WIP: Crimson Fist Ironclad Dreadnaught

For my Planetstrike game on 11/14, I've decided to field an Ironclad Dreadnaught in a drop pod.  I've been using a regular AoBR dreadnaught proxy in games and I've really liked the Ironclad's performance so far.  Slightly better than a standard dread and well worth the extra points.

I have the Ironclad set from GW, but decided to also kitbash up my own dread.  After trolling various websites for inspiration, I came across an amazing model on Cool Mini or Not by Talarion.  I loved the head piece and the bulky bunker-like look of the model.  So I grabbed my bits and saw and knives and sticky tack and decided to give this conversion a try for my Crimson Fists!

The Dreadnaught shape, of course, is an AoBR model I picked up from The War Store.  I then sawed off most of the front of the model (after much dry fitting and determining best fit and the like).  I haven't glued on the front plate yet as I need to figure out what I want to do with any gaps, but so far, so good.

I used some old LR sponsoon bits (from my LRC) to form the front plate, cutting and fitting as needed.  For the head-lens array, I used a Chaos smoke launcher (at least I think it's a smoke launcher), much like the original inspiration.  Plasticard forms the helmet as well as the armor plate on the model (I don't know why I have black plasticard instead of white...the bag I bought had a large mix of colors and textures).  For the Chainfist, I used an old Epic Titan arm and a plastic tube tacked onto the AoBR arm.

I'm going to detail it up with some pipes and wires and the like.  And the pic makes it clear that I need to smooth out that arm immensely!

For the HK missile, I didn't really like the ones the Ironclad comes with.  It really doesn't makes sense to me that the HKs on Rhinos look so different from the ones on Ironclads, so I just took a normal Rhino HK and cut it down to fit under the dreadnaught.

Lots more to do:

Bulk out the legs with some more armor plates and detail.  Bulk out the body and arms as well...I'm not completely sure about the exhausts on the front...I like it but I don't know if it'll look good painted. And I haven't even touched the back engine!  I also need to assemble the other arm and add in the melta gun/flamer options. 

What do folks think?  Any advice?  I've got a ways to go yet and I may wind up proxying my Ironclad again on 11/14 if this beast isn't done yet.  For fluffy reasons, I'm saying that Pedro Kantor had to reactivate some of the older dreadnaughts after the disaster on Rynn's World…the loss of their armory has left the Fists using whatever they have on hand!

ANFSCD*: Andira Runehand

I saved the Andira Runehand post for last as she was actually the second the model I painted in this ANFSCD series and I had delusions that I would go back and correct all the tiny mistakes on her that add up to a mess of a model.

But then I remembered that ANFSCD isn't about obsessing over mistakes.  It's about trying new things, seeing what went wrong and then trying again on a new model (in this case, Silo was the model I did better on!).  It was also about keeping up with the hobbying despite having burnt out on Crimson Fists.  At least I had some success there!

Runehand has been a staple mage in our group since day 1.  Her focus has been on AoE type spells, both Breath and Blast runes to wipe out the little enemies so Lord Hawthorne and Silo can handle the big threats (while my guy ports around grabbing treasures and supplies).  She's a neat character, though her base ability to pierce 2 armor has become slightly less useful as the monsters we're facing have advanced to Silver/Gold levels...they have a lot of armor to pierce now!  Her player is brilliant though and has done a great job of rapidly building an attack plan and getting us on-board for the killing and the looting. Sometimes he bites off a bit more than he can chew and winds up getting beat up and sent back to town, but his sacrifices are always well-calculated for the overall team win. 

This model is easily the weakest model in the set.  Her fingers and head are mediocre sculpts and there is no rational explanation for her to be carrying a banner through the dungeon.  It doesn't even connect to her power (which is a Runehand presumably.)  Along with this, her drawing demands a gold trim and a highlight on the hand, both of which I failed at!

Many tiny mistakes add up to an angry Andira

I started with a black gesso base and then painted all her armor bits with the foundation paint Adeptus Battlegrey.  In a moment of inspiration, I then decided to give her armor a wash of Asurman blue instead of using any regular paint...so what you see here is just straight blue wash over a grey-white basecoat.  It actually came out looking rather nice for her...makes for shiny armor without using any metallics!

I then tried to use sunburst yellow along the edges (or is it golden yellow now?) and here is where I flubbed it.  Lots of fat lines that should be thin and I feel like I should have used a different yellow to act as gold.  Live and learn, I guess.  Not much time lost though as I finished her in a night (not counting the gessoing that I let dry overnight).  You'll note I didn't bother trimming every bit of armor as I didn't want to continue compounding the error...as stated, I was going to go back and fix it.  But now I'm not.  Take that, perfectionist tendencies!

She looks much better from the back...

This little trip into ANFSCD really worked to keep me painting and as of Sunday, I'm back to fists in preparation for Planetstrike on Saturday. Huzzah!

