312 > 174

Why is 312 greater than 174?

174 is the amount of miniatures I received in the last few months of 2014 for three different games.

140 miniatures are from a kickstarter campaign for Robotech RPG Tactics. 25 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Warhammer 40,000. 8 miniatures are from a Christmas present for Battletech. 1 model is from a surprise birthday present for Battletech.
140 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave One
25 miniatures for Warhammer 40,000 Deathstorm
4 miniatures for Battletech Assault Lance
4 miniatures for Battletech Pursuit Lance
1 miniatures for Battletech (King Crab) :)
174 miniatures in total.

Breaking down 174

I pledged for the Showdown in the Robotech RPG Tactics kickstarter which gave two times the Battle Cry pledge which basically was the core set and unlocked stretch goals. In other words I have a shit ton of miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics.
The Deathstorm boxed set was perfect for me as it includes both armies I own and use, plus the handy small updated rule book. This boxed set was such a bargain as it gave my Blood Angels a new captain, new terminators, new dreadnaught (magnetize for all flavors if can), and additional death company. The box will also bolter my Tyranid forces with a new broodlord, genestealers, a carnifex (magnetize those dual devourers), and warriors. :( Warriors, hmm ... they are the new sculpts with swords and lashes and they can make a prime. :) I am very interested in playing the scenarios from the campaign booklet for some easy quick games.
The Battletech lances gave me some new battlemechs to use and especially new battlemechs to throw at my players in my ATOW campaign. :) I love torturing them with challenges just as much as one of my players loves getting head hits. Best of all they don't need to be assembled, they are ready to play. The birthday present was a surprise and I can't wait to play a game with two of these death machines running around terrorizing and destroying everything they can. Only one player I know off hand would say game on. Needless to say this probably will make an appearance in the ATOW campaign.
There is more, eventually and hopefully anyway.
84 miniatures for Reaper Bones II 2013 Core Set
54 miniatures for Robotech RPG Tactics Wave Two
138 additional miniatures in total will eventually be added. I say eventually as the updates from

Reaper concerning the Bones II kickstarter point to a successful delivery soon. Actually today Reaper confirmed they have started Wave I fulfillment and I am in Wave II. I still have no idea what I will do with them to be honest. Hopefully is all I can say for Wave two of Robotech RPG Tactics and that’s all I have to say about that.
If you add all the received miniatures and the additional miniatures up you will get a hefty sum.
312 miniatures in total. This is why 312 is greater than 174.

I could be off by a few.
Actually I could say 313 miniatures as I assembled a Wolverine II model for battletech last Sunday I purchased in late 2014.

Goal for 2015

I have set a goal for 2015 of assembling and painting miniatures once a week. It doesn't have to be much, just assemble and paint something once a week. Any easy goal in all respects. When it comes to the assembly portion of the goal I can use assembled minatures in game as soon as they are assembled. I can assemble small things or large things, this game or that game, or start something this week and finish something next week.

Proof

The first week of January I started my once a week assembly goal and I think it went well. I got two battlemechs assembled. One battlemech was the Wolverine II I mentioned earlier which will go to a Marik unit I am building for the sake of building. The other battlemech was a Thug which was sent as a return fire birthday present to a friend. It has found a happy place in the ATOW campaign.
I started assembling the captain and terminators from the Deathstorm boxed set during the first week of the New Year and continued some more. I used my bag of bricks for basing materials on my previous Devastator squad I finished a while back. I intend to glue the miniatures to their bases before priming them to make it easier and so I can use them. I post about these units later.
During the first week of the year all the way to the end of January I assembled a lot of the Robotech RPG Tactics miniatures from one of the boxed sets. I tried the valkyries first and went WTF over the amount of pieces and which arms are for what. I have a lot of battle pods together. I got two destroids together as well. The amount of parts for some of the miniatures is huge and daunting, they will take time. The amount of time to remove mold lines takes time as well. I need to focus on what is needed to play the scenarios in the back. Whatever some may say I think those are easy step up battles to help learn the rules very easily and fast.
I did cheat one my never buy expensive GW tools, but I ended up buying the mold line removal tool and so far it is very helpful.
Painting I have been sticking to as well. I started with the repainting of my Tyranid Ravener. I changed the overall paint scheme to make it much easier and faster to paint them by eliminating certain complicated steps, paints which dry too easily, and adding a few steps to better the miniatures. I have picture of them, but I would rather post about them later. I have actually moved into painting my Hive Guard now.

TL;DR

I have a large backlog of combined old and new hobby work. This backlog needs to be worked on to get more game time. I’ll have plenty to post about soon. I was going to post pictures of everything stacked high, but does anyone really want to see hobby backlog porn?


I’ll have plenty to post about soon with pictures.

Blood Angels versus Tau 7th Edition Battle Report

The title should really be.

Pie Plate versus Pie Slice.



Thanks again reddit for your services. ;)


This post we see the return of Yoda of the Blood Angels, a long forgotten creature of wisdom. He will provide comments where needed.

Neverness demands humor lets see if we can deliver.

Daniel and I met again for a game of 40K and this time I brought my Blood Angels as my Tyranids are undergoing a slight paint scheme update. Again you ask, yes, well sort of. I have found a new way to paint them faster, but that is another story. Daniel brought with him some new dice, new dice, we'll out those dice to the test.



Force List

Blood Angels

I did something different for a change and that was I used a special character, not the best choice, and I didn't take any Sanguinary priests.


Astorath

1x Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon, Drop Pod

1 x Sanguinary Guard squad

1x Tactical Squad with 5x Additional Marines, Plasma Gun, Plasma Rifle, Lascannon, Power Weapon

1x Assault Squad with 5x Additional Marines, 2x Meltagun, Power Fist

Baal Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons

1x Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter

1x Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter

1x Devastator Squad with 5x Additional Marines, 4x Missile Launcher

Tau

I wasn't exactly sure of the loadouts so I improvised there, but the unit types should be correct.

