GENERAL: Displacement activity

Now that I've re-posted all the reviews from my static HTML website on this blog I've closed my old website down and pulled all the content off the web. The only stuff that I haven't brought over are the model photographs but that is because I intend to build a separate blog to show them off and the old photos were not great quality anyway. I'll still show my work in progress on this blog.

Which brings me neatly to the title of this post; displacement activity. While I was sorting out my webspace issues I didn't have much time to paint this weekend. All I did was re-paint the black undercoat on the Blood Letters. I had earlier drybrushed their weapons a brass colour.

Perhaps I keep finding other things to do because I'm in a bit of a funk with my painting. I really need to knuckle down and get my 'to do' list completed. The irony is that I'm very close to getting my whole Chaos Space Marine army finished. I only have the Blood Letters, Greater Daemon and some Berzerkers to go, then I can move on to the prestige project of my Brass Scorpion. That's it; I'll not have a single model left to do. I'm also in the middle of a campaign with my Chaos army so I'll have the added bonus of being able to use them in games.

Still they gently weep while I find other things to do.

Maybe I need to revise my painting strategy for the coming week. Rather than sit down and finish an entire squad in one session I'll try and get in just 30 minutes every night. That way I can chip away at them and at least feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Here's hoping.

REVIEW: Chaos Warrior Regiment

• Made by Games Workshop
• Designed by Brian Nelson, Jes Goodwin, Alex Hedstrom, Colin Grayson
• Cost £18 (approximately $35)
  

Contents
The Regiment boxed set contains twelve plastic Warriors of Chaos, including enough parts to equip them with hand weapons and shields, or two hand weapons. You can also build a champion, standard bearer and musician.

Review
The new Chaos Warrior Regiment boxed set is a replacement for the ancient 'hunchback' Chaos plastics. That old plastic kit was revolutionary at the time because it launched the multi-pose models which now dominate the core units for most of the Warhammer range. Unfortunately it aged rather badly, while the new Chaos range developed around it. The old Warriors also had two major weaknesses; they took an age to assemble (because there were so many pieces to each individual model) and they were virtually impossible to rank up once constructed.

Games Workshop have addressed both of these issues on the new sprues. The main body of each Warrior is constructed from just two pieces, the legs and chest form one, and the back and cloak form the other. Each arm can then be added at the elbow, with a choice between two hand weapons, or a hand weapon and shield. The Warrior can then be completed with the addition of a head. Due to the uniformity of the body plastics, the unit now ranks up very easily.


Although these changes are largely welcome, they do introduce some problems. A completed unit will look very 'samey' as all of the models have an identical posture. This can be mitigated against to a certain degree by placing the champion, standard bearer and musician in the front rank (they have their own command sprue) but the unit will still look very uniform. I think this is especially problematic because the Warriors are, or should be, Chaotic. If any army should be a collection of disparate individuals, then Chaos should be it.

Converting the new kit will also be more difficult. The pose is stiff and rigid for every model, and impossible to alter because the legs and body are moulded together. The fur and cloaks are mandatory to complete the back section of the Warrior, leaving no wriggle room. Even the arms are difficult to convert as they only go up to the elbow, the upper arm being part of the body sprue. Again, this is especially relevant to the Chaos army, because it offers the most scope to individualise the army with the choice of patron God, mutations and gifts of the gods.

Converters needn't despair just yet though. The sprues contain lots of extra bits and pieces, beyond the basic necessities. Once I had completed my twelve man unit I had loads of heads, weapons, shields and other stuff left over. They will all go into my bits box for later.

The Warriors do look fantastic, though. Aesthetically, they take their cue from the Knights of Chaos, and they are light years ahead of the old kit in terms of looks. The posture is noticeably more upright and imposing than the previous models and I think most players won't keep the older models around for too long once they examine the new plastics. I'm sure no-one will mix the two sets of models in the same army.

With the new kit being simplified, I had assumed there would be less detail on the models. This isn't the case. There are a surprising amount of features and textures on the plastics, ranging from plate mail, to chainmail, to fur, to cloth, to bone, and many others. I found that it was best to leave the shield arms off the model and paint them separately, so that it was easier to get to the main body of the Warrior with my paint brush.

Summary
I think the Chaos Warrior Regiment boxed set is very good. It is visually stunning and straightforward to construct. It does not offer much opportunity for converting, however, and all of the models have a very similar pose. Nevertheless, I recommend this kit.

Score 8/10

Scores
All of my reviews end in a score out of ten for the product. The table below explains what that score means.

• 10/10 Perfect, absolutely nothing better
• 9/10 Excellent, highly recommended
• 8/10 Very good, recommended
• 7/10 Good
• 6/10 Above average, some problems
• 5/10 Average, some good points some bad points
• 4/10 Below average, some redeeming features
• 3/10 Poor, major flaws
• 2/10 Very poor, avoid if possible
• 1/10 Absolutely appalling

GENERAL: That's a wrap

That's me done for the day.

• DONE Create master campaign rosters for the Phoenix Campaign
• DONE Write up battle report 5 of the Phoenix Campaign
• DONE Add all unit names to Phoenix Campaign battle reports
  
• Paint Khorne Berzekers
• Paint Khorne Daemons
• DONE Update Chaos Space Marine Apocalypse list with new units
• DONE Update Ork Apocalypse list using new codex
• DONE Add formations using data sheets to all Apocalypse lists

I've done everything except pick up a paintbrush. I hope to crack on with my Khorne models over the weekend.

