Happy Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I realize this holiday observance is American. If you are not American, just bear with me for a second here.

A small group of people left their homes and country to settle in a foreign land. They were not prepared for the ruggedness of this 'new' land. They would not have survived had not the native people come to their aid. In the first Thanksgiving, they give thanks to God for this mark of divine providence and share a meal with those native people to say, "thank you."

It remains true today that sharing a meal is the highest form of hospitality and the best way build friendship. So, it is good that we continue this practice. We all have much for which to be thankful.

I am excited for the opportunity to share a bountiful meal with others and return thanks to God for the marks of divine providence in my life.

Dark Vengeance Marines WIP: Angels Sanguine Bikes II

 I have completed the Bike squadron for my Angels Sanguine. As you can see the three bikers are from the Dark Vengeance set. I have removed all the Ravenwing Iconography.  Some iconography was on either side of the front tire and on the left shoulder of each marine. The two with helmets had the ravenwing badge on their foreheads. There was also a wing sticking up in the back.

I think they turned out well, as the minis are dynamic in their poses. As usual, I free-handed the Army Badge on the left shoulder and the second company badge on the right shoulder.

I would recommend painting your base up pretty close to completion before gluing the bikes down.

As I look at the photos, I see couple areas I missed on the touch-up. I will hit those before applying the sealer.

I have another set of Dark Vengeance Marines. So, I am planning on adding three more at some point.

Next up: Angry Marine Terminators.

Dark Vengeance Marines WIP: Angels Sanguine Bikes

I am making a little progress on the Dark Vengeance Bikes. I have removed all Dark Angels Iconography, and they are joining the Angels Sanguine.

I will add them to my lone Attack Bike to make my first Angels Sanguine Bike Squad!

For the Emperor! Death to all who oppose us!

Dark Vengeance WIP: Angry Marines Tactical Squad

The Tactical Squad is nearing completion. I must pick out a few legs in the squad and try painting: "Your Face Here."

Beyond that, I need to finish up the Sergeant's base.

Overall, the Angry Marine project is proving to be fun. I will stick this tactical squad in an Angels Sanguine army this weekend and see what the reaction is at the local club.

On the Painting Table: Dark Vengeance Marines

I have Dark Vengeance Marines on my painting table.

I am drawing closer to finishing the Tactical Squad. They are the first installment in my new Angry Marines army. They will begin as only a small force to be used as allies with my Angels Sanguine. This will include the Tactical Squad, Terminators, and HQs from Dark Vengeance.

However, you can see that I have chosen a different route for the bikes from Dark Vengeance. They are becoming Angels Sanguine outright. I will add them together with my Attack Bike to make my first full bike squad for the army.

Change of Plans: Dark Vengeance Angry Marines

 I was not at all satisfied with my Consecrators. The color scheme was relied 100% on the same colors as my Angels Sanguine. Add to this, the fact that I have been dying to paint some yellow marines, and I reached the following conclusion:

My Dark Vengeance minis will become Angry Marines. I get to paint yellow base Marines, and they are full of fun and . . . ehemm . . . character??

Well, they are a bit silly, but silly is fun. When we see the coming Dark Angels codex, I will decide which Space Marine codex to use for them.

Dark Vengeance: Consecrators Tactical Marine WIP

A friend from the local gaming club and I split up a Dark Vengeance box. He plays Chaos, and I wanted those Marines.

I have begun work on the Marines from the box. Originally, I had the idea of removing the iconography and making them Angels Sanguine. After looking at the minis, I gave up on that idea. The three bikers are the exception here. The iconography was quite simple to remove from the bikes. So, they will be redeemed into my Angels Sanguine army.

As you can see from the photos, I didn't want to paint up some green Dark Angels. I have a bit of an affinity for successor chapters. So, I decided to try my hand at the Consecrators.

I realize that they have their own army badge, and I should technically have removed the Dark Angels markings. Well, I didn't. Nevertheless, I don't feel too bad about them having the markings as they are a successor chapter.

I decided to color their bases the same as my Angels Sanguine with the materials on the base being slightly different. This will tie them in when I use them as allies.

Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Blood Angels

Got a game of 40k in this morning against Hand0. We had a great game, and he came out on top. Enjoy the video.

I will add a bit of analysis later.

WIP: Chaplain with Power Fist II, Object Source Lighting

 After posting some pictures of my progress earlier today. Timothy commented that I had come out pretty weak on the power fist. He directed me over to a place where you know you are going to get great advice every time: From the Warp.

So, I read through Ron's tutorial on Object Source Lighting with specific reference to power fists. Another great resource provided by Ron. You can access the tutorial here.

So, I touched up the details that were left, finished the base, and set out on my first attempt at object source lighting effects.

I am trying to create the effect that the fingers of the power fist are glowing with power. The surrounding light from the fingers is falling on the armor plates around the power fist.

My assessment: Not too bad for my first time out. The effect is growing on me. Now that I have broken the ice with it, I am sure that I will start to use it more and more often.

Thanks again to Ron for another great tutorial, and thanks to Timothy for giving some constructive criticism and a solution.

As I look at this final picture, I am thinking that I should paint some free hand on the back of that power fist . . . hmmm.

As always, your comments are welcome.

WIP: Chaplain with Power Fist

 Here are a few updated photos of my Chaplain with Power Fist. It seems like it takes me forever to finish anything these days. I suppose I have been so very busy in the real world that I have precious little time for the miniature world. Nevertheless, this Chaplain is nearing completion.

I used the black and red party-colored pattern of the Angels Sanguine on his Crozius Arcanum. This, along with the base, will tie him in with the rest of the Army for a unified force look. I tried the black and red crozius on my Chaplain in Terminator Armor, and I really liked it. So, I decided to continue the pattern with this Chaplain.


Of course, he is magnetized to accept either a backpack or a jump pack. I need to finish up his base, and touch a detail or two. Nevertheless, I fully expect him to be ready to join the force very soon.

Let me know what you think. Your comments are welcome, and thank you for reading.

Should I Wait on my Luna Wolves?

The model to the left represents the first (test) model for a very slowly progressing Luna Wolves project that I started. I realize that the thunder hammer and storm Shield are anachronistic. Nevertheless, I was trying to get started into this pre-heresy project. So, I was testing the conversion and testing the painting.

In the mean time, Forge World releases their intent to publish heresy books with specifics for the Legions. I start to question whether I should wait for the release of these books and models. I understand that the books will focus on the Sons of Horus, but the only difference between Luna Wolves and the Sons of Horus is the change in name at a particular point in imperial history, right?

Then Karitas over at Excommunicate Traitoris attends Games Day UK 2012. In his blog coverage of the event, he posts this picture of of the Sons of Horus Terminators. I am questioning whether I should put the Luna Wolves on hold. Should I wait? or Should I press on? Should I convert my (unfinished) Luna Wolf terminator into another chapter or legion? Forge World's Legion terminators in the picture look great, and I am afraid that I will always regret having not used them. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Battle Report: Blood Angels vs Orks 1500

I decided to run a very different list than normal. I am still trying to feel out the proper balance between shooting and assault in 6th edition. So, I built a shooting BA's army.

A couple of things that stuck out in analysis right off the bat:
1. I wasted 150 points in my Army List. I paid 250 for Mephiston to stand in one place and cast Prescience each turn. I could have instead paid 100 points for a stock Librarian to stand in one place and cast Prescience each turn.

2. The Plasma Cannon Devastators felt very expensive to me. It was painful for me to field them in the beginning. Add to this the fact that they failed morale and ran off the table after doing nothing, and I have a real bad taste in my mouth.

I don't like to stand in one place and shoot at the enemy. I far prefer closing with them into melee. However, shooting does seem to be king in 6th edition. I do not think that it is to the exclusion of melee. Nevertheless, each army needs to find the proper balance between the two, specific to race and ability, in order to be strong.


I need to conduct more research!! More games of 40k are in order!!

I would like to conclude by saying that the most important part is that fun was had by all involved. It is always a pleasure to play a game against Dark Saint.

