tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23559599328527532912024-03-18T21:33:52.839+00:00The Beard BunkerJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13109377258517790966noreply@blogger.comBlogger485125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-89171911135022176022024-03-18T08:00:00.002+00:002024-03-18T09:06:14.997+00:00Over the sky and far away: Officers of the Kessarine<p>Greetings my lovely bunker dwellers! I promised <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2024/02/pride-of-kessarine-includes-victoria.html">last time</a> that I'd be back with more tales of the Kessarine 4th Armoured Brigade. Today it's the turn of the officer corps of C-company to be in the spotlight, and because they're the real story makers of the Kessarine we're going to be getting into some more lore courtesy of the opinions of the fine and upstanding <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/10/from-sands-to-stars.html">Commissar Dravland</a>. I'll split each bit of the post into two sections, one painting and modelling and the other lore. To make it nice and easy to find the bits you want I'll do Dravland's thoughts in itallics. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguxd_3cMiJBn46nINSmXpNyuXqhiF-02RVAR0GrFn3MVZm7qGrPwsTQBb6cj46OgRXT9Aviv1iZcUZZ4IjFeXXBCkOHmq0vCTkBOky_wmRarpakMFjejffa6RqshMlnteO9onAyYIJJrp7nMKZ1DL63svKV0PBkRDbHoFm-K7e_uDlV4gDP06QAfiL3f1K/s2045/Command%20Squads.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="2045" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguxd_3cMiJBn46nINSmXpNyuXqhiF-02RVAR0GrFn3MVZm7qGrPwsTQBb6cj46OgRXT9Aviv1iZcUZZ4IjFeXXBCkOHmq0vCTkBOky_wmRarpakMFjejffa6RqshMlnteO9onAyYIJJrp7nMKZ1DL63svKV0PBkRDbHoFm-K7e_uDlV4gDP06QAfiL3f1K/w640-h288/Command%20Squads.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Given that there is no option to just have an individual non-Cadian officer any more (and with some daftness on thou shalt not duplicate weapons [heavy sigh and eyeroll]) I needed to work up some command squads. Fortunately, as mentioned last time, Anvil Industries provided some useful bits and a trawl of the bits sites gave me some nice medic and vox bits, behold:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO1GuuNj7_ViDX6z7gv5ZNSkajt6FYhVrIkOAXEqjwT0ZeP00Xvm8mziXQXOlTNQGQvOHSos_gjVHkP5K_TvinQ7fwfp7Cvb9UFEctehsiU96jqc8xr6aGOzcu0QKrCMQ8ady2KYQkBFUHmy1lLis652d-GZxqLqHKeScBrbyr309ebb8bDTLfmF8ORtyq/s2477/Specialists.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1205" data-original-width="2477" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO1GuuNj7_ViDX6z7gv5ZNSkajt6FYhVrIkOAXEqjwT0ZeP00Xvm8mziXQXOlTNQGQvOHSos_gjVHkP5K_TvinQ7fwfp7Cvb9UFEctehsiU96jqc8xr6aGOzcu0QKrCMQ8ady2KYQkBFUHmy1lLis652d-GZxqLqHKeScBrbyr309ebb8bDTLfmF8ORtyq/w640-h312/Specialists.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>I <i>love</i> that Cadian master vox thing and I'm really happy I've got one just on the Captain's squad. Feels nicely that the senior officer has a high gain set that lets her contact Battalion HQ while all the rest are really only designed to reach her. On the far left is an Anvil Industries heavy flamer on jungle arms which works very nicely with the Kessarine. Does make him quite a buff lad but I remembered the Gaunts Ghosts description of Brostin's flamer troops as "friendly fire ogres" and liked the idea that lugging heavy tanks of promethium packs some muscle on. Finally the two medical corpsmen. I should have had three really but I was retooling old special weapon squads into command squads and ran into practical converting realities. So I figured the captain gets a senior corpsman capable of doing some minor surgery with the chainsawpistol (shudder) and has the fancier medpack with the transfusion gear etc. The Lieutenant gets a gladstone bag full of tourniquets, bandages, and a two day first aid course and likes it. </p><p>There's not a huge amount to talk about with these painting wise so if there's any curiosities stick 'em in the comments and I'll move on to some more storied individuals. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFPmCwf0yCRzYEmnmX32EPZsnrh2YPs3KfLG7WQO1J7rtWYyuryCevj9Qkwtjw7sF1RROusf4WjthddK-LX1BDfRtQ35KqaocQY5uvOhY9cNw1ycCE4ySFEsGyxDvHLYTzBcwgcjZ9uNi0g75x2PVfVSilXc5DzPmGr-rbShZHqtwKas4G0XNdGsYon86/s1659/Officers.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1051" data-original-width="1659" height="406" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLFPmCwf0yCRzYEmnmX32EPZsnrh2YPs3KfLG7WQO1J7rtWYyuryCevj9Qkwtjw7sF1RROusf4WjthddK-LX1BDfRtQ35KqaocQY5uvOhY9cNw1ycCE4ySFEsGyxDvHLYTzBcwgcjZ9uNi0g75x2PVfVSilXc5DzPmGr-rbShZHqtwKas4G0XNdGsYon86/w640-h406/Officers.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lt <span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;">Vaikar and 2nd Lt Soha<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>Victoria minis do two desert officer options, the <i>gorgeous</i> Captain (see below) and a power sword arm for the male torsos. Knowing that I wanted to do a couple of junior officers, that necessitated some conversion. Given that officers are now more of a "stiffening" (real military term that also deserves some sniggering) elements for a unit rather than units in their own right, I figured that having a close quarters nutcase would be a fun way to go for an ambitious Second Lieutenant. The bits sites gave me the lovely Imperial Guard powerfist and the much more extensive bits box donated a bolt pistol and thus another fine officer was born. Let's learn a bit more about them:</p><p>"<i>Recording on: Deployment log continuance, date, er, 209.024.M41, C-Company, 1st Motor Batallion, Kessarine 4th Armoured Brigade, Commissar Invictus Dravland reporting. There, today I will record my thoughts on the command potential within C-Company following the conclusion of our workup exercises. I'm pleased thus far with 1st Motor's progress, losses against the wild ork xenoforms in the deep desert was well under expectations, a mere 15% casualties with 8% dead among that number. The Imperium is well served. C-Company, as my particular charges, were within the margin of error of that number but I'm somewhat proud that it is on the low end. </i></p><p><i>"Anyway, starting at the lower end of the TO&E for C-Company we have 2nd Lieutenant </i><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"><i>Gajendra Soha. As most Kessarine junior officers are, he was raised from the ranks in the early stages of basic to lead his training platoon. The more senior officers come from Officer candidate scholam. Soha has what all of these young officers have, a need to prove himself and a fierce ambition that propelled himself into the role in the first place. Prides himself on being first into the breach and loves to mix it up in close quarters. As a result there is a certain trepidation amongst the rank and file for when Soha comes to join them. They know they're in for the sharp end. Worth paying attention to that. Don't want to create discipline issues there. By contrast Lt Vaikar, er, </i></span><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"><i>Rhitanshu Vaikar, yes, is a solid and dependable if uninspiring officer. Competent at engagement deployment and command, does what the scholam teaches: stays back, thinks, retains overview. A reliable man but one who I fear is going to take a long time to climb the ranks. Rajavade knows this and generally leaves him to command fire bases. Worthwhile work but is not going to find him glory."</i></span></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKY_KQX6YxmduBxvAM0PLk71km91R4v49iYTSdXSD78hSmyCseWyjGURdB6OkBSFf89k9fm0vc0PMSJ-uFvNX-LagHxhNP6gP6-TWHO5ijAeKWcQ2YhwmP4tUF6qqx7vZt3CFvA2u1MqPKCHycp9sTlOc78gRPkVmr1kzoMqrvVcan20XEaLlh4eGBzQ6n/s2718/Psyker.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1235" data-original-width="2718" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKY_KQX6YxmduBxvAM0PLk71km91R4v49iYTSdXSD78hSmyCseWyjGURdB6OkBSFf89k9fm0vc0PMSJ-uFvNX-LagHxhNP6gP6-TWHO5ijAeKWcQ2YhwmP4tUF6qqx7vZt3CFvA2u1MqPKCHycp9sTlOc78gRPkVmr1kzoMqrvVcan20XEaLlh4eGBzQ6n/w640-h290/Psyker.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;">Anette Bjerregaard</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"><br />We are getting in to some of the rare GW infantry now and a truly wonderful one at that. The moment I saw this primaris psyker I <i>needed</i> it in an almost visceral way. Fantastic sculpt: the movement in the cloth; the complex wiring; the sense of augmentation and alteration; and little details like the exposed palm on the glove, an indication that she needs bare skin to cast. Brilliant work. I didn't want her to stand out too much from the regular troops so I decided to use the same colour palette as the rest of the army. The only difference is the deep green of the specialism sash and tabard. Carried the spot colour up into the gems on the staff too. Helps balance the colour across the model. As is often the case, the Eavy Metal team got a skosh over excited on the painting and the ball-ey things on the psychic hood are painted with bright glow. I didn't like that. Wanted the focus to be the face rather than the glowey balls, so went with corroded copper instead. The corrosion also helps fade the copper into the pale armour colour. </span><p></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;">"<i>Ah yes, I wanted to talk about Bjerregaard in context of the Kessarine. If my successor is confused about how the troops treat filth like Bjerregaard, I'm afraid it's a base level issue with the Kessarine character that I do not know how to fix yet. Rather than good honest wariness or hatred? The Kessarine love the psykers attached to them. Why? Because they are <u>sanctioned</u> psykers, the Emperor has said that they are safe and thus they are safe. The Kessarine properly hate and fear the unsanctioned and hidden psyker, but once the Emperor has blessed the endeavour? It is an example of where their piety can trip us up, in every other regiment this narrative means the troops <u>might</u> not frag the psykers. In the Kessarine it means they adopt them. They see the protection and violence that she can unleash in the name of the Emperor as a boon and honestly? I have no idea what to do about it, conflicting narratives in dogma are tripping me up and the last thing I want to do is damage the piety that makes the Kessarine such devoted soldiers. I will keep this record informed."</i></span></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiSHfqK6-g7a83ciGHZP0LWGnZDZqrbRc8qcc2KYbrh96YDdeSqtMwA4ltaCsXrsX2XXPMewJepbqgBYBCDirE8HEYS7GfJdx-ViolUg4HqqY_oiia4W_Nk4ivTw-lB-eHTbsdWbQ2L3Ca_7CGJ0LXmhuAM2gTKepe4efbyxPD7jGKTZ_6LaTsRPe19GDS/s1969/Preacher.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1465" data-original-width="1969" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiSHfqK6-g7a83ciGHZP0LWGnZDZqrbRc8qcc2KYbrh96YDdeSqtMwA4ltaCsXrsX2XXPMewJepbqgBYBCDirE8HEYS7GfJdx-ViolUg4HqqY_oiia4W_Nk4ivTw-lB-eHTbsdWbQ2L3Ca_7CGJ0LXmhuAM2gTKepe4efbyxPD7jGKTZ_6LaTsRPe19GDS/w640-h475/Preacher.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Father <span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;">Erasmus Thaede</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"><br />With the Kessarine being the way they are, I knew I'd always want a preacher in the army, and being a Prodigy fan there was only one candidate. The old metal firestarter, twisted firestarter, eh eh eh! Being metal he needed some careful painting in places to cover the lack of undercuts or layered plastic parts, you need to fake some shadows in with painting as they're just not there in reality. I really went back and forth on the robe colour. Like the psyker, I didn't want him to stick out too much but I also wanted the monastic vibe. In the end Vallejo stone grey came to my rescue. It's a nice pale brown-grey that meant he doesn't jump out too much but still has his own character. Oh and top tip from a leatherworker, when you're painting dyed leather and want it to look like old school leatherwork, mix a little of an appropriate leather brown into the colour you want it to end up. It gives you the nice aged colour rather than something pristine and acrylic coated. </span><p></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"><i>"While we are talking problems of piety I have another one, but this will be easier to solve. We were assigned our new preacher while on work up manoeuvres. [sighs] Father Thaede is an excellent example of the classic Militarum preacher, firebrand, aggressive, full of piss and vinegar. Perfect to summon up the faith for most cynics. The problem is the Kessarine aren't cynics. Thaede is pushing on an open door. The men <u>know</u> the Emperor is watching, they <u>know</u> they serve him unto death. They want spirtuality not fervour and at the moment there is good natured grumbling among the men of "he's a bit much". I'm going to have to have a tiresome conversation at some point. I might try to enlist Deacon Sifiso next time I'm at Battalion HQ..."</i></span></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjI3ibX2CIuNPmy1yE8UBpfOot_kTC5GMLpxBouiXaA4Num_Yi9M1hEoXKhlZI1QaJ-GXMkWUhhR-UJUgKcJpixFc08y7P-csKDae96gg1LUlSLytVrUyB0NVRUvsvf6Vrzjy0-eRn5csgU9qBpVFyXI8c-DbjV1nx-m8D-rrk2Q8YfuAeYgcv0QGCQ7rW/s2603/Captain.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1404" data-original-width="2603" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjI3ibX2CIuNPmy1yE8UBpfOot_kTC5GMLpxBouiXaA4Num_Yi9M1hEoXKhlZI1QaJ-GXMkWUhhR-UJUgKcJpixFc08y7P-csKDae96gg1LUlSLytVrUyB0NVRUvsvf6Vrzjy0-eRn5csgU9qBpVFyXI8c-DbjV1nx-m8D-rrk2Q8YfuAeYgcv0QGCQ7rW/w640-h346/Captain.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;">Captain Karuna Rajavade</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"><br />And finally we have the leader of C-Company, Captain Rajavade, the character officer that Victoria Miniatures provide. A really lovely one too, the drape of the cloak and the headscarf is excellent and there's a lovely, lovely sense of movement. As the senior officer she deserved a good bit more effort than the rest of the rank and file and mercifully as a more recent sculpt she rewarded it. Other than some extra highlights I didn't change much so the only thing to talk about is the cloak. I was painting her during one of our hobby hangouts on Discord and was chatting to Harvey about the cloak. I was having issues figuring out what colour it should be. Eventually Harvey suggested that what if it was a Nightfaller issue camo cloak she'd been given as a present from his regiment (probably hoping that it would encourage some stealthy thinking, some hope for an motor rifle company). So I used the pattern that his Nightfall infantry use for their camo cloaks and flipped the colours to be desert appropriate. I love it. Works really well on the miniature and starts a lovely little bit of story between the two very different regiments<i>.</i></span><p></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;"><i>"Finally, we have Captain Rajavade and the reason I spend so much time in C-Company. I have high hopes for Karuna Rajavade and if I am honest I am a little in awe of her to the point that I have to check my decision making for the purposes of fulfilling my duty. She is the fourth generation of her family in military service, the third to carry that talwar blade into battle and the first to carry it off-world. She has three children back on Kessarine, one is working his way through the military acadamies and the middle child is destined for the medicae. Rajavade says she has done the first part of her duty to the Imperium and now embarks on her second. As I say, a little in awe of her. She is a solid officer, courageous without being reckless and cares for her men and women as fiercely as though they were her own. Her problem is politics. She confuses bluntness with honesty and does not know how to pick her battles within Brigade HQ. That is where I can help her most I feel and will be working to ensure that the Imperium can one day be served by General Rajavade as the Emperor knows we need people of her character. Now then, there are reports that Sgt Aayangar's squad are doing some weird thing with captured Ork teeth and I need to go and see just how weird so I can nip it in the bud if needed. Recording end."</i></span></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;">And that's all for today, hope you've enjoyed it, any questions or ideas I'd love to hear them in the comments. Until next time, lovely people, </span></p><p><span data-sheets-formula-bar-text-style="font-size:13px;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:'Arial';font-style:normal;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;">TTFN<br /></span></p>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13109377258517790966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-52442992986262733172024-03-12T12:21:00.000+00:002024-03-12T12:21:20.553+00:00Invictor Dreadnought?<p> Stupid Tom, doesn't he know it’s a warsuit not a dreadnought? No shit Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock Cluseau. But Warhammer is all about making it yours, so I made it mine.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pu5HbBcP__WA7CV2AxicsLm7HSqNnD3DbpjLLLQ4Pm_Y3HUSPA5rl9FuZQrVNXfGJN7olS8-gL3tafIzbsyvLqwhVf_q7V9y63FJDivZFUlXKFRO4gi7kVoYtvOi0Yh3NLBp7DpfZNmFgkR2pOYBgUKHVF7nrcCiMlFjV4pQR_6WUQYIRzFJLBQIyB8/s1964/Invictor.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1964" data-original-width="1656" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1pu5HbBcP__WA7CV2AxicsLm7HSqNnD3DbpjLLLQ4Pm_Y3HUSPA5rl9FuZQrVNXfGJN7olS8-gL3tafIzbsyvLqwhVf_q7V9y63FJDivZFUlXKFRO4gi7kVoYtvOi0Yh3NLBp7DpfZNmFgkR2pOYBgUKHVF7nrcCiMlFjV4pQR_6WUQYIRzFJLBQIyB8/w338-h400/Invictor.jpg" width="338" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Why</h2><p>Ok, so, first up, in my mind there is a difference between a Walker, and a Mech. So for the sake of today’s article I’m going to define a walker as a vehicle with legs, but those legs are basically autonomous and the pilot just pushed the joystick to whatever to “go forwards” and the vehicle automatically makes the legs do whatever they need to do to achieve that. The Imperial Guard Sentinel is a classic Walker, but also maybe the Aeldari War Walker and the Mechanicus Ironstrider. Think of it kind of like riding a horse, you have the reins and give directions, but the horse decides where to put its feet.</p><p>On the other hand, a Mech is, for my purposes at least, a machine that allows a person to directly control a large mechanical body. This can be via control machinery that reads the pilots limb movements and duplicates them, such as the Sisters of Battle Paragon Warsuit or the Grey Knights Nemesis Dreadknight. Alternatively this can be via direct neural control such as Imperial Knights, Ork Killa Kans and Deffdreads and Space Marine Dreadnoughts.</p><p>Notice that Walkers are not very good at melee, whereas Mechs are. It's hard to fight if you don't directly control your arms. </p><p>So the pilot on the Warsuit annoyed me. Partially because of the classic “lightly armoured pilot on the front of a heavily armoured vehicle is an obvious weakness” but also as he’s clearly using a few joysticks to pilot the Walker, which begs the question of how the hell he could use its arms to fight in melee. Given the presence of its melee weapon, and indeed the weapon's apparent manual dexterity sophisticated enough to use a (giant) pistol, it should be a Mech, not a Walker.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpr7JkbYCkW9miA3Aj68hphKJIJv3feXiBJQpg3T5LklDTiawU3eIoxuXmRRCbUuHo9bXDSQsO4-81btjq20WhJrYzEiiAiC1WnpHyOF2gAwedZB5-_l-rEOPQjlaX__lFjeXAlwYG80y3a3J0jceUJpN4wm7fpr5dl-6leGJ5OK4bh3rGFRm__3NR0pw/s1876/Invictor%20Left.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1876" data-original-width="1468" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpr7JkbYCkW9miA3Aj68hphKJIJv3feXiBJQpg3T5LklDTiawU3eIoxuXmRRCbUuHo9bXDSQsO4-81btjq20WhJrYzEiiAiC1WnpHyOF2gAwedZB5-_l-rEOPQjlaX__lFjeXAlwYG80y3a3J0jceUJpN4wm7fpr5dl-6leGJ5OK4bh3rGFRm__3NR0pw/w313-h400/Invictor%20Left.jpg" width="313" /></a></div><p>That pistol though. God <i>damn</i>. It’s goofy as hell and I love it <i>hard</i>. One of the things I like most about Mechs is the size difference between them and normal stuff. I never really liked Gundam because they’re mostly in space. Give me mechs fighting in cities and picking up people and throwing cars at each other and such nonsense. So having what is recognisably a heavy bolter rigged as a pistol really does it for me. It emphasises the scale with a built in comparison, and it also shows that the Invictor is a Mech with complete manual dexterity. </p><p>So, when considering how to make the Invictor work for me I found a bunch of Etsy sellers selling a simple conversion piece cockpit. This fixed so many issues for me immediately. But with that done, I also considered that there was no reason it still had to be a Warsuit (especially as the cockpit no longer has an obvious hatch on it) and I considered instead having it be a Dreadnought and it just made so much more sense.</p><p>Lets face it, a Space Marine is <i>already </i>basically a mini-Mech. Wearing an armoured powered exoskeleton and then climbing into an even bigger armoured exoskeleton is <i>pretty dumb</i>. Also, why would you take it as a stealth/recon vehicle when you have actual skimmers that would just be better in every way?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdvC18VA8SGt9Uupr45PI1_dPm8RrhZ3vNmT9pehqCIpJSzou6AD3omxUaPzO8nmK9UgkF_j2pSXXgIZY3WUgKvXh8jWKvMKJXCGlTGXxQdqrK5Ln90ubsBCaHUF6mA_L5-kjK_uTvKHHPfIyhzL1OWnt_tXSDG3ay10UaGHikDwRnTck39ida13v6Q6E/s1787/Invictor%20Right.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1787" data-original-width="1408" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdvC18VA8SGt9Uupr45PI1_dPm8RrhZ3vNmT9pehqCIpJSzou6AD3omxUaPzO8nmK9UgkF_j2pSXXgIZY3WUgKvXh8jWKvMKJXCGlTGXxQdqrK5Ln90ubsBCaHUF6mA_L5-kjK_uTvKHHPfIyhzL1OWnt_tXSDG3ay10UaGHikDwRnTck39ida13v6Q6E/w315-h400/Invictor%20Right.jpg" width="315" /></a></div><p>So, instead let us consider Brother Navaer. As one of the chapter’s foremost recon experts, he was naturally preserved as a Dreadnought when mortality wounded. But he didn’t adjust well to his new situation. He didn’t love suddenly being a big heavy brick, it wasn’t the way of making war he’d ever excelled at. So he kept asking the Techmarines to strip his chassis back, make it lighter and faster and conceal its emissions. </p><p>It no longer matters that it isn't a very sensible recon vehicle (Storm Speeders make way more sense), because that isn't what it was designed for, it’s simply a dreadnought that has been modified to be as stealthy as possible. Poor chap probably hangs around with all his Phobos Brothers and gives great advice to them, but gets very frustrated having to constantly be left behind at the FRV as they sneak in the last few km without him.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">How many sub assemblies?</h2><p>Yes.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_PecmETi8TexJBCEn5qcc9JM_cAlJa8Lun5cn-YRlYekz0Ii8UHUJxZXwWAo_-sE3B-qxwUweGW_g91zH9x-tqNgrt_iHh6OBvMrdhlVzxXcBxuDyAiAIqQ3FCTP925YBzQAsRVNmxMtbOfZt0hrOZpZnrzEYbbg9T2GJre1rp1E6H0IWCvgJiHwu2u0/s1923/Invictor%20Subassemblies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1816" data-original-width="1923" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_PecmETi8TexJBCEn5qcc9JM_cAlJa8Lun5cn-YRlYekz0Ii8UHUJxZXwWAo_-sE3B-qxwUweGW_g91zH9x-tqNgrt_iHh6OBvMrdhlVzxXcBxuDyAiAIqQ3FCTP925YBzQAsRVNmxMtbOfZt0hrOZpZnrzEYbbg9T2GJre1rp1E6H0IWCvgJiHwu2u0/w400-h378/Invictor%20Subassemblies.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>This isn’t my first rodeo with a Dreadnought, and they have a lot of bare metal to paint in awkward places, which I have found to be very tedious and time consuming. This chap was going to be even worse, so I decided to save myself quite a bit of effort by building it in sub assemblies and undercoating them in either silver or black as appropriate. This went a little overboard when it got to the toes, I wasn’t quite that obsessed about spraying parts differently. But I really struggled to pose them without glueing the hips in place first, so I decided to leave them off and only attach them later when it was time to attach the subassemblies.</p><p>Other things of note: </p><p>The antennae are magnetised; I try to do this wherever possible so when you inevitably catch them they just twist or pop off instead of getting permanently damaged. </p><p>I shortened the heavy stubbers because the original length just seemed silly to me. When would he pause to carefully aim his belly at someone when he already has three other anti-infantry weapons that are easier to use? I figure these are really just used for suppressive fire when approaching an infantry position or similar, they don’t need accuracy.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Finishing up</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyM-OXzEodDP40EQ1FMEAI4pD6mwSd7YSZiKVnm-_qjhuXIcjzCgu15IbA3DsDloXBSjVJRxMDlD0RKwrY8SyszPn4ywQ18r6pkV_vYlzjAVRZCaI0j-UIXnaVuHQiWuqSAvANG5Fz8gYSH_RgPsnAcwAfAIVFuLegopJY5C-RKqy30gL6zkBdYviDwc/s2112/Invictor%20Comparison.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1278" data-original-width="2112" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIyM-OXzEodDP40EQ1FMEAI4pD6mwSd7YSZiKVnm-_qjhuXIcjzCgu15IbA3DsDloXBSjVJRxMDlD0RKwrY8SyszPn4ywQ18r6pkV_vYlzjAVRZCaI0j-UIXnaVuHQiWuqSAvANG5Fz8gYSH_RgPsnAcwAfAIVFuLegopJY5C-RKqy30gL6zkBdYviDwc/w640-h388/Invictor%20Comparison.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>So there you have it, one completed Invictor Dreadnought. I don’t think it’s going to be a top favourite, but I’m very pleased to have it in my arsenal. Partially because I just feel I should, since it’s a Phobos (ish) unit and I play Raven Guard. I like the idea of using an army purely made up of Scouts, Phobos and Skimmers, and this fits into that. </p><p>But it’s also a weaker Dreadnought, which I think is quite important. There are a lot of melee vehicles in 40k, and having none in your army often leaves a painful gap in your lineup. But the Space Marine ones have generally, in my opinion, been a bit strong. So being able to field something a little lighter lets me avoid always having to take a potent Redemptor, without being entirely devoid of melee vehicles.</p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-44510503660053737132024-03-04T13:43:00.000+00:002024-03-04T13:43:08.564+00:00Exitus stage left<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLsz7L34qgrSeK9NdKCln2a8fyy4P5OHoLpcY2VAPEqNMBWRcLgR7-IbejXU1ME5ELjp_q_kuxT5sZ5QdC62CrTMi3IDqDvDTW3KwgRSSmzsFp0YiHa2l2nzu1m5DPlQ4axDh3Ot4ZIcb4Jxgo5nl3apMARgzq4DvCAstiAfdG26do2IbwOeP6WpDZ_Ug/s917/vindicare1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="917" data-original-width="917" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLsz7L34qgrSeK9NdKCln2a8fyy4P5OHoLpcY2VAPEqNMBWRcLgR7-IbejXU1ME5ELjp_q_kuxT5sZ5QdC62CrTMi3IDqDvDTW3KwgRSSmzsFp0YiHa2l2nzu1m5DPlQ4axDh3Ot4ZIcb4Jxgo5nl3apMARgzq4DvCAstiAfdG26do2IbwOeP6WpDZ_Ug/w400-h400/vindicare1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It's been a minute since I had a good old hobby hangout. Just sitting around a table with a few friends, talking and painting the afternoon away. It's a very civilised way to spend time.* Being in between projects, I cast about for something to do that I could both start and finish in one day; <i>particularly </i>something that I might not otherwise get around to. And then I remembered: I've got that Warhammer Plus Vindicare Assassin sitting primed in the cabinet. What's his name... <i>Googles</i>... ah yes, Operative Umbral-Six. I'd only built him to see if his pose still worked when he's removed from his giant hero <strike>rock</strike> statue.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The thing is, once a mini has been started, it takes up space in my brain until it's finished. And I built this spandexy boy over eighteen months ago. I couldn't imagine using him regularly, so he'd never made it to the front of the painting queue. As single afternoon projects go, he's perfect. Not over-detailed, not too many different elements. Very doable. So do him I did.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0NRCHNzt8tBJzTNaG-cJowluxRqstqCdBSBDGLABciDwzzUVzg9DpDZ0bRPhvMaaMWtvS3EIDWLnXgTxrQ0HwI-o0NxCjXNfHYv7MN8TFG8PIb7QRyhBybSq7h2ksuObMhdPn3M8X2mwMmylQxLPEoSDQNFnxBKjlVdxP88mlV-eKZQdTNQvHU9HZaOA/s696/vindicare3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="696" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0NRCHNzt8tBJzTNaG-cJowluxRqstqCdBSBDGLABciDwzzUVzg9DpDZ0bRPhvMaaMWtvS3EIDWLnXgTxrQ0HwI-o0NxCjXNfHYv7MN8TFG8PIb7QRyhBybSq7h2ksuObMhdPn3M8X2mwMmylQxLPEoSDQNFnxBKjlVdxP88mlV-eKZQdTNQvHU9HZaOA/w400-h323/vindicare3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>When the lore gets in the way of using a miniature</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;">I've always struggled with the idea of actually using an assassin in a game. Canonically they can only be dispatched by the High Lords of Terra, and beyond that, they'd only actually appear on a battlefield if something's gone desperately wrong.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As is so often the case, I just take the official lore to be mythic overstatement and/or propaganda. It'd take such a long time to get word to and from Terra that the system couldn't hope to work <i>at all</i>. I'm all for leaning into the comedically grinding gears of the Adeptus Terra, but this does seem a smidge too far. Instead I imagine powerful bodies like the Inquisition or Sector Governors can petition more localised representatives of the Officio Assassinorum, and so long as the target is both worthy of their attention and not Imperial, it's doable. One imagines that the assassination of more senior Imperial figures requires ever more senior levels of sign-off, until eventually it's the sort of thing that only the High Lords can decide.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Different shades of black</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;">You've got to love the sheer practicality of wearing a second skin of black spandex and then trying to stay hidden in any environment other than backstage at a theatre. Still, while I could've painted him in sensible colours, the whole concept is so over the top that I just committed to the bit. See also: the bright brass aquila and red dagger tassle.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Any rubbery areas (so, the bodyglove, webbing and scope eyepiece) got a basecoat of Vallejo matte black, and were then layered up with Corvus Black, Eshin Grey, Dawnstone, and finally Administratum Grey. Some glazes were needed to blend the layers together in places; if it gets too light, the whole thing just reads as grey. Too dark, and it looks like you didn't paint it. I never quite got it to the point where I was thrilled with the results on his arms, but his legs look OK. I shrugged and moved on.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hard objects, like the helmet and the Exitus Rifle, got a different shade of black. Again, a basecoat of Vallejo matte black, but then highlighted with Incubi Darkness, then edge highlighted with Thunderhawk Blue.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Converting the base</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;">This was simple enough, it just took patience to slowly slice the assassin's feet off the I-beam he's moulded onto with a scalpel. Once he was off, I put a fat wedge of green stuff on the base and sculpted it into a rocky slope, then used texture paint to give it some ground texture.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzfbiDjJ_uJ4fqw_-ZuQQmpIKeiSu9DCNouQNWbRv13OZXs4zbt8Yg8bi6_Wm6uk1APgueL57Gc1QNZgjQhoqM6osGHrO6u2WRp6frjzZkNm2kZ48lRfWYoxtdXS_A8X-0E3NNnj4fUP2JTxGQpQk1g2NKTAo54b5uBZfq8pPd6KK4ASsMZjphXCTpvg/s900/vindicareWIP1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="899" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzfbiDjJ_uJ4fqw_-ZuQQmpIKeiSu9DCNouQNWbRv13OZXs4zbt8Yg8bi6_Wm6uk1APgueL57Gc1QNZgjQhoqM6osGHrO6u2WRp6frjzZkNm2kZ48lRfWYoxtdXS_A8X-0E3NNnj4fUP2JTxGQpQk1g2NKTAo54b5uBZfq8pPd6KK4ASsMZjphXCTpvg/w400-h400/vindicareWIP1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I debated having him lean back further to get the gun parallel with the ground, but I suspect I'll often deploy this idiot in the first available tower I can see, so some downward angling seems like a winner, and means his weight placement doesn't look too weird. I guess up close he's just kneecapping people?</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUaxjpC509h7QcncL-q9SlJJ8Vhghxxun5OK4NwnphZTVXytegd7wUtdpqWJpSDeNJgqrirEP55E9-058nSrNQTY981NLkxlpmbVL9oc0z0ObxbxW2m8TkuG8JZ8evSPuIE0YOIEdUASZl9mf2c-CrVVbyDh9MAGVj0dZfGyFNeEetyqoDYTYeKepxVpM/s965/vindicareWIP2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="773" data-original-width="965" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUaxjpC509h7QcncL-q9SlJJ8Vhghxxun5OK4NwnphZTVXytegd7wUtdpqWJpSDeNJgqrirEP55E9-058nSrNQTY981NLkxlpmbVL9oc0z0ObxbxW2m8TkuG8JZ8evSPuIE0YOIEdUASZl9mf2c-CrVVbyDh9MAGVj0dZfGyFNeEetyqoDYTYeKepxVpM/w400-h320/vindicareWIP2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b>Deploy the rifle ninja!</b></h3><div style="text-align: left;">My Imperial armies now eagerly await a cavalcade of Night Lords, Word Bearers, and other assholes deserving of a bullet to the brainpan. Guluk the Git would also be much improved if his face was replaced with an exit wound. Sadly, there's no point giving Trazyn the same treatment.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For all that I can see some mistakes, I'm happy with him for an afternoon's work, and my list of WIP projects is now that much shorter.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNP387HQnHyjSVb6opWV0ER30-gXvpTDsvP9Z_lmbwajCIoicmCL1ukiD5adCQRSjmnE21-Ck2hkRvsj30kImPr3Ur3QKdbUZBHMbmQMFDLJoixPhituztkj6HXGw-bCAb6EoSuFjvLSabruq4-4saKBI-quvUJMIpL-eIDWxQa786duOnYoR5wPda4X8/s826/vindicare2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="826" data-original-width="826" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNP387HQnHyjSVb6opWV0ER30-gXvpTDsvP9Z_lmbwajCIoicmCL1ukiD5adCQRSjmnE21-Ck2hkRvsj30kImPr3Ur3QKdbUZBHMbmQMFDLJoixPhituztkj6HXGw-bCAb6EoSuFjvLSabruq4-4saKBI-quvUJMIpL-eIDWxQa786duOnYoR5wPda4X8/w400-h400/vindicare2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">___________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;">* For a given value of 'civilised.' Harvey brought what I can only describe as an acropolis of biscuits.</div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-7490897165694159042024-02-26T23:08:00.001+00:002024-02-26T23:08:28.859+00:00Pride of Kessarine! (includes Victoria Miniatures Imperial Guard review)<p>After too long an absence dear bunker dwellers, I return and bring with me the proud sons and daughters of fair Kessarine! Way back <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/10/from-sands-to-stars.html">in October</a> I introduced my latest venture with the first warriors from the sands. Well, since then I've not been idle... I've just not been blogging. So today we'll meet the rest of C-Company and soon their officer corps with a bit more delicious Kessarine lore. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbpCrbHgzR8FEKVs3R0r4FT4zEs1enZnaI4jfNN301SJShtkNVT-oZ0HQvThySlvf-QwB11zsN0xgoPtbH2D3gyCuE8UxOGYbzVSvVFYqbWDFIrDdN-bFxGZeUxyiGPKp_ScvcjMjguj259OGpCA1KCacZlp9aRj7FNw_twLDHLI5m3w5R6skwADbx8tqa/s2225/Kessarine%20Group.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1161" data-original-width="2225" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbpCrbHgzR8FEKVs3R0r4FT4zEs1enZnaI4jfNN301SJShtkNVT-oZ0HQvThySlvf-QwB11zsN0xgoPtbH2D3gyCuE8UxOGYbzVSvVFYqbWDFIrDdN-bFxGZeUxyiGPKp_ScvcjMjguj259OGpCA1KCacZlp9aRj7FNw_twLDHLI5m3w5R6skwADbx8tqa/w640-h334/Kessarine%20Group.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>These three squads bring C-Company to five squads split across its two platoons. In the fullness of time there'll be a sixth squad to fill up the battleline thing and to have two platoons of 30 which will feel nicely satisfying. We also see the first non-missile launcher amongst their number, a relic of lost lamented veteran squad accuracy. But it does mean it's an excellent opportunity to talk heavy weapons because if you want to use third party minis you're going to have to figure those out. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr36QQtQ6wCq9shmbNecSOhhcHJ_ffuiKkU-O2e_NX7m250vIUP-PoD1p_FY0OwH-PBuIM-OoDQFNXrqkzuwn897N1-cS7SVBYkp5l9kOkH5p2b7kHJJc1jgsH4e8y7-7nE2HyUoWISrDKS6pQ2b5t-la2iZbLh996JGOapMS6lRNT2wYtBErnQhFoao8k/s1681/Mortars.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="905" data-original-width="1681" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr36QQtQ6wCq9shmbNecSOhhcHJ_ffuiKkU-O2e_NX7m250vIUP-PoD1p_FY0OwH-PBuIM-OoDQFNXrqkzuwn897N1-cS7SVBYkp5l9kOkH5p2b7kHJJc1jgsH4e8y7-7nE2HyUoWISrDKS6pQ2b5t-la2iZbLh996JGOapMS6lRNT2wYtBErnQhFoao8k/w640-h344/Mortars.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>Lets start with the easiest, the mortars are an easy squad to make. Just use lasgun holding hands with a bit of hot water repositioning for pose and chuck a mortar shell in the open palm. The others are the Victoria Minatures heavy weapon squad bits, mostly ammo box lugging. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15MOp5UP7W7CfvHQGEltM21OEhDlZZezBcYkL0-xSy3xH_ydQltHq9Nk3q6NpPsl0bOZWEYQNBaa5PPmbLdrzR6RkrMhx3FFjdkCBUfs7NZ9qOBNTA6KNJYJ7LlU567j66sFNA137mWDVANHm-q2VxyufflnS4VfpLFCGESbR0XIhcrKQUWY6NQygMY0W/s2081/Heavy%20Bolters.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="913" data-original-width="2081" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh15MOp5UP7W7CfvHQGEltM21OEhDlZZezBcYkL0-xSy3xH_ydQltHq9Nk3q6NpPsl0bOZWEYQNBaa5PPmbLdrzR6RkrMhx3FFjdkCBUfs7NZ9qOBNTA6KNJYJ7LlU567j66sFNA137mWDVANHm-q2VxyufflnS4VfpLFCGESbR0XIhcrKQUWY6NQygMY0W/w640-h280/Heavy%20Bolters.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>It gets tougher when you want a heavy bolter. Fortunately my desert lads get a kneeling leg option, so I could get them down to the GW plastics. None of the arms would work with the spade trigger, double handle approach that the GW kit comes with. So instead I went more "bren gun" in approach and used shouldered rifle butts to connect the models to the guns, imagining more of a GPMG style of shooting than a HMG style (lighter and heavier machine guns, I'm getting needlessly nerdy). Either way, they married up nicely enough to their guns and thus I could get some fire support. The paint I'm using for the housings <i>hates</i> being brush painted over large areas (it's designed for airbrush mostly) and I had a devil of a time getting a clean coat on the big heavy bolter furniture. Fortunately that is all behind me now.... twitch. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKYPNW2DoIxSFf-9MOkRwpueaEs3BMMVDQD44TPwMr1XF-wpEd5lmaHvDlPYL06iI-43wA1FuVTaG0qYcfJxflxsU6L47jOMTnNxM06-IjMJ6frJWW4kqBuIDcYlsaV6SSzzkMPkDP1PblXUmQL2tvBsEDKN5dBGup8bcAvhCOYvU8opCymAIFQqjqWQK/s2965/heavy%20weapons.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1301" data-original-width="2965" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjKYPNW2DoIxSFf-9MOkRwpueaEs3BMMVDQD44TPwMr1XF-wpEd5lmaHvDlPYL06iI-43wA1FuVTaG0qYcfJxflxsU6L47jOMTnNxM06-IjMJ6frJWW4kqBuIDcYlsaV6SSzzkMPkDP1PblXUmQL2tvBsEDKN5dBGup8bcAvhCOYvU8opCymAIFQqjqWQK/w640-h280/heavy%20weapons.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p>You can see a slightly better angle on the heavy bolter posing here. In addition we can see an example of the final heavy weapon option I've gone for (for now), the lascannon. This is an Anvil miniatures kit, the <a href="https://www.anvilindustry.co.uk/regiments-portable-phase-cannon">portable phase cannon</a> with militia/jungle arms. Wasn't difficult to marry it up to the victoria miniatures body and both being resin meant I could carve bits away until it fit comfortably. I figured the lore for this pattern choice was to do with mobility. The Kessarine like a lighter lascannon, most of the weight is batteries after all. So they sacrifice fire cycle rate and barrel longevity for portability. Doubtless Commissar Dravland has sniffy opinions on that but it seems to work for the Kessarine. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWc4dEFpWkWa7QV2_D_Yk7BmXmhOs4oIEBNaLUFFix8GLPQQcrHwWl-cQ_7sAYFKMHInvzIYJ5FU9ThKWg8mVpq4Dm1l3hOnEyeZVhlgAI0-T2VUPI5krXpQOuMy3m-qIk2FlgMdYbatnkEI3niNCTgKoryS-NKFhsBfhQ7J7bGwqrHlNBVqtjudQy-7gm/s2093/hmm.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="2093" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWc4dEFpWkWa7QV2_D_Yk7BmXmhOs4oIEBNaLUFFix8GLPQQcrHwWl-cQ_7sAYFKMHInvzIYJ5FU9ThKWg8mVpq4Dm1l3hOnEyeZVhlgAI0-T2VUPI5krXpQOuMy3m-qIk2FlgMdYbatnkEI3niNCTgKoryS-NKFhsBfhQ7J7bGwqrHlNBVqtjudQy-7gm/w640-h282/hmm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Now then, lets get to talking about the miniature range itself. Because it's a very mixed bag and I would hate to recommend them highly without at least mentioning the flaws. Lets start with the good: The range of look and environment that Victoria Minis do is incredible. For anyone who doesn't want Cadian pattern they do a wonderful job of filling those gaps. The lack of heavy weapons is a challenge but not an insurmountable one as you see above. I genuinely love my Kessarine and wouldn't be without them. However... It has to be said that the casting quality is variable at best. There's a reason I've painted them in kind of a sketchy mass-effect style rather than lavishing love on them. The casting just isn't good enough to reward it in places. Some places I was able to fix with carving or filling but some are just... bad. Now some of this is down to older metal sculpts being recast in resin. Same as the problems with finecast. Because the women are damn near perfect. None of the problems found in the older male sculpts.<br /></p><p>As a result, there is a lot of slightly mangled bits and surface texture issues. So I chose to paint in a way that would minimise those problems and let them just blur into a unit rather than a miniature. I'm sure Victoria Minis would have helped out if I'd contacted them about it but given that you're ordering from Australia I just kind a made do. So buyer beware, if you are used to flawless plastic casts, these are not they. BUT! They are wonderful, so much better posed than the competitor third party guard offerings and ooze character. Despite the grumbling and muttering I've had at times with them... I'm going to be ordering more with no reservations. So that's the best review I can provide: They've got problems. Lots of 'em. And I'm happily buying more. But don't just take my word for it. Me guard-brother-from-another-world-mother Harvey is also a user of the Antipodean Poor Bloody Infantry so I shall turn the floor over to him for his thoughts:<br /><br /><br /><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzoBx2u8uwRvXhJ-pv7Bx188wXtw252GYGPC7DJLrkOP2oG6AKtcfa1jeNS6LoR46pcGuk-uUetJdP62rfrewiI3WxNQ9tYy8h2jFLgxYBd5xqaRap0NYvA-FacO1kkUxcoxSVTh6czsaFfPpp1fJF1PkRFZPLQRdr4WDlAVtw6sZc6r3DgHj5KeRQ7Q/s4080/PXL_20240121_170117653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzoBx2u8uwRvXhJ-pv7Bx188wXtw252GYGPC7DJLrkOP2oG6AKtcfa1jeNS6LoR46pcGuk-uUetJdP62rfrewiI3WxNQ9tYy8h2jFLgxYBd5xqaRap0NYvA-FacO1kkUxcoxSVTh6czsaFfPpp1fJF1PkRFZPLQRdr4WDlAVtw6sZc6r3DgHj5KeRQ7Q/w640-h482/PXL_20240121_170117653.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #274e13;">Men of Nightfall, do you want to live forever?</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table></span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">I love my Nightfallers, and I am hugely grateful to Victoria Miniatures to have provided the sculpts that pretty much fit the exact idea for a light infantry regiment I've had kicking about my head since I was a penniless teenager with not nearly enough disposable income to consider ordering custom infantry from Australia. That's the single best bit about the range for me; they fit my creative vision perfectly, and I know they do for Jeff too, which allows a fair bit of forgiveness when it comes to the casting quality, because as Jeff says this is less than perfect in places. I've had some very warped las-rifles and pronounced mould lines as my most frequent gripes, along with the occasional issue with a camo cloak - usually the casting being a big thin, with one (of the 100 or so I have currently bought) actually being translucent. These are issues, I would be being dishonest if I didn't point them out in a section specifically designed to review the minis themselves. </span></i><i><span style="color: #274e13;">That having been said, these issues are not insurmountable to an experienced resin modeller, and as much as I hate the old Forgeworld get-out-of-jail-free card of "oh it's just designed for the <b>experienced </b>modeller" it does sort of hold true in this case: I wouldn't recommend 3rd party resin sculpts to an inexperienced hobbyist, regardless of the source of said miniatures.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: #274e13;">Actual casting issues aside however, I am very impressed. Their scale fits in well with the current Imperial Guard (Sorry, Astra Militarum) range, and the Border-world Rangers line I've used for the Nightfall 31st Light Infantry feel very 40k right out of the box. Some of the others I feel could do with a las-rifle instead of an autogun to bring them a bit more out of the "alternate historical" sphere and into the "far future space fantasy" realm, but they still look great. The only design choice I'm not a huge fan of are the plasma guns, so I've used GW ones for that which was a very easy conversion that didn't even require greenstuff beyond gap filling.</span></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpfEUSX0CJMbFB-o_oFnIKuZiMhM9jQm-LgYsTArDphuM29kpJ58QrJ2zl7_7LG9GnAQBC305ItX6dOjA2l8nwOx_6f71Bt-ia5qQRqtIIEVeca_r3YaJEtrriVTuPSyOC-Uh0s1Q4UWxgy-d64dOvuGL_lntoh4qPzhViOZwHL-2uxYoGACd_X2IWgE/s3648/IMG_20220820_221559.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpfEUSX0CJMbFB-o_oFnIKuZiMhM9jQm-LgYsTArDphuM29kpJ58QrJ2zl7_7LG9GnAQBC305ItX6dOjA2l8nwOx_6f71Bt-ia5qQRqtIIEVeca_r3YaJEtrriVTuPSyOC-Uh0s1Q4UWxgy-d64dOvuGL_lntoh4qPzhViOZwHL-2uxYoGACd_X2IWgE/w640-h480/IMG_20220820_221559.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #274e13;"><i>Left: Border World Ranger, Right: Mkoll of GW's Gaunt's Ghosts. Mkoll is noticeably larger, but the Ghost kit is weirdly oversized compared to other guardsmen. If you zoom in you can see the difference in casting quality, though once you're looking at a painted squad (or platoon!) from arm's reach it doesn't make much difference.</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="color: #274e13;"><i>In summary, I love the Nightfallers and have got another sizeable batch planned for the end of this year, despite knowing what I'm getting into regarding casting flaws and the little fixed that will be required here and there. They fit my exact creative vision and are well designed miniatures that fit into the theme of 40k with little to no conversion or squinting needed, and I cannot wait to finish a full infantry company. And rough riders. And attached light armour. And...</i></span></p><p><span style="color: #274e13;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKnJ6BSv6vWBPGvfmwcnMB9xf613Bql27WU_pywoSbvHwhUsJ9fRKUT-jMlIHAdkYQ1fVqAyh0CiSjLl_wVn2m631b_Mi-Wh3yIDVBvR7uP_czkNDDadqpNZh7tXUj8REIWNEJ9PkI88slNk57ss6p22e1ypPbnD1OJzu3ZYsLOUa0SJnVy5pY_ALuyU/s3648/IMG_20230205_165740.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyKnJ6BSv6vWBPGvfmwcnMB9xf613Bql27WU_pywoSbvHwhUsJ9fRKUT-jMlIHAdkYQ1fVqAyh0CiSjLl_wVn2m631b_Mi-Wh3yIDVBvR7uP_czkNDDadqpNZh7tXUj8REIWNEJ9PkI88slNk57ss6p22e1ypPbnD1OJzu3ZYsLOUa0SJnVy5pY_ALuyU/w640-h480/IMG_20230205_165740.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr></tbody></table></span>Thank you m'dude, I cannot wait for the Kessarine to join the Nightfallers in walking glory road! That's all for today folks, next time it's the turn of the officer corps and their stories, and after that... well if you look in the slightly blurry background of this whole-army-so-far shot you might just see the cavalry arriving...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggD_m-5i-7UzF2W_N9r-mBr11BDDwuRoF8NNw9mRIhK1TT4DGiix96i2D1u159IS-R1rNxwmL_BJb8thilYqfQF-YLCXUoBI0ZPtIDHz3SkA5qlJoo41iBEeVZus7XRiFERVnrhIHYN5NXoVZb2KvSRIEodVZrsiMwKTXRrwZweUKeVXXaUXCl-hcTf-qJ/s3844/Infantry%20Army.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1649" data-original-width="3844" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggD_m-5i-7UzF2W_N9r-mBr11BDDwuRoF8NNw9mRIhK1TT4DGiix96i2D1u159IS-R1rNxwmL_BJb8thilYqfQF-YLCXUoBI0ZPtIDHz3SkA5qlJoo41iBEeVZus7XRiFERVnrhIHYN5NXoVZb2KvSRIEodVZrsiMwKTXRrwZweUKeVXXaUXCl-hcTf-qJ/w640-h274/Infantry%20Army.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Until then, lovely people<p></p><p>TTFN<br /></p>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13109377258517790966noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-485337063963202822024-02-12T14:00:00.028+00:002024-02-12T14:00:00.361+00:00New Scouts Who Dis?<p>As I said in <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/10/baby-got-pack.html" target="_blank">my article about the new “Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs”</a>, “Back before all this Primaris stuff brought the tacti-cool Phobos with it, the Raven Guard were all about two things, Scouts and Assault Marines.” When GW announced the Primaris version of both of these at the same time, I got quite excited. The fact that GW were painting them in Raven Guard colours on the box really wasn’t helping my chill.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisufmRkuqXpEWNqEFRiLiMrUUa5Ig3DfRoKbzpJ5_HJ704R_rCOzxTIWG-ZmR0vbhnPs0Cr8llsq-WscNAQNtZavgADd-G5bzdgMtGrhXu31ndOeRJsUKJfIachOSnxZNqMZ0YbJNR4VbXokhj1XHgwEmnJbkXD7qF58-77hK16UlsjXHASrSU6qxr3Hc/s807/Scout%20Old%20vs%20New.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="807" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisufmRkuqXpEWNqEFRiLiMrUUa5Ig3DfRoKbzpJ5_HJ704R_rCOzxTIWG-ZmR0vbhnPs0Cr8llsq-WscNAQNtZavgADd-G5bzdgMtGrhXu31ndOeRJsUKJfIachOSnxZNqMZ0YbJNR4VbXokhj1XHgwEmnJbkXD7qF58-77hK16UlsjXHASrSU6qxr3Hc/w400-h335/Scout%20Old%20vs%20New.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puberty finally hits Billy Birdman.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxGc-9BdzyyhxO4Rth983rpF3liooW4lBbvjNlmXYvh07Lt-XJiYd6Z4aKUI_vNCoiTLEI3ShuzsGcM0sehW5X03oMlMuWyiqGg4nSMmdhsapVTDj3ko1eTR9s0kT9F-52BT6SdNi_uBvmHBNOt474WYhFQ62a8RKAYkN2Zvmg2huBebkegNhbqt4KWY/s1182/Scout%20Size.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1182" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxGc-9BdzyyhxO4Rth983rpF3liooW4lBbvjNlmXYvh07Lt-XJiYd6Z4aKUI_vNCoiTLEI3ShuzsGcM0sehW5X03oMlMuWyiqGg4nSMmdhsapVTDj3ko1eTR9s0kT9F-52BT6SdNi_uBvmHBNOt474WYhFQ62a8RKAYkN2Zvmg2huBebkegNhbqt4KWY/w400-h224/Scout%20Size.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New scale comparison.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Specific rules for Raven Guard have varied, but certainly at one point I could have Assault Marines as Troops (when such things mattered) as long as I had at least one unit of Scouts. It has always been a core part of their lore that they use a lot of Scouts, both because their numbers are perpetually low (insert your choice of reasoning here) and because, for a long time Scouts were the only stealth troops available in Marine armies. Certainly in my Firstborn army I went hard on Scouts. All done I had 36 Scouts, including 10 lovingly converted to have bolters and camo-cloaks and an illegal Sergeant Telion (why should the Ultramarines have a Scout character but not the Raven Guard?!). Plus three Land Speeder Storms to transport them. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJ6KH_vGn6KbGJjR-CyS3cMA24YjWu9ES02kLdBIK6evLApyFdpCcsWkkf-yUlHyglac3OEmm8wJtJ3WnvdT_uKjPWYEfx6LuWy-PlmMxY4Y_r9EB6-JgVkOtyDMMQj69X98HvGPsytPce0ceQppnxnwrA-b1d0flDitqbJYF89VHOrbhfD2l51so0SU/s1098/Veteran%20Sergeant%20Khira.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1098" data-original-width="1077" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsJ6KH_vGn6KbGJjR-CyS3cMA24YjWu9ES02kLdBIK6evLApyFdpCcsWkkf-yUlHyglac3OEmm8wJtJ3WnvdT_uKjPWYEfx6LuWy-PlmMxY4Y_r9EB6-JgVkOtyDMMQj69X98HvGPsytPce0ceQppnxnwrA-b1d0flDitqbJYF89VHOrbhfD2l51so0SU/w196-h200/Veteran%20Sergeant%20Khira.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_bQITLYkI-VHHEWf7gwcSlDnqD0f76iLnNS2BfcjgFoRnvx1Sp2LonO7z7EuPxWje6rB6nHxB4g8DgXha3yGonf3wyz0IuVU6BeQ1Y3VxDGqTbqkHk1h-Ozxs0Fiu2dNLz3NjUqnD3rQb6tDOIJz3R-uPECNtSdZz1Q1KcSh7GH2f-83tU09uwLMgicM/s2772/Scout%20Squad%207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="2772" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_bQITLYkI-VHHEWf7gwcSlDnqD0f76iLnNS2BfcjgFoRnvx1Sp2LonO7z7EuPxWje6rB6nHxB4g8DgXha3yGonf3wyz0IuVU6BeQ1Y3VxDGqTbqkHk1h-Ozxs0Fiu2dNLz3NjUqnD3rQb6tDOIJz3R-uPECNtSdZz1Q1KcSh7GH2f-83tU09uwLMgicM/s320/Scout%20Squad%207.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeIPfcau-BZMWP6CZIhy42CH-5pSaFFbZ8GMCGy4l2z_fh2WX67pMcKskf5oWWcp42V8yAO8hwKUdbTbJFxU1QHlAFvsFMtAho6uWqzqEKkZXjjr3jX3ksAHeT9dGhZyduBMCJti6iaoY4HcmzfEjUq7Gt9q7vzkqQKUiNvuCxEL2H4QWMvMW6Wu6Dbc/s4020/Scout%20Squad%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1629" data-original-width="4020" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqeIPfcau-BZMWP6CZIhy42CH-5pSaFFbZ8GMCGy4l2z_fh2WX67pMcKskf5oWWcp42V8yAO8hwKUdbTbJFxU1QHlAFvsFMtAho6uWqzqEKkZXjjr3jX3ksAHeT9dGhZyduBMCJti6iaoY4HcmzfEjUq7Gt9q7vzkqQKUiNvuCxEL2H4QWMvMW6Wu6Dbc/w400-h163/Scout%20Squad%203.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjHB0XURs5ydBTH9JfdEBr7C0n8EKO6PxDzberJ1TjhJXR2QfflcL7hiSTg7ox68yYW6V8G5gR1Rm1fwgRP9HQsRqjRiNpT6wcXTudkP2A1J6zafFJWYMR3Z2JZTNC4KeXfgjW57_XfruUFnXZPjHAmpSWfaeutMDnzXsTPBtIzDDeY2JmjNePPfxhWU/s3855/Scout%20Squad%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1554" data-original-width="3855" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIjHB0XURs5ydBTH9JfdEBr7C0n8EKO6PxDzberJ1TjhJXR2QfflcL7hiSTg7ox68yYW6V8G5gR1Rm1fwgRP9HQsRqjRiNpT6wcXTudkP2A1J6zafFJWYMR3Z2JZTNC4KeXfgjW57_XfruUFnXZPjHAmpSWfaeutMDnzXsTPBtIzDDeY2JmjNePPfxhWU/w400-h161/Scout%20Squad%204.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZ4eaVHIfdfVnHjavf_NvnNQ5m-PM8rv5HwxGh-5Gjk3iSg2cTYHMVIWDp48DPFIiPw3U9AEAAXF6nqSoal1Lomj6I5nJry_hvn30d9DQ-FHpglsv-icIRN-ML6owPqv_mxOJv7mLuOXDEf2U_5ze99Qtkv-9ziW4-_Lrpd6FsAIrooTY5kDD1Rv3I0I/s3393/Scout%20Squads%205%20&%206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1737" data-original-width="3393" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiZ4eaVHIfdfVnHjavf_NvnNQ5m-PM8rv5HwxGh-5Gjk3iSg2cTYHMVIWDp48DPFIiPw3U9AEAAXF6nqSoal1Lomj6I5nJry_hvn30d9DQ-FHpglsv-icIRN-ML6owPqv_mxOJv7mLuOXDEf2U_5ze99Qtkv-9ziW4-_Lrpd6FsAIrooTY5kDD1Rv3I0I/w400-h205/Scout%20Squads%205%20&%206.