Forgeworld Monday!

No sooner had I posted my earlier FW update than they uploaded a new Teaser...

Yet more love for the Mechanicum range of models with this stunning Titan wrecker of gun. I do like the style of these tracked guns - much credit to the FW design team. 

And this, a Cyclonic Melta Lance for the Leviathan Dreadnought. It is described as a supercharged multi-melta, i think its safe to assume this is going to wreck vehicles!

The big news on Friday was about Warhammer Fest, Ive never been so can't comment on what its like but this has been a cross-platform event firmly in the calendar for many years; my impression has been that it is more about energising our interest in the world of GW, rather than providing lots of new releases. Although given the speed with which new releases are flowing I suspect there will be some new stuff to spend our cash on!

Wednesday also brought us these lovely Word Bearer models which were built from the Betrayal at Calth boxed set and the recent upgraded resin parts.

I will keep my eye out for any more news...

Is the 40k fluff going anywhere?

Three years ago I couldn’t care less about the direction of the 40k fluff. As long as favourites of mine like Uriel Ventris and Gaunt survived to tell another tale I was happy. More than that I was content to let the fluff behind the galaxy remain ambiguous and for my favourite characters to interact in events that were isolated and discrete.

That was until the Horus Heresy landed! From the moment I started reading Horus Rising I started thinking in terms of the end game. I loved that the stories were working toward the battle on Terra and would depict the defeat of Horus and the near-death of the Emperor. It was going to fill in so many unanswered questions of ‘lore’ for me I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. Now its gonna take a long time to get there, maybe another 5 years at this rate but I am loving the journey and have learned to live with my impatience.

What is important is that all of the books are a part of a wider journey, they all connect and are moving a bigger, overarching story arc forward (with a few exceptions, you know who we are talking about Damnation of Pythos!).

Now I am not saying that the 40k fluff doesn’t have this at all; Gaunts Ghosts are part of the Sabbat worlds crusade, Uriel Ventris is battling against Warsmith Honsou and the Macharius books chart the Macharius campaign. But none of this feels as significant as the Heresy Era and they are all individual actions that seem important but not necessarily on a galactic scale or in a way that is going to significantly influence the history of mankind.

So now when I return to the books from that era they feel like they are missing something, like they should be part of a grander story arc that charts the course of humanity in the 41^st millennia. Sure I get the concept of grimdark never-ending war. But I think this could be hugely improved by connecting this all to the wider course of the imperium. It sort of reminds me of the TV series I watched as a kid, each episode being a story in its own right, but lacking connetion to the other episodes and not really moving characters or wider events along. This TV was episodic with an underlying theme - a hybrid like the x-files or Star Trek Next Generation. This is what we get in 40k. 

One of the things that I love about GW is that the lore is getting developed and being made more sophisticated. I wonder if the Black Library is looking at the success of the Horus Heresy and thinking 'let's make 40k a bit more like Game of Thrones' in that the longer, broader story arcs become more significant in the individual novels. There would still be plenty of room for some good old bolter porn but how about some longer more significant arcs about the future of mankind? I think that would be great - let's head toward the end times! 

I think we've got at least 5-10 more years of the Heresy and Scouring. Then why not take on the end times? This would really hook me into 40k for 10-15 years, I think I am a much happier customer when I feel like the overall plot is going somewhere. 

So what do you think? Should 40k be heading toward the return of the Primarchs, maybe even the Big E himself as they battle at the End Times? Or should we just be content with the endless wars of the Grimdark?

Spartan Challenge 6 - One down, three to go

So, here we are, almost at the finish line (19th March). I didn't actually think I'd finish this but starting the blog and posting our progress has been a huge motivation to crack on and even try some things I haven't tried before.

 

Without further ado I present to you my Vlka Fenryka Spartan, vehicle No. 229 (my legion tanks get numbers, not names. like most equipment during the great crusade, tanks were disposable and often didn't live long enough to earn a name, never mind a saga of their own).

 

 

Since my last update I have dry-brushed the gold and silver elements, added weathering powder all around, painted the lights in a similar fashion to the glow I used on my jump packs (I just wanted to see if it worked. And it certainly looks different to the way I used to paint lights and lenses, let me know what you think).

 

 

In terms of pack markings and kill markings I have done two things:

 

Firstly I added the red 'jags' that I have been applying to all my vehicles using masking tape and a sponge.

 

 

The secondly, I added some icons from the new Space Wolves transfer sheet. The problem I found with these is that my painting style is dark and dirty and those decals, particularly the golds and reds, are SUPER SHINY BRIGHT!!! I went round with weathering power after they were set and toned them down a bit.

 

 

My colour scheme is pretty simple: grey, gold, red and brown. Lots of Agrax Earthshade, lots of sponged on mud and chipping. I think I'm fairly happy with the way the tracks have turned out. Believe it or not there's a total of 4 different shades of brown applied there, including the textured paint, weathering powder and wash. I didn't want one dimensional mud, I wanted some depth and realism (man, that's a long sentence about painting mud!!)

