Zambro wrote:

Doing my bikes was terrible... I'd prime and base white. Then I'd paint the engine block black, then silver. That black then silver step used to kill me! So tedious

But you had to paint a zillion of the things, and white is not very forgiving.

So yesterday was Wednesday, and I actually made it up to the FLGS for a game. A real game this time. No offense to Matt, they new guy with his khorne army, that’s just getting into the hobby, and my victim opponent for the last few games. But this last fight was vs. one of the more experienced regulars running a necron decruion formation. Hammer/anvil Purge

2x small tesla immortal squads
2x 20 man warrior squads
2x ghost arcs
spider
some scarabs
tomb blades (3 man)
Wraiths (6 man)
lord



To stop this robot menace is the front half of my shelf. Two separate thoughts formed this army. One was in a thread about low model count armies, which was more about packing. I suggested an army there that was primarily footslogging marines, as they pack well. The other thought was if/when a warhost style formation comes to the SM, what it might be. I’m thinking a demi-company might be that format. Which brings us to this 1,500 point madness:


Tactical squads 1,3, and 5. 7th assault squad and 9th dev. Totally unintentional that I picked the odd numbered squads. Also the command squad, my venerable metal captain, the chaplain, and a 10 man sniper scout squad. Full 10 man squads, because Codex. I would have combat squadded everyone, but we were playing Purge.

My deployment:


So a wave of necrons and a counter wave of the boys in blue crash against a ruined cityscape. I think my opponent was a little shocked to be outnumbered by marines. And my total lack of vehicles. I go first, move most everything up a bit, and spatter shots downrange. Which is mostly ignored. I can see why people gripe about necrons and their formation. I think it put a wound on a wraith and killed a warrior or two. The warriors were just rebuilt by the arc though. His turn the warriors shamble forward, and the bikes and wraiths move up to support. He shoots at me a bit, but I’m rolling hot on my armor saves, so don’t think I loose anyone (a tac marine might have bought it, but that would be it).

At the top of two, I realize that shooting is not going to get anything done today. But I give it a shot, and prepare for melee. I pop the tactical doctrine, and rush forward. Most of my heavy weapons focus on the ghost arcs, but fail to do anything real. Over the whole game, I think I put one glancing hit on one of them. Snipers try to get some wounds on the wraiths, land one. But the real meat of the turn is the assault phase. It’s a long shot, but I put my faith in the Emperor and try to get 9”. I get 10. Now it’s still not guaranteed, 20 warriors get a lot of overwatch. If he kills the lead guy, I might not make it. I think he gets 3 wounds, but I save them all. Time for the carnage of a full assault squad accompanied by a chaplain. They might be tough little buggers, and take a lot of killing. But I’ve got death to spare, win combat by a sizable margin, and rout the squad. Who says assault is dead? Vengeance is not far off, and on his turn the wraiths plow in. This starts the midfield brawl that will linger for the remainder of the game. He kills a few marines, I put some wounds on the wraiths, we’re both fearless, combat grinds on. His shooting is OK. Some tactical squad casualties, first squad is forced to fall back and regroup.

Top of three has 3rd and 5th squads moving forward. I think they kill the tomb blades this round. The command squad, who had take a forward position in a crater, rush over to assist the assault marines. And by “rush” I mean roll snake eyes on the difficult terrain test. But that’s OK, I’d popped the assault doctrine this turn, so they can re-roll the distance in the assault phase. It’s not that far, 6”, plus the 2 for assaulting through terrain. I fall short, twice. Grumble. No worries, the assault is still grinding on. Bottom of 3 is more of the same. Grinding CC fight, and a few more marines falling to scattered shots.

Top of 4, I use the dev docrine, not that it helps much. Melta squad takes some shots at an arc, outside of melta range but I might get lucky. I don’t. More ineffective fire from downrange. The snipers might have put another wound on the spider, I don’t recall. Big news is that the command squad finally gets into combat! Wraiths are stupidly tough, but I put some more wounds on them. The assault squad is down to the chaplain and sarge at this point. The SS/flamer vet in the command squad does his job tanking wounds, including the rending ones. I had to be reminded about the FnP from the apothecary; he made a big difference. Bottom of 4 the scarabs and spider plow into the mess. In hindsight, my opponent thinks it was a mistake to charge in the spider, as his death hurts the wraith’s survivability. In his defense, I had started targeting it with my Devs, so it wasn’t really safe out in the open either. CC sees two members of the command squad fall (SS guy and the banner bearer) and the AM sarge. I kill the spider, and some scarabs, possibly a wraith.

Turn 5 the melta tacs forgo shooting their bolters and MM, figuring they’d have better luck in CC with krack grenades. They are wrong and accomplish nothing. Not a whole lot else relevant happens in my shooting phase. I’d rolled up one flank, so didn’t have good range vs. anything there, and been shot back on the other, so more of the same. His warriors on that side have been tangled up in difficult terrain most of the game, so have been restricted to long range harassment fire. CC grinds on in the middle. Chaplain finally goes down, some robots get smashed, still locked together in a dance of death. Which continues on the bottom of 5. His shooting blows chunks out of a number of tactical marines, and finishes off one. Roll for game: Over.


I’ve got first blood, both warlords are alive, and nobody has linebreaker. He’d killed my chaplain, assault marines, and one tac squad. 3VP. At the time, he said I killed two of his units, and I agreed, but on the drive home, I was reviewing the battle, and I killed three. Tomb blades, warrior squad, and the spider. Plus first blood should have me winning 4-3, unless there is an odd necron rule about scoring/unit composition I’m missing. Oh well, we both had fun.

Post game thoughts: Necrons are tough. T4, 4+ armor, and 4+ FnP is a tough nut to crack. Wraiths are stupidly tough. I should really consider packing more powerfists and the like. High T things are more common then they should be, and take a lot of work to kill. I should also consider makeing some power mauls for the guys. S4 is just not what it used to be, and while AP3 swords are good for MEQ, most nasty things out there have alternate saves, so might as well pile on the wounds and hope they roll ones.

Fresh paint report:
This was the first outing for 3rd squad. LC/Pg, c-plas. The core of the bolter boys are the Battle of Macragge pushfits, sarge was new, and the heavy/special were assigned from the spare shelf. They did OK. LC did some ineffective pot-shotting, but he had good company for that. The plasma gunner and the Combi on the sarge blew the last two tomb blades apart, so worked well. They lived to the end, so bonus points.
The Dev squad had it’s first outing at it’s shelf deployment. They put a lot of rounds dowrange, and did very little with them. I blame the necrons toughness for that, as well as my mediocre rolling for them. Sarge did nothing. Nobody got in range for him to click off his combi, and I totally forgot to hand out his BS5. Duh.
Command Squad. Mixed bag. Apothocary was very nice. Banner was useless, as I was winning combat vs. fearless troops. Champion was part of the dice pool trying to do something to the wraiths, and was much better when the scarabs came over. He was carving them up well. The vet with the axe had S5 vs. the wraiths, but the AP2 (or I1 for that mater) didn’t really come up. He did the best he could. The SS/flamer guy never got to shoot, but was tanking wounds for a few rounds before he went down. His presence helped mitigate the rending hits from the wraiths. Him and the medic were the only members of the command squad to do more then just try to get lucky wounding the wraiths.

Also in the news I used up the last of my store credit. I finally got the price on some dice I let a friend pick up on my tab, and that plus two pots of paint (a fresh macregge blue and the base white). Bikes should be in Friday, and I’ll be paying for hobby stuff with cash money once more. I’ll post a breakdown of where it all went shortly, but I’ve been hammering away at the keyboard for long enough at this point, and need to do some errands.

Nice report! There's something about seeing 'proper', Company/Codex-based Space Marine lists without bikes or centurions or random SCs everywhere that still has a certain charm to it, and even better to see such a list kicking quite a bit of ass! Well done on the win, even if your opponent miscounted the score (an easy thing to do after two hours out gaming).

Banners in Command Squads are a tricky one; they ultimately aren't that useful, but it somehow feels wrong not to bring them and have something to rally the troops around.

Nice report, well played game. My son runs necrons and they make me crazy.

 Paradigm wrote:
Nice report! There's something about seeing 'proper', Company/Codex-based Space Marine lists without bikes or centurions or random SCs everywhere that still has a certain charm to it, and even better to see such a list kicking quite a bit of ass! Well done on the win, even if your opponent miscounted the score (an easy thing to do after two hours out gaming).

Banners in Command Squads are a tricky one; they ultimately aren't that useful, but it somehow feels wrong not to bring them and have something to rally the troops around.

Part of this list was an experiment in seeing how well my “shelf” deployments actually performed on the tabletop. I spent a lot of time thinking about the generic command squad, so was glad to see it do OK. The last build I had sitting on the shelf was massively outdated. The banner is one of the ones I was worried about. I like the model, and don’t want to replace him, but he’s very lackluster. He is probably the most iconic part of the squad though, even if mechanically he’s the least valuable player. He’s packing a flag and a bolter in a CC squad. His bonus is only really good if I’m loosing, and he’s second in line to die (after the designated meat shield with the SS) At the very least, I should have him use a BP/CCW, but modeling that would be tricky. I suspect if I wanted to bring the command squad out to play in a more serious list, he’d be swapped out for a VV mini so I could have another choppy a/o SS guy in the squad. But I’d feel bad doing it.

I’d say that putting together a new banner bearer is on the to-do list, and it should be, but it’s not. I like the guy, and he has enough time in service that I’m not going to retire him. So when I field him, I’ll just suck up the fact that he’s an inefficient use of points. Then I’ll wrap myself in the warm, fluffy blanket of doing the right thing and smite the heretics under the banner of the 3rd company, Scourge of Xenos! (and tighten up the rest of my list to compensate )


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Nice report, well played game. My son runs necrons and they make me crazy.

I can totally see it these days. This was the first time I’d tangled with the new Necrons, and they soaked up a huge amount of fire. I’ll admit to not having as much firepower as I normally do in a 1,500 point list, and lacked the mobility to get in optimal range of things I wanted to kill, but still. He just ate what I was throwing at him and laughed it off. Who would have thought that being made of futuristic space metals would make them so tough? OK, it might be a little obvious, but still rough to see across the table.

I just need to field more, bigger guns, and some more CC choppy death units.

Awesome win against the necrons! And even more awesome, you list... You dont see marines rolling out as a company like that, I'm glad they did well for you.

It sucks that your Devastators didn't do much damage, as they were your only source of heavy fire power. I know you have missile launchers in there as your shelf deployment, but maybe running them with 4 Las would be better. It's not pretty, but it'll do the job, and then some. Plus, ML isn't fantastic.

Where did all the money go?

For those of you who’ve been with this blog since the start (or have read from the beginning) you’ll know I started with an influx of store credit from selling my old alpha/beta M:tG cards. That amount was $2,030, US dollars. Last night, I spent the last of it. It has kept me in plastic crack for not quite 2 years. And built up enough of a backlog of grey to keep me running for a bit longer. So the big question, as posted in the title, is what two grand will get you these days? Luckily I kept careful track of where it all went. I’ve broken it up into a few categories

Case: $262.98
Hobby Supplies: $90.34
Gifts: $115.90
Rules: $363.75 <choke>
And now for the actual minis:

Eldar: $442.25

Marines: $756.25
The Eldar force works out to about 2.8 points per dollar, and the marines work out to about 4.0. Averaged together it’s around 3.6. That’s just for the minis.

Minis were about 60% of the budget
Rules made up 18%
Hobby support (including the case) made up another 18%
Gifts took up the last 6%

It’s worth noting that these numbers are not necessarily a gauge of how much the hobby costs. I only bought 4 pots of paint and a can of primer, and the only tool I picked up was a pin vice, no brushes. Someone getting into painting would have a much higher buy in. That said, there are a number of “luxury” items that are unnecessary that I bought. Not just things like the KR, which is pricy, but the apocalypse rulebook is not something everyone needs, and working on two armies did boost the amount of rules I needed to pick up. Of course, with the amount of allying going on these days, is building from a single codex something that still happens?

I need to gather all the things listed here into one big pile and take a pic. That might take some time to do.
Edit:
And pic!

That's quite an accounting Nev. Impressive.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
That's quite an accounting Nev. Impressive.

To be honest, I think the guy who runs my FLGS stopped keeping track himself of what I had spent, and trusted me to keep up. I did run my numbers by him about halfway though, and everything matched. I have it all in an excel spreadsheet, so getting the tallies wasn’t hard. Just a little massaging of the numbers.

Goodness that's a looot of store credit

That is kinda neat that you were able to keep track of the numbers on what and where you spent the store credit.

Just thinking about my first FW order/purchase....

I never bothered doing this myself, but now I am too afraid to try.

As someone who also has Eldar, alongside my beloved IG and Salamanders, I'd say its the best army imo to have as a second army.

Allows a chance to take a break from your main army, and if need be, let your inner cheesemonger come out.

$2030 store credit!! Thats loads! And from M:TG cards? Holy gak, how many did you have?

I was shocked by just how much you have spent on rules. I mean, $360 is about £250. And that's a hell of a lot! The two Eldar Codices dont really help that, and the impending SM codex probably wont do you any favours. I think the Apocalypse stuff isn't really necessary for most people. But still, thats a lot!

I was supprised to see that you haven't spent any money on paint brushes... How have you not needed to replace brushes after 2 years?

On the face of it, 2000 dollars is quite a lot. But spread over 2 years, it averages to about $85 dollars a month, which really isn't a lot. Since the start of the year, I have been keeping track of everything I spend, and I'm up to about 650 pound, with an average of 130 a month (I have a self imposed 150 hobby budget / month). But then, I have more money than sense and no real financial responsibilities... And I'm going to be away (and not buying hobby stuff) for the next 4 months, so I'm a little less worried about the monthly average.

It was fun reading about another hobbyist's spending habbits Thanks for sharing.

GrimDork wrote:Goodness that's a looot of store credit

The last of my Magic card that I had been holding on to were the most valuable. Alpha Black Lotus, two Beta Gauntlets of Might, a number of other big cards, and a small stack (200-ish) of assorted alpha/beta cards. While played, they were all in reasonable condition, and all ~20 years old, some never reprinted. When even the commons are worth a few bucks just due to age and the big cards are going for $80+ (I think the lotus was around $400) it adds up to a hefty chunk.

aw_man wrote:That is kinda neat that you were able to keep track of the numbers on what and where you spent the store credit.

Just thinking about my first FW order/purchase....

I never bothered doing this myself, but now I am too afraid to try.

As someone who also has Eldar, alongside my beloved IG and Salamanders, I'd say its the best army imo to have as a second army.

Allows a chance to take a break from your main army, and if need be, let your inner cheesemonger come out.

Eldar make a nice alternate to marines. They are the ultimate specialists, as opposed to the generalist marines. Marines are clunkly and blocky, eldar are sleek and graceful.

Zambro wrote:$2030 store credit!! Thats loads! And from M:TG cards? Holy gak, how many did you have?

I was shocked by just how much you have spent on rules. I mean, $360 is about £250. And that's a hell of a lot! The two Eldar Codices dont really help that, and the impending SM codex probably wont do you any favours. I think the Apocalypse stuff isn't really necessary for most people. But still, thats a lot!

I was supprised to see that you haven't spent any money on paint brushes... How have you not needed to replace brushes after 2 years?

On the face of it, 2000 dollars is quite a lot. But spread over 2 years, it averages to about $85 dollars a month, which really isn't a lot. Since the start of the year, I have been keeping track of everything I spend, and I'm up to about 650 pound, with an average of 130 a month (I have a self imposed 150 hobby budget / month). But then, I have more money than sense and no real financial responsibilities... And I'm going to be away (and not buying hobby stuff) for the next 4 months, so I'm a little less worried about the monthly average.

It was fun reading about another hobbyist's spending habbits Thanks for sharing.

There have been a number of hobby expenses not in store credit. I picked up some fresh brushes at a local art supply store (was about $25). There was another batch of magnets I got from ThinkGeek, I forget how much they were. Another $25 for assorted tools earlier this year. The $120 for the additional KR cases. Primer from the hardware store (2 cans). Glues. X-acto blades. For the most part it’s small stuff, but it does add up. Barring the KR, it might be another $100 over the two years. But as it was small purchases from assorted places (often as part of another larger purchase for non-hobby stuff) I didn’t track it as well.

Off all the money I spent, the amount on rules bugs me the most. Part of that is the sheer volume. With 6th only being two years, and the Eldar codex the same, we are spending more money on books with shorter lifespans. And unlike the miniatures which can be used forever (for the most part) books just go and collect dust once they are done. The cost of rules keeps me from buying minis. Not only because they compete for the same hobby dollar, but they set a high bar of entry. I’ve got a chunk of BA and IG on the shelf. I’d love to be able to field them again. But not only would I need to get some new units to get them up to fighting trim, but I’d have to buy their codexes. And if I wanted to keep playing them, I’d need to commit to picking up a new codex for them when they came out. That was daunting with a 4+ year cycle, but madness at 2. I know it’s not going to happen, but if GW gave their rules away for free, they’d actually get more money from me. I’d be more likely to impulse buy units to ally in to my force. And we all know how ally forces are just a gateway into a full army.

So made it up to the FLGS yesterday. We ended up doing a doubles game, with everyone bringing 1,500. Conveniently, that’s what I packed. Doubles because there was a new player (DA) and it’s a good way to get into the game.

I brought out a mechanized list to contrast with last week’s footsloggers:

My partner was a Ravenguard list with some skitari backup. Opposed was the DA, plus last week’s necrons.


We rolled forward very aggressively, and clashed in the middle. My LR was immobilized in shooting, then his terminators wrecked it. I countercharged with my termis, plus the bikes, and a long CC resulted until the end of the game (the wraiths piled in halfway through). All the terminators eventually died, leaving his librarian and a handfull of mangled wraiths slugging it out with my HQs and half an attack bike. If I had rememberd the heroic intervention rule earlier, or was able to roll worth anything, I might have been able to end it before the game ended. As it was my chaplain and his librarian spent a lot of time slapping each other ineffectually.

Overall lots of carnage everywhere, but they killed more then we did, and so won the purge. Fun was had.

A few interesting supply drops. One was the new bikes I had ordered. I looked at them a little while I was waiting for the game to start. One thing I noticed is that the bikes are not identical. There are subtle differences in the gems on the bikes and riders. It’s not just the same sprue x3. Which was a bit of a surprise. The other, bigger, surprise was a new chaplain. One of the guys has been converting special characters for people, working out special rules, and giving them out. So here is Chaplain Severus:

He’s a little extra nutso about purging the xenos, to the point that he patches his armor with trophies. He’ll be getting paint as soon as I get the next lot ready to prime. But I want to make sure the new bikes are ready for that, so have some more assembly work in store first.

