Modular Cities of Death game board, new name and layout, and 1000 views!

Welcome back!! There's been a few changes round here, most markedly the blog name change. I decided on Tempest's 40K Bunker as the old name seemed a bit too focussed on terrain and minis, whereas I wanted to encompass the entire hobby itself. A small change, but I feel its an important one. I'm also going to play around with the layout and colours as well, so dont be surprised if its all changed when you next come back! 

Cities Of Death "Modular" game board.

I've started work on a new and somewhat ambitious project, a fully modular gaming table for use in Cities of Death 40K battles, which is formed from 2ft x2ft MDF wood sections. I was initially quite hesitant about this project as I thought it would be hard to cut perfectly sized squares, however a trip to the hardware store (Bunnings) alleviated some anxiety when I found that I could buy 2x4ft sections, so only one cut per board to make each section. I actually found one of the 4x2 boards was a few mm longer than 4ft, this actually made for perfect 2ft squares after cutting when taking into account the width of the circular saw blade- the other 2 boards are both 1mm narrower across one direction. In the end it'll amount to nothing, but at least i know to search for slightly longer sections when i get my next board.

I marked out some roadways on the squares, 6 inches wide and entering/ exiting at the middle of each edge. For now I only have four squares, and have planned for two T intersections and two crossroads, the next two squares will have straight sections of road.

The roads themselves are carved into the squares using a handheld wood router with a 19mm square/flat cut router bit. I had to make up a wooden router guide to run this along, and after routing out each length of road I undo all the clamps and shift it about 17mm and go again for another pass. Tedious, but three-dimensional recessed roads are pretty sweet! The roads are about 4 mm lower than the top surface, so there's still 11mm of wooden board left to keep it all really solid, there's no chance of breaking the squares at all. Its basically the same height as a 40K round base.

Future plans are to add some much thinner (10- 15mm wide?) and much deeper lines here and there to represent water drainage channels. They'd terminate before each board edge, going 'underground', and would mainly be there to add some extra dimension. I'd also run them so they appear to flow under the roads as well, and am hoping to use water effects to get a good sense of realism. But for starters i'm going to concentrate on the roads and see how they all come out.

I've also decided that I'm not going to trash the streets with cracks and craters, I'd like this setup to work for both 'war-torn' and 'recently invaded' city scenarios, with craters and detritus being added on top later if necessary as seperate terrain pieces. Im definately going to do some more investigation into what kind of road lines or markings to paint down, but im not 100% sold on the idea just yet. If they are painted on i'll be drybrushing over them in spots to make them appear quite worn, giving a sense of age to the board. 

So for now at least I have one square completed, the others should be done by the weekend, as its been raining nearly non stop for a while now and I therefore have some free time to spend in the garage!

Over 1000 blog views!!

Wow, it hasnt taken that long to get this many page views, some of you must like me enough to come back for a look every now and then.  I really appreciate that people will spend time looking into my Blog, and I'm hopeful that I'm able to continue showcasing the kind of minis, terrain, tips, tutorials, battlereports and general info that interests people and hopefully inspires them in their own hobby endeavours.  I aspire to keep going with this Blog for as long as possible and keep working on the minis and terrain that inspire me so much. I appreciate your interest, and hope that I can continue to provide another perspective on the universe of 40K.  

Until next time, thanks for visiting.

Tempest :) 

The "Kan Wall", BA SangGuard and some big-name repaints!

Hi all, welcome back! I've been relatively busy of late with house and baby-centric preparations (only 10 weeks to go!) so the hobby has been pushed back a little bit.  I've still been able to get a lot of things done though in the limited time available, namely trying out some NMM gold techniques on a squad of Sanguinary Guard, and assembling and lightly base colouring some Killa Kans. The former was due to a desire to try something I havent done before, the latter because I was hoping to  get a semi-competitive "Kan-Wall" list ready for a one-day tourney.

Here's how the Sang Guard are going... pretty happy for a first try!

So regarding the Orks- I got the Kanz glued together and undercoated in just one night, including removing all mold lines, flashing etc and then got their main hull/body sections coated in a single layer of hawk turquise to help them look less like flat-black flailing robots. I also undercoated and then painted the skin onto the Painboy and Grot orderly for my Nobz squad as well as the Big Mek with Kustom Force Field. Nobody wants to see bare metal, or just black undercoat. A small bit of effort always goes a long way.

I then ran the boyz at the local tourney (1400pts), and the first game demonstrated how hardcore a Kan-wall can be. Running two squads of 3x Kans,  two x 30-strong Boyz mobs and a Warboss, 9 Nobz + Painboy and Big Mek with KFF all in a Battlewagon I essentially steamrolled the Marine army in front of me. The only major losses I sustained were the Warboss and Nobz, who failed to get a charge in by a half-inch, and were then themselves assaulted by Lighting Claw- toting Terminators and a Captain. I eventually whittled these guys down with a mob of Boyz, dealing on average 60+ attacks per turn until they were gone- 2+ armour can be good if you dont need to take 9 saves per model! Aside from that, the only other significant loss was a single Killa Kan to an assault cannon shot, and this was after both Kan mobs had carved up a Landraider Redeemer into several smoking sections. They then went on to attack the Tactical Squads positioned at the back of the board, taking them down with grotzookas, missiles and then close combat. Here's some pics from the game:

Deployed and ready to roll!! Everyone has access to the KFF bubble at this point of the game :)

Waaagh!!! Kans carve the Landraider into ruin, the left Boyz mob swamps the terminators whilst the right ones rescue "Frosty Frostington" (the snowman) who was the main objective.

