Buckaroo Mathhammer

More Star Wars Pics

2012-02-12T18:02:00.000Z

Well, that pic i sent Bell of lost souls got posted way sooner that i thought (ie 24 hours). so here is a few more pics and some old ones at the top of the blog so you havent got to scroll down :)

Personal Acheivement unlocked - get models in local store's cabinet (where they still are lol)

The duel - the reason that luke is named is that every single model (80+) is named. so there are battlestar galatica squad, star trek squad etc etc.

Star trek squad - Wesley Crusher and the Crushettes. (Wesley is hard as nails)

Outflank! i lost this game....

This was Jo's Models in the best army nomination cabinet

Humming ride of the valkyries (i also lost this game)

Transformers Squad

Darth in the Cabinet

The Whole Army

The Empire of the Imperium

2012-02-12T17:17:00.000Z

So, after Luke informed me of the photo on BoLS, I realised that there aren't many WIP pics of my Star Wars Army. So.........

Also some shots of the finished bits.

Salamanders....

2012-02-11T09:43:00.000Z

So. i admit that the other day I may have posted about howling griffons. ive provided a picture for your viewing pleasure (i know that they dont have back packs)

My issue is, i was talking to jo and kinda came across the idea that actually my howling griffons army list is so simliar to my current salamanders i could just save time, and more importantly money by expanding them out ot how i liked.What does everybody think? I feel like im suddenly waking up to find that GW has been screwing me over and i dont need a new colour of superhuman warrior. especially when i already have a vanilla flavour sitting on the shelf with thier tasty lava based goodness.. http://lightningandfire.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-lava-bases.html Obvioulsy i would go back over them and touch them up, they are the first batch of warrior i painted in my "grown up" phase, where i learned what a basecoat and ink was. they have a lot of detail already, but i just want the to look super you know? Is this over a wise and vaild tactic, since it will allow me build up a larger collection of green plastic crack?

Howling Griffons

2012-02-05T22:50:00.000Z

Suprise! a post. I dont think that tonight i will stay up and watch the superbowl, but this is what i am currently working on. howling griffons! whoop whoop. i bought the blood angels codex, and whilst i love the fluff and would love a DOA army, i am currently considering a spud cannon army out of the normal marine codex. with lysander, three thunderfires and some TH/SS terminators.

in other news, i finished this book. its pretty awesome, i would recomend it. even though its written by gav thorpe. i would suspect that it is all we will see of the raven gaurd in the main story line at least, as (without giving away anything) most ofthe loose ends in the book are tied up rather nicely. in my next post i will try and put up some howling griffons pics. i think they look very very pretty.

01100110110!

2011-10-14T21:23:00.003+01:00

Hello Everyone,

First post on this blog is before the Throne Of Skulls tournament that is in roughly 11hours, my first Throne Of Skulls tournament too!

Alright so I really should have given you WIP pictures to look at and you know, keep an eye on progress. However progress on my army went from nothing to complete within 7 days, yes you read that right 7 days.
Now how do you build, paint and base a 1750 point army in 7 days - the easy answer is probably found by asking a different question, what army am I taking? The answer is Necrons with what most consider there battered old codex not a very competitive army but Im looking for a bit of fun not to go out and stomp everyone into oblivion.

So when planning the army I had three choices; Destroyers, Monoliths or a horde of Warriors. In the end I went with Destroyers and this is what it looks like:

[IMG]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/PeteyTheBear/Models/DSCF0287.jpg[/IMG]

Thats a rough army shot at least and well yes I do want some Destroyers with my Destroyers. The army list is as following;

Necron Lord

Destroyer Body, Resurrection Orb, Nightmare Shroud, Warscythe

210pts

Necron Lord

Resurrection Orb, Solar Pulse, Disruption Field

165pts

TROOPS

Necron Warriors

10 Warriors

180pts

Necron Warriors

10 Warriors

180pts

FAST ATTACK

Destroyers

5 Destroyers

250pts

Destroyers

5 Destroyers

250pts

Destroyers

5 Destroyers

250pts

HEAVY SUPPORT

Heavy Destroyers

2 Heavy Destroyers

130pts

Heavy Destroyers

2 Heavy Destroyers

130pts

Now in the spirit of Tournaments I have to finish painting my objectives, Hope you all enjoyed the read.

-Dextrous Wombat

The Empire Strikes Back

2011-10-10T20:10:00.001+01:00

Well, the Emperor's finest is finished. I'm happy that the theme has stayed with me and I'm not worried that I will lose most if not all of my games at the weekend but hey at least my army will look good whilst I loose!

So the list is simple:

HQ........................................................................................................(250pts)

1: Darth Vader (Mephiston, Lord of Death)........................................250pts

Elites.....................................................................................................(425pts)

1: Guardian Droid (Furioso Dreadnought)..........................................125pts

2: Guardian Droid (Furioso Dreadnought)..........................................125pts

3: Guardian Droid (Furioso Dreadnought)..........................................175pts
* Magna Grapple (15pts)
* Drop Pod (35pts)
Storm Bolter

Troops...................................................................................................(790pts)

1: Jump Troopers (Assault Squad).....................................................120pts
4x Assault Marines (72pts), Veteran Sergeant (28pts)
* Land Raider Redeemer (240pts),

2: Stormtroopers (Tactical Squad).....................................................410pts
Flamer, Missile Launcher, 9x Tactical Marine (144pts), Veteran Sergeant (26pts)
* Razorback (20pts)
Twin Linked Heavy Bolter

3: Stormtroopers (Tactical Squad)......................................................260pts
Flamer, Missile Launcher, 9x Tactical Marine (144pts), Veteran Sergeant (26pts)
* Razorback (90pts)
Twin Linked Lascannon (35pts)

Fast Attack..............................................................................................(80pts)

1: Speeder Bikes (Scout Bike Squadron).............................................80pts
Combi-Melta (10pts), 2x Space Marine Biker (50pts), Veteran Sergeant (40pts)

Heavy Support......................................................................................(200pts)

1: Imperial Shuttle (Stormraven Gunship)..........................................200pts
Twin Linked Lascannon, Twin Linked Multi-Melta

Total: 1745 Points

And now the photos:

I think the army has come on well I especially love the objective markers!

I will report how I did after the weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Its Life Jim, But Not As We Know It

2011-09-04T10:58:00.004+01:00

A Blog Post! (Finally)

So, I’ve finished the four squads of penal legion. And two xwings! The cool part of the army is done! The swirling vortex of geek continues as I now have a BSG, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1 and Transformers squad. Think the veterans are going to be Firefly, and maybe Babylon 5.

I have, however, worked out that I have only just over a month... which is less good. I'm currently painting the veteran squads, as rebel fleet troopers. Don’t think I’ve quite nailed the blue, but I'm really happy with the colours actually. Gotta buy a whole bunch of plastic Meltaguns and heavy flamers (I'm really trying to stick to the no metal rule if I can) anyways, here is what they look like:

Gonna try and bash out the other 5 over the next day or so, and maybe then buy my 3rd xwing. In other news, have you seen the ogre kingdom models? There is this guy: the ogre ninja. AMAZING. Whilst I'm not always a fan of new models (especially atm, some of them are really not my taste) this guy is frankly hilarious.

an ogre, thats a ninja!

A Quick One

2011-08-19T16:27:00.002+01:00

I am now onto my 4th penal legion squad! im taking them on holiday with me (i leave in about 5 mins.)hopefully that will be ok with my family! i hope to get most of them done this week, so i can go onto maybe some storm troopers when i get back! i played three games last week, and drew two and won one. (though one was with teclis)having two xwings flying around was pretty inspiring! playing is what keeps me painting i think!

sunshine, star wars and scotland

2011-08-02T19:50:00.001+01:00

So, this is a picture heavy blog post! Recently I have been to a test match, Glasgow, and also other things. I saw stranded ninjas truescale darth vader in person, seems pretty awesome! It is hot today, and I have been painting my second xwing outside! The airbrush gun allowed me to already be on other colours that aren’t the base colour, which pleases me. There is still a lot of work to be done on it, but its on its way.

There are 3 squads now, transformers, star trek and battlestar galatica. After the second xwing, ill probly do the last squad and then move onto the veterans and storm troopers! I haven’t found a decent conversion for luke skywalker! I don’t know if I should be basing the veterans of death korps or drop troopers, but both of those are expensive!

Xwings and roundabouts

2011-07-27T22:57:00.002+01:00

So. I haven't posted on here in ages! I totally take the responsibilty for that! I have built, and spray painted (I know get
Me!) the second xwing, code named the delta flyer. Pics soon :)

Jim........Robot Camels.

2011-07-18T23:20:00.001+01:00

Now themes are a great thing but fitting them into your army is hard.
We started with the Rebellion Vs the Empire which expanded to the Battle of Hoth which leads to a fairly obvious army list if you go by the theme.

However, that didn't fit with my Codex army list. Now, I've had several games and am tweaking my ToS list more and more. And obviously I need to have the models to represent the units......

......the problem with that is I don't like using proxies. Yes I have done as I'm sure we all have counted something as something else but I didnt like doing it.

So I give you the current built section of my Imperial Empire......

The AT-AT is still WiP as there are several holes yet to fill but it counts as a Landraider Redeemer, the Biker Scouts are to be painted, the Stormtroopers need a little tweaking and Darth Vader is still a WiP but he is converted following the "Artscale" method from:
http://masteroftheforge.com/2010/08/08/tutorial-actual-scale-space-marine/

The green stuff on Vader has definatley been the most infuriating so far and I've still got his head and cape to do!!

Well, more updates soon and remember........

........For The Emperor!

Can't post!

2011-07-18T23:15:00.001+01:00

I can't post so follow me here:

http://thespacesharks.blogspot.com/

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The First of Many.

2011-06-29T10:18:00.000+01:00

Well I havn't posted anything for a while.

My Troopers, Dreadnaughts & Ravens are built. The Drop Pods are on their way and I have now had my first couple of games in sunny Glasgow.
Here is how they broke down:

Game 1- Vs Deathwing

Pretty bad for this one, we both were deep striking. He had lots of Krak missiles and proceeded to take out a Stormraven a turn.

I'm glad I didn't win though. As the game itself was a great insight into the kind of Tournament army I may come against. In hindsight, I don't think I should've deep stroked and gone for a classic "camp in the corner" approach.

Game 2- Vs Space Wolves

As I'm used to playing Lightnings Wolves, I felt fairly confident of this one. Lee went first and spread out across the board, myself concentrating on the Razorbacks & Rhinos. I lost a Furioso after it assaulted the unit on his objective and subsequently got its head sliced off by Wolfen! The moment for me in this battle was my immobilised Dreadnought using its Magna grapple to pull an immobilised Razorback towards it. Even though the tank 'moved' I could still automatically hit because of its status!
We got toturn six and think had turn seven showed, I would have lost but a draw is a draw and nothing to be sniffed at!

I now look forward to next week as I have a couple of tactics I want to try out.

More soon........

Flying on a (x) wing and a prayer

2011-06-10T17:52:00.004+01:00

Sorry for the absence of posting... I wanted to wait until I had something to show you... hope its worth the wait!

