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.

Sisters Of Battle

Following on from the Inquisitorial stuff I did yesterday, I spent much of today fiddling around with the few Sisters of Battle that I have, and doing up the one RHINO that I have for them. Had a fun few minutes converting the meltagun to fit onto the automated turret dome where the other bolter used to sit!

The pig-Latin ('High Gothic') on the driver's armoured box reads 'Fidelis et Furor', which translates - very roughly - as Faith and Fury. Quite fitting for the militant nuns of the Imperium of Humanity's quasi-Catholic gothic space church!

After that, I re-equipped my Canoness with an inferno pistol, as her bolt pistol just isn't purifying enough for the sort of sinners she'll end up fighting. You know, like tanks. Or Dreadnoughts.

Then I rebased and touched up the few Celestians that I've got. I went over to Games Workshop's website to see how much it'd cost to bulk the little force up to a skirmish group and nearly fell off my chair when I realised the figures are now averaging about £5-7 each! eBay it is then...

Speaking of eBay, even more stuff has gone up for sale now, including a Brian Nelson Orc Big 'Un Command Group, a Vampire Counts Corpse Cart, some Dark Eldar and some fully painted Valhallans. Have a shufti!

Rebasing

One of the best things about rebasing old figures is that it makes them seem new and fresh. It's also good to see how quickly my idea of basing all my 40K figures in the desert brings them all together. I may have to do a bit of repainting here and there, but my Inqusitorial retinue really looks the part. Before they were all based in classic NW Europe style green, which is great, but something about desert basing just screams "science fiction" to me.

It's probably got something to do with Tunisia...

...can't think why.

Inquisitors:

Well, actually, an Inquisitor on the left, her Interrogator (trainee) on the right.

Soldiers:

Paradisan* Imperial Guard officer and Defence Force SNCO on the left, Inquisitorial Stormtrooper Bodyguard Detail on the right (note grenade launcher, because sometimes when engaged in close protection you need to be able to give people the high explosive good news).

Assassins:

Portia and Staria, assassins from the upper levels of Hive Tertius on Varangia. No target too well protected for this duo!

Assistants:

L-R: Qunaya Snorisdottir, Squat pilot and mechanic; Jokaero weaponsmith; Primaris Psyker of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica.

L-R: Savant; Scribe-servitor; unknown? possibly servitor.

I painted up both the servitor/mutant with the red hood and massive sword (it's bigger than the Psyker or the tall Inquisitor in black armour!) and the pink-haired abhuman pilot/scoundrel type today, while my son, T, who is five, added this terminator in camouflage to his list of painted figures:

He then used the pot of sand as a mini-sandpit for his Lego figures. And why not?

Finally, there's yet more stuff for sale on my eBay. Go here to have a look and see if there's anything you might like: fully painted Haradrim? Malus Darkblade? Codex: Dark Angels for a tenner?

* The (surprisingly named) Paradise-class world Paradiso is a matriarchical society; men are not allowed to serve in the Paradisan armed forces and are never drafted into the Paradisan Imperial Guard regiments.

Van Fysher's World

OK. I've been muttering a bit about the re-organisation and serious scaling down of my 40K projects from "ALL OF THE THINGS" to "a coherent story about the war of liberation for a single world during the Amalthean Crusade".

So, to that end, today I rummaged through my figure drawers and my army case and came up with the following (among other things):

Patrol Group Sierra-Five, Aderaband Province, Towyrran contintental landmass:

L-R: Aderaband Home Defence Militia section with their locally-built RH1N0 APC with searchlight and heavy stubber; High Mallain Yeomanry half-platoon (even further understrength!) with Chimera AIFVs; Suzerain's Lifeguard Regiment Sentinel with assault cannon.

I envisage the world as having two major continental land-masses (Adwyrran and Towyrran), with three oceans - the Northern Ocean, Southern Gulf (between the two continents) and the Vast Sea, which spans almost half the globe from Western Adwyrran to Eastern Towyrran. On this world, the Imperium of Man and the Tau Empire are engaged in a life and death struggle for control...

...while Chaos cults stir within the indentured mutant workforce's townships and camps...
...while the Tyranids scutter and devour on the far west of Adwyrran...
...while the perfidious Eldar (of all kinds) strike hither and thither, following seemingly no pattern...
...and the brutish Greenskins, drawn to war like moths to a flame (if moths were heat-proof and carried blowtorches), raid from their crash-landing in the northern mountains of Towyrran!

