In the bathroom Part 2

o/

...and now for the exciting conclusion of my off topic train...

Left: Bob admiring Mom's expert cutting job.
Middle: The finished shampoo shelf.
Left: The faucet.

Ah yes, the faucet...remember when I said we hit a snag yesterday? Well, the faucet was it. Tile was done, grout drying, shower head & knobs attached, all was going well. Then Mom put the faucet up to the pipe and 'clink', the faucet met the tile before it connected with the pipe internally. You would think that getting an extension for the pipe, a coupling or something would be a simple job. Indeed, you would think that....we thought that...and in the end while we were able to do that after countless trips/purchases & returns to Lowe's (and their guy in the plumbing dept. going above & beyond to help us out) over the course of approximately five hours, we did get it to work. All that work, and a mere $5-$10 in parts ground everything to a halt.

...sigh...

Victory was had in the end though, and I must say that to be 6'6" tall, and not have to bend over at all to wash my hair is a truly wonderful thing! Below are the before & after photos.

Quite a difference & one hellova improvement!

So that's it for the remodel for now, still need to paint the walls but that can wait a bit. I'll relax on my New Years, and would like to ask that everyone root for UCF in the Liberty Bowl tomorrow! Also, below is a pic of my 'weekend project' which will also be my guinea pig for testing out the new light tent that I got for Christmas.

Happy new Years everyone! Be safe (and if you're not driving, drink heavily)!

Sorry I uh...was in the bathroom...

...yes...all week, in the bathroom.

o/

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past week, its been quite busy for me. My folks all got together & decided to remodel my bathroom for my Christmas present this year (with various fixtures & whatnot taken care of by my sister & her fiance) and that's taken up a good portion of the past week (interrupted only by Christmas itself).

Initially the plan was to totally gut & remodel the entire bathroom but when we got to looking it, things were scaled back a bit. We had wanted to move the toilet and replace the sink & vanity, that is until we got some contractors looking at the plumbing in the basement. Moving the toilet would require repositioning the cast iron piping (my house is close to 90 years old, though the bathroom was added on some time later) and would be a MAJOR construction project (not including needing to remove half the deck to get at the pipes from the outside). Now I'm no plumber, but the piping under the sink always struck me as odd, and it generally elicited a 'What in the hell...' kinda response. Given that December is a really bad time of year for major plumbing projects (outside temps the past few days ran from low 30s to single digits) we shelved all of that & instead focused on the shower.

After the nightmare of trying to find a reliable contractor & negotiating a reasonable price (no small feat, especially in Tennessee) my Dad & Stepmother financed the gutting of the shower & replacing the tub/drain/shower head & getting it all ready for Mom & Bob to come in.
Left: the 'before' photo.
Middle: The shower all gutted, and tub replaced. A few things of note: There's no insulation in the walls aside from around the tub faucet which was added last year when fixing a leak after having had to get to it via an outside wall. Also, in the left corner you can see some of the original wood siding still in the joint which confirmed my suspicion that the house was originally built without indoor plumbing. We also removed the window as being a custom size & the potential of lead being present, the price to replace it was astronomical! One more thing, some of the wood has dark sections, that's tree bark, still on the wood after the saw mill, something you'll never see nowadays...
Right: Mom & Bob scoping things out.
Left: You'd never know a window had been there on the outside!
Left-middle: The bathroom will now have the only insulated walls in the house, though there's still a vapor barrier to avoid moisture build up issues.
Right-Middle: Bob's starting to set the tile (btw, Mom & Bob are retired tile contractors).
Right: Mom's cutting tile & all is going fairly smoothly.

Indeed all went relatively smoothly till the very end, but I'll tell you about that tomorrow after I have the 'finished' photos downloaded from my camera. We were all too exhausted after that last 'snag' last night for me to bother with uploading photos to facebook (for the far flung relations to see) as well as for me to get them ready to post here.

cya

Walking in a Winter Wasteland

Here's something I came up with a few years back. I had posted it on Warseer's forum under my old handle 'Red Corsair'. This seemed as a good a place as any to repost it.

'Walking in a Winter Wasteland'

(Just keep the tune of “winter wonderland” when reading)

See the trees,

Watch them burning

Refugees,

camps are forming

A horrific Sight

We’re fleeing tonight

Walking in a winter wasteland

Gone away is the Governor

Here to stay is a Chaos Lord

He brings a long war

We’re put to the sword

Walking in a winter wasteland

In the middle we can build a bridgehead

Then pretend that we’re gaining ground

They’ll say are you ready?

We’ll say no man!

But we’ll go when

The Commissar’s around

Later on

We’ll conspire

To kill him with friendly fire

To face unafraid

The treason we’ve made

Walking in a winter wasteland

In the middle we can build a bridgehead

Then pretend that we’re gaining ground

With bayonets we’re gonna go in!

Until their guns mow us down

Landmines blow

And their killing

Through your nose, blood is spilling

We’ll falter in pain

And then run away

Walking in a winter wasteland

Walking in a winter wasteland!

Walking in a winter wasteland!

Red wunz die fasta!

o/

That was my answer to the query about the Blood Angel debris on the base of my kan matching almost exactly in color.

I thought you could give kans the red paint job upgrade, but alas that is not the case. Oh well, odds are the kan skwadruns will be reorganized after all are assembled for a better match up of weaponry. I was thinking of painting the back pack and banner for the Ultra smurfs, or maybe the Templars, however after thinking of it, I went with the Blood Angels.

The last loyalist marine chapter that I beat with Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop was that BA, so they get the dubious honor of debris. It was one of those 'slugfest' games that was decided on the last turn, which is the best kind of game to remember! True, da kans weren't present for that fight, its obvious (to me) that they got lost enroute, and only showed up after the fact to claim credit & potential scrap.

Red kans run fasta!

o/

Just a quick post this morning as I don't have much to show for the past few days. As you can see I finished the first of my new plastic kans. The sprues look rather bedazzling with all of their parts at first, but it was rather easy to assemble. I figured red would be a good color to start off with as walkers are relatively slow (although like everything else in my army, expect to see a rainbow of colors on the next 5 kans). That said, I was telling a friend of mine the other night that the deep red & kinda orangey yellow bring to mind the colors of a McDonalds french fry container (see, that stuff is bad for your health).

I put a partial/damaged battle cannon barrel and turret hatch on the base painted in the colors of my renegade IG. Regardless of whether they're loyalists or renegades, to Orks 'oomies iz oomies'. I also recently sold the renegade Leman Russ, so this base can sorta explain it's disappearance...

I got Kanned...

'Killa-Kanned' that is...

o/

When I decided to give the Orks a go some years back, I got 3 metal killa kans along with a bunch of other minis in a trade for....something. I don't recall what I traded off, anyways... I painted up one of the kans, kindova ugly sculpt, but I supposed that it looked alright. However, I was having problems getting the other two's close combat arms to stay in place. Aggravated with them, I sent them on their way with a whole bunch of other unneeded extras, and have since only had this single kan.

