Land Raider Magnets

I've seen lots of people magnetize their predators and land raiders, but I wanted to posted mine because my solution is a little different from those I've seen and maybe someone will benefit from it.

Got some magnets from amazingmagnets.com and after giving Chronus a magnetic head, I applied my new magnetic skills to the Land Raider Crusader Pack I just received, and to the sponsons and assault doors so you can not only swap between which land raider it is but you can pick whether you want the sponsons up front or in back.

 Step 0: Mind Your Polarity!
Check, double check, mark with sharpee, scratch with knife, anything you have to do to make sure you're keeping track of polarity so your magnets will pull the direction you want them to when your model is all put together. Always keep in mind how it will fit together when all assembled and be mindful of magnets near enough other ones that maybe they should be facing the same way so as not to fight.

 Step 1: Swappable Sponsons
First, there is a problem right out of the box. Lascannons cannot be mounted in the Crusader sponson because it's too shallow, and Flamestorm cannons will not fit on the strut for the vanilla Land Raider sponson. The solution is either to use the Crusader strut with the vanilla sponson or (if it's already glued up like mine) to trim the vanilla strut. I tried to leave as much plastic as I could and I think it looks all right like this with any of the three weapons mounted.

Glue magnets dead center on the back of the sponsons and then glue a magnet to exactly 1 inch of spru (this is how wide the door inside is) and glue this spru beam into the doorway. Position the beams so that there will be a slight gap between the sponson magnet and the land raider magnet, this will keep the sponsons from wobbling. Glue some metal bits to the back of the side doors, I used bits of large paperclip glued to a bit of spru. These should be just deep enough to almost touch the land raider magnets, but like above leave a gap or they doors will wobble using where they touch the magnet as a fulcrum. Leaving a gap makes sure the entire edge of the door or sponson is pressed against the tank.

Step 2:  Sponson Gun Holdy Strut Things
Cut off the gun pivot pegs and drill through with 1/8" bit to place two magnets, one flush with each side. They should have the same polarity, i.e. [+ -] [+ -], and both sponson struts should have the same polarity so the two sponsons will be identical and swappable.

Step 3: Flamestorm Cannons
Before you glue the fuel tanks to the cannons (and possible after you paint them) gently drill out the peg holes to 1/8" which is just a tad wider than they already are. Glue a magnet into each of the peg holes so that when linked onto the sponson struts all 4 magnets will be pointed the same way, take your time to be positively sure the polarities are all right. Now you can glue the cannons to the fuel tanks, but the magnets will try to pull towards each other and make the glue dry crooked, so just clip the cannon onto the sponson strut to dry just how it should.

Step 4: Hurricane Bolters
Same deal, just a magnet in the peg hole of the bolters and the, uh, scope things that go on the other side, or if you're lucky enough to have the cool ammo box model then that I guess.

Step 5: Lascannons
Same as the flamestorm, the polarities should be aligned so they'll both snap onto the strut. Then glue the cannons into their armor shell. Since the shell will let them flex a little it's less important to get the distance between them exactly right, but you can let them dry mounted on the strut just the same to be sure.

Step 6: Outer armor plate things
For this step be very careful to line the magnets up as exactly centered and level as you can or the armor plates will stick slightly crooked and you may have to fix by popping the magnets off and trying again or by doubling this step with magnets behind the rectangle peg as well. The polarity on these magnets should be in line with the magnets on the gun or you might have some fighting fields making the magnetic pull weaker that it should be. Glue a thin magnet to the inside of the armor plates in front of their rectangular pegs. Leave a small gap for the lip of rectangle the pegs fit into. A thin magnet then goes onto the hurricane bolters touching that rectangle, and a regular magnet goes on the flamestorm cannon in the same spot. Then because the flamestorm cannon has a wider gap between cannon and armor, clip a thin magnet onto that regular one and it'll be lined up just right with the armor plate.

If you don't ream out the hole too much while drilling you shouldn't have to glue in the magnets at all, just press it in and friction should do a great job.

The hurricane bolters don't have the connection to both sides of the strut like the flamestorm cannons have with their attached fuel tanks, so while the magnetic bond is strong enough to keep it in place well, it is just a little wobbly. Maybe you could fashion your own arm connecting the bolters to their sensor eye thing to add some stability.

Remember to try and seat the magnets just a bit deeper than flush so there is a very slight gap. The magnetic bond will be just as strong as if they are touching, but the plastic will be pressed to plastic and have some nice fiction to keep the guns in place if you tilt them. If the magnets touch then there is very little friction and you'll have trouble positioning the guns.

