Iron Warriors: WIP but mostly done

The Iron Warriors are pretty far along.  I still need to:

• arrange to pick up parts to finish some things - mk III missile launcher squad, techmarine servo harnesses, and jump packs for the assault marines
• When cleaning and organizing, I apparently lost the drill bit small enough for bolter barrels, so will need to wait for a new drill bit before doing those.  I did the meltas and flamers with a hobby knife, but would like to go deeper for the bolters
• Seal
• I will also make a jump pack captain and a squad of MkIII vanguard vets, but have not even started construction on those yet, but those are just extras.  Aside from the Mk III missile squad and the parts, the 2000pt core army is almost done

When life gives you chains, choke a crime lord to death

Drowned in moonlight, strangled by her own bra, Carrie Fisher passed away recently, as you are no doubt already aware if you read a blog about sci-fi toy soldiers.  

There's been a lot written and said about her life as an actress, writer and mental health advocate, and I'm not going to repeat that here.  I, like many of my generation, grew up with her as Leia in the Star Wars trilogy, and that character definitely made a big impression.  

Leia was a total badass.  In the first few minutes we're introduced to her, we see her as a spy, a leader, someone not afraid to trade shots with stormtroopers and then stand up to the big bad guy, the evil space wizard who just finished choking a guy to death with one hand.  You know that the Death Star had to be big if it had room for her balls.

Later she again stands up to the big villains, after presumably being tortured, and convincingly lies to their faces, well enough to fool even the evil space wizard who should have a feel for that sort of thing.  Then, after seeing her home, along with likely almost everyone she knew growing up blown to bits, she doesn't curl up in a corner and cry.  She doesn't bang on her cell door screaming at her captors.  No, she waits quietly, doubtless weighing options.  Leia is scary.  When she has a chance to escape, she grabs it and even takes charge, shoots more stormtroopers and later we again see her as a leader.

In Empire Strikes Back, the trend continues, with her taking no crap and being as active a player as she can.  

And then of course in Return of the Jedi she blows your mind.  No, not with the bikini.  With this outfit:

Sexy

We'd already crushed on Leia from the earlier movies, but this solidified it.  Her love was frozen in carbonite and held by a crime lord.  One does not do that to Leia Organa.  Liam Neeson may have a very special set of skills, but he has nothing on Leia.  She walks into the crime lord's lair and as a backup plan threatens to blow them all up with a thermal detonator.  And I take that threat seriously.  Why?  Because who would survive that blast?  Her love Han, safe in his carbonite cocoon, ready to be retrieved when Luke comes along later to sift through the rubble.  I have no doubt that she discussed that plan B with Chewie, who goes along with it.  Chewie's an awesome buddy, but that's a different post.

So, that bikini.  As a straight male, I don't deny it was a bonus when I got older and Carrie Fisher looked good in it, though at ten when I first saw it it was not a big deal.  Much more impressive was that while chained up, she then used that same chain to choke her captor to death.  Impressive in general, even more so given the size of the neck in question.  Later she goes on to help lead an assault, shoot more stormtroopers, forge an alliance with a new species in a matter of hours, yadda yadda yadda.  Just a day in the life.  Given a toothpick and enough time to make a plan, I have no doubt Leia could figure out a way to take down the Empire.

Leia certainly became a role model for me both for myself, an encouragement to get involved when trouble arises and not to give up, and a model for what I would want in a partner - someone competent and accomplished, someone who would go through hell for you, or if necessary make it hell for those in the way.  I think I've found my own Leia, and I hope all of you can too if you haven't yet.  Don't be satisfied with less.  

And if Carrie herself is anything like her most famous character, heaven better open the gates quickly if they know what's good for them.  Godspeed and lightspeed.

When last we left our heroes - random adventure tables

I've been toying with the idea of a fantasy RPG campaign.  Part of the problem is my group(s) are fairly erratic, and getting a consistent group of players consistently is unlikely.  So, I have been thinking of ways to minimize the impact of that while still letting folks participate when they can.  So I think we'll set the group up as a loose group of adventurers who sometimes drift off on their own.  But what will they do while they're off on their own?  In a brief flurry of inspiration I made some random tables to fill in the time they were away.  I'm still undecided about the system I will use, but the tables are currently in a D&D 3.x/Pathfinder default mode, in a world more Robert E. Howard/Conan inspired than "standard" D&D.

Looted Post

Saved for a deeper read later, perhaps others will find it useful too - great post on tools and resources for conversion work.  Check it out!

Recalcitrant Daze

No Honor among Traitors - Chaos Space Marine campaign idea

With the recent Chaos Marine releases - Traitor's Hate, Wrath of Magnus and now Traitor Legions, there are likely a lot of players looking to get started with new Chaos Marine armies.  I had some thoughts on a campaign to let you build up your army along with its narrative over time and give you some modelling inspiration along the way.

NO HONOR AMONG TRAITORS

This is a Warhammer 40K escalation campaign/league focusing on an aspect unique to Chaos Space Marines - the Chaos Boon table.

Warbands: All armies must be chosen from Codex: Chaos Space Marines, including such supplements as Traitor Legions.  If the characters involved have the Champion of Chaos rule, it should be OK.  So armies of Khorne Daemonkin for example do not have this rule and should not be used.  Armies may not include a Daemon Prince unless they have had one ascend through the Dark Apotheosis result from the boon table.  Decide if you want to allow allies, especially non-Chaos Space Marine allies for your campaign.  

Boons of the Dark Gods:  The Chaos Boon table is central to the campaign.  Champions are vying against each other for power in the Eye and the favor of the gods, and this table is how that favor is bestowed.  Unlike in regular games where the benefits of a boon fade after a battle, here the boon is permanent - assuming the character survives.  

If a character has a Gift of Mutation, roll for it the first time the character is fielded and note that result for future games as well (again assuming the character survives).

If a character with existing boons is killed during a game, after the game roll to see if they are able to survive and come back.  For an independent character they succeed on a 2+, while a non-independent character only succeeds on a 4+.  

• -1 to roll if they were killed by an attack that would have caused Instant Death to them
• -1 to roll if they were killed by Perils of the Warp

 If the character fails the roll, that character with their accumulated boons cannot be used anymore.  (Of course you can still use the same model for a new champion if desired.)  The slain champion can however still be useful interred in a dreadnought (see below).

Spawnhood: If the character has been turned into a Chaos Spawn, they do not get to roll to come back.  However, you may now take that Chaos Spawn for free in future games, not taking up any force organization slot and outside of any detachments or formations.  If that Chaos Spawn is killed in a game, it can come back for the next game on a 4+ (-1 to roll if was killed by an attack that would have caused Instant Death to it).  If the character that fell to spawndom had a Mark of Chaos, the spawn has the same mark.

Dark Apotheosis:  If a character ascends to daemonhood in the game this is just an intermediate form.  Add a bullet point under the Dark Apotheosis result on the Chaos Boon table reading, "If the champion had any accumulated boons, apply them to the Daemon Prince."

The blessed character can no longer be taken in their previous mortal form, but you can now buy them as a Daemon Prince for future games.  If the character was marked they will be a daemon of the corresponding type.  The Daemon Prince keeps any boons previously accumulated, but of course as Daemon Princes do not have the Champion of Chaos rule themselves, it will not accumulate any further boons.  Otherwise you can build out the Daemon Prince as normal, but it is recommended that you build them the same way each time.  If a Daemon Prince is killed in a game, it can automatically come back for future games. NOTE: In this campaign Cultist Champions cannot attain this result; re-roll for them.  

Dreadnoughts/Helbrutes: If a non-cultist character with accumulated boons was slain (but not turned into a spawn or a prince) and failed his roll to survive, he can be placed into a dreadnought.  The fallen champion keeps any accumulated boons but cannot acquire any new ones.  The dreadnought is considered a character for purposes of challenges but does not have the Champion of Chaos rule.  Some boons function differently as a vehicle:

• Fragment of Immortality - The first explode damage result the vehicle suffers in each game is ignored and the vehicle instead takes 1 hull point.
• Bloated - +1 Hull Point
• Crystalline Body - +1 Hull Point
• Mechanoid - Improve all armour values by 1
• Cosmic Fate - Can force enemy to re-roll damage result, but must accept second result
• Meteoric Charge - Do two Hammer of Wrath hits instead of one
• Voice of Horus - Counts as being equipped with Dirge Casters
• Masochism - It Will not Die

 
If the character interred in the dreadnought was a psyker they can have up to the same mastery level they previously had, at a cost of 30pts per level.  Death and near death are traumatic, so it is reasonable to purchase them at a lower mastery level if you so desire. 

If the character interred in the dreadnought had a Mark of Chaos, apply the same mark to the vehicle at no cost, even though they normally cannot take Marks.  For Mark of Nurgle, treat as +1 Hull Point.

If the character interred was a Possessed Champion, the dreadnought may take the Daemonic Possession upgrade for free.     

If the dreadnought is destroyed in a game, after the game roll for survival as you would for a character.  On a 2+ it can be rebuilt and used again.  If the vehicle exploded, apply a -1 to the roll.

Advancement: Unit champions may advance in their warband.  

A power-armored unit champion with two or more earned boons (not counting any from Gift of Mutation) can be promoted to a Chosen Champion, Possessed Champion, Warp Talon Champion or Terminator Champion.  They keep their boons, but gain the new base statline and can choose different equipment and upgrades as appropriate for their new position.  If they had a Mark of Chaos they should retain the same mark. 

A non-cultist, non-daemon unit champion with four or more earned boons (not counting any from Gift of Mutation) can be promoted to an independent character.  They can become a Chaos Lord, Sorcerer, Warpsmith or Dark Apostle as you prefer.  If they had a Mark of Chaos they should retain the same mark, but otherwise may re-select equipment as appropriate and retain any previously accumulated boons.  

Missions:  Any missions should work, either use standard missions, develop missions for the campaign, or have players decide on what mission to use for each game.

Escalation: You can of course start at any level, but I would recommend starting out small, such as at 500pts with Combat Patrol-like restrictions and gradually moving up from there.  How fast you escalate will depend upon your group.

Winning: By the end of the campaign each player should have an army with an impressive history and a lot of love (and hate) poured into it, so everyone wins!  However, some other victory conditions are probably appropriate.  Work out with your group what you want to use to measure overall victory.

Notes on detachments and formations:

• The Chosen of Abaddon: Blessed by the Chaos Gods - change this to read, "Chaos Lords and Sorcerers in this Formation may re-roll results on the Chaos Boon table but must accept the second result."
• Black Crusade Detachment: Path to Glory - change this to read, "If a model in this Detachment with the Champion of Chaos special rule slays a model in close combat with more boons than the model from this Detachment has, it may absorb one boon of its choice from the slain model.  If the slain model survives its post-game test, it still has lost this boon.  This does not replace the victor's normal roll on the Chaos Boon table if any."

Scythiak Usurpation vs. Ultramarines, Iron Warriors progress, Massilla campaign prelude

Sonofsonsoftaurus and I played a game at home, his Ultra vs. my Chaos Guard, the Scythiak Usurpation.  2000pts, and I had him set up the terrain and scenario.  I am attacking the entrenched Ultramarines, having driven them out of the city (or did I?  Likely a feigned retreat to overextend the heretics) and am trying to break through to their landing areas.  We each get a point for each unit destroyed, and I get a point for every unit I get off the far table edge.  Ultras have to all start on the table, no reserves.

Vraks: Take the Fort!

Scott and I both had the day off and decided to use part of it with the next section of the Siege of Vraks campaign.  The first mission was such a blow out for Krieg that we decided to skip the second mission (which is basically a continuation of the first one) and jump to the third.  Chaos is still the defender here, defending a strongpoint in the line as a horde of Krieg infantry attacks.

Iron Underneath

I did work on the GW scenic bases I'm going to use for the Iron Warriors, and am pretty happy with how they're turning out.  I didn't have quite enough 40mm and no 60mm, so I made one of each to throw in and use for my captain and the contemptor.

The figures I have at the moment are primed, so soon I will be slathering metallics and washes on. 

These are Days

More things continue to pour forth from Games Workshop these days, things that not too long ago we thought we'd never see.  "The crazy old days are in the distant past" we said.  "GW is just in a rut of re-releasing the same things over and over" we said.

Then we start getting hit with Skiitari, Adeptus Mechanicus, Deathwatch, Genestealer Cult, plastic versions of Horus Heresy stuff/different marine armor marks, and now a daemon primarch and plastic Thousand Sons with their own codex.  The crazy days are here again.  Enjoy them!

 

 Predictions if this trend (hopefully) continues:

*Plastic Sisters of Battle, with their own codex, including frateris militia.  We've got cultists and beastmen and genestealer cultists, why not militia?

*The other three cult daemon primarchs, with cult codexes.  World Eaters, Death Guard, Emperor's Children.  

 

Those two are pretty much definite, unless they change direction drastically.  They've done that in the past, but I'm optimistic GW will hold to this course for a while.  Other predictions:

*Squa-  no, I don't think they'll go that far.  But I do expect they will make Dwarves for Age of Sigmar that are pretty close, finding a fit for them there.

 

*Eldar Corsairs - either incorporated into generic Eldar or as a sub-faction

 

*Plastic Sicaran tanks - they're pretty popular, and the popular Forge World stuff tends to make its way to plastic.  I expect they'll get retconned in as more prevalent than previously thought. 

*Necromunda - With two Space Hulk releases, boxed Horus Heresy games and Blood Bowl making a return and Kill Team redone, I fully expect a Necromunda release in the next few years. 

This wild expansion does bring some problems.  The more moving parts there are in a system, the harder it is to balance things, and the harder it becomes to make changes without blanket invalidations, and the longer it takes to update things.  But enjoy the variety and craziness.  This is another Golden Age, when you can see Adeptus Mechanicus battling Genestealer Cults next to a table with a plastic Thousand Sons army facing off against Harlequins.  Drink it in.

What have we not seen yet/have teased already that you'd want to see?

Kill Team: Into No Man's Land prelude

We're starting up a Kill Team campaign over the holidays, using GW's Into No Man's Land set (see your local store or online such as HERE for details.

 Today we clarified if we were going to do any modifications (set leader and specialist skills for the duration) and got some test games in.  Only three of us showed up, which made the meeting portion of the day go quickly, but hopefully is not an indicator of overall attendance.

Iron Assembly Line

Most of the assembly is done for the Iron Warriors.  25 tacticals, 5 assault, 5 sternguard, 15 devastators, 11 terminators, two thunderfire cannons, dreadnought.  Still waiting on parts to do a Mk III missile launcher dev squad.  Most backpacks left off until after initial painting.

Sternguard, simple MKIII legion armor, bolters with box mags and scopes, Iron Hands heads for some extra bionics/upgrades.  Awaiting MKIII Iron Warrior pads.

The bases are temporary, I will be using the GW Sector Imperialis bases for them.  Now that they are assembled, when I get another warm day I'll prime them and get to work. 

I also picked up the Burning of Prospero set, pretty neat.  Love the plastic MkIII marines.  A little disappointed in them as a kit in that the only HW they have is a heavy bolter (Mk IVs had HB and ML) and no flamer as far as I can tell (have melta and plasma).  They do have a thunderhammer for the sgts, so I will forgive them a bit.

Shards of Anaris - Finale

Today we culminated the Shards of Anaris campaign.  Scott and his Space Wolves and Leonard and his Orks were tied far ahead of the rest of us, and no one would have time to catch up.  Since they were the clear leaders, I floated the idea to them that they should slug it out in a large game for supremacy, and any other players available could support them.  This also was our first game using the splendid ork scrapyard terrain that awesome guy but infrequent player Ben created.

Iron Warriors: Cataphracti out of the bag

I had all these MkIV tactical marine bits in front of me, and thought that I should get started assembling those, as they would be the most useful, using the bodies for my tac squads and dev squads for lower point games.

So of course, my brain went SQUIRREL!  and I assembled the terminators instead.

Not the most practical early build, but progress is progress!

Iron Warriors begin, Shards of Anaris report

I got a small start on the Iron Warriors, assembling the captain and swapping out the bare head for a helmet.

Southern Front 2016

Sonofsonsoftaurus and I made it out to this year's Southern Front convention in Raleigh, missing the first day but arriving early Saturday morning for day two.  Above, the jungles of Venus prepare for all sorts of dinosaurs, walking machines and airships.

Shards of Anaris: Weeks...uh, a few weeks ago and a week ago?

The Endless Ones and allies slugged it out with the Space Wolves and Necrons over the past few weeks.  Camera finished dying and took the necron pics with it, got some pics with my phone for the Space Wolf battle. 

Shards of Anaris - Week 10

Today in our campaign I had a small 1000pt scrum with Leonard's Orks.

Orks ended up with the deployment edge, with three objectives towards their end, two on mine and one in the middle.  I have some teleporting terminators that can hopefully disrupt his back lines when they arrive.  Rhino and rocks help provide line of sight blocking and cover from the big scary shooting threats, the shokk attack gun and looted wagon.

Shards of Anaris: Week 9 - Jungle Fever

I faced off against Nathan's Necrons to try to recover a shard (1500pts), on a run-down Necron tomb world overrun by jungle, lovely terrain courtesy of Scott (our Space Wolf player this campaign).

New White Dwarf review!

I've been seeing some other reviews and posts about the new White Dwarf in its new format.  To be honest, I don't see what the big deal is about the new White Dwarf.  

 

Literally, as the promise - again - of early copies for subscribers falls flat.

"Subscribers will receive their White Dwarf on or before it's release day."

Like back then.

And then.

Again, I fell for the promise of paying GW up front for getting copies sent to me early, for a fresh take on the magazine.  GW's overall been doing things pretty well lately, surely it will work out this time?

 I did happen to be in the next town over where our official GW store is, and saw that they managed to get copies there for people to buy off of the shelves by the official release date.  So they do know how to get it to a particular location by a particular date, just not to me.  Is Tom Kirby in charge of White Dwarf customer distribution or something?

Vraks: Crossing No Man's Land, Day One

Krieg troopers hit the wire!

Scott came over and we dove into the first mission in the Vraks campaign.

Vraks: Prelude

Ever since Scott had started his Death Korps of Krieg army, we had planned to play through the Siege of Vraks campaign.  Now we are going to get started!  The renegades hunker down in their defenses awaiting the oncoming Death Korps, for the first mission from IA: 5.

Shards of Anaris: Weeks Seven and Eight

Two weeks of pictures, some games with more than others.

Iron Within, Iron Without

I had always liked the idea of the Iron Warriors.  Siege warfare, trenches, ruthless application of logistics and firepower to achieve their goals.  I never got around to making them before, as I didn't really picture them as the standard Chaos Marine kits, even with the upgrade set GW released 3rd edition.  The extra ornamentation, horns and such always seemed to fit armies like Black Legion and the Word Bearers well, while the cult legions had their own aesthetics.  But it didn't fit Iron Warriors well to me.  Neither did regular marine kits, focused on Mk VI and VII armor with eagles and purity seals featured prominently.  So I waited.

Shards of Anaris - campaign week six

Another week of mayhem and merriment hunting down the Shards of Anaris!

sonofsonsoftaurus is getting the knack for themed tables, developing a battle scene with several chaotic shrines.  My Endless Ones faced off against his Ultramarines to recover bits of information that would help lead us to additional pieces of the god-weapon, Anaris.

Shards of Anaris - updated campaign packet

Updated campaign packet with some player feedback (some thought the spawned gribblies were too strong/went too far afield) and idea for extra mission type.

40K Campaign - The Shards of Anaris
When Khaine slew Eldanesh, he took the sword Anaris and claimed it as his own. However when Khaine was shattered in battle with Slaanesh, the sword was also splintered. Several of the splinters have been recovered and used to craft powerful weapons for Eldar champions. As both Khaine and the blade were fragmented in the same event, what effect might re-forging the blade have on Khaine himself?

This campaign tells the story of the contest over the course of decades or even centuries to recover the various Shards of Anaris scattered across the galaxy. Several forces are on the trail for their own ends, either to try to use the power or merely keep the power out of the hands of others. They will battle over knowledge leading to the shards, then over the shards themselves and may even track down where their rivals are storing their collections and try to steal them away.

Shards of Anaris - Week 5

My family and I were on vacation the prior week, but sonofsonsoftaurus and I returned to the campaign today.  Counting us we had six players and five games were played.  We also did some work on updating a few of the store terrain pieces.  

My first game was with Scott's Space Wolves, fighting over one of the Shards of Anaris.  I brought a Nurgle force this time led by Typhus.  Scott had a variety of marines and a formation of rune priests.  Our fight was held on an old battleground, with several minefields scattered about.  

Shards of Anaris - week 3

Three Recovery missions played today:  my Endless Ones CSM vs. Scott's Space Wolves, John's Khorne Daemonkin vs. sonofsonsoftaurus' Ultramarines, and Leonard's Orks vs. Josh M's Grey Knights.  

Shards of Anaris Campaign Week 2

Another week into the Shards of Anaris campaign!  Today we had six players turn out, with Chaos Marines, Khorne Daemonkin, Necrons, Orks, Space Wolves and Ultramarines.  Above, Leonard's Orks and Nathan's Necrons battle over a Shard in an old warzone littered with minefields.  

The Shards of Anaris Campaign Report

We started our Shards of Anaris campaign a week early as there was a lot of interest in folks showing up.  We turned out to have seven players show up and had five games played, a great start!

 

The Saga of Karlan, Episode One

My son (sonofsonsoftaurus) has been getting into gaming over time.  We've done some small superhero adventures with his creation Jalapeno and some small 40k learning games, besides nerd-themed board games like Dungeon.  More recently he's gotten his own small Ultramarine 40K army which he is slowly working on painting and has participated in a couple sessions of Pathfinder games with my regular group and had a blast.  He wanted to do a solo Pathfinder game, so we made up a half-orc barbarian for him, Karlan.  Since he would be alone at least to start we made him second level.  

My original plan was to take him through the old module In Search of the Unknown, an old favorite of mine but I could not locate my copy.  Instead I flipped through some old Dragon magazines and found The Creature of Rhyl by Kevin Knuth in Dragon #55 (November 1981).  Nice little low-level dungeon crawl.  Pathfinder characters tend to be much tougher than old Basic D&D characters, and there is an opportunity to pick up extra help during the adventure so I felt it would work out well.

Jornath: Blood Axes vs. Salamanders, Road Rage!

Imperial attacks, led by elements of several chapters of Space Marines - Mortifactors, White Scars, Salamanders and Blood Angels - have blunted the initial ork advances on Jornath and eliminated several of their leaders, though not without loss to the marines themselves.  A new ork leader emerges uniting several of the Blood Axe warbands and heads south, striking towards a highway that will lead to rich pickings.  Elements of the Salamanders are dispatched to defend the junction and stop the advancing orks with flame and fury.

The ork warboss, Donald J. Krump whipped his boyz up into a frenzy before sending them out.  "We goin over dere to fight da beakies.  I love da beakies, no one loves da beakies more than I do.  But these are terrible beakies, so we gotta krump em.  Den we get into da oomie cities and get some lootin on.  Da oomies love me, cause I'm gonna give all da oomies jobs buildin what we need to keep krumpin.  We're gonna build da Waaaagh - it's gonna be a bootiful Waaagh - they said we couldn't, so you know what?  Da Waaaagh just got bigger!  We're gonna build da Waaagh, and da Imperium is gonna pay for it!  Weze gonna make Gork n' Mork great again!"

Jornath: Da Scent of Angels

"Beakies is comin!  I can smell em!"

This is a battle set on the world of Jornath, where a bunch of locals who are getting back into 40K are bashing some Orks and Imperials together.  Here we have a bunch of Blood Axes rallying in the north, protected from orbital fire by a power field generator.  Intent on disrupting the Ork advances against the beleaguered planetary defenders, elements of several Chapters launch strikes against Ork concentrations.

League Battle Report: Sons of Taurus vs. Imperial Fists 2000pts

Here's the 2000pts of Sons of Taurus in all their glory, such as it is.  I'm not 100% happy with how some things turned out, but good enough for now and moving on to other things.

Today the army had its first 2000pt outing, against Leonard's Imperial Fists.  We played one of the Space Marine missions from the Angels of Death book, where I started on half of the table and the marines came on turn one, including being able to outflank/deep strike turn one with appropriate units.

Sons of Taurus - almost there!

I have been plugging away at the chaos marines to finish up stage one of the Sons of Taurus, and I'm almost there.  They're painted, based, and have been gloss coated, now to wait for the local humidity to drop some before risking a little matte sealer to knock some shine off.  For the Vindicator I filled in the dozer blade with black, trimmed down one of the brass etch mino heads and added some scratches. 

Left/rear view of the Vindicator, showing the door symbols.

What to call the obliterator stand-ins?  Centroids?  

Once I get these finished, I will set the Sons of Taurus aside for a while.  I want to add a daemon prince and some possessed (based on bull centaurs) but will first spend some serious time cleaning and reorganizing my hobby spaces, then some other smaller projects. 

Battle Report: Sons of Taurus vs. Luna Wolves

Through the vagaries of the warp, Patrick returned from the Tournament Crusade, along with a pack of Luna Wolves, displaced across millenia with a variety of equipment.  I used my Sons of Taurus, with some partially completed infantry (pictured here infiltrating) while Patrick brought a tame largely MSU Space Wolves force, six 5 man grey hunters in pods, one five man in a rhino, three speeders with assault cannon/heavy bolter, some wolf scouts with sniper rifles and a skyclaw pack with wolf lord. 1500pts, and we played the Altar of War/Angels of Death mission "Willing Sacrifice", which has three objectives and some different deployment requirements.

Dozer some good questions dere

So, I'm actually making progress on my Sons of Taurus and have put a little more paint on the Vindicator.  The question became, "what to put on the dozer blade?"

Leave it largely as is? (...probably not)

Weather it heavily?

Fill the main area in black + weather?

Add a big skull or something?

Paint a bull head symbol on it?

Hazard stripes (don't think they would look good)

Something else?

 

It would need to be fairly simple; I am not up for an intricate mural of demonic bulls trampling on people.  As cool as that would be.  Any suggestions?

 

I also have a lot of the basic colors down on the marines.  Weapons/pads/packs and washes/touchups/basing to go!

 

 

League game: Sons of Taurus vs. Dark Angels - Overwatch!

I played a league game with my Sons of Taurus Chaos Marines against Peter's Dark Angels, Relic/Vanguard Strike, 1500pts.  Peter brought Lion's Blade Task Force with full battle company for free pods and razorbacks and a Ravenwing Strike Force.  A bunch of 5-man tactical, assault and devastator squads, chaplain, company master, and for the Ravenwing a librarian on bike, an attack bike and a Dark Talon.  All the Rhinos pictured are Razorbacks with TL heavy bolters.  One of their command benefits is overwatch at full ballistic skill, which could be painful for an army largely built for assault. 

Campaign Rough Draft: The Shards of Anaris

Here's the rough draft for our next campaign, "The Shards of Anaris".  Things may change for the final draft depending on feedback.  

Basic concept is to be able to be inclusive, with anyone playing anything and some being erratic attendees, while still being able to have an overall story.  

Feel free to use/modify for your own groups and purposes.  If you do, let me know how it goes!

League Battle Report - Sons of Taurus vs. Imperial Fists, Angels of Death edition!

I picked up the Angels of Death supplement today, and Leonard and I used some parts of it for our battle with my Sons of Taurus Chaos Marines against his Imperial Fists.

Our league is at 1500pts now.  I added 20 marines tricked out with extra close combat weapons, two meltaguns, Mark of Hashut Enraged (aka Khorne), icon of wrath and powerfist champion, as well as a vindicator.

Leonard's Imperial Fists are largely built out of the Betrayal at Calth box, and he has been using the Contemptor dreadnought as an Ironclad.  We decided to use the handy rules for Contemptors (really GW?  No drop pod or heavy flamer options?) to swap the Ironclad for a Contemptor, and rolled up one of the Altar of War missions, Emperor's Fist.  

Wolves and Marines and Dark Eldar oh my

For my friend Nathan who recently passed away, I'm ebaying his miniatures to raise some money for his family.  Space Wolves, including some old figures like the Rogue Trader bikers above, other Space Marines, and lots of 3rd ed Dark Eldar.  If you might be interested, check them out HERE

Non-league interlude - Sons of Taurus and Nurgle CSM vs. Dark Angels and Imperial Guard

Last weekend two players new to our store, Anne-Marie and James brought their Imperial forces in and we arranged a quick rumble with my own Sons of Taurus and returning player John's Nurgle Chaos Space Marines.  All their armies looked great, and I was especially impressed with the Dark Angels motor pool (not pictured, hopefully in the future).