Black Templars and Warhammer 40K 8th Edition first games

I got in my first two games of Warhammer 40K 8th edition over the last two weeks.

My first game with the new system was at a Games Workshop store in Tokyo (yes, I still never call them "Warhammer Stores", no matter what the sign on the shop says!). I thought it would be good to have a game with the staff to get used to some of the new mechanics, and to help refresh my knowledge of the game as I haven't played in months.

Before I went I spent some time putting together a Black Templars list using the new "Power level" system. This is designed to be a quick and easy way to put together an army without worrying about calculating the exact points value of everything. Each unit has a clearly marked power level, which is adjusted based on the number of models in the unit, but not on their wargear or accessories.

Overall, this system works quite well in specific circumstances, and I was able to pull together a bunch of my old Templars models with relative ease. It makes calculation pretty easy, and various list building apps have already included it. (I used Battlescribe and this seemed to work fine). In a few minutes of playing around I put together a 75 point army of Black Templars (50 points is about 1,000 points according to some sources). More on that later.

Black Templars bike squad zooms in.

++ Game 1: Black Templars v. Ultramarines ++

Here is the 75 Power Level list I used:

• Captain on Bike
• Chaplain Grimaldus
• Crusader Squad A (9 Initiates with Chainsword, 5 neophytes with combat knives, 1 Sword Brethren).
• Crusader Squad B (4 initiates with Bolters, x1 with Flamer, x1 with Plasma)
• Crusader Squad C (5 initiates with Chainswords, x1 Flamer)
• Dreadnought with Autocannon
• Land Raider Crusader for Squad A
• Razorback for Squad C

My opponent had about 70 points of Ultramarines. From what I remember:

• Captain on foot in Terminator armour.
• Venerable Dreadnought with Las cannon, Dreadnought power fist/ flamer.
• x1 smaller Unit of Primaris Ultramarines (x5?) on foot.
• x1 large unit of Ultramarines (x10, with Missile Launcher)
• x1 large unit of Ultramarines (x10, with Missile Launcher)
• Close combat Terminator squad. (x10 or so, brought in from reserve. Half with lightning claws, half with thunder hammer and shield.)

If I can, I'll put together a separate report in more detail, but the highlight of the game had to be my excitement at using Chaplain Grimaldus, only for him to kill himself in his first shot of the game when his pistol overheated and exploded in his face. 
Classic WH40K Bittersweet moment™!

My opponent was the underdog in terms of points, but his large Terminator squad pretty much made mincemeat of my troops. That, coupled with some bad placing of charging bikes on my part opened them up to a lot of attacks that overwhelmed them.

10 Enemy Terminators arrive (top right). The end is near (for me).

++ Game 2: Black Templars v. Tyranids ++

The Thin Black Line v. The Red Tide of Death...

In my second game (this time with a friend at home) my list was a little different:

50 Power Level Black Templars

• Emperor's Champion
• Crusader Squad (7 initiates with Chainswords, x1 flamer, x1 Sword Brother.
• Sternguard x5 (x4 vets, x1 Sergeant All with flamer combi weapons)
• Terminator Assault Squad (x Sergeant, x1 Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer, x2 with paired lightning claws)
• Landspeeder x1 (Typhoon missile launcher, Heavy bolter)
• Devastator Squad (x1 Sergeant with Plasma pistol,  x4 with Missile launchers
• Rhino

49 Power Level Tyranid army

• Hive Tyrant (Shooty) PL10
• Carnifex (kinda shooty) PL6
• Tervigon (kinda poopy - "releases" 10 Termagants every turn.) PL13
• Genestealers (x5) PL4
• Genestealers (x5) PL4
• Zoanthrope (x3 in a single unit) PL6
• Termagants (x10 on the table at first I think?) PL3
• Hormagaunts (x10) PL3

We played an "Open Play" game to get a hang of the basic rules, using just the Indexes. 

There were four objectives, and points for control of each objective were collected at the end of each player turn. There is no 8th Tyranid Codex available at the time we played, and I don't have the SM Codex. Even if I know the rules, I didn't feel it would have been right to have access to my Chapter Tactics if my opponent didn't have any info from a codex of his own, so we didn't use those.

The Devastators...um...devastated (bottom left)

I ended up losing this game as well!

