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!!!

Tactical Squad WIP

o/

First off, as a native of New Jersey, I want to wish everyone in the northeast the best of luck in dealing with hurricane Sandy. My aunt-in-law who lives on the south Jersey coast commented on facebook last night that it was already getting ugly up there.  So, hope you've battened down the hatches & make it thru safely.

Notta whole lot to report on the gaming front from this past weekend. I gotta game in with Screech vs his Thousand Sons. He won by the 'first blood' KP. Collectively we had less than 10 models left of the table, so was a good game.  Like Murl, the Thousand Sons sorcerers with force weapons everywhere (and the fact that they have invul saves unlike my librarian) was a difficult threat to counter. Speaking of sorcerers, Ahriman's HQ protege paid for himself a good 3-4 times over, so Screech you need to paint that mini this week!!!! (oh wait, he never paints anything unless its just black primer, what was I thinking...lol.)

On the painting front, I cranked up the assembly line for some basic painting on my 2nd SW tac squad (no, not Space Wolves, the other SW's). Now they're pretty much ready for touch ups which is easiest to do working on them one at a time. Then decals, then a wash, then dry brushing, then highlights...doesn't seem like much till I list it out like that...ugh.

The Sgt. posing with his squad-to-be.

I also reread the sternguard rules & found I had them confused with vanguard vets & command squads. Meaning they can't have all the power weapons they want nor even all those chain swords that they're waving around. So the powerfist went away but I kept the chainswords (even on the newly added models). As they wanted to look like badasses, they exchanged their bolt pistols for chain swords meaning they can't shoot on the turn I charge with them. Seems an acceptable sacrifice to make for aesthetic appeal.

Also, Captain Erme of the Auroras after being exiled for gross negligence in scout training, has been accepted into the ranks of the sternguard (after a shoulder pad & backpack swap).  I'll try selling the aurora scouts off as individual squads now as they weren't wanted in bulk. Worst case scenario, I've threatened to give them to Screech for Christmas, lol.

Filling out the ranks

o7

First off, today is Hive Angel's Birthday, so everyone take a second to head on over to his blog wish him a good one! ;-)

Back to me, I skipped out on any games for this week. Three last week was certainly enough to fulfill that need. That and the weather and autumn foliage have been perfect so I've been all to happy to take my dog for a walk/hike every afternoon instead of gaming. I have been working on minis in the evenings though:

First up as you can see below these are my repurposed Sternguard. Four of these were previously in my Aurora command squad. Shoulder pads were swapped and a few arm/weapon modifications made.

Some much need punch for my army.

The Storm Wardens were created by Fantasy Flight for the Deathwatch RPG, and back when contemplating playing that game (may have to tweak that fluff as Ozwald apparently came back home), I made the Storm Warden DW marine you see here. At the time I had labeled them 'the lame chapter' as they were newly created when plenty already existed.  I never envisioned having an army of them...lol! The shade of blue is different than what I use now, the shoulder colors are reversed, it needs a wash, etc. However like the Auroras that switched armies, it shouldn't take too long to remedy those issues on him.

Again, the 5th ed. starter mini is the Sgt.

In last weekend's games, the Wardens still looked a lot like the Auroras (whom I may be stuck with). So many unpainted scouts and repainted...turncoats? (not the right word but don't know what else to call them) So I also started work on a second tactical squad to reduce my reliance on the 10th Co. I painted the Sergeant's helmet a little different than the last one, and kinda like this one better to be honest. Also, I got 2 old 2nd ed Flamer marines via ebay for basically the cost of shipping them. They will bring the two tac squads  up to 8 marines each and give them something other than just bolters to play with. Once those minis come in, they'll go straight into the Simple Green for some 'submersible training.'

Been wondering though about just how long I can go on these guys till (as usual) I get bored with the concept & something else gets shunted to the front of my painting queue...

Baptism of fire

o/

Well, this past weekend my Storm Wardens got their baptism of fire as did my bastion (normally its just inert terrain) and my small DA tac squad (run as vanilla marines). Coming out with a 2:1 record I'd say that they're off to a good start! Over the course of the weekend, the bastion worked well, especially for the scout squad within (at least till a ''7' was rolled on the building damage chart in game 3). No aircraft were encountered, however the Icarus lascannon killed quite a few things anyways, despite it needing a '5' to hit.

The 'new' guy is the squad sergeant.

First round was vs. RTVoril's Dark Eldar Saturday night. Not a whole lot of highlights to this round aside from the DE crumpling like the tinfoil that they are, my librarian insta-killing an Archon with his force sword (something I only seem to accomplish once every few years), and that this was the first game ever in which my unsupported drop pod dread survived a game!

Sunday Screech & I went to Morristown after some prodding from Voril so that he may exact his revenge upon me! As it turns out, I didn't face him leaving him to take out his anger on Screech's IG, and it was a bad day for the IG...

In my first game of the day, I faced a younger kid with Tau. However while he did try, the Greater Good was not the order of the day and he suffered heavily for it. the game can be best summed up by the exchange he had with one of his friends afterwards (and I quote):

'So, did you get raped?'

'In the ass...hard.'

'Me too!'

lol, well someone's taught these kids the 'proper' after action report terminology it seems...

Outflanking with shotguns, the ultimate cure for the Tau Broadside!

My second game I came up vs. the infamous Draigo wing. The Wardens took to the field with accusations of cheese (which were gleefully confirmed by the enemy)! During deployment however, the GK were fretfully pondering what to do about the AV14 on my side of the table, as hammers were their only option in that regard. As it turned out, that was more than adequate to the task...

