Video Tip: Glue Stick Handle For Securing Miniatures While Painting

There are many inventive ways to secure a miniature while painting.  Some like to bond the mini to a piece of cardboard while others buy specialty stands to do the trick.  A few years ago, I noticed a pile of left over glue stick scraps in my work area and thought they would work great as temporary painting handles.  Simply heat one side of the glue stick with a lighter and stick it to the bottom of a miniature.  The glue holds strong, but does not chemically bond so the handle is easy to pull off later without leaving any residue.  Adding a base to the glue stick is just as easy, heat and stick.  Check out the video below to see how its done.

 

Comparison: Dark Vengeance vs Assault on Black Reach

Assault on Black Reach (ABR) has been with us for over four years.  ABR was released around the same time the 5th edition ruleset landed in July 2008.  Replacing Battle for Macragge (BM), ABR was a god-send for new players both in quality and value.  Featuring over 500 points of Space Marines and close to 500 points of Orks all for around 50 USD, ABR was Games Workshop’s (GW) gift to the gaming community.  Unfortunately, year-over-year price increases have slowly whittled away ABR’s incredible value.  Before it was retired, ABR cost 99 USD or a doubling of its original price in only four years.  Although the price increased, ABR is still a fantastic beginner set that is well worth the price.  In my opinion, the original price was ridiculously low. So low, in fact, that it made individual sets of certain Space Marines and Orks irrelevant.

Dark Vengeance brings a new level of refinement to the Warhammer 40k boxed set.

With the release of the 6th edition rule set in July 2012, many wondered if GW would rekindle the incredible value that ABR once had.  GW never lowers prices, so instead, we were expecting a substantial increase in quantity and quality in ABR’s replacement, Dark Vengeance.  We recently obtained the Dark Vengeance (DV) set to review and, due to interest, decided to do a comparison between the outgoing ABR set and DV.  We will compare the included literature, look for changes in the provided gaming accessories, and compare the included miniatures both in quality and points value.

Review: Warhammer 40k Dark Vengeance 6th Edition Boxed Set

Dark Vengeance Brings Value Back

Games Workshop released the 6th edition Warhammer 40k ruleset earlier this year along with an overhaul of the beginner’s best friend, the Assault on Black Reach (ABR) boxed set.  Games Workshop has long offered a beginner friendly starter set that includes everything a novice needs to jump right into the Warhammer 40k hobby.  The value has been so good that veteran players routinely purchase the kit due to the fantastic point per dollar of the included miniatures.  The starter sets of the past have been fantastic values and an easy entry point for new players while also being a good value for long-time players.  The biggest question that I had going into this review was if the extra cost of the latest set is justified over the outgoing ABR set (full comparison here.)  In this review, we will be focusing mostly on the Dark Vengeance (DV) set alone, is it worth the price?

Dark Vengeance Boxed Set

News: Warhammer 40K Sixth Edition Boxed Set

Excitement was at an all time high during the Tyranid/Space Wolves refresh a few months ago leading into the release of the sixth edition rule book.  Now that GW has recently announced the sixth edition starter set and made them available for advanced order, the excitement continues.  GW has done a good job this year rolling out new product in a consistent fashion, which is great for fans but bad on the wallet.

The sixth edition boxed set continues GW’s high quality starter set offering.

For the first time, Chaos Space Marines will be the featured foe (Dark Eldar, Orks, and Tyranids fought against the Space Marines in previous sets.)

Reaper Bones Flex Test

The Bones line from Reaper has been in the news quite a bit lately since they blew out a ton of minis for a fantastic price during their Kickstarter campaign.  Their Kickstarter campaign was wildly successful, which sparked a lot of interest in Reaper miniatures, especially the Bones line.  Since the Bones line uses an untraditional type of material, people have been interested to see how it feels.  We created a quick video demonstration to show the flexibility of the models.

The Bones line by Reaper are very affordable. The material they are made from is untraditional and quite flexible.

Games Workshop Vs Inflation: The True Numbers Behind The Price Increases

I’m still the same price from 2004!

Games Workshop get a lot of grief from fans for their seemingly annual price increases.  With all the good news coming out lately—the sixth edition rule set and the upcoming boxed sets—its been easy to forget about the disappointing news from May when GW decided to raise prices for 2012.  It is not hard to get worked up about price increases, but have the increases really been that serious?  In all honesty, I couldn’t recall the price of miniatures when I first started collecting them.  Out of curiosity, I decided to look into previous GW pricing and compare it to today’s pricing.  As we go along, keep in mind that the average inflation for the US has been roughly 16% over the last eight years.