One kan, by itself, isn't too impressive on the table top. My love of big gunz & looted wagons with boom gunz hasn't helped meaning that my lone kan has rarely seen the table top. Then, I saw the new versions and started to drool (still don't much like the new deff dread though). When the new kans came out, I bought a box on a whim (the FLGS hooked me up with a pretty good deal on them), BUT...I never built them.

This past weekend, Murl gave me another box o' kans for Christmas, and as a result, DLWDG is gonna have a wall o' kans! Here's the first (assembled out of the first box I purchased as it was already open):

This is one of those kits where you kinda giggle maniacally while assembling, as its such a cool & 'Orky' design (much like the mega tank which I glued together for the most part Friday night). Having seven, I think that I'll send the original kan, off the way of ebay. Two skwadruns of three, and a looted wagon ought to be good for eavy support. I could switch out for da big gunz, but I also got another chaos rhino as a Christmas gift, meaning that the havoc (and one of my lobbas) will be turned into another renegade IG nebelwerfer team (which can be seen here, about mid way down). I may just buy a new lobba to finish out that IG squad as the last one is still needed for my O&G army.

Speaking of lobbas, this past Saturday, they functioned pretty much like their O&G counterparts, meaning they sent (over the course of a game) 4 laser guided rocks into the head of a CSM demon prince (still not as effective as they are vs. giants though). Speaking of that game, I finally was able to pull off my Roag Skwadrun 1st turn alpha strike. It didn't kill too much when it shot & then charged into HTH on turn 1, but it did send my opponent reeling! Ultimately I lost the game, though I fared quite a bit better vs. the Deathguard than normal, so I was pleased. My opponent's army was more or less bottled up in his deployment zone all game (helped along by da kommandos arriving on turn 2). Also, while the deff kopta alpha strike is kindova one trick pony (and an expensive one to get mauled in turns 1 & 2), it does free up almost the entirety of my advancing army from incoming fire, as the DG was trying to deal with the koptas that were running rampant in their midst.

It was fun game and for once I brought a 'green tide' list (i.e.: no transports), so quite a bit different than my normal speed freaks set up. The forth coming 'wall o' kans' will give me yet another variation to play with now as well!

Grot Mega-Tank Rules

(Image property of Games Workshop/Forgeworld & used without permission)

o/

So, as you all know, I've bought one of these awesome things named Da Grot Spee after this. Sadly, I still haven't really done any work on it since my last post on the subject. Yeah I know, an EPIC fail on my part. However when I made my purchase I also sent in a few rules queries to FW as the experimental rules are kinda vague on some things.

I asked:

(1) If I don't have any grot tanks, then does this just count as a HS and not an FA choice?
(1) it moves 2D6, yet all of the weapons (barring the one shot boom canister) are STR 5 and up, so does it still fire if more than a '6' is rolled on 2D6, and/or does everything fire and at random targets like a super heavy?

Two months later I get this reply:
(1) it may only be used if grot tanks are also included, and may only be an FA choice.
(2) it's considered a 'standard' tank and so uses normal shooting rules meaning that it may only fire @ one target with an offensive weapon if it moves 6" or less, as per normal. However it may fire all of it's weapons if it sits still (though again @ '1' target meaning at least one gun gets left out of the fun).

I could care less about the time required for response (like I said, its not yet built), but the answers are sorely lacking.

Really? I need grot tanks to field this? Sorry, did I forward that query to the sales dept. by mistake? If it needs grot tanks, why isn't it mentioned in the Kastorel-Novem book? Sorry, but I don't have another $100 to drop on the (awesome) grot tanks right now, nor another $60-$70 on a book. My friends are cool with me running this as a heavy choice, so ignoring (1) I move onto (2).

(2) WTF? So it's festooned with weapons, yet assuming I don't roll a '1' @ the beginning of the turn (a '1' means a squabble has broken out among the krew, and it can't shoot this turn), AND I roll a '6' or less on 2D6 (and I'm pretty sure that on a roll of 2D6 the average total is '7') I get to fire just one of it's main guns. Whereas if I sit still, I can level one hellova broadside! Meaning I most likely will do just that the majority of the time. Also, if this is most effective when stationary, then I would like an official explanation as to why this qualifies as an 'FA' choice?

It looks to me like the sculptors went 'above and beyond' in their duties (as per the FW usual) while the rules makers failed utterly. More or less like they're saying, 'you'll love this on a shelf, but hate it on the table.'

Does anyone know of any other FW models with such screwed up rules?

Note: I did send another query to FW regarding my issues with #2, and I tried to write it without the ranting tone of this post.

Note: #2: I got a new answer this morning that's the polar opposite of yesterday's response. So YES it can split its fire, and also YES it can fire ALL of it's weapons at DIFFERENT target if it just rolls the 2D6 for movement, regardless of whether or not that distance is over 6" or not (and you don't roll a '1' which denies shooting due to an on board brawl). Whereas rolling 3D6 qualifies as moving flat out, and no weapons may fire. So MUCH better (though it does suffer from the typical GW roolz boyz issue of different guy, different answer).

Exodites

o/

Well my Guardian box and Dark Elf legs arrived earlier this week an I've started work on the Exodites in earnest. As you can see they blend pretty close with my original 'one-off' model. Still going with the kill-zone idea for now where the original will be a Dire Avenger Exarch/team leader (because he who has the fancy helmet leads). The others are pretty easy to both assemble & paint. Indeed, I painted all four yesterday afternoon. Solid/opaque colors, and a liberal slathering of Delvan Mud to dirty them up. Actually I was painting the red onto the gems after the wash dried, and it looked as though I'd missed several areas in their blue chest plates & the antenna things on their backs, only to realize it was where the wash dried on heavily. In the end I left them as is. Exodites, while still having the same level of Eldar technology, probably don't have the same ease of access to it. So the dark, dirty, discolored and worn look suits them well I think.

As you can see, to call these 'conversions' is a bit of an over statement. Sure it takes about thirty seconds with a hand saw to cut the bottom of the torso flat, but beyond that its no more difficult than putting a Cadian Torso on some Catachan legs.

Anyways, back to their technology access. Whether or not my little war band will be the whole tribe or just a patrol/hunting party split off from a larger one I've not decided. Regardless though, it kinda puts me in a quandary in regards to the weapons platform. True, kill-zone doesn't require me to take one but let's face it, a dozen Exodites armed with the xenos equivalent of shotguns doesn't exactly instill fear. However a nomadic tribe isn't really going to have access to factories (or the Craftworld equivalent), so where are they going to get their platforms from? My thought was to paint the platform in the colors of the Biel-Tan Craftworld. Biel-Tan are pretty gun-ho about the Exodites, and I would imagine that they would have little reservations on gifting weapons/equipment to them.

