Enjoy these Dark Angels photos, I am packed and moving out!

Well, I am packed up and the movers come tomorrow. I will attempt to post from the road, but I can't make any promises, so I am leaving you with some recent photos of Dark Angels Chief Librarian Ezekial and my DW Venerable Dreadnought, Brother-Sergeant Belicos. They are a part of my new DA force and represent some fine work.

On the road, I will try to offer up some great Chaos lists, maybe some fiction and possibly introduce you to a new contributor here at Dark Future who goes by the name, Wulfson. He is a very experienced player who is particularly good with mech Eldar, Orks and the Guard. Enjoy the rest of your week and as always, feel free to comment!

Are you a 40k addict? I am!

Are you a 40k addict. I was not convinced that I was until I packed all of my stuff for the big move to Michigan. Now after seeing the chest high pile (also about 3 feet across) of armies, bits and terrain that I own all packed up. It took me 8 and a half hours to find everything and get it all together. This is not counting the 4'X4' table I have or the 6'X4' flocked desert table that I own either.

This is insanity now that I think about it, but what is sad is that I intent to collect 2 more Land Raiders for my now 1750 Deathwing, I need 7 drop pods for my Salamanders and that doesn't count the constant additions to my 2250 of Deathguard, 1500 of Emperor's Children, the 1000 points of Thousand Sons, the 2500 of Black Legion support or the 2 Brass Scorpions I have ... I am a Chaos Fiend ansd now that I see it all togather, a 40k addict, but I cannot wait to get to Michigan where I will live within 20 minutes of 3 big games stores and I can get into a healthy (or not, depends on how you see it) gaming scene.

Anyway, this makes me ponder how many other 40k addict there are out there. What about you? Do you have a need to own every army you see? Do you crave to paint every badass model you can afford (or not afford). Do you have hundreds of pounds of plastic and pewter laying around? Let's see how depraved you are! Leave me some comments about your fiendish lust for 40k ... Let's consider this the first step in our 12 step program!

Cost-Effective Free-Hand Painting Made Easy

Problem

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After posting the last photos of my Death Wing Army, I realized how ... well they lacked chapter markings. I hate transfers because it is often quite easy to spot a transfer and my brush skill are not tight enought to draw those kind of details.

I had searched far and wide for a brush pen set that wouldn't break my wallet, but it seemed impossible and the fancy $5.00 colored markers I bought in the past scratched more paint off the model than they put on it.

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Solution

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Well, all that ended when I took a trip to Michael's craft store today and found Faber-Castell artist pens. I was sceptical at first, but decided to buy the Sepia pen set, which includes a wide variety of pens for drawing to various degrees of detail. I chose Sepia because it looks more realistic than black when it comes to writing on purity seals and banners and such.

For color, I picked up a pack of Faber-Castell PITT Basic artist pens. They came in a color range including yellow, red, orange, purple, blue and green. I figured I could make a go of this and brought them immediatley back to the modelling bench.

The best part is that you can pick these same pens up for about $12.29 at Michaels or on the Web.

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Tips

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Now, here is where it can get dicey for some; I freehand draw on my models and did so to acheive the chapter symbols in the photos. As you can see, it is not perfect and some follow up work is sometimes necessary, but on the table-top it already looks more impressive than it did. Freehand is always an option, but a mistake can involve some serious re-painting.

The way to overcome this is to take an ordinary lead pencil and carefully draw the symbol wherever it needs to be. Once you are satisfied, take the pens and carefully color the symbol, paying special attention to stay inside the lines.

As always, feel free to comment and share ways that you have overcome the hatred of transfers, products you have found or links to tutorials for freehand painting or budget painting solutions!

Iron Within, Iron Without

Well, I was suffering from a little modelling and painting A.D.D. last night and painted up an Iron Warriors Warsmith that I had converted several months ago from an old Tech Marine Backpack amd an arm from a techmarine servitor. Anyway, it must have been all that theoryhammer regarding the tech heavy Salamander list that got all this started, but here is the end result. Feel free to comment on him.

Salamanders, 1st tactical Marine Conversion

Just a quick update. I wanted to try making a tactical Marine to fit the essence of this army. I made him using a head from a Black Templars bitz kit, the torso is from a tac squad box, the legs are some slightly modified Chaos Space Marine legs, the cloak is from the Dark Elf Corsairs kit and the space marine pack is from Chapterhouse studios. I am debating whether or not to give all of the tac Marines Cloaks or not. What do you guys think?