Chappy looks great, as does your mechanized list!

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Chappy looks great, as does your mechanized list!

Thanks. You can’t see a lot of it from the angle of the picture, but he’s got a lot of odd alien bits on him. A few Tau, Ork, and other odds and ends. Going to make painting him interesting. I think I might experiment with more weathering then I normally do.

The list was fun, and did OK. The tactical marines ate a ton of fire from necron warriors and banner-boosted DA tacs. I didn’t get a lot done on my end, but held solid for most of the game. My ally pushed forward a lot better, but he was playing an assault heavy list vs. necrons, so was in a good place.

I forgot the fresh paint report:
The LR was sporting the new hatch I painted. It did not help at all. Wrecked on the bottom of turn one.

Wearing Xenos bits as trophies? Smells a bit like heresy to me!

Looks awesome, though, and in the words of the Emperor, 'thou shalt not question that which is awesome...'

 Paradigm wrote:
Wearing Xenos bits as trophies? Smells a bit like heresy to me!

Looks awesome, though, and in the words of the Emperor, 'thou shalt not question that which is awesome...'

If the chaplain is doing it, it’s gota be OK, right?

I’m not one to look a gift chaplain in the crozius. A friend put him together for me, so I’m going to paint him to the best of my ability and go cleanse the filth out of my FLGS. Are we not the Ultramarine’s 3rd company, Scourge of Xenos here? It’s kinda what I do. He will also serve a a dedicated foot chaplain, leaving my magnetized one free to use his jump pack. Assuming the rules/codex doesn’t change between now and when I paint him, I’ll have 4 chaplains, one in each way to field him (foot, TDA, JP, bike). That will fit nicely in a pair of CADs, for maximal zealous, rage-filled fury. I don’t normally like to use more then one detachment, but for chaplain’s day out, I will.

And just to keep this whole mess vaguely on-topic for the P&M section, I got a little paint down on the jet autarch. Reds and black on the bike and rider, and a grey basecoat for the autach. I’m going to try to work up with washes, to try to get some depths in an otherwise bland black armor. I’ll snap a pic next time I think of it.

That chaplain does look especially extreme, looking forward to it

 GrimDork wrote:
That chaplain does look especially extreme, looking forward to it

Hopefully I can do him justice. Lots of details in patterns that I normally don’t work with.

Some progress on the workbench:



I was debating a number of things when it came to magnets. One was if I should leave the little tabs on the guns for the bikes. It would make for better alignment, but would have made it harder to use the bits elsewhere. For the Viper, I wasn’t sure if I should cut the targeter thing off from under the nose, or just flatten the bottom a bit and hang the gun off it. Seems to work this way. I think for simplicities sake, I’m going to rig the nose gun on the Wave Serpent to take these as well. And I might go back and retro-fit the Falcons, but that’s a little less important, as nose guns seem overkill for them.

I might greenstuff around the magnet in the bike, but it should be hidden. The viper could probably use some work where the old gun should be mounted, but I think it actually looks OK with just the open space and connecting peg, so might just leave it alone. I still need to mount the magnet for the flight base, but that’s just going to be done the same way as I did it for the jetseer. All the thinking part s done, now I just need to finish building stuff, and get it ready to prime.

Nice work on the bikes there Nev.
It doesn't look quite 'right' from this angle with the vyper. But it's a small price to pay if you want the guns able to fit other vehicles/bikes. I dont think people will notice from a top-down view anyway.
It's nice to see that the new jetbike kit has the guns just stuck on the bottom. I seem to recall having to do considerable chopping on the old bikes to fit the cannon on them.

I like the chaplain, too! Looks super busy. Lots of trophies.

 Zambro wrote:
Nice work on the bikes there Nev.
It doesn't look quite 'right' from this angle with the vyper. But it's a small price to pay if you want the guns able to fit other vehicles/bikes. I dont think people will notice from a top-down view anyway.
It's nice to see that the new jetbike kit has the guns just stuck on the bottom. I seem to recall having to do considerable chopping on the old bikes to fit the cannon on them.

I like the chaplain, too! Looks super busy. Lots of trophies.

It’s not the most flattering picture of the viper, but shows the work best. I agree that the gun is both too low and far forward. I took the easy way out. I could have done a lot of cutting, and tried to move things back/up, but every time I cut, there is a chance to screw up. And due to the massive front cowl on the viper, you can hardly see the gun mount anyway from any reasonable angle. Once it is more built I’ll grab a more representative table-side view of it.

The new bike kits are a lot of fun. Lots of tiny bits, some which need to be lined up in fiddly ways. But I’ll forgive that for looking cool. Cleaning the mold lines of small parts is never fun though. If these kits last as long as the last bikes, they are going to be a bear to work with once the molds start wearing out.

Viper is ready to prime. The guns are both magnetized. The chin we saw in the last post, and the gunner’s was done by drilling a hole in the side of the mount and slipping a 2mm magnet in there. Fully compatible with the ones I’ve done for my WS. Probably the Flacon as well, but I’d need to doublecheck if they fit (as they are just nail heads glued in, might be a little thick). The windrider is almost done. I still need to get a magnet in there for his base, but since that requires greenstuff, I’m going to wait for all the bikes to be built before I do that. Speaking of which, I stuck an extra magnet inside the viper for strenght, as It’s a larger model and I was worried about it wobbling around. So it has a 2mm stuck in the mounting hole, with a 3mm stacked on top of that. I use a 3mm on the flight stem. Seems to be holding up well.

Paint:

Slow progress. I really need to buckle down and work more.

Stick to it Nev, you'll get there!

Definately a bitter angle for looking at the chin gun on the Vyper!

When I was magnetizing my latest batch of enforcers, I also noticed stacking in an extra magnet (if you've got the depth) does add to the amount of pull you get. Really helps when you're using ball bearings on the other side, or if you're using smaller magnets for larger parts (with small connection points etc..).

Gitsplitta wrote:Stick to it Nev, you'll get there!

Plugging away! Autarch is mostly basecoated at this point. Need to hit him with silver and gold, then he’s up for phase 2. I also am chipping away at the VV and dread bits on the bench. Slow but steady, like a turtle with ADD.

Zambro wrote:Definately a bitter angle for looking at the chin gun on the Vyper!

A lot of times when building things, you see all those rough spots and imperfections that you will never notice to the table. Plus the camera is a harsh, harsh mistress who loves to show us our flaws.

GrimDork wrote:When I was magnetizing my latest batch of enforcers, I also noticed stacking in an extra magnet (if you've got the depth) does add to the amount of pull you get. Really helps when you're using ball bearings on the other side, or if you're using smaller magnets for larger parts (with small connection points etc..).

The vyper had space, and seemed it might benefit from it, so I just chucked one in. At some point I need to re-do my land speeders, and would like to get magnets on the flight stems on the Falcons/WS. With the tanks, They are wide enough I’m not sure just magnetic force will keep them up, so I need to work out a physical peg as well to keep them stable. This is complicated by the fact that the falcons are already glued together. I can still access the space in back though, so can potentially work something out. I also need to work on some good system for keeping their turrets on the tanks for games, but separate for transport.

It’s Thursday. Week is almost done, and a long weekend looms. Also, I got a game in yesterday. 2x2 1k lists. I paired down the 1,500 points I brought. Not very happy with it, but it was sorta OK. Here is what I packed:

This is the flip side to the list I brought two weeks ago. It’s the even numbered squads, plus a little support. Less footslogging, more balance. That is until I chop the SR, dread, and a tac squad (the 4th, they’ve been getting the most table time lately). My partner was experimenting with an endless horde ‘nid list, we were up against a skitari list and a more balanced nid list. We were playing dawn of war/Emperor’s will. Game called for time at the end of 3, they won on secondaries. Both objectives were contested. If we had gone another round, we might have been able to secure theirs, and probably still contested ours. But that’s iffy; we’d have a tac squad and a blob of gaunts that would need to endure the fire from the giant plasma bug and a trio of dunestalkers. We were rolling through anything resembling a troop, but the big things were doing ugly things to us.

Some high points of the game:
6th squad, those lovable 2nd ed marines, hopped out of their rhino and erased a blob of gaunts. They were clusted up tight, so the flamer did a lot of the heavy lifting, but TL’d bolters do bad things to hosts of gribbles. Next turn they geeked 2 zoenthropes. Fun tactic for ML/F squads: First turn when you disembark, the flamer goes forward, while the ML deploys mid/back. Second turn, the bolter marines surge forward to try to get into doubletap range, but the flamer, who’s not going to be able to make it, falls back to keep unit coherency with the ML, so he can stand still and fire a krack missile. It only is worth it when after the 6” move, the target is going to be within 12", but outside of template range. For being old and crappy models, they were probably my MVPs of the game.
Plasma cannons in the dev squad? Both killed themselves, one on the first turn, the other on the second. The squad’s only redeeming moment was the last bolter marine rallying after failing a panic check, strolling up to the the flyrant (well, an inch away) on our objective, and giving him the finger while contesting. I think they collectively put two wounds on the giant plasma bug, but that didn’t really mater.
Assault marines with the captain got blown off the table by the dunecrawlers. One round. They could have been safe in CC with the skitari camping their objective, but they were in cover, with a mysterious grave wave objective. So even with the fleet doctrine, I failed to make the charge. Sigh.

On to painting progress:

Marine bits are just about ready for the second blue coat and wash. Autarch is all based, I’m going to see what multiple black washes do for him. If not, he might get his armor painted black, rather then grey as a base. Bike still needs a lot of work. I need to get a smooth red down for the canopy, then try to freehand a little something. Nothing spectacular, but rather then just the black slash/chevron, I was thinking of doing a black slash with an angular snake head.

In unrelated news, in case I don’t post again here before I get caught up in weekend plans, I hope everyone enjoys their memorial day/spring bank holiday. It’s come to my attention that I’ll be making a big batch of my Grandfather’s potato salad for the third weekend in a row. I thought I’d share the recipe with all you guys out there. This is for educational purposes only. YMMV, and I take no responsibility for any short or long term health effects. But you know anything that has you cooking up a pound of bacon, and not draining it is going to be good. (just not good for you)

Bikes are built, on stands, with magnetized weapons. Starting to feel a bit Saim-Hann around here. And there is enough stuff in the to-prime pile to warrant taking out and spraying. I’d do it today, but I’d rather avoid paint patches on the lawn before I have people over for a cookout. Plus I still need to mow my front yard. And get rest and recuperate. Pro-Tip: Avoid strep thought. Unless you enjoy feeling like you’ve been gargling chainswords. But anti-biotics are wonderful little things; I feel mostly fine now and shouldn’t be contagious.

My motivation to paint is pretty low. But I need to finish my entry for this month. Sigh. I’ll try to slap some more paint down tonight. If I do a little each day, I should be fine. Just need to actually pick the brush up.

Enjoy your weekends all!

I don't know much about Eldar but the jetbikes are looking good.

Sorry to hear you are ill, hope you get well soon.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
I don't know much about Eldar but the jetbikes are looking good.

Sorry to hear you are ill, hope you get well soon.

Thanks. Here is some non-Eldar progress:




Dread arms. The TLLC slots into the same arm as the PC, but the MM arm is all one piece. Did the same weathering on the MM, turned out OK.

Finished up on the the sets of arms/JP for the vanguard:

Got the fist layer of blue down on some of his partner’s bits, but the SS snapped off at the wrist, so needed to take a trip back to the workbench.

And some Eldar progress:


I’ve done a little more work since I took this pic. I’m feeling a lot better about him now that the black wash is down. Plugging right along.

Looking good. Potato salad with bacon in it? I'm gonna have to put a pin in that recipient and come back to it sometime... Sounds tasty!

Is that laurel leaves on the end of those lascannon barrels? If so is that a conversion or part of the original kit?

GrimDork wrote:Looking good. Potato salad with bacon in it? I'm gonna have to put a pin in that recipient and come back to it sometime... Sounds tasty!

You've never had potato salad with bacon? You poor soul. Everything is better with bacon, and bacon and potatoes are BFF's.

Adamski Alders wrote:Is that laurel leaves on the end of those lascannon barrels? If so is that a conversion or part of the original kit?

They are stock on the TLLC from the venerable dreadnought kit. So much love for that box.

That's the second time I've asked you about something that looked awesome with regards to your Dreadnoughts and you've told me that it was from the Venerable Dreadnought kit. I didn't realise it had so many awesome looking bitz, I really need to get myself one.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
That's the second time I've asked you about something that looked awesome with regards to your Dreadnoughts and you've told me that it was from the Venerable Dreadnought kit. I didn't realise it had so many awesome looking bitz, I really need to get myself one.

It’s an awesome kit. Hopefully dreads will get a bit of a buff the next time they update the codex. I still field them, because of looks and fluff, but they are not the most dependable or economical way of getting shots downrange. As I write that, I think I’ve been listening to the internet too long. It might just be my casual FLGS, but I’m generally happy with their shooting. It’s their ability to take a hit (which admittedly got a little better in 7th) and their lackluster performance in CC (just 2 attacks blows) that bug me.

But from a P&M POV, they rule. And the Ven Dread kit is my favorite kit ever. So many options, all of them cool. Wow, I work slow. Just went back through my blog to find out when I put him together. About a year and 14 pages back

Every (non-WS) marine player should own a dread or three. And at least one of them should be venerable. They might not be good, but they are awesome!

I haven't played since 5th edition(trying to get back into it now though) but I always loved taking my Dread. He was a guaranteed starter in my list since 3rd edition. He is showing his age now(and my woeful painting skills) but I definitely think a new venerable Dread is going towards the top of my must buy list, mostly thanks to yours looking so fantastic.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
I haven't played since 5th edition(trying to get back into it now though) but I always loved taking my Dread. He was a guaranteed starter in my list since 3rd edition. He is showing his age now(and my woeful painting skills) but I definitely think a new venerable Dread is going towards the top of my must buy list, mostly thanks to yours looking so fantastic.

You flatter me. Glad I can help get more dreads into the world though. They are one of my favorite parts of the setting.

I’ve just noticed that I’m a bad blogger. I know, shocking! But last Thursday was the two year anniversary of my semi-organized ramblings. Here is the one year summery.

At one year I was at 9 pages, 262 replies, and some 10k+ views. As of now, we’re on page 23, 665 replies (once posted this should be 666 ) and 30k+ views. A solid year of growth. The shot of funds that started this blog have been spent, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Eldar: A year ago I was stalled out. Now I’ve got a decent army working it’s way up. Mostly built, partially painted. Solid progress.
Ultramarines: More good work done here. Slow, but steady.
Cases: I was happy with what I had a year ago, more happy now.
Photography: Progress. While not a full lightbox, I am getting better at pictures. Multiple light sources, clean backdrops, tripod use. Getting there. Also due to the Flashback Friday thread, I’ve been getting a lot of the old stuff out for pictures. A large chunk of my painted stuff is now uploaded, albeit a little haphazardly.
Tactica: Never got around to writing any articles, but I do put in my two cents in the forums still. I’m contributing!

Two things I’d like to focus on this year are basing and display boards. Both my Eldar and UM goals include them, and I’m not getting a lot done. I’ve had sheets of insulation salvaged from another project sitting around for years. Time to do something with them. I’ve got a hot-wire cutter kicking around, need to locate it. I should also go back and re-visit my blog goals. Some of them are a bit dated and need to be checked off or clarified.

I’ve also been pushing my skills a bit this last year, which is a good thing. More free hand work. Masking. Some blending. A start in heat-distress weathering. I’m mostly happy with the new results, and hope to keep gently pushing my boundaries forward.

Enough wool-gathering, here’s some progress:

Autarch is basically done. Not 100% happy with him. The stripe on his bike particularly. He might swap it out for another later, but I needed to get this one done for the monthly competition. I’m not sure if/what I’m going to do for the banner, or if I want to do more on the bike. But he’s good enough for now.



I’ll set up the tripod and get some more formal shots in a day or two.

And as it looks like “monster” is going to be the next category for the monthly event, I figure a nurgle champion from the back the the bench and the depths of time should suffice:


Thanks for reading all!

Just wanted to drop the final pic of the Jetbike Autarch here:

More in the gallery and the competition thread.

Congrats on two years of blogging! You've certainly been productive in that time!

Autarch looks good, all I'd maybe do is add a rune in white over the black, either a decal or freehand, just for some contrast.

Very nice view of that model Nev.

Paradigm wrote:Congrats on two years of blogging! You've certainly been productive in that time!

Autarch looks good, all I'd maybe do is add a rune in white over the black, either a decal or freehand, just for some contrast.

Looking back, I have done a lot. I generally do that retrospective at the end of the calendar year. I’ve got two sets of goals, the overall ones set in the blog, and my yearly resolutions. There is a bit of overlap, but I try to track them separately. I should probably focus them a little more. Keep the blog goals open ended, big picture things, and the New Year resolutions more bullet point things that can be checked off as done.

I fully agree about the detailing. In truth, that’s probably not going to be his final bike. The masking on the stripe is a little rough, so I’ll probably shift it over to a regular biker and paint up a new ride for him. I had a vision of the stripe on his bike not being simple, but ending in a snake head, possibly with a lightning-esque zag in it. Obviously not happening now. I also want to do something on the back banner. Either the autarch rune, or the Saim-Hann snake. Once again, not happening anytime soon. I’m just kinda fed up with this guy. He turned out OK, but I’m not really happy with him. Need to get him away from the paint bench so I can focus on other projects. But at some point I’ll probably go back and put white snake decals on all the bikes.

Gitsplitta wrote:Very nice view of that model Nev.

Thanks. I took a half dozen shots, I think that one is the best. Gives the best sense of the model.

Edit:
Part of my problem with the Autach is the same I had with the old Battle of Macragge marines I was painting when I just picked up the new sternguard kit. The old bikes are just so lame compared to the new ones. Sucks some of the joy out of him.

Congrats on the two years. And where did you find that Nurgle Champion? He looks like he's from the 80's or early 90's. Reminds me of some of the old models my step-dad had many moons ago.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Congrats on the two years. And where did you find that Nurgle Champion? He looks like he's from the 80's or early 90's. Reminds me of some of the old models my step-dad had many moons ago.

Thanks.

I picked him (and his buddy I used for my santa nurgle sleigh) NIB at my FLGS. Of course, I did this back in the early/mid 90s. He’s been sitting around for a bit waiting for his turn on the paintbench. The earliest picture I can find of him in a catalog is the 1989 one, so good guess on the era.

I don’t have anything against the newer plastic lords/heroes that GW is making these days, but the older ones have a lot more charm and character IMHO.

He’ll get some paint starting next month, for the challenge. I think I’m going to try a little extra weathering on him. Mostly in washes. We’ll see how grungy, slimy, and worn we can get him.

If you can, get some Typhus Corrosion before painting him. Used sparingly, that stuff is brilliant for easy slime and grime!

