Extra Life Auction Model

Quiet times in the hobby the past two weeks, D&D has been off and that cuts out not only my roleplaying but also my main hobby time each week.

However, to support Extra Life, and to get my hobby fix, I bid on a French painted Napoleonic trumpeter.

This is how he looked on ebay

Bolt Action Game Report - Defence of the Lisieux Library

Now updated with more images of the battle.

Hannes and I played a game of Bolt Action this week, he came at my small American and British force (ca.1500pts.) with a large elite formation (ca.3000pts.). Two Stug and two Tigers alongside a mechanised Waffen SS and Pioneer force. We had a great game over six turns, late into the night. As befits a a game that was more focused on the challenge of the battle and the story we didn't call a winner at the end of the game.

British 2nd Commandos

My box of Commandos arrived last week and I've been having great fun putting them together.They are even better models than the American infantry I began with. I've designed a list, 600 points of Commandos built from this box and a Tamiya Bren Carrier.

The Works of the Inquisitor– A Cygnar Journeyman Warcaster

Well a few days ago I posted a summary of Doc Bungle's Cygnar lists for a tournament. I found his posts a true inspiration and I thought I'd post a little about my Cygnar force. So here are some details on my recent move in to the Iron Kingdoms of WarmaHordes.

Last October I joined the Journeyman’s League that Privateer Press organised, held in Outland, Oslo’s FLGS. I knew some of the others that were entering and had been looking for a while to try out the game. I’d been hearing more and more about it after the ‘collapse’ of the Fantasy scene in Australia and the related podcast fallout and the D6Generation’s mixed views on the game so I jumped at the chance to get involved in an organised fashion.



I looked at the options for quite a while, a few faction in both games looked good Khador, Circle & Mercs all having some appeal, but it was the Golden Swans that won me over, I liked the idea of a dark looking Cygnar force trampsing through a Khador town (having now read some more fluff that doesn’t seem likely to occur). So I picked up a Battle Box for my week one games and got glueing…


I ended up with two Battle Boxes (the things a dedicated hobbyist finds in his Bitz Box) so used some parts of Micro Arts Studio figure (Wolfgung I think) to make my second Stryker into a Journeyman warcaster. Then on the next Sunday I got in my first few games. Turns out Warmachine is really fun!! The Khador opponent (and other Khador players) beat me so many times during the league I added something special to an upcoming base. Over the next few weeks I played a lot of games (23) and achieved an almost 40% win ratio. On the Beasts of War forums I kept a bit of a record of my progress, so if after reading this you'd like to see more photos including wip pics and some thoughts after battles please feel free to follow this link and have a browse. I also almost scored the most points for painting during the period, so here is the rest of my Cygnar force as it stands today.


So you see for a six week period I went in pretty heavy, conversions, big figures, scenic bases, the works. Since then things have of course slowed down, most of what I started is finished, I need to finish the Stormswords and Black 13th and I’m working on my Stormclad and a Stormcaller.

On the left is my attempts at creating an electro leap effect around my Stormclad, which up until a few minutes ago I was very pleased with. Having now stumbled upon Modelpainter.com’s Cygnar page I feel I need to up my game on this front. Awesome inspiration…

Again I’d love to get comments back, what do people think about my models, my painting, my ramblings?

40K Motivation - GK2

With the release of 6th edition motivation is of course pretty high. This is tempered by the new baby time vaccum, but I have found time to finish building my second Grey Knight.

The actual time spent on him was much less than the first yet I feel the Green Stuffing went much better. I hope that by plugging away I'll reach a point where I can sculpt some basic details as well as flat surfaces.

Number three is all clipped out and ready to convert. Let's hope I can get a squad going soon.

When I popoed into my local FLGS to pick up some Army Painter spray for my Imperial Strongpoint I saw the new LOTR LEGO. Helmsdeep in the window is amazing.

OK, this is my first 'blog on the go' using the Blogger iPhone App. Please let me know if any technical problems come up.

The Works of the Inquisitor–The Knights Templar

So back in 2004 I had a dream one night about starting my own Space Marine Chapter. I wanted to base them on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table of the Knights Templar order from the crusades. I’d been out of the hobby since 1996/7 at this point and had no idea what so ever that 3rd Ed. 40K had been and gone bringing the Black Templars with it; so of course I went with the Knights Templar.

