I miss Bitz Ordering from GW
Gather round, ye young players, and let me tell you stories of old. In the before time, The Games Workshop magazine, White Dwarf, came with a listing of all of the possible pewter bitz in the ENTIRE GAMES WORKSHOP LINE. You could call GW and order any bitz in any quantity or combination. I used it often, as there were some things that I needed that you just couldn’t get in the blister without a huge amount of waste.
For example, back before plastic Assault Terminators, I needed a Terminator Sergeant with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield. The only sergeant model sold in blister had a power weapon/storm bolter. So, I bitz ordered a Terminator Sergeant body, a banner pole, and a regular Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield arm combo. Bitz ordering gave me what the blisters could not.
There was another, even SWEETER side to this. If you attended Games Day, you could buy ANY pewter bitz BY THE POUND. Want 20 meltaguns? Sure. Would you like 80 copies of the Eversor Assassin backpack? NO ONE CAN SAY NO TO THAT. It gave a DAMN good reason to attend Games Day, and let me make a HUGE amount of conversions in my army today that I would never have been able to do.
GW never intended to do individual plastic bitz and I understand that. The internet market has stepped in and filled that void. But it is incredibly rare to find any pewter bitz on non-GW ordering sites. There are a couple but they don’t have the entire range.
Sure, as more plastic kits come out, pewter is becoming obsolete. But there are some times when you just need that old archive bit. My buddy Lexington loves the old fan-style Space Marine Jump Pack. Having the old archive bitz gave modelers the ability to make anything, without having to track down old stuff on ebay.
The bottom line is that there are old pewter bitz that I wish everyone had access to. GW does give some “upgrade packets” prices, but you have to buy the whole thing. What if you want an odd number of shields?
I get why they stopped. It costs money to hire dudes who will paw through the archive and get the bitz people like. Charge us a handling fee! I’ll pay it if I need the bitz for the perfect conversion! WE ALL WILL! WE ARE ADDICTED.
Telling a story with your model.
You can use modeling to tell a story without saying a word. I made a looted Ork vehicle. Look at all the pictures, try to see what the story behind the vehicle is, and then scroll down past the white space.
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The Story
As you can see, there is damage to the front track guard and right side front hull. The Chimera was hit by severe antitank fire, coming from its right side. This immobilized it and allowed the Orks to capture and loot it. The rear door was ripped off and replaced. The damaged laser turret was upgraded to a Rokkit Launcha. That’s how this vehicle joined Poindexta Smartyskull’s warband. I tried to explain this with the way I built it. Some people loot Ork vehicles by just slapping gubbins on wherever. That’s fine, but I like my idea better.
Finally, as an extra modelling goody, I modeled Red Paint Job as something other than a red paint job. Of course there will be some red at the end, but it will get there because of Vincent Van Grot, on the top left side. He even has a bandage on his ear!
Konquata Monitor Kroxigor
Three posts in one day? You have to admit, the Epic army post was pretty weak. So, here’s a Kroxigor.
The only thing I have left to do is rip apart one of my Skinks and make one more star player.
Gehn the Traitor, disciple of Matthius.
Modeling and Painting
Before Big Game 5, Matt Turner came down to help us build terrain. While he was there, we discussed his Chaos Lord, Matthius, Prophet of the Four. Matt said that he wanted Matthius to have a bodyguard of traitors from various armies. I wasn’t sure about other people’s armies, but I instantly came up with an addendum to the main fluff story that involved this man:
I used the new Devastator Sergeant head, with the flat top filed away. I used the Mark 9 sergeant armor torso, the old pewter bolter-melta, and a Chaos power fist, shoulder pad, and backpack. The body was damaged as if it had suffered an explosion on Gehn’s left side, which is the arm that was replaced. He was painted with the Azure Flames scheme, with a scheme similar to some of Matt’s chaos squads on the replaced arm. Gehn was given as a gift to Matt before Big Game 5.
Background
The name of Gehn is cursed by the Azure Flames more than any other. While the twists of Chaos have poisoned, mutated, or brainwashed battle brothers before, these individuals were exterminated. Unlike others, Gehn chose to betray the Chapter. The path between his recruitment and that fateful choice is twisted and convoluted. This account merely scratches the surface of the events that led Gehn to choose madness over loyalty.
Gehn’s recruitment into the Chapter, like most battle brothers, came when his world was in need. Riven was raided by Dark Eldar pirates for slaves year after year. Losses were deemed minimal by Imperial tacticians, due to the fact that Riven had always made its imperial tithe. Calls for aid went unanswered or were spectacularly late. In c783m41, the Dark Eldar met their match. The Battle Barge His Anvil leading approximately half the Azure Flames fleet met these raiders head on. In a pincer action, the Dark Eldar ships were corralled by escorts as capital ships closed in. Sadly, the captives aboard the ships perished in the attack, but the Dark Eldar raiding force was dealt a severe blow. As is customary, the Azure Flames requested that all boys of age be allowed to prove themselves worthy of joining the Chapter. Gehn was tested and proven well above his peers in the rigorous mental and physical challenges that all aspirants to the Azure Flames are put through, and the promising youth was quickly inducted into the Chapter.
