Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Space Hulk Mission 1: Suicide

Last Monday Night I arrived at Little Max's house to begin our inaugural game of Space Hulk! My valiant opponent Little Max checks over the rules before we kick off our game. As you might be able to tell from our models lack of assembly we pretty much got the game underway as quick as possible!



















As it was his kit he took the Space Marines first and I was the Genestealers. After a fairly generic setup with Lorenzo in the lead followed By Scipio and of course the Zael with the Heavy Flamer Little Max makes a run for it turning a marine and setting him to overwatch to guard his rear. Mean while the blips close in......















Sergeant Lorenzo is taken out by a generstealer hidden behind that door! (this is before we knew the Power Sword rules more indepth)















As Aliens plays in the background we get an eerie visitor from the film.....















After the Sergeant is gone the genestealer lunges into the Heavy Flamer specialist Zael.















And deftly takes him out!!!















The other Marines lacking the leadership of Lorenzo and knowing their mission is lost are wiped out to a man! The Hulk still swarms with Genestealers with the danger of them launching infected lifepods across the sector something must be done!















My turn as the Marines to follow! Let's hope I do Better!!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Mr Smiggle's Very Busy Day - Part Deus

Hi guys,

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past few days but it's been kinda hectic and my net went down which has only just been resolved today.

So Monday night Little Max and I rented Aliens, gathered at his house and clipped out the key players for Mission 1: Suicide. First he played through as the Marines and then we swapped roles. Not surprisingly the marines lost both times but I was pretty close to taking it out as I foolishly ran to take out the objective rather than just sitting back and flaming the hallway and whittling down the genestealers numbers as I hadn't yet used my flamethrower! Silly mistake!

Tuesday I found my missing hobby bag with my hobby supplies!!!

Wednesday night we met again to play through Mission 2: Extermination. Again Little Max played Marines first as he had actually read the rules cover to cover in preparation for our game.

Thursday I met with Dan Payne who's currently living in Melbourne but was up for the week to visit friends and family. We met up at Chatswood Gw for some quality hobby but spent most of our time talking, talking about Space Wolves and checking out their shiny new 'dex and catching up and all of our Friday Night Crew met up for dinner and we met Matt's brand new son for the first time! :D

Friday we headed into the Gw City Store and I got my paint on for the first time in ages! (pictures to follow soon, I'm without a camera for a few days) I realised how poorly I am painting at the moment due to the lack of practise! So I'm trying to hold out until the end of October so I can really get stuck into painting but will keep working on a model here or there to try and remember what I'm doing. Then Dan and I played Mission 1 in the Store and I won as Marines! Noctis is really notching up a kill count! Then we went to Will's place for Space Hulk, Videos games, chatting and a nice dinner out! I didn't play any Space Hulk at Will's but acted as an unofficial Space Hulk rulebook as it seemed like I had the most experience as everyone was busily assembling their Space Hulk before we arrived.

Saturday whilst waiting for my girlfriend to finish her new uni course I went to the City store to do some painting. Whilst there I randomly ran into Kyle M and saw some of his amazing entries for the Games Day UK and some of his "crap" stuff that "wasn't good enough for uk" and is so going to be entered into GD Oz. I also met his friend Steve who also had amazing painting skills and has only been painting for about 4 years! You might remember his Golden Daemon entries from last year which now feature on the promotional poster for this year's Golden Daemon Oz. These two guys have some amazing painting skills and it was amazing to get to hold these models I had seen and admired for some time. They are both really great guys and were helping out those of us who ran to them for advice and it was great to pick the minds of such great painters and see their work in progress as they plan out future entries.

Golden Daemon 2008 Australia - Open Category - Silver - Kyle Morgan













Golden Daemon 2008 UK - Diorama - Gold - Kyle Morgan













Golden Daemon 2008 Australia - Warhammer 40,000 Medium Miniature - Silver - Steve Guo













Golden Daemon 2008 Australia - Open Category - Bronze - Steve Guo













As Kyle is going to be starting a Space Wolf army for tabletop use when he returns from the UK and France I am hopefully going to get to paint some Space Wolves along side him to improve my painting and learn some more advanced techniques such as damage to their armour. This is something I'm really looking forward to after uni is over as I hope this will really push my painting to a higher level. In preparation I want to try and get in as much practise as possible to at least get my painting back to where it was or to a reasonable level. I figure I will try and imitate his models to the best of my abilities to make sure I don't try and cut corners and so make sure I really push myself. I'm currently thinking I will make this army with Kyle and then I might make another one based on the 13th Company. This will give me another chance to practise what I have learnt and give me two armies with different playing styles. I also really love the 13th Company but am currently thinking of doing one of the other Wolf Lords to begin with based on their history in the codex.

Best of Luck to Kyle in the UK Golden Daemon and French Ravage Mix Open!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The Next Next Step



Check out this video from Beasts of War featuring everyone's favourite Popular Corridor Space Game Foam Kit. After our inaugural game of Space Hulk, Little Max and I are gathering some mates to split the postage with so we can keep our hot new Space Hulk's safe.

Space Wolf Sprues!!

