Month 4: final Ork painting quota

Phew it's been four months of hard slog with over sixty of the standard Ork boyz painted. Still compared to a gaunt horde army that I have in the works this will probably be nothing. Anywho...... on with the update.

This is my Weirdboy, I went for a dynamically posed model for my second HQ choice rather than a second Big Mek with KFF. Those weirdboy powers sound like a lot of fun so I will look forward to fielding him. Painting wise I actually tried highlighting the edges in Ice blue and it's come out a treat, so I will go over the Meky elements highlighting now the monthly workload has been completed.

Here are close ups of the face and backpack, the wagh energy is drawn to the weird stik, chanelled down the cables into the storage tank in the back. The weirboy can then draw on the waaaghhh energy throught the headgear. Well in theory the Orky nowwats it should work. :)

You've already seen the killakanz and gretchin close ups from my other units in previous months. So here are the newest addition, five burna boyz, good little unit to throw into the mix with a unit of boyz, now burna mode or power weapon mode?

Vic

(P.S. I know the other two have not posted battle reports updates but real life has meant that we are a little behind on these but should have them played and posted in the coming weeks)

Month 3 battle (1200pts): Vic vs Gareth

Now the fun begins with more substantial 1200pt sized armys. The battle was to capture and hold four objectives. It seems that all the battles Gareth and I play have been of this type even though we always roll for it. The scenery was set up with a ruined small outpost feel to it using mini buildings made from cities of death kits.


This as you can guess is how we set up the battlefield, the yellow rings highlighting the four objectives.

I learnt my lesson after turn one as four template weapons wiped out the rather poorly placed loota boyz in the building ruins. They got their custom forcefield cave from the Big Mek but the one in three chance that they would survived was an unproven statistic.

Turns 4 saw the Orks loosing their nerve and hiding in any cover they could from the Thunderfire cannon whilst the Blood Ravens confidentaly strode on.

Kantor and his Sternguard were tasked with campturing the furthest reached objective but found that to massed shoota boyz firepower followed up with the demented flailings of thee killakanz were simply too much for them as they were wiped out in turn 5.

The Terminators marched across to outflank the Kanz but were left with nothing to attack as the kanz consolidated away from them. This allowed the repositioned surviving unit of Lootas to pick off one of the terminators as they returned to the main action.

There were two titanic clashes in the final turns 5 and 6 with two units of tactical squad fighting against a mob of boyz each. These took place in the centre of the battlefield and in the ruins just to the left of it. Calling a Waaaaaghhh the Orks charged madly at the marines who put too much faith in their ceramite armour (or was it marmite armour) as they were both wiped cleanly off the board.

Battle conclusion:
The dice was rolled for turn 7 but it was not to be. The Orks had won the day with brute force in the last desperate turns of the game.

Objective 1: contested by the heavy weapons and thunderfire cannon
Objective 2: held by the Ork boyz
Objective 3: Held by the Deffdredd (The Big Mek makes him a troop type)
Objective 4: uncontested.

'Hide from the big cannon fing' screamed the Orks as they scambled for cover.

Vic post battle comments:
I was relieved to have won the battle, the Blood Ravens were attempting to manouver their men around the outskirts of the battlefield whilst successfully suppressing my army with their heavy weapons. Despite the relatively small numbers of, the Blood Ravens yet again proved impervious to any Big shoota, slugga or even loota fire passing armour save after armour save and those were the power armour clad! I didn't even bother with the terminators until it looked like the dice Gods were favouring me with more luck.
All in all a fantastically close battle, and with an eye on the mission objectives and some gutsy manouvering gave the Orks enough fun to tell round the campfire back at Orky Ead'quaters. Now where do I get more firepower?

Gareth post battle comments:

Some more Eldar painted!

Well here is some more painted models (a bit of a rarity for me) Some Warp Spiders and Eldar Jetbikes (These models are not quite finished) I know i won't win any prizes for being on time but i prefer to do my talking on the battlefield! I am nearly done with a Fire Prysm and my Wraithlord too so i will get them painted in time for the big one. I think i need more troops but am stuck between more jetbikes or Dire Avengers. Other than that i know am adding some Dark Reapers just because Gaerth will be pooing his power armoured pants at the sight of them! Other than that finish off my Avatar and see where i stand i guess. Vic's orks will be tasting Wraithbone, just not how he wants to!

I would like to add they are finished now, fully painted and based! woo hoo!

More Space Marines! Still no Tanks!

