What I worked on prior to turkey

Here is what I got painted prior to Thanksgiving. I didn't paint much this past week due to the holiday and my son being here.
I did manage to get most of my army's arms done.
A few shoulder pads need finishing and I'll get going on the backpacks for these guys.
The army is reaching completion, however with X-mas next month, my painting will probably be forced to slow down again.





Here are the bike rider arms, now to finish that last pair of bikes!

Just a few extra guys, two bikes, few backpacks (all of them) and a predator (just e-bayed) and I'm done painting!

Talos...swing and miss

The Talos was a unit I thought was really cool in concept, but never finished the models. Why? It didn’t work well with the old codex. Now we have a new codex and the new Talos, which doesn’t look to work any better. Why? Well, let us explore the heavy support options.

First the Talos has a descent profile; WS5 BS3 S & T 7 W3 SV3+ A d6, and stop. This is our first check minus. Random anything is not good, just ask Chaos Possessed. Sure you can upgrade to chain flails to basically get a re-roll on the number of attacks; and/ or buy an extra close combat weapon to ensure at least two attacks. So do you dump the extra points into this unit to increase the close combat use? You probably should. I know there are stats out there and mathletes to say otherwise, but you know without these added close combat upgrades you stand just as good of a chance rolling 1 attack as you do 6.

Then there is the option to swap out guns on this guy. Sure a heat lance is pretty awesome as are the other choices; liquefier gun, stinger pod blast thing and splinter cannon. Grab whichever you feel is necessary for your intended use. They are mostly twin linked, which makes up for the BS3. Let us just guess heat lance to potentially melt vehicles to get to the gooey insides. This ups the cost of the Talos again, and causes me to say another check minus.

Last is the movement of this beast. It is just a boring old monstrous creature. It won’t get anywhere fast, unlike other units of your army. So you’ll need a webway portal to get it to where it is needed or try and deploy as far forward as possible. One choice gives you some survivability early, but relies on reserve rolls. The other option gets you to mid field, but opens you up to shooting from the get start. Neither option seems better than the other to me, so a push there.

Is this thing survivable? Well yes and no, just like everything else. It is monstrous, so it won’t get much in terms of a cover save. It will fall apart to plasma and melta, the last which seems to everywhere now. Most small arms fire will plink off the armor it has, but shots will get through and saves will still need to be taken. This thing can go down from massed bolter fire before it gets to wreck face.

Then there is close combat. Well, most close combat will bounce off this beast, but fists, hammers and the occasional power weapon will get through. Hell, even regular attacks, save S3 or less, will occasionally get through to wound.
It can also get pain tokens, but it has to wipe a unit to get one, sounds cool but not as easy as it sounds.

So is the Talos good for the points needed to make it good? I say no. Why? Well just quickly glance over what it is up against.

The Ravager is a nice cheap option. It has a great weapon options. It comes stock with three dark lances and can, for free, swap them for disintegrators. Both of these weapons are 36” range and can be fired even if moving at cruising speed. This gives the Ravager a 48” threat range. Nice stuff there. It also comes cheaper than the Talos and really doesn’t need upgrades, in my opinion, but people like 5+ saves on them for some reason. So without looking to deeply, the Ravager is anti tank or troop a lower cost than the Talos. It can keep pace with the fast parts of a Dark Eldar force. It can run the backfield and 3x dark lance vehicles or 3x disintegrate troops. It will be wrecked by the same long range shooting as a Talos, and should never be midfield to get the melta or plasma that is found there. So why use the Talos over a lower costed Ravager?

The Razorwing Fighter is also a better than Talos choice. Sure it costs more to start, but is fast like the Ravager. It comes with a good weapon load out. It carries some good large blast missiles, which can be upgraded. It is mostly anti-troop, but it can hurt armor with its dual dark lances. It also is able to move with the faster units and is closed topped giving it some added, small, survivability. So, it is fast and fragile as the Ravager, but has long range weapons that hurt at a distance, can move 12”+ and still fire everything. So yes even though more expensive game-wise the range of weapons and the large templates it can drop make it seem better than the Talos.

The Voidraven Bomber is next, and also looks to be more useful than the Talos. It has the advantages of the Razorwing in armor and speed. It comes with dual void lances, S9 and same range as dark lance, a void mine, S9 blast lance thing, and a choice of four other large blast bombs. The price of this model can get high, depending on how you arm it. However, the bombs it has a choice of are all worth their price. This non-flyer flyer can be set for anti troop with necrotoxin bombs or implosion bombs. It can hurt some armor with shatter S7 re-roll bombs or the standard monoscythe S6 bombs. These can also be anti-troop bombs as well. Then there is the S9 small blast mine, a nice little thing to drop once a game. So all this can make for a pricey, fast and frail vehicle; but the weapons and speed make up for the cost.

