Just a quick post to say
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I hope Santa has been nice to you all!
A WH40k hobby blog dedicated to the men of the Imperium of Man, from the humble Astra Militarum trooper, to the Scions of the Militarum Tempestus and the super men of the Adeptus Astartes.
Friday, 25 December 2015
Friday, 18 December 2015
Cadian formation
Well, with the release of Mont'ka, there is a new way to play Guard, the Cadian Formation.
As with my other reviews, I'm not going to be going in to details, but if you do there are severl reviews out there. Two that I would recommend are Elite 40k and Cadia's Creed, both have good reviews and slightly different takes on the subject. Personally, I am more inclined towards GG's view on Cadia's Creed.
So, what's my take on this all? In a nut shell, useless. Mostly as I cannot field anything but the Emperors Shield Infantry Company or the smaller Emperors Shield Infantry Platoon, not both though, only one or the other. So in theory I can field a Battle Group Command and the Shield Company, but that's it. Not that I want to, for several reasons; 1) its 170 troops min and 3 Sentinals, I find running the 119 or so in my Hjaltland list more than enough and depending upon deployment type, it can even be too much. 2) It means they will be unsupported unless I bring more troops to field a CAD in support! 3) I cant imagine painting up that many troops!
I could in theory bring another Battle Group Command with the Tank Commander for some support, but that would leave out my fliers and arty.
So, I'll run through the various elements, and I will just sum up my views/ability to field them.
Battle Group Command: I can field either of these options. The rules are pretty good as well, the bonus to the orders is also very useful, its like having a mini version of Creed everywhere. And the rerolls to hits on the lasguns is good, as any extra hits are always a bonus, as the more hits you get, the more saves you force and the more chances to fail. The Tank Command squad is a bit less useful as it doesn't benefit from many of the rules.
Emperors Shield Infantry Company: Er, sorry, how many troops? and how much does it cost? 170 troops and 1005pts base! Er, maybe not. I could, but I'm not going to.
Emperors Fist Armoured Company: This seems good, but you need at least 5 tanks, Command + buddy and 3 squads of single tanks, you can field up to 12 if you wanted. You need some Enginseers, but if your running tanks, you probably want some around anyway. The bonus' of better BS is pretty good if your running dakka tanks, i.e. Punishers/Exterminators, but really not something that interests me, as I only have 3 tanks and don't plan on getting any more, even though I like the dakka tanks.
Emperors Shield Infantry Platoon: Not to bad if you want lots of troops, but not really anything special. I don't mind the Sentinel tax, as I like sentinels, and the Move Through Cover is not a bad bonus. I just wish that you could take Heavy Weapon Squads or Special Weapon Squads as part of the 5 squads. The Command Squad special order is also useful, its a bit like Forward For The Emperor, but enabling you to move before shooting, rather than after, it could be useful once in a while. If I'm running the Company, I wont be adding this one and seeing as I cant run the tank formation, I will be running the company formation, hence, I wont be running this one.
Super-Heavy Support Element: Well, if you like Super-Heavies, then its good, but as I don't even have one super-heavy its a bit useless. The Bonus' are pretty good though if you have the models, but you need at least 2 vehicles.
Emperors Blade Assault Company: Er, I kinda forgot about this one, I can almost field this, and when I get the last Chimera that I need/want for my Mech list, I will be able to! It will only have one Hellhound as that's all I have, but with 4 Chimeras, I think one will be fine. The bonus of Prefered Enemy on objectives is good, as that's were these boys are gonna be heading. I would run these guys with my Shield Company for some armoured support.
Emperors Spear Aerial Company: Well, if you like fliers, its all good. I've got 2, one Vendetta and one Valkyrie, and that's enough for me, so needing 3 to field this isn't great. If I could swap one out for a Punisher equipped Vulture, then that would be all good and really get me excited. The bonus' are not great though, unless you don't really care about the flier and want that last minute objective grab.
Ogryn Auxilla: Er, don't have any, don't really want any, well, maybe a unit of Bullgryns for a little CCS protection, but 4 units (2 of each type)? No not really, although if you could get this lot in to combat, then they would do pretty well.
Emperors Wrath Artillery Company: Now I like this formation, but I really don't have that many units, nor do I really want them. I have a unit of 2 Wyverns and a third would be good, but I don't really like Basilisks nor do I really have a use for Hydras, although this formation gives then the abilities they really needs, with the ability to get Ignores Cover. As for those orders, split fire could be useful, ignores cover is useful and pinning can be very useful against the right target. The other special rule that gives twin-linked can also be useful but my Wyverns are already twin-linked and have ignores cover, and the weapon works so well due to the amount of hits, so split fire is not great for them. Only pinning could be useful, as I very rarely don't cause a wound. The other unit, either Manticores or Deathstrike, is not really models I want. Yes, manitcores are good, but I still like my Wyverns. So all in all, a good formation, but it would not gain anything over what I have already.
Emperors Talon Recon Company: I like this, but then I like Sentinels. The bonus' are not to bad, orders for running, shoot and run and precision shot are not bad, nor is the ability to outflank with them, but having to take at least 6 walkers is a little steep. I own 3 and I think that fielding more would be a little excessive as you would have to loose better units or weapons from other areas. Sentinels are good disposable one hit wonder unit.
Psykana Division: Yeah, great is you like deamons, ok if you don't. The extra warp charges are handy, as is the ability for the Primaris to know lots of powers, but its the Wyrdvanes that will be doing the casting (2+ with Commissar). It can be a pretty reliable way of getting Prescience (@85pts a pop, total 305pts), but I'll probably not invest, unless I decide to convert up some of my spare troops for a laugh. Although, I'll need to convert 15 of 'em!
And lastly,
Militarum Tempestus Platoon: Can field these boys too, and in some numbers, 2 almost full platoons to be precise, and I probably would. They don't have any addition special rules, which is a bit of a shame as they need a few fixes and some extra bonus' would be great, re-roll deep strike anyone?
So what could/would I field? Either command squad, Tank CS or CCS, the Emperors Shield Infantry Company, the Emperors Blade Assault Company and the Militarum Tempestus Platoon. Not sure how many points that would be, but its not really a set-up I would like to play. So, I'll stick with the CAD for the moment.
The other side of the Battle Group is the Warlord traits, and while there are some new ones, I'll be sticking with the standard Guard ones, which have served me well up until now. And then there are the Relics, most of which are ok. Kake's Herald, which a lot of people are shouting about, is good as it gives you the ability to give orders to all tanks not just command tanks, but it is useless to me as I will either be running a command squad or normal squad, not both, at least not close enough to make use of this. Other relic that is not great in my opinion is the "Iron Left" a sword/mace/CCW thing that's +2s and Ap3. The other relics are not to bad. The Standard of the Lost, normal regimental standard until you plant it (no more moving) and then it gives a 18" fearless bubble, just what you need towards the end of a game when you just have to hold. I like it and I'll have to see if it can find its way in to my Hjaltland Company.
Volkov's Cane could be useful to the Hrossey MechVets, as orders only fail on a double 6, plus its a S user AP4 Concussive CCW, not that you'll get to use it much. Celeritas is also a CCW, but at S User, Ap- Master crafted and Deadly Riposte, which is good as it means that you get auto hits, with rending, back for every successful 4+ invun save, which means that when you die in CC challenge before you get a chance to strike back, you at least get to do something! (and its cheap, which helps) The last, Wrath of Cadia, ties in well with the Celeritas, as a very cheap laspistol upgrade (S3 Ap-), always wounds on a 4 and armour saves are modified to 4+, very useful for that last minute over-watch before you get squatted and the Celeritas kicks in.
As with my other reviews, I'm not going to be going in to details, but if you do there are severl reviews out there. Two that I would recommend are Elite 40k and Cadia's Creed, both have good reviews and slightly different takes on the subject. Personally, I am more inclined towards GG's view on Cadia's Creed.
So, what's my take on this all? In a nut shell, useless. Mostly as I cannot field anything but the Emperors Shield Infantry Company or the smaller Emperors Shield Infantry Platoon, not both though, only one or the other. So in theory I can field a Battle Group Command and the Shield Company, but that's it. Not that I want to, for several reasons; 1) its 170 troops min and 3 Sentinals, I find running the 119 or so in my Hjaltland list more than enough and depending upon deployment type, it can even be too much. 2) It means they will be unsupported unless I bring more troops to field a CAD in support! 3) I cant imagine painting up that many troops!
I could in theory bring another Battle Group Command with the Tank Commander for some support, but that would leave out my fliers and arty.
So, I'll run through the various elements, and I will just sum up my views/ability to field them.
Battle Group Command: I can field either of these options. The rules are pretty good as well, the bonus to the orders is also very useful, its like having a mini version of Creed everywhere. And the rerolls to hits on the lasguns is good, as any extra hits are always a bonus, as the more hits you get, the more saves you force and the more chances to fail. The Tank Command squad is a bit less useful as it doesn't benefit from many of the rules.
Emperors Shield Infantry Company: Er, sorry, how many troops? and how much does it cost? 170 troops and 1005pts base! Er, maybe not. I could, but I'm not going to.
Emperors Fist Armoured Company: This seems good, but you need at least 5 tanks, Command + buddy and 3 squads of single tanks, you can field up to 12 if you wanted. You need some Enginseers, but if your running tanks, you probably want some around anyway. The bonus' of better BS is pretty good if your running dakka tanks, i.e. Punishers/Exterminators, but really not something that interests me, as I only have 3 tanks and don't plan on getting any more, even though I like the dakka tanks.
Emperors Shield Infantry Platoon: Not to bad if you want lots of troops, but not really anything special. I don't mind the Sentinel tax, as I like sentinels, and the Move Through Cover is not a bad bonus. I just wish that you could take Heavy Weapon Squads or Special Weapon Squads as part of the 5 squads. The Command Squad special order is also useful, its a bit like Forward For The Emperor, but enabling you to move before shooting, rather than after, it could be useful once in a while. If I'm running the Company, I wont be adding this one and seeing as I cant run the tank formation, I will be running the company formation, hence, I wont be running this one.
Super-Heavy Support Element: Well, if you like Super-Heavies, then its good, but as I don't even have one super-heavy its a bit useless. The Bonus' are pretty good though if you have the models, but you need at least 2 vehicles.
Emperors Blade Assault Company: Er, I kinda forgot about this one, I can almost field this, and when I get the last Chimera that I need/want for my Mech list, I will be able to! It will only have one Hellhound as that's all I have, but with 4 Chimeras, I think one will be fine. The bonus of Prefered Enemy on objectives is good, as that's were these boys are gonna be heading. I would run these guys with my Shield Company for some armoured support.
Emperors Spear Aerial Company: Well, if you like fliers, its all good. I've got 2, one Vendetta and one Valkyrie, and that's enough for me, so needing 3 to field this isn't great. If I could swap one out for a Punisher equipped Vulture, then that would be all good and really get me excited. The bonus' are not great though, unless you don't really care about the flier and want that last minute objective grab.
Ogryn Auxilla: Er, don't have any, don't really want any, well, maybe a unit of Bullgryns for a little CCS protection, but 4 units (2 of each type)? No not really, although if you could get this lot in to combat, then they would do pretty well.
Emperors Wrath Artillery Company: Now I like this formation, but I really don't have that many units, nor do I really want them. I have a unit of 2 Wyverns and a third would be good, but I don't really like Basilisks nor do I really have a use for Hydras, although this formation gives then the abilities they really needs, with the ability to get Ignores Cover. As for those orders, split fire could be useful, ignores cover is useful and pinning can be very useful against the right target. The other special rule that gives twin-linked can also be useful but my Wyverns are already twin-linked and have ignores cover, and the weapon works so well due to the amount of hits, so split fire is not great for them. Only pinning could be useful, as I very rarely don't cause a wound. The other unit, either Manticores or Deathstrike, is not really models I want. Yes, manitcores are good, but I still like my Wyverns. So all in all, a good formation, but it would not gain anything over what I have already.
Emperors Talon Recon Company: I like this, but then I like Sentinels. The bonus' are not to bad, orders for running, shoot and run and precision shot are not bad, nor is the ability to outflank with them, but having to take at least 6 walkers is a little steep. I own 3 and I think that fielding more would be a little excessive as you would have to loose better units or weapons from other areas. Sentinels are good disposable one hit wonder unit.
Psykana Division: Yeah, great is you like deamons, ok if you don't. The extra warp charges are handy, as is the ability for the Primaris to know lots of powers, but its the Wyrdvanes that will be doing the casting (2+ with Commissar). It can be a pretty reliable way of getting Prescience (@85pts a pop, total 305pts), but I'll probably not invest, unless I decide to convert up some of my spare troops for a laugh. Although, I'll need to convert 15 of 'em!