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnqhovqNbZdh4yg-GqX7IATFDMMiJ2y3fsYAhiu8NVwNmWvTMcyDtp-7S7XF_Q-kh4XBgnu_OJxB4H8nedBgbNUgPDCOQQoI3eFkXbi_Sy8GCFO1UTyu3EE-yp3lCzOAiRxzDWPHQOxqEs6d22EUsAkjmYXGFYywg3oZveyBuZ2Xko9N2O-pfXHjJwlM/s4212/Scout%20Squads%201%20&%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1701" data-original-width="4212" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnqhovqNbZdh4yg-GqX7IATFDMMiJ2y3fsYAhiu8NVwNmWvTMcyDtp-7S7XF_Q-kh4XBgnu_OJxB4H8nedBgbNUgPDCOQQoI3eFkXbi_Sy8GCFO1UTyu3EE-yp3lCzOAiRxzDWPHQOxqEs6d22EUsAkjmYXGFYywg3oZveyBuZ2Xko9N2O-pfXHjJwlM/w400-h161/Scout%20Squads%201%20&%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1mkdD29T91wqMtv-eHSfNgFZBhji4fEhW749h9pVzrDyaeRcW_xgZ9igznfIOwxSPmvIccdcWypDwdUfajbWMtte6LaFyBND60ZFPnvMsvrul6blhS_B09vG4oKLdiB3nUZgwHsgNeXGniHJVNNMRBSlzIgcmogpmQN6fkEF-vPCRX6_2QkfFj6P4Q8/s4110/Land%20Speeder%20Storms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2262" data-original-width="4110" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY1mkdD29T91wqMtv-eHSfNgFZBhji4fEhW749h9pVzrDyaeRcW_xgZ9igznfIOwxSPmvIccdcWypDwdUfajbWMtte6LaFyBND60ZFPnvMsvrul6blhS_B09vG4oKLdiB3nUZgwHsgNeXGniHJVNNMRBSlzIgcmogpmQN6fkEF-vPCRX6_2QkfFj6P4Q8/w400-h220/Land%20Speeder%20Storms.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">What are Scouts for?</h2><p>Before I started building them, I had a think about what Scouts actually are and do in the 41st Millenium. It’s common knowledge that they are neophyte Space Marines, busy getting battlefield experience before they are ready to be inducted as full brothers. What they did in the setting used to be heavily determined by the models (as with everything in 40k) but the expansion of weapon options, and the inclusion of Phobos stealth troops meaning they are no longer a necessary part of the chapter lineup, frees one up to think sensibly about what they’d actually do.</p><p>Back in 2010, Forgeworld released an amazing sourcebook for Raven Guard players; Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid on Kastorel-Novem. This was a lore and rules supplement presented as a historical textbook telling of a military campaign with the Raven Guard (and Elysian Drop Troops) fighting against Orks. Honestly the rules may be out of date but this book is still well worth reading. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFMBv-OrmRDclEiczPeFpgCqpRpGYEMJpZuq1RVw6WmnFtYB2MJYzNIRlE8WXnmdHskffZdZmXdEdGK_yabeI7_vSCIxBcOIc9rC-e2qqDOh0LQ_4vd7bu1NjLE_f9tQvtC1lXEde2xUxUcgLbCnBouDCJwOb6Lm9qbaQ6NS9VWWzEMjUM2vFJAG-6tk/s608/pasted%20image%200.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzFMBv-OrmRDclEiczPeFpgCqpRpGYEMJpZuq1RVw6WmnFtYB2MJYzNIRlE8WXnmdHskffZdZmXdEdGK_yabeI7_vSCIxBcOIc9rC-e2qqDOh0LQ_4vd7bu1NjLE_f9tQvtC1lXEde2xUxUcgLbCnBouDCJwOb6Lm9qbaQ6NS9VWWzEMjUM2vFJAG-6tk/s320/pasted%20image%200.png" width="297" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Example of the lovely artwork within Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid on Kastorel-Novem. Image Credit: Games Workshop, used without permission for illustrative purposes only.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In this campaign, Scouts are deployed ahead of the main force and they are used as Scouts should be used. They scout. They sneak around on Land Speeders and spy on enemy formations. They rarely get involved and are largely unseen. This is what I want my Scouts to do.</p><p>So, a small unit whose main job is scouting, rather than front line combat. When they do engage, they ambush smaller forces, distract and disrupt, hit targets of opportunity and then fade away. They’re not there to fight battles; if a big fight is required, call in the Battle Brothers by drop pod/thunderhawk and maybe hang around to watch and/or assist from the sidelines. </p><p>With that in mind, a sniper rifle for assassinating key targets and a missile launcher for hitting a vulnerable harder target, such as a fuel dump or grounded aircraft. Both from a safe distance. Then they <strike>run away</strike> <i>tactically withdraw</i>. The rest of the unit are just there to assist. Armed with bolters with the aim of only using them if they get pursued and need to fight their way clear. Melee is absolutely a last resort. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Modelling</h2><p>When the kit first got announced, Harvey was quick to chum up with me and offer to split it. His Black Templars already have plenty of bowl-cut clad Novitiates from the Crusade Squad box, he just wanted the filthy Xenos. Lovely, 10 Scouts for me. But then Drew mentioned she too liked the Scorpions so I fell over myself to also offer to split a box with her too. 20 Scouts. Reinforcements inbound!</p><p>I had high hopes from the images GW had shared, but once I cracked open the kit, I was delighted to find they were everything I had hoped for. They’re beautifully sculpted, and the kit goes together very easily with sensible mould line locations. You can mostly swap arms between the different torso/leg sets (there are a few combos where a low held botgun would clash with a leg) so you can mix in some variety of poses quite easily. But just like Navejo weavers left in imperfections to allow the spirit out, GW has left in a few flaws in the kit that let my creative spirit fly free. </p><p>Firstly the sniper. I don’t much like his pose in the first place, but I certainly don’t want 4 of that pose. It’s far too unique to have duplicates. So time for some conversions! This first chap was pretty reserved, I just fixed the pose with a simple arm swap and changed the head direction.</p><p>For the second sniper I wanted to do something more interesting, so I took a boltgun pose I liked and swapped out the weapon. I’d previously done this a lot converting my Firstborn squad of bolters with camo cloaks from snipers, so this was simply a reverse. Remove the boltgun from its hands, but leave the forgrip in place. Then carefully remove the sniper rifle from the one hand holding it, slice out the foregrip and substitute it. The size isn’t a perfect match, so it does take a little bit of work to get a perfect fit, but after several cycles of dry fitting and filing, I got it right.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJYhryQsUllSAxlV5LVCJMYe2b4mBLcl2qgxuuxOzhmMbcu0WCbfob6p4ZP8AAS8QZCYms2ozsicokbdZ8q6l04ws9O2hQIqj4e8f85WqCtrj85puYsuGKTy2WFviERl6O-iuK_Lfvg11YfwuQWCXDANzMJV3N1s9vlYmdhgBrSkSsahcuT5pakn6Vdso/s969/Scout%20Snipers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="969" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJYhryQsUllSAxlV5LVCJMYe2b4mBLcl2qgxuuxOzhmMbcu0WCbfob6p4ZP8AAS8QZCYms2ozsicokbdZ8q6l04ws9O2hQIqj4e8f85WqCtrj85puYsuGKTy2WFviERl6O-iuK_Lfvg11YfwuQWCXDANzMJV3N1s9vlYmdhgBrSkSsahcuT5pakn6Vdso/w400-h244/Scout%20Snipers.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Secondly, the sergeant head is very cool and makes him nicely stand out, but there’s only one obviously Sergeant head, so unless you want every sergeant to have a beard and mohawk, some creativity is demanded. Admittedly it’s not that big a deal in this current edition of rules where there is no mechanical difference beyond wargear options, but it just feels right. For my second sergeant I mixed up some bits to have a guy with the chest thingumy and a pointing hand, so he should be pretty clearly the sergeant.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJbB5ZOQ2USyR1E16Z6Sy54dHV2eLhZNL88mAzT0dglP2wFufZF5TTd82rRr8ngM-RBw-Fgw1xmdQHsVWdAluhTvZdg7K-uoZX9jEB8W-kHcR84L9K4-wkfLL_FuGebG_jeCuYx37GJqUnn5CMb3_ljkOBCqJNwD2cVhaQZ4umTpAHpHex1xGNlNBMfo/s960/Scout%20Sergeants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="609" data-original-width="960" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJbB5ZOQ2USyR1E16Z6Sy54dHV2eLhZNL88mAzT0dglP2wFufZF5TTd82rRr8ngM-RBw-Fgw1xmdQHsVWdAluhTvZdg7K-uoZX9jEB8W-kHcR84L9K4-wkfLL_FuGebG_jeCuYx37GJqUnn5CMb3_ljkOBCqJNwD2cVhaQZ4umTpAHpHex1xGNlNBMfo/w400-h254/Scout%20Sergeants.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>There’s also some interesting size differences in this kit that I hadn’t expected. Most obviously, the shoulder pads have scaled up much more than the rest of the scout, being now almost but not quite as big as power armour. I’ve seen at least one eBay seller selling custom mk6/scout shoulder pads but they are not the same size so some buyers may be disappointed. But looking at the overall silhouette of the model they ended up with, I do think they got it right. They look great.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRcZNGw8oP6n7iPN_qUdd0Gf9942nWLgky7sNt_ivnTp5l7aq4drwPsJUO4WRmB8qwZjEBCv88VKg7amYlyb1Hk6O-AWR3vfXEcnbW-dx5JBjMUxVY9PoNGR09qZrbr5fNoBb6svQoFX9b9XbPamCO8tT5gG7SMl2cUxXui1eKUY1n4TVfAO8H-Al0AA/s1222/Shoulder%20Pads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="1222" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghRcZNGw8oP6n7iPN_qUdd0Gf9942nWLgky7sNt_ivnTp5l7aq4drwPsJUO4WRmB8qwZjEBCv88VKg7amYlyb1Hk6O-AWR3vfXEcnbW-dx5JBjMUxVY9PoNGR09qZrbr5fNoBb6svQoFX9b9XbPamCO8tT5gG7SMl2cUxXui1eKUY1n4TVfAO8H-Al0AA/s320/Shoulder%20Pads.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">L-R: Old Scout, New Scout, Power Armour</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Also, for reasons that are beyond me, the boltguns are bigger. Phobos bolt-carbines are pretty much the same size as firstborn boltguns, and they share the same basic statline. Scout boltguns, which have the exact same statline as a firstborn boltgun, are bigger, falling somewhere between a boltgun and a bolt rifle. Why? No idea. Presumably there is some slight difference that is below the resolution of a d6 based game, but another take is that scouts are running around with artificially weighted training boltguns to get them used to bolt rifles? It’s not that big of a deal, but it does sadly mean you lose some cross compatibility between kits.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-IanSJ2t9HghtR5m0qHMtKkM9W8nme7noBg4s4nTjPbVsTQtfzt8tYmrTDTN5PgZ299jfpulLznjKZouQwKPcxMIbEILxk3Xv5H_bFrDj1qpWR_27C9P8VwzQ_ZUrohop9c04fA3eemTDwdp8KoFwBYzoBMDXsnV9dcD4cQegkX73Pn9QqR6EfnSQVs/s3019/Boltguns.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3019" data-original-width="1816" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja-IanSJ2t9HghtR5m0qHMtKkM9W8nme7noBg4s4nTjPbVsTQtfzt8tYmrTDTN5PgZ299jfpulLznjKZouQwKPcxMIbEILxk3Xv5H_bFrDj1qpWR_27C9P8VwzQ_ZUrohop9c04fA3eemTDwdp8KoFwBYzoBMDXsnV9dcD4cQegkX73Pn9QqR6EfnSQVs/s320/Boltguns.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">T-B: Phobos Bolt Carbine, Firstborn Boltgun, Scout Boltgun, Primaris Bolt Rifle</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">Sergeant Telion</h3><p>Raven-eyed readers may have noticed a familiar face in the photos above, one Sergeant Telion of the Ultramarines. I always felt it unfair that the Ultramarines were the only chapter to get a Scout character, so I stole him and filed that ugly U off his left shoulder. He’s served valiantly as Sergeant Khira for years. With the new upgrade, even though you can lead scouts with Phobos Captains now, I still wanted my Scout character so I converted a new model to use as Telion. </p><p>He’s basically the sniper body, with a scout boltgun that I pimped with the scope and mag you get in the Raven Guard Upgrades and Transfers kit and a suppressor taken from an Eliminator’s bolt sniper rifle. The head was picked out of my bits box as being suitably patriciany, and is a standard space marine head; but beyond it being a recent good quality sculpt I couldn’t tell you which kit it was from. One internet point to anyone who can identify it in the comments. <i>(<b>Charlie:</b> I'm pretty sure it's from the Bladeguard kit.)</i> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEk56nIzl1V3I5YbFiyx1_NcNOQU4KUcxDX51LUa5KEmbwE6xrYQeUiUhV8PQ9K-xb7R2KI_M-PzfFxpJiVxo13HJKPZdk3xp8V3BfxH5vA5zOmeYppxgb8kQq5ZbYXnKIz3ZTfDi64KAZk5NLGsgrN_V3uOw4gVPvs0kVcOaKXAj3YLN5hpDQ4j1NJLg/s1047/Sgt%20Khira%20Old%20vs%20New.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="672" data-original-width="1047" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEk56nIzl1V3I5YbFiyx1_NcNOQU4KUcxDX51LUa5KEmbwE6xrYQeUiUhV8PQ9K-xb7R2KI_M-PzfFxpJiVxo13HJKPZdk3xp8V3BfxH5vA5zOmeYppxgb8kQq5ZbYXnKIz3ZTfDi64KAZk5NLGsgrN_V3uOw4gVPvs0kVcOaKXAj3YLN5hpDQ4j1NJLg/w400-h256/Sgt%20Khira%20Old%20vs%20New.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Technically it is legal for me to use him in 10th, even though he has the Ultramarine keyword (not that that ever stopped me before) but of course he’s Legends now. I have to say, as can be the case with Legends, he’s not terribly well balanced. I’m going to ignore his ability to let the entire unit he has joined have [PRECISION] because having your character sniped with a krak missile or two is going to lead to some bad feels. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Painting</h2><p>Ironically, for a cheaper less powerful unit, scouts are actually far more complicated to paint than Intercessors. But I am no less lazy, so as usual I thought about how I could paint them that would minimise my effort. Previously I started with the black armour, undercoated then drybrushed, then very carefully painted in the fatigues, trying to minimise mistakes and cleaning up as best I could afterwards (drybrushing being one of those techniques you can never perfectly repair). I've now shifted to basecoating the fatigues before the drybrush, then drybrushing both at the same time. This way you get a much easier and more effective cleanup stage so you can be much quicker and messier with the basecoating, and you get a highlight on the fatigues (which I simply didn’t do before). This subtle difference makes painting a little quicker and the end result slightly better.</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Spray Chaos Black</li><li>Basecoat fatigues Stormvermin Fur</li><li>Basecoat aquila Mechanicus Standard Grey</li><li>Clean up armour with Abaddon Black</li><li>Drybrush everything with Dawnstone Dry</li><li>Wash fatigues and aquila Nuln Oil</li><li>Paint everything else</li></ul><p></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYSw1eZ9RoZ83BhtENMr_uRHxHe2IEObUsIplHZfDACCrksWejjKYQaaUPYW5gtUUOViKFDCGOw4bBKO_KW88Yb3vwvk69ezaIsxMtNoUxNp24Hpl31_6mZuB9EnU7iFt2ToXXsHKDK5e4hyphenhyphenk3-w6pS7gxy-p8M_c7u8QhEVuZFGgvutaVYNxHEz4kNY/s1548/Squad%20Trasyr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1548" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimYSw1eZ9RoZ83BhtENMr_uRHxHe2IEObUsIplHZfDACCrksWejjKYQaaUPYW5gtUUOViKFDCGOw4bBKO_KW88Yb3vwvk69ezaIsxMtNoUxNp24Hpl31_6mZuB9EnU7iFt2ToXXsHKDK5e4hyphenhyphenk3-w6pS7gxy-p8M_c7u8QhEVuZFGgvutaVYNxHEz4kNY/w640-h258/Squad%20Trasyr.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squad Trasyr</td></tr></tbody></table><p>To be honest the Dawnstone doesn't stand out that much on the other greys, it’s not a very strong highlight, the main benefit is very much the speed and consistency you get by applying it everywhere.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmna8qN9GKW4zDqxkdqBIdk-rtYldTKtoyLRUF8foBCJrT7LylfU43OhP2C6lx_LazoP-DIgJYWAMa_B7MiDSGK3vTd3kbLhbnC4M9DIttOdTvzpMGlciqIJPsDGgn-dQt5JiBxmhnJQA7_jUs8VVQYInIWEUSI_TqunsrMu54w5_XJPp8a26ZIRx_Go/s1530/Squad%20Koryn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="1530" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmna8qN9GKW4zDqxkdqBIdk-rtYldTKtoyLRUF8foBCJrT7LylfU43OhP2C6lx_LazoP-DIgJYWAMa_B7MiDSGK3vTd3kbLhbnC4M9DIttOdTvzpMGlciqIJPsDGgn-dQt5JiBxmhnJQA7_jUs8VVQYInIWEUSI_TqunsrMu54w5_XJPp8a26ZIRx_Go/w640-h262/Squad%20Koryn.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squad Koryn</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: left;">The only other thing of note with this scheme is I took the opportunity to change the webbing colour from Catachan Flesh, which I have used on all my Primaris Marines up to now, to Thondia Brown. The latter came out after I started painting my army, but I prefer it a bit, there’s a little more richness to it.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOMGjAJn6yoTCZ-ttSbTJJ0YiBaw8ILphsGqgZk1nbvtWUPU3XlXh1sueP_8kV4poH9uVAO4MuTEU88EtefQoZJFwBKo5E-5nxc-X4vE5Fr1QKBiHgd6cPhzgeKbtYvdCt1JBphOKpfG2PizrJBxYYZancmnt1f7A-Rl7OIY451Pj1iezZJC59QCXIsn8/s621/Sergeant%20Khira.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="525" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOMGjAJn6yoTCZ-ttSbTJJ0YiBaw8ILphsGqgZk1nbvtWUPU3XlXh1sueP_8kV4poH9uVAO4MuTEU88EtefQoZJFwBKo5E-5nxc-X4vE5Fr1QKBiHgd6cPhzgeKbtYvdCt1JBphOKpfG2PizrJBxYYZancmnt1f7A-Rl7OIY451Pj1iezZJC59QCXIsn8/s320/Sergeant%20Khira.jpg" width="271" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Veteran Sergeant Khira</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">Ready to Deploy</h2><p>So, there we have two squads of scouts and a character to lead them. I’ve got 9 more chaps on sprue still, but I’m going to leave them for a while. The painting was pretty tedious and I need a rest. At the moment I’m thinking I might have a third squad with a heavy bolter instead of a missile launcher, mostly for variety. I really can’t see myself wanting either shotgun or melee scouts, but who knows what the future holds. </p><p>I can’t wait to get these boys on the table, although I have noticed that in the few weeks it took me to build and paint them they’ve already been nerfed with a points hike. C’est la vie. </p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-1534333942599335312024-02-05T14:00:00.137+00:002024-02-05T23:26:55.886+00:00Double Guard mini Narrative<p>The thin green line faced off against the endless red hoard in this mini narrative campaign. As with any great Imperial Guard tale it involved big tanks grinding and horrendous casualties. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORcog6hQ0JBjXALYCxLg9FDcDlHd8TZn7RZkuFWysQbsYrtkaYYFfzb6rDq66YgB-t8iRxnSMaRBqavsOCt6tn4VLCm2WZQiy73uiOvWZOxIg_KXDbXOtY77i1sT1oHqWeqHftrjmkfSDPwM_UNkFA2RR0WFulCcAoTtOlCasvHPbmDRsngTIUGoWhP8/s2945/PXL_20240121_200718985.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1831" data-original-width="2945" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiORcog6hQ0JBjXALYCxLg9FDcDlHd8TZn7RZkuFWysQbsYrtkaYYFfzb6rDq66YgB-t8iRxnSMaRBqavsOCt6tn4VLCm2WZQiy73uiOvWZOxIg_KXDbXOtY77i1sT1oHqWeqHftrjmkfSDPwM_UNkFA2RR0WFulCcAoTtOlCasvHPbmDRsngTIUGoWhP8/w400-h249/PXL_20240121_200718985.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Every month Charlie hosts Beard Bunker Gaming, where whoever is free can drop in and play. A couple of weeks ago I was there with a plan for Charlie to teach me to play Warhammer Fantasy in the morning and a free afternoon, so I proposed to Harvey that for the afternoon he and I teamed up our Guard armies to face the Tyranids in a <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/11/the-swarm-has-arrived.html" target="_blank">Fury of the Swarm</a> game. Putting on his best Chigago Podcaster impression, Harvey immediately responded with “Yes, and…”<p></p><p>His proposal was to take it a step further, play out a full (albeit small) Fury of the Swarm campaign with our Guard armies. Despite having playtested the game extensively, I’d never played a full linked campaign so I was dead keen! So across half a Sunday and the entire following weekend we ran ourselves a narrative campaign of the Imperial Guard investigating a silent colony, getting ambushed by Tyranids and… well, read on to find out!</p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Harvey: Yeah, I was very jazzed at the idea of playing Fury of the Swarm as it was designed to be played, instead of as a playtesting exercise. Both Tom and I love a good narrative too, so without further ado we got thinking about a story, and it all got a bit Aliens...</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Makrinos Goes Quiet</h2><p>Towards the spinward end of the Targean Veil, lies the world known as Makrinos to its inhabitants and Imperial Listening Post TV-7 to the Departmento Munitorum. A small self-sufficient colony far from Imperial civilisation, its primary use to the Imperium is maintaining the largely automated listening post located several miles from the colony limits in the wilderness. </p><p>Used by Explorators, Rogue Traders and even Inquisitorial Agents at times as a stopping point between the wider Eridani Sector and the uncharted wilds of the Veil, the base was strategically useful - but relied on obscurity to defend it rather than a significant standing garrison. It was equipped with long range communications and scanners, and monitored the Veil for incursions into Imperial space. Its falling silent was potentially a bad sign, but not significant enough to send serious firepower like Astartes. Thus when it stopped broadcasting, the Departmento Munitorum redirected a small escort squadron containing elements of the Nightfall 31st Recon and Cadian 177th Mechanised, both regiments veterans of the defence of Lachesis, to investigate.</p><p>Upon arrival the Imperials found the planet seemingly deserted, no hails or other signals leaving the world as the escort squadron approached. The psykers they had aboard felt something wrong but were unable to discern anything more specific. With no other option, ground forces were deployed to investigate.</p><p>Mid-way through deployment, with just a few thousand guardsmen landed so far, several Tyranid escort-class ships emerged from cover and threatened the Naval forces. They forced the Navy to abandon the landing and withdraw, causing the loss of several troop transports - including the one carrying the Nightfall 31st 2nd in command, Major Hoss. The Navy were able to prevent the escorts from taking up stable orbital positions that would allow them to dominate any fighting on the ground, but were not powerful enough to drive them away entirely. The ground troops already landed were cut off.</p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Harvey: The scene was set, our forces beginning the campaign ambushed by Tyranids who were clearly prepared and lying in wait for prey. The overarching story of an ambush was perfect for the way in which Fury of the Swarm campaigns move through the different stages of a Tyranid invasion, and we had fun looking through the scenarios and figuring out what could happen next and how to simulate it best, depending on how the Imperial Guard fared from mission to mission. </span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">It was very much a freeform campaign as far as the story went, with us thinking on the fly about narrative hooks such as where the Tyranids might be coming from or how exactly our forces might escape. This made it much easier to fit the events of what happened on Makrinos to the scenarios within Fury of the Swarm, and allowed us to (mostly) cherry pick the missions we were both most interested in playing.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Sporefall</h2><p><i>All Fury of the Swarm campaigns begin in the “Sporefall” phase, with a series of missions representing the Tyranids raining down from orbit and launching their initial assault upon the inhabitants. To begin our campaign we selected to play the mission “Big Guns Mustn’t Tire”, but instead of defending an orbital defence weapon, our troops would be defending the communications array whilst they desperately tried to get it working again and send out a distress signal to the wider Imperium. If Tyranids have seeded this world, where else have they gotten?</i></p><p>Tyranid ground forces launch a multi pronged ambush - targeting imperial forces at several sites simultaneously. The first site was the long range communications tower, defended by Lieutenant Raan of Nightfall 31st’s L Company and Lieutenant Wright of Cadian 177th’s A Company. Whilst the Cadian tanks dug in, the infantry of both regiments began hurriedly constructing improvised defences from crates, barrels and a few precious sandbags.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQyG21GnvM-1xCDaPcXpYdv2DVDcSySKkwPck2SMbV0oq1sZya1UtP65IYzCdMHQljQIdi2wdmLOU3iGVNVK1KBsy74IDRq0xUZxOd8DPNLwwiO8w2wCY0kN2Wle1xLBXhPi-SIZKUvVQYImQn-6ZowgUmAQmdWq9UHoMBtZI9VSQG_xl4lXVoyP8QRM0/s3030/PXL_20240121_170032520.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3030" data-original-width="2677" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQyG21GnvM-1xCDaPcXpYdv2DVDcSySKkwPck2SMbV0oq1sZya1UtP65IYzCdMHQljQIdi2wdmLOU3iGVNVK1KBsy74IDRq0xUZxOd8DPNLwwiO8w2wCY0kN2Wle1xLBXhPi-SIZKUvVQYImQn-6ZowgUmAQmdWq9UHoMBtZI9VSQG_xl4lXVoyP8QRM0/w354-h400/PXL_20240121_170032520.jpg" width="354" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hurriedly improvised defences.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Casualties were high amongst the infantry holding the front lines, but they held long enough for the Tyranids to run out of steam and then the counter-push drove the creatures back and fully repulsed the attack, allowing the regimental techpriests time to send their message. The heroic Commissar Valden was badly wounded whilst leading from the front and would take no further active part in the campaign, being in a hospital bed.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVpKoYUixcMSqisieOZoxoF4w5etyaWGJauB2JEIyf_1lx9z3DhoRTJ-rBRuJds3k_szD54UaovjGgwFi0gQZ1GgXHRHU-M6M_c-ppqd53uaWjAAD7lNYLn-n1lc29ZMTpBaDALhi6cGVTvJJeFVilI9j88btkiVLDSnhZ1_6JcuVL2ELil8HMd3NXHY/s3050/PXL_20240121_200742116.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2965" data-original-width="3050" height="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYVpKoYUixcMSqisieOZoxoF4w5etyaWGJauB2JEIyf_1lx9z3DhoRTJ-rBRuJds3k_szD54UaovjGgwFi0gQZ1GgXHRHU-M6M_c-ppqd53uaWjAAD7lNYLn-n1lc29ZMTpBaDALhi6cGVTvJJeFVilI9j88btkiVLDSnhZ1_6JcuVL2ELil8HMd3NXHY/w400-h389/PXL_20240121_200742116.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Things look desperate for the Guard.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><i>This mission felt pretty tough, with nowhere to run and caught between walls of spiky death. In the first turn we actually pulled our tanks back and let the objective take the enemy fire, to ensure the Tyranids didn’t destroy our strongest guns in their first turn. The strategy seemed to work although by the end of the game they had gotten it down to less than a 3rd of its starting wounds. Ultimately I suppose that meant we judged it correctly.</i></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">Report ID: ERI-TAR-MAK-31L(2)-0001<br />Reporting Officer: Lt. Raan<br />Report:</span></div><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">Contact confirmed with Tyranid organisms at this time, Makrinos crawls. 2 Platoon were tasked, along with Cadians under the command of Lt. Wright and Capt. Wolfe, with holding the long range communications tower until the techs could fix it and send for reinforcements. We set up what defences we could before they assaulted us from two angles. The lines held and word got out - the techs assure me the message send has been verified.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">2 Platoon are 60% operational, the Cadian infantry less so - reserve squads are en route, but more worrying is the loss of contact with L command. The comms tower was damaged in the assault and this position won’t hold long term, so we’re packing up and moving for L command. I just hope we get there in time.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">Valden took a nasty hit; a fleshborer beetle ate a good chunk of his leg before he could pull it out of himself and kill it. He’s being evacuated along with the rest of the wounded to TV-7’s field hospital. With luck those transports won’t get attacked, we don’t have the men to escort them safely.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">I think I know what happened to the colonists.</span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Living Rain</h3><p><i>As we had both chosen to bring Lieutenants on this mission, we wondered what our senior commanders had been up to. We opted to play “Living Rain” as our second mission to find out as their command post came under orbital assault from a living rain of spiky death. To fully represent the falling doom of a Tyrnaid invasion we opted to use the Sporocysts models (which I normally just use as scenery anyway) as Tyrannocytes, and fill them with Hormagaunts. </i></p><p><i>As this mission was supposed to be happening simultaneously with the previous game, we didn’t use any named characters that had appeared in that game, but neither of us have enough models to prevent the necessity of reusing basic units as another unit of the same type. We welcome the assistance of the freshly named “I-can’t-beleive-it’s-not-Weasel Squadron”. </i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZqOa-GIyA7udeKV7cVFdyA5CYK7Ha-B2YsgDeaXTKl1WOh7H8xe15DFf5i9Pb1JK8Td6EbDUELoev6-A7OoOcS2YSQiKIJ1nt3a4s1489MyH-k24unIrhs2LVp5n1-9bKn5HxnVtTPJjSyLN57lGzILvIlgsGmZWmpw5sw_ySc8VvU-P_b1iLWiE9XdY/s4080/PXL_20240127_130223607.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZqOa-GIyA7udeKV7cVFdyA5CYK7Ha-B2YsgDeaXTKl1WOh7H8xe15DFf5i9Pb1JK8Td6EbDUELoev6-A7OoOcS2YSQiKIJ1nt3a4s1489MyH-k24unIrhs2LVp5n1-9bKn5HxnVtTPJjSyLN57lGzILvIlgsGmZWmpw5sw_ySc8VvU-P_b1iLWiE9XdY/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_130223607.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Captain Matthis emerges from the command post to take command.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>At the regimental command post, hastily constructed around a watchtower, Captains Founder and Matthis were coordinating the deployment of their forces when it began to rain fleshy death. They quickly pulled their forces in to form a tight defence, but could not afford to give up vital communications systems and fuel reserves. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJgDb9fEODOWfQVst4PM_4IFkIkl60a8zeRzSrvfNvMmUuqqKNIZ3fspZjI8thhfpj6EAhIpx_aAfDrZOzZa1GWPcQkVzIIvrr74ecv8olAPCE0z6cM4Qld_SAQJpoY7q4X07aNfiOvPz9kfn0qwBKz-t3Q7pPxNGolnCox8vwl_HuDC8LTkPz2QjAdA/s3860/PXL_20240127_153729091.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3860" data-original-width="3072" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJgDb9fEODOWfQVst4PM_4IFkIkl60a8zeRzSrvfNvMmUuqqKNIZ3fspZjI8thhfpj6EAhIpx_aAfDrZOzZa1GWPcQkVzIIvrr74ecv8olAPCE0z6cM4Qld_SAQJpoY7q4X07aNfiOvPz9kfn0qwBKz-t3Q7pPxNGolnCox8vwl_HuDC8LTkPz2QjAdA/w319-h400/PXL_20240127_153729091.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">In this mission deep striking reserves all deploy as close as possible to the most lightly held objective. Certified Fresh.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>By prioritising the larger creatures with ranged firepower and using transports to block out the now unsupported smaller Tyranid beasts the hoard was kept at bay. Sergeant Drokk and his Bullgryns, having earned the nickname “Bonk Squad” back on Lachesis, made short work of those who did get through. When Lieutenant Raan arrived, having rushed his forces across to support once their mission was concluded, he found the command post in good order and busy cleaning up hundreds of Tyranid corpses. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX2scDGxt1ConeE5hxYXefwrACzt_6VSpfJUNSCC3WLdQjRcP0_s0NKMVPT1guzw9MrWV9qjvL-zWHSjMfzVMgDZKP4iupTI3r-7zxM7YKNlogWNBnlzbdqwCrxtJM1KJjtI5PXaDujDqKkcdD1LlWrTIuIaziyng-9dzzLa3RiWfWAcFrZ1fom8dVWUA/s4080/PXL_20240127_151142821.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX2scDGxt1ConeE5hxYXefwrACzt_6VSpfJUNSCC3WLdQjRcP0_s0NKMVPT1guzw9MrWV9qjvL-zWHSjMfzVMgDZKP4iupTI3r-7zxM7YKNlogWNBnlzbdqwCrxtJM1KJjtI5PXaDujDqKkcdD1LlWrTIuIaziyng-9dzzLa3RiWfWAcFrZ1fom8dVWUA/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_151142821.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">“Men and women of Cadia, we stand!”</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB98XHQHIWpHfNvPCQqJWMY_lxmqKXvtvegmpCMAWhmVaHJPW32KZW4SkhErGC7SH7ExHbyo7i-GahlappvylIrKgpS2Vzl_4ElTuVOGhNA0pykQRuLyJt4vaGhLoMD5pcJlSh9FhNJBafz_jelbdBjodYQw_4ncl6qZsVyj03MnLMD_fZGBJgZ67oJQA/s4080/PXL_20240127_153800152.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB98XHQHIWpHfNvPCQqJWMY_lxmqKXvtvegmpCMAWhmVaHJPW32KZW4SkhErGC7SH7ExHbyo7i-GahlappvylIrKgpS2Vzl_4ElTuVOGhNA0pykQRuLyJt4vaGhLoMD5pcJlSh9FhNJBafz_jelbdBjodYQw_4ncl6qZsVyj03MnLMD_fZGBJgZ67oJQA/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_153800152.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">An endless chittering tide emerges from the forest and rains from the sky.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><i>This mission felt even more hairy than the last, with objectives to be held much further forward and Tyranids deploying horrifically close, it was a game of unpleasant surprises and constant firefighting. As ever the infantry took an utter mauling, but the ability to get replacement Guard squads with a stratagem really does encourage the thematic gameplay of spending lives for victory.</i></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: courier;">Report ID: ERI-TAR-MAK-117A-0001<br />Reporting Officer: Capt. Founder<br />Report:</span></div><p><span style="font-family: courier;">Having established a forward command post with my opposite number Captain Matthis to begin to coordinate what forces we had available, the Tyranids began an orbital assault. Enemy units from landing nearby converged upon our position whilst enemy spores, including spore-bourn reinforcements, beset the forward base. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">At such close quarters our troops were at s erious dissadvantage, and casualties were high, however after the first few waves were repulsed we were able to turn the tide. I must commend the Nightfaller tank drivers, despite lacking any serious armour. Their Devil Dog crew in particular should be recognised for bravery.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Fulcrum</h2><p><i>With the initial invasion having been weathered, the next phase of a campaign is the fulcrum. It is here that a campaign is won or lost. If the Tyranids had won the majority of the missions (in this case Harvey and I agreed that meant either mission) they would be receiving extra reinforcements during the Fulcrum phase. Now our success, or failure, in Fulcrum would determine whether the final phase would be Extermination, where the last of the bugs are purged and the planet reclaimed, or Evacuation, where the survivors must flee an overridden world. </i></p><p><i>With limited time to play, we opted for “Hold the Line” as the most thematically appropriate mission. Retake and Hold didn’t make much sense to us, as there was little to retake, and Resupply Run equally wouldn’t work when there were no supplies to be had - though would have been perfect if we had already lost control of the base in the previous games, and were telling the story of a desperate evacuation. The wounded Commissar Valden may even have been in a medical transport!</i></p><p><i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Harvey: This was also a mission that neither of us had played before, which was an added bonus! We both were fairly involved in testing various missions with Charlie, but “Hold the Line” was a fresh experience - in both senses of the word.</span></i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSiAWtHDlItm3ykdGt3kTYXJ7u8Wh4SxvmNaAMPSgjXox5Qa_0KAgAguYgjRF3BVbTaz0GSWaPPVqcF7i0LK-XXWt2xSPXQwPl4-aLndAXG7zbR23UUHRSqnOvCINYibs0LB1qq3MUWAQUTglbYeaUvNMmKlfrolZn-jVR38WLW1lW82OkitkgNieFco/s4080/PXL_20240127_193354729.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSiAWtHDlItm3ykdGt3kTYXJ7u8Wh4SxvmNaAMPSgjXox5Qa_0KAgAguYgjRF3BVbTaz0GSWaPPVqcF7i0LK-XXWt2xSPXQwPl4-aLndAXG7zbR23UUHRSqnOvCINYibs0LB1qq3MUWAQUTglbYeaUvNMmKlfrolZn-jVR38WLW1lW82OkitkgNieFco/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_193354729.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p>Captain Matthis holds the centre.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZVqopQB_bJibByji4HEnPREh7VFchgUBBaROOhsR2eJNzrIHUaov7LNP4R9cC__AcEx7kEY3WQzXkYGUTCtEwkGxSGYGo_4tm6a-jUuBeSlPw8BYw9b3i6v8WYmFL-j7ZPJBNBlX7C40Hg-0sQx1e0VvDbgz_WZ3YV5Lj4hCTA72RVJ_SpmhHtOeu8Y/s4080/PXL_20240127_193402937.MP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiZVqopQB_bJibByji4HEnPREh7VFchgUBBaROOhsR2eJNzrIHUaov7LNP4R9cC__AcEx7kEY3WQzXkYGUTCtEwkGxSGYGo_4tm6a-jUuBeSlPw8BYw9b3i6v8WYmFL-j7ZPJBNBlX7C40Hg-0sQx1e0VvDbgz_WZ3YV5Lj4hCTA72RVJ_SpmhHtOeu8Y/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_193402937.MP.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Lieutenant Raan taking the corner point. That “Tarantula Sentry Gun” placement would turn out to be a lifesaver; as the closest target it took the full brunt of the Exocrine, absorbing massive overkill that would have nuked a platoon.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSADllIjKFl76vLYxeegw4YQUjZWzjSCaB6odnXM27DEpxUP61m_LjK_obzYzhF8oyFOiJbcu5lRkrtErmjIPEeTEQfZd4X02F3cWdlaCy5Y2aiL6hoqLaE-9gAwzZWHBNm-7HBMYb54h7LmcroMgsvZ4T6SyMNWw_s3YyToDuV9awbf4vv6Gdt3xqKA/s4080/PXL_20240127_193412804.MP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSADllIjKFl76vLYxeegw4YQUjZWzjSCaB6odnXM27DEpxUP61m_LjK_obzYzhF8oyFOiJbcu5lRkrtErmjIPEeTEQfZd4X02F3cWdlaCy5Y2aiL6hoqLaE-9gAwzZWHBNm-7HBMYb54h7LmcroMgsvZ4T6SyMNWw_s3YyToDuV9awbf4vv6Gdt3xqKA/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_193412804.MP.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Captain Founder relegated to the second line, the Nightfallers apparently not appreciating the morale boosting power of a good flag.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFHELpbMLZ9DQmXpt2sBLCky2cFmCx9y8-ENnaRGL8zttf1aQv1MTAOyZX_7g_JPsaAHF87TSaRz5FCNaC3Nj5Pb5PzI4tuilwD30lz8nyPwboWjGwG4jCykBunwDkaFGTQ1V-faoDTDhklZvAaehwOXF2fjR4v0zUDttvpWSaekzZfO5mhSRSSPIr5Zw/s4080/PXL_20240127_193430600.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2476" data-original-width="4080" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFHELpbMLZ9DQmXpt2sBLCky2cFmCx9y8-ENnaRGL8zttf1aQv1MTAOyZX_7g_JPsaAHF87TSaRz5FCNaC3Nj5Pb5PzI4tuilwD30lz8nyPwboWjGwG4jCykBunwDkaFGTQ1V-faoDTDhklZvAaehwOXF2fjR4v0zUDttvpWSaekzZfO5mhSRSSPIr5Zw/w400-h243/PXL_20240127_193430600.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Dorn would be proud.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Massing in the forests surrounding the Imperial base, the Tyranids attacked in force, attempting to overrun the Imperials with brute force now that their ambushers had failed. The Nightfallers manning the walls were led by Raan and Matthis and took appalling casualties, but managed to fall back mostly in good order. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf0_PLtWmIixy9FndoB1gUlEJd15L4wySu0uPqU_RjTspbdG1SZd3UhxyRBnAiqF8LpfWaRj_MCpnVNCyQzpYlTPBONx_p8hdZ9b15UoLvmMt4jNnWBTuJKjCI2xHJawd43BgbI9Uk2X5wTVJgMtLuY461aJPWelxJCITWFvaiW6fcGCYn62_TsoTqh9k/s3072/PXL_20240127_220946995.MP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2975" data-original-width="3072" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf0_PLtWmIixy9FndoB1gUlEJd15L4wySu0uPqU_RjTspbdG1SZd3UhxyRBnAiqF8LpfWaRj_MCpnVNCyQzpYlTPBONx_p8hdZ9b15UoLvmMt4jNnWBTuJKjCI2xHJawd43BgbI9Uk2X5wTVJgMtLuY461aJPWelxJCITWFvaiW6fcGCYn62_TsoTqh9k/w400-h388/PXL_20240127_220946995.MP.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The survivors abandoned the wall and retreated to secondary positions as the swarm approached.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWgZcwxdA5bQjBRHmuOeEaZkd5n1gJhirvrmOSLFvR8pheXisGixn2uia1LiFsPAykJxQkVQgat91zf3IcHzMjKCa2sRELIshYHHhZ3Fy-Q19dZiuW_oyVorcccw-aK_J3KoAfWrdB66zLEKqzOOa0uvEggBk4IkLcXFw5SiNz4OhhaCX8dACM6Vqxo0/s4080/PXL_20240127_221234861.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYWgZcwxdA5bQjBRHmuOeEaZkd5n1gJhirvrmOSLFvR8pheXisGixn2uia1LiFsPAykJxQkVQgat91zf3IcHzMjKCa2sRELIshYHHhZ3Fy-Q19dZiuW_oyVorcccw-aK_J3KoAfWrdB66zLEKqzOOa0uvEggBk4IkLcXFw5SiNz4OhhaCX8dACM6Vqxo0/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_221234861.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">An uninvited guest is quickly shown the door by Weasel Squadron.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVaxDV1MeoFubFKHmfi-PgiyXthBrZbTclPe7leLSfWd_GH54bVy0h_RK8qiY_8ECydOVntVX6KVN0F3GWDPGoqLQwXs3uIOvcEiFuYjx9onCBxDjDcRCio2IcTQKLjlDNtnn1NIDL8NuNAV-uwxNSUOfLBOnMR1vYeuAokFJ-RScVOSrP1yyTO86wSI/s2052/20240127_231423.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1816" data-original-width="2052" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxVaxDV1MeoFubFKHmfi-PgiyXthBrZbTclPe7leLSfWd_GH54bVy0h_RK8qiY_8ECydOVntVX6KVN0F3GWDPGoqLQwXs3uIOvcEiFuYjx9onCBxDjDcRCio2IcTQKLjlDNtnn1NIDL8NuNAV-uwxNSUOfLBOnMR1vYeuAokFJ-RScVOSrP1yyTO86wSI/w400-h354/20240127_231423.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Whilst Bonk Squad give their customary warm welcome to the first guest to come over the wall.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Their numbers seemingly endless, the Tyranids managed to scale the walls but were met by vengeful Imperials led by Captain Founder. Having set up in pre-prepared secondary positions they were ready with blistering volleys of lasfire and made them pay for every step, with Sergeant Drokk’s Bonk Squad rushing to crush. The assault is driven back, and the Tyranid ability to attack is broken - in the short term at least. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbFXzwc3GkSvYBJ2A_BmowcDGqx2t0w1ZB5bberyWKxW2jqhoN0wLa1Pb8s4-NPite6VgJNisN_mBW-e4s19C8mPr9OQL-beAsmsBBSmwiZwVgYBmDSJQTIx7Ex4yJAN2Vm_Fpnie9u4CY_3uxgeHGqBywh3wCZ85tRNfHq2djJxW7Uq5Wtxe3NTzhBA8/s4080/PXL_20240127_232222300.MP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbFXzwc3GkSvYBJ2A_BmowcDGqx2t0w1ZB5bberyWKxW2jqhoN0wLa1Pb8s4-NPite6VgJNisN_mBW-e4s19C8mPr9OQL-beAsmsBBSmwiZwVgYBmDSJQTIx7Ex4yJAN2Vm_Fpnie9u4CY_3uxgeHGqBywh3wCZ85tRNfHq2djJxW7Uq5Wtxe3NTzhBA8/w400-h301/PXL_20240127_232222300.MP.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">A sniper’s eye view.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The Leman Russ “Kasr Bastos” shrugged off so many anti-tank hits from its hull-down position behind some shipping containers that the Guardsmen began referring to her as “Old Reliable” instead. At the other end of the wall Captain Wulfe of the attached Cadian 53rd Armoured almost destroyed his Executioner tank by repeatedly overcharging his plasma weapons. </p><p>The 3rd Sentinel Squadron valiantly held the gate, making multiple sallies out to engage foes before withdrawing back to the safety of the gate, including duelling with a massive Tervigon brood mother and her spawn. Such was their heroism the Cadian started calling them the Little Wolves, after the Imperial Knights of House Ulfir alongside whom the Cadians had so recently served. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw1Sbcjq404wJNgHER7mGk5imc4-zGrfc5LYhGWASgxnCP27XGdZ7T1kQPztspVyHnMboSoTvbTCHciPn64WeNh8g-0zPzbVqb6P6n1yo97S0x_HJUFyMyaKBrtdu8TRDmI7iNbuWLKfTA1ou1JcfZMt8IqiFZuJRAmIEGbinsL7r9Ah3gGtZI47S7VOs/s3268/PXL_20240127_221007050.MP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="3268" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw1Sbcjq404wJNgHER7mGk5imc4-zGrfc5LYhGWASgxnCP27XGdZ7T1kQPztspVyHnMboSoTvbTCHciPn64WeNh8g-0zPzbVqb6P6n1yo97S0x_HJUFyMyaKBrtdu8TRDmI7iNbuWLKfTA1ou1JcfZMt8IqiFZuJRAmIEGbinsL7r9Ah3gGtZI47S7VOs/w400-h376/PXL_20240127_221007050.MP.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The Little Wolves sally forth to keep the large beasts at bay, but smaller creatures rush around them towards easier prey.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><i>Before every mission we played, Harvey and I agreed this next one was the scariest yet, and doomed to failure. This mission was no exception. In both previous missions we had taken horrendous casualties to achieve victory, so a mission where having more survivors than an endlessly respawning enemy could put into your deployment zone seemed daunting to say the least. Despite having first turn, after the Tyranid reinforcement rolls were done we’d made almost zero impact on the enemy, and their first counterpunch was far less forgiving.</i></p><p><i>It was a tonne of fun setting up a defensive position, then defending it as hard as we could. The thick walls certainly helped slow down the enemy charges, but once the the infantry on the walls had been all but wiped out and retreated it also very much limited our ability to shoot back, which is pretty essential with a Guard army. The stratagem to respawn units undoubtedly saved our bacon this time. </i></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: courier;">Report ID: ERI-TAR-MAK-117A-0002<br />Reporting Officer: Capt. Founder<br />Report:</span></div><p><span style="font-family: courier;">It seems that with a surprise attack having failed, the Tyranids opted to overwhelm our position with numbers. Having anticipated a full assault we had fortified our position, with the more numerous Nightfallers holding the walls whilst my own Company held the fall-back position. As anticipated the Nightfallers were forced to fall back having done what they could to thin the enemy numbers, however good planning and stalwart resistance meant they surmounted the walls right into our trap. Waves of Tyranids fed themselves into our meat grinder piecemeal and, although at great cost in our own blood, we devastated the enemy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier;">I am recommending Sentinel Squadron 3 for the Bastion Honour, and I know Captain Wulfe will second my recommendation. Their repeated sorties out beyond the defences to proactively take the fight to the enemy undoubtedly saved many lives at huge risk to their own.</span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Extermination</h2><p><i>With victory in the Fulcrum, we had turned the tide of the war and were able to play an Extermination mission, rather than Evacuation. We opted for the much more aggressive “Burn the Nest” as we investigated the colony settlement to purge the main hive of the filthy xenos - we felt it would be a lot more challenging for a Guard army than “Let None Escape”, where you start at both ends of the table and a bunch of Tyranids in the middle try to break out.</i></p><p>Captain Matthis made the decision to lead an assault force to the nearby colony, since that's where the surviving Xenos had retreated towards, to investigate and if possible end the Tyranid threat. The transport vehicles of the Cadian 177th had not managed to deploy before the ambush was sprung, so the infantry stayed behind to defend the outpost whilst the armour of the 53rd joined the Nightfallers in their Chimera variants <i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Harvey: That's a Wendigo Light Tank, ackshually!</span></i> for a rapid thrust. </p><p>Aboard their transports in orbit, Major Naise of the Cadian 177th received this update and, unwilling to leave the Nightfallers and 53rd entirely unsupported, acquired a Valkyrie and, along with his escort detail, braved the Tyranid infested skies to head down and to assist. Despite the formal complaint from the Navy, Commissar Nari has judged that it was simply a miscommunication. Allegations that the Major threatened the pilot with his service pistol remain unverified at this time.</p><p><i>This is one of those fun story moments that evolved from somewhat random game choices. Whilst discussing our army lists with Harvey I remembered I had a black painted Valkyrie kicking around and thought it would be fun to include that. With a transport capacity of 12, I couldn’t take a full command squad and had to take a lone Cadian Castellan as my officer. With that choice made, the story told itself.</i></p><p>The assault force reached the outskirts of the colony unmolested, and found it infested with nesting Tyranids - the colonists long since consumed. Captain Wolfe took the flank with his armour and the Nightfaller infantry charged up the centre supported by their light tanks and sentinels, Lieutenant Raan burning the nest in the centre of the colony with a bandolier of incendiary grenades. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ2Ty095BcCQNe-nzEBypwHchsajTYASOrCixEK0bsEn7g-enbeWzDI7Nq1WX1Y0GVljXvssWPYy3MBRoHg6eZZEZXDWo_oZcLkVSMzsW0Py5R7gOb9fAGAhCjQceq6Qyj_J6_OtJujijxYgmqqL6ATjnkyMppy05_ZhT2BgKPHv2lkmejgQhNrYwTK7s/s4080/PXL_20240128_134544379.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ2Ty095BcCQNe-nzEBypwHchsajTYASOrCixEK0bsEn7g-enbeWzDI7Nq1WX1Y0GVljXvssWPYy3MBRoHg6eZZEZXDWo_oZcLkVSMzsW0Py5R7gOb9fAGAhCjQceq6Qyj_J6_OtJujijxYgmqqL6ATjnkyMppy05_ZhT2BgKPHv2lkmejgQhNrYwTK7s/w400-h301/PXL_20240128_134544379.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Cadians move in with armour and air support.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhCDBXcIQ29j-Y2EYXdGP4OhWZ7-4z5L3TkdZir-nUlAdt-5aIvS4c6Dg4a_Kmopwg3syHbJfYMnSReZGtOgd1Rf091Rh0zwgz0LaExIe2CSf6q4Sh5ozSe87rTg42ZKUc4wiOtgFO-9O04UV0JqqmxjjNbpYQUxjAk2of6MkQpQEZX9LHzBPP_caa0E/s4080/PXL_20240128_134607098.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqhCDBXcIQ29j-Y2EYXdGP4OhWZ7-4z5L3TkdZir-nUlAdt-5aIvS4c6Dg4a_Kmopwg3syHbJfYMnSReZGtOgd1Rf091Rh0zwgz0LaExIe2CSf6q4Sh5ozSe87rTg42ZKUc4wiOtgFO-9O04UV0JqqmxjjNbpYQUxjAk2of6MkQpQEZX9LHzBPP_caa0E/w400-h301/PXL_20240128_134607098.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Whilst the Nightfallers rely upon guts and sacrifice.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Major Naise provided both air support and a vital air-drop deployment to defend infiltrating Nightfaller sniper scouts while they mined a second nest. This was a growth coming out of a well that led to an underground cavern and, being full of flammable gases from digesting the colonists, it ignited. The final nest was assaulted by Two Platoon with covering fire from the armour, with more sniper scouts and Raan using up all their remaining explosives on the final nest and clearing the landing pad. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNQKQDceNpEgHA_lgDmnJsu0ex-D4FdL2K2dyluKvZ_JvhWE53WJ9PQR8NJQTLhVUyyqnmnxUVdXytkXRnfRLShX5tfQa3qfnK6KzFN3OuvTtqyodD1sJ1ypYyKNnqX7slDAqobh8GtrV_NY9i9WfmqsmFswSiXzSWywwLmLl0r8b1irooG_1whnZqdY/s4080/PXL_20240128_141605668.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmNQKQDceNpEgHA_lgDmnJsu0ex-D4FdL2K2dyluKvZ_JvhWE53WJ9PQR8NJQTLhVUyyqnmnxUVdXytkXRnfRLShX5tfQa3qfnK6KzFN3OuvTtqyodD1sJ1ypYyKNnqX7slDAqobh8GtrV_NY9i9WfmqsmFswSiXzSWywwLmLl0r8b1irooG_1whnZqdY/w400-h301/PXL_20240128_141605668.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The Demolisher ‘Kasr Derth’ manoeuvres itself to hold back the large beasts and let the rest of the column move towards the objective.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2PHmeoe-4Cvm5snYiJLqsOu7hiZVh9WF36Wtb3YPLh6v3QxK1VrC08CFuGrYg1xZbdEZJOivZNQ2jqfNp5OSyj_8_rT11zE5m-qcAoYuCneN5NjHNKsatz-u9u3sUS6vlI7sCFsWs4X04cWNr_52yP3O4wbhT0sjj0mJkjFSWLOKKaTEemsKTv4pVBQ/s4080/PXL_20240128_152904666.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH2PHmeoe-4Cvm5snYiJLqsOu7hiZVh9WF36Wtb3YPLh6v3QxK1VrC08CFuGrYg1xZbdEZJOivZNQ2jqfNp5OSyj_8_rT11zE5m-qcAoYuCneN5NjHNKsatz-u9u3sUS6vlI7sCFsWs4X04cWNr_52yP3O4wbhT0sjj0mJkjFSWLOKKaTEemsKTv4pVBQ/w400-h301/PXL_20240128_152904666.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Major Naise and his unit deploy to protect the flank of the Nightfaller infiltrators whilst they work to destroy the breeding nest. Only 2 Cadians and 3 Nightfallers survived.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7cyI8POj5hA5DujQlx258HLirtQB1JmDiRN_wdb2QT6a9lUJYpJXCTelaIWL6fe09PhgEwd1IJDiYTNSVFpMe16B-cChOT_LOOl8mVSZYoO9Hi63NFDXMJZxu_b2fIo5wvHsexmy7Ivt1ys_J6AqY8cReLIpxh3zVWxGrZIVmfgjryPOkxGbklJ6pchM/s3340/PXL_20240128_163636261.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2572" data-original-width="3340" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7cyI8POj5hA5DujQlx258HLirtQB1JmDiRN_wdb2QT6a9lUJYpJXCTelaIWL6fe09PhgEwd1IJDiYTNSVFpMe16B-cChOT_LOOl8mVSZYoO9Hi63NFDXMJZxu_b2fIo5wvHsexmy7Ivt1ys_J6AqY8cReLIpxh3zVWxGrZIVmfgjryPOkxGbklJ6pchM/w400-h308/PXL_20240128_163636261.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Meanwhile on the other flank the Nightfallers teach Bonk Squad a tactic called “bum-rush”.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Captain Matthis had been moving up on Raan’s left flank screening the main assault, but when she strayed too close to a copse of trees one of them turned out to be a Lictor. The few survivors of her command squad dragged her away as Major Naise’s Valkyrie gunned the beast down before it could escape - or finish the downed Captain off. Thanks to some desperate life-saving battlefield surgery, she survived, but in a poor state.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikM1qNnUFd_JNDnBNlI9F58nMT_pIlL2_oF8Bfgvo6aT0lZw9r4BR8dPc4MCJDHvIcK0ugRpYfT8Qd0bKo8qxnKst8XhMfwywb5nwE_G5EtoEr6XJnsR9s6G8WupPsGlEVllCGLFgO7NN40MHga8rfi2CphyphenhyphenwVcX1kGLWQYfAoheNl-OrcwAvlbwpgys/s4080/PXL_20240128_161140618.MP.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikM1qNnUFd_JNDnBNlI9F58nMT_pIlL2_oF8Bfgvo6aT0lZw9r4BR8dPc4MCJDHvIcK0ugRpYfT8Qd0bKo8qxnKst8XhMfwywb5nwE_G5EtoEr6XJnsR9s6G8WupPsGlEVllCGLFgO7NN40MHga8rfi2CphyphenhyphenwVcX1kGLWQYfAoheNl-OrcwAvlbwpgys/w400-h301/PXL_20240128_161140618.MP.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Captain Matthis almost meets her doom.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="font-family: courier;">Report ID: ERI-TAR-MAK-31L(c)-0001<br /></span><span style="font-family: courier;">Reporting Officer: Commissar Valden<br /></span><span style="font-family: courier;">Report:</span></span></div><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">In an effort to remove some of the burden of command from acting Captain Raan, I'm doing paperwork from a hospital bed. Watching the wounded filtering through has been enlightening, and the reports from the front have crossed my desk... Or bedside table, anyway. What follows is an account of verification, since I'm confident the honoured agents of the Departmento Munitorum will want one given the odds we've faced here on TV-7.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">We have victory. The back of the Tyranid ground force has been broken as have their means of reproduction, and Battlefleet Eridani’s escort squadron have succeeded in keeping their orbital assets from re-seeding the planet. The colony, investigated by Captains Matthis and Wolfe, was a breeding ground for alien filth, and by the guns of Cadia and the steel of Nightfall it has been burned clean.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">Casualties: High. Captain Matthis has been evacuated straight back to the ships by Major Naise and is likely to die from her wounds, and the platoon she led was almost completely wiped out. The infiltration teams sent in advance of the main thrust sustained 50% casualties, the remaining Nightfallers 30%. Major Naise’s Cadians paid a high price, though I'm told their armoured units suffered only moderate damage.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">Commendations: While it is not my place to award these to anyone but Junior Commissar Ward, the soldiers that took part in this Makrinos Ambush all deserve commendation, both the living and the dead. Matthis, Raan, Founder, Wolfe, Ward and countless others have all distinguished themselves, and I will be conferring with Colonels Raikonnen and Kinsley, along with my opposite in the 177th, Commissar Nari, regarding appropriate awards. Junior Commissar Ward I am promoting, effective immediately, to the full rank of Commissar. I wish her the best of luck in winning the respect of the Nightfall 31st, as she has mine.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">The long odds of this victory cannot be overstated. Cadians are a known quantity and none could question their valour, but I make a note here of the tenacity and skill the 31st have displayed here on Makrinos. They are the 3rd Nightfaller regiment I have served with, and while my insights into their qualities (and flaws) are perhaps better placed into memoirs, I will say this: There is no finer light infantry to be found in Eridani. I am proud of them all.