Friday, March 19, 2010

Incursion Order Arrives!

Hey guys,

Just a quick one here. Yesterday Cliff and I were working on magnetising our Valkyries so that not only did it have interchangeable weapon options but a removable roof (so I can paint the interior) and magnetised doors. We've got a few cool ideas but need to get a hold of some smaller magnets to continue.

So the other day I went down to the Post Office to pick up my Pre-Ordered copy of Incursion!! Well both copies of them :D

I got the resin doors and bases with them and Max has just ordered some as well so there's some creepy WWZ action headed our way soon. In other news they've just posted pictures of the greens of the new MI-13. I'm looking forward to these guys and will be keepoing a closer eye on the Incursion Blog.














After taking the photo it did seem to be a bit of a product shot but honestly that's my cutting mat!!

In other news Jason seems to be talking about my Armoured Sentinels we were discussing last Saturday and he gave me a hand to further tweak my list so I'm pretty happy with it!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Yet More New Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard!

Hey there Bloggers,

Well I made it into the City Store again today wrote up a 1750pt list for my Tandarian Imperial Guard army with some help from Jason and got to work on a few more Sanguinary Guard. I'll post up my 1750pt Guard list in the next few days as I'm sure this is of more importance to many of you!

So I've now gotten four Sanguinary Guard built!































The Banner Bearer under construction. When building this one the left arm actually uses a "standard" shoulder pad rather than the angelic one as otherwise the shoulder pad clashes with the wing. This one almost caused me some strife but I was able to fix it before it had dried.














He didn't turn out to bad I think. The banner itself has a great amount of detail and would work well with minor adjustments for Successor Chapters or Dark Angels.














This guy had a few of his pieces already chosen so I had to use some of the pieces already clipped and cleaned but I think it's a great model with a pretty rad pose.































I'm just wondering what I can use these guys for in the armies I'm working on as I'm sure I'll end up getting a box or two of them.

Friday, March 12, 2010

New Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard Models!

Well this afternoon the order came into the City Store so I asked the manager of the store "Is there any combination of words which would convince you to let me build some of the new Blood Angels?" His response was that as long as I made them look cool and checked out the codex to make sure they were a field-able unit. I said I would make them cool to which he added one last proviso: I had to remove every mould line.

Since he is a huge Blood Angels fan I could understand his thinking and so I went to work. I'm pleased to say like the Space Wolves sprues I have been working with lately these models have much reduced mould lines compared to other similar models and in some places I couldn't even find where the mould line was. As such it didn't take me as long as it may have but these models are intense!! A "standard" Sanguinary Guard model consists of 14 pieces with the new jump pack and wings being the most difficult/fiddle-some pieces. But they are well worth the effort!














When you're assembling some of these guys attach the hand into the Angelus Boltgun arm before attaching the arm to the body as it will make life a fair bit simpler. Also attach the large winged shoulder pad to the left arm before attaching the right arm as certain Close Combat weapon arms get in the way of this if it hasn't been attached already. The left shoulder pads have an amazing amount of detail on them and look great but make sure to dry fit first as it can be a bit fiddle-some especially if you have already attached the Jump Pack (Do this last!!)

Finally the Awesome Wings have a relatively small connection point so when you first attach them make sure to hold it for longer than you normally would as otherwise they can sag slightly or can be easily knocked out of position (especially by all those eager fans clamouring to have a look at the models. Ben was picking the model up and looking at it after I attached every piece. Talk about pressure!)


















So I built the Power Fisted Sanguinary Guard and a "standard" one (like anything about them is standard or average). I really like the single (bloodied I'm sure) tear drop coming from the Death Mask of the Power Fist Marine. Those Death Masks are certainly cool in my opinion and make the squad a little eerie.





































I feel pretty luck to have gotten a chance to build some of these Awesome models before the release so if you have any questions about them leave me a comment or give me a bell and I'll do my best to answer them. I had been hoping to resist the new Blood Angels as I want to finish at least some of my current projects/armies but it looks like that's a slim hope of happening.

But one of my friends put it well since: "technically they are space marines so it's not a NEW army just a different colour." I wonder if I can get away with that. Oh well, enjoy!

