Live by the blade, Die by the blade.

Chosen Chaos Space Marine of Khorne.

With the release of the new Chaos Space Marine Codex i have been pledging to finally dive into 6th Edition 40k.

The release of the new rules set, though brilliant, left me feeling stranded.  My Entire Armoured Chaos Space Marine force was left feeling decidedly gibbed.  It is clear the importance of troop transports has been reduced greatly in the game, and though while they are useful they now work in an entirely different way to before.  Squads buying transports to get into the fray faster seem better off walking now.

Nights best spent crafting flesh

The first five Wracks stagger free of the laboratories.

This edition of Tower of Snakes comes to you straight from the painting table, i've been buoyed ahead with painting recently, feverishly brushing acrylics/inks/mediums/varnishes onto any Dark Eldar models within my reach and i'm happy with the results so far!

The Coven of the Severed Tongue

Dark Eldar by Adrian Smith

It all started with this picture.

Over the weekend of course the 6th Edition Warhammer 40k Rulebook was released and alongside that came all the inevitable reading, i have to say, i'm a huge fan of the new rules so far and for everything they have taken away, they have given you ten more, pretty excited to get some games in!


Flicking through the army background section of the book i was suddenly floored when i came across this picture, Adrian Smith has always been one of my favourite artists, his style is unique and instantly recognizable, but it struck me that i don't think he has ever painted the Dark Eldar before, and if he has, never in such gruesome and beautifully dark detail, the complete picture shows the bodies of terrified guardsmen strewn across the ground with their eyes cut out and the Dark Eldar standing aloof and alien in the aftermath of battle while a Talos floats broodingly in the background.

I'd always been tempted to do a Dark Eldar Coven based army, but now alongside 6th edition coming into being and waiting for the new Chaos Codex it seemed like a perfect time to actually get into action!

I picked up a box of Wracks and a Talos to get to work on and pictured above is my first wrack, not completely finished yet but coming along nicely, the detail of the models is absolutely incredible and very fun to work with, the skin is a lot nicer to view in the flesh and is an absolute joy to paint.

I used a lot of the new GW paints to paint the model including the Dark Eldar specific skin colours and the dark blue/grey highlight colours, the blood is achieved using Tamiya Clear red ink, this stuff is fantastic, it works best if basecoated with a nice dark red (think GW Red Gore) colour and the subtly worked along, the Wrack models are brutally stitched together in a number of places so i thought it would be great to highlight that, basing usually presents a bit of difficulty for me, i don't like to be too flashy with it as i like the attention to be on the models themselves, i like the idea of the army walking across a desert like area, but i also thought it would be cool to have lots of blood spatter and blood drips to further the narrative of such a horrific army, i used the same blood method as i used on the models and it has come out pretty well, going to paint the first 5 wracks up with the same basing method and see if it bears up across the squad, and if it doesn't look so good i can just rebase them!

The models to the right are some more Wracks from the same squad that i am painting, the one on the left has had a Basecoat of Rakarth Flesh, highlighted with Pallid Wych flesh and then inked with Leviathan Purple wash, the model on the right has had the same treatment, but then a recoat of Pallid Wych flesh after the purple wash, after this i do one more coat of Pallid Wych flesh as a highlight, but mixed with 50/50 with Skull White, and then the work on the rest of the model begins!

I will post some more progress soon hopefully and let you know how i get on!

The Gore-Trodden path

The army arrayed in all its Infernal Glory.

6th Edition 40k creeps ever closer, and every day i hear a new rule or tidbit, no matter how hard i try to ignore them.

Not that i'm not interested, i'm just so excited i want to be sitting with the new book and a cup of tea already god damn it.

There are several huge changes i'm liking already though,  firstly the constant chatter about allies interests me, straight off people have been discussing particularly beardy combos and how to pull them off, but me personally, i'm thinking about how to present unique modelling oppurtunities.

For example, once the new Chaos Space Marine book rolls around, if there is in fact no sign of Chaos Cultists (which i'm desperate for as i think they add a ton of theme to any Chaos army) then i will be quite happy to utilize some Imperial Guard and proxy my own, the allies rules also fix the weirdness surrounding Chaos Marines and Chaos Daemons being two books quite nicely also.

The Second thing that interests me greatly is that armies can now purchase "Fortifications" as part of their Army points allowance, which is pretty nuts, especially when you start to factor in the additional heavy weapons and special rules some of them bring to the field.  But even if this is the case i am pretty excited, i love the idea of never hitting a table without enough scenery ever again, that sounds great!

Gorak, Skull Champion of Khorne.

The Khorne Berzerkers in my army prove their worth nearly every game, the damage output these guys have is phenomenal compared to how they look on paper, the best factor about the whole squad i think is the WS5, those 3's to hit really push the bracket up for how much damage they do.  I've played games where the squad (7 Berzerkers and a Champion with Power Weapon) have charged into a squad of 4 Thunder Hammer Terminators and Vulkan and aced the combat (much to my shock).  The furious charge on the unit allows me to break my habit of giving all sergeants power fists in an attempt to cover and redundancy, there is however the constant threat of Dreadnought attack, but i attempt to stay vigilant against that!  As for the modelling side of things, i wanted the Khorne Berzerkers to stand out in the army and i imagined them viewing themselves as more "Pure" in their worship of khorne, i imagined them amputating any mutations not fitting of the blood god in particular and replacing the mangled limbs with simple combat blades and prosthetic chainsaws, the better to aid them in combat, it turned out pretty well!  The Champion Gorak has had his model taken from an old Games Day Limited Edition Chaos Warrior that i'd had sitting around doing nothing for a while, he just seemed perfect, even though he's holding a Wood Elf (which i like to think of as an exodite eldar or possibly a dark eldar)  the pose is so arrogant it's very fitting for a Khorne Berzerker champion i think!