*And Now For Something Completely Different: A sporadic post about my exploits outside the WH40K hobby.  I paint and play with other minis too!

ANFSCD*: Silouette

In my continuing series of ANFSCD posts, I bring you Silouette!  She's the rogue in our group, armed with a bow that she has come to use with great effect!

One of the neat aspects of the Descent: JitD Road to Legend expansion is the customization you can really put on your character.  In the normal play version, you'd draw your abilities and play them out.  In the RtL version, you start with a single ability, but then you can choose to buy your next few.  Which means you can really tailor your character to do some ridiculous stuff.  As is the case of Silouette here!  As an archer, she has the ability to re-roll misses, draw LOS from a hex away and ignore the first LOS blocking terrain in her way...along with this, she has two kinds of bows...one for killing normal mobs and another that pierces the strongest armors.  She's become a beast nearly as strong as Lord Hawthorne!

It wasn't always that way though.  She started off very weak basically pinging anything tougher than a beastman for 1 point.  I don't know if that was fun for her player, but I know it isn't fun for me (now that I'm the weak link in the party).  So as a party, we invested in her gear and abilities and now she essentially carries the group.  That and we're all having much more fun!

Anyway, here is the finished shot of her:

In the pits, she grew strong!

I'm most proud of the trim on her leather tunic. It matches the picture and doesn't look sloppy.  I'm going to be posting Andira Runehand soon who has similar trim on her armor and I didn't really pull it off.  But on Silo...I totally nailed it.

I also wanted to try freehanding a tattoo to match the picture.  It was much easier than I thought it would be and I'm kind of glad I tried:

It's not a perfect match, but for tabletop play, it's close enough! For a night's work painting (After painting 3 other ones in as many nights), I'm fairly happy with the results!

*And Now For Something Completely Different: A sporadic post about my exploits outside the WH40K hobby.  I paint and play with other minis too!

ANFSCD*: Lord Hawthorne

As mentioned before, I burnt out for a short while and decided to pick up and paint a few Descent Adventurers instead of power armored Marines.  Today, I'll be showing Lord Hawthorne!

In our Road to Legends campaign, Lord Hawthorne is a beast.  Essentially he's our tank, dps and crowd controller on every level of the dungeon.  Part of it is because we've pooled out efforts to gearing him out...and the other part is because his player loves to knock dungeon heads.

The joy of painting these Descent figures was the lack of any pressure to perform.  I simply looked at the card, chose some colors and got to painting.  Any painter can pick out the colors I used...mecharite red, chainmail, badab black washes, etc etc.  I started with a black gesso and used foundation paints to get the colors started.  For the tabard bit, I tried Grey with just a green wash.  I like the way it came out...very light colored cloth!

Front View 

 

Back View

I didn't make him as shiny as his picture though...these guys are dungeon crawlers, so I washed him with devlan mud to get him a bit dirty on the edges.  I've got 2 more coming.  Does anyone out there play Descent?  Or Dungeons and Dragons (for the original dungeon crawling game!)?

Lord Hawthorne will pillage your dungeon! 

*And Now For Something Completely Different: A sporadic post about my exploits outside the WH40K hobby.  I paint and play with other minis too!

ANFSCD*: Runemaster Thorn

*And Now For Something Completely Different: A sporadic post about my exploits outside the WH40K hobby.  I paint and play with other minis too!

After reading Corbania's "That's it! I'm Burnt Out!" post, I couldn't help but empathize.  At least twice this week, I sat in front of my painting station and thought "Man.  I can't bring myself to paint another blue guy."  But I still enjoy the hobby and I still love the relaxation I get with painting. So how to get it when I'm burnt out on Crimson Fists?

What I first tried to do was paint my Dark Angels or my Tau...but I found I couldn't even get into that.  It was still too similar and still too many models to do and still too much.  So I looked around my vast collections of minis for something else to paint.  Lo and behold, my Descent: Journeys in the Dark box set was out from a game a few weeks ago.  I'm playing in a long running monthly Road to Legends campaign and as a group, we've talked about painting our models for a long time.  So I finally took the plunge!

The nice thing about painting these models is that they come with reference cards for each character:

Runemaster Thorn

So all I have to do is extrapolate the colors and get to painting!  I started with my own guy first, the reasoning being that if I wanted to get back the Crimson Fists, then at least I'd look better than my fellow (unpainted) players.  I freely admit that I didn't work extra hard on Runemaster Thorn.  I gesso'ed him in black and then built up the colors form there.  Veteran painters should be able to identify colors and techniques. 

Another nice thing about trying a solo model is that it doesn't have to tie into the rest of your collection!  So you can try something new (like the skin tones on this old guy) you read about on some blog or article.  You can try different highlight schemes or wet blending or what have you.  I played it safe on this guy, but I feel like I did some stuff I've never done before like with the beard.  It's a stretch for me to paint hair since none of my Crimson Fists are Space Wolves in disguise (i.e. they aren't hairy!).

