I am back and 30K happy.

Hey Folks...

Yes it's been a while. Well things have been a bit busy for me on both the home and work front. I welcomed my daughter Alba into the world in November and as you can understand she has taken up a bit of my time. Work has also ramped up a bit, I am actually writing this in the lounge at Heathrow whilst I wait for a plane to São Paulo. I have managed to get some painting done, I just haven't had time to Blog about it or get pictures. Although that's not totally true, there are about 3 Blog posts that started and never got round to finishing so by the time I got to finish the new they didn't really make sense.

Anyway what I have done is made significant progress on my 30K HH Death Guard army. I came up with a final list and have just bought and painted the models to that list. I have no idea if it's any good or not it just has models I like in it at the moment. Bit of anti-infantry, bit of anti-tank etc. Should be able to give any other army a good game. Once I have had a few games with it I'll know if there is anything I need to change. I suspect I will be buying some more models for anyway as the Forge World stuff is just too amazing not to add to the army.  I would really like to add a Titan at some point, but anyway.....

So below are a bunch of pictures of stuff I have managed to finish for the Death Guard, all I have left are a couple of Land Raiders and a Stormblade Super Heavy. I left the really chunky stuff to the end.

Vindicator Laser Destroyer

Terminators

Veteran Squad

Tactical Squad


 Rhinos

Apologies for the quality of the pictures, I have been playing around with a new setup and haven't got it quite right yet.

Until next time...

30K Death Guard Update

Hey Folks

So a while back in September I posted about starting a 30K Death Guard army, I put the project on pause a bit because of all the rumours of plastic 30K models. The first units that I painted were Typhon and a unit of Deathshroud Terminators. I purchased a Sicaran Venator at the same time as the Terminators and that was the next thing that I painted up. I wasn't looking forward to assembling this fella, Forge World stuff can be tricky to assemble some times but this actually went together pretty well. It is heavy though which made painting it a bit more awkward than I anticipated. It is a really nice kit and looks great once painted up. I am pretty pleased with the results.

So it turns out the rumours were true and the Betrayal At Calth boxed set has dropped. This thing is amazing and for me came just at the right time. My next purchase was going to be my troop choices and this box comes with 30 Tactical Marines with a whole bunch of weapon options. I need to work it out but I want to build them so I can use them in 30K and 40K. I am seriously considering buying another box though because then I get the option of building Devastator squads etc. The box also comes with Terminators which won't go into the 30K army but I suspect will get some use in 40K. The first model I painted up from the box was the Contemptor Dreadnaught. The pose is a little static but with a bit of posing on rocks and a decent paint job it looks ok.

So next up are the troop choices. I have assembled the first five Tactical marines and will paint them up first to get the paint scheme down. 

Until next time...... 

500 points of trouble.

Hey folks.

So this post is going to take it back to basics a bit. There was a convention in my town a couple of weeks ago, just a very small affair with 50 or 60 people turing up. The organisers put on a little 40K tourney, nothing too serious. Standard Force Org (so HQ and 2 Troops min) and a 500 point limit. All well and good you think. 

I spent weeks trying to come up with a 500 point list that I liked, it took hours and hours and to be honest I am still not happy. The same guy is running a 500pt tourney again in a couple of weeks and my stress levels are through the roof. 

My first issue was what army to take, this meant that I started creating a zillion lists for all the armies I own just trying to find something I like the look of. My problem is that I could create a really good on the board army but if the list doesn't look right then I don't like it. What does "look right" mean I hear you ask..... I have no idea. I just know it when I see it. 

So in the end I went with Orks, some Truks and Boyz. I just went with bodies. Well I played two marine lists and they just generally blew away the Truks and then killed the Boyz. I won one game on scenario and lost the other to a White Scar list. 

The White Scar list was basically one massive unit of tooled up bikes and then two min squads of Tactical Marines. This highlighted to me that at 500 points Death-star lists are good and their only real weakness is being hit with something like a Vindicator etc. 

500 points is really difficult to build a list for that works against all other lists. You could build one kind of list that will slaughter a certain other type of list but then, in turn will itself get slaughtered by certain other lists. 

So far in my fairly limited experience I find 500pt games tend to end in a massacre, I suspect that this is because an Alpha strike in such a small game is usually terminal. Although saying that in the game I won by scenario the fact that I lost all my Truks on turn one meant that I just went to an object and went to ground the whole game, there was no way I was going to kill my opponents models. He only lost because he didn't move up the table to come get me. 

So thats my theory so far that hard hitting Deathstar units are the way to go. Although I might try a cheeky Daemon summoning list, its like an inverse Alpha strike, if I am able to summon a couple of units a turn one I am essentially increasing my armies pts by 25% which makes a big swing in a small game.

