Update

I have not posted in some time.

This is due to a couple of reasons, after my last update I spent the rest of September doing almost nothing at all hobby related.  October came along and I started to get back into it, but only slightly.  The gaming group's work schedules got shifted and for a time we were not playing that much.  The last part of October saw me jump back into the Hobby.

I finally, actually ordered and received my casting supplies.  I only need a gram scale and it will be a go to begin casting up my Light Cruiser and the legs for my Rough Riders.  I plan to try to sell the light cruiser to whomever is interested in buying it and scratch building some other Battlefleet Gothic ships and conversions as well.

Last week I was rather ill, but while it was tailing off and I was still away from work I began to work on some Battlefleet Gothic terrain.  I cut out 8 pieces of 3mm plasticard and painted them black.  Four of them I went on to airbrush to be dust clouds and the other four I turned into asteroid fields similar to those I have posted before.

Our group has been playing a lot of BFG lately and last week began a campaign.  I ran out of the charcoal gray craft paint I used on my painted ships some time ago and the stuff I could buy now just does not cover as well as the stuff I got 5 years ago.  So, I mixed up some black and some Vallejo Grey Green to paint my remaining ships.  Tonight I base coated all of the gray and the terra cotta of the prows.  I also added squadron markings to my escorts.  They lead ship has the marking on both side of the prow.  Lastly, I updated my fleet carrier somewhat.  I put it on a large base, added 2 lance turrets to the forward dorsal hard points, added sensors to the prow and underment.  It really looks better than ever before.  Right now I will use it as the Nemesis Fleet Carrier class from one of the old magazine issues.  I feel like it's a bit over-costed, but we shall see.

Now, you may be asking why there are no pictures.  Well, that's because I cannot find my camera.  This makes me sad too.  Hopefully it will be found soon and I can post pictures of all the work I have done and will be doing in the near future.

Contact at 4.5 Million km

Initializing scan data review...
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Reviewing data...
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7 CONTACTS FOUND
Scanner 1: 3 Possible Contacts
Scanner 2: 1 Confirmed Contact
Scanner 3: 2 Probable Contacts
Scanner 4: 1 Probable Contact

Please Select Scanner Data to Review
1  2  [3]  4
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Producing Report...
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Security Clearance Level 4 Required
Please Present Security Key...
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Processing...
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Authorization Granted::Welcome AUSPEX SCRYER VLADIUS

System Defense Station 7::Moranus Sector::Gladius System
SCANNER # 3 IMAGE REPORT
Image#1

Image#2

Please enter your comments for forwarding:[You are accountable for any errors and will be punished accordingly] When you are finished please depress the ENTER key:

VESSEL APPEARS TO BE HUMAN.  PROBABLY OF IMPERIAL DESIGN.  APPEARS TO BE OF FRIGATE CLASS OR SMALLER, BUT NO SMALLER THAN A DESTROYER CLASS.  NO IFF SIGNATURE DETECTED, NOT A NAVY OR FLEET RESERVE VESSEL.  POSSIBLE PIRATE, RENEGADE, ROGUE TRADER, OR DAMAGED VESSEL.  RECOMMEND INTERCEPT IMMEDIATE.  APPROACH WITH CAUTION PREPARE TO DESTROY OR ESCORT.

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Thank you, your files are being uploaded.  The Emperor Protects.

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Well, it turns out it was a Rogue Trader ship after all.  None other than The Void Falcon owned and operated by the House Dolphinian.  This is our vessel for the Fantasy Flight game ROGUE TRADER, which is seriously fun.  It's a small ship but armed and equipped very well, it's also proven in battle.

I gave it a rather rough looking paint job, with only some accents picked out in the house's colors, blue and white.  Where the hull is painted there are many scratches and burn marks and patches.  Rogue Traders they may be but theirs is a minor house with only a few ships.  The whole point of our adventures is to help it reach greater fame and fortune.

I also painted a lot of little window lights on this ship, as I do with all BFG vessels.  Not sure if you can even make them out that well.  Those first 2 pictures are actually a result of the glow in the dark paint I put on the antennas and engines.  To the naked eye it's easy to see in the dark and looks pretty cool.  To my camera they are but blurry dots in the void.  So, I messed with the pictures a bit to make them look as they did.

Enjoy for now, the next battle report should be out eventually.

Battle Report: September 8th Tournament: Game 1 Imperial Guard Vs Tyranids 1850 Pts

This month's Warhammer 40,000 tournament at Millenium Games in Rochester, NY was last Saturday.  The format was rulebook 40k, pre-set or 'cinematic' terrain if you like, and 1850pts.  No comp, no painting, the only goal here was to win.  Well, win and have fun.