Runemaster Thorn is a spellcaster-type, but as he has the ability to teleport instead of move, I've been using him as a treasure grabber/portal activator.  As such, I've fallen a little behind in the gear curve as we prioritized equipping our true killer-types (the archer and the warrior, coming soon).  Eventually I'll gear up again, but right now I'm having a ton of fun porting around and sniping wounded monsters or grabbing their treasure and porting out before they can respond.

I'm debating if I should try flocking him (and the rest of the heroes), but I'm afraid I'll bury the feet.  Maybe I could try painting a rock pattern?  Or paint the base grey?  On a separate topic, how do you get out of your army painting rut?

Crimson Fist Veteran Sgt

I finally finished my Crimson Fist Sgt.  I originally planned his construction and look for my Command Squad I posted ages ago.  I didn't think it would take so long to paint him at the time (I even tried to get him done by the end of May...but work conspired against me!).  Anyways, I finally completed him!  For the too lazy to click on my link, here's the pic of the Sgt pre-paint job.  Bits from various sets and I used cuts from index card to make the neck armor.  To harden the card, I brushed on a light layer of crazy glue.  Really stiffened it up!

For painting him, I used my standard Crimson Fist colors:

Mordian Blue Drybrush over Black Gesso

Ultramarine+Mordian drybrush to highlight

Straight Ultramarine for highlight.

Extreme highlight = Ultramarine+White

Mecharite Red Fists w/ Badab Black Wash in recesses/Baal Red wash on higher parts.

I quartered the shoulder icon...I'm going to have a few units with this quartered icon somewhere on them to represent their having fought with Black Templars. I plan to have a green half badge on my Sternguard to represent veterans of Rynn's World. I know the Fists don't cotton to elaborate badges and icons, so I'm hoping to keep it simple.

I'm gathering up the courage to try and freehand a design on the Banner, though in looking at this picture, I think I might have to clean up the highlight/lowlight colors. It's pretty stark how fast it goes from white-grey-dark grey! I also forgot to detail up the Purity Seals. Tiny things you don't see until you actually post the picture!

FTW: Must Have Unit

From the Warp asked us a simple question:

"This time it's an easy one... What is your MUST HAVE unit in your army?...We all have that one unit we just can't bear to go without... For some of us it's an emotional attachment, some might just think it's cool, whatever the reason, let's hear about it."

For me, at least, Ron's right...his question is an easy one. The must have unit for my Crimson Fists are Assault Marines with Jump Packs.  Simply put, Assault Marines are cheap for what they can do!

For less than 150 points, I can field a squad of 5 Fists that can hop 12inches over terrain, flamer an enemy unit and then charge in with Power Fist attacks!  Toss in a melta bomb for the Sgt and even a Land Raider is in danger. 

Crimson Fists Assault Squad Support Termies in Killing Nurgle Marines

They aren't invincible by any means and 5 marines with Packs won't break an Ork mob, but I always field them and every game they've managed to do something awesome.  Be it having a Sgt that crushes 8 Skull Bashers in a single battle or a late turn revenge charge against a Land Raider to blow it up, the Assault Marines are mobile enough and flexible enough to be where I want them, when I want them!

I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention the neat conversions you can do with Assault Marines.  I've seen amazing jump packs, cool bases and neat motion effects.  I also love the fluff that some folks have created for their Assault Marines.  For AaronB (the occasional guest author), he decided that all his Jump Marines have Beakie helms and prefer axes over chainswords.  His Sgts take Thunder Hammers instead of Power Fists...since they bash skulls so well!

Planetstrike: Crimson Fist Attacker Edition

Are folks out there playing the Planetstrike? I'm not seeing as much buzz around it...though I guess much discussion time was swallowed by the Jaws of the Wolf and Tyranid rumours. In a few weeks, I'm having some friends over to play Planetstrike on my new table and I'm in the process of finalizing 2 lists...depending on who plays attacker and who plays defender.

Here's my thoughts on an 1850 Invasion Force (Sword of Dorn Formation):
Wave 1:
Librarian Epistolary (Force Axe, Bolt Pistol)
Sternguard, Combi-Melta, Power Fist
Land Raider Crusader

Wave 2:
Ironclad Dreadnaught SH+CCW+Melta w/ Drop Pod+Beacon
10 Tacticals w/ Meltagun, ML, Power Fist, Drop Pod+Beacon
10 Tacticals w/ Meltagun, ML, Drop Pod+Beacon

Wave 3:
5 Terminators w/ Chainfist
Captain w/ Jump Pack, Power Sword, Melta Bomb
5 Assault Marines w/ Powerfist, Flamer, Melta Bomb
5 Scouts w/ Melta Bomb w/ Landspeeder Storm+Multimelta

The Sword of Dorn is all about hitting hard, fast and often! The Librarian is fielded with the Sternguard inside the Crusader. This gives me a solid core of shock troops that can hopefully burst through a line. I haven't decided on the powers for my Librarian yet, but most likely it'll be assaulty-powers and maybe the Gate. I chose an LRC over a Redeemer as that's what I have built and painted. I doubt I'll get the Redeemer done by the game. Next time though!

