New storage, KR multicase.

 After having started talking about my new primaris armies, I thought I should take a bit of a step backwards and talk about the storage that I bought for them. This storage was brought not only for the new primaris units but also to hold the last few units of guard that didn't have a home yet. I already have two of the cardboard KR multicase's and also one of the big old GW cases, a bit like this one;

Now, my issue was that I had the two cases plus the GW case but only enough storage foam to fill half the space. I had brought some of my own foam, with the intention of building my own foam tray and I even started building them, cutting out the foam bases and some walls. However, I just didn't have the time to get them finished properly, so the half build sheets were used to store my old school marines in the loft. So, I was back to square one, lots of space but no foam. When I received a voucher for Amazon at my birthday, I decided that it was time to just take the plunge and get some proper foam. After looking around for quite a while at the options, KR still seemed like the best. It took a while longer to figure out what I wanted though, as I had about 50 guard and 4 vehicles that needed a home and also wanted space for my new Marines. 

After lots of um-ing and ar-ing I finally settled on these two sets;

KR tray set: Space Wolves set G

KR tray set: Tyranids set I

These weren't perfect but in reality without doing the KR custom build option, these were the best I was going to get. I have taken one half of the wolves set, the 25 slot storage trays and one half of the Tyranids set, the pick and pluck trays, to form storage for the guards and 4 vehicles and then taken the other halves of the sets, the four 18 slot trays and the 2\3 tray, to form storage for the primaris Marines. This means that I will have storage for the bikes and possibly Inceptors in the pick and pluck section plus space for the rest of the troops in the 18 slot trays. 

All tolled, this means that all the units that I want to use have a permanent home now. This does leave some units, such as my Hellhammer without a dedicated tray, one of the bits I was um-ing and ar-ing about, but I have a plenty of foam bits and a square foam thing, a bit like someone has taken a pick and pluck sheet and picked all the bits out of the middle and taken the bottom off as well. It works to line the section I'm putting bigger items, like the Hellhammer, in to before packing the area with foam block, from pick and pluck sections strangely enough!

So, this mean that I can now just grab a storage box and have all the bits I need to play an army with, without having to keep swapping models around all the time, which is very handy when I don't actually remember the last time I played a game!

Next up, more marine stuff.

Marneus Calgar and the Emperor's Disciples

Last year I received Marnus Calgar as a present and while I don't collect Ultramarines as rule but the new Calgar model is a very nice centre piece model and I'm looking forward to painting it up. Now, I'm not going to do anything out of the ordinary here, he'll be painted as standard along side his standard retinue plus a couple of other units.

Now when I started this post (it was quite a while ago) 9th was still just a whisper in the wind and so Calgar was just going to form a small Supreme Command detachment with a couple of other primaris units to act as a Captain and Lieutenant's, with an old school apothecary in the elite slot. Now with the changes to 9th, he will form part of a patrol detachment and the basis for the new Emperor's Disciples chapter, who unsurprisingly will be an Ultramarine successor chapter. 

I know that this means that Calgar won't actually be painted as a Smurf and will have a different name but seeing as he won't face the table top very often and when he does it will be in the local gaming group, I very much doubt anyone will care. 

Who are the Emperor's Disciples I hear you ask? Well they were one of the chapters I use to have on here before I cut back to just a couple of core chapters, namely the Knights and Guardians. With 9th, the points hikes and Combat Patrol, I have decided to rebuild my forces and bring back some.of the old chapters, for a bit of fun and flavour. This will require a fluff rewrite, taking the Disciples from Fists successor to Ultramarine successor, but the main lore will remain. Part of this rewrite will include a new paint job, not aassive change but a noticable one none the less. 

New, simpler cleaner colour scheme. 

The old scheme, a bit more detailed and fiddly. Plus I didn't like the test model I painted up a long time ago. 

So what will this little force contain? Well, Calgar obviously and his Victrix Guard. Together these boys form around 300 points! There will also be a Primaris Ancient, because what Commander wouldn't travem with there standard. Then there will be the honour guard, which in this case will be comprised of between 5 to 7 Intercessors. I would liked to have brought another unit instead of the extra Intercessors but there is only 40 points left over with 5 of them, so there are not many options that fit that gap. The general idea with these is to form a basic command retinue with commander and guard. There's isn't any particular specialisation for this army and when combined with the other forces will just form a command core and additional troops. 

This will be one of the first armies built and painted, as I have all the units now and have a chunk of them built, they will have to wait until I have finished my guard project however. 

New Marine armies

 

With the release of 9th and the new, smaller ways to play, I decided that it was time to redo my marine armies or in some cases, just do them, as I've been talking and pondering some of them for far to long. So with that in mind, I went hunting on eBay!