Commander w/ BattleSuit and a bunch of other stuff

Ethereal

Firewarriors x 12

Firewarriors x 12

XV-104 Riptide with a bunch of other stuff

Stealth Suit Team with 4 x XV15 battlesuits w/ burstcannons and 2 x XV25 battlesuits with fusion blasters

Pathfinders with 7 Pulse carbines and Marker lights, and 3 with Rail rifles

Hammerhead Gunship with a bunch of other stuff

Broadside with a lot of missile launchers

Broadside x 3 with a lot of big guns


Deployment

We rolled for the mission big guns never tire. Along with a roll of three mysterious objectives, heavy support choices would be worth extra victory points. I placed the first objective in the middle somewhat, Daniel placed another where the Pathfinders would eventually be deployed and I placed the last objective where the Baal was eventually deployed. The objectives resembled a game of Domination setup in BF4, sort of. Night fight was a failure, but with Tau it really didn't matter much at all.

Daniel got to go first again, bah.

We used the same table as last time. I changed the terrain a bit to give both sides a nice amount of cover and minimize the middle dead zone, although it was still kind of was a dead zone.
I gained an excellent warlord trait which Daniel so nicely enhanced by failing three leadership tests, pinning his entire middle to right flank minus the Hammerhead. New dice indeed.



The Baal Predator scouted about 6 inches into the middle dead zone.



Turn 1

First turn was very frustrating for both of us as all we did was take whole units right off the table. I wish I had photoshop skills or a side artist to pay for artwork.
Tau

Hammerhead
Pie plate Assault squad, safe.

Riptide
Imagine ... a pie just rolling across the field landing on the Tactical squad.
Pie plate Tactical squad, goodbye Tactical squad.

Blood Angels

Enter Drop pod, hello Furioso Dreadnaught, oh my what a big Frag cannon, Frag cannon, WTF is a Frag cannon?
Dreadnaught
Imagine ... a pie slice emerging from the barrel and slicing through the Pathfinders.
Pie slice Pathfinders, goodbye Pathfindes.

Devastator Squad
Mini cake Firwarriors, GTFO Farewarriors, lolz panzees. Firewarriors routed.

Astorath and the Sanguinary Guard assaulted the Tau commander. One Sanguinary Guard dies.

Turn 2

Tau

Hate upon the Assault squad who have done nothing wrong to thee, kill all but three.
Enter Stealth suits, Stealth suits destroy Landspeeder, goodbye Landspeeder. Stealth suits jump away into cover to hide, cowards.
Tau commander fails to harm Astorath in a challenge, Astorath cleaves the Tau commander in half with his mighty axe. Goodbye Tau commander, I love killing Daniel's Tau commander.

Blood Angels

The Baal Predator removes half of the untouched Firewarrior squad, lolz, eat my AP4 rounds.
The Landspeeder and Devastator squad not able to deal with the cowards below opened fire on the previously demoralized Firewarrior squad. With some Heavy Bolter and lovely crack rounds the Firewarriors were no more. Goodbye Firewarriors, lolz, panzees.
The Furioso Dreadnaught strolled over to the lone Broadside and stated "It looks like you are trying to kill Blood Angels, Would you like help?" The Furioso Dreadnaught showed the Broadside a thing or two on how to open up to the Blood Angels squishing the battle suit and the Tau pilot within to a bloody pulp. There was no official reply from the Tau pilot.
Astorath morphed into true model form, actually another Blood Angel player named Chris swapped my librarian model for Astorath. Astorath and the Sanquinary Guard failed their charge, lame.

Turn 3

Tau

The Stealth suits failed to destroy the Landspeeder, "Idiots, says the face-palming Ethereal.

Then much death the blood angels felt.  Yes, hmmm.

The Riptide killed the rest of the Assault squad, bully!
The Broadsides killed Astorath after making three Instant Death Invulnerable saves and the rest of the Sanguinary Guard, so sad. Astorath promptly dissipated and traveled back to his rightful owner. Well played Chris, well played.

Blood Angels

The Landspeeder and Devastator squad combined firepower and rained death down upon the Stealth suits and killed four of them, leaving two of them to cower as presumed.
The Furioso Dreadnought walked to the Hammerhead with a fist of friendship. Evidently the fist of friendship was not friendly at all as the Hammerhead was torn apart and rearranged into the a throne for the Furioso. The furioso didn't like his new throne and strolled back to the nearby objective.

Turn 4

Tau

The Tau did nothing spectacular by moving the Riptide closer to the middle objective and moving the Stealth suits into cover, again, cowards, again.

Blood Angels

The Devastator squad tried to kill off the remaining Stealth suits, but too many were obscured. The Baal Predator shot the rest of the Firewarriors off the battlefield as they had nothing else to do, but hide in the trench lines. The Landspeeder moved to the middle objective to contest it and force the Riptide to stay put and maybe move the Stealth suits away.

Turn 5

Tau

The Stealth suits moved away and up keeping out of the sight of the Devastator squad possibly moving to an objective.
The Broadsides finally destroyed the Baal Predator, finally.

Blood Angels

The Devastator squad was not able to harm anything at all.

End Game

Once Turn 05 was finished I was tired of such a frustrating game and wanted to get home before Midnight. The cool thing was my friend Ralph was online for a few games of BF4 which is always a good thing.




Victory Points

Tau

1 First blood
1 Slay the warlord (A special production, directed by fail and produced by cheese)
1 Objective held by the Riptide

Blood Angels

1 Slay the warlord
1 Linebreaker (This was almost tied, but the Stealth suits were moved out of the Blood Angel's deployment zone)
1 Objective held by the Furioso Dreadnought
1 Tau Heavy support Broadside suit destroyed
1 Tau Heavy support Hammerhead destroyed

Somewhere about half way through the game we noticed we forgot to reveal the mysetrious objectives and in turn we both agreed to treat them as normal objectives.



Awards

Most deadly, MVP
Furioso Dreadnought
Once the Furioso dropped and deployed he was never removed and decided to have his own one dreadnought blood bathed destruction fest. This model needs some paint.

