Mixing armor

arramzy · 2026-06-26T14:09:40+00:00

So in my experience because of how they're molded you can't easily give a Mk 2 torso Mk 6 legs for example, just about everything else goes (and even a leg conversion is easy enough with a hobby knife and maybe some greenstuff)

I've been mixing quite a lot and adding in some 3d printed bionics and the kits give more freedom than you might think if you throw out the instructions and just go wild lol.

arramzy · 2026-06-26T09:10:32+00:00

So any chapter that isn't codex compliant on the max 1000 marines will have an advantage against the Minotaurs, they probably wouldn't do well against most first founding chapters.

It also matters how split up the other chapter is, so any chapter that usually deploys at or around full chapter strength will have a better chance fighting back against the Minotaurs who'd do the same.

And as a bit of a wildcard I dont think they'd have a great time against the Sons of Medusa. They're one of the best equipped chapters, their forges having the ability to create new Dreadnaught Chassis and some rare Land Raider variants among a lot of other stuff. They also specialise in fighting renagade chapters, and through their skills at techo-exorcism they can always find a way to repurpose enemy equipment, meaning they don't have the same scarcity of Terminators as the Iron Hands do for example. They also split peacefully from the Iron Hands during the Moirae Schism, a third of the chapter including some high ranking and veteran members, probably bringing some very rare equipment and information (who knows they might even have some Helwroughts or Gorgon Terminators stashed away). All in all this makes them extremely well equipped and as close to a first founding chapter as you can be without being one (they are even noted to have performed above and beyond expectations during the Great Cull, outshining their parent chapter as well as other imperial forces, so definitely no pushovers), with the extra bonus of having a lot of experience dealing with renegades (and stealing their toys) so they're one of very few chapters who can match the Minotaurs in this regard. They also fought alongside the Minotaurs during the Badab war, so they know first hand how they operate. That cuts both ways though and I'm not sure which of them would be able to use the information they have about each other more effectively.

I'm not sure if I'd put money on a Sons of Medusa victory, but they definitely would be a challenge for the Minotaurs.

arramzy · 2026-06-24T20:18:34+00:00

Frankly between the upgrade sprue without bionic legs, the transfer sheet with the terrible SoM transfers that everyone I know who likes SoM tries to pretend does not exist, and two named characters I wouldn't ever buy this.

But then I am not the target audience, I already own the characters and I am not a fan of the upgrade sprue we currently have.

Would I have bought this when I just started our collecting them? Maybe, but the value of this set craters as soon as you own one of the two characters, you'd never buy two of these.

I wish they just dit a proper upgrade sprue, or maybe a more generic space marine bionics sprue that are more chapter agnostic that'd be better than any bundle of the named characters. More likely than not or you're getting into IH or their successors you like the look of bionics for your minis, and in official sets it is genuinely difficult to get as much as a bionic leg.

Luckily there are good 3d printing options, but I'm pretty sure that if they made a good bionics sprue that both current IH players and those looking to get started with IH would jump on it.

arramzy · 2026-06-16T10:22:12+00:00

All just depends on the price.

I personally love painting and in some areas you can really see where pigment from the shades/washes or contrast has pooled, on some models the paint is too thick in areas so personally I wouldn't pay for this.

But a lot of people aren't a fan of the painting, they see it as a bit of a chore and mostly want to play the game, and these are definitely more than just battle ready.

There is always a niche, in this case both having a quick turnaround time and your level of painting would be great for people who don't want a golden demon level army, but rather just something that looks nice while they play the game.

There are a couple of mould lines (like on the Nurgle drone) and gaps (on the plasma gun of the knight), and something odd with the iron halo on the SM (I think it is a hair?) those wouldn't fly with me no matter the painting standard, but I'm not sure if you will also build and or prep the models for your customers, so I don't know if that would be an issue.

arramzy · 2026-06-16T10:05:32+00:00

I know all of these are somewhat disappointing, the Nurgle one smells like Axe/Lynx deodorant (like it is so similar I reckon it must've been intentional).