The Drop Pods will drop in a good sized cluster or spread out depending on the terrain set up with the Tacticals devoted to busting up vehicles or bastions. Once they are situated, the squads will then provide fire support for the next wave of assault elements: Jump Packers and Terminators. With all the power fists and meltas, I'm thinking Bastions aren't going to last long and any vehicles still around are going to get devastated. The Jump Packers and Storm also have the added benefit of being able to seize objectives on the last turn if needed. Though I'm hoping my Tacticals can hold enough objectives or the enemy has been routed!

With Planetstrike allowing assaults after Deep Strike, I'm figuring I'll have pretty much all my troops deep striking and then use the beacons to guide them in for the kill. For folks who've argued rules, I wonder how they feel about Drop Pod assaults or Landspeeder Storm assaults…my opinion is that the "deep strike" ability of the transports are conferred to the units within. So if I wanted, my Tacticals could assault after a deep strike. But that might be pushing it (and also unbalancing for the defenders maybe?). We'll see how it plays out in play.

What do folks think?

Crimson Fist Land Raider

Finally going to put up some pics of my Land Raider Crusader. This is the older Mark I model...with the metal hurricane bolters. Let me tell you...they were a pain in the butt to assemble. It's fairly standard Crimson Fist colors and not much detail. Unfortunately, many of the transfers I applied came off in transit...so I need to reapply (and get some of the Microsol suggested earlier). I've been practicing my freehand...but it still looks a bit unrefined, so I'll be continuing to use transfers until I can get the Crimson Fist to look nifty.

Can't really see here, but I did paint the interior. More drybrushed the interior up from black to a dirty-white color. I hoped using a lighter color would make it easier to see inside, but you really can't see. I did magnetize the door so it would seal shut when I closed it. I didn't like how it was always partly-open on the battlefield. Brother Whinicus would probably complain about the breeze blowing up his Terminator skirt or something. It opens and shuts now with a satisfying snap! For the Fists to rebuild, every Marine has to be a Fist first and Machine-God acolyte second! To reflect this, all my Crimson Fist Adeptus Mechanicus marines will be sporting the Fists colors and only their shoulderpad will have the Mechanicus colors. In this marine's case, he's working the Meltagun. Love that Multi-melta...especially with the Machine Spirit rules allowing it to shoot pretty much no matter how much I move.
I love the Crusader and it has seen combat against Eldar, Orks and Marine with great effect. Not only does it absorb an absurd amount of shots, it carries my Fists right into the thick of it fairly safely. For my upcoming planetstrike battle, I'm going to stuff it full of a Command Squad and a Librarian on the defense as a counterassault force and with Sternguard for an Attacker Force. Planetstrike post coming soon!
Eventually, I'm going to name her (taking suggestions...should be Spanish-esque!) and add in more banners, but for now she's battle ready!

Crimson Fist Librarian

With the weather getting colder in NY, I'm back to being inside and painting. I guess from now on, I should let folks know I might not post much in the summer. Something about that weather makes me not want to sit in front of a computer updating my blog or in front of models. You'd think with more sunlight, I'd want to paint more by natural light, but it just never happened!

I'm back in the saddle though and preparing for my first Planetstrike game (post to come). I've got bastions to build and a few Crimson Fists to assemble and prepare for the fight. With the release of the Space Wolves codex and the amount of psychic powers my local opponents have the potential to play, I've decided that my Crimson Fists need a Librarian to keep things honest. Plus it was about time I get around to painting another HQ model for my Fists!

Click for larger version

This is an older model, though I don't think he's more than a few years old. He's not available from GW catalogue anymore, but he's in the How to Paint Space Marines book. I liked him cause of the book strapped to his armor. I decided that my Crimson Fist librarians take the red fists (on both to denote veteran) and use red for the distinctive horned skull.

My Crimson Fists work as my table-ready army with experimenting…mainly cause I spend so much time on my Dark Angels. I wanted a "Vanilla" marine army that could get on the table relatively fast and didn't frighten me when it comes to painting. So I usually skimp on the work and details. No mixing too many paints, and no agonizing over color choices. I make a list and don't really deviate.

Here's detail on the Force Axe which I was fairly proud of. Previously, I tried the Sepia wash on power swords for my Vanguard, but the more I look at them, the more I think they look lazy rather than awesome. A Librarian's Force Weapon should look a little different and ancient anyway, so I tried something different (And yet...entirely by the book!). I'm considering giving the metal a wash of sepia just to make it look slightly more ancient, but I'm digging the gold detail.

