Monday, 8 March 2010

Magnus the Red - Project Change XXI

A Thousand Sons has just been released by Black Library. So to celebrate I will focus on the Thousand Sons for a little. This is Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red, commanding his legion of Epic-scale Tzeentch minions.

Magnus the Red Daemon Primarch of Tzeentch

Magnus the Red was one of four Daemon Primarchs released by Games Workshop in 1992 in Epic scale. Each of the four major Gods got one - Khorne got Angron, Slaanesh Fulgrim and Nurgle Mortarion. Pertarbo and Lorgar are the only other two Traitor Primarchs surviving in the present game setting, and both have been elevated to Daemon Prince status too, though neither have seen models. (And while I'm on the subject of Primarch models, Leman Russ is the only Imperial Primarch to have had one. Oh, and Lion El'Jonson's Lion Helm comes with the Azrael model. Oh, and one of Horus' Lightning Claws now belongs to Abbadon. I digress.)

The classic 'Eavy Metal Magnus the Red is of course blue. It was painted blue by Jay Tanner presumably because blue is Tzeentch's singature colour, and Mr. Tanner decided that the Red meant that in fact he was a ginger. Cap'n Facebeard of Warseer beautifully points out the 1992 studio colours "made him look like a 90s cartoon villain. You were always waiting for the Ninja Turtles to foil him." It is so bizarre that during Games Workshop's Red Era they decided not to paint Magnus the Red actual red.

Magnus the Red, Daemon Primarch of the Thousand Sons of Mangus

With the Horus Heresy series of books it's stated that Magnus the Red had red skin. And instead of being a goofy Harryhausen Cyclops he has a one normal eye and an eyeless sockect. I will explain away all these differences by saying Tzeentch changed Magnus' appearence when he elevated him to daemonhood.

I decided to paint my Magnus with pinky red skin akin to some of my Pink Horrors, as I felt bright red skin would make him look Khornate. And I decided my Magnus would also be a redhead with matching orangey wings. I wanted to do his vambraces copper, but that was too many similar colours on one model.

And, to be honest, goofy as this model is it's also sculpted in a cockingly awful fashion. See his right leg? It's just a weird amorphous blob I despaired at painting. The back of the model looks like an afterthought. And what's going on with his giant head, and gibbon arms? It's either a Jes Goodwin or Colin Dixon sculpt, and I'm hoping it's Colin Dixon as he'd just started out at the company. I fancy doing one in the blue scheme at some point.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 PM

Saturday, 27 February 2010

Micro Flamer of Tzeentch - Project Change XX

Yellow is an interesting colour. Doubly so when shaded with the gaudy Warlock Purple. Would you experiment with that combination? I have. Here's a 1990 Epic Tzeentch Flamer adopting the guise of Maynard Flux's Daemonic Familiar.

Epic Flamer of Tzeentch

Interesting? Lurid? Psychedlic? Well, I'm a little glad I didn't do it on a larger model. Maybe a more sophisticated approach is called for. And now I realise that going forward I should avoid painting any of Tzeentch's bird minions in yellows to avoid comparisons with Sesame Street.

I noted with the Epic scale Pink Horror that this generation of Chaos models were laughably out of scale. Let me explain this a little more. Epic is nominally a 6mm wargame, meaning the average trooper measures in at about 6mm. Here's the Epic Flamer next to an Epic Dark Angel Hunter.

Epic Flamer of Tzeentch and Dark Angel Hunter

Why this hideous scale fail?

Theory One - the Epic Chaos Daemons were done at a time when Games Workshop were simplifying the amount of detailing on their Epic-scale models for ease of mass production. This meant chunkier details, less details, and bigger models (all the better to put big chunky details on).

Theory Two - Epic is out of scale with itself. People complain about not being able to fit ten Marines inside a Rhino in 40K. Well, try putting thirty 6mm Marines inside a Thunderhawk only 10mm long. Epic models were more abstract counters representing the troop types present on the battlefield, rather than being scale models.

Theory Three - Chaos Daemons should be this big all the time, it's the 28mm ones that are scaled wrong.