 The drop pod dread in the backfield further made a mess of his plans and my mini-deathstar (captain, librarian, techmarine and the tac squad above loaded into a landraider crusader) put a fair bit of hurt on the GK initially! Indeed, Draigo, despite all kinds of attempted 'look out sirs!' & FNP rolls, was down to 1 wound by the time HTH was initiated. In the ensuing challenge my captain & Draigo killed each other! By killing Draigo with  a 'nobody' captain, I claimed moral victory, and that's all I claimed before being all but tabled (the predator survived at least...). It was a good game though and was going good to the Paladin mob's unbelievable HTH capabilities took their inevitable toll. The GK were given a bloody nose at least.

As I said above though, overall it was a good start for the army. As for the Aurora scouts (amusingly after putting them up on ebay, I still found myself painting another scout as seen above...),  apparently my rant last week carried thru onto ebay. So will go with the shameless plug suggesting you bid now & often, lol! Otherwise they'll be consigned to a dusty life on the shelf...

Operation Caliban Cantina

o7

As any student of military history of say...the last hundred years or so will know, the key to victory for any military offensive, is to assign an off the wall & distracting name for it. Thus, reaching into left field, I came up with: Operation Caliban Cantina!

This Saturday evening, gaming at the FLGS will recommence after a fairly long hiatus. When summer hits, all the college kids go home, everyone else goes outside, etc., and gaming ceases.  Then the FLGS moved to a new location (conveniently leaving the old one which is still leased to be used for indoor R/C racing & gaming). While its somewhat surprising that I haven't yet encountered aircraft in 40k yet when visiting Morristown, odds are good that I might this weekend, and so I figured I ought to counter this threat.

No Fortress of Redemption? Aww, sad Angels...

Planning on using my Storm Wardens the IG sabers were out as they're well & truly devotees of the Ruinous Powers, so that leaves my only option as the Icarus lascannon on my bastion. However that was on the sprue at the time I took this photo last night (since remedied). Speaking of sprues, there are still quite a few future Storm Wardens on them, so my lone squad of Dark Angels will be tagging along to beef up the Troops section a bit. They're not allies per se...as there's no incentive to get their soon to be replaced codex at this point, so they will just be used as vanilla marines.

However in a misguided act of diplomacy, the Wardens thought to both welcome and honor their mysterious brethren by naming this offensive after them. Relations between the two chapters however seem to have gotten of to a bad start...

Perhaps the Librarian misread his Emperor's Tarot when seeking an honorable moniker?

As for the Bastion, I gotta question for all of you Necron players out there: How does one transport a monolith sized hunk-o-plastic to the FLGS on a regular basis without worry of the little fiddly bits (heavy bolters mainly) breaking off? It sure as hell won't fit in a sabol tray, and I was hoping that there's a better option than 'just put it in the passenger seat and try to minimize the sharp turns'.

Shifting Allegiances...

o/

Well, the Aurora Chapter Space Marine army has come to an end (or will shortly). I am just tired of having 9 scouts with sniper rifles and a missile launcher fail to kill anything! Even the Sgt. never rolls higher than a 2 (that photo caption is kinda prophetic in hindsight...) or barring that, failing to wound anything. The ML scout does fairly well, but only cause he is generally firing a frag missile. Screech commented 'it was a cool idea, but it really doesn't work.' 

Only my outflanking close combat scout squad really worked well, but the inability to outflank & charge in the same turn kinda kills that. So, if you're interested in an Aurora Captain & 15 (mostly painted) scouts, which would make for a nice allied contingent assuming your dice are more kind to them than mine have been, then check ebay later this week.

However I have so much unpainted SM stuff (much of it still on the sprue), that removing the painted Auroras, replacing them with my painted captain & tac squad of the Storm Wardens, and only a few minor shoulder pad & painting adjustments to a few other (now) former Auroras, and I basically have another SM army of roughly the same size (I'm such an addict...), just with more power armor this time (though I still have 2 scout squads remaining).

First up, my Librarian:

Ya gotta love Ork decals on Space Marines!

I still don't like any of the Librarian models, so I just gave him an arm swap as I didn't care for his old the GK style storm bolter. Now with a glowing plasma pistol, he looks less like a blue GK than he did before. The plasma glow didn't come out as good as the last one, and is a bit brighter/whiter meaning he'd best pull that trigger soon...

lol, its a 'counts as' Axe.

Then there is my favorite old Techmarine. This guy started life as a Red Corsair, who was a renegade from the Sons of Medusa, and has been painted a time or two since then. I really like the model & didn't want to get rid of him as I still use him frequently (even though basic Techmarines suck). Luckily his Aurora shoulder pad popped off easily & cleanly, allowing me to put a generic Mechanicum shoulder pad from the SM vehicle sprue on. Now bereft of chapter iconography, he'll outlive whichever SM army I decide to get/get rid of, plus he can go with either the Storm Wardens, or the Dark Angels (which I got enmass in the DV boxed set).

One problem is in all of the descriptions of power weapon types, there's no listing for 'circular power saw'. WHAT...THE...FUCK...GW?

...snicker...

I also wanted to keep my 'chaplain' drop pod dreadnought. That concept, while basically a suicide unit, works well enough and again, I liked the paint job. Luckily, having a chappy entombed within, the only thing that was green was the leg guard. The Hawk Turquoise that I use easily covered that, and a decal was applied. Conveniently, the Ork decal sheets have lightning bolts of all sorts of sizes though the one that fit best is in a black box. So I carefully cut around it so it just has a black outline. It works well enough I think.

The tac squad was next but I have no pics as of yet. The one time I've used the wardens previously, the Sgt. was hard to pick out as the only difference between him & the others was the color of his helmet. I have a few base coated 5th ed starter box tac marines though (former Alpha Legionnaires) and so will use one of those per squad as the Sgt., while the old one just got a helmet repaint. That mini is only half done so will post pics of that squad later.