Show of Force 2024 Results and Coverage

War Head Show of Force 2024 gathered a number of thematic, inspiring and brilliantly executed entries we were privileged to display and judge, big thanks go to all of our participants! We hope the event has been a driving force in the hobby motivation of both the entrants as well as the crowd - hopefully new ideas and miniature painting enthusiasm will spark as a result!

Below we present the Show of Force 2024 royalty! The four category winners each claimed a certificate and an assortment of brilliant hobby supplies graciously sponsored by our supporters AMMO by Mig Jimenez and AK-Interactive! This year we saw a total of 196 public votes given, increasing last year's tally by more than 30%!

Best Historical:

Jaakko Siitonen, Spain 1813

Best Sci-Fi:

Niilo Kalakoski, Space Dwarf Cossacks

Best Fantasy: 

Henri Vesanen, March of the Mad Count (Empire)

Fan Favourite:

Mikael Laaksonen, Space Wolves

+ Show of Force Facebook Picture Gallery +

Big thanks for putting on a show for all of us!

Show of Force was arranged for the second year running as a part of the Saturday program of Ropecon.

Force Recon - 308th Void Assault Infiltrators

The World Eater Recon Marines were one of the new units completed in time for the No Retreat: Horus Heresy tournament event in Gibraltar. The infiltrating Line Troops ticked many boxes that were previously missed in my game plan and a Recon squad proved to be a great addition to the roster! These were built with the army thematics, Legion culture and modelling opportunites in mind, so the popular Nemesis Bolters were left at the barracks. These are run (in the World Eater way) as a ten-man unit with chainaxes, a shotgun and a power fist sergeant.

Recon Squad for the 308th Void Assault

Veteran Sergeant Kolos's Recon Squad has a very specific boarding task - escorting an Astartes trooper infected with a lethal Machine Virus to be detonated at the heart of an enemy vessel, corrupting its Machine Spirit and paralyzing several defensive functions as a result. Carrying the fatal virus is a twisted gesture of reverence bestowed on the waning veterans of the brigade. Both the sergeant and the infected trooper were built a bit hunched over, I imagined the weight of the virus bringing the shambling patient down during the boarding mission.

The plastic power armour parts were combined with Necromunda Corpse Grinder Cult legs for the light infantry feel. The legs in the kit only come in a couple of poses with most of them being a complete standstill - not ideal for a mobile and dynamic scout unit. I ended up cutting some for reassembly and was surprised how straightforward it was in the end - the pants are quite easy to sculpt back on to make up new folds and cover any gaps. The point for me was to introduce more momentum and to have the warriors interact with their scenic surroundings.

Hazard stripes everywhere is a bit of an old inside joke within the crew, but the yellow brings in a neat contrast fitting to the palette and I quite like painting them. What I tried to avoid was to have them in completely same style and hues on both weapons and basing - they wouldn't be painted in the same factory after all!

The Red Butchers

The Red Butchers, the mad World Eater Cataphractii Elites are perhaps my favourite unit in the army list, ever reliable and always a proper battlefield terror element! I have had the official Forge World models painted up but felt for a long time I wasn't quite happy with the cast or the paintjob - with the spring's No Retreat preparations underway it was finally time for an upgrade.

With the conversions I wanted to emphasize the weight of the armour mark as well as some of the late war cultural vibes creeping into the heraldry of the plate. The idea of "facelessness" as a part of the concept of implacable murderers felt scary and the shiny black domes behind protective grills suited the Void Assault theme as well. I decided to build a few models without gloves, somehow makes the overall feel even more brutal (coming to kill you with their bare hands)!

I thought about making the squad's armour completely blood-soaked going all out with splatter, but finally settled on the basic battlefield chipping and grime. This is the Red Butchers right before they bite deep into the enemy formation, still a bit disoriented from their teleportation, combat drugs flowing and the Nails screaming in their cranium.

When I had a couple of the mandatory wysiwyg twin axes modelled, I had the chance to add some variety with differing wargear conversions - usually this is filed under the "rule of cool" as long as there's no danger of confusing your opponent. It's also more interesting to your own hobby not having to produce copies of the exactly same model just in different poses. Random gear fits the late war Heresy feel, and is a cool way to personalize squad members. Each of the regular Butchers has two shoulder pad markings - the Legion symbol and a personal icon (a chain, an axe, a buzzsaw blade or a set of spikes).

