Stormraven

So what are our thoughts? I've seen some pretty amazing conversions out there and am wondering if I'll go the same route or not when it comes time for it.

Wow, Also I'm Back.

Check out the Dream Forge Games' Leviathan Mortis here!

Quick Update

Hey guys,

Just a quick update here as there hasn't been much hobby happening the last few days (mainly through work, fitness and everyone having their birthday, except for me!) Just thought I would post up two things of note I found.

Firstly an Awesome Custom Space Hulk Board. Max and I have been discussing doing one of these but I don't see it happening anytime soon but this one is pretty inspiring!







Secondly I've come across Tasty Brains Gaming as being a good Oz based hobby supplier for such things as Battlefoam which otherwise are pretty pricey for the shipping when you live down this part of the world.

They are currently running a painting competition for some free booty for those hobbyists living in Oz and Nz so give them a look. I know I'll be giving them a try after a few paycheques come in!

Which Army Should I Do in Preperation for 8th Ed??

Hey there Bloggers,

Sorry for the distinct lack of posts at the moment but I've been fairly busy as the house is being painted, I'm going to the gym and for runs trying to get myself fit again, I've just graduated and the job I'm currently applying to has a pretty involved application process. I have been squeezing in some hobby and the Tandarian Army is starting to progress as I have been working on around 26 Guardsmen through their first few stages of painting. Once I have finished a few I'll make sure to post some pictures. And Fleet in a Week is just waiting for Max to jump on board (no pun there I promise)


















Meanwhile I'm torn....
8th Edition is only a few short weeks away and I'm always missing out on games at the start of new Editions and Codex launches. I've heard a bunch of the rumours just like everyone else and it's kinda pointless speculating too much until we get the book in our hands and play that sucker through. But to do so you need an army and although Skaven started me off in the hobby I've only ever played with a small Wood Elf Army which isn't finished and that was some time ago.

So the Question is... What army should I get ready for 8th??
Sure it WON'T be finished (I'm not deluded) but at least I'll have a decent start to the army and if I focus on building then maybe I can get some smaller games happening to begin with.

Skaven

Empire

Vampire Counts

All three have strong reasons and I'm pretty excited by all three at the moment and can give you big background stories to each of the armies (which I will do over the next few weeks) But the question is which one?? Poll in the usual position to be open until one month before the launch of 8th. I may break and start doing a bit of hobby in each until the poll closes but if one is clearly winning from early on I may just get a start on it!

Thanks Bloggers and I will document the process of this army much more closely as your reward for helping me to decide!!

My First Tournament! Day One, Part One

Hey there guys,

I found a few blog entries unpublished and half finished as I was having computer troubles at the time and was unable to upload images so I'll finish them off and put them up. Apologies for the lateness.

Well I survived my first official tournament, Clash of the Titans run by the Cherrybrook Tech Adepts! I entered in Blood Bowl taking a Human Team with my only practise being a few games on the xbox. Although they were unpainted I had stayed up all night writing lists, printing off rules and filing and gluing models as to not miss the getting to bed at 3am before a 7am wake up experience. Max came along with me for the fun of it and to act as a chauffeur to my sleep deprived body for the Saturday.

I played three games on the Saturday and two on the Sunday. I had a heap of fun and met some really great guys there who were all really accepting of me as a new player and gave me a bunch of hints and tips along the way which was really awesome of them!

On to the match ups!!

First off my Middenheim Marauders!! and my freshly bought Blood Bowl dice kindly supplied by my local NAF representative!! (who happened to be my second opponent?)

As you can see I have gone for a sleek pewter just out of the box look but I labelled them as to make it easier for everyone as to who is who. It was a 1.1 million resurrection league so I played with:

1: Lineman with Strip Ball

2: Lineman with Strip Ball

3: Lineman with Block

4: Lineman with Block

5: Lineman

6: Blitzer with Block and Tackle

7: Blitzer with Block and Tackle

8: Blitzer with Block and Strip Ball

9: Catcher with Catch, Dodge and Block

10: Catcher with Catch and Dodge

11: Thrower with Sure Hands, Pass and Accurate

12: Thrower with Sure Hands, Pass and Leader

with two extra Re-Rolls (three all up including the Leader skill)

Game One: Dwarves

This was actually Mike the Tourney Organiser playing as a bye-buster and he wrote this list up right before we kicked off. Considering it wasn't his team he did well to get them up and running so quickly.

His list was 2 Troll Slayers both with Mighty Blow

2 Blitzers with Guard

A Thrower with Leader

6 Blockers (1 with Kick and 1 with Guard)

and 3 Re-rolls

I grabbed a few photos as the games went along but didn't want to slow things down too much so there isn't a complete coverage unfortunately.

First Turn, First Half, First Game: Injury....

As you can see things can change very quickly on the Blood Bowl Pitch in one turn. This wasn't going to be an easy game. Unsurprisingly Mike's Team raked up the highest number of casualties. He managed to put down 18 players and suffer only 6 in response which was quite impressive!

