But one friend is a friend of friends when it comes to the hobby. A guy with whom I became the hobbyist I am, the converter I am, the painter I am, the story teller I am. (so blame him it isn't good ;) ) Batman and Robin, Robin and Batman. Laurel & Hardy. Alpharius & Alpharius.
His name is Hammer. We both live in Helsinki, but met through Dakkadakka in 2000. We've taken turns to win best painted/army in every single tournament we went to here. We've had so many amazing games, painting sessions and talking hobby days over the years that we feel like family. We are like night and day, yet we get along great. I've lived a few years abroad without missing a hobby beat upon return.
Together we worked up =I=munda, the 28mm skirmishRPGmodelingmachine that combines Necro engine, house rules, =I=fluff and imagery and as much RPG elements as possible. That is our current fix. We've slowed down, Hammer's never had any ability to concentrate and I've never had any sense in my projects. But going skirmish yields results.
This is how =I=munda take one - The Jade Vessel - ended up and this is Hammer's gang
So today I had a very nice 5hour session with Hammer.
Inquisitor Alben Silas is now finished. Furthermore I did a round of sculpting on Sister Valecia, or sis Val, as she is known in the business (bounty or ordos, I believe the sororities have a less charming name for her). I was inspired to push it a little after Jakob's and Hammer's absolutely fantastic sculpt work on the same model. I hope I get to share pics before I travel on sunday. I did the hair in a combination of sculpting the GS, an adding thin sausages of gs that flow very naturally and the end result was a surprising success. By no means perfect, but somehow surprising is almost as good :)
I also hope to try painting see-through-fabric with her for the first time. So I sculpted a skimpy top too. Avoiding silly D cup breasts and opting for just too much show for gothic unease. Now left is gluing the arms + custom bolt pistol I've built and chainsword (weapon choice to tie well into existing imagery and typologies, with so much off the charts characters coming up next), some purity seals and small bionic detail. I also want steel caps of some sort.
Also Hammer's now seen the red in person, so at least one other person knows how it really looks. All my efforts to photograph it suck pixel.
The hobby is really about friendship, about inspiring and being inspired and sharing the fun. So Marko, Jussi, Tube, Jakob, Peter, Aaron... and so many other great friends and hobbyists - thanks for all the fun!
You should come to battle us in Sweden!
ReplyDeletemi own style of technique is moving away from trying to achieve smooth and neat but rather more painterly being inspired in particular bi rembrandt - minis are just to small to adopt the Pollock effect so ill keep that for illustrations - i cant do smooth and neat anyway - emotional impact is far more evocative than 'eavy metal' - grungy and weather beaten a sense of dickensian character are much more important to me anyway .....
ReplyDeleteThanks! Agreed J.B. I spent the first part of my hobby life to try and do very technical, then after winning a demon, I felt that's that, now I can do what I want, and worry not about what others think. Also through RCA I become more aware of myself as an artist, despite this being a "hobby" for me.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Steve Jobs, "Real artists ship" That's the kind of artist I am really, but here in GWs fantastic imagery (thank you!) I've found a space to explore the other side.
Keep exploring that imagery! At the moment you're very focused on the Imperium, but I'm very curious how you would do the Xenos. Your modelling and painting of Imperial stuff is very much influenced by John Blanche who creates this very extreme baroque feel, which is very fitting with the Imperium. But how would you for example do the Eldar? I think you would need a completely new set of techniques when dealing with those since you want to translate that feel of strange psychic and organic aliens onto the miniatures.
