Back from the Dead! (plus video batrep)

Wow!  Has it really been that long since we've updated?  Can't believe it...

Techpriest 7" Apoc Template, Armorcast Reaver Weapon Upgrades

Made this 7" Apocalypse template the other day at the shop since everyone was having trouble keeping track of theirs at the 1/22 big game. It looks very cool in person when the etching catches the light like a fiber optic.

I'm also working on some more weapons for the Armorcast Reaver Titan. Ever since the guys at Forge World came out with the rules for their Reaver Titans us Armorcast owners have had a bit of weapon envy.

(In case you aren't aware, the Armorcast Reaver Titan's arm weapons are the same as a Warhound Titan's. The Forge World Reaver's arm weapons are slightly down-graded versions of Warlord Titan weapons, but are significantly more powerful than Warhound weapons.)

I've already made versions of the Volcano Cannon and Laser Blaster. Since doing so most of the Apocalypse groups around the country have adopted a house rule that addresses how much more powerful the Destroyer-strength weapons are than any other weapon. The house rule reduces the template size of any Destroyer weapon to the next lower size. (10" becomes 7", 5" becomes 3", etc.) Now that we're playing with this rule, all of a sudden the other weapons become more viable. In the case of the Reaver, this makes the Melta Cannon and Gatling Blaster more useful.

Here is my initial take on the Melta Cannon. You can reference the Forge World version here. The stock (red and black) is from one of my Volcano Cannons and is used for scale because the one for the Melta Cannon will be approximately the same size. It will have the same lines and designs as the Armorcast Inferno Gun but will be bulkier.

The Gatling Blaster is the same deal. It will follow the lines of the Armorcast weapon. In addition to what you see below I will have a method to allow it to rotate.

Enjoy!

Scratch-Built Thunderhawk Kit for sale

Last year I scratch-built a bunch of kits for Thunderhawks. After all was said and done I have one kit left over. I figured I'd see if anyone was interested here before trying other locations.

The kit will be unassembled. The pictures show an assembled kit. The kit will be a pack of cut and etched acrylic pieces in both 0.08" and 0.22" thicknesses, acrylic tubes to make the turbo laser, and custom resin pieces to make the engines. It does not come with any GW weapons so you'll need to supply the wing weapons, the front sponson weapons, and the upper adjustable wing weapons.

Many more pictures and more details here.

Please send a PM if interested. Thanks!

Matt

Hello, 2011...

Despite my vow to post at least 3 times a week, I intentionally took the holiday season off from posting. Bonus is my birthday is on the 8th of January (R.I.P. Elvis), so the "holiday season" gets an extra week in my world.

But now its time to get back to the grind. Back to my 12-step program.

First up for 2011, lay out some goals. You can call them New Year's Resolutions if you'd like.

When it comes to 40k, I'm a bit of a scatterbrain. I plan one project while working on another while neglecting at least 3 more. So many things to do, so little time to do them. So this year, rather than just letting the Year of 40k "happen," I want to take a more direct and concerted approach. So here's a few of the things I hope to achieve in 2011.


SPACE WOLVES

I've been working on my Logan's Hunters project off-and-on in 2010. For 2011, I have three goals I'd like to achieve with the Warriors of Fenris.

1. Finish the Logan's Hunters Terminator project. 3 Squads, 2 Land Raiders, and 3 Dreadnoughts remaining to complete that task. Its all in hand, all assembled, and all primed. All I need to do is paint them.
2. Expand the Logan's Hunters project beyond this initial stage. Yup, that's right, expand this army. I'm sure such expansion will involve a number of posts here at DFIR. So if you're a Wolf fan, stay tuned.
3. Assemble and Paint my Eclipse-Pattern Thunderhawk. I'll admit, I'm a bit scared by this project. Its a tad overwhelming looking, but I think once I get down to it, it will be much easier than I'm anticipating. Wish me luck with this one!

DEATHGUARD CSM

My Deathguard army has really come together in 2010. LOTS of progress on this army. So there's not all that much left to do. But there are at least a couple things.

1. Plague Tower. With my Plaguereaper completed, its now time to turn my attention to making a Plague Tower for my Deathguard force. Don't ask me why, but I am just not a fan of the existing Plague Tower concepts. I do not like the fantasy-style "wooden wheeled siege tower" nor do I like the leering faces on the front concept. Actually, you can ask me why. Its because I think those look silly for a far futuristic war machine of utter destruction. Hence, my Plague Tower will be more mechanized. The base chassis for the model will be a Baneblade, but from there, I'm still toying with a few other ideas. One is to scratch-build the tower part of the model; the other is to use something existing - maybe a Bastion or some Cities of Death panels. I guess we'll see in good time...
2. Daemon Princes. I've recently picked up an off-brand Daemon Prince from Troll Forged miniatures. Specifically "Demon Lord 2" from THIS LINK. I got him with the wings option, and also with an alternate head. So this bad-boy needs some construction (actually began last night) and painting. Related to this, my Ultraforge Plaguedemon is already painted and has seen some action on the tabletop. But he needs wings. Not sure if I'll pick up some pre-fab wings from somewhere or try to scratch-build my own. We'll see. In both cases, I want to magnetize the wings for easier transportation purposes.

