Civil War Rising

It's the Civil War season and the big day is a mere month away! Our annual "main event" for War Head crew's internal bragging rights and shared hobby inspiration is played on Saturday 28th of September. The occasion is very much already messing with our heads - is there enough time to prepare all the secret schemes, what wicked plans others might be cooking, and how are the exciting games going to unfold as it's finally time to deploy?

The Civil War event pack including the Patrol army building rules, scenarios and multiplayer special features are described below in the Civil War VI Player Primer - we encourage everyone to try out the compact "grassroots skirmishing" with compressed Horus Heresy rosters in good company! We've quite enjoyed the low threshold it introduces to building new, thematic armies in a reasonable timeframe, as well as the refreshing scale of patrol gaming where the Tactical Marine is the king.

+ Civil War VI Player Primer +

+ Past Civil War Coverage +

Wild Riding

The implacable Wraithlord

The latest in the completed commissions department is this detachment of Saim-Hann Craftworld Aeldari, assembled and painted for a playing customer. The compact army includes some signature Jetbike troops, some elite Aspect Warriors and a contingent of Wraith constructs led by a pair of Spiritseers. With these we tried out a restricted palette, building nearly every colour (including red) over Citadel Incubi Darkness, giving a deep, cold hue to contrast the flaming red primary colour of the force.

In the leaders and elites we flipped the scheme around to feature the red merely in the accents and based their palette mostly on blues and whites. The HQ shine in white robes, whereas Aspect Warriors have a dark "commando" look in their panoply. We feel it's important to maintain a cohesive look in the army, so same colours have been used throughout the detachment in different combinations. Basing has been kept ascetic according to the customer's wishes.

Wraithlord, Wave Serpent and the Guardian Support Weapon Platforms were also made with interchangeable weaponry, different options allowing differing battlefield roles during gameplay. The Jetbikes are also not glued to their flying stands to allow manual repositioning for display and gaming.

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!