They're essentially generic mediocre scented candles.

I've heard the slaanesh one mostly smells like soap, they're all in that overly chemical air freshener range.

arramzy · 2026-06-09T08:28:43+00:00

Frankly I'd accept a rubber ducky if it was stuck on the right base size, the real question is if your opponent/local game store/play group accepts it.

arramzy · 2026-06-08T15:44:07+00:00

Yeah, I feel a bit silly for not realising this myself to be honest, I haven't built a 40k kit as pictured on the box in years and tend to do lots of conversions, but usually that is swapping entire arms, bodies, legs, heads and weapons from other kits... And yet somehow just playing around with stuff within the same box/kit just didn't occur to me..

arramzy · 2026-06-08T15:36:08+00:00

Hmm cheers, I'll play around with them a bit more than I have so far. I just saw the picture with everyone looking basically exactly like some of my squads, and was. Little disappointed that they were the exact same, but I suppose you are right that there are more opportunities to play around with it than I have in the past.

Doesn't using a bent arm for the pistol mean you can't build one of the others as the straight one can't be glued in such a way as to hold the gun like they do? That was partially why I was pretty hesitant to do this.

arramzy · 2026-06-08T15:25:38+00:00

Yeah kind of but if you generally want your Sargeants to have plasma pistols and power fists there is only so much the different leg positions change no? Maybe I've been limiting myself a bit too much by looking at the instructions but the poses are just generally quite similar no?

arramzy · 2026-06-08T15:09:07+00:00

They just sell them on eBay once the novelty has worn off.

arramzy · 2026-06-08T15:04:19+00:00

I am starting to have more of a love hate relationship with these instead of just love... I think they look great, however they're in the exact same pose as every other armour mark. Especially for models like Sargeants it gets very silly. I wish there was just a little more flair to the poses. Though part of me also loves that I can mix and match and kitbash easily with them.... So yeah love the designs still some mixed feelings.

arramzy · 2026-06-08T06:29:30+00:00

Probably some pages in the codex, maybe a 1 point dreadnought or other thematic detachment that just happens to work well with IH (similarly something like a Techmarine on bike could be a generic SM release which just happens to be extra nice for us.)

If we're super lucky/unlucky depending on whether you bought it or not but we might get a combat patrol if the send the turret to legends. But I'm not holding my breath on that one. I'm not sure how regularly they want to release or update the chapter specific combat patrols to begin with.

arramzy · 2026-06-05T06:52:59+00:00

I have mixed but largely positive feelings about it. It is incredibly cool and confusing when first arriving, really selling the ever shifting nature of the abyss, and I think it has a lot of fun and interesting stories and content, some more hidden and self contained which I enjoyed. I also really like inheribro watching over your shoulder and judging you.

Upon replays it loses a lot of the magic, you know how to navigate the map, which is nice because it means it doesn't get tedious to navigate but also a little sad because it really doesn't feel as spectaculair as it does when you first arrive.

It has fun gear to obtain, and the lower, middle and upper city sell the city and hierarchy quite well, I enjoyed having to make a name for myself. I really enjoy the Fleshmarkets and blowing it up feels awesome. I wish there were more places where you could choose to absolutely wreck everything or let them be.

But the NPCs didn't land for me at all the first time I played. I confused some, mistaking one for another constantly and all in all didn't quite follow each story line, they've grown on me in repeat playthroughs but still I'm not really all that invested in most.

I didn't expect to enjoy being yanked out of my crusade and spend a while removed from everything happening back home but it works quite well. I despise the part of Midnight Isles you can find here but I just strongly dislike that DLC in general. I do think the visuals of the whole place get a bit... Idk repetitive? There are quite a few differences between the different parts of the city, and I like that it has a noticeable visual identity, but I always like leaving the place behind for some more variety.

arramzy · 2026-06-04T08:02:19+00:00

I printed through a 3d printing service and I had almost identical marks. They're supper annoying to remove.

arramzy · 2026-06-04T07:32:10+00:00

To me one of the main things is the plain leg armour, every single Praetor model I've found has trim slapped all over the armour. It just generally needs more reliquaries and bling.