MISCELLANEOUS

This isn't everything I plan to do this year. Partly because of my aforementioned scatterbrain predicament. I'm sure there's projects that will creep up during the year. If I had to guess...

1. Eldar. I don't think I can go the whole year without giving my Eldar some love. I have 3 War Walkers built and primed that need to be painted. I also have 10 Wraithguard in their blister packs that need some attention.
2. Emperor's Children. I'm still contemplating an Emperor's Children project. It is "medium-to-low" on the priority list, though, so there's no guarantee that it'll happen in 2011.
   
3. Warmachine & Hordes. Having spent the Summer of 2010 playing "Warmahordes," I'm feeling the need to get back to that game some (those games, technically). I'm actually in the process of weeding my Legion of Everblight hordes army down a taste, with the intent that what's left will be easier to tackle painting wise. I also have a handful more Bane Thralls to paint for my Cryx army - six got painted for an event this summer, which leaves me with 4 regulars plus a Standard Bearer and Officer to paint.
4. DFIR Resident MikeT. [Yes, Mike, I'm calling you out.] ;-) I hope to get MikeT to post something to this blog. This may prove to be the hardest of my New Year's Resolutions, though... (just kidding, it will only be a tad difficult...).
5. COMPLETE a league. All too often, I join a league, only to be called out into the field for an extended time. To date, I don't think I've ever officially completed a league. My goal is to complete at least one such endeavor this year.
   

So there we have it. Some - maybe even too many - goals for my 40k life in 2011. Much of this will be used as cannon fodder for this blog, so if you're really interested in seeing something from my list in particular, comment below and I'll see if I can make it a tad higher on the priority list.

So until next time, keep the Ni-Cd batteries in your Power Swords fully charged.

Warmaster Horus and new Knight Titan

Saw a couple of posts around the Blogasphere today about the good ole Ronin Primarch miniatures, so I figured I'd post a picture of where my Warmaster Horus is at the moment. He's assembled and pinned. He came with a different right talon, but I replaced it with Abaddon's awesome bit.

While at Toys-r-Us shopping for my son's birthday/Christmas, I saw a new line that Lego is putting out. It's called "Hero Factory." Like Bionicle from a few years ago there are several different sized lines. The $20 line is the biggest, and they are awesome! I picked up the one called Von Nebula. The legs and arms are fully articulated; as articulated as any titan model I've ever seen. Here are some pictures:

At attention (with a Farseer for scale):

Now, in what I call "Forgeworld's Bloodthirster" pose:

I need to get him in a shot with my Towering Destroyer Knight and with my Warhound. He looks a lot like a knight, but is a lot bigger. I plan on replacing the arms with a turbo laser on one side and some sort of CCW option on the other. I will be filling in the open areas and making it look more 'closed-up', but I think it is a great place to start. If a model can be posed that dynamically, it surely will look good with a better paint job on it.

Eldar Super-Super Heavy Acrylic Tank

Finally made some progress on my super-super heavy Eldar tank hull. I called the last one a Star Dragon. The Star Dragon was cut out of wood, which was very messy, had terrible texture, and was very uneven. This new one is out of 0.22" clear acrylic. It is very smooth. The only trouble that I had with it is, as it is clear it is difficult to tell which side you are working on! I glued together the port half, and then started in on the starboard. After the first pieces of the starboard half were drying, I noticed that I had glued them together backwards, making a second port half!

I was very dejected, since I had cut these pieces out on the laser before my back surgery and there was no way to get back to the laser since I've taken so long to recover. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to finish it. I was so disappointed that I didn't even put the pieces away. I just left them on the table.

Skip forward a month or so. My back and leg are still keeping me away from the laser. I was using my fret saw for something else, and figured it couldn't hurt to try to cut the starboard pieces apart. At the worst, I'd ruin the pieces that I'd already ruined. Anyway, as the pictures above show, it worked! It was a lot of effort to cut apart, and even more to sand the previously glued surfaces, but it was better than waiting for the TechShop to get a handicapped elevator.

So, there's a picture of my new Farseer, standing on the bridge of his new tank. If I decide not to put a turret on it, then I could get a nice desk and an entertainment center on it for him to entertain visiting Seer Councils during battlefield drills. I was calling this hull a grav yacht, after all.

Eldar Apocalypse, Part 2

Did you ever notice that the original Eldar Revenant has the basic outline of the clear plastic Eldar vehicle canopy on it? Looks like that design is older than even the Vyper. Pretty cool!


I've been asked for some clarification on the Nightshade's torpedos. Here're some more thoughts:

Eldar Fusion Torpedo:

• S8, AP1, Heavy (1), Ordinance (15"), Mega Melta, Incoming, Large Targeting, Interception


• Yes, I have a 15" template. Contact me if you want one too!


