The British...I mean, Praetorians are coming!

A few posts back I showed a WIP Praetorian guard for 40k, well, I decided to go one step further and add the 208th Praetorian Infantry to my burgeoning Epic armies!

I've not quite got my head round photographing 6mm infantry, maybe I need to switch back to my actual camera and its macro settings as opposed to my (admittedly decent) phone camera.

These are the first 4 bases of what will be an 8 base Infantry Company, the models are from Baccus 6mm and aren't actually Imperial Guard, they are actually 6mm British Colonial troops with their long rifles cut down to more closely resemble lasguns.  They haven't got an extensive range of different troops so I think some creative greenstuffing will be in order to make Grenadiers/Stormtroopers.  I also managed to snag some Stormblades off eBay so the Praetorian's have the first of their armoured support.

208th Praetorian Infantry

Hailing from the Hive World of Praetoria the 208th were latecomers to the 73rd Expedition fleet, having been raised following the compliance of Dreska. The 73rd had lost almost the entirety of the 16th Michorian Samites during the compliance of the renegade humans and subsequent running space battles with nearby Orkoid forces which had been drawn towards the growing conflict.

The Praetorians were considered 'green' troops upon joining the expedition, have been recent formed and, as such, untested in the field.  Despite their untested status the Praetorians proved effective in the field, being deployed first against the Eldar during the purge of Jorn III alongside fellow Milita regiments of the 603rd Mødherne Brotherhood and the 9th Sumian Mamelukes and then again working directly alongside Legion elements of the IX and XII Legions during the Neverlight Compliance.

Being a recently founded company the 208th joined the expedition fleet with their full compliment of armoured fighting vehicles.  Standard battle tanks, such as the Leman Russ were in abundance as well as larger super heavy tanks such as the Stormblade.  

A relatively recent addition to the Armouries of the Imperial Militia the Stormblade was a tank of known provenance, having served for the early decades of the Great Crusade in the armouries of the Legiones Astartes.  However, with the discovery of STC data allowing for the creation of the Fellblade, Glaive and Falchion super heavy tanks the Stormblade found itself increasingly sidelined in favour of the more advanced tank designs.

As the crusade wore on these mothballed units found themselves being recommissioned into the rapidly expanding regiments of the Imperialis Mitia, or Imperial Army. Finding a new purpose amongst the human soldiery the Stormblade ground its way across the battlefields of the galaxy unleashing the fury of its Plasma Blastgun upon the enemies of humanity once more.

Legion Armour

As tanks such as the Stormblade fell out of favour with the Legions armoured behemoths such as the Legion Glaive were gaining a reputation as main line tanks within the Legions. Detachments such as the above, attached the the VI Grand Battalion, III Tagma of the IV Legion could be found on myriads of battlefields across the galaxy.  

Primarily deployed against infantry heavy positions the Glaive's Volkite Carronade was capable of reducing massed infantry to smoking ruin in moments and was even effective against light vehicles. The 73rd had an expansive armoury of Volkite weaponry going into the Neverlight compliance and then into the Mycenae campaign, effective as they were against the massed infantry assaults and ramshackle vehicles  

When they came under attack from, what the considered, renegade elements of the XII and XVII Legions they were forced to turn the deadly Volkite weapons on their erstwhile brethren.  The Carronades of the Glaive's proved particularly useful at scything through the packed ranks of degenerate cultists thrown before any assault by the Word Bearers.

Land Raiders and Rhinos were commonplace on the battlefields of the Great Crusade, so much so that their use extended beyond the Legions to the Imperial Army, or at least, those regiments capable of manufacturing their own.

 WIP Stuff

I've got quite a bit on the painting bench at the moment, including a pair of Mastodons, a Trio of Fellblades and a squadron of Leman Russ tanks.  But here's some shots of the next 4 bases of the Praetorians, a tiny Primarch and my first test paint for some Metalica Secutarii Titan guard.

Thats my weekend sorted!

Until Next Time

  

Continuing the Brotherhood and Weekender thoughts

It’s been a sparse hobby week this week, then a busy weekend of craft fairs and zoo visits hasn’t lent a lot of time to doing hobby things.

 

I did, however, get the remaining 15 Squats for the Infantry Platoon built and primed.