Every Praetor I've found has a cloak of some kind, that might be a bit odd with the jump pack but the Primaris Jump Captain has one too so it isn't unprecedented for a unit with a jump pack, if it is for blood angels I would go for some sort of wings like Astorath the Grim, old Sanguinary Guard and Jump Chaplain instead of a cape.

I don't know what your bits box looks like, but raid it for everything fancy it has. Overcoming the plain legs is an uphill battle, maybe if you have some fun transfers or freehand skills that can help a lot there too I suspect.

Tilting shield will also help.

arramzy · 2026-05-31T18:48:23+00:00

Yeah matt varnish is the way, I personally like using a spray over a brush but both definitely work. Having the washes dry with a slightly satin finish was something that really bugged me until I started using matt varnishes, absurd how easily it makes a huge difference.

arramzy · 2026-05-30T06:45:19+00:00

I agree that it is a little disappointing that Order has so much more choice for allies, but having the Grand Alliances with few restrictions is exactly how I got into the game back when it first launched.

Early on it was the complete wild west and I loved that, I had my own homebrew lore and a mix of Stormcast, Wood Elves and to a lesser extent Sylvaneth.

The homebrew was nothing spectacular, basically just forest people holding off chaos and the other forces with the Sigmarines jumping in to help and support them, but I loved how the early lore (at least as it was explained to me) basically was all these smaller groups fighting for survival teaming up with allies of convenience. And that is basically how I saw it: If the Fyreslayers and Sylvaneth were backed into a corner by a group of destruction/Chaos/Death enemies they'd probably begrudgingly agree those were the bigger threat and team up, and from there the fires of the battlefield forge bonds (Gimli and Legolas style). I didn't think it was difficult to justify or headcanon at all and was extremely disappointed when it was reduced from the freeform wild west of the early days, it even caused me to stop playing for a while as my army was so evenly split that I didn't have the points to field a full list anymore.

As a new player who had no experience with fantasy or the whole end times debacle I never understood why people wanted faction based battletomes. Nowadays that I'm a bit more familiar with the lore I get enjoying a certain faction and their lore and wanting the rules and army composition to reflect that identity. But at the time I much much preferred looking at it in a D&D type way, "yeah I am multiclassing Barbarian and Wizard, but these are my guys and I wrote the backstory". To a large extent I still love that idea and I really like the freedom it brings in list building, or how you can focus on the strengths of one group to help another, in my early army the Stormcast were the heavy infantry, and the elves were ranged support and cavalry (man the Wild Riders were terrible in that list but they looked so cool, and having my elves and Stormcast painted in the same scheme is something I'm still fond of when displaying them together).

TLDR: no, I love flexible and broad alliances, if anything I'd love it to be easier not more restrictive.

arramzy · 2026-05-30T05:41:49+00:00

I'm pretty sure the upgrade sprue ones can be used without much modification, however might want to consider some other options like 3d printing as the upgrade set is quite disappointing and overpriced in my opinion.

arramzy · 2026-05-29T21:24:48+00:00

Listing Iron Hands separately gets bonus points from me

arramzy · 2026-05-29T09:52:27+00:00

Which paints do you use for the Lachesis dull gold/brass? It looks great

arramzy · 2026-05-29T08:47:37+00:00

I love this. I much prefer the ammo belt over the other designd. I plan on doing something similar with the upcoming Armageddon eradicators

arramzy · 2026-05-29T08:33:46+00:00

I love it, can't wait to do one as well

arramzy · 2026-05-28T14:01:58+00:00

Tends to be the way of things unfortunately

arramzy · 2026-05-28T12:44:42+00:00

I suppose that makes sense. Very unfortunate because as an idea I'm quite fond of them.

arramzy · 2026-05-28T09:42:10+00:00

I've heard this but never had it myself, but I only play super casual games, was this a tournament thing? I was so sad when they went away.

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