Another thought on the platform was to treat it as a beast of burden. These guys don't have backpacks, and essentially live off the land, that said, extra gear and equipment are still essential. Craftworld/Dark Eldar engage in raids, and have vehicles for logistical support, Exodites, not so much. So I was thinking of having them strap all of the their supplies onto the weapons platform (or I could convert up some cold ones like baggage Knarlocs). No tents though, I kinda have the mental image of a Warlock planting his singing sear into the ground and raising a force bubble over their little encampment, keeping out the rain, bugs, etc...

Another need for my Exodites is a tribe/clan name. I don't know of any Exodite tribes, and in any case wouldn't use them as I'm making this up as I go. Why be constrained by someone else's ideas? I pulled up wikipedia looking at what is known about the remaining 'hunter-gatherer' societies left in the world. There aren't too many, and while an interesting read, there was little of use to me. However I did come across a name that was rather appealing and had (oddly) a nice sci-fi feel to it, the Spinifex. So for now I'm going with that.

In other news, this is my 100th post! No, no fanfare, giveaways or anything. Sadly my finances really do not allow for such things. However I would like to thank everyone for their feedback, comments and the like over the year. My readership (assuming I can call it that) isn't the biggest, nor is my name all that well known of the blogosphere. However THAT said, so far (and this is only after a counter was added a few months into blogging) I've had over 4000 unique hits from 59 different countries! Indeed a fair few I've had to look up to see where they even are on the map! That's a response that's far in excess of what I ever could have expected (especially when considering the literally bedazzling number of gaming blogs out there).

Currently I have as much intent to stop blogging as I do to give Da Long Wayz Dezert Groop a coherent theme, which is to say: none. So to all of you out there I send my thanks!

FLGS Rhino is finished!

(with 6 SW armies locally, it was easy to decide on who's helmet to put on that spike)

o/

Well its all done and I hope they like it. Its not the best of paint jobs, but I can see now why I like dirty tanks so much: its easy to hide mistakes under grime. Shining gold is a difficult color to get a consistently opaque coverage of, and after endless touch ups to try and correct that I had to just give up and move on (which is also why I prefer to use opaque colors). Overall its not bad, but not the greatest either. I did dirty it up a bit near the treads at least, but over all its still a 'clean & pretty tank'. That sounds like an oxymoron to me, but I suppose that's all just a matter of personal aesthetic preference.

I'm still not pleased with the Nurgle icon on the front either (made even worse given that the CSM battle force comes with Khorne Berserkers), but couldn't think of a sufficient alternative to fit into that spot. The fact that Nurgle armies are often associated with the color green didn't help on a black and gold tank either. After various shades, I ended up using scaly green. However, as stated previously the emblem does cover the hole in the front glacis nicely. I asked the guy who built it why a gargoyle bit was needlessly stuck on there with all of the other excessive amounts of accessories, and his response was (quote) 'I figured that whomever painted this would be pissed.' Indeed. It seems to me a counter a productive train of thought for something that was donated to the family business, but in the end its not mine so I suppose it doesn't matter.

Aside from that I've started work on the Exodites, but that's a totally unrelated concept which I'll leave for my next post (that one being #100!).

VOR: The Maelstrom

o/

Just wanted to post the flyer below to try & spread the word. Skuzzy (the game's creator) is trying to raise funds to publish/produce a revision of the old Vor game. It was a fun game that we've played on and off over the years. My 144th Podunks (the story for which goes all the way back to my 2nd post) was originally used for VOR & is in the process of being reorganized to pull double duty between VOR (again) & my Renegade IG.


Anyways, please check out the VOR forum (where I go by my old online name of 'Red Corsair') & kickstarter if your interested.

Thanks!

Tanksgiving!

o/


No I didn't go to any GW sanctioned events this weekend, but I did paint some tanks! Here is my finished Executioner. This took a lot less time that I had anticipated which was a pleasant surprise! Its a definite improvement over my old color scheme which took forever to paint!


Not wanting to go with the famed penal legions (like Colonel Schaeffer's 666th.) I've opted for the 'Mortis 8th' No fluff as of yet, however decals for the tanks are easily acquired. I'm not sure yet as to whether or not the number two represents the vehicle/squadron/company.




After finishing the Executioner I had only a few WHFB Orcs to paint but they weren't high on my list to work on. So, I was out and about on 'Black Friday' (no not the early morning madness) I stopped by our FLGS for some paint and borrowed the store's display army rhino to work on. The store has a new GW rep, who was apparently displeased with the FLGS not having any armies on display, and so donated a CSM battle force. As such, we, the local player base have started on painting it. The Black Legion was picked as it is both an easy as well as forgiving color scheme.

When assembled it had every possible accessory added to it, ugh. Several bits were summarily popped off, though the damage was done. Whatever glue they used for assembly it was taking portions of the hull along with it. The Nurgle icon was on sideways (the only reason its on this otherwise clean tank, is that there was a gargoyle stuck to the front, and after removal left a crater, the icon covered it nicely).


So anyways, the hull is basically done, and now I just need to paint and reapply the spike/trophy racks and such. I may add a bit of grime to the lower hull, but in general this will be a fairly clean tank. It looks alright I suppose, hopefully the FLGS will like it. If not, well, black covers everything on a repaint...

As the blood crazed Berzerkers prepare for battle...

Why yes, I am in fact talking about the shoppers on Black Friday, how did you know?

o/

Hello folks! Turkey day is just about upon us which means its time for a few days off, family, gluttony and Football. I There may be a bit of Christmas shopping too, though I tend to avoid venturing amongst the crazed lunatics during Black Friday. I'm baking a pie this evening, and will stay @ my grandmother's house for a few days which means I'll need something to paint in the evenings.

So I think I'll paint this tank:


My loyalist Imperial Guard tanks FINALLY sold, leaving me with the one I kept, the venerable Executioner. I've base coated it goblin green and compared to its old paint job, it kinda has a 'day-glow' look about it. Of course I'm sure (or rather hope) it'll dull down a good bit when I dirty it up. I kept my loyalist infantry, and with a few minor revisions to their roster, will have a fairly good sized penal legion (with the old 'standard' gun line still around for variety). Basically I just need (1) box of Infantry to replace the squad vox & Special weapons troopers, and to replace the Sgts. (I'm using Mordian Sgts. painted like junior commissars). When all is said and done, with what I have left, I'll have about a 1k or so list. Of course I'll also have a serious lack of anti-tank capability too, but I'll go into further depth on my new penal legion in a future post.

