we were playing the First Invasion, Inquisitor Horst and the Golgothan Squats didn’t turn up for another 500 years. However, much to my glee, turns out the Chaos side get Chaos Squats! Both Khorne and Nurgle flavours. Here they are having just stomped on Helsreach Hive with Angron himself and the Deaths Head Titan Legion.

Chaos Squats in Armageddon, who'd know they'd be so ace?

(I wonder if the writers knew that Deaths Head were also an elite Waffen-SS division. Perhaps they were oblivious, like Simon Furman when he wrote the character Death’s Head in the 1980s Marvel Comics.)

As a testament to the game’s designers the Chaos play very differently to the original Orks. I was expecting them to swamp the Imperials under sheer weight of numbers, and then see if the Imperials could recover with their Build Phases. However, the Chaos player has to be more cautious, especially as he lacks the surprise attack rules. At the end of turn 8 I only had 4 Chaos counters left on the table, and lacked the numbers to occupy 2 of the 4 hives I’d destroyed. Rob had come very close to winning throughout, but was ultimately unable to roll a those 4-ups to banish Angron back to the Warp.

Great game. And there’s a tonne of variants still to try.

└ Tags: Armageddon, Chaos, space marines

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Getting Shirty

by Curis on November 16, 2007 at 12:10 pm

Posted In: 40K Misc

I’ve got the new Flame On shirts in hand now. Just in time to take to Heat 3. Rocking.

Don't I look the stylish fellow?

Shout out to Lee, the graphic design pal who knows all the clever pantone stuff and whose book I used to pick out the colours.

Problem is getting them back home on my bike. Best idea so far has been to put them all on and then cycle home like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. At least it would keep me warm.

In the words of Flame On: Flame On!

└ Tags: 40K, Flame On, tournaments

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Aclockalypse

by Curis on November 7, 2007 at 11:52 pm

Posted In: 40K Misc

Noticed how the large 7″ Apocalypse template has the numbers 1-12 on it for scatter?

Well, someone at Flame On did, and suggested that it would make an excellent clock.

At the Crypt we’ve got a spoddy the Gathering clock. It’s a bit spoddy.

pic of spoddy Magic clock

And at the moment, though Apocalypse is out we’re still gearing up to it. The templates aren’t much use at the moment, and it’s not even warm enough outside for frisbees.

Noticed how the large 7″ Apocalypse template has the numbers 1-12 on it for scatter? Well, someone at Flame On did, and suggested that it would make an excellent clock.

pic of spoddy Magic clock dismanteled