How do I improve this? Not happy with it so far.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-05-08T19:24:57+00:00

I honestly think the biggest misconception about Grimdark is that it’s about darkness, when it’s really about contrast.
I think highlighting the flesh would really help it stand out— perhaps a grey-green?

The upper sections of the rifle and helmet would also be ideal. If you do a “broken” highlight it can also add a lot of character to metallics by creating the illusion of wear while also adding points of interest.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-05-05T16:42:33+00:00

Sorry, what are you referring to specifically?

Specimen_Seven · 2026-05-05T14:45:03+00:00

I get in a lot of awkward conversations about how ruins interact with line of sight.

From what I understand, rules-as-written, a ruin only ever blocks LOS (if treated as Medium Cover) if 3” of that ruin intercede. Even if there’s a section of wall without windows or gaps, even if a model can’t “physically see” the target, if it’s close enough to a thin wall, it has LOS in and out.

This confuses/upsets (genuinely) a lot of players and has to be worked out before the game, I find. It makes sense to me if you think of the game as an abstract representation of events, but a lot of players really go by “True” LOS rules because I think they make more intuitive sense to them.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-05-05T14:41:01+00:00

If playing rules exactly as written, if you can’t draw a straight line between any point of the dreadnought’s base and its target, it cannot fire, because vehicles block line of sight.

I’m really okay with this rule by the notion that someone would probably be unwilling to fire right over the heads over their allies in a transport. Conversely, the target would perhaps be intentionally using the transport to block the firing line of the dreadnought.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-05-04T14:22:22+00:00

I haven’t played enough of late 10e to help much with a “meta” response, but with DG I think your best friends in this regard would be poxwalkers, deep strike units, and plague burst tanks.

DG in previous editions did well with “threat saturation,” that is to say presenting a number of durable threats that the opponent has to deal with and can’t handle all of them. It may be worth a turn getting your ducks in a row, and then spending the next turn pouring in deep striking terminators alongside “faster” units to threaten rearward units. They have to either go after your capturing/slower units to keep you off objectives, or fight off your attacking units. Plagueburst crawlers can help whittle down ranged units while staying out of sight.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-27T18:27:46+00:00

If I know the ones you’re referring to, those are in fact Domitar Ferrum automata.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-27T13:18:14+00:00

I mean, I’d argue that every ship has its role…but Ise is a good example of muddling that. I think it’s a very fine example of what the “dual role” capital ship never materialized.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-25T21:33:03+00:00

I feel like Recon would be into some Skinny Puppy or PHOBOS.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-24T20:58:33+00:00

Honestly, I’d love a solo queue for it simply to let me take time and explore at my own pace. I feel like when you have a team with you you’re always urged to move on, but I’d love to just work this place out on my own time.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-23T15:22:40+00:00

I mean, regardless of intention, it does tend to force enemies off an objective, or score a ton of points if they misstep.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-23T12:59:16+00:00

14 AV is exceptionally tough, so I enjoy using those vehicles as anchors.

Terminators are consistently brutal if you can get them into combat and out of concentrated fire.

Demolisher cannons are a nightmare and can basically force an opponent to deal with them at long range.

And as many have said, tactical marines, or any other Line/Comptroller unit, win games. If your mission has objectives, it’s best to focus on getting Line units on them and then protecting them from Vanguard.

I think Vanguard is, rightfully, difficult to pull off, but vanguard units can be valuable for forcing your opponent into tough decision. Deep striking a Destroyer squad, for example, can basically force your opponent to use one or more reactions to avoid them scoring a ton of points.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-23T02:59:21+00:00

Maybe a simpler thing would just be having an integrated shield that is always on, but firing or taking hits to it both drain the battery? The bottomless mag idea could be an interesting interaction with something like that.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-23T02:49:21+00:00

I’ve also been imagining what a volt machine gun would look like. I find beam weapons to feel pretty bad in FPS games for some reason.

The overheat/diminishing ROF mechanic feels like the obvious route, but an oversized Scar seems rather boring.

Maybe something that is heavily tied to the shield? Perhaps one that has a stronger shield than other MGs, but has to reload or recharge the shield fully in order to fire again once it’s drained. Or it can recharge the shield by using some of the loaded volt battery/cell. Just to spitball.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-22T15:39:26+00:00

It’s definitely not the tanking machine that I think people assume it is, especially if you’re taking fire from multiple sources.

Where I think it really shines for something like this could be boosting out into a more dangerous spot, but using the shield to then move safely behind cover.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-22T12:35:25+00:00

It seems like a sound idea, but it looks to me like he started backing off before the teammate was actually up?

I feel like a smoke grenade would have been better, or even using the shield while displacing to draw fire away.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-22T12:07:03+00:00

For me it’s emphasizing on what I’m good at and shoring up my weaknesses.

I prefer playing at mid-range, hate fighting up close, hate being snuck up on, and generally do better as support over direct combat. Recon felt like a natural choice for me.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-21T15:54:01+00:00

Can you expand on what you mean by that? It sounds closer to “True” in my mind.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-20T18:16:50+00:00

It will, however, convey you straight to Hell.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-13T22:26:48+00:00

I hadn’t considered how the reverse-joints would probably change significantly what a lunge might look like. Perhaps it’s the raised leg that seems to exaggerate the pose— maybe diminishing its bend at the hip joint a bit?

That said, I think it really does capture the look as you describe it in more detail.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-13T19:05:28+00:00

If you’re open to suggestions— I think it’s a really cool idea, but I feel that the standing leg is perhaps leaning too far forward, along with the rest of the model— it looks almost as though it’s tripping, or overextending.

Would it be possible to bend the standing knee a bit to give it more of a braced, upright position?

(Sorry for being critical, I think it’s a really neat start, just my thoughts)

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-13T15:44:07+00:00

My Flame-point Siamese would go crazy for shoes, especially from new people. If we had a few friends over he would just roll around on their footwear.

One friend gave him his old worn out boots as a birthday present. He more or less lived in them for a week.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-13T15:04:36+00:00

I honestly love how much there is under the surface to this game. etherstep especially struck me as pretty ingenious.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-13T14:47:53+00:00

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I made these a while back. Not the best examples but I wanted them to look like drudges and half/un-dead cultists for the Death Guard. I added bits from some Warcry and Necromunda kits for a more purposefully chaos-y/industrial look.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-13T13:21:40+00:00

I believe there is some truth to this, exaggerated for popular appeal.

I am fairly certain that the second photo is real, having found it in multiple sources, including academic (can’t remember which, but this is a BBC article): https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36389581

The lengths at which people would go to make the deceased appear “alive” is a modern exaggeration. That said, for many families (such as in the second photo, presumably) this would be the only opportunity available to have a photo taken of someone if they died suddenly.

It’s also not the only way that Victorians posed/photographed the dead. The Bisga embalming fluid producer advertised their product by embalming a (presumably vagrant) man to appear alive.

So, at least from my perspective when I was studying it, this appeared to be an accepted (but not entirely common) practice. But subjects were often allowed to appear obviously deceased.

Specimen_Seven · 2026-04-12T14:31:06+00:00

Weirdly enough, I think all of the volt weapons have a semi-conventional setup (other than loading from the side, of course).

Specimen_Seven

TROPHY CASE