inspiration

Salutations,

It's been a while since a new post has gone up, but all pict-recording devices seem to break when I touch them, so I haven't had any pictures to show. But I got my hands on a camera, and took some picts of my recent work. I'm still working on Inquisitorial Operations Cell "Accipiter" (counts as Imperial Guard). My plan is to end up with a somewhat modular list that can be toned down or up depending on what kind of game I'm playing. While this army probably won't be done for a while, I am taking a few units in it as an ally to the Angels Malleus for OFCC this year (a friendly tournament in Vancouver, WA run by Ordo Fanaticus; http://www.ordofanaticus.com/blog/).

The story behind this army is that Inquisitor Rosenadel has founded an Imperial Guard regiment through his inquisitorial influence to act as his personal special forces. These are the 22nd Thracian Irregulars. However, when fighting the most dangerous of enemies, even this is not enough, and so he enlists the help of a cell of fellow inquisitors, who take direct control of squads. I have indeed decided that the sergeant in each veteran squad will be modeled as an inquisitor, and these models will come later. As mentioned previously, this army is inspired by modern-day special forces, and I've done what I can to model units like their real-world equivalents as well as name them similarly. For example, the Irregulars are the 22nd in homage to the 22nd SAS regiment, the most well-known of the SAS and whose training and methods are the basis for most other special forces units the world over.

Delta Squadron snipers, 22nd Thracian Irregulars

The Delta Squadron snipers above will count as ratlings, but are modeled as humans because Rosenadel is very much against abhumans. He's a radical, but everyone has their prejudices. The models are based on Cadian troopers and modified with some non-standard bits. The first is the head, which is the "Boonie Hat Heads" from Maxmini (http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_23&products_id=200). These kind of hats are worn by special forces guys a lot in various movies and games, so I thought it an appropriate choice. Next, the backpacks are also from Maxmini (http://www.maxmini.eu/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_26&products_id=19), given to these guys to make it look like they are ready for an extended stay in the field to set up a sniper nest and wait for their prey. Finally, each lasrifle has a sniper scope from Anvil Industry (http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=60_103&product_id=208) and has the barrel clipped off and replaced with a suppressor (http://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=60_103&product_id=160) to make them look like sniper rifles. The Thracian Irregulars have four squadrons, just like the 22nd SAS, but these guys are from Delta Squadron in homage to the two US Delta Force snipers, Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon, who gave their lives protecting the crash site of black hawk "Super 6-4" in Mogadishu, Somalia, as made famous by Black Hawk Down.

Two Vendettas at the ready.

Next are the two completed Vendettas. These two are from the 160th Thracian Special Air Wing, inspired by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) of the US military, also in Black Hawk Down. 

Clear and Present Danger

 The names on the two Vendettas are titles of Tom Clancy books (if that wasn't obvious): Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears. 

The Sum of All Fears

Interior of The Sum of All Fears.

Shown above, the interior of The Sum of All Fears is representative of how all the insides are/will be painted for the four Vendettas in the army. Red lighting is used in the interior so that personnel can see, but don't have their night-adjusted vision ruined.

Sum of All Fears interior shot, with green "go" light and gunner shading.

All of the Vendettas will have the door-mounted heavy bolter option, and I have attempted to shade the gunners and their gun mounts to look like the light is originating from inside the doorway. Inside The Sum of All Fears in particular, I have painted two green "go" lights (I don't know what they're really called) signifying that the troopers inside are clear to jump out the ramp at the back. I fully intend to use the Grav Chute Insertion rule a lot, and especially for The Sum of All Fears, I intend to model a kneeling and pointing jump master telling the troops to "GO! GO! GO!".

Magnetized battle damage representing hull point removal.

Finally for now, a picture of the finished battle damaged that represents a lost hull-point. It's in a different location than the previous post since this is a different model. I put some extra bits in the landing gear pocket to make it really look like there are exposed components, as well as some Leadbelcher to make it look scuffed-up.

Storm Troopers and Hull Points

Two posts in two days? It's like Christmas!

I have the pictures I promised. First, I have some Storm Troopers painted up in the final scheme, ready to get some flock.

