April 2008 – Issue #6
Art by Tim Divar
Editorial
WHAT WE GOT HERE IS... FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE. Firebase is a man-eater. I am convinced this magazine seduces the hearts of its masters and devours them with a voracious appetite. A mere six issues have passed and already three lovers have been entirely consumed. But I say no more to this wickedness! This mighty magazine, full of promise and feral complexity, shall be tamed. Together with my accomplished and ever increasing cohort Firebase will become more elegant, distinguished, enlightening, and dare I say regularly released? Aye, I do!
my grubby little hands firmly grasping the helm I hope to do my part in guiding this magazine to the heights previous editors have promised. I will not lie. This responsibility is unnerving to say the least but I refuse to falter in my mission. I give praise to The God-Emperor that I am joined by like-minded devotees; we will support each other in the gallant and righteous cause we set for ourselves…. Our intention is that Firebase will not just remain great, but that Firebase will become illustrious. -Gabriel “Gabe” Schrock, Editor
Dear faithful and new readers both, my name is Gabriel Schrock. I am the newest sacrificial lamb to be offered up as the editor of Firebase. I’ve been on the staff since the second issue and have been a gung-ho little monkey from the very first day, but now with
FIREBASE STAFF Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabriel Schrock Specialist Games Editor . . . . Ben Skinner Advisor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adam Smith Design & Layout . . . . . . . . . .Jon Mattison Jon Webb Proofreaders . . . . . . . . . . Greg Alexander Patrick Cullen James Maliska Matthew Phelps
STAFF Cover Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tim Divar Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Travis Andrews Nacho Fernandez Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Solomon Paul Wantland Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rens Jansen
FIREBASE is published every three months in association with Warseer.com. All text and layout remains the copyright of FIREBASE. FIREBASE is a fully independent publication and its views are not the views of any company mentioned herein. All characters and artwork shown in this magazine remain the © and trademark of their respective owners. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the express permission of the Editor or Deputy Editor. FIREBASE can accept no responsibility for inaccuracies or complaints arising from editorial or advertising within this magazine. All letters and emails received will be considered for publication, but we cannot always provide personal replies.
Writers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Glaeser Timo Lorenz David McGuire Brian Solomon
This fanzine is completely unofficial and in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited. FIREBASE is a nonprofit making fanzine with the aim of promoting Games Workshop games, products and hobby. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Table of Contents
IN THIS ISSUE
16
43
51
48
News from the Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Imperial Register. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Interview: Bell of Lost Souls . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Comic: Misfire! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Painting: Eldar Masterclass . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Conversions: Scratch Built Tau Remora . .27 Tutorial: Cadian Plastics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33 Tutorial: Advanced Urban Basing . . . . . . .43 Terrain Building for Dummies . . . . . . . . . .48 Bat Rep: Tau v Tau v Tau. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51 Snikrot and Ork Kommando Tactika . . . . .66 Introducing Youngsters to the Hobby . . .68 Fiction: Countdown to Midnight. . . . . . . .71 Dark Heresy: Genestealer Cults . . . . . . . .85 Specialist Games Supplement . . . . . . . . .86 Teaser: Issue 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87
There has been a delay in transmission, the Specialist Games supplement will be included in a future download. Watch for it to be uploaded to warseer.com/firebasemag soon.
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Book Reviews
NEWS FROM THE LIBRARY This issue has it all. Ranging from perfect to not worth reading, two artefact books, a new Chaos novel, many gruesome ways of dying, and a new Gaunt’s Ghost novel (in which case I highly recommend you read the ten preceeding novels first). Do you have any requests for reviews of older novels or would like to express your opinion on recent works? Go ahead and send an email to
[email protected], I’m looking forward to hearing from you all. On to the reviews! Timo Lorenz Brother Marine of the Book Worm Chapter
Dark Apostle — Anthony Reynolds Horror movies have been raising the bar on barbarity and revulsion - as of late, the Black Library has jumped on this bandwagon and will hopefully continue to do so regarding their Chaos novels. After C.L. Werner’s mucous Warhammer Fantasy book “Palace of the Plague Lord”, Anthony Reynolds now brings us a new 40k Chaos novel. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
He presents Chaos and its followers as they should be presented: torturing, traitorous, mass murdering and corruptive to both body and soul. Dark Apostle Jarulek and his gang of Word Bearers take over the imperial planet of Tanakreg, enslaving the population in order to force them to build a gigantic tower. Needless to say, in this endeavour he also knows to make use of the millions of corpses which his attack has left. An armada of the Imperial Guard and the Adeptus Mechanicus arrive, hurling their soldiers and servitors at the feet of the corrupt Word Bearers. In particular, the description of how Defilers and Dreadnoughts are sent into battle bound in chains so making use of the lives of slaves may calm them down, if needed, is very well thought through. Anthony Reynolds manages to shed some light on single characters in the course of this meat grinder-like novel, letting them walk a tightrope between hope and absolute distress. All in all, this is a very good novel, its style befitting the dark atmosphere of Chaos. Next winter’s release of “Dark Disciple” is something to be sadistically thrilled about.
Only in Death – Dan Abnett Brought to us by none other than Dan Abnett “Only in Death” is the eleventh novel in the Gaunt’s Ghost series. What will the Tanith Firstand-Only encounter this time? You have every right to be curious! The regiment is to explore and occupy an old house in the fortress world of Jago, known as the Hinzerhaus. Upon arriving, the First-and-Only does not only have to endure the dust storms of Jago, and the lack of supplies, but also rumours about eerie sightings. Nothing is as it seems in the Hinzerhaus, there are noises coming from all over and the maps are as good as useless. Like this isn’t enough to deal with already, the building is smack in the way the Blood Pact is using to advance, and the staff division’s orders are “halt until supplies arrive”. A race for life and death ensues. Once again Dan Abnett makes you say, “This is the best novel in the Gaunt series”. He finds a fresh tantalizing plot as well as new character developments every time. The reader always ends up surprised. You can’t put this book down until you’ve reached the “about the author” section.
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Book Reviews The Imperial Munitorum Manual — Graham McNeill The Black Library’s “Artefact” books always bear a great amount of attention to detail. Accordingly, the “Imperial Munitorum Manual” does too. This book resembles vintage writings with its slightly yellowed pages, its sketches and drawings (unfortunately not all of these are new). To be honest, this book even smells old. Nine sections all told proceed to explain the history of the Departmento Munitorium, the Imperial Army’s structure, and the equipment of soldiers and staff. It also elucidates the correct way of filling out the “easily understandable forms” for all requirements of your daily life on the front, as well as all the punishments and procedures following the incorrect handling of the issued documents. The best part of this book is this: “The Departmento Munitorum recognises that waging combat operations is stressful, but no matter how terrible and brutal the fighting, there is no excuse for poor manners.” Once again the Black Library proves that their background books are more than just plain written words; they are true collector’s items, not really exciting for the general reader but a definite must-have for an aficionado! Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
Imperial Infantryman´s Uplifting Primer, Damocles Gulf Edition — Matt Ralphs Shortly after the release of the “Imperial Munitorum Manual”, the Black Library provided us with a second “Artefact” book, which is able to top its predecessor. While the design is similar, including yellowed pages and the distinct smell of old literature, this Primer delivers a lot more “humour” in the form of Imperial propaganda, an appropriate design, new art work and very useful tips. The book contains everything a fresh Imperial Guard recruit needs to know: chapters on punishment, equipment, command structure, enemies, first aid, tactics, the proper behavior during warp passage, and an annex with the most useful prayers for the battle field. Honestly, it is hard to figure out where to start praising this book. Not only do the survival tips range from building a trap to removing leeches from one’s anus, it is also written in a very proficient and humorous style. The inherent propaganda is unmatched; it constantly provokes the reader to smirk. The Empire’s antagonists are degraded to the lowest level of ridiculousness, be they Tyranids, Eldar or Orks. Everyone is put into perspective. The Tau receive special attention since this is the Damocles Gulf Edition.
The reader finds out what happens to Imperial citizens that get involved with the Xenos, why the Tau are even bigger filth than all other races of the Xenos, and with what kind of inferior technology they try to copy the products of the Adeptus Mechanicus. A rather impressive piece of advice is, “Tau are frightened by thunder.” What’s left to say? An Imperial gamer not carrying this opus in his pocket should be reported immediately to his Commissar for due punishment! Star of Damocles — Andy Hoare From childhood on you are told not to judge a book by its cover, but maybe I should have forgone this advice just once. “Star of Damocles” is one of the weakest novels in the universe of 40K. In this second book of the Rogue Trader series, the Patriarch Lucian Gerrit crosses the Damocles Gulf with his family and a crusade in order to forge ahead into the Tau domain. In the course of this, he is betrayed by part of his family. Now this sounds like it might be tantalizing, yet unfortunately it is not. Events are lined up one after the other without being given any depth at all. A few space battles, a conspiracy, and a dash of the mysterious simply trail one another. Among the latter is the appearance of an abandoned crusade 6
Book Reviews space ship in the Warp. Unfortunately, this event is in no way satisfactorily described. The only bright spot within this novel is the entrance of a demonic being into Lucian Gerrit’s ship during the Warp transit. However, this event is cut off far too quickly as well. Since all strands of the plot are left open for the next episode, this novel leaves the reader feeling unsatisfied. This is not at all part of the high quality series we have become accustomed to thanks to William King or Dan Abnett.
a gigantic crusade to exterminate the great beasts. Some orders consider this a danger to the old system, therefore an obstacle standing in his way. After the crusade has ended, the Imperial troops land, and the Dark Angels are founded. Only the youngest aspirants become Space Marines, while the old knights serve as their leaders. Scanlon dwells on the issue of the character’s connections, which will later lead to the Dark Angel’s fall, a tad too much.
I must confess I was glad when I reached the book’s last page because it meant I could finally grab another novel.
The plot appears to be rushed after the Imperator’s arrival, as though a page restriction had been imposed upon the author.
Descent of Angels — Mitchel Scanlon “Descent of Angels” is novel six in the Horus Heresy series, yet it does not seem to mesh consistently.
The existence of Warp beasts and demons is accepted rather quickly. The topic is approached in too light-hearted a manner, seeing how the other novels convey great amounts of skepticism.
From the viewpoint of the young aspiring knight Zahariel, Mitchel Scanlon describes the feudal world Caliban - a world where knightly orders are fighting the great beasts that control the forests.
This novel would be more suspenseful as a Fantasy/40K Crossover like Ben Counter’s “Demon World” novel. It would allow the reader greater insight into life on a medieval world in the 40K universe.
The story is set before the Imperator’s landing on Caliban, allowing us to gain detailed insight into the knights’ quests. War breaks out after Lion El’Jonson, the future Primarch of the Dark Angels, initiates
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As a Horus Heresy novel however, it leaves a bitter aftertaste, which will hopefully be flushed away with part seven, Dan Abnett’s “Legion”; the history of the Alpha Legion
Legion – Dan Abnett I used to know a boy who watched The Lord of the Rings over and over, and in the scene where Aragorn beheads Lurtz, he always yelled "He did it again!" every time. That's kind of how I feel when I read Dan Abnett's novels. The 7th volume of the Horus Heresy delivers a new viewpoint, as well as new actors behind the Heresy and a view into the actions and motives of the Alpha Legion. Two years before the Heresy, the 670th Imperial Expedition Fleet is fighting on Planet Nurth. Their crusade has come to a stop: the Nurthene are offering fierce resistance. It is only after the Astartes of the Alpha Legion arrive that they begin to succeed. But has the legion just arrived on the planet or have they been there for some time? And why does it seem like Primarch Alpharius is in several places simultaneously? This is where Dan Abnett's new achievement starts. When reading about Space Marines, we expect smouldering bolters and heroic deeds. Instead, he brings us Astartes who seem to be filled with secrets and lies, and whose agenda is concealed. By doing so, he completely detracts the readers' attention from the battle field. 7
Book Reviews There are not many fighting scenes for a 40K novel, the plot focuses on secrets, deception, and lies, and that is exactly what makes this novel so refreshingly different. The Alpha Legion is not the only force cultivating betrayal and lies. We are introduced to a new group that are interested in the humans' affairs, the Cabal, who are trying to acquire information about the Astartes through one of their agents. I really don't want to go give away too many details of the plot because you definitely have to enjoy the web of schemes in its entirety. I would hate to even remotely reveal any part. I'll just say one thing. This book is a thriller for all readers who love to uncover a story of betrayal and counter-betrayal. It is suspenseful right until the end; Dan Abnett has delivered another fantastic novel! ”He did it again! Desert Raiders — Lucien Soulban In this fourth Imperial Guard novel, Lucien Soulban, scriptwriter of the Dawn of War computer games, presents a heroic epic of the Tallarn Desert Raiders and their desperate struggle on the desert planet Khadar.
Since the fleet is ordered to a new area of conflict, the regiment is left on the planet. Problems arise from the start. Not only was the regiment supplied with 200 rafts and tons of green camouflage instead of water and solar plants, it is also made up of enemy tribes. The 892nd Tallarn consists of the Turenag and the Banna, who have been wrapped up in a blood feud for centuries. Obviously it is not surprising that all sorts of “accidents” keep occurring. Again and again soldiers are being sent to their death to buy time for the regiment. Sentinels are sent out as bait to lure the Xenos horde away from the Tallarn base and a desert race until death ensues. Heavy support squads fire missile upon missile into the attackers’ backs until their mined positions are taken over. It is only when an alien ship crashes into the desert sand that they are able to settle their differences. A bigger enemy has landed on Khadar: the Tyranids have arrived. From this moment on, Lucien Soulban provides us with high-speed action paired with a mix of honor, courage, and desperation. “Desert Raiders” is a well-written novel. The author supplies entertainment from cover to cover, nothing less should be expected.
A regiment is dropped off on the planet Khadar in response to an emergency signal.
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Imperial Register The Imperial Register opens its books with more ideas and units to try! As always, these rules are not ‘official’ and will require your opponent’s permission if you want to use them. Nevertheless, this series will cover new ground in an effort to make games more enjoyable and give armies greater depth and theme. What would the Imperial Register be, however, without reader submissions? Do you have an idea for a unit, piece of wargear, or a new ability? Send us an email and let us know about it! This issue we explore pets for the Imperial Guard and the mysterious Venenum assassins for all you Inquisition players out there…
THE IMPERIAL REGISTER by Mike Glaeser Welcome, citizen. The High Lords of Terra have expressed grave concern over the lack of chapter approved material caused by a worrying absence of scriveners. Despite this, it has now been deemed a suitable time to re-open this weighty tome so that citizens everywhere may bask in the enlightenment and glory that is the Imperium and our most beneficent God-Emperor. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
IMPERIAL GUARD: OFFICER’S PETS Pets are very common within the ranks of the Imperial Guard. Most are small indigenous animals adopted by Guardsmen in the trenches, but within the higher echelons of the Guard, officers are accompanied by all manner of exotic animals ranging from the finest breeds of Terran dogs to majestic dualheaded eagles. A successful commander might have gathered enough money or friends in high places to get his pet excessive bionic augmentations. The end result is a metal hybrid that will viciously defend its master with its brutal metal claws and razor sharp teeth, while bullets and blades simply bounce off its armoured hide.
Officer’s Pets Pts 8
WS BS 3 0
S 4
T 3
W 1
I –
A 1
Ld Sv 5 4+/6+
Number/Squad: 1-2 per officer. They are part of the officer’s command squad and deploy with them. The pets count towards the officer’s wargear limit. Weapons: Teeth and claws. Special Rules: Protect your Master!: The pet does not strike normally in close combat. Instead, it inflicts an automatic strength 4 hit before any other attacks are made. Roll to wound and save as normal. Loyal, Even Unto Death: The pet must always remain in base to base contact with the officer. The officer may choose to allocate a single wound onto his pet per turn. This must be declared before any armor saves are taken. Roll to save as normal. 9
Imperial Register VENENUM TEMPLE ASSASSIN Even more secretive than the four major temples, the Venenum assassins are masters of toxins and poisoning. Their handiwork goes unnoticed until the enemy suddenly collapses in spasms and dies, the victims of the Emperor’s justice. Venenum assassins are rarely seen, relying on stealth and subterfuge to infiltrate enemy areas. When confronted, the assassins defend themselves with transparent globes filled with the most toxic gases that can cripple or kill almost anything within
seconds. Even the best rebreathers and chem suits cannot offer sufficient protection, though the assassins themselves seem to remain unharmed. In addition, every assassin carries a form of weapon generally called the “Taste of Death”. In most cases, it is a blade coated in a combination of lethal poisons that can kill by the slightest cut. Many argue that dying at the hands of an Eversor is a blessed mercy, compared to the agonising suffering inflicted by the Venenum. Venenum Temple Assassin Pts 105
WS BS 5 5
S 4
T 4
W 2
0-1 I 5
A 3
Ld Sv 10 4++
Number/Squad: The Venenum assassin is as an elites choice and may be used with the Daemonhunter and Witchunter Codicies. Weapons: Taste of Death, Whispers on the Wind
The blast templates MUST be placed end to end in some way even if that means that some of the unit might not be covered. They cannot be stacked. Poisoned Aura: The assassin is shrouded by a nigh invisible cloud of toxic fumes that leak from its equipment pouches. All units within 12” of the assassin are at -1 Initiative and -1 Strength as they collapse to the ground, retching as they breathe the poisonous gases. Poisoned Aura also counts as frag grenades. Subterfuge: At the start of the game, the enemy commander (designated by the model’s owner) takes an automatic strength 4 wound, the victim of a spiked drink. Normal saves may be taken.
Special Rules: Generic Assassin Rules can be found in either the Daemonhunters or Witchunters Codicies. Taste of Death: A weapon that can only be used in close combat, the Taste of Death always wounds on a 4+ regardless of the target’s toughness and ignores armor saves (Invulnerable saves can still be taken).
Artist: Chris Salman Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
Whispers on the Wind: In the shooting phase, the assassin may throw a barrage of poison grenades at an enemy unit. The Whispers on the Wind have the following profile: Range: 12”, Strength: 3, AP: 3, Assault 3, Small Blast, Pinning 10
Interview: Bell of Lost Souls
Q&A WITH THE FLY LORDS OF TERRA The Bell of Lost Souls (http://belloflostsouls. blogspot.com) has become one of the most prominent and well-regarded 40K fansites on the internet over the past year. Based in Austin, Texas, the Fly Lords of Terra put out a steady stream of fantastic hobby content, such as the 88-page “Warhammer 30,000: Battles in the Age of Heresy” rulebook; detailing the forces of both Loyalists and Traitors during the Horus Heresy. As well as
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
including Company-level data sheets for each of the Legions. In November, two of the Fly Lords; Monty Kerr (mkerr) and Larry Vela (bigred) were kind enough to sit down and do a phone interview with FIREBASE about a number of topics about their site, their interests and their contributions to the hobby.