There are some opportunities to use metal instead of more magnets to save magnets, but I had plenty of magnets so didn't bother beyond the assault doors just to see how well it would work

land raider basecoat

The base colors are there, and it looks just like the coloring test I did, but I don't like it. I don't know if its just because it's a base coat and not shaded and highlighted, or if I just don't like the scheme. The left side with the stripe swooshes look better in the picture than I thought, so maybe I'm just staring at it too long. I'm not sure about the right side and the middle is okay I guess. I know it will look much more awesome when shaded, just have to figure out how to!

That's a $500 watch btw, wanna buy it cheap?

Oh yeah the sponsons are stuck on with magnets, so it can convert from Land Raider Vanilla to a Crusader.

Sgt Chronus magnetic head

Sgt Chronus, the Spear of Macragge, likes to hang out of the tank hatch and point out stuff on the battlefield. He operates under theory that the crew inside can see what the hell he's pointing at out there. His coolest feature, beyond his presence upgrading any tank from 'scary' to 'very scary', is that if the tank blows up he has a chance of being able to put on his powerpack and hop out and turn into an independant character killpoint (with a servo arm (power fist))

He comes soaked in metal Ωltramarine horseshoe symbols that I had to shave off, but that's only part of the problem. The trouble is that he comes with one cool and unique helmety head, one boring bald marine head, and two bodies. Supposedly power armor is the pinnacle of human armor technology, its design has only changed in appearance in some 15,000 years, right? So what is the deal with marines' obsession with running around on apparently perfectly breathable alien battlefields with their helmets off? Hey xenos, witches, and daemons, heres your target right here! It's bald and shiny! Well my army keeps their helmets on, especially cool unique helmets like Chrony's.

I just got my order of Amazingmagnets(.com) today and wanted to put some to the test, so I drilled 1/8" holes in his necks and put in 1/8" x 1/16" magnets.

The trick to magnet placement is that when all glued and assembled, the magnets shouldn't be touching, they should have a slight gap. If they're touching, they act as a pivot and will wobble. If there is a gap the magnet will be pulling tight and holding the piece still, no wobble.

A lot of people at this point would then drill into his head and put a magnet in there too, but that's overkill. I just drilled and put a bit of thick paperclip in there that the magnets love, since the pewter or whatever isn't magnetic at all.

Tadaa! Two Chronusesses with one swappable head! Both of them pointing off into the battlefield inexplicably and perpetually. The head is held snug enough that it won't turn unless you turn it and is easy to take off or turn. That's right, the head turns! It's a damn action figure now! And it was easy and effective enough that you could do this to all your favorite guys if you wanted turnable heads.

Predator Lego Turret Mod

	Ah the predator turret, out of the box we're able to make a Predator Destroyer with an autocannon or a Predator Annihilator with a twin-linked lascannon, but which do we chose? Do you really want to spend the money (and painting time) for this model and not be able to use both? Well theres a magnetic predator, but that's more complicated than it needs to be. For my solution all you need are legos! And I'm betting most people into modelling/painting 40k have some neglected legos laying around.
	The inside of the predator turret is exactly 1 brick high, 3 thin bricks, not counting nubs on the top brick, so use flat pieces for the top or cut and file off the nubs on the top. Bottom layer is 3x3 pips, 2nd layer is 2x3 pips and 1x3 flat, last layer only needs two 1x2 flats on the sides to glue to the bottom of the turret ring. Glue the top flats to the middle's 2x3. The middle 1x3 flat won't be glued to anything but the turret and that'll be enough. The lego piece will fit into the turret upsidedown, that is the pip and flat piece side will go against the base ring and back shelf of the turret. The female side of the bottom layer will be glue to the inside top of the turret.
	You'll need to shave down a few bumps inside the turret, I've marked them here with red sharpee. The legos need to press flush against the plastic to fit well and to get a good glue bond. When everything seems to fit well, superglue the legos to the turret insides, but be carefully not to glue the bottom 3x3 lego to the top layers with the flat pieces. Once the glue is dry, file down the pips just a little or you'll have to pull too hard to separate the turret and you'll loosen your glue. It should be able to hold snugly and still be easy to take apart by twisting the gun piece.
	When it's all done you should have a swappable turret for the cost of some superglue and some leftover lego bricks! All thanks to the turret being very lego dimension friendly.

Grey Knight codex gotchas, or, So you've decided to play against Grey Knights

Heres my summary of a nice summary of strange GK codex parts that will trip people up

Grey Knight Special Rules, all Grey Knights have these

Fearless - all Grey Knights are Fearless, using the main rule book version of the rule

True Grit - GK storm bolters count as close combat weapons providing they have not charged in the same Assault phase. This means they get +1A for dual wielding, but not on the turn they charge, essentially removing their +1A for charging.