The colors are Chaos Black armor and Astronomicon Grey for the cloth uniforms underneath. Guns are Boltgun Metal, satchels are Snakebite Leather. The uniforms and metallic bits were washed with Badab Black, and the satchels with Delvan Mud. The second picture is a bit blurry, but hopefully the =][= of the Inquisition can be seen.

Now, the Hull Points bit. It's a big change in 6th edition, making glancing hits worth a lot more. Hull Points represent a vehicle being worn down over the course of the battle, taking damage gradually and eventually being reduced to inoperable wreckage. What better way to show this than by magnetizing part of a vehicle so that they can be removed to show damage?

Below are some pictures of the first Vendetta I am trying this idea on. The number of magnetized, removable pieces is equal to the number of Hull Points the vehicle has. Every time a Hull Point is removed, one of the magnetized sections is removed. Once all of the magnetized sections have been removed, the vehicle is a wreck. Once it's done, it will be easy to keep track of visually and make things much more Cinematic (the new theme for 6th).

top section; somehow i don't have the before shot. the bit in the middle is from the plastic sprues the model came on, and will be made to look like a power cable or some such.

wing before

wing after removal of a hull point; inside the depression in the wing underside piece are straightened parts of a chopped up paper clip which will be made to look like cabling. the green stuff is helping keep the magnet in.

To make the removable wing panel, I performed a very risky operation to actually cut out that panel from the solid plastic upper wing piece. The method I used was to repeatedly score the area between the panels with my Exacto knife, cutting deeper each time until I was through the plastic. Once that panel was removed from the upper wing piece, the lower wing piece was glued in place, the magnet holes drilled, and the battle damage applied. It's important to leave the lower plate intact: the point of this is to have obvious visual indication that a Hull Point has been removed. So simply gluing the wing pieces together first, and then cutting through both the top and bottom panels and removing the entire piece, while removing a sizable chunk of the wing, could be mistaken for a modeling choice and not a lost Hull Point. Plus, the point is to be able to model some small-arms damage and exposed internal components.

door before

door after removal of a hull point

I did not, at first, realize that the door was held in place by the tail boom piece, so I had to chop off part of the top of the door to make it able to be removed. But now it simply slides up and out: the top of the door where it's cut can't be seen because of the tail boom, but it's still removable.

I'm going to attempt to make the sections for lost Hull Points different on every vehicle in the army. I will, of course, also be magnetizing all the weapons on the Vendettas so they can be removed to properly show Weapon Destroyed results. I've also magnetized the landing pads on this Vendetta, but I think I may dispense with that since it looks like they're supposed to be permanent. Removing them makes the model look a little sleeker, and I thought it might be a good way to differentiate between Zoom and Hover modes, but it will probably just be disruptive.

More modeling shenanigans with Vendettas, and the rest of the army, to come.

Inquisitorial Task Force

Greetings,

First, I went to the OFCC, held in Vancouver, WA again this year. A great time was had! It is truly a great event, and (nearly) everyone is sporting, friendly, and there to have fun. That said, my Angels Malleus did pretty poorly this year. I took a list like this:

Librarian, jump pack, Shield of Sanguinius, Unleash Rage

2 Sanguinary Priests, x2 jump packs

2 10-marine Assault Squads, each with x2 meltaguns and one power fist

9 Death Company with jump packs, x3 power weapons, x1 power fist, and Chaplain Lemartes

x2 Baal Predators, both with assault cannon turret and heavy bolter sponsons

x10 Vanguard Veterans, all with jump packs, x2 power weapons, x2 thunder hammers, x2 storm shields

I was basically wiped off the board in 4/5 games. I did manage to win the other game, but it still wasn't pretty. So, that obviously didn't go very well. I don't think I made any big tactical blunders, so I mostly blame the list, like any good 40k player.

