A few big changes...

A fairly decisive update today, regarding the main direction I'll be taking on the blog from herein (at least for a while at least).

Due to many different reasons I've sold off the Blood Angels army and all of my terrain- a huge change for me, as I've always been the 'terrain person' in my group of gaming mates. However, I have a project car to finish off (1961 Holden ute), and needed to get my garage space back to get this done. My mate Al now has my terrain collection, so i'm going to get to be able to game with it all! I get my garage back, Al gets a great bargain on terrain, and will get a lot of use out of it- not only
40k, but maybe even rpg stuff like dark heresy, DnD, etc.

I also needed to pay off a few large bills, and so the BA went to help with this- sold them off for some good money, to a local guy whom is starting out on the hobby- a great force for someone starting out in my opinion. Depending on what he wants I might even do some painting for him to complete some of the units or add more. So they're gone, but I'm sure I'll see them round.

So the long and short of it is that I now only have my Dark Angels- they were initially
Up for sale but all I got was a host of very silly offers- apparently $300 is okay to offer for a 3500+pt Army filled with a load of old rare stuff. One guy even emailed me back to complain that I "was stupid for thinking they are worth more than that".

What I'll be doing from herein is primarily work on my DA, with a strong focus on rebuilding and repainting everything that is dodgey. All the robed tactical and assault squads are being paint-stripped, and I've rebased all the Deathwing. I've also recently added in a five man squad of Deathwing (with Plascan) a five man Deathwing Knight squad, three Ravenwing Black Knights and a Dark Talon flyer.

So there's a load of new stuff, a lot of old stuff being rebuilt/reconfigured and I'm going to get around to building up some things that I've never used before.

And, there will be more terrain later on- I'm going to build up some more stackable/ storable stuff later on, but won't be for a while.

Cheers,
Tempest

The mega-update: Four months worth of hobby and gaming.....

I'm back!!!

Hi all, its been way too long, almost four months by my count- my apologies. I’ve been off work for about that long, which would normally mean a lot more activity and posting on here, but unfortunately real life gets in the way- have been on holidays away from home, been really sick on and off and have had some family related interstate trips as well, so there’s been little time for blog updates. Oh, and my pc screen recently did a very uncooperative ‘blank out, pop, and produce smoke’, meaning that I now have this machine hooked up to a 42’ TV screen- trust me its not as great as it sounds- glaringly bright, everything is annoyingly large… first world problems, right? Hahaha! 

So without further ado, here is what’s been going on since my late January pre-Cancon post…

Cancon

All in all I got to play seven of the eight games on offer, having to head home midway through the third day due to our house having received some damage in a huge storm the night before (had to meet up with people to have it assessed), however this didn't have a huge impact overall, as I was struggling to get a draw most of the time.  I know that my list is one that is very situational and can be blown off the table with enough firepower, and that's what happened- I had a fair few games where the cover was inadequate, which was compounded by my lack of long range firepower. Aggressively taking objectives is the easy part for Assault Marines, but holding it can be hard with a lack of ranged firepower or backline support. My army units were almost all designed to hit hard in close combat/short range firefights, at which they excelled time and again, but at range they got mangled. I was tabled in three of my games (one was a very close run thing- my opponent had only one unit left), however I had a really great time! My opponents were all generally good fun to play against, with a mix of experienced and newer generals, and I was able to use my battles against them to try out new things with my list- tactics and unit combos mainly.

The last lot of shots pre- Cancon:

Went with helmeted heads in the end for my priests, as I was going to keep the white to a minimum I'd need them as a focal point. Turned out looking great IMHO.

Librarians. Both force weapons are very basic for now, but work! Custom jump pack turned out cool as well :)

Here’s a few pics from the battles at Cancon, with some details (where I can actually remember what happened!)

Bring the pain!! Army set up for best painted (or players choice?? i don't remember...)

First game, Vs Iron Warriors. Bikes take cover..

The Iron Warriors and their cultists minions.

Warpsmith Vs Sergeant surrounded by flaming Furioso and Drop Pod (my flickering flame markers). Sergeant almost killed him before eating power-axe! Karma got the chaos scum though- for his efforts the Warpsmith was turned into a Spawn!

