Memorial Day

Most of us will spend today with friends and family over bbq and large amounts of fermented hops will be consumed. But let us not forget the reason for this holiday. This post goes out to all those men and women who serve to protect this country and its interests, regardless of personal bias or creed. And to those who died serving their country. I have a story which may bring some of us down to earth. Its not sad or tragic or heroic. A few months ago WCC received a large order from a USMC soldier who was being redeployed to a forward operating base in Afghanistan, he wanted to be able to play while off duty. Even on the front lines the members of the 40k and fantasy community continue to enjoy the simple pleasures of this game. It takes all kinds to build a community from the soldier on his 3rd or fourth tour, to the guy from accounting. So this memorial day raise your glass for the men and women of the US armed services.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Calling all Heretics

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting the owner and administrator for Throne of skulls, not only do we currently share a burning grudge against the eldar but ToS is a bay area based site. A chaos oriented site, ToS is a web community devoted entirely to those who field the fierce minions of the blood god. They have a number of active pages and gallery's. Members share collective works and there are a number of fascinating entry's about pre heresy armies as well as show and tell page for completed projects. So if you like Khorne or just chaos in general go check them out at Throneofskulls.com or click the new banner on the right side.

Cheers

Scott

BH Exclusive: New Leman Russ Unboxing

First a disclaimer, I received the kit as a demo model. No money was paid to get an advance copy of the kit and it is being assembled for display purposes.



Now with that out of the way. What can I show you that the sprue pictures on GW haven't already shown (not much to be honest). What I can talk about is the over all feel of the components and their detail. Over all the kit is just a mimic of the new demolisher kit (obviously) The variant barrels are rather simple in detail, the nova cannon is the same as the one in the baneblade/hell hammer kit, there are a few differences, unlike the hell hammer cannon the Russ version is a single piece and feels much sturdier.



But over all this is a step in the right direction for GW, having an all in one kit is much more economically friendly then prior options (having to buy from FW) I still feel though that the turret is rather crude and if given the choice I would buy a Ryza pattern vanquisher turret from forge world. The battle cannon is still the same and the exterminator bit looks well enough. I think over all though the popular choice aesthetically is going to be the nova cannon, its a decent short range weapon that packs almost as much punch as a demolisher and its the most visually pleasing in my opinion.

UPDATE:
After assembling the body and turret I have noticed that both the battle cannon and the vanquisher cannon fit snugly enough that they could be swapped out easily without having to magnetize.

Happy building

Scott
BH Senior Editor

BH Radio: Sneak peak at the studio

That's right after months of bartering and negotiations Bay Hammer Radio finally has a studio space. Not only the but we have some rather classy recording equipment as well (no more sharing the one mic like on train wreck) So basically over the past few months I have been busy with work and various other time consuming life necessity's, but recently WCC acquired a new storage space and by extension that part of the building, so you can imagine the reaction I had when I recived the call about possibly setting up a studio there for the webcast.



Its a little spartan at the moment but I have swing mic stands coming in and hopefully a few office chairs and posters to liven the place up. More updates on that as I work a bit more on setting everything up.

So that being said I will announce that Bay Hammer Radio will be returning to the airwaves June 5th to cover the release of Spearhead, the show will air at 6pm PST. The broadcast will be hosted on our USTREAM page located here

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bay-hammer

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

More Saucy Warlock Pics

While I have been feverishly cranking out guardsmen D has been busy methodically painting up his 2 foot death machines that will most likely wipe out half my infantry in an unfortunate falling accident. Anyways this wont be a word heavy post just lots of eye popping, wallet draining goodness, enjoy.






Don't forget to swing by tomorrow for a special announcement regarding Bay Hammer Radio (Which I am quite enthused to finally be able to post about) Comments and questions always welcome.

Happy Hunting

Scott(Posting for D')
BH Senior Editor

Re painting project Valkyrie

So after much hassle and deliberation I finally re primed my first Valkyrie, actually I primed the second up first and decided I liked it enough to do the other one. I also re painted two tanks and a chimera after this decision. Although I did like the testors olive drab spray color, it just dident match the theme I was going for. So two days and a pot of catachan green later I am almost done re painting most of my vehicles, except for one. The debate weather or not to re do the baneblade is still on the table, since it is still one of the pieces that I sank the most work and money into I am torn between re coloring or leaving it be with the idea that ill sell it later and get a replacement. Further confounding the issue is the Shadowsword I will soon be adding to my collection (courtisy of the gents over at Legends comics and games for my Birthday) which I most likely will paint in the new scheme. I would love to hear your thoughts on which rout I should take.

Anyways enjoy the various work in progress shot provided above. The first shows the re primed Valkyrie I did today and the second is the one I did last night.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Spear Head Rules For Free

If you didn't catch it in the initial announcement, GW will be offering the rules for spearhead for free. Both in Junes issue of white dwarf and on the GW website, the only requirement for getting the rules from the GW site is that you register for free.

Finally GW is throwing the player base a line and giving us some sweet, sweet literature on top of a full release for models and content. More details as they come in. Dose this make up for the price hikes, not even close but atleast there are still content creators that still remember the community.


Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Updates: Reading the GW Tarot

With Games Workshop going full throttle for the June release for guard, and the rumor mill cranking out a release date for the storm raven (thank you jawaballs) excitement is running high. But what of the gaps and the long oddly laid trail of clues. I am of course talking about the computer renderings of the colossus we saw back at games day Spain 09, GW already released a new basilisk kit thus ruling out a release with that unit. And of course if we might dabble in the back game rooms and GW stores where the prospect of a all plastic thunderhawk is talked about in hushed tones and with great uncertainty.

As questions mount and release dates are set what might we be looking at this September. Currently we are swept up in a torrent of rolling updates and micro releases. So looking through the mist and having not but basic concepts and a hand full of comments made by GW, I can but only speculate on future releases. However if GW's past indicators and update practices have proven anything its that about 70% of what you hear on the grape vine is accurate. For the hard facts I will leave it up to the big dogs to decipher, for now I will continue to provide commentary and perspective.

What do you think the next major release will hold? Feel free to add your thoughts to the comment section.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

P.S.
Don't forget, West Coast Comics and collectibles will soon be taking pre orders for spearhead at 25% off and if your local head down to Legends Comics and Games in Cupertino CA for 15% off advance orders and 10% off all GW products in the store.

Leman Russ/Suspicions confirmed

After today's release of the first snaps of the new leman russ sprue I am indeed now convinced that we may soon see all those models we once salivated over in the forgeworld catalog brought down to our level. The new kit contains all the barrel variants needed to cover the rest of the options for the Russ in the codex, I predicted this shortly after they pulled the old Russ kit. But this now raises the question, with spearhead on the way, and another black box release planned for the holidays, exactly how much will we see cast in plastic? The hydra, the Griffin and the Colossus just to name a few are units shown in the 5ed IG codex, and now with all the Russ variants covered will we see these models brought to the citadel line as well? Some months back we saw snapshots of the computer mock ups for the new demolisher and what appeared to be a Colossus. It may indeed be feasible that we might see all IG armor covered by GW. Even more so in these tough economic times where shelling out $200+ for a model is just simply financially unsound.

For what ever reason it would indeed appear that GW is tightening there belt and giving in to consumer demand. summer 2010 and the holiday season promises to possibly be a rather exciting series of releases, or at least we hope so.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor.

Titan Works: Warhound

Not to be out done the imperium has decided to field its own titan. True the warhound is vastly outclassed by D's warlock and phantom, it is a awesome piece none the less. I spent a collective five hours painting this piece and its been a constantly evolving project.



Though as it stands now it is not 100% complete, I still need to do the banners and add striping to the carapace. But so far It has been a pleasing project and I can not wait to field this in the upcoming Apocalypse game at legends (more details on that next week)

As always, questions, comments, death threats and gift cards are always welcome.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor.

NEWS: Codex Demon Hunters and Witch hunters

As some of you may have noticed checking the GW website today, both codex Witch hunters and Codex Demon Hunters are no longer listed. Could this indicate a release in the near future? More to the point are both books already done. Games Workshop is second only to Apple when it comes to product security and if there past release strategies are any indication we could very well see a new set of books and models y new years or sooner. Pairing this with the anticipated release of project spearhead in the Fall and incremental releases mid summer 2010/11 looks to be full of new releases across the board.

Could 6th Edition be right around the proverbial corner? Of course this is taking things a bit far but one has to but wonder. With a list of rolling codices updates and a slew of new models it is quite possible that we may see all outdated codices updated over the next 15 months or less.

Cheers

Scott
BH Senior Editor

Gray Knight gray area

Alright so I didn't post my GK story before BoLs got it. So lets just get down to the brass tacks of whats on every ones mind, the Inquisition. More to the point what is brewing with the watchers of the shadows and there somewhat dated codices, I am of course referring to the sisters of battle and demon hunters books. The current theory is that both sisters and demon hunters will be combined into a single tome along with the other supplemental for the ordo Xenos. While this would make sense to the player, it would not make sense for GW. Rarely has GW combined multiple books, in fact the only time that they have was for 5ed space marines, and even still we have separate codices for the various other chapters (aka blood angels,Black Templar and Dark Angels) So while we might hope and dream of a grand all in one book, I find the chances of it actually happening rather narrow.

Next up the models. Ok here you may now rejoice for the Gray Knights will for certain be re cast in glorious cheap plastic. Yes the age is soon coming that all non independent box sets will be made in cheap light and abundant plastic. While no pictures have yet to surface we can assume two things off the bat from observing GW's more recent moves in releasing/casting new models. One: They will in appearance be oddly similar to forge world pieces, but not quite the same caliber.
Two: Though they are now made of the cheaper material, the price will only change by about $5, GW will say this is do to requiring new molds and equipment but in reality the marketing dept is rubbing your hard earned dollars and pounds sterling all over there naughty parts.

The good news is though with new models new codices are soon to follow. So as a member of the elite class of society known as consumers, you should go forth and probe every dark alley and lead you can and provide the community with the sweet fruits of knowledge, barring that you can just get a GW rep into slipping up and telling you everything without being overt.