• The Hive Tyrant and Carnifex pretty easily shot my Devastators off the table in the first round of shooting, meaning I was out of massed heavy weapons that could have seriously dented his Tyrant, 'Fex and Tervigon. This was even with an improved saving throw due to being in cover.(I still had the Land Speeder with heavy weapon and Typhoon Missile launcher, but felt that wouldn't do the trick)

• The ability of the Tervigon in 8th edition to just add an extra 10 Termagants on the table without a chance of the ability stopping (as in 7th if I recall?) meant that the table quickly became full of little critters!

• This small Tyranid force still has 3 psychic units, who in the psychic phase managed to get off Smite a fair few times, as well as some tasty buffs and debuffs (The Horror, Catalyst and Onslaught). As it only takes a 5 or more to get off Smite, it isn't difficult to get off, but even 1-3 mortal wounds on a small unit in a game of this size is going to hurt over time. (Bear in mind that as I don't own the SM Codex yet, I wasn't using Abhor the Witch, which would have given me a 4+ Deny the Witch roll, even without any psychers of my own.)

This loss was my fault too though for sure, with plenty of bad choices on my part:

• I wasn't confident about driving my Rhino straight up to the Tyranids to disembark my Crusade Squad. It took me too long to do that, by which point there were lots of additional 'gants to deal with. They disembark now only at the beginning of your movement phase. If I had moved up within charge range, would the Tyranids have swarmed the raider and managed to simply take off enough wounds for it to explode? Once surrounded, the models inside have no exit point so simply die in that case? (My concern)! 

Because vehicles are more durable in 8th, being more confident about this is probably a key takeaway.

• I became too distracted by worrying about the units I had and should have paid more attention to the game objectives, and could have contested those in his back field earlier (using different vehicles such as the Land Speeder) to take pressure off my front line.
• I could have placed my devastators further back so they could have got one round of shooting off before being in range of the Hive Tyrant and Carnifex.
• It was a mistake not to try and whittle down the large number of Termagants that the Tervigon was throwing out. By the time I got into close combat there were too many of them.

It wasn't all bad news though! :-)

Having been slaughtered by some Terminators in my first game, I had put a small squad into this game and they worked quite well. Those 2+ saves make a huge difference, even under quite a weight of attacks. After his compatriots were struck down, the Terminator Sergeant duked it out with the Hive Tyrant and brought him down with a thunder hammer (only then to face the wrath of the Carnifex...)

Classic WH40K Heroic-Moment to Enjoy before Death™!

Terminator Sergeant alone, but not unbeaten!
In the next turn, he takes out the Hive Tyrant (at right.)

Another positive was to see how the Sternguard did with their combi-flamers. After moving up, they quickly crisped a unit of Genestealers with no problems (but then fell to all that dakka from the HT and Carnifex.) Flamers = Fun (although somehow, I miss templates...)

Two Sternguard fall to incoming fire, but the other three advance
and fire their combi flamers into a unit of Genestealers.

To finish, here are a few takeaways of main mechanics (mainly confirming what I have read elsewhere.)

Power Levels:

It won't satisfy players who like to carefully calculate everything, or gamers interested in "Match play" style games where opponents want very evenly balanced points, but for putting together a quick "pick-up list" it does the job...
...as long as you accept there will be imbalances.

Depending on the army, some decent war gear or other options will slip in, and according to some reports, these could make make for an actual points difference of a couple of hundred "match play" points.

Simplified Gaming:

Yes, the game is more enjoyable with simplified shooting, wounding and saving. It will make things faster and easier for most gamers, and especially casual gamers (like me.)

Flamers Sans Templates:

With my dice rolls, I feel like I need to take flamers en masse. The D6 automatic hits sounds good, but with just one in a unit, that could just be one hit (for me at least!) 

Dataslates:

Mixed bag! Great to have all the rules for a unit in one place. Not so great if you don't keep a close eye on where the dataslates are (or if you have an army with a load of units.)

Thanks to both my opponents for the games. I'm looking forward to using 8th edition more than 7th because I think the overall simplification of the game suits me as a gamer.

Holiday Haul of Chaos (?)

While I was at Warhammer Shibuya a few weeks ago, I came across a bit of a commotion among the punters. A Japanese gamer was in store, looking to sell off some unopened items. 

At the time, no-one in the store was really interested - they weren't making armies that featured anything from the mix of items he had. I soon found out that he had some 40K items, and that he wasn't into 40K at all, and would I be interested in some still-shrink wrapped items?

Intrigued, I was shown the following:

1. A Stormtalon Gunship (Space Marines).

2. A Tau battlesuit box (set of 3 XV8's).

3. A "Crimson Slaughter" Dark Vengeance expansion set.

As it happens, I do have a Space Marine army (Black Templars, who only an hour later than this would suffer the ignominy of bitter defeat), a Tau army, and even a small band of Chaos Space Marines, so this fit me almost perfectly.