And lastly,
Militarum Tempestus Platoon: Can field these boys too, and in some numbers, 2 almost full platoons to be precise, and I probably would. They don't have any addition special rules, which is a bit of a shame as they need a few fixes and some extra bonus' would be great, re-roll deep strike anyone?
So what could/would I field? Either command squad, Tank CS or CCS, the Emperors Shield Infantry Company, the Emperors Blade Assault Company and the Militarum Tempestus Platoon. Not sure how many points that would be, but its not really a set-up I would like to play. So, I'll stick with the CAD for the moment.
The other side of the Battle Group is the Warlord traits, and while there are some new ones, I'll be sticking with the standard Guard ones, which have served me well up until now. And then there are the Relics, most of which are ok. Kake's Herald, which a lot of people are shouting about, is good as it gives you the ability to give orders to all tanks not just command tanks, but it is useless to me as I will either be running a command squad or normal squad, not both, at least not close enough to make use of this. Other relic that is not great in my opinion is the "Iron Left" a sword/mace/CCW thing that's +2s and Ap3. The other relics are not to bad. The Standard of the Lost, normal regimental standard until you plant it (no more moving) and then it gives a 18" fearless bubble, just what you need towards the end of a game when you just have to hold. I like it and I'll have to see if it can find its way in to my Hjaltland Company.
Volkov's Cane could be useful to the Hrossey MechVets, as orders only fail on a double 6, plus its a S user AP4 Concussive CCW, not that you'll get to use it much. Celeritas is also a CCW, but at S User, Ap- Master crafted and Deadly Riposte, which is good as it means that you get auto hits, with rending, back for every successful 4+ invun save, which means that when you die in CC challenge before you get a chance to strike back, you at least get to do something! (and its cheap, which helps) The last, Wrath of Cadia, ties in well with the Celeritas, as a very cheap laspistol upgrade (S3 Ap-), always wounds on a 4 and armour saves are modified to 4+, very useful for that last minute over-watch before you get squatted and the Celeritas kicks in.
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
500 Views
Well, I've reached another mile stone in the blog, 500 views (as of last Saturday). Ok, so some blogs get this every day, I saw one conversation recently where the blogger was saying his total had dropped below 1000 hits per day for the first time in years! Well, I'm not anywhere near that level, but for my little blog, I'm pretty happy that someone is joining me in my little foray in to the 40k universe.
So, who's viewing? Well the top ten viewing countries are;
(views at 250)
America - 284 (120)
UK - 64 (52)
Ireland - 30 (17)
Russia - 27 (8)
Ukraine - 22 (18)
France - 15 (9)
Australia - 8
Romania - 8
Poland - 5 (5)
Germany - 4
which leaves 41 unaccounted for, although I know that Italy, Netherlands and Canada have at least 2 views apiece and Hong Kong, Brazil and South Africa have also had hits.
In addition, the browsers and operation systems used are;
(views at 250)
Chrome - 234 (108)
Firefox - 121 (33)
IE - 76 (62)
Safari/mobile Safari - 48 (44)
Opera - 6
SamsungBrowser - 6
plus a few other minor ones, such as Dragon (3), Silk (2) and Iron (1)
and
Windows - 265 (129)
Mac and istuff - 164 (114)
Linux - 31
Android - 30 (11)
Unix - 10
Again, like my last few posts of this nature (100 and 250 views), this information is pretty useless to most people, but I find it interesting. To me it shows me who is looking and at what, and also what their using to do it. Even with the rise of Mac/Apple, Windows still seems to the dominate operating system, although, IE seems to be loosing ground to both Chrome and now Firefox, while Safari doesn't seem to be doing much at all. There are even a few browsers I haven't even heard of! Mainly Silk and Dragon.
The viewing countries is also fascinating to me, as the US is dominating, with over half the view coming from there, while the UK views is slowing down! Come on my fellow Brits! As for Russia and Ukraine, I think these results are slightly dodgy, as they seem to come in rapid succession, I think I has over 10 from Russia in one day, over the space of an hour or two. I maybe wrong and there is a fan of mine living out that way somewhere, but I kinda doubt it. However, that being said, I think that there is a very good spread, covering all the corners of the globe, with views from both South and North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
I promise not to post another post like this until I hit 1000 views, which at this rate will probably be a while away!
So, who's viewing? Well the top ten viewing countries are;
(views at 250)
America - 284 (120)
UK - 64 (52)
Ireland - 30 (17)
Russia - 27 (8)
Ukraine - 22 (18)
France - 15 (9)
Australia - 8
Romania - 8
Poland - 5 (5)
Germany - 4
which leaves 41 unaccounted for, although I know that Italy, Netherlands and Canada have at least 2 views apiece and Hong Kong, Brazil and South Africa have also had hits.
In addition, the browsers and operation systems used are;
(views at 250)
Chrome - 234 (108)
Firefox - 121 (33)
IE - 76 (62)
Safari/mobile Safari - 48 (44)
Opera - 6
SamsungBrowser - 6
plus a few other minor ones, such as Dragon (3), Silk (2) and Iron (1)
and
Windows - 265 (129)
Mac and istuff - 164 (114)
Linux - 31
Android - 30 (11)
Unix - 10
Again, like my last few posts of this nature (100 and 250 views), this information is pretty useless to most people, but I find it interesting. To me it shows me who is looking and at what, and also what their using to do it. Even with the rise of Mac/Apple, Windows still seems to the dominate operating system, although, IE seems to be loosing ground to both Chrome and now Firefox, while Safari doesn't seem to be doing much at all. There are even a few browsers I haven't even heard of! Mainly Silk and Dragon.
The viewing countries is also fascinating to me, as the US is dominating, with over half the view coming from there, while the UK views is slowing down! Come on my fellow Brits! As for Russia and Ukraine, I think these results are slightly dodgy, as they seem to come in rapid succession, I think I has over 10 from Russia in one day, over the space of an hour or two. I maybe wrong and there is a fan of mine living out that way somewhere, but I kinda doubt it. However, that being said, I think that there is a very good spread, covering all the corners of the globe, with views from both South and North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
I promise not to post another post like this until I hit 1000 views, which at this rate will probably be a while away!
Friday, 11 December 2015
Eagle Knight Brotherhoods
As the chapter does not suffer from the Black Rage in the same way as their parent chapter, there is no \need for a Death Company. However, I like the rules and have a place for them in my army list, namely as monster/vehicle hunters. As such, they need a backstory to explain their existence within the chapter. So here is a short story of the Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon.
The Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon are chosen from the most fearless and aggressive of assault marines. The chosen few will have shown these traits through many battles, overcome the odds to attain victory when others might have faltered. The chosen few are invited to join the Brethren and with it are given access to some of the oldest and best weaponry the Knights possess. With their role as Monster hunters, they are charged with taking down the most vile and fearsome creatures known to man, a task only the most fearless marines could endure. In addition, this task is reflected in their war gear, with Thunder Hammers and Power Mauls combined with the use of plasma pistols being common amongst the Brethren, in addition, jump packs are mandatory, to enable them to move around the battle fiend at will and at speed, to deal with any threat that may present itself. The Brethren are currently lead by the Chosen Bateleur (Lemartes), a man who knows no fear, not even death.
Now, while the most aggressive and fearless marines join the Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon, another Brethren exists amongst the Knights, the Hawk Brethren. The Hawk Brethren differ from the Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon in many ways, to start they are more selective in who they recruit in to their brethren, choosing those who display not only aggression, but also intelligence, skill and precision, for the Hawk Brethren have a different mission on the battle field. Their mission is to identify the most dangerous threat, be it a command unit or elite infantry unit, and eliminate it with maximum prejudice. As such their weapons reflect this role, as Lightning Claws and Power Swords are their weapons of choice, although some prefer to carry Power Axes for some extra power. Again, Jump Packs are used in pretty much all occasions to enable the unit to close and engage the enemy quickly, wherever they maybe. The brethren, are currently lead by Sulawesi, and are currently accompanying Priest Bonelli, acting as his bodyguard and command squad.
The Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon are chosen from the most fearless and aggressive of assault marines. The chosen few will have shown these traits through many battles, overcome the odds to attain victory when others might have faltered. The chosen few are invited to join the Brethren and with it are given access to some of the oldest and best weaponry the Knights possess. With their role as Monster hunters, they are charged with taking down the most vile and fearsome creatures known to man, a task only the most fearless marines could endure. In addition, this task is reflected in their war gear, with Thunder Hammers and Power Mauls combined with the use of plasma pistols being common amongst the Brethren, in addition, jump packs are mandatory, to enable them to move around the battle fiend at will and at speed, to deal with any threat that may present itself. The Brethren are currently lead by the Chosen Bateleur (Lemartes), a man who knows no fear, not even death.
Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon
Chosen Bateleur
(who for those who were watching closely, use to be the leader/Sgt of the Hawk Brethen, but got a promotion to Bateleur/Lemartes )
Now, while the most aggressive and fearless marines join the Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon, another Brethren exists amongst the Knights, the Hawk Brethren. The Hawk Brethren differ from the Brotherhood of the Eagles Talon in many ways, to start they are more selective in who they recruit in to their brethren, choosing those who display not only aggression, but also intelligence, skill and precision, for the Hawk Brethren have a different mission on the battle field. Their mission is to identify the most dangerous threat, be it a command unit or elite infantry unit, and eliminate it with maximum prejudice. As such their weapons reflect this role, as Lightning Claws and Power Swords are their weapons of choice, although some prefer to carry Power Axes for some extra power. Again, Jump Packs are used in pretty much all occasions to enable the unit to close and engage the enemy quickly, wherever they maybe. The brethren, are currently lead by Sulawesi, and are currently accompanying Priest Bonelli, acting as his bodyguard and command squad.
Hawk Brethren
(with new Sgt with power sword to replace the old Sgt who got promoted to Bateleur/Lemartes)
Priest Bonelli, with the Eagles Wings (The Angles Wings Jump pack)
Sorry for the crappy photos, but I'm limited at the moment as to time to take pictures, as most of the time if I try and lay the models out to picture they will either, get eaten buy the little one or be used for target practice for various Hot Wheels cars to crash in to.
Friday, 4 December 2015
More Green stuff - Power Mauls
Well, after the success of my first foray in to Green Stuff modelling, I have decided to test my new found skills. The target of this round of modelling will be power mauls. Why? Well, have you ever tried to find a power maul for a marine? Power axes, power swords, power fists, not a problem, got hundreds of them, but power mauls? Er, what? You want power mauls? I've found one in the old DA bits/upgrade sprue but that's it. EBay have some FW ones at about 4 pound a pair (I need 3), but in all my bits I cant find any more.
It seems that power mauls are one of the forgotten weapons of 40k and I can understand why. They ap4 and S+2, which sits in between power swords and power axes. Their issue comes as they are not marine killers, i.e. ap3, and they don't have the power of the axe, however, I think that when combined with the BA codex and their +1 strength on the charge. This means that on the charge, an assault marine armed with a maul will be S7, which will pretty much kill anything armoured with a 4+ save, i.e. Tau, Guard and some Orks. They will also put some hurt on to a lot of vehicles, as armour 12 is easily within reach.
But my main reason for including these weapons in my army is for my BA/Eagle Knights DC boys, as with rage they will be putting out 5 attacks at S7 on the charge. This means that they are a pretty potent CC unit. The unit itself will be formed of 5 blokes plus Lemartes, with 2 Thunder hammers and boltguns and 3 will have plasma pistols and power mauls, and they will go monster/tank hunting. This means that the unit will be putting out 20 S7 and 8 S9 attacks on the charge, re-rolling to hit due to Lemartes, not to mention the 3 S7 ap2 shots before they charge and the 6 S5 hammer of wrath attacks. All the weapons are concussive, which is a nice bonus. All in all, this will give most monstrous creature some trouble.
The only trouble is getting the power mauls, and the one I have got are not the easiest to copy, but we will see.
As for copying, here is my progress.
It seems that power mauls are one of the forgotten weapons of 40k and I can understand why. They ap4 and S+2, which sits in between power swords and power axes. Their issue comes as they are not marine killers, i.e. ap3, and they don't have the power of the axe, however, I think that when combined with the BA codex and their +1 strength on the charge. This means that on the charge, an assault marine armed with a maul will be S7, which will pretty much kill anything armoured with a 4+ save, i.e. Tau, Guard and some Orks. They will also put some hurt on to a lot of vehicles, as armour 12 is easily within reach.
But my main reason for including these weapons in my army is for my BA/Eagle Knights DC boys, as with rage they will be putting out 5 attacks at S7 on the charge. This means that they are a pretty potent CC unit. The unit itself will be formed of 5 blokes plus Lemartes, with 2 Thunder hammers and boltguns and 3 will have plasma pistols and power mauls, and they will go monster/tank hunting. This means that the unit will be putting out 20 S7 and 8 S9 attacks on the charge, re-rolling to hit due to Lemartes, not to mention the 3 S7 ap2 shots before they charge and the 6 S5 hammer of wrath attacks. All the weapons are concussive, which is a nice bonus. All in all, this will give most monstrous creature some trouble.