 

 

What I don't want is my 30k wolves to be as blingy as their 40k counterparts. I've always said that 40k is for kids and 30k is for the adults. What I mean by that is that it's slightly more realistic looking, less cartoony. More akin to painting model soldiers like your granddad would have. More serious (if that word can be applied to a fantasy space soldier board game). I don't know if anyone else agrees with that?

 

 

What do you think of these new SWs transfers? I think the details look pretty good. I think the one below was designed for a door or banner. I stuck it on the door. My only issue is that the red of the transfer isn't as muted as the red of my pack markings. I've applied some weathering powder over to dull it down a bit but I don't think it's helped that much. Still looks pretty cool though.

 

 

This prancing wolf icon is also from the new sheet. Quite big so thought I'd put it on the door. the photo makes it look like it's off-centre to the golden relief but its not.

 

You can also see the brown weathering powder around the hull adjacent to the wheels, and black soot weathering powder around the vents.

 

 

Have I raved about Tester's Dullcote enough in other posts yet?! I used that again on this tank after everything was finished and I just can't believe how useable it is. The day I sprayed it, it was a bit humid. If I'd used GW's Purity Seal on that sort of day I guarantee some form of frosting. this stuff went on like a dream, no frosting, no loss of detail. Any can's of Purity Seal I find lying around are going in the bin. I wish I'd found this stuff 10 years ago, so much heartache could have been saved!!

 

Anyway, that's me done with this one. Time to dig something else out to paint in advance of next months battle (maybe the second of my two Spartans?..). I can't wait to see what the other Dads come up with!!

 

Dave

Incarceration, Betrayal and Retribution

the last week or so I have managed to fit in a fair bit of hobby activity!

We'll start with 'Incarceration'. we're talking dead Space Marines incarcerated in the living-sarcophagus of a dreadnought.

Below is a picture of the nearly-completed Space Wolves contemptor dreadnought I have been working on (my wife kindly took the picture). I've added some transfers from the new Space Wolves decal sheet, which look pretty cool. Jut got some highlighting of the eyes and wolf tails to go.

I've added some weathering powder in the form of brown around the shins and black around the vents and exhaust stacks.

I also added some blood to the big drill fist thingy using Tamia Clear Red. I added this after I varnished the mini so that it would remain glossy.

I'll hopefully finish him this week and get a proper post up to show him off. Let me know what you think so far.


Next is 'Betrayal'. Last week, after being informed by a kind reader that we were playing the game wrong we had another three games of Betrayal at Calth whilst at Warhammer World on Wednesday night. The game flowed much better. I lost two and won one game, so 4-4 overall now.

I still really like this game. It's pretty simple and yet has enough complexity to keep your interest.

And this feeds in to our last topic, 'Retribution'. When I heard this book was coming I knew I wanted a small Shattered Legion force....

Well I got my hands on it on release day, and in my opinion the book has taken the series back up to the heady heights of the original trilogy. I remember when I got Book 1 and was blown away by the fluff, art and rules. Well, this book did the same and it has been a long time coming.

I was wondering what purpose my Shattered Legion force was going to serve. I now have the rules and framework to use them in games of 30k, but it's not that often I get to play, it's going to be more of an exercise in fluff and painting. But after playing Betrayal at Calth a few times I think I am now going to paint the force up specifically for that game. All I'll need is an additional tactical squad to be able to use it in regular games of 30k (you need a minimum of two troops choices, and can't have more 'troops' than veteran tactical squads, so I read that as needing 4 tactical squads in total, two normal, two veteran).

So all in all, one box of BaC marines plus 10 more for the additional tactical squad means that I should have a force that I'm happy with, is interesting to paint and has more than one use. It shouldn't take too long to put together either. I had already put together one Veteran Tactical squad.

My plan is to have the bulk of the force painted as Luna Wolves and Iron Warriors (loyalist of course), with the occasional marine from a different legion spotted about to allow me to have a go at painting colours I have never painted before.

Let us know what your Retribution plans are!

Pig Iron to shut down

I was saddened to receive an email this week from one of my favourite model production companies Pig Iron. They announced that the company was to be shut down with the following message.
"After much deliberation and soul searching both myself and Lisa have decided to close down Pig Iron at the end of March 2016.

We've been wrestling with this decision for many, many months but the constant pressure of running two businesses at the same time has taken its toll on us both and we feel its time, after nearly fifteen years, to take a step back and live a more 'normal' and relaxed life. On top of the business side of things we’ve both felt the need to explore other areas outside of the gaming industry but the constant 'background noise' of Pig Iron has always taken priority.

Wargaming, sculpting, painting and scenery making will still play an important part of our lives so we’ll be keeping the Facebook site open to keep in touch with the wider gaming world.

Moving forward, it would be a shame for the miniatures to disappear and we’re currently exploring ways of keeping the ranges going with other parties and we’ll keep you updated on any developments over the next month or so. Any suggestions are most welcome so please get in touch on: enquiries@pig-iron-productions.com.

