Dave's Primarch Miniature Theory

Firstly, happy Christmas everyone. I hope you all got your hobby-gift wish? (let us know please). My lovely wife (she didn't make me write that, honest... Love you Helen) brought me a copy of Wolf King. I haven't managed to read it yet but the limited edition packaging is awesome. I have never brought a HH limited edition before but I love Wolves and Chris Wraight is a great writer so I thought this would be a good Christmas gift for me.

But, lets get down to the topic of my post... my theory on Forge World's Primarch miniatures and more specifically, why they designers have selected the poses that they have.

When Roboute Guilliman was released there was no doubt it was a fine miniature, but why did they select THAT pose? The one with a single power fist and a sword?! I, like many I am sure based on the comments I have read around the interweb, was so hoping for the twin-power-fist-angry-rage-face pose from the cover of Know No Fear:

Having Guilliman with that pose would have made me buy him, despite my previous lack of love for the boys in blue. That pose and that book made me love the Ultramarines. In fact, every time a new Horus Heresy novel comes along, 9 times out of 10 Neil Roberts' artwork makes me want to start a new army. And I know many in the community feel the same, just read the comments on any blog or forum site.

I didn't buy that miniature in the end. I generally paint the miniatures that inspire me, and that pose didn't get my blood pumping.

So, with Mr Roberts' excellent direction, why has Forge World chosen not to use the Black Library art for inspiration on so many occasions?

Here's my theory: many of the miniatures coming along now represent the two side of the same coin so often thrown up in the literature. We have Guilliman the empire builder, Lord of the Five Hundred Worlds. His miniature pose matches that of Horus, first among equals and builder of the Imperium (whether on behalf of himself or his farther):

Both have a single power first and a power weapon in the opposite hand.
So who else have we got so far? Ferrus and Fulgrim don't really match in terms of pose but they were modelled much earlier, so I'll exclude them.

But we do have Vulkan and Perturabo, arguably two sides of the same coin: both blacksmiths, both artisans, both believers in the strength of Man:

And FW posed them similarly: hammer in one hand, leaning in for the attack.

Then we have the latest addition (which made me think of this whole link in the first place): Corax and Curze. Both from planets enslaved by the dominant elite, both members of the enslaved population. Both could have become bitter and twisted but one chose the dark and the other the light. Look at the way they are posed:

Look at the legs, look at the claws. Both Angels, but one is an Angel of Death and Destruction. Horus and Guilliman aside, these two are definitely, consciously designed as a pair of miniatures I would suggest.

So in summary, the designers haven't gone for the poses depicted by the artwork, they have gone for the poses that reflect that Primarch's character and tied that in with their traitorous (or loyalist, depending on your persuasion) counterpart.

Maybe I'm reading too much in to it.

When I threw this thought out there, Steve (another of the Four Dads group) suggested that the doubling up of poses was inevitable. There are 18 (or 19) Primarch miniatures to design and ensuring that they are all unique whilst remaining dynamic was always going to be difficult. I'd argue that the artwork for the novels is all different and dynamic, so the designers could have easily done this if they had selected images from the novels/novellas/audio dramas/Collected Visions... there are tons of sources.

What do you think?

Dave

Space Hulk

Well I didn't think that my first blog post would be about space hulk. However the unexpected opportunity of my first ever game came about last night as Steve (one of the other 4 dads of the apocalypse) and I met up for a couple of hours.

Space Hulk is one game that I have wanted to play since I played Space Crusade on the Amiga 600 many moons ago. I love the simplicity of the idea, the tension and the claustrophobia that the game presents.

We only had time for one game and as I hadn't played before we decided on the first mission and that I play the part of the genestealers. This allowed me to play on a simple board and make plenty of mistakes that wouldn't lose me the game. Here is the board we played on:

So a quick battle report and then a separate post as a review of the game.

The Space Marine objective was to flame the control room - the most northern room. The Genestealer objective was to kill the flamer...

Turn 1

The space marines lumbered forward into the first room, working together 1 split to cover the southern corridor and their backs. The others faced the imminent danger of the blips approaching from the east and blocking their path to the objective.

Turn 2

As blips appear south and west the marines advance forward and open the eastern door revealing fangs and claws tearing down the corridor. The leader of the squad, the sergeant enters the corridor first and clicks into overwatch mode but his storm bolter jams leaving him vulnerable...

Turn 3

The sergeant doesn't panic and uses his experience under pressure to clear the jam and aim true cutting down the feverish genestealers tearing towards him with no mercy.

Turn 4

More aliens appear from the east and charge but the sergeant bellows a war cry, fills with battle rage and sprints forward to feel the glory of close combat. The marines behind trust their sergeant and flame the corridor preventing any aliens splitting the squad. The rearguard holds true as the threat also looms from the south...

Turn 5

The sergeant's power sword flashes as he cuts down all in front of him. Watching his sergeant's back the marine with the heavy flamer rounds the corner and hot promethium engulfs the corridor to the north burning a horde of aliens. The marine watching the rear fires true and extinguishes any threat from behind. The marines assert their authority...

Turn 6

It's decision time. The sergeant gives the order to split up as he advances to hold the southern corridor so that the others have time to move north and head towards the control room.

Sensing a break the genestealers make their move attacking from the south and east both in front and behind to force mistakes under pressure...

Turn 7

And there is the break for the aliens. The marine sergeant pulled up his storm bolter as the aliens rounded the corner only for a dull click to emanate from the trigger. A jam at the worst time cost him his life and left a gaping hole for the aliens to exploit...

Turn 8

The surviving marines collectively made their decision to move, move, move and get to the control room before being overwhelmed. The 2 remaining Storm bolter marines led the way protecting the heavy flamer and ready to sell their lives so that the mission could be successful...