Well, anyway, Games Workshop corrected it in 1998 with the Epic 40K plastic Chaos sprues. Here's a comparison shot.

Giant Epic Daemons

This is one of the few examples of Games Workshop's models getting smaller over time.

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Posted by Curis at 10:39 PM

Thursday, 18 February 2010

G2 Pink Horror of Tzeentch Champion - Project Change XIX

Trish Morrison's Pink Horror Champion. His trademark grin was self-inflicted because he wanted to show his facially-scarred girlfriend he still found her attractive.

Pink Horror of Tzeentch Champion

I can't put my finger on when Lesser Daemons first got their Champions, as I still need to find a copy of 4th edition Fantasy's Warhammer Armies Chaos. But I know the first official Daemon command models came out in 1997. (Ahhh. 1997 - when Minotaurs had great models.)

The Pink Horror Champion had an extra WS, BS, S, I and A over the standard Pink Horror. This was back in 5th edition Warhammer Fantasy, when Champions could regularly take magic items of their own rather than just being the guy at the front with a different name and an additional attack. But Daemon Champions couldn't take magic items (unless they were a Daemon Battle Standard Bearer) and didn't get access to any Daemonic Rewards (the Daemons' equivalent of Magic Items). And so, with the exception of the improved stats, I can't work out why people took them.

In modern Fantasy the Pink Horror Champion has been renamed to Iridescent Horror, and can also be fielded in 40K. There is no model for Iridescent Horrors yet, or Heralds of Tzeentch, so the Pink Horror Champion tends to crop up in both these roles. (Though the cheaper and more common approach is just painting a Pink Horror a different shade of pink - tsk.)

I did originally feel a little guilty that so much of Project Change seems to be Daemons. So, I counted up all the models the project's scope includes, and then counted how many of them are categorised as Daemon. It's a whopping 83% at present (not including the Daemon Engines, dragons possessed by daemons, sorcerers riding bound daemons or those weird Man O'War things I really ought to research more). And, as with this model only 74% of Project Change is classified as Daemon, I'm okay.

And, I realised that two Horrors ago I collected enough to field a 7th edition Fantasy regiment. Here they all are on a movement tray celebrating their new-found gamable status.

Weathered Rogue Trader Space Marines

This is one of my Warhammer turn-offs. You spend an age painting your army, only those not in the front rank to be hidden away where the painting goes unnoticed.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

G2 Blue Horror of Tzeentch - Project Change XVIII

Another smiley-happy Trish Morrison Blue Horror of Tzeentch (far left). Now I have two so I can split a G2 Pink Horror in half in games and have everything I need to represent it. This pleases me.

G2 Horrors of Tzeentch

This model is a particular favourite of mine as I got it way back in 1997 when Gorkamorka was released. I'd ordered my Gorkamorka boxed set from Mail Order, and as a treat they threw in this very Horror with a note something along the lines of, "This is coming out soon, have it for free". I painted him up even before I did my Gorkamorka mobs and used him as a sidekick for my Warhammer Quest barbarian hero - Pugnax the Pugnacious.

I'm trying a colder blue at the moment, as until now my models have had mostly warm schemes. I would like to do something more with the orange than just the eyes, so I tried the daemon-jewelery in a copper, but it didn't work. And it puzzles me why they wear jewelery. Where does it come from? Did Trish simply sculpt it on in order to hide the rough bits of the sculpt?

And, I'm off travelling again, this time to Lahndahn (big-ben-red-bus). Ninjabread 20, rather than being postponed to the weekend just gone will just be pushed back a whole week to this coming Space-Friday. Sorry. If it makes you feel better have this dumb joke only historical wargamers will ever appreciate.

Bad cataphracts pun

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Posted by Curis at 10:54 PM

Friday, 22 January 2010

Maynard Flux, Champion of Tzeentch - Project Change XVI

Presenting Maynard Flux, oldskool Champion of Tzeentch. Warrior, sorcerer, winemaker.