The price?

50% off list price for the whole lot.

I almost immediately said "yes!", not because I'm greedy, but because I thought that these items might help get me out of my painting funk and bring me back to the "hobby" side of the hobby. I had never finished the Chaos SM models that I had collected over time, and this might be just the thing to get me back into it. (In my next post, I'll crack open the old GW case that houses "Black Jack's Brass Legion" and we'll line up the squad to see what is there.)

I wasn't familiar with the Crimson Slaughter expansion set, so I set about finding out more after getting home. I had quickly looked at the back of the box, and at the time felt it would add a bit of punch to my current CSM troops.

Let's have a closer look:

Crimson Slaughter box image (front)

Crimson Slaughter box image (rear)

So "What's in the box?"

1. A Chaos Land Raider
2. x5 Chaos Space Marine Terminators
3. x5 Raptors/ Talons
4. x5 Chaos Cultists

Not a huge force, but it should supplement my footslogging CSMs (I seem to remember I only have a Chaos Rhino) and also give me a bit of close combat and fast hitting power. While the Cultists don't help me at the moment (as I don't have any others) they might form the basis of a blob squad later. I'm not sure if this still holds, but without some of other elements the army will stay quite weak (air power).

Now, will I actually follow-up on my good intentions and start painting again?

40K Funk

++Squeek++
The guilt in the pit of my stomach can only come from not having written anything on this blog for a long, long time. Every time I have thought about it I just couldn't muster the energy. I have to admit it...

I haven't painted anything.
I haven't played anything.
I haven't purchased or read any rules.

I'm in a 40K Funk.

Credit: Despair by Lloyd Morgan on Flick (CC2.0)

I think this started for a particular reason, and continues for one more. Perhaps writing this will be therapy?

Reason 1

The funk was initially caused because there was just too much stuff coming out. I'm all for options, but as a casual 40K player I also want simplicity. With access to only very occasional games, it simply became overwhelming to keep up with the different releases. Not only "Keep up" in terms of purchases - I simply don't have that kind of wealth, but "keep up" with the sheer volume of content coming out and what it means for the game and the rules. 

I play as Tau and Space Marines (Black Templars to be precise) and I just felt that all the different rule books coming out if different formats, and the changes to the force organization in terms of units and formations is over the top. I started to feel this after buying the new Tau books - there were what, 4 of them in two packs?? Then this started to be the base with the different rules for chapters etc.

• Expansions?
• Codexes?
• Supplements?

I'm probably going to pick up a lot of hate for this but it takes up too much headspace for the casual gamer.

Perhaps the recent release of Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade will help?

Reason 2

Compounding the funk has surely been the disappointment that is (by most current accounts), the poorly implemented release of WH40K Eternal Crusade. If you were a 40K fan (check!) and a PC gamer (check!) and a shooter/ coop combat fan (check!) then this WAS looking like it would be a dream come true. 

From https://mmos.com/review/warhammer-40000-eternal-crusade 

Sadly, almost all the promised gameplay has failed to materialise so far, and players are left with a sub-par lobby shooter which appears to not only be not much fun, but also looks poor (and performs even worse. Granted, any reviews you read are going to be subjective, and there is a lot of blame out there right now (especially for the publisher, who has pushed this out in a poor state), but if these first few days are anything to go by the player base will be very small and this will probably be shuttered pretty quick, even as a full price game.

In my mind, perhaps unrealistically, I had been hoping for a 40K theme Planetside 2 (which remains one of my favorite games of all time) so the negative reviews have been a real blow (as is the current inability to customize your space marine armour to that of a chapter of your choice other than several presets - so no Black Templars (by SIGISMUND!)

Looks good eh? Apparently not the case...

There is a glimmer of hope though - the devs seem to be working hard to fix the most egregious issues, and they obviously have some love for the source material - but even "glimmer" may be too positive a word. Also, there are plenty of videos of people having a good time as Space Marines, Orcs and Eldar (but even these make me concerned about the long term viability of the game.)

Hopefully I'll get over this soon!

Tau Ghostkeel WIP

I've been working on this Tau Ghostkeel that I got for Christmas - just an hour a night after work, but it is coming along.

