A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Warhammer 40,000 – So yeah, prior to the Betrayal at Cath set coming out I bought a tactical squad of resin Mark IV marines. I really have no plans to play Horus Heresy but the models were a good deal and I like that Mark of armor, so I'm using the bodies for other purposes.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – I'm not sure if juggling several projects at once is the most efficient way to work when I have a bunch of stuff that needs to get done in a similar timeframe. It helps to show all parties progress steadily but I almost think it adds time to the overall process. Regardless I finally wrapped up these Salamanders that needed to match a previous army I painted.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – One of my regular opponents just assembled a decent size Tyranid force and really wanted to get them on the table and I had a list I really wanted to tryout prior to a tournament coming up in March. We agreed prior to the game that we'd play 1500 points, Battleforged, Eternal War on a urban table.
It works out well when you can predetermine all those elements before a game, that way you're simply pulling out the models rolling off and going. We also emailed each other our lists prior to the game so there weren't any surprises.
I decided to run my Twilight Ravens as Imperial Fists this game:
HQ - Chaplain
Elite - Command Squad - Apothecary, 4 Melta guns, Melta Bombs, Drop Pod
Elite - Sternguard, Powerfist, 2 Melta Guns, 7 veterans, Drop Pod
Elite - Sternguard - 2 Melta Guns, 8 Veterans, Drop Pod
Troop - 5 Scouts with shotguns
Troop - Powerfist, 4 Scouts with shotguns
Fast - Storm Talon lascannon, assault cannon
Vindicator Squad - 3x Vindicators
My Opponents ran:
HQ - Flyrant
HQ - Flyrant
Troop - Genestealers
Troop - Genestealers
Troop - Genestealers
Troop - Genestealers
Fast - Lictor
Heavy - Mawlock
Heavy - Carnifex
Elite - Warriors
The game was Relic with corner deployment. The Tyranids set up and went first. Which resulted in me losing a scout squad and another getting pinned. My first turn dropped in the Sternguard who proceeded to paste two squads of Genestealers. The trio of Vindicators blasted the apocalypse template onto another group of Genestealers and managed to take out half of them.
Turn two the tyranids strike back. Closing into combat the bugs start to tear up the marines. Being locked in combat means my Sternguard are less than effective.
Turn three is more messy combat where the marines seem to be slowly winning. Even though a Mawlock burst out of the ground and killed of half a squad. The command squad and Storm Talon come in but are less than effective.
Turns four and five swing decisively to the Tyranids and i concede when I only have the three scouts left that can possibly score the objective. (The mawlock bursting out of the ground into the relic sealed that)
Overall the game was really fun. I don't see myself using a vindicator squad in this list again. The giant template was cool but I feel like I could get more bang out of several smaller units instead.
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.
