AHPC Submission #4 - Legions Imperialis Light Armour

A small gathering of small tanks...APCs and light armour for the Sons of Horus in "Legions Imperialis".

Two posts for today. Two! They are sort of the same, but also very different! After all, painting a single setting in multiple scales is totally normal, and not at all a sign of hobby insanity, right? Right? Well, whatever. We will start small, in the physical sense, with this submission of some wee little Space Marine armour vehicles. We have a group of Rhino APCs, the all-purpose armoured troop carriers of the Space Marines, and also a squadron of Predators, light tanks of the Space Marine Legions painted in the noble colours of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus. These are plastic models from GW's re-launched Epic game, "Legions Imperialis".

Why walk when you can drive?

My last submission touching on this game shared quite a bit of feedback and many thoughts about GW and how they have handled the rollout of this new-old game. I stand by all of it - although I concede the Legions Imperialis rollout looks like a Formula One race compared to the absolute dogsh*t hash they have managed to make of the launch of "Warhammer: The Old World, but I digress...

Trio of Rhino APCs.

These vehicles offer a chance to ponder some of the great positives of the new Legions Imperialis game. First and foremost, these models (assuming you were able to acquire any) are quite fantastic. I cannot say they are a joy to build - after all, the parts are, in many cases, very, very, very small, and you do NOT want to assemble these on or near any sort of carpet into which, say, the very small exhausts would surely disappear into should you drop them. But these models ARE remarkable in their lovely detail, and of how you receive a rather crazy number of options for things like pintle-mounted weapon options, and multiple weapon options for the tanks.

The 28mm unit symbols come in handy on the top hatches of the APCs.

GW can be infuriating. But GW can also do some remarkable things with figures, and these little tanks are, in my view, very much in the latter camp (although, as I said, trying to acquire them will lead you on a bewildering journey through the former). 

Anti-personnel configuration on the Predator - autocannon in the turret, and heavy bolters on the sponson.

Remarkable detail on these very small models.

I also give them full marks for the decals included with the kits. Are they very small and difficult to handle? Well, yes they are...but really, given the scale of the vehicles here, there was no other way to make them, and I would much rather have the decal sheet, and brave some frustration, than not have the little decals at all. The models also offer opportunities to use small decals from set intended for the 28mm figures, which keen GW fans will surely have spotted on the top hatches of the APCs indicating broadly the different roles of the Marines on board.

AT configuration on this one - laser cannons everywhere...and a commander with a heavy bolter for extra fun to mark this vehicle out as the squadron commander.

Each APC can carry ten Space Marines, or at this scale, two stands' worth of the little wee Space Marine figures. Here in this submission we have sufficient number of troop carriers here to mount up a basic detachment of Space Marine tactical infantry, backed by support and heavy support troops.

Love the small decals for the turret and back hatches.

 

GW's model kit for the Predators offers different weapon choices such that the vehicles can be configured for AT work (the twin-lascannons on the turret) or heavy anti-personnel work (the single autocannon turret). Similar choices can be made for the sponson weapons.  Again, not easy to assemble, but remarkable detail, remarkable to have the choice at all. Some maniacs out there are even using tiny magnets such that the weapons can be swapped on and off...such lunacy is not for me, but that it is even being attempted is clearly a testament to how impressive these small models are. And that magnet people are bonkers. 

 

That is all for now - thanks for reading, stay tuned for more - and be sure to check out the amazing work of the Conscripts during the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. 

AHPC Submission #3 - Space Marine Contemptor Dreadnought

U mad bro?

We all have "issues", right? Well, so does this fellow, my third submission to the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. This is a Space Marine "Contemptor" class dreadnought - dozens have appeared in this blog over the years, so nobody will be surprised to see it. It is a 28mm resin model from Forge World, sporting the custom markings of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus. This is an old Forge World model, repainted with my up-to-date recipe for the Sons of Horus armour scheme in order to more properly match my recent models and soothe the screaming hobby OCD monkey that lives in my brain and will otherwise yell and throw things when I put mismatched paint schemes into the same collection.

The details on this custom dreadnought body were well sculpted...and little disturbing, but whatever...

These dreadnought chassis are means for badly wounded Space Marines to keep fighting. Severely wounded, maybe too wounded to continue, but still actually alive? No problem, just drop them into one of these things, and their service can continue. And continue. And continue...

Another view of one of the twin assault cannons the helps this Marine work through his emotional problems on the battlefield...

It is the kind of thing that might give anyone "issues", particularly Space Marines, and particularly those Space Marines serving the XVI Legion, who are known supposedly for already being violent grouches. You can see it in the custom iconography of the Legion on this dreadnought frame. Spikes and skulls you say? U mad bro?