For the hood/helm, I went all out, painting individual wires and highlighting them up from black primer. Camo Green, Blood Red and Sunburst Yellow were my final highlights. I'm beginning to feel much more comfortable with my highlight work. I think I might try some new techniques on future models as I have my Fists down to a science. I completed this Librarian in about 8 hours…all while watching movies (Embarassingly: Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, The Woods and People Under the Stairs) at the same time. Prolly could go much faster on the next one if I didn't watch tv!

Building Crazy - Ziggurat and Gaming Table

I can't paint in the summer. I don't know why, but it seems more of a fall-winter-spring activity. But, what I can do in the summer is big projects. Here are the two I did this summer.

First my ziggurat (this is an older photo with just the first basecoat):


It's 15 layers (3 sheets x 5 levels) of 1/2" sheet insulation - the blue stuff. I cut all the sheets then glued and screwed them together. I then cut the steps out and cut the foam into blocks. After I cut some wear and tear into the blocks, I used the smooth part of a dental tool to make it look more like stone.

We used this as part of an Apocalypse event NerdNYC organized. It's pretty big 21" square and about 8" tall.

Next the gaming table:
This was a pretty simple job. I bought two 24" x 80" interior door slabs and a couple of 3.5" hinges. I tried to get the narrowest hinges possible, because the door is hollow. So if you go beyond the frame of the door you'll just be screwing into the thin luan.

After attaching the doors, I used masking tape to create the playing area, which I wanted to keep as 4' x 6'. I really like having the extra 4" on either side of the playing area, because it give you somewhere to put reserves, right before they outflank (hopefully right next to a devilfish, ha!) or a tape measure or casualty(previously mentioned devilfish).

I primed the wood with gesso and used acrylic enamel paint. I would recommend the enamel paint over regular acrylic, because a gaming table takes a beating with all the movement it gets and all the terrain pieces that have rough surfaces like sand/rock/rubble. I painted it dark grey and used a toothbrush to spatter it with a couple lighter shades.

If you want a final pic with terrain and models on it, ask Cawshis. It's his table now. Happy birthday!

Old School Mini Time!

GWPertinent is having a friendly contest asking that we take a picture of our oldest model and post it for posterity. As I post this picture I realize I didn't include the slip of paper with his blog name, so I'll need to retake, but in the meantime, here's a blast from the past...a Mentors Legion Terminator Librarian with Force Sword and Storm Bolter:

Click for Larger Version

I think I painted this guy when I was like 10 or 11 (I might be dating myself here). I remember him coming with a few Punk Rock scouts and lots of Tyranid Warriors and Genestealer Hybrids. Maybe an old Space Crusade booster set?

I painted him in the Mentors Legion scheme (I hope!) and it looks to me like I converted the Force Axe into a Force Sword...which might make this my first conversion too! Shamefully, back then, I actually painted my minis but left them unbased! Now it's the opposite!

3000 pts of Crimson Fists (and a review)

3000 Points of Crimson Fists!

As I've mentioned before, I've been prepping and building my Tau army for an Apocalypse game in July with my nerd friends, but that doesn't mean my Crimson Fists have gone unloved. I'll be bringing them to the game to field on a different table for a friend to play. So today I went through the task of packing them all for travel.

Which brings me to my review! The Sabol Army Transport Mark II has been my transport of choice for nearly all my games in the last two years. I love the rear loader and the large capacity in the small bag! I can fit this entire army into the transport with room to spare for a codex, rulebook and other accesories of 40k gaming!

Here is the troop all packed up and ready to go (once I close it). I don't have the pods in any tray as there is no tray large enough for my DIY pods. I also had to creatively pack the vanguard and a few marines into the 3inch tray with my rhinos....but it all fits!

I recommend the Sabol Transport Mark II. It's awesome!

Deathwing Librarian: Cape or No Cape?

I never liked the arms on this guy. I feel like it was a great idea to use the plastic arms, but they just don't look right on this guy. And then The King's Standard Bearer saw my unprimered Librarian in my last post and made a great suggestion in the comments: Add a cape!

I hadn't considered it before and now that I look at the model, I think that a cape would really help to make him look a lot less static...this pose is just so...statuesque! What do folks think? Add a green stuff cape or stop obsessing and finish him already?

Mind you. I will probably not be able to do both for a long time...but at least the base is done!

Basing: My Private Shame!

From the Warp provides the simplest tutorial on the webs for basing. Really. It is super easy to base your models. Do it! DO! IT!

In the comments, I mentioned that basing models was so easy that often I wind up with primered models and spectacular (in my not-so-humble opinion!) bases. Ron over at FTW seemed disbelieving, so in this post, I will provide photographic evidence!

