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!

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 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!

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!