On the response to the site: Monty: We’ve been really surprised at how welcome our site has been, and how much people like our material. We brought a softcover version of our Horus Heresy campaign book along to the Baltimore Grand Tournament, and universally, we had people asking “how do I get a copy of this?” We showed the book to Dave Taylor and Jeremy Vetock. Dave Taylor said he wants
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Interview: Bell of Lost Souls two: one for his shelf at home, and one to chain to his ‘cube’ at the office, so that people can come by and see it. He doesn’t want to lose it! When we talked to Jeremy Vetock, he said that this is exactly what the community needs. Usually, what GW receives from the community is the sort of feedback they got with ‘Lash of Submission’ – it came back to them in exactly the wrong way. It’s always a pleasure for them when they put material out to the community, like Apocalypse and the Horus Heresy books, and it comes back better. That’s what we try to do with the site - take rules and ideas, sending it out to the community, and having people send in feedback, and really enjoy the whole experience, rather than come up with a game/tournament exploit. People seem to really be interested so far, and it’s been a great experience. On the articles that helped jump-start their site’s popularity: Monty: I think there are two areas that really started to get us going. Some of out first big articles were my ‘abusive tactics’ for Witch Hunters and Daemon Hunters. I wrote them because I want people talking about the game. What I found was that, on places like Warseer, it was volatile discussions about tactics like this that led to people thinking about the rules for the game in a different way. I’ve been playing Witch Hunters and Daemon Hunters for a long time, and what
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
I found was that no one really seemed to know how to play them. Almost every player used them the wrong way. So, I wrote posts on Warseer saying ‘well, here’s how you can use them, here are things you can do,’ and in those conversations, we came up with some dirty tricks, like the Vindicare being able to target friendly models. I think its dirty tricks like that which initially got attention for my articles. People would fight and argue, but it would get people thinking about how to use those armies. Now, I think we see more people using Daemonhunters and Witchhunters than they have in the last five years. We’ve gotten so many letters from people who say that they’ve picked up an Inquisitorial army because of your tactica. The other big series was Larry’s decal sheets. When he started making pre-Heresy decal sheets, and decals for Chapters that didn’t have them previously, we got a ton of hits. The pre-Heresy group in particularly is extremely loyal. Larry: I’ve been a player since Rogue Trader, and pretty much, there’s always been a little sub-culture of pre-Heresy players. I don’t want to congratulate ourselves or anything, but over the past six months, since we started pushing a lot of pre-Heresy stuff decals, titans, the Age of Heresy book - there have been a ton of people starting up preHeresy armies. You go on eBay or Warseer, and you find people building and trying to find old resin Titans. Fundamentally, people think Titans are cool, pre-Heresy is cool, and
I thought ‘Ok, great! I have an interest in it, I have these old magazines going back twenty years now, so let’s dredge up all these old materials, all these new novels, and make something interesting out of it. Monty: That’s an important part, too. When the new novels started coming out, people started thinking more about the Horus Heresy, and it was almost a coincidence that these books started coming out as we were starting pre-Heresy armies, and a pre-Heresy league. Another big article was a two-part article on Lash of Submission that I wrote. We were sent an early playtest copy of the new Chaos Codex, and we started playing with it on our own, and we started putting things up on the blog about out experiences playtesting. Lash was probably the hottest topic we’ve ever had. Everyone came down on one side or another of the issue, and we actually expected it to break the tournament scene. In our preview copy, in fact, Lash had an unlimited range, and one of the few changes we saw between our copy and the final version was giving Lash a 24” range. Hopefully, our discussions online about Lash were helpful, and we got the designers thinking about the potential for abuse in that one rule. On “Official” rumor sources: Monty: We get our previews the same way as everyone else – leaks. We do have sources outside of GW, however, and they’ve proven
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Interview: Bell of Lost Souls reliable. One of the biggest arguments we have, Larry and I, is which rumors do we put up? Which are viable? When you see rumors up on the blog, it’s the product of a long discussion about what to put out to the public. Larry: As the site has grown, we’ve seen a marked increase in anonymous things that show up. People can’t resist spilling what they have. Monty: I mean, we chat with the developers, and we’re on the board for Adepticon, so we’ll sometimes hear things through those connections, but very rarely is it anything that isn’t already out there in the community. People think that there’s a revolving door of information coming from GW, but there’s really not. The official line is very tight. We find out more from the retailers, or people who overhear or see things than we do from any official source, by far. I mean, at first, when we started the site, we thought there must be an “official leak”, and thought “Oh, if we get that big, they’ll contact us and say ‘Hey, you should tell people about this new Ork Codex…’”, but we don’t get anything out of official GW sources. They’re very good about that. We talk to Dave Taylor every few weeks, and he tells us nothing about what’s coming. As an example, when we sat down with Jeremy Vetock, he was really eager to talk to us, which was great. We tried to pry some information out of him, and he finally told us five things, and we thought “Great! We’ve got Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
these exclusive rumors!” Ten minutes later, he gets up in front of a room full of people and tells them the same five things! He wouldn’t tell us anything he couldn’t tell everyone. We know the Studio is reading us now, though. When we interview people, they’re familiar with our site. People check our site every day, which is really satisfying. The Genesis of the Bell of Lost Souls: Monty: We’ve been doing campaigns for ten years, but we might as well have not done them, because all we have is memories, and some weird models that we’ll never use again. So, the site really started just for us, as a way to keep a record of all the things we’ve done. Really, the most surprising thing, for us, was that anyone would read what we do. To me, it seems like it’d be really tedious, like listening to someone talk about their D&D character – “Oh, y’know, that’s great that you had a really good game, and you beat that guy.’ But, people like reading battle reports. People like reading our opinions on the game. Really, though, it’s all Larry. The whole site’s Larry. We’ve got something like four contributors, but all of us added together – multiplied, even – don’t do as much as Larry. This is definitely his passion. I do the tactica, and Brad (Bulwark) will be integral once the Ork Codex comes out. He just lives and breathes Orks. He’s our conversion guy, and just builds crazy stuff. Larry: Brad is the Ork MacGyver. If you dump
out all the junk your desk or garage, Brad will come by and say “What’s that?”, and next week, it’ll be a Gargant. Monty: So, we’ve got three of us who are sort of the main crew. We all love the hobby part of it, though, and love campaigns. On the Site’s Attitude Towards GW: Larry: One of the first decisions we had to make was, “Do we go Forum, or no Forum?”, and I think we fundamentally made the right decision there. We love the hobby, and we’re going to be ‘pro-GW,’ or at least not ‘anti-GW’, and by not having a forum, it allowed us to uniquely position ourselves as a content site, rather than another forum. Monty: We very consciously don’t have a forum. Larry: So, no one can come one our site and say ‘well, I’m the best there is, and here’s my cheaty list!” They come to us, and we tell them what the rumors are, and we give them lots of cool stuff that we can download for free, and that sets up people’s mindsets. Monty: And keep in mind, we’re game developers. That’s what we do for a living. We mostly do adult leisure games – pinball, trivia, card games. We understand how hard it is to actually develop a game, especially a GW one, which is entirely internal. They don’t use any outside playtesters, because they believe it will impact the sale of their products, so they do all their testing internally. So, obviously, they’re going to have issues once they launch
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Interview: Bell of Lost Souls their product, and they rely on players to overlook their mistakes, but because of the carefully-cultivated tournament circuit, it goes in the opposite direction, and people take advantage of things that are mispriced, or mistakes they’ve made. Now, while we try to give tacticas out for advanced players, so they can have some interesting ideas on how to play competitively, that’s not how we play. We play the game to enjoy the hobby. We still do tournaments, and hope that we’re competitive players, but that’s not our army focus. Where Did ‘The Fly Lords of Terra’ Come From?: Monty: Originally, we were an Adepticon team. We’re actually on the board for Adepticon now, and try to help them out as much as we can. We think that Adepticon is really doing the same thing we are; “by players, for players.” That’s exactly what the hobby needs: game players contributing to the hobby. Adepticon is the biggest event in our hobby, and they’re really just amazing. We contacted them early on, and asked how we could help. Now we’re helping them with marketing and software, because we really think they’re fantastic. Anyway, the name started out as an Adepticon team tournament name, and we kept it as a way for us to identify ourselves at tournaments and other big events, you know, a travel thing. Now, though, we’ve expanded it to include everyone who helps test and contributes to the site.
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Its funny how many people ask what it means, really, it is! At a tournament, I had someone come up and ask if I was really a Fly Lord, or if I’d just bought the shirt or something. He was sort of hoping that I was bigred, because he wanted to argue with him about something. I told him no, I was the guy who wrote the Lash tactica, so he decided I was a jerk anyway. It was a great way to meet someone. We ended up having a really long discussion about it. At the same tournament, a guy brought his girlfriend over because his girlfriend was getting into the hobby, and wanted me to talk to her about Sisters, since I’m something of a Sisters expert… Larry: He’s good with the ladies, he is. Monty: Yes. I am a ladies man. I do it all for the ladies.
The Fly Lords of Terra have just announced a new campaign book:
That’s how we came up with the name, though - to appeal to people in their 30’s who would remember the Fly Girls. People really get a kick out of the name and the logo.
THE MACHARIAN CRUSADE! Features will include:
Larry: Thank God we didn’t go with “The Heavy Flamers.” Thanks to Monty and Larry for the interview, and for all their efforts on behalf of the hobby!
· · · · · · · ·
120 full color pages 8 week campaign for 2 to 40+ players 7 Imperial Guard army groups Multiple renegade and xenos empires 40+ special characters New units Over a dozen Apocalypse formations Full color hobby section
Last Year, you walked in the footsteps of the 1st Founding Legions... This year, take part in the greatest Imperial Campaign since the Great Crusade.
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Comic
ADEPTICON 2008 CROWNE PLAZA HOTEL IN ROSEMONT, IL APRIL 11TH- 13TH, 2008
THE ULTIMATE GAMES WORKSHOP CLUB-RUN EVENT!
WWW.ADEPTICON.ORG
Mark your calendars and make your travel plans, because AdeptiCon returns on April 11-13, 2008, for its sixth year of miniature wargaming excitement. We’ll have 24,000 sq. feet of space for our tournaments, seminars, demos, and much, much more. Don’t miss out on your chance to take home some of our legendary price support!
Be a part of our exciting tournaments, including the 40K National Team Tournament, the largest 40K tournament in the world!
Take your skills to the next level by attending our Hobby Seminars, taught by our award-winning lineup of instructors!
2007 Rogue Demon; Best of Show by Bennet Blalock Doane
Online registration for Adepticon 2008 is now open! To register, or for more information, go to www.adepticon.org and take part in the greatest convention in the Games Workshop hobby!
What’s Happening at AdeptiCon 2008? Warhammer 40K Events: • 40K Gladiator Tournament • 40K National Team Tournament • 40K Championships Warhammer Fantasy Battle Events: • Fantasy Escalation Tournament • Fantasy Championships • Fantasy Team Tourney Lord of the Rings Team Tournament Specialist Games Events: • Battlefleet Gothic Championships • Space Hulk
For more Misfire! Comics, visit www.misfirecomics.net Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
Forge World Events: • Aeronautica Imperialis Warhammer Ancient Battles Events • Legend of the Old West • Legends of the High Seas Hobby Seminars Open Gaming Tables Hobby/Painting Area Bitz Trading AdeptiCon Codicier/Loremaster Challenges Rogue Demon Painting Competition AdeptiCon Vendor Hall
For Gamers, By Gamers 15
Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass
ELDAR MASTERCLASS By: Tobias Pernler After about fifteen years in the hobby I one day suddenly, and not without surprise, found myself slightly troubled by the complete lack of a playable army in my collection of miniatures. Converting and painting has always been my main interests, but recently I had experienced an urge to let my little toy soldiers see some real action in the struggle for survival in the grim future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. As it happened, this shift of interest occurred about the same time that the new edition of Codex: Eldar was released. I’ve always had a soft spot for the pointy ears. Only the somewhat outdated range of miniatures had hitherto discouraged me from expanding my collection with warriors of this dying race. Seduced by all the shiny new stuff produced by Games Workshop, this was soon going to change. For myself, building an entire army was a completely new approach. When painting I normally go all out on even the humblest of miniatures. I am always trying to better my skills with the brush. Taking each miniature to a Golden Daemon-standard was obviously not an option in this case though. Even if the battles take place in the 40th millennium, I really wanted the army finished well before then. At the same time, however, I wanted to create a force that would catch the eye. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
To achieve this I put some considerable effort into choosing the colours of the army. I wanted a strong theme for my Eldar and it all started to take shape when I settled for snow on the bases. From there I proceeded to choose the main colours for the army – blue bodies with white helmets. These colours emphasise the cold implied by the snow and also makes for great contrast with each other. Normally you see the Eldar elite warriors painted up in their respective aspect shrine colours, but I chose to paint them all in the same basic scheme to get a consistent look to the whole force. Regardless, I still wanted each unit to have some individuality, and so I decided to give each one a distinctive colour in addition to the basic blue and white. This colour is reflected in the eye lenses on the helmet as well the soul stones and any other special features (such as the billowing hair of the banshees). In addition, the aspect warriors got their trinkets painted in a golden yellow to make them stand out from the basic guardians. All in all this makes for a coherent force while at the same time letting you easily pick out individual units. To create that slick result that had so far only existed in my mind I took a closer look at the miniatures and tried to figure out how to go about the actual painting. I wanted the
painting to be fairly simple and fast while at the same time crisp and clean and, most importantly, consistent over the whole army. This meant: no drybrushing or inking and a minimum of mixing colours and more refined techniques such as wetblending. The Eldar miniatures are all, more or less, built up of three layers: body suit, armour plates and “bulbs”. Thus I choose three progressively lighter blue colours, with the darkest for the lowest level of the body suit, and the lightest for the bulbs. Each shade of blue also got to act as the highlight colour for the level below (this will become clear in the step by step tutorial). For the white parts I also chose three shades: white (obviously), a slightly off-white, and a blue for the darkest shadings. This blue is the same as the lightest shade in the blue range, which helps tying the two main colours together. To get a smooth finish I always water down my paints. This means that I usually need to apply two or three layers to get a good coverage, but the result is well worth the effort. This is especially true for the white parts, where it is not unusual for me to apply ten or even fifteen thin layers; five or six should suffice – it is really only your patience that sets the limit!
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 1 The bodies are painted a solid Imperial Blue over a black undercoat. On the Banshee I have also roughly applied the base colours for the other main areas to get a feeling for the end result. Note that I have not completely assembled the Guardian’s arms and head. This is to better access the chest area and, specifically, the soul stone. The head is left off since the area around the neck otherwise gets pretty hard to reach with the brush without making a total mess of it. The Banshee is fully assembled since it does not sport any hard to reach spots. I also used both pinning and green stuff when I attached the sword arm and prefer to have this done before the painting starts. STEP 2 The armour plates are picked out with Magic Blue, and the body suits are highlighted with the same colour.
STEP 3 The bulbs are painted Ice Blue, and the armour plates are highlighted with the same colour.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 4 All the blue areas are now given a wash of very thinned down Stormy Blue. This really ties the different blues together, toning them down a little as well as providing some extra shading.
STEP 5 Next is all the white parts. The helmet and the Banshee’s tabard as well as any ribbons are painted Wolf Grey. At this stage I also finish the bases, which are made with sand and a few pieces of slate. They are painted with Chaos Black and then drybrushed with Adeptus Battlegrey, Codex Grey and Astronomican Grey. The rim is painted Codex Grey.
STEP 6 The white areas are shaded with Ice Blue mixed with a small amount of Wolf Grey (approximately 4:1 ratio).
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 7 The white highlights are built up gradually with a lot of thin layers of Skull White. By using watered down colours you can let some of the underlying colour show through, thereby creating smooth transitions without having to mix colours.
STEP 8 The sword hilt and all the jewellery on the Banshee are painted with Bubonic Brown.
STEP 9 Shade with thinned out Bestial Brown.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 10 Highlights are created with Bleached Bone. I stop at this point, since I do not want it to look like gold (I fancy the Eldar without any kind of metallics). For a more gold-like effect, you could go further and create another sharp highlight by mixing some white in the Bleached Bone, in addition to creating another darker shade.
STEP 11 Next comes my favourite part – the soul stones! I know many people like to paint all the bulbs on the eldar armours and weapons like gems, but I limit myself to one. Doing so I think they stand out more, acting like a focal point for the eye when looking at the miniature. The base colour for the Guardian is Warlock Purple, for the Banshee I use Scab Red.
STEP 12 The lower right half of the stone is then painted in successively lighter and thinner slivers as follows: Guardian: Mix Skull White with the Warlock purple. Repeat until the mix is almost white for the final thin line. Banshee: First sliver is painted Red Gore, the next Blood Red, and then Blood Red mixed with Bronzed Flesh, and finally a sliver of pure Bronzed Flesh. To make it “red” again, apply a very thin wash of Red Gore.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 13 A dot of Skull White is applied in the upper left corner of the stone.
STEP 14 The eyes are painted Warlock Purple and Scab Red respectively. This mirrors the soul stones.
STEP 15 Next paint the centre of the eye lenses in progressively lighter colours in the same method as each soul stone, until there is a really light and small dot in the middle.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 16 Now it is time to paint the hair on the Banshee. The base colour is Scorched Brown.
STEP 17 Paint the hair Red Gore, leaving the darker colour in the recesses.
STEP 18 A wash of watered down Chaos Black is applied to create some darker shading. By applying it after the first layer of red the colours are somewhat tied together.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 19 Highlight with Blood Red. The contrast will be pretty sharp at this step, but this is necessary for the next step.
STEP 20 A couple layers of really thin Red Gore are applied. This will tone down the highlights and lighten up the shaded areas, tying the different layers together.
STEP 21 The blade of the Banshee’s sword is painted Ice Blue.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 22 A mix of Ice Blue and Skull White (5:1) is painted on the edge of the upper part of the blade and in the centre of the lower portion.
STEP 23 Paint the same parts with progressively lighter mixes (by adding more Skull White), keeping closer and closer to the tip on the upper half and closer to the centre of the painted area on the bottom part.
STEP 24 Finally, paint the edges pure Skull white.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 25 The strips on top of the Shuriken weapons are painted Ice Blue.
STEP 26 The edges are highlighted with Wolf Grey.
STEP 27 The bulbs on the Shuriken weapons are painted with Adeptus Battlegrey, and the edges of the weapons are then highlighted with Codex Grey. The pouch on the Banshee is highlighted first with Adeptus Battlegrey, then with Codex Grey.
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Painting Workshop: Eldar Masterclass STEP 28 Finally snow is applied to the bases. The Snow consists of a mix of PVA glue, a few drops of water, snow flock from Games Workshop, and some bicarbonate of soda. On top of this I sprinkle some more bicarbonate of soda (baking soda). Beware though that some PVA glues dry with a slightly yellow tint. Try to avoid these or add in a small amount of white paint to make the mix dry white. After it has dried completely (I usually let it dry overnight to be absolutely sure) I brush the surplus bicarbonate of soda away.
FINISHED The miniatures are now ready to take part in the fight for their species and Craftworld! I hope you have enjoyed this article as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Who knows, maybe one day we will meet on the field of battle, and if my luck and strategy have not improved by then I will show you why they say the Eldar are a dying race... Photography by Tobias Pernler and Lars Törnfeldt. Thanks to Wizard Games for letting me use their gaming table for the set up of the army for that picture. Reference guide for each colour: VMC = Vallejo Model Colour CC = Citadel Colour CF = Citadel Foundation Blue: VMC Stormy Blue, VMC Imperial Blue VMC Magic Blue, CC Ice Blue
Pink: CC Warlock Purple, VMC Skull White Red: CC Scorched Brown, CC Scab Red, CC Red Gore, CC Blood Red. CC Bronzed Flesh Yellow: CC Bestial Brown, CC Bubonic Brown, CC Bleached Bone
White: CC Ice Blue, VMC Wolf Grey, VMC Skull White Black/Grey: CC Chaos Black, CF Adeptus Battlegrey, CC Codex Grey, CF Astronomican Grey
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Conversions: Tau Remora
SCRATCH BUILD A TAU DX-6 REMORA DRONE FIGHTER Objective: To build a Remora facsimile from left over bitz, new materials and odd and ends. By Stefan Sheckells MATERIALS: • 1 x Tau Gun Drone sprue (you will only use the body and the underbody, you will not use the Pulse Carbines or the antenna). • 1 x large flying base – I used 60mm bases I had left over from another project and my preference is to use these large flaying bases. You are free to use any size. • 1 x targeting array from a Crisis Battlesuit model. • 2 x Burst Cannons – I used Crisis Battlesuit Burst Cannons as these look the proper
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scale to a gun drone. If you use larger Burst Cannons (say from a Devilfish), they may look too big for the gun drone and you may have to use the body displayed in the advanced section (see end of this guide). • Styrene sheet / plasticard for the wings – I used 1/16” (1.5mm) or 2mm thick sheet. • 1 x rectangular styrene tube – 0.125” x 0.25” (3.2 x 6.3mm). • 1 x square styrene tube – 0.25” x 0.25” (6.3 x 6.3mm). • 1 x round styrene tube – 0.156” Dia. (4mm). • Green Stuff.
NOTE: • I am not trying to reproduce the Forge World Remora exactly. • I am NOT including steps such as filing edges, smoothing or sanding etc unless they are unique. • I always use glue then place Green Stuff to ensure a bond. So where you see Green Stuff the join also includes the application of glue prior to the Green Stuff being placed. • I am not including the Seeker Missiles.
