I'm on a Boat ... Well Submarine Actually
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Board Games – Have you ever wondered what would it be like to be on a German UBoat hunting down allied forces during WWII? If so the latest game to cross my desk will help you live that out.
The Dragon's Horde
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Board Games – With the amount of different things that pass by my painting desk I’m constantly surprised by the amount of quality miniatures that are included with various board games. I primarily focus on Warhammer 40k as my game of choice at the moment so my board game collection doesn’t get the love it deserves and I’m not on the hunt for new games at the moment. Luckily for me my board game client helps to keep me up to date with a huge variety of board games.
The latest game Volfyirion has a large dragon model with some removable crystals.I guess it was a Kickstarted deck-building game back in 2018. Nit sure about the quality if the game itself but the miniature is pretty nice.
Night at the Museum - Museum The Board Game
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Board Games – These days it seems you can find a game to fit any interest you may have. If you like trains, farming, zoo keeping or any number of things you can find a board game based on that theme. The latest project to cross my painting desk are the player pawns for Museum a board game about collecting artifacts for … you guessed it a museum. The nice quality miniatures represent various artifacts from around the world much like the little pewter pieces in Monopoly players use these to move around the board.
One of the complaints I read about the player pieces is that they are not colored to match up with the player colors, which is honestly a silly complaint. The models are detailed enough to paint up and make them feel like real artifacts, which adds to the theme of the game.
Happy Veterans Day - More Force on Force Minis
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Historical – A little while back I painted up some 20mm minis for Force on Force. You can read more about it here. I guess the game is also played at 28mm so my client had me paint up some American Troops in that scale.
Terror Below - The Big Worm
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Board Games - Terror Below was on Kickstarter last year. It’s essentially Tremors the board game without licensing the property and tying into the line of films. The game is played with wooden pieces that plyers use to try and escape the giant worms living below the surface. So yes the gameplay is real similar to the film.
While the game itself doesn’t use minis (I imagine to keep costs down) they did make one giant worm model that came with the Kickstarter.
Zombicide Black Plague - Friends and Foes
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Board Games – Zombicide is pretty synonymous with tons of expansions – I mean if you got a good thing going why not milk it for everything you can right?
Read MoreZombicide - Abominations Expansion
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Board Games – Fantasy creatures really define the setting, without them you’re just playing in a Ren-Fair. (which honestly I’m surprised CMON hasn’t done a cross-over expansion between their two properties).
Read MoreSpace Marines: Iron Hands - Big Guns?
/Warhammer 40,000 – So Iron Hands are the new Boogie Man, which is understandable I suppose. Durability combined with starting in their special Combat Doctrine Bonus as well as being able to inherently re-roll ones on heavy weapons is very strong. Playing Iron Hands proper is very solid, and your can take it further with Successor traits to tweak your abilities to fit your list. Their special character and chapter relics are really strong so losing access to them hurts a bit.
Not having put my big tanks on the board in quite some time I started messing around with some lists that might be fun to play.
BATTALION
HQ - Captain: Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer
HQ - Techmarine: Combi-grav, Power fist, Servo-arm Relic: Iron Stone Warlord: Adept of the Omnissiah
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
ELITE - 2x Company Veterans: Chainsword, Combi-plasma
ELITE - Relic Whirlwind Scorpius: Scorpius multi-launcher
SUPER HEAVY AUXILIARY
LORD OF WAR - Relic Typhon Heavy Siege Tank: 2x lascannons
While this list is unlikely to do much other than irritate my opponents it will be pretty difficult to deal with at 1500 points. The techmarine warlord will hide behind the Typhon with the Veterans flanking him to keep him alive. With 22 wounds, a 2+ save and a character hanging around to reduce incoming damage and heal D3+1 wounds each turn I don’t think my siege gun will be going anywhere.
To further annoy my opponent the Scorpius will hang out out of LOS shooting twice every turn. I could potentially park it behind the Typhon to take advantage of the Iron Stone and Techmarine healing in a solid little castle.
The rest of the list is pretty much filler. The intercessors are armed with the Stalker to take advantage of the Devastator Doctrine and the Smash Captain is there to run off and do work.
Taking the same idea and running with it I came up with an alternate version of the list featuring a Fellblade. Again I’m not so sure its any good, but I might enjoy putting it on the table a few times just to knock the dust off some of my bigger models.