Vs. White Scars, second game. Ran rampant in CC, and the Furioso carved his way through the backline.

Libby Vs Korsorro Khan in an epic Warlords duel. Force Axe eventually got the Khan with Instant Death after three turns of back and forth combat!

Str5 on the charge (with a Priest) vs rear armour 10 = boom! Barely used a meltagun all tourney...

Only pic I took of game three, Vs. Eldar. Most enjoyable game of the tourney. A bloody hard fought draw this one, loads of tactical manouvering, close range firefights and vicious hand to hand.

Game four, vs Necrons. Beat down a Destroyer Lord and a C'tan Shard (Nightbringer), but got tabled eventually... exploding C'tan took out my last Terminator funnily enough.

Ugh... game five, or 'how to suck the fun out of a game. Tau in a corner behind an all-covering Aegis line. Shitty and broken. Game five was not fun, and not because I lost (badly) but because it didnt feel like playing 40K, more like 'here's what the Internet says is 'teh awesomez'. Lame.

Game six, vs Grey Knights with IG allies. My opponent didnt like when I threw a Furioso at his backline and blended 10 GKs and two IG command squads. Minor loss to me, but was happy when my Termy Librarian and Inquisitor Coteaz both died simultaneously in their challenge. I laughed so hard at that, my opponent not so much :P

I missed game seven  so this is game eight- i'm in a table corner, my opponent in the other, we both have to get to the circle marked up at the top to evacuate units... all jump/fast/mounted in SRaven/Drop pod? I got a near flawless 'win' for this, but it wasn't really a fun game... just weird.

So, Cancon was good fun- some of the missions were a bit hard for me, and I think my future lists need some long range firepower and backline campers- sniper scouts, drop-pod Tactical Squads or the like. I'm going to keep playing with this at this points level and see what I feel is best before any new purchases.


 The Big Game III- Goodgames Canberra, March 2013

I heard about the Big Game III through a mate, and was intrigued in the possibility of being part of a game that contributed globally towards the end result for either Imperial + Allies or 'the forces of Disorder'. So with this is mind I pulled all the stops out and completed the basic structure of my Warlord Battle Titan!! Even in flat grey undercoat it was a sight to behold, and certainly drew some *seriously unprintable* comments when I first brought it in the door of the LGS. There was a few issues on the day though- one being that the tables were only 4ft wide, meaning I was easily assaultable and the carapace weapons were limited in their use/minimum range. The other issue was that my car had been giving me huge dramas on the way to the event, and I chose to try getting it home at the lunch break- it gave up halfway home and I waited an hour for a towtruck. Once I got home I wasn't then able to return in time for the end of the game and could only get there afterwards to retrieve all my stuff. From what I could tell it acquitted itself well, I erased a jetbike-mounted Seer council with a single Volcano Cannon blast, and stomped some terminators into paste, but a FW Daemon Prince thingy (Agrath??) eventually pierced the Deathwing/BA Terminator screen at its feet and wrecked it. Still, I love building things that people reckon are too hard/impossible to build etc.

On my completed 6x4 urban road boards- dominate!!!!!!!

Deployed for the Big Game. 

 

Long table deployment shot

Belial and Chaplain with 10-strong Deathwing charge forwards. Note- Agrath is incoming!

Thats a big titan...

Necromunda- welcome to the Underhive!!

About four weeks ago me and the boys started up a Necromunda campaign, with six gangs in total- My Orlocks, and some Van Saar, Delaque, Goliaths, Spyrers and Enforcers- a very diverse range of original gangs and later 'Outlanders' gangs.

So far we've all managed to get a few games in, and I've been lucky to not have much in the way of injuries. Several of the other gangs have had multiple deaths or even roster changes (Alan's Enforcers notably- they keep rolling up Ld increases, and the leaders all leave!). After a couple more games, my guys- the Tunnel Stalkers- should be getting in another Heavy- maybe another Heavy Stubber, but i'd really like a Heavy Bolter if the creds are there.

The Tunnel Stalkers, led by 'Hitman' Harlon (Dan Abnett fans may get the reference...)

Harlon started out as a Catachan Sgt. Added greenstuff t-shirt, shoulderpads, hair and tabard, its passable... in-game he's got D3 extra attacks on the charge, hits at Str 5 with his chainsword and has carapace armour, so a bit of a badass!