 Paradigm wrote:
If you can, get some Typhus Corrosion before painting him. Used sparingly, that stuff is brilliant for easy slime and grime!

If there is a pot at my FLGS, I might impulse buy it, but I don’t think I’m going to special order it. I remember looking at it when it came out and thinking it might be useful, but never grabbed it.

It’s a beautiful spring day out, and it felt like a shame to let it go to waste. So I grabbed the spray can and primed. (After I went for a walk and sprayed some poison on weeds poking up in the driveway for those of you reporting to The Wife)



Viper
new bikes
old riders
FD exarch
Chaplain (who is going to need his cozious pinned)

This should bide me over for quite a bit at the rate I work. At least long enough to last until the new marines find their way to my bench.

Looks like enough to keep you busy for a while. Will those old riders be going on the new bikes?

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Looks like enough to keep you busy for a while. Will those old riders be going on the new bikes?

I’d not deface the new bikes with those ugly old mugs! Their rides have been done for about a month and a half now, they were the first prime this year I was just putting off working on the riders, because frankly they displease me. They are just a little dated, and don’t fit with the modern aesthetic. But getting a torso swap with newer guardians was a bit of work for the one I attempted, so that project got scrapped. So rather then just dither about, I cleaned up the old riders and will end up painting them. It’s going to be painful though.

But I need to get cracking on my Eldar in general. I’d rather not field unpainted minis. Particularly with a powerful codex behind them. I know personally I don’t mind so much getting my teeth kicked in by a well painted army. Losses from a sea of grey, or base primered forces are harder to swallow.

It’s going to be painful though.

Something tells me that's not going to be the good kind of painful

Does this mean Eldar will be at the forefront of your blog for the time being?

 Adamski Alders wrote:

It’s going to be painful though.

Something tells me that's not going to be the good kind of painful

Does this mean Eldar will be at the forefront of your blog for the time being?

I've got two more VVs I want to do, plus some other odds and ends. I'll try to work on both armies at the same time. Help keep me sane.

Do you use your Vanguard Veterans in games? I recently bought a box to use mainly as bitz and as a possible starting point/base for a homemade Ultramarines 5th Company's Captain Galenus, Master of The Marches but I'm now wondering if using them as a squad would be better value for them. Having never used VVs I'm not sure of their worth over a simple assault squad other than more power weapons available for the squad.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Do you use your Vanguard Veterans in games? I recently bought a box to use mainly as bitz and as a possible starting point/base for a homemade Ultramarines 5th Company's Captain Galenus, Master of The Marches but I'm now wondering if using them as a squad would be better value for them. Having never used VVs I'm not sure of their worth over a simple assault squad other than more power weapons available for the squad.

They’ve seen the table once. They finished off a squad of CSM, and then butchered cultists so efficiently, we had to look up the rules for when your pile-in move is insufficient to keep you locked in combat. Could these jobs been done with assault marines? Maybe. But they did their job, and they did it well. Point efficiency and value are fuzzier topics. I enjoyed fielding them and plan on doing so in the future.

When I built the first 5, I did build a captain out of the box. I added in some assault marine parts to replace the ones I used, so I could still have a 5 man squad. The sternguard/vanguard boxes are really good for building captains. You could buy one of each, shake them together, and have a whole chapters worth of captains fall out for the cost of 3 of the mono-pose one.

On the subject of vanguard vets:

The second mad bomber is done. Not that you can tell he’s got a melta bomb from this angle, as he’s also packing an axe and shield. I should probably put a transfer on the shield next time I’ve got them out.

On the bench right now is the last two built vanguards. I put their base blue down last night. Also, the monthly creature feature champion of nurgle, which I should start sooner, rather then later, as June is looking to be a busy month.

I’m getting a little torqued off at GW with the rate of rules releases. The two year cycle for 6th was unnecessary, Eldar was irritating, and the SM codex completely unneeded. I’d rather be buying models. From a dollar spent to enjoyment received POV, it’s still not horrible.

On the bright side, it doesn’t look like there are any “must-haves” with this release. Just new assault and dev kits, a TDA librarian, and the chapter upgrade sprues. I’ll probably pick up the UM frame, and the assault marines. I had my eye on a box of AMs anyway. I wanted to re-do my old sarges, as they are fixed (one with crappy gear) and could use one more VV. The UM frame will be put to good use making a new foot captain, and a counts-as sicarius. Assuming nothing drastic changes with the new codex.
I have no plans to grab the new dev box. I’d be buying it just for the grav cannons. Although more MMs wouldn’t hurt. But I’m not buying a whole box for just a couple of bits. I’ll see what I can do to trade, although I suspect that’s not going to happen easy, as they are going to be the latest hotness. Do without and soldier on is the next option. Shame though, as unless things change a lot, they look to be a very nice option for tac squads (who hopefully can take them).
The Librarian looks OK. I’m not wowed by him, he’s a solid mini, but not amazing. And I’m not going to switch styles on my terminators. If I get a new TDA character, I’ll want to replace all my old ones. And that’s not in the cards.

Looks good, nice pose!

I agree about the releases being too fast, and to be honest I doubt I'll bother with the new book. Between rumour leaks, Battlescribe updates and a few post-its in the old book I should be able to keep abreast of the changes, but then I've not got to play 40k in so long that I doubt I'll even need that.

The new Devs look nice; if I ever get back to my Ultras I may grab a couple of boxes to get enough heavies to outfit the Company, but at the moment I'm far more keen on skirmish forces and display pieces than building full armies I'll likely never get to use.

I disagree Nev. 6th was killing 40k... lots of people around here left the game for others and still haven't come back. Once you made the move to 7th and the fundamental change in how armies were built... you had to go through all the codecii and bring them up to 7th edition standards as quickly as possible because earlier edition dex's simply aren't designed to handle the army construction meta of 7th. Besides... for DECADES we've been complaining that GW didn't support their game with sufficient models or updated rules. Now their finally doing it and everyone is complaining about that. Can't have it both ways. And if I'm going to pick one... I'll err on the side of having too many releases than too few.

I guess I don’t really see 7th as significantly different from 6th from a rules POV. Sure, you have the psychic phase, but I think that’s more of a lateral shift in power. I guess the maelstrom missions promote a more mobile game, and hurts static gunlines. But frankly, I’ve yet to play one. We’re mostly happy with the old missions here. But I could see where it could breath some new life into the game.

The codex release is irritating because I’m not a fan of the new formation system. IMHO units should be balanced with points. That’s the whole point of points! I can understand formations giving slight bonuses for fielding fluffly/sub-par units. A way to reward people taking mediocre stuff that fits the setting, rather then just the latest hotness. But when you start handing out big bonuses, for no real reason, I worry. BS5 just for taking 3 aspect squads? Free power weapons/combis for veterans? If those kind of bonuses are being handed out like candy, then every codex needs to have them. Because that’s the worst codex-creep I’ve seen in my time playing the game. With a few outliers (Eldar) the 6/7th ed codex were reasonably balanced. But the Necron and Eldar ones are just hands down overpowered.

OK, that’s enough state-of-the-game ranting from me. I still love 40k, it just GW does a fine job irritating me periodically on the rules/business side.

On the painting front, I put the first layer of silver down on the champ. I looks like he’s only going to have 3 basic colors on him; silver armor, brown haft for the scythe, and then green for the skin/tentacles/etc. Then I get to muck him up with some washes and drybrushing.

I'm not really trying to argue the merits of 7th... but more state that it's "in for a penny, in for a pound". Once they decided to go this way, they had to go all-in.

I remember reading that battle report with the Vanguard Veterans, I was quite impressed with your Jump Librarian as well IIRC.

I agree that the shield on that Vanguard Vet needs a little something more, whether that is a transfer or something else I don't know.

Gitsplitta wrote:I'm not really trying to argue the merits of 7th... but more state that it's "in for a penny, in for a pound". Once they decided to go this way, they had to go all-in.

I just wish GW could find a balance level and stick with it. Ain’t going to happen, but a guy can dream...

Adamski Alders wrote:I remember reading that battle report with the Vanguard Veterans, I was quite impressed with your Jump Librarian as well IIRC.

I agree that the shield on that Vanguard Vet needs a little something more, whether that is a transfer or something else I don't know.

Yah, the jump libbi rocked the house for his first outing. Same with the vanguard for that mater. I’d like to see how they do separately. Would the VV still blender things without the buffs/debuffs from the librarian? Would the librarian be strong enough to replace my chaplain leading the assault marines? Will things significantly change in the next codex? Stay tuned for the answer to these and many more questions!

That almost makes me want to re-do and re-pack my lists for tonight. Last week I had packed up a “get the lead out” list composed entirely of metal models, but never made it up to the FLGS. But I need to go tonight, as I realized that this is the only Wednesday I’m going to have free this month. Next week is my anniversary (15 years), the week after that I’m flying down to Louisville to visit my folks (and drink bourbon), and the last Wed of the month is The Wife’s birthday. June: it’s packed.

And some progress from the paintbench:

Basecoats going down.

While I did make it up to the FLGS yesterday, I wasn’t able to get a game in. Did help coach a new player in a game though, so it wasn’t a total loss.

As this was probably the last chance for me to get a game in with the current codex, I thought I’d go back and tally up my record with it.

Under 6th edition rules W:5, L:3. Under 7th, W:7, L:2. Total 12 wins, 5 losses. That’s a reasonably balanced mix of singles/doubles and tournament/casual games. While reviewing my games, I also have 3 wins, no losses under 7th (old codex) with my Eldar. Not fielded them with the new book yet.

From a painting POV, the vanguards are done with their basecoats. Next up is the washes and drybrushing. I also asked the FLGS to hold a box of AMs and a UM sprue for me. He has them on order, so I hopefully will be able to pick them up this weekend. Part of me wants to wait until I have the new book in hand before glueing stuff together. But the AM rules are already out, and largely unchanged. And I’m planning on building with magnets anyway.

It will be interesting to see if I’ll need to pick up anything to update my army to the new rules. I doubt it, but who knows.

OK, it’s Friday, time for an update. Just a little slow progress here, base coats are finished on the VV, and the green wash just went down.


Hope everyone enjoys their weekends.

Started looking at the new kits. The new AMs are nice, haven’t taken them off the sprues to play yet, but I suspect the legs are going to be the high point of the kit. Good detail, clean sculpts. Probably a little overpriced for what you get, but that’s GW. The UM sprue is blowing my mind though. Those bits are gold, where do I spend them? Right now I’m building one VV, one AM sarge, and two captains. A generic one on foot, and Cato Sicarius. This assumes that the 2nd company captain doesn’t change in the new book. I’m not glueing anything, just picking and cleaning bits, and tacking them together until next week.

So I need a plasma pistol and a power sword for Cato. Decisions, decisions...


I might have a fairly deep bits box. Those are only the unique ones, I’ve got duplicates of some. And just gave a half dozen plasma pistols to a friend who wanted to put together a squad of gunslinging vanguard.

So part of me wants to use the new UM sword. My selection of left handed plasma pistols is more limited, so would end up being the winged skull one. But some of the left handed swords are larger and more impressive, so fit the not-quite a relic blade that he has. He’s defiantly getting the helm with the crosswise crest. Now the two captains get to fight over parts. One is going to get the new UM torso, the other the old commander one. Somebody gets the cape, the other probably the eagle backpack. I’m torn on the second captain’s head. It’s going to be one of the UM ones, either the bearded one or the straight crest. Both look very nice. I think the helmet would be better for a more active pose, we’ll see how he turns out. The one I don’t use will probably end up on the AM sarge I’m building.

And from the paintbench:

Brown was down on both the marines and the champ. Champ got a whole body wash, marines just the golds/browns. I just put the black wash down on the champ here. Next step is to highlight a little, try a little weathering, and pick out some of the details on his snake/tongue/mouth thing.

Nice selection of bits there! I reckon Sicarius really ought to have the new Gladius-type sword, the cape and the crested helm, and I'd also give him the new front. Is that an old-style Plasma Pistol in the bottom left? I'd give him that as well.

Then the other guy gets a bigger blade (possibly whatever Relic sword we get in the new book) and other blingy parts.

 Paradigm wrote:
Nice selection of bits there! I reckon Sicarius really ought to have the new Gladius-type sword, the cape and the crested helm, and I'd also give him the new front. Is that an old-style Plasma Pistol in the bottom left? I'd give him that as well.

Then the other guy gets a bigger blade (possibly whatever Relic sword we get in the new book) and other blingy parts.

Some mock ups (I was working while you were posting, so I’m not ignoring your advice)



My sticky tack is really irritating me. Not nearly as sticky as it used to be, so he kept falling apart as I was working on getting pictures. One problem with the new sword is the angle at the wrist. I’ll need to sift through my arms to find one that works better with it. Not happy with the one I’m using in this pic. One problem with all the vanguards, combis, and other magnetized projects I’ve been working on is it’s really cut down the number of suitable arms I’ve got left in my bits box. Plenty good for holding bolters, less for CC weapons and pistols.

Of the two I did, I like the right handed plasma better. Better feel of movement with the model. I’m not sure how well dangling belt thing will work with the running legs, I can try. I’ve got the new one on the torso, and the separate one from the commander sprue. They would probably work fine running straight ahead, but once you twist the torso a bit to the side, things start to collide.

I was drawn to the more blinged out modern plasma pistols, rather then the old school one. Captains deserve detail. That and Sicarius is an idealized 4th edition captain, so I’m not going for a nostalgic vibe from him.

For the second, more practical captain I’m still debating his base wargear. He’ll be magnetized, so it’s not a huge deal. Part of me wants to give him the evicserator. Probably with the combat shield from the AM sprue. That or the giant two handed thunderhammer from the GK sprue. Or a low cost flexible option with power axe/power sword, probably with the new UM sword.

I prefer the second as well. I'd almost be tempted to turn the head in line with the running motion and angle the sword back a bit, as that would give the impression of him sprinting forward while keeping the sword wide for a strike. More aggressive, as opposed to the more reactive pose he's in now.

.

 Paradigm wrote:
I prefer the second as well. I'd almost be tempted to turn the head in line with the running motion and angle the sword back a bit, as that would give the impression of him sprinting forward while keeping the sword wide for a strike. More aggressive, as opposed to the more reactive pose he's in now.

.

With the floppy tack, it’s hard to get an exact pose in these mock ups. I was going for a charge for the kill pose with him. I think the torso might have to be adjusted as well as the angle of the head. The sword for that one is fresh from the new AM box. I think it’s a much more active stabbing pose then a lot of the older ones. They tend to lend themselves better towards heroic posturing, rather then combat.

I need to be a little more careful with this guy, as he’s going to be firmly glued, not just magnetized. So I need to make sure all the nuances of his posture line up. With magnets, most of that is lost/flexible, so I worry less about it.

Speaking of magnets, I might make a number of new weapon arms for some of my old minis, particularly the jump/bike captain with the new Ultramarine shoulder pads.

One thing I noticed on GW’s site is the new marine shots for the Ultras are red-trimmed 3rd company. I recall seeing a link for a scourge of Xenos painting guide. Looks like someone besides the 2nd is getting some love.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
2 shots, same build:


(not pictured is the eagle-head backpack)

He’s got places to go, and Xenos to kill. If I didn’t like that helm so much, I’d give him a screaming head. I don’t know if it’s the giant chainsaw, or the lungeing running legs, but I’m getting a lot of menace off this guy.

There are a lot of what-ifs here. The big one is assuming captains can take evisorateors. Second is that I’m not going to need that bit elsewhere. Assuming the points remain the same as they are for the AMs (25) I think it’s worth it from a game play POV. It’s a two-handed armorbane powerfist. If you weren’t planning on getting the paired specialist weapons, it’s an easy choice. As I’ve been underwhelmed with relic blades the last few times I fielded them, I think this might be my new favorite toy. I’ll need to figure out how to kitbash some more. Maybe take spare GK halberds and replace the power blade at the end with a chainsword.

OK, some more WIP pics I need opinions on:

New AM sarge:

Alt shot, betting focus on the maul:

Not pictured is the JP from the VV kit with the giant eagle on the back. It’s the one my VV sarge is sporting, seems a little over the top for rank and file marines, but OK on sarges/officers.

The maul is simple a TH with the heads cut off and cleaned up a bit. Is it maul like enough, or should I add a header? I toyed around with the idea of some of the banner toppers, but it started to give off a very crozious vibe. Another thought was to put something like melta bomb/canister on top, but that was a little more curvy then I liked. Thoughts? I’m getting tempted to go pillage an old chaos warrior for his mace, but don’t want to start canibalizing old minis.

These guys are turning out great! I really really like the chainsword with the basket hilt, and the poses you've come up with. Really neat marines going on here, can't wait to see them finished and painted

Damn, Eviscerator Captain is awesome! Even if he can't take one in the end, I'd still go ahead with that build and run it as a TH or Fist.

Like the sarge too.

Thanks. There is a limit on how long I can wait, so I got the glue out.


JP Captain: Nice sword! That new?
Foot Captain: Yah, I commandeered it from the new assault marines. It’s like a powerfist that wrecks vehicles.
JP: Isn’t that what thunderhammers are supposed to be?
Foot: Not for a few editions now. They used to hand out free shaken results.
JP: Oh well, it still smashes things good enough for me. I’d like to try the sword though, sounds like fun.
Foot: Here you go. I’ll need it back before I get painted though.

Foot: Nice heft on the hammer here, I could use this in a pinch.
JP: <buzzsaw tearing noises> I LOVE IT!
JP: We should go out and kill things sometime. Maybe have a captain’s day out. Dreads had a party a few weeks ago.
Foot: Cato needs to pull himself together first. And we’ll need some paint. If you include the old RT guy on the bench, that makes seven of us. Sounds like a Kurosawa film.
JP: Kurosawa? Isn't he that Mantis librarian over with the Deathwatch?
Foot: ...I don’t know, It might be. The original was a pict-scribe who recorded a number of famous battles. But us all getting out together requires a lot of overhead. Collectively we cost a bit over 1,000 points, and are going to need four detachments worth of troops. Assuming nothing changes in the new codex. Not going to fit in a 1,500 list, maybe at 1,850.
JP: We could trim some gear and go unbound at 1k? Could be fun.
Foot: Might be worth trying. Unbound feels so... non-codex though.
JP: We’ll see. Might happen.

So the running evisorator captain is done. Well, mostly. I didn’t glue his torso to his legs to help with the painting. But I built the sword, and due to the miracle of magnets, anyone with both arms swappable can use it. If it turns out that HQs can’t take it, I can just make him some other arms. When I broke out the JP captain for a polarity check on the magnets, I realized the new guy could use the halo. Good way of picking out the captains. So I added it. Cleaning mold lines gave me something to do besides spamming refresh on the rumor pages. I’m not seeing anything earth shaking. But the devil is in the details. I suspect I’ll shift over to the new formations without too much trouble, but a lot depends on what can be added ala carte. As my collection tends not to be very spammy for anything not power armored, it might be hard for me to include things like a single flyer, or a lone tank. The Eldar detachment let you just take a few tanks by themselves, so if we get something similar, I might just ditch the CAD for most games. But the leaks are slow coming, so I’m not making any long term plans.