 

Not very impressive I know but proof I did something!

 

 I did start painting them but the progress isn’t really worth showing yet.  I decided in the end to prep them all and get them painted without their pistols and then I can paint and add the guns on as and when I can get hold of them.

 

I haven’t been entirely idle though and I thought I’d show a bit of what I’m working on behind the scenes for these guys:

 

I’m working on a background book/pdf.  I’ve been furiously squirrelling away all the information I can find on the Squats background and I’m in the process of trying to bring their fluff up to date.  When I started this I hadn’t realised how difficult that was going to be, it’s a lot harder rewriting/adapting someone else’s work than it is to write your own and that surprised me.  All the units are going to fit in to the Militia list with the exception of the last few:

 

Anything with [] around them I haven't decided on names for.

I’m going to attempt to create apocalypse data sheets for the Colossus, Cyclops, Leviathan and Land Train.  I’ve seen a few that people have made for the Leviathan and one for the Colossus, but they are definitely made with the Imperial Guard in mind and I what a definite Squat feel to these.  I am considering dropping the Land Train from the list though, I don’t know, I’m struggling with it a bit.

 

Moving on though, I’m excited!  It was the Horus Heresy & Necromunda Weekender this weekend, and although I couldn’t be there myself I have been living vicariously through some of the other blogs that did have people in attendance, mostly Recalcitrant Daze and Battle Bunnies (both excellent blogs that you should check out) who I have totally stolen these pics from.

 

There has been some awesome stuff previewed and available at the event and a few things in particular that have caught my eye.

 

First, and most obviously, the Squat Bounty Hunter for Necromunda, GW gave a sneak peak of this on Friday(as well as showing they are aware that people want plastic SOB and Thunderhawks) but people got to see the mini in the flesh… err, resin, at the show. 

 

I don't remember the old Squats having quite so big bears though?  Meh, I still love it!

I have to say it looks amazing, I fully intend to pick one up, he’s probably not going to fit in aesthetically with my army but I certainly want to just paint him up.  He definitely has the retro squat look going on.  Who knows though, I’ve heard the reaction to him has been overwhelming on social media so maybe GW will take the hint and we’ll get a new faction.

 

One of the other things that really made me go ooooh, was the Termite.

 

I’m not sure what the rules are going to be for this, I’ve seen conflicting reports going from it being Legion only to it being available for all forces and everywhere in between.  If it is legion only though, perhaps Forgeworld would be kind enough to FAQ Survivors of the Dark Age to allow its use alongside Rhinos and Land Raiders?

 

Please?

 

The Aurox is an interesting little kit,  I’ve seen people describing it as a prototype Chimera for the Solar Auxila and Militia but I’m not sure,  I get more of a Dracosan vibe from it. 

 

Perhaps the idea is it’s the step between a Dracosan and a Chimera?  I don’t know, I like it though, and if it is available for Militia it fills the much needed transport gap between a 40 man Gorgon and 12 man Arvus, I like the idea of the Arvus but it’s got paper armour and rubbish guns so if you put your command section in there it’s going to get blown out of the sky!

 

The Final interesting thing is the Ordinatus Mole.

 

With it being an Ordinatus I suspect it will only be available to the Mechanicum, which makes me sad.  I’ll still get one even if I can’t use it!  (with me squats anyway, my Taghmata force might get some use out of it though). 

 

Hopefully I’ll get these last 15 Brotherhood Warriors painted this week and I can actually post a meaningful update!

Until next time!

Brotherhood update

Just a quick post today,  I got some paint on the 5 Brotherhood warriors that have weapons!

I kept the scheme pretty simple as I am still going with the theme that most of their gear is dual purpose and is, largely, drawn from their mining equipment.  I think the Akanauts fit that theme really well, with the small packs on their back that resemble air filters and their boiler suits.

These five are almost done, I've missed a few details that I've noticed that just need touching up before I get their bases sorted. After that its weathering.

The other reason for keeping the scheme simple is the sheer number of these guys I will be painting.  I've not settled on a complete list yet but already in a 1500pt list I will need over a hundred of them and if I'd made the scheme too convoluted I would quickly lose interest in painting that many.