WIP: Luna Wolves Terminator and Chaplain with Power Fist

 I have been quiet for a while as things have been getting busier and busier at work. We are having some turnover, and I am carrying several extra responsibilities until the 'new' folks get on their feet. Nevertheless, I have made a bit of progress that I wanted to share.

First, I have applied some paint to my first Luna Wolf. This is the Pre-Heresy Terminator Test which I made. I decided to do the Luna Wolves Legion, and this guy is the first one. He is a paint scheme test. Of course, I am not yet finished. Nevertheless, any thoughts or ideas in the way of constructive criticism are welcome.

Second, I learned from a friend that Chaplains in the Blood Angels Codex may trade their bolt pistol for a power fist. I am not sure if the other codexes can do this, though I suspect they might. I had never noticed that in the codex. I thought it was a great idea, and I had a primed Chaplain sitting on my paint desk. So, I cut off his pistol arm below the shoulder pad and above the elbow. I took one of the arms from the AoBR Terminators, which I had swapped out for Lighting Claw arms. I cut the power fist arm to fit. As I was joining plastic to metal in a weak spot, I decided to pin it.

I thought the pose turned out to be pretty dynamic. On the gaming side, this gives him the choice of attacking at initiative with +2 to Strength and AP4 with the Crozius or attacking at initiative 1 with Strength x2 and AP2.

I like the idea of the option for him. Oh, did I mention that I really like the look of the model.

FAQ/Errata Released: Initial Thoughts

The biggest gripes that I have been hearing from Blood Angels players revolved around Dante's Axe and the Sanguinary Guard's Glaive Encarmine. Well, GW cleared those up. No questions anymore.

I honestly couldn't imagine these weapons being any way different than the way that GW has ruled them. I listened to all the arguments to the contrary (prior to this FAQ), and it all seemed like people trying to argue for what they wanted beyond all reason.

Guess what? Dante's Axe is indeed an Axe.

The SG Glaives are wysiwyg. If you see a sword, it is a sword. If you see an axe, it is an axe.

Both of these are novel concepts, right?

In my opinion, the shocker was Astorath's Axe. It seemed to fall into the special and unique power weapon category. The FAQ now lists a profile for the weapon. He gained ap2, but he also gained the unwieldy special rule.

If my memory serves, that means Tycho is the only HQ we have who penetrates 2+ armor while attacking at initiative.

Oh, that reminds me of something. I had recently read some arguments on forums, which I can only call nonsensical. They were trying to convince others that Tycho's Dead Mans Hand was a special power weapon and therefore ap3. It is quite obvious that such an argument defies the rules of logic and common sense, as the special rules for the weapon state that it "ignores all armor saves." Furthermore, it is not a power weapon at all.

Nevertheless, GW ruled on it in the FAQ for the rulebook. Dead Mans Hand does actually ignore all armor saves while striking at initiative just as the rules in the codex state.

Another novel concept, I know.

Well, I have congratulate and thank GW for putting out a FAQs and Errata in a timely fashion. Furthermore, it appears that they have listened to the community. All of the issues where we had questions received answers.

!!Still no Flakk Missiles!!

Death Company WIP: Bolters Incoming

I do have a certain love for the Death Company. As the 6th edition Rage rules are golden, I have felt free to indulge myself a bit.

These five Death Company Marines with Holy Bolters are my most recent project. I am working on their bases now. They are magnetized to take either the jump pack or the backpack. I look forward to adding their Relentless, Rapid Fire skills to my DC.

Do you have any experience with Boltgun toting Death Company?

Battlefoam P.A.C.K. 1520 XL Product Review

The video contains a review of my Battlefoam army transport and storage system.

I could not be more pleased with it, and I would recommend Battlefoam to anyone who is looking to transport or store an army safely.

Lemartes in 6th Edition II

I have been extremely excited to allow my love affair with the Death Company to continue unhindered by compulsory movement. You will recall that I have been experimenting with Lemartes.

In this past week's game at the club, I continued the table-top experiment with Lemartes. I was playing against an assault dedicated Black Templar army.