I've also been pondering the Exodites, and I think that'll be a 'go' (I just knew that mini from my last post was going to be trouble). Actually, to fit my idea for them, the best fit would be the Spec Ops Killzone rules from Big Jim's Galaxy in Flames. Till now I had ignored that rule set due mainly to the blanket coverage it was getting from various blogs & podcasts. Whenever everyone everywhere starts telling me that 'this is the next big thing & you need to try it' it tends to annoy me and I usually shut it out (much like Malifaux, Firestorm Armada, War Machine, Flames of War, etc.). Actually I tried War Machine a few times, I just didn't like it, which more or less reinforced my stubborn refusal to be coerced/cajoled into trying new stuff (I'm sure Murl will comment on that).

Locally there doesn't seem to be any interest that I know of for Killzone (or Kill Team games for that matter), but it does fit nicely with the idea I had in mind. I was thinking of a small nomadic Exodite clan/tribe led by a minor chieftain (DA Exarch), the tribe shaman (Warlock) and consisting of a dozen or so warriors (Guardians). Whether that would be the whole tribe (Guardians luckily come with both male & female torsos) or just a portion of it, I don't know and regardless the point is moot. That's about all I want to get. Those dozen or so minis should make for a nice little diversion in terms of painting something different. I have some more ideas to help 'fluff' them out, but those still need some more thought, so like the Penal troopers above, I'll revisit that in a future post.

So everyone in the USA, be sure to enjoy your holiday and of course to eat too much! As for those overseas, well...I hope its a better than average Thursday for you (and by all means in the spirit of our holiday, be sure to eat too much for your dinner too).

Lesser Demons and other dangers...

o/
I wasn't in the mood to paint anything in particular this week, so I just grabbed a random handful of minis and three actually got painted. First up Lesser demons:

Actually I just painted the blue one in the middle (though I did flock the other two as well). I'm always asked 'Why aren't they red?' Well, because demons in the chaos codex suck! Hence the odd colors to differentiate them from Bloodletters. Reduced to the lesser demon state, these guys obviously failed in the eyes of Khorne and are now suffering in their own private hell. I have a sprue of five Pink Horrors on order which will also be painted various colors (but not pink).

Next up, an Exodite and a WHFB Orc:

Strange bedfellows these two are.

The Orc is nothing special, I really should paint some more of those, but WHFB is kinda low priority. I did enjoy my only game of 8th ed., but I haven't exactly been in a rush to try it again either. The Exodite on the other hand is a very dangerous mini for me.

Of course not as dangerous as he was for that Rat & 'Mon'keigh'.

Minis like this often end up forming armies. I've had Eldar armies before, three separate ones going all the way back to 2nd. ed. (the token 4th ed. DE starter force not included), but that's an army that requires finesse. Something which I have none of. However while digging through the bits box last week looking for something, I kept finding Eldar bits and figured I could build a mini from them (never found whatever it was I was looking for originally). I had most of one, but lacked legs and the back was pretty gunked up. Another troll through the box found a metal Dark Elf (sans spear), the rat cloak, and enough to piece together a splinter rifle. Whether that was taken as a trophy, or these guys deal with both their Craftworld & Dark kin is anyone's guess (yes,the fluff may actually state a 'yes' or 'no' but this guy doesn't have access to to such knowledge as I have no Eldar codices). So I put it all together & wahlah! An Exodite. The wild environs and 'rustic' lifestyle of the Exodites (relative to the rest of the Eldar) also sorta justifies me painting him up as a dirty model.

Dirty Eldar? Sounds like an oxymoron!

I always liked the Exodites actually. Could I realistically make a viable army of these guys, I doubt it. Should I try, an emphatic NO! Will I? Sorta, maybe. Probably be a kill team sized unit at most. I was thinking of doing a DE kill team, but despite the pretty new models, I'm kinda 'meh' towards the idea. A kill team is more of a foot slogging bunch I think, and that doesn't fit the DE in my mind. In the end, it may just be an opportunity to paint something different, that will sit on the shelf till the novelty wears off (sounds like my last War Machine army), and it eventually winds up on ebay (because we play kill team next to never around here).

We'll see I suppose.

Deathscreamer

That name brings to mind the original Tyranid Carnifex, until I then recall that it was instead called a 'Screamer-Killer'. Anyways...

o/

So, I've been tweaking around my Purge/Blood Eagles list and thought of Swapping my HQ's around. Normally I run Ivan as a sorcerer, and Exedore (doubt that name will work, as I still call him 'George' then correct myself) as a Lord. After the repaint and name change, I thought to move Exedore to a sorcerer, omitting a lord choice all together. I know people swear by demon princes, but I've gunned down enough of those with lasguns to ignore the supposed 'only viable HQ choice' (and I also use the DP model as a greater demon which dies just the same, but only for about half the points + a champion which is much cheaper).

Now, usually Ivan just has his trusty 'doom bolter' and no marks, but I was reading through the Demon weapons entries and happened on the Tzeentch 'Deathscreamer' which when given to a lord is far better than a sorcerer with doom bolter. It requires a mark of Tzeentch, but that's both cheap & useful, so no issue there. However the Deathscreamer rules, when combined with the Demon weapon rules seem broken if taken literally.

Demon weapons:
•Are a power weapon
•Require 2 hands
•Grant the wielder an extra D6 attacks (unless you roll a '1', in which case you take an automatic wound with no armor save and make no attacks)
•and have the additional benefit as detailed per Chaos mark.

Those essentially being:
• Undivided: +1 strength
• Khorne: ungodly potential number of attacks!
• Nurgle: Poisoned 4+
• Slaanesh: instant death regardless of toughness (I wonder why I don't see this one more?)
• Tzeentch: 'can' (will come back to that word) make a shooting attack @ ST:4, AP:3 Assault D6, 24" range. If you roll a '1', you get no shots & instead take an auto wound with no armor save.

Now, it says 'can' make a shooting attack, but nothing in there states that it replaces the HTH attacks, like its an either/or kind of thing. Personally I think that the shooting profile replaces the HTH profile, and you end up with a lord that's a potential shooting monster, yet only has 3 savable attacks in HTH (which is presumably why I've never seen this piece of wargear on the table top). BUT 'rules as written' basically says you get both (which just sounds broken), while 'rules as intended' (I think and is how I will play it till proven otherwise) is that the shooting profile replaces the HTH characteristics.

I checked the FAQ, but it mainly focused on Typhus, and the stupid 'lash' issues. I didn't see any mention of any other demon weapons at all. So I'll ask all of you out there wandering through the blogosphere, which do you think it is?

Soiled again....

o/

I delved back into working on the The Purge again this weekend. Repainting my previously stripped Chaos Lord George Lupus. George used to have the 'standard' Plague marine paint job which while a nice looking, was too bright to try to match to Purge marines. So here he is:

This is an old mini, Rogue Trader era I think. His power sword is from an old Ork weapon sprue (RT/2nd ed. era as well) with a newer CSM backpack & the standard is from some old Night Goblins if I recall correctly. One thing I hadn't noticed when I painted this model last time around, is that the little Nurgling on his shoulder has actually crapped all down the back of it!

That's disgusting!