I lived in Nottingham at the time but it was an age before I discovered that Warhammer World was nearby, so a trip to the in town store and I enthusiastically began with my ‘Battle for Macragge’ a starter set of paints and the Space Marine codex. This was the time of  Traits for Marines and the Knights Templar quickly became an Imperial Fist successor chapter devoted to protecting Imperial citizens on pilgrimages to Terra.

You see the black helmets for the assault marines and the yellow for the devastators. This is because the background included a story of Imperial Fists defending pilgrims against overwhelming Chaos forces and being rescued by Black Templers. Leading to the forming of the chapter formed from the survivors of the encounter.

I used a lot of parts from a Bretonian knights kit to try and capture the classic Knights Templar feel.		Librarian	Company Champion
I also used a half green half black colour for my Chaplin after reading somewhere that the colour was used that way in the real life order.		Terminator Sargent	Chaplin (‘Jean-Luc’)

The paint scheme was (very) simple, I undercoated in white and then base coated half-heartedly with more white. A liberal wash with a heavily watered down Codex Grey and a dry brush of white over and I was done. The result was average at best, but with some bold colours besides it and a high tempo meaning I actually got things completed I still feel that as an army they look alright.

My favourite two units are my Veterans, a metal Black Templers unit that had all of their Bolt Pistols replaced with Bolt Guns to represent the ‘True Grit’ trait I used.

And my Venerable Dreadnought, the Chaplin that led the Black Templers when they rescued the Imperial Fists and whose religious zeal has led the chapter in to actual worship of the Emperor as a god. A Penitent Engine with a sarcophagus built from parts of a Land Raider Crusader and the tanks guns modified to finish the piece. The traitor guard’s greenstuff’d spinal cord is a treat.

The Knights Templar battled a great deal against CSM and Ultramarines during 4th Edition in Warhammer World, and a variety of different one off opponents in Nottingham’s GW store. My battles against other loyalist Marines were based on the premise that a corrupt radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitor had tricked the Knights Templar chapter master and led one of the chapters Brotherhoods unknowingly to Chaos. Somewhere in a box is a Daemon Prince waiting to be ‘Knighted’.

In total they come to a bit over 2,000 points and apart from needing to finish the bases (I painted them Goblin Green and called it done to start with, after my 90’s roots), I think I’m pretty much done with the army. Certainly should I want to do more Marines now they would be another chapter, but never say never I guess.

My battles against friends in Warhammer World were known for some pretty appalling bad luck with dice rolls on my part, and that leads to the final images of this retrospective.

This figure was given to me when I moved away from Nottingham to Norway in 2007. ”Lady Luck Kiss My Ass!” by Simon Rippin

 

 

Well I’d love to hear some comments on this post, was it at all interesting? was the layout format OK? Is there something I could have done to improve it?

Mission Report: The Greatest Good Good

Mission Complete.
Yesterday we all gathered at Warhammer World at 09:45am to finally play Deathwatch. Here are a few photos of the day just to help capture it's awesomeness.

The Killteam equiped themselves at Watch Fortress Erioch and travelled to their destination by Strike Cruiser. After a Drop Pod landing they approached the Tau research base and swiflty completed their primary mission.

First Stealth Suit Tau ambushed Apache

And then Fire Warriors layed down a heavy barrage
whilst the Marines were distracted

The Commander arrived at the end of the encounter,
but guile and psychic powers quickly downed him.

Warhammer World allowed us to borrow some of Forge Worlds Zone Mortalis for the Killteams journey through a Necron Tomb on the hunt for 'The Stealth' a chaos warband that were also on the planet.

Killteam Apache rescued Ultramarine Felignum from the Tau.

The missions final battle culminated against a Necron Lord - Deadly!

I had an absolutely excellent day and found all of the preparation (not as much as there should have been) to be worth it. Thank you very much to the Bugman's Bar staff for great service and food all day and the Warhammer World staff who sold me a ton of new Empire products and letting us use scenery to enhance our game. Most of all however thank you to the five fantastic players who joined me yesterday to form Killteam Apache. Start preparing for next year!