That's right, we're outta here!

Sorry but no hobby progress to report this week due to a combination of overtime (which only occurs when its the most inconvenient of times) along with trying to take care of everything for both this week and the next, this week (that confusing to you? Yeah me too...). Why all the effort? Because my Beloved Wolfy and I are finally going on our (belated) honeymoon!

April 1st is our one year wedding anniversary as well as our departure date! We'll be gone for the week meaning you'll have to check back here in 2 weeks from today for my next post. Yeah sorry folks, but I'll not be blogging on the Sunday evening following our return home. By then we'll be afflicted with the crushing knowledge of that after NINE-straight-days of honeymoon-bliss, we'll have to go back to work the following day.

Needless to say we'll be inconsolable, which equates to no blogging.  

But, we'll worry about that when the time comes, right now the count down on how many work days till we leave will continue. As of this posting the it's just 2...

The 30k Blast Pistol

o/

In the Forgeworld's Imperialis Auxilia army list there's a curious weapon that has a stat line but no descriptive entry. Its just an oversight I'm sure, and considering the typos that Forgeworld had in the previous publication of this list, if this is the only issue then I'm good with it! Anyways, this is the Blast Pistol:


Type: Pistol

Basic Stats: Range: 6", S:5, AP: -

Special Rules: Twin-Linked, Gets Hot.


So...a pistol that hits like a truck, but has no penetrative power. Its pathetically short ranged, but has a high probability to hit, except when it blows up in the shooter's hands. I pondered that a bit, and to me that sounds like the 40k equivalent of a Blunderbuss.

Unglamorous as a blunderbuss is, I find it curious that it only squad leaders and officers can get them. I suppose then that its meant to either be an aristocrat's weapon, or...that anyone of seniority in the Imperialis Auxilia potentially bought the rank rather than earned it, and is assumed to not be able to hit the broad side of a barn.

So why am I bothering with any of this you ask? Well, I wanted to give my Outremar Platoon Commander a weapon that would set him/her apart from the rest of the platoon. Hasslefree's Grymn miniature line has a lot of different sculpts, however the variety of weaponry is somewhat lacking. Its mainly 2-types of assault rifles (which easily pass for either autoguns or bolters), dual pistols and lastly heavy and/or special weapons.

Note: The shells in the bandolier on her back are now almost as big as the gun itself!

So I took one of my Grymn grenade launcher troopers (the unpainted one), clipped the barrel of the grenade launcher off. From the barrel I clipped off the grenade launcher's tip and glued it neatly onto the GL nub that the (now former) GL trooper was holding, and with that: tahdah! Due to her funky little pistol, I now have a Platoon Commander who stands out of the crowd.

That said, in a squad full of Heavy Stubbers, my PC armed with a blast pistol will be a complete waste of points, but...well, at least she looks cool.

The Rainbow Warriors

Here's what we know:

Heritage:

Just another generic Ultrasmurf successor chapter that (presumably) adheres to the Codex Astartes (yawn). 

Colors:

Copyright of GW

Dark Blue Armor with a rainbow stripe on their helm, unit markings as per the Smurf standard. The official chapter icon is a monochromatic white rainbow (huh?) often misidentified on 40k Wikis (just one example) as well as by myself (initially, till Neverness set me straight) as a 'wing' with a lightning bolt attached. 

Homeworld: Prism

Questionably Canon Fluff:

They fought in the 'Blood Star Campaign' alongside the Relictors and Fire Lords. All 3 chapters suffered heavy casualties which included the loss of all 3 chapter masters. The Rainbow Warriors are listed in many places online (forums, etc.) to number only about a 100 hundred marines or so after coming into conflict with the Inquisition. Which branch isn't mentioned, but given that the 1st canon appearance of a Rainbow Warrior depicts one getting shot by an SoB, its safe to assume that it was the Ordo full of Heretics, and their SoB lackeys. I have yet to uncover where that bit of info actually comes from, but its fairly widespread (regardless of canonicity). 

...and so the treachery begins...

