Author Archives: steve wood

Necron Genesis or how I built my Necron Army Part 1!

I can’t help it but I like the whole necron army concept. I’ve been playing warhammer40K since the second edition and collecting before that. If you dont believe me, I’ll upload some ancient figures that I painted back in 1983 and I’m not sure who will be the most embarrassed, me for the standard of painting or Citadel, for the standards of production……Still, that’s another story, back to the Necrons.

When the first Necron Raiders were released I grabbed a few of the figures but there wasn’t really enough variety to prize me away from Space Marines and Imperial Guard. However, on the release of the new 5th edition rules I thought that it was time to try a new Army and Necrons came to mind.

Lets be fair, part of the attraction was the fairly simple paint job. I’m not the fastest painter in the hobby and I do like to field a painted army, so Necrons were ideal. The other attraction was the fairly limited choice of unit types. This would give me the chance to collect every type of unit and try them in different combinations in different situations.

necrons troops 005

Having decided on Necrons as the new army, the next choice was to work on the colour scheme. That took about 5 seconds….I went for a very conservative silver. Well, they’re robots that look remarkably like Terminators (I’m sure any simililarity is purely co incidental, a company like Games Workshop wouldn’t dream of taking somebody else’s IP…..’I’ll be back’ indeed!) However, just to add a bit of colour I went back and added red to the shoulder pads.

necrons troops 006

The final bit was to decide on a basing scheme. After advise from the professionals from Middle Earth Studios, the clever people who paint the commissions for my shop, I decided on a simple Terracotta, highlighted up with bleached Bone and a touch of white. To seperate out the squads, I put scarabs on the bases of some and used a green crystal on the others. The Green crystals were to represent some sort of alien vegetation and became part of the background story as my army developed.

So I’ve got a basic colour scheme, a consistent basing system and the start of a background story, my army was on the way!

I mentioned the collecting thing earlier. Of course, having a true anorack gene embedded in me, I had to incorporate some of the older Necron models. So I painted the classic models that I had collected to form another squad.

necrons troops 003

necrons troops 004

I also had some Space Crusade Chaos Androids, which look like they were the forerunners for the Necrons, so I painted these in a similar style to form another squad of troops. As you can see, one had a broken gun, so I replaced it with a spare necron gun.

necrons troops 001

necrons troops 002

Finally, I said that I liked collecting. I found these special necrons issued to celebrate Games Workshops silver anniversary. I use them as Objectives during missions…..

silver necs 001

So, that just about covers the troops, next time I’ll look at the HQ section…I’ll be back……

Trade Gossip & News

Well I suppose the big news is that it is pretty much confirmed that Games Workshop will be re releasing Space Hulk this Autumn. I’ve heard that it will be in partnership with a games company, probally Milton Bradley but that is just speculation. There’s been a lot of demand for the release of this game for some time and justifiably so, it is a superb board game and a great introduction to the hobby, so I’ll be putting it on my Christmas list.

The other news that caught my attention is that HaT are to release a series of 28mm hard plastic figures. I have always admired the HaT range for both the depth and variety as well as the standard of the figures themselves. Up until now the Company has developed a superb range of 1/72 nd or 20mm scale figures with a smaller supporting range of 1/32nd scale or 54mm figures. The beauty of the 28mm scale is that they will be compatable with the growing ranges of Victrix, Perry Miniatures and Warlord Games figures. In true HaT tradition though, they appear to be issuing the more unusual regiments & races.

Hat 28mmspanish French Light Infantry28mm

This is great news for the Hobby and I look forward to seeing even more from this Company. I understand that the releases will happen in the Autumn so watch this space for more news.

Finally, some more new releases from another great little model company, Pegasus. They’ve just released 1/72 scale versions of the following: Russian Infantry in summer uniform; Russian Infantry in Winter uniform; T34/85; KV1 early model & KV2 ; KV1 with welded turrets; Russian Ba6 Armoured car and finally, BT7 Russian Light Tank. So great news if you’re a fan of Russian World War Two armour & troops and of course ideal for wargamers as the tanks are all quick build. I’ve no pictures to show you but I expect stock on Tuesday 18th August, so check in my shop to see these items.

