My first batch of Dark Eagle Space Marines

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They're already almost halfway as far as the Black Dragons made it.

As mentioned in my last post, I have a new space marine army that I am working on. Well, new isn't entirely correct, none of these models are new, just their color scheme is. The Dark Eagles are a canon chapter about which very little is known, see?

A lieutenant, the must have for every new army!

After watching Secret Level, I am sure everyone will be naming their Lieutenants Titus. This guy however shall remain nameless for the time being.

Another 5th company army? Soon it will be revealed as to why I went this route again. 

Left to my own devices, with little to no precedent to follow, I've gone for a dark (appropriate given their name), gritty, battle worn appearance. I tried some painted on battle damage which is a bit of an experiment for me. I'm liking it so far. Olive drab painted marines have a reputation for being sneaky marines, especially if they are of Raven Guard heritage.

This guy's base is covered in dead vegetation...or is it?

I wanted to buck that trend however, so instead these marines are cleansing the Deathworld of Prism, which is even more colorful than Sesame Street! Indeed, their armor is just as out of place on these bases as most any other Chapter's would be. Likewise I wanted a fair bit of shiny gold ornamentation on the Lt., as you can see above. I like the golden faceplate in particular, I may do that on the Sternguard. 

Hellblasters, the backbone of my marine armies. The glowy green plasma coils don't stand out quite as much as they did on my Smurfs. Of course these guys aren't pushing their weapons into the cautionary color range either...

Again, I think the scraped and scarred tactical markings add a bit of realism. 

As I did on my Smurfs previously (who are only about a dozen models shy of being fully painted), I've opted to do my batch painting with a smattering of marines from different units. As opposed to five of the same type at once. It mixes things up a little, and keeps from have one painted squad to stand out amongst the primed and/or bare plastic hordes. 

This week (or two's) batch o' marines. The Intercessor in the first pic was done previously. 

A tour of duty of the deathworld of Prism

 An Astartes chapter, now erased from history once called this deathworld home. They discovered an ancient, subterranean xenos portal of some sort and either tried to open or destroy it. Instead the portal fractured, tearing a hole in the fabric of reality that could not be closed. Despite their desperate attempts to contain the disaster, they were lost in the ensuing cataclysm. 

The Inquisition stepped in and ordered Exterminatus, but not even their cyclonic torpedoes could close the portal. Nor eliminate the wretched taint of the warp emanating from it. Prism was erased from all maps and star charts, yet it's screams in the ether mark it as a blazing beacon of terror to Psykers and Navigators alike. 

Periodically, the High Lords will dispatch an Astartes chapter to the world to cleanse it of whatever foul horrors have populated it via the warp breach, be they Xenos, Daemon or Heretic. Every arriving strike cruiser announces itself with an orbital bombardment, but it is just a formality. Only boots on the soiled ground, bolters, blades and holy flames can properly cleanse this blighted planet. For a little while, at least.

The last chapter to take up this grim duty was the 5th Battle Company of the Black Dragons, the proverbial foxes guarding the hen house. Only the Emperor knows what trophies those vile mutants  collected. Rather than purging this rock of the warp's taint the Dragons likely saw it as an opportunity for a recruitment drive. It is only the sad state of the Imperium of Man that such tainted Astartes are even tolerated. 

Now that the Dark Eagles' 5th Company has arrived, this shattered Prism shall be properly cleansed!

Early Christmas presents!

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I love that woman!

We stopped into Hobbytown USA (one of my old FLGS') while we were in Tennessee, I was looking to restock up on some hobbying supplies. While I can find minis aplenty down here in South Carolina, I have yet to find a good local supplier of the Gamers Grass tufts, laser cut plants, and Vallejo's primers. GW paints and a few other brands, no problem, but the aforementioned items I have been having to order off of Amazon, eBay and Gamecraft minis. 

Coupon in hand I was looking at what to get without going overboard when my beautiful wife said that she hadn't gotten me much for Christmas yet as she didn't know what to buy. So her suggestion: stock up! As you can see I was happy do to so! 