Most annoying
Stealth suits

Most didn't do didly shit
Tactical squad, Pathfinders, Firewarriors

Most missed chances
Astorath and the Sanguinary Guard
Failing their assault, and the constant annoyance of BS rolls of 6 with added BS re-rolls ofS 6 overwatch AP2 BS fire

Most hated
Broadside suits
Lawn chair cowards protecting a coward, lol. The Devastator squad was about the same, but they didn't have those 2+ saves.

Most almost Kenny
Riptide
This jackass managed to wound himself three times from lolvercharging.

Most cowering, not able to hang with the grunts, let the commander and grunts die in shame
Ethereal




Thoughts

Be honest in this game Astorath was not the best choice. I hate using characters for the most part and I rarely use them. If I don't use a character Blood Angels are left with an expensive boring captain, a sub par wanna be chaplain, and a librarian with no special save. I usually take the librarian as he is the cheapest of them all.

Failing <6 inch charges makes me face palm so hard the earth shakes.

The Sanguinary Guard might not have been the best choice either, but they are fun to use.

Sanguinary priest(s) might have helped, but the amassed AP2 firepower coming down in the open might and might not have saved some. They really helped the most when used after a normal/cover save, but without the normal save, marines with a 5+ save are simply dreaming with luck.

I am so glad I brought a full Devastator squad, anything smaller might have been easily been destroyed.

I wonder if I maybe should have combat squad the Tactical squad. Keeping a small squad with the Lascannon for shooting purposes and a small squad to grab the objective later. Keeping a squad hidden just to grab an objective on the last turn possible seems dull and why would I be playing this game anyway. Not my style.

Feel no pain on the Riptide is BS. It felt like the ONLY unit doing any work. I couldn't wound it at all and most of the time I just ignored it. Even ignoring it, the unit was still so powerful it could practically if rolling well remove whole units each turn if it really wanted. Models for money I suppose.

The Tau Commander's ability to do a similar smash attack is kind of silly. This should be reserved for monstrous creatures alone. I understand giving all your attacks up, but strength 10? A Blood angel can only achieve strength 8 with a PF, and strength 10 with certain characters (maybe) and with good rolls on the psychic power table. More models for money I suppose.

I lost my only AP2 weapon, again my only AP2 weapon when the Tactical squad went bye bye. The assault squad had two melta guns, they died.

I fought Necrons before and the Warriors ability to repair after an opponent's shooting and after an assault began to frustrate me. The Riptide's ability to charge up here, there, everywhere E-I-E-I-O, sigh. The warriors are kind of minimized by a normal 4+ save, but it is a 4+ save/4+ repair roll. The riptide a walking firepower machine, 2+ save, feel no pain, mounstrous creature, f^%& me.

This game displayed two things in the first turn I detest in this game a lot. Dick measuring and taking entire units off the battlefield in the first turn. More importantly it seems to be the norm with this game and the only way it seems to be going.

The first turn of this game and most 40K games feels like dick measuring and that is who can remove as much of the opponent's models as possible before they even take their first turn, stupid. A lot of strategy is lost in my opinion.

My Tyranid army constantly suffers from having to take huge chunks or whole broods off the table before first turn, early on, during play, but when my Blood Angel's are doing the same thing it gets dull fast.

By the third turn my army assault and mobility had been decimated. Fourth turn I was barely holding on doing what I could barely do. Fifth turn forget it I was down to two units. I almost got tabled which isn't fun for anyone, I think, some like the abuse.

Will Yoda of the Orks ever return?

Does anyone actually crave massive heavy infantry and support tanks games without all the crap in the center or without the lawn chair guy on the other side laucnhing shit and never moving?

Keep in mind I rant against the game and stupid rules and never Daniel, Daniel was a great player.



I hope you have enjoyed this BR and Rant , my Blood Angels will be back again for more abuse soon just you wait.

Oh Blood Angel, where art thy assault?

Oh I remember 6th edition is for shooting and the title means nothing.

Two weeks ago I finally got around to playing a game of 40K with my Blood Angels with Jason and miraculously the game ended in a nice tie.

Last weekend I played another game of wait around for an hour to play another game of 40K with my Blood Angels again. Or is it 40 minutes to 40K, either way it is usually more than 30 minutes and this is why the pizza is not free. I played a game with Bob playing Dark Angels and two new players, Scott playing Yellow Marines, and Sky playing Deamonorcs. I used an 1850 point list sided with Sky using a 1500 point list against Bob using an 1850 point list and Sky using a 1500 point list. Oddly enough Bob and I deployed across from each other, while Scott and Sky did the same and I was the only player to place a unit in the friendly army deployment zone. Everyone had units to deep strike and every unit actually came in at a respectable reliable time, except Scott's Sternguard who took forever (Turn 5) to come in.

First game I used this list

HQ
Librarian with 100
Elites
1x Sanguinary Priest with 50
1x Sternguard Veteran Squad with 5x Additional Veterans, 2x Combi-Melta, Power Fist 285
Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta 260
1x Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon 125
Drop Pod 35
Troops
1x Tactical Squad with 5x Additional Marines, Plasma Gun, Plasma Rifle, Lascannon 205
1x Assault Squad with 5x Additional Marines, 2x Meltagun, Power Weapon 225
Fast Attack
Baal Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons 145
2x Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter 120
1x Land Speeder Squadron with Typhoon Missile Launcher 90
Heavy Support
1x Devastator Squad with 5x Additional Marines,4x Missile Launcher 210

Last game I used the same list, but I modified the list by removing the Land Raider as I saw a whole lot of bullshit coming down from deep strike. I replaced it with a Second Furioso Dreadnaught with Frag Cannon and Drop Pod and a second Saquinary Priest with a Jump Pack and Power Sword.

I took out the Land Raider and forgot it was the transport for my Sternguard so technically the list had an extra Elite by accident. Go go go gadget list modification on the fly. Its not like the Sternguard did much anyway but hide in the trees like the Tactical Squad did all game.
Someone did speak for them, "Then we will fight in the shade".

