Armies - Converting Crypteks

Everyone knows that any good Necron army will make great use of a range of Crypteks. The trouble is that there are simply not enough of a range of suitable Cryptek models and you have to venture into the realms of Finecast for the privilege. I wasn't about to go and buy 3 or 4 identical models for a premium so I had a think, and a look around the blogosphere and instead bought a single box of Lychguard. Instantly saving me a fair chunk of cash (which, evidently I went out and spent on some Annihilation Barges... D'oh!)

New Edition, New Army... well sort of...

I'm alive! And more to the point am going to avoid talking about 6th edition rules! Instead I'm just going to get on with it. I've decided that my stalwart Guard, and stubborn Tau, will be taking a break from gaming and have turned to a new army for the new edition. Necrons. Well, I say new army, the truth is that I've had these models for an age, and have recently decided to get cracking on them, spurred on by some cool new Necron models! Does anyone remember this!?

VERY IMPORTANT NEWS: 40K 6th Edition; Starter Box Set Contents

Well 6th edition has landed on our door but that's no reason to stop! I have some more very important news regarding the boxed starter set contents. I think by now we are all under the impression that the set will contain Dark Angels vs Chaos... but the mix of models may well surprise you! Not only this, but it definately says a lot about the up-coming Chaos Army.

Take a look at these pictures which list out the armies;

Storing Your Models

Anyone who's been around this blog for a while will know that I've got far too many Imperial Guard (mostly unpainted I must add!) So, when Mrs Oink declared that it all needs to get tidied away I had to come up with a plan to store it all away in as few cases as possible and in as logical an order as possible (if I am ever to have a chance of remembering exactly where everything is!)

It's for the Greater Good...

I've done it again... I've gone and got myself hooked on another classic piece of my hobby pie. This time it's down to a game I had against a "regular" opponent where I cracked out my Tau as a last minute "OMG I haven't sorted an army!" sort of thing. The Tau have always been my go-to, but have sat in their case(s) for a long while now.

I got quickly frustrated at just how unfinished the whole lot were. I mean, they could pass for finished, but there were lots of finer details that I had wanted to add but just never got around to them. (oh, and all the actually unfinished models too!)

Armies - Commissar Turret

As usual, I'm making what appears to be slow progress, but my defence is that I am working on about 7 tanks at once! The other night, I started on the turret of the Commissars' tank. Who'd have thought that painting black would be so difficult, but I was eager to stop this looking like something out of Tron. I spent a long time looking around for different ways to paint black. Most tips centre on using greys to highlight, though I also found lots of ideas about using different colours to provide highlights to black surfaces and generally speaking the colour chosen can have a profound effect on the result!

I needed something that would fit well with the desert colour scheme of my Tallarn, so I was finally convinced to try highlighting within the brown spectrum thanks to some chaps over at 40KOnline. To keep things simple I used only three colours;

Chaos Black;
Charadon Granite;
and Graveyard Earth.

Mixing them in lighter quantities with each step, and helping to blend the lot together using a mix of opacity control and Badab Black washes. The highlights were concentrated on the top surfaces and top portion of the vertical surfaces, to give the idea of the source fo the light. It's actually quite difficult to make out in teh pictures because it mostly just looks like black.

I suppose that means I should be quite quite happy with the progress so far, though can see that there is certainly improvement to be made. I plan to continue the highlight a little further, as I have not yet reached neat Graveyard Earth which can be used as a final extreme edge highlight. Of course, there are also transfers and the like to help decorate the turret, these will also help disguise the less than perfect transition in colour along the turret sides.

Still, who'd have thought that painting black was so hard!

Armies - Vanquisher

Tanks! Yes, I'm working my way through them. First to whet your appetite is the Vanquisher for the Commander of my Armoured Company. Vanquishers are often used by Commanders, and it certainly looks imposing! I'm currently at the stage where I've just applied weathering with a sponge. I use Charadon Granite for this, over the Army Painter Desert Yellow base colour. I'm working on what seems like a bajillion tanks at once, so I'll keep updating with WIP shots so things don't stay too quiet!

As usual, the trick with sponge damage is to concentrate on areas that are likely to receive wear. This not only includes edges of hatches etc. but on this tank I've also paid a bit of attention to a section of the track guard to represent where the crew usually get on and off!