The Aegis - Any time an enemy uses a power that requires a psychic test vs a grey knight squad or character, the GK unit can resist the power by rolling a D6 + highest unit leadership versus D6 + attacker model leadership. If the GK ties or gets higher, the power has no effect.

The Shrouding - Each time an enemy unit fires at a GK unit they must check if they are within 3 * 3D6 inches. If they're out of this distance, the firing unit cannot fire at an alternate unit instead. Ordnance weapons fire as normal but double their scatter distance if they fall outside the spotting range. Night fighting skills and equipment have no effect on this, but units including a psyker can reroll the dice and accept the second result instead. Actual night fighting rules override this rule completely.

Rites of Exorcism - Daemons attempting to charge Grey Knights must roll dice for their Assault range as if they were moving in difficult ground. Because daemons assaulting Grey Knights units are required to take a difficult terrain test when assaulting, they will fight at Initiative 1 in the first round of close combat (unless they have assault grenades -- like frag grenades -- or their equivalent)

Other Grey Knight and DH rules

Retinues - A Daemonhunter with retinue does not have the Independent Character rule until the retinue is gone, so cannot be singled out in close combat until he runs out of meat shields.

Psykers - While technically all Grey Knights are psykers, only the squad leader (Justicar, Brother-Captain, Hero) counts as a Psyker on the board, for it is through them that all psychic powers of the squad are channeled, and from there all ranges are measured and tests taken.

'Daemons' - Many GK rules refer to Daemons, and this refers to the following units: All Daemonhosts, Greater Daemons and Daemon Packs, Daemon Beasts, Nurglings, Daemonically Possessed Vehicles (such as Defilers, Parasitic Possession, Living Vehicle, Mutated Hull), Eldar Avatars, Possessed Chaos Space Marines, and Chaos Lords with the Daemonic Stature gift or over 50 points of daemonic gifts.

Vehicle differences - Daemonhunter codex vehicles include the Rhino, Chimera, Land Raider, and Dreadnought, but these vary quite a bit from their SM and IG codex counterparts. In most cases, the DH vehicles are worse: fewer fire points, less free wargear, smaller carry capacity, fewer weapons. In some cases they are better, the DH dreadnought is cheaper, and the DH land raider crusader is the best in the game. Aside from their loadouts and price, here are some key vehicle rule differences:

DH assault cannon is heavy 3 (SM assault cannon is heavy 4)

DH hurricane bolters can fire regardless of how far the tank moved and what else is firing, this means you can move a full 12" and fire both hurricane bolters and 1 other weapon (from power of the machine spirit)

DH dedicated transports are truly locked to their unit, while other transports can take any ally. Only Inquisitorial forces (non GKs) have access to dedicated transports.

GK land raiders comes with power of the machine spirit, but the inquisitor's dedicated transport land raider does not

Smoke launchers - Reduce all penetrating hits to glancing hits, cannot shoot in the same turn smoke is popped

Dozer blades only work when moving 6" or less

Wargear rule gotchas - these are some big big differences between DH rules and main rule book rules or SM/IG codex rules that your opponent should be told before starting, or there will be an argument and lots of codex flipping!

DH psychic hoods have infinite range!

DH force weapons (including nemesis force weapons) do not cause instant death, they cause the model to be slain outright, that means in will kill any model normally 'immune to instant death'! Only a GK Grand Master's NFW counts as a Force Weapon, and only an Inquisitor can purchase one as an upgrade.

Psycannons, bolters firing psycannon bolts, and incinerators ignore invulnerable saves. Cover saves and armor saves may be taken. Models whose save "is invulnerable" are affected as well, including dodgy assassin creatures whose invulnerable save represents their agility.

DH storm shield is only 4+ and only vs wounds from one model (SM storm shields are an overall 3+ invulnerable). DH storm shields however count as CCWs and will let you dual wield if paired with something other than a thunder hammer.

DH thunder hammers inflicting a wound on a model cause the model to be unable to attack until the end of its next assault phase, meaning a model can potentially never attack if it keeps getting whacked by a DH thunder hammer. DH thunder hammers that hit a vehicle cause a crew shaken result without having to glance and penetrate like SM thunder hammers.

Allies

DH armies can certain IG or SM units, but not both at once

DH armies with Grey Knights cannot take allied space marines

SM/IG/Sisters armies can take DH as allies, including using Grey Knights, this is the only time Grey Knights can be on the same army as Space Marines. The host army must have its 1 HQ & 2 Troops before taking any allies. Daemonhunters cannot ally with any force that already has allies, except for 'separate detachments' and units from other forces of the Inquisition (witch hunters, alien hunters).

No DH Heavy Support units may be taken when including Daemonhunters as allies! And since only the Inquisition has access to dedicated transports, this means that allied Grey Knights will have no access to DH codex vehicles, even GK dreadnoughts. They can ride in the host army's transports, but cannot start the game in them.