• Mega Melta: 8+3D6 under the center hole. 8+2D6 under the rest of the template.


• Incomming: The fusion torpedo has a range of thousands of kilometers and cannot get up to maximum speed on a 40k battlefield. At this range, it is obvious where it will strike and the enemy can potentially move out of the way. During deployment and at the end of the Eldar shooting phase, place a marker for every functioning torpedo tube in arc. The shot is resolved at the start of the next Eldar shooting phase, scattering 4D6-4".


• Large Targeting: The torpedoes are designed to be shot at space craft, and as such the auto-target systems work best when aimed at a large vehicle. If the marker is placed on a super-heavy vehicle roll a D6. If the result is less than or equal to the starting number of structure points when resolving the hit the torpedo scatters 2D6-4", centered on the current position of the vehicle.


• Interception: The torpedo marker may be shot at as if it were a Deep Striking unit using the normal Interception rules. It is counted as a Flyer with Toughness 8, 3 wounds, and an armour save of 2+. If the torpedo is 'killed', the marker is removed.

What do you think?

I'm not ready to disclose the full scenario background yet, but the basic idea is that the enemy has discovered something ancient and powerful underneath a ruined fortress and they're planning to turn it on. The Eldar are trying to prevent this and have been working for decades towards this end, putting common foes in this enemy's path and drawing still others towards this planet. It is still very close. As a last resort, the Nightshade has blown through the blockade and will try to destroy the fortress either through concentration of weapons or by Kamakazi attack.

The following picture shows a basic idea of the table layout and where the Nightshade will be during each turn. I've also shown the Nightshade's weapon arcs. The enemy will have 4 turns to damage as many systems on the Nightshade as possible. It won't be until turn 3 that all of the weapons will be in arc, so they really only have 2 shots with the biggest gun. On turn 5, if the fortress is not destroyed and the Nightshade is still mobile, the Nightshade will crash into the fortress.

This is assuming, of course, that we get a play space big enough to fit all of that.

The real trick is going to be to make the Nightshade's engines tough enough that the enemy cannot just Deep Strike a couple dozen Terminators onto it and swat it out of the sky. It should be possible, though. It should also be possible to accomplish most of the victory conditions from the battlefield.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to bring in someone to help me run my Eldar. Once you get over 20k points, you really should have more than two hands on the project.

Congratulations to the guys at Siegeworld for a successful record-breaking game last weekend! Check out their gallery!

Eldar Apocalypse, Part 1

The above picture shows my current Eldar Apocalypse army with the addition of a couple of borrowed units. (All of the silver & black stuff is mine.) I've got a Warlock, Phantom, Armorcast Revenant, Towering Destroyer Knight, 2x Scorpion (type 1), 2x Tempest, Cobra (type 1), Vampire Raider, 2x Nightwing, Void Dragon Phoenix, Cloudstrike Squadron, 2x Fire Prism, a ton of Wave Serpends (including the old steam-iron looking one), and a bunch of Wraithguard, Wraithlords, Seer Councils, Fire Dragons, and Phoenix Lords. On the far end is my Star Dragon super-super heavy from the last post.

I'm working on the upgrades for our next battle, date TBD. I've already purchased a Forge World Revenant (They're tiny!), and a standard Phoenix. I've got permission from my wonderful, understanding wife to purchase the Forge World Phantom whenever it comes out and an ebay lead on some more Revenant pieces. The second Star Dragon has its hull more than half built. That feels like a pretty good upgrade. Of course, there is one more addition...

The above picture is a Battlefleet Gothic Eldar Nightshade. Man, I just love the look. It reminds me a lot of the Babylon 5 Minbari Sharlin War Cruiser, as do all of the BFG Eldar. I've decided, as part of a future Apoc-Eclipse scenario, I'm bringing an Eldar space ship.

Obviously it won't be a true Nightshade, since the BFG-to-40k scale would make it about the size of a shopping mall, but it will be based on that hull design. The thought is that it will be the Eldar equivalent of a PT boat (patrol-torpedo), manned by 50-200 Eldar and captained by Prince Yriel. (He was on an inspection visit when the call to arms went out.) They managed to break through the orbital blockade and are taking the fight to the ground forces.

The rectangular area under the hull is an 8' plastic banquet table, to give you a sense of scale. The main parts of interest are:

1. Bridge. There will be full access to the bridge. It will be modeled and will hopefully be a fun place to battle.
2. Torpedo tubes. The basic profile of these will be the Deathstrike Missile (non-Apoc version) with a bigger blast template. The Eldar player places a marker on the main table where the torpedo will land next turn so the enemy has a movement phase to get out of the way.
3. Main gun. Something extremely nasty.
4. Engine parts.
5. Nova Prism Cannon (see Star Dragon).
6. Pulsar Inteceptors. Normal Pulsar mode or Heavy 2, AA, Interceptor.

The majority of the table will be at the level of the table top with the main nose cone on the front.