So, this is my first X wing! The base isn’t done yet. I did try a full snow base, which worked but didn’t look good. So I'm going for the classic sand method. This first shot is of the whole thing side on. It hasn’t got any kill markings on it, I haven’t decided on how to go about that.

The cockpit was a COMPLETE pain in the bum. It didn’t fit quite right; I’ve had to green stuff the gaps (which looks not so awesome.) The things that I'm particularly pleased about with this model are the freehand, the stability, the fact that it looks as good as I hoped it would, and that I painted the guys inside the cockpit.

The things that I’ve learnt for next time are to pin the wings, make sure the cockpit lines up properly, and to use as spray gun. Seriously, I cannot be bothered to paint that much surface area twice more. I think using a airbrush for the next two will be faster, and provide more even coverage with no brush strokes. Furthermore, if I knock all the paint up at once, it will all be the same colour!

Next I intend to paint probly 2 more squads of penal legion, just cos I'm a bit sick of painting vehicles.

The first rule of Geek club

2011-05-24T22:47:00.002+01:00

Is that you don’t talk about Geek club. Very similar to Glee Club, Tea Club or any other club with Brad Pitt in (yes he does follow this blog). other rules of Geek Club include (but are not limited too) making sure you spend all day in your room painting Warhammer, avoiding social contact, and prioritising Geek activities over everything else. Behold my contribution to Geek Club this week:

This has essentially taken me ages to get to this point. And for some reason, the model really stinks. Think its cos I spray painted onto unset green stuff. Meh. The bits that aren’t so grey painted are going to be red squad markings. The mix is Bleached Bone/Boltgun Metal at a 2.5:1 ratio. Ive actually used so much on this guy that I had to go to GW Leicester to replenish my paints today specially. I said to the staff member in there that it was for my xwing, and he said “oh you’re the guy that's making that.” which pleased me! Whoever it is that is telling people, please keep raving about me! All for a good cause (my ego).

In other news, I was supposed to play fantasy tomorrow night. I have found (hopefully) a new group of people to play with now Stranded Ninja is going to Glasgow. I think that this blog may grow a little into a Fantasy Blog as well, even though project Far Far Away remains my primary concern. I already feel behind and its May lol.

GW Price Hike

2011-05-18T22:24:00.002+01:00

Now. working in retail i understand that things are getting more expensive. being single and having loads of spare cash price hikes are more of annoyance than something that will stop me playing. but i think i agree with the overall sentiment of this article. seems to me that certain areas are getting a raw deal... this was written by Kirby over at 3++.

I normally hate these type of posts and avoid writing them like the plague. Most of these type of articles just end up complete whining or asshatery (though I did love SandWyrm's) which isn't really necessary but what has happened recently has lead me to write this. Before we get to the letter though some information. Games Workshop has changed their terms and conditions for stores in the United Kingdom to only allow shipping to countries within the European Union and other parts of Europe. They have increased their prices again come June and have announced the released of resin and mixed resin/plastic sets instead of metals with an approximate increase of 2.5-25% depending upon the set. None of these sets are new but rather re-casts.

Letter time!

To Games Workshop,

Why? No seriously, why? I'm sure the excuse of cutting off Australasia and other countries (Canada, India, Korea, South American countries, etc.) to benefit the independent and GW store sales in Australia sounded good but unless you cut the prices here to not be a ridiculous 200% higher price than overseas, it's not going to happen. Let's look at this logically. You've stopped us from buying from stores like Maelstrom and Wayland with an embargo agreement in your Terms and Conditions (remember globalisation? how's that going btw?). Does this mean we are going to now buy at RRP in Australia or other countries? No.

There are other outlets overseas we can buy from which are still much cheaper (hi America), other companies which you cannot touch without raising a helluva lot of crap (hi ebay) and people who are willing to ship to us overseas (hello family and friends) without the 200% tax. We won't be getting as huge a discount as before but it's much better than buying here at RRP. The other option is of course going to be quitting which I imagine some people are going to do. Check out this thread on WargamerAU where a lot of people are indicating they are. The ultimate bottom line? Your bottom line suffers (more people leaving) and the retailers in Australia do not benefit.

Now I'm all for one in supporting the locals. I buy all my products such as spray paint, paints, plasticard, magnets, drills + bits, modelling putty, brushes, etc. from Australia. As an aside, do you actually stock good quality merchandise for all of those options? I don't see you selling plasticard, magnets, good sized drillbits, custom bases, etc. I'd be happy to pay a 5-10% premium on these objects compared to other stores to support your business but then again, I don't really want to support your business currently do I? The point of any business is to make a profit but the problem with your business model is you do not do this whilst concurrently supporting your customer base. We don't ask for much but a short list would look like...

not raising prices every year, without fail, regardless of the economic situation or inflation rates
basing prices around the world upon exchange rates (I wouldn't be averse to paying 20% more in Australia compared to the UK or America locally but I am adverse to paying twice as much) - there are circumstances in each country that make operating there more or less expensive but you need a base retail price for your product which is then translated by exchange rates at a given time (i.e. quarterly) rather than a price set many, many years ago. It's part of being in a global market.
regular and quick FAQs - you've done a fantastic job IMO of creating some pretty balanced books for 5th edition, fix the grey areas quickly.
official erratas - man up and admit you've made mistakes (hi Tyranids) and work on erratas that are official and re-print the books with these amendments. Admitting a mistake and fixing it isn't a problem and I'd applaud you for it. Ignoring a problem is.
fix Fantasy - you did it with 40k, why go backwards with Fantasy?
don't think your customer base is moronic - the resin re-cast to be cheaper than metals whilst hiking prices, not fooling anyone.

Ultimately people in Australia and other countries go overseas for their Games Workshop products for a reason: it's significantly cheaper (I.e. half price). What motivation is there to therefore buy from our locals when you aren't treating your customers with loyalty and support? People will walk away and your bottom line will hurt. A simple solution: care about your customers. Change the Australian (and other countries) prices so they are at least similar to the UK and US. This doesn't have to be the exact same price but some parity would be greatly appreciated.

Here's a quick example. If you could buy a similar product for $45 compared to $150, what would you do? How about if the product was the exact same but if you ordered it overseas it was $80 compared to $150 by the time it reached your door step? I'm pretty sure you'd want to take the cheaper option correct? For you as a company, you make your profit margin through the reseller regardless of where it is purchased. You may make more money off a direct sale at an Australian store compared to an Internet sale from the UK but you have already achieved the profit margin from the Internet sale already. The Australian stores may be hurting but this is down to the initial price you have set, not market trends. Simply put, you are alienating customers from a large and developing market.

I and many of the readers here obviously enjoy your game. We've played it through thick and thin (4th edition...) or come back thanks to an improvement game balance (5th edition) and don't want to leave. We will though sooner or later if you keep piling on idiotic choices on us. Other companies like Privateer Press did very well in the early to mid-2000s for a reason and people will migrate to other gaming systems if you continue to mistreat them and their loyalty.

As it stands I question why you do the things you do. Raising prices every year annoys me but I cannot complain too loudly as your products are a luxury item but you do not provide excellent customer service one usually expects with such goods. I certainly find minimal fault with your staff or when your product is damaged/faulty but your overarching business model seems counter-intuitive to maintaining a customer base. Even if you are getting a large amount of new customers imagine how much better off your company would be if you had maintained a significant portion of your repeat customers. The model you are running currently to me does not seem sustainable as your turnover rate in customers is just too high. I applaud your efforts in making 40k 5th edition a more competitive game but what you've done to Fantasy 8th edition doesn't bode well for the future.

Please, look to satisfy both the shareholders and the customer rather than just the former.

Kirby.

P.S. Anyone who agrees with this, I would greatly appreciate this being re-posted on your blog so we might actually garner GW's attention and hopefully move forward together. That is the ultimate goal, I want Games Workshop to succeed as a company so I can continue to enjoy the gaming systems I do but to do that, Games Workshop must look at altering their business model in the long run to maintain a steady customer base.

P.P.S. keep it civil in the comments kids and don't bitch, discuss.

Joining The Dark Side?

2011-05-18T01:48:00.003+01:00

So, after a week of silence I thought I should update. Not much has happened since I built the first X-Wing, but here is a run down:

• Lost to Stranded ninja twice in the last week. Once in anhilation and once in Capture and control. He knows my dirty little tricks now, and that's how my army works....

• Have ordered all the lascannons I need of ebay, and they are on their way to me now  excited!

• I now have two fully painted squads of penal legion / Rebel pilots. One Star Trek squad and one Battlestar Galatica Squad. I did some nice freehand on the sergeants shoulderpad. Unfortuantly there is no pic to go with this at this time. (I will try and update that shortly)

• I've realised that I love Lego

Essentially my plans now are to really try and being to nail the models. What with Stranded Ninja moving to Glasgow in just over a week I'm loosing my gaming partner and my best friend. Both of these things suck, but its gonna leave me with loads more time. Some of this will be taken up by the Bible Group Leadership that I'm starting, but I intend to try and paint loads now.

Other exciting news is that I may have found another gaming outlet. There is a club called the Leicester Sabres that meets near me at a time that I can go to. Plus somebody I met at church actually goes, so I'm hoping that that's a way in. As ever, the road to every epic fail will be covered right here......

I Have A Bad Feeling About This

2011-05-11T22:18:00.004+01:00

So, I have not post on here, probably for two weeks. But that's because I haven’t done anything overly new. I've been painting my pilots, (I'm now up to 13 guys hooray!) and I finally assembled the beast below with stranded ninjas help.

Man this turned out to be much more of a pain in the ass than I thought it would be. But, it looks AWESOME. Ok I accept that the wings are not quite in proportion compared to a real X wing, but considering my goal is “GW or Bust” and not to use any other models, I'm quite happy. I kinda want this army to end up in a display cabinet at GW Leicester, but I'm not sure that it will (as it is Star Wars). That is of course much more likely if its just GW models. Plus I kinda like the challenge. So those are my reasons.

I intend to slap some Lasscannons on the ends of the wings, and it will be a wizzywig Vendetta. Awesome right? Homework wise... im considering printing Tshirts for the Tourney with star wars (or familsy guy star wars) quotes on. what are peoples favourites? mine is "I really hope they dont have giant robot camels" from something something darkside.

In A Cage Of Emotion

2011-04-25T10:36:00.005+01:00

Ok so, little update from my world of Warhammer! This week I finished the 10 models I had (pics below, ordered some more bits for my xwing conversion from America (they haven’t turned up yet) and played Stranded Ninja.

So, these are the finished models. They are from 2 different squads because I realised that I had forgot to model a sergeant so I painted the last 3 up as green squadron. Furthermore, I realised that I hadn’t used any pilot helmets. I intend to use the spare helmets from the Valkyrie to make it look like some of the models are actually pilots. At least that's the master plan. I have actually run out of stuff to paint, since Im only painting project far far away at the moment.

Every model has something interesting going on with the base; this guy is supposed to have one of the storm trooper helmets on his base. Furthermore, ive decided to name each of the squads after something Geek centred. These two are Star Trek and Battlestar Galatica, with squads to follow of Star wars, Babylon 5, Stargate, etc etc. I intend to create a swirling geek vortex that will cause such a nerdgasm the people playing me have no choice but to concede....

