My Time at the TFNation Reading Mini-Con

So things started out with a decision not to repeat my previous mistakes with trains, I'd get an off-peak ticket and aim for an early train. Then it snowed the Monday before. Fearing further snow I watched the weather reports like a hawk, and even left early for the station, jumping on an earlier train. Then my 13:03 connecting train was delayed and then cancelled, prompting a stampede for the next train, which I couldn't board. I eventually escaped Birmingham New Street, but delayed by two hours and in an absolutely foul mood, trying desperately not to have an autistic meltdown. Fortunately, things improved once I arrived at the Premier Inn, where I recognised fellow fans. Thanks to those whom chatted with me, it salvaged my evening.

The actual day was a lot of hard work, preceded with a buffet breakfast. I'd volunteered to help out the Toy-Fu team on their stall again, its for charity and I know people there, which ended up being my main experience of the event. It was a productive day of fundraising too; it was very busy and we shifted a lot of Masterpieces and such. TFN itself? Well, its fine, but its an inherently small scale event, and they say so in the name. It all took place in the same hall, so it always felt a bit noisy. I think I would have liked to either explore Reading more, and might have been better off staying for two nights, just to be sociable, but it didn't work out that way. I'll have to rethink my next trip. Travelling back wasn't exactly fun either, there was a fricking storm. And it was a Saturday night. Delays, packed trains, mad dashes to connecting trains, drunks, and I lost a cagoule on the way. I should probably have stayed for two nights... Not the same mistakes as last time, just new ones. Fuck trains.

 

Anyways, my haul this time was somewhat light. Part of that was the absence of the usual big online Transformers retailers from the event, but honestly its not that long since August and little new had grabbed me since. I picked up some stickers from Claude, and some very obscure Gundam fridge magnets from Toy-fu. Neither is really blog material, but the one actual Transformer, Alternators Ravage, probably is. I can probably ramble about this.


All in all? A far from terrible event, but with the shit weather and trains, the shine was taken off it.

Transformers: Kingdom Warpath is Something That Exists

OK, I went to TFNation Reading yesterday, and in all probability, I am dead right now. I'll try to have a write-up done for the end of next week, but in the meantime, here's a Tranformers review.

 

The 1985 Transformers Warpath toy.

In spite of myself, I've been belatedly drawn to the modern batch of deluxe Minibots. It must have been Beachcomber and Gears proving to be actually kinda good. I don't think I'll be a completionist or anything, but if the price is right, I'm certainly not opposed. Hence, Warpath. And who is Warpath? Well, blah blah blah blah G1 tiny dude. Diddly-do diddly-do diddly-do and so on; shallow tier 3 character with a distinct manner of speech. Tourette‘s syndrome, but with gunfire onomatopoeia. Blah blah blah, Sunbow cartoon appearances, fairly unique altmode, goto Autobot tank guy. Yada-yada-yada, memorable, but is basically a seat-filler. Look, if you've read my writings on similar vintage characters, which I admit is unlikely, you know where I stand. But is this toy any good? Let's find out.

 

At the risk of repeating myself, Warpath's altmode is a tank, although ran through three different filters. This version is aping the Sunbow Animation model, if adding more modern detailing. That model was an interpretation of an 80's toy done in the same penny racer style as the other Minibots, meaning it somewhat cutesy and simple rather than a scale model or owt. You know, the whole Super Deformed thing, but applied to a vehicle. So, peeling back those layers like an onion, what tank is it? The M551 Sheridan AA/ARV. An odd choice, even back in the 80's. Its not a tank in way as a layman might expect; its a light tank with an odd missile armament, designed to be easily transported by air. Its not really there to take hits or slug it out with other tanks, and its debut in the Vietnam War was not a glorious one. As a point of interest, the Sheridan had been retired from frontline service about 5 years before this toy was designed. One wonders if this choice of altmode was thematic in some way, given how the other Minibots are, but I suppose we'll never know. 

 

 

The real tank, as seen on Wikipedia.

I may have got sidetracked there. Moving onto the actual merits of the toy, Warpath does one very important thing right, which is have a functional turret. I.e. one that rotates. This is a pet peeve of mine; if the tank has a turret, it should turn. A lot of Transformers toys get that wrong. Warpath avoids that annoyance, and due to his character design, said turret is not an accessory either. Meanwhile, it rolls on tiny castor wheels, and has some down-played 5mm port and blast effect compatibility. Now, Warpath neither needs or likely wants additional firepower, but not putting in a few explosions or muzzleflashes was a missed opportunity. That aside, this mode's only overt flaw arises from the desire to be as Sunbow accurate as possible: the white tracks. OK, if that's what you want, I get it, but it prompts colour matching issues and reports of photo degradation. Doing them in dark or metallic tones would have made more sense and saved a lot of trouble. This complaint is however on the nitpick end of the scale, and otherwise this tank mode is on point. It looks good from most angles, does what it should, and has no small amount of surface detailing if you care to look.

