So that's why my order was three weeks late...

So Wayland Games have come out and declared they won't be stocking Finecast because of its quality issues, all the while presenting themselves as the heroes of the hobby.

Bullcrap.

Some of the "issues" they declared were absolutely laughable, a stray air bubble here or there, some of the "issues" appear to actually be part of the sculpt themselves - jagged armour plate on an Orc and some of the "issues" were just plain ridiculous. I don't care how you present it, a stray hair in the packaging is not a fault nor is it grounds to drop the range.

I'm sure those who were kept waiting three weeks for their orders while Wayland pissed about taking pictures of miscellaneous man hair are absolutely delighted for the reason for the delays. And no doubt they were equally delighted when it took days for any reply to our enquiries was made and that several items were dropped from orders without explanation, all of which had nothing to do with Finecast.
Perhaps Wayland before you criticise other companies practices you should get your own house in order.

As for their supposed status as "Hobby heroes", again bullcrap. This was nothing but a publicity stunt to save face when GW stops supplying them after their public flaunting of GW's new international sales policy.

So drop whatever you want Wayland Games, criticise whatever company you want, but i certainly will be recommending to my friends and fellow gamers to stay clear of ordering from you, because of your shoddy dispatch times and your absolutely terrible levels of customer service.

Duuh Duuh duh-duh-duh

Time to purge the Heretics! For Menoth!

Flee puny Morrowan! I am Supreme! I am Iron Man!

*cough*

oh.

For the Emprah!

And now for something completely different Part 3: Completely Different with a Vengeance.

And look what's come in the post courtesy of Maelstrom Games. I hadn't expected it to arrive yet as i chose the free delivery but here it is less than a week later (thats how you do it Wayland). I've settled upon Menoth as my first focused attempt at a Warmachine army, although Cygnar and Scyrah will probably be added to here and there solely because i like their mini's too.
I must have been heavily influenced in my formative years by 40k, as i've gone for a force of religious fanatics once more to sit side by side with my various armies. You get a Revenger, a Repenter, a Crusader and Grand Exemplar Kreoss in the box, all in plastic.
Everything comes in its own little bag, with a set of quickstart rules (fortunate for me as my Prime MkII rulebook still hasn't arrived)

Along with a card for each of the units contained within, again useful for me as the metal Revenger i bought from Ebay came with a MkI card.
Also Warmachine wise i have finished converting the plastic charger into a more dynamic pose.
The nature of the kit made this extremely simple. The hammer arm came in two pieces so it was solely a case of assembling it outstretched rather than bent.
And then it was simply a case of glueing the gun arm further forward and cutting the tab off the left leg and glueing it on angled backwards, to get a running pose. I'm quite happy with my charging Charger and it certainly looks a bit more dynamic than the average 'Jack i've seen.

So next on the list is waiting for my rulebook to arrive, a box of Menoth Flameguard to come in the post and to decide on a colour scheme for my menoth.
I've been scouring the web looking for inspiration but nothings grabbed me so far. At the moment i'm considering having a go at NMM again, with white as primary colour and NMM Gold as the secondary colour. But i'd also like to take advantage of the large open spaces on the 'jacks and try a bit of freehand.
I'll get some pictures up once i've made up my mind (this could take some time as anyone who knows me wil attest)

And Now For Something Completely Different Part 2: Completely Different Harder

As mentioned before, i've recently begun to delve into the products of Privateer Press. Not out of any dislike of Games Workshop, whom i will keep buying from until they either collapse or the stars go out, but more because after 16 years of exclusivity i feel the need to stretch my hobby wings.
Now the only thing i've not really liked about Warmachine is the warjacks as i've also said before, with Cygnar being about the only ones i had any real like of. This annoyingly contrasts with the army i prefer from its fluff- Menoth. So i think i'll be making some Menothian purchases in the not too distant future and figure out a way of making their 'Jacks more appealing (see i'm already picking up the lingo). In the meantime a plastic light 'jack arrived, of the Cygnar charger variety.
Opening it up the pieces come in a little plastic bag, off any sprues:
Naturally this saves time in preparation, but from some of the marks on the model i think i could have done a better job getting it off the sprue, some filing will be necessary.

A nice touch though is how each part can actually interlock with specifically shaped holes. While it's not that useful to those of us who have been assembling plastic kits since we could walk, for newcomers such touches are very helpful indeed and should avoid some of the mistakes i've seen from new modellers in the past.
I've bluetacked it together to give an idea of its bog standard pose. Which brings me to the other thing i dislike about the 'jacks, they are just so static. After working with GW stuff it's a bit unappealing. So i'll be taking the knife to it to try to get some movement out of the model and make it a tad more dynamic. I expect to do the same with future non-metal 'jacks.