NEWS!

Holidays are over, I've enjoyed the mediterranean sun with my wife and baby. So it's back to the grind stone. I must admit I had a little "Hobby Burnout" and so to help overcome this I am in the process of arranging a 3000pt megabattle with a friend (after all, the best cure for a hangover is to stay drunk!). He is coming to the end of painting his monster Blood Angel Army, and I need something suitably audacious to compete! I've decided to field a full Leman Russ Armoured Company! The list is available to download for free along with the update to Imperial Armour Vol. 1.


If you've seen my recent Painting Chart you'll have seen that I only have a couple of the stuff in a painted state! Well, that just won't do, so I am about to embark on another (over)ambitious painting-fest! With the added bonus of first needing to add stowage to most of the tanks too! Here's the list as it currently stands, following some very recent tweaking. You can keep up to tabs with the list HERE.

HQ
Command Tank : 180 : Vanquisher, Hull Lascannon

Command Tank : 190 : Exterminator, Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter, Ace Gunner

ELITES
Leman Russ Executioner : 230 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Flamer

Leman Russ Executioner : 230 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Flamer

TROOPS
Leman Russ : 165 : Hull Lascannon

Leman Russ : 170 : Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter
Leman Russ : 170 : Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter

Leman Russ : 190 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter

Leman Russ : 190 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter
Leman Russ : 190 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter

Leman Russ Annihilator : 165 : Hull Lascannon

Leman Russ Conquerer : 165 : Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Hull Lascannon
Leman Russ Conquerer : 165 : Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Hull Lascannon

FAST ATTACK
Banewolf : 130 : Hull Heavy Bolter

Banewolf : 130 : Hull Heavy Bolter

Devildog : 120 : Hull Heavy Flamer

HEAVY SUPPORT
Laser Tank Destroyer : 180 : Slick Loader

3000pts

The keen eyed among you will notice that I have filled my 6 troops selections, but have no scoring units! Win!

The bad news is only 3 of the tanks are painted, with another 3 painted but awaiting re-painting to my improved scheme. The good news is I love tanks!

Tournament Run Down

So a little while ago I went to the 40KOnline Tournament, held at the fantastic Triple Helix Wargames near Bath. I of course took my Imperial Guard army with its many tanks. You often see lengthy reports of events when people return, with in depth notes on games, tactics and strategies. I don't want to bore you with the fine particulars, although there are a few moments I'll touch on a little later. The main thing to know in my report is..... I didn't win.


The good news is, that in one game at least, I got to use most of my destroyed markers! And they came in handy for general use as smoke markers at other times! For the gamers out there...

I came away with 1 win, 1 draw, 1 terrible loss and 1 narrow loss.

In both the draw and the narrow loss I was foiled by not getting to play a 6th turn. As for the terrible loss... this was terrible because I became the victim of the most amazing deep strike scatter I have ever seen - deviating a full 11inches into the only space in my lines (just) big enough to fit 3 obliterators, allowing them to eat me from the inside! Aside from that, there were some lovely armies and this report wants to concentrate on those. SO here are a collection of photos to show off the different armies that caught my eye and some of the OTHER games going on!

Yes, this ones mine, the scout trucks on an ice world.

Col. Gravis'awesome Commissar Lord.

Horrors from a lovely Daemon army!

A nice Chaos army - using SW rules to get loads of these riders!

Winner of "Best Army", you may recognise this from Valar

Another crisp gem from Col. Gravis

What happens when you fail to stop rhinos.

Sneaky White Scars soon met my Executioner!

Storm Ravens from a Custodes (GK) army!

Imperial Guard Painting Chart - Sept '11

OMG! I've got bucket loads of Guard to paint. I mean, I knew I had a lot... but I didn't realise just quite how much! Credit has to go to Admiral Drax, who was kind enough to e-mail me a template for his excellent painting chart. So, I got about adapting, and adding, to it...
I found a whole additional platoon of Tallarn sitting in clear bags! Looks like my own cupboard of doom might yet be able to rival Mordian 7ths'! I've re-arranged the units into new platoons, including the veterans, their command section could be fielded using the CCS as opposed to a PCS. A shout out goes for some help in accurate designations for the army...