All current and new orders will be fulfilled until we close the webstore down but we won’t be getting any more stock from Griffin Moulds. If you need to get in touch regarding your order please email us at the address above (Don’t forget to check your spam folder for any replies).

The last fifteen years have been an exciting challenge and very rewarding plus we’ve met some great people along the way and hopefully made some cool miniatures for your games.

Sincere thanks to all the people who have purchased our miniatures and supported us in other ways over the years.

Lets not say goodbye, lets say, “Stay in touch…”

Simon and Lisa - Pig Iron."

The heads for my veterans were from Pig Iron

I sincerely wish Simon and Lisa all the best for the future and thank them for some of the models that they have produced. I have purchased many bits from them in the past to personalise my Astra Militarum army the Emperors Feth and their sculpts have always impressed me.


March will be a doffing of the cap to a great company.

James

Tyranids vs Khorne Daemon Kin

After many months of a distinct lack of gaming time I finally managed to carve out an open slot for a game last week. I would be putting my Tyranid army up against my brother Mikes' Khorne Daemon Kin in a 2000pt game.
The Tyranids are just one of many armies I collect and one that I haven't used in a long time (that's it, get my excuses in early!) and one that I have just over 2000pts of. This made picking my army really quite easy, take everything, well almost, a lonely Carnifex was left on the shelf.

After setting up the terrain and rolling for deployment type (Vanguard Strike) and Mission (The Scouring) we got to setting up.

I opted for putting my big things on the left to attempt to roll his flank while using the masses of little things to hold up his other flank. While he evenly spaced his men along his deployment zone.

It is at this point that I would like to mention that I have never faced the Daemon Kin before and never seen the Blood Tythe table in action but the ability to get a 'free' Blood Thirster from it is certainly scary!

The game was a blood fest. We both charged at each other intent on devouring/reaping skulls as quickly as possible. I acquired first blood when my termagants shot and then charged a unit of blood letters while my hormagants swarmed over another unit of blood letters. His counter attack consisted of counter charging with everything he could and wiping the 2 units out while his Blood Thirster set up what I though would be a clash of the titans by charging my Tyrannofex.

Well, the clash of the titans was over very quickly as the Blood Thirster, with one sweep of his mighty axe, took the head from the Tyrannofex leaving it's slowly cooling carcass on the floor.

From here it became more one sided, my shooting was pitiful and all my charges seemed to end with more dead Tyranids. The dice gods had abandoned me. By turn 4 I was down to just a couple of units.



However, I did get my revenge on the rampaging Blood Thirster when my bonesword armed warriors managed to roll well enough to insta kill it due to the Life Leech special rule. Revenge was sweet, as was the look on his face as I banished his prized unit back to the warp.


 With the game soon coming to an end I lost by 5vp to 1vp. Obviously this loss was more down to my brothers weighted dice and obvious underhandedness and had nothing to do with my tactical faults and poor decision making!

Forgeworld Monday - Heavy Weapons Teaser

I love Mondays now, well not really but FW are taking the edge off it for me. This week they are showcasing the imminent (?) arrival of new Legion Heavy Weapons. After seeing these at the Horus Heresy Weekender I immediately sold all of my Legion Lascannons (thankfully still in their clamshell packs) so you know how much I like the look of an underslung lascannon!

Here's what FW have to tell us:


These underslung heavy weapons were produced on forge worlds from across known space, many lost since the dark days of the Horus Heresy. Some of the weapons are more akin to those in use by Imperial and Chaos forces in the 41st millennium than those regularly seen in use during the Great Crusade.

Check out the full FW bulletin....link

Book Review – Horus Heresy Book Anthology – Blades of the Traitor – No spoilers

Ok so a quick disclaimer here. I know these anthologies can feel like another attempt to drain us of out cash without moving the Heresy forward but I have long since stopped being impatient and worrying about that. I am reading them for what I think they are – an opportunity for the authors to explore bits that were cut out of their longer stories, or to explore the beginnings of characters that they didn’t get chance to without impacting on the pace or focus of their novels. This collection doesn’t disappoint.

Daemonology - Chris Wraight.

This short story shows Mortarion being manipulated by the warp and being drawn ever closer to the fate we know awaits him. It’s a very short story depicting the destruction of a ‘library world’ by Mortarion’s Legionaries. It also shows his hated for witchcraft and his near murder of the Sigillite whilst he is waiting to take control of the Death Guard. It is a reminder that some of the Primarchs started with good intention but that the compromises of the Crusaded worked upon their misgivings to turn them traitor. A brief, but formative essay on the aspects of the 31^st Millennia that worked to turn Mortarion ‘bad’. 6/10

Black Oculus – John French.

This is just a few pages long – it is a stream of conscience from the mind of a Navigator aboard an Iron Warrior ship arriving at Tallarn (John was author of Tallarn Executioner). This adds a little colour to an as yet unheard voice in the 31^st Millenia – that of the all-knowing Navigators. 6/10

Chirurgeon - Nick Kyme.

