Dust Warfare: Red Thunder

A couple of months ago I finally decided to paint some of my Soviet infantry.  The first thing I had to do was look at some historical references.  A few google image searches gave me an idea of what I was looking for and I went out and expanded my collection of Vallejo paints.  

This unit mostly focuses on its two rocket launchers in game and you can use them to engage light to medium vehicles rather well.  That's not to say they can't handle infantry.  The guys with the machine guns all have underslung grenade launchers adding a few extra dice to that punch.  As with my Germans I added stocks to the guns.  I just feel it makes them seem a bit more realistic.  Something to note with these models is that they come with equipment on their belts and backs.  This was a nice change from the earlier Axis and Allied models who did not have anything on them.  I had to add it to my Axis troops.

I changed up the basing from my Germans a bit and went for more of the patchy style that was featured on the Ta-152 model's stand.

Let's hear some love for the Dust universe.  It's got a pretty cool storyline and a killer aesthetic which really drew me in.  The folks in my usual game group don't play the game but I recently found some people in my area who do play.  I even went with them to a small tournament in Toronto where my distinct lack of play experience really showed.  Oh well. 

EDIT:  I've got posts ready to get through May of this year.  So be ready for an actual update schedule.  *GASP* I know.  Expect the first and third Wednesdays of every month.  Perhaps more If I post what I am actually working on in real time.  Though I may just keep tacking the posts onto the end of the queue.

BFG: Imperial Navy Reinforcements

So, the first post of the new year.  Happy 2015, even if I am a bit late on that.  As usual it's been far too long since my last post.  Though, I assure you, I have been busy on the hobby front.  I've been painting models from the whole spectrum of my collections.  I spent a good few hours taking photographs and editing them this week to try and pick up the blog slack.  I've got photos for about 11 posts all up and edited on flickr.  So I will probably write a few posts and then set them to auto publish some time in the future.  This will grant the illusion that I am actively updating this blog.  

Now the reason anyone is here, for pictures.  Well one picture.  These are a pair of Imperial Cruisers I painted up several months ago now.  They are both magnetized to be any of the cruiser variants.  For these two ships I tried a new technique in painting these ships.  Instead of picking out different details with different shades I decided to go with a drybrush and wash method.  I am pretty happy with how this worked.  It seems to look better than how I used to paint them.  Some other changes made are the addition of some markings, namely the stripe on the lower fin of one and on the weapons batteries of the other.  I've named these two cruisers Jovian Spear (left) and Infinity (right).

Hope you enjoy the new look of the ships, just trying to keep this game alive for as long as possible.  I still have plenty of these ships to build and paint since I stocked up right at the end, so don't worry about not having any more BFG to see from me.

The Knights of the Order of Thanatos

Yet again I have to introduce a post after such a long hiatus from the blog.  It's been quite a while since I have updated this blog with the idea of re-shooting my model collection.  That has not happened, but I have not been idle.  As I mentioned back then I did repaint my Baneblade, Zeal, though I failed to take any pictures until today.  In the meantime the release of the Imperial Knight kit by Games Workshop really got me fired up and into painting mode.  My friend Kevin and I immediately decided to order some of them and I would paint them to match.  We've always wanted to start a Titan Legion, but have never spent the cash, so this was a pretty awesome second chance.  We each ordered a Knight and I also ordered a Dreamforge Leviathan, not knowing it would be far too large to join our Knightly Order and will instead he the founding member of a Titan Legion.  In exchange for painting his Knight, Kevin paid for some of my order and also got the expanded decal set.  Three months later and I have finally kept up my end of the bargain and finished the Knights.  Not for lack of effort though as April was the only month I really did not work on them.  But we are going to have an Apocalypse game soon and I really wanted to have them done for that, even if they will be on opposite sides of the conflict.

Without anymore senseless blather, here they are, face to face, ready to fight.

The Imperial Knight is a really fantastic kit and a dream to build and paint.  The only thing I would ask for is a bit more freedom in the legs.

More after the break.

On the Workbench

It has been some time since I have updated the blog,  but that is not to say that I have been idle with regards to the hobby.  I just sort of lost steam with the battle reports, as I usually do.  From now on I will probably condense the reports into a single tournament summary post.  Once in a while highlighting a very good or close game with its own battle report.

The primary reason I got into this hobby is the building and painting aspect.  Being able to play with all of my models is really an excellent bonus to that and has become a larger part of my enjoyment. That being said I'd rather not turn the blog into a chore by trying to force myself into writing bat-reps and just write about what I do each week.

Several weeks ago I finally got around to painting some more Dust Warfare stuff.  First up is the first walker I have painted the Medium Panzer Walker.  I recently found out about a relatively new hobby shop a few blocks from where we game every week.  They don't carry much in the way of wargaming but they have begun to stock some Games-Workshop products.  They have an awesome collection of scale kits and a wide array of paints and weathering products.  I picked up the DAK weathering kit from AK Interactive, it includes a wash, a streaking grime, and a filter.  I watched a few weathering tutorials and ended up with what you see here. The filter helps modulate the base colors, the wash helps bring out the details, and the streaking grime adds streaks of washed down grime.  I also started using a fine sponge to add the chipping and then paint some some finer scratches here and there.