I 'lol'ed, as the young people say.

I'm pretty sure you could easily do the Demi-Company and First Company Formations easily enough. Maybe the Armoured one, as in theory you can do that with 1 Techie, and one of each Vindi/Pred/WW.

 Paradigm wrote:
I 'lol'ed, as the young people say.

I'm pretty sure you could easily do the Demi-Company and First Company Formations easily enough. Maybe the Armoured one, as in theory you can do that with 1 Techie, and one of each Vindi/Pred/WW.

Depending on if you need full squads or not, I could probably do 2-5 demi-companies. I’ve got a full battle company on the shelf, if I couldn’t field two demi-companies out of that, someone over at GW would need to be slapped. Hmm, lets see about the others:

Anti-Air Defence Force Nope, don’t own any of the AA tanks
- 1 unit of Hunters
- 1 unit of Stalkers
Benefits:
- If one Hunter hits a flyer with the main weapon, all Stalkers in the unit get +1BS when firing at this flyer.
Restrictions:
- Unit of Stalkers: Mínimum 2
Would need to buy 1 hunter, 2 stalkers to field

1st Company Task Force Yes. Probably twice
- 3-5 Units from:
Termis
Assault Termis
Sternguard Veterans
Vanguard Veterans
Benefits:
- Fear
- Fearless
- At the beginning of the game, pick an enemy unit. Units in this formation have Preferred Enemy against the picked unit
- Enemy units get -2 to L, if they are a 12" of a mínimum of 3 units of this formation
Restrictions: None

Strilke Force Ultra No. Lacking a second assault termi squad and the LRC/R
- 1 Captain
- 2 Termi squads
- 2 Assault Termi squads
- 1 Venerable Dreadnoght
- 1 Stormraven
- 1 LR Crusader or Redeemer
Benefits:
- All units stay in Reserve. Start rolling on your turn 1.
- After coming from reserves, or disembarking, shooting weapons of the Termi squads get +1 shoot (For Example, Assault Cannon becomes Heavy 5)
- When disembarking from a transport, assault Termi units get +1A.
Restrictions:
Captain must have Terminator Armour
All units must enter via DS, unless embarked in a Transport.
I’m loathe to get more terminators, as it would mean mixing new with old. So while I could theroetically do this formation with a LR and terminator box, in reality it would require a total update to my TDA forces

Reclusiam Command Squad Yes, once I paint my razor
- 1 Chaplain
- 1 Command Squad
Benefits:
- All units at 6" benefit from the Fanatic SR, not only the Chaplain unit
Restrictions:
- Unit must purchase a Razorback. Chaplain may not leave the command squad.


10th Company Task Force Yes, Possibly twice if I build some of the scouts still on sprues
- 3-5 units of:
Scout Squad
Scout Bike
0-1 Telion
Benefits:
- Precisión shots during first turn
- If the unit has not the Stealth SR, they get it until the move, shoot, charge, etc.
Restrictions:
- Scout bikes must purchase the mines.


Storm Wing No, only one talon
- 1 Stormraven
- 2 Stormtalons
Benefits:
- Make only a reserve roll for the whole unit
- Stormraven gets the Strafin Run SR, if at least a Talon is alive.
Restrictions:
None
could be done with just a talon, which is possible

Centurión Siege Breaker Cohort Nope, no cents
- 2-4 Assault Cent squads
- 1 Ironclad
Benefits:
- If they destroy a Transport, unit inside the 2D6 S6 AP4 hits, Ignore cover.
- Reroll to penétrate vs buildings
Restrictions:
None
2+ boxes of cents, geared the crappy way? Not happening.

Land Raider Spearhead Nope, only one LR
- 3 Raiders of any type.
Benefits:
- See previous posts
Restrictions:
None
While I do occasionally get the urge to pick up a new LR, the odds of even a single one being added to the shelf are low. Two is right out.

Librarius Conclave Yup. And if I built more of the GK bodies, probably twice
3-5 Librarians
Benefits:
- Pick one Librarian, This guy knows all the powers of any Lib of the formation at 12". Those Libs may not cast powers this turn. Picked Lib harness warp charges with 3+ if one Lib is at 12" or less. If 2 Libs at 12" or less, harnessing is with 2+.
Restrictions:
None


Armoure Task Force Nope. The only tank off the list I own is my lone pred.
- 1 Techmarine
- 0-3 TFC
- 3-5 Units of
Vindicators
Predators
Whirlwinds
- 0-1 Chronus
Benefits:
- Ignore crew shaken and stunned if at 6" of a Techmarine or a Techmarine gunner
- Thechmarine and Techmarine gunner get +1 to Ominissiah rolls (repair vehicles)
This might happen. I keep thinking about getting both a Vindi and a WW frequently. With all the PA I own, vehicles are the next step to expand

Suppression Force No Whilrwinds
- 1 Whirlwind unit
- 1 Landspeeder unit
Benefits:
- One landspeeder may pick an enemy unit at 12". Whirlwinds reroll to hit vs this unit. If the picked unit is out of range of the whirlwinds, the may fire ignoring it.
Restrictions:
None
I’ve got the speeders, just need a WW. As with the last formation, this might happen

4 yes, 7 no of the sub-formations. I’ve got the demi and full company ones. So about half of them if we count those with what I have on the shelf. I might use these formations to guide what I buy to expand my army. Which is what GW wants, but hey, it’s the game we play.

Like the captains, keep it coming.

<sigh> Looks like the only place evicserators show up is in assault squads. Way to let me down GW. Well, it makes for a pretty nice Teeth of Terra. My one regret for my impatiences is the use of cool captain-level shoulder pads on what’s going to be more often then not a vet AM sarge. Assuming it hits the field as a WYSWYG evics. My experience with the Teeth, while lackluster, might still happen again. Particularly with a cool mini for it.

Good call on Teeth, I was just going to call mine aTH. I've run Teeth a bit and found that it works rather well. You don't want him in a full squad, but running with VV or a Command Squad (or Honour Guard now they're Elites) so you get the Rampage bonus more often, he can mulch grunts like nobody's business!

But then I tend to spend 200+ points on that mini and give him the Primarch's Wrath and Armour Indomitus as well. 5 basically Kraken shots a turn, a one-use 2++, and up to 7 attacks on the charge... And all with just a Bolter and Chainsword!

I just need to remember to take a meltabomb along next time I take the teeth out. It’s not a bad jack-of-all-trades weapon, but S6 has limits on what it can do.

Note to self: when I get the book, check verbiage on relics, see if any one the debate on multiples has been fixed.

From the leaks, there is not a whole lot I need to do to get ready, with what I own.

More power weapons for the Vanguard (5 point LC/powerweapons, drool)
Maybe put together another librarian or two.
AsC for a speeder?

While there were some point changes, not a lot has changed on the unit by unit basis. Good stuff still good, fluffy stuff still fluffy. The point values might tip the balance on how I build lists, but not a lot of modeling needs to be done.

Things I might want to buy is a more interesting question. Formations, in all their glory, tend to dictate what we need to pick up these days.

More scout bikers. These have always been on my back burner. I own 3, but bumping the squad up, or fielding two, might be fun.
Tanks. So many tanks. Now, I’m not planning on squads of three or anything. Too points intensive, squadroning tanks is generally a bad idea, and the bonuses for 3 while nice, are not going to last a round of return fire. But I’d like a vindi, and a WW or two. The suppression squad needs a pair of them, not just one. And then transports. Nothing says “mech up” like free transports if you field a full company. Not that I plan on going full razorspam, but if I’m going to be putting down three tac squads every game, I might need another rhino or two.
Another talon? This is a stretch.

Cheap VV power weapons? Neat, too bad I've given up for awhile now

 GrimDork wrote:
Cheap VV power weapons? Neat, too bad I've given up for awhile now

I’d try to tempt you back to the grimdark side, but it has it’s own allure, and doesn’t need my help.

So I was cutting scouts from the old LSS sprue and working with the scenic bases from the new AM kit, when I remembered a thought I had a bit ago. As some of you might recall, my scouts are done in a forest green camo, which is not going to look good with the arctic bases I’m planning for my army. There are a few things I could do about this. Strip and repaint, being the obvious one. And not going to happen. One idea that struck my fancy was to do a scout-base exchange program. I’m planning on doing my Eldar with a green grass, maiden world scheme. The scouts would fit right in with that. What I could do is paint my Eldar rangers in an snow/grey camo, and base them in the snow. So each army would have their infiltrators hanging out with the other side. Now the big question: Would it look decent on the tabletop? One advantage of just black bases is I don’t need to care. But basing helps tie an army together visually, and I’m intentionally breaking with that. So have you seen armies with varied bases, and how did they look to you?

The AM scenic base bits are all industrial/imperial style ruble. If I wanted to tie the scouts in with the Eldar, I’d base them using eldar style debris instead, or natural things like rocks. So this isn’t just a question of what color flock to smear on the bases.

I finished up a c-melta sternguard on the workbench. I’ll try to get pictures later today.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Nothing fancy, just another sternguard. But he’ll make my 3 c-melta SG, and the 15th overall. So he rounds out a few important numbers.



And here is the good captain of the 2nd. Pretty happy with how he turned out. While I’ve been moving away from back banners in general, Cato is the arrogant kind of guy who’s going to fly his all the time.

While I’ve got a few more guys in blisters ready to clean and assemble, things are a little on pause, as I’ve only got a pair of 2mm magnets left. Where do those little buggers zip off to? I should gather up everything I’ve magnetized for a showcase. Hopefully the FLGS will have restocked them, they were out last time I was up there.

With the SM codex leaked, I really want to hit the FLGS and chat with the guys. Tonight would have been the night for it being 40k night up there, but it’s my anniversary. So instead I get to put on my tuxedo and have dinner with The Wife of 15 years. If the weather is nice, we can even go stroll around the gardens we were married in. Priorities.

I need to do the arms and packs for the VV. I’ve already got the first layer of black down on them, so plugging along. I think I’m going to call the nurgle champ done. I need to base him, then get him set up for a formal photo shoot. Arctic base, as the WoC are raiding down from the north.

Edit:
Another thought about the new codex: I had thought the old pilot from the Battle of Macragge box set was just going to sit on the shelf until the end of days. I think he’s going to be pressed into service as an ammo runt for the dev squads. Who wants cherubs anyway?

First news update: I picked up the new codex and a pack of magnets. Unfortunately I grabbed a pack of 3mm, not the 2mm I like, so need to go back and swap them. That’s not going to happen in the next two weeks unfortunately, so some projects are going to be a little stalled out.
Proof pic, for when I troll through this thread at the end of the year to calculate how much I spent on hobby stuff:


The observant among you might have noticed some marines from the 1st squad on maneuvers to the workbench. Yup, we were basing today! <mad cheers and applause>

The last ML guy from the test squad (makeing them the first fully based squad), the remaining HG, my champ for the month’s painting comp, and part of the 1st squad. I could have done more, but ran out of the glue/flock I had mixed up. I’ll continue when I feel like mixing up more goop. I prefer to work in small batches, helps keep me sane.

A little scout progress on the workbench over the weekend. I sorted through some spare eldar bits to find places for the scouts to perch on. Some will need a little more cutting, but should work. I also did an arm swap for one of the guys who was holding on to a hand hold. Using a sword now, and feeling good about it.

I’ve read through the new codex once, and am going back and flipping between it an the old one looking for subtle changes. Most notably the ones that impact me.

The three formations I’ll most likely use (demi-co, 1st and 10th) seem reasonably balanced. I’d start tossing lists around, but I’m lazy and am waiting for Battlescribe to update.
Love the new dread rules. Squadrons are nice, 4 attacks each is huge, and helps them play up to their fluff or walking wrecking machines. Lower points on some upgrades helps as well.
Point drops on all flavors of vets, in one form or another. I field them all, so I’ll take it.
MotF gone, but techmarines buffed to just shy of where they were. So more like the entries were merged. This means the axe/BP, servo arm tech I’ve had on the shelf since 3rd is going to see some table time. His points stayed the same, but he gained a wound and an attack. Score.
Calgar got a mixed lot. He just gets to pick his trait now, rather then the draw three thing he did. Simpler. Fists strike at I now, which is very nice. He lost some of his special rules though, like the choose to pass/fail tests, and ability to re-roll when crumping tanks. And the change to the tactics system makes his re-use a doctrine a lot less appealing when using the new formations. The demi-comapny can already use the tactical doctrine 3 time a game. 4 seems a bit overkill. In a CAD, he still brings a lot to the table, but as part of the strikeforce, he’s just a beatstick.
Talion and Chronos as HQs could open up a lot of fun theme lists.
The stalker AA tank got some very nice buffs. As did the TFC. Picking up a new AA tank might work it’s way up my buy list.
More LS point drops. The AsC is starting to look attractive. Might have to model one.
Scouts back up to WS/BS4 is pretty nice


While there were a lot of pretty pictures, it felt very light on fluff. The page count went up, so I’m not sure what’s up. Seemed to be more focused on current events then history.

I’m sure there is more, I’m still sifting through. Overall the book got a slight bump in power, but I think remains solidly in the middle of the pack. Sure, there are gimmicky things you can do, but for the average FLGS, I think it should play just fine.

Broke out the tripod for the final pics on the Nurgle champ:


Turned out pretty nice.

I’ll be away from the bench for the rest of the week, so there will be no progress reports. I should still be in touch with the internet, so can chatter about as normal. Time permitting; I’ll be visiting my folks, so will just be online in little scraps of time.

Hope everyone enjoys their week, weekend, and Father’s Day.

Great stuff! Very nurgley!

Dude, everything looks great. You're Cato was my favourite of the past month or so. The actual model is 'meh', yours is so much better.

I've been out here in CO for about a month now, and so much has hapened in the hobby world that I dont have the time/energy to research and investigate. I found out yesterday that the new codex has dropped (checked GW site to see what was going on) and so I thought I'd check in here. I've been thinking about my collection ever since Thanks for listing the new formations, very helpful! The scout one and the armoured one look like fun (Telion & Chronus are HQs?! - Ultramarine repaint?) Might even be tempted to try the 1st company one and get 30 sternguard in DPs... It's a shame my IF collection isn't all that big - lots of stuff to buy when I get back!
Could you do me a huge favour once you've gone through the book? List / explain all the new stuff in the SM codex that would affect an IF / White Scar player. Internet in the mountains is fickle enough as it is, especially when everyone is trying to use it at the same time. Much appreciated!!

Your nurgle lord is great too. Simple and effective. I've been thinking about fantasy, too. The new edition is on the brink of release, and I've got a huge collection to go back to. Already figured out some paint schemes and repaints I want to do... Have you heard anything in the pipeline for the next edition? (Again, desire to research is high, but amount of time off is low - and this god damn internet...) Where does it stand compared to The End Times? I've caught up on GoT and man, the last couple of episodes make me want to do all things fantasy!

Thanks a bunch Nev! It's making me a little sad, all the things I'm missing out on... So much in the GW world, not to mention WH40k: Conquest which is churning out more expansions and X-wing, which I was super getting into before I left.

 Zambro wrote:
Dude, everything looks great. You're Cato was my favourite of the past month or so. The actual model is 'meh', yours is so much better.

I've been out here in CO for about a month now, and so much has hapened in the hobby world that I dont have the time/energy to research and investigate. I found out yesterday that the new codex has dropped (checked GW site to see what was going on) and so I thought I'd check in here. I've been thinking about my collection ever since Thanks for listing the new formations, very helpful! The scout one and the armoured one look like fun (Telion & Chronus are HQs?! - Ultramarine repaint?) Might even be tempted to try the 1st company one and get 30 sternguard in DPs... It's a shame my IF collection isn't all that big - lots of stuff to buy when I get back!
Could you do me a huge favour once you've gone through the book? List / explain all the new stuff in the SM codex that would affect an IF / White Scar player. Internet in the mountains is fickle enough as it is, especially when everyone is trying to use it at the same time. Much appreciated!!

Your nurgle lord is great too. Simple and effective. I've been thinking about fantasy, too. The new edition is on the brink of release, and I've got a huge collection to go back to. Already figured out some paint schemes and repaints I want to do... Have you heard anything in the pipeline for the next edition? (Again, desire to research is high, but amount of time off is low - and this god damn internet...) Where does it stand compared to The End Times? I've caught up on GoT and man, the last couple of episodes make me want to do all things fantasy!

Thanks a bunch Nev! It's making me a little sad, all the things I'm missing out on... So much in the GW world, not to mention WH40k: Conquest which is churning out more expansions and X-wing, which I was super getting into before I left.

I'm semi AFK at the moment, so long posts via my iPad are not going to happen. Good to hear you are still alive and kicking. Love your new flag

For a small IF foce, not a lot is going to be different. A few point drops. Bolter drill works on special ammo. If you field the new strikeforce formation thing, you gain access to ultramarine doctrines. Focused re rolls, so kinda nice. Pretty high buy in though, so your small force is probably going to be using the CAD for a while. There is a crazy powerful drop pod assault/dev formation, website exclusive. I've not seen a clean copy of it, but the rules are out there and over the top.

White scars don't get a lot from the new main formation, as it pretty much ignores bikes. The other ones might intrest you if you have the minis to field them. They did get some major boosts though. Any bike HQ unlocks bikes as troops. No minimum size either. Command squads are just elite picks, so spam em if you want em.

New rules might drag me back into fantasy. I'm pretty out of the loop, but if it picks up steam at my FLGS, I might get swept along.

Once I get back to a real computer, I can sift through your blog and the new book to see if anything else major pops up.

Nev pretty much covered the SM changes there. Only other thing is that Honour Guard are now in Elites, so might make a nice addition without the CM tax.

As for Fantasy, let me bring you up to speed: we know nothing. You are now up to speed! rumours point to a new setting and new game, rather than WFB9, possibly with both skirmish and mass battle versions, and possibly/probably using round bases for the former. Preorder on July 4th, so we won't know anything for sure until just before then when WD leaks. For what it's worth, all ET and army books have been pulled, suggesting entirely new mechanics for the game.

As someone with no vested interest in Fantasy as it stands, I'm pretty excited for it, but for those with existing armies that may end up very changed or even unusable it's touch-and-go. All I know is that if round bases and skirmish rules happen, I'll be diving in!

Oh, wow... That Skyhammer formation is crazy good!