I often try to have some elevated bases within the squad for added "display dynamics", the assembled unit is more fluent to view and photograph when the models in front don't block the view to the back ranks. The essential conversion parts are from the Necromunda Corpse Grinder Cult, random selection of 40K Terminator arms, 3D-printed legs and green stuff sculpted details.

The Terminator Ogryn serves as a stand-in replacement for one the Red Butchers. This kind of "unit fillers" are often super fun to put together as creative one-offs and are a great way to develop the narrative of the unit or an entire force. In the later stages of the Horus Heresy the World Eaters would have turned to abhuman population for new recruits, mustering fierce fighters from many of their conquered cultures. This Ogryn had served as a towering training contestant for Legion's Rampagers and later earned the honour of receiving the Butcher's Nails implantation. Now he serves as an Inductii of the 308th Void Assault, attached to the Red Butchers division.

The conversion is a kitbash of many GW products, with Necromunda Servitor Ogryn, Contemptor Dreadnought torso armour and Blackstone Fortress Ogryn head as the core essentials. I liked how the armour made him appear a bit like a regular Cataphract and sits in the squad quite well, with exposed parts and mechanical bits giving that improvised and battlefield-repaired flavour.

The conversion was surprisingly straightforward with the Contemptor parts locking on the Ogryn frame almost without any actual fitting. Some tinkering was done with the mechanical features, cultural detailing and the slightly larger shoulder pads to match the unit's Cataphractii silhouette. This is where I really appreciate 3D printing being able to play with the scale of things a bit.

I'd imagine him being a rather tragic character swallowed by the madness of the galactic civil war, with the World Eaters providing a sense of purpose to the poor creature's violent existence.

Additional photography angels and musings in our Instagram feed!

Breaching the Rock - The Invasion of Fulgur

I still catch myself thinking back on the massive SN Battle Reports: No Retreat V experience we had a couple of weeks ago, enjoying the hobby and tabletop gaming in its ultimate form! The five Horus Heresy battles against magnificent armies on a luxury yacht sparked a proper gaming flame for the summertime and I can't wait to get back to the workshop desk for some new army and event schemes. The friendly discussions, inspiration and recognition will fuel these aspirations for a long time - the War Head World Eaters were commended with a SN Award (TOP5 exemplary Horus Heresy armies chosen by the event team) and with the Best Army Award (as voted by the participants). My big thanks for all the kind feedback, army votes and brilliant hobby chatter go to all of the skilled co-participants, hardworking event staff and the esteemed judge panel! This is a world class event with so much thought and effort going into it, and also seems to attract the best kind of people as participants.

My 3000 point army shared a lot with the previous iterations when it comes to the theme and playstyle, but it had been updated with many new units and additional XII Legion Culture. To complement the Jump Pack onslaught I added some skirmish elements, proving useful for countering Infiltration and providing me with an option of dividing the attack force into separate Deep Strike and Outflank detachments. I'd also completely redone the list's workhorse Red Butchers unit, retiring the Forge World models with new personalized scratchbuild conversions. There were also many narrative story hooks hidden within the modelling work and split between this main list and the optional one for Zone Mortalis games. More on these later!

Player: Teemu Valve
Army: XII World Eaters 308th Void Assault Brigade
Rite of War: Crimson Path
Allegiance: Traitoris Perdita

HQ1: Warmonger, Berzerker, Twin Lightning Claws, Warlord: Butcher's Claws [140]

HQ2: Master of Signals, Chainaxe [95]

HQ3: Delegatus, Falax Blades, Jump Pack [120]

HQ4: Command Squad, Jump Packs, Power Lance, Power Fist, Lightning Claws [145] 

ELITE1: The Red Butchers, 6 Terminators, Thunder Hammer and Power Fist [310]

ELITE2: The Red Hand, 7 Destroyers, Jump Packs, Chainaxes, Thunder Hammer, Artificer Armour, Lightning Claw [225]

ELITE3: Rampagers, 7 Falax Blades, Excoriator Chainaxe, Barb-Hook Lash, Jump Packs, Artificer Armour, Power Fist [370]