I'm not sure if I'll keep the name though, I'm kinda tired of it, I certainly know my local opponents are. The name had more significance back when he led my old Lost and the Damned army which was named (yup, you guessed it) The Rebel Alliance! I've been leaning towards Exedore, who was a character I always liked, and was of a smaller stature as well. That sorta fits wit my desire to use him as a Sorcerer rather than a Lord I'll see I suppose. The name George Lupus name has been around for so long, it may not go away.

Beyond that, I started on some more plague marines, seen below:

The aspiring champion with the twin-bolter was my acting Chaos Lord while while George was losing his identity in a tub of Simple Green. I really like that model though, and he's next on the 'to paint' list!

Fighta-Bomma Konvershun idea...

Photo property of Gamesworkshop, used without permission, blah, blah, blah...

Look at that goofy shape, its gotta turret, its even RED! Maybe have a few Grot Bombs slung under the rear where the dreadnought is supposed to go...

Dis haz Fighta Bomma written all over it!

So umm...I thought we did this for fun...right?

o/

Its been a while since I ranted on here, so its time to fix that.

Ahem...

Why do we play these mini games anyways? (just skip the addiction part, the only cure for that part is financial ruin, moving on...) I thought it was fun. not to win at all costs (WAAC) not to intentionally piss off your opponent, not to cheat, and not to play for a tie as an overall strategy (I'm not referring to the mid-game realization that I can't win, so I go option 'B', a tie)

I was listening to a 40k podcast the other day which was going over the IG codex and it really pissed me off. Apparently, the only way to play IG is with the 'all mech/vendetta, all vet., all melta list'. Everything else is pretty much pointless & to use it you pretty much don't know what your doing. WAAC on the air waves I guess. Everyone sits in their passenger compartments tiddling thumbs while their chimeras blast away, vendettas outflank & lascannon you to death, and then turn 4-5 the chimeras lunge forward for objective grabs & meltagun drive-bys. Maybe they're hard core tourney players & can think of nothing else, but as an opponent would you find playing vs that fun? I've played vs. variations of that more than once, and...it sucks. Quote: 'If I see an IG list at a tourney, all I really need to see is their heavy choices, the rest of the list I already know, so their list is pointless...' In a tourney maybe, but no narrative, theme, fluff, nothing? Now lets broadcast that opinion to the geek world so that newer players start to see that this is the way to play...

Bleh. I'm not a regular subscriber, and promptly 'unsubscribed', moving on to my next rambling bit...

Playing for a tie as an overall strategy. Huh? I've seen this several times over and again last week. Here was the set up: capture & control scenario, pitched battle deployment. We have a local player, who ALWAYS puts his objective on the top of a building. Not, like the 2nd floor, but the 4th or 5th if not the roof top (we have some tall buildings @ the shop). Invariably this is done vs. an army that has no jump infantry available (we're a small group & our armies hold few surprises). Meanwhile his opponent's objective is in a reasonably approachable place (i.e.: in a table corner, and/or no higher than the 2nd floor of a building/ruin). The most recent case in which I saw this was vs. a Foot slogging Thousands Sons army, and I figure that it would have taken 4-6 turns of them doing nothing but running to maybe get there (ignoring the entire Necron army facing them including the ones in said building). Meanwhile the Necrons hunkered down in deep cover, and never advanced. The only thing going forward was the Deciever who's sole intent was to contest the enemy objective.

He never intended to win, just to tie.

The Thousand Sons player was pretty pissed off @ the end of the game (General Pickett didn't enjoy his similarly suicidal charge into the enemy guns either), which as expected, ended in a tie (the deceiver was rendered into a chaos spawn midway across the table). Now what was the point of that? Who really goes into a game without even trying to win? And while I'm bitching about this particular game (that I didn't even play in), the Necrons 'forgot' their destroyer flying bases (again), then tried to claim cover that they would have been above were they actually on their bases...

I mean, you don't have to throw an opponent a 'soft/easy' army to have a fluffy fun list. You don't even have to be close to winning to have a fun game. Some of my most memorable games, that are joked about years later are the ones where my army crumpled like tin foil, and ended with the last model making a suicide charge across the table. I fondly recall one of those now:

Okay dude, you got one guy left, you wanna just cede the game?

OFFEND ME WILL YOU?

SHING! (yes I said that, it went with the simulated motion of my commissar drawing his sword)

I CHARGE THE HIVE TYRANT! DIE YOU ACCURSED MONSTROSITY!

(Due to his trusty refractor field he survived for two rounds vs. the hive tyrant, and the legend of 'The Venerable Commissar Borg' was born...)

But that was a game, in which my army was literally murdered, yet, the opponent's intent was to have fun, and we BOTH did have fun. But it seems that all to often anymore, that there is a slowly expanding attitude that winning is everything (from a game play point of view, painting is something else entirely). Spectacular paint jobs & dialogue aside, I think one of the reasons that The Gentleman's Ones has been so successful as a blog, is that b.smoove focuses on the narrative as much as if not more than the game play itself. I'd really hate to think that that sort of view point is starting to be an anomaly, rather than the norm.

....

...and then Da Masta Cheef, steps back too far, and falls off his soap box. Dazed & confused, he has no idea as to whether or not any of the above made any sense, nor does he feel like editing (as it probably doesn't, which means he'd just delete it). So, if it doesn't, well then he apologizes for subjecting you to such drivel assuming you read this far, but rants are like that, they just kinda come out, with little if any rational thought put into them).

...and...off they go.

o/

Well, after I 'finish' an army, I get bored with it and sell it. As such, my loyalist Imperial Guard army has landed on ebay here (shameless plug I know).

Now I just need to wait or the inevitable screaming & bitching from Murl & Screech...

Mind you I didn't sell all of them. I pulled out the storm troopers for use with my Inquisitors, and Sgt. Pepper & the Company standard bearer will be going to an Inquisitorial retinue as well. I still have:

Commissars Naxos, Niro & Borg
The Podunks (who will graduate from Conscripts to Penal troops)
The podunk Sentinel
The Psyker battle squad
The shotgun Vet Squad with Chimera (the MP's)
...and the Executioner
(edit: I kept the Cyclops too!)

I've been thinking of doing a penal legion for a while, and with the above I have a decent start to one. With the above I have about 800ish points, which will work well enough vs. some of the newer players @ the game shop. They tend to have smaller, odd point sized armies. That way I'll have something to throw at them rather than just butchering a list to fit. Most of those are also unpainted/need to be repainted as well, so that'll keep me entertained with IG for a good while (when I'm not painting the Renegades of course).

And NO, the Renegades are NOT for sale!