I usually try to make a balanced list or go with something less utilized.  This month I went with something I have found to always be reliable.  The Leman Russ Tank.  Specifically, the Executioner variant as it very rarely fails me when I use it and I always take it with plasma cannon sponsons and a hull mounted lascannon.
The night before the tournament GW dropped the FAQs upon us and the Leman Russ became a Heavy Vehicle, which helps out with a lot of the variants.  I do like the change, even with the lack of movement over 6 inches.  I think the old lumbering behemoth was very characterful.
Here's my list!

Imperial Guard:
 HQ
Company Command: Power sword, med-pack, Standard, plasma gun, Vox, & 2 bodyguards

Troops
Veteran Squad: Demolitions, 3 Meltaguns, Power sword
Veteran Squad: Grenadiers, 3 Plasma Guns, Power Sword
Chimera: Hvy Stubber
Veteran Squad: Sentries, 3 Sniper Rifles, Lascannon, Vox
Veteran Squad: 3 grenade launchers, lascannon
Chimera: Heavy Stubber

Fast Attack
Vendetta Gunship

Heavy Support
Leman Russ Squadron
1>LR Executioner: Plasma Sponsons, Lascannon, Heavy Stubber
2>LR Executioner: Plasma Sponsons, Lascannon, Heavy Stubber
LR Battle Tank: Heavy Bolter Sponsons, Lascannon
LR Vanquisher: Lascannon, Multi Melta Sponsons

My opponent for game 1 was my friend Chris, who drove me to the tournament, and his tyranids:

Flyrant
Trygon
Tervigon
Shooty Carnifex Duo
Shooty Carnifex(In pod)
3x Warriors
1x Hive guard
10x guants
Tyranid Prime

Game 1 used the Hammer & Anvil deployment and Big Guns Never Tire for scenario.  My warlord trait gave my outflanking units acute senses I do no recall what Chris' did.  We roll and get 3 objectives, he places 2 and I one.  Here's our terrain set up.

I get first turn and deploy as seen below; the Vendetta and the melta vets are coming.  I put the snipers in the ruin and the objective turns out to give a +1 to cover, meaning they gain 1 2+ cover save while camping the objective.  I wish I could get this every game I played.  The command is on the floor below them to issue orders and guard against assault.  Everything else deploys to advance and crossfire.

Here is Chris' deployment.  The Trygon and pod Carnifex are in reserve.  He fails to seize but we do have night-fighting for turn 1.

Turn 1

I advance the Grenade vets in their chimera and the Leman Russ Battle Tank, keeping everything else stationary.

In the shooting phase I put almost everything I have at the Carnifex team, between everything I score a lot of hits, and he makes a good amount of saves but I still end up killing one and putting 3 wounds on the other.  I also put 2 wounds on the Prime from splash and I think kill 1 gaunt.

In his turn he spawns a unit of 15, the maximum without doubles.  He moves up the gaunts, prime, and remaining fex.  He casts some boons to them, I think increasing the toughness or some such.  The fex shoots at the Chimera and manages to stun it.

Turn 1 Summary: Guard 3 (Objective), Nids 6 (2 Objectives)

Turn 2

First I roll for the Valkyrie and it does indeed arrive.  I advance everything but the Grenade Launcher Chimera and the objective holders.  

In shooting I finish off the carnifex gaining First Blood and since it is a Heavy it gains me 2 Victory Points.  The vendetta shoots at the Tervigon and does 1 wound.

On his turn all of his reserves arrive the flyrant comes in from his end.  The carnifex and trygon come in on my side.  Of course, everything else advances.  He spawns 12 guants this turn, still no doubles.

The fex shoots the rear of my other Chimera and stuns it.  The pod shoots and my command squad and kills bodyguards.

In the assault phase the prime charges in on my GL vet Chimera and blows it up.  The squad holds its own in the cover  I lost 3 scrubs.

Turn 2 Summary: Guard 5 (First Blood, Heavy Kill, Objective), Nids 7 (2 Objectives, Linebreaker)

Turn 3

I make another on the near table edge with the Leman Russ, going for the linebreaker.  The lower chimera rotates to face the fex, the executioners turn to face the trygon, the vanquisher turns to face it as well, and the Vendetta turns on the flyrant.

This turn I take out the tervigon, put some wounds on the flyrant and on the carnifex.

It was the first aerial combat of the day.