ELITE4: Rapier Platform, Quad Heavy Bolter [40]

TROOP1: Despoiler Squad, Chainaxes, Power Axe, Artificer Armour, Power Fist [130]

TROOP2: Assault Squad, Chainaxes, Power Axe, Plasma Pistol, Artificer Armour, Power Fist [185]

TROOP3: Recon Squad, 10 Recon Marines, Chainaxes, Shotgun, Power Fist [160]

TROOP4: Scout Squad, Chainaxes [65]

FAST1: 2 Javelin Attack Speeders, Chainaxes, Multi-Meltas, Lascannons [210]

FAST3: 2 Proteus Legion Land Speeders, Chainaxes, Multi-Meltas, Graviton Guns [190]

FAST3: 6 Sky-Hunters, Volkite Culverins, Chainaxes, Vexilla, Fist, Artificer Armour [265]

HEAVY1: Caestus Assault Ram "Commodus" [350]

Battle 1: Alpha Legion Headhunter Leviathal 

My first go against the Alpha Legion resulted in a tense deployment period as I was trying my best to avoid Headhunter infiltration wiping out my ground forces before the cavalry had a chance to arrive! I tried to block precision shots to the back lines with Recon Marine counter-infiltration which worked ok and bought the necessary time. Just as I had rolled my initial deep strike scatter a narrative event put a massive spin on the game - Horus' fleet was performing electronical jamming and all my opponent's Augury Scanners and Intercepting was turned off (as well as any following deep strikes scattering an additional dice). This left poor Jason's army completely at the World Eaters' mercy and I was able to wipe out most of the Alpha Legion board presence. The rival Dawnbreakers and Assault Marines arrived and performed a valiant counter-strike, but there was no recovering from the Kill Point deficit suffered on the initial onslaught. Jason took the misfortunes like a champ though and we had a good chat about our armies, tactics and the hobby in general.

Battle 2: The Primarch of the Imperial Fists

A rock-hard Imperial Fists Phalanx was led by Dorn himself in a scenario where three midfield objectives were used for progressive scoring. All Imperial Fist units were so incredibly robust that I found no easy targets, deciding early on to go for Line hunting. In the initial drop I was able to remove one Tactical horde and the Praetor's Command Squad, but made a mistake destroying the Spartan instead of the more mobile Leviathan that proved harmful later on. The Imperial Fists struck back, wiping out many of my elite units but left me in a position to kill off the last hostile Tactical Marines on my following turn. The maneuvers were done in very close quarters however and as I tried to reach the charge ranges Rogal Dorn stepped out, using the advanced reaction and clipping the wings of my ambitions. It finally took a long charge from the Huscarls to remove the World Eater Rampagers from another objective and the VII stood victorious with a couple points' margin. Fun, eventful and friendly game and it felt that with a bit better playing on my part the World Eaters could've gone for a result even facing the Sire of the Imperial Fists himself!

Battle 3: Dark Angels Castellans

Incredibly stylish and thematic Dark Angels deployed in a fortified battlefield third that also hosted all of the five objectives, setting up a defensive perimeter around their castle. This game saw waves of foul traitors crash against the knightly defenses in an epic and bloody contest, with the World Eaters gaining the upper hand thanks to fortunate rolling on the randomized victory points, leaving burnt objectives in their wake. While I made short work of the First Legion's scoring capacity, the intercepting Melta Leviathan was absolutely terrifying and Corswain with his Companions refused to give any quarter protecting their central keep. The game naturally concluded in the duel of the Warlords, with the Paladin of the Ninth Order beheading my Warmonger with ease. Splendid game against a most gentlemanly opponent, who also got my vote for the Players' Player award.

Battle 4: White Scars Chogorian Brotherhood

A rematch against Tim from No Retreat III - and a table full of eye candy in his magnificent White Scars. The scenario was a challenging one for my reserve based list, as we scored points from table segments at the beginning of our turns. Thinking back I probably should have kept some of the Jump Infantry on board to keep Tim on his toes, but lacking the experience decided to drop most of it. White Scars took the field and went way ahead in points, with World Eaters arriving late and attempting to mount a comeback. Turns two and three were absolutely brutal with most of the White Scars' strength swept off the board in a true Traitor shock assault, but Tim's masterful playing made sure I didn't really shake his faith in victory. The Rhinos were a menace once again, blocking movement and driving some of my units back, an absolute steal for their points value! Tim's special Destroyers hunted down my Outflanking scoring elements which meant that I couldn't complete the VP sprint in the end - the Loyal Scum ultimately took the game by a couple of points. Great study in sharp and calculative Heresy again, I'm always up for another lesson! 