BATTALION
HQ - Captain: Jump Pack, Storm Shield, Thunder Hammer
HQ - Chaplain: Recitation of Focus, Litany of Hate, Bolt pistol
HQ - Techmarine: Combi-grav, Power fist, Servo-arm Relic: Iron Stone Warlord: Adept of the Omnissiah
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
ELITE - 2x Company Veterans: Chainsword, Combi-plasma
SUPER HEAVY AUXILIARY
LORD OF WAR - Relic Fellblade Super-heavy Tank: Twin heavy bolter, 2x Quad Lascannon, Demolisher Cannon, Accelerator Cannon.
Essentially this is the same idea kicked up a notch. The techmarine and chaplain hang out behind the giant tank buffing it up and making it impossible to kill.
Space Marines: Twilight Ravens - Ironing Out Flyers
/Warhammer 40,000 - As I continue to put together potential lists from my vast collection of Space Marines, I’m slightly torn. Most of 8th Edition I’ve been building list to maximize the amount of Command Points I have to take advantage of Stratagems. Most armies I’ve played rely pretty heavily on the tricks you can pull off with CP and don’t really function without at least a battalion. Iron Hands seem to have access to all the cool stuff and their traits make vehicles pretty self sufficient. As such I started kicking around this idea.
SPEARHEAD
HQ - Techmarine on Bike: Conversion beamer, Power fist, Storm Bolter, Student of History, The Gorgon's Chain, Twin Boltgun, Warlord
TROOP - 5x Intercessors: Stalker Bolt Rifle
FAST - Attack Bike: Multi-melta, Twin Boltgun
HEAVY- 5x Devastators: 4x Mulit-melta, Combi Melta/Power Fist
HEAVY- 5x Devastators: 4x Grav Cannon, Storm Bolter/ Power Axe
HEAVY- 5x Devastators: 4x Heavy Bolter, Storm Bolter/ Chainsword
TRANSPORT - Drop Pod: Storm Bolter
TRANSPORT - Razorback: Twin Assault Cannon
TRANSPORT - Razorback: Twin Assault Cannon
AIRWING
FLYER - Stormtalon Gunship: Twin Assault Cannon, Two Lascannons
FLYER - Stormtalon Gunship: Twin Assault Cannon, Two Heavy Bolters
FLYER - Stormtalon Gunship: Twin Assault Cannon, Typhoon Missile Launcher
I don’t know how good this list is, but I’m considering it for my 8th Company list idea. The planes are super efficient by themselves and being able to function as double the wounds remaining should make them a threat for most of the game.
Stormcast Eternals
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Age of Sigmar – I don’t typically get a tone of Age of Sigmar models on my painting table but when I do they are quite fun to paint. Rebranding and reimagining the Fantasy line was probably one of the best things Games Workshop could do. Not being tied to the Old World any longer each new faction they release is dynamic and unique to their IP. With Warhammer 40,000 Space Marines have been the iconic unit since it’s inception, Warhammer Fantasy didn’t really have anything that wasn’t tied to generic fantasy
Read MoreSneaky Space Marines - Playing with Raven Guard Successors
/Warhammer 40,000 – I’m super bummed. Space Marines finally get their day in the sun with a glut of new rules and the Internet can’t stop complaining about how over-powered they are. I don’t get it ever since I started playing this game every time a new book came out it took some time to adjust to the new options, although the rapid fire pace books are coming out now makes it hard to adjust as there are just so many things that are good. Which I think is a good thing and heathy for the game. Instead of looking at the marine release as one over-powered army it should instead be looked at as 6+ unique armies with their own play-style, which if any other factions suddenly got six brand new armies I think the impact would be very similar.
Anyway, I’m a fan of Space Marines and always have been. The new books have given every model in my collection a chance to shine and I love building new lists. I do have some favorite units like the Vanguard Vets, Chaplain and Captain so they tend to find their way into more of my lists than not but I’m trying to push each list in a new direction.