ReplyDeleteThanks mate. You are correct. John's work has had a tremendous impact on me growing up, and the more I've developed or gained experience the more I appreciate it. Timely topic too. More of this later :)
ReplyDeleteHello Migsula - forgive the intrusion; I'm a long-time lurker and follower of your work on Dakka. There are so few people that really seem to innately understand the essence of the 40k setting and I rate your work very highly - I'm pleased that you've moved your output on to a blog.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I just wanted to log in to offer a quick aside in relation to what was mentioned above (by Malika) regarding how one might represent the Xenos whilst still retaining the essential gothic grotesquery of the Blanche aesthetic. It follows an idea I had a while ago after coming across this exceptional conversion of an Eldar Wraithlord (unfortunately I have no idea who it's by):
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_zsCLDcLN7FQ/SzgDp1HDqbI/AAAAAAAAADo/eU_Q7hXF0yY/s1600-h/44759_sm-Conversion,+Work+In+Progress,+Wraithlord.JPG.jpeg
To me, the Wraithlord appears not 'as itself' but as a representation from an Imperial perspective - almost as a fantastical, nightmarish study of an enemy only glimpsed in the corner of a dream, anthropomorphised into some vague sense of creepy intelligibility.
Most Imperials will never encounter Xenos species in their lives, and when the small minority that do, do, they're largely outclassed on all levels. Reports of these creatures that slowly filter back into larger societies by the few Guardsmen survivors will develop and grow into folk-loric narratives which the Wraithlord seems to exemplify perfectly.
Taking this aesthetic and utilising it over a whole army would look incredible - you would have the gothic references that Imperial citizens would know and understand but utilised to give flesh to horrifying alien creatures that move at the speed of sound and steal children in the night that Imperial citizens could *never* possibly understand.
I'm not sure that this makes complete sense, but hopefully it may be some food for thought should you ever decide to turn your attention outside the Imperium.
-Fulgrim / ThousandPlateaus
OMG Fulgrim...
ReplyDeleteI think you are almost (about 95%) explaining the point I was trying to make!
But I'm not only talking about how they would "actually" be or be through the eyes of the Imperium. I think that from a modelling perspective they would have to be thought of as something completely different as well. Perhaps totally different painting techniques that will make the Eldar machine look more fluid, as if it has a plastic/organic skin that is slightly moist. Poses that are very dynamic and really symbolize the creature/machine's speed and agility.
An example I would give is probably Addinarr's version of the Dark Reapers: http://addinarr.deviantart.com/art/Dark-Reaper-wip-97883102
Another example would be these Dark Eldar by Kombat Unit: http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4685/1258065167437.jpg
Another Dark Eldar example takes a different approach to this organic feel: http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/aimelek/devamp.jpg
To get back to Fulgrim's point of Imperial perceptions, I think that if John Blanche would draw the (Dark) Eldar, you would get just that, a way in the Imperium views these xenos, this pic is probably the best example of that: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_RfD80Ww88ew/TI42FBJcU0I/AAAAAAAAARo/Um6aq_yKsKE/s1600/GDBalt2010-028-dArtDE.jpg
But yeah...food for thought!
Oh, one more thing, kind of on the side. I found this artist the other day, makes this very detailed 40k artwork. The style kind of reminds me of some old school 40k stuff, but more twisted, you might like it and hopefully be able to draw inspiration from it: http://rajabersiong.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteYou know that I will keep annoying you with these sorts of posts now that you have a blog... :D
Thank you, Malika. Thanks for the links to those Eldar depictions, too - they're extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly - I was speaking more about modelling than painting when describing the overall aesthetic, definitely, but I entirely agree with your thoughts on painting, too.
As I understand my own musings on these matters, I think the painting technique would have to be radically 'other' to mirror the radical Other of the Xenos itself. That is: it would have to be a complete departure from the 'Eavy Metal crispness of Imperial representations (which are effectively 'self representations', in setting, I suppose) and move towards a heavy use of chiaroscuro, other extreme lighting effect, particularly glistening, wet effects if you were to imagine an impossible body-machine-armour-weaponry hybrid; almost moving into a kind of Japanese body-horror aesthetic.
It would be a project all about trying to understand how Imperial citizens could begin to rationalise and depict the horrific, the unknown and the abject, without those representations slipping into allegory (which I believe to be more about their understanding of the daemon rather than the alien). That particular JB illustration is a pertinent one, if one considers the trees and the carrion birds framing the ships in the centre of the picture - there's something tangible there to draw one in to the unknown and the poorly comprehended. It's an entirely Imperial perspective and doesn't look remotely like Comorragh as it *actually* exists.