So I now have two lists in mind, of course one of them essentially involved me starting a new army (because thats something I would never do right). So first idea was Cult Mechanicus. This is going to be a very low body count army, 8 models in fact.

HQ = Tech Priest Dominus with Eradication Ray.
Troop 1 = 4 Destroyers (2 Plasma Culverin and 2 Heavy Grav-Cannon).
Troop 2 = 3 Breachers (3 Torsion Cannon).

Basically there is enough firepower in these units to wipe out an infantry unit a turn or a vehicle a turn. The Alpha strike potential here is off the chart. Downside - 8 models, T5 2W, but 8 models nonetheless. The models are freaking awesome and I have gone with a theme. Basically Forge World that has been lost in the warp for thousands of years where the Mechanicum have been corrupted by Nurgle. I have painted them in a Nurgle/30K Death Guard scheme. I have this whole thing going on now where I can tie in Knights, Mechanicum and Chaos (I suspect will be a feature of another post). It just means I can create a lot of different army configuration using these models.

Second idea is Daemons.
HQ = Great Unclean One (lvl3).
HQ = Herald of Nurgle (lvl2).
Troop 1 = 10 Plaguebearers.
Troop 2 = 3 Nurgling Bases.

Tactics are just to try and summon as much as possible and win by attrition. With anything from 6 to 11 dice a turn I should in the physic phase I should be able to get some additional units on the table. If the Herald gets the 6 spell then later game I can potentially summon in a second Greater Daemon. Would need to be careful first two turns not to get blown away. I think this list has some merits but not sure, would need to try it out.

So these are the two lists I am going to run with at 500 for a bit, the Daemon list I have all the models for, the Mechanicus list involved me having to go out and get some models. I initially got the Dominus and one box of Destroyers when they were released just because I really liked them so all I needed was two more boxes (6 models, but I need only 4).

I undercoated black and then painted all over with silver. I then did my Bronze and Orange rust affect. I then painted the white bits (had to do three coats). After this applied a 50/50 mix of medium and Agthrax wash to the white bits. Once this was dry I stapled on the damage with a dark brown and then another 50/50 wash. Once dry washed the metal with Nuln Oil, after this had dried gave the metal areas a very gentle edge dry brush with a light silver. I think this looks pretty good, I will be doing a Knight in this scheme so it ties in with my 30K army and I can use it with my 40K Chaos army.

Tech Priest

Destroyers

Until next time......

Frostgrave.

Hey Folks...

A consistent theme through most of this Blog is my constant annoyance with myself for not focusing on one thing at a time and flitting from one project to another. I am currently making efforts to stop doing this and thats why I started a new game system this week........ mm.

So Frostgrave is a new game system published by Osprey publishing in the UK. I came to know about it through an article in War-games Illustrated. The thing with new games is that they need to attain a certain mass in players otherwise you end up buying stuff and then never using it. I believe this game is going to do ok and several members at both the games clubs I attend have the book and have started up warbands. Its a game with a low level of investment required which is a good thing.

The basic premise is Warband, frozen City - fight. Its very similar in concept to Mordheim from GW but simplier in the rules and campaign system. I loved Mordheim but the post game squence put me off as it was very intensive, this system still has that progress element but it is a lot more streamlined.

Everything revolves around your Wizard, he/she is the only one that will progress and everyone else is basically expendable. Your wizard picks their type and a bunch of spells, you select your warband and crack on. The only quibble I have is that there are a ton of spells and you have to select your list as you build your warband which means you really have to read through them all and then try and pick which ones will work. I read through them briefly and then picked ones I liked the sound of.

What I love about this game is that there isn't a set of models that you have to use so you can pretty much use what you want. I am sticking with GW models as thats what I have lying around and I have plenty of bits to make up a band of warriors, however saying that I did go and buy a few models once I had thought about character and fluff etc.

My Wizard (Traguard) is the Warlock model from the original Mordheim range. Its a pretty old model and it was sitting in a box unpainted. I bought a box of Empire Militia models as these can be assembled with a whole bunch of weapon options. This provided me with the very basic and cheapest troops - Archers and Thugs.

For my Apprentice Wizard I am using the Dark Elf Sorceress. Now I know what you are thinking - this model has very little clothing on and would surely freeze in the city of Frostgrave. Well yes - so my fluff is that she is a cold blooded Ice Elf. I think that just about covers it. I wanted to use this model because its just an awesome model.

As mentioned I used the Empire Militia for the rest of the group, after my first game I made some gold and was able to upgrade some of warband members. I made two purchases, firstly it was a Barbarian, for this character I used the plastic Dwarf Troll Slayer model. I also added a Ranger and for this I used the Wood Elf Waywatcher Lord model.

I have only had two games so far but I have really enjoyed them and am looking forward to more, hopefully the game will gather a following and there will be some expansions and continued support.

Here are some pictures of the models painted some far.