</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-family: courier;">The Imperium stands on Makrinos. The Emperor Protects.</span></p><p><i>Another gruelling battle, and yet again the hardest one yet. This one was absolutely brutal, with soldiers dying in droves for every inch we pushed up the battlefield. A lucky Demolisher shot in the first turn one-shotted the Hive Tyrant defending the closest objective, and with her gone we were able to wipe that clean pretty quickly and press our advantage. Nevertheless Guard are not built for moving quickly, or assault, and both of these were needed for this mission. </i></p><p><i>On our left flank we worked hard to screen out space for some deep-striking snipers (with Special Weapons Teams dead and gone in this edition, Harvey is using the Legends Elysian Sniper Squad rules which means his team can pop out of hiding mid-battle, much like my Raven Guard used to do in 9th) but it so nearly came to naught when a unit of Tyranid warriors with devastating anti-infantry guns respawned in the worst possible spot, ready to gun them down. There but for a lucky Overwatch by Captain Wolfe went our game. </i></p><p><i>On the right flank Harvey bought victory in the classic Guard fashion, with wave upon wave of infantry casualties. Sending Guardsmen to fight a Tyrannofex in melee and tie it up probably isn’t in any of the classic tactical treatise the Imperium holds dear, but if it works don’t knock it. </i></p><p><i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Harvey: MEN OF NIGHTFALL! OF CADIA! MY BROTHERS! A great game and a great conclusion to the campaign - when those warriors spawned I was convinced we'd lost, but the overwatch was on point and the surviving alien mostly missed the snipers crawling all over their objective. The story of an unlikely victory, turning an ambush into the defence of a world in the nascent stage of Tyranid invasion was a good one, and we figured the Departmento Munitorum would be every bit as surprised -and incredulous- of our total victory as we the players were! Tea and medals for all!</span></i></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Aftermath</h2><p>When the requested Imperial reinforcements arrived and were finally able to eliminate the Tyranid bioships in the system, the situation on the ground was under control. Cadian Demolishers were using their dozer blades to pile up Tyranid corpses for Nightfaller Hellhounds to incinerate, and Sentinel hunter packs were roaming the woods for escaped beasts. It was clear that there were no survivors from the colonists, the last of them must have been digested weeks before the initial force arrived. Sector Command, and the Ordo Xenos of the Inquisition, were informed, this report adding to the overall picture of a widespread Tyranid incursion. </p><p>Captain Matthis survived (we rolled for it), and since Major Hoss died in orbit, she was promoted to Major - though she would spend months out of action, requiring extensive cybernetic surgery and lengthy rehabilitation to return to duty. <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Harvey: She's going to be a stand in for Iron-hand Straken once she's back and I cannot wait.</i></span> Raan, who had been acting Captain in her absence was promoted to full Captain, something he is less than thrilled about - at heart yearning for the days when he was a simple infantryman. Junior Commissar Ward, who had been forced to stand in for her wounded mentor, fought and led by example in truly heroic fashion. As such Commissar Valden has promoted her to full Commissar, although she is yet to earn the trust of the 31st, even if she is starting to win their respect.</p><p>With no dead men’s boots to fill, there were no promotions amongst the Cadians, but plenty of commendations all round, once the combined reports of both regiments Commissars convinced Sector Command that the events really did happen as described. </p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b00fe;">Harvey: So ends the regularly scheduled programming, but should you be in the mood for a short bit of bonus narrative about Lt. Raan's unease regarding command, read on! Or don't, this is a long post already.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="background-color: white; color: #2b00fe;"><br /></span></i></p><p>++++</p><p><br /></p><p>The deck thumped, the noises of a celebration vibrating through metal plates. Somewhere several decks below, Cadians and Nightfallers were roaring out songs, drinking and laughing, sharing stories and experiences, and shedding the stress and fear of the last few days. It was a well earned rest, one a lot of their friends were no longer around to enjoy.</p><p>Lieutenant Hakkonen Raan was not in attendance. Standing alone, deep in thought, he watched through a thick sheet of tempered glass from a surgical observation room as his commanding officer fought for her life. Johanna Matthis was splayed out on an operating table, her torso shattered and ruined, half her face and an arm torn to bloody scraps, along with a dozen other injuries. A grotesque ship’s surgeon worked on her, unnaturally tall and augmented with multiple scalpel-fingered limbs, and aided by a trio of servitor orderlies, clicking quietly to each other in binaric cant as they sliced and severed what could not be preserved in an attempt to save her life. Raan did not think they would succeed.</p><p>When they'd found her, she was a mess. The dead lictor nearby, blasted to hell by plasma and heavy bolter fire, had done its worst: she had suffered massive penetrating chest trauma and gaping wounds had been torn open all over her body where it had slashed and impaled her. Lorr, 2 platoon’s medic, had undoubtedly bought her the time she needed to get to surgery - opening up her ribcage and massaging her ruined heart until the Cadian Major, Naise, could land his Valkyrie and perform an emergency medical evacuation back to the ships.</p><p>Raan watched them attach Matthis’ circulatory system up to a machine and remove her heart - along with the splintered ribcage that had once protected it. He barely noticed the door hiss open and closed behind him.</p><p>“I thought you'd be here, Hakkonen.”</p><p>“Colonel.”</p><p>It was unfair to use the rank - rude, even, by Nightfaller standards to not refer to Colonel Cass Raikonnen by his first name, but Raan was not in the mood for company. He was here for Johanna, and he had little desire to talk - especially not to his regimental commanding officer, his Clan-Leader. The two of them stood in uneasy silence for a while, watching the surgeon-thing as it installed cybernetic implant after implant into Matthis’ thoracic cavity - heart, lungs, arteries, ribs. Then it set about removing her arm.</p><p>“She was covering me-” Raan began, the source of his unease clear.</p><p>“You were her responsibility, Hakkonen, as was the mission.” The Colonel's tone was soft, gentle even. He knew that Raan and Matthis were close - student and mentor, clan-mates, friends.</p><p>“I should be on that slab, I could have taken point. She insisted...” Raan was talking quietly, almost to himself. He trailed off, unwilling to finish his thought out loud.</p><p>“Then respect her decision. She's lying there now because of her choices, not yours,” Raikonnen’s tone hardened slightly. “And if she dies-”</p><p>“Go fuck yourself.”</p><p>“If she dies, Hakkonen, it will be because of her actions defending you. Don't rob her of that by blaming yourself for living.”</p><p>More silence followed. The surgeon was directing its orderlies as Matthis bled all over the floor from a sliced artery, the clamp keeping it closed buckled. Her blood was dark and thick, mixed with oils and immunosuppressants to help her body accept the new implants. It was as if she was becoming a machine.</p><p>“I need a Captain-” Raikonnen began.</p><p>“Kyrie.”</p><p>“Kyrie’s no Captain, you know that. He still wishes he was back home, he's a good scout but he's more comfortable cut off behind enemy lines than he is in command-”</p><p>“So am I.”</p><p>“You're not as good as Kyrie,” Raikonnen replied bluntly before pausing, expecting a rise - when none came he continued. “But you're a better leader... You're respected, you think for yourself, you care deeply about those under your command and you get results. I don't need another Kyrie, Hakkonen, I need you.” Raikonnen held out a set of Captain's rank pins, still dulled by boot-black and dirt. Johanna’s pins.</p><p>Raan turned to his commanding officer and looked him in the eyes. They were both big men, Raan still filthy and stinking of sweat and oxidizing alien ichor - Raikonnen was clean, and dressed more finely beneath his camo cloak, but not so fine as to hide his roots. They were both Deathworlders. Nightfallers. Family. He didn't want them, the power they represented or the expectations they came with, and in this moment he certainly didn't feel worthy of the woman that came before him... but Raan took the pins anyway. It wasn't a choice.</p><p>“At least, until you die or I find someone better...” Raikonnen couldn't resist, poorly timed bad jokes were one of his worst habits. Briefly, Raan considered the consequences of punching him.</p><p>“Fuck you, Cass.”</p><p>“<i>Colonel</i> Cass,” he chided, his tone playful. </p><p>“You spend too long with Offworlders, <i>Colonel</i> Cass.”</p><p>Raikonnen laughed gently but didn’t respond. They stood in silence again for some time, Raan holding the rank pins in his closed fist as the surgeon-thing kept working. The bleed was under control again, and it had started to work on Major Matthis’ face, replacing ruined flesh with cold metal. The deck plating still thumped with the rhythm of distant music, and an audible cheer vibrated through the floor.</p><p>“I'll leave you to it, Hakkonen, there's amasec down there with my name on it. Morning briefing is at 0500... Oh, and you'll need a Lieutenant for 2 platoon-”</p><p>“Kai.” Raan answered without hesitation, as if he'd already given the matter some thought. Kai was a proven NCO and well liked by 2 platoon, and he'd been on the landing pad alongside now-Commissar Ward as they'd brought down the hulking alien gun beast that had protected the final nest.</p><p>“Fine. Goodnight, Hakkonen.”</p><p>“Cass.”</p><p>The door hissed open and closed, and Captain Hakkonen Raan was alone again. Matthis twitched on the surgical slab and the servitor managing her sedation increased the dose reflexively, the surgeon-thing preoccupied with installing a chrome plated bionic eye. Raan couldn't help but smile, knowing how much she would hate that - he gave it a day before she'd covered it with so much camo paint that it would never be clean again. </p><p>He didn't want to leave, but his reflection in the glass showed him just how tired he looked. The shadows beneath his eyes were deep and dark, and he badly needed to wash. He'd come straight from his transport cutter to the medical bay, and had already been there several hours. The adrenaline high of combat was finally taking its toll, and total exhaustion was setting in. It was time to go. Raan turned and left the observation room, the door hissing behind him, and left Matthis alone with the surgeon. </p><div><br /></div><p><br /></p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-35243170368595288652024-01-29T16:08:00.006+00:002024-01-30T10:51:40.168+00:00Melia's Reach: the players' journal<div><span id="docs-internal-guid-d3df5e5c-7fff-0fe6-4631-8fe726cb9ad2"><div>Nothing speaks to the flexibility of tabletop wargames like mixing in a spot of roleplay and strategic map shenanigans. Having finally gotten to do so as a player rather than as the GM I can confirm that while your mileage may vary, it is, for me, the tits. Four days of having my cake, eating it, and finding another cake in the cupboard.</div><div><br /></div><div>I cannot take you to this magical realm, but this post might just offer a glimpse of it. Perhaps you can find your own way there. Or you might think bloody hell, I'd rather just play a competitive round robin and keep life simple. And hey, look, maybe methodone's your thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Before I go any further I should probably offer some context.</div></span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span><b>What we did</b></span></h3>Essentially a weekend-long roleplay campaign (think D&D etc) but where the encounters are fought with 40K armies rather than a band of adventurers. <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Tom" target="_blank">Tom</a> was the GM, <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Drew" target="_blank">Drew</a> and I were the players. It's not a format that lends itself to more than two players without also having more than one GM. We could deploy each of our units to different battles on a map, and would make decisions in-character rather than necessarily doing the "optimal" thing, although when you're playing Eldar and off-brand Ultramarines, "optimal" comes up a fair bit.<br /><br />You can read a fuller, richer account of the how's and wherefores in <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2024/01/melias-reach-further-adventures-in.html">Tom's GM post</a>.<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span><b>How I prepped</b></span></h3>By getting wildly excited and painting shitloads of Space Marines. Even Drew, deep in a hobby drought after burning out on a 100% Eldar diet for years found the enthusiasm to get some stuff done.<br /><br /><b>Drew:</b> Not a stellar decision, in retrospect.<br /><br /><b>Charlie:</b> Progress is progress, No? Anyway, you can read about my last spurt of hobby in <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2024/01/melias-reach-further-adventures-in.html">this post</a> where I talk about painting a gravis apothecary, a repulsor, and some other odds and ends.<br /><br />I also prepped by making the map and its user interface for Tom. This is done by making all the elements separately in Photoshop, then combining them in a Google Drawing so that you can drag and drop your units around on the map.<br /><h3 style="text-align: left;">How it went</h3>The rest of this post is a mix of in-fiction logs from my characters to provide a sort of narrative summary, plus some recollections of the most satisfying in-game moments, all for your vicarious narrative gaming pleasure. The Scions’ combat log is presented <span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Inconsolata;">in blue</span>, while Drew has penned interjections from Taliesin <span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata;">in red</span>.</div><div><br /></div><div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">OPERATIONAL LOG//MELIA’S REACH</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">COBALT SCIONS THIRD COMPANY</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: -9.17.53</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, ABOARD THE STRIKE CRUISER </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PRECEPTOR</span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, IN ORBIT ABOVE EPHRAMUNDI, IN THE KAPRUN SUBSECTOR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">There are times that one can prosecute a melee while reading data inloads. In my experience, those times do not include fights with the red neverborn, so when my HUD alerted me to a new message from the sufferably smug Taliesin of Iybraesil, I ignored the notification long enough to parry my foe’s smoking blade and dispatch it with a bolt pistol shot to the mouth. </span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">The last of the neverborn faded as my brothers completed the chapter’s 315th operation in 29 days. 8 companies committed across the planet, 203 dead brothers, many more injured. The arrival of the Grey Knights means this sisyphean task shall soon be at an end, the rifts closed at last. An agri-world saved is a sub-sector fed.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">With Lieutenant Nerva checking on the locals we had just protected, I turned to Techmarine Kelsus and asked after the status of the drop pods we’d used to arrive so quickly. He told me they would need extensive repairs; this war of rapid response has taken an even greater toll on our equipment than it has on our numbers. Drop pods are becoming a luxury.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">I turned at last to the message.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+++MESSAGE: ALERT: UNSANCTIONED DEVICE ATTACHED, REMOVE IMMEDIATELY+++</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+++TO: Consul Martellus Lucullus </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+++FROM: ######</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+++SUBJECT: ######</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cerkish, Martellus. It has been too long. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Whilst I am of no doubt that you must have greatly mourned the loss of our little tête-à-tête's, this missive is, alas, no social call. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Your kingdom is in peril, perched upon a knife edge. A world of which you call yourself protector, Melia's Reach in your own tongue, finds itself the struggling prey of the Illmurheed: The Great Devourer. Their presence was revealed to me as I traversed the skeins of fate. As such, I know not exactly how many they number, only that they have already made planetfall and begun what is in their wretched nature to do. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I need not make plain to you the danger these abominations pose should they gain a foothold in Menoriosa. I understand a substantial fragment of your force is committed to the world beneath the tear that has newly wounded this reality. With this consideration I would offer mine own support in order to see this task done, both in the spirit of our continued co-operation and with the understanding that future aid may be called on from yourself.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I await. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">∆ </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">+++MESSAGE ENDS</span></span></p><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span><br /></span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ill news indeed. Melia’s Reach in the Saedran subsector. I cannot ignore the presence of Tyranids, particularly in a system so close to our fortress monastery.</span><span><br /></span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I informed Chapter Master Drusus at once.</span><span><br /></span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">He bade me depart immediately to conduct initial operations. I do so with a heavy heart, for joining so much of the chapter in the defence of Ephramundi is joyous, even if I am saddened by the losses we have taken. We are so close to ending it, and yet I must be absent for our final victory, and the Third Company’s rightful share of the glory.</span></span></div><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: -1.05.30</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, ABOARD THE </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PRECEPTOR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">A week of warp travel has given the men some measure of respite after our many battles on Ephramundi. Still, I cannot help but feel stretched thin, tactically, given that I bring an understrength and under-equipped company to an uncertain situation. Our erstwhile ally Taliesin of the Iybraesilii gave us warning, which in and of itself is irksome; how had there been no alerts from our own augurs? Our company is accompanied by Tolemias, a zealous codicier that Drusus holds in high regard. He tells me the Emperor’s tarot does indeed show Melia’s Reach as a seed capable of growing an ill-favoured sapling if left unchecked. Why then have they not called for aid? Is it the Tyranids casting their fabled shadow in the warp? Or is this simple Taliesin living up to the Aeldari reputation for fickle betrayal?</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">We have at least enjoyed an uneventful journey, and this has given me some time to meet with those members of my company that are newly elevated from the reserve. One, Naeus Ashuros, did well on Ephramundi, rallying local militia forces and giving us a vital piece of intelligence that will shape the rest of that war. He is too inexperienced for a command position, so for now he will serve in Squad IV. Hopefully he will survive the coming engagements.</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Charlie:</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> As with almost all the lore in this post, that last bit about Brother Ashuros is referring to a game we physically played. In this case it was a roleplay session Drew ran on Ephramundi, itself a follow-on from the roleplay session of Inquisitor that Tom ran in which the daemonic incursion first occurred.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Drew:</b> It’s all connected, man. </span></p><br /><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: -0.12.14</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, ABOARD THE </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PRECEPTOR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Returned to realspace at the Mandeville Point of Melia’s Reach, and soon made contact with Taliesin aboard the </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Celestial Shroud.</span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Neither he nor Codicier Tolemias can sense the shadow in the warp one would expect when encountering Tyranids.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">I assume that Taliesin is not volunteering the lives of his soldiers purely out of a desire to save some humans and/or to have us owe him a nebulous favour, so his ulterior motive remains unknown.</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lo, our abysmal allies appear at last. I must remark, everytime I have the misfortune to bear witness to that vessel (what is their word, Preceptor, mayhap?) one cannot help but marvel that it manages warp travel at all. Brutish lump. Still, Martellus is good to his word and what they lack in panache will hopefully be compensated in durability. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As of yet my visions have not ceased. With the rising sun and the cresting of each moon I bear witness still: A wave. A great, terrible wave that threatens the dam, crushing its defences and drowning all who lay beyond. The world to break under the weight of that swollen, alien ocean… No. It cannot be allowed to pass. I will cut this thread now, and I am not above using these overgrown philistines as my blade- ∆</span></p><br /><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: -0.11.03</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, ABOARD THE </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PRECEPTOR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">We established communications with the Imperial governor while moving in-system. They seem pleased to see us, even after I warned them I would bring “unconventional allies” to the fight. Governor Adrainyn de Bergaal-Melia and her staff provided a rough strategic picture, and introduced us to her senior staff. This is a sparsely populated world with a vibrant ecosystem; ideal pickings for a splinter fleet. Picts they have sent us show organisms I recognise all too well, and yet even more bizarre than the lack of a shadow in the warp is the lack of any xenos vessels in orbit whatsoever. How, then, have they come to infest this world?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 14.6667px;">They vex me- what vile treachery do these dribbling beasts possess to shroud themselves from even a Farseer’s eye?! My gaze is long, but it would seem they stand further still. Curses- ∆</span></span></p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/yfwHYP8K2Aot9oMGs3kxBVYZ7kwE5VWEZPbVJugMUgTReGcurEm_J7AEnpaE8mUFBY7UhTzSweCj9BjL1mYcvJN_ofWiL5-m1rc-v61qsrl84LUmIEYSonV2a1kthEo1p9IaGBRQA4rwihGZt7fhSIU=w640-h350" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The campaign map prior to our first deployment.</td></tr></tbody></table><span><a name='more'></a></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: -0.00.00</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, ABOARD THE </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 8pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PRECEPTOR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Upon making orbit alongside the </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Celestial Shroud</span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, we are launching four simultaneous assaults to save large elements of the Planetary Defence Force (PDF).</span></span></p><br /><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Imh9kOEw7K0aqoRS4iT3AbOihOh6AyOlf57GaXrijf0I7vrviRaOSaYL1B9GibuOPxyOiChyOz2tqCppj_kY8uWGwBsbmQC5VkWp4Jv0PZZa8AR_KPJmmfV1--M36dyrEHBMBmLZgrf_AsL2EMmz1es=w640-h350" /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Fate appears as our binding this day, rather than a noose: it remains untampered. The nuances of such matters are lost on the brittle minds of Losseainns, darling stilted Martellus included. I endeavour to keep that particular thread obscured unless vital- ∆</span></p><div><br /></div><b>Charlie: </b>Stupid mysterious xenos.</div><div><br /></div><div><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 0.03.31</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Initial engagements were 75% successful, but my own efforts met with overwhelming fire from the enemy and forced a premature withdrawal.The whole of Syras’ squad earned a trip to the medicae when an exocrine showered the woods with bio-plasma, and the Aeldari lost a grav tank. Our repulsor will also need extensive work to make it field-worthy. Such are the uncertain rewards of quick action. We have geo-flagged the location of the Aeldari wreck for later salvage.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Still, three detachments of the local PDF have been saved, and without them, the defences would have been thin indeed.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">It is frustrating waging war when our equipment is already stretched so thinly; the repulsor is the only one we have with us for over 60 marines, and I cannot risk our gunships on the battlefield without risking losing our redeployment abilities entirely. We must adapt until resupply can be sent out from Thonis.*</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">*The location of the Chapter’s Fortress Monastery.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisl0p_3kjHXoUhveC1677KIiEYWA4jkMcS1avRYkIgNIkLTFsQiEk8MgMHe6QwBJ7d2rKFO7AAvCaQ3F65h75ZdBDubLi1IkU5e1_I_HFJ5Waxn6hs_502fXybeRintAQredVtPdhPtHZLYFS1eH5mdAv4sKLcmkAx7s5zwoexJKlQlqMyKOsQuqI1OO0/s640/1%20failed%20flank%20attack.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="640" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisl0p_3kjHXoUhveC1677KIiEYWA4jkMcS1avRYkIgNIkLTFsQiEk8MgMHe6QwBJ7d2rKFO7AAvCaQ3F65h75ZdBDubLi1IkU5e1_I_HFJ5Waxn6hs_502fXybeRintAQredVtPdhPtHZLYFS1eH5mdAv4sKLcmkAx7s5zwoexJKlQlqMyKOsQuqI1OO0/w640-h496/1%20failed%20flank%20attack.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;">Our ill-fated flank attack: a whiffy first turn, and an immediate and lethal response from the gun-bugs.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Foul, savage, odious beasts. By Isha’s mercy none of my company were harmed (not including the Monkeigh, but they lived and are so hideous by nature that their visage may even be improved by some light scarring; I have yet to share these musings with my comrades) and the pilot spirited to safety. However, a wave serpent is no easy trinket to replace and I loathe abandoning it, even if it is only a temporary state- ∆</span></p><br /><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 0.05.15</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">I took Taliesin along with my command staff to meet planetary leadership. Their commissar was less than pleased by the presence of a xenos, from which I derived a measure of private amusement.</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Let it never be said The Great Eye of Iybraesil is above a little posturing. I for one welcome this little commissar's disapproval: lesser creatures always grimace when directly observing the sun - ∆</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">The state of planetary command is less amusing. Failures of knowledge, pattern recognition and protectiveness on their part. They were keen to be seen as competent by hiding the problem, but they should have notified Sector Command of the presence of the xenos immediately.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">The governor's staff provided me with a summary of events to date:</span></span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-160.00.00 days ago: missing persons and animals in Highlands.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-100.00.00 missing people in greater numbers. PDF regiment dispatched.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-87.00.00 regiment arrives. Settlements disappearing.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-85.00.00 regiment spreads out, heads north, encounters signs of fighting.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-82.00.00 regiment ambushed. 90% casualties. Full mobilisation begun. SDF moves one of three ships into orbital observance, sees nothing.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-81.00.00 City of Protafixos suffers total power cut. When the backup generator for the astropathic choir came online it suffered a catastrophic overload and destroyed the Tower of Voices. This was treated as a tragic accident by the government, rather than as a sign of potential treachery.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Propaganda used to attempt a cover up, but a recording of a sheriff talking openly about the creatures was widely shared, forcing a change in public strategy.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-80.00.00 emergency council formed. The River Haliacmon is chosen as a line in the sand (note the absence of any long term offensive strategy).</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-25.00.00 spore clouds given off by xenos structures become visible to citizens living in towns to the south; news spreads as they flee towards the coastal cities.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-14.00.00 attacks begin across the defensive line at the River Haliacmon.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-09.00.00 Konitsa Bridge attacked and garrison wiped out, cutting supply lines.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-08.00.00 Unsuccessful counter attack on Konitsa Bridge.</span></span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">-07.00.00 to -01.00.00 is an increasingly chaotic retreat across the Dameteran and Horaian Plains.</span></span></p></li></ul><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">I restrained myself from chastising these fools for their ineffective leadership; in the absence of clear replacements, and due to their understandable inexperience with this species, little is to be gained by inciting further turmoil. I congratulated them on a job half-done and assumed overall military command.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">The overall strategic picture is that a cloud of spores is coming from the Adynatan Highlands, and occludes aerial reconnaissance, radio communications and orbital auspex scans. Consequently, we cannot monitor the xenos’ movements, and for now, must ensure the defences hold while we send recon units to find out what is creating the spores, and hopefully, provide coordinates for orbital bombardment.</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">By the stars, were this not war one might think they had been brought to show! Martellus was greatly perturbed by his people’s ludicrous response, but remained remarkably calm when addressing the shabby little simpletons. I wasn’t aware they were sagacious enough even for that, my word. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Site remains unmolested, but I fear even now that the waters begin to lap at our feet- ∆</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 0.09.40</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 8pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, WEST OF ST CRASUS</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Recon operation under Lt Andrus dispatched to identify source of atmospheric spores. It's a joint task force containing both Astartes and Aeldari scouts. Even if they are successful, they will be gone for days.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Other operations undertaken with focused application of force; local PDF assets preserved, but Tyranid numbers rising and spore infestation spreading. Until Lt Andrus returns, hopefully with actionable data, we must hold the line - something the locals have had little success with thus far.</span></span></p><span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="350" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/L4w5tQZBHF7Dg5C_xbT1QXFIqhBTpCCPLwTGEkgUwL53i-AldGpQdQ7fPgddrSxAu6Ppj_Iso-HS-m1EmVumT574EZgxB7G2wcV5MrzeoyUn5G4gog88cT27Zl-xBQOibN4JMyzAkbyr5nZyb76riaM=w640-h350" style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 14.6667px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; white-space-collapse: preserve;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We stacked 3 of these 4 fights heavily in our favour, but that meant we absolutely had to fight Lt Nerva's rather sketchier mission to hold the PDF FOB in the centre.</td></tr></tbody></table></span><span><br /></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 3.15.01</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: ANTIGONUS NERVA, PDF FOB 1</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Personal note: The trouble with having “rapid” response detachments of PDF between the major cities is that they are themselves a target for the Tyranids. This divides their forces, but it divides ours as well. Still we await Andrus’ return. A purely defensive war will always be lost to Tyranids, and their numbers grow daily. Ours shrink.</span></span></p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Lo1zAB1--XEsXJ0A2bfUOyyxx-fWan35GKftnsist2x3HgARHtaWUDL-otvuGnJVKBQ5qtyAg4hUrS4bWpInDQlZVuOeE1X6gP-p2weCbSRYPhXT7CFeIF4y2oG0C9V1gc83EfUDUbj8Y0Q1_0xOo8U=w640-h266" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lt Nerva helps the PDF stand firm in the Dametera Plains.</td></tr></tbody></table><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>MARK: 4.01.53</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We are betrayed by the local Space Defence Force. They made a desperate surprise assault on the </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Preceptor</span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> with their three ships, and met with predictable failure. Port Marinos has stopped responding to hails. My suspicions about the sabotage of the astropathic choir are confirmed, and the perpetrating faction revealed. I have authorised a strike on the Port; Veteran Sergeant Callimachus will board the command deck and ensure our Judiciar and his Bladeguard apprehend Marshal Purelocke, the SDF’s commander. The dead soldiers of Iybraesil accompany them. Unless the enemy harbour purestrain genestealers, they will have little hope of holding against our attack.</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so the waters rise. Even now, Osinell and two units of wraithguard go with Martellus’ men to wreak death upon this world’s port. One of these Losseainns Martellus sends is unlike his brethren. He is clad in dark armour and I see the magnitudes of mistrust by which he holds my kin, his roiling hatred. Of course I hold no fear for myself, this midnight wretch is welcome to test his blade at the far end of an eldritch storm, but I have grown accustomed to my strange little spiritseer, and should harm befall Osinell as he attempts to aid them, well- there will be no corner of this galaxy in which he might escape my wrath. What is it his kind say, “Suffer not the alien”? By Khaine, he shall suffer me- ∆ </span></p><div><br /></div><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 5.11.32</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, FOLLOWING THE BATTLE OF ST CRASUS</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">It has been an eventful first week. We have seen off the Tyranids’ attacks, but the increasing number of spores in the atmosphere may conceal rapidly growing numbers. At least we have kept much of the PDF in the fight.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Our teleport assault on Port Marinos by our terminators and the Aeldari necromancer Osinell following the insurrection of the SDF has revealed an endemic Genestealer cult presence. Multiple broods of purestrain genestealers as well as mobs of hybrids assaulted our boarding party as they made their way to the port’s command centre. Port therefore deemed unsalvageable with available assets and, following mid-battle conversation with the Governor, has now been destroyed to prevent the cult being able to weaponise it as a suicide weapon.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span><span style="color: #b3e4eb; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span><span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="400" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/100JYxpr5c7tdMFAo5BlkrQRuFFuD7lFUUc_-EaS1wIO9cJkLA2Vmj8mK98G9h8_P6AkzNOaqy9Iu0PZhXclXTDETn0xdjiUiQsGhHeXm3kvX7b5KqaaRxCC4P6IwWtPY2ztcYodkdAhEGkWzNiuel4=w400-h400" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squad Callimachus save themselves with overwatch while butchering their way to the command centre of Port Marinos.</td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Further cult activity should be expected; we have genetically screened the governor and her staff at Fort Alkestis. They are now responsible for organising a screening programme more generally.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Finally, Taliesin’s motivations have been revealed: there is a webway gate on this planet, near Mt Smolikas, and the Iybraesilii don’t know where it leads. Taliesin foretells that if left unchecked, the Tyranids could breach the webway. Since this would be disastrous for everyone, our goals align. I suspect there may be some disagreement about how best to deal with the webway gate once we’ve defeated the Tyranids, but that is not today’s problem.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And so comes the hour where secrecy can no longer be bartered. A pity. The Illmurheed pressed towards the webway gate in numbers too great to ignore, gnawing upon the visions in mind’s eye, and action had to be taken. Our withdrawal from this world has now become more tangled, but we are nothing if not delicate. For now, Martellus’ least Monkeigh instincts continue to hold and he recognises the need for its defence- ∆ </span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 6.08.49</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, FOLLOWING TACTICAL CONFERENCE WITH PLANETARY LEADERSHIP</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Early recon by Lt Andrus has returned; it seems the enemy's primary nest lies within a dormant volcano in the Highlands. Note well: </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">within</span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, not </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">on.</span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Orbital bombardment will thus be ineffective. There is however some measure of hope: Archmagos Cythakum tells me the Mechanicus were building an experimental geothermal power plant within the mountain.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">It seemed this was news to the planetary governor.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Cythakum believes this power plant could be remotely overloaded, with a 97.4% chance of dislodging the volcanic plug and triggering an eruption. That might also poison the spore clouds, but at the least it will disrupt the xenos’ reproduction.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Before the spore cloud came, the Mechanicus could have overloaded the facility from anywhere. Now, with radio communications disrupted, our best bet is the nearest place with a hard line to the power plant, a Mechanicus-operated mine in the Highlands. It lies within Tyranid territory, and will require a substantial portion of our strike force. Before we go, we must ensure the coastal cities’ defences can hold without our help.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggqIG1cLWBh642ue42G-SW9Bun2PZZ4zrlxWqQan-8JdEISMdIic-eSFhXwGVBIvuS8GrLOarqOTNjETenF-R6n0WnZo9AHHRroFCNUJ9pN5OGxjPHtQNGeqTop7bgCp6ngEtQro_r3bMJbE13m5i3l_1bNQONkf0sy2WkeueohHz4vzj81NMLmXmCNaY/s640/4%20bug%20country.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="640" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggqIG1cLWBh642ue42G-SW9Bun2PZZ4zrlxWqQan-8JdEISMdIic-eSFhXwGVBIvuS8GrLOarqOTNjETenF-R6n0WnZo9AHHRroFCNUJ9pN5OGxjPHtQNGeqTop7bgCp6ngEtQro_r3bMJbE13m5i3l_1bNQONkf0sy2WkeueohHz4vzj81NMLmXmCNaY/w640-h420/4%20bug%20country.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lieutenant Andrus and the Rangers of Iybraesil go on a booze cruise through bug country, with Rippers and spore mines all over the place. In this mission, our objective was to just get the hell off the table without running over so many spore mines that our hulls melted, all while trying to clear out marauding bands of flappy boys, and unexpectedly rescuing some kids hiding in the trees. Some time was needed to clean the Rangers’ Wave Serpent after it spent a few turns getting lovingly tongued by the meat barnacle visible in the bottom right.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The scouts return to us in high spirits, bearing a rescued Monkeigh and its offspring, amidst much merriment and cries of ‘Gun-Bus’- how droll. As rambunctious as they are, their safe return soothes my soul. I do not intend to leave a single Aeldari body on this forsaken rock, these pathless louts included. I shall remark that they do seem somewhat impressed with their Scion counterparts, a sentiment which appears to be shared. Perhaps it is a truth universally shared: scouts are always the eccentric ones- ∆ </span></p><br /><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 6.12.16</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, FOLLOWING INTERROGATION OF FLEET MARSHAL PURELOCKE BY THE JUDICIAR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">It seems the cult was limited to the SDF personnel, and was not well established. Their numerous genestealers were not a product of generations of preparation, but instead had arrived on a ship relatively recently. To my chagrin, we all but wiped them out during our teleport assault, and might just have preserved the facility if we'd known. It seemed impossible to believe there could be any uncorrupted souls among Port Marinos’ crew, and yet horrifyingly it transpires that the overwhelming majority were not yet under the xenos’ sway.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Taliesin is pleased by my discomfort. Had he expected an Astartes to know no guilt? Perhaps, if my armour were black and white.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">That said (to take a leaf from the scarce books of my Templar cousins) without knowing precise numbers, it would have been hard to confirm we had destroyed all the purestrains. At least this way we know there is now only one left, since our captive knows one was sent planetside to orchestrate the sabotage of the astropathic choir. We have sent word to the Inquisition; finding a small cult like that is not a task to which I am suited.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Either way, it seems best not to tell the governor that the cult turned out to be smaller than initially thought. The port is gone now; such knowledge would only serve to sow resentment. Our Chapter’s fleet will have to support the Navy in providing the planet with sufficient food deliveries for the next few years while a new rudimentary dock is constructed - assuming the planet can still be saved. In the short term, I will request the deployment of Archmagos Morelio’s </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mater Castellorum </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">to begin construction of the new dock and provide immediate relief. It is perhaps beyond the remit of an Astartes Chapter to provide such support, but a failure to ensure a world’s viability after military action often breeds recidivism.</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Martellus continues to surprise me. I have known many of his kind in my three centuries of life, and no hostile alien race has ever spent his people’s lives faster than they can spend it themselves. It’s part of what makes them so abhorrent. And yet he mourns, in his own strange, stilted manner. For a second, a mere fraction of time, I saw the faint echoes of my own cares in those pitted features of his. This is troubling news indeed- ∆</span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 7.10.45</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AUTH: MARTELLUS LUCULLUS, ABOARD THE </span><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">PRECEPTOR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Judging by the movement and density of the spore cloud, there is a secondary hive on Mt Smolikas. With no extensive cave networks in that region, it should be possible to destroy those hive structures if a reconnaissance in force can source good positional data and escape again.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Meanwhile the capital city of St Crasus has come under attack again. This was not unexpected, and at this point we have consolidated PDF forces accordingly. It was hoped we would therefore be free to mount our great offensive, but alas, the Tyranids have also tunnelled behind the front line. The bulk of our forces are already committed elsewhere, but I refuse to let the capital city fall just because a small contingent have erupted from the ground. Were this any other foe I would respect their tactical acumen, but Tyranids will have no such grudging admiration from me. They disgust me, and I have seen too many cities and people reduced to ruin by their unthinking appetite. Hearing that a major city has had foul serpentine things gnawing at its roots calls my home planet to mind, and the suffering my original chapter endured. Today, I feel as though I march for Macragge again. I bring only squads Tyvus and Lastratus, but they will have to suffice. It has been said that I favour defensive tactics; not today. I will feed these beasts bolt and blade, and let them wash it all down with their own blood.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8BNLsAFSvjfqXeRP3ucTrOTLK7fJ03aNGfJIVBFUAU1ElwCD1ye77ALit7jOopwVQwOJtIZ3kcv4yyDVjSqbUtbZ-JyIzDRQTfYoWkx9nm9Zpd8fLg2Jd89WCt4zsJ1qg5KaaUlk66r9iMDPZa9PEyA1uXY_fExQgIpvuDatOtlsd0RJTpADOEq8CuM/s640/5%20st%20crasus%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="640" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr8BNLsAFSvjfqXeRP3ucTrOTLK7fJ03aNGfJIVBFUAU1ElwCD1ye77ALit7jOopwVQwOJtIZ3kcv4yyDVjSqbUtbZ-JyIzDRQTfYoWkx9nm9Zpd8fLg2Jd89WCt4zsJ1qg5KaaUlk66r9iMDPZa9PEyA1uXY_fExQgIpvuDatOtlsd0RJTpADOEq8CuM/w640-h458/5%20st%20crasus%202.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Captain Lucullus and the Aeldari begin their assault on the Tyranids’ incursion behind the lines of St Crasus.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Charlie:</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> This battle behind the lines in St Crasus was a blast. We’d gotten all ready for the big push north only to learn the Tyranids had undermined the capital, and in theory we could’ve hung the city out to dry in exchange for a much quicker victory, but that would’ve meant millions of civilian casualties. The cost was simply too high. It wasn’t like we needed a massive force to go into St Crasus to face the small force of tunnelling bugs, but all the same, the captain himself went in for a spot of petty vengeance.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I normally play him quite defensively, but had a crack at being hyper-aggressive in this mission to reflect his frustration. The Gladius Task Force’s </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Devastator Doctrine</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> really helps you build momentum in the early stages of an assault. It also gave maximum flexibility to Sergeant Lastratus’ 5 Aggressors, with Lucullus himself leading 10 Intercessors on the other flank alongside some serious support from the Eldar. In the end, the marines ran in ahead of their allies as I was apparently trying to establish how many bugs I could flatten with bolters and enthusiasm. The answer: a lot. Wiping units in the shooting phase, charging the units behind them, just pure bolter porn. While the Eldar used their big guns to clear out the monsters, the marines butchered their way right up to the tunnel entrance and dropped in the incediaries and explosives. Job done. And that’s when it all went wrong for Lucullus.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>Drew:</b> It was incredibly tense, with the final dice roll reducing Tom and I to just holding each other in a state of sheer panic. </span></p><br /><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 7.19.03</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: LT ANTIGONUS NERVA, ST CRASUS</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Lucullus victorious at St Crasus. Struck down at moment of victory (lictor, terminated by Sgt Lastratus immediately afterwards). Now in medically induced coma. We are keen for revenge. Strike force now under my command.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Personal note: lamentable for the captain that he missed the triumph at Ephramundi, and will miss our final triumph here. He cares more about such things than I do.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">OPERATIONAL PLAN</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Consolidated PDF forces within cities, advised them on strategies. They should hold alone for now. Full Cobalt Scions and Iybraesilii strike forces to attack xenos in three groups.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">GROUP 1: Chaplain Verus leading Squad VI to Mt Smolikas to get orbital bombardment coordinates for secondary xenos hive. Given their pick of the armoury; have taken plasma guns and servo turrets. Will be guided to target by Aeldari pathfinders, with emergency reserve of Aeldari skimmers and one gunship flying at ultra-low altitude to avoid spores. Would prefer to send more men; can’t spare them.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">GROUP 2: My force. Leave ahead of Group 3, head northwest of mines in Adynatan Highlands, lure Tyranids away from mines.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">GROUP 3: Main assault force. Our Librarian Tolemias coordinating assault with Aeldari psyker Taliesin. All heaviest units (tanks, gravis armour) committed to Group 3. Objective: escort Archmagos Cythakum to terminal at Mechanicus mine. Terminal has hardlink to geothermal plant in same dormant volcano as primary Tyranid hive. Cythakum to initiate overload in geothermal plant; trigger volcanic event.</span></span></p><br /><img src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/OL9s1vwozIrLojf023-GRDMpxUdI_qwIfI5Lu455c3VSsrcVwcRevZauolYmql7ya2L_IxMOIRtrMJrhzkHEsCyHqe3yEvpNlZMWFhLvY09YJqf4Ya5mGBcK0cL-zkHm2KhdYtmh0NZBeYYmB9QSwo0=w640-h349" /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Charlie:</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Given time limitations, we only had the time to play one of the final three engagements. Ultimately, for the satisfaction of finishing with a big battle, we settled on Group 3, the primary assault force. We committed sufficient resources to the other two groups to ensure the outcome was in no doubt, and knuckled down to Taliesin and Tolemias’ attack run.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Counterintuitively, one of the cool things about playing only some of the games in each campaign round is that you can imagine how the other battles went, and they look cool in my head. Chaplain Verus and ten heavily armed marines rushing from cover to cover when told to move by the Aeldari pathfinders as they approached the secondary hive on Mt Smolikas, and at some point having to ‘go loud’ and call in the airborne reinforcements, who then would have the terrifying job of flying full tilt at treetop altitude to avoid the spores to bail out their buddies.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Lt Nerva’s distracto-flank attack would’ve been cool too. Phobos marines kiting Tyranids for all they’re worth, Howling Banshees sprinting out from unexpected directions and carving bugs up before legging it past the marines covering their retreat, and then the remnants of Terminator Squad Callimachus doing site-to-site teleports to outmanoeuvre the enemy despite their cumbersome armour.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Given the above, one might expect a big ol’ scrap to be boringly conventional fare, but I find that once you’re visualising the action more, even that was frankly the content I’m here for. Given that the Eldar can’t take a punch, and since we didn’t want to risk losing our high damage output troops in the Tyranids’ first shooting phase, we actually led the primary assault with Codicier Tolemias leading a big unit of Intercessors, the hope being that his psychic force field would be sufficient to weather the incoming fire from absolute horrors like the Exocrine.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnE4_dz1YxSZnBJHfqzDzbr8ZYC-xsDmXLXOAtXMYp_6C2J7rXppJiSigVQHxcdr7low90wDXb5Dqdc6ZPZxFKLQkXKoYeCOdWy3__q1IQBcqoyJ_rjKj7HbH8YfQJhgdUv-89Slwlj9gfG3hmPKvIU7LtlaX9FRT-VNWZVrWpbJmfW5XmiXmATVu6w5s/s640/6%20the%20minehead%201.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnE4_dz1YxSZnBJHfqzDzbr8ZYC-xsDmXLXOAtXMYp_6C2J7rXppJiSigVQHxcdr7low90wDXb5Dqdc6ZPZxFKLQkXKoYeCOdWy3__q1IQBcqoyJ_rjKj7HbH8YfQJhgdUv-89Slwlj9gfG3hmPKvIU7LtlaX9FRT-VNWZVrWpbJmfW5XmiXmATVu6w5s/w640-h640/6%20the%20minehead%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first round of shooting absolutely failed to take out any of our key targets, specifically the Exocrine and well-hidden Tyrannofex.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZlfihey6FuaJm-bpf_BT4qihfhOtz2GjzxVzZYg187bpa1568-PYgW-seZ0UprS6DYUdn3OrpPa6ma3mpOT8Odz4bEeUMyzWRZdnh0ZZ0eJGED_VQA6k3HAYkfBKbANpnMxy_jL7aeOnGBVUfRDawYtNUI4rmGh-YSmcWRiZ0-5gl-USKeylirFp1-w/s638/6%20the%20minehead%203.