COREHAMMER FEST 2016 Review – Swinton so much to answer for

This is an article nominally about my trip to Stockport to attend Corehammer Fest 2016 in October. If you can’t be bothered reading the whole thing, it was a great time and you should go to the next one if you can. If you can be bothered slogging through my ramblings, hopefully you come to the same conclusion.

Corehammer Fest Flyer

“Come to the fucking North”

This was the response I got when I floated the idea that I’d be over to London in early 2015. Not exactly the warm welcome I was hoping. You see, for Americans, the UK wargaming scene is often seen as a sort pilgrimage to be made. The motherland where the hobby in a modern sense was launched, where the biggest and most influential companies are based, and where every field and lane probably has dead soldiers from some medieval armor wearing era buried beneath. But on this trip in 2015, I saw none of that. I did manage to meet up with one very special Stevie Boxall, who took a couple Californians to a British Mexican restaurant and a walking tour of brutalist London architecture, cheers. But that was the start, when I returned for work almost a year later I finally made it out of London and to the wonders of GW and Wargames Foundry (covered in a previous DungeonPunx Podcast, you should listen, but probably won’t) and was shown an incredibly warm welcome by a bunch of good dudes. That experience planted a brain worm that burrowed deep, and ensured I’d be coming back again, and would make gaming a priority when I did. So, when the dates came out for the October 2016 event, I said fuck it and plotted a way to make it happen.

What did I get myself into?

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Choosing a Legion – Andy Hoare of Tales from the Maelstrom’s Emperor’s Children

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Emperor’s Children in black look absolute nails.

It’s been a while, but we’re back again with the What Legion series, this time Andy from Tales from the Maelstrom steps up with his Horus Heresy Emperor’s Children army. If you’re unfamiliar with his blog, and you’re reading this, you’re in for a treat. There’s a tonne of classic gaming and miniatures from the Rogue Trader era. This is an article that will take you down memory lane, back to flicking through those late 80’s copies of White Dwarf.

First up, can you let us know who you are?

I’m Andy, I’ve been a gamer since the mid 80s and worked as a games designer for Games Workshop, Fantasy Flight Games and various other companies since 2001. I’m currently product manager in charge of bringing the most beloved of the specialist games range to a new generation.

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Oath of Moment: Anvil of War

My name is Tanya and I have a bucketload of shame. I have many models, shelves full of them, but almost nothing is painted. I know, I’m a monster. As someone who doesn’t play tournaments and barely gets to play due to living in a relatively isolated community, painting has always taken a backseat to my other nerdy endeavours. I’m also a very relaxed gamer; I love to play but I do not care if my opponent needs to proxy some stuff, or his/her models also aren’t painted, and certainly I don’t care if marines are in mix and match power armour. Seriously, let’s just play! I’m a busy woman: I am training to play my first roller derby game, I am a full time pawn broker, and I have other hobbies too(like RPG night once a week, and squeezing video and board games in every once in awhile). That being said, I want to work on painting more in 2016.

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How to paint & weather Iron Warriors

10417500_909454225733245_8317518222854547635_nWant to get your IV legion painted up but not sure where to start? Then pull up a pew my friend. 

 Following on from Ead’s army showcase, I asked him if he’d be so kind as to knock up a painting/weathering tutorial for Perturabo’s lot. His tanks look great, and given how popular both loyal and traitor Iron Warriors are, this is gonna come in useful for a whole load of folk.

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Choosing A Legion: Iron Warriors, with Ead Brown

Squad Zushev Detail 2Here’s our second readers submission, this its the 4th Legion, with Ead’s absolutely sublime Iron Warriors. First up, can you let us know who you are?

I’m Ead, you may remember me as the Customer Service Manager (and de facto community manager) at Forge World, ​but these days I work in events management and lament the fact that my hobby stuff is in storage…

Would you consider yourself a gamer, painter or more geared toward the book aspect of the heresy?

​Currently, I’m more of a reader. But I’d say that overall I am a mix of all three – I really enjoy building and painting, I was a play tester and proof reader for Alan Bligh when I worked at Forge World​, and in general I love playing games (but apparently not so much of the winning games 😀 )

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Perturabo’s tin bots take on my boy Lorgar’s lads in a scrap on the bit of wasteland behind the playing fields

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Horus Heresy Book Review: Deathfire, by Nick Kyme

Deathfire-eBookThe book tells the tale of the XVIII Legion as they return to Nocturne with the body of their Primarch, Vulkan. Following on from the events that take place in The Unremembered Empire, Deathfire is a tragic tale, for the Salamanders have lost much, including many of their battle-brothers and the father of their legion who, for the first time, has not recovered from his wounds. It’s a harrowing journey for Artellus Numeon, former Captain of the Pyre Guard, who must lead his brothers against some of the most horrific foes the Emperor’s warriors have ever faced.”

After what feels like an eternity of novellas, anthologies, audio and eBooks, following the bombastic The Unremembered Empire and Vengeful Spirit, the Salamanders take centre stage in a full length Horus Heresy novel. No more filler, shattered legions and timeline hopping, as Nick Kyme takes up the plot on Macragge and Imperium Secundus, to give the series a much needed forward thrust.

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Choosing A Legion: Word Bearers, with Carl Tuttle

Primarchs_bigThere is, on the face of it, very little difference between the 30K Legions. Why would you choose one over the other? 90% of the units are the same if you’re a gamer, so is it a matter of aesthetics and picking your favourite colour? Even if you’re not a gamer and just love the ever increasing series of books, why do you favour the grey ones over the white ones, when they’re cutting aliens into bloody chunks in an equally as visceral fashion?

Were about to delve a little deeper in to those whys, in a new series for Corehammer. In it, we’ll be asking readers the same set of questions, in an attempt to get some understanding, and hopefully insight into why that legion speaks a person’s soul more so than the others. And on the flip side, are there any legions you don’t like, can’t stand or even hate.

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How To Paint Horus Heresy 30k Traitor Word Bearers

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See that metallic sheen, that’s what you’ll end up with on your models at the end of this if you do it right.

This is the second of my heresy era painting guides, think my paint’s too thick, you can fuck right off, as this doesn’t even use any proper paint.

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Sacking Alexandria: Musing on Black Library and the Horus Heresy Novels

Blades_of_The_TraitorI am a failed tabletop gamer. As far as confessions go, I’m not exactly seeking a priest to whisper a secret sin. Is it something I would like absolving of? Yes. Will I ever rectify it? Possibly. I live in a world with an unfortunate amount of hobbies, be that a blessing or a curse. When it comes to getting time to paint it’s not often, therefore I don’t make progress, and I’m painfully aware that with every layer of paint I put on it I’m taking my miniature a step further away from what I see in my mind’s eye. Every brush stroke is an act of violent self-abuse. As a person who’s never had an issue generally achieving something I set my body to, be it from as picking up weights in the gym, to learning kickboxing to more relevant things such as sculpting or drawing it generally comes quickly. Painting minis however seems to be my Everest. As a result, all too often my relaxing time becomes bouts of intense rage, followed by aggressive self-frustration and ends with me giving 4cm high plastic space men a withering cold glare. This leaves me with a catch 22 of sorts. I really, really think it’s awesome, I’m just too infuriated by myself to make them come to life, but I want to enjoy the glorious world of militant space fascists. So there is only one answer for me.

Reading……
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