Loads of ships!

The Full Thrust bug must have bitten me pretty badly because after the Shaltari fleet the next ones found themselves done as well in no time at all.

UNSC

It’s always fun to paint different things and this was certainly the case. Quick simple and fun to paint. Very cathartic!

ESU


I’ve got Kra’vak ships from GZG still unpainted but they are seriously old. I think I prefer the idea of using the Shaltari fleet from DFC as proxies instead. If that doesn’t work I can always buy some of the updated Kra’Vak figures at Colours or Warfare.

Tally YTD: 215

Talk has started about a mega gun of AoS in November so thoughts have turned to new forces to be added to my Seraphon forces. Hunting around I came across, quite by accident, a fellow selling alternative Razordons

Check out: https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/tabletopengineeruk?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Cool 3D printed goods. One to watch I reckon.

Long story short I ordered a bundle and I was properly impressed when they arrived. The print quality is good and I can't discern any contour lines that I believe are typical with low quality 3D prints.

Straight into the paint queue!

Yup. Will but from Him again!

TTFN

2018 so far.....

I’ve been pretty busy since Xmas but I’ve lacked any real focus. I just have too many fun projects that I want to work on. This does mean that I’ve got lots of progress but nothing getting finished.

I’ve wanted to do a siege game for Horus Heresy (HH) ever since I started collecting an army. I’ve decided to make this a reality, hopefully this year, and as such I’ve purchased some walls, gun emplacements and a TTCombat Gothic Garage which I think will make a good gatehouse. I’m planning to use this on my 3x5 dining room table so this should stretch across the narrow table side just fine. The plan is to have the attackers play up the length of the table.

The scenario will need some thinking about but, given the sterling work being done 30K Heresy Forum to create 8^th Edition rules, I should be able to use the fortification rules from the back of the 8^th edition 40K rulebook as basis for something fun.

The HH setting does inspire me and I want to vary the types of games we play. Several years ago I’d made some starship interiors scenery. Sort of my own take on a modular Space Hulk type thing. It got messed around with a few times but then stored in the loft. It struck me that it would be pretty good as a Zone Mortalis and this compelled me to bring it down from the loft.

I hadn’t varnished it at the time of making it, something that I regret now. My loft is pretty dry but I think the inherent moisture in the plaster it was made from was enough to let the mould creep in. Sadly some pieces were lost but most were recovered, repaired and giving two coats of Varnish. One Gloss and one Matt. Hopefully that will protect it in future. I also have a plan to add some larger boards to the ZM set so that it can fill an entire 6x4 table.

All this HH planning has also had the effect of galvanising me to get more stuff painted for it. I did the Iron Warriors(IW) infantry last year but they sorely need some reinforcements. Now I like the idea of dreadnoughts stomping down ZM corridors in support of the troops so the couple of dreads I had in need of stripping pushed their way to the front of the queue and got themselves a nice bath in Dettol. They came out pretty clean.

Sitting around for a while has been a tray of terminators for both the Iron Hands & Iron Warriors. These were kit bashed together from a bundle of Scibor bodies that I won on Ebay cheap, Anvil heads and Shoulder Pads all coupled with GW Termie arms and weapons. I like the notion that 30K was a time of innovation and invention giving rise to lots of variation to the weapons and armour that were used. 

So the IWs have received two coats of Gun Metal Grey so far. Onto stripes next for them. The IH Termies are started with a heavy dry brushing of Bronze and then a light dry brush of gold. This picks out the trims and lots of the details. Next comes the red colour for the main armour plates to represent the blood of Manus that these surviving IH refuse to wash off until the traitors have been wiped out we all know how well that goes!).

  

I was given, by a very kind soul, some GW scenery at Xmas. The lovely gothic machinery terrain. It is wonderfully characterful and was one of the first things I put together once the silliness of Xmas subsided. Love these models and I’m looking forward to using them with the ZM terrain.

My first wargame of the year was a cracking game with BFG and I using my Seraphon to thwart the machinations of The Silverback and Silverfox’s Chaos forces. Cracking game which I neglected to take any photos of. Still it was enough to spur me on with some additions to my Lizards.

A homemade Dread Saurian has been staring at me from the shelves of holding for some time now so he was treated to a lick of paint to get him started. I was also treated to some Seraphon Cavalry for Xmas by another kind soul and those have been constructed and undercoated. Painting 40 cavalry at once is a bit daunting so I need to get some things cleared before starting them.

My ongoing endeavours to put together a stonking urban cityscape is still also progressing with the additional of some street furniture from Blotz.

I picked up lots of additional bits for the city at Colours and Warfare and decided to get them under way. This is them all washed and they’ve been spray undercoated now as well. They should add lots of character.

Well I also need some people to populate this city so I’m working on getting the civvies and heroes finished as well so we can get on and have some games. I think some of the folks in this part of town may have dubious professions…..

One of the Hero (or Villian) figures I’ve had for a while was a suited hitman type of guy but I didn’t want to have him in a plain suit. Well….there was only one choice really wasn’t there. Let me introduce you to….

Mr Patriot!

It took the best part of two hours but it was worth it. It still needs neatening up with some white and the colours could do with another coat but he won’t take much to finish after that.

I seem to have entered one of my more productive phases again, which is great, but because I’ve not had my painting mojo for a while I have been concentrating on building. This has meant that the painting queue has grown considerably. I’m estimating that I have 300+ prepped and undercoated waiting to be done. I really should address that!

So goals for this year? Well last year I painted 366 figures. Great but I brought loads as well. Time for a new tactic. I’m going to track Net items painted. So a minus for a painted one and a plus for any new ones brought.

So the street furniture places me at -15…..but…..

….those 20 mkiii marines I didn’t think I’d win on Ebay but did takes it back to +5.

So this year I must be productive and also resist buying too many figures.

Wish me luck.

TTFN

Eddie.

Game 31

Game 31 was also AoS

Silverfox's Skaven joined my Seraphon to battle Gareth's Skaven and Junt's undead.

The deployment was on the diagonal and there were lots of Skaven....

Filthy little blighters. Apart from Silverfox's ones who were nice. Well they were on that day.

The seraphon and chaos had an aggressive plan pushing forward in the middle...

..holding the left flank....

and Steaming the right with MONSTERS!!!!

It sounded better than how it actually happened. The Undead and Skaven mobbed the big Dinos and dragged them down. The Rotters!

It didn't do so well in the middle either.

Silverfox lead a solid counter attack with a chaos deamon thingy kicking it on the left flank but I don't recall it being enough to hold the day.

TTFN

Game 30

I've fallen behind with posting the games that we are playing. The enthusiasm levels are high in the group and the new edition of 40K has spurred this on further!

Game 30 was a AoS game with Junt & I pitting our Undead & Seraphon against Urn and the Silverfox with their Chaos and Gobbo armies.

This was quite a few weeks ago now so I can't remember what the mission was (if any?) but we got stuck in soon enough!

The Seraphon and chaos clashed heavily and the Undead and the Gobbos got caught in a lengthy drawn out melee.

Sheesh big gobo units are hard to kill but the undead keep coming back to finish the job!

Eventually a win for Undead and Seraphon as we pushed back the chaos and gained control of the field. Or at least I think that is how it ended. Errr Yeah we'll go with that.

TTFN

Behind with my blogging....

..but not my games! Still ahead on the objective to make sure I play 52 games in a year.

Game 23

Junt and I had another bash at Epic with not dissimilar forces facing off. However he won the artillery battle early on so I struggled to pull it back from there.

His predators also fared well holding one flank pretty well having mauled my new unit of Land Speeders.

I did get to bloody his nose on the other flank with some mainly infantry on infantry action.

A win for Junt!

Game 24

It became apparent early on that Urn and I, with our marine and chaos marine lists, were going to struggle against Junt and Gareth’s combined force of Space Wolves and Imperial Guard. Junt had brought a super heavy unit, a full unit of Leman Russes and a horrible battery of manticores. Ouch!

The early shots from the rocket battery knobbled my Land Speeders and caught a unit of Urn’s infantry in their transports.

Sadly Urn’s attempts to charge the Guard tanks…….

…. Were as effective as my attempts to win a Land Raider battle vs the Wolves.

It was all over fairly quickly. Not a good day for chaos!

Game 25

With the appearance of Shadow War: Armageddon we decided that it would be rude note to give it a try especially as we have all the figures and plenty of scenery to use. Unfortunately I got so caught up in the new game that I forgot to take any photos. My first game was vs Junt and his Tau. I had my mob of Yoofs armed with shootas and applied a subtle mix of cunning and strategy……oh no hang on, I just charged him.

It worked well up to a point. I had downed a load of his guys, one of mine was sat on the objective and we still had enough boys to carry the fight. Sadly we had taken enough losses that I was making break bottle tests for my mob. Luck can only go so far and sadly one failed roll was enough to give Junt the game. Still it was lots of fun to give the Tau a bop on the nose. Ask Junt about the super-duper rail rifle…….with one round of ammunition. J

Game 26

Next game was vs Silverback’s lovely Skitarii. Oh my they are a bit shooty and their boss man is nails. Still all those Yoofs came in handy to overrun the Martian’s position but not without casualties…….which led to bottle tests……..you see where this is going? Yup. Holding objectives and still numerous but I bottled it again. A well fought win for the Silverback.

Game 27

16 Orks vs 6 misguided chaos chaps. This was quick as, given the weight of fire the Yoofs put out, it was only a matter of time before even power armour would fail under such a barrage.

A win for the Orks! Huzzah!

Game 28

Junt and I finally got round to the next game of our Undead vs Seraphon AoS tree campaign. The Undead were winning after the first round in the Verdigris Plains but the Never-dying were now fighting on the Seraphon’s home ground. We played the Revenge at the Blackblood Weald next which is an interesting scenario. The defender takes and initial hammering under the scenario rules to represent the fighting rear-guard action. After that the attacker has the potential for a sluggish start as units can stall for the first round.

The Seraphon started well and used the opportunity to down the Undeads giant and then their cavalry. After that the lizards pushed forward to take the fight to the undead. The massed skeleton units proved too much and whittled the lizards to nothing. The Undead hadn’t fared well with only their archers remaining at the end.

A sort of win to the undead whose archers were a little more potent than they should have been. J

I’m loving the narrative tree campaign. If I had a bit more time at the moment I’d pen a more prosaic batrep like the last one.

Game 29

Silverfox (and all his dice rolling skill) with BFG vs Eddy and Junt

Sigmar vs bad lizards and their undead mates!

Oh the ones. Sooooo many ones. It’s alright tho’ It was the Silverfox throwing them and he was on the other side! This still didn’t prove enough to save us from the wrath of Sigmar. Man they are tough!

The Lizards and Undead pushed towards them early on with the Sigmar archers trying a few rounds of ranging shots with their archers :-P.

Then then the Sigmarites hit. Talk about Hammertime! First the giant fell, then the Kroxigor started to get whooped all whilst the lizard men infantry got bashed about and shot horribly! We didn’t see much from the skeletons on the flank as the chariots had raced away and stalled the enemy advance before being smashed to pieces.

We had to call the game early as it was getting late but it was a definite win for the bing boys of Sigmar. Despite Silverfox’s dice. Tee Hee.

TTFN

Game 16 - The Verdigris Plains

The winds screamed across the Verdigris Plains as if the sky lamented past horrors witnessed on the ferrous dunes. The Dead had come back. A column of the soulless, returned upon the whim of the Dark Heart that led them. The shifting sands churning as the debris of the past stirred at the presence of such malevolence and the Dead came back.

A brilliance burst over the scene. Pure light from above. Not sunlight piercing the brown clouds of dust but light spilling forth from heaven. A hated light that caused anger to rise within the Dark Heart.

With the eye-aching rays gleaming from spear tips, scale and totems, the Seraphon stepped upon the plains with claws biting deep into the particulate remains of whatever doomed past had been ground down to form the rolling dry vista between the two forces. Given the isolation of the place, it was clear that the appearance of the Saurus was no coincidence and neither side paused to ready themselves for what was to come.

Moving at speed the long legs of the Lizards drove into the metallic dust that whipped around them as the wind gusted and rolled clouds of stinging brown filings into the air hiding the enemy from sight but they ploughed forward with intent.

Bursting through the ferrous curtain, the dead hooves of fleshless horses carried their riders into the lines of the advancing Seraphon. Skulking at the front of the lizard lines was the low barbed shaped of a spiny Razordon which bristled in defence and braced itself to meet the charge but it was not enough as lances splintered against scale and the lizard joined the dead of the dunes trampled under the impact of the Dark Heart’s cavalry.

In the confusion caused by the swirling cloak of dark cinders the battle lines started to merge with hulking Kroxigor smashing into the all but blinded skeletal archers holding the Undead’s right flank. Mighty overhead strikes shattered skulls and long-bones alike before the largest of the mighty lizards swept his heavy-headed club through the front ranks flinging fragments of their opponents across the filthy battlefield. But the Dead came back

Gaining traction on the sliding ash and wastes, both sides surged into a swirling melee. The spears and claws of the Seraphon met the hoof and lance of the Undead knights as the Seraphon tried to dispatch the riders before skeletal reinforcements could arrive. But the Dead came back.

The Dark Heart sensed he had the measure of what he faced and set his standard in the ground confident in the forces under his thrall. The unholy banner radiated its necromantic power quickening the pace of the massed reanimated dead. His mark made, the dark armoured form swept from the dune tops to support the beleaguered archers and to taste the life essence so evident in the Kroxigor. Streaking from cover a previously unseen Salamander sprang towards the Dark Heart as if driven by some unseen will. Its distended maw open as it charged disgorging venom and acid bile over the material form of the Dark Heart. Staggered and reeling the Necromancer had no defence against the Salamander as it leapt upon him shredding the still dissolving form with its claws and pulping it into the dunes.

In the grand melee the silence of the dead was lost under the roars of the Saurans as lines of infantry ground together, each struggling for footing on the never-still drifts they fought over. Hoping to break the wall of un-living bone, the Seraphon pushed forward with the thrust being dominated by the juggernaut form of a Bastiladon shooting searing beams of etheric light which obliterated the skeletons. But the dead came back.

As the Undead reformed they managed to slowly surround the increasingly outnumbered lizards. With the archers and Dark Heart now gone the Kroxigor and Salamander struck the horde that was clubbing and stabbing at the mighty dinosaur.

Despite their arrival, the enormous shell of the Bastiladon was not enough to shield it and the massive form slumped to the ground with the skinks riding aloft soon meeting their end as they were dragged from their perches and dispatched.

The enraged Kroxigor waded through the remaining skeletons roaring is defiance. At last, thinking his work done, his guard dropped. The howling wind and driving ash had blinded him to the last of his quarry until they lurched once more from the obscuring clouds of dust. The dead had come back.

Hollow eyes betrayed no emotion as the lances of the corpse riders pierced the armoured flank of the mighty lizard. His death rattle was lost to the storm, whipped away leaving no way on knowing if the mysterious forces that had sent them had achieved their goals or not.

With the surrounding tempest still unabated, the dead came back.