40k burnout

I’ve played 40k for years, but I have to say, I’m feeling a bit flat on it at the moment. Games are still fun, but the game/support/development structure has got to me.

I used to buy every codex and every WD as they came out. Now – well, I haven’t got the Daemons, Chaos Marines or Tau codexes. I didn’t renew my WD sub at the end of last year, and I didn’t bother to pick up issue 400 at the weekend.

I still like (most of) the figures, I’m happy with the rules, I like the availability of opponents; I just can’t be bothered to stay on the conveyer belt.

However, I still have loads of boxes of stuff that needs building and painting; I reckon there's a 2000 point Space Marine army on sprues in the loft; there's certainly another 1000 points of Space Wolves and about the same of Imperial Guard to paint. And that's without thinking about 1500 points of bikes and the best part of a Battle Company of Dark Angel infantry that's sitting up there. Oh, and a Forgeworld stockpile of a Contemptor, some jetbikes, an assault squad...

What to do, what to do...

Empire of the Dead Kickstarter

I'm kinda taken by the Empire of the Dead kickstarter; I love the whole VSF vibe, and if you're in quick, there is a really good deal going on. I sold on a load of 10mm French WW2 stuff, and I guess I'm recycling some of the cash into new shinys.

Anyway, while I'm waiting for the kickstarter to deliver, I thought I'd go through what I have sitting in the cupboards and play with it. This is an armoured car from Ironclad Miniatures, re-purposed as a police wagon. I'm going to replace the turret with a plain hatch, but I need the figures before I can do that, so it'll have to wait. Oh, and a drop of gloss varnish into the portholes...

Deep Strike Land Raider - part 2

Earlier this week I took a tenon saw to an eBay Land Raider... here are the results. I think it's an unusual piece of terrain, and I'll enjoy popping it on the table down at the club...

Deep Strike Land Raider

I managed to pick up a couple of Land Raiders very cheaply on Ebay. One will be finding itself refurbished properly and added into my Imperial Guard army as an allied unit (I have started writing the fluff for that one), the other one is being turned into terrain.

Stage 1 - close assault on a Land Raider with a tenon saw. As you will see, it's basically a hulk; most of the weapons and hatches are missing and I'll replace some from the bits box.

Stage 2 - the bases are cut from 6mm MDF, the Land Raider parts are stuck down with plenty of hot glue. The larger part will be painted as a Blood Angel vehicle, so I'll do the basing in standard grass colours. The smaller part will go into my Mars terrain so I will probably paint it up in Ultramarine colours to clash with the red basing.

Stage 3 - hatches replaced, weaponry replaced, I will add some torn-away wiring to the right sponson where I'm not going to put a new gun in place but basically I can sand the base and start painting once it's all dried.

Thunderfire Cannons

I'm stuck at home for a while. I'm not concentrating well enough to paint, but I can do a bit of cutting and sticking. Anyway, here are a couple of Thunderfire cannon from scratch. The weapons and tracks are from a Robogear walker, everything else comes from the bits box.

What I reckoned I'd use

Starting to come together

Basic construction complete

Still needs detail, but recognisable.

I will still be adding some more details to the outside of the carriages, but basically that'll do me. Total cost - a few pence for the plastic card, £2 for the Robogear kits from a charity shop, details from the bits box of leftovers. A darn sight cheaper than £36 each from GW...