Apocalypse: Spiral Prime

Tonight, my friend S is coming up from Kent to prepare for a trip to Nottingham and Warhammer World tomorrow. Why? Well, we're going to have our annual(ish) Apocalypse game. This time, his Angels Sanguine and some of his Chaos Space Marines will be there, along with my Iron Warriors.

I get Scenario Writing Duty for these things, so here, then, is the scenario we will be playing tomorrow:

Hive Spyral Prime - ASSASSINATION!

Imperial Forces Briefing:

Abbadon the Despoiler has been positively identified as being present in the ruined hive of Spiral Prime. A small task force of Astartes has a chance to strike against him, removing a major threat to the continued existence and stability of the Imperium. This objective must be achieved at all costs.

Primary Objective:
Eliminate Abbadon.
Abbadon must be reduced to 0 wounds and removed from play before the end of Turn 4. This can be achieved by any means. (9VP)

Secondary Objective:
Destroy at least 50% of the enemy force.
Completely destroy at least half of the enemy’s total number of units. (6VP)

Tertiary Objective:
Ensure your commander remains alive.
At the end of Turn 4, your commander must have at least 1 wound remaining. (3VP)

Chaos Forces Briefing:

Abbadon, Chosen of the Gods, has arranged a meeting with a force of Iron Warriors in order to negotiate their support during the next phase of his Black Crusade. It is imperative that you ensure that Abbadon’s security is maintained.

Primary Objective:
Ensure that Abbadon remains alive throughout the negotiations.
At the end of Turn 4, Abbadon must have at least 1 wound remaining. (9VP)

Secondary Objective:
Ensure that any attacking force is destroyed to allow Abbadon and the other dignitaries to escape.
Completely destroy at least half of the enemy’s total number of units. (6VP)

Tertiary Objective:
Make sure that the Iron Warriors are still in a position to aid Abbadon afterwards.
At the end of Turn 4, the Iron Warrior commander must have at least 1 wound remaining OR at least half the Iron Warrior units must be at or above half strength. (3VP)

This is the battleground. I'm looking forwards to the battle - expect photos!

Tanks! ACTION ON!

Sorry I've been quiet. Struggling with life a little (OK, a lot). Anyway, enough of the doom 'n' gloom.

First of all, I've 'found' an awesome forum for players of Necromunda, Inquisitor/Inquisimunda, Mordheim, and Gorkamorka - Yaktribe! Go and set up an account if you haven't already got one (I suspect I'm late to the party).

 First of all, I finished that conversion. She looks really rather badass if you ask me, what with her Voodoo-inspired facepaint and her hazard-striped improvised shoulder armour. I see her as being a mentor to the younger members of the HellBitches, looking after them and trying to make sure they don't get slotted too early. Painting see-through clothing is haarrrrrd.

 And then a couple of days ago I thought "sod it, my Space Marine vehicles have been sat in the cupboard unloved for too long", dragged them out, and here's the result. The first one to get finished was the Razorback transport for my Techmarine and his servitors. Now as far as I can remember, the last edition in which they were 'officially' allowed to ride around in one of these was the 4th Edition Codex. But happily that's my favoured edition, so woo!

Then I had a crack at the old style 2nd Edition Predator Destructor, which came out rather nicely thank you very much. 

 And then I finished off the Whirlwind which I started working on... oooh... two years ago? Looks pretty nifty actually, although this probably isn't the best angle (but it is the business end of it).

And this is what's on my workbench. Rhino transports galore (oh, and Iron Warrior Khorne Bezerkers, and Tzeentchian cultists, and some - out of shot - Molgravians for my Molgravian project)! I do have a fourth one, but I got it (and all these other vehicles) second hand, and it had, er, rather a lot of battle damage. So if anyone happens to have any Rhino mk1 exhausts spare (two would do, four would be PERFECT), ideally with their curvy exhaust pipes intact... let me know. Please? Otherwise I'm going to have to source a whole new Rhino mk1!

Speaking of new vehicles, all that remains for my Righteous Fists to be complete are:

A Vindicator mk 1 with bulldozer blade.
A Land Speeder Storm for my second scout squad.
A standard Dreadnought to accompany my Venerable and Ironclad dreads.
A Land Raider mk2B from Forgeworld for my Terminators to ride in.
A squad of Scout Bikers, because they're cool, OK?
A squad of five Sternguard with a Razorback mk1 (with twin-linked lascannon ideally) to accompany my Librarian.

