Howard Vaux's Workshop

Dark Angles and Orks o My…

2011-03-07T01:08:00.001-05:00

I had the opportunity to spend the day with the Lancashire Club this last Saturday and had a great time.

While there I played two games at 1000 points each the first was against a Ork player that was a very skilled player. By the third round I was tabled his list was one that I would not have expected and he played a really good game. I had fun though and learned a good lesson with my list

The second game was against a army I have fought most of my games against Dark Angels is was a really nice looking army this time I played my list far better and go really lucky and survived tons of fire from a Dark Angel army (albeit not the first time form them) I did play a very conservative game not using my troops to their fullest I did again learn that my list work as how I intended it to.

I had a lot of fun learning a new list I have made as a stand in for Berks Spring Assault II

New Blood Angels Battle Mission

2011-02-22T01:49:00.001-05:00

Surgical Strike is a new free Blood Angels
battle mission download over at GW’s Astronomican.

A quick glance over this mission it looks like it could be fun though it might be similar to surprise attack though with a slight twist.

Objectives
The objective for the Blood Angels is to kill
the enemy general as quickly as possible
and inflict as much damage on his army.
The objective for his opponent is to protect
his general.

Deployment
Enemy player starts in a 12” circle in the center of the table placing the army’s HQ first.
Blood Angles play enters from either long board edge

Special Rules

Precision Timing: Blood Angels units that
have the Descent of Angels special rule
automatically Deep Strike on the first turn

Supreme General: One of the enemy HQ
units (owning player’s choice) must be
nominated as the army’s Supreme General.
The Supreme General is the biggest most fearsome because of this that HQ gains +1 Wounds, Attacks and Leadership
to a maximum of 10 (I am just imagining some HQ like Ghazghkull and the damage that could be done with 10 attacks)
This set up looks like it could be fun.

Out now for your tank enjoyment.... download the full set of spear head rules today.

2011-02-02T18:12:00.001-05:00

Big news everyone!

If you don't have a copy of The full rules for Warhammer 40,000: Spearhead look under Astronomican and get yours to day.

Plus new formation added don't forget to log in to your GW account

Ultra Marines the Movie

2010-12-31T12:07:00.003-05:00

Happy Holidays ...

2010-12-25T01:15:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas and happy new year...

Remember a attack of a zombie horde can happen any time......

Mantic Zombies

2010-12-06T23:44:00.001-05:00

Last month I received my promotional sprue from mantic games I had all most forgotten about them when they arrived at the end of last month these are highly detail miniatures I am looking forward to painting them.

How Lord of The Rings Should Have Ended

2010-09-27T11:19:00.000-04:00

For all you LOTR fans this is great.

What I am working on now

2010-07-30T01:15:00.002-04:00

Here is a look at all i have on my desk this week

five scouts ten Stern guard and a handful of Terminators

Island of Blood: Un-boxed

2010-07-23T17:23:00.000-04:00

Island of Blood: Unboxed

The new Warhammer boxed game is awesome! It's by far the best one yet and in my opinion the best box set we've ever released - there's an Elven Prince riding a huge Griffon in it! Please forgive my gushing; I know it's unfair of me to mention it when it's not available for you to order yet, but it's gorgeous and I'm brimming with excitement about it. Not to worry though, rather than rush home with the copy I managed to acquire (see also 'blag') this morning, I thought I'd share the opening of it with you. So without further ado, here's a look at The Island of Blood

Preview of the new Fantasy Box set

Deathwatch RPG: by Fantasy Flight Games

2010-07-23T11:23:00.003-04:00

Inter view On D6 Generation pod cast interview of Ross Watson lead designer at fantasy flight games Starts at 59.27 in the show..

W I P Crimson Fists Sternguard

2010-07-19T16:06:00.003-04:00

I have been Working on my first non AoBR set of space marines and turning them in to my Sternguard.
I took my time making sure I was happy with the pose before I did the final detail of filling the gaps and seams so here are some pictures of them.

Sternguard Sergeant Ver. 1.0

I did some light modification to his sword arm I cut it in two places. the first cut I made was at the inner shoulder pad on the upper arm and the second
cut I did was on the armor side of the of the cuff for the wrist. Each par i cut was given the slightest twist to give the feeling of just hacking off a Ork's head and then shooting form the hip at tthe next Ork in line.