Basically, if you ever end up in the 31^st Millennia, get sick, decide to report to the doc and see the name Dr F.Bile above the apothecarion, immediately turn around and take a couple of aspirin! This guy is your worst surgical nightmares rolled into one. Here we get a glimpse of early influences that made Bile into the obsessed butcher he became.

The story flicks between an ongoing surgery and the period after the Proxima Betrayal (at which they defended the wounded Emperor). This period pre-dates Fulgrim and after much of their gene-seed was mysteriously lost leading them to be one of the smallest legions. Bile describes the IIIrd as ‘an endangered species’ and his early work in trying to harvest gene-seed from the battlefield leaves him ‘dehumanised’ in is own words. We learn about the blight affecting the legion and what Bile finds himself forced to do to save his brothers. The piece ends with him revealing his own infection and the lengths he is prepared to go to hide it. I really liked this one, I think it gives real insight into the making of one of the 31^st millennium’s greatest villains. 7/10

Twisted, Guy Hayley.

This story centres around Maloghurst (the Twisted) and his relationship with the warp and Horus. It’s a tense, creepy setting amidst the changing atmosphere of the Warmasters flagship. Maloghurst is given the chance to reach for great power thanks to his fathers alliance with the warp and we see how he takes that on for himself. I found the imminent threat and temptations of the warp made this short story into a great page turner, I would really recommend it. A great insight into the Twisted and events unfolding as Horus marches on Terra. Great stuff 8/10.

Wolf Mother - Graham McNeil.

Ever wondered what happened next to Alivia from the Molech story? Well you can see the next step on her journey from Molech in this short story. Wonder what Severian did next after the failed assassination of Horus? Well, Alivia is joined by the Knight Errant Severian in an attempt to rescue her peril-prone daughter again - think Taken on a space ship during the heresy! I wont say anymore for fear of spoiling the story, its action-packed and the relationship between the two heroes is great to observe, my favourite of the collection. 8/10

The verdict

If like me you are a sucker for all things Horus Heresy, get it on your shopping list. Overall 7/10.

Forgeworld Friday - Domitar Battle-automata arrives

Ok so work has kept me busy hence FW Friday being on a Sunday! This week the resin sculptors have treated us to another murder-machine for the Mechanicum.

This is a close combat beast with Gravitron Hammers delivering s10 blows to its enemies. It can also take missiles to give the bot some effect at range or even provide some anti-air firepower.

I like the model, plenty of scope to put some coloured armour (I am not a fan of the models that nead a heavy application of boltgun metal/leadbelcher) and I like the missile carapace too. Very cool model with a clear role as a combat droid.

How do you Mechanicum lovers see this being deployed?

 

Death Company - How should I kit them out?

My Flesh Tearer Tactical Approach

I have been progressing with my Flesh Tearers over some time now and have enough built and painted to create a big enough force to game with.

My force focuses on fast movement, assault and lots of bodies to pressure an opponent and isolate parts of their army to take it apart bit by bit. In my mind this is how the Flesh Tearers would fight although probably more recklessly with a lot more blood and violence!

The Flesh Tearer Force

So without going into too much detail, in a 1500 point force I have a librarian with jump pack, 3 assault squads with jump packs, 2 tactical squads in drop pods, 1 assault terminator squad (to be positioned with wings of Sanguinius hopefully!) and a death company squad with jump packs. All units can be positioned where I need them fast! All units have furious charge for +1 strength and I take the Baal strike force detachment for +1 initiative on the charge.

My only headache has been to know how to equip my 8 man death company squad. These are the big hitters, the squad that will take any others out once they get the charge.

The Original Death Company Idea

My original thought was to keep costs down and take them with just chainswords and pistols and rely on volume of attacks to get them through. After trying this a couple of times it seemed that non-meq units got stomped but any marine equivalent caused me problems and the Death company would get stuck in combat. It seemed I needed something more...

Phase 2

To help with combat against marines I stepped it up by adding 2 power swords to the squad. This still kept them fairly cheap but gave them 10 ap3 attacks on the charge at I5 and S5 as well as 30 normal attacks at I5 & S5! In math hammer terms the marine kill rate has gone from 4.4 kills to 6.1 kills on the charge. I tried this layout and it definitely worked better, especially working in conjunction with an assault squad.

Unfortunately then I ran into a problem. A big contemptor shaped problem. I just couldn't deal with walkers as I couldn't hurt them and what began to happen was I would stroll through some marines and then a dreadnaught of some kind would charge me next turn making my elite assault unit a one hit wonder...

Phase 3

To combat this but still keep the hitting power I needed to sacrifice speed and points.

I decided to add a powerfist and a power sword. These additions pumped up the expense of the unit but gave me 2 things - an ability to hurt terminators and also some tools to punk dreads.

On the charge I now have 10 ap3 attacks and 20 ap- attacks hitting at I5 and S5. This is enough to remove enough infantry that I don't get hurt badly when the initiative step 4 comes around. Then I am piling in at I1 with 4 S9 & 4 S7 attacks at ap2. This is more than enough to clear out any other infantry and hurt terminators or a dreadnaught if I need to.