Anyway - sorry, Migsula; there isn't much in there about friendship, but I got a bit excited earlier !
It's a shame the old Anargo Sector Project forums are gone (some archives might still be there), but at the height of the project we had some very interesting discussions going on about various Xenos races (mainly the Eldar and Orks), which would be fitting to the discussion we are sort of having now. Mainly about making these races more alien than simply humans with pointy ears or green skin. There are many small touches that come to play here. However, I wonder if these subtleties could be represented in a 32mm model, for example Eldar eyes (interpretation of Athenys): http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/aimelek/eyes-2.jpg
ReplyDeleteSomething slightly more obvious might work though, as you can see with Athenys' interpretation of the Eldar skull structure: http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/141/8/b/Auric_by_Aeltri.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b362/aimelek/darkeldar20.jpg
Modelling anatomy can only go that far. I remember seeing these interviews with the makers of the varios Alien films. James Cameron mentioned how he normally kind of disliked alien films since they always look like people in suits (the infamous "uncanny valley" effect). In the first Alien movie they kind of avoided that by keeping everything very dark, meaning you would only see fragments of the xenomorph from time to time. In Aliens Cameron went for a different approach, he not only used many aliens but also showed them a lot. However, he put acrobats in the suits, so the movements seemed strange, not like a normal human in a suit. Sidenote, this kind of reminds me how James Cameron cast Robert Patrick for Terminator 2 as the T1000; during his auditions Cameron ordered him to act as if he was an eagle. But yeah, so these are various methods in which film makers make their creatures look convincing. But how can you do it as a modeller?
You already got the weird shapes and what not. Normally that would be good enough. But in many cases even those seem rather human but with some oddities. The Eldar thing could already be fixed by making them look even frailer, altering the face a tiny bit, making them slightly taller than normal humans, etc. Orks would need serious bulking up (sort of making them true scale), more details added to the skin and what not (real challenge!), weird scars, etc. Make the technology look as if it's not simply copied from the Imperium, etc etc etc.
So yeah...managed to get into another rant here, totally deviating from your story about friendship. Sorry for that! :D
mr fulgrim - the blanche mind is from the perspective of an imperial archivistte - who have ever seen comorragh - to even the inhabitants it changes and shifts in constant flux - the imperial view is one of rumour and conjecture based on archival works - works of great superstitionne and crumbling tomes sought and studied bi a million clerics .......
ReplyDeleteYes, that's exactly as I'd always read those images; they exist, for me, as a kind of 'compound narrative', in the same manner as real world encyclopedia illustrations that were created from reports of 'newly discovered' animals in Africa, Australasia and the Americas. A description of something unknown, and maddeningly illogical, which builds and morphs as it's recounted and reinterpreted from person to person, depicted for a greater audience.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when drawing the illogical, the logical acts as a vital counterpoint to open those vertiginous gaps between the known and the unknown - or to put it in a slightly different way, fantasy needs a tiny smear of tangible reality to become believable. The illustration of Comorragh, for me, achieves this, and entirely depends upon, that one small bird resting on the branch - especially as it's depicted open mouthed, shouting at the impossible horror surrounding it, acting as the viewer's foil.
How one undertakes the switch from depicting this in 3-D rather than 2-D is endlessly fascinating to me, though - even just as something to mull on; it's something that I've not begun to undertake (and am unsure that I have the necessary skill to...). Malika raises some interesting points in regard to anatomical depiction, and I think that would certainly be a large part of it, but I think that those subtleties that Malika points to could be too easily lost in 32mm and I think that painting is the key - a move towards the utilisation of paint to capture mood and essence rather than accuracy; Goya, Rembrandt Van Rijn, de Chirico...
the one small bird is many - see others in flight - comorragh is an environment of infinites most of which do not infiltrate into the wider illustration spectrum - the need to create a wider sense of place beyond that of which the models exist in can be immense - as for realising stuffe in 3D is for me to concentrate on mood and evocation - a limited pallete keeping away from guady paint schemes and over use of light and shade - to try to achieve a more painterly technique inspired bi van rijn in particular - im doing thus as we speak funnily enough ......