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Conversions: Tau Remora STEP 1: WINGS Draw the wings onto the plasticard sheet using the pattern and dimensions given below, cut them out using a sharp knife. DIMENSIONS: • RED = Each wing is in a 30mm x 40mm box. • GREEN =20mm • FUSHIA = 25mm • PURPLE = 10mm
STEP 3: ENGINE INTAKE For each Remora cut from the rectangular tube a 10mm piece. Mark one edge with a slanted line as shown (it is a 30-60-90 degree triangle), cut along this line to get an angled edge.
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1 STEP 2: SENSOR ARRAY Cut your Targeting Array in half. Optional Step: Trim the outside edges for a flat front surface.
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STEP 4: BODY ASSEMBLY (UNDERSIDE, SENSORS, AND ENGINE INTAKE) Attach the under-body armature. Then cut off a small section (in front) to position the Sensor Array. Place a small bit of Green Stuff and glue. Place the modified Target Array from step 2 and place more Green Stuff behind it – enough to allow the engine intake from step 3 to sit level with the Target Array. Fill the engine intake with something (I used foam), enough to fill most, but NOT ALL, of the cavity. This last step is to reduce the amount of Green Stuff you’ll have to use in step 10 though you could skip it and fill the engine intake completely with Green Stuff if you wish.
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Conversions: Tau Remora STEP 4: CONTINUED
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STEP 5: BURST CANNONS Glue the Burst Cannons on to the sides of the engine intakes.
Cut the round tube to match the width of the wings…25mm for mine (FUSHIA). Glue the round tube to the edge of the wing.
STEP 6: WING ASSEMBLY - INDENTS Mark the armour plating indents onto the wings. Then create the indents. I used a Dremel rotary tool but they could also be cut with a sharp knife.
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STEP 7: WING ASSEMBLY – ROTATION ARMATURE The Forge World model allows the wings to be hinged up and down but we are only replicating the look and not the function. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Conversions: Tau Remora STEP 8: WING ASSEMBLY – ATTACH TO BODY Your Remora body should now look like the picture below. Place a small roll of Green Stuff onto the wing as shown. Glue the wings to the Remora body next to the Burst Cannon. One wing per side. Note the angle of the wing placement.
STEP 10: ENGINE INTAKE COMPLETION Fill the engine intake with Green Stuff. Smooth before creating the intake vanes with horizontal sculpts. Also fill in the holes at the front of the round tubes.
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STEP 9: BODY AND WING ASSEMBLY The picture below is what you should now have…
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Conversions: Tau Remora STEP 11: REAR ENGINE ASSEMBLY For each Remora cut two 15mm long pieces and two 10mm pieces from the rectangular tube. You will now have a total of four pieces. Mark each 10mm piece as shown, then cut along the mark creating an angled corner. Glue this angled piece onto the top of the 15mm piece. Fill the front hole with Green Stuff.
STEP 12: ATTACH REAR ENGINES TO BODY Attach a small roll of Green Stuff onto each rear engine as shown. Place the rear engines onto the inside of the Burst Cannons so that the engines are orientated with the angled piece at the top.
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Conversions: Tau Remora STEP 13: COMPLETED REMORA These are images of completed Remoras attached to large flying bases. I purposely varied the wing angles to add variety to the squadron.
13 SCALE COMPARISON:
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ADVANCED TECHNIQUE: MORE TRUE TO THE FORGE WORLD MODEL: Originally I tried to match the drone size to that of the Forge World model. The Forge World Remora has a drone body close to the diameter of a small flying base rather than the smaller gun drone diameter. I choose not to continue with this prototype because it is a lot more work i.e. you have to cut a small flying base, cut the plastic curve from a soda bottle, glue Targeting Array and plastic curve onto modified small flying base and add Green Stuff. You then have to add in the armour indents with a Dremel in a circular fashion on the small flying base (which I didn’t do on the prototype) as well as fashion a larger underbody…for me using the gun drone was enough.
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Tutorial: Cadian Plastics
CADIAN PLASTICS: MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK By Brian “Slipstream” Johnson Welcome to the Cadian Plastics Class! Ever since GW released a fully plastic Imperial Guard Army (that wasn’t Catachans), I’ve been interested in seeing just what can be done with the sprues alone. After starting to fiddle with the sprues, in an attempt to build a ground-pounder army, I have found that, while lacking in many key areas, the Cadian Sprues do their job well. That job, of course, is to put basic troops on the field. In truth, these sprues pale in comparison to the new sprues coming out of the Citadel Design Studio, but with a little work, they can be made into a surprisingly large number of Army Choices from the Imperial Guard Codex. As always, please make sure your work area is clean, and well lit. Make sure you have a comfortable chair, and your beverage of choice. Always take a break from working after an hour or two. Get up, stretch out, and spend 10-15 minutes away from the work area. THE SPRUES On the generic Cadian Shock Troops sprues, you will find enough legs and torsos to make five models. You will find seven different heads (1 helmet-less, one with an undone Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
helmet strap, one vox-caster, and four standard). There are five sets of grenades (some with extra clips, some without), a helmet, a spare lasgun, five canteen/ bayonets (some with empty sheaths – more on this later), A grenade launcher (with spare clip/canteen), a flamethrower (with backpack), a Voxcaster backpack, five lasgun arms (three with bayonets attached, two without) in various poses, a grenade arm, a laspistol arm, and a sergeant’s chainsword arm (it has three stripes). If you take a moment to look at these sprues, you’ll see that there are several small, but important, details. First is the pose of the legs. There are three legs that imply motion, as if the model was running, and two, which imply that the model is standing still. This is important, as poses can give a squad a unified ‘theme’ – useful when trying to WYSIWYG up Imperial Guard Doctrines. Interestingly, the lasgun arms are paired with the legs. There are two lasguns set tight against the shoulder, in an ‘aiming’ pose, and three where the gun is held slightly down, as if running. Using the right arms with the right legs can create the difference between a firing line, and a squad rushing into battle.
SYMBOLS Can be done straight from the Cadian sprues. Requires some cutting, filing or trimming. Requires the use of metal bitz, bitz from another army or the use of plastic card or rod. This is a heavy-duty conversion, requiring the use of greenstuff and is beyond the scope of this tutorial. This is simply not possible to do with the Cadian sprues alone.
TOOLS • X-acto Knife (keep a supply of fresh blades. • Flush cutters/nippers • Files (flat and round) • Cutting mat • Pin vise, with various sizes of drill bits
MATERIALS • Styrene rod: 1/16” rod (1.6mm) and 1/8” tube (3.2mm) • Paper (copy paper is fine) • Plasticard (thin) • Bitz from your bitzbox (optional) • Greenstuff (very optional)
SPRUES • Cadian Shock Troops • Cadian Heavy Weapons Teams • Cadian Vehicle Accessory sprue
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Tutorial: Cadian Plastics Finally, the Cadian Vehicle Accessory Sprue has some very interesting pieces, including a head with a peaked cap! Now, we have everything we need to create an entire IG army.
There are only a few ‘optional’ components on the sprue, but one of the key items is the fact that the canteen/bayonet bitz pair up with the fact that some of the lasguns have bayonets, and some do not. When using these bitz, remember to use an empty sheath with a model whose bayonet is attached to their lasgun! Some of the extra pieces (such as the spare lasgun) can be used with the available arms, to try and create some additional poses, useful for WYSIWYG. Over on the Heavy Weapon Sprues, you get a LOT more optional pieces. Sandbags, weapons, binoculars and a slew of heavy weapons. In fact, every heavy weapon, allowing you to create a wide variety of conversions! Remember, a heavy weapons team box can be used to make every heavy weapon in the IG arsenal. Combining the heavy weapon box with a Cadian Shock Trooper box (and some extra ‘large bases’), you can stretch that box into all five heavy weapons teams!
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WYSIWYG Why is this important? Well, the concept of ‘What You See Is What You Get’ is important when you put your troops on the battlefield, especially in competition. Your opponent cannot argue that your model has a meltagun…when the model has a meltagun. By making sure your models are WYSIWYG, you do yourself, and your opponents, a big favor. Plus, it makes your models look that much better!
HQ CHOICES For an HQ squad, right out of the box, the conversions are fairly simple. We’ll start with the officer. A Junior Officer can be made with a helmet less head, plus whatever options you want him to have. Typically, this is a laspistol and chainsword. On the chainsword arm, you’ll see three stripes, as seen below: It is an easy thing to use an X-Acto knife,
HQ Junior Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Senior Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heroic Officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vox Caster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Special Weapon Squads . . . . . Priests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Veteran . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Standard Bearer . . . . . . . . . . . . Medic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heavy Weapons Squads . . . . . Psykers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Commissars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . or file, to remove stripes. For officers, you’ll want to remove all of the stripes. For Sergeants, consider removing one stripe for a regular Sergeant, and leave all three for a Veteran Sergeant. Work with care, and smooth out any cuts with a small file. In this way, you can use the chainsword arm to help identify officers and sergeants in your Imperial Guard Army. For a Senior Officer, consider using the peaked cap head from the Vehicle Sprue. This quickly sets the model apart from the rest of your army. Use the helmet from the Cadian sprue to give your officer a way to survive the shrapnel, by gluing it to his beltline. 34
Tutorial: Cadian Plastics A Heroic Officer can combine a variety of arms from the various sprues, to show that he is leading. Consider putting him on a larger base, with scenic details, to set him apart! On the left, you’ll see a Junior Officer, made with the pointing arm from the Heavy Weapons Sprue, a helmet less head, and
a chainsword arm. He also has a Space Marine pistol holster. In the middle, a Senior Officer, made with the raised arm from the vehicle sprue, whose hand I trimmed off, and replaced with a laspistol hand. He is also using the torso from the vehicle sprue, to give him that officer braid. On the right, on a 40mm base, a Heroic Senior Officer, using all the bitz from the vehicle sprue (legs, torso, head, and arms), plus the sandbags from the heavy weapons sprue, and a canteen, helmet, and lasgun from the regular sprue. HQ BASICS Thankfully, the sprues include a few options, including a flamer, a grenade launcher, and a Vox Caster. This means that you can Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
make both a full command squad, with some special weapons, as well as several special weapons squads. You’ll find that you will have an excess of grenade launchers and flamers, if you equip your army with plasma and melta guns. So, consider using the extra flamer and grenade launcher bitz to augment your HQ with flamer or grenade launcher special weapon squads. Two of the special weapon squad options, the Sniper Rifle and the Demolition Charge, are Moderate Conversions. Check the Weapons and
VETERANS One of the easiest ways to identify a miniature as a special unit is through a paint job. Extra decals, special coloration on the helmet, or shoulder pads, or even insignia on the armour itself can make a miniature stand out. For Veterans in the Command Squad, I like to paint the shoulder pads a different color (Chaos Black, for example) to signify their elite status. I’ll also use backpacks from the Heavy Weapon Team to signify that these are experienced campaigners. Once you have your ‘scheme’ for making Veterans, adding a few details to the miniature to make it a Medic is fairly easy. You can paint the backpack white, with a red cross upon it, or some other variation. Again, a black
Wargear section, later on in this article, on how to make those. Plasmaguns and Meltaguns are best handled with metal Citadel miniatures. To the left is a full HQ Squad, consisting of an Heroic Senior Officer, Standard Bearer, Medic, and two Grenade Launcher specialists. Note that the Grenade Launcher miniatures use kneeling legs from the Cadian Heavy Weapons Sprue.
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Tutorial: Cadian Plastics shoulder pad with a white cross works well here. Alternatively, you can use bitz from a company like Tamiya, who makes 1/48th scale items for WWII Armour modeling, including backpacks and stretchers. A standard bearer can be made, using the grenade arm from the Cadian Shock sprue, a plastic rod, and a paper flag. Carefully drill out the grenade, using your pin vise, and a drill bit slightly larger than your plastic rod. The 1/16th inch rod will work here, for the standard pole. Slide the rod into the hand, expanding the hole if necessary, and glue everything in place. Print, paint or photocopy your banner of choice, and attach it to the standard pole, draping the paper to look like cloth. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can add some greenstuff ‘rope’. There are also
several IG Standard Bearer miniatures from Citadel, which will save some time, as well as standards from Fantasy armies, such as Empire or Brettonians. In the picture below a standard bearer; using a grenade arm with a Brettonian standard attached, and a left arm from the Cadian Shock sprue, whose hand was trimmed off and rotated to hold a spare lasgun. In the middle; a medic with a backpack from the heavy weapon sprue, a grenade launcher arm and a Tamiya stretcher. Finally; a Veteran using a laspistol arm, and a hand (leftover from the senior officer conversion). ADVISORS The Commissar, Priest, and Psyker Advisors are difficult to do with the standard sprues. Only the Commissar, using a peaked hat, the torso and arms from the Cadian Vehicle Sprue, and a greenstuff-formed Trench coat, is easily within the realm of conversion. Since there are many models out for these Advisors, I ‘advise’ using them, instead of trying to make them yourself. The Elite Choices of the Imperial Guard Codex are difficult to convert. However, some of them can be made with a bit of effort.
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ELITE Hardened Veterans. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ogryns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ratlings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Storm Troopers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Techpriest Enginseer . . . . . . . . . . . Servitors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HARDENED VETERANS The easiest of the bunch, Hardened Veterans are simply gussied up IG troops. Use extra helmet less heads, the IG heads whose chinstraps are undone, and other bitz to show that these gung-ho guys are the elite of the unit. Extra knives (from the Heavy Weapons Sprues), canteens and clips, and backpacks can quickly set these miniatures apart from the rest. Of note, since the Veteran Sgt. CAN take ‘officer only’ items; you can use this to set him apart from the rest of the squad. If you have access to the older Catachan Sprues, consider using elements from there, such as heads, arms, and knives. Mix it up! These are the ‘dirty dozen’ of your IG force, and they should be rough, tough, and ready!
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Tutorial: Cadian Plastics
From Left to right: Catachan Arms and head with Cadian Torso and Legs. A hardened veteran officer, with Catachan arms, and Cadian body and head. Note the sword on his back, a “Trademark Item” from the Officers Only kit. A Veteran of the Cadian Gate; well equipped with grenades and spare clips, about to hurl a grenade into his foes. RATLING SNIPER The next easiest conversion is to use regular IG models as snipers, instead of Ratling models. Setting up a squad of IG sniper teams is an incredibly characterful way of making your army stand out on the battlefield. Use the instructions for converting a ‘long-las’ sniper rifle, from the Weapons and Wargear section, along with binoculars and some terrain, on a 40mm base. The kneeling heavy weapon team legs will help a great deal, here. STORM TROOPERS I mention these in passing, because there are several tutorials about converting IG
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troops into such forces as the Warhawks, and others. These use greenstuff kneepads, and armour pieces to ‘bulk up’ the IG model. Some backpacks (such as Tau Backpacks, or purchasing Stormtrooper backpacks), Vox Heads from the Cadian Sprue, and some greenstuff for hoses can make a very unique conversion. It is, however, beyond the scope of this article. OGRYNS, TECHPRIEST ENGINSEERS, AND SERVITORS These are, for the most part, not really workable from the base Cadian Sprues. It might be possible to build Servitors, but you’re probably better off buying the Citadel Minis
TROOPS Infantry Platoon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Armoured Fist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conscript Platoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Boy, these are the easy ones, huh? Straight off the sprues, and into the army they go. However, there are a few things you can do to make the most of these sprues, and the bitz included upon them.
INFANTRY PLATOON In addition to a unified paint scheme, take a good look at the poses of the miniatures. Remember to pair up the ‘braced shooting’ arms with the ‘standing’ legs, and vice-versa. It’ll help a great deal for squad identification. Remember, there are going to be many times that several squads of your troops get involved in a multi-squad Close Combat scrum. You MUST be able to select the correct casualties from the pile! Visual identification is key, here. Also, remember that the canteen/sheath bitz match up with the bayonets on the guns. It looks a little silly to have a guy with a bayonet on his rifle, and another on his belt. CONSCRIPT PLATOON These guys are your low-grade recruits, or militia. The easiest way to ID these guys is to give them guns without bayonets and no canteen/sheaths. Paint their helmets or their shoulder pads a unique color scheme. The standard Cadian scheme, for example, uses a white vertical stripe on the helmet. ARMOURED FIST PLATOON Teamed up with a Chimera, most of their belongings are stored within or on top of their transport vehicle. Consider a different scheme for the helmets or shoulder pads, but don’t give them backpacks etc. They’re going to roll right out of the Chimera, so use the running legs/arms, to show that they are a mobile squad, who are used to being on the move.
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Tutorial: Cadian Plastics
FAST ATTACK Rough Riders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . None. There are a few tutorials out there on how to make Cadian Rough Riders, but the Cadian Sprues, regretfully, do not come with horses. Or bikes.
HEAVY SUPPORT Heavy Weapons Platoon . . . . . . . . . . . HEAVY WEAPONS PLATOON Again, another easy set. The Heavy Weapon Box is a wonderful set of sprues, full of details and customization options. Remember, you can use those kneeling legs in other squads. They’re particularly helpful when making snipers, or customizing your HQ squads. Mixing and matching these sprues with the Shock Trooper Sprues make for some interesting modeling options The two heavy weapons teams below are a mix of Cadian Shock and Cadian Heavy
sprues. Bitz from the sprues have been used as part of the bases, as well as some bitz from the Citadel Ruined Building Sprue, to make it look like these teams have ‘dug in’ to their positions. Using Cadian Shock legs, instead of the kneeling legs, frees up two sets of legs for other conversions in the army.
DOCTRINES Drop Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mechanized. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grenadiers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In many ways, WYSIWYG modeling can represent the doctrines from the Imperial Guard codex. While some doctrines (such as Independent Commissars) simply allow you to set up your army differently, the Cadian Sprues can be used to represent a wide variety of these army options. If your opponent can clearly see which doctrines are applied to your army, you’ll both have a better gaming experience. DROP TROOPS This is the most difficult… and, in some ways easiest, conversion. You can use the IG troops right off the sprue, to portray drop troops. However, to really make an impact, you’ll want to convert them. Either with special backpacks or going
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whole hog, such as a Warhawks conversion, your troops will look great on the battlefield. MECHANIZED Pair up the guard with Chimeras, and you’re ready to roll! Everything from the Armoured Fist entry applies here. Remember, many companies make 1/35th and 1/48th scale bitz to show stowage on your tanks. Go to town on making your tanks look lived out of, and you’ll have a fine Mechanized fighting force. This is the easiest of the three Regimental Doctrines to make from the basic Cadian Sprues. GRENADIERS As mentioned previously, it is possible to convert Guardsmen into Storm Troopers. Remember to differentiate between Storm Troopers and Grenadiers!
SKILLS & DRILLS Die Hards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Independent Commissars . . . . . . . Hardened Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light Infantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Xenofighers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iron Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Close Order Drill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jungle Fighers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sharpshooters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Veterans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Tutorial: Cadian Plastics
SKILLS & DRILLS Die Hards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Independent Commissars . . . . . . . Hardened Fighters . . . . . . . . . . . . . Light Infantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Xenofighers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iron Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Close Order Drill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jungle Fighers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sharpshooters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Veterans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Important Note: Many of the doctrines, such as carapace armor/storm troopers/ grenadiers, or hardened fighters/hardened veterans, can easily be confused. If you are using multiple doctrines that create similar-looking miniatures, take extra care to differentiate between them, either with the selection of bitz, poses, or paint scheme. DIE HARDS Certainly one of the easier doctrines to model, Die Hards is simply a morale modification. Consider purity seals or other decorations to signify that they will stand their ground.
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IRON DISCIPLINE An officer doctrine, the use of a good pose, or purity seals can show that this officer’s ability to command is better than average. It is important to show which officers in your command have this ability! INDEPENDENT COMMISSARS This is purely a deployment and game doctrine, no conversions needed. CLOSE ORDER DRILL Mostly a game-based doctrine, in how you group your miniatures, a forest of bayonets really conveys this Doctrine to the hilt. HARDENED FIGHTERS I like giving these miniatures all bayonets, and some extra knives. Knives are easy to get, both from the heavy weapons sprues, and other armies. JUNGLE FIGHTERS This was made for all the Catachan Players, and is best suited to those models. However, if you’re interested in conversions, a combination of Catachan and Cadian Sprues, with some camo paint jobs, makes for a very unique-looking army. These troops benefit from having machetes. Ask a Tau player if they have any extra Kroot knives.
