Introducing Warhiver 40,000!

Hey kids! Love Warhammer 40k, but wanna play a game that's actually--y'know--fun???

;)

Well, I might have just the thing for you! Introducing Warhiver 40,000...

Warhiver is an oldhammer-themed reskin of the popular board-less boardgame, Hive, by John Yianni. And if you're not familiar with Hive, it's an extremely popular area-control strategy game very much like chess, but the games are quicker and more tactical. It's tense, and your immediate reactions to your opponent's moves can be just as pivotal as your overall strategy. I suck at this game.

But it's damn fun!

One of the things that makes Hive so great is that it requires no board. The physical game consists *only* of the game tiles. Players just need a relatively flat surface to play on.

Then what's so special about "Warhiver"? Well, the original Hive game is themed very loosely around various species of...bugs. Most of which do not form hives. I mean, the "queen bee" piece is represented by a male worker bee. :P But whatever. It's fine. The bug icon on the tile is there just to tell you how that tile is supposed to behave in the game. The icon can be anything. Anything...at...all...

Just as classic chess has six different types of pieces, Hive (along with its official expansions) features eight different types of pieces that move and operate in a unique manner. It just so happens that these unit profiles line up rather nicely with a certain other tabletop game!

So as you can probably tell by now, I simply took those eight types of Hive pieces, ditched the arthropod crap, and slapped oldhammer Space Marine unit types on 'em (because, as we all know, oldhammer is besthammer!). There are no changes whatsoever to the ruleset. I'm just adding a much stronger, more flavorful theme...at least for those into 40k!

In Warhiver, players take on the role of rival Space Marine commanders. The "HQ" piece, represented by the Astartes icon, is the equivalent of Hive's queen bee or the king in chess. Terminator squads are slow and lumbering, but they can easily dominate adjacent units. Rhinos are fast, but not very versatile. Land Speeders can jump great distances over other units on the field. Librarians can teleport adjacent units (swap their positions). It goes on!

The tiles are 3D-printed in two chapter-themed ABS plastic colors, and of course are acetone-vapor treated to give them a glossy, rippled finish. And I'm especially proud of the instruction sheet (1, 2)! The grimderp is dialed up to 11, and everything is written in a very classic GW-codex kind of way. Lots of goofy Space Marine one-liners worked into the text. Check it--I even nailed the font ;)

Each Warhiver set will come with two Space Marine armies (14 tiles each, for a total of 28) and the folded instruction sheet inside a handsome drawstring bag. Perfect for travel!

As you can see from these images, I currently only have Ultramarines, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, and Blood Angels. I was hoping to have Space Wolves and Salamanders in time for Zolocon 2025, but the plastic didn't arrive in time. Anyway, I'll have about a dozen sets of the game for Zolocon, but I'll likely offer them online on a made-to-order basis in the future (that'll allow folks to select what colors they want for full-customization).

There are about a zillion custom Hive sets available to download for free on sites like thingiverse and cults3d, so while I'll probably continue producing physical sets for folks who don't have printers, I'd like to post my 3D files (and instructions) on one of these sites eventually.

Okay, that's it for now, folks. Be in touch...and I hope to see YOU at Zolocon!

Infinity Armor Quazarec...Zolocon 2025!

What are we waiting for? Let's gooooooo!

Introducing the latest incarnation of the dread cosmic android, Infinity Armor Quazarec!

This version of Quazarec is limited to 10 pieces, and will be offered in person first at Zolocon 2025, and any left over will be made available online at some point after the show. Not only is this color scheme exclusive to the show, but the actual construction of this figure is quite unique...

First, some background. The original design for this toy featured the "usual" #brownnoize5point5 body with fully-removable armor, but I ran into a pretty weird predicament. Just the past year or two has seen some pretty wild advancements in 3D printing technology. Both FFF (or "FDM") and MSLA printers are vastly more commonplace, and the demand for speed, reliability, and simplicity has become the sole driving factor for the consumer market.

Last summer, I was excited to upgrade to my first of the latest generation of FFF printers running Klipper firmware (the Qidi Tech Q1 Pro). Don't worry if you don't know what any of that means. Ultimately, it amounts to a pretty revolutionary step forward in surface quality from my previous machine, the Qidi iMate-s (yes, these names are freakin' weird).

I don't have any images of the prints straight off the bed, but they look so damn good now, the acetone vapor bath (AVB) process almost seems unnecessary! Oh...oh, but when you DO go through the full process of AVBing and satin-topcoating afterwards...well...

Look at these results:

Layer lines are a joke. What the heck's a "VFA"!? I mean, the undersides where the supports attach can still look pretty rough or lumpy here and there, but those areas are well-hidden. For the most part, these parts look about as close to injection-molded as I've ever produced! Just embiggen these images. Or better yet: go back to some of my earliest Quazarec posts and look at THOSE images. Yikes! ;)

So what's the catch? Working with these modern Klipper machines and how they handle ABS plastic is...taking some getting used to. I more or less assumed things would go seamlessly when I transitioned from my iMate-s to the Q1 Pro, but I eventually started running into issues with getting the armor fit functions to work properly. Long story short, it turns out there's a bit of a trade-off for that amazing surface quality. The new paradigm for pushing plastic through these devices requires a steep learning curve in order to avoid warpage on the tricky geometry I regularly design into my toys.