Some of my purpose-built Necromunda terrain- will be useful for 40k as well.

The majority of this new stuff is made from foamcore board- lightweight, strong and versatile.

+

WIP cargo containers- I'd like to make a whole bunch of these (at least a dozen) for use in 40K as well- fighting in a cargo depot or starport for example.

So far our campaign has been very enjoyable, although I'm somewhat sad now with the recent news that GW has decided to can the Specialist Games line. But that's how it goes- as long as 40k continues I'm never really going to bemoan GW that much (I dont really anyhow!).



Dark Angels rebuild/ how to be totally crazy....

So I was lucky enough to get a terrain prize at Cancon, giving me a $50 voucher for a gaming company, and decided to finally lay my hands on the Dark Angels Codex. Once in my possession I had a really quick look and just put it on the shelf, as I had a load of other things being done at the time. Only recently have I had the time and inclination to sit down and read it from front to back, after which I have come to the conclusion that my army needs resurrecting, both tactically and aesthetically.

My original Dark Angels (power armour anyhow) were not dissimilar to the current GW Eavy Metal scheme, being a fairly dark green with mild highlights, however along the way I somehow decided that snot green bright highlights on all raised surfaces was the go. Why, I am not sure, but for a while I was happy with it. They were a bit too bright for 'typical' Dark Angels but looked okay to me. However with the change to the GW paint line I realised that any new power armour or vehicle units wouldnt match, as Dark Angel Green is a totally different colour to the new Caliban Green. Caliban is a darker shade that I think actually suits the First Legion really well, so I resolved a while ago to redo my army once I had the Codex (and the inclination..). So, I tried my hand at repainting over the green armour of my tactical and assault marines, with an Abbadon Black basecoat (thinned) to bring it back to a dark base. Got 5 marines done, all resplendant in their new smooth Caliban Green, but retaining their nice robes and boltguns, and I was fairly happy...

However, when going back for a quick check of something, i picked one up and where my finger lightly touched the dark green it just wiped off like it wasnt even there, showing the Snot Green underneath . So, what I came to realise was that a repaint was not going to work, meaning a complete dissassembly, paint strip and rebuild. 

Wish this had worked- repainted in new Caliban Green on the left. Just didnt stick though :(

Whilst a large undertaking, this isnt a bad thing- I'd long been thinking about re-basing the army, which I now realise wouldn't have happened unless I disassembled them all- some of the bases were that solidly glued to the feet that they tore holes out of the bases instead of the bases just snapping off from the minis. I even had to cut and sand some of the feet until the plastic of the old bases were no longer there- a horrible job to do! So for now my Dark Angels are sitting in a large container filled with Simple Green concentrate, awaiting a stripback. All 30 Tactical Marines and 10 Assault Marines went in- they'll all be rebirthed as Tactical Squads, as I have more than enough assault units in my Deathwing and Ravenwing- the former being finally completed with some paintjob updates (thankfully the paint does stick to them!) and the latter, my Ravenwing bike squad, having been filed, smoothed and rebuilt with new eBay sourced handlebars, boltguns and RW fairings.

Sigh... at least i can start fresh again. Got ten scrubbed back bare, another 30 to go- then arms, weapons etc....

Looking a lot better than last time I had them up here! Glad I didnt convert them all into Blood Angel bikes (as per my original plan). Ive actually now completed the rebuild of all the riders, minus a few missing RW shoulderpads. New rounded-end bases are miles better than the previous fantasy cavalry ones I was using.

I've also purchased some new goodies for the Dark Angels- the Deathwing Command Squad box, the Ravenwing Command Squad and the Dark Talon/Nephilim flyer box. The DW command box is truly inspiring- I'll be using the components to build a squad of 5 DW Knights, however there is more than enough remaining torsos, heads, and weapons to build another squad of either 'regular' (albeit ornate) Deathwing OR a DW Command Squad- i just need five sets of Termy legs (got three already). Not too sure which of these two I want first, suffice to say that I will be using the Plasma Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher options included in the box somewhere in my force. The RW command box will be turned into a squad of three Ravenwing Black Knights, who will in essence spearhead my main RW force, and I'm still tossing up whether to run a Nephilim (mild duties fighter craft) or a Dark Talon (dedicated support flyer to supplement ground forces). Both are cool looking vehicles, so im most likely going to buy and build another later on in the alternating setup to whatever I choose for this one.               