Useless rules - DH rules that are now null and void due to the main rulebook changing

DH Teleport Homers are useless because deep striking does not use templates

DH Psychic power Banishment is no longer valid

GK first half of special rule Rites of Exorcism is not valid because daemons do not take instability tests anymore

GK special rule Daemonic Infestation is not valid because there is no longer a Sustained Attack rule, except when referring to the Daemons available to your opponent from the DH codex.

5 gks painted

Land raider coloring

The Daemonhunters codex has two different examples of how to paint a GK landraider. Problem is theres a huge area between the two sides that isn't detailed, so it's left as an exercise to the reader to guess at what to put there. They sides pictured don't even show the headlight covers, exhaust, assault ramp edge, front guns, or treads, proving they didn't even paint a whole land raider when making the codex. Many people just paint the whole middle section silver, and it looks weird, boring, bland.

I like both examples, so decided to do both, and to help figure out what to put in the middle, I took two pictures of my white primed tank and started drawing on them in paint shop pro

You can see both sides from the codex fit on the same tank nicely, and I've gone with a silver polished gunmetal color for the middle of the tank and the overall plating will be in they grey knights' silver steel.

On the left side I've added a stripe at the back that carries up onto the top, and on the right side I've added a stripe crawling up the door and connecting to the top hatches.

The gold hatch is an idea for if I use Chronus in the tank, I'll have to see how it looks in real life since metal is hard to simulate by just coloring a picture.

The grey is going to be whitish silver, and dark grey is closer to boltgun metal, but lighter than that.

Codex rules

The Grand Master force weapon causes a model to be "slain outright", not "instant death", so it doesn't matter how "immune to Instant Death" your model is [forum thread]

Daemonhunter smoke launchers prevent the tank but shooting, but instead of giving the tank a cover save it turns all penetrating hits into glancing hits (!)

Blood Knights intro

The Blood Knights, mechanically, are a Space Marine army with allied Grey Knights. They're a force of few models, focusing on more powerful units and using the Space Marine units to fill out functionality and flexibility not available in the Grey Knight list, such as drop pods, less expensive but still powerful infantry, and some uniquely powerful and useful units that complement the grey knights well, such as a master of the forge with conversion beamer on a bike, chaplain, or librarian.

The Grey Knights will be painted like canonical grey knights, and the space marines will be painted similar to them but with more red accents. I'm going to carve up the helmets to more resemble the angled knight mask.

I was looking over the Grey Knights story and it said they have their memories and personalities erased when they join, which is interesting and of course grimdark. They also have their names on their shoulder as well as their personal heraldry, a mix of red white and black colors and symbols representing their deeds or whatever, which is pretty cool.

The problem is who's name is on their shoulder? Their born name? When they have their personalities and memories erased, why does it make sense to keep some name from their old life? I was thinking they might want a new name to forge a new story with, so I thought of this, the first bit of fluff about my subchapter of the Grey Knights, the Blood Knights:

"Grey Knights have their memories and personalities wiped upon acceptance into the secret chapter, to give them a blank slate from which to form their new era of service to the Emperor. 

Knights accepted into the Blood Knights have their name erased as well, and are gifted the name of a fallen brother hero. The name is chosen for them from the sacred list of names of the first Blood Knights. Each name carries its own history, starting with the Brother Knight who carried it into the chapter, and including every Brother since who has carried that name and become joined with its history. Some names on this list have had hundreds of Knight Brothers bear them and add their own deeds to its character. A very few names have had only one owner, such as Grand Master Allimus himself, who has led the Blood Knights since their creation 3000 years ago."

I think it's a neat idea that a name would have its own history and would be chosen for you based on your new personality. Maybe there'd even be a time when you wouldn't have any name, after having your identity wiped but before getting the fancy grey knight power armor and nemesis force weapon of your own, where they would observe your forming personality and match you with a name of fitting character and history when you've earned it.

The space marines have their scouts, neophytes hoping to live long enough to earn sweet power armor. Blood Knights have the Nameless, which is anyone who isn't a Grey Knight but still is a full space marine. Basically anyone on the space marine half of my list is one of the Nameless, even sergeants. The SM commanders and special characters probably have names and would be considered fully part of the grey knights even though they're not Grey Knights in gameplay terms, so Sgt Chronus, Captain, Librarian, Chaplain, Master of the Forge, etc would all have names and heraldry on their shoulder even though they're not tromping around with NFWs and technically they're not grey knights, codexwise.

Of course this means the nameless are still psykers, since all grey knights are, but I'm just adding one more rung to the beginning of the Nemesis Force Weapon upgrade path, where they havn't even earned the right to wield it yet.