Well here is the rest of my quota for the month, a second Tactical Squad and a thunderfire Cannon. Add that to the second half of a Devastator squad and a Company Master and it more than covers 400 points and gives me options for the army. The Tacticals i always take at least 2 for any game so they were a given and the Thunderfire cannon, I have used it in 1 game already and it made me bloody happy I took it! It will mush up Orks and Eldar all day long. I know i really need some sort of Armour in my army but i just enjoy painting infantry so much! Next month i will probably round it off with a couple of Rhinos or Drop pods, a Whirlwind and maybe a Predator.

My Blood Ravens Fortress Monastry. Like the guy who put it together it looks better at a distance but for a first attempt i am quite proud!

Photos of my Thunderfire Cannon and 2nd Tactical squad will follow tommorow. (they are painted, just in my figure case after a game).

Big Mek Stompy Klinik complete!

This is the side objective for this month, I opted to build a Mek hut in a similar style of the one in the Dawn of War game and added other details like the look out tower. You might have noticed that in the WIP I had a base with it which I have now decided not to include as the building can freestand on the battlefield without it. The round bit in the first picture is supposed to be a power generator of sorts and the watch tower fits one 25mm based figure like a rikkit launcha boy.
The remainig two walls show a lil gretchin shop for pawning spare go fasta bits and a shooting range to test the Big Mek's latest contraptions. The top of the hut can hold up to ten 25mm based models with three manning a mounted big shoota.
Here is a close up of my favourite bits, the Big shootas, Gretchin trading hole and the shooting gallery.

Vic's month 3 Orky quota

It's been a busy month but I have finally managed to finish my third lot of twenty Ork boyz which brings the total up to sixty excluding HQ models etc. To further bolster the model count and because they are awesome fun filled models I painted up a unit of Gretchin and a runtherded. These were joined by the very useful Lootas, another unit of 5, and a Deffdread.

The Deffdread I've actually had modelled and painted up for some time now, kinda the time I made the Killakanz as the whole metal stompy fever took hold of me. With loads of close combat weapons I'm sure looking forward to tucking into some wraithbone!

My month so far

Well here is the run down of what i have been up to so far this month. Firstly, the mess that is my Paint station! That is a second Tactical squad and a Thunderfire cannon half painted. (The nearly finished warbiker boss kept getting in the way!)



I started by Painting this chap (Gary) a)because he looks nice and b) because Having Bob in smaller games eats up too many points that can't be spent on lots of shooty goodness.


Next up i finished the other Half of my Devastator squad usint the spare weapons and a combat squad (top tip boys and girls) which more than anything just gives me options and spares for Tactical squads.



Here we have the half finished HQ building which i think is coming along nicley for a first scratch building attempt. I still need to fill in any gaps with polyfilla (cheaper and easier to file, another top tip!I am good to you!) Then actually paint the damn thing. I am aiming to use some polyfilla around the base of it to make it look like it has been slammed into the ground(also covers up gaps)



And lastly, a random thing i made to replace whole Tactical squads when they get blown to little chunks by Imperial Guard Basalisks (By my usual opponents and sometimes friends Mark and Rich)



Anyway thats my random rant/imformative lecture over till the deadline. So i better finish of painting eh?

place holder for Vic

Month 2 results

Vic
Draw against Gareth - 3pts
Win against Foxy - 5pts
Models painted on time - 5pts
Month 1 total = 13pts

Gareth
Draw against Vic - 3pt
Draw against Foxy - 3 pts
Models painted on time - 5pts
Month 1 total = 11pts

Foxy
Loss against Vic - 1pts
Draw against Gareth - 3pts
Models painted on time - 0pts
Month 1 total = 4pts

Overall standings
1st = Vic - 13pts -> 26pts
2nd = Gareth - 9pts -> 20pts
3rd = Foxy - 6pts -> 10pts

Space marine voice acting????

The voice acting on Dawn of War games is rather bad so this clever dude (battosai810) has put together a flash movie with the original audio. Also quite appropriate seeing as Gareth is building a Blood Ravens army. clicky here!

Vic

Vic's Big Mek HQ building

This is the Mek building that I have been working on for this months objective.

The general shape was from studying the Mek workshop in the Dawn of war game, I then added a kustom look out tower onto it. As you can see sprue makes for a brilliant frame building material.

Now the building has been skinned so to speak. Various thicknesses of plasticard were used as well as wooden stirrers. Looks quite Orky me finks. When it's all painted there will be a few surprises to make it a bit special so keep posted.

Vic

Month 2 battle (800pts): Foxy vs Vic

With time running short as Warhammer world were due to close we agreed to play four turns only. The dice gods ruled again that we should fight a kill points game.