Traguard the Wizard

Barbarian, Wizard, Apprentice Wizard, Barbarian.

Dwarf Troll-Slayer Barbarian

Apprentice Wizard. 

So after two games I am really enjoying it. Its a fun game to kill off an hour or so and the fact that there is an uncomplicated campaign element is really nice. In both games there have been some really hysterical moments where my mental hard hitting Barbarian has failed to do anything but then an archer has managed to one shot someone from max range with a zillion minus modifiers. How you use your wizard in the game is a major factor, you can only cast one spell a turn so you really have to think about how yo utilise him but also making sure he doesn't get killed off.

We have just played very basic games so far so am looking forward to trying out some of the scenario games.

Until next time...

Stage One of my 30K DeathGuard

Hey Folks

Just a quick post to show off the first of my 30K Death Guard models. I have been eyeing up some of these for a long time with the idea of trying to integrate them into my 40K army but some buddies of mine are playing full on 30K games so I decided to take the plunge.

As I mention in my last post I was only ever going to play Death Guard, I have always gone Nurgle when it comes to 40K be it Marines, Daemons or Traitor Guard. Not sure why, maybe its a zombie thing or a modelling thing.

Having all these different armies following the same God also means you can mix and match armies and have some more interesting games, but I digress.

So it was with a fun heart that I headed up to Warhammer World one weekend to meet the guys and spend some money in the Forge World shop. The plan was to get one Troop Choice (tactical squad in MKIII) a transport for them (Rhino), a HQ in the form of Typhon and another tank of some kind (to be decided after talking with the boys). Well imagine my disappointment when basically everything was out of stock, not impressed especially as its the actual Forge World shop.......

They still had Typhon, so I picked him up, but I really wanted to get started on an infantry unit. After a bit of cabinet perusing I went with unit of Deathshroud Terminators to accompany Typhon onto the battlefield, seemed appropriate.

I wanted to get a tank as well, was contemplating a Vindicator Laser Destroyer but in the end went for a Sicaran Venator. Its a cool tank but it also has some funky rules, if it hits and pens then the target can only snap fire for the following turn, very useful. As mentioned it does look awesome as well.

Once home from Warhammer World I excitedly hit the paint station and within a week I have managed to get Typhon and the Deathshroud Terminators done. I was a bit nervous about the paint scheme, I tried it on a practise model first and it came out really well so I dived in on the Deathshroud. The stages are as follows: -

1. Undercoat with white spray.
2. Paint the details, so the Silver, Bronze and Green shoulder pads. Stiple on some Orange for a rust effect.
3. Wash the whole model with a 50/50 mix of Earthshade and Medium.
4. Stiple on the damage, I used a dark brown.
5. Wash again with 50/50 mix of Earthshade and Medium be take care that this layer doesn't pool too much.
6. Wash the metal parts with Nuln Oil.
7. Do some highlights on the metal.

Its a straight forward paint job but I think the affect looks really good - so here are the models.

Until next time...

Deathwing

Hey Folks...

So I accidentally started a Deathwing army. My inability to finish anything and to start new projects on a whim is getting ridiculous.

I have wanted a Deathwing army for a long time, its been 15 years but I never got round to it. I think this is mainly due to the paint scheme. White/Bone is tricky to paint, well for me anyway and I have painted many test Deathwing models but never been totally happy with them. Of course there is no reason why I could not paint them another colour and use the rules for Deathwing, but I wanted the white look.

Development in paint has come a long way and now with the use of washes and medium I think I have been able to get the desired affect. I recently started a 30K Death Guard army and using a technigue of white undercoat with a wash/medium I got a white scheme that I really liked. Then a friend of mine was getting rid of a ton of models he didn't want (due to the same issues as me with starting projects) and I found myself in posession of two units of Deathwing Terminators. Along with the other models I have in boxes thats pretty much an army.

Having just painted the Death Guard in a scheme I liked I soon realized that a Deathwing army I  liked was no longer a distant dream. So I got to work on yet another test model and this time I think it looks good. I used the same method as I did with the Death Guard but only used one coat of the wash rather than two. I think two would have made it look too dirty, it keeps the model looking whiter which I prefer to my previous attempts which had a more bone colour.

So here is (finally) the Deathwing model I am happy with.

Deathwing Terminator

Until next time....

30K to 40K

Hey.

It's all getting a bit mental on the hobby table at the moment. It's a subject I have talked about in the past but I am getting a bit swamped by new projects. As with many gamers I love the shiney, and am always getting carried away with new ideas before I have finished off my last great idea. I did a test at work the other day, it was one of those personality type profiles and it exposed something I have known myself for a long time. I am very good at starting things, finding solutions to problems coming up with novel and unique ideas. Sounds good right? What it also told me was that if you ever want anything finishing then don't give it to me - bummer right? 

