Mekboy Junka 30

Small update on the Junka.

Spent most of the evening just messing around with different bits trying to work out what to do but in the end an idea started forming and I started putting together the SAG.

The SAG won't be mounted in the front of a turret. You'll have to wait and see what it'll look like once the turret is actually built.

I didn't want to try and just recreate the GW SAG (if I did i'd just save myself a shed load of time and buy one) but I wanted to keep the classic three arm front, though I went for something a bit different - at the moment the arms are blu tacked on so may change.

The GW bits used come from the Mega Nob kit, Killa Kan kit & Grots box set. Added to that we have the tesla coils from Zinge which tie the SAG nicely to the KFF already done.

Lots of details to be added including gubbins and cables, I will probably build the turret first and mount this in place before adding the remaining details otherwise I will end up putting something in what will turn out to be the wrong place.

Recalcitrant Daze - Written Words of Days Past.

A bit of a change for today.

No models. Instead books.

Inspired by a post on Realm of Chaos 80’s blog which had an interview with William King as well as reading the Rogue Trader battle reports on Tales From the Maelstrom blog I had a browse through my shelves of early Warhammer & Warhammer 40k novels.

Before we had Black Library there was GW books...here are the books I picked up in those halcyon days...where the sun always shone and holidays seemed to last forever. Or something like that.

Nowadays the BL books I read tend to be 40k far more than fantasy. I’m not sure how much is down to my own personal tastes changing and how much is to do with 40k being more popular nowadays and Black Library producing books in favour of that. With the Horus Heresy series dominating along with Gaunts Ghost series, ADB’s Night Lords trilogy etc the 40k (or 30k) do seem to dominate compared to the Fantasy output.

However back in the day I have the feeling the slant was more towards Fantasy than 40k.

I certainly have more Fantasy novels (and anthologies) than 40k from that period.

So we begin...keep in mind these aren't reviews. Just me thinking back, struggling to remember stuff while showing pictures of books. Sounds fun eh?

Warhammer Fantasy

The Konrad Trilogy by David Ferring

The Konrad trilogy is a classic archetype of fantasy. Young boy survives an attack on his village killing everyone and who then goes off with a strange man to grow up and find himself. So nothing new there, but it is in the Warhammer World and involves a jaunt in the Chaos Wastes which is nice. To be honest I can’t remember much, if anything at all, about the trilogy (it was a long time ago...).

The Orfeo Trilogy by Brian Craig

- Zaragoz, Plague Daemon & Storm Warriors.

The three books are standalone stories connected through the travelling story teller Orfeo, so the books follow him to a new location where he tells a new story (though each story has nout to do with where he is at the time).

I do remember enjoying these stories. Especially Plague Daemon, well I like Plague Daemons in general so that is hardly a surprise. I remember being intrigued by Storm Warriors, I was into all things Warhammer Elvish at the times so I was easily hooked into it. The books aren't big full action pieces, more character driven which I enjoyed.

Drachenfels & Genevieve Undead by Jack Yeovil

Oh I did enjoy these. An undead girl with a taste for blood, what’s not too like? At the time in Warhammer you get more of this grey area in the background it’s why I so enjoyed reading the WFRP articles in White Dwarf at the time). Just because you were a Vampire it didn't mean you were a bad person. I must re-red Drachenfels soon.

Red Thirst & Wolf Riders – Anthologies.

Two collections of short stories.

Not much I can remember about these except...Gotrex and Felix, some more Genevieve action and a very big Advanced Heroquest vibe.

Reminds me I did prefer Advanced Heroquest to Warhamemr Quest. AHQ seemed darker and less child friendly.

Warhammer 40k

Deathwing - Anthology.

Doesn't he look awesome?

Oh Deathwing, how I love thee.

I read the Deathwing short story first in the Space Hulk expansion of the same name and it made me fall in love with Dark Angels. So unsurprisingly I bought the anthology with the short story in when it came out.

The other stories are well worth a read as well, especially the two by Ian Watson – Warped Stars (sent shivers down me at the time) and The Alien Beast Within involving an Imperial Assassin.

Inquisitor Trilogy and Space Marine by Ian Watson.

While Warhammer 40k fluff has moved on these books are still excellent reads.

Space Marine follows the recruitment from Necromunda of three gangers into the Imperial Fists Chapter. You see their training and their growth into fully fledged Marines.

The Inquisitor Trilogy – this is a completely different kettle of fish (where does that saying come from?). Even though a fair amount of the ‘background/fluff’ has changed since these days you still get some of the things introduced in the trilogy popping up in peoples thoughts, and who knows with the way GW and FW are looking back into pre-history and bringing them into the light we may get to see some of these things again.

Oh we have Harlequins! So the books are still very topical.

As a side note one of the Marines from Space Marine has a cameo. Which is nice.

Dark Future

Demon Download – Krokodil Tears – Comeback Tour by Jack Yeovil.

Some may not know of Dark Future.

But it was great. I still have fond memories of T-boning a car. I do need to build the set I picked up off ebay not long ago.

These books did a great job of building on the background snippets in the rulebooks and from White Dwarf, fleshing out the setting nicely.

Think on this...

Wasteland America! Cars! Guns! Elvis!

Seriously, I did enjoy these.

