More Green Mahreenz

o/

Just a quick post & nothing too terribly exciting this week I'm afraid. I finished painting up a Dark Angel combat squad for use as allies. These are the old 2nd. ed. starter marines, so are rather boring/tedious to paint (but they were dirt cheap). The sergeant is the guy in the middle with the icon & extra long purity seal (a rather pious soul that one...). I did a little base coating on the Interrogator  Chaplain,  however still being mainly black primer & a bit of DA green, means he wont photograph up all that well at the moment.

The enemy of my enemy...

...is a pawn to exploited and discarded at my convenience. Why yes, I am referring to allies, how did you know?

o/

So one of the big things with 6th ed is the inclusion of allies. Allies will allow me to put a bunch of my little 'side projects' onto the table in a semi-useful fashion, much like my little inquisitorial side shows of old.

Yay! More charts!

Not having the BRB and still waiting on the starter box, I downloaded a copy of the 'allies matrix' and modified it to match the forces I have or am thinking of getting, while removing both those that I don't have or want, and the desperate allies (anybody who's played WarhammerQuest knows all about that 'don't roll a one' thing...).

The one allied contingent that really had me excited was to build a Kroot Mercenary force, with none of those pesky Tau getting in the way. I've got a fairly good idea on how to convert up a looted/salvaged Kroot-piloted-Crises suit, and to that I wanted to add a carnivore squad with a few Kroot hounds and three Krootoxes/oxen/whatever they're called in the plural form. The old metal models were a piece of shit to assemble requiring LOTS of greenstuff, so I wanted them in resin. However buying three of them in FAILcost is $75!!!! WTF? The Crises suit and kroot altogether would come in close to $150!

Needless to say, that idea is on hold right now, that and rumor has it they're getting dropped from the new Tau codex. I presume that they'll get a WD mini-dex or PDF download of some sort, but who knows. Right now I'm loathe to spend that kind of money, especially on something that may go the way of the Squats...

So Next up, I have the Eldar.  My Exodites are a bit too isolationist to be allying with other races. I mean, last thing that they was is to have any more of the accursed Mon'keigh finding their pristine maiden-world (they can barely fight them off right now as it is). However I do have a single Saim Hann Vyper Jetbike that was gifted to me some time back by the wonderful Lo, and has been offering my Exodites some token assistance from their Craftworld brethren.  So instead I'll be expanding that contingent a bit (which was always the plan anyways).

While I have a unit of scouts/pathfinders, I'll be leaving those with the Exodites. A static unit doesn't suit a Saim Hann raiding force too well. The mini above, is obsolete in it's weapons fit, so instead I'll be using him as a 'dirt cheap' Autarch, with power sword and lasblaster (which is why the holstered rifle is Hawk Turquoise). To go with him I've picked up a sprue of five Dire Avengers still on the Sprue, and then I just need to get a Falcon to move them around.

I've also found that generic Spess Mahreenz can't ally with themselves. Which throws my small contingent of Storm Wardens into limbo. I still have the GK-Horde, but its recently been gutted, so I'm not sure as to just how viable it would be without allies, much less with them. That said, they're about the only hope for the Storm Wardens.

This was easily cranked out, which is promising...

Instead, I'm parsing out a good chunk of the old school Mahreenz to the Dark Angels instead. I was going to make a Spess Puppies contingent (and still might, who knows), but we're already over run around here with that infernal army. So I figure, why add myself to the problem? Besides, I've already had two separate SW armies in the past, and am not ready to see if three is a charm.

True, I've a DA successor in the past as well, the Angels of Redemption, but they were really just a small contingent in my old 'Skittles' (Crusade) army.  That particular color scheme was, like the Marines Malevolent, just too much of a pain in the ass to paint on a large scale (for me anyways).  Leading the DA, I built an Interrogator Chaplain  out of an ebay bitz order, as well as some bitz I already had. He'll be the first chaplain that I've fielded since my old Angels of Redemption jump pack Chaplain (oh and Warfrog, shut up! We don't need to hear that story about why I don't ever use chaplains again!).