So we have three other vehicles that are competing with the Talos. So far the only real reason to take a Talos is for a close combat role, albeit a slow one.

Last comes the Chronos Parasite Engine another slow mover like the Talos. It has a very similar statistics to the Talos the biggest difference being the strength and weapon skill. So why is this a better choice than the Talos? It comes with the ability to throw pain tokens around and has some descent template weapons.
The Chronos can dispense a pain token to a unit within 12” when it causes an unsaved wound with its close combat weapon/ siphon, flamer template gun or large blast upgrade gun. Yes, it generates a pain token to be given when a non vehicle model dies, not a whole unit like per the Power Through Pain rule. WOW! That is huge. It isn’t hard to fail a save and get a pain token. It comes cheaper than the stock Talos and throwing a large blast, 24”, and AP 3 gun on this guy is still cost effective. This guy can make your army get those much need pain tokens easier and maybe even sooner.
It is a nice support unit and what a wonderful amount of support it can give, pain tokens. The cost of upgrading this to get the super cool large blast is still cheaper than Talos and the needed upgrades. It reminds me of the Tyranid Tervigon, but instead of pooping bugs it poops pain. It does come with all the pros and cons of the Talos, but is still better for what it does. A must have unit? Well no, but very helpful if you want those happy little pain tokens in your army.

So after that why take a Talos? I still don’t see why when compared to the other heavy support choices. The themed list can use them, but that Is the only real use I see with them. How could they have made this unit better?

Well first get rid of the random attacks. Things like that give me the brain pains and a case of the gout. Seriously, only Orks need and like random rolls for weapons, attack, explosions and what have you. NOBODY! I MEAN NOBODY ELSE! should have to suffer random rolls for anything.

Then let this guy float again. Only the simple minded didn’t understand the pervious rule that this unit ignored terrain like a skimmer. Let it ignore terrain for movement purposes and it would be better. The damn model is floating why not give it a similar rule?

Give it fleet. Maybe? It is made to assault. So why not let it assault after running?

Let this thing run in a pack. Now that would interest me. The humble Carnifex (and my beloved Tomb Spiders but nobody plays necrons or runs these but me) is the only monstrous creature unit. Why? Why did G.W. miss the chance to make a poor choice into a descent looking choice? Why not let the Talos be a 1-3 strong unit? Is it that good to let it run in pairs or triples? Would it be that broken? If they were 1-3 in a squad, and not stupid costed like the Carnifex, people might use more of them.

So did G.W. miss the mark with the Talos? Has anyone ever or are they going to use this unit?

Non Space Hulk Space Hulk

So after grabbing the boy or teenager as he constantly reminds me of now, we hit the game store to check for anything new and fun. After much digging and looking we found a few copies of the the Space Hulk card game. Now I know many Space Hulk games; original, P.C., Playstation, newest (well I’ve seen the new) and now this version. It looked to be Space Hulk minus the super cool minis, tiles and hefty price tag. So we grabbed it and gave it a whirl.

Well after running through a game it is Space Hulki-sh. You have the marines and genestealers all messing about. You are exploring a derelict ship. There is combat and it is unforgiving. So yeah it is and isn’t Space Hulk.

There are some pros and cons with this incarnation of the game.
The cons first as I prefer bad news first that is what you get as well.

• It doesn’t have the best rulebook. This makes for a rocky start as the rules are sketchy in parts. The layout of the rules is bad as well. There is way too much of turn to page this to resolve that. Sure it isn’t huge, but it is annoying.

• Which brings me to…it is a real slow start to get this game going.

• It is very strategy heavy. Sure for me and mine that is fine, but for others it might be a bit much. The playing of cards is super important for marine survival and it is easy to get wiped if you don’t play action/ support cards properly.

• Combat feels very one sided and the marine team really needs a combat turn. Marine combat only occurs with attack cards and you can’t play the same card two turns in a row. Genstealters have attacks every turn. So it feels very lopsided when it comes to killing xenos (this is the heavy strategy that some might dislike)

• The game wants teamwork, but doesn’t want teamwork. You play with each other and against the game. However, the rules say not to openly talk card play, but mention,” I want to attack/ move.” This is opposed to common sense of, “I want to play the shoot 3x card to wipe that genestealer mob.” “No wait. I want to move first before you do that.” Why the game encourages non-teamwork teamwork is beyond me. (we talk card play before we play it just makes sense to have a plan while exploring a Space Hulk)

• It isn’t the cool new Space Hulk. It definitely feels like a red headed step child of the new miniature Space Hulk game.


The pros as the cons aren’t that bad.