I'm sure these skulls were attached for...good luck...yes..that's it...good luck...

Of course, whatever "issues" this fellow might have, he gets to vent his emotional energy on the battlefield, and I expect the twin rotary cannons really come in handy in that regard...at any rate,"Issues" here is ready to loyally serve the Warmaster in his mission to liberate humanity from the tyranny of the False Emperor on 30k gaming tables.  

 

Just some skulls on a chain. And some spikes. I'm sure everything is fine...

It's great to have this fellow "updated" - watch for more of this to happen (hopefully) during this edition of the AHPC. That's all for now - thanks for reading, and stay tuned!

AHPC Submission #2 - Legions Imperialis - Painting and Ranting

A detachment of Space Marines for the "Legiones Imperialis" game from GW. Or maybe this is a "formation"? Whatever.

For my second submission to AHPC XIV, I combined this modest assortment of very, very small Space Marines and some of the slightly-less-small-but-still-small Dreadnoughts which support them in battlem with my thoughts on the return of "Epic", which has returned under the (comically absurd) title "Legions Imperialis", but which long-suffering fans of the company's maligned "specialist games" simply recognize by the name "Epic". These figures are painted (of course) in the colours of the XVI Legion Astartes, the Sons of Horus.

Space Marine Legion command stand.

I am a HUGE fan of GW's "Epic" game, and of the setting in which the game takes place, the so-called "Horus Heresy". This game first appeared in the 90s as "Space Marine" and would appear and re-appear in different forms over the years in various names, including "Epic", "Epic: 40,000" and finally "Epic: Armageddon". It disappeared under GW's clown-addled leadership circa 2008 or somewhere in there with the other so-called "specialist games" of the day, but fans kept a candle burning - and kept playing - all through the subsequent years.

A couple of the dreadnoughts; you get two on each sprue of Space Marine infantry.

And lo and behold, the game did arise and return! You would think a fan like me would be just thrilled, and this post would be brimming with enthusiasm...but...well, that is just not the vibe I have with this game. 

Why is my vigour and passion for this game at such a low ebb at the very moment of its return to the commercial scene? Who knows? I can think of a few things contributing to my much-dimmed enthusiasm...let's review some of them...

A look at unit of tactical marines. Or maybe a formation of them. Or maybe a detachment. Or maybe a group. Bottom line - there are 20 little tactical marines there.

Maybe it was the years and-years-long delay to essentially re-launch the game, wasting time to re-do rules when they already had them, and simply had to re-issue them, but instead sat there for years in the studio getting wanked around through GW's constipated product process... 

Maybe it was the completely unnecessary "re-scale" of the figures, just to try and f*ck over the old time collectors?

Wee little heavy support marines.

Maybe it was the extra months-long delay in the actual release of the game, caused by some unknown f*ckup within GW's painfully slow corporate processes. 

Tactical support marines...they have plasma guns...or, at least, I know they do...not sure what they might look like to most normal people...

Maybe it was GW's tone-deaf decision to continue with their drone-like promotional roll-out for the game even after this Air-Canada-sized additional delay was confirmed, when every single announcement was met with a chorus of "WHEN WILL YOU RELEASE IT?" and GW never saw fit to answer that basic question (although it still mustered the resources to generate a corporate graphic pouting about this feedback, which just says so much, but anyway). 

The LI game had been meant for release in August, but was delayed at the last minute, and no date was given. This was GW's hilarious and tone-deaf response to the venting of fans being fed months of promotional photos for the models and rules, while having no actual date on when said models or rules would be released. When a corporation says "we hear you", they generally, absolutely, have not. The game finally did arrive in mid-December.

Maybe it was the drip of tiresome online content from "influencers" who get these things sent to them in advance while the rest of us plebs must content with GW's Kafka-like online pre-ordering system. This systems exists on GW's POS "upgraded" online store, and it is truly a marvel that, in the age of online product ordering, GW found a way to spend money creating an online platform where one must be in an online queue in order to join another online queue! 

Not only does this waste your time, but it ensures that most people will either not get access to the product, which sells out in minutes. Fans who miss out face the choice of a) having no product, or, b) trying to get it from a FLGS, and hope said FLGS itself was not itself f*cked over by GW shorting its orders, or, c) dealing with douchebag scalpers online, or, d) waiting for GW to replenish its stock. Note, this stock, if and when it appears will again sell out in minutes while you struggle to log in to the "new" POS web store, because somehow a company that must sell stuff to make a living is yet utterly unable to reliably stock and supply the stuff it wants to sell?