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="638" data-original-width="416" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirZlfihey6FuaJm-bpf_BT4qihfhOtz2GjzxVzZYg187bpa1568-PYgW-seZ0UprS6DYUdn3OrpPa6ma3mpOT8Odz4bEeUMyzWRZdnh0ZZ0eJGED_VQA6k3HAYkfBKbANpnMxy_jL7aeOnGBVUfRDawYtNUI4rmGh-YSmcWRiZ0-5gl-USKeylirFp1-w/w418-h640/6%20the%20minehead%203.jpg" width="418" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The horde surges towards the oncoming allies.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghSbWcMXMipG-SvPp8U_XarMBdYTpPEsW4HaFJ7e46IHG0HMFRHLIq6IWtE3ULwDV6VStHzkrN9MHu_cTYV9ilTpDw_opzrCFK1AZTvfSBDTBIA5-Fx28j5L-h3KOADrXAg9mZHVm7WKGHfpG2-3ytlnWDFeHyR-pj8M17HYs-7zGw7VxJPvmiEICQuY/s640/6%20the%20minehead%204.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghSbWcMXMipG-SvPp8U_XarMBdYTpPEsW4HaFJ7e46IHG0HMFRHLIq6IWtE3ULwDV6VStHzkrN9MHu_cTYV9ilTpDw_opzrCFK1AZTvfSBDTBIA5-Fx28j5L-h3KOADrXAg9mZHVm7WKGHfpG2-3ytlnWDFeHyR-pj8M17HYs-7zGw7VxJPvmiEICQuY/w640-h480/6%20the%20minehead%204.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tolemias and his squad make their bracing run down the central approach, taking fire from the bulk of the Tyranid force.</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tyranids are always a cinematic army to fight, particularly en masse. In the opening few turns, Tolemias’ squad began their pyrrhic charge towards the swarm. Tolemias’ psychic force field did keep them going for far longer than usual; weathering the Zoanthropes’ attacks thanks to the 4+ </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Feel No Pain </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">save against psychic attacks was particularly satisfying.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTOOcY8JfLEAjAN54EXmO9HIzkPpVSCZObfBj1sQaJxN4bLRMyIZm_CO-h2ukG00oDu6EMZi7NFuxsfHur7IyeRF0dG_PuqSkG84D2eAMc4u5qzeVQ6O-e3kBiWuUmmUjmL15sWBUpoXILOHxcZCUlM4C-H8bgctZA1mdrribqKnq1TjN0qx3yL8Q5Gc/s400/6%20the%20minehead%205.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlTOOcY8JfLEAjAN54EXmO9HIzkPpVSCZObfBj1sQaJxN4bLRMyIZm_CO-h2ukG00oDu6EMZi7NFuxsfHur7IyeRF0dG_PuqSkG84D2eAMc4u5qzeVQ6O-e3kBiWuUmmUjmL15sWBUpoXILOHxcZCUlM4C-H8bgctZA1mdrribqKnq1TjN0qx3yL8Q5Gc/w640-h640/6%20the%20minehead%205.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Aeldari of Iybraesil pour on supporting fire, trying to clear the way for Tolemias’ mad advance.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxh8AriKzMyKv0tg-77iAs_G3-jTclGaU0NK6cll-Soc2oAOrdEJG7zB6Fx9ri2rpLvlJA2jU1M4WZkwqwyWNtcKrx_fUglo7MKBPqwwM-aqs7e2uB2j89sxNv1nFk4sczAmzaOFeMmuHbz8EoRm3y9Q1Om-BFy-I6qlcscTE6dx2I52RbsBQqmu25gk/s640/6%20the%20minehead%206.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="640" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVxh8AriKzMyKv0tg-77iAs_G3-jTclGaU0NK6cll-Soc2oAOrdEJG7zB6Fx9ri2rpLvlJA2jU1M4WZkwqwyWNtcKrx_fUglo7MKBPqwwM-aqs7e2uB2j89sxNv1nFk4sczAmzaOFeMmuHbz8EoRm3y9Q1Om-BFy-I6qlcscTE6dx2I52RbsBQqmu25gk/w640-h366/6%20the%20minehead%206.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tolemias and the remains of Squad Tyvus, having finished their task, keep going anyway, putting me at risk of losing three named characters from my force. But it’s what he’d do, so it had to be done.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFRZRRJJbbVf4UHx0zSiNRCJxsfT8BPSfTIw5yfLv7jXLJCut-ZiQ17ByuuiGGqvBTAcCt7RUqlCnH2nEXWtZa9haNeG-23QnkKC26D9yPiJkbaKpqHwEPeZyK9IcKxBSSreA0FF9OEasXuioGMRfVB2hsWsJv_Vgwz2g32j2B_F9xUR7OsjFpdyPTo4/s640/6%20the%20minehead%207.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnFRZRRJJbbVf4UHx0zSiNRCJxsfT8BPSfTIw5yfLv7jXLJCut-ZiQ17ByuuiGGqvBTAcCt7RUqlCnH2nEXWtZa9haNeG-23QnkKC26D9yPiJkbaKpqHwEPeZyK9IcKxBSSreA0FF9OEasXuioGMRfVB2hsWsJv_Vgwz2g32j2B_F9xUR7OsjFpdyPTo4/w640-h640/6%20the%20minehead%207.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Osinel and his Wraithguard respond to the Tyranids’ own flank attack while the Hive Tyranid attempts to slow down the armoured assault.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MdacyqVdJQDuIFXB8nl2ZZTwkmlK1uDVa10rQGYvxx85igPvHHQVx8YWT6MA19ay_y_OT6i2JaJ5TVQmE0f4eZpeSr1k1v0MPsYcMKhivtYyy9-Pq94LlLvUXW3N5odxIrPfM2LORAcqvNnz_468jtPiWs9sGp8ZuRMPBI1InYQCng2EtqQiA_mlC2U/s640/6%20the%20minehead%208.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0MdacyqVdJQDuIFXB8nl2ZZTwkmlK1uDVa10rQGYvxx85igPvHHQVx8YWT6MA19ay_y_OT6i2JaJ5TVQmE0f4eZpeSr1k1v0MPsYcMKhivtYyy9-Pq94LlLvUXW3N5odxIrPfM2LORAcqvNnz_468jtPiWs9sGp8ZuRMPBI1InYQCng2EtqQiA_mlC2U/w640-h480/6%20the%20minehead%208.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the 11th hour, the Trygon bursts up from behind the centre-field and charges Hadrios Kelsus sitting on his las-y-boy. The combat went precisely as you’d expect, in that I had to make a death save for Hadrios. Mercifully, he passed.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Ultimately, with the Aeldari very effectively clearing out the bugs blocking the path while simultaneously operating a rearguard action, the marines pushed through and delivered the archmagos to the cogitators at the head of the mine. As hoped, it still had an active hardwire link to the geothermal power plant miles away in the volcano. Hell yeah. Time for a big explosion.<br /><br /><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 11.03.51</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: ANTIGONUS NERVA, ADYNATAN HIGHLANDS</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">GROUP 1: Mission success; secondary hive on Mt Smolikas destroyed from orbital strike.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">GROUP 2: Mission success; sufficient Tyranids drawn away from mine.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">GROUP 3: Mission success; Tyranid forces insufficient to stop main assault. </span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">IMMEDIATE EFFECT: Volcano detonated; eruption ongoing. Primary Tyranid hive eradicated; spore production temporarily stopped.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">LONG TERM EFFECT: Spore cloud dying in volcanic smoke. Smaller hive nodes now growing across highland region, but can now be scouted out and destroyed with spore cloud dying.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Personal note: The war is not over, but we won it today. Because our assault was delayed by the attack on St Crasus, the Tyranids were able to spread much further. It will be many months before the continent is made safe, and years before the planet recovers, but the assaults on the mine and Mount Smolikas were both victories. Tolemias is jubilant. He spoke proudly of destroying a brood of Zoanthropes in concert with the Farseer. I am less sure how to feel about fighting alongside these aliens. I know most in the Imperium would have very clear views. The Aeldari’s similarities with us make them more uncanny than other xenos to me. I am sure they see us as a tool to be used.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">I must remember that diplomacy is a tool, and here it has enabled an otherwise impossible victory.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">CASUALTIES SO FAR</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">One of the veterans who joined us from Squad Callimachus died during the assault on Port Marinos. Four marines of the 3rd Company were slain. Currently in the apothecarion: Captain Lucullus (lictor), Techmarine Hadrios Kelsus (half-crushed by a trygon), and 14 brother-marines (various, see attached summary).</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">FURTHER ACTION</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Aeldari webway gate to be explored. I do not trust Taliesin as much as Captain Lucullus seems to, so we will keep some of the Aeldari force here with us while a joint force led by Taliesin and Tolemias explore the gate.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Reinforcements requested from the Novitiate Auxilia on Thonis; emergency humanitarian supplies requisitioned from Phratry Munitorus on Thonis. The scout auxilia has built up to substantial numbers over the last few years, and finally, I have a good use for them in finding and destroying small nests of lesser Tyranids, and I cannot trust the local forces to be thorough.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><h1 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 13pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">MARK: 12.09.01</span></span></h1><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 9pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">AUTH: ANTIGONUS NERVA, ABOARD THE PRECEPTOR</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Taliesin and Tolemias have returned. Necrons found in the webway led by an individual called Trazyn. Our strike force made a fighting retreat and sealed the gate shut. Tolemias tells me that Trazyn seemed to know who Taliesin was; my mistrust was well placed. Tolemias thinks I am being unfair; Taliesin appeared to have no love for the necron.</span></span></p><span style="color: #0b5394;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Inconsolata, monospace; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">To me, “appeared” is the most important word in that sentence.</span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Charlie:</span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> So there we go, another parochial border world in the Eridani Sector saved from Hive Fleet Hangry. One of the difficulties of writing things like this up is the number of cool moments I have to cut out just to keep the length down. I feel like I’ve really only provided a summary, but this post is 5,000 words long as it is! But then, it </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">is </span><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">about seven battle reports all in one.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I hope you’ve enjoyed it! If anyone takes anything from reading this thing, I hope it’s that 40K can be a lot more than tournaments and beerhammer. If you enjoy visualising what your toy soldiers are up to, the narrative context of a campaign really lets things come to life.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Melia’s Reach campaign may be over, but now the first Tyranids have been seen in the Eridani Sector. Since every campaign we play becomes part of the fabric of our broader campaign setting, it’s time to start reinforcing the defences.</span></p></div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-76077131454804789952024-01-22T18:01:00.002+00:002024-01-22T19:30:25.236+00:00I Axed You to be Quiet<div style="text-align: left;">In a perfect world, this post would be the follow up to <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2024/01/melias-reach-further-adventures-in.html">Tom's last post</a> about the awesome weekend-long campaign we played recently, but that's going to have to be next week since it's not quite ready. Truth be told I've deliberate cooled my hobby jets over the last month and jumped into a fresh playthrough of <i>Cyberpunk 2077 </i>as I'd been riding my hobby horse pretty hard, and sometimes one has to just calm down a bit and inject some variety. Let's not pretend this is anything more ambitious than a post saying "look, I painted a miniature! Please come back in a week when I've got some actual content for you!"</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When I first saw the new Librarian in Terminator Armour I was thrilled we were getting one, but un-enamoured with his glowing nipples and magic <i>Tron</i> lines. But it turns out, if you just calm down and treat them like armour, there's a lot to like here. I also wasn't wild about the face, but that's the easiest thing to swap out.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGK9gQQgcMbbarVYJrbVhG8GbgQc90-3cj-mwOqjlwJXiERQoT2uo7E9G85QkWkcw8100P1G3EcbZ_9OjMJ6w298Z9h32pOhu9B_8CHHJL6pEqOwY8xt3h_cTphYfPgizj3w90WHqa2ml2Oxv_1NcAV2vJ3EpXRi7NwPRF3hRoczJ_3Nq9hvWt6jsBSy4/s822/librarian%20in%20terminator%20armour%20front.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="822" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGK9gQQgcMbbarVYJrbVhG8GbgQc90-3cj-mwOqjlwJXiERQoT2uo7E9G85QkWkcw8100P1G3EcbZ_9OjMJ6w298Z9h32pOhu9B_8CHHJL6pEqOwY8xt3h_cTphYfPgizj3w90WHqa2ml2Oxv_1NcAV2vJ3EpXRi7NwPRF3hRoczJ_3Nq9hvWt6jsBSy4/w400-h400/librarian%20in%20terminator%20armour%20front.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently played by David Boreanaz</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">After I ran out of time to prepare him for the campaign in Melia's Reach (again, see our previous post) he went on the backburner... until I happened to be heading to Tom's place for a weekend not long afterwards, and we decided to play the boarding action mission for <i>Fury of the Swarm</i>. At which point, the idea of having someone to lead my Terminator squad was sufficiently juicy that I painted this idiot in two days, which meant absolutely speed running through the highlights. They're a bit chunky in places, but he'll pass muster nonetheless. Plus, it always feels great to just belt something out quickly rather than making it a whole song and dance. Which is ironic, given that anyone given his own suit of Terminator armour must be a pretty big deal in his Chapter. I set about coming up with a characterisation for him, and was only halfway through this process when Tom and I played our boarding action (the game went great, Navy crew and Space Marines working together to kick the Tyranids off their ship, bracing but fun).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-h6J9jVY03-yTCRzpVSMZeIXLzl7FtsflkR9oswYk76c5KtlUsmbmvkXfqX8Bje-0mLqICWpLQRdvi_mZWS0Fhi_zQ0YKidwyiXhiaVOpGfDmsA6socZsXf4cb0K4A7qBKLi-23LORs7BW825qKfzRj3CgG7g1rvOtRGU38IrDv94ot54ixiZUr0lBgs/s810/librarian%20in%20terminator%20armour%20left.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="810" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-h6J9jVY03-yTCRzpVSMZeIXLzl7FtsflkR9oswYk76c5KtlUsmbmvkXfqX8Bje-0mLqICWpLQRdvi_mZWS0Fhi_zQ0YKidwyiXhiaVOpGfDmsA6socZsXf4cb0K4A7qBKLi-23LORs7BW825qKfzRj3CgG7g1rvOtRGU38IrDv94ot54ixiZUr0lBgs/w400-h400/librarian%20in%20terminator%20armour%20left.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2-8oD54q41x1myBRtbA9tMO27Fhy35bqnyFhz0fiv3lJAsJ2JC-dxfd9NY1F9rGHqXQJUDt0C_sgBphDfoWgQLxSS9WhYTPIXmmranZxPQ-AZSRf5oF84J9tZfB8jR-1AW5HXRyL5YXp_XtkLEYDzXavDwqpxR2tMlliQVeEtinqbMVeDicQd8WgGrI/s795/librarian%20in%20terminator%20armour%20right.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="795" data-original-width="795" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2-8oD54q41x1myBRtbA9tMO27Fhy35bqnyFhz0fiv3lJAsJ2JC-dxfd9NY1F9rGHqXQJUDt0C_sgBphDfoWgQLxSS9WhYTPIXmmranZxPQ-AZSRf5oF84J9tZfB8jR-1AW5HXRyL5YXp_XtkLEYDzXavDwqpxR2tMlliQVeEtinqbMVeDicQd8WgGrI/w400-h400/librarian%20in%20terminator%20armour%20right.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've since finished figuring him out (and, naturally, <a href="https://geniusproductions.co.uk/Cetus/index.php?title=Diokles_Adrastos">adding his lore to our campaign wiki</a>), and so he now goes to join the ever growing cast of characters that make up my army. If you wish this post was a bit longer, that's the link to click. Now, I could think of something to say to make this post feel like a fully fleshed out and considered bit of internetting, but instead, I'm off to work on the actual posts to come in the next few weeks.</div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-23518007521702586492024-01-08T14:00:00.005+00:002024-01-08T15:07:54.793+00:00Melia's Reach: Further Adventures in Narrative 40k<p>Alarmingly it was nearly 6 years ago when Charlie ran for me and Jeff a narrative 40k campaign that remains my favourite 40k gaming experience of all time. On the blog we’ve called it the <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Samalut%20IX" target="_blank">Samalut IX campaign</a>, but internally we mostly called it Orbital Drop Fridge, which quickly became ODF for short. For a very long time we talked on and off about running a second ODF, but the logistics involved were not insignificant and then there was this little thing called Covid. But eventually I stopped waiting for the stars to align to make the perfect game and just decided to have a go at doing something, even if it wasn’t perfect, and trusted we would have fun. Surprising no-one, we did.</p><p>So, shuffling things up a bit, I invited Charlie and somewhat newer player <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Drew" target="_blank">Drew</a> to join their blue and white forces in the <strike>last alliance of Elves and Men</strike> <i>an unholy alliance of Imperium and Xenos</i> to see off the greater threat of Tyranid invasion on a little world called Melia’s Reach. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrTvkVIOtIQqOVMzi6bCzZ9jONMREMiktDBlQl074l2AJ_HPM5n0KZvRQpvxF-8WedgaMkKjyMrtD_gmMPA9nkvHXBGhx5ZVHRJ0g4mhsh4bawiBqJwjQh_KcbmQr-62cYyJMzwq9SYixcoP3u_xPD3pp4_OaTjOCaTnw3EfeSOOPSCw1Hin3OI_OwGk/s1124/odf2a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="1124" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrTvkVIOtIQqOVMzi6bCzZ9jONMREMiktDBlQl074l2AJ_HPM5n0KZvRQpvxF-8WedgaMkKjyMrtD_gmMPA9nkvHXBGhx5ZVHRJ0g4mhsh4bawiBqJwjQh_KcbmQr-62cYyJMzwq9SYixcoP3u_xPD3pp4_OaTjOCaTnw3EfeSOOPSCw1Hin3OI_OwGk/w640-h362/odf2a.png" width="640" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Rules</h2><p>Charlie previously published the rules he created for the first ODF game on the Bunker, and you can see them <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2018/01/40k-narrative-campaign-sequence.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I took those rules and started out by tightening up the language to make things more precise. I then added in rules for dealing with Aeldari casualties, as distinct from Astartes. I also then added in a huge complicated section about building fortifications, worked on it for a while, then threw it in the bin. </p><p>Finally in discussion with Charlie and Jeff we tweaked the Casualty probabilities so that whilst the likelihood of a character being taken out of the campaign was the same, the likelihood of them being permanently dead was reduced. When Charlie first created ODF it was our first real stab at narrative 40k and most of my characters received their names and personalities specifically for that event. They were fun, but not (yet) precious to me. Now we’ve been playing Crusade extensively for years and are playing with characters with a lot of history and lore, we were less keen to have them die. Remember this bit. We’re going to circle back.</p><p><b>These tightened up rules are available to read <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jObTCnZlH62irn6MhcdP7WhE5_iB6KFCMD28sHPhMgw/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>. </b></p><p>This isn’t Fury Of The Swarm, these rules alone aren’t enough to run the game, they are a framework for a GM to build a campaign around. The rest of this article will give you an idea of how I went about it, but ultimately this is something for an experienced GM to find their own way to play with a hefty dose of improvisation.</p><p>As we discussed the campaign, and talked about units and some of the foibles we have with the new(ish) 10th edition rules, we also came up with a few house rules. If you’re going to play a GMed game against an NPC army, it’s a perfect time to play what feels right, regardless of balance.</p><p>On the Astartes side we ruled that the Gravis Apothecary would have the same special rules as the Tacticus Apothecary. We all like the idea of Apothecaries being scientists beyond just medics, but on an active battlefield when a Brother is in need, they should be tended to. Charlie wrote about this <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/12/binning-apothecary-biologis-rules-for.html" target="_blank">here</a>. We also ditched the new weird combi-weapon rules and went back to the previous version where it is two guns and different combi-weapons are different. It’s just way more satisfying.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauwEpVhE5mu0XgfsB5MSjvrOV-WW_YAAVg8I8lMJmGUcpEEF52Hw3WlNlNwwCxAmbcjyVap5V-FxPfUiQpqXER68qWu4C5tpW8t-ODeBEZeLMvQDeGms5m_iaR3bRb_skVgwv3GkpzNcHHiNFTLCTfXaV_J9cWieh_bfvyj9wgjsWjwBRJnmwrilSnpg/s800/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauwEpVhE5mu0XgfsB5MSjvrOV-WW_YAAVg8I8lMJmGUcpEEF52Hw3WlNlNwwCxAmbcjyVap5V-FxPfUiQpqXER68qWu4C5tpW8t-ODeBEZeLMvQDeGms5m_iaR3bRb_skVgwv3GkpzNcHHiNFTLCTfXaV_J9cWieh_bfvyj9wgjsWjwBRJnmwrilSnpg/s320/1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr Thiccums PHD</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-kLoTfi8MIZr-9EEWLWJNGIhQXR5SERbLUyGUPLqlL8TdG7o5ghHDbYlY-zWfOhFZofAbLk1RO7r6dWqdkOS6iz18FQZ6Td_XF-Usz1f10cJ2qNvC0WGt0KkWQ00Qw6GoFHOuqMWUuDFnxGu0FuwHss0ZFb9I-fhdD-S3ia3_LiWbmSEEmt6h6QYmrOU=s800" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-kLoTfi8MIZr-9EEWLWJNGIhQXR5SERbLUyGUPLqlL8TdG7o5ghHDbYlY-zWfOhFZofAbLk1RO7r6dWqdkOS6iz18FQZ6Td_XF-Usz1f10cJ2qNvC0WGt0KkWQ00Qw6GoFHOuqMWUuDFnxGu0FuwHss0ZFb9I-fhdD-S3ia3_LiWbmSEEmt6h6QYmrOU=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lt Nomates</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Meanwhile over in Aeldari land, we agreed that Farseers and Warlocks can join Dire Avengers. I get that the various Aspect Shrines have their own dedicated ways of war and all, but it seems silly that Farseers should only be able to join the peasants and since dire Avengers seem to be the shrine of “elite standard infantry warrior” it seems like “protecting the VIPs” should be part of their shrine’s discipline. </p><p>Since the Campaign Sequence rules are highly influenced by having an Apothecary, but the rules of ODF are also very much “you only have access to whatever models you own”, we also created a datasheet for Aeldari to have a healer of their own. Drew converted and painted a model for it. You’ll be able to read more about this, and the datasheet we created for it, in a future article.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzahyphenhyphenJ4ULioai76G-RjM10Ukbe4zz29XqU2bNJnJ5GkWfWAB3ZF14Ab1YwRRcZTTk4jgqd80p_UHl2UAnKHdBhBupISrq4z9DVAvO4bxWuMINNpFQgkp9NIbB1xLxD9l4973UCqlJWJfKJ6gGaQserLE06gsoiS3BEROR2NwZ7OqmiyHKSaxyxlKk_20g/s1100/Dr%20Knife-Ears%20MD.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1100" data-original-width="950" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzahyphenhyphenJ4ULioai76G-RjM10Ukbe4zz29XqU2bNJnJ5GkWfWAB3ZF14Ab1YwRRcZTTk4jgqd80p_UHl2UAnKHdBhBupISrq4z9DVAvO4bxWuMINNpFQgkp9NIbB1xLxD9l4973UCqlJWJfKJ6gGaQserLE06gsoiS3BEROR2NwZ7OqmiyHKSaxyxlKk_20g/s320/Dr%20Knife-Ears%20MD.jpg" width="276" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr Knife-ears MD</td></tr></tbody></table><p>On the Tyranid side, I wasn’t happy with how the Trygon could no longer use its tunnels to give other units a sneaky route into battle. So I decided to reverse that entirely. My new rule was that when the Trygon appeared a crater would be placed on its arrival spot to represent the tunnel it had dug, and the hole would count as the Tyranids’ table edge for reserves. Obviously unfair in matched play but a wonderful addition to GMed narrative play.</p><p>Oh, also we included the house rule we use in crusade, whereby your units may retreat off the table on your board edge and whilst they count as destroyed for the game, then don’t for any Crusade/ODF repercussions. This came in handy in the very first game when it went to absolute shit in turn 1 and the players never even left their deployment zone, they cheesed it in short order. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikA1TfhCqDdROTAU4QG3DOkBzc271-AvoQOvNhbUlvthK_ojAoiwbOW-_xbhmGVelwpU7wr00EGYlMmCq6GRG9GRWek_PxBntYTTLPmzL77kAKieFdI_XtMVPAMfM7ATp2d29K-ACAcmbyHZKP3KURk4h9uJr2Fd5ymhWXkbSHm-jfPjBVnudoOBxq9g8/s2592/2023-12-07%2015.20.12%20cropped.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1768" data-original-width="2592" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikA1TfhCqDdROTAU4QG3DOkBzc271-AvoQOvNhbUlvthK_ojAoiwbOW-_xbhmGVelwpU7wr00EGYlMmCq6GRG9GRWek_PxBntYTTLPmzL77kAKieFdI_XtMVPAMfM7ATp2d29K-ACAcmbyHZKP3KURk4h9uJr2Fd5ymhWXkbSHm-jfPjBVnudoOBxq9g8/w400-h272/2023-12-07%2015.20.12%20cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Ambushing a column of Tyranids goes poorly.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Preparation</h2><p>A key part of the ODF format is deploying units on a map. For that we needed a map. I was perfectly willing to make this myself, but since we have a Charlie, I asked him if he would like to make something better than whatever I could produce. He did. In a fit of effort after completing <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/11/the-swarm-has-arrived.html" target="_blank">Fury Of The Swarm</a> he grunted out a new world map to my specification, and a selection of unit icons for all of the units in his and Drew’s armies. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Zco6Ia9mZWwZu-rOyDgjkm2fExV-1xF6-l76h5Ivvcj6W26aCWKq7omR07QwtQzUuL2RmoM8To-Uhio54HFPJMV-DflZqyaZ2n-fpk1CxFOWGhc0FaEJTuqdNu_xG5ttlqcTG_kul16zCWsk2NeXT8lG7m1hLDO-ks9wYqP4Wp6atx54Syza7rEKXX8/s1600/odf2b.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="1600" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Zco6Ia9mZWwZu-rOyDgjkm2fExV-1xF6-l76h5Ivvcj6W26aCWKq7omR07QwtQzUuL2RmoM8To-Uhio54HFPJMV-DflZqyaZ2n-fpk1CxFOWGhc0FaEJTuqdNu_xG5ttlqcTG_kul16zCWsk2NeXT8lG7m1hLDO-ks9wYqP4Wp6atx54Syza7rEKXX8/w640-h348/odf2b.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1DG8Q3M_w0Sp6Xb2Jn3WBPt2HwURpjg5bAZ6JHMqMo2O5Jwh_laMUYdgnYlMKoLoumvBn471zdBoT1lWcYHwCJfK1RSm7FQzVUoceUsR-uqjAzwvnxrv155BvIaUDk9mzx5r1o9rE2Ft25pFZ9daND-S4F5MICEwJ58DVPaw-mJGGRAF8cb04GHfa9b0/s1139/odf2c.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1139" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1DG8Q3M_w0Sp6Xb2Jn3WBPt2HwURpjg5bAZ6JHMqMo2O5Jwh_laMUYdgnYlMKoLoumvBn471zdBoT1lWcYHwCJfK1RSm7FQzVUoceUsR-uqjAzwvnxrv155BvIaUDk9mzx5r1o9rE2Ft25pFZ9daND-S4F5MICEwJ58DVPaw-mJGGRAF8cb04GHfa9b0/w400-h274/odf2c.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>When Charlie first proposed ODF 1 to me, he said that the units I would have available would be whatever I had built and painted. He made it very clear that it would work with whatever I already had in my collection, and no new models would be required. I responded to this by buying, building and painting one Storm Eagle, two Storm Hawks, two Land Speeder Storms, one converted unit of 10 Scouts with boltguns and camo cloaks and one converted unit of 10 converted Mor Deythan. Charlie has (lovingly) teased me about this ever since.</p><p>Naturally when I returned the favour, Charlie finally got to experience it himself and just like I did, grunted out a hilarious and borderline irresponsible number of new units (especially when you consider how much more effort he puts into painting than me). I have no regrets. Drew likewise felt the fires of ambition clawing at her elfen soul, although being more responsible than either of us only purchased a few more models and mostly concentrated on knocking out stuff in her backlog.</p><p>I had already farted out quite a few new Tyranid units for Charlie for Fury Of The Swarm, and when you’re the GM the motivation to produce more stuff is far less strong, but I did finish off the Tyranid terrain bits I had left to do and, because I can’t help myself, a surprise Trygon that Jeff had kindly given me so that I had at least one trick up my sleeve they didn’t know about.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">How I Ran It</h2><p>A lot of the charm of ODF is letting the players go wild in a sandbox, so mostly what I prepared were the starting conditions. I created notes about the various locations and a cast of important locals. Most importantly I created a timeline of events up to the point that the players’ armies arrived, and some rough intentions for what the Tyranids were going to do (as well as their Genestealer Cult allies). </p><p>For anyone that might find these notes useful, they are <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q9Q-_MMhgb9Mabl5IxFJmlUs_9zEhaL_i7zcl7wzBQE/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a>. Hopefully they are pretty self explanatory, but obviously they were written for me as a reference and aide-mémoire, rather than to be a completely independent pre-packaged game module. </p><p>I knew I needed some cover so that the players couldn’t see the whole picture and do something really clever and unexpected that would solve the whole campaign in one go. In ODF 1 Charlie has some deep chasms occupied by an unknown number of Orks and unscannable from orbit. For this I came up with the idea of a slowly expanding cloud of spores, concealing a few hive clusters that would be churning out new units. If the players could send in scouts to find these locations and destroy them (either in battle or using orbital bombardment) they would be able to reduce the spore clouds.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXt56D8-ZbDcHHjMETK9MJpDP371f0iug1XYhgpjZpgDyYLh4Cy0-VUmSZW3l7ugkmABQuM1RrhHBxGm5oddCCyZhwzA2Q3oh2nteZIaiGbV3Cue_CnrU4cKQUSnko3DVT8rylczKE7SYdXSyCb1_5ZRPTaSP59F1cxuVo3K61-L_fGWka2ITSzi9rHk/s1600/odf2d.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="871" data-original-width="1600" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXt56D8-ZbDcHHjMETK9MJpDP371f0iug1XYhgpjZpgDyYLh4Cy0-VUmSZW3l7ugkmABQuM1RrhHBxGm5oddCCyZhwzA2Q3oh2nteZIaiGbV3Cue_CnrU4cKQUSnko3DVT8rylczKE7SYdXSyCb1_5ZRPTaSP59F1cxuVo3K61-L_fGWka2ITSzi9rHk/w640-h348/odf2d.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>I also wanted to be able to bring the adventure to a thrilling climax, so I conceived of a secret experimental geothermal plant underneath a volcano that could be detonated to destroy the main hive that was growing in the dormant volcano above and clear most of the spores with poisonous volcanic ash. It wouldn’t kill every Tyranid on the planet but it could be the decisive blow. They would only be able to learn this form the local Ad Mech once they located the main hive.</p><p>For a bit of surprise curveball I also planned out some routes I decided Trygons would be tunnelling, and threw some Genestealer Cultists into the mix (but a limited amount, I wanted this to mainly be focussed on fighting Tyranids, not cultists). </p><p>I had a rough idea in my head of wanting to have some variety to the feel of the Tyranids depending on where and how the encounters took place. This wasn’t something I wrote specific rules for, but I had some ideas in my head throughout the weekend. Small encounters didn’t use Army or Detachment rules or CP, and had fairly straightforward units and simple tactics (units attack whatever is currently most threatening). </p><p>Encounters near the spore cloud would have spore mines and flying units coming in from surprise reserves. Large and/or important battles where the hive mind was more focussed could include full Tyranid army rules, CP and Stratagems, and smarter tactics (concentrate firepower on key targets). I’m not sure exactly how well this all came across in the end, but I still think it was a nice idea. In the end a Hive Tyrant only appeared in the final game we played, but sadly it was unable to get into a climactic duel with a significant enemy. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNS-5jBjrtxNJAWJwB8XTD4Uk03Teu_EEH1OdTU6_E1gW4lyotsZUPmVtzfjJO3-5xWA9qFsv-pJpYLdiJKP20BMZRQnT4OC-92PYdaomMwj8gQw0idicgIto2uihQe_iTn9rt_pQ7J9xHmsyKkPP92rBgRYijteehHFkJVIBYfY6qGfWjahon39FBNoA/s884/6%20the%20minehead%203.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="576" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNS-5jBjrtxNJAWJwB8XTD4Uk03Teu_EEH1OdTU6_E1gW4lyotsZUPmVtzfjJO3-5xWA9qFsv-pJpYLdiJKP20BMZRQnT4OC-92PYdaomMwj8gQw0idicgIto2uihQe_iTn9rt_pQ7J9xHmsyKkPP92rBgRYijteehHFkJVIBYfY6qGfWjahon39FBNoA/w261-h400/6%20the%20minehead%203.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><p>Charlie is going to be writing up a narrative of the Crusade from his Scions' point of view, so that should give you a better idea of how the overall story went, and I think I managed to stick to my goals fairly well.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">What Was Good And What Could Have Been Better</h2><p>I definitely got overly focussed on the Tyranid markers being 1,000 points of Tyranids, rather than a very rough estimate. Whilst I think it’s important for the players to have a sense of roughly what they’re facing, so they don’t send a few squads against a massive hoard to get absolutely slaughtered, I think a more relaxed approach to the size of enemy forces would have given me a bit more power as GM to come up with exciting and interesting encounters. </p><p>In reality this translated to one battle that I thought would be really fun being skipped because the players committed more than enough forces to it to render it pointless, and another battle I felt obliged to play because it was pretty tight, even though I felt like it wasn’t very different to one we’d already played. </p><p>Then again, counterpoint (yes I’m arguing with myself, you get used to it) if I just completely made everything up I’d be denying the players their agency, and as that is basically the point of the game, that would be silly. I suppose overall another approach would be to have a slightly less PCs vs GM approach on the Strategic scale and collaborate a bit more about what games would be fun to play rather than have it be entirely decided by one side or the other.</p><p>Regardless, one of the things I felt I did quite well was manage to get quite a variety of different kinds of game into the six games we ended up playing. Sadly quite a few of them ended up being fought in lightly forested plains, but we got one Boarding Action game on a space station, one city fight and the climactic battle in the ruins of a mining camp. Unfortunately despite plenty of them having some kind of objective, in reality nearly every game was won by the players wiping out the available Tyranids. I think that definitely could have been better. </p><p>Another issue I think was the amount of time spent moving unit markers around the board, compared to how much it really mattered. We played 6 games out of probably something like 30-40 possible encounters, and to start with we were manually assigning every unit in each Campaign turn. This, unsurprisingly, took ages. After the first few turns of this, I suggested instead that they simply assign out their points and just make an army list to that value for whichever encounters we played. </p><p>This was much quicker, but it lost some of the charm and nuance. Moving markers around on the map is surprisingly fun. I think a third option would be better, but I haven’t quite worked out what that option should be. Maybe something with pre-set Detachments to reduce the choices? I’m not sure that would work as often you want each force to be balanced but it’s also really fun to occasionally bring together one focussed lump of something for a special mission.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">How It Went Overall</h2><p>It was great fun! And really that’s all that matters. But in more general terms, accepting the “could have been better” above, I do think it went very well. The holy trinity of ODF is getting to roleplay as your 40k characters, making thematic choices to represent how your army works beyond the battlefield, and adding some memorable events to the storied history to your forces. Solid three ticks for ODF 2. </p><p>There was plenty of roleplaying, both between army warlords as they planned out their strategy and with the various NPCs I had created. As for playing in character, I made sure to include plenty of options. The Eldar’s secret agenda came out pretty quickly, without much drama (the Astartes at that point not even remotely surprised) and the Cobalt Scions invested a lot of effort in protecting the PDF rather than aggressively prosecuting the enemy as some other chapters might have. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyn4z-dRbT10NfJOVxJm1GmxGyyysR7ywtkPRXiR6JoJnQijRBEGtLgB_aUV6-1gjfc_Apwpq5mOAjjDh_bSl5NbfeMRmBbF9PbScg0RLRXp4n8_BtTMedG6gc77r-pF-pJ2tnWhAUnHXCkjq6lmgaWfUFSFH8vGrI0623TqXOpdFhAnaaWDoe_42XFo/s934/odf2e.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="934" height="445" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMyn4z-dRbT10NfJOVxJm1GmxGyyysR7ywtkPRXiR6JoJnQijRBEGtLgB_aUV6-1gjfc_Apwpq5mOAjjDh_bSl5NbfeMRmBbF9PbScg0RLRXp4n8_BtTMedG6gc77r-pF-pJ2tnWhAUnHXCkjq6lmgaWfUFSFH8vGrI0623TqXOpdFhAnaaWDoe_42XFo/w640-h445/odf2e.png" width="640" /></a></div><p>Indeed if I was to consider how well the players did strategically, their only obvious failing was keeping a few small detachments of PDF out in the field. In theory this was to have some forces in a flexible position to react, but in reality they simply had to repeatedly divert their own forces to rescue them from waves of Tyranids when they could have retreated back to bolster the defences of a settlement (which did happen eventually). But it was very heroic. </p><p>As for memorable events. Well. Remember those character death adjustments I mentioned before? Yeah. Towards the end of the campaign, Captain Lucullus led a small force to block up some Tyranid tunnels that threatened to cost them the capital city and the millions of souls within. On my army list for that game was a Lictor, but I didn’t show it to the players at the start of the game. As a GM I can of course do what I please, but in a tournament that would be Very Naughty. </p><p>Captain Lucullus wandered quite close to the Tyranid’s table edge in an attempt to get to and close the tunnels. Then the Lictor appeared. Shocked pikachu face.jpg. But with fall back moves and overwatch and such bullshit, even getting into combat was far from guaranteed. And even if it did, Space Marine Captains are tough as shit, right? And the Lictor isn’t that potent. It should average out at around 2 wounds damage, without rerolls or any other bullshit. </p><p>Yeah, no. When he failed his crucial final CP reroll of his save, there was more than a bit of shouting. Not from Charlie, he was very stoic, but Drew and I were <i>quite animated</i>.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijP_UQA0Msdzr1proQX2H2KKeJFzG8hTuxskxdJAPddv1KtxLI-fqpHzE6TwQ5Jynf_j1ZRRuL_yGB9WJvWpeM3yKiBb4fb-MkgsXyrOAEV0HGB0g4lv7v1SR9Hmm8GvVpDPNQ0OTTt1Ubp8MYxY1Zu0Eb87Hsfsos1hbgYHB904PEiqmdjGJnPc6rbvE/s2145/2023-12-09%2018.52.22%20cropped.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1816" data-original-width="2145" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijP_UQA0Msdzr1proQX2H2KKeJFzG8hTuxskxdJAPddv1KtxLI-fqpHzE6TwQ5Jynf_j1ZRRuL_yGB9WJvWpeM3yKiBb4fb-MkgsXyrOAEV0HGB0g4lv7v1SR9Hmm8GvVpDPNQ0OTTt1Ubp8MYxY1Zu0Eb87Hsfsos1hbgYHB904PEiqmdjGJnPc6rbvE/w400-h339/2023-12-09%2018.52.22%20cropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Nom time.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>If you didn’t already know, <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2020/02/cobalt-scions-primaris-captain.html" target="_blank">Captain Lucullus is a beautifully converted and painted model</a>, with dozens of hours of effort put into it. On top of that Charlie has written tons of lore for the protagonist of his custom Chapter and built up a wealth of history. I had just possibly killed him forever, with some arguably unsportsmanlike behaviour. </p><p>Of course we had to finish out the battle before we would know, and in particular determine if his Apothecary would survive to give a bonus to his rolls. He did, and Charlie got rolling. First up the Casualty Check. Anything but a 1 Charlie. Picard Facepalm.gif Ok, so he’s out of the campaign, but is he Dead dead or just resting. Will I be able to live with the guilt? Just roll a 3+ on 1d10 Charlie. Please…</p><p>I think the neighbours may have called the police, but Lucullus lives, so that’s the important thing. Nevertheless <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2021/04/cobalt-scions-army-complete.html" target="_blank">Lieutenant Nerva</a> took command for the rest of the campaign. I maintain that real lasting consequences are the spice of roleplaying, and without them it would be quite bland, but I admit I prefer things a little more Tikka Masala and a little less Vindaloo. </p><p>Between the mental effort, lack of sleep, and stress, ODF2 aged me about 5 years; but I think those 4 days of gaming were worth the trade.</p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-14605702967039263842024-01-01T14:00:00.009+00:002024-01-01T16:17:50.016+00:00In the Grim Darkness of 2023…<p> In the Grim Darkness of 2023…</p><p>…we did more hobby. Public shocked. Politicians outraged. Who could have expected this?!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxHdADGorrHpUEWp9hxAdl8VpioazE53jU1lEjJxtBTr_CgEHn-JCgCeVNnSTzQlBTopMPK0eW4LyqwOciMvLoUYIlhYeZIo2KqjPKE-AJaQ_k4gJxv6WNdqTN96HNNsE8r2_mlZAXdVbyPsD-pgAAYJcgSsIlcff3ZcljmB0x160uvLnn1Zsv9LVWyM/s1012/Quad.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1012" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFxHdADGorrHpUEWp9hxAdl8VpioazE53jU1lEjJxtBTr_CgEHn-JCgCeVNnSTzQlBTopMPK0eW4LyqwOciMvLoUYIlhYeZIo2KqjPKE-AJaQ_k4gJxv6WNdqTN96HNNsE8r2_mlZAXdVbyPsD-pgAAYJcgSsIlcff3ZcljmB0x160uvLnn1Zsv9LVWyM/s320/Quad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><b>Tom</b>: We’ve been a little on and off with <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Year%20Review" target="_blank">these recap posts</a> over the decade but over the last few years we’ve got pretty good at consistently remembering to do it. In 2023 10th edition 40k came out. As usual with the last few new 40k editions, 10e has some issues we grumbled about but overall seems to once again be the best edition ever. That said, the codex reboot has put us on the back foot a little and we haven’t had any major big group events this year. And, as you will see below, 2023 has been a less than stellar year for many of our nerd herd. Nevertheless, lets see what everyone has been up to.</p><p>Warning: Drew's review contains <i>graphic imagery</i> (of miniature carnage). </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Charlie</h2><p><b>Charlie</b>: The original intention was to finish the Goffs this year, so here’s a shot of my year’s output:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpRq3grng7GSUJUAj6HrZKzCbPqoOwVcdfsHm8l9UfX9lTd-BEZx2CAcreC5O_gTEQ_2FU3al-jN5CLj4Th5Iv_obqnnZtan8pD-vw5v6mcX_4e2qNlJgmIDHzOkm6FeGI7c73azLrT08xIsRFtunf9E_OX6nk3swJhiDc_JU4-w7-M903s5kaW9bMms/s994/2023%20goffs.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="616" data-original-width="994" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpRq3grng7GSUJUAj6HrZKzCbPqoOwVcdfsHm8l9UfX9lTd-BEZx2CAcreC5O_gTEQ_2FU3al-jN5CLj4Th5Iv_obqnnZtan8pD-vw5v6mcX_4e2qNlJgmIDHzOkm6FeGI7c73azLrT08xIsRFtunf9E_OX6nk3swJhiDc_JU4-w7-M903s5kaW9bMms/w400-h248/2023%20goffs.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sad tuba sound.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>OK in truth I had a good year, just not on the stuff I planned to. I wrote about my year in more detail <a href="https://www.goonhammer.com/charlies-2023-hobby-year-in-review/" target="_blank">over on Goonhammer</a>, but here's the TLDR: I put a lot of focus on making 40K co-op supplement <a href="https://www.goonhammer.com/fury-of-the-swarm-co-op-40k-skitters-over-the-finish-line/" target="_blank">Fury of the Swarm</a>, but did also get a heap of other stuff painted. By my standards, at least. I joined forces with Drew, Harvey, and even a light sprinkling of Maisey to get two sets of <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/08/terrain-best-painted-with-friends.html" target="_blank">Space Hulk terrain</a> painted, and (again with help from Drew) got a regiment of Hochland halberdiers grunted out, along with one or two rather glorious Empire minis:</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfRu6lqneXZS1bje2kEutRUH9rhUjcj72VFpCU-LZsTmNKpJciZGUJWWojeW-LViHHhLkiSL7tTqZ02jqr2LihwPt7W1zhlJo723uSYRl2SbYOMDX6X7rnvBCpFcf98x51maANrYSh92ulyuOgVN0r09PLEtg5Nh3DcdoDrCiF1y7EjTklyDEPCQplGc/s1547/2023%20Empire.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1547" height="323" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbfRu6lqneXZS1bje2kEutRUH9rhUjcj72VFpCU-LZsTmNKpJciZGUJWWojeW-LViHHhLkiSL7tTqZ02jqr2LihwPt7W1zhlJo723uSYRl2SbYOMDX6X7rnvBCpFcf98x51maANrYSh92ulyuOgVN0r09PLEtg5Nh3DcdoDrCiF1y7EjTklyDEPCQplGc/w400-h323/2023%20Empire.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>The biggest win of all, however, was the 1,350 points I added to my growing collection of Cobalt Scions. The Third Company now stands at 63 marines plus command and auxiliary elements. Here’s what I did this year:</p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgui9jNizngtbDkDiZa5mnvD0a71LaN_xhR-Fm-RvwqhNxzNSF7jQtpJxJSdqIvsm97D2KK-IlboMLLJa7KsBWnBLSp0tDCynsuFVSudSSobJA9y1AI4sGox8zEQYF6IZKXwSIl3MxfL_qu7x1LGM7AXlJqKbsSBruFiRLFBjazHQIn45tM8rj6mYVWpG0/s1380/2023%20marines.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="690" data-original-width="1380" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgui9jNizngtbDkDiZa5mnvD0a71LaN_xhR-Fm-RvwqhNxzNSF7jQtpJxJSdqIvsm97D2KK-IlboMLLJa7KsBWnBLSp0tDCynsuFVSudSSobJA9y1AI4sGox8zEQYF6IZKXwSIl3MxfL_qu7x1LGM7AXlJqKbsSBruFiRLFBjazHQIn45tM8rj6mYVWpG0/w400-h200/2023%20marines.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>In 2024 I'm hoping to make further progress towards having a full battle company (how did this happen?), plus a chunk of fantasy terrain, orks, orcs, and maybe start a new 40K army. If I can finish the orks first.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Tom</h2><p><b>Tom</b>: My biggest achievement of 2023 was <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Oops%20New%20Army" target="_blank">not starting a new army</a>. My second biggest achievement was creating a spreadsheet, and yes I’m still talking about my hobby, not work. <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/10/managing-backlog.html" target="_blank">My project tracker</a> has been a huge motivator for me, and through the powers of formulae I can tell you that since April I have cleared a whopping 18% of my Pile Of Shame, whilst still buying plenty of new exciting models.</p><p>The backlog has been a very esoteric mix of stuff, with a slight trend towards finishing all my Tyranids for Charlie’s Fury of the Swarm, but most of the new purchases have been <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/07/deescalating-desolators.html" target="_blank">retooling my Raven Guard for 10th</a> and <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/10/baby-got-pack.html" target="_blank">expanding them</a>. I’m hoping that 2024 is going to be a continuation of this trend of rational productivity. That or I fall off the wagon entirely and buy myself a Thunderhawk…</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBtP9Fojq881DJBGbvpQlAK9UEUeub4d1s-jDvbaMBDWw7eo9KXtGi4CHMitNHCImoEUDpWgPT09sh4qvHvPw5OHGsBQhxsoVInx_J0N6La_Ix5bltEfC_2veUXIGATv8rFIv64djXlqPyILjW0rsBbpnlVE-WRrzhZgV-rNvPrGCJ42x9WsSg-QgNt0/s1012/Quad.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="771" data-original-width="1012" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlBtP9Fojq881DJBGbvpQlAK9UEUeub4d1s-jDvbaMBDWw7eo9KXtGi4CHMitNHCImoEUDpWgPT09sh4qvHvPw5OHGsBQhxsoVInx_J0N6La_Ix5bltEfC_2veUXIGATv8rFIv64djXlqPyILjW0rsBbpnlVE-WRrzhZgV-rNvPrGCJ42x9WsSg-QgNt0/s320/Quad.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cost and effort to make this piece of scenery that can shelter maybe 3 Guardsmen was surely worth it! Darktide is to blame.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4rDi_KIpVO7APY7AxPJHwU66hNZy-rBgq7vTZkGLFrjmEWzqNwyhD7wuCm_x3TPMt7_BavKfLEnNOui48khQcOuYOosnM1VyTeblsBOEdMqOFWg3ZAuE8mblvjUrEvdmEEqPTjM_XDmcZ_jPAPdBJAmnWylkklTPCE24dteQsdvXgaDB0BdJ5s27WcM/s1974/Breachers%20A.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1974" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj4rDi_KIpVO7APY7AxPJHwU66hNZy-rBgq7vTZkGLFrjmEWzqNwyhD7wuCm_x3TPMt7_BavKfLEnNOui48khQcOuYOosnM1VyTeblsBOEdMqOFWg3ZAuE8mblvjUrEvdmEEqPTjM_XDmcZ_jPAPdBJAmnWylkklTPCE24dteQsdvXgaDB0BdJ5s27WcM/w400-h159/Breachers%20A.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the navy, Yes, you can sail the seven seas!</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrGtAZHxrUearYhVhxTC-lMvQAmn9A7TKLiVG9-H7m4rHRWyU15AXee8zpc_yxE2k29kv_w3tPkR82QHSKZ0h-ezLWkvCAlhWyIeTBHGvRHmt540BDMNr-h7qyuFvEWcz_gEFq_lTnDMF6DVdi5sBUjleTi1XmD2F4thSEFrt5MieKzA4JhPeUJK0R0Yc/s1242/Shadow%20Captain%20Yiraka.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1149" data-original-width="1242" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrGtAZHxrUearYhVhxTC-lMvQAmn9A7TKLiVG9-H7m4rHRWyU15AXee8zpc_yxE2k29kv_w3tPkR82QHSKZ0h-ezLWkvCAlhWyIeTBHGvRHmt540BDMNr-h7qyuFvEWcz_gEFq_lTnDMF6DVdi5sBUjleTi1XmD2F4thSEFrt5MieKzA4JhPeUJK0R0Yc/s320/Shadow%20Captain%20Yiraka.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can’t lead Intercessors if you’re wearing the <i>wrong clothes</i>!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibuEgg20DmZP9y9Asq6DJi1rIMk_mfEXCitXn-4qrE0jGth42On1zkYP9ZRGf-DIigQC5xx77sKCdwmbQrJlNHhNmgdhPIjqe_Ud0Nwn5-4GqNVC07GS9DnzSkzmnsScsSElfk2S97JjKk25ezTtL2v-evxAOMnEWeWzEh2l8zbIp5ndDyaKCEYav8qMk/s2004/Squad%20Aibek%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1779" data-original-width="2004" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibuEgg20DmZP9y9Asq6DJi1rIMk_mfEXCitXn-4qrE0jGth42On1zkYP9ZRGf-DIigQC5xx77sKCdwmbQrJlNHhNmgdhPIjqe_Ud0Nwn5-4GqNVC07GS9DnzSkzmnsScsSElfk2S97JjKk25ezTtL2v-evxAOMnEWeWzEh2l8zbIp5ndDyaKCEYav8qMk/w400-h355/Squad%20Aibek%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squadron 40, DIVE!</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">Jeff</h2><p><b>Jeff</b>: 2023 has been a super weird year and, if I’m honest, could mostly get entirely in the bin. Unfortunately this led to my hobby mojo being taken behind the tool shed and then going to live on a nice farm upstate. BUT! Because I’m me and something of a speed-freak when I am actually in “go-go-GO!” mode… there was actually progress. Just a bit random…</p><p>Initially I was continuing Word Bearers buoyed on by the Lachesis gloriousness, sadly mojo faded halfway through some units I’d started, doubtless it’ll be back but, y’know [gestures vaguely at 2023]. Having tried to get back on that horse a few times I eventually got fed up and decided I needed a palate cleanser, cue just over 3500 points of Battlefleet Gothic chaos… Yep. Like I say, it’s been sprints. These haven’t been properly blogged yet [gestures vaguely at 2023] so there’s a sneaky peek below. </p><p>Finally though, finally the storm clouds started to properly clear and look! Mojo really did go to live on a farm! I can visit him! It’s still a fair trek to get there but I finally had motivation and focus. So did I go back to the Word Bearers? Oh my sweet summer child. No, instead I decided the time is now and launched at a brand new source of dopamine (sorry, army) and began the Kessarine 11th Cavalry Regiment of the Imperial Guard. Cue another sprint and I’ve painted almost 70 dudes for them. Only half has been blogged yet [gestures vaguely at… look you know the drill] but keep your eyes peeled for the new year. Then so, so many tanks. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZeWWfQKNO4-egCuSL9ISA8JYdyM_KYzYLYZ4AeiVvwwKqIVMv398YIFBsYYZfSrEBrXYzEfAQubF26S2aLH1NqoV-akJBjvTDPoVWW6RLqAgfr-oWYmNpHwsyU8rhZNZjkvkpBvpyaFX4HCTJLHNtdDp224Hze2p9ZLqUYnimiTFEssRPWR2CRKFbRU/s1838/IMG20231224132433.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1838" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaZeWWfQKNO4-egCuSL9ISA8JYdyM_KYzYLYZ4AeiVvwwKqIVMv398YIFBsYYZfSrEBrXYzEfAQubF26S2aLH1NqoV-akJBjvTDPoVWW6RLqAgfr-oWYmNpHwsyU8rhZNZjkvkpBvpyaFX4HCTJLHNtdDp224Hze2p9ZLqUYnimiTFEssRPWR2CRKFbRU/w400-h228/IMG20231224132433.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An emblematic photo of my year, half finished Word Bearer loveliness</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmbalDBEmcRikxwXKMcg2RYENExhDISJeYjEqEr0OqaJ61H-r5P9WDJCLIHSrn0CZT99ko63jDlq_y_j9kS8tvoS8uxxLxN7qC9Ph1RD9APBbjmKgDNke7ZPyCOZFNn21hx016B4H8rRFxKnzfH0v9O1UcNUvkozluwCxF2-JhrWdzWOThQWcB9algy0/s1789/Kessarine%20001.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="1789" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmbalDBEmcRikxwXKMcg2RYENExhDISJeYjEqEr0OqaJ61H-r5P9WDJCLIHSrn0CZT99ko63jDlq_y_j9kS8tvoS8uxxLxN7qC9Ph1RD9APBbjmKgDNke7ZPyCOZFNn21hx016B4H8rRFxKnzfH0v9O1UcNUvkozluwCxF2-JhrWdzWOThQWcB9algy0/w400-h134/Kessarine%20001.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From the Sands to the Stars, the men and women of Kessarine</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFqjWSVe-Nln1ZjY2wXQzKIaqm0eVWNFCb18Vq-YjxcF0RGJE2pH00h2YYckn5QLU1ZPL2Gatrq9Y8AqhbGYYc4RJ7fH8e_J4bnbXnKW5ev_ksfbq6XHC33A4_0Q4h-XvweuNPsilHhkan6dUAX6zWCDSNCp6zo7QyIZz4h7trbFTd6gRB29Vh7DfIn6I/s2470/IMG20231224132813.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="2470" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFqjWSVe-Nln1ZjY2wXQzKIaqm0eVWNFCb18Vq-YjxcF0RGJE2pH00h2YYckn5QLU1ZPL2Gatrq9Y8AqhbGYYc4RJ7fH8e_J4bnbXnKW5ev_ksfbq6XHC33A4_0Q4h-XvweuNPsilHhkan6dUAX6zWCDSNCp6zo7QyIZz4h7trbFTd6gRB29Vh7DfIn6I/w400-h396/IMG20231224132813.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behold, voidborne dooooom!</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">Andrew</h2><p><b>Andrew</b>: My year has not been the most productive if I’ll be honest. I’ve managed a princely total of 1 post here (not counting token contributions to other posts) although this has been more because thanks to finding asbestos in our house I’ve been living either in a hotel or campervan for nearly 3 months of the year, and my models have either been at Toms, or in storage 🙁.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTi8NkyPoxgBZGCm60-UbVlNQQLLjd2LlHGWQW3-qsxFmhkcFcXWZ1EPiijDOtUu4jn_0UDY8AIBt0586BSe4MpI191_LdqX89JeYnRxU0XjmLcACWe2c3nilE4vCPqdh8IdGF5URHKWFpT6GLC9Jp8KLFkpvOMfQugQ_WlC_DrYZUWBnJ1zUS06-7oFo/s595/andy1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="548" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTi8NkyPoxgBZGCm60-UbVlNQQLLjd2LlHGWQW3-qsxFmhkcFcXWZ1EPiijDOtUu4jn_0UDY8AIBt0586BSe4MpI191_LdqX89JeYnRxU0XjmLcACWe2c3nilE4vCPqdh8IdGF5URHKWFpT6GLC9Jp8KLFkpvOMfQugQ_WlC_DrYZUWBnJ1zUS06-7oFo/w369-h400/andy1.png" width="369" /></a></div><p>This means almost all of my hobby has been extremely concentrated into when I’ve managed to get the stars to align. However, having to go back through all the pics on my phone to compile this, I realise I’ve not done too badly considering.</p><p>January saw me trying to get my fledgling Alpha Legion force into some semblance of completion in anticipation of a weekend of gaming at Charlies. I really should post these properly but they are still a WiP so that will wait a while.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iWCweK5T0FOJ3Pll5H25fFl7-PNNc-ScMQ9JBQlGZBMMrGeyIdjRnA66RW4x18nMMXE2_sDecFBiLabadI7tsv9O27PL2P2VROmGk7bnruE9QhJjCLhYLhGw1jap6-PVRaHtrwHxHtdw5_mtYGgS2SVszRNrp3EecQ8XP-iNpruQ9JMxdIqviP9cDG8/s1148/andy2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="656" data-original-width="1148" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iWCweK5T0FOJ3Pll5H25fFl7-PNNc-ScMQ9JBQlGZBMMrGeyIdjRnA66RW4x18nMMXE2_sDecFBiLabadI7tsv9O27PL2P2VROmGk7bnruE9QhJjCLhYLhGw1jap6-PVRaHtrwHxHtdw5_mtYGgS2SVszRNrp3EecQ8XP-iNpruQ9JMxdIqviP9cDG8/w400-h229/andy2.