Indeed congrats! It is great to see the progress and the never ending list of things to do. I love the 5000 point shot there too. I think nearly every model in that picture has had its time to shine in this blog. Keep it up. I look forward to another 500.
Knightley wrote: To think, The reason I joined Dakka was because of Git's blog about his experiences with his kids in 40k (either silver skulls or tyranids IIRC) and here we are at page 500 and what a ride!
I too have taken heart about playing miniatures games with my kids. Tonight, my Thing #1 and I played 4 hours of the X-Wing campaign "Heroes of Aturi Cluster" with another dad and his daughter (plus a pair of tagalongs). We had a crushing defeat... followed by a heroic victory.
A chaplain joins the assault marines and waits for the battle to engage. These would have an ignominious end, losing in assault and then failing morale and running off the table. Cowards.
The canoptic harvest arrayed for battle.
Imotek and his bodyguard direct the battle from a secure position.
A land raider filled with terminators waits for the opportunity to strike. It would never come as it succumbs to a strength D hit from the Necron C'tan and yields first blood.
Techmarine support. The TFCs were one of the few bright spots.
The Necrons moved forward aggressively. This allowed my other land raider to advance and disgorge it's contents, which took out an annihilation barge.
My second land raider gets erased by the destroyer lord.
The terminators (after getting shot up) were plucky & then managed to keep the destroyers busy until the D-lord came over and wiped them out.
You can see here that by turn 2, the Necrons had swept forward and completely taken control of the table.
A small tac squad of marines were on the ground early up against my board edge after their razorback was taken out by another anni barge.
One of the few bright spots... the air support arrives and takes out the C'tan. The Stormraven was immediately shot down, killing it's tac-squad occupants.
A tomb stalker deep strikes into my rear, taking out my scout bikes and a unit of scouts falling back from a lost assault with the D-lord.
The wraiths charge in and wipe out the servitor screen (which is why it was there), I charge them with the assault squad + chaplain and they route (I was trying to keep the TFCs firing as they were about the only thing doing any damage).
I also charged them with my dread. This delayed them for one turn until it got wrecked.
They finally get to the TFCs though, with predictable results.
In the end... 5000 points of marines killed about 750 points of Necrons. Good times.
On the up-side, the boy is getting good at running his army. The D-lord and wraiths killed 7 units between them. I think by the end there were only 2 wraiths left, but that was more than enough to get the job done. The only reason the D-lord only killed 3 units is that there was nothing left alive in his half of the table so he ended up objective sitting. I did have two pods of cents come down in his rear that nibbled on a few things, but they were quickly overwhelmed by shooting and assault.
@SL: He's figured out this sneaky git trick where he can pull units from anywhere on the table through the portals on his monoliths, including out of combat. Makes him damn near impossible to kill.
@graven: Yes, I think that's when the boys started.
Gitsplitta wrote: @SL: He's figured out this sneaky git trick where he can pull units from anywhere on the table through the portals on his monoliths, including out of combat. Makes him damn near impossible to kill.
Photos are great. Love to see your narrative campaign reports as they are so different from a lot of battles and it is really cool to see a large game. How long do you think it took you to play?
Thanks for posting the battle report. Looked like a lot of fun... for the Crons. :-P. I have only had the pleasure of fighting the new necrons once and they are bloody hard to kill.
I'm glad you guys like my little reports. They aren't really very detailed... just a bunch of pics strung together by some narrative (though I do try to reflect what happened in the game accurately).
Tonight's progress on the carnosaur. I'm getting there slowly but surely.
Thanks guys (and yes, Archer... you nailed it). I'm having a lot of fun with this guy but I must admit to being anxious to get back to my own stuff. Unfortunately have a bunch of Christmas presents to paint after this, so I'll be up to my neck in Necrons for a bit. Like my son needs help kicking my butt with his army.
I do have a local tournament this Saturday that I'm quite looking forward to. Taking my Halloween army. It's just balls-out fun to play and since I'm not as emotionally invested in it as my Mantis Warriors, it's much less upsetting when the dice betray me and everything goes tits-up.
Love the bat rep pics, does look like he's getting good at running the Necrons . Does he accompany you to any of these tournies, or not to that point yet?
Was sad to see the TFCs fall, but they had a suitably epic end with everything else sacrificing themselves first!
I feel so stupid. I thought you were converting the carnosaur for your Mantis warriors. Looking great though Git! Colors blended in quite nice. I'm right there with you, I have to shave off 50 points on my list for a local tourney. Hard for me to do. Figured it out though. Good luck with your tourney!
Gitsplitta wrote: @RiTides: Oh yes, both boys have played at local tournaments, but they'll be out at a scouting function this weekend so they can't join me.
I haven't got my army figured out yet .Either Necrons, Grey Knights or I still have the standard SM list.
He got the best painted in the bag, so I'm going with either the best looking guy there award or the oldest guy there award! Last one will be pretty easy for me to win!
That would be sweet, Solar lion! I'm looking for some more pics for updates so I would use one if you don't mind
Speaking of other armies, but man I really like the job you did on your son's Necrons, Gits. Shame to put so much love into painting them only to have them turn on you, though
@RiTides: Thanks. Like them myself... which is a good thing because I have more to do for Christmas.
Sorry for the lack of updates. Took last night off (went to bed early) and tonight I actually get to play with the gang (doesn't usually happen). I'll be back to it tomorrow night.
OH, this has nothing to do with anything... but I thought I'd mention it anyway. I've decided the "B" section of my iPod (alphanumerically speaking) is a complete microcosm of my taste in music and my musical life. I could live very happily stranded on a desert island with just the B's to keep me company.
The Carnosaur looks fantastic! My regular opponent plays Lizardmen Seraphon, and I wish his Carnosaur was painted as nice. Beautiful model, cant wait to see how it all turns out. Any future plans on how you will beat "the boy" with the Mantis warriors?
Yes. Paint up some things that look so cool he can't resist using them, but actually have crap rules.
Or... actually build a competitive list rather than what I thought was cool. Flyer, scout & land speeder formations, TFCs and podding cents to start with. While I had all of these things, they were pretty watered down by the end. However it's telling that my son didn't actually choose his army... he just fielded everything he had that was painted & still mopped the floor with me.
Gitsplitta wrote: However it's telling that my son didn't actually choose his army... he just fielded everything he had that was painted & still mopped the floor with me.
Well, at least he didn't list tailor against his Dad
It looks you have the tools to field a very strong list, so at a lower point level the game should be a lot closer, I think!
News of the day: Shut the car door on my right hand yesterday. I don't think anything's broken and my finger nails haven't turned black yet, but my finger tips hurt like hell & and it's cost me the only full day I had for finishing this project on time. Will have to try and work it in around the edges now.
Ouch... not Perry brothers "Learn to sculpt with your other hand" level, but still, sounds really painful . I can't imagine trying to paint a day or two after doing that!
I'll have to get back to it tonight no matter how I feel, but I think I'll be fine. It's more the time lost yesterday than time I may lose this week.
Got a really neat surprise that I'll be working on for Thing 1. When I get to it, I'll post on my Necron blog but will make a note of it here in case anyone is interested.
Archer wrote: How many blogs do you run exactly? I am beginning to think physics unstoppable force was modelled on your hobby progress....
Technically six, but only 4 get somewhat regular updates now-a-days. So far in 2015 I've painted (by my count) 157 figures. By Christmas that will hopefully be over 160.
More progress on the Carnosaur. Running out of time...
The only reason I show a back view is so you can see the one completed decorative strip on the chair.
Looks like you are almost there. What’s left to do? The detailing on the chair? Base? Seems he’s just about ready to get a bow/wrapped and rampage under the tree.
Nevelon wrote:Looks like you are almost there. What’s left to do? The detailing on the chair? Base? Seems he’s just about ready to get a bow/wrapped and rampage under the tree.
Finish the detail of the chair, the base and the whole underbelly of the dino. Problem is I've got something major scheduled every night this week so painting each night will be very limited and very late. My goal tonight is to finish the chair and get moving on the base & at least get the base color down for the underbelly.
Stormwall wrote:Your dice betray you? My Nid dice did too but, since I played Marines it only made sense.
Second game my dice did betray me, especially at the beginning (a blurted profanity did happen... which is something I pride myself for not doing). However, it wasn't the dice. Just couldn't beat the army. The other games I rolled pretty darn well.
