My general state of things.

 o/

Long time, no posts. I am still alive and am posting regularly on my Battletech blog as I am playing that more or less exclusively. That, said, I have been pondering playing something else. My buddy Nick 2.0 wants to try out Down Range at some point which was developed by and for the United State Marine Corps of all things (yes really, read about it here). 

This small bunch is more likely to simply scratch an itch and find itself a spot in my display case than anything else. 

Beaverbug Mk III, used almost exclusively by the British Homeguard, it is as fearsome as it looks. 

Sporting both print lines and markings for my Quar's Eleventy First regiment.

Being a mediocre 3D print, I rated it on eBay equal to what I got: three good wheels out of four. The defective one isn't real noticable, but also ought not have been shipped in my opinion.

With my pre-existing Universal carrier, they form a minimum armored (and I use that term loosely) platoon. 

I have been pondering Bolt Action again, the game that I buy, paint a few minis for, and then sell without ever playing on a seemingly regular basis. That said, I would prefer to play it using my Quar which would clock in at about 600ish points. When I mention this idea to the guys at the shop, I always get the same reply: 'You can just borrow an army if you want to play.'

...sigh...

40K for me is on a permanent hiatus at this point. The prices are down right comical. The FLGS hosts regular games, and almost bi-weekly touraments. The preferred point value for both is 2K. Recently they had a 'teaching tourney' to help players learn to play better/more competively, with winning being a secondary objective. 

That sounded appealing except it was a 2K point limit. How many new players already have 2K point armies? My Tau are in the 600-700 point range, and drop a few points every time the balance dataslate is released it seems. The Orks clock in at maybe a 1K-ish, I honestly have no idea at this point. The Iggies are maybe 1K assuming I ever build my two remaining tanks. Lastly, my smurfs are the largest army, yet still fall short of the 2K requirement as they total up at about 1500 points or so. 

So I passed on that. 

I recently ordered some new helms for a squad's worth of unpainted iggies to syphon off for Trench Crusade. Additionally, i purchased a mechanized heavy infantry model for New Antioch to finally give that game a try. It seems to have a decent following locally with a few of the battletech guys playing it. 

I am also seriously pondering selling off my Star Wars Legion minis (again). I am sure it is a fine game, I love the universe and the minis, but it's player base leaves a lot to be desired. My last game seemed fine at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more annoyed I became. 

I've hosted plenty of 'teaching games' for new players over the years, mainly 40K. For a teaching game, as I know the rules by heart and my opponent barely knows what he/she is fielding, I would field a mediocre list that will put up a good fight and is more than capable of winning said game. That said it will do so less efficiently, with higher casualties and if I lose, the new player won't feel like I let them win. Whereas if they lose, it'll be close enough that they felt as though they could have won and thus will want to play again. Not to mention their units would have lasted long enough to give a feel for what they can do, in addition to giving the new player an at least halfway decent grasp of the game. 

RJ knew going into our game that I had only played once and only had a vague grasp of the rules. With that foreknowledge he brought his Anakin Skywalker, special build, almost all Arc Trooper special forces list. We both knew his would slaughter my force before any dice were even rolled. 

Traditionally, we have always referred to this as 'clubbing baby seals'. Needless to say, if you are the baby seal, then it really sucks to be you. RJ seems perplexed by my lack of desire to play again. 

Curious indeed that is...

I never played Legion in Tennessee after watching the local guy who would 'teach' all of the new players in much the same fashion, and when they were justifiably pissed afterwards would say (quote) Well that's just the meta. He came close to getting punched a time or two. Oddly, the player base for Legion didn't seem to expand beyond what it already was.

Back in South Carolina...

I told the FLGS owner that I was on the fence for Legion aways back. When he asked why, I explained my views on teaching games vs my game with RJ in much the same detail as above and he grimaced. He wanted to argue my point, but admitted that he had nothing to offer as a counterpoint. His experiences learning SWL were much the same as mine, though being the FLGS owner who wanted to sell minis, he just quietly put up with losing consistantly. 

I have no such incentive.

*****

So for the TL;DR folks who skipped to the end (and who can blame you given the above wall of text):

Down Range probably.

Bolt Action maybe, Bolt Action with Quar not likely. 

40K, no. 