The list has grown a wee bit but there we are. It's not as much as it could be!

Necromunda Lunacy Continues (and some 40K stuff too)

I've been a busy chap of late:

This conversion has been waiting completion for about seven years. Maybe longer. I finally snapped last night and clipped away the remains of the grenadier's upper legs, filed both halves flat (ish) and applied green stuff and spare parts to create - ta-da - an Escher with grenade launcher!

 Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. His tabard thing reads "Death to the alien, abhor the alien" and then "The Emperor is God - The Voice of the Emperor - Victorious Wrath of the Emperor" (at least, it does in pidgin latin). He's a radical, really, his retinue has aliens and gene-altered humans in it.

 Parvassian Dragoon corporal seconded to the Inquisition. I kept this model when I sold the rest of my Steel Legion collection because I thought he was cool and would come in handy. So he has!

 Necromundan Hired Gun: underhive scum with two bolt pistols. I like the camo trousers and the way his trenchcoat came out.

And finally, a figure from the Rogue Trader days. I estimate this thing at about 28 years old; I think it was released in about 1987? Painted up to lead my next squad of Iron Warriors.

The Last Escher... and more Iron Warriors

Well, I've really caught the Necromunda bug again. I've finally finished painting all the Escher figures I own (well, apart from the half-finished conversion of a Heavy with Grenade Launcher, but I need something like a dremel rotary tool to cut away some irritating metal parts before I can really think about finishing it), and have the last of my Goliaths on the painting table as I type.

In addition to that, I've finished (for the moment) all bar one of my Iron Warriors, giving me a pretty sizable army really. So I'm quite pleased with that. Anyway - pictures!

 Sister Silent in her new incarnation. She has given her plasma gun to Julie Romain (a recently promoted Juve who got the Specialist skill) and now totes a newly-purchased heavy stubber. This looks a lot like an MG-34 with a few extra bits...!

As-yet-unnamed models. The one on the left is probably going to be a Leader; in which case I may well call her Kat Wylde. The one on the right will end up being a promoted Juve, I expect.

Iron Warriors! These fellows bulk up the Techmarine's squad to its maximum size of 10 figures, giving me a squad dedicated to Slaanesh and another dedicated to Chaos Undivided. In the long run there'll be two more, one dedicated to Khorne (with flamers) and another dedicated to Nurgle (with meltas). Painting gold trim is tedious, but once it's done they are very quick to finish. The eagle-eyed among you may notice that none of them have the hazard striping that most Iron Warrior armies sport. This is because I think it looks silly and it is ridiculously hard to paint properly.

Ash Waste Nomads and More Iron Warriors

Straight in with the pictures today!

 The last two Juves and my "Come and 'ave a go!" ganger (amusingly armed with a lasrifle, making him ... not the best ... in close combat).

 The West Wall Raiders! This is one of every Ash Waste Nomad released by Games Workshop; ideally I'd like another complete set so I can have a few more weapon options for campaign play, but I'm not complaining. Just wishlisting.

 Blood for the Blood God! In the absence of Tamiya Clear Red, I extemporised with Dark Flesh, Khorne Red, Blood Red, and Flesh Wash, with a lot of stippling, and then a little bit of gloss varnish to make some areas look wet and sticky. This pleasant fellow will lead the Iron Warrior Bezerkers that I'm going to (eventually) get. More tea, vicar?

And the last three members of Anvil Squad; bringing them up to 10 Iron Warriors armed with boltguns and two plasma guns. I really like the way the mutant's head turned out, purple and pink are a good combination for Slaaneshi types.

Whatever happened to that retrospective? I dunno; I got painting or something. Next up are a mix of more Iron Warriors and more Necromunda stuff probably.

Return to the Underhive

OK, so I've been a busy chap since I finished those Black Templars. I went rummaging for Stuff To Paint (no shortage of figures in this flat) and happened to open my Necromunda drawer.

Aha, thought I, here's a project I can pick up!

So I mass-undercoated all my bare metal Ratskins, Orlocks, Escher, Goliaths, Scum, and so on and so forth, and am going to steadily work my way through them.