The rest of my troops choices are rounded out with Chaos Space Marine Squads with the Mark of Khorne, a Power fist and a Meltagun in each, if i'd had the points i would have liked to have taken combi weapons on the chaos champions for the more guaranteed melta fusillade at important times, but even so they have performed admirably, the ridiculous amount of attacks they put out tending to do me a lot of favours up close (apart from the odd game where i'm allrgic to rolling 4+.)  For my next project with these boys i am looking to convert some more icon bearers, i imagined the banners as windows into the realm of chaos, so i would like to hollow out a banner and have a daemon model actually lunging forward from the banner itself, i think that would look really cool (if a little tricky to pull off!)

Blood Disciples

Redmawr the Rancid, Daemon Prince of Chaos

Well, i have been remiss updating lately, but so what?  That's what blogs are for right?

I haven't been dozing in a cave though, i have been doing a fair bit of painting in the mean time, i completed a new army which i took to the local 40k Ashes tournament (for the ashes of the 5th edition Rulebook, what with the new one around the corner and all!)

In the run up to the tournament, i decided i wanted to take an army that is viewed as underpowered within the current meta game, so in the weeks running up to it, i kept hearing people say how rubbish the Chaos Space Marine book is and how it's only any good if you take Lash of Submission, and even then it looks a bit shonky now.

Well, i've always been a follower of the dark gods, my first foray into 40k was with a horrific circus coloured Tyranid army (you know, in 2nd ed. when all the troop types were different garish colours) my next and first solid army was a Chaos Space Marine army built around Khorne.

"Soul crusher" Blood Disciples Vindicator

My old army used to be lead by my Chaos Lord Redmawr Rancid riding a Juggernaut of Khorne so i thought it would be fun to do an army built around him a bit further on down the line once he had attained Daemonhood.

I decided i wanted to do something a bit different from traditional red, and also that i wanted the army to consist of renegades who worship Khorne rather than a straight up World Eaters force.    So i settled on naming my force the Blood Disciples, only realising a little later that there is an army called the Blood Disciples in the codex, i decided my Warband had struck out on their own, self imposed exile under the command of Redmawr himself.

I played around with a couple of lists but settled on quite a nice well rounded force headed up by Redmawr himself, with a squad of 5 Terminators boasting a variety of weapons mounted in a Land Raider (as a dedicated transport) for troops i decided on one squad of Khorne Berzerkers (the most blood mad and elite renegades) in a rhino, as well as two squads of 8 chaos marines in rhinos.  Moving on i spent the rest of my points on Heavy Support, with a pair of Obliterators, a Chaos Predator Annihilator and a Vindicator as well.

 "The Gore Hounds" Chaos Terminator squad

The army performed admirably well in practice games, winning the vast majority, and to my surprise i even managed to come out on top against a couple of lists i pretty much expected to get smashed by.

I utilized a variety of techniques in the painting of the army, but i decided straight off that i wanted everything to look filthy, one of my biggest problems with a lot of Chaos Marine armies is how clean cut they all look.  If you worship dark gods, cavort with daemons and flay the skins of the damned, i don't see that polishing armour and repainting it all the time would be high on your list of priorities, i thought it would also provide a nice counter point to more clean looking Loyal marines as well (and of course hopefully look pretty good on the table top)  this project was also the first time i made use of the new Citadel paints range and i have to say that i am very happy with the new paints, i wasn't too sure how they would manage to improve on the old range, but somehow they have!  Good work GW!

"The Corpsegrinder" Chaos Space Marine Land Raider

One thing that surprised me about the army is just how effective the Terminator squad in Land Raider proves to be, even with the laughable set of abilities of the tank (The glaring omission of anything comparable to "power of the machine Spirit" is really felt a lot of the time) the Terminators themselves often ridiculously overperform, and the one thing i put this down to is the purchase of a single chainfist.  That 5 point upgrade has spelt doom for a whole junkyard's worth of vehicles, often my tactic will be to engage an enemy unit and multi-charge the single terminator with chainfist into a tank on his own.

He nearly always takes them down.

The utility of the Chaos marine units and Berzerkers in their rhinos is very interesting to play with as well, part of the end result of going for a core of Chaos Marine squads instead of pure Khorne Berzerkers is that the Melta Guns have provided them the ability to perform "drive-by" attacks from the top of Rhinos whilst maintaining a certain degree of safety.  This is utility would be lost with a pure Khorne Berzerker force, and while the majority of the army isn't full of whacky abilities (something i think a Chaos Codex should be full of by the way) it is extremely solid and tactical, almost on a par with the Loyalist marine codex.

Blood Disciple Obliterators

One victory that caught me off guard in particular was when i went toe to toe with a Kaldor Draigo-wing Grey Knight list, the Obliterator's Plasma Cannons proved to be a vital counterpoint to the monstrous Paladin squad, stripping multiple wounds off at once (stopping Draigo bouncing them all off on his shield)  across the first couple of turns the paladins were all stripped down to one wound each and then slowly picked off, i even got to use the old "Adamantium Barricade" maneuver with both the Chaos Marine Squad's rhinos, disembarking from both and placing the rhinos an inch or so apart so there was room to fire but they couldn't be assaulted in the ensuing turn, beautiful!

 Anyway, i now look forward to the eminent release of 6th edition, bring it on!