Trench Crusade, possibly.

Star Wars Legion likely going bye bye. 

Battletech all the time!

We March-er...or-uh, mosey(?) for Macragge

 o/

Its been a busy month for me so far and as you can tell by the title, odds are that I'm not going to get all 20 of my remaining Smurf intercessors and hellblasters painted like I had originally had hoped to. Indeed, two weeks in and I've managed just five so far. 

Judging by the color, I'd say the guy in the middle pushing his plasma incinerator a little too hard...

That said, they look pretty good, and I'm rather pleased with the glowy effect on the plasma guns. The three Hellblasters bring me up to a combat squad of those guys, whereas the two Intercessors round those out to a dozen painted. Ignoring these two intercessors, I can now field 635 points of fully painted Ultramarines! So yeah, still a long ways to go. 

Beneath the grime, you can just make out some campaign badges on their thigh armor plates.

I had only intended to work on basic troops as they are both the most numerous and least exciting to paint. However after my last game with Neverness, the Librarian has wormed his way into the next batch of Smurfs to paint thanks to his glorious psychic deeds in combat! 

The next five on deck. 

Likewise the 2nd squad's sergeant is in there as well due to consistently rolling 6s to hit & wound with his bolt pistol. He's even successfully wounded a Carnifex with said bolt pistol! Curiously, he also brings 5 chainsword attacks to the table (Suck it assault intercessors!). Backing that up is another 27 CCW attacks, which ought to make even basic intercessors a worrisome target to charge into.

With luck, hopefully I'll get these five (and maybe a few more) done before the month is out. 

Ultramarines Lieutenant with Combi-Weapon

 I'm thinking that this might be my first ever leap year post. 

What d'ya mean you can't see him?

This past Saturday evening I elected to not go out and game and instead I painted this guy up. I did a minor arm and head swap as I didn't like the chitinous, replacement, hillbilly armored pauldron and, well I just prefer for my marines to be helmeted. 

Zzzzz commented in our group chat that he couldn't wait to see the matching terrain that was to go with his armor's color scheme. 

As such, I put this guy in front of the Tennessee equivalent of Zzzzz's famous Brick of Scrutiny. Personally, I think this Lt. blends pretty well in a concrete environment.

In hindsight I ought to had added a few kill markings on the side of the combi-flamer.

At first I didn't quite know what to think of this model or its utility. However at some point it just clicked that he's basically a Space Wolves' Lone Wolf, albeit one for any chapter. Sure he lacks the customizability of kit, but most primaris marines suffer from that trait. 

Unlike the rest of my Camo-Smurfs, this guy's camo covers the pauldrons and helm as well. 

Come here bug, I'm gonna cut ya!

Given my Marines' repeated pummeling of Hivefleet Neverness, I was tempted to paint the 'nid gribbly under his foot in Neverness' nids' color scheme. Rather than add yet more bluish tones to this model, I opted for something with more of a visual contrast. Thus, I picked the colors on a whim, I have no idea if there's a known Hivefleet in these colors or not. 

Aside from simply 'a dead one', does anybody know what sort of 'nid gribbly it is that he's crushing underfoot?

Edit: Neverness brought to my attention a new (to me) painting challenge along the lines of Dreadtober, only for Smurf players called 'March for Macragge'. As such I guess this guy can kick that off for me as the Emprah knows that I have hordes of primed Smurfs awaiting paint. 

Spess Mahreenz

 o/

Two more Incandescent Coyotes cross the finish line.

Well I hope all of my fellow Americans are all still fat, happy, and finally done with eating Thanksgiving leftovers. While it was nice having four days off (Sorry Zzzzz), I can't say that a whole lot of time was spent hobbying. 

Primer doesn't count buddy!

That said, I did at least manage to finish these two Coyotes above as well as get my third game of 10th ed. in, where I maintained my winning streak. Screech had to call the game due to time as he had a movie date to get to, though had we gone all 5 rounds...I'm not sure who would've won that one. Oh well, a win is a win.  

Lacking a black tactical arrow for the missile gunner, this rune will have to suffice.

Finally, a better view of the 2nd Company's pauldron markings.

With a mere three painted minis, my v2 Coyotes are already halfway to the v1 Coyote's total number of painted infantry!