The tyranids advance again and he spawns 14 more guants. The carnifex moves in on my command squad.  Shooting from the flyrant takes the vendetta down a hull point.  The pod manages to wreak my other chimera.

In the assault phase the fex goes into my command squad, the guants attack my dismounted plasma vets.  The fex is downed by my command but the guants take out the veterans.  The same squad that turned back a unit of reavers a few months ago.

Turn 3 summary: Guard 7 (1 Objective, First Blood, 3 Heavy Kills), Nids 7 (2 Objectives, Linebreaker)

Turn 4

I move the vendetta towards the corner and dismount the Vets with Grav Chute Insertion, they do not scatter and none of them die.  

Shooting does little damage this turn I think I manage 1 wound on the tervigon and 1 on the flyrant.

On his turn he advance gaunts towards my Melta vets and the flyrant at my Executioners.  He shoots at the vets and kills a few and then assaults the Executioners to little effect.

Turn 4 Summary: Guard 8 (1 Objective, First Blood, 3 Heavy Kills, Linebreaker), Nids 7 (2 Objectives, Linebreaker)

Turn 5

I forgot to take any pictures this turn but it mostly involves me killing the flyrant.  He returns fire and kills a couple more veterans from the melta squad and some from the sniper squad with the pod.

Summary

In the end this game was pretty close, at first we thought it was a draw because we forgot to count each heavy killed as another Victory point.  I had some very good rolls this game, and my shooting was especially effective.  In the end I wound up with 10 VP; 3 for my objective, 1 for linebreaker, 1 for First blood, 1 for slay the warlord, and 4 for Heavy kills.  Chris came up with 7; 6 for objectives and 1 for linebreaker.

Mt next batrep may be up next week and will detail the events of my first battle against Daemons.

New table, new terrain! [Part 9]

Just a small update today.  I have not been doing much of anything on the hobby front for the last 2 weeks.  Tomorrow there is a tournament in Rochester though, so I am excited about that.  It should get me rolling again.

Here's the building I painted at our last game night.  It's a small mechanicus building.  It was built from spare parts by Kevin and has been known as the "Minifactorum" for years now. Glad to finally see it painted!

Here's a shot of the inside.

Gonna take my camera to the tournament and take lots of pictures (if I remember to) so expect some battle reports over the next week or so.  Probably going to pick up some more models for Dust: Warfare  so I should have an update for that game coming too.  I have actually painted quite a few units, but I have not come up with a basing scheme yet, so I have not photographed them.

Rough Rider

Here's a little post of a bit of converting I have been up to.  This is my first Rough Rider of what will be a  squad of 10.  Last month I bought a 10 man Cadian squad and 2 sets of Medieval horses from GW.  I started out by picking the set of legs that was closest to working, then I had to do a lot of cutting and shaving to get them to fit.

Here you can really see all of the material I had to remove.

Then, I had to fill a lot back in with green stuff.  While that was still pliable I started on the torso because I also had to sculpt the hand holding the lance.  I filled in around the neck and all seams on the horse as well.

For the lance tips my brother gave me a bunch of skeleton spears and I took the plainer looking type to use. Much more imposing with a spear tip on there.

Behind the point I added a small box with a light and a wire leading to the point.

That's all on these for now since I do not want to repose and sculpt all of the legs I will be casting copies of this sculpt to use for all of them.  Just ordered some silicon and resin to do so, should have it soon.  I will also make a mold of some of the BFG stuff I have scratched.

New table, new terrain! [Part 8]

Got some more buildings painted up last week for the table.  Forgot to bring home a piece of foam to use to base the trees,  for the 4th week in a row... Still, the completed terrain collection grows every week and will eventually be complete.  Eventually, maybe not too soon for the list is long.

First up we've got a Cities of Death building which I have painted blue and white.  On the front the graffiti says "Freiberg Resists" with a small aquila above it.  What is the city resisting?  Why the enemies of the Emperor of course.

Here's a shot of the inside, there are a few small craters and bits of debris in there.

Next up is another Pegasus building.  This one has got a door and a complete first floor.  The writing is telling you to stay out because of the plague zombies.  Nurgle has visited our fair city.

Here's a shot of the other side and most of the interior.  A little bit of debris inside and there is a pot belly stove hidden by the wall.  There is also writing on the outside wall that says "All is lost."  Not everyone thinks the city is doing a good job of resisting anything.

Well, that is it for now.  I have received an order of medieval  horses from GW and have begun to construct my rough riders.  It's going to be rather time consuming to reconstruct all of the legs for each rider from the Cadian plastics.  I may just buy some casting stuff at last.

Stay tuned.