Twilight Ravens Fourth Company - Progenitor - Raven Guard • Successor Traits- Master Artisans, Whirlwind of Rage
BATTALION ONE
HQ - Captain: 2x Chainsword, Jump Pack, Warlord Trait: Shadowmaster Relic: Teeth of Terra
HQ - Chaplain: Litany of Hate, Exhortation of Rage, Jump Pack Relic: Master-Crafted Weapon, Plasma pistol Hero of the Chapter: Swift and Deadly
TROOP - Scout Squad: 4x Sniper rifle, Heavy Bolter Camo Cloaks
TROOP - Scout Squad: 4x Sniper rifle, Missle Launcher Camo Cloaks
TROOP - Scout Squad: 5x Astartes shotgun, Power Fist
ELITE- Vanguard Vets - 4x Chainsword & StormShield 6x Dual Chainswords
HEAVY- Mortis Dreadnought - 2x Twin lascannon
DEDICATED TRANSPORT- Land Speeder Storm - Heavy flamer
BATTALION TWO
HQ - Librarian: Enveloping Darkness, Shadowstep, Combi-flamer, Force sword Jump Pack
HQ - Lieutenants: Chainsword, Master-crafted boltgun
TROOP - 10x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword, Korvidari Bolts
TROOP - 6x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 7x Scouts: Astartes shotgun
ELITE - Apothecary
ELITE - Eliminators: Bolt sniper rifle, Camo cloak
Raven Guard have a weird Combat Doctrine bonus, being in the Tactical Doctrine gives them +1 to hit and wound rolls against characters. The effect is pretty strong but very situational. My initial thought was to bulk up on snipers, turn one gives you an extra AP to potentially clear threats and turn two moves you into character sniping mode. Popping the Target Sighted stratagem makes that big Primaris unit able to target characters, hitting on 2’s, causing additional mortal wounds on 5-6, which is pretty solid, 3CP is a hefty cost to pay to take out a character but I don’t know that splitting their fire will make sense. Most likely the Lieutenant and Apothecary will camp next to them buffing up the unit. I gave the Sergeant Korvidai Bolts so he can target units 42” away an out of LOS. I don’t know how strong it will be but it feels in theme.
The Scouts and Mortis Dread help to compliment the shooting and provide some additional threats to pull attention away from my other threats. Nothing crazy here more or less just objective holders/campers that can shoot when a target presents itself.
Since the focus of Raven Guard Successors isn’t solely shooting based I worked in another layer of threats with my old stand-by units of a Chaplain, Captain and Vanguard Vets. Added to this mix is a Librarian. The mix of traits, prayers, relics and psychic powers I chose allow them to ignore overwatch, charge after advancing, deep-strike closer to another unit and give a unit -1 to hit makes for a pretty nasty assault element. First turn charges are totally possible the question is what do I go after? From prior experience smashing somebody first turn is great, but if you do to good of a job that assault unit winds up flapping in the breeze in front of a gun-line eager to blast them to oblivion. I imagine I’ll learn the right play with a few games under my belt.
The list above is geared for 1500 point games which have become our weekly standard. In the event that I need to bump up to a 2,000 point list I’m considering adding in the following:
OUTRIDER
HQ - Chaplain in Terminator Armor: Litany of Hate, Recitation of Focus, Combi-flamer
FAST- Assault Marines: 6x Jump Pack, Thunder hammer
FAST- Inceptors]: 6x Assault Bolters
FAST- Land Speeders: Assault cannon, Multi-melta
Of course as with my previous article I may need to bring this down to a 750 point list for a team game if we have an odd number of players on any given week. In that case I’d take the list down to:
BATTALION
HQ - Librarian: Enveloping Darkness, Shadowstep, Combi-flamer, Force sword Jump Pack
HQ - Lieutenants: Chainsword, Master-crafted boltgun
TROOP - 10x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword, Korvidari Bolts
TROOP - 6x Intercessors: Auxiliary Grenade Launcher Stalker Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - 7x Scouts: Astartes shotgun
TROOP - Scout Squad: 4x Sniper rifle, Heavy Bolter Camo Cloaks
ELITE - Apothecary
ELITE - Eliminators: Bolt sniper rifle, Camo cloak
Welcome to Wulfsburg - Zombicide Black Plague
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Board Games – Zombicide Black Plague has many different expansions that play off similar concepts to the modern day version has explored, all with slight tweaks and improvements. Now CMON if relaunching the original with a second edition that you can back on Kickstarter now.
Read MoreUniversal Monsters Starring in Horrified
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Board Games - One of my clients was nice enough to theme this months commissions on spooky games with a Halloween vibe. This latest game I’m painting goes back to the classics. Horrified is a board game featuring the classic Universal Monsters.
