Iron Skull Painting Tournament

Good-natured shilling

For those who follow my blog who like painting all fancy like, there's a new painting competition that Siege Studios / Artis Opus are running. It's going to be in London on 29 February 2020.

For disclosure, I'm at least a passing acquaintance with one of the people running it, who has hit me up to mention it to people - but it does look pretty cool and worth a look.

The tickets are for sale now, and it's already gone well enough that they've had to upgrade their venue.

You will need a ticket either to enter or to go and look at all the entries.

All the fancy categories, rules and stuff are up on the IronSkull website.

I'm not sure if I'll be making it yet, as I'm hoping to be in Mallorca for the Infinity EIC tournament the weekend before, so I may have declared myself legally dead for napping reasons.

They also have a Facebook event set up if that's your thing. Facebook continues to be something I grudgingly tolerate due to it's pervasiveness. I don't have to like it.

So. IronSkull Painting Competition. It's a thing. It will be a cool thing if it's your sort of thing.

Warhammer World New Year's Open Day - All The Gossip

Without further ado, I'm going straight into the assorted pictures and nonsense I managed to pick up at the Open Day. There's no real revelations here - there's prettier pictures over at the Warhammer Community site - this is more about what I saw and what I thought about it.

Lets start off with Blood Bowl. The new stuff here was some additional Goblin Secret Weapons, including one with wings, one with a pogo stick, and an 'Ooligan with a bunch of noise making gizmos. These are the sort of thing I expect my darling wife may pick up at some point...

There's also an alternative troll sculpt if that's your thing. This one seems to be wielding someone's leg, which is pretty cool. Some extra variety is really nice to see.

Helmut Wulf and Karla von Kill had already been announced (and can in fact be ordered from Forge World now) but it was great to see them in the flesh. Karla is a bad-ass female character whose background is simply that she's a great Blood Bowl player. That she's sensibly dressed is a relief. Meanwhile, Helmut Wulf is a lunatic with a chainsaw. What could possibly go wrong?

On to Necromunda. If this figure looks familiar, that's because it was formerly available for the now discontinued Forge World Renegades range. The discontinuation inconveniently made it a little harder to get a Rogue Wyrd for your campaign, so he's getting a repackage and rerelease into Necromunda. Which is kind of sweet.

The Am-bot is a robot designed to look like an Ambull that any gang can hire. It looks like either there's more than one way to build the kit or more than one version going to be available. I love these to death, they're great.

Wait a second. A Blackstone Fortress expansion . . . called "The Dreaded Ambull". Surely not?

Apparently so! The Ambull is back in 40K as a monster in Blackstone Fortress. I cannot foresee a circumstance where I won't be buying this. It's amazing!

They also had an early copy of "Urban Conquest", a new campaign system for 40K. I really like this, it looks well thought through and rather clever.

You make a "map" of the city by dealing cards into a five by five grid in a wallet. It's designed for four players, with different starting map layout options. Each "campaign" turn can be after any number of games, including none if you've missed a round! You rank the players depending on how they did, then they do stuff like capture territory, select strategies for the next round of games, and accumulate their victory points.

This would be a lot of book keeping if there weren't reusable stickers supplied with the back so you can just fold the map up and get it out next time, with all the player positions and stratagems all neatly laid out. The designer also said it should work quite well for Kill Team. I'm not sure if it's designed for it or if it would need a little modding.

The pack is designed to handle the usual campaign woes of people missing weeks, or getting a drubbing and ending up near the bottom - it's intended to be quite forgiving of that and give people who are significantly behind ways to catch up. It's not just a case of winning the most games - if you outmanoeuvre the other players on the campaign board, you might win the campaign without having won as many games as them.
 

There were a bundle of other releases - this was a Mechanicus who'll be in a Kill Team expansion box. I'm assuming there will be 40K rules for them as well. There was also a ton of Genestealer Cult stuff, an announcement of a Ghoul vs Skaven box, and various other things I didn't have time to find and photograph.

The goblins, or "Gloomspite" were also out in force. Jes Bickham has been making an all troll / Troggoth army. I'm resisting things one for now - I had a few good talks about what I'm looking to get out of Age of Sigmar and I'm getting slightly more concrete thoughts about what I want to collect. I'm going to keep those to myself for now.

I'm pleased to say that a weekend away seeing amazing hobby stuff, and hanging out with awesome people has really ignited my hobby keen. I can't wait to get underway with various projects, and then tell you about them on here.

