My 2nd 8th ed 40k game

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As I mentioned in my prior post, I gave 8th ed another try this past Saturday. With four players, of which three of us (myself included) only had a cursory knowledge of the new rules, and one actual 8th ed veteran player, we opted for a 2 v. 2 team game. With 750ish points per side our opponents were the Tyranids and the Death Korps of Krieg-turned-Genestealer Cult (poor Courtland, his DKK usually gets lumped in with Chaos, but never loyalist marines it seems).

Against this veritable tide of little gribblies and Guardsmen were the Glorious Dark Angels featured in my previous post, and my Rainbow Warriors which, true to form, was the only not-fully painted army on the table. Yay.

We opted for kill points, and no command points to keep things simple, though even then it was a seemingly endless marathon game that we called at the bottom of turn 4 (11:30 pm). We all had fun and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! In the end the Nids won out with 3 Kps plus first blood, whereas we only earned 3 KPs  despite having so, sooooo many models to grind thru.... 

What follows is my usual photo dump, captioned with random highlights. My thanks to Neverness who volunteered to be combat camerman for a goodly portion of the game.

Can ya guess what deployment we used? 

Turn 1 and the Dark Talon swoops in and starts strafing the hordes!

Massed autocannon fire along with my Primaris marines,
all shooting at and failing to kill the Flyrant...

Said Flyrant mocking us with its majesty!

Unfortunately the Dark Talon only has so many guns....

The Gribbly tide lurches forward...

With the demise of my Rhino (1st blood), my Captain and accompanying Combat Squad steel themselves for their approaching demise...

Accursed Zoe's, they can take an inordinate amount of punishment and yet they just keep on floating forward.

Instead of receiving one, the Rainbow warriors charge themselves and my Captain slaughters the cavalry! The few survivors would soon thereafter rout giving us one of our few kill points of the game. 

The thin primered line follows up into more gribblies and guardsmen.

I hate it when a beastie like that pops up out of the ground! Unfortunately, my Predator's autocannon did little more to draw its attention than anything else...

The Flyrant & Dark Talon 'dogfight' for several rounds, badly damaging each though both remained airborne thru to the end.

Unlike my dreadfully performing Aurora Chapter scouts, the Rainbow Warrior scouts proved to be shockingly resilient (though per standard procedure they were wiped out). Here is my remaining Sgt., tying up some DKK for a turn or three.

Ugh, more Gribblies! So many gribblies...

The Primaris marines were slogging thru the other end of the hoard.

The dogfight continues overhead to little effect.

My other combat squad gets stuck in as well. It must be said that the DKK's ability to fire their lasguns as pistols in HTH has frightening potential!!

With his accompanying combat squad dead, my captain continues to hack away with his Prismatic Blade (Teeth of Terra), remaining unwounded by game's end. 

So the' new guy' says: I have a Golden Daemon painted army...

Okay, so nothing new here right? Usually the standard operating procedure of many gamers coming into a new group is to show off their paint jobs. If they're better than the local's minis then the'll get the obligatory they'll oohs and ahhs. If not they'll generally be nice and act impressed anyways. I've found this to be kinda the norm.

So the new guy in question, Micheal,  the same guy I mentioned in my adapt to 8th ed or die post, well we finally got to meet up at the FLGS this past Saturday night. However prior to that, he said (quote) Have a golden daemon painted army, all of it. 

That...is a pretty strong statement, and I'm not going to lie, I had a side convo with Rob about ebay's infamous pro-painted armies and the like, figuring it would be like that. I was sure it was a nice looking army though, and he was just embellishing a bit as we all do (though perhaps not quite that much). Well, I got to the FLGS an then...

OH.

MY.

GOD.

Okay, now I've seen some amazing armies in my time, but...but this is...well enough of my rambling, here see for yourself:

The free handing on that banner...

The passengers are magnetized to show when  they've disembarked. 

 

I hate this model, but those windows...

Some would say that an army/collection like this is an inspiration. Not to me, this is so far outta my league that I've never aspired to such heights! Seriously, its just unbelievable, and my cell phone pics do it no justice!! I teamed up with these minis for another 8th ed game, which I'll detail in my next post.

Wreck-Age Technical is complete!

