Epistolae Daeimonologica

--- Spectres and Effigies ---

Like all interstellar spacecraft the Star of Arlus was cushioned from the seething energies of warp space by its bubble of reality - the stasis envelope generated by the ship's warp engines. Without this barrier the Star of Arlus would be vapourised within moments. Macillan allowed his senses to absorb the flow of the warp round the ship. He felt the friction draw out the shape of the stasis envelope into an elongated tear drop. He sensed the warp close in behind the ship and the turmoil of its wake, eddies of current that sent shock waves spinning into the blackness. Amidst those eddies he could hear vague things made real by the thoughts of the crew, discorporate hopes and fears embodied within the warp and sloughed away by the ship's own passage. For a moment his own voice called to him, a thin cry of warning and terror... go back... go back... before it was swallowed forever.

He was used to such things: his own ghosts no longer unnerved him. He often wondered what happened to the spectral creatures given life and form by his own mind. Did they simply dissolve back into the warp, as was commonly supposed, or did they remain to wander through warp space forever? If so, what were they like, these creatures, dragged into life by the countless random processes of his subconscious? Sometimes a ship encountered tides of ghostly things that clawed and scrambled at the stasis envelope and sent the warp engines screaming. Were these the same kind of creatures, given life over the millennia and cast adrift on the currents of warp space. What was it they wanted? What drew them with such frenetic energy towards spacecraft? He only knew it was best not to follow the specrtres too closely with mind-sense. Sometimes he felt shadows of other predatory things that lurked in the ship's passage, attracted, he somehow felt, to the new born like sharks to the scent of blood.

[art by J. Blanche, words by W. King, © Games Workshop]

[Title added by C. Reiter]

I know, I know, wall of text. tl;dr.
But as an official background afficionado, I can only reply: deal with it :P

Seriously, though, I have been pondering this blog for some time now, pictures of converted and painted minis is all well and good, but something that is missing is more narrative, more feel, more insight into the central concepts: the Daemonic, the warp, and Chaos. So I want to change that.

To kick things off, an awesome little story from the 40k 2nd edition wargear book, by Bill King. I just re-read all the background from 2nd and 3rd edition, and rediscovered some real gems in the process. In the long run, I want to write most pieces here myself, but I will also throw in the occasional bit from other authors.


What do you think? 
Do you guys care at all?  
Or do you automatically skip any text passage longer than 4-5 lines in a blog?
Let me know... 

The (International) Herald Tribune

Last week, I decided I needed some Nurgle Heralds on foot. Just basic stuff. No huge, all-conquering awe-inspiring Greater Daemon or Daemon Prince, just some lowly little Heralds. I figured I want some low-level characters for more low-level armies.

Also, thanks to the Daemonic Table, you can never tell when an enemy psyker gets his mind fried and you get a free Herald dropping out of the ether. Better be prepared for the occasion, as it would surely be considered rude not to take advantage of free models...

I wasn't really happy with my initial efforts though:

In the end, I decided it was the head, tore it off again and came up with a new version I prefer by far:

Obviously, I still need to do all the greenstuffing, but I think the basic concept is very sound.
Oh, and the model isn't small, it's just standing on a 40mm base. I was never really happy with the official concept of Heralds just being slightly beefed-up regular troopers, I always thought they should stand out, so they should be discernibly larger and certainly get a base upgrade.

I actually can't remember where I got the antlers from, but I really like them as they feel so Nurgly...

+++

So, when I said some Heralds, I wasn't exaggerating, I was working on two of the dudes at the same time. However, I was even less content with where the second Herald was going, so I disassembled it completely and now am left with just the bare bones of a model:

Still a long way to go, obviously...

The story... so far

The Daemons are coming along. It goes in leaps and bounds, though, with a lot going on at times, and then not very much or nothing at all happening when the project ends up shelved for months. I managed to get most stuff done back in 2012/13, the status after some very productive six months back then:

After that, things slowed down a bit. It is noteworthy that the army was conceived in 2011, using the old Codex Daemons from back then (5. edition). As a nice little touch, I had envisaged to have all units 7 men (creatures) strong, as an hommage to Nurgle (7 being his sacred number). However, under the current Codex, all troop choices need to be at least 10 strong, so I had had to adapt to this.

First, I upped the strength of the Plaguebrides (counts as Daemonettes) to a full 10, so they are a legal choice now:

I realize the picture isn't exactly fortunate, because lots of the girls are standing in each other's way, but I think you get the gist.

Anyway, that left me with a second troops choice missing for the army to conform to standard army selection, so I went to work on some Plaguebearers derived from several different Confrontation Mid-Nor dwarfs. You have seen these guys already, but for the sake of completeness:

You will notice that there are 4 minis short of the minimum size of 10, one of those minis has been completed since the picture has been taken, while two others are very close to completion and the final mini - the unit's champion - still needs some serious work.

