Saturday 24 October 2015

A Galaxy In Flames Video: Decals, Oil Pin Washes and Oil Streaking

So, another day and another video tutorial! Today we are taking a look at applying Decals, Oil Pin Washes and Oil Streaks. I have put this video together with warts and all, if I have trouble mixing a paint, you'll see it, if a decal doesn't apply, you'll see it. This video continues on from the rust effects done in the first video, and aims to take it from a basic, rusty fortification, to a fancy rusty fortification.








I hope you enjoy the video, see you next time!

~Macca


Thursday 22 October 2015

A Galaxy In Flames Video: Heavy Rust Effects



G'day guys, and welcome to another AGIF YouTube video. This is our first ever 1080p video, and it marks a 20 minute long tutorial on how to do some pretty extreme rust effects using a Vallejo chipping medium. This technique is excellent for white-washing tanks and other armour, but I have used a home-made fortification to demonstrate. You can watch the video here, or directly on our YouTube channel. I have included the pics from the end of the video, and these will give you a pretty good idea of where you will end up after stage one of the weathering process.









Thanks for watching, keep an eye out for part 2, where I will apply decals to this, before adding streaking and picking a few details out.

~Macca

Monday 19 October 2015

Sicarian Variants: What Would Be Cool?

So, I have a question today, what variant of what tanks would you like to see most in the Horus Heresy? For me personally, the Sicarian is so awesome that variants of it can only be a good idea.



Thursday 15 October 2015

VIIth Legion WIP: Forge Lord


Master of the Armoury


So i got this idea that i wanted to run a big guy in with my shield wall......now I'm talking a big big guy. Of course there is the contemptors, which I am in the process of building but I also wanted something a little more....different. So I came up with the idea of having the 32nd's own pet robot. A Castellax battle Automata to stomp along with the shield line but he is another post for a different day. However, to field said Castellax i need the right HQ to field him and I settle for a Forge Lord consul.
a galaxy in flames

I envisioned him with the typical servo arm and artificer armour. Since his duty involves commanding the companies techmarine cadre and overseeing the companies war machines in action, especially his pet Castellax, he would be close by to his pet, in the front line. Being so i imagined he would relish being in the thick of it so take up a boarding shield and join the shield wall. This gave me the benefit of having another choppy character in my breacher squads and also adding a little extra story to the army overall.

Given that i had decided to arm him with a boarding shield, practicality would suggest arming him with a melee weapon which wouldn't suffer from the presence of the shield such as a specialist weapon like a power fist or lightning claw. 

Monday 12 October 2015

An Introduction To 30k For 40k Players: Part 2


In Part 1, we looked at how the Force Organisation Chart and force selection in general worked. Today, we are going to look at how to actually play the missions, because it isn't quite the same as 40k, and I'm going to explain why. There are some subtle differences, but mostly the confusion lies in how units score/are able to score, and I want to shed some light on this.

Deployment Types:

First off, I want to go in to deployment types. In the Horus Heresy, the missions have 6 different deployment types. Sometimes these are specifically stated in the mission, other times they are randomly rolled for. These deployments, measurements and such are all aimed at the 2500-3000 point per side game, and as such they use the 6x4 table and corresponding measurements.







An Example Mission:

This mission is from Book V: Tempest (Word Bearers vs Ultramarines at Calth). The points of note are as follows:

-The armies selected are to use the Battles in the age of Darkness rules and FOC's. This means that you cannot bring over bizarre rules from 40k, except where stated expressly.
-The deployment type is random in this mission, selected as per the previous six options listed above.
-The terrain is placed/
-The warlord traits and psychic abilities are rolled, then the players roll off to see who will deploy first (and take first turn).

However...


You want to understand the mission prior to deployment. This mission has several special rules, namely Night Fighting and Reserves (as per 40k) but also Heavy Armour (a Heresy special rule for this mission, which makes all vehicles with the Tank type, as well as Super-Heavy Vehicles and Walkers SCORING UNITS). Now the fact that the available scoring units most likely increased for both players will change how they play the mission.

As per 40k, there are Secondary Objectives, however, these are specifically listed in the mission, in this case, Slay the Warlord and Last Man Standing. This means there is no Linebreaker, no First Blood etc. in this mission.

From here, the mission is set up and played out as per the objectives for the mission. From this point on, it will play out identically to 40k.

Notes On 40K Missions In 30k:

In 30k, only Troops and units specifically listed as scoring, are actually scoring. The Obj. secured rule only applies to these units, not to their transports, or any other units. This limits the amount of scoring, and can make some missions incredibly more difficult than for a similar 40k army. For example, a Maelstrom of War mission will severely handicap the average Heresy force, with most only averaging 3-4 scoring units below 2000 points.

As for the missions themselves, I personally prefer to ignore them in favour of the 30k missions, as they are more interesting and are designed to link together in order to form a larger narrative (for example, you can literally play from the start of the Istvaan V massacre all the way through to a skirmish level game involving the surviving loyalists tackling the traitors and all the way into the Last Stand of the Raven Guard before their rescue, needing around 18 missions to play out in full!).

Conclusion:

Although not a lengthy article, I felt it was important to demonstrate to the community how 30k deviates from 40k, and where the two systems can potentially clash. This isn't designed to demonise 40k, just to let people know the perils of cross-system gameplay. At the end of the day, play what you like, in fact, I would house-rule it so that 40k units had to score the same as a 30k army, in order to balance it out a little, but that's just me...

~Macca

Wednesday 7 October 2015

An Introduction To 30k For 40k Players

G'day guys, Macca here and today we are taking a look at the key differences between 30k and 40k from a basic list construction and regulation stand point. The Horus Heresy seems to scare people away, as well as making T.O's everywhere question the right of HH to be played in their tournaments or in their Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS). I want to sway you over today and assure you that the Horus Heresy is indeed a well balanced game and is easy to grasp, despite the subtle differences to the parent game.

Sunday 4 October 2015

Maintaining Your Drive

Sometimes, the hardest thing of all when it comes to the hobby is maintaining your drive. G'day everyone, Macca here, and today I want to talk about one thing: Motivation. I will probably talk about other things, but that's ok, it's all loosely related.

I find sometimes that I really lack the drive to complete a project. This can be due to any number of reasons, I may be tired, or had a rough week, lots is going on in my life or with my family even. It can be hard to get out of a hobby slump, but I thought I'd share a few of the things that motivate me.