WH40k: Cadian Rough Riders

Hello again faithful readers. I am going to present to you today the reason I had to post a filler post the other week. I have finally finished the Rough Riders.  I have posted several work in progress posts on these guys in the past, from the time I built the first guy to the time I painted the horses.  Last weekend was the Buffalo Beef and Wing Brawl.  A local singles, highlander tournament held by a the Beef and Wing game club.  It's always a blast and this year it was the only tournament I attended.  So, I finally had a true reason to push these through as painting is judged.

The entire squad.

I have always wanted to have a cavalry squad, despite how poor they are cost wise.  Point for point I am better off using something else, but it's guys riding horses in the year 40,000 anf they have explosive lances.  They're just too 40k to pass up.

Standard bearer and Sergeant.  No real rules for the flag but hey, it looks  cool.

Painting the horses was a challenge as I have never had to paint anything remotely similar. I tried to add variety with the sergeant having the fanciest looking horse.  That said I feel now I could have done a better job.

These guys are also holding their pistols. One has a wounded arm and the other a bionic hand.

One thing I think I have improved during painting this squad is the process for infantry flesh.  I wrote down what I did so that I can repeat it and I think that of all of my squads they have the best flesh.

Magnetized riders with lances.

Two of the riders have megnetized arms allowing them to carry their lances, meltaguns, or plasma guns.  I scratch built all of the lances from some skeleton spears and plasticard.  The legs I bought from Curious Constructs.

With Melta guns.

I did a bit more chipping and gouges on their armor than I have in the past.  I hope that this helps to break the monotony of their flak jackets and helmets.  With my guardsmen I tend not to go too crazy on detail.  I save that for special characters and the like.

With plasma guns

Going forward I think I am happy with how the troopers look, but not so much some of the horses.  I will probably paint my remaining guardsmen in this fashion.  However, once I start on my mechanicus troops I will either use my airbrush to do zenithal shading or wet blend them for a much more finished look.  The focus of my guard is always the tanks and characters.  The endless masses of troops should just blend into gray.  Thanks for stopping by!

Terrain: River Renovation Part 1

Another two weeks gone by and another post.  Over the past few game nights I have been working on renovating the river on our gaming table.  Over the years it's been getting a bit rough, the resin did not dry correctly last time and some paper got stuck to it.  After that I used some water based water effects to cover it and it was just an ugly brown sludge.  It's always been my least favorite part of the board, not the idea of having it, but the execution.  There's a shot of the original below.

I neglected to take any process shots of this, but the first thing I did was lay down a riverbed out of plaster.  Into that I pressed some different sized stones and some debris.  After that I textured it up a bit and added some paint.  I sprayed a clearcoat after I was done and let it dry for a good 2 weeks so it would not interact with the resin.  I wanted to be sure as sure this time.

I added a bit of debris, some wood, jerry can, spring, barrel, and some discoloration around the outlets.

I still have to add some effects and ripples to the top around all of the obstructions.  I am also going to have water running out of the outlets coming from the city side of the board.  Stay tuned, when it's all done I will make another post.

WH40k: WiP Cadian Rough Riders

It's been awhile, but the blog has finally caught up to me.  I don't have a finished model to post this week.  That's not to say there is nothing!  I have here a long in coming squad of Cadian Rough Riders squad which I have been working on for a rather long time.  I started converting the first one in 2012!!!  You can see a post about that HERE.  I've posted about them here and there since then, but now they are finally getting some much needed paint!

Not being a Fantasy [R.I.P.] player, I've never had to paint any horses before, so that's where I started working here.  I finished them in April or so and then having to do base layers on the riders has caused me to stretch out painting them ever since.  I loathe doing base colors.  Today I finally finished the base colors and even threw a wash on. I hope to keep rolling along and finish them by next week.  That way I can start a new project before the next blog post.

I think I have mentioned it before but they are going to be magnetized to allow for some variation, if I ever use them that is.  Stay frosty!

WH40k: Aegis Defense Line

All that infantry needs some protection, so I've painted up my Aegis Defense line to help keep 'em all alive.  I have not used this set too often, but I really like the look of it and the quad autocannon.  I think I put this together and did all of the modelling work some time in 2013.  I went and did a lot of battle scarring and added a bit of details to the set to make it seem more unique.  Most notable on the walls I've used plasticard to show some of the shutters as being closed.

I spent a lot more time painting this than I had planned.  For terrain I usually just try and keep it simple.  I ended up doing all sorts of washing, grime, and pigments.  I think it was worth it.

More pictures after the break.