Step 1: join the queue to...be in another queue.

Step 2: after the first queue, wait in the second queue, while the product sells out online without you.

Maybe it was the fact that, having navigated the above, the new updated rules, once they arrive, are a total B-team effort in terms of presentation, combining tiny fonts and wasting vast amounts of page space?

Maybe it was the fact that, once you hurt your eyes and start reading, you find rules which probably contain a good game, but read as though they were written by an AI chat bot trained on a blend of EU climate treaties and a cut-and-paste of the "Patrol Phase" from Chain of Command? Why are the concepts of "formation" and "detachment" mixed up? Why do they call turns "rounds" when they should be called "turns"? Why do they try to make "overwatch" a verb? It's not a verb. Nobody, anywhere, "overwatches". Seriously what f*cking Sports Illustrated chat bot wrote this book?

A look at a single stand of assault marines.

Maybe it was the fact that the c*nts, having taken years to develop the game, did not include rules or stats for Land Raiders or Whirlwinds or so many of the other basic main vehicles in the core rules?

Maybe it was the fact that the new infantry models, while being "larger", somehow still contain both seriously unfortunate "cuts" that leave weird look on the tactical marines when seen from certain angles, but are ALSO often multi-part? I mean - take one approach, or the other...but both? That is weird, I don't get it.

Multi-part epic scale Space Marines. "I have always wanted multi-part figures this small" said nobody, ever, anywhere.

Maybe it was that one thing that wargamers loathe the most, even more than changing the scale of the figures...it was THE BASES. GW has attempted, with this new game, to change not only the basing size and shape (to round 25mm for basic stuff), but also saw fit to include only bases with "scenic" pavement/urban elements sculpted right into them, and...I despise them. I enjoy a game set in an urban-type terrain, but while a miniature with relatively generic "outdoor" terrain looks fine in an "urban" wargame setting, a figure with specific urban terrain built on to its base looks ridiculous on any other kind of terrain...

More dreadnoughts. You can see here an example of the Imperial symbol from the "pavement"...I let that peak through, but otherwise try to cover up the pavement.

...and let's continue the rant here. The pavements on the bases are not even broken up or anything. They are just random flagstone pavements so...like, the lines, which are visible, don't even necessarily match whatever given piece of "urban" terrain the model/figure might be placed on, causing immediate dissonance even if you do paint them up and then place them on GW's custom urban terrain plates (which you probably could not manage to buy as they sold out while you waited in an online queue to join another online queue)...

...let me just cover one more time how much I hate the bases....yeah...it must be the bases. F*ck these new, thin, stupid bases.

I did make an honest attempt to at least try to use them, but that lasted less than 24 hours before I was applying basing material to cover the stupid pavements, leaving the odd imperial symbol peaking out. 

A look at the Terminators

Is it all bad? Well, no, of course not. The game is back. It took forever, but it IS back. I think the rules will be good once I get them translated into English. The new models are fiddly, but they have many, many nice features (if you can find them for sale anywhere), and while I may not be a huge fan of multi-part 6mm infantry, once cannot argue with the detail it does allow for, assuming your temper can survive assembling them. Warning - do NOT build these anywhere near a floor with a carpet...

I think there is some great stuff here, but I totally get why people are turning en-masse to 3D printing options, as GW can't even get its sh*t together to sell you the stuff if you even want to buy it. I WANT to be a fan of this game, I don't understand why GW insists on treating customers in this manner when it simply doesn't have to...how does this company, which is publicly traded, not have an activist investor not lining up to beat this management group into small pieces? 

And, of course, whatever problems I have had acquiring "Legions Imperialis" pale to those experienced by the folks keen to get their hands on the Warhammer Fantasy re-boot, "The Old World", which was a complete hash...but perhaps more on that another time...

Group photo, one more time!

 

I hope to have more to say and share about "Legions Imperialis" in future posts. And throughout this edition of the Challenge, I do hope to paint more of these new models and build up some forces to try a game sometime. The rules ARE a very hard read, but I think they are quite good (not as good as "Epic: Armageddon" - but still good). In the meantime, the painting continues, be sure to check out the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge through the winter, as various Conscripts continue to pile up the points!

Challenge Entry #2 - Ancient Germans

After a slight delay I'm reposting my second AHPC entry to our own blog. It's more from my new Early Imperial Romans/Ancient Germans project. These particular models have been sitting unpainted in a Plano case for longer than I can remember! Maybe 10 years...? They are Wargames Foundry Germans of course... but there's more to the story...  