Embarrasingly, my first pic is actually a completed base with an unprimered model of a terminator chaplain destined for Deathwing:

Next up, is the Deathwing Librarian. This Librarian model is relatively old (at least compared to the young sprite of a Chaplain above). I hated the arms on this guy as they were short and stubby as old metal Termies were back then. I wanted him to be able to blend in with my new termies, so I gave him plastic arms and converted a TH into a Force Axe. I also built the base up so he'd appear to be the same height as new termies. No short librarians amongst the Unforgiven!

I tried to make the pose look like he was brandishing that axe threateningly, but it's difficult when the body is essentially a block of metal. I'm not the happiest with the SB arm placement, but I've come to terms with it. What was I saying...oh yes. Again. Here we have a completed base. Unprimed model. I have a problem. The first step is admitting it.
Oh. The humanity! Here's a primered (Grey Gesso) Deathwing Assault Termie with a completed base.

Here's the Deathwing Sgt. Missing his head. And his stormshield. Yet. He is primered and standing on a fully painted base complete with Word Bearer wreckage (my friend plays Chaos Space Marines and rocks a Word Bearer paint scheme!).

You're probably thinking, "Jeez cawshis. That's got to be it, right? I mean...how many completed bases but not painted models could you possibly have?" To which I answer...TOO MANY!

Of course, since taking these pictures, I've since basecoated the Chaplain and Deathwing models above. The Ravenwing? Not so much. I'm not confident enough in highlighting black yet...but I'm getting there! To reveal a secret: I pinned all my Deathwing/Ravenwing models to their bases so that I could easily remove them for painting purposes...so painting the bases was actually pretty easy since I do them in batches separate from the model. I wish I'd get around to doing the models though!

But yeah. There you go, Ron! Primed models sitting on completed bases! Do you believe now? I really need to get better at not doing that...is there a support group out there?

Tau Firewarriors

My return to 40k after many years being absent was because of a fortunate fusion of two events: I found some folks in NYC that were into the game and GW had just released the Tau. I loved their sleek look coupled with their "unique" empire fluff…they didn't seem as desperate or as xenophobic as all the other races available. The Greater Good was cool to me and refreshing in a universe filled with so much hate! Also of importance was the ability of Skimmers to move and shoot (with the right upgrade) and also reduce all hits to glancing. All hail 4th edition!

The Tau Empire force I have now is pretty expansive. Nearly 5000 points in various stages of assembling, priming and painted-ness. I'm heavily working on them now in preparation for a July Apocalypse game.

Below are shots of some of the first minis I painted after being away for so long…so forgive the amateur look! I look at them now and I think "wow! I've improved!"

Orange Squad -
This Firewarrior Squad was the first 40k unit painted in my adult years. I went for a really simple paint scheme and as you can tell, I didn't even bother painting the bases (It drives me nuts!). You can also see that I broke canon by giving my Tau pink faces instead of bluegrey. I don't know why I did this…I think it's because I didn't really know how to paint the faces so that they didn't look like the armor!



Right now, I explain it away by saying the 3 pink-faces are albino triplets serving in the same unit. Take that fluff-activists! I even buy the bonding knife to represent the brotherhood!

The Devilfish came later, though you can still see my lack of confidence and frustration with painting orange and highlighting it. I think I actually wound up just dry brushing yellow on the orange! Looks muddled…but hey…they were my first unit!

Teal Squad-

This unit came second. I got better with highlights and painting on this unit, so I'm pretty proud of their look. To avoid the whole-skin painting challenge, all my squad members are helmeted (who goes into battle without a helmet anyway? Only crazy marines!). Again, it's a Devilfish with 12 Firewarriors.

My strategy with FWs has always been keep them safe in their DFs until I can get close and lay waste to a weakened target. The addition of the SMS to the Warfish in the Tau Empire Codex made the eventual "Fish of Fury" fairly effective against weakened MEQs units and very effective against GEQs (Ap5 weapons rule!). They rapid fire pretty well and when supported by Pathfinders and Railguns, they do an excellent job of clearing an objective.

They suck in CC though...and with 5th edition making CC even more deadly, I worry about my sad little "warriors." I have no idea how they might work in 5th edition. I imagine preserving them for the 5th turn is the best strategy for winning...since they score...and Kroot tend to die very quickly for me.

One thing I'm considering is the Devilfish Gun Drones instead of SMS. Now with any unit contesting in 5th, the Gun Drones become annoy-devices in the late game. 2 drones don't really do much, so I don't imagine many players to pay attention to them...but they can still contest! 12inch movement on turn 5 to contest...and if that doesn't work...well then all I've lost are 2 drones. We'll see how that works!

What a month!

So May has come and gone and now we're 5 days into June and I'm left wondering...how did time fly by so fast!?!

Work was super crazy for the month of May with nearly no time for updates. Any second in front of a computer was unfortunately spent doing work. Good news is, I'm back.