Conclusion!

So that's how it stands at the moment- I've got a bucket-load of 40K, Necromunda and terrain things going on, and when I can find the time I'm getting a lot done. Im hoping to get back into more regular post updates, especially with my Dark Angels progress, as I'll be taking them along to Wintercon in mid July (7 weeks from now).

Until next time, thanks for looking!
Tempest 

Cancon here we come!!

Cancon- Army prep-finished!

Here's some pics of the army as it stands. Sorry for the picture quality on a few pics- the main light in my study is pretty poor, which made the pictures a bit fuzzy. Cancon prep is all done, well ahead of schedule. All in all, the minis are in base colours with a bit of detail here and there, but all of them have their bases done up, so they do look quite presentable.

Termies- shaded/base colours + eyes. Hey, its three colours and based :)

Assault Squads, Bikes, Dread, Pod and power armoured ICs (down the very end).

Stormraven is looking good!

After this I only have some small tasks to do to get the terrain all ready to go, and will be providing between four and five tables worth with medium coverage. Getting very excited at this point :) 

Game Reminders

As I'm still relatively new to this army I've forgotten a lot of key points and special rules in a couple of games. They're mainly rules that apply to either the BA models or core mechanics of the unit type. So, thinking that i'd like to make a good showing at Cancon I decided that a reminder/cheatsheet would be beneficial- i can keep this on hand and read up on things that will be helpful, as well as any ideas or planned tactics (ie refusing all Challenges!)

This is what's on my reminder sheet, hoping it helps me out somewhat!

After Deployment:

        ·         Roll for Red Thirst! (on a 1, swaps ATSKNF for Fearless, and gains Furious Charge).

Sanguinary Priests:

·         BA units attached/within 6” subject to FnP (5+) and Furious Charge.

Furioso Dreadnought:

·         After deploying from Drop Pod, pop smoke if not in range for melta/flamer shooting.

Independent Characters:

·         Librarians to cast Prescience in the majority (re-roll to hit in shooting or cc).

·         All IC’s- refuse challenges/ not to declare challenges unless absolutely necessary or heavily in their favour.

·         IC’s will be placed in the mid-rear of units to keep them alive long enough to use their buffs.

·         IC’s (and upgrade Characters- Sgs etc) have ‘Precision shot’ (allocate wound to mini of choice on ’6’ rolls to hit)

Jump Pack units:

·         Not shooting this turn? RUN RUN RUN! Get those Meltaguns/bombs in range. OR get to cover!

Jump pack charge range percentages- options:

1.       Move 6”, charge 2D6” using jump pack- get to re-roll charge dice, gain Hammer of Wrath.

2.       Jump pack move 12”, charge 2D6.

Total dist   6"%               12"%

9"              >99%              100%

10"              99%              100%

11"              97%              100%

12"              92%              100%

13"              83%              100%

14"              66%              100%

15"              48%                97%

16"              31%                92%

17"              16%                83%

18"                5%                72%

19"                                     58%

20"                                     42%

21"                                     28%

22"                                     17%

23"                                       8%

24"                                       3%              

Bike Rules

·         Movement 12”- any movement at all gives ‘Jink’ (5+ cover save).

·         Bikes have ‘Relentless’- move and fire as though stationary even when moving.

·         Bikes have ‘Hammer of Wrath when charging- 1 attack per bike at Str4 In.10 auto hit.

·         If not shooting, bike may ‘turbo-boost’ up to an extra 12”, gaining a 4+ cover save.

·       T5 is now used for ID tests- with 2 wounds per bike, can only be killed outright by Str10 hits 

So, my hope is that with these reminders I can keep on top of things, stress less about the rules and just have a great time. Does anyone else do things like this, or is it just me??

Hopefully I can get a bunch of great pics up from Cancon on each day, I know you'll all want to see the armies that come along.