Normandy

Flames of War - German Hitlerjugend from Normandy

Recently i had the honour to be commissioned to paint a vast army of Germans from Flames of War, i've posted previously about these fellows but now the second half of the commission is completed they are even more impressive!

I find it quite funny that you could put a Space Marine (which doesn't exist in the "real" world) and i could tell you it's affiliation, probably home planet and preferred method of warfare and yet, place a World War 2 unit or tank in front of me (which, you know, actually existed) and i haven't the foggiest what it does or it's strengths and weaknesses.  Having said that i quite enjoyed painting these models, the tanks in particular were a joy to paint, all the years spent practicing on Space Marine Rhinos really pays off once you make the switch to painting something and attempt to make it look realistic!

Painting the infantry presents their own unique challenges, i like to lavish detail onto infantry models and they are normally a strong point for me, but in 15mm, even the casting is fighting against you for fine detail, and the overall look of an army is much more important than the tiny details (but they are still fun to sneak in here and there.)

When it came to assembling the infantry in the first wave, i had the daunting task of being faced with 50+ models that looked identical, and at that time not knowing the difference between a Panzerschreck and a Panzerfaust.

But i learn quickly when i can and learned to love the little fellas for the unique challenge they presented, the second batch were far easier to paint once i had the experience with the colour scheme under my belt and a predetermined plan instead of sitting around chewing paintbrushes and looking confused, i put in a couple of days solid work and managed to polish off the tanks and remaining infantry at a pretty good pace, i even went back and added some extra detail to the infantry i had painted previously to bring them all into line with each other in terms of quality, which isn't something i was paid to do, but i'm a perfectionist till the end!

The addition of a "Special Character" in the second wave of models was quite interesting as well, riding in a Panther tank he isn't readily distinguishable from those of his squadron, so i made sure during assembly that i fitted the front mudguards to his tank prominently and made sure he was poking out the top hatch, as well as painting up the numbered insignia on the side of his turret from the box, i think he came out pretty well, and his mobile Tank workshop piece was great fun to paint, a little diorama in it's own right!  Hopefully the client will like them!

March of the Grey Knights

Well!  I've been busy painting away as always!

I decided to alter up the colour scheme of the Grey Knights a bit as i couldn't get the gold helms to look swish, the newer white helms actually look  lot nicer in the flesh so i'm going to go with that, and after a little segway painting some more Flames of War Germans (Which i can photograph this time, including the older batch i painted as the owner was kind enough to lend them to me!) i will be kicking down to finish the Grey Knights or at the very least get them more done!


I should be able to finish at least a squad.

Hopefully.

Malifaux: Sonnia Criid

Sonnia Criid's Witch-hunters.

Well, i know i said i was going to start Malifaux with Kirai Ankoku, but after a bit more research and starting to get into the rules of the game, i realised that yes, Kirai has incredibly involved playstyle and that to jump in feet first with her might be making it tougher for myself than need be, with this in mind i cast my eye over the other gangs available and decided on Sonnia Criid and her Witch hunters as the models are also, just gorgeous,  i haven't even played a single game of Malifaux yet and i am totally intrigued by the system, the resource management twist with using a deck of cards in lieu of dice is something i'm really looking forward to giving a go, hopefully when i get a chance to grab a game or two i might be able to do a battle report to give people a bit of a taster.

Sonnia Criid.

One of the details i really like is the fact that scenarios you play aren't repetitive, there are lots to choose from, including ones specific to the crew you are playing with, as well as these basic scenarios you get "Schemes" which are an extra level of victory conditions built into the scenario on top, some require you to keep them a secret, some you tell your opponent, but the rule book essentially reads like something akin to a highly tweaked and more interesting version of Necromunda, and when you add in the fact that Malifaux crews only tend to be made of a select group of individuals rather than sprawling armies, getting started doesn't carry a prohibitive cost, in fact, this crew cost me less than twenty quid, and the rulebook was a tenner (from Heroes and Legends mind, they discount everything!) and then the fate deck to play games with was only a couple of quid, so for just over 30 quid i've got everything i need to get knee deep in Malifaux, which is pretty exciting when you think about it.

Sammael Hopkins.

Sonnia Criid herself is a High-Damage Output Caster with a variety of flame-based spells at her disposal, as well as her anti-magic abilities, she works for the guild, the dystopian organisation that polices the frontier dimension of Malifaux, i am an instant sucker for that "Good guy... or not?" character that essentially fights for the forces of good but may have other motives going on, she heads up task forces that hunt down the various mages of Malifaux and persecutes them in the name of order, she is backed up Sammael Hopkins with his trusty .45 Colt and Huntin' Tools, he can magically imbue his shots with flame, Gunmancy, pretty awesome in my book.  He can also loose off three devestating shots that can annihilate nearly anything in the game with a series of decent draws which i like the sound of, as a friend of mine has been threatening that he will be using Lord

Witchling Stalker.

Chompy Bits and the Dreamer, so hopefully i'll be able to stand up and spit in their faces!

The basic grunts for Sonnia and her crew are the Witchling Stalkers, now initially i was put off by the Witchling Stalkers as they essentially look like deranged midgits (or little people as i prefer to call them) but when i first showed interest in the game someone said to me that "a lot of the models in Malifaux don't necessarily make sense until you read the background" which is very true.  The Witchling Stalkers are captured mages from other warbands in the Guild's pursuits, Sonnia Criid then binds these individuals with powerful Hexes that are essentially anti-magic, the effect this has on the unfortunates is that their bodies begin to atrophy and wither under the strain, this causes catastrophic trauma to the individual and under the attentions of the Guild's witch hunter's they are

Witchling Stalker.

rehabilitated into combat against their former allies, eager to do anything to stave off the inevitable decay of their bodies, after reading this in its full context i was pretty riveted and reading along the background of some of the other casters inspired me greatly as well.