LIGHT INFANTRY This was designed for the ‘Gaunts Ghosts’ line of Metal Guardsmen, but can still be done with Cadian Sprues. A bit of greenstuff can make cloaks, but remember to file off the ‘bump’ on the back of the Guardsman torso. To show that they travel light, use the running legs/arms poses, as well as showing the heavy weapon team (if any) carrying their equipment. SHARPSHOOTERS Remove all bayonets from the guns, and add scopes to the rifles. Do not use the ‘longlas’ option, as these are not snipers. Also, consider painting the lasguns a different color, to show that they’re a different ‘mark’ of rifle. These troops benefit the most from the standing legs/braced shooting pose. 39
Tutorial: Cadian Plastics XENOFIGHTERS This isn’t seen very often, unless you’re purposefully creating a ‘fluffy’ army, or you know that you’re fighting a given army on a regular basis, perhaps as part of a campaign. Using heads and bitz from the army in question is the easiest way to portray Xenofighters. There’s nothing quite like a head on the top of a banner pole to say; “We hate Orks.” VETERANS Everything in the Hardened Veterans section applies here, except you get to have three units of them, instead of one. Consider using themed paint jobs and equipment to show that this is an entire unit of Hardened Veterans, instead of just one squad.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT Chem. Inhaler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carapace Armour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Warrior Weapons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cameoline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cyber Enhancement. . . . . . . . . . . . CHEM. INHALER If you have a good stockpile of Cadian Vox heads, you can make good-looking Chem. Inhaler units simply by using vox heads for your entire army. For a little extra work, trimming the side unit off of the helmet, and adding a greenstuff hose and canister will easily set your army apart. Asking around, Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
you might be able to get Voxheads from other Cadian players, and many bitz-sellers online carry them. CAMEOLINE An Easy-tomoderate conversion, this could be as simple as painting all your troops with a detailed camo pattern, or for a Moderate Conversion; adding greenstuff/ cheesecloth ‘ghillie suits’, and other camo cloak options. This Doctrine was designed to work with the ‘Light Infantry’ Doctrine. CARAPACE ARMOUR In the same realm of the Storm Trooper/ Grenadier conversion, you can use greenstuff and plasticard to up the armour of a standard IG miniature. Also, platemail torsos from the Citadel Fantasy lines can be made to work as well. This conversion is beyond the scope of this article, but there are tutorials out on the Internet. CYBER ENHANCEMENT Designed for people who want to make Adeptus Mechanicus Armies, this represents the entire army having bionics, or augmented armour. This is definitely one of those major conversion projects.
WARRIOR WEAPONS Probably one of the easier conversions; barring the lack of a ready supply of laspistols of course. Finding pistol holsters, or other close combat weapons can make this an easier job. Consider using weapons from the Citadel Fantasy line, such as the Empire Militia or Pistoleers sprues. Space Marine Pistol Holsters are also readily available.
IMPERIAL GUARD ARMOURY A variety of items can be made from the sprues. However, having access to a friend who runs Space Marines will make this section of conversion ideas a lot easier.
WEAPONS Close combat weapon, laspistol, lasgun, flamer, grenade launcher, frag and krak grenades . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bolt pistol, plasma pistol, power fist, power weapon, force weapon, bolter, eviscerator, shotgun, storm bolter, plasmagun, sniper rifle, meltagun, demolition charge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As you can see, certain weapons come by default on the sprues. The rest…you have to beg, buy, or make yourself. Metal Citadel miniatures represent many of these options, and their purchase will certainly save you some time. However, a few conversions are easy to do from the stock sprues and some plastic rod, such as Sniper Rifles and Demolitions Charges. 40
Tutorial: Cadian Plastics SNIPER RIFLES A moderate Conversion, but still easy on the list, ‘Longlas’ pattern sniper rifles can be made from a stock Cadian Rifle, a Scope, and a bit of plastic rod.
Using a fresh X-Acto blade, cut the barrel out of a standard Lasgun. Keep the flash suppressor and the gun, discard the barrel.
DEMOLITION CHARGES
COMPANY STANDARD Much like a Standard Bearer, this is simply a much more ‘flashy’ Standard. More greenstuff tassels and rope, a ‘topper’ on the Standard Pole, and posing the miniature on a large scenic base are all ways to make the Company Standard really stand out. There are Citadel Miniatures, which represent the Demolition Charge very well. Additionally, you can make demo charges using plasticard tube and rod, plus a bit of greenstuff to fill gaps and holes, as seen here.
Using a pinvise, drill a shallow hole into the gun, and the flash suppressor. Next, cut about 3/8th of an inch (5-6mm) of plastic rod that matches the barrel diameter (I used 1/16th” rod – 1.6mm) Finally, assemble the gun, gluing the new barrel into place. If you wish to have a silenced sniper rifle, use a slightly thicker rod, in place of the flash suppressor from the lasgun. Remember to drill a hole in both ends of the rod! Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
are also Space Marine heads with built-in bionic eyepieces, which can also be used.
SPACE MARINE BITZ The following weapons from the standard space marine sprue can easily be used. (I suggest filing off any skull icons): Bolt Pistol, Plasma Pistol, Power Fist, Power Weapon, Bolter, Shotgun (Space Marine Scout Sprue), Storm Bolter, Plasmagun, Meltagun. Much of the Wargear listed can also be acquired from the sprues of other Armies, especially Space Marines. However, a few items can easily be made, so I’ve included a short tutorial on making purity seals and medals from greenstuff and paper. BIONICS A moderate conversion, the easiest way to show bionics is to paint a hand silver. You could also replace a section of arm, or leg, with plastic rod or tubes. A bit of greenstuff to make hydraulic hoses; and the bionic limb is complete. There
MASTER-CRAFTED WEAPON, TRADEMARK ITEM The easiest way to represent these items is by a good paint job. A splash of gold on a chainsword’s hilt and handle, or a scope on a laspistol, will do the job nicely. Alternatively, using the weapon bitz from another army,
WARGEAR Bionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Holy Relic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Master-Crafted Weapon . . . . . . . . Rosarius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Surveyor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Trademark Item. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Company Standard. . . . . . . . . . . . . Medals (Honorifica Imperialis, etc.) Refractor Field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Signum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Targerter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Tutorial: Cadian Plastics such as a Space Marine Power Weapon, will help this bit of Wargear stand out. PURITY SEALS, MEDALS Most Space Marine players will have plenty of extra purity seals. You can also buy them online from most bitz dealers. However, if you have the time, cut some paper into small strips, about 1/4th of an inch (half a centimeter) in length. Glue a couple together, overlapping, and then place a very small ball of greenstuff at the top. Press down with a flat surface, such as the side of your X-Acto knife for a Medal, or with the tip of a ballpoint pen, for a Purity seal. Remember to dip the tool in water, first, so the greenstuff does not stick. Let dry, and paint appropriately. SPACE MARINE BITZ As with much of the weapons, Space Marine bitz can be used to represent much of the Imperial Guard wargear as well: Holy Relic (From the Black Templar or Dark Angels sprues), Purity Seals, Signum, Surveyor TARGETER Seen mostly on Storm Trooper Hellguns, a bit of plastic rod can be used on the side of a lasgun conversion to represent the laser sight. REFRACTOR FIELD, ROSARIUS These items are difficult to model. A refractor field could be a plate of plasticard around the neck, or some form of backpack. The Rosarius is a Priest-only piece of wargear, and is usually represented by a string of beads. You could model this with small balls of greenstuff, placed in a line like a necklace. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
CONCLUSIONS So, in summary, it is possible to make the following units from the IG Codex, using nothing but the stock Cadian Sprues (Shock Troops, Heavy Weapons Team, Vehicle Accessory Sprue): • HQ: Junior Officer, Senior Officer, Heroic Senior Officer, Medic, Vox Caster, Grenadier and Flamer Special Weapons Squads, Heavy Weapons Squads • Elite: Hardened Veterans • Troops: Infantry Platoon, Conscript Platoon, Armoured Fist • Heavy: Heavy Weapons Platoon As for the Doctrines, you can make these from the stock sprues: • Regiments: Drop Troops, Mechanized • Skills and Drills: Die Hards, Iron Discipline, Close Order Drill, Hardened Fighters, Light Infantry, Sharpshooters, Veterans • Special Equipment: Chem Inhalers, Cameoline Finally, here’s what Weapons and Wargear you can assemble: • Weapons: Close Combat Weapon, Laspistol, Lasgun, Flamer, Grenade Launcher, Frag and Krak Grenades • Wargear: Master-Crafted Weapon, Trademark Item With a little bit of Plasticard, Plastic Rod, and bitz, you can make much more! Good luck, and good hunting, solider!
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Terrain Workshop: Advanced Urban Basing
ADVANCED URBAN BASING By Chris Iverach-Brereton The world of wargaming much emphasis is placed on painting the models. Techniques such as non-metallic metals (NMM), feathering, wet-blending and the like can all give your models a stellar appearance on the tabletop. But a superbly painted model deserves a base to match. Since the release of the Warhammer 40,000 expansion Cities of Death there has been
an increased interest in urban and industrial bases. Games of Warhammer 40,000 almost always feature urban ruins. This makes urban-based models look at home on most gaming tables. This article presents a simple guide to creating detailed, multi-textured urban bases, ideal for Warhammer 40,000, Necromunda, and any other tabletop wargame featuring urban ruins. MATERIALS AND PAINTS NEEDED Sprue cut into rubble-sized pieces – Instead of throwing out the plastic frames that your models come on, use a pair of clippers to turn them into rubble. Pieces ranging from about 0.5cm to 2cm in length are ideal for 40k models, while Inquisitor models can benefit from some longer ones. Woodland Scenics Medium Ballast – Medium Ballast is a fairly coarse sand or fine gravel. It is less coarse than the GW gravel, and resembles small, flat flakes. If you do not have medium ballast you can use the standard GW sand. Due to its flakey nature, ballast more closely resembles real rubble than sand. Fiberglass window screen – This is available at most hardware stores in North America. Generally it is sold in large rolls, or sold by length. For basing projects you do not need large amounts of it.
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Terrain Workshop: Advanced Urban Basing If you do not have access to window screen, any fine, stiff mesh can be substituted, including the brass mesh that comes in the GW basing kit.
Optional Paints – Bestial Brown, Boltgun Metal, Chaos Black Spray CONSTRUCTION 1) Using superglue stick a few pieces of rubble to the base. You could use PVA glue for this step, but super glue is much faster.
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2) Glue down a few pieces of screen using super glue. Only glue them down along one edge and bend them so that they stick up. Again, PVA glue is an option, but does not hold the screen down as well and takes much longer to dry.
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PVA and Super Glue – The standard adhesives used for attaching materials to the base. Super glue is optional, but highly recommended.
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3) Spread PVA glue over the base, but leave most of the sprue and screen uncovered. This is to hold down the first layer of ballast. The base will look best if most of the sprue and screen are sticking out of the smaller rubble. 4) Cover the glue with a layer of medium ballast. Allow the glue to dry completely. 5) Apply a second layer of ballast to ensure an even coverage.
Required Paints – Chaos Black, Codex Grey, Fortress Grey, Scorched Brown, Graveyard Earth Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
Be certain to build up the second layer around the rubble and base of the screen.
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Terrain Workshop: Advanced Urban Basing
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Do not worry about applying an even second layer; the goal of applying multiple layers is to create an uneven, undulating surface. 6) Apply a third layer of ballast in some areas to make the surface more uneven. This is particularly important around the screen and sprue. 7) Spread a layer of watered-down PVA glue over the entire base to seal it. This ensures that grains of sand will not come off during painting.
8) Let the glue dry completely. Depending on how watery the glue was this may take up to 24 hours. Once you are satisfied the glue has dried, the base is ready for painting. PAINTING 1) Prime the base with Chaos Black. I chose to simply apply watered-down paint with a brush, but you could use spray-primer instead. 2) Apply a heavy drybrush of Codex Grey
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Terrain Workshop: Advanced Urban Basing 3) Lightly drybrush the base with Fortress Grey
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4) Paint the base with a very watered-down Chaos Black wash. This step will add contrast to areas where the two layers of drybrushing may have been too heavy. It also adds a darker, dirtier look to the grey. Once the wash is dry you can also re-drybrush certain areas if you think they look too dark. 5) Selectively apply a wash of Scorched Brown. Do not paint the entire base with the brown; the goal is to have an uneven colour. The Scorched Brown will give the base a muddy, dirty look; much dirtier than simply using shades of grey and black would.
colours of the base. For this sample I opted to use Scorched Brown, but feel free to use a different colour if you prefer. The model should be painted to match with the base. By stippling Scorched Brown and Graveyard Earth on the feet, knees, and lower legs of a model you can easily simulate the appearance that your soldiers have been walking through a dirty, dusty, muddy battlefield.
6) Gently drybrush the base with Graveyard Earth. This step gives the base the appearance of having large amounts of dust and dried mud caked on the rubble, adding to the desired dirty appearance. 7) Paint the rim of the base whatever colour you wish. I find that darker colours work best, and should offer some contrast with the final
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Terrain Workshop: Advanced Urban Basing VARIATIONS Using similar techniques as the ones described above one can create a large variety of different looking bases. For example, by gluing a layer of screen flat onto the entire base one can give the appearance that the model is standing on a steel mesh deck -- ideal for models that would typically fight indoors (like Necromunda models, or Imperial Navy boarding parties). As you may have noticed, no special attention was given to the screen and sprue elements of the base above. This was to give the base a uniformly dirty appearance; metal that is caked in dirt will typically not appear to be very shiny. If desired you can drybrush
the screen using Boltgun Metal to give it a metallic appearance. Lightly drybrushing Bestial Brown over the top of the Boltgun Metal can add to the appearance of rusted iron or steel. This Necromunda Enforcer's base has been painted using the same techniques described above, but instead of gluing down small patches of screen a section of screen was cut to fit exactly over the top of the base and glued down as a base layer. Sand and sections of sprue were then glued over the top of the screen to give the appearance of a steel grid walkway strewn with rubble. Note that the bits of sprue and screen have been drybrushed with Boltgun Metal before applying any washes or layers of brown, giving the metal a slightly cleaner, less dirtencrusted appearance. The addition of elements from the Cities of Death buildings and the GW Urban Basing kit can create dynamic, three-dimensional bases. Small amounts of snow flock can add to the character of an army, easily imitating the appearance of snow-strewn ruins. The sand on this base was painted using lighter shades of brown and yellow, giving the appearance of sandstone or limestone rubble amongst the larger grey elements. Model painted by Sean Higgins (Warseer: Atrum Angelus)
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Building Terrain for Dummies
BUILDING TERRAIN FOR DUMMIES By Lefteris F. Gavalas and Chara Lasithiotaki No one likes to play on an empty tabletop but commercial scenery is very expensive. The best solution is to make some of your own. This might seem a bit daunting at first, but taking it one step at a time it is a very simple process and best of all it will only cost you pennies! STAGE 1 First of all make sure you are working in a suitable space. You will need a lot of room to move around and having a large area where all the cutting can be done is essential, such as a large desk or table. For this first stage the stuff you will need are:
• A pencil to draw on the boards • hobby knives; a large one for basic cutting and ideally a smaller knife for the details • a pair of scissors to roughen up the building edges • white glue to put everything together • a large metal ruler, to guide your cutting • 2.5mm thick foam board to make the building walls • hard board to make the base • and optionally you can drink loads of coffee and have a friend help out (while you take all the credit!)
of buildings using this method (ruined basilicas, tall office blocks etc.). For this article though I wanted to create a ruined tank factory. As I had to go for a long and thin building I decided that the best dimensions would be 50cm long, 19cm wide and 15cm tall with a base that was 60cm long by 30cm wide. To make it more practical for table top gaming I only included two walls with no ceiling, as this makes it much easier when placing miniatures inside. Draw the outline of the building onto the foam board using the pencil and ruler. Carefully cut along these lines with the bigger hobby knife. When you have finished you should have two walls plus the base.
Add texture to the outside face of the walls and make it easier to manipulate the material by removing the outside layer of paper. Once you have done this you will have the inside layer of foam showing. Do this quite slowly and carefully as you risk breaking the wall and may have to start all over again.
You will now have to make the decision on what you want your building to look like. You can be creative about this and make all sorts Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Building Terrain for Dummies Add windows and doors to the building. Use the guidelines on the template sketch to the windows and doors directly onto the foam board.
STAGE 2 • white glue • some bigger pebbles
• modelling sand • static grass
• paints!
It is now time to add detail to the building. Since this is a very messy process it would be better if you did it somewhere outside of the house. Start by flocking the base. This is exactly the same as basing your models only on a much larger scale. Apply a thin layer of white glue all over the base and then start pouring sand from the container. Leave it to dry for a couple of hours. Mix some white glue with water inside a jar or a similar container (50/50 mix is about right). Apply this mixture on top of the sand and let it dry for another couple of hours. This is done to seal the sand in place, so that grains of sand do not come off while you are painting it. When this has dried you can add some bigger pebbles if you wish, to make it look more like fallen rubble.
Carefully use the smaller hobby knife to cut them out. In the end you will have something looking like this. Add some detail and more texture to the walls. If you have any leftover bits that look suitable for the building, e.g. Imperial or Space Marine iconography, you can put it on to the building using super glue.
Finally assemble the building using the white glue. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Building Terrain for Dummies When everything is all dry and settled its time to paint. Begin by undercoating it with a black spray (same as you would for a miniature). Leave to dry before using a brush to get to all the areas you have missed with the spray. Paint the base by gradually dry brushing with Scorched Brown, then with a Chaos Black/Codex Grey mix before a final highlight with a
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Codex Grey/Fortress Grey mix. Paint the building walls with Codex Grey and dry brush with Fortress Grey. Use a large brush for this or it will take ages. When it has dried completely glue static grass to finish. Voila! You now have a beautiful building to use on your table top without it costing more than 5 dollars to make.
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau
MON’TAU: THE DEATH OF AN ETHEREAL “The Tau’va is no charming ideology, the Ethereals have been controlling their subjects all along. Remove the Aun caste and the Greater Good has no meaning. Without their pheromone manipulation, the Tau Empire is reduced to an anarchic pack of disparate creatures.” - Inquisitor Sasham A large Tau force consists of numerous cadres, brought together and unified for the Greater Good under the guidance and council of an Ethereal. But what happens when the Ethereal is killed in battle or by less honourable means? Leaderless and without a common focus on the destruction of their enemies, three cadres must unite under a single Commander. But with their different battle philosophies in contest, the three Tau Commanders are unable to agree upon the best course of action.
The Ethereal was dead. His body lay at the foot of a shattered Imperial statue, and Shas’El Vior’la T’less Mont’yr felt his blood boil at the symbolism of the giant stone boot poised over the mangled corpse of his beloved leader.
Fielding an army against itself always makes for an interesting game as units nullify each other; intimidating elite troopers become easy pickings and often overlooked troops become deadly assassins. In this case, the Kroot will probably become the kings of close combat!
He landed a respectful distance from the body of Aun’Sava, his jungle-camo Battlesuit not yet repainted for this new battlefield. Keeping an eye on the silent broken buildings around the small square, Commander Winterlight strode forward. There was no sign of any Gue’la.
To mix things up a little, we took three different players’ armies, and created themed forces. One force favours long-range firepower, another favours high mobility and the last combines both elements. The results made for one entertaining game!
A rodent scuttled from under the body, it’s alien claws loud on the stone. A fresh rage gripped Shas’El T’less and the bolt from his plasma rifle left nothing of the rodent but a greasy twist of smoke that hung in the air.
Surrounded by enemies and without the guidance and wisdom of the Ethereal caste, infighting breaks out.
He heard the targeting whine of a missile pod, and twisted around.
This is a three-way battle quite unlike any other. Tactics are more important than luck or armour saves because every unit has devastating weaponry but is relatively fragile.
Shas’El Vior’la Kais Mal’caor emerged from the shadows of a collapsed colonnade, the weapons systems of his black and red XV8 targeting his fellow Ta’lissera. “I would not believe it if I hadn’t seen it. You shot him.