Black Dragons Lieutenant

 o/

A unicorn among dragons?

I had a bit of insomnia Friday night and decided to paint rather than lie in bed tossing and turning in a hopeless quest for sleep. As such this guy went from primed black to ready for decals by the time I called it a night some time after midnight. Being stupid-hot outside (for Tennessee, we don't have anything on other parts of the south and west) I had all the incentive needed to not go outside and instead finish him up.

Originally, I was going to put the V on the tabard but was afraid it would get lost behind the crystals.

This guy was made from one of the new primaris sternguard models, with nothing more needed than an arm, head and base swap from the standard to make him into a Lieutenant with bolt pistol and master-crafted bolt rifle. As for his close combat weapon...I'm guessing that that's the horn which has sprouted from his head. As you can imagine, I'll be keeping all of my Inquisitors away from this guy!

As he's an officer, he has Dragon icons on both pauldrons

Due to said horn, he lacks a helmet on which to paint the Lt.'s requisite red and white stripes, so I opted to add that to his tabard instead which came out pretty good I think. It certainly brightens up what would be an otherwise very black mini. 

I'm not sure who will get the combi-melta that originally went here.

The Roman numeral 'V' on his chest shield show's his battle company's number. Black Dragons' company numbers are displayed on the right knee cap, black in the case of the 5th co. I'll bet you thought I'd forgotten about the company markings didn't you?

La la, la-lalala...

Next up on my painting table are a pair of Smurf assault intercessors which are about a third of the way painted already. Followed perhaps by some Black Dragon intercessors. 

Here be Dragons... (v.2)

 o/

Scary aren't they? No really, they are. Seriously!

They even have rules that say they are...

I'm sorry Zzzzz I tried, I really did. It just didn't work out. For those who aren't aware, Zzzzz is the one who named my Incandescent Coyotes chapter after seeing their initial paint jobs. As such he was rather fond of them and was somewhat appalled to have found out that they went the way of eBay. 

These were more or less no frills speed paints.

Simple & easy which bodes well for their future.

The Coyotes were all Firstborn marines, which outside of 30k are unsurprisingly going the way of the Dodo. Their color scheme was difficult and laborious to paint. Indeed the Gryph-Hound Orange contrast paint was the real culprit. Unlike the other contrast paints in my inventory with which I've had considerable success, I just could never get the Coyotes' orange right. 

I need to get some of the alien tufts which are red, blue &

hot pink as opposed to these which are just dead.

So, on a whim...I thought I'd try and resurrect the Coyotes with a Primaris reboot, reversing their color scheme of orange with black trim to a more manageable black with orange trim. All was going well until...I started fighting with the damned orange contrast on the pauldrons. Multiple coats to smooth it's appearance out, difficulty with the Coyote emblem on said pauldron again as well, and then...

I said: Fuck it. 

All black it is. Sorry Zzzzz, the Coyotes are lost to history. Looking at my decal sheets I found a considerable number of still unused Silver Drake decals and I instead revisited a chapter that I toyed with years ago: the Black Dragons. Rather than retell their appeal, you can just reread it in this old post here. 

Unlike that first foray which resulted in just one painted mini and several subsequent blog mentions, I now stand at a five-strong squad of reivers and had just enough black primer for a lieutenant before running out. With Battlescribe up and running again for 10th ed, after making a 1k list for the Smurfs I then syphoned off the rest of my marines for the Dragons.

The primer didn't go on too smoothly, likely due to the ridiculously hot & humid weather. This is most evident on their combat blades.

Currently the Dragons clock in at somewhere between 600-700 points depending on whether on not they inherit my Chaplain or not. Meaning you ought not expect to see them on the table top anytime soon.

Especially as we just returned from a vacation to Boston Massachusetts which left my bank accounts almost empty (frighteningly so), while additionally adding far too much to my credit card bill for my liking. It was well worth it though! Thus no purchases for this new army will be made for a good while.

*****

One last thing of note, and on a different subject:

Red & white stripes removed.

After being used as often as not as a captain rather than a lieutenant, Lt. Siph Horridus has been officially promoted to captain of my Ultramarines 3rd Battle company army. He received his helmet repaint just yesterday. Huzzah! 