In the game Sonnia and her hexed friends form a kind of "Anti-magic pit" those reliant on spells will have a hard time against her, but she is by no means insurmountable.

A nice feature of Malifaux is that it definitely has a feel of Rock/Paper/Scissors some crews do benefit greatly against others, but it is a gentle push into the upper hand rather than a "haha! you lose!" feel, when compounded with the vast range of scenarios available you have to bear in mind that a lot of the time, winning a game isn't about annihilating your opponent, it can be setting up dynamite, assassinating key models (not just the opponent's caster), protecting supply wagons and many more.

Witchling Stalker.

Wyrd Miniatures (the company that produce Malifaux) also make a selection of scenery called "Terraclix" which i'm quite interested to give a go as well, its entirely modular pre-printed stuff, but it includes stairways funny little gantries and building interiors and actually looks like it would be a lot of fun to play across, and i like the idea of switching up between "Outdoor" games on traditional tables and "Indoor" games inside buildings, something you don't really get to do a lot of the time.

So i will grab a few games of Malifaux and post on my progress, i look forward to getting stuck in yet another wierd and wonderful world!

Adieu!

Scourge the Daemon!

Grey Knight Terminator Librarian.

A while back i painted up these Grey Knights and sold them on Ebay, originally i purchased them pretty soon after the codex came out, but after looking through the book i couldn't make head nor tail of the list at the time, so i thought i would give it some time to let some cheaky tricks emerge (let other people do the homework for me!)

I started off by making this Grey Knight Librarian from a metal Space Marine Terminator Librarian i'd had kicking around, i quite like the Terminator Librarian model, but i'd got bored of the same face bossing around my Space Marines so i thought it would be cool to fit a helmet over the top, i took a while boring out the back of the head with a modelling knife, i snipped the back half of the head off first.

And filed down the original face until he looked like he'd dipped his head in a bucket of Acid.

Stuck on a shield for the Heraldry and a Nemesis Force Sword as well as a book icon on the back, worked out quite well for a conversion i think!  I will be repeating it in future and refining it slightly for my own Grey Knight army.

Grey Knight Strike Squad.

I also painted up this Grey Knight Strike Squad, i actually swapped the Justicar and the Psycannon's legs for those in the Sanguinary Guard kit for a bit of variation amongst the squad, i quite like how the Justicar worked out.

I also added a few bits and pieces to the base as nice additional features, a Spawn arm underfoot, a Chaos Marine Helmet and a Khornate Vehicle icon all add detail nicely to the squad as well as Gale Force 9's Autumn Foliage to spice up the colour palette a bit.

Grey Knight Terminator Squad.

And finally i painted up this Terminator Squad, i was really happy with how they came out, Games Workshop did an amazing job with this kit, you can really create endless combinations for your models, and the poses are quite realistic compared to some models, i like the metallic look of the traditional colour scheme, but i'm awkward so i decided for my own to do them white to make them stand out, sometimes it's good to paint a whole squad in a traditional scheme just to make sure you want to go that way with your army, i did these guys over the space of two evenings and was quite happy to let them go, but found the experience i got painting them to be quite useful to my own Grey Knights once i started them!

The Germans are coming!

 

So recently i painted a large number of Flames of War Germans for a lovely fellow, it was quite an interesting experience.

It took me ages.

Assembly alone was hilarious, opening an infantry platoon box to work on seems like a great idea, everything is pretty easy to differentiate, but when you open up the box and see piles and piles of little white metal men staring back at you, it's very difficult to work out who is who, either way i made it through, painting 15mm infantry is a bizarre experience and when the colour scheme for them is the Hitlerjugend from Normandy (basically tiny dots of varying neutral colours all over the uniform) it's very difficult to make them look flash.   But i approached it with zeal and i was happy with the results, i foolishly forgot to snap the models before i handed them over (i was working on them till 4AM one night... i'm a bit nocturnal) but i did snap this Tank, i really enjoyed painting Flames of War Tanks and i hope to get some more in the future as they are a really different experience, i love my weathering in all different forms and these really give you a chance to go hog wild.

There is talk of some more coming my way so i will make sure i get the next ones photographed for the future!

Warmachine: Storm Strider

Cygnar Storm Strider

Recently i had the pleasure of painting a Cygnar Stormstrider from Warmachine up as a commission, when i first looked at the model i thought it would be a complete nightmare, but the collection of techniques involved in painting it was actually quite refreshing, a nice mix of weathering and painting interesting textures onto the different parts of the model kept it fun to paint throughout, and it was a lot quicker to paint than i expected also.

There are normally crew to go with the model but i only received one to paint which i duly left at home when dropping the model off (when this picture was taken) so he is having to undertake and arduous quest of his own to be reunited with his Warmachine through the streets of London currently.

I was quite pleased in particular with the subtle gradient of the blue on the legs, going from darker at the bottom to lighter at the top, i'd been itching to have another go at this technique, but i think it looks better on rounded surfaces than flat, and i've been painting a lot of Imperial Vehicles for 40k which everyone knows are all about the Right angles.