With the two sides deployed Locknut ordered his lootas to fire on the fireprism. Within moments of coming into view the graceful hovercraft was turned into a flaming wreck! Killas kanz opened fire on the guardian jetbikes and destroyed one. This round of fortunate Ork shooting was shortlived as the lootas and kans fired ineffectively as both Avatar and Wraithlords fired marched upon them.

In the centre of the battlefield the Guardians and Striking scorpians stealthed forward making excellent use of cover and the farseers protection from shooting. Seeing the wreck of a falcon initially sent in to scout the area, the Avatar roared in anger before thowing his shining spear at the shoota boyz unit impailing one in the chest.

At the height of turn three battle was engaged as the orks called a waaaaghh to smash into the eldar vanguard. The Farseer, weakened to one wound by rokkit fire was dispatched along with the striking scorpians. Oddly it was the guardians who managed to flee, but they were shot down by the persuing shoota boyz in the next turn.

Elsewear Elegant wraithbone and adhoc machine clashed as the Wraithlords and killakanz clashed. The battle was one sided as crude robot suits were cleaved in two. The Avatar and Big Mek did the ol' HQ show down with the Avatar finally cleaving the ugly green Ork in two.

Turn four ended and the Orks were the winners by 3 (Farseer, Striking scorpians, Guardians) kill points to 2 (Big Mek, Killa kanz squad).

Foxy post game comments:
What else can i say other than, he got lucky? Like he said, he took out the single biggest threat in the first turn. What could i do? Revert to plan b? What bloody plan b? At least i learnt something in defeat (more than can be said for Gareth and his big red pansies)i learnt that Wraithlords kick ass! oh and Guardians don't do well in close combat with big mobs of orks, really, they don't!

Vic post game comments:
All I can say is thank goodness the Lootas destroyed the fireprism in turn one! The blast templates could seriously have affected the way the battle in the middle of the board had gone by thining down the green tide.

The Wraithlord were scary and I could see what Foxy was trying to do by completing a pincer movement with the Avatar on one prong and Wraithlords on the other. Somehow I managed to come out on top but only just.

Month 2 battle (800pts): Gareth vs Foxy

This is the placeholder for Gareth Foxy battle

Month 2 battle (800pts): Vic vs Gareth

This is the battle report for month 2 Vic vs Gareth at 800pts

The general deployment of the battlefield looked like this. The mission was capture the enemy objective which made use of the markers that we had modelled up this month.

This was the state of play at turns 3-4 The terminators shrugged off round after round of fire from anything that could reach from the Orks. While they unrelentingly marched forward with covering by the Sternguard long range Kraken bolts. The Shoota boyz were wittled down and eventually broke, fleeing past the Lootas and much to Vic's relief stopped one inch from the board edge. However the fight was knocked out of the lootas a turn later who promptly fled the battlefield.

Turns 5-6 saw a continued stalemate firefight on the Western side, whilst the Blood raven tactical squad sneaked closer to the Ork objective. The Nob in charge of the Ork Boyz issued a Waaaaghhh and ordered his boyz to intercept them.

The battle was bloody to say the least! After cutting down seven marines with only two casualties the Orks finished off the remaining sergeant and co as they charged back into the fray.

However the battle was a draw as neither side were able to capture the enemy objective.

Vic post game reflections:
I was reasonably happy with how the battle went, Kantor and his buddy sternguard sat guarding their objective which would have taken the whole concentration of my army to capture. In the end they stayed out of harms way... relatively while I the Terminators took as much lead as the Orks could through at them. The old adage of getting marines to take as many armour saves as possible did not work!

I must try not to leave my lootas so close to the board edge in future and keep them over 12 inches in. They are my trump card when dealing with armour and loosing them was a worry.

And lastly for this battle, keep your Nobz in the front of the unit. It should go without saying buy on the turn that they charged the tactical marines the Nob was left out of two inches from a model in hand to hand. I don't know what happened, probably having to move twenty boyz at a time made me forget him.

Gareth post game reflections:
What can i say? Either i am a very very bad commander or marines do not suit small games! It costs over 400 points for 1 hq and 2 troops! That being said, it could of been different. Looking back on it i would of been better sending in the Terminators with the tactical squad to beef up the owd combat but hindsite is a wonderfull thing and i never learn from it anyway! All in i was beaten by the best man (or big green smelly ork) All i can say is, when the stakes get higher, the orks will have a fight on their hands with Bob the Company Master and his mates!

My objective Marker, Brother Corvius has fallen!