Read MoreGun Fighters Ball - Legends of the Old West
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Historical – Cowboys are such an American icon. While Westerns come in and out of popularity every few years, there always seems to be a new miniature game popping up set in the genre. One of my clients went whole hog with Knuckleduster’s Gun Fighter’s Ball. This is a skirmish game that works for 2-12 players, the game has cards that detail out the stats for each mini and they come sold in packs of gangs like the Earps and James Gang. The production quality of the cards is pretty basic, but the figure are amazingly detailed metal models. Gone are the days or blobby lead cowboys, these models are crisp and well defined.
Space Marines - Who's your Daddy?
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Warhammer 40,000 – With seven new books Space Marine players have more choices than ever. Way back in third edition I opted to paint my Marines in a unique color scheme, this was in part because I didn’t want another black army (I was playing them as Raven Guard from the old IA article, since Chaos was rampant) and partially because I wanted to future proof the army. Marines being fairly generic can be used like a multi-tool across so man different lists, by picking my own colors and building out options I found interesting I was able to amass a substantial Marine collection. Which means I have a ton of models to try to work into lists.
With the new “build-your-own” successor traits as well as the ancestor mechanic you can specialize your traits to max out the effectiveness of your force. Love the Assault Phase? Then claim White Scars as your ancestor for that sweet extra damage in the Assault Doctrine. Prefer heavy weapons pick the Iron Hands or imperial Fists and start the game with bonuses. Midrange more your speed roll with the Ultramarines or Raven Guard for turn two shenanigans. As a successor you not only get access to the cool Combat Doctrine bonuses but also the Stratagems, Warlord Traits, Relics and Tactical Objectives. Granted the “choose your own traits” are a little weaker on their own being able to mix and max gives you more ability to tailor to exactly how you want to play. The biggest drawback to choosing the successor route is loosing access to special characters (unless they’re from Forge World – more on that later) and having to pay CP to get access to the best relics.
So what’s this Forge World nonsense you speak of? Well in the best set of Imperial Armour Books (The Badab War), Forge World explored the chapters involved in that conflict and introduced characters for each of those chapters. Under the old codex those characters unlocked access to chapter tactics which changed up how your army worked. With the advent of eighth edition that model no longer worked and the Forge World chapters were tweaked in the imperial Armour Index to stand on their own, with the caveat that you could just pick whatever chapter tactics you thought best represented those characters. Cool, right? Well with the 2019 Space Marine book you just got a whole ton of new options, particularly for Chapters that have not been clarified as having a defined Progenitors like the Characadons, Red Scorpions, Exorcists, Angels Revenant, Red Hunters, Star Phantoms, Minotaurs, Fire Hawks, and Astral Claws as not only do you get cool rules from the characters but you can pick a Progenitor and Successor traits to maximize your list or fit your play-style.
Back when my gaming group was playing the Badab War I did a series of articles exploring lists based on each of the Chapters that took place. I’m considering putting together a group to play through a variation of that campaign again. Stay tuned as i’ll post more once I’ve put in some work.
With my Twilight Ravens I’ve gone through a variety or lists and options trying to find the sweet spot that I want to play for an extended period of time. I doubt a settle on anything anytime soon as there are just soooo many variations available. Currently for my groups weeknight gaming sessions we’re stickling with 750/1500 point lists. With a smaller point limit it’s easier to get a game done in a reasonable amount of time when you account for the lackadaisical nature of our game nights.
What I’m currently running for 1500 points is:
Twilight Ravens Third Company - Progenitor: White Scars?
Successor Traits: Long Range Marksmen, Whirlwind of Rage
BATTALION ONE:
HQ - Chaplain Dreadnought (2X Heavy Flamers + Dread Close Combat)
HQ - Lieutenant- Combi-flamer Powerfist
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
ELITE - Agressors - Flamestorm Gauntlets
FAST- LandSpeeder - 2X Heavy Flamers
Dedicated Transport - Drop Pod -Deathwind Launcher
BATTLION TWO:
HQ - Captain - 2x Chainsword (Teeth of Terra)
HQ - Chaplain - Master Crafted Plasma Pistol
HQ - Lieutenant - Dual Lightning Claws
TROOP - Intercessors - Bolt Rifle, Chainsword
TROOP - Intercessors - Bolt Rifle, Chainsword, Auxillary Grenade Launcher
TROOP - Intercessors - Bolt Rifle, Power Fist
ELITE - Vanguard Vets - 4x Storm Shield Chainsword, 6x Dual Chainsword
FAST - Attack Bike - Multi-melta
I really like this list so far. Being able to outflank with 11” range flamers or deepstrike a unit with flamers and be able to clear and area the turn they arrive has been fun. With Whirlwind of Rage + Exortation of Rage the Vanguard Vets can put a hurt on most units.