Tell me Gits, did you get your DCM dakka dice? (Not sure if taboo to talk about in main forum, if so mods, purge me.) If not, I have a second set as a "Christmas/possibly broken hand set" laying around just for you. I ordered too many if you were wondering, so you don't have to feel guilty if you want to say yes.
You know, I haven't ordered any new dice in a while, dakka or otherwise. (... and I think it's fine you mention it... nothing wrong with letting people know there are some percs to being a DCM)
Spacewolverine wrote: He is looking awesome Git! How do you do the Orange on his shield and the carnesaur? Came out really vibrant.
Well, originally it was airbrushed the same colors as the dino... then I slopped paint of another color on the bottom of it so I had to blend it out. The end result just came out brighter. I think I used the same colors, just more layers of them as I had to cover up the slop.
I would LOVE to paint something like that beast, Gits! you're doing a brilliant job on it too I may add, it's a real divergence from your normal style of things and I gotta say you seem to be smashing it outta the park (isn't that what Americans say?)
Merry Christmas to Gits, Thing 1 & 2, and the must-be-a-saint Mrs. Gits
Can't wait to see what you painted as gifts (for the Necrons right?). That's actually my favorite scheme of all your projects, he's a lucky kid! Can he replicate it yet?
Here's the 40k collective Christmas haul. Thing 2 finally got his painted titan (I need to work on it's support a bit) and a pod thingy which he says he's going to paint. I got the two missing elements for my AdMech war convocation (?) and a hopefully more knight-sized Cthulhu. Thing 1 got his box of necron elites. I didn't get anything painted up for Thing 1 which was disappointing, but I'll work on things this week as I'm on vacation.
Titan was done by a friend, so not my work (but nicely done).
Yeah, Brian (local friend) did a nice job on it. It needs supports though so I think I'm going to place some rather heavy brass rods into the body to provide the main support. They'll be extra things (painted black) coming down out of the body, but if I do it right they shouldn't be too distracting and that avoids the titan being on some kind of big base that totally disrupts terrain or other units as it moves.
I'll be back in the painting saddle today. Titan first, then finishing up the dinosaur, then to work on some Necrons and perhaps begin the prep on the Scribor Cthulhu. We'll see how much I get done.
Gitsplitta wrote: I'll be back in the painting saddle today. Titan first, then finishing up the dinosaur, then to work on some Necrons and perhaps begin the prep on the Scribor Cthulhu. We'll see how much I get done.
That's... an impressive list of goals! I am very interested in seeing how you support the titan
One of Thing 2's Christmas presents was a fully painted Hierophaunt (sp?) bio titan. Done by a friend of mine. The "basing" consists of 3 heavy brass, square rods coming out of the body roughly to the same points where the rear legs and chest come down. I know most of you won't like this, but it's very stable and allows the titan to move across the table without completely disrupting the terrain and/or other units. Much more realistic in my opinion.
We're going to play a 2000 pt game tomorrow in order to try it out. Here's his list. Not perhaps what I would have chosen... but I picked a marine army that should give him a variety of fun targets to blow up. Here's hoping it goes well and he has fun with it.
Have you considered camouflaging the rods? perhaps a slight bend so they appear more organic then maybe some additions of greenstuff to give the impression of a slimy slightly
viscous bio organic slime? then some paint and gloss varnish to give it a appropriate look?
I might entertain the possibility of giving them some passes with an airbrush in muted greens, browns and greys in order to make them less obvious... but no. Fully decorating them isn't in the plans. I just don't think anything I could do to them would adequately disguise them enough to make it worth the effort & they may even end up being more of a distraction that way.
What are they made of? could they be bent to a wavier form easily? so that a piece touches on the model for support yet still touches the base? then the camo could be painted in muted greens and glossed to look like bile or oooze? hard for me to describe what I'm seeing in my head so you'll follow me easily! :-)
From our game... Azhara Redth makes his defiant last stand in the face of the Tyranid monstrosity.
The bio-titan killed everything it bothered to shoot at. The funny bit was that neither his Hierophaunt or my Knight was able to complete a charge of more than 3" all day! Really fun game though... and close in spite of all the killing. The Nids lost everything save for the titan which had 6 of 10 wounds left. I had just a couple fragmented scout squads and my knight left. Even with that we tied UNTIL you factored in the 4 wounds on the nid titan which gave me one extra victory point, resulting in a very marginal Mantis Warrior victory!
Giant bug looks great, and sounds like a fun game was had, so
Chipping in on the Hierophant's supports topic, I think that short of a full rebuild, the keep-them-as-is is not a bad solution, I'd just consider repainting the rods in more muted colours to help disguise them a bit more, a medium grey or light brown/tan sound like good choices.
I think they are great the way they are. I remember designing a deck for a customer and using black metal balusters on the railing. He has a great view from his back window of the woods and didn't want to obscure it. The black blends into the shadows of the woods great. I think the black here sticks out due to the color of the gaming mat and the background colors being lighter. If that's the main table you play on, then maybe go for a lighter color for the supports, but otherwise I'd say leave them be.
That time of year to re-examine my hobby accomplishments for the past 12 months. Here are my goals from last year...
P&M MW: finish the following - centurions, bikes, flyers, 1 squad of infantry (my choice) Partial credit: cents are done & repainted 2 squads of old terminators. Farmed 3 flyers out to Ramos which he painted beautifully. So I guess everything save for the bikes. Not bad. Orks: finish the following - grot mega tank, mega dread, 2 mork/gorkanauts, 1 SH tank, squiggoth Partial credit: Just the grot mega tank & squiggoth. GK (Brotherhood of the Black Hand): finish the following - paint DK, 4 infantry, rhino Partial Credit: DK finished.
General goals: - Be more active consistently throughout the year (i.e. no 6-month disappearances like last year). - Attend 4 local tournaments. - Attend 12 local gaming nights. - Attend 1 major gaming event. - Judge 1 comp if asked. - Participate in 2 comps. Pretty sure I achieved all of these, though I'm not sure I was asked to judge this year. - Hold MM3 comp. Done! Yet another wonderful competition. - Do better at giving people thoughtful advice and comments on their work & not just being a cheerleader. Doneish? Have tried to make an effort but still too often just cheerleading. - Be a better husband and father. I think so. Certainly made a point of spending more time with my family at any rate. You'd have to ask my kids and wife to be sure.
Things not on the list that I accomplished... - painted 158 figures including an entirely new army in 30 days
*drops mic and walks away*
Goals for 2016 Finish carnosaur for my friend's son. - done! - Finish key elements in Monster Mash army: --- scarecrowes / pink horrors --- creature from the black lagoon / herald of khorne --- classic wolfman / herald of khorne --- Lucy (bride of Dracula) / herald of tzeench --- Cthulhu / GUO --- Cthulhu / greater demon or chaos knight --- gargoyles / CSM raptors --- giant / kytan --- VanHelsing / assassin Finish Space Wolf formation (all wolves): --- iron priest on wolf #1 --- iron priest on wolf #2 --- wolf lord/special character whose name I forget --- cyber wolf #1 --- cyber wolf #2 Finish AdMech war convocation: --- 10 vanguard --- 5 rust stalkers --- iron strider --- dune walker --- 3 breachers --- 3 destroyers --- magos #1 --- magos #2 Finish GK Army: --- 4 marines --- rhino Mantis Warriors: --- finish MW land raider --- finish MW predator Necrons: --- convert & paint Necron "knight" #1 --- convert & paint Necron "knight" #2 --- paint 15 necron elites Emperor's Children for Adepticon (500 pts): --- 1 squad tacticals --- 5 terminators --- 1 commander Bad Moon Orks: --- stompa --- kill bursta SH tank --- kill blasta SH tank --- meka dread --- mork/gorkanaught #1 --- mork/gorkanaught #2 Paint beautiful display board elements made by Cam.
158 models! crikey and here I was thinking I was productive! (in saying that I will need to add up all that I painted this year to work that all out for me)
However that is still a huge effort and one I have enjoyed watching, especially the 30 challenge and seeing how amazing you got them to look.
Welcome to 2016 I can't wait to see what you cook up next
I'll think about the photoshoot once things settle down from the holidays here. No, no other themed armies, one is enough.
This year will most likely be dedicated to finishing up old projects (meaning armies). GK, SW, AdMech & Monster Mash should all be finished by year's end. I'd like to clear some space for 3 new armies that I'd like to build, but I feel I must put these older projects to bed before opening up new cans of worms.
