Battle Ready 2022, part one

Grey Knights. That’s the army for January.

Currently I have a very small amount of models painted. I’ll try and dig them out for a group shot.

A few months back I bought some out of print metal Grey Knight Terminators from Troll Trader, enough to make up 3 squads of 5. I have a box of the current plastic Grey Knight Terminators that I’m making up as an Apothecary, a Standard Bearer and a 3 man Paragon Squad.

They’ll be the core of my GK army, adding to the Stormraven Gunship, Dreadknight and a few other odds and ends.

Even the already painted models will be getting a wee spruce up with some paint.

I’ll dig the other models out of the cabinet later and I’ll try and get a picture up for tomorrow.

🙂

Links:
Troll Trader
Plastic Grey Knight Terminators from GW

Things to do for 2021 – The Warhammer List, part one

This year I didn’t get as much painting done as I would have liked. Not fine art but the subtle art of painting tiny soldiers for the purpose of table-top wargaming.

I have loads of models built and very little painted. They’re on my shelves of shame.

I think, rather than setting a goal of new armies or any foolishness like that, I’m going to do an army project a month. To clear through an army a month is achieveable, and it stops things from getting stale. If I haven’t finished an army by the end of the month, then back on the shelf they go and the next one is given a once-over.

This gets certain projects, like my Grey Knight Terminators, Adeptus Titanicus Titans, Aeronautica Imperialis models, and a few other small projects, a set amount of time to progress the models.

It’s a different plan, in that I have a plan at all.

Tomorrow I’ll have a look at the shelves of shame and try and set a more solid list.

There’s Stompin’ and There’s STOMPIN’

Although I’ve not played any Warhammer at all this year, my mini painting has continued in fits and starts.

A wee while ago I sucummbed to the voice in my head – one of the good ones – and picked up this guy.

The Ork Stompa.

I don’t have an Ork army, and have no intention of working on one, but ever since the Stompa was released I had an eye on it. It’s just so cool.

The is the work in progress as it stands, with a tentative name of The Great Pumpkin, but so far it is coming together nicely. And that’s despite the instructions being the worst of any model kit I’ve ever bought.

A guy here has made annotations to the current instructions. These were a big help.

The Stompa isn’t finished yet. There are banners to go on its back, a shoulder panel for the Big Choppa arm, some hatches, other decorations and some Gretchin (the Warhammer 40K equivalent of goblins).

I’ll put it on the shelf for a week or so while I crack on with finishing the hungry, hungry Tyranids. Then I’ll go back and work on the Stompa some more.

Here are some photos:

Links:
Ork Stompa – Games Workshop
Better Instructions – Imgur

The Adventures of Inquisitor Smashface

There’s a game available on Steam (and, presumably, most modern consoles) called Warhammer 40K: Inquisitor – Martyr. As you can guess it’s linked to the ever popular tabletop wargame, Warhammer 40K, a game where you move little soldiers about your friends Mum’s dining table, rolling dice and listening to W.A.S.P., while casually keeping an eye on his mum and her friend who are obviously trying to pretend that they can’t make out the lyrics to the live version of Animal (Fuck Like A Beast), which starts with a rising chant of “Fuck like a beast, fuck like a beast”.

Allen Johnston, I’m looking at your here. I’m still amazed that you never got pulled up for that.

Anyway, Warhammer has come a long way since the heady days of my teens. And while I have a reborn love of moving expensive tokens about a make-believe battlefield, the electronic gaming part of the hobby is yet another channel to pour the precious seconds of my life into.

I’ve played Inquisitor – Martyr before, initially on the Playstation, but I could never get into it. An almost perfect storm has caused me to get into it again now.

  1. My daughter has all but commandeered the Playstation. It was inevitable.
  2. I got a new pc at the start of the year, a shiny laptop to replace the aging Frankencomputer I had before.
  3. The game was really cheap on Steam.

A. Perfect. Storm.

It’s a game in the style of Diablo. You play as one of four character types, each with their own playstyle, you gain experience points for killing baddies and completing missions. All the usual stuff.

So, Inquisitor Smashface. He runs about with a heavy flamer (a bigger than big flamethrower) and a thunder hammer (a two-handed hammer that has electricity running through it). And it’s great fun. Smashface has reached level 20 now, which means I can take the hammer. Before this, using the flamer was like running the game in easy mode. But now that i’ve unlocked the Thunder Hammer? Bloody hell, it’s fun.

As long as I keep moving, and don’t get tied up in fighting mobs, i bash the heads of heretics in. It’s great fun. As I unlock more skills, i’ll try other weapon combinations but, for now, it’s all about burning the enemy and flattening them with a big hammer.

New Year, New Army?

There’s this thing, New Year, New Army, which I know is a marketing tool used against the weak-minded. Or me. It’s being used successfully against me.

There are these monsters in Warhammer 40,000. Tyranids. Part of an intergalactic-biomass-hivemind, they travel between the stars stripping planets of biological matter. Tasty, tasty biomass.

Tyranid Hive Tyrant. He's pretty, isn't he? And hungry too.