Gehn’s career as a scout was not without glory, but was lackluster compared to some of his contemporaries. He was eventually chosen and passed the final trial to become a Space Marine, and served in the reserves for 60 years before joining the 4th Company. It is at this point that Gehn’s career became more illustrious. He participated in the raid on Arkh, and played a vital role in capturing the hidden ruling council. After several decades of service, he was eventually promoted to sergeant. During his tenure he killed a Carnifex in close combat and was at the forefront of the push to take the Traitor’s Gate on Yttran. Gehn’s ambition made him to continue to strive to become a captain, but though his service was admirable, no position of Captain was ever available.
Then Antonius was recruited into the Scouts. Gehn took notice when Antonius was advanced to Space Marine faster than any other Scout on record. He then became enraged when the youth was promoted to Sergeant of the 5th Squad, 4th Company after the infiltration action on Iperin during the Chasma Spica conflict. During Antonius’ induction ritual, Gehn refrained from joining in the toast. Antonius thought nothing of it, but Captain Ganendra did. He notified Atrus, and Atrus consulted his visions of the future. To his horror, the visions spoke that Gehn would betray the Chapter. Atrus sought to send the 4th Company into battle on Julius, and had Ganendra use the 6th squad as bait for the enemy. Gehn and his squad were hit by the blast of a battle cannon. Gehn was knocked unconscious and captured by Chaos forces led by Matthius, Prophet of the Four.
Gehn was interrogated and tortured by Matthius’ subordinates until Matthius himself gave a cryptic order to bring no more harm to the prisoner. Matthius personally interrogated Gehn for several days. Hints and whispers that only Matthius hear from the Gods of Chaos guided him. Then came the secret – Matthius learned that Antonius was the gene-son of Atrus. Matthius used this information to batter holes in Gehn’s tired, damaged faith. As Matthius slowly revealed the truth, Gehn’s hatred for Antonius eclipsed that which he felt for the Dark Gods and their minions. Here was a boy promoted through deliberate favoritism while Gehn was passed up time and time again. That was not just. Gehn wanted more, and Matthius promised it. Gehn fell to Chaos with one word: “Yes.”
Gehn’s knowledge of Azure Flames security protocol proved devastating. While his codes were invalidated, he knew how certain individuals would act. Matthius’ forces penned in the beleaguered 4th Company with the help of mentally-enslaved Orks. Gehn saw fit to taunt his former allies through transmissions while the forces of Chaos closed in around them. His name was spoken as a curse by the entire Chapter as his betrayal was revealed.
The victory of the imperial forces at Daskros changed little about Gehn’s ambitions. Though he fought for his life against the newly freed Orks, he escaped from the Chasma Spica alongside his new master Matthius. He now fights for power and glory, to exult the Gods who recognize his greatness. Above all, he waits for the chance to exact his revenge on the upstart boy that had everything handed to him. Thus through jealousy did Gehn fall.
Just as Tzeentch told Matthius he would.
Poindexta Smartyskull: The Ork with two Brains.
Conversion and Painting
A rather simple conversion, but a good one. I took Ghazgkull, sawed off the bottom of the cow-skull banner, and replaced the pole with a brass rod. I cut a brain shape and a lightbulb shaped skull out of plasticard. I then cut a smaller circle, to be the banner’s monocle.
For Smartyskull’s head, I had a square piece of plastic left over from a Trukk conversion. I coated this with putty, and put it on his left side of his head (seen on the right in the photo). I then filled out the other half of the head with a blob of putty that is much more rounded. I added some small sausages of putty to the front of the head, and flattened them slightly to make the veins.
The monocle is a simple Ork shoota crosshairs bit, with the insides and outsides smoothed. The chain is a thin strand of putty.
Smartyskull was painted using the same dipping technique seen in my dipping post.
Backstory
Dexa was just a regular boy until he unwittingly took a bolter round to the head for his Warboss. The Boss ordered the Dok and the Mek to rebuild Dexa’s head. Dok Gillgivva wanted to use a nice shiny Ork brain, put together piecemeal from those previous owners who hadn’t quite made it on the operatin’ table, and also to install some shiny new gills. Manik Upzindownz da Mad Mek wanted to try out a new cybork brain he had made from several good bitz, including the machine-spirit thingie from a Beekie Land Raider and his best pocketwatch. As Orks often do, they came to blows until the Boss broke them up and told them to work together or else he’d smash both of them good.
So they used both brains. They had to weld a lot of armour, and use a discarded skull here and there for spare bits of bone, but at the end, Dexa had a shiny new lightbulb shaped head. Dexa got a lot smarter after that, and intuitivley knew High Gothic, as well as gained an aptitude for strategy and logic. He was smarter than lots of sumboys!
After this the Nob of Dexa’s slugga boyz met with an “accident” when his power klaw “malfunctioned,” and Dexa took all of his stuff. Dexa grew in size, as Orks who challenge thier superiors do, until the boss noticed that Dexa was a threat to his power. Luckily for Dexa, he saw the boss sneaking up on him, sidestepped the Boss’ choppa, and shot the boss in the throat, then the head twice. The Boss’ most loyal Nob stepped up to give Dexa what for, and Dexa shot him point blank.