The expectation is that this will be a full-on model on the next battle field. If you can shoot it, you can shoot it. The craft will have a pre-set flight path; where it will be on which turn. Flyers will be able to engage it. Hover-mode flyers will be able to land on it. Teleporters can to. Grav shutes, jump infantry, and drop pods will have a hard time, but it'll be possible. There will be transit via wraithgates to and from the surface. You won't be able to remove all of the structure points, but you will be able to take out the engines, weapons, or C&C. I hope it'll be a blast.

Finally 'back'

Bleh. I had major back surgery in the middle of June and am finally getting back into my life now. I'm totally stir crazy and have been spending way too much time 'inside my head' for my own good. I've now got plans on top of plans on top of plans.

I've ordered an Eldar Revenant and Phoenix from Forge World. (My credit card still works fine!) Major frustration when they show up: The Phoenix shows up with only the basic hull and a Valkyrie flying base. No crew, no external weapons, no canopies, nothing. Now they tell me that the molds are broken and I can't get my replacement pieces until they fix the molds. Aargh!

I've finally started putting together my second Eldar Star Dragon super-super heavy tank. My original (at top of article) was cut from plywood while the new one is cut from 0.22" clear acrylic. I'm thinking of leaving part of it clear to represent the holofield. What do you think?

I really like the Revenant's pulsars, so I'm thinking of re-creating something like them and using them on the Star Dragon's front turrets instead of the wood half-eggs that I used on the first one.

I consider myself extremely lucky in finding some very rare old minitures. A now-gone miniatures company, Ronin, made some non-licensed Heresy-era Primarch models. I got the Phoenix Knight and the Lost Son. I'm looking forward to putting those guys on the table. I'll be using the Phoenix Knight as Fulgrim's Doppelganger, a daemon prince in my Emperor's Children army. I'm also working on a Heresy-era Sons of Horus force for Apocalypse battles only which should be pretty interesting.

The interesting thing about that Lost Son miniature. I got mine for about $50 and have since then seen it on eBay for anywhere from $40 to almost $300. I'd probably be willing to part with it for the high end, but would never for the low end. Truthfully, odds are that I will never see these miniatures available again, so it's probably a good idea just to hold onto them.

I've acquired an airbrush to help with some of my big models. (Again, the credit card recovered from surgery just fine.) I got a Badger 200. I also got a nice garage compressor and the hose to connect the two. It's my plan to run a hose from my garage up to my hobby room and then paint up there, but I am no where near healthy enough to do any of that at this time. I'm not healthy enough to get my hair cut, so I think cutting through the ceiling will have to wait.

I also wanted to wish my friends at Siegeworld good luck this weekend!

Apocalypse Battle Pictures

I just realized that I hadn't posted here to announce that the pictures are up from Apoc-Eclipse's most recent mega battle. It was held on 5/22/2010 at Game Theory in Raleigh, NC. They very nicely gave up the majority of the store for 12+ hours (accidentially on a Magic release weekend). Thanks guys!

Gallery 052010

Make sure to check out the videos. They give you a great sense of the game.

Titan Family Picture

Finally took a picture of my chaos super heavies. From the left we have my Tzeentch Warlord. In front of that we have my Slaanesh Warhound. Next is a Slaaneshi Reaver then a Khorne Reaver. My Silver Tower is after that, followed at the far right by the Slaanesh "Pleasurelord" Warlord.

I was a little worried how the two Warlords would work together, but neither outclasses the other. They do make the Reavers look pretty small, though.

Let me know what you think!

Apocalypse Projects Updated

As noted before, I was unable to make the big Apocalypse game last weekend. A side effect of this is that I was unable to show off my new big models!

Here's my new Warlord titan, in a close up showing his upgraded sensor suite and chaos markings.

The Planetstrike Comm Tower looks like it belongs there.

Here's my WIP Fire Lord. It's a custom Thunderhawk with Flamestrike Cannons in the front sponsons. The skull is from PetsMart.

I haven't shown a completed engine yet, so here it is:


Lastly, I've finished my first Silver Tower. The paint is WIP (otherwise known as "late the night before a mega battle), but I like it. There's the (not very) old Chaos Terminator Lord on the veranda.

It is actually taller than the Warlord, including the antenna array.

I can't wait to use them myself!

Apocalypse Personal Objectives

Over the past weekend Apoc-Eclipse (a super-set of DFIR) ran its semi-annual unlimited-point Apocalypse game. You can check out the basic army lists and other scenario information here.

As one of the organizers I design a set of individual victory conditions or personal objectives. This gives every player or sub-faction something else to strive towards besides just trying to win the scenario itself. Sometimes these big games are so huge that it can feel like an individual with a small army won't be able to affect the outcome. If you can achieve your own personal objectives, then you can feel that you did well.

My theory when making these up is that I take a lot of effort to look at what the player is bringing. We don't restrict anything, so when you have all the options in the world the units that show up must be important to you. I like to make the minor victory conditions something that you should be able to achieve if you put some effort to it. The major victory conditions are much more difficult and should only be achieved if you do very well.