For me, the PDF, Arbites and Imperial Guard garrison troops (Skye's World I Light Infantry) are fighting a counter-insurgency campaign against Tau sympathisers, Ork raiders, Eldar pirates and Chaos cults in the hinterlands and rear areas, while the main force of Imperial power - the Space Marines, Guard and Sisters of Battle - bring the fight to the Tau on both Towyrran and Adwyrran.

I'm looking forwards to tying all my Imperial figures together and being able to tell stories within the overarching context of the Amalthean Crusade that I've spent years thinking about!

Purge The Xenos! The Battle for Kolvic Gulch

Tonight my friend JY and I had our first game of Warhammer 40,000 in a long time. A 2,000 point game, pitting my Imperial Guard against his Tau, who have beaten my Space Marines (and other Guard armies) more times than I care to mention. Some of those defeats - and all too rare victories - have been recorded on this blog, actually.

Anyway, after first trying to balance the 6x4 battleboard on top of my living room table (it didn't work), and retrieving the rulebook from JY's house, we finally set up. The battle took place on Hamish's World, an arid promethium-producing planet once part of the Imperium and now occupied by the Tau. Luckily for the good Hamishites, the Imperium has returned in force. After a series of bloody noses and a near-disaster at the first main landing zone, the liberation forces are moving out to surround the capital and isolate it from any reinforcements. The town of Kovic Gulch, with its access to potable water, and controlling, as it does, the main highway of Route 21 at junction 33, was to be attacked by forward elements of the Imperial Guard, and all hostile forces destroyed without mercy.

Expeditionary Force Leam:

HQ1 (Warlord):
Company Command Squad: Captain with boltgun and power sword, four veterans (medic, two snipers)
Chimera - 2x heavy bolters.

HQ2:
Charlie Troop, Red Cpy, White Btn, Valachian MXI Armoured.
Captain Count Geranium in Vanquisher with lascannon and storm bolter, two Leman Russ with hull lascannons and sponson heavy bolters (one with hunter-killer missile, one with storm bolter). All with camo netting.

Troops 1:
Red Platoon HQ: Lt Hahn, lascannon team, plasma gunner
Chimera with multilaser, heavy bolter, storm bolter.

Red Platoon 1 Squad: Sgt with shotgun, flamer, rocket launcher.
Chimera with multilaser, heavy bolter.

Red Platoon 2 Squad: Sgt with lasgun, melta, heavy bolter.
Chimera with multilaser, heavy bolter.

Red Platoon 3 Squad: Sgt with lasgun, plasma gun, autocannon.
Chimera with multilaser, heavy bolter.

Troops 2:
Borithan Veterans: Sgt with power sword, plasma gun, autocannon, all with carapace armour.
Chimera with multilaser, heavy bolter, heavy stubber.

Heavy Support 1:
Demolisher with Demolisher cannon, storm bolter, sponson plasma cannons, lascannon, camo netting

Heavy Support 2:
Demolisher with Demolisher cannon, storm bolter, sponson plasma cannons, lascannon, camo netting

Xeno Forces:

HQ1 (Warlord):
Commander Shadowsun with command drone and two shield drones

HQ2:
Fireblade

Elites 1:
XV-8 Team:
Shas'vre with twin-linked missile pod and [something] system jammer
Shas'ui with twin-linked fusion blaster
Shas'ui with twin-linked plasma rifle and drone controller
Six gun drones
Bonding knife.

Elites 2:
XV-25 StealthTeam:
Shas'vre, five troopers with fusion blaster and markerlight; two gun drones.

Troops 1:
Red Team: 12 firewarriors with bonding knife, shas'ui; two gun drones.

Troops 2:
Blue Team: 12 firewarriors with bonding knife, shas'ui, two gun drones.

Fast Attack 1:
Piranha Squadron: Two Piranhas with fusion blasters and disruption pods.

Fast Attack 2:
Pathfinder Team One:
6 Pathfinders with markerlight pulse carbines, pulse accelerator, shas'ui, two shield drones

Fast Attack 3:
Pathfinder Team Two:
4 Pathfinders with two ion rifles, rail rifle and recon drone.

Heavy Support 1:
Hammerhead gunship with rail cannon, submunitions, disruption pod and commanded by Longstrike.

Heavy Support 2:
XV-88 Broadside Team One:
3 Broadsides with twin-linked railguns, three missile drones

Heavy Support 3:
XV-88 Broadside Team Two:
3 Broadsides with twin-linked railguns, two missile drones

Mission: Purge the Alien! Objectives: None. Kill the enemy. 1 VP for each unit destroyed or routed at the end of the game, 1 extra VP each for First Blood, Slay the Warlord, and Linebreaker.

