I thought that I might break the habit of what seems a lifetime and share some hobby happenings on this supposed hobby blog, turned cynical, hero-phobic GW chopshop.To that end, I direct your attention, (willing or otherwise) toward an excellent and FREE set of skirmish rules aptly dubbed, "In the Emperor's Name!" by some very talented chaps at Forge of War.
I haven't even played a game yet, but have rather predictably gotten too carried away with it by far and picked what is conceivably one of the more annoying factions to convert, namely the genestealer cult.
I began my conversion martyrdom on Saturday last by purchasing a cadian command boxed set and then scrabbling around for what remained of my plastic Imperial Guardsmen at the bottom of the spare room wardrobe.
Then I grabbed a few torsos and some greenstuff and did these:
Being more than happy with this slapdash attempt at sculpting additional torso padding/ablative plating, I moved on to some blobby, ill-defined plates for the legs:
Not satisfied with this disgrace to sculpture, I decided to extend my transgression to a completed leg and torso arrangement, just so:
One is intended as a generic trooper-type; the other a prospective Magus' body.
My crimes against greenstuff were not yet complete, so I grabbed a few bare heads from my bits box and smacked a dod of the aforementioned putty-like substance between the eyes of the aforementioned craniums in imitation of latter stage hybrid disfigurement, like so:
Now that my nefarious disfigurements of perfectly usable IG body parts were complete, (including a wee pile of weapon arms and other bits that I couldn't be fucked photographing tonight.) I decided that my hideous creations should live on in infamy (and also that the big fuck-ton of 2 part resin and silicon that I had purchased some time ago should be put to good use before its existence and monetary value be questioned by the overseer...). To that end, I created my very first ever silicon mould yesterday and cast my first pieces this very night:
I'm pretty happy with these for a first attempt. I say first attempt, these were best out of three. The mix is really difficult to get right and I never would have managed if not for The Leadhead and his sagely advice. Then again, if I hadn't stumbled across his fucking (good) blog in the first place, then I might have lived my life quite happily without the motivation to try casting for myself.
2 things to consider in light of this post:
1. Sculpted/converted something? Save it forever. Learn how to cast your own stuff. It's daunting, but really quite simple and very rewarding. I wouldn't dream of imitating the tutorial on Leadhead's blog. If you're thinking of learning how, then it's a great place to start.
2. "In the Emperor's Name" is not Necromunda with Space Marines. Anyone who says that is a cunt. Do yourself a favour and at least read the rules in full before arriving at a decision about them. They're free and some good people used their own time and skill to put them out there for you. In my opinion, they bring the 40K universe to life and allow players to capture that aspect that only really comes through in the associated fiction, (With the obvious exception of 'The Word Bearers' series).
If you're already a 40K player with a collection of models, then you're in clover. Don't have any? You only need as many as you want.
It's like Rogue Trader without the extraneous rules and laborious army/vehicle/equipment generation. It captures the feel of the 40K universe perfectly for those misty-eyed nostalgics with lead poisoning who want to run a squat miner, eldar pirate, or Slann retinue. You can have an Imperial Guard retinue with beastmen and there are actual, DECENT psychic powers!
Support the folks at 'Forge of War' and download those rules before GW legal come a' calling. You owe it to yourself.