You can see here an attempted 1 turn touchdown as I finally forced Mike to score to give myself a chance but the Kick Off table wasn't kind to me this time. (there's a chance for an extra turn!)

I'm actually pretty happy with the ball turnaround and getting men into the spaces they needed to be but the buzzer went right after this play so no chance for the TD. (Touchdown)

Second Half: After a quick snap and push back by my front row I had the ball in my end zone and a catcher in his.

After a bit of running and some nice long passing I had the ball here about 6 squares from a nice TD!!

Not too shabby for a newbie if I do say so. Unfortunately I'm not yet a staller and able to hold out the defence like the other guys and so put the ball down over the line (rather than loose it) and try for a quick turn around but against Dwarves, that wasn't happening. Pretty sure he put another one down against me here.

Result: Loss 2:1

Fantasy Game Changer and Update

Well Bloggers,

It looks like we'll be seeing a new edition of Fantasy this July!


















So the real question is which army to work on!

A bit of house keeping....
Little Max and were planning on doing Fleet in a Week were we build and paint up the beginnings of our Battlefleet Gothic armies but unfortunately the Forge World order has been held up so we won't be starting it until Max receives his fleet from forgies.

Looking at the poll the Space Wolves and Salamanders have come in pretty close to each other with the Ultramarines loosing their early lead. As such I think I will paint my fleet in Space Wolves colours and probably add in a few Salamander Battle Barges for fun!

In other news hobby has been fairly slow the last few weeks due to hectic work and finishing up uni requirements but I am hoping to get some done in the coming weeks. Until then some games of Incursion should keep Max and I going.

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!

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.

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)

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.

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!

Of Space Wolves and Middenheimers

Hi there bloggers,

Just a quick one this time as I have to get to bed to prepare for my inaugural Blood Bowl tournament. (the list is printing right now)

My team is mostly filed so I have 13 models all ready for gluing into their bases with minor greenstuff needed at a later date. Hopefully I have all the positionals I need! Unfortunately I will be using them as an unpainted team and so will have no real chance in the competition so my aims are:

1) to have a heap of fun
2) to get as many sportsmanship points as possible
3) to learn how to play Blood Bowl better!

I'll have my team done for the next tournament I use them in as I like to focus upon Sportsmanship and Painting (as these are where I see my strengths lay). Hopefully I won't be smashed too hard but even just playing a few friendlies with my mates they are going to be brutal to play! So far there are only around 9 players signed up but the guys reacon there are often a number of last minute entries for Blood Bowl so we'll see how we go.

Anyway it looks like I might be a contender for the Wooden Spoon!


In other news I played my first 2010 game of 40k! That's right guys and girls my first game since an Apoc game using Dan's Tau around 8 months ago! I'll tell you all about it after getting some sleep and playing some blood bowl but here's a teaser....

The Grand Annulus - Warlords of the Fang

Hi there Blog followers,

Well I've been busily working away at the Ultramarines with a few Blood Bowl minis in between but I've been doing a bit of thinking about the Wolf Lords of the Space Wolves and since I'm going to do at least three distinct armies/companies of Space Wolves I have been trying to find ways to represent the current Wolf Lords so I can model them/use them in game. Tell me what you think so far and where I can improve or where I have made an oversight. I haven't given them much "extra gear" yet as I haven't yet played with this edition of the codex but suggestions are welcome!


















So following the layout in the codex

Edited: Previous edition below new entry
Edited as per Todd's comments 19/02/2010

Bran Redmaw:
Saga of the Warrior Born
Terminator Armour
Twin Wolf Claws
Belt of Russ
Wolf Tooth Necklace

Saga of the Warrior Born
Terminator Armour
Storm Bolter and Close Combat Weapons
Mark of the Wulfen

Engir Krakendoom:
Saga of the Beastslayer
Terminator Armour
Frost Spear and Storm Shield
Landraider

Saga of the Beastslayer or Iron Wolf
Terminator Armour
Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
Landraider

Erik Morkai:
Saga of the Bear
Frost Blade
Pistol (Silenced as per scouts)
Wolftooth Necklace

Saga of the Hunter
Jump Pack
Twin Wolf Claws
Melta Bombs

Gunnar Red Moon:
Saga of Majesty
Terminator Armour
Wolf Claw and Stormbolter

Saga of the Warrior Born
Terminator Armour
Wolf Claw and Storm Shield

Logan Grimnar:
as per codex

Harald Deathwolf:
Saga of Warrior Born or Wolfkin (as Canis Wolfborn already has Wolfkin)
Thunderwolf Mount
Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
Fenris Wolves

Bjorn Stormwolf:
As a Rune Priest
Saga of the Bear
Runic Armour
Bike
Powerfist

Saga of the Bear
Terminator Armour
Twin Thunder Hammers
Belt of Russ

Egil Iron Wolf:
Saga of the Bear or Iron Wolf
Terminator Armour
Twin Thunder Hammers
Belt of Russ
Land Raider

Saga of the Bear or Iron Wolf
Terminator Armour
Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield
Land Raider