MURDER: INITIATE!

I don't really care for Ogyrns, I mean sure they endearingly stupid and naive but they're abhumans.  So, here's my solution so that I can use Ogyrns in my army; Mechanicus constructed Murder Servitors.  They're big, they're mean, they have guns for hands.  I built these guys a while back (over a year ago I think) and I finally got around to painting them thanks to an ongoing challenge.  My friend Kevin and I have agreed to paint 1 unit a week for the foreseeable future, barring and sickness or vacations.  If one of us fails to complete something in a given week, then we owe the other $20.  The first week I painted my Recon Grenadiers and he finished his Cygnar Stormwall.  Last week he painted his Mordhiem Warband and I started these guys.  I did not get too much done and wound up owing him 20 bucks.  This week I spent 4 nights working on these guys and finished them!

Here they are ready to murder your troops!

All that skin and muscle detail is the reason they took so long, I will say that I would never want to paint an Ogre army...

That's it for now, next week I am going to try and paint my rebuilt Mordhiem warband.  Last time I used Empre State Troops. I wanted a grittier look so I have remade them using Empire Militia and Empire Greatswords.  I am very pleased with how they turned out.

Stay tuned!

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.

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.

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.

Battle Report: Learning 6th Event: Game 2: Guard Vs. Nids GAME OVER, MAN!

Finally got out to an event over in Rochester, NY yesterday at Millennium Games.  It was not really a tournament but a set of three games to let people learn to new rules and see how theirs lists would work out under them.  Multiple lists were allowed and prizes were handed out by a raffle at the end.

The format was 1500pts with three 2.5 hour long rounds.  Since this event was really just for fun and learning I wanted to try something that I had not really done before, bring a list with a minimum of vehicles and large number of infantry.  With the reduction in cover saves I really didn't know how this list would work out, last edition 4+ saves were good, but I was a bit worried about the 5+.  I also wasn't sure how this list would react to different armies.  I've used a vehicle heavy Guard army since I started playing in 3rd edition.   I just love tanks.

Here's my list:
HQ
Company Command Squad(Power Fist, Med-Pack, Standard,Vox, Plasma Gun) + Chimera
Fast
Vendetta Gunship
Troops
Vets 1 ( 3Plasma Guns, Grenadiers, Power Fist) + Chimera
Vets 2 ( 3 Meltas, Demolitions, Power Fist) (In Vendetta)
Infantry Platoon
Command Squad (Vox, Power Sword, Commissar, Power Sword, Standard)
5 Infantry Squads (2 Commissars, 7 Power Swords, 2 Vox, 3 Flamers, 2 Grenade Launchers)
Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Lascannons)
Heavy Weapons Squad (3 Missile Launchers)
Special Weapons Squad (3 Sniper Rifles)
Special Weapons Squad (3 Grenade Launchers)

Vehicle Count: 3
Infantry Count: 101

I don't think I ever made a list without a Leman Russ before, and with the new Squadron rules taking a pair of them isn't so bad, even with the limitation of having Hull Points.

Game 2

My second battle was against Aaron (hyv3mynd from synaps3) and his Tyranids.  You can check out his version of events here.  Below you can see his list:
Tyranid Prime (warlord) + whip/sword, toxins, regen (bio)
Tyrant + wings, devourers, old adversary, regen
Hive Guard x3
Zoanthropes x3 (all telekenesis this game)
Termagants x30 (warlord here)
Tervigon + claws, toxins, 3 powers (bio), cluster spines
Raveners x6 + rending
Shrikes x3 + whip/sword, toxins

Mission 2 featured the Hammer & Anvil deployment with The Emperor's Will as objectives.  Below you can see our terrain set up,  I have the right side of the board and he had the left.  You can see his objective next to the gray ruin and mine was in the building centered on my side.  We both wanted to set up terrain to our own favor.  He wanted to cover his advance and I wanted to protect my troops so they could shoot more before they got nom'd.  I think that my warlord caused my units within 12 to have move through cover but I do not recall what his was.

Aaron gets 1st turn and deployment so I get to go second.  We both deploy right up on the edge of our zones,  he wants to close with me as soon as possible and I wanted to open fire as soon as possible.  He doesn't have any reserves but I reserve my Vendetta with Melta vets inside to outflank.I put the 20 man blob and platoon command in the far building.  The rocketeers and large blob are in the center.  In the nearest building is a lascannon squad, the grenade launcher squad, and my Company Command in their Chimera.  In the rear building are the snipers with the plasma vets just beyond that in their Chimera.

Turn 1

The nids begin to advance through cover,  the flyrant comes flying at my lines and so forth.  The tervigon spawns 17 gants but rolls doubles so they will be all that come out.  They move to hold his objective and get a skyfire nexus.  How amazingly useful...  The thropes cast some invul bubbles and buff the flyrant.