Conclusion

I started off with the idea of having a fairly cheap elite squad to pick off my opponents units. Along the way my idea's changed a little as I realised that this squad was quite important to me and needed to be a little harder hitting. Consequently I now have an 8 man squad worth 254 points! I am happy with the layout at the moment but I do need to play test them more.

If you are wondering why I didn't up the number of death company from 8 I found that with jump packs I struggled to manoeuvre any more that that around the battlefield effectively.

My work in progress death company

To The Future

Has my death company finished its evolution? Probably not. As I play more it may change but at the moment my only consideration is whether or not to include a Sanguinary Priest.

A possible addition?

This would bump the squad points up considerably and use a valuable HQ slot which is annoying. Also a priest would waste(?) his feel no pain on a squad that already has it albeit increasing it from a 5+ to a 4+.

On the positive side the squad gets seriously killy with a priests attacks involved and most importantly increasing the squad's WS to 5. This would give an extra 6.3 attacks when hitting on the charge which is huge - especially against terminators.

Personally I think I will try it as I'm not sure I can resist a squad that hits in lose combat with WS5, I5, S5 with a 4+ feel no pain! That is surely the essence of the Flesh Tearers right there....

I would love to know what other people do for their death company. Please get in touch either by commenting or on twitter at @4dadsapocalypse.

James

Is Games Workshop about to collapse?

This issue of the Games Workshop financial position popped into my head after you tube recommended a video this week titled 'GW 2016 Financials are in. The company is in a tailspin, Games Workshop is closing?' 

The evocative title did just what it was supposed to and made me open it to watch the video. It focuses on the half year result and then went onto talk more widely about GWs business issues. I’ve have been seeing these kind of thoughts for a long time and I wanted to share my thoughts on them.

Ok, let me reassure you before we go any further; GW ain't closing and isn't in a tailspin but there are plenty of amateur analysts out there who would like us to think so. Many of these reporters seem to be motivated by their umbrage with annual price hikes, GWs lack of communication with the community or the discontinuation of their line of models. That said, there is some truth in what they say which I would like to explore. 

The latest results largely show a status quo position. Two of the most important figures for investors and those of us with a healthy interest in seeing GW go on for the rest of our lives (or in my case my kids too I hope), are revenue (income) and profit (I'm gonna avoid going into any of the available investment industry KPIs as they are hard to follow if you are not into that). I will also look at share price as that is a reasonable equalizer of all the metrics that could be applied. One other caveat; I have worked in the financial industry for many years so a I know something about business analysis but I don't claim to be an expert, this is just my personal view. 

Revenue

Revenue data is available from 1989 which is great for showing longer term trends. If we look at revenue today at c.£125m per annum compared to 1989 c.£12m p.a. we can see a huge improvement. No need to worry right? Well not exactly, income peaked at £152m in 2005 with the release of the Lord of the Rings game but since then has hovered between £110m and £135m. The inability to improve this level of trading has been an issue for the business and investors ever since. I wouldn't say this was something for us to worry about. However, investors do want to believe in growth and it does make you worry about the state of the market. 

That said, what does impress me about this is that most of those customers who joined and started spending on the run up to 2005s high point have largely remained / been replaced by similar spending customers. That it reassuring in itself. 

What would I do in Kirby and Rountree's shoes (Tom Kirby is Chairman and Kevin Rountree is CEO)? Not obvious I must admit. The rapid growth in the run up to the big 2005 result (and for a few years after) was largely driven by the opening of lots of stores. Seems obvious to just open more stores then right? I don't think so, investor communications over the period point to many of those stores being loss making and this hurt the profitability of the company, something investors hate more than declining sales! Since 2005 many loss making stores have closed and the emergence of cheaper to run one-man stores has become a key feature. These grow local interest whilst keeping costs low - not great if we want a Warhammer store with 20 tables and gaming nights all week, but good for the sustainability of the business. 

I can understand their thinking on dropping the idea of the stores as gaming centres. These must be expensive to run and social media has allowed gaming clubs to thrive so perhaps running 'gaming' stores just isn't necessary anymore. Indeed, there are very few stand alone gaming centres in the UK where a business owner has been prepared to invest in a lease to provide a venue just for gaming – I think this is strong evidence that such a market does not really exist and in this I can support GWs move away from larger stores (don’t get me wrong, I wish it wasn’t true but there just isn’t the evidence to support it).

One solution for revenue growth may be to take on another fantasy/sci-fi genre with mainstream appeal. It’s a shame they didn't pick up on Star Wars prior to the new movies or before everyone else did, something like Game of Thrones might provide that opening now? That has worked in the past and could again. How about a Horus Heresy movie? Let's make Warhammer more mainstream! The interest off the back of that would be huge. Nothing they haven't thought of I expect and it may be that technology is still a way off from making this feasible (ie affordable CGI given the movie would be unlikely to have heavy backing early on). 

Somehow, GW needs to find a way of increasing customers in at least a modest way, increasing revenue and therefore keeping investors happy and giving us all more buddies to play with in the process!

