Macharian Crusade - Colonel Ackland

Colonel Ackland is a Cavalry Officer who fought with Crassus' Fifth Army during the Macharian Cruasde, this conversion is based on the Colonel-Commissar Gaunt model with an WFB Empire Outrider horse, with legs, lower torso, arms and pith helmet sculpted from green stuff.

Rules for Colonel Ackland can be found on page 55 of the Macharian Crusade Campaign Mini-Dex produced by and available for download from the Bell of Lost Souls at; http://belloflostsouls.blogspot.com/

New Years Hobby Resolutions

I've seen a few of these post's popping up on the 40k blogging community and thought what the heck, why not! I could certainly try to make a few promises to myself for what hobby 2009 holds in store - though knowing full well that like most resolutions these will probably last about a month, oh well!

1 - No new armies. I've enough unpainted and assembled plastic, metal and resin to keep me going for quite a while, besides the never ending Praetorians, Orks and Space Marine 40k armies are all awaiting work, and I'm also about to delve into Epic Armageddon with an Imperial Guard force, the promiss is that until one or more of these three is finished I won't start another collection.

2 - Finish what I've started. I've several projects which are languishing uncomplete, the Leviathan, Praetorian Roughrider and Guard conversion kit components, Malcador, Baneblade and Warhound are all noteable examples, I'll try to finish at least a couple of these projects before succumbing to one of the other moutain of idea's which are circling around in my head.

3 - Painting Practice. I'd really like to spend some time improving on the standard of my painting, some things I'm very happy with, others need alot of work, I'd like to aim to turn out a really nice display piece for Games Day this year, just need some inspiration. And practice. And possibly an open enough mind to try harder to follow other peoples advice, I can admit that I am perhaps too stuck in trying to make things work my way before trying what others suggest.

4 - Blog! I'd really like to try an update this blog a bit more, maybe a couple of post's a week rather then the current quiet period followed by a mad rush of a half dozen posts in a short period of time.

5 - Terrain. I've always tended to play games either at the local shop or events. I'd really like to get a small collection of nice terrain together, something modelled nicely to match my armies. It's easy to overlook terrain in favour of adding that nice new unit, but some themed terrain can be really cool, it also opens up a new place to play (or at least a new place to play where your not fighting over little china houses, salt shakers and book shaped hills!).

Thats what I'm gonna try and stick to this year, go on, I challenge you, what will your New Years Hobby Resolutions be?

Orks Drift 2

The Praetorians return victorious from Orks Drift.

Infact despite the fact it was still great fun the whole event was something of an anti-climax, there was a slight problem, obviously the local Ork Warboss is'nt trusted by his fellows (or perhaps the Orks are infact scared of the Praetorian's! ;) ), but we ended up with only the stores Ork army, so the scenario changed somewhat. The Orks objective was instead to destroy a mobile Chapel, built by the Exeter store manager Dan Luke, this piece of kit is essentially the Fortress of Arrogance minus Yarrick and with an Exorcist Launcher added as well as a transport capacity. I'll try an do a detailed post about this vehicle at some point in the future as I rather like it.

The Orks, all of which would recycle continously (including the Skullhamma, but excluding Special Characters who would later return as normal Warbosses), could attack from two ends of the battlefield, with the Praetorians covering one end and the other Guard armies the other. The Praetorians deployed in a nice thick line (yes not the most sensible of deployments, but it's a fun one, especially when the Skullhamma started it's first turn wiping out the equivilient of an entire Platoon!), ready to blunt the Ork attacks, all of which headed up my side of the table for the first few turns!

The Praetorians Infantry lines held against repeated waves of Orks, but each wave got a little closer, stripping a few more Guardsmen away until finally things reached a head with Ghazghkull and 15 Nobz reaching the lines intact while Captain Caine was jumped by Snikrot.

However Caine somehow managed to best his opponent, cutting down the Ork Kommando Boss Snikrot while the Nobz under Ghazghkulls command were first whittled down by firepower before a full squadron of Roughriders slammed home, this first wave dented them, while a second full squadron fell upon them in the following Imperial turn finishing the job, including Ghazghkull. With that turn the Orks changed ends, making an all out assault on the other Guard forces arrayed against them, the bloodied but unbroken Praetorians holding the line on their side of things in case the orks returned.

The Ork assaults made much better headway against the other side (and it is rumoured that in the later stages of the assault an Ork Warboss with a Pith helmet lead the Ork forces), however time ran out in the end just as the Guard lines om the other side began to collapse, the Imperium won this day, but as anyone who's fought the Orks knows, they'll be back, just as greeen and twice as ugly!

The Night Before 986996.M41

It's not olden, it's golden!

Merry Christmas all!

'Twas the night before 986996.M41, and all through the station
All there was clear, there was no abomination.
My helmet was set on the desk to my right,
On the chance that I was to need it that night.
The guardsmen were ensconced, asleep in their beds,
All the tanks too were safe, secure in the sheds.
Marines in the barracks, some manning the wall,
Assured me that the bastion never would fall.
When out in the yard there arose such discord
I grabbed up my bolter and unsheathed my sword.
Away to the window, I ran to take aim
As the marines around me all did the same.
My bionic eye turned the night into day
Allowed me to see, and to seek out my prey.
When what did my loyalist ocular show,
But an ancient conveyance, knee-deep in the snow.
The vehicle was pulled by horned quadrupeds
And a fiery red nimbus glowed from the sled.
The driver was mighty, his eyes full of scorn,
Dressed all in crimson like a servant of Khorne.
I gestured for other to shoot without pause,
For I was now certain this was Santa Claus.
"Fire Marines! Fire Guardsmen! Fire Ogryn and Ratlings!
Fire bolters! Fire lasguns! Fire mortars and gatlings!"
"You in the courtyard and you men on the walls!
Now blast away! Blast away! Blast away all!"
But all through this maelstrom the evil one flew,
Past plasma and bolt shells and frag that we threw!
And then, to my horror, I heard on the roof
The vile cavorting of each decadent hoof.
Screaming my orders, I spun quickly around,
As down the chimney shaft it came with a bound.
I saw its eyes glow, its vast stomach gurgle,
Bloated and fat, like a deamon of Nurgle.
Blinded by anger, I attacked with a scream -
Charged into battle with my brave space marines.
As we thundered towards him, closing the rift,
He reached in his satchel and pulled out a gift.
Then it tossed the vile boxes - I fell in a stoop,
As they arced through the air at me and my troops.
The wrapped missiles fell short, and plopped at our feet,
Our morale was quite strong, we did not retreat.
But the marines paused - our charge was disrupted,
They picked up the gifts and were quickly corrupted.
For each box contained a chaotic present -
The marines (damn their souls), found them quite pleasant.
A bolter, a flamer, a new power fist,
The Claus gave to all, and he checked off a list.
It moved through the station and left in its wake,
The sound of bright laughter and the stench of fruitcake.
The others succumbed, but it failed in its goal,
For to me it gave only a small pile of coal.
The station was lost, I could only instruct
The bastion computer to set self-destruct.
I failed to kill him, for I saw as I fled,
The target escaping, quite safe in his sled.
I heard it cry out as the base burst into light,
"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Captain Caine - Draft Special Rules