Warhammer World Open Day January 2017

Obligatory Death Roller photo

So, I pottered up to Warhammer World after the New Year for the Open Day. I wasn't particularly diligent with photo taking or anything like that, because Battle Bunnies just put so much effort into it, there'd just be duplication of effort!

So mostly, I just caught up with people I've met at events before and had a bit of a chat.

I did pick up a few bits of Blood Bowl news in the chatting, which I may as well share:

• Dwarf team should be out by the end of the month
• Plastic Dwarf team, resin Death Roller
• Plastic Ogre and Troll, resin Rat Ogre
• Re-do of the existing Skaven Star Player, and a couple of new ones coming
• Plastic goblin team coming
• Goblins will also have resin secret weapons (the ones we know, and maybe some new ones)
• Deathzone Season 2 will have goblins, Underworld and Chaos Renegade teams

I'm still faffing over Stormcast colour schemes for the few Stormcast I have, so took a photo of this in the miniatures hall to aid my thinking process.

I posted this on twitter and it's been favourited and retweeted no end...

One of the figures from the Pilgrym display. Absolutely stunning piece overall, but I get distracted by faded red, checker board and flame edging.

I was pretty restrained in purchases - a couple of limited figures, the Ironwarp Citadel exclusive book, the music of Warhammer World, and the Rogue Trader re-print.

Warhammerfest: Warhammer: The App

This probably isn't the most exciting news in the world for everyone, but there were things announced at Warhammerfest which weren't from Forge World! Here, for example, we have a new app, called simply "Warhammer: The App".

So, in fairness, it's not all that exciting. It's just an app which will provide news articles about Games Workshop's recent and upcoming releases. However, what got my interest was a mention that there is a reasonable chance that it will also sometimes have exclusive free content, such as missions and similar.

Warhammer Fest, Day 1: Afternoon Forge World Seminar

I'm currently in rainy Coventry, recovering in my secret lair near the Ricoh Arena, where Warhammerfest is being held. Before I go for dinner, I thought I'd fire out my notes on the Forge World afternoon presentation. Other people have already fired pictures all over the internet, so I'm mostly going to be doing the written down thing.

This is what mine would have looked like.
There are better ones elsewhere on the internet.
Go find them.

The first one up to the plate was Imperial Armour Volume 13: The Lost and the Damned. This is out in limited numbers at the weekend - there's a run of 2,000 with a slip case and poster. It contains:

• All the Chaos Vehicle and Daemon Engine rules
• Updated rules for older Chaos models
• Renegades and Heretics army list
• A few selected relics of the Heresy

Daemon possessed Fellblades were mentioned, as well as the Decimator being included. The army list is a single army list with many options - it expands on the army lists from Vraks, allowing you to field any of those armies, but also adds in options for Slaanesh and Tzeentch Renegades as well.

I also managed to get a quick chat in with Andy Hoare and a look at the book on one of the desks. The army list includes a lot of HQs which unlock options, and also purchasable upgrades for Warlords to unlock yet more options still. Renegades and Mutants are all in there, with a particular combination of traits intended to allow you to give models Hellguns to allow for Chaos Storm Troopers. There are also some references to Chaos Hereteks. The Kharybdis Assault Claw makes an appearance for Chaos as well.

Horus Heresy Book 4: Conquest is due at the end of November, so people can order it in time for Christmas. It is currently at the printers. It is the biggest book so far. There is a Forge World Knight on the cover, which gives a bit of an indication as to the book's focus and content. It covers:

• The Battles of the Cyclops Cluster
• Siege of Mezoa
• Conquest of Manachea
• Defence of Agathon

These are battles that aren't in the Horus Heresy Novels, but is about what Horus and friends did "in between the gaps". It covers the conquest of a significant portion of the Northern Imperium, as Horus takes control of a sector of space cut off from the rest of the Imperium by warp storms so he has a base of operations. For example, Manachea is a big Agri-World, and a bit of a bread basket for that sector of the Imperium.

Forces in the book are:

• Sons of Horus
• Death Guard
• Iron Hands
• Salamanders
• Imperial Fists
• Dark Mechanicum
• Mechanicum
• Solar Auxilia
• Knights
• Titans

There was a mention that some of the Loyalist forces have gone mad, others are engaging in revenge attacks to worlds that have allied or even capitulated to Horus, and others are waging a guerrilla war.