The only trouble is getting the power mauls, and the one I have got are not the easiest to copy, but we will see.
As for copying, here is my progress.
The moulds. One the left you can see the mould being formed and on the right, the formed mould.
The new Power Mauls.
From the images above you can see the moulds and the finished mauls. You can see that their not to bad, however, some of the finer detail didn't copy across to well, mostly the eagle on the wrist, which was to be expected. Also this shows the first ands third cast, the second was ruined by my eagerness to split the mould and ended with me warping the top half of the maul. The next stage is to cut the arms at the wrist and mount them on to different arms to give different poses to the different models. For this I have some old weapon less arms that I will be butchering.
The new arms
And the finished products
I've said it before in my last post, but I'll say it again, I'm not one for the outright copying of parts and models and I don't intend on doing such things, but I cant find any power mauls anywhere on GW kits that I can use. So, I have copied this one and I probably will not copy anymore as I have what I need.
Friday, 27 November 2015
Old skool painting
I came across an old painting guide a few weeks ago and it got me thinking. The guide in question is a Citadel painting guide titled; Space Marine Painting Guide. Although I'm not sure of the exact vintage of the guide, but I believe (after a brief search) that its from 1989, which is a while before I got in to the game, being as I was 6 at the time!
So what caught my eye over the newer painting guides, which are definitely better in terms of painting effects and techniques. Well, mostly the schemes used, mostly those used to distinguish the various specialities, such as Chaplin, Techmarine and Librarian.
So what caught my eye over the newer painting guides, which are definitely better in terms of painting effects and techniques. Well, mostly the schemes used, mostly those used to distinguish the various specialities, such as Chaplin, Techmarine and Librarian.
Chaplin, Librarian, Medic, Techmarine
The set up from way back when is very different from how it is today, with most marines showing none of the additions that many show today. Take for the example the pic above, the techmarine is not in red armour or with a thousand and one additions on his pack, he's just a marine with a spanner and a marking on his shoulder pad. The blood angle medic is similarly dressed, with no extras, the only one that could pass itself off on todays board is the Libby, mostly cos he's an Ultramarine. The difference is also visible for the Salamanders below, with the Chaplin only designated by his helmet and the vet showing standard markings, just with the colours reversed. The medics markings are more obvious with the Salamander then on the BA above due to the base colour of the model.
Salamanders Chaplin (A), Medic (B), Vet (C)
The Blood Angles guide
The Blood Angles guide doesn't show much difference from today, although some of the symbols are slightly different. So what's the point in this post? Well, I'm planning on adjusting my Eagle Knights paint schemes to replicate the old school schemes. This will affect many of the models, specifically the Priest and the Captain, but also some of the vets, notable the Vanguard and the Death Company, who will be painted in the Vets style rather than in the DC style. If I have any models left over I will be adding extra HQ units, in the form of a Libby and Chaplin, to give me options. While I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to carry this plan out yet, mostly as I have not started painting the models, nor have I actually finalised my chapter symbol yet, although it will feature a shield (Knights) and three diagonal slashes (as from an Eagles claw).
Obviously, the main colours are going to be orange and black, so that may make the Chaplin/priest a little difficult to distinguish, so I may have to adjust that a little. But the medic should be easy as should the captain. The vets will also be interesting, but I suspect that it will be a simple reversal of the shoulder pad/arm colours. So, its going to be a while before I get around to painting up the models, although most of the squads are now gathered together, individually bagged, ready for assembly and/or modification.
Friday, 20 November 2015
WIP sheets part 2
Well, here are the other WIP sheets I was on about, for the Dark Guardians, Emperors Disciples and Hrossey MechVets. I was going to post this last week but with the news of specialist games coming back, it got bumped to this weeks post. So with out further delay, here are the other wip lists;
First up the Dark Guardians, and as you can see, its kinda red all over! Even the yellow is a little optimistic as they don't actually have their back packs attached and their not glued, just pressed together. The rest are in bits in bags in the box of doom/bits.
The Emperors Disciples, are not much better, a little more yellow and lots of blue. The blue are mostly Ultramarines at this point, so definitely need stripping! The Sternguard are also a little bit of a cheat as they don't have combi's at all, this is because they are the old metal models mostly and I don't want to damage the old metal work. Again most of the bits are in the box along with the parts for the Dark Guardians. These guys, as with the ones above are not high on the priority list, so by the time I get around to them we could be several codices down the line and the army will have changed quite a bit and depending upon what happens with Specialist Games, they may find themselves relegated to allied detachment, with little more then a min troop choice and a 10 man Sternguard and a 5 man missile Dev squad.
Lastly we have the Hrossey Mech vets. These boys are a little but more complete and are probably more complete than shown below as I have a number of models, quite a few of which are undercoated, sitting in the box that will form this army. However, I haven't dug down to the bottom of the box to confirm what's models are in what state so I've just done them in red for the moment. The only model missing at the moment is the 4th chimera, and all the compete models are ones that I haven't actually painted myself!
So, all in all, a lot of work to do and not really any time to do any! These will all get their time in the lime light at some point, but it could be a while.
First up the Dark Guardians, and as you can see, its kinda red all over! Even the yellow is a little optimistic as they don't actually have their back packs attached and their not glued, just pressed together. The rest are in bits in bags in the box of doom/bits.
The Emperors Disciples, are not much better, a little more yellow and lots of blue. The blue are mostly Ultramarines at this point, so definitely need stripping! The Sternguard are also a little bit of a cheat as they don't have combi's at all, this is because they are the old metal models mostly and I don't want to damage the old metal work. Again most of the bits are in the box along with the parts for the Dark Guardians. These guys, as with the ones above are not high on the priority list, so by the time I get around to them we could be several codices down the line and the army will have changed quite a bit and depending upon what happens with Specialist Games, they may find themselves relegated to allied detachment, with little more then a min troop choice and a 10 man Sternguard and a 5 man missile Dev squad.
Lastly we have the Hrossey Mech vets. These boys are a little but more complete and are probably more complete than shown below as I have a number of models, quite a few of which are undercoated, sitting in the box that will form this army. However, I haven't dug down to the bottom of the box to confirm what's models are in what state so I've just done them in red for the moment. The only model missing at the moment is the 4th chimera, and all the compete models are ones that I haven't actually painted myself!
So, all in all, a lot of work to do and not really any time to do any! These will all get their time in the lime light at some point, but it could be a while.
Friday, 13 November 2015
Hold the Press!! Specialist games are back!
Wow, this is something I thought I would never see! And right now I am a little bit sceptical about all the noise being made, as we don't quite know the full extent of all of this. And this hot on the hills of the new Horus Heresy: Betrayal at Calth! (which I'll talk about in another post)
So, specialist games are back in business, well, kinda, it seems they are going to become part of Forge World, or Forge World are going to become part of them, something like that. I'm sure that by now all of you will have seen the poster that some GW Australia store manager put together to advertise all this. (it's here if not - thanks Nafka). There are also all of the facebook posts and B&C/Warseer threads dedicated to this, so it is happening, which is brilliant!
My one questions at the moment is what is actually going to be released? Apparently Blood Bowl is ready, which would make sense, with the release of the new video game and also as a Christmas release it will be huge, BFG is also in the works, and will be ready sooner, rather than later, but will either be renamed Battlefleet Heresy or maybe just set in the heresy era, not sure which, was a little confused by the various posts. Still, I'm on-board for that one!
Epic is another game that was named in the rumours, but there have been a few people saying that this is not going to happen as it will clash with 40k Armageddon. How, I'm not sure as the two games are pretty different, as not many people can afford a 40k Warlord Titan, but pretty much everyone will be able to afford a Epic one or 3. So I really do hope that Epic is re-released as I really want to get back in to both Epic and BFG, as I've mentioned in a few posts.
One other game that takes my fancy is Necromunda. A MPPK for the houses would be great, with a few magnets you could keep things fresh and keep the narrative going really easily. I would definatly love to have a house or two for playing with.
I really think GW are moving in the right direction with all of this, afterall, look at the success of Dropzone commander and the Dropfleet kickstarter, along with firestorm armada and planetfall. Also worth a mention are Mantics Dreadball and Deadzone, plus the new kid, Guildball, not sure who makes that one though. It also makes sense to release this before Christmas, gives everyone time to add something to their wishlists and builds the hype, I never understand why GW don't do more publicity, apart from the crappy teaser videos.
All this gives me an issue though, I am going to have to thin down my model count to make space and provide so cash to spend on all this goodness, so I think all those spares figures that were just going to go in the spare box are going to have to find new homes, along side a few other models. I might have to loose an army or two, or at least thin them down, namely the Emperors Disciples and the Elite guard. The former being shrunk to an allied contingent with Sternguard and the other loosing its guard elements and probably its Taurox and Tauros vehicles, at least for a while.
I'm currently waiting with baited breath to find out what is really happening and what will actually be released, but I am very very excited right now.
So, specialist games are back in business, well, kinda, it seems they are going to become part of Forge World, or Forge World are going to become part of them, something like that. I'm sure that by now all of you will have seen the poster that some GW Australia store manager put together to advertise all this. (it's here if not - thanks Nafka). There are also all of the facebook posts and B&C/Warseer threads dedicated to this, so it is happening, which is brilliant!
My one questions at the moment is what is actually going to be released? Apparently Blood Bowl is ready, which would make sense, with the release of the new video game and also as a Christmas release it will be huge, BFG is also in the works, and will be ready sooner, rather than later, but will either be renamed Battlefleet Heresy or maybe just set in the heresy era, not sure which, was a little confused by the various posts. Still, I'm on-board for that one!
Epic is another game that was named in the rumours, but there have been a few people saying that this is not going to happen as it will clash with 40k Armageddon. How, I'm not sure as the two games are pretty different, as not many people can afford a 40k Warlord Titan, but pretty much everyone will be able to afford a Epic one or 3. So I really do hope that Epic is re-released as I really want to get back in to both Epic and BFG, as I've mentioned in a few posts.
One other game that takes my fancy is Necromunda. A MPPK for the houses would be great, with a few magnets you could keep things fresh and keep the narrative going really easily. I would definatly love to have a house or two for playing with.
I really think GW are moving in the right direction with all of this, afterall, look at the success of Dropzone commander and the Dropfleet kickstarter, along with firestorm armada and planetfall. Also worth a mention are Mantics Dreadball and Deadzone, plus the new kid, Guildball, not sure who makes that one though. It also makes sense to release this before Christmas, gives everyone time to add something to their wishlists and builds the hype, I never understand why GW don't do more publicity, apart from the crappy teaser videos.
All this gives me an issue though, I am going to have to thin down my model count to make space and provide so cash to spend on all this goodness, so I think all those spares figures that were just going to go in the spare box are going to have to find new homes, along side a few other models. I might have to loose an army or two, or at least thin them down, namely the Emperors Disciples and the Elite guard. The former being shrunk to an allied contingent with Sternguard and the other loosing its guard elements and probably its Taurox and Tauros vehicles, at least for a while.
I'm currently waiting with baited breath to find out what is really happening and what will actually be released, but I am very very excited right now.
Friday, 6 November 2015
BFG post 2
This post follows on from the previous one, where I talked a lot about a campaign idea. The original intent of the post wasn't to ponder campaign ideas, but the various fleets I would have in BFG but things kinda ran away from me.
So lets keep this post on track and launch straight in to the lists. I'll also talk about the Epic lists at the same time as they would also be tied in.
All the lists would be formatted to match there 40k characters, as such the marine lists would be something along these lines;
Emperors Disciples are a stand off and shoot army, as such the BFG fleet would contain large ships with lots of shooting power, such as several strike cruisers. While the Epic army would also be build to the fluff with lots of tactical and devastator units but few transports and dreads.
Eagle Knights BFG fleet would be formed of a cruiser and lots of smaller fast ships, designed around up-close and personal firepower, plus lots of transport capacity for launching boarding parties. The Epic army would contain lots of assault marines and vehicles, with the whole lot built around fast, mobile units as it the chapters preference.
The Dark Guardian BFG fleet would be formed of lots of smaller ships, with a mix of long and short range shooting with some assault. It would be very balanced in all areas, but formed of smaller craft, maybe with a strike cruiser but most likely just large escort ships at the centre. The Epic army would be full of Termies and bikes, of all types with few other units.
The imperial forces would be built in a similar fashion, with the Hjaltland LI BFG being formed of medium/small cruisers, fast and agile with good long range firepower and the epic army being mostly infantry with artillery support and lots of fliers.