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau
MON’TAU: THE DEATH OF AN ETHEREAL You murdered Aun’Sava!” Commander Winterlight moved sideways, hoping the motion would cover the fact that his own battlesuit weapons were now tracking Shas’El Mal’caor. “You leap to conclusions a little too quickly, Commander Shadowspider. Tell me, just how long have you been skulking back there?” “Stand down, Shas’El T’less, and I promise-” “Those are plasma burns I see on Aun’Sava’s body, but I am not the only one with a plasma rifle and I haven’t seen any Gue’la for hours. What were you doing back there?” “Stand down!” “Not a chance! Not in the face of a crime like this.” The broken ground between the two circling Tau Commanders erupted in blinding splinters of light. From atop the Imperial statue, Shas’El Sa’cea Kar’tyr Doran’s ion blaster spun down, the low sun barely catching his drab olive Battlesuit, its orange markings flared as if on fire. “Both of you stand down!” Commander Starwave shouted. “The sun has not set on Aun’Sava’s body and already you are at each other’s throats? Do you forget the
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Tau’va so easily? The Gue’la have done this, and they could not have hoped for a better outcome.” “I saw him standing over Aun’Sava – saw him deal the killing blow,” hissed Shas’El Mal’caor. “I will not stand down, and do not dare to get in my way. This treachery must end here.” “The kind of treachery that hides in shadows?” spat Shas’El T’less, circling once more, “and announces its own guilt with every wild accusation? It will end here, and I will end it.”
Shas’El Kar’tyr. “Don’t make me put you both down.” “Do what you must. But if I see you in my targeting array, I will know with whom you stand.” With that, Commander Winterlight launched himself upwards, the jets on his XV8 pulsing and moments later he was gone. Shas’El Kar’tyr stood still for a long moment and then triggered a secure channel on his comms node. “It has begun.”
His plasma rifle flared like the sun. The beam hit a tangle of girders and a spray of molten iron arced after Shas’El Mal’caor as he dove for cover, his own missile pod spitting a reply. The multiple blasts threw Shas’El T’less backwards into filthy water at the bottom of a crater. He jetted out in a fountain of steam, but Shas’El Mal’caor had disappeared. “Let him go,” shouted Shas’El Kar’tyr from atop the monument. “When blood has cooled we can all discuss this as friends.” “Friends? I fired to miss. He aimed to kill.” “I can’t let you do this. Open warfare between two Commanders?” exclaimed
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau
MON’TAU: THE DEATH OF AN ETHEREAL YOU KEEP WHAT YOU KILL: Anyone who’s played a three way game will find that two players tend to annihilate one another while the third player sweeps in towards the end and claims the victory – well not in this scenario!
SET UP: Mark out three deployment zones on the map, each a 24”x 24” square. One in the centre of a long table edge and two others on the opposite side, measured on from the corners of the table.
To make sure our players got stuck in and created plenty of carnage we decided that if you kill an enemy Commander, their force joins yours! Suddenly, sitting back and shooting is no longer the only option as we force players into the brutal reality of close combat! This should come as a shock to the Tau Commanders who will find themselves committing Fire warriors and whatever else they have into a bloody brawl.
Each player rolls a dice. The highest takes first pick of the 3 deployment zones marked out on the map, followed by the second highest and then the lowest. The highest roller then places their Tau Commander 6” away from the centre of the board, as close as possible to their own deployment zone, followed by the second highest roller and finally the lowest.
To make things all the more tense, we limited the armies to a mere 1,000pts. This would force the players to be selective about their unit choices. TERRAIN: Using a 6ft x 4ft board, terrain should be dense. We used our city fight buildings to offer a greater number of tactical options with alleys of fire and an incentive to make the best use of the 4+ cover. SPECIAL RULES: Reserves, Infiltrators, Deep Strike and the Scouts special rules are not used in this scenario.
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Players continue taking it in turns to place their units in the usual method within their deployment zones. As each army is not prepared for battle, after placing a unit, roll a D6 and a scatter dice. The unit deviates from the rest of the army, but cannot scatter off the board or within 18” of an enemy unit.
ACTIVATION: Apart from their Commander, all units in each army begin the game ‘inert’. At the start of their turn, each Tau player may ‘activate’ one of their inert units who will then act normally. Units automatically activate and become playable if they are assaulted or fired upon. If a player kills another Tau Commander and takes their units into their army, they must activate any remaining inert units in the same way. VICTORY CONDITIONS: 1) Kill an enemy Tau Commander and add their units to your army. 2) The last surviving Tau Commander wins control of all the Tau cadres, uniting them into a mighty army! Whether he will continue to fight for the Greater Good or for his own selfish gains remains to be seen…
TURN SEQUENCE: Players then take it in turns starting with the lowest roller, then the second highest and finally the highest roller. With this method, one player has the benefit of strategic positioning but the others will have the benefit of earlier turns.
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau COMMANDER STARWAVE
If you hadn’t guessed, I’m going in for the kill. Leap my Commander into glorious close combat, then bog down my first victim with a fresh unit thrown into the fray every turn! COMMANDER STARWAVE’S CADRE: 999PTS Shas’O Starwave & Bodyguard – Shas’O with plasma rifle, cyclic ion blaster, multitracker and two bodyguards, both armed with plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker, targeting array and two shield drones
6 Stealth Suits 10 Fire warriors – Devilfish Transport with smart missile system, targeting array, multitracker and decoy launchers 10 Kroot Carnivores 2 Broadsides – Fitted with stabilisation systems. One has been upgraded to a squad leader with 2 shield drones
Adam: Selecting my army was easy –I took what I had painted! Thankfully we were only playing with a thousand points aside, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t up late last night putting the finishing touches on Kroot, Broadsides and Stealth Suits. So with my army assembled, I began forming a plan. My Commander and his bodyguard were tooled up to the eyeballs with plasma weaponry, which would make short work of Broadsides, Battlesuits and even bog standard troopers. The Stealth Team was there to lend more mobile firepower, as were the Fire warriors in their Devilfish. The Kroot are a cheap choice, but they’re no slouches in assault and finally, the Broadsides can bring up the rear, picking off any vehicles or lending their weight of fire. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau COMMANDER SHADOWSPIDER
Simon: For starters, I knew that Adam didn’t have much of an army out of what he’s painted so far. I also new that James had a high portion of anti-tank weaponry. So what better way to get around them both than with hundreds of Tau? Tau with pulse rifles! Designed for long range massed anti-troop firepower, four squads of Fire warriors, some Stealth Suits and missile heavy Battlesuits could deal out the punishment from a safe distance. With so many wounds being inflicted, there’s no way anyone could pass all those armour saves, especially not Adam with his atrocious luck. Commander Shadowspider will strike from the shadows!
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COMMANDER SHADOWSPIDER’S CADRE: 998PTS Shas’O Shadowspider & Bodyguard – Shas’O with plasma rifle, missile pod, multitracker and two bodyguards, both armed with twin-linked missile pods, targeting arrays and two shield drones
12 Fire warriors 12 Fire warriors 12 Fire warriors 12 Fire warriors 10 Kroot Carnivores
6 Stealth Suits
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau COMMANDER WINTERLIGHT
COMMANDER WINTERLIGHT’S CADRE: 999PTS Shas’O Winterlight & Bodyguard – Shas’O with plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker and bodyguard armed with plasma rifle, missile pod, multi-tracker, targeting array and a single shield drone 3 Stealth Suits 8 Fire warriors
2 Broadsides – Fitted with stabilisation systems. One has been upgraded to a squad leader with two shield drones 2 Broadsides – Fitted with stabilisation systems. One has been upgraded to a squad leader with two shield drones Hammerhead Gunship – Railgun, smart missile system, multi-tracker, target lock, decoy launchers
8 Fire warriors
James: I borrowed Luke’s Tau for this, so I didn’t have much choice in the army selection. From the start I could see I was heavily outnumbered, but not outgunned! Two squads of Broadsides and a Hammerhead put me in good fortune to blow anything off the table, while two Fire warrior squads and three Stealth Suits could lend some extra firepower where needed. But my biggest concern was my Commander and his lone bodyguard. With such a small entourage, I could be blown away on the first turn! It looks like I’ll be playing defensively in this game. Winterlight will be making a tactical retreat and falling back to the safety of the Broadsides who can manoeuvre to pick off juicy targets with their railguns. With a serious lack of anti-tank weaponry on the board, my Hammerhead is going to have a field day! Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau SET UP Adam rolled highest, choosing the centre deployment section, followed by James who picked top right and Simon who picked bottom left.
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During some high speed deploying, one of Shadowspider’s Fire warrior teams scattered out of their deployment zone and into a nearby building for a perfect line of fire down on Starwave’s Kroot Carnivore squad.
We can all see how this is going to go.
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau spotting Shadowspider’s Stealth Suits. A volley of fire from its smart missile system hits home, but has no effect against the heavily armoured unit. Shadowspider’s Stealth Suits are aware of the threat closing and activate. Suddenly, out in the open and an irresistible target for railguns, Starwave falls back to join the nearby Kroot Carnivore squad and rake the nearby building with ion and plasma fire, killing three of Shadowspider’s Fire warriors. Starwave’s Stealth Suit team activate, soaring to the top of a ruined motel before unleashing a storm of burst cannon fire into the nearby enemy occupied building, killing four more Fire warriors before leaping off the roof and into the streets to assault them next turn.
TURN 1 Winning the first turn, Commander Shadowspider dived back behind cover with his bodyguard, launching a salvo of missiles into Commander Starwave’s retinue, disabling both shield drones and destroying one of his bodyguards in a crescendo of explosions. The Fire warriors in the building activate and open fire on Starwave’s unsuspecting Kroot out in the open, killing three and making the Carnivores ‘active’ in the process. Commander Winterlight notices an opportunity and while falling back behind cover, eliminates Starwave’s remaining bodyguard with a well-placed plasma volley. The Hammerhead Gunship activates with a high-pitched whine, gliding out of its deployment zone and Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau With nowhere suitable to go, the Winterlight Hammerhead lands with a hiss and opens fire on Shadowspider’s Stealth Suits again, killing one with a submunition round from its massive railgun. Meanwhile, Commander Winterlight and his bodyguard launch themselves forward, punching holes through the opposing Stealth Suits with their rapid firing plasma rifles and tearing them apart with missile pods. The Stealth Team is quickly wiped out in a shower of machinery and gore! One of Winterlight’s Fire warrior teams activates and targets Commander Starwave and his newly acquired Kroot bodyguard but the cover is too dense to hit them.
TURN 2 Shadowspider’s Kroot activate and run towards Starwave’s forces. Meanwhile, Commander Shadowspider continues falling back, loosing a cluster of missiles at the nearby Stealth Suits, killing four of them! “They might as well just show up to battle naked!” -Adam The Stealth Team advances into Winterlight’s deployment zone getting the camouflaged Commander in their sights, but only one is in range and causes no damage. Every Fire warrior desperately runs to the windows to rapid-fire Starwave’s approaching Stealth Suits, but their shots have no effect. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau Starwave activates his Broadsides and they ponderously reposition to target Shadowspider in their sights, hitting home with both railgun rounds, but Shadowspider’s Shield Drone deflects the incoming shots as it explodes. Starwave and his Kroot meat shield move forward out of cover, firing at Shadowspider with his plasma rifle and ion blaster, destroying another Drone and inflicting a single wound on a bodyguard. Despite their heavy losses, Starwave’s remaining two Stealth Suits jet pack into the new blood-soaked building, mowing down two Fire warriors with their burst cannons and then killing two more in close combat before hiding in the rubble, awaiting to open fire on the Kroot next turn.
TURN 3 Another of Shadowspider’s Fire warrior teams activate and move into a nearby building, looking out of the ruins at Winterlight’s Hammerhead. The Kroot rush forward, rapid firing Starwave’s Kroot with their rifles and cutting four of them down. With his meat shield numbers thinning, Adam is starting to look worried! Shadowspider and retinue move up behind the Kroot, tearing apart the remaining two Stealth Suits hiding in the blood covered building in a shower of explosive missiles, before jet packing behind it, away and out of sight from Starwave’s broadsides. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
3 Commander Winterlight and his bodyguard lock onto Starwave’s last Kroot warrior, melting him in a sizzling shower of gore before jumping back behind the safety of the ruins. The Hammerhead lifts off again, circling the ruins around the centre of the board and firing its smart missile system at Shadowspider’s Fire warriors who had just moved into the nearby building, killing one of them. Seeing Commander Starwave out in the open and all alone, Winterlight’s second
Broadside team activates, moving around the ruins for a clean shot. “Shas’O, we have a target.” “…” “Shas’O? Do we have a target?” “…Target confirmed. Take him out.” “For the Greater Good.” Both railguns punch through the armoured Battlesuit, sending blue blood spraying from the giant exit wounds as the crew compartment depressurises violently. The enemy Commander crashes headfirst into 60
Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau the tarmac. Commander Winterlight radios Starwave’s defeated forces, claiming them as his own. Now allied to Commander Winterlight, Adam activates his Fire warrior unit along with its Devilfish transport, embarking the troops and flying towards Shadowspider’s deployment zone. The Devilfish combines its fire with the advancing Broadsides, killing seven of Shadowspider’s Kroot with their combined smart missile fire and forcing the kindred to turn and flee.
TURN 4 With two armies bearing down on him, both with plenty of smart missile systems, things weren’t looking good for Shadowspider. “I think I’ve got a plan.” -Simon Commander Shadowspider and his retinue emerge from behind the blood-soaked building to open fire at the approaching Hammerhead, scoring a single glancing hit. We all hold our breath as Simon rolls…a six! With his prey downed, Shadowspider slips back into the shadows. Another Fire warrior team activates, taking aim at Winterlight’s inert Fire warriors across the board. Three of them shoot at a single enemy Fire warrior in range, but all their shots miss. In retaliation, the now active Winterlight Fire warriors return fire with a single shot that kills!
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau with a direct railgun hit and showering his comrades in a gush of gore, but the unit holds their ground. Adam moves the Devilfish with Fire warriors closer to the enemy Fire warriors in the building, opening fire with the smart missile system and killing two, causing the unit’s morale to break, sending them fleeing back out of the building and into the open of their deployment zone. The Broadsides march forward, firing their smart missiles as they go, but inflict no damage on the concealed Shadowspider.
TURN 5 Shadowspider’s fleeing Fire warriors continue to run, straight off the board!
Commander Winterlight and his faithful bodyguard make their way through the rubble, killing two Fire warriors in the building as they go before jumping back to a safer position. James activates his Stealth Suits who march forwards alongside the first Broadside team, following Commander Winterlight. The Broadsides target Shadowspider’s Fire warriors in the building, splattering one
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau
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cover of some nearby ruins. Meanwhile, the other Broadside team continues their advance, blasting annihilating another Fire warrior with their railguns. The Stealth Suits run past the Broadsides and then jet pack into the open, closely supporting Commander Winterlight who patiently waits for the attack, crouched behind the Hammerhead wreckage. Adam’s Broadsides continue their ponderous march forward, but not far enough to reach
Meanwhile, the Fire warriors in the open target the advancing Broadsides, but their pulse fire harmlessly patters off the heavily armoured suits. The second Fire warrior squad in the open activates and runs after Commander Shadowspider, who sneaks out from behind the blood-soaked building once more to target a partially obscured Devilfish. All of the retinue’s missiles hit home and the skimmer crashes into the ground, killing four of the Fire warriors on board and leaving the survivors entangled in the wreckage. Shadowspider’s retinue jumps behind the cover ahead, ready to pounce on the Broadsides next turn. Commander Winterlight activates his second unit of Broadsides, moving them into the Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau on the Broadsides, destroying both Shield Drones before charging into close combat and inflicting a single wound on one of the heavy weapon specialists. Outnumbered and overwhelmed, the Broadsides turn to flee, but are quickly cut down by Shadowspider who leads his squad in a sweeping advance into the Fire warrior team entangled in the Devilfish wreckage. Seeing no other way to settle this battle, and Shadowspider will only charge him next turn, Winterlight joins the fray with his bodyguard and Shield Drone. “One shall stand. One shall fall.” “Why throw away your life so recklessly?” ”That’s a question you should ask yourself Shadowspider!”
the protection of the ruins ahead and get Shadowspider within light of sight. Their smart missile systems detect the rival Commander, but the ruins are too dense for them to find their mark.
TURN 6-10 Shadowspider leads his retinue into the ruins, followed by a squad of Fire warriors a short distance behind. They open fire
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Battle Report: Tau vs. Tau vs. Tau Countless rounds of brutal close combat later and there was one victor. The red mist cleared from Shadowspider’s eyes as he realised what he had done. Winterlight lay butchered at his feet and Starwave, nothing but a dark stain of gore, was just a short distance away. All around were the cries of the injured and the dying. As the sun set deep crimson, no victory cry would be cheered this night. The unity of the cadres had been shattered and with so very few of them left, the Tau could not hold out against the Imperials. This campaign would be abandoned and the fragmented army would return to Tau. If Commander Shadowspider was to be made an example of, then so be it - if it is for the Greater Good. THE AFTERMATH Adam: Well, it didn’t go to plan did it? In fact, it all came apart before I even took my first turn! Coupled with the fact I didn’t pass a single armour save when Simon unleashed a volley of missiles my way, I got the last turn. This meant I couldn’t follow through with my aggressive plan of charging one of my rivals with Commander Starwave and continually feed my faster units into the combat and overwhelm them. With the Battlesuits gone, I had a disturbing lack of long-ranged and low AP weaponry, putting me at a massive disadvantage. I knew I couldn’t risk going after James with all those smart missiles in his army and with all Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
the fire lanes covered, so I went for Simon! The Stealth Suits did a great job at hosing down the Fire warriors, even if (once again) I failed all of their armour saves. Sending the Kroot forward, led by Starwave was simple desperation. I could either sit tight and get shot, or charge forward heroically and get shot. Of course, the last thing I expected was a railgun to come out of nowhere and blow my Commander’s head off! James: Adam was so busy chasing after Simon that he forgot about the fire lanes I’d covered with my Broadsides. It was just too tempting to shoot him!
Shadowspider into position and pick off my targets one by one. Then it was the big finale with all strategy and etiquette tossed aside in favour of a big punch up! We stopped the game on turn six and just duked it out. We must have gone through about ten rounds of combat. Battered and wounded, Shadowspider emerged victorious. Looks like I’ll be treating him to some extra Broadsides! -ADAM SMITH Fiction by DAVID McGUIRE
Everything was going so well until Simon said “Hey, I’ve got a plan!” I knew he was going to try something crazy. Suddenly my Hammerhead exploded, then Adam’s Devilfish nosed into the tarmac and Shadowspider was leap-frogging his way through the units and getting ever closer to Commander Winterlight. Okay, I’ll admit I could have just sat there in my deployment zone with all those smart missiles and railguns, but this is a friendly game, not tournament play. So I did what any hot-blooded gamer would do and charged in for death or glory! Simon: I’d say I executed my plan almost perfectly, but the last minute aggression really turned the game around. With wrecked skimmers blocking lines of sight across the centre of the board I could move
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Tactika: Boss Snikrot and the Kommandos
BOSS SNIKROT AND THE KOMMANDOS By: David Wojtkowski (studderingdave) Well now that the dust has settled and the Ork codex has been in circulation for a while, we can now look at one of the most flavorful special characters in the new codex. The Ork codex brings us something new in the way they give us special characters, while we have the conventional HQ special characters, we also get „squad leader“ upgrades. In this case of Kommandos, an Elites choice in the new Ork codex, we can either upgrade a single Kommando to either a Nob, or Boss Snikrot instead. In this article I plan on laying out a good idea on how to use Boss Snikrot in your battles as I do in mine.