Those 'Wild Boys' from the 7th Company

 o/

Firstborn Lieutenant Wild of the Ultramarines' 7th Reserve Company.

In the Indomitus era, Primaris Space Marines are king amongst the armies of the Imperium. Primaris Marines form the bulk, if not the entirety of most chapters' battle and veteran companies, whilst the Firstborn, recently graduated from the 10th company's scouts are relegated to the reserve companies until they've proven themselves worthy of crossing the Rubicon divide. 

Amongst the ranks of the Ultramarines, the Firstborn of the reserve companies spend most of their time performing such vital tasks as standing guard in the various hallways and thresholds of the unassailable Fortress of Hera on Macragge, practicing's parade drill for the tourists of Ultramar, and if they're particularly lucky, garrisoning some imperial backwater, freeing up the Primaris marines to do the real work of smiting the Imperium's foes. 

Lt. Wild is headquartered in the Fortress Of Hera's Obsidian Tower. Here he is seen surveying the wreckage of said tower, as upon hearing of his new orders, Lt. Wild suffered a very Kylo Ren-esque temper tantrum and the Obsidian Tower suffered heavily for it. 

The reserve companies are lead by by a hidebound, prideful and some would say an embittered cadre of officers who steadfastly refuse to cross that Rubicon divide. Indeed they see the Primaris marines as an afront to the Emperor's great work in creating the Space Marines. Lieutenant Wild is one such Firstborn officer, who is assigned to the Ultramarines 7th Reserve Company.

Recently, the Ultramarines'' 7th reserve company was rewarded for their particularly efficient cleansing of the roadside trash along the Roboute Guilliman (no longer) Memorial Expessway's entire length. Thus they were honored with the privilege of guarding the porta-johns along the parade route leading to the Imperial palace on the forthcoming Day of the Emperor's Ascension celebration on Holy Terra.

Note the bionic arm, his biological arm was lost in combat with the treacherous Red Corsairs.

 As the 7th company prepared itself for it's sacred duty, thru what can only be explained as a clerical error, Lt. Wild, a combat squad from one of the 7th's tactical squads, and a razorback transport and it's crew were requisitioned to detach from the rest of the company, sully their newly polished armor by repainting it in urban camouflage of all things, and report to the staging grounds of the 3rd Battle Company's Strikeforce Horridus where they were to be attached in support of an unspecified mission.

Outraged at these various indignities, Lt. Wild and his accompanying marines nonetheless followed their orders to the letter and presented themselves to the 3rd's staging ground in time for the boarding of their transports. Puzzled at the Firstborn's arrival, and in matching camo no less, the 3rd's Primaris Chaplain paused in his exhortations of 'In the Emperor's name, GET YOUR ASSES MOVING!' to inquire: 'Are you little guys lost?'

Orders or not, the camouflaging of his armor could only go so far...

Thus far, most of the 7th's 'actions' have been spent guarding the halls of their Strike cruiser from the depredations of  chapter serfs who have lost their way, or their landing zones from the local flora and fauna. The Primaris marines of the 3rd company have taken to calling their firstborn brethren 'The Wild Boys' in mockery of these ridiculously mundane tasks. 

On the rare occasions in which 'The Wild Boys' have been engaged in combat, they operate more in conjunction to, rather than in support of their Primaris brethren. Indeed the only support that they've directly provided on the battlefield is the transport of Primaris casualties* back to the transports via their Razorback. 

*For those who insist that Primaris marines cannot fit into a Razorback, I would like to remind you that those would be 'whole' Primaris marines, whereas casualties tend to not be...

How long does it take to build a squad of Hellblasters?

 o/

Most folks would agree that it takes just a few hours, and they would be right. In my case, it also took just a few hours though said hours were delayed by 15 or so months between the time of purchase and the removal of the box's shrink wrap. 

Here of late my poor marines have been finding themselves increasingly outgunned on the table top, with only my Hellblaster squad seemingly able to hold the line effectively. That said, I only had 6 of them making the squad both over-taxed and easily eliminated. However now that I have 16 ready for battle, I'm hoping that they'll even things out a bit for me. Only time will tell though...

These two combat squads will each gain 3 more marines

out of my pre-existing squad.