Maynard Flux, Champion of Tzeentch

His marble-effect book I've decided is a spell book, so he gets The Gift of Magic. I quite like the effect, which I needed to break up the undetailed surface of the book. Well, I say undetailed, due to a combination of casting defects, the age of the model and being stripped it's not at all crisp or clean, so it needed a pattern. I'd like to try it on larger models with flat surfaces, like Eldar, or an oldskool Land Raider, or maybe some Retribution Myrmidons.

Maynard also has Featureless Face, and Rune of Tzeentch. The rune happens to be on his featureless face, meaning it isn't so featureless - but this is okay as THIS IS THE CONTRADICTORY NATURE OF TZEENTCH. That, and a wizard did it.

And (like Inconstantine Bowie) he deserves the runes to spell out his name and describe his attributes.

Maynard Flux, Champion of Tzeentch

Painting one of these old Champions of Tzeentch is a welcome break from all the Daemons of late. Though, there are so many more Daemon models aligned to Tzeentch than there ever were Chaos Warriors. I may get round this by collecting five different versions of each champion - one on foot and four on each of the different Discs of Tzeentch.

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Posted by Curis at 11:09 PM

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

First G1 Pink Horror- Project Change XV

This little fella's called Screamer. But he's not a Screamer, which is also one of Tzeentch's daemons (unbound Discs of Tzeentch), but rather a Horror called Screamer. Most the G1 minor daemons had individual names, and this is Screamer. Confused?

Pink Horror of Tzeentch - Screamer.

I feel this guy needs to be modelled as part of a diorama with a little plaque that reads, "It was this long".

As most my G1 Blue Horrors follow the scheme of blue with pink arms, I thought I'd try reversing it for the Pinks. I also feel that that the arms should change colour again at the knuckles. I, however, do not feel that the fingers should have bits of static grass stuck on them as the photo above has. Oops.

There are three variations on Screamer (and indeed all the Pink Horrors of Tzeentch) as there were three sets of legs each of the twelve bodies could be plonked atop. This means there are 36 variations on the original Pink Horrors which will mean years of trawling eBay and pestering people for close ups of their legs.

And now, here's all three generations of Pink Horror alongside each other.

All three generations of Pink Horror of Tzeentch - Screamer.

Notice how the first two iterations are broadly similar and could be mixed together in the same regiment, and how the third is a complete and very wibbly departure. (And notice how the G2 Horror in the middle needs to be modelled as part of a diorama with a little plaque that reads, "It was about this tall".)

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Monday, 4 January 2010

G2 Flamer of Tzeentch - Project Change XIV

Hailing from the depths of 1995 comes this Marauder Miniatures Flamer of Tzeentch. This one in an experimental pale chalky scheme that's an attempt to copy the studio scheme from the 1997 Realm of Chaos.

G2 Flamer of Tzeentch

Marauder Miniatures?! They're not Games Workshop. Well, back in the days Marauder was brand that Warhammer miniatures sculpted by Ali and Trish Morrison were distributed under. They were gradually subsumed back into Citadel in 1993 (according to Source of Legends), though these models are tabbed Marauder and 1995. Who knows. Actually, I'm fascinated to learn the reasons behind the split and subsequent reabsorption.

I recently discovered thanks to the Collecting Citadel Miniatures Group that Marauder also produced a pair of Greater Daemons - one for Khorne and one for Tzeentch. I'm rather excited, as there have been several Lords of Change knocking around eBay that I've dismissed as knock-offs. But no! They are official Games Workshop models. And ones I go rabid for as they're obscure and retro. If anyone out there's got a photo of the Khorne one, I'd love to see it.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 PM

Saturday, 26 December 2009

Classic Flamer of Tzeentch - Project Change XIII

Back in September 1989, White Dwarf 117 had a page chock full of models painted and photographed by Fraser Gray - a suitably gothic-looking man whose backdrops probably served as the inspiration for the current range of 40K terrain pieces.

Fraser Grey - well, actually more black and white.

And among the weird Tzeentch conversions were the two Flamer-based ones above I've nicked the colour scheme from. (The prototype Flamer made me wonder if originally the Horror bodies were designed to fit on the Flamer torsos, but playing around with them I conclude not.) So here's my unconverted tribute. It's come out quite differently as I was really trying to veer away from painting my model red.