The Boys in Blue

No, no, no, not the Ultramarines, I sold that army years ago…

As you can see, I painted up four AoBR tac. Marines up as an Alpha Legion squad yesterday to go with the ‘Deathwatch’ sergeant I had painted previously. I darkened the blue a bit, using a base coat of Mordian blue with a light dry brush of enchanted blue. I had to redo the shoulder pad on the Sgt. Asmadore (named after a character in the book The boys from Santa Cruz. Good book, read it sometime) as a result; I also tweaked his paint job a bit. Adding the green helmet strip to match the rest of the squad, and changing the eye lens color to blood red, as the purple had little contrast (especially on the Mordian blue guys). I ordered a SM captain banner off of ebay today. I’ll add it to one of the grunts, and use it as the squad’s ‘icon to Chaos Glory’.

This squad will pull double duty between my Vraks militia and CSM armies. In the Vraks list, FW actually suggests using loyalist marines painted as Alpha Legion with the line ‘we’re in disguise’. Whereas with the CSMs, on the one hand I have The Purge, a Nurgle worshipping warband, that’s hell bent on the extermination of all life and on the other I have the remnants of my Blood Eagles. A warband that was shattered by the experiments of Fabius Bile. Those few that remain now worship Malal, and are intent on destroying the forces of Chaos.

Not exactly likely allies.

Indeed if anyone could form an alliance between those two, it would be the Alpha Legion. Though to what end or purpose, only Tzeentch (if anyone at all) would know…

No time to dwell on that thought though, Murl's 13th Cadian is advancing in this direction, and I need to set up the table and prep the CSMs for battle!

See ya.

The state of the Party.

o/

Well there's another Dark Heresy game session this evening, and we're still waiting for our first casualty. The 'Arbitrator' won't be with us this evening, due to real life interference, however as his character is literally on his last legs, the loss is minimal. We figure he'll spend the session unconscious in the medicae tent. Our GM hasn't yet gone for a 'TPK' though he's edging in that direction as we're all in a fairly sorry state. Currently the party is as follows:

Jusu, Arbitrator: (1) fate point has been burned, only has 2-3 wounds left, and as I recall his chain vest is in tatters. IIRC, his second string character is a carbon copy with a new name (boring...).

Ishta, Assassin: I'm pretty sure she took a hellova beating last session and is running dangerously low on wounds as well, she hasn't burned any fate points yet though (I think).

Rube (that's what I call her, can't recall her name & as a Scum won't bother to try), Pysker: Rube's rather fond of slinging her witchery around. However I'm pretty sure she had to burn a fate point last round (or is close to it). She also seems to have drawn the eyes of the Dark Gods, damned near summoning one of their minions which resulted in some insanity points for everybody.

Arty (short for something too hard for a lowly scum to pronounce), Guardsman: Our resident 'tank' Arty's down to about 2/3 wounds, but over all is in the best shape. Of course in hand to hand combat, he's as impressive as watching a Tau Fire Warrior trying to take down a Space Marine.

Yosef, Scum (Me): I'm down to a little less than half wounds and am running dangerously low on bullets for my trusty revolver (which was responsible for the eliminating of a truly gratifying number of fleeing civilians). Indeed when the test against insanity was rolled, Yosef, hearing the call embraced it wholeheartedly. I didn't get enough insanity points for a mutations roll, but came close.

So where to from here?

Well, Yosef has lasted longer than I expected, but isn't doing to well either. I do have my 2nd string character Ekon ready, however we already have an assassin in the party (assuming she survives and/or has an assassin 2nd string as well). So instead I dropped Ekon back to my 3rd string (despite his cool fluff), and created a Scholar as my new 2nd string. So far none of us have wanted to play that sort of character, so I figured 'what the hell' and made one last night. His transfer info (fluff?) follows:

The Inquisition sent us, we're here to help...

o/

No progress has been made on the Grot Spee, typical. I have been kinda busy though with real life stuff. About the only thing that I've done in the past two days was assemble & paint my Alpha Legion 'Sergeant'.


The shoulder is enchanted blue, & doesn't look nearly as bright in person, however there isn't enough contrast between that & the Legion decal to really show in the photo. Looks just fine on the mini though.

Go figure.

This is kindova 'Frankenstein' of parts, but after finding a Deathwatch shoulder pad, I just had to use it! The signum is purely decorative, but like the DW shoulder, looks too good to leave in the bits box. I could have used the DW bolter too, but I liked the look of the Templar bolter that's chained to the forearm.

I have no plans for an Alpha Legion army, however the Vraks list allows for a single Alpha squad as an elite choice, and they can also fight with my CSMs. The Vraks list suggests painting up loyalists as Alpha legion, so that's what I'm going to do. My current plan is for a 5 man squad with the remaining four guys being from the AoBR set. Besides, to some podunk PDF commander, any marines that answer a summons for help are sure to inspire awe. Even more so when considering the fact that their leader is bearing Inquisitorial insignia!

The poor bastards would only realize who's side they're on after its far too late to turn back...

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!!!!

o/

I guess that when you pre-order something from Forgeworld, you get the express shipping, because only after a week after the ship date, my Grot Mega Tank has arrived, huzzah!

Behold, Da' Grot Spee:

So named after the infamous WWII German pocket battleship.

I trimmed off a few of the gates (just a quick & ugly trimming) to get a rough idea on how it'll go together. Assembly looks to be rather straight forward & simple. Its a good thing too as the instructions are rather spare. Several of the gates that I trimmed off are so big that I'm tempted to keep them for use a tank traps or something. I wonder if all completely FW tanks have gates that large? Seems like a hellova waste to me.

One thing FW doesn't provide is a good size comparison, so until it arrived I had no idea as to how big it was going to be. As you can see, its a bit larger than an Ork trukk.
The weapons options included for the turrets are :
(2) Grotzookas
(2) Big Shootas
(1) Kustom Mega Blasta
(2) Rokkit Launchas
(3) Skorchas
(1) Boom Kanister
and the aft, starboard sponson has a big shoota molded onto it by default, though I doubt it would be hard to add a different weapon in that mount.

This will be a work in progress over the coming months, a model this expensive (the bulk of my unpainted Blood Eagles as well as my Rogue Trader BFG fleet were sold off to compensate) shouldn't be rushed through assembly & painting.

...and now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

So, I was going to post the following originally:

It was nice to kinda take a week off from gaming. Doing the 'family thing' for a few days and shoving gaming to the periphery of my mind. This past Saturday we went to Sevierville, TN to go on a zip line tour (part of Mom's 'bucket list').

Here I am on the first run and as such still somewhat an unwilling participant. However by the end of the 2nd run (we went on 6 in total) I really started to have fun, and in the end I'd readily go again.

Yesterday I eased myself back into 40k by finishing off my first squad of The Purge.

After which I assembled my next squad of seven (Da Grot Spee will delay their painting though).

Just a few quick Updates.

o/

This'll probably just be the only post for this week. Mom's flying in for a long weekend visit on Thursday. As such there's not too much to report painting wise as I was in house cleaning mode (well sorta, procrastination means the next few nights will be a bit of a frenzy). I did finish two more Plague marines for The Purge though.