Battle 5: Raven Guard, Host of the Shadowed Lord

The Raven Guard had an absolutely terrifying list with a murderous Corax + Dark Talons Deathstar, but absolutely superb gaming conduct to perfectly balance things out. Playing the Primarch in a rather reserved way Steve let me into the game and even after my disordered Deep Strike graciously placed my entire army in a way that we managed to have a proper scrap in the end. I had great time trying to conquer the battlefield center, watching Corax wreck my entire flank and backline and learning about the background story of the Deliverers, who proved to be more than worthy opponents for the many World Eater elites. Thanks to my list's mobility and Steven's gentlemanly attitude I managed to claw my way into a narrow victory in the end after triumphing against Raven Guard's MVP Tactical Marines on the final turn. What a fitting way to end the terrific wargaming weekend!

All of the games were quite evenly matched and I felt great using the newly-finished roster. I'll be tinkering with the Troops side of the list going forward, but I think most of the list is nailed down for the time being. With Ropecon's Show of Force and War Head's Civil War event in the distant horizon, it'll be a busy Summer!

Picture courtesy of SN Battle Reports. What a venue, I didn't think they could improve from last time but they outdid themselves once again!

No Retreat, no surrender!

The feed here has been on a bit of a hiatus as I've been buried in the preparations for the No Retreat Horus Heresy event by SN Battle Reports, the spectacular international gaming experience and  hobby holiday like no other. Now returning from the adventure it's time for debriefing and musings with another intense hobby marathon coming to a close - our time spent on the luxury yacht rolling dice, marveling at painting prowess and meeting incredible artists from around the globe have all left a deep sense of gratitude.

My sincere thanks go to the tireless team of SN Battle Reports who not only prepared a world-class venue, incredible story narrative and interesting mission pack for gaming, but also arranged swag bags, sightseeing tours, a sculpting masterclass as well as BBQ and dinners for us to enjoy. They went out of their way to look after our every need in a proper five star hobby and gaming paradise.

The team is celebrating their 10th anniversary this year and have already left a lasting mark on the international scene that I feel simply wouldn't be the same without their efforts. The inspiration, challenge and camaraderie the event provides is simply brilliant and the manner it leads the way in putting the hobby first is something that is very close to our hearts.

Massive thanks belong to the participants as well, arriving to the venue and instantly making a bunch of like-minded friends is so cool! The army parade on Sunday was a thrilling sight and sparked inspiration for so many projects and schemes. Well done everyone, big thanks for all of your hard work and hope to meet you again!

One cannot forget the home front either - the laborer's long hours spent hunched over the painting desk have surely been felt at home. Thanks Nelli for your patience and understanding in creating this adventure and joining us on it in the end!

The reportage and descriptions on the World Eater adventures coming soon!

No Retreat Army Parade Gallery (War Head Facebook)

Outcrop Errands

Amidst army painting and No Retreat event preparations we took a brief venture into the world of scenery building, producing a scratch-built terrain set for our customer's casual Age of Sigmar and WH40K gaming. The specs and recipes were clear after the customer specified they had liked one of our older terrain sets and we could base the style and colours on that established design. This way we got to get to work right away!

As usual the terrain needs were for chunky blocks of line of sight blocking terrain, but they were not intended for competitive play, so we had a lot of freedom with the size and shape of the individual pieces. The client already had forests as well as scatter terrain accessories in their collection, so we put all our efforts in rock formations and crags of varying sizes. The one exception was the ancient pillar formations that could offer a narrative centerpiece for the board and technically count as ruins.

The used materials here were Finnfoam insulation sheets, tile grout combined with water and PVA glue, orchid soil chunks, weathering powders, Green Stuff World XXL tufts, and Tree Bush Foliage blended into a "moss paste" with PVA and thinned down AK Interactive and Vallejo acrylics.