With the second battle of Orks Drift little under a week away my thoughts are turning to formalising some sort of characterful special rules for Captain Caine, the commander of the defence. During the first battle he was a Heroic Senior Officer with tools from the armoury - which served him fine until he was jumped by the local Ork Special Characters the so called 'Waaaghhh Team' - he copped it in short order. Now thats not to say he should be some sort of combat monster, that would'nt fit, but perhaps a few additions to mark him out from regular officers for the purposes of the scenaio?

Captain Caine 90pts

WS4 - BS4 - S3(4) - T3 - W3 - I4 - A3 - Ld9 - Sv5+

Wargear: Heirloom Power Sabre, Plasma Pistol, Medallion Crimson

Special Rules:

Independent Character
Leadership Rule (as per IG Codex)

Heirloom Power Sabre - A Master-crafted power sword which hits with S4 (included in profile), that also counts as a trademark item.

Stand Fast - Captain Caine is Stubborn and confers this ability to any unit he joins.

Fix Bayonets! - Captain Caine benefits from Counter-assault and confers this ability to any unit he joins.

Hows that sound? The idea is to have a support character who improves the abilities of the regular guardsmen around him, he relatively nasty in assault for a Guardsmen, but is still fragile - left unsupported he wont last long.

The Christmas Workbench and Orks Drift 2

I'm lucky enough to work in a school, which means I'm also lucky enough to benefit from most of the school holidays, including the Christmas Break, crappy weather means lots of time to spend on the hobby so it's time to lay out a plan of what I want to get done in the next few weeks.

First on the list will be continued work on the Warhound, I'm aiming to have the legs painted by the end of the break and the upper torso assembled, as we've a large 50,000point Apocolypse Game planned for the end of January it would be a great chance to roll out the beasty, even if it suffers from new model syndrome and thus dies spectacularly in turn one before it does, well anything! I had planned on commissioning someone to build me a Mars Pattern Twin Turbo-laser as the model comes supplied with Plasma Blastgun and Vulcan Megabolter and I'd like to up-gun the Vulcan a little, but as is I think I may have a crack at it myself after all.

Colonel Ackland will of course be also on the list along with the Malcador, both of these models are so near completion yet not seeing any love that it's criminal, so expect to see developments on them soon, Ackland taking priority.

Next up I need to revisit my Heavy Weapons, in light of future developments I need to rebase all of them onto 60mm bases, I'm torn bewteen simply remounting them or knocking out some 60mm movement trays of sorts with the Heavy Weapon fixed and slots for the crew's bases, any thoughts on how best to do this would definately be appreciated!

3rd Platoon of D Company needs painting to bulk out my Infantry numbers sufficiently, though that'll probably be more of a long term project, likewise I'm hoping to crack on with my tanks, the three tank Basilisk battery I started assembling a while ago is crying out for finishing, and I'd like to get at least one more Russ finished given I've got all my Conqueror turrets from FW now - that said I'd also like to do some more variant Turrets, the Executioner needs painting (and I'm keeping my eyes open for another Imperator Titan Plasma Cannon (if anyone has such a piece sitting in their bits box I'd love to hear from you!), and I'd like to knock out some Demolisher, Exterminator and Vanquisher alternative turrets.

Phew, thats rather alot actually, not so much of a plan as an epic wish list still nows the best chance I have to crack on, so crack on I will!

In other news the Orks are once more massing for an assault on the Drift, and Captain Caine will once more be leading the Imperial Guards defence surrounded by his trusty Praetorian's. Last time the battle was fought the Imperial Guard edged a narrow victory, but this time there really could be thousands of the green skinned blighters - so I'll tell you one thing, we'll be opening fire long before we see the red's of their eyes!

If your located in the region why not come along and bolster the Guard lines, or if your an Ork player to swot the red boyz down!

Orks Drift 2 will be fought at Games Workshop Exeter on the 27th of December.

FtW Round Table - Which came first, the army or the list?

“Specifically I'm wondering: once I get the whole modelling and painting thing down, should I just grab models willy-nilly (with at least an idea of what an army should contain) and then cobble together a list from what I have, or should I first make up a real army list and then buy models accordingly?

Which came first, the army or the list?”

An interesting question, not least for me because I feel I’ve approached the subject from both directions, with different armies. The first thing I’d say is I don’t think there is a right or wrong way too approach it, to me it depends entirely on what particular side of the hobby (if any specifically) brings you the most enjoyment, you should then take that aspect and build your army accordingly.

For myself my first army is of course the Praetorian’s, I’d say they were something of a labour of love and the collection reflects that. The primary reason that my collection consists of what it does is because both the models appeal to me greatly in terms of looks (so the modelling, converting, painting side of things) and theme. The theme of the army in this case is a combination of the normal stalwart Imperial Guard and as you’d expect from an army like Praetorian’s a strong real world historical aspect (suffice to say when I was younger I loved reading about military history and watching things like Zulu and Sharp – indeed both is still true today).

What I include in the collection therefore are things which obviously fit with the theme of the 19th century historical aspect, Roughrider Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry, and things which I feel can fit with the same historical aspect given the futuristic setting such as Armoured Cavalry and Heavy Tanks borrowing from more recent 20th century history – most specifically how WW1 & WW2 technology might have been used in the 19th century setting. However by those means there are things I wouldn’t include without some good justification, for example the idea of Grav-Chuting Praetorians dropping from the sky is something I’m very very unlikely to ever adopt, likewise my Storm Trooper equivalents, the Life Guards are not going to be seen flying in special forces style from a Valkyrie.

Of course that covers the collection itself, an individual army list will consist of things drawn from that into something effective, but even then I always try to stick to the theme, for example my background has Praetorian Infantry companies at 110 Officers and Men, a number taken from British Infantry companies at the time of the Zulu War, to fit those into a IG Platoon Structure that’s a Command HQ, and three Platoons each of a Command Section and three Infantry Squads, so whenever possible I’ll take a full company, or at least full Platoon Sections from that Company in my lists.

