NEED MO' DAKKA!!! (WIP Pt. 1)

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I forgot to get pics of my Tau crisis suit that I painted last weekend, so that may be my late week post, will see how much/if any free time at home is available. This weekend was gaming free as my folks were in town and we're redoing my bathroom. As such I was out on the deck cutting tile with a wet saw & Makita till about 9:45 last night (porch and flashlights ftw!). We got off to a late start and really didn't think we'd get all the tile down, but just kept going once we got going, especially as I don't have the needed vacation days to be off this week.

Anyways, no one comes here to read about tile flooring, so instead weez will talk about Da Orks!

So what if that shoota doesn't have the range to hit anything, it adds MO' DAKKA!!!

Take dis yoo stoopid flyerz: Dakka, dakka, dakka!!!!

These are my WIP Ork quad-gun pics. With a BS of 2, it just makes sense to have an Ork gunner rather than an automated system. Looking at the sky as he is, he's kinda helpless vs. anything on the ground, so no concerns for not having any HTH swings if it gets charged. I still need to add some gubbins to fill in around the where da gunz sit inside the hatch piece, but it's looking pretty good so far I think.

Its a little hard to see, but the gunner is laying on a spare box-o-ammo that's (not so wisely) pushed up against the motor for the drive unit which makes the gun turn/swivel. Engine heat and ammo, yeah...

...eh, Orks do love pyrotechnics!

Insert 300 reference here...

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You know exactly what he's saying...

Yup, I made it to post #300, and all I have to show for it is this 300 photo, and the three minis below (one for each hundred posts I guess). No parties, giveaways or any of the usual fanfare that many blogs have when they reach a post # that ends in double zeroes. Oh well. Its just another post, though I was pleased to see that the blog crested the 60,000 page hits mark on my previous post, which means I've averaged about 200 hits per post (though I wonder what percentage of that number is made up of my own page views which don't count).

Anyways...

Last weekend I did manage to get some painting done, and as there has been no painting happening this week, nor will there be this weekend, I'm going to milk those few painted minis for all they're worth (Yes Neverness, that reference was for you as this post is mainly about chaos).

First up are a pair of DV cultists:

This sculpt is my favorite out of the DV autogun squad.

As I said in Tuesday's post, I think I'll resurrect my Tyrant's Legion idea, and to do so, I'll paint the cultists accordingly. I didn't see any photos of the Legion auxilia troops in the Badab books, however as the Astral Claws colors were silver & blue, I would imagine that the auxilia wore grey and blue. Having a duplicate of just about every DV cultist could get kinda bland looking, however when reversing the colors as I have above, then as a whole they ought to tie together well enough (especially those with Marks of Slaanesh, as I hear that they're into that sort of thing...).

I also finished painting up my platoon/company standard bearer for the Beastman IG. These will pull double duty as renegade IG, as well as cultists. To mark them out from the regular cultists in my first game with the new codex, I gave them a mark of Nurgle, which worked fairly well (especially when Hive Angel's heavy bolters rolled a bunch of 2s to wound!).

The Standard is made of scraps of standards belonging to defeated Imperial foes. While I'm not sure who's unit the '812' came from (doesn't matter I suppose as they're presumably dead). I would like to note the codex grey scrap of fabric at the bottom, where you can make out part of the name 'Cadia' on it...lol. When I mentioned doing that to Screech, his praise at being honored in this way was dripping with sarcasm...

So that's it for post #300. Thanks for your continued interest in my mediocre paint jobs, rants, rambling diatribes, and generally poor grammar and punctuation.

Da Masta Cheef

My first game with the new CSM codex

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I had a good long weekend with my Dad & Grandparents. Some painting was done in the evenings, but I'll save that for another post. Instead, I thought I'd give my initial thoughts on the new CSM codex learned from a game vs. Hive Angel last week.

First up, the HQ's:

Starring Centurion Niro, in his battlefield debut!

 I wanted to try out the Dark Apostle (chosen mini on the left).  As a fluff Bunny I really like the idea, but on the table he didn't fair too well. Hive Angel really doesn't like the idea of challenges (get over it pal, I have 2 CSM armies that are required to issue and accept them). Thus my Dark Apostle challenged a BA Sgt., waylaid into him with his power maul, only to have the Sgt. make his armor saves and then kill the apostle with a powerfist.

FAIL.