Leman Russ: Judgement

Just finished painting the lead tank for my Armor Company and Armor Squadron 1.  The tank is called Judgement and it is commanded by Commissar Constantin Braun.  As this is a command tank it has some upgraded sensors and equipment, since it's the company leader I also gave it the GW command upgrade auspex/comms package.  Went about painting this tank in much the same way as my last Leman Russ Tough Bastard and every piece of armor since then.  A simple grey base followed by scratching, damage, and weathering.  It has the commander stripe with the roman numeral I for the squadron number.  Since it's commanded by a commissar it's also got the red and black stripe design on the side.

Here's a front view of the tank, there is a small medallion on the lower left and the name is below the turret on the flat of the hull.

The commander is the Forge World model and is a very nice sculpt.  He took some time to paint as there are a fair number of details to him.  In this picture you can see that I made the heavy stubber as a coaxial weapon as seen on many of the FW turrets.  I made that with a few small brass tubes.

I put about how much stowage as I usually do and of course my ridiculous whip antennas.  There are also purity seals and the like denoting the honors of the vehicle and strength of its machine spirit.  I did not add any mottos to this tank as it's got a commissar as a commander.  So, the only writing I have done is the name and the kill tally on the barrel.  It's a pretty high tally as this guy is supposed to be a company commander and should be pretty good at his job.  I will perhaps use him as Knight Commander Pask from time to time.

I generally apply much more pigment to the bottom of the hull than to to upper portion.  I will have it so that it rests on the edges of the track axel mounts and then lightly brush it up from there to slightly powder the top of the hull as well.  The top of the tank and turret get a little more in spots and streaks.  Where there are bullet marks and hit damage I add some black pigment.  I also add powder residue to the muzzle break because it looks cooler that way even though it's not all to realistic.  I use mig productions pigments, but you can use any brand you like.  I still have the same jars I bought in 2009 and will have them for several more years before they are gone.  They are ground extremely fine and cover and stay adhered very well, even with wargaming use.  I cannot speak for other brands as I have never used them, but Mig get my support.

Finally, a shot of 1st and 2nd squadron lead tanks together. Can't wait to have all 3 squadrons painted up.  3rd squadron will feature the Destroyer Tank Hunter as leader with 2 FW turret Vanquishers to form a tank hunting squadron.  1st and 2nd Squadrons are a mix of the new and old Battle Tank and Demolisher Kits a few of which have several main gun options modeled.  I can field at least 1 of any variant.

That's it for now, not sure what I am going to be working on next, I am currently waiting on some horses to use to make Rough Riders.  I may begin that project next week.  Comments and critique are appreciated, thanks for stopping by.

New table, new terrain! [Part 7]

Another week, another post.  This time, more terrain for our new gaming table.  First up we have the 2 ponds which I started a while ago and finished about a week and a half ago.  Really like how they came out and how they look.  The most time consuming part was the tufts of tall grass each needing to be drilled, then rolled and glued into place.  Each has 3 little plasticard fish hiding around the weeds or grass.  Finished it off with some printed, laser-cut lily pads.

Here's a shot of pond 1.

And here is pond 2.  The resin really works well for water effects.

This Sunday we made it over to Kevin's for a game night finally.  While my brother fought his necrons against  Chris' Tau/Eldar alliance I painted up some more terrain.  First we have a building from Pegasus.  Lots of grays dry brushed on here.  A nice checkerboard floor too.

Here's a view of the outside, which has a little Chaos graffiti.

Here's the next building I painted, one from the cities of death sets.  Lots of details to pick out on these and it took a while to finish.  There will be a tree in that small square once I get one for it.

Here's the inside.

Finally I dry brushed all of the foam terrain here was left to paint.  There were 2 small ruin pieces, the large ruin, and 3 urban wreak markers.

That's all for this now, working on a Leman Russ at the moment so you can expect that in the next few days. As always comments and critique are highly appreciated.

Commissar Sebastian Yarrick

So, I had my third battle report from last weekend's event all set and ready to publish when blogger had a derp and decided to kill it.  So instead of spending an hour rewriting that I'm going to do a quick post on a model I painted today, you may have guessed who it was from the title.  It's Commissar Yarrick!

This is the first Special Character I have painted for my Imperial Guard army.  It's also the first Finecast model I dealt with, though I have a few more waiting for paint.  I really like this model and really liked painting it.  I'd say I probably spent about 4-5 hours painting him today.  Really like the way he came out, but really not that glad with the way the photos came out.  I think it's about time to get a new camera.  I may try and take some better pictures tomorrow.