The world of Cyclotrathe was mentioned - a Dark Mechanicum world which isn't in the 40K background, because someone has (rightly) turned it to ash by the time 40K happens. This is where some of the worst of the Dark Mechanicum are, licensed by Horus to forge their own mini empire as long as they keep his armies supplied. Their forces are now carving out their own client empire, harvesting humans for their experiments.

There's a mention of the Knight Houses of the area, and their interlinked backgrounds. It covers why their histories and existing allegiances determine the side they end up on. One example given was a House which had only been a part of the Imperium for five years at the outbreak of the Heresy, so sided with the only faction they'd ever met - Horus. (Apparently, that didn't go so well for them!)

The Solar Auxilia are an elite branch of the Imperial Army. There was a Latin name for the Imperial Army, but someone mumbled, so I missed it.

The book will include a history of the battles, background for the Solar Auxilia, background for the Knight Houses, the background to 4 new Knight Houses of the 31st Millenium, a campaign system, a Solar Auxilia list, and a 30K only Knight list.

There will be a special edition of Conquest. That will include a slipcase, a post and QR sheets for each unit to save people lugging the whole book around.

There was then a big display of models. Go look at the Battle Bunnies blog to see pictures - I just have a list!

(Alpha Legion Contemptor, Word Bearer Contemptor, Imperial Fist Contemptor, Imperial Fist Templar Brethren, Imperial Fist Phalanx Warder Squad, Solar Auxilia Lasrifle section, Veletoris Storm Section with Volkites, Flamer Section, Leman Russ Incinerator with Volkite weapon, and a Chainfist and Volcano cannon for the Reaver Titan.)

There will be a Horus Heresy Model Masterclass Volume 1. It includes how they put the Istvaan III display board together. It will have the usual mix of display and more army standard tips and tricks.

Horus Heresy Book V: Tempest - work is just starting on this. It will be the Assault on Calth. It will show the Word Bearers getting more Chaos-y. We were shown some concept art for Word Bearers, Ultramarines and the Fire Masters Titan Legion.

There is a distinct desire to make the Ultramarines less dull. They are looking at white, gold, and marble as well as the usual blue, in a very Roman style. There was mention of Praetorian pattern armour and Invictarus special troops - who were very ornate with shields.

There was talk of future models with no pictures - two new Space Marine flyers, a new dreadnought (not a Contemptor, something new!), Solar Auxilia Storm Hammer, Solar Auxilia Ogryns (very different from the ones in 40K), more character series models - with pictures shown of parts of Sevatar and Konrad Curze. They will not be "too long".

Q&As

Any Iron Warriors? Some bits and pieces are on the way.

Warhammer Forge models going away? Some models will come back once they've looked again at sales and profitability. They will then likely add a few models next year.

Dark Angels? After Ultramarines but not too long. They want to do Thramas plus the Blood Angels at Signus Prime relatively soon.

Chaos Dwarves? No plans right now, but maybe.

Sigismund model? Will get around to him - it will take a year or two to get all the characters they want to do done.

Any Tau non flyer super heavies? There was an answer. Tony told us not to share it on forums or blogs. You may ask me in person if you have interest, or find someone who doesn't do what Tony asks.

What will be the breakdown of the Calth book? The final decisions on this aren't really made yet - they're still in early stages and playtesting the Ultramarines Legion rules. It's likely there will be more than one book and the first book will be the first 24 hours and the turnaround.

Any plans to do basics for the legions such as Blood Angels early so people can get started? Not really. They're resourced just about perfectly for books and models at the same pace right now - early Blood Angels models would mean more Ultramarines rules in the Calth books without models, and that wouldn't be fair. There are sometimes opportunities when they do books where fewer models are needed to sneak in a few extra models, but that's not often.

Will they do every character they've written rules for as a model? Nope. Some are better suited to conversion from a Praetor or Captain model. They won't necessarily do every one, but will where there is demand and a different enough model to merit it.

Will there be Heresy era Xenos? Not very likely at all. Horus Heresy is about a battle of man against man, and becomes a story about man versus Chaos. They will probably avoid Xenos outright as that's 40K's thing - but if they reach the Scouring, that's the time of the revenge of the Xenos. They won't cover pre-Davin Xenos as they'd have too limited a scope.