This year is definitely focused on finishing up some of my "finite" lists... GK, SW, AdMech & chaos as well as getting some super-heavy projects done. (because you know... the big stuff is just darn fun to play with) This should free me up next year for ushering in some brand-new armies which will also be of defined size... my orks and MWs are the only forces which will be allowed to wander on indefinitely.
I took my Christmas vacation off of painting... wanted to spend the time with my family and friends. I'm refreshed and ready to start banging away at my to-do list again. We'll see how things go.
I think you could camoflague the supports by hiding them in rocket contrails- have little dudes down by the legs trying to kill it, and the rods can be disguised as laser beams or rocket trails or whatever.
Well done Gitz, I know you were having a hard time deciding on how to do the belly of the beast, looks like you figured it out. Your friend will love how this turned out, a great centerpiece for his army.
What a great piece.. I too am a fan of the underbelly. Very nice contrast. The Brightness off the blue is well done and does a great job of drawing attention. Winning!
No way I could match your results. But definitely thinking of stealing the orange and grey colour scheme for my own projects at some point. It works amazingly well.
Thanks for all the kind words guys. There were some idiosyncrasies about the sculpt that made dealing with the underbelly a lot more problematic than I thought it would be, but in the end it turned out fine and the young'un who it is intended for likes it... which in the end is all that matters.
On to the next project!
Started assembling the pieces for the necron "knight" I promised Thing 1 for Christmas. Have a very cool terminator model that I'm using as the base. It's as tall as a knight but much more slight. It's exactly what he wanted however "a giant warrior". I'm trying a few ideas to add just a little heft to it (shoulder pads, cowel of sorts) but I don't want to change it's basic character. I've got a set of the twin tessla-cannons from the night scythe that fits perfectly under the models arm as the main gun. I think it could count-as any of the main knight weapons without too much trouble. Will be looking for a toy (probably) weapon that looks close to one of the necron CC weapons which will serve as a reaper chainsword. I might also come up with something shoulder mounted to serve as the dual autocannon option & a heavy stubber. I've also made a bit of a power-node out of a night scythe projector bit and a cool marble donated by Thing 2. Lastly, the base I'll use for him is an oval flying base that matches the rest of his bases. It's not quite as large as the standard knight base, but it does fit the figure much better than the normal, huge knight base would & I don't think it provides any inherent advantage to the figure (so I don't think I can be accused of modeling for advantage).
Right now it's all just a pile of bits. When I have something concrete to show you... I'll post.
@Knightley: That would be wonderful! If this works, I'll have a second one to do and having a little variation in the gun would be great! Thanks!
@Archer: Not sure I understand what you're asking...
Well, here's your laugh of the day. I wanted to start my own youtube channel for posting battle reports in the style of wintersSEO, The Dark Artisan and StrikingScorpion82. So I got the channel up and running, found a working video camera and took a couple of very short test videos. I uploaded them raw (no editing) just to see how things would look on youtube. Here's the good part... it takes me about 1 minute to upload 1 second of video. So a 20-minute battle report (my target) would take FIVE DAYS to upload!!! LOL! So much for that idea...
Sounds like youll need to compress them a bit then- no raw uploads. I'll see if I can get any tips from my brother- Hes all into multimedia and that kinda thing. Might be able to find you an easy way to do it
Yeah Gits you can compress them, but you do lose quality sometimes. I stopped compressing as it made mine look really grainy. Also depends on what format you save them too. Good luck on the you tube channel. I have subscribed and awaiting new works from Gits awesome workshop.
They have wargaming (and battle simulation - I forget the name and don't want to use the wrong one and possibly offend Gits / Solar!) so these are the cultured folks who appreciate finer things
And I was just kidding you earlier - it is a huge bummer about the upload speed, though. Do you have reasonable download speed? At the rate you mentioned, I'm not sure compressing will be enough...
What I was trying to ask in a fairly clumsy fashion is are you intending on using those green plastic rods that the necron love to stick all over their vehicles and weapons on the Knight?
I always found video a fickle medium, especially when trying to upload it. Good luck with getting it sorted out. Your written battle reports are very entertaining and I am sure the video ones will be just as good.
LOL... I'm so rural I'm on a LOS Microwave connection. Good thing that it's pretty flat around here (the plains of Dakota). I really feel for you though, Gits.
@SL: It's just a baggie full of bits at the moment. When I get something done, I'll post it on the appropriate blog. Been slow over the holidays. Spent the weekend helping Thing 1 build a working catapult for his physics class. Fun project and very satisfying as things worked out nicely. Watched a lot of football too. Christmas tree got taken down... very sad.
Test launching the catapult at night in the snow in sub-zero weather was pretty fun actually.
Catapult certainly seems worthy of a pic . That's the very definition of "modeling"!
And congrats on your team pasting the poor Redskins guys although at least they made a game of it for 3 quarters. You'll have a tougher test this week!
RiTides wrote: And congrats on your team pasting the poor Redskins guys although at least they made a game of it for 3 quarters. You'll have a tougher test this week!
Were just as surprised as you are! We have no expectations.
Its been a long time old friend, I just spend that last few days going through your massive thread since I've been away. You have done soo much in a year and I'm amazed! I really liked the venator tank and Dev Cents.
You have once again aspired me to paint again, I would be extremely Satisfied if I can do 1/10th of work you done over the year... and that will be my New Years goal.
So happy to see you back Styro. I did see your post on the blog. Really excited to see your new models in progress and see the significant number of models you're going to try to get done. I go through ebbs and flows myself. Kind of ebbing over the holidays but I can feel the excitement rising as I think about the models I get to paint over the next couple of months. Perhaps we can inspire each other, yes??
As per request... a pic of the model catapult Thing 1 and I toyed with this weekend. This is his design, I just helped with some carpentry advice. Note that it's not a replica... just needs to be a working catapult that will throw a golf ball 6 meters (roughly 20' I think). Powered by rubber bands (Mrs. 'Splitta's idea) it launched a golf ball 26'. We then fiddled with it a bit to try and get it closer to the 6m mark. Frame is oak, basket is the top from a Testor's Dull Coat spray can. Working with it was pretty fun. We'd launch a ball that went far. We'd tweak or add something & the next shot would go 6 feet. We'd make a major change & shoot fine, then add something and launch a blooper. Back and fourth like this all night... it was quite fun actually! We were both very proud of our accomplishments & the fact that we did it together just made it that much more satisfying and fun.
In terms of scale, the base is 1 foot from front-to-back.
I remember making a trebuchet for my engineering class in high school. We had a whole football field to work with, but the majority of the engines could barely get the projectile 10 yards. I'm happy to say I was able to go at least 20 with mine.
As Ron White says... why go hunting with something that travels thousands of feet per second when deer throw themselves infront of objects moving 55 miles per hour?
Gitsplitta wrote: I could go deer hunting with that thing! Might even hit something for once!
I would love to see someone use that as an excuse when asked by the local constabulary about why they are building a large trebuchet; "it's for hunting deer, here is my hunting licence"
Good job on your catapult. Always a fun endeavour making things that chuck smaller things long distances.
Yeah, sorry guys. Finishing those will be the first MW projects, just not sure when I'll get to them. Once I'm set for the 30th I may attack one of them so at least I've made some progress.
Spent the night sorting 30k bits. I'll be starting a 30k EC army blog soon. Just giving you a head's up. Nothing really special on tap for it at the moment, just a 500 pt starter for Zone Mortalis. Tac squad, terminators and a centurion. Really struggling with the list though. I'm sure the fact that I've never played either 30k or Zone Mortalis isn't helping any. I also ordered an EC transfer sheet from Forge World so I can at least make them look appropriate.
.... and..... we're off! How many blogs can one person support?? Probably not this many... but it is, what it is. No models up yet, but I hope to have some builds done very soon.
Gitsplitta wrote: .... and..... we're off! How many blogs can one person support?? Probably not this many... but it is, what it is. No models up yet, but I hope to have some builds done very soon.
So, I'm supposed to be painting Emperor's Children... chaos... orks.... Mantis Warriors.... but I got distracted. Hope you like it anyway. It's a truly amazing model with a million little details... but I just didn't see the mechanicus going for a colorful build... rather huge, ornate cast pieces in a single metal... probably some variation of gold so it would not tarnish and would remain a glorious monument to the might of the Emperor forever.
