From the jungles of Lustria!

Painting time has been scarce lately with all the preparations for my little Grot, who is due any day now.  However, thanks to the constant encouragement from my little buddy, Oscar, I did manage to get my test model for my new Lizardmen army painted up.

I love the color orange.  It is an under represented color in the Warhammer world.  I wanted them to look like the mythical Salamander, a fire lizard.  These guys come from the base of one of Lustria's many volcanoes.  Orange skin with red scales on their backs, lots of gold decorations, and obsidian weapons compete my scheme.

Of course, I couldn't stop there.  I had to put some paint down on one of my favorite models from the Lizardman range (which I picked up half-off from the wonderful folks at Gamers Sanctuary);  Kroq-Gar and his faithful carnosaur, Grymloq!

Everything else I have is assembled to a pre-painting stage.  I have a Slann and Chakax on the way to add to my battalion  box and Ancient Stegadon.  Another battalion box, regular Stegadon and some Teradon Riders are on the horizon for later this summer.

As excited as I am about these scaly bad-asses, I must finish my Star Phantoms for this spring.  I'm targeting my original 1850 list for the next few weeks.

Captain w/ Power Fist and Combi-Melta
2X Tactical Squads w/ Power Fist, Combi Melta, Melta Gun, and Multi Melta in Drop Pods
Scout Squad w/ 8 Sniper Rifles, Heavy Bolter, and Sgt Tellion
Ironclad Dreadnought w/ 2 Heavy Flamers, 2 Hunter-Killer missiles, and assault launchers in a Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon
Dreadnought w/ Multi Melta and Missile Launcher in a Drop Pod w/ Locator Beacon
5 Thunder Hammer Terminators in a Land Raider Redeemer w/ Multi Melta and Extra Armor
Devastator squad w/ 2 Heavy Bolters and 2 Plasma Cannons

The Dreads are painted, but not based.  Everything but the Land Raider has been base coated.  These guys should FLY off my desk as the paint scheme is so easy to complete.  Once I get them moving, pics will follow.

Later

Aaaaand Done!

Well, almost.  I ran out of Elmer's glue for the base, but the model itself is complete.  I was really hating the look of it last night after the wash dried.  I'm still not thrilled with it, but the highlights on the blue and the decals helped set me at ease.  I would still like to highlight the yellow, but I am not sure what color to use.

Unfortunately, this bad boy will have to wait for its debut.  Due to my work schedule and the need for some quality time with my wife and son, I have to bow out of the big Apoc game this weekend.  Have no fear; it will be very present in the Apoc game to finish out the current campaign we are running at GS.

Next up, the Star Phantoms will get their base coats and my Lizardmen will begin to be assembled.

Later

What have I gotten myself in to?

I have put repainting my Eldar stuff on hold for the moment.  Eventually I'd like to get all my older stuff repainted up to the standard I have now, but that is an endeavor for a new year.  I have a few units to tackle before the finish of Campaign: Eden at Gamers Sanctuary; some Dark Reapers and Harlequins mostly.  However, one daunting task will await me for the Apocalypse game at the end.

BEHOLD!  I finally gave in to peer pressure and bought myself a Forge World Revenant Titan with two Pulsars.  I was tired of being the only guy in our circle without some form of Apoc support.  Thanks again Muggins, Tau4eva, Brian, and Geneguard.  It came with two possible face plate options.  Let me know which one of the two you guys like most.  I am actually equally impressed and can't decide.

However, the biggest task at hand, and the one I am most looking forward to is the continuation of my Great Marine Repaint.  I finally have my first 1850 point force built and ready to paint.

The Star Phantoms lead by 9th Company Captain, Zhrukal Androcles.  The Terminators, Heavy Weapons,  and Scouts are all my old plastic models that need to be repainted (Privateer Press White goes over even the dark blue of my old stuff quite nicely.  It is now the only white primer I will use).  Aside from Sgt Tellion and two Marines with Melta Guns, the rest are all new plastic models.  I left the weapons off the Marines to have easy access to the details on the armor.  The Drop Pods are also in pieces for painting (It will be MUCH easier to paint them black and white if they are separate).  I've also magnetized both Sergeants to give them a choice of Combi Weapons.  The Land raider is also magnetized, but I still need a few parts to finish the other sponsons.  Of course, all of my Dreadnoughts are magnetized as well.  I now have four including this bad boy I also picked up from Forge World.

One Contemptor pattern dreadnought with Kheres pattern Assault Cannon and Power Fist.  Of course, a few magnets on this sweet model are a must.  I chose the Relic sarcophagus instead of the plain one because I loved the added detail.

The best thing about this guy was that it was essentially free!  That's right.  I paid something like $10 for it, when all was said and done.  After my Titan and a few Marine upgrade parts for Muggins, the total for my order was very close to Forge World's free shipping requirement.  The shipping cost was something like 30 Pounds.  However, by spending the same amount on the Dreadnought, I went over the free shipping mark, essentially getting the Dread for the cost of one of its arms!  Not bad at all.

I'll be dumping a few more Marine things I don't plan on keeping, but adding some serious artillery to continue the fluff of the Star Phantoms.  A pair of Whirlwinds, Thunderfire Cannons, and Vindicators are all on the docket.  I have the parts for a complete Assault Squad, a bucket of Terminators and Scouts, and a pair of Speeders to work on eventually, but they will wait until the Badab War campaign starts next spring.  Hopefully the wife won't mind taking care of the kids herself for a while...