Bolter Drill on special ammo is great. I've had thoughts previously about putting Lysander into a pod with Sternguard to tank wounds. Now they can at least gain bolter drill.
The bike HQ rule is awesome. It was always a 'tax' to take a CM or Captain on bike for a biker army. I think opening it up like that will help prevent people from being forced down the CM, Command Squad, and 4 5man bike squad road.
It doesn't really make sence to have Command Squads and Honor guard in elite. They travel will captains and CM, so to field them without it is a bit silly.

As far as Fantasy goes, I dont want to rebase. I will play the skirmish, but on square bases. It doesn't make sense to have two different base sizes for the same game.... I hope the rules are good too (in terms of internal balance).

The flag made me chuckle

 Zambro wrote:
Oh, wow... That Skyhammer formation is crazy good!

Bolter Drill on special ammo is great. I've had thoughts previously about putting Lysander into a pod with Sternguard to tank wounds. Now they can at least gain bolter drill.
The bike HQ rule is awesome. It was always a 'tax' to take a CM or Captain on bike for a biker army. I think opening it up like that will help prevent people from being forced down the CM, Command Squad, and 4 5man bike squad road.
It doesn't really make sence to have Command Squads and Honor guard in elite. They travel will captains and CM, so to field them without it is a bit silly.

As far as Fantasy goes, I dont want to rebase. I will play the skirmish, but on square bases. It doesn't make sense to have two different base sizes for the same game.... I hope the rules are good too (in terms of internal balance).

The flag made me chuckle

While from a fluffy POV, I agree on the command/honor guard thing, from a mechanical perspective, it’s nice to have them more open. And with all the different chapters out there, it lets you do interesting things. For example, with White Scars, just cross off the name on the command squad, make the bikes mandatory, and you get a Biker Veteran Squad, 125 points. Black Templar could field HG squads as sword brethren. Just flavors of veterans with different rules and wargear.

Z, I promised to sift through your blog when I got back to my computer and see if there were any major changes. Looking at your proposed IF drop pod list, you should be able to transition that over to the new system very easily. The major issues are that you are stuck with your core detachment, so adding something like a second dev squad isn’t going to happen unless you move from a demi company to a full one, or add a CAD. There is no requirement to go for full 5 man squads, so you can take a full co. and get the bonus free drop pods it can come with. Rain MSU down. Seems a very strong list in objective games, but also very boring. Frankly, I think a more fleshed out half company looks to be fun to play. 3 full tac squads, and 5 man each assault and dev squad, plus a captain and dread. Comes to about 1,100 points. Then you need to add at least one of the other formations. I’m looking at the 1st/10th myself, and have priced out blocks of them at 665 and 271 points respectively with models I have. You are still building, but have a unit of scouts to start the 10th, and two terminator squads if you wanted to go 1st. And as an IF player, that’s probably the way to go.

For your White Scars I think I covered most things already. I don’t think I discussed exactly how the TFCs got buffed. You can squadron them now, so can free up slots if needed. They also get +1BS if you field 3. Not that is a huge deal. With the merging of MotF and techmarines, the new techmarine gunners are BS5 and have 2Ws, among other things. The subterranean rounds were slightly nerfed, with their special rule being replaced with the strikedown USR.

OK, that’s probably enough rambling about rules for now. I should either unpack from my trip, or put some paint down. Decisions, decisions...

Thanks for reading through my blog and picking out the important points! Saved me a whole bunch of time, and I much appreciate it

I read something about all White Scars getting Hit and Run, which would be mean on a drop pod Ironclad Dread. Sounds like fun (yet unfluffy)

Not heard much in the way of broken things for the Fists. Maybe grav Devs in a DP, with IF tactics could be strong.

I have been eyeballing the Scout formation. Precision shots on every sniper rifle for first round could help boost their worthiness, combined with their BS4... I can see myself getting some. just to pick out the special weapons in units (no point shooting the leader, they get a LoS save...)

How much did whirlwinds change? Enough to be worth it? Still trying to figure out what they were thinking regarding the suppression force formation.

 Zambro wrote:
Thanks for reading through my blog and picking out the important points! Saved me a whole bunch of time, and I much appreciate it

I read something about all White Scars getting Hit and Run, which would be mean on a drop pod Ironclad Dread. Sounds like fun (yet unfluffy)

Not heard much in the way of broken things for the Fists. Maybe grav Devs in a DP, with IF tactics could be strong.

I have been eyeballing the Scout formation. Precision shots on every sniper rifle for first round could help boost their worthiness, combined with their BS4... I can see myself getting some. just to pick out the special weapons in units (no point shooting the leader, they get a LoS save...)

How much did whirlwinds change? Enough to be worth it? Still trying to figure out what they were thinking regarding the suppression force formation.

I thought WS had H&R before. <looks> Ah, it was restricted. Yah, there is some fun to be had there.

I like the scout formation. Another thing is the stealth on your infiltrating scouts until they move. So you take those snipers, give them cloaks, and then park them in some cover. It’s not like they are ever going to move, so hello 2+ cover save. Infiltrating Jinking bikes also benefit. The precision is the gravy in that formation. One drawback is that you loose ObSec.

Fists aren’t really a gimmick army. I think they are going to continue to play solidly. FA pods for cents and bolter drill sternguard I think are their major buffs.

The suppression force was in the old version of the apoc rulebook. So I suspect when someone at GW was looking for formations to include, they just grabbed it. I don’t own any WWs, but have alway thought about getting one. This book just made me want them more. They have been an OK unit, just overshadowed by the TFC for a while now. But the ability to squadron and their low cost are a big help now. One of their issues was eating a HS slot. Less of an problem now. They can be used to fill slots in two different formations, which is huge. The suppression force is a nice little package, and if you want to field the Gladius, you need at least one auxiliary formation. If you want to use armored task force, you need at least three tanks. The WW takes a slot without eating a lot of points. Lastly the squadron bonus of pinning and shred if you field three of them. This will mulch troops, and for only ~200 points.

In adition to sifting through rules, I have been getting some painting done. All the base colors are down on the VV’s arms and packs. Next step is the drybrushing and washing. I’ll try to grab a picture later. Hopefully I’ll be done by the time I get around to dragging out the camera.

Look! Paint! I still need to do some work on these guys. The packs need the bottoms done, and the arms need a touchup pass, especially the white rims. But then the VV can be moved over to the done pile. And then I need to figure out what to paint next. The July competition is “stealthy” so either a scout or a ranger needs to happen. I’ve got rangers cleaned, but need to prime them. And bend some of their rifles. Scouts need to be cleaned a bit, and their sub-assembly done. The rangers are more stealthy then the scouts, and frankly I need to paint more Eldar, so they are probably going to get the nod. My razorback is also calling out to me. The demi-company requiring three tac squads is making the third rhino chassis very appealing to have.

Summer is officially here. Yesterday was The Boy’s last day of school for the year. So my painting schedule gets a little screwy for the next couple months. He’s got a two hour program he’s doing for three weeks, which will give me a nice little window in the day to get work done. Mid July, we go on vacation to the beach for about a week, and then the rest of the summer is mostly empty. While he is in theory able to entertain himself, I do need to put at least a token effort into being a responsible Dad, and can’t just disappear into the basement to paint all day. I think this might be the summer to get him into wargaming. 40k is not the first step though. I’ll probably start with something simple, like Risk, or OGRE.

Ohhh I've never played OGRE, always wanted to try it. Those rules points are interesting, I like the new book and the formations are fun, it does leave other armies in the dust till they get the formation treatment. BTW Sniper rifles have Precision Shot anyway. I love the Suppression Force thing, Used the old one in Apoc a bit. You've got to be pleased with the buffs to Vanguard, they are really good now, rerolling charges is really good by itself.

I got to play a game the other day and managed to get Cassius into combat for the first time, his squad of Sternies got murderised by Death Company and a Assault squad who them spent 6 rounds of combat or so trying to hurt him, they managed 1W by games end...good times!

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Ohhh I've never played OGRE, always wanted to try it. Those rules points are interesting, I like the new book and the formations are fun, it does leave other armies in the dust till they get the formation treatment. BTW Sniper rifles have Precision Shot anyway. I love the Suppression Force thing, Used the old one in Apoc a bit. You've got to be pleased with the buffs to Vanguard, they are really good now, rerolling charges is really good by itself.

I got to play a game the other day and managed to get Cassius into combat for the first time, his squad of Sternies got murderised by Death Company and a Assault squad who them spent 6 rounds of combat or so trying to hurt him, they managed 1W by games end...good times!

We might not get monstrous creatures, but we have Cassius, and that’s good enough for me. Glad you had fun!

June is almost over, so let’s take a Q2 review of the year. Here is the Q1 update:


Here is what I’ve done in the second quarter:
Venerable Dreadnought
Spare amrs (TLLC, MM)
Extra tank hatch
Jet Autarch
4x VV
Nurgle Champ.

Just polished off the last of the VVs on the bench, which is why there are 4 listed.


11 model-equivelents. Plus the spare arms and hatch. As Q1 had 13, This evens out to on schedule. I got some basing done, so progress there, and extra bits. The autarch on the bike is only about 100 points, putting me at 450 for the year. Not bad, but behind the curve for making 1k by year’s end. I should get to work on more elves. Especially since I’ve picked up a lot of new ones. Need to paint more then I buy.

With the new codex all my old play aids were obsolete, so I sat down, did a bunch of data entry, and surfed the internet for some cool pictures to steal. Printing them out made me realize how many re-rolls I can get. They all are affect different groups, so I couldn’t just print out multiples of the basic doctrines. But the core demi-company of an Ultramarine’s Gladius strike force can be re-rolling something for 7 turns worth of the game. That’s a little excessive. New warlord cards as well.


And for some paint: the Razorback. On it’s back Practicality of wanting another rhino chassis overrode my dislike of painting imperial tanks. Hopefully I can bang it out quickly, before it starts to drag me down.

Cards look great, love to see more/steal files off the internet of them! Razors look good, gonna be a swappy-outty turret?

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Cards look great, love to see more/steal files off the internet of them! Razors look good, gonna be a swappy-outty turret?

I’m not sure about the legality of me just tossing the cards out on the internet. I feel I’m OK from a personal use POV, but as the rules are verbatim from the books and the art is shamelessly grabbed without attribution from the net, I’m not want to host them here on Dakka. I can toss a copy to you if you’d like (check your PMs)

Very little of the razor’s turret is glued, so I should be able to swap as needed. I haven’t bothered to clean up the HBs, but they should be able to fit when I get around to it. For the TLAsC, I’ve got the small mount which will pair with the rhino top hatch. I should probably cobble together a TLPG/LC turret.

Cards are cool. Good luck on the tank!

 GrimDork wrote:
Cards are cool. Good luck on the tank!

Got the first blue coat down yesterday, so plugging away.

Made it up to the FLGS for a game tonight. Most of the tables were in full swing when I got there, so wasn’t able to get in a large game. Did get a ~500 point semi-intro game with a new-ish player. He has a few games under his belt, but is still shaky on the rules. Pulled 500 points out of the lists I brought, so it was a tac squad in a rhino, sniper scouts, assault marine lead by a chaplain (My list) vs. two full tac squads lead by a pair of L2 Librarians (his imp. fists) Dawn of war, emperor’s will? (one obj each) We ended up swapping objectives, with me getting first blood, but him having linebreaker. I was able to re deploy my forces to head back to my own objective, but the game ended before I could kick him off. Fun little game, good to push some plastic around again, it’s been about a month.

My force:


The last scout stares down a full tac squad and TDA librarian


Help is on the way, but will arrive too late to save him. The chaplain remains behind to secure the enemy objective.


I forgot the fresh paint report! The assault marines were being lead by one of the new Vanguard Vets. He got a few good hits in with his axe, but it was a little overkill on the tac marines and PA librarian he was up against. If the game went another round, he and his squad probably would have plowed into the TDA librarian, and then it would have been worth it.

Edit for pics and paint report

I need to play a 500pt game. I haven't played any 7th ed...

It's always good to hear of people getting games in!

 EyeamRai wrote:
I need to play a 500pt game. I haven't played any 7th ed...

It's always good to hear of people getting games in!

I think it’s been over a month since my last game, so was glad to get one in at any points. I updated my last post with some pictures.

The theme for this month’s painting competition is stealthy, so I’m going to try to get some of my Eldar rangers done. But first, they need some more work.

Alright you bendy gits, into The Dip!


For those you you who have not been blessed with the joys of finecast (and other resins) you can end up with bent pieces, like the guns on these rangers. The easy way to fix this problem is a dip in hot water, where you bend the part to the position you want (or slightly past it) then shock it in cold water. Hopefully at the end, everything is the way is should be. Don’t try to go too far at once, you can take multiple dips until everything looks good.

They are drying now, and I hopefully will be able to prime them later. Weather looks to be reasonably clear, we’ll see what the humidity looks like. Been a bit rainy the last few days, so some dampness needs to burn off before I feel safe dragging out the rattle can.

Five rangers, two captains, and a sternguard c-melta join the to-paint pile

2 Captains? Going for the Masters of the Chapter formation? Interesting to see the resin bending, I've a no finecast rule for this sort of reason.

 RandyMcStab wrote:
2 Captains? Going for the Masters of the Chapter formation? Interesting to see the resin bending, I've a no finecast rule for this sort of reason.

At one point, that formation was a goal. And still might be. But these guys are just a magnetized foot and a counts-as Sicarius. It will boost my captain count up quite a bit, but can you ever have too many? I guess if you pass 10, then you’ve got more on the shelf then exist in the chapter, but you could just have the same guys in different gear. But I’m not there yet.

I was trying to think back to the last time I bent resin, and was having trouble remembering. I know I did it once before. It was way back (2 years aprox) when I was putting together my TFC. That thing was a pain. I think that and Talion are the only finecast in my marines. Eldar, I’m not quite as lucky. Rangers and Fire Dragons. Of course, the fact that some units only come in finecast keeps me from picking them up.

Hope everyone enjoys their 4th of July weekends. I’ll not be grilling this year, due to family events, so will be missing out myself. But on the bright side, I’m not going to force myself to drink a Budweiser this year, so that’s a plus.

Just a quick update: Game last night. 1k teams.
Here is mostly what I packed:

This pic was last week, but I packed mostly the same thing, just replaceing the 2nd ed tacs with 3rd ed ones. This was a modular list, with the core of the company being a 1k list, with two 250 add-ons, the scout force and the dread pair. I just used the core for the 1k game.


This is the bottom of turn 1. It was me and some traitors vs. orks and DE. Moments before there was a raider full of DE and most of an ork bike squad there. Soon after there would be an ugly melee that the (wounded) chaplain, AM sarge, and two tactical marines would walk away from. We ended up loosing the primary kill point mission by one, but winning on secondaries. So I’m calling it a minor loss. Fun game though.

I’ve been slacking on the paint front. Don’t think I’ve picked up a brush all week. I blame firing up Civ V. Just. one. more. turn. That and a general sense of “meh” that’s been hanging over me all week.

Where did you find that bladed weapon for the Vanguard on the right? Is that a Grey Knight Halberd? The both of them look very cool. Can't say I noticed before but is that a bone colour for the chest eagle?

Those cards look pretty awesome, I wouldn't mind some tips on how to make my own versions, such a nifty idea. Reminds me of some roster cards I had printed up during 3rd Ed using a unit roster box that was in an old codex or rulebook. Sadly I lost those in one of my house moves as well as the book it came from so never got round to replacing them.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Where did you find that bladed weapon for the Vanguard on the right? Is that a Grey Knight Halberd? The both of them look very cool. Can't say I noticed before but is that a bone colour for the chest eagle?

Those cards look pretty awesome, I wouldn't mind some tips on how to make my own versions, such a nifty idea. Reminds me of some roster cards I had printed up during 3rd Ed using a unit roster box that was in an old codex or rulebook. Sadly I lost those in one of my house moves as well as the book it came from so never got round to replacing them.

Yup, the spear is from the GK strike box (lots of cool bits there). I think I trimmed a spur off of it, so it looked more spear-like. The chest eagle is my normal gold with a chestnut wash. Might just be the light making it look bone. Unless you are talking about the guy on the left. He’s got a ribbon on his chest, not an eagle. It’s done with the same technique I use for purity seals (bubonic brown + chestnut wash)

Cards are easy:
Step 1: Download Magic Set Editor It’s free.
Step 2: Type what you want in the right spot.
Step 3: Find cool art, or take pics of your own, MSE has a built in cropping tool to help
Step 4: Print. I actually export as pictures, move to my laptop, and then print, but that’s because my printer setup is a little wonky.
Step 5: Cut out, put in card sleeves.
Step 6: Profit! Personal use only, respect copyrights, etc.

There might be a template for 40k units, I recall downloading one back in the day, but never used it. Less needed these days with the dataslate format GW is going with.

All caught up!

I like the idea of the cards. Pretty helpful for reminding you what you have - especially when there is so much! (I might have to do something like that).

I'm glad your getting some hobby time in. I've not played in ages, and I cant wait for my next game of X-wing... And 40k to a lesser extent - I was really getting into X-wing before I left. I did get my Warhammer Conquest cards sent out to me, and I have taught a few people to play. It's fun, albeit infrequent.

 Zambro wrote:
All caught up!

I like the idea of the cards. Pretty helpful for reminding you what you have - especially when there is so much! (I might have to do something like that).

I'm glad your getting some hobby time in. I've not played in ages, and I cant wait for my next game of X-wing... And 40k to a lesser extent - I was really getting into X-wing before I left. I did get my Warhammer Conquest cards sent out to me, and I have taught a few people to play. It's fun, albeit infrequent.

Good to hear you are alive and well. The 4th of July might not be the safest time for a brit to be in the good ol' US of A. Us colonials can get a bit uppity at times. At least you should be safely out of the country by Evacuation Day (although that’s more of a New York thing, and minor at that).

Any gaming is good gaming! I’m glad to get in the games I can. Although events have conspired to get me to miss my last 3 RPG nights, and while I should be able to get to tomorrow’s, will be missing the two after that. The fact that my vacation to the shore is going to be from Wednesday to Wednesday next week will also sink my 40k time. Oh well. I’m still doing a good job of getting games in this year; it’s one of my resolutions that I’ll safely be able to check off at the end of the year.

Unlike resolutions like painting, which I’m slacking on. I think the Razor was acting like my old drop pod: scaring me away from the bench. So I just pushed it back and started to put some base coats down on a ranger:

Still thinking about colors. Not sure if I should go for a pale blue, or a light grey for the armor. Grey would mirror the black that my guardians wear. Blue would be more like shadows on snow. Not sure how I feel about the gloves. I wanted a pale leather look. Might look better after a wash and highlight. I know the reds don’t have any place on functional camo, but help give him some punch visually and tie in with the rest of the army. I paint camo like Hollywood portrays real events; loosely based upon the idea, but with more flash and excitement. Real camo is boring

I was doing so research into arctic patters for the cloak. Again the blue/grey question comes up. Also, do I go for the black, or just keep it soft? I was also amused in the google image search for “arctic camouflage patterns” that there was one composed of silhouettes of naked ladies. Very Slaanesh, and not appropriate for an Eldar, even on the path of the outcast. And probably impossible to do on a mini at this scale.

