Mining Complex Part Four

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Warhammer 40,000 - Here's another piece for my mining industrial terrain set. At this point it's playable but no where near done with painting. My goal with this set was to get it together, base coated and washed as fast as possible so I could get it on the table to play Shadow War: Armageddon. Now that 8th edition has released I'm thinking I'll get back to this project after I finish the Genestealer Cult army that is supposed to match this terrain set.

I stopped working on my own armies to focus on terrain until the rule set was released and I could confirm what I was working o was still playable.

Shadow War: Building a Mining Complex Part 3

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Shadow War: Building a Mining Complex Part 3

Warhammer 40,000 - This is the third part of my series about building terrain for a winter themed mining complex. My goal is to get a full table built and playable as quickly as possible to take advantage of the excitement my group has about SWA at the moment. More detail will be added to these pieces at a later date.

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Shadow War: Building Landing Pad

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Warhammer 40,000 - Terrain is vital to create a immersive game. Miniatures can only take you so far. I've always been a terrain guy, no matter the system I build at least one new terrain set anytime I start anew game. It's been forever since my group played Necromunda so any terrain I had has long since been trashed or donated. While I really like the new terrain kits Games Workshophas put out I wanted to do something different. I still had a bunch of Mantic terrain from the first Deadzone Kickstarter that I never did anything with so I took that, some cans I've been saving, pink foam and some parts from the industrial terrain to build a new battlefield.

This terrain set is going to go on an Alpine FAT Mat that I picked up before FLG and Tablewar went their separate ways. It's a nice thick mouse pad style mat with a beautiful snow/rock print. When I resurface the top of my gaming table I think I'm going to invest in a few of these to replace the textured boards I usually use. Dice roll better on them, they're easier to store and the flat surface makes it easier to place terrain in various positions without getting caught up on some random rock of sand bit.

Once I finish painting all the pieces for this terrain set I'll add some snow effect to the edges of each base to help them blend in to the mat and tie the whole theme together.

The first piece I built for this set is the landing pad. It's primarily made out of Mantic Battlefields panels with a MDF hexagon for the landing pad. I detailed it out with some Games Workshop bits from my bits box and other random resin pieces I've made copies of over the years. (I've found that if I find a cool bit its best to make a silicone mold of it because I'll inevitably forget where it came from or be unable to track down more in the future.)

After laying out the panels in a rough idea of what I wanted to do I used a jigsaw to cut a piece of MDF that I textured previously with drywall tape and cardstock. I then glued pink foam to the base and used a razor knife to carve out the shapes I wanted. From there it's just a matter of gluing the parts in place and painting.

I base coat everything with a Behr paint and primer that I had the guys at Home depot match to the hobby paint I use. The wash is a Minwax water based stain that I thin down 2 parts water to 1 part stain. A base coat, dry brush and wash gets this piece to a playable state quickly and I'll detail it out after I've tested it in game to be sure nothing needs to change.

 

 

 

Night lords Kill Team

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Night lords Kill Team

Shadow War Armageddon - recently I had a chance to run my night lords kill team in two multiplayer SW:A games. In multiplayer I the game feels very different, potshots can come from anywhere and you never know who will find a temporary alliance to their benefit. Rolling for initiative every round made a significant difference in how everyone played no longer could you rely on the player to your left always being predictable  or counting on the guy that's pinned not to getup before you can go. 

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Genestealer Cult Kill Team

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Warhammer 40,000 - I love Shadow War so much so that I built a second Kill Team from my Genestealer Cult army. I wasn't loving how the GSC played in 40k right now, so I temporarily shelved them to work on my Night Lords. With 8th edition looming I'm reluctant to do to much more with either force as the formations that make up the lists might not be valid or optimal under the new rules. So instead I'll work on small kill teams to play in Shadow War right now.

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Shadow War: Tyranids

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Warhammer 40,000 - Shadow War: Armageddon seems to be a popular topic as of late. I was always a fan of Necromunda, the idea of a gang war in the Underhive was just so cool. The setting was such a different take on the epic scale conflicts that the rest of the 40K universe focuses on (if you can find them the novel series that came out with the last release of the game are really good).

That gang war idea was so appealing that I jumped into the now out of print Judge Dredd Miniature game as a replacement. It's a shame most of the models for that were so dated looking and focused on the early Dredd comics. The system was great to create whatever you wanted with the skill trees and seemed to do a decent job keeping a reign on one gang running away with it. Since this is now out of print I've been reading Rogue Stars which reminds me quite a bit of Rogue Trader with the focus more on a narrative play rather than a straight up beat down.

I'd love to have more of an opinion on the new Shadow War release but it sold out everywhere and I don't get a feel good feeling paying significantly more to get the terrain and rules separately. I'm hoping they reprint the box set with the updated book at some point. Honestly The only reason I pick up the GW box games is because they're such a value compared to buying the individual boxes. fingers crossed they listen to fans and bring it back like the "limited release" of Space Hulk that seems to come back around every Christmas. (I still need to get that one.)

This small squad of Tyranid Warriors is a team for Shadow War: Armageddon. I haven't read through the rules yet but my client is really psyched to get these on the table. His group is planning on running a campaign for the next few months and is using this as his force. At some point he's going to have me paint up some genestealers and a few more warriors which will turn into a full force once the next edition of 40K comes out. It seems that several of my clients are hovering on their next force until they are sure it will work in the next edition.

Paint on these is pretty straight forward. I followed the Hive Fleet Leviathan color scheme which constists of a Pallid Wych Flesh base with some Carroburgh Crimson in the recesses. The purple is Naggorath Night with a Xereus Purple and Genestaler Purple Highlight. The red is Khorne red highlighted up to Wild Rider Red.