ReplyDeletePS - thats not a very satisfactorri print job on that illustration - the original is far more delicate - in fact it does not even exist any more for it has been coloured - this opens out the depth in particular creating a scene that evokes more warmth and textural intrigue .....
ReplyDeleteSorry, yes - you're quite right, my attention was drawn to the one in the foreground; it's interesting that the others become less bird-like and take on other amalgamated aspects, insectoid or bat-like, a kind of slippage of reality into the background and into Comorragh. In this, Blanche's illustrations always evoke Hieronymous Bosch to me.
ReplyDeleteYour point on Comorragh being a place of infinites is interesting as this echoes my thoughts on Imperial representation of these spaces (and of the Xenos itself). If you imagine a central point (that point being Comorragh), there are two lines of infinites moving in opposing directions away from one another. One of these lines of flight is that of the actuality of the city itself with it's ever-changing and impossible geographies; whilst the opposing line of flight is the compound narratives of those reports, representations and depictions of Imperial archivists, which become organic, ever changing ideas in their own right (some of which are crystallised in illustrative form). The actuality of the space is never realised and remains elusive...
--
I think a limited palette is a good idea, and I've been thinking more of late about painting in oils on miniatures rather than acrylics. I personally feel much more comfortable with them, although I've not tired using them on miniatures as yet - I think the greater deal of control given the drying time could open up possibilities, particularly with glazing and light techniques.
Anyway, sorry, I'm thinking aloud now.
J.B, having just read your P.S, I've also just had a moment of realisation, too.
ReplyDeleteDuh, apologies - sometimes it takes some time for me to add two and two together.
oils are amazing in their colour intensity and richness - i keep thinking about them - i use winsor and newton artists inks to achieve similar effects but do not have the down side of thinning to create flow at such small size ....
ReplyDeleteim confused now for i have just noticed that the time on mi post puts it at 8 in the morning yet its 4 in the afternoon here ????/
ReplyDeleteThe blog may date-stamp posts US time... Is it about half eight in the US?
ReplyDeleteHmm, I'd not thought about using inks - do you glaze and glaze and glaze? What about wet-blending or anything like that? I think that's why I'd be interested in using oil. It'd be slow going, though, and I'm slow enough anyway!
ive not got the patience for wet blending or really anykind of blending - thats why painterly processes interest me - theres considerable bleed with inks and citadel colour which can give blending effects tho - as time is at a premium i need a quick result to hold mi interest or i would never get anything done .....
ReplyDeleteHmm, but that's the painting part. What about the modelling aspect though? I mean I would view the Eldar are very fast, smooth, elegant, etc. If you add many tiny details like chains, gems, etc, you will lose that. I can imagine that the Eldar models would be very smooth, little stuff sticking out, preferably nothing.
ReplyDeleteOrks on the other hand would be just as extreme, if not more so, than the Imperium when it comes to modelling details on them. It would already start with the Ork's skin, it would need to have texture, kind of akin to the skin of an elephant. A friend of mine sculpted a bunch of Trolls with the same principle: http://trollforged.com/workbench7/trllprecast1.jpg
Further details would be scars, stitches, bionics, etc. Very akin to the Imperium, but taken to a sort of extreme of crudeness.
If we then look at another race, such as the Kroot. They are birds, but without feathers. They seem to be hunters who eat everything. Whatever they eat also seems to change them genetically and physically. However, we don't see this in the models. All Kroot look exactly the same and look rather cute, not the nasty constantly mutation avian monster they are. It would be great to see that return in the modelling of such a species, more moist skin (with inks?), each members with its unique little quirks, one might have extra mandibles like a Predator, another can have longer claws, or whatever, etc.
Hmm, I realized I opened quite the metaphorical can of worms here with that little comment about the xenos! :D
A closed can of worms catches no fish, though, Malika - so better to have it open.
ReplyDeleteI'm mindful that this is Migsula's (brand new) blog, though, rather than a public forum and I don't want to tread on any toes too much with a series of threads, however interesting - I kind of feel like I've entered someone else's house uninvited and have helped myself to a chair. :D
I have some thoughts about what you've mentioned but I think we should wait for him to get back and add his tuppence worth, or even just his blessing for us to continue the conversation further.