It does look lovely as it is, but I'd definitely like to see the pipes done in black. I think I'd also like to see skulls and bones in bone or a different metalljc colour too. But that would be bonuses rather than something it needs.
I understand the desire for a uniform, well maintained relic. If it’s actively being cared for you wouldn’t have soot/discoloration building up at the vents.
It does look like there are lights on the pillars just below the platform (and more near the base?) Those could get a hint of color.
But one perk of having a solid base is it really focuses attention on the actual generators up top. It’s one thing to see on a plain backdrop, but on a cluttered table, I think it’s going to be more distinguished.
Thanks guys. I have been considering the lights and will also look at the hoses. I don't want to muck it up too much, but a little bit of variation would probably be a good thing.
Inquisitor Jaxeena holds the captured Mantis Warriors captain in a stasis cube. With help from the local Planetary Defense Force she waits for her personal valkrie to get her prize off planet.
The Mantis Warriors are preparing a rescue mission to recover their fallen Captain. Unfortunately their forces have been so weakened by their battle with the Blood Angels that all they have left are a variety of scout units that have been on maneuvers with scouting units of a local Skitarii force. Brother Paulous, chaplain and long-time friend of the Captain will be leading the assault. This blatant attack on the Mantis Warrior's honor and gene seed cannot be allowed to stand!
I wont. I think the Mechanics would see the raw beauty of the metal as it's own monument to the glory of the Omnissiah.
Automatically Appended Next Post: The Mantis Warrior strike team (1000 pts). All scouts with the exception of the LS Tornado crews and Brother Chaplain Paulous.
Hey gang, thanks for being so patient. Yorkright and I had a very fun game to continue our campaign. I have all the photos set up for writing a battle report but forgot to upload them yesterday. I'll do that tonight and get the report written tomorrow.
I'm not sure what I'm running at Adepticon. I'm in the two-day Badab event. We're supposed to bring more "fluffy" armies... which of course means that half the participants will be going for maximum competitiveness... because asking people to bring fun armies is just begging for others to bring the nastiest stuff they can conceive of so they can spend the day crushing their hapless opponents under foot.
I've been working on utilizing some of the new scout/LS formations. I can't quite do what I'd like to in 1850 though (which seems ridiculous considering it's all scouts). So I'm not sure. I'll probably take the VSG and two TFCs. Other than that, I'll be going for "pretty" rather than "functional" so you can expect me to pull out the sternguard, some dreads and a few vehicles of sorts.
One thing that can help with fluffy lists is using strong units, but a fluffy structure. For example, I like the structure of a 1st and 10th list. You start with some scouts with maybe a few fast scouting elements, like speeders or bikes on the table. Once you make contact with the enemy, you bring the hammer down in the form of podded sternguard, dreads, etc.
A lot of competitive things are pretty darn fluffy. So you can have your cake and eat it too. Alternatively, you might want to bring both a hard-core list and a more friendly one, so if someone comes in looking to kick a puppy, you bite his foot off.
The first day event will be a 1850 list or a 1000 pt ZM list. I sure once submitted you will be stuck with it. Gits will make a game of it either way he goes.
+++ Personal Log: Brother Paulus, Chaplain of the Mantis Warriors +++ +++ "The rogue inquisitor known as Jaxeena is in possession of our captain. He was grievously wounded after our last encounter with the Blood Angels and is now, according to intelligence gathered by remote sensors, being kept in a kind of stasis cube awaiting transport at an Astra Militarum outpost. Repeated actions against the Blood Angels have left both forces shattered and unable to field a viable army. We believe they are out of the conflict until reinforced, as are we. Our only hope of rescuing our captain lies with our scouts who have been on maneuvers in the Whindahm Hills with a small contingent of Skitarii scouts from a nearby Adeptis Machanicus salvage operation. The magus in charge has consented to allow the Skitarii scouts to take part in our rescue operation, there being no love loss between the AdMech and the Inquisition under the best of circumstances. Our best assault assets are two land speeder storms supported by two land speeder typhoons... and myself. Reluctant as I am to surrender my trusty crosius... I have accessed our reliquary vault in order to wield the Teeth of Terra. Emperor willing it will aid us in our attempt to rescue his faithful servant from this wicked creature and her minions. Log ends." +++
Vanguard strike set up, modified Emperor's will, 2 objectives worth 2 pts each. One set up in each players deployment zone. Both objectives are grav fields, -2 to charge distance. Imprisoned Captain worth 3 pts at end game, works like the relic cannot be moved more than 6 inches per turn. Jaxeena will have it at first in the bastion must get it too top of landing pad which is 12 inches away from bastion, it will take a 6" move to get it to top of landing site, gives you 5 turns to stop her. Relic is worth 3 pts at end of game and can always move as long as someone in the Inquisitors unit is alive . Valkyrie comes on turn 3, must land on turn 4 then leave by turn 5. May fire weapons every turn it is on board even while on the ground. Jaxeena may leave the relic and escape if possible. Relic has a AV of 12 with 3 hull points, if destroyed Captain is lost. Jaxeena will never try to destroy Stasis Chamber. Terrain must be set up in a way that will allow one Scout unit to deploy behind Stronghold but not near the objective. Slay the warlord, first blood and linebreaker are in effect.
Forces of the Inquisition Inquisitorial Detachment: HQ: Ordo Malleus Inquisitor (Jaxeena) - force sword, incinterator HQ (?): Henchmen - 3x acolyte w/ boltgun, Valkyrie
Yorkright wrote: Inquisitor Jaxeena holds the captured Mantis Warriors captain in a stasis cube. With help from the local Planetary Defense Force she waits for her personal valkrie to get her prize off planet.
Forces of the Mantis Warriors *side note - These are kinda screwed up as I brought the wrong list and wrong figures with me to the game & forgot my Skitarii dex. Have no idea what happened but Yorkright was a real trooper about my confusion and just went with it.
HQ: Chaplain on bike, Teeth of Terra (?) TP: scouts (5) - 4x sniper rifles, ML TP: scouts (5) - 4x sniper rifles, ML TP: scouts (5) - bolt pistols & CCW Some formation or other... 5 scouts - BP & CCW in LS Storm 5 scouts - BP & CCW in LS Storm LS Typhoon LS Typhoon
Here's the pic of the army I intended to bring... not sure what happened. It's pretty though.
Deployment:
The Astra Militarum base was hard up against a large inland sea, making an approach from the north or west impossible. One Mantis Warrior sniper team had been able to infiltrate a near-by woodland north of the landing pad and had been feeding intel to command for roughly 14 hours. The assault would have to take place from the east and south... unfortunately the directions where the base was prepared best to defend... but needs must as the devil drives. The various scout units were able to move into the surrounding hills without incident, however nothing was going to mask the roar of the approaching land speeder assault force, nor the piercing whine of Paulus' jet bike. The stealth of the scouts and the sheer speed of their approach, as cacophonous as it was... did give them the edge. If they were going to be successful in their rescue, they'd have to make the most of it.
The Mantis Warriors form a crescent with snipers providing support fire from the hills as the assault elements move in.
The Astra Militarum prepare to take the brunt of the Mantis Warrior's assault while Jaxeena's retinue move the stasis cube into position for transport.
The Mantis Warriors take advantage their stealth and mobility afford them and move in quickly. Firing from the LS typhoons takes down a sentinel, unfortunately the multi melta fire from the LS storms just bounces off the bastion. Support fire from the scouts at the AM infantry behind the aegis wall accomplishes little.
To the north, the chaplain turbo-boosts his bike behind a pillar of the landing pad, keeping himself out of harm's way for now.
In response, fire from the tower brings down one of the typhoons.
The nearest skitarii unit also takes some casualties, but holds.
Having survived, the two LS storms are now in position to drop their payload (thanks to a formation rule that allows them to go 12" while still having their occupants disembark). The two scout squads are now in position to hit the rear of the Inquisitor's bodyguards!
To the north, the chaplain roars around the pylon and is ready to engage the front end of the column.
The charge is costly, and many bave scouts succumb to overwatch, especially from Jaxeena's immolator.
The Teeth of Terra and the Emperor are with the Mantis Warriors this day! The first round of combat is decisive and only Jaxeena and a solitary henchman remain.
The veterans respond by downing one of the LS storms.
In assault, a final challenge is issued between Jaxeena and Brother Paulus.
Jaxeena has been a deadly and resourceful foe, but even she cannot resist the might of the chaplain! Will HER skull be the next to adorn the cowl of his jet bike??