I like him, I think very pale colours would be best (assuming you're snow basing them), Pale grey, almost white armour would be great, and some pale blues and greys in the camo, naked chicks optional (yes I Googled the camo).

Quick update time. Sorry I missed last week, I was away on vacation at the beach, being slowly tortured by the Day-Star. But I’m home now, back in the cool, dark, basement. And realizing how little of the month is left. So between doing loads of laundry and heading out to mow lawns, I’ll try to get some more work done on the ranger a/o the razor. Just put a brown wash on the sniper. We’ll see what’s up when it dries, but I’m feeling a lot better about the leather with a little shading on it. Normally I drybrush before doing washes, but I wanted to check and see how I felt about how it looked, and if I’d have to change it up.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, still a bit of a post-unpacking mess here.

Post unpacking.. did you end up moving too?

Hot time of year to be mowing lawns, I feel you there.

Also agreeing on the basement.. how did I ever live w/o one of these things!

 GrimDork wrote:
Post unpacking.. did you end up moving too?

Hot time of year to be mowing lawns, I feel you there.

Also agreeing on the basement.. how did I ever live w/o one of these things!

What it lacks in natural light, it makes up for in comfort in the summer. Of course, my basement is freezing in the winter. Early spring when the snow is melting is the worst. Next house we’ll insulate under the slab. The unpacking was just from the vacation. Not moving house yet. That’s still 2-3 years off even if everything goes smoothly. Just vacation unpacking. My folks rented a house on the Connecticut shore and we spent about a week down there. So a lot of slightly damp and sandy things needed to cleaned up and put back where they belonged. Next week is going to be in the low 90s, so I needed to mow sooner, rather then later. The fact that I’d been gone made it a little high. Still need to do my back yard. But I did my front, and the yard I’m mowing for out of town friends, so the important stuff is done.

But on to paint!




The backpack is just tacked on for now. I went with a softer camo. Actually mixed paint for it, as my grey (Codex Grey) is on the dark side. Armor is grey with a white drybrush. I like the way he came out. I’ll probably give him one doublecheck to see if I missed anything and then base him. I noticed when painting that I missed a few cleanup bits from the finecast. With plastic and metal all the stuff you need to clean is in obvious places. Mold lines, injection spots at tips of things for the metal. But it seems that there are just random things all over the place with the resin. Not a fan. Oh well, I got all the major stuff.

Now that he’s done I need to work on his squad mates. And get more work done on the razor. I hate painting tanks. So tedious.

Neat color scheme, it's light... but not obnoxiously bright like some Eldar colors are wont to be. Cool.

I'm really digging the light camo pattern!

GrimDork wrote:Neat color scheme, it's light... but not obnoxiously bright like some Eldar colors are wont to be. Cool.

EyeamRai wrote:I'm really digging the light camo pattern!

Thanks guys.

OK, got the basing stuff out and smeared a bit around. Did up the ranger and the last of 1st squad. All I need to do now is glue the rangers backpack on and spin him around for a photo shoot.



(The squad in the background was brought over in case I had extra glue/water/flock paste that needed to be used up. I didn’t)

I dragged out all the bits of my old metal wraithlord for next month’s “rise of the machine” painting competition. Not sure how I feel about him. Soooo dated looking. I like the new plastic one, but alas, just got the old chunk to work with. I like the old wraithguard better, and might do one instead. Shame I only have 4 of them. Anyone collecting antiques want to swap for new plastics?

Looking good Nev. Love those old school beakies. Need any more? Have tons to give away (need re-painting though).

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Looking good Nev. Love those old school beakies. Need any more? Have tons to give away (need re-painting though).

I've got tons myself. Two full squads painted in a custom scheme, plus about four-ish squads of Blood Angels. Plus all the Ultras. I'm not lacking in basic power armored troops, even retro-classic ones. If I wanted (for whatever reason) to be able to put more RTB01 beakies on the table, the two squads we used for our PC forces back when we played RT as a RPG could hit the simple green real easy. The BAs I have a little more sentimental attachment to.

^Talk like that makes me wish I took better care and inventory of my older models, but alas, I'm stuck in the present. Oh well vicarious nostalgia ftw!

 GrimDork wrote:
^Talk like that makes me wish I took better care and inventory of my older models, but alas, I'm stuck in the present. Oh well vicarious nostalgia ftw!

You guys got me thinking how many I actually had, and if they all made it. So here is the reunion shot:


90 marines. 30 to a box, 3 boxes worth. Present and accounted for. Some are not in workable shape. Hiding in the back is a UM leg/torso, who used to be a PF commander with freehand on his shoulder and a head stolen from the IG box. He was partially dismembered, and never re-done. Also a BA with a flight pack. I was trying to duplicate something from the art, poorly. Gear on a lot of the guys is all over the place as well.

But suprisingly intact and useable for a bunch of ~25-ish year old minis. Some of which just got based yesterday

If I was wearing a hat I would have just put it over my heart and rolled a tear. So many memories.

 youwashock wrote:
If I was wearing a hat I would have just put it over my heart and rolled a tear. So many memories.

Glad I can help.

Yesterday was Wednesday, I’m home, and better yet, was able to ditch The Boy over at the in-law’s to free up my day. So I hit up the FLGS a bit early, and was able to get in a larger 1,850 point game. Opponent was the formally chaos player who I played a bit ago. He’s working on an Imperial Fists list ATM. I’m glad I packed a little extra. I had put together a 500 point CAD, a 1k 1st company formation, and on a whim tossed my SR, a ven dread, and a 5 man termi squad just in case someone wanted a larger game. I’ve been doing 1k teams recently with some guys polishing their lists for adepticon.


(not in picture is the SR/dread I added in to bring these 1,500 up to 1,850)

Cronos in an auto/las pred
LC/P, c-plas tac in a rhino
5 scouts in a LSS

10 VV w/assorted toys (borrowing an assault marine to boost to 10 men)
10 SG, HF, pod
5 assault termies in a LR

SR
Ven dread, TLLC/DCCW(HF)

He was also fielding a 1st company formation. 2x5 man sternguard, tac termies. Also 2 tac squads in rhinos, 2 dev squads (one LC, one HB) dread in a pod, sniper scouts. ML2 lib, captain with relic blade/SE

Long table, scouring. I won the roll and chose to go second. He spread across his deployment, I focused on one side.

This is the top of turn two.

His dread is already dead, killed by the pred. The locator beacon in the pod is still working, and brings down his terminators. The VV are about to charge through the building while the LR takes a sharp right turn. My dread has his eye on the scouts up in the ruin, he’ll be HFing them out, then charging through the building (Oh Yeah!) to help my tacs take care of the forces on that side. Both the plasma gunner and c-plas sarge are safe with the rest of their squad in the the rhino ATM. Little do they know the painful burns their weapons will inflict on them momentarily. Grumble grumble, Gets Hot! grumble...

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table:

See that empty bit of ground right in front of the pod? It used to contain a HB dev squad and a 5 man sternguard squad. Doctrines re-rolling ones and vengeance rounds are a very nice thing. IF sternguard can do this all the time with their bolter drill, which is why they needed to die. My SG are about to eat a lot of fire, but they manage to hold on long enough for the VV to show up to avenge them.

The game basically worked out to be my VV and terminators, with support from the tanks, pushing up one side, while the rest of my army linked up with the outflanking scouts to roll up the other. They met in the middle of the back, where his captain remained as the last man standing, slowly working his way though the vanguard. The game was over at the end of 5, he wasn’t completely tabled, but it was a solid UM victory.

I had first blood, line breaker, had killed 3 FA units (we were playing that rhinos/pods/LSS were still FA, even as DT for troops/others. Not sure if correct) I think I had boots on two objectives, he wasn’t controlling/contesting any. No warlords were harmed this game.

Fresh paint:
I think this is the first time I sent all the VV out as one unit. They spent the top of turn one get shot up a lot. They might be loaded with toys, but are still T4 3+ guys. It was nice to have a mix of toys. The axes were good vs. the terminators, but hitting at initiative with attacks was also quite useful. I think I might need some swords, and to get the maul guy finished.

This may have been Chronos’s first time out. The BS5 was quite helpful. I don’t think he got shot at, so all his other rules didn’t really come up. Nice HQ for a small detachment if you are planning on taking a tank. One question I ask about my HQs is “where does he go” When the options are a full rhino or a LSS, I’d have to have him hanging solo, which I’m not a fan off.

On the painting front, I got the second coat down on the razor. Next step is the wash and detailing. Then all the accessories, but those should go quick.

Good game, nice to see Ultras victorious over the IF wannabes. Do you think the new doctrines are better? I've not managed to take my SM out for a spin yet, been all IG escalation games.

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Good game, nice to see Ultras victorious over the IF wannabes. Do you think the new doctrines are better? I've not managed to take my SM out for a spin yet, been all IG escalation games.

They are differently good. Re-rolls are powerful. And we get a lot of them. If you use the formations, more then we can click off in some games. But I miss some of the wacky tricks. The assault doctrine is now better for winning CC, but doesn’t help you get there. Dev doctrine I never used for relentless, but the re-rolls for snapshots, even in the opponent’s turn, was priceless. Now it’s just a dakka boost.

Yes the rerolls to charge range (obviously VV now get this) was pretty good and I had lots of fun shooting at fliers and doing super overwatch with the previous doctines...

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Yes the rerolls to charge range (obviously VV now get this) was pretty good and I had lots of fun shooting at fliers and doing super overwatch with the previous doctines...

We adapt to the times. I’m a little irritated that our special thing is now open to everyone, but c’est la vie. One of the skills of UMs was using the right doctrine, at the right time, to turn the battle. With the Gladius formation, it’s now “spam tac doc for 3 turns, clean up with the other two as needed” Still nice to keep the doctrines when using a CAD, or other non-battle company formations.

Painting progress, now with a picture!

Wash down on the razor, and the first round of cleanup is started. Used a little black to tidy up some of the blue that got out of hand. Need to hit it with some silver, and do the windshield wipers. Started with the black on the accessories. They will need a silver drybrush, then details. Plugging right along. I’ll probably not be done today to get it in for the month’s goal, but shouldn’t be too far off target.

I think next month’s goal is going to be the rest of the rangers. 4 of them, so that’s my quota. Will also help with my eldar point goal, although not a whole lot. If I do get the wraithlord done, that will help even more. Not sure how I should count MCs on my mini a week goal. He might rate a 2 mini equivalent. Could be more, but he’s old and small.

...and done!



A little overgunned at the moment, but not everything needs to be on at once. I should probably paint up some more empty hatches. And maybe clean up and paint the HBs. Not that there is a whole lot of reason to field HB razors at today’s points. IMHO the old pricing for them was better, the swap of cargo space and firing ports roughly worth the guns. I also need to put some decals on it, and probably the smokelaunchers and searchlight. OK, so it’s not as done as I’d like, but still fieldable.

Razor looks good I always felt they kind of fall behind in normal size 40k games given how many big nasty tanks/antitanks there are.. but they always seemed like something super useful to have in a smaller skirmish, mobile cover and firesupport just seems to make sense.

Nice battle, sounds like a pretty solid victory there

Assault Cannons on a Razorback? Did I miss something?

Razors could always have asscans couldn't they? Just not both at once.

Baal Preds could, I thought it was heavy bolters, lascannons or one las two plasma guns were the options not assault cannons. I only use(d) Twin Las so I could be wrong or forgetful.

PS: Apologies Mr(or Mrs) Grimdork, yes you can have twin assault cannons, had my two most recent codexes to hand and it is an option. I just must've forgotten.

I thought so, but I've never been very up on the current events of space marines (even for all of the marine codices I've owned).

I still like the overgunned variant Nev has displayed

Definitely think that could be a FW variant at some point. I've been using the exact same Twin-Las Razorback since 3rd so I only really paid attention to points cost though I haven't played since 5th ed. Didn't realise twin Assault Cannons or Heavy Flamer were included in the options.

Heh, razorback termanus ultra. Or course if you priced all those guns out to something reasonable, it would end up costing predator prices for a tissue box hull. The TLAsC are magnetized and pop right off if I want to field the TLLC. If I want the assault cannons, I can put a rhino hatch on the back. Stormbolter/empty hatches get swapped around depending on who needs what. I mostly needed it for when I field it as a rhino.

Razorbacks are one of those kits that have a lot more options for what you can field then come in the box. TLHB and TLLC are common, because that’s what’s in the box. LC/TLPG is a legacy option from way back, and still popular. TLAsC you can do if you steal the assault cannons from a LRC/LRR if you want to use GW parts/mounts. I think the closest we ever got to the TLHF option was the immolator.

Of course, FW and 3rd party parts make things a lot easier.

TLHB is inexpensive, but the HBs are kinda meh. I could see the point when they were just 5 more points then a rhino; but not 20.
Both the AsCs and the LCs have some merit to them LCs can sit back and snipe, but what are you doing with the cargo? Still, slot free firepower, can’t complain too much. The AsC seem a good all-around choice for aggressive deployment. You are moving up, so the range is less of an issue, and they can threaten a wide range of targets.

Did a little repair work this morning as well. One of my pods had some loose wings, and the LSS gunner was starting to irritate me. Also sifted around for tank parts to paint up. Need more empty hatches. Might work up a non-Cronos, non-SB gunner driver, just to spice things up a bit.

Interesting thread so far. If you think that Razor is overgunned you should see my Crimson Fists tanks. "Bigger is better" is often the rule there. I like the biker captain's helmet, very cool paint job.

 bossfearless wrote:
Interesting thread so far. If you think that Razor is overgunned you should see my Crimson Fists tanks. "Bigger is better" is often the rule there. I like the biker captain's helmet, very cool paint job.

Thanks. I’m still surprised how crisp that helmet came out. I guess sometimes I just get lucky. I try to keep my stuff gunned at a reasonable level, Codex compliant and all that. Some days the modeler in me looks wistfully at an orc army, and all the dakka I could just stack on models. But another army is not in the budget

Some minor painting progress: Put down the first layer of black for the guns on the eldar rangers. Once again, noticing all sorts of places I should have cleaned up the finecast better. The sooner that damn material is removed from the product lines, the better. The bending, the bubbles, I can deal with. All the oddly places braces and injection points are driving me batty.

Well, when it comes to overgunning, I usually just build some crazy prototype cannon and then find it a codex-approved counts-as. So the "compensation cannon" on my Vindicator is just a regular old Demolisher, despite being built from a Volcano Cannon. I just enjoy the process of conceiving and fabricating something excessive.

Don't forget, a whole bunch of overwhelming-looking firepower can give you a psychological advantage. I can't count the number of times that people focused all their firepower on my "scary" models while ignoring the ones that would do the real damage.

 bossfearless wrote:
Well, when it comes to overgunning, I usually just build some crazy prototype cannon and then find it a codex-approved counts-as. So the "compensation cannon" on my Vindicator is just a regular old Demolisher, despite being built from a Volcano Cannon. I just enjoy the process of conceiving and fabricating something excessive.

Don't forget, a whole bunch of overwhelming-looking firepower can give you a psychological advantage. I can't count the number of times that people focused all their firepower on my "scary" models while ignoring the ones that would do the real damage.

One thing I like about the Ultramarines is that they aren’t flashy. Just a bunch of (relatively) normal guys, holding the line against the threats of the universe. I’ve always left the flashy and over the top stuff for the other chapters, both in models and rules. I hear you about the psych warfare aspect. A lot of that can be done with crappy units, played aggressively. Even a drop podded tactical squad or some scout bikes rampaging though your backfield can draw far more firepower then their damage output demands.

Paint progress:

plugging away on the rangers. I think I just need to do the gold and a few wires, and then all the base coats will be down. I think the thought of painting them is a lit more intimidating then the actual process. Once I have my brush in hand, they just float along. But I dread sitting down to work on them. So many fiddly bits, so irritated with the finecast.

Summer is plugging right along. Now that it’s August, we’re about the halfway point. So I need to sit down and take inventory of what I have primed and ready. Before we know it, fall/winter will be here, and the rattle can will have to wait for next spring. So I need to make sure I’ve got enough stock to last the winter. If I need to build stuff, I need to start now, as I’m not exactly the swiftest worker out there. On the bright side, after close to 2 months of issues, my FLGS finally got in my 2mm magnets. It’s not entirely their fault it took so long, I was MIA for chunks of it. But that was one roadblock keeping me away from the workbench.

What’s in the primed pile:
5 LotD counts-as
Chaplain
C-melta sternguard
Cato Sicarius
Foot captain
Scout sgt.
2 RT captains

5 Fire dragons
5 Dire avengers
Wave serpent
Viper
9 Jetbikes
Jetseer

On the workbench
4 scouts
VV
AM sgt.

To be built
~13 marines of some flavor
5 sniper scouts
LS

Hanging out in dark corners of the basement:
More then a mortal mind can grasp and retain it’s sanity.

OK, so I’m in reasonably good shape. Especially with my bikes=2 minis math. I’d like to get those guys painted faster. My dislike of fielding unpainted minis is really hurting my Eldar. At least I’m getting progress on the rangers, the one unit most likely to warm the shelf. Love their looks, but it you had to pick the worst unit in the codex, they’d be in the running.

I’m getting near the end of things to build. While I’ve got the legs for 13 more power armored guys, what do I need to build? One thing that is in the works is a pending trade with one of the guys from the FLGS. He wants a JP and pair of running legs and has a bunch of spare heavy weapons, including grav cannons, he’s willing to part with. So a few more devs might be in the works. I still have thoughts about putting together a techmarine with a c-beamer on foot. I have the parts for that. Deathwatch marines are also not going to happen. Checked with the regulars last night, and their collective supply of shoulderpads were used by one of them making character minis for an RPG campaign. While I would like some bike HQs, that would require more purchases.

Which are probably not going to happen until mid/late fall. Car maintenance/repair bill took most of the slack out of the budget, so we are a bit in austerity mode over here. But sometime in October I’ll get a paycheck for a summer’s worth of lawn care, and hopefully some new toys a/o cash for my birthday in early November. Still, there is a chunk of stuff in the pile of shame to keep me out of trouble for a while yet.

That seems like a lot of Captains you've got on the list.

 Adamski Alders wrote:
That seems like a lot of Captains you've got on the list.