In the game against stranded ninja, things did not go according to plan. Some things that normally happen took place (we played pass the baby with his daughter – i.e. I hold her in his go, and he in mine) but aside from that things did not. He used a DOA blood angel’s army, at which point I kinda lost the plot. I’ve changed my list a tiny bit, and managed to squeeze in two squads of veterans who wield Meltaguns and heavy flamers. So it now looks like this:

Yarrick x1
Penal legion x4
Veterans with Meltagun x2, Heavy Flamer. X2
Storm Troopers with Plasma gun x2 and Plasma Pistol. X2
Vendetta x2
Valkyrie with Rocket Pods x1
Hydra x3

I'm actually pretty happy with this list (thou the proxying is getting confusing) but I think it gives me more tactical ability whilst only mildly taking away from the “wing and a prayer” aspect of the army. It means that one of the Storm Trooper Squads Outflanks with all my Penal Legion whilst the vets ride with the other squad in my Air Cav. It does take me to higher number of kill points, but I don’t mind that.

So the game in hand did not go well for me. We got kill points and spearhead. I elected to go second (this army really likes going second) and promptly castled in a corner, about a foot square. Bad idea. It meant when his drop pods, storm ravens, dreadnoughts and Mephiston came down I was in a glass cage of emotion of my own design.

Having said how much I like my vets squads, they did sweet nothing. When the first and second Talon Dreads came down, I promptly blew all the arms and legs off the pair of them, but took until TURN 5 to kill them both (and even then the big toy boys had to pitch in!)

Essentially, I wasn’t really able to play keep away and was behind from the very start. I ended up losing 4-6 of KPs at the bottom of turn 5. I think I probably should of castled in the centre (the terrain was pretty meh for the whole board) just so that he couldn’t box me in so easily and then my outflanks would have been nearer to help, as lot of the time it really was eggs in one basket that turned out to be more like a wonky sieve.

And the X wing Conversion? well... hopefully thats what im going to be working on next. stay glued to this space.

Im not dead!

2011-04-17T13:11:00.003+01:00

So yeah, getting a bit lax on the updates of late. “real life” or whatever that is, is beginning to try and take over for me. Standing for election does that you I guess. Anyways, just wanted to share a few pics of the rebel troopers that I’ve nearly finished!

As you can see, they aren’t based yet. But you can kinda see the rebel alliance icon on the side of their heads. These guys are red squadron, still need another 4 manly colours! Any ideas? Obviously they can’t clash with orange jump suit, or the red rebellion logo.

Dont Let The Sun Go Down On Me (or the rebellion)

2011-04-07T19:21:00.003+01:00

So, just a quick update with a few pics. These guys aren’t sprayed, just got the scopes today and have been gluing them on. Trying to mimic the rebel rifles (badly). I've been considering getting some Elysian’s in for the storm trooper models, but that’s EXPENSIVE. In other news, the feedback ive been getting (mainly from will) is that the grey knights cant take loosing models. This doesn’t suprise me. Look out for a stupid henchmen list on here soon :)

The Shunt Punch

2011-04-05T22:34:00.005+01:00

So, I confess, that this army list is a vague rip off of a Goatboy idea from Bell of Lost Souls. It is a 1750 Grey Knights list which I wrote on the train. An interesting point for me to make at this juncture is that actually I find I get tunnel vision with an army list. I'm really not into proxying, or trying new things. I like using the same list, week in week out and writing random army lists is a bit weird. I kinda feel like I have to put my money where my mouth is, and really live a list for a couple of months!

Shunt Punch – Mount Up!
Grand Master with Force Halberd 180

Terminators (5) with 4 Force Halberds and a Deamonhammer 200

Strike Squad (10) with 2 Psycannons, 2 Deamonhammers 240

Storm Raven with Multimelta and Lasscannon 205

Storm Raven with Multimelta and Lasscannon 205

Dreadnight with Personal Teleporter 205

Dreadnight with Personal Teleporter 205

Dreadnought with Heavy Flamer, Assault Cannon and Psybolt Ammunition. 140

Vindicare Assassin 145

1750

So the basic plan with this list is a complete alpha strike. You can guarantee that one of the Dreadnights will get Scout, and you have a 66% chance that they both will. With this army you really, really want to be going first. Its not essential, or a catch all (against DOA I would reserve) but you basically get both of your Dreadnights in combat top of turn 1 if you go first. They then become a massive pain, with the rest of your army (all mounted in the two storm ravens) follow in with the second wave, ensuring that you really push one flank over by start of turn 3.

The one exception to this is the Vindicare. He infiltrates in a sexy position and starts popping power fists, Lasscannons, pack leaders and sangquinary priests. If he is being shot, excellent! He is pretty much not important to the plan, more of a wild card. Guns aimed at him means guns not aimed at shiny grey stuff. Guns not aimed at him means he gets to keep plugging away.

In summary, w00t!

A Different Colour Of Grey

2011-04-04T02:00:00.000+01:00

So, ive had my hands on the new Grey Knight Codex for around 48 hours. I think that it is suitably shiney, and may even throw down a list or two in the near future on this blog (and perhaps even the real world) just a couple of quick observations, this is by no means my definitive or comprehensive opinion just yet.

1/. No more fearless! Awesome – fearless armour saves are really not cool.

2/. The shunt punch is totally on. More on this soon

3/. You can give storm ravens scout – hot damn! I was looking forwards to loading one full of stuff and putting it in my opponents face before the game even started

4/. There seems to be no limit on the number of assassins you can take – whilst you aren’t allowed to take 3 Vindicares (they are unique models) it seems like you could take a rainbow of three of them. Which would be cool.

5/. The assassin stat line is better, although I'm not overly keen on that the Callidus can no longer jump into combat straight away. Or that the Eversor doesn’t always wound on a 4+. (but I do like unlimited special ammo for the Vindicare)

6/. Grand Master Draigo is Filth. Pure Filth.

7/. I cant afford these guys along with Project FFA (Far Far Away) but I totally would love to have both.

More on this soon...

The Rebellion

2011-03-29T21:01:00.002+01:00

So, thought I should post to let you all know I'm not dead! I have been busy working on... stuff? Well, actually very little! Mt penal legion has begun something of a reign of terror in the gaming world that is my imagination. I have drawn once, and won 2 (or 3) times. Me and stranded ninja have been hard at work thinking about themes and cool things to make our (my) massive ass whooping at the GT more bearable. We’ve tentatively decided on something like this...

Can you guess what it is yet? Stay tuned for more models looking like this, and some looking like they are from a galaxy far far away.....

Fighting Fire With Fire

2011-03-17T15:15:00.003Z

Fighting Fire With Fire
So, in the last two days I’ve painted 3 models (including a new “me” – more on that later) and won twice whilst drawing once. I’ve been using this list.

1st game against stranded ninja

We played spearhead with 5 objectives. However, since we were playing 1750, I added 3 Hydras. He had a Land Raider, 2 Storm Ravens and far too many blood angels for my liking, and some terminators with Tyberos. He didn’t realise that all of my penal legion were outflanking, and then three squads jumped the Terminators in turn two. I think I killed like, 2? Eventually it came down to the fact that I was holding 1 objective, which he couldn’t reach because of the terrain, to his two. I finally managed to shoot both his scoring units dead and kept the death company off mine. A win on the mission objectives, but I did spend some amount of time playing keep away to be honest.

2nd game against World Eaters at GW Leicester

So, this was dawn of war with 5 objectives. Again, this guy had never seen this army before (barely even played me) so I let him deploy first and kept everything off. He had 3 squads of Berserkers, Khan, 2 Squads of Summoned Daemons, 2 very cool transformer type defilers and 2 squads of chosen.The random element of the penal legion is something I'm beginning to fall in love with, especially when it comes to getting knife fighters off right. I came on with my Vendettas on my left flank and began to pull his army away from the centre, which was where most of the objectives were. His chosen came on and popped one of my Vendettas. My favourite point in this battle promptly followed as my outflankers outflanked him, and promptly murdered him.

I managed to contest the objectives he was scoring, and drag him off the ones he was on to charge me, so I got a draw! Kudos to my opponent really, because he didn’t have to charge me, and didn’t have time to get back to his objective.

3rd game against Ian’s Ravenwing

This ended up being a dawn of war, kill points game. I reserved everything, and thought that I would really be screwed as everything in his army could move as fast as mine. So, a ran over to my extreme right this time, and over the course of three turns he ran at me in about 3 waves. This was great, as my plasma death storm troopers and Lasscannons made him wade through his own superhuman blood. Yarrick didn’t even get out of his Fortress of Flying Arrogance until the 6th turn when his Vendetta moved flat out and they all successfully jumped without dying in front the last biker squad.

I promptly received the charge from Chaplin and his dress wearing buddies, and was wiped out to a man. Though it did make for a suitably epic end to the game! The highlight for this game was killing Sammael with Penal Legion. I literally killed the Master of the Ravenwing with a Knife, blowing his flying Land Raider out of the Sky.

And, as promised, here is a picture of the new “me.” As you can see, he is wearing yellow! (My favourite colour.) And I thought that it would be cool to have a pink las pistol!

Grey is the new black!

2011-03-09T20:47:00.001Z

Well, the Grey Knights are up for advance order. That's here

And after the "ooo's" & "aaah's", I'm quite disappointed at the Marines and Terminators, I kind of expected a new direction "a la" Dark Eldar. Draigo's shield is nice (tempting me to do a Grey Knight Imperial Fist army!) but the rest of the model is pretty standard.

The only things that have really caught my attention are the Nemesis Dreadknight and the Codex!

The Dreadknight:

The pictures on GW's website show the same stance but with the different arm options. With the variation of poses that can be made with the Defiler, that was surprising. Watch this space though, as when one gets into my grubby mits, the pose will be a lot more dynamic!!

The Codex:

Nothing new here if you've been reading the rumours/leaked copy but obviously the official book may change what we think we know.

I just want to see how the Stormravens are affected!

On a lighter note, have you ever noticed that most of Games Workshop's "Beaky" Marines only look to the left?? More on that soon..........

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

New Photos and Models

2011-03-09T12:50:00.002Z

So I took some better photos of Tyberos using daylight instead of my desk lamp:

I also put together the 5 man Death Company that will join the Army:

You can see at the back there is the White Dwarf Subscription model from a few years back. I was going to cut off the Bolter and replace it with a Bolt Pistol but I couldn't bring myself to cut the model as it is nicely posed already!

More soon........

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Leicester

Special Weapons Troopers

2011-03-08T11:38:00.003Z

So, just a couple of models I’ve been working on... still can’t decide what to do for pack markings (although these guys aren’t in any one squad)

The Red Wake

2011-03-08T01:34:00.001Z

So on Sunday I collected my Tyberos "The Red Wake" from Lightning Slayer.....

.......On Monday I painted him.

Sorry about the yellowyness os the pics my digital camera doesn't like my flat's lighting!
Let me know what you think.

More soon.......