Here is a shot of the battle after deployment.

Bob is patient. Bob has a soda. Bob is ready for battle.

Things I learned from this game.

* Since Scott's C Dreadnaught had the rule shoot at shit falling from the sky, my first Drop pod's machine spirit said fuck this shit and changed coarse to land in left field next to release a Furious Dreadnaught next to a loan Dark Angel Tactical Squad.
* Sky's uncontrollable Chaos powers randomly denied my Furioso an assault with a chance to head closer to the middle.
* Scott dropped a squad of melta toting marines down on my Bal Predator and blew it up including two of his own squad.
* I dropped my second Furious Dreadnaught down next to his C Dreadnaught where it waked right up behind it to give it some melta love. Exploding brilliance.
* Having two Furioso Dreadnaughts in their deployment zone wreaking havoc was not good for the green/yellow marine alliance.
* Scott represented the number 1 with perfect triple 1s followed by double 1s and a single 1 when he needed it most, I think he blames his Sternguard for the latter.

* Bob represented the number 2 with perfect accuracy when trying to shoot my Blood Angels.
* I represented the number 5 and coming in for a tie the number 6. FNP never felt so good.
* My librarian never died like he usually does, nor did he really do anything either.
* Whener I think a Sanguinary Preiest is not worth his points and I add another Sanguinary Priest, my FNP rolls because stupidly better.
* As much as people claim my army is Chaos aligned with no heads I was allied with Chaos in this battle against my own brethren. I wonder if down the line Marines will be allowed to ally with Chaos, but Tyranids will never get to ally with shit.
* Scott's rhino will forever be affectionately called the Yellow School Bus.
* My Blood Angels were bitter according to Scoot to Bob's Dark Angels, something which should be reserved for Space Wolves, but fluff went out the window with this game long ago.
* The combined might of Stergaurd poison, Landspeeder, Devastator squad is clearly not enough to kill off nor dampen the spirits of a Dark Angel Tactical squad, which bring me to my next point.
* Removing a stubborn Dark Angel unit from a game is like clearing a dungeon is Skyrim. The last guy shows no care his friends are dead endlessly fighting on.
* Scott hopelessly failed to kill my Landspeeder Typhoon which hopelessly failed to kill the Yellow School Bus.
* Chaos fabulous flamers can put out a stupid amount of firepower. Such hate was placed against Bob's terminators, Bob almost weathered it despite Sky forgetting one in the corner, almost ... respect.
* Scott's Sternguard arrived at the last minute to make one of the last kills, killing something which had already been killed before. Time loop anyone?
* I managed to fail FNP four times resulting in the loss of two Sternguard and two Assault marines and a Furious Dreadnaught, all being Bob's kills I think and my Bal Predator which Scott took out early on.
* Bob's cell phone had a template land on it at some point.
* Bob's terminators stole the show and made an eleven inch charge to engage a big mob of deamonorcs.

Proof it did happen.

Here is a shot of the game at the end of turn 5 which was the end of the game.

 

Bob is stubborn.

My second Furioso Dreadnaught is in the Northwest building having killed of Scott's commander and his attached servitor unit. My Tactical squad did nothing. The clear small blast templates are my simulated proxy counts as Drop Pods.

Referring to the title, I suppose it has hidden meaning all along, my Dreadnaughts shot and assaulted, my Assault squad shot and assaulted, and the rest of my army shot. The majority of the damage I caused throughout the game was from shooting.

Next time we fight the Ghetto Rangers.
Until next time when in trouble and fighting the end boss ...
Look to the sky, look at the audience, wink, and yell Pimp Cain!

WIP Reinforcements!

Reinforcements

Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard!

A while ago I purchased a box of Sanguinary Guard for my Blood Angels. I like the unit history and the rules and through assembling the models I have come to like them more as well. The models look great and are full of detail also the abundance of head and shoulder pad variety is an added benefit. Some of the shoulder pads are rather large making the Space Marines inside look they are wearing a larger more ancient armor.

I assembled the models with the weapons they came with. According to 6th edition rules the unit has five Angelus Boltguns, five Glaive Encarmines separated to three Sower Swords, two Power Axes. The banner although expensive at 25 points can seriously boost the unit's close combat power to a point of representing another Sanguinary Guard member or two. The banner is held in the hand with an Angelus Bolgun so its kind of necessary whether I use the banner or not to add the fifth Angelus Boltgun.

I have not added any basing material as I thought to add some of the urban bricks and then have the models standing atop the bricks. The models are not really top heavy, but the models with power swords could take some damage and break if they fell in such a way so I think. Ironically the banner is not too top heavy at all. I might leave the models attached to the bases and build up the base as usual. I would rather have the focus point on the model and not so much on the base.

I have attached the jump packs as they won't interfere with painting the rest of the model at all. The wings will have to be glued on later as they will interfere with painting the rest of the model. I left the head off as they will interfere with painting the jump pack vents and I haven't deciding which heads to use. I don't care much for flesh heads when I have a choice as helmets are much cooler. I am liking the death mask variant heads a lot so I may use a mix. When I look at the box, it appears GW magnetized the head of one model as the head changes, but the model does not..

I lightly glued the left arm and not the hand of the models holding their weapons with both hands. This way I can remove the arms to easily paint the chest armor. One last detail is to snip the nips from the chest armor.

Thoughts on model pose?

These three models have been magnetized to serve different roles when needed. Both left and right model have their left arm magnetized to switch the Angelus Boltgun to an Infernus Pistol. The right model also has the right arm magnetized to swap the Power Axe for a Power Fist. The middle model's left arm is also magnetized to swap the banner for something else such as a Plasma Pistol.

The Plasma Pistol arm is missing a hand for now.