Hunting down the next set of victims

This is Sergeant Ver.2.0

I really like how this guy turned out i like the face with the high neck guard not to say my first Ver.1.0is not any good i just love the way that pose
looks with that head. He looks like he is tearing threw a horde of green skins holding them off at the walls of New Rynn’s City.

On my desk now is my first 5 of 20 scouts more on that one later as I am done assembling them.

Any questions comments feel free to post them. In the comments section and or E-mail me at HowardVaux@yahoo.com

Witch Hunters Codex and the Daemonhunters Codex available for Download at Games Workshop

2010-06-23T19:21:00.001-04:00

Games Workshop has released for download Witch hunters codex and the daemonhunters codex it looks as if they are trying to phase out the allied rule for these army’s in the Witch hunters codex it is missing page 25 from the printed codex which contained a lot of information on using Witch hunter as allies.
page 16 in the D L’ed version has a side bar with the troops you can take space marine and IG. I am not to sure if it was an over site on their part or when(if) the new printed versions will have new rules for allied forces………..

On the Work Bench

2010-06-18T16:07:00.001-04:00

What just Arrived in the work shop

Last week I pick up some goodies for my self first up was a oop Captain Cortez for my Crimson Fists I am not sure if I even want to take him out of the box or not....

The next thing I bought was a the witch hunter codex I really like the models and my wife she is tying to decide what she would like to learn the game with so I thought I would start buying all the codex's for her and me to read so she can get an idea of each one.

Next on the list I bought was the 3rd edition space marine codex I really bought this one for the rules for Cortez so I could make my version of him to go with my CF army

I bought 3 boxes of Scouts for my fluffy Crimson Fists list I am running I am thinking of getting a fourth box just in case I decide to run 20 scouts

the last thing I got I pre order on the 28 of last moth but arrived this week is the really freaking big 20010 Citadel Catalogue man this make a great coffee table book I could spend hours looking at all the models that GW has to offer

Next on my list of models is a full tactical squad to convert to my second Stern guard squad. I am also on the look out for the Daemon Hunters codex and maybe the Imperial Guard codex

Models I am Working on

Sternguard

Right now I am working on my tactical squad and converting them in to my stern guard. A moth back I bought two of the Crimson fists metal shoulder pads sets from GW and going to put them on my stern guard I will be getting the deathwatch conversion pack and add a few of them in as well.

I have started on my first Sergeant now I am trying to decide what load out he going to get. I am having a hard time with this I know I would like him to have the boltgun with the special ammo and giving him a power weapon this will reduce my attacks in close combat. I will ponder this for a a little while longer. I think having the sergeant grabbing two close combat weapons would look awesome like two power swords….

Landspeeder Storm

After testing out the Landspeeder Storm a few times I have decided to build that as a display piece (moved to the side) for now. I am happy with my 2,000 point list after I am done assembling and painting this list I am going to start working on a 2,000 point Ork list.

We Have A Winner... For the Super Blog Chain Give Away

2010-06-16T00:28:00.000-04:00

The winner is Steel Thunder Mike so after reading all of the three entry's to my sbcga it was a tough decision so I had my wife roll a D6 to pick the winner and well mike your number came up you are the WINNER.........

Hey Mike e-mail so we can work out the details

Now that we have a winner I will post his SBCGA as soon as I have the details.

Prizes From 40kBunny's SBCGA

2010-06-11T16:22:00.000-04:00

Here is my Prizes fron Max over at 40k Bunny Super Blog Chain Give Away the base and the codex are awesome thanks again.

Just a reminder only a few day left in my SBCGA Enter Here.
Good luck........................