G1 Flamer of Tzeentch

Now to add it to the WotR movement trays I line up the Project Change models in. Or is there a better way to display them?

Another of my hobbies is browsing discount toy shops for cheap Transformers knock-offs. On one such stupid adventure I found a Jungle Rack playset.

In the jungle the mighty jungle

I bought it in a flash and hurried home excitedly. Some glue, sand, drybrushing, grassing and bushing later I had a gorgeous tiered display piece of just the right size and shape to put in my glass display cabinets.

The classic geek display cabinet from Ikea

Bowie Inconstantine and G! Tzeentch chums

First attempt at drybrushing a terrain type of thing for a long while, so it was a learning experience. I want some more subtlety which I might achieve with weathering powders. I also want more Jungle Rack playsets, if not least to melt down the tiny plastic lions with matches.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Finally - Modern Pink Horrors - Project Change XII

Something more modern for Project Change - a Generation 3 Pink Horror (far right - the other models are a Generation 1 Blue Horror and a Generation 2 Pink Horror). Wow, this is not the normal crazy retro lead I obsess over, but sleek and sensible modern miniatures without big goofy grins.

All three generations of Tzeentch's Horrors

Well, I say modern - these models have tab dates of 2001, and they're also in the tiny part of the current Citadel range that's still in metal. Here's hoping for plastic Horrors with the rumoured second wave of Daemons.

I have to say , this model isn't great. This is my second attempt at painting one of this generation of Horrors, and both times I've been frustrated at the indistinct detailing. Not indistinct in the gribbly Tzeentch way of "ARGH THIS ARM IS MY MOUTH AND IT'S COVERED IN EYES", but in a subtley-detailed way that's largely lost in the molding and casting process. There are warbly bits I'm not sure if I should file off because they're tentacles or feedlines. There are what I imagine started as sharp crisp details that have been rendered down to smarbly indistinct metal wibbles during the production process. Not that fun to paint when you're trying to be a perfectionist. Maybe by the time I get round to doing the others I'll be used to the quality of the casts.

Haha - just got to work out how many variations of these models there can be with all the arms and horns.

And I now have nine horrors of various generations and scales.

All three generations of Tzeentch's Horrors

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Tuesday, 8 December 2009

Tzeentch Familiar - Project Change XI

When's a Pink Horror smaller than a Blue Horror? When it's Epic scale.

Bowie Inconstantine and familiar



Look at his big cute smile. Grinning loon, like one of those giant cartoon M&Ms. You can see why this generation of Epic Chaos models have been swept under the carpet. That, and the fact that for a 6mm wargame they were ridiculously out of scale.

So, this Epic Pink Horror can also double as Bowie Inconstatine's familiar of Tzeentch. There are several familiar models Workshop have produced for Tzeentch, but none of them are quite the "miniaturised form of a Horror" Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned makes them out to be.

And because I felt like one tiny Epic model was a real con for the latest Project Change update, I also did an old Dark Elf Harpy. In a pasty pink colour that combined with the lumps around his groin makes me want to itch.

Bowie Inconstantine and familiar



"But that's not Tzeentch. That's not even proper Chaos." I hear you cry. Well, this gem from Marauder Miniatures (yes, not Citadel) was originally a Dark Elf Harpy - one of the descendants of an outcast tribe that settled in Naggaroth near Karond Kar. But in 1997 Harpies were also available to Chaos armies (as scavengers from the Northern Wastes). Ahhh - so they can be proper Chaos. And maybe this model could be used to represent a Chaos Fury - one of the undivided Daemons that conforms to the gargoyle archetype. Perhaps. Maybe. Possibly.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Sunday, 29 November 2009

Fledgling Horror Squad- Project Change X

And so, by accident I've assembled my first game-legal unit in Project Change - five Blue Horrors. That's a troop choice under the current Codex Chaos Daemons. (Well, technically not as they say Blue Horrors should be mounted two to a 25mm base but boo sucks. I'll probably get round this by insisting we all play second edition 40K where they had rules for splitting.)

Argh!  The Horror!



Yes, this is yet another Generation One Blue Horror. Rather than painting the arms from the elbow up as pink as I have with the other four I tried another shade of blue. Honestly, I'm not too keen but I can always change it later.