Although I will have the option to use two Infernus Pistols in a squad I am reluctant to do so. The big idea is to use the squad as a tank hunting unit with the option to deep strike. I would rather try to use them as a heavy assault squad as just a few of these should do some heavy damage to most units. The deep strike one trick pony tank hunting trick may not be the best interest for me as I have Furisoso Dreadnoughts to annoy opponents with and they do it fine on their own.

Reinforcebits

Close Combat Bits Galore!

My idea in progress is to create two Assault Squads with some rather bad ass weapon load outs and more dynamic poses. If I can pull it off and magnetize the heads then the squads can easily become a vanguard Squads for even more versatility. A lot of the weapons might just be for looks. The thought of a squad with an Assault Marine toting twin chainswords, or twin power swords, or even twin power axes is pretty sweet. However sometimes looks get pricey money wise as you tend to place cool model on board and then take cool model off the board. Sorry Space Choo Choo, my Furioso Dreadnought sends regards, however Space Choo Choo fought again to live in a different battle.

Tech Priest: So what do you need? Besides a miracle.

Sergeant: Weapons, lots of weapons.

The majority of the upper row of weapons will go to two Assault Squad Sergeants who will have access to use when needed a Combat Shield, Power Sword, Power Axe, or a Power Fist. Since the arms will be magnetized I could use them army wide very easily. The Lightning Claw was for an Assault Sergeant so he could have the choice of a LC or PF, but I needed the opposite arm, lol. The chainswords will be split between the two Assault Squads and the Sanguinary Priests. Some of the Power Swords will be reserved for the Sanguinary Priests as well.

Now time to start drilling new holes for even more magnetic glory to the Omnissiah. I have Assault marines Squads to assemble. With luck they just might have their jump packs attached.

WIP Baal Predator

My intention was to finish painting this vehicle before the end of April, but some early weather issues and a slight slow period robbed me of the goal. With luck I might be able to finish it in a few days or a week, but I am not going to press progress to much. If all else fails I will get this vehicle finished in time and definitely by the end of May.

I remember when I first purchased this tank and it sat for a small amount of time. I wanted to magnetize as much of the tank options as possible. In this I was successful and actually used a total of 23 magnets of various sizes within the many components. I used some hints and tips from the internet and some are of my own design, but I feel I can do the same process again. In some ways I wouldn't mind excepting commission to do this again for someone who needs it done.
For the longest time this tank has been moving around the battlefield with no tracks, no side weapons, and no paint so the goal was to get the tank assembled, out of the box, painted on the table.


Here is what the Baal Predator looks like so far.

Please keep in mind there are areas which will are not completed and some areas which will require cleanup. I don't intend to highlight much or weather the vehicle. The whole highlight and especially the weathered look has become all to common and expected and in some cases used too much. The subject of highlighting has crossed my mind, but the use of orange looks odd to me and begins to turn the model a little like a cartoon character. I paint my vehicle factory finish in most cases and I like this approach.

Front hull

The light is shining heavily on the tracks and they look better from the side.

Left side hull

The gold on the turret blood drop and the gun shield blood drops all have a new gold color recipe. I used a series gold wash and drybrush over a silver wash. It does look good, but I have not compared it to the gold on my Land Raider Crusader. I noticed I didn't get a picture of the Heavy Bolter ammunition bins.

Right side hull

The gun shield wing needs more work.

Turret with Assault Cannon

I used a new color scheme approach to painting the ammunition, but for the most part I think it looks good. I am wondering if a bright brass is better than a dull brass color. The bright brass might look better against the overall bright red color scheme.
The white wing color has not been painting nice. I know it needs a wash and the usual Badab Black is failing to achieve perfection. I might need to get some raw black ink instead. I get the feeling once a pot of GW wash passes the mid point the wash begins to deteriorate.

The cupola has not been glued in place.

Turret with Flamestorm Cannon

Jolly Good Show!

I am interested in painting the tip of the Flamestorm Cannon and the Heavy Flamers some sort of brass color instead of metal for the scorched look of use. I have to do more research for a paint recipe if I can find one. This brass theory kind of makes the weapon weathered and this is fine for me. I don't care to make the vehicle weathered, but rather shining with glory for the emperor. I am also all to happy to apply a new weathering powder if there is one.

I keep seeing a space ship when i hold this turret configuration.

I see more spaceship.

We Break For Nobody

Front with normal side access points.

Using the Flamestorm Cannon only keeps the Baal Predator cheap, fast, and a dangerous suicide unit. I have  used this configuration once, but it was during the older 5th edition rules where being glance/stunned sucked. I have the side Heavy Flamers for use as well, but the ability to use all the flamers is debatable.

Jolly Good Show!

Side with normal side access points.

The Baal Predator is a valuable unit for my Blood Angels army and sometimes its abilities warrants another in the inventory. The main configuration I always use gives the army a good edge and fire base. Lately I have thought to purchase the Strombolter for the vehicle. Within 24 inches the vehicle would be able to increase the overall firepower from 10 shots to 12 shots. The 12 shots consist of 4 twin-linked Str 6 shots, 6 Str 5 shots, and 2 Str 4 shots. Even without the Stormbolter the Baal Predator is a murder machine on tracks. Coupled with a complement of Landspeeders with dual Heavy Bolters I guess I am running a Heavy Bolter circus list, lol.


Looking into the future as the Baal Predator is eventually completed I am most likely going to tackle assembling and painting a full assault squad or two. This like the approach to the Baal Predator is to get the models assembled and out of a box of bits of unfinished models. This goal is becoming more of a reality with my recent large purchase of close combat bits.

Blood Angels vs Allied Xenos Battle Report 3,000 Points

Last Saturday I attended the regular local game night and played the usual game of 40K. I had no idea who I would play against, but I ended up with Masta  Cheef. Then the resident Tau player arrived and to avoid him showing up without game we included him in the game. The game was decided as a two versus one being allied xenos composed of allied Eldar and Tau against the might of the Blood Angels.

It was either Masta Cheef or the Tau player who had such a look on their face. They saw I had placed more than fifty marines on the setup table with the intent to deploy them all. Half a chapter's worth of marines were coming to get them. I selected what units I had and borrowed a few from other to fill the ranks. Overall it was a good mix of infantry, tanks, and some elite units.