My Crimson Fists list

2010-06-09T19:51:00.000-04:00

After tweaking the list a little here is my 2000 Point fluffy based list

HQ:
Pedro Kantor__________________________________________175
Master of the Forge_____________________________________105

Elites:
10 man Terminator Squad Sergeant Power Sword____________400
10 man SternGuard ____________________________________250
10 man SternGuard ____________________________________250

Troops:
10 man Scout squad Sergeant Melta Bomb__________________145
5 man Scout squad Sergeant Melta Bomb__________________80

Heavy Support:
Venerable Dreadnought 2 Twin-linked Auto-cannons__________195
Iron Clad Dreadnought Two Close Combat weapons__________155
Iron Clad Dreadnought Two Close Combat weapons__________155

Vehicles:
Drop Pod_____________________________________________45
Drop Pod_____________________________________________45

What do you think? you have any questions and comments feel free to leave them

Spray painting review Fat Caps

2010-06-07T20:20:00.000-04:00

The ones on the left are fat caps the ones on the right a skinny caps

In my model Prep tips part two I talk about fat caps. I bought some sampler pack to try and well I did some quick testing of which cap will work with what brand of paint I use . I had some issues with different caps an brands mostly Rust-oleum but man when you get the right cap with the right brand and it is a whole new ball game laying down primer.

I really like the orange dot left picture top left corner that is a nice spray pattern with Krylon and Color place.I am still working with the skinny's if they work on army painters brand of spray primer I will use them to do a lot of base coating

Conclusion
all in all the caps make a difference with the right combination it will lay down the primer really nice.
I haven't had any luck with these caps and Rust-oleum

Super Blog Chain Give Away!!!

2010-06-07T13:33:00.000-04:00

There is one week left in my Super Blog Chain Give away there is still time to enter for your chance to win a nice piece of terrain... so check it out scroll down or click here to enter

Good luck.........

Crimson fist 2000 point Fluff list test

2010-06-06T01:08:00.000-04:00

I played my 2000 point list against dark angel list(not sure as what type).
It was a great game it came down to the bottom of the 7th round.The victory went to the Crimson Fists thanks to Kantor taking out Grand Master Azrael in the end I took the game by about 200 victory points hard fought points.

Well I have now played 5 games of 40k my that brings me to 2 Wins and 3 Ties 0 losses

I think i need to get a lose under my belt before my head get to big (It might be to late for that :P ) well I really like my new list i need to try it out on other types of army's to see if it can hold up against them.

I posted the basics of my list here or just scroll down to the next post,

2000pt Army List for Crimson Fists

2010-06-05T14:37:00.000-04:00

I was play testing a 1500 point list this last week and really got a feel for how to play my army. After the game I was talking with Darryl and he cam up with a nice list that that I think works with the fluff of the Crimson Fists.

So here is the basic list that was created so I can have fun at 2000 points

Pedro Kantor
Master of the Forge

Eilte

10 man Terminator Squad
10 man Sternguard Squad
10 man Sternguard Squad

Troop

10 man Scout squad

10 man Scout squad

Vehicles

Drop pod
Drop pod

Walkers

as heavy support

Venerable Dreadnought
Ironclad Dreadnought
Dreadnought

What do you think of this list ?
HowardVaux@yahoo.com

The Indescribable Power of the Grot – Grot Tanks available to pre-order Now

2010-06-04T22:48:00.000-04:00

Gretchin players, rejoice! Forge World have reshaped the very nature of Warhammer 40,000, unleashing a force so powerful that the might of Craftworlds, Astartes and Septs alike will quail before it! This newsletter sees the launch of the indomitable, unstoppable, indefatigable Grot Tank Set – continue, dear reader, to find out more about this Grot-ish menace…

Waaaaagh-Grot!
Ead Brown

The Indescribable Power of the Grot – Grot Tanks available to pre-order Now
Across the Forsarr sector, whispers and rumours rise of a threat greater even than the Kill Tanks that have so decimated the Elysian operations on Kastorel-Novem.
The thunder of engines and the blast of cannons heralds the advance of a new and deadly form of greenskin war machine in numbers beyond comprehension.
Armoured tracks grind inexorably onwards, driving all before them in a storm of destruction, as greenskins cackle madly at the sheer joy of their onslaught.

This devastating Grotzkrieg has laid waste to Imperial, Chaos, Tau, Eldar and Tyranid forces throughout the galaxy, and it seems that no fighting force in Warhammer 40,000 can stand against this new Gretchin devilry! (That’s what the Grots believe, at least!)

It is with some trepidation at the horror that will be unleashed across gaming tables everywhere that we can announce the release of the Grot Tank Set which is available to pre-order now for despatch in the week commencing June 21st. First previewed at the Forge World Open Day earlier this year, these extremely detailed and unique models have been wildly anticipated. Forge World designer Daren Parrwood has created a set of four fantastically ramshackle war machines that are complimented by four unique tank Kommandaz sculpted by Mark Bedford. The full resin kit allows you to build three Grot Tanks and a Kommand Tank, equipped with an additional hull-mounted weapon.