I've managed to get the undercoats, base coats and some highlights done on the main model and the drones (the Fenris Grey lines you see here). I worked on the pilot before assembling the model, something I don't often do, but I wanted access to the cockpit as it is a nice feature of the model IMHO (and it would be impossible to do a decent job after assembly)

I'm happy with the Mordian Blue and Chaos Black combination. The blue fits in with my main Tau army and regular Stealth Suits, but the combination still "feels" stealthy. In my mind, I'm thinking of this as "Midnight Urban" Camo (which means I am going to have to add an urban feeling to the base later...)

Another point that I'm happy with is the freehand Tau text on the right thigh. Although not authentic Tau text I think it has the right flavour, and I HATE freehand so it felt like a small victory.

In all of these images you won't see any weapons, as I'm working on those separately.

Left

Right rear

Next step will be to figure out what to do with the black. I've highlighted the edges of the Mordian Blue with Fenris Grey, so what am I going to do with the edges of the black armour? 
More Fenris, or straight to chipping/ weathering with metallics? (Shout out to those on G.Plus for the weathering advice by the way).

Stealth Drones (top)

The suit is always accompanied by x2 Stealth Drones, which you can see here. Not weathered or finished yet, but I got a good start on the lenses.

More updates to come later this weekend! (I hope I'll make more progress). Fantasies of adding some tank traps to the base, and painting the suit parts close to the traps in the same grey to indicate stealth capability...

Stealth Drones (front)

A Warhammer 40K Winter.

Original copyright holder unknown.
Please contact me so I can update or to request removal

Blimey, this festive season really is a dream come true for Tau fans. In this post I’ll take a quick look at the gaming goodies that Shas’o Nic’laus, The Red-hooded Victor of Yule Prime, managed to fit down my life support hab’s exhaust system.

What I got 1: New storage. Citadel Crusade Figure Case

Over the years I have used both professional options (Battle Foam, GW cases) and home-brew (lots of plastic boxes in a cheap suitcase). Both approaches have their ups and downs, so on a recent trip to my local GW I thought I would take a look at the Citadel Figure case range. Specifically the Crusade case (the largest one).

Up close, my first impression of the Crusade case was that it was much smaller than I had anticipated! How much could I get in there? If my goal was my Black Templars that was a concern (multiple predators, Rhinos, Land Raiders, Speeders, Stormtalon gunship, bikes etc.)

My second impression was cost...14,500 Yen (or just over 80 GBP).

Worth it?

In the end I decided yes. I wanted a new case, haven’t supported GW in a while, and I would like to upgrade from my 100 Yen shop boxes! The GW staff gave me a tour of the inside, taking it apart and showing me the funky foam arrangements and possibilities.

So here it is, with a Space Marine to show scale.

Citadel Crusade Figure Case

FYI, while looking at what was available online, I came across the "Munitorum Battlepack Case Harness" option. After seeing it in person I immediately put it out of my mind. I like the idea of a rucksack solution for the Crusade case that also offers additional storage for books, but at 12,500 Japanese Yen (70 GBP) it is simply too much money for what it does (for me). The case does come with a shoulder strap after all. 

I haven't had time to try and actually fit stuff in and write a review yet (even though today is "Boxing Day") but watch this space!

What I got 2: Warzone Damocles: Kauyon

NOT buying the harness meant I could invest in something else, so I went for the War Zone Damocles: Kauyon rules. At 10,500 Yen (58 GBP) this also wasn’t cheap, but it gives me the rules that I need to supplement my Tau Codex, including some of the newer units should I get some new models (Ghostkeel, you shall be mine…)

Image credit: Games Workshop website

Frankly speaking, I love the hardback Codex books. Quality feels great, nice pictures and plenty of fluff. I haven’t started reading this yet, but I’m looking forward to the rules and the story.

What I got 3: Dice.

Yes, dice.

There is a story here that I won’t go into in depth, but it involves giving a workshop in a foreign land, 200+ attendees, and my dice. Or to be specific, NOT GETTING THEM BACK! (My fault, I should have told everyone the dice weren’t a freebie!

What I got 4: Darth Vader Grissini Breadsticks (Plain)

Breadsticks - crunchy mini lightsabers in a box.

Not WH 40K, but the marketing is strong with this one...

...”Merry Sithmas”!

Tampering with the Templars?

Hmmm, interested to see a post today over at Bell of Lost Souls with a snippet of BT information from the new Space Marine Codex, this time about Chapter Tactics in the new book. Looks like some changes?

Holy Crusaders?
Lost Librarius?
Righteous Zeal?

If nothing else, it is good to see the Black Templars listed there.