The flyrant shoots up and shreds my Lascannon teams and the 4+ cover is not nearly enough to save them,  Aaron takes 1st blood.  

I move nothing, and begin to fire upon the bugs. My objective is nothing of note. I order bring it down for the missile teams against the flyrant and then first rank fire, second rank fire on each of the blobs.  The 20 man blob downs a ravener and other shooting kills 1 gant.  No other harm is done.  

Turn 2

The tyranids advance again, gants and tervigon remain in cover the shrikes move up again and the ravenors prepare to assault the blob.  The flyrant flies over the 30 man unit and lands at its rear near all the sergeants and the commissar.  For shooting, the hive guard attempt to de-mech the plasma vets but fail to cause any damage.  Zoanthropes attempt to wipe out the missile teams but all of their crushes only manage to kill 1 team.  Still, it's enough to force a morale check.  The flyrant dishes out some pain to the blob and kills 2 sarges and a commissar as well as some troopers.  Look out sir! wasn't doing to well here.  Don't think the troops liked their leaders much. 

 The raveners assault the 20 man blob, I think overwatch causes 1 wound and striking first does not help me much either.  They end up killing more than half of the unit, though we're stubborn and hold fast.  The missile teams pass morale prepare to unleash some more rockets.

In my turn I roll to see if the Vendetta comes in but it does not.  I move my platoon command squad to cover the side of the 30 man blob, though I probably should have just charged for the extra attacks.  I shoot at the flyrant but fail to do anything.  I cause 1 wound on the terivigon and wipe out the shrikes.  I think one of the zoanthropes died this turn.  In the assault phase the raveners finish off the infantry and consolidate towards the platoon command.

Turn 3

The tervigon begins to come towards my lines, bringing some of the gant blob with it.  The tyrant flies over my command squad's chimera and toward the nearest table corner.  The ravenors continued to move at the PCS.  Both of my Chimeras are blown this turn, the plasma vets get pinned but the company command is not thanks to their Regimental Standard's morale reroll.

The Tervigon assaults the blob but the gants fail to follow.  The raverners engages the PCS and wipe them, they consolidate towards the plasma vets.  The tervigon takes a wound and kills a few guardsmen, they hold, even without their commissar.

The Vendetta arrives and outflanks this turn, I zoom it onto the board and shoot at the zoanthropes, killing those that remained.  The plasma vets shoot at the raveners and cause some wounds, killing 1 I believe.  Shooting from the CCS grounds the tyrant, even though it could not wound it, a lasgun brought it down to the ground. Combat with the tervigon continues to grind on.

The gants all shuffle around again to max out cover.  The tyrant turns and shoots my CCS to death.  The raveners charge my dismounted plasma veterans.  Overwatch manages to cause a few more wounds thanks to some lucky plasma gun hits.

The veterans must have been ready for action because I dish out quite a few regular wounds before he gets his attacks.  Then the powerfist strikes with them and causes some more wounds. In the end only 1 ravener remains alive while I lose 2 guardsmen.   He fails morale due to a lack of synapse but I fail to catch him.  The tervigon combat continues but the blob falls back this time.  They wind up right on top of the objective.

The lone ravener flees, making sure to keep an eye on the guardsmen just insane enough to fight them in close combat.

On my turn the Vendetta hovers forward and the mela vets dismount.

I move the melta vets forward and begin to open fire.  The melta vets shoot melta and some shotguns, but I also toss a demo charge and frag grenade at the gaunts.  All this only manages to kill about 6 of them.
Plasma vets put a wound on the last ravener.  The blob rallies and shoots at the tervigon dropping it to 1 wound. Most everything else fires at the tyrant leaving it with only 1 wound.  The vendetta hits the tervigon as well but rolls only 1s to wound.

Turn 5

The spawned gaunts on his objective shoot and assault the vets, the hive guard do nothing.  The Tervigon and tyrant both assault the blob.  The Vets and the blob are both wiped out.  

On my turn I take out the tyrant with lots of my fire.  The tervigon is able to absorb the rest, but I forget to shoot my grenade launcher special weapons squad.  We have to end the game here due to time.

Summary

In the end Aaron had 5VP to my none, since he took first blood, slayed my warlord, held his objective, and contested my own.  Had I fired my grenade launchers, it could have ended up 5-3, but my only hope of really winning would have been to pull the gants off of his objective somehow.  Overall this was a very fun game and it was great to finally play against Aaron as I have seen him at several events and have been reading his blog for some time now.  In this case I don't think player placed terrain worked out too badly as we both got what we wanted out of it, but it still looked kinda cinematic with my guard trying to hold their line against the encroaching alien menace.  Still, I think for tournaments that TO set terrain would be preferable.

My vendetta rolled a lot of 1s to wound this game but still preformed okay.  It didn't die, so that was nice too.  With this game in the books I was impressed with how this list preformed.  Coming into this set of games I really expected a lot worse.  Warlord traits are hit or miss, but I think they are a cool addition to the game

Game 3 sometime later.  I may just want to spend tomorrow night painting.