Also, a fresh e-bay purchase struck gold! 4 Chimera that need re-painting to my scheme are included above (though they are pretty well... and thinly painted currently). I originally bid on these because of the Autocannon turrets. I got the lot for only a little more than buying the turrets new from Forge world... when they arrived, it turned out that two of them also had forge world rear ramps!!! Result!

The Autocannon armed tanks will form part of my mechanised veteran platoon, whilst the one armed with a dual Heavy Bolter turret will go to my Company Command Squad. The other one will slide into my other mechanised platoon. Of course, I need to add some more heavy Flamers, so I'm going to have to raid my boxes! Thinking about it though, I'll probably have to do a bit of modelling work anyway, adding stowage to my liking and that sort of thing.

Aside from the mechanicum section, which will include a converted Atlas (I have some parts for this already), I think that I will only be after a few sentinels for the Reconnaissance Section and I like the thought of converting some truck transports for the 3rd and 4th Platoons.

A bit like these!

That's all for now folks... And on that bombshell, I guess I need to get on with terrain building & army painting!!! lol!

Armies - New IG Army List 1750!!

With just over a week to go until the 40KOnline Tournament I've decided (amongst much dispute and threat to life) to alter the previous army list. Apparently, it was too "leaf blower... y" and once I done some research and got some advice on what this actually meant, I could see how my list looked very similar to a number of other netlists. Well, that's no fun and simply wouldn't do! I decided the mechanised column could do without Imperial Navy support. Out go the vendettas, partly because they make the list a bit OTT, mostly because they are looking unlikely to meet the painting deadline.

Win win if you ask me.

Instead, I have received four Scout trucks from Ramshackle Games. Their picture shows the size of them, and you'll note that this means they should just about squeeze onto a sentinel sized base... which is exactly what I will be using them as. Scout outriders will fit the theme perfectly and will give me two outflanking sentinels (it's likely the other two will be painted up too, but used as objective markers).

I've debated swapping out the executioner for a second manticore but I can't bring myself to lose this nicely painted miniature!

So, this is what I'm looking at now (subject to change again, thanks to my inability to make my mind up!)



HQ
Salamander Command : 55 : 2x Heavy Bolters
(Rules in Imperial Armour Vol:1 Update)

Primaris Psyker : 70

ELITES
Battle Psyker Squad : 145 : Overseer & 7 Psykers
- Chimera : Turret Multi Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Hades Breaching Drill : 50
(Rules in Imperial Armour Apocalypse II)

TROOPS
Platoon Command Squad : 100 : Officer, 2x Flamers, 2x Vets with Laspistol & CCW
- Chimera : Turret Multi Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Platoon Squad Alpha : 125 : Grenade Launcher, Rocket Launcher
- Chimera : Turret Multi Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Platoon Squad Bravo : 125 : Grenade Launcher, Rocket Launcher
- Chimera : Turret Heavy Bolter & Hull Heavy Bolter

Veteran Squad Charlie : 145 : Sergeant with Shotgun, 2x Meltaguns
- Chimera : Turret Mulit Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Heavy Weapons Team : 105 : 3x Lascannons

Veteran Spec Ops : 80 : Shotguns all round, 2x Flamers
(Join Hades Breaching Drill)

FAST ATTACK
Banewolf : 130 : Hull Heavy Bolter

Scout Sentinels : 80 : 2x Sentinels with Autocannons

HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ Executioner : 230 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Flamer

Manticore : 160 : Hull Heavy Flamer

Hydra Squadron : 150 : 2x Hydra, Hull Heavy Bolters


Let me know your thoughts!

Armies - Execute that turret!

Its done! ...well, nearly. I think I might have to give the plasma a little more white highlighting, and the viewports aren't painted either - though I'm not sure what colour to do them (I'm thinking black at the minute - highlighted with Charadon Granite in order to keep the colour palette I've been using up to now).

The tanks hull is well on it's way too... But I'll save that for when I've finished the thing completely. I'm still waiting for the English summer to decide it wants to stop raining... I have spraying to do!

Armies - Chimera chip details

Okay, so I have been working and practicing further with the Chimera. Having sponged Charadon Granite onto the model (concentrating on open corners and moving areas), and given the model an overall wash, I had to go back over and highlight the paint chip effect. This gives the impression of depth... as if the paint literally has chipped and flaked away leaving the base colour or metal showing a few milimetres behind it. Of course, highlighting every chip and scratch would be too laborious, so I concentrating in certain areas and made sure to highlight the lower edge (because light comes from above!) See what you think.