And just to round things off, Pegasus are also releasing some great scenery items…. Craters, Bricks, crates and rubble…lovely stuff for wargames scenery……again, it will be in stock next Tuesday.

Thats all for now!

NEW ARCANE SCENERY SCENERY!

New from Arcane Scenery!

Yes, I know, the english grammar isn’t too good but hopefully it does make some sort of sense. The news is that we have started to produce our own range of resin scenery. It’s available in both painted and unpainted versions so you can decide whether to cusomise and paint it yourself or just to get it on the table ready for your next battle. The scenery is sculpted by Andy Williams. As far as I know, he can’t sing but he’s a very talented sculptor and mould maker, so you can be sure that the finished product is of excellent quality.

Sand Bags

We’ve started off with the simple items that most people will need. That is Walls, Sand bags and Tank traps (or Dragons Teeth). To be fair, not everyone will want tank traps but I like tanks so I wanted them in the range. Mind you, I’m probally stretching a point when I say that they are suitable for Fantasy and LOTR games but you never can be sure of what those cunning stunties, I mean Dwarves, will come up with.

walls

So take a look at the finished product. You can buy them post free from my webstore Arcane Scenery or you can visit my ebay shop if you prefer.

New High Elves from a New Company!

Kings of War ElvesOne of the joys of working with a community of like minded businesses is that you get to see some of the new products in the pipeline well before they are released. There’s also a great buzz and excitement around the product as the intitial concepts turn into reality.

Mantic Entertainment are a new Company, headed up by Ronnie Renton, (he has had many years experience in the wargaming business, (primarily working for Games Workshop) and they are about to launch a range of Fantasy figures under the ‘Kings of War’ brand.

New Kings Of War Elves Set

New Kings Of War Elves Set

I was fortunate enough to see the intial ‘3 ups’ before the models went into production and they looked brilliant. The sculptor had done a superb job in capturing the Elves character and the figures looked like they were from a seperate race, rather than just humans with pointy ears! Mantic have also given a great deal of thought as to how gamers will use the figures, so they are sold in units that will ‘rank up’ to form battle squads and I’m told that the packaging will be different as well in that you can use it to hold your painted figures.

So I was very excited to see the actual plastic figures this week. They really do look superb and I am sure that you will agree, combine the lithe, elegant form that you would expect from Elves whilst looking sufficiently warlike to intimidate mere mortals!

Painted Mantic Figures

I understand that the price of these new figures will also be extremely competitive and affordable so you will be able to build really big armies for a reasonable budget! The official release will be later in the year around the end of September.

It’s great to see new product from a new company and even better when it is as good as this. Well done Mantic!

45 years of kit making!

I’ve just received the latest releases from Airfix and they reminded me of how long I’ve been making these kits….

My first ever model was of course an Airfix Kit. Airfix were the brand leaders and in the ‘olden days’, as my kids would call them, Airfix kits came in a poly bag with a stapled header. My first kit was the Golden Hind, Sir Francis Drakes’ famous ship. I remember it well, as I was traumatised because I made a bit of a mess of building it and I managed to glue the Masts in the wrong order. Still it taught me a lesson and from then on I made sure that I read the instructions first. Yes, in those days you had to read the instructions, not follow a pictogram. The first first line of the instructions was ‘Locate and Cement…’ To be fair the pictograms in todays kits are a bit easier to follow but with written instructions you got to learn what each part of the kit was, so I know what a fuselage is and where the cockpit is and so on. Oh! and cement was the glue, not readymix, in case you were wondering.

So back to Airfix and the new releases. I’ve just got sight of the new 1/76th scale Matilda ‘Hedgehog’ Tank and the WW1 Male tank. To be fair the WW1 male is a re tooling of an old kit (I made it years ago) but as far as I remember, the Matilda is brand new. So here’s a look at the New box art for both kits. They are available now from my ebay shop. If you would like to see more, just follow the link.

NEW From AIRIX! Matilda 'Hedgehog' Tank

NEW From AIRIX! Matilda 'Hedgehog' Tank

male tank

If you’re feeling a bit nostalgic about Airfix kits of the past, then I also recommend that you have a look at the latest book by Arthur Ward. The Title is ‘ The Boy’s Book Airfix ‘ and the subtitle ‘ who says you ever have to grow up? ‘ says it all for me.