Mr Smiggle's Very Busy Day

After a ridiculously early start after a late night I headed into the City Store for some Hobby goodness and actually had quite a productive day! I have a bit of a back log of posts that I need to put up but this one was a bit more urgent and I've decided to intersperse the older posts with the current stuff so I'm not forever catching up!

So Firstly I painted a test mini for my Space Wolves army! It only took me about an hour and a half with chatting and stuff so that's fairly quick for me (batch painting is quicker obviously). I'm looking to do Engir Krakendoom's Great Company first and wanted his shoulder pad background to be an oceanish colour without being too blue or clashing with the colour scheme. Again it's a pretty quick job for me so I'm not entirely happy with it but it's decent enough.


















I tried the same glaze trick with him as I use on my Ultramarines but the paint had separated before it had finished drying whilst on the model!! It's funny how it separates out so quick so I abandoned that idea and tried it with the wash but again.... fail. So I touched up the legs in a bit of a rush so they might not look as smooth as the rest of the mini.



































I think he's identifiable as a Grey Hunter of the Space Wolves right??
Comments? Criticism? Improvements?
Anyone actually know how to paint power armour as I can't seem to get the hang of it?

In other news I finished assembling four more Ultramarines. Again not a huge accomplishment for most people but since I agonise over my models so much more than a sane person would it takes me much longer. All I have to do on these guys is to do some green stuff work for the tactical arrows and sand the base and they are ready for an undercoat.














As if this wasn't enough check out my last post for what I got done in the arvo!! (other than have a chat to my mates and help out with a game or two)

Monday, March 8, 2010

1750 Logan Grimnar vs Iron Hand Straken Battle Report - part 2

Ok, so when we last left off Tim had just finished his first turn and had only been able to slow my Land Raider down a bit. The two drop pods containing Wolf Guard Terminators with Frost Axes and Storm Shields thundered through the atmosphere and slammed into the battlefield landing around the main building containing Tim's army but both drop pods suffered from a major scatter. The first almost pinned the Land Raider between the edge of the table and terrain and the second one almost ended up off the table! The Space Wolves were out of range to flame anyone and I obviously couldn't charge, but I forgot that I could move them as normal gaining some valuable cover!!














Turn two came and Tim opened fire upon my Terminator units using his orders to good effect he decimated them! No where had I rolled so many 1's before in a cluster resulting in a drop pod exploding and having one Terminator from that unit survive the hail of fire directed at him. The other unit weren't so lucky and were wiped from the table with it's drop pod remaining in play. (at least for now...)


















The one remaining Space Wolf was facing some pretty heavy odds. He conducted himself well but was swiftly dealt with by the guard platoon command and commisar in close combat. After slaying every man around the Commissar he was felled in combat by the Commissar.














The rest of the turn Tim just focussed his fire upon the Land Raider (with an assist from Jason) again failing to do it any harm....














Logan and the Devastators finally decided it was time to jump into the fray and Logan gave the devastators relentless as they focussed the fire from four multimeltas upon the nearest tank failing to do it any harm..... Meanwhile the attached Wolf Guard had fired his Plasma Pistol at a nearby guard unit using the Long Fang Leader's ability allowing them to be charged by the Long Fangs.














After Logan single handedly wiped out the squad he and the Long fangs followed up near the building hoping to avoid the worst of the tank fire. Meanwhile in the background the Wolf Scouts had snuck on behind the khaki building and fired at the side armour of a Leman Russ with a meltagun from mere inches away failing to penetrate the heavy armour of such an austere machine. They paid for such folly with their lives as the Storm Troopers occupying a nearby building (the tall central ruin) slayed all bar two Wolves.


















After a fierce bombardment by heavy shells and plasma blasts (5 infact!) Logan's survivors headed into the ruin to take the guard on face to face. Hearing of the tales of Straken Logan charges the other Command unit hoping to shut down their orders and improve his chances against Straken. Meanwhile the Land Raider makes a run at the Leman Russ Executioner hoping to crack its hull with a ramming action. The two tanks grind to a halt against each others hulls with no damaged sustained by either tanks or crew.