Of course, "the best laid plans" and all that. I ended up spending all day Saturday in the hospital with my first kidney stone (courtesy of a doctor's brilliant idea that calcium supplements would help my bad back). I missed the game and the personal victory conditions were skipped to avoid unnecessary complications.

I've decided to post the victory conditions that I came up with here along with some notes. I hope that they may inspire you when you start to make up a new scenario for your group to play.

Individual Victory Conditions
Imperial: Ultramarines
Calgar has assumed control over this failing campaign, much to the chagrin of the other commanders. Show the rest of the Imperial forces why the Ultramarines are the Emperor's Finest.
Minor Individual Victory: Claim more objectives than any other individual Imperial force.
Major Individual Victory: Claim enough objectives for the Ultramarines to win the game without needing the assistance of the other Imperial forces.

MattP: We had two very large mechanized Ultramarine armies attending. I figured it would be nice to give the strong infantry units something to do.

Imperial: White Swords
This planet has caught the attention of some of the most infamous devils in the Imperium's glorious history. Rid the universe of this filth. Let the light of the White Sword guide you.
Minor Individual Victory: Kill at least four named Chaos characters.
Major Individual Victory: Kill at least three named Chaos characters in close combat.

MattP: The White Swords are a custom chapter created by Curt, one of Apoc-Eclipse's organizers. Their background has lots of anti-daemon aspects down to a custom Apocalypse-only item. The army doesn't have many Apocalypse units, but it is important that everyone feel the grandeur of the battles!

Imperial: Silver Skulls
An ancient device that raised the interest of the Silver Skull's master tech marines has been uncovered on the battlefield. Claim it quickly!
Before the start of the first turn, pick one objective in the Chaos deployment zone and announce it to the group. This is your major objective.
Minor Individual Victory: Ensure that no Chaos unit claims this objective.
Major Individual Victory: Silver Skulls units claim the objective.

MattP: The Silver Skulls are also a custom chapter created by a local player. I am not as familiar with their background, but I do know that they are very mechanized and have a Thunderhawk Gunship. I felt that this would be a good match for an army that specializes in strike tactics.

Imperial: Squat Guard/Daemonhunters (Any)
The reports are true. The foul daemon-god Nurgle has sent his generals to fight on this battlefield. Purge the unclean!
Minor Individual Victory: Kill four Nurgle special characters (Typhus, Mortarion, Epidemius, Mabras, Mamon, Necrosius).
Major Individual Victory: Claim the Trophy Kill of the Death Guard Primarch Mortarion?s corpse.

MattP: I usually try to make a few of the objectives about directly engaging the enemy. I knew we had a strong Nurgle group coming with a lot of special characters and the Daemonhunters would certainly be targeting the Primarch Mortarion anyway!

Imperial: Eldar
The threads of fate have wrapped around the ancient enemy's neck. Weave them into a noose and throttle the life out of the despicable creatures.
Minor Individual Victory: Destroy two of the Slaaneshi titans.
Major Individual Victory: Destroy Slaanesh's Lash, the Pleasurelord Titan.

MattP: The Eldar player was borrowing three of my Eldar titans (Phantom, Warlock, Revenant). I know these are very powerful units, so I thought it would be best if he was directed to attack my own forces with it. I'm used to getting shot with my own models anyway...

Chaos: Nurgle
Papa Nurgle demands a sacrifice, preferably one on a planetary scale.
Continue to keep Epidemius' tally, even if he is banished to the warp. When dead or off of the table, Epidemius? bonuses are conferred at totals 10x of those used when he is alive.
Minor Individual Victory: Take the tally to 100.
Major Individual Victory: Take the tally to 200.

MattP: What do you do if more than half of your Chaos players are playing Nurgle? What does Nurgle want on the planet anyway? The best answer I could come up with was "death." With a Plaguereaper, a Daemon Primarch, and just about every special character I felt that 100 was an easily manageable total. Epidemius has the biggest bulls eye painted on his slimy back, so there's got to be another reason to keep the tally going.

Chaos: Vraks/Undivided
Your madness knows no bounds. If you can't have the planet, then you'll ensure that no one else will!
Your Troop units have the Corrupt and Despoil strategic asset. (From Apocalypse Reloaded: If they are in base contact with an objective during the assault phase and not in combat, they may remove the objective from the game.) If any friendly or enemy unit is within 6" of the objective, they can prevent you from destroying it, so ask nicely.
Minor Individual Victory: Destroy at least five objectives.
Major Individual Victory: The number of objectives destroyed is enough to win the game.

MattP: We were expecting several Chaos players who weren't deeply devoted to one of the major cults but were, instead, closer to the Codex description of warbands. I could easily see them acting on a mission within a mission just laying waste to the battlefield itself.

Chaos: Titan Legions
Finally, opponents worthy of your wrath!
Minor Individual Victory: Damage every enemy super heavy walker.
Major Individual Victory: Ensure that the enemy possesses no more than 20 structure points worth of vehicles.

