How To Make Your Own Decals

Today is one of those moments wherein I can say that I truly love my hobby for it pushes me to learn new things to achieve greater effects! I remember when I started out, I barely knew how to paint. Through trial and error and watching and/or reading numerous tutorials, I learned that painting is more than choosing colors and applying it to a model. You have priming, basing, shading, layering, highlighting, dry brushing, etc, etc! Suddenly I was learning how to flock models, how to kitbash, how to work with green stuff, how to strip miniatures, and the list goes on. Today, I learned how to make my own decals!

WHAT ARE DECALS YOU SAY?

In a Warhammer 40k point of view, they are the glossy stickers that come with the miniatures. You need water to remove them from their paper and apply it to the miniature.

WHY MAKE YOUR OWN DECALS?

The designs included in the decals are only limited and sometimes you need more than ten. Worse is that you need a certain design and the decal doesn't even have it! By making your own decals, you get the design you want and you can have multiples of it without worrying of running out! You can also have your own designs and create your own chapter symbol (the reason why this hobby attracted me in the first place even though I do not follow it now)! This also applies to any other hobbies such as gundams. So let's start making one now!

WHAT YOU NEED

The materials listed here are local to the Philippines only. If you are a foreigner and you happen to stumble into this tutorial, just buy the equivalent and the steps would be the same me thinks! I am in no way endorsing the brands named here. It's just a quick way for people to familiarize themselves with what to use. They can branch out and choose brands they think are better.

• Decal Paper (Brand name: Scopa - you can buy these at National bookstore)

• Now there are two types - "Inkjet Decal Paper" and "Laser jet Decal Paper". Choosing what to get depends on the type of your printer. The usual home printers are ink jet and internet cafes and printer/photocopy shops usually have the laserjet ones. Still, check your printer's settings or manual just to be sure. It is important to match the paper type with the printer because according to my researches (I didn't want to try it out!), if the paper and printer don't match, whatever you do, the ink won't dry! I chose the Laserjet Decal Paper and had my design printed in a net cafe shop.

• Design
• You should have a design because this is the whole point of making your own decals. You can make your own or try to copy an existing chapter of your own choosing. Good thing the good folk over at bolterandchainsword did all the dirty work for you! Emperor be praised! Here are the decal designs! This link has a wealth of designs from Sisters of Battle to forgeworld chapters and some custom ones. I chose Bran Redmaw's Company design for mine. Thanks bolterandchainsword!

•  A Clear Quick Drying Lacquer Spray (Brand names: Scopa, Bosny Clear No. 190 or Bosny Flat Clear)
• Bosny clear gives that glossy look the decals should have. I guess Flat clear means that it removes the glossiness of your decals already. I chose Bosny clear because I'm going to apply matter varnish anyway when I finish the entire model. This is also necessary because it seals the ink to the paper and prevents the design from crumbling.

WHAT TO DO

1. Get a design and print a test page first to see if the size is right for the place where you want to apply it such as the side of a tank or the shoulder pads of a marine.

testing to see if the design would fit the shoulderpad

2. Print the design on the decal paper. Remember to match the paper type with your printer type! and let it dry for a while.

3. Spray the decal paper w/ the design on it with the Clear Lacquer Spray at point blank. It should have that same glossy look as the decals that come with the miniatures (picture on the left). Let it dry. If you don't spray it with the Lacquer Spray, images can be scratched off as like the one shown on the right picture.

And there you have it! As easy as that and you have your own decal design! Hope you learned something new today and would eventually try it out! If you do try it out, let me know what designs you made! If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask! I'll answer as best I can! Making the decals is super easy but a real pain to apply to the model. That would be a another story for a different time!

Some of my samples:

P.S.: The above tutorial is the product of research over the internet and trial and error. Hope you learn something new and decide to try it out! - Jarl Camacho of the 8th company

Space Wolves Landspeeder

Land speeders are iconic vehicles in almost any galaxy/space related lore, theme, or pop culture. In Warhammer 40k, land speeders are used for a number of roles such as scouting, spearheading assaults (alpha strikes), or outflanking enemy positions - basically anything related to destroying the enemies of the emperor except ramming other vehicles (of course!) because let's face it: those things look fragile! Even so, it is amazing how a fragile thing can bring so much devastation in the battlefield!

The Emperor laughs at this "speeder"!