Black Library Live 2011

2011-03-06T10:56:00.008Z

So, I went to the Black Library Live 2011 this weekend. I had a really good time, got some killer photos, got Dan Abnett to sign my copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and fell asleep during Graham McNeil’s Q&A apparently at the point where he said that the 4th member of the Morningvale was still alive. We also went round the Warhammer World Museum which my friend Lee hadn’t seen, so yeah it was very cool!

I met Dan Abnett and got him to sign Honour Guard, Ghostmaker, Prospero Burns, Harry Potter 4 and a couple of others. I also got my pic taken with him as we can see. The most interesting things were attending the seminars and Q&A. Some of the stuff did end up like a Donald Rumsfeld Tribute band, in fact Dan even quoted him, but here are the interesting tit bits / gossip that you may or may not know.

Dan Abnett Q&A
• Brin Milo is not the Ensign Crusher of the Gaunt’s Ghosts Series... we may see him again. He also kind of implied that we may see Mkvenner again... in a sort of “who knows” way.
• After finishing the Ghosts Story arc, he is hopeful of writing up some pre Ghosts stuff in Gaunt’s life, when he was a cadet with the Hyrkans.
• Lijah Cue was only added in the Honour Guard rewrite after he lost 80% of the novel and had to rewrite the whole novel in a month

General Black Library Gossip
• There is a Legion of The Damned Battles Book in the works, due for spring next year
• HH Book on Caulth due for next spring also – written by Dan Abnett
• There is going to be a Space Marine Battles Book with 4 Short stories in it, linked to the 4 Chapters who are listed in the Space Marine Codex as operating in the containment area around the Eye of Terror
• Gaunt audio dramas hinted at
• M. Darkblade graphic novel omnibus due for print on demand release. It will contain every comic that he has ever been in, including the one where he has a dream of being flying around on a jet bike in 40k
• There will be at some point a Space Marine Battles Book on Mcragge and the Tyranid on Marine Action that occurs there.
• Bill King has in fact already submitted the 1st draft of all three Tyrion and Teclis books! Due for release at Games day next year.
• The plot for the audio drama surrounding Eisenhorn is called the Keeler something or other. Those of you with excellent memories will remember where we have heard of Keeler before? She was a remembrance on the vengeful spirit and basically a picture of Horus turns up at some black market auction, and Eisenhorn goes in with Bequin to sort it out. Due out for Christmas.
• There is going to be a HH Primarchs Novelette containing short Stories on 4 Primarchs due for early next year
1. G McNeil – Fulgrim
2. N Hien – Ferrus Mannus
3. G Thorpe – The Lion
4. R Sanders – The Alpha Legion Primarch(s)

The Space Sharks are coming!

2011-03-05T22:52:00.001Z

Okay, so when I was playing against Lightning Slayer last Wednesday, the subject of the Charcharodons came up along with the fact that they were originally named Space Sharks. Now, I looked online and found that this has been a heated discussion since Forge World announced them in 2010 so I won't go too far into it. Only to say that I prefer the name Space Sharks!

Anyhow, the other week I got my hands on 30 RTB01 Rogue Trader Marines. The heads and the bases were glued and that was it. I put 10 of them together but after that, I was at a loss as to what I would do with them. So I put them with a handful of other "Beaky" Marines and some old Scouts that were knocking about.

Now, after the topic of the Space Sharks' new name, I decided to use the old Marines to start a Space Shark army.

On Friday I took them to my local Games Workshop and sprayed them. I also got a game in against James (see Fridays post).

At 10am on Saturday I started painting and by 10pm I had finished them to an acceptable standard. All that is now left for me to do is paint a few extra details.

That's 22 Marines & 5 Scouts!
As per the scoring system in the side bar - I have just scored 81 points in a single day!!

More soon......

Sucking Black Blood

2011-03-04T20:52:00.002Z

The Game - 1.5k Seize Ground/Spearhead

Blood Angels Vs. Black Templars

So I took on a guy named James at Games Workshop Leicester today using what now seems to be my standard Blood Angels List;

HQ : Mephiston

Troops: 2 x Tactical Squads w/Missile Launcher & Flamer
Razorback w/Lascannon & Twin-linked Plasma Gun

5 man Death Company Squad w/Power Weapon & Thunder Hammer

Death Company Dreadnought w/Blood Talons & Magna Grapple

Elite: Furioso Dreadnought w/Blood Talons

Heavy: 3 x Stormravens w/Twin-linked Lascannons & Twin-linked Multi-Melta

On to the game......

I deployed first and set up as close to the centre as possible. Our objectives were spread evenly over the battlefield, myself holding one and James guarding another whilst the rest of his army cowered on the opposite hill.

In the first turn Mephiston and the Death Company Dreadnought flew over in a Stormraven and disembarked next to the unit of Templars, the other Stormraven went flat out over to the rest of the Templar army but lost its Lascannons.

Mephiston and the Dreadnought wiped out the Templar Squad and retreated away from an encroaching Landraider.

James then unleashed the Assault Terminators from the Landraider and proceeded to wreck the Death Company Dreadnought.

During the second turn, a Stormraven wrecked the Landraider and whittled the Terminator Squad down. Mephiston took on the remaining Terminators, only loosing 1 wound.

At turn three, the Stormraven that had lost it's Lascannon unloaded the Furioso Dreadnought and sent it into the other Templar Tactical Squad.

Mephiston continued his attack on the Terminators but lost 2 more wounds.

(The Cold One was used as an objective - NOT local wildlife!)

The Furioso bounded into The Emperor's Champion and struck a wound but lost one of its Blood Talons.

At that point (end of turn 3!) James called it a game as he only had 2 Tactical Marines left! I had only lost a Twin-linked Lascannon, three wounds from Mephiston & had a Dreadnought wrecked!

All-in-all another satisfactory win!

More soon.........

Cry God For England, Harry, and St George!

2011-03-03T02:34:00.003Z

The Defence Of Hades Hive

So. Imagine the scene. Your home is under attack, you need to defend yourself from your most hated enemy. Following a rousing speech given by your commander, you mount up into your gunships and head for the war. Sounds like Apocalypse Now don’t it? Well, it is in fact the Defence of Hades Hive, which is this week’s army list. This list is themed around a couple of key bits of text from Armageddon Lore. These mainly include, at the Hive Gangers fought vicious tunnel wars with the Ork burna boyz and looterz as Hades Hive fought to a man during the Second Armageddon war, and that Tanks were rolling of the production line and straight into the fire fight.

So the idea is that Yarrick has gathered around him a strike force to try and breakthrough in a key position in the defences. Check it out.
Commissar Yarrick
Storm Troopers (8) 2 Plasma Guns, Plasma Pistol and Power Sword Sarge
Storm Troopers (8) 2 Plasma Guns, Plasma Pistol and Power Sword Sarge
Storm Troopers (8) 2 Plasma Guns, Plasma Pistol and Power Sword Sarge
Vendetta
Vendetta
Vendetta
Penal Legionnaires x5

The whole force has scout, representing the home turf advantage that Hades Hive gives. Where the army theme really comes into its own is the Penal Legionnaires are original Necromunda models. Beyond awesome I know. Follow that up with some vague steel legion styling on the Vendettas and jobs a good un. The main way this would work is to outflank probably most if not all the Penal guys. They are no good in your deployment zone, and so much fun with rending. Seriously, using them as though they had a death wish is hilarious.

The Vendettas all fly around together, using their speed to hunt as a pack. If I were to try this army, I would consider swopping Plasma out for Melta, but it depends. I rather like the idea of cracking the plastic boxes open with lots of lasscannons and then jumping out and shafting its juicy insides with a small white hot sun. If I decide not to take the Custodians to the GT, then I would take something like this, because it is so different to anything I have. Plus there is a theme, which is really important for me this year. I want to have models that people look at and actually go “wow” or “neat idea” so its gotta be good, you know?

Technically Speaking

2011-03-02T22:44:00.005Z

So, me and Stranded Ninja went down to GW Leicester today, and played a couple of games. I get to describe the second game. It seems, (as illustrated by homer Simpson here) that technicalities are sometimes “for the win”

I took my standard Space wolf list:

Wolf Lord on a Thunderwolf with Saga of the Warrior Born, Frost Blade, Runic Armour, Storm Shield, Wolftooth Necklace
Wolf Scouts (6) Meltagun, Meltabombs
Wolf Guard Pack: 1 with Cyclone Missile Launcher, 3 With Combi Melta + Power Fist
Grey Hunter Pack (9) Meltagun, Power Sword, Mark Of The Wulfen Rhino with Extra Armour
Grey Hunter Pack (9) Meltagun, Power Sword, Mark Of The Wulfen Rhino with Extra Armour
Grey Hunter Pack (6) Plasma Gun, Lasscannon Razorback
Thunderwolf Pack (2) Storm Shield, Thunderhammer
Long Fangs (6) 5 Missile Launchers
1500

He took Astrorath, Three 5 Man Death Company, 3 Death Company Dreadnoughts and 3 Storm Ravens.

We ended up playing Seize Ground with 3 objectives and a Dawn of War deployment. I let him go first, because I realised, and so did he that he would effectively not be able to put a full unit of anything on the board, and I didn’t want to waste a turn hanging around for him. So he reserved everything and then I came on and castled around a ruin on my side. He Dropped in with two Storm Ravens, immobilising one as it landed in dangerous terrain. This was in fact, pretty much all the damage that was done to his Storm Ravens.

I soon discovered that Astrorath had Jumped out right in front of me and promptly started to beat me up. In about one whole turn they killed my thunderwolves, wolf lord and a whole squad of grey hunters. This would be the point where I realised that things were going not so awesome for me. (the only hope for my lord was to shove his sword down the missile launcher tube) Essentially, bottom of turn three I had 2 Death Company Dreads, Astrorath and 10 Death company running around my castle, I was totally in rout. Of course, this was an issue. By this time I’d popped my one and only Storm Raven for the day, and walked my scouts in front of another, forgot about them and watched them get jumped by more death company.

I realised that my one and only chance was to get an objective, as being Death Company he couldn’t score. Since I had (cleverly lol) given him first turn that meant that I had second and began to not so subtly rush the remains of my army (about 20 grey hunters across the three squads) away from the very slashey dreadnoughts and towards a far away objective. I was racing Astrorath, and one entire unit gave their life for the other two to reach the objective (they got eaten by the death company)

Bottom of turn five and you have this... my grey hunters on top of a hill staring down around 750 points of screaming angry space vampires. I roll the dice, and its a 1! I win the game on a technicality. I seriously feel like I let defeat slip from my fingers.

The Secret We Keep

2011-03-02T22:31:00.000Z

Hello again,

Today Lightning and I had a 3000 point battle at our local Games Workshop here in Leicester.

Now I'm not that well versed in large point games (I prefer the 1000/1500 point games) so I looked upon this with a bit of sugar and a "why not" attitude.

I knew I wanted to play Blood Angels and I new I wanted to field three Stormravens. So how did it go? Well.............

