Boltguns & Brushstrokes- Tool Time

                People ask me, “Horus, how do you paint how you do?” And obviously, there’s not a simple answer to that question—I’ve been touching on technical things here and there with other articles. But the simplest answer to how I get the results I get is that I have the best tools I can find. This isn’t a sales article or anything, although I imagine it will come off that way. There’s an old saying, “A man is only as good as the tools he uses.” Or something like that. The point is, your results are going to be limited by the quality of the materials you make available to yourself, and with brushes in particular, high-end results are impossible without equally high-end tools due to the limitations of lesser products.

This is a red sable. Cute, huh?
This is what your brushes should be made of.

                So first, let’s talk about brushes.  A brush that’s suitable for miniature painting will be made of either synthetic hair, sable hair, or a blend of the two.  The best brushes are going to be 100% sable hair. Sable hair comes to a natural point, and is very strong. A lot of brushes are described as sable brushes, but you should look closely at the packaging on the brush to determine if it is a blend of synthetic hair, and if not, what kind of sable hair is used. Games Workshop brushes, for example, are advertised as sable brushes, but are actually a blend of synthetic and male sable hair. Male sables’ hair is not as fine as the female’s, and is not as lasting for a fine brush.  Usually, but not always, you can tell what kind of sable hair (and the amount of synthetic hair) in a brush by price—you won’t get a good, 100% sable brush for less than $20 usually. This is a case of getting what you pay for, though—a good sable brush will last for years if cared for properly.

Bring Out Your Dead! Burna Boys

ERE'S SKORCHY!

Greetings Gentlereaders,

By popular request I'm looking at one of the more interesting units in the ork codex that's waned, but has it waned justly?  Admittedly, I haven't seen orks in my local playgroup for about a year, as one of our players has taken up hunting, funded by sellin his army, and the other has moved to Dallas, TX.  So I ask leniency, as this is primarily going off theory and my own crack-pot ideas about orks.  I think the changes to sixth edition have on the whole helped orks and have especially helped burna boys become more versatile, and I love versatility.  Let's recall the rating system: I Feel Happy!, Getting Better, or Stone Dead.  Allons-y!

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Pew-Pew

Greetings Gentlereaders,

If there's any army in 40k that I love I've got to say that it's the Tau.  They're sleek, orderly and have gundams.  For someone who grew up on the Power Rangers, with their zords and emphasis on teamwork there's a bit of nostalgia when I play the army.  I love how they've got a story that is deeper than it appears if you read between the lines and I'm really excited for where the story of The Young will go when they get a new codex.

The philosophy of the greater good permeates their society, but they view themselves as primus inter pares, the first among equals with the ethereals being the first among the Tau.  I'm a social scientist in training and would love to see more on the dynamics of their society, but until Games Workshop, Black Library or Fantasy Flight decide to delve into  that more, all we have is the codices and Fire Warrior.  As I've not yet completed my Coming Back from the Brink series and given serious thought to each unit, I really can't say whether there is as much depth in the viable units in the Tau codex as there is in the story of the Tau.  Here's why...

Sniping Big Targets with Big Guns

Hey everyone, I thought I'd chime in with another look at how 6th edition rules have really changed the "scope" of the game.  Today's topic is about sniping.  With high-priority targets really meaning a fair bit these days, it's fair to say that the game has taken it upon itself to push for a change here.  We can see this with the new inclusion of the "Precise Shots" rule.  A lot of weapons and/or anything wielded by a named model will have this ability to hope for some sixes to pop up on those to-hit rolls.  But while the sniper rifle is not a bad gun... it's not the real subject of my discussion.  Yes, even the powerful Barret 50 cal or the 40k equivilant will have to submit to the awesome power that is sniping with one of these...

Gaming in Muncie

This weekend is our biannual North vs. South tournament between the Wizard's Keep and Game Preserve Bloomington.  The last time we played, the circumstances were very different and the gaming group from Muncie was much larger than it is now.  I'm  not sure why the group has declined as much as it has, besides various students graduating, but I'm hoping we will be able to get the group back to a decent size and have a more vibrant gaming scene here in Muncie.  I know I'm going to be leaving town in about six months, and I'd like to find a way to leave the gaming community better than I found it.