I thought it would be a good time to talk about one of my favourite techniques at the moment for creating false perspective on a model, and how easy it is to achieve, The gashes and strikes on the legs of the Storm Strider are done using this method, i call it "Gouging" but i'm sure that there is another more accepted name for it in the painting community, but so what, right?

the Privateer Press Studio version of the Storm Strider has an amazing extension of this "Gouging" effect where by paint is chipped off to reveal rusted and pitted metal underneath, but i thought i would have a go at this on one of my own models first, other people's models aren't always the best place to begin experimenting!

Anyway, it goes a little like this,

Step One:  Take your surface that requires roughing up, in this example it's the unfinished leg plate of the Storm Strider, i'd got the basic colours of the leg down by this point so i figured it was a good time to chuck in this particular detail, paint fine lines over the armour plating with a colour that is just a darkened version of your main colour, the swipes in this picture are Enchanted Blue with Chaos Black 50/50 (they just look a bit darker in the picture).

The swipes tend to look better if they taper off at the ends to smaller points at each end but as you can see here i was happy just to have the basic line down, you can always go back and add the tapered ends later.

Step Two:  Go back and extreme highlight the lower of the two sides with a lighter version of your base colour (base colour of the armour, not the darkened impression), this gives the impression that the light is catching a raised edge, really deep cuts could be highlighted both edges (to simulate say an axe becoming embedded in an armour plate and the wielder really having to struggle to pull it free)

As you can see in the picture this instantly adds perspective compared to the line below it, and these are close ups, quite unforgiving, down on a gaming table it looks awesome.

So uh, yeah, that's it really.  Pretty easy, and a technique i would recommend everyone to try, these are quite large cuts obviously and i didn't want to rough the model up with too much weathering as Cygnar models tend to have quite a "Pristine" image, more industrial models like Khador i'd just say go nuts, this technique extrapolates quite well onto infantry as well, i've used it a lot on Space marines in the past with great results, when you combine it with weathering powders and little extra paint chips here and there it really looks beastly,

to take it to the next level and increase the quality even further i'd recommend a further highligh towards the edges of the first in a lighter colour adding more White or bone to whatever colour you are working with.

So if you haven't tried it already give it a shot, it's well fun.

Goings on..

I've been busy lately on the 'ole Grey Knights, but i recently picked up a Cygnar Storm Strider (? the Battle Engine), and a monstrous Flames of War German army as commissions so i will be photographing them as they get done and putting them up here, hope they go well!

I also picked up a Malifaux Crew recently!  After much deliberating, i decided there was only one crew for me, Kirai Ankoku and her Vengeful Spirits just screamed out for me to paint them, I've always had a love for the stylings of the Orient and these models are no exception, so as i get them done i will photograph them up as well!

Time to fire up the Paintbrushes!

Memory Lane - The Iron Lords

Librarian Furioso Dreadnought

Honour Guard Standard Bearer

The Iron Lords were a long-time project of mine, i played with them as my main 40k army for about 3 years, going through a combination of guises, from 5th Edition marines through to Blood Angels, i had a lot of success with them and won several Best Painted army trophies with them as well as a 2nd Place Generalship trophy.

The last 40k tournament i visited i used them in their Blood Angels Incarnation, and i had been painting them up until the night before the tournament (believe it or not, a first for me!)  and i didn't really get many practice games in with them, the weird thing was, i realised i didn't really like the army much.



I tend to be a fan of shooty armies, more specifically, i like an army that packs a bit of a punch at range, and then delivers a killing blow in close combat.

With Blood Angels i just never really found my feet, i know they are a great army, i've played against them enough times to fret whenever i see them over the other side of the table, but i decided, for now, they are not for me. 

I tried an army centered around priests as, at the time, i found the whole Feel no Pain thing pretty exciting, but i think i went too gimmicky, i sold out.

my counts-as Gabriel Seth

I went with what people told me was good and not what i really wanted to see on the table, not entirely, the lynchpin of the army was my version of Gabriel Seth, a monster wearing a Hockey Mask with an Eviscerator (shown left) everyone said Gabriel Seth was rubbish, yet when i played games with him, i thought he was awesome, and i had several games where he somehow managed to trash 500 points worth of stuff on his own.

But after taking them to the tournament and performing hideously i thought it was time to chuck them in, i put them up on Ebay and they now belong to a very nice chap in Germany i believe, i enjoyed painting them a lot, and when i started the project the main idea for me was to take an "Official" Chapter (The Iron Lords are one of the featured colour schemes in the Space Marine Codex) and build upon the theme ,

My counts-as Corbulo

I took snippets of information and fleshed them out to whatever was in my liking at the time, It was quite refreshing, not a bog standard "Oh a new codex is out, better try and use it" thing, when Blood Angels came out, i painted up new and obvious models for anything exclusively from the codex, and it was fun to try and think up what they might look like in my colour scheme and what possible background reason i would include them from, My Gabriel Seth for example was "Captain Elderon" of the Assault Company, a grim beast of a marine who's tactical acumen fell second to his martial skill, his combat detachments constantly followed by an extra allocation of Apothecaries to oversee the Assault Marines under his control who followed his blood thirsty lead.

A custom Devastator marine

I have a terrible feeling i will always be a Marine player for 40k, if it doesn't at least have "And They Shall Know no Fear", a 3+ save and a Boltgun, i don't see much use for it in an army.

I also converted up some Oversized Field Mortars for a squad of Devastators (See pic on right) on the battlefield they counted as a squad with 4 missile launchers, but that way i wasn't just taking a squad of 4 missile launchers because they are cheap in a Blood Angels army, i thought of some unique quirk of character i could give the Squad to make them more interesting.  And i worked a treat

Veteran Sergeant

Also, i would be entirely remiss not to mention the fact that i had an Iron Lords thread over on Warseer that i attempted to update regularly, a lot of people would comment and give me feedback (Astraeos wherever you are, your steadfast advice was always appreciated, as well as many others.)