The Game - Pitched battle/ kill points

Blood Angels Vs. Space Wolves

The Blood Angels deployed first and laid themselves out across the battlefield facing an unruly band of Space Woves who were spearheaded by their Landraider Crusader. They seized the initiative and went first mainly shooting what they could and inching forward into position. It was at this point a Stormraven became immobilised and had its twin-linked Lascannon destroyed. Next was its Multi-melta and then as it lay there in the dust, it seemed to repel the remainder of firepower, encased in some sort of divine protection.

After the initial upset, the two remaining Stormravens were split up and sent over to the far right flank and the centre of the army. The two Landraider Crusaders ground forwards to begin the first wave of attack whilst the Razorbacks took up positions on the hill. The first of two Furioso Dreadnoughts shot off towards the Space Wolves waiting Devastator squads whilst the downed Stormraven unloaded its payload of ten Tactical Marines.

With a flurry of Lascannon, Assault Cannon and Multi-Melta fire, the Blood Angels had removed one of the offending Razorbacks and Rhinos. The squads held within (minus a couple of casualties) let loose onto the battleground only shielded by their now wrecked vehicles. Several of the Devastator Marines were mortally wounded but not enough to make a difference.

The now dented Space Wolves moved closer to reach the crest of the central hill. More shots were aimed at the two remaining Stormravens and with both of them unable to move, the first Furioso wrecked and a smattering of Angels K.I.A, it looked as if The Emperor was beginning to favour the Wolf.

As the grey behemoth of the Wolves' Landraider towered over the Angels' own, Mephiston and the Death Company Dreadnought that were inside the belly of the second remaining Stormraven were let loose. Followed by the unit of Death Company from one of the Landraiders and a crushing Multi-Melta shot that ruptured the enemy Landraider and destroyed it's armour leaving the Space Wolves inside battered and confused. This became the time to strike.

The Death Company failed to get over the wrecked vehicles in their path but Mephiston and his pet went into the stunned Space Wolves with teeth and claws bared.

The unit that met them were not as fearful as the two Blood Angels had thought as they were supported by Njal Stormcaller and Ulrik the Slayer not to mention the three Thunderwolves that were in the unit behind them! After a bloody combat the two opponents had stayed in with each other, the only two to come away without major losses were Mephiston and the Dreadnought.

Then the Thunderwolves came. Their sodden fur smelling as foul as the creatures who rode them; two Wolf Lords and a lone, skilled Marine.

They broke into the combat just after they had given orders to the Devastators to concentrate on the Stormravens (stopping them for another turn), the remaining Space Wolves to engage any open Blood Angels, the Wolf Scouts to enter behind the Blood Angels and the squad from the Landraider to hold their ground against the maniacal Mephiston.

They snarled and clawed at the Lord of Death who lost his footing and gave the beasts some blood but it was again not enough to thwart a man who had come through the Black Rage as he tore through Njal Stormcaller's Power Armour and spat out what was left. Meanwhile, the Death Company had been reduced to two men (one still brandishing his Thunderhammer) as two Space Wolf squads bathed them in combat. Each Marine from both side lavishing in the taste of each others blood.

The other side of the battlefield saw nothing more than a smattering of Geneseed as the second Furioso decided which combat to chase after.

With the Stormravens focusing on the entrenched Devastator squads, the remaining Furioso concluded that he would help out the Brothers on the flank as Mephiston could handle himself. The Dreadnought cut through the flank and freed the Blood Angel squad to head towards the Devastator squads in the far ruins.

The central combat had now whittled itself down to just the main protagonists; Mephiston, a Death Company Dreadnought, Ulrik the Slayer, the two Wolf Lords and the Thunderwolf rider. The Dreadnought was turned into a pile of scrap metal. Mephiston was now surrounded by Wolves and needed help.

One Wolf Lord looked as the remainder of one of the Blood Angel squads cut him off his mount and skewered his beast. Ulrik was next to succumb to the Angels' fury but Mephiston had also not seen the power sword of the second Wolf Lord enter his left breast plate and cut his heart out, leaving it on the trodden earth for the final Thunderwolf to feed from.

The last Death Company marine could hold no longer, his might no match for the waves of combat from the Space Wolves as they ran him through to get to the aid of their falling leaders.

Tycho and his Death Company Dreadnought Battle Brother had been watching this macabre story unfold under them and finally were unleaded upon the Warriors of Fenris.

Striding gallantly into combat they ran past the newly unrestrained Space Wolves and joined the combat.

Also with the Wolf Scouts banished, the remaining Blood Angels from that combat came to support Tycho. Unfortunately they were not the only ones to heed the call of help of their brethren and were met by the Wolves who had bested the Death Company.

This battle was not as it should have played for the Blood Angels. Their leader maimed and all but three Marines and a Dreadnought remained. The three broke off and headed to the safety of a hovering Stormraven just as the final Dreadnought exploded. All that was left for the Wolves was to mop up the ground and turn to face their target.

As they ran towards the Razorbacks they were taken out one by one. The remaining Stormravens and Landraiders turned Marines into colanders. Wolves, the beasts of The Emperor, were no match for the fire power of the Blood Angels.

The end came as the last of the Blood Angels vehicles Las-sniped the heart of one of Russ' Lords. The stain on the ground a reminder that of the secrets held by each Chapter, none is more important than the Blood Angels'.

Final Score: Blood Angels - 14 kill points

Space Wolves - 7 kill points

So there you have it. Three Stormravens were definitely worth their points Lightning and I have concluded that I certainly out-gunned him which is pretty much what won it for me!

More soon.......

Tanks fr th Mmrs

2011-02-26T23:45:00.003Z

So. Tanks. That isn’t a misspelling, although its a slight homage to a Fall Out Boy song. I just really wanted to see how many tanks I could fit into 1500 points of Imperial Guard. 8 is the answer on this occasion. More importantly 6 of these are Leman Russes. Considering the maximum you can fit in a force organisation chart is 9, I’m pleased with that although im sure you could fit a couple more in if you really went for it. As it is, this is a little bit more balanced for me.

Drive By Lightning and Fire

HQ
70 Psyker

Troops
150 Veterans, 2 Flamers, Chimera with Extra Armour
150 Veterans, 2 Flamers, Chimera with Extra Armour

Heavy Support

Squad Mortarion
165 Leman Russ Tank with Battlecannon and Lasscannon
245 Leman Russ Executioner With Lasscannon and Plasma Cannon Sponsons

Squad Alpharius
165 Leman Russ Tank with Battlecannon and Lasscannon
220 Leman Russ Demolisher with Lasscannon and Plasma Cannon Sponsons

Squad Curze
165 Leman Russ Tank with Battlecannon and Lasscannon
245 Leman Russ Vanquisher with Lasscannon

1500 Points

So, how does this army list work? Well. It shoots stuff. The plain Leman Russ tanks are there to take the hits in theory for the other ones. They are sprinkled around with the “rarer” variants to allow balance. Specifically, the Vanquisher pairs off with its partner and hunts armour. That’s why every tank has a hull mounted Lasscannon. Not the cheapest option, but it gives me 6 mobile Lasscannons. These two hang in the backfield slightly and just shoot stuff.

The executioner fulfils the anti infantry role and that pair works together to nail large mobs of Orks, or other things. This squad is paired with the Demolisher’s squad in an aggressive role, with Squad Alpharius being able to fulfil both anti infantry and anti tank roles, with none of the main guns lower than strength 9, and a pair of plasma cannon to boot. These four Tanks choose where they want to be and control that bit of the field.

The Chimera Veterans don’t get out. If they are out of their tanks, then they are probably dead. The only instance which comes to mind is when both squads plus the psyker get out and jump one squad, toasting it to death rather appropriately with Lightning and Fire. In the main, the chimeras will fit in behind the main body of the Alpharius and Mortarion, protecting them from infantry with heavy bolters and multi lasers.

Overall, I think that this would be a fun list to play. It wouldn’t necessarily win many games. Really you can choose to hang back and just blast away or really try and ram a lot of Armour 14 down your opponent’s throat. Av 14 is one of the major bonuses of this list, that coupled with a large amount of large blast templates. The main thing I can see as being a weakness is being outflanked or taken apart from the sides. This is why the chimeras nestle in behind, just near enough to react and shore up a flank. Only slightly behind them Curze picks of threats from afar. The easiest way to secure not being outflanked is to start on a flank. Deploying second and rolling up one side allows you to almost turn the battle into a lengthways engagement, something that would play right into my hands.

Next time: The Defence of Hades Hive

The Dead Guardsman's Boots

2011-02-26T20:46:00.000Z

So after a furious Friday night of painting I finished off my Legio Custodes Furioso Dreadnought so I could enter it into the Leicester Games Workshop's painting competition named "The Dead Guardsman's Boots".

It was also a great opportunity to test out the colour scheme for the Legio Custodes and knowing I would not do a NMM (Non-Metalic Metal) justice, I opted for the classic gold.

There are still a few areas that I need to detail up but I'm happy for now and it has got me itching to paint more!! (oh, and it's another 5 points to my score!)

More soon.......................

Death Company Dreadnoughts Hurt

2011-02-22T20:15:00.002Z

So...
Last night I got tabled (or floored) by stranded ninja. Stupid fleeting dreadnought. I took my space wolves against his blood angels and lost. Horribly. I should of set up different, I should of done a lot of things.

Annihilation on a normal set up left me for some reason in the opposite corner and then my long fangs only got one round of shooting of the whole game. The things that went right where I managed to jump Mephiston with both my grey hunter squads, and my thunderwolves jumped a blood angels squad in the same turn. The only issue was that by then they were the only things left. And my wolf lord had no way of dealing with a death company dreadnought (I just had to sit there and take it)

In other news, I entered a bunch of models into the local GW painting competition. I entered my thunderwolves, a goliath ganger and a TH/SS salamander into the varying categories at GW Leicester. It doesn’t have a prize (I don’t think) nor do I think I will sweep the awards but I think that my thunderwolves may be the best in the cabinet (at the moment) even if they may not be at the weekend. Its really nice to see the local store connecting with its members and in a way that actually gets me involved. I never have time for vets night due to work, and don’t get down to the store much, but that got me to go in, which was cool.

I am now currently painting three special weapons space wolves, the points system on the side is really giving me motivation! Hopefully I can nail these guys in the next week, and then when I'm finished I might make a test custodian....

Scoring System

2011-02-21T23:54:00.000Z

I thought I would update the army building points system and bring it up to speed with our current journey.

Build model - 1 point
Paint infantry model - 2 point
Paint bike/cavalry model - 3 point
Paint character/dreadnought model - 5 point
Paint tank model - 10 point

Win - 3 point
Draw - 2 point
Loss - 1 point

I didn't want to put time limits on as we all have other commitments (work,babies,alcohol,etc.) we need to do.
I also can't edit the side widgety thing on my iPad :( so I put it here.....

Scores will be updated as we go!

Changed Again!

2011-02-17T23:58:00.000Z

Okay, so I'm a magpie!

After getting a bit further though The First Heretic and hearing Lightning Slayer (LS) talk about Custodians, I thought I would have a dab at converting one. I had already said to LS about the parts I would use so it was just a case of putting it into practice.