Second, I am constructing a new army! I have a deep, abiding love of airborne infantry and special forces, particularly the Special Air Service (SAS) of the United Kingdom, after whom nearly all other special forces and counter-terror units, including the US SFOD-Delta, are modeled. The obvious choice for such an army was the Imperial Guard, where I could have veterans acting as stormtroopers with their BS4 and by taking the Grenadiers upgrade to give them 4+ armor saves. The Other part of the plan was to mount everything in Valkyries and Vendettas (6 total in the original list) and fly in, deposit troops on objectives, and fly off to provide support. This was all while 6th edition was only rumors, and no word had gotten out about flyers or new reserve limitations. I was wisely advised to wait until 6th dropped before starting this venture. Now that 6th is out, the list has gone through a few modifications to make it more compatible with 6th ed. So, here it is:

Company Command Squad
- carapace armor
- astropath
- officer of the fleet
- vox-caster
- x2 meltaguns
- x2 plasma guns
- chimera

Storm Troopers (10)
- x2 melta guns

Storm Troopers (10)
- x2 melta guns

Guardsman Marbo

Veterans
- Grenadiers
- x1 flamer
- x2 meltaguns
- vox-caster


Veterans
- Grenadiers
- x1 flamer
- x2 meltaguns
- vox-caster


Veterans
- Grenadiers
- x1 flamer
- x2 meltaguns
- vox-caster


Veterans
- Grenadiers
- x1 flamer
- x2 plasma guns
- vox-caster
- Chimera


Veterans
- Grenadiers
- x1 flamer
- x2 plasma guns
- vox-caster
- Chimera

Vendetta Gunship Squadron
- x2 Vendetta Gunships
- x2 sets of door-mounted heavy bolters


Vendetta Gunship Squadron
- x2 Vendetta Gunships
- x2 sets of door-mounted heavy bolters

The idea is that these are Imperial special forces. Initially, I had nothing beyond that as a theme, but as I thought more about it, it occurred to me that the equivalent of Imperial special forces exist: the Inquisition! I won't be taking allies, but instead modeling this army as a cell of Inquisitors leading inquisitorial storm troopers to snuff out some unlucky heretic (or even renegade Inquisitor, as the infamous Gregor Eisenhorn did when hunting down Quixos). To that end, sergeants in most (maybe all) of the Veteran squads will be modeled as Inquisitors, as will the company commander in the Company Command Squad.

Pictures of some finished storm troopers and a modeling method for keeping track of Hull Points in 6th edition coming soon!

The Anvil of Obedience

The Emperor Protects;

It's been a while. Time for some pretty pictures:

The 'Anvil of Obedience', inspired by an old line in the 3rd  Ed. Codex: Space Marines

This is for the escalation league, which I haven't played in since I got back to school, so no new battle reports there. I did lose a game to some footdar because I split up my forces like an idiot, but overall, not much 40k has been played by yours truly.

There is more that has been painted; pictures to follow soon.

Thought for the day: Even in death, I still serve you have no excuse not to paint.

DG Escalation League

Greetings gentle readers!

I have returned to the west coast after a little over a week back in my home state of Illinois. During that time, I played a lot of Warhammer 40k. I also played three escalation league games. Here's how they went:

500 points:

My list was posted the last time I wrote here, so I won't repeat it. This game was capture and control, spearhead deployment against Orks; a warboss, 2 mobs of boyz in trukks, and 5 warbikers. I won the game, killing the warboss with Sanguine Sword, and holding off the boyz and bikers with the assault squads (one of which died) and tank shocks from the razorbacks. I got the warbikers and a mob of boyz to run, which proved very, very useful. I then captured one objective with my assault squad and contested the other with a razorback.

pics mid-battle:

remaining assault squad moves to capture the home objective while the razorbacks and librarian move to contest the other

the landspeeder contesting the Ork objective before it was exploded by the boyz next to it

750 points:

For 750, I added a 5-man assault squad with a thunder hammer and a meltagun, gave the two previous assault squads meltaguns, and added another multi-melta/heavy flamer land speeder. I was going to need the melta, too: I had to play an Imperial Guard list that had two Basilisks, a Medusa, and a Hydra in it, as well as two veteran squads, one in a Chimera. Game was kill points, deployment was pitched battle. This game I also had second turn, and my two speeders were immobilized from the get-go. With nothing left to do, I charged my Razorbacks 12" and let loose with tl-lascannons, but only managed to stun a bassie. Turn two was poor for the IG, however, because only one RB got immobilized, and one of the speeders blew up. In my turn two, the assault squad and Librarian arrived in back of the Medusa (but failed to hurt it), and my assault squads charged the veterans bubble-wrapping the bassies. Next turn not much of my stuff was hurt due to scatters. My librarian split off and killed a bassie, and the librarian's assault squad killed the Medusa, and the RB-borne assault squad killed the other bassie. My librarian ended up getting killed, and a couple assault squads ended up getting killed, too. Game was a draw.