When I first moved to Winnipeg in 1999 and began tabletop historical wargaming in earnest, I was an avid user of websites like Bartertown and TMP. Eager to get into the Imperial Roman period, I spotted a deal on two painted armies offered by a seller - Early Imperial Romans and Ancient Germans. Of course, being the Internet of the '90s, pictures of stuff for sale were hard to come by, so I asked the seller who had made the figures. "Foundry" was the answer so I pulled the trigger and bought the lot. What arrived, though, was decidedly not made by Foundry... maybe "a" foundry, but definitely not Wargames Foundry. So I tuned up the paint the best I could with washes and highlights, we had a game or two of WAB with them, and I moved them on. But I always wanted to have nice armies of Romans and ancient Germans in 28mm.  

Fast forward 25 years or so and here we are! As I said these Germans were obtained in a trade I think and have been sitting in a box for 10 years or more. So it was time to get them painted and get another new insane project further down the road to completion (!)

Unfortunately my models didn't have shields, but these were purchased from Warlord Games along with decals, which (amazingly) fit the metal shields quite well!

(The two models at right were painted pre-Challenge as a test of my "flesh method" so aren't counted in the total). I think these Germans turned out OK and are certainly a great improvement over the lumpen proles (Minifigs maybe?) that I'd bought back in the day.

Here's the project progress so far! Unfortunately there will be a slight delay in resumption as I've run out of 20mm square bases but more are on the way. Ave Imperator!

(ps - the bases have now arrived and more Germans are in progress :-)

AHPC Submission #1 - Sons of Horus Assault Marines

Horus for hope! Let's jump in to the New Year, shall we...? I'll just leave...

Happy New Year everyone! As you will have seen, the 14th edition of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is underway, and a number of Conscripts are participating once more. I know Dallas and Frederick have already posted a couple of submissions - and I might have missed others (I expect Byron will have had at least one by now too) as the opening weeks of the AHPC tend to be a blur of posts. Anyway, here is my own first submission - a squad of Space Marines kitted out for assault work, with jet-powered jump packs, pistols of various sorts and the trusty chainswords we can look forward to using in the grim and dark future. These fellows are kitted out in Mark VI powered armour painted in the colours of the XVI Legion Astartes, the fine Sons of Horus, the Warmaster's own legion. These are brand new multi-part plastic kits from GW's "Age of Darkness" setting, the Horus Heresy.

Yes!! These guys!! Finally!! Remember the old "Space Marine" rules??

Squad officer on the left, while the fellow on the right is sporting a plasma pistol. They sometimes blow up and kill their user...but...like...only sometimes...still, the officer leaves those to the other fellows...

Look at those whacky jet/jump packs!! Just what one would need to go flying through the sky while wielding a chainsword, right?

In the AHPC participants can accrue bonus points if they can fit their submission into a theme (see more here for the details if you wish).  I'll be counting these models as "New Acquisitions", as they are brand-spanking new, very recently released by GW. Old salts like myself have been (im)patiently awaiting these models, so very strangely missing from the initial 2022 rollout of the new plastic "Age of Darkness" range. They hit the shelves in early December 2023, and I could not wait to get them. Even as my hobby time has mostly-vanished while we start packing up our house for a move to Toronto, I kept these aside so I could work on them, as they are at once wonderful new kits while also providing a huge hit of nostalgia. With the clock ticking on 2023, I powered through to get them finished just before the New Year.

A second plasma pistol in the squad on the left, and a regular assault trooper on the right.

GW can sure be infuriating, but when they hit a home run, it is amazing, and for me, this kit is a total home run. I love how the "beakie" marines look, they go together nicely, with a decent set of options, and are a real treat to paint. Marines with buzzing around with crazy jump packs is a core part of the original "Space Marine" game for me, so it is a real treat to have new plastic "beakie" Space Marines with the assault kit.

These are beautiful, basic sculpts...none of the stupid/excessive/cartoonish posing seen on so many of the newer "Primaris" marines in the 40k range.

Love those custom legion shoulder plates...

Naturally the first squad of 10 was assigned to the Warmaster's own legion in my collection. I have a second box set that I thought would be painted for the loyalist side...but...the assault squads can include as many as 20 marines, and the Warmaster is not the sort for half-measures, right? We'll see what happens with the next batch..

In terms of scoring, I managed to grab 70 points, a paltry start toward my target of 1200 points, but a start is a start, right? We'll see how things go in the coming weeks, as I try to squeeze in hobby time while preparing for the house move.

That's all for now - thanks for stopping by, and I hope everyone has a great 2024. Cheers!