I also quite like the idea of us both taking a Custodian army to the Throne of Skulls (ToS) but using different Codecies(sp?)

Anyway..........

I picked up a box of Sanguinary Guard, Tactical Marines and High Elf Phoenix Guard & some brass rod.

After looking at the sprues, I knew where I was going and within 2 hours had this!

I have not yet done the green stuffing yet but all-in-all I am pretty happy! I think a squad of 10 would look awesome!!!

More conversions soon.......

The Charge Of The Not So Light Brigade

2011-02-15T15:15:00.001Z

Finished! It’s only taken me, like forever to paint these dudes. The third guy I managed to nail in a week just abouts. He looks a lot better painted than not, I really didn’t like the model unpainted, but the paint job really adds to the whole model. I'm particularly pleased with how the power sword / frost blade has worked out. It’s just a simple bit of blending, and it’s got matt varnish on it. But I'm very happy with it. I would like to add more models to the squad, but as it is there is quite a lot do to just get these three models done.

Furthermore, all three models have lightning strikes on their left shoulder pad. I have decided, since I have a lightning bolt on the back of my left of left leg that this would be my great company marking. The last guy that I painted with the storm shield and frost is in theory my 260 point Wolf Lord of killy deathness. His right shoulder pad is plain red at the moment, and I have no idea what to put on it. I feel like he should have his own personal marking, but I'm not really very good at freehand at all.

In other news, DREAD KNIGHT?!? Seriously, that guy looks mental! And to cost around only 130points, (if you believe the rumours) for basic bad-assery leads me to think that maybe I should have one or two. But I would need them to fit into my theme of my custodians. I am a little bit meh about the fact that I was intended to ure penitent engines as custodian dreadnoughts, and very glad I didn’t already shell out for what essentially is a smaller dread knight. I think also that the paladin knights sound awesome from a rules perspective, multi-wound models with different weapons a feel no pain that have jump packs and a 30inch move sounds great! The possibility of making them scoring makes it even better.

The free teleport move works perfectly within the custodian fluff, if you read the first heretic they are always bouncing around via teleport technology, and that was 10,000 years ago, so I imagine they won’t haven’t lost that ability since they tend to hang out on Terra and near Mars a lot. April cannot come soon enough.

So, until next time (when I figure out what to paint as I have now run out of stuff) lightning slayer out.

I'm a hobby magpie

2011-02-08T23:13:00.000Z

Okay, so my last post was about themes and sticking to one.

What I didn't talk about was sticking to an army!

I got myself the new Blood Angels Stormraven and I must say that it is a fantastic kit. Yeah there are the obligatory problems but what GW kit doesn't!

Obviously I needed an amy to join it so have dug out my standard Marine army (you know the type of Marine army that is a successor army to every Chapter depending on which leader/codex I'm using!). Also, I get to add my cracking Furioso/Death Company Dreadnought conversion.....

.......I'm looking forward to trying the Stormraven out in a game soon.

My week in Warhammer

2011-02-08T11:59:00.002Z

So, I’ve finished this guy. I wanted to finish him by Saturday, but that didn’t happen. Real life and all that. I decided that they should have a lightning strike on their left shoulder pad as the great company marking. Took me a couple of goes to get It right but I'm fairly happy with it. Next ive got my third and final thunderwolf to paint. Then I kind of run out of new interesting things to paint, but we shall see.

Thats probly 2 weeks away in all honesty, and by that poinr its only 4-5 weeks till grey knights come out! Woot. The thing that appeared on blood of kittens saying that they would have something similar to madiblasters seems pretty cool. I'm kinda currently considering phoenix gaurd cloaks for their robes. Jo suggested maybe phoniex gaurd heads minus the wings for helmets. Things are progressing in my mind......

Painting with Non Metailic Metals

2011-02-01T20:01:00.002Z

So, today I tried painting in non metallic metals, or NMM. I don’t think that it overly worked,. I mean, the model is fairly well painted per se; but it doesn’t look right. I did kind of skip some of the steps from the masterclass from WD 364 and I now think that was a bad idea. Anyways, the red is only there for contrast –ive decided I need to come up with the colour scheme before the release so that when the shiny new toy soldiers come out, I can just ham on in there straight away.

I think that the green eyes didn’t work. Partly cos I didn’t wait for the ink to dry, party because they are green. I didn’t want to use red as thats the second colour for these guys. A rather enjoyable afternoon non the less.

Thunderstruck

2011-02-01T00:44:00.003Z

So, as you may have noticed there is a new member in the band. Stranded Ninja has joined me here at the slightly new looking blog. Together we’re intending to document our exploits towards the ToS 2011. I can honestly say that having somebody else on board is already helping me – I want to post, and to post I have to paint (atm anyways.) so I painted this week as opposed to playing guitar hero for several hours.

Today I have been mainly painting what I affectionately call my Thundercat. This thunderwolf cav model has a thunderhammer, so there is a lot of thunder involved. As you can see, he is nowhere near finished, but I'm about halfway through the second layer of highlighting on the armour. First highlight was probly 60/40 space wolf grey/ ferisian grey. This layer is pure space wolf grey. It worked really well on my original njall model, so I'm hoping for great things. The fur on these guys are my first real effort at green-stuffing, and looking at it now, its not amazing. Hopefully if I do more they will get better. Also, I always struggle with what colour to paint thunderhammers. I'm trying to go for stone, but I'm just not sure. Any ideas?

In other news, this week I have been reading my new white dwarf and have decided that actually stormravens could be cool for my grey knights. Now admittedly this is off the strength of a battle report where they show off the new toy, and of course it cant die... but I did not realise it had an assault ramp. I think its a fast skimmer, so 24’ plus dismount plus charge could be quite tasty for custodians. And I'm thinking penitent engines for dreadnoughts. Just for sheer awesomeness. I haven’t figured out the conversion yet, but it could be pretty cool. Or some really old school forge world dreads.

Choosing Army Themes

2011-01-28T21:04:00.002Z

And so onto the subject of themes.

Having a theme attatched to your army will help you bring your army together, be it, through it's colour scheme, it's design or it's background...

As this is part of my journey to the Throne of Skulls, here is my thought process:-

After deciding that I wanted to step away from a Space Marine army, I took a look at what else was available. In all my armies, I choose the race first and then what I want them to do.
As I have collected Eldar before, the Dark Eldar seemed fairly logical but with everybody starting some form of DE list, I left them by the way side.

Then I saw TRON! The bikes, simple colour scheme and conversion ideas flooded my mind and would not leave. So I started to convert some models without a race to tie me down.....

These models became far too expensive so I returned to the "race first" plan. After wrestling with my converting itch I decided it was between Necrons and Tau.

Now, Necrons are nice and easy to paint so the challenge there was to either convert them (thoughts of a Dr. Doom army crept in) or to paint them in a way that is not popular/common.
Tau however, have the whole Mecha thing and being a fan of manga was drawn closer to them....

So Tau it is! After reading the Codex, I have settled on an army led by Commander Farsight.

This is the first incarnation of the beast.........

Traveling the Road

2011-01-26T23:40:00.000Z

Well hello,

StrandedNinja here with his first post!

So, after our not so great but acceptable appearance at the Autumn Throne of Skulls Tournament (2010), it was obvious that we had had an awesome time and wanted more.....

......And so to now.

The decision to go to the 40k ToS was made fairly early and I began to think of the army I should take.

At first I thought of the obvious, Space Marines(They were my first love and will always hold a grip when I see them). Then came the choice of which Marine list, did I take the standard missile spam, or try for a different tactic?
That led me to Blood Angels and the possibility of a huge close combat Dreadnought army. Then Space Wolves for their Thunderwolves..... You can see where this was going.

I then began to think of themes but I will explain my choices in my next post.......

A Few Shots

2011-01-24T23:12:00.004Z

This model is currently my thunderwolf cavalry lord. He rocks in at around 260 points and often does half the work of the whole army. Although in the last game only killed a squad of fire warriors! I didn’t put this guy together but really enjoyed painting him. I tried to go for at least two levels of highlighting all over really, to give the proper effect. The only model I’ve swung it on so far is my metal Najal, but it looks awesome. If I don’t take Adeptus Custodes as proxy Grey Knights then I will be taking these guys. Yes I know they are space marines riding wolves, but they are freaking awesome! Plus I justified in selling out a little as I still have my original 3rd Edition Space Wolf Codex, which I have taken to several tournaments over the years.

This lady was painted merely for an exercise in painting. I wanted to see how good I do her and bunch of other Necromunda models. They were done for the highlighting, and to a lesser extent inking. Im quite please with the way the white and blue complement each other in this model, I know shes not based but I don’t really care about that at this point. This bunch of models are often the ones that are on disply on my bookshelf because they are easy to show people and they are quite well painted, some of the best I have!

To finish here is a Grey Knights list. I intend to take them to the Tourney at Warhammer world this year as previously mentioned, so im starting to get my head back into them. This list is really not competitive, just something I threw together whilst watching glee. I don’t overly do mathhammer or anything like that, I just pic what I like and then learn from how badly I get my ass handed to me.

141 – Brother Captain Stern
71 – Inquistor with Force Weapon, Bolt Pistol and Power Armour
120 – Callidus Assassin
224 – Grey Knight Terminators. Brother Captain plus 3 guys, 1 Psycannon.
250 – Grey Knight Squad – Justicar plus 9 men, 1 Psycannon
250 – Grey Knight Squad – Justicar plus 9 men, 1 Psycannon
145 – Dreadnought with Hunter killer, Extra Armour, Autocannon and Missile Launcher.
150 – Dradnought with Hunter killer, Extra Armour, Lasscannon
140 – Dreadnought with Hunter Killer, Extra Armour, Plasma Cannon
1491.

There is a lot wrong with this list. Hunter killer missiles? 27 models and 3 Dreadnoughts? 2 weapons above Strength 7? Taking a pure Grey Kinghts army?
Well, don’t get me wrong, these are all very valid. I just don’t care. I like the idea of a small force just swinging in.

How would I play it? The only way I can. This army does not do well more than 24 inches away. Moving and running in the first turn has got to be standard, and then hit in one area, really, really hard. Half your army is not going to get across the board. But at least with fearless you can be made to run. Just more armour saves.... hmm. The Callidus is awesomesauce. I could be tempted to change it for an Eversor as that is very, very fast and could handle big monsters, but I just love the neural shredder and the sheer “I am going to get in your backfield and be a complete pain in the ass” of the Callidus. Sure, she may be late, she may turn up when everything is dead, but she will always turn up exactly where I want her and ignore all saves.

So thats why I would feild this list. It is not points cost effective, but its fun. And thats why I play.

Long time no speak

2011-01-15T11:53:00.002Z

So, haven’t posted on here in a long time. Last time I posted on here I was working on salamanders. I think I will aim to update on average once a week, as I don’t get a great deal of time at the moment to hobby it up. In the past 2 years or whatever it’s been I’ve been married and divorced, and for the moment that can be my excuse for not posting lol. I have also been to the fantasy GT at Warhammer world, that went ok (I ended up 1 win out of 5) my high elf army being one of around 20 there. I have revelled in the release of the space wolf codex (old news I know, but I’ve been waiting for about 10 years) and am currently painting my thunderwolves.