Overall a nice little kit. The plastic seems a tad more brittle than GW stuff, i'll see when the converting starts just how much of a difference this makes. Certainly impressive for a company that has worked almost exclusively in metal for the better part of 10 years.

So i've got this and Dreadstone Blight to work on, let the paintfest commence!

That New Mini Smell

This morning my package from Mayland Mames finally arrived, several weeks late of course. Inside was a kit i've had my eye on for quite some time, having decided to boost my terrain collection - Dreadstone Blight.
I started the hobby over 16 years ago, and those of you old enough to remember such ancient times will know that the best we had to look forward to was the occasional cardboard scenery being released with campaign packs like 'Tears of Isha' or 'Idol of Gork'. Fast forward the better part of two decades and now we have plastic kits that ensure that those of us without engineering and electronics degrees can still have impressive gaming tables.
Sliding open the box greets you with a heap of plastic bagged goodies. I had expected it to be on a sprue but after five seconds thought i should have realised that the curvature of the walls would have made it a nightmare to box up if they'd left it attached.

You get two bags of stuff plus the base of the ruined tower. As you can see the tower interior is fantastically detailed, with lots of warhammery touches - no one is going to confuse this with another game setting (except maybe those rip-off artists Mantic).
A whole heap of flooring sections and ruined wall bits. Whats nifty about this kit is the way they have designed the ruined floor to interlock, enabling you to decide just how much should be broken away - its entirely possible to have a complete floor if you wish.
The outer wall sections. Each piece interlocks allowing you a great deal of variety when deciding which bit should be where, and should ensure that no two Dreadstones need look alike.
The interior of the walls are just as detailed as the exterior. A nice touch is the walled up Tzeentchian door, perfect for my Daemons.
A closer look at the exterior doorway, with a nicely modelled grill guarding its entrance and of course that staple of Warhammer design, oodles of skulls.

All together a really nice piece of terrain and one that certainly has me dying to get it painted. Some work in progress shots will be incoming in future blog posts.

And now for something completely different...

As i've mentioned half a dozen times already, i went to TheWargameStore.com 's retail store and picked up a few bits, amongst which was a Retribution of Scyrah mini to add to my teeny tiny existing collection of Warmachine mini's.
I've had my eyes on Warmachine for a while, the main thing deterring me was the fact i had no-one to play against and nowhere to play it. Both of which you will agree are fairly major drawbacks when considering a new wargame.
But i really do like their models (apart, annoyingly, from the Warjacks) so in the end i gave in an bought the rulebook, a few more Cygnar mini's and a selection of Menoth guys. I'm undecided which faction i will eventually focus on so i've been buying a few from each to get a feel for the paint jobs and mini style.
Cygnar has the only Warjacks that i don't think look like arse, while Scyrah has some fantastic character sculpts and i really like the bulky armour style crossed with the traditional slender elf look. When the Menoth bits arrive i'll have a good look at them too.
In the meantime i'm headed back to The Wargame Store on July 9th as they've got a Pressganger coming in so i'll be trying out Warmachine for the first time hopefully. After that i need to find someone to actually play against, so if any Merseysidites are reading this and interested, drop me an email.

Also today i've painted up one of the black cat bases. I'm still undecided which of my 40k armies will be mounted on these. At the moment my Blingwing are in the lead, mainly because i am considering selling my Grey Knights again and the dark scheme of the base wouldn't really contrast with my Dark Angels.

Anyhow thats it for now, hopefully i should get some nice big packages of hobby goodness in the mail tomorrow.

Why did they have to make bases that look like little white chocolates?

As i said in the last post i picked up a pack of resin bases to give my 40k armies a little bit of extra oomph, mostly inspired by seeing the efforts of an Eldar player at the Liverpool GW store on Thursday who'd customised his models with wraithbone looking plasticard.

So when i stumbled upon The Wargame Store today i made the most of their extensive range and grabbed a pack of Black Cat Bases, specifically their ruined buildings set. At only £5 for a pack of 15* i figured they were a bargain.

Quality wise, well there is room for improvement. Theres a fair few airbubbles, but given the ruined nature of the walls etc. it should be fairly easy to remove without spoiling the look. Theres also a couple of slightly mishapen bases, with one side lower than the other. Again the scenic nature of the bases should negate this a little bit - they are all still round and all still 25mm so not too bad. Other than that the resin is nice and solid, a tad more brittle than most but still of gaming quality.

And frankly at such a low price its still worth a buy and i'll certainly be keeping an eye out for more of Black Cats range.

*I do have to say however that the pack only had 14 bases in it rather than the advertised 15. A bit annoying.