These new Grot Tanks are a revolution in miniature modelling and wargaming. The set contains four different variant chassis, tracks, exhausts and turrets as well as four fantastic Grot Tank Kommandaz and 5 different, incredibly shooty, weapon options. As you may have seen at the Forge World Open Day, and on the Games Workshop Blog, Forge World designer Daren Parrwood has taken care to ensure the kit is fully modular – all of the chassis, turret, exhaust, track and weapon options are completely interchangeable. This allows more than a thousand individual tanks to be built from the kits, before even considering the possibilities that rise from a bits box or other items in the Forge World range, such as Grot Crew and the recently-released Weapons Set.
Full rules for using a Grot Tank Battle Mob can be found in the Dread Mob army list included in Imperial Armour 8: Raid on Kastorel-Novem, but Imperial Armour writer Alan Bligh was so excited about the release of the Grot Tanks that he has created a deliciously unhinged Apocalypse formation that you can download here.

Super Blog Chain Give Away!!!

2010-06-03T15:59:00.000-04:00

It’s my turn to hand over the love as I am the winner over at 40k Bunny's
Super Blog Chain Give Away I am getting a wonderful 60mm base From dragon forge design and a Tyranids Codex.

What is the Super Blog Chain Giveaway?
The brilliant folks at Santa Cruz Warhammer got the ball rolling in an effort to foster folks in our community reaching out and seeing what other blogs have to offer as well extending a helping hand to fellow gamers.
Want to participate?
If you want to win a prize of your own and join this Give-Away, go comment on this blog. The rules of the give-away are as follows:
The rules for the contest are simple...and copied verbatim from SCWH:

Rules.

1. you must have a blog.

2. you must have something worthwhile to offer up to give away for free.

3. if you win, you must hold your own blogsite give away using the same rules to pay it forward.

4. you must contact us with a link to your give away so we can send bloggers to your site.

5. you may only enter once per give away.

To enter.

leave a comment to this post as follows.

1st sentence, why you need the prize.

2nd sentence what you will give away on your blog to pay it forward.

What’s in it for you?
I will be giving away your choice Of one the Scenery kits form the list below to the winner plus free shipping!

Honoured Imperium
Battlescape
Manufactorum
Basilica Administratum
Sanctum Imperialis

I will choose a winner based on a combination of what you are offering and how convincing you are.
The dead line to enter will be the June 14th
I will announce the winner June 16th

The best of luck to you.....

2010-05-29T16:39:00.000-04:00

You are a d4: You are bright, perceptive, and driven. You would be considered a blessing to mankind, if you didn't insist on using your powers for evil. You are devious, deceitful, doubtful, and downright dangerous. Assassins can learn a lot from you. If your fellow party members knew how rotten you were, they'd go over and join the bad guys. Justified or not, you are meticulous in your ways: A poison for every person, and a dagger for every back. Much of your day is spent scheming or plotting. The rest of your time is spent trying to convince others that you're simply misunderstood.

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Part Two of Model Preparation

2010-05-27T23:58:00.001-04:00

Washing the model

So hmmm why Should I wash the model I just got done scraping sanding the thing? Mold release and the oils from your fingers are all over the model you have worked so hard to make look so good why cut this corner now? I know some of you might say I have never had a problem before for.
For me all it takes is one time I that I do not do this step and all my hard work looks like crap be cause the primer didn’t adherer just right.I take all my stuff to the was bin. Use warm soapy water and scrub them with with a soft bush I use a nail brush.(tooth brush is ok)
Then I rinse them off in clean running water and let them dry toughly. You can try to speed this up if you want I put them in layers of paper towels to draw off the water pat them dry but will let them sit for some time and check for any water left on them before I start painting.

Priming

What brand you use?

What Brand of Primer you use isn’t as important as technique and what type of tip you use. I was taught in auto body class to start spraying off and stop spraying off of the object you are painting. Keep each pass the same distance from start to finish no mater the distance you spray from be it 1” to 1’ as long as it is the same from the start, also do not swing your arm as this will cause your arm to move in a arc and feather your edges which will cause a uneven coat of paint this will really show up on tank and any large models. Remember a few light coats is better then one heavy coat of paint.