• It is very strategy heavy, which is good for me and mine. We like strategy and card placement and play needs to be discussed for survival.

• It is pretty fast once you figure out the rules. It is a 30 minute-ish game. It is faster if the combats are against you.

• It was only like $20 and change. This is a nice price for a game. The design and quality of the cards is really well done and worth the price.

• It is decently fun and has enough of a Space Hulk feel to it.

• It is a card game (and thank the gods not collectable give me the brain spasms and diarrhea) thus it is easily transported and takes little room to play.

The teenager and I enjoy the game. We have even added a few house rules for more fun and faster play. Eventually we’ll make it through to the end. Eventually.
So is it a buy for others? I can’t really say yes, but a definite maybe. If you like Space Hulk in any incarnation then you will probably like this as well.

Ad Mech allies

These are shots of my servitor/Adeptus Mechanicus troops. They mostly serve as Plague Marines now.


A few overturned gun drones + servitor torso = gun servitors
The conversions were pedestrian, just gluing bolters to where the heavy weapons were supposed to go.



We have plasma gunners here. I have also ran these in a Rhino as a 5 man Havoc Sqaud. It is cheap and no Marine likes facing down plasma guns, let alone 3.


My heavy weapons servitors. I sprinkle them throughout the squads as needed. These are mostly just weapon swaps and add ons. The lascannon/autocannon (whichever I feel like is needed) is a old school Predator heavy bolter on the multi-melta servitor arm stub.
The previous incarnation Terminator is a head swap from zombies and a combined ork shootas. He is my heavy bolter servitor. I think I need to add a few bits and bobs to his front to break-up that boredom.



More heavy boltes in the form of gun drones with burst cannons under slung. A very simple build, but effective.


A Mechanicus force needs servo skulls, right? Well these are summoned demons in my force.
The cyber hounds were once wargear for my HQ, but since that option is gone, they serve as demons as well, or the occasional extra Plague Marine.




Last, no Adeptus Diagnostic Coven is complete without a tech priest. He is my unit champion upgrade.




Now we have all the leg work units covered. Lets get to the leader of this motley crew.

The Deathly Hallows, its Raiders good

Well to start I never read the Harry Potter books. I never had any real desire or pressure to read them. I honestly never wanted to see the movies. Sorry, it just didn't really appeal to me. However, I love my son and he thought Harry Potter looked awesome all those many years ago, when he was a just a specky git on the big screen.

Well I have taken my son to see all the Harry Potter movies, minus the Sorcerer's Stone, in the theater. Then the Deathly Hallows came out and I ran to see this yesterday morning at the first showing 9:30 A.M. and my son wasn't even here yet (he will arrive Tuesday nite for the holiday weekend). Yes, I wanted to see the Deathly Hallows as soon as I could. I was that interested in the goings on of this movie, and it didn't disappoint.

This franchise has only gotten better with time. It is one of the few that hasn't fallen off after one or two movies. For me I have: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars New Hope and Empire, Conan the Barbarian, Fellowship and Two Towers and Star Trek 2 Wrath of Khan, these are my benchmarks for sci-fi/fantasy movies. These are what I base my opinion of nerd movies/franchises against. Many films fail this test, because these listed films rock and the others don't. The Deathly Hallows just made this list. It isn't even finished yet, it is only part one and has made my list of films, that other films of the nerd genre, should be judged against. I believe it is that good, Raiders good.


I have become a fan of this franchise over time, slowly. The films just get better and better this is usually really hard for a series. Look at Indiana Jones. They get worse with each incarnation. Star Wars becomes unwatchable after Empire. The Star Trek films just keep getting worse, and I'm not counting the J.J Abhrams reboot in Star Trek list since it is some alternate reality thing. James Bond is another series that just keeps getting worse with each film as well. Sure there are some gems, but really after Dr. No and Goldfinger, they just go from bad to worse. Once again not counting the Daniel Craig reboot, because it is a reboot to save the sinking ship that has become 007. The Harry Potter movies somehow avoid this and are the new anomaly. These are films that get better the more they make, not worse. This is another thing that made me want to see Deathly Hallows first thing Saturday morning. The fact that is going to better than The Half-Blood Prince, it had to be, and damn it was!

Why is the Deathly Hallows part one good? I think it is the combination of; the increasing maturity of the films, the short list of awful/awesome stuff that happens, the darkness that is facing the wizarding world, and the level of bad guy that is running the show, that made me like this movie and want to see more.I won't go into deep details for the few people who haven't read the books, like me and mine. No spoilers here. Sure, I know the main players and what eventually happens in the end, but it is the journey to get there that I don't completely know and what makes this movie great.