Armies - Breaching Progress!

I have been working on all my tanks (mostly all at the same time too) and I've got some images of the current state of the Hades Breaching Drill.

Since the last post here, it has had a wash using Army Painter Quickshade and some highlighting on the chipping as well as a series of heavy weathering washes. The idea, mostly because I am one to get distracted easily, is to use a combination of quick methods to help make the model look good! So, despite looking through the Forge World Masterclass book in great detail, I've skipped labourious techniques in favour of speedier alternatives.

There is a little more weathering detail to do and neaten up... I don't hink I will be doing any transfers on this thing, and I of course need to finish up with a matt varnish to seal everything in and matt out the shading wash.

It's nearly done though...

Armies - Guard Tank Progress

So, the two Hydras, one Chimera and the Hades have been given their shading wash. I think that it has worked with mixed success. Some areas look really good, and other areas could have used a little more care and control.

The quickshade wash does darken the overall look of the vehicles significantly, even though I was careful not to overload it. Oddly, it does seem to bring out the armour paint chip detailing a bit more as you can see in the first image - the well worn Hydra rear.

The shot of the top of the Chimera (above) shows the mixed effect when applied to flat armour. As you would expect, there is a degree of variation in colour. This is better than test done with the GW wash, as there is pretty much no tide marking. To be fair, the colour variation can actually be a nice touch to give a worn and well used look to otherwise flat plates.

The stowage bits have received a re-highlighting since this image, and I still need to give the armour it's own highlighting. I try going at it with a fine highlight of desert yellow, including highlighting up the paint chips to add more definition to them.

However, it is in the finer details that the wash really makes a difference. As you can see, it clings convincingly to the details, picking out rivets and joins between armour plates etc. You can really see the shine in this picture, but it's nothing that a coat of matt varnish won't get rid of.

Before that though, the gloss varnishing should actually make the next stage of weathering a bit easier. Again, I'm going to cut corners on that bit... this morning I tested out a weathering wash. I'll be able to see the results when I get home from work! (Fingers crossed!)

Oh, and of course, we have a comparison shot so you can see the difference in size between the Hades and a Chimera.

Armies - Hydras get a wash!

Hello all, progress is being made on the army list, as found here and the painting plan is basically being made on the go! To be fair there is a rough idea, though as we all know, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

Last time I showed you initial progress on the Hades Breaching Drill, which included work on the metal parts using Boltgun Metal over Charadon Granite. This time I'm going to show you the progress on the Hydra conversions - but more exactly, the wash that I will be using on all of the vehicles! The Hydras have had a Desert Yellow spray base.

The "Quickshade", made by Army Painter and for all intents and purposes is a varnish. The shading effects this gives are really quite good, and have the added advantage of giving a varnished finish which is great for applying transfers following the wash.

The pictures here show you that the wash does change the tint of the armour colour, adding a richness of tone as well as providing seemless shading. You do have to be particularly careful not to wash too much over areas, as otherwise it can pool but if you keep a keen eye on it as it starts to dry then you can get at bits to adjust things early.

I haven't started the wash on the main body of the Hydras yet, you might be able to make out that they still need some additional base colours applied first - such as a Boltgun drybrush onto the tracks, and I'm thinking a Catachan Green onto the Jerry Cans.

The downside with this wash is that it doesn't half take a long time to dry fully. It's going to be 12 hours before it is dry, and 24 hours before it is fully hardened. At which point I will be able to work on top of it.

Armies - Hades Breaching Drill

You may have seen my recent post with my 1750pt Imperial Guard Army list. In it there is a Hades Breaching Drill, which is a model that I have loved the look of since it was released. As the tournament I am going to allows Forge World items I thought this was the perfect excuse to buy one! That, and I somehow managed to convince my wife that this would make a great Fathers Day present!

I was straight on the phone to Forge World and within a few days the drill arrived! Within even less time the parts were all cleaned up and put together (I have to say that this was a very simple model to build that came in fewer parts than I was imagining). I primed and base sprayed the kit as can be seen in these images, using Army Painter Desert Yellow spray (bought online from Triple Helix Wargames) and followed this with some heavy chipping / weathering of Charadon Granite applied with a sponge. I figure the model needed quite heavy paint damage to represent the trouble it goes through during drilling!