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I present to you: the Hickory Tree Militia!

Welp, its all done and I'm pretty happy with the results! Now the question is, what to do with this aside from just watch it collect dust on a shelf (the fate of many a fine mini). The most likely candidates for use are either as a terrain piece we often refer to local bat reps as being fought here in the Appalachian Subsector, or else (and well down the road), as a lo-tech stand in for a no-longer-in-production, Forgeworld Tauros Assault Vehicle. 

As for the model itself, it's clearly from eastern Tennessee! Indeed, as stated previously, aside from the hillbilly armor, weaponry and brush guard from hell it could easily exist in the present day, not just the post apocalypse! Actually on second thought, that brush guard might exist on a local vehicle today as well...

Apparently there's no car washes following the apocalypse...

 But for those wondering, here are the obvious Tennessee identifiers:

Well for starters, there's tattered state flag covering the rear roof area. Let me tell you that even with the use of a stencil, that was a bitch to do-but worth it in the end. Then there's the not only not matching, but ubiquitous orange body panels. An all too often sight here in Eastern TN (that one was right here in my home town...). 

Not recommended to try, but the flag came out pretty good I think.

Then of course there's the non-US military standard and thus home-painted camouflage door from yet another vehicle. Vehicles painted in such a manner are a dime-a-dozen around here too (indeed I saw one the other day that was so well done I only noticed it do to its giant tires!). 

Additionally, that door bears the partially obscured emblem of the Eridani Light Pony, a Mechwarrior Online 'Clan' that combines a love of Battletech and Bronies...uh, and The My Little Pony cartoon who's founders live just down the road in Johnson City, TN (well, the one who never moved out of his Mom's house still does anyways).

Pay no attention to the radioactive symbols, they mean nothing lol!

The logos on the back of the car, obscured by both the flag and the excessive grime portend that this may have once been a food/take out delivery vehicle. However given that the replacement piece of metal on the driver's side door, as well as the rear doors apparently were scavenged from some nuclear waste containers or the like (also available around here), I wouldn't buy whatever they're selling if I were you! No doubt such symbols are no longer understood by this point in time.

The requisite kitty in the cube photo.

All in all, not only was this a fun little project to work on, and over all I'd say it has been one of my best miniature-related Kickstarter impulse buys! Also don't worry Mordian! They said they had run out but are casting up more which no doubt includes your missing car(s?). 

Commander Shadow Sun Part 1

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After slathering my Wreck-Age technical in half a bottle of Agrax Earthshade ink, I did the only sensible thing a gamer could do whilst waiting for the ink to dry: I started on another project. That being my Beloved Wolfy's Commander Shadow Sun, the leader of her Fem Fa' Tau army. 

Pink trimmed guns are especially good at killing space marines!

I've been wanting to paint this mini for awhile anyways, and got the base colors on at least. I did have a little fun with Neverness, texting him that I was painting Ultramarines. He thought I'd (quote) gone mad, until he realised I was just referring to the Smurf debris that litters Shadow Sun's base. 

Perhaps I should add a Primaris helmet too...

I hope to have the technical finished for my next post, after which this mini is next in line.

Trying not to go the way of the dinosaurs…

Okay, so with my recent purchase of some Primaris marines, I’m trying to adapt to 8th ed 40k. Not going to lie, its okay…but certainly not inspiring. To be honest, 8th ed reminds me a lot of the mental shock that was the jump from 2nd to 3rd ed 40k (which I also resisted full force). However, in regards to our local gaming group, without moving forward into the new edition, we’re already stagnating and that's only going to get worse... 

When it comes to the death of 40k locally, I think that asteroid might be better labeled as the entry of 7th ed rather than 8th...

Sure there’s other games, but everyone is all over the place on what they want to play (and the FLGS primarily sells 40k). Just showing up with a 40k army (or any game’s army) and being all but guaranteed to find an easy pick up game with somebody is a fond memory. Instead, due to the lack of consistency in regards to what we're playing, we have to schedule something in advance and then hope that whomever we're playing doesn't bail last minute.

We have a FB group, and there’s always a signup for game night, but of the 230+ members, only two dozen or so are ‘regulars’ and out of them, getting anyone to actually commit to going is kindova sad joke (and of course there are those who ignore the FB group posts all together and just show up at random).