1000 pts:

This game I rounded out the assault squad to 10 marines, a Sanguinary Priest, and added a Baal Predator. I played a Chaos Space Marine army with a Nurgle/Warp Time daemon prince, 5 Obliterators, a squad of Plague marines in a Rhino, and one squad of CSM in a Rhino. This was Seize Ground, Spearhead game. Going over all the turns would be boring, but suffice it to say that I spent two turns killing two obliterators and not focusing on objectives, which I managed to save at the end and get a draw. I'm proud of my opponent, though, because it was his 7th game ever! I honestly expected to roll over him, but he's a fast learner.

pics of my jump-packed librarian and sanguinary priest:

made from a Sanguinary Guard model with the Gabriel Seth backpack

this is the guy who used to have a jump pack made out of shoulderpads

So my record as of now is 1/0/2.


Thought for the day: "You should make a daemon princess!" - Matt Niemi

DG Escalation League Round 1

The first round of the Downers Grove 2011-2012 Escalation League was last weekend. I haven't actually fought the battle yet, but army lists and painted armies were due, so I figured I might as well post my list and pictures.

Hiram Leon
Librarian, combi-melta, Sanguine Sword, Shield of Sanguinius, (110)

Hammer 1
Assault Squad (jp removed), flamer, Razorback, TL-lascannon (160)

Hammer 2
Assault Squad (jp removed), flamer, Razorback, TL-lascannon (160)

Sword Squadron
Landspeeder, multi-melta, heavy flamer (70)

I'd normally have the two assault squads carry meltaguns, but I knew I was up against an Ork player this round, so I figured some flamers were in order. Wargear can be changed between battles, so this won't be detrimental to my next game against IG.

It's nice to start to have an army that's all painted in the same scheme, even if the paint job is a little shoddy right now (and the Razorbacks are missing hatches...).

A battle report will be posted after I play my 500-point game.

Thought Quote for the day: Hey Eric. The Salamanders called. They want their fluff back. -Perrin

Librarius expanded

Greetings all,

I have decided to try to make everything I use in the Escalation League in Illinois look like the current version of the Angels Malleus paint scheme, which is this:

The Angels Malleus

The image come from the Space Marine painter on the Bolter and Chainsword forum: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/smp.php. Very, very helpful. Anyway, I have started to strip and repaint my 500-point list, which I will reveal in full (as if it was that exciting) on Nov. 26th (the date when the first round ends). Since I will not be in Illinois again until late December, I will be playing all my battles then. But I still have to have everything painted and an army list submitted since those two parts don't require me being in Illinois. I have painted up my HQ choice so far and am working on my next unit. Here he is, the newest addition to the Angels Malleus Librarius, Librarian Hiram Leon:

a librarian on foot? this can only mean...

Hiram is the result of GW discontinuing the Lost and the Damned army list. Back when it was legal, I was building a list that represented a group of Fallen Dark Angels swaying a group of Imperial Guard on a backwater planet to their cause. So, I have a few robed Dark Angel models lying around. This one didn't even have any arms yet, so I decided that the robe and hood made him the perfect body for a librarian. I added a Grey Knight Justicar arm (from my assault sergeant who now has a power fist), and a book from one of the inquisitor models that were released with Codex: Daemonhunters (ahh, the good old days). Viola! Librarian. Easy-peasy, puddin' pie.

That's all for now. I probably won't show the rest of what I work on until the 26th. Be sure to check out War in the Old World (warintheoldworld.blogspot.com) for Warhammer Fantary goodness in the meantime!

Thought for the day: To be paint or not to be; that is the question answer.