There is a reason for all of them. Honest. Although to be honest, one of them is only a Lt. (The one on the right)


The guy with the big ol chainsword is there as the new foot captain. Replacing the venerable 3rd edition next to him
SB/powersword used to be good. Even counting as a relic blade, he's mediocre.
Bike captain has one arm magnetized, and is good on the table.
Jump captain has both arms swappable, should be fit to serve for years
TDA is an old, fixed, chunk of metal. But like the rest of my terminators, is in no rush for an upgrade.
Cato Sicarius is there to replace the terminator captain. (Heh, a little UM humor there) I could have just done arms for the new foot captain, but wanted him to have a fixed mini.
Old RT captain. His rank insignia is on his helmet, hanging off his belt. Can't get a good view from this angle.
Old RT lieutenant. He gets to pretend he's a captain, as his position in the chapter was eliminated sometime around 2nd ed.

So there you go. Eight captains. And now I want to go make two more, just to have the whole set.

Poor Severus Agemman, why does everybody want rid of you?

Is that Sicarius made from parts with the new upgrade sprue? And yes you've got to make 2 more Captains otherwise its against the Codex Astartes and you'll get in trouble

I do love the look of that new foot Captain, as well as the paintjobs on the bike and jump Caps.

Yup, both the new guys benefited greatly from the new upgrade sprue. So much goodness on that thing.

I was going to get myself a second upgrade sprue to go with the previous one I bought but they were out of stock in store and on the website. The bitz on it do look quite nice. I think I really like the look of the Sgt/2nd Cap helmet personally.

Productive day on both benches.
Rangers are ready for camo. And any touchups I missed.


Last of the VVs built, and the new AM sarge


Put a magnet in the weapon mount for the WL, and put his leg that kept falling off back on with the help of some greenstuff. Also mounted the back thingie.


Enjoy the rest of your weekends all.

Ooh classic Wraith lord nice, always liked that model. What's in the right hand of the first VV is it a magnet?

 RandyMcStab wrote:
Ooh classic Wraith lord nice, always liked that model. What's in the right hand of the first VV is it a magnet?

Right now the WL is doing a good job of reminding me why plastic is the best material for large models.

That’s the AM sarge, not that there is a huge difference. He’s packing a power maul. Here is an earlier pic:

I ended up cutting the bit with the skull off. It started life as a thunderhammer. But there are not a lot of good mauls out there, and I want to field more. While a nice mace head would be preferable, I think it says “I’m going to beat you to death with a blunt object (that’s not a hammer)” fairly well.

Overall, a productive weekend. Finished off the rangers:

Even based them. So now I can add 60 more points to my eldar total. Lot of work for not a lot of bang. I should re-visit how many points I’ve painted, as some of my accounting is under the old codex. Still need 1k by year’s end to make my goal. The wraithlord should help a bit with that. It’s a little ironic that I’m working on probably the two worst units in an otherwise overpowered codex. I’ll make it up shortly by painting up some bikes

In a bit of decision paralysis on what to do next. Both from a painting and building POV. The last speeder is looking nice, but I’ve also got an idea for a techmarine with a c-beamer. Paint is an argument between banging out some more eldar so I can play them, or more marine captains I don’t need, just because they look cool. I spent a bunch of time just puttering around yesterday. Cut some bits off of sprues and sorted them, put up some posters in the workshop. But also a stroke of madness.
I was thinking about the speeder, and realized that it would be my 4th normal speeder. Each of my bikes squads is 6 marines (4 normal, plus 2 guys on the attack bike). That’s a total of 20 guys, or the assault marine contingent of a battle company. So I dragged out all the guys on my swap shelf and looked into what it would take to get a second battle company. I’ve got a full spare tac squad, and 20 assorted sergeants, special and heavy weapon marines. Halfway there, and most of the hard stuff. I’ve got two squads of RTB01’s who could be stripped down no worries. There are parts to make 13 more marines on the sprues. So 17 more guys needed. Plus a dread, and some support staff.
Then I slapped myself. I don’t need a second company. There are far better things to do with my hobby dollar then get more bolters on the shelf, just to point at them and watch them collect dust. Madness...

Haha, two Companies is the natural progression from the awesomeness of owning one!

Rangers look good!

Liking the VV and the AM Sgt.

Paradigm wrote:Haha, two Companies is the natural progression from the awesomeness of owning one!

Rangers look good!

Adamski Alders wrote:Liking the VV and the AM Sgt.

Thanks. If the 30k plastics are reasonably priced, that might push me over the edge. We’ll see. If not a second company, what to do with the 13 PA bodies on the sprues? I could build more special weapons. I should probably try to make sure I have 4-5 of each (might be a little shy on plasma/melta) just in case I want to do a shooty command squad on foot. Sternguard are always an option. IIRC I’m at 15 now. 5 more brings me up to two full squads. I’d like to reserve some to fill out the deathwatch squad, but that’s being held back by lack of shoulders. I’ve got plans for a techmarine with a c-beamer, but was just looking at the stats on that and getting a lot of “meh”. Sure, at crazy long range it’s awesome, but the bulk of the time it’s going to be S8, AP4 blast. And we know how my scatter die loves me (although BS5 helps here). That’s just a sub-par krack missile.

In the painting progress front, I just put some red down on my viper. Week looks to be rainy, so I’m not sure the WL will be done in time for this month’s challenge. I do have backup plans, but would like it to be him. Still need to get his arms on. He’s not a very complex mini, so once I get him to the paint bench, I suspect he’ll zip across it quickly. But greenstuffing is something I need to be in the right mood for, and have uninterrupted time. Something that’s a little in short supply during the summer months.

OK, so if we assume the GS cures well, I’m done with the build phase on this guy. Speaking of green stuff, I’m about halfway through my supply.


IIRC you got two of those strips in one blister back in the 90s. Halfway done. At this rate I’ll need to buy some more in the mid-2030s

Friday progress shot. While a little humid out, I decided to risk priming. Looks to be clean.



Viper getting some paint. Not a huge amount of detail on it, so going smoothly. Of course, I’ve not started on the gun cradle yet, which could be irritating.

Nothing earthshaking going on, just slow progress.

Enjoy your weekends all.

Edit:
As an aside, I’ve developed psychic powers. Not sure this is an improvement over the walking coffin. Oh well, should only last a few thousand posts...

As a fellow ultramarines player I love how your models are coming out, and as a prospective eldar player I'm interested to see where you take them. Nice work

Good progress, I always did kind of loathe painting 50-60 point units for 40k

War Kitten wrote:As a fellow ultramarines player I love how your models are coming out, and as a prospective eldar player I'm interested to see where you take them. Nice work

Glad you like it. I should really take stock of the Eldar and formulate some sort of plan. Right now I’ve got piles of stuff bought either ~2 or ~20 years ago. Slowly painting it all, but no firm idea where to go.

GrimDork wrote:Good progress, I always did kind of loathe painting 50-60 point units for 40k

I think it would bother me less if they were points better spent, or the models weren’t quite as fiddly. But I just put a lot of effort into a unit that on a good day will strive towards mediocrity, and doesn’t put me a lot closer to being able to field a viable army. Although saying that, they are a low cost troop pick. I could use them for an allied detachment, with one of my newer HQs and the crimson hunter that need to see play.

As I said, I need to take stock of the Eldar, see what I have painted that could work into a list. And probably prioritize my paint queue to get some of the more vital stuff done.

Finished parts of the viper. I blacklined it with the pen this time (used a brush on the crimson hunter) Very easy, did not appear to damage the pen. Skipped out of the grove a few times, so needed some touch-ups, but the brush would need that anyway. Pilot/gunner and gun cradle are getting paint, basecoats are down on them though.



Big guy has a few coats down on him. 3-4 on the head and two on the body. Need to do the cables, and drybrush some silver on the guns. I might do a grey drybrush on the joints, just to get some more shade in there Feeling a little monochromatic ATM.

Nice to see that old elder dread being worked on. Loved those in the day and have painted quite a number myself over the years.

...And his arm fell off. God I hate this model, from an assembly/construction POV. I think I didn’t use enough blue in some of my greenstuff mixing, it was still a little gummy. That’s what I get for using hobby supplies over a decade or two old...

On the bright side, easier to paint with the arm not there!

Aesthetically, I like the model. And he should be fun to play. Wraithlords get a bad rep, but it’s mostly undeserved. If they didn’t share the codex with some of the horribly broken junk in the Eldar book, they would be fine.

Still no idea how I’d field him on the table. WYSWYG he’s got one flamer, one cat, and a single shoulder heavy slot. As I’m less strict on the WYSWYG for my eldar, I’m leaning for paired flamers at the very least. Not sure what to put on for real guns, or if the word is worth it.

Two flamers and a bright lance was always my favorite load-out... but then again back when I was playing Eldar I wasn't doing anything competitive.

 Gitsplitta wrote:
Two flamers and a bright lance was always my favorite load-out... but then again back when I was playing Eldar I wasn't doing anything competitive.

I’m all for non-competitiveness. With Eldar where they are these days, I’m OK with seeding my list with a few sub-par choices. Makes up for all the bikes.

2 flamers and a bright lance is actually a decent loadout, I've seen it used and it can be pretty good

Really getting your teeth into those Eldar since I last checked in. I've never seen an old school WL before. The jury is still out on whether or not I like it...

Oh, and as cool as 2 companies would be. Dont do it! Get the toys, not the marines (resisted the urge to say boys) lol

War Kitten wrote:2 flamers and a bright lance is actually a decent loadout, I've seen it used and it can be pretty good

I’ve hear of people just running them naked as CC machines, and it sounds interesting. But I tend to stick as many brightlances as I can into my lists. Eldar should be able to shred anything that looks like a person with massed shurcat fire, tanks, particularly heavy ones, need something more.

Zambro wrote:Really getting your teeth into those Eldar since I last checked in. I've never seen an old school WL before. The jury is still out on whether or not I like it...

Oh, and as cool as 2 companies would be. Dont do it! Get the toys, not the marines (resisted the urge to say boys) lol

Don’t worry about the marines, they will get more love soon. But I figured I’ve got some drive to get Eldar painted, I should ride that for as long as it lasts. I think I like the concept of Eldar more then the actual painting of them. Such finicky minis.

The old WL has a lot of nostalgic charm, and I love him for it. But the new kit is so much better then the old metal one. Both in looks and material. Metal and tall, spindly, models are not a good mix. But I own the old guy, and not the new, so he gets built and painted.

The second company is (mostly) just a thought exercise. If GW/FW made 30k more accessible, it might happen though. I’m just not ready to slap down the cash for the 3-4 FW priced books I’d need to play, and that’s before picking up more models. But there are pics of plastic heresy era marine sprues out there, and if the rumored box is reasonable, that might happen.

But I do need more toys; especially tanks. A few more bikes would also be useful.

1-3 Whirlwinds
2+ bikes (for librarian, techmarine conversions, maybe command squad)
Vindicator
Scout bikes? Would be nice to have a larger squad a/o field 2 squads.
Cents (I know, they are kinda ugly, but the rules....)

Deathwatch shoulderpads (need 4)
Gravs/MM on PA bodies

Eldar, there is less on my “covet” list. Mostly just a fire prism. Although a third falcon for the formation is tempting. I’d love to get a unit or scorpions, or some new hawks, but not in finecast.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Do these two lists look to be reasonably balanced against each other? I’m trying to make a pair of 1,500 point lists out of my collection for a game, and want it to be reasonable, while also showcasing some of the new formations.

1st list: Mechanized Strikeforce

List #2, Gladius/10th

second edit: Went up to the FLGS, didn’t get a game in, but picked up a pot of black paint.

The new guy:


And with his ~20 year old buddy:


At some point in the far future, when I run out of things to paint, all of my Blackwash Everything! minis are going to get stripped and re-done. But they are fieldable, so get to live for now. While the Vyper only adds roughly the same number of points to my list as the rangers, it was much easier to paint. It helps that it’s got almost no detail. That is one perk of working with old models.

WL is basically done. I need to decide if I want to put transfers on him, or try some freehand. And then glue him back together. Again. One of his legs went a little wobbly. Then I need to base him. I’ve got some green flock purchased at roughly the same time as my RTB01 marines. That stuff doesn’t go bad, does it?

Flock going bad? Surely not. Just stick your nose really close and sniff, to make sure its not moldy

Viper looks solid, looking forward to the wraithlord.

Like the red on the Vyper, looks good.

The Vyper is looking great. Nice work

Thanks for the kind words all.

I realized as I was doing the final assembly on the vyper that I forgot to do his slash/chevron. I think I might leave him plain though. I like the clean look on him. I can always go back and add it later.



WL is glued together (again). Well, his head is just set on for now. I figured it would be easier to do decals if separate. Base has a layer of goblin green down, ready for flock. I think I’m going to keep the black rims, as that will tie all my armies together. It was very tempting to go full retro with them.



This box or flock and moss has been hanging out forever. Hand me down supplies from a friend when he went off to college in the early 90s. Part was used when I based my undead in the mid 90s, but otherwise has been sitting neglected.

Some tinkering on the workbench:


I picked up some (very strong) ring magnets at the hardware store a while ago in an attempt to make flight stems for my speeders that could actually bank and pivot. Used some round headed furniture tacks to try to duplicate the ball and socket stem. Didn’t work (not enough friction to keep it upright). However, I’ve found a new use for them. One of the problems with magnetizing the flight stems on speeders, and more importantly grav tanks, is the mass. While bikes are small enough that they can work with just a magnet sunk into them, the larger guys need a little physical support to keep them from tipping over. This setup gives them that. As long as the magnets don’t sheer of the flight stem, which happens if I don’t build them right. My fix is to brush a little superglue around the join after the initial drop glueing the magnet to the top has dried. Seems to work.

I also worked a bit on the turret. I was debating ways to magnetize it so I could pop it off easily for transport. In the end I just glued the attachment peg inside the tank, and just loosened up the slot for it in the turret, so it goes on easier and still pivots.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekends!

--Nev

Hmm I haven't tried the ring magnets yet. I know if you use a ball magnet with a flat disk to make a ball/socket joint you have to use greenstuff/putty to make a larger contact area... but that doesn't seem to be your problem with the ring type magnet.


Enjoy your weekend too

I looked into the idea of ball magnets, but was unsure how to actually get them to connect to the flight stem without a lot of work. Plus I’d have to special order them, and much prefer to be able to grab things off a shelf at a brick and mortar store.

Set up the tripod for a photo shoot:


So another month’s challenge complete. Let’s see if just participating will keep me in the top ten for another month.

On the paint bench I’d started work on the brightlances I set up for the waveserpent (mostly so the WL can use one) as well as the AsC arm for the ven dread. With the ability to squadron them, I think it might be fun to field a trio of dreads all with assault cannons. Effective? Probably not. But fun I’ll put money on.

Looking back, I got a lot of stuff done this month. Far more then I expected. 4 Rangers, the Vyper, and the Wraithlord. Unlike the rangers, which were a lot of work for very few points, the WL was reasonably easy to paint, and adds about 135 points to the tally. 150 if I count him as 2xflamer, 2xBL (even though he only has one on his shoulder) Trucking right along getting those Eldar painted; let’s see if I can keep up some sort of momentum here.

Although there will be at least one marine this next month. Chainsword Captain is going to be my entry for “Never tell me the odds!” While I’m sure there are going to be a half dozen or so dioramas that outshadow him, I like his attitude of charging headlong forward, regardless of what’s in front of him. Much like me entering the comp in the first place

Well, I use flat disk magnets with steel ball bearings. I'd say you could get them at a local bicycle shop but you'd probably give an arm or a leg whereas I got mine for just a few bucks on amazon. I dunno that it would work for flight stands though.

Maybe X-Wing flight stands, but you lose a fair amount of power going from magnet=magnet to magnet=steel.

Wraithlord works. Nice and simple, pew pew punch punch.

Works for me. Like the boulder on the base.

Looking good!

Thanks guys.

OK, Wednesday night means a trip up to the FLGS, and this time, I actually managed to get a game in. Well, part of one; we ended on turn three, as the guys had to head to their weekly RPG session.

1k teams, Ravenguard and myself vs. Khorn demonkin and necrons. Here is the catch: I put 1k of painted Eldar down!



And setup:

Not pictured is another ghost arc, two forgefiends, some wraiths, and their flyers: 2 helldrakes and a necron one (that never showed up)
Mission was the two objective one, ours is under the guardians, theirs in near the middle of the table. We opted to go second.

Their first turn was to rush forward and some ineffective shooting. On our turn my flacons move to the sides to attempt to crack open the barges (ineffectually all game) while the rest of our forces move up the middle to deal with the khorn lord/dogs, the two fiends, and the wraiths. We blow a chunk of the dogs out of the unit, and charge in with the vanguard vets and the WL. Due to some hilarious dice rolling, all but the lord and one dog is killed in CC, and I think only one or two marines die.

Second turn one drake shows up, and flamers shrike and his squad, blowing the squad away. Wraiths charge and take the chin gun and a HP off of a falcon. Fiend cracks a rhino open, and marines pour out. Lord CC sees a chunk of marines dead, and the last dog. Some fire at the vypers cause them to jink and loose a HP. I opt to use the autarch to help the Crimson hunter show up, and he does. Zips up the side of the table, vector dances to get a clean shot at the back of the drake, and blows it out of the sky. We also finish off the wraiths, and I pop on of the fiends with a brightlance shot. CC turns ugly. WLs are mean and all, but I was rolling kinda crappy, they have no invuln save, and he had some sort of ID weapon, snaked a wound in, and POP! One marine staggers away from the combat.

Turn three the second drake shows up. Rather then VS the hunter, he heads for the de-rhinoed tac squad lined up in a perfect template formation. He also cashes in his blood pool for a thirster. Ouch. Khorne lord charges the autarch and snuffs him. Some more random shooting from the necrons, whiffing vs. the hunter, but killing one of the falcons. Our turn sees the hunter swing in behind the other drake and like the one before it, drops it from the sky. We blow up the other fiend, and shrike and the last vet charge the lord (and die).

At this point we call it for time. From what’s left on the table, things look to be going well for team evil, so we were going to hand them the win. But then we realized that he was doing the armor on his lord wrong all game (it’s not a 2+) so we call it a draw.