The Hrossey MechInf BFG fleet would be a large battleship and cruisers, all with heavy long range firepower, and the Epic army would contain lots of vehicles including a few super heavy tanks.
The final army, based around the Dagr Ormr, would have a BFG fleet of fast small ships, with a couple of medium ships, with a good mix of shooting styles, and some boarding capacity. The epic army would be based around the elite units with some support, a mix of vehicles in support.
As you can see, the nature of the forces reflects the fluff created in the 40k universe and carries it over to the various other systems, as it should be. This would mean that I would end up with a lot of models across they systems, 6 of each, and seeing as I cant even finish one army in 40k, I doubt that I will ever get around to getting all these armies started, let alone finished. I might try to get two of each, one marine and one guard, just so that I could. This would also rely on either FFG rereleasing both systems or finding someone that has both the other systems to play against, which is unlikely on both points!
So lets keep this post on track and launch straight in to the lists. I'll also talk about the Epic lists at the same time as they would also be tied in.
All the lists would be formatted to match there 40k characters, as such the marine lists would be something along these lines;
Emperors Disciples are a stand off and shoot army, as such the BFG fleet would contain large ships with lots of shooting power, such as several strike cruisers. While the Epic army would also be build to the fluff with lots of tactical and devastator units but few transports and dreads.
Eagle Knights BFG fleet would be formed of a cruiser and lots of smaller fast ships, designed around up-close and personal firepower, plus lots of transport capacity for launching boarding parties. The Epic army would contain lots of assault marines and vehicles, with the whole lot built around fast, mobile units as it the chapters preference.
The Dark Guardian BFG fleet would be formed of lots of smaller ships, with a mix of long and short range shooting with some assault. It would be very balanced in all areas, but formed of smaller craft, maybe with a strike cruiser but most likely just large escort ships at the centre. The Epic army would be full of Termies and bikes, of all types with few other units.
The imperial forces would be built in a similar fashion, with the Hjaltland LI BFG being formed of medium/small cruisers, fast and agile with good long range firepower and the epic army being mostly infantry with artillery support and lots of fliers.
The Hrossey MechInf BFG fleet would be a large battleship and cruisers, all with heavy long range firepower, and the Epic army would contain lots of vehicles including a few super heavy tanks.
The final army, based around the Dagr Ormr, would have a BFG fleet of fast small ships, with a couple of medium ships, with a good mix of shooting styles, and some boarding capacity. The epic army would be based around the elite units with some support, a mix of vehicles in support.
As you can see, the nature of the forces reflects the fluff created in the 40k universe and carries it over to the various other systems, as it should be. This would mean that I would end up with a lot of models across they systems, 6 of each, and seeing as I cant even finish one army in 40k, I doubt that I will ever get around to getting all these armies started, let alone finished. I might try to get two of each, one marine and one guard, just so that I could. This would also rely on either FFG rereleasing both systems or finding someone that has both the other systems to play against, which is unlikely on both points!
Friday, 30 October 2015
New Tau
Well, what can be said about the new Tau? Well one thing is for sure, my love of the Tau remainds unchanged, i.e. I still hate the little buggers.
I'll not bother going through a full review, as I don't really care for the units and there are some nice round ups out there already and they will do a lot better job then I ever will. So what can I say? The new formation, the Hunter Contingent, is stupidly powerful, as would be expected, with some amazing special rules, namely the ability to combine their fire and also the bonus' of markerlights. the sub formation, the Hunter Cadre, is also pretty good, although it sufferes from the same issues as the other formation,in that it forces you to take certain units, although with the choices that Tau have means that they don't suffer much. The formation itself is pretty easy to see which way people will go, with Kroot and Vespids being left on the side line again, and 3 min units of Strike or Breacher. With the new rules for some units making them even more OP, Riptide for example can be taken in teams/squadrons of 1-3, and you can take 1-3 units, so possibly 9 Riptides, the story is the same with Broadsides as well. There are also a load of +1BS bonus' being handed around in addition to marker lights.
So, lots of super powerful monstrous creatures with lots of powerful weapons, twinned with markerlights to boost BS and remover cover, plus being able to combine fire power and ML bonus' means that they are going to be annihilate anything they shoot at.
And all this before we get in to the Auxiliary units! Which include deep striking and relentless Broadsides and Riptides (Retaliation Cadre) and hitting vehicles on rear armour (Stealth Cadre), bye bye Leman Russes,
And then how can we forget the new units! The Coldstar suit, Ghostkeels and Stormsurge. The Ghostkeel will just be a pain in the arse to deal with, but I'm not to worried as I have the ability to ignore cover, which is its biggest strength and the Coldstar suit will also be a pain, but again I should be able to deal with that with ignores cover and hopefully making it kill itself on a grounding test. The Stormsurge however, is a different story, especially if it plants its feet. With all that firepower it will quite easily destroy a large part of my army in no time at all. I mean 2x 4D6 missiles at S5 AP5, so on average that will be 28 shots (working on an average role of 7 on 2D6), that pretty much everything apart from a LRBT being destroyed, twice a turn, before you get to the main weapon! So yeah, its going to be a pain. It really will be a case of trying to destroy it before it gets itself planted, which I think will be nigh on impossible with my guard and hard even with my SM forces.
And with the very few nerfs that seem to be going around, Tau just got super powerful and are well up there with the Eldar and leave the rest of us floundering in their wake, ok, so SM 'dex isn't bad, especially with a full company, but the guard are going to struggle these days.
Well, there were rumours that guard were going to get an upgrade sometime soon, but I haven't heard anything else on that recently, so well see. Personally I hope that some of the other codex's get some love, mostly Chaos and Ork, as I think their the weaker ones at the moment. Some would say DE but personally I think there last codex was rather good.
If you want a proper codex review, I would suggest looking at the Elite 40k blog - http://elite40k.blogspot.co.uk/ although there aren't many full reviews up yet.
I'll not bother going through a full review, as I don't really care for the units and there are some nice round ups out there already and they will do a lot better job then I ever will. So what can I say? The new formation, the Hunter Contingent, is stupidly powerful, as would be expected, with some amazing special rules, namely the ability to combine their fire and also the bonus' of markerlights. the sub formation, the Hunter Cadre, is also pretty good, although it sufferes from the same issues as the other formation,in that it forces you to take certain units, although with the choices that Tau have means that they don't suffer much. The formation itself is pretty easy to see which way people will go, with Kroot and Vespids being left on the side line again, and 3 min units of Strike or Breacher. With the new rules for some units making them even more OP, Riptide for example can be taken in teams/squadrons of 1-3, and you can take 1-3 units, so possibly 9 Riptides, the story is the same with Broadsides as well. There are also a load of +1BS bonus' being handed around in addition to marker lights.
So, lots of super powerful monstrous creatures with lots of powerful weapons, twinned with markerlights to boost BS and remover cover, plus being able to combine fire power and ML bonus' means that they are going to be annihilate anything they shoot at.
And all this before we get in to the Auxiliary units! Which include deep striking and relentless Broadsides and Riptides (Retaliation Cadre) and hitting vehicles on rear armour (Stealth Cadre), bye bye Leman Russes,
And then how can we forget the new units! The Coldstar suit, Ghostkeels and Stormsurge. The Ghostkeel will just be a pain in the arse to deal with, but I'm not to worried as I have the ability to ignore cover, which is its biggest strength and the Coldstar suit will also be a pain, but again I should be able to deal with that with ignores cover and hopefully making it kill itself on a grounding test. The Stormsurge however, is a different story, especially if it plants its feet. With all that firepower it will quite easily destroy a large part of my army in no time at all. I mean 2x 4D6 missiles at S5 AP5, so on average that will be 28 shots (working on an average role of 7 on 2D6), that pretty much everything apart from a LRBT being destroyed, twice a turn, before you get to the main weapon! So yeah, its going to be a pain. It really will be a case of trying to destroy it before it gets itself planted, which I think will be nigh on impossible with my guard and hard even with my SM forces.
And with the very few nerfs that seem to be going around, Tau just got super powerful and are well up there with the Eldar and leave the rest of us floundering in their wake, ok, so SM 'dex isn't bad, especially with a full company, but the guard are going to struggle these days.
Well, there were rumours that guard were going to get an upgrade sometime soon, but I haven't heard anything else on that recently, so well see. Personally I hope that some of the other codex's get some love, mostly Chaos and Ork, as I think their the weaker ones at the moment. Some would say DE but personally I think there last codex was rather good.
If you want a proper codex review, I would suggest looking at the Elite 40k blog - http://elite40k.blogspot.co.uk/ although there aren't many full reviews up yet.
Friday, 23 October 2015
WIP list
Well, I thought that I would post up my work in progress list, well lists as it actually is. I have several lists in my WIP folder, 6 in total, one foe each of my armies. The three list here are my main lists and the ones that I'm planning on finishing first, in order of priority.
This list is for my Hjaltland LI, and is probably the most complete army that I own.
This currently the main focus, with 2 boxes of Eisenkern Panzerjager's and a Eisenkern Command Squad box, on the work bench. A few are modelled, mostly the command elements and all the special weapons, even the ones marked in red above. The other red models are wip, a few are sitting with out arms ready for the modified lasguns, and the rest are still in pieces waiting to get the complete torsos glued to the completed leg sections. The lasguns are also in progress, and hopefully they'll be finished by the time this is posted. As for the vets and command squad listed, (and the ratlings) they are in so that I can form these in to either an elite heavy IG list or use the IG as an allied detachment to a MT detachment/formation plus it makes up the points. However, this list may well change, as I have extra scions, and I will be building each squad up to 9 men, including 2 special weapons and a vox. So in order to field all the models, a few things will disappear, mostly the MoO, ratlings and Lord Commisar.
On the right you will see some unshaded boxes, for the Taurox and Tauros, which are on the wish list from Anvil Industries, in the form of the Republic assault vehicle and the Unity Council APC. It maybe a while before they grace a table top though!
Lastly, this is the Eagle Knights list, and as you can see there is a lot of red. The yellow units, Priest, Vanguard and Assault units were modelled for KotN15, the rest are still in boxes/bags awaiting building/modifying. As this army has a slight Chaos trend to it, I've got to combine some chaos stuff with loyal stuff to make the models, but the main problem is few if the chaos heads work with the assault packs. Mostly the 'ears' on the helmets get in the way of the inlets on the packs, so its either standard heads or some shaving is in order. The Rhinos need some love as well, probably stripping but maybe just an overpaint?
So there is a little bit of work to do. The LI list shouldn't take a lot to complete, just painting time and the MT list is the main focus at the moment. Which leaves the EK list languishing at the bottom, although its still above the other 3 lists, the Hrossey Mech, the Emperors Disciples and Dark Guardians, all of which are pretty much red with some yellow. I'll try and post them at some point just so you can see how bad the state of my modelling really is!
This list is for my Hjaltland LI, and is probably the most complete army that I own.
As you can see its all pretty colours, well, they do actually mean something. Green is complete apart from a trip into some Army Painter Quickshade, the orange is primed and/or partially painted, yellow is modelled but not primed. Red is a model I own but is incomplete or not made and blue is in need of stripping and starting again or at the very least some TLC to get it table top ready.
So, as you can see, there is a fair amount of green on the board, with a fair bit of orange, although a lot of these models are part painted, mostly with just metallic parts to paint up. This should turn the fair bit green pretty quickly, when I actually get around to painting. The only red part is the Valkyrie, which is still sitting in its box, and has been for well over a year, waiting patiently for the day I finally build it. When it is built it will have rocket pods rather then missiles, mostly because the missiles are pretty much useless.
I would really like to get this army finished, as it would be my first fully painted army, however, my main hobby focus right now is my MT/Dagr Ormr list, as shown below.
This currently the main focus, with 2 boxes of Eisenkern Panzerjager's and a Eisenkern Command Squad box, on the work bench. A few are modelled, mostly the command elements and all the special weapons, even the ones marked in red above. The other red models are wip, a few are sitting with out arms ready for the modified lasguns, and the rest are still in pieces waiting to get the complete torsos glued to the completed leg sections. The lasguns are also in progress, and hopefully they'll be finished by the time this is posted. As for the vets and command squad listed, (and the ratlings) they are in so that I can form these in to either an elite heavy IG list or use the IG as an allied detachment to a MT detachment/formation plus it makes up the points. However, this list may well change, as I have extra scions, and I will be building each squad up to 9 men, including 2 special weapons and a vox. So in order to field all the models, a few things will disappear, mostly the MoO, ratlings and Lord Commisar.
On the right you will see some unshaded boxes, for the Taurox and Tauros, which are on the wish list from Anvil Industries, in the form of the Republic assault vehicle and the Unity Council APC. It maybe a while before they grace a table top though!
