Land Raider Crusader WIP: Free Hand Angels Wings

I Feeling a bit improved from my sickness, I set to work painting. Inspired and empowered by Ron's work on From the Warp, I planned to apply some freehand to the top of my Land Raider Crusader.

The only thing better than delivering a large and deadly unit of Assault Terminators into the heart of an opposing force is delivering a large and deadly unit of Assault Terminators into the heart of the opposing force in style.

I used the self-made transfer technique which Ron shared with us. It worked perfectly.
-I picked out some Blood Angel Iconography from the Codex.
-I drew it on a piece of paper which I had measured and cut to the exact size of the space I wanted it to appear on the tank. I also drew a mirrored image.
-I turned the paper over and shaded the back with the edge of the pencil.

-I turned the paper back over, held it in place on the tank, and traced over with a ball point pen the image which I had drawn previously.
-The pencil shading from the back of the paper transferred the image I drew onto the surface of the tank.
-All that was left was to paint it.

It worked like a charm. I decided mid project to eliminate the blood chalices from the images. So, I have to decide how to finish the images off. Nevertheless, they are off to ta great start.

A New Look Here at Pitched Battle

I have been sick the last few days, and I have not felt like doing much of anything. However, I did decide the change the look of the blog a bit. Let me know what you think. Everything is pretty much in the same place.

I am still trying to decide whether I like the particular color scheme and such. I do like having the picture in the background.

Mephiston WIP: Everything but the Backpack

 I give you a few photos of what I have been working on over the last couple of days. I also put together a Land Raider Crusader. Nevertheless, you must wait for the photos on that one.

I cannot wait to get Mephiston on the table. He is a monster. His stat line is ridiculous. The only thing that is missing is an Invulnerable Save. However, he is tough enough to avoid instant death, and his initiative is so high that he needn't worry about much in close combat.

As I was reading back over his entry in the codex, I learned something new. He has fleet. He has a potential threat range of 19 to 24 inches.

He may not be the end all, be all. Yet, he is not far from it. At the very least, he is a great addition to my Angels Sanguine army.

Angels Sanguine Predator Tanks WIP: Battle Damage

I am drawing ever closer to completion of my 3 Predators. As you can see in the pics, I have been applying some scrapes and scratches . . . some "Authentic Battle Damage!"

Let me start off by saying that I applied techniques learned from Ron and his excellent posts over at From the Warp. I draw much insight from Ron's work, but these two following articles in particular formed the method which I applied to these Predators:
http://fromthewarp.blogspot.it/2011/10/using-standard-pencil-for-weathering.html

http://fromthewarp.blogspot.it/2011/04/different-tools-for-sponge-weathering.html

I took the regular household sponge. I cut it into a manageable size, small enough to use on the Predator frame and large enough to be held comfortably.

The Sponge

I loaded on some black paint. Dabbed the paint off on a paper towel and used a stippling approach to applying the paint on the Predator. I focused on edges and corners. Imagine places where the heavy armored frame of a Tank would most probably come into contact with something which would damage the finish.

Gently Apply By Stippling

After that, I took paint brush and applied a metallic silver paint inside the black. I did this carefully using the side of the paint brush on the corners and stippling on flat surfaces.

This creates the background which allows the metal to shine through. Furthermore it creates the effect of a coat of primer paint being revealed under the finish paint at the lighter points of a scrape or scratch.

If you have any questions or other advice on improving my technique, please leave a comment.

Carefully Apply Your Choice of Metallic Silver.

On behalf of the many hobbyists like myself who have learned so much from Ron at From the Warp, let me say THANK YOU!!

What's on the Workdesk

Here is shot of the workdesk from yesterday. As you can see, I am giving most of my attention to finishing up these predators.

You may recall that I previously owned 3 Baal Predators. I lost the tanks when all my tanks were stolen. However, the turrets from these three Baal Predators were packed away with my Marines not with the tanks. As a result, I still have those Baal Predator Assault Cannon Turrets.

So, I will have the option of running these as Autocannon Predators or Assault Cannon Baal Predators. I magnetized the sponsons to hold either Heavy Bolters or Lascannons.

Furioso Dreadnought WIP: Magnetized Furioso Variant Complete

 Greetings All! I promised finished photos of the Furioso Dreadnought, and I have delivered.

I have not finished painting the Librarian Faceplate, Death Company Faceplate, Force Weapon Arm, or Frag Cannon Arm. Nevertheless, the standard Furioso variant which you see in the pics is finished.

At this point, I realize that the Death Company variant may be hard to pull off as he will have one red arm and one red leg. I'll post the pics up when I finish it, and you can let me know what you think.

Your comments are welcome, and thanks for reading.

