Iron Warriors and Terrible Decals

I know what you're thinking, "What kind of a title is that? Are his decals crappy and yet he's showing off his squad?" The answer is kinda yes.

Hi guys, Macca here, and today I am going to show you my new tac squad, aka what a month of procrastination looks like. However, I am quickly going to change topics and go into talking about Games Workshop decals about halfway through.

I decided to change to black rims on the bases this week, I really like the brown, however I felt I just wasn't getting the contrast, they honestly looked like a 70's apocalypse movie, just brown on brown. Too boring.

The paint job is nothing too interesting, I know, but these are currently only tabletop quality. Down the track I will add some scratch marks to go with the armour chipping, I will also do more highlights on the flesh on the bare head. As it is, I'm wanting to get this army to playable in the quickest fashion, rather than going straight at a Golden Daemon.

Angry Macca and Shitty Decals:

So, at this point, let's swap topics. I used a mix of decals on these models. I used Forge World ones on the knee (for the squad number) and the right shoulder (for unit type). Then I decided, in a truly stupid clusterfuck moment, worthy of derision, that I would use the 40k Iron Warrior emblems on the shoulders, rather than embossed pads. Rookie, so very, very rookie.

This is one of the better decals, yet you can clearly see the edges of the decal in this image, about a quarter of a millimeter from the silver, however, that's an optical illusion, more on that later.

On the squad Sergeant, you can also see some crinkles on the cranium of the skull. This is despite a ton of decal thinner and a lot of time spent working on each decal (4-5 times as long as any other decals).

By contrast, this Forge World decal is almost flawless.

The Problem:

Take a look at these decals. The decal areas are far larger than the item printed onto them, this means you will need to trim. Not just that, the decals are very thick, making them incredibly hard to apply smoothly.

Further to that, have a look up close. See anything odd? That's right, that's the silver skull and the black features not lining up. This is something I didn't notice until I applied them to the miniature, as the silver blends into the pale background of the decal sheet. This then led me to 'paint' over any overhanging silver, leading to the optical illusion that the emblem is nowhere near the edge of the decal, despite my trimming.

These Black Legion emblems are perfect examples of shit printed decals.

What is this? Seriously? That's a vehicle decal, that gap is almost a millimeter!

This set of Ultramarine symbols are almost not even printed onto the decal area!

I thought at first I just had a bad batch. Then I decided to go through my decal collection (It's a big one) and I realised that every chaos decal sheet, collected from 2003-2014 (when I gave up on 40k) are all this bad. This is not isolated at all, these are very poor quality decals.

The Actual Point?

Now, I know, I whinged and moaned all the way down this page. But in the end, my point is this:

Don't use Games Workshop infantry decals. They are shit, they will potentially ruin your expensive models.

You see, I am providing context here, it's no good me just saying "these suck", it's important for me to actually show why. This is 'bitching with a purpose'.

Anyway, all this aside, I am pretty happy with the squad, the second tac squad is in a similar state, so I have no choice but to continue on and do the best I can with them. I'd like to know how other people have dealt with this problem. Has it ever come up? Have you tried your best, followed the tutorials and yet the decals don't work? Please let me know, I' love to hear your stories.

~Macca

A Galaxy In Flames Video: Marble Basing Tutorial

Wow, so some big news today, with Keepy looking at getting some very talented painters, one of whom has painted for Forge World, down here to Australia just to run some painting tutorials! Very exciting stuff! (If you do want to know more about that, please look on our Facebook page or on Australian 30K Heresy Community).

Well, enough of that, and onto today's blog update: a new video tutorial!

Yes, I took the time today to make a beginners guide to creating marble effects on a miniature's base, similar to the effects on Horus and Guilliman's bases.

If you like the video, let us know either here or on YouTube. Thanks for popping in,

~Macca

Narik Dreygur, Praevian Consul of the Iron Warriors: Part 2

Wow, hasn't a lot happened already this weekend? (That's of course for our overseas bloggers, for those of us here in Australia, it's actually closer to Monday than Friday now). Anyway, enough of that, here's what you came here to see: Narik Dreygur!

This miniature is incredibly detailed. Something approaching the actual Character Series, in my humble opinion! Check out the grim specter of death emblazoned onto his tabbard.