So there is a little bit of work to do. The LI list shouldn't take a lot to complete, just painting time and the MT list is the main focus at the moment. Which leaves the EK list languishing at the bottom, although its still above the other 3 lists, the Hrossey Mech, the Emperors Disciples and Dark Guardians, all of which are pretty much red with some yellow. I'll try and post them at some point just so you can see how bad the state of my modelling really is!
Friday, 16 October 2015
Battlefleet Gothic
Now a recent wonder through the internet and I came across a few interesting things, most notably and the purpose of this post was Battlefleet Gothic. Ok, I didn't just discover BFG, I remember it when it was stocked in store, along side the likes of Blood Bowl and Epic. What it did do, get me thinking about a few conversations that I've had recently about Fantasy Flight Games taking on the licence for Specialist Games from GW.
Now, I've looked at Drop Fleet Commander and Firestorm Armada, but they don't tie in with anything else I have and I don't really want to buy more models for more games. Ive thought about BFG in the past, and I've always had the same idea, I would love to tie in all the systems, namely BFG, 40k and Epic in to one big campaign/army, i.e. for my Hjaltland LI I would have a fleet in BFG (prob only about 750pts), a 40k army (about 2000pts) and then an epic force, containing what is in the 40k force plus some bigger units, notably super heavies and fliers (possibly about 3/4 thousand points).
The idea would be to play games over all the systems, starting with BFG. This phase would act as the initial contact, with one side trying to make a beach head in a system while another side tried to prevent this, there would be bonuses and penalties depending upon what happens.
Phase two would be based around 40k, with the ground beach head, again with bonuses and penalties as a result of the game. the game would then move on to phase three, which would be both epic and 40k scales, switching back and forth depending upon what happens.
An example of this would be an Imperial force enters a system to retake a planet from Chaos, a BFG combat occurs, with the imperium taking heavy casualties but winning, as such they would get a bonus for winning, i.e. choose deployment/setup, maybe mission type, but get penalties such as being restricted as to what forces can be fielded, to represent the destroyed/damaged BFG fleet. The Chaos player would also get similar penalties/bonuses based on his BFG performance. Again, after the landing fight, the Imperium lost, then in the next phase it would be Epic but setup/mission would fall to the Chaos player and the Imperium would again be restricted in units where chaos wouldn't be, (although points would be matched).
The game would go back and forth like that with 40k games to represent things like taking particular objectives such as tactical relays, comms stations, space ports supply dumps, etc all containing bonuses for the winner and penalties for the looser plus extras for what happened during the battle. Things like supply dumps would mean that lost special weapons (see below) could be reissued from the supply dump stocks, space ports would mean reserves could be called in easier (maybe +1 to reserve rolls). The BFG fights would also occur at random times to see if players can bring down reinforcements to replace losses or even to maintain the space they control.
Through out the game casualties would be taken and as in real life some would be lost. I would do this on a dice roll, something like on a 1 they die, 2-3 injured and miss next battle, 4-6 recover and can fight. The result would apply to both epic and 40k, this would mean that some units would be fighting under strength during the battle, maybe deploying with only 7 marines instead of 10. This would apply to individual models, but one bonus for the winner could be choosing which weapons are maintained, as they control the battlefield and can recover lost weapons, but the looser has to take whatever the dice decree. i.e. the winner looses 5 marines, including a flamer and heavy bolter, both of which die on a roll of 1, but as he controls the board, the weapons can be passed on to a surviving member of the unit, but the looser who lost a Chaos marine melta gunner, who also died on a roll of 1, cannot pass the weapon on, it is considered lost on the field. The only exceptions that I can think of are for warlords, who can be replaced by another HQ/character unit, after all an army still has to have a leader and sgt's who could be replaced by loosing a normal troop unit, however any upgrades could only be carried over by the winning side. Multi wound models would also roll for every wound and not just the once, meaning they would have a greater chance or survival, but would only gain back the number of wounds up to there starting value, any rolls of 1 would permanently remove the wound. Say a Chapter Master on 3 wounds (??) looses two in a battle, he would roll two dice, getting a 1 and a 3, meaning he must miss the next battle and can only ever have a max of 2 wounds for the rest of the campaign.
I agree there would be a lot of issues to iron out but that's the idea. I suppose it could be a very short campaign or a very long one depending upon what happens, but in theory, one side should start gaining the upper hand, as while points would remain even, one side would be getting to pick units and one would have to deal with what they have, but there would also be the issue of injured or dead soldiers impacting units, so it should never get too lopsided. Afterall, being able to choose your units is all well and good if most of your units are understrength.
The main down side to all of this will be that players would have to have all three system and all the same models across 40k and epic, and it would take a lot of time to organise and play. This whole thing also relies on FFG actually releasing BFG or Epic, while BFG is likely, Epic isn't, which is a shame.
Now, I've looked at Drop Fleet Commander and Firestorm Armada, but they don't tie in with anything else I have and I don't really want to buy more models for more games. Ive thought about BFG in the past, and I've always had the same idea, I would love to tie in all the systems, namely BFG, 40k and Epic in to one big campaign/army, i.e. for my Hjaltland LI I would have a fleet in BFG (prob only about 750pts), a 40k army (about 2000pts) and then an epic force, containing what is in the 40k force plus some bigger units, notably super heavies and fliers (possibly about 3/4 thousand points).
The idea would be to play games over all the systems, starting with BFG. This phase would act as the initial contact, with one side trying to make a beach head in a system while another side tried to prevent this, there would be bonuses and penalties depending upon what happens.
Phase two would be based around 40k, with the ground beach head, again with bonuses and penalties as a result of the game. the game would then move on to phase three, which would be both epic and 40k scales, switching back and forth depending upon what happens.
An example of this would be an Imperial force enters a system to retake a planet from Chaos, a BFG combat occurs, with the imperium taking heavy casualties but winning, as such they would get a bonus for winning, i.e. choose deployment/setup, maybe mission type, but get penalties such as being restricted as to what forces can be fielded, to represent the destroyed/damaged BFG fleet. The Chaos player would also get similar penalties/bonuses based on his BFG performance. Again, after the landing fight, the Imperium lost, then in the next phase it would be Epic but setup/mission would fall to the Chaos player and the Imperium would again be restricted in units where chaos wouldn't be, (although points would be matched).
The game would go back and forth like that with 40k games to represent things like taking particular objectives such as tactical relays, comms stations, space ports supply dumps, etc all containing bonuses for the winner and penalties for the looser plus extras for what happened during the battle. Things like supply dumps would mean that lost special weapons (see below) could be reissued from the supply dump stocks, space ports would mean reserves could be called in easier (maybe +1 to reserve rolls). The BFG fights would also occur at random times to see if players can bring down reinforcements to replace losses or even to maintain the space they control.
Through out the game casualties would be taken and as in real life some would be lost. I would do this on a dice roll, something like on a 1 they die, 2-3 injured and miss next battle, 4-6 recover and can fight. The result would apply to both epic and 40k, this would mean that some units would be fighting under strength during the battle, maybe deploying with only 7 marines instead of 10. This would apply to individual models, but one bonus for the winner could be choosing which weapons are maintained, as they control the battlefield and can recover lost weapons, but the looser has to take whatever the dice decree. i.e. the winner looses 5 marines, including a flamer and heavy bolter, both of which die on a roll of 1, but as he controls the board, the weapons can be passed on to a surviving member of the unit, but the looser who lost a Chaos marine melta gunner, who also died on a roll of 1, cannot pass the weapon on, it is considered lost on the field. The only exceptions that I can think of are for warlords, who can be replaced by another HQ/character unit, after all an army still has to have a leader and sgt's who could be replaced by loosing a normal troop unit, however any upgrades could only be carried over by the winning side. Multi wound models would also roll for every wound and not just the once, meaning they would have a greater chance or survival, but would only gain back the number of wounds up to there starting value, any rolls of 1 would permanently remove the wound. Say a Chapter Master on 3 wounds (??) looses two in a battle, he would roll two dice, getting a 1 and a 3, meaning he must miss the next battle and can only ever have a max of 2 wounds for the rest of the campaign.
I agree there would be a lot of issues to iron out but that's the idea. I suppose it could be a very short campaign or a very long one depending upon what happens, but in theory, one side should start gaining the upper hand, as while points would remain even, one side would be getting to pick units and one would have to deal with what they have, but there would also be the issue of injured or dead soldiers impacting units, so it should never get too lopsided. Afterall, being able to choose your units is all well and good if most of your units are understrength.
The main down side to all of this will be that players would have to have all three system and all the same models across 40k and epic, and it would take a lot of time to organise and play. This whole thing also relies on FFG actually releasing BFG or Epic, while BFG is likely, Epic isn't, which is a shame.
Friday, 9 October 2015
Green Stuff
Well, a few weeks ago I mentioned that I was planning on doing some moulding in green stuff to finish off my box sets of Eisenkern Panzerjagers. This was due to the fact that the set comes with 4 sets of extra legs, extra arms and heads, all to add options. All that's missing from the pack are the extra bodies and backpacks. Previously, it hasn't been a problem, as I have added in vox casters and also some packs from a GW Scion box, in addition to adding in some spare Cadian bodies that I had lying around. However, I've run out of Cadian bodies and I don't really feel like robbing the bodies from the Cadian models as then I would have the opposite problem of on bodies for the Cadian legs. I have also modelled all of the vox casters and used up all my other cool packs, all one of them that I had. Therefore, I was a few packs down, not as many as I initially though, as I had a couple of spare packs. In the end I had to mould 4 bodies and 2 packs, and also I needed to mould up some extra mags for the HS lasguns.
So I forked out for some instant mould (aka, Blue Stuff, although mine was white) and a strip of Green Stuff. At first I was quite nervous about the process, but a few YouTube videos later and I was fairly confident that I could achieve something reasonable. So I gave it a go, modelling up one body and one pack. The moulding process was pretty simple, stick it in hot water and the wrap it round the piece being moulded. It took a few attempts to be quick enough to get the mould done to a standard I was happy with, as most of the time when trying to get one part moulded tights, another bit got pushed loose, but we got there in the end. One other issue I was worried about was getting the two half's of the mould square, but this seemed to be cured simple by the process of pressing the instant mould to the shape causing the instant mould to become irregular enough that when the top piece was applied it meant that the two went together nicely.
The green stuff was easy to work with, as long as you keep things wet! it was very evident when you were mixing it up and your fingers dried out and it gets very sticky. This is where the main issues arose though, the first cast of the body turned out to be far to thick as I put in too much green stuff and couldn't squeeze enough out to get a good mould, the same happened with the pack as well, but to a lesser degree. I changed the process for the next few, filling each half of the mould and then pressing together, this worked better, combined with using a G-clamp on the last few, meant that I the final few casts were pretty good, although they were still a little thicker than the originals. In addition, the moulds were not perfect, as in a few places there was some extra material, this was mainly on the packs, by the antenna part, but this was easily removed.
The detail on the original was well reproduced though and I think when painted on the table top it will be hard to identify the green stuff parts from the originals, so overall I am very happy with the results. I will be using the process again at some point to reproduce extras and possibly for a few other rare or random parts that are hard to get hold of, but I wound be trying to reproduce entire armies, its far to much work and there is a lot of flash and mould lines to clean afterwards.
Would I recommend the process, yes, I would, but like I say, only for a few little bits and extras. One thing that did surprise me was that all of the detail on the original models was reproduced, as they are very detailed models.
Also, I would like to note that I am in no way advocating illegally reproducing other peoples work as I respect the original sculptor and all the work that goes in to the modelling process. If I still lived in England I would have taken a quick trip down to the local bits shop (Graham's Wuerkshoppe) and picked up some more Cadian bodies, but living up north means that I don't have that option and the cost of bits on eBay is just silly. So this was a last resort, and I will be purchasing more boxes in the future, rather then just copy, as I would like to see more Eisenkern boxes in the future.
The 4 moulded bodies
The 2 packs
The green stuff was easy to work with, as long as you keep things wet! it was very evident when you were mixing it up and your fingers dried out and it gets very sticky. This is where the main issues arose though, the first cast of the body turned out to be far to thick as I put in too much green stuff and couldn't squeeze enough out to get a good mould, the same happened with the pack as well, but to a lesser degree. I changed the process for the next few, filling each half of the mould and then pressing together, this worked better, combined with using a G-clamp on the last few, meant that I the final few casts were pretty good, although they were still a little thicker than the originals. In addition, the moulds were not perfect, as in a few places there was some extra material, this was mainly on the packs, by the antenna part, but this was easily removed.
The extra thickness can be seen on the arm mounting points
You can also see the extra thickness on the packs
The detail on the original was well reproduced though and I think when painted on the table top it will be hard to identify the green stuff parts from the originals, so overall I am very happy with the results. I will be using the process again at some point to reproduce extras and possibly for a few other rare or random parts that are hard to get hold of, but I wound be trying to reproduce entire armies, its far to much work and there is a lot of flash and mould lines to clean afterwards.