I think online in the gaming community there is a lot of potential to be either a "Watcher" sifting through threads and articles to gain inspiration but that is all and "Trolls" (well we all know what those are, in both senses of the word) but those people that commented on my progress were very helpful, so if you are looking to gain an extra bit of "oomph" with some painting i would definitely recommend taking pictures of your models, no matter how horrible you might think you paint (or good for that matter), the feedback i've received in the past has improved my skills tenfold in addition to my practice with the brush.

Battle Report: Entombment of a Machine

Well! No sooner have i posted up a Battle report then Boom!  I get another sweet game of 40k in that i think is worth chronicling!

Now, a friend of mine, one of my two 40k "Sensei" that taught me a lot about playing and tactics is a staunch Necron player, back in 4th, he tried out every variant Necron list, and won several tournaments with them, in time, he had to watch as his Robotic badboys crumbled away with 5th edition, slowly watching them get worse and worse as each new round of big boys came out.  Well, when he heard about the Necrons codex coming out for 5th edition, that changed everything, he's back and in fighting form, and we've been vowing to face each other on the field of battle since i took my Knightly vows and renewed my membership to the Inner circle of the Grey Knights...

today was that day!

My friend is also heading down to the PAW tournament (i'm starting to quite lament not being able to join them all) so we played 1500 points, this time i opted for a bit more of a trimmed down list but with a second dreadknight compared to my last game.

The Necrons holding the Objective in No Mans Land.

We rolled up Capture and Control (one objective each) with a Dawn of War deployment and i lost the roll for first turn/deployment (again!).  The Necrons opted to place their objective fairly close to the baseline (the large base on the left of the Ghost Ark in the picture to the left.) and i opted to place mine in the extreme right hand corner of the board (to the top right and just out of shot in the pic).

The Necrons deployed a Ghost Ark and a unit of two Necron Lords behind the Grand vestibule on top of the hill, the Grey Knights opted to just walk on in the first turn.

But in a slight reverse of fortunes, i managed to seize the initiative!  And i didnt even need Coteaz' sneaky re-roll to pull it off!

Roll tape...

 +++NIJEA+++FORMOSA SECTOR+++



Inquisitor Coteaz is a tireless agent of the Imperium.  Continually bringing new worlds into the protective fold of his remit as Lord Inquisitor of the Formosa sector, in addition to his tireless persecution of heretics within his realm.  Not for him the rest of delegation from a command throne, no, Torquemada Coteaz continues to meet the foe face to face and crush them under his mighty Force hammer.  A potent reminder to any who would usurp the Emperor's peace.

Nijea is one such new world that has been settled by the forces of the Missionarius Galaxia, and for several years all had passed without event, until the sporadic loss of contact with ground forces revealed all was not well...

Talk of "Daemons with the visage of death itself" were all that could be ascertained from garbled vox-reports and Coteaz' Astropaths relayed messages of distress and unrest in the warp, and while the Inquisition sometimes carries the heavy heart of Exterminatus, it will equally defend a viable planet in an attempt to spread the light of mankind to the darkest of stars.  With these thoughts fresh in his mind, Coteaz dispatched a strike force of Grey Knights to strike into the heart of what was quickly becoming a losing battle for the forces of the Imperium, only to find the aforementioned Daemons were in fact cells of Necrontyr awakening from their aeons-old sleep, with death as their calling card...

GREY KNIGHTS TURN 1

The Grey Knights make their presence felt.

The first turn saw Coteaz, Grand Master Valdek and his Imperial Rottweilers stride onto the battlefield, flanked by a pair of Nemesis Dreadknights and a Vindicare Temple Assassin, while the Assassin Sprinted into position in some nearby woods, setting up his Exitus rifle, the Grey Knight Terminators and Grand Master opened fire with their Psycannons into the menacing form of the Ghost Ark, psychically-charged shells impacting into the alien machinery and causing it to topple in a burst of flame, while the Nemesis Dreadknights both broke into a loping run.

NECRON TURN 1

While the Ghost Ark may have been annihilated in a swift display of power, this troubled not the pair of Necrontyr standing closeby, Vehicles could be reconstructed, Human flesh could not, they strode into the open to confront the heavily armoured elite warriors with an air of arrogance, confident in their imperviousness.  This solitary display wasn't enough to hold the Grey Knight's attention for long though, the horizon blackened with twitching stark shapes and a horrible chittering noise filled the air as an entire warhost of Necrontyr flooded the battlefield, Canoptek Spyders, Scarab Swarms, Immortals and Necron Warriors shambled into view, and it was clear this fight would be a dear one indeed.

GREY KNIGHTS TURN 2

The Necrontyr's arrogance hadn't gone unnoticed, the Dreadknights came to a halt and dowsed the machines with blessed prometheum from their heavy Incinerators, the ancient metal burning and crumpling to a pile of components in no time at all.

The Dreadknights confront the Necron Lords.

The Terminators took the opporunity to run forward and put less space between them and their foe, while the Vindicare Assassin attempted a shot on a Cryptek that had floated onto the battlefield on a nimbus of electricity, the shot failed to eliminate the creature though as the Assassin operative began to load another shell.