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First let‘s look at the Kommando unit itself. Kommandos are an elite choice in an Ork army. This is a highly contested area of any Ork army; as many other elite options are present. Without getting too off-track; Lootas are great for fire power, while Nobz provide a punch against anything they hit. Tankbustas and Burna Boyz have their own particular niche as well, but our focus will be the Kommandos. Your basic Kommando is a 10 point model, and for that you get a slugga, choppa and stikkbombz as standard. These Orks also gain the army wide special rules that include ‘Furious Charge’, mob rule and Waaagh! What these Orks get that other Orks don‘t however, is ‘Move Through Cover’ and ‘Infiltrate’. Move through cover lets the Kommandos roll a third dice when rolling for movement through difficult terrain, while still selecting the highest, making the Kommandos a lot better at sneaking through difficult terrain then your average greenskin.
Infiltrate lets your Kommandos set up extra close to the enemy, and is a very useful skill to have. The squad can max out at 15 models, while also being able to carry up to 2 special weapons. These weapons are the big shoota for 5 points each, the rokkit launcha for 10 points and the burna for 15 points. The big shoota is great for anti-infantry, it throws out 3 solid shots each, so even at the orky ballistic skill of 2 you’re bound to hit something. The rokkit launcha is great for early-game tank hunting. I personally, would recommend that if you buy one, buy a second, you’re more likely to make that crucial hit! rokkit launchas get better when 66
Tactika: Boss Snikrot and the Kommandos used with Boss Snikrot. The Burna is the most expensive upgrade out of the three. It can be used as a flamer OR as a power weapon in the assault phase (but you can only choose one option per turn, so think carefully!), which is a great way to dice up some heavy armor in combat.
(+1 attack) that allow Snikrot to re-roll failed hits in close combat. With a fearsome six strength 6 attacks in close combat, that‘s nothing to sneer at! Boss Snikrot also has “Killa Reputation“ which makes any unit that is beaten by him and his Kommandos take an additional -1 modifier to their leadership.
The Nob upgrade is a 10 point one, and he may upgrade his choppa with either a big choppa for 5 points, or a powerklaw for 25 points. Personally, if I ran a Nob in this squad I would always take the powerklaw, as all those strength 9 armour save ignoring attacks in close combat are just too good to pass up. It’s also worth noting that the Nob may take heavy armor for 5 points, as well as a bosspole. The heavy armor is not very useful, as that majority or armor saves will be 6+ for most of the unit‘s life. The bosspole on the other hand is a staple. This allows you to cause a wound to the unit; in order to re-roll your morale check. Keep in mind though, that while the unit is still above 11 models, they are fearless!
Snikrot‘s last ability is by far his most fearsome; when Snikrot is in charge of a unit of Kommandos, you may choose to have the unit in reserve. When the unit finally does come in from reserve, they may come in on ANY board edge. This is a vital ability for an Ork player. This allows you to tie up Space Marine Devastator squads, Tau Broadside teams and any other such units that normally stay towards the rear of your opponent’s deployment zone. Keep in mind that since the Kommandos have stikkbombz they are often more than able to hurl them at the weak rear armor of most vehicles. If you want to take advantage of this; then giving two of the Kommandos rokkit lauchas should be a priority!
Now, the other option would be Boss Snikrot. Coming in at 85 points, he is a pricy upgrade, consequently making your Kommandos an expensive proposition. So if you plan on using him, you’d better plan on using him right. Boss Snikrot comes with Stikkbombz as standard. He’s also armed with Mork‘s Teeth, which are a set of close combat weapon’s
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would be better then the six power weapon attacks between the two burnas. Against low armored enemies, I usually run with the flame template, backed by a vicious assault. Against highly armored enemies I will take a few shots with the sluggas before I charge in, making the best use of the flamers as power weapons. I hope this article has been informative to read. I have used Boss Snikrot extensively and with that have tried to pour as much info as I have on him into this article. I hope with this reading that you see the advantages of running this special character in your army. He will definitely help you scare the hell out of your opponent, and will buy you time to get the rest of your greenskins in place for the perfect WAAAAAAGH!
Personally, I run my squad of Kommandos maxed out with 2 burnas and Boss Snikrot leading them. When they come in on a board edge, I decide if the two flame templates 67
Introducing Youngsters to the Hobby
INTRODUCING YOUNGSTERS TO THE HOBBY A LEARNING EXPERIENCE WORTH THE EFFORT! By: Gabriel Schrock A JOURNEY BEGINS Since I began painting my own miniatures many years ago, I have often looked forward to teaching this bizarre pastime to my younger cousin Andrew. Anybody that has a child or younger relative that shows an aptitude for an activity they did not possess before will understand my own excitement over this event. It dawned on me one day as the little guy was telling me some riveting facts about historic battles in World War II and showing me his fine Forces of Valor toy tank collection. The time had come to commence my corruption, for The God-Emperor of Mankind of course, and this last Christmas was the perfect opportunity to strike. I ordered the Battle of Macragge box for my cousin Andrew and set about the task of teaching a ten yearold the basics of the hobby. STARTING WITH THE BACKGROUND Explaining the setting and the races can be a daunting task. There is a reason people debate about the background of the game on the internet, it is extensive and easily confusing, but it is also the lifeblood of Warhammer 40,000. I can just about guarantee that your audience will not retain a third of the information you give them, but don’t let that get you down! I remember Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
it took me a long time to get a solid grasp of the 40k setting. Your simplest bet is to casually flip through your main rulebook and explain a little about each race and the Imperium. The wonderful thing about 40k is that there always seems to be a race for everybody. If the youngster you’re introducing loves anime mecha to death, then why not explain about the Tau in greater detail? Perhaps they’ve seen way too many Aliens re-runs for their age and have a near morbid fascination of the nasty critters? Then explain the Tyranids some more. And what child can resist the concept of Space Marines when they begin the hobby? Before I picked up my Imperial Guard, I had started with collecting an Epic army of Blood Angels. Ten-foot tall genetically altered super humans with an axe to grind mentality are sure to be a winner in any case. No matter what your youth decides, be sure to explain that they should get their little hands on the starting boxed set to begin with. It has just about anything the budding hobbyist could need. Paints, brushes, models, terrain, rules, dice and whippy-sticks! But a few things are missing unfortunately, super glue, a hobby knife and some primer. Unfortunately for my cousin, we had no hobby knife and glue at
hand to assemble his shiny new models on Christmas. With a promise I would return at another date with his own new bottle of super glue I left my own hardcover rulebook and a codex for him to flip through while he awaited my return. This is important to do. As I already stated earlier, a younger child is bound to miss a massive amount of whatever information you tell them and by lending your own materials for them to read on their time means they will retain a great deal of that information better. Upon my return Andrew and I could have a fun discussion on the abilities and anatomy of Space Marines! HOBBY (BONDING) TIME Obviously, assembling a box of models with somebody who has never done so is bound to take some time and patience. I suggest setting aside a couple afternoons or evenings for getting through the small mountain of sprues. Depending upon their age, it is probably best for you to cut out all of the models for them with your own hobby knife. While you set about this generally uninteresting task, be sure to set up your youth with some laid out newspaper and a file or some sandpaper. If you’re going to cut out their models they can learn to take care of those annoying mold-lines and flash at the same time!
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Introducing Youngsters to the Hobby Your youngster is bound to make countless mistakes in this new hobby, and haven’t we all? Be patient, try to guide them as gently as possible and once again don’t be surprised if they quickly forget the advice you just gave them about getting rid of those frickin’ moldlines! This is the true reason for getting the Battle of Macragge box in my opinion. The models are simple, you’ve got the rules and some dice, but it really is just a set of training wheels for modeling. I guarantee you down the line your little hobbyist-in-the-making will refine his techniques so many times that these first models will be nothing more than a fond memory of learning. There is a massive amount of cutting to do, and soon Andrew was eager to finally get some assembling done. Go ahead and let your prospective Neophyte super glue while you finish cutting and begin priming. I’ve found, especially younger children, lack the strength and dexterity in the hands to properly apply a primer coat from a spray can; the result often being a vaguely Space Marine-shaped form oozing with excess primer surrounded by a pool of paint that missed its unfortunate victim. If the youngster wants to learn some easy basing then now is a good time to ease them into the process. I’d suggest just sand or slate for them to get a grasp of basing, just lead by example. As soon as you’ve got some models primed it is time to start some painting instruction. Begin by taking the lead and showing Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
A small brood of Tyranids ready for priming. how much paint to put on the brush and displaying proper cleaning and so forth. Now is also a good time to teach a few simple techniques. Drybrushing and a simple black wash technique will give your youngster more than enough to chew over. Just let them go at it and as time progresses you can help them master these simple techniques. Hopefully they can one day teach you the He preferred the shade, what can you do?
advanced ones you never bothered to learn yourself! Once again, these miniatures will either sit on the shelf forlorn and forgotten or be stripped and painted better late on. So long as your hobbyist is happy is all that matters at this time. FINALLY, TIME TO PLAY! Once Andrew was content that his Space Marines and his Tyranids were ready to be painted without my guidance, I suggested we play his first game. At this point I decided it would be more fun to introduce basic mechanics through a game of Kill-team, his power armoured monsters against my own models! Unfortunately, I don’t have a large terrain collection of my own because I’m in a gaming group that supplies terrain for everyone, and I wanted my cousin’s first game to be a bit more visually appealing then just playing on the carpet. Fortunately 69
Introducing Youngsters to the Hobby for us, however, our wonderful grandmother is a sewing enthusiast and has a respectable collection of fabrics. We soon had a simple desert coloured sheet and with a handful of old children books we had our first game board. This set up is simple enough for anybody to achieve, just take a quick trip down to any local fabric store and you’re sorted. It’s not glamorous, but it is certainly more appealing.
Instant sand dunes! I decided on Kill-team as an introduction to the hobby because not only could I use my own miniatures and stir up some friendly competition between us, but a dumbeddown game of Kill-team is still a bit more complex then the starter missions given in the Battle of Macragge box. I let Andrew be the Kill-team player first in an Assassinate mission, which he naturally stomped me at. For the next game I let Andrew choose. He decided to be the Brute player in a Last Stand mission, which meant he also got some experience setting up terrain.
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Flamers kill Imperial Guard dead. Notice a Blood Angel amongst Andrew’s ‘green marines’? It is one of my own first miniatures on loan! Because we were pressed for time at the end Andrew lined up his Space Marines in a silly fashion to execute his, “final charge”. I figured why not entertain the idea and follow suit? I lost again, but we both had a great time regardless. When introducing the hobby, especially to younger children, have fun and don’t be too much of a stickler about rules. Good, playing-for-fun vibes will emanate to your disciple and there will always be time later on to teach the nuances of the rules properly.
THE RESULT? Our hobby experiences together have been nothing short of bliss so far. Hopefully with nurturing and time I’ll have a rival, an ally, and a companion that can always be relied upon for those overwhelming hobby undertakings in the grim darkness of the far future.
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight
COUNTDOWN TO MIDNIGHT # 20:05 Hours # ++Always a pleasure to hear from the esteemed Vigiles, Chief Inspector Charkorov, but I heard you feckless, chinless civvies had all gone AWOL++ Colonel Guutheim’s usually hearty voice was frayed and brittle, but it wasn’t the bad line-quality to blame.
retirement. Alitov had never once, in forty years a Vigiles, made swing shift on time. Now, he never would. Charkorov opened the cheap box and took out the presents he had bought. Not one but two gold-plated pocketwatches. “Why two?” Alitov would have asked, amused but puzzled.
++You heard right, Colonel. Just me minding the store, now++
“A man with one watch always knows the time,” Charkorov would have replied with a wry smile, “but a man with two is never certain.”
++Very lonely, I’m sure. Social call, then, is it?++
Alitov was a good detective; he would have understood.
#
#
Chief Inspector of Vigiles Rill Charkorov sat alone among the empty desks and dark holding cells, the abandoned administration floor alien and cold. He tore off the wrapping paper, crumpled it into a ball and tossed it out the broken window. It dropped away into deepening shadows pierced by alarms, breaking glass, small-arms fire and the screams of a city trapped in a chilling nightmare. He downed his remaining jolliq and picked up the now unwrapped present.
++Not really++ Charkorov decided to stall for time. The Colonel was an old friend, but what he was about to ask for was beyond any bonds of friendship. ++How is it your way?++
“Get me a gold pocketwatch,” Detective Alitov had laughed, when Charkorov had asked him what he might want on his
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++None of my men have run, Chief Inspector, if that’s what you mean. The Autocrator’s Auxiliary 37th Armoured are true to the colours, every damn one. I am proud of them now more than I have ever been. I have patrols out from St Jude’s to the Mausoleum and down to the river. Keeping a lid on things. Doing your job++ A wary pause.
++So, Chief Inspector. What can I do for you?++ # Charkorov slipped both pocketwatches into his overcoat. Alitov understood all too well – he had family; loved ones to be with in the few hours they all had left. Alitov had gone home, along with the rest of them. Charkorov couldn’t blame him; it wasn’t Alitov’s fault he was sitting here alone drinking while the world waited to die. The pub-vox screeched into life again. The emergency transmitters must be back up – at least someone was still doing their job. For a moment, Charkorov remembered what hope felt like and he swung his feet off the desk and leaned forward. The set squealed and hissed, then the machine-voice started up mid-sentence, as if it had never been away, “-Autocrator Mallik has been declared Excommunicatus, Hereticus Diabolis and Traitorus In Extremis by Inquisitor Baletayn of His Most Holy Inquisition on a dozen specimen charges of-” Charkorov sat back, kicking his desk in frustration, rigid and angry with himself for being such a fool; there was nothing new. It was the same shrill denunciations they had been broadcasting since Exterminatus was declared two days ago. A planet-wide
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight conspiracy on Geremanthius. Traitors at every level. It didn’t take a Vigiles officer to know they weren’t hearing the whole story, but with all off-planet comms jammed and all ships being scorched before they breached atmo, no-one on Geremanthius ever would. What do you do when the Sword of Damocles is literally hanging over your head? Charkorov reached for the bottle, remembering as his fingers closed on the neck that it was empty. # ++A favour.++ ++The world’s ending, and you choose this moment to call in your favour++ Another pause. ++You did say you would collect one day++ ++I did. I am++ # For the last forty eight hours, he had organised patrols and manned the barricades, trying desperately to keep the city from tearing itself apart with an everdwindling force of men. He had awoken red-eyed and soul-sick on the Sector-House floor at dawn and, before he was even fully awake, knew he was the last person left in the building. He had kept what order one man could on the streets outside all day, but there was nothing he could do anymore. He stood, and flung the empty jolliq bottle out the window. His last one.
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He was alone in the longest, darkest night Geremanthius would ever know, and duty was all he had left. So be it. When I stand before Him in four hours time, the Emperor will not find me wanting. If duty is all I have, then that is what I will give Him. He knocked the ranting pub-vox off his desk and picked up the case-slate it had been sitting on. Before Exterminatus had been declared, this one case had been consuming Charkorov’s every waking hour. A body in the canal. A low-level Ecclesiarchy by the name of Almoner Strang. It was not the victim that had made this one stand out, but the reaction. A torture-kill that had all the hallmarks of a professional job, as did the cover-up Charkorov had run into. Blocked at every turn; denial, stonewalling and outright obstruction. There had even been threats: serious ones. There was only one witness, although Charkorov had had to burn plenty of good informants just to find out her name – Sister Tanaquil of the Orders Hospitaller. He’d learned that the Arbites were holding her covertly, and that they weren’t letting anyone talk to her. The whole thing stank. But the Arbites had gone, armoured columns heading for Mueller Fields and the orbital shuttles just hours before the pub-vox began screaming Exterminatus at a stunned population. The Courthouse on Eternal Hill was abandoned. Rumour was escaped prisoners held it now.
He sighed. She was almost certainly dead, if she had ever been there at all. It was probably a complete waste of time. But what else was he going to do? The pocketwatches were heavy in his coat. Duty and justice. # ++I see. Cat stuck up a tree? Old lady trying to cross a road? Some rude graffitti on your meatwagon?++ ++No. I want you to help me lead an armoured attack on the Arbites’ Courthouse++ A very long pause. ++You better run that one by me again, Chief Inspector. Slowly++ # He took his gun from the safe-box beside his desk and tucked the case-slate into his overcoat. Then he tagged Colonel Guutheim’s number and called in one last favour. # Towering high above the city; the Arbites Courthouse on Eternal Hill. It wore the sunset well, Charkorov thought, sheer walls like blood, imperial eagles and gun embrasures of burning brass. A cold wind from the coast carried the sound of bedlam. Standing beside his Bruennhilde light armoured personnel carrier, Guutheim looked old. Charkorov told him so. The big man in the immaculate dress uniform
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight jumped at the sound of Charkorov’s voice, then flicked his ghutka stick away as he turned to face the shadows. “They teach skulking at the Academy, Chief Inspector?” “They teach sentry duty at boot camp?” Guutheim sniffed the air. “Cheap jolliq. You’re drunk, lad.” “Sadly, no. I keep drinking, but can’t seem to get drunk.” Nodding, Guutheim lit another ghutka stick slowly, the tip flaring in the dark for a long moment. His face was drawn, heavy; bleached of hope. Like himself, Charkorov realised, duty was the only thing keeping him going. “Over the comms is one thing. You asked, I came. But now. You tell me what this is all about, I think.” “Ask me again in the morning.” “A-ha! A joke! I always knew you had it in you, Chief Inspector. Come. Indulge a tired, old man. Or I might just take all these troopers and head back to barracks.” Charkorov shrugged. He could barely explain it to himself. How would it sound to the neatly compartmented mind of the Colonel? He picked an angle and gambled. “It’s a question of faith in symbols, Colonel. The Courthouse is the symbol of justice for the entire city. The whole world. We can’t let the people see it fall to anarchy and violence, no matter how bad things get.” Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
“I fail to see how they could get any worse,” snorted Guutheim. He tugged at his sleeves, drew himself up. “Fine. You won’t talk, except auroch-shit not even a cadet would swallow. No more than I expected, frankly. In the absence of anything better to do, let’s get on with it.” Guutheim leapt onto the running board of his APC, the frame rocking under his weight. He barked orders; terse, fast - too fast for Charkorov to follow. He’d never served in the Autocrator’s Auxiliary. When his year were trucked off to induction camp he’d snuck out and turned up at the Vigiles Academy on South Street. He looked sixteen and he wasn’t drunk or a cripple, which pleased the recruiting sergeant for whom two out of the three was usually enough. In the Bondsmen’s Quarter, where he’d grown up, the Vigiles were hated only slightly less than the xeno, and his family hadn’t spoken to him since. Charkorov sometimes wondered if that had been his goal all along. The sounds of the dying city swept over him as he waited; distant gunfire, screams, singing, shouts and more. He tried to shut it out, then realised why he could hear it all so clearly – the mills in the Unthank Quarter were silent. For the first time in his life, they had stopped. Their unceasing pounding was the sonic backdrop to everything that happened in the city. No matter where you went, if you stood on rockcrete, if you could see a wall, then you could hear the vast mills, night and day, hammering away. No more.
The thought chilled him. The engines of the Bruennhilde column roared into life, the comforting noise masking out the death rattle of the city beyond the stablights. Rill jogged beside them as they crawled up the narrow, switchback approach past security fences and ghostly pillboxes, the guns and gunners long gone to Mueller Fields. Acrid smoke whipped past in pale threads turned golden by the last kiss of the sun. The thunder of their progress drew faces from the deepening gloom. Some ran after the armoured cars, arms outstretched, only to fall away after a dozen paces. A group of women wearing medical gowns stood and hurled abuse. Unseen others threw stones. The Courthouse, in all its massive, forbidding strength, drew the people to it. A tall man clothed in black stood at the head of a great, grey mass of shuffling workers – a preacher. He spat at Charkorov as he jogged past. The Courthouse loomed around the last corner. As the column chewed up the cobbles between the ancient Lime Lions, someone atop the Courthouse walls spotted them, and small arms fire cracked off the armour. Shouts and calls filtered down from above. Charkorov drew his service issue, and took cover behind the nearest APC. Guutheim joined him, snapping orders into his jaw-vox. “You have a plan for getting through that?”