Starting with the 6th ed SM codex, the Rainbow Warriors' homeworld is listed as 'RECORDS DELETED' which is the treatment usually reserved for renegades and traitors, not simply a chapter that fought to the last in the Imperium's name. No doubt the Ordo full of Heretics is responsible for this as well…

Notable features:

Of course, its their dumb sounding name. Well, unless of course you were either a Jeff Gordon fan, or are an 'eco warrior' who may or may not still be angry about the sinking of the Greenpeace ship of the same name. 

My take on the Rainbow Warriors:

After continuous and wrongful persecution by the Ordo Hereticus and its nigh unlimited resources, the Rainbow Warriors suffering near 90% casualties were broken as a chapter. Their command structure ceased to function and/or was wiped out and the surviving Rainbow Warriors scattered across the stars in a desperate bid for survival. 

Whilst a few Rainbow Warriors may have turned renegade or worse, others have remained steadfastly loyal to the Imperium which had betrayed them. Regardless, the majority fall somewhere in between. With the goal of survival surpassing all else, the Rainbow Warriors have had to rely upon piracy to resupply themselves. An unfortunate side effect of these raids is that their numbers continue to dwindle...

*****

Those two scouts have been partially repainted more times than I can count! Their armor is a mix of Rainbow Warriors blue and black armor and bolters which could have been stolen from a whole list of chapters.

As such, my Rainbow Warrior Kill Team numbers just 10 marines. Six battle brothers and four scouts. I'll be using the Black Templars Crusader squad for organizational purposes. The BT chapter tactics btw, will rarely ever come into play in a KT game, and thus don't really matter. Lacking the needed facilities to complete their implantations, their scouts will likely never achieve full space marine status (which is fitting since I still use the 6th ed codex, and thus my WS/BS:3 scouts still suck). 

Note the scavenged Dark Angels leg armor (and possibly the bolter as well), also that particular chainsword design hasn't been in use since the Horus Heresy!

These piratical raids have resulted in patchwork-like appearance of the Rainbow Warriors' armor (stealing a page from the old Space Wolves 13th Company). Similarly, their weapons have no standardization of model or coloration. Only their pauldrons and helms are given attention of conformity, as they have the chapter's symbols on them. 

The infernal camera once again
points out so many needed
touch-ups, ugh...

Lightning bolts above a winged bird's skull, adorned with feathers that are rainbow colored for battle brothers' pauldrons, and just lightning bolts for scouts. A 'tactical arrow' on the Battle Brothers' helm denotes which company they were once a part of, whereas individual squad markings have been removed.

Transport for my team is (ironically) a stolen Inquisitorial Rhino, though I'm looking to eventually add a small bike squad for a bit of variety. As you can see above, I have three fully painted thus far. Luckily there won't be that many total marines to work on, as my version of the Rainbow Warriors' chapter icon would no doubt get tiresome to paint in large quantities.

Rogue Stars, the 2nd round...

o/

My grumpy little alien Bob.

We interrupt all this Space Marine goodness for a game of Rogue Stars with my Beloved Wolfy and our buddy Hoss. We were all using the same crews as we did in our first game, though in between this game and that one, Hoss and Wolfy's crews had another, separate skirmish which she won handily.

The objectives were six randomly placed, and unmarked loot tokens. Three were duds and three were worth VPs if they were hauled off of the board by a player's character. So two rival pirate crews trying to steal stuff and a Star Cops crew trying to stop them and recover the soon-to-be-stolen goods. Well that sounds about right.

This isn't really a battle report, just a few photos and highlights. 

The battlefield from Wolfy's point of view.

Taco's typical run forward and shoot something! In this case, Hoss's 'super stealthy ninja chick' near the shuttle in the background, putting her out of action. Whilst Hoss's Star Cop Sergeant skulks around in the background.

Wolfy's Bruuna. That's such a badass looking mini, though I'm a little less fond of her after she gunned down my crew's leader Catalina and then tried to shoot my medic (Bucket) as the robot was administering first aid!

Wolfy's Malakite as she pumps yet more rounds into my already bullet riddled Taco. Taco did manage to graze her with a shot, but didn't stop her from grabbing that loot counter that she's standing on and fleeing the field with it.

Over the course of the game, I managed to successfully steal 2 loot counters via Bob and ZOTT! (my minion bot who I didn't manage to get a pic of) and I took 1 enemy model out of action (shot by Taco) for a total of 9 VPs.

