Progress Update / New Arrivals

I've been doing a terrible job of keeping this blog up to date... however, I have been keeping up my hobby progress and playing tons of games so I guess I'll call it a win overall!

I'm going to just duplicate my forum posts as a means of keeping a duplicate record of my progress here, I think.

I'll try to also put together a battle report for my next game too, just for fun.

------------------------

Time for a little update again. So I've spent August working on a construction project, building a trio of new tanks :) One of these is a part of my HPC list, the other two I just had on my wishlist for a long time. I'm now up to a full 10-strong tank company so I don't think I'll be adding any more for a long while... unless Forge World ambush us with some new Heresy Era Imperial Army tanks :D

Here are the three that I've been building for the past few weeks:

Punisher, featuring the infamous Knight-Commander himself:

Punisher Assault Tank, company command vehicle - One.

Heavy Vanquisher, going to be my November (or maybe October) HPC commitment:

Mortian Vanquisher Heavy Tank, company Commissariat vehicle - Zero.

Destroyer Tank Hunter, always wanted one of these and I have a niggling feeling that FW will discontinue it soon:

Destroyer Tank Hunter, company specialist anti-armour vehicle - Ten.

Despite his heretical appearance that tank commander is 100% loyal, it's just a cool model :P

I'll probably also be painting a few extra tanks during September because I'm well ahead on my monthly HPC commitment, some or all of these guys:

Conqueror "Fast" Tank, company point vehicle - Nine.

Demolisher Siege Tank, assault squadron - Two.

Demolisher Siege Tank, assault squadron - Three.

Progress Update, Forge World Open Day & Astra Militarum Thoughts

I have been very neglectful in posting things of late... but a couple of fun things have happened and significant progress has been made.

My March commitment for the Independent Characters Hobby Progress Challenge was completed:

7th Platoon Command Squad

7th Platoon Meltagun Specialist Squad

This month I'll be working on painting a large batch of infantry for the HPC. It's going to be a challenge but I need to get a lot done in April and May if I'm to get through everything as June is going to be too hectic with birthdays, holidays etc.

Also currently working on a little side project to build all of the autocannon teams that I'll ever need. I'm just getting started but they're taking shape nicely:

Lots of dakka.

I attended the Forge World Open Day again this year. It's a really cool event and I would encourage any fan of FW stuff to go along at least once. It's great to be able to just chat with the people actually designing all these amazing miniatures. By now there are many pictures floating around and none of this will be new but here are a few pictures that I took anyway:

New Tyranid monstrous creature that will be included in the second edition of the Anphelion Project.

Mechanicum Siege Automata with rules in HH book 3.

Alternative Knight weapons - I suspected these would be coming... going to wait for these before I build my Knights.

Last but not least... the Knight Lancer. Yes please.

Astra Mili... SPACE ARMY!?
So... the Astra Militarum, eh? Having read the latest White Dwarf I can't say I'm too offended by the name change, or rather, the additional alternate official designation... The fact that all other Imperial agencies have a formal "high gothic" title seems like a fair enough justification for adding one for the Imperial Guard. They seem to be making it clear that it would be referred to as the Imperial Guard under normal circumstances and by most people, with the two names being interchangeable. But, that said, I think we all know that there's a much more cynical reason behind the name change... pretty hard to copyright 'Imperial Guard', was it GW? Anyway, let's accept it and move on. Expect to see your next book in 7th edition be called "Codex: Adeptus Astartes", Space Marine players!

I ordered a limited edition codex because I have a problem like that but since it won't be released until next week, all of what I'm about to say is based on the past two weeks of releases and the recent rumours that we've been hearing.

New Models
Ah the Taurox... in my view it's a classic example of a model that's almost... ALMOST cool. Oh well. Fortunately it should be fairly easy to replace those stupid goddamned tracks with wheels. Forgetting entirely about the Prime version (for now...), I'm not really sure that I see much of a niche for this thing in the actual game though... maybe if it had side armour 11? And if you could issue orders out of it... I don't know. In any case, I'll probably pick up a couple of these in a month or two and do some conversion work on them so they appear more pleasing to the eye!

Ogryns... Bullgryns, whatever. They really don't fit with either the theme or aesthetic of my army, built mostly on FW and 3rd party conversion bits such as it is, so I'll be giving these a wide berth. I may play against them though as a lot of people at the club play IG... so I suppose I'm interested in the rules for Bullgryns. They seem pretty expensive and not all that good in combat though... so I doubt they'll really take off. Have to wait and see if the rumours about some kind of mobile cover save / Aegis defence line rule prove to be true.

Sigh. It's about time we got a plastic Hydra but why is it open topped? You wanted to model some crew? Ugh. I'm actually more tempted to get the FW version now... maybe that was the plan, sell more resin. The FW version in Imperial Armour 1 is also NOT open topped... so unless they FAQ that (which would be retarded since the it fits the model) it will remain slightly better in-game, too. There are a couple of really cool 3rd party enclosed Hydra turrets out there now too.