I am not a big fan of armies that don't look like armies, so I will certainly paint several more troops choices before I will add more characters or big gribbly stuff. That is the one gripe I have with the army - I just painted random stuff in the beginning, leaving me with a collection of miniatures that do look good, but are not gameworthy.

Back from hibernation

Because it is not dead which can eternal lie... or something along those lines. It certainly appears this blog is only ever used in spring and summertime. I certainly did not plan on this, but I'm certainly willing to play along 8]

After a short foray into the WHFB universe has been ultimately cured by End Times and 9th edition, I haved moved back to the grim darkness of the 40th millennium. For the time being.

While GW manage to regularly ward off my hobby interests by various decisions and products, they also regularly manage to reel me back in with some amazing releases. This time, it was the Mechanicus. While the Skitaarii (sp?) were nice, it was the new walker kits that really blew my mind. I haven't figured if and how I can fit them into my army concept, but if I find a way, I will do it.

For the time being, I have bought the Sicarians, because I will use several bitz for a current ChainsawDaemonEngine project I am working on - keep tuned in.

Also, I am just inches away from being in possession of a fully-painted, legal army... and I intend to use it. Not sure about all the recent focus of 40K on gigantic Apocalypse-style mini-titans, flyers and all this nonsense, but I figured I'll just ignore that. So I got me some fittingly Nurgly dice:

Whaaat? Actually playing a game? Clearly, things are getting out of hand here...

More Plaguebearer Progress

...and they keep turning up, one by one, little by little. But the important thing is to keep going, and the full ten-man unit will be finished in time.

As a sort of "what I did this month" thing, here is the status of the unit so far, 6 models finished including the musician:

Plaguebearers (Progress)

I have posted some early pics of my Plaguebearers converted from Confrontation Mid-Nor Dwarfs in an earlier post. I now have something to show:

Some progress on my Plaguebearers... I have finished four so far:

while three more are in various states of unfinishedness:

and three more are still awaiting paint at the moment:

I like these models, because they were the very very first ChainsawDaemonEngines I ever put together, about two years ago now. I only ever painted two of them and left the rest lying around... until now. I promised myself to finally give them the paint they deserve and not put anything else on the worktable until all of them are finished.

Thing is, I have tried exactly that several times before, without any success at all in the past. So having finished two more models now (making four in total, see first picture), I have actually come a long way already. As I am writing this, another one is very close to completion as well.

Some more pics:

Blowflies of Nurgle (Supplemental)

I recently found a forum post where a a year ago I had shown where the markings on the wings of my unit of Blowflies of Nurgle are derived from. I had totally forgotten about that! However, I really like it, so I thought I'll share here as well:

 

Mein Liebster!

Considering the... manageable :D number of subscribers and commenters of my blog, I would have never expected this, but I have actually been Liebstered. Incredible! And many thanks to Adam Wier from Between the Bolter and Me.
Alright, here goes:


Eleven Truths:

1. I actually have a Master's degree in Theoretical Quantum Physics.
2. Everybody thinks I'm too old for miniatures and tabletop now, including myself.
3. I much prefer converting and painting to gaming. Actually, I haven't played a game since spring 2011.
4. I was one of four members of the Epic Rules Committee, overseeing the online development of GW's Epic:Armageddon.
5. As far as I can think back, I have always been fascinated by Fantasy and Sci-Fi.
6. Despite this blog's title being French, I don't really speak that language; it was just intended as an hommage to Jules Verne.
7. I started out life as a pathological introvert, but have graduated to regular introvert since.
8. I am currently re-watching all episodes of TNG, I'm not a Trekkie though.
9. I think I have found the love of my life, and she's still with me.
10. I still paint all my minis using enamel colours (Humbrol).
11. I started the hobby 19 years ago, with 40K 2nd edition.

Eleven Questions (answered to):

1. Eisenhorn or Ravenor? I must confess I haven't read either. Love Dan Abnett, though.
2. What is your favorite aspect of the miniature hobby? Creating new models ('converting').
3. Will dread Cthulhu rise from his sunken city of R’lyeh? XCOM will be there to meet him.
4. Who is your favorite artist? John Blanche.
5. If you are about to embark on a long drive with nothing to think about, what musical album would you want to listen to? Any old Kyuss stuff.
6. Have you ever played the cRPG: Planescape: Torment? No.
7. Games Workshop’s White Dwarf magazine recently switched formats and is now weekly, thoughts? It has now fully degenerated into a product advertisement leaflet with no hobby-relevant content whatsoever. Only pictures. I really tried hard to still like it, but simply couldn't.
8. Is the Alpha Legion the Imperium’s doom or their salvation? Neither. A thousand men cannot alter the fate of an empire of this size.
9. Benchmade or Spyderco? I actually had to google that. Can't really say.
10. What boardgame would you most like to play this weekend? Heroquest!
11. Who is your favorite sculptor? Simon Lee / Spiderzero

 Eleven Blogs (in order of latest update):