WH40k: Techpriest Enginseer

Ave Dues Mechanicus!  The Cadian 125th Armored Division finally has someone to fix all of those tanks they drive around and blow stuff up with.  This is another model I have been meaning to paint and use for some time.  It's even made of metal, not finecast.  I really enjoy painting characters and such as a standout from the gray of my infantry.  On the tabletop this model should stand out from the blobs and add some nice color to the army.  

This model took me several nights of work to complete with all of the shading I did and the details there were to pick out.  His armor matches the gray of my army, but is heavily chipped with the sponge method.  Again, I really need to improve my photos.  They've been coming out a bit darker than I like.  It may be that my work bulb is getting a bit long in the tooth.

The one thing I don't care for is how the caution stripes turned out on the end of his axe.

WH40k: Ministorum Priest

With the release of the new Imperial Guard codex, priests got a bit better for sure.  This model is my brother's priest from an Inquisitor campaign we did years ago.  I agreed back then to paint it for him.  It may be hard to tell, but the robes are wet-blended brown like a monk's robes.  It actually started out as a rusty red but the years showed their wear and it was really chipped.  I could not match the color and I was about to paint a Techpriest next so I switched it to this brown.   This model really was nice to finally finish painting after almost 6 years.  

His name is Fr. Raul Santiago and back in the campaign he had quite the penchant for being set on fire.  Poor guy.

The chainsword is still as it was when I first painted him years ago, as is the book staff.

He has a lot of nice details on the backpack.  All sorts of weapons and gear and books.  Lots of books.

This set of pictures really shows that I need to upgrade the lighting I use or upgrade my camera.  Or both.  We will see what I buy first.


The Emperor Protects!

APOCALYPSE!

So last month our group had an apocalypse game, 6 players, 5000 points each.  It was Imperial Guard, Blood Angels and Space marines on my team and Chaos, Orks, and traitor Guard on the other side.  By the end the Imperial Side was really decimated, and so we called it after the second session. Defilers and their daemon saves be damned.

Week 1 was our set up and deployment Week 2 saw the forces of evil winning 4 objectives to 2 and a slight advantage in kills as well.  Week 3 saw evil with 9 objective points to 3 and the Imperial forces with enough casualties to render them ineffective against a much larger force.  It was a huge clusterfuck but it was still fun.

Here are a few pictures. With the whole album available here.

July-August Update

Been slipping on updating again, but not on working!  Since the last update I have been pretty darn busy!  I painted a bunch of BFG cruisers after I finished the Knights.  Then I built my Hydra kit, with a few added details and modifications.  After that I finished up my rough riders after I found some legs to use from Curious Constructs.  After that I finished up my Salamander Scout Car.  More recently I have been working on something special for BFG.  A dreadnought class vessel which will be called Triton, I'll hold off on pictures on this for now, but once I finish roughing out the main components you can expect a post.  Lastly I finally got some of the new Rebel fighters for X-Wing today and decided to try a new theme, sorta German Luftwaffe inspired color scheme.  You can see the test model on the Headhunter below, after the break.  

The Baneblade ZEAL

The Baneblade, the pinnacle of armored warfare in the 41st millennium.  The stories tell of their might, a single squadron can hold off entire companies of enemy armor.  They are a rare beast these days, their loss is keenly felt and difficult to replace.  An entire war was waged to recover Commissar Yarrick's Baneblade The Fortress of Arrogance.

I got my Baneblade kit soon after they were released and painted it not much after that.  Over the last few years it was really showing its age, and I decided last year to repaint it.  I posted then that I was stripping it of its old paint and earlier this year I finally got around to slapping on a new paint job.  Zeal  is again ready to go to war for the Imperium and now I don't even have to only use it in Apocalypse.  Though the best part is seeing it with all the techniques I have learned since the last time I painted the tank.

Here it is now.

More after the break.

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.

Litany of Hate

My latest project is complete.  My brother bought this Modified Ryza Patter Vanquisher turret from FW last year and I bought the hull from a friend who was selling off his guard army.  As with most of my vehicles throughout the years I added another step or process in painting this one.  On the one side, it means this tank looks better than those which came before, on the other side, it means most of my tanks look slightly different.  The turret is where my new techniques which were mentioned last post can really be seen, as the hull's lines were muddled my old paint which I could not get to come off.

Now, with what I learned on this tank I can make my next one look better, hopefully.  All of the filters and washes and such dulled out the modulation a bit more than I expected them to, so next time I will probably make the bright tone a little lighter.