The Smurfs are now my only marine army with the Incandescent Coyotes (all 23 of them) currently redeploying to the Illy-Noise subsector. Their fully painted 'Woolly Bear' Razorback has taken up residence in my display cabinet, whereas the Coyotes' half-painted rhino was reprimed in anticipation of being (eventually) repainted in Ultramarine colors. 

Not many of the unpainted Coyotes were retained due to all of the Space Wolf Coyote accoutrements. Like the also defunct Silver Drakes, the remnants of the Coyotes were folded into the Smurfs making it a rather large army at this point. 

Full circles are painted models, empty are unpainted, and half circled are works in progress.

DreamForge Games Grav-Stug

I hope that everyone had a good Day of the Emperor's Ascension, and that you found all of the hidden Tyranid eggs. Don't worry if you didn't though, because whatever was in them will soon find you!

I have wanted one of these for so, so long! 

I backed both failed Kickstarters to no avail, and figured that that was that. Then I saw one of these pop up on Dwartist's Facebook page where he stated that they were being sold by Dreamforge as 3D prints in limited runs. I found one on eBay, hesitated...and it was gone. Fuck.

While it did require assembly, it was easy and quick to build.

Last week, on a whim I looked again and there one one left (this one) out of the eight originally available. 20+ people had it in their watch lists, hesitating as I had. I learned my lesson though and bought it immediately!

No vindicator is complete without a pintle mounted stormbolter (and hatch leftover from the Kratos) for point defense.

I'm thinking that this will be a prototype grav-drive Vindicator to go with my handful of Firstborn Smurfs. Sure the cannon barrel isn't obscenely over-sized in proper 40k fashion, but it ought to fairly obvious as to what the gun is. 

Not sure what these bits are supposed to be exactly...

Perhaps it's the anti-grav drive protected by spaced armor plating...

Not sure how soon it will be till I fully paint it, but I do need to paint the recessed areas under the forward side, spaced armor. Given how little they will be visible, am thinking they'll just be leadbelcher dry brushed over black.

Alternate main gun options.

Honestly the railgun/lascannon to the far left is the best looking of the main gun options, but there really is no space marine equivalent that I can think of for it. Unless of cource I put a Tau hatch on there instead of the stormbolter equipped one and use this as a counts as (Hogziliary?) Hammerhead with no burst cannons...

Merry Kratos to all...

 ...and to all a Good Fight!

Y'all know you just LOVE 40k Christmas puns!

This is kinda like an Iggy Demolisher in that the big, intimidating gun hits like a truck, assuming it actually gets in range. Despite having a barrel that's 4.5" long, it only has a 36" range because reasons. Meanwhile heavy bolters aside, all of the other weapons can reach out to 4 feet. At 325 points, and costing a command point to field, you would think that GW would at least give it the range of the standard issue battle cannon. 

Oh well whatever. 

The sponson weapons will fit snugly enough that no magnets are required and you can them out for all of the options. Pro tip: Don't do a test fit until you're sure that the glue is dry, otherwise you'll feel like a dumbass and just be stuck with heavy bolters like me!

36" ranged weapon issues aside, the Kratos looks really good (even unpainted) and as was discussed in my prior post, my Smurfs are woefully under-gunned. I had bought this to go with my 30k Blood Angels who seem to reside permanently in my cabinet. I was thinking that maybe the Coyotes would then get it, however currently the Smurfs are claiming at least temporary ownership. For the time being it won't get painted meaning all of the above may field it (well, probably not the 9th Legion...).

An assembly-in-progress pic. By the way, I've (at least unofficially for now) dubbed this The Over-Compensator.

Happy Holidays folks!

Ultramarine Hellblaster Sergeant

 o/

For Macragge, fire on my mark!

I hope everyone had a good (and warm) Christmas! I certainly am sure I will (I'm writing this on Christmas eve). As my fiancé doesn't purchase minis, my only holiday hobby acquisitions will be limited to a Tau Broadside from Rob (mwuhahaha...) and some squad differentiating rings for my marines from Screech. Pics to come on the latter as they are still in transit, but he has them himself and they're pretty neat (you can see them in my last sort-of battle report). 

Speaking of...

I seriously doubt that the tank got painted this week as well.