What happens when you put a teddy bear in a blender?

Well, let's just say that it does not end well for the teddy bear...

As you can see, I played my first ever game of Star Wars Legion. My little army got rave reviews from the folks at the shop as it was just 4 models shy of being fully painted. Indeed, one of the FLGS owners commented: So, you've clearly been buying and painting these for quite awhile, but you're only playing your first ever game now? Weird. 

The four unpainted minis were only acquired about a week or so ago. 

My opponent Jake (the FLGS' other co-owner) had only played a few games previously himself, so we were both more or less stumbling though the motions, though admittedly I was more than he. 

I fielded a generic Rebel officer, no upgrades

(2) Squads of Rebel Troopers, each with an extra trooper and a Z-6 gunner

A squad of Veterans with an extra veteran and an upgrade card that I totally forgot about, so isn't worth mentioning

A squad of Ewoks with 'Charge' and an Axe Ewok

AT-RT with a rotary blaster

Landspeeder with a refurbished Gonk droid, RPS-6 rocket gunner, hotshot pilot and a Mk II medium blaster

Jake had General Grievous

Cad Bane (he's as bad ass on the table as he is on screen)

(2) squads of 2 Droidekas

and a double squad of B-1 Battle droids with a special weapon of some sort. 

The scenario had 6 objectives which were quickly forgotten about (though they partly won me the game), secondary objectives were totally forgotten as well. 

Even though they were not on 40mm bases, the moisture evaporators were still the objectives.

B-1s suck, unless there are a lot of them...

With the B1's opening volley, they crippled the AT-RT despite having armor 2 (which cancels 2 hit outright). While it would move no further being reduced to 1 action per turn, it's rotary blaster exacted revenge, halving the B-1 squad!

Turn 2 and I got to go first with the Ambush command card. The Ewoks charged the Droidekas and a spectator asked how the Ewoks were going to kill Droidekas with sticks? My answer: PLOT ARMOR!

Not quite sure where the aim token came from, in hindsight that may have been issued erroneously...or maybe it was a command card?

The Rebel line advancing between the rocks and my fallen AT-AT.

The already wounded Doideka falls to the Teddy bears and they also wound the second one. 

Which promptly with draws from combat and the 2nd squad of Droidekas hose down the Ewoks. killing most of them!

A rebel squad and the AT-RT finish off the B1s. 

The Ewok leader tries to rally the Axe Ewok...

This looks like an epic fight.

It was not.

Air and orbital strikes dish out loads of suppression (vehicles don't suffer from suppression, another mistake). Unfortunately, Grievous found himself out in the open & the speeder hit him with everything it had, wounding him badly.

Cad Bane, taking out squads, and immobilizing more with frighteningly brutal efficiency! With only 1 action, and the rotary blaster out of arc, the AT-RT's pilot pulls out his rifle and one handedly puts 2 crits into Bane! That pilot is a Chiss you know...

No more pics were taken from this point forward, but the Rebel officer managed to put another wound on Cad Bane and also finished off the ailing (well, more than the usual) General Grievous. At that point, I was up by a point, and all Jake had left was the wounded Cad Bane and 2 Droidekas. I still had 1 or 2 of my veterans, the damaged AT-RT, the speeder, and unhurt officer. It was getting late and not seeing as path to victory he ran up the white flag. 

That was fun, I need a full hand of command cards though, I'll need to remedy that before my next game. I know we screwed up several things, but nothing really all that game changing. The Ewoks performed well, though were the glass cannon I expected them to be. Most of the rest performed decently and/or about as i had expected them to. The only exception being the Rebel officer who might deserve a name right out of the gate as he was quite the marksman. 

*****

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving! Frankie is up at his Dad's in Virginia for the holiday. As such, we have to come up and get him. I am not looking forward to a 12-14 hour round trip. It should be only 10-12 hours, but the holiday traffic, a blocked interstate due to this year's hurricanes, and a lousy weather forecast means it will be slower going. Nonetheless, we will be up in TN for a few days for Thanksgiving at my Aunt's house. The fam in Knoxville is mad at us again as a result, despite the reality that the aforementioned blocked interstate would add another 4-5ish hours round trip to go to see them (ah yes, the joy that the holidays bring...). 