MattP: I was bringing a lot of super heavies, and if I turned the guns on the enemy infantry it would not have been pleasant for either side. I wanted a victory condition that required me to target the opposing super heavies.

Chaos: Tau
It is difficult to understand the stubbornness of the humans. They resist a simple trade agreement simply because it crosses borders through their empire, and tighten their grip on the systems in question like a snake. As is known, the way to kill a snake is to cut off its head.
Minor Individual Victory: Kill at least four Space Marine Commanders or Captains.
Major Individual Victory: Destroy the Ultramarines Masters of the Chapter with your own units.

MattP: This is the Chaos version of the anti-Nurgle one from earlier. It is a good idea to get the Tau motivated to hunt down enemy units since it is otherwise so easy for them to castle-up and hold a defensive posture.

Let me know what you think!

Deathguard & Apocalypse

LETS GET READY TO RUMMBBBLLLEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come this time on Saturday, Yours Truly will be deeply involved in trying to slaughter the False Emperor's lapdogs and the evil Eldar scum helping them.

In other words, I'll be playing my Deathguard this Saturday in a massive game of Apocalypse hosted by our local apocalyptic group APOC-ECLIPSE (wargaming so large it will block out the sun).

I've signed up to field about 10,000 points. Almost all of this is Deathguard/Nurgle in nature; however, I do plan to field about 1 or 1.5 k points of Black Legion to fill-out the points.

This post will discuss some of what is included in my 10k force.

Previously, I posted about the construction of my PLAGUEREAPER model. Well, I wish I could show you a picture of it painted. But its only primed. But paint will be going on that monster tank this evening (and tomorrow evening, and probably even friday evening...). So I hope to post a separate piece on that once it is finished.











Fellow DFIR poster MattP is being gracious enough to loan me a few models. Primarily, MORTARION, Daemon Primarch of the Deathguard.

Matt's got a stupendous model for Mortarion (shown here), and an excellent set of rules for him as well.

I highly doubt my lower brain form will do these rules justice, but I at least hope to remember half of his nasty tricks during the day.





Then there is Typhus (not my picture of Typhus, this is one from AEROPLANE posted as a WIP at Librarium Online HERE).

I've offered to let DFIR poster MikeT take him instead, but haven't heard back from Mike. Typhus has been my main HQ over the last several months. All the internet bitchers will tell you just how junk Typhus is, particularly pointing out his lack of Eternal Warrior.

Bah on them!

MOST 40k Special Characters aren't Eternal Warriors. I've found that Typhus is definitely worth his points, and if anything, puts the fear of Nurgle into my opponents when they see he's about to deep strike with 7 Nurgle Terminators...

Another Special Character joining my force is one I made up myself. His name is Mabras, and I don't currently have a picture of him; however, HERE is his datasheet. This guy's rules started quite a while back, probably in the fall some 6 or so months ago. He started as a home-made version of the Necrosius character in Imperial Armour 8 (Seige of Vraks III). But three major versions later, and he had really taken on his own style. Since the model is a converted Fabius Bile (all weapons swapped and most of the backpack "instruments" removed) that still has the two "tubes" on the back, I wanted to create an attack consisting of a two-part contagion that once mixed, pretty much vaporizes infantry in close proximity to Mabras. Check out the Purgatis Contagion rule on his datasheet (it took a lot of help from MattP, CurtF, and MikeT - THANKS GUYS!!!).

Moving away from characters and whatnot for a moment, let me talk about that little do-dad over to the left. That's a picture of a Vortex Grenade - the limited edition marker that was released along with the first Apocalypse book.

LOVE IT!

USE IT EVERY APOCALYPSE GAME!

And so far (knock on wood), it hasn't scattered back on my own models - partly due to good scatter rolls, and partly because once I unleash it, I get my guys the Hell outta there!

Formation-wise, I have TWO Chaos Terminator Doombringer Annihilation Forces. They both come with scheduled bombardments as well as precision strike strategic assets. I also have an Armored Spearhead (3 Land Raiders) and a Predator Assassin Squadron (3 Predators). Both of those are technically SM formations, but there's no reason in our Apocalyptic world why Chaos can't use them; after all, MY Deathguard are pretty smart chaps, and know a good tactic when they see it used against them...

Speaking of Deathguard, I'll only be bringing a measly 47 Plague Marines (five squads with five rhinos). But I do have a good mix of miniatures. 20 are the OOP metal ones, 17 are Forgeworld Deathguard, and 10 are the "current" Citadel Plague Marine miniatures.

For my Black Legion contingent, it is small, but potent. Abaddon, Terminator Lord, Terminators, bikes, and a Winged Daemon Prince. Theoretically, I could make a 3rd Doombringer Annihilation Force out of the Black Legion, _OR_ I could field the formation "Abaddon and the Lords of the Black Crusade." But I've already got two of the former and fielded the latter a couple Apocalypse games ago. So I'm going to skip them this time around.