I compiled a 21 item list consisting of a wide range of GW items to compare day’s price to the prices eight years ago (2004.)  The list offers a decent sampling of the types of products most fans would be interested in such as codices, rulebooks, battleforces, starter sets (boxed editions), single troop kits, vehicles, and squads.  I do not have access to dealer inventory lists and the few dealers I did reach out to did not have documents dating back far enough to be of much use.  Surprisingly, it was quite difficult to obtain solid pricing numbers from first party sources.  GW’s tight internet sales policy may have something to do with it.

Warhammer 40k Sixth Edition Boxed Set

Dreadnought from 6th Edition Rulebook. Possible design for boxed set?

The sixth edition rules have dropped, but what gets us excited is the new boxed set that is arguably the best value when it comes to army building.  The boxed set is also the face of Warhammer 40k as it is often a new player’s first experience with Warhammer 40k miniatures.  That’s why we believe it is a very important launch.  The main armies are all but official, Chaos vs Dark Angels.  However, some debate still looms over the exact miniatures that will be included.  Let’s go over what most expect the new box set to include:

Warhammer 40k Sixth Edition Rules Are Here!

The sixth edition is here!

News have been pretty bleak over the last few months with the excitement of the new Space Wolves miniatures wearing thin, but, as our timeline suggested, the sixth edition rule set dropped recently to much praise.  One of the main complaints with the transition from 4th edition rules to 5th edition rules were the numerous complications and vague descriptions that accompanied the new release.  Not only did the 5th edition rules have a bit too much grey area, they were sometimes hard for new players to jump right into.  Games Workshop aimed to tackle this problem with the sixth edition, and so far it seems like they have done a great job paring down unnecessary rules and adding additional clarification to others.

News: 2012 Warhammer 40k Release Schedule and Timeline

We’ve started the year off right with great Q1 releases such as the Thunderwolves and a refresh of the Necron Battleforce.  The year still has a lot in store for us, with the biggest release being the 6th edition ruleset and the accompanying starter box set refresh.  There is a lot of Space Marine love this year with Dark Angels and Chaos Space Marines rumored to be getting new troops as well.

Cobbling together all the rumors around the web, we've come up with this potential release timeline. (*Click to Enlarge*)

We’ve scrounged through all the rumors, buzz, and half-truths to put together the most probable release schedule.  It looks like we have a great year in store for us yet.  The Fallen have also been rumored, but there isn’t much information out there.

Project: Imperial Fists Captain Lysander and Space Marines Post #4 (SM Base Coat)

Basic tools needed for base coating.

Properly base coating a miniature is one of the most important steps to insuring good results.  A spotty base coat will ruin the model no matter how well shaded or highlighted the rest of the model is.  Today, we will base coat the Space Marines and discuss some difficulties that can crop up during the process and how to overcome them.  We will also talk about the two main ways to base coat—brushed and sprayed.  The Space Marines will get a brush treatment, so we will discuss how to correctly thin paints as well. Captain Lysander is still sitting on the side lines, but we will revisit him after dealing with the Marines.

Project: Imperial Fists Captain Lysander and Space Marines Post #3 (SM Primer Coat and Metal Discussion)

Today, we will focus on doing the final cleaning of the Space Marines and we’ll lay down a nice black coat to give the base coat both depth and something to bite on to.  We’ll also check in with Captain Lysander and see what needs to be done to prepare him for paint.

The Space Marines get their final cleaning and receive a black base coat plus we discuss Captain Lysander's next steps.

Project: Imperial Fists Captain Lysander and Space Marines Post #2 (Assembly)

The first step in any miniature project is to inspect the figures, clean them up, and start the assembly.  An old adage that painters come to know states that preparation is half the battle.  Miniatures are a little different because of the fine detail used during the painting process, but the importance is certainly the same.

Cleaning and assembling the models is pretty straight-forward, but some key techniques make for better end results.

Applying incredible painting techniques on a poorly prepared model will cause mediocre final results.  Luckily, preparing a default configuration is very straight-forward and won’t take too much time.  Today, I prepared the plastic Space Marines and unboxed the metal Finecast model.