Dark Eldar? Don't expect more Dark Eldar models from FW until there is a dedicated Dark Eldar book.

Genos something something (from Legion)? Very unlikely. It was a small group. The Imperial Army is very broad, and they will generally do things that have a wider application. Solar Auxilia have many regiments but are also more elite, so more worthwhile doing as FW units.

Any book for Fantasy? No decided.

Chaos Knights? On the list to do conversion bits for.

Sometimes, you just have one of those days. Or weeks.

Last week's progress post was full of enthusiasm and bright plans, with intentions of putting something together for the Dark Sphere "Dakka on Bakka" tournament. That something was a Firestorm Redoubt. I am now going to share with you some wisdom that I have gained in the past week.

This is what the Redoubt looked like as of earlier this evening. I had about half assembled it on Sunday night, when I realised something was wrong and asked Sim for advice. She pointed out that I'd totally stuffed the assembly and I should rip it apart now to have any hope of salvaging it. Pulling apart most of a day's work is pretty sad, I can tell you.

My darling wife is now in the midst of putting right my disastrous mistakes, and my first fortification should be ready to take the field by the tournament, though I suspect it will not be fully painted. It's a while since I've taken the field without a fully painted army, but it will help motivate me to get the blasted thing finished.

Also, hair bands are apparently awesome at holding glued bits together. The main lesson, though, is that the kit is incredibly precise about what bit needs to be where. Don't go "eh, that'll do" on one bit lining up - it will royally stuff you up three steps down the line!

How I cheer myself up

The most common way I get myself out of a bit of a mood is to go read other people's blogs. You can see which ones I commonly follow and read down the right of the screen. Other people's hobby is kind of handy.

It can sometimes also help to consider retail therapy. Of course, if you are feeling down about how little painting you've gotten done out of your backlog, or how little money you have this will not help. There are two teensy little things which are trying to lure my money out of my wallet right now.

First, there's "Operation: Icestorm", a limited edition starter set for Infinity. Regular readers of my blog will recall I had my own little "Infinity Week" some time ago. This has just gone up for pre-order around the world.

The other temptation is the Kickstarter for Infamy: Welcome to the Big Smoke, which is another one of these British Indie chaps. It is a little pricey, but the miniatures do look gorgeous.

Finally, if all else fails, take a nice break. In this case, I met up with some of my family in Colchester and went around Colchester Castle. It's now a museum, and had a ton of interesting and thought provoking stuff. It was good to get away from the modelling a bit, although for me this happened before my Firestorm Redoubt related disasters.

Other Honourable Mentions

I also find writing army lists, reading books (gaming related or otherwise) and writing blog posts as good breaks from the painting and modelling side of the hobby. Are there any other common ways people have of cheering themselves up after a hobby related disaster or similar? Have I missed anything big? Or do you have an odd way of cheering up you don't think anyone else does?

Painted Guardsmen, Viking Horror, and finding military history in the oddest places...

To start off with some good news, I've successfully finished painting my first commitment in The Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge! I'm really pleased to have shrugged off last year's painting curse - these twenty models, painted in a month, are more than twice what I painted in the whole of last year.

For this month, I'm trying to do 20 Imperial Beastmen, which I will use as Penal Legion. I will be super sad if the new Guard Codex does away with Penal Legion once I've finished modelling them! I'm also acutely aware I still owe you all a "how to" painting guide for them, which I hope to get up this month.

A good friend of mine, James Holloway, who I have sometimes mentioned here as The Gonzo History Project, has written a short book. It's called The Barest Branch and is available to buy on DriveThruFiction. If 9th Century Lovecraft inspired horror is your thing, then I would suggest going and having a peek. Its available for the same sort of pocket change that the short Games Workshop ebooks go for, and I'm pretty sure a few of the people who read this blog would similarly find it interesting. So please, go buy it, read it, and leave a comment on James' blog telling him what you thought of it!

The other day, I went for a walk near my work, and was surprised to turn a corner and find an anti-aircraft gun.

It turns out that Mudchute City Farm is based on land that was an anti-aircraft site during the blitz. There's a little history about it on their website, and a little more on plaques around the site.

The purpose of the site was to help protect the London docks during the blitz. There were plenty of interesting facts, including that the guns did not actually shoot many bombers down - their main purpose was to force them to fly higher and make their bombs less accurate.