On the Work Desk

I just received a shipment from GW in the mail today. As many of you may remember, I also received a shipment last week. I did finish the Furioso Dreadnought. However, I have a lot of work left ahead of me. I suppose this is all good news. The following is the line up:

-3 Predator Tanks to paint: I magnetized the sponsons for either Heavy Bolters or Lascannons. Also, I have two turrets for each tank: One Twin-Linked Assault Cannon Baal Type and One Autocannon Predator Type.
-1 Plastic package of 5 Assault Terminators
-1 Land Raider Crusader
-3 Land Raiders, godhammer
-Mephiston
-I am still in the middle of converting some Marines over to Missile Launcher Devastators.
-I am still in the middle of painting the Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield Vanguard Veteran Squad.
-I have a Chaplain with magnetized Backpack and Jump packs primed and waiting for paint.
-I am in the middle of painting a Leman Russ Battle Tank.
-Also, I have an attack bike that is in various stages of painting.
-I always need to make more terrain.

There is plenty for me to do!

Furioso Dreadnought WIP II: Painting Progress

 I have a few progress shots from the magnetized Furioso Dreadnought. I started painting only one of the three face-plates/torsos, as I had a game scheduled for today. The opponent was going to play Chaos Daemons, and I figured I could use the Furioso's help to tie up a Close Combat unit which did not have the strength to penetrate his armor. As things stand, the game was cancelled at the last minute due to some understandable and unforeseen real life events. So, the painting continues.

Furioso Dreadnought WIP: Magnetized

 My Furioso arrived in the mail today. As I started to assemble him, I could not decide between the three variants. So, I decided to pull out the magnets. You can see in the pictures where I placed the magnets. I put one in the body, and one in each of the face plates. The arms are interchangeable as most of the dreadnought models are.

The magna-graple can also be glued together and set in on top quite securely.

Hopefully this opens the eyes of anyone else who wants to keep their options open. This particular model was very easy to magnetize. The only problem I could not resolve was how to magnetize the talons and the fists.

If you have any questions about the magnets or the tools, just ask.

Thanks for reading.

Tactics: Deployment

In the wake of my latest battle report (found at this link), I wanted to do a bit more analysis of tactics. In my opinion, one of the most important aspects Warhammer 40k is deployment. Sadly, however, this tactical aspect of the game receives little to no attention in the forums and blogs. Perhaps it is more accurate if I say that deployment does not receive the attention that it is due.

I think we can all remember games where we were unable to overcome the advantage we have given our opponent through poor choices in deployment. Reach back into your memory and feel once again victory slipping away from the start of turn one as you continuously visualize the mistakes of deployment thinking, "I should've done this or that."

So in an effort to be helpful, I would like to explain the strategic thought behind my attempt to gain a tactical advantage through deployment.

I play an assault focused Angels Sanguine force. In my most recent match I was playing against the Imperial Guard.

When you are playing an assault force against a shooty army (or shooty list), you need to deploy with the purpose of coming to grips with your enemy as quickly as possible. You must avoid giving your opponent any extra rounds of shooting.

Generally speaking, shooty lists and their generals want to alpha strike. They want to go first and blast you into the stratosphere before you can get started, and a mistake in deployment can give them the extra round or two that they need to neuter your force.

In this situation, I go first if I get the opportunity. Going first creates a little problem. If we choose to go first, we must deploy before our opponent. I call this deploying blind.

Deploy in the wrong place, and you give your opponent an advantage. If you concentrate your force on one flank or the other, then your enemy will deploy on the opposite flank denying you ability to engage. If you are on the right flank, he will deploy on your left flank. He will fight what we call a 'refused flank,' creating precious time for shooting you down in the extra turns it takes for you to get into close combat.

If you spread your force out across the entire deployment zone, then your opponent can still use the refused flank in order to fight only a portion of your army. In this scenario, you have given your opponent the chance to gain numerical  (or firepower) advantage in one portion of the battlefield.

My solution to this problem is the following: I deploy my force in the center of the deployment zone as far forward as possible (while still trying to take advantage of terrain within reason). Deploying in this fashion eliminates the advantages that your opponent might gain from trying to fight a refused flank. If he deploys on one flank or the other, then you still close on him quickly with your units arriving simultaneously. If he spreads his forces out in the deployment zone, then you have the opportunity to divide and conquer.

In this situation, many shooty opponents will divide their force placing half in one corner and half in the other. The reason they do this is to create as much distance between your force and theirs. I still feel that this circumstance gives you, the assault army deployed centrally, the advantage. You can decide whether to divide your force and engage or to send your entire army after one half of your opponents force. This decision will be dictated by scenario and is a discussion for a different article.

One final note: the Spearhead deployment type will alter deployment slightly. However, I fee that the most significant restrictions posed by spearhead deployment fall on the shooty list. The assault army may still deploy centrally in order to get as close to the enemy as possible. Spearhead gives your opponent some extra depth in his deployment zone; however, your opponent may not deploy wide on his flanks to create more space.

Hopefully this small tactical discussion of deployment will be useful to some. Furthermore, I hope that it sparks a larger discussion of deployment throughout the blogosphere.

Please leave a comment and join the discussion, whether you would like to support my position, advocate the contrary, or pose an alternative which I have missed. Let us have a collegial and reasonable discussion for the mutual benefit of all.