Contemptor Kevin's Combat Patrol Issue #44 Review

Issue 44 is yet another painting issue. Sort of. You see, while we get two pots in this issue, one of them is actually a big pot of Astrogranite. So what does Combat Patrol want us to do with this, and will this make my life the weekend before Adepticon significantly easier? Let's find out. As always, thank you to Hachette and Goonhammer for the opportunity to review these models, magazines, and materials.

Narrative Materials

This issue's narrative starts off by telling us about Gork and Mork. These two brother deities are the embodiment of low kunnin' and savage brutality. Gork is the Ork god of brutality, but he is also pretty kunnin'. Meanwhile, Mork is the Ork god of kunnin', but he is also pretty brutal. Both empower the Warboss in Mega Armour. The followers of Gork charge screaming at the enemy and kick them in the teeth until a long while after they're smooshed. The followers of Mork sneak up behind the enemy and bash 'em in the skull. The article showcases the boons of Gork and Mork: Mechanical Mayhem in the form of Stompas, Divine Motives to power grots, Weird Energy to enable Weirdboyz, and Visions of War to inspire the biggest and baddest Orks into WAAAGHs!!!

Evil Sunz Stompa

Credit: Silks

Continuing on the theme of warfare, we have a listing of Ranged Weapons. Did you know that "Ranged weapons take a central place in most armies' arsenals"? The article explains that "There is great diversity across all armies throughout the galaxy, but one thing that they all rely on is the power of their ranged weapons to turn the tide of battle in their favour." We get a list of the standard issue weapons wielded by basic BATTLELINE units - Lasguns, Boltguns, Gauss Reapers, Splinter Rifles; special weapons like Ork Burnas, hot-shot lasguns, and Cawl Pattern Plasma Incinerators. Lastly, the most fearsome infantry weapons include Tyranid Venom Cannons, Thousand Sons Soulreaper Cannons, and Votann Magna-Rail Rifles.

The last part of the narrative is Bonds of Honour Part 11. When we last left Askarton Squad, they were at a Chaos Space Marine wreck when they heard the roar of an Ork WAAAGH!!!. This Intercessor Squad was facing a bunch of Boyz, their Nobz, and Deffkoptas stuttering through the air. Askarton Squad did the mental math and skedaddled, letting the Orks loot the Heretic wreck. Askarton Squad regrouped and found the Ork warcamp, and set about trying to destroy the Deffkoptas in a night raid. However, during the raid, the sneaking Space Marines were themselves snuck up upon by an Ork Kommando unit. An alarm was raised, and Askarton Squad was in deep, deep trouble.

Kommandos. Credit: Rockfish

Hobby Materials

We get a pot of Astrogranite, one of GW's mainstay basing paints, a pot of Administratum Grey, and a texture tool in order to spread around the Astrogranite on the various bases for the Combat Patrol miniatures we have build and painted so far.

For most of the models in this subscription, I think the texture tool and pot of Astrogranite are fine for someone's first basing. This way, the novice hobbyist has the ability to make their armies consistently based, and the pot and texture tool are sufficient to get the job done. It's more of a pain on the bases for the Psychophage and Helbrute, because those bases are significantly bigger and take longer to scoop out basing materials and base. This is why Monument Hobbies now offers basing materials in tubes: easier to squeeze onto the base of a model. The texture tool has some other uses, such as stirring paint mixes together in airbrushes.

Painted with Astrogranite Gray

The other pot is Administratum Grey, a Citadel layer paint light grey. I was happy with this because I was about to go to the store to get more Administratum Grey when I opened this issue and found a pot of the paint waiting for me. And so onto the model it went. How did I apply Administratum Grey to a Mortek Crawler, you ask? I did as this issue recommends: Drybrushing! This issue has a guide to drybrushing: It explains how you load up the brush, apply the paint to raised edges and flat surfaces. The issue explains how to correct mistakes made with drybrushing with Overloaded Brushes, and how to clean up the drybrush afterwards.

Mortek Crawler painted with Administratum Grey drybrushing, WIP. Credit: Contemptor Kevin Stillman

The painting guide for the issue is relatively simple: You apply the Astrogranite to model bases, coat the molded surfaces and textured surfaces with Nuln Coil, then drybrush the bases with Administratum Grey. Which is a technique I use often in my bases, so it's nice to see it shared.

Gaming Materials

The gaming materials for this issue are relatively thin: we get the aircraft rules (which don't actually apply in Combat Patrol) and the Mustering Armies rule (which also doesn't really apply in Combat Patrol). Oh well, not every section can be a winner. It does appear that the Aircraft section in the magazine matches up closely with the rules as they are currently written in 40K 10th edition.

Ultramarines Thunderhawk Gunship. Credit: Kevin Stillman

The Final Verdict

I enjoyed this issue, because this issue gave me something I was about to walk out the door and get in my car in order to go pick up. The issue also gave me instructions on how to use the paint I needed with my model. On top of that, this issue's hobby content MSRP is greater than the retail price of the issue because of the inclusion of the texture tool. If you are a Contemptor Kevin or doing bases in my style, it's a pretty good issue with stuff you'll use.

Until next time Combat Patrolers!

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Tags: reviews | combat patrol | Contemptor Kevin | Hachette