There was also mention of how they were usually electronically and remotely fired from a bunker, but that in one particular incident, a bomb hit disabled the remote firing, so someone got a medal for rallying the crews to go out and man them manually through the raid.

This is definitely the sort of thing I would recommend people make the effort to go and see if they are nearby in the area - its not much, but its in easy reach of Canary Wharf and Maritime Greenwich, so would not be too hard to make a trek to via the DLR should you happen to find yourself in either place.

Enter the Citadel: Questions from the Bell of Lost Souls forums

At the weekend I attended Enter the Citadel at Warhammer World. It was excellent, and very much worth the trip. I'll be covering the individual Q&A sessions separately later this week, along with my personal experiences and opinions.

However, to start with, I'm going to cover the questions that the Bell of Lost Souls forums asked me to ask - well, the ones I thought could get an answer anyway.

Some of these questions came from a rushed conversation with Phil Kelly - it was hard to find time to speak with him on top of everyone else going on and without being rude and interrupting other people. As a result, I didn't have time to make my usual copious notes. We were also cut short as we talked right up to the wire of the end of the event. As such, I've taken the liberty of summarising some of the conversation. Hopefully, I have not lost his intent and focus on this. As such, should you talk with him yourself, you may get slightly different answers - both because my account is filtered through my perception of it, and because people's opinions can change over time!

Other questions were asked by other people in the seminars by people other than me, and some came up naturally without me needing to ask. Hopefully its useful and interesting to people!

"Do you feel that certain units such as banshees and genestealers should be changed to have grenades considering the impact of overwatch?"

and

"Is there a possibility we will see Howling Banshees fixed in an errata as currently they are comprehensively inferior to Striking Scorpions even with being cheaper. Lack of plasma grenades, reliant on unreliable buffs from a unit that can't join them to inflict wounds an inferior Mask and and inferior Acrobatic."

Context for those not obsessed with rules: Banshees don't have assault grenades, but wargear that penalises their opponent's initiative, to a minimum of one. While this will often mean they are then striking simultaneously when assaulting into cover, there is a risk of them being badly mauled by the counter strikes.

The discussion: Assault grenades and assault units are a difficult point. You can't just give absolutely every unit grenades, because at that point, why would you have a rule to penalise assaulting into cover? There needed to be distinctions between Howling Banshees and Striking Scorpions, otherwise everyone would be taking Banshees and the Scorpions would be being decried as useless. Phil does love Eldar and its a careful design line to not to make them The Best At Everything Ever. He still uses Banshees in his own army.

We also had a short conversation about making Banshees more effective. I couldn't recall if your initiative is still penalised if you're charging a unit that is already engaged with someone else (that may be a way to bypass the lack of grenades). The Dark Eldar also have a piece of wargear that bestows assault grenades onto the unit they've joined - while allying isn't to everyone's taste, a Dark Eldar independent character with this kit joining the Banshees could create an effective, punchy unit.

"Are they happy with the speed of releases for sixth edition?"

In short - not answered. Rather, they asked us our thoughts on it!

"Why did they not give the Hemlock Wraithfighter better armour or a better jink save considering it is only armour 10 and will die to even bolter fire, yet has to hang out at range 12 (bolter rapid fire range) in order to get any use out of its Mindshock pod?"

There was a general comment during the Q&As that establishing newer units in Codexes was generally quite hard - people already know what a Fire Dragon does, and how it fits into the army and the background. Newer units, such as the fliers, need to be introduced and will take a while to bed in - the example was given that the Autarch is only just starting to really find his place in the army after a number of incarnations.

While chatting to Phil, his further comments were that it was a difficult line to walk. Fliers have a narrow run of armour between 12 and 10, with 12 being the established heavier fliers, and 11 being the mid range. Eldar are supposed to be lightly armoured and fragile, so 10 is the natural point for them. The subject of the jink save really wasn't covered - we were short on time and I was trying to cover as much as possible.

"Will we see a time when all units will have a model?"

They certainly hope so. A newly released Codex will have models for all its units one way or another from now on - this isn't even necessarily something caused by the Chapterhouse situation (while there were questions on this subject, the answers carefully avoided direct references). They were already getting a lot of feedback from people that codexes with gaps in the model ranges were frustrating for people. Its unlikely you'll see a Codex release missing models happening in future.

"I'd be keen to hear what his thoughts are on the rise of 3D printers and how he sees GW taking on that technology into the future."