Don't worry, I did actually have a plan and so far, I've been sticking to it. The plan was simple, I wanted 5 small 500 point armies, as described in THIS earv0lier blog and I wanted to keep things as cheap as possible. As such i decided a 4 part plan;

Part 1: Dark Vengeance Space Marines

Part 2: Shadowspear Space Marines or Vanguard Space Marines Start Collecting Set

Part 3: 9th Edition Recruit Starter Set

Part 4: 9th Edition Elite Starter Set

This, plus the bits I already own, should give me everything I need for my armies, with a little bit to spare and once combined should be able to make a 2000 point marine army. Granted this will not produce the best, most effective army going, I probably won't even be very competitive but it will for fill my desire for several marine armies and give me lots of variation to play with in smaller games. I will go over all the individual army lists in separate posts but the general idea is to be able to form a battalion or brigade detachment from the units, using the various restrictions in the new marine codex, such as one captain and 2 lieutenants. 

I have made a start on this project with this;

This is an almost full set of Dark Imperium Marines (missing one Intercessor) and a set of First Strike Marines. This gives me;

1 Captain

2 lieutenants

1 Ancient

12 Intercessors

3 Reivers

3 Inceptors

5 Hellblasters

Plus I already own;

Marneus Calgar

2 Victrix Guard

3 Intercessors.

Now, there is just one issue with all this, Calgar. Yes, I have Marneus Calgar and I really don't like ultrasmurfs! I will paint him up as a different chapter and give him a new name and such but it does limit at least one army to Ultramarine chapter tactics.  

With this lot, I can however start putting together a couple of the armies using some of the intercessors, the Hellblasters, Marneus Calgar and his guard and the other captain. As it stands, the two armies that I can do the most to are the Ultramarine, who will take up the mantle of Emperor's Disciples, and an Imperial Fists successor, a reborn Brazen Hawks. I'll go in to more details about each little army in the next few posts.

I'll also post up over the next few weeks, as I get around to building these guys, although at the moment I'm concentrating on getting the last few models of the Hjaltland LI finished up.

Grey knights strike team

My past completed kill team, the Grey Knights. This means that I've got the Scouts, Tyranids, Chaos, Sisters and Deathwatch still to go! 

Anyway, here are the Grey Knights. This strike force of grey knights has been drawn from both the 7th and 8th Brotherhoods. The leadership element and some specialists have been drawn from elements of the 7th brotherhood, due to there knowledge of the Inquisition. The remainder have been drawn from the 8th brotherhood and comprise of newly and recently  promoted brothers. 

The strike force is here at the request of the Inquisition and specifically Inquisitor Sophiana, to enact a scorched earth policy to ensure that any and all knowledge of any Chaos Rituals or demonic incursions is expunged. The Grey Knights will carry out this task by ensuring that anyone that has knowledge of such events sees the Emperor's Justice. The kill team has been gathered together for the sole purpose of expunging the knowledge of chaos from this region and will do whatever is necessary to achieve this. The squad is a bellicose lot and the youthfulness of the Brothers in the squad is shown by there eagerness and fervour with which the squad charges into combat, oaths on their breath, bolter raking the enemy and blades baying for blood. 

The obligatory family photo, leaders to the front, heavier to the rear, the test in the middle.

 Above: Verdan Kai and Caddon Ordan 

The leaders of the force, Brotherhood Champion Verdan Kai and Justicar Caddon Ordan. Brotherhood Champion Kai has been assigned to lead this mission due to the high number of new brothers in the force. Kai is known for his wrathful anger, that drives him to seek out the greatest of does to banish back to the warp. It is this righteous anger that has driven him to become a master of his blade and a Brotherhood Champion. Justicar Ordan on the other hand is less of a master of the blade and more of a master of the mind. Ordan has a mastery of the warp that few of his battle brothers posses and has been considered for the librarius several times but has always shied away in favour of remaining within the ranks with his fellow brothers. On the battle field this psychic ability lashes out at daemons and tainted does as Ordan wills, battering the enemy before the killing blows of Ordans blades.

In game these guys are both played as Justicars and are both leader specialists. Kai is armed with a force sword and Ordan is armed with a pair of falchions.

From left to right Verdan Solor, Anval Mordrak and Drystan Cromm

Next up we have the swordsmen, with Brothers Verdan Solor and Drystan Cromm with force swords and Brother Anval Mordrak armed with a pair of Falchions. These are some of the younger members of the strike squad and are always keen and eager to show there martial prowess. Brother Verdan Solor shows an psychic ability above the average recruit and as he strides across the battlefield, waves of psychic energy radiate out to batter the minds of the heretic and unclean. Brother Anval Mordrak is one of the more fanatical members of the team, with a single mindedness towards the destruction of daemons and daemon kin alike. These is a little that will sway him from his path once he has set his mind to it. Brother Drystan Cromm is much like Mordrak  but less single minded in his actions. Once on the battlefield Cromm is relentless, with an unshakable determination, unyielding to any for, no matter the size or stature. 

