Quick Update With Thoughts About Summer And Upcoming Articles

Hi there you all fellow hobbyists!

Just noticed that the time is 4 AM local time and I had thought to give a brief update on sunday about what is coming up. On summer you can't actually tell here whether it is 11PM, 3AM or 6AM as there is same amount of light all the time during summertime.

I happen to live just few degrees short of Polar Circle so during the summer there is a period during which the Sun doesn't go down at all and this weekend we celebrated Midsummer's Eve which is originally a pagan tradition that celebrates fertility (both for the upcoming harvest and for the females) which has gone through reformation to a church approved version when christianism came to Finland around 12th century.

I am not sure if any finn considers Midsummer's Eve as a Christian holiday anymore as most finns just pack their cars and head onto their and their relative's summer houses causing massive amount of traffic jams to every highway. The whole festival is about eating as much as BBQ food as you can while you try to drink every last drip of the alcohol available until you pass out or find a bed companion who is in the same drunken state as you (or if you don't pass out and find suitable companion you pretty much end up doing something stupid such as stabbing your neighbour, driving your car to a tree or getting drowned while having a leak from a rowboat without life jacket. Even statistics prove that roughly 80% of drownings happen during Midsummer's Eve, the victim is male and his zipper is open).

Well atleast I survived the festival but the carsinogens gained by eating a black angus entrecote steak weighing over two pounds as well as plenty of other BBQ stuff might cause some long term damage (atleast if we trust Swedes on health and safety  related issues and why woudn't we? 😆). I didn't even pass out or do anything stupid but that might be due the fact that I am not a normal finn when it comes to drinking habits as I just take one or two beers or a glasses of good wine when I happen to take some alcohol and those occasions are rare too.

Got my third bar too this month so atleast in theory I should know something about making war so I can brag about this or that not being realistic when I discuss about wargames but I guess that it won't work in practice. I guess I should say that I don't work for military so people don't get wrong thoughts but each Finn has an obligation to defend his or her's country and every male citizen must go through military training  for atleast a six months or go through civilian service of they are pacifists. I for myself am a fan of mandatory military training for everyone because it will lead to peace as every politician has relatives who must enter the war and therefore they will think for a long time until before they decide to spprove hostile actions towards other nations.

Midsummer's Eve also meant a start of summer vacation for me and my wife (as well as most of Finns) so atleast in theory I have a lot of time to dedicate for my hobby and therefore also for my blog.

I deciced to haul my essential hobby equipments from our gaming den to my home so I don't have to drive there to start going through all the army projects I have on my list.

As you can see there is a Imperial Guard Sentinel among those Skitarii boxes and I am going to mod it into Ironstrider Ballistarii with help of those spare bitz from those "real" 'striders that I am going to build as Dragoons. If it works out well I'll do another one so I have four Dragoons and two Ballistariis after that.

My Cult Mechanicus boxes had been caught into a some kind of logistical limbo so I won't have them as fast on the table as I would like to.




Got my hands to a Dark Angels Codex and it seems to me that I might start even another army which would mean that only armies I lack after that would be Chaos Space Marines and Deamons but with the upcoming Tzeentch Daemonkin could change that too.

I have a question to ask to you as I would like to know whether I should finish Theoryhammer intro, Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus Painting&Tactics, New Space Marines indepth Tactical review or Character Modding article first? Let me know what you think of.

Have a happy summer everyone.

Signs of a Heresy Welcomes You Aboard!

Where does the name of this blog leads your imagination?

You stumbled upon a wrong blog if your imagination happens to venture to the madness of religions from our world instead to those turbulent times in a universe built upon a Games Workshop's Warhammer 40.000 by a bookshelves worth of novels and gaming books.

But please stay since reading about this awesome creation of a miniature wargame with a delightfully large content of background story in many different forms might encourage you to enlighten your mind by building a fresh army of plastic soldiers of your own battling in your kitchen desk, in your friends garage, in a local hobby and gaming store, in a congress center repurposed to a haven of miniature gaming for a weekend or even in a bunker in the northern Europe decicated only for this hobby by fanatical devotees.

You are still not 100% right even in a case you noticed the reference right and are a fellow hobbyist yourself as you might think this is a blog dedicated for Horus Heresy gaming a.k.a Warhammer 30.000 or a blasphemous site revolving around Chaos armies.

-What is this blog about then? One might ask.

Signs of a Heresy is all about the many aspects of Warhammer 40.000 as a hobby including but not limited to: converting the models, painting the models and playing the models as well as building the lists for different styles of gaming all from friendly and fluffy matches to a hardcore competitive gaming. I am quite sure I will be going through what is happening in the scene in terms of new releases and my initial thoughts upon them as well as more broader articles to a gaming as a whole and some might even be about how to activate your fellow gamers to form a succesfull gaming associations or clubs for the benefit of all.

-Why the name then? Asks the same guy as in the former question.

The name has it's roots on a reasoning I did some time ago as I found it quite weird to find plenty of hatred towards fellow hobbyists who happen to be content to the way the game in focus of our hobby evolves currently. There have been some huge updates to how we play the game in form of rulebook gaining two editions in a fast pace as well as the whole range of armies playable going through some serious changes and more units and even armies becoming available in increasing pace.

And where there is a change there is always those who would rather live in the past arguing that the times long gone were better without even opening their eyes to what the change has brought. 

During our hectic times of the Internet and Social Media it has become very common to see sudden outbursts of violence in a form of fiery words aimed towards those who just happen to disagree. Mostly these once so rare attempts to dislodge a discussion from it's rails are the ones who hide theirselves behind mask of anonymousity.

When I read some blogs or forums I sometimes wonder if I have been even playing the same game as the majority of people posting to those. If you try to form a picture of how the condition of the hobby is by going online it will be totally different than the one you form by playing the games, attending tournaments and campaigns in the real life.

So this blog will have some signs of a heresy since it will differ from the opinions of the most loudest chenters in the noosphere.

(This might be because those who happen to play have less time to write and need to post hate messages towards other players and therefore the majority of players are positive towards the game even it might seem otherwise by reading majority of the posts on the Internet.)

Yours sincerely

Jarkko Airaksinen

-What will be coming soon(tm) then? Asks the narrator with a subtle hint of getting bored in his tone.

Next up is a detailed overview of the Cult Mechanicus and Skitarii armies as well as prologue to a math- and theoryhammer from a list builder's point of view.

After that I'll take a hike through the galaxy with lovely Space Marines since there will be a new Codex out for them on next weeks weekend.

Before going through some tips and tricks for painting and converting your Ad Mech army I'll start a series of "DIY Super Heavies" with an Ork Bomma as well as have some orks take a dip through speed painting techniques.

Of course the summer will see some conversions for Space Marines as well as a general guide to converting your own HQ characters with various bitz and pieces without having to buy those expensive clam packs which will have a follow up on how to reuse those dusty old and/or used miniatures.

Also some words of how to get your figures stand out by adding your own "dioramic" bases.