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>My only other significant hobby activities were the Thunderhawk I painted in a day in September - <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/09/painting-40k-thunderhawk-in-day.html" target="_blank">A Thunderhawk in a day</a>, and for my birthday in May I went and bought myself the Fellowship of the Ring, then promptly built, and painted them using a variant of the ever popular zenithal-drybrush technique but just using regular paints as I don’t own any contrast/speed paints. Everything this year was kind of done in a day it seems.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmRsoLqbodWENnN9GdAk8r0-LDxlqNRpJ7tqU3sjHMxRoCMsOBeRW3LpRX_CFEm0YoZTgNw7c4mkfChUt7t7hk2AwxuOdKCD3TkI7ngW8G84__eSqe8XQGn0pGvhleocRaocaw9BbYNrlfrQH4C86FiG-WenXz3Uex108NA6r1VIFYDLk73P3hl3goXnc/s1260/andy3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="1260" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmRsoLqbodWENnN9GdAk8r0-LDxlqNRpJ7tqU3sjHMxRoCMsOBeRW3LpRX_CFEm0YoZTgNw7c4mkfChUt7t7hk2AwxuOdKCD3TkI7ngW8G84__eSqe8XQGn0pGvhleocRaocaw9BbYNrlfrQH4C86FiG-WenXz3Uex108NA6r1VIFYDLk73P3hl3goXnc/w400-h224/andy3.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>The other images you can see there are from my trip to Salute in April where they’d introduced panel discussions which were a great feature, and the “pegging” I got when I chatted to the lovely folks from the Painting Phase. There’s also some fun pics of the Warhammer World Rhino and Space Marine in the snow from December (fun fact, its snowed 50% of the times I’ve visited WHW), and the Wardog/Armiger kit-adjustment I’m working on to give them a more anatomical gait (think T-rex from Jurassic Park).</p><p>As for 2024 - I honestly have no idea what it may bring. In my to-do is to finish up what I want to build/paint for the Chaos Marines, the Space Marines army that I’ve never started, and I hope there’ll be some Old World, but who really knows.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Maisey</h2><p><b>Maisey</b>: 2022 was the year my life exploded and killed off any hobby motivation I might have had. This lack of motivation and continuing real life exploding nonsense continued into 2023. I did however find a small island of peace in the spring/early summer and managed to get a functional force of Orks going. Which I was terribly happy with as I’ve always loved the vibe of the Orks but couldn’t quite manage to find a paint scheme that worked for me. Then 10th Ed dropped and extinguished my fragile little hobby flame once again. Followed by more real life rubbish meaning I’ve essentially not hobbied (aside from some light role play sessions and a few evening painting sessions on discord) for the best part of six months.</p><p>Then a Christmas Miracle happened. A massive Deathwing Terminator box gets previewed along with a whole bunch of other shiny goodness for the Dark Angels. I absolutely cannot pass that by. So, my plan for 2024 is Green, Black, and Bone… </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wGM1AK5FnXuMzsbCvXWLa4wvnxN-zzgbhrnkrkHX1tQhSapoKyhEvhsrG2hwRLsVw670hF3ZR7zT90HpoXlqhNj8mHuuuoJaaK7YsAAGZSbjG79JCWF2_JBlrls2ra6gqep5cOkyvPcZMUx69a_kJxncx-PvCp0zildTOfahZf3iTlHpaSql3PI11Pg/s1393/waaaagh.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1393" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9wGM1AK5FnXuMzsbCvXWLa4wvnxN-zzgbhrnkrkHX1tQhSapoKyhEvhsrG2hwRLsVw670hF3ZR7zT90HpoXlqhNj8mHuuuoJaaK7YsAAGZSbjG79JCWF2_JBlrls2ra6gqep5cOkyvPcZMUx69a_kJxncx-PvCp0zildTOfahZf3iTlHpaSql3PI11Pg/w400-h224/waaaagh.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Boris</h2><p><b>Boris</b>: In 2023, I successfully managed to stay “on brand” and engage with the hobby in wild, unscheduled bursts with no constraint whatsoever. Thanks to Thomas, I was given an airbrush to try and - thanks to zero self-control - spent a lot of time making it a core part of my painting process. Lo and behold, I can now achieve results that I find as good as/even better than my previous way of painting in an absolute fraction of the time.</p><p>Given that this however also necessitates the use of lacquers and oil paints, which are new to me as well, I take 2023 as an extensive learning experience. </p><p>As Charlie very kindly put it: “Your hobby superpower is a total fearlessness for trying new things [...]”. (probably the nicest compliment I got in years)</p><p><i><b>Drew</b>: It also happens to be incredibly true. </i></p><p>With a bit of luck, it will allow me to catch up with my plastic “mount of opportunity” in 2024.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5OlNRTuF-dNn7LeR1kreibvS2pFX8ixnXQR-q3Svnax7iDLGjmn7UsS4g1yj09fU-RZV7j80SkimFAhaWO8GRHpuidncrHycrQH2mubEkSI2tqgBl3STlyMC1Jd7NgkFLcWVn1-LUENkuA9lyWf6RENSWBs-FRCUnpWIoDqI-oRaHM31KC7B4NGSqnas/s3024/20231228_095314.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5OlNRTuF-dNn7LeR1kreibvS2pFX8ixnXQR-q3Svnax7iDLGjmn7UsS4g1yj09fU-RZV7j80SkimFAhaWO8GRHpuidncrHycrQH2mubEkSI2tqgBl3STlyMC1Jd7NgkFLcWVn1-LUENkuA9lyWf6RENSWBs-FRCUnpWIoDqI-oRaHM31KC7B4NGSqnas/w400-h400/20231228_095314.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Based on the Salamanders comic strip by u/reclusiart on Reddit, I HAD TO get an ancient and a dreadnought.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjal4btGtDV_k1yvbievO7R_rWB06Ec9dr31YaAM3TukdqxF7YkuWJHk4Q-CBLrVHjNvCI2jvg7OlbqvIqf8oF4RN0XHkMzSRwdQ2xpA_HEtxlayhEfq31_X1_XBNE8d2CZzGoYIE6N4ZE_c2pMgo5taQIot1KsS4DUL5TSzTbfmFXFSvJcBdC347bqI84/s4032/20231228_154530.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjal4btGtDV_k1yvbievO7R_rWB06Ec9dr31YaAM3TukdqxF7YkuWJHk4Q-CBLrVHjNvCI2jvg7OlbqvIqf8oF4RN0XHkMzSRwdQ2xpA_HEtxlayhEfq31_X1_XBNE8d2CZzGoYIE6N4ZE_c2pMgo5taQIot1KsS4DUL5TSzTbfmFXFSvJcBdC347bqI84/w400-h225/20231228_154530.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Only the Emperor knows how long these three have been sitting unfinished before Thomas lent me the airbrush.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsV5RDRhqzCU4GPtTQsrG62_flDS7bLLVXWXYs70XQlc2q0UFh2o9fEnyaDMNFZFMYAbz2zObUytoMVj9sYS8nOa6QZqRAV5e9uTkfsZe5ZE4wHJ4AwbkfdSmgmuBU1oW5x8iVJzmcmY7EocNt6wzdSuWLrtETCHYcZ378WLl0cul_WaNUF7kNukiNw5w/s3024/20231228_154131.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsV5RDRhqzCU4GPtTQsrG62_flDS7bLLVXWXYs70XQlc2q0UFh2o9fEnyaDMNFZFMYAbz2zObUytoMVj9sYS8nOa6QZqRAV5e9uTkfsZe5ZE4wHJ4AwbkfdSmgmuBU1oW5x8iVJzmcmY7EocNt6wzdSuWLrtETCHYcZ378WLl0cul_WaNUF7kNukiNw5w/w320-h320/20231228_154131.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Before airbrush and oil washes, I dreaded painting the art-deco blue and gold. Now I love it and can do one of these in about 2 hours, including priming. What’s not to like?</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Thomas</h2><p><b>Thomas</b>: Towards the end of 2022, I experienced the bereavement of a very close family member which caused me to lose most of my hobby mojo in the early and mid 2023. Especially my Warhammer40k mojo just died to a standstill. Throughout the entire 2023 I had two games, one regular games with my long-forgotton Necron army, (very fitting they awoke to fight a single battle, just to go to rest again as they were victorious) and another co-op Tyranid Swarm gamemode concocted by the Bunker’s very own Charlie. </p><p>To regain some hobby momentum I wanted to start with something new, it only seemed fitting to me at the time. I wanted to delve into an alternative to Games Workshop models, so bought the starter set for Mutant Chronicles and decided I wanted to paint up the miniatures. Still a few more to go. </p><p>That regained some of the momentum, I started painting a few specialised 40k characters, such as the ‘new’ ork Kommandos along with Commissar Cain and his trusted aide Jürgen. With the painting mojo back, I decided finally to unbox my leviathan set and with some sort of demonic possession I painted all the Marines as Dark Angels in less than a month. The Marines will be a gift for a friend of mine, he loves to play the game, but he hates to paint. I want to play him, but I hate gray models. Perfect solution (especially since I do not want to start a new Marine army).</p><p>There are currently no projects for 2024 hobby wise other than the obligatory statement “I should get some more games in and get through my pile of painting opportunities”. I might paint up the Tyranids that came with Levithan set so they can reinforce the evergrowing Tyranid swarm in the Beardbunker for Charlie’s coop mode Fury of the Swarm. Slightly Hobby related, I might want to see if I can lure Boris into getting another painting gadget, suggestions welcome below!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUz8u5p658vcgvaWfwFdhyOJb9NA4uABlXa5OJL55R_5jrRrTFF1Dm-kF10m7u_gsrasVCb1FyYRdlZcQ39WByShaHqvt4ZL_NczMpEY6OWNs4tpq23nB8tuc1y1CjZ3WuQe2TIsEkCdFrHUXv_PYxXbRtsDdLtTU_4gQyXIjdLrAV0dqXH1D7w9EWpI/s1600/thomas1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvUz8u5p658vcgvaWfwFdhyOJb9NA4uABlXa5OJL55R_5jrRrTFF1Dm-kF10m7u_gsrasVCb1FyYRdlZcQ39WByShaHqvt4ZL_NczMpEY6OWNs4tpq23nB8tuc1y1CjZ3WuQe2TIsEkCdFrHUXv_PYxXbRtsDdLtTU_4gQyXIjdLrAV0dqXH1D7w9EWpI/w400-h225/thomas1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">A couple of Mutant Chronicles models. Mostly painted with speedpaint to regain my hobby mojo by seeing some finished models fast. I full-hearted recommend this approach if you ever find yourself low on mojo.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuf4CsYj5jS4dKMpnKoJzTyyOKb1uNEILkRFwpkEHdSvPzmbOLuRwz5rKonzf7Wrrp1CifSexmXXyALz2iBzqkgTrt8_H5e3fTx2LTyc5MfP8RZ_yg87rNJof6owDqQF8urSEjK7wejo3sWc6BTlmF-QJGvh61qtbambothSZueNcW5bjrJLX7J22RRrs/s1600/thomas2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="901" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuf4CsYj5jS4dKMpnKoJzTyyOKb1uNEILkRFwpkEHdSvPzmbOLuRwz5rKonzf7Wrrp1CifSexmXXyALz2iBzqkgTrt8_H5e3fTx2LTyc5MfP8RZ_yg87rNJof6owDqQF8urSEjK7wejo3sWc6BTlmF-QJGvh61qtbambothSZueNcW5bjrJLX7J22RRrs/s320/thomas2.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Commissar Cain and Jürgen observing the battle from a safe distance, models by Artel W.</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEkLYBp8SZQmt9eROBzTGiTV5vUpF35PV5mUcnMNmWBWkVpk28TwcTCwntfvEEh4XAC0AZWUqDQWKLyH-oQov8zLKssrEWu00-EQAK3MdQ1NzQQ3gVZJLV0oNvZu9jFCEfmI0rlDGW1rChnMdXK72gBVgiW01lvnU2xOeiYh8Ecr-W2jR6rEPeV-oZQRI/s1600/thomas3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEkLYBp8SZQmt9eROBzTGiTV5vUpF35PV5mUcnMNmWBWkVpk28TwcTCwntfvEEh4XAC0AZWUqDQWKLyH-oQov8zLKssrEWu00-EQAK3MdQ1NzQQ3gVZJLV0oNvZu9jFCEfmI0rlDGW1rChnMdXK72gBVgiW01lvnU2xOeiYh8Ecr-W2jR6rEPeV-oZQRI/w400-h225/thomas3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally the Leviathan Marines painted as Dark Angels. My favourite is the Apothecary, the white paint scheme posed an interesting challenge and I personally think I nailed it.</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">Drew</h2><p><b>Drew</b>: So my 2023 hobby kicked off with a loud, unsolicited bang at about 4am in early January: the bookshelf that housed my precious little knife-ears collapsed resulting in some tears, and enough broken Eldar bodies to satiate even a Black Templar. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDm5lJSVslY7NRGqEX1hhTKLmklM2V-TX-KkrBckAyOnsRyQXqoJK8pQZKpbQTsNGRPoY909ouMbqSUmdt6CN1GkKyluRKzlH-7GZbW-rjLcwTrzBZvGpRFvQ2wAExDkmhbiQRgXLl4OYFURTsopzMWJahjxfaSJdYZ1Y9bdfF9mvFRYcC0sj-GvWy6W4/s1159/drew1.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1159" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDm5lJSVslY7NRGqEX1hhTKLmklM2V-TX-KkrBckAyOnsRyQXqoJK8pQZKpbQTsNGRPoY909ouMbqSUmdt6CN1GkKyluRKzlH-7GZbW-rjLcwTrzBZvGpRFvQ2wAExDkmhbiQRgXLl4OYFURTsopzMWJahjxfaSJdYZ1Y9bdfF9mvFRYcC0sj-GvWy6W4/w400-h300/drew1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The real hunter of Aeldari souls: Ikea</td></tr></tbody></table><p>However traumatic, the second fall of the Aeldari proved not to be the end, as resident nerd herder (and eternal space-elf lover) Charlie helped me salvage most of them, including meticulously sculpting the pointing finger back on the Swooping Dork Exarch like the absolute champ he is. </p><p>Unfortunately with the release of 10th edition, my enthusiasm for my bestest blue (teal? turquoise?) bois waned significantly and for the majority of the year I didn’t progress with them much at all. In the meantime I helped out with scenery painting for a Charlie/Harvey joint, got to have a go at mass producing empire soldiers for a fantasy campaign, did a bow-wielding fire wizard, several randomly abandoned Eldar units and also had an ill fated run at trying to make my own guard army which has since been relegated to project purgatory. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2m2fFAbvui45wWVgF249yptpJ27-2zp_37VvxEJjGT1iNvSMJRM2XIKaNPof60EZilxLwiHMB5kh36-dyiT3Wla8F9-nyVC9R58scdPmlqOQKtJypdYLCbvYfIwqTH7NeRZkbf3P3eA_eXuD_4joCB1uVhKI8oF03Qf7cFE02pjLGNhoZt0xaIdSBp0/s634/cornelius%20and%20emery.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="634" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq2m2fFAbvui45wWVgF249yptpJ27-2zp_37VvxEJjGT1iNvSMJRM2XIKaNPof60EZilxLwiHMB5kh36-dyiT3Wla8F9-nyVC9R58scdPmlqOQKtJypdYLCbvYfIwqTH7NeRZkbf3P3eA_eXuD_4joCB1uVhKI8oF03Qf7cFE02pjLGNhoZt0xaIdSBp0/s320/cornelius%20and%20emery.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I can only take credit for the Wizard in red, the chap with a penchant for tin is a Charlie job.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The greatest boost to my hobby was the very kind offer of Tom to run a co-operative 40k campaign entitled ODF (Orbital Death Fridge, to the uninitiated) which managed to propel me into painting/finishing 6 different units in a little under three weeks because the power of deadline cannot be overstated. It ended up being the most hobby fun I’ve had all year and was a stellar way to finish. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptQz9EsN2M1cYJbIK9ppV2uaAZxiQvXMdJfH9cRRtiqrXPTSAvVMgdaFa39zaac4pqlCB56DjxGMxB_exVHnYO-ZvAb2bOxdChGuo7IQ-ZegVK4OK2s6coiXR_02jpsCR15tWf8D67lXtiF5sRIsbMmkvFsa738VUTvPT8qlLtvdSCSFZJ-mUkJEnoYE/s1159/drew3.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="869" data-original-width="1159" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptQz9EsN2M1cYJbIK9ppV2uaAZxiQvXMdJfH9cRRtiqrXPTSAvVMgdaFa39zaac4pqlCB56DjxGMxB_exVHnYO-ZvAb2bOxdChGuo7IQ-ZegVK4OK2s6coiXR_02jpsCR15tWf8D67lXtiF5sRIsbMmkvFsa738VUTvPT8qlLtvdSCSFZJ-mUkJEnoYE/w400-h300/drew3.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hugs?</td></tr></tbody></table><p>As for 2024, I have big plans and a small attention span. The launch of Warhammer Old World has got several of the Beard Bunker nerds very excited to run our own campaign and an army of Wood Elves absolutely calls to me. With regards to 40k, I’d love to start my own little pocket of Votann, or maybe even a little contingent of Dark Kraken Space Marines. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Rob</h2><p><b>Rob</b>: Last year I confidently predicted that 2023 would be a year filled with the Cities of Sigmar. I was wrong. I mean, it was, for lots of people, as GW released a whole new range of models to represent the ordinary folk of the Mortal Realms – but the sculpts left me curiously unmoved. Instead, I threw myself into smaller, whimsical projects. Much of the Spring was absorbed by a desire to recreate “The War of the Worlds” in 6mm: cue batching rank after rank of spiffing Victorian Home Service infantrymen and (“But still, They come!”) Martian tripods. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJfyMNzSYiDxf7ayKtXX06bPgdlXdpAJfqIEYBSihEAIRNJl8QkM-y4wLY7jouhcYAALV7x0O1APqph5AQxYSAMJWzISzvY9RcD3bVylYslWQaJ9EpSxOPXsh9Afp-F8UcfsDmiBd847LyH8ys1PqknD2C4qfq0HZ5mHwPHY_UKFSCyaBPLcB-AtGkiCc/s2204/img_20230924_225551_110_53217109128_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2204" data-original-width="2204" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJfyMNzSYiDxf7ayKtXX06bPgdlXdpAJfqIEYBSihEAIRNJl8QkM-y4wLY7jouhcYAALV7x0O1APqph5AQxYSAMJWzISzvY9RcD3bVylYslWQaJ9EpSxOPXsh9Afp-F8UcfsDmiBd847LyH8ys1PqknD2C4qfq0HZ5mHwPHY_UKFSCyaBPLcB-AtGkiCc/s320/img_20230924_225551_110_53217109128_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I played some Man O’War and the odd game of Blitz Bowl. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XIM2zBSianTr9AcJjqI8ry8nGqIZ3Q7eoGWOWrEsPQQoLKXdz_ueqhqH571qllIsQaof2pP7vJxziHlDPVzELxpNs1Wy-yFkZohWumExPD8vSBYbXn9i4AxyVk4rhzj2JGryJ3TsiCCerhSlayIIHMN0YgZwMSJ1CzPeVjPzZGN0IYHi8y0TReM7ryk/s2688/pxl_20230423_204324867_52839915927_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2688" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XIM2zBSianTr9AcJjqI8ry8nGqIZ3Q7eoGWOWrEsPQQoLKXdz_ueqhqH571qllIsQaof2pP7vJxziHlDPVzELxpNs1Wy-yFkZohWumExPD8vSBYbXn9i4AxyVk4rhzj2JGryJ3TsiCCerhSlayIIHMN0YgZwMSJ1CzPeVjPzZGN0IYHi8y0TReM7ryk/s320/pxl_20230423_204324867_52839915927_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>In the Summer I painted up band of Tokugawa-era adventurers (with their tame Oni), and then sent them into battle in a series of games of The Silver Bayonet – a tight and evocative set of skirmish rules, and highly recommended if you haven’t tried it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97es69AOAVflpmQ6GVAOFA8SG_mzOj_yBdJkmGCrHd2zLgPUwjNygJx_wU1IL9-2g4QPwBoaljdw1b90C9i9xfrFSNQd1ZzKnKOoO0UaZNYeoWMklDB6nfTkAITQi8UXm9Qf8oVmbHph0ulHq-SMm-M554KsCkvufcIsdU1tiPlWdgPExLpnfw98yfWk/s4032/pxl_20231111_222552167portrait_53329470632_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="4032" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi97es69AOAVflpmQ6GVAOFA8SG_mzOj_yBdJkmGCrHd2zLgPUwjNygJx_wU1IL9-2g4QPwBoaljdw1b90C9i9xfrFSNQd1ZzKnKOoO0UaZNYeoWMklDB6nfTkAITQi8UXm9Qf8oVmbHph0ulHq-SMm-M554KsCkvufcIsdU1tiPlWdgPExLpnfw98yfWk/s320/pxl_20231111_222552167portrait_53329470632_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>In the Autumn, after diving deep into Jules Verne, I started a group to represent The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; I hope to get them on the table next year. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29thFw5-cZax_L-MhasBneqpbyq2wBRWMtMkObobm8G_5S09xKwxjWhxwFhFQHAOx_j8jxAGehAQ1SaxoX5lTr21q5E2nEJWjY6A6KWSbm2EOHKYA0PeKSLdCqF3Ft0OcSWMpExAzYOEvv4pr_ezfTxLhTQZeCpgUh7uKeSvb2SMPITxLMXDUBSV0Hzc/s3677/pxl_20231212_044015434mp~2_53393139634_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2268" data-original-width="3677" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29thFw5-cZax_L-MhasBneqpbyq2wBRWMtMkObobm8G_5S09xKwxjWhxwFhFQHAOx_j8jxAGehAQ1SaxoX5lTr21q5E2nEJWjY6A6KWSbm2EOHKYA0PeKSLdCqF3Ft0OcSWMpExAzYOEvv4pr_ezfTxLhTQZeCpgUh7uKeSvb2SMPITxLMXDUBSV0Hzc/s320/pxl_20231212_044015434mp~2_53393139634_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>And throughout the year (and in anticipation of a Warhammer Fantasy renaissance in 2024?), I chipped away at an enormous Expeditionary Force of Lothern Sea Guard, including repainting some of the very first Warhammer models that younger Rob jabbed a brush at. I hope your 2024 is filled with sprues, glues, and good-humoured flights of fantasy, and thanks to everyone who has painted, hobbied, and gamed with me this year. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVQrjM0jCyYPQdpiu8mk2_M1lVNWNQgoKRnnjIc8-ur_QalcsaIRBgp13aCh114VUlhVvLg1UBvTawEGv40EC72DyFOLOJ5QzgtrVzA-D7YHBRp2gJ4OZLp0_8iMbzgKsjI1ZjYd9B11Enm235HDqGVuiPFzKj6gKVTYWYkkeL025D-4xupOcKAYlHAG0/s4032/pxl_20231219_173241932portrait_53410050508_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVQrjM0jCyYPQdpiu8mk2_M1lVNWNQgoKRnnjIc8-ur_QalcsaIRBgp13aCh114VUlhVvLg1UBvTawEGv40EC72DyFOLOJ5QzgtrVzA-D7YHBRp2gJ4OZLp0_8iMbzgKsjI1ZjYd9B11Enm235HDqGVuiPFzKj6gKVTYWYkkeL025D-4xupOcKAYlHAG0/s320/pxl_20231219_173241932portrait_53410050508_o.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-19314462824789672132023-12-11T13:06:00.002+00:002023-12-11T13:06:18.393+00:00Binning the Apothecary Biologis' rules for narrative gaming<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauwEpVhE5mu0XgfsB5MSjvrOV-WW_YAAVg8I8lMJmGUcpEEF52Hw3WlNlNwwCxAmbcjyVap5V-FxPfUiQpqXER68qWu4C5tpW8t-ODeBEZeLMvQDeGms5m_iaR3bRb_skVgwv3GkpzNcHHiNFTLCTfXaV_J9cWieh_bfvyj9wgjsWjwBRJnmwrilSnpg/s880/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="880" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgauwEpVhE5mu0XgfsB5MSjvrOV-WW_YAAVg8I8lMJmGUcpEEF52Hw3WlNlNwwCxAmbcjyVap5V-FxPfUiQpqXER68qWu4C5tpW8t-ODeBEZeLMvQDeGms5m_iaR3bRb_skVgwv3GkpzNcHHiNFTLCTfXaV_J9cWieh_bfvyj9wgjsWjwBRJnmwrilSnpg/w400-h400/1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Today's post is about just straight up ignoring official rules, in the right context. In this case, the rules were ignored during a GM'd 40K campaign, so no actual players were harmed by my tinkering. More on what I changed later, first: some context as to why I so enthusiastically painted up Bulbus McThew (PhD) in time for said campaign.*</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Some months ago, <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Tom">Tom</a> came up with the idea that noted wraith-fancier <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Drew">Drew</a> and my own infrastructure fetishists the Cobalt Scions should fight a four-day war against some Tyranids. GM'd 40K is something we've done before, and is, for me, the absolute Bentley of 40K playing. <i>Louchely <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgD3ImFTgp0&ab_channel=JETCAR">flicks engine grille</a> with the seductive power of a walrus in a party hat. </i><i><br /></i><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">Given that I already had over 3,000 points of marines ready to go, I <i>strongly </i>didn't need to paint anything else for my army. But the format of these narrative campaigns - where all your units get split out into battle groups in each phase of the story - means that you are rewarded for painting more shit. And paint I did. Tom started planning the campaign in June/July this year, and it absolutely lit a motivational fire beneath my posterior, tempered only by the amount of time I was putting into writing <i><a href="https://www.goonhammer.com/fury-of-the-swarm-co-op-40k-skitters-over-the-finish-line/">Fury of the Swarm</a></i>. Once <i>Swarm </i>was finished, I doubled down on the painting. Tom and Drew were subjected to all sorts of messages like the one below, which was my way of communicating how excited I was.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-vlKRN8mgRHbgMmnQfytK3tbMg5oMODC6e4ES1qpIxM69ggbp3uj_bzHHTtPaJdQnPuR9BCyTJ1e_5xxmtneVuox_SKxq-ZqOEfYa0s2-M7X0Y2vnD4cM50BmkcOBPKrX5lq-MvnCdsEVBZxPHFmXtHkBmUrZ93KJWcqIjCoaVOi_mmJMft5uanRpQWo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="116" data-original-width="554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-vlKRN8mgRHbgMmnQfytK3tbMg5oMODC6e4ES1qpIxM69ggbp3uj_bzHHTtPaJdQnPuR9BCyTJ1e_5xxmtneVuox_SKxq-ZqOEfYa0s2-M7X0Y2vnD4cM50BmkcOBPKrX5lq-MvnCdsEVBZxPHFmXtHkBmUrZ93KJWcqIjCoaVOi_mmJMft5uanRpQWo=s16000" /></a></div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMyLnkWj9H0F0c2dByxS5eaRmjO1yc_CNzd-2xM-HEGLXKU_7Nqsk1Jq3SBR3WkeqUxH5LPt0pPI8jMK-IEaquXxX_s2Reve9UQ0d4ZCYutoy6Kry3jrElMfTwwmLis-MNuV4K4ctZnLThXH5T5HnC5uRvusPGdWhC5NXgQRZiqa3j-zISu33JfrQPkQ/s1192/1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1192" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSMyLnkWj9H0F0c2dByxS5eaRmjO1yc_CNzd-2xM-HEGLXKU_7Nqsk1Jq3SBR3WkeqUxH5LPt0pPI8jMK-IEaquXxX_s2Reve9UQ0d4ZCYutoy6Kry3jrElMfTwwmLis-MNuV4K4ctZnLThXH5T5HnC5uRvusPGdWhC5NXgQRZiqa3j-zISu33JfrQPkQ/w400-h313/1a.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My willpower made manifest.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Look, I <i>did</i> also paint the Terminators (<a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/09/some-extremely-nuanced-thoughts-on.html">enthused rant here</a>) and Ballistus Dreadnought (<a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/10/intracontinental-ballistus-missiles.html">claustrophobic short horror story here</a>), plus these idiots:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9EmWOr-Tk8w6CHkzxckdU0mjXqCDc9Y7rJzG2WSQqJtdkaMQIhn_g-yN-_9chgF02x1RJrih-Crpog0eSggrqCbS5e4PdW1kh-AFkCmVeSgheFJmfvVsyNUAxb2-UjKOr0lYb3L8HufEI9MtVzga-NKmKUQSDq_oJlpWyJ8WgiCeFQ6HhXQoRktWvMg/s1290/aggressor%20kitbash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1290" data-original-width="1290" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia9EmWOr-Tk8w6CHkzxckdU0mjXqCDc9Y7rJzG2WSQqJtdkaMQIhn_g-yN-_9chgF02x1RJrih-Crpog0eSggrqCbS5e4PdW1kh-AFkCmVeSgheFJmfvVsyNUAxb2-UjKOr0lYb3L8HufEI9MtVzga-NKmKUQSDq_oJlpWyJ8WgiCeFQ6HhXQoRktWvMg/w400-h400/aggressor%20kitbash.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQB_mdEFgztKzQwDod4Basq28_rW19SA3Nt74Ze7VugleDxgK3C9RrWLEmnMrvJac45sK0iBtdF6F9NCyFTLgpCRKyKpnw55q16YaXq-J5YLqF9og4smYBDG6cuu0l4Vc1WjVfkpV4osdUkcF8j58QvWx7eXoR15rdgewHKBIX0MUogT1a39Hgvnq7No/s972/squad%204a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="972" data-original-width="972" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQB_mdEFgztKzQwDod4Basq28_rW19SA3Nt74Ze7VugleDxgK3C9RrWLEmnMrvJac45sK0iBtdF6F9NCyFTLgpCRKyKpnw55q16YaXq-J5YLqF9og4smYBDG6cuu0l4Vc1WjVfkpV4osdUkcF8j58QvWx7eXoR15rdgewHKBIX0MUogT1a39Hgvnq7No/w400-h400/squad%204a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYebnSoB7xmp6bWO6uADSNIZwMtfTK4RdWzIm-UBwvVY-x-a30qW7PzKOx8A11m8huYd_1kGjPy2Ca6JQssd2YjOhcLAhYwsVWkItxSeCaOjafM8TBiMSIjTv94WO_ETB1jYOo6XUnox_1aTBVA7s9WVhdgyEC7b8PNRQHbuDSfpeimnlmhm9E0k4kijY/s858/lt1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="858" data-original-width="858" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYebnSoB7xmp6bWO6uADSNIZwMtfTK4RdWzIm-UBwvVY-x-a30qW7PzKOx8A11m8huYd_1kGjPy2Ca6JQssd2YjOhcLAhYwsVWkItxSeCaOjafM8TBiMSIjTv94WO_ETB1jYOo6XUnox_1aTBVA7s9WVhdgyEC7b8PNRQHbuDSfpeimnlmhm9E0k4kijY/w400-h400/lt1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">What I'm saying is, deadlines and narrative campaigns are my rocket fuel. Painting the Apothecary Biologis was done last week in a bit of a rush in the days before the campaign kicked off on Thursday, and as such I used pretty standard methods and colours. For the armour I started with a Grey Seer spray prime, followed by brushing on a few zenithal layers of Corax White, then highlighted with the Army Painter's Matte White.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The other colours were the same ones I use in the standard Cobalt Scions process. Admittedly I should probably write an updated version of the process, since a few colours and methods have changed since I started work on the army.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1F7VLuWhEfaoSTKt8UM2kS6Vw0ob3MGhN-y97SWvZfWOZt4Oq3skulnpcZR-nmCkyhYXKyhJxZK5tW9xVXljQ_QiKUIvYiT5GPv3l671wtUdpDL4bfQANue7mfZUADCnOpShc0-MtVOTsr_S5Xk5Rd_yi8quVbsTo6biPBUea7vsSkrlCGilo0wklHc/s864/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="864" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ1F7VLuWhEfaoSTKt8UM2kS6Vw0ob3MGhN-y97SWvZfWOZt4Oq3skulnpcZR-nmCkyhYXKyhJxZK5tW9xVXljQ_QiKUIvYiT5GPv3l671wtUdpDL4bfQANue7mfZUADCnOpShc0-MtVOTsr_S5Xk5Rd_yi8quVbsTo6biPBUea7vsSkrlCGilo0wklHc/w400-h400/2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxz7w_xoA4ngHiQ__7iR0hzkkF3oLi4ZSHufSs9nky9koVrSFYOJ8pApbUEpXa1wTeTKajhyapsS-4d7_LqhKjf14UoowXEjDXrKoEoblIPPuYcQFsqGMo5bxTJa7HPCPHORIC52Cbvn7LSY8Ckh8yfOqpd23nsZhvNeuGfu1UE28c53J58oKd-Rxswi4/s1968/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1968" data-original-width="1968" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxz7w_xoA4ngHiQ__7iR0hzkkF3oLi4ZSHufSs9nky9koVrSFYOJ8pApbUEpXa1wTeTKajhyapsS-4d7_LqhKjf14UoowXEjDXrKoEoblIPPuYcQFsqGMo5bxTJa7HPCPHORIC52Cbvn7LSY8Ckh8yfOqpd23nsZhvNeuGfu1UE28c53J58oKd-Rxswi4/w400-h400/3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now on to the point: I also painted the gravis apothecary from <i>Leviathan</i> even though his rules are stupid, because having more apothecaries in our campaign system helps your troops recover from injuries, and I love my precious blue boys, and wanted to minimise the chances of having to retire any miniatures from active service due to being dead in the story world. Note that's not the same thing as not wanting to put them in harm's way, because the tension is delicious. Scary, but delicious.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Now back to the stupid rules. I get that the studio decided he should walk around the battlefield shouting "dammit Jim I'm a scientist, not a doctor," but the problem is that frag grenades are not improved by knowing your enemies' armour is weak at the neck and beneath the arm (his ability is to give his unit lethal hits, and if they kill a unit in melee, he gets OC9). I was excited for a gravis apothecary, and instead we got a silly special rule due to the tenth edition policy of everyone having to have a <i>unique </i>rule, a decision which simultaneously made the game needlessly complex <i>and </i>forced non-thematic outcomes like this one.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Suffice to say, since we were playing against a GM, Tom ruled that he'd work like a normal apothecary, but for Gravis units. Is that balanced? Maybe not; Gravis dudes are nails. On the flipside, Wraithguard are significantly tougher at T7 and Sv2+, and Spiritseers can bring one of those back in each Command phase.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I will concede that citing the 10th edition Eldar index as evidence of something being balanced is an... intrepid move.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Ultimately, though, when you're playing games with your mates and you're not hurting anyone, just have things work the way you want them to. And that's why we also had the Phobos lieutenant's combi-weapon shoot flames instead of mortal wounds while we were at it. And guess what? GW definitely don't care when someone does this.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">_______________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;">*He has subsequently been named Arkadios Herodion for increased immersion.</div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-74747384235455612472023-12-04T14:58:00.000+00:002023-12-04T14:58:37.444+00:00Painting pale skin without highlights<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0Oandd_nGCJWlQugqYWrp0ZEasc0uN2b9R4t9bANjl2DPpZ_y9Xq8aTrjOxIrrQsH4s75rw6dqrHg8zgucgz_KzQKJLr7ZVERxLt9sGZG7zxFUa361dsN-VS6591ubv2p6ax9HSJj2R3vCEupEh-GxKLqsD5rE9-dkmaIoIOa6ZkdfTaCwtIpHosv5A/s1290/aggressor%20kitbash.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1290" data-original-width="1290" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0Oandd_nGCJWlQugqYWrp0ZEasc0uN2b9R4t9bANjl2DPpZ_y9Xq8aTrjOxIrrQsH4s75rw6dqrHg8zgucgz_KzQKJLr7ZVERxLt9sGZG7zxFUa361dsN-VS6591ubv2p6ax9HSJj2R3vCEupEh-GxKLqsD5rE9-dkmaIoIOa6ZkdfTaCwtIpHosv5A/w640-h640/aggressor%20kitbash.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Today's post is a bit of a medley. I'm working on expanding my Cobalt Scions Space Marines for a campaign, and so for your viewing pleasure, I bring you: (1) an Aggressor/Heavy Intercessor kitbash, (2) a quick but kinda nice pale skin painting method, and (3) my joy at building and painting a stripped-down Repulsor.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Kitbash: Heavy Aggresstercessors</h2><div style="text-align: left;">Blingwangs, paunches and cowels are among the details on Aggressors that I'm not wild about. Questions might be asked about the wisdom of attaching firearms and ammo feeds to a <i>melee weapon</i>, but err.... welcome to 40K. The main problem here is <i>indisputably</i> the chunk of metal swinging between Aggressors' legs, rather than the waterline conceptual hole of Boltstorm Gauntlets. Don't worry, I fixed it, by doing possibly the most expensive kitbash in my collection. The fruits of my highly affordable labours can be seen above. Here's a shot from behind:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqf0kGvwKjnts4R9L8fAB3dhltccqzdaZpS8h8dllaAEO0_vqxMxXcdEURIcjNEqgvu8lFEaaVcUdkxR-b__w4PoSKd_VGxTYytd0032T8in0oXNZ2ySYZyjrNX7MRpuKaP6UfeswSaywdpmjADLceFJRCGwou4h-W-7gTsppyebfUZRozCO2Dh0zsXA/s1332/aggressor%20kitbash%20rear.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="1332" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbqf0kGvwKjnts4R9L8fAB3dhltccqzdaZpS8h8dllaAEO0_vqxMxXcdEURIcjNEqgvu8lFEaaVcUdkxR-b__w4PoSKd_VGxTYytd0032T8in0oXNZ2ySYZyjrNX7MRpuKaP6UfeswSaywdpmjADLceFJRCGwou4h-W-7gTsppyebfUZRozCO2Dh0zsXA/w400-h400/aggressor%20kitbash%20rear.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Note that I clip off the leg cables on Gravis armour, because that's gonna get caught on something. Unlike the massive cables on the weapons.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Mini-tutorial: painting pale skin without highlights</h2><div style="text-align: left;">The classic Citadel painting method is to start with your shade colour and build up the brightness with highlights. This is great if you have time and good brush control, but if you have less time and/or patience for highlighting, I've been playing around with using glazes for pale skin over the last year or two, and I rather like the results I'm getting, particularly relative to the effort involved. If you're familiar with applying glazes, it's easy. Here's a step-by-step:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rPS9pcHoQEmOnawpSpLS_quGni578UtuJSiHtPlANSGjMgd5pYqQo8qLLpgbhXPqSPT2noxBlEL4dS3ZMVFBy9AvnEG4wbDe0THgieCNleeVXxfDSHlHIarY8E2FEbi6JzU1o6J-mnPT2xLVtbizTGm3sggLiBeDMeKBlpqODSBbPwXcyK_p6VaI1gc/s1664/face%20tutorial.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1664" data-original-width="1664" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6rPS9pcHoQEmOnawpSpLS_quGni578UtuJSiHtPlANSGjMgd5pYqQo8qLLpgbhXPqSPT2noxBlEL4dS3ZMVFBy9AvnEG4wbDe0THgieCNleeVXxfDSHlHIarY8E2FEbi6JzU1o6J-mnPT2xLVtbizTGm3sggLiBeDMeKBlpqODSBbPwXcyK_p6VaI1gc/w640-h640/face%20tutorial.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Et finalement, le tank.</h2><div style="text-align: left;">There's a lot of Space Marines in my backlog, so in theory I shouldn't have bought this Repulsor at all. But, look, sometimes you just want to paint a tank, and you haven't painted a tank in two years, and a man has needs. Bricky needs.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As a point of honour, I built and painted it <i>immediately</i>. If a new purchase doesn't touch the sides, it doesn't count.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOLCbavo6GmxJhw6-w1xEvWmQIuM-Ka_SEDPqJ5Zrv4rXzzJr0QQiQ6tjwryJxewQWlUlE7XRntLqAS0vBYHPJYJeBCHdNPOqw4SH6pZcrt7pSdZTt4d3Z38w-qSxUQQElc3S94XQpxLXGBG_LPHWFuM1WOhe9FyiO1xaZwUrHOT_x7SotNdE4o1akWY/s1192/1a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="931" data-original-width="1192" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOLCbavo6GmxJhw6-w1xEvWmQIuM-Ka_SEDPqJ5Zrv4rXzzJr0QQiQ6tjwryJxewQWlUlE7XRntLqAS0vBYHPJYJeBCHdNPOqw4SH6pZcrt7pSdZTt4d3Z38w-qSxUQQElc3S94XQpxLXGBG_LPHWFuM1WOhe9FyiO1xaZwUrHOT_x7SotNdE4o1akWY/w640-h500/1a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When the Repulsor first came out, most people I knew were pretty down on it. Not without reason, too; the stock kit looks like a gun porcupine, in that curiously adolescent way many of the Primaris kits are straight up over-gunned. Remember when a land speeder had a single weapon? Seems mad now.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On top of this over-gunning was a frankly bizarre painting decision from the 'Eavy Metal team: they painted the over-door grenade launchers a different colour to the hull, making the silhouette extremely busy. Your mileage may vary, but now that I've had a chance to build and paint one of these things, I'm actively a fan. I've been as minimalist as possible, a move made even easier by the excellent decision made by the rules team in 10th edition to consolidate all the bonus weapons into a single profile called a defensive array. In 8th and 9th editions, you had to have at least one heavy stubber plus multiple grenade launchers on the turret. No longer.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-6XLOmz7Y5GzoVXZLq7HoMWiDVQZWi-ww4htYqeXQ98GlT2NoZr5UjDlQTkOufp_7M0M2i6Hf3bYVhJws7N-xuJoecc46E7pvtRAfa86ixwu_yk6ogfPyoZv7IKLzoDstLJHvOZPpUDFHAPHImoKT0tJNQhIUPmffjTsJiig8qjUPXNWlqvF4f-uuxk/s936/2a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="701" data-original-width="936" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-6XLOmz7Y5GzoVXZLq7HoMWiDVQZWi-ww4htYqeXQ98GlT2NoZr5UjDlQTkOufp_7M0M2i6Hf3bYVhJws7N-xuJoecc46E7pvtRAfa86ixwu_yk6ogfPyoZv7IKLzoDstLJHvOZPpUDFHAPHImoKT0tJNQhIUPmffjTsJiig8qjUPXNWlqvF4f-uuxk/w640-h480/2a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNU_RzG-aHR9q1oa4IqXqPteIRLCB8bSiPkYwRmrcKGW5cY8Q8vAF4Rj7vJbGF3DkiqndiBGijJwhqzo4YyzYinUduum7RGYPCuCsASP6NzgO8B4-LQDux-s-j3kWD5CgwALHQxR2deqHLssU7pbTrEts3mtrzw-B9eeq2poWSEfzhUdLedLXZmePCLvk/s928/3a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="674" data-original-width="928" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNU_RzG-aHR9q1oa4IqXqPteIRLCB8bSiPkYwRmrcKGW5cY8Q8vAF4Rj7vJbGF3DkiqndiBGijJwhqzo4YyzYinUduum7RGYPCuCsASP6NzgO8B4-LQDux-s-j3kWD5CgwALHQxR2deqHLssU7pbTrEts3mtrzw-B9eeq2poWSEfzhUdLedLXZmePCLvk/w640-h464/3a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlhSkgK3SJWz5sLVgl8SUkaf7985pDI7OK6xnluwFYuwOaRsxbUZS7wTPiwqqacBLw0ETtDu2dyVUYYzT0u4jMRbs9W2IdxmRMDpwutze1tUV16H3fTeIWjV3YgNoqj3NmgtDB5Bq9yRwDJ0gqgVcUE750HqgQab2cwiBzXb2BafCynRIr8MHjAxcFbQ4/s916/4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="916" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlhSkgK3SJWz5sLVgl8SUkaf7985pDI7OK6xnluwFYuwOaRsxbUZS7wTPiwqqacBLw0ETtDu2dyVUYYzT0u4jMRbs9W2IdxmRMDpwutze1tUV16H3fTeIWjV3YgNoqj3NmgtDB5Bq9yRwDJ0gqgVcUE750HqgQab2cwiBzXb2BafCynRIr8MHjAxcFbQ4/w640-h640/4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">If I ever do another Repulsor - and I suspect I will - I might add a few cheeky little party favours back on. Not the stowage boxes though. Those things are completely impossible to reach, even for a Primaris marine on tippytoes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It must be said, I'm pumped to have a single transport that can haul twelve dudes in this <i>checks notes </i>...3,600 point army.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Yeah, definitely going to need another.</div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-74417222418692295672023-11-27T13:36:00.010+00:002023-11-27T13:40:48.461+00:00The plastic pub I didn't paint for ten years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJt8_m_pdy8vDlerDRJTCZsXUrlEgzBOB5Gdbw-BU_hUUrUJe8A06sYjtdcCjzZAKQva6Hy60YucwFrzvteXBzW77mUD0lxoYhroXElfHn87BjEKmzMsM3ypzQo_B5W9E6vNygqrXfby4FDMR1n0_9n5h6BDk7CzbgBdI0DGzit0gs3HMXoFCY9SC3oUI/s994/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="994" data-original-width="994" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJt8_m_pdy8vDlerDRJTCZsXUrlEgzBOB5Gdbw-BU_hUUrUJe8A06sYjtdcCjzZAKQva6Hy60YucwFrzvteXBzW77mUD0lxoYhroXElfHn87BjEKmzMsM3ypzQo_B5W9E6vNygqrXfby4FDMR1n0_9n5h6BDk7CzbgBdI0DGzit0gs3HMXoFCY9SC3oUI/w640-h640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />In June 2013, Mark and I undertook to <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2013/06/de-skulling-warhammer-chapel.html">convert the old Warhammer chapel into a more generic dwelling</a>. The Beard Bunker's long-standing Bit of turning down the visual volume on GW's output has enjoyed the same consistency as Suella Braverman waking up on any given morning and deciding whether or not to be performatively inflammatory.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The thing is we did all this work, then just one month<i> </i>later, <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2013/07/review-tabletop-world-cottage-townhouse.html">I painted my first Tabletop World buildings</a>. My desire to paint GW Fantasy terrain died harder than a tapdancer in a minefield.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Skip ahead ten years and I'm slowly gearing up to posthumously close out the story arc of Mark's Skaven army and their lordship over Hochland's one-time capital Hergig. I need buildings. Lots of buildings. Then I see this thing that we built together all those years ago, dust-addled and half-painted on the shelf next to much prettier Tabletop World stuff, and confronted with the bin or the brush, I chose the brush.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0gzF-s28rv52CYwA86IPQJ2rVJmitr5XlmOjtSSCRsYLnzHNoAZ0tHtew3DFytRYNiHtpT8MxLtjkMHyBxNAgiAqT2X-a6ZFSuf40zZ0ULieg5uSyXo4WMuguF3uNua2s68UYorqnDtAng0ZyU1VB8r_cWG4sgmCCjJj_oEU8dIiJ5zjVtn5HL-s3MTs/s1053/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1053" data-original-width="1053" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0gzF-s28rv52CYwA86IPQJ2rVJmitr5XlmOjtSSCRsYLnzHNoAZ0tHtew3DFytRYNiHtpT8MxLtjkMHyBxNAgiAqT2X-a6ZFSuf40zZ0ULieg5uSyXo4WMuguF3uNua2s68UYorqnDtAng0ZyU1VB8r_cWG4sgmCCjJj_oEU8dIiJ5zjVtn5HL-s3MTs/w640-h640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Keen to make sure I just got it done, I didn't go crazy on the detail. No tonal variation in the stone, no water staining or rust streaks. The grout between the stones didn't get picked out, because that's <i>work</i>, I just got it done, and reader: old sores like this feel great when exposed to the aloe vera of completion. I'm honestly happy with the result relative to the effort involved. Terrain's great for that.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A wash of Elysian Green around the bottom and a few spots of ultra-short Gamer's Grass for moss completed an otherwise pretty simple paintjob. All that's left is to come up with random Warhammer pub names so it can be a different but alarmingly similar watering hole every time it lands on the board. I'd love it if people left some in the comments. All puns welcome (e.g. real life pub, the Nobody Inn).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMshyphenhyphenZdqL4ptdR8lvfSXbZzewguF-xeQnl2UmdI2MEzTy1WT7DeLgpt1iatlORfFJf8yV5dSpxpOo7ufMzVa_bSqSMMD4M5Chc0rJfKELUyunyRSHsRQLP94wZ09kPppQkldvHWQM7Bz7xqFbqcOGlsq7kR8-sdYy9aF2cFPilhnNCm3DeeWypLSrJgy0/s884/chapel%20conversion.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="884" data-original-width="884" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMshyphenhyphenZdqL4ptdR8lvfSXbZzewguF-xeQnl2UmdI2MEzTy1WT7DeLgpt1iatlORfFJf8yV5dSpxpOo7ufMzVa_bSqSMMD4M5Chc0rJfKELUyunyRSHsRQLP94wZ09kPppQkldvHWQM7Bz7xqFbqcOGlsq7kR8-sdYy9aF2cFPilhnNCm3DeeWypLSrJgy0/w640-h640/chapel%20conversion.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The house section isn't glued to the tower, so can be used on its own. Here you can see how the replacement window and extension came out. <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2013/06/de-skulling-warhammer-chapel.html">This post shows the original conversion work</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVe9lD-PYFdZ_zLiSYjTAwzL1oWYPGUyqLuuiyt6Pw58AJcYbQ-pqIuMpDCokyaFuxT2wOm76SSGoTws9WyR9OkTKoIKDgEP52Qf7-K_LNT3aMVAYdxcTBBrCFPi-NSBEkcJ5_99oO5hb4C2oivypyi8ObXDZfqpftphRySF_6tkcnny2SyGzr7VDdZOE/s573/window.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="573" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVe9lD-PYFdZ_zLiSYjTAwzL1oWYPGUyqLuuiyt6Pw58AJcYbQ-pqIuMpDCokyaFuxT2wOm76SSGoTws9WyR9OkTKoIKDgEP52Qf7-K_LNT3aMVAYdxcTBBrCFPi-NSBEkcJ5_99oO5hb4C2oivypyi8ObXDZfqpftphRySF_6tkcnny2SyGzr7VDdZOE/w640-h640/window.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bonus resin window beneath awning to conceal the filled-in SKULL WINDOWS.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcB2n_mrvBu95E-YGJmDpbNq1rvJgI5mCuz34N-aRhKRITDYOkfm-yqgvtjAmQKjG7kjkduV3VHQCNEUc2SZYsF4HN1zY7gDVmeFF_l348-akLIa791sC1E_nZBXw4ekM2SDAC0AE1Wcq8MwS0eAA8zKAuLytxfdNtBkPMtricxMGVes8jnQZxkxKIrRk/s821/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="821" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcB2n_mrvBu95E-YGJmDpbNq1rvJgI5mCuz34N-aRhKRITDYOkfm-yqgvtjAmQKjG7kjkduV3VHQCNEUc2SZYsF4HN1zY7gDVmeFF_l348-akLIa791sC1E_nZBXw4ekM2SDAC0AE1Wcq8MwS0eAA8zKAuLytxfdNtBkPMtricxMGVes8jnQZxkxKIrRk/w640-h640/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I imagine the skulls on the tower section are the previous landlords. It's the Old World; staff turnover is lethally high. Hmm. The Hound & Headsman works. Maybe a riverside one could be called the Scull Inn. Hur hur.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Anyway, look, this is barely a post, I'm just really pleased to scratch a very old thing off a very long list of unfinished terrain. If you're reading this, I implore you to do the same. Particularly if a dead friend helped you build it.</div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-32625093758056098572023-11-13T13:40:00.000+00:002023-11-13T13:40:15.573+00:00Lieutenant, Actually<div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-kLoTfi8MIZr-9EEWLWJNGIhQXR5SERbLUyGUPLqlL8TdG7o5ghHDbYlY-zWfOhFZofAbLk1RO7r6dWqdkOS6iz18FQZ6Td_XF-Usz1f10cJ2qNvC0WGt0KkWQ00Qw6GoFHOuqMWUuDFnxGu0FuwHss0ZFb9I-fhdD-S3ia3_LiWbmSEEmt6h6QYmrOU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="858" data-original-width="858" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg-kLoTfi8MIZr-9EEWLWJNGIhQXR5SERbLUyGUPLqlL8TdG7o5ghHDbYlY-zWfOhFZofAbLk1RO7r6dWqdkOS6iz18FQZ6Td_XF-Usz1f10cJ2qNvC0WGt0KkWQ00Qw6GoFHOuqMWUuDFnxGu0FuwHss0ZFb9I-fhdD-S3ia3_LiWbmSEEmt6h6QYmrOU=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Some may mock the volume of Primaris Lieutenants grunted out by Games Workshop, but variety of choice is rarely a bad thing. One might as well enjoy Marine Privilege if one can. Besides, we're <i>still </i>missing a Lieutenant in Gravis armour and a Lieutenant in Terminator plate,* so if there isn't a white and red helmet stripe in a pipeline somewhere, I'm Barbara Streisand.<br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Today's particular lieutenant is my take on converting the Lieutenant with combi-weapon. The original is great, but it's also <i>extremely </i>specifically a Tyranid war veteran, and I wanted something that felt right in more contexts than that. Turns out, this is pretty doable with a spot of kitbashing and a <i>small </i>amount of sculpting. Even if you've not sculpted before it's probably doable, so today I'll quickly describe which bitz I used and how I did it. As is traditional, I'll also talk about how I've reinterpreted the datasheet lore-wise.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The conversion</h2><div style="text-align: left;">The first order of business was to cut away the things I didn't want, namely, the trophy talon hanging from the belt, and the left arm. This is easy enough with some clippers and some tidying. Next, I used a knife arm from the Infiltrators kit, and the pistol arm from the Desolators kit, since that's the only left-handed bolt pistol I could find in my bitz box. The pistol's purely cosmetic since he doesn't have one in the rules, I just preferred it to pointing a knife.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh, and the helmet's also from the Infiltrators kit.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This was all easy enough, but left me with a couple of gaps on his webbing - one on the belt where the trophy used to be, and another on his rifle sling at the back of his right shoulder. The gap on his belt was filled with a bit of green stuff, but the shoulder strap was freestanding and needed more than just putty. I could've used paper, but that would have been both fragile and thinner than the rest of the strap. In the end, I improvised by shaving down a purity seal so that I could get a strong poly cement bond, and then tidied it up with green stuff, as shown below:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR2YtHbIoN-uw56TMZUlanscknp0vECa0Iou9v44senmHJw4j6ur38lIrPpOTaRgCGDtHnMBQDttimkjgcBnL7LmkH7xyIzE0sVMc5RabK0BTMSDwum4Ms-9Lxy3xx07U2J44X_TZJQci_SY5oJg8ShESA6DEJ60ZqKaXXnamHI2u60iT4h-L_jmwmXqc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="245" data-original-width="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjR2YtHbIoN-uw56TMZUlanscknp0vECa0Iou9v44senmHJw4j6ur38lIrPpOTaRgCGDtHnMBQDttimkjgcBnL7LmkH7xyIzE0sVMc5RabK0BTMSDwum4Ms-9Lxy3xx07U2J44X_TZJQci_SY5oJg8ShESA6DEJ60ZqKaXXnamHI2u60iT4h-L_jmwmXqc=s16000" /></a></div><br />Sadly I didn't take a photo of the green stuff on the belt in front, but at least here you can see how I concealed the dead Tyranid brain boy on the base by sculpting a green stuff rock around it:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfmL7xQxp5vgl5sfVTExffkMC4BXrrcKDH-CGB2sYAs-s3f6MgRj7XXck8jSdg6c6QupwyzoKW4b4xKm9ZhrPIsDFzKDQEQC0OCQ9TJn3JOa3b0TK43IAmT0-PtNfEJxyJD1deuRuOcugIDQ-23lS7KaskNHo5WS6uUCv-MktUwSDHZUIkIrdZRykwmeo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="765" data-original-width="630" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhfmL7xQxp5vgl5sfVTExffkMC4BXrrcKDH-CGB2sYAs-s3f6MgRj7XXck8jSdg6c6QupwyzoKW4b4xKm9ZhrPIsDFzKDQEQC0OCQ9TJn3JOa3b0TK43IAmT0-PtNfEJxyJD1deuRuOcugIDQ-23lS7KaskNHo5WS6uUCv-MktUwSDHZUIkIrdZRykwmeo=w330-h400" width="330" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Speaking of things I didn't take photos of, I also had a fit of obsessiveness here and added a knife handle to one of the empty scabbards, since the original model has it stuck in the dead Tyranid brain beneath his boot. You could absolutely leave this empty, particularly since a knife handle doesn't really fit in the scabbard at this angle. I had to file it down a whole bunch on one side, so that it's kinda subliminally clipping into his breastplate. If I was doing the conversion from the start, I'm not sure I'd bother, but hey: not every choice is a winner.</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The painting</h2><div style="text-align: left;">This was almost entirely the same as the way I painted the rest of my Phoboys, with a whole bunch of Vallejo's German Fieldgrey. If you want the full step-by-step, <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2021/12/cargo-shorts-skater-shoes-and-keg-of.html">that's available in my first Phobos armour post</a>. Normally I'd try and take things further with a character, but while some of the highlighting's a bit scrappy (particularly on the bolt pistol) I didn't worry about it too much and just moved on.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The one change I made was to bring up the lightness of the helmet stripe and left pauldron to give it a bit more pop for a character. Normally the pauldron would be Dawnstone, but once I'd painted on the chapter badge I did successive glazes of Administratum Grey to give a zenithal highlight to the whole pauldron. Other than that, it's all the original paint recipe linked above.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjS1P3AJQipvEI90jaC6btFfms4vWMyXBCvNTZDCoeqlWyq5Q1quVkgB4pTC8xOX6EnhVjphXWw3vX32SQJ1xJM5EJKa_AJRUx-2Vc6vVJvkLYKdQk6drkXJqzXG38GiKbUPiRJiKjmsEF_c8AYTTGXBMGFqf9xHoGOing0qycz5GheR7pYIWQN8etr8w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="784" data-original-width="784" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjS1P3AJQipvEI90jaC6btFfms4vWMyXBCvNTZDCoeqlWyq5Q1quVkgB4pTC8xOX6EnhVjphXWw3vX32SQJ1xJM5EJKa_AJRUx-2Vc6vVJvkLYKdQk6drkXJqzXG38GiKbUPiRJiKjmsEF_c8AYTTGXBMGFqf9xHoGOing0qycz5GheR7pYIWQN8etr8w=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsNdAvlI9X5J1fImnoIKrOmk0gf8CRralNiO8Ws8Vg5G8NkA-4B2aPOdFOnOlvL7erb_1dMpaGBEmPThmv2cus_S249FS7xIFpbRieSYYdjFynXTrv8wFT0urrMNACvzPQgRirQ5RonMuk1OIzxuufDR0inT3iONI3JC81mWhFPJROJNpMomF5h7jgZk4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="815" data-original-width="815" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjsNdAvlI9X5J1fImnoIKrOmk0gf8CRralNiO8Ws8Vg5G8NkA-4B2aPOdFOnOlvL7erb_1dMpaGBEmPThmv2cus_S249FS7xIFpbRieSYYdjFynXTrv8wFT0urrMNACvzPQgRirQ5RonMuk1OIzxuufDR0inT3iONI3JC81mWhFPJROJNpMomF5h7jgZk4=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The lore</h2><div style="text-align: left;">The original datasheet for this unit represents a battered lone survivor who has since <i>become </i>the jungle. That's very cool, but obviously I wanted to make it my own. So instead, I got rid of all the custom armour, slapped a helmet on him, and made the whole solo soldier thing a bit more premeditated.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This particular chap, Praetor Andrus Varro, is a member of the Chapter's Tenth Company (hence the lack of company colour on his left kneepad). I imagine the Scions' Tenth Company has more than two lieutenants to manage all those scouts in addition to the hundred marines of the Vanguard.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I <i>also </i>imagine a Chapter's Tenth Company is a natural home for the Emperor's finest edgy loners, but that's not a very Scions vibe. Don't get me wrong, I can imagine they'd have some moody boys best left to cause havoc behind enemy lines, but that isn't this guy's job. Instead, his role is to get in the smallest, fastest ship and reach the warzone while waiting for the rest of a strike force to arrive. There, he'll gather information from local Imperial forces, do some scouting of his own, and generally pave the way for his brothers' arrival. So really, being a liaison officer, he has to be the opposite of the edgy boy that the original sculpt was intended to represent.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This does at least vibe with the datasheet's ability to paint an objective, since this guy's done the recon already, and might also represent him having laid various traps that make that primary objective a surprisingly shit place for the enemy to be.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Do I lament that his combi-flamer is now best against heavy infantry due to the baffling streamlining of such weapons in 10th edition 40K? Yes. Will we be house ruling that? Also yes. GW have always been on board with people making things their own, be that the lore, the rules, and particularly, their miniatures. So that's just what I'll continue to do.</div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Wait, there's more</h2><div>I've run out of things I thought were worth saying, and it's not worth a whole blog post on its own, but: I've also done more Intercessors. The army's up to 3,500ish points now, which is strongly <b>more </b>than what I expected when I began this project back in 2019, and as such it felt like I needed more basic lads to keep an even keel. So here's five more basic boys, including the original <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2019/06/basecoats-brush-airbrush-or-spray-can.html">test Ultramarine</a> I painted prior to starting the army. He's now a Cobalt Scion, and has a name, and <a href="https://geniusproductions.co.uk/Cetus/index.php?title=Cobalt_Scions_Third_Company#IV:_Octavius_Gallus">an entry in the Third Company's wiki page</a>, as is right and proper.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0exp40pExX5Y6a6_nzmN6uwQ7JQ1B4jDoT3TMb6uUPY-oLzqYAgTHani5MF96npSWB2q7p-4n0LuLlGiAV1_31oekmg3PpzA7nx0rDgTwUppYkHyCGx_XIJxlOfB-FISgv6hR0jOH4OWkcJvpgGbcR21RQlsGT4s6kcxwgP4aBcVW49kn5WsTK96_C4k" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="972" data-original-width="972" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh0exp40pExX5Y6a6_nzmN6uwQ7JQ1B4jDoT3TMb6uUPY-oLzqYAgTHani5MF96npSWB2q7p-4n0LuLlGiAV1_31oekmg3PpzA7nx0rDgTwUppYkHyCGx_XIJxlOfB-FISgv6hR0jOH4OWkcJvpgGbcR21RQlsGT4s6kcxwgP4aBcVW49kn5WsTK96_C4k=w640-h640" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The whole unit was cobbled together out of spare bits, easy-fit test minis and unused bodies I had hanging around, which meant I'd run out of proper grenade launchers. Fortunately, Tom had previously acquired a bunch of 3D printed launchers, and helped a brother out.