Wolfy managed to steal one counter as well via Malakite, and she also took 2 enemy players out of action (including my leader, Catalina) also for a total of 9VPs, so the game ended in a tie.

Hoss's Cops didn't recover any of the loot or capture any pirates, but did take Wolfy's leader B'Yonsae out of action for 3VPs.

All of the wounded were either carried off or (in the case of my robot Taco), managed to limp off of the field. The recovery of wounded crew members is quite necessary, as those lost on the field of battle could potentially die afterwards.

Likewise, as we keep using the same crews, the end-of-game VPs turn into XPs to improve the crew for a later games. Rogue Stars is a fun little diversion from the other games we play, and the closest we've come to finding something akin to RPG campaign (well, in the vaguest of terms I guess).

As you might expect, fun was had by all, and we're hoping to play again next weekend.

My next Kill Team:

****

On a totally different note, our local painting prodigy Mac (he's the guy I gave my Red Corsairs army to and his sidekick Zac) have finally started their own blog! Go and check it out: The Obsidian Tower 40k.

PRODUCTION! PRODUCTION!

o/

I have nothing on the Mordian 7th blog in terms of sheer numbers, but for me this qualifies as mass production:

These bolter grunts will fill out the ranks of my Alpha Legion army (which still does nothing to help me deal with tanks...) & moonlight as Blood Angels on occasion. In the rear you can see two of my WIP Angels Irrelevant (or whatever they will be called) Kill Team Marines.

Originality in 40k

Yeah, good luck with that...

o/

I was talking about custom space marine color schemes the other day with my buddy Sam. He had come up with a 'new' color scheme for his Kill Team marines, Purple and gold. Like the Hawk Lords I asked? and his shoulders just slumped. lol, no worries dude, finding an original color scheme in this game is nigh impossible. I mean hell, that's also the pre-heresy Emperor's Children colors...but whatever. So I just told him to go with what he liked and don't worry about it.

Not only is this an inconclusive list of Space Marine chapters (wait, where are the Smurfs?!), but its also an inconclusive list of the marines I've fielded over the years (which includes those missing Smurfs, the Storm Wardens...etc.).

Speaking of, I've also been searching for a chapter to use for my newly acquired 40k space marines for Kill Team ($20 for a NIB tac squad, why yes thank you!). However it seems like I'm just looking at the same old, same old, and/or rehashing something I've run before. In looking online for a bit of inspiration, I mis-read the name of the Angels Revenant and me being me I just ran with it, coming up with the following:

The Angels Irrelevant 

In keeping with their chapter name, this enigmatic chapter of Adeptus Astartes is all but unknown. An official search into the Imperial Archives of Terra, instigated by the Ordo Hereticus revealed little to nothing. It would seem that the the adepts responsible simply couldn't be bothered to record anything for posterity. No chapter lineage, founding date, home world, fleet and/or unit strength, only the rare and scattered reports of an unknown Astartes chapter engaging in small unit surgical assaults (indeed, they were the same such reports which lead to this investigation in the first place). The knowledge that there is more known of the so-called Legion of the Damned than there is of the Angels Irrelevant alarms Ordo Hereticus to no end… 

The only troop types thus far encountered have been Tactical and Scout marines, and never numbering more than a dozen or so individuals at any one time. Leading investigators to assume that their total Chapter strength to be less than one company. 

The name 'Angels Irrelevant' is only known due to a single, garbled vox intercept of inter-squad communications, believed to be rallying their battle brothers to prevail upon the enemy.

Livery is black and dark grayish-blue armor with a dull silver Aquilas. Tactical Arrows are displayed on the helmet and presumably display the company color. Scouts wear black armor with dark grayish-blue fatigues, but neither tactical marines nor Scouts show any other insignia aside from their chest plate Aquilas. 

Gee, that sounds familiar...

Curiously, a few tactical marines have been seen wearing Deathwatch heraldry. However inquiries into the matter sent to the Ordo Xenos have been ignored by the highest levels of the Ordo.

So will I use that? I'm so indecisive (like you couldn't already tell...), all I can say is: maybe. Then again I have a bunch of cool, custom decals that would work for the Black or Star Dragons so maybe I'll choose one of them instead. 

