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

Blood Angels and urban city board progress

Once again, another shift around from one army to the next.... everyone must be getting sick of the lack of consistency between the posts. Sorry, I'm a tad OCD and I kinda flit around from one thing to the next depending on what random ideas are going on in my head... current thoughts have been revolving around ANUCON which looks like being on in mid October, giving my 3 and a bit months to build a new army, paint it up (well, kinda) and get my head around 6th Ed. 

The Orks and Dark Angels got their last 5th edition swings in at Final Fifth, and its now time for me to start some serious work on some Blood Angels so the other armies are back on the shelf for the time being. The Orks had given me a thirst for close combat so the Sons of Sanguinius are definitely going to help me scratch that itch.

In order to get the Blood Angels moving I decided it was time to sell off a couple of my remote control cars as well- another of my hobbies, but unfortunately one that I haven't had anything to do with for at least 5 years. There just  wasn't enough time anymore for racing, drift meetups or even zooming round the street, and the replacement and upkeep on parts can get a bit prohibitive. However, as sad I am to see them go its very much outweighed by the fact that I can use their sale to fund my other hobbies, namely my 40K armies- with a young family and a mortgage there is generally minimal funds for things like this so I figure sell my old toys to fund my new toys and there's no impact on 'normal' finances.

The plan at current is to take the units I already have (one Stormraven definately, Sanguinary Guard... maybe) and then sort through my recent Blood Angel purchases- I went and bought a load of stuff from a place in the USA (via eBay), and the cost is around 50-55% of normal RRP. I've got 20 Assault Marines (4 boxes), 10 Death Company (2 boxes) and a squad of Close-Combat Terminators all en-route...  I also just recently got hold of some desert-themed (ie Baal) resin bases for the whole army and some Forgeworld BA shoulderpads for my Terminators.

Also trying to track down a Terminator Librarian from Space Hulk, i'll be giving him a Storm Shield as well for some phenomenal survivability and he'll be great for squad-buffing with his powers (giving Preferred Enemy to thunder hammer/stormshield terminators? WIN). Although at current most online sellers want AU$35 plus postage!!!, and I refuse to pay that for one plastic single mini (especially considering that my Termies cost me $46 landed here!).

So far I've laid down the final coat of red on my first Stormraven, painted up (most of) the cockpit details and have started on the turret servitor and the pilot, and its all coming along nicely. The Mephiston Red really starts to look really fine on the third thin coat and the smoothness of the paint is great, none of the grainyness of the old Foundations. I've also picked up a pot of Ceramite White for use on the wings of the chapter symbols on the hull/tail, as well as for some freehand stuff if time allows... maybe not before Cancon though- which, i'm now happy to say i'll be attending! Was going to be in Adelaide, but thats now been pushed back to the following week. Happyness :)

 
 

Might have two Stormravens for ANUCON, although it could be tricky with transporting units in due to the new deployment rules (only up to half your units can be kept in reserve- ignoring flyers/models that have to start reserved), so i'll be juggling a few lists and getting some playtesting in before mid-October, and also to get my head around the new rules. I've read the rulebook twice now, might be time for an actual 6th Ed game??

Also- i've finished the base layers of paint on 4 of my modular city boards, the recessed roads have a dark grey and the rest is a middle grey- starting to look something like a piece of city now. I'm planning on a few more coats on the road for durability as well as a couple more greys on top of varying lighter shades, and will eventually top it off with some drawn on details, such as drains, gutters and some intersecting lines on the raised areas to look like slabs of concrete (or the 40K equivalent at least). Will then seal the lot with some matte spray varnish- Testors or Tamiya most likely. Here's a couple of pics- sorry for the quality, the light in my room is fairly poor.

 



Four down, four to go.

 



This piece will become a set of 'Gothic Traffic Lights'  



   

 


Baneblade patrolling the streets

  
 



Landing Pad looks right at home now

 















Mephiston Red- aka 'Hotrod Red'- new paint review

Went for a small trip to GW yesterday to pick up the latest White Dwarf, hoping for some Dark Angel hints, and after a quick flick through Im only seeing possibly hints of an Ork-related happening on 2 June? It could be a new Codex (the last one was a while back?) or some sort of Ork-themed party at GW- there's a full single page and double page spread regarding this, but with very minimal information. So who knows whats really happening? To be honest, i'd like to see some more Orkish goodness- I still dont think I have enough Deathskulls (roughly 3200pts straight WYSIWYG so far, including Stompa), and even if the base mechanics of them dont change then at least some new models or units would be nice.