My only ‘complete’ army (well they need some painting still but that aside!) the Sisters of Battle, are a purely list driven force, I play in a lot of tournaments, and this is reflected in them being a tournament army, and were always intended as such. They have a the single fixed list, which I’d like to think I know how to use, knowing what it can do and what it can’t do. I don’t think by any means that it’s an overpowered or cheese-mongering force – that’s not my style – but it is designed and collected to be competitive in the tournament environment. I do like the models, I do like the Sisters of Battle as an army, otherwise I wouldn’t of picked them, but that is not why I collected them in the way I have.

Finally there are my new boys, the Orks, I’m collecting these because I’ve always had a soft spot for Orks, because the new models are really nice, and with Assault on Black Reach I had the option to get hold of a decent core of troops very cheaply – oh and they are of course the arch-enemies of the Praetorians! This army once it’s complete I see as being very much model driven, I’ll get the models I want and have and put them together into an army, that’s going to mean a good chunk of foot slogging boys, some Nobz in a Truk with a Warboss, some Deff Dreadz and Killa Kanz because I love the models, some Storm Boyz and probably a few other fun bits – just because I can! I don’t expect to collect more then a couple of thousand points of Orks, nor do I intend on spending loads and loads of time converting and painting them (though that’s more down to wanting to spend my time working on my first love, the Guard), but it’s a fun army that I’m really looking forward to collecting - I probably really should read the army book at some point!

So, to answer the question, is the thing you get the most enjoyment from the collecting the models themselves, the hobby aspect - the modelling and painting of an army, the background and theme, the actual game itself or perhaps any combination of these? Whichever single factor or combination of factors is most important to you in collecting that specific army – and it may well be that as for me that will change from army to army – should give you your primary direction in what you add to your collection.

If the models are the most important thing – collect the models you want and build a list around them.

If the background and theme gets you going – use that background material and theme and collect your models around it.

Is it the hobby aspect that inspires you – then model, convert, sculpt and paint the models you want and build your list around these.

If it’s gaming that does it for you – then your probably going to want to collect an army based on sensible or even tournament geared army choices, create your list and start collecting towards it.

Those are my thoughts, what are yours?

The Plastic Shadowsword Emerges

Well that finally settles all doubt on the Plastic Shadowsword, this picture appears to be from a german issue of White Dwarf, I came across it on Warseer, however first credit appears to go to "Anung Un Rama" on DakkaDakka.

Excitingly according to a translation of the text below the picture by Darnok on Warseer,

"March will see plenty of new Apocalypse releases""

and,

"the best thing about it: this is only one out of six superheavy variants, that you can build with parts from the box!"

We can only speculate on what those might be, but that must surely include at the very least Shadowsword (Volcano Cannon), Stormsword (Hellhammer Cannon - by IA:Apocolypse) and Stormblade (Plasma Blastgun). There is also the possibility of the Stormlord variant of Super Heavy Assault Transport (Transport Capacity and Vulcan Mega Bolter) as appeared in Apocolyse:Reload, this has been heavily rumoured with a number of CAD images also spotted, it seems likely that this would also be one of the options fromt this kit.

Venatio Accipiter (Part 1)

Ah I can't seem to settle into doing one project at the moment, maybe the Warhound will finally settle me down for a bit, I've spent the past couple of days cleaning and assembling the legs. As you'd expect with FW it's a bit of a job, certainly Titans are'nt for the faint of heart but I think I'm getting the measure of the beast - though I've not tackled all those pistons yet!



As it stands (hmmm) the legs themselves are assembled, but here it's hips are merely pinned in place and not glued (hence the giant floaty hand), I'm torn between painting the legs seperately first or doing the whole lower portion in one hit, will have a think though I'm pretty sure doing them seperately is probably the best plan. The next couple of weeks promiss to be rather busy however so it's quite possible I wont get to do anything much more until my christmas break now - even that could be busy though time will tell.

'Ere We Go Boyz! Itz da Waaagh!

Da boyz is gettin restless like, an those pansie hummies, da red boyz, needz a crumpin so itz time to start da Waaagh!

In other words it's time I got off my backside and did a little to my long wanted Ork army - what better as an opposite number for the Praetorians? They wont be anything particularly fancy, infact I'm planning on using them to experiment with dipping, they are'nt taking a front seat quite yet either, just I wanted to firstly do something towards them and secondly, well, they take up less sprue off the sprue!

Colonel Ackland (Part 5)

Back on the trail, with sculpting complete painting resumes, the arms have had the initial work done, now I'm gonna get his horse done - and it can only be a white charger for Ackland - before finishing work on the Colonel himself.

The plan is to try an get him finished over the course of the comming week, I'll then be away for a weekend with finishing the Malcador next on the cards.

Imperial Guard Rumours - New Rumours and a Summary

I'm not much of a rumour monger, and this certainly is'nt something I'd ever really planned on posting on this blog, but with the well known prospect of a new Codex Imperial Guard it's hard for me to ignore the exiciting rumours of whats comming soon - even more so on having some new rumours which as far as I'm aware have not previously come to light.

So whats new?

Well through a good friend who recently spent a lengthy amount of time with a senior member of the design studio I've gleemed two potential rules which were mentioned and presumeably then have at least been considered for the new codex.

Firstly is some form of 'Special Orders', the jist of this is that Officers allow Guardsmen to carry out some form of check (presumeably leadership), this then grants them a bonus in a specific action, the example I was given being a bonus in shooting. This is I suppose much like how Special Orders work in Battlefleet Gothic, and would I guess blend in quite nicely with the existing Leadership special rule. Perhaps infanct this is what 'Platoon Drill' is as has previously been rumoured.

Secondly, the Studio are apparently very much aware of the issue that Guard can have with Annilation Missions given that at present a full Guard Platoon might give away as many as 7 Kill Points for comparable points too perhaps 3 Kill Points in many other armies. One proposed solution under consideration is a literal reversal of the Space Marines Combat Squads rule, except under the Guard version a Platoon normally of seperate units may at the start of the game elect to form one BIG unit. I'm not entirely sure how useful a solution this really is at the moment, certainly at first glance it sounds great, but such a move would tie all those squads together with no option to split their firepower not to mention the potential for the whole unit to be locked in one combat.

Anyway, thats the new bits, while I'm at it in this post I'll just summarise briefly some of the other rumours which have emerged - a liberal dose salt is advised (with the above as well).