Or, maybe something all together different...who the fuck knows at this point.

Blood for the machine god!

o/

It seems that Bob and Screech beat up on me so badly in our game of Kill Team that I awoke Sunday feeling like my shoulder was destroyed. Seriously, no idea what happened to it, but luckily I already had this post's mini painted up and ready to go:

Actually, my techmarine-now-Forgelord was painted years ago. All I did this go round was add a 'IX' decal for the Blood Angels Legion, as there wasn't enough room for a BA icon, and added some 'blood for the blood god' paint onto his 'heavy chain blade'.

They match fairly closely despite the techmarine being painted years ago.

To that i added a new 30mm base with a creepy little cherubin-cyber familiar toting a rad grenade. Blood Angels need one less to wound in HTH combat. The rad grenade lowers the toughness of an enemy unit in the 1st round of HTH, so with the Forgelord attached to a tac squad, these boys will be wounding on a 2+ which is a frightening prospect for any enemy SM unit!

Which means they'll most likely just get shot off of the table instead.

Where the fluff meets the sprue...

o/

So…this is a little bit of a rant the percolated out of the comments that Greg Hess and I exchanged on my previous post regarding the new, plastic Mk III Space Marine sprues. Just give me a minute to practice my crotchety old geezer voice...

After assembling 40k space marines for for years, as well as the more recent Mk IVs from the Betrayal of Calth set, I (apparently wrongly) expected GW would follow the same tried and true route with their new Burning of Prospero Mk III tactical marines. Yeah I know, stupid on my part right? Right.

Complaint #1: Why in the hell are the legs in 2 pieces? 

Wait what?

Seriously, aside from taking longer to assemble, and taking up more room on the sprue, what does that add? The poses aren't more dynamic. Hell, if anything they're more static than the norm! (see Complaint #4 below) Forgeworld could make the legs in one piece, but GW could not…apparently do so in plastic. Also the mold lines are quite hard to remove due to the myriad collection of rivets all over the place. Greggles has subjected himself to correcting that nightmare whereas I have decided that they're not visually bad enough to warrant me doing more damage than good (to the rivets) to bother trying to remove them. 

Complaint #2: Why in the hell are the back packs in 2 pieces?

Um...seriously?

Yes apparently the legs weren't enough, meaning now we have 2-part backpacks. No idea why that was necessary either, its not like they're a really funky design or anything. The design is nothing worse than the CSM backpacks. No, they were just made to take up twice as much space on the sprue for no conceivable reason. Makes me wonder if this was an attempt to make life difficult for ebay bitz resellers that failed or something...

Complaint #3: Why aren't there different heavy weapon options?

Sure the heavy bolter looks cool (I would know, I have a dev squad full of em), but we all know that MLs are much better at killing marines and vehicles. The ML (or something else) was no doubt omitted due to the extra amount of space that was wasted by the legs and backpacks.

Complaint #4: They all have really static poses.

Swivel your helms to the left, then swivel 'em to the right...

Yes, yes, assault marines and Wulfen aside (do the Wulfen really even qualify as marines?), Spess Mahreens aren't known for super dynamic poses. That said, let's give a big and hearty WELCOME BAAAAAACK to the 1980s and its super statically posed Space Marines! I'm not saying I wanted more Karate Kid posed minis (that Wulfen is bad enough to not be repeated), but at least the Mk IVs had some possibility beyond just swiveling the head from one side to another, the Mk IIIs? Well, yeah that's just about all they offer. Hasn't technology evolved since the the days of spin-casted lead minis? Thanks to cutting edge design, we now have CAD, injection molding, and the same static poses as 30 years prior. Woot!

We all know that fluff-wise, the Mk IV armor was an improvement over the older Mk III design, but as a fluff-player I have to say:

 'For fuck's sake GW, did you have to include that little bit of history in the damned sprues?' 

Whilst I like the armor's aesthetic appearance, I'm sure you've figured out by now that I'm less than pleased with these new minis. I like em, but I also don't like em...I dunno, I suppose that any future 30k tactical marine purchases will likely be either more Mk IVs, or else Mk VIs poached out of 40k tac squad box.