Echoes of Thracia, Act IV Visual Coverage

As the mighty relics recovered from the Thracian system have seen battle, their essence and abilities have grown ever stronger. During the ongoing conflict the artifacts have also changed hands between warlords as tokens of gratitude, aid deliveries or battlefield loot, and their gifts have been enjoyed by many.

Although some Legion Esoterists have delved deep into investigations regarding the history of Thracia Rex and the ancient relics recovered from its surface, their findings have been made too late. Raw powers of the Immaterium pulsate deceivingly within the artifacts, affecting the mind and very soul of the warriors in their vicinity. Ultimately this has led to some new splinter detachments of former Loyalists joining the Warmaster’s cause.

The near space of Thracia Rex’s Crown World has now been invaded, and Loyalist and Traitor fleets battle for control of the stratosphere. The awaited planetfall is only a matter of days and the desired bridgehead positions are already being drawn by the Legion specialists.

With the campaign entering its closing stages, trust is at its most fragile state…

+ Echoes of Thracia: Act IV Facebook Picture Gallery +

Cooper and the Gang

These Malifaux miniatures from the Lord Cooper Core Box were painted for a customer who'd also ordered a wild T-Rex 3D print to go with the gang! After some light conversion work and assembly effort we had a characterful crew to brush an earthy colour scheme on - the main inspiration was our Halloween Giants and their muted, medieval palette. The dinosaur had a lengthy tongue added to depict its in-game flail attacks - we used a 40K Tyranid tail shaped and bent into appropriate shape to achieve the effect. The basing follows the principle of a traditional forest floor with slightly mossy boulders.

Dwell in Darkness

These Blackstone Fortress Villains from the base set, Dreaded Ambull and Traitor Command expansions were painted for our customers existing collection, and matched to the overall vibe and basing style of the previously painted heroes. The palette here is a rather straightforward Chaos Renegade scheme with feral and militaristic details and warm color tones. These were then complemented with the cold hues in some of the creatures as well as the basing features.

The fearsome Ambull and vigilant Spindle Drones.

Arco-Flagellants and Rogue Psykers.

Armed Renegade Rabble with a Traitor Commissar.

And finally some imposing Heretic Astartes!

Cold North Open

Our friends from Cold Tones Society are back at the helm for Ropecon 2024 minipainting program and they have re-developed its traditional miniature painting contest - welcome to the Cold North Open! With an entirely new format and a number of categories to choose from, we expect a wicked show of miniature art after last year's magnificent example. We've got some entries in the works already - looking forward to the great community gathering in July!

+ Full event specs at Cold Tones Society +

Hungry for Glory

The Horus Heresy hype has swallowed our crew whole and we're planning and producing new 30K units in numbers - Ollie's Iron Warriors, Teemu's World Eaters, Noa's White Scars and Ville's Blood Angels are all taking shape rapidly. We're looking to host more campaign games for Echoes of Thracia soon, but are very much looking forward to getting personal games going as well. I'm hoping to get the Traitor Bootcamp underway with Ollie as his IV Legiones Astartes are completed, as we had many memorable and enlightening practice battles at the end of Heresy's first edition. The practical deployment always offers more in form of ideas and realization than merely spinning the scenarios in one's head!

These World Eaters were supposed to be the last additions to a completed 3000 point roster, but the Legacy PDF Errata quickly swept the list off its feet. Since the document dropped I've been tinkering with the army composition again - I'm excited about the current ideas too, just need many many hours at the workshop to see them realized in miniature form!

When building a unit I try to pay attention to the squad dynamics and how the model composition works for display purposes. A good example are the World Eater Despoiler squads, which have models kneeling, standing straight and in high ground on elevated scenic basing. This way the displayed squad members won't block the view to each other when the taller members are placed at the back, creating a graduated, picturesque look for the unit.

I feel this is even more important in army scale, as anything taller or bigger compared to the infantry will both add an eyecatching feature of its own but also makes the basic troopers stand out better - almost like "blacklining" for your army display. To me the coolest looking armies often have several of these levels - regular footsoldiers, tanks or monsters and preferably a tall flying feature to complete the "display trinity".

To start with, some Berzerker-based conversions that will serve as Rampagers in the main list, but also worked as stand-ins for an imposing Assault Squad in our patrol games.