Image copyright Games Workshop
Tyranid Hive Tyrant. He’s pretty, isn’t he? And hungry too.
Image copyright Games Workshop

There are was to play the army, one is with a horde of tiny monsters and the other is known as “Nidzilla”, which is a collection of big monsters.

I’m going down the big monsters route.

I’ll post some photos of the guys I’ve painted once I can get access to a better camera. Ha.

So, Nidzilla. This is for a number of reasons.

  1. Big monsters
  2. Not so much to paint.
  3. It’ll look amazing.
  4. Big monsters.

That last point was an important one.

I’ve painted two models out of the seven I currently own and I’m digging the paint scheme. You’ll have to manage your own expectations there.

Links:
New Year, New Army – Warhammer Community

Managing Expectations…

So, this happened…

Then, this happened…

Initially scunnered, I’m now sitting at my desk with broken tanks, glue and a sense of peace and acceptance.

40k : astra militarum and alpha legion vs. tau (750+750vs1500)

Tonight’s game was a three player, two vs one, game of Warhammer 40000, Games Workshop’s futuristic military tabletop miniatures game.

I brought 750 points of Astra Militarum.

This isn’t a battle report of any kind but a wee breakdown of how my army performed, unit by unit, especially as I brought some things to battle for the first time. Let’s begin.

Company Commander
+ laspistol
+ frag grenades

Company Commander
+ laspistol
+ frag grenades

These guys are order generators, and to pay the H.Q. tax. Low points and a basic loadout, they’re not used for actual combat.

Infantry Squad
+ lasgun / 9
+ frag grenades
+ laspistol / sergeant

Infantry Squad
+ lasgun / 9
+ frag grenades
+ laspistol / sergeant

Infantry Squad
+ lasgun / 9
+ frag grenades
+ laspistol / sergeant

One squad for minding the Basilisk with a Company Commander. The other two, with a CC, for objective sitting.

Bullgryns
+ Bullgryn maul / 3
+ frag bombs
+ slabshield

A first time unit. I wanted to see how useful they’d be for hitting and smashing. They took on a Tau Commander and lost. To be fair, I rolled badly. Adding a Ministorum Priest would have given the unit an extra 3 attacks. The slabshield was worth the points, though. It kept my guys alive for another turn.

Hellhound
+ heavy flamer
+ inferno cannon

Armoured Sentinel
+ heavy flamer
+ Sentinel chainsaw

Armoured Sentinel
+ heavy flamer
+ Sentinel chainsaw

The Hellhound was a new unit. The inferno cannon is a beast. 2D6 auto hits at strength 6. It all but wiped out a unit of Tau Fire Warriors. The Sentinels I used to accompany the Hellhound. They did an okay job, but swapping them out for a second HH seems a better use of the points.

I DO like Sentinels though.

Basilisk
+ Earthshaker cannon
+ Heavy bolter

The Basilisk needs a pal. One isn’t enough to do serious damage now that weapon templates aren’t a thing. I can churn out a good amount of damage to single units, but only D6 hits (rolling two D6’s and choosing the highest) a turn. I should have used it for picking apart battlesuits but I wasted it on squads of cheap infantry.

Valkyrie
+ multi-laser
+ two multiple rocket pods
+ two heavy bolters

For delivering the Bullgryns and annoying the enemy. It was okay but didn’t do as well as in the past.

For a next game, at that points level, I’d add a second Hellhound, drop the Valkyrie and Basilisk and maybe add some Heavy Weapon Teams. And maybe a Chimera transport for the infantry, for objective camping.

A good fun game though. 🙂

battle ready – pastor niles

Okay, as promised, an actual model that’s been painted. 🙂

Everyone, say hello to Pastor Niles.

Pastor Niles is one of the Ministorum Priests assigned to Major Emerson’s Fighting 27th, a motley collection of soldiers trying to stay alive on the nightmare world of Planet Nine.

He’s shinier than expected when seen close up. That must be something to do with the light of the God-Emperor, or something…

battle ready – windmaster oh

I’ve had this model kicking around, unpainted, for years. A couple of editions of Warhammer Fantasy Battle ago.

Now we’re in the brave new world of Warhammer Age of Sigmar, version 2.0 no less, and maybe it’s time to splash some paint on the old fella. Also, I’ve been inspired by the recent chat over at Warhammer Community and Citadel Colour of getting models, units and armies “Battle Ready”.

And, let’s face it, it’s something else to do with my amazing website of no content.

Windmaster Oh, all green and keen.

Windmaster Oh, for want of a better name, has a base coat of Loren Forest here. I’m just about to splash some Biel-Tan Green over him. Once that dries I’ll start working on him from the base up.

little plastic unpainted faces

No, not a sermon on the devilry of over-used plastic surgery but a few thoughts on that other scourge of our times… Warhammer!

I had a long term strategy where I wouldn’t use any model that wasn’t fully painted. Problem is my painting speed is glacial. So I have a number of boxes of wee plastic men who haven’t seen any tactical game action.

The last few games, however, I’ve brought out a few tanks that aren’t quite finished. Then a squad that haven’t seen anything other than undercoat.

And that got me thinking, why am I doing this to myself?

This week I’m going to unbox as much as possible and glue it up so that it’s usable for a game. I wonder how much I’ll have ready by the end of the week?