My intent is to go to the autumn GT at Warhammer world for 40k this year, and I can’t decide what army I should take. My current thoughts having read first heretic are to wait till grey knights come out, and do a custodian army. We’re trying to stick to GW models. I want to make sure my whole army is painted to the best of my ability, so that’s why I’m starting from scratch. Also, I don’t want to take Vulkan. I want something with real feel to it!

How to - Lava Bases

2009-05-14T14:18:00.014+01:00

this is my first how to, hopefully it makes sense. its pretty long for what it is, but i didnt want to miss anything!

1. Get your base… like this. Mine has green stuff in because I'm actually using slotta bases, and as you cant really do it with the big hole in the middle, I've filled it in a couple of days before.

2. Take you modelling putty, and model it onto the base. It doesn’t have to be flat as a pancake, as this is ground that we are modelling. Leave it for one hour to harden slightly.

3. Once you have left your base for an hour, come back to it and decide how you are going to model it. Basically, at this stage we want to cut the lava flow out possibly the most important stage so far. remember that lava does not normally flow round right angles, and that you actually need somewhere for the model to stand that isn’t lava! Even with ceramite shoes you can’t go paddling in molten rock. I tend to use a modelling knife, and trace out the outlines of the flow and cut it out.
4. Once you have done this, and cleaned up the flow area a little, you need to worry the base. Just get the blade of your modeling knife and prod or poke the green stuff with it. Not to much, but just enough to make it look like scared rock, and something that you can dry brush later.
5. Now leave it to set overnight, or at least until it is rock solid. Once it is, undercoat with black. Defiantly black in this instance, and I prefer to spray as it provides more even coverage.

6. After this, dry brush the base with Astronomican Grey.
7. Now for the good bit, where the base starts to take shape. Paint the lava flow with a dark red, I tend to use Mechrite Red and then Scab Red if I have time, to really build up the colours. Don’t worry about the coverage of paint in the middle for these coats, we are going to paint over the centre fairly rapidly.
8. After this, we’re going to use Blood red. At this point I tend to put a little more than I normally would on my painting tile, as we’re going to mix in yellow and gradually build up the colour, I find it useful to have there waiting for me.
9. The next step is to mix in some Sunburst Yellow, to get a nice orange colour. I don’t actually use orange in this process, as because I'm merging through red to white, I feel that it makes a more consistent colour. The most important thing is now not to paint the whole flow, but gradually paint less and less. The centre of the flow will gradually get lighter and lighter whilst the edges of the flow now need to stay darker colours.
10. Next, just mix in more yellow, to get a brighter/lighter orange. Continue to paint just inside the previous colour. Do this twice, just to build up the colour until you get to quite a bright orange colour.

11. Now, switch to Sunburst Yellow. Mix in a tiny amount of the previous orange that you had for the first coat. After this, apply a second coat of pure Sunburst Yellow on top.
12. After this, mix in some skull white with your sunburst yellow. Just paint a tiny amount in the middle, and then follow it up with a line of pure skull white.
13. Finally, tidy up the edge of the base with chaos black, and use matt varnish on the actual flow (nowhere else) and there you have it!

Objective counters

2009-05-14T13:04:00.004+01:00

i saw an article on the front page of FTW a while ago about objective counters. i have finally caught up. mine are basically resin counters with parts from bedlam cubes super glued onto them. a little bit of wire mesh, so bits from some sprues, and indeed bits of sprues and here are the before and after pictures.

im kinda tempted to leave them as they are, because i like bright plastic colours, but i figure i will probly paint them.

Lava Bases

2009-05-10T17:47:00.003+01:00

i finished these guys:

the bases are the bit im the most proud of. these are the first models which ive tried to highlight and ink all over. im hoping, at some point this week to make a how to for the bases. its really just a bit of green stuff, but i think its important.

Off to Warhammer World

2009-05-02T15:35:00.003+01:00

Again?! i hear you cry! its nice to live so close, i really enjoy it and am conscious that not everybody is as privileged as us guys in the UK. having said that, i don't live near a battle bunker or anything like that, i would like one of those. im going for a mercenaries tournament, and here is the list that i intend to take:

Thunder Wolf Great Company

Wolf Lord: 122 Points
Frost Blade, Storm Shield, Wolf Tooth Necklace, Frag Grenades, Meltabombs, Wolf Pelt
+1A on counter attack, always hit on 3 in combat.

Venerable Dreadnought: 170 points
Assault Cannon, Extra Armour.
Re-roll Dice for first turn

Grey Hunters: 235 Points
Pack of 9, Meltagun, 2 Power Swords, 2 Plasma Pistols, 5 Bolters, Frag and Krak

Rhino: 50 Points
Extra Armour

Blood Claws: 146 Points
Pack of 9, Power Sword, Power Fist
Come with Frag Grenades

Rhino: 50 Points
Extra Armour

Blood Claws :186 Points
Pack Of 11, 2 Power Fists, 1 Power Sword
Come with Frag Grenades

Blood Claws :186 Points
Pack Of 11, 2 Power Fists, 1 Power Sword
Come with Frag Grenades

Vindicator 140 Points
Extra Armour, Siege Shield
Ignores Dangerous Terrain

Whirlwind: 85 Points

Wolf Scouts 130 Points
Pack of 5, Melta Gun, 2 Power Swords, Melta Bombs, Frag Grenades,
Comes on from opponents table edge.

1500 Points

im hopefully of at least one win, as i have only ever won there twice (i must have been like 10 times) ive gone for a whirlwind and a vindicator as i feel that the whirlwind allows me to force the game and play objective denial a bit more, bombing the oppenent whilst he (hopefully) can't see me.

painting a gaurdsman competition

2009-05-01T15:22:00.004+01:00

so, to celebrate the release tomorrow of codex guard, my store are having a competition. best color scheme/paint job will lead to their entire store army being painted that color! and to boot, we all get a free model :) this is my entry, he doesnt have a name. the paint job has taken me ages (as i cant really paint) but i think the color scehme is simple yet effective and possibly a winner :) or least top half! i should find out tomorrow. i know there are no transfers on the shoulders, im going to sort that out before i hand it in! any thoughts? what has been your relationship with the new gaurdsmen so far?

terminator updates

2009-04-27T14:30:00.005+01:00

hey guys! sorry for the long no post, work can get on top of you sometimes.

here are a couple of pics of my terminators... not finished yet as ive still go to highlight and do a load of final touch ups.... but they are looking pretty. im really happy with the gold and green!

in oter news, i am currently painting a single imperial gaurdsman for a store competition. GW leciester (uk) are having a comp where the best painted gaurdsman will become transfer his colour scheme to the entire store army. you get the model by pre-ordering the codex, and its the promo one standing to attention from the (as i speak) current codex. i will take some pics for my next post.

Getting New Stuff without paying

2009-04-20T23:47:00.005+01:00

So, Ron over at FTW has asked for a few money saving tips. since im currently trying to build an army and pay for a honeymoon, it could be said that i have to keep my wallet in check to avoid my priorities being discovered. so here is what i have learned.

1/. Old Models. As i mentioned in the last week, old models are a blessing which you cannot love enough. i found a rhino, a predator, an attack bike with MM. and these are just the ones I've used! There was 3/4 of a LR Crusader, and around SM bikes in this bag of goodies as well. that's a total saving of £117.20 brand new!

2/. eBay. this is obvious. my salamanders army so far as cost me about £30 and i have a devastator squad with 4 Multi-Meltas, 20 Black Reach Marines, and a Squad of real TH/SS terminators. i say real because they are not black reach ones. how i hear you cry?
-look for cheap bargins. thats how i got the tactical marines.
-don't over spend - just because its on eBay does not mean its a bargain.
-sell what you don't need. i had spares to make the terminators, so i sold the all the lightning claws and shoulder pads (amongst other things) to recoup the cost of the terminators. so much so that i had enough to buy a whole second box

3/. conversions. yes conversions are cool. but how much more accomplished does it feel if those conversions are in fact from you putting in the effort to look in your reserve bits box for that left arm, or that extra tentacle? you will feel more proud, i definitely do!

4/. magnets. if you have both sets of arms of you terminators, or both sets of sponsons for your Leman Russ, then why waste one set? magnet them up baby! this allows you to interchange them. or, if you are to busy to do that, use blue tack or double sided sticky tape!

5/. play test. the easiest way to save money is not spend it. if you are thinking about shelling out for that second carnifex, or the 3rd wraithlord (shudder)then borrow a friends for a game. if the store battle bunker is really cool, they may even let you borrow one. though that's probably an outside possibility. failing this, if you are playing with mates, just sub models in for a game. that way you find out how vulnerable land speeders really are, or how much fire wave serpents can really take.

6/. research. this is kinda included in the previous point, but the internet is a world of a place. ask in your local battle bunker or store, check out sites and forums to see what people think of certain builds. they may help you out. a warning though on this, always remember that it is your money you are spending. don't buy the baneblade to please the staff member, or cave on your opinion that you want to play with wolf guard in Terminator Armour because you like the fluff.

7/. Swapping. this is an easy one. somebody somewhere will have a use for your spare power sword or chaos havoc. if you can find that person, and they have something that you want, then you are home and dry. you both get new models, and it doesnt cost anything!

thats pretty much all i can think of... its not exhaustive, and has no pictures. but hopefully its helpful!

New Models!

2009-04-18T09:47:00.006+01:00

one of the best bits about this hobby - getting new stuff! the terminators are fairly easy to recognize, but the third model is slightly more subtle. he is, technically speaking, a womble marine.

which leads me to my next question. does anybody have any cool ideas for names for these guys? eg i play against somebody who has named all his guardsmen, either as star wars good guys or bad guys, or heroes from this or that. i was thinking of something similar, but i just cant quite put my finger on it. maybe as they are from vulkan i could do something with star trek and the vulkans. having Spock beat up a bunch of Khrone Deamons would be pretty cool. any thoughts?

index astartes and finding models

2009-04-16T22:13:00.002+01:00

couple of quick things today. there would be more posting but im currently on holiday and planning my wedding! being in my parents house does have its advantages though! today i found an attack bike, a rhino, a half intact land raider crusader and a predator! they may be a bit shabby, but touching them up will cost me a lot less than buying them all :)dont you just love that! thats a possible saving of like £50! im also seriously considering making the preadator into a lasscannon/plasma gun rasorback. because they are cool.

does anybody know which white dwarf has the salamanders index astartes in it? i want the background detail for my salamanders, but the books in which they come are oop and expensive! and the 4th one is also not on ebay at the current time!

Space Wolves - Hunting in Packs Part 1

2009-04-14T19:00:00.006+01:00

Recently on BOLS, there was a couple of articles regarding the top tournament armies that they see atm. Obviously everybody has their own opinion on if each army is in the right place or whatever. i just thought i would talk about what i know. so im going to talk about Space Wolves. these musings do include things to do with the latest SM codex, they are not just about 5th ed. this article is tactics in a way, if you dont face space wolves often it may help you see some of their weaknesses, but in the second part of the series i will discuss hold to actually play with them.