Tau Deployment, seen from their side of the board. Vanguard, L-R: Piranhas, Pathfinder Two, Blue Team, XV-8 Team, Stealth Team with Shadowsun, Red Team with fireblade, Pathfinder One. Middle: Hammerhead (yes, the Eldar Falcon, shhhh) with Longstrike. Rear, L-R: Broadside Two, Broadside One.

Guard Deployment: To the rear on my left, Charlie Troop. To their immediate right, in the ruins, Borithan Veterans. The rest, L-R: Platoon Command, Veteran Chimera, Platoon Command Chimera, Demolisher 1, Demolisher 2, Squad 1 behind their Chimera, Squad 3 behind their Chimera, Squad 2 behind their Chimera, Company Command behind their Chimera.

Board Overview: Note that the wooded areas are actually hills, the road runs down a gulch (Kolvic Gulch as it happens). The ruin in front of the Demolishers was the local Imperial temple, once.

I lost the attempt to seize the initiative (again) and so ended up going second (again):

Tau Turn 1: Electing not to move anything but the Piranhas, which zoom up in front of the Chimeras on my right flank, the shooting starts. Pathfinder 1 lights up the platoon command squad with their markerlights, and Red Team under the direction of the Fireblade and Shadowsun proceed to blow them away. 24 dice rolled, 23 hits, one re-roll of a one ... comes up a one. No cover save, killing on 2s, bye bye Leutnant Hahn! Longstrike then tries to knock out a Leman Russ and instead just glances. Ah well, it was worth a go. Then... the Piranhas do nothing. This, as it turns out, was a mistake. The XV-8 team try to jet pack out of the line of fire, but roll a double 1.

"You... you didn't fill the fuel tanks, did you?"
"No, sorry mate."
"We really needed them filled for this battle, you know."

Guard Turn 1: My tank line rumbles forwards, apart from Squad 3's Chimera, which hits a tree and gets immobilised. The infantry jog forwards, as there's nothing for them to shoot at. Demolisher 1 drops a shell into the XV-8 squad, killing all bar one drone. Demolisher 2 then tries the same thing, misses, and blows up Longstrike and his Hammerhead instead. Hm. Huzzah! Captain Count Geranium manages to fail his test to see if he can split fire, and Charlie Three puts a battlecannon shell into the middle of the XV-8 team, and kills them all. This is both a good thing, and a bit irritating, as now Charlie One and Charlie Two have nothing to shoot! The Chimeras open fire on the Piranhas, knocking a hull point off one. That damnable 4+ cover save they have is a serious pain.

Tau Turn 2: The Piranhas zoom into the ruins, and take aim at Demolisher 1. The Stealth Team and Shadowsun move forwards to take a potshot too, and Pathfinder One lights it up with their markerlights. Several rounds of shooting later, the Demolisher is still there! Albeit immobilised and down to one hull point, but it's still there. This is, as they say, a turn up for the books!

Guard Turn 2: Due to an issue with the pict-capture device, Turn 2 wasn't recorded. However, the slaughter was great! Praise be the God-Emperor! The Chimeras on my left flank withdrew slightly, to minimise exposure to the fusion blasters of the Stealth Team and Shadowblade, while my infantry moved back as well (I didn't want to give up VPs too easily). Then the Demolishers and Chimeras hammered the troops in the building, killing most of Firewarrior Red Team, the Fireblade, all bar three Pathfinders from Pathfinder One, and even a few of the Stealth Team, despite their 2+ cover save. Fire from Charlie Troop also knocked out the drones from Broadside One.

Tau Turn 3: Red Team moved down from the roof of the second storey and up to the edge of the first. Pathfinder One stayed where they were, and the Stealth Team moved out to take a shot at whichever Demolisher needed it. The Pathfinders, shaken by the sudden death of over half of their team, didn't hit anything with their markerlights. As it happened, they didn't need to. Fusion guns roared and rail guns hammered, firstly blowing up Demolisher 1, then turning Demolisher 2 into a burning wreck with repeated glancing hits. Damn. "There goes my centre." Afterwards, the Stealth Team jet-packed back into cover.