</div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLmYC5ForGS1xjXf8nGOmUnTbUP5pY5J6xYOrBVa8_AyWjB2LsRSysyDqC1PBN7rw-79-y9nvKwoTjnvizzhDmsYelRzkk2esaL_4Psemaqaxl6aDLQhnrbtuX8gN4EtWXGlsgYxN3y-u9zHoPNFbqf5CXiD1LsleOE4j9gWiVU8rxbX3UcmpnChke4is" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img data-original-height="732" data-original-width="732" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiLmYC5ForGS1xjXf8nGOmUnTbUP5pY5J6xYOrBVa8_AyWjB2LsRSysyDqC1PBN7rw-79-y9nvKwoTjnvizzhDmsYelRzkk2esaL_4Psemaqaxl6aDLQhnrbtuX8gN4EtWXGlsgYxN3y-u9zHoPNFbqf5CXiD1LsleOE4j9gWiVU8rxbX3UcmpnChke4is=w400-h400" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3D printed grenade launcher add-on from Tom. Thanks Tom!</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Right. I'm off to paint EVEN MORE Space Marines. Hopefully, wherever you are, you're enjoying painting up your tiny mans as much as I am.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">________________________________</div><div style="text-align: left;">*If these lieutenants aren't called Heftenants, what are writers even for?</div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-72107984897867432362023-11-06T14:00:00.122+00:002023-11-06T14:43:44.374+00:00The Swarm Has Arrived!<p>After months of effort, Charlie has finally completed his experimental co-op mode for Warhammer 40,000 where you and a friend (or you alone) can team up to fight against a non-player-controlled swarm of Tyranids. He has, unsurprisingly, written a lot about it recently, with many many revisions of the rules and his fortnightly development blog posts over on Goonhammer, so I have volunteered to step up and write this announcement post and save him the decidedly unsettling (if you’re British) experience of having to write about his own work without being self-deprecating.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; display: none; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK1rmzQ-MhUVUOtAFOLzvRVM-1uBI1pYB5YLONzH9ql1SXBFzAXLWaDxYg69G7bPUM7JEMm9WEaV7L7UIkWEMOwfWbCK4QfYWz9jaE-lhy-fhboCJrBrDAsHSYD1Pb6aIqXv2S0YXT8l6P5XuViJdY-M5H-qQ_ShOToV7yNeGng9Lv3c_rM26sojMThtc/s1920/FotS%20screamer-killer%20banner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="1920" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK1rmzQ-MhUVUOtAFOLzvRVM-1uBI1pYB5YLONzH9ql1SXBFzAXLWaDxYg69G7bPUM7JEMm9WEaV7L7UIkWEMOwfWbCK4QfYWz9jaE-lhy-fhboCJrBrDAsHSYD1Pb6aIqXv2S0YXT8l6P5XuViJdY-M5H-qQ_ShOToV7yNeGng9Lv3c_rM26sojMThtc/s320/FotS%20screamer-killer%20banner.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.goonhammer.com/fury-of-the-swarm-co-op-40k-skitters-over-the-finish-line/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="727" height="640" src="https://d1w82usnq70pt2.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/FotS-cover-screamer-killer-v3-727x1024.jpg" width="454" /></a></div><p>If you just want to jump straight to the finished product, <a href="https://www.goonhammer.com/fury-of-the-swarm-co-op-40k-skitters-over-the-finish-line/" target="_blank">jump on over to Goonhammer</a> where he’s sharing this supplement. Otherwise read on for a somewhat less biassed view of the game. Obviously I’m still Charlie’s friend, the supplement is stuffed full of photos of <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/02/oops-new-army-tyranid-edition.html" target="_blank">my army</a> and I’ve been supporting the project from its inception and even painted extra models just for this. So, you know, I don’t exactly have Swiss levels of neutrality here.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjjQEt_ZH1ccclbVkgApsgrYlWCyZlB1d1R8KQnmYpLG6Rq5Kcva6dy9B29tQhiU_Bmw0T6S6pZHK_X7ZddoTTDs2JF4zY2HJCZg4libBgymge_jfIk76ynQBAjdz0eWXhJycOmgbTszIUUCfLcBkWfLhZwPn-9FeVzsSyzcoMeUprIv94906dsXZXro/s1034/burst%20pipe.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="1034" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnjjQEt_ZH1ccclbVkgApsgrYlWCyZlB1d1R8KQnmYpLG6Rq5Kcva6dy9B29tQhiU_Bmw0T6S6pZHK_X7ZddoTTDs2JF4zY2HJCZg4libBgymge_jfIk76ynQBAjdz0eWXhJycOmgbTszIUUCfLcBkWfLhZwPn-9FeVzsSyzcoMeUprIv94906dsXZXro/w400-h266/burst%20pipe.png" width="400" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Tom’s Thoughts on Fury Of The Swarm</h2><p>It’s really fun.</p><p>I prefer roleplaying to wargaming. I’d always prefer to be on the same side as my friends fighting heroically against a villain than playing against my friend. A few years ago Charlie achieved peak overlap with <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Samalut%20IX" target="_blank">the Samalut IX narrative campaign</a> he ran. To this day the most fun I have had with 40k. Fury of the Swarm achieves about 80% of the fun of Samalut with 20% of the effort. It’s a good ratio.</p><p>The nature of playtesting being what it is, I haven’t had a chance to play through the full campaign sequence end to end, but I’ve played a bunch of games through various iterations (some in 9th edition where we knew 10e was coming but Charlie was just roughly sketching out how things would work) and they have consistently been fun. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNK7hegwH2-5qLDYLjoF2FHvrH1tN-w6AN_YmTmx0pG75cKxh7vSlCG95sYO1WMfl69oV-Tx7SatarccjQ_6NPSus2s0bCAtEcNWoluBqvYFRyrEawEN2swKUQ3rbtD0PLS-hJF9V58va5W_Ib780tRJiFt2bLfwrAd2mEAeo-Q4J4vy012riYbW6EdZ8/s827/nocturnal%20tervigon.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="827" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNK7hegwH2-5qLDYLjoF2FHvrH1tN-w6AN_YmTmx0pG75cKxh7vSlCG95sYO1WMfl69oV-Tx7SatarccjQ_6NPSus2s0bCAtEcNWoluBqvYFRyrEawEN2swKUQ3rbtD0PLS-hJF9V58va5W_Ib780tRJiFt2bLfwrAd2mEAeo-Q4J4vy012riYbW6EdZ8/w400-h266/nocturnal%20tervigon.png" width="400" /></a></div><p>Playing against an non-player opponent with some clear behaviour rules means you can do some really fun and thematic stuff, like using Gravis armour units to physically shield your more vulnerable stuff, or dropping in some grav-chute Reivers to lure the swarm in a different direction. Also, because your opponent isn’t a person, you can be an absolute bastard without having to feel bad about it. But Charlie being Charlie, the game is still quite tough so you really do have to work at these cunning bastard tactics if you want to win. </p><p>A few standout cinematic moments for me:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Having a brave squad of Incursors standing on the top of pyramid shaped Mechanicus structure desperately fighting off a swam of Gaunts completely covering the lower layers, knowing that as long as they can hold on for just one more turn their heroic sacrifice will have saved their brothers and let them win the game. </li><li>Nervously deciding which unit was going to stand closest to the Exocrine, and thus absolutely eat it in the dick next turn if we failed to kill it as was likely.</li><li>Taking a complete dickhead 100% airborne list of Raven Guard, a Storm Eagle and it’s Storm Hawk escorts, flying over the swarm to drop onto and destroy one objective, then completely relocating my army next turn to do the same on the other side of the board. </li><li>Special Mention: Those horrifying moments when, against all odds, a really nasty monster you thought you’d killed respawns and all your plans go right in the bin.</li></ul><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnVDJs7EVAwkKqLuTXzpDw5ssNfJPyK9IgAUUEgnN-wv5hc2-DdH6kvvBukzUwUFH-ZehyphenhyphenJqa-WxeuRUaYEi2kHj3h1Jfb5R2aosY7Rsie2TIzeCBemEIEqR9xcs4WsIg82F2_TWq3-dEa2LK0-dkc6SvvGNuq5f5k0vRddt9kkGkls6N1CqmYH81He4Q/s2602/airborne.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2602" data-original-width="1816" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnVDJs7EVAwkKqLuTXzpDw5ssNfJPyK9IgAUUEgnN-wv5hc2-DdH6kvvBukzUwUFH-ZehyphenhyphenJqa-WxeuRUaYEi2kHj3h1Jfb5R2aosY7Rsie2TIzeCBemEIEqR9xcs4WsIg82F2_TWq3-dEa2LK0-dkc6SvvGNuq5f5k0vRddt9kkGkls6N1CqmYH81He4Q/w279-h400/airborne.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">HARVEY'S BIT</h2><p>As the other person that has done a whole bunch of playtesting with Charlie, a fair amount of FotS, almost all of it using Black Templars. A lot like Tom it's laser guided at some of my favourite bits about tabletop wargaming and roleplaying: interaction between player characters, building emergent narratives and relationships between them, and facing down an enemy army with your friends as opposed to your friend's army being the enemy. It's also really great for helping with that awkward moment in a gaming group where everyone wants to do space marines... Good news! Now so long as you've got some bugs you don't need to endlessly come up with convoluted reasons for Imperial marines versus Imperial marines - though admittedly that isn't an issue for our specific <i>relatively </i>well established set up between us.</p><p>Tom's covered what it is (along with <a href="https://www.goonhammer.com/tag/fury-of-the-swarm/" target="_blank">a 10 part Goonhammer series</a> that is far better written than anything I'll come up with) and I'm just as biased as he is, so I'll just give my take briefly on what the game mode offers that differs to ordinary 40k. It's a challenge, but a very different flavour of game given the predictability of the Tyranid unit actions - you know they're coming towards you, you know they're going for their preferred target if they can and you where they're coming from (usually) when they respawn or deep strike. This informs your decision making in a way that you just don't have in normal 40k where your opponent can surprise you by taking an action you hadn't considered. The challenge doesn't come in out-thinking the horde then, because the horde largely reacts to your movements as the player, it comes in managing the tide of respawning bugs and being able to limit their ability to harm your own forces (because they will -almost- always win a battle of attrition).</p><p>It's a really fun different challenge to normal 40k, and I'm looking forward to playing more of it as other factions - particularly the Nightfall 31st, with their light infantry and lack of any meaningful big guns. That will be bracing.</p><p>I'll leave you with my single most implausible moment from any game of Fury of the Swarm, which has convinced me of a tactical truth: Watch-Marshall Antilochus Ortiz and his Sword Brothers carving through about 70 'gaunts and a carnifex, tying up almost an entire flank of a battle and crippling the Tyranid push into our objectives. The lesson learned? Punch them hard in the nose, if you can. They don't like it up 'em.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCgbqi22MezlkFkffEofH5-Q74ls3T6gvfFlz0_bQEUDfeXi5ZTfo2W89NZAOiySj-cQJNx5AqBJk-tirdQFl29nKyGjFOIiY91VO7vZz79mIQkl3lsk-DVOpkPlU8gDhNYzCKg_EteAFZnfoUEpKrnsVsWlfEANCR3PkWCvmSjEE7WRR0YoozAOuzNo/s3648/IMG_20230724_184048.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2736" data-original-width="3648" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnCgbqi22MezlkFkffEofH5-Q74ls3T6gvfFlz0_bQEUDfeXi5ZTfo2W89NZAOiySj-cQJNx5AqBJk-tirdQFl29nKyGjFOIiY91VO7vZz79mIQkl3lsk-DVOpkPlU8gDhNYzCKg_EteAFZnfoUEpKrnsVsWlfEANCR3PkWCvmSjEE7WRR0YoozAOuzNo/w400-h300/IMG_20230724_184048.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not pictured: The above battle, but Ortiz and his brothers have had too many ridiculous kill scores in FotS for it to be a coincidence...</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">In Conclusion</h2><p><b>Tom:</b> Not everyone has a whole spare Tyranid army lying around, but if you know someone in your group who does, or maybe you and a friend bought the Leviathan box, this is the game for you. </p><p><b>Harvey: </b>Its a very different experience to normal 40k, with different considerations and tactical challenges. As if that wasn't enough, it's a way to play really narrative games with your mates about purging 'nids together. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's absolutely mine.</p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-79449566119618419562023-10-30T18:46:00.000+00:002023-10-30T18:46:18.994+00:00Baby Got Pack<p>“Pack in Black”? “Pack to You”? “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Pack”? Choose your poison I guess. But it’s definitely more “Don’t Look Pack in Anger”, than “We Are Never Ever Getting Pack Together”. </p><p>What am I blithering on about? Jump packs baby! <i>YEEEEEEAAAAAAAH!!!</i> (Or if you’re a Google spider indexing this page: “How to convert Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs”.)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXGFu4tZz7EXWWQlbHCv-tP5zXYDAsvElmjjYVBmWdiaMA1esidD2S0HowPiNvePxkW5X4Su9YSFfRkyHzqulyL7M6TK-NTdf6GbL7KFZthhDC6Lu_bd-uprPK21fE3_S-MdZy5WQk9NGRvKVUVFfUkPrPf5W4wADsnCbpyLg87MOVyC0kWWBehmBXZeM/s1153/Squad%20Aibek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="877" data-original-width="1153" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXGFu4tZz7EXWWQlbHCv-tP5zXYDAsvElmjjYVBmWdiaMA1esidD2S0HowPiNvePxkW5X4Su9YSFfRkyHzqulyL7M6TK-NTdf6GbL7KFZthhDC6Lu_bd-uprPK21fE3_S-MdZy5WQk9NGRvKVUVFfUkPrPf5W4wADsnCbpyLg87MOVyC0kWWBehmBXZeM/w400-h304/Squad%20Aibek.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">The Long Vigil</h2><p>Back before all this Primaris stuff brought the tacti-cool Phobos with it, the Raven Guard were all about two things, Scouts and Assault Marines. In my Firstborn army I have a lot of both. My very first Raven Guard unit was an Assault Marine unit.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcyJ9zrG5yPoRPgbNr9oPMsJciBKVM81YzteoFgQmkchoZac7qRJopXIhIv31Q5u7ZlezAmmMVqqAU64UHpJRlZJanpWI7HiPcIAxFeqIwLdZgAIB0wSvAhbRxpKD-9163Ar5G0mrN9-SeE1P_L3oKJdgiZwYEIhz9WJdOU-NGAjDtMMGk_ZxOv8UNCsU/s3819/Assault%20Squad%201.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1602" data-original-width="3819" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcyJ9zrG5yPoRPgbNr9oPMsJciBKVM81YzteoFgQmkchoZac7qRJopXIhIv31Q5u7ZlezAmmMVqqAU64UHpJRlZJanpWI7HiPcIAxFeqIwLdZgAIB0wSvAhbRxpKD-9163Ar5G0mrN9-SeE1P_L3oKJdgiZwYEIhz9WJdOU-NGAjDtMMGk_ZxOv8UNCsU/w400-h168/Assault%20Squad%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Squad Aibek. The <strike>eagle</strike> <i>raven</i> eyed will notice a squad medic and technician. That’s right, I was doing it long before <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2021/08/adding-more-variety-to-intercessors.html">Charlie made it cool</a>.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Since I made the switch to Primaris, I’ve been eagerly hoping for Assault Marines and Scouts to follow suit. I came damn close to making them myself when they brought out Assault Intercessors, but the Black Templar Neophytes and Space Marine 2 video game previews strongly hinted that my long vigil would be rewarded so I stayed patient and waited for official models and legal datasheets. (Did I mention I play 5th Company “The Watchful”?)</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRtMbyoZmKR7uDDHjZ8oIfSrYBqcDybjyNphrfQcc1VDWaGZIF0YTlH6hY94H55D0LrzG45eXsYtSMO4xzk5moReZlDtDGfUectx_xtCTTmq_TdQUJUdcN6kTa9TGztqO9YFJm0YVxnpA0GjiCksI_rbRutY-kUi_jN3M_I18vdWqL_KInU8_16BrZoY/s4005/Assault%20Squad%202.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1518" data-original-width="4005" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyRtMbyoZmKR7uDDHjZ8oIfSrYBqcDybjyNphrfQcc1VDWaGZIF0YTlH6hY94H55D0LrzG45eXsYtSMO4xzk5moReZlDtDGfUectx_xtCTTmq_TdQUJUdcN6kTa9TGztqO9YFJm0YVxnpA0GjiCksI_rbRutY-kUi_jN3M_I18vdWqL_KInU8_16BrZoY/w400-h151/Assault%20Squad%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Squad Eitath. This time the raven-eyed will notice by the time I built my second squad I had discovered Forgeworld Resin.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Then came the recent 10th edition previews and both Scouts and Assault Marines (sorry, “Jump Pack Intercessors” on the box or “Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs” in the Codex) were previewed at last. Let's skip the usual arousal metaphors and simply say that I was very pleased.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5b1lnwVH_ve9mo6i20JrqAN7gAeXcSafu6p7-oIaLIPDBsrYv0nfBNuVv1gvJhD9Nz5nYAvIhrVT5PoAkVF7ofakGV0UYdl_zV1E9F6abtZ4TJvDSXukeqZ0SbKULW8SXT4ByAWHSUXom2gV5nCwFUprWbV0UV2NEPtsZTLbZQj1y-smke8OfI7cuIkg/s950/jump_intercessors.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="950" data-original-width="920" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5b1lnwVH_ve9mo6i20JrqAN7gAeXcSafu6p7-oIaLIPDBsrYv0nfBNuVv1gvJhD9Nz5nYAvIhrVT5PoAkVF7ofakGV0UYdl_zV1E9F6abtZ4TJvDSXukeqZ0SbKULW8SXT4ByAWHSUXom2gV5nCwFUprWbV0UV2NEPtsZTLbZQj1y-smke8OfI7cuIkg/w388-h400/jump_intercessors.jpg" width="388" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Image Credit: Games Workshop, used without permission for illustrative purposes only.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>That said, I don’t think they’re the best models GW have produced. They’re not actively bad like <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/07/deescalating-desolators.html">Desolators</a>, but the poses are a bit weird. I honestly love every bit of design they have except for the poses. The evolved jump packs are cool, the extra gear on the thigh straps are great (very Raven Guard), I even like the little steering boosters on the legs. But the poses feel off, although I will say less so from other angles. Also given that I wanted at least a unit of 10 to start with and probably another unit of 10 later, they don’t feel very repeatable. Clearly some conversion work loomed.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Sneaky Beakies</h2><p>Raven Guard are known for deploying jump pack troops behind enemy lines for extended patrols. They sneak about destroying weaker enemy forces, and evading larger ones. They report in enemy positions, destroy outposts and disrupt communications. There is a tendency for people to say “you can’t be stealthy with boltguns and chainswords,” but on a strategic level stealth is not about being an invisible ninja sneaking up behind people and slitting their throats. It’s about avoiding enemy patrols, lying low during the daytime, and engaging in brief battles before getting away before enemy reinforcements can turn up.</p><p>For real life examples look to units like the Long Range Desert Recon Group, who drove around deep behind enemy lines in pink trucks armed with machineguns and anti-tank guns. Or their descendants the Special Air Service (whom the Raven Guard would idolise); the famous Bravo Two Zero were armed with assault rifles and machineguns as they snuck about blowing up scud missiles (or maybe not, depending on who you ask). Not the best example, given how the mission turned out, but a well known one.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvdOawspAV72k3BJC5IveMlFmYnxGnRakiOW6f56kUCSPZWlgmGi6ZHrH6iKbwe4J5PAkvX7adQOpFyT4L-FWnMgyIBzIn5HNwLQeVd2I4gwGOGdrSUCsS1bs6kteiRTnWz47d0VMP9bxnoE24O8p_kGCEhyphenhyphen_RFv8VHioJSnodmwBjB8eS7WdHe4cSnE/s848/lrdrg.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="539" data-original-width="848" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvdOawspAV72k3BJC5IveMlFmYnxGnRakiOW6f56kUCSPZWlgmGi6ZHrH6iKbwe4J5PAkvX7adQOpFyT4L-FWnMgyIBzIn5HNwLQeVd2I4gwGOGdrSUCsS1bs6kteiRTnWz47d0VMP9bxnoE24O8p_kGCEhyphenhyphen_RFv8VHioJSnodmwBjB8eS7WdHe4cSnE/w400-h254/lrdrg.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Sneak. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Desert_Group#/media/File:Two_lrdg_patrols_meet5.jpg">source</a>)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Either way, 40k was never the most realistic setting anyway. So realistic or not, it’s not like I wasn’t going to lean into the thing my Chapter is famous for. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Converting</h2><p>So, the plan was to have five of the new assault marines (with some of the poses toned down) and five assault intercessors with the new jump packs. Not entirely trivial, as it turns out. First up, check this nonsense out:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihD0LEB2WNPfMMsfGhIJe3Hd6OTyBP5Pa2QWNbieA2E8LggLZxKN37n0DH-umplxSC5R0xpy9ina1wl7xL_lelVMZg7TcbwKGAUhTHZkLztr6WEo1jv1xUJoXiUkxQ5MKQVMRmM7AE88hh4qfIgrYJhvFdXTXHHXGv7KAuXh1DUXavaYfGOhF3D9KMEvc/s1473/Back%20Comparison.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1326" data-original-width="1473" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihD0LEB2WNPfMMsfGhIJe3Hd6OTyBP5Pa2QWNbieA2E8LggLZxKN37n0DH-umplxSC5R0xpy9ina1wl7xL_lelVMZg7TcbwKGAUhTHZkLztr6WEo1jv1xUJoXiUkxQ5MKQVMRmM7AE88hh4qfIgrYJhvFdXTXHHXGv7KAuXh1DUXavaYfGOhF3D9KMEvc/w400-h360/Back%20Comparison.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Yeah. That’s a choice. Previously GW have always been very good about cross compatibility. I remember the bad old days of lead assault marines with small contact areas, which were back heavy on small bases and had a tendency to tip over and the jump pack to snap off, but that hasn’t been an issue since the switch to plastic. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMbqe-Tl-aFTqIcBlEYp0t6RV6TpbgeypHPIUgNw-pY_fhBMvZ42_BFVTiDa6ZDwhy9yOBHpTN98dCoWp6_33qCJLKcy2bGz0CUAQNXUJlv9MvE3kW50V6X8svPH8oce5HvHoL2KTBNRYFXK5FIxtb22WI1Jthvis85M9e29ABsXnZ9RdGUtnsH2VZpjY/s2349/Back%20Clip%20A.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1476" data-original-width="2349" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMbqe-Tl-aFTqIcBlEYp0t6RV6TpbgeypHPIUgNw-pY_fhBMvZ42_BFVTiDa6ZDwhy9yOBHpTN98dCoWp6_33qCJLKcy2bGz0CUAQNXUJlv9MvE3kW50V6X8svPH8oce5HvHoL2KTBNRYFXK5FIxtb22WI1Jthvis85M9e29ABsXnZ9RdGUtnsH2VZpjY/w400-h251/Back%20Clip%20A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Ultimately, given the strength of polystyrene cement, I opted for a relatively simple modification to get them to fit, and trusted that a limited contact area would be ok. If you trim off the little bit of exposed cable at the top of the backpack mount, the jump packs fits on ok and can be glued with, I repeat, limited surface area. It seems fine. I let the first one cure for a few days and it seems solid under the level of force I’d like a bunch of models standing on their toes holding long thin weapons to be subjected to. That said, if you were feeling more conservative, the next step I would suggest would be to fill the jump pack cavity with green stuff or run a long pin in.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHyzc2Tz5ytqteSN4js6qIitNpzOzAQ3x1QuN7M5AEFEPMuuwtumMzriuHAjzXHaE8JwJ50XMcxdJ_UbNTmPfAaklQC5GNlXGWRw2zBX9sy0K_pF42ZeTF_DLMVSb4-Z0Cctam1mz3Up1TQwKZtCc_SeGVvtyuBahUC7Gl7yiubAEtXJobUAOI5fG2dg/s2067/Back%20Clip%20B.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1755" data-original-width="2067" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHyzc2Tz5ytqteSN4js6qIitNpzOzAQ3x1QuN7M5AEFEPMuuwtumMzriuHAjzXHaE8JwJ50XMcxdJ_UbNTmPfAaklQC5GNlXGWRw2zBX9sy0K_pF42ZeTF_DLMVSb4-Z0Cctam1mz3Up1TQwKZtCc_SeGVvtyuBahUC7Gl7yiubAEtXJobUAOI5fG2dg/w400-h340/Back%20Clip%20B.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>There is a slight gap, but you won’t see it behind arms and shoulder pads, and even if you do it fits in with the general power armour panel-lined aesthetic anyway. </p><p>As for the original five, I made a few partial hero-rock-ectomies. With a bit of trial and error I learned the best way to do this was to assemble the torso and raised leg, then blue-tac (or sticky tac brand of your choice) on the dominant limb and rock-leg and play with the angles that look right. Then you can carefully mark out the angle you need to cut the rock at to give a less extreme pose. Pull the leg off and get your razor saw out and have at it. In one case I got the angle slightly off and had to fine tune with some sanding.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFmaq4G3K-LeOn5Fe9sPy43sHxLc8DI1wnEZb1uDMJO9NQkSnJ5uwLN_2SL_GOQ0UgOsdmR6qkthMbwfboyRYvXCCFXzdgcArsMXO6ZflepnezWx3J4Ii9iD9QXWD-UtPDcvozm1aXAif4p-oaosHfdCIxnNuLnKc2UbbpEUWtm4mIg_o8rIZXKhtXxA/s2105/Repose.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1014" data-original-width="2105" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHFmaq4G3K-LeOn5Fe9sPy43sHxLc8DI1wnEZb1uDMJO9NQkSnJ5uwLN_2SL_GOQ0UgOsdmR6qkthMbwfboyRYvXCCFXzdgcArsMXO6ZflepnezWx3J4Ii9iD9QXWD-UtPDcvozm1aXAif4p-oaosHfdCIxnNuLnKc2UbbpEUWtm4mIg_o8rIZXKhtXxA/w400-h193/Repose.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>The dual benefit here was I got less ridiculous angles and also reduced the height of the rocks, meaning they really looked more like they were running along the ground than somehow the entire unit had found tall things to prance on (now if it was brood on, that would be Raven Guard). But a few of the rock poses were ok without modification. I considered shortening the Sergeant but I figured having him standing tall worked ok as the leader.</p><p>Of less relevance to those more nerdy, less tacti-cool, Chapters, is the chest aquilas. I removed them and added a mix of Infiltrator grenades and spare pouches from (old) plastic Scouts.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdnwx8itwbDDgIQSxl3Dv0sDH9tXCS8bVaZCYfiD23eXwgW_U5am5VXnpIEyLzJPVCM_AJTcEqPzvrbVSULQTmgnu7sohrbXtQFefovCgqsXJ5MT86vXcHvQhj9ZZPGdhTfFPDOL5SYNoFcTKAa1v60gUCat-QP1GZpS57h4-izx_RgyClLhCVEuXQNc/s839/Aquila.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="839" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfdnwx8itwbDDgIQSxl3Dv0sDH9tXCS8bVaZCYfiD23eXwgW_U5am5VXnpIEyLzJPVCM_AJTcEqPzvrbVSULQTmgnu7sohrbXtQFefovCgqsXJ5MT86vXcHvQhj9ZZPGdhTfFPDOL5SYNoFcTKAa1v60gUCat-QP1GZpS57h4-izx_RgyClLhCVEuXQNc/w400-h196/Aquila.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>With a very sharp knife, carefully cut down as much of the detail as possible, cutting towards the neck. Be careful not to cut too deep, we’re removing the aquila, not the armour underneath. Then gently buff it out with a file, rolling around the curve. Use a pointy triangle file to get right into the neck line. This photo makes it look rough because the plastic is stressed, but the surface is nice and smooth.</p><p>I also added some 3d printed leg boosters I had lying around from my Vanguard conversion in <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/04/custom-raven-guard-storm-shields.html">this article</a>, since they don’t fit onto Phobos legs. This step is highly skippable, particularly if you’re planning to only use Assault Intercessor bodies, but with a mixed unit I felt it really helped to blend them in. If I didn’t already have them I may not have bothered. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQEfe9Pj2NqISdTez3anYMfeojaW9U-J1FWFilfTzFyOA4uO_rMnOc-bBbDerEqk2nWAQFk0dQvvjv5bDxnTOa2_QgQG6cvHY6ugyREY2MSWoGRfDKMirDGyyRiiIlPY8M0dcMRFwMRGjcCOAPysz_3i3dX80nuzqwPqVAyG_vfOPR2wm4SZ9LFHQltjM/s1287/Thrusters.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1287" data-original-width="1122" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQEfe9Pj2NqISdTez3anYMfeojaW9U-J1FWFilfTzFyOA4uO_rMnOc-bBbDerEqk2nWAQFk0dQvvjv5bDxnTOa2_QgQG6cvHY6ugyREY2MSWoGRfDKMirDGyyRiiIlPY8M0dcMRFwMRGjcCOAPysz_3i3dX80nuzqwPqVAyG_vfOPR2wm4SZ9LFHQltjM/s320/Thrusters.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Making Them Mine</h2><p>I wanted this unit to be veterans. The epitome of Raven Guard flight-assisted covert ops warriors. Each and every model is slathered with pouches and equipment, and I made sure to include some fun little details such as a rope here and a grapnel launcher there. I’ve also mixed in a variety of helmets and pistols too, each veteran has their own customised gear (which helps explain why some have hip plates and others have more pouches). As before I included adepts, both tech and medicae. If they’re going to be ranging behind enemy lines without support they’ll need them. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEuPLM-T1BZBHbPe7rpjlyIzGqT6hslZtdKr5pfaSeeWoJAg4tO_D5fuP8L_3GH3KFCaU4aFZXNTStEINHhHjA3NDtc9r0rnW86HF79jtP8eou-vCbuMbqm1drpAA6h6XEhoFL4OTF0GEltL-my4G-Qc8jaU77jCiEJMvUk9CxL-BdOT_DLY6dDkB0Co/s1750/custom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1050" data-original-width="1750" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiEuPLM-T1BZBHbPe7rpjlyIzGqT6hslZtdKr5pfaSeeWoJAg4tO_D5fuP8L_3GH3KFCaU4aFZXNTStEINHhHjA3NDtc9r0rnW86HF79jtP8eou-vCbuMbqm1drpAA6h6XEhoFL4OTF0GEltL-my4G-Qc8jaU77jCiEJMvUk9CxL-BdOT_DLY6dDkB0Co/w400-h240/custom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>From the datasheet I also gave them all the toys. A full complement of plasma pistols for extra punch and speaking of punch, I also wanted the sergeant to have a power fist. However I’m also a fan of sometimes being able to use your hands (yes, Shrike’s lightning claws blew my tiny bird brain), so I decided to give him a square-power-fist-on-a-stick. Thunder Hammers are not in the base kit so not a legal option on the datasheet, but the stats are almost the same anyway. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdCErasf6E4LJylHVhco0sALIrdZTxANaMtzgCHwVqRCm8rBRgFPlieeDkwEUD7QFTTBpe0u-s1LxSyf-Z20rs2ZTdGuIkCvKyU_phsHDrY812pfiZgV5MxJrHMT4FQjLs7mMBNOd3Ui1HZsajzqFAKs3HguoXzaaY3xaCLkAvQsgRnBRdgOB_zEa-g4/s2004/Jump%20Pack%20Intercessors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="885" data-original-width="2004" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdCErasf6E4LJylHVhco0sALIrdZTxANaMtzgCHwVqRCm8rBRgFPlieeDkwEUD7QFTTBpe0u-s1LxSyf-Z20rs2ZTdGuIkCvKyU_phsHDrY812pfiZgV5MxJrHMT4FQjLs7mMBNOd3Ui1HZsajzqFAKs3HguoXzaaY3xaCLkAvQsgRnBRdgOB_zEa-g4/w640-h282/Jump%20Pack%20Intercessors.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jump Pack Intercessors slightly reposed</td></tr></tbody></table><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzdMhr-ybk_jiXxNFzISmJ5p2kWjIn1_c80xvKTPvWHx8Yeh4NS32PqeKHoxesFjRKkoqy1R3KhNXY8ymmZK-FTrcCumw96GdmyLc1F-VmlFIKqYNOzIcWmbW9kWdby5vHrRkolIgEPZhtDGONtCJawimSxMLqC4JjQspgyWcbHdSV4K7ghBCmK3JBbM/s1845/Assault%20Intercessors%20with%20Jump%20Packs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="894" data-original-width="1845" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzdMhr-ybk_jiXxNFzISmJ5p2kWjIn1_c80xvKTPvWHx8Yeh4NS32PqeKHoxesFjRKkoqy1R3KhNXY8ymmZK-FTrcCumw96GdmyLc1F-VmlFIKqYNOzIcWmbW9kWdby5vHrRkolIgEPZhtDGONtCJawimSxMLqC4JjQspgyWcbHdSV4K7ghBCmK3JBbM/w640-h310/Assault%20Intercessors%20with%20Jump%20Packs.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old Assault Intercessor bodies with the new jump packs</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>I also opted for beakie helmets all round. My firstborn army was 95% beakies, but when I made the switch to Primaris I reserved them mostly for sergeants and above. I felt that giving these lads beakies would further identify them as the top <strike>dogs</strike> <i>birds</i> of the fifth company. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Conclusion</h2><p>Whilst the new Assault Marines are not great poses, I honestly think with just a little adjustment to the rocks they are highly redeemable. Alternatively, swapping out the bodies for Assault Intercessors also works very well. Or, like me, you could do both. There is a whole world of jet-powered ceremite-armoured transhuman murderisers to explore. Go forth and fly my pretties!</p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-2787713116179862102023-10-23T14:00:00.021+01:002023-10-23T14:00:00.141+01:00From The Sands To The Stars<p>I am quite reknowned for having some long term projects. Ideas that have been on the boil for a while that just need that special <i>something</i> to spark the mojo and get them started. Well, today I'm able to share the results of the first phase of what has been one of my oldest back-burner projects*... The Kessarine 4th Armoured Brigade:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4BFFiTKxZdOEG_LJE5phTS4LAFF2g6EggHBLSThNyKd098b-9vEpLKB1sykpLI_LIop7jiES97SS5mZjjd4eMUVEjIEo3EULJuD1uTugJtYOhWv0OcC756J2yTNP2FGhyphenhyphenAoOa_-32yhoBzwxrjp8mBs-MNi9nJP9wurkzeAzLkZtAEyCcwcECuBAeAtc6/s1789/Kessarine%20001.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="1789" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4BFFiTKxZdOEG_LJE5phTS4LAFF2g6EggHBLSThNyKd098b-9vEpLKB1sykpLI_LIop7jiES97SS5mZjjd4eMUVEjIEo3EULJuD1uTugJtYOhWv0OcC756J2yTNP2FGhyphenhyphenAoOa_-32yhoBzwxrjp8mBs-MNi9nJP9wurkzeAzLkZtAEyCcwcECuBAeAtc6/w640-h214/Kessarine%20001.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>7th Platoon, Sergeants Tavade and Prabu led by Commissar Dravland</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Now some of you might already be going "Armoured brigade? They look a bit squishy for that." Well quite, shush you. <i>These </i>fine men and women are of C Company; 1st Motor Batallion attached to the 4th Armoured Brigade for all those ticklish situations which tanks just are a bit... big to handle. They're also not the standard Cadian-pattern lads either. This is for a number of reasons, some of them now slightly outdated. See I <i>really</i> did not like the old plastic Cadians, for all sorts of reasons but lets just say 'shoulders' and move on. Plus I'm a real fan of the old glory of being able to have a bunch of different looking regiments rubbing shoulders in a sector. So while these days I love the plastic Cadians, back when these were bought, I was hunting for an alternative look and feel. Because I had just <i>buttloads</i> of armour, I knew I wanted to have a cavalry style regiment, wide open spaces... big sweeping charges... sounds kind of deserty doesn't it?<br /><br />Another legacy factor was rules: the old Tallarn rules gave me the "feel" of tank that I wanted, fast moving and hard charging. So Tallarn was on my mind anyway. Then I discovered Victoria Miniatures, a former Golden Demon winning painter now minting a variety of lovely guardsmen of varying tones and vintages. I held off for a while, then she produced a female range to support the somewhat older male squads and, dear reader, I was doomed. So now the proud owner of a fair whack of infantry I proceeded to put it in a box and pretend it didn't exist while other shiny objects waved themselves in my face (looking at you <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Starborn%20Souls">Genestealers</a>, and the <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Word%20Bearers">Word Bearers</a>, um, ahem, and the <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/search/label/Dark%20Eldar">Drukhari</a>... I've got focus problems, ok?). But finally, the time is now, emerging from some painting doldrums and encouraged by other Bunker Dwellers it is the time of the Imperial Guard at last!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJJJtaTPrx7FjEPqay04Z3cnadSvi8h-rESfs4wLxEEPRGlh5dH937_fkEA4x3xkfFeYefAca1WeSav_TKAtOopKeJjGA0G5XsvnAikT0R4HhmWNejuCWRm6CZkarVIKQY02JuXN-4xqXuoVTtwXXqMUT7QUBWjDaNM_rzZe_5Tt9D9oPbPebPdWl1Mgd3/s1840/Kessarine%20004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1091" data-original-width="1840" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJJJtaTPrx7FjEPqay04Z3cnadSvi8h-rESfs4wLxEEPRGlh5dH937_fkEA4x3xkfFeYefAca1WeSav_TKAtOopKeJjGA0G5XsvnAikT0R4HhmWNejuCWRm6CZkarVIKQY02JuXN-4xqXuoVTtwXXqMUT7QUBWjDaNM_rzZe_5Tt9D9oPbPebPdWl1Mgd3/w640-h380/Kessarine%20004.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>When you are dealing with a non-GW range, you have certain obstacles to overcome, a lot of which turn out to be equipment. Fortunately for me, most of these restrictions favoured my view of how the guard should be. So we've got sergeants with bolters for example, not a huge fan of the close combat guard sergeant. I also wanted "Kessarine doctrine" to be evident in their armament rather than just in-game effectiveness. So with long ranges and clean lines of sight, designated marksmen with sniper rifles made a nice thematic choice for the special weapons. Are they a good choice? Nah. But I don't care, they look cool and feel right. I was also without elements like vox-casters, fortunately Harvey came to my aid with a bunch of excess Scions vox packs. They're lovely bits of kit and fit quite nicely on the Kessarine. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1J1IjJFL_mW1KdEevGuUojtiEon8xPNdJnSxvpCDtLk62McwWvyd23NO82VB0CbDZalqq5utEmoj1fFBQz7re4Xiuz_b0xrB7QbW8oveVN-epDhSl-mzTnKG5rlJqXEd_GwOpvz_fm21Rh5mI0JQJlHINHzGAqnOojKelw9-OzRnz9MlqI75n1yHhu_dO/s1630/Kessarine%20002.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1017" data-original-width="1630" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1J1IjJFL_mW1KdEevGuUojtiEon8xPNdJnSxvpCDtLk62McwWvyd23NO82VB0CbDZalqq5utEmoj1fFBQz7re4Xiuz_b0xrB7QbW8oveVN-epDhSl-mzTnKG5rlJqXEd_GwOpvz_fm21Rh5mI0JQJlHINHzGAqnOojKelw9-OzRnz9MlqI75n1yHhu_dO/w640-h400/Kessarine%20002.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I also took the executive decision that infantry-squad based heavy weapons would not be on the team bases. I really don't like the look of the big base among all the normal ones and makes for weird terrain interactions. So while making it that a D2 weapon will kill off both lads in one hit, I based them individually. I'm fortunate in that the Beard Bunker is a permissive place, open to such heresies. I'd also decided that the Kessarine like their squads mobile so I'd model all infantry squad based heavy weapons as shoulder mounted, leaving the carriages and emplacements for the heavy weapon squads intended to lag behind and provide support. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmzkWumvMX1-6QYtTmOdurtFR_qzuo7JbBhmt2HmLM_mwf1Y9Mb-J66upsarbxZqm8tbLApdWmhQqtJi8Jphjg-QhxLCwIrmL7jwnePCu0dsDrGcOF_LhRFrO_M8pG4P4HsCCLCXEOm3oH6nIshsvaEn_QBu397hzR-DIrO5BG5Lct6us4_tCg3AtLzlQ/s980/Kessarine%20003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="980" data-original-width="977" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSmzkWumvMX1-6QYtTmOdurtFR_qzuo7JbBhmt2HmLM_mwf1Y9Mb-J66upsarbxZqm8tbLApdWmhQqtJi8Jphjg-QhxLCwIrmL7jwnePCu0dsDrGcOF_LhRFrO_M8pG4P4HsCCLCXEOm3oH6nIshsvaEn_QBu397hzR-DIrO5BG5Lct6us4_tCg3AtLzlQ/w399-h400/Kessarine%20003.jpg" width="399" /></a></div><p>As far as painting goes, I wanted to focus on a mass effect for the Kessarine rather than going to heavy on individual details, after all, they're 60 points of extremely killable humans and I'd already made that mistake with the Word Bearer cultists... As a result, my scheme leans heavily on thinned paint over a pale base and the awesome power of washes. If you want to paint like a Kessarine, here's the method:</p><p>First prime the model in wraithbone, then paint the whole dang thing with a fat brush and a thinned coat of Vallejo German Camo Beige. That becomes the fatigues colour and means that any bits you miss won't be pure brilliant white. Then, basecoat as follows:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Headscarf and puttees: Vallejo Deck Tan</li><li>Trousers: Deathworld Forest</li><li>Straps:Vallejo Khaki Grey</li><li>Leather: Vallejo Leather Brown</li><li>Skin: Vallejo Beige Brown</li><li>Equipment: Ammo US Modern Vehicles (this is the colour that all my tanks are going to be)</li></ul><p>Then slosh a thinned down Agrax Earthshade over the whole model. Then seriously, leave it overnight, adding water to washes really slows down the drying time. Once this is dry, give the headscarfs a drybrush of Deck Tan again. Paint the metalwork a nice dark silver (I used Army Painter Gunmetal mixed with black). Any cables or rubbery bits get Vallejo Dark Rubber, lenses get Dark Reaper and then it's on to another wash. Nuln Oil over the metalwork, boots and rubber. The skin gets a neat Agrax Earthshade wash. </p><p>Finally, the highlights and details. Skin gets highlighted first in Beige Brown then with a bit of Cadian Fleshtone chucked in for fine highlights. Eyes are Pallid Wych Flesh with the normal black dot. Any Equipment that needs a highlight gets US Modern Vehicle with a bit of Deck Tan added. Finally, add a little coloured triangle to the right sleeve armour for squad markings and done! Basing was first with texture paint, then Baneblade Brown with a Terminatus Stone drybrush. Gamers Grass dry tufts and Spikey Brown tufts give a nice "parched grass and creosote bushes" vibe and seals the deal. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtPsKeFvKoMCR1w4JjEoLCZXIlsPc-DoQKaX7IQBVz9hVrX1wtISHf_hzywsMV2hPVkd1nxYbre12JMqINfgz2n3dYC4diH3Lhm_7Zay_Au8n-DByqDM6z2xqJczXk-u9iyl_cpn0Jk1g2NrJYA4uLaSzIMhIw_c0Wqm0JnfV0dO7O8ictVRaczI1vq8OA/s2208/Commissar%20001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="2208" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtPsKeFvKoMCR1w4JjEoLCZXIlsPc-DoQKaX7IQBVz9hVrX1wtISHf_hzywsMV2hPVkd1nxYbre12JMqINfgz2n3dYC4diH3Lhm_7Zay_Au8n-DByqDM6z2xqJczXk-u9iyl_cpn0Jk1g2NrJYA4uLaSzIMhIw_c0Wqm0JnfV0dO7O8ictVRaczI1vq8OA/w640-h366/Commissar%20001.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>But now we need to start meeting the Kessarine, I'm a lore addict after all, and who better to meet them than through the eyes of their Commissar, the imposing Invictus Dravland pictured above. God I love that powerfist, too bad they're not allowed any more, again, we're ignoring that... But let's let the man talk shall we?<br /><br />"Deployment log commences 807.023.M42, C-company, 1st Motor Batallion, Kessarine 4th Armoured Brigade, officer responsible for the log: Commissar Invictus Dravland.</p><p>"We recieved today the news that our active deployment has moved up, we are no longer being deployed directly into crusade operations supporting the main thrust against the hivefleet. Instead, with the Eridani sector becoming an increasingly and unexpectedly hot zone we are being deployed to the home sector to defend and stabilise the situation. Privately this pleases me as there is something terribly ungallant about fighting the Tyranid. One wants to have a sentient take one's life if necessary, not a barely thinking insect. 4th Armoured have been working up and seasoning the men in the regular operations against the feral Ork population infesting this world and I do believe we are ready for deployment. </p><p>"A few notes on the Kessarine for any successor that might need to take over this posting. First, there is an appended <a href="http://geniusproductions.co.uk/Cetus/index.php?title=Kesserine">gazateer entry</a> for the basic data on the world. More importantly, their character. They are a hard people, the Kessarine, shaped by an extremely unforgiving environment containing more than it's fair share of terrors. Oh, do not refer to Kessarine as a "death world" despite how it may feel to an outsider. They absolutely reject this classification and point to the polar gardens (which I think maybe 8% of all Kessarine might actually see) and the rings of fortress cities defending them as evidence of safe and comfortable habitation. Sure, this might be true. Then there is the other 9/10ths of the planet which will dessicate or consume you if you are the least unwary. Even before you get to the additional dangers, of Orks, of the local fauna - seriously, the scorpion xenoforms that the 4th take as a campaign badge are horrifying. Let alone the damn serpents that hiss along under the sand and can take an entire truck when full grown. But no, it's no death world. <sighs> Timestamp for potential tone edit. Where was I..?</p><p>"Ah yes, the character of the Kessarine. This has truly been a fortunate posting, the Kessarine are disciplined, polite, pious and close knit. Discipline violations are rare but tend to be severe. The politeness of the Kessarine is cloaking a long, long fuse that when it burns out tends to result in blades and blood on the deck plating. We have the weirdest ratio of grevious bodily harm to theft violations. The overall picture though is of a well behaved regiment. Don't expect them to do well in static garrison, they love to manoever, natural cavalrymen always wanting someone to bring them the next horizon. Very fluid with it, you'll often find them abandoning the trucks if they're too slow keeping up and just clambering on the Russes of the 11th Armoured that C-company are supporting and just riding with the tanks themselves. Don't try and fight it, you'll get the best out of them if you just let them play to their instincts.<br /></p><div><p>"I'll continue with some more detailed files on the officer corps, but for now sergeants Prabu and Tavade are up for inspection pre-embarkation and it does my soul good to turn up to those things early. Record halt."<br /></p><p>And with that, we are done for the day too, there'll be another couple of infantry posts as I get through the toughest painting of the army before lovely, lovely, fun tanks. Oh, and Victoria Minaitures just did a kickstarter of a bunch of different rough riders and you'd better believe I got a whole bunch of those. So expect horsie fun in the future. I'd love to hear any questions or comments you have and I'm really looking forward to building the lore of the Kessarine 4th Armoured. Until next time, lovely people</p><p></p><p>TTFN<br /></p><p>*I confessed <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/10/managing-backlog.html">here</a> to the fact that this army's collection began in, um, 2007...<br /></p></div>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13109377258517790966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-10311622249776096942023-10-16T14:00:00.142+01:002023-10-16T14:00:00.137+01:00Intracontinental Ballistus Missiles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMOQ1l0HmmAs9TMom5Ru_bwGz4EzHMy3S3uqNj2gldBeLWrnQv150RQz26O6XqqKOuK6jqNTNAImZfnUvZSEwhMKgShrWRoDxeW4JWyJ-WDV4U1xyY1mWC4flBKND7vco-RBst7Dskv2lnPE02fEkCuSM2ue__AaAHMSoBm-lnX48uIu7SeC_-6VVp3Q/s734/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="734" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTMOQ1l0HmmAs9TMom5Ru_bwGz4EzHMy3S3uqNj2gldBeLWrnQv150RQz26O6XqqKOuK6jqNTNAImZfnUvZSEwhMKgShrWRoDxeW4JWyJ-WDV4U1xyY1mWC4flBKND7vco-RBst7Dskv2lnPE02fEkCuSM2ue__AaAHMSoBm-lnX48uIu7SeC_-6VVp3Q/w640-h640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The thing about buying the massive <i>Leviathan </i>box due to a rabid desire to paint the new Terminators as quickly as humanly possible is that, <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/09/some-extremely-nuanced-thoughts-on.html">having painted said slabs</a>, one is then confronted with a bunch of other models. Honestly I started painting the Ballistus Dreadnought before it ended up lurking in the bottom of a box for years, since the armless gun box on legs look is, to me, unintentionally hilarious. As is the case with so many silly GW designs, however, I've warmed to it during the painting process.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Today's post will have a few quick notes on the heraldry decisions I made, but the bulk of this short post is a short story exploring this Dreadnought's rather brutal origins.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Painting</h3><div style="text-align: left;">For the most part this follows the normal <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2020/02/cobalt-scions-primaris-captain.html">Cobalt Scions paint scheme</a>. I did however go slightly off the usual track as I tried out Citadel's Retributor Armour base paint. Its coverage is very impressive, so perfect for anyone wanting a <i>very </i>bright, saturated gold. I rather like it, although I also still like the more desaturated gold method I've used hitherto.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4uUWTXtAUoT1xuYZ_U2fWW6x8llWN5vX6bB8lkCtqub3QN3d-6vawwuAqwJbyzqVvRCxhEdvcsHgCKucwK0TWB_CZRO9GAAUdb2ruHAbGMsJdw-HDRLUR3TQ8eYruCgvW1DVE7nhFHecI85_c58dZy-hVjzqa5OwKjIrIvhbxjsJ-wZaZisX8Ps3fkg/s802/4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="802" data-original-width="802" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf4uUWTXtAUoT1xuYZ_U2fWW6x8llWN5vX6bB8lkCtqub3QN3d-6vawwuAqwJbyzqVvRCxhEdvcsHgCKucwK0TWB_CZRO9GAAUdb2ruHAbGMsJdw-HDRLUR3TQ8eYruCgvW1DVE7nhFHecI85_c58dZy-hVjzqa5OwKjIrIvhbxjsJ-wZaZisX8Ps3fkg/w640-h640/4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3>Heraldry</h3></div><div style="text-align: left;">Since the sculpt has a Crux Terminatus on the right side of its torso, I took it to be a member of the Veteran First Company. I therefore painted its left kneepad accordingly, along with a crux on the right shoulder. The only other heraldry choice lay in what to write on the scroll on his right shin. A natter with Jeff bore predictably excellent fruit; I wrote <i>Lachesis </i>on it: the last campaign in which Honoured Demeias fought prior to his death, and the planet he helped save from the Word Bearers.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><h3>Origins</h3></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>I feel like any unit as storied as a Dreadnought should absolutely have an origin story, so here we are. I should however offer a <b><span style="color: #cc0000;">content warning</span></b> as it opens with extreme and sadistic violence, as is right and proper when dealing with Night Lords.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><b>Edit: my copy of the new Codex: Space Marines is yet to turn up in the post, but Tom informs me there's a short story in there in which a marine becomes a dreadnought after fighting some Night Lords. FFS. Well, I'm not going to change this, since it's based on events we actually played through during the <a href="https://www.goonhammer.com/?s=raid+on+lachesis">Lachesis campaign</a>, and thus cements the historical link between different armies in our gaming group. This is like the zero budget version of that thing where two film studios accidentally develop near-identical films at the same time.</b></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><div><br /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div>Brother Demeias' death at the hands of the Night Lords was not quick. It was so viciously slow, in fact, that it pared Demeias down to the most basic feelings: helplessness, from having his limbs iteratively shortened. More pain, as skin was tugged from flesh. Pinioned to the deck of the enemy ship he'd boarded, laughed at and peeled apart, his death now inevitable, Demeias felt something shift in his indoctrinated mind: a feeling he had not known since before his ascension to the Astartes. He felt fear.</div><div><br /></div><div>At last, it was all over.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><div><br /></div><div>He woke in the dark, unable to move. His limbs were numb. No, <i>gone</i>, he remembered. By what repugnant sorcery had the Night Lords kept him alive? Panic surged through him.</div><div><br /></div><div>‘Brother?’ came a voice.</div><div><br /></div><div>Demeias continued to struggle. He seemed to be strapped down and enclosed in a tiny space, barely big enough to contain him. Some coffin-sized device created by the Night Lords.</div><div><br /></div><div>‘Brother Demeias, do you hear me?’ came the voice again.</div><div><br /></div><div>It had to be over, it <i>had</i> to be over. No more could be endured. The bonds remained. Unable to stop thinking of the things done to him moments before, and that were now sure to come again, Demeias screamed.</div><div><br /></div><div>He woke again, mind clouded. Drugged, he realised. Still confined. A voice called his name from somewhere beyond his coffin. Out of unguarded habit, Demeias answered.</div><div><br /></div><div>Again he woke, mind clearer.</div><div><br /></div><div>‘You are doing well, brother,’ came the voice. ‘By the will of the Emperor and the artifice of Mars, you may yet serve in death.’</div><div><br /></div><div>With a lurch of realisation, he understood. This was torture, but it was not deliberate. He was no captive, he was a relic. They thought they were honouring him. He wept. In life, he had been conditioned to yearn for the thrill of combat among his brothers. His near-death appeared to have robbed him of that yearning. All the carnage he had wrought, in the name of an Emperor he had never seen, and still the Imperium rotted away around them. He had given his life, and now he was being asked to give his death.</div><div><br /></div><div>‘Why have you blindfolded me?’ Demeias asked.</div><div><br /></div><div>‘I have not,’ said the voice. ‘The Night Lords took your eyes. The sensory grafts will come soon, now that you are stabilised.’</div><div><br /></div><div>‘My brothers?’ If he was alive, perhaps—</div><div><br /></div><div>‘Only Sergeant Tyvus remains.’</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><div><br /></div><div>‘Brother Demeias!’ Tyvus said, looking up at him. ‘This is well-earned. I may have made some demands as regards your suit’s heraldry,’ he said with pride.</div><div><br /></div><div>Demeias was glad he no longer had a face that could betray his feelings, though he willed his voice to sound as authentically thankful as possible. ‘Gratitude, Brother-Sergeant.’ Demeias’ armoured hull now bore the Crux Terminatus of the First Company; before the fateful boarding action on the <i>Revenant</i>, Tyvus had told the squad that their elevation to the First would come soon.</div><div><br /></div><div>Set against what Demeias had felt, and the brothers he had lost, the honour meant nothing to him.</div><div><br /></div><div>The techmarine, Aristander, stepped into Demeias’ field of view. ‘Today, venerated brother, I am privileged to ask: which weapons shall we forge for your suit?’</div><div><br /></div><div>Demeias could think of nothing worse than being told to wade into hand-to-hand combat with some hulking xenosform to get torn to death all over again. ‘I beseach the armoury for ranged weapons,’ he said, hoping he hadn’t spoken too quickly. They seemed so proud of him, but he could well imagine their disgust should he confess his fears.</div><div><br /></div><div>‘A wise choice,’ Tyvus said. ‘Veterans bear many weapons designed for close assault; you will give them greater flexibility.’ He stared up at him proudly. No, not just pride. Demeias realised Tyvus’ expression was mixed with awe and reverence. Demeias squirmed in the nest of cables and restraints filling his sarcophagus, wondering if the seasoned veterans of the First Company would be able to hear the frailty in his voice, for they would surely cast his ruined body aside before it could bring more dishonour upon the Chapter. Much as he wished he hadn’t survived, it seemed that regaining one’s fear meant having an even stronger desire to avoid death for as long as possible.</div><div><br /></div><div>For a dreadnought, that could mean a long time indeed.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjnD4wqnczTWQ8Ti1mS-jiCz1WXfbsq6VLz0axHCwAbYjuCM_uVIPNTjpcUxwj28p_mL_RwDldT_RtEOgDBwqsa4VaZ0xA5TRgtbgd6FgqyBsrbIP10KXaCVQQPRNCTP0UeWsQbkSKB5K2ZgkabAXvshZWinM7qhr62lDORcgqlCKZTTzS1O3STgHC_I/s782/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="782" data-original-width="782" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbjnD4wqnczTWQ8Ti1mS-jiCz1WXfbsq6VLz0axHCwAbYjuCM_uVIPNTjpcUxwj28p_mL_RwDldT_RtEOgDBwqsa4VaZ0xA5TRgtbgd6FgqyBsrbIP10KXaCVQQPRNCTP0UeWsQbkSKB5K2ZgkabAXvshZWinM7qhr62lDORcgqlCKZTTzS1O3STgHC_I/w640-h640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div></div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-55553605254283862023-10-02T14:00:00.022+01:002023-10-02T14:00:00.141+01:00Managing the Backlog<p>Call it the Pile Of Shame, the Cairn Of Opportunity or the Heap Of Grey, everyone in this hobby has some models they haven't yet painted and face the dilemma of wanting the new shiny thing when they haven’t finished the old shiny thing. Today we’re going to look at how a few Bunkerites manage their backlogs.