Advantages

1/. running. running is awesome. even your dreadnoughts can run! in any given situation, you are going to be in a position to assault the enemy (should you so choose) possibly up to 2 turns earlier that you would be normally. so, with your squads of 11 with 2 power fists and 1 power sword blood claws spend less time absorbing lasgun fire. seeing lots of marines run at you very fast is enough to panic anybody. and when they panic, they make mistakes. all of this works to your advantage.

2/. storm sheilds. are now awesome. and as a son of russ they are very very cheap! 10pts for my wolf lord to have a 3+ invulnerable? dont leave home without it. 5pts for wolf gaurd - even better.

3/. no more partials. as a general rule this does not help space wolves, as they tend to get blown away more than before. however, for 100 odd points the investment in either a whirlwind or vindicator is well worth the potential fire support that they can offer.

4/.improved cover saves. shooting through other units is a massive boost when playing a gunline army. furthermore you can put marines in front of your dreadnoughts, and they then get a cover save as well!

5/. old codex. the costings for space wolves are based on 3rd rules. this again works both ways, but blood claws are really quite cheap. and they will very rarely need anything more than a 4 to hit somebody (not that this matters with 4 attacks each)other things that are a little broken are the cost of storm shields, our venerable dreadnoughts are better (and can be taken as HQs)they also use the old upgrade system, so you can have units of 5 grey hunters with a plamsa gun, a power sword and a plasma pistols.

6/. counter attack + wolf pelts. this is possibly the biggest (and least know about) advantage. space wolves already have counter attack, and this means that on a successful leadership test, when you charge me, i charge back. with the whole unit. this means that should you charge a unit of 10 blood claws with 1 power sword & a power fist, they will receive 32 normal attacks, 4 power weapon attacks and 3 power fist attacks.
the break down is as follows:
1 basic
1 CCW
2 berserk charge
=4 each (apart from the power fist, who gets 3)

7/. multiple HQs. for every 750pts or part there of you have to take a hq choice. even if you have to take 5 for a 2500pt game. this means you really can have loads of guys running around with power weapons, leading the charge, healing your long fangs, doing everything. and space wolf HQs are amazing. the wolf lord in particular is a beast, 4 attacks basic is pretty hefty.

Disadvantages

1/. no more charging into another unit. you cant charge into a second unit at the end of an assault phase, meaning that you are open to nicely formed gunlines. especially with the new gaurd codex up and coming. this is a big disadvantage for the way i play my space wolves. being in between the enemy lines is how you kill them with space wolves, which means that you will usually end up with rapid firing everything in your face... even more so than in 4th.

2/.template partials. this on both sides because it works for and against me. whilst i use vindicators, plasma cannons and whirlwinds, having one flank blown away by a battlecannon or a big chunk taken form the middle of my lines by a couple of obliterators is just much more likely to happen.

3/. true LOS. this can be a huge pain. no longer can units of blood claws lurk behind a wall of trees until a late game move. you have to find solid cover, like a big hill, or some buildings.

4/. still no rhino rush. i was not (even a little) expecting this to come back in, but since its been taken out space wolves really have had to work harder for thier victories.

5/. "no matter the odds" is no longer applicable. for those of you that dont know what that is... in the space wolf codex there is a rule that says because space wolves are so crazy, they can ignore any and all negative moral modifiers. so testing for LD in combat would always be a straight leadership test. however, in the most recent FAQ this rule just "no longer applies." now, im not going to moan horrifically, as it did show how much the SW codex was broken with the new assault rules... but to merely wipe it away is a little annoying. hopefully, the new SM codex will rectify this, without just making them fearless.

6/. drop pods. the latest FAQ says that for the old space wolf rule you now refer to CSM for the rules. the main problem with this is that under my interpretation, you have to take a whole drop pod army. which personally, i dont like using.

7/. old codex... hurts a little. there is no point taking wolf gaurd in terminator armour, they really are unbalanced. and 30 points each for assault marines? thats a little to much. they eat away points very quickly.

in short

2009-04-12T16:21:00.000+01:00

Something i didnt do as my first post, was to set out my stall in the world of 40k. what armies do i play? what is my background etc. i didnt want to make it the first post... but i do need to contexualize my blogs.

so.. the armies i play are: Witchhunters, Deamonhunters, Space Wolves, and Imperial Gaurd. im basically the kinda guy who plays the good guys lol. im also starting of a salamanders army, based around vulkan rules of nastyness.

Space wolves are my main army, although they are only really just beginning to shape up after 5th ed, they can be very nasty. i like the fact that storm sheilds only cost me a maximum of 10 points, but dislike that i now have negative combat modifiers on my morale checks.

my current project is my salamanders, (pictures will follow in a week or so) but they are coming along nicely. somebody showed me a nice way to do the bases which im really please with. you basically green stuff the whole base by maybe a couple of milimetres, and then once it has cured for an hour you cut out a stream shaped area which becomes the lava. if you also worry the green stuff with a blade it makes it look good. then on a black undercoat wash the whole thing in a watered down gray before painting the lava red through to white. simple, yet effective.

vulkan hestan list

2009-04-10T22:18:00.000+01:00

So, im currently building up my salamanders list. i currently have 2 tactical squads and a squad of terminators in the works. my main problem is that with these guys, a couple of rhinos, vulkan and 3 squads of Devastators all with 4 multimeltas, i work up to around 1250 points. which leaves me with 250 points.

now, my army is fairly defensive, with the 12 multimeltas from the devastators forming a nice firebase from which to shoot things up, whilst the tactical squads go for late game objective siezes whilst not trying to give KPs away. the TH/SS terminators deal with anything advancing on my lines, whilst distracting my enemies into not shooting at the things that will actually hurt him (my devastators)

so, i figure that these are a few of my options, working from the models i already have/ think would provide what the army needs

1/. Deamonhunters Inquisitor Lord, with three mystics and an Eversor assasin. this option allows me to shoot the living hell out of anything that dares to deep strike in my half of the board. whilst the eversor can either outflank and take a chunk out of a flank that is bothering me. these guys love wraithlords.

2 Grey knight terminators. this option provides me with hitting power, and also gives my oppenent to much to think about in the way of terminators. also, the force weapons that the grand masters wield do not cause instant death. meaning i could topple things immune to it in one go.

3 Sterngaurd + librarian. this combo would allow me a lot manauverability in terms of using the Gate to fly around the board, wiping out units as i go. would also allow for late game objective siezeure or contesting.

4 sisters of battle dominion squad, possibly also with seraphim (thou i think you can only take one fast attack as an ally.) these girls would be able to use the ability that vulkan confers for thier flamers and meltas etc, which would be cool and annoying for my oppenent.

so yeah, these are the choices that fall to me off the top of my head. 250 points sounds like a lot, but when you get down to it, it really isnt when you are looking for a finisher, or the unit that will just irritate your oppenent.

Apoc tourny at warhammer world.

2009-04-10T12:51:00.000+01:00

As you know, i went to warhammer world on Monday for a tourney. it was Leicester Store VS Stoke Store, and the idea was we played each other in two rounds of smaller games, and then the outcomes of those games would have an effect on the larger apocalypse game. as it turns out, i ended up teaming up with another member of GW Leicester, who also had marines. he pretty much had the same army as mine, a Librarian with gate of infinity, and the Avenger. he did not, however, have a vindicator, but he had some scouts and some toys for his marines.

the first game we played was against a couple of cool guys called Dan and Andy. all the games were Kill points, and we had a pitched battle deployment. They had Eldar; with 3 Wraithlords, and Eldrad with a seer council. when they redeployed the wraithlords all to one flank, i knew we could be in for some trouble.
The early game went well for us. the wraithlords stumbled over the terrain and we shot them up a bit, and we double teamed a squad of Guardians with our HQs. so we got an early kill point, which was pleasing. however, Eldrad was a pain as his ability to force us to use 3D6 when testing for psychic powers meant that we stood to loose wounds for perils of the warp test, as neither of us had taken invulnerable saves.

the mid game saw things even out, with them dropping a Autarch right next to the Galleons Reach and though it survived, the vindicator was now immobile. we also started constantly missing the approaching horde of wraithlords, which we horribly realized we couldn't hurt in combat. we did manage to nail the Autarch in one glorious round of combat with scouts, but the odds were racking up against us.

The late game was the best period of the game, easily the most enjoyable. two of the wraithlords crunched my librarian with a combat squad, whilst the third was facing down on our gun line, supported by half a seer council with Eldrad, who was now not hindered by physic hoods, since the warp had taken Dan's Librarian. in the end it came down to our tactical squads taking out Eldrad, his seer council and a wraithlord in the last turn to give us a cool 3 kill points, totaling us to five. they unfortunately, had 6. so we lost by one.

The second game two guys called Matt and Adam. again it was kill points, and this time it was table quarters. facing chaos and chaos daemons, we created a fire base with all the guns we could muster and waited to see what would drop and where. it turned out to be two soul grinders, right in front of our lines. they promptly ate one unit of scouts, and whilst we managed to kill one of them in a trade of for my vindicator, the second one hid in some trees. the fast approaching daemon prince was also a pain, for some reason in the second half of the game he really started to pass all of his warp time saves. didnt manage to murder him, which was disappointing. we ened up loosing seven kill points to 5.

As it turned out, stoke were the overall winners, with more kill points in thier team by some margin. i would point out that they had been told that they only had to bring a troops and HQ and could spend the rest on what they wanted, allowing them to field power.. but i wouldnt want to seem ungrateful. i enjoyed playing at warhammer world.

the Apoc game was my first, and consquently i didnt really understand it. we played on this beautiful table. stoke chose to defend, which left us to assault. everybody seemed to enjoy it, even if my whole contribution was flank marching with my marines into a squad of orks with a warboss, and then fleeing off the table. normal marines really dont hit as hard in combat as space wolves.

overall, i enjoyed it. i enjoyed bugmans, the forgeworld stuff i bought, and playing in the big hall. im looking forwards to the proper 40k tourney next month now :)

warhammer world

2009-04-05T16:46:00.001+01:00

going to warhammer world tomorrow, the bigger version of my room. only for a little store on store tournament, you get 500pts to throw down against your oppenent, and then there is a big apoc game at the end with all the models. hopefully will be able to get some pics.

im going to take my space marines, heres the list im taking:

DLR Combat Patrol.

Librarian Beckton. – Gate of Infinity & Smite. 100pts

Tactical Squad Shadwell – Sergeant has Meltabombs. 95pts

Tactical Squad Blackwall – Flamer, Missile Launcher, Sergeant has Power Sword. 180pts

Vindicator “Galleons Reach” – Siege Shield. 125pts

Total Cost: 500pts.

The main idea is for the Vindicator to just pie plate anything i dont like, and for the librarian to smite anything that he misses, whislt jumping around late in the game to get me objectives. im taking the majority of my painted salamanders so far, but im having to help them out with a few space wolves as well. the quicker of you wil notice that all the squads are named after stops on the Docklands light railway on the london tube map. just a little bit of fluff, but i do really like Galleons' Reach for my Vinidicator.

hopefully should be able to snap some snaps, and will report back tomorrow.