What these teens go through in this film is rough. There is no way me as a teenager would have had the gall or balls to do what Harry, Ron and Hermione did in this film. Hell none of us probably would, and that is what I thought was really awesome. These kids get it. The odds are stacked against them at every turn, but damn if that is gonna stop them. Just great stuff that happens. Hell, there was even weeping from my lady when a few, of the many, deaths occurred. I'm not going to say that they weren't sad, but damn my girl crying over Potter characters?!?! If you knew her that is pretty serious stuff.

Then you have Voldemort. The new bad guy on the block. He has slowly, in these films, grown to great bad guy level. He rates up there with Vader, Khan and the Nazis from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This guy is bad and the good kind of bad. Really great bad guy stuff the last few films; the killing whole sale, the plots, the controlling, the genocide, the minions, having a giant evil pet snake, and at the heart of it all trying to kill a kid. HE really wants to kill a kid (and run the world). Man that is just bad in any society. Voldemort has really made it as pop culture bad guy and a damn good one.

What else makes the Deathly Hallows good? The main action sequences are great. The mixing in of a little light comedy helps keep the film from being too dark,via Ron mostly. The cartoon explanation of the Deathly Hallows story is fantastic stuff and another nice break in the foreboding doom feel. Just some great animation was done there. The feel and events of the opening sequence were awesome. What Harry, Ron and Hermione(mostly what Hermione does)to/for their families is rough. It sets a tone and the movie doesn't stray much from it.

So as a film, Deathly Hallows rocks! I want to say more, but I don't want to throw stuff out if you aren't in the Potter know. I'm actually looking forward to seeing it again this week with the boy. He has already expressed having to see it this week when I talked to him last week. See it. If you haven't seen these movies, rent them and then go see it. It is damn good.

Troops

Here are my goon squads all grey and dirty/smudgy. For some reason they look shiny with this camera/lighting. They really aren't glossy.
Nothing super special, just a mix of Chaos and regular marines. The bionics are a bunch of Iron Hands heads and Necromunda Pit Slave arms.

A couple of unit champions. I had a fist and servo arm on the dude on the left. Dude on the right has a nice shiny arm and wiring running to it. This was to show it as a power weapon. Oh plasma pistols how you used to be helpful.


A couple close shots of grunts. The aqulia has been defaced to show the lack of faith/excommunication of these guys. Plus a look at some of the ad hoch bionics(guy on right) and the Iron Warrior/ Necromunda bits.
Battle damaged? Well here have a chainsaw arm replacement!





My icon bearers.




Flamer specialists. I really like the skull face helmet and the dragon head flamer.
An old hand flamer and modified apothecary backpack helps add to the weirdie tech feel of these guys.

A couple melta gunners.


I which this was an original idea, but sadly no. This gentleman has had one too many plasma accidents. His pose and half a bionic head shows this. Yet, he is still a great sport, really likes his plasma gun or more than likely lost a bet.













So there they are, my troops for my lost/ fallen Relictors. I'll hopefully get the Adeptus Mechanicus and heavy weapons contingent up next.

Exposition part 2

Back in the halcyon days of 4th edition I started a Chaos Marine army. I had finished reading Storm of Iron, a fun read, and really felt like the Iron Warriors were the force for me. Low and behold, the Chaos codex had a nice sub list for these guys. Awesome! I didn’t feel like pure Iron Warriors, so I went with the idea, but made it my own. I wanted servo arms and lots of bionics on my grunts.

The Adeptus Mechanicus have also always intrigued me. The look and concept of these guys rock! I had to get some of them represented in my army as well. They have the all the bionic upgrades I could ever want.

Why would these forces be together? How could I justify Iron Warriors as well?

Simple! Relictors are a now rouge marine chapter. During the Eye of Terror they were deemed traitor. They like to use Chaos a bit too much for the inquisition. So, I’ll have these guys be part of an Ad Mech investigation force. Then have something go wonky along a small trip and there you go bad guys! They would be bad guys that were not really bad, just misunderstood. A force of Chaos wielding marines with some servitor backup and tanks was looking good.

The Ad Mech presence could also explain all the bionic upgrades to the marines; as this is a small marine force and any losses they take are a huge problem. They aren’t at full chapter strength, and need to keep as many battle brothers alive as possible. So, the Ad Mech take the wounded and at times dead and “upgrade” them. They also take their collection of servitors and make them battle ready.

I like the weird Mechanicus armory and wanted to use a Defiler to represent some strange big Mechanicus gun. A few Obliterators would also fill the strange cyber/robot/weapons they use. I also wanted to throw in a few big gun tanks as well. This would fulfill Iron Warrior scheme. This was back when you could dump a fast or elite for an extra heavy slot. Oh the joy of that!