And in the final stages of turn 4, the Kans engage and massacre the Tactical Squads :)

The unfortunate thing was that I had to bail out and return home after this first game, so I'm not going to automatically assume that this is a dynamite killer list just yet. I will however admit that its the basis for a strong list, especially with another 350 points added on top to equal the 1750pt limit that is most commonly seen around the local tourneys. Im thinking that I'll be throwing in another 3 Kanz, and will therefore have 3 Grotzookas, 3 Rokkit Launchas and (if i can scrounge the parts) 3 Kustom Mega Blastas. I'll also be looking to add a Deff Dread with twin scorchas, mainly just to give the opposing forces something big and scary looking. Stat-wise and for its points, a Deff Dread is considered an underperforming unit, however I'd be looking to utilise it in the psychological 'big and scary' role for keeping my Kanz alive. With armour plates and grot riggers it should be able to keep rolling forwards attracting fire and keeping the other elements of my force unmolested. The last switch/addition i'd be taking is another KFF Mek, removing the Warboss from my list. This then opens up about 130 points to use, so I'd possibly get another Deff Dread. 11 Walkers, 60 Boyz, 9 Nobz (upgraded with more Pklaws), a battlewagon and 2 KFFs to cover the whole army?? I know why this type of list has a reputation...
       
*Update: I've now purchased another 3 Kanz, and a box of Lootas/Burnas- more green-death to come!* 


And now, switching back again to the painting side of things...

Following my recent discovery of the greatness that is Simple Green concentrate I have been diligently rescuing some of the old models in my posession from the captiprison of thick, claggy and decidedly unattractive paint. Some of these minis are mine, and some of them belong to my friends- I've taken it upon myself to help them with paintstripping, cleaning up and (where appropriate) repainting the figures. So far the roster of submerged minis reads like a roll call of some of the greatest and brightest in the 40K universe, comprising Abbadon the Despoiler, Pedro Kantor, Kharn the Betrayer, Azrael (and Helmet Bearer), Interrogator Chaplain Asmodai as well as another "mystery guest"...

My penchant for stripping and repainting minis came after a forum discussion last year on repainting vs stripping and starting over, with which I concluded that the best approach is to start over if the materials to do so were available and the current paintjob is too thick to be covered. A great example of repainting on here is my Terminator Chaplain (the guy in my avatar), who copped a light re-spray in Chaos Black undercoat before having everything painted over again. However, I think that he's the exception to the rule, as the existing paintjob needs to be relatively smooth and thin if you are going to attempt this.

Luckily I have been able to source concentrated Simple Green from my local hardware store, and have been able to get stuck into the process of rejuvenating some previously forgotten or unloved minis. The stripping process can take as little as a few days in the solution for one-coat thick paintjobs or a week or more if there is multiple thin coats and a good sprayed-on undercoat, which acts as an anchor for the paint above to grab to. I generally leave the minis in for a week minimum, and once the green colour starts to dissappear from the solution the minis come out, get washed and have all small remaining paint traces removed from the deeper crevices and edges with a dental pick (a pin head does a similar job).  However, 9 times out of 10 a quick blast under a tap on high pressure tends to remove everything anyways.

So here's a few pictures of the current luminaries awaiting their rebirth- these were photos from games that they've participated in over the last couple of years. Im hopeful that once repainted they'll be back onto the tabletop again to lead their power armoured cohorts to glory/infamy....

Pedro Kantor- the Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists was done up with different coloured eyes for some reason, which combined with the blue/white panoply seems to make him look like a clown. Im hoping to restore some dignity to this guy, and have some great plans surrounding his powerfist regarding some OSL work and some freehand stuff here and there.

Abbadon- his previous owner had painted him in Iron Warriors livery, which looked cool (at a distance) but was way too chunky. He also had huge eyes painted on, like he was running purely on coffee.. Not sure yet what scheme to run with, initial thoughts are the traditional GW black scheme but maybe throw some thinned purple washes in there to give a sinister aspect to the highlights... looking forward to doing all the skulls and small details on him.

Azrael- My original chapter master from 1994 will finally be repainted to lead my Dark Angels- whilst I have another metal Azrael and helmet bearer mini at hand, i'd prefer to use this actual mini as he's the one that's led me to victory countless times before. Although his plasma gun arm is missing in the pics, its now been located. Im still very proud of this original paintjob, it was done with unthinned old-skool GW paints, the equivalent of a standard brush and with the talent available to a young 14 year-old version of me.

Asmodai- the interrogator chaplain is in dire need of a repaint, I cant wait to get him back out cracking skulls- even if its with his confusing double power-weapon loadout that makes no sense (in this edition at least- in second ed a sword could be used to 'parry').

The Mystery Guest (?)- I found a 2nd edition model recently that I just couldnt pass up, he's being done up to test a few techniques and for another reason that I wont divulge just yet. Suffice to say, very keen to get him done!

So even though I have less than 70 days until my baby is due, I've got a lot of work ahead- at bare minimum I want Abbadon, Pedro and the Mystery Guest done, the other guys being less of a rush. Will I get them done? I'll make sure to get progress pics up as they come- they're all about to come out of their bath for a rinse! In the meantime, here's two of the minis who will be getting some work- the "before" shots if you will :)

Urgh!!! I think we can do something with this... Pedro needs love... i think glowing powerfist fingers and eyes will fit the bill nicely, and a "Tempest" spin on the GW Crimson Fists paint scheme ;)

Not bad for something painted 18 years ago!! I owe you a new lease on life my Supreme Grand Master... especially with the rumoured DA Codex inbound! 

Thats all for now, im hoping to get something up again soon.

Cheers,

Tempest

Pulling back from the brink, and flaming wreckage markers!!

Its been a while now, a very long while so my sincerest apologies to anyone who has been waiting for a blog update. I've been relatively MIA of late for two reasons, one positive and one negative, and i thought i'd share them here to show the kind of interruptions that can befall us gamers and ruin the best laid hobby plans.

Absence reasons...