The Tomb World Awakens: 11

Wait... This feels too fleshy...

Greetings and welcome to the latest installment of The Tomb World awakens! This week we cover one of the more odd slots in the Necron codex: the elites. The reason I regard this section as so odd, is that having come from previously playing Space Marines, I'm used to the elite slot being full of amazing and interesting (if expensive) choices which all very closely vie for those three highly contested slots. The 'Cron dex has this same issue, but in other slots. As it stands, the elites slot for our favorite terminator knockoffs are a bit... well... bad. They're interesting, and you can make them work, but as will be seen through the progression of these articles, much of what the elites slot does is either an awkward gimmick, or something that can probably be done better elsewhere.

Boltguns & Brushstrokes- Dark Angels Space Marines

Boltguns & Brushstrokes- Dark Angels Space Marines

Howdy Trukkers!

The last few weeks, the internet has been absolutely awash in discussion about those most enigmatic Space Marines, the Dark Angels. While nobody can say for sure what to expect from their upcoming Codex (and perhaps, that’s fitting!) there’s been plenty of sudden interest in the Unforgiven.

So this week, in Boltguns & Brushstrokes, I’m going to walk you all through painting a Dark Angels Space Marine. We’ll use the techniques found in both the How to Paint Faces article (http://ritesofbattle.blogspot.com/2012/10/boltguns-brushstrokes-painting-faces.html) and How to Paint Cloth article (http://ritesofbattle.blogspot.com/2012/10/boltguns-brushstrokes-painting-cloth.html), as well as simple layering and washing to bring out a rich, hunter green on the armor.

Bring Out Your Dead! Land Raider

This unit still exists, right?

Greetings Gentlereaders!

As school-work continues to be a serious time constraint, I haven't had the time to do much more road testing on the Tau, so I've had to put Coming Back from the Brink on hold for a while.  Until I can get back to it I'll be starting an off-and-on series I'm calling Bring Out Your Dead! to take a look at units that have been overlooked in the last year or so, either because of how they worked in fifth, or how they transitioned to sixth at first glance.  I'm going to try to rate these on the following scale: I Feel Happy!, Getting Better, and Stone Dead.

I don't think the ratings need much explanation, but I do think we can all have some fun looking at these units and calling them one way or the other.  Let's start with a unit that was Stone Dead during fifth, but I think is set for an improvement this edition.  Much more after the break.  Tl,dr: This sleeper is waking up.

Daemon Days

Greetings Gentlereaders!

I hope you had a good weekend, got in a game or two, maybe even went to a tournament.  I haven't had the chance to play much except at the last Game Preserve tournament down in Bloomington.  I had quite a good time and got to see some of the newest top lists.  I was surprised by my Tau dueling a combined Guard/Wolves army down to secondary objectives and their ability to control territory through weight of fire, even if it didn't win the game.  What I only got to see second hand is the rise of daemons in power since their update in the August WD and I'd like to talk about that some today.

About a week ago, Larry Vela reported from the Feast of Blades tournament about what he called The Unbeatable List.  With a name like that I'm a moth drawn to the flame of trying to crack it.  I can't talk about how to try to stop this list for every army because of the different abilities of each army to bring different types of units to perform different roles and this army can come in at least two varieties.   This article will talk about the threats daemons pose and how to slow daemons down initially.  Tl,dr: bring allies to bring down daemons.

Rumor Mill: WAAAGH!

Greetings Gentlereaders,

It's another trip around the interwebs today with commentary on the latest juicy bits.  I've got to say this is coming out of left field for me and I hope this doesn't mean that Orks will be taking over the spot from Tau, as they've been rumored to be just around the bend for over a year and now I'm hoping not to be the new Wolves/Dark Eldar who get to wait and be perpetually rumored.  Again credit goes to Naftka, and his source Batty, with my comments in red.  Great find guys!