There was a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth in the run up to the last Marines book, with everyone wondering what would happen - would the Templars disappear entirely? That turned out not to be the case, despite some changes. Although I have only used them a few times, they are turning into one of my favorite armies. That COULD be because I only started with them in the most recent edition so the changes didn't make much impact on me. The way I see it though, even if there are some rules changes, you still get to kit them out with with chainswords and run (or wheel) them across the field.

Looking forward to getting my hands on the Codex...
... The printed version that is!
(I won't make the same mistake I did last year in getting the PDF version. It simply wasn't as accessible as the iBook/ Apple version, sadly.)

Tau v. Black Templars, 1,500 pt Battle Highlights

The very same afternoon my Skaven got beaten up, I played a 1,500 point game of 40K using my Space Marine Black Templars against Tau. For the sake of time, this used exactly the same list I had some success with against a Tyranid force in a previous game. 

Basically:

- a layer or two of cover-ignoring template death from afar (Whirlwind Missile Launchers)
- a dash of tracked, high-powered pew-pew (Lascannons on x2 Razorbacks)
- a pinch of backfield harassment (Sternguard in drop pod)
- a slathering of airborne support (Stormtalon)...
...all of this wrapped around a sweet core of Xenos-squashing, chainsword-wielding fanatics (blob squad in a Land Raider crusader).

My opponent brought a shooty, Tau foot-slogging list (is there any Tau list that isn't shooty?). 

- A couple of Broadsides with rail weapons and plasma.
- Crisis suit unit.
-Commander with bodyguards.
-Kroot unit with sniper rifles.
-Two units of Firewarriors.
-Two units of Pathfinders.
- A unit of Stealth suits with drone markerlight support.

At this point, you might be thinking...

"...wot no tanks?"

Yes, as a former Tau player, I was initially surprised to see a complete lack of heavy armour or flying transports, but as it turned out, my opponent had no option but to bring a foot list, as he hadn't been able to find his tanks before coming over...

Even so, I was looking forward to my first game against Tau in this edition. Also, my first 40K army was Tau and I still have a soft place in my heart for the minions of the Space Pope. 
AND, it is always great to see Kroot on the table!

The game:

Game type: Keeping it simple, we went for a VPs game.

Tau Deployment:
Pathfinders went on either flank (assuring nice interlocking fields of Markerlight fire!). 
One broadside took up position in a bunker, anchoring his two units of Firewarriors on either side. One was in the open, the other clustered around an old bunker.
On the far hill, another Broadside was supported by a second unit of Pathfinders.
All the crisis suits, Kroot and Stealth suits stayed in reserve.

Black Templars deployment:
A line of black, tracked boxes...
Subtle eh?

Razorbacks stacked opposite the Broadside on the hill, with Whirlwind Missile launchers in the centre, and Landraider on the opposite flank. I hoped to take a chunk out of his Firewarriors with my missile launchers, while rushing my LR down a flank.

Game Highlights.

Early on in the game, the Landraider faces a unit of Pathfinders. A round or two of cannon fire would take them down to 1 man, but not destroy them entirely.

Tau Stealthsuits come in, accompanied by Markerlight drones. 

It isn't long before the Razorbacks go down. Hmmm, massed Firewarrior Pulse Rifle fire sure does glance those hull points down pretty quickly! The Crusader squad makes it out alive, but is now staring down a whole load of Tau firepower...

After a couple of turns, the BT left flank is now a mass of destroyed hulls! (See image below) One Razorback and a Whirlwind has been destroyed. To make matters worse, a unit of Crisis suits manages to deepstrike in the back field, right behind another Razorback.

Fortunately for me though, my Stormtalon has come on. Although it isn't equipped properly for this fight (no enemy flyers upon which to unleash my Skyhammer missiles) the pilot still makes use of his cannon on the Tau infantry around the table.

Now this next image is what we (Black Templars) like to see! 
Noting that the Landraider won't be able to make it around the side of the table in time, the Black Templar blob squad disembarks, hoping to foot slog to glory (and the juicy Tau Firewarriors in the centre field...)
...meanwhile the Landraider continues to whittle down the Kroot with cannon and bolter fire.

The Tau have done a jolly good job of taking out the Whirlwinds and Razorbacks , but the Stormtalon looks like it may dominate this side of the field, as evidenced by its ability to take a few wounds at a time from the Firewarriors.

The Stormtalon zooms towards one of the Firewarrior units.

...and although I don't have an image of this, that same Tau Firewarrior squad manages to defeat a small Crusader squad in close combat!