However, I digress- where this is going is that without any tangible evidence concerning the boys of the First Legion at this time I'm feeling less inclined to put brush to mini to finish my two Tactical and one Devastator squads. Not that I dont love them, but I feel that variety is the spice of life. I spent a good 15 minutes of so discussing the new paint range with the staff, as well as giving the "base" (Foundations) and Dry paints a spin, and so far everything i've seen has been fantastic. Ceramite White has exceptional coverage over black, I think i'll be getting some of this to clean up my DA tank chapter symbols, and the myriad greens available in the 'layers' (ie normal paint) section makes me warm and fuzzy on the inside as a Dark Angel and Ork player.

However the colour that drew my attention the most was the replacement for Mechrite Red, most appropriately called 'Mephiston Red' after the Blood Angel's Chief Librarian (know on the Internetz as 'Space Dracula'). It seems that GW has realised that the main reason for Mechrite's use is to paint up vibrant red power armour, so this Base colour is now a lot closer to the old superceded Blood Red (now replaced with the very close Wild Rider Red- like Blood Red, with some orange thrown in). So I bought a pot of Mephiston Red, and decided to re-base coat my Stormraven Gunship which had previously been given a 50% coverage of Mechrite. And it turned out to be very, very interesting. Here's how its sitting after a coat of the new paint.  



Tony Stark: "Tell you what. Throw a little hotrod red in there".
Jarvis: "Yes, that should help you keep a low profile".



Now I dont want to speak ill of the dead, but im glad Mechrite is no more. Although it had phenomenal coverage, I always found the colour to be very muted and dull, a view that the GW staff shared with me. The main issue that stems from this is that in order to paint up a Blood Angels, Saim Hann Eldar or Evil Sunz Ork army one had to put down a base of Mechrite that was basically just going to end up being 95% or more covered by a lighter and brighter red. This basically meant that for all the wondeful time savings of the Foundation paint- quick to apply, great coverage etc- you were eventually going to go back over the mini again with another coat to bring up the red. In my opinion its heaps easier to throw down a brighter base colour and spend 30 seconds applying a Shade (Wash) to change the base colour. Dull down in 30 seconds and get natural shading with a Shade, vs apply a brighter colour which could take 10+ minutes on a marine? I know which i'd prefer.

The other issue I had with Mechrite (and a lot of the Foundations) was grainyness- most likely due to the higher amount of pigment- even when applied watered down a touch the finish seemed grainy and textured. Oh well, as I said: Mechrite is gone. So with that, how does Mephiston Red perform?



'Cant say im sorry to see it go. Meph Red is dynamite IMO.



Really well as it would seem. The paint consistency in the pot appears thinner than the prior Foundations, which partially goes to explain why it doesnt do a 100% coverage on black straight up, however a second pass completely covers and the colour comes right out. I was also very happy to see that the colour pops out enough without being that eye-searing 'Early 90s GW red'*, I can also see my entire Blood Angels army being based in this scheme. The current GW Blood Angels painting Recommendation is Mephiston Red (Base)> Carroburg Crimson (Shade)> Edge Highlight-Evil Sun Scarlet (Layer)> Highlight- Wild Rider Red (Layer). I think i'll be playing around with all these colours to determine the best scheme for me, but either way I'm hoping to get something that 'pops' on the tabletop.  

So, until my beloved First Legion gets a new book I'm going to be painting red, red and more red- a change is as good as a holiday, and I like the look and feel of the BA Codex so they'll be getting a look in on the tabletop. And while im on this very tack, here's my most recent Sanguinary Guard paintup- i've decided against the NMM look for a true-metallic + shades (washes!) combo- they'll end up with some gold highlights on this to bring the bling back up. This takes about 4 layers to achieve, vs the 15+ for the NMM gold... 

Inconspicuous?

*And yes, I am that old...