So I'm looking forward to it. Like the Apoc-Eclipse events always are, it should be a blast!

I'll see if my mind is not too mushy afterwards to post a vague report of the event. Plus MattP will post all the pictures we take to our GALLERIES (cough**DFIR post**cough, MattP). I should also be able to post some pictures of my PAINTED Plaguereaper too!

In summary, here's my "nutshell 10,000 point list":

Mortarion + 10 Nurgling bases (retinue)
Typhus
Mabras
Nurgle Lord w/ Daemon Weapon
Abaddon
Black Legion Terminator Lord
Winged Daemon Prince
47 Plague Marines + 5 Rhinos
32 Terminators (in 2 Doombringer Forces)
15 Terminators (in the 3 land raiders)
10 Black Legion bikers
Plaguereaper
3 Predators
3 Land Raiders
VORTEX GRENADE

Bring it, you Imperial Pukes!

Apocalypse Game Signup

Hey, check out our web page to sign up for our Apocalypse game. Thanks!

http://www.apoc-eclipse.com/rules052010.htm

Matt P

Warlord Titan Update 1

I've done some work on my new Warlord Titan. The changes were both structural reinforcements and cosmetic. I've decided to put pictures online for anyone else with one of these so they might get some ideas for their own. The above picture shows the underside of a foot. The dots are 0.75" brass nails (called extrusion pins). I've drilled up into the ankle pieces. If I didn't do that a sideways bump could take the feet right off.

Above are the legs. You can see two more brass nails on the side of the ankle and four on the knee. I've added two pieces of square plastic tube to the backs of the trim pieces on both the thigh and calf. The piece on the top of the calf portion is a rod. Adding those pieces immediately took the look of the legs from kind of bland to very cool. I would highly suggest everyone to do that.

Here are the backs of the legs and hips. There are brass nails going through the black sintra and into the PVC pipe as shown and on the front as well. You can't see it here, but the white plastic card covers the area where I used two very large drywall screws to go through the back sintra piece and into the PVC pipe as well. Before I did this his torso would spontaneously lean forward.

I've drilled from the top hip piece so a long bolt (1/4-20) could reach all the way through the hip PVC pipe into the crotch torso box. This allowed me to bolt all the way through.

You can see that I put some 0.5" car wire channel tube in the open area of the back calf muscle as well as a small piece of plastic rod. It really improved the look (looks better in person).

These are the Apocalypse Launchers with their doors open. There isn't an area for these doors to attach so I had to put in a 3/16" plastic tube. Worked like a charm.

The Quake Cannon had a big, featureless portion, so I put some card and plastic strips on to break it up a bit.

Here's the big change. The weapons were originally held on the elbows with a drywall screw going into a very small hole on the elbow. Instead I've tapped the elbow to fit my favorite bolts. I think it'll go quicker too.

As you can see, I've used some more plastic automobile tube. The texture is very common on the Armorcast titans, so I think it helps keep things a little more consistent.

Lots more plastic card to add some detail.

I used the back of one of the Bastion's weapon mounts as a control panel. You can also see a lot more reinforcing brass nails. Many of these were required to prevent the pieces from coming apart. They flexed and cracked quite a few times before I did this.

The "view from the top" shows some of the detail that I put between the exhaust stacks. The middle part is the Bastion escape hatch while the other two are weapon mounts (the backs being used as the control panels (as mentioned above).

You can also see the acrylic Aquila (Imperial Eagle). This and a smaller one are going to get pins on their backs so they can be removed when in Chaos Mode.

I hope to get it primed over the weekend. I've purchased some automobile spray primer which I've heard works well on this material. Let me know what you think!

New Member of the Titan Team

Finally got this new guy put together today and I wanted to show him off. He's still got a long way to go until he's finished, but he's still pretty great! Above you see him in his full close-ranged Chaos glory.

Here he is as a long-range Imperial war machine: Darn that white resin head! Ah well, he'll be primed soon enough. I have decided to paint it so it can be switched between Chaos and Imperial. I'm thinking that it would look nice blue.

Can't wait to see it partnered with my other warlord!

Update: Scratch-Built Thunderhawk

I've decided to sell my scratch-built Thunderhawk. I really need to raise funds for other projects and this model will hopefully cover those.

Check it out here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320514351106

Thanks!

Matt

Plaguereaper Project: Part 1

Although fellow DFIR poster MattP is our resident Apocalypse guru, I thought I'd share my recent (and first) attempt at something truly "apocalyptic." In all of our past Apocalypse battles (which can be checked out at Apoc-Eclipse), I had plenty of models to field a large force including several Legendary Formations. However, the only time I've fielded any Super Heavies was when they were borrowed from MattP.

Time to change that.

I was ecstatic when I received a Baneblade kit for Christmas. Kudos to my wife's family (Bob, Martha, and Kaitlin) for feeding my 40k addiction. On a side note, I should point out that they have always fed my little addiction during gift-giving occasions, but this was the first time they got me the item I had put on my wishlist, instead of a gift certificate. THAT'S SOME TRUE LOVE!