Cheers,

Tempest

Dreadnought drop pod, power swords and more BA progress

Wow, its been a month since my last update- apologies to anyone thats been looking for an update- things have been very busy at home and whilst I've had a lot of time painting I've barely been on the computer at all.

With only 17 days left before Cancon i'm in overdrive trying to get the Blood Angels up to a certain level of completion. I've resigned myself to the fact that they wont 100% done- they'll most likely still have unfinished bolt pistols and chainswords, and some chest and shoulderpad details wont be completed. However, I should quite happily get all the red armour plating painted and basically highlighted. I have finished the helmets on all the Assault Marines, included their eyes- I will go back and re-line a few bits later, but they will suffice. Terminators will get some love really son, and the Attack Bikes after that. Wont be winning any awards with them in this state, but I'll have them all completed and detailed in time for Wintercon (June) without too much hassle.




All the yellow helmets done- they really stand out now


The Stormraven is getting moved along quite well- all the 90 degree edges and gaps between panels have been shaded with several coats of Carroburg Crimson, and i've started on highlights on the sharpest edges, the whole vehicle is really starting to 'pop'. I also built an overlay to go on the Raven's base, which is made from MDF and has been carved with a dremel and small cutting wheel to look like ruins just like the rest of the army's resin bases, it looks fairly convincing.




MDF is still the greatest IMHO...


I decided that my Assault Sergeants should stand out a bit, and to this end I've swapped out the one guy with a Power Axe to have a Power Sword instead. I've then painted up a scheme on all three swords that is a stylised reflective look, going from deep dark blue up to white, through 6 colours and thinning the paint as much as possible. It can take a fair bit to get right, and a lot of time is spent going back and fixing up the transitions to make them as smooth as possible.

On a gaming note, I've been doing some research concerning what Psychic discipline to roll for with my 2x Librarians- we roll for this before our first game and our opponent signs off on it, and this is what they use for the whole tournament. I was originally using Biomancy, for the potent offensive capabilities it gave, however I now believe that Divination to be the best for a Librarian, who should be used to buff an attached unit. Even if you roll for things you dont want you can fall back to the primaris power of Prescience, which provides for re-rolls to hit (shooting and cc) which really helps boost the power of an assault unit. Moreso than any other discipline these ones will keep your men alive and killing better for longer.

I'm also thinking that my Librarian in Terminator Armour will only selectively answer or issue challenges, as his axe-wielding capabilities are massively overshadowed by the 5 Thunder Hammers in the squad he's attached to- in addition he's going to be my Warlord, and will therefore have a 1VP price on his head, which I dont wish to squander. So, he'll skulk at the back of the pack for most engagements, unless circumstances are in his favour. Still working out how best to use the Terminators, I'm even thinking that I could Deep-strike them in on turn two in the vicinity of the Furioso's Drop Pod, to form a ridiculously resilient CC strongpoint.

Speaking of, here's the modified drop pod for my Furioso. Didnt want to splash out for the FW Dread Pod, so I've modified this standard troop carrying one to have a removable fin section (fluff wise- explosive bolts blow it out on landing when the doors drop) and Adiel comes lumbering out. I also magnetised the gun mount in the roof to allow me to still use the stormbolter or missile pod, and they can still articulate up and down. If one takes the liberty of assuming that the gun and its mount retract into the roof of the pod then the Dreadnought fits in quite easily!! This conversion turned out better than I expected.



Fits easily :) 



Magnets are mounted top and bottom for maximum hold.



Magnetised gun mount. Used a drill press on high speed and
 lots of care to make this fit without blowing out the sides. 



Recessed magnets with lightly filed-down outer edges. Snaps into place really solid.

Thats enough for today- got loads more work to do!

Cheers,
Tempest

 

BA: Characters update + Baneblade

More Red Fury

Some more progress on the Librarian in Terminator Armour, he's now rocking a cool 'flamed lightning' effect on his axe blade, and i've coloured in his face and done some simple colour/wash work on his tabard and purity seals. 



Face looks awesome for just a colour, wash and retouch!! 



Sang Priests... going to run with bare heads I've decided. Still loads to do, but the flesh tones have turned out great. Its nothing more than the now out of production 'Tallarn Flesh' foundation paint, a wash of Devlan Mud and then a retouch of Tallarn. Will go with some lighter highlights at a later point, but its more than table-top standard at this point.