1. Eternal Hunt - Devout (and verbose) follower of Khorne
2. Officio Convertorum - Great conversions and paintjobs, and really steady output
3. Mind of the Daemon - Awesomely gritty Chaos
4. Legion of Plastic - migsula and his XX Legion are already legend
5. Gardens of Hecate - Ana's incredible original and innovative take on Malifaux
6. Three Flies for Nurgle - A great blog by a fellow Nurgle afficionado; also check out his second blog, Mars Irae
7. Rusty Painting - Also Nurgle; oh, and Necromunda!
8. Spiky Rat Pack - THE best blog for all things =I= and Blanchitsu at the moment, IMHO
9. Brushes United - Painting and converting by the grime crew... inspiring
10. Risus Damnatorum - More great conversions and painting
11. The Tears of Isstvan - Another great =I= blog with artsy undertones, sadly abandoned

Eleven Questions (Asked):

1. If you could wish for one thing except more wishes, what would that be?
2. What was the first miniature you painted?
3. What was the best miniature released last year?
4. What was the latest movie you watched in the cinema?
5. Would you rather die now or live forever?
6. Whom do you consider the worse geek, yourself or the hobbyists around you?
7. The discontinued GW game you wish GW would bring back the most?
8. How many DVDs would the internet take up if you removed all the porn?
9. In how many years will tabletop miniatures be 3d holograms?
10. If John Blanche and H.R. Giger had a child together, what would it look like?
11. I accidently the box. Is this bad?

Thank you for the attention.
PS: "Liebster" is a German word and means "favourite"

The Honourable Decaying Mother

Now this model is something very special to me. When I first saw pictures of the Wet Nurse by Kindom Death several years ago,

  I was so taken back by the design and the miniature itself, I knew I had to buy it at some point and convert it. However, this resin model was strictly limited and the only source you could get it was ebay, but you had to lurk for months, and it had a corresponding price tag attached (The model is currently available again, at least the plastic version). However, I really loved the model, it was a perfect blend of the Artemis of Ephesus:

and the work of H.R. Giger:

 When I was developping the army background for my ChainsawDaemonEngines, I pondered the finer points of Daemonhood. I figured that Daemons constantly fight each other for supremacy, and while Daemons are esssentially immortal, there should be instances where Daemons (or their essence) of one side could be enslaved by the other if victorious.


So I came up with the story of a former Slaaneshi Daemon Princess that was defeated in a duel and consequently subjugated to serve Nurgle (for 7777 years), her essence broken up and reformed to please her new master, her beaty and fertility perverted to a more Nurglitch version of beaty and fertility.

Enter the Honourable Decaying Mother.

Along with her, her entire court would go over to Nurgle as well, offering me even more exciting modelling projects, but more to that in future posts.

For now, worship the glory of the Honourable Decaying Mother:

Don't call it a comeback!

As with so many other things, there are times when you feel you just have to take a step back from the hobby. There may be particular reasons or events triggering this (often related to a publication from a company situated in Nottingham), or it just builds up over time and you realise you're not really having fun anymore.

I think most people who have been in the hobby for a long time have experienced this desire for a hiatus, which in turn passes and makes way for more hobby madness again. For me personally, the hobby mostly moves in waves, a wave of frantic dedication (some may call it "overdoing") giving way to periods of almost complete disinterest.

As you can easily see from the date of my last post, I have just had one of those periods where the hobby didn't play a part in my life (it also had to do with a new job and having an insane amount of stuff to do).

But I'm back now, at least backish. I am already planning and organising my next grand idea, and I still have lots of stuff to show off here which I haven't shown yet. I could actually start right now, but I'm a bit of a tease, so I'll only give you this:

The Seventh Hound - a Nightmarish Inspiration

Originally, I had decided on a seven-strong Hound unit, with Karanak as a unit upgrade - check out one of my earlier blog entries. However, things move on as they always do, we get a new Codex and Karanak is not a unit upgrade anymore, but an HQ choice. This means I wanted to add a seventh hound so as to have a seven-strong unit, even in cases where I do not want to buy Karanak as an extra Herald.

After playing around with some ideas, I decided to take inspiration from a fellow blogger - or in this case blogerette - namely Nightmare/Ana and her great blog Gardens of Hecate. I particularly liked the following of her creations:

So I intended to go down this path, and combine a hound body with an elongated, equine neck and a horse head. Needless to say, one crazy converting session later, the initial concept had been completely turned around:

I used the body of a Confro Centaur as a basis, and as the model was rather old, it had already lost a hoof. So I simply cut off the second hoof too and replaced them with Dire Wolf legs. The whole thing still needs some green stuff, but is otherwise finished (for the time being).

This uncertainty and sudden inspiration bursts are what really makes me enjoy converting so much.

Plaguebearers... WIP

Now, for my most recent creations.

The big problem I have with my army is that it is still not legal, because I don't have two Troops choices yet. I do possess 7 half-painted Plaguebearers, but under the new Codex this isn't enough anymore, all Troops units have gone up to 10-strong as a minimum size.

So, what do I need? Three more Plaguebearers. Here they are.

And the half-painted lot so far: