Legio Vulcanum - The Big Build continues

It's been a busy old couple of days as I dive back in to the hobby. Life has generally been getting in the way for a couple of years but now I'm back.

And I'm bringing a whole new army with me!

Say hello to the Dark Mechanicum elements of the Legio Vulcanum who hailed originally from Stygies VIII. Why Dark Mechanicum? Well because my soul belongs to Khorne silly!

Above are the first 15 models. At the front the Sicarian Rustwalkers and at the rear a squad of Skitarri Vanguard.

I've worked out a 2000 point list and I've targeted 400-500 points a month to be painted. The above is 435 so a good start. 

It's a weird army in that there are no HQ choices for the Skitarri so I fully expect to be giving up Slay the Warlord on a regular basis; on the other hand we have some very unique weapons and skills so I expect quite the learning curve.

Bit of a challenge to paint these as I first need to undercoat them which means venturing outside. Bit breezy for ye olde spray cans... Still it wouldn't be fun otherwise. Right?

Back soon!

Stygies VIII

You hear the rumours.

As a child of Stygies Eight you are bombarded with the stories handed down through the generations.

Stories of the turning of the Legio Vulcanum.

Of the Dark Mechanicum.

Of Horus.

Of Heresy.

Of Traitors.

Do you look up at the stars at night and dream that those traitorous sons of Stygies all burned?

That they died screaming into nothingness in the Eye of Terror?

Is that how you sleep at night?

Then prepare to be disappointed.

We did not die.

We did not burn.

We were cleansed by the Eye.

Our God showed us our true destiny.

It is time for us to claim our destiny.

It is time for us to repay you for your dreams.

Your worlds will burn.

Your armies will perish.

Your sons will join us.

We are the Legio Vulcanum.

We are returning.

And your Galaxy will run red with rivers of blood.

Our vengeance will be absolute.

Our reign of terror has begun.

Kneel before our God!

Kneel before the Skull-Taker!

Kneel before Khorne!

TTCombat

Urn recently pointed me in the direction of TTCombat scenery. Very nice collection of scenery available on their website or Ebay.

Reasonably priced, pretty and easy to put together. The perfect MDF kits. Needless to say....money got spent. These kits go together really well and the scale of them is pretty impressive given the price.

Given that their range is a good size already and that it is still growing means that this company is one to watch!

Lovely little Ambulance complete with a gurney. I'm going to leave the top of the rear section loose for interaction purposes. It even comes with some cut acrylic for the flashing lights on top!

Very characterful boarded up property. Great for nefarious deeds!!

One of my favorite pieces is the petrol station which is simple but with some lovely little details that really add to it. Its even got handles on the pump. I opted to leave the pump section and forecourt roof unglued as they fit easily into the inside of the building for storage.

HQ for the police. This has nice detailing on the walls and the front columns are a nice touch.

One very cool comic shop complete with a couple of tables and comic racks. Also a bizarre design on the roof. Alien landing pad? :-)

Oh yes this is going to be done out in Col. Saunders colours!

This kit, whilst being a bit trickier to build, is absolutely corking! Also it is incredible value for money given its size.

Finally just a couple of roof top pieces. Simple but great for adding that extra something to the urban scenery.

Now to paint the frigging things. Umm. Painting mojo has proven elusive over the last six months.

Must. Try. Harder.

TTFN

30k (post heresy) Wordbearers

I have officially started my Wordbearers! Ever since the classic RTB01 "beaky" boxed set was released in the mid eighties I've really liked that mark of armour (Mark VI). Not much chance of getting plenty of them together (GW scatters parts around other boxed sets) until a lucky chance allowed me to get these together:

What was the lucky chance? A box of discarded, badly painted figures from my brother that used to belong to his brother-in-law

Looking through the many marines I realised that there were a lot of Mark VI legs and so with some body swaps, they use of the betrayal at Calth boxed set for arms, guns and the iconic studded shoulder pad, I had my unit of 20!

Red armour all round to show they are from just after the Isstvan V drop site massacre.

Next up was some support, from the betrayal at Calth set again - plasma gunners:

And an auto cannon support team. I've never liked the heavy bolter as a weapon, so I swapped them by adding barrels from heavy stubbers:

Loads of decals on these boys for religious iconography

Last up, two contemptor dreadnoughts to give more support. Head swap on one as they've changed the head to look like a daemon, weapon chop and swap to get double assault cannons on one and a torso twist in the other and here they are:

Onwards and upwards to get these into being a playable force on the tabletop!

Pre heresy salamanders - the legion grows

The painting challenge continues..... And continues to get me to paint stuff at a far faster rate than I normally would.

Next in the queue to get done were some more 30k salamanders. First up is a small melta squad. Given the nature of the salamander legion, venerating fire and flames, it was a definite that I needed to do at least one unit of these.

They're all from the "Betrayal at Calth" boxed set so have the 30k era Melta guns.

Next up are 10 legion tactical marines who will reinforce 10 that I already have to give me two units of twenty. No idea if that's any good in the game, but twenty man units felt very different!

Finally are three resin contemptors. Fantastic kits in lots of parts that meant I could make them all differently posed.

Loads of bits from the GW lizardmen range for these (including two head swaps!) and a fair few arms from normal dreads to save on buying them all from FW.

Two multi meltas (because salamanders) and a kit bashed conversion beamer mean they'll be getting stuck right into heretics.

Flames of War Soviets and some Rogue Trader

So, I'm currently participating in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge as I find being awarded points from the Internet for getting things done whilst posting to a blog filled with people doing the same really, really helps me to get stuff done.

I have no idea why, it just does!

As my grand painting plans were taking a while to get finished, I decided to try to do some things that have been hanging around that should be quick. The fruits of this endeavour were some flames of war soviets.

First up, some scouts which I've made more interesting by adding some German prisoners, made by Peter Pig

Close up of one of the bases

 And another

To keep with the recce theme, some BA-64s

I added decals for a bit of visual interest given the Soviet approach to adding markings was a bit hit-and-miss as far as I can tell.

The challenge also include themed rounds with extra points (I know!) for painting things that match the theme. The first theme was "nostalgia", so I dig out these three chaps who were the first ever figures I bought for wargaming!

Rogue Trader sculpts and they were a joy to paint again as they'd been paint stripped a while ago.

I doubt they'll see the table in a 40k game, but perhaps Pulp Alley or similar at some point.

I'll hopefully be posting a fair bit more as the challenge really works to get me painting!

Pulp Alley - Perilous Island/Worlds!

So, I finally got myself organised and started up Pulp Alley. After a tester game to work out the rules, we leapt straight into a sci-fi version of the Perilous Island campaign with "Hidalgo Fire".

Both crews were trying to grab lady Elaine, who was on a dig in some ruins on the planet Hidalgo.....

A cagey start for the Bombshell crew who snuck forward to try to grab some plot points

Taelor, on the other hand, went straight for Lady Elaine!

Plenty of fighting around the edges of the ruin

These two would embarrass themselves by ineffectually bothering each other for 4 turns...... But the fighting on the other side was far more telling! See the downed people at the back.....

Taelor as leader had a rough challenge to pass

She failed, Lady Elaine tried to run, but ended up charging towards the nefarious space merc's lines and was captured next turn!

Meanwhile, Von Schill (at the back) steamed towards the butler trying to protect Lady Elaine, shooting one of the bombshell crew and grabbing him after passing 3 (admittedly easy) challenges in a row!

Seeing this, the bombshell beast decided to leave the ineffective combat and ran into combat to try to knock Von Schill over.....

..... And succeeded in knocking both of them down! The plot point was out again.

Maelee the mechanic took the opportunity to grab a plot point by rummaging through Lady Elaine's luggage, making up for her embarrassing failure to craft any gear before the game by getting no successes on 4d8!

On the other side, the Ilyrian agent got up and then got shot again!

So in piled the leader of the crew to try to decode the electronic lock on Lady Elaine's tent (no jokes at the back please!), elbowing aside a member of the space mercs in the process, knocking him out.

 Things then got very hectic on the other side as everyone seemed to get knocked down, back up and down whilst trying to grab the last objective!

At this point, Taelor decided that discretion was definitely the better part of valour..... Hiding in the corner with her prize.

Meanwhile, Maelee hoovered up another plot point at the satellite uplink - deciphering Lady Elaine's private messages

The leader of the bombshell crew tried to get the butler...... Passing the first challenge......

But then failed the plot point challenge! No picture as I was too devastated to remember to take one..... 😉

As that was the last turn, the game was over. Taelor had captured Lady Elaine, the major plot point (worth 3 points) and the Bombshell crew had three minor plot points - Lady Elaine's luggage and tent had been rifled through and her private comms downloaded (who said space crews have no morals!) - and as they were worth 1 point each, honours were even.

Bit of a frantic battle report, but hopefully it captured the essence of Pulp Alley which has some very elegant rules to use almost any miniatures you want to. Next up, Tarlor is planning to get Lady Elaine off world whilst the Bombshell crew tries to stop them.... So stay tuned!