My 'positive' reason is the landscaping of my house, chiefly a set of stairs running from the top of our driveway to the bottom through a previously unused section of garden. I can say proudly that all measurements were done with my trusty GW measuring tape, which now (unfortunately) refuses to spool up closed without persuasion, has some missing measurement lines and generally looks really beat up. Might be time for a new one soon, or i'll just pull it apart and have a tinker as I seem do with everything else that needs fixing!! At the time of posting this i have only to secure the pavers on top of the steps and i'm done. I have it on good authority that its equivalent to a $5000+ job if I hired landscapers to do it, and we've only spent around $500.  Worth it seeing how its hard enough for me to walk up our steep driveway, let alone my 6 month pregnant wife!

And onto the negative... about three weeks ago I sort of cracked it, like really bad, regarding the hobby. I think I was having an off day/week, and decided that I would sell everything. My Dark Angels, Deathskulls, Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Imperial Guardsmen, my work-in-progress scratchbuilt Warlord Titan and Marauder bomber, all my codexes, rulebooks, templates, dice, terrain, gameboards and storage cases. For some reason that now escapes me I thought that selling it all would be good for me. I had it all up on eBay, had loads of offers (not for the whole lot mind you) but I eventually pulled it back down. So why did I do it? In the time since then I've had a chance to take a step back and look at the reasons why- and here they are.

1. Lack of time / availability for the hobby: The average age of my gaming mates would be around 28, and hence we are all relatively busy people with family, relationships, careers and other pursuits to keep us busy. We dont have the luxury of just getting home from school like the younger guys and being able to get a game in, likewise our weekends are filled with family, sports, social and work commitments. This is most definately a good thing, as it means we arent all introverted hobby weirdos but it means that getting a game, painting session or get together that much harder. My reasoning was that i didnt have time for the game anymore, especially seeing how we're expecting a baby in the next 13 weeks.  
2. My level of interest in the game varies to other people: Now I stress that this is not a negative, but its definately a factor as to why I (temporarily) wanted out. Around 90% of my gaming buddies play other gaming systems, such as DnD and Dark Heresy as well as online games like BF3. I dont have anything of the like- not for lack of funds or interest, but time (as per the above point). So where I mainly put my creative time and energies into 40K, my mates are involved across numerous other games, campaigns, online matches or tournaments. I can tell you from first hand experience that its easy to bounce from one point of interest to the other from week-to-week (or even day-to-day!), being that building and modifying cars are my other main interest in life... so sometimes people are engrossed in something else and wont be keen for game. Again, I stress that this is in no way a negative, its just how it his.
3. The immensity of what I still have left to complete: Right at this time I have 35 'new' Dark Angels in either black undercoat or with base colours applied and in several assembly pieces each to help with painting. Thats also in addition to the average 90 percent completion of all the painted units that im gaming with that still need doing. Same again with my Deathskull Orks- all 80 infantry/ footslogging models have had their skin base colours applied and blue clan markings, but thats it. To just put down all that green skin colour (in a fast application but great coverage thinned Foundation "Gnarloc Green" no less) took me 8 hours. The remaining armour, weapons, helmets and details for these guys will easily consume another 40+ hours, even when using more time-saving Foundation Paints and Citadel Washes. And there's also the 40K scale Warlord Titan, who is about 60% complete and has racked up around 110 hours in planning and assembly time. I still dont think he'll be done by the end of this year, although I reckon I could happily finish him off given a week off work! (Which wont happen).
4. Stagnation regarding my current armies: While the Orks have a relatively recent Codex, the Brother-Marines of the first Legion are still stuck with a codex from early 2007 that is now massively overshadowed by the more recent power-armour tomes. Yes, there has been FAQs to even stuff out- we now get 3+ Storm Shield saves and two shots from a Cyclone Missile Launcher, but not much else to even out the playing field. The points values and squad size and wargear restrictions are the hardest to work with, as most power armoured forces can now bring more to the table for less, although, I can happily say that my breadth of experience with the Dark Angels codex and forces means that I can usually drag out at least a draw against the more competitive list builds out there. I suppose my final gripe on the subject is that the newer codexes have a lot more toys to fill your lists with- I want Thunderfire Cannons, specialised Veteran Squads and more Dreadnought variants but its just a waiting game. And so for now my current DA squad buildups have been limited to the core elements that will not change- tactical and devastator squads.

So thats the main bunch of reasons for my little meltdown and near-miss regarding full hobby sellout/meltdown. In hindsight I can see that I just jumped in making a snap decision to burn all my bridges and move on and that I would have regretted this move immensely had it all sold. Much better that my minis spend their time between games locked up safely in a display cupboard/case than end up in someone else's posession at a massive loss to what i've put in.

So yeah, i was going to sell all this... and more!

Anyhow, moving on to some positive things :)

Flaming Wreckage Markers
For those of you who saw the writeup regarding the 50,000pt Apocalypse that was held late November last year you might remember seeing and hearing about the "flickering LED candle" flaming wreckage markers I built for the event. I was sick of just putting a dice on the roof to show the tank/dread/unit as wrecked, and had recently viewed a couple of forum threads and youtube videos telling you how to make these up, so in a flurry of post-Apoc creativity I gathered all the items up and got building. The results are fantastic to be honest! I'll have a proper tutorial up soon with step-by-step details and pics, but for now here's a few showcasing the flaming markers, as well as a video showing their flickering effect as well.

Burning a Baneblade, looks convincing doesnt it!

An Ork Battlewagon has taken a direct hit- the boyz are now toast!

Everything is on fire! this kind of grouping is great to represent bombing runs.

Apoc: Killa Kan vs Drop-pod = flames and wreckage

A lot of things are on fire in this shot, deep into the third turn of the 50K Apoc battle

And here's a video, showing how they look in all their flickery glory! (And here's a direct link if the video below doesnt work for you: http://s11.photobucket.com/albums/a186/LC-006/?action=view&current=IMG_1049-1.mp4)

So thats all for now, as always i appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

Cheers,

Tempest :)

Second Sphere competition entry- Deathskull Looted Wagon

Wow, talk about being busy! I've had nearly no time to sit down and paint or do anything hobby related since the week before the last big Apoc game as we've been getting stuck into some major home renovations and landscaping upgrades. While this is all well and good it does mean that I've felt bad about neglecting the hobby, and in turn my Blog. I'm hoping to pick up the pace again over the Xmas-New Year's break as i'm not going anywhere or doing anything major, so unless something appears straight out of left field then I should get some more painting and posts completed.

so, on to the topic at hand. I was trawling through a few of my favourite 40K-centric forums the other day and saw that entries for the Second Sphere Heavy Support contest was ending very soon. With my Deathskull Orks recently base coloured I thought it might be best to complete one of the mini/s from their as a submission, however there was a few issues...