Currently, the DA are planned to have the chaplain (with that head, the name 'Bane' comes to mind). A tactical squad (I'll just add a backpack icon & maybe a purity seal to one of the old generic marines to distinguish the Sgt.), and...something. I do have the four ML marines, so could make a dev. squad. Question, does anyone know if DA dev. Sgt.'s have a signum like regular marines? If so, I'll have to order one. In any event, I hope to either get the chappy or else a few of the basic DA grunts painted this weekend.

Still hanging on to 5th...

o/

rogue.trader.voril in all his glory...

I went out to Morristown for their bi-weekly 40k tourney yesterday and...it was a dud. Could be summer (when gaming in general seems to slow down), or people not knowing if they were going to be running 5th ed or 6th ed., the guys who usually run the tournies weren't there so there wasn't much of anything in terms of organization/support. Its probably a combination of all of that really. As such there was only 5 of us & and just hanging out for a bit, we just decided to play a regular game.


 Screech and I paired down our IG and Aurora lists into 2-1k split force org lists while Voril boosted his DE up to 2k.  As Screech and I are holding out for the starter boxes with the little rulebooks, we just played good ol' 5th ed. The other guys in the background (no idea what it is, but looks like there is something red taped to the back of that guy's head...) were trying out 6th ed and kept asking me for rules clarifications (despite repeatedly telling them all I knew about 6th ed was gleaned from blogs as I don't have the rulebook). I think they were using 5th ed night fight with the whole game in night fight...Dunno, we didn't pay them too much attention but there seemed to be much anger over there...

Goodbye outflank & charge.

Anyways, victory went to the Imperium.  The heroes of my army were the (as usual) outflanking, combat squaded scouts with  bolt pistols, CCW and shotguns (all the schmucks with bolters and sniper rifles couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, as usual...). While losing 7 of their members, they succeeded in wiping out/running down (a laughable concept really...) all of the DE bikes. I think they managed to take out a few Kabalite warriors as well.

However I know in 6th ed., any units that outflank/arrive from reserve will not be able to charge on the turn that they arrive (rumor has it Snikrot will be outflanking on ebay quite soon...). Guess I'll finally have to assemble that landspeeder storm I got last year... It was a good game and followed by dinner, a good day. Which is something I really needed as I had had a pretty rough weekend prior to that point (yes Madival, GF aggro is indeed bad).

On the painting front, last week's painting came to a paltry total of the lone battlemech you see above. It is a Hoplite, which can be used by both inner sphere mercs & the clans (different variants of course). Luckily the 2 units I've settled on for those 2 factions have the exact same color scheme, so I'll be able to swap this mech back & forth depending on whichever faction I'm playing.

Building towards ambivalence.

o/

So, I painted my last three swordsmen, and with that concluded I have my first fully painted regiment...sorta. As you can see there are a mere ten guys which would crumple like tinfoil in an actual game. Their movement tray luckily has room for three more ranks (though as to when those ranks will actually be filled is anyone's guess).  Washers have been glued to bases so they can hold fast to their magnetic sheeted trays. Nothing is more demoralizing to the troops than to see the regimental standard bearer make a face plant (again) cause he's a top heavy model. The trays still need some sprucing up at some point (side pieces to hide the washers, etc.), but they work for now, even if only to make the models easier to store/look pretty on a shelf.

Pinning that center standard was a bitch!

 As such, with minis now magnetized, the army as you can see is starting to shape up. To what end though, I can't possibly tell you. To be honest, I have no desire to actually play WHFB anytime soon, if ever...(and somewhere Madival starts screaming). Indeed, while I did play a game of 5th ed. 40k last week, I'm in no hurry to try 6th. Virtually all of what I know of 6th (which honestly doesn't sound too bad) has been gleaned from Son of Taurus' excellent series of posts on the subject.

I don't want a Forgeworld-like book to have to carry around to every game for the next several years, so am waiting for the starter set & mini rulebook. I believe that that is coming out next month, however on my 'things to buy' list, dropping $100 or so on the 40k starter set, while inevitable, isn't at the top of my list. There are things I do want still, an Ork Flyer, more Empire minis, some Kroot to make an allied contingent (was thinking of a Kroot looted crises suit for the HQ...), Warhammer 39,999 has some old school ratlings set aside for me to go with my platoon of beret stormtroopers for yet more allies, etc.. But while I have ideas on what I want to do, my desire to play any games really right now is kinda...meh.