During this exchange Coteaz' acolyte henchmen had found their tactical timing to be flawed and they found themselves entering the battlefield before the battleplan was fully in place, they took the time to shelter in a ruin and await further orders,

As this all unfolded, the two Necron Lords who had been reduced to molten slag moments before reconstructed themselves before the Dreadknight's eyes, until their forms were near pristine again, such foul alien sorcery!  The Grey Knights would not relent.

NECRON TURN 2

The Necron Monolith makes landfall.

As if to stir seeds of doubt in the Grey Knight's minds, the skies darknened as the bulky mammoth form of a Monolith descended from the heavens, Coteaz' had prepared for just such an eventuality, and the Imperial Rottweilers blazed away at the Alien Warmachine, damaging it yet not enough to cripple it's advance.  As it descended, the Portal on the front of the Alien machine stirred into life, attempting to pull the Vindicare Assassin through and to a demise, he managed to cling to a nearby tree firmly enough to avoid instant fate, meanwhile unrigging his Exitus pistol with his free hand...

A Great Beam of light descended from the Crystal atop the Monolith, bathing the Terminators of the Imperial Rottweilers with light before rising to a crescendo of burning laser energy, two of the great warriors were immolated inside their armour, their great forms slumping to the ground as their companions pressed on.

Anrakyr the Traveller, leader of the Necron host banked over the Large ruin that had become focus of this battle in his Command Barge, heading towards the Grey Knight battlelines with wanton abandon.

The  Pair of Necron Lords fearlessly charged into the closest Dreadknight, a cloud of Mindshackle scarabs flying from their outstretched arms and swarming the machine, the pilot was powerless to watch as the combat harness began to turn on its wearer, a Nemesis Doomfist rising up and attempting to throttle the pilot inside his own Warmachine.

GREY KNIGHTS TURN 3

The Grey Knights soldiered on fearlessly, And with the Psychic input of Grand Master Valdek, two Grey Knight Strike Squads were summoned to battle, teleporting either side of Anrakyr's command barge in an attempt to secure the Battleline and stop them from becoming overrun.

The Terminators chose to press on past the almighty form of the Necron Monolith, confident in the abilities of their Vindicare Assassin to protect them from harms way,  they followed in the wake of the unengaged Dreadknight as it charged into the ruins atop the hill to confront the chittering mechanical horrors that lurked within, he fired a great gout of prometheum into the building, killing vast swathes of the incoming Scarab Swarm and injuring one of the foul robotic creatures that were producing more of them all the time.

The Vindicare annihilates the Necon Monolith.

The newly arrived Strike Squads opened fire on the Overlord in his command barge but the Alien technology continued to plow forwards undeterred, seeing this Grand Master Valdek ordered his own Psycannon-bearing battle brothers to add to the torrent of fire, and they brought down another Necron vehicle in a shower of psychic flames, Anrakyr arose from the wreckage unscathed, stalking the Acolytes cowering in the ruins,

The Vindicare Assassin, still holding onto the tree for life in the wake of the Monolith's Portal, cocked his Exitus Pistol and selected a Turbo-Penetrator round, despite the situation, the Vindicare's cool head and relaxant-stimmed body contributed to him still being able to fire a perfect shot, the ridiculously high-bore shell entered the body of the titanic machine, penetrating deep to its core, and in either a show of complete luck, or insane proficiency, the Alien monolith sank to the ground and burst into flames, whatever had powered it was destroyed, and it was rendered inert, with this the Vindicare was dropped back to the ground and he retrieved his Exitus rifle, loading a new shell into the chamber as if nothing had happened.

The Grey Knights take the fight to their foe.

The Dreadknight in combat with the lords still swayed on it's feet in the sway of the Mindshackle scarabs but the pilot managed to wrestle enough control to avoid further harm, meanwhile the two silent machines below him hacked into the machine's legs but failed to find any purchase, his fellow brother marines converging on his position, help had to arrive soon.

The Grey Knights had fought off the invasion of their position, but they still had the menacing forms of the Necron Lords and Anrakyr to contend with, and the wave of scarabs converging on their position...

NECRON TURN 3

The Scarabs advance upon the Dreadknight

The slow moving forms of the Immortals and warriors slowly pushed toward the battlelines, firing Tesla shots into the Dreadknight on the left flank, but his suit of Archaic armour managed to protect him from harm, The Scarabs that blanketed the battlefield continued their advance across the ruin, and a small swarm damaged from the gout of prometheum that had been fired upon them previousl, they swarmed towards the Dreadknight that had done the damage, hoping to strip his armoured suit of protection, but the great knight swept low with his blade and vaporized the entire swarm in one fell swoop.

The withered form of a Cryptek mounted on anti-gravity suspensors lowered an archaic staff weapon towards the Vindicare Assassin and a great beam of energy seared across the landscape, annihilating the operative where he stood and reducing the wooded area around him to cinders, retribution for the destruction of the Monolith.

Anrakyr charged into the Acolytes and cut them down to a man in a fierce and bloody slaughter, their attacks raining down upon his metallic body with the effectiveness of falling rain, he paused after the slaughter and turned to face the Grey Knight Strike squad which were now moving towards him reloading their weapons..

The Dreadknight reeled against his tormentors in combat, but the Necron Lords failed to do any more damage to him, he was holding out for as long as possible and help was finally close at hand...

 
GREY KNIGHTS TURN 4

Strike Squad Ovidius piles into the Necron Lords

The Imperial Rottweilers pushed on towards the Alien Artifact in the center of the battlefield that seemed to be key to the Necron forces, beginning to clamber across the remains of the burnt out Ghost Ark they came face to face with the legions of Warriors before them, pumping rounds of psycannon and Stormbolter fire into a squad of Necron Warriors, the armoured bodies of the aliens came apart under the high-velocity firepower and the Cryptek with them was reduced to a pile of scrap, but where his charges had been annihilated, he slowly reassembled and before long he fully operational.