My friends and I over at nerdnyc.com are planning a 3 table Apocalypse game in July that I've decided to build up my Tau army to 5000 points for. It's nearly everything I own except the annoying Krootox(es). If you're in NYC, you should try and check out the Wargaming forums on the nerdnyc.com website. We're always trying to get games and discussions going!

Expect some posts soon. I apologize for the long wait thru June! Thanks for sticking with me.

April Challenge: Could have done better!

So it's now May 4th...and I should tally the score for my April Challenge:

I finished the Land Raider Crusader and the Vanguard. I assembled and undercoated everything else on my list. My drop pods still languish in a half-completed state. So that's a grand total of 15 points out of a possible 57. What the hell happened?

I could give a lot of excuses, but the number one reason, I think, is that I had no plan beyond "get some minis" done. I'd sit in front of my painting set up and stare at my vindicator and my razorback and hem and haw over how to paint it. I'd spend way too long fishing out the paints and setting up. Then I wouldn't paint and instead I'd watch movies on Netflix.

Boo on me! I need to make an effort to write down my paint schemes (I just have colors written down) for each model before I start. I also need to establish a method to painting vehicles...I find them very intimidating to even start...since if you mess up, they're pretty much the biggest mistake you'll place on the board. One thing I'm going to try and do is photocopy the unit images in my codices and color them in before I paint. This way I have a paint by the numbers guide. I think my hobbying could benefit from more pictures to work with.

That all set, I'm going to set a May challenge that involves completing the Fists I've started and also completing some Deathwing Terminators for a massive Apocalypse game in July. To encourage me to actually complete this challenge this time, I'm going to start posting my paint schemes and WIP (probably terrible shots as I won't take the time to photobox 'em). That means an update every 3 days in May, starting in 3 days with a shot of a WIP model or a completed one. Expect a more refined painting list in the sidebar.

Lastly, though it was kind of a failure, the April Challenge really provided me with some good lessons on where I could improve (just paint, you fool!) and all the little things I do that stall my hobby progress (like keeping out a million incomplete models in front me...clear the clutter and focus!). Despite the low numbers, I do think I managed to produce more in April than a normal month...now I just need to keep working at getting better!

Back in the Synapse Again

Last night I took all my Tyranids out and took inventory. The shiny new Space Marine codex distracted me from the Hive, but now I return. The image shown is the only guy who's fully painted. I have a good number of them either base-coasted or just primed.

Here's my 1500pt list which I'll later color-code in the Cawshis style:

HQ
Hive Tyrant - 186
[Talons, Toxin Sacs, Winged, Warpfield, Ad. Glands (+WS), Flesh Hooks]

Elite
6 Tyranid Warriors - 199
[talons, extended carapace, toxin sacs, barbed strangler, 5 x deathspitter]

Troops
8 Genestealers - 160
[feeder tendrils, scuttlers, flesh hooks]

18 Termagaunts - 108

18 Termagaunts - 108

15 Hormagaunts - 180
[toxin sacs]

Fast Attack
3 Sporemine - 45
[bio-acid]

3 Sporemine - 45
[bio-acid]

Heavy Support
Carnifex - 163
[Barbed Strangler, Venom Cannon, Enhanced Senses, Reinforced Chitin]

Carnifex - 128
[Barbed Strangler, Scything Talons, Reinforced Chitin]

3 Zoans - 165
[Synapse, Psychic Scream ]

I was worried when I switched over to Space Marines that I would only end up with 2 half-painted armies, but with over 1500pt of Marines done -- I feel very confident that this army will come together easily.

April Update and Army List for Saturday

Both work and inertia have conspired against me to make the April Challenge goal truly a challenge! With only 7 full days and a single (packed) weekend left, it's going to be tough to get it all done! Last night, I flocked and primed my Command squad, Sternguard and Pedro Kantor. One amazing thing about using gesso is the speed with which I can prime my models. Before, when I used to spray-prime, I'd force myself to wait until I had 30+models or lots of vehicles to spray…it made crawling out onto the (apartment) fire escape and angering the wife worth it. Now I can prime as soon as the flock is dry! If only it were this easy to get the painting done.

I have a game coming up this Saturday against Falgrim's DIY marines, "The Sigmar's Pride." They are modeled after the Space Wolves (instead using lions) but are using the SM:Codex at the moment. So it'll be a straight SM v SM codex fight @ 1750 points.