I learned a couple of things:

First, my opponent's army was so dedicated to assault, that he had very short-ranged shooting. This fact in conjunction with the DC jump packs meant that I couldn't get a wound on Lemartes before the DC charged into combat. If I had hung around waiting for the wound, then I would have given the charge to the crusader squads. I did manage to get a wound on Lemartes in the first round of combat. However, it was after Lemartes' initiative step. So, his Fury Unbound rule didn't take effect until the second round of combat. It is a little less impressive on the second round. This also meant that I was having to pass wounds off on a 4+ Look Out Sir, which is slightly more dangerous than the 2+ for Independent Characters.

Second, having an AP4 Crozius is a bit detrimental against MEQ. The inability to penetrate power armor means relying exclusively on failed armor saves. This would not have been as much of an issue if I had the 8 str 8 attacks on the charge. You will recall that I was unable to get the wound on Lemartes before the charge.

So, the jury is still out on Lemartes. Is he worth his points? Should I continue to use him? What do you think? At the least, some more play-testing is in order.

Lemartes in 6th Edition

 Lemartes has always been an interesting type of beat-stick character. Throughout the years, editions, and codices, his role and particular application on the tabletop have changed. He has always been one those iconic type of awesome individuals whom everyone loves regardless of whether he ever saw play in their list.

Lemartes made his 6th edition debut in my army the other day. He was amazing. The combination of a few rules really pushed him over the top in game terms.

First, the new Rage special rule makes the Death Company extremely useful. There is no major negative which eliminates them from play. As Lemartes is an upgrade character to the Death Company, you can't take him without them.

Once you put him on the table, you have the Fury Unbound special rule to consider. After Lemartes takes his first wound, his Strength and Attacks jump to 5. So, I placed Lemartes out in front. This takes advantage of the wound allocation. I let Lemartes make saves until he took a wound. After that, I used the Look Out, Sir rule to divert any others which he failed (remember that he is not an Independent Character, so this only works on a 4+). On the following movement phase, I placed him a bit more centrally in the unit.

At that point, I had the S5 A5 base for Lemartes. As usual, he has an extra close combat weapon for an extra attack. We are up to 6. Add to this the effects of Rage, gaining +2 attacks on the charge, and we have 8 attacks. Pretty impressive.

We have more rules to add on. The new rules for his Crozius: Master Crafted Power Maul. A Power Maul is +2 to Strength. We now have a Strength 7 Lemartes with 8 Attacks on the Charge.

We have one more rule to cover: Litanies of Blood. Chaplains give Death Company models re-rolls on hits and re-rolls on wounds for the charge. As Lemartes is a Chaplain and Death Company Model, he gives himself re-rolls for hitting and wounding. So, we now have a Lemartes with 8 attacks at strength 7 with re-rolls to hit and re-rolls to wound on the charge. Pretty Impressive Indeed.

We haven't even considered the rest of the Death Company charging with him. I need to upgrade my Lemartes model.

What have your experiences with Lemartes and Death Company been in 6th edition games?

*Edit: I forgot to mention Furious Charge, which adds a further +1 to Strength on the Charge.

Terrain WIP: Imperial Cathedral

Last week, I put the Imperial Cathedral on the table for the first time. Afterwards, I realized that I had not posted any WIP updates for this piece of terrain.

It is a very large piece. I think it has character. Some of the younger gamers in the group have taken to calling it "Hogwart's." It was quite popular at the club.

Nevertheless, she is not complete. I plan to paint wood grain on the front door. Also, there are some great flat spaces for freehand painting. So, I am going to get all my Imperial Iconography out and pick some good stuff to paint on these 'wide-open spaces.'

Here is the first post about the Imperial Cathedral, if you are interested.

Psykers in 6th Edition

 Now that I have a few games under my belt, I must confess that I am a bit disappointed in the new psychic devastation. Perhaps I had my expectations set too high.

I really expected the powers to play a major part in the outcome of the game. I began trying to use the Telepathy powers. However, the range on them is so short that I only get to use them once or twice in the games.
That is according to my experience thus far.

I switched to biomancy and divination. Divination turned out to be pretty effective. In my game two nights back, I was giving a squad a 4++ invuln save. I also had the power to give 'to-hit re-rolls' to a unit. These powers proved to be effective in support.

