Black Templars, Heavy Hitters

I've been busy with terrain table commissions for the past few months, so I've been neglecting my blog. There hasn't been any time to work on personal projects– My Morghasts and Hexwraiths haven't been languishing on my work station.

All the rumors of a new 40K edition have gotten me thinking about my Black Templars. Maybe I'll be able to pull them out of retirement. At any rate, since I don't have anything new to show you, I decided to update the gallery with some of the models that are lacking detail photos.

 

 

I guess I technically did make some progress on these– the Land Raider was missing a name on its banner, so I needed to letter it in before photography. My Black Templar tanks are named after angels, and "Zachariel" is the angel who leads souls to judgement, that's pretty appropriate.

There's not a whole lot of conversion in this model, mainly decoration with crosses, parchment, and seals, pilfered from across the 40K and Warhammer ranges. The doors are from Forge World, and the bolters on the sides are capped with old storm shields.

 

 

"Look, up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's fiery judgement for our heresy!"

 

 

This Forge World dreadnought drop pod houses one of the older models in my collection– Primus Invidicus is one of the classic metal dreadnoughts. He's decorated with purity seals made from plastic card and modeling putty. The banner is from the old Blood Angels Honor Guard.

 

 

I'm hoping that vehicles in the new edition of 40K will play like monsters in Age of Sigmar– With a wound (or hull) profile that degrades the effectiveness of weapons and movement as the model takes damage. Maybe this guy can finally participate in a game rather than getting one-shotted in turn two.

There's actually been a lot of news on the 40K and Age of Sigmar fronts– The new edition of 40K, which seems to be shaping up like Age of Sgmar, as I had hoped (and predicted) it would. The new Kharadron Sky Dwarfs, which look phenomenal, even if they are more high-tech than I would like for Age of Sigmar. They certainly are pushing the "high" limits of High Fantasy.

Then we have Shadespire- hex-based arena combat set in the Mortal Realms. Meh? I'm not sure how I feel about the hex-based movement because it will probably only be played on a flat board. Feels more like a boad game than a "proper" miniatures game, but I'll reserve judgement until I see it in action. Gorechosen is a fun little game, and that's hex-based. Blood Bowl uses a printed board and square movement. The consensus is that Shadespire might be Mordheim for Age of Sigmar, but I think it will shape up like a cross between Gorechosen, Silver Tower, and Blood Bowl without the ball.

On the 40K front, there's Shadow War: Armageddon, which from all accounts looks like it's going to use the Necromunda rules with 40K Kill Team "gangs." If it plays like Necromunda, with the rules and team advancements, and equipment, that would be great. I can forego the old hive gangs as long as the experience is similar. Using 40K armies gives everyone the opportunity to use something from their army, or to scratch the itch of painting a squad from an army they wouldn't normally collect. I'm looking forward to digging into my parts box to convert a specialized unit for the game.

'Til next time!