Guard Turn 3: Things were getting serious now. The Tau were winning. Something had to be done, and fast. Captain Steiner moved, then ordered his squad to Move, Move, Move! to get within order-range of Squad 1 and their rocket launcher. Then he ordered them to Fire On My Target, denying the damnable Piranhas their ridiculous cover save... only for the krak rocket to miss. Curses! I had more luck with Charlie Troop, who managed to split fire. Captain Count Geranium squarely hit a Broadside from Broadside One, destroying it, while Charlie Two and Charlie Three shelled Red Team, killing all bar two of the hapless space-cows. Then the Chimeras opened up on the Piranhas, as did whatever infantry support weapons could be brought to bear. Eventually they failed their saves and the two skimmers sank to the ground, burning.

Tau Turn 4: Again with the pict-capture problems. Clearly electronic jamming was having an effect on the Imperial Navy eyes-in-the-sky... the Tau took the offensive, or tried to, moving the Stealth Team towards the hill on my left, pausing only to blow up the Veteran Squad's Chimera before leaping into cover in the woods. Railgun rounds from the Broadside teams either missed or bounced harmlessly off the thick frontal armour of Charlie Troop... except one, which knocked another hull point and the right sponson from Charlie Three.

Guard Turn 4: The Chimeras moved to form a firebase around the hill on my right flank, and then proceeded to kill the remnants of Red Team and Pathfinder One. The infantry, under the inspiring guidance of Captain Steiner (he got to issue three orders this turn thanks to the Veterans rolling snake-eyes when they received their order to Fire On My Target), and Charlie Troop, plus the Platoon Command Chimera, fired everything they had at the Stealth Team, killing two more of the 2+ cover save, 3+ armour save lunatics.

Tau Turn 5: The survivors of the Stealth Team, plus Shadowsun and her last drone, moved through the woods towards Charlie Troop. Uh oh. I smell an assassination attempt! The railguns of Broadside Two knocked out the hull heavy bolter on the company command Chimera, and then... the Stealth Team fired. And did nothing. Not a single thing. At point blank range with three fusion blasters, Charlie Troop escaped unharmed! I breathed a sigh of relief and tried to work out if I could kill Shadowsun in the next turn.

I moved the Chimeras from my right flank down the hill and into position to pour fire into Blue Team, while Charlie Troop repositioned to get the best possible field of fire onto the Stealth Team. My shooting phase consisted of firing almost everything I had at the Stealth Team and Shadowsun, with Fire On My Target being issued to the Veterans and Squad One (whose krak rocket missed... again!), and Charlie Troop even letting rip with their hunter-killer rocket. Result? Stealth Team and drone wiped out, Shadowsun down a wound - but not dead. Oh, and two drones destroyed from Blue Team. And with that, the game ended.

The final score was 7-6 in my favour, as follows:

Piranhas - Destroyed, 1 VP
XV-8 team - Destroyed, 1 VP
Stealth Team - Destroyed, 1 VP
Red Team - Destroyed, 1 VP
Fireblade - Killed, 1 VP
Pathfinder One - Destroyed, 1 VP
Hammerhead - Destroyed, 1 VP
Total: 7 VP

Platoon Command Squad - Destroyed, First Blood, 2 VP
Demolisher 1 - Destroyed, 1 VP
Demolisher 2 - Destroyed, 1 VP
Veteran Chimera - Destroyed, 1 VP
Shadowsun - Linebreaker, 1 VP
Total: 6 VP

A close run thing, but victory nonetheless!

"On, You Dogs! Glory To The First Man To Die!"

Yes, it's the Imperial Commissar at his rousing best. You just can't argue with a man who'll shoot you as soon as look at you, and whose uniform contains more skulls than a TV comedian in a WWII skit...

And this one is Commissar Ion Ionescu, for my Darendarans. I must say, now I've touched up the chips he's sustained over the years and rebased him onto the snowfields, he doesn't half look menacing!

Painting Points:
This Week: 1
2014: 12

First Battle of the Crossroads (Amalthean Crusade - 3a)

Captain Count Geranium of Bigbush and Littletree jumped from the side of his Vanquisher, the Flammeus Princeps, and, swearing loudly, threw his cap to the dusty ground.

“Lads,” he yelled to the crew of Charlie Three, still struggling with the thrown track that had prevented them from joining Task Force Lightning, “the bastard Xenos are on the move!”

His tankers and comrades looked up in surprise, their eyes shockingly white against their dust and grease stained faces.

Corporal Tansy pushed his forage cap back and looked hard at his Captain. “What did you say, sir?”

“The Xenos are coming! We need to get moving into our defensive positions, you fool!”