This is the majority of of the first Squad. I plan on running four squads of seven. True that's not to resilient (ironically) as casualties stack up quickly, but its 'fluffy'. Most of the Blood Eagles are now gone, however after a few attempts, my Chaos lord didn't sell, so he'll make the occasional cameo appearance I guess.

Still haven't settled on a name for the Renegade IG (who pulled out a tie Saturday night despite some decked out thunder wolf cavalry & SW lord charging down their throats). The latest idea is '728th Legion' but still not settled on that. The fact that I specialize in indecisiveness doesn't help either.

...and while I've been on quite a bit of a chaos kick here of late, I haven't forgotten my beloved Orks! I'll leave a hint on their upcoming plans. See today is the 25th of October, which means that today (supposedly) Forgeworld is shipping out DLWDG's newest addition, Da' Grot Spee!!!!

The 728th Sabbat...umm...somethings...

o/

So, as readers of this blog, you will be aware that I have a renegade IG army. Its generally fielded with the IG codex, or sometimes (like this coming Saturday) the Forgeworld Vraks militia list via the updated PDF. Like many of the units that have come and gone, the name of my little band of evil IG has also had several names in rotation with the '728th Sabbat Irregulars' being the current one.

Originally they were Nurgle's Regiments of Rust, then the Sons of Sek (blame Dan Abnett for that one) Then I decided that I hated the name Sek 'He who's voice drowns out all others...' (its in Traitor General, just go read it). I've also toyed with Henry Zou's creation, 'The Ironclad'. Then in one of my back & forth pregame narrative conversations/commentaries vs. my friend Joel I needed a new name, saw a '728' decal on a lasgun on the back of my old hellhound, and pulled '728th Sabbat Irregulars' out of thin air. That's it. No fluff, No background. Just a random idea that stuck. A few times I've been pressed as to where the name came from, to which I've responded 'I'll bet that if YOU were a follower of Nurgle, you'd be 'irregular' too...'

No one has ever asked any further.

BUT, while I like the '728th Sabbat' part, the 'Irregulars' not so much.

Since the inclusion of all of my lascannon teams, it's started to give me the feel of a field artillery unit. Of course that doesn't work either as lascannons are direct fire, anti-tank guns (quad-mounted heavy stubbers hardly qualify as artillery either). So with lots of static guns, how bout the:

728th Sabbat Siege company
728th Sabbat anti-tank detachment
728th Sabbat tank hunters
728th Sabbat Fire support battery
????

Of course to through that all off course, there are a pair of Hellhounds (swapping one to the infamous 'Septic Tank' [Bane Wolf] when running as standard IG), a Sentinel & a House Cawdor 'worker's rabble' to throw those ideas a curve.

So...I dunno. For now they're the Irregulars I guess. Of course to have the forces of Chaos suffer from an identiy crises is kind of amusing considering that they're all traitors to begin with.

DON'T SHOOT DAT YOO FOOLZ!!!!

o/

Running a little late this week due to a game of BFG last night. We fielded carbon copy fleets from our last game of Orks vs. Imperials, and while the net result was the same (Orks were crushed) the route from point A to point B was quite different this time around. True, in both games the Orks epically failed, however we had a hellova good time failing this time around. Lemme explain starting with the BFG version of L.A.'s rush hour traffic:

As you can see, Orks are no better at merging in heavy traffic than the average American driver is.

Now it looks like in this photo 'Dat da boyz 'az dem rights where we wants dem.' That said, my DethDeala Klass battleship Da Orktown (the big reddish monster in the middle) and Da Orkinawa (the silver Terror ship) were crippled at this point. THAT and the Gothic class cruiser named Avenger had just been reduced to a blazing hulk. Now, in such close proximity, no one in their right mind would shoot at a blazing hulk in hopes of getting a warp core breach at such close range, right?

However Orks are never in 'da right mind' (or are they?).

The Ork escort just to the left of Da Ortown jumped n the opportunity, and actually got that warp core breach (1 lance hit for each starting hit point [8 in this case] inflicted on everything within 3D6cm) The ensuing conflagration caused a chain reaction resulting in a warp core breach on Da Orktown (12 lance shots), and Plasma core breaches on Da Orkinawa & Kill kroozer Da Bizmork (plasma core breaches are the same as a warp core breach, you just halve the ship's starting hit points which equaled 5 each in this case).

As you can see, everything that I had in range died, spectacularly! One of the escaping Dominators was crippled, the other beat up but uncrippled and the last Gothic also was crippled.

After a few moments of 'oohs & aahs' by the krews of Da Ork Royul & Ork-N-Saw, they charged into da breach with wild abandon! And in the three remaining turns Da Ork Royul also suffered a plasma core breach, however Da Ork-N-Saw escaped the engagement relatively unscathed. Proving beyond a doubt that indeed, 'Bloo iz a lucky color!'

On the painting front, I made a bit of progress on the rhino. Not too much, just the doors & combi-bolter & hatch.

This tank is taking far longer than I had anticipated, but it's looking good so far i think.

What? ANOTHER green army you say?

Now I'll just sit back and wait for the inevitable comment from Screech (for those who don't remember, Screech is the keeper of all of the gray armies that are frequently shooting at my green ones). Anyways...

o/

So in keeping with the Chaos marine theme this week, I moved the rhino to the side (typical, although I plan to work on it more this Sunday), and instead started painting some plague marines. As said previously (I think) I'm painting them as 'The Purge'. Given that most of their bodies are just black, they don't take too long to paint up. Here's my first three:

The green is all drybrushing (a common theme with me). The base coat (excluding the black primer) is a heavy drybrush of Knarloc green, then Gretchin green, and then a light drybrush of rotting flesh. The detail work, drown the mini in Ogryn flesh & let dry. When dry there's a light drybrush over all with bleached bone, and then its just matte varnish & ard' coat on the drippy parts (its Nurgle, don't ask). Barring the time required for the ink to dry (in which I start painting on the next mini in line) it takes me about an hour to paint a single marine. So is easy to crank them out going just one per night.

Speaking of green guys (and before I forget), here are the finished pics of Capt. Kurtz of the Dark Hands' 3rd. Company.

(not too much different from the last pic as it was pretty close to done then)

Mainly all I had left to do was cut the decals around the shoulder icons. The #3 that comes on the SM tac sq. sheet is too small (unless its inside the tactical arrow), whereas the one on the SM vehicle sheet was too big. So in digging through the decal pile I found one that was just right on one of the little decal sheets labeled 'Dark Angels' which probably dates back to 2nd. ed. (it took forever to soak enough to remove it from the paper). Then I had to cut it around the name banner, luckily the sheet had two #3's on it, good thing too as I messed up the bottom portion the first time around,to which Screech can attest as he was on the speaker phone when the profanity started in earnest!