Strike Squad Ovidius charged into the Necron Lords fighting the Dreadknight, one of the battle brothers succumbing to the mindshackle scarabs but managing not to attack any of his brethren, Justicar Ovidius felled both the Lords with a cleaving blow from his Nemesis Daemon hammer, the marines consolidated back to their battle lines, withdrawing towards their own objective.

 While the Grey Knight's backs were turned, the Lords both slowly pulled themselves together and staggered back to their feet, refusing to die yet again.

Strike Squad Decimus piled into Anrakyr and he cleaved one of them in two before succuming to a series of punishing blows, whatever essence contained within his shell sucked out by the Force weapons, leaving an empty metallic husk..

The other Dreadknight strode amongst the ruins, flaming great swathes of scarabs to death with his heavy Incinerator and charging a pair of the monstrous Canoptek Scarabs, destroying them with his Nemesis Greatsword.

NECRON TURN 4

The Scarabs swarm towards the Grey Knight battle lines

The Pair of Necron Lords charged into the Imperial Rottweilers but their Mindshackle scarabs failed them and the Terminator-armoured warriors punished them for their temerity, killing them off again.

The Scarabs swarmed accross the hill and into combat with the Strike Squad in the ruins as well as the damaged Dreadknight, and despite the great amounts of damage wreaked by both, the sheer number of scarabs managed to kill both the pilot and reduce the squad of greyknights to bloodied remains, a dark day for the Grey Knight Brotherhood.

The Necron Immortals fired volley after volley of shots into the Grey Knight Terminators, wounding Coteaz and felling another one of them, but the Grey Knights held firm and continued to press forward, The Necron Lords charged into them again but were deflected yet again, as much as they refused to die, their skill in combat was no match for the superhuman warriors.

GREY KNIGHT TURN 5

Grand Master Valdek and company heroically defend the objective

 Grand Master Valdek and the Terminators consolidate onto the Alien Objective and stand firm, Coteaz opting to part from the squad and charge into a squad of Necron Immortals, laying about him with his Thunderhammer, he was wounded by the shots of the Necrons as he closed in, but once he joined combat he was an Avatar of War, laying about him with his hammer until none remained.  Valdek and the Terminators fired into another squad of Immortals annihilating them, gradually clearing more space around the objective, yet more Necrons advanced closer, including the accursed Cryptek...

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The Grey knights strike out at the Immortals before them, killing several and taking no casaulties in return, The Cryptek raises it's staff to fire upon the Grey Knights, but the bearer of the Brotherhood Banner reaches out with his free hand, grabbing the Alien's face and closing his grip, servoes in his armour grind and whir, but eventually the metal caves in and the Cryptek's head is torn from his shoulders, as the Standard bearer holds it aloft for all to see.  But despite this, the remaining alien machines hold fast and with time running out bringing the engagement to a hard fought conclusion...

NECRON TURN 5

With most of the forces locked in combat this would be the deciding factor in the battle, The Scarabs that had succeeded in killing the Strike Squad and Dreadknight pile into Squad Ovidius, killing all of them bar the Justicar himself, who returns the favour and crushes vast swathes of them with his Daemon Hammer.

Scarabs swarm accross sergeant Ovidius.

The Tomb Spyders remaining charge into the Dreadknight, attacking it and pinning in place so as not to aid his battle brothers in the claiming of the Objective, he kills one of them fury before turning his attentions to the other...

The Grey Knight Terminators renewed with the death of the Cryptek redouble their efforts and cut down the remaining Immortals, but their hearts sink as a great cloud of Scarabs crests the Ghost Ark wreckage and sweeps towards them, time had run out, Grand Master Valdek gave the order to withdraw, though neither force had gained the upper hand this day, the losses were unacceptable to the Brotherhood.  They would have to return with reinforcements to cleanse the planet...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Well.  That was a gruelling game ending in a draw altogether, i would say it was fun, but it really wasn't haha, though no fault of my opponent's, the Necrons are top-tier customers now, but i can't help but feel the game dynamics of Scarab-producing Spyders and Mindshackle scarabs are a little generous in the game mechanic... though i'm sure things will reset quite well when 6th edition rolls around..

People complain about Grey Knights, but i just don't see it, they still die like normal marines and there are less of them, sure they have definitely got above average offensive capability, but they don't really have many tricks to stop them dying (bar perhaps the obscene number of points i've spent on my Grandmaster to aid his unit in combat with Grenades).

I look forward to a rematch in future, at 1750 points, i don't really like 1500, the game seems to have moved away from it, it's odd how the extra 250 points makes a list seem less clumsy and just more rounded out, plus, that game was filled with some obscene rolling for the Necrons, the game actually went to turn 7, but i paraphrased the last couple of turns into one as it was bogged down into such a slug fest.

One important thing i learned post-game is that it is actually possible to stop an Ever-living model from coming back to life if you can shunt enough bodies over the token for him once he dies, he needs to be able to be placed within 3" of the marker and not within 1" of an enemy model, so i could have actually ensured the cursed pair of Necron Lords stayed dead the second time i killed them, i have however, honed lots of tricks for fighting Necrons that will be useful in future, this was more of a measuring of the army than a titanic struggle.

Still good old Grey Knights performed pretty admirably in the situation, and i still love the Vindicare Assassin, taking out the Monolith in one shot stopped me being rolled over completely.

Onwards!