Tale of 40k Gamers -Glen #5 Word Bearers - Initial pledge complete

Here is the final unit of my initial 400 point pledge.  The Contemptor Dreadnought from the Betrayal at Calth set.

I painted it using the same methods I employed on the Marines but on a larger scale.  I added a lot of chipping using the sponge technique, along with freehand and some transfers it breaks up the flat red panels.

As it was a nice large model to paint I made up a simple custom base.  Just a GW building floor section, textured paint, slate and a skull.   I painted the floor panels in a turquoise blue tone to match the eye lenses on all the suits of armour then washed and weathered it to tone it down.

Now it's time to motivate a couple of the other guys to catch up a bit before moving to the next segment.  In the meantime there is always plenty to paint.  I may even do another initial 400 point pledge using the FW Heretic list.  They will go nicely alongside the Word Bearers.

...and here is the full starting group complete.  I have quite a collection of unpainted Chaos miniatures but if anyone has any suggestions for additions to the Defilers of Calth please share.

Tale of 40K Gamers - Sam #3 Flesh Tearers

After showing us his Scouts and Drop Pod, Sam has sent in another update!

Here in all their glory is his full ten man Flesh Tearer Tactical Squad.

Looking at the images you can see Sam has equipped them with Meltagun, Heavy flamer and a pair of inferno pistols on the sergeant.  I would think they will deploy via Drop Pod, combat squad out and be able to effectively engage two different units(well that's how I do it).

As with his other Flesh Tearers, Sam has based them all in a nice consistent manner which I think looks really good against the dark red and black of the armour.

 He has built them using parts from the Blood Angel Tactical Squad and Death Company sets.  I would recommend using these along with the Sanguinary Guard for anyone building Blood Angels or their successors.

Excellent work Sam, now you just have to learn the ways of 40K ;)

Tale of 40K Gamers - Sam #2 Flesh Tearers

We have an update from Sam.  He has sent these through and it shows some nice progress on his Drop Pod and squad of Sniper Scouts

I think the basing really nicely goes with these miniatures and will look good across the entire force.

Tale of 40K Gamers - Alex #1 Tau

Another participant in our little group project is Alex.  Over the last few years he has worked on Chaos Marines, Deathwing, Necrons and now Tau.(You can see the move to competitive play in the armies)

With GW's Get Started army boxes being such a good deal, Alex bought into Tau.  Taking inspiration from the Covenant in the Halo universe Alex has gone with a primary purple colour with blue light effects and they are looking good.

 Here is his first batch of Fire Warriors.

Tale of 40k Gamers - Glen #4 Word Bearers

I have completed my first full 10 man squad of Word Bearers.  Like the previous miniatures they are all taken from the Betrayal at Calth set.  In the second five I added the ever versatile missile launcher, it should do the trick vs other forces in the group project.

Now all of the squad have not only freehand geometric  symbols and scripture, but all Legion markings with transfers.  I don't usually use transfers but the ones included look pretty good.  Two coats of varnish should keep theme in good order.

Next up on the painting table will be the final part of my initial pledge, the Contemptor Dreadnought and also a Deathwing Land Raider for a friend.

40k 08.03.2016

Last night Gareth and I had a game of 40k. We used the Maelstrom IX pack (here) and rolled up mission 3 (objective in each zone worth 4 VP, control objectives for maelstrom card drawing, and 1 VP for each StW, FB and LB)

We were only playing 1000pt so we could keep learning our respective army rules. I used Ravenwing and Gareth was playing Cult Mechanicus and Skitarri.

I focussed on controlling the board early on to get Maelstrom cards - while eliminating the heavy grav kataphron destroyers that could ignore cover (if the kastelans did a wound). My support squadron of 4 speeders moved to higher ground to get clear shots and I failed 3 out of 4 dangerous tests - ouch. However this combined with other shooting did enable me to wipe off one squad early for first blood.

Gareth wiped off the (now heavily damaged) support squadron with some firepower (getting his single kastelan wound on them first to remove cover), then moved to consolidate his forces in his corner to not get attacked piecemeal. 

Board control made the difference

Turn 2-4 I racked up 8 VP on maelstrom quickly by controlling 4 objectives. Also engaged and destroyed the other heavy grav katephrons with some attack bikes.

However not dealing with the kastelans started to hurt - their firepower caused me to lose bikes quickly even with ravenwing jinking. 18 S6 AP3 shots hurt - especially with 12 of them TL! My librarian made a mad dash for saftey but failed 4 of his 8 2+ cover saves, so even FNP didn't save him.

With my numbers depleted Gareth pushed out took most the board back, however I still just managed to hold my objective on turn 6 when the game ended as Gareth rolled a 3.

In the end we both held our home objective for 4 VP. I had 8 VP from maelstrom cards, Gareth had 5 VP. Gareth had slay the warlord and I had first blood for 1 VP each. 10 - 13 made the tournament points a 12-8, a minor victory for me. I would say that pretty accurately represented the final result. Turn 7 would have likely changed that to a big victory for Gareth.

Next time - stepping up to 1500pt.

Weekend gaming variety

Well I'm about a week late with these photos - but worth a post none the less.

Last weekend Wellington had some visitors from near (Levin) and far (London) and we settled into a variety of gaming related activities.

Played some more Cthulhu wars (refer previous posts for pics) - then we busted out an old gem you may be familiar with called Magic: The Gathering: 

What do you mean 'tapping?'

We also played a fantastic game called Mansions of Madness - 4 victorian era nutcases investigating a haunted house while being chased around by zombies.

My character was this dashing gentlemen who spent far too long investigating horror mysteries and not enough time at the gym (read, high INT low CON)

He developed an bad dose of kleptomania and went around stealing peoples stuff while blasting zombies with his shrivelling spell

However he met his end when a nasty zombie special attack took away 2/3 of his health and gave him some internal bleeding. He crawled into a corner and slowly died while the others won the day...

Also finally later on in the weekend I had my first go at 3rd Edition Infinity. My Haqqislam starter kit teamed up with a friends PanO versus some Nomads and Ariadna.

Terrain is very important

The opening shot was my sniper grunt making a crit kill against the enemy sniper (good rolls!) and the firepower of our side got quite fortunate early on. There was a lot of rule checking (we are all new players) but looking like a promising game system.

Terrain is very important and each player is constantly involved with the ARO system (basically reacting to enemy movement). Looking forward to learning more about it.