Blood Angels Host

Quick Summary

Four independent characters
Two dreadnoughts
Sixty-five space marines
Four landspeeders
Three tanks
Two drop pods

Army List

HQ
Mephiston, Lord of Death with  (Proxied using a Space Wolf model from Screech, lol)
(+D3 rage points added to Masta Cheef's rage scale per close combat phase.)
Librarian


Elites
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon
(+D3 frustration points points added to Tau player's frustration scale per turn once deployed.)
Transport
Drop Pod
(+D3 rage points added to Masta Cheef's rage scale per turn once deployed.)
Furioso Dreadnought with Frag Cannon
Transport
Drop Pod
Sanguinary Priest
Sanguinary Priest with Jump Pack
Sternguard Veteran Squad with 2x Combi-Melta and Power Fist
Transport
Land Raider Crusader with Multi-Melta


Troops
Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun and Lascannon
Tactical Squad with Plasma Gun and Lascannon
Tactical Squad with Flamer and Heavy Bolter
Tactical Squad with Flamer and Heavy Bolter
Combat Squad
Tactical Squad with Flamer
Tactical Squad with Heavy Bolter
Assault Squad with 2x Meltagun and Power Weapon
Death Company x 5 with Jump Packs and Power Weapon


Fast Attack
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Heavy Bolter
Land Speeder Squadron with 2x Multi-Melta
Land Speeder Squadron with Typhoon Missile Launcher


Heavy Support
Predator with Heavy Bolter Sponsons
Predator with TL Lasconnon and Lascannon Sponsons



Big Guns Never Tire

The Tau empire had dispatched a small strike force to a ruined imperial world to retrieve the body of a fallen comrade. The fallen Tau previously gave his essence to the greater good while assisting with planetary evacuations when the planet originally fell to disorder. The Tau emerged to discover a similar sized Eldar strike force bent on similar objectives. Both forces agreed only the need to recover their lost and no need for loss of life. A large force of Blood Angel were on the planet. The Tau and the Eldar agreed to join forces to recover what was theirs. With this agreement the Tau ordered a small bombardment around the objective building as they approved the battlefield.

Battle Report

Blood Angel deployment

The first Furioso Dreadnought transported in a drop pod would deploy via drop pod assault.
The second Furioso Dreadnought transported in a drop pod was kept in reserves.

To the far right off the picture is where the other Predator and all of the Landspeeders deployed.

Neverness took a nice picture of my effective deployment silliness so I swiped it.

Xenos deployment

Eldar A Wave Serpent transporting infantry and a Vypher were both kept in in reserve

Tau Command Battle Suit squad were kept in reserve

Tau deployed a Hammerhead  to the far left and far right.

Turn 1 (Night Fight)

Blood Angels

The first Furioso Dreadnought arrives via drop pod.

The Land Raider Crusader advanced slightly.  A Tactical combat squad advanced along the left side of the LRC to the large ruined aquila. Both Predators moved slightly to better firing positions. All Landspeeders move slightly out of cover with the twin Multi-Melta Landspeeder moving flat out straight towards the enemy line and some cover. The Assault squad walked a few feet. Both Mephiston and the Death Company jumped to nearby cover.

Night fighting reduced a lot of shooting, but the Furioso Dreadnought unleashed its frag cannon upon the unsuspecting Tau. 

Xenos

The Eldar advanced towards nearby objectives. The Tau adjusted firing positions.

Night fighting reduced most shooting power for the Xenos as well. Despite the close proximity of the Furioso Dreadnought and the Multi-Melta Landspeeder, the Tau player failed to harm either vehicle.

Turn 2

Blood Angels

The second Furioso Dreadnought arrives via drop pod from reserves.

The LRC advanced slightly again and opened the assault ramps to allow the Librarian, a Sanguinary Priest, and their attached squad of Sterguard veterans to deploy. The Tactical combat squad kept stumbling on the ruined aquila barely managing to move at all. Both Predators only adjusted position. All Lanspeeders moved slightly. Only the Multi-Melta Landspeeder moved within optimum firing range to the nearby Hammerhead. The Assault Squad jumped to the middle of the battlefield. Both Mephiston and the Death Company jumped to the Eldar front lines.

Blood Angels shooting phase proofed very detrimental to the Tau player. The Multi-Melta speeder destroyed the Hammerhead on the far right. Combined fire power from all units removed two battle suit squads leaving just the Broadsides and almost every Tau infantry unit save two badly damaged squads. The Tau forces responsible for protecting he right flank had completely collapsed.

Mephiston and the Death Company assaulted the Eldar front lines wiping out a Wraithguard unit.

Someone is attempting to use scare tactics and moon the Blood Angels.

Xenos

The Eldar Wave Serpent along with a Vypher emerged on the far left flank to help bring some heavy weapons to bear against the enemy.

The Tau player couldn't get a break and failed to bring in his command battle suit unit by failing both a roll and a re-roll.

Movement was scarce just as much as shooting from the Xenos forces which were quickly being surrounded. The Eldar did claim a second objective, stunned the Furiouso Dreadnought which dropped in the middle flank along with destroying the Multi-Melta Landspeeder.

Masta Cheef's rage meter filled the the break and burst, the battlefield was beginning to heat up. Neverness stepped in with a calm spell. 

The pile of bad dice proven two fold, green sometimes is not best and they were horribly cursed.

Turn 3

Blood Angels

The Blood Angels move for the Eldar in force. The LRC and the Landspeeders and a Tactical squad all move towards the left flank corner. The Tactical combat squad finally moved off the dreaded ruined aquila. The Sterguard move for the Eldar holding the objective on the right flank while Mephiston and the Death move for the Eldar holding the objective on the left flank. The Assault squad jumped towards the last remaining Tau infantry unit.

Blood Angels combined shooting was proving to much to bare for the Xenos forces as more and more fell to the unchecked firepower. The Eldar lost various infantry units along with the Vypher.