And with Zolocon only months away, I didn't have much time to figure it all out. Then I realized I could work around two problems at once. Rather than go back to my old printer, which would give me perfect fit functions every time--while sacrificing that lucious new surface quality!--I could instead stick with the new machine and just simplify the design. If I printed the torso and the pelvis of the figure as solid blocks, I wouldn't have to worry about those sensitive fit functions. As a result, I'd be able to produce a respectable number of these figures in time for the show...AND at a much lower cost than the previous complicated design!

The helmet is still removable, of course, and while I'd prefer the chest and belt armor be removable too, it's a fair compromise. These new figures feel magnificent in-hand! No cheap, loose- or fragile-feeling bits. Just a solid brick of a toy. Okay, so enough preamble...let's get into the details!

Zoloworld Interchangeability is almost entirely preserved. Obviously Quazarec's chest and belt armor can no longer be removed and used on a Zoloworld body (and vice versa), but you get the classic fully-swappable limbs. One thing to keep in mind here: this version of Quazarec's hips are compatible with the LATEST Zoloworld hips. Long-time collectors (well, those who play with these things!) will know that a few years ago, the Zolo factory redesigned the hip joint to be more robust. That meant a slightly larger ball-diameter, and thus, old legs don't fit quite right on bodies using the new hips.

How do you know if you have a Zolo figure with the latest hips? Check out them balls! The latest ones are complete spheres, with no flat faces or holes going through them, as shown below:

Incidentally, the old hips actually look a lot like my 3D-printed ones in that they have a hole drilled through the center. I guess the hole was causing too much trouble for the factory POM piece...but it's necessary for my hip design because of the flexibility of ABS plastic.

And just to wrap up the conversation on Zolo-compatibility, let's briefly talk about the head. One thing that always bugged me about the old #brownnoize5point5 heads is that they fit on the bodies kinda loosely. This loose fit allows them to slip over the Zoloworld factory bodies' rigid neck peg. Ironically, that snug fit on the Zolo body always felt more solid than the fit on the 3D-printed neck peg! That ain't right. To fix that, I made the decision to add a tiny ridge on the inside of the neck-hole. You can just see it in the image below:

Unfortunately, this ridge prevents my 3D-printed heads from fitting onto Zoloworld factory torsos. I may do Zolo-compatible heads again in the future for some project, but once you feel how much of a difference that tiny feature makes on a fully 3D-printed figure, there's no comparison. The head pops on with a satisfying click, and remains firmly in place, while rotating smooth and straight on its axis.

The wrist joints are the same as before: a 5mm-diameter split-peg allows for free and smooth rotation, while allowing the hands to be swapped out for other 5mm accessories. And lastly, the waist joint also rotates as before, but now, the pelvis no longer disconnects from the torso. Having that joint be modular wasn't providing any value...and it's not like the factory Zoloworld bodies disconnect at the waist either...

Okay, now let's get to the exciting stuff!

The all-new print-in-place features on this "Infinity Armor" version of Quazarec are the gimmicks I'm most hyped about. One of the most stand-out aspects of this figure is the mighty staff he wields, the "Voice of Nar'Silhoth", whose design incorporates three interlocking concentric rings that spin independently with a flick of your finger!

And I'm sure y'all have noticed the cable connecting the staff to the front of Quazarec's armor! The cable, another print-in-place component, can be disconnected easily at both ends.

The cable can be a bit fiddly, to be honest. There's no real danger of it breaking or anything, but those tiny hinges are about as small as I can make 'em before they start jamming up. As-is, you'll still notice burrs as you articulate the cable, so you'll need to do a bit of massaging to pose it just how you like. Still, I think it came out great and is super-fun!

Everyone loves weapon storage, right? The staff has a 5mm split peg that allows the accessory to be attached to the figure's back, with or without the cable:

And finally rounding out the print-in-place features is the chainmail tabard...

That's right. Reach for it, you dirty little...

Ahem.

Lemme tell y'all something: 3D-printed chainmail at this tiny scale is a pain in the ass. But so damn worth it. Just be careful when posing the legs. If you swing them too far forward, they can clash with the mounting links near the top. And these links are delicate!

But again, worth it.

And finally...do I even have to mention it??? The GLOOOWWWWW!!

Each of these toys features a glass marble with GID flakes mounted in the center of the chest armor. There are four or five different colors for these marbles, and since they're hand-blown (not by me!), each one is unique.

And, of course, the head features hand-painted white-glow eyes. Very creepy and robotic-looking!

Okay, that about wraps it up for this one, guys. I have one more product announcement before Zolocon this weekend, so stay tuned for that. And I hope to see YOU at the show!

Mic check...1-2 1-2...

Yo, turn me up!