The marines then move in to occupy the AM base. Most of the scout units are called in from the hills and the speeders move towards the landing pad for the duration of the mop-up. In the mean time, the scouts begin the process of releasing the captain from his prison.
The Valkyrie arrives right on schedule, only to find chaos below. The Militarum positions are being over-run and command has been knocked out. There are still pockets of guardsmen bravely fighting and the unit on top of the tower are accounting for themselves well with their las cannon, downing a LS typhoon as the crew watches.
The forces of the Mantis Warriors continue to close in... attrition is showing in nearly every unit on the table. The snipers, guard & bastion have all been plinking away at each other and nothing is unscathed with the exception of an outflanking MW scout unit that comes in north of the landing pad.
Scouts move onto the landing pad to prevent the Valkyrie from having a safe perch.
The stasis cube is deactivated and the captain staggers out... all silvery and shiny with the aftereffects of his captivity. Jaxeena's body is then placed in the cube and it is reactivated! The sole surviving land speeder drops down from the pad to take the captain to safety.
Mysteriously, a herald of Slaanesh appears not too far away from the deactivated stasis cube!
However, fresh from their training exercise... the skitarii rangers are unphased.
There isn't much for the Astra Militarum to do save fight for the honor of their unit. The Valkyrie moves over to the landing pad, but realizes that trying to land amidst a group of crak grenade armed scouts is probably a poor idea. The last veteran squad who by themselves have accounted for a LS storm and a skitarii ranger squad move to intercept the other group of skitarii behind the aegis wall. The men in the tower (and the tower itself) continue their relentless fire vs. any and all targets that present themselves.
Shooting from the Valk downs two scouts and the retinue is dropped in the hopes of taking out the MW chaplain... but it's not enough.
The space marine forces respond by gunning down Jaxeena's retinue and moving the stasis chamber (with Jaxeena) to a position of relative safety by the tower.
The captain is spirited away by the land speeder, seeking cover underneath the landing pad before it makes the mad dash for friendly territory.
The last three of the noble veteran squad charge into the skitarii rangers, killing one. The combat stalemates.
An armored sentinel looks on. The outflanking maneuver left him too far away from the battle to do much good. It's clear that this particular Astra Militarum outpost hasn't been re-supplied in a while. It's also clear that they're very good at taking care of their old equipment. Makes sense that they'd be on a Mantis Warrior world with those attributes.
With a few casualties but still combat effective... the las cannoneers view the outcome of the battle as the dust settles below. To this point, the Mantis Warriors have been trusted allies and this was a world both forces mutually protected. What could have brought on this sudden attack? To slaughter an Inquisitor and her retinue was unthinkable... yet, they had just witnessed it. Why had they taken her body? What was that "thing" that appeared when the cube was deactivated? What had the captain done to deserve such inquisitorial sanction? They weren't even aware that the Adeptus Mechanicus were on planet, how were they involved? The sergeant looked at his sole surviving trooper and could see the confusion on his face. "Whatever you've seen, whatever you're thinking... take my advice... forget it all." "Why?" responded the trooper. "Mind wipe." said his sergeant. The trooper nodded, then they both backed away from the edge of the battlements... hoping none of the raiders realized anyone was still alive in the tower.
Brother Paulus eased his ancient jet bike next to the stasis cube. It's shiny black and gold a stark contrast to the muted glow of the cube. Inside lay the body of their adversary, Inquisitor Jaxeena. She was much too valuable to kill, and the reason for her aberrant behavior needed to be properly investigated. The stasis cube bought them the time to do that. Also, an explanation as to why the chapter had captured and detained an inquisitor was a lot easier to give than why one had been killed. The cube would stabilize her medically, then hold her for as long as they needed.
As for the captain... he was safely on his way back to the Mantis Warrior's operational base. What had happened to him in stasis? Why had a creature of chaos appeared when he was released from the cube? What had Jaxeena planned on doing with him after she got him off-world? WILL HE EVER BE GREEN AGAIN??!!!
For the answer to these and other questions my friends... you'll have to wait for the next installment of the campaign. (Feel free to pester Yorkright about it... he's the campaign author.)
Hahahaaaa ah man that was a fantastic read!! Very well done, both of you!
Good to see the boys in green striking back after last sessions loss. Cant wait to see where this goes. The appearance of the Daemon got a chuckle out of me- Totally unexpected. And is that REALLY a Sentinel!? Thats just wild...
@ Ramos REALLY a Sentinel!? Thats just wild...
Some of my models may be older than you Ramos, I should post up some pictures of my original terminators from the first space hulk game.
This narrative game has been a whole lot of fun with Gitz, some people might think its not 40K since we get to see each others list, but in my opinion it makes the game very enjoyable from a narrative point of view. You still have to play to the best of your abilities with what you have. My one guard squad did a hell of a lot of work, wrecked a landspeeder, shot up some skittari and never failed the 3 morale rolls they had to take.
People rag on HBs all the time. They do one thing, and they do it well: Kill 4+ units in the open. You brought a scout list. The only thing worse for you would be heavy flamers (the leading cause of death for my scouts). HBs can also work well against very light, especially open topped, vehicles. Like all the speeders you took.
I’m not going to say you list tailored just to showcase how awesome the HB can be, but it does kinda look that way...
Actually, with all of those points being invested in fortifications, I would feel that Steve would be at a disadvantage as his actual army would be too small to take advantage of and/or control the various protections.
@wyomingfox: Agreed. That and the points in the Valk that couldn't arrive until turn 3. On the flip side, I had 5 scout units that had almost no impact on the battle collectively... so at least in small part the dead points in his list was offset by dead points in mine. The real difference was the turn 2 assault and the impact of the Teeth of Terra on the result. Once that was resolved, even though I continued to take significant casualties... the end result started looking like a foregone conclusion.
@graven: Thanks my friend. Mayhap some day we'll get to make our own battle report featuring our own forces.
Absolutely loved the report. I love narratives in games and feel I have lost sight of that fact. Definitely going to panic some sort of narrative with a good friend soon. Great job on the report too.
Nice battle report, and I really like your army shot. I mean, I like the paint and all, but also the army theme itself. Visually speaking, it's a very balanced list.
Actually, the tale is going to take some very interesting twists. Yorkright and I hammered out some story arc ideas a couple of days after the battle & what's holding us up at the moment is that I've got to do some painting before the next battle, but am really tied up with trying to get the EC done by Adepticon. As soon as I'm able to do the extra painting, we'll continue our journey into the grim-dark.
Hey guys, I know it's been very quiet here lately as I've been consumed trying the get the EC ready for Adepticon. Just an open invitation to anyone who will also be at the event to come find me. I'll be in the Badab War event on Thursday and Friday. After that I'll probably be spending most of my time helping out RiTides at the ModCubes booth in front of the merchant hall (I think that's where we are).
Ran into some friends of mine from our local group, including one of the guys who was a major supporter and mentor of my recent Halloween army adventure. They were driving down with another friend from Milwaukee and the night before they were to leave the car (which was packed with everyone's stuff) was stolen by what they believe was kids. The police found the car later that day. The car itself is probably totaled. All of their mini's were either stolen or had been systematically destroyed. The armies included a lot of FW stuff and were of course fully painted for the championship. Loss was probably $8-10k worth of figs, not including all the paint time of course.
They're hoping insurance will cover most of the cost of replacement, but that doesn't get them back on their feet. I've offered my airbrush to help speed up the painting process, but as these guys are all accomplished painters in their own rights, I'm not sure if that offer really helps.
OK gang, finally some traditional Adepticon stuff...
In the past I've taken pictures of beautiful models including those in the painting competitions and posted them. I decided not to do that this year. Unfortunately what that has meant is that the highest "ranking" images in my gallery nearly all belong to someone else, as well as a slew of wonderful comments that they never get to see. Top it off by the fact that no matter how I label the photo, a lot of folks who swing by assume it's my work and I get credit I don't deserve while the real artist gets none. It's just not right. For some great pictures of the models on display, head on over to CMON and check out their gallery. It's all there for your enjoyment & properly attributed.
The first battle I'll detail actually happened late in the event. Had a 1000 pt pick-up battle between my very good friend CleansingFire and I. We played on one of the unused zone mortalis boards with pseudo zone-mortalis rues (neither one of us really knew the rules so we just rolled for a limited variety of "board effects" at the beginning of each turn. My army was actually built as an option to be used in the Badab War narrative campaign on Thursday, but unfortunately the scenarios didn't make it to the event (Bad TO... no biscuit!) , and I wanted to give it a try. CF grabbed a list he'd written up and we went at it.