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight Charkorov pointed at the immense armaplas gates that stood on the other side of Imperial Square. Guutheim winked. “All Autocrators have a plan for taking the Arbites Courthouses, Chief Inspector, even the loyal ones. It’s just like having insurance-” His words were cut off in a spasm of noise as the twin autocannons of the Chimerax sprayed the embrasures and firing slits. High above, fountains of ironcrete dust erupted as if summoned by the tracer fire. Guutheim shouted more orders, then bent his head low to Charkorov. “You think he was – what the pub-vox says? Autocrator Mallik was a traitor?” Something low, heavy and tracked clanked and screeched towards the Courthouse gates. Charkorov shook his head. “Like you, I know auroch-shit when I hear it. Mallik’s gone, anyway. The Navy flattened Regent’s House from orbit.” “Feck. The whole complex? The Senate? Put these on.” Guutheim handed Charkorov a set of ear-masks. “The Cyclops makes quite a bang.” “The whole damned island,” Charkorov shouted. “Wiped it out. What’s a Cy-?” Even with the ear-masks the thunderclap of noise was agonising, if brief. The dust was already rolling over him when Charkorov realised he had been knocked off his feet. Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
He scrambled up. Guutheim appeared out of the cloud, looking pleased. “The whole island? So that’s what happened to my chain of command,” he said. A jerk of the thumb. “I assume we’re not taking prisoners in there.” The tracked vehicle had turned into a crater, and the lower third of the armaplas doors was a smoking ruin. Already, the first APC was bouncing over the toothed rubble and disappearing down the throat of the Courthouse. “We’re bringing the Emperor’s law to the lawless, Colonel. They had their chance to die with dignity.” Guutheim simply grunted his assent, jumped up onto the running board and slapped the car’s roof hard. It shot away from Charkorov as he jogged after it, gun held low. He checked the time on one of Alitov’s pocket-watches. Three and a half hours until midnight. # 20:32 +++Fleet Tactical notice: Attention of: Irisia Wing. Spear of Sanctity beginning final manoeuvres. Will achieve polar orbit suitable for cyclonic torpedo release in 179 minutes. Final fleet elements to assume formation M/732A/RaptorShadow on arrival from warp translation. Swift death to His enemies+++ #
Resistance was fragmented and sporadic – none of the escaped prisoners had expected a full-blown armoured assault when they’d seized the empty Courthouse and closed the gates behind them. Charkorov slipped away from Guutheim’s men as quickly as he could and into the rat’s nest of hallways and stairwells that lay under the building. A combination of memory, educated guesses and cryptic signs led him to the subterranean holding cells, and from there a quick scan of the duty log told him which oubliette Sister Tanaquil was in. The lights were out, but he’d brought a torch. The halls stank of guts and death; the walls ran black with blood. He moved quickly, glancing at each corpse as he stepped over it. He’d expected the prisoners to settle their scores when the Arbites left. They had done so with relish, and a little torture and mutilation thrown in. Down dank stairs into solitary. A long, low hall with yellow lights flickering. The prisoners hadn’t managed to break the seals in this wing, or simply hadn’t bothered yet, and there were no corpses to check. Even so, it was as silent as the grave. The air was cold and smelled of cleaning fluid and dust. He found the hatch, flush with the steel floor in an alcove off the main walkway. He knelt, his torch beam picking out a black, waxy seal on the face. It was unfamiliar, but the raised skull had the look of a death warrant about it. His heart sank. He interrogated the machine spirit in the hatch, holding
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight his breath in case it too had departed, but it replied, red words flashing angrily. Cell vacant. Occupant terminated. He swore. Something moved at the end of the hall; the ghost of a sound summoned by his swearing, but it was like a bell in the silence. Torch off, he advanced quickly and quietly, darting from alcove to alcove. Light ghosted from under a door, just enough to see by. A shadow moved in the light. Charkorov’s boot hit the door a fraction of a second after his pistol blew the lock out. Then he was in the room, back to the wall, torch back on and hunting the gloom. “Vigiles!” he shouted. “In nomine Imperator, yield and submit!” The data-slate nearly took the top of his head off, but he got an arm in the way. Whoever threw it was fast, he gave them that – they were nearly past him and out into the hall when he body-slammed them against the open door. They fell together hard, his attacker writhing like a pit of snakes. Fists, knees and elbows struck him, but he had the weight advantage and the flurry of blows ended when he jammed his pistol under his captive’s chin. Under her chin. He smelled stale sweat and cold fury. She winched as the barrel of his pistol scraped against her jawbone. “Sister?” He could barely make her out, but he knew it was her. “Sister Tanaquil?”
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There was something dark on her face. He saw more spots appear; heavy drops. Blood. His own. He was suddenly aware of her hand at his throat, and the fact that she had been holding something in it when she had been hitting him. “Ditch the shiv,” he hissed. “Drop the gun.” “Not going to happen, Sister.” “Likewise.” “I don’t have time for Catachan standoffs. I’m Chief Inspector Charkorov of the Vigiles. It’s you I’m here to see – about Almoner Strang.” “I bet you are. I’ve been waiting for you.” She tried to push him off. He shifted his weight, keeping her pinned, and she retorted by digging her blade in a little. “But I thought your master had upped the stakes.” “There’s an execution warrant on your cell, and the spirit in the hatch thinks you’re dead. What’s going on?” “I suppose he’s paying you to finish the job? He promise you a seat? I wouldn’t count on it being there, Vigiles!” She spat the last word in his face, struggling again. “No-one’s paying me to be here, Sister. I came to find you because I had questions about a man’s murder. I don’t know anything about masters or seats, Throne-dammit, but since acting stupidly has turned out so well for me today, I might as well carry on!” He laid his
gun on the steel floor beside her head, eased the catch off. “Pax, Daughter of the Emperor.” He lifted himself up. Her hand stayed steady at his throat. He looked her in the eyes, sight adapted to the gloom. There was steel there, an iron will. He doubted the Arbites would have got anything from her. Then she blinked and her hand was gone from his throat. He caught a glimpse of glass and then she was holding his gun, pointing it at him, rock-steady as she got to her feet. He felt his gut go cold. She advanced on him slowly, her voice as steady as her grip, her stare as cool and calculating as a surgeon contemplating the first cut. “A spiritu dominatus, Domine, libra nos.” He could see nothing but the barrel of his gun and her mouth, speaking the words of the Battle Hymn of the Adepta Sororitas. “Wherever you think you’re going, holy Sister, you’re not going to get there alive. Not even with my gun.” “From the Lightning and the Tempest, Our Emperor, deliver us.” “Guutheim’s men are up there, and they’re here to kill escaped prisoners. Which as of right now, includes you.” The gun touched his brow lightly, and he winced. “From the blasphemy of the Fallen, Our Emperor, deliver us.” “Despite what you believe, I am the only person here who doesn’t want you dead!”
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight The gun pressed forward. The wall behind his head was cold and hard, the metal in front more so. “That thou wouldst bring them only death, we beseech thee, destroy them.” “Maybe we can help each other.” A whisper. “From the follies of His chosen, Our Emperor, deliver us.” Charkorov gritted his teeth, waiting for the sound he wouldn’t hear. Then he realised that last line was not in the Battle Hymn. Then the gun was before his face, handle towards him. He brought his torch up, getting his first proper look at her. On the tall side, figure rounded under the coarse prisoner’s habits, dark, alabaster skin streaked with blood and grime and sweat under the straight, white hair. She was beautiful, he realised, but it was the uncaring beauty of snow and ice, with cold, green eyes that had already seen everything death and suffering had to offer. He reminded himself what Sisters Hospitaller did in the scream-filled saw-tents of the Imperial Guard. He took his gun with what he hoped was a nonchalant nod. “If you were being paid by him, you would have told me rather than die, and you were ready to die,” Sister Tanaquil said. “Perhaps we can help each other after all, Chief Inspector.” #
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They made good time, all the more so when Charkorov decided to borrow Guutheim’s personal transport. It was clear Sister Tanaquil did not entirely trust him, but he decided she realised she had to trust someone. He checked his watch. Less than three hours to midnight. The clock was counting down fast, but it felt good to be doing something – anything. He hated to think what the alternative might have been. He drank, the burn of jolliq welcome in the chill of the car. “Thirsty?” he asked, offering her the hip. She turned quickly, saw the flask and looked away again, a curl of distaste on her lips. “Well,” he muttered, wondering why he was apologising, “it’s not very good anyway. It’s just the cheap stuff.” He jammed the stopper in and thought about what she had told him. A junior Arbitrator had come to her oubliette two days ago, the whole Courthouse in uproar over the evacuation, and told her she had been sentenced to death by off-world authorities. Then the Arbitrator had removed her helm, to reveal an angry, devout and confused young woman, shocked at what she was about to do. Unable to kill a Daughter of the Immortal Emperor in cold blood, she had dumped another prisoner’s corpse into the cell and locked Tanaquil in the abandoned watch-station. Tanaquil would still die with the rest of Geremanthius, but the Arbitrator’s conscience was salved – it would not be she who had killed her.
Then Tanaquil had told Charkorov about the baby. Two weeks ago: her Order had taken in an infant, barely a few days old, found bundled and placed between the penitence pews at the shrine to St. Katherine in Whitelock. Men arrived a few days later, asking about newborns, and the only authority they would display was guns and the threat of unanswerable violence when they returned. Sister Tanaquil had taken the child that night to the Ecclesiarchy, to Almoner Strang at the Cathedral of the Frozen Tear, and left her in his care. A week later, Strang’s body was found – dumped headless and brutalized by Tanaquil’s dorm at the rear of the shrine. A message to her. She had moved the body, but then the Arbites had come for her – for her own safety, they said. That hadn’t lasted long, and the questioning had begun. Charkorov knew the rest. “Who is the baby?” he asked, but Tanaquil’s green eyes just looked out over the city as they sped through it. It was like some hideous jungle, Charkorov thought as he gunned the transport down Macharius Parade, the city fallen to feral animals and darkness. He spotted packs, prowling through the shadows, all traces of civilisation gone – bent now on plunder, rape and ruin in the hours and minutes left. Shots smacked off the APC. The toughened wheels bounced over collapsed pylons and faith totems. Smoke blocked off entire
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight streets, coiling slowly like summoned djinn. The night sky hung low, glowing red from reflected fires. Corpses filled the bed of a crashed truck.
“We have arrived.”
“I went to see Veivernne,” whispered Charkorov, speaking more to himself than his passenger, “near the end. I was his commander, so it had to be me. Canker it was, and him in a hospice cot, rotten with disease. It wasn’t Veivernne I saw lying there. He was gone.” He dabbed at the cuts on his face with a blood-soaked cloth. “It’s like then. It even smells the same. This isn’t my city.”
Coded transmission on tight-beam vox received by Fleet Command Auxilia 21:37:32 - +++Ultima Incandescior begs to report that she is in final position. Commencing pre-barrage loading procedures. Praise the Emperor. Purge the Unbeliever+++
Her voice startled him. “But it is. You are seeing its true heart. This is the metropolis when the music stops, and the dancers follow their own beat. The city is not sick, it is free to be itself. Look well, Chief Inspector, and know one reason why the xenos fear mankind so.” He shook his head. He hadn’t been a Vigiles twenty years just to keep a lid on this kind of madness. There had to have been more point to it than that, but then why was he afraid that Tanaquil might be right? He needed more answers, more anything to stop him thinking about what was happening. “Who is the baby?” he demanded, but Tanaquil simply pointed as the transport wove between wrecked vehicles at the colossal edifice ahead. The Cathedral of the Frozen Tear.
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
# 21:37
# Pushing through the throngs of people surrounding the cathedral; a moment that stayed with him – a burned-out lifter, and underneath bright eyes blinking in the pitch. Children, abandoned and hiding, looking out on madness they could not possibly understand. “So go we all,” Tanaquil had said into his ear. He left them there. There was nothing else he could do. # The undercroft was warm and scented, with white-washed walls and intricate draperies depicting sacrifice and devotion in a riot of colourful silks. Down here, the chanting of the crowds was a world away. Sister Tanaquil at his back, he walked towards a hunched preacher, engrossed in a delicate gold orrery of the Geremanthius system. A cat wrapped itself around the preacher’s thin ankles as Charkorov
approached. Tanaquil retrieved something from a brass-edged box as she passed, and he froze as he heard the snick of a safety going off. “Haven’t we had this dance already, Sister?” he asked, keeping his hands still. She ignored him. “Confessor Kestorian. Do you know this man? Can we trust him?” The preacher turned to face Charkorov. He was old, with a broad, heavy-set face. A full beard streaked with grey hung over his ornate green and gold robes. Beady eyes in their nests of wrinkles bored into Charkorov. “A Chief Inspector by rank. Charkorov, I think. Yes, Charkorov. Dill, or something like that. I knew his grandmother.” He shrugged, turned back to his orrery. “Less of a thug than most of his kind, but that’s not saying much, is it? Attends public worship. Sings badly. No faith demerits I know of.” He craned over his shoulder. “But I would say you’ve already answered your own question, Mai. You brought him here, ergo you trust him. Put the gun back where you found it. I can’t abide people with guns.” “I’ll keep it,” she replied, then to Charkorov: “Put your hands down. Over here.” “Look, Sister-” Charkorov began angrily, then stopped at the sight of the basket in the alcove. The bundle within stirred. Sister Tanaquil put one hand on the blankets with a surprising gentleness. “The child of two heretics, Chief Inspector, but she 77
Fiction: Countdown to Midnight does not bear their stigma. Her mother was unearthed in the upper echelons of the Administratum on Gyraphon. An unsanctioned psyker, who peddled corruption and dealings with xenogen species. She was condemned by a full Session to die by press and fire.”
Baletayn’s high crimes in refusing an order of an Inquisitorial Session and conspiring and consorting with a condemned heretic. The penalty would be death. The mother is already gone, blasted to ashes I have no doubt, and the only evidence left is sleeping peacefully in that basket.”
“And the father?”
“And so he’ll kill an entire world to keep his guilt a secret?”
“Her mother’s captor and would-be executioner. Rather than put the mother to death, as he had been ordered to do, he secretly kept her alive. He cared for her, at least at first we think, and that led here, to this child, although he did not know of it until after its birth.” “How could he not know of it?” “The powerful are capricious in their lusts. He tired of the mother, and left her imprisoned. A Sister of my Order, whom the father thought he could trust, spirited the child away before he learned of its existence.” Sister Tanaquil turned to Charkorov, her eyes the most hateful shade of green he had ever seen. “The father is Inquisitor Baletayn.” Charkorov felt sick, right to his soul. Baletayn – the same Inquisitor Baletayn who had declared Exterminatus on Geremanthius. “Baletayn? All this,” he said, struggling to comprehend the enormity of the crime, “all this death, because of one baby?” “Yes. No. Baletayn doesn’t care for the child. She is proof, that is all. Proof of Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
She shook her head, white hair brushing her brow. “He already has. He has fabricated his lies about the Autocrator and has to stick to them. He can no more stop armageddon now than you can, assuming he even wanted to. From the follies of His chosen, Our Emperor, deliver us.”
Speak quickly, and do not lie to me. I will know if you do+++ +++I have it+++ +++With you?+++ +++It’s in a bunker+++ +++Where?+++ +++Not one on any map you have. Autocrator Mallik was a cautious man+++ +++Autocrator Mallik is dust and ashes+++ +++And I don’t want to follow his example, if you get me+++ +++I take it this bunker, and any occupants, will survive the coming firestorm?+++
Charkorov leaned back against the warm, stone walls, his legs weak and his breathing shallow. Somehow, knowing why made it all much, much worse. The game was over – feck, it had never begun. People like him didn’t even get to play at the same table as people like Baletayn.
+++That’s Plan B+++
He watched Tanaquil, sorting the infant’s blankets. The baby was the key – with a cold, harsh shock as if someone had dunked him in ice-water, he realized he only had one play left. Just one, and it was going to be messy.
+++That’s where you come in+++
Tanaquil turned at the sound of him checking his gun.
+++Risky+++ +++For you+++ A pause. +++And Plan A?+++
+++Be careful not to let the situation persuade you that the need for respect can be ignored. I am not a forgiving man. State your terms+++
#
+++We meet, just you and me, face to face. I give you the ‘package’, you get me safely off-world+++
+++I understand you have something I want.
+++Just you?+++
78
Fiction: Countdown to Midnight +++Just me+++
23:21
+++How do you know-?+++
+++Incisor of Mars to Fleet Command Axia Wing Control. Primary target acquisition completed. Secondary and Tertiary targets being locked into servo-actuators. Torpedo cogitator cores at green. His will be done+++
+++-you won’t kill me? The bunker. Blood samples, taken from the ‘package’. I give you the location when I’m safely out of your reach. Once the planet’s dead you’ll be free to come down and – remove the last of the evidence+++ +++The Ecclesiarchy? I understood they held the package. What of them?+++ +++They made a mistake+++ +++Explain+++ +++They trusted me+++ +++I’m starting to like you – Chief Inspector, isn’t it? Where?+++ +++Mueller Fields. Alone. When I see you land, then I’ll show+++ +++Worried I might not turn up?+++ +++Worried you might do to me what you did to Regent’s Island. I’m allergic to being vaporised from orbit. My Lord Inquisitor+++ +++Mueller Fields, then. One hour. Bring it; alive, or dead in a sack. I don’t really care which+++ +++Isn’t one hour cutting it a bit-?+++ +++I’m a busy man. Don’t be late+++ A hiss, then dead air. #
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
# The armoured car bounced with a savage kick, slewing in mid-air as its engine revved furiously, then skidded as it landed. The charred corpses the car had hit tumbled darkly in the rear-vispanel. At Charkorov’s feet lay a large kit-bag along with a few items he’d had time to scavenge. He gritted his teeth as the car bucked wildly over a high kerb and thrashed through a memorial garden. The road to Mueller Fields was just ahead. Using the transmitter had been the easy part, but with all surface comms being jammed he’d had to pray that Baletayn was monitoring the Ecclesiastical networks for any word of the child. Charkorov had given a cryptic message to the machine spirit and entreated it’s broadcast through the sanctification links in the pinnacle of the cathedral. An hour later, half-expecting a Naval lance-strike, sweating out the minutes as the clocks blinked towards midnight, a reply had come instead. With a bone-jarring lurch the armoured car leapt over the embankment and slid down
the far side, wheels skidding until they bit metalled road. The strafing headlamps froze running figures in a monochrome flash, glints of gunmetal lingering in Charkorov’s vision before the men were gone again into the night. The car picked up speed, spraying through uncollected rubbish like a ship through sea-foam, leaving the city in its wake. Sister Tanaquil’s hands gripped the steering wheel. Charkorov prayed he could feel half as calm as she looked. It had been she who had convinced Confessor Kestorian that Charkorov’s plan might work. They couldn’t stop Exterminatus, but there was one outcome that might be worth the pain and trouble. Use the baby as bait, Charkorov had insisted. Convince Baletayn it might survive Exterminatus. Throw him a craven and selfish officer of the Vigiles to make it all seem plausible, a man wanting a way out. After that, even Charkorov had to confess that the plan got a bit hazy. Kestorian had stayed behind. “Don’t you want to see Baletayn?” Charkorov had asked at the undercroft gates. Kestorian had given a rueful smile, lain a wrinkled hand on Charkorov and Tanaquil in blessing and walked off towards the muted, praying crowds. “Would you have handed the baby over,” Charkorov had shouted after him, “if you had known what Baletayn was going to do to us all?” Kestorian had turned to look at him, one last time, and then disappeared into the crowd. 79
Fiction: Countdown to Midnight Charkorov tapped his case-slate on. Tanaquil glanced over, watching him for a moment. “You’re doing paperwork? Now?” When there was no reply she turned her attention back to the road. # Mueller Fields: an ancient flood plain outside the city, with earthwork embankments separating one deserted landing field from the next. The road led to a low line of prefab customs offices. Tanaquil stashed the armoured car behind a stack of rusting cargo crates by the side of the road and they hopped up on the roof to watch the main landing field. “Twenty minutes,” Charkorov whispered. He fancied he could feel the Navy ships in orbit, training their weapons on the planet below. The hairs on his neck prickled. It was all becoming very real. “I’ll take that drink now,” Tanaquil said softly. He handed her the flask, she took a slug and handed it back. “The real stuff is like nectar,” he said, taking a sip. “Wish I had some.” “It tastes like the finest wine right now,” she said. He laughed at that, and she smiled. A sound, like thunder from the other side of the world, and then a bright light, high above the faint clouds. Tanaquil pointed but Charkorov had already seen it – an
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
atmospheric shuttle, coming in fast. They scrambled off the roof and under one of the crates, scattering some rats. The shuttle landed in the field not far from the prefabs, dropping the last few dozen metres on a pillar of steam and noise. As the dust settled the side-hatch popped and a figure swung out and down the telescoping ladder.
he had been carved from granite; his face lean and hard, his expression one of utter dominion. A large and ornately barreled gun was held firmly in his right hand. No other obvious weapons but then, considered Charkorov, they wouldn’t be obvious, not with an Inquisitor. His own service pistol, snug against his chest, felt slightly underpowered in the circumstances.