I also needed these guys to look like fallen marines, but not super Chaos filled. I went with the option of mixing regular marine and Chaos marine parts. I removed aqulia from torsos when needed. That became very tedious, so I went another way. I decided to make most of the aqulia defaced. A few simple X cuts into it and there it is. That would be my proof that this force has turned its back on the Imperium, or the Imperium had turned their back on them.

So there it was my growing force of Iron-ish Warriors ready for battle. They only had a few months in them and then the new Chaos codex landed. Poof! Goodbye Iron Warrior sub-list. Hello new army. Also throw in the appearance of 5th edition and it changed my force even more.

I was running a very defensive army. A siege army as it was. I had no transports, this is 4th edition and transports are bad. I was on foot with a few vehicles to give me suppressing fire on the advance. I had toughness 5 Obliterators to walk the flanks and fire indiscriminately. This was changed to must have cheap Rhinos and warp time Demon Princes with wings. My army fell apart as a defensive force. I needed to change with the times.

So I grabbed a couple Rhinos and stopped production on any more Obliterators. I washed away the thought of a Basilisk for support and instead grabbed a Defiler(which sadly is still in box due to GW sending me one less sprue than I needed).

The good was the fact my servitor squads can work as Plague Marines now and we all know how fun they are. My Obliterators lost a step, now toughness (4) 5 and the loss of autocannons and heavy bolters. My vindicator got better with the scatter rules and has a bit more survivability from shooting damage. However, my plasma pistols are no longer rapid fire and are just a way to show unit champion upgrades. They just aren’t worth the points for one shot. I guess I could count them as combi-plasma. Not entirely a bad idea.

I now need to make a Demon Prince and probably convert my missing leg Defiler and this force is 5th edition worthy, but that isn’t how I always think and play.
So there is a look into the thought process and why I did what I did with my first Chaos army. Next up, I’ll have the annotated army photos.

Exposition

Here is a little timeline that deals with my original Chaos Chapter. I'll get to the whys, hows, pics and other information about my 1st Chaos army in the next post.

342.M38- A warpstorm in the Bethsamnel Sector appears. It is tracked and recorded by the Imperium.

877.M40- An Adpetus Mechanicus outpost on (EXPUNGED VIA IMPERIAL EDICT) ,near the Bethsamnel Sector, sends a message to Mars. The details of this message are unknown. Days later a Diagnostic Coven; containing several Magos Technicus, Magos Metallurgicus, Magos Biologis, their staff and several prospective Techmarines, leave Mars in four ships. Three are known to carry the Diagnostic Coven and their staff. The contents of the fourth ship are unknown.

877.M40 late- The four ships of the Diagnostic Coven rendezvous with a Adeptus Astartes fleet outside the Bethsamnel system. It is a contingent from the Relictors Space Marine chapter. Whether this was an intended meeting or chance is unknown. The entire contingent moves into the Bethsamnel system and arrive on the planet (EXPUNGED VIA IMPERIAL EDICT) in what appears to be a rescue mission. The warpstorm is recorded approaching (EXPUNGED VIA IMPERIAL EDICT).

877.M40- The Diagnostic Coven, Relictors fleet and (EXPUNGED VIA IMPERIAL EDICT) are swallowed by the warp storm. This is the last recorded location of said contingent.

879.M40- The Bethsamnel Sector warp storm ceases.

994.M41- A fleet of Astartes and Mechanicus ships appear in the Mosaik Sector. They drop out from within another warp storm. A small Imperial listening post records the ships arrival from the warp. The small fleet makes a quick warp jump before the names of their vessels can be recorded.

994.M41 late- An Astartes and Mechanicus fleet arrive during a rear guard space battle between Hive Fleet Kraken’s bioships and several Imperial cruisers. The combined force destroys the hive ships and then turn their guns on the remaining Imperial fleet. The only ships targeted were those with fully working engines. The mystery fleet leaves the Imperial forces crippled, stranded, and with remains of a few hive ships.

995.M41- An Astartes force arrives to aid in the destruction of an Eldar incursion on the world of Tetral Prime. The few vid captures show Astartes warriors in grey power armor taking up the fight against the xenos.

Their armor appears smudged with mechanical oils and soot. There also appears to be, wisps of smoke and ash that sporadically stream and puff from the exhaust ports of their helmets.

They also appear to have all manner of cybernetic and mechanical augmentation. They are seen fight along with many servitors and what appear to be Adeptus Mechanicus skitarii.

After the Eldar are repelled the Astartes force clears the battlefield of all their dead and wounded. They also remove many Eldar items and then purge the remaining materials.

995.M41- Grey armored marines are repelled by Adeptus Mechanicus and Imperial Guard forces while trying to sack the Forgeworld Ryboth. They are defeated, but not before escaping with numerous raw materials, servitors, vehicles and at least one type of Baneblade variant.