Blood Angels launched three separate assaults against units from both Xenos forces. Mephiston battled an Eldar squad while the Death Company watched. The Assault squad tore apart the Tau infantry squad. The Stergaurd fought to remove the Eldar from an objective.

The Wave Serpent came close to destroying the LRC.

Xenos

The Tau command battle suit squad arrived from reserved and seeing all of his army almost completely wiped out he deployed to the far left flank.

The Xenos shooting was low as they only brought two of the Mephiston down by a few more wounds and the Death Company's numbers down by two.

The small clear blast templates are drop pods, lol.

Turn 4

Blood Angels

All Blood Angels continue their advance towards the remaining Eldar on the left flank while the LRC moves to support the Predator Annihilator deal with the Wave Serpent threat.

The Blood Angels shooting and assaults wipe out all the remaining Eldar units along with the Tau commander's body guard and a Broadside.

A mysterious plastic class drop ship arrived to evacuate the Eldar spirits.

Xenos

The Tau now alone failed to any significant harm to a host Blood Angels missing arms, bodies, heads, and weapons and left the Battlefield. Actually when the Tau player did point this out I saw laughter in his eyes, it was lol.

The Eldar gone and the Tau with four units left.

End Game

The Blood Angels discovered a covered among the rubble in a ruined building. The Librarian began to wonder if this was all a big misunderstanding. However, imperial teaching reveal anything Xenos to be bad and the Librarian ordered the Tactical squads to torch and burn what was left of the area.

Was it all a simulated event?

Was it a bad omen?

A moment of silence for those who fell on the battlefield.

Thoughts

For such a large game I added Mephiston to simply try out the character to see how he plays. His psychic ability along with the other Librarian was shut down constantly. I find this annoying a lot. I guess it is a balance of a rule which is table wide, army wide, or limited to certain distances, however I am not one to argue. I only used him for one model which could strike higher than I4. I think he acted more as a fear tactic than anything. If an opponent tends to focus on one model they can literally break elsewhere. The Tau player gained an obsession to kill him, but failed, however I would have done the same. 

The Librarian didn't die!

The Sanguinary Priests saved so many marines with their FNP ability. I feel I got a good amount saved versus losses. These FNP saves really robbed Masta Cheef sometimes of some helpful kills which could have help keep him fighting longer.

I forgot to give the Sterguard their bolters. Masta Cheef always comments glue their guns on. Everyone says my army has no heads. See a pattern of lulz?

The Furioso Dreadnoughts and their Frag Cannons were plain nasty and this is the second time I have used them which they are proven units. When both the first Furioso Dreadnought and the Multi-Melta speeder had survive the first turn I felt I had a huge upper hand as I had two units in my opponent's deployment zone capable of causing major damage. This helps me justify a Drop Pod purchase in the future. I use the small blast templates for friendly game. I usually tend to forget to shoot the weapons on them so they are just plain delivery systems to me. I would like to buy them, but presently I have a new purchase waiting assembly and trying to stay positive and continue painting my Blood Angels to achieve the Ultimate Goal!

Blood Angels players like to use a tactic called wall of armor 13. Although I was not using the tactic so to say it kind of made sense when my opponents had serious trouble breaching the front armor of the Furious Dreadnoughts which is 13. When both Dreadnoughts front armor along with the front armor of the Predators are added together I had 5 units with front armor 13 plus the LRC was 14 all around as usual. This could still fall from better dice rolls.

I love Landspeeders and the twin HB and then two with twin HBs can really do some major damage over time. Still twelve HB shots fired at any unit is potentially bad. I used a Predator Destructor, but for twenty more points I could have two more Landspeeders with twin HBS, but I did not have the models. I also need to order new flight stands.

The Predator Anihilator although expensive is efficient at killing high armor targets. If the vehicle can be deployed and get into a good firing position without much movement it can be very hard to dislodge or fight with out in the open. I may need to rethink my thoughts upon it.

I think the Tau only killed maybe two Tactical Marines and if they weren't his kills then he failed to kill anything leaving Masta Cheef with the feeling of having to fight all on his own the entire game. The Tau player was trying to use new rules for his codex and the crappy ordered from GW left him without a ton of extra units to potentially use. I think this is the main reason his rage scale flourished to its maximum levels. Neverness be praised.

It was fun to get to use a large amount of my Blood Angels units. Masta Cheef is always great to game against and the Tau player is cool to.

All right I am done.

Further Progress Update on Devastator Squad

The Devastator squad is almost finished. I would like to show how they look once more before they receive any final alteration and or cleanup. Plus I have a few concerns I am still trying to resolve.

The Devastator squad

This is the normal squad size I use in most of my games. A lot of times a power sword on a tactical squad Sergeant is useless and I might start investing in adding an additional Marine to the Devastator squad size instead. This squad also received the new base scheme. I like it so far. I have experimented with some grey paints, grey washes, and grey weathering powders. I still need something to help set the crushed rubble from the bricks. I thought Badab Black, but it is too dark. I'll have to see if I can obtain a lighter wash somewhere.

Marine Sergeant

I have not painted flesh in many years, but the painted flesh on the Sergeant's head came out nicely. I haven't painted the eyes yet though. I seem to be out of a very thin brush suitable for painting eyes. Painting eyes uses a smaller brush than lenses in my opinion. I might invest in a superior quality paint brush just for this reason and then clean it and leave it only to use it again for painting eyes. The eye sockets have a light Badab Black wash applied and that was it and I am not sure if this helped any.

Sergeant Sir Point to Nothing Useful

Marines with missile launchers

I retouched the outer lenses of missile launcher sights so I will need to apply a bit of Badab Black. I might also add a very light Badab Black wash to the side of the purity seals throughout the squad to help define them a bit more, but either way they do look nice. I need to practice making inscriptions some day. The bases really give them models contact to the ground and is much better than the previous green.