Here it is, the Leman Russ Vanquisher Litany of Hate:

They see me rollin, they dying.

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.

Adepticon Style Team Tourny at Millennium: Game 1

Last Saturday was the monthly tournament over at Millennium games in Rochester.  This month it was an Adpeticon style team tournament.  So, my brother and I decided to team up and play Guard & Blood Angels.  The tournament featured a modified force org for each 2 player coalition member.  They used the Adepticon scenarios Road to Nowhere, Over the Top, and Doomsday Device.

Our lists were as follows:
Konrad: Imperial Guard 1000pts

HQ
Lord Inquisitor: Power Sword, Melta Bombs, & Camo Cloak
Elites5 Ogyrns: Chimera w Heavy Stubber
TroopsVeteran Squad: 3 Plasma Guns, Power Sword, Chimera w Heavy Stubber
Veteran Squad: 3 Melta Guns, Demolitions, Power sword
Fast AttackVendetta Gunship: Door Heavy Bolters
Heavy SupportManticore

Garrett: Blood Angels 1000pts

HQ
Librarian: Force Axe, Jump Pack, Codex Powers: Shield of Sanguinius and Unleash Rage
Elites
Furioso Dreadnought: Blood Talons, Melta Gun, Flamer, Drop Pod w Storm Bolter
Troops
Assault Squad: 10 Marines, 2 Plasma Guns, Power Fist
Assault Squad: 10 Marines, 2 Melta Guns, Hand Flamer, Power Axe
Assault Squad: 10 Marines, 2 Flamers, Hand Flamer, Power Sword

Our plan was to have him bring the disarray and close combat pain by deep striking all over the place and to have my Guard bring in the fire-support and backfield mobility with the vets and vehicles.  Also, the Ogyrns allowed me to have my own backfield CC support if needed.  In our practice game we faced a double Chaos list and ended up losing, so that put some doubt to our plans.  We decided not to change anything anyway, and just see how it goes.

GAME 1: Space Marines & Grey Knights

The scenario for the first game was called  Road to Nowhere and featured the Vanguard deployment.  The first Primary Objective was to hold table quarters, doesn't seem too bad, but you need a scoring or denial unit from each team member to score or deny respectively (15 Points).  The Next objective was Victory points with each scoring unit being worth 1 VP and each non-scoring unit worth 2 VP (10 Points).  Secondary Objectives were Slay the Warlord, First Blood, and Linebreaker, each worth 1 Point.  Each scenario featured a Twist of fate for each team member which could be used for a single reroll, a special effect, or saved for 1 Point.   This game the twist of fate allowed each team member to assign a scoring unit to capture a quarter on its own.  We each assign this to one of our troops, me to my Melta Vets in the Vendetta and my brother to one of his Assault Squads.

Our Opponents lists were:

Gray Knights:
HQ
Grand Master: Incinerator, MC Daemon Hammer, Blind Grenades
Elites
10 Purifiers: 4 Incinerators, 2 Halberds, Hammer
Troops
5 man Strike Squad: Psycannon, Razorback w psybolts & Searchlight
Fast Attack
Stormraven Gunship: Hurricane Bolters, Psybolt Ammo
Heavy Support
Dreadnought: Autocannons, psybolt ammo

Space Marines: Crimson Fists
HQ
Librarian: Terminator Armor, Storm Shield
Elites
Ironclad Dreadnought: Seismic Hammer, Hvy Flamer, Meltagun, Drop Pod
Troops
Tactical Squad: 10 Marines, Powerfist, Meltagun, Multimelta, Rhino
Tactical Squad: 10 Marines, Combi-Plasma, Plasmagun, Plasma Cannon
Fast Attack
Stormtalon Gunship: Twin-Linked Lascannon
Heavy Support
Thunderfire Cannon

So, we set up terrain as seen below.  For warlord traits we choose my Lord Commissar and I roll on the strategic column.  I get acute senses for our outflanking units, which is only my Vendetta. My brother and I got first turn and there is night fighting turn 1. Here is the deployment, there is a Rhino to the left containing a tactical squad.

In the movement phase I move up the Chimera with the Ogyrns to the columns, I also deek (deke?) the Manticore to get LOS on their deployment.  Garrett's drop pod scatters and ends up delayed.  Not much to shuffle around until more arrives from reserves.

Not much to do for shooting either, the right Chimera opens fire on the Tactical squad ahead of them.  I don't do any damage.  I then fire the Manticore at them and wind up taking 1 HP from the rifle dread and kill a couple of marines.