996.M41- An Astartes force reappears to fight alongside a Black Legion force on (EXPUNGED VIA IMPERIAL EDICT). They arrive to bolster the defenses against the combined forces of Space Wolves and Blood Angels. The marine force appears to be comprised of the same grey armored and augmented marines from the Tetral Prime vid captures.

998.M41- What appear to be, once thought lost, Legio Cybernetica robots fight on Hagia during the vast Sabbat Crusade. They appeared to be controlled by a group of Adeptus Mecahnicus and Astartes of an unknown chapter. After the battle the force is seen removing many pieces of Chaos armament including several “stalk” tanks.

999.M41- The 13th Black Crusade begins.

999.M41- Inquisitor Cyarro declares the Relictor’s chapter Excommunicate Traitoris. The grey armored marines launch several assaults upon known Imperial and Inquisitorial locations. It is assumed that these attacks are a retaliation to Cyarro’s declaration.

999.M41- The mysterious grey armored marines are seen fighting on the surface of Cadia.

They are viewed fighting alongside the Death Specters against a Black Legion assault using a large amount of modified combat servitors.

A few days later they also appear helping the traitor Iron Warriors breach a Imperial fortifications and utilizing large amounts of ordnance.

After each engagement they leave quickly and cover or remove all physical proof of their appearance. The only evidence that they have been involved is from eye witness or vid capture. Why they allow visual evidence, but take and remove all physical evidence of their involvement is still unknown.

999.M41- Inquisitor Cyarro beings an extensive investigation into the whereabouts and motivation of this force of renegade Astartes and Adeptus mechanicus.

flair for my predator

Just a quick standard for my Predator. I thought it just needed a little something. So, I threw some paint and teeth bits (to cover the Nurgle symbol) onto this icon and there you have it. Swap the pus for tissue and blood and it is almost done. Drill a hole for the brass rod that is the pole. Presto! A nice little standard for a tank.

2nd batch of bikes

A little the gragoyle face between the bolters for fun.
This rider also has the begining of a nice head collcetion.



I do like the gagged mouth and the blood that dribbled out and down the beard.



Some poor shlub lost his hand. It does make a nice trophy! Right next to the ork teeth.

the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month

All Space Marine players run Pedro Kantor today with as many Sternguard as possible. You could also go fast attack crazy with full squads of Vanguard in your games today. This is the best way to celebrate Veteran’s Day (or Armistice Day for those abroad).

So pass out the special ammo and prepare for some heroic intervention on the tabletop!
That or sit home if you have a government job and not receive any mail today. That is all we ever really do around these parts for Veteran’s Day.

2 of 6 bikes done

I wanted my attack bikes to look different so here is the first one. It is my 40K rendition of the G.I.Joe R.A.M. This was one of the first G.I.Joe vehicles I received as a kid. It was a motorcycle with a gatling gun on the side. Awesome stuff!
So, this is my Night Lord Multi Melta bike. I'll pair it with the scout bike below on a large base. Thus giving two bikes to equal the two wounds. It seems to work on paper.


It isn't super fancy, but it conveys a microwave gun on a bike. It is a little close to the rider, but marine armor is supposed to be all ceramite and such to protect from such things. A little melta blow back shouldn't hurt the rider.Right?

Besides, before it is fired it can be hydraulically pushed out away for rider saftey. Yeah that's it! See it has all that cool hydraulic stuff on the mount behind the seat! That is what it is for! Quick off the cuff with that idea to cover a small design flaw.


I thought a little flayed skin and ork tooth would look nice where the bolters would go. The scout bike has the twin bolters, so this bike didn't need them. A Chaos loincloth thing seemed to work just fine as torn flesh. The rider even carved some sigils into it and applied an ork tooth to it for luck!


I like the lighter look of the scout bikes. It should add some flavor to mix and match these with the regular bikes.


Rear end didn't line up just right, but hopefully this is the only time anyone will notice.
Little display picture. Nothing fancy there; just wanna be lights, buttons and switches.

A couple more guys

A couple more grunts for the force. I only have two foot marines left. I decided to paint four extra in case I want to add extra bodies down the road. My first two motorbikes are almost done along with four riders. I am slowly facing the dread of nothing but a arms, backpacks a few bikes and a predator left. There is a glimmer of light at the tunnel's end.

I also received my second batch of Night Lord helmets and shoulder pads. Now I can add more Night Lord iconography to this force.

follow us and grow useful extra limbs,heads,feet or what have you!