But that's about all for this week. I've added a few chaos icons onto a 3rd hand Predator that I got from Murl which will be going to The Purge. It was intended for the Aurora scout company. However they're so far from a viable allied contingent, much less an army that chaos stole it. However as a nod to the Aurora, I will probably give it demonic possession, so it still shoots @ BS3 (betcha you were wondering how I was connecting the Aurora to demonic possession weren't ya?).

My 1st try at Dave Taylor's Chaos Stars

o/

Well I finished my Dark Hands captain (and I went with the name of 'Kurtz' as it fit nicely on the shoulder pad banner). Still need to take pics though, I could've just posted that, but I don't know if I've ever made two consecutive posts on the same subject, but figured now was not the time to start. I'm good at inconsistency.

ANYWAYS...

I was working on my Blood Eagles CSM war band rhino today. That's kinda ironic as most of the Blood Eagles ore on ebay at the moment. I recently given almost 1k points worth of plague marines from Murl, so my CSM army is being reorganized. I figure that Fabius' experiments took their toll, and the majority of the war band devolved into gibbering monsters, and he moved on. My chaos sorcerer Ivan the Cannon has gathered what survivors he could (a dreadnought, Greater Demon of Malal & a havoc sq. w/rhino), and have formed an alliance with 'The Purge' Nurgle war band. The Malal demon arriving at the expense of Nurgle's champions will also be nice & fluffy. I still may get some spawn at some point to represent some of the slavering idiots who devolved from Fabius' 'enhancements' after they parted ways.

The rhino is still a work in progress, but the front is for the most part done. However the top was a large expanse of nothing, and I didn't want to just glue on lots of bits to fill the space. I sometime see so many spikes on top of a rhino that the top hatch essentially loses all functionality. To I pulled up Dave Taylor's tutorial and came up with this:

Its intentionally offset, Chaos & properly centered iconography just doesn't seem proper. It wasn't as hard as thought it would be, but it was harder than he makes it look. It's probably all a matter of practice. That said, this is the first time I've ever tried to freehand something bigger than a shoulder pad chapter icon (and its also the first time I've ever liked anything I painted freehand). I will need more rhinos for the purge, so I may try this some more in the future.

Here's a better look of the front plate:

You can see the plain roof in this.

This isn't so much a Slaaneshi rhino, rather I liked the large 'eagle's' claws on the doors (which will be painted red). I added a dirge caster for something different. You can't actually give it a dirge caster, however if I ever feel the need to scream obscenities in a game, I can blame this tank. Not that that would ever happen...

Dark Hands

o/

Well, my Dark Hands army has certainly been around the block. Once numbering in the 3000 point range, they hit the auction block and were cut in half. The remainder (the painted part basically) were kept as no one wanted them. they're an official, GW created chapter (though I have altered they're colors a good bit as can be seen here vs. their official colors here), but I guess that if you don't pick one of the chapters that EVERYBODY else plays, it devalues the models. Nice paint & Forgeworld additions to no avail. So a few squads of AoBR tac. marines later (to fill in the then gaping hole in their Force Org.), the Dark Hands are once again a viable army.

One thing they've never really had though was fluff. I used to have officers & sergeants with Roman names, going for that kind of theme. Then I made a long and detailed description of the ceremonies for anointing the chapter master. Where he was issued the same wargear as is given to a newly minted marine, so that he may never lose sight of his humble origin. I often refer to this as the 'Uriel Ventris syndrome'. It threw a few opponents for a loop on the table, and then usually he would die. Again, all to no avail.

So here's my latest bit. The Dark Hands are all but unknown in the wider universe. Why is this? I was hoping for a bit of a sinister reason. Despite many chapters being the defenders of humanity, they are often (and rightly so) feared as mindless, blood crazed murderers such as the Flesh Tearers, or unstoppable berzerkers as in the Space Wolves. So what would place the Dark Hands in this category, while remaining virtually unknown? I can answer that with but a word:

Survivors.

Wanton murder, and crazed destruction results in scattered (and invariably emotionally scarred) survivors. It lacks a meticulous methodology that leaves no one alive. So I came up with the following. Sure they leave a calling card, so to speak, however to prepare for resettlement Imperial authorities often will enact a scorched earth method of cleansing the ruins without a thorough inspection, obliterating any evidence. These cleansings are usually instigated by the Inquisition with whom my Dark Hands frequently operate (usually Hereticus, though occasionally Malleus).

(Note: The author 'Snipes' is one of my inquisitorial henchmen.)

++++++++++INTERNAL COMMUNIQUE++++++++

Milord,

In the event that sleep fails you on your journey to the conclave, I’ve attached a Munitorum request for Inquisitorial intervention, it should be most helpful.

Below I’ve pulled an entertaining extract from said request. It seems as though the Astartes have fulfilled your request for assistance, and they were quite thorough in the undertaking. Indeed they’re methodology certainly has spooked the Mordian high command. I’ve already taken the liberty of informing the Munitorum that the Ordo Hereticus will be taking over this matter, and to reassign their regiments elsewhere.

Safe travels,
Snipes

Munitorum official Request No.: #456006850.25.6
Addendum C, Subsection 2, pg. 17 (Partial Extract)

…hot dropped on the capital city to no resistance. On securing our drop zones we found a scene of utmost destruction. To say a battle was fought here would be folly, this was a massacre. Few buildings are still standing, and bodies are everywhere. We moved on the Governor’s palace to see if he still lived, so we might effect his rescue. A few scattered and frightened domestic animals, livestock and native fauna were encountered, but not a single human soul. The Governor’s palace was little more than a shell, his court a scene of utter carnage, bodies everywhere, none identifiable. Blood and gore covered all surfaces save one, the seat back of the Governor’s throne had been meticulously cleaned, and upon it we found the following inscription:

There are those who stand radiant, within the Emperor’s holy light. Angels held high, the pinnacles of humanity, names such as the Ultramarines, Imperial fists and so many more. When the Emperor’s light is usurped from the faithful souls of humanity, it is these angels who come, for they are His angels of salvation.

Then there are those who stand outside of His holy light. They stand in His shadow. When humanity fails our almighty Emperor, when it willingly turns from His light, the Emperor of mankind turns to these angels. These are not angels of salvation. No, these are His angels of destruction.

You chose the darkness.

You chose us.

We are the Dark Hands of the Emperor.

We are the reason you should never have turned from His light.

Our Logis engines can find no record of any Astartes named ‘The Dark Hands of the Emperor’ and I fear this may be the work of a heretofore-unknown traitor marine warband. I am forwarding a request to high command for Inquisitorial assistance. I suggest we put all nearby worlds on alert and…

-Extract ends-

Anyways, here's the cause of this whole train of thought, my 3rd Co. captain that I was working on last night.

I've not settled on a name for him yet but given my army's theme I was thinking of Captain Kurtz.