 

The actual conversion process invites another tangent. As you might imagine, this isn't Warpath's first remake or spiritual successor. There's been a few prior to this, including a well-liked Generations deluxe, but none have really nailed a G1 style transformation. This one has, with the turret becoming the chest, the front of the hull becoming the legs, and the back becoming the arms. There's a lot of folding panels going on here, focused mainly on the legs, but the point of contention here is the partsforming. Like a lot of the modern Minibots, Warpath has a large removable panel that completes the vehicle mode and is used as a shield in robot mode. While not exactly a plus, I do feel this is a notably subtle and inoffensive example, and nowhere near a Huffer situation, let alone Cliffjumper. This panel tabs into the underside of the tank, finishing it off, but its not actually mandatory. Its not so much an obvious cut corner, and possibly more something they added because they had room in the budget. Plus it helps that you get a Zaku II style shoulder shield out if it, which actually suits the robot mode quite well. Even with that, when it comes to complexity, Warpath is making a good case for his pricepoint.

 

Warpath ends up on the chunky and dense side in robot mode. He's not without the occasional hollow bit, and purposefully on the short side for a deluxe, but they have nailed the look. Its not purely Sunbow, the sculpt is too detailed, but I do find myself liking how the track kibble has been retained on the forearms but has been used intelligently, folding up to minimise itself. Niceties like Siege era articulation and 5mm ports are here, and thus the robot mode approaches an almost optimal of balance of form and function. Warpath looks maybe a bit dorky. Maybe a bit chubby and friend-shaped. That's the point though, that's what the previous revamps didn't really get. He's just a little guy, whom happens to be a tank. And not just any tank, a notably small and light one that was maybe a bit rubbish. So yes, the robot mode could pose a bit better. Is that something you'd really expect or need when he's built like Santa? Yes, he could have more accessories. Does he need more though? He's got his chest cannon. Its a good robot mode that does all its supposed to.

This guy could have very easily been in Earthrise, but he may very well have benefited from that extra time in the oven. Warpath has flaws, certainly. Reports of yellowing are not welcome, while the shield piece avoids strong criticism by being quite optional. Everything else though is good to great. I am not usually a fan of attempts to slavishly match the 80's cartoon, I wrote about it, but things clearly worked out here. And it does the tank bit very well. Its possibly the best of the modern Minibots. It will likely remain so until they take another swing at the character. Whatever happens: Kingdom Warpath is something that exists.

And now, Blast Effects!

 

Resin: Battle Cat by Ramshackle Games

 

So, it's early October, and I'm thinking I need to ease off on the armymen for a bit. Not only did I need to start on an Orktober project, there had been a new Astra Militarum codex announcement. A vague and undetailed one, but still an announcement. Hopefully we'll know more on Tuesday. Its set for early 2025, but its never a good idea to invest heavily in a 40k army immediately before a rules refresh. Hell, given how the recent Ork codex went from hype-to-nerf-to-obscurity, you could argue against buying for the quarter thereafter. It might end up with us all playing a slightly updated Index detachment. Or we might end up with a situation where everyone needs three units of Tempestus Aquilons and three of Ratling Snipers because they are the only units that work. Who knows? That said, I also had this tank. I like tanks, most Guard players do, its hard to be one if you don't like tanks. This had been ordered from Ramshackle Games prior to the announcement, and truthfully had arrived a few weeks later than I might have liked. But with my first 1500 point battle planned, I pushed on to get it vaguely presentable.

As I've built two of these previously, I don’t have a huge amount to say here. Its a cheap resin model, requiring a non-trivial amount of prep-work, which was then painted by the spraycan method. Two new observations I’d make are that A) Ramshackle seems to have changed its resin mix, and B) pinning the lascannon on was a bit of a nuisance which required fixing twice. (And then again, after a few games.) I primed it to reveal imperfections, fixed them, sprayed it green, and then blocked out the exposed metal bits in black, a bit sloppily if I'm honest, before drybrushing. The cupola gunner was painted separately. I kinda rushed to get this (largely) done for the game, I probably should not have given some of the mistakes I made, but hopefully you can’t tell. Weathering covers many a sin. On the plus side, new model syndrome did not really occur in the game in question, I won actually, and it generally turned out OK. The theme here is an unwanted vehicle and neglected vehicle handed over to convicts for use in the GRIMDARK future of 40K. Certainly looks like it.