Well while painting yesterday afternoon, I randomly threw this idea together. An army list that is not as cool as 66 genestealers, but just as silly as that, if not worse. Tzeentch, an army list that if run pure is not all that scary. Sure they all have a 4+ invulnerable save, but they have no real hand-to-hand threat. They do have all kinds of cool shooting and that is what I decided build upon.

So where to start? Well it isn’t Tzeentch with a Lord of Change with no upgrades. They are descent on their own. So there is a HQ choice down. I also really like the bonuses you get with chariots; and the ability to take two heralds as one HQ. I’ll nab two Heralds with chariots for some staying power. I’ll throw on Bolt of Tzeentch for fun and Master of Sorcery two shoot two ‘guns.” With a little left over, I’ll add Soul Devourer. It is a power weapon. I don’t want to get to grips with people, but if I do I have that for help. I put no faith in strength 3 guys with power weapons, but if I’m hand-to-hand I get what I deserve. Plus it can cause Instant Death, which really….isn’t that useful anymore.

Ok on to troops, which if you know me, are my favorite units! What units? Why Pink/Blue horrors and only those of course.
TROOP 1 Pink Horror x10 and Bolt of Tzeentch
TROOP 2 Pink Horror x10 Bolt of Tzeentch and Icon
TROOP 3 Pink Horror x10 Bolt of Tzeentch and Icon
TROOP 4 Pink Horror x10 Bolt of Tzeentch and Changeling (he is cheap and Tzeentchie)
Well that doesn’t leave much left, when building to 1500, my preferred army limit.

So with the remaining points I’ll add…
Flamers x3 with Bolt of Tzeentch
Flamers x3 with Bolt of Tzeentch

This gives me five points left over for fun. I could always dump the Heralds for another Lord O’ Change and some extra points, but the double Heralds intrigue me as a unit and for modeling fun.

So is this a scary list? Nope. Can it shoot bunches? Yup. Is the shooting scary? Maybe if the dice are hot for you and not for your opponent. Is it survivable? Well ½ the time yup, with 4+ invulnerable it is easy to see it that way. Will I ever build it? Probably not, but Tzeentch demons would let me make all kinds of weird stuff, since that is kind of their thing.

I have read through the Dark Eldar codex and it isn’t a bad read. I am glad they expanded on the history of this army, well how could they not? Look at the previous edition and laugh at how terrible it was when it came to Dark Eldar exposition. However, with the good of background comes the bad as well. The problems are small, and might only be problems to me.

The first is a Games Workshop problem. We have another codex put out and around half of the army has no models. Why do they do this? Sure you can take Venoms, Chronos Parasites, a bomber, fighter, cool beasts some neat-o independent characters, a weird non retinue retinue, Scourges and a Talos. Sure the Talos, I think, is still available online, but man it looks bad next to the new models and picture in the codex. So, yes behold the new codex and stuff there are no models for.

Yes, there might be models and yes you can convert units from existing models, but what about those who can’t? Not every player is a converter, nor should they be. So, put out the models with the codex, or at least within a month (two at the most). Please!

The second complaint is the lack of pretty pictures of the new models. Sure there are a lot of pictures of warriors, winches, readers, hellions, raiders and ravagers. Yet, there are no pictures of painted other units. BOO! Why is this? See previous point.

Last is the silliness of the Talos and Chronos entry. These are monstrous creatures. Monstrous creatures have special universal rules that are listed in the main rule book. However, they list Move Through Cover as a special rule. They already have it. It just seems silly to list it. I guess if you don’t know that monstrous creatures have Move Through Cover it is a nice reminder. I guess.

So is this the new face beating army? It probably won’t. Will it cause some problems? Yes it will, if you don’t know what does what. Is it a veteran player army? By the gods no!

This is no more a veteran army than any other low toughness and high armor save army. It is “veteran” in the sense that isn’t power armored. If you have played 40K for a while this army isn’t hard to wield. You just have to know the limitations of the units. Just like any other army you are playing.

If a new player picks it up, they might find it more difficult to use at first. Yet, this is no different than any other army a new player starts with. Seriously, who beat face the first few 40K games they ever played? Nobody did. This isn’t the hardest game to play, but it takes time to understand it. The Dark Eldar are no harder to use at first than any other army. They just fail as a beginning army, since they aren’t marines. That is just my opinion.

So the Dark Eldar are here. Now let us see what people do with them.

To Do List, or What's Next After This?

After this Night Lord project is complete, what do I have left to do? Well…..

