How to make a Case for your Miniatures

Imperial Fisticuffs

I've not posted in some time (going back to school is serious business) but I wanted to show off some painting I've done in the last few months just to prove I've still been at it. This isn't my whole force but just a few things that I'm rather proud of.

Tutorial: How to Install Magnets into a Miniature

Youtube Channel

Our youtube channel is up, running and fully functional!

Second Bananas?

Today I got the pleasant little surprise that the Imperial Fists will show up in the upcoming movie Ultramarines. You can read about it here. At first, I was ecstatic. Fists! Rendered in cinematic-quality CG! Boltguns blazing, power swords swording! Fighting alongside their brother Ultras against the hordes of...of whatever they're gonna put in the movie! I grabbed my phone to call up people I know to tell them.

I got halfway through dialing my grandmother when a thought occurred to me. This is an Ultramarines movie. The Imperial Fists are going to be sidekicks to the Ultras. Once again, the boys in blue are going to get the spotlight while other more tastefully-decorated chapters get to ride in the backseat. My excitement waned; Grandma would have to wait.

Now I'm sure you're reading this and saying, "No shit, AmateurDork, look at the title of the movie!" And you're right, if a bit rude. But if you play non-Ultramarine SM armies you may understand how I feel. We want a little more time in the spotlight.

Now this is an old, dead horse that I'm not going to start beating nor do I encourage any of you to. We know why Ultras are the posterboys of 40k, and it makes sense that the movie would focus on them. I have NO Ultrahate, and I'm sure that Ultramarines will be a delight for all Space Marine fans and hopefully for the rest of you too. I'm just a little worried about how the Fists will be portrayed.

There's a bit of Imperial Fist fluff that takes place during the Heresy. It's the big showdown between the Fists and their evil counterparts, the Iron Warriors and its called The Iron Cage. Long story short, Rogal Dorn leads the Fists in a massive siege against an Iron Warrior fortress. It's an amazing battle between two forces, equally matched in siege warfare, each unyielding to the other. I love this story. Except for the ending.

Apparently, while the Fists were slogging through trenches of blood, the battleground littered with the bodies of friend and foe alike, the pristine blue ships of the Ultramarines swooped down, bombed the fortress and SAVED the Imperial Fists. No one called in the Ultras, they just show up because they're worried about Dorn and his ability to knock down a castle. Dorn is grateful, and vows to adhere to Guilliman's new book, "Galactic Conquest for Dummies".

I just don't want the movie to be like that. I just want the Fists to be able to stand on their own. I'll be pissed if they're portrayed as rock-headed, unimaginative warriors who bite off more than they can chew, only to be rescued and tut-tutted for not studying the Codex enough.

The truth is, I’m not really sure what to expect, but I am optimistic. Everything I have read so far seems like they are really try to make this movie for the fans, and 40k fans have high expectations. I am happy that my beloved Imperial Fists will be in the movie and portrayed by awesome actors like John Hurt and Johnny Harris. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, and who knows; maybe this will be the start of some exciting new fluff for all of us.

Tutorial: How to Paint Scorched Weapon Muzzles

All right. It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but I’ve finally been able to spend some time in the Dorn Studio. I’ve been trying to finish up a Land Speeder so I can move on to a tasty Dread, and she’s almost complete, the weapons being the last item on the list. Since I’m doing a Heavy Flamer/Multimelta combo, I thought that this would be a perfect time for a tutorial on how I paint burn effects on the muzzles on all my heat-based weaponry. I’m not the best painter in the world but, I’ve learned some cool tricks here and there to add a bit of realism to my models (and to draw attention away from other mistakes). So without further ado: How To Paint Scorched Weapon Muzzles or something to that effect……

TauChi Episode 3

Finished painting and sealing my first Tau Fire Warrior Unit!

TauChi Episode 2

Painting Tau Fire Warriors

TauChi Episode 1

Enjoy the first episode of my video series about my plunge into the 40k universe!

To your Glory and the Glory of Him on Earth...

Hey folks. AmateurDorn here.

MikeD has put together this blog, and as he has said, this is a place for motivation. For the past year that I have been painting minis, I've often felt that I'd like to write about my experiences, post pics of my Fists, and share what I've learned with others. This seemed like the perfect place to do this, and I'm happy to be able to contribute. A bit about how I got into this hobby...

Around this time last year, I picked up the Battle for Skull Pass, having an unnatural obsession with dwarfs.

No....dwarfs.

I had never played a tabletop game before, or painted a miniature, but I had seen the work that a few of my friends had done years earlier. Over the next few weeks, I would occasionally paint some of the models, frustrated at my lack of skill. Who liked this stuff, anyway? These tiny dudes were way too detailed. The brush that this thing came with was terrible and the paints expensive. The gray, dismembered corpses of Skull Pass gathered dust on my coffee table, and the battle had never even begun.

A few months later...

I went on a little trip out of town to visit a friend of mine. It was Saturday night, we were drunk, and the conversation eventually became a heated discussion about who could kick who's ass. You know what I'm talking about. Schwarzenegger versus Worf... A Jedi versus Lo Pan... A pack of koalas on PCP versus Dog the bounty hunter...

"The Space Marines...", my friend mentioned. "Space marines", I said. "Sure, I guess..."

"No, I mean the freaking Space Marines..."

He then began to tell me about the Space Marines. About the Primarchs and the Emperor. The Horus Heresy and the Chapters and the Imperium of Man, and like a wide-eyed little child full of rum and Coke, I devoured every bit of it. This is what I needed. This awesome world of bolters and battle barges and lightning claws was the motivation I needed to try this hobby again.

When I got home a few days later, I stopped back at the hobby store and picked up some books: Codex: Space Marines, and Horus Rising. A month and three more novels later, I bought a Tactical squad and some new brushes and I've been painting the Imperial Fists ever since. I'm a complete lore whore and every time I read a story or see a pic of these awesome giants in yellow (or any color) power armor, punching face in the Name of the Emperor, I urgently need to complete my army. And there you have it.

Over the course of this blog, I'll share with you some of my favorite tabletop gaming things, stuff about the Fists, my personal recipe for yellow, pics of my army, and pics of other people's armies that inspire me to keep working and improve my painting. I hope that my enthusiasm will help you with your current army, start a new one, or inspire you to try something new and any feedback I get will certainly help me with the same.

I hope you all enjoy yourselves here and keeping checking back with us for new stuff!