Would I recommend the process, yes, I would, but like I say, only for a few little bits and extras. One thing that did surprise me was that all of the detail on the original models was reproduced, as they are very detailed models.
The details on the front of the chest plate. Although not quite as good as the original, but still very good.
Also the details of the vent on the side of the pack. The bolts/lugs on the bottom of the pack didn't come out as well, but their still there.
Friday, 2 October 2015
The 40k rumour mill
Well, the 40k rumour mill is in full effect again after an eternity of AoS, well, ok, maybe not an eternity just a few months.
So, what's been doing the rounds? well, we all know now that Tau are up next with more cheese suits. I still haven't seen much, mostly cos I haven't been looking, but from what I've seen, its the same old stuff, just getting rehashed or getting bigger with more guns. I don't mind, its what happens, after all look at SM's and Centurions.
Tau are still one of my least favourite armies, and it will be interesting to see what happens to them, both in terms of rules and points as I think both need adjusting. It will also be interesting to see what happens to there FOC, as this is bound to get a shake up. I personally have no idea how the Tau are formed apart the castes, so I assume that there will be various formations formed from these casts based around a main Fire Caste detachment. It will be interesting to see and may well show if GW have changed anything again.
What's more interesting is the other rumours, that about Chaos and AM. Although these seem pretty far out at the moment, early next year from what I've seen. So what's likely to happen? Well, chaos needs some work and while people don't like the Khorn Demonkin book, I did, and think they should do the extra books. The main think I thing chaos need more than anything, maybe even more that a points adjustment, is fearless or at least an equivalent to ATSKNF. In the end, I think they will be in a similar vain to SM's, with there own twists, maybe this is where we will see the various gods coming in to play, with different "chapter tactics". but who knows.
The main one that interested me however is the AM rumours, as you'd expect. I don't think that there will be new units, it wasn't long ago that we got some new toys, and I cant see any spaces for new units. What really interests/worries me is the new FOC. What will happen? I assume that the whole lot will be based around a infantry company, with supporting elements.
So, what do I mean? Well, I can see a central company structure as a compulsory choice, with options for vets or a platoon. with detachments of armour (Russes), artillery (Wyverns), AA (Hydras), etc, etc. with all of the benefits of taking 3 of each. I can also see there being a few cool set-ups, such as Wyverns with a Taurox in a similar vain to the Wirlwind/Speeder set-up.
While I'm looking forward to some of the possible formations, I am worried about what its going to do to my armies, as I think it will require a complete rethink, ala the new SM codex.
So, what's been doing the rounds? well, we all know now that Tau are up next with more cheese suits. I still haven't seen much, mostly cos I haven't been looking, but from what I've seen, its the same old stuff, just getting rehashed or getting bigger with more guns. I don't mind, its what happens, after all look at SM's and Centurions.
Tau are still one of my least favourite armies, and it will be interesting to see what happens to them, both in terms of rules and points as I think both need adjusting. It will also be interesting to see what happens to there FOC, as this is bound to get a shake up. I personally have no idea how the Tau are formed apart the castes, so I assume that there will be various formations formed from these casts based around a main Fire Caste detachment. It will be interesting to see and may well show if GW have changed anything again.
What's more interesting is the other rumours, that about Chaos and AM. Although these seem pretty far out at the moment, early next year from what I've seen. So what's likely to happen? Well, chaos needs some work and while people don't like the Khorn Demonkin book, I did, and think they should do the extra books. The main think I thing chaos need more than anything, maybe even more that a points adjustment, is fearless or at least an equivalent to ATSKNF. In the end, I think they will be in a similar vain to SM's, with there own twists, maybe this is where we will see the various gods coming in to play, with different "chapter tactics". but who knows.
The main one that interested me however is the AM rumours, as you'd expect. I don't think that there will be new units, it wasn't long ago that we got some new toys, and I cant see any spaces for new units. What really interests/worries me is the new FOC. What will happen? I assume that the whole lot will be based around a infantry company, with supporting elements.
So, what do I mean? Well, I can see a central company structure as a compulsory choice, with options for vets or a platoon. with detachments of armour (Russes), artillery (Wyverns), AA (Hydras), etc, etc. with all of the benefits of taking 3 of each. I can also see there being a few cool set-ups, such as Wyverns with a Taurox in a similar vain to the Wirlwind/Speeder set-up.
While I'm looking forward to some of the possible formations, I am worried about what its going to do to my armies, as I think it will require a complete rethink, ala the new SM codex.
Friday, 25 September 2015
Gladius and Lions Blade strike forces
I've been looking at the Gladius strike force for my Emperors Disciples and the Lions Blade strike force for my Dark Guardians and while I'm still planning on using the CAD for both, it seems sensible to see what I can do with just the formations in the codex, as I've a feeling that the CAD will disappear at some point, possibly with 8th.
So what's the verdict? Well, for the Emperors Disciples the story is not all bad. On the whole, there are not a lot of changes, with most units remaining the same with some minor tweaks, there are only a few major changes. The biggest ones come in the form of the loss of a devastator squad, with the two squads being somewhat combined in to a 5 man lascannon/missile squad with the plasma gunners moving in to two of the tactical squads instead of the Heavy Bolters. This does reduce the overall effect of the anti-air but maintains the anti-armour, also the ap2 shooting is maintained although its now spread a little thinner. The other major change is the inclusion of 3x 5 man vet squads instead of just one 10 man squad, in the form of 2x 5 man Sternguard, one combi-plasma and one combi-melta, which were originally formed in to the 10 man squad. The other vet squad is a 5 man Vanguard squad with power weapons, probably swords, as a companion for the Assault squad I need to include. The other major change is the loss of the Librarian, but the gaining of a Chaplin.
So overall, the army feels the same, not a lot will be lost and there will be a few more assault type units in the army, not something that I was really going for but is mostly unavoidable. I could drop the Vanguards for more Sternguard, but it could be useful to have a bit of a CC squad with some ap3 killing power. If I have to go towards the Demi-Company, then I would feel to down and I'll be able to keep the army going as it is.
The Dark Guardians on the other hand are going to take a battering either way I spin in. Why? Well, if I go with the Lions Blade strike force I will loose a lot of my elite units, namely one of the two company vet squads, and most of the other squads are being forced to take minimum numbers and no war gear in order to save points to get in the 1+ aux slot - Deathwing Redemption Force and the Ravenwing Formation, as I cant fill the Ravenwing Strike Force as I have no Land Speeder. However, I can just take the formations and use my Ravenwing and Death company, but I'll loose my vets, command squad and tac squads.
So, what to do? Well, for the moment stick with CAD, but when it goes, I'll probably go for the Lions Blade as it gives me marines on the table and will use the models I have, rather then forcing me to go and buy new ones, which I will have to do to make up the points. However, this does mean that I'm running a lot of bodies with out any upgrades or abilities. This isn't really what I wanted, I get to keep a vet squad and command squad, although without many of there upgrades, mostly their Storm Shields! I'll also have an assault squad, without packs to save points and 3 basic tac squads which will just sit around doing nothing, that's an assault squad and a tac squad that I don't really want or need! Also there is the Dev squad, which at the moment is armed with missiles and flakk, for some AA but they may just get dropped down to Bolters for some points. For the Termies, i'll carry on running the Deathwing Redemption Force, but I may look at running the Ravenwing Attack Squadron, but that means getting at least 2 Land Speeders, using 2x 5 bike squads. Now, this would be 100 points min, but I would prefer to arm them with twin HB's at 110 points, but I would really like twin MM but that puts it up to 150 for the two, although I would a lot of that by getting rid of the Chaplin on a bike, around a 100 points, but that still leaves a deficit of points and all I really have to give is combi-weapons on the vets or the Command squad upgrades, Standard or Champion, or alternatively get rid of them all together, all of which are not options I really want to explore.
So overall, I'll just have to hope that the CAD remains, at least for my Dark Guardian anyway. All this leads me to wonder about the BA future, as I think that the next codex, when ever it arrives will also contain a Demi-Company setup, but looking at it, it may not be much of a problem as I have most of the units I need. The Baal Pred my well be in trouble though. I wonder what will happen to the IG/AM as well, as they will, I assume, get a similar treatment at some point. Well, I suppose I will just have to wait and see on that front.
So what's the verdict? Well, for the Emperors Disciples the story is not all bad. On the whole, there are not a lot of changes, with most units remaining the same with some minor tweaks, there are only a few major changes. The biggest ones come in the form of the loss of a devastator squad, with the two squads being somewhat combined in to a 5 man lascannon/missile squad with the plasma gunners moving in to two of the tactical squads instead of the Heavy Bolters. This does reduce the overall effect of the anti-air but maintains the anti-armour, also the ap2 shooting is maintained although its now spread a little thinner. The other major change is the inclusion of 3x 5 man vet squads instead of just one 10 man squad, in the form of 2x 5 man Sternguard, one combi-plasma and one combi-melta, which were originally formed in to the 10 man squad. The other vet squad is a 5 man Vanguard squad with power weapons, probably swords, as a companion for the Assault squad I need to include. The other major change is the loss of the Librarian, but the gaining of a Chaplin.
So overall, the army feels the same, not a lot will be lost and there will be a few more assault type units in the army, not something that I was really going for but is mostly unavoidable. I could drop the Vanguards for more Sternguard, but it could be useful to have a bit of a CC squad with some ap3 killing power. If I have to go towards the Demi-Company, then I would feel to down and I'll be able to keep the army going as it is.
The Dark Guardians on the other hand are going to take a battering either way I spin in. Why? Well, if I go with the Lions Blade strike force I will loose a lot of my elite units, namely one of the two company vet squads, and most of the other squads are being forced to take minimum numbers and no war gear in order to save points to get in the 1+ aux slot - Deathwing Redemption Force and the Ravenwing Formation, as I cant fill the Ravenwing Strike Force as I have no Land Speeder. However, I can just take the formations and use my Ravenwing and Death company, but I'll loose my vets, command squad and tac squads.
So, what to do? Well, for the moment stick with CAD, but when it goes, I'll probably go for the Lions Blade as it gives me marines on the table and will use the models I have, rather then forcing me to go and buy new ones, which I will have to do to make up the points. However, this does mean that I'm running a lot of bodies with out any upgrades or abilities. This isn't really what I wanted, I get to keep a vet squad and command squad, although without many of there upgrades, mostly their Storm Shields! I'll also have an assault squad, without packs to save points and 3 basic tac squads which will just sit around doing nothing, that's an assault squad and a tac squad that I don't really want or need! Also there is the Dev squad, which at the moment is armed with missiles and flakk, for some AA but they may just get dropped down to Bolters for some points. For the Termies, i'll carry on running the Deathwing Redemption Force, but I may look at running the Ravenwing Attack Squadron, but that means getting at least 2 Land Speeders, using 2x 5 bike squads. Now, this would be 100 points min, but I would prefer to arm them with twin HB's at 110 points, but I would really like twin MM but that puts it up to 150 for the two, although I would a lot of that by getting rid of the Chaplin on a bike, around a 100 points, but that still leaves a deficit of points and all I really have to give is combi-weapons on the vets or the Command squad upgrades, Standard or Champion, or alternatively get rid of them all together, all of which are not options I really want to explore.
So overall, I'll just have to hope that the CAD remains, at least for my Dark Guardian anyway. All this leads me to wonder about the BA future, as I think that the next codex, when ever it arrives will also contain a Demi-Company setup, but looking at it, it may not be much of a problem as I have most of the units I need. The Baal Pred my well be in trouble though. I wonder what will happen to the IG/AM as well, as they will, I assume, get a similar treatment at some point. Well, I suppose I will just have to wait and see on that front.
Friday, 18 September 2015
AoS game (This is a twin post along side my other blog - Gaming for the Northern Lands)
Well, I got to see a game of AoS at the weekend, and although I didn't get to see the end of it, it looked like it was going to be a close game.
The game was between Skaven and Chaos, and while I cant tell you the complete lists I can tell you a few of the units involved. Skaven had Slaves, Flame cannon things, a couple of units of Jezzails, a Screaming Bell, Clan Rats, Doom Flayer, Engineers, Ratling Guns, plus some other units, while the Chaos had several units of warriors, a couple of Chariots, some Knights plus a Lord, some Dragon Ogres, and a Sorcerer. At least I think that was it, there may have been some other units but I cant remember and I'm not an expert on Fantasy/AoS stuff.
There were some classic models on parade during the game, mostly on the Chaos side as the player was just returning to Fantasy after a long period out (and people say AoS has no appeal to new players!!)
The game itself looked good, and although I wasn't playing, it still drew me in. There was lots of stuff being killed, although some things were proving very resilient, more so than I would have expected. Maybe this was due to the Skaven or due to the models themselves, in this I'm referring to the Dragon Ogres.