“It’s him,” said Tanaquil, night goggles held tight to her eyes. “A two-man shuttle, and I don’t see anyone else inside. He came alone.” She sounded surprised, and slightly disappointed.
“Where is it, Chief Inspector?” It hadn’t been the vox, then – he really did sound like that. As he got closer, Charkorov saw the mechanical implant in his throat that distorted his voice, stripping away all tone and colour.
“Don’t count on it,” rasped Charkorov, hopping to his feet. “In the car. Get down, and jump out when I swing behind the prefabs. Stay hidden and keep me covered.”
He approached Baletayn, his kit bag heavy. The Inquisitor’s expression changed subtly – a greedy narrowing of his eyes. “Is that it?”
With Tanaquil crouched in the footwell Charkorov gunned the car down the hill. He was out of sight of the shuttle and Baletayn for only a few moments, but it was enough time for Tanaquil to roll clear. She was already half-way through a rear window by the time he pulled around in front of the offices and stopped. He got out, the car between him and Baletayn, the Inquisitor a dark shape haloed by the shuttle’s powerful running lights. Baletayn strode forward into the car’s headlights; boot-black armour under his wine-dark robes of office. His Inquisitorial seal gleamed at his chest. He looked like
Charkorov hiked this thumb over his shoulder. “It’s not far. Mind if I stow my things first?” “Your things?” That hiss must have been a laugh. “Yes, why not. Your things, but not you. Not until I get the child.” As Charkorov passed him the long muzzle of Baletayn’s gun rested lightly on his shoulder. He stopped. That voice, close to his ear: “I hope you’re not planning anything foolish. Anyone steps off that shuttle without me will wish they had died down here. They will wish that for a very long time.” Charkorov met his eyes. “Like I said to the preacher before I killed him, it’s nothing 80
Fiction: Countdown to Midnight personal, I just have better things to do than die here today.” Moments passed. The gun lifted. Charkorov hefted the bag through the narrow hatch, hoping that Baletayn mistook his sigh of relief for the wind. “Now,” the Inquisitor said, aiming his gun at Charkorov, “you walk. I’ll follow. We don’t have long, as I’m sure you know.” The wind chilled Charkorov’s sweat as he headed for the prefabs. He got the message over his earbead just moments before he sensed Baletayn pause behind him. +++He brought friends+++ Four things happened at once. A pillar of sooty flame shot up from just beyond the east embankment with a muffled roar, heralding the sound of gunfire that quickly swelled into a pitched battle. The Inquisitor barked something in code into his armoured collar, fury storming his face as he raised his gun. Charkorov dove behind the open door of the armoured car, fingers scrambling for his own weapon. Tanaquil opened fire from a broken window, lasbolts stitching the air and forcing Baletayn back. On his back in the dirt, Charkorov saw a raging Baletayn blasting away at the prefabs. The gun was taking entire chunks of plasboard wall away with each rapid volley. Under the armoured car: Charkorov snapped on the reinforced fuel tank. It took four shots and then with a flash that singed the air the Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
car went up. He rolled over, killing the flames that clung to his overcoat and then he was on his feet, head low, racing for the prefabs. With every step came the thought of what that gun would do to him, the image of his chest bursting open in front of his eyes, and behind him the fire roared. A door kicked open and he leapt through it, heart pounding. Tanaquil grabbed him, heaved him behind some metal cabinets and then dropped him to snap a few shots in the direction of Baletayn. “Don’t let him get to the shuttle!” he gasped. “I know!” Charkorov risked a glance through one of the gaping holes. Yellow-orange fire, bright blue-white stablights behind, a shadowy figure moving in the smoke, darkness all around. Something moved on the shuttle – those weren’t fuel pods, he realised. Metal limbs uncurled, pistoned legs dropped to the ground in a predatory crouch. Razor arms deployed, ammo canisters servo’d into place and heat-hunting eyes glimmered in the night. “Combat servitors,” warned Tanaquil. “I see them. I told you he wouldn’t come alone.” “Well,” grunted Tanaquil, loosing a volley of las-bolts, “in fairness, neither did we.” Charkorov triggered his throat-vox: “Guutheim – you got things under control over there?”
It was a bad connection, but even so the Colonel’s voice no longer sounded frayed and brittle. +++Nothing the 37th Armoured can’t handle, civvo. Stormtroopers. The Inquisition’s fecking finest! We tracked them coming down before your pal the Inquisitor turned up. Through they’d sneak up on you. Hah! They’re on my turf now, lad+++ Guutheim hadn’t been pleased when Charkorov had tagged his number once again back at the cathedral, but when Confessor Kestorian had explained the situation Charkorov hadn’t even needed to ask for help. Tanaquil’s boot slid the briefcase against his legs. Inside, guns nestled in shock-foam. He picked the biggest. “For a man who can’t abide guns, the Confessor has an impressive collection.” “You weren’t listening. He can’t abide people with guns,” Tanaquil answered, grabbing a thuggish-looking piece herself. “Guns themselves, he loves.” Charkorov snapped off a shot as something inhuman moved in the smoke. He missed, and the recoil left his arm numb. “Where is he? We need to stop him getting back on the-” “No need.” She pointed. “There.” Shadows against the night, just barely visible, moving around the sides of the prefab. One of them looked like Baletayn, who clearly
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight had no intention of leaving. They were being surrounded. Charkorov yanked one of the pocket watches out his overcoat. Eleven minutes left. Sweet Emperor! He grabbed another gun, small but ornately carved, and jammed it in his belt. The customs office was open-plan. Desks and chairs and flimsy partition walls. This was not a good place to defend. As if reading his mind, Tanaquil tipped the metal cabinet over, blocking the door. In the side rooms, they tipped desks over and up against the windows, both working fast and breathing hard. In the rear, now, and Charkorov shouldered a heavy inspection table flat against the exit. The only warning he got was the faintest of machine sighs and then two steel limbs edged with blades punched through the door and the sheet metal of the table. The arms thrashed, but the weight of the table had it trapped. A sitting duck. Charkorov pointed both guns at the long rent in the door and gave the servitor a full spread. A blinding light; a deafening thump-crack! Something exploded at point-blank range. Metal and burning oil sprayed. The thing died in a cloud of greasy smoke. He heard Tanaquil shout, then a series of sharp double-bangs. The wall beside Charkorov erupted as heavy caliber rounds tore through it and he flung himself back into the main office. He smelled blood and burning wood, the rounds igniting Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
the walls as they ripped right through the prefab. He fired from his back, realizing with a start that the small gun was some kind of melta. The steel table liquefied as the beam sliced through it, and then another explosion from outside dented the entire wall inwards. The heavy caliber rounds stopped. There was a buzzing in his ear – Guutheim. He was in pain, that much was clear. +++Sorry, civvo. One of their squads has broken clear. They’ll be on you, lad. Eight hellgunners. Get ready+++ He glanced into the side office and Tanaquil nearly took his head off. She put her gun up with a look that told him if he’d eaten a bullet it would have been his own damn fault. A burning servitor lay half in and half out the high window, it’s ammo-feed whirring down. She put another bolt round in it. Twisted metal whickered across the room. “I made five of them,” she said, reloading. “Three down, and there’s more coming, Sister. Stormtroopers. Here,” he handed her the melta pistol, which she took with a glint in her eye. “I think you ladies know how to use these.” He took her bolt pistol in return. He heard footsteps, just barely audible above the death-rattle of the gun-slave. He pointed at the front office and Tanaquil ducked into cover behind an old airpurification unit. She had the door to the landing field covered. The skylight above was tight, but it opened quietly enough
and Charkorov eased himself through, guns first. Bellycrawling on the flat roof got him to within a couple of feet of the rear wall. He counted bodies as he held his breath, reckoning there were three of them below from the faint scuffling. An almost inaudible click. The blast of the breaching charge lifted him an inch or two into the air and forced the breath from his lungs. Shouts and calls filtered up through the smoke and dust. One, two, three men through the breach. He swung round and leapt off the roof in one motion, landing crouched on the dirt. Three troopers in dark-blue armour froze under his twin sights. He mashed the triggers repeatedly, one after the other, explosive shells taking the men apart in storms of blood. The stench of their deaths filled his nostrils. He lay down, aiming at the corner of the prefab. “Medic!” he screamed. “Man down!” Two troopers came rushing round the corner moments later. His shots turned their legs into bloody stumps. He was on his feet, their screams ringing in his ears. Two headshots silenced them forever, and then he was racing back into the prefab through the breach. Las-rounds cooked the air behind him, punching burning holes into the walls. The last two blade-slaves saw him as he skidded into the front office. They were both massive constructs of burnished steel and
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Fiction: Countdown to Midnight pasty, dead flesh, hunched like iron-plated gorillas in the supervisor’s office at the end of the hall. The outer wall behind them was simply gone. Smooth eyes of black glass regarded him from once-human faces, and then they charged. His shots went wild, tearing up the walls as their dagger-claws ripped up the floorboards underfoot. They were clearing several metres with every stride when Tanaquil stepped out into the hall, a security door between her and him. She kicked it shut, cutting her – and the servitors – off. He heard screams as he ran towards the hall; he couldn’t tell if they were machine or human in the chaos. Something heavy hit the door so hard the frame popped loose and the wood cracked. More screams. He grabbed the handle but the door was stuck. The screams had stopped. Two shots splintered the door into matchwood and he was through. The two blade-slaves were finished, sliced apart in methodical fashion by the melta pistol. Tanaquil lay dead, cut almost in half from collar bone to waist. Hellgun shots ripped up the corridor around him and he fell, struck in the back and the leg. He felt the weight of the hits like lead bands but not the pain, not yet. He tried to grab his guns as the last three troopers approached but they were slick sitting in Tanaquil’s blood and his fingers felt like putty.
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
One of the troopers paused to sub-vox a comms message. He nodded to his colleagues: “Take him.” Charkorov was still fumbling for his gun when the first trooper went down, twisting like a puppet as blood sprayed. The others turned, back towards the office, firing from the hip but they were taken apart by the relentless stream of stubber fire. Charkorov gasped as his wounds started to bite, and wiped the blood-mist from his eyes. His back and leg burned, the pain bright white in his mind. “Didn’t want to miss all the fun, lad.” Guutheim limped into view, cradling a heavy stubber. Smoke curled from the barrel. He stopped when he saw Tanaquil’s body. “Who is-?” Charkorov had tried to warn him when Baletayn had appeared out the inspection room, but his lungs didn’t seem to work. The Inquisitor’s gun flared and Guutheim fell like a stone. There was a heavy thump as his head hit the floorboards. “I think that’s everyone,” Baletayn growled as he paced forward. A kick in Guutheim’s ribs got no response. His gun never stopped pointing at Charkorov, even as he quickly glanced around the wrecked customs office. He frowned at Charkorov. “I must confess, I am puzzled. I still don’t know what you hoped to achieve by double-crossing me, Chief Inspector, and I have had some time to think about it while you’ve been having your – fun, I think he said.”
Charkorov had wedged himself against the corridor wall in a half-sitting position. Baletayn approached and kicked the soles of his feet casually. “Come now. We have all the time in the world, after all.” The pain was flowing now, like rivers of fire. Charkorov realized he was sitting on something small and metallic. He coughed and blood splattered on his trousers. “No?” Baletayn kicked Charkorov again. “Nothing to say? No pithy last words?” Charkorov yanked the item out from under him. The Inquisitor took a step back, then laughed his hissing laugh. It was one of the gold pocketwatches. It must have dropped from his overcoat when he fell. Five minutes to midnight, it said. He looked up at Baletayn. “Here’s my last words: it’s about to go off.” He smiled savagely at the Inquisitor’s widening eyes. “That bomb I put in your shuttle.” Baletayn turned away, an alarmed cry escaping his lips. Charkorov’s left hand had been covering Tanaquil’s fallen melta pistol. He snapped the shot. The beam punched a clean hole through Baletayn’s stomach. The heat crisped the flesh even as the water flashed to steam, bursting out either end of the hole, tearing the flesh into black, ragged strips around the wound. It took a moment for Charkorov to stagger to his feet. The choked, bubbling gasps of Baletayn seemed to give him the strength he needed. He kicked the Inquisitor’s gun away 83
Fiction: Countdown to Midnight and looked down at the dying man. “There was no bomb,” he said. “That shuttle’s going to leave Geremanthius, you murdering bastard, and there’s only going to be one person on it. I think you know by now, it’s not going to be you.” A hand grabbed at his ankle and he stamped on it. Bones snapped in the wrist and a machine whine came from Baletayn’s throat. “Die in pain, Inquisitor.” His legs were numb sacks of sand, but he made them carry him to the front door. Guutheim was sitting against the air purifier. Baletayn’s shot had made a mess of his shoulder, even through the flak jacket, but in a minor miracle none of the shrapnel had penetrated his chest. He slapped Guutheim on the cheek. “Get up, old man. Come on. This is no time to sit down.” Guutheim took his hand and, with a struggle, managed to stand. He muttered something as they walked slowly to the shuttle, and it took Charkorov a while to realize it was a prayer. The armoured car was still burning brightly and the shuttle stood gleaming and alone on the landing field. “Two seats,” said Guutheim as coughs wracked him. Charkorov shook his head. “No use to us, Colonel. As Baletayn said, anyone steps off this shuttle without him is dead.” He reached in the cockpit and unzipped the kit bag. “Colonel, say hello to the only survivor of Geremanthius. I don’t doubt she’ll make a fine Daughter of the Emperor one day.” Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
The baby was tightly wrapped inside the bag and sound asleep from the sedatives. Charkorov pulled his case slate out of his overcoat and tucked it underneath. The real reasons for the death of Geremanthius would never be told, he knew that, but at least someone would know the truth. That had to be worth something. He grabbed the case-slate back up, hastily scribbled a few words on it and tucked it away again. He set the machine spirit for auto-return then, on what whim he did not know, just as the hatch was starting to close, he reached into his coat and dropped one of Alitov’s gold watches into the kit bag beside the baby. It had stopped at five minutes to midnight. The two men stepped back as the shuttle’s engines roared into life, and it took off in a tempest of dirt and smoke, the ground trembling underfoot. Charkorov watched as its light rose higher and higher. “My plan,” said Guutheim, his voice weak, “was to be alone on the parade ground at the back of the barracks, in full dress uniform. I would salute the Aquila over the stand on the stroke of midnight. It was a good plan, lad. What did you write on the slate?”
Charkorov shook his head. “Not really.” Guutheim opened his bag of ghutka sticks. “Smoke?” “I’m trying to quit.” Guutheim tried to laugh, but it vanished in a fit of red-tinged coughing. They walked away into the landing field, blood dripping on the scorched grass. Guutheim lit his stick. He took a long draw. “You think it matters? Think we made any difference?” Charkorov looked at the remaining pocketwatch, all hands pointing up. Midnight. He wrapped the chain round his wrist and held it tight. “Duty and justice, old man.” “I’ll drink to that.” They walked on, and the darkness closed around them. High above in the midnight sky, strange, new suns began to burn. THE END
“She needed a name.” “And what did you give her?” “Mai.” “Nice name. Anyone I know?” 84
Dark Heresy: Genestealer Cults
DARK HERESY: GENESTEALER CULTS By Adam Harvey (Dragonlover) The menace of the genestealer is spread by genetic corruption. A genestealer will capture members of Imperial society and implant them with its genetic DNA. These people will then seek out others like themselves with whom to breed, creating genestealer hybrids. These creatures, especially in the later generations, can pass for human, but many will have an extra limb with razor sharp talons, distended jaws of needle-like teeth, not to mention less distinguishing marks; such as heavy bone structure and baldness, showing their unholy parentage. In the fourth generation of the cult, a special hybrid; known as a Magus will be born. Powerful psykers, they look almost human and deal with the day to day organisation of the cult. Once the cult reaches a certain size, it will transmit a signal into the warp that calls the hive fleets to the world. To aid the hive fleets (who many members of the cult believe will be some kind of saviour) the cult will engineer an uprising, using its contacts in every echelon of society to throw the world into anarchy and leave it unprotected for the jaws of the Great Devourer to close down. Genestealers can be used in Dark Heresy in many ways. The first and most obvious is the Acolytes being told that there is an
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
infestation; go and deal with it. However, consider these scenarios: • A noble lady elopes with a commoner on the night of her wedding. The party sent to search for her turns up cut to ribbons. • A new interpretation of the Imperial Cult arises, in which the Emperor will descend to the planet and embrace the worshippers to him. This is in fact a front for a genestealer cult, with the Magus masquerading as a member of the Ecclesiarchy. • During a riot that was previously thought to be the work of ‘normal’ recidivists, corpses on both sides show obvious signs of hybridisation. As the psykers on the planet begin to report a keening in the warp, the Acolytes must find and kill the Patriarch before it’s too late. Without further ado, here are the rules for using these terrible creatures in your games. Have fun with them, and feel free to direct any feedback my way. I have deliberately left the magus out, as he is a somewhat unique character. But using the Cult Magus from the main book; with whatever powers you feel are appropriate should do the trick. All the skills, talents and traits I have given the genestealers can be found either in the main Dark Heresy rulebook or the DM’s kit.
GENESTEALER WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel W 42 0 37 32 42 45 28 38 0 10 Skills: Silent Move, Tracking Talents: Sprint, Ambidextrous, Swift Attack Traits: Dark Sight, Natural weapons (1d10+6 R), Natural Armour 3, Extra Limbs, Disturbing (Fear 1), Unnatural Strength, From Beyond GENESTEALER PATRIARCH WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel W 52 0 40 47 42 45 28 38 0 20 Skills: Silent Move, Tracking Talents: Sprint, Ambidextrous, Swift Attack Traits: Dark Sight, Natural weapons (1d10+8 R), Natural Armour 5, Extra Limbs, Fearsome (Fear 2), Unnatural Strength, Hulking, From Beyond GENESTEALER HYBRID WS BS S T Ag Int Per WP Fel W 25 25 30 40 30 23 33 45 31 10 As Cult Fanatic, with the following amendments: Talents: Ambidextrous, Two weapon Wielder Traits: From Beyond Mutations: Fanged/Clawed (1d10+3 R), Multiple Appendages, Degenerate Mind As I said, feel free to leave feedback either on Warseer or via email at dragonlover63@ googlemail.com.
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Specialist Games Supplement — Coming Soon!
SPECIALIST GAMES EDITORIAL Ed’s thoughts A TALE OF SPECIALIST GAMERS Collecting Epic IG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Jonathan Brown Collecting Epic Feral Orks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Henrikki Almusa Collecting an Imperial Fleet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Liam Salt Collecting a Gorkamorka mob . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .by David Gulli Collecting a Necromunda gang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Jon Webb INQUISITOR The Silent Hunters - Fiction and rules for Tau operatives in Inquisitor. AERONAUTICA IMPERIALIS Keeping Things Square – Meditations on the Aeronautica movement phase, plus a whole new way of playing. Tactica Imperialis – A comprehensive tactica for Imperial Players BATTLEFLEET GOTHIC: Da Mek Sez… sculpting your own Ork ships. GORKAMORKA: Propa Ork Klan Roolz! New Gubbinz! EPIC: Space Marines versus Chaos Space Marines, plus their Titan allies, in a truly Epic Scale battle.
Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
There has been a delay in transmission, the Specialist Games supplement will be included in a future download. Watch for it to be uploaded to warseer.com/firebasemag soon.
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FIREBASE: HARDER! BETTER! FASTER! STRONGER! MORE COMICS! MORE AWESOME CONTENT!
C O M I N G T H I S J U LY ! Firebase Issue #6 – April 2008
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