A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Warhammer 40,000 – I've posted some additional photos in the gallery for the Dawn Spears custom Space Marine chapter I've been working on for a client. This is a basic 3-Color job with custom decals.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I recently picked up a Knight Atrapos from Forgeworld. The model is very nice and I was able to get it put together and base coated in time to put it on the table at my regular game night.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I have two separate Salamanders clients, both of whom need new models for their forces. One of these armies was a commission I did a while back. The other is a match job to try and make the "new" models fit in with the rest of his force that was painted by someone else with a very different style than mine.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – It's been a busy season. Unfortunately that means I've been behind in my posts. The rest of the month might be a bit sporadic but I'm back on my regular rhythm with a new year.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – One thing that is fun about having regular clients it that you get to see their armies grow and change over time. This batch of scouts is for the Orange Scars army I did which recently added a bunch of Raven Guard style units.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I've been paying a loose campaign with four of the guys in my regular play group. To ring in the New Year they wanted to play a massive game. Initially the discussion was to play 40k of 40k (20,000 per side) we lowered that to 16,000 as my partner could only make about 4,000 points. After the last larger game the four of us attempted to play Christmas Eve eve, I expressed my concern that in order to play this we'd need at minimum 10am-8pm to play. (assuming everything went smooth). The general consensus was it wouldn't be a problem.
We arrived at 10:00am and started setting up immediately, first the terrain and then the models, we had agreed prior to has the Chaos forces set up first and agreed on the first Apocalypse mission using the Maelstrom cards in addition to the scenario rules. By the time we got everything set up it was 12:30pm (that was a bit unexpected)
If we couldn't seize the initiative Chaos would be going first. A quick roll turned up a six and we prepared to start our turn when our opponent informed us that he bought a legacy of glory that causes your opponent to re-roll any attempt to seize. I picked up dice annoyed and manage to flip another six. The look on their face was priceless. We began to pummel their side with a ridiculous amount of fire power. As we continued to roll our turn lasted until almost 2:30pm.
During our opponents turn they needed to stop to take a phone call. It turns out someone wasn't clear with how long this would take and was getting questioned with how soon he'd be home. Turning this massive apocalypse battle to a hard stop at 6:30pm. Sadly they wrapped up their first turn right around 5:15pm.
Deeming it not fair to bring on our reserves and begin the second turn we called the game after one turn and totaled victory points. We had scored 11 points of the maelstrom cards and an additional 3 for holding objectives, the forces of chaos had scored 5 points and held 3 objectives. Surprisingly we managed to squeak out a win with well over 1/3 of our forces not on the table yet.
The small amount we played was fun but I can't see ever attempting that large of a game with four people ever again. The set-up and process just takes forever and having a random "emergency" pop up can really mess up the timetable. The general consensus after this event was we'd keep everything to 4,000 per person max. It's twice as big as a "normal" game but still something that should be able to play through 4-5 turns over the course of eight hours.
Warhammer 40,000 – The first part of this month was consumed with several large projects. The insane number of assassin teams are finally wrapped up.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – This year I got just a few models to add to my forces. I took the time to quickly put together some of them to cover options that I didn't previously have with these new kits. (Namely more Grav.)
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The Angels Sanguine have left the building. Well almost. My client picked up a box of Sanguinary guard and needed them to match the rest of the force I just did.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I hate Bel'ekor, just want to get that out of the way. It's by far the most obnoxious dataslate to come out of the Advent Calendars. My regular group decided to put together a little ongoing campaign with two groups of marines facing off against Chaos teamed with the Tyrant's Legion/Imperial Knights/Astra Militarum.
Ground rules are if it's legal you cna play it. All forces have to be battle-forged. We also had to put the stipulation in that army lists had to be made in advance. (Unfortunately we've had the of your playing that well then this is my list in the past. Not a fan of the bad feelings that causes.)
Our second game was going to be 2,000 points per player facing off in a team battle using the Altar of War Mission book. We wound up getting a late start because ... well we have kids and it's almost Christmas (also rather than playing at my place we drove over to our buddies who always has a further drive)
I ran a Pinnion Strike Force partnered with a typical Salamanders CAD force. No Super Heavies or Lords of War. We faced off against Bel'ekor, a Baneblade, Three Knights, and a horde of barrage templates with cultist filler and guard infantry with demo charges.
Chaos won the roll off to use their altar of war chart. We rolled up Vendetta, which is a kill-point mission with one unit being worth 3 points to the opposition if it dies, 3 points if you keep it alive. We won the roll-off and picked a rhino. (Nothing wrong with easy points)
Turn one was rough, particularly since one of our players hasn't really played 40K since 5th edition. Being bombed to death and losing some key transports was painful. The Raven Guard came in from reserve for the most part and the important Salamanders also dropped in. We were able to destroy a Knight as well as the Vendetta Rhino and the squad it was transporting. A few other units died all in all it was a messy first turn.
Turn two was more of the same, death raining from above and losing more units at this point I believe they have about 13 kill points at the end of this turn. Looking at the time it's after midnight and we need to call the game. Finishing our assaults we get up to 12 kill points.
Most likely if the game continued the (10) Thunderhammer Terminators would have finished off another Knight which was in the middle of a hug mass of cultists and guardsmen. Odds are that would have took us to 15 points. But we didn't have time so this was another loss for the Imperial players.
Warhammer 40,000 – So I went up to RIW for Thursday Night 40K, I thought I had a game scheduled but my opponent had to bail for a Holiday party. No worries there's always someone around to pick up a game with. Luckily I met a really nice guy with a Blood Angels force that was looking for a game. He only had 1500 points with him and I had packed a very specific 2000 point pinion force so I have to delete 500 points off the bat.