Right, think that is as best as it is going to get. For proper reviews you should probably head over to somewhere else that does that kind of thing. But I do strongly recommend you take a look at these old books (I did hear some were re-released so you should be able to get hold of them somewhere). Regardless of how some of the stories may not mesh with the 'modern' take on the Warhammer World or the 40k universe the fact is they are some damn good stories written by some damn good authors and they shed a light on some areas which aren't covered by the stock in trade Black Library novel nowadays. Go on, pick up a book or two...

In other news I have some Mega Nobs now so I’ll get back to some models.

Mekboy Junka 29

Update on the Junka after I managed to get some time in.

Nothing major (i.e. i've not done the second turret yet), but plenty enough to show.

First up at the front of the Junka I've detailed up the top and added the hinge pieces to the hatch.

At the rear I did some re-modelling. I was never happy with how the rear door sat overhanging the hull at the top. So I cut the top panel at the rear and then reworked it with new panelling. Plenty of rivets was then added.

I also added the rivets down the sides and added a back up exhaust (from a Killa Kan).

I've not added the actual exhaust bit yet, i'll do that at the end. 

Talking of the turret I started the base piece for it:

That's all for a few days now on the Junka as I have three boxes of Mega Nobz on order. They will eventually be part of the Ork Zone Mortalis force, but I have ordered them now as I think some of the spare bits for the Big Mek will come in very handy on the Junka, especially the upcoming turret. So I am going to wait till they arrive and I can have a play with the bits to see how the may contribute to the design.

Recalcitrant Daze - Things Redux

Tonight I started back on the Junka, but not enough done to be worth an update. Bit of detailing and work on the rear - but I'll wait a day or two to get a more substantial update up.

In the meantime here is a filler post...

One great thing about attending events with Forge World is if they haven't got bits in stock there you can still buy them and they'll ship them out post free...

So here we have two packs of Destroyers...

Forgot to order some Death Guard MK. IV pads for them. Bugger.

And my Show Only figures...

One set is for me, one set is for ebay. They will go up tomorrow for a 99p starting price - so if you are after some keep an eye out on there.

EDIT:
eBay auctions now up for...
Autilon Skorr of the Alpha Legion
Narik Dreygur of the Iron Warriors

I also have arrived from Black Library the Tallarn: Executioner novella. They ran out very quickly of this but I managed to get one (actually four as all of us wanted one) from the website...

I've been after that book for ages. It's got tanks in, lots of tanks. And Iron Warriors. And tanks.

As Tallarn: Ironclad is a sequel to this novella it was a must buy I think, though I would have bought it even if there wasn't a full novel in the series that was a sequel. I may wait to read this until I am about to read Ironclad.

Think that is enough for today. Next update will be Junka related.

Recalcitrant Daze - Things.

So here we are with another post Meet Up – post Heresy Weekender update.

Welcome to what will probably be a rambling mess of a post...

Meet Up.

So the weekend was the now regular meeting of myself, Nife and Maelstrom. Added into the mix was Grizz from across the northern border. He does not have a blog, yet, but we are working on him.

I didn’t get any pictures of the games we played, to be honest I couldn't be arsed.

But we played Dreadball Extreme for the first time, which I wound highly enjoyable. I ignored for the most part scoring points and just took advantage of the no holds barred nature of the game and spent my time kicking the crap out of the other team and trying to kill as many as possible.

My kind of game.

After the delights of Dreadball Extreme Grizz (when he finally arrived, he got lost 100 yards from the house, even with a picture from Google which had a big arrow pointing to it) introduced us to X-Wing. This again proved a hit with us all. Very similar to Aeronautica Imperialis, though with simpler basic rules (though we didn't play the advanced rules so that may bring it closer still).

I was Darth Vader at one point. I got killed.

The Heresy Weekender 2015.

Saturday and Sunday saw us at the Heresy Weekender. I've been to all three now and each one has been excellent. Entertaining and interesting seminars and lots of new toys to look at.

Naturally I spent some money; thankfully not too much...cue the obligatory pictures of new things...

The Korps mug is not for me. I already have my Death Guard one.

I don't know why I needed so many badges. I don't wear badges.

I also picked up some show only figures and two packs of Destroyers (with jump packs), alas they had none left so I'm waiting for them to turn up.

The highlights of the Seminars were the FW ones covering new models and the Tempest book and the seminar on the Art of the Heresy (which was also good last year).

I would quite happily go and see Tony Cottrell doing a lecture tour.

I also got to speak briefly with Andy Hoare who to my surprise actually follows this here blog and was a thoroughly nice chap (if you are reading this Andy, hello, it was nice to meet you).

Warhammer World Opening.

So I found myself buying a ticket for the Warhammer World opening on the 16^th May.

Only a tenner so I thought what the hell, especially as Tempest may be there to buy – if it is te saving in postage will pay for the ticket.

Now I have seen what is going to be happening I am actually quite looking forward to it. Should be a good day out.

Moving On.

So in the coming weeks I shall hopefully be finishing off the Mekboy Junka and getting back to the Daemons.

I also plan on picking up some Meganobs to allow me to put together an Ork Zone Mortalis force – after all now I have the boards I do need to have an army to field in it.

You can bet amongst working on those I will end up distracted and do one or two other things as well.

Ebay.

I will be having a clear out of some bits soon. Clear some shelf space of unwanted bits and also hopefully make some money back before spending on more resin...

I shall post up links to the auctions when they finally go up.

To finish here are a few extra pictures from the Weekender...

Heresy Weekender 2015 - Calth Docks display

Final post with pictures from the Weekender, this time of the lovely Calth Docks display board.

I so want this board.

There is nothing on that board I don't want...