Profit

This is key to investors and all of us. We all need GW to make enough profit to keep the people it borrows money off (investors) happy, enough to invest in products and processes to keep us lot happy and enough to have enough cash to cope with small ebbs and flows in demand. 

The operating profit shown in the chart has had a bumpy ride since 2011, it has been better and the full result for 2015-2016 may tell us differently but given the heavy investment in infrastructure in 2014 a dip in form was to be expected. Profit in the first 6 months of 2015-16 shows that it is in largely in line with 2014.

Share price

This is another key indicator of a companies future likelihood of success.  Put simply, most people/institutions buy shares so that in the longer term (5+years) they will grow in value better than comparable investment opportunities ie putting it in the bank or (if you have enough spare cash) something like property investment. 

GW shares in 2011 were just under £4.00 per share. Today they are worth £5.30 each. So you could say that investors think that GW is a better prospect now than it was 5 years ago right? It's not quite that simple as macro-economics come into it, emotions of investors play a part as do the ramblings of Chairpersons and CEOs but on an intrinsic level this is a good news story. 

It's not all good news though, in 2013 shares peaked at £8.00 and have been falling since. Again the wider world plays a part in this and the big investments (which took focus from growth) by GW in 2014 probably scared off a lot of investors and drove the price down. It's even possible the shares were crazily overvalued in 2013 but nevertheless something has happened to reduce investor confidence in the past few years. 

Overall though, the share price is fairly high, over 6 years has seen an overall growth trend so generally speaking this is good news and no cause for calling it quits anytime soon. 

In Conclusion

I think GW are doing fairly well. They have managed a post-LOTR decline well and maintained cash and profitability, the profit levels have remained good enough to continue to interest investors and to allow for further investment in the product ranges. Its hard to remember back to the time a few years ago when we would wait months for a new product release, now I can barely keep up and I think this has been great for creating more buzz and excitement around the business.

The big question is whether Kevin and Tom can figure out how to grow the business again whilst keeping all the great new products a buzz coming. Good luck to them I say!

New-ish Space Wolves Minis

Sorry, I kinda missed these when I shouldn't have!

The new Ulrik the Slayer and Iron Priest miniatures from GW came along last weekend and boy do they look good!

It was about time Ulrik got a new miniature, I must have painted the old one at least three times over the years.

This one looks great, a suitably heroic pose for the oldest Space Wolf alive! As for him having the 'Wolf Helm of Russ', I wonder whether that's why Bjorn 'can't be woken from stasis...honest...', that way there's no one to dispute whether that's a genuine artefact or not :-)

For me the pose of this miniature is too static, it looks great don't get me wrong, but I like my wolves to be more dynamic. And there isn't enough options for converting this guy. I think I'll wait until I see whether FW release a 30k wolf priest (or if the Vlka Fenryka even had Wolf Priests), before I pick him up.


The Iron Priest is also a welcome release. Again, I must have painted the old one two or three times over the years.

This guy will undoubtedly make his way in to my army. I think my plan is to buy the two FW techmarines at the same time to create a techmarine coven (or whatever the name is) of three units.

I like how they have kept some cues from the original miniature: the thunder hammer, the wolf-headed servo-arm. Yeah, this guy is a keeper. I like how GW have demonstrated how easy he is to convert too: Iron Priest on Thunderwolf

And then we got Krom released too.

I brought this guy the first time round, and again he's a great looking miniature, very angry, very dynamic. I started converting him, swapped his axe for a frost-sword from the new upgrade kit, but that's as far as I got. I realised he's probably too bling for my 30k army. I'll get him in there somewhere but I'm just not sure where yet.

This week I did get my hands on the new Space Wolves Transfer Sheet:

I've been using it to bling up my Spartan, in the absence of a FW Legion transfer sheet at the moment. There's some really cool icons on there. I can already see icons I want on my breacher shield squad, y standard bearer, bits for vehicles. Yeah, this a good edition. The printing is great quality, the backing isn't too thick (though probably not as thin as I hear the latest FW transfers are). £12.50 for a sheet of stickers is probably a bit steep but there are ways to off-set that (like ebay the spare bits!).

What are your thoughts?

Dave

My Inner Golden Demons...

Last year, myself and Dad Rich had arranged to meet up for a game. He was coming to Nottingham and when he comes to Nottingham we always go to Warhammer World.

What we hadn't realised was that the Golden Demon: Tanks event was on at the same time. I think we realised about a week before the event and quickly decided that we should definitely enter.

For me, I've wanted to enter the Golden Demon since I was a kid. To win it would be a dream come true, but to even enter was a realistic ambition that I had up until that point never fulfilled.

But what to take, was my first thought. We have a week (and in Dad World, a week isn't actually that long, as you can see from Dad James' post last week), so there was no way I'd be buying a new tank just for the slim chance of picking up a trophy.

So I scoured my Space Wolves and picked my favourite tank, just adding some bits to try and improve it, and took it along on the day.