I'll be packing light, but am planning on getting a small game of Battletech in with Screech at our Airbnb on Black Friday. My apologies to Neverness & the rest, no room in the car for a 40K army. I am already done Christmas shopping, so will not be partaking in the shopping madness, other than to swing by the old Hobbytown which will be right up the street from where we will be staying.

Soooo...what would you call this?

 

Cross contamination perhaps?

I just painted this as 1-off for my own amusement. That said, after looking back on this here blog, this is the first marine that I've painted since May, and the first here in South Carolina. Ironically, it is well camouflaged for the 'aquarium basing' as Neverness likes to call it. 

My next post ought to be about the learn-to-play game of Star Wars Legion that I am going to play this evening. I will be fielding my 500 points of Rebels using my own army which is a mere 4 infantry models short of being fully painted. Usually the first time I try to play a new game, I'm lucky to have 4 models with primer, much less paint on them. 

Bolt Action US Winter infantry squad

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. 

Last week when at the FLGS, I picked up the new plastic US winter infantry platoon boxed set for Bolt Action. I put them together, primed them OD green, and was promptly told by Frankie that I could've gotten a bag of green army guys at the Dollar General for a lot less. 

It was kinda hard to argue that point. 

The squad's BAR gunner and a Grunt. I brushed the tops of the tufts with PVA glue (as well as the base) before dipping the mini in the snow flock. I then added a bit of green flock to break up the solid white of the rest of the bases.

Four rifle grunts, from various sides to show all of their kit. 

The NCO with a Thompson SMG, and a grunt taking a sip from his canteen.

 Now that I have a platoon of 30 guys, I figured I'd start out by painting the biggest squad which you can see above. With eight models painted, I'm almost a third of the way thru the platoon already! I wanted it to look at the though snowflakes were sticking to their woolen coats, and so I dry-brushed these with white which came out pretty good I think. 

The painted portion of my force thus far. 

All told, my army actually clocks in at 850 points. One of the guys on the FLGS's discord said to give him a month or so to work on his Germans and then maybe we can start stumbling thru some games. So with luck there might be a battle report on here before the year is out.

Winter is coming...

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Stay frosty...

Well, not here in South Carolina. Despite being November now, the air condition is still running and I haven't stopped wearing shorts every day. So winter is coming somewhere else. But hey, why not make a winter themed army? Our son Frankie has already noted the irony of moving south and painting a wintery themed tank.

Take note of the pinup art on the turret side, its pretty much indecipherable on the finished tank.

I just bought another one of these from the same seller to ensure the same print quality and scale. 

I bought this on a whim way back when I was still working on my former Sikh army. It has survived the purging of that force when it failed to generate any momentum in the game locally. Long before I had even started the Sikhs, Bolt Action had died a quiet death in our end of east Tennessee. However, after buying the rulebook here recently, there seems to be some local interest in starting up some Bolt Action.

Pinup? What Pinup?

The problem with 3D prints is I'm now going to have buy some white star decals.

($6 on eBay, done!)

The FLGS' owner was told by the rep for Warlord games that his store is the only game shop within hundreds of miles stocking their minis. So uh yeah, we're an isolated bunch. How gamer like. I posted the finished pics in the local discord and immediately received several compliments as well as my buddy Nick 2.0 mulling starting an army now. This evening when I go to play some Battletech, I'm planning on picking up a platoon of the new plastic winter American infantry. Those along with the 2 Chaffees will give me a 750 point force to get started with. 

Trick or Treat!

I'll leave it up to you to decide just which this post is...

This distraction is the real culprit. 

Long time no post (well, on this blog anyways). The Buffet Assault Group however has been going strong in this blog's absence. Especially as Battletech is the only game I've been playing and painting minis for here of late. Nonetheless, hope for this blog may be on the horizon...

You find all sorts of forgotten purchases when you have to move your collection from one house to another.