In the event I need to jump up to 2000 points I can add in the following:
ELITE - Relic Sicaran Battle Tank - 2x lascannons sponsons
ELITE - Aggressors - Flamstorm Gauntlets
FAST - Attack Bike - Multimelta
Dedicated Transport - Drop Pod - Storm Bolter
Dedicated Transport - Drop Pod - Storm Bolter
This give me even more flexibilty and a few more threats to spilt my opponents attention.
Of course if I need to run as part of a team I can break the list down to this 750 point force.
BATTALION ONE:
HQ - Chaplain Dreadnought (2X Heavy Flamers + Dread Close Combat)
HQ - Captain - 2x Chainsword (Teeth of Terra)
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
TROOP - Tactical Squad - Combi-flamer + Flamer
ELITE - Vanguard Vets - 4x Storm Shield Chainsword, 6x Dual Chainsword
FAST- LandSpeeder - 2X Heavy Flamers
Not quite the same impact, but it gets the playstyle across and takes advantage of the traits I’ve chosen for this list. I figure if I call each of my iterations a company I can forge my own narrative as my Chapter is on a Crusade and the companies are spread out over several systems.
Arena Rex - Blood on the Sand
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Arena Rex - Gladiators have always been cool. Arena Rex has beautiful miniatures for their game of death. Being a slightly fantastic take on the historical narrative of the Roman Empire this game features giant scorpions, plant people and other interesting creatures to duke it out in the arena.
More Deathwatch Marines
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Warhammer 40,000 – Deathwatch didn’t get all the fancy toys the new marines got. With the steady flow of these guys across my table you’d never know it. Some of these guys were rescued from the bargain bin and recruited to the Deathwatch with a shoulder pad swap, while the rest make up weapon load-outs my client didn’t have in his existing force. I tried to make up a variety of chapters by mixing and matching the decals I have with various color schemes, just to avoid only representing a few chapters.
Twilight Ravens - Vanguard Vets
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Warhammer 40,000 – I love Jump Pack Infantry, they’re not always the best choice but man I love moving fast and hitting something. Sadly Assault Marines are really better as a mobile firebase like Chaos Raptors, they’ve gotten a bit better with the advent of Angels of Death but jumping around with melta guns or flamers is still a better role for them. In previous editions I would occasionally run lightning claw equipped Vanguard Vets as a throwback to the unit Shrike used to bring with him back in Third Edition. They were ok but really expensive and rarely made back their points. At the end of Seventh Edition that unit got way better with the Raven Guard formations that allowed for first turn charges but once that went away my clawed maniacs went back to being shot off the table before they could connect.
Read MoreA Tale of Two Abaddons
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Warhammer 40,000 – For literal decades the metal Abaddon struck fear into the hearts of loyalist dogs on tables the world over. His tiny Napoleonic presence leading the masses of cultists and heretics in crusades leaving a trail of destruction. That all changed with the release of a new plastic kit, now the Lord of the Black Legion has a stature suitable to his station. An iconic release like this has players scrambling to tweak their lists to include the new hotness. Which leads me to my tale.
Read MoreGreen Knight - House Cadmus Crusader
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Warhammer 40,000 - Big stompy robots with huge guns. Love ‘em or hate ‘em Imperial Knights are here to stay. Most of the Knight commissions I’ve done have be a unique color scheme that doesn’t line up with any of the Houses. Most of them have also been magnetized extensively. From a cost perspective this tends to make more sense to most players. The unique scheme allows them to play any house or freeblade combination they’d like without their opponent hassling them about the color scheme. While the magnets let them change up loadouts on a whim. When you pay $150 or so for a model you tend to want to get the most bang for your buck.
The flip side of that are players that pick a house and load-out and stick with it. These players tend to see the knight as its own character with a backstory and history. This latest project is probably a little of the later. My client got a great deal on a painted knight and wants me to match the scheme for this Crusader.