Heads glued on? Check
Weapons glued on? Check

The other half of the Devastator squad

Marines with bolters

These Marines look bad ass and I think they will look bad ass on the table when I finally use them. The poses I chose although are almost generic look good. The leader in the middle, three firing away, another advancing weapon at the ready. Sadly, hey have no idea or rules on how to pick up their fallen brethren's weapons and finish the fight. This picture shows the eye lenses are lacking a bit. The color of the eye lenses would be the same for red armor, but encased in blue the green color needs a little more to help it show through. I don't want a glow though.

Heads glued on? Check
Weapons glued on? Check

Squad portrait

Damn we look good!

The Army Painter Ultramarine Blue along with the Liquitex Prussian Blue ink really helped the blue helmets match the color intensity of the red armor. I know they look shiny  but this is because of the ink and the nature of the color intensity I want. The most important fact in the models never fail to stand out in a picture and this I like. :)

I am so glad this squad is done. It is beyond annoying when ole boys missile launcher falls off during the fight or ole boy can't doesn't have the strength to raise his missile launcher to the enemy. One thing is the squad was famous for taking down enemy units having no heads and no weapons. Hopefully with a complete removal from the battlefield while being painted and a reintroduction to the battlefield fully painted will allow the squad to shine through.

Call it what you want, but the models when I view them or handle them seem larger and better than their unpainted states. Maybe it is the whole painted feel, but who knows. This squad would have been great to field in my last game, I dropped so many marines on the table it really wouldn't have mattered and might have been overkill.

The Devastator squad has been off the battlefield ever since they were paint stripped and last week the Baal Predator was not on the battlefield either. I currently have the Baal Predator in production behind this squad alongside a Land Raider. I should have no issues getting some WIP pictures of the Baal and maybe the Land Raider depending upon what work I can do soon.

Progress update on Devastator Squad

I haven't been active lately on my blog, but I have been active in the game and hobby world. I figure I would show how the Devastator squad looks so far. The pictures could be better, but I haven't been in the mood to setup both lamps to get the best lighting.

For the most part, the squad looks great. I did something different in which I painted the inner coils metal instead of the normal black, but also applied a wash as well. I made a fair number of over painting mistakes, but the matching army painter pure red paint works great for covering those areas. Something new I have painted is the rear section in their packs. I liked the look of this so much I will apply to all future painted Blood Angels marines. All of the purity seals turned out nice as well even though I never add lines to them.

The squad sergeant is taking a bit longer than expected, but the overall looks has proven worth the extra time. I tried and new paint recipe for the leather portions and a new paint recipe for the flesh portion as well. I would like the flesh a bit lighter, but it looks good for now. I went with green for his hair just for color contrast reasons. Every time I start a new Fallout game  I seem to create a character with a Mohawk hair style colored green  I never see it, because having a helmet in Fallout helps considerably. I need to finish the auspex/signum or for simplicity just leave it green screen.

You can barely see the frag grenade to the right of the bolter. I started out dark and worked up to light with a light recess application Badab Black wash.

Just what was GW's intention to have him pointing at anyway?

The marines holding the missile launchers are up to par with the sergeant. I am in the finishing stages of painting the helmets and then they are good to go. This particular marine I tried to remove the head prior to paint stripping, but couldn't do it and damaged the front vent a bit. I left the front vent damage as is and considered it some form of battle damage.

The missile launchers for some reason never seem to paint nice and smooth. They didn't look appealing, but after some clean up they did look much better. The under slung coil had to be repainted to though. I initially debated on how to paint them and eventually decided to keep the barrel of the launcher black and the other parts metal in color.

The other half of the squad which are normal bolter marines and according to GW have no idea how to pick up their fallen brother's weapons and use them against the enemy. They lighting was not good in the lower portions, but the marines do look stunning up close. I didn't use any special paint ideas, just normal armor and a metal chest armor plate decoration. They will have their heads attached once those are done.

I painting the base of this marine as a test bed for the basing material I will be using. I will be using a combination of Army Painter Black Battleground mixed with Pegasus Hobbies Small Grey Bricks for an urban base theme. The Blood Angel's in general are shown fighting in urban landscapes so the original boring green base and green flock had to go. I can debating what is better a black or grey base rim. The Black Battleground starts black in color and is designed to be glued and dry brushed as desired. I believe leaving the rim black is the best choice as the Black Battleground mix will be dry brushed slightly grey and I don't want to avoid color issues. The black base visually helps bring the model back to the playing field as well.

This particular marine will be the leader of the rest of the squad. I chose the Aquila chest plate for only this marine in the squad. All of the normal marines will receive normal marine heads, but I was thinking of using a Corvis helmet for the Aquila plus beak deal.

Here are the heads so far in the painting process. I initially used a 5:1 ink mix when I intended to use a 10:1 ink mix causing me to paint strip these heads again, lol. The 10:1 ratio works great alongside matching the color intensity of the ink mix on the normal armor. I have painted the eyes so far with Warpstone Green and not sure how to proceed from there besides a glaze of Waywatcher Green. The front vents are done along with the side metal pieces. I am undecided on the metal coils to the side of the front vent as sometimes they tend not to look so good. 

The head closest to the camera had some odd flash stuck to the front vent. I didn't see this till to far in so I left it as a possible enemy round permanently lodged in the front vent. The mistakes from the eyes shoukd be easy to clean up with a light ink mix application.

Here are the materials I will be basing the army with. Army Painter Black Battleground mixed with Pegasus Hobbies Small Grey Bricks. I might even add a few random skulls in the mix I bought from Secret Weapon Miniatures because who doesn't need more skulls.

Once these heads are down I believe I will place the Assault squad heads and start working on them. Painting the Assault squad is no big deal, the heads are the toughest part to get the colors right.

My intentions are to finish this squad for good this week and then proceed with the Baal Predator next. I would like to get the Baal Predator spry painted before the wet weather sets in this week. I also have spray painted my other Land Raider and it is ready for painting as well.

Any thoughts on the areas I am concerning or pondering to much are greatly appreciated.