On their turn Andy's drop pod arrives but mishaps which allows us to place it. The Rhino on the left moves up towards us with the dread and the Knights in the center shuffle up a bit.  Shooting from the Thunderfire takes out 2 HP on the Chimera on the left and leaves it Shaken.  Not a lot of action this turn, but things are just getting started.

Turn 2 and the deep strikes begin.  Garrett puts 2 assault squads that arrived on the right side of their forces and the dreadnought on the left.  My Vendetta comes in and is positioned to fire anywhere inside of their deployment.

Garrett's Furiso fires at the rear of the Ironclad but fails to do any damage.  The manticore fires at their center again and kills the Rifle dread, as well as a hull point on the Razorback. The Chimeras strip 2 HP from the advancing Rhino.  The Vendetta fires at the Ironclad but also fails to inflict any damage.  Finally, the Assaut squads open up on the Grey Knights and Kill most of them.

For their turn the flyers fail to arrive and so they don't have much to move around. Tactical Marines shuffle around and the librarian's unit preps for assault.  The Crimson Fists Rhino moves up on our left flank and the Ironclad shuffles to engage the Furioso.  In the shooting phase they take out a bunch of assault Marines with the Thunderfire but Garrett passes all leadership and they hold fast.  In assault the Ironclad does a HP on the Furioso.

Turn 3 and Garrett's last assault squad show up to try to take out either the Thunderfire or the Tac marines behind the ruin.  I move up my Vendetta to try and take out the troops inside the Rhino. The Ogyrn Chimera advances with the same intent. In shooting, the assault marines on the left fail to do much and the ones to the right inflict a few casualties.  The Chimeras fail to pop the Rhino and so I have to use the Vendetta to finish it off.  The Ogyrns then fire at the survivors and all but 2 are killed.  The Manticore fires at their center again but only manages to strip a single HP from the Razorback.  In the assault phase we lose the Furioso to the Ironclad dread but the assault marines finish off the Crimson fist Tac squad leaving only the librarian and a few strike squad.

Their turn 3 is when things start to get painful, both of their fliers arrive!  The Stormraven heads for my manticore and drops off the combat squaded Purifiers, the Storm Talon heads for my Vendetta.  The survivors from the Rhino move into cover.  Shooting starts and the pain begins.  The Vendetta falls to the talon, failing all jink saves.  All but 1 of the vets inside are killed in the crash, but he immediately gets killed by  the razorback.  The Manticore is blasted by the Stormraven, but it got off 3/4 shots, so that is not too awful.
The Tac squad and Ironclad manage to take out some of the assault marines on the left side.  The Ogyrns lose their ride to I think the Thunderfire.
The other assault marines with the librarian manage to strike some vengeance and wipe out the strike squad, leaving their warlord alone in combat.  However the Ironclad locks combat with the left side RAS and only a few remain.

Turn 4 and we really don't have much to shoot so we don't do any damage.  The assault marines engaged with the Ironclad get caught again but do not die.  The ogyrns assault the tactical marines but end up fleeing.

On their turn they manage to pop the Vets Chimera as well as the drop pod.  The Ironclad locks up the Assault Marines... again.  They just can't get away.  However the Terminator Librarian is slain and we get the Slay the Warlord Secondary Objective.

In turn 5 the Vets shuffle up in the ruins and they manage to snapfire the Storm Talon away.  We also take out their Razorback but our output is too low at this point.  The wreckage comes down and and takes out a few of the veterans in return.
 In their turn the Ironclad finally finishes off the assault squad and the Storm Raven takes out a few of the marines from one of the other squads.

In the end we wound up with 3 points for getting all 3 secondary objectives.  Aaron and Andy took away 26  for taking both Primaries as well a linebreaker.  This game really went to show how influential fliers can be, zooming around causing havoc and destruction with little retribution.  Once their fliers were in they really started doing massive amounts of damage.  After this game we had some doubts about what we would be able to accomplish with this list, it was 2 straight losses if you count the practice game.  It was a fun game overall though, didn't feel overly lost and probably could have done some things better to ensure more units survived.

Destroyer Tank Hunter

So, I finally got around to painting up my converted tank destoyer.  I settled upon the name Armordillo.  This tank will be the lead vehicle for my 3rd Armor Squadron.  The other 2 tanks are FW turreted Vanquishers.  I used a couple new products on this tank.  They are AK productions panzer grey grime and concrete dust effect.  I used these to do some streaking which you can see in some of the side on shots.  Without further ado, here's the pics.


You can see the art I made on the barrel of an armadillo with a cannon in its back.

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!

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...
*********
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.