Here is my objective marker. Brother Marine Corvius has fallen as his Tactical Squad was overrun by Orks in the town of Kervus Prime. The Blood Ravens will leave no one behind to the savage greenskins to toy with, let alone the Eldar to torment and interogate. They also need to recover the precious Geneseed from his squad.

I have modelled him sitting slumped and half dead up against the ruins of a building. Loosing off the last of his bolt shells and activating his Chainsword ready to take as many of the Vile Xenos scum with him!

I made it using a standard Tactical Marine with repositioned legs to make him sit. I then used a piece of cities of death wall for the background and a sheet of tectured plastic for the cobblestones which you will find in most good Model shops and soon on the exelent modelfu.com

I was going to add lots of dead Orks around him as Vic had the Audacity to add Dead Marines to his! How very dare he! However, after lots of uming and ahhing i realised that i made the base too small!

My Webway gate wip

Here is the latest picture of my Webway gate. It has been made using 2 sides of Plasticard on a Polystyrene base and has been filled in with polyfiller. I still have to smooth out and fill out the rounded edges but its well on its way. Its also very big! More than big enough for pretty much anything in an eldar army to come though. I have used Daemonscape rubble and Gale force Nine on the base along with Games Workshop water effects for the stream of blood. I am sure plenty of Orks and Marines will find theirselves dead at its base.

The Eldar are here. Actually painted!

Here is my first completed squad. A guardian Squad from the Craftworld Alaitoc. Its been ready for a while now but with my wedding an all it has sort of took a back seat. I have lots of half painted models that wont take much to finish. I hae very nearly finished a squad of Striking Scorions, a Fire Prism and a farseer to lead them along with the Avatar, Wraitlord and Jetbikes from month 1. I have also started my HQ which will be a webway gate. (Nice and easy then!)

Casnus the arrival of unwanted parties.

Casnus an Imperial agriculture world in the zetor sector. Half the planet orbits the local sun in close ellipse resulting in half the world recieving too much sun and was burnt into a desert wasteland. The other half is cold and cruel many, few people wander there as it is eerie silent and many stories tell of creatures that feed off your very breath. Straddling the hot and cold divide of the planet exists a band of temperate climate good for sustaining the vast crops that this agri world exports.

Eldar - The Eldar farseer has had evil visions that disturb him and the sensitive wraithbone that surrounds him in his slumber. Sensing great menace the farseer summons an elite scouting force to investigate, leaving the craftworld towards Casnus.

Orks - Big Mek Locknut was bored, he and his whaaaaahh had come to an abrubt end after stripping the previous planet and building the vast kroozer that they were now on. The other orks were in fighting and several challenges had been attempted on his position of grand wahhhh master. Now in space there was only darkness, his latest crudely built device had an increased range but could not detect another planet nearby. 'Boss you got ta see dis!' yelled one of his Nob chiefs. Lugnut jumped up to the scanner panel that the Nob was pointing at and a wicked grin appeared. The scanners had picked up a faint trail of an Eldar ship, Lugnut knew that where ever the tricksy Eldar were going, there would be fighting or a pretty toy that use to turn into a nice big blasty weapon. The big mek picked up the shouta com and bellowed into it 'Boyz sharpen your choppas, we iz found a fight!'

Blood Ravens - The Blood Ravens space marines had stopped at Casnus for refuelgin and supplies. After stemming a Traitor Imperial guard rebellion in the Grason sector they were trapped in a warp storm for 11 months and needed to get a new astropath for their ship since the previous one's head exploded from the strain of guiding the ship through deamon temptation infested warp space. Sergeant Noris looked at the landed ships navigation devices that he was monitoring and noticed a distant bleep, closer scans picked up an Eldar ship pursued by an Ork hulk heading straight for Casnus. The Blood Ravens commander was notified, he swiftly ordered the planetary defences and brother marines into the 3 bravo defence pattern. With bolt shells loaded the space marines watched the incoming forces.



This is our first try at creating a narrative for the tale of three gamers as so far they have been a series of random battles.

Gareth again. how i base my models.

First off i like to use the Daemonscape range of resin bases as they are ready detailed, simple to paint and best of all good value for money compared to other resin bases available. These are the cobblestone bases and come in all the sizes you will need (25mm, 40mm, 65mm) There is no need to undercoat them although you can if you prefer.

I painted the cobblestones Adeptus Battlegrey and the sides of the base in the same colour.