Krom Dragongaze:
Saga of the Majesty
Terminator Armour
Frost Axe and Storm Shield

Saga of the Beastslayer or Majesty
Terminator Armour
Frost Axe

Ragnar Blackmane:
as per codex

Sven Bloodhowl:
Saga of the Bear
Terminator Armour
Combi Flamer and Frost Axe

Kjarl Grimblood:
As a Rune Priest
Saga of Majesty
Terminator Armour
Combi Flamer and Frost Blade
Landraider Redeemer

Saga of Majesty or Iron Wolf
Terminator Armour
Combi Flamer and Frost Blade
Landraider Redeemer

The 13th Company:
Saga of the Bear, Hunter, Warrior Born or Beastslayer
Blackened Armour
Mark of the Wulfen


So obviously they aren't all there yet but comments and ideas would be greatly appreciated!! Any wargear I missed out? Any weapon combos not quite right? Too much Terminator Armour? I'm hoping the guys over at The Space Wolves Blog have a few ideas to throw in!

Also this weekend I compete in my first tournament with a Human Blood Bowl Team after only playing the video game and getting a half against an Undead team that was wiping the floor with me! I'll try and remember to take some photos and report back all the fun we had. I'll try and post again on Saturady even if it's only a quick one. Wish me luck!

Ultramarine Scout Squad

Hi there fellow hobbyists!

Today Little Max and myself headed into the City Store to get some hobby done with around 4 other mates who usually hobby with us at Chatswood Gw. We all had a good time seeing guys we hadn't seen in a while and actually got a decent amount of hobby done (well for us anyway!). So the plan is to head into the city again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as I'm currently doing some conversions for my next Scout Squad and my Terminators. I'll let you guys know a bit more about them once I've made some serious head-way on them as I only really planned them out and started their basing as well as build some heavy weapon marines for my tactical squads today.

Ok here are some picts of my Scouts which I mentioned a little while back which will form my first squad. I still need to a bit of green stuff work on these fellows to give them the Ultramarines symbol on their shoulder pad and to base them but otherwise these babies are done! (Other than some paint maybe)














This is my first Combat Squad in action ready to take on all comers and defend those objectives! Since this photo I have built I think another two Scouts in a similar fashion. Next is to crack out some of the Scouts from the Landspeeder Storm kit to further mix up those units and individualise my marines as well as the conversions I am working on.... As Scouts are a particular love of mine in terms of modelling and background I think I'm willing to sink a bit more time into them than normally. Also I can't seem to stop buying the little blighters, they are in a few of the Battleforce boxes and at only $35/40 a pop whenever I need a hobby fix or have forgotten my models I seem to walk home with a box or two of them and sometimes a scout biker sneaks in there as well.














So first off we have the kick arse Sergeant. As you can see I've done a bit of kit bashing on these guys with parts coming from both scout boxes as well as the scout biker box. The Sergeant also takes his powerfist from the Assault Marines box (of which I have a few for the running legs and previous squad) and it fits in quite well I think. No conversion is needed on it since the shoulder part which would normally supports the shoulder pad once smoothed makes for an excellent scout shoulder pad. His head is from the Scout Biker box but his vox rig didn't seem impressive enough so I replaced it with a brass rod.

My secondary (but really primary) reason and secret shame is I am always worried about these sorts of details being damaged it during gameplay and handling so I replace such parts with brass rods. The model also seems much weightier and sturdy (as absurd as that may sound). Hence why all of my Lord of the Rings models have brass spears.














If you notice carefully the rock he is leaning on is actually a piece of slate from the 40k Basing Kit as I cut out the rock the model was standing on to replace it with a more authentic version which would match those featured on the bases of my other marines. I can not tell you how much bullocking I have gotten over this from a few of my hobby friends pointing out yet again why I am such a slow hobbyist. That's true but to them I say "nuts". I really like how this model turned out and along with the Assault Marine Sergeant he's really a highlight model for me and I think this is how I want all my Sergeants to be, an anchor for the unit both in terms of game play and hobby.














Next are my two shotgun armed Scouts which have been kitted out for action behind enemy lines with the addition of a few cables and body traps. I really like the idea of these guys kicking down doors and clearing rooms in a cityscape and as such gave them some gear so they can do this sort of thing but didn't want to crowd the model with too many extras.

Finally are my two Scouts with bolt pistols and close combat weapons to round out the squad. The second Scout was to actually be a test model but after deciding I was going to give them a chapter symbol I stopped so I could green stuff it on later. Also he didn't get that extra bit of kit so I think I'll need to find something for him.

Although technically not part of this squad I couldn't leave out my heavy bolter Scout! As you can see he has had the same "rock replacement" as my Sergeant has as well as a few casings being ejected from the weapon. Although nervous about the "flying" shell casing I did trim two or three off and so far I haven't had any troubles with him in our travels. Obviously these are taken directly from the Ork Boys box and make the model that bit more dynamic.

Ok so hopefully over the next few days I'll bust out 5 or more converted Scouts and the beginnings of my Assault Terminator squad.

So any comments or thoughts?