Project: Imperial Fists Captain Lysander and Space Marines Post #1 (Getting Started)

I’ve been keeping up with the miniature scene, but have been away from my studio for the past two years, so I haven’t been able to paint, model, or add much to the site.  I finally broke down and decided to purchase a few essentials to paint some Space Marines and a Hero figure.

Assortment of paints, brushes, and figures to be painted.

I’ll be closely cataloging the work up of these models, so keep checking back for painting tips, base decoration, model prep, and more.  I’ll be going through every step of the process from choosing paints to cutting sprue to adding the finishing touches of grass on the model base.  So, if you’ve never fully completed a model before, this is a great way to get a feeling for the time and methods needed to follow a figure to completion.  If you are a long-time modeler, you will probably enjoy the work-up as well and may even catch a few tips.

News: GW warns customers to check their Finecast figures before purchase

Games Workshop sent a memo to local hobby shops warning that some of the new Finecast figures may have a manufacturer’s defect.  The defect consists of a small bubble in a key area that could cause damage to the model or unsatisfactory results.  GW urges retailers to inform the customer and to do a visual inspection to insure the customer is satisfied with the figure before purchase.

GW warns retailers to check over finecast models due to possible defect.

GW does not usually send these types of messages to retailers unless it is a real problem, so be sure to check all your new models for the next few months because spending hours painting them only for the model to break is never fun.  Since GW has acknowledged the problem, there should be no problem returning defective figures.

It is unclear whether online orders are affected, but it doesn’t hurt to check them over just to be sure.  The problem is mainly associated with boxed models, not the clam packs.  If we get more details, we will be sure to let you know.

Rumor Round-Up: New Games Workshop Paints

We’ve had several viewers ask about updated information on the new line of GW paints that will be coming out soon.  We did some searching and chatting and compiled a list of the latest rumors surrounding the paints.  All the rumors here are very plausible, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the release line-up is very close to what insiders have been discussing.

Hopefully GW moves to dropper bottles, but if not, you could always do this mod.*

News: Rumored Introduction of Warhammer 40k Vehicle and Squad Combo Box Sets

Games Workshop may be looking to introduce box sets that contain a vehicle and a squad.  The rumor involves packaging key units with a vehicle to provide a modest cost savings for people wanting to roll out mechanized armies.  Perhaps this is something that will take place around the time of the 6th edition launch to coincide with key rule changes?  It is hard to know at this point, but it would be great for people looking to field specialized units such as an Armored Fist squad or Space Marine drop pods.

Armored Fist squad box set in the future?

The rumor comes from speculation at  Librarium-Online, with two members hinting at the possibility.  Of course, as with any rumor, take it for what it’s worth.

News: Official Games Workshop New Thunderwolves, Space Wolves, and Tyranid Miniature Launch

Games Workshop recently updated their website to reveal the official US showing of the new Thunderwolves, Space Wolves, and Tyranid miniatures. Altogether there are twenty six new packs, a lot of them comprised of new Fine Cast models including a Fine Cast Dreadnaught, which was hard to make out in detail from the scans.  The official release date is set for March 3rd with preorders going out on March 2nd.

Video: Privateer Press “No Quarter” Back Issue Unboxing

We made a post a few days ago alerting our readers about Privateer Press blowing out their back issues of the “No Quarter” magazine for only 1 dollar.  We ordered all the issues they had in stock.  A large package was waiting at the door today.  Personally, I’m not too familiar with Privateer Press lore or their miniatures, so I was excited to get my hands on some of their literature.  Check out the unboxing and initial impressions of the magazine in our first video.  We are working on getting a small studio set up, so this first video is very informal. The deal is still on, so load up if you like what you see!

Get your copies today: Privateer Press Store

News: Space Wolves Hero Arjac Close-Up

Yesterday had some great news and exciting scans.  Today brings another scan from the German issue of White Dwarf, this time it’s a nice close-up of Arjac decked out in Terminator armor while wielding a Thunderhammer.  The model looks well detailed and will be a fine addition to any fan’s battle collection.

Arjac, poised to lay the hammer down on the Tyranid filth.

News: New GW Models! Thunderwolves, Tyranids, and Necrons

The last few weeks have been exciting for GW fans.  Rumors have been swirling, but Games Workshop has new images of some of the new models that we can expect over the coming weeks.  Scans from White Dwarf show some awesome shots of the new Thunderwolves that will be available shortly.  These models are sure to add some much needed contrast to the sea of ceramite.

Thunderwolves will be storming the shelves in the coming weeks. Scans from White Dwarf.