Codex Imperial Guard:
-Released ~April 2009
-Docturines Gone
-"Much Love" for all three Branches of the Imperial Guard, Infantry, Armour and Artillery
-Additional Special Characters added to unlock special rules etc
-Leman Russ Squadrons/Platoons
-Rules allowing Russes to move and fire all weapons
-30pt Price Drop on Chimera inc. basic weapons fit (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/pdf/ia2-update.pdf)
-New Special Rules for Chimera, Armoured Firebase & Mobile Command Unit (http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/pdf/ia2-update.pdf)
-In the region of 30 Variants of Vehicles - presumeably this relates to weapons fits
-Infantry Platoon of 45 Guardsmen in the region of 200pts
-Possible attachment to Infantry Platoons of other units such as Tanks
-Platoon Drill allowing squads of a single Platoon too negate the 4+ cover save cofferred by shooting through friendly units from their own platoon.

Model Releases:
-Recut and updated all plastic: Leman Russ (inc. variants such as Demolisher on sprue), Chimera, Helhound (possibly in one kit)
-Plastic Command Squad
-Plastic Storm Troopers
-Plastic Valkyerie

UK 40k Grand Tournament Heat 2 2008

Well it's been and gone for another year, I'll try and sum up my experiences, hell I even actually managed a few pictures this year(!) during some of my games, but as always with these things I make apologiese in advance because I have a terrible head for names!

For this years event I went up as part of the Exeter Inquisition Team, my local GCN Club based at the Exeter GW Store, meeting 6-10pm every Tuesday (shameless plug), 6 of us made the journey including Jonathan & Tim (Tritessa) both with Daemons, James (lomo) with Tau, Marcus with Imperial Guard, Richard (darkangeldentist) with Dark Angels (he who eventually finished in 2nd place!) and of course myself with my Sisters.

First off my list then,

HQ

Canoness inc. Eviscerator, Bolt Pistol, Cloak of St.Aspira, Book of St.Lucius, Jump Pack @116pts

Elites

Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius, 9 Celestians, Heavy Flamer, Flamer @173pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts

Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Power Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Book of St. Lucius, 9 Celestians, Heavy Flamer, Flamer @173pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts

Troops

Battle Sister Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolter, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Heavy Flamer, Meltagun @151pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts

Battle Sister Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolter, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Heavy Flamer, Meltagun @151pts
Rhino inc. Extra Armour, Smoke Launcher @58pts

Fast Attack

Seraphim Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Bolt Pistol, Eviscerator, Book of St.Lucius, 7 Seraphim, 2 Twin Hand Flamers @230pts

Heavy Support

Exorcist @135pts

Exorcist @135pts

So Mechanised Sisters, hard to shift with their Books of St.Lucius and pretty mobile, with some decent anti-tank, lots of anti-personel and a quite competent combat unit in the form of the Canoness and the Seraphim if needed as such. I'd post a whole army shot, but I'm afraid one does'nt currently exist - besides the fact the army is'nt really finished (I was still painting on the morning of the second day!) some parts took a bit of a tumble on the second day and now need some repairs, they will get done, eventually.

The big and often commented upon weakness of the list is the lack of scoring units given I've favoured a pair of Celestian units over more Battle Sisters, my reasoning for this is fairly simple, the Celetians as a faithful unit are ideal to spearhead my force, as a faithful unit they can take casualties which given my usual form would snipe off the unit Veteran with regular battle sisters, further I've found that their rule of always hitting on 3's against most enemies in close combat has a habbit of really comming in handy and swinging combats, they may well only be S3 but as any Guard player will tell you everything counts if theres enough of it! As a mechanised list the Rhino's also give up some easy kill points which has proven a pain at times, with 12 for the army as a whole.

The GT consists of six games played over two days, with roughly 150 gamers taing part and all games after the first being played against the next nearest ranked player (so 1st & 2nd play, 3rd & 4th play etc.)

Game 1 - Annilation, Dawn of War
Played against a balanced Chaos Space Marine list including a Lash Prince, two units of Obliterators, a unit of Plague Marines in a Rhino, a unit of Marines in a Rhino, a unit of Noise Marines, and a Defiller.

The first game saw my full force arrive on turn one, jumping on the isolated Daemon Prince and cutting him down in one go with massed bolters. The majority of my Infantry and the Seraphim then set upon his mounted Infantry and their Transports proving easily upto the job with minor losses, the Exorcists picking on his vehicles with great success. A unit of Celestians however were overwealmed by the Noise Marines on one flank, a unit which proved a real thorn in my side right through to the end. However it was too little too late, he was left with a Rhino backed into one corner, the Noise Marines and one unit of Obliterator's, leaving me with a win for 6VP's to 3.




Game 2 - Capture and Control, Pitched Battle
Played against a Marine army with Kantor, a unit of Sternguard in a Drop Pod, a unit of Terminators, two units of Tactical Marines, a Landraider and a Vindicator.

I deployed with all but one unit of Sisters, with the Canoness, Seraphim, a unit if Sisters and Celestians heading for his objective which was guarded by Kantor in the Landraider with the Terminators, the Vindicator and one Tactical Squad in Combat Squads, with two other Combat Squads on the other flank. Things initially went pretty well with the Celestians dealing with a Tactical Squad, the Seraphim and Canoness the Landraider, second Combat Squad and Vindicator. The Stern Guard arrived, split into Combat Squads but failed to shift the Celestians who proceaded to take out one Combat Squad before being destroyed themselves. The Exorcists meanwhile dealt with one of the other Combat Squads. The unit of Battle Sisters in reserve arrived finishing off the Sternguard, while combat continued with the Canoness and remaining Seraphim facing down the Terminators - I came off worst here but with no scoring units left to either of us there it did'nt really matter. The three remaining Tactical marines of his last Combat Squad on the other flank arrived to combat the Battle Sisters, forced and morale check and laughed as they ran off - I was'nt quite so amused, as it left him with one objective to none and then the game ended. I think my most disappointing result, as I really thought I had it in the bag until the last few rolls of the dice, that said though I really take my hat off to my opponent, I had in my mind him on the ropes and he pulled through by not giving up on the mission objectives, just how it should be played, an excellent game.




Game 3 - Annilation, Pitched Battle
Played against a Marine army including Khan, a Chaplain, 3 units of Space Marine Bikers, an Attack Bike, a unit of Terminators, a Whirlwind, Vindicator and Landspeeder.