The first was time- i'd glanced at this contest ageeeees ago when the rules and details were first put up online, and in the back of my mind had locked in the 22nd of December as the submission deadline. Lucky I looked at the rules post again, because the submission date was actually the 21st, with the voting starting from the 22nd! So I was trying to complete my entry on the last day for submissions to be accepted!! I wish I could say this was the only time this has happened but I'd be lying through my teeth. However, as history shows this is usually when I'm at my most productive- nothing like a looming deadline to get tasks out of the way!!

The second issue I had was with choice- in my current Ork army I have 3 Killa Kans, 2 Battlewagons and a Looted Wagon (with Boomgun) as possible HS choices, all of which were done up in their base colouring- Hawk Turquoise blue, Devlan Mud washed, Boltgun Metal drybrushed, with a nice Blazing orange "rust effect", with random white checks and dags. But which of these to do up?

• Battlewagons- although super cool and imposing, I opted against finishing one of these as there was way too many small details remaining to be painted, and to look good enough to stand a chance of winning I'd have to paint up the crew in their gun cupolas, grabbin claw hatch and the two ladz in the tray manning the big shootas. Im thinking that once both Bwagons are completed i'll be happy to chuck one into the "Transports" competition which comes up early on 2S every year.
• Killa Kans- I literally had a Kan in hand last night about to apply paint to model when I decided against it- whilst i've used Devlan Mud wash to highlight all the hydraulics of the engines, legs and arms/weapons of these models I feel that i'd regret rushing their paintjobs to make a competition deadline. All in all the Kans are my favourite models in the armym, and this persuaded me to work on them with a bit more care and to take my time. Sorry ladz- i'll get to you soon though!
• Looted Wagon- so yes, eventually the Wagon got the go-ahead for a quick completion job to make the competition deadline. The blue was touchup up with some more stippling in the middle of the panels to brighten it up and make the paintjob "pop". When doing this I stayed away from panel edges, joins and 'damaged' parts of the tank where the Devlan wash and Blazing Orange "rust" was found. I also gave the tracks and wheels a quick hit of Boltgun Metal (they were still in black undercoat), folowed by a single heavy wash of Devlan. The majority of the time spent was on the twin pistols (with leather holsters), banner pole and icon strapped to the back of the turret- ironically, when I ended up taking the photos and picking out the three to submit you really cant see any of tthe detail or time that went into this work. I also went back and applied a second hit of thinned/semi-wash Blazing Orange to the current rusty parts of the tank where I felt the colour should be more pronounced, with pure dots of the colour applied where large orange bubbles of rust should show through.

With all my painting done, it was time to get some photos. Some people like to photograph outside in natural light, but if you're like me then you'll want more control- for this reason I use what is commonly referred to as a 'light box". Put simply, a lightbox is a box (OMG no way!) with a bright colour on some or all of its internal walls to reflect light around the object placed in the middle of the box. My lightbox is a carboard carton originally used to hold reams of A4 printer paper- i've cut one side out so its now two side walls, a back wall and floor, all of which have had white A4 paper glued into place. I've then used a pure white energy saving globe (i've found these to provide excellect illumination with almost no colour distortion) positioned just above the camera that i've used for the photos. As for that Camera? Its simply just my iPhone 4 camera sitting on a small wooden block, with the "HDR" photo setting turned on. All I do is get some focus on the model, move the light source around until i'm happy with what I see and start snapping off shots- sometimes the HDR gives better detail shots, other times it might wash some colour out, so it gives two photo versions to select from.

Anyhow, less talk more pics- here's the comp entry photos that I ran with.  You may note that I painted a small 'kill marking' on the turret, as the Looted Wagon has so far been able to destroy a Leman Russ Battletank (a few months back at ANUCON), I thought it only fitting that the crew would mark this somewhere. Its not exactly Orky in how it looks but I reckon it looks cool!

I love how the triangular dags on the turret blastshielding look three-dimensional, even though its just painted on.

A closeup of the turret, showing the Killa Kan "pogo" legs that I used as recoil suppressors.

The competition entry thread will be up a day or two's time (competition committee are generally all UK-Europe based), so make sure to have a look and cast a vote if something takes your fancy!

Thanks for looking!

Tempest :)

 

   

40,000 points of devastation! Apoc Battle Report

Well, it finally happened- on the 26th of last month we finally ran the Apocalypse I’ve been talking about for a while now with seven players in total and a thrown together Ork army being run by Adam and I to even things up. The players and their respective armies were as follows:

Colin- Daemons

Ash- Necrons/Chaos/Renegade Marines

Ross- Hawk Marines

Alan- Imperial Guard/ Space Wolves

And on the other side of the table-

Adam- Imperial Guard (Armoured Company)

Brendan- Grey Knights and Eldar

Me- Dark Angels

Shared Army- Goff and Deathskull Orks

The game was run without any objectives to capture, as we were using straight up Victory Points which proved to be relatively painless as everyone was required to provide two half-point costs listed against each and every unit on their list (including vehicles and transports) so that points could be given to the player that earned them for taking a squad to less than half starting models/ immobilised for vehicles, and also for wiping out/destroying the unit.