I apologize for the quality of the pics but my fancy camera crapped out on day 1, so these are all unaltered phone pics.
Mantis Warriors vs. Sisters of Battle Points: 1000 Table: 4x4 zone mortalis Deployment: Dawn of War Mission: Maelstrom
CleansingFire's Sisters of Battle I don't have the list but it's pretty straight forward... bolters, meltas, flamers & Celestine and a cannoness with a couple of ecclesiarchal goons in tow.
Git's Mantis Warriors Azhara Redth (chief librarian), Frankentemptor, Iron Clad, 5 sternguard & 4 units of scouts.
I don't have a play-by-play series of photos... but hopefully I can fill in the gaps and you guys can enjoy the pics anyway.
My thought was to use the scouts to hold the ends of long hallways or infiltrate onto objectives while the three elite units with librarian support went in for the kill. This worked out fine and I had a group of scouts on each of 3 long hallways, unfortunately their shooting was never particularly effective. We each deployed mostly in our own zones (even my scouts). I just felt the immanent thread of getting burnt to cinders was too high to infiltrate my scouts very far forward. I got lucky card draws and was able to score a couple of points right off the bat.
Then this happened... Turns out two of my objectives were booby-trapped and I immediately lost two scouts to the explosion. Oops.
The Sisters moved forward in force but (as the winds of the maelstrom tend to blow) were drawing cards that were either for objectives in my half of the board or were difficult to achieve early on this type of board (assassinate and the like). The trend continued in turn two and I was able to get a decent lead in the points score by just moving forward cautiously while CF really had to hustle his units forward in order to have any chance of reliable scoring. He also had to leave a unit back in order to protect the one objective he started the game with.
By my part of turn two, I had begun to move the heavy hitters forward, hoping to get some heavy flamer shots and assaults in on the oncoming battle sisters.
Celestine moved quickly and by turn 3 had engaged a scout unit on my right flank (isolated from the rest of my army by a long wall) who were sitting on another exploding objective. She made short work of them, but it was enough of a delay that she never got back to the main part of the battle.
The Sisters continued to advance on the central objectives and the single doorway that connected the two halves of the board... meltas at-the-ready to liquidate any stomping metal monstrosities that might be lurking in the darkness.
When battle was finally joined... the daughters of the emperor were face to face with the entombed Mantis Warrior heroes.
The Sisters were soooo close to their goal, yet the dreadnought needed to be dealt with first!
Unfortunately a heavy flamer from the iron clad and a prescience assault eventually put the Sisters to flight. A similar result unfolded as the contemptor charged the melta squad.
Azhara Redth and his personal escort of sternguard kept the pressure on my whittling away at any squads that showed themselves.
After dispatching the first Sisters squad, Frankentemptor moved forward to take on the Ecclesiarchal forces holding a rearward objective. Flame on!
The battle is joined!
Unfortunately the battle ended as you might expect, and the surviving Sisters fell back from the battle.
All was not gloom and doom however. A reserve unit of Sisters finally made it to the center of the board. They charged the Iron Clad lead by the melta-bomb toting canoness & they were victorious!!
On my side of the table.... the effectively 6-wound Celestine had finally made here way across the table and was about to hit the scout units guarding my rearward objectives! This was likely to be short, and messy.
...
Well, it was a bit shorter than you'd think. At this point ClensingFire rolled a "2" and the game ended. While I thought he had fought extremely well given what appeared to be a mis-match at the beginning, he just couldn't catch up to all of the maelstrom points I'd nabbed early (primarily due to lucky draws). Had the game gone on, I think I might have been in real trouble.
Hope you enjoyed this little battle report. Great game CleasingFire, so happy to have been able to hang out with you again!
Some great shots of that Contemptor! And love the sniper / librarian one
I got very few pics, but thankfully one of the incredible Wardens, who I don't know what I would have done without!
I believe I have also now officially been / am being inducted as a member which I'm really excited about! Not that any of us have been doing the team tournament the last few years, but there was a heavy Wardens presence in the 30K events and Badab War, and hopefully there will be even more next year! Gits even won a medal in one of his events, although I won't tell you what yet
We also supplied sets of custom 30K objective ModCubes for all the Horus Heresy tables, and got a lot of great comments on them
AdeptiCon is the absolute best, especially because of the gamers I get to see there year after year. Already can't wait for next year!
Man, how many Wardens are we up to? Counting Brent and Thing 2.0 (still confusing), we've gotta be at a dozen or so.
Fun fact, just looked through my pm's with Gits (13 pages of them!), and I asked him about Adepticon way back on 4/29/2010. Literally 500 pages ago. Seems like forever.
My first was in 2012, and even that seems like so long ago! Will you be making it out next year? Thank you for sending the models by the way! (it's WM360's marines and AdMech in the bottom of the pic there along with my bugs)
Also, they forgot to show me the secret handshake... and no one said a thing about Madagascar
Yes, I am actively planning on making it in '17. Hoping to do the Titan fight, Badab War, and 30k. Plus whatever pickup games and hanging in the modcube booth there happens to be.
Excellent, it will be great to see you again - I feel like I did not get to talk to you at all enough last time (which I think was 2014?) since you guys were in the team tourney / etc. And yeah, the booth does tend to become our base of operations
Looking forward to some pics from the Badab event, Gits!
I'll break today's update into a couple of segments.
I thought I'd start the day talking a bit about being a father... well... not so much about *being* a father but rather having my eldest son at Adepticon this year. This was his second year attending. Last year none of us signed up for anything official and we really just slummed around and played pick-up games with each other the entire weekend. That was fun, but I must admit I missed the competition and the chance to meet and play new people that the official events give you. This year, we signed up for official events, but tried to keep our schedules light so there was plenty of time for slumming around and playing each other in pick-up games too. That worked out pretty well I think. I was in a two-day Badab War event, which is long... but was on Thrs & Fri so my Saturday and Sunday were wide open. My eldest... Thing 1 (who screwed everyone up by making his dakka name "Thing 2.0") had two events on Saturday.... a 500 pt, 30k Zone Mortalis tournament, and a 400 pt Combat Patrol event later that evening.
While my son is very familiar with normal 40k... he had exactly one practice game with me involving 30k and ZM... and I didn't really know what I was doing. Neither of us had played Combat Patrol either. But... he took his armies and dove in... and had a really great time and no small amount of success to boot!
His first tournament was the 30k ZM. He used an Emperor's Children army I build just for this occasion...
As it turned out he played 3 guys from our local group. Tied, lost and won in that order. Not bad for his 2nd, 3rd & 4th games of both 30k and ZM. Most importantly he had a great time!
(The fuzzy red guy is NOT my son!)
His second event was the Combat Patrol which he also enjoyed very much. He played his Necrons and went 3 and 1... working his way up from the lowest tier of tables to the highest. (sorry no pics)
Last but not least, Privateer Press were literally giving away their game, so between the two of us we have two copies of their Legion vs. Circle "Hordes" boxed set and free codexes for each. He's been madly building and painting his half every since we've gotten home... so I guess I have to start Hordes now...
I was very proud of how he conducted himself on and off the battlefield.
Yes, please change his user name to Thing 1.0.... that should be close enough and won't steal Thing 2's thunder if he decides he wants to be a part of the dakka party.
Gitsplitta wrote: His second event was the Combat Patrol which he also enjoyed very much. He played his Necrons and went 3 and 1... working his way up from the lowest tier of tables to the highest. (sorry no pics)
Last but not least, Privateer Press were literally giving away their game, so between the two of us we have two copies of their Legion vs. Circle "Hordes" boxed set and free codexes for each. He's been madly building and painting his half every since we've gotten home... so I guess I have to start Hordes now...
I was very proud of how he conducted himself on and off the battlefield.
Awesome pics of the ZM games, and that is a great showing!! It sounds like he really kicked butt with his necrons later, too
If you guys have any questions about Hordes I'd love to answer them, very cool to hear that he's started in on his already! If he decides to, the werewolves he was building from Wrath of Kings could make some good "counts-as" for a Circle unit, too.