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1SKEJ7JcYh-fZPYZNKjxq6mlpqw_at9tHM0Zxhwc8fjSctBi5AkDV9aq1deIuPQnKVW_agVEss_31znhNjPvckDVXbBuxZJ3EgsOoCzZ9vBfPz9EaQeIJQ4Qb8dt10FcENbnvx7_iwygY6xoGJ7Ro3WoxIOAlTGZiAX-Azam5GPEgNAZBPOviWghITA/s1623/Backlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1623" data-original-width="1362" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv1SKEJ7JcYh-fZPYZNKjxq6mlpqw_at9tHM0Zxhwc8fjSctBi5AkDV9aq1deIuPQnKVW_agVEss_31znhNjPvckDVXbBuxZJ3EgsOoCzZ9vBfPz9EaQeIJQ4Qb8dt10FcENbnvx7_iwygY6xoGJ7Ro3WoxIOAlTGZiAX-Azam5GPEgNAZBPOviWghITA/w336-h400/Backlog.jpg" width="336" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I <i>wish</i> this was my full backlog...</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">Tom</h2><p>I started collecting 40k as a kid, with very limited money. It was a hard cap on how much I could buy, even when most of my birthday presents and Christmas presents were Warhammer too. When I became an adult with lots more money to buy models and much less free time to paint them in, I ran into problems. Especially as that was around the time of the first big Apocalypse release with big limited time good value bundles of big formations and entire armies. I still have things on the sprue from those days. </p><p>I have a limited capacity to hobby. If I buy stuff quicker than I can build and paint it then no matter how good my intentions, something won’t get used and I am wasting money and space. Over the years I have tried lots of different approaches to managing my purchases versus painting and most of them have failed. For years my pile has grown bigger and bigger despite all of my best intentions. For the last 6 months I have, for the first time in my life, been succeeding.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-fca433fc-7fff-b1d3-3f89-37177a4ec677"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 359px; overflow: hidden; width: 602px;"><img height="359" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/bU1zbhnxLb8CUPKX_J5lzrzU6P1PSjqhIsF4hFsXOELQIBSEF-1f9YhttOAhKzCuDzYi0M3bf9cmsvZjp79IURqiyefm03YrMYHgZB1FHRuoB9cjlzzlen4KGO7UtbDAAhNI2Ez4-KUdeI9nBQY9MwU" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="602" /></span></span></span></p><p>My method is to use a very complicated spreadsheet. I’ll spare you all the details, but the principle is very simple indeed. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Every unit is given an “Effort” value</li><ul><li>1 Effort is approximately equal to painting a single Infantry model to my normal standard</li><li>A Character will typically be worth 2 Effort, maybe more</li><li>A simple Space Marine tank is just a box, so I’d give it 5 Effort</li><li>Dreadnought’s have proven themselves quite irritating to paint so I cost them as 10 Effort</li><li>Scenery is generally pretty low Effort for its size as it’s mostly quick sprays and drybrushing</li><li>Effort incorporates building and painting, but as I prefer building to painting, I focus on costing the painting much more than the building</li><li>Ultimately it doesn’t really matter how accurately you cost these, it’s just a ballpark</li></ul><li>Every time you complete a unit you earn half that unit’s effort in Credits</li><li>Every time you buy a new unit you spend its full amount of Effort in Credits</li></ul><p></p><p>The end result is essentially that for every model you want to buy you have to paint two. Eventually my backlog will shrink to nearly zero and I’ll have to change my pattern to one-in-one-out, but for now this is working really well. I’ve been painting more, buying less and generally feel good about my hobby. I still get to buy cool new models but I don’t feel guilty about it because I know that overall the backlog is decreasing. </p><p>There’s a few factors involved here I think, and a lot of it is the combination of both the 2-out-1-in process but also having it all written down in front of me. I can see what I have to paint, nothing gets forgotten in a cupboard. I have accountability to myself. I can enjoy the micro-endorphins from Number-go-up every time I complete something. I can plan ahead, and every time I want to buy something if I don’t have the credits available I can work out what I need to paint first, and that incentivizes me. </p><p>Right now I want to get ready for Scouts and Assault Marines getting released, so I looked through my list and selected 25 Effort of Navy Breachers that were already half painted. They’ve come back out of the box and onto my painting desk and I’ve been highly motivated to paint them, which is great because they’re awesome models and I’m really pleased to have them coming together and I can’t wait to have them all painted.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIi96_gIcN0rpaXNdenAmOgZjb2SPcRv7BWSV9lDp3p0A8w3VgxfX1QKDZMfb7Gp_JyC4jAbNlVte802EHKeZpfgPSG90avuyXOXy7br23NyTqDQks8Icmgq85xL-Kchih9m6W6xwXjm5g4pEEZG0ueImWXyRYS_sHS10Ka9qty-iOc29uzHOpUAHGUc/s1974/Breachers%20A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="1974" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggIi96_gIcN0rpaXNdenAmOgZjb2SPcRv7BWSV9lDp3p0A8w3VgxfX1QKDZMfb7Gp_JyC4jAbNlVte802EHKeZpfgPSG90avuyXOXy7br23NyTqDQks8Icmgq85xL-Kchih9m6W6xwXjm5g4pEEZG0ueImWXyRYS_sHS10Ka9qty-iOc29uzHOpUAHGUc/w400-h159/Breachers%20A.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">First squad finished, second squad still feeling blue.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>It’s all just mind games really, but I’ve found some mental Alchemy that works for me to turn desire for new models into motivation to paint old ones.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Harvey</h2><p>Tom’s approach is sane, organised and does a good job of keeping his backlog to a minimum. Sanity, however, is for the weak.</p><p>Strong opener aside, I think I’m probably more typical of the average hobbyist in that I have both a fairly involved backlog and also regularly add to it, without thinking very hard about when or where I might be able to fit in the hours required to assemble, paint and base what I’m buying. In the past I have had mixed results with this “if it feels good do it” approach (sorry orks you’re just not for me, sorry wood elves), and I think I’ve figured out over the years a handful of simple rules that stave off my choice paralysis and existential dread of so much time represented by unfinished little plastic mens.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">RULE 1: Keep it boxed...</h3><p>...Until you actually want to spend the time the project requires. It’s a subjective thing I’m sure, but unless I’m working on a self contained project like a scenery set having an entire army of miniatures assembled and sitting on my painting desk staring at me has such a deleterious effect on my motivation to paint. It’s a psychological trick I’ve actually learned from Charlie, and though it essentially boils down to the extremely nuanced position of Out of sight, out of mind, having the physical representation of hundreds of hours worth of work unobtrusively stashed in the garage gives me the feeling that the chunk in front of me (usually 1-2 squads at a time, per army) is a much more achievable prospect.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">RULE 2: Research...</h3><p>...Because impulse buying in this hobby is expensive. Even if you’re buying things well in advance of when you intend to complete them (as I almost always am) there are often ways to cut costs or do things more efficiently. While my Imperial Guard army is perhaps the single worst example of cost cutting I can think of, I do at least save up and bulk purchase the infantry (since they are ordered from Australia) to save on postage, and plan out exactly what I need (lol) and the cheapest (lol) way to get it before I take the plunge.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="274" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/1a4_7NqaGoRnvtuCUFfbum3Bq-TwBi3XBzLgJhu3fRU8Hy5Mm2AxxsP0NXI0V1Xnave08yvAO95lNVB49tzRbQOi5GGLo09UQaf4sv4FmV279cu-ERSPH2Z09kgBVzxErpvYNa5QGuxNQUOnfhFdhrM=w400-h274" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured: Well researched inefficiency. Seriously, the parts for this conversion come from two different GW kits, Bolt Action accessories, two different ebay sellers and a third party conversion kit maker... All for a Storm Chimera (Read: Nightfall 31st Wendigo Light Tank). They look the part though!</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">RULE 3: Have a plan...</h3><p>...For what you’re buying, even if that plan is merely a vague concept of something you’d like to do in the future with your group. I have a fairly sizable Eldar collection at varying levels of completion (due to getting most of the way through a total rebase), and want to grow it into an army capable of playing Apocalypse with - the only army in my collection I actively intend to grow to this size. Consequently, when I caved and bought a truly irresponsible number of Eldar super heavies, there was method behind the madness: One day, when we decide it's time, I’ll pull my finger out and paint them up in time for a sprawling Eldar focused campaign which will culminate in a game large enough to incorporate them, and a good time will be had by all. Despite having done nothing with them since they arrived I have no buyer’s remorse at all, because there’s a plan for them - and when it comes time to execute that plan I’ve already got the miniatures we’ll need ready to go.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">RULE 4: Finish something before you use it...</h3><p>...Because fully painted and based miniatures give the best gaming experience. This might be (is) snobbery of the highest order but I can’t help it, the hobby joy I get from playing a game of warhammer with two fully painted and based armies, on terrain that is also fully painted, is second to none. This rule for life isn’t intended as a way to manage my backlog, but still does indirectly by motivating me to finish miniatures if I ever want to see them used - meaning I finish projects and keep the conveyor belt moving.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">RULE 5: Show off! (it feels good!)</h3><p>Pretty much every time I finish a project (be it a squad, character or scenery thing) my various group chats get spammed with pictures, usually accompanied with some sort of “I did this” remark. I’m not really looking for critique when I do this (If I needed help I should have asked before finishing the thing after all), it’s more about capitalising on the sense of achievement after finishing a milestone. Armies are huge and take a lot of work, and never really get finished (as after a certain stage they’re more living collections than set army lists). Consequently the sense of achievement needs to come from smaller stages, otherwise it never really comes and I lose interest as the months drag on without dopamine based reward. Luckily my friends are all very accommodating of this behaviour, indeed we’re all doing much the same thing to varying degrees to keep the enthusiasm and mutual hobby joy flowing. Hooray for Narcissism...?</p><p>It would be rude to not now use this opportunity to give examples of a couple of things I’ve finished recently, using my Rules for Hobbying Chaotically(TM). I’ve been focusing on my Black Templars, both because that’s what I’ve been playing since the dawn of Tenth Edition, and because I’ve almost filled out two carry cases’ worth and that feels satisfying.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="159" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/sLRPF6WaJHNH5efiuMA9M2Q_5l5mGTBGSyIiEWz92hJ9MRt1lk6RWLuhr57heO7iDMq7CiavCV3smj1CPuMwZ1ROr8RTEL4FM9r2K1YrGQj5ihw0UWWXtrDJzGspqfAIurSSDA68CMiFYYdt6T-L7co=w400-h159" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watch-Marshal Antilochus Leothric Ortiz of the Black Templars, along with his chosen retinue, Nihilus Squad. Feel the Edge.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="400" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8YW__1qgYmh9sz0YjlRAdidCT6c1rmvBTw4CVgp0skZjOXMCOiNeFpvVF4w4vyTJQs5yhi-saN-C1IiqKRA4OmCGUsBlyvyPOBtDgGjggABus9hTL6bf8mMrkcBOSOo4w0qMdOhGfwLUInIqsmnMbhE=w322-h400" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: -19.036px; white-space-collapse: preserve;" width="322" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Malenius the Martian, leaning hard into the Dark Souls inspiration for this one. EDGE</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">Jeff</h2><p>Before I start, I agree with tons of what is said above, but it is fair to say that I am going to play Horusian Advocate here and offer a slightly different approach to all of this:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="white-space: normal;">There is no such thing as a pile of shame</span></li><li>Managing it is based entirely on whether the idea you had still “sparks joy” or can fit your current living situation.</li></ol><p></p><p>Allow me to expand, point 1 first: Everyone is different, we have a nice spread of home decor styles in the bunker from damn near minimalism to chaos goblin. I live rather more at the chaos goblin end, but can still see my floors. Some people can handle having clutter around is largely my point, and if you can… there is not a single thing wrong with having a backlog of miniatures. I often dislike the tone that Pile Of Shame brings, it’s why we often call it the Cairn of Opportunity in these parts. There is nothing wrong with having an exciting idea; investing in that excitement because you have the money now; then letting it mellow until time allows. We all have ups and downs, and let me tell you, when there’s too much month for the money, it’s nice to have something waiting there to let you keep on hobbying. Nothing like having to stop doing things you love because of finances to really rub in the cost of living. So I make hay while the sun shines and then feed the hobby livestock in the dark winters. That analogy got away from me a bit but I hope it made sense. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="197" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jlmNm9RhkQjxE9jaJnAzYp4ErBc_Ynd8ymRM44n_9hHRPBKQ39deIgO74aJji-N5HbRkkjFtSWI6mqgiO934fT-chiJx7A6y82hzTzAKGkiaajq5mDR3iytLQQWBLcB5jlEXq2TbAO2f0aZzvzN9Jgc=w640-h197" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The imperial guard were bought when swords were banned in 2021 and I converted the sad compensation money into toy mens. The tanks were bought when apocalypse first came out, so 2007! Both are being painted this year, the urge has struck.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>But! It is important, especially for us chaos goblins, to recognise that there are certain practical limitations. One is your living space, it’s irresponsible to let a collection become a hoarding situation. If you can’t fit it in then, well, sometimes things have to go. But there are ways to be space frugal too. Assembled minis often take up less space than the frames and so I tend to assemble as I go, I also clip all the spare bits from the frame, slap ‘em in a labelled baggie and into a bitz box they go. Shrink down all that air space and it’s amazing how little room bitz take. The critical thing, and the thing that I really lean on, is that “is this a project I truly want to do”, because if I’m not sure, or I’m not sure I’m going to have opponents (I’d be entirely out of luck in this crowd for Blood Bowl for example) then I do not buy it. The safest way to manage the cairn of opportunity is to only add what is truly giving you that good hobby juice. This was not always my way, but it is firmly older Jeff’s way. </p><p>Similarly, take the time to go through the cairn from time to time and check that things truly are still giving you that joy. If you kind of sigh and go “that’s never getting done is it” then they probably need to either 1) bring someone else joy, or 2) make back some of the bank so it can be reinvested in exciting little plastic mens. My preferred choice is always to support someone else’s hobby in the group. I’ve just moved a bunch of Ash Wastes buildings on to Harvey because he’s doing the project that I’d vaguely got them for now and thus I’ll be able to play on them all the sooner. For the stuff that still brings me the joy, it will wait for the yen to take me and then I’ll have that project ready to go. </p><p>So, the tl;dr summary: 1) don’t be ashamed of your collection, it is your hedge against leaner times. 2) If bits of your collection do not bring you the good hobby juice, move it on. 3) The easiest way to manage the cairn of opportunity is to take a breath before making that impulse purchase. Give it a minute and make sure that it really is something that you want (this is just one of many reasons I hate limited editions, but that’s a whole other ramble). </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Charlie</h2><p>Tom's way of doing things is the big boy version of my approach: we're both following the rule of "one in, two out," but he has a spreadsheet, and more nuanced rules. I sort of do it by eye; if I want to buy a thing, I must first paint something from my backlog of similar effort, and if I’m not immediately going to build and paint the new thing, I have to paint TWO equivalent things from the backlog instead.</p><p>This lack of actually recording stuff compared to Tom’s spreadsheet means this method is far more likely to go to shit at the first sign of trouble. I hear what Jeff's saying about buying stuff that excites you when it excites you, but he feels good doing that. I on the other hand do not feel good about buying something until I've finished it; retail therapy without actual follow-through just causes me mild emotional damage. No judgement on anyone who feels differently, that's just how my brain works. So as Harvey says, if I've bought something which I won't use right away for whatever reason, it stays in a box, stored away, so that it's not occupying mental space.</p><p>If that's how I feel about things I've bought but not used, why would I ever make this mistake? Classic pitfalls include time-limited releases (Christmas battleforce boxes), but my biggest Achilles heel by far is terrain. GW removes that stuff from circulation without warning, so if there's terrain I like, I'll often end up buying it.</p><p>Sometimes, I'll buy something on impulse which I absolutely haven't earned in terms of backlog clearance. When I do, I tend to make it a point of honour to build and paint that thing IMMEDIATELY. If it never goes into the backlog, it doesn't count. Right? RIGHT? Classic examples of this include the <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2017/05/tabletop-world-guard-tower.html" target="_blank">Tabletop World guard tower</a>, and indeed the two drop pods I once gave to Jeff, then recently got back from him. Those are two complex models I wasn’t expecting to have back in my life, so I just painted them AS SOON AS Jeff gave them back to me (thanks Jeff, love ya, glad you didn’t end up using them for your Blood Angels).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0siBtIcBSo7ZeqFb-C3Tl4OIaFc_XAV5i5r4riTKIyJAsfqNhzPxhBGKSH5ruY0FJU4bTX0lpJgMGtLq7Y9K8da4PlsMTAK-DPn02PXYHoHxvdUwXpg5aym3fPwQMEEBVWg6nPpZ16oY/s1568/002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1568" data-original-width="872" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0siBtIcBSo7ZeqFb-C3Tl4OIaFc_XAV5i5r4riTKIyJAsfqNhzPxhBGKSH5ruY0FJU4bTX0lpJgMGtLq7Y9K8da4PlsMTAK-DPn02PXYHoHxvdUwXpg5aym3fPwQMEEBVWg6nPpZ16oY/w223-h400/002.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0sxuy0HQqdO6V0WePhUtqLnS6DE7u615gXiNl2ZhUD7NoQNrj8YLMHTizQz1Icw5zbgqqnpzeCcFqm_boQ_lIugoSS7zOpH5lO_AUX8KdKApf5w4bdjAoIVVRL0-61O1UfFoCwiERr_Z8oB4H1Z0F1hmumOaMBRwfXSkGoXot5dww5lxLNzlKQfd1VU/s800/double%20pod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm0sxuy0HQqdO6V0WePhUtqLnS6DE7u615gXiNl2ZhUD7NoQNrj8YLMHTizQz1Icw5zbgqqnpzeCcFqm_boQ_lIugoSS7zOpH5lO_AUX8KdKApf5w4bdjAoIVVRL0-61O1UfFoCwiERr_Z8oB4H1Z0F1hmumOaMBRwfXSkGoXot5dww5lxLNzlKQfd1VU/s320/double%20pod.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Ultimately though my main defence against unsustainable buying is money. I can't really spend more than about £50-£60 a month on hobby stuff, and that's fine, since generally I can't paint more than that in the average month. Some months I might spend more, but that means I spend less the month after that.</p><p>I have to say, though, that this vague, hand-wavey policy does make me wonder if Tom's crazy complex spreadsheet approach might be something I'd enjoy. Number go up, and all that.</p><p>It can't hurt to try, can it?</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Maisey</h2><p>You guys have a backlog? </p><p>Seriously, I don’t have a Hobby Stash. Not really. I have the things I have completed and are using, or I have the stuff that I am actively working on. I don’t stockpile things that I intend to do at some point, maybe, if the mood takes me, perhaps. It is either something that I am doing or it’s gone. I simply do not have the mental capacity to hold on to a lot of maybes or ‘I’ll do it one of these days’. </p><p>I will finish the things I am working on and then move on to the next thing. If I start something and it doesn’t work, I will get rid of it. Either sell or donate, whichever. I don’t want half finished things nagging at me when I know, deep down, that I am not going to finish them. Similarly, buying for the sake of buying things then sitting on them just doesn't work for me. Having all that stuff just sat there just stresses me out. </p><p>So no fancy systems, methods, or justifications in my hobby world. Just simply, finish the thing, get the next thing.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SZ3RYcWxCi0rfKRmx5P26jkZXsr2kevAIjfc4OTcNWSJ-_9h_5o-XmncWHxXUy5XXX0vUTeUv92NVbYaF0M11wMJCMJExhzFfUGvieLY6IVmtbTMQrzp55UVYqd9_7AkuqUTasxGc-Ko24RvBPWcK5S2ZlKVM_uHVqyRo8Is_GAkIXny75-XHYogYzk/s696/Maisey_backlog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SZ3RYcWxCi0rfKRmx5P26jkZXsr2kevAIjfc4OTcNWSJ-_9h_5o-XmncWHxXUy5XXX0vUTeUv92NVbYaF0M11wMJCMJExhzFfUGvieLY6IVmtbTMQrzp55UVYqd9_7AkuqUTasxGc-Ko24RvBPWcK5S2ZlKVM_uHVqyRo8Is_GAkIXny75-XHYogYzk/w288-h400/Maisey_backlog.jpg" width="288" /></a></div><br /><h2 style="text-align: left;">Andrew</h2><p>I have come to find a backlog psychologically challenging. The thought of the various collections of unpainted, partially painted, or needs fixing models acts like a weight on my mind that means I struggle to focus on my current project.</p><p>This is problematic as I have also been in this hobby since the heady days of Rogue Trader and so have decades of collection in various states of completion.</p><p>Since the start of the pandemic, having just moved into a property with space in which I could bring together all the hobby I’ve had since I was a child, I’ve been making a concerted effort to reduce my collection and also control my accrual of new collection. This has taken on a few different methods, but mostly SPREADSHEETS!</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>I use a tracker for each year in which I track models in, models out, and also use the old painting points system (an old blogging system of monitoring how much effort models involve, 1 for basic infantry, 3 for a character, 5 for something big or extra complex).</li><li>I have a hobby savings account. Each month I transfer a nominal sum (it’s currently £30). Any money raised from selling off my older collection or models I’m no longer using also gets transferred into that account. I can then only spend the money in that account on my hobby. If something comes out and I can’t afford it, then I can’t buy it until there’s enough in that account. It's been revelatory in controlling my hobby butterfly.</li><li>eBay - I’ve become somewhat familiar with the process of how to sell and also how to accept to sell off models that I may have had since I was barely into my teens.</li></ol><p></p><p>It’s not perfect, and sadly most years my models in are still slightly higher than my models out, but the two are a lot closer than they ever were before so at least there’s some control, and occasionally I manage a big year and there’s a sizeable chunk taken out of the backlog.</p><p>I know I’ll never reach zero, but if I can get it to a point that it isn’t such a weight on my shoulders then I’d consider that a success.</p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-52524743922985457862023-09-25T14:02:00.002+01:002023-09-25T17:47:07.368+01:00Oops New Army: Imperial Soup Edition Part 2<p>If you haven't already read Oops New Army: Imperial Soup Edition Part 1, I recommend you <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/09/oops-new-army-imperial-soup-edition.html" target="_blank">go read it first</a> as it sets the scene for what I’m about to talk about today, the Imperial Guard portion of my accidental Imperial Soup army. Dubbed “Battlegroup 86”, the army consists of elements from the Imperial Knights of house Ulfir, the Cadian 177th Mechanised Infantry and the Cadian 53rd Armoured. Last time I focussed on the Knights, this time I’m diving into the Guard, but with an overall conclusion for the whole army.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkuSW5UHqZWHOyCqcjNk8mx9-qtTSYvidcU0Vns9S07RRPXVyy2siYXFm_e3-5Z1n0ka-qkKne_zvZKTpRLZyTShzv8_m2VwH9-fuyTnmM1CdQ9fFS7SN_SOoT0xEBigpc8wJf3XJdojLHMJ4RIOYSgcNxNLII4rFXn8WH225MjD14EiKmEUZn1WFkLDs/s800/Battlegroup_86.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkuSW5UHqZWHOyCqcjNk8mx9-qtTSYvidcU0Vns9S07RRPXVyy2siYXFm_e3-5Z1n0ka-qkKne_zvZKTpRLZyTShzv8_m2VwH9-fuyTnmM1CdQ9fFS7SN_SOoT0xEBigpc8wJf3XJdojLHMJ4RIOYSgcNxNLII4rFXn8WH225MjD14EiKmEUZn1WFkLDs/w400-h400/Battlegroup_86.png" width="400" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Why</h2><p>Imperial Knights are a skew army. All Vehicles All The Time. Certain armies, such as Orks, will particularly struggle with that kind of army, to a degree that playing it is simply not fun. The same would be true of playing an Imperial Guard armoured company. With that in mind, when I started building Knights I knew I would be able to bring them along to contribute to a multiplayer Apocalypse game, but I wanted to be able to have a mixed army of my own to use in smaller Crusade games. I toyed with a few options but with Harvey chanting “Guard Guard Guard” in my left ear, the choice was obvious.</p><p>I’ve always loved Guard, I’ve owned plenty of Guard models over the years and already had a small Traitor Guard army to mix with my Iron Warriors, but the amount of effort required to paint a full army put me off. But I messed around with some ideas, tried out one or two experiments in how I could paint infantry quickly, and pretty soon I was building a Guard army without ever quite having made an affirmative decision to do so. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Planning</h2><p>From the very beginning, my thought was “how can I paint Guard quickly”. I knew I wanted something along the lines of green; if I’m going to collect Guard I want my little green army men. But if you want to paint an army quickly it’s all about planning, and the quickest way to get a decent looking paint scheme is some combination of spray for the basecoat, drybrush the highlights and wash to shade the recesses. I did also toy briefly with using Contrast, it had worked well for Tyranids, but honestly I was not at all happy with the results.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_HVX0kYYeYyHPt6o17l4r55BMGPnKjLNCzi2VWvVkkcMfapT49Z7H3KyQWWlQi_38UPE7gip-NV6O1hkyYYnWcZvpL2ohI5oI_aabzJ1SwyTGIVwOTl76IWjyRJuXVuP5W4GTKqdmkdWkfRNql1WhLOUzkUJ2CUWCqhRwckXfxUwtGwkxGF1_lyLVNo/s1269/Contrast%20Test.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1065" data-original-width="1269" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8_HVX0kYYeYyHPt6o17l4r55BMGPnKjLNCzi2VWvVkkcMfapT49Z7H3KyQWWlQi_38UPE7gip-NV6O1hkyYYnWcZvpL2ohI5oI_aabzJ1SwyTGIVwOTl76IWjyRJuXVuP5W4GTKqdmkdWkfRNql1WhLOUzkUJ2CUWCqhRwckXfxUwtGwkxGF1_lyLVNo/w400-h336/Contrast%20Test.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the right, pure Contrast, on the left the armour painted with normal paints. I didn't like either.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>At the time, GW sold just one green spray, Death Guard Green, and it’s far too pale for my liking. If at the time I had known about Colour Forge, I would probably have a much quicker but less pretty Guard army right now. But I did not, so I looked at other options, and the thing that jumped out at me was Zandri Dust, a suitably military looking colour that would be perfect for painting the classic Cadian scheme. It would mean hand painting all the armour and hard bits green by hand, which is a lot more effort than my Necrons or Tyranids, but surely not too much effort, right? So I had an experiment, tried out some other greens, and ultimately could not resist the lure of my very favourite colour, Castellan Green.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3W9iW6a-K5P0PcIKxybdkyKmYMiyEQDhJqY7t_BrByCWnnNg1Q6KJ9wOGziS1G51JsvlwhBcJ8OmYSsG80YG274_ph1e3axhPnC-HRxyy25k-FsZ0_eQt42rFFpHUg8PbOnnpwvULfboAUXuKxpKJabKRgXECqNgKlS0qjltVmpw5Eyh7lEiJaajS-Rs/s1650/Guard%20Tests.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="748" data-original-width="1650" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3W9iW6a-K5P0PcIKxybdkyKmYMiyEQDhJqY7t_BrByCWnnNg1Q6KJ9wOGziS1G51JsvlwhBcJ8OmYSsG80YG274_ph1e3axhPnC-HRxyy25k-FsZ0_eQt42rFFpHUg8PbOnnpwvULfboAUXuKxpKJabKRgXECqNgKlS0qjltVmpw5Eyh7lEiJaajS-Rs/w400-h181/Guard%20Tests.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Undercoat in GW Zandri Dust</li><li>Drybrush Terminatus Stone</li><li>Basecoat armour/weapons Castellan Green</li><li>Drybrush armour/weapons Nurgling Green (neat drybrushing is required here)</li><li>Basecoat webbing Thindia Brown</li><li>Drybrush webbing Golgfag Brown (very very neat drybrushing is required here)</li><li>Paint in flesh/metal/other details</li><li>Apply Agrax Earthshade to everything</li></ol><p></p><p>Initially I had been leaving the belts and pouches in Zandri, but the new Cadians are just too cool so I added in steps 5 and 6 for their fancy webbing and backpacks.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03qEqpr8pbRW_gONoI61Xy7umuSc65KKyAJbIPwiSA4NzAICCGnwiE8ks8f65_I9IlOibCVOhmZWjtXm1LnmBqq7FqY_AxGGZn6JIzqFHgicPZIyPobCmB33G1pt5xFekXhtRMsGJskO9s1CCMqclTtqlEpKdv3U8OJ4GmFLiuvOsQ9PEg2OfYTVlzCs/s786/New%20Cadian.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="786" data-original-width="715" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh03qEqpr8pbRW_gONoI61Xy7umuSc65KKyAJbIPwiSA4NzAICCGnwiE8ks8f65_I9IlOibCVOhmZWjtXm1LnmBqq7FqY_AxGGZn6JIzqFHgicPZIyPobCmB33G1pt5xFekXhtRMsGJskO9s1CCMqclTtqlEpKdv3U8OJ4GmFLiuvOsQ9PEg2OfYTVlzCs/w364-h400/New%20Cadian.jpg" width="364" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One basic Infantryman</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Painting the Guard is not nearly as quick as I want it to be, and I have bitched about it incessantly. Spending an entire week painting a single 60 point Guard Infantry Squad when I could knock out 130 points of Necrons in an evening is harmful to my spirit (my slack bitch spirit). But I do my duty to the Emperor and to date have painted 61 Guardsmen models.</p><p>I have also now painted quite a few vehicles. Initially I painted up a Chimera much like I did the Guard, spraying it Zandri, and hand painting the green stripes. I wasn’t a big fan, but when Dan introduced me to Colour Forge sprays, a wide range of good quality spray cans colour matched to GW base paints, I came up with a much better way which I have <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2022/10/quick-and-easy-cadian-tanks-are-colour.html" target="_blank">previously documented</a>. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56XZQQU_oTPLCQftj7Wj0KWPMCWRR_e80gFeBjT0AS1hBoyZ-2B-fl28ywRqHaSWbr62sCS7OeqOYQylguGcaRkGh14Qx_AJ4lr1-lMNah8jmK_qtxEct7lOqcbB1vQwNhyyEBySm-s8dFd-YdWEM5OP0DxUAlfzcnO72VwkcyZn8XOdjrUuIZGAdfTs/s1686/Kasr%20Derth.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1686" data-original-width="1599" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56XZQQU_oTPLCQftj7Wj0KWPMCWRR_e80gFeBjT0AS1hBoyZ-2B-fl28ywRqHaSWbr62sCS7OeqOYQylguGcaRkGh14Qx_AJ4lr1-lMNah8jmK_qtxEct7lOqcbB1vQwNhyyEBySm-s8dFd-YdWEM5OP0DxUAlfzcnO72VwkcyZn8XOdjrUuIZGAdfTs/w379-h400/Kasr%20Derth.jpg" width="379" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kasr Derth</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I also kicked out a few sentinels, and learned the hard way that trying to paint stripes on their complex shapes was a nightmare, so I went pure green with them.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQf5Y_8fOrWR7Xi130cWFCWQQKZLoSJ3wQyjTGXVU795-yLeFbmUIzt0lFzXAk6QDM3pMwnet15agSn8e44uVWsvZNktWk9SzFi10-neb5FFmUEQh_JQYKNbrpyA_RaaWMKhlGRFlIo-hB53rYLwHB3MUVo7JmQaA3FENp01OpsTPZKR7CAQUCWAWgYgs/s1308/Sentinel%20Marine%20Hunters.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1107" data-original-width="1308" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQf5Y_8fOrWR7Xi130cWFCWQQKZLoSJ3wQyjTGXVU795-yLeFbmUIzt0lFzXAk6QDM3pMwnet15agSn8e44uVWsvZNktWk9SzFi10-neb5FFmUEQh_JQYKNbrpyA_RaaWMKhlGRFlIo-hB53rYLwHB3MUVo7JmQaA3FENp01OpsTPZKR7CAQUCWAWgYgs/w400-h339/Sentinel%20Marine%20Hunters.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fully magnetised but currently equipped for killing Chaos Space Marines</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">Collecting</h2><p>My initial goal was to avoid tanks, and build towards Infantry. That said, I knew I’d want some tanks eventually, so I started with a Cadian Defence Force (1 Command Squad, 2 Infantry Squads, 1 Heavy Weapon Squad, 1 Leman Russ, 1 Chimera) and an additional 2 Infantry Squads with the new upgrade sprue. This was all 8th edition, before the Cadian re-release.</p><p>If you leave the bipod off the missile launcher, the heavy weapon squad actually has enough parts for three full sets of heavy weapons, three missile launchers, three mortars and three of either lascannon, autocannon or heavy bolter. I used bodies from one of the infantry squads and a few of the command squad to fill in and ended up with:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>1 Lieutenant,</li><li>3 Infantry squads with missile launchers</li><li>1 mortar heavy weapons squad</li><li>1 lascannon heavy weapon squad</li></ul><p></p><p>Plus a Chimera and a Leman Russ for later.</p><p>I also took the opportunity to scour eBay for my favourite Guard model, the old Cadian Officer with Power Fist. I’ve bought a couple of these over the years, but always to carefully chop his power fist off and put it on something else (back in the days when you could use wargear that they didn’t explicitly have a model for, I had one on a Space Marine Scout and one on a Kasrkin Sergeant). The Contrast test officer above was one such donor. It’s such a great looking power fist for a non-Astartes model. No other powerfist since has been as good in my opinion. The first plastic replacement was absolute garbage, but the newer Scion and Cadian redesigns are quite nice. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7rNtdY8juTXBp4slulM99mKMWdPeWgNPb0rxtRYpTv8nAJwzs301T5L5rGdYsBKqQNT8pgANd2FFKM1vt4nkvDr-PG7tUWubPv1meQ8pATxyPfbmtDUWxDUY7WwVlgecllw9A-n9MQOq2J06w1v5YkXrOSF0cOfLwVaOtXOG2YXNJPbtyd0eLVufhRY/s651/Captain%20Founder.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="552" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje7rNtdY8juTXBp4slulM99mKMWdPeWgNPb0rxtRYpTv8nAJwzs301T5L5rGdYsBKqQNT8pgANd2FFKM1vt4nkvDr-PG7tUWubPv1meQ8pATxyPfbmtDUWxDUY7WwVlgecllw9A-n9MQOq2J06w1v5YkXrOSF0cOfLwVaOtXOG2YXNJPbtyd0eLVufhRY/w339-h400/Captain%20Founder.jpg" width="339" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Captain Founder</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Guard take forever to paint though, 44 Guardsmen later and I still only had about 350 points. My eyes strayed to my beloved abhumans, just 5 Ogryns would fill up 150 points (more now) and take me less time than painting one infantry squad…</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguVfJvxIJHDxhPgdMn5JmIZowmXVNSGyUxmmlJpVO0W7U6bNC9T-ygMGoYJw0MrqHwA2nSzJaJqTh5Hc_f_pOZHiHTimuljCCogZ5g5u6fSL90u4BuAMbo5qhj-Nf7Z7VkgqeCAceU4PQlgSwEhSCd1Oq3-M480sA9yndFSIQpqwhoI9dDeayBtp9Y15g/s1434/Ogryns.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="804" data-original-width="1434" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguVfJvxIJHDxhPgdMn5JmIZowmXVNSGyUxmmlJpVO0W7U6bNC9T-ygMGoYJw0MrqHwA2nSzJaJqTh5Hc_f_pOZHiHTimuljCCogZ5g5u6fSL90u4BuAMbo5qhj-Nf7Z7VkgqeCAceU4PQlgSwEhSCd1Oq3-M480sA9yndFSIQpqwhoI9dDeayBtp9Y15g/w400-h224/Ogryns.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lovingly nicknamed "Bonk Squad"</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Admittedly I did also get distracted and painted up the Chimera, mostly as an experiment in how tedious it would be, so I threw that in a few early games too.</p><p>With multiple soup games under my belt I found I was having a lot of fun with the Guard, maybe even… more fun than the Knights?! So with <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/01/the-raid-on-lachesis-campaign.html" target="_blank">Lachesis</a> on the horizon, I decided to crack the seal and build some tanks. I had the one from the Cadian Defence Force, but also two more that came from Mark’s glorious cairn of opportunity, so a trinity of boom was knocked up in short order. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZToB13WZFDUxCvMW9-1hLtZcoFEBFI7GcBZsOytGZyGFCsrJPM4L6ih20ifazqlrCTBVjbM0Eb731LhD07py0eJ-GDKFXAi7oxS_zV6YSO90c1Qkm4933MdzxeGNQxUILwqavKCcHBpki1V_Xoum8ORpBJhJlUlo_R02qvsSdb8NPU4zddh9yxcpK7TA/s1680/Tank%20Squadron.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1239" data-original-width="1680" height="472" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZToB13WZFDUxCvMW9-1hLtZcoFEBFI7GcBZsOytGZyGFCsrJPM4L6ih20ifazqlrCTBVjbM0Eb731LhD07py0eJ-GDKFXAi7oxS_zV6YSO90c1Qkm4933MdzxeGNQxUILwqavKCcHBpki1V_Xoum8ORpBJhJlUlo_R02qvsSdb8NPU4zddh9yxcpK7TA/w640-h472/Tank%20Squadron.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big badaboom</td></tr></tbody></table><p>I also added a few fun characters as I went along, largely older models I’d always coveted but never had a Guard army to justify. Plus some beautiful Ratlings. So far all they’ve ever added to my army is charm, they’ve never even killed a single model.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-GvS3cfTkeLLAOSGvQZRq-JzBAvqJ3N-HrYTvpYBKtIo4fhSGwqDbyL2iMR9hxDf-INeYDIltSQD9Uu1cI80DWk7VX6eGoSa8Ew-0UnNkjCRzIVJ7Ss8I5DDl_ftLS1TVMplckaeHHH2xCnFTqazXZphKHZO07jLKbuDDPWJRBQRtXfYc28X6vQUhPZU/s2364/Characters.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1101" data-original-width="2364" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-GvS3cfTkeLLAOSGvQZRq-JzBAvqJ3N-HrYTvpYBKtIo4fhSGwqDbyL2iMR9hxDf-INeYDIltSQD9Uu1cI80DWk7VX6eGoSa8Ew-0UnNkjCRzIVJ7Ss8I5DDl_ftLS1TVMplckaeHHH2xCnFTqazXZphKHZO07jLKbuDDPWJRBQRtXfYc28X6vQUhPZU/w400-h186/Characters.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A mix of old and new sculptes I really like and wanted to add in</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguptysqUhGOV3o-MSXfZGdXUx8KE8Hk7H9rLjxZHcyaR4E_L1yRQBJXIgTeDZY6cVriuFjsoHK5Ue_OpW4nkvaTbWiacRMfdTaRw99MPLRpWGxm0gElUeyF81R3T_jPIt1yslU6BWxtRb3nKRsb_mn09GYQjneyxRQcifgiqwsiSqUr5uY_tNKZoyUIGQ/s1236/Ratlings.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="597" data-original-width="1236" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguptysqUhGOV3o-MSXfZGdXUx8KE8Hk7H9rLjxZHcyaR4E_L1yRQBJXIgTeDZY6cVriuFjsoHK5Ue_OpW4nkvaTbWiacRMfdTaRw99MPLRpWGxm0gElUeyF81R3T_jPIt1yslU6BWxtRb3nKRsb_mn09GYQjneyxRQcifgiqwsiSqUr5uY_tNKZoyUIGQ/w400-h194/Ratlings.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mobile picnic that is ratling snipers</td></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="text-align: left;">The 9th Age</h2><p>After many years of patience, sustained by faith in the Emperor, the Guard got their Codex. There were lots of lovely new models I suddenly wanted, but there were also some key changes to units I already had. Most significantly, Officers now either had Command Squads or were “Commandants”. For me this meant Captain Founder and Lieutenant Wright needed command squads.</p><p>I decided to build Lieutenant Wright a command squad with the older Cadians, but use the new Command Squad to update the extremely heroic Captain Founder (despite my extreme love of his power fist, the rest of the model, it turns out, is not actually that great). I started work on Lieutenant Wright even before the new book dropped, and made a critical mistake. I had built it with the cool looking (but somewhat rubbish rules-wise) sniper model (<a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2022/12/the-way-of-maxmin.html" target="_blank">Maxmin</a> baby!) but it turns out that <i>Cadian</i> command squads cannot have a sniper rifle anymore so I had to rather rapidly build another plasma gunner instead. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVPag3kknt1XPIaus1StCATyV45IceBmvhhwGdVicEkMH5H_SD3opz9fqvpzmAb89q1IFZXaOadGC-7q_DTYLaKgQa4Xsnpgvn-MW22k-_AXpazz19RZH3ZbSal0g3thmZTf89wz2hWbJQVuMIhsfMqcY4CwyRIBkMKSy5ztbuj2p2Jk90m2eVimqXEI/s1629/Squad%20A20%20Command.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="915" data-original-width="1629" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLVPag3kknt1XPIaus1StCATyV45IceBmvhhwGdVicEkMH5H_SD3opz9fqvpzmAb89q1IFZXaOadGC-7q_DTYLaKgQa4Xsnpgvn-MW22k-_AXpazz19RZH3ZbSal0g3thmZTf89wz2hWbJQVuMIhsfMqcY4CwyRIBkMKSy5ztbuj2p2Jk90m2eVimqXEI/w400-h225/Squad%20A20%20Command.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Platoon Command Squad A20 - Lieutenant Wright</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBxEGmOZUiqbiH3UZLgdK9T26nMlYc5IqERblm10YGSkGIpVvmITnl5-LctfJUISI-zMJaILtvkzLFpCt-vt7akDBAnPjMU1UuGDzMljPRG4ahafGSTTjqwWXby9uTT6Ep8Wl57ko2vlZQoLv18NFLvrxqtpjqJ1Xt5uPKc8uuDgh2ByBnkT9EZ_8tSZo/s1375/Squad%20A0%20Command.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="1375" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBxEGmOZUiqbiH3UZLgdK9T26nMlYc5IqERblm10YGSkGIpVvmITnl5-LctfJUISI-zMJaILtvkzLFpCt-vt7akDBAnPjMU1UuGDzMljPRG4ahafGSTTjqwWXby9uTT6Ep8Wl57ko2vlZQoLv18NFLvrxqtpjqJ1Xt5uPKc8uuDgh2ByBnkT9EZ_8tSZo/w400-h245/Squad%20A0%20Command.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Company Command Squad A0 - Captain Founder</td></tr></tbody></table><p>The rest was paperwork, updating stats on my Crusade roster and changing around Warlord Traits and Relics that had been updated etc. One technically optional thing I did was change out a few upgrades on some tanks. I had got lucky and managed to get +1 damage on both my regular Leman Russ and my Executioner Tank Commander. This gave me some actually decent damage output at D3+1 and 3 respectively which was extremely helpful playing a 9th edition game with an 8th edition Codex. </p><p>With the glow-up the tanks gained from the new Codex, these upgrades would push them to a flat 4 damage, which on a gun regularly knocking out 6+ shots per turn was “quite fresh”. I rerolled their upgrades, making them somewhat less obnoxious.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">The 10th Age</h2><p>For me, has yet to begin. The downside of having so many armies is I end up flitting between them as it takes a bit of time to get up to speed each time something changes. For 10th I am initially concentrating on Necrons, whose Index list has the right vibe for my army, and Space Marines whose Codex is coming very soon.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Making it my own</h2><p>This is definitely one of my armies where I like what GW have done and am happy to stick with the classic. They were initially conceived as just being the poor doomed nameless Guardsmen, background characters to the Imperial Knights, but of course I should have known that I would fall wildly in love with these glorious underdogs. That said, I didn’t want my Cadians to be a finite resource, I knew they would be dying in glorious numbers, so I have written some lore about them having (grudgingly) picked up non-Cadian reinforcements.</p><p>Even though I planned for them to be chaff, I had no interest in building totally faceless identical Guardsmen. Each Infantry squad has a named Sergeant and their own flavour, such as second squad, led by Sergeant Smale. As the most senior non-Cadian-born in the company she has a high proportion of non-Cadian-born soldiers in her squad and is always charging her squad into danger to try and prove they are just as good as “those purple-eyed bastards”. Her squad carries a melta instead of a plasma gun and are all modelled with bayonets fixed, ready to get stuck in.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNBIgif7f1Cbig6oBPZxrYMcbBPZkZRXREB4c7YU146AAWzmxWuFc1cP9zBj76e3gpqrCnUDi5PZcLFBqTkomnfPvVuXBZhPewC8IqLK0ipAv1rKM7jJKxv8VOFI5yWuMMxrrSnQfbVdWiUOMn8wROoR04TtsNP9ADy1WOKaU7ObpUBAEB4bV8p_SvqE/s2226/Squad%20A22%20updated.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="2226" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVNBIgif7f1Cbig6oBPZxrYMcbBPZkZRXREB4c7YU146AAWzmxWuFc1cP9zBj76e3gpqrCnUDi5PZcLFBqTkomnfPvVuXBZhPewC8IqLK0ipAv1rKM7jJKxv8VOFI5yWuMMxrrSnQfbVdWiUOMn8wROoR04TtsNP9ADy1WOKaU7ObpUBAEB4bV8p_SvqE/w400-h224/Squad%20A22%20updated.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squad A22 - Sergeant Smale</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Captain Founder is the main leader of my Cadians (although I do now have a Major as well who I can bring along sometimes). He started with a name, and some basic characteristics of being a good officer with the characteristic Cadian trait of leading from the front. I did however expect him to die a lot. What I wasn’t prepared for was how much of a big damn hero he would become, personally rescuing civilians, facing down Chaos Warlords and Ork Nobs, and generally kicking disproportionate arse. </p><p>He won many medals (many Crusade relics for Guard are, charmingly, medals) and did so well high command assigned him an Ogryn bodyguard. Later (with the aforementioned requirements to have command squads) he was honoured to bear with him the Regimental Standard of the Cadian 177th. From what I've seen of 10th, we won't be returning to lone officer anytime soon.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">In Conclusion</h2><p>This army, in many ways, exists because of Mark. It will always be special to me because of that. It’s not Orks, obviously, but I think he’d have enjoyed seeing it on the table and giving them a good krumping. Also it is green. It did occur to me to name a character in it for him, but somehow it didn’t feel right. </p><p>My previous oops new armies have been fun self-contained projects. They have been knocked out, played with a bit, and put on the shelf ready as a resource whenever I need them with an occasional extra unit added here or there. This one has been different, and I'm going to be contuniing to work on it for years to come. I don’t particularly think of myself as a Tyranids player, but I am definitely a Guard player now. This didn’t happen by choice, I have been conscripted. I guess since I’m Cadian that makes me a Whiteshield actually. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlel_23sm9KnR-IJ6j5pzilPrRNhEpL-cy7nz_px6_QHbsF3KdemRqJ-BkczEB8CbR6ttxhl4mPcWif4ooC3rIycNe92dqL6tlm8fh6BRQBnIl03lDy8jc1YM6ib-fCQvGy1PqiQPf2KkvBczfDaFLfF626NNwOuOFEXjzBowgEJIu5ZMADiCmpoCcwL8/s2121/Battlegroup%2086%20-%2020221106.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1737" data-original-width="2121" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlel_23sm9KnR-IJ6j5pzilPrRNhEpL-cy7nz_px6_QHbsF3KdemRqJ-BkczEB8CbR6ttxhl4mPcWif4ooC3rIycNe92dqL6tlm8fh6BRQBnIl03lDy8jc1YM6ib-fCQvGy1PqiQPf2KkvBczfDaFLfF626NNwOuOFEXjzBowgEJIu5ZMADiCmpoCcwL8/w640-h524/Battlegroup%2086%20-%2020221106.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I have had an incredible amount of fun playing with this army. Everything in 40k looks better when your perspective is that of the humble Guardsman, rather than a ceremite clad superhuman or alien monstrosity, it all just feels… more 40k. Also, speaking psychologically, I never really feel like I’m losing when I play as Guard. </p><div style="text-align: left;"><i>“To each of us falls a task. And all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we stand in line, and we die fighting. It is what we do best: we die standing.”</i><br /> - General Sturnn, Commander Cadian 412th</div><p>As long as I turn up for the game and put my models on the table, I’ve done my duty and they’ve done theirs. A helpful viewpoint I think when you are pretty much removing your models with a dustpan and brush. </p><p>Cadia Stands.</p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-88248611272921382492023-09-18T14:00:00.024+01:002023-09-18T14:00:00.150+01:00Some extremely nuanced thoughts on Terminators<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibuUGCyY1f2eLRSLlGUWBQVN8y5o_8vy9jtelm8epih-NNqvuLmEFnNf_g8yQwLDt-VYW2tAMtw0Trdy2SImXLdTJaGG5QpQe4uIM4lXp0OIYm48dvIrVJqmZYs37tIAK-8U3Jal-etM7fkbK_bNVMx3RTVv5jJYu04Dbir3p3nyJleH1cWcaKzJm4s8/s893/walk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="893" data-original-width="893" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgibuUGCyY1f2eLRSLlGUWBQVN8y5o_8vy9jtelm8epih-NNqvuLmEFnNf_g8yQwLDt-VYW2tAMtw0Trdy2SImXLdTJaGG5QpQe4uIM4lXp0OIYm48dvIrVJqmZYs37tIAK-8U3Jal-etM7fkbK_bNVMx3RTVv5jJYu04Dbir3p3nyJleH1cWcaKzJm4s8/w400-h400/walk.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A good blog post should have some advice or information relevant to the reader. It should serve a <i>purpose</i>, I think, or it's just onanism.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This post does not meet that requirement. It's just a rant about how much I f---ing love the terminator sculpts from the <i>Leviathan </i>box. I'm not going to say anything that's not already been said. My paint job will not be the best on the internet, nor will it be so humorously bad that it's worthy of your attention. The one sop to the concept of content is the bit where I have a think about how to approach the existence of terminator armour for Indomitus Founding Chapters, an absolutely niche lore point that no one asked for, but which I'm writing anyway.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There's the cards on the table. Now here's some big blue chunkers.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpScOWaG2VdOlkVCDD16XguSps20cOLmFQ1lSbonKb23BXPM5G02DWIin2mS97A8un8nG_q8qzgq_5y-0q3iYLoZEB62EBfHLubTFoaGfFkshQZlpKGctMgUCccmTCVnGs9LbmiLTDKby7O7UaxJmALGDpm16ahj-4SQUO-UvQzmFj64HqZr2Z6H16t8/s1373/squad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="1373" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixpScOWaG2VdOlkVCDD16XguSps20cOLmFQ1lSbonKb23BXPM5G02DWIin2mS97A8un8nG_q8qzgq_5y-0q3iYLoZEB62EBfHLubTFoaGfFkshQZlpKGctMgUCccmTCVnGs9LbmiLTDKby7O7UaxJmALGDpm16ahj-4SQUO-UvQzmFj64HqZr2Z6H16t8/w640-h338/squad.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Look at them. <b><i>Just look</i>.</b> These sculpts convey weight and heft while also having very natural looking movement. Sure there's a few moulding artefacts to make them easy fit, but those become largely invisible if you add shading in the right places. They're just absolute bangers, the lot of them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'd resigned myself to not having Terminators; it looked like Gravis armour was the new reality, and I'd reconciled myself to that. Now I'll still be using Gravis units - more for the utility than the aesthetic - and I also accept that Terminators are not, historically, an amazing unit. I don't give a shit. They look boss sausage, and the fact that we recently finished painting our space hulk terrain means I cannot, <i>cannot </i>wait for some boarding actions to happen.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX5421i-VcSenn8jw8loKEbizEslPg_DdALmz5SoarMZTtzdk8Fxbhakdb3DOSJnFEhxikbGj8w1ymXdM8iMFU4eHD8c4Ch73Pk-oZ43fTrPAZFVhX2eqp4b1ZVsDtM9QrI2NBBD7HtJwrIgihBNNkRnnM55rcgHExQKQjZebCT2fl88ofsYraRJUtzh4/s840/white%20knee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="840" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX5421i-VcSenn8jw8loKEbizEslPg_DdALmz5SoarMZTtzdk8Fxbhakdb3DOSJnFEhxikbGj8w1ymXdM8iMFU4eHD8c4Ch73Pk-oZ43fTrPAZFVhX2eqp4b1ZVsDtM9QrI2NBBD7HtJwrIgihBNNkRnnM55rcgHExQKQjZebCT2fl88ofsYraRJUtzh4/w400-h400/white%20knee.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Heraldry decisions</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Normally, Cobalt Scions use their left kneepad and right shoulder pad for squad numbers. They also get their left kneepad painted in their company colour. With the Crux Terminatus on the left shoulder, that means the Chapter badge has to go on the right, and with the bling kneepads some of the Terminators are sporting, you just can't put a squad number on all of them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I decided this didn't matter. My thinking goes thusly: suits of tactical dreadnought armour are in very short supply, and these suits are not for a specific unit; they're for any First Company veteran who's using them. Normally each unit I paint would represent a specific squad, but this unit have no personal identifiers on them. For the same reason, I avoided any bareheaded lads.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4R6Jbwxuwrs28X-EhX3ouCymZomS0b8ZfLP0-tumYSt0-1QKq-0CfunDU9u3dtjXN9mefOfFJfABn1LLSLo0fI_TpurgEaPG7y240Lke5rNw_Jpfm2LGKoLykvmnpc72NrXS6jQ4jcgK1xQqc-whELBvInVP1GHQWL2rPrikYH4C-mMmJg31k18WhRNI/s808/sergeant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="808" data-original-width="808" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4R6Jbwxuwrs28X-EhX3ouCymZomS0b8ZfLP0-tumYSt0-1QKq-0CfunDU9u3dtjXN9mefOfFJfABn1LLSLo0fI_TpurgEaPG7y240Lke5rNw_Jpfm2LGKoLykvmnpc72NrXS6jQ4jcgK1xQqc-whELBvInVP1GHQWL2rPrikYH4C-mMmJg31k18WhRNI/w400-h400/sergeant.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Indomitus Founding Chapters and Terminator Armour</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The official lore surrounding the manufacture of tactical dreadnought armour is pretty vague. In some places it suggests the Imperium's forgotten how to make it, while other sources say there are very few places with the resources and expertise to produce terminator armour, meaning each new suit is effectively treated as an irreplaceable relic by whichever Chapter receives it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This suffers from the classic 40K problem of "ok but how are there any of these things left in existence?" given the attrition rates of military hardware. In general, I take official lore to be an exaggeration of reality. It does however beg the question: would Indomitus Founding Chapters have any at all?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Given how rare and precious the stuff is, I imagine the Primaris Chapters all started out with none, and used Gravis armour for similar roles. I also wondered how such Chapters might eventually acquire any suits, given the sudden increase in marines across the galaxy all, presumably, sharing the same now-even-more-stretched supply chain.