However I did manage to finish one thing this month and that was a new crew for Malifaux. This also exposes another weakness of mine in that this is my second Malifaux crew, the first one is still unfinished in the case upstairs. But I digress. 

This is the Neverborn Swamp Hag, I picked it for a couple of reasons: -

1. There is a massive walking tree thing.

Swamp Hag Zoraida

2. Easy to paint.

I used the same painting method as I did for my Chaos Daemon army, white base coat followed by some washes. That enabled me to paint the main crew pretty quick then I just painted the a couple of other figures with a bit more attention to detail and the crew was done. I haven't managed to get them onto the table yet though so looking forward to that one. I did manage to paint one model for my other crew, Bette Noir for my Resurrectionists. She performed particularly well in her first game so I thought she deserved a paint job.

Zoraida, Bad JuJu and Voodoo Doll

Silurid

Bette Noir - Resurectionists

My main focus has been back on 40K. I don't know what it is about 40K that just keeps dragging me back, I try to focus on other games but I just keep coming back to 40K. The thing with 40K is that the back story is awesome, the fluff is awesome and the models are awesome. That is a powerful trifecta of awesomeness.

30 Death Guard - Deathshroud Terminator

I have pretty much finished my Daemons, I still need to finish off a unit of Pink Horrors though and then I will put the Daemons to the side for a bit. My main focus at the moment is my Heretic guard army using the list from IA13 and my 30K Death Guard........ yes thats right 30K Death Guard. This is so new that I don't even have any models for them yet..... well kinda (edit - bought some at the weekend, first one painted).

I love the Death Guard, I have a growing 40K Death Guard army that has just had some Terminators added to it (see below) so it seemed the only real choice for 30K. The Horus Heresy models from Forge World are just so amazing I had to dip my toe in the water. A bunch of my friends have been playing it for a while so it was only a matter of time before I took the plunge. I have painted up one 30K model for the army, a while back I had the idea to do a 30K Mechanicum army but it never really took off. I bought a couple of models for it so I thought I would paint them up in DG colours to that they can serve along side them when its finished. This is the Castellax model, I toyed with the idea of spraying white and painting silver or black and then silver and painting the white. I went with the second option in the end. The white is the washed with a couple of coats of Earthshade (watered down). I think it looks good, appropriately murky for the battle fields of the 30K universe.

Castellax 

Death Guard Terminator

So back to 40K for the moment, this is the first Terminator for my 40K Death Guard army. This model was inspired by a model I saw in Visions magazine. Its basically a plastic Terminator body but with the front and head from the Blight Kings kit. I had to use some Green Stuff round the edges to model the two together but the fit is actually pretty good. This guy will probably be the "Sgt" in the unit. I have the Forge World conversation kit to make the rest of the Terminators suitably Nurgly and they will also fit in with the Plague Marines which also use the Forge World conversation kits. I haven't used that army much, I think I have only played one game with them. I'll have to try and get them on the table a bit more.

For the IA13 Heretic army I finished a couple of Tanks. The first is a Chimera transporter and the second a Leman Russ Executioner. As its a Nurgle themed Heretic Army I am just using a rusted scheme on the tanks. Its quick to paint and looks effective. This army is so close to completion, I just need to get a few more tanks and I am done (one of which is a Baneblade). It won't take much to finish but will be expensive. Traditionally its the infantry that take the longest time and those are all done as I am using the Traitor Guard models I made a decade ago (never throw anything away folks, you'll never know when you need it).

Leman Russ Executioner

Chimera and Executioner

Chimera

Firebelly

This month I also dug out my Warhammer Fantasy Ogres. I have had these painted for a long time but I didn't really get into 8th edition so they have been stuck in a draw for a while. With the release of Age Of Sigmar I decided to get them out again to give the game a try. I have my first game at the club on Monday so i'll let you know how it goes over on the Age of Sigmar page of my Blog. I have just rebased some of the models onto round bases and to be honest they look so awesome on round bases. Why should the shape of the base make a difference? Who knows but I think the defiantly look better. There has been a lot of nerd rage on the Internet about Age of Sigmar but I am going to give it a go before I form an opinion. I have watched a few YouTube videos and from what I have seen it looks ok. But I don't have anything to lose, I wasn't ever going to play Warhammer again so at least there is a chance I'll get to use my Ogres for a bit.

Stonehorn

My 12mm American Civil War army is taking shape. I have to admit to not getting through it as fast as I wanted too. In fact I have only added one more unit and another command piece. I think the mistake I am making (apart from getting distracted with other things) is that I have the whole army on my paint station just looking at me. It looks a lot and that can be off putting. Perhaps I should just put it away and have just a couple of units out.

Well I think thats about it for this one, keep an eye on the other pages for updates on things, I update those a bit more regularly with snippets of stuff.

Until next time....