10 Necron warriors on sprue
1 Monolith to finish guns and crystal
3 Scarab swarms that need flock
6 Emperor’s Children to finish arms and guns
Stormlord body and 1 set of sponsons to paint
Dark Eldar Ravager still in box
Raider have to magnetize the rider platform
4 Grotesques to paint
2 Talos to finish
3 jetbikes still in boxes
20 Dark Eldar warriors still in box
5 Chaos Terminators to paint
1 Obliterator to build
6 Chaos Marines to touch finish painting
Huron still needs his axe, face and wires/ bionics touched up
Demon Prince needs his body painted (Chrono Gladiator from Inquisitor, a sweet model)
Dark Angel Fortress still in box

Realilisticaly, the Necrons will stay dormant. They are so bad now I have no want to finish what I have.
Besides I have 2000 some odd points of them already completed.

The Dark Eldar will also stay in the webway. The new release is cool, but my 1600 points of them aren’t that great with all the new codex confirmations. The warriors in box will be needed to cut and paste all the “new” stuff, I’m going to need. The jetbikes would flesh out my squad to 10, but since I completely dislike what has become of the jetbike use and stat line, they might never be completed. The Talos might see completion, no wait Ravagers got so much better. Yet, the two I have complete, are triple disintegrators. Which are better and worse than they were before.

The Chaos stuff is what I’ll probably try to churn out next. The Emperor’s Children are really close to completion. The Terminators won’t take long either. My regular Chaos army is very bland when it comes to color and detail. They were iron Warriors, before they lost the ability to be Iron Warriors; i.e. loss of Basilisks, servo arms and such.

Sadly the two models I am most excited about are also the biggest projects. The Fortress of Redemption and the Stormlord are just both made of champion stuff. They are also giagundus and a bit overwhelming. Do I go super detail with them? They both have detail to go nuts over. I could just keep it simple and get these bad boys done. Either way, they come after the Chaos and way before the Dark Eldar and Necrons.

Hell, I’ll probably be building another Adepticon List before I get my Necrons and Dark Eldar done. There are so many models and so little waking hours. Curse you adulthood responsibilities!

Another day another future army list, I do this a lot

Tyranids have become the bane of codices in the game as of 5th edition. The army people once loved to run now is a pox on the game to those same people. Gone are the days of dual Tyrants, genestealers the eat face, and multiple Carnifex units, either the heavy or elite variety.

Now the interweb only acknowledges the multiple Tervigon, Hive Guard and drop podding Zoanthrope build, with a sprinkling in of whatever else you feel is needed.

I don’t miss the multiple Hive Tyrants, always one with wings, which would plague the table. I never could beat those two HQ units, just those two and then there was the rest of the army. I do miss Without Number, that was cool, but that seems to have been replaced with the Tervigon. I guess now it is more like With or Without Possible Numbers when you run Tervigons.

I miss the fear of the bug list. Lately this army, well it just isn’t as scary. Sure Mawlocs and Trygons can do some damage, and are sweet models. Yes Tervigons can also spawn so many extra troops and are tough 6 with 6 wounds, but where is the fear and fun in that? Just sitting still and spawning? Just waiting and waiting for a reserve roll so you can pop that monster up from the depths. Trying to find a way to justify wings on a tyrant that is and isn’t as kill crazy as before. Where are you going Ian? You are rambling again.

Well, I’m going here…my Tyranny list or what I would run if I ever get the want to play gribbly bugs at 1500 points.

We start with troops, the core of my armies. I like troops!
Squad 1 = 11 Genestealers with adrenal glands
Squad 2 = 11 Genestealers with adrenal glands
Squad 3 = 11 Genestealers with adrenal glands and Broodlord
Squad 4 = 11 Genestealers with adrenal glands and Broodlord
Squad 5 = 11 Genestealers with adrenal glands and Broodlord
Squad 6 = 11 Genestealers with adrenal glands and Broodlord

That leaves 126 points for a HQ. Probably a Warrior Prime modeled to look like a Patriarch, or the old Patriarch model. I could drop a Broodlord for a Tyrant. I do have an Inquisitor scale Genestealer model, thank you e-bay lot of 40K models auction. It would look just fine as a giant leader Genestealer.

I see them infiltrating as far forward as possible or all going reserve to out flank.

Will it blown to bits on the way across. YES! Will terrain be both a good and bad thing? YES! Does it have potential to wreak havoc? YES!

Sure it isn’t competitive, but that isn’t why I post on this blog. I run for fun and actually like to paint and model a bit too.

PEW! PEW! PEW!

Thank Ebay for the occasional good auction. I wanted a backpack multi melta, but all the bits sites are out, or want silly prices for them. I get lucky to snag a multi melta off a cheap buy it now auction.

I like the bitey helmet rebreather and I don’t completely hate the gun.





Even better, I bought this Thursday and had it yesterday. Man that is some awesome service! Yesterday I threw this guy together. He will be my second multi melta biker.

Speaking of bikes, I received those Saturday and have slowly started them.