In the Works...

I have a few gaming projects in the works at the moment and nowhere near the time I would like to do them justice. Here is a quick update on a few of them, which I hope to bring to some kind of completion soon.

1)      40K Cataclysm

I am currently half way through re-writing the 40K 2^nd Edition rulebook. That may sound like a lot of work, but when you cut out all the extraneous guff, it adds up to 32 pages. So far I have written revised universal rules and worked out the turn sequence, as well as detailed rules for the Initiative and Movement phases.

The biggest change I am making is a controversial one, for people who haven’t tried it anyway. I am proposing that movement and shooting occurs simultaneously, not on a player turn basis. This has a few major effects on the game. You are always involved in the game at every stage, you don’t have to sit back and watch your army evaporate. This by itself is a game changer; the intensity of the game increases manifold. You can’t keep your units hidden then pop them out for a turn to shoot without copping some return fire. 2^nd Edition achieved this as well with the Overwatch rule, though I can’t imagine people wanting that back any time soon (in that format anyway, 6^th Ed. overwatch isn’t so bad….).

This rule change complicates a few things which I will make clear as they come up, one of which is how to organise the movement phase. I have chosen to order movement according to unit type (support, followed by squads, then characters). Every unit of a specific category must move before any units from the next category can move, with players alternating moving units until they are all moved (army with lowest initiative [strategy rating + d6] moves first). This has far reaching consequences, all the way back to army composition. Take a support heavy army and you will get the drop on the enemy support units (as you should). Of course, they may bury you with anti-armour squads! As an added twist, a character unit can swap its movement slot with any other unit. This opens up some interesting strategies and represents another way to express a characters leadership. So, the movement phase just got a whole lot more strategic…

 

2)      Ghost Bears Beta Galaxy Garrison Star

 

Now there’s a mouthful. My mate KuriboGoomba bought a couple of iconic Ghost Bear Mechs, which I added to, completing the full star. I asked him which scheme he wanted and he chose Beta Galaxy. So far I have knocked together a Horned Owl in the scheme, using the Shadowhawk IIC as a starting place. I shaved off the SRM launcher with a ridiculously sharp knife, then replaced the micro lasers (WTH are they anyway: not old school enough!) with pulse laser barrels from a Mad Dog already waist deep in the kitbash barrel.

I started with a white undercoat, followed by Enchanted Blue. I then added a black wash and re-established the vibrancy by wet-blending some blue back in. I then highlighted with several mixes of Enchanted Blue/Space Wolves Grey. The cracked ice motif was a pain in the butt. I started with a stripe of Space Wolves Grey, then blobbed some white to create the “ice” as well as a slight bit of texture. I then painted black around the ice by just kind of “licking” the detail brush around the raised white dots. Gun barrels are Tin Bitz blended up through Shining Gold to Leadbelchers, with some more Leadbelchers details splashed around the articulating joints. Anything painted in Leadbelchers was also highlighted with Runefang Steel. The cockpit is jewelled using a wet blend of Golden Yellow to Gore Red. Now I just have to decide what to do with the base. AND paint the other four Mechs in the Star.

3)      Fortress of Redemption “Kadillus Lighthouse”

Well, this project has been languishing for years. It is a Fortress of Redemption that I have converted to be armed with a Vulcan Megabolter. I have grand plans to convert the tower into an actual lighthouse, I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet. The paint scheme is me experimenting with depicting corrosion on different metallics.

 

4)      Iron Snake Sternguard with Boarding Shields

I ordered these guys while I was in Greece before my daughter was born. I’m hoping to get them all finished before her 3^rd Birthday: not too much to ask…right? I seriously love these guys and I am excited to see how the project pans out. Watch this space.


 5)      Dark Angel Command Squad (3rd Company)

 

When I bought the new 6^th Ed. starter set I swapped all of the chaos miniatures for a ton of 2^nd and 3^rd Ed. Dark Angel gear. These guys, despite having limited poses, are a real joy to paint. The Standard Bearer and the Champion have received quite a bit of conversion work and, realistically, this project will probably be the first finished. After that, I have the rest of the 3^rd Company to paint!

Well, that’s just a few of my many projects on the boil. Hopefully I can knock these ones over in good time. Whilst they are not really a thorn in my side, they are a creative niggle that I need to iron out for my own sanity.

See you across the table,

M4cr0