As a very quick aside, though, I looked up the Anargo Sector Project - it's a very exciting endeavor. Is it still running? And if so, does one need an invitation to join?
Anargo has (sadly) been very quiet for quite some time now. I might still have some info here and there from the older stuff we had, but I doubt it will ever return to its old glory :(
ReplyDeleteAs for Migsula's blessing, didn't he already mention it was a place for us to discuss techniques and such: "I hope this blog becomes an open forum of discussing several aspects of the hobby and everyone feels like they can say their opinions and interact the way they want."
What happened? Did you have a wealth of older stuff elsewhere that was lost?
ReplyDeleteHmm, ok - and perhaps you're right, and perhaps I'm being too English, but I feel rude just traipsing in here and chatting away, especially as he doesn't know me from Adam. That being said, I suppose it may be too late for courtesy anyway given that I've been posting away all day, but I'd like it on record that I didn't mean to be impolite :D
For the time being, though, I'll formulate a proper response to your thoughts on modelling and reply tomorrow.
The Anargo Sector Project originally started on Portent (now known as Warseer) and then moved to its own forums, it transferred to three different forums afterwards. Data got spread out, then there was material on a wiki page (failed thing by the way) and the harddrives of various members (including those who are no longer part of the project). I still have most of the artwork I think, but a lot of the written material and very interesting discussions have gone lost.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, enough about Anargo, more about painting/modelling/Migsula's project(s)! :)
just messing with a couple of forge world bits i have - so fixed an iron armour torso to termi legs which does seem to work - a nicely massive figure at about 40mm high - smaller than migsula's i expect, but im a little unsure re the full PD proportions for they were rather to stylised, moving into termi territory - this is more of a nod towards jes's 54mm inquisitor range marine even tho i thought that rather to large - finding this blog has given me a new lease of life re inquis warbands - new plastic kits also have opened many doors - i look forward to the BL release this autumn, 'the emperor's will ' - lots of inquis material there ....
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant discussion guys - I agree on so many of your points here, but have just missed all of European sunday/monday traveling to San Francisco for a week, so will be some time before I can fully get back to you.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks so much for the discussion. I'm humbled by the company in this discussion :)
Got a hint from J.B. to come and check this cool blog! Great to hear that you're still around the hobby, thought that the Warp had swallowed you ;) I've always admired the way you approach your brilliant projects.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely adding this blog to my daily checklist...
That's very kind of you to say, but I'm not really a daemon primarch, just some guy in London ;) Seriously, though, I couldn't agree more but I was trying to play it cool.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to getting my hands on The Emperor's Will - there are several plates in the HH Collected Visions - in particular the Astra Telepathican noble - that have been massive inspiration (especially coupled with the Femme Militant images), so I'm hoping for much more like that. I've pretty much worn out the spine of my copy of Ratspike and I imagine that Emperor's Will will end up in the same state.
its collated images from GW - FF - BL - some concept sketches never seen - its great to have all this stuffe together .....
ReplyDeleteGood news indeed!
ReplyDeleteCool to know, that we can all enjoy your brilliant stuff in the future too!!!
btw. I just realized that you have went through the Institute of Design in Lahti...so did I! always thought it was a good school for miniature enthusiastic ;)
Malika, I've been thinking about your previous post on modelling, I think what you've described above would be particularly useful in representing the xenos as they actually are, almost a sort of equivalent of Marine true-scaling/up-scaling.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I think the way I would like to approach the xenos, if skill were no barrier, would be to utilise some of the techniques and stylistic devices that you mentioned above, but to exaggerate the forms of the aliens so they appeared as the Imperium imagined them to be. For example, using Eldar, I'd be tempted to exaggerate and stylise their forms - making them longer, more spindly, considerably more slender, but hunched and cankerous rather than elegant. A creeping intensity rather than the elegant forms that they are. Perhaps making their musculature and armour one and the same thing, as in some of the illustrations you pointed to above, or with armour seeming to emerge from within skin, exposed and raw, like some kind of body-horror. Exaggerating faces into lune-faces and carnival masks - again, taking something recognisable (Imperially) and then moving the conversion out from there. I think, perhaps more importantly, though, I'd be tempted to try and model the miniature into it's setting more than is usual, so thereby making greater use of sculptural bases with only part of the model's physiology emerging from parts of it.