Turn 9

The marines get forced back and surrounded in the close confines of the corridor but their shots count and genestealers litter the floor around their feet. Up to this point 29 have been terminated through marine ferocity.

Turn 10

The marines drive forward and break the tyranid assault fighting back to back to cover all angles as the heavy flamer marine breaks for the control room to the north and the successful completion of the mission.

The storm bolter marines set up overwatch covering fire across the north/south corridor to eliminate any threat...

Turn 11

One of the marines fighting back to back drops having been cut down. His partner glances behind him which gives a genestealer the fraction of a second it needs to make it across the corridor in front. As he realises his mistake and is pulled to the ground he glances past the corner in hope only to see his brother's heavy flamer clatter to the ground arm still attached. An apology to the god emperor exits his lips and the blackness descends...

So the tyranids win but only just. If the overwatch shots hadn't jammed the Blood Angels would have triumphed the very next turn! A very enjoyable game which really could have gone either way so thanks Steve but 1 - 0 to me for the blog!

Anyone have any experience of Space Hulk? I would love to hear of any really close games you've had.

Make sure to check my review of Space Hulk in my next post soon.

James

Thousand Sons are here!

Hey hey,

So Forge World have today revealed the Thousand Sons upgrade kits:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-GB/Thousand-Sons-Upgrade-Set



I'm excited about these for a couple of reasons:

• They look fantastic, and I'm loving the FW paint scheme, that metallic red look is beautiful!
• I can use them to decorate the bases of my VIth Legion
• I can also create a couple of TS for my Shattered Legion force (maybe a Librarian? The Ultramarines have a loyalist Thousand Son in Battle for the Abyss, so why not?)

 AND

• It means the Sons of Fenris are a little step closer (being one of the very few legions left to get some Forge World Horus Heresy love)

What do you guys think? Has anyone been waiting for these upgrades to get their Heresy geek on? Let us know.

Dave

Dad of the apocalypse no. 2

Looks like I am the 2nd dad of the apocalypse and for all you bible readers out there yes I ride a red horse and represent war - well in the form of currently piling my way through a Flesh Tearers army which definitely bring both war and a substantial amount of claret!

I'm James, a former pro golfer now turned teacher in an SEBD school and a taxi for my 2 daughters. Fitting in 40k can be rather awkward but little and often is working for me at the moment.

I always wanted to get into 40k but was always too busy playing sport and later on drinking far too much at uni. Finally I succumbed a week before 5th edition was released in 2008 when I spontaneously wandered into a GW and randomly bought a metal Ogryn, some paints and a brush.
My first ogryn (not a great paint job but still love him!)

My First Ogryn!

 

Since then I have been in love with the Astra Militarum and painted up a substantial army to play doubles tournaments with - with Rich (another dad of the apocalypse) The Emperors Feth was born! We even managed to get nominated for best painted a few times at Warhammer World but never won - that still hurts! Now though I have got into Blood Angels (well Flesh Tearers) and can't wait to combine my two forces into a huge apocalyptic nightmare.

Expect to see me writing and posting pics about Flesh Tearers, Astra Militarum, anything 40k, Black Library, army lists and battle reports.

Expect me to moan about dice, time, tiredness, 30k and painting white.

Hope you enjoy... 

Welcome

If you are reading this then I’d like to thank you for taking the time to look at our humble blog.

We’re Four Dad’s and we like playing apocalypse-sized games of 40k/30k, hence the name.

We’ve started this blog as an aide to keeping us motivated. We’ve had a watsapp group where we share photos and updates of what we’ve been up to for the last year, which has worked a treat, but we thought it was now time to share our obsession with the world!

Blog posts from us will cover all aspects of the hobby, from gaming to painting, from collecting to product reviews. And although we are the Four Dad’s there may be the occasional guest blog (which may even be by you dear reader, if you have something crazy cool you want to show us).

So, that’s who we are, but who am I? I hear you ask…

I’m Dave. I’m a civil engineer by day, 30k player by night and Dad to a 2 year old son. I’ve been playing Space Wolves for nearly 20 years now, and luckily my wife let me name our son Logan (she wouldn’t stretch to Ragnar or Bjorn…)

I wish this was me...

This is me!

This is the fourth incarnation of my Space Wolves army (I’ve tried other armies but they just aren’t the same…). Over the last two years I have been making the transition from 40k to 30k, my miniatures have turned a darker shade of grey with every incarnation and started calling itself the Vlka Fenryka. I grew up with the Horus Heresy as a background to the 40k universe so when Black Library and Forge World started fleshing it out, I was very excited indeed. I have always favoured Mark 6 armour (beaky helmets for the win!) so much of my army was already in-keeping, but now I’ve swapped out all of the 40k-only units and heavily invested in Forge World resin-crack.

                    

I’m really in to the collecting, kit-bashing and painting side of things (I’ve won very few battles since Second edition 40k and see gaming purely as a chance to catch up with friends and show off my nicely painted toy soldiers), and this year achieved a life-long ambition of receiving a Golden Daemon finalists’ pin. If only my 14yr old self could see me now, he’d know it was all worth the effort!

                    

Having a son and busy day job has forced me to focus my hobby powers to collecting and painting the things I really want to paint and collect. We have also adopted a one-in-one-out rule to stop the house getting too cluttered, which means my army has shrunk somewhat over the last 2 years. I still have nearly 10,000 points to play with, but it is now all useable with very few follies in the old miniatures case.

So that’s me in a nutshell: collector, kit-basher and painter of the VI^th Legion Astartes.

My current force is still a work in progress so I hope to share my progress with you as I prepare for the Eternal War ahead.

Dave

fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.com – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads