Beaten but not broken - the Sons of Horus

Well it's been a long time since I posted anything on here. Honestly I had kind of forgotten all about the blog.

So what have I been doing? Well work mostly. Luckily work's not the only think that's taking up time! I've also been converting and painting a new Sons of Horus army.

This blog will hopefully document the weekly progress as I slowly build 1500 points of playable chaos marines.

So why 40k? Why not 30k? Well some of the members of my local club aren't likely to let me play the 30k marine list. Also if I fancy popping along to tournaments having standards CSM makes it easier to find events. I do plan to use the Black Legion supplement for my list so expect to see lots of chosen. I suppose I better mention here that if you expect to see a pure FW army then you may be upset. I have a huge collection of old marine and chaos bits that I really want to get used up with this project. However, there will be FW parts being used in many of my units. I'm also lucky enough to have a collection of old 3rd edition tanks that will finally see some paint. The company I am building will be a rag tag group with an assortment of weapons and armour made up from the full spectrum of GW kits. The warband are meant to be fleeing just after the defeat at Terra so I'm planning on battle damage and mixed marks of armour. I'm also going to refrain from anything overtly mutated or too chaos as I just don't like it and don't think it fits the theme. To get things started I wish to show you the green I have settled upon for armour.  It's not too bright and gaudy.

Here is my Sons of Horus sorcerer or librarian.

The green is painted like this -

1) PP cryx bane base over black undercoat.
2) badab black wash.
3) devlan mud wash.
4) layer on cryx bane base.
5) 50/50 mix of snot green and cryx bane base.
6) 60/40 mix of snot green and cryx bane base.
7) thrakka green wash.
8) selected highlights with 70/30 snot green and cryx bane base. It was my first time working with Privateer Press paint and so far I'm pretty impressed with it.

Since then I've started on the skin and basecoating the scroll work, skulls and cloak. I also tried a bit of weathering while I was waiting for the washes to dry.

This is what I'm aiming to complete for my army. It's chosen using the Black Legion supplement.

HQ 
1 sorcerer, lv2, terminator armour, psychic familiar, force staff, votlw, biomancy.

Elites
3 terminators, 3 combi plasma, 2 power axes, 1 lightning claw, votlw.

Troops
14 marines, 2 plasma guns, votlw.
8 chosen, 3 meltaguns, 1 flamer, votlw, rhino.
8 chosen, 3 meltaguns, 1 flamer, votlw, rhino.

Fast Attack
7 raptors, 2 meltaguns, votlw, mark of khorne, power sword and melta bombs.

Heavy Support 
1 predator, autocannon, lascannon sponsons.
5 havocs, 2 autocannons.
1 vindicator, havoc launcher, dozer blade.

Total = 1500 points.


Stay tuned for more soon.

54mm Madness - Inquisitor

Hi all,

This is what I am currently working on. He's an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor for well, Inquisitor.

He is a mix of the arbites torso and legs, the eldar ranger head and arms, some greenstuff, and the pistol holsters bit from the Warhammer Fantasy empire pistoliers set. It works quite well at this larger scale because it's so oversized.

Best to Worst

Happy new year everyone.

I can't believe I haven't updated this for ages. Well 6th edition has dropped and with it most of my enthusiasm for 40k gaming. I still love to read the novels and paint and convert the figures, but the rules... ah the rules have driven me away from actually gaming.

It boils down mostly to flyers and some of the other stupid rules they tacked on. Some of the stuff that the GW fanboys (sorry writers) come up with sickens me. All this talk of randomness adding to the cinematic feel of 40k, building a narrative, look out sir, challenges etc. It's all an excuse to cover their shoddy work.

I understand that they were trying to mix Fantasy and 40k slightly, but they failed abysmally and now we are stuck with a shitty rules set for at least another 4 or 5 years.

And that's not even all of the problem... some of the codecii are now so outdated it's pathetic.

So cheesed off was I, that I switched over to Fantasy to see if that was any better. Well it wasn't. Lots of broken and unbalanced stuff there, and just as many outdated army books in desperate need of reworking.

What did I do next?

I picked up Malifaux and Warmachine/Hordes and found them much more enjoyable. I also scoured Ebay for discounted Epic Armageddon stuff. I rediscovered Mordheim and Necromunda, I rebuilt my Eldar corsairs fleet for Battlefleet Gothic. I finally converted up some inquisitor figures. Now I am having a much better time of things.

The last year has really driven me to examine what I enjoy and why I enjoy it.

This year I have a couple of projects that I finally hope to get off the ground. I have an Eldar corsair army to finish converting and painting to match my BFG fleet. I also thinking about working on a Game of Thrones themed Bretonnian army for Warhammer Fantasy, which is based on the Nights Watch. There is also the possibility of a pre-heresy Epic Space Marine army if I can find the time.

Oh and I almost forgot - I have 2 titans from Dreamforge to build and paint when they arrive :D

Beyond the Gates of Antares

Well some of you may find this interesting, I know I do. It looks like Rick Priestley has a new project in the works, which could actually prove rather enjoyable. By the sounds of things the team are taking a whole new approach to community gaming, which I have to say, sounds like a breath of fresh air.

If like me, you were sorely disappointed with 40k 6th edition, then this might be a bit more up your street. It has only just begun as a Kickstarter project, and requires a lot of capital to get it off the ground, but the ideas are sound and rewards look promising.

Why not check it out here http://www.darkspacecorp.com/ and if you like what you see pledge some cash. It's that or waste some more money on GW's latest pile of junk (look at the Dark Angels land speeder to see what I mean)... I know which I would rather choose. By the looks of things so do many other people as the Kickstarter amount is already flying off to a great start.

Raptors - a new army?

Well after a few months away from the hobby I'm back! I have a great new job that I have settled into, a steady income, and my health has improved so much that I no longer sleep 11 hours a day and spend the rest in a mindless fug!

 Ok everyone so I was looking for something different/unusual/cool to field at my local club for mini tournaments and such. Now these are always 1500 points or smaller and normally most armies are played with no strong bias towards super-powered-cheese-doom lists.

Anyway here is something I have been working on for a couple of days after reading about the Raptors chapter of marines.

 All shall be explained below the list -

 HQ
 1 Sicarius.

 ELITES
 7 Sternguard, 3 combi plasma, drop pod.

 TROOPS
 10 Tactical marines, meltagun, missile launcher, powerfist.

 5 Scouts, bp/ccw, combi melta and melta bombs.

 5 Scouts, bp/ccw, combi melta and melta bombs.

 10 Scouts, sniper rifles, camo cloaks, missile launcher.

 10 Scouts, bolters, heavy bolter.

 FAST ATTACK
 1 Land speeder storm, multi melta.

 1 Land speeder storm, multi melta.

 8 Scout bikes, powerfist, 3 grenade launchers, cluster mines.

Total = 1500 points.

Tactics -
1) Sicarius will travel in the pod with the sternguard.
2) Tactical squad will infiltrate thanks to Sicarius special rules.

Basically this list is all about creating multiple angles of attack and using the alpha strike to my advantage. By plonking the tactical squad and the scouts with heavy bolter in the midfield I can completely change where my main attack is coming from. The bikes and storms are great for killing scary stuff right away and the drop podding sternguard can make a mess of most elite infantry/monstrous creatures when they come in.

Thanks to the re-roll for seizing the initiative I have a much better chance of getting it and with all the infiltrating and scouting going on I can really start to apply the pressure from turn 1. Admitedly there is very little combat capability, but then reading the fluff for the Raptors this is completely normal as they prefer to use stealth, assassination and shooting to do most damage.

At 1750 points I would add the following -

5 Assault terminators, th/ss.
1 Sternguard marine.
Locator beacon on scout bike sergeant.

Does this seem fun to you or am I chasing rainbows?

The new Sisters of Battle and how they roll

Well I meant to do this last week but events have gotten crazy of late. I have recently been trying out the new SoB mini WD codex and to be honest it hasn't helped SoB players at all. In fact I would  argue it has weakened the overall list considerably. Now this isn't going to be a complete White Dwarf bashing article because I have actually WON 4 games out of 5 with them so far! Admittedly 3 of the games were against fun lists but the other 2 were against cheesed up IG and luckily I still managed a win once!

Now at this point I am going to shock you all and say that the best unit in the new codex are Repentia. Why? Lots of attacks, feel no pain, one of the better acts of faith, cheaper, and frankly there isn't much else worthwhile in the elites slot. More importantly this unit provides a fast and hard hitting counter assault that is as much at home killing vehicles, infantry, or anything for that matter. Forget the silly Battle Conclaves and just take these ladies, or better yet why not take a unit of both and actually win combats once in a while.

Ok so they have rage... Well stick them in a Rhino from a Battle Sisters squad you plan on camping on an objective, or nick the one you gave to your Retributors.

I find them great at about 8 or 9 with a priest if you want, mounted in a borrowed Rhino. Give them a go and you might be surprised by just how much they can accomplish compared to their old selves. I have used them to guard my shooty units of Retributors and Exorcists, and as front line troops following my Immolator mounted units of Dominions up the board.

I will do an overall tactica for the new Sisters of Battle list when I get time so watch this space in future.

My 50th game of the year and my first loss.

Yep you heard me right, I have been playing space wolves all year and my results are as follows -
42 wins, 7 draws and 1 loss!

Now I haven't been taking the same list all the time but my lists usually revolve around 3 squads of grey hunters in rhinos with a Long fang squad, whirlwind and rune priest as support. Sprinkle in extras as I like.

The best bit about my recent games is that they have been at various points levels which has really meant that I have had to learn the space wolves codex from cover to cover so I know all the tips and tricks available. Great for me... Not so great for the guys at club. Also as anyone who has played me will know, I tend to shy away from cheese lists, even at most tournaments as they are boring to play with and against. I think my win to loss ratio  clearly shows that you don't have to spam stuff to get a good list. And before anyone says that my opponents must be rubbish, well they aren't all competitive  gamers, but most take playing me pretty seriously.