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!

Show of Force: Ropecon 2024 Army Gallery

+ In English Here +

War Head kutsuu Suomen figupelaajat ja -maalaajat mukaan Show of Force -armeijagalleriaan! Ropeconissa 2024 järjestetään avoin armeijamaalauskilpailu, jossa yksityiskokoelmien makeimmat miniatyyrit kootaan näyttäville esittelyalustoille coniyleisön ihasteltaviksi. Show of Forcen henkinen esikuva on Games Workshopin Armies on Parade -kilpailu, mutta osallistuvien figujen ja teemojen ei tässä tapauksessa tarvitse olla GW-tuotantoa. Kaikki figut ja pelijärjestelmät ovat tervetulleita!

+ Show of Force 2023 -kuvagalleria Facebookissa +

+ Show of Force 2023 -tulospalvelu War Head -sivustolla +

Show of Force -armeijagalleria ja maalauskilpailu järjestetään Ropecon 2024 -tapahtumassa Helsingin Messukeskuksessa lauantaina 20. heinäkuuta. Ohjelmanumeron tarkempi sijainti tapahtuma-alueella on Halli 5B Näyttelyalue. Mahdolliset muutokset kannattaa tarkistaa virallisesta Ropecon-ohjelmaoppaasta.

Kilpailutöitä otetaan vastaan lauantaina 10-13:00 välisenä aikana. Teokset jätetään näytille erilliselle galleria-alueelle conivieraiden ja tuomariston ihasteltavaksi. Osallistuminen ja töiden jättäminen kilpailulle rajatulle alueelle tapahtuu osallistujien omalla vastuulla. Yleisöäänestys järjestetään lauantaina 13-18:00 ja skaban tulokset julkistetaan kilpailupaikalla lauantaina 18:30. Omat teokset kerätään tämän jälkeen talteen ja näyttelyalueen halli sulkeutuu 19:00.

Show of Force -armeijagallerian säännöt

- Ennakkoilmoittautumista ei tarvita, paikalle voi vain saapua oman kisatyön kanssa.

- Kaikkien esiteltävien miniatyyrien tulee olla valmiiksi koottuja, beissattuja ja maalattuja.

- Display Board saa olla enintään 24"x24" (61x61cm) -kokoinen, korkeutta ei ole rajattu. Tämä on myös järjestäjän virallinen suosituskoko, jota toivotaan käytettäväksi.

- Esiteltävän armeijan olisi hyvä koostua useammasta yksiköstä, mutta sen ei tarvitse olla sääntöjen mukaan pelikelpoinen kokonaisuus. 

- Figujen mittakaavaa ei ole rajattu, mutta kaikki kisatyöt arvostellaan samassa teemakategoriassa skaalasta riippumatta.

- Töiden arvostelussa kiinnitetään huomiota paitsi miniatyyrien tekniseen toteutukseen, myös erityisesti teoksen teemaan, tunnelmaan ja omaperäisyyteen - millaisen tarinan armeijakokonaisuus kertoo ja kuinka ympäröivä maisema tai miljöö tukee armeijan narratiivia.

- Kilpailun kuvagalleria julkaistaan viimeistään Ropeconin jälkeisellä viikolla War Headin somekanavissa Facebookissa ja Instagramissa.

- Kysyttävää? Viestitä tiedustelut järkkäritiimille sähköpostitse contact@gowarhead.com ja palaamme asiaan!

Kategoriat ja palkinnot

War Headin raati palkitsee Show of Force -osallistujien joukosta seuraavat teokset:

• Paras Scifi-kokonaisuus (esimerkiksi Warhammer 40,000 tai Star Wars Legions)
• Paras Fantasiakokonaisuus (esimerkiksi Age of Sigmar tai Lord of the Rings)
• Paras Historiallinen kokonaisuus (esimerkiksi Bolt Action tai Hail Caesar).
• Yleisön suosikki (eniten Ropecon-viikonlopun aikana yleisöääniä saanut teos)

Organisaatio

War Head on suomalainen miniatyyripelikollektiivi, joka on elänyt ja hengittänyt figuharrastusta tiiviinä ryhmänä jo yli vuosikymmenen. Tiimi on järjestänyt tai ollut mukana tukemassa toistasataa kansallista turnaustapahtumaa, miniatyyrimaalauskilpailua ja harrastuksen esittelytilaisuutta. Inspiraatiota, meriittejä ja maalauskilpailumenestystä on haettu myös kansainvälisistä tapahtumista niin pelien kuin maalauksenkin saralla ja filosofia on selvä - jokainen maalattu figu tekee maailmasta paremman paikan.

Nyt on aika laittaa valmistelut vireille, maalailemisiin!

The Recipe Bandits

In continuation of last episode...

In our recent Halloween games the adventurers got a surprise of their lives as they stepped into the woods surrounding the town of Saint Thracius! What was supposed to be a simple mission of tracking down a cohort of Beastmen bandits (the party responsible of stealing the Great Pumpking's favourite pie recipe) turned out to be a giant quest...

As it was the spooky season, Ollie reinforced his old Age of Sigmar Beastmen army with a trio of horrifying giants, each lovingly crafted to a unique character of its own with a number of horror movie references hidden in the intricate conversions and the paintjob. These appeared in the game one by one and the participants couldn't anticipate the coming of the monstrosities beforehand - the appearance of each one was a proper curveball on the in-game situation and the players' tactics. Super fun!

What makes these giants extra special is that they're brilliantly integrated to the fantasy lore of Thracia Rex, with the modelled and painted details as well as colour choices referencing either the feudal world gaming board or our other Halloween armies. Projects like this are exciting to be a part of, and each year the universe we've built together becomes a bit larger and more colourful.

Watch out for the entire Giant Gallery on Facebook!