What's going on with the Wyvern? Seems to be just another artillery vehicle in a crowded market, and a weak one at that. What does it matter that it ignores cover if it's only S4 (they tried to suggest that it would be good because it can deny jink saves...) and everything will get a normal armour save anyway? :/ I was hoping for a Griffon, as I'm sure many people were...

In general it seems like a wave of non-releases. An unnecessary transport vehicle, plastic (presumably still terrible) Ogryns with an assault variant that's bad in combat, a plastic but worse Hydra and Chimera chassis artillery tank number... what?... 5... 6 if you count the Deathstrike I think?

Deleted Units
A lot of people seem to be up in arms about the supposedly missing units, such as Harker, Marbo, the Colossus and the Griffon. Personally, I don't use Marbo and I find him annoying to play against so I won't be losing any sleep over that one - in principal it would be nice if they added a new character or two, rather than just removing them... and I do think it would be good to see a separate Catachan supplement with Harker, Marbo and Straken confined to that book.

The artillery vehicles... they're not gone anywhere really, they're still in Imperial Armour 1: Second Edition.

I'll be getting the codex next weekend so I'll offer some further thoughts once I've processed it.

Finally, Salute next weekend which should be fun!

February HPC Commitment Finished

February has gone well for hobby progress! Apart from the various distractions that took up some time earlier in the month, I've completed my Hobby Progress Challenge commitment and a little extra to boot!

2nd squad, 7th platoon, B company, 82nd Arcadian regiment.

Inquisitor Hera of the Ordo Xenos, ready to put insidious alien filth to the sword!

So, this is my Voss-manufactured Arcadian-pattern Leman Russ Battle Tank. Notable features include extra (ablative ceramite tile) armour designed to protect against heat-based melta and fusion weapons, external stowage racks and rust-proofed tread plating on the upper track-guards - all of which are extremely common among Arcadian operated vehicles. This particular vehicle, 'Five' is commanded by Lieutenant Caruchinko the 5th in the company and has been outfitted with an additional servo-skull operated auspex unit above the main gun, courtesy of a friendly tech-priest. 

I'll have a full ten-strong armoured company as part of the army. Each vehicle will have two number-markings on it: the vehicle number within the company (tank 5 in this case) and the overall regiment number (randomly, 362). It also says which platoon they're assigned to support, in this case 7th platoon.

Vehicle two of the second squadron in my armoured company...

I wanted to make use of the various decals that I had so I also listed the forge world that the tank was manufactured on and the name of the current commander. I imagine that the crew would almost have a kind of ritual to go with changing that name. Maybe the names of former commanders are on the inside somewhere, imperial machinery can be pretty old after all.

...which makes it tank number five.

I can totally paint nine more of these, right?...

Current Distractions

Still working on my Feb commitment for the HPC but have been side-tracked a little bit as other projects come to my attention.

I have a lot of stuff to paint and, as always, my preference is hugely for building over painting... one of my rules is to have everything at least built and primed. I thought I'd share a picture of my Kanban board to give an idea of how many things are outstanding:

As you can see, most of my stuff is primed... that column goes on for a while. Yellow items are part of the 2014 HPC and red things are being actively worked on as 'side-projects'. I'm confident that I can easily complete the HPC commitments as long as they're 10 or 12 models a month, so I plan to get a lot of other stuff progressed 'on the side'. I'll be priority-targeting those units that are in my Overlords Escalation League army list. This will mean that I rarely get my HPC commitments finished super-early, as a lot of people seem to be doing, but I'll be getting a lot of other stuff worked on in the background.

By way of example, these are the things I've been working on in February:

I bought the one on the left at last years Forge World open day... figured I better get it built before this years...

This was my Christmas project and has been painted for a while but I added decals and varnished it this month. 100% finished now!

Going to move the Tauros into the Primed column today since the weather is favourable. After that, I'll be finishing up the decals and the last few fine-details on my first Vendetta so that she can move into the Finished column - that will be a proud moment! God, I hate working with those Forge World wing decals... the remainder of my flyers will have much less detailed wings!

Feb Commitment & Progress Update

For Feb I decided to work on the following:

It's a squad of standard infantry and my Inquisitor - I thought painting a character model would be good for a couple of reasons... mostly just for a change of scene but also because it will give me a painted HQ choice - I'm trying to move swiftly towards a fully painted legal army.

Made quite a lot of progress on her so far - she may actually be deemed complete for the moment as I'm not really sure what to do with her next and I want to get back to the infantry squad now.

I have several projects active at the moment so I'm currently trying to get each of them to a point where I can set them aside and just focus on my monthly HPC commitments. Any spare time will then be spent on whatever other units are in my Overlords Escalation League army list. If I can get the second infantry squad done over the next week or so, I'll start on the Demolisher (I have 8 tanks and none of them are painted so that would be nice to finish) and put the platoon command in as my March HPC commitment, probably alongside another small unit.