Enter the Baneblade!!

I also decided to finally pull my finger out and get my Baneblade finished/ moved forwards. This is a tank which was previously painted in a **horrid** Mechrite Red base colour, of which small bits can still be seen- im cleaning these up at the moment.

Base is the now (sadly) superceded Charadon Granite- luckily my pot of it is still nice and useable. The base colour for the camo stripes are Zandri Dust (Base) and then I used umm... I cant rememeber? Its the one thats almost Bleached bone, but a few shades darker... this was used in the middle of the stripes to make the scheme 'pop'. All the camo was done with a GW tank brush, drybrushing lazily while watching some TV.

And cos I was bored I thought i'd try some blue tones and white reflecty stuff on the searchlight, I think it worked out okay. Next up is all the metal on the gun barrels, on the tracks, etc, and I'm going to do some gold trim as well- ie  silver with sepia washes, for that 'battleworn' look.

Marines, Bikes and Priests- 21 November update

Assault Squads

All 30 are now base coated red (armour), with a single heavy wash of Carroburg Crimson in the recesses. I've worked out that to do the armour, helmet and pinning onto the base each marine owes me an average of 1.5 hours. So even ignoring the construction time/ prepping and painting the bases, thats about 45 hours alone just to get the three assault squads done. I've also taken delivery of a fancy new Battlefoam Assault Marine tray, I can get 5 full squads in there. Pretty neat:)

Thats one tray full of rage right there, and I can fit another 20 in as well!

I've also been finishing off the meltagunners for the squad- here's three with their 'hazard stripe' meltas - this is my second-edition 40K roots showing... three left to do, just ran outta time tonight. The melta arms jsut slide on snugly and aren't attached so i can finish all the other details later. As the pics will attest, this is a simple basecoat of yellow for the stripes- will wash and tidy later on.

Come at me armour :P

Bikes!

The bikes are all basecoated red, I'm in the process of assembling the riders and gunners, with three multi-meltas (melta spam!! everywhere!!) as I jsut cant justify bikes with heavy bolters. And besides, the bolters on the bikes have a 24" range, just like the multi's, so i'll get to use them as well :) Was initially tossing up whether or not to take the attack bikes, now Im glad i persevered, they're such great looking models!!

Moar dakka coming soon...

  

Sang Priests

I'm pretty happy- these are cool looking priests, and with the right combo of parts and a vague idea they came together quite quickly!!  Been researching people's tacticas regarding the use of SPs, mine will be put in the middle/rear of the Assault Squads, although if covering multiple units (6" range to buff squads with FnP and FC) I'll place them out on the unit's flanks. I think T5 2 wound Attack Bikes getting a FnP save will be highly amusing...

Greenstuff Grails and "cut 'n' shut" narthecium/chainsword conversions- surprisingly easy...

Im also thinking that these guys are going to get challenged, which works fine for me- I can refuse the challenge, and I'm just losing a few Str4 attacks, which means my Sgts will be freed up to deliver power weapon hits here there and everywhere- i'm relatively sure my opponent will want to cut down the Priests firstly to remove the Feel No Pain. Although the WS5 Sang Priest should be able to hold his own with a possible jump infantry 'Impact Hit' and four Str5 (furious charge) attacks in the first round.

That and any shooting hits on him can be negated with a Look Out Sir! of a 2+, as he's an Independant Character attached to the squad.

Just need a basecoat of red on these guys, maybe some gold to pick out the grails, and some white on the 'X' shapes on the jump packs and Narthecium arms,  and that will do for this weekend's game.

What's next? 

At this point in time i've only got a few small tasks ahead to get my BA army ready for the Apoc on Saturday. The metal parts on the second Stormraven, maybe tidy up the red a bit more,basecoat the gunners and riders on the attack bikes (just blu-tak' in place for this game), and then go back and re-check everything again. Two thousand points of Blood Angels assembled and Basecoated in a couple of months: done. But completing a solid 1850 list in the next two months in order to make Cancon?? Its looking like a 50/50 chance at best... maybe the holidays will give me more free time, who knows??  

Thanks for having a read, its appreciated. Comments and feedback most welcome!