Vulcan Who? Update and possible list

I just wanted to post an update on this darker counts-as Vulcan He'Stan model. I am thinking about removing the skull shoulder pad, thou it is dragonish and there is much work to do cleaning up the green stuff work, but as I put him together, I started to think of ideas for a possible list which could be fluffy and pretty nasty on the board.
I had an idea similar to Goatboy's Hammertime list from BoLS, but with vulcan in place of one of the Libbies, but then I really like shooty armies and I wanted to exploit the forge-happy aspect that a Salamanders offshot army could bring to the table, so here it is.
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Vulkan Hestan (or in this case, the dark version)
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Master of the Forge Combi-Melta, Thunderhammer
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Techmarine with Servo Harness, Powerweapon and Combi-melta
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10 Space Marines Meltagun, Multi-MeltaCombi-Flamer Drop Pod
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10 Space Marines Meltagun, Multi-MeltaCombi-Flamer Drop Pod
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10 Space Marines Meltagun, Multi-MeltaCombi-Flamer Drop Pod
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3 Landspeeder (3) Multi-Melta(3) Heavy Flamers (either single or in squadron depending on mission type)

Dreadnaught - Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
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Dreadnaught - Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
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Dreadnaught - multi-melta, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
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Dreadnaught - Multi-melta, Heavy Flamer, Extra Armour, Drop Pod, Locator Beacon

No doubt there are fluffier lists out there, but I thought about a founding chapter that is turning as not being able to find many scouts, so I left them out. I figured with their cult of fire, they would also stick to melta and flamer to the point of stupidity, but in this case I think it works pretty well. Then given that they are born from the Salamanders and they are devoted to the forge, they would certainly have plenty of tech-marines and with the existing cult of Prometheum preaching so much about endurance, this many dreadnoughts doesn't seem like too much od a stretch either.
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Gameplay wise, this army will come down in DP assault with the four dreads landing first turn to pop any and all tanks or, in cases of hordes, roast all the little bugs, orks, guardsman from the board. The rest of the army should be able to come in pretty accurately bases on the locator beacons with the dread pods.
Vulcan, the Master of the Forge and the Tech Marine will each land with a squad and either take and hold objectives or go hunting themselves and the lans speeders will be there for hunting and late turn contesting.
I am not to worried about enemy anti-tank ability because there is so much AV12 on the board, most armies will not be able to handle it, especially when I plan to take out most of their anti tank capability in the first turn.
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I will tell you that I am normally a bigger fan of mech (being a chaos player) and I normally see horrible drop pod armies on the table, but I really like this army. Feel free to comment and let me know if I am smoking crack or not!

Vulcan He'Stan who? Pics of a darker Salamander WIP!

Here are some photos and a brief explanation of what you see in these photos. I will be honest, I am not a big fan of modelling loyalists, but I am a BIG fan of the Salamanders and I happen to have a TON of scaley SM bits and a sweet Salamanders chaplain kit from Chapterhouse studios sitting around ... when suddenly, I got the idea to make something a little different and then it began ... a kind of dark looking Salamander, something of an idea at first.

After hitting the sketchbook for a couple days, I came up with something I was happy with and started working.

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THE HEAD: This is one of the heads that came with the Khorne Lord on Juggernaught Fantasy kit and is a finely modelled head with awesome horns. This makes me either think of a Salamanderish army that has fallen to Chaos or of the old Black Dragons Space Marines from the Codex Astartes books, in any case it just seemed to fit.

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THE BODY and CROZIUM: The body and crozium are part of a spectacular kit put together by the good people at Chapterhouse Studios to represent a Salamanders chaplain. I am not sure if this is something they had in mind, but I felt like if I was to make a darker, 'counts as He'Stan' figure, it would need to be something different from 'a treasure seeking forgefather' So I decided (and don't hold me to this fluff) that this guy would be the Apostle of the Dragon, a sort of religious figure for a chapter that sees flame as something holy. The Chapter tactics usually brought by Vulcan could be called 'Litanies of Flame' or something similar, but anyway, on with the post.

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THE BACKPACK and CLOAK: These are simply a melding of the Chaos Space Marine Sorc backpack and a cloak from a Dark Elf Corsair. I will use greenstuff to cover up the cutting and make it look like the cloak hangs down from the shoulders on either side of the pack, but I thought the dragon backpack was more than appropriate.

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THE BASE: The base is a bunch of greenstuff I have modelled to look like cracked lava, topped with a metal dragon skull that I bought in a bitz box on Ebay. I have 5 of them, but I don't know where they are from. I figured this was about the most lively and dramatic base I could give this guy and I really like how it looks so far.

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THE QUESTIONS: Now I am left with a bunch of questions for my next modelling session with this mini. Do I say that he must breathe fire and just add another arm or do I find some way of modelling a crazy fire-shooting arm? If so, do I do that or do I give him a little servitor holding an ornate looking flamer (that I just so happen to have)? So I give him a Chapterhouse studio Salamander shoulderpad with their symbol on it and use it for this darker second founding or possibly corrupt chapter, or do I find some other motif for this army? Do I model my standard Marines from loyalist models or Chaos or a mix of parts?

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I have already gotten a few suggestions, like modelling my flamer wielding Marines with firebreathing heads (thanks Thomas!), but I am open to anything at this moment, so fire away!

