Wow, that's bigger than I thought it would be...

...words rarely said by gamers after an online purchase and likewise said by no woman ever and invariably on a completely different topic, but that's a subject for a different blog, not this one.

I was perusing teh inerwebz looking for something to use as a machine gun (MG) variant 10ton APC for Battletech (the actual mini is kinda hideous). The MG variant has 4 machine guns and no troop capacity, making it a dirt cheap militia scout tank. Going forward to the Jihad era you can swap the machine guns for light machine guns for no point differential, getting twice the range for half the damage. At least that's what I was aiming for...

The 6mm listing pic.

The 15mm version's listing pic.

Lots of metal for $14!

I had no idea on the size of the mini as the actual listing's pic is about 1.5" square on screen and not too detailed. Actually I was going off of the 15mm version's listing photo. Given the price of (2) for 2.5 GBP I figured they'd be tiny. A lance of four, with shipping came out to about $14 which is on par the usual Battletech blister pack of two tanks (ebay seller price wars usually drop that average drop by $1-2).

This is on a 1" grid.

Perhaps I should send these to Ground Zero Games to use for their listing...

Scale is always a bit vague and anything but consistent when it comes to CBT minis, but as you can see below, side-by-side with a 60ton Bulldog tank, this won't pass as an APC one 6th that weight!

I'll most likely glue the turrets in place so as not to lose the tiny things!

So...not sure what type I'll use these as, but here are the most likely candidates:

First up: it could easily pass for a Tokugawa were it not for the minuscule turret. That said, mucking around in Skunkwerks I found that if I move the Tokugawa's SRM-6 to the front, it doesn't effect the BV making that an option.

The another likely candidate is the Schiltron C. Weighing in at 80 tons, the C variant dispenses with the bulky missile launchers and just mounts four large lasers in its also minuscule nubbin of a turret. The internal C3 master computer will be wasted, but not utilizing that again has no effect on BV and only wastes 5 tons, so no real loss there. Schiltrons are also packaged individually in their blister packs which really makes this a bargain substitute!

Or, I could just use it as a Hetzer variant. Let's face it, that mini is just an ugly box with a fixed forward weapon mount (quite fitting if I glue on the turrets) and despite this minis's size, a good bit of it is wheels and suspension, so if anything that's less of a stretch than the 80 tonner above.

Guess I'll have to ponder it some...

Salamanders Vigilator

o/

Not sure if I like the finished result or not, but at the very least this guy will stand out from the crowd (painted, primed and even bare plastic)! Vigilators are the covert operatives of the 30k space marine legions. They come equipped with cameleoline, be it in the form of a cloak or more rarely coating their armor as in this case.

Cameleoline (why is it not just spelled/pronounced chameleon?) replicates the surrounding terrain enabling the wearer to blend in. Space Marines with camouflage? Who'd a thunk it? In-game I believe it just confers stealth, so its not all that useful. Still though I thought I'd give it a try. The result:

Overall brown/desert in color, with portions of his armor picking up the green of the vegetation, as well as the black on his weaponry (the latter of which didn't translate too well via my camera). 

Here he is next to a regular bolter grunt.

Yeah, not sure about it to be honest. Of course covert operative or not, no self-respecting Salamander of rank would dare go into battle without some 'bling'. Thus the gold trim and the both ornate and impractical (when it comes to concealment) backpack. He's armed simply with a bolt pistol, bolter with specialized ammo and a master-crafted chainsword because...well, why not?

Given the number of minis in the queue to be painted, he'll stay out of the Simplegreen for the time being which will give it time to see if his paint job grows on me or not...

***

Just as a forewarning: Da Masta Cheef turns a whoppin' 42 (wtf?!?) this week! Family will be in town and I'll be attending the local NASCAR race this coming weekend (for the 1st time in several years), meaning this is likely to be my only post this week and there might not be much next week either.

Mk III assembly is complete!

o/

I finished putting together the last of my Mk III marines meaning all of my Salamanders are now assembled (well, barring of course the Dreadnought which is in a state of permanent disassembly). But anyways these last few will flesh my tactical squads out to 10 each, and my tactical support squads to 6 each-one with flamers and the other with meltaguns.

One of these is not like the others...

Going off of prior experience (only one game, but it worked quite well) the meltagunners will be accompanied by my Praetor and apothecary and will ride in the rhino. Kinda like a pseudo-command squad. The flamer squad meanwhile is left to hoof it across the table. Never a good thing for a short ranged unit. 

Note the discreet armor of
the Vigilator...

The flamer squad will from now on outflank with my Vigilator who was upgraded from a mere grunt in my last post. The Vigilator Centurion has always been a favorite of mine, despite my abysmal track record with the type. He has scout which allows him to outflank, and he passes that onto whichever squad he joins if I understand it correctly (teh interwebz is full of Vigilator and friends outflanking in a Landraider suggestions so I'm assuming I do).  

Vigilators also have a 1-time, pre-game sabotage attack for an added bonus. Its never amounted to much but there’s always the possibility of that paying for him before he even reaches the table! Their specialized ammo is kinda meh, but will at least give his attached unit a token attack beyond bolt pistol range.

Now, its back to the endless painting queue…

Alls quiet on the hobby front...

o/

Just another week filled with time-consuming reality left little time for hobbying. I did manage to assemble two more Salamander tactical grunts at least.

They could actually work as sergeants, but I don't need anymore of those.

The one with the auspex keeps making think he'd make a good sergeant. However the little scrubby brush helmet bit has gone MIA and...well, what my army really needs is basic bolter grunts, not superfluous sergeants. So perhaps that missing bit is for the best...

The Primaris Space Marine problem...

Propaganda.