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ExJJJIIUIyhoAGyB0LSyZHCDohHPXZRUYJ-ilnH-p9MWPwbahgHm-zaMU7QaEqNAW8kW0ZxI9U_Z4OlapdsuQl0bjJ_mvY07kXvrdCDp0d1lcT0X8v__tZ8lwJZF9XBz3uLPsG5oxTy4NBPFqsTQId0_PjriVjDKCIDwGu74QvrnJ1LeOcA8QhdDcnk/s806/walk%20back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="806" data-original-width="806" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ExJJJIIUIyhoAGyB0LSyZHCDohHPXZRUYJ-ilnH-p9MWPwbahgHm-zaMU7QaEqNAW8kW0ZxI9U_Z4OlapdsuQl0bjJ_mvY07kXvrdCDp0d1lcT0X8v__tZ8lwJZF9XBz3uLPsG5oxTy4NBPFqsTQId0_PjriVjDKCIDwGu74QvrnJ1LeOcA8QhdDcnk/w400-h400/walk%20back.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuzdGSFAMVLtAzg_BXzrLLZ-WuQLdtvgyr7Qih0Ha-37d65ACTxHarYLB7tP9QZg24SRIaYHdxO3NdAlZRVlX0OBNCOoNZBcXjIcQLMW3ylIIucO7wr5acSctKhDI6uqm5lTaP-VSv_wbebFi_8Ze6YsVlorsvT5AcOO1Gj9yERAblt2eZdD-ehM_bf8/s842/walk%20side.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="842" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuzdGSFAMVLtAzg_BXzrLLZ-WuQLdtvgyr7Qih0Ha-37d65ACTxHarYLB7tP9QZg24SRIaYHdxO3NdAlZRVlX0OBNCOoNZBcXjIcQLMW3ylIIucO7wr5acSctKhDI6uqm5lTaP-VSv_wbebFi_8Ze6YsVlorsvT5AcOO1Gj9yERAblt2eZdD-ehM_bf8/w400-h400/walk%20side.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Where I landed was the idea that a Chapter Forge has the expertise to make the armour, but that it's insanely resource intensive, technically demanding, and produces something only slightly better than Gravis plate. It also requires you to source adamantium, a non-trivial problem. On balance it's barely worth the effort, and even then, only when the Chapter's in good health and doesn't have more basic equipment that needs producing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I broadly think of the Cobalt Scions as having been in their new Fortress Monastery on Thonis for about the same amount of time I've been collecting the army, so... four years, at this point. As the Chapter's numbers are recovering, with the first generation of scouts approaching the day they'll earn the black carapace, I imagine the Chapter Forge has achieved full functionality. That means they can start branching out beyond the essentials into primo luxury goods.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Given how slow it is to produce, and since this is my own Chapter, I'm just going to assume the Cobalt Scions' total supply of the armour is equal to the number of new Terminator suits I, personally, have painted in my collection. Meaning: their supply will increase very, very slowly.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Right. I should go and think about a name for the sergeant, since while the <i>models </i>have been painted to be anonymous, these bricks <i>do</i> have to go into my Crusade roster. Stompus Ceruleus, maybe. Feel free to suggest equally silly names in the comments. For now though I'll sign off with some more photos; thanks for coming to my TED rant.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiohjO_1WFDeNCz1nKTqJ9SovZwkn5sbRhDPg8eTeeRD_4ML9VyfsDF90Nxj1uVTucFhbswK8ZkehUA5uRqm6ht9lnNZTwRuR9fBh_ErDoHq1HCziTBk2jAY7aR6Zj7ok0J1uq-hTQ-Kgx8aFQqzAvTS0UwGz5YyxMFxjQOcK6MA3VTEGu8HBMGm6iT9g/s821/assault%20cannon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="821" data-original-width="821" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiohjO_1WFDeNCz1nKTqJ9SovZwkn5sbRhDPg8eTeeRD_4ML9VyfsDF90Nxj1uVTucFhbswK8ZkehUA5uRqm6ht9lnNZTwRuR9fBh_ErDoHq1HCziTBk2jAY7aR6Zj7ok0J1uq-hTQ-Kgx8aFQqzAvTS0UwGz5YyxMFxjQOcK6MA3VTEGu8HBMGm6iT9g/w400-h400/assault%20cannon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgiSCHCFO7LklE9nBqly9ztyu1_-yX302vzkLPpnDIQtJVHKG6l5f9KrMYy-Q0c9f1Izk-42y40zqIdvCQEKdlqZmzWM6JxNcipVZzP6PIddvhAhzp4QfEkIA2wp4QzViwceJmw7Qnc738iDqpC6WVr_wHMBLGNZLnk68-SQ8JE9qTBfBCPfEDKZpRY4/s418/homer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="418" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgiSCHCFO7LklE9nBqly9ztyu1_-yX302vzkLPpnDIQtJVHKG6l5f9KrMYy-Q0c9f1Izk-42y40zqIdvCQEKdlqZmzWM6JxNcipVZzP6PIddvhAhzp4QfEkIA2wp4QzViwceJmw7Qnc738iDqpC6WVr_wHMBLGNZLnk68-SQ8JE9qTBfBCPfEDKZpRY4/w320-h320/homer.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKmqDdKS7LttHRoNncYSMPfFFFln-ohIbwPfCkCceEruRWCptBFa-tFD2iwmvUCp-15j5TcgY7Bg0WQJd3ZiytNOzyM7wE3rV2orZGI5Qk1Pmd62-pJYsBX3BDWPIOpmDMCI6BEqa11bJD8am7U7IANkScSlnDWSxBO3E6bTXmY7wYulDSiNp_ggT9_-U/s840/white%20knee.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="840" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKmqDdKS7LttHRoNncYSMPfFFFln-ohIbwPfCkCceEruRWCptBFa-tFD2iwmvUCp-15j5TcgY7Bg0WQJd3ZiytNOzyM7wE3rV2orZGI5Qk1Pmd62-pJYsBX3BDWPIOpmDMCI6BEqa11bJD8am7U7IANkScSlnDWSxBO3E6bTXmY7wYulDSiNp_ggT9_-U/w400-h400/white%20knee.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-75555937563347376642023-09-11T14:00:00.018+01:002023-09-25T17:48:12.683+01:00 Oops New Army: Imperial Soup Edition Part 1<p> It should go without saying to readers of <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/01/oops-new-army-necron-edition.html" target="_blank">Oops New Army: Necron Edition</a> and <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/02/oops-new-army-tyranid-edition.html" target="_blank">Oops New Army: Tyranid Edition</a> that I have A Problem. I think the issue might be that I have lots of plans that I promise myself I’ll do “one day”. But once you decide you will do something in the <i>future</i>, it becomes very easy to say yes to little things <i>now</i>. Once you’ve started you might as well carry on. My Imperial Knights/Guard army is a testament to this. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rJSAZvDn5ykE0wDS-eQc5R2BJgsV4sqGU8gWnpv246yC-pMR8em9OjebJ9ukPMP88O38E7r51DTPE-MoVSpc1cKDb93QttllgGxF9yofPI5RFiv3WZgMUtcZcBoXOM2MhJv38ecOVbFB6ZPXOPlajkFTUe4Jz-ECvcHyAwNDnSL4yEl90l8O8ydCbDo/s2121/Battlegroup%2086%20-%2020221106.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1737" data-original-width="2121" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rJSAZvDn5ykE0wDS-eQc5R2BJgsV4sqGU8gWnpv246yC-pMR8em9OjebJ9ukPMP88O38E7r51DTPE-MoVSpc1cKDb93QttllgGxF9yofPI5RFiv3WZgMUtcZcBoXOM2MhJv38ecOVbFB6ZPXOPlajkFTUe4Jz-ECvcHyAwNDnSL4yEl90l8O8ydCbDo/w640-h524/Battlegroup%2086%20-%2020221106.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>This “Oops New Army” is an even bigger Oops than normal, since it is in fact two armies, Imperial Knights and Imperial Guard. This article I’ll be mainly focussing on the Knights, and next time I’ll talk some more about the Guard.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Why</h2><p>Giant Robots Are Cool. I suspect most Giant Robot lovers started out with some variant of Gundam, but for me my mechaphilia all starts with watching <i>Full Metal Panic!</i> (the explanation mark is apparently a required part of the title). Alongside a lot of anime staples like teenage high-school protagonists and unreasonable nonsense they had a core concept of battle mecha integrated into the near future military alongside tanks, attack helicopters, cruise missiles and the like. </p><p>Setting the giant robots against a very familiar backdrop does far more to show off how cool they are, in my opinion, than having them floating around in space shooting lasers at each other. Likewise, the main reason I haven't fallen hard for Adeptus Titanicus is that there’s nothing <i>but </i>Giant Robots. If GW ever releases Epic again I’ll be totally screwed*. </p><p>If you’ve read <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2019/11/totally-worth-it.html" target="_blank">Mark’s posthumous post</a>, you’ll know he left behind a lot of unused kits. As any Ork player knows, all kits are Ork kits. In helping his widow dispose of it, a lot of them were bought by the rest of us, to save the effort of putting it on eBay. One of the first and easiest things to sort was a box of Armigers. I had always planned to get some Knights one day, so I took them in.</p><div style="text-align: left;">“Damnation starts with little steps”<br /> - Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTDIEadcDI-Kafh63agZqESL7eD8BNrZGXV6wSe3AGj8ZUxwZsUySPPbdKqJFPYWsMIo1yHQSltAsuqZPLydsHq-ZdVTiYfanmr2FbEJ1VJogzn5YoLBJHRHI41Eg93-FBxoVc1XBRt-4K7O6I2wlkrqvVKaBeLU0Fni5M2GBzgKWC-AwFUceiSjQf7o/s2160/Glymja%20-%20Armiger%20Warglaive%20-%20Vei%20Asta.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2160" data-original-width="1621" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTDIEadcDI-Kafh63agZqESL7eD8BNrZGXV6wSe3AGj8ZUxwZsUySPPbdKqJFPYWsMIo1yHQSltAsuqZPLydsHq-ZdVTiYfanmr2FbEJ1VJogzn5YoLBJHRHI41Eg93-FBxoVc1XBRt-4K7O6I2wlkrqvVKaBeLU0Fni5M2GBzgKWC-AwFUceiSjQf7o/w300-h400/Glymja%20-%20Armiger%20Warglaive%20-%20Vei%20Asta.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Glymja, Armiger Warglaive, piloted by Vei Touki Vestrfjall</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Painting up an Armiger was fun, and a good way to try out the colour scheme and painting techniques, but it doesn’t do much on its own. Short on ideas and pressured for a decision, I asked for a full sized Imperial Knight for my birthday. It sat around for a while, but eventually got finished <i>just </i>before my next birthday. After that, another Armiger swiftly followed and I had a small Lance of my own, keen to take to the field. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEPUoUlti3Q1kiskYaO_FWeYIsBGCNduEfSBE71mAHlrnPgSmzeUiPXCXoCOevBoTNtS_pRTmcJiGaoOmVXTo35PJtrLLN2an2ykZj0tGy5NFOYum83sQgqSMIiJ7kgc-2Nq7vykWaqEPz0uvxewlotvPpRqJ6x2KuRq2syD_VTLsL2Uag6UAobVeDW8/s1155/Vapnburtha%20-%20Armiger%20Helverin%20-%20Vei%20Danr.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="1023" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaEPUoUlti3Q1kiskYaO_FWeYIsBGCNduEfSBE71mAHlrnPgSmzeUiPXCXoCOevBoTNtS_pRTmcJiGaoOmVXTo35PJtrLLN2an2ykZj0tGy5NFOYum83sQgqSMIiJ7kgc-2Nq7vykWaqEPz0uvxewlotvPpRqJ6x2KuRq2syD_VTLsL2Uag6UAobVeDW8/w354-h400/Vapnburtha%20-%20Armiger%20Helverin%20-%20Vei%20Danr.jpg" width="354" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p>Vapnburtha, Armiger Helverin, piloted by Vei Danr Vestrfjall</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Whilst GW considers a pure Knight army to be balanced and fine, we at the Bunker don’t really consider it to be very fun to regularly play against. It’s a strongly skewed army that most fluffy and narrative armies will have a lot of units just standing around being fairly useless. I could (and hope to) bring my Lance to be part of some big Apocalypse scale game sometime, but mostly we’re playing Crusade at the moment, so I wanted to get them on the table on their own. My solution was to put together some Guard infantry with the intention of having the Knights replace the armour normally present in a Guard army, resulting in a fairly balanced army.</p><p>Of course as the Guard side expanded, I quickly found that they were at least as, if not more, fun than the Knights, and the idea of being able to use the Guard on their own came up and well wouldn’t you know it but Mark had a few <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2022/10/quick-and-easy-cadian-tanks-are-colour.html" target="_blank">Lemans Russ</a> still on the sprue that needed a good home…</p><p>In one year this army has gone from not existing to 2,700 points built and painted. That said, just as we got a new Guard Codex and lots of lovely new models, GW dropped 10th edition and reset everything. The downside of having a lot of armies is how hard it is to get up to speed with them again when things change. For now in 10th edition I am concentrating on playing Necrons (because of all the Index subfactions for my various armies theirs is the only one that suits my own army) and Raven Guard (because they’ll have a real Codex and get to be themselves soon). I am expecting a big resurgence in interest the next time Codex Guard comes around.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Planning</h2><p>For my Knight house, I wanted to lean towards the more practical end of the spectrum. I’m speaking about gigantic robots, so I use the word “practical” very loosely here. I played with a lot of ideas in my head and settled on plain metal and natural colours. </p><p>For the ‘skeleton’ and trim would be the same aged metal effect I used for <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/01/oops-new-army-necron-edition.html" target="_blank">my Necrons</a>. Poor design language of course, since those two armies are built from quite different materials, but I won’t be using them both on the same table at the same time, so I figure it doesn’t matter. </p><p>The heraldic colours are Castellan Green and Adeptus Mechanicus Grey (alas poor Codex Grey! I knew him, Horatio). I’d never suggest they were in any way meaningful camouflage, but they do represent the pine trees and rocky mountains of their homeworld <a href="http://geniusproductions.co.uk/Cetus/index.php?title=Skogheim" target="_blank">Skogheim</a>. </p><p>Typically I plan a paint scheme for maximum speed, but whilst the metal is a nice and easy spray, wash, drybrush combo, overall the Knights are painted to my highest standard. Edge highlights, pin washes, chipping and dirt and mud and the full shebang. Knights are the pinnacle of centrepiece models, if there’s anything worth putting maximum effort into it’s an Imperial Knight model.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYzx7flniJ0enEZpNyZIOKFTNuzwOwRFtK90BclH__HE1PG1-0lzXkI2zyfr9DoS6qi7Tf6Rvm5yIf754hczcGo7lhaailzwNTobd8VmnOoCLQH7VBHqIxXIkIgZU88CSblOpBK3q_VjAjX5WptpEo3Eume7PvhCf1KHVnApcTb8cnSXi7MeAsfoMm7w0/s2727/Striiguth_legs.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2064" data-original-width="2727" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYzx7flniJ0enEZpNyZIOKFTNuzwOwRFtK90BclH__HE1PG1-0lzXkI2zyfr9DoS6qi7Tf6Rvm5yIf754hczcGo7lhaailzwNTobd8VmnOoCLQH7VBHqIxXIkIgZU88CSblOpBK3q_VjAjX5WptpEo3Eume7PvhCf1KHVnApcTb8cnSXi7MeAsfoMm7w0/w400-h303/Striiguth_legs.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Lovingly chipped paintwork and muddy toes, the signs of dedication.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Model wise I knew I didn’t want too many. A couple of Questoris and a handful of Armigers to escort them. I simply don’t like the Dominus class Knights, they simply have an unusable number of weapon systems. How does one pilot use seven different weapons at once? </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Making it my own</h2><h3 style="text-align: left;">Lore</h3><p>When initially planning my Knights I had a lot of different ideas. For a while I was very set on making a Freeblade Lance, with every Knight coming from a different House. But at the same time I started reading a few Knights books (the only one I’d say is actually a good book is <a href="https://www.blacklibrary.com/prod-home/new/assassinorum-kingmaker-ebook-eng-2022.html" target="_blank">Assassinorum: Kingmaker</a>) I got into the idea of fleshing out a Knight House (quite often the thought was “how I could do this better”). </p><p>I spent a long time mulling over the ideas, and eventually it was all distilled out into House Ulfir. You can read a bit more about them <a href="http://geniusproductions.co.uk/Cetus/index.php?title=House_Ulfir" target="_blank">here</a>, should you be interested, but the most basic summary is that they have a wolf as their symbol and believe in unity, loyalty and everyone knowing their place. I use the House Hawkshroud rules, but not their incredibly garish colour scheme. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9PIInGgl2bmF1b3JmunmAmR_iaynJLuPeJLjTiD_X4mGShebs9OG7B-atgRCXGCHPi3gTu3wwEeMTZYcETcYUa3knh1TzJ8C3HTfE4DmOOv-w3XF9fOfEa7vxumV5bNOVBDSo2qk58oURsjhn2Jy29t2ssl5K7y94qh9EPrem-paLRiv4A4sqI_O_Npw/s2430/Striiguth_face.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1704" data-original-width="2430" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9PIInGgl2bmF1b3JmunmAmR_iaynJLuPeJLjTiD_X4mGShebs9OG7B-atgRCXGCHPi3gTu3wwEeMTZYcETcYUa3knh1TzJ8C3HTfE4DmOOv-w3XF9fOfEa7vxumV5bNOVBDSo2qk58oURsjhn2Jy29t2ssl5K7y94qh9EPrem-paLRiv4A4sqI_O_Npw/w400-h280/Striiguth_face.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>It was important to me that my Knights be struggling. If a powerful and dominating Knight house loses a battle it’s probably because they underestimated their foe and should have sent more Knights. If a valiant underdog House loses a battle it’s because they sent all they could despite the odds and tried their best as honour demands. It’s these little thoughts that keep the feel-bads at bay in a game when you should expect to lose about half your battles.</p><p>To that end House Ulfir, loyal as they are, answered Cadia’s call for aid against the 13th Black Crusade. They sent their Exalted Court, and the bulk of their power. Four Knights returned, evacuating alongside survivors of the Cadian 177th Mechanised, Cadian 53rd Armoured and 3030th Imperial Navy Fighter Wing. The surviving Knights are led by the High Justice, sole surviving member of the Exalted Court and veteran war hero. </p><p>Back on Skogheim, a new High King has been crowned, young and untested. Whilst he has sent out a replacement ship and support staff, somehow the young King keeps finding reasons the battered Knights must divert on their long journey home. Some say he’s using his few experienced military assets as well as he can to uphold the honour of House Ulfir, but others whisper that he’s just trying to keep a political rival away, or maybe even get her killed.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Modelling</h3><p>Whilst I do love the Knights models, I certainly don’t consider them without flaw, and for such a major investment and centrepiece models I was willing to fully commit to making them perfect. Maximum effort!</p><p>First on my hit-list, I’ve never loved the cruciform feet. It’s such a classic of Warhammer design language, present from extremely early days of 40k design and visible on many varieties of Imperial walkers, but I’ve never really liked it. The Warhound titan however… there's a beauty. There are a lot of shops that sell 3rd party bits for Imperial Knights and I found what I was looking for on <a href="https://ironwolfminis.com/" target="_blank">Iron Wolf Minis</a>. </p><p>Shipping from the US is not cheap so I wanted to do a single shop and be done. With that in mind, I bought two sets of feet for Questoris knights and three for Armigers. At the time I just had the one Armiger, but it just made financial sense…</p><p>Little steps…</p><p>They also do some lovely more ornate shoulder pads with wolf detailing on them, which I decided would be perfect for marking out the Baron. The patterning on the right shoulder looks to me like the patterning of the heraldry of a Master of Justice, so that got added into the lore too (later when the 9th edition Codex dropped I was rewarded for this choice with extra rules). </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5VffrQ9uzPElddms0dcJV-r3o5GkuJG7ESW3fyWGMu5LINlrYFn6Puw0eb4CHfwA_8wUw3aqUxkgtbA8bGbuLd0zU0E5O8g2KtzVhHtb01n_yJOmzgfeQDlTsTFvi6QosK_iN_FVOFOtYADMSBipXuQo4hpWm_k8r1DBOO5H9yHrsMkTzEAP3VyMLuI/s900/SPRightMarks1_2_1800x1800.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="900" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI5VffrQ9uzPElddms0dcJV-r3o5GkuJG7ESW3fyWGMu5LINlrYFn6Puw0eb4CHfwA_8wUw3aqUxkgtbA8bGbuLd0zU0E5O8g2KtzVhHtb01n_yJOmzgfeQDlTsTFvi6QosK_iN_FVOFOtYADMSBipXuQo4hpWm_k8r1DBOO5H9yHrsMkTzEAP3VyMLuI/w400-h297/SPRightMarks1_2_1800x1800.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g1FkqUzdwMq5J7W_LLYjkP1-NZKPMidjxbYKyABPmtxDkbHFNHYXcwEoJ2Ugf06S5qC6ir7OWUAWY9i9J75cvHGzEgA_DAWTZ8u6QDx4A-0myUynAWvBZ6ErsQI5I9UrAklVSHFX8m2bJ0jZSwNW2cBsUjXXXZo_C-L5GwK1_0A-bJm6S2XnuawYwl4/s654/QuestorImperialisExaltedCourtRankBadges.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="654" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0g1FkqUzdwMq5J7W_LLYjkP1-NZKPMidjxbYKyABPmtxDkbHFNHYXcwEoJ2Ugf06S5qC6ir7OWUAWY9i9J75cvHGzEgA_DAWTZ8u6QDx4A-0myUynAWvBZ6ErsQI5I9UrAklVSHFX8m2bJ0jZSwNW2cBsUjXXXZo_C-L5GwK1_0A-bJm6S2XnuawYwl4/w400-h133/QuestorImperialisExaltedCourtRankBadges.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>There were plenty of other wolf themed options, as you might expect from a store called “Iron Wolf”, but I have learned well from the Space Wolves’ fall from grace. They are Imperial Knights with a wolf shaped logo, that’s all, I’m not trying to build robot wolves here. </p><p>Next up, the legs. Again, the Warhound titan is my idol here (maybe one day I'll find myself writing “Oops New Army: One Titan Edition,” I have a proven track record of poor willpower) and I much prefer the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb6w5DUcz9I" target="_blank">digitigrade form</a> to the stiff plantigrade pose of the default kit. <a href="https://www.taromodelmaker.com/" target="_blank">Taro Modelmaker</a> helped me out here, with an extra piece designed to extend the leg.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXWZpj-gj1b4VNyKTOzFCT8nzsVSVeqNl_xTHesFntIzTK2KkDP47vItDO7MtIQiUH8sjqUHfwSPelvrWaKvFvLocFFH2TEfyt8-64YeWvjwCUtnok_LI2GDFi_ly6BGDZKFvafIl1p5F7zoriRh97fMHaAQ5vNG7IXC7SteLBaLXwwgtjkelbJGyXrI/s843/Screenshot%202023-09-11%20104816.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="792" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKXWZpj-gj1b4VNyKTOzFCT8nzsVSVeqNl_xTHesFntIzTK2KkDP47vItDO7MtIQiUH8sjqUHfwSPelvrWaKvFvLocFFH2TEfyt8-64YeWvjwCUtnok_LI2GDFi_ly6BGDZKFvafIl1p5F7zoriRh97fMHaAQ5vNG7IXC7SteLBaLXwwgtjkelbJGyXrI/w376-h400/Screenshot%202023-09-11%20104816.png" width="376" /></a></div><p>Whilst they are advertised as working with Questoris, I believe they are better designed for Dominus. This was quite an extreme modelling challenge to get everything lined up neatly and, importantly, strong. I ended up inserting several thin layers of bent plasticard to pad out to the correct depth and ran multiple long pins through each joint. </p><p>Finally (I did say, maximum effort! Even though this is an accidental side project. I don’t make good life choices ok?) I am also not a huge fan of the melee weapons. The Thunderstrike Gauntlet is ok, but the Reaper Chainsword… it’s more like a very short ranged karate chop. Same goes for the Warglaive’s Reaper Chain-cleaver.</p><p>There’s some lore about how they aren’t really intended as weapons, but are actually industrial tools used by the very earliest Dark Age of Technology settlers in the STC walkers, but if in the next 20,000 years they learned to put armour plates and guns on the Knights, they can learn to make real melee weapons too. </p><p>Once again Taro had me covered, with Knight scale melee weapons for both Armiger and Questoris, and fully posable hands to hold them. Whilst not quite as tricky as the knees, this is still what I would consider an expert kit, as you’re working with resin and posing individual finger joints. The end result though… worth the effort!</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLXtHqNIEOjM1UKeurKuGKurHOxpZeZBZN0lfRMQ2hkKIDiQc_jA_yhfLGb_U4qvGn4nZ9jG-1r1ZC-C3itz8BBjYnku8XGwN1y4nuZVDy4XTEw2GwG10DvClYsHm1ryYk1HTeJ4M2lwsGn-hbxlgylUz2s--PF4yhiWEfyw6FqO9iaVGAW3vo0JRj10/s1725/Striiguth%20-%20Knight%20Errant%20-%20Jafnather%20Yarl%20R%C3%BAna%20Vestrfjall.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1725" data-original-width="1530" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqLXtHqNIEOjM1UKeurKuGKurHOxpZeZBZN0lfRMQ2hkKIDiQc_jA_yhfLGb_U4qvGn4nZ9jG-1r1ZC-C3itz8BBjYnku8XGwN1y4nuZVDy4XTEw2GwG10DvClYsHm1ryYk1HTeJ4M2lwsGn-hbxlgylUz2s--PF4yhiWEfyw6FqO9iaVGAW3vo0JRj10/w568-h640/Striiguth%20-%20Knight%20Errant%20-%20Jafnather%20Yarl%20R%C3%BAna%20Vestrfjall.jpg" width="568" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">The axe is counted as a Thunderstrike Gauntlet, I have a sword in the works for my next Knight which will count as the Reaper Chainsword.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbh7mdFhcfN96Sqsb0682OM4deoR5EuYfblb0voQAH4SArISfVO2RG6b4A-EEYY_wGnwSz_hXNGZHnqbzElMQDE49oxbW11hvqnrfaGKkquDTIyEcs362N-UIczTh6SQzUq8jgP1iN2nBLc-6uouAtZue3DTxT8RAejSu7YPUtRadUzgs6CzTzF0R7GE/s1527/Sverthsegg%20-%20Armiger%20Warglaive%20-%20Vei%20Bjartr.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1527" data-original-width="1158" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbh7mdFhcfN96Sqsb0682OM4deoR5EuYfblb0voQAH4SArISfVO2RG6b4A-EEYY_wGnwSz_hXNGZHnqbzElMQDE49oxbW11hvqnrfaGKkquDTIyEcs362N-UIczTh6SQzUq8jgP1iN2nBLc-6uouAtZue3DTxT8RAejSu7YPUtRadUzgs6CzTzF0R7GE/w304-h400/Sverthsegg%20-%20Armiger%20Warglaive%20-%20Vei%20Bjartr.jpg" width="304" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Sverthsegg, Armiger Warglaive, piloted by Vei Bjartr Vestrfjall</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>I also converted the Sir Hekthur model into Yarl Rúna Vestrfjall on foot. I haven't found a use for her yet, but I think it could be fun to play a surprise assault mission where the enemy has to prevent her from reaching her Knight. I’ve drafted up some simple rules for her using the Tempestor Prime stats.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh57sEuRWJdglVPzIdJsDhDOLxAn4rFrqTvan3sJzDnhoa7JNe0Ia-zSQ6J5naMYg2fvnTbWPfCbwmc75UAAMBk3Fu8QdIlTPFLmy07J96q4Qg8TzMQq28BfHmmS9zuspA0fHwfqmOWS_vF-AUClG1DJmQhGjl8DhSqpjCPLBiDbnho-VfuQydgcpbcIeo/s762/Jafnather%20Yarl%20R%C3%BAna%20Vestrfjall.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="762" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh57sEuRWJdglVPzIdJsDhDOLxAn4rFrqTvan3sJzDnhoa7JNe0Ia-zSQ6J5naMYg2fvnTbWPfCbwmc75UAAMBk3Fu8QdIlTPFLmy07J96q4Qg8TzMQq28BfHmmS9zuspA0fHwfqmOWS_vF-AUClG1DJmQhGjl8DhSqpjCPLBiDbnho-VfuQydgcpbcIeo/s320/Jafnather%20Yarl%20R%C3%BAna%20Vestrfjall.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Jafnather Yarl Rúna Vestrfjall</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>I’m in the process of building my second Questoris knight, but this time I’m using the Chaos Knight as a base, mixed with some Imperial parts from eBay. This will give me the digitigrade legs I want much more easily, and mean my two big knights have very different poses. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Crusading with Knights</h2><p>To be honest, it’s quite hard work if you want to make sure your friends have fun too. 9th edition Crusade armies always start small, beginning with just 1,000 points in the full order of battle, but often your early games may be smaller, 500 or 750 has been quite common within our group. You don’t get a lot of Knight in a game like that, and at small sizes I think Knights are not at all well balanced. Three Armigers are surprisingly puny on their own, whereas a single Questoris will probably kill a unit per turn, shrug off most return fire, and still lose on points.</p><p>As discussed at the start, I wanted a mixed army, and I stand by that as the most fun way for my opponents to play with me. The end result is an army that is incredibly thirsty for Requisition Points, as for every Knight I added I wanted to add a similar amount of Guard.</p><p>Sadly the unique 9th edition Crusade “Questsworn” mechanics for Knights tie into the monofaction rules they have. This means that for Crusade you have to do a lot of bookkeeping that you’re not getting most of the benefits from. Nevertheless I persevered, I chose my Quest for my Questsworn and used the Code Chivalric to earn Honour which turned into Glory and then gained a Quality and looked through the options (there are a lot of special Nouns in this book).</p><p>They’re a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them seem pretty limp compared to the others and you’d be disappointed to roll them (especially as a 2 Crusade Point upgrade) but others are <i>terrifyingly </i>good when slapped on a Knight. -1 to hit in melee and once per game Fight Next (and you still have the Stratagem when you want it too). Or -1 Damage and once per game ignore one failed save. </p><p>Ultimately they feel to me like a bad-feels generator, either for me or my opponent. So with the blessing of the other Bunkerites, I just ditched the whole mechanic. I loved what they were going for, but it was a huge amount of bookkeeping for results that I didn’t feel would actually make the game any more fun. Although that subset of Crusade players who enjoy making the most incredibly broken combinations will undoubtedly have had a field day. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdv94NsEmPkT72bDvny3oeqyHIxxS_0V9TnNgD_cnRiR68P-m2QG2Usen3J6KiO-AB8KgFoO1AcUCl6S9jBN6Xd4mOss3JoNdcMG6KNVLYb2krHKTvIsck6V2FuFgSc6AXFVKfjCtZSDJ8dHO9Lc_p1bfvDv02azFEz06-bpT0g_Vb05bzpzxh7kdZC0/s847/Striiguth%20in%20black.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="825" data-original-width="847" height="624" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCdv94NsEmPkT72bDvny3oeqyHIxxS_0V9TnNgD_cnRiR68P-m2QG2Usen3J6KiO-AB8KgFoO1AcUCl6S9jBN6Xd4mOss3JoNdcMG6KNVLYb2krHKTvIsck6V2FuFgSc6AXFVKfjCtZSDJ8dHO9Lc_p1bfvDv02azFEz06-bpT0g_Vb05bzpzxh7kdZC0/w640-h624/Striiguth%20in%20black.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Striiguth, Knight Errant, piloted by Jafnather Yarl Rúna Vestrfjall</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Even without the Questsworn mechanic, I’ve had a huge amount of fun with my Knights in Crusade. Having a few highly storied units works very well for the format, and I’m very pleased that just before 9th ended I got enough XP on one of my Armigers to attempt the Ritual of Becoming, which he passed, and gain a new Questoris Knight. All somewhat irrelevant now rules-wise, but it’s all for the narrative. </p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Looking Ahead</h2><p>9th is dead, long live 10th. But with the death of 9th, so too we see the end of soup as we knew it. From now on souping Knights with Guard means just adding a single big Knight or up to three Armigers. Curiously there is no allowance for more in larger games as with Agents of the Imperium. It’s nice and simple though, the previous rules were <i>ridiculously </i>arcane with different combinations taxing you big chunks of CP. We shall have to see how it goes once I get them back on the table. </p><p>My next Questoris is built and ready to paint, so when the new Codex appears on the horizon I suspect my hobby butterfly will flit back to the biggest boys.</p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Up Next: The Chaff</h2><p><a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/09/oops-new-army-imperial-soup-edition_25.html" target="_blank">Next time</a> we’ll take a look at the valiant Guardsmen fighting alongside the Knights of House Ulfir. </p><p><br /></p><p><i>*I wrote that before GW dropped “Legiones Imperialis”, so congrats to GW for releasing Epic in a way I could resist. I’m not really interested in playing Horus Heresy, I don’t like a lot of the models and no-one else in the Bunker wants to play it, but I was still tempted… (<b>Charlie: </b>honestly if it wasn't set in the Heresy, you and me would be playing a lot of Epic. Absolute own goal from GW).</i></p>Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14293027539896418140noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-45098815032431274542023-09-04T11:00:00.006+01:002023-09-04T11:00:00.147+01:00Painting a 40K Thunderhawk in a day<div>Yep, that's kind of what I did.</div><div><br /></div><div>When Mark passed, we discovered that he had a hobby backlog that could be best described as monumental. Most of it has found loving homes and one piece of that backlog that I couldn't resist was the crashed Thunderhawk tile. This was something Forgeworld produced many moons ago at a time when I could neither afford or have a place to store it.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://astronomiconportal.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/crashed-t-hawkl.jpg?w=614" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="614" height="425" src="https://astronomiconportal.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/crashed-t-hawkl.jpg?w=614" width="614" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Of course, by the time both of those conditions had changed, Forgeworld didn't make the tile anymore and I consigned that dream to the lands of impossibility so when one turned up amongst Mark's old things I immediately asked if I could take it.<br /><div><br /></div><div>As a tile, unless you have a whole other set of tiles with which to use it it isn't the most versatile piece of terrain, but I'd always wondered if it could be converted into something like the old crashed aquila lander that GW once did.</div><div>So, with tile in hand, I started out attacking it with a dremel. Mistake. I burned through two cutting disks just doing half of one side. Enter the trusty old hand saw (yes, the kind used for chopping up 2x4's). Made very quick work of the bits I didn't want and I got to what you see below.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNuQPmxqO9wCkVFU-XxQ1ozPBzA1LCc7JrWMyBWcqyiZ2ANEqIBgBKZli6QgndPUSGg0htQj2O_Gitg3nw9DY98qeOmzYJhtuLLgLsohBFlbR4C17KcNLL3RPFO2Ja3hZEECArAinPVAlVMi0J7xLW7fUhjdXiAlSDyT8UDUcgHtV8WLYhk2y7kvVB1nG/s1599/IMG-20220612-WA0012.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1599" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDNuQPmxqO9wCkVFU-XxQ1ozPBzA1LCc7JrWMyBWcqyiZ2ANEqIBgBKZli6QgndPUSGg0htQj2O_Gitg3nw9DY98qeOmzYJhtuLLgLsohBFlbR4C17KcNLL3RPFO2Ja3hZEECArAinPVAlVMi0J7xLW7fUhjdXiAlSDyT8UDUcgHtV8WLYhk2y7kvVB1nG/w640-h360/IMG-20220612-WA0012.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>Not particularly subtle, nor is it going to blend into a table. It then went into a cupboard for a few months as life (TM) took over, but recently I was using one of those oscillating multi-tools to take apart our kitchen and I realised it was kind of a souped up dremel so out came the Thunderhawk and all those edges and corners got smoothed off. I also had to remove some of the underside material so it would sit flat as the original tile had raised edges.</div><div><br /></div><div>I thought quite a bit about what colour to paint it - do I pick one of the colours of the various Bunker armies, or paint it old, rusted, weathered metal. The terrain piece definitely has features that are suggestive of a recent crash which somewhat precluded the old metal idea in my head, and painting it a specific armies colour does conceptually limit the gaming possibilities a bit. I ultimately opted for a very light grey, reminiscent of modern day aircraft fuselages. This means it can easily be passed off as a medical craft, some kind of utility or cargo transport, or could even have been a priority shuttle for a dignitary or some other important passenger. I felt this way it keeps the maximum possibility for story telling alive.</div><div><br /></div>Rattle can silver, light green, grey, and grey seer? then got it to this state in about 10 minutes.<br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKX3TYqwZH0Syqzg9V-IEVGeuXCDiQxzlrtI7Jp7MBl0WEnvojCybSGaJoMOTSSlclK6XP7OnsDI6Z86q4LQiRlZgkOj3ekhBKLW41O_ELbnbmYzaY8EgPQqpQtnLIucM0UCQVLGlVabdzxjKFWZjlLzTBn-JyX6LORWp9iIPLGi__XKdWEcRdN6NU19GX/s1599/IMG-20230804-WA0003.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1599" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKX3TYqwZH0Syqzg9V-IEVGeuXCDiQxzlrtI7Jp7MBl0WEnvojCybSGaJoMOTSSlclK6XP7OnsDI6Z86q4LQiRlZgkOj3ekhBKLW41O_ELbnbmYzaY8EgPQqpQtnLIucM0UCQVLGlVabdzxjKFWZjlLzTBn-JyX6LORWp9iIPLGi__XKdWEcRdN6NU19GX/w640-h360/IMG-20230804-WA0003.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div>Queue another month or two in the cupboard waiting for an opportunity to paint it again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday, that opportunity came at last.</div><div><br /></div><div>For such a large model, painting had to be quick and with the exception of the cockpit windows, and one or two tiny details, I didn't use anything other than a 1/2 inch brush, and a couple of pieces of sponge to achieve what you see below.</div><div>The method was all about building up layers of colour.</div><div>I sponged on a very light grey craft paint to tidy up the fuselage colour, used raw umber to darken the ground cover, and silver for the metallics.</div><div>The whole thing then got a liberal wash of raw umber watered down heavily with a little added flow improver.</div><div>It was nice and warm so that dried off relatively quickly and I just watched it for any obvious pooling which I drew away with a damp brush.</div><div>Back in with sponging the light grey, silver, dry brushing a couple of different lighter browns for the ground cover and rocks, some targeted black washes especially behind the craft where the ground has been gouged as it crashes, and repeat steps as needed till it reached something I was happy with.</div><div>The last step was a watered down black on the cockpit windows (I may varnish them later for that glossy look).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHUgEAy0dWEHC5gIXme_WlJqtqxaVZIGTTsEl5qcp6bHUp_seaMtjtegF5ezQEnX5sC4T4xzN9XM0G3Q7rw0mYZ2GzSglpx5dkWSF_VSA3R3FPSZBQ0zkDvyHzOXj8bMAsuoaiVt9sKpQDnBIUC4GrHF0jcig40nCvoyVW_YE4S38nYxPm-_3m8Of7jLx/s4032/PXL_20230903_131814326.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiHUgEAy0dWEHC5gIXme_WlJqtqxaVZIGTTsEl5qcp6bHUp_seaMtjtegF5ezQEnX5sC4T4xzN9XM0G3Q7rw0mYZ2GzSglpx5dkWSF_VSA3R3FPSZBQ0zkDvyHzOXj8bMAsuoaiVt9sKpQDnBIUC4GrHF0jcig40nCvoyVW_YE4S38nYxPm-_3m8Of7jLx/s320/PXL_20230903_131814326.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKUVNGKlDoh-XMJglfwWiezhbXb9rtyl6Oqe9O28XOsrjgAPsfiUOqNYj_4gwKJ8NeoQqLMc2Ohq2UczhqSwzbw_ispbozY0kTMYHTxNGG-HfESGFEsdYmJ_o7M8iBNrbGwHTlM8uVEmH-0BX9DvrCEeKFBNAV8-oUXXOS7NBa81R4AgBHbJ6FpvakBmIA/s4032/PXL_20230903_131822603.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKUVNGKlDoh-XMJglfwWiezhbXb9rtyl6Oqe9O28XOsrjgAPsfiUOqNYj_4gwKJ8NeoQqLMc2Ohq2UczhqSwzbw_ispbozY0kTMYHTxNGG-HfESGFEsdYmJ_o7M8iBNrbGwHTlM8uVEmH-0BX9DvrCEeKFBNAV8-oUXXOS7NBa81R4AgBHbJ6FpvakBmIA/s320/PXL_20230903_131822603.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4q2zyLJvPpyOCcATR-RwNYOZeniPh4U0v0-2d2VGG-hvtMMlVlMaoHSVup-mfOKkSDC75iXFFapuo4E9Y_DD_6swwKAXkdrucY9LfEtZ1VMfWMbckq9CA9FaIQ4AUq607wnQWh98Vtvyn87v29npFv5tIe6m21EWgNlsxE_icRUGvGZHj8ahSqgrIKYXm/s4032/PXL_20230903_131837313.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4q2zyLJvPpyOCcATR-RwNYOZeniPh4U0v0-2d2VGG-hvtMMlVlMaoHSVup-mfOKkSDC75iXFFapuo4E9Y_DD_6swwKAXkdrucY9LfEtZ1VMfWMbckq9CA9FaIQ4AUq607wnQWh98Vtvyn87v29npFv5tIe6m21EWgNlsxE_icRUGvGZHj8ahSqgrIKYXm/s320/PXL_20230903_131837313.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u8UMbE5rCDWuKU4CH2jnicMV9XP7-TmHXDQt19yM3x4HdVLdwUKdRd5VP5QjdRZq07116EBPzULbew-vrkgzgbhLg4t2ueMoaEu-a_7ORVZzTeySj6LvKvD9vmzjNAjNibdy9fYXaHL5wO9bddXxUG3jhq2Gr9zk_iqPJTCxADDOznlM95Glrcv21TXW/s4032/PXL_20230903_131851129.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0u8UMbE5rCDWuKU4CH2jnicMV9XP7-TmHXDQt19yM3x4HdVLdwUKdRd5VP5QjdRZq07116EBPzULbew-vrkgzgbhLg4t2ueMoaEu-a_7ORVZzTeySj6LvKvD9vmzjNAjNibdy9fYXaHL5wO9bddXxUG3jhq2Gr9zk_iqPJTCxADDOznlM95Glrcv21TXW/s320/PXL_20230903_131851129.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>There's plenty of little details in there I'll got back to at some point and paint - wires, aquillas, etc. but right now its a more than tabletop ready piece of scenery just crying out for an imperial force to fight a last stand over.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers</div><div>Andy</div>Andrewhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15714018172674498741noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-31206568466457319332023-08-28T18:23:00.002+01:002023-08-28T18:23:25.931+01:00Terrain: best painted with friends<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjtESsbgKl8qaWb0ZbauTOxIuwCSo5Coe00SGz4Ldoq8Xr1-LMH3zBYJZ9hzJNWm-Ku4MrTtu4HKWn1eFUuiMVsUMd5cCUFtl6_Jt2rsKdtBO9odq463TE5OoN_XVYGIJBqkE7_Ob2N6bW-QoIzw83kkHZH3sr4pTRGB7R12mk0Inqe0JCP4Nfz9cQiBw/s918/space%20hulk%20action.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="918" data-original-width="918" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjtESsbgKl8qaWb0ZbauTOxIuwCSo5Coe00SGz4Ldoq8Xr1-LMH3zBYJZ9hzJNWm-Ku4MrTtu4HKWn1eFUuiMVsUMd5cCUFtl6_Jt2rsKdtBO9odq463TE5OoN_XVYGIJBqkE7_Ob2N6bW-QoIzw83kkHZH3sr4pTRGB7R12mk0Inqe0JCP4Nfz9cQiBw/w640-h640/space%20hulk%20action.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Warhammer terrain is famously detailed. This can be daunting, and yet when it looks sufficiently pretty in the webstore, it's not daunting enough to stop me buying it and then spending years not painting it. And so, when Harvey and Drew and I all got frisky for a spot of GW's space hulk terrain, I worried it would be the most purchased and least painted thing in our terrain collection.<div><br /></div><div>Keen to avoid such waste, we formed a plan. Well, more of a pact. We'd split the cost of two of the boarding actions terrain set (that's two of the big sets, or four times what you'd get in the Kill Team sets, or more prosaically: shitloads). Then we'd get together over a series of sessions and build and paint it together.</div><div><br /></div><div>The pact worked, despite several bouts of Covid and other random hurdles.</div><div><br /></div><div>Unlike most of the terrain I've purchased for myself and failed to finish painting, the group effort strategy absolutely enabled us to power through the grind of removing mould lines and painting very, very repetitive details to get a giant space dollhaus named Deep Space Nein.</div><div><br /></div><div>This may have been efficient in terms of work hours, but lining up our three schedules (Harvey does shift work) was more of a challenge. We started in January this year, and you'll note it's now late August. Still, afer three or four day-long sessions and the occasional evening spent together, sometimes with Maisey helpfully standing in when one of us couldn't make it at the last minute, we got it done. We painted for longer than our attention spans would've held out had we been painting alone. Honestly that was the main gain... that, and the decision to do a quick, basic job.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOzLQNL7-9EEKZIai6JCENzkETFWY0B69fpmQSfG_Cu1PDI8Tseskw_m_urrKNtz3vd5Jst2D7mv5fBTqclJTbfS6xRTxw8X102i1feFQezOt7-eLhX49athFjO4t0CuYycKBjfMhDoWVHmUnnS-6pL7ZcilwsvYA0t7_giT6QoRQ0eEA5V-ARGVbw_C8/s1600/adf8fd1a-6385-4b0d-bb88-4ac6c9d83ddf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="738" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOzLQNL7-9EEKZIai6JCENzkETFWY0B69fpmQSfG_Cu1PDI8Tseskw_m_urrKNtz3vd5Jst2D7mv5fBTqclJTbfS6xRTxw8X102i1feFQezOt7-eLhX49athFjO4t0CuYycKBjfMhDoWVHmUnnS-6pL7ZcilwsvYA0t7_giT6QoRQ0eEA5V-ARGVbw_C8/w185-h400/adf8fd1a-6385-4b0d-bb88-4ac6c9d83ddf.jpg" width="185" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first recorded photo of the project, back on the 30th of January.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJgSVdupkjS-IenCgbLdVI4DAwsjrrrEzRx9KTpYHr6_HedLhq-cyzTwlHK8eY6BRY3hodsLTK7WFD9flVfmy8cPdoGtPdVlfvLgEf-0WcK-ciMOQ1aU61C6SnYFYxqVUaKzoUa5Wx3L7SKtrVdrnxHKDPQj9FPRm9JmDGixiRGW4nOf2mqX6O6IMgco/s1824/244d2b6c-74f0-4e53-b806-072b560e15a6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1824" data-original-width="1368" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJgSVdupkjS-IenCgbLdVI4DAwsjrrrEzRx9KTpYHr6_HedLhq-cyzTwlHK8eY6BRY3hodsLTK7WFD9flVfmy8cPdoGtPdVlfvLgEf-0WcK-ciMOQ1aU61C6SnYFYxqVUaKzoUa5Wx3L7SKtrVdrnxHKDPQj9FPRm9JmDGixiRGW4nOf2mqX6O6IMgco/w300-h400/244d2b6c-74f0-4e53-b806-072b560e15a6.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Buy lots of primer.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhUS7LG5g5meIv3ktyptn_-9XNcTFxIZY3Yh3aTsIeA-Jkgg8wWWn-Y9D38T9zk-wwcnOzy6JzZ8XAbxNU3yXiwAtcT2VO39vcL5ssHis_PstTXbh54xB5jQBKl8G0wHj2NEG2TsV0cGKchAmkhu0ItW6H1m5WYKahuBVXgvbA1IxyiwTlk7Bryzuz8g/s1920/ca97c803-b0d2-4368-b023-5c95e0754952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhUS7LG5g5meIv3ktyptn_-9XNcTFxIZY3Yh3aTsIeA-Jkgg8wWWn-Y9D38T9zk-wwcnOzy6JzZ8XAbxNU3yXiwAtcT2VO39vcL5ssHis_PstTXbh54xB5jQBKl8G0wHj2NEG2TsV0cGKchAmkhu0ItW6H1m5WYKahuBVXgvbA1IxyiwTlk7Bryzuz8g/w225-h400/ca97c803-b0d2-4368-b023-5c95e0754952.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more thkullth, mathter?</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6E8j4ZaVWdJ06hfTTRI0yBJr39KAG_hyR5E1lv2dW0_tqBAT5MhztVUzW6PvFK8OzFKghUuUDFNa6DEIKs7sNwl4_WcVOaKwa4pwCvPZF0R9Ntrr-6C1pNLmVuicGmI1066XDINZXfCAMOfPd-nu3Mo6kIFjRXcRGvEoMddRfuiWcUdlsGBogVZu2Q4/s1443/space%20hulk%20components.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="686" data-original-width="1443" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6E8j4ZaVWdJ06hfTTRI0yBJr39KAG_hyR5E1lv2dW0_tqBAT5MhztVUzW6PvFK8OzFKghUuUDFNa6DEIKs7sNwl4_WcVOaKwa4pwCvPZF0R9Ntrr-6C1pNLmVuicGmI1066XDINZXfCAMOfPd-nu3Mo6kIFjRXcRGvEoMddRfuiWcUdlsGBogVZu2Q4/w640-h304/space%20hulk%20components.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All finished</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9qc5663Pv-uPu8uXNWKjJ2bWHCq5TbaJ-l8TWJnyiV9qNfBEb5RMiylUjqYxNSGQZBx7bsl9HQp08bA_rCs9QmORPqFizGm7eF2PziIBI-m1fHou_ZypNqqZnQhGg-k7Zx4-3dMHbAq82hy-RYTUfr79eVFTsM-qjWMVBYnGwOfHpawdBvrdcfZwBCc/s1920/5da6aba3-016f-492b-87a9-e16451436e79.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9qc5663Pv-uPu8uXNWKjJ2bWHCq5TbaJ-l8TWJnyiV9qNfBEb5RMiylUjqYxNSGQZBx7bsl9HQp08bA_rCs9QmORPqFizGm7eF2PziIBI-m1fHou_ZypNqqZnQhGg-k7Zx4-3dMHbAq82hy-RYTUfr79eVFTsM-qjWMVBYnGwOfHpawdBvrdcfZwBCc/w225-h400/5da6aba3-016f-492b-87a9-e16451436e79.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two sets fits in one box... just. Minus the boards, of course.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPm7CTzHTEfOXJbf7um7NtPWqLTz1LvDG5YwbEGmCCLQxWXgaZzoOmvSwdBmTUNMHW3vbyhXAur4KCA8E7W26Fh8ukae_istSIlFndyT8ktoUO4bYc42lyV5bhtE4TbpwmHlOGVktSM2VcWPVT76UlmnucParj7kwcZ42SsYgBLEtZYK58kFI4pdFyAv4/s1920/ae1e1b66-0278-44ac-844e-b8fc1fe1e0f9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPm7CTzHTEfOXJbf7um7NtPWqLTz1LvDG5YwbEGmCCLQxWXgaZzoOmvSwdBmTUNMHW3vbyhXAur4KCA8E7W26Fh8ukae_istSIlFndyT8ktoUO4bYc42lyV5bhtE4TbpwmHlOGVktSM2VcWPVT76UlmnucParj7kwcZ42SsYgBLEtZYK58kFI4pdFyAv4/w640-h360/ae1e1b66-0278-44ac-844e-b8fc1fe1e0f9.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A quick rough layout. I haven't bothered putting any of the bulkhead caps on in this photo, since I was just trying to get a sense of how far the terrain goes if you're doing a mix of dense small rooms and a few larger ones.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Process</h3><div>Painting was very, very simple. Most of the skill was less in its application and more in figuring out the most efficient order of operations, which I shall present here in case it's useful to anyone else:</div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Spray prime black.</li><li>Do a deliberately patchy zenithal spray with a dark or mid-brown. We used several different red/orange brown sprays we had lying around. The exact colour doesn't matter so long as it's kinda dark and rusty.</li><li>Drybrush all over with Leadbelcher or similar (we used Army Painter Gunmetal).</li><li>Apply a lighter drybrush all over with Vallejo Air Steel or another bright silver colour. Focus on the edges.</li><li>Drybrush a bone colour over all the skulls. So many skulls. The skulls, yes. Skulls.</li><li>Throw a mid-brown shade over the skulls. We used thinned down Army Painter Dirt Spatter.</li><li>Drybrush the skulls with Citadel Wraithbone (or similar bright bone-ish off-white).</li><li>Use Citadel Contrast Black Templar to block out all screens, broken lights and cables.</li><li>Use Citadel Contrast Gore-grunta Fur on all the brass plaques.</li><li>Apply white paint in the middle of all the intact lights, and draw any designs you like on the many, many screens. Correct your freehand designs with black paint. Note: we didn't draw designs on every screen; we figured some would be switched off. We figured this to protect our sanity.</li><li>Glaze the active lights with various light, vibrant colours. We used Flash Gitz Yellow for the basic lights, for example.</li><li>Make a glaze by mixing Warpstone Glow with gloss varnish (we used Citadel 'Ardcoat). Apply the glaze to all active screens. The ratio was pretty improvisational, but memory tells me it was 1 part paint to 2 parts varnish. Experiment for yourself and see what works best!</li><li>Apply pure gloss varnish to any broken screens or lights.</li></ol><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Furnishings?</h3></div><div>Now that we have our dollhaus I imagine we'll buy furniture. I've already got the escape pods and med bay on order; time will tell what else we get our mits on, since James is nothing if not fickle in his terrain releases.</div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2355959932852753291.post-65645194796787784652023-08-08T14:22:00.002+01:002023-08-08T14:24:57.082+01:00Manteara now on tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4cRN3xXYsX9iqScR5yVGCBeAtysfkGieLVyqoe6SVPuWDQJQ4vm7f3_kwSK67VdmMfSejLizPnspC-53qvUOPSD4WNN2lJVxjD-p6szVfvezw9qJGLbvgH5YA1rD7kcdU8sc4ik2DdjnrFfJ8MnYnKjSMGteP0oIDdRpoH9vOgeul1Z_bkEXBxs91SI/s1800/mantearer.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc4cRN3xXYsX9iqScR5yVGCBeAtysfkGieLVyqoe6SVPuWDQJQ4vm7f3_kwSK67VdmMfSejLizPnspC-53qvUOPSD4WNN2lJVxjD-p6szVfvezw9qJGLbvgH5YA1rD7kcdU8sc4ik2DdjnrFfJ8MnYnKjSMGteP0oIDdRpoH9vOgeul1Z_bkEXBxs91SI/w640-h320/mantearer.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Mantearer (also spelt Manteara) were playing brutal rokk long before <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2022/03/whos-da-megaboss.html">Sirrus Bizniz</a> ever popularised the genre on <a href="http://geniusproductions.co.uk/Cetus/index.php?title=Boff%27s_Rok">Boff's Rok</a>, slamming away at their instruments in bars full of orks too keen on getting drunk to realise they were in the presence of greatness. Lead gittarist 'Toofbag' Torgrum eventually took the initiative and took to smashing his gittar over the heads of anyone who wasn't listening during their sets. This kind of violence was met with a mixed response, ranging from 'vaguely amused' to 'extremely keen,' and led to Mantearer gaining a reputation for the most brutal mosh pits in da Scene.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Toofbag's propensity to start fights with everyone meant that the band soon had to invest in armour just to get through the opening songs, which in turn resulted in ever larger objects being thrown at them. Mantearer soon found themselves in a harms race, which they ultimately won when Sirrus Bizniz helped them surge in popularity to the extent that they could afford mega armour.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A modern Mantearer gig is rarely considered a success unless someone or something dies, and their shows are unusually dangerous. It's not uncommon for them to set fat-smeared squigs on fire and send them bounding into the crowd, or to split the audience into famously violent walls of deff so unstoppable they once knocked <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2022/05/the-tale-of-sweary-bozz.html">Sweary Bozz</a> over. Rokk fans are known to boast about how many Mantearer gigs they've survived, particularly if that gig was the notorious Grogtown Oopsie.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The only thing Mantearer take almost as seriously as their own rokk is their loyalty to Sirrus Bizniz for his role in their rise to fame. That, and his vision of the Metalwaaagh, a cause they consider to be sacred. Particularly given how many teef it's making them.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicaSiFkNxf6ypVTR0HZY45_GTyIFj57i5PN32rUrSH6g8-QMmlNnvBR1pndB3w9LxfFDcQp0Bkkz7eTPFGkh0bQyewilR_5dF7Eg0XMXqx_GplZ0MByGS8nxklYBCRqKvTo1N6kMJWjtW_-AduC9a8MPSyiq9FS7t87UzR0ftdXwofmNLov_4Rbb2QSL4/s900/bludd.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicaSiFkNxf6ypVTR0HZY45_GTyIFj57i5PN32rUrSH6g8-QMmlNnvBR1pndB3w9LxfFDcQp0Bkkz7eTPFGkh0bQyewilR_5dF7Eg0XMXqx_GplZ0MByGS8nxklYBCRqKvTo1N6kMJWjtW_-AduC9a8MPSyiq9FS7t87UzR0ftdXwofmNLov_4Rbb2QSL4/w400-h400/bludd.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Konversions</h3><div style="text-align: left;">Judging from the studio paint jobs, I didn't think I liked the meganobz kit. The leg poses are really, really static, and the official paint job just makes them look like giant lego bricks. It was only once I had the kit in hand that I started appreciating all the little details. While this doesn't fix the static posing on the legs (the arms are far more modular and posable) it does at least give them something in their favour.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3v1mNbGksIm88IgNT7j9eOlPIgQql-AdSr_JsY8o47hxhjhxSF70pAeWXn8k5Gp2cHV8qVyX7wC8hgD6nSXqNcTH0tqAgUgell5r6_kcQ-PT7Han6froSlX3b70P4dt5B5e1C7WfxaL599chAzuig5Ns0GVHOmuHDxhPaxM3dA1jwq3xiMxMfMWZcpc/s842/rear%20detail.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="842" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3v1mNbGksIm88IgNT7j9eOlPIgQql-AdSr_JsY8o47hxhjhxSF70pAeWXn8k5Gp2cHV8qVyX7wC8hgD6nSXqNcTH0tqAgUgell5r6_kcQ-PT7Han6froSlX3b70P4dt5B5e1C7WfxaL599chAzuig5Ns0GVHOmuHDxhPaxM3dA1jwq3xiMxMfMWZcpc/w400-h400/rear%20detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So much delicious detail</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">One thing you notice when you build them is that if you leave the iron gobs off, it makes the nob look a lot less chibi. I only had two iron gobs from the nobz kit available, or I might have done this more widely. I considered just leaving them off, but given ork proportions that just meant that half their torso was effectively unarmoured, so in the end we've got a mix, and the lads look pretty well protected. By ork standards, at least.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOTjfQCL68fu3wh7jkGVQHliH9Uc7KNtWOvqAeQZY71XaZ1ZeOLfwC-aYq27uMGo0Zgu2b5dP3jpknad_hR5y5uL7y1Of8nQolFdBKELjaT0uvfASzmvqmdHNNxng5BnFhcQw_ikPNN9ZpyD16sMnI0k3zWMToI3jleIvUDDSlLyD4gTNLIXPJm_HtRQ/s1148/mega%20armour%20komparison.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="1148" height="382" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpOTjfQCL68fu3wh7jkGVQHliH9Uc7KNtWOvqAeQZY71XaZ1ZeOLfwC-aYq27uMGo0Zgu2b5dP3jpknad_hR5y5uL7y1Of8nQolFdBKELjaT0uvfASzmvqmdHNNxng5BnFhcQw_ikPNN9ZpyD16sMnI0k3zWMToI3jleIvUDDSlLyD4gTNLIXPJm_HtRQ/w640-h382/mega%20armour%20komparison.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left: stock iron gob. Right: headswap from the nobz kit.</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">That said I added more armour, using spare shoulder plates from the nobz kit, around the upper arms. This helped add variety and increased henchness, which are both very important things.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Since the painting's very much in line with the rest of the Goffs there's not much more to say than that. I built this unit during the end of 9th edition, and sadly 10th edition has seen fit to completely neuter their guns. This was most vexing, but I must remind myself that models are permanent and rules are temporary. <i>Seethes at loss of 5 skorchas.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;">My Pile of Goffortunity is now down to a fairly manageable size, kinda. Left in the queue are:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Some grotz</li><li>20 beast snagga boyz</li><li>A buggy</li><li>Battlewagon</li><li>One mek</li><li>The final deff dread</li><li>Da Stompa</li></ul><div>Right, I'm off to see how badly orks perform in <a href="https://www.thebeardbunker.com/2023/07/tyranid-horde-mode-for-warhammer-40k.html" style="font-style: italic;">Fury of the Swarm</a>, which I'm still hard at work on. And will be. For... some months yet.</div></div>Charliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05494958315546165602noreply@blogger.com4