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He's perfect the way he is GS... looks more primal as is.

Well, I can finally say that I am really and truly done with the first pod, minus decals and markings... but while this is technically a WIP shot, the basic paint job shown here will not be amended further, at least not until after Adepticon.

It really blends in perfectly with the other units now.



And a shot for context so you can see how it fits in with the other units.



Got one of the last troopers built yesterday. Communications specialist to go along with the one Whalemusic360 made... I'll count that as good progress.

Is the last post still in limbo?

Yes, thanks WM... between your post and mine we should be through the rollover.

Haha! I was going to say that I didn't like the red on the vents, but then when you had it next to the Razorback, it tied it together nicely. Certainly not up to the normal Gitsplitta standard, but I think you will be still ahead of the curve in most cases. Can always play with it when you aren't 11th hour painting.

nice work i was unsure of the red outline of the vents too but it does match pretty nicely with the razorback

Really nice Gits, now do it twice more!

whalemusic360 wrote:Haha! I was going to say that I didn't like the red on the vents, but then when you had it next to the Razorback, it tied it together nicely.

+1. It really needed the group shot to make it work. And very important: it loosk like you can come ack to it if you want to, to upgrade from 'nice paintjob! to regular Gitsplitta standards

That's the plan. Still a fair amount of detailing that these will get too. Chapter insignia, imperial insignia and numbering. The weathering/scorch marks will have to wait for later though.

I can see in the photographs the red looks a bit odd, but in RL it just works... You'll have to trust me on this one.

Wow! just that little bit of detailing and weathering makes it look much more natural with your sniper guys.

it looks great now admire and repete i will follow in your footsteps git and paint my orks turns out i have a tournament this may

My friend, that is a thing of beauty. The red finishes it perfectly. You almost make me like drop pods! Almost

Thanks guys. I hope to be able to do the Mantis Warrior badge decals today... then it's just painting up some of FW brass insignia (imperial eagles) and pod numbers. With luck... might have a finished product to show you by today's end. I'm also going to re-take that group shot as the photo there is really lousy. Look for a much better group shot a bit later this morning.

Looking forward to the new post of pics, Keep it coming Gits!

lookin' forward to see the whole army finished...
how many points are you at painted (including that DP)?

While your taking pics, can you grab a new one of the 1st Squad from the GMS for me?

looking great Gits,
cant wait to see the finished product (and the group pic) , and very glad that you've overcome ur problems to get it finished. Hope the other two pods come out as good as this one has. btw really like how the red vents tie it in to your razorbacks, looks awesome.
O and a belated well done on the front page!

I like the red. Even by itself. The details Help break up the large blocks of color. With green and yellow, red is a much better choice than most colors, even white or black and definitly better than Browns or blues.

Glad you got your look down onthe pods...tiime to whip out the other two and move on to more troops.

Had a little battle with Thing 2 tonight... Got a quick bat rep for you!

Mantis Warriors: 1000 pts

HQ: MoTF stock
Elite: 5 sternguard, 4 combi-meltas, 1 melta, srg w/ PF, pod w/ homing beacon
Elite: Iron Clad, HF, pod w/ homing beacon
Troop: 5 marines w/ las/plas razorback
Troop: 5 marines w/ las/plas razorback
Hvy: Rifleman Dread


Hive Fleep Pliodon (998 ish)

HQ: T- Prime, randing, deathspiter, adrenal
EL: Zoanthrope
EL: Zoanthrope
EL: Zoanthrope
Troop: 7 warriors, venom cannon, rending, adrenal
Troop: 9 stealers, randing, adrenal
Hvy: Trygon


At this point I realize that I have once again forgotten to put the "I" in Mantis... I glance askew at the bottle of Glen Morangie that sits empty on the table and suspect that it's not really the alcohol that has made me screw up my spelling for the 3rd time (especially since I formatted the picture hours ago).

We rolled for spearhead deployment & capture & control, 5 objectives. Mantis Warriors go first. I pick my side and deploy both dreads on the table with sternguard & MoTF in pod to come down in reserve. Thing 2 deploys in opposite quarter, Trygon to deep strike, everything else on the table.

Turn 1: First two empty pods scatter max distance to the *exact same spot* (no lie). Since I was still painting them and they were effectively out of the game I just removed them, but you can see where they landed by the two orange arrows in the upper left. Las cannons on razorbacks account for two warriors, Iron clad moves in front of rifleman to provide cover.
Meanwhile, Thing 2 moves to envelop, moving must in a circular pattern around central building while stealers take the fall line across the field.