Land speeders are, in my opinion, one of the best units in any marine army. They are a Fast Attack choice, can move 12 inches and still fire 2 weapons giving them a threat range of 48-60 inches depending on your load out. With the release of the 7th edition Space Wolves codex, their appearance on the table could be expected to dwindle due to the points reduction made to its fellow Fast Attack choices, which now seem to be tempting options to explore. So let's see what land speeders can bring to the table!

Land Speeder Squadron - not mine

THE PROS

They have Maneuverability!

• land speeders can move 12 inches and turbo-boost for 12 inches more! useful for getting from cover to cover in the unfortunate event that you roll hammer and anvil for a battlefield. This is also very useful for getting to objectives quickly or landing a line breaker at the end of the game
• they can fire 2 weapons even if they move 12 inches
• they are now scoring units
• they can have a 4+ jink save even if they do not move

They have Fangs! (These are the loadouts I tend to use)

Land Speeder Typhoon - MINE

• Land Speeder Typhoon (just a heavy bolter/HB and a cyclone missile launcher/CML)  = 75 points each
• this is crazy good as they became 15 points cheaper from the previous codex! Maybe this was to bring them in line with the Space Marine Land speeders. What this brings to the table is a HB that can spit  3 Str 5-AP 4 shots and a CML that launches 2 Str 8-AP 3 shots! Now imagine 2 to 3 of these in the field! This is perfect for alpha strikes! Use them to pop AV10-12 vehicles or provide suppressive fire as your warriors charge up the field! I can't stress how many times my 225 point land speeder squadron earned back their points and even more!
• Land Speeder with Multimelta (MM) and Heavy flamer (HF) = 70 each
• I like the flexibility of this build as it can be part of a "take all comers list". With these bad boys, you can deal with either armor using the multi-melta or an infantry list with the heavy flamer!
• Land Speeder with Double Multimelta = 80 each
• This could be considered your suicide squad! your titan killer! your knight killer! If you can deepstrike these boys within 12 inches of any armor of even if they just reach their targets within that range, say bye bye to it! When your opponents see these on the battlefield, chances are that their eyes would widen and they would allocate sufficient fire power to ensure the destruction of the said unit therefore becoming a fire magnet.

 So we talked about the wonders of Land Speeders! But being good at something would always mean a trade-off...

THE CONS

They are AV10 in every facing with only 2 Hull points and that means anything Strength 4 can potentially glance it to death and any weapon strength 5 and above would really cripple it in different ways! I had bad experiences with rapid firing marines, dakkafexes, and flyrants. Hopefully your careful positioning, jink saves, and bad opponent rolls can prevent this from happening. When your speeders get charged (which means you are playing them wrong), say bye bye to them unless your opponents roll badly. When you roll the mission "The Scouring" suddenly they can become a liability by providing your opponents an extra victory point if they get destroyed!

Another sad trivia about Land speeders is that the Space Wolves weren't issued the Land Speeder storm, which is a dedicated transport for scout companies. Are the scouts of the wolves so elite that they eschew any form of fast transportation now?? I really think they need it now since their "Behind Enemy Lines" rules was removed in 7th edition, basically turning them into just better scouts combat and shooting-wise.. sigh..

Land Speeder Storm, not mine

WISHLIST

In the spirit of Christmas, I've decided to include this segment, which is a wishlist of what I would like GW or future Space Wolves codex writers to do or consider regarding Space Wolves Land Speeders

1. Land Speeder Helfrost Variant - a speeder that has a helfrost cannon equipped.

2. Land Speeder Storms - I hope the wolves get issued this soon :)


CONCLUSION

It is a wonder that Space Wolves even use these speeders because weren't they depicted as "uncomfortable with flying and would like to fight with two feet firm in the ground just like Russ intended"? One may argue that they are not flying but simply hovering or something to that effect. Whatever the pet peeves of the wolves might be, the power of the Land Speeder cannot be denied! It is like a wolf circling a prey and striking when the opportunity presents!

In my 3 years of war-gaming, only once did I fight a person using only one land speeder. In my opinion, the others should consider it and take a look at this taken-for-granted unit. Unfortunately, there are now more tempting choices for Fast Attacks slots in the Space Wolves codex so their sorty into the battlefield may take a bit of re-considering.

So what are your thoughts regarding Land Speeders? I would love to hear how you equip yours (if you even use one). Do you use any of the other Land Speeder variants? Have I left something out? Let me know! Once again this is Camacho, Jarl of the 8th signing out! :D

Oh and by the way, my Wolf Wing Squadron says HI!

P.S. - some images are mine and some were taken from the internet without permission. If you see your work here, that means I thought it was very cool and it deserves to be shared to others ^^