 

With respects to rules, I'm fielding this as the basic Leman Russ Battle Tank, my third. I may swap the turret, but I like its rerolls for now. Its not considered the optimal choice in competitive play, though, the current fave is the Vanquisher variant. That's cheaper and better at killing other tanks, so I see the appeal of it, but I think the stock russ will last better. Whenever the tournament crowd fixates on something too much, it gets more expensive, look at Bullgrins, but we'll see. At present, the vanilla Russ is a consistently reliable damage dealer that punishes an enemy for trying to take objectives.

Not bad, but I need something else to do.

Transformers: Legacy United Energon Universe Megatron is Something that Exists

OK, in the 40th Anniversary line, we have a tribute to a toy made during the 20th Anniversary. I am suddenly acutely aware of my own mortality. Sorry, this is gonna be both fairly brief and fairly negative.

 

The 2004 Transformers Energon Megatron toy (leader class)

Lets try to unpack this. This version of Megatron appeared, obviously, in Transformers Energon. I wrote a retrospective on that yonks ago, but it was notable for being the 20th anniversary series. It didn't do many direct tributes, more remakes and name reuses, but the influence was felt in more than a few toys, which is why this Megs looks a lot like the original Galvatron. As Energon was also a direct sequel to Armada, this makes the toy a representation of the same guy we saw as a leader class recently, which also explains his famous tank/sword accessory. That's a weapon either referencing his previous form, or made from his own corpse following his resurrection. Was it a good toy? Well, for its time it was pretty memorable, but not one that aged well. It wasn't a toy that especially prioritised articulation, it was more about gimmicks than leg joints, more so than most of its time, but it had a lot of style. I liked how it looked, but never how it moved or felt. Definitely a design that would benefit from a do-over. So, with this new Core Class toy we have a toy that's a homage to a homage. And one that you'd suspect would be at best a tenth the size of the original, but with hopefully more useful articulation by a country mile. Then again, its in the consistent disappointment that is the Core class. Is it any good? Well, not hugely.

Starting with the robot form I find myself feeling oddly nostalgic, while also debating how much I can file under "acceptable for the price". Visually, it looks like a scaled down version of the original, with a few things understandably omitted, and the materials changed, but no shortage of paint. Good, that's what basically we're here for. Its nicely presented, swapping out translucent for opaque plastic, and retaining some elements of the old gimmicks. The tank/sword is present, as are the shoulder cannons which now work on 3mm peg. Articulation is also dramatically improved; this toy features ball joints rather than a spring-loaded conversion. Where the weaknesses start to occur is in the shoulders. There's a tab there for the purposes of the altmode, which is fair enough, but this ends up limiting the range of motion. The cannons can get in the way too, bumping into the wings. Now, this isn't a problem if you position them forwards, but why wasn't this just pinned in the first place? I mean... yes. You can have megs gunfighter things up now, but this feels like a life and lemons situation. Also, while this toy really isn't lacking in plastic, this is one where they've had to make compromises and hollow things out. Like the back of the head, the tank/sword, nosecone, forearms and legs. Classy. Given the sheer mass of the altmode, I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. All that being said, its not actually a bad robot mode, sitting on the good side of average for a core overall.

 

The same general vibe continues into gunship mode, although it is perhaps a touch worse as the robot form was given priority. On the one hand, the look is definitely there, and its doing a better job hiding the head than the much larger original. Its also pleasently chunky and big for a toy in the Core slot. On the other, the hands don't collapse and so stick out under the wings, while the hollowness and such are more obnoxious. Case in point: the tank/sword, which just ends up pointing the blade backwards. Now, given that the tank itself is hollow, could we not have it fold up? Or possibly evoke the original gimmick, and stow the blade in the big empty front end? As small altmodes go, its not bad. Its certainly not bad. But it so easily could have been better.

 

Now, I have some very mixed feelings about this toy, and I have been back and forth with my editing. Part of that's the whole "jeebus, twenty years" thing, I admit, and I’m glad it it exists. But a lot of it is the toy being frustratingly close to being good, but not. It feels like an earnest attempt to modernise an older design, but its also feels like every cost-saving trick they could have used, they did. Some designs just don't work out when scaled down, and while its not without its merits, this was too much to ask of a core class. I got this for £3, so I really shouldn't complain, but this would have felt bad value at RRP. Otherwise, there isn't a huge amount to say. It does what it needs to, it is something that exists, but it exists in a sub-average size class. In the meantime? I’m just gonna have a brief midlife crisis, see you soon.