Unfortunately we didn't have time to finish the game, but at this point, the game was even (in terms of points won by either side). It would have been an interesting second half though:
-The big BT squad with Captain heading towards the Tau (will the unit of sniper-round Kroot nearby take them out?)...
-The Sternguard and Drop pod still to come in (can I take out his Warlord?)...
-The Landraider Crusader barreling down the flank...
-The Tau commander and his bodyguards still to come in from reserve.

Thanks to my opponent for a fun game - really great to see Tau on the table - makes me want to fight for the Greater Good again!
:-)

How to Make Tea Light Explosions and Smoke

Squeek!

Hi everyone. Just a quick post and a guide to making something I have wanted to try for a while - making explosions and smoke for gaming table/ miniature warfare!

After a very short time (x1 hour), here is what I ended up with (scroll down to the video to see them flickering.)

From looking around on the net, I think these are more likely to be fires, rather than explosions (but they are commonly called "Tea light explosions", for reasons we shall see below.)

This is a fire, not an explosion, notice the fairly thick smoke from the top of the vehicle.

This is a controlled mine explosion.

As you can see, an explosion would involve a lot more "force" and the explosion itself is mainly a bright yellow, with orange and black at the edges. 

How to make Tea light Explosions and Smoke

1. Gather your materials.

• 4-8 Tea lights. These come in packs, and cost very little. Mine have replaceable batteries, but the very cheap ones don't (which saves you even more money!) You probably want a total of 8 or so.

NOTE: If you don't have tea lights, no worries! You can still make columns of smoke by following all the other steps below (to see examples, see the BONUS TIP photos at the bottom of this post)

• Filling/ stuffing. Craft shops have this, as it is commonly used for stuffing for soft toys etc.
• Double-sided tape and/ or glue. (If using double-sided tape, make sure it is the same width as the side of the tea lights you are using, or cut it down to size)
• Scissors and string (if you are using only glue, you won't need these).
• Black modelling spray paint. I used GW Chaos Black.

2. Construction!

• To measure the length of double-sided tape to go around the tea light, wrap the string around the tea light. Cut the string where it meets.
• Use the string to measure-off lengths of double-sided tape (x1 for each tea light obviously)
• Wrap the double-sided tape around the edge of the tea light.

Wrap the double sided tape around the edge of the tea light.
You can see that the tape is about the same width as the tea light.

• For the top of the tea light, add glue, as below. (If you don't have glue, cut small strips of double-sided tape down to size and put them on the top.) Doing this will mean your filling is more securely attached to your tea light later.

Put glue (or small strips of double-sided tape) on top of the tea light.

• Tease out your stuffing into large blobs. Experiment with the shape. Some people glue balls of cotton wool together, but I just teased out some shapes from big pieces of stuffing.

HINT: I found one good effect was for taller "clouds" was to twist it round and up, so that it looks like a vortex of smoke and flame.

• Peel off the backing on the double-sided tape and attach the stuffing on top, pushing around the base firmly. Also press down on the top of the tea light so the stuffing gets attached there. (If you are using glue rather than double-sided tape, search on YouTube to find some examples of how to attach!)

Tease out the stuffing into the size and shape you want.

NOTE: Before attaching/ gluing stuffing to the tea light, poke a hole for the tea light in the bottom of the stuffing and try a dry fit!. 

Check: Can you see the glow of the tea light clearly? If NOT, then consider teasing away some more stuffing until you have a glow you are happy with. Do this NOW, as it will be harder to do after you have painted the stuffing.

3. Painting

• Spray the stuffing black, lightly at first. As you spray towards the top of the stuffing, use lighter and lighter passes from further away, so the top of the smoke is grey, rather than black.
• If you prefer a darker look (thick black smoke) then spray more black at the bottom of the stuffing, as this is where the thicker smoke will look best (in my opinion!)

OPTIONAL: Some people drybrush orange or yellow paint on the bottom of the stuffing, but after seeing how it looked with the tea light on, I didn't think this was necessary (although it might look better).

After spray painting black

You're done! Now switch on the tea lights, and you should get a nice, flickering orange glow!

To see how they look on the table, here is (very!) short video!

They also look OK on buildings (this was my first ever scenery, a bunker...)

BONUS TIP: If you can't get tea lights, just spray the stuffing following the steps above. You can easily attach it to vehicles by either just dropping them on top, or removing a turret and wedging in the bottom of the stuffing (the darker part).

The photo below used just spray paint and stuffing, but it still looks good IMHO!

Smoke effects, no tea lights inside!

Let me know your feedback!

Cheers,

Squeek