First up, I finished reading thru the Bolt Action 3rd ed. rulebook, and have watched a few battle reports online. I recently got some OD green spray paint and primed the 3D printed Chaffee light tank above. Currently, this is the entirety of my Bolt Action 'army'.

The base is primed as well. 

I also recently primed my Star Wars Legion Dewback rider. I'm hoping this won't be too hard to paint. Indeed it looks to be more of an inking and dry brushing dream. I also recently acquired a pair of used and (decently) paint Imperial scout speeder bikes (plus another R4 droid just because).

Good enough for now, these may be touched up at some point in the future. 

Leaving the Occupier tank out, these bring me up to a mostly painted 500 point skirmish force. The FLGS has learn to play nights almost weekly, so I'll have to make it to one of those I guess to try and figure Legion out for myself. 

So that's all I have for now. It's not much but it is what it is, I'll see you all in November (at some point).

Continuing a Love/Hate relationship...

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I haven't even cracked open the book yet.

I bought this on a whim as the FLGS had it discounted. I also got the free mini that came with it, that of Medal of Honor recipient Francis S. Currey. I may pick up the new and finally in plastic winter US infantry, or give the Quar another shot at Weird War II. I still have a handful of metal Quar including a universal carrier, as well of my newer plastic Royalist minis that I haven't done anything with. I mentioned this idea to a few folks at the FLGS and the idea was pretty well received. 

We shall see I guess...

Not dead, just distracted...

 o/

Ready to Avenge all things Dire...

Just letting you know that I am still alive. Shortly after my last post, when I spoke of needing a break from painting my Il-Kaithe, I played a game of Battletech, my first game played here in South Carolina. Two days later my Battletech Kickstarter minis arrived and all of my attention has been over on my TBAGers blog since. 

I got a cheap squad of 10 Dire Avengers on eBay, sans targeters. Nobody has those bitz available however and well, they'd inevitably just break anyways. As such, I got some Corsair backpack bitz to use in their stead.

That all said, yesterday I needed a break from painting mechs and tanks and so painted this guy up. He came out a little darker than anticipated, but isn't too bad for a 1-day turn around. Also of note (and I am sure that Neverness will no doubt notice), is that this mini is the first to debut a new shade of my alien 'aquarium plant' colored tufts. 

Oh yeah, mold lines-still got 'em!

I have a mix of 13 Dire Avengers and Dark Reapers still on my desk yet to paint. Meaning I haven't forgotten about this project. Its just that 40k has fallen onto the back burner. Several of the folks that I've met in the local Battletech crowd also play 40k. Neverness has also inquired about the next time I'll be in Tennessee in hopes of a game. So 40k will come back around to the fore after a bit I'm sure. 

Il-Kaithe Guardian Defender Squad is complete!

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All ready to get obliterated at the enemy's earliest possible convenience!

Well, I milked this squad for all they were worth, now didn't I? (4) posts till completion equals 2.75 models per post (counting 11 with the separate model for the star cannon). It sounds paltry, and indeed it is compared to some folks out there. For me however, I'd call that about average (well, aside from the Covid quarantine Tau painting extravaganza of early 2022). 

The Final Four. Their Bayonets have been bloodied, though given how effective these guys are in close combat, they were likely bayonetting some Mon'keigh civilians or something similarly verminous.

Still, these weren't the slog that I expected them to be, Indeed I even managed to get a lone Dark Reaper and Farseer painted in along with them. Currently, I have the other four Dark Reapers and a full 10-Strong squad of Dire Avengers left to paint. All told these will bring me up to 400 points. Thus I've been searching eBay for a deal on something cheap to round out the first 500 points.

Yet another Guardian frolicking amongst the Venusian fly traps. 

I really like the pickaxe style bayonets!

Note the forked bayonet, much like an Eldar's tongue!

This one is in my favorite pose of the squad. This was originally a gunner model that I rearmed. 

That said, I have a partially painted Ogryn bodyguard and mortar team for my PHIGs on the table that I am thinking of shoving to the front of the line, before tackling some more Eldar.