My biggest regret of the weekend was not getting a picture of this game as his army arrived, everything outflanked, with everything bar the Landspeeder arriving on turn 2 and everything but the Vindicator on one flank, all those bikers arriving together was a damn impressive and quite terrifying sight - I certainly did'nt believe I had too much of a chance hacing played against Ravenwing a great deal. I'd circled my forces in the center of my deployment zone ready to react to whichever side he arrived on, as they turned up one squad of the Celestians acted as a speed bump to give me a chance to muster for my main resistance while the Canoness and Seraphim went after and dispatched the Terminator's. The Celestians were butchered by the Chaplains unit while the Canones and Seraphim were set upon by the Khan and his unit initiating a combat which would go on for almost the duration of the game. The remaining Celestians annilated the smallest Biker Squadron before moving to aid the Seraphim, while the Exorcists and Battle Sisters set about the Chaplains unit, initially with little success another unit of Battle Sisters paying the price. However the following turn saw things go more my way, the Chaplain and last biker being destroyed by Exorcist fire while the last of the Khans Bikers were cut down - in exchange for the last of my Celestians - leaving it a single combat between Khan and Canoness. The next turn saw the Khan cut down, the Vindicator destroyed by the Exorcist and Landspeeder shaken by the combined fire of my Rhino's, which skipped off out of site under covering fire from the Whirlwind which had spent the game mostly shaking my Rhino's due to the proximety of his bikes to my infantry. The result was an unexpected win to me.

Game 4 - Capture and Control,
Played against a Marine army with Shrike, a Terminator Squad in a Landraider, three Tactical Squads in Drop Pods and an Assault Squad.

This was quite an interesting one, I was given first turn and as his army started in reserve. I deployed with all but a squad of Sisters on one flank, intending to push forward with everything on his objective while the Exorcists and the Ssister in reserve held my own, the Canoness and Seraphim acting as flank guard against Shrike and his Assault Squad if they arrived in the right place. The first part of the plan went well, I dealt fairly effectively with the first two tactical squads, and the Canoness with the help of some Faith split Shrike in half when he arrived on flank. However at that point things started to go wrong, my squads being whittled down and the Canoness taking a Powerfist to the face - the couple of Assault Marines left then proceading to chase off a full Celestian unit which were readying to take on the Terminators with Divine Guidance. However I still had two Battle Sister units, though both had taken casualties, in mobile Rhino's, one made it too his objective facing off against a Landraider, the other was caught and surrounded by assault marines and terminators before they could get to my objective. The result was a draw as he had nothing to take my objective with by the time the game ended and the Landraider proved resistant to a Meltagun shot at close range and my remaining Exorcist.

Game 5 - Seize Ground, Spearhead
Played against a Blood Angels force including Dante, 2 Venerable Dreadnoughts, 2 Vindicators, a pair of Tactical Squads (5 man) and a number of small Assault Squads I think 4 but I can't quite remember and a small Death Company.

This mission is not one that favours my army, luckily only three objectives were rolled up which gave me a fighting chance, we both went for a full deployment and squared off on opposite sides of some fairly restrictive terrain. The first couple of turns were spent largely manouvering to get into a good position, my plan was too pick off the small marine squads and Vindicators with the exorcists while the Canoness and Seraphim went for the Dreadnoughts, the first bit started to work, the second bit did'nt and Canoness taking a Powerfist to the face and the Seraphim failing to damage their opponent, there on in things really did'nt go my way, one Vindicator went down, as did the Tactical Marines, the Death Company and a couple of the Assault Squads, but my own casualties rose rapidly. I think that was largely down to solid play from my opponent and my own initially flawed plan, I should of Exorcised the Dreads instead. Anyway, I somehow managed to keep one Battle Sister Squad alive long enough to take one objective, a Rhino backed up by a Exorcist which had lost it's armament contesting another, I actually almost dared hope I could still pull off a win but my opponent was able to pull some contesting Battle Sisters off the remaining objective with a well planned assault move, in the end I scraped a draw which I'm not entirely convinced I deserved, defaintely from my point of view the hardest fought game of the weekend though.

Game 6 - Annilation, Pitched Battle
Played against Chaos Marines with a Sorceror, Chaos Lord, two Marine Squads in Rhino's, two units of Obliterator's, a Vindicator and a small Chosen unit.

Probably my favourite game of the weekend, we were both quite relaxed about the idea of qualifying at this point, though a win for either of us meant qualification. I stole the iniative which lead to an Infantry clash in the center, my sisters quickly annilating the majority of the marines with the aid of Divine Guidance, the Lord and Sorceror both succumbing to weight of numbers - and a Canoness who must surely have been suffering from Blood Rage! However just as things looked to be going my way Rhino's started exploding in style three in quick succession, each taking a handful of tightly packed sisters with them, a very effective game leveler. The Lord and a unit Champion proved stubborn enough too hold me up and bring the game into his favour, before two long I was down to a Rhino, some Celestians, the Canoness with one Seraphim an Exorcist and a couple of lone Battle Sisters trying not to get killed, while he had some Obliterator's, two Rhinos, and Vindicator the Celesitans became pinned when their Rhino was destroyed, while the Exorcist took out a unit of Obliterator's, realising I was just behind on KP's the Canoness elected to stand in the face of a Rhino Tank Shock... and got squished at which point the game ended, a total blood bath but a win to him 8KP's to 6 with a grand total of about 10 models left on the board between us.



So another year, finishing with 82points, 20points short of qualification given I'd chalked up a descent amount of Victory Points. Maybe a little disappointed to have come so close yet again, but as always seems to be the case my most enjoyable GT to date, the people were as ever great fun, courtious, the very model of how a hobbiest's should be, there were some excellent armies, with some inspiring conversions and superb paint jobs. Many people are put off by the percieved view that the GT's are the exclusive realm of WAAC Cheese Mongering Power Gamers, it's simply not the case - give it a go!

The Rumours of my Demise are Greatly Exaggerated

Two months... two months?!? Where has the time gone? Well let's just say she's gone back too uni at this point so I've a couple of weeks free to indulge in hobby again before my next absense, oh and I've realised it's now less then two weeks to my GT Heat *gulp* and that I still have a dozen odd Sisters and five tanks to paint, hmmm time to crack on and fast (very fast given I'd originally planed to allow myself a week per squad/vehicle)!

Updates will follow as soon as the paint has settled as will replies to the fairly large number of comments I see have built up (I apologiese to those who've been asking question, will get to those ASAP).

Helblade Turret (Part 1)

As the first extra for the Mag Baneblade I'm building a turret with a Titan Class Inferno Gun for it, which I'm dubbing the Helblade.

I'm simply using a spare turret with some plasti-card, with the intention of adding some extra fuel tanks to the rear of the turret where the stowage would normally be.

The gun itself is made from two sizes of tubing and one H section.



The three main barrel sections were then connected by the H sections.



The completed section was mounted on a piece of plasti-card to connect to the turret (dry fitted here), the larger tubing pieces were slipped over the end of the barrels (again a dry fitting here) and the nozels of some Baeneblade Heavy Flamers fitted inside the inner barrels.




Now comes the dilema, do I leave the 'sleeves' as they are now, hole then, or connect them to one single sleeve as in the Forge World version (below) - which again could be holed.

What do you think?