I've also started carving out the ends of the fingers on my Horrors, rather than painting them as holes. I need to go back and change the others eventually.

In other news, I've just come back from the Epic UK Grand Tournament where spookily I ranked ninth. More on this awesome event tomorrow.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 PM

Friday, 20 November 2009

Classic Lord of Change - Project Change IX

The ninth update for Project Change. That means something a bit special. A classic first generation Lord of Change - the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

Lord of Ch-ch-changes



He's mounted on a 40mm round base, but I've also made him a special 50mm square base with a circle cut out which he slots snugly inside should I ever want to use him for games of Warhammer Fantasy.

All your base



Lord of Ch-ch-changes



Seeing this now brings home a little how plain my basing scheme is. I need something to jazz it up a little. And maybe rework the grass.

Working through Citadel 1991 Catalogue 2 it turns out there are a colossal 36 different combinations of the first Lords of Change - (6 heads x 3 bodies x 2 tails x 1 wings = 36). I am considering collecting and assembling them all. Though collecting just six to showcase each of the different heads may be enough. I shall enjoy agonising over it for a few months.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Wednesday, 11 November 2009

Project Change VIII

It's the eighth Tzeentchian model in Project Change - a Generation 2 Pink Horror. This is one of the models I stripped a while back. I've not painted a second generation Horror since the first model way back when, so it's nice to return to more modern models. I say modern - they're dated 1997. Eep. time to get some Generation 3 Daemons.

Stoner eyes Horror



A straightforward pink scheme made from GW's foundation Mechrite Red highlighted with VGC's Pale Flesh and glazed with reds and purples. I particularly enjoyed doing the scary eyes. The big bloaty hands are difficult to do as there's very little shape and definition to them. Unlike the sharp features of the rest of the model there's nowhere obvious to highlight.

It's been a while since the last group shot, and now there are eight models I have enough to fill up a whole WotR movement tray.

Let's go kick Gandalf's butt



Lovely!

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Monday, 2 November 2009

Project Change VII

And this morning, it's something that isn't a Tzeentch demon to add to the project file. I present, Bowie Inconstatine - Champion of Tzeentch.

Am I freaking you out Bret?



Champion of Tzeentch! Yes, he has been blessed with the Hand of Tzeentch and Bird's Feet. They're blatantly on the miniature, and some others like Withering Gaze are difficult to model, and I'm a stickler for wysiwyg. I did his armour (which may or may not be Chaos Armour at this point) in the classic Tzeentchian blue and gold scheme, that's really come to the fore as the Thousand Sons developed their Egyptian vibe.

And because I'm super awesome cool, I've also transliterated his name into the Dark Tongue's phonetic Runes with the help of the language section in The Lost and the Damned.

Inconstantine Bowie in Dark Tongue phonetic runes



Not too sure about the runes for e and i, so I may change that. And I might kern some of the letters too. There wasn't a typographical notes about kerning in the book. I don't think you can kern runes. I think more research is in order.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Project Change VI

Another Generation One Blue Horror! Worshipping the Chaos God of Change is now seeming quite repetitive. But these classic models are so quick to paint on account on their diminutive size.

It was red and yellow and pink and brown and blue



This Horror I experiemented with a different style of painting. I added white blotches in between the glazes to get a mottled skin effect. I was copying it from my Realms of Chaos books, where it's used to paint several different daemons. Not too keen, but I may experiment some more.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Thursday, 15 October 2009

Project Change V

Another first generation Blue Horror in the traditional Enchanted Blue scheme. Boring.

Not Ben Folds Five



But what's not boring is the tuft of grass front centre. Yes! A tuft of grass. I have a problem with static grass in that it tends to look flattened. The effect of static grass is that static electricity pricks the strands on end, so they stand up like real grass. Mine just looks trampled. And I came across a German company - Fredericus Rex - who produce pre-made tufts of grass in all sorts of lengths and colours. I went crazy and ordered every variety of dried grass available. Real nerd shopping spree.

Yes! grass!