Terrain was laid out in a relatively open manner, with Adam’s landing pad being the centrepiece for the game right in between both forces. The table deployment line was set with standard Apoc rules using the scatter dice and a line to the diagonal opposite table edge, with the ping-pong table side having a very large deployment area and the grey table side a much smaller and more compact area- my team bid 30 minutes for deployment vs 4 minutes for the other boys. They decided to take the larger deployment zone and they put down what they could in four very frantic minutes, with the exception of Ash who was on his way and would deploy in the second turn. On his behalf though, his allies had placed his (made by me!) Doomsday Device up on the deployment line where it could cause havoc. Never let it be said that a flickering LED candle inserted into a ping-pong ball, inserted into a plastic screw container is not threatening...

Our team put down everything except for my Dark Angels (sniper scouts did deploy though), all our flyers and Brendan’s Eldar grav-tanks. The main battleline was comprised of two Stompas- each with a Kustom Force Field Big Mek- being placed 2 feet apart, with a full 111- strong Ork “Green Tide” Apocalypse Formation in between them- being infantry they were covered by the KFF bubble giving them a 5+ cover save from ranged attacks! In front of each Stompa was a mob of Kanz, Nob-filled Battlewagons beside them, and a Deff Dread in front of the left Stompa. Behind this front line was row upon row of Leman Russ Battletanks and Demolishers, Chimeras, Heavy Weapons Squads and two Shokk Attack Meks- one in the bamboo trees, the other on the extreme right in the stone fortress with a bunch of Burna boys, and backing all these units up was two Baneblades on the right and a formation of Basilisks on the very back table edge.

Our opposition had a full complement of Daemons on the left side of their deployment line, in a “Tetragon of Darkness” Apoc Formation, Daemon meaning that whilst the key Greater still lived, all units in this Formation were extremely hard to see/hit, as all our shooting at them would be using the Night- Fighting rules. Ross’s Hawk Marines anchored the middle and the right flank with Tactical-Squad- filled Rhinos, and several Land Raiders, with a small Assortment of Space Wolves, Leman Russ’s and a Baneblade, with a scary back-line made of Basilisks and a single Deathstrike Vortex Missile Formation (Alan plays for keeps in Apoc!)

And so without further ado, here is the turn by turn rundown of the incredible destruction, heroics and sacrifice that made this such a phenomenal battle!

Turn 1:

•With all launch protocols satisfied and with the Lord Commisar’s approval the mighty Vortex Missile flies skywards on a trail of fire. Arcing downwards it explodes next to an Ork Stompa, destroys an IG Command Squad in their Chimera as well as vacuuming up a Battlewagon with its full complement of “Deathstar” Nobs and their Warboss! The resulting Vortex template that remains spends the rest of the game wandering around randomly eating Leman Russ tanks, scaring famed Chaos Warlords and blocking unit movement.

•A squad of screamers breaches the disruption field and destroys 3 artillery vehicles on their next turn.

•The Dark Angel Sniper Scouts joined up with the Ratlings when infiltrating deep in the enemy backline to harass the Deathstrike and Basilik artillery guns and the squads guarding them, with an unofficial contest starting up to see who would make the most kills.

•The Goff stompa poured out more than 70 shots from the psycho-dakka blasta, killing Ku’gath Plaguefather and nullifying the tetragon of darkness. The Deathskull Stompa followed suit with 60 plus shots into the tactical squads in front of it, wiping out two of the three and sending the surviving Sgt fleeing in his Rhino in the next turn.

•Seeing the main landing pad in front of them as a hindrance, the Linebreaker Formation of Vindicators annihilate the installation, leaving only a smoking flaming set of craters, opening up lines of fire and setting the stage for the most brutal of close combats.

•Commissar Yarrick and an entire platoon hid away inside their tanks for an entire game! What a Hero...

•A unit of Deathwing teleports deep behind enemy lines to shoot up the basilisks, blowing up one.

•Due to limitations on deployment space, the Marine Hawk Landraiders (particularly the Terminus Ultra) and the Razorback were all out of range in the first turn – a tactical disadvantage as the first turn was theirs to fire away. This meant that five twin-linked lascannons and three single lascannons missed a turn of firing with a large mechanised Ork horde closing in.

Turn 2:

•The Marauder Bomber lines up its run but is forced to disengage due to the heavy screen of AA fire streaming up in its sector.

•The Deathknell Orbital Strikforce lands to the right of the Goff Stompa, a full complement of 50 Terminators and a Dreadnought.  They were initially targeting the middle of hte Green Tide, but were sent off course by the Disruptor Beacon just behind the Ork lines.

•The Last member of the Platoon Command squad guarding the artillery up the back takes a Rending shot through each eye from the Ratlings.

•Sly Marbo appears to deliver some C4 pizza to the Deathwing, killing four of them. He is then shot into pieces of dogmeat by the Stormbolter of a vengeful DA Terminator Chaplain.

•An IG Veteran squad wander out of their Valkyrie, fail to hit anything except TKing half their own squad with a demo charge, but finally manage to destroy a Leman Russ in assault before being virtually wiped out.

•A lone Dark Angel Predator Annihilator rolls up on the right side table edge to engage Abbadon’s Land Raider but fails to penetrate with its main lascannon turret. It was then swiftly destroyed by a swarm of scarabs that ate through its armour and reduced it to a smoking hole-riddled hulk.

•The DOOMSDAY DEVICE (must be capitalised!) becomes “active” but doesn’t bring any effect out just yet. Unreasonable demands are made that our team hands over all our Blue Cheese or the Chaos Lord will visit ruin upon our world. We resolve to just destroy the DD and hang onto our delicious dairy products... 

•The Orks start laughing and pointing to the sky, where several massive flaming shapes can be seen- giant asteroids pulled into orbit by tracktor beams. However the massive Roks miss the battlefield by a wide margin, denying the greenskins the devastating strike they were hoping for.

•The Ravenwing Landspeeder deepstrikes next to a Baneblade and opens up with its Multi-Melta, destroying the super-heavy’s main gun before being destroyed by retaliatory Leman Russ fire.