I also elected to paint some knee hazards, something I don't often do. After painting it and comparing it to the Forge World model, I noticed that's exactly how they did it too!

There are also 3 distinct gouges I have painted onto his power fist. I'm gonna call these the Wolverine marks.

This lens on his pistol is absolutely tiny. It was a bitch to paint, but in the end, I got there.

A Praevian Consul in all his glory.

Check out his banner....

What do you think? If you want to know how I did any particular, please feel free to let me know. Also feel free to leave feedback in general. Also, a shout out to Eadwine for supplying me with this miniature. Without him, I couldn't have got it without paying some price gouging fuck my first born baby, so cheers for that mate!

~Macca

Narik Dreygur, Praevian Consul of the Iron Warriors: Part 1

G'day folks, Macca here with a quick one. On Wednesday, my Praevian Consul arrived. Needless to say, I'm a very happy chappy (not to be confused with the mediocre movie that has just left the cinemas). The rules for this guy can be found here.

Anyway, I opened him up first thing when I got home, (I have spent 5 of the last 6 weeks away working) and got to work building him straight away. Then, after finishing the basic build, I had a brain storm.

Is that a servo harness? Why yes, it is. I love this model so much, it screams Iron Warriors to me, so I want to use it even when I'm not using this Consul's rules. Thus, I decided to give him an attachment that could work for a Praetor as well. After all, a Power Fist isn't the worst equipment going, is it?

I also decided to swap his original left shoulder pad for one embossed with the Legion emblem. This makes sense as most of the miniatures so far have these pads. I also made some very subtle additions, just for the rule of cool and proper WYSIWYG. Can you pick them?

That's right. Melta bomb, frag and krak grenades on his left hip. I did this because you never know when you're going to need them.

Anyway, by some point tomorrow, maybe Sunday, I should have this guy painted up. If you like my idea, feel free to let me know, if you think I ruined the miniature, let me know too!

~Macca

Headscratcher part 2: Iron Warriors

A couple of weeks back, I asked where are my Iron Warriors heading (located here), and since I have my next big FW order coming up I thought I would let you all know.

Needless to say, I took most of the advice on board, and I was almost sold on a Predator squadron... then I saw the sexual fantasy that is the Laser Destroyer Vindicator. So, I'm ordering not one, but TWO of them, for their combined low AP value and Anti-armour role, making them effective vehicle and Terminator killers.

I'm also buffing the army by adding a third tactical squad, and they will be bringing a Rhino along. Whether it gets games or not, I dunno, but it will at least be an option for me. Further to that, I have a project planned, a project which will add a nasty heavily armoured commander who will specialise in feasting on his enemies tears when they see his magnificence. He will also get a command squad of his very own at some point down the track too. I'm actually undecided on his loadout, but I'm thinking a Thunder Hammer and combi-melta, Cataphractii armour, servo arms (because rule of cool).

I will also be grabbing some Iron Warrior Rhino doors, but mostly because I want to make my own versions of the side doors and add them to other vehicles... again, the rule of cool rears its head.

Question is, where do I go from there? Heavy Support will be amply filled, however I really could use something in my Fast Attack (currently filled by... nothing at all, nothing at all) and some more of my Elite slots (only 2 slots are filled at the moment, by a Contemptor dreadnought talon and a Tyrant Terminator squad). Feedback welcome!

Narrative Armies: Macca On Tactica

G'day folks, I'm here today with a little bit of a wordy article. I thought it would be nice to take the opportunity to discuss your phone and internet plan and how we can best optomi-

Wait. That's not this page.

Ok, so if you're here, the title interested you in some way, my opening line made you roll your eyes, yet somehow you have stayed for this long. The point today is about army structure, and how people select their forces. Several times now, we here at the blog have given advice about how to make a strong list, or how to best utilize a specific unit. Today is all about how to reconcile your chosen force with things like units, and specialisations such as Rites of War.



Selecting your force:

When you initially selected your force, something about that force appealed to you. Maybe you picked World Eaters because you have been brainwashed into how cool they are by ADB, and that's cool, that's a valid reason, I would never speak ill of the man, he writes great Heresy fluff. Maybe you're a blue-vein eating dairy powered cheese monger who wants to win every game, make kids cry and grown nerds rage, so you picked Solar Auxillia (or potentially you're THAT GUY and you keep bringing Eldar along and suggesting people play them in 30k). Maybe you just like the colour scheme of a certain army. In any case, these are all valid reasons, in my humble opinion.