Bit too big for the individual 25mm bases (you tend to lose the feet and make the model look like he's about to stumble on a small bush), but great on movement trays and bigger bases.

Anyone got any tips for making my static grass stand up on end?

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Tuesday, 6 October 2009

Project Change IV

Back to the Daemons with another first generation Blue Horror. I did it in a light blue scheme, that still looks quite vivid and fits with the rest of the army.

half an element



I also copied Carl Woodrow's idea for using War of the Ring movement trays for display purposes. Shame they're not 10mm narrower else they'd be great to rank up models for Warhammer Fantasy.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Thursday, 1 October 2009

Chaos Marine Backpacks

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.)

Page 254



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?

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Posted by Curis at 10:46 AM

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Project Change III

Next in line for my Tzeentchian forces is a classic Rogue Trader Renegade. Photographed against a much better blue fade background than previous blog entries.

Tzeentch's magic number, but square rooted

I love these old models. The original Chaos Renegade range oozed character and individuality. And they were goofy. I love goofy models.

Tzeentch doesn't have any real signature colours, Well, odd really as Tzeentch's lesser daemons are the only ones whose name actually specifies a colour. Oh, and thinking about it Magnus the Red also is spectrally defined. I digress.

Well, post-Heresy Thousand Sons are always done in blue and gold scheme to evoke the Egyptian archetype. I fancied red and gold (which are quite close to pre-Heresy Thousand Sons, though this guy's not necessarily one of them). But I didn't want it looking like my Blood Angel captain or a Khorne worshipper. So I headed in the pink direction, but not enough to make it look Slaneeshi.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 PM

Friday, 18 September 2009

Project Change II

My second project Change model is one of the first generation of Tzeentch Daemons - the 1988 Blue Horror 'Warpgrunter". I experimented with the turquoise colour I used on the bubble of my first horror, which combines nicely with the pink.

Two Blue Horrors

The original Blue Horror models were scultped by Kev Adams, the sculptor most recognised for his work on the early Ork ranges. His signature was big gurning faces. The first and second generation Horror models were very similar, and might even work alongside each other in a regiment. The difference with the Blue Horrors is they lost the suckered fingers and their feet shrunk from ten toes each to just four.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Wednesday, 9 September 2009

Project Change I

Today I started my new slow-burn collecting project that will focus on the Chaos God Tzeentch.

My first model is one of the second generation of Blue Horrors from 1997.

Blue Meanie



The end goal is to build a collection of every Fantasy and 40K scale model aligned to Tzeentch. At the end of this I will have a large collection of models, but not an army per se.

This isn't a modelling project at the moment. I'm very happy taking models as they are 'off-the-shelf'. There are a lot of daemon armies with a twist at the moment, but I don't feel the need to intrinsically stamp my own identity on the models. I've got a collecting urge.

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Posted by Curis at 9:09 AM

Saturday, 13 June 2009

Scale creep

I picked up a big pile of classic Epic Chaos this week courtesy of my friend Craig. It included a big pile of the old lead Lesser Daemons. Here they are alongside their smaller modern plastic counterparts.

Look, Epic nipple!

Clockwise from top left: Bloodletters of Khorne, Daemonettes of Slaanesh, Plaguebearers of Nurgle, Flamers of Tzeentch


They were massive infantry models. The later Epic 40,000 plastics corrected them back down to the 6mm infantry they should be.

Why were the old Lesser Daemons so massive?

When I was younger I assumed it was because working in lead you weren't able to catch the same level of fine detail as plastic, so made them bigger to compensate. But then I saw the early metal prototype Space Marine and Ork infantry the Studio used to test the game, so out went that theory.

Then I thought scale was always very flexible in Epic (30 Marines inside the original Thunderhawk - never happening), so they weren't really models of Daemons, just Daemon-shaped counters to represent Daemons.

I asked over on TacComs, and the most plausible theory was that larger models meant less fiddly detail, increasing the lifetime of the molds and decreasing the number of defects. The original prototype metal infantry were never meant for large-scale production, so they could be loaded with subtle detail.

And nowadays, with improved molding technology and white metal, we can produce viable 6mm infantry.

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Posted by Curis at 10:48 AM


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