I've been thinking on my weapon problem as well. I'm thinking the best way forward for now is to get the whole squad painted up, sans weapons, and then as and when I can get hold of them to paint the guns up separately and add them later.  Otherwise, at the rate the weapons are coming up on eBay, its going to be next Christmas before the squad is finished!


Anyway, that's all for now.


Until next time!

New Year, New Post

Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.


Or in other words, I'm back! Only 2 years and 3 months late but hey, if the Imperium can't keep track of dates then surely I can be forgiven?


I wont bore you with the details but I'll just say everything is settling down and getting back to normal and I'm getting back to doing what I love, painting tiny plastic figures.


I've not been entirely absent since the last update, I have been keeping up with new releases and announcements (as well as the relative controversy that have gone with them). I've even been picking up models here and there (only for them to languish on the sprues).


But!  I do not come empty handed, finally starting to get my hobby groove back, and having a little extra time off over the holidays, I have got some painting done.  I finally got round to making a start on my Custodes from the Battle of Prospero box (they sent me 10 Custodes and no Terminators, which actually didn't bother me as I'm not a huge fan of Tartarus armour to begin with).


They aren't quite finished yet, they need another layer or two of highlights and there's a few details left to pick out but over all I'm happy with where they're headed.

Perhaps not the best unit to choose to get yourself back into painting but you know, in for a penny in for a pound.

I really like the Custodes models, they're true to the artwork in Visions of Heresy without being too fiddly on detail to be able to actually paint them.  I will say that I feel that unless Forgeworld (or even GW themselves) don't put out some alternate bits for them the poses my start to feel repetitive if you have too many of the same variation, but that's a minor gripe and once I'm back full swing into building and converting I'll just start chopping and changing them to keep them fresh.

 Here's some, admittedly terrible, shots of the individuals, they'll get the full lightbox treatment once they're finished, and I'll also do some side by sides with my Custode conversions I did way back when for the Tempus Fugitives Burning of Prospero event.

 

 

 

 I also made a start on a 4 man(for now) squad of Sentinel Guards, these guys have only had the first layer of gold so are clearly nowhere near done but hey, I actually did something so here they are!

Still much work to be done.

I've got another 5 Custodes still on the sprue who will be being built as Sagittarum Guard once I get paid and order the conversion kit, I'll also be picking up a set of the Aquilon Terminators with Infernus Firepikes.  I've also got some of the bits on their way to build my Shield Captain, but he really will deserve his own post once he's done.



 My copy of the Age of Darkness rulebook also arrived this week so I'll be having a proper read through that over the weekend and seeing what has changed from the core 7th ed books, I've seen a lot of discussions/arguments about whether 30k should stay in 7th or update to 8th and I do have my opinions on the matter which I'll pen properly while I'm going over the book.

In non Warhammer news I joined a new gaming group! Headed by the good Dr Vesuvius over at The Axis of Naughtiness, who at seems is as good at updates as I am, that said we have been playing a long running Savage World campaign as well as some excellent one off games, the one I am really enjoying right now is Starfight.

Here's some examples of the print and play stuff.

It's a pretty simple pick up and play space ship combat game, and helpfully, its print and play and dirt cheap to buy, I think I picked up the basic rules and most of the expansions for about £10. 

The rules are simple, you have a set number of dice that are your ships power dice, you roll them at the start of each turn and allocate them to the shields, weapons and engines marked on your ships sheet, as you take hits you lose dice, when you have no dice left, your ship explodes, I mean, there is a little more to it but that's the rules in a nutshell.  Now, I mentioned its print and play yes? Well, if you have a hex grid gaming mat then you can make it more like this!

This was with Dr Vesuvius' mat and some old Star Trek Micro Machines (and Catan bits to represent planets) but it makes it much more visual than the print and play, which my only grip with is that if you print it on A4 its quite small.  I'll be getting my own hex mat at some point and some models to play with, perhaps I can repurpose some of the smaller Battlefleet Gothic ships to use?  We shall see.

Anyway, that's it for now, I'm hoping to get some more painting done on the Custodes tonight or tomorrow so will hopefully have them finished by weekend.

Until then!  



Vow Complete, Second Vow & reinforcements

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Both in terms of hobby stuff and real life.  I won’t bore you with details of non-hobby related stuff but I will bring you up to speed on my progress hobby wise.