Whereas Centurion Niro, of the Tyrant's Legion (more on that below) did nothing more than send his cultist minions on a grueling forced march. From short table edge to short table edge, and straight into the enemy guns.

Note the cultists in 'Cadian camo'.

With the cultists added in as troops (albeit with very limited options), I'm thinking that I can resurrect my Tyrant's Legion army idea. As you can see at left, I fielded 40 of them, the 20 from the DV box, and a blob of 20 beastmen IG who had the mark of Nurgle. While 'fluffy' CSMs feeding cultists into the enemy guns doesn't win games when objectives need to be taken. So I'm going to need to have at least one unit of power armor troops.

That said, the cultists held up well under the onslaught with 2 units breaking at the end (sealing my fate). But with just 6 survivors out of the original 30, that can be forgiven. The other 10 were with my lord, fearless, and cut down to a man. Leaving Niro on his own at game's end.

I rather like the Helbrute's D3 chart, and now see why it can't have extra armor (i.e.: it doesn't need it). It was also rather novel to have them advancing behind my rhinos and predator without fear of them killing those vehicles. Speaking of the Predator, while a 'dakka pred' isn't too effective against MEQs, I hadn't at the time of the game really read the codex all the way thru. Having now done so, I' think I'll be upgrading it with the Warpfire Gargoyle (which the turret sorta has already).  That ought to give it a bit more punch...or at least be a bit more annoying to the enemy.

My 'Plasma Death' havocs got a nice little bump in the form of the Mark of Slaanesh and the icon of excess (FnP on the plasma Havocs is nice!!!) and giving their champion a combat familiar. While he lacked a power weapon of any sort (and his squad the extra CCW), slinging 5, i5 attacks a turn was fun! He was the only one of my champions to win a challenge, however the gods were not impressed and he got nothing for it. 

So, I still need to play around with it, but I'm not really seeing a need for any major purchases for either CSM army (which is good). Maybe some spawn as I don't have those models, but's really it. No Dino bots and stupid looking dragons for me.
 

On a different note, I found that there is ample room to rotate my game table 90 degrees to allow for all the deployment options. Previously one end of the table was up against the wall. Its a little tight though, so it might not be feasible for any of my opponents who have the 'Bulky' special rule...

;-p

Amber Wizard & stuff

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I managed to get my Amber wizard all painted up and to be honest I'm rather pleased with the result! Take a look:

I should have used a different color background...

Ya gotta love washes, they add in so much otherwise impossible added depth (for my painting skills) to a mini. A light dry brushing over that to add a touch of grime, then a few touch ups/highlights, flock, clear & 'ard coats & it was done! All told (including letting the wash dry) it took maybe 2-3 hours. Currently he lives on the shelf, as his army is living in a drawer.

On the 40k front, First off, my much maligned Aurora Snipers are boxed up, and ready to go. This afternoon they'll begin their long journey of exile to their new home in Sweden! Looking up the address on googlemaps, there's plenty of icy waters for them to be drowned in should they fail their new master as well (and perhaps that'll give them a bit more incentive...).

Also, I finally got the new CSM codex & will give them a try this evening vs. Hive Angel's headless Blood Angels. It'll probably be my last game of anything till after Thanksgiving as my Dad is coming in for a visit this weekend. Then next week I'll be prepping the bathroom to re-tile it as well as replacing the vanity. Mom will be in next weekend and stay thru till just before turkey day to do that (Mom & my late Stepfather both used to be tile contractors).  So thing's will be kinda busy these next few weeks. I'll try to get some painting in where possible, but if my content gets a little light for a little bit, you now know why.

This post has a W:L ratio of 1:1

That's 'Wizards' to 'Lasers'...yeah I know, kinda lame but I couldn't think of any other title to tie these two models together. lol, anyways...first up the wizard. I've been wanting a wizard for my never used Empire army (which means he's more likely to be zapping my Skaven in Mordheim). Picking via background fluff rather than effectiveness, I wanted either an Amber or Amethyst wizard.

The new battle wizards box would make a good model of the latter but not the former. Only really need one, so that was kind of out as an option. The older Empire wizards are one hellova collection of some god awful looking models! Whereas the new limited run FAILcost Amber wizard is ridiculously overpriced while cast in a questionable material. So perusing ebay I found the Amber wizard that rides the my Gryphon (I think) for $7 shipping included, and bought it figuring it would make a cool conversion. Here he is:

Much better looking than the other Amber wizard minis...