When I left the game was still going on, I cant remember how many turns had been played but it must have been on turn 3 or at least starting turn three. The Skaven were on the back foot but they had just started getting their big hitters in to combat as well as the hordes of Clan Rats, so things might have changed. I would have loved to stay until the end and see how it all played out but I had to leave to go baby sit for the wife. One reason why is for the way the forces were set up. They were using a modified tournament system, basically, still the I place/you place system but only allowing 1 more unit to be placed after one player has finished, also no named characters, unless declared before the deployment of the first unit. This seemed to work quite well, but like I say, I didn't get to see the end of the game to see how well this worked out, but if its being used in tournaments I guess it must work fairly well.
The games mechanics themselves, seem very good and easy to learn and play. The game itself was fast flowing and quick. I would definitely give it a go at some point, although I'll have to borrow an army.
The battlefield
The game was between Skaven and Chaos, and while I cant tell you the complete lists I can tell you a few of the units involved. Skaven had Slaves, Flame cannon things, a couple of units of Jezzails, a Screaming Bell, Clan Rats, Doom Flayer, Engineers, Ratling Guns, plus some other units, while the Chaos had several units of warriors, a couple of Chariots, some Knights plus a Lord, some Dragon Ogres, and a Sorcerer. At least I think that was it, there may have been some other units but I cant remember and I'm not an expert on Fantasy/AoS stuff.
The field post deployment
There were some classic models on parade during the game, mostly on the Chaos side as the player was just returning to Fantasy after a long period out (and people say AoS has no appeal to new players!!)
Classic Warrior of Chaos
The game itself looked good, and although I wasn't playing, it still drew me in. There was lots of stuff being killed, although some things were proving very resilient, more so than I would have expected. Maybe this was due to the Skaven or due to the models themselves, in this I'm referring to the Dragon Ogres.
When I left the game was still going on, I cant remember how many turns had been played but it must have been on turn 3 or at least starting turn three. The Skaven were on the back foot but they had just started getting their big hitters in to combat as well as the hordes of Clan Rats, so things might have changed. I would have loved to stay until the end and see how it all played out but I had to leave to go baby sit for the wife. One reason why is for the way the forces were set up. They were using a modified tournament system, basically, still the I place/you place system but only allowing 1 more unit to be placed after one player has finished, also no named characters, unless declared before the deployment of the first unit. This seemed to work quite well, but like I say, I didn't get to see the end of the game to see how well this worked out, but if its being used in tournaments I guess it must work fairly well.
The games mechanics themselves, seem very good and easy to learn and play. The game itself was fast flowing and quick. I would definitely give it a go at some point, although I'll have to borrow an army.
Friday, 11 September 2015
The new/latest/final Eagle Knights list
I realised the other day that I have not posted the latest, and hopefully final, list for the Eagle Knights. So here it is.
HQ
Captain - 210
Valours Edge, Artificer armour, Storm Shield, Razorback
Priest - 96
Pistol, Angles Wings, Crown Angelic
Troop
Tac - 165
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer
Tac - 215
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer, Rhino, Stormbolter
Elite
Command Squad - 190
Standard, 3 Storm Shields, 3 Power Weapons
Vanguard - 215
5 Vets w/jump packs, 4x Lighting Claws, Power Axe, Power Sword, Power Maul
Death Company - 265
Jumppack, 3x power mauls, 3x plasma pistol, 2x thunder hammers, 2x boltguns
Lemartes - 130
FA
Assault - 170
10x Marines
Assault - 200
10x Marines, power fist, Melta Bomb
Heavy
Baal Pred - 145
Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour
The plan is still pretty much the same as before. The Captain is with the Command Squad in the Razorback for picking up targets of opportunity, but also supporting the rhino and Baal. The Chaplin is with the Vanguard squad for taking down priority infantry targets, with the Death company targeting MC's and vehicles. The 10 man assault squads will support the Vanguard and the Death company, one squad to each. The tac squads will combat squad, with the foot slogging squad staying back and holding the line/objectives and the Rhino squad going with the Baal and Razorback for close ranged support. Their main aim is to take objectives and eliminate targets of opportunity as they go.
In this list, there is no dedicated AA or AT. AA its left mostly up to the Baal, with its twin-linked Assault cannons, and all the anti tank stuff is short ranged, powerfist/melta bombs and thunder hammers, but when it does get in to range its got a good chance of doing the job, lots of strength 9 on the charge! Still, I think its a good balance, but I'll have to play it at some point and see how it gets on. It could be a while before it hits the table though!
HQ
Captain - 210
Valours Edge, Artificer armour, Storm Shield, Razorback
Priest - 96
Pistol, Angles Wings, Crown Angelic
Troop
Tac - 165
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer
Tac - 215
10 marines, Hand Flamer, Flamer, Heavy Flamer, Rhino, Stormbolter
Elite
Command Squad - 190
Standard, 3 Storm Shields, 3 Power Weapons
Vanguard - 215
5 Vets w/jump packs, 4x Lighting Claws, Power Axe, Power Sword, Power Maul
Death Company - 265
Jumppack, 3x power mauls, 3x plasma pistol, 2x thunder hammers, 2x boltguns
Lemartes - 130
FA
Assault - 170
10x Marines
Assault - 200
10x Marines, power fist, Melta Bomb
Heavy
Baal Pred - 145
Bolter Sponsons, Extra Armour
The plan is still pretty much the same as before. The Captain is with the Command Squad in the Razorback for picking up targets of opportunity, but also supporting the rhino and Baal. The Chaplin is with the Vanguard squad for taking down priority infantry targets, with the Death company targeting MC's and vehicles. The 10 man assault squads will support the Vanguard and the Death company, one squad to each. The tac squads will combat squad, with the foot slogging squad staying back and holding the line/objectives and the Rhino squad going with the Baal and Razorback for close ranged support. Their main aim is to take objectives and eliminate targets of opportunity as they go.
In this list, there is no dedicated AA or AT. AA its left mostly up to the Baal, with its twin-linked Assault cannons, and all the anti tank stuff is short ranged, powerfist/melta bombs and thunder hammers, but when it does get in to range its got a good chance of doing the job, lots of strength 9 on the charge! Still, I think its a good balance, but I'll have to play it at some point and see how it gets on. It could be a while before it hits the table though!
Tuesday, 8 September 2015
Zero self-discipline
Yep, the title says it all, I officially have zero self-discipline. After having received my last reinforcements in the form of the Panzerjagers and Command Squad, I have just purchased another squad of Panzerjagers from eBay. I have also ordered some green stuff and some Mould making stuff, you know the silicone type stuff, sometimes referred to as Blue Stuff.
I don't really need these supplies but I would like them to fill out my MT forces to pretty much max, 2 command squads, 3 squads of 10 and 3 squads of 9. almost a full CAD for the MT FOC and two full platoons for the IG/AM elite choices. This is what I would like and I don't plan on getting any more. I could have got the standard Eisenkern squad and saved myself a few quid (7 to be precise), but I like the female models, as they add a bit of variety to the all male norm.
The green stuff and blue stuff is to try and mould some extra magazines, as I don't have enough to complete the unit, another reason I probably should have got the standard Eisenkerns box as the box would have had enough to complete all the models. Also I am going to try and mould some extra bodies for the extra legs. I'm not sure how this will go, badly probably, but I'm going to try. Hopefully, I'll be able to model 4 extra bodies and backpacks, as one piece. This is so that I don't have to add extra Cadian bodies to the girls legs, which don't really fit right. This is entering in to uncharted territories, but I've watched the videos and understand the theory, but as everybody know, theory and reality don't always go hand in hand.
So, I'm probably going to come in for some flak from the other half, I say probably when I really mean definitely, and I still have no time to actually do any modelling, the last lot of MT's have sat for the last few weeks, half complete. But, and its a big but, the eldest bairn has started nursery, so I get a few hours of freedom every afternoon, now if I can only get the little one to sleep, I may make some progress!
I don't really need these supplies but I would like them to fill out my MT forces to pretty much max, 2 command squads, 3 squads of 10 and 3 squads of 9. almost a full CAD for the MT FOC and two full platoons for the IG/AM elite choices. This is what I would like and I don't plan on getting any more. I could have got the standard Eisenkern squad and saved myself a few quid (7 to be precise), but I like the female models, as they add a bit of variety to the all male norm.
The green stuff and blue stuff is to try and mould some extra magazines, as I don't have enough to complete the unit, another reason I probably should have got the standard Eisenkerns box as the box would have had enough to complete all the models. Also I am going to try and mould some extra bodies for the extra legs. I'm not sure how this will go, badly probably, but I'm going to try. Hopefully, I'll be able to model 4 extra bodies and backpacks, as one piece. This is so that I don't have to add extra Cadian bodies to the girls legs, which don't really fit right. This is entering in to uncharted territories, but I've watched the videos and understand the theory, but as everybody know, theory and reality don't always go hand in hand.
So, I'm probably going to come in for some flak from the other half, I say probably when I really mean definitely, and I still have no time to actually do any modelling, the last lot of MT's have sat for the last few weeks, half complete. But, and its a big but, the eldest bairn has started nursery, so I get a few hours of freedom every afternoon, now if I can only get the little one to sleep, I may make some progress!
Friday, 4 September 2015
The armies of the 256th IBG
Well, as the title suggests this is a recap of the armies of the 256th Imperial Battle Group. This is mostly due to the new SM codex and the addition of the Dark Guardians DA successor chapter but also to recap where each project is and what the current plans.
As can be seen by the last couple of posts, there has been a few changes around the battle group, and this not only includes the Disciples and the Guardians but also extends to the two main Guard lists, with the recent inclusion of a Promethium Relay Pipes and the redeployment of the Valkyrie from the Hrossey MechInf to the Hjaltland LI. This has also meant that a number of units have also been transferred, namely the third Platoon of the Hjaltland LI have been transferred to the Hrossy MI and in return a Vet squad has gone the other way. This was mostly to take advantage of the flamer torrent rules that come with the pipe system but it also means that the LI maintain there antitank melta count. There are also a number of minor changes, namely in regards to the Missile Heavy weapons team which have also been moved with the platoon to the MI, to provide anti-air cover with the loss of the two flyers to the LI, as the Vendetta has also been put on permanent duty with the LI and is no longer shared. This means that the MI are fully ground based and mostly mechanized with just a small force of regular troops to hold the rear and the LI are all ground based with some highly mobile air based units.
These two armies will form my main fighting forces still, and as such are the focus of my painting efforts, although there has been little movement on that from since the KotN 15. I'm hoping that when the house move if finalised I'll be able to set up a permanent painting and modelling table, something I've wanted to do for years.
In addition to these changes, the Dagr Ormr have receive some reinforcements, in the form of Dreamforges Eisenkern Command Squad and Eisenkern Panzerjagers. This means that I will be able to field a good size force and when Anvil Industries get around to releasing there Unity Council APC, I'll be looking at adding 4, as Tauroxs', to form a ground assault formation, plus maybe 3 of their Republic's 'Instigator' Assault Reconnaissance Vehicles, as Tauros FA vehicles.
So in reality, there has been very little progress on the actual modelling and painting fronts, but a fair bit on the army list and fluff side of things, which is about right for my gaming.
As can be seen by the last couple of posts, there has been a few changes around the battle group, and this not only includes the Disciples and the Guardians but also extends to the two main Guard lists, with the recent inclusion of a Promethium Relay Pipes and the redeployment of the Valkyrie from the Hrossey MechInf to the Hjaltland LI. This has also meant that a number of units have also been transferred, namely the third Platoon of the Hjaltland LI have been transferred to the Hrossy MI and in return a Vet squad has gone the other way. This was mostly to take advantage of the flamer torrent rules that come with the pipe system but it also means that the LI maintain there antitank melta count. There are also a number of minor changes, namely in regards to the Missile Heavy weapons team which have also been moved with the platoon to the MI, to provide anti-air cover with the loss of the two flyers to the LI, as the Vendetta has also been put on permanent duty with the LI and is no longer shared. This means that the MI are fully ground based and mostly mechanized with just a small force of regular troops to hold the rear and the LI are all ground based with some highly mobile air based units.
These two armies will form my main fighting forces still, and as such are the focus of my painting efforts, although there has been little movement on that from since the KotN 15. I'm hoping that when the house move if finalised I'll be able to set up a permanent painting and modelling table, something I've wanted to do for years.
In addition to these changes, the Dagr Ormr have receive some reinforcements, in the form of Dreamforges Eisenkern Command Squad and Eisenkern Panzerjagers. This means that I will be able to field a good size force and when Anvil Industries get around to releasing there Unity Council APC, I'll be looking at adding 4, as Tauroxs', to form a ground assault formation, plus maybe 3 of their Republic's 'Instigator' Assault Reconnaissance Vehicles, as Tauros FA vehicles.