•Azrael, Belial, the Terminator Chaplain and a Squad of Deathwing engage the Bloodcrushers, supported by a mob of Stormboyz and a Dark Angel Assault Squad led by a Company Master. The  Bloodcrushers are wiped out with only a few casualties from the Assault Marine squad

•The 100+ strong Green Tide Ork mob smashes into the daemons in the cratered ruins of the landing pad, dealing out over 350 attacks on the charge to the three units they engage, as all of them are in range to get their attacks and only a few boyz are lost in to the Daemons first strikes! The Daemons are severely depleted but there are more queuing up behind them for a go... the ladz care not- WAAAGH!!!

•Another swarm of scarabs eat through the armour of one of the Baneblades, reducing it to 0 AV and the tank is destroyed.

•The Dark Angel Assault Marines are caught in a blast from the nearby Baneblade’s Demolisher cannon, wiping them all out except for the Jump-pack Company Master who survives thanks to his Iron Halo. Realising that the warmachine is out of his league he goes hunting infantry instead.

•The Daemon Prince and Greater Daemon assault one of the Shokk attack Meks and his burna boyz, turning the mek into a Chaos Spawn in the process. They are only destroyed later on by the timely intervention of two Grey Knight Dreadknights. 

Turn 3:

•The Dark Angel Company Master leaps into the central bunker to assault and wipeout a squad of Long Fangs, but only just survives with one wound remaining.

•The techpriest enginseer charges in against the scarabs to save the second baneblade, but gets eaten. Its all those delicious augmetics... nom nom nom. Thats 1000VPs earnt by the one small swarm alone!

•The DOOMSDAY DEVICE sends out two giant beams of death, striking both Stompas like hammer-blows- the Deathskull machine is immobilised and has its Deathcannon destroyed, and the Goff Stompa is reduced to two structure points. In the Ork’s turn the Deathskull Mek waltzes out onto the arm and beats it with his wrench until it powers up again.

•The Dark Angel Devastators and Whirlwind were deployed in a position behind the main Ork battleline waiting for the expected Daemon breakthrough, but never had any chance to hit enemy units as the swirling combat in the centre continued on for three full turns as the Orks refused to break and just continued crushing everything thrown at them.

•The Goff Stompa charges in and carves a Chaos Fellblade in half, the explosion taking out several nearby renegades and Necron warriors. It is finally destroyed by a squad of Terminators, its own explosion taking one of them out.

•The three armoured sentinels behind the Deathskull Stompa open fire on the Linebreaker Vindicator squadron, destroying one and stunning the others with one round of shooting, achieving a result where the rest of their comrades had failed previously.

Turn 4 (Last Turn- time constraints):

• The demon princes that got scattered on deepstrike arrival end up killing the chapter master of the Grey Knights and destroying a Stormraven.

• Azrael, Belial and the remaining Deathwing engaged Logan Grimnar and his Wolfguard, with both sides fighting to a draw as the game ended.

•A Squad of Veterans jump from their valkyrie, shooting the baneblade with three meltas and destroying it, stealing the VPs from the Fire Dragons who were too busy reloading their guns!

•The Dark Angel jump-pack Chapter Master attacks a nearby Landraider, strapping a meltabomb onto its hull and immobilising it in the explosion.

•Massed Leman Russ, Demolisher, Conqueror and Chimera firepower finally wipes out the last of the Deathknell-Formation Terminators

•Abaddon and his squad deigned to grace the pitiful mortals with his presence, leaving his Landraider finally! However, a Shokk Attack gun and some IG heavy weapons teams culled his entire squad and knocked him down to just one wound. He also spent a nervous turn watching the Vortex template disappear and then reappear beside him.

•Changeling saving Ku’ros Fateweaver from being charged by some nobs by making them shoot a Killa Kan instead.

•The deff dread in the centre loses a combat arm and its skorcha, then advancing between two burning vehicles to destroy a necron squad in close combat.

•The Marauder finally makes an appearance, having previously turned back due to long-range Ack Ack fire, it drops its full complement of bombs on a squad of Necrons Warriors and some Daemons, blowing them into small pieces.

•One lone Tzeentch Flamer survives two rounds of combat with the grey knights squad that killed the rest of its squad, beating all the odds!

The Result:

So, the final result was a win for my team, with 11,220 VPs, and the opposing team ran up 8271 VPs, a very decisive victory no matter how you look at it! 

Photos!

Here’s an assortment of pictures from the day, showing the insane scale and destruction that a 40,000pt battle entails:



Our team's deployment line

110 Boyz and a Warboss- Greentide!

The Linebreaker Formation annihilates the landing pad!

Deathknell Orbital Strikeforce teleports and drops in after a massive lance strike to clear the ground.

Da Ladz suss out the competition, but ultimately decide to go Daemon bashing! 

Necrons and Chaos deploy after being initially delayed.

Abbadon declares his intentions to all and sundry, presses the big red button and the Doomsday Device powers up! The Bloodthirster appears impressed!

New-codex scarabs vs Baneblade- 600VPs to the small metal swarm after eating the superheavy to pieces.

The Greentide about to crash into the Daemons, with the two Stompas hosing everything with their Supa Gatlers

Flyers strike deep behind our lines

the Kan decides to destroy a Drop pod as a last act of defiance before the Terminator's crush it to bits! (My flaming wreckage markers worked so good- flickering LED candle hot-glued inside pillow stuffing, with black spray on the outside!) 

The stompa scythes the Chaos Baneblade "Storm Of Chaos" into ruin! 

The Bloodcrushers are assaulted by the Dark Angels and a small unit of Stormboyz, whilst the Wraithlords and Deff Dread advance on the Doomsday Device.

The Assault Marines, Dark Angel Lords and Deathwing plan their next move.

The Marauder finally appears, weaving through the smoke-filled skies to deliver a huge payload to the Necrons and Daemons below. The very left flaming wreckage is the remains of the Linebreaker squadron.

The raw numbers...