The Firestorm cannons bathed the Lascannon crews in cleansing flame and two teams were immediately burnt to cinders putting the fear of the God-Emperor into Tim over the power of the unstoppable Land Raider and causing him to focus fire upon it only removing one Firestorm cannon. Again Logan quickly felled any resistance and was out of combat faster than he had joined it. Meanwhile the Veterans had disembarked from the Valkyrie conveniently lining up in such a manner as to entice a nice template.....














In the distance the last of the Wolf Scouts are cut down by heavy shelling after finishing off the rest of the guard infantry in the region. Yet still those Storm Troopers were bunkered down in that central ruin avoid my guns to deny me a Kill Point.


















The final drop pod finally arrived with a shudder and the Heavy Flamer immediately went to work on the veterans covering all bar one with his promethium blast! The Firestorm cannon added in it's weight and only three veterans stood as the ashes settled.














The guardsmen figured it better to flee than to face the wrath of the Great Wolf and fired upon his companions felling his last two retainers. The full weight of the Tanks of the Imperium were brought to bear upon the newly arrived Space Wolves and their drop pod again wiping them out even with cover saves and the flanking protection of a Tank!














Logan having become bored of his companions strode out to meet the enemy receiving a shot to the face from a Lascannon for his troubles only saved by his grit and eternal warrior skill. The Land Raider was finally showing signs of fatigue as all three primary weapon systems were damaged leaving only a previously forgotten about storm bolter to hold off the enemy with.














After wiping out the guardsmen Logan pulled back to the relative safety of the ruins and as it was the end of turn 5 I rolled to see if the game continued and my luck with the dice continued rolling a "1" and the game ended. Since Tim had already won I wanted Logan to reclaim some of his glory and see just how long the Land Raider would last against such odds.














Logan was felled somewhere in turn 6 from a shot to the back from a sentinel and the Land Raider was finnaly destroyed on the 9th turn of shooting at it!















So a defeat, not a terrible one but a defeat none the less. It was an awesome game to play just before heading off to my first tournament (although for a different games system) and Tim and I had a great deal of fun. Definitely a guy I would play again and we were only prevented from a rematch there and then by his needing to go to work shortly there after. If anything this game taught me the strength of a Land Raider and the power of what I had previously perceived as the "weakest" option thinking the Redeemer was some sort of sickly younger brother rather than the anvil it is simultaneously striking out flaming death to those near it.

Seriously gotta get me one of those.....

p.s. how hot are those new Blood Angels! I was hoping not to fall in love with another new army but it's not looking good.

Friday, March 5, 2010

1750 Logan Grimnar vs Iron Hand Straken Battle Report - part 1

Hi happy bloggers,

Well the last few weeks have been pretty hectic with my first tournament, job interviews, forgeworld and hobby. But first to my re-entry into 40k.

After talking to my friend Todd about his Space Wolf army he insisted that I play a game with them then and there to check them out and see how they play. Luckily Tim was after a game for his Imperial Guard army lead by none other than Old Iron Hand Straken himself.














Firstly let me apologise for the quality of the images. The bunker doesn't have the best lighting conditions and I had left my camera on the wrong settings, but trust me these are the best from a bad bunch!

So the army I used was based around Logan Grimnar's Great Company. Everything is pretty clear from this photo I think with the only exception being to the scouts who had two meltaguns instead of plasma pistols. This army was also accompanied by three drop pods and a Land Raider Redeemer.














Tim's Army was a fairly balanced build around Old Iron Hand with a few tanks, veterans and storm troopers for good measure.














We rolled up an Annihilation mission which could prove tricky for the pups since there were just so many guardsmen to take down! Deployment saw Tim deploying his forces first and taking first turn. As per the battle plan Todd told me to run with I only deployed the Land Raider denying Tim free shots at my army. Man had we both underestimated the strength of the Land Raider Redeemer!














Tim threw everything he had at that sucker and it kept shrugging everything off! Even with all of his orders going off he still couldn't put down the Land Raider. What a beast!

As I'm late for a hobby appointment and my computer is being a jerk I'll post the next instalment tomorrow.

Also check out my poll for "Fleet in a Week" and let me know what you think about how I should paint my BFG Fleet!