Spray can: Tips or Caps

Some graffiti artist call them caps.

I am new to the whole realm of spray caps but it makes a whole lot of sense to me that they would make different types for different patterns and effects. So the tip you get on a standard spray can is going to be good for large volume and area. What I have learned about spray can tips from The Painting Corps.
Low pressure wide pattern tips Fat Caps are a lot better for control for a even coat compared to other caps I have used.
Games Workshop has caps that are fat caps on there spray paint. I fell in love with these tip’s when I use GW’s spray paint the first time a few weeks ago. after running a few test of Krylon’s tip Vs. GW’s the tip pattern at the same distance for each the fat cap in much wider an 1 1/4 for GW and cover more of the model in one pass and does not blast the piece away with high pressure. Krylon was about 1/2 and would blast any small bit to the back of my spray both. I would recommend to any one that has spent the money on GW’s spray paint save that cap it will work on most spray cans and will help with achieving better coats primer. The better the base the better the finish.
I hope this isn’t the worst thing any of you have read ….if you have read any of this?
My thoughts .
I feel the little things you do in the begging make or break the finished look of your model. Weather or not they are for show or game you should take a little time and not cut corners you will have a beter looking army on the table if you do things to the best of your ability
I know I am well about the most atrocious writer on the planet I am a far better story teller in person .
What I need is a ghost writer or at least some one that knows how to write :P lol….

Model Preparation Tips

2010-05-26T01:08:00.001-04:00

I was reading over some blogs the other night and did not see a lot of stuff out there covering the basics of modeling .
This might be some real basic information to most of you.
My hope is that every one might at least learn some thing.
Here are some techniques that I have pick up form all different places and just doing it.

Mold Lines

Cleaning up mold lines I use the back of my hobby knife blade #11 blade there are two designs of blades (Picture A) I like to use the straight back (needle point) and a drop point I really like the blade with the drop point at the back of the tip it is a shorter edge to scrape with. Tighter spaces I go with the needle point blade it is nice if you have a fit in small tight places.

Picture A

Pictures B

Mold Lines
The way I remove the lines is to scrape them at a slight angle to the mold line I do not fallow the line I am working on with the blade but rather pull it toward my self at the angle letting the contour of the model guide my direction. (picture B) If it is cylindrical like a leg I work the blade over the crest of the cylinder. I have found that fallowing the the line in a straight down will sometimes create a flat line taking down the curve. This is not always possible to do on. For longer straight flat lines you can fallow the line. I will also do this when filing down a mold line.
Seam Scraping.
Another thing I do is what I call seam scraping if I am butting two pieces together that you do not want the seam as visible. I will scrape the seam at a angle pulling crossed the seam. Then pull two pieces apart then glue them and put them back together and run the blade over it again one its set . It make a tighter fit and helps to hide the joint if it is not supposed to be seen.

Sanding filing

A little back ground on sanding about,
Wood Shop is where I first learned about sanding the rule was sand with the grain of the wood if not you would ruin the wood most cases it would not be flat and smooth.

Some years later while I was in automotive classes,I took a couple of body classes and learned how to sand metal ,plastics, filler (bondo). The thing with these is to not just sand in one direction start in one direction and then turn 90 degrees and sand in that direction it is similar to drawing a cross hatch(see picture below). It is not always possible but I can usually do this 90% of the time. whole reason is to avoid creating a grain in the metal or plastic just sanding in the same direction will start cutting lines in to the model.

Cross hatching

Brand and Type of Sandpaper

The type of sand paper to use I normally just buy the Testors brand it comes with five sheets per pack each each sheet is a finer grit. . It is a flexible wet dry film,if you bend it the grit doesn't fall off and because its wet dry film you can rinse it to help clear it if you clog up the grit. Tip cleaning any sand paper I use what is called a art gum eraser to clean out clogs they make some thing similar for belt sanders. Fun facts about sand paper… The higher the number the finer the grit.the number is based on how much grit is in a square inch on the backing medium. If you did not know now you do. Did I mention I worked in a woodshop and took auto motive classes …

Coming soon part two Priming….

Any thing you do different let me know I am always looking for better ways of doing things Leave comment below.