Anyhoo...

Not having an Imperial army, there was no question that this "Baneblade" was destined for greater things in the service of the Dark Lords. Given that I was also working on a Deathguard army, it was also a no-brainer that this was to become a PLAGUEREAPER (featured in the main Apocalypse rulebook), dedicated to Father Nurgle and all of his pestilent ways.

Opening a Super Heavy kit for the first time was rather daunting, to say the least. Half a dozen sprues just chock full o' parts. Thank God it came with an instruction booklet; to bad said instructions were very detailed and somewhat complex. But that was just first appearances; in the end, the thing went together smoothly, nicely, and very easily.


Here's a shot of the project during the early stages (beer label pointed away from camera to protect the innocent...). At this point, I was working on assembling the two sides consisting of the track housings and tracks.

Discussions with MattP indicated that I could go beyond the basic Plaguereaper datasheet, such as adding extra side sponsons (like an Imperial Baneblade can). So I decided early on that I would do just that, mounting sponsons on the front and rear of the three side panels. I also decided to add a Havoc Launcher to the turret. Seriously, can a Super Heavy Tank have TOO many guns? I don't think so...

In hindsight, the whole process of building the baneblade kit was rather easy, but I believe that this early stage of building the two sides was the most time consuming. Once those were complete (couple nights worth of working on them, maybe 3 hours total), the rest of the kit went together very quick (probably another couple of nights, 3 or so hours).


So all in all, it went together nicely, as you can see above. Once the basic kit was completed, though, it was time to sufficiently "Nurgle-it-up." I had a few thoughts about this part of the project. Primarily, I did not like the look of the Pus Tanks as depicted in the Apocalypse rulebook - large, open vats mounted on the sides of the tank hull.

In essence, I had several personal problems with that look. First, the open tanks. Drive over your first hill slope or bump in the battlefield and all your "ammo" is spilled-out onto the ground. Second was the pipes that feed the turret's pus cannon. What happens when the turret rotates? Expanding pipes? OK, so maybe I'm thinking too much about real life physics and mechanics for a game set in the 41st millennium and based on various races that span the galaxy...

Practically (and primarily) , though, I figured my infantile converting skills just really weren't up to the task of hacking off part of my model to put the tanks in - not to mention that it'd take away precious space where I was mounting extra sponsons!

Searching at the Papa Nurgle forums, I turned up THIS idea of how to take care of my problems with the Pus Tanks (see second post down). Thanks, Mabrothrax!!!

The other primary thought I had was to make this Plaguereaper appear to be more of a "new addition" to the Deathguard's arsenal. Not some antiquated thing all rusted and cantankerous, but something representing a "recent fall" from the graces of the Imperium. In other words, I wasn't as keen on "Nurgling-it-up" as much as Mabrothrax's Plaguereaper seen HERE (see second-to-last post on that page).

So, here's what I came up with.

1. Mildly scar up the tank to represent battle damage, and add some greenstuff (but not a lot) to create Nurgle pustules and growths to the tank. This was done with a variety of tools. Pin vice with a couple different sized drill bits to make shell holes. X-acto knife to run some 'cuts' along pieces. And the corner of a flat head screwdriver to "scratch-up" other parts. Obviously green stuff, which was sculpted with a chopstick tip (pretty much the only GS sculpting tool I've ever needed).



2. Use barrels on the back of the turret for the Pus Tanks. I used the bendy parts of several drink box straws to feed the turret (any parent with a small child will have drink box straws in spades). I used drink box straws because their smaller diameter was more in line with the scale of this tank. These were attached with green stuff.
[Side note: I took a close-up of the barrels, but managed to leave it on the wrong computer - I'll add that pic in the Part 2 update (which will cover the painting of this thing). You can kind of see them below, but not all that well. Sorry...] ;-(



3. I also swapped the lascannon barrel ends with the Chaos gorgon head gun barrels. I didn't have enough to do all the heavy bolters, so just did the twin-linked heavy bolter mounted on a mini-turret on the front (see above).

4. Add some growth to the main pus cannon barrel, but again, not to much. So as not to use up to much of my green stuff, I used an air-hardening "porcelain" clay product (the white). I rolled this out into a long sausage and simply spiraled it down the barrel from turret towards end. I also ran a second roll and spiraled it the opposite way. I added a little more of the white clay where the barrel connects to the turret and molded that into one mass - trying to go for a large growth at the turret end that is slowly snaking its way up the barrel. Finally, I did a long sausage of green stuff, but before sprialing it down the barrel like the white porcelain clay, I "twisted" the green stuff log to give it even more texture.




And there you have it. Construction of a Plaguereaper! This weekend will feature some very nice weather AND at least enough time to get this thing primed. I'll post a Part 2 in a week or so when I have the thing completed (painting Nurgle-themed stuff is easy-schmeesy - see THIS post for details.)

Happy Easter everyone! Hopefully you are NOT like me and actually have today off... ;-)