Mag Baneblade (Part 2)

When I first set about building the Leviathan I really fell in love with the Baneblade kit, and I finally came round to getting one to build as a Baneblade. The thing is I don't see the Praetorian's as being big users of the Baneblade, instead trusting in Lighter Armoured Cavalry and older Heavy Tanks such as the Malcador, so I don't want to go to town on having several models. So I decided on using magnets to get flexibility to have the option to use several Baneblade Chasis varients without much investment - I'll probably do a second chasis in this fashion and will revamp my existing FW Mars Pattern Baneblade for a company of three such vehicles.



The first and most obvious thing to do was too allow the main weapon to be switched between Baneblade Cannon and Helblade Cannon, a very easy swap with a disc magnet inside the Manlet, and another inside the turret mounting for the manlet.



Of course this presents a problem of Sponsons, these I fitted with much smaller disc magnets inside the track assembly and within the sponson itself (though I've not got a complete set of Sponsons as an alternative/additional set yet), the armour plates were likewise fitted giving me flexibility to have no sponsons (for the extra armour), one pair of sponsons or two pairs of sponsons in either the fore or aft positions.

I did'nt want too stop there either though.



As I've got a spare upper hull section from the Leviathan I've made this swapable with an additional pair of large magnets, one fore, one aft mounted on cross beams (which also provide additional structural strength when the plate is not in place), I'll modify this hull section into a Shadowsword style hull (i.e. no hull weapons or turret, instead a mount for a single main fixed gun) which will also have swapable weapons allowing me to field a Shadowsword, Stormblade or Stormsword potentially. The rear engine block I've also left swapable with a single magnet on the aft cross beam, I did this when news of the Stormlord from Apocolyopse Reloaded first came about, which indicated a Chimera style layout for the Baneblade Chasis Transport variant - though this has since proven not to be quite accurate I've left it as an option with a view to attempting some sort of alternative layout on this idea in the future.

And with that it's job done for the time being, I'm gonna be tinkering with a spare turret on and off for an Imperial counterpart to the Chaos Plague Reaper (i.e. a turreted Inferno Cannon as mounted on Imperial Titans), I'll come back to painting in due course - other things are on top of the pile.

Sisters of Battle (Part 5)

I have not been idle, nope, another couple of Sisters Squads are just about done for now. The second Squad of Celestians with a Heavy Flamer and Flamer Combo and the Sepharim are now done bar their respective squad leaders, I'm gonna go back to work on the Malcador and Baneblade next, before getting the final squad of sisters painted up and then the Rhino's.

British Colonial Infantry - Ideal Plastic Praetorians?

I noticed this courtasy of Chicago Terrain Factory, and felt I had to post it because for those of you after Praetorians but not wanting to pay the high prices these may well be ideal - as long as you dont mind the lack of GW legality.

Anyway to cut to the chase take a look at the Wargames Factory HERE, looks really promissing, I think I'll order a box ($15 for 20) and see what their like me thinks!

First 5th Ed Sisters of Battle Experiences

I've now played five games using my Sisters in 5th Edition (Apocolypse aside as thats a whole different kettle of fish!), to start with probably a good idea to share the list I'm using.

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HQ

Canoness inc. Eviscerator, Jump Pack, Cloak of Saint Aspira, Book of St.Lucius, Bolt Pistol

ELITES

Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior, Book of St.Lucius, Power Weapon, 9 Battle Sisters, Flamer, Heavy Flamer
Rhino inc. Smoke Launchers, Extra Armour

Celestian Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior, Book of St.Lucius, Power Weapon, 9 Battle Sisters, Flamer, Heavy Flamer
Rhino inc. Smoke Launchers, Extra Armour

TROOPS

Battle Sisters Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Meltagun, Heavy Flamer
Rhino inc. Smoke Launchers, Extra Armour

Battle Sisters Squad inc. Veteran Sister Superior, Book of St.Lucius, 9 Battle Sisters, Meltagun, Heavy Flamer
Rhino inc. Smoke Launchers, Extra Armour

FAST ATTACK

Seraphim inc. Veteran Sister Superior with Eviscerator, Book of St.Lucius, 7 Sepahim, 2 Duel Hand Flamers

HEAVY SUPPORT

Exorcist

Exorcist

1500pts

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The first game I played was against a mixed Chaos list, with the Mission of Capture & Control in a Pitched Battle. My opponent abandoned his own objective in favour of stripping me of mine, which my entire army was deployed around leaving severak key units of his own army slogging it across the board to reach me, I pushed forward with only one unit of each of Battle Sisters and Celesitans, supported by the Seraphim and fire from the remainder of the army, these units formed a speed bump which both dispatched a fair number of his troops (a Defiler, Landraider, unit of Thousand Sons, Sorceror and most of a unit of Bezerkers) and held the rest up, in the end only Abaddon, supported by a second unit of Thousand Sons made it through to my second line and these were fairly promptly dealt with before they could cause much damage. The end result leaving me with one objective him with none, luck seemed about average here, and I did'nt feel I needed to push for two objectives when he abandoned his (questionably in my mind).

The next game was against Daemons, this was another Capture & Control this time using Dawn of War. I initially brought only a few units on in my first turn with nothing actually starting on the board (being given first turn against daemons leaves very little to do all in all), for my second turn I was facing a large unit of 20 Daemonettes just over a hill, the Masque (who I was able to deploy right in front of a unit of Sisters thanks to a misroll on the deep strike), and some Bloodletters and Fleshounds beyond some woods on an objective, lacking other targets the Masque was quickly despatched with the rest of my army showing up. Next turn it got dicey with a Soulgrinder, a second unit of 20 Daemonettes, and a third of 10. The Soulgrinder made its presense felt as one of my units ran off the table after taking casualties to it's shooting. I was then able to counter taking out the newly arrived Daemonettes almostly entirely with the remaining two squads in my center before engaging them in combat with the Sepharim to deny them the charge (the third squad was moving up one flank to the far objective), the Exorcists effectively meanwhile neutered the Soulgrinder knocking off its main gun and immobilising it. This gave me a breathing space, however in the following turns I lost one of my vital regular Sister Squads to the remaining big unit of Daemonettes, while the Sepharim dealt with the remains of the other only to be jumped by the Fleshhounds, failing another unmodified leadership test after losing the combat by one they were cut down, the situation deteriorated and I was left with just my vehicles in that area trying to knock out the remanents of his Daemonettes to deny him the objective, I just could'nt clear them in time though. Things did look better on the other objective at first, the Sister Squad destroying the Bloodletters easily enough and grabbing the objective, however the pesky Fleshounds were quickly on top of them, and I found myself rolling horribly in combat even with the benefit of faith and then failing more unmodified leadership tests, not once, but twice before being cut down. Initially my gut reaction was too few troops, but on reflection it came down to me repeatedly failing vital leadership roles, while certainly you can't count on always passing them, I failed all but a couple during the course of the game which is far below what you'd expect for leadership 9, passing a even a few of those I feel would have at least given me a fighting chance to force a draw.

