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 

Babies, Birthday presents and Boyz

Hey everyone! My first post in almost a month, it feels like forever- i've been off looking after my daughter, who was born on the 2nd May. Honestly, she's the best thing ever, I absolutely adore her! Sleep can be hard to come by, and its all a bit of a learning curve, but hey that's what we signed up for! So the updates may be a bit more sporadic compared to before, but I'll keep moving forward with everything.

Moving along to the hobby side of things- I've learned to paint in the small windows of opportunity that are given to me in between changing nappies/clothes and other baby tasks, and to be honest I think I'm getting quicker at painting.

Ulrik The Slayer- James' B'day present

I picked up Ulrik earlier in the year from an eBay seller, with the intent of rejuvenating him as a birthday present for my mate James as he has a Space Wolf army and also as something a bit different to try. This is the 'mystery guest' i hinted at a while ago. When I received the mini I found that the prior paint-job was extremely thick- most of the detail was obscured with a black/grey/gold scheme from a long time ago. Ulrik took a bath in the Simple Green for a while before being rinsed off and then had his mold lines cleaned up. I then spray undercoated him black and over the last few nights I gave him this quasi-retro paintjob. Its about 50% faithful to the GW 'Eavy Metal incarnation and the other half is what i wanted to try. For example, his grenade is painted green- the majority of 2nd edition marines had green grenades, and he's a 40k 2nd edition mini ('94 or '95 i think?) so thats what he got.


Although I gave him some shiny armour highlights and a glow for his Plas pistol I tried to limit his colour palette and use washes for the gold and the helmet and skulls as James' own army is done with a limited palette (which looks really good!) and I wanted him to tie in with them- this is also why his base isn't done as James is yet to decide on how to base his army.

So anyways, happy (belated) birthday mate, I hope to see Ulrik across the tabletop sometime soon...









Ork Rokkit Wartrakk/Buggy!!

As is the case from time to time, I stumble across some inspiring Ork scratchbuilds on the net, but I've never been taken with a mini quite like this. Its one guy's take on the Wartrakk/buggy from the PC game "Dawn of War", and the instructions for building it can be found at the following link: Irondog Studios- Wartrakk Tutorial. I'd also recommend that you check the rest of the website out, there is some unreal projects and commission works that really fire off the imagination.

Its actually quite simple to construct, provided you've got the parts and some patience, but the results are awesome. My first assembled trakk here is going to have a rokkit boy driver- he reloads the rokkits from his backpack supply- and I feel its a decent use for the three rokkit boyz I bought recently- I could pay the 16pts for a boy with Rokkit Launcha in an Ork Mob, and he may never get close enough to a viable target, however for 40pts I get a rokkit equipped buggy which is a fast vehicle, the rokkits are twinlinked and as a vehicle its fearless. I think a skwadron of 3 for 120pts is great- cheaper than the 45pts for a similarly armed Deffkopta (although I'll most likely run a few of these as well in the same list). I also have the option of giving them the "wartrakk" option which limits them to 12" only but allows for re-rolls on failed terrain tests- I'll possibly use this for city/urban games. These guys will be tasked with popping transports, hitting enemy MCs, or swoop in to contest objectives on the last turn, whereas the Koptas will be used more to alpha-strike or tie up heavy weapons squads.
 
Progress on "Da Ladz"

In the small windows of opportunity I get some days I've been getting some painting done on my Deathskull Boyz. I was always resigned to the fact that I wasnt going to make it to Wintercon this year due to my Daughter's birth as well as my Orks not being painted enough. However I'm thinking that ANUCON in mid-late October will be achievable, being that its 4 and a half months away and only 1500pts (compared to Wintercon's 1850). While 350 points isnt much, consider that my 30strong boyz mobs only come to 245pts- 350pts is a huge amount where horde armies are concerned.

So this is where I stand so far- 16 boyz done (a few need some washes and small details done), from a total of 60 for the two mobz- at least I'm now over a quarter done. Once these guys are sorted I then have 9 Killa Kans to complete as well as a Deffdread (who is currently en-route from the USA), 2 Deffkoptas, a KFF Big Mek and a full 15 Burna Boyz. So I've got a fairly busy 4 months ahead of me...     

Simple Green vs 'Simple Orange'

Thought i'd post up a quick one today, concerning the product 'Simple Green' as used by a lot of wargamers for paintstripping. 

I've previously been able to get hold of the dark green coloured concentrate at Bunnings (my local hardware store), and had found it to be extremely potent at removing years worth of paint- thick, thin, undercoated or no- it all came off with some time submerged in it. In no way did it affect plastics, and didnt even un-stick previously superglued parts- its extremely good at what it does.

However after I finished my last bottle I found that Bunnings had stopped stocking the dark green concentrate, and all I could find was a bright orange concentrate instead, which is easier to see through and has a orangey/citrus smell to it. After some google searching I couldnt find any real evidence either way to say if it was the same thing as the green concentrate, or even as potent/unharming to plastics.

So, with a bottle of newly purchased "Simple Orange" I threw my old Azrael mini in as well as a surplus plastic space marine, and waited for two days. And the results? After a quick high-pressure blast from the garden hose all the paint is gone from both minis!

So, there is absolutely no difference from the dark green stuff in regards to performance and treatment of plastics. And even better, you can see right into the concentrate to view submerged minis (check paint stripping progress) whereas the old dark green stuff would obscure your view. So, win win!

For anyone looking for this stuff, its bright orange, and comes with a spray bottle shring-wrapped beside the main 2L concentrate in a 'pack', for $20AU. Cannot recommend highly enough. Also, to allay any fears people may have, ignore the 'dont use on plastic trim' comment on the bottle- doesnt apply to the plastic used in miniatures!

So to round this post off, here's some of my tips for using simple green/orange/whatever..

•  Use a cheap plastic see-through food container with a snap on lid. If left open to the air the SG will evaporate over time, as well as lose its colour and turn clear like water. Not sure if this changes its paintstripping abilities though. When enclosed it will holds its colour and level almost indefinately.
• Blast minis under a tap or garden hose to remove paint (within reason- delicate stuff would be better lightly scrubbed with a toothbrush), then dunk in fresh water for a while. Remove later and let dry in the sun.
• For really thick paintjobs its best to scrub whatever you can get off with a medium stiffness toothbrush then drop the mini back in. My Warlord Titans took three extended baths to get the paint off, although this was mainly due to them having enamel paintjobs- SG is better suited to water-based acrylics, but most solvents that are good for enamels are no good for plastic.

Until next time,
Tempest