Currently the Escalation list is (with items in green fully painted and yellow in progress):

Primary Detachment - Imperial Guard

HQ:
- Primaris Psyker @ 70 pts

Troops:
- Veteran Squad @ 205 pts (Plasma gun x3; Plasma Pistol)
Chimera (Heavy Bolter; Turret Autocannon; Pintle Heavy Stubber)

- Infantry Platoon @ 187 pts
Platoon Command Squad (Sniper Rifle x3; Boltgun)
Infantry Squad (Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher)
Infantry Squad (Grenade Launcher, Missile Launcher)

Heavy Support:
- Leman Russ Demolisher @175 pts (Heavy Bolter; Pintle Heavy Stubber)

Fortifications:
- Wall of Martyrs Imperial Defence Emplacement @ 40pts (Improved Arc of Fire; Stalwart Defence)

Inquisitorial Detachment:

HQ:
- Ordo Xenos Inquisitor @ 73 pts (Power Armour; Psyker; Plasma Pistol; Warlord)

Total: 750pts
I'm thinking of adding a bunch more troops when we jump to 1000 points and another tank plus extra fortifications (network) for 1250. After that I don't have a plan but I think a flyer or some solid AA will be needed! Of course... by then the new IG Codex will be out.

January Commitment Complete

Finished up the plasmagun equipped veterans this morning:

For February (the first real month of the challenge) I'm thinking of working on a normal infantry squad and also either the Inquisitor or the Psyker.

Games Played - 05/01/14

Got the first game of 2014 and of the Overlords Escalation League in this afternoon!

Alas I did not win but that hardly matters - a fun game and a few more lessons learned for next time.

Game 1: Inquisition
Size: 500pts
Mission: The Scouring
Deployment:
Enemy Force:
Coteaz with two squads of henchmen, one very stabby with a priest and one half shooty, half stabby - both in chimeras.

Game Summary:
This was a very cagey game indeed with much of the early-to-mid game spent attempting to maneuver our units into the best potions before dealing a killing blow. Sadly (for my troops anyway...) Coteaz and his attached squad of crusaders and flagellants made their move first!

A bold charge into my lines led by the man himself saw my veterans and their transport brought down - sadly my Psyker-Warlord was attached to their unit and thus died with them. It wasn't a total loss though as every single henchman in his retinue died in the process. Coteaz survived, however.

Nearby, an infantry squad remained out of the melee. They were tank-shocked off their objective and rather than stand and fight, I chose to make a break for a different objective nearby. They made it but it wasn't enough to save the game.

On the other side of the board, the mixed unit of acolytes and crusaders faced off against my platoon command and the other infantry squad (both safely fortified within my Imperial Defence Emplacement). This was a less eventful skirmish... each holding an objective, a few casualties on either side - stalemate, really.

Result:
Minor Defeat
Inquisition - 5  (One objective worth 3 VP plus Slay the Warlord and First Blood).
Imperial Guard - 3 (Two objectives worth 1 and 2 VP each).

Thoughts:
I need to be more aware of assault ranges. I could easily have avoided the charge by moving defensively (I actually had moved CLOSER on my previous turn...). I also realize now that I should have actually accepted Coteaz's challenge with my Psyker, tying him up for an extra turn! As it was, I declined not really thinking that the whole unit could still be wiped out regardless. Just declining the challenge doesn't mean you can't be killed!

In general, I made some small mistakes but nothing catastrophic. I probably should have utilized my veterans more aggressively in the early game by pushing for one of the enemy objectives. With this mission, it might even have been wise to reserve them so that I could pick the most valuable target (once the objectives had been revealed). My Psyker tried his best but Throne... two successful deny the witches, a bum roll on Psychic Shriek and a perils of the warp... it just wasn't his day. Not willing to give up on him just yet though - we'll see how he gets on in future games.

Another fun game anyway - next week I think I'll try to get a game in against a Xenos or Chaos army as I haven't really faced anything but Imperial armies since 3rd Edition...

January Commitment

Although the Independent Characters HPC doesn't begin until February, the rules permit for the painting of excess units prior to this - provided that one commitment is still completed during each month between Feb and June. So, I'm going to get one of my units out of the way this month.

I'll be painting a squad of Veterans with 3 plasma guns and a sergeant with a plasma pistol / power sword combo. As with all of my troops they use Forge World Elysian models. Their veteran status is denoted by their bandannas, shaved heads and dust/glare protection goggles. My veterans are typically mounted in a transport (be it a Chimera or Vendetta) and are tasked with seizing enemy-held facilities, fortifications etc., to that end they're armed with compact CQB-variant lascarbines.

Before painting. All models primed with Army Painter Uniform Grey.