I've no idea how possible this would actually be, though. Maybe I'll try and give it a go...
Ooh, I'm digging this modelling Zenos in the way the Imperium perceives them to be! I don't agree with the Eldar as being viewed as hunched and cankerous, that would be more fitting for the Orks or other species like the Kroot. The Imperium would view the Eldar with a form of grace/elegance that is taken to the extreme. I remember in the 3rd edition rulebook there was a short piece on the Eldar, it mentioned how "misguided fools might perceive them as being beautiful", that bit always kind of stuck to me. I think that the Eldar are very graceful and elegant, almost beautiful, but their facial structure and eyes make them look rather frightening. Combine this with the way they move and sounds they make (voice) and it quickly becomes very creepy and unnatural for most humans... In Imperial perception these traits could of course be taken to the extreme.
ReplyDeleteim quite taken with the eldar description - i fancy giving it a go miself but using dark eldar parts - not as if i have any time for such things .......
ReplyDeleteI hope they will update the Eldar kits soon, depending on when the new Codex will come. Hopefully they will start adding all sorts of little interesting bits for them so we can play with them. :)
ReplyDeleteI certainly agree with you that the hobby experience is defined by those we share it with. That's taken a different dimension with the growth of the 40k community into the online environment - blogs and forum threads exist primarily to show our work off to others, to invite commentary and to kindle some of those friendships.
ReplyDeleteIn the real world, the group of friends I play GW games with are the same friends I've known for something in the order of twenty years. Playing those games is something we share, and I still have fond memories of those games - for example, our Necromunda campaigns, which stretched for multiple years, and which gave us some fabulous experiences.
The online community has allowed me to connect with others - for example Steve, who has collaborated closely with me on INQ28, and PDH - this has directly lead to the forthcoming INQvitational event in June 2012, which should be a crowning moment of my hobby experience. I'm looking forward to it already!
I hope to see more from your blog soon,
tell me more mr molotov re inqvitational .....
ReplyDelete(Apologies for the tangent, Migsula!)
ReplyDeleteI run a blog around 28mm Inquisitor at http://INQ28.blogspot.com. Over the past year or so, I've noticed a marked interest in people exploring the diversity of the Inquisition, and the idea was put forward of a 28mm Inquisitor "tournament" of sorts. The 54mm Inquisitor players belonging to the Conclave have put on several events at Warhammer World, so we've put forward plans to play an invitational (or "INQvitational") campaign day in June 2012.
Quite a few people have shown interest in the day, and so we're working on plans to make it quite an interesting day. I'd be willing to provide you with more details if you want - feel free to contact me at inq28blog@gmail.com
- Mol.
Oh wow - that sounds incredible.
ReplyDeletei dont think mig is worried about the posts spreading out topic wise, in fact i think hes enjoying it - miself, well obviously i lead a shelterd life scribingge away but very little gaming - i was talking to steve buddle last night and it appears that there is a deal of inq28 out there ..... i thought i was just me converting [ plastic and resin only ] inquisitor warbands ......
ReplyDelete@JB: Hmm, maybe Migsula should post a thread most entries so we can create more discussions. Gets a bit chaotic all of us talking in one "thread" about all sorts of things! :P
ReplyDelete@Molotov: didn't there used to be a separate website for INQ28? I remember some of John Blanche's artwork being modelling in 28mm scale, one of them being that Berzerker warrior piece of his! :)
love to see that site mr molotov - i love it all being chaotic .....
ReplyDeleteChaos is nothing if not fertile, I suppose ;)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see that site, too, if it still exists; the idea of making some of those Blanche illustrations in 3-D is really appealing.
Mr. JB: why so sheltered? I'd heard that you were making regular visits to Warhammer World.