Next up were Tyranids with yet another Capture & Control this time with another Pitched Battle. I started with only the Exorcists on the table with the intention of targetting the big beasties systematicly before my squads (hopefully) arrived and could be deployed where they could deal out their short ranged firepower. This they achieved on turn one dispatching the Flying Hive Tyrant which pushed up one flank, however I misjudged the distance and lost one vehicle too Ravernor's on turn two, the remaining vehicle risked the charge of a Carnifex instead taking out a Zoanthrope and so forcing a big unit of hormgaunts to lurk while a Squad of Sisters cut down the Ravernor's and another unit pushed forward on the now empty right flank to the Tyranid held objective. The Exocist survived the Carnifex's assault though it lost its weaponry, and the Sepharim responded killing it off while a Celestian Squad tackled a unit of Genestealers before recieving a charge from the Hormagaunts, they held and were reinforced by the Sepharim and eventually a Sister Squad against the Hormagaunts who were reinforced in turn by a small unit of Warriors, the remaining Celestian Squad arriving and finishing off the Genestealers who failed to make assault after some dismal difficut terrain and fleet rolls - a Broodlord turned up on the empty flank meanwhile leaving it with nothing to do. However I was unable to progress the normal Sister Squad to my objective in time, and the other squad failed to clear out a big brood of spinegaunts who went to ground from the Tyranids objective losing me the game despite almost entirely wiping out the rest of the army. Again gut reaction was my lack of scoring units, however while it's true having more would have been useful here simply using the two I had could have solved me the problem - the normal sisters squad should have gone on nearer the objective, swapping entry locations with the second unit of Celestians, possibly also the Battle Sisters which went after their objective should have been a unit of Celestians instead giving me a second unit to potentially hold mine instead focusing on denying the tyranids their own. Definately my tactics and choices of unit use was a major issue.

The forth game was a rematch against the Daemons, Capture & Control yet again, this time Spearhead. The game started dismally with the Soulgrinder repeating its earlier performance and chasing off one of the vital Sisters of Battle Squads in turn one (partly my own fault as I should'nt have placed them so near the board edge when it was'nt needed). However there in things went much better, the big daemonette units arrived one on turn one, one one turn two and were cut down by massed bolters and flamers from a firebase of sisters around my objective, I used the Rhinos to delay the Fleshhounds and ultimately the Bloodletters with Skulltaker. The Sepharim meanwhile paid the price of my failiure to dent the Soulgrinder and the Canoness then failed her Spirit of the Martyr test on entering combat with it, which was messy. However, the remaining Sister unit hunkered down on my objective while one Celestian unit went to delay the Bloodletters and Fleshhounders, the former they took out bar Skulltaker though he was held up enough to have no further part in the game (bar eventually succumbing to bolter fire) and the later cutting down when the weakend unit charged them. The second Celestian unit aboard a Rhino powered towards the Daemon Objective which was guarded by 10 Daemonettes, braving an assault by the Soulgrinder, it however failed to hit the fast moving Rhino and did'nt get a second chance thanks to the Exorcists finally finding their mark and wrecking it. The Celestians made it too the objective killing the majority of the Daemonettes, the game went on to turn six leaving the daemonettes no choice but to charge them or take another round of shooting which in either case left him without control of the objective. Aggressive use of Celestians to clear objectives while holding my own seems to be a viable style for these games, though normal Sisters of course offer the actual chance to not only contest but to take would in some ways be preferable the Celestians thanks to being a Faithful unit as a whole and with the 3+ to hit in combat are definately a nasty unit, this in mind for these types of missions, and given I'm yet to try Seize Ground may leave me switching one unit to normal Sisters, possibly investing the spare points in a Canoness or Palladin to lead the remaining Celestian unit.

The fifth game was against Imperial Guard, all Infantry with Carapace in a Dawn of War Anniliation mission. This is really not a fun combination for Guard, though that said it's not ideal for Mech Sisters either with their lightly armoured rhino's providing easy targets. I started with a Sister unit and the Canoness who pushed forward to engage a Guard Squad, while Sepharim Deep Struck on another, both mauled but did'nt quite destroy their targets, the Canoness was left exposed and survived thw attention of a Squad of Hardened Veterans by the skin of her teeth after failing her Spirit of the Martyr roll and being subjected to 3 Plasma Guns, though she did have cover, the rest of the army rolled on. The Sepharim eventually succumbed to shere weight of numbers, as did the Battle Sister Squad when it took a charge from a fully tooled Combat Command HQ, however the reinforcing squads slowly chewed up the Guard units though taking heavy casulaties in the process. The Canoness after cutting down the Hardened Veterans was jumped by a Command Squad with 4 Meltaguns (and again failed her Spirit roll - 3 attempts in two games, 3 fails, bad day to be a Canoness), she did'nt have cover this time. The Exorcists meanwhile which had been picking on Heavy Weapons Squads were jumped by a unit of Deep Striking Storm Troopers, favouring finishing off the Heavy Weapons Squads which posed a threat to my Infantry I sacrificed them to keep shooting at these targets instead. In the end I took 13 Kill Points and lost 5 (2 units of Battle Sisters, 1 Exocist, the Sepharim and Canoness). I do think I used my units fairly well here, the Sepharim proved enough of a distraction to tie up several squads as did the forward deployed Sister unit though the Canonesses early death was unfortunate, however all three gave me the chance to get the rest of my army into position across a very open table with no more then a failed difficult terrain test for one Rhino to slow them down. I could perhaps have gone for a more focused assault grouping my units together for mutual support in this mission (rather then being spread across his battleline), however while this may have reduced my casulaties it would also have probably reduced the number down I caused.

Anyway thats about it, all in all I dont think the Mech Sisters have benefitted much from the 5th Ed changes, while their transports are more resiliant to damage as are all vehicles they are also more vulnable given area terrain often no longer blocks LoS outright, and mobility is generally something the army relies on - though that said if their transports are stopped run means they can potentially still keep up at least. Also of course the wound allocation means that as with everyone else Specialists are more vulnable, this is espeically tricky in the case of normal Sisters of Battle losing their Faithful Veteran Sister Superior given Faith really can be a game winner sometimes it does make Celestians being a Faithful unit all the more appealing. But then there is the scoring unit issue, two scoring units, even when wearing power armour and mechanised are difficult to work with, I think I'm going to need a third.

Christ, thats alot of text! Opps!