I trimmed out from between his legs so it didn't look like he crapped his pants and was carrying a load! Then cut & repositioned one leg so it didn't look like he was supposed to be riding something. That only sorta worked, and I wasn't sure how to fix it. So I added the Beastman skull to his base making it look as if he's awkwardly stepping over that whilst casting a spell (all but ensuring a miscast). I think it works. The sword hilt under the cloak almost perfectly lines up with that peak in his cloak as well.

FREEEEEM!!!

Next up, in light of all of the futile arguing over flyers, I finished painting my Bastion's Icarus lascannon. To celebrate this achievement, it failed to hit anything Saturday night, before Kushial's terminators thunder-hammered it's bastion into oblivion. Typical.

Oh well, the bastion is now complete at least and I'll work on getting the Wizard done for my next post.

Sometimes I hate my bitz box.

o/

Welcome, to the pit of despair...

I have a bit, the old track unit from the original Thudd gun, its gotta be in there. Here's what I found:

Some shields for my Stirlanders when I next buy a free company box.

(5) more grots for da' Eleet Grot Mountin Duvishun

Some random bitz that might be useful for my Ork quad gun kunvershun

(1) pewter Battletech hex base

A bunch of plastic GW palm trees for Rogue Trader Voril's terrain project.

About 1/2 of a Tau Crisis suit, with a just about all the weapon options & upgrades.

A beat up Techmarine (no servo arm back pack)

A CSM icon that Screech may be able to use.

And as for that track bit? Nope, notta trace. I do have an alternative bit though, and after an hour of digging, I've given up on it.

I guess you could call this a tactical withdrawal...

o/

Well, no progress has been made on my second squad of SW tactical marines. Basically I got bored painting a half dozen identically posed minis (when i reached that point, I heard cries of lament from the dev squad which is still on it's sprues).  So I thought I'd try something else.

First up I worked a bit on an Apothecary. I never had much success with my Aurora command squad, but had the extra model so figured I could periodically split the Sternguard in half to make a command unit. Then I recalled why I have no white minis in my armies: because I hate painting white! I don't have any white primer (and I can't see buying a can for just one model) and my skull white is so old as to be sludge (no amount of thinning was helping either). So currently the Apothecary is bathing in Simple Green and on his exit I'll peruse some of From the Warp's white paint tutorials and give it another go...maybe.

Then there are the scouts. I still have 15 unpainted scouts (plus the ones in the LS Storm box), and the painted ones are going nowhere on ebay. I looked at other SM scout listings, and they seem to sell for a pittance (So Screech, you know you want Aurora scouts for Christmas right?) Thus, I omitted the unpainted snipers from their auction, and painted one up for the Wardens (so that the epic failure may yet continue...).

'Warrior poets' are not known for their marksmanship...

Apparently the Storm Wardens' creators at Fantasy Flight really liked Braveheart (or just Scotland) as not only do they have a fondness of claymores, and tartans, but the tribes they recruit from are fond of painting themselves up in woad prior to battle. The Imperial indoctrination process doesn't entirely eradicate this tradition (early on anyways) and as such, sometimes their scouts do as well. While its kind of hard to see above, half of the scout's face is painted blue. Nothing is better to fuck up a sniper's aim, then to get all pumped up for battle with some (potentially hallucinogenic) face paint right?

The cloak came out darker than anticipated as I mistakenly touched it when the first wash was only half dried, and it came off leaving a clean spot! So i had to do it a second time. Oh well, at least these guys won't look like free roaming shrubbery on my bombed out city table like the Aurora scouts did.

...and on a totally different note, 'teh interwebz' has been all up in arms on cron-air lists here of late (oddly, there are no Necron lords leading them named Nicholas Cage). Indeed even Madival was inquiring about my thoughts on flyers (no doubt mining opinions for a blog post of his own).  Again, I've yet to face a flyer in 6th (yes I know its coming), so while not qualified to form my own opinion on the subject (which isn't to say that I haven't) I'll instead cut & paste Snord's thoughts on the subject. The screen shot below was taken from amongst the nerd raging commentary on BoLS the other day and seemed to not only be well thought out, but an echo of my thoughts on the matter. 

Yeah! What he said.

Edit: New Ork rumors popped up this morning!!!