At the end of the day, you have to pick something you like, and if you're not enjoying it, maybe try something different. I know quite a few guys who enjoy 30k, love the hobby, but after getting into a force, they drop it after a few tanks and infantry units and move on to something that better suits them. If you ask me, that's a very rational approach, if you can afford it.

Problem is, what comes next?



What units? What Rite of War?

This is often the first slipping point. In several articles, we have discussed the tactics that might lead you to select something, but for me, I have a few little things going on in my head, they are subjective thoughts, and by no means are they universal to any players;

-Will it be fun to use?

This is the first thing I think of, will not just me, but my opponent enjoy playing the game? I ended up at a tournament facing off against my great mate Deano a couple of years back, my Raven Guard 40k army full of storm eagles, whirlwinds and template weapons went up against an ork foot-horde with only a pair of Dakka Jets and some Kans to stop me. Long short of it was, it wasn't fun. That's something I have actively tried to avoid ever since, now I never load up on a prevalence of one weapon or unit type. (Fun fact, mid-game the power cut out in the facility. The Raven Guard vanished from the table, but the orks glowed in the dark...)

-Will the units I take represent my army the way I think it should?

When I brought Raven Guard, I didn't buy tanks. I didn't buy bulk terminators. I brought lots of tactical marines, jump infantry/jetbikes, I brought a pair of Storm Eagles first order. I brought these units because to me, that was Raven Guard. That said, to another player, they might want to take bulk terminators, reasoning that there was a cadre within the Raven Guard dedicated to doing terminator stuff. You know what? We're both right. Pick the army that suits your ideas for the force.

-Will it be competitive?

If you take a Rite of War, and select units designed for use with that Rite of War, AND your army gives buffs to those units, then you're probably going to be competitive. Not always, but in most cases. In any case, this is one of the lesser worries of mine when selecting a force, I just pick a unit, like a devestator squad for my Iron Warriors, and I know that since they don't take moral tests from shooting, they are going to be a reliable fire support option in ranged combat. I don't need to look any further into it then that, the only exception being when I want to plug the missing gaps in my army, such as a lack of AP2, or a lack of anti-tank, but even then, I apply rules 1 and 2 above to my selection.

-What is the aim of my gaming with this force?

If you're a hardcore tournament player, list tailoring will be a big factor for you. I haven't really seen a lot of it in 30k, but some people are running very nasty lists that just suck the fun out of the room like a black hole. This said, if you're a beer and pretzels gamer, hanging out in the garage and playing on a home made mdf board, you probably just want to throw together a list that just meets the points, and allow the shenanigans to happen. Either way, this is a consideration when you pick the force. If you want to go to a tournament and take a fun and fluffy army, that's fine, but I will throw a little astrix up: *If you are going to a non-comp tournament where people are knowingly running massed cheese, then you can't expect a win, nor can you expect some fun games. It's not to say you can't have fun, but rather that people take losing badly, and it is something to be aware of.

Some last thought

At the end of the day, you have to do what seems right to you. If you are a competitive player, play competitive, if you are a fluffy player, play fluffy. Sometimes you can do both. Sometimes you're Eldar. Sometimes you're Matt Ward and you can just write the fluff that suits you and GW will print your fan-dex. End of the day, this is a hobby, it's our escape from the boring day-to-day lives we lead, so it deserves to be fun, no matter how you get that fun.



This was a wordy article, I know, I'm sorry about that, but overall, I think I condensed it down to bearable levels. If you have any thoughts, or questions, or even if you'd like to point out everything wrong about me and how I ruin everything I touch, then please feel free to comment below. I love feedback and interaction, it's the only human attention I get.

~Macca

So, it's been a little while, but I wanted to share the newest Praetor joins the ranks of the Iron Warriors. There are big things in the works from all the crew here, and unfortunately we've all been too focused on getting things done. This will change soon, so expect quite a few updates in the coming month. ~Macca

Expect a different helmet on this guy, I'm just waiting on the parts I have ordered to arrive.