Assorted 40k related ramblings
A while back I posted about some 40k models I'd been painting. I haven't posted about that since, but I haven't stopped painting either. There's something like 150 ish imperial guard done, plus small chunks of Marines and Dark Eldar. The amount of free time for painting has obviously been fairly constrained lately, but getting stuff done is possible.
Now, things to note...
It seems Games Workshop will be phasing out metal miniatures in favour of plastic this year. That makes sense, in the couple of years I've been collecting again the quality of the plastic kits has soared. A couple of weeks ago I bought a pack of space marine scouts, these models date probably 4-5 years back and each model is essentially four bits. A head, an arms + weapon piece, a body, and legs. There's not much scope for altering the models in any way and there's not much detail on the models.
Compare that to the recent Dark Eldar releases. Most models are made up of far more pieces and you get a lot of options in the box for everything. The pieces are very detailed, but best of all, the whole range is interchangable. So heads arms, whatever from the Warriors will fit the Wyches, and so on. In a nice touch the handful of metal models in the range (essentially just HQ characters) are also designed to fit with the plastic bits.
My most recent purchase was a set of Grey Knight Terminators. They're insanely detailed, but also look huge. Seeing them glued together unpainted on my desk they look like they belong to another game entirely, but there's no denying the crispness of the models. And again, a wealth of options in the box. Some folk build their tanks with weapon options magnetised for easy swapping. I think with these guys you could actually do that for their arms to make it easy to rebuild the squad.
Oh, and the Grey Knight range includes the Dreadknight, a kind of 40k mech... Not quite sure what I think of that. Mostly I think it would look a lot better if it was a bit more dynamic, rather than just standing there.
Other things I've found, this company, Iron Halo, in New Zealand supply great bases and more generally there's a huge eco-system of suppliers out there offering all sorts of useful bits n bobs. In my pre-internet collecting days there wasn't much of anything beyond Games Workshop itself and occasional model shops. Still trying to think of something that'll look good on these Deus Ex range of bases
There's also a thriving trade on e-bay in bitz, with folks buying up the plastic kits, breaking them down into their constituent parts and selling them on. Useful if, for instance, you want ten pairs of Imperial Guard kneeling legs, but don't want to buy five heavy weapons teams to get them.
Now, things to note...
It seems Games Workshop will be phasing out metal miniatures in favour of plastic this year. That makes sense, in the couple of years I've been collecting again the quality of the plastic kits has soared. A couple of weeks ago I bought a pack of space marine scouts, these models date probably 4-5 years back and each model is essentially four bits. A head, an arms + weapon piece, a body, and legs. There's not much scope for altering the models in any way and there's not much detail on the models.
Compare that to the recent Dark Eldar releases. Most models are made up of far more pieces and you get a lot of options in the box for everything. The pieces are very detailed, but best of all, the whole range is interchangable. So heads arms, whatever from the Warriors will fit the Wyches, and so on. In a nice touch the handful of metal models in the range (essentially just HQ characters) are also designed to fit with the plastic bits.
My most recent purchase was a set of Grey Knight Terminators. They're insanely detailed, but also look huge. Seeing them glued together unpainted on my desk they look like they belong to another game entirely, but there's no denying the crispness of the models. And again, a wealth of options in the box. Some folk build their tanks with weapon options magnetised for easy swapping. I think with these guys you could actually do that for their arms to make it easy to rebuild the squad.
Oh, and the Grey Knight range includes the Dreadknight, a kind of 40k mech... Not quite sure what I think of that. Mostly I think it would look a lot better if it was a bit more dynamic, rather than just standing there.
Other things I've found, this company, Iron Halo, in New Zealand supply great bases and more generally there's a huge eco-system of suppliers out there offering all sorts of useful bits n bobs. In my pre-internet collecting days there wasn't much of anything beyond Games Workshop itself and occasional model shops. Still trying to think of something that'll look good on these Deus Ex range of bases
There's also a thriving trade on e-bay in bitz, with folks buying up the plastic kits, breaking them down into their constituent parts and selling them on. Useful if, for instance, you want ten pairs of Imperial Guard kneeling legs, but don't want to buy five heavy weapons teams to get them.