Blame the GF Aggro if you like (probably...well ok that is the cause) but I think I'm just going to take the rest of the summer off from gaming. I just don't want to play any games right now. I'm sure that won't be too popular of an idea as I have one of the few available game tables around here, but everyone will survive. The fall semester at ETSU will start soon enough which will greatly reduce the aggro (sadness). I'll still be painting, though posting on here will probably drop to once per week (yeah okay, its a little late to announce that I guess...). 

Cya next week I suppose...

My Empire General's Griffin

o/

As you can see, I got my Empire General's Griffin painted this weekend, and its awesome!

Its got awesome stats: M-6 WS-6 BS-0 S-6 T-5 W-wait...what? 

What do ya mean that this isn't the right Griffin? 

General's got to be able to ride it? Well where in the hell does it say...uh...that...umm, oh. 

But, but...Stirland is an impoverished province...they can't afford a full sized Griffon...

Besides, its only a baby! It'll grow up to be big...someday. Right? That...uh, kinda shady looking guy from Tilea said so...and uh...what? Aww shit. He's wanted for fraud in HOW MANY provinces of the Empire??? 

...sigh...

lol, aside from starting the base coats on my last three swordsman, the general's pet griffin above is all that I got painted this past week (despite having several days off in a row). The combination of quite a few visiting relatives having come from several hundred miles away and (as they like to say in Eve online) having quite a bit of 'GF aggro' (which is the best kind of aggro) means that little time was available for painting.

There will at least be a game of 40k tonight as the GF is working late. So the gaming shall continue!  

(albeit at a reduced amount for the foreseeable future...)

RED WINGS!!!

The significance of that title is kinda lost on me really, go & ask Neverness.

Yes, yes, I'm milking this guy for all that he's worth, shut up.  lol, after taking this I re-inked the top of the pole that he's holding to better match the portion attached to the standard itself. All that's left to do is to pin & glue it together. I got a pin drill bit set cheap on ebay, and will scrounge around thru the paper clips to see what will work best for pinning when those come in.

I also got some adhesive backed magnetic sheeting to make movement trays. I just need to see what sort of metal sheeting I can get to glue to the bottom of their bases, and that will take care of that. Then its just a matter of fleshing out the regiments. However spare funds for that endeavor are still non existent, so I'll just keep painting I guess. Not like I have a rulebook with all of the magic items or other essentials (like the rules) anyways...

Magic Standard Part 2

o/

He has a shield for the days in which he is used as a BSB rather than just a GS standard bearer.

Well I got the standard bearer himself painted over the weekend at least. Rather than just paint him wearing green & yellow like the rest of my army, I thought I'd do something a bit different with my great swords. There is a recurring character in the Mathius Thulemann series that is a member of the Black Guard of Morr, Captain Erhart or something like that. I always kinda liked the character and to me, the Black Guard more or less seemed to fit the description of Great Swords.

I didn't want to paint his armor just black with black clothing though, as I was afraid it would look too bland. Instead I opted for the metal armor with a heavy black wash over the whole model to darken it up. Looking at googled images of armies of Morr (such as Dave Taylor's amazing example) they're usually painted black & purple, so I opted for the purple here. I may alternate between those two colors as the primary clothing color for the uniforms of rest of the unit.

Staying attached to its pole, yet another magical ability.

As for the standard itself, here it is prior to inking last night. Again, it was bathed in badab black, and will be dry brushed and/or highlighted sometime this week. I need to go hunting around to see where I can find a drill bit thin enough to pin that pole. I'm thinking of a paper clip's diameter. There is a little bit of overlap of the two surfaces for the glue to bond to, but I once again have to wonder @ GW's design philosophy.

 These games are supposedly marketed towards kids rather than the veteran players such as myself. Yet I can't see how they can expect a kid to pay $25-$30 on the empire BSB model, and put this together w/o rage quitting the game after breaking it, or gluing the snot out of it only to have it break anyways, etc., (and then telling all their friends about it the misery of the experience). For years they have made models where glue joints were simply mind boggling. Especially at load bearing points.

Anyways...

Once pinned it ought to be alright I guess. Once complete I'll have to work on a magnetized tray for this regiment just to keep this model standing up.