Bada Tyrant's Legion - Hellhound

I kitbashed this from an old Chimera bought on eBay. There are Old GW, Airfix Robogear, and a remote controlled model boat life raft bits added. The paint job is Wermacht early 1942. The German army had a scare from the superb Russian tanks and hastily painted lines over their Panzer Grey tanks to blend them in a bit. They used various colours, whatever was to hand, including brick-red.

Workshop News

The Grey Knight Codex is out in April. I am quite looking forward to that one.

Meanwhile extra scenarios for the Badab War are avaiable from Forge World here:

http://bit.ly/i3eorl

and here:

http://bit.ly/gmecfw

On another note, I wondered how one man shops and a sharp reduction in main shop staff (the part timers were disposed of) would play out against GW's business model that depends on getting kids into the store and teaching them how to play.

The answer appears to be not well going by GW's summer results. The company has issued a profits warning, expecting sales to be down 4% on market expectations for the financial year 2010-2011. Royalties are also down on the previous year. Shares fell 12%.

"Peel Hunt analyst Charles Hall cut his profit forecast for the retailer by £5m to £12m but said the retailer still had "excellent long potential", highlighting a "one-man" store format that offered a low-cost route to expansion" [From the Guardian Newspaper].

Hmm. I wonder if Charles Hall understands how the GW business model works. How will one man stores run entry games and mass kids games? That still puzzles me.

A rumour circulating down at my wargaming club is that the company has cut their store managers pay by regrading the shops. I emphasise that this is just gossip. I do not know any store managers well enough to ask such a personal question.

Belated Xmas Pic

This young lady is the daughter of the Director of the SIS (Special Intelligence Service), also known as MI6, or in the James Bond books as Universal Exports.

The silver-plated AK47 was apparently 'acquired' from a palace in Iraq.

Story Update

My next published story is in a Baen anthology called Wild Side, edited by Mark Van Name. It is named after the Lou Reed song, which the more geriatric amongst you may remember, and is urban fantasy with a touch of spice. Well, more than a touch of spice really.

My story is called Beauty is a Witch and is set in the world of The Commission (which includes As Black As Hell, Lucy's Blade, and Night of the Wolf). It descibes a few days in the life of a witch who makes a good, if highly illegal, living in London's criminal underworld. Her life is changed when The Commission's exocets, Jameson and Karla hunt her down in the Blind Beggar Pub in Whitechapel, and she flees into the otherworld.

The Wild Side will be out in August.


Boondocks Fantasy, edited by Jean Rabe and Marty Greenburg, is now published by DAW and is available from all good bookshops and Amazon online. My story is called Siren Tears, and again, is loosely set in the world of The Commission. It follows the fortunes of a young city trader who has a life crisis and leaves London for a few days in the countryside of North Cornwall to mull things over. There he meets three women who convince him that London and hs lawyer-bitch girlfriend ain't so bad, after all.

Astral Claws Centurion

Centurions are the HQ leaders of the Tyrants Legion forces. I wanted to make something that looked a little different so I incorporated Scout components into the model. A Centurion is not exactly a Space Marine Hero but is not a line trooper either.
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The Astral Claws logo is from Bolter and Chainsword, as suggested by Sonofsaurus. He has a cloak, courtesy of Shaun's bit box (which occupies most of his flat).

I used the marble floor again but with debris from a thick stained glass window, which has obviously been shot out.

Convergent Evolution

This artwork by Chris Kulski is a Churchtank Mk8. It is a comment on the AngloAmerican wars in the Middle East.

However, I defy any wargamer to look at it without thinking "Imperial Super-Heavy Battle Tank". It's a sort of cultural litmus test, like 'can you hear the William Tell Overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger?'

London Calling

A Happy New Year from London:

http://bit.ly/fmJeq7

Click on the above video.