So in reality, there has been very little progress on the actual modelling and painting fronts, but a fair bit on the army list and fluff side of things, which is about right for my gaming.
Friday, 28 August 2015
Sunday night games night
Well, I got down to the Sunday club again last week and while I didn't get a game, mostly as there wasn't any. However there was a few games of Magic going on in the back ground. I spent most of the time talking, aka moaning, mostly about AoS and various 40k things. I like these sort of sessions as they give a chance to blow off some steam about something with others who know what your on about, the wife just doesn't get it and the bairns just want to eat the models, well one wants to eat them, the other want to crash cars in to them. I know there are various forums and groups, but there are a lot of haters out there and things can get a little to personal for my liking, mostly the insults. Its all very childish and unnecessary, so I tend to stay away. Talking in the group though is different as you all know each other and have some respect for each others opinions and actually take the time to listen and digest the info, rather then just ignoring it and carrying on as usual.
So what was the talk? Mostly about the future of 40k, and whether it will get AoS'd or not, we were all on the not side, but I also had a bitch about Tau Interceptor and Marker Lights. General agreement was made on the Interceptor but it seems I'm on my own with Marker Lights, oh well. but there is still a general hate of Eldar, well, I say hate, it was more the fact that they are wrongly played/costed by GW. They should be either an Elite army with there current rules but point cost increase or they should keep there current points but be nerfed pretty badly. We all agreed on the first case, they should be an elite army with strong powerful units with good fire power or combat, but with few models. A unit of guardians should be able to out shoot a squad of marines but cost more type of thing. Won't happen but one can hope, I think Tau are in for some nerfing though.
As for AoS, there is also of love for it round here, mostly as a number of players are vets of the 1st edition, which apparently was very similar. There is still some split of the new models, which I've mentioned that I like but a few think there too over the top. I know that there is a lot of hate out there for AoS right now, but the game has yet to settle and were still seeing the new system evolving. Time will tell if its successful.
So what was the talk? Mostly about the future of 40k, and whether it will get AoS'd or not, we were all on the not side, but I also had a bitch about Tau Interceptor and Marker Lights. General agreement was made on the Interceptor but it seems I'm on my own with Marker Lights, oh well. but there is still a general hate of Eldar, well, I say hate, it was more the fact that they are wrongly played/costed by GW. They should be either an Elite army with there current rules but point cost increase or they should keep there current points but be nerfed pretty badly. We all agreed on the first case, they should be an elite army with strong powerful units with good fire power or combat, but with few models. A unit of guardians should be able to out shoot a squad of marines but cost more type of thing. Won't happen but one can hope, I think Tau are in for some nerfing though.
As for AoS, there is also of love for it round here, mostly as a number of players are vets of the 1st edition, which apparently was very similar. There is still some split of the new models, which I've mentioned that I like but a few think there too over the top. I know that there is a lot of hate out there for AoS right now, but the game has yet to settle and were still seeing the new system evolving. Time will tell if its successful.
Friday, 21 August 2015
Dark Guardians list
Well, this is the current list for the Dark Guardians. This may change as I get more info on the Ravenwing Detachment and the use of HQ choices for it.
CAD
Interrogator - 120
Stormshield
Tactical - 70
Tactical - 70
Company Veteran - 170
Plasma pistol, Combi-plasma, stormshields
Company Veterans - 185
powerfist, combi-melta, stormshield
Command Squad - 205
Champion, Standard, powerswords, stormshields
Deathwing Strike Force
Librarian - 115
ML2, Terminator Armour
Terminator squad - 220
assault cannon
Terminator squad - 220
assault cannon
Terminator squad - 220
heavy flamer, chainfists
Ravenwing Strike Force
Chaplin - 125 **
bike, plasma pistol
Ravenwing squad - 75
Ravenwing squad - 100
powerfist
Ravenwing squad - 105
plasmaguns
**Need some confirmation I can field this as part of the Ravenwing, if not, then the three bike squads will drop in to the CAD as FA options.
Tactical ideas are as follow; Tac squads do nothing but hide and camp on objectives, bikes charge up and cause as much havoc as possible while they survive and the termies drop in at some point when needed and hopefully where they are needed, using the ravenwing units to assist in the drop. The vets and the command squad along with the interrogator will form the mainstay of the army and go hunting across the table. A simple list, but probably a bit of a glass hammer with only a few expensive units.
CAD
Interrogator - 120
Stormshield
Tactical - 70
Tactical - 70
Company Veterans - 185
powerfist, combi-melta, stormshield
Command Squad - 205
Champion, Standard, powerswords, stormshields
Deathwing Strike Force
Librarian - 115
ML2, Terminator Armour
Terminator squad - 220
assault cannon
Terminator squad - 220
assault cannon
Terminator squad - 220
heavy flamer, chainfists
Ravenwing Strike Force
Chaplin - 125 **
bike, plasma pistol
Ravenwing squad - 75
Ravenwing squad - 100
powerfist
Ravenwing squad - 105
plasmaguns
**Need some confirmation I can field this as part of the Ravenwing, if not, then the three bike squads will drop in to the CAD as FA options.
Tactical ideas are as follow; Tac squads do nothing but hide and camp on objectives, bikes charge up and cause as much havoc as possible while they survive and the termies drop in at some point when needed and hopefully where they are needed, using the ravenwing units to assist in the drop. The vets and the command squad along with the interrogator will form the mainstay of the army and go hunting across the table. A simple list, but probably a bit of a glass hammer with only a few expensive units.
Friday, 14 August 2015
Emperors Disciples new list
So with the changes to the SM codex, the Emperors Disciples list will be changed slightly. One of the changes is also due to the new DA codex, as the Termies will be shifting chapter to the new Dark Guardians chapter to form part of the Deathwing force. This has opened up a few points and made me look at options. While this list is not finalised, and wont be till I get to see the new codex in full and in person, the list will not change dramatically from what is listed below.
The list-
Chapter master - 165
(Company Master Marcellus), Artificer armour, power sword
Librarian - 90
ML2
Honour Guard - 135
5 Vets,
Command Squad - 165
Champion, Apothecary, Stormshield, Standard
Sternguard - 345
10x sternguard, Combi bolters, powerfist,
Tactical - 195
10x marines, flamer, heavy bolter, Rhino with stormbolter
Tactical - 195
10x marines, flamer, heavy bolter, Rhino with stormbolter
Tactical - 195
10x marines, flamer, heavy bolter, Rhino with stormbolter
Razorback - 60
stormbolter
Razorback - 80
Stormbolter, TL Lascannon
Devastator - 170
4x missile, 4xflakk
Devastator - 200
2x plasma cannon, 2x lascannon, 5x marines
As you can see the list has changed a little, with the removal of the Termies and Dread and the inclusion of Command squad and upping the Sternguard. The Razorbacks have also moved to FA slots to give some flexibility to there deployment. The overall aim of the force has not changed, as has the way I intend on playing it, all that has really changed is what unit will be taking on what role.
The list-
Chapter master - 165
(Company Master Marcellus), Artificer armour, power sword
Librarian - 90
ML2
Honour Guard - 135
5 Vets,
Command Squad - 165
Champion, Apothecary, Stormshield, Standard
Sternguard - 345
10x sternguard, Combi bolters, powerfist,
Tactical - 195
10x marines, flamer, heavy bolter, Rhino with stormbolter
Tactical - 195
10x marines, flamer, heavy bolter, Rhino with stormbolter
Tactical - 195
10x marines, flamer, heavy bolter, Rhino with stormbolter
Razorback - 60
stormbolter
Razorback - 80
Stormbolter, TL Lascannon
Devastator - 170
4x missile, 4xflakk
Devastator - 200
2x plasma cannon, 2x lascannon, 5x marines
As you can see the list has changed a little, with the removal of the Termies and Dread and the inclusion of Command squad and upping the Sternguard. The Razorbacks have also moved to FA slots to give some flexibility to there deployment. The overall aim of the force has not changed, as has the way I intend on playing it, all that has really changed is what unit will be taking on what role.
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
AoS for 40k?
This is just a quick post to air a couple of thoughts. There have been a few posts around the place talking about 40k getting the AoS treatment. Although there has been quite a variety of suggestions as to how this will occur, from the full on AoS treatment with no points system and overly simplified rules, down to just a skinning down of the special rules. So what will happen, personally I think that it will just be a skinning down the special rules and some of the other rules in the main book, such as assault. It makes sense to skin down the special rules and make them more generic, maybe keeping the names but just attaching them to special rules in the main book. This will mean that some units and most races will loose some of their unique rules, but it will mean that there is less to learn and it becomes easier for everyone to understand the different rules of the other armies.
I don't think that the full no points treatment will happen, this is because 40k is still a very popular system and I think they will not mess with it to much for fear of driving off to many players. granted the main cash generators are the newer, younger players, but even so, vet players still have quite a presence. WHFB was a different kettle of fish entirely as it was a dying system with a dwindling pool of players and something drastic needed to be down to make it profitable. 40k is not in the same situation yet, we'll see if it ever does get there, not that I think that it will, despite what some may say.
So, I guess after all has been said and done, we'll just have to wait and see how the dust settles from AoS and whether 40k gets some of the same treatment.
I don't think that the full no points treatment will happen, this is because 40k is still a very popular system and I think they will not mess with it to much for fear of driving off to many players. granted the main cash generators are the newer, younger players, but even so, vet players still have quite a presence. WHFB was a different kettle of fish entirely as it was a dying system with a dwindling pool of players and something drastic needed to be down to make it profitable. 40k is not in the same situation yet, we'll see if it ever does get there, not that I think that it will, despite what some may say.
So, I guess after all has been said and done, we'll just have to wait and see how the dust settles from AoS and whether 40k gets some of the same treatment.
Friday, 7 August 2015
MT's WIP
Well, here we are, the first pictures of my new MT's! There are a few pictures here. I've finished a few of the units, as pictures below, but to start, here are some pictures of the unit in all its current glory.
Two shots, above and below. The command squads are on the left, with the main squad on the furthest left and containing a vox, medic, standard and a flamer alongside the Commanding Officer. The second command squad contains just a vox and 3 HS volley guns. The 6 squads on the left have 2 special weapons each, totalling 4 of each of HS Volley, Plasma and Melta. All squads also contain a vox and 4 Scions. You might also notice one bloke out of formation at the back, they will be carring a flamer, one of the weapons that can be seen in the pile in the middle.
The commanders. One the left is the 2ic, with bolter and sword, wearing his cloak of office and on the right is the Commander, with better cloak and staff. This shot also shows the difference between the GW and Dreamforge models, although the DF model has GW arms and the GW model has a DF head. I'm not too sure how I'm going to paint the arms and head of the Commander as the base was airbrushed and when painted it looks very different. I'll figure it out at some point!
These boys are from the Commanders squad. The vox caster has a slightly modified GW vox from the Scion boxset, the cable from handset now connects at the top and not the bottom, and the arms were modified slightly so that they fitted properly on the model. I know some might wonder why the guy is on a handset when he has a helmet fitted, but lets just ignore that and realise that the bloke looks cool, shouting out orders or calling for support. The Standard bearer is all DF, I pondered the GW standard but its very specific, being pre-printed with the emblem. The DF model is still pre-printed but at least its different, I do prefer having the option for a plain standard to use (even if my free hand is crap!!) I'm not to happy with the standard bearers right arm, I wanted a pretty static pose, but the only arm options I had didn't look right, so it might be coming off and I'll have to see about converting the arm to bring it closer to the body.
Finally a close up of some troopers. As you can see there all a work in progress. On the left is the new HS Volley gunner, with a weapon from the DF Panzerjager boxset. I cut of the stock, but now I'm wondering if it looks a little front heavy, but I still think it looks good, like a proper support weapon. The bloke in the middle is one of two flamers that will be in my army. The flamer is a compact variant, similar to the compact lasguns that the troopers carry. Also you might notice that the flamer carries its tank backwards, this is so that in urban or jungle combat the tank wont get caught on anything and drag back the trooper, but it will slide over the obstacle. The last man is the Command squad medic. As with the command squad vox caster, its a DF model with GW arms, and also a GW Cadian medics backpack (which you cant see) so he's fully kitted out as a medic.
I'm hoping to get a compressor for my airbrush soon, and then I'll try and get these models base coated. Once there base coated there fairly easy to paint up as there is not masses of detail. I'll hopefully get some photos of the ladies up here soon, once I've got some arms and possibly weapons on them. I'm still considering a box of Eisenkern stormtroopers to put each squad up to 9 troopers each and the two command squads, but on the other hand I'm thinking of fielding this lot as the Ground Assault force, so only 1 command and 3 squads with 4 transports, hopefully the one from Anvil Industries. In addition the new scout vehicle they have previews of may well solve my Tauros problems!