And a couple of graphs showing the end VP results- the battle for MVP on the other team went down to the wire and was only won by Alan by a margin of 39 points!! And its obvious to see why my team won this battle- the Orks came storming out of the gate from the start and kept pouring on the death, culminating in a massive 1700+ VPs haul on the third turn alone (which is more than my Dark Angels scored all day!)

So what next?

Well, seeing how a lot of people are going to be tied up over the next 4-6 weeks with Christmas, New Years and things like Cancon its looking unlikely that there will be another Apoc until at least mid- to - late February. This in itself isnt a bad thing, as a few more people should be available to participate in the next game, and the returning players should have that extra time to complete new units or paint up what they have. It also gives me some time to build a nice shiny centrepiece terrain structure for the next game, i'm thinking of a large Manufactorum or Ork Fortress.

My new 'Games Room', Dark Angel progress and Apoc preparation.

Games Room- aka 'The Garage'

So I’ve managed to completely clean out and rearrange my garage just last weekend, in preparation for an Apocalypse battle at the end of this month. For the last three months it has actually looked similar to Junkion, or even the trash compactor room from the first Death Star, minus the water (although there was something living in there I’m sure). But with a baby on the way we went into cleaning overdrive, to make sure nowhere in the house could be a breeding ground for mice or other nasties, and I now have a fairly pristine vehicle storage/ gaming retreat.

The garage itself is a two roller door setup, 20 feet deep by 21 feet wide. The entire left wall has our old kitchen cupboards and benchtop on it, cut to fit around the brick pillars every 6 feet, and the whole lot is bolted to the wall. At one end of this is a metal shelving unit for all my car and household products, at the other is my steel workbench. The workbench has storage for my hundreds of spanners, tools and other bits and pieces. It’s here that I cut, shape and build all the crazy terrain and other stuff... the old kitchen bench assembly has 4 double-door cupboards that I have all my terrain and power tools stored in. The benchtop itself is awesome for lining up armies prior to game deployment- my 4000+pts of Dark Angels takes up about 1/6^th of the space J

On the other wall I’ve installed some large swing-latches that pivot up and down to let me store up to 3 game boards flat against the wall (takes up no space this way, and is ultra safe). For large games like this I’ve also got an old futon (couch) that I put on this side for people to relax on.

Next modifications and additions will see a small air-compressor under the bench with a retractable overhead airline reel, several power outlets above the benches and larger multi-globe lighting banks on both sides of the garage, with dimmer switches to adjust the brightness. I’m still hunting for a small stereo to put into the top of the large cupboard on the left, with speakers in all four corners and a small fridge in the space between the workbench and the cupboards. Another future addition will be carpet- our house is getting new carpet soon, so the old stuff is going into the garage!!

Certainly beats playing at the LGS if you ask me- aircon, cold drinks, room to move and setup.

All in all, buying the necessary hardward and equipment at Bunnings and Supercheap Auto, and factoring in the recycled kitchen, this setup owes me around $200? Maybe not even that. Extremely versatile, and room for some seriously big games or convoluted table layouts.

Dark Angels- progress report.

With a load of Space Marine bitz coming through the mail recently i've been able to construct the complete Devastator squad I was after for this game quickly and easily. Although the initial outlook was for a power-armour spamfest, it now appears that there will be some Eldar and Imperial Guard being fielded, so my 4x Heavy Bolter Squad will be used for this game. I do have the choice of running Plasma Cannons (4 if i want to), but we'll see how i feel on the day- I may end up making a last minute change if i feel the PCans will be more effective.

I've also completed the basic construction and undercoating of two Tactical Squads as well, who will be given whatever Heavy Weapons aren't fielded in the Dev Squad, as well as Flamers for Special weapons- this is something new for me! The Sergeants have been given power weapons, and one of them also has a plasma pistol for some extra short ranged punch.

In regards to my construction of the units mentioned above, i've put the entire model together but have left the arm/gun assembly off. This allows me to paint up the chest/aquila sections of the model before the guns go on, which is a simple task seeing how i glue the left hand under the bolter front grip while tightly pushing the top of the arms against the shoulders of the mini where they mount. When the glue dries this means the whole gun and arms are in one ready to glue on piece, and I can paint up both arms and the gun as one seperate unit. I've even painted numbers on the inside of the arms on the mounting point that correspond with a number painted onto the shoulder of the mini so that every arm/guns assembly goes back onto the mini that I glued it up to fit. The same thing goes for the Devastators- their guns and arms are all pre-glued together, and slip into place neatly, with all the power cables to their backpacks lining up perfectly.

While this might sound a bit overkill for most people, its something i've done before during my construction and painting process that guarantees that everything goes on the right mini and is easily painted up in pre-assembled 'blocks' instead of small fiddly arms and bolters as seperate pieces.

Apocalypse Preparation- table layout sorted...

Getting there!

So here's the table for the game on the weekend (although im yet to raise and properly level the last 6x4 section, and there wont be a large wood bit sticking out the end either), im happy with this long layout, it should comfortably handle the 40,000 points that will be brought along. And once the benchspace (in the background) is cleared off there'll be stacks of space for armies, casualties and all those other things that are needed in a large scale game. So happy with how this all turned out, considering the quagmire the place was a week ago.

The long things on the table are strips of cheap grey fabric that I use for roads- they're spread out to remove the wrinkles since last i used them. Seeing how this will be a fairly open battle i'm planning to have a fair few roads around the place to allow vehicles some extra movement- big fast armoured assaults are always great fun :) I have about 8 of these strips of cloth, and they generally get held down at various points by small pieces of gaff/ masking tape.

Got a couple more hills in production for this game! More raised up 'three dimensional' stuff to break up line of sight will be good, and there will only be a few clumps of ruined outposts or intact buildings- this is a titlefight out on the (relatively open) plains...

So thats all for now. Hopefully i'll have the Apocalypse post-mortem up not too long after its all done and dusted, so until then be good!

New Dark Angels & November Apocalypse

New Recruits

Up to now my current Dark Angels army has exclusively used the robed veteran models for the three Tactical squads and one Assault Squad, however I felt it was time to diversify and pad out the army some more. With a minimal budget, some small purchases and a bunch of left-over marines I’m hoping to nearly double my power armoured numbers.  