Tansy started, and looked again. Behind Flammeus Princeps, driving in column, were a mix of Astartes and Guard armoured vehicles. There were less than had driven out from Landing Zone Primaris that morning. The Chimeras were straining under the added weight of white-armoured Astartes, and as he stared, “Emperor's teeth,” he thought, “some of those Astartes are injured!”

Tansy and his crew ran over to Count Littletree. He closed his eyes, and ran his hands through his hair. He straightened, suddenly, to his full height, and then slumped, a long breath sighing through his teeth.

“The bastard blueys have allied with some thrice-forsaken Orkoid scum. Our intel just didn't mention them at all. We rolled in as planned, and the first damn things we come across are Orks. Orks! The gropos blasted them apart, though, but the shock of it put me off, lads, it fair put me off. We had a bad time of it. The Astartes got the worst. They went head to head with the greenskins and the greenskins just rolled right over them. I saw them going down, boys, one by bloody one.

“Sure, they put up a fight, a damn good fight, but Throne! it just wasn't enough. Then they were through, and Ash and his chaps went up. Some big bastard with a... claw, it looked like a giant metal claw, he just tore his tank apart like paper, and he detonated something. The explosion took a few of the greenskins out, mind, Ash would've appreciated that, but the big bugger was just stood there with this grin on his face. And a chunk of armour plate through his chest bigger than I am, and he was just stood there grinning like it was the best thing ever.

“It wasn't long after that that the Astartes told us to fall back. We didn't even get past the crossroads. The Karaboudjani lads did their best, 'sblood, they fought like tigers, and died like heroes, but we just couldn't get through. The xenos spotted us withdrawing and pulled back a bit into the town – they were taking potshots, but the Astartes managed to get their casualties out. They seemed really angry that they'd lost one of their tanks though. I mean, lads, they were spitting mad about it. Their blood's up, I think, but... damn me, boys, damn me, they've got tactical sense. There's not many Guard officers'd've told us to fall back.”

“What now, boss,” asked Peony, Tansy's driver, “I mean the LZ's still fulla landers, it's not secure yet.”

“Well, P, and this goes for all of us, the orders I got this morning said that we need to fall back to Phase Line Alpha and dig in. So that's what we're going to do. It's where the Karaboudjani boys are going now,” he smiled, pointing down the road at the dust cloud, “and I think we need to follow. How's the track repair?”

“Nearly done, sir,” Tansy growled, “let's make those blue bastards pay for Charlie Three.”

Task Force Lightning: Karaboudjani X Kataphraktoi and Valachian MXI units
Force Priam: Elements of Strike Force Priam, 2nd Battle Company, Righteous Fists

(Prior to the first battle of the crossroads...!)

Only In Death Does Duty End (Amalthean Crusade - 3)

My friend JY came over tonight and we fought the attempted rescue of the Inquisitor who had been captured by Tau forces last time. Well, actually, we fought it out twice, as the first time we were stumbling around with Kill Team and didn't really know what we were doing.

The rules for Kill Team were taken from the 4th Edition 40K rulebook, and were bolted onto 6th Edition rules. An Imperial Guard Stormtrooper team had been tasked with assaulting the local police post where the Tau were holding the Inquisitor prior to flying her out for interrogation by the Water Caste and Ethereals. The team's primary objective was to get the Inquisitor out, or, if that was impossible, to kill her to prevent the information she held falling into Tau hands...

Setup: the Tau move into the police post just off the main road from the battle area. Visible are the three local policemen who are collaborating with Tau occupying forces, and the damage wrought by Imperial Navy bombing.

 The ill-fated Stormtrooper Team Spear-Six-Theta, imaged by a remote camera en route to the target area.

 Deployment: All images captured by a loitering Imperial Navy overflight. Tau forces set up a perimeter within the police post, with two alarm tripwires across the main entrance. The locals are ordered to remain outside until the Inquisitor has been removed by Orca transport (prior to the actual invasion of Hamish's World, Imperial air assets had not seized complete command of the skies).

 Deployment: Team Spear 6T move into nearby ruins and prepare to strike...

 Imperial Turn 1: Shooting kills two of the closest guard team, and thanks to adapted weapons, no alarms are raised (the surviving guard had clearly panicked and failed to trigger any)!

 Tau Turn 1: The surviving guard moves into the building and prepares to defend his position.

 Imperial Turn 2: Disaster strikes! After moving up to the wall, the team opens fire with their pistols... and the sergeant's plasma pistol explodes, killing him. Then, in the assault, the Tau guard overpowers and kills one of the team before he is smashed to the floor in turn. The team move back outside to consider their options...