Kitbash: Stargrave Mercenaries

Now, a sprue I've used an awful lot in my Chem-Dog army is the Stargrave Mercenaries kit. My original Chem-Dog prototype was one of those models, and various stowage and gubbins have been sprinkled through my builds since. Had I not found that Cannon Fodder box, it could very well have been that I built my army around them. I recently acquired another box cheaply, a benefit as I was refitting my infantry, and it followed that an article about them was overdue.

 

So, a brief review. The Stargrave Mercenaries kit is made by Northstar Military Figures, a company which seems to be a kind of low key awesome. While Stargrave is thier sci-fi system, they also do historical, and they do a lot of rules/miniature agnostic stuff, offering support of Gaslands and Xenos Rampant. Their sprues tend to be a kitbasher's joy, if possibly lacking in flair. The Mercenaries were talking about today, for example, have a very varied selection of weapons and armour styles, something of real benefit to theft/looting style of the Chem-Dogs. The overall style tends towards Cyberpunk, maybe? The downside is that they lack a compelling melee option for the sarge, and tend towards a realistic 28mm scale rather than a heroic one, so some kitbashing is unavoidable to make them fit 40K conventrions. If you're making human sci-fi infantry though, getting a box of these is highly recommended as a bits resource. And if the style of this one doesn’t appeal, Northstar do a bunch, and a lot of female coded models too.

With these, I decided to continue the recent trend, and do them up as a battleline unit I hadn't previously fielded: Cadian Shock Troops. Yes, I know this is dumb when I've used actual Cadians for Catachans, but I was always a contrarian. The justification for this is while these models seem better equipped than the Cannon Fodder I mainly field, they don't strike me as elite. More like a slightly more professional unit that got first dibs on some better kit. Following on from that, I decided to use leftover Cannon Fodder arms and backpacks to help them fit my theme, but I kept these as male coded. At least so far as the term applies to gaskmask wearing soldiers at 28mm scale, but you know what I mean. I've done a lot of girls lately, lets have a few boys in the interest of balance. Mechanically, Shock Troops function like a less cool middle ground between stock infantry and Death Korps, having less options than either, but have what is known as a "sticky objectives" ability. I see these chaps as having convictions for armed robbery, call 'em The Payday Squad.

 

These were modelled and painted in my usual manner, although I did make one Innovation. I sculpted gasmasks onto the heads while still on the sprue. I was going for a less bulky, more practical style than my usual, and this was a nice convenience. Actual painting was however delayed due to a head cold, and when I returned I was surprised at the rate they moved forward. I don't think I’m a good painter, I know I’m not a good painter, but I am an efficient one, and having done a hundred or so of these soldiers in various forms? Well, perfectionism gets worn away, and optimizations are found. So, here's my technique for speed painting some penal legion plebs.


1) Basecoat with Color Forge Trench Brown spraypaint.
2) Drybrush your guns and obvious metal bits with a gunmetal. I mixed my own here, aiming for darkish tones, but your preferred metallic grey is probably fine.
3) Pick out the boots, backpacks, and gasmasks in Vallejo German Grey. This is a near black which suits military garments. Pick out the occasional additional element like the odd helmet too.
4) Pick out the rags, and the occasional fabric detail, in Vallejo English Uniform.
5) Now apply a drybrush of Vallejo Hot Orange to what remains, I.e the main body. How hard you go at this stage will dictate how bright it will be. Avoid flesh areas.
6) With the main colours done, now go in add a few little details. I.e. a silver to pick out cutting edges, a gold for contrasting on the guns, a brown or yellow for haircuts, and your preferred method for lenses.
7) Tidy it all up.
8) Now start on the flesh areas; apply some watered-down Armypainter Tanned flesh.
9) Once dry, apply some watered-down GW Kislev Flesh, trying to keep to raised areas, and let that dry.
10) Wash the entire model with GW Agrax Earthshade.

 

Done, right? Well, there's the bases. I tend to come at that at the start of and the end of the process.
A) Before spray-painting, but after the model was attached, texture the base. I normally use a very thin coating of poundshop gap/filler paste, but better options exist. You don’t need a lot, just enough to remove the smooth finish of the base and add imperfections.
B) With the model largely painted, now use a paint like GW Stirland Mud on the base. You can mix your own, I do, or use another brand, we're basically looking for a brown texture paint with sand in it.
C) Once that dries, drybrush it with GW Zandri Dust. Maybe pick out areas like the knees at the same time to suggest dirt and wear.
D) Apply some flock to the base if you have it. I used some 6mm tufts here.
E) Finally, paint the rim of the base with Vallejo Black.

OK, perhaps not my best or most interesting work, but hopefully tableworthy, and of use to you. Cheers.