“Anybody else wanna ‘ave a go?” Dexa inquired. No one stepped forward. Dexa became the new boss and insisted on being called Poindexta. Due to his large cranium and his flair for strategy which led them to several successful raids, he earned the nickname Poindexta Smartyskull. He rules his tribe with a combination of low kunnin and head krumpin. He has most of the major tents or structures bugged, and bribes gretchin to be his (unreliable) eyes and ears. Lone dissenters are shot in the back or cut in half with a power klaw, and groups are incinerated by a loyal Burna boy. Poindexta Smartyskull leads his Blood Axe warband through the stars, trying to reconcile the conflict between the Ork part of his brain that loves a good fight, and the man-made computer that makes him insightful, witty, and urbane. He loves to take human prisoners because he needs someone to talk to, though his nobs often ruin the conversations by butting in.
The Saratogan 58th, an army inspired by feminism.
So before the Big Game 5, Lexington (of aurorachapter.com) went to a con (I forget which one) and came back with pictures and stories. Lexington, myself, and our friend Lia were sitting around the living room in Lia’s house. Lexington lived in her house at the time.
Lexington tells us a story that he saw a Guard army made of female models. They were apparently all shock pink. The Ogryn had Marge Simpson beehive hairdos. They also apparently had other “girly” things like hearts and bunnies everywhere. The army was made by a guy. I thought that was cool from a conversion standpoint, because it would be really hard to do.
Lia disagreed. She explained that making a “girl” armed force all pink and frilly is saying that women serving in an armed force is silly. She said it was a joke, and the punchline is that women can’t serve in the military. She was right, that’s exactly what that army said under the surface. Later on that day, I tried to imagine: “What would a Guard army that WASN’T sexist look like?
The next thing that popped into my head was the motto of the Saratogan 58th: “If you can hold a lasrifle, you can die for the Emperor.”
It would be an integrated force, even more so than the United States army today. Women and men would fight side-by-side. Now, how to do this? There are no female models made by GW, except those that are either not human or ass-ugly. Here’s how I did it.
First, I found female faces from Privateer and Reaper minis that were not hell of ugly. I cut off these mini’s heads and filed the head down until it fit in the empty Cadian helmet.
Then I took five female Eldar Guardian torsos, and modified them to look Cadian.
I moulded these objects and made resin copies. I then used Green Stuff to fill in bubbles. I used normal Cadian arms and legs, but slightly filed to fit the new waist. About 50% of the models in the army will be female, for an integrated fighting force. The color scheme (seen on the painted model) is very ordinary. Female soldiers don’t wear pink. They wear standard Cadian drab green.
The backstory will be posted later. It is based on the 90’s science fiction show Space: Above and Beyond that apparently only I liked. Notice that on the painted mini (my Ursakar Creed stand in) that there are custom decals. These were expensive but WORTH IT.
New Battlefoam Case
Everyone’s seen my custom made Blue Tub case for the Azure Flames. I lug it around, opening doors with combinations of my foot, ass, and sheer determination. It’s been slowly damaging several models for a long time.
No More.
My Battlefoam case has arrived. Expensive but worth it if I never have to repair models because the case broke them. The main XL case has synthetic canvas covering a rigid plastic shell. Inside, the trays rest on top of each other snugly. There were too many Azure Flames to fit in an XL case (raise your hand if you’re surprised) so I had to get a second small case. This second case attaches to the first with a convenient zipper. The whole case has a set of wheels and an extendable handle for easy transportation one-handed. No more lugging around a tub! There are even pouches for books and other things along the sides.
No one can stop me.
Modular Space Marine Vehicles
In preparation for the Big Game 5, I decided to update all of my old Rhino Chassis vehicles. I called it the “New Rhino Chassis Project.” Going the extra mile, I wanted to save some money and make modular vehicles that could be ANY variant of the Predator tank, or a Whirlwind. Here’s what I did.
Two Rhino Chassis were given large Rare Earth magnets on the inside of their doors, and a Predator/Whirlwind top hatch. I then made Predator Side Sponsons and regular doors that were magnetized. Note that the magnet on the regular doors has since been replaced with a much smaller magnet, as it was near impossible to remove the door.
Next, the sponsons and Predator sponson guns were modified using Legos. This lets them fit together snugly without interfering with the other magnet. The Whirlwind Turrets were also modified with Legos so the regular and Castellan missiles could be switched out.
The Predator turrets were modified with magnets in a “clamshell” configuration to switch out the guns easily. The ammo boxes on the back have magnets as well, letting them fit on snugly without attaching permanently.
As a result these two tanks can be ANY variant. Las OR Autocannon Pred with HB or Las sponsons OR no sponsons. It could also be a Whirlwind with either of the two missiles.
MOAR LEE-ZARD
Finished 7 more regular skinks and the skink star player Hemlock, who has the special rule Stab.
…can you tell which one has Stab?