In game either Solor or Cromm could be run as a Comms specialist, to support the Gunner heavy Specialists but they will most likely be run as normal squad members. Mordrak on the other hand will usually be run as a Zealot specialist. This is to get his strength up to allow him to get the most out of his attacks. With the falchions and the Zealot specialism he will be up to 3 attacks, which still isn't great, so help with wounding is always a good thing.

6) Garran Torvin - Marksman
9) Valdar Cromm - Methodical
7) Pelenas Torvin - Merciless (combat)
8) Drystan Thule - Fanatical (Zealot)

This group contain the some of the more specialist weapons. Brother Garran Torvin carries a halberd but it is with his storm bolter that he excels. Torvin has never been the best combat student but took to the storm bolter with easy, able to hit even the hardest targets with a marksman's skill. Brother Valdar Cromm, guardian of the warding staff, bulwark against daemons. Methodical in his every move, each one full of purpose, whether it be carving sacred runes into the dead to stop them being possessed or destroying chaotic runes carved by vile hands. Brother Pelenas Torvin is the squads heavy combat, with his thunder hammer. Pelenas is a merciless warrior, willing to do what ever it takes to ensure the safety of the galaxy and the Imperium. He has a tendency to weild his hammer with a slight reckless abandonment, placing power above accuracy. Lastly we have Brother Drystan Thule, is probably the most fanatical in his devotion to the Emperor and the duties of the Grey Knights. Thule takes the responsibility for the destruction of the Emperor enemies above all else, especially those denizens of the warp. 

In games one of the two halberds will probably get run as a Zealot, that's if I don't take Mordrak and his falchions. This is because it would push there strength up to 6 (4 base, +1 for the weapon, +1 for Zealot), meaning most things are either wounding on 2's or 3's including the dreaded Death Guard and there is very little T6 stuff out there. Cromm and his warding staff will probably never get a specialism, as there is really nothing to push it to need one. This model will probably only be run for fun and if there is a lot of high AP weapons, as it does have an invulnerable save, even if it's a 5+. Torvin and his hammer on the other hand will always be a combat specialist. This is to get the extra attack, effectively doubling the number of attacks he gets. Wounding is not so much of a problem when your S8, hitting with -1 is, so doubling the attacks is a good way to help this issue. 

From left to right, as always; Drako Varn, Pelenas Gerontas and Caddon Trevan

Lastly we have the heavy support. These are the few veteran Grey Knights in the force, chosen for they steadfastness and reliability to steady the newer recruits. Brother Gunner Drako Varn is a master of the Psycannon, a true marksman, able to weild his weapon with an ease and precision few others possess. He will often be seen standing back, picking off the most dangerous targets around with every shot. Gunner Pelenas Gerontas is less of a marksman and more of a physical presence on the field, never yeilding his position and on the rare occasion he will, he will withdraw slowly and steadily, step by step, firing all the while. Lastly we have Gunner Caddon Trevan. Where Trevan walks, the weak of mind fear to tread, for if they are not crushed by his psychic presence, they are burnt alive by the flames of his Incinerator. 

In game, these three are Grey Knights Gunners. Varn and Gerontas, with their Psycannon and psilencer  respectively, will both be run as Heavy specialists. This is due the fact that they will rarely be run together as they perform similar jobs. One is better for hordes and one better for tougher creatures but they won't really be needed in the same match. Trevan with his Incinerator will be a demolitions specialist, for obvious reasons and is likely to be run with one of the other two, if anything he is likely to be run more than the others as well. 

This kill team, unlike some of the others doesn't really have distinct lists for shooting and melee. There are some more specialised options, such as the thunder hammer and switching the psilencer and Psycannon. Generally, the lists will look something like these;

Caddon Ordan (leader) 

Pelenas Gerontas (heavy)  

Caddon Trevan (demo) 

Anval Mordrak (Zealot) or another Grey Knight

One other Grey Knight

Or for a bit more punch

Verdan Kai (leader) 

Drako Varn (heavy)

Pelenas Torvin (combat)

Drystan Thule (Zealot) or another Grey Knight

One other Grey Knight

As most of the Grey Knights cost similar points, they are very interchangeable. These lists are at 100 points but to up them to 125, just adding another model brings it up. The two lists are basically formed around two models, the psilencer and Incinerator or the Psycannon and hammer, the rest, as stated, are very interchangeable depending on what your facing. Falchions and swords are great for carving through low toughness models, where as hammer and halberds are better for tougher models and with a max of 5 (at 100 points) or 6 models (at 125 points) switching models in the team around is easy.

With everything going on at the moment, it's getting hard to get any modeling done, although I'm hoping I might get some time soon, even if it's just an hour or two a week. That being said, I've started working on my next project, as well as trying to finish off an old project but more about them later!