Then simply paint the mud area Khemri Brown and off we pop, ready to go detailed bases. I like to pin my models to the bases for stability using a Hobby Drill and a piece of paperclip. Obviously you can use any bases and paint them in any colour and also add highlights/flocks ect for extra detail. This is just a simple and efective way to have detailed bases for no more effort than painting a standard, flat, plastic base.

If you want to have a look at the Daemonscape bases they are available at www.wargamesempire.com There are a few different types available in round and square bases (I use the square ones for my Bretonnians)

Gareth's step by step guide to painting the Emperors finest.

First off i start by assembling the models (obviously) I like to keep the arms and weapons seperate so i can easily get to the detail on the chest. Glue is poly cement, i prefer to use the Humbrol range as it has a needle point tip so you you never put too much on. Its a precision tip.

Next, undercoat the models. I use Chaos Black in a spray as its easy and the colour suits the basecoat. Then basecoat all the models in Mecharite red. It gives a great coat but its better to water it down a bit as with any paint. Anything that won't end red, just leave black.

Next i wash the armour with a 50/50 mix of Badab Black and Baal Red. Again its simply personal choice but i find it shades better with the black added as the red itself is quite dark. As with the basecoat you could easily do these 2 steps with a spay gun to speed up the process.

Next i repaint all the armour with Mecharite Red, leaving the wash in the recesses. At this point you can touch up in Black any parts that may have had a bit of Red stray onto them lie the joins in armour (behind the knees ect)

Next is for all the other parts. The shoulderpads purity seals and any parchment get painted in the same 3 stage process but with Bleached Bone/Gyrophone Sepia/Bleached bone. Any metal areas like on the weapons ect were done Boltgun Metal/Badab Black/Boltgun metal and tubes to the weapons are done in blues but its totally up to you.

I have ran out of photos but for the final stage, i highlight all the reds with Blood Red , the bone colours with a mix of Skull White/Bleached Bone Metal with Chaiinmail.

Over all its a pretty simple process and is quick enough to get a lot of models painted quickly. Especially if you need to churn out 2 or 3 Tactical Squads. For more Detailed models like Commanders it provides a good base to which you can then add more detail.

This process is easily done for most Chapters and colours. I have tried it with a spare Terminator in Imperial Fists colours.

Month 2 Gareth and the Blood Ravens 5th

The Games Day model that will probably not even find its way into the army but looks nice.

The Dreadnought. This is the Assault on Black Reach model so comes ready to go with a Multi Melta. I am going to swap this around at some point to an Assault Cannon and Missile Launcher.

The Assault on Black Reach Terminators. Again i am not sure if they will find a place in the army but it seemed rude not to paint them after doing their box mates. I am going to go back over these with more shading and highlighting but for now i am happy enough with them. I especially like the Sergeant and his base.

My Sternguard. My crappy photography really doesn't do these models justice as i think they are the best looking unit in the army so far.

My army in full so far. I knocked the Board up in about 5 minutes to give me something to pose them on. Its just a Javis Scenics mat cut and stuck to Polystyrene and some ready made/painted Javis Scenery.

Well its fair to say i have been busy this month with painting my models. I have added a Devastator Squad which is loaded out with 2 Lascannons and 2 Heavy Bolters. Its a strange mix i know but it gives me a couple of tank busting guns for the inevitable Wave Serpents full of Aspect Warriors Foxy will bring (not to mention that bloody Avatar!) and the Killa Kans that Vic fields but also gives me 2 Heavy Bolters that should do a fair bit of damage to any Aspect Warriors, Ork Nobz or failing that just make a mess of Guardians and Ork boys. I am half way though painting another 5 Devastators with the remaining weapons and a Combat Squad which will not be part of my total army list but gives me plenty of heavy options for the Devastator squad and my Tactical Squads. Which is something i advise any marine player to do. I also Painted the rest of the Assault on Black Reach models (minus the Captain) but i think i could do with going back over and adding a bit more detail to them. I also painted last years Games Day model just because he looks nice and a Sternguard Squad as it seemed fitting with Bob at the head of the army. The models themselves are amazing and on the table will again add a bit more specialized firepower. Seen as i am only allowed 800 points for the next game i will have to chose carefully.

You will notice i have not put up a picture of my Objective marker yet, it was finished but then i saw the poor Marine on the base of Vic's! So i am going back to add lots of dead orks to mine, childish, yes, but fun all the same, definatly!

It seems to me as i am writing this that my army is in danger of being 'too specialized' and too small which against Orks and Eldar is not really a great idea. So for month 3 i think i am going to have to add at least 1 more Tactical Squad and probably 2, but then i have a nice new Thunderfire Cannon just begging to be painted!