This was painted for my 40k Space Wolves, before I decided to ditch the snow and go 30k!
I've always used red as my spot colour, and always liked my marines dark and dirty, in the heat of battle. I also added a couple of shields. In my head I see Space Wolves tanks as 41st Millennium long boats, ferrying the space Vikings in to battle. Let me know what you think.

I must admit that I was pretty excited and also pretty nervous as I handed over my entry. Although my heart did sink quite a bit when I saw the level of skill else where on display. There were some amazing entries, which proved I needed to raise my game in the future.

In the end, I got a competitor's badge for entering, which is good enough for me after 15 years of wanting to enter. I am also determined that I will enter again at some point in the future! I certainly didn't think I'd get my miniature in the magazine, but thanks to Dad Steve for spotting that I had. In fact, both mine and Rich's tanks are in there this month.

Dad Rich's Tank Entry
As Dave said, we only realised by accident that the Golden Daemon was on at the last minute. I had my trusty Shadowsword handy which was my entry. This was my first attempt at using a 'military modelling' style approach in full and they captured this perfectly in Warhammer Visions saying the tank is a 'masterclass in weathering techniques' - essentially I just tried them all at once!!

I can't point to a single place for my inspiration but the tank was a combination of lovely work I had seen on the 'OrcPainterNerd' You Tube channel, the Forgeworld Modelling Masterclass and any number of random blog posts and military modelling tutorials.

I learnt a lot in doing this tank and in many ways it was just a big fun experiment.

Like Dave says, the quality of the entries (Andy Wardle is someone I am now following with interest) was daunting and as the cabinets filled up I was more and more certain there would be no lucky trophy to come out of this one.

Here she is, hope you like her and feel inspired to try out some crazy weathering techniques yourselves....

Betrayal at Calth

Ok, so I know this was released some time ago now but I finally got round to playing Betrayal at Calth.

Firstly, lets start with the contents of the box...

The quality is great, the range of bits is absurd and man, that is a lot of miniatures for your money, especially considering how much I have spent on resin crack from Forge World.

So far I have only stuck together the dreadnought, I just couldn't resist. He's not quite finished yet, just waiting for the new Space Wolves transfers to arrive, but I should hopefully have him completed next week sometime.

Lets get on to the game. My boss offered to play with me as he also has a fancy for 40k so I took it in to work, fully believing the "a game only takes 30 minutes" tag line...

We peeled back the cellophane on the board pieces and unpacked the dice. He played Word Bearers (with Space Wolves stand in minis) and I played Ultramarines (with Space Wolves stand in minis...).

The game board fit on an office desk, so it's much easier to transport and set up than a full on game or 40k (and even Space Hulk, which is surprisingly big). The space required and number of minis involved reminded me of Warmachine Hoards, when I had a demo game of that.

We played Scenario 1, which was essentially a race to the blast doors at the end of the board before they slam shut and bar your escape.

What I would say about this scenario is that: Blast Door 1 closes after the third turn, 2 closes after the fourth and 3 closes after the fifth. You can only move 2 hexes a turn, and Blast Door 1 is 7 hexes away. I'm not that great at math but unless you have a card that helps with tactical points or movement, you ain't never gonna get there in time!

We figured this pretty quickly and both set off for Blast Door 3.

The game was fun. We played it with everyone having bolters so that we could keep it simple, but essentially it's just a more complicated Space Hulk, which I love anyway.

Shooting with bolters seems a little ineffective, but close combat was real fun. The game itself took us 55 minutes, but it was the first time we'd even looked at the rules so I'm not surprised. I'll definitely take it in again and give it another go. I'm even tempted to paint up some minis specifically for the game (and I'm tempted to buy another box just for the minis!!)

Who won? I did, which makes a change because I never win at Space Hulk, 40k or 30k. This could be the game for me!!

If you brought the box for the minis, I urge you to give the game a try. I really hope it sticks around as one of the Specialist Games that GW are launching and supporting.

Dave

Time - How do you fit 40k into your life?

Time

The thing with Warhammer 40k is that it takes up a huge amount of time.

 

It takes time to hobby:

1.       Getting the models, paints and equipment out

2.       Painting models

3.       Building models

4.       Cutting models off the sprue

5.       Cleaning the models up (mould lines etc.)

6.       Travelling to and from shops to buy stuff

7.       Buying stuff

8.       Putting stuff away again after hobby time.

 

It takes time to play:

1.       Building lists

2.       Travelling to and from a playing venue if not at home

3.       Setting up a play area

4.       Getting models out

5.       Playing the actual game

6.       Taking down the play area

7.       Putting models away again

 

It takes time to read, keep up to date and interact about 40k

1.       Reading blogs

2.       Reading books

3.       Listening to podcasts

4.       Watching Youtube vids

5.       Social media interactions

6.       Chatting with friends on the phone, whatsapp etc.

7.       Playing 40k games – Space Marine, Space Hulk etc.

 

When I look back at this list, and I’m sure I have missed loads of things, I really do wonder how on earth anyone has the time to get involved with the game or any of its forms.