So what are the left-overs? Well I came across a whole bunch of assembled power-armour marines that were left over from the small (1000 pt) Ultramarines force I built when I got back into the hobby around 6 years ago. These are effectively the current multipart Space Marine miniatures that you can buy in the Tactical/ Combat Squad box set, and in all cases they’ve been assembled with arms on but without bolters in place, this makes it quite easy to then paint the chest Aquila section. Some were bare plastic, some were undercoated black, and two had been used to test colourschemes. Three were actually done in a very muted Dark Angels colourscheme already which i could have salvaged, but i decided to just re-undercoat them so they appear identical to all the others.

There is also a further five robed veteran models as well, which I never got around to using- they have been assembled and are awaiting weapons. At current I have ten 'normal armour' and five 'robed models', however there is enough arms, heads, arms, weapons and spare parts left to easily make another twenty standard power armour marines, at least once I buy some legs for them- its the only thing I don’t have, so I’ll jump onto eBay soon and get something sorted. Im thinking of using a mix of assault legs as well, for that aggressive running feel.

With a huge range of spare Dark Angels bolters, helmets, backpacks and small paraphernalia I’ve been able to make the current vanilla guys look like true Sons of the Lion, and they’ll obviously receive the same green paint-scheme and techniques as their robed counterparts. I’ve made sure to glue some spare loincloths on some of the minis as well, these will be painted in the same way as the robed models, helping tie the robed and non robed guys together with another common colour. I’ve also purchased and stockpiled a load of the Dark Angel Veteran shoulder pads that have the raised sword molded onto them- this way all the marines in my army will have identical chapter symbol shoulder-pads.

The new minis will ideally be arranged into a five-man Devastator Squad- two missile launchers, two heavy bolters and a Sergeant- and three full ten-man Tactical Squads, with two Plasma Cannons and a Lascannon. The cool thing is that I already have two other Plasma Cannons in my current Tactical Squads, so I can field a full 4 x Plasma Cannon Devastator squad if the need arises. Anyone that’s used one of these (or faced one) knows that the risk of overheating death is a fair price to pay considering the phenomenal firepower that it can deal out, entire squads of power armoured foes can be annihilated with a few well placed shots.

With these new models I’m going to start branching out a bit more in regards to weapons and wargear loadout, with two Flamers and another Meltagun being the special weapons for the new squads and I’ll possibly give the sergeants power-weapons- mauls or swords- as a compromise between the standard (and free) chainswords and points heavy powerfists that I have now.

Once all the minis are done up, I‘ll then have to work out whether I need or want to paint up another 3 Rhinos for them, which will obviously need to match the ones I have painted up now- am I a dedicated Disciple of Caliban, or just a sucker for punishment?

The hope is that I can have all these new squads assembled and basecoated in time for the upcoming Apocalypse on November 26^th. At 5000pts per player I’m going to need every last man I can get!! However, it will be nice to field an army for once that's all from the same Codex (if you ignore the Baneblade). 

November Apoc!! Possibly 30,000pts.... maybe more!

And on that small topic change, yes there will be another Apocalypse game coming up, this one to be held at my place this time (all previous ones have been at mates’ places). This game will most likely be played across a game surface comprising of my Table Tennis table with one or two 6x4 (regular size) game boards on the ends. So the end result will be a table with a length of either 13 or 17 feet, depending on what I can fit in the garage, which will be more than enough for a load of carnage. We are looking to run with around 6 players, although we could happily accommodate 8 if needs be, although I reckon it’ll end up quite cramped like that.

As previously mentioned, we'll be trying to get each player to field 5000pts, and for the first time ever we'll be having a game without any objectives. Yep, there is no strategic plan in this game, save that you kill as much of the opposition's forces as possible. We're going to run this game based on VICTORY POINTS!! Some would say we're mad, but then again I think the idea we have is workable. The following points outline how it will work-

1. Everyone brings a printed army list as usual, but includes the two half-points values of the unit in brackets as well as the full points. For example- "Tactical Squad- 10 men- 190pts  (   95   /  95   ). 
2. At the end of each shooting and assault phase, scores will be added up regarding units that  are reduced to half strength or destroyed, the constantly accruing "score" will be displayed on the wallboard in a table to track progress of points acrued per turn, and broken down into seperate shooting and close combat sections. This will allow me to turn the data into some cool graphs later, but should also make it easy to record all the casualties, which might be hard to remember after a full team turn (there is going to be so much carnage!)
3. The owner of the units that have taken damage will (when providing the points costs to the other team) cross out either one or both numbers on their list to keep track of what remains, or circle them... whatever works for keeping track.
4. In close combat, units can be damaged or lost by both sides in either player turns- any close combat victory points accrued by the team who is awaiting their turn will be added to their next-turn CC tally.
5. As expected, at the end of 4 or 5 turns, the winner is the one with the most points. We'll most likely call within 10% a tactical draw, anything outside of this is a definative win!!  

Being that the next game is at my place, and I wont have to pack up too early we'll most likely be able to remove the turn time-limit restrictions, kick back and relax while watching the Victory Points go up and model count go down..... in practice it might be annoying, but im hopeful. 

As a final note regarding Apoc- the original idea from earlier in the year was to end up conducting a massive “Mega Apoc” where everyone would come along and bring everything they had, however this is still proving hard to co-ordinate, as working around peoples availability, army/miniature limitations and even finding a venue to hold it in is proving to be a huge task. A lot of recent discussion has produced some excellent ideas concerning speeding up gameplay, streamlining flyer rules, reserves, using movement tray bases for infantry models etc, so once we have the rest sorted out the game itself should run quite well. So for now the “Megapoc” remains a bit of a pipe dream, but I’m hopeful that one day we’ll get a game like this off the ground. If anyone out there has any “big game” suggestions, I’m very keen to hear then.