Not only is this a cool looking model that will work well in games of 40K, but it can also make a nice detail for gaming board terrain. This is perfectly showcased here on the "recalcitrantdaze" blog! Rictus has also converted some amazing looking mining machinery, equipment & terrain so be sure to take a look through related posts!

Rules for this little beast can be found in Imperial Armour Apocalypse II (and also in the free to download Siege Regiment Army List). Because you use a large template to represent it's arrival I have decided to fashion a 12cm (5") crater exactly for this purpose. Lucky for me I saw that I can buy this in a set from Amera Mouldings for a VERY reasonable price (Amera is also located within the Resources tab on the left). It has been ordered (along with another little something!) and you can expect item reviews in the near future.

Aside from this, painting is going to continue on the Hades and you will be updated as it goes!

Armies - 1750pt Imperial Guard List

Okay, so, as you may have read, I have been busy trying to get together my Imperial Guard army for an upcoming 40k Tournament organsed through the forum 40kOnline. Details of this tournament, taking place place on August the 21st 2011 can be found here.




Unfortunately this means that terrain building itself is taking a bit of a back seat - though the ever constant research continues of course, along with sporadic bidding on various ebay items which I think could be useful!
However, in order to keep you fed with hobby fixes I have decided to post about the army here, and I will compile any army posts together into the Armies page.

The one day, four game friendly get together is baing played with 1750pt armies, and it just so happens that the list I have written contains mostly all of the models that hadn't been touched by a paint brush!

Typical!

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For those who are interested, here is the list:

HQ
Salamander Command : 55 : 2x Heavy Bolters
(Rules in Imperial Armour Vol:1 Update)

ELITES
Battle Psyker Squad : 155 : Overseer & 8 Psykers
- Chimera : Turret Multi Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Hades Breaching Drill : 50
(Rules in Imperial Armour Apocalypse II)

TROOPS
Platoon Command Squad : 105 : Officer with Melta Bombs, 2x Flamers, 2x Vets with Laspistol & CCW
- Chimera : Turret Multi Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Platoon Squad Alpha : 120 : Grenade Launcher, Autocannon
- Chimera : Turret Multi Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Platoon Squad Bravo : 120 : Grenade Launcher, Autocannon
- Chimera : Turret Heavy Bolter & Hull Heavy Bolter

Veteran Squad Charlie : 145 : Sergeant with Shotgun, 2x Meltaguns
- Chimera : Turret Mulit Laser & Hull Heavy Flamer

Veteran Spec Ops A : 90 : Shotguns all round, 2x Meltaguns

Veteran Spec Ops B : 80 : Shotguns all round, 2x Flamers

FAST ATTACK
Vendetta : 130 : 3x Twin Linked Lascannons

Vendetta : 130 : 3x Twin Linked Lascannons

HEAVY SUPPORT
Leman Russ Executioner : 230 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Flamer

Leman Russ : 190 : Plasma Cannon Sponsons, Hull Heavy Bolter

Hydra Squadron : 150 : 2x Hydra, Hull Heavy Bolters

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Just in case you weren't keeping count, there are 12 tanks in the force, not including the Hades Breaching Drill (which whilst not technically a Tank can actually still ram and tank shock!)

The general idea is that I have a love affair with tanks, and guns. The list works on the principle that there is too much that you want, and need, to kill! Target the heavy hitters and the scoring troops will be left unscathed. Get at the Chimeras and the other stuff will blow you up, and once you finally do kill Chimeras, the chaps inside are totting some substantial firepower of their own!

The units throughout offer a degree of flexibility, with either one (or both) of the unmounted vets able to be assigned to the Hades... with the other being able to jump into a vendetta. The second vendetta also means that the Platoon Command can choose to mount up and shoot off with the Spec Ops vets for order issuing etc.

Comments on this list are more than welcome, though unless someone comes up with something extraordinary I wouldn't bank on me changing much as I have been slaving away at building, detailing and now painting basically everything!

I will post pictures up of current work in progress shots as they go if anyone is interested, and in any case you can see an incomplete list of what I need to do here and keep up to date by following progress here