Whilst rumors spread of lone individuals, squads, and in one case even a whole company of Primaris marines kneeling before the Dark Gods and swearing new allegiances across the bloody battlefields of the Imperium. War is already raging amongst the ranks of the Ordos Hereticus and Malleus. Doubters and believers alike exchange gunfire and lies daily as they desperately seek the their own versions of the truth... 

Reality?

Are Roboute Guilliman and Belisarius Cawl, both the Master and Commander of the Primaris marines, the saviors of the Imperium in these desperate times? Or, with the proliferation of their so-called monsters across the stars, are they in truth the architects of its total destruction? 

lol, I'll bet you didn't think I was going to take that initial query into this direction did you?

New Recruits!

o/

A few weeks back I got a minuscule *bonus* from work, and before it was consumed by the great maw of daily expenses, I ordered another Mk III tac squad for my 30k Salamanders. Whilst I’d have preferred Mk IV marines, the Mk IIIs were about $4 cheaper so that’s what I got. 

The first four of ten...which sounds like something from the Borg collective, lol.

In my Sally’s battlefield debut, Bob let me borrow close to 30 marines to flesh my army out to 1500 points. I did appreciate that, but would rather just use my own minis. This squad filled the holes in my roster that the painted Alpha Legionnaires left on their exit. True, I won’t be fielding any 20-man tac squads anytime soon, but I can at the least hit the 10 man minimum. Likewise my Fire Support Squad’s also back up to the 5-man minimum. 

I added Vexillas this time as well. I didn’t use those when fielding the Alpha Legion, as they were always trying to conceal their true identities, so have squad level banners didn’t seem appropriate (though I suppose they could have been used for misdirection as well). That and I figured they’d snap off at some point. Hopefully the latter won’t occur with these (I’ll keep ya posted).

The Rainbow Warriors FINALLY see combat!

Ya know, I was starting to think they'd never see a game of Kill Team assuming people were afraid of losing to the Rainbow Warriors of all chapters. Turns out I was wrong and following dinner, myself, my Beloved Wolfy, Bob and Screech convened at the FLGS for a game.

I forget the scenario's name, but we each set up in a corner, and had to roll to see which of our team's members would be outflanking (the average was 3), and there were 3 center objectives. Here are some of the highlights and my pseudo-bat rep.

All 7 of these didn't set up on the table top. The front 4 were in my rhino, with the back 3 outflanking.  

Unsurprisingly, the Fem Fa' Tau set up shop in a ruined tower...

The 1st of the outflankers! One of Screech's Scions arrives in my backfield...

...make that three!

Whilst Wolfy technically only had 1 outflanker, it was her Piranha, which promptly detached its 2 drones. For all of her shooting however, only Screech's team leader 'Mr. Clean' fell.

Bob's Deathwatch sniper,  positioned in the closest thing to a bell tower as our terrain had. Impossible to reach with anything but ranged weapons, he would spend most of the game trading ineffectual fire with Wolfy's Crisis suit. 

My scouts dispatched all 3 of Screech's outflankers without loss. Notably, the former fucking Aurora scout sniper killed the Scion gunning for him with a damned krak grenade! As usual, his sniper rifle would prove useless, all game long...

A Grenade launcher toting scion immobilized my Rhino and the marines within fanned out, with 2 moving into what would soon become a corpse strewn ruin...

Double outflanking attack! Seriously? Taking a Rainbow Warrior from behind with a flamer? Hell, that's part of the Initiate hazin-uhh...indoctrination rituals. Needless to say no marines were injured in this fiery attack. 

Screech, approaching an objective marker enmass...

Speaking of, the Fem Fa' Tau, no longer content to just hang back and blast everything in sight, moved in force towards the closest objective on the other side of the table.

Despite heavy casualties (for Kill Team), the first round of Cadian removal operations from the ruins is complete! Screech however, was not amused.

Where the fuck did that guy come from?!? Shit! Now Bob held the 3rd objective. Note:  The blue things in the background are Bob's dice in motion. 

The 1st of Bob's Deathwatch outflankers arrives, this one with his heavy bolter-combi-lamer (no, not a typo). He stirred up a  bloody hornet's nest by shooting the Fem Fa' Tau, who promptly schooled this fool in the ways of massed firepower! 

My Rainbows try unsuccessfully to remove the Scions form the fortress in front of them. Apparently the looming (but weaponless) piranha was too much of a distraction...

'Destro' leads the Scions' 2nd wave into the ruins!

After a multi-faction firefight and close combat, it came down to these two. Much to my annoyance, rather than Green Arrow (my leader), the Scion would be the last one standing!

The last of Bob's outflankers arrives and summarily guns down my sniper. Considering my general dislike of scout snipers, I had mixed feelings about this event. 

Whilst my rhino continued to blaze away to no effect, and one of my 2 surviving scouts lurked in the background, Bob's Deathwatch succumbed to their training turned their sights on the Tau. 

Despite triangulating bolter fire are seemingly all directions, they couldn't remove all of the fire warriors from their objective before the game ended (although they came damned close!). 

Well that was fun! At game's end, The Fem Fa' Tau's team leader was the only one standing, all 4 kill teams were 'broken' and everyone except me held an objective. However when all was totaled up, Wolfy got the win due to 1st blood. It could've been a tie in truth, but none of us could remember who inflicted the casualty that 'broke' my team (i.e.: took em below the 50% mark).

As for my Rainbow Warriors, given that this was their battlefield debut, in general I was happy with them. I only had 2 survivors-both scouts and the rhino with a single hull point left. I can't think of anything offhand I'd have done differently, other than to maybe not have my missile launcher armed marine outflank. That said, the weapon was master-crafted and did at least damage the piranha before Screech gunned him down.