What's happening, people? It's ya boy, teh Jerk, back in the building after having stepped away from social media...well...right around the time COVID touched down. Wild, huh? To be honest, things were already kinda rough for me in those days. I was going through some significant upheaval in my life, as well as the depression that came along with it. And then seeing the US government's response to the pandemic made me realize Western civilization was cooked. But that's a whole other blog entirely!

I decided to go on an indefinite social media hiatus in order to focus on my physical and mental health. ...Just in time for TWO cars to die on me, my apartment to flood, and a whole buffet of neck/back issues. Welcome to the last few years of my life. :P

And yet, here we are.

Yeah, I may have felt like checking out permanently a few times here and there, but thankfully, I had three pillars to keep me from sinking into dark places for very long. First, ain't nothing like having a kid starting school to keep you anchored to reality! I am actually surprised at how genuinely grateful I feel to have my child in my life. And, of course, I can't forget the homies. My Ultraman-sized bonds of friendship have always sustained me through the toughest times. Finally, creativity. I never stopped making stuff...even if it was only for myself--things I never planned on sharing with anyone else (well, except maybe my kid!).

Eventually, I recovered from my physical ailments, got a new car, and moved into a new apartment even closer to my kid. I am constantly aware that things don't just *get better* for most people these days, so I'm extremely thankful to be where I'm at today. Don't get it twisted: we absolutely live in a fascist hellscape--and voting one way or another ain't getting us out of it. But I think at this point, I've been through all five stages of grief! It would be illogical to give in to despair...just as it would be to waste the privilege that I have. So on one hand, I've committed to learning all I can about geopolitics, independent of Western propaganda, and finally living in reality. But on the other, I'm also committing to taking my creativity seriously, as escapist and self-indulgent as that may be.

And so, I have returned to making toys for the few folks who still care, and sharing what I'm up to with the community. What's that gonna look like going forward? Who knows! But I actually do have plenty of projects in the works that could be pretty fun. Even been dabbling in writing a TTRPG..! I continue to be inspired by the artists around me--many of whom are in situations no better than my previous one--who've continued to create despite the accelerating collapse of everything. Respect.

So one thing I'm excited about is my new spot. Like many of us in the hobby, I now have a dedicated "toy room"...but maybe not exactly like what you think! See, I have precious little of my collection on display. Instead, the space is fully-optimized for 3D-printed toy production.

Chaos Bringer approved!

It may look a bit disorganized, but hey, there's a reason for that (wait for the big announcement at the end of this post!). But despite the clutter, there's actually ample room to get stuff done. First, we have the 3D-printing corner, featuring my "fleet" of Qidi Tech printers:

These machines are absolute beasts. Qidi machines are not without their annoying QC issues, but their customer service is world-class, and I've never run into an issue they weren't able to resolve within a reasonable amount of time. And now with Klipper firmware, I've become an Orcaslicer god! I know that doesn't mean squat to 99.9% of y'all, but don't worry. You'll see EXACTLY what that translates into when you see the print quality on my upcoming figures...

Anyway, right at the printer station is where I do most of the "heavy-lifting" clean-up of parts. This involves safety glasses, cut-resistant gloves, needle-nose pliers, and a lotta damn patience and effort. This is where the majority of the support material gets ripped off of the parts before moving on to the next area, my main work table:

Shown on the left above is the table where most of the fine-cleanup, gluing, painting, etc., take place. More brush- and hobby knife-work than heavier tools. At this point, the parts need to be fully-cleaned of support material and glued into subassemblies prior to acetone vapor-bathing (AVB).

And finally, there's the evacuation hood:

The hood consists of a powerful box fan sandwiched between some moving boxes to form a little wind tunnel. There's a cutout on the exhaust side for a dryer hose attached to a window guard. This sucka CRANKS. It can change out all the air in the room in about 3-4 hours. I keep the HVACs sealed up, and the bedroom door is weather-stripped to hell and back (to prevent noise, as much as fumes, from escaping the room).

The hood serves a few purposes, actually. Mainly, I run it while 3D-printing to move out the ABS fumes, but I also use it as a spray booth and for AVBing parts. Granted, when boiling acetone or spraying with rattle cans, the smell takes closer to a day to clear out...but it gets the job done.

As you can probably tell, I am super-excited about they toy room in my new apartment. Granted, my actual toy collection is still in moving boxes in the closet, but that's fine for now. Someday, they'll breathe free air. Or we'll all die in nuclear fire. ;) But for now, despite having "down-sized" to a smaller apartment, I'm now more productive than I've been in YEARS!

More to come!

Okay, okay, that's enough catching-up! Let's finally get to the big announcement: I will be at Zolocon 2025 with my usual partner-in-crime, Doomkick, and special guest, Mike Die:

As in years past, I'm extremely pumped for the event. I'll try my best to document the mayhem. I'm so bad at that! LOL

Now, as for what I'll actually be bringing, I'm keeping that a surprise for the moment. Besides, this post has gone on long enough! ;) But don't you worry--I've got some #brownnoize5point5 goodness on the way, as well as something totally unexpected for all the Warhammer 40k heads out there...

Stay tuned!