 Tau Turn 2, Imperial Turn 3: The guards, by now extremely suspicious, move to investigate. The Imperials move back into the building and gun down the guard commander and one of his soldiers... but he gets back up in a show of toughness. To make matters worse, the plasma gunner's weapon explodes, and kills him. Team Spear 6T are now down to just four men.

 Tau Turn 3: The guard commander's dying moments see him fail to lock his markerlight on the squad in the room, and shooting accounts for just one member of the Stormtrooper team.

 Imperial Turn 4: Team Spear 6T grab the Inquisitor, and move back outside the building. With a bit of luck and a clean pair of heels, the survivors will succeed in their mission...

Tau Turn 4: ...except one of the Tau guards has an Ion rifle, and the resulting high-energy blast (captured here on thermal imaging) kills not only the remaining Stormtroopers, but the Inquisitor as well. A victory, of sorts, to the Tau, although the loss of their prisoner and the guard commander is a bit embarrassing. Not as shameful as the loss of seven highly-trained, well-equipped and experienced special forces troopers, though.

But, then again, only in death does duty end, and they did (sort of) prevent the Tau from learning what the Inquisitor knew. (Posthumous) medals all round! And a stern word with the Adeptus Mechanicus responsible for maintaining those plasma guns, I think.

Going Old School

This morning, I removed the old metal Razorback parts I've had since I was 11 (I got them in a swap with a schoolfriend) from their Fairy Power Spray bath, and gave them a good toothbrushing.

Then I rummaged around for my camouflaged, ex-Imperial Guard, ex-Lost and the Damned RH1N0, and started snapping bits off and cutting and scraping and gluing.

And before long, I had a Mk I Razorback infantry fighting vehicle to ferry my Righteous Fist Captain and his Command Squad around:

I have added an Imperial Guard (2nd Edition) searchlight and bulldozer blade, as well as a tow hook, communications pack, and various other parts from Guard tanks. The scrollwork on the front armourplate is from the more modern RH1N0 kit. You can probably spot that I have also paint stripped the standard bearer. He had three or four layers of paint on him and I could barely make out his eyes...!

This really is burrowing into the Unpainted Mountain, I've had some of these figures (unpainted) for years and years, and the Razorback parts have languished unloved for so long that I've lost the gunshield that once sat over the lascannon.

Tactical Dreadnought Armoured Space Marine, with personal heraldry, power fist, and storm bolter. Finished him today.

Painting Points: 1
2013 Total: 159 (108x 28mm, 2x 54mm, 3x tanks, 2x spaceships, 2x 28mm 'cavalry')

A Roundup!

I have been quite busy of late, with work and life in general, but I have also found the time to do quite a bit of painting of Space Marines, and a little bit of procuring for the upcoming Star Wars RPG.

First of all, I finished off a Demi-Squad of Marines from Tactical IV 'Rhesus':

Two battle-brothers and their squad leader. Together with the two I did last week, they make up Demi-Squad Celeas of Squad IV Rhesus:

Then over today and yesterday I painted up another three Marines:

Battle-brother with combat blade attachment on his Godwyn-Diaz pattern boltgun.

Battle-brother with blue skull honorific and unusually unpainted vent housings on his powerpack.

Battle-brother with plasma gun and 'FEROX' honour plate on his left pauldron. Also note additional targeting equipment on his Mk VII helm.

In addition to all that (which now leaves me with just two Tactical Marines, the Terminator Squad, two bikers, and the command squad to do), I picked up a 100 of the now out-of-production Wizards of the Coast Star Wars miniatures for the upcoming RPG campaign set during the Clone Wars that I am running.

Here they are!

The Player Characters as they stand. L-R: Unnamed Padawan (OY), Jedi Knight Rann I-Kanu (JS), Bounty Hunter Bob unarmoured and armoured (JY)

The Crime Lord and his bodyguards.

 Seperatist troopers.

 Battle Droids!

Super Battle Droids!

Seperatist bodyguards - human and robotic.

Sith Adepts and Dark Side users.

Intelligence Operatives.

Jedi Padawan, Knights and Masters.

Republic Security Forces.

Humans.

Aliens (1)

 Aliens (2)

 Aliens (3)

 Aliens (4)

And the centerpiece: a Hailfire MRLS droid!

Painting Points: 6
2013 Total: 152 (105x 28mm, 2x 54mm, 3x tanks, 2x spaceships)