Nurgle Vindicator conversion update

I just wanted to post some photos of the latest work done to the Nurgle possesed vindicator. I added a couple more Nurglings, pus'ed up a couple more areas and changed the demolisher's normal skull symbol to a three skulled symbol of Papa Nurgle. How you all like it. Soon it will go off to Goatboy to receive it's paintjob!

Is my Chaos Tourney list still viable with New Guard on the scene?

Now, I am going off of memory and it is my Birthday, so I may be ... drinking, but I am wondering if my current tourney list is competitive given the release of the new IG codex.
Now, in April, I won a tourney in North Carolina with this list and I just won a tourney in Georgia with this list, but the Guard codex was old at the one in April and there were no guard at the recent tourney, so now, as I prep for the move to a bigger gaming market (michigan), I can't help but wonder if my tourney list will still be valid. I like to think it has a little something for everyone, but I will let you all judge.

Chaos Space Marines Tournament List 1750

Daemon Prince w/Wings Mark of Slaanesh and Lash
Daemon Prince w/wings Mark of Nurgle and Warp Time
7 Plague Marines, Champ w/Powerfist + Personal Icon, 2 melta guns, Rhino
7 Plague Marines, Champ w/Melta Bombs, 2 Melta guns, Rhino
7 Plague Marines, 2 Melta. Rhino, Havoc Launcher
7 Plague Marines, 2 Plasma, Rhino, Havoc Launcher
2 Oblitz
2 Oblitz
2 Oblitz

My normal tactics are to let the Plasma squad sit on an objective and use that rapid fire nastyness to block MCs from taking their objective. I use the first two Melta squads for taking objectives and killing walkers, while the melta squad with no champ can fill in anywhere it is needed.
The Oblits work with the lash prince to take out whole squads of troops or termies a turn OR they use lascannons to cripple a mech army first turn. The WT Prince is the close combat beast and can work alone or in conjuction with the Lash prince for extra fun and games.
I have not played against the new Guard, so I am not sure what they could bring in a take all comers tourney list, but I would be interested in some good opinions based off recent competitive experience. Feel free to comment!

Scorpion Defiler/Brass Scorpion Conversion! Now who to dedicate it to?

This is my first Scorpion Defiler/Brass Scorpion conversion. I actually converted this while I was recovering from a vasectomy (ouch)! It only really took 2 Defiler kits to make this (plus an extra claw for the tail) and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Now I run a Black Legion Army with a strong Deathguard wing and a decent amount of Emporer's Children. I love both of those gods, I am slightly less enthusiastic about Tzeench and I am only a fan of Khorne in the fiction. With that being said, what god do you think I should dedicate this Beast to?

A call to Michigan Gamers! I am moving to Lansing!

As a member of the United States Marie Corps, I get moved around every few years and now it is time for me to move again ... to Lansing, MI. As I started on the usual moving proceedures, I happened to search for local gaming stores in the area and discovered that not only where there a ton of stores in Lansing, but in Michigan as a whole.
With so many folks playing Warhammer 40k or any of the other GW games, I figure I may be in for a good time, but I am wondering if any of you out there are from the Lansing area or from Michigan. Maybe you can offer a little help in finding a good store or maybe you could just represent the store you frequent most in my comments box here. It would be a great help and maybe we can throw down sometime!

More Black Legion! Daemon Prince painted!

Tonight I just wanted to post a few photos from my Black Legion projest, including my Daemon Prince, who I 40k'd up by adding a Lightning claw from Abbadon and sis some minor GS work making his wings fit. I also posted my Icon bearer. Feel free to leave any feedback or critisism!

Check out Still Frosty's Kroot Konversions!

These conversions are the outstanding work of Still Frosty, a fellow whose work I have been watching at www.advancedtautactica.com for more than a year. He has his own Web site now, currently featuring his Kroot Renegades (which he runs as a counts-as-Tau force), but he is in the process of getting his White Scars and Grey knights onto the Web as well. Check him out at www.stillfrostyconversions.com

Khorne Dreadnought Conversion Photo! 10 Tons of Berzerk Fury needs your help!

This is very much a work in progress. I started to convert this Assault on Black Reach Dreadnought into a Khorne Dreadnought recently and have hit a wall. I am torn on what to do with the arms. On one hand, I have the Penitent Engine Buzz Saw arms, but they just seem a little scrawny for this Dread. On the other hand, I could use standard dreadnought arms and so some conversions to the close combat arm (though I would like it to be a 2CCW style Dreadnought, given it's Khornocity).

Any feedback would be welcome, so please leave me some comments on what you think.

Work done so far. The original faceplate and symbols where shaved off the front of the dread. Panels where added to the two front sides to accomidate the large Khrne symbols. The inside of the pilot area was blocked off with another panel.
I then used some of the SM vehicle bitz to create the ribcage effect you see. I then used the back of a searchlight and a defiler head to create the head that is there now. Everything else is a combination of chopped up defiler bitz and assorted spikey Chaos parts. I hope you all like it!