Lastly, I think I have his jacket (a black thin one) which I'll mail to you when I send you the objective markers
That would be great RiTides... and I'll cover shipping on the Jacket, thanks. Yep, I thing he's already considered the WoK wolves as alternates for his Circle army. He's finished the two-headed dogs and is moving on to the big wolves. I've got a friend locally who's one of the Hordes stalwarts for the local club, so once we get our armies together he's going to help us learn the game. I'm not in this for a big commitment... just paint the free models and go have fun on Friday nights with my son. Not a bad thing at all.
That sounds perfect, and 25 - 35 point games really can fit that role (at 50 points, it can sometimes take longer than a game of 40k if you're not really practiced with it!).
I will continue to upload photos of my experiences at Adepticon, but I thought I would sneak this in. I've been watching a lot of video battle reports lately and my favorite VBR YouTube channel is "winters SEO". A nice chap from the UK who does brilliant narrative battle reports. Amongst his beautiful armies, interesting scenarios and excellent narration style, he builds some of the most stunning tables I've ever seen with relatively simple techniques. I decided I wanted to try and emulate his techniques with what I could get. The pics below are the result (and don't do it justice). The terrain itself was professionally made for me many years ago. It's the rocks and lichen that are the interesting little touches that really tie it together and make it look a bit less like "things on a table".
OH, I blacked out the background as all my gaming crap really distracted from the table in the photo. Note that this isn't exactly like winter's tables... but it's definitely been inspired by his tables.
The other reason for posting this actually does relate back to some decisions I've made recently via kickstarter and purchases at Adepticon. I've decided that while I've got some nice pieces of terrain... it's really random stuff. I want to be able to put together several "themed" tables like this... that really set the scene for whatever battles we have on it. This will include mat, structures & "flocking" for lack of a better term.
Based on what I've got planned, I have the following in mind...
- ork
- space marine
- sylvan/elven
- ship/zone mortalis (4x4)
I would also like a city table, but at the moment all I have is a proper board... the rest could be very hard or expensive to come by. The zone mortalis table is the next on the docket and will be a summer project. The Space Marine table will probably start happening by late fall and develop through the winter. While I have elements of a sylvan / elven table now... I won't start in earnest until I paint my eldar army... perhaps some time next year.
So much gaming goodness.. table looks great Gitz. I watch alot of the same videos, Winters and Striking Scorpion use alot of the same techniques on their boards. Would be a blast to have a game on that table.
That is the direction that I want to go as well. When we build the house and finish off either the garage attic or a section of the basement for my gaming stuff. With that will come a gaming table. There will be a home table for the Orks (junkyard/zone mortalis next to a themed to match city) and one for my necrons (badlands style with rock spires and one or 2 necron vault entrances).
Keep on with it... the plan sounds like a good one. Didn't you say that someone got Circle for a Legions army? That could match a lower tech elven maiden world.
Not particularly. You just snag the leafy bits and throw them into a bag, remove the terrain pieces & let the gravel fall back to the table. Gently lift the edges of the mat which concentrated the rocks in one place, then simply scoop or sweep them into a container. Given how nice the table looks, it's really not a lot of effort.
Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates, have been very busy at work and at home in the evenings. Have the photos for another battle report all ready to go, just haven't had the time to write it up. Hopefully will get it up later today. Thing 1 (now Thing 1.0) will be posting his work on his Hordes figures tonight. I'm not sure if he's going to start his own thread or if we're going to ask to Mods to move ownership of my thread of his armies to him. (I assume they can do that.) More later. As always, thanks for your patronage... especially since this thread has been neglected for so long.
Azhara Redth, chief librarian and defacto chapter-master of the Mantis Warriors stood on top of a small hill overlooking an old complex of storage tanks. Beside him stood Sergeant Gehl who commanded the task force's devastators. Gehl's head tilted slightly as he listened to his coms.
"Master Redth, scouts report a small mechanized force of Ultramarines approaching from the south. They have air support" "Ultra's?" replied Redth... "What are they doing in this theater?" "Looking for a fight I'd warrant." Gehl stated flatly.
Redth paused, as if he was reaching out to the Astronomicon and the spirit of the Emperor for guidance. "Then... let us give them one." "Do you foresee victory Dust Prophet?" asked the sergeant.
"All I "foresee" is the fact that we need the contents of this storage field for munitions manufacture and fuel. Any victory to be had will have to be earned."
Adepticon: Badab War Narrative Campaign Game 1
Points: 1850
Deployment: DoW Primary: 6 objectives scored at the end of each player turn starting turn 2
Secondary: kill points
Tertiary: slay-the-warlord, line breaker
Ultramarines: (3 formations I think)
Mantis Warriors: (CAD)
I won the roll off but had my opponent deploy first. Getting second turn (assuming he'd take first given the option) isn't a bad thing in an objective game and I felt I really needed to know where those vindicators were going to be placed before I deployed my own troops. His vindis went in the center... *I* did not! Here's our deployment. Just for giggles I put my 5-man assault squad in the land raider.
I was very worried about getting doubled out by the vindicators and strafed off the table by his air force, but he informed me that the planes hadn't made it on the table until turn 4 in any game he'd played with them... and he was expecting a similar performance today. Well... there's always hope I guess. If I was going to have any chance I would have to do some serious work before the flyers showed up while somehow either avoiding or neutralizing the vindicator formation.
The Ultramarines moved out quickly, expanding their territory and making it difficult for me to venture out to grab any objectives without getting pounded by vindicator fire. A captain led a bike squad forward to outflank on the right.
The Mantis Warriors moved cautiously on the left, repositioning to get some open fire lanes. On the right a major gamble was called for. The land raider rounded the corner and the assault marines disembarked and then rolled an 11' charge to hit the commander and bike escort. A combination of shooting and hammer-of-wrath hits on the charge killed character, while the following assault eliminated the bikes. The squad then consolidated into a crater.
In the center a pod arrived on target behind the vindicators. "Take out the tank on that hill!" yelled the sergeant. The low growl of a melta-gun start-up sequence was capped off by a massive explosion as the vehicles ordinance storage was ignited by the ancient weapon.
The Ultras respond by dropping a pie-plate on the tac squad, killing seven. The other vindi moves forward to help secure a central objective and get into firing position on the devastator squad on my lower left hill.
A razorback re-deploys towards the center and sporadic shooting takes down a devastator and an assault marine. On my far right a small tac squad exits the rhino and knocks down a couple of the assault marines with bolter fire.
Turn two does nothing to dispel the image of Redth as "the Dust Prophet". Shooting across the board manages to destroy or disable every single Ultramarine vehicle save the rhino on my far right flank.
The lone surviving rhino is charged by the last two surviving assault marines and destroyed.
The Ultras strike back as they can, wiping out the assault marines on my right and killing another devastator but with so much crippled armor there isn't much they can do until the air support arrived.
In the center, the surviving members of the tactical squad move to eliminate the last vindicator.
On my left, the Mantis Warrior chaplain with scout bike escort arrive from outflank and some handy astartes grenade launcher shooting kills most of the davastator squad on the hill.
As the next turn progresses, without the promised Ultra air force... it starts turning into a mop-up operation.
Finally they arrive!! (yes, turn 4 as predicted)
Alas it is too little, too late. In spite of the frightening fire power of the flyers, the Mantis Warriors have already secured the region and there isn't enough of an Ultramarine ground force left to hold it.
Victory, Mantis Warriors!
Very fun game, great opponent! Turn two was just devastating & the fact that my opponent's flyers didn't actually show up until so late had to be the key to the game. If they'd been there to support his infantry earlier, I'm certain he would have been victorious.
Have to admit when I saw your opponents force my first thoughts were oh oh, all that air power Gitz is in big trouble. In my opinion your deployment was spot on, allowing him to set up first let you set the tempo for the game. Your fast units kept him on his heels , well played Gitz !
whalemusic360 wrote: So wait, you could use any army in these games regardless of their involvement in badab? Wouldn't that be like you taking the MW into the 30k event?
That is unfortunately GW's approach to things nowadays as well - I think the idea is they don't want to exclude anyone from their events, lest they turn out very small and they basically play the card of 'this could be one of many undocumented skirmishes from nearby forces that happened to be passing through this region of space at the time.'
As much as I love the idea of a Badab War campaign being 'those chapters only' you will find that it cuts off a large portion of the playerbase, more than you would have wanted to do.
Basically, GW themselves did (or are doing) a similar sort of thing for a coming campaign weekend - which is Alpha Legion themed but apparantly anything goes, including Necrons, Imperials, Eldar, Tau and Tyranids.
