Thursday, September 14, 2017

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 29: Mortarion heralds a wave of new Death Guard releases

The Death Guard are here!
We spend this episode talking about the new and upcoming Death Guard models. We devote a significant amount of time discussing their Primarch, Mortarion, and how we feel that he is the strongest model in the range, not not suffering from many of the severe anatomical issues of the rest of his legion. The majority of the rest of the episode is spent analysing the new terminator models, particularly the Deathshroud terminators. We lement at their lack of of abdomens and awkward leg attachment, but think that they will still be excellent for conversion opportunities.




- Eric Wier

16 comments:

  1. Screw this wonky nurgle stuff, I'm more interested in what you guys are working on. There's only so much negativity one can handle! Though it's certainly justified and I share your disappointment with the majority of the Death Guard stuff. All I want is one DG marine to lead a warband mostly made up of old Jes Goodwin nurgle sorcerers and champions. Just one marine - but so far I haven't found him. The plague surgeon might be covered up enough by his cloak to do the trick, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I'd probably carve his face away though, for that classic nurgle empty hood look.

    I guess we can't really blame the DG sculptors on this one. They were no doubt told to use enlarged mk3 and Cataphractii parts, to not bother resculpting what was already done.

    So we should blame the sculptors of those kits. Especially whoever did the mk3 armour set. The legs on those are a whole different level of broken, even for Space Marines, and the DG share that trait. I'll get my pitchfork.

    Anyway, that's my negativity dealt with! I guess I should go and paint that warband. One day I'll find their leader.

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    1. Yeah, sorry the episode was pretty negative... I was just hoping for so much more. The old Goodwin and Nelson (for those old sorcerers) were great. I would much rather just have them, he he. Certainly a lot of the problem with many of these new models is in their tendency to continue to use old designs without any further consideration. It really wouldn't require too much modification for them to fix the models and still maintain the same basic look. But I guess I am beating a dead horse. We will just have to make/convert the models ourselves, with or without these new models to help us! I would love to see your attempt at creating that elusive champion you speak of, you certainly have the talent! Adam actually started to convert a champion/lord to go along with his Death Guard terminators he made a few years back. Maybe he will be able to pick it back up one of these days and do the Death Guard justice!

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  2. Not those sorcerers, older fantasy ones - Sli'ith Iron Lung and Hess Poison Breath. Such great figures, so much going on. I guess I could convert up my own leader but I tend not to do any conversions, apart from maybe a few minor details, or removal of details in some modern-GW cases. Full on kitbashes are too close to the day job.

    I went back and looked at Adam's DG termies again and I think they still look great. Their proportions and anatomy follow the lead of the Blightkings rather than Space Marines; they're just mutated, non-human proportions rather than entirely broken. So they definitely deserve a champion.

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    1. Those old sorcerers are great too! I was always pretty fond of Nelson's too. I can understand why you might not be thrilled with doing extensive conversions considering your job, he he.

      Yeah, Adam's terminators are helped a lot since they are at least partially based on the more considered anatomy of the Blightkings. I think the autocannon one is still the best, but they are all better than most of the current GW stuff in terms of proportions. I still think if he was doing it again, some things would be changed a little. But I suppose every model is a learning experience!

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  3. I am not swayed away from them such as you are, I've even got hold of a load of Nurgle stuff that will hit my bench sooner rather than later!

    I think the key here is seeing the demographic for these. I think we are not directly part of it. I think they are trying to reach out to the next generation and I am fine with that. I like converting and kit bashing the most and wouldve done it regardless of quality or if it was directed towards me as a veteran hobbyist.

    Mortarion though. Now he will be a fitting base model for something fun!

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    1. Yeah, you are right that we are not the target demographic here. Even if they were great, if we purchased them we would want to convert them. I am glad to hear you have not been so turned away as not to consider them in your own conversions, as I know you could create some great stuff with them!

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    2. We should do a #makedeathguardgreatagain challenge 😉

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    3. Hmmm, that seems like a good idea... Maybe we could do something like the Kingdom Death build a model challenge we did, but this time with a Death Guard box?

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  4. I have never really liked Death Guard much ... I preferred the older stuff which was less zombie like (in the sense of less guts hanging out and decaying etc). I agree with all your comments really though, especially in the sense that the main concern with the Primaris background story is that it means Chaos Marines won't ever be better models if they are sticking to being non-Primaris.

    Also agree with the above comment that it would be good to hear more about your own projects to break up the negativity! Not that I mind it, it is good to hear intelligent criticism of miniatures, too much of it is unintelligent and based on knee jerk reactions. Yours seem to be principled and consistent and always makes you think and reconsider your own views of the models.

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    1. We will start to spend more time talking about the stuff we are working on. Episode after episode talking about piecemeal about GW's release schedule is a little tiring. Thanks for listening as always though!

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  5. The Death Guard release over all was definitely disappointing. As you all pointed out the Mortarion model looks very good and I was really hoping would set the tone for the rest of the release. I had initially planned to use the Dark Imperium Death Guard to convert up a small army but after seeing the new stuff decided to just go with getting the new Chaos Space Marine codex and trying to expand upon my idea of a renegade chapter of raiders(along with further expanding on their Carnarium Crew). That wont be for a while out but I guess its kind of good to have future plans I suppose. I will echo that I would love to hear you guys talk more on your hobby efforts with the podcast. I enjoy the analytical approach you guys apply for reviewing releases but I think we'd all like to hear more about your personal work. Like that solid Raptor marine Eric just did, where did that come from?! Keep up the excellent work guys.

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    1. Yeah, not an inspiring release. I would like to talk a little more about our projects in the upcoming podcasts. I would also like to do a few more interviews, particularly with other hobbyists taking part in events that we have some connection to (like you perhaps...) :D

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  6. Honestly, I rather look at pictures when it comes to your personal projects. I like your ramblings over GWs dirty deeds. You keep the finger on the wound, which is a good thing. On the other hand, discussing the GW scale problem is propably a dead end. Everyone knows about it, including GW. It's just that they did the hunchback style for too long. They would need to re-scale the whole SM and CSM model line, 40k and 30k. Including all the vehicles! And then all the other human models suffering from that problem. I'm shure they calculated it through and decided not to do it. And I can't blame 'em really.
    But as long as they change 40k fluff just like they wan't to, I won't call it a backround!
    They could bring a fifth chaos god who in secret plays with the spines of the living. Call him 'Rachhit' - or "He who breaks you". He's also the god of time.

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    1. "rambling" is the wrong word. I meant "mumbling" :)

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    2. It is true, that by talking about new releases, there is a better chance that the listener will know what we are talking about. If we focus too much on projects we are working on that are not featured on the blog yet, it might be difficult to follow (particularly with our droning, mumbling voices, ha ha). I think you are right that GW will never fix their scale, it is heroic and over the top, and that has become part of their iconic image. The complaint about the Death Guard is not as much about scale as shifting the anatomy a little. It would not take too much to do, particularly since it is all digital now. And it really would not change the general look of the models too terribly much, even with an abdomen a Plague Marine would still read as a Plague Marine.

      You have a point about the background too, it tends to shift a lot, such are the twisting aethers of the Warp, ha ha. It would be fun to have a few lesser Chaos gods...

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