Nevertheless, I expected to blast stuff off the table with psychic powers. I really think one of the major issues is random selection. I really haven't gotten used to random in place of choosing.

Random entails an inability to plan on the basis of not knowing which powers the librarian will actually have. In the end, I simply need more time playtesting to figure out which psychic discipline is the best option for my army.

Please do not think that I am complaining about 6th edition. By no means am I complaining. I am loving sixth edition. It is very fun to play. I would call it a marked improvement over 5th edition, which was a fun game to play.

Do any of you have any suggestions concerning psykers? Which powers are you using? Are they effective?

Old Apocalypse Battles: Circa 2009

I decided to post up this still shot video of an Apocalypse game that I played in a few years back. Ahhh, the nostalgia . . .

I hope you enjoy.

Magnetized Dreadnought WIP: Furioso Librarian Complete

A while back, I started working on a magnetized furioso dreadnought. I wanted to be able to run the Librarian, Death Company, and Standard variants off the same model. However, I stopped painting after the standard faceplate.

With psychic devastation in the advent of 6th edition 40k, I figured it was about time to paint up the Librarian faceplate and arm.

I included some of the earlier pics for reference.

Here is a link to the previous posts about the magnetizing this Furioso Dreadnought. 

Just scroll down, you will find three posts in addition to this one.

Terrain WIP: Imperial Bastion Scratchbuild

 With all the cool rules for terrain in the 6th edition rulebook, I had the desire to build some terrain. I thought about the fortification FOC slot, and I decided to try my hand at building a Bastion.

If the piece turns out good, then I will get into the bits box and whip up a Quad Gun to defend my army from the flyers and winged monstrous creatures.

Here are some progress pics.

6th Edition: First Game Battle Report

This is a small game: 500 points. I am testing the new rules out and decided to use the Battle Force Recon mission which was designed for small battles. However, it seemed like a great size to begin my introduction to the new rules on the table.

I have videoed this battle and posted just in case there is someone out there looking for more exposure to the new rules.

So consider this my contribution to the community at large for educational purposes.

If I made any rules mistakes, please let me know about it.

I am very pleased with 6th Edition: My love affair with the Death Company can now continue unhindered by compulsory moves!

6th Edition: Death Company and Psykers

 As Rage has changed for the better, no more compulsory movement and 2 attacks added on the charge, the Death Company are back strong. However, there are a couple other changes which also affect the men in black.

Rapid Fire weapon ranges are not hindered by moving anymore. Nevertheless, the charging restriction still applies. This leads us to Relentless. The Relentless rule overcomes this restriction.

Death Company can be armed with Bolters and fire the weapons off to their hearts content at maximum range taking full advantage of the new shooting rules for Rapid Fire. After they finish all that shooting, they can charge. When you combine their base attacks with the buffed Rage attacks, they hit like a ton of bricks without having to sacrifice range on the shooting end in order to take two close combat weapons.

6th edition has given us options. Both ways of running the DC seem good right now. In the future, one of them will probably surface as optimal. However, the DC load-out must be considered in light of the rest of the army, and the role which they will be playing in the greater scheme of the army as whole.

Are you playing a defensive shooting type list? Blood Angels can do this type of list. In that type of list, DC can stand in your lines near a priority unit or objective you are holding. They can fire off those bolters and either charge the enemy before they reach the objective, or counter-charge.

Are you playing with a heavy assault element or looking for a deathstar unit. The DC are the original deathstar unit, before we were in the habit of calling them deathstars. They are the poster boys for such play style. Kit them out with 2 close combat weapons, a transport or jump packs, and watch your opponent cringe when the black power armor hits the table.

I am also pretty excited about the expansion of psychic powers. The Blood Angels codex has access to some pretty awesome librarians from different FOC slots. Combining Furioso Librarians with HQ types (or even Mephiston), we could field 5 psykers in our primary detachment alone. When you think about a second primary detachment and allies. I really need to spend some time thinking and experimenting on the table. I really feel like the psychic portion of the game could be a place where Blood Angels rise to the top of the pile.