I really think themed events are the sort of thing that can only be pulled off my multiple local groups that know what everyone has to hand and can pull out - and plan for it beforehand.
For example, they (my local group) know there's pretty much no point trying to do a Damocles Gulf themed event because most of our Marine players are interestingly enough Blood Angels, Dark Angels or Space Wolves (none of which were involved), we have a total of 1 Tau Player and a healthy contingent of other forces. It would literally come to 1 guy with maybe a 3k point army of Tau against our Apoc Ultra Player (bringing 6 companies) and the Guard and Sisters players we could probably shoehorn in....
So we don't do that.
Interesting to see the battle report though - Gits' army has all these odd choices that probably confuse the hell out of people when they see them (Flamers on Assault Marines ?! What?) and perseveres regardless!
Always nice to see two armies clash. Grats on the win. Even if you did crush some Ultramarines. Looks like a Gladius with a demi-co, armored TF and stormwing. Assuming those are 3 tac squads, a AM, Dev, and bike command.
Rules quibble:
IIRC Jump infantry are not allowed to embark into transports unless there is a special rule. The SR gives you permission, but the LR doesn’t.
On the tournament:DSS nailed it. As it was we didn't fill all the available slots, but many of the armies WERE from the Badab War, so you forgave the ones that weren't as they made the event viable.
On my army: Models were chosen for prettyness or fluffyness, not for playability. Worked out OK anyway though. I like flamers on assault marines. Squad of 5 with two flamers is easy to hide in terrain and can be a real mother as a counter-punching unit or assigned to clean-up duty later in the game.
On assault marines in the LR: My bad. I'd never done it before and just came up with the idea to protect them from fire until I could use them. Thanks for the clarification.
Loved the report. I thought assault marines were simply counted as bulky and therefore took up two transport spots so a land raider that can carry 10 models can carry 5 bulky ones....
@Archer: Yeah, that's what I thought too. My opponent didn't have any issues with it but then we were both pretty laid back.
In preparation for the next battle report, I wanted to showcase the other Mantis Warrior army at the event. I wish I could remember the gentlemen's name who did them... IA-sytle paint job, heavily weathered. He fielded them using White Scar tactics.
Here's the whole army on their display board.
Some infantry.
Amazing rhino.
Contemptor dread.
Finally, a character on a bit. Can't remember if this model was supposed to represent Kahn...
It was a real thrill after 25+ years to see another full Mantis Warrior army.
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OH, by the way of what I spent my money on... Always wanted some of these Battlefield in a Box rivers... so I bought a set. They'll look great on my "sylvan table" once they get properly flocked. I'll be adding more nature terrain as time goes on, and eventually will add some eldar buildings as well.
Ping! I know you wanted that, sorry I dropped off the grid. You've certainly done a lot recently. I echo Whale, what was the award for? It's also such a good thing that you shared the other MW army, it's very sporting of you.
Not trying to cheerlead, just being honest. I really enjoyed the UM vs Mantis Warrior report, I would have been sad if the smurfs won.
Congrats Gits on the medal win, even more so with the amount of people at the event.
As for the rivers, they are really great, but they work the best on a mat rather than any built up terrain (like GW's realm of conflict tables). Apart from that I absolutely adore them.
Unrelated, is that librarian yours? (The one holding the tornado/casting,) I think it is because the style but, I'm not sure.
If it is, could you tell me how tall the tornado is and how wide it is at the top in MM? I know that's an odd request but, I am making a tower that I will wash and use in the same manner.
So a few more pics for you guys. First off, pics from what might be the first time two unrelated Mantis Warrior armies have fought together in the 30 year history of 40k.
Very fun game that we were certain we were going to lose. Luck was with us though and we snuck out a close victory on the primary and secondary.
And just a couple of pics from my game with Alex. The second shows the chaos on the battlefield beautifully. He won all three points, but it was close. Really fun game.
Yes, that's right... my eldest (Thing 1.0) has finally taken the plunge and started his own P&M blog with the opening salvo being the Hordes figures he got free from Adepticon! I'd like to point out that they are entirely his work with only the slightest input from me. If you folks would be so kind and to head over there and give him some support and encouragement, I'd really appreciate it.
Yes, that's right, after a two year hiatus the Mantis Maker Competition is back!
The theme of this year's competition is based on a quote by American dramatist David Mamot.
Spoiler:
"Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance."
Honestly, I have no expectations about what will come of this challenge. I just love the quote and thought it would make some interesting fodder for a competition. I do not necessarily suggest that the entries must be a dual of some sort... showing a wisened veteran or ancient war machine that has come through many battles victorious are perfectly good interpretations. I'm sure there are others as well.
There will be two prizes this year, both pretty special. Best Entry (i.e. best overall score): A NIB, complete kickstarter set of the "Maelstrom's Edge" tabletop game. This includes all the bonus adds from the kickstarter as well as two of the ME give-a-ways from Adepticon.
Best illustration of the quote (i.e. theme): A custom Mantis Warrior set of RiTides ModCube objectives. By custom, I mean the colors are all selected to be consistent with the chapter. I didn't have him custom design and cut the pieces.
Rules:
1. There are effectively, no limits to what you can do... however the focus of your entry must be Mantis Warrior related. 2. You must do the work yourself, no team entries. 3. You must build and paint the model for this competition. You must post your pre-build, build and final shots here by the deadline in order to be eligible. 4. You may solicit all of the advice, ideas and encouragement that you like during the process. I'm a firm believer in these competitions as a learning experience and a chance to stretch your legs as hobbyists and artists. You may post as much as you like to this thread if it suits you better than one of your own threads (or in addition to your own threads).
Deadline for the competition is midnight central time, May 31st. The winners will be announced (no later than) 1 week later (June 7th).
Gentlemen..... start.... your... engines!
Official List of Entrants Paradigm (finished!) nerdfest09 (finished!) insaniak (finished!) inmygravenimage (finished!) bushcommando (finished!) Camkierhi (finished!) Minus (finished!) stonned_astartes (finished!) bebopdrums2424 (finished!)
I'm out this time. Not only don't I do marines, but I'll be on late shifts (Number 4 arrives shortly).
Good luck to all who enter... can't wait to see a whole bunch of Mantis Warriors being destroyed by a Necron Lord.
Shipping costs are already factored in... even if some nut-job in TAZ wins it! So don't let that stop you.
All are welcome to compete, and I don't give a dang if you think you have a chance to win or not. Just pile in... do something fun and creative and get some feedback. It's the only way you get better.
Yeah, that might be a little heavy-handed. Consider #4 rescinded.
You might know that Thing 1.0 has been totally obsessed with Warmahordes since Adepticon. Well, that's why you haven't seen anything new from me lately (on any of my blogs), he's been hogging the painting table! He finally ran out of things to paint for the time being, so I did get a little work in today. I promised that I'd paint up my part of the boxed set when he painted up his... so here's a pic of a little game we had today showing some WIP shots of my Legion beasties. I'm not going to get too complicated with these... just paint them up so they look good on the table... that's all. Very much going for the Godzilla motif with these guys.
Keep in mind he's still WIP... though I won't do a ton more on him. Dress up the grey a bit, teeth, claws, blood effects & basing are about it.
Could rule 4 perhaps be modified to allow it to be donated to a worthy cause? Certainly made me hesitate to consider entering as I may be a little north of Tassie, but not by much.....
I uh, am in. I won't give too big a hint but, what slumbers shouldn't be woken.
And that hint is deliberate to throw you lot off. Though I am now wondering how you paint salt and pepper hair honestly. Has the thread gone up yet for this MM comp?
Lastly, I really dig the godzilla motif but, I think Thing 1.0 seems to have you outnumbered there.
Right, pre-build and build pics (the bits with paint on are getting painted over, of course). A hotheaded Scout taking on a grizzled Veteran is probably the most clichéd take on the theme going, but oh well, should all come together to something cool.
See... what the rest of you guys might not know is that Paradigm will knock out an absolutely fabulous diorama in the time you'd normally spend watching commercials during the average Sponge Bob Square Pants episode.
The trick is not to give in to the utter despair that will inevitably come (in about 20 minutes from now) when he's finished and you haven't even begun to dig through your bits box yet.
. Does he accompany you to any of these tournies, or not to that point yet?
. I can't imagine trying to paint a day or two after doing that!