There was a much longer answer from Jes Goodwin I'll cover in that seminar, but in store printing, custom designs, adding your own face to a character model and the ability to mix and match to order were all talked about as things that are not currently technically possible, but could be in the far future. The level of detail and affordability is just not there to see it being a danger or competitor as fast as the internet commentators would have you believe.

I also took the opportunity to ask about the Heavy D Scythe, which has been covered in a couple of blog posts (although ironically I can now only find the one). In short, the description doesn't really match the weapon profile.

This weapon did go through some iterations during play testing. The natural progression of a D Scythe would be to move from a Template weapon to a Torrent weapon. If people have concerns about the Helldrake's balance, two Torrent D weapons is not going to stay in line with the overall power curve. I asked if perhaps the blasts should have ignore cover and if that might be updated in the future, but this was part of a multi line conversation and this was one of the things that fell by the wayside...

Questions not asked

My original post on the forum had some guidelines:

"To save wasting anyone's time, the following topics won't be considered: - Any questions about what's coming in the future (they won't tell us)
- Any questions about pricing / material use (they're games designers, not marketing / production)
- Anything about Squats, because it's to the point of a running gag now
- Loaded questions set more as a statement followed by "do you agree?""

I therefore decided not to ask the following questions:

"With the advent of Terrain fortifications are we going to see faction specific terrain pieces, or just more archetypes with which each player can customize/convert the aesthetics of to fit their appropriate faction?"
"I'd like to know if they're planning to do more terrain and upgrade packs. Making a finecast pack of las/autogun wielding arms would be great for converting WHFB models to 40k :3 Maybe tie it in to a minor Necromunda rerelease?"
"Ooh, question for Jes Goodwin: Is it possible we might see future plastic kits represent a more equal gender breakdown in line with their background and the new Dark Eldar range?"
"When will Codex: Squat be released?"
"will be there even supplements for codex already out in the sixth edition?"
"Will all 16 current armies for WH40k get a codex in the new release cycle for 6th edition?"
Will the Imperial Guard show more Gender equality in their figures in the future?
Same question for Eldar."
(Sorry BoLS fans!)

I didn't manage to find the time to ask:

"Please could you ask Phil Kelley if he meant that the burning chariot couldn't move and fire, since its flame is a heavy weapon, and because its a template weapon, it cannot snap fire either. I'd be immensely grateful if you could clarify this specific question. Thanks!"

I also didn't ask:

"Why did they give the Hemlock Wraithfighter a spell it cannot use on the turn it enters the board?"

... as I thought the answer to this was covered in the general FAQ - but it seems that some people don't agree on this. I am going to be making a much longer post on that argument once I've finished researching it.

In the meantime, there should be some more posts from me on the Q&As and general experiences soon, as I have a lot of notes to write up. Check back soon!

Salute 2013: Just Shut Up Already: The Final Salute Post

I know, I know. I've been going on about Salute a lot. But there was a huge ton of stuff I saw, and there's just not been enough time to type it all up.

For the last bit of gossip, Mike McVey told me that a site redesign for Studio McVey is in progress, and it will no longer include Flash. Given that I keep on trying to show people Studio McVey stuff on the iPad and end up getting nothing, this will make me really rather happy.

The business card and flyer rundown

I did not loot as many business cards as I usually do! I already knew a lot of the companies there, so didn't think take every bit of cardboard and paper that wasn't nailed down.

First up, we have JoeK Minis, who are a part of British Indie. He has a bunch of nice models, including a range of creepy Wizard of Oz inspired stuff.

I was not as impressed with Urban Construct as I remember being. Don't get me wrong, the scale of their stuff is impressive, and they have a good range. Yet despite this, I am not a fan of their rough and ready approach, but it seems pretty affordable for what it is.

Dark World Creations are at the other end of the scale. This stuff is breath-takingly pretty, and highly detailed. They are putting together 70mm models, with a 2000AD license, the odd bust, and a lovely post apocalyptic zombie range. Their upgrade kits for cars and trucks are particularly impressive. One of the display models looked familiar, until I remembered that I'd seen it being worked on at a Platoon Britannica painting day...

My final flyer is from Battleboards, who do a few bits of terrain but really specialise in boards - and in particular, remarkably affordable custom made boards to order. If only I was swimming in money...

A few more people I like

These are a few more stalls I like where I managed to take photos. There are a ton more companies I love and adore, but didn't manage to get photos for whatever reason. Not being mentioned here doesn't mean I hate you - just that I failed utterly in taking any nice photos.