My current situation

 

My life at the moment is pretty hectic. I am married with my wife and I both working as full time teachers in special schools. We have 2 children under 11, 1 dog and 2 Guinea pigs. I am also a Beaver scout leader and so my standard week looks something like this:

Monday

School. Evening is free but generally do schoolwork as it’s the start of the week.

 

Tuesday

School followed straight away by Beavers. No free time in the evening.

 

Wednesday

School. Daughter activities but 1 hour free in the evening.

 

Thursday

School. Daughter activities. Home about 9.15pm ready for tea!

 

Friday

School. Daughter activities.

 

Saturday

Family Day

 

Sunday

Church. Family Day, schoolwork in evening.

 

As a dad I am sure I am not alone in this kind of routine and unfortunately it leaves very little time to spend on myself. As many people do I also have many interests. I play guitar, like to drink beer, play 40k, rock climb, train in the gym and play different sports. So what can we do to be able to squeeze some time in for Warhammer?

 

Making Time

 

1.       Focus on the bigger picture

The first thing that I find I need to do is realise that I am very lucky. I have a beautiful wife and 2 beautiful daughters, I live in my own house (well the bank owns most of it!) and my situation, living in England, is very fortunate – we are safe and living in a lawful democracy. I must never forget that these are the most important things in my life even if I really want to paint that model or play that game. In reality it is only Warhammer – even if I really love it I could do without it – Just!

2.       Be organised

I find that I need to keep a diary and plan ahead when I am going to do things. This is already in place as I have a school diary that I use every day. Using this I plot my days and then I can put my hobbies into place around the events I can’t change – daughter activities, work etc.
There are some weeks where I just can’t have anything to do with 40k. This week for instance has been impossible as it is assessment report time at school and I have had meetings for scouts in the evenings. Other weeks however give me loads of opportunities when my wife will go out to see her friends or takes the girls to their activities.

3.       Do little and often

One of the most successful ways that I make progress with hobby time in 40k is to plan 20-30min sessions into my week. Even if we are busy it is always possible to find a half hour here and there. Before I do this I make sure that I know exactly what I’m going to be doing (base colours of red and black or washes for example). This reduces the time spent setting up as I can get things ready prior to my 30mins so I can start painting straight away.

4.       Use your dead time

Dead time is time spent commuting, breaks at work or waiting for children to finish their activities. Commuting is a great time for podcasts while driving. A break at work for Twitter, Facebook etc. Write a blog post while waiting for children during their activities.

5.       Plan ahead

For longer activities such as games it is important to plan ahead. Look at your diary at least a month ahead and pick a date to play. Then make sure to tell your better half and okay it there and then. Believe me it is much better than springing it on your partner last minute! Once it is agreed he or she can plan to do things around your time playing such as meeting friends or another activity. Unfortunately sometimes things do go wrong last minute such as an argument or something urgent comes up which means the game gets cancelled (I have let the other dads down enough times!) but at the end of the day refer back to point 1 and remember what’s important. Another game can always be booked in also giving you more leverage as it has been cancelled once already.

What a week may look like

 

My week planned ahead may look something like this:

 

Monday

Before school while the girls practice piano I practice the guitar. School. Listen to 40k podcast on way home. Schoolwork to set me up for the rest of the  week. Read Black Library book in bed.

 

Tuesday

Before school while the girls practice piano I practice the guitar. School followed straight away by Beavers. Listen to 40k podcast on way home. Read Black Library book in bed.

 

Wednesday

Before school while the girls practice piano I practice the guitar. School. Listen to 40k podcast on way home. Wife takes daughters to activities and goes to gym. Hobby time 1 hour. Read Black Library book in bed.

 

Thursday

School. Listen to 40k podcast on way home. Take daughters to activities. Home about 9.15pm ready for tea! Read Black Library book in bed.

 

Friday

School. Listen to 40k podcast on way home. Take Daughters to activities. Read Black Library book in bed.

 

Saturday

Family Day. Read Black Library book in bed.

 

Sunday

Family Day, schoolwork in evening. Read Black Library book in bed.

 

As you can see with my week, painting time is only an hour, however my wife may go and see her friends one night or may go to the gym a couple of nights in the week when my girls have gone to bed. Typically I get another two half hour slots for hobby time during the week. This doesn't sound a lot but if you are prepared these half hours add up and make you focus which is great for getting projects finished.

 

Deadlines

One final aspect of fitting in some hobby is to give yourself an ultimatum or a deadline. I have two such deadlines at the moment.

1.       I am not allowed to buy any more models until I have no more to paint.

-          This hurts. A lot! But I am getting through my Flesh Tearers and Astra Militarum because of it. I have about 1000 points of AM and about 1500 of Flesh Tearers to go…

2.       The four dads have started the Spartan challenge within which I entered my Stormraven. It needed painting but I have been putting it off as I don't really like the model so it is a great way to push myself to get it done.

 

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about the difficulties of fitting 40k in and I would love to hear how you do it, whether you are similar to me or of any better ways to get more 40k into my life.

 

All the best,

 

James