Void Assault Bridge Seekers - a small unit with a lot of tricks up its sleeve, I'd definitely run something like this again in the future patrol clashes.

Another unit chosen because of its rarity and tricky little rules, it was also exciting to craft World Eaters with guns! These would be a set of stable(r) individuals in the 308th Void Assault that had the task of locating and demolishing the hostile spacecraft's command bridge, eliminating the essential crew and crippling the ship's key functions with demolitions. The cowled Grey Knight head has a sweet vibe of an astronaut kit, I was happy to finally get to use them in the space raiding Traitor army.

Sense of momentum is often one of the things we look to introduce with a conversion, and sometimes just tilting the model a bit on angled or elevated surface is enough to achieve that. Seeker Sergeant has access to a Disintegrator rifle - the Anniversary Imperial Space Marine graciously borrowed his for the good cause.

Funny how the kneeling pose, drum magazine and the bipods make the ordinary boltgun operator look like a heavy weapon gunner - a neat way to imagine differing roles within a squad while maintaining wysiwyg protocols!

I recently tinkered with my main army list and thought that building a small jump pack Command would be both a great addition to the roster as well as an enjoyable hobby project. The traditional Death Guard "denurglifying" route felt interesting and the Dark Imperium parts were inspiring to work with - also added a new, heavy armour look to the force.

Originating from the recruiting world of Bodt, Savard Vane became known as an exceptionally cruel Pit Fighter Taskmaster. His martial prowess and natural authority led to a rise in the ranks of the starfaring World Eaters and as the Solar War ignited, Vane became the Lictor-Delegatus for Praetor Eden Garrax. A heavily armoured Consul with a brutal caedere weapon and a couple of pirate features to fit the Void Assault theme! The Death Guard plastics have a great sense of movement going on and work superbly as a base for dynamic characters.

The Command Squad Standard Bearer was a bit tricky - I don't see the force carrying banners around for many reasons. To begin with they're berserk World Eaters, most are jump infantry and the long flag or vexilla poles don't combine well with the confined corridors of besieged space vessels! Therefore I felt that a captured enemy standard would work better, and the encouragement the sinister traitors would get from a fallen and defiled imperial icon felt appropriate to count as a Company Standard. The beat Contemptor forms a mini scene in the broken pieces between the Standard bearer and Delegatus bases.

A power lance, as it's always cool to see exotic or suboptimal weapon selections! I'd wish Heresy to be a game and a community where treading a bit off-meta is not shooting yourself in the foot - it shouldn't be mandatory to start writing the roster by lining up 10 Lascannons! I've enjoyed the casual take most events I've been to have implemented, and will uphold the same 'hobby first' values in our own as well.

A brute in power armour. Unstoppable force. Brutal and murderous without heraldry or decorations, lightning claws to complete the World Eaters Command Squad.

My roster philosophy was to try out as many units as possible that probably wouldn't feature in my main list, perhaps because of their role or like in this case the fact that I never have any open Fast Attack slots! These jetbikes to me are one of the iconic Horus Heresy silhouettes and it was sweet to finally paint some. After the KuoFi Siege of Terra campaign my World Eater vibe has leant increasingly on late Heresy and all kinds of chaotic details have begun to emerge. Spikes were a bit over the top but fitting to the brutal World Eater look. The payload of such a small unit was quite a punch in the patrol environment, always fun to roll a pile of dice!

Void Assault Rapier Carrier "Salvation". These mobile gun carriers were used by the 308th Void Assault Brigade as brutal "roadblocks" in Zone Mortalis environments, where a gun carrier could be used to obstruct defensive maneuvers and isolate sections of the ship during a boarding operation. These war machines particularly often served a sadistic purpose of blocking access to evacuation bays or escape hatches, leaving the fleeing crew trapped between World Eater chainaxes and the hail of bolter fire. In the conversion a Thunderfire Cannon platform was combined with some generic vehicle parts and the Stormlord gatling guns. I also played with the "character" of the gun a bit and added a lower jaw as a World Eater heraldry reference. The feature made me envision how the surviving Rapiers could have developed sinister machine spirits and turned into blood-hungry daemon engines over the later centuries!

The latest additions to the 308th Void Assault. 

Blood is forever!