 First up, I finished my first vow for E Tenebrae Lux!  Those Volkites were a bit of a slog admittedly but I’m glad their done now!  Here’s the pics

 

 

 

 

You can see the Spartan in the background but I couldn’t get a decent picture of it at the time but you get the idea.  I’ve since noticed bits on some that need touching up (Chest skull on the Moritat and base rims on the Volkites for a start) but overall I’m happy with how they turned out.

So that leads me into vow number 2! Quoted from my B&C post

 I Rolltonotdie rise a second time to the challenge of E TENEBRAE LUX and vow to complete

 6 Thallax Battle Automata with 2x Phased Plasma Fusils 285pts

6 Thallax Battle Automata with 2x Photon Thruster 305pts

2 Castellax Battle Automata with Mauler Bolt Cannons 170pts

1 Thanatar Siege Automata with Enhanced Targeting Array & Paragon of Metal 290pts

for a total value of 1050 points  from the age of darkness army lists on or before August 1st, 2015. Success will bring eternal glory to the IV Legion and failure will doom me to bear the Badge of the Oathbreaker until the year-end!

Onwards! To Victory!

Now following that I had to change my vow slightly as I realised one of the Castellax I bought was distinctly Multimelta/Powerblade flavoured… should have checked that first really!  But anyhow here’s how they look as well as early WIP test paints on a Thallax and the Thanatar.

 

 

 

So that should keep me busy for a little while…

 In other news I’ve been working on something to reinforce my Iron Warriors and on a Militia list from Tempest.

First up, it was my birthday last week and my family was kind enough to gift me with a Deredeo Dreadnought.  I’ve got him mostly together I’m just working on a Atomantic Pavaise for his secondary armament, as you’ll see in the second pic I’ve started with a console from a drop pod and I’m starting to feed some cabling out of it,  I’ll be doing some small emitter plates on the front of the chassis once I decide how I want them to look.  I swapped the head out for a spare MkIV Iron Warriors dreadnought head I had knocking around (you know, as you do)but other than  that he’s pretty standard for now.  I’m thinking of adding some reinforced armour to the legs and chassis (similar to my ETL Contemptor), what do you think?

 

 

 

Now, the Militia list.  I really like the list, it’s so versatile it just gives you the opportunity to go wild with conversions.  So naturally I’ve gravitated towards a fully converted army, because I like to make life difficult.

Welcome to the fray the  603rd Mødherne Brotherhood! Led by their Warlord (Counts as Force Commander) Harek Stálmund! (still WIP obviously)

 

 

 

Yep, I’m doing Squats.  Survivors of the Dark Age and Abhuman Helots make perfect, Toughness 4, 3+ Save (with carapace armour) little stunties!   

I’ve always liked the Squats as an idea, but I agree with GW’s line that the race as a whole had failed to do the archetype justice and (especially as 40k has got even Grimdarker since) they didn’t really fit the setting. 

That said I do think there is a place for space dwarves in the ‘verse.  I’m in the process of trying to rewrite the Squat fluff to move them from somewhat flamboyant space Viking bikers to the resolute mining colony survivors of the Dark Age they were meant to be.  More on that in later posts.

 I took some inspiration, and in a couple of cases downright stole some ideas from the amazing work of the Brotherhood of Steel over at Iron Sleet, and they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery so hopefully he won’t be too offended!  Honestly, check them out, they do some awesome stuff over there!

I’m working on two units at the moment, both based (loosely) around the Ironbreaker/Irondrakes box, both are still very much WIP so forgive the roughness.  The first is my Platoon Commander  using the Ironbreaker bodies and Tempestus Scion arms: 

 

The second is a unit of Ogryns, again using the Ironbreaker body but combined with a modified Centurion to make Exo Armour!  I’ve tried to copy they Iron Sleet pattern for this, I’ve made a few faux pars on this one but its all a learning curve so I’m sure they’ll get easier as I do more.

 

So that’s the first of a unit of 3 (for now), armed with a Hammerdrill (Close Combat Weapon), Heavy Breach Rifle (Heavy Bolter) and Exo Armour Suit (Carapace Armour but provenance makes it a 3+).

I’ll be working on the other two over the next few days.

Until next time…