What we really need are some new people to breathe some new life into the group, but therein lies the problem. New people want to play 8th ed. 40k, but when they come and find we aren’t playing it, they have little want come back. 

Just another wayward soul, looking for an 8th ed opponent...

So…I guess this is it guys and gals. Either we adapt to what’s new, or else we need to eBay off our collections (an idea I’m dangerously close to doing already…) and find some new hobbies, because at this point our gaming group is on life support! 

Wreck-Age Technical WIP

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I gotta little brush time this week, and decided to work on my Wreck-Age combat car (or technical as I prefer to call it). Whilst I'm not really familiar with the game's fluff, given the post-apocalyptic setting I would imagine that if a car is damaged, they can't just call their insurance company, get a check and have the car repaired as it was before at the local body shop. 

This is the usual, early-fugly stage. All of my vehicles have to go thru this, though they're generally not quite this colorful. 

Thus, as you can see, this jalope has body panels from a variety of other cars, or even just random pieces of affixed pieces of metal, hence the multiple colors. Ya know come to think of it...were it not for the armor plating, roof mounted weaponry, and the brush guard that is clearly designed to kill people, this car wouldn't be out of place here in present day Tennessee.

Yee haw...

Behold: Rainbow Warriors Chapter Master Profanitus!

Former captain of the 9th Reserve Company 

(and last senior officer standing)

Speaker of the most colorful of language...

...and bearer of the Prismatic Blade,

the last surviving relic weapon of the chapter.

I can assure you that rainbow colored chainsaw teeth will be happening!

The Prismatic Blade will represent the Teeth of Terra relic weapon. 'What's that you say? You can't have a duplicate of a named relic weapon?' Yeah, whatever, there's already two of them, but I've ranted on that subject already (last 3 paragraphs). Besides, don't bad(ass) things come in '3's?

MO DAKKA!

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Notta whole lot of progress on the hobby front this week aside from priming a bucket load of minis which is anything but exciting. I had intended on posting a Kill Team battle report, however whilst Da Long Ways Dezert Groop is capable of slogging for 20 minutes thru a torrential downpour, my opposing forces who live 10 minutes from the FLGS, and more importantly were merely suffering from lightly raining conditions and didn't want to come out due to the inclement weather. 

Apparently, in the Grim Darkness of the Future, war is only fought (inside) on a sunny day.

Deth to oomes!

So instead all I have on offer is my meager painting progress of finishing off the half-painted (for ages now) 'MO DAKKA!' Mo earned his name way back when, in the one Shadow War game that I played where he proved to be far more effective than any one Shoota boy ought to be. He's one of the Maxmini Green Alliance Kickstarter minis and is now serving unda da kommand of SCHULTZ! as one of my two Blood Axe Kommando big shoota boys. 

Only 3 more Kommandos to paint. ETA of squad completion: a year or three...

However unlike his lone performance in Shadow War, we all know that Ork Kommandos haven't been worth a damn since 2nd ed 40k, so odds are he'll just die horribly in the typical Kommando fashion.

The Primaris marines have landed!

Yay?

Leading from the front
is only for the obsolete
space marines!

As I've stated previously, I like the basic Primaris marine minis and I'm making another (perhaps futile?) attempt to try and like 8th ed. Thus I picked up a Lieutenant along with a cheap squad of seven Intercessors to integrate into what is/was my Rainbow Warriors Kill Team.

Lieutenant Budderbarz will temporarily serve as the army commander and is armed with a master-crafted Stalker pattern bolt rifle. Being armed with a 'heavy' weapon, he'll be a more sensible Space Marine commander who hangs back and directs traffic whilst supporting his troops with covering fire rather than just charging headlong into every fray.

Options? We don't need no stinkin' options!

The squad is just a bunch of no-frills grunts (not that their codex entry really allows for any). These additions along with my Predator, and a sqaud of tac marines borrowed from my unpainted 30k stocks will flesh out my Rainbow Warriors to the 1k mark, which is a decent enough starter force. However, aside from a captain that's already on order, I have no plans for this army's expansion beyond these minis (and its probable 30k will steal it's minis back assuming I ever get everything painted!).