As we were setting up the board he mentioned that this would be his first 40K game ever. He had been painting for a some time and watched youtube videos to learn the game, but hadn't actually played. I looked at what I had brought and let him know if might be a trial by fire as I only had the models on hand to run the fairly tough Talon Strike Force.
First turn he takes a few pot shots and moves some models. Not much to target as most of my force is in reserve. I come in and tear up a squad with my Vanguard Vets. The Shadow Strike Kill Team is quickly becoming my favorite. Turn 1 Assaults are amazing.
We go back and forth a bit while he manoeuvres his Death Company and Sanguinary Guard back into the fight. Once they get a charge off things start evening out. The game comes down to objectives which he controls more of and wins his first game. ;)
It was cool to see it dawn on him that he won based on the mission and the amount of models he lost had no bearing on the game.
After he asked for some advice and anything I thought he couild have done better, which was cool you don't always get a after battle discussion.
Warhammer 40,000 – Base coats are fun. It's nice when you can find a spray can that closely matches the final color you're going to use on an army. I've started working on a set of Imperial Knights to go with my clients custom Tyrant's Legion force.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I'm currently working on a large number of Space Marines as well as several other sets of models. The marines will belong to the Orange Scar list I did earlier this year. My client picked up several boxes to expand his force to be able to run the Kayun formations.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – My fingers have a nice crust of scales, you know what that means, I'm been assembling Forgeworld. It seems that every time I put something together from them I wind up with super glue covered fingers. It's probably because of the difficult fit on some of the parts force me to hold in weird places. I should really invest in some bands and clamps to help hold big vehicles like this together during assembly.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I'm going to be busy for a while. Recently several of my regular clients dropped off boxes of plastic kits for me to assemble and paint.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I recently picked up the War Zone: Damocles box set of books. I've never really liked Tau that much and was going to pass on this supplement until I realized that there are some pretty good formations and data sheets for the Raven Guard and White Scars space marine chapters. As I play a variation on each of these from time to time I decided I better pick it up while it is current.
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Warhammer 40,000 – The Angels Sanguine job is complete.
In total this one consisted of:
10 Tactical Marines
10 Scouts
100 Assault Marines
7 Space Maine Bikes
2 Razorback/Rhinos
1 Drop Pod
1 Landraider
1 Dreadnaught
1 Dante
1 The Sanguinor, Exemplar of the Host
1 Gabriel Seth
1 Brother Corbulo
1 Astorath
1 Mephiston
This was a pretty fun project to paint up. The halved scheme was significantly easier to do than i thought it was going to be. Figuring out a way to do a three color with wash job to look good in the colors chosen was the most difficult part. The dark grey with earthshade wash experiment for the black worked out really well and i feel like I might be able to use the same technique in future projects.
I've uploaded photos of most of the units in the gallery.
Warhammer 40,000 – I've been wanting to try something new with my Space Marines, usually I run Iron Hands for the Feel No Pain and the fact that they fit with my preference to run Tech Marine HQ's. I've come to realize that I can't really roll 6+ saves. With the new Kauyon supplement I'm feeling the need to run White Scars or Raven Guard. My buddy just bought three Imperial Knights and wanted to try them out. Knowing that I'll be facing three super heavies I crafted what I think is a subtly nasty list.
Twilight Ravens (White Scars Chapter Tactics)
HQ – Chapter Master (Artificer Armor, Bike, Storm Sheild, Thunder Hammer)
Troop – Bike Squad (4x Bikes, 2x Grav Gun, 1x Power Glaive)
Troop – Bike Squad (3x Bikes, 2x Grav Gun, 1x Power Sword)
Troop – Scout Squad (5X Shotguns, Landspeeder Storm)
Fast – Landspeeder Squadron (2x Multimelta, 2x Assault Cannon)
Fast – Drop Pod
Fast – Drop Pod
Heavy – Centurion (3x Grav Cannnon, Hurricane Bolter)
Heavy – Centurion (3x Grav Cannon, Missle Launcher)
Heavy – Fire Raptor (Belly Autocannon)
I rolled the Warlord Trait for the +1 to my Jink Save and was feeling good about my odds. The mission was Maelstrom #3, where you get a card for every objective you hold at the beginning of your turn. I was feeling pretty good until I failed to Seize the Initiative. A flurry of fire removed one of my bike squads from the table because I couldn't roll a single 3+ jink save. My turn saw the Centurions drop in front of the Baron Knight and remove a few hull points. My Chapter Master charged in and got squished with his squad. Things were looking grim.
Turn Two saw his Vendetta arrive and claim Objective 5, his Knights claimed 1, 3 and 6, which means I'm down on cards from the get go. My reserves show up and are able to eliminate his Baron Knight but I fail to hold any objectives.
The game continued back and forth like this until the bottom of the fourth turn when he had two knights each with 3 hull points left facing off against the Fire Raptor. The mysterious objectives gave them skyfire so the avenger cannons tore my plane out of the sky. Final score 15-1.
I feel like my list was really solid I just played it wrong. Facing three Knights is tough but I think if I deployed smarter I could have lived long enough to so something.
Warhammer 40,000 – RIW Hobbies hosted a 1,000 point single source (no data slates/no Forgeworld) event on November 7, 2015. This the the second casual raffle tournament they hosted this year and it had a decent turn out of just under 20 players. The event was holiday themed with special missions that were variations on the core eternal war missions.
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