I've been working on a lot of INq28 since the release of the Inquisitor rulebook - I think I have a Conclave of twelve now, with attendant staff, but never really had anything to utilise them in, or really just how popular it was - it's great to see.
Of late, my gaming group has been playing a lot of what we've turned Deldarmunda - which is simply Necromunda set in Comorragh but between rival Dark Eldr factions vying for wealth and power. It's very fast and very brutal due to the speed of the Eldar and their poisoned weaponry, but is tons of fun (in fact the most fun that I've had with a GW game in years). It doesn't sate my obsession with the Imperium, though, but has been a blast to play, especially given the incredible Goodwin/Diaz plastics.
At the moment, we're considering going right back to core, though, and picking up the old WD Confrontation rules and playing a campaign of that - a bit more realism and sophisticated gameplay.
sheltered - never been much of a gamer - i draw pretty much all of the time - i work from mi own studio at home due to health issues - and yup i go to WW a lot but with son and grandson and remain incognito but i get a real buzz from seeing stuff - i shall have a number of inquisitor conversions in 28mmm/30mm at GD as well as having a prerelease copy of the emperors will - i think BL will have some for sale prior to release in november - if anybody is there come say hello - the book is full of of great source material for such conversions - both old favourites and never seen art ....
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that you've been unwell. I hope your time in has been productive, though. Are you planning to share any images of your miniatures online anywhere for those of us not attending GD?
ReplyDeletePoor Migsula has a lot to plough through when he returns from his trip!
Lovely discussion here Migs. It has opened my eyes...I had not even considered that the Commorragh drawing was from an Imperial Archivists point of view, taken from hearsay and conjecture.
ReplyDeleteFulgrim/J.B. Just to jump in I think this might be the old Inquisitor 28 website your after: http://hem.spray.se/kendoka/inq28/index.htm
I love the Berserker Assassin drawing and I think the conversion on there really is superb.
@Fulgrim: I remember that Dark Eldar version of Necromunda! Are the rules/background/etc stuff still out there? I'd love to see a more =I=Munda version that is more fitting to the current Dark Eldar list/equipment/fluff.
ReplyDeleteI think this would be even more fun/challenging if you manage to model/paint the Dark Eldar in such a way that they become truly alien and scary. The current models are a big improvement, but there is still a long way to go (which we have discussed previously here). The Dark Eldar then also have that whole "we need souls to survive" bit. I remember reading a story in a WD in which the Imperium had captured some Dark Eldar who was quickly aging and dying because he couldn't devour souls anymore. Might be a big challenge to model that. Would be a nice touch on the base of some Inquisitor model, kind of like having a base covered in corpses but instead with a dying Dark Eldar...
Peter - thanks for the link! Some great stuff on there. Any idea who the Techpriest in the 'inspiration' photo is by? (The guy in the black robes with the tube in his mouth). It's great!
ReplyDeleteMalika, we just made the rules up using the new D.Eldar Codex - it took a while to transliterate the weaponry/special rules/pain token system over but it works really well. We use the different troop types as different gangs all vying for the favour of an Archon overlord - so we use the following gangs: Kabalites, Wyches, Haemonoculii gangs (with Wracks and Grotesques), Hellions, Reavers and Scourges - as well as escaped slaves of varying races (who are absolute rubbish but fun to play with). We even use rules for fighting off the ground, in the spires of Comorragh using either all-flying gangs or giving 'foot based' gangs access to Raiders. It's intense :)
Funnily enough, I'd not thought about modelling them in a different way; I just wanted to buy some of the awesome plastics without building a whole army. Now you mention it, though, I might well think about that, I like the idea of a Nosferatu-style emaciated gang, all soul-drained and trapped somewhere...
Such a shame the old Anargo forums don't work anymore, we had huge discussions on the Dark Eldar and how they worked. Whilst the Codex provides some insights on it, we wanted to go even more detailed, which is nice if you need inspiration to go totally mad with modelling.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, might also be cool to include Chaos Space Marines in Commorragh, sort of as mercenaries, like the "original" DEldarmunda.