Hold on, I hear you cry - that stuff looks familiar. Yes, it is familiar because I bought a massive bag of it. These are the lovely people from Tablescape. They do a wide range of pre-painted pieces of terrain in a pretty robust foam, and its great to go straight from the box and onto the table.

While being able to buy terrain that doesn't add to my massive painting backlog is already a massive plus, what really endears them to me is the thoughtfulness of their designs. I had a rather hilarious moment in 2012 when they were saying terrible, terrible things about what 40K players were like before they found out I was one. It would have hurt less if my wife hasn't been agreeing with them so much. ;-)

The reason behind the anecdote is because all of their walls and scatter terrain are carefully designed to either be at 28mm chest height or obscure a model completely. They've been careful not to put in too many designs where it wouldn't be clear whether or not a model had line of sight - thus cutting down the arguments between those terribly competitive gamers who are often so associated with the 40K scene.

Next, we have the people who will be getting all of my money at next year's Salute: Warmill. They are another laser cut terrain manufacturer, similar to Sarissa, but they focus almost entirely on the Sci Fi end of things.

They have a nice coherent range, with much of the different pieces being part of this crazy little comedic dystopian sci fi setting they've come up with. Their fortresses and barricades are modular, compatible with other bits, and have upgrades which change in clever ways what they do.

They've also accessorised their smaller shop pieces nicely, so there are different brands of food retailer, or, should you feel brave, a cosmetic surgery booth!

This is, for example, the noodle booth. The plastic signs are the bits you can vary with your order to make different franchises.

All the buildings I saw had removable roofs so you can open them up to place models inside.

Their modular "Portable Utility Pod" had some nice demonstrations as to how you could use them differently - you'll see in the first picture a wonderful set of them in white with surrounding walkways that look very civilian, while in this picture, they dirty grimy yellow looks very much like some industrial or construction building.

They've also started a massive modular set which could be easily used for Zone Mortalis in 40K, or even Space Hulk or similar. It could be an underground lab, a space ship, or who knows what.

There's some lovely detail pieces, like these industrial waste bins. They're nestled in between some of their road terrain and one of their compound pieces.

This is an awesome elevated roadway, which can either sit close to the ground, or really raise up into a high flying piece.

This is one of the other PUP scenery pieces with the roof removed. Notice the alternatively painted PUP on the right, and the little watch tower and security fence at the bottom of the shot.

Here are the accessories - I love the communication towers and the process unit in the middle (I didn't get a good zoomed in shot of it). The barricades are all "quick deploy" fold up barricades, which is a nice touch. They also have an assortment of strange little portal things you can get.

A company that got a lot of the wife's money was Zinge Industries. They are a company with tons of awesome little ideas which are really cool.

Zinge do an amazing array of bits and bobs. Their tires and tracks are definitely useful, but nothing that gets me really excited. Unfortunately, I got no good pictures of their really clever stuff - flexible resin with an embedded wire that means you can carefully pose your chains, power cables and ammunition belts.

They've just released their first model, a tank bike. It's kind of adorable, but I don't really have much use for it.

They also had some lovely examples of what you could do with their stuff - this demon prince was a nice example of showing off what LEDs could do.

This is, of course, the money shot - showing that you can get a glowing light in behind a terminator helmet or head.

There's also scenery options, too - like this light up option for a command and control display.

Arcworlde is a new game being worked on by Warploque Miniatures. They are planning a Kickstarter (who isn't), and are currently beta testing their rules.

They have some lovely detailed models already available, and I picked up a couple of them at Salute.

There is an entire Halfling faction, which should keep people happy.

He had a whole ton of his greens on display to show people what was coming in the Kickstarter in August.

And now, the final company who impressed me, who are Model Mates. You can't buy this stuff direct from their website - they only sell direct at shows. But go and have a look at their website, as it lists the people who stock it.

They have a range of different sprays and brush on rust effects - some see through, some opaque. The metal plate is all effect - it genuinely looks like real rush in person, as well as in the pictures, but every bit of it is the stuff off the brush and out of the can.

They had quite a few examples of what you can do with it, from tanks to model railway cars to rusting to scenery.

They were also very proud of their verdigris...

Sim did get herself a few bottles of this stuff, although I am unsure if I will have any chance of getting any of it off her...