In that game, once Frankie started rolling dice so that they all didn't come up as a '1', his Hellblaster sergeant pretty much withstood an ungodly amount of literal Hellhound fire. Something like 8 or 9 successful armor saves with only 1 command reroll (that succeeded unlike every other command reroll ever). I should add he was already down to a single wound when this feat of dice rolling commenced! As such that mini earned a paint job and as you can see it got it. 

This marine commemorates his prior service to the Deathwatch with apparent pride. 

In hindsight, the leg plate wearing the chapter icon on it ought to have been in Ultramarine blue rather than black, but oh well. I was going for symmetry and don't feel like repainting it. 

It does still need to be clear coated. However, as all of my fellow Americans are painfully aware, when I painted this mini today (Christmas Eve) and just prior to writing this, outside temperatures resemble those of Hoth (its warmed up to a balmy 1 degree Fahrenheit at this moment). 

Indeed, even the basement which has become my alternative priming/clear coating venue this winter, is also too cold for clear coating right now. Looking at the current weather report, it looks like he'll get his clear coat somewhere around New Year's Eve. 

Clearly my Smurfs need a bit of retooling...

 o/

Half a dozen Hellblasters can only do so much...

I had Frankie in tow with me this weekend when I met up with Rob and Screech for our usual 3-player 40k battle. Running 1k each, I gave Frankie command of my Smurfs though I did coach him as he (1) hasn't played 40k in quite awhile and (2) he's only ever played with my Tau. Clocking in at a little over 700 points, the remainder of our force was my allied Ad Mech contingent lead by the recently finished Techno-Archeologist 808-Linam (named for my friend Bob who is an Archeologist). 

He survived his first game both unscathed and without accomplishing anything (no doubt he'll blame a lack of funding). 

Anyways, following my sales pitch about the abilities of the Emprah's finest, It took approximately 1.5 turns to reduce 27 marines to just 8. With 30 proxied Immortals backed up by war walkers and characters bestowing we'll be back rerolls all over on one side, and Imperial Guard with hellhounds and an all heavy flamer equipped chimera backed up by howitzers (nice minis those are), mortars and a plasma cannon equipped sentinel in the other.

Unsurprisingly, the Smurfs were dying in droves. 

Plasma fire from one direction and Hellfire from the other. Ultimately this duel would prove to be bloody but inconclusive. 

Needing a 5+ to wound everything in range for every model in our army but the Hellblasters didn't help. Seriously what the hell? 

Frankie also was channeling Neverness and his die rolling techniques. Eventually I had to tell Frankie to stop rolling the dice in the way that he was as he kept rolling 1's. Looking to prove me wrong in the typical 13 year old manner, he then went on to roll several more 1's in a row before finally agreeing with me!

This pretty much sums up the game. 

It wasn't all bad though. 

My Negavolt Cultists Fulgurite Electro Priests after making their first game, combat debut where they wiped out a squad of 7 or so Immortals!

His assault intercessors made it to close combat vs. a squad of immortals, where the proceeded to struggle but not die, instead holding them in place. The following turn, my Fulgurite priests made their charge into the fray, inflicting 7 total mortal wounds plus several other regular wounds and wiping the unit out. I was pleased with this experimental unit's initial performance. 

Screech was not pleased with this and not even a 4+ invulnerable save and a 5+ shrug against lost wounds would save the unit from the 2 walkers. 

Also on the plus side, the Skitarii Vanguard inflicted a nice average of 6 or so successful wounds per turn. The Necrons survived most of them, but they did make nuisance of themselves. Indeed after inflicting a pair of wounds, they even sent the Necron Lord scurrying for cover!

This was a lost cause, though (field promoted) Captain Horridus did wipe out a mortar squad in the backfield in one volley with his master-crafted auto bolt rifle. 

This sergeant was cruising for a paint job after shrugging off a good amount of enemy  fire, but then he charged these three guardsmen and failed to do anything to them with his power sword over the course of 2 turns. Schmuck.

In the end these two would finish the game with 1 wound apiece. This guy did earn himself a paint job after surviving a full round of shooting by the hellhound. 

You know things have gone awry when Screech takes and holds an objective in order to win the game!

Not wanting to invest much more $$$ into the game at this point, I'm guessing that I'll have to build the box of hellblasters and the Kratos that I have as my Smurfs are proving to be seriously undergunned when facing most anything anymore.