If you are doing the whole vehicle thing, how about perhaps using elements form GorkaMorka?
By the way, some sort of random terrain generator, or destroyable terrain would be really cool for this sort of thing, to symbolize the speed and destructiveness of Dark Eldar madness. Didn't Space Hulk and Warhammer Quest have rules on that?
Oh, I'm not sure - I'll look into that. I didn't know there was an original Deldarmunda, either; where's that from?
ReplyDeleteWe use some of the vehicle rules from Gorkamorka and some from the Ash Wastes rules. Things operate slightly different from classic Necromunda, though, as equipment doesn't have a cost: if a gang has access to that level of equipment, it can just take it for free (with some restrictions on certain things). Rare trade can be bought, but Kabalites can take pretty much anything from their base of operations.
You should reopen the Anargo forums: if you build it, they will come! (or at least I will).
There was a whole Deldarmunda site out there, I think Nick Davis (who worked for GW many years ago) worked on the project.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Anargo Sector Project, there is a new site/forum which you can find here: http://www.anargo.net/ However, it is rather dead since the project leaders have lost most interest in the project. However, you might want to take a look at our photobucket page which includes a bunch of the artwork for the project: http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk107/Anargo-Sector-Project/
I've been reading it the past week; it's really interesting. I've encountered Kage on Portent/Warseer before - a great thinker. Did you ever build your city?
ReplyDeleteAh the city! I worked on it over at the Troll Forged Miniatures forum: http://trollsforge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=ub&action=display&thread=1595
ReplyDeleteAh, the images have gone! I'll read through everything now.
ReplyDeleteGreat images in that photobucket account, though. The female chaos cultist and some of the AdMech ones in particular are really great.
You should look on the fourth page of that thread, I started working on a newer version of that same concept. Personally I think it's a big improvement over the original premise.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to work on this kind of stuff again, but time isn't my friend at the moment.
Oops, I hadn't seen that there was more than the first page (been a long week!).
ReplyDeleteOh wow - that is totally insane! It's awe inspiring.
I feel your pain on the lack of time, though, definitely. There's never enough.
Don't get me started on that! I wish I could do more Sketch Up project, still want to build a robot out of metal pieces gathered from everywhere. Then there is my job, my band, this website I should be writing for. Combine this with some comic book scripts I'm writing and a potential BL submission I'm working on. And then besides this I need to find another side job since I don't make enough cash.
ReplyDeleteMadness! I wish every day had a couple of extra hours. That, and that I could sue people for time! :P
By the way, another interesting site to look at. Most of you probably already know this, but Philip Sibbering has some interesting interpretations of the 40k universe. He also did some artwork for BL, that and he's working on some cool game/setting stuff: http://www.philipsibbering.com/wh40k/00-concepts-index.shtml
By the way, Fulgrim...that Deldarmunda thing, check the original page on that: http://web.archive.org/web/20050205214354/http://www.gundambattlesystem.net/talesfromthedarkcity/
ReplyDeleteDank je wel! Although I think if I show this to my friend that's been working on Deldarmunda for the past six months he might have a nervous collapse :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to Phil Sibbering's blog, too - some interesting stuff there.
Hahaha, you speak Dutch as well? ;)
ReplyDeletePhil's stuff is indeed interesting, a bit controversial in some 40k background circles which is probably also why he moved to work on Warspike and Sciror.
Een beetje! Ik studeerde aan de Gerrit Rietveld Academie voor een beetje.
ReplyDeleteI only glanced through, but some of the things he mentioned are similar to the things that I spoke to Kage about a long time ago on Warseer - particularly the nature of the Mechanicus.
Some of that Mechanicus discussion has been revived over here: http://trollsforge.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sciror&action=display&thread=1932
ReplyDeleteWhat did you study at the Rietveld? I assume art, but what direction/specialization?
Ah great - thanks!
ReplyDeleteVrije richting, the course was called. I was there on Erasmus exchange from my own college in London some years ago. I have studied Fine Art, Art Theory and Philosophy (which is why I sometimes get a bit 'wordy' and excitable when talking about some GW artwork ;)).
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ReplyDelete