To start with, I've been focussing on the Ash Waste Nomad gang I bought for an absolute song some time ago now (in fact I think I picked them up around about the same time I moved into this flat, which is nearly four years ago now).

 L-R: Nomad Leader, ganger with autorifle, ganger with double-bladed knife and autopistol.

L-R: Juve, ganger with long rifle, heavy, ganger with club and autopistol, heavy.

Just three more to finish. These chaps have been nice and quick because I'd bought them essentially painted, so really all I've done is rebase them and touch them up, with a little bit of repainting here and a bit of polish there to bring them up to my standard.

Oh, and I've been working on a few other odds and ends too, like this fellow:

He is the Apothecary of the 6th Cohort, 12th Grand Company, Legio IV Iron Warriors. Otherwise known as my Iron Warriors army. Anyway, he worships Grandfather Nurgle, the god of disease and decay and entropy. Rather apt, for a medic, I thought. If all else fails, pray to the god of disease that your injury doesn't go gangrenous and drop off.

Or become a tentacle.

Or develop a nurgling infestation.

Next up - more Ash Waste Nomads, another 'hero' of the VI Cohort, and then... more Necromunda!

Black Templars - Finished...

...for now.

As with all armies, they're never really finished. At least, not until you have at least one of every option available to you in the army book. That's my argument and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, here you go:

 Neophytes from Crusader Squad Kinereich...

 ...and Crusader Squad Kinereich in all it's black and white glory. DEUS IMPERATOR VULT!

 Assault Squad Lachlan, with Reclusiarch von Stahl. 11 frothing 8' tall superhuman religious maniacs, hopped up on zeal and belief and armed with automatic RPG pistols and monomolecular teethed chainsaw-swords, propelled by nuclear fusion powered jump packs and wearing powered armour suits that will stop pretty much anything short of an anti-tank weapon. Oh, and don't forget the napalm-throwers. Two of those. Just in case, you know, they meet anyone they think is a heretic.

Protip: that's pretty much everyone. You heretics.

 A terrible close-up, but this at least shows off the cool Forgeworld Rogue Trader style flamer. 

And an even worse close-up! I must say, hand-painting Maltese Crosses is... something I am glad I don't have to do for a while.

And that's that! 1,500 points of Black Templars for 4th Edition 40K. I really should actually play a game with them at some point.

Abhor The Alien!

I've been painting Black Templars! Well, actually, Neophytes. This batch of figures were made in the late 1990s during the end of 2nd Edition 40K and were, originally, intended for my Righteous Fists army. But let's be honest, they make better Black Templars. Certainly easier to paint, anyway...

 Neophytes with shotguns... and Geordi LaForge.

First Crusader Squad. They look pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

Well, still on my painting table are five more Neophytes and 9 Assault Marines. Then that'll be a 1500 point Black Templar army for 4th Edition 40K - finished! Crazy, eh?

More Iron Warriors!

I have been quiet for a few days because of life, but I have not been idle...

 Noise Marines - the cult troops of Slaanesh, bound to the 12th Grand Company's Warlord by ancient vows and shared experience. Surprisingly fun to paint, although all the gold detailing made me put off painting them for - ooh - about a year?

 First half of the second Crusader Squad for my Amalthean Crusade Black Templars, with their natural allies, the Sisters of Battle.

 Warsmith Koczan, one of the officers of the 12th Grand Company, commander of a squad of Iron Warriors, and veteran of the long, long war. He remembers the Gates of Terra, and the Imperial Palace burning. He remembers these things, and many others, and has long since given up all ideas and hope. Now he kills because he always has, he fights because he knows nothing else.

The Cult of the Many Ways (or at least most of it, I need another six figures for this unit) - Tzeentchian cultists utilised by the 12th Grand Company as a mix of cannon fodder and distraction. Held beneath contempt by the Astartes who direct them, the cultists care only that they are serving the Gods themselves.

Abhor The Witch

More Black Templars, because I'm on a roll now, and the Tau are filthy xenos. Anyway.

This fellow with the very big sword is known as the Emperor's Champion, and his role is to find the biggest, hardest, nastiest enemy and try and kill it. Sure, he's probably going to die, but the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Imperium.