Here's the list I'm planning (and it makes me so happy they are all painted…if not quite WYSIWYG!) @ exactly 1750 points:
HQ: Captain in Termie Armor
Elites: 5 Tactical Terminators w/ Assault Cannon
Elites: 1 Dreadnaught w/ Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
Elites: 1 Dreadnaught w/ Drop Pod, Locator Beacon
Troops: 10 Tacticals, Melta, LasCan, Power Fist, Rhino
Troops: 10 Tacticals, Melta, LasCan, Power Fist, Rhino
Fst Att: 5 Vanguard Marines w/ Jump Packs, 2 Power Wpns, 2 Plas Pistols, Relic Blade
Hvy Sup: Land Raider Crusader
Hvy Sup: 5 Devastators w/ 2 PlasCan

The dreadnaughts, LRC and Rhinos w/ Tacticals make up the fast moving bulk of my attack force. Since 1 dread can deep strike in the first turn, the hope is that I can land, pop something large in the rear armor (like a vindicator or land raider with the MM) and then divert some marines to deal with him (though dreads do pop easy!). My LRC w/ termies will advance on any objective/easy kp supported by the tacticals in rhinos…in case any speeders or bikes with meltas show up. The Devs are there to (hopefully) pop rhinos or break up marine formations (plasma is nasty!). Finally the Vanguard can work as either an anti-assault force or a final objective contester. With the 2 locator beacons, I'm hoping that a Heroic Intervention isn't impossible. Being able to deep strike and then charge would be awesome (though I haven't had much luck with the Vanguard so far…costs as much as termies…die much faster! Nifty models though!).

Any thoughts? I don't have much time to build any new models, but I have a vindicator, razorback, command squad and the SG/Kantor models primed. Also a lot of Dark Angels…since I don't mind fielding a mixed list as long as they are all marines. Any suggestions?

Depending on how I do, this is probably my last game with the Crimson Fists for a little while. I've been meaning to get back into my Tau and with an apocalypse game planned for July, I think now is the best time! Expect more posts on the Apocalypse planning in May once the April Challenge is up. I also plan on starting up a May Challenge as well!

WIP: Vulcan Clone

When I started the Skull Bashers, I wanted to go in the opposite direction of my Tyranids. I wanted tanks, good saves, templates and low AP weapons. 

Six rhino chassis later, I'm working on the rest.

Vulcan really stood out in making flamers, melta and Assault Terminators extra dangerous. I was banking on the rumors of a model for him being true. The good thing is that there is a model for him coming out soon the bad thing: it's not my style. It's too busy and I don't like the idea of him throwing his spear.

So, I'm building my own model. It's the Commander chest and legs, with the Standard Bearer's pole turned into a relic blade with the help of some plasticcard and part of a hunter-killer launcher. The Gauntlet is a lighting claw with plastic tubing and plasticcard.

Still to do:

• add some plasticcard on the legs to make the armor look different
• custom backpack 
• scaled mantle

Thoughts? Anyone else doing a Vulcan conversion?

Introducing A New Poster: AaronB!

My good friend AaronB has joined Adepticus Prime as a second author. He currently has two armies he is working on: A DIY SM chapter called the Skull Bashers and a Tyranid army. I've played several games against him (you can read our first marine vs. marine BR here.) and he's one cool guy.

I'll let him do a more formal introduction on his own, but I just want to say I'm glad to have him blogging with me as he's got mad skillz (as the kids would say) when it comes to painting and scratchbuilding units!

I mean...check out his Legion of the Damned converted marines. He made them to fit into the near-heretical fluff associated with this Skull Bashers! Essentially, his chapter of marines are supported by undead marines that are ushered into existence by the chaplains.

Burn the heretics, I say!


Please welcome him aboard!

Crimson Fist Vanguard

Big progress this week! With only 10 days left in April, I have a pathetic 15/67 points completed. But I'm not giving up! I finished my LRC (pics to come) today and my Vanguard. My Vindicator, Razorback and Sternguard have been assembled along with my Command Squad and Kantor.

That means I have 32 points ready for undercoating and 20 points (Drop Pods) ready for detailing. I don't know what's blocking me from just finishing those damn pods, but I'm determined to get them done this week!

Back to the Vanguard, I went a little crazy detailing the bases as I wanted them to be taller than the average model. I used cork to build up the height of the base and tossed in some bits to get it nice and rubble-ly. The Vanguard are neat in that they also have their own bits on the metal bases! As these are my Crimson Fists, these guys are all about getting them ready for the tabletop. They're also about trying out new techniques I see online. It's going to make for a healthy variation, but I think that's okay. The Chapter is rebuilding, right? Only makes sense that the servitors assigned to painting the marine armor get better too!

For my two power weapon equipped VG, I tried the Painting Corps tip of using Sepia wash on bolt-gun metal to get a nice Ancient-Gold color. I figured I'd give it a try! I like the ancient gold look, but I don't know if it's the best look for marine weapons. Or is it? I can't decide really, but at least my Vanguard will be consistently geared with ancient power-swords!

I'll try and get up my LRC next. My friends and I are trying to put together an apocalypse game in July, so instead of taking pictures today, I tried building a massive power station with Orbital gun piece of terrain. It's way-too WIP to post, but I'll put up those pics later. I think May-June are looking like "Prepare for Apocalypse" months. Which is good! I need a distraction from the Imperial Guard overpowered codex (I flipped though it at my FLGS. Madness!)!

Thanks for looking!