I was going to regale you all with my heroic tales of Space Hulk from last night but instead I'll give you this.
Once I download my Space Hulk Photos I'll put them up.

In the mean time Live From Games Workshop International Its:

An Interior Shot From The Codex!!














With Special Guest Star: The Space Wolf Sprue!!!

Monday, September 7, 2009

The Wolftime Approaches Even Closer!!

These come from Big Jim's Space Wolf Blog and originally from Rabianegra at Warseer but I couldn't resist having them on my own blog if for no other reason than for me to stare lovingly at them....












































































Bonus points for naming the characters correctly as well as spotting all the cool bitz and pieces!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

The Wolftime Approaches

The Next Step

Well the next thing I need to pick up is two of these sets.













I was worried about how I was going to store the Space Hulk minis as they are so dynamic I doubted that I could fit them into a normal case safely. I probably could if I cut out about half the foam but that kinda kills the whole purpose of the foam for protection.

I was thinking that since I would definitely get two of these sets that at the same time I might get some of the foam protection for my Imperial Guard army.
I think the 432 and the 216 look to be the best sizes for me as the 1520 seems crazy huge!! And I can always get one later on... maybe for apoc and baneblade needs as they arise.

I like the idea of using the 216 for transportation of my specialist game armies, like Blood Bowl, Necromunda and hopefully my upcoming Flames of War army. Whilst I will use the 432 for my Imperial Guard and other similar sized armies with unique needs. I still have a number of Gw cases that ill use but i hate the idea of just cutting half the foam out of them to use them as it can really weaken the foam especially when it comes to tanks, etc removing the base layer of foam. I may even get one just to transport my vehicles in as the Space Marines and Guard have some pretty unique shapes that these guys seemed to have catered for fairly well.

Now my biggest problem is waiting for my tax return to come in and deciding what I will need in the case?
I need some Valks, Russes and Chimeras/Trucks along with my troops and heavy weapons....
Ill have to figure it out over the next few days.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Mr Smiggle's Very Busy Day

I was up late last night doing some work on the computer and getting my blog in order. I'm now a part of both the BoLS blogger Group and the FTW blog group as these have been two of the best ways for me to find blogs myself.

After about 4 and a half hours sleep I had to get up and go to the city with my girlfriend for her new university course (starting on a saturday) and getting a few last minute supplies for her friends wedding (at which she i a bridesmaid and I was "uninvited!"). Then after getting her to the bride's house I got to go on my merry way to Chatswood GW to pick up my two shiny new copies of SPACE HULK....

I got suckered into buying the $8 novel by Gav Thorpe, but it should be a fun if not short read :)














Anyway at the end of the day I had:
Two Copies of Space Hulk
A Space Hulk Novel
A Water Pot
Four paints to start trying out some guard schemes
White Dwarf so I can read all about Space Hulk
And was added to the Two Blog Rolls I wanted to.

so after only 4 and a half hours sleep a pretty good day was had!! :D

Ultramarine 4th Company

Oh No!!

These 4th Company Ultramarines totally put me to shame!!

Maybe I'll paint one or two of mine in their scheme and see how they look?
But there is no way I can pull off that great looking freehand work and detail!!

Check them out! They're amazing!

Tandarian Imperial Guard

Hey guys. I need your help!!!

Which colour scheme should I paint my Cadian Imperial Guard?
So far I have asked four guys and gotten four different answers...


So my army is to be a force from Tandaris which was featured in a series of Australian White Dwarf Articles. It was three battle reports set on the planet of Tandaris where the Vostroyans (with later Daemonhunter Forces) take on the local populace who have been turned Traitor by a daemon plague. As I needed a theme for my Cadian based guard models and I love the Vostroyans and wanted an army a little different from the other Cadians, since most regimental numbers seem to be taken :D , this seemed like a logical and fun choice!

My Tandarian Force isn't fully planned out yet but I know that...

They are a mainly urban force (as to fit in with my Cityfight Vostroyans)
The bases will be loose dirt or rubble possibly with snow? (nothing too fancy)
They will be equipt with Trucks and Halftracks to replace Chimeras and Hydras; ala Dave Taylor Miniatures


So the four colour schemes are....

Dave Taylor's 144th Cadians - Found here











Simon Brown's Cerberus VII Regiment - Found Here and Here











Luther Blisset's Heron Hounds - Found Here and Here













King's Standard Bearer's Cadian VIII Veteran Sergeant - Found Here - New Update Here!



















So which colour scheme do you think looks best or is best for the army I have described?
We are solely judging on colour schemes not paint jobs or conversions as I'm sure I won't be able to do anywhere near as good a job as these guys have done. I've left the poll open for 100 days to try and get as many responses as possible but I'll probably get going on these a bit earlier as I'm dying to get some painting happening!!

edit: Ok after some input from Dave Taylor I've adjusted the poll to around 50 days, ending on my birthday. Also Uni ends just after that so I should be able to kick them off soon after that. Assuming I don't get taken away by The Beast Within....

As I develop and clarify the fluff for my Tandarian Forces I'll let you guys know as it develops. I'm still not sure whether to make them a PDF or a raised guard unit?? Possibly the last unit raised as the planet was consumed by the plague virus... Thoughts? Comments?