Fresh paint report (and there is a lot of it)
Wraithlord: I fielded him with a pair of brightlances and duel flamers. He shot pretty well, but was very lackluster in CC. Not up for tangling with a tooled up Knorne lord. Some psychic buffs might have helped, or a less lethal opponent. Still, I feel he pulled his weight.
Autarch: He was here for the reserve roll, which was ultimately unnecessary, but could have been. He was only lightly equipped, and once again, not a match for a serious CC monster. I should have had him flitting about hunting softer targets. I was hoping for necrons, but we never got them out of the arcs. He felt like a waste, and I would have been better off with a farseer.
Rangers: I had low expectations, but they were met. Sat and plinked. If I was thinking better, and knew my opponent’s army better, I would have focused on the cultist mob to try to get the sarge before he grew into a thirster. Only one objective in this game on our side to camp, so they just hung out in the middle.
Crimson Hunter: This guy was hot death in the sky. Sure, he’s made of paper, but the flyers rules make it hard to hit, and the one turn he ate ground fire, I just relied on poor rolling from my opponent. 6’s to hit, followed by 6’s to glance from a barge full of crons was a lot of dice, but ultimately did nothing. I probably should have lost a HP, but it would not have changed things.
Vypers: OMG the dakka! Paired shuicannons puts a huge amount of fire downrange. For their points these guys were nasty.
While not technically fresh paint, this was also the first time I used my 1.5 sized KRX’s to bring armies to the FLGS. I has also packed 1k of marines, and rather then having both armies intermingled in 3 cases, I was able to keep each side in their own box.

Other notes: I need more brightlances, for the falcons. The scatter lasers did literally nothing all game. If I’m taking them primarily for anti-armor, the scats might help vs. rhinos and other soft targets, but were useless vs. the AV13 I was trying to crack open.

Modeling note: Need to go back to the drawing board for the flight stems on the falcons. While they worked in the controlled environments of my bench, the ring magnets are stronger then the superglue holding the little ones on the stems. Both sheared off, one during play, the other when packing up.

Painting note: I put a layer of yellow down on a fire dragon. It made me realize how much I hate painting things yellow. So I’m entertaining alternative thoughts for a new scheme for them. I’ve seen some nice ones done in blacks and reds, but worry that it might be too close to how I paint my guardians. Thoughts?

1k points of painted eldar!! Congrats

I know what you mean about the stems on the skimmers. I tried magnetising them on the jetbikes and wave serpents I did. It worked ok on my desk, but any bump or knock broke them off. I honestly couldn't think of an alternative.

What about orange and black for the FD?

Yeah do something lava-ish for the dragons. Like black armor but with hot-orange edge highlights. Or maybe a hard drybrush of red/orange, then yellow edges. Something like that, depends on your style. If you work towards orange/yellow, it shouldn't blend to easily with the red of the rest of your guys.

Also grats on the 1k painted

Game sounded fun, wish I could play games like 40k locally. My luck, there would be games but it would be 'bring the best dataslate/formation or don't bother unpacking to save time' competitive or whatever.

If I do an orange/red undersuit, with black armor plates, that might make for a lava-esque look. Maybe orange helms. Hmm, something to consider.

The bikes and vypers do fine on their stems. They are light enough not to require more then just the duel magnet join to keep them up. Too much torque on the tanks though. Might be worth looking into a flat headed bolt for the magnet to grip. Once The Boy is back to school, I might head to the hardware store and just poke around looking at bits.

I should have done more painting this weekend, but made the mistake of starting a Civ V game. And forgot that last time I played, I restricted the victory conditions available. It would also help if I was more of a warmonger, I tend not to go for the crushing military victory, even if I have the upper hand.

I asked earlier in this thread, but it looks like it got auto-appended. So I started a thread over in the army list section and I’ll ask here again:

Do these two lists look to be reasonably balanced against each other? I’m trying to make a pair of 1,500 point lists out of my collection for a game, and want it to be reasonable, while also showcasing some of the new formations. A friend is swinging through town, hasn’t picked up the new SM codex yet, so I want to make a fun pair of lists to face off against each other. They don’t need to be competitive per-sae, just a reasonably fun battle. While everything is painted blue, Chapter Tactics are flexible. Whichever one I’m using will obviously be Ultramarines, but the drop list could play as Imp. Fists, and the mech list would work as a White Scars list. I can tinker around with the lists until late Tuesday, but game is going to be mid Wednesday, so I need to have things finalized by then.

1st list: Mechanized Strikeforce


List #2, Gladius/10th


Or for the more visual among you:
This--

vs. this--

Congrats on the 1K of painted Eldar.

The two lists look reasonable to me, speed and maneuverability vs more static more firepower. At least to me it does, but I haven't played in a long time so have no idea how those units would actually work on the table.

Very interesting pairing, though I'd give the edge to army #1.

Honestly, I like the look of both lists. And would happily play either as is.

However, I agree that list 1 has the advantage on list 2. The 10 bikes gives it an edge, and the scout contingent might be sub par. I'm not sure how you could balance it out without removing the scout contingent.

The goal was to get a few different formations on the table, and I wanted to avoid a mirror match with two demi-companies.

The drop pod list is going to have the advantage in the alpha strike. Higher early game mobility. Also a significant advantage in boots on the ground vs. the more elite veteran list. A little light on AV fire, with the LC devs and the melta tacs being the basis, with some CC to back it up.

The mech list has a lot more mobility on the table, and a higher caliber of units. But not a lot of durability. And with the drop pod alpha strike, I think that might be an issue.

Think replacing a bike squad (probably the plas/grav one) with a 5 man tac squad in a razor would help?

Good work Nevelon. Each lissst looks tasssty.

You know Nev... I wouldn't. While I'd give an edge to the first list, it's not an overwhelming one. Give that one to your friend which will help compensate for his lack of experience the new dex. It should work out fine.

I invited a stanger I met on the internet into my home, lured him to the basement, and nobody got brutally murdered*. Well, except a lot of marines. Quite a few of them met some unpleasant ends.



That’s the deployment. I’ve got pictures of the whole thing (in my gallery if you want a sneak peak), so expect a full, all formal like Battle Report later. Once I recover from all the time I spent in the summer heat in my broken AC car. blarg.

We also played a pair of games of Conquest, which was quite fun. If there are people who play in your local area, look into getting into it. I won both games, which is either a case of beginer’s luck, or prof that Ultramarines are superior to Orks.

* results may not be typical, don’t try this at home.

Can't wait!

Cool, looking forward to it!

Once again, thanks Nevlon for the hospitality! The games we played were great, and the shortbread is even better!

 Zambro wrote:
Once again, thanks Nevlon for the hospitality! The games we played were great, and the shortbread is even better!

Thanks for taking the time to drop by. I know it was a lot of travel to get a game in, but it was great to meet you in person and push some plastic around. Next time you need to bring your own armies though! Card games were a lot of fun as well. If all it took was a batch of cookies to get a game in, I’d spend more time in the kitchen, glad you like them.

Here is the battle report. Feel free to correct me if I got any details wrong, I might have messed something up. I tried to spice a little flavor text in there, hope everyone enjoys it!

Just read that battle report, sounded like a lot of fun. Didn't realise the mysterious stranger off the interwebs was Zambro of the Scars/Fists. Glad it was only models and armies that ended up murdered in the basement

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Didn't realise the mysterious stranger off the interwebs was Zambro of the Scars/Fists.

A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet.
A stranger could also be a murderer. So be careful

Yeah, I've been in the states for a while now, and was in the area (sort of). Glad to have put a face to a name, and play some games after so long

Thanks for writing that battle report up, too! I'll link it over into my blog when I'm back in the UK and ready to go with hobby related things.

I was fiddling around with my phone’s camera, and was experimenting with the panoramic feature. Thought I’d share some pics of the places where the magic happens:

(and yes, I know I’m a disorganized slob)




Seeing the table bent like that makes me think of battles in non-Euclidean warp space.

Many boxes, such monies.

 Ratius wrote:
Many boxes, such monies.

The shelf of dead cards. It’s not as much money as you think. Most were purchased at wholesale, when I was working for a mail order card company. Some even lower, at “please make it go away” prices (case of boosters for $15? Sure). And purchased in my golden age of hobbying, where I had a big-boy job, but was still single living like a starving college student. These days it would probably cost more to ship them to someone who wanted them then they would be worth. Some of the games have been rebooted (deadlands, netrunner) others have different issues, like 95% of my L5R cards being the old backs. Or just dead, or never really took off. (Dune, Legend of the Burning Sands, Over the Edge) Some that you probably never heard of, even if they were fun games. (Shadowfist) There are also a lot that I have a few starters and a fistfull of boosters for, just to try the game out.

The MtG cards were the ones with value, and they are already sold. Just a lot of ancient flat crack taking up space at this point. But if it was a CCG at some point, odds are there is a little (or a lot) of it on that shelf.

One nice thing about painting familiar things in your comfort zone is how quick and easy it is! No debates about schemes, worrying about how well that paint is going to cover, etc. I think I spent two evenings on this guy to get him to this point. His legs are also done, but there is very little going there. Next to to do his belt, and then the massive chainsword. As a quick note to all my fellow Ultramarines, if you have not picked up the accessory sprue you are doing yourself, and The Chapter, a massive disservice. It is full of awesome.

(For those of you just joining us, or who don’t recognize who I’m working on, it’s the guy the left here)


In my ongoing effort to clean up spare weapon options, I also put paint to the VenDread’s assault cannon.


I am sorely tempted to include three dreads in a squadron, all with AsCs, and just have them stomp up the table. Worth the points? Probably not. Fun as all get out? Yup!

I hope everyone enjoys their weekends, Labor Day or not. I’m off to go grocery shopping an mow a couple of lawns, take care all.

Looking good, especially the gold!

 Paradigm wrote:
Looking good, especially the gold!

Thanks. The gold is stupidly easy to do for the results it gives.

Step 1: basecoat (I use an old pot of shining gold, some of the AoS golds they came out with look to be a very close match)
Step 2: chestnut wash (slightly diluted)(Not sure what the brown wash is called these days)
Step 3: (optional) drybrush the base gold to help with the highlights.

That’s it. If I could suggest only one technique for a new painter, it would be washes. Followed closely by drybrushing. Simple techniques, easy to learn, and they can give excellent results.

I used a silver drybrush on the Ultramarine iconography. I didn’t want pristine white for most of it (but will do pure white on the belt/shoulder s though)

The details on that Captain look fantastic, I'm really digging the work you've done on him.

That looks great!

Thanks guys. I just put down some subtle edge highlights on him, not something I normally do. Also the first layer of black for the sword.

I also found him a friend to fight for the “Never tell me the Odds” challenge. Not endless hordes, but something big and mean:

Looks cool

I'm considering toning down my entry too. I wanna bash out a bunch of some stuff, but I tend to get squirrely when I have deadlines and have to *make* myself do something. I may end up backing down to a showdown too, we'll see.

I forgot to get a new shot from the paintbench, but I put some blue down on the arms, and brown and gold down on the belt. So plugging along.

From the workbench:


Oni is cleaned up and ready to prime. Might need to put a little more greenstuff in the base/stand thing so it stands up better. I was musing on materials as I was cleaning and posing her. While metal is often faulted for being hard to work with for conversions, in some senses it’s actually better. If you had a resin/plastic mini, you can’t easily bend parts. With metal, I was able to curl some fingers, adjust the angles of the lower arms, and coil the tentacles around a bit. I still prefer plastic, but it was kinda fun to work in the classic medium again.

Land Speeder is going together. I just glued the TML on. I’m sure in a few editions I’ll regret it, as what’s hot shifts around. But I’ve been fielding them a lot lately, and have two other speeders that can be kitted out with whatever the FOTM is down the road. Had to stop work for the evening, as I jabbed my thumb with the knife hard enough to draw blood. I took a short break and thought it was fine, but when I was drilling out the HB it started oozing a little, so I’m taking that as my cue to stop for the night. Just need to finish cleaning and assembling the pilot and gunner, and then it will be ready to prime. It’s been on the hot and humid side lately, so I’m not sure exactly when that is going to be.

I find land speeders to be very useful... as much for the threat of what they can do as what they can actually do.

I always liked them aesthetically too, especially with those twin missile pods.

Gitsplitta wrote:I find land speeders to be very useful... as much for the threat of what they can do as what they can actually do.

I’ve found the threat factor worked best when I fielded them with a MM. Nothing like a fast speeder with an anti-tank gun to declare a 2 foot circle of the table dangerous terrain. Tanks didn’t instantly explode once they crossed the threshold, but they needed to respect the zone of control. Once the MM speeder was committed though, it was done. The TML/HB speeder lacks the threat impact of the MM speeder, but does a good job of tossing moderate amounts of fire downrange all game.

GrimDork wrote:I always liked them aesthetically too, especially with those twin missile pods.

There is so much to love about them. I’ve always had a soft spot for anti-grav armor. And while not the sleek Eldar tanks, the humble LS makes a nice little recon skimmer. Nice looks, and helps make it feel sci-fi. Because let’s be honest, most other things in the SM army would not be out of place on a WWI/II battlefield. This is the first one I’ve put together actually using the proper TML parts. Well, the ones from the Ravenwing sprue on the old LS hull. I’ve still not put together a “modern” speeder. My other speeders borrow CMLs from the terminators for their missile racks.

Here it is all ready to prime:


From the paintbench:


Haven’t done anything since yesterday, but did remember the camera this time.

Also, summer is officially over. Yesterday was The Boy’s first day back at school (4th Grade). This is my first totally free day, as The Wife had taken Monday off. So now I can hopefully pick up the pace on the hobby stuff, and get ready for winter. And all those other projects around the house that need work...

If I were ever going to legitimately play 40k again, and if it were *remotely* viable, I would totally run LSS scouts (they get it as a DT now, right?) and play the space marines like they were Dark Eldar

Ehh, I've got a soft spot for Land Raiders too just because they're so big and smashy. I'll probably wind up painting mine eventually to be the relic zombie marine delivery system for my corporation guys.

Grats on some extra hobby time Mine is almost ready for preschool but we've got another baby, go figure.

 GrimDork wrote:
If I were ever going to legitimately play 40k again, and if it were *remotely* viable, I would totally run LSS scouts (they get it as a DT now, right?) and play the space marines like they were Dark Eldar

Ehh, I've got a soft spot for Land Raiders too just because they're so big and smashy. I'll probably wind up painting mine eventually to be the relic zombie marine delivery system for my corporation guys.

Grats on some extra hobby time Mine is almost ready for preschool but we've got another baby, go figure.

While putting this guy together I was thinking if I could build an entire list where nobody needs to touch the ground. 4 speeders, the scouts in their dedicated transport LSS, and my two flyers. Tac squad in the raven. Should be able to do 1,000 points easy. If I want to branch out into JP units (they only occasionally get muddy) I could probably bump up to 1,500, although the FOC starts to get restrictive at that point.

Of course, that theme is central to my Eldar. Saim-Hann; because getting dirty is for lesser races.

I do enjoy my LR as well. Because while being fast and zippy is entertaining, so is ramming a giant armored box of pain right up the center of the board.

Yeah, if you've already got a flighty alien race, no need for the marines to follow suit. Land raiders are amusing.

Can't say I've ever seen anybody put a Land Speeder together in those stages before. Can't wait to see more of that foot captain

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Can't say I've ever seen anybody put a Land Speeder together in those stages before. Can't wait to see more of that foot captain

Have you only seen the modern speeders put together? There are/were two speeders sold. The original plastic speeder came out with 3rd, in 98. Not sure when the other one came out. The original speeder was still in production up until a few years ago (and still might be, not sure) as part of of the old ravenwing battleforce. Unlike the new speeder, the old one has the top shell all in one part. Top, sides, front; all one piece of (usually slightly bent/warped) plastic. I know I needed to add a cut on one of my old speeders so the warped bit would sit flat. It also only came with a single HB and MM. If you wanted more options you needed to kit bash them, or buy the RW sprue (which I have 3 of from the battleforce). The RW bits gave you option for the AsC and the TML. Also to make the master of the ravenwing’s fancy speeder and a host of other things.

So it makes sense to assemble the speeder in that fashion, at least for the model I have. I try to get things into a few prices I as can before I prime them, just for simplicity. I got this one down to 5. Top, bottom, gunner (w/HB), pilot (mostly), and the pilot’s arm.

I’ll try to get more work done on the good captain. I’m excited about working on him, but have a number of chores I need to take care of first. Plus he’s at the detail level that I need to make sure I’m not over caffeinated when working on him. Shakes are bad, m’kay?

Went up to the FLGS yesterday. Didn’t manage to get a game in, but finally was able to meet up with a guy for a bits swap. He needed a JP and some running legs, but I also gave him some GK bits I didn’t need and the parts for an apothocary (and a few other odds and bobs). In return I got some very needed bits:

Two grav cannons and a pair of MMs, some new bolters for some sternguard, and a handful of cables from the centurion kit that might find their way to a techmarine conversion.

So added to my workbench build list, 4 more heavy weapon marines and 5 sternguard. The SG will be a good spot to use more of the bits from the UM upgrade sprue as well.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Adamski Alders wrote:
Can't say I've ever seen anybody put a Land Speeder together in those stages before. Can't wait to see more of that foot captain

Have you only seen the modern speeders put together? There are/were two speeders sold. The original plastic speeder came out with 3rd, in 98. Not sure when the other one came out. The original speeder was still in production up until a few years ago (and still might be, not sure) as part of of the old ravenwing battleforce. Unlike the new speeder, the old one has the top shell all in one part. Top, sides, front; all one piece of (usually slightly bent/warped) plastic. I know I needed to add a cut on one of my old speeders so the warped bit would sit flat. It also only came with a single HB and MM. If you wanted more options you needed to kit bash them, or buy the RW sprue (which I have 3 of from the battleforce). The RW bits gave you option for the AsC and the TML. Also to make the master of the ravenwing’s fancy speeder and a host of other things.

So it makes sense to assemble the speeder in that fashion, at least for the model I have.

There's a newer Land Speeder? I only know of the 3rd edition plastic version with the all in one top shell, which you are right and it is in the old Ravenwing Battleforce as I noticed it earlier when I was checking mine for parts when I was talking to somebody else about the winged fairings for bikes. Those Ravenwing sprues are awesome for bitz and I did like the options of building Tornados and Typhoons in plastic.

Shakes are definitely bad, I agree. We don't want them ruining your excellent work on your foot captain.

 Adamski Alders wrote:

There's a newer Land Speeder? I only know of the 3rd edition plastic version with the all in one top shell, which you are right and it is in the old Ravenwing Battleforce as I noticed it earlier when I was checking mine for parts when I was talking to somebody else about the winged fairings for bikes. Those Ravenwing sprues are awesome for bitz and I did like the options of building Tornados and Typhoons in plastic.

Shakes are definitely bad, I agree. We don't want them ruining your excellent work on your foot captain.

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/sprues/showgallery.php?cat=993

Their collection has some gaps, but that’s my go-to for sprue pics not on GW’s site. Link is to the new speeder. It’s got more weapon options, and a saner construction. I kinda covet one, but honestly, I’m fine with my LSS, 3x classic 98’s, and a 2nd ed chunk of lead tornado. If I get another speeder, it will probably be a second storm.

All the base colors are down on the captain, and I did a clean up pass on the belt. Next step is to tidy up the gold on the arms, and then washes. Then the blue touchup/wash, and baseing. But first, grocery shopping. I’ll try to get some fresh pics tomorrow.