Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team – Hivestorm
Kill Team's latest edition went for pre-order today and will be shipped in two weeks from now on October 5th. While a lot of the new components are available as individual items, there is a new starter set called Kill Team - Hivestorm as well. And just this set will be covered in today's unboxing review.
With Hivestorm we will see the 4th edition of Kill Team, which introduces two new Kill Teams, new terrain (called Killzone: Volkus Terrain and an updated set of rules. The two factions battling each other in this boxed set are the Tempestus Aquilons, the elite of the Astra Militarum equipped with Grav Chutes and the Vespid Stingwings, the updated insectoids of the T'Au Empire. And on top of that, we even get a new equipment sprue, with further scatter terrain and various grenade markers (along with the updated templates).
Just a quick heads up, as covering the Hivestorm box already went up to 70 pictures just for the unboxing, we're going to split the content into multiple articles.
Legions Imperialis – Vanguard Miniatures
Back in 2020 we did a review on the Vanguard Miniatures and their range of metal (!) miniatures for Epic. The range is called Defeat in Detail, is available in 3, 6 and 15mm and covers the Novan Commonwealth (Imperium), Cybershadow (Mechanicum) and even some Xenos races.
But as we now have access to the Legions Imperialis range, we want to compare the metal models with the plastic, beginning with their Novan Elites vs. the Legiones Astartes. Pretty close in size, would work at regular games distance.
The true meaning of X-Mas … erm Warhammer
While I was looking for some special interest content / ideas, I browsed through my copies of the Citadel Journal and some of the articles, especially the conversions, reminded me of something, that often gets lost in the nostalgia of Middle- and Oldhammer.
I am looking online for the last missing pieces, a few poses to give my squads more variations and such, and I came across people who are collecting boxed as new kits and blisters (sic!). And while I can absolutely understand paying an extra dime for untouched and especially complete miniatures (just calculate the effort to strip painted miniatures and the time, costs and chances to get your hands on that missing bits), I honestly don't understand the appeal of collecting sealed blisters (unlike let's say action figures, you're just looking at a few grams of metal, a base and a sponge), to a degree keeping the boxes (they have the original artwork, are nice to look at, but keeping them sealed? yeah ... no).
Aeronautica Imperialis – Marauder Destroyers
Among the fine new kits available for Aeronautica Imperialis is a second variant of the Marauder, that isn't part of the Wings of Vengeance starter kit. Reason enough to take a look on the Marauder Destroyers boxed set.
The Marauder is the standard heavy bomber of the Imperial Navy and due to its heavy armoured superstructure a reliable work horse of the imperial forces. As such it is mainly used as the Marauder Bomber, with a payload of to 6,000 pounds of explosives. It can carry up to twelve bombs or six heavy bombs, while four slots are available beneath each of the wings for additional bombs. There are variants of the Marauder, which put the capacity for bombs to use with different gear and refit the remaining armament, depending on its purpose. The most known variant beside the Marauder Bomber is the Marauder Destroyer, a dedicated ground-attack aircraft, which saw action first in the Second war for Armageddon. The bomb bay was halfed, using the space for ammunition for the new armament in nose and rear.
Painting tricks for optical effects
In the last article I talked about how my painterly aspirations first developed in such a way that I wanted to reach a pro level. However, this was rather the beginning of my journey as a hobbyist and my preference has shifted a lot in the meantime.
One thought was pivotal at that point: How do I perceive the models when I first see them? In my youth I was strongly influenced by the painting style you could see on the packaging, in rule books, or at that time in the White Dwarfs - most hobbyists call this `Eavy Metal style, after the studio team that painted the models for Games Workshop. I realized that I wasn't really striving for the hyper-realistic style often seen at painting competitions, but rather the `Eavy style, because the models had met my eye in this way and my mind automatically judged whether I liked or didn't like them.
This cartoon-like style is basically quite easy to achieve as long as you learn some brush control. The basic principle remains the same, even with high class paintwork: A midtone, or "the basic color" is chosen. This is shaded and then highlighted with distinctive accents in the more edgy areas.
Oldhammer – The hunt – progress update
I am quite happy to announce, that my hunt on the Oldhammer stuff, that I covered a couple of weeks before, was rather successful. Via the introduced and mentioned channels I managed to acquire some interesting kits and spare parts to build the Imperial Guard retro project around.
With the Basilisk it was a bit tricky, as for some reason, the new kit is currently Mail Order only and thus making the used kits "more" rare. As with the Basilisk, one of the main problems are missing parts, like the fence on the rear being incomplete. I didn't care for the crew, as that was added later in the third or fourth edition and not part of the initial release in the 2nd edition. A crew that was important for me, was the one of the Griffon tank. I managed to buy the pair of soldiers, incl. the commlink back pack, and got quite some treasures with them. Yes, that are the old cardboard and necromunda bulkhead terrain pieces. And the stack on the right is vehicle accessories sprues, mostly complete. Believe me, I'm in heaven. Especially with buying older vehicle kits, often the hatches or some parts like that are missing or incomplete.
Oldhammer – The Imperial Guard
After the short introduction to Oldhammer earlier this month, we want to stick with the 2nd Edition of Warhammer 40,000 and highlight one particular army - the Imperial Guard.
If you think of Warhammer, especially 40k, you think of Space Marines. But the Imperium and its forces is not only made of Adeptus Astartes, but simple men defending their homeworlds and holy Terra as well. The Imperial Guard existed in Rogue Trader as well and is not something new, that came along with the second edition. But the diversity was surely brought to that army with the new miniature range introduced in 1994.
Sci-Fi Soldiers with long coat
In July I covered the Bolt Action Winter German kit by Warlord Games and the possibilities within the game / setting it self, using it for conversions.
As the Bolt Action plastic range is 28mm heroic scale, a bit overdrawn, it can be used as a base for all kinds of longcoat troops. A brief comparison of the bodies next to the ones of bodies from the Warhammer 40k Imperial Guard / Astra Militarum range.
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