I just have to say...

NECROMUNDA RULES!

The Great Marine Repaint!

I've decided to give my Space Marines a big-boy paint job.  I'm abandoning my old Void Hounds to their fate in the Warp (Brother Hector has been perminantly assigned to the Deathwatch, so the gene seed will live on). 

Muggins has convinced me to take a look at the chapters from the Badab War book for inspiration, much as he did for his Mantis Warriors. 

We will likely be running a Badab War campaign at Gamers Sanctuary early in 2012, so we figured we'd get the ball rolling on that by taking chapters on opposite sides of the battle.  Because the Mantis Warriors are rebels, it was up to me to pick a loyalist chapter.  Bill's Salamanders will obviously be represented, so they were out.  I thought about the Carcharodons and their brutal Chapter Master, but the idea of Space Sharks was more rediculous than Space Wolves!  However, I have always been a Space Ghost fan!  The Star Phantoms have fluff I like (they're obsessed with death), tactics and loadouts I favor (Lots of melta and plas, prefer heavy weapons and Devastator squads, and use a lot of Drop Pods) and I've always wanted to paint a white army.  Besides, it was a Star Phantom Captain who shot Huron in the face with a melta gun!  How cool is that!  I painted up a test model last week. 

They look rather Storm Trooperish, but that just makes them cooler, if you ask me.  I just need to think of a basing scheme and I'm done.  It will likely be something that fits the campaign.  I'm in the middle of stripping all my vehicles and repriming them all white.  I'll get one of my Dreads done this week and post it here.  Thoughts?

Don't worry; my Eldar repaints are coming along nicely.  I have three more tanks and the guardians to do, but they all go quickly.  I'll have them ready for the tournament at GS in two weeks.

Later

Monday Warmachine

With a slow week at work, I found myself with a TON of free time.  I managed to finish my Shining Spears for the August painting challenge at Gamers Sanctuary.

I also managed to finish my Stormclad and Captain Caine.

On Monday I was lucky enough to get in a game of Warmachine against Muggins from Fresh Coast 40K.  We settled on 35 points, Khador vs Cygnar.  We have both been trying to concentrate on getting more acquainted with a single Warcaster, Strakhov and Caine respectively.   The game started as most do, with both our forces advancing and the Casters buffing their units.  A few shots were taken in turn two by my Gun Mage Captain Adept and Caine against Muggins' Kazay assassins.  As luck would have it, they failed their Command check and stopped advancing, nullifying his attempt to outflank my forces.  The following Khador charge managed to destroy one of my Hunters and cripple the other significantly.  It also wipped out my Stormblades.  However, Caine was able to destroy the Great Bears and finish off the Doom Reavers using his feat in a single round of shooting.  However, that move left Strakhov a small windoe to make an assassination run on Caine.  He rolled three shots with his Riot Gun and added a fourth with Reinholt.  I thought I was doomed, especially after this was his first hit roll;

However, when his damage roll came up this;

I felt better.  He then promptly missed all three of his following Boosted attacks.  Caine's 17 Defense is just wrong.  At that point, the game was over.  Caine shot Strakhov to pieces, giving me the win.  Here are some more pics of the game.

Later

Warmachine Lessons Learned

I was able to play a few games of Warmachine Sunday at a friend's house with a bunch of other guys.  Here are a few of the hard-knock lessons I picked up.

1. Cryx cheats.  Not really, but many of their rules are so different from the other factions that it feels like it some times.  My Cygnar are fairly straight forward; shoot and counter-punch.  Cryx have so many power combos, buffs and debuffs they can call on that it can be hard to follow.  More exposure to them on the table, as opposed to just reading the book, will help.

2. The wrong build can make your day difficult.  I had an eCaine gunmage list the first time around against his eSkarre, witches and Deathjack.  They held their own until Deathjack trampled my Black 13 and ate Caine.  The second game saw my eNemo lightning list against pGoreshade and a ton of Bane Thralls.  Every model in his force could have Stealth, effectively nullifying my shooting.  If I had the lists switched, I think things would have been much easier.  Deathjack's charge targets would be limited with Nemo's Polarity Field and Caine, the Gun Mage Adept and one of the Black 13 could have shot his stealthed Bane Thralls to pieces before they closed.  I think the two list tournament format is awesome.

3. Be careful how I use my casters.  both games ended because I left my caster too close to my opponent's forces.  They were ripe to be picked off.  I was trying to get Caine in position for an assassination run and ended up getting him eaten while Nemo should have used his Jacks as charge blockers more effectively.

4. On second thought, Cryx does cheat.

5. Pay attention to what your opponent can and CAN NOT do.  In the third game we played, a two on two between me and Brian and Adam and Jeremy, we tried setting up an assassination run with Caine by dragging Adam's Phoenix (which I HATE to face) into combat with a mass of Bane Thralls.  The Thralls had already attacked that turn, but he would have been locked in combat.  We decided not to because Adam could just use telekinesis to pull the Phoenix out of combat to charge Caine before my turn.  However, we didn't realize Rhan was out of range for his spells and that the Phoenix could not be used as an Arc Node while in combat.  Consequently, the Phoenix channeled a spell for Rhan that Slammed my Charger into Caine, knocking them both down, taking away his awesome def of 17. 

There is SO much to keep track of in Warmachine it is daunting.  One of these days I'll get it figured out. 

Later