Maelee, the 'female' space marine

Purists like Neverness, no doubt already feel their gorge rising at this heretical notion...

So...given that the Primaris marines shit-canned decades of fluff by their sudden appearance into 40k, I ask why stop there? If Cawl could so improve upon the Emprah's work, why couldn't he exponentially double the potential recruitment pool by adding in female space marines?

Note the ANGRY MAHREENZ!!! trademark power wrench in her hand. No doubt she prized it from the grip of it's previous owner's still twitching corpse.

Entirely chauvinistic reasons aside, I still like to think of the two missing Legions that even the traitor astartes won't discuss as being female legions. I mean seriously, what holds their treacherous tongues on the subject?

 (30k and 40k fanboi nerd rage in 3, 2, 1...)

I shaved off the accent plate on her torso just beneath the collar to make room for an Aquila decal or the like.

Maelee, is Bombshell Minis' Gencon release mini, and a fine one at that I think! I didn't care for her not-bolt rifle and power pack (can't be too similar so as to avoid a lawsuit...) and so replaced them with a spare arm, holster and then sacrificed an actual primaris marine for his backpack. 

Yeah, I need to attach a helmet to her belt so as to add the obligatory Lt. stripes.

In the rare event that she sees the table top rather than just the display case, she'll serve as a Primaris Lieutenant (well of course, lol). I was thinking of painting her up in the colors of the ANGRY MARINES!!!! arch nemesis-the Pretty Marines. 

Da boyz iz back in town!

 o/

My assembled Kill Team Ork Kommandos:

Honestly, they really are beautiful sculpts!

As I've sold off my KT rules and tokens, these will instead be folded into my Ork army's scant infantry forces (increasing it by almost a third)! The only speshulists built were the rokkit launcha boy to round out my Tankbustas to an even dozen (+ bomb squig), and da snipa which will serve as a big shoota since his gun is already a big shoota with stock, scope and flash suppressor added. 

I also modified the sluggas with the horizontal muzzles that made them look more like giant flat-head screws rather than gun barrels-seriously what the hell is up with that design? Are da boys stealing shuriken ammo from da panzies now? I think not...

Oops! I forgot to add in the mouthful of grenades. Oh well...

....annnnnnd I'm broke.

Well, not really. However my buying new toys budget is frozen for a bit as at this point I have so many new minis to build and paint that I don't even know where to start! I perused the new KT rules and was so thrilled with the updates that those plus the tokens and dumb movement tools are on eBay with one bid and almost a dozen watchers! It'll be good riddance to them. 

Rules aside, there's still a metric ton of plastic in the box and having seen the built minis and terrain at the FLGS where I bought these, I'll definitely be hanging onto those!! I'll probably build those minis first now that I think of 'em...

After spending a bloody fortune, I came back a bit later for a game of X-wing with Frankie. Here's a few highlight pics rather than a bat rep, as being a week after playing, I don't recall all of the details specifically. That said it was my first win against him. A good thing too as he was starting to feel bad for me...lol. 

My wily opponent looking pleased as Chewbacca and the Wookie commandos aboard his YT-1300 The Red Kraken waylay into my Scoutmaster 3000 in turn two. 

A truly uneven contest though I did take a good chunk of the Kraken's shields out in one volley much to Frankie's surprise.

Turn 3, it died. Not sure but think this is only my second use of this ship and I don't think I liked it the first go 'round either...

My Y-wing, down to it's last hit point instructs Frankie on the fine art of blocking and thus avoiding getting shot for 2 turns or so, much to his annoyance. 

That said it did blow up, but only did so shortly before the Kraken itself also went BOOM! Up until this game he starting to believe it was invincible I think as I'd previously only inflicted minimal damage to it.  

Down to his last, shieldless X-wing and just a little shocked at how good my StarViper was (it was still undamaged), Frankie's last X-Wing bolted off of the table, escaping to fight another day!

Gettin' in (Heavy) Gear

 o/

A Warrior IV. This was one of my first purchases and as it turns out...it wasn't the model I actually wanted. Oh well.

Yes, yes...as mentioned previously I'm revisiting an old, dead game that I got rid of way back in 2015. However, Heavy Gear seems to have had some new life breathed into it here of late. My buddies Rob and Scott have been playing this fairly frequently and I've heard that a few other folks are looking into it as well. 

I have the rule book (a printed out PDF) as well as the unit compendium (non-printed PDF), and 8 Gears built, with another 5 on the way. Currently, my forces as built clock in at 65pts, which is a bit over the minimum 50pts for a skirmish game. The Gears I have on order will round my little army up to 100pts., which is more or less the average game size. 

The convoluted rules that have plagued Heavy Gear in the past have supposedly been majorly simplified in this 3rd edition, but they don't read too much like it to me (not that they do in most any gaming rule book that i read...). Rob & Scott seem to have 'em figured out, and are still playing. That's what I was waiting for before throwing my hat into the ring.

Once that Warrior IV wanders off to take on the role of unit duelist (it's a thing in the HGB universe), this Strike section will become instead a GP section with a lower grade gear taking it's place.

Similarly, the Metal Cat (far left) and Ferret (far right) will join two incoming Iguanas to form a Recon section, and be replaced with two GP gears with Light Bazookas (or something similar) like the two Chasseurs in the middle. 

My favorite faction has always been the desert dwelling Badlanders, and as such my Gears are a mishmash of units from the major powers of Terra Nova (the games's principle setting). Gears from Peace River and NuCoal(-ition) are the most common (once my new arrivals get here that is) with a smattering of Gears from the Polar Nations as well. 

For those not familiar with the background, Peace River and NuCoal are two newer,  'nation-states' that have formed in the equatorial desert known as the badlands. As such they tend to support smaller independent settlements in hopes of building relationships and more importantly, securing buyers for their wares. Whereas the Gears coming from the northern and southern factions/suppliers are more likely repaired battlefield salvage, 2nd or 3rd hand purchases, or else Northern/Southern deserters and their rides.

Anyways, in total I'll have 13 Gears @ 100pts., one each of Recon, General Purpose and Fire Support sections along with an independent duelist (the Warrior IV from the top pic). Being from an as-yet unidentified minor faction, their equipment tends to be obsolete simpler, older and more robust. 

Recon Gears aside, all the rest are variations of the basic gears of all of the major factions allowing for the ease of repair and replacement parts and more commonly available ammo types. All of which are essential when considering that these are both isolated and cash strapped Badlanders. 

I'll hopefully add infantry and armor in time...to add in some variation assuming this actually takes off and we start playing regularly.