Ciao for now.

APOCALYPSE: Orks redux

With the release of the new Ork codex I needed to update my Ork Apocalypse list.

HQ

• Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka
• Warboss, slugga, choppa
• 6 Nobz 1 powerclaw with slugga, 4 choppa with slugga, 1 painboy, wartrukk with big shoota
• Warboss, big choppa

Troops

• 14 Shoota boyz, rokkit, nob with powerklaw
• 21 Slugga boyz, nob with powerklaw
• 13 Slugga boyz, nob
  
• 17 Shoota boyz, big shoota, nob with choppa
• 12 Shoota boyz, rokkit
• 30 Gretchin, runtherd
  
• 20 Gretchin, runtherd
• 12 Gretchin, runtherd
• 10 Gretchin, runtherd

Fast Attack

• 5 Warbikes
• 1 Wartrakk, twin linked big shoota

Heavy Support

• Dreadnought, rokkit launcha, big shoota

Points: 1625

Despite only dropping three models from the previous list (rokkit wielding boyz that had to be dropped from their units) the whole army now costs a whopping 273 points less!

The other changes were some wargear on the runtherds (previously slavers) and moving the Painboy into the Nobz mob. Everything else ports over easily. Whether the army would actually achieve anything on the tabletop is another matter.

Unfortunately, none of the Ork datasheets released so far are applicable to my army.

APOCALYPSE: Chaos Space Marines revised

I've painted up some new Chaos Space Marine units so my master Apocalypse list needs updating. I also need to add any applicable datasheets. There won't be many of these in any of my armies because I'm just using my existing models and not really adding anything new. I'll just use datasheets I happen to already have the models for.

HQ

• Daemon Prince
• Chaos Lord, bike, lightning claw
• Chaos Lord, mark of nurgle, daemon weapon
• Chaos Lord, mark of nurgle, palanquin of nurgle, daemon weapon
  
• Sorceror, mark of nurgle, nurgles rot
• Greater Daemon (Great Unclean One)
  

Elites

• 5 Possessed
• Dreadnought, twin linked lascannon

Troops

• 10 Chaos space marines, plasma gun, lascannon, aspiring champion with powerfist, icon of chaos glory
• 10 Chaos space marines, plasma gun, lascannon, aspiring champion with powerfist, icon of chaos glory
• 6 Chaos space marines, plasma gun, aspiring champion with plasma pistol, icon of chaos glory
• 9 Thousand sons, Sorceror with warptime
• 7 Plague marines, melta gun, flamer, aspiring champion with power weapon
  
• 7 Plague marines, plasma pistol
  
• 7 Plague marines, 2 plasma guns, aspiring champion with powerfist
• 7 Plague marines, plasma gun, flamer, aspiring champion with power weapon
• 6 Plague marines
• 6 Lesser daemons (daemonettes)
• 8 Lesser daemons (Furies)
• 9 Lesser daemons (plague bearers)
  

Fast Attack

• 8 Raptors, 2 flamers, aspiring champion with power weapon
• 2 Spawn

Heavy Support

• 3 Obliterators
• Predator, twin linked lascannon, heavy bolter sponsons
• 6 Havocs, 4 heavy bolters, icon of chaos glory
• 6 Havocs, 2 autocannon, missile launcher, icon of chaos glory
• 7 Havocs, 2 melta guns, flamer, aspiring champion with plasma pistol

Data Sheets

• Warp rift
  

Points: 4450

A unit of Plague Marines are new, as are the Plague Bearers, and I've added the warp rift data sheet.

So I've increased the total by about 400 points since I last checked. I also have a unit of KhorneBerzerkers, a unit of Blood Letters, another Greater Daemon and a mighty Brass Scorpion to come shortly. Once complete my Chaos Space Marine army will weigh in at well over 5000 points.

GENERAL: What's in a name?

I'm cooking with gas now.

• DONE Create master campaign rosters for the Phoenix Campaign
• DONE Write up battle report 5 of the Phoenix Campaign
• DONE Add all unit names to Phoenix Campaign battle reports
  
• Paint Khorne Berzekers
• Paint Khorne Daemons
• Update Chaos Space Marine Apocalypse list with new units
• Update Ork Apocalypse list using new codex
• Add formations using data sheets to all Apocalypse lists

That was a boring task, I'm glad it's over. All of the battle reports will now be consistent and it will be much easier for me to write the background stories behind the battles now that I've named all the protagonists.

Hmmm. What to do next?

GENERAL: This just in

Another one bites the dust.

• DONE Create master campaign rosters for the Phoenix Campaign
• DONE Write up battle report 5 of the Phoenix Campaign
• Add all unit names to Phoenix Campaign battle reports
  
• Paint Khorne Berzekers
• Paint Khorne Daemons
• Update Chaos Space Marine Apocalypse list with new units
• Update Ork Apocalypse list using new codex
• Add formations using data sheets to all Apocalypse lists

I've pulled together all the information from the five battle reports so far and presented them as master rosters for the campaign. Here it is.