Turn 2: I roll for reserves and my sternguard pod comes down EXACTLY where the other two were supposed to come down... firing from the squad and MoTF nearly eliminates the stealers... leaving one. (I forget to have it make a morale test). One more warrior is lost to lascannon fire from the lower razorback. Thing 2's Warrior squad dives for cover of building. and his deep striking Trygon mishaps onto the lone gene stealer and dies. I suggested that he auto fail the stealer's morale roll (since we forgot it before) which would have cleared the way for the trygon, but he stubbornly refuses and rolls a 2 on the mishap table. He melts down. Takes me 10 minutes or so to get him talked back into playing but he eventually bucks up and gives me one hell of a game. Two sternguard meet their end through a combination of firing and the gene stealer's last charge. Warrior squad shakes "southern" razorback.



Turn 3: Sternguard press the attack on the left, wounding a zoey with special bolter fire. Iron Clad steps up to confront warriors who are now threatening rifleman dread, deals 3 wounds with his heavy flamer & charges. Stunned razorback backs up out of harms way. In his turn his Prime kills the dread with one mighty swing and the squad moves forward towards the other dread. He charges the autocannon dread but it holds.



Turn 4: The sternguard move in on the zoeys and shoot, but to no avail. Returning fire kills 2 and they fail their morale roll. I decide to make a play for two objectives NOT in warrior charge range and spring my razorbacks left. Battle with rifleman goes on... I do one wound.




Turn 5: Dash for objectives continues and I pop smoke. Sternguard continue to fall back as I have forgotten about "and they shall know no fear). Zoey's shooting is ineffective, assault continues.


Turn 6: Pretty much a stale mate here... but last minute shooting fro pod kills 1 warrior.


Turn 7: Sternguard and MoTF start moving in the right direction again. Killed a second zoay. Thing 2 finally blows an army off my dread.



Game ends: Mantis Warriors 2, Nids 0
Once he got over the shock of losing his Trygon to the mishap... he played a great game. The fact that the warriors took out the Iron Clad in 1 combat and were then totally tarpitted by the rifleman (who by the end had done 2 wounds to each attacking Nid) was just too funny! He had terrible luck with dice near the end, and the poor zoeys were just having the worst shooting luck imaginable (making their psychic tests, then rolling 1's and 2's to hit).


It was also a game of guest objectives...

Gretars... which has already traveled the Atlantic twice & will do so again shortly...


WhaleMusic360's:


And Graven's:

Nicely done! I always like the way that you have blood splats to show death- "he was here" kinda thing. I like the warrior's paintjob.

Yellow on the pods is looking good

Whats the overspray on the top for??

There are flangers in the inner-top of the fins that look to me to be the same as those on the outside of the lower fins, so I'm doing them in yellow as well.

I got the brass FW bits painted and put on last night, but the decal project ran into a snag. I used clear decal film but the yellow comes out translucent that way rather than solid. So I have to go back and buy some solid white decal paper and redo the decals on that so the yellow will cover the green. At least I have my template now so one of the hardest aspects is done. The little brass bits look really good. There are little imperial eagles on the top of each door and one door gets a roman numeral insignia which effectively "names" the pod.

You guys want a pic now or wait until I have the decals on?

Why do you have the pods come down without the dreads? It just seems a waste of points, If you skipped those two pods then you could get a land speeder or something more useful... Or is this some sneaky tactic that would have worked if they hadn't scattered?

It is so gutting when a deep strike mishap destroys a unit like that. Good on your son for deciding not to take the easy route and let you move the genestealer away. He's going to be a great player if he continues in that vein.

Good luck with the pods, I would take photos when you feel you are ready to post them up, better to spend that 20mins painting and modelling than taking photos, because you'll just have to take more photos when you're done anyway!

Having the flexibility to bring the pods down empty is part of the strategy. I essentially don't have to decide what I'm going to do until deployment, which gives me a lot of leeway when it comes to strategy depending on the army I'm facing and the objectives presented.

Sorry to butt in here but I've finally read all 118 pages of the thread. It's really good and I've really enjoyed reading it.
Stupid deep strike mishaps.

I like the idea of the canonness it added a good story line to the chapter.

You're a brave person DTH... hope it was worth your time. Actually I just found out the Trygon can't mishap like that... it's like a drop pod in that respect. Ah well, he's happy with the battle in spite of the mess ups with the rules. Next time we'll get it right!

Yeah, I'm currently scouting for my canoness so I can get her painted up!

nice battle report!

Aww the knife fell off the pumpkin. Anyways, nice BR, and glad to see the Pods getting closer. Also you have them captioned as Mants Warriors. Again.

You need to read the battle report more closely... I mentioned that...

;-)