The Boys' Book of Airfix

The Boys' Book of Airfix

Ah well, enough of this blogging, must get back to kit bashing!

Weird Boys & Immortals

Sometimes I think that my choice of Necrons as my Warhammer 40K army is a mistake. I’ve won the odd battle and I’ve badly mauled opponents but I’ve never enjoyed a really good massacre until I’d played Andy’s Orks. The last time that we met in battle at Warhammer world I thrashed him. So when he suggested a return battle I was looking forward to shedding another load of greenskin blood!

The battle was over three objectives with a dawn of war start, Necrons up first. No problem, protect the objective on my side of the battlefield, make a dummy attack on the left flank but sneekily use the veil of doom and Monolith to shift my army and take the objective on the right. What could go wrong…..

The orks came charging across the table as usual, looking to swamp me in close combat. Some devasting fire from my Destroyers took down one ork bike squad the other ran into a Tomb spider which took out the Ork nob and held the rest. Meanwhile the Necrons started their shuffle across the back of the table to set up the next firing line. Easy.

The Andy had the look of a beaten man already, his bottom lip was just beginning to quaver and his morale wasn’t helped by the ineffectual shooting of the Ork boys. Then he rolls for his Weird boy & gets frazzle or frizzle or some rock hard strength 10 attack. He aims at the monolith, it’s an auto hit but I am not too worried, he needs a 5 or 6 to penetrate. He gets a 5. Well he still need a 5 or 6 to do any serious damage. He rolls a 5…..bugger! My Monolith is toasted.

The unbeatable Monolith

Ah well all is not lost, carry on with the plan, I’m going to have to take a hit from two ork trucks loaded up with boys but I expect to hold and I’ve got more tomb spyders to counter attack with & plenty of fire power to shoot them down as they come out of combat.

Andy now declares a truck is going to ‘Tank shock’ my Necron Lord and Squad of 10 Immortals. Yeah right, like thy’re are going to fail their leadership test. Well actually they did, not only did they fail but they ran off the table, ALL of them. As Hudson or was it Hicks in Aliens said ‘it’s game over man’. Now who’s bottom lip was a quiver. I’d just lost over 600 points in a couple of turns and fade out beckoned. Well at least Andy was happy…….who needs tactics & strategy when you’re an Ork!

These Immortals are now demoted and renamed the ‘badly oiled retreat donkeys’………

Run, Run, theres a Nasty Ork in a big bad truck.......

We are up and running!

Welcome to the Arcane Scenery & Models blog. The blog thing is a whole new experience for me but I’ve had some great technical advise from Millie at Liquid Ozone so hopefully it will all work well. I aim to add at least one entry a week to keep you up to date with whats going on in the Arcane Scenery World.

So the blog will be a mixture of Trade News & Gossip, progress in the shop, and general thoughts about the business & hobby. I’ve been told to keep these thoughts as neutral as possible as I mustn’t upset customers. Well I wouldn’t want to upset anyone on purpose but sometimes an honest appraisal gets the debate moving. However, if you you have another perspective, please let me know, but try to keep it reasonably polite, as death threats are a bit depressing, particularly when it concerns a hobby!

Also on the Blog will be the occasional Battle report & campaign for all of you Warhammer 40k fans. I’ll also include a few articles that I wrote about my Necron Army. I’m a big fan of Warhammer 40K and I’ve recently shifted my allegiance from Imperial Guard to Necrons. It was a brilliant bit of timing as the New Imperial Guard Codex was published this year and it is full of my favourite models…Tanks!

Anyone that is interested in life outside of Warhammer will also get a look in. I’ll do some reviews of the latest kits & products that go through the shop. I’m also going to take a few retropective looks at some of the products that I sell so I hope that this will build into a hobby guide as well. I often think that there should be more of a cross over between the Fantasy side of the hobby and the Military scale side. There are many tricks & techniques each could learn from the other and many products that are suitable (and often better value) for both sides of the hobby. Hmm sounds like the basis for a future entry…

So that’s about it for now. I need to get on and pack todays orders but before I go here’s a few pictures of our new location. Yes, as well as a new web site, we’ve moved into new premises but as you can see it’s all now set up and ready to expand with even more gooUnit figure cases size editdies!

1 … 39 40 41