Sisters of Battle (Part 4)

Nothing exciting! Another Sisters Squad is complete, again bar the Veteran Sister Superior and with a third Squad on the way now, with tickets bought for UK GT Heat 2 in early November it's time to really knuckle down and too get some games in - and they'll start tommorrow with club night at the Exeter Inquisition GCN club (6pm-10pm at GW Exeter).

Sisters of Battle (Part 3)

At last some significant progress on the Sisters with all the regular sisters of one squad of celestians for the army with the slightly changed paint scheme (black replacing the earlier red), as well as being a little quicker to paint I think it also suits the Sisters to have less flashy colours - after all they are nuns with guns! Despite the appearence the unit is not finished, to make sure I can get the whole lot ready I'm skipping highlighting the black and grey, this will follow in due course once everything is otherwise finished on the army.

In the Footsteps of Macharius

The guys at the Bell of Lost Souls, have just released this years long awaited campaign pack, "The Macharian Crusade" (featuring a certain Imperial Guard Regiment amongst many others ;) ).

I have to say they've really excelled themselves even beyond last years excellent Heresy themed pack, even if campaigns and the like are'nt your thing, if your gonna download one thing today this should be it! Awesome stuff!

Read all about it HERE.

Imperial Commissariat

WIP - Mag Baneblade and the ongoing Resin Addiction

The chasis of the Baneblade I'm building is now complete, it's looks rough, and to be honest it is, but it's also functional with the key bits magnetised to allow me to swap them around. Though for now I'll only have the Baneblade option thinking ahead with my spares I'll be able to field it with no, one pair or two pairs of sponsons and with an alternative hull top which will allow me to potentially put together a Stormblade, Shadowsword or Stormsword initially. I see no reason I might not be able to do a Stormhammer or Stormlord option in the future as well, the later was initially rumoured to be Chimera like hence magnetising the rear engine block though looking at the pictures which are now about it would appear that there is not a rear hatch as this suggested.

Small magnets are locaeted inside the track assembly and on the components to allow the fore and aft plates to be fitted with plates or sponsons as desired.




Larger magnets are used to hold the upper hull in place are mounted on struts and on the underside of the upper hull, the same for the rear engine block, it all fits together pretty snuggly though.




As too that resin addiction, I managed to pick up a Battery of Forgeworld Heavy Mortars from the Krieg range on ebay at a nice discount and they've just arrived, I've only dry assembled em so far, not even cleaned em up but I've got to say I love these models, really simple but look great, I'll get these done pretty sharpish I think! Now just need to keep my eyes open for some Thudd Guns!

Colonel Ackland (Part 4)

I'm still working away on Colonel Ackland, the left arm is complete, and the right arm is now just awaiting a hand, once thats done it's a quick job on the lance and straight to the top of the painting list, really looking forward to finishing him now despite missing out on my earlier deadline by a long shot.

Quick & Easy Minefields

Apocolypse includes the excellent Strategem 'Minefields', ideal when your facing an opponent who has to get to grips with you in assault, or an objective in your area. For a recent game against Tyranids where Imperial Forces would be defending against an endless tide of Tyranids (all the 'Troop' Tyranids would respawn in the turn immeadiately after they were destroyed) I decided it was a must have.

Without much time, but not wanting to resort to simple card markers or the like I needed an easy and quick way to model a minefield, this required something that could be used as a mine, was cheap (or free!) and plentiful. After a quick rumage in the bits box one thing jumped out at me, the small Imperial Guard Tank Wheels that anyone who's bought a few tanks will almost certainly have plenty of spares of. Too get the mine from these I simply cut the wheel down a couple of mm's in from the outside rim's edge.



These were then spread out fairly evenly and glued down to one of three 6"x12" sections of plasticard which would act as the base, though anything sturdy would suffice, this is just what I had to hand. You could use any of the different combinations of sizes given the the minefield area in the rulebook, but I think the three 6"x12" gives the most flexibility.



This surface was then scored using a scapel (so the material had something to grip too) and a mix of sand and ready mix plaster was added for a textured surface. You could use just sand, flock, or really go to town on the bases with added debris, craters from mines which have gone off, warning signs, barbed wire etc for a really effective look, it really depends entirely on your inclanation, time and what materials you have. I will get round to painting them eventually and will update with pictures when I have.

All sorts of things.

Yep, here I am again, I did'nt get Colonel Ackland finished for my deadline but such is life, I'd rather do a job I'm happy with then rush it, as is his arms are sculpted so I'll get a post with an update on him soon - I had taken some pics but they came out blury.

Other projects on the go at the moment include the Sister of Battle, which are giving me a headache as I just cant settle on a quick but effective colour scheme. I'm running into my old enemy of not being able to settle down to painting anything thats not quite Guard! I've tried a blue and a green scheme now - may end up just going black after all.

The Levaithan has seen some loving with front plates added, the aquilla and some pseudo barrel rifling inspired by a much better example on Ultrawerke, next up, well I want to get the front rivets done.



I've started painting a Commissar (just because!), and I must admit the new models are still growing on me - though the Nintendo Power Glove is still a little off putting!



Work continues on the Praetorian Resin bits - more on this again soon.

I've begun work on a Baneblade, I'm quite excited by this one, I've wanted to do one of the new Baneblades as a Baneblade for a little while and now I am I want to make a meal of it. The plan is to magnetise both the fore an aft sponson/plate sections to allow swapable sponsons or no sponsons and perhaps more ambitiously the upper hull so that in the future I can convert/scratch build some new upper hull sections to allow the hulls use as potentially any of the Super Heavies based on the Baneblade chasis - I'll do a tutorial on this later on.

Finally for now, a new addition for the Tutorials ready to roll, a simple Apocolypse Minefield. I decided early on I wanted one for a recent Apoc game so I came up with this as an easy way to make one as opposed to using mere counters or paper markers.

Colonel Ackland (Part 3)

Progress continues, 16 days left to finish him if he's gonna make it as an entry for the UK Painting Competition, a few mistakes and bad choices have left the paint a little thick in places, and the more I go on with him the more I realise how far I've got to go, but at the same time looking back at my very first models (maybe I'll post em one day lol) its also so satisfying to realise how far I've come. Please forgive the pics, light is fading here so they're not ideal, the closer up shots give quite a nice idea while the longer away ones show the rough pose of the arms are now going to take.

Sculpts (Part 7)

TrooperPX has does up some test casts of the first batch of components, with that I'm satisfied I'm ready to continue on the project. My plan at the moment is to await being able to get hold of some of these early ones and